0:00

It's time for February Patron Birthday.

0:02

Shout it's I wouldn't say a

0:04

very happy birthday to. Greg.

0:07

Jen. A. Nicky,

0:09

Karin, Laura D.

0:11

Jenny Catherine. Jennifer.

0:13

Lin. Laura. A. Jen.

0:16

Am Emily, Gary,

0:18

Susanna, Edi, Susie

0:20

and Lisa. I.

0:22

Appreciate all of your support unpaid tron

0:25

but also your support of the podcast

0:27

as a whole. Being willing to listen

0:29

to me as we talk about some

0:31

things that might be a little difficult

0:33

and make us think about true crime

0:35

in a different way. Sometimes I met

0:38

wishing you a fantastic birthday filled with

0:40

happiness and all of the things you

0:42

love. Happy Birthday! After.

0:55

Gloria King was found dead. Investigators wanted

0:57

to question her strange cause bed the

0:59

problem was they couldn't find him and

1:01

it turned out this wasn't the first

1:03

time he had lived on the run

1:05

and it also wasn't the first time

1:07

in a strange to wife of his

1:09

ended up dead. I'm Carolyn Welcome to

1:11

Crime Lines. Hello

1:20

and welcome to Crime Lines! Before we get

1:22

started, I wanted to announce that I will

1:24

be at the True Crime Podcast Festival in

1:26

Denver, Colorado this year and I'm not doing

1:29

a lot of meet ups or travel this

1:31

year, so this of then in July is

1:33

one of the only times I'll be able

1:35

to have a chance to meet listeners. I.

1:38

Will possibly be in the Berkshires again

1:40

in October, but that is pending Denver

1:42

in July though that as a locked

1:44

in. You. Can find a link

1:46

to more information about the event in the

1:49

show Notes: I'm obviously not the only podcast

1:51

or who will be there. You will meet

1:53

people like The Generation, Why The Trail One

1:55

Cold, The Defense Diaries, and John Lord and

1:57

who I'm really excited to see. I. been

2:00

watching him on YouTube for ages.

2:03

You will also get to meet family members

2:05

behind the cases we cover. I know Julie

2:07

Murray, the sister of Maura Murray is going

2:09

to be there and Sarah

2:11

Turney, who is the sister of Alyssa

2:13

Turney, she's the keynote speaker. I'll go

2:15

ahead and leave a link for tickets in the show

2:18

notes. Let's get into today's

2:20

case. This is one that spans a number

2:22

of years so to cover it, we have

2:24

to go back to Shirley Harris, who

2:27

was born in April of 1945. Shirley

2:31

grew up in Greensboro, North Carolina

2:33

in a large family and you

2:36

know if I say it's a large

2:38

family, it's definitely a large family. She

2:41

was one of ten children having six

2:43

brothers and three sisters. One

2:45

of those many brothers worked as

2:47

a caddy at a local country

2:49

club and through him she met

2:51

another caddy named James Donald King.

2:54

Donald was a year and a half older than

2:56

Shirley and like her he

2:58

came from a large family. He was the

3:01

oldest of 12 children and

3:03

his parents had big

3:05

dreams for him. He had

3:07

a steel trap memory easily

3:09

reciting Shakespeare and being able

3:11

to answer pretty much any

3:13

trivia question that was thrown at

3:15

him. He just had to hear something

3:17

once or twice and he would remember it forever.

3:20

He was also a hard worker and

3:23

he started working as a teenager working

3:25

at the local country club as a

3:27

caddy and that was thanks to the

3:29

help of his grandfather who would work

3:31

with teens to get jobs there. Donald's

3:35

grandfather would even pick them all up and

3:37

drive them to the club for their

3:39

shifts. Working as a caddy,

3:42

Donald was also given the opportunity to

3:44

learn how to play golf which was

3:46

something he really enjoyed. He

3:48

then got an academic scholarship

3:50

to Morehouse College in Atlanta.

3:53

Morehouse is an all-men's HBCU

3:55

and for those outside the

3:57

US HBCU stands for Historically

4:00

black colleges and universities. To

4:03

be considered an HBCU, the

4:05

college or university had to

4:07

be established prior to the

4:09

Civil Rights Act of 1964,

4:11

which is what ended legal

4:13

segregation. And the initial

4:15

intent of the school had to be to

4:17

provide a higher education to black

4:20

students who were otherwise excluded from

4:22

colleges due to their race. Morehouse

4:25

is one of the best known

4:27

HBCUs as that is where Martin

4:29

Luther King Jr. graduated from. Donald,

4:32

however, opted not to take the scholarship,

4:34

which would have meant moving to Atlanta

4:37

and leaving his friends and family behind.

4:40

Instead he attended North Carolina A&T

4:42

State, which is in Greensboro and

4:45

is also an HBCU. He

4:48

may have picked the school so he didn't

4:50

have to venture too far from home. In

4:54

the summer between high school

4:56

and college, Donald started changing

4:58

according to some of his

5:00

friends. He went

5:02

to parties and began drinking, which

5:04

he rarely did in high school.

