I overheard a juror talking about Betty, says Hazel Locklear, the wife of the highway patrolman who had been struck by Macks aloofness at the crime scene. [3] Herring died on Saturday January 5, 2019,[5] at the age of 75. Nonetheless, his reputation around town did not suffer. In the spring of 1961, Betty Williams and Mack Herring were students at Odessa TX High School. Arrangements entrusted to Charlet Funeral Home Inc., Zachary. He has vowed not to step down as governor. After two hours in the auditorium, Sanchez and her friends were so unnerved, and so certain that they had felt Bettys presence, that they decided to leave. As for Macks case, Burnetts first move was to get Mack out of going to trial by using a law no one had ever resorted to before. It was the week before Wintersetwas scheduled to premiere, and students were busy running their lines and painting the set as they readied for the final dress rehearsal. Herring also says hes proud of his offices work reducing Virginias backlog of untested rape kits. . Sometimes now I think it was a dream. Odessa High's administration applied paint to the school auditorium's windows to counter the ghost story culture. Her boyfriend, who was a varsity football player, had shot her onstage during a play. Who Are Ana Walshe Parents And Family? .Best of luck with your steady girlfriend. John Mack Herring Today Kiss and Kill: Revisit Betty Williams Murder. Authorities asked him to remove Bettys body from the pond. They are members of Leesburg Presbyterian Church. As she turned to go, she said to Ike, Ive got to call his bluff, even if he kills me.. I know its much too late with you, Mack, but I swear that another boy wont get the chance to say what you said to me. Fairfax has denied the accusation. Betty Williams was a high school student from Odessa, Texas. View Mack Herring's 1940 US census record to find family members, occupation details & more. Betty held anti-cultural attitudes while attending Odessa High School. .Mr. She wore whatever clothing she wanted, did not accept her fathers religion, and had several relationships with boys from her school. The notoriety of the case has long since faded, yet 45 years later, something lingers. Ive never been so hurt in my life and I guess your note was the jolt I needed to get me back on the straight and narrow. At football games, they sat in the stands wearing the ultimate status symbol: their boyfriends letter jackets. Betty Williams was a fast girl from the wrong side of the tracks. Around her waist was a rope which Mack had attached to the weights to submerge her body. At Kiss and Kill, John Mack Herring was the primary character. . After an hour, his father was allowed to sit beside him in the interrogation room. . . People around the nation were fascinated by the case, especially since Herring came out and admitted to killing his then girlfriend. She was killed by her ex-boyfriend John Mack Herring (September 23, 1943 [1] - January 5, 2019) at her own request in Winkler County, Texas. But in 2014, after being elected to his first term as attorney general, he announced that he had changed his position. I hope our story about Jerry makes it. I dont know, Mack stammered. Herring read to the jury, held that Betty alone was to blame for her death. Herring. So many teenagers made the late-night pilgrimage to see Betty that the high school deemed it prudent to paint over the windows of the school auditorium. The ex-marine was known to persuade judges with his dramatic arguments involving Shakespeare and Scripture. You can read his full statement about that here. It was Burnett, with the sleeves of his suit jacket pushed up to his elbows, who commanded the courtroom. John Mack Herring attended Texas Tech University, married and divorced twice, and worked as a dock foreman, a carpenter, a welder, and spent 25 years as an electrician. On January 5, 2019, Mack Herring died at the age of 75. She informed at least five students working on the play that she wanted to kill herself but didnt have the nerve. Nevertheless, Betty sat in the car and wrote a letter for Mack to keep. Herring Jr. and wife Mary of Fayetteville; two daughters, Patricia Ann Blanton and husband John of. Mark Herring. His own neighborhood lacks the gracious lawns and spreading trees of his childhood; the house, which is a bit down at the heels, looks like the province of a man who lives alone. Her father, John, was a carpenter who had difficulty finding steady work, and her mother, Mary, had taken a job at J.C. Penney to help make ends meet. 5. While Burnett had been careful not to malign Bettys character during the hearing, some details of the case, like her sneaking out of her house in her nightclothes to meet Ike Nail, had tarred her as a loose, immoral girl. I thought, Good Lord, they must be talking about Betty Williams., . In the middle of the chaos, Betty spotted Mike. Heres What We Want at the Park. Betty had begged him to kill her, he told McAlpine; all he had done was carry out her wishes. 1734 1734. . You might say she has become a witness for the defense, Burnett quipped. The self-confessed killer was invited to every party and his friends gloated about knowing him. Near it was blood splatter. ODESSA, TX-- The "Kiss and Kill" killer, John Mack Herring, died on Saturday at the age of 75, CBS 7 reports. The first person Burnett called to the stand was Macks father. Herring, born in Sampson County, was the son of Lonnie Glen Herring and Lee Ann Faircloth Herring. "Kiss and Kill" refers to the March 20, 1961 homicide of Betty Williams, a teenager from Odessa, Texas, United States. Attorney Warren Burnett (left) and Mack after hearing the final verdict. A new trial took place in Beaumont and was once again attended by dozens of people. Acts from her rebellious period had been exposed, such as her sneaking out of her house during the night. She was a teen whose life was cut short by her ex-lover. According to