1734 1734. But she asked him for one last favor: to kill her. His name is Mack Herring and I pray that he will not have to suffer for what he is doing for my sake. You might say she has become a witness for the defense, Burnett quipped. I am consumed with this burning emptiness and loneliness that has taken charge of me, body and soul. His lawyers argued he had temporary insanity. "[5], Herring attended Texas Tech University and worked various blue collar jobs. 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. Now, the murderer is no more with us. Northams year book page includes a disturbing photograph featuring one person wearing a Klansmans hood and another wearing blackface. John Mack Herring was the main at Kiss and Kill. The teenagers who pass down stories about Betty are too young to remember the Kiss and Kill Murder, as it was christened by the press in 1961, but it was the most sensational crime in West Texas in its day. Shivering, Betty had hurried back to the Jeep to retrieve her duster. As a young man, Herring worked to pay his way through college, taking on construction jobs and odd jobs. Heaven must be a nice place, she told junior Howard Sellers. The 17-year-old was now telling her schoolmates shed rather be dead. But because of our ignorance and glib attitudes and because we did not have an appreciation for the experiences and perspectives of others we dressed up and put on wigs and brown makeup., This was a onetime occurrence and I accept full responsibility for my conduct.. According to CBS7, he passed away on January 5, 2019, at the age of 75 years. Super featherweight elite Jamel Herring may be a treacherous persona in the ring. Even when she began acting more erratically during rehearsals for Winterset, her peers wrote off her overwrought confessions about wanting to die as nothing more than a theater girls high school histrionics. I just stood there with the gun, Mack told reporters. In an impassioned closing argument that Burnett delivered before a standing-room-only crowd, he hammered home the fact that nearly two years after Bettys murder, the prosecution had still not established a motive. The entire proceeding was a perversion of the law, says Sullivan, who is still a practicing lawyer in the nearby town of Andrews. Because the burden of proof fell on Burnett to prove that Mack was insane when he pulled the trigger, the hearing began not with witnesses for the state but for the defense. Go around and take the witness chair. It appeared that Burnett was calling his client to the stand for rebuttal, but no sooner had Mack been sworn in than Burnett, for further dramatic effect, roared, Pass the witness! October 2022 Reader Quiz: What Did You Learn? But what advantage he gained in being allowed to present his evidence was negated by Burnetts skill and showmanship. Anyone who had suffered the unrelenting scrutiny that Mack hadthe Odessa American alone ran nearly two dozen front-page stories on the casemight have pulled up stakes and started a new life somewhere else. The jury in the trial, held in Winkler County https://t.co/mXzLlq1sfe, Denise Mercado Sanders (@trippingbandit) January 12, 2019. 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. One of those boys was Mack Herring. A smattering of applause broke out in the courtroom when the verdict was announced, and once again, Mack was mobbed by jubilant supporters. In a statement, Herring said that he and a group of friends once put on blackface before attending a college party. He retired with 35 yrs. Heron was also granted 100 acres of land in Camden County in 1814. Betty and John later became a couple, although their relationship didnt last long. When he broke up with her during her senior year at Odessa High School, her world fell apart. And then I pulled the trigger. Sometimes I think it was real. Mrs. . Dan Solomon writes about politics, music, food, sports, criminal justice, health care, film, and business. " Kiss and Kill " refers to the March 20, 1961 homicide of Betty Williams, a teenager from Odessa, Texas, United States. Betty was known to have strong opinions on social issues. On January 5, 2019, Mack Herring died at the age of 75. There was already enough pain in 61. It was like he was talking about shooting a dog.. To combat the ghost story culture, the administration later painted the windows of the school auditorium. But Fairfax is facing a sexual abuse scandal; according to a story on the conservative news site Big League Politics, a woman has accused him of sexually assaulting her at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston. The oldest of four children, she knew that her parents could not afford to send her away to college, and her part-time job at Woolworths barely paid enough to finance any kind of getaway. At Kiss and Kill, John Mack Herring was the primary character. Nevertheless, Betty sat in the car and wrote a letter for Mack to keep. I finally talked Mack into killing me, she said. But outside the circle, he is a loving father, husband, and role . They reside in Leesburg, Virginia. Mr. Scandal And Relationship With Actor Lee Soo Hyuk, DeSantis seeks permanent ban on Covid-19 masks and vaccine mandates in Florida, How Shakira discovered Gerard Piques cheating. She was a native of East Liverpool, Ohio. She used to participate in sexual activity with a number of men with whom she was not in a relationship. The couple got divorced when Herring was young, and he, his mother, and his sister moved to Loudoun County. His mother, who was originally from Memphis, worked as a flight attendant for American Airlines but left her job when she married Herrings father. When he had dropped Betty off at ten oclock, he said, she had suggested that he return in half an hour and meet her in the alley behind her house. 