5:08

With parties every weekend, Donald

5:10

started drinking more in college

5:12

than he was studying. He

5:15

normally could skate through without a lot of

5:17

extra effort thanks to his intelligence, but

5:20

once you add excessive drinking into the

5:22

mix, his grades suffered as did his

5:24

attendance. Towards the

5:26

end of his second semester in college in

5:28

April of 1963, Donald and Shirley decided

5:32

to get married. He was 19 and she

5:34

was barely 18. Not

5:39

long after the wedding, their first child,

5:41

a boy, was born. Donald

5:44

tried to continue his studies in the fall, but

5:46

he ended up dropping out to get a full-time

5:48

job to support his family. Two

5:50

of his professors went to his mother to

5:53

ask her to talk him into coming back

5:55

to school. They knew his

5:57

future would be a lot better if he made

5:59

some sh- short-term sacrifices and completed

6:01

his education. He wouldn't

6:04

budge though and worked one or two

6:06

entry-level jobs at a time. Donald

6:09

and Shirley went on to pretty quickly

6:12

have two more children and so they

6:14

had three kids under the age of

6:16

four. That definitely added to

6:18

the stress that was on this young

6:20

couple who were barely scraping by. And

6:24

Donald kept drinking even as he

6:26

stopped going to college and college

6:28

parties and his alcohol abuse

6:30

was a huge issue. His

6:32

temper, which he seemed to be able to

6:35

more or less control when he wasn't drinking,

6:37

exploded when he got drunk. When

6:41

things would get bad, and by bad

6:43

I mean violent, Shirley would pack up

6:45

the kids and go stay with her

6:47

mother Isabella. Three of

6:49

the times she did this, Donald would

6:51

end up talking to her and would

6:53

convince her to come home. And

6:56

every time Donald's promises of changed

6:58

behavior didn't turn out to be

7:00

true, Isabella would still

7:02

be there to open her door and

7:04

taken her daughter and grandchildren, even

7:07

though her apartment was already cramped.

7:10

In late March 1967, Shirley and

7:12

the kids moved in with her

7:15

mom for the fourth time in

7:17

Shirley and Donald's not quite four

7:20

year marriage. Donald had

7:22

been drinking and the two started arguing.

7:25

He then grabbed a knife

7:27

and Shirley literally ran out

7:29

the door for her life.

7:32

Donald chased her out there until he

7:34

caught up and he cut her with

7:36

the knife on her shoulder blades. It

7:39

is not clear if he meant to just cut

7:41

her or if he was actually trying to stab

7:43

her. Donald was then

7:45

seen dragging Shirley by her hair,

7:48

trying to get her to go back into their home. I

7:51

have to assume the neighbors who witnessed

7:54

this intervened because Shirley was able to

7:56

grab some of her stuff and

7:58

her three little kids and to her

8:00

mom's apartment. This

8:03

incident was different than the other

8:05

outbursts in Shirley's mind. Donald

8:08

didn't push her or even hit her.

8:10

He grabbed a knife, chased

8:12

her down, and swiped at her, possibly

8:14

trying to stab her. She

8:16

knew she couldn't go back this time or she was

8:18

risking her life. And she

8:21

also knew the only way to

8:23

avoid being sweet-talked by his apologies

8:25

and promises of change was

8:27

to simply not talk to him. So Donald

8:30

called and called and called over at Isabella's,

8:32

but Shirley just refused to come to the

8:35

phone. So two

8:37

weeks after Shirley left on April 8, 1967,

8:41

Donald decided to just show up

8:43

at Isabella's apartment. Isabella

8:46

and a neighbor named Ruth were sitting

8:48

on the couch chatting while Shirley folded

8:50

some laundry around 7.45 p.m. They heard

8:52

a noise

8:55

at the back door and suddenly

8:57

Donald burst into the kitchen with

9:00

a shotgun in hand. Isabella

9:02

got up and confronted him, telling him to

9:05

get out of there, and

9:07

he yelled back that he just wanted to talk

9:09

to Shirley. Donald couldn't

9:11

make it from the kitchen into

9:13

the living room because Isabella was

9:15

blocking him, like a human shield

9:18

between Donald and her daughter.

9:21

Shirley, seeing this, went into the

9:23

kitchen and standing behind her mother,

9:26

tried to talk Donald down and calm him down

9:28

enough to just get him to leave. The

9:31

neighbor Ruth took advantage of Donald being

9:34

distracted by the other two women to

9:36

run out the front door to try to get help. She

9:39

made it maybe 100 feet from the

9:41

front door when she heard a shot.

9:45

According to Isabella, Donald

9:47

asked Shirley to go outside with him so

9:50

they could talk, and Shirley

9:52

said they had talked enough already.

9:55

Donald grew visibly angry at this

9:57

answer, and Isabella yelled at him.

10:00

to not hurt her daughter. Donald

10:03

then raised the gun over Isabella's

10:05

head and fired at Shirley, hitting

10:07

her right near her eyebrow. This

10:10

was a 12-gauge shotgun at

10:13

close range to Shirley's head.

