He drove to Greenville, where she was staying at a motel, to meet her and Angela. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. A hunting knife, some clothing, and both films heavily emphasized. James Bartlett Upchurch III (born August 17, 1968) is an American man convicted for the murder of Lieth Von Stein and the assault with intent to kill of Bonnie Von Stein on July 25th, 1988, in Washington, NC. sentence was set aside on October 1, 1992, and he was of the conspirators in the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, which You have permission to edit this article. Until two months ago, she testified, the thought that her own child might have been involved in her near-death was unthinkable. degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon with intent When he asked Upchurch in a restaurant one night for his thoughts on patricide, Upchurch responded: ``Well, you better not believe in God,' according to Pritchard. She has since moved back to Winston-Salem. ``I kept hearing things from other students about drug use and Neal not being in touch really with anyone.'. A person who had broken into one house likely wouldn't have qualms about breaking into another. While both had good grades, their course work was far below their abilities, reflecting a tendency in both to slide by with as little effort as possible, Slayton said. to keep expanding and making Murderpedia a better site, but we really Detectives assigned to the case learned that Lieth had had a poor relationship with his two stepchildren, Angela and her older brother, Chris, both of whom were known drug users. Copyright Jerry Bledsoe, 1991. to keep expanding and making Murderpedia a better site, but we really With four in the family and three dead, Hruby is convicted of killing both of his parents after they cut him off financially and was sentenced to life in prison. University. The early morning attack that left Von Stein dead and his wife, Bonnie, severely wounded soon became a national story. Indeed, Crone had only worked on one murder case in his entire career, and that indirectly, as captain of the Ocean City Police detective division. Bonnie Von Stein, who was attacked but managed to call police, had testified out of the presence of the jury last week that she did not want Upchurch to receive the death sentence because nothing would bring her husband back. Bonnie has trouble dealing with the fact that her own son, Christopher Pritchard, along with two friends consip Read allLieth Von Stein and his wife, Bonnie Von Stein are attacked while sleeping in their Smallwood home in North Carolina. Not Michael Logan. find Leith and Bonnie Von Stein stabbed and beaten in their home. Her husband was a Winston-Salem native, and his family founded the Camel City dry cleaning chain. Though the brother's defense included accusations of child abuse, their second trial (after the first ended in a mistrial) left the two brothers with a life sentence in prison without the option for parole. miniseries of the same name. Bonnie also had compiled a list of suspects, Peggy said. Peggy knew that the police were suspicious of Chris. After turning Henderson, who accompanied Upchurch to the Von Stein home, She told Taylor that she was at the hospital when Chris arrived on the morning of the murder. We know that Bonnie K. (Stein) Sullivan had been residing in Texas . All Rights Reserved. Foreign these crimes, he was sentenced on January 30, 1990, respectively, to death, 20 years, 6 years and life. She and Bonnie had had a long talk. Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. On the way back from a trip to visit his wife's parents in Mooresville that weekend, he had stopped at a bookstore in Raleigh and bought several books about the game. ``What they proposed to me, it seemed like an adventure, just to go off in the middle of the night and come back,' Henderson testified. Reportedly, Chris was bitter toward his stepfather for not spending more of the inheritance on him. Beyond that, he'd had no further role in the case, and had not kept up with the day-to-day details of the investigation. The beginners' adventure described in the book was practically an outline for the Von Stein murder, the players being sent to a castle to kill the overlord and obtain his treasure, which they later would divide. As the investigation dragged on into 1989, police turned their attention to Chris, who refused to take a polygraph test (which his mother and sister had passed). Upchurch, the son of a social services administrator, studied alongside him in classes for the academically gifted. The healthy baby was delivered shortly before midnight by read more, At 11:10 p.m., 45 miles south of Nantucket Island, the Italian ocean liner Andrea Doria and the Swedish ocean liner Stockholm collide in a heavy Atlantic fog. They face life imprisonment plus 20 years, instead of death. Detectives Both were made into television movies.The miniseries Cruel Doubt was released in May 1992.The adaptation of Bledsoe"s book, Honor Thy Mother, aired in April 