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. In the meantime, he gathered two lead weights, a miners helmet to see in the dark, and a rope. She freely expressed opinions that went against the grain, like her belief that segregation was unjust and that blacks should not have to attend a separate high school across the railroad tracks. Dan Sullivan, the lawyer representing Bettys parents, focused heavily on the testimonies given by classmates who had been asked by Betty to murder her. When you handed me that note this morning, you virtually changed the course of my life. In bedrock-conservative, blue-collar Odessawhere the John Birch Societys crusade against communism and other un-American influences had struck a chordshe was seen as an oddball. While boys were free to do as they pleased, good girls were expected to obey an unspoken code of conduct. She said she wanted to die if she couldnt be with Mack, remembers her cousin Shelton, who was a year her junior at Odessas Permian High School. A second trial was held in Beaumont, Texas, resulting in an acquittal. She had hanged herself in the theater. She checked Bettys bedroom but she wasnt there. Few of his former classmates still see him; most have moved away or fallen out of touch. So many times Ive wanted to tell you how much I appreciate you. Mack Herring was duly charged with the first-degree murder of Betty Williams. May they forgive me . A coach, who had known Betty, has reportedly been visited by her in the field house. Odessa High's administration applied paint to the school auditorium's windows to counter the ghost story culture. But as desperately as she wanted to propel herself out of Odessa, she was fatalistic about the future. As she turned to go, she said to Ike, Ive got to call his bluff, even if he kills me.. [3], Herring was tried for murder but was acquitted. The ex-marine was known to persuade judges with his dramatic arguments involving Shakespeare and Scripture. . McAlpine was not convinced as there were some inconsistencies to the boys statement. Moments later, Mack turned to his father and confessed, I killed her. Beside the water, the ground was spattered with blood. Burnetts line of reasoning flouted legal precedent; sanity hearings are supposed to take up only the narrow question of whether a defendant is competent to stand trial. Enoch Herring in MyHeritage family trees (Golden Web Site) Enoch Herrin in MyHeritage family . Unsure of the exact location of the body in the tank, officers asked Mack if he would retrieve it. Then she told him to just go ahead and do it, which he didnt. Custodian. Herring explained how he believed Betty was to blame and that the letter she gave him was valid in absolving him of any consequences. Betty had been known as a loose and immoral girl. Two days later, on March 22, 1961, the Odessa Police Department received a frantic phone call from Mary Williams, who reported that her daughter was missing. One by one, Bettys friends were called into the principals office, where they were asked to tell what they knew. In the spring of 1961, Betty Williams and Mack Herring were students at Odessa TX High School. Though she had pleaded with her father to believe her when she swore to him that she had changed, he could not be convinced. He began wading back toward land, dragging an object that appeared to be very heavy; when he was near the waters edge, Odessa police detective Fred Johnson could see that he was holding a pair of human feet. The Washington Post has said that the woman also approached them with the story, but that they decided not to run it because they couldnt substantiate her allegations. This year the new drama teacher had planned a spring production of Maxwell Andersons Winterset. Mack Herring was duly charged with the first-degree murder of Betty Williams. She informed at least five students working on the play that she wanted to kill herself but didnt have the nerve. We talked a while and agreed our friendship was more valuable than an argument about her, Bill testified. Around her waist was a rope which Mack had attached to the weights to submerge her body. 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. After an hour, his father was allowed to sit beside him in the interrogation room. Mr. Maxwell Glen Mack Herring, Sr., 47, of 3916 Five Bridge Road, Clinton, NC. [3] Herring died on Saturday January 5, 2019,[5] at the age of 75. I take upon myself all blame, for there it lies, on me alone! He never gave her his letter jacket or brought her home to meet his parents. The family settled in North Carolina.Mack's father ran a wholesale grocery, clothing . It was particularly odd that Betty would have entered through the front door of her house, as Mack claimed if she had sneaked out earlier. 