10:16

She died instantly, just days before

10:18

her 22nd birthday. Even worse for

10:22

her mother was that the damage done

10:25

to Shirley's face made

10:27

her instantly unrecognizable. The

10:30

sounds and sights and smells

10:32

of that night are

10:34

things I can only imagine never left

10:36

Isabella's memory for as long as she

10:38

lived. Shirley and Donald's

10:41

children were also in the home when

10:43

this happened, but it's unclear in the

10:45

reporting how much they witnessed. After

10:48

firing the gun, Donald dropped it

10:50

and ran. When

10:52

the police arrived on the scene, Isabella

10:54

told them what had happened and

10:56

they went looking for Donald. It

10:59

didn't take long. They found him

11:01

the next day sleeping in an

11:03

abandoned car in a vacant lot

11:06

in Greensboro. He hadn't gone

11:08

home, but he didn't leave town either.

11:10

On May 1, 1967, a grand jury indicted

11:14

23-year-old Donald King with first-degree

11:16

murder and the trial began

11:18

on October 2, 1967. This

11:24

was a death penalty case. With

11:26

the sentencing laws at the time in

11:28

North Carolina, if Donald was convicted, he

11:31

would pretty surely get the death penalty.

11:33

The death penalty was the default

11:35

sentence for first-degree murder and

11:37

it would only be avoided

11:39

if the jury specifically recommended

11:41

mercy, which didn't happen often.

11:43

To give you an idea

11:46

of the views on the death penalty in North Carolina in

11:48

1967, they had a jury pool of 100 people for this

11:50

trial. Only

11:55

seven were excluded due to

11:57

being against capital punishment. The

12:00

other 93 were all open to it.

12:03

At trial, the state called their two

12:06

eyewitnesses, which was the neighbor Ruth and

12:08

Shirley's mother Isabella, but they also

12:10

had a pawn shop owner as a

12:12

witness. He testified that Donald had

12:14

bought the shotgun from him for $25 on

12:16

the morning of the murder. The

12:21

state argued that buying the gun on the

12:23

day of the murder showed premeditation and that

12:26

Donald wasn't just there to talk to his

12:28

wife. The defense

12:30

said that what Isabella said happened was

12:32

a lie. According to

12:34

their side, Donald did show up with

12:37

the gun, but that was only because

12:39

Shirley's brothers had threatened to kill him

12:41

if he tried to contact her.

12:44

The gun was for his protection.

12:47

He said he only wanted to talk to

12:50

Shirley about getting back together. He

12:52

admitted to being drunk when he got

12:55

there, but he said that Isabella and

12:57

Shirley tried to get the gun from

12:59

him. In the struggle

13:01

over the weapon, it went off and

13:03

Shirley was hit. Donald

13:05

said he absolutely did not have his

13:08

finger on the trigger, so he didn't

13:10

know who actually pulled it. The

13:12

state on hearing this wanted to

13:15

admit into evidence a letter that

13:17

Donald had sent to Isabella while

13:20

he was in jail prior to the trial. They

13:22

were offering it as impeachment evidence

13:25

as this letter pretty much undermined

13:27

everything he said. Donald's

13:30

defense attorney asked for a recess as he

13:32

had not seen the letter and wanted to

13:34

talk to his client about it. This

13:37

letter wasn't great for Donald.

13:40

When you check out the timeline on

13:42

my website, basementfortproductions.com, I'll include images of

13:44

the letter. I mean, I paid

13:46

for them off of Pacer, so we might as well

13:48

get our 10 cents a page out of it. The

13:52

letter was dated June

13:54

26, 1967 and Donald acknowledged

13:56

at the start that Isabella would be surprised to

13:58

receive a letter from him. from him. He

14:01

wrote that his mother told him that Isabella

14:03

had forgiven him. He

14:05

insisted in this letter that he loved

14:07

Shirley and that he wasn't making any

14:10

excuses because what he did was not

14:12

right. But he thought

14:14

the main reason everything had happened

14:16

was sin. He wrote

14:18

that he knew Shirley was in heaven because

14:20

of how she lived and that God took

14:22

her because she was ready. Had

14:25

he died that night, he would have

14:27

gone to hell but now he wouldn't

14:29

because he accepted Jesus. Donald

14:31

also acknowledged that the prison read the

14:34

letters he sent and wrote that he

14:36

had more to say but he

14:38

couldn't because they could use it against him

14:40

at trial. He said

14:42

there were lies about him in the

14:44

street and if they said that Donald

14:47

had planned to kill Shirley, he wanted

14:49

Isabella to know, that wasn't true. So

14:52

parts of that are vaguely incriminating but

14:54

none of that was really the big

14:56

issue that the defense was worried about.