reports, she was less popular than her former partner. He and his wife were pleased to send both of their children to St. Ann School. When he broke up with her during her senior year at Odessa High School, her world fell apart. Herring wrote, It is no longer possible for Governor Northam to lead our Commonwealth and it is time for him to step down. Citing this statute, Burnett argued before district court judge G. C. Olsen that before any trial was to take place, jurors should first have to evaluate Macks sanity at the time he pulled the trigger. So rather than admit defeat Im going to beat a quick retreat into the no mans land of death. If they determined that he had been temporarily insane, he should not have to stand trial for murder. Herring explained how he believed Betty was to blame and that the letter she gave him was valid in absolving him of any consequences. He was born in Johnson City, Tennessee, in the Appalachian Mountains. Youve been the greatest friend I could ever ask for. But the most compelling testimony came from Marvin Grice, an Odessa psychiatrist who had examined Mack three days after the murder. Birth of Heron "Mack" Herrin. Next, nine character witnesses testified. The assembled group of lawmen fell silent. Birth of Enoch Herrin. While she aspired to one day appear on the Broadway stage, in the meantime she planned to live at home after graduation and attend Odessa College, just up the street. She is survived by her daughters, Tina Marie Lane, of Baker, and. A strict Baptist, her father often preached to Betty about sin and eternal damnation, and on more than one Sunday morning, he prayed that she might learn to be a more obedient daughter. One by one, Bettys friends were called into the principals office, where they were asked to tell what they knew. Johnson advised him to leave the body, which was still clad in pale-pink pajamas, in the water. I am consumed with this burning emptiness and loneliness that has taken charge of me, body and soul. Herring was born Laura A. Huff, on August 6, 1960. Over 160 people attended the majority being Macks Girls. Age 99. Nevertheless, students and teachers still claim to hear weird noises, including footsteps and see flickering lights and moving objects. Northam initially said that he was one of the people in the photograph, but later said he was not in the photo at all. John Mack Herring was one of the popular kids at Odessa High School. More Stories for you Mack raised the gun barrel and Betty held it with the back of her hand, pointing it at her left temple. We were all supportive, because we couldnt believe it, says a former Tri-Hi-Y girl who asked not to be identified. When he reached the center, Mack oriented himself by looking at the mesquite trees on either side; then he dove under the water and came back up. During this time, she also won $10,000 on a game show . In a flat monotone, Mack told investigators that he had shot Betty next to the stock tank, weighted her down, and submerged her body. .Memories, so many memories to come back and cloud my mind, memories that Ill carry through all eternity. She may have been shunned at the time, but many of the girls who knew her were inspired to become school counselors, her death having had a profound effect on them. It didnt move him when he pulled her body out of the water or when he said that hed put a shotgun to her head, remembers retired highway patrolman E. C. Locklear. John Mack Herring attended Texas Tech University, married and divorced twice, and worked as a dock foreman, a carpenter, a welder, and spent 25 years as an electrician. (While in custody, Mack reportedly told a deputy sheriff, I feel toward her like a cat lying in a muddy street in the rain.) It looked, to most people, like a case that was impossible for the defendant to win, says writer Larry L. King, who had left Midland a decade earlier but still followed the case. The next day, Betty pulled Mack aside during rehearsal. Mark Rankin Herring (born September 25, 1961) [1] is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 47th Attorney General of Virginia from 2014 to 2022. Ike Nail recounted to police what had happened the night before. Now!. A lot of kids were cruelthey would shoot something and watch it hobble offbut Mack was different. He was deprived of the power of applying logic. However, the effects of this gross stress reaction were temporary. She claimed to have halfheartedly tried to kill herself by taking four aspirin. 6/12: Not the Mack Herring . Super featherweight elite Jamel Herring may be a treacherous persona in the ring. But as desperately as she wanted to propel herself out of Odessa, she was fatalistic about the future. Mary called the school but she hadnt arrived yet. After eleven hours of deliberation, during which jurors asked that Grices expert testimony be read back to them, they determined that Mack had, in fact, been temporarily insane on the night of the murder. She was deadlike that. He snapped his fingers for emphasis. After a few moments, he began to drag something to the edge of the pond. According to the police officers present at the time, Mack showed no emotion during the process. A judge approved Burnetts request to evaluate Macks sanity at the time of the murder in a pre-trial. At the end of an evening at Tommys, it was not unusual for her to end up parked in a secluded spot somewhere with a football playerafter, of course, he had taken his girlfriend home to meet her curfew. They reside in Leesburg, Virginia. died Sunday at his home. His past was no secret, he was even introduced as the famous kiss and kill murderer in one of his classes. So she became not the victim but the villain., Sullivan appealed the verdict to the Texas Supreme Court, on the grounds that Judge Olsen did not have the authority to grant a hearing that only evaluated Macks sanity at the time of the crime. He worked in a variety of blue-collar occupations