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. Mack was the one, and without him, life wasnt worth living. Upon hearing the verdict, Mack slumped in his chair and wept, while friends and classmates rushed to his side to embrace him. I was just showing off. 9: Daughter: Sara Herring. Inside Friscos Lavish, Enormous New Golf Resort. As a result, the school painted over the windows and eventually covered them with bricks. I remember seeing how she struggled with some of the hardships raising my sister and I, he told Richmonds Style Weekly. The two became lovers, but Herring later broke up with her. Ill not trouble you again, and Mack, I havent forgotten the good times we had. The murderer is no longer among us. Youve made me realize that instead of being smart and sophisticated like I thought, I was only being cheap and ugly and whorish.Forgive me for writing this last note and thank you for reading it. John Mack Herring Today Kiss and Kill: Revisit Betty Williams Murder. She is the pretty wife of Attorney General of VirginiaMark Herring. Nobody talked about how Mack could have said no, observes Sandra Scofield, who graduated from Odessa High a year before the murder. . [3], Herring killed Williams on March 20, 1961. The two started a romantic relationship during the summer of 1960, though from the outside it didnt seem like it. He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Evelyn Page Herring of the home; a son, Mack B. In the presence of lawmen, he had shown little emotion for his victim. She wore whatever clothing she wanted, did not accept her fathers religion, and had several relationships with boys from her school. Betty had been murdered, and everyone wanted to sweep it under the rug and make it go away., And still, after nearly half a centurys worth of other tragedies, the stories at Odessa High School live on. . 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. Several sources, however, allege that Betty asked her ex-boyfriend to murder her. According to his lawyers, he suffered from a disease known as temporary insanity. We get our Senior rings Wednesday. Grice claimed that Bettys imploring had impaired Macks judgment leading him to go insane and shoot her. Later on, when I put him in the squad car to take him to jail, I said, Mack, didnt you expect to get caught? And he said, Not this quick. He showed no emotion or regret or fear. A new trial took place in Beaumont and was once again attended by dozens of people. She was left devastated and full of guilt. Mack Herring was a handsome football player with all the right friends. Herring studied at FTCC after high school and began working as a Tire Specialist for Kelly Springfield through Goodyear. 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. He was a WWII veteran having served as a corporal in the Army Air Corps. More Stories for you But inconsistencies in his account led McAlpine to believe that the seventeen-year-old knew more than he was letting on. Mack wept when he heard the verdict and dozens of people rushed to his side. He was tried twice, once in Kermit, Texas, in a hearing that was only meant to determine whether Herring was sane at the time. On the drive out to the hunting lease, she was cheerful and chatted about how happy she was going to be when she was dead, Mack explained. He died on January 5, 2019, at the age of 75, according to CBS. I say this to make sure that no blame falls on anyone other than myself.I have depressing problems that concern, for the most part, myself. She began making comments to her friends about wishing to die so she could leave this world for a better place. The two then walked to the pond, Betty removed her shoes and kneeled on a blanket that Mack had already laid out. She loved the thrill of the spotlight and was gifted enough that she landed parts in three school plays when she was just a sophomore. The first person Burnett called to the stand was Macks father, O. H. Herring, who told the jury that on the day of his sons arrest, Mack had handed him a letter Betty had written. Herring. She is survived by her daughters, Tina Marie Lane, of Baker, and. In the meantime, Bettys volatile relationship with her father had worsened. He made a quiet life for himself, and he steered clear of trouble with the law. Some nights, Betty would slip out the back door after her parents had gone to bed and walk the four blocks to Tommys Drive-In, where there were always boys to talk to. . Mary called the school but she hadnt arrived yet. During the following hours, Bettys closest friends were individually pulled from class and questioned by authorities. Arrangements entrusted to Charlet Funeral Home Inc., Zachary. A former principal has even claimed to have seen a glimpse of Betty after hours in the study hall as a result, he refused to ever be in the school alone again. Investigators called for an ambulance to be sent to the scene without sounding its siren, but reporters were not far behind. Nevertheless, she entered Macks jeep and said to Ike, Ive