14:59

It was actually two sentences on

15:01

page four of the six-page letter

15:03

that were the most damning. Donald

15:07

wrote, quote, I will probably

15:09

go on trial for my life and

15:11

whatever I say during my trial, don't

15:14

pay any attention to it because

15:16

I will explain later. Court

15:18

is full of tricks and lies, end

15:21

quote. Basically, Donald

15:23

wrote to his mother-in-law that he will

15:26

probably be lying in court. The

15:29

state of course wanted to present this letter

15:31

to the jury and the defense wanted to

15:33

figure out what was going on. After

15:35

the defense spoke to Donald privately and

15:38

I assume confirmed the letter was real,

15:40

the attorneys all went into the judge's

15:43

chambers. An hour later, they

15:45

walked out with a plea deal. According

15:47

to Donald, his attorney told them that

15:49

if he didn't take the deal in

15:51

exchange for a life sentence, he would

15:53

be found guilty and get the death

15:55

penalty. So he opted to take

15:58

the plea to avoid a death sentence. He

16:01

pleaded guilty to first-degree premeditated murder

16:03

and was then given a life

16:05

sentence. At the

16:07

time, people serving life sentences in North

16:09

Carolina were first eligible for parole after

16:12

10 years. Now

16:14

there's no guarantee that Donald would get parole

16:16

that soon and it may have seemed even

16:18

unlikely at the time, but it was a

16:21

lot better than going to death row. After

16:24

pleading guilty and seeing the reality of

16:26

state prison, Donald had a change of

16:28

heart and filed an appeal in March

16:30

of 1969 saying that he

16:33

only pleaded guilty out of fear of the

16:35

death penalty. In his

16:37

argument, this rose to the level

16:39

of coercion, which was in

16:41

line with some other appellate findings at

16:44

the time that questioned how the death

16:46

penalty was being applied. This

16:48

was just three years before the Supreme

16:51

Court ruled the death penalty as it

16:53

was being applied at the time as

16:55

unconstitutional. They didn't find

16:57

the death penalty itself as cruel

16:59

and unusual punishment, but the arbitrary

17:02

and inequitable nature of how it

17:04

was given out was.

17:07

The death penalty was reinstated in the

17:10

United States in 1976, providing

17:12

the states fixed the problems that

17:15

were with the death penalty when

17:18

it was ruled unconstitutional and that

17:20

is an entire debate on if any state

17:22

actually fixed that, but that's not the conversation

17:24

we're having today. Let's get

17:26

back on topic. In this

17:29

case, Donald's appeal attempts failed and then

17:31

on the afternoon of March 9,

17:33

1971, Donald

17:36

decided to take his freedom into his

17:38

own hands. While in

17:41

Ashborough serving time, he worked on a

17:43

chain gang. He was working along

17:45

Highway 68 near Deep River

17:47

when he took off running. He

17:50

was fired at and early reports said that

17:52

he had been injured, but he kept

17:54

running through the woods and in spite of

17:56

an immediate search, Donald got away. reports

18:00

in the papers were that he stole a

18:02

1964 Chevy to get away, but

18:04

if that was accurate, he didn't stay in the car

18:06

for long. He eventually found

18:09

an unlocked tractor trailer and stowed away,

18:11

hopping out when he was nearly 800

18:14

miles away in Boston, Massachusetts.

18:30

For the next nine years,

18:32

Donald lived mostly in Boston

18:34

under his brother Alfred's name.

18:37

He worked any number of under-the-table jobs

18:39

and even spent some time living and

18:41

working in other states like Texas and

18:43

Maryland. One night in

18:45

the late 1970s, one of Donald's old high

18:48

school friends named Harry Knight got a call

18:50

from him. Donald

18:52

said he was tired of running,

18:54

and he called Harry specifically because

18:57

Harry was a North Carolina State

18:59

Bureau of Investigations agent at the

19:01

time. It wasn't

19:03

a long call, and Donald gave no hints

19:06

as to where he was. He

19:09

blamed his drinking for what happened and

19:11

claimed he wanted to straighten things out.

19:14

Harry was not able to get information to

19:16

lead to his location or to convince him

19:18

to turn himself in before the

19:21

call ended. A couple

19:23

of years later, a tip came into

19:25

the authorities saying that Donald King was

19:27

living in Boston. On

19:30

March 20, 1980, as

19:32

Donald was leaving work at a cafeteria, agents

19:35

moved in and arrested him without

19:37

incident. He had been on

19:39

the run for nine years and eleven days.

19:42

Once back in North Carolina, an additional

19:44

year was added to his sentence for

19:46

the escape. And

19:49

then the absolutely most unpredictable

19:51

thing happened three years later. James

19:54

Donald King was granted parole

19:56

on his first attempt. and

20:00

a friend had lobbied for his

20:02

parole collecting dozens of letters from

20:05

people speaking to his good character.

20:08

And that certainly got the parole board's

20:10

attention, but what got my attention was

20:12

the math they used to even make

20:15

Donald eligible for parole. It's

20:17

wild. Donald had

20:19

to serve 10 years before being eligible for

20:21

parole, right? He served two

20:23

years and 11 months before he escaped,

20:26

and then he served three more years.

20:28

So that's just about six years behind

20:30

theirs. But the

20:33

parole board gave him

20:35

credit for good behavior, lessening

20:38

the time he had to serve

20:40

before parole eligibility. You

20:42

might wonder how a man who was

20:45

on the run for nine years and

20:47

only incarcerated for not quite six accumulated

20:49

four years worth of good time credit.

20:52

It's because they counted the time

20:55

he was a fugitive. They

20:57

said that Donald was free for nine

20:59

years and stayed out of trouble. So

21:02

rather than counting it against him, they gave

21:05

him credit for it. Even

21:07

though being on the run itself

21:09

was committing one long continuous crime,

21:12

they decided he showed that he could live

21:14

in society without issue. The

21:16

detective who worked on Shirley's case wrote

21:18

to the parole board saying, I hope

21:21

the parole board is not of the

21:23

opinion that Mrs. King's life was worth

21:25

only six years. But

21:28

they were not swayed by the investigators argument.

