Read Online Sleep In Heavenly Peace (Pinnacle True Crime) by M. William Phelps - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: M. William Phelps
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have any miscarriages or abortions?”
Odell thought about it for a minute. “I had miscarriages in New York.”
“Do you recall, one, two…?”
“I think it was three.”
Weddle and Thomas looked at each other. How convenient: three dead babies, three miscarriages.
C HAPTER 5
1
DIANNE AND MABEL adjusted comfortably to their new surroundings. Their apartment was on the second floor of Mrs. Hess’s main house. Scattered around the grounds, along the banks of the lake, were several bungalows Mrs. Hess rented, generally to summer vacationers or folks just passing through town. During colder months, the Hesses closed the nonwinterized bungalows for the season.
Mabel hadn’t worked since the pistol-whipping incident back in Kew Gardens. As she and Dianne got settled into their new digs at Kauneonga Lake, Dianne began wondering what they were going to do for money. Here they were starting a new life and neither one of them had an income. Had Mabel saved any money from Dianne’s days as a prostitute? Was the mattress stuffed with hundreds and fifties?
According to Dianne, when she asked Mabel how they were going to live, Mabel looked at her and, as serious as she had ever been, said, “Now it’s your turn to take care of me !”
Dianne said she felt as if she owed her mother for raising her, like there was some sort of debt to be paid for her upbringing. Taking on a job at this point, however, wasn’t something Dianne could physically do, even if she wanted. It wasn’t that she was lazy, or didn’t want to work. No, Dianne had a secret. There was a baby on the way, which she later said she was happy about when she found out. What ate at her—more than Mabel demanding she go to work and take care of them—as she tried to figure out how to tell her mom she was pregnant, was who the father of the child was.
2
The startling fact that Odell—sitting, sipping water, openly giving Thomas and Weddle information about her life so they could try to wrap up the case of the three dead babies found in boxes—would admit to having three miscarriages was a significant breakthrough during the interview. By this point, neither Thomas nor Weddle had mentioned they were investigating the deaths of three babies, or that the remains of three babies had been found. Yet here was Odell admitting to renting a self-storage unit in Safford and having three miscarriages.
Two plus two equals four.
Thomas asked Odell, after she admitted to the three miscarriages, to explain the circumstances.
“I started hemorrhaging,” Odell offered. Again, unemotional. All business.
“Do you know what caused that? Did they —your doctors—know?”
“No,” Odell said. “I was bouncing and I felt like a tear…like a pull, and I just started bleeding.” She paused for a moment. Looked down at the table. Took a deep breath. “I mean uncontrollable bleeding.”
“Now, was that three times in a row, or was that in between your other children that it happened?”
“For a long period there after my son was born, I had miscarriages. One was in Arizona after [my son in 1991] was born and I went to the emergency room there and they did an emergency [procedure] on me, and there were two in New York when we came back here.”
None of it added up to what Thomas and Weddle knew by that point. It was clear the babies in the boxes were much older. Odell was talking about 1991 and beyond.
“Do you know…how far along you were in your pregnancy when this happened?”
“I would say not even two months.”
It didn’t make sense with the approximate ages of the babies in the boxes. The thought was, someone had delivered the children at home and, perhaps embarrassed or scared, discarded the babies without alerting anyone.
Weddle and Thomas wanted to pinpoint dates and perhaps tie the dates of Odell’s miscarriages to her having rented the self-storage unit. Maybe the children hadn’t met with ill harm, after all? Perhaps Odell, if
Odell thought about it for a minute. “I had miscarriages in New York.”
“Do you recall, one, two…?”
“I think it was three.”
Weddle and Thomas looked at each other. How convenient: three dead babies, three miscarriages.
C HAPTER 5
1
DIANNE AND MABEL adjusted comfortably to their new surroundings. Their apartment was on the second floor of Mrs. Hess’s main house. Scattered around the grounds, along the banks of the lake, were several bungalows Mrs. Hess rented, generally to summer vacationers or folks just passing through town. During colder months, the Hesses closed the nonwinterized bungalows for the season.
Mabel hadn’t worked since the pistol-whipping incident back in Kew Gardens. As she and Dianne got settled into their new digs at Kauneonga Lake, Dianne began wondering what they were going to do for money. Here they were starting a new life and neither one of them had an income. Had Mabel saved any money from Dianne’s days as a prostitute? Was the mattress stuffed with hundreds and fifties?
According to Dianne, when she asked Mabel how they were going to live, Mabel looked at her and, as serious as she had ever been, said, “Now it’s your turn to take care of me !”
Dianne said she felt as if she owed her mother for raising her, like there was some sort of debt to be paid for her upbringing. Taking on a job at this point, however, wasn’t something Dianne could physically do, even if she wanted. It wasn’t that she was lazy, or didn’t want to work. No, Dianne had a secret. There was a baby on the way, which she later said she was happy about when she found out. What ate at her—more than Mabel demanding she go to work and take care of them—as she tried to figure out how to tell her mom she was pregnant, was who the father of the child was.
2
The startling fact that Odell—sitting, sipping water, openly giving Thomas and Weddle information about her life so they could try to wrap up the case of the three dead babies found in boxes—would admit to having three miscarriages was a significant breakthrough during the interview. By this point, neither Thomas nor Weddle had mentioned they were investigating the deaths of three babies, or that the remains of three babies had been found. Yet here was Odell admitting to renting a self-storage unit in Safford and having three miscarriages.
Two plus two equals four.
Thomas asked Odell, after she admitted to the three miscarriages, to explain the circumstances.
“I started hemorrhaging,” Odell offered. Again, unemotional. All business.
“Do you know what caused that? Did they —your doctors—know?”
“No,” Odell said. “I was bouncing and I felt like a tear…like a pull, and I just started bleeding.” She paused for a moment. Looked down at the table. Took a deep breath. “I mean uncontrollable bleeding.”
“Now, was that three times in a row, or was that in between your other children that it happened?”
“For a long period there after my son was born, I had miscarriages. One was in Arizona after [my son in 1991] was born and I went to the emergency room there and they did an emergency [procedure] on me, and there were two in New York when we came back here.”
None of it added up to what Thomas and Weddle knew by that point. It was clear the babies in the boxes were much older. Odell was talking about 1991 and beyond.
“Do you know…how far along you were in your pregnancy when this happened?”
“I would say not even two months.”
It didn’t make sense with the approximate ages of the babies in the boxes. The thought was, someone had delivered the children at home and, perhaps embarrassed or scared, discarded the babies without alerting anyone.
Weddle and Thomas wanted to pinpoint dates and perhaps tie the dates of Odell’s miscarriages to her having rented the self-storage unit. Maybe the children hadn’t met with ill harm, after all? Perhaps Odell, if
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