got to call his bluff, even if he kills me. Genealogy profile for Alfred Mack Herring Alfred Mack Herring (1890 - 1962) - Genealogy Genealogy for Alfred Mack Herring (1890 - 1962) family tree on Geni, with over 230 million profiles of ancestors and living relatives. But the most compelling testimony came from Marvin Grice, an Odessa psychiatrist who had examined Mack three days after the murder. Betty Williams was a fast girl from the wrong side of the tracks. He stood near her, holding a 12-gauge shotgun in his hands. Northam initially said that he was one of the people in the photograph, but later said he was not in the photo at all. I mean, the defendant had admitted he kissed the girl, then blew her away, weighted her body, and buried it in the pond: What else did the state need? So King was confounded when his good friend Warren Burnett, an Odessa defense attorney, decided to take the case. Mack did his best to keep their relationship a secret. It was a carnival, says former Winkler County clerk Virginia Healy. Pamela Coloff of Texas Monthly stated that he appeared "utterly unremarkable", at odds with his appearance in his youth. Nevertheless, students and teachers still claim to hear weird noises, including footsteps and see flickering lights and moving objects. True Crime and Unbelievably Real Stories; we aim to shine a light on the forgotten and unknown. Herrings social standing did not suffer as a result of the incident. 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. This story is from Texas Monthlys archives. As a result, locals sided with Mack, claiming she had tricked him into committing the crime. According to the police officers present at the time, Mack showed no emotion during the process. Herring tied the knot on August 12, 1989, and have two children; daughter Peyton E. Herring, 26, and son Timothy R. Herring, 22. Genealogy profile for Mack Dwayne Herring Mack Dwayne Herring (deceased) - Genealogy Genealogy for Mack Dwayne Herring (deceased) family tree on Geni, with over 230 million profiles of ancestors and living relatives. I said, Give me a kiss to remember you by. She gave me a kiss and then said, Thank you, Mack. .Best of luck with your steady girlfriend. I dont know, Mack stammered. When her father lived with my parents, he used to threaten to kill himself in the middle of the night, says Shelton. I dont believe that Betty ever wanted to die. In the Williams family, grandiose threats and melodramatic bids for attention had not been unique to Betty. If you fill out the first name, last name, or agree to terms fields, you will NOT be added to the newsletter list. She died as a teen in 1961, according to reports. They were the parents of at least 9 sons and 2 daughters. According to Mack, Betty had been in a good mood on their way there. the Mortal Mustache, a.k.a. Her work as a dancer allowed her to meet John F. Kennedy and his wife Jackie, and she was good friends with Rita Hayworth. Betty snuck out the back of her house and met with Ike. She told me, I have to get him back. Her mood turned darker after her father rummaged through her dresser drawers, looking for evidence of her disobedience. Ive done a lot of things, I know, that were bad and cheap, but I swear before God that I didnt mean them to be like that. In his cross-examination, the district attorney pressed Mack to explain at what moment, exactly, he had decided to kill Betty. Mack was born in Mooresville, North Carolina, the son of Alice (ne Azouri) and Charles Mack.Mack's father's original family name was Makhoul; he came to the United States from Lebanon when he was 12 years old, following Mack's grandfather, who had arrived at Ellis Island in 1909.. Herring argued that the ban on same sex marriage violated the constitution and that he would not defend the ban. Three classmates testified that Betty had also asked them to kill her. 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. I have to fight it! Warren Burnett was the best lawyer around. Fort Worth Star-Telegram (with photos from AP). In the summer of 1817, an argument around between Heron and Atkinson, and Heron was killed. Shelton Williams assisted the making of the program. According to Ike, she was surprised to see Mack there. Not only is she still talked about, but many people believe her spirit still lingers in the high schools auditorium. Where Is John Mack Herring Now? I hope our story about Jerry makes it. The two teenagers had parked in the alley for a while, but they had been startled to see headlights coming toward them. During the fall, Betty made a move on Bill Rose, one of Macks best friends. Historical records and family trees related to Mack Herring. Would they be willing to do it for her, she asked? Birth of Heron "Mack" Herrin. [3], Shelton Williams, a cousin of the homicide victim and an alumnus of Permian High School who played against Herring in American football games, wrote the book Washed in the Blood, published in 2006. MOORESVILLE Ralph McNeely Herring graciously accepted the Lord's invitation to come home on the evening of Monday, May 18, 2015. Mack, in effect, would have a chance at acquittal before his murder trial had even begun. When he broke up