21:31

Donald King was paroled on April 21st, 1983 on his first try.

21:37

After he was paroled, Donald moved in with

21:39

the sister who had lobbied for his release,

21:41

but living together was not pleasant for either of

21:43

them, and he soon moved out. His

21:46

three children with Shirley, who had been

21:48

raised by family while he was incarcerated

21:50

and on the run, were

21:52

not really interested in him showing

21:54

up and trying to be a father

21:57

figure. So Donald was living on his own

21:59

and working as a woman. Welder when he

22:01

met Gloria Underwood. Gloria

22:03

was born in March of 1956, making

22:07

her 30 years old when they married on

22:09

June 9, Donald

22:12

was 42. There

22:15

is not a lot of information out there

22:17

about Gloria's life. She was born in Greensboro

22:19

and at some point she married a man

22:21

with the last name Underwood. Like

22:24

Donald's first wife, Shirley, Gloria had her children

22:26

young. By the time she was 21, she

22:29

had three daughters. When

22:31

she married Donald, she was raising her girls who were

22:33

9, 13, and 14 at the time and working

22:37

as a caregiver in a nursing home.

22:40

Gloria's daughters had different opinions about their

22:42

new stepfather. The two older girls did

22:44

not like him at all and he

22:46

made it clear he did not like

22:48

them either. The extended family's

22:51

impression was that Donald wanted Gloria

22:53

for himself and having three minor

22:55

kids around who needed their mom

22:57

was just not something he wanted.

23:01

The youngest daughter though remembered Donald

23:03

with a little more fondness saying

23:05

that he was a good provider.

23:08

He may not have been as dismissive

23:10

and domineering to her as he was

23:12

to her older sisters. It's

23:14

possible and maybe even common for

23:16

different siblings to have different memories,

23:19

not because anyone is remembering

23:21

incorrectly but because relationships

23:24

with parents can vary between

23:26

kids. And it's very difficult

23:28

to have your experience dismissed or downplayed

23:30

because your sibling had a different one. So

23:33

just a reminder, let's not do that to our

23:36

siblings when they share their perspective if we can

23:38

help it and let's not put up

23:40

with our siblings doing it to us. We

23:42

need to accept that multiple kids raised

23:44

in the same house by the same

23:46

parents don't necessarily grow up the

23:48

same way. In

23:51

this case though, it wasn't just Gloria's

23:53

older girls who didn't like Donald, it

23:55

was pretty much her entire family. Her

23:57

sister didn't know what she even saw in it.

24:00

him. Whether she was just

24:02

tired of being alone or whether she

24:04

was hoping to provide a nuclear family

24:06

for her daughters, it seems

24:08

that Gloria was, in her

24:10

family's view, settling for Donald.

24:13

And that's when they didn't even know his

24:15

full background. They were aware

24:18

he had been in prison for several

24:20

years, but it doesn't seem from anything

24:22

I read that they knew he murdered his

24:24

first wife. And for

24:27

what it's worth, Donald's family didn't like

24:29

Gloria either for reasons that are unclear.

24:32

So to some degree, the couple ended up

24:34

isolated during their relationship, which turned out not

24:37

to be a long one. Donald

24:39

and Gloria argued frequently, and in late 1987, after

24:41

just a year and a

24:44

half of marriage, they separated. Donald

24:47

ended up moving into a motel. They

24:50

did not immediately file for divorce, and

24:52

it looked like they were both leaving

24:55

the door open for reconciliation, with Donald

24:57

still coming by at least once a

24:59

week. They weren't living together,

25:01

but they were maintaining some sort

25:03

of relationship. In the summer

25:06

of 1988, Donald suffered a stroke, and he

25:09

was hospitalized for a period of time.

25:12

It was around this point in August of 1988 that

25:14

Gloria found

25:16

out that Donald had a girlfriend

25:19

named Betty. And the rumor

25:21

was that Betty was pregnant. When

25:24

Gloria heard that, she went to Betty's

25:26

apartment to confront her and learned that

25:28

it was true. Because

25:31

they were married and maintaining

25:33

a relationship, even though they

25:35

weren't living together, Gloria absolutely saw

25:37

this as cheating. As

25:40

soon as Donald was through his

25:42

immediate health crisis, Gloria

25:44

told them it was over. And we

25:46

have a peek into what was going on

25:49

with Gloria through her diary, which she was

25:51

keeping on the advice of a friend. After

25:54

she confided in this friend that Donald

25:56

had physically assaulted and then raped her,

25:59

she told Gloria to She started journal documenting

26:01

everything so that there was a

26:03

paper trail. Gloria

26:05

wrote in early September 1988 that

26:08

she knew about Donald's girlfriend and

26:11

she described Donald as selfish,

26:13

stingy, and uncaring. She

26:16

was explicit in her journal that there

26:18

was no path forward and she was

26:20

not going to reconcile with him this

26:22

time. It was over

26:24

for good. So Gloria

26:27

was back to being a single mom.

26:30

But with two of her daughters being 16 and

26:32

15, her ability to go out

26:35

and have fun wasn't as impacted

26:37

since they could stay home and

26:39

babysit their 11-year-old sister. And

26:42

that was Gloria's plan on Saturday, September 10,

26:44

1988. She

26:47

loved to play bingo so she was leaving

26:49

her girls at home to go to the

26:51

local bingo hall with some friends for the

26:53

evening. She had talked to

26:55

Donald that day and he offered to pick her up

26:57

and give her a ride home when she was done.

27:00

It's not clear if she accepted the offer

27:02

or not though from what we hear later

27:04

from her friends, she probably

27:06

didn't. But this did mean

27:09

that Donald knew where he could find

27:11

her that night. The

27:13

bingo game ended late so it was

27:15

the very early hours of September 11,

27:18

1988 when Gloria left

27:21

the bingo hall. At

27:23

about 1.25 a.m., residents of

27:26

the Warner'sville neighborhood in Greensboro

27:28

heard several shots being fired.

27:31

They looked out and saw a woman

27:34

lying on the sidewalk in front of

27:36

Jones Elementary School. The

27:38

police were called and arrived within

27:40

minutes. But 32-year-old Gloria

27:43

King was already dead from

27:45

seven gunshot wounds. Four

27:47

of them were to her head. Two

27:50

of the shots were to her hands indicating

27:52

that Gloria saw the gun and

27:55

tried to protect herself. None

27:57

of the witnesses had gotten a look at the gunman

28:00

or any vehicle he may have been

28:02

driving. The only clue at

28:04

the scene was a bingo chip found

28:06

near Gloria's body which led investigators to

28:08

the bingo hall. They

28:11

followed up with people who were there

28:13

that night and found not witnesses to

28:15

the murder but to the lead up.

28:18

Two women, Minnie and Verna, had left the hall

28:20

at the same time as Gloria around 1230 a.m.

28:22

They told the police

28:26

that Gloria's husband Donald was out

28:28

there waiting for her. He

28:31

went up to her and pulled her aside

28:33

to talk and by pulled I mean that

28:35

in the literal sense he grabbed her arm

28:38

and pulled her away from her friends

28:40

saying that they had to talk. According

28:43

to these friends, Gloria was not happy

28:45

to see him. In fact, she looked

28:47

scared which is why I say she

28:49

probably turned down his offer of a

28:51

ride home. She didn't seem

28:53

to expect him to be there. Minnie

28:57

and Verna intervened asking Gloria if she

28:59

was going to head home with them.

29:02

She didn't answer but Donald said he was

29:04

going to give her a ride. Gloria

29:07

did not contradict this or say that she

29:09

wasn't going with him so Minnie and Verna

29:11

left. Several minutes

29:13

later another woman left the bingo

29:15

hall and at this point Gloria

29:18

and Donald were still outside. She

29:20

told the investigators that Gloria had her

29:22

back up against the building's wall and

29:25

Donald's arms were outstretched on either

29:28

side of her. He was

29:30

not physically holding her in place but

29:32

he was definitely making it difficult for

29:34

her to step away. No one

29:37

came forward having seen Gloria after

29:39

this. An hour later she was

29:41

shot to death in front of the school. With

29:45

this information Donald King became the prime

29:47

suspect but he was nowhere to be

29:49

found. They did find his

29:51

car four days later abandoned in

29:54

downtown Greensboro and inside were two

29:56

22 caliber bullets consistent with

29:58

what was used in the murder. The

30:01

police spoke to a number of witnesses

30:03

who claimed not to know where Donald

30:05

had gone, but they knew where

30:07

he had been in the days leading up

30:10

to Gloria's murder. Gloria's

30:12

friend Katie told the police that she saw

30:14

Gloria just days before the murder when Gloria

30:17

was coming by to ask to borrow some

30:19

money. Donald had driven her

30:21

there, but he was waiting in

30:24

the car, so Gloria was able to talk freely

30:26

since he couldn't hear her. Gloria

30:29

told Katie that Donald had threatened to kill her

30:31

if she left him for good, so while

30:33

they showed up at the house together, it

30:35

was only because Gloria was afraid not to

30:37

be with him. She said

30:40

she was tired of living in fear of

30:42

Donald and that she knew he had a

30:44

pregnant girlfriend. It seemed like she

30:46

hoped Donald would leave her alone now that he

30:48

was having a family with someone else, but

30:51

it wasn't quite working out that way. The

30:54

investigators then figured the girlfriend would be a good

30:56

lead as to where Donald was, so they went

30:58

to talk to her. This

31:00

girlfriend, Betty, told the police that she

31:02

had dated Donald before he married Gloria

31:04

and that they had rekindled things after

31:06

Donald and Gloria separated in 1988. How

31:11

much Betty knew about Donald's attempts to

31:13

reconcile with his wife and that they

31:15

had a continuing relationship is unclear. Betty

31:19

said she found out she was pregnant in August

31:21

and it wasn't long before Gloria heard about it

31:23

and confronted her. Betty said

31:25

she had seen Donald multiple days in

31:27

the lead up to Gloria's murder. On

31:31

September 7th, he showed up at her house

31:33

around 6pm and he had a gun. He

31:36

told her that he wanted to kill Gloria

31:38

because she had hurt him so many times

31:40

and was now refusing to speak with him.

31:44

Donald told Betty that he had practiced with

31:46

the gun already but it wasn't shooting right.

31:48

He left her place after a few hours

31:50

to go try to fix the gun, but

31:52

he was back around 10.30pm

31:54

and spent the night. When

31:57

they woke up the next morning, Donald started

31:59

again talking about killing Gloria and Betty told

32:01

him not to, forget about it, it's not

32:03

worth it. She seemed to have

32:05

talked him down but then on September 9th

32:07

it was the same routine. Donald

32:09

was threatening to kill Gloria and Betty countered

32:12

by telling him all the reasons he shouldn't.

32:15

Donald left Betty's on the 9th and

32:17

did not sleep there. But

32:19

he did come over on the 10th and said

32:21

that she had talked him out of killing his

32:23

wife for two days but she couldn't stop him

32:26

any longer. He left her

32:28

place and she didn't see or hear from

32:30

him again after that. Betty

32:32

did tell the police that Donald had left

32:34

the .22 caliber bullet in the nightstand and

32:37

she threw it away but she still had

32:39

the trash bag. So the police

32:41

took it into evidence to compare it to

32:43

the bullets that hit Gloria. There

32:46

was one other person the investigators talked

32:48

to who saw Donald leading up to

32:50

the murder and that was his cousin

32:52

Billy. Billy told the police

32:54

that on September 6th Donald said he wanted

32:56

to get Gloria to take him back. He

32:59

also tried to get a mutual friend to

33:01

go talk to Gloria and convince her to

33:03

reconcile since Gloria wouldn't speak with Donald.

33:06

Billy had last seen Donald on September

33:09

10th after he left Betty's. He

33:11

was with Billy until 1130 that night

33:13

when he left and never came back.

33:16

We know based on the witnesses at

33:18

the bingo parlor that he likely went straight

33:20

there and waited for Gloria to come out.

33:23

But like everyone else Billy didn't know

33:25

where he went after that. From

33:29

what investigators learned Donald did try

33:31

to call Betty at some point

33:33

after the murder. It was

33:36

a long distance call that was

33:38

incredibly brief. He may have been

33:40

afraid they were tracing her calls. After

33:42

that call no one heard from him or if

33:44

they did they didn't tell the police about it.

33:47

There was some hope that when Betty

33:49

had their son in February 1989 that

33:52

he would make contact but he didn't.

33:55

With Donald gone the police had time

33:57

to build their case against him. and

34:00

that included running ballistics on the bullets

34:02

from the crime scene, the two

34:04

unspent ones they found in the car, and

34:07

the one from Betty's Trash. All

34:10

of the rounds were the same type

34:12

of bullet, same manufacturer, and in analyzing

34:15

the lead in them, they were

34:17

also found to have been manufactured

34:19

from the same melting pot. They

34:22

likely came from the same box or

34:24

at the very least different boxes that

34:26

were manufactured at the same time. An

34:29

arrest warrant was issued for Donald.

34:33

And then over the next nine

34:35

years, the investigators continually came up

34:37

with new strategies to find Donald.

34:40

They knew he played golf, going back to his

34:43

days working at the country club with his

34:45

grandfather. So the investigators approached

34:47

Golf Digest who agreed to publish

34:49

a small article on the case.

34:52

The hope was that someone who golfed

34:54

with Donald under whatever pseudonym he was

34:56

using would recognize him and call it

34:58

in. Using specialty

35:00

publications is such a clever

35:02

investigative tool. Target

35:04

the people in the circle you're suspect

35:06

or fugitive would deal with. Knowing

35:08

that Donald often worked at foundries or

35:11

amusement parks, they sent information to those

35:13

police as well to keep an eye

35:15

out for him. America's

35:18

Most Wanted ran Donald's fugitive segment

35:20

five or six times. An

35:23

Unsolved Mysteries also aired it. Tips

35:25

did come in and the police were

35:28

on his trail, but they always got

35:30

to a city after he

35:32

had already left. Thanks

35:35

to these tips, they did know Donald

35:37

was using various aliases. He did fall

35:39

back from time to time on his

35:41

brother Alfred's name, but he also used

35:43

others. For instance, if he met someone

35:46

in, say, South Carolina, he'd use their

35:48

name when he ended up in Georgia.

35:51

Unlike when he was on the run from

35:53

prison the first time, Donald didn't stay out

35:55

of trouble this time. These

35:57

arrests were all petty crimes like shoplifting.

36:00

So he would use a fake name when

36:02

he was arrested and because the crimes were

36:04

small He would make bail before his prince

36:06

came back to his real identity By

36:09

the time the authorities figured out who he was

36:11

he would have packed up and left town the

36:14

closest near miss they had was in Jacksonville,

36:17

Florida in the mid 90s a Man

36:20

named Peter tipped off the police to

36:22

Donald's location, but Donald had taken

36:24

off just days before When

36:27

he left Jacksonville Donald went to

36:29

Columbus, Ohio and using Peter's name

36:32

and Social Security number He

36:34

got a job One

36:36

day in 1997 a man Donald

36:38

worked with in Columbus sat

36:41

down to watch an unsolved mysteries

36:43

Rerun on the channel lifetime and

36:45

saw a segment on Gloria King's

36:47

murder He recognized Donald

36:50

as his ex-coworker and called in

36:52

the tip This tip

36:54

went near the top of the list because

36:56

he knew him by Peter's name Someone

36:58

the authorities had already connected to Donald

37:01

The co-worker did not know where Donald was at

37:03

the time a month before he saw this segment

37:06

Donald had quit the job and moved away Using

37:09

phone records the investigators figured out that

37:11

he actually hadn't gone far Just

37:14

an hour west to Dayton where he

37:16

got another job at a foundry under

37:18

the name Robert Robinson on

37:21

June 13th 1997

37:23

authorities approached Donald when asked to identify

37:26

himself He claimed to be Robert Robinson

37:28

and even provided fake documents to back

37:30

this up He had a

37:32

photo ID a birth certificate and a Social

37:34

Security card all in that name However,

37:37

he also had with him a

37:39

welfare ID card in Peter from

37:42

Florida's name in spite

37:45

of his weak protestations the police knew

37:47

they had the right guy and 53

37:50

year old James Donald King was then arrested This

37:53

arrest was a huge relief to Gloria's family.

37:56

Her youngest daughter who was 11 when Gloria

37:58

died. And

38:00

twenty when Donald was caught. Told.

38:03

Michelle Snape with the News and

38:05

record. That. Out all the memory

38:07

haunted her. When. They would go

38:09

out of state even for something fun like

38:11

a vacation. She couldn't help but think what

38:14

if they ended up where he was? What

38:16

if she saw him? That

38:18

fear only ended when he

38:20

was arrested. This.

38:22

Time The seat was going for the death penalty again

38:25

and they had no interest in a plea deal seeing

38:27

how it worked out the first time. But. They

38:29

did have some big issues to overcome.

38:32

For. One some major pretrial

38:34

decisions when in the defenses

38:36

favor. The. Judge would not

38:38

allow the jury to hear about Shirley's

38:41

murdered during the trial. Though.

38:43

Surely and Gloria were both his estranged

38:45

wife Sue. He wanted to reconcile with.

38:48

Who. When it's hard to, I'm and even though they were

38:50

both shot in the head. The. Judge ruled that

38:52

the details. Of the murders were not similar

38:54

enough. For. The first murder

38:56

to be more pro bit of them

38:59

prejudicial. The. Second ruling that went

39:01

for the defense had to do with sandals time

39:03

on the run at the state was not allowed

39:05

to tell the jury why the case took so

39:07

long to go to trial. It.

39:10

Was decided that Arnold's running was

39:12

too prejudicial a jury might imply

39:14

guilt when it wasn't actually evidence

39:16

of guilt. On. Top Of

39:18

those ruling, some of the states key

39:20

witnesses, including those who saw Donald with

39:23

Gloria that night had died. In

39:25

the case of Donald's girlfriend, Betty, see

39:27

suffered a stroke and did not remember

39:29

the details from that time or even

39:31

what she told the police. The

39:34

written and sometimes recorded statements were

39:36

allowed it to be used instead

39:38

by reading a written statement to

39:40

a jury. Just as not as

39:43

compelling as having someone testify themselves.

39:46

And. Then it looks like the trial

39:48

might not even happen because while

39:50

in pretrial detention, Donald tried to

39:52

take his own life and was

39:54

involuntarily committed. After. he

39:56

was sent back to jail donald refused

39:58

to eat say that it was his

40:01

intention to die. But

40:03

he didn't die and he was competent to stand trial,

40:05

so the trial started on October 26, 1998, with all

40:07

of this evidence that had been waiting a

40:13

decade to be heard. Donald

40:15

did not take the stand

40:17

in this trial and his

40:19

defense attorneys offered no witnesses

40:21

for their defense, instead arguing

40:23

their case through cross-examination and

40:26

opening and closing statements. The

40:28

defense accused the police of refusing to

40:31

look into other suspects, including burglars at

40:33

the school who may have killed Gloria

40:35

as she walked home from bingo. This

40:38

was not a persuasive counter to the

40:41

evidence against Donald, which included the ballistics

40:43

evidence showing that the bullets from the

40:45

crime scene likely came from the same

40:47

box as the bullets found in his

40:50

car and at his girlfriend's house.

40:53

After eight days of testimony, the jury

40:55

needed just two hours to reach a

40:57

guilty verdict. At

40:59

sentencing, the state was finally allowed

41:02

to bring up Shirley's murder as

41:04

an aggravating factor. It

41:06

was actually the only aggravating factor to

41:08

support the death penalty in this case.

41:11

In North Carolina, one of the 11 aggravating

41:14

factors allowed is if the defendant

41:16

had previously been convicted of a

41:18

felony that involved the

41:20

use or threat of violence.

41:23

According to the reporting at the time, the

41:25

jurors were visibly shocked when they found out

41:28

that Gloria was the second wife Donald King

41:30

had killed. They were absolutely

41:32

stunned that they hadn't heard that

41:34

before. And I'm imagining

41:36

being in their position as a juror,

41:38

you would know that not everything is

41:40

allowed to be told to you in

41:42

court, but something that huge, you

41:45

can see why they were so surprised it hadn't

41:47

come up. As for

41:49

mitigating circumstances, the defense pointed to

41:51

Donald's chronic alcohol abuse and mental

41:53

health issues. The jury though,

41:