1992. and burglary in the first degree. The sad ironies of the family's tale are compelling. You can cancel at any time. The collegians' conversation was recounted in Pasquotank Superior Court in Elizabeth City this month, where Henderson, 22, and Pritchard, 21, took the stand and pointed to Upchurch as the man who carried out the deed in a bizarre murder-for-money plot. in the second degree (aiding and abetting) and assault recovered from the remains of the fire. Bonnie Von Stein survived. Upchurch told Watts that he did not want to be kept alive by force feeding. III and Gerald Neal Henderson, Pritchard spearheaded the murder of Von Rather than just asking such questions, McGinniss should have researched them more fully. His co-conspirators, Chris Pritchard and Gerald Neal Henderson, were both convicted of murder in the second degree (aiding and abetting) and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill or seriously injure. The long-suffering Bonnie Von Stein is portrayed as a martyr who refuses to confront the reality of her emotions in the face of the tragedy. More likely, he thought, Dungeons and Dragons could have provided the associations that might have led to the plot. They came from good families. One word would hardly suffice, he thought. ", Growing up in Goldsboro, Greensboro Day senior Jaydon Young averaged 25.9 points per game as a freshman at Wayne Christian. Lieth Von Stein and his wife, Bonnie Von Stein are attacked while sleeping in their Smallwood home in North Carolina. She lived, but her husband, Leith, who was stabbed in the heart, died instantly. Chris testified that he had supplied a killed. We have many Guilford school board to GOP: We want someone else. His co-conspirators, Chris Pritchard Neal Henderson, a brilliant young man with a dull social life, felt lucky that James Upchurch and Christopher Pritchard had befriended him. Peggy gave him a ride to Smallwood. She simplified the selling process and even closed . Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. In preparation, Pritchard laced a meal of grilled hamburgers with crumpled tablets of Sominex, a sleeping aid. All Photos Tagged bonnievonstein. Both attended Bartlett Yancey High School. Chris and his college-student conspirators were caught up in drugs, including LSD, and fascinated with the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. Thankfully, Blood Games includes a range of photos. Part 3: The Clue. ', ``James shook his head and said, 'No, we're going to murder his parents.' We suggest that it is better to investigate any false information than to believe it.One should not give too much importance to anyone's nonsense. On July 25, 1992, the opening ceremonies of the Games of the XXV Olympiad are held in Barcelona, Spain. Pritchard, could inherit their estate valued at almost 2 The sensational case and trial are the subject of two released on TV in April 1992 under the name Honor Thy Mother. Police responding to an emergency call in Washington, North Carolina, find Leith and Bonnie Von Stein stabbed and beaten in their home. injure. Bonnie Vonstein is 78 years old and was born on 07/15/1944. Yet only a couple of those had been interviewed. Neal Henderson was released from prison in 2000 and finished his probation in. of murder in 1990 and sentenced to death. 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The talk turned serious about July 20, Pritchard said. Lieth Von Stein and his wife, Bonnie Von Stein are attacked while sleeping in their Smallwood home in North Carolina. Crone noted that players even got extra points for multiple hits, and Lieth had been hit and stabbed many times. ``I didn't believe he could commit murder,' Bonnie Von Stein testified about her son in the Upchurch trial. The focus is on the crime's effect on the family, and their most intensely private moments are etched in blood-spattered print. Rest assured, Bonnie will always have your best interests in mind whether as a seller or buyer. The two ``daydreamed' about inheriting enough money to share a ``big house in North Raleigh with a great stereo.'. View Bonnie Von Stein results including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. He immersed himself in the three fat casebooks of reports that already had been filed, and when he emerged, he, like every other officer who had become familiar with the case, felt that Chris Pritchard had to have had something to do with the murder. The Von Steins met while working at Integon Corp. as programmers. The only person surprised by the assignment was the one chosen. Bruce Radford, Washington's city manager, was keeping close tabs on the police department and the progress of its new chief, and he was not surprised when Crone came to him and said he planned to put the department's youngest and most inexperienced detective on the cold trail of the town's biggest murder. The more she read the more excited Crone became. Washington detectives Melvin Hope and Lewis Young had turned up two important clues, however. 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