with her during her senior year at Odessa High School, her world fell apart. He didnt have an answer. Herring Jr. and wife Mary of Fayetteville; two daughters, Patricia Ann Blanton and husband John of. 1770 1770. We figured that if Mack did it, then there had to be a good reason., After the arrest, the gossip centered less on Mack than it did on Betty. Rather than seeing Mack as a killer, many classmates acted as if something tragic that was beyond his control had befallen him. He became so mixed up and so sick that he felt pulling the trigger was what he should do for her, Grice testified. According to reports, she was less popular than her former partner. Everything looked different to me afterward. Facebook gives people the power to. But in 2014, after being elected to his first term as attorney general, he announced that he had changed his position. Bettys parents, lost in their grief, were her only visible supporters; her father occasionally leaned forward so as not to miss a word of testimony, dabbing at his eyes with a white handkerchief. The first person Burnett called to the stand was Macks father. Betty had enlisted himthis worthy young manto do what she didnt have the courage to do herself. If anything, he became more popular than ever even. Herring was born Laura A. Huff, on August 6, 1960. .Memories, so many memories to come back and cloud my mind, memories that Ill carry through all eternity. Authorities asked him to remove Bettys body from the pond. He was deprived of the power of applying logic. However, the effects of this gross stress reaction were temporary. 6/12: Not the Mack Herring . Her mother Mary worked at a JCPenney while her father John was a carpenter. Mary thought it was weird that her daughter hadnt come downstairs for breakfast. Powered by. If both the governor and lieutenant governor of the state step down, Herring would be next in line to become governor of Virginia. Judge Olsen had denied his motion to have Mack evaluated by a psychiatrist for the state, having agreed with Burnett that the defendants current state of mind was irrelevant. Whenever something unexplained happensa book falls on the floor in my classroom or the light board goes out during a technical rehearsalsomeone always jokes, Its Betty., What may be nothing more than just a ghost story can also be seen as something more complicatedas a metaphor, perhaps, for the way that one crime has lodged, uneasily, in Odessas collective memory. Mack Herring was a handsome football player with all the right friends. Sullivan tried to establish jealousy as a motive by calling to the stand Bill Rose, the popular football player whom Betty had parked with when she was dating Mack. Sometimes now I think it was a dream. During this time, she also won $10,000 on a game show . He stripped off his red-and-white varsity letter jacket, sport shirt, loafers, blue jeans, and socks and waded into the water until it came to his chest. As an adult, he spent years investigating his cousins murder and wrote a book about the case, Washed in the Blood. 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. None of the facts of the case came out., Moments after Sullivan rested his case, Burnett rose from his seat and thundered across the crowded courtroom, Stand up, Mack Herring! One night he gave her and Howard a ride home from rehearsal, and she made the request of him: Would he be willing to kill her? Mack Herring December 15, 2009 Mr. Mack B. Mark Herring has been married to his wife, Laura, for 27 years; they met the summer before he began law school. Had she really wanted to die, or was she still hoping, somehow, to win Mack back? Ill not waste time saying that I didnt deserve it because I guess I did. In the middle of the chaos, Betty spotted Mike. Ill be glad. I was sixteen years old.. But the only reaction she was able to provoke was a few eye rolls. Emily McCullar is a senior editor covering pop culture, news, and Texas history. Herring wrote, It is no longer possible for Governor Northam to lead our Commonwealth and it is time for him to step down. Mark Herring is the attorney general of Virginia. In a place where fun on a Saturday night might mean deciding to take only right turns while cruising around town, Betty dreamed of her escape. 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. Shortly after being declared innocent, Mack attended Texas Tech University. O.H. I take upon myself all blame, for there it lies, on me alone! She was a teen whose life was cut short by her ex-lover. It sounds ridiculous even now writing it. Most claimed that Mack had to have been insane at the time to do such a thing. No other event in my life impacted me the way this did, he says. They even sat in his jeep talking about heaven for a while. He worked in a variety of blue-collar occupations professionally. 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. We shook hands and forgot the whole thing. Sullivan pushed on, focusing on classmate Howard Sellerss comment that Bettys dramatic note attempting to exonerate Mack had been conceived in a joking atmosphere. But the district attorney could not establish a motive.
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