professionally. [3] In 2019 CBS 7 Odessa stated "Many believe her ghost still haunts the halls of Odessa High School to this day. Her tale was included on the television episode A Crime to Remember. Her work as a dancer allowed her to meet John F. Kennedy and his wife Jackie, and she was good friends with Rita Hayworth. pic.twitter.com/V0xDrFiopV, Tom Fitzgerald (@FitzFox5DC) February 2, 2019, On Saturday, Mark Herring released a statement saying that it was no longer possible for Northam to lead the Commonwealth of Virginia. Arguing for the state was 32-year-old district attorney Dan Sullivan, an earnest, if not particularly seasoned, lawyer who was out of his depth; in his sixteen months in office, he had prosecuted mostly oil-field theft cases and DWIs. After 11 hours of deliberation, Mack was deemed to have been insane at the time of pulling the trigger. Williams engaged in sexual activity with boys she was not in a relationship with, something seen as taboo at the school. Powered by. Early life and education. They allegedly went to a stock tank on his parents property. At seventeen, Betty was pretty in an unremarkable way, with sandy-blond hair that brushed her shoulders and big, expressive blue eyes that could feign sincerity when talking to authority figures but were alive with irreverence. Rather than seeing Mack as a killer, many classmates acted as if something tragic that was beyond his control had befallen him. Maxine Alice McCune Mack Herring, died at her residence in Baker on Monday, July 26, 2010, at age 73. His answer struck McAlpine as peculiar; the officer knew that Betty had been dressed for bed when she had slipped out of the house that night. It was as cold-blooded and premeditated as it could be. She even went so far as to write out a wildly melodramatic note clearing him of culpability were he to be apprehended for her murder, a note that Howard would later say had seemed like a joke. The jury pool was the largest that had ever been called in Winkler County; the last murder to get much attentiona stabbing at a hotel in Winkhad happened in 1947. . Elizabeth Jean Betty Williams was born on August 11, 1943, and grew up in Odessa, Texas, with three younger siblings. He was allegedly the ex-boyfriend of the victim, Betty Williams. Does the evidence show you any possible explanation? he challenged the jury. According to legend, she would appear at the windows of the school auditorium at midnightprovided that students flashed their headlights three times or honked their horn and called out her name. The boys laughed, thinking she was just being dramatic as usual. . Had she really wanted to die, or was she still hoping, somehow, to win Mack back? While they talked, a jeep pulled up beside them it was Mack. A few classmates also confessed that Betty had asked them to kill her. According to reports, her situation was covered in nearly every newspaper in the world. Mark Herring is the attorney general of Virginia. Then she told him to just go ahead and do it, which he didnt. The case is even sadder than it seems: the ex, fellow teen high schooler John "Mack" Herring, claimed that Betty was so despondent over their break-up that she begged him to kill her. In the presence of lawmen, he had shown little emotion for his victim. Love, Betty. Mack,Well, I guess you accomplished what you set out to do. Laura works as a middle school . Inside Friscos Lavish, Enormous New Golf Resort. If a girl had a steady boyfriend, then she could have sex, as long as she didnt advertise it, says Jean Smith Kiker, a Capri who was a year below Betty. The letter, which the Texas Department of Public Safety had authenticated and which Mr. After attending Texas Tech University, where he was once introduced to a class as the famous Mack Herring, he returned home to the town that never turned its back on him. Jurors would not determine Macks guilt or innocence; they would only render a decision as to whether he had been insane at the time of the crime. He has since worked part time as custodian for St. Ann School. There are people willing to be my friends, but mostly they [are] either too ignorant to understand why Im like I am, and consequently offer my mind no challenge; or they havent the wits to match mine., At the top of Odessa High Schools rigid social hierarchy were the cashmere girls, as one alumna called themthe girls with perfect complexions from West Odessas better neighborhoods who were perennially voted most popular, best personality, and class favorite. Herring spent most of his childhood in Loudoun County, Virginia. . When Mack drove Betty and their friend home from rehearsal one night, she asked him if hed pull the trigger if she held the gun to her head. Mr. Mack was the one, and without him, life wasnt worth living. But the facts of her death had been muddled with time, and each story was as apocryphal as the last: She had fallen off a ladder in the auditorium and broken her neck, students said. Worst of all, it was now public that she had been involved with various boys, which boosted peoples views on her immorality. One of those boys was Mack Herring. Bettys life had never been worse. Where Is John Mack Herring Now? When they arrived and got out of the car onto a dirt road, they followed the shoeprints to a pond. He made a quiet life for himself, and he steered clear of trouble with the law. Mack Herring was duly charged with the first-degree murder of Betty Williams. In his cross-examination, the district attorney pressed Mack to explain at what moment, exactly, he had decided to kill Betty. John Mack Herring was the main at Kiss and Kill. But inconsistencies in his account led McAlpine to believe that the seventeen-year-old knew more than he was letting on. But to the astonishment of courthouse observers and over the strenuous objections of the prosecution, Judge Olsen granted Burnetts motion for the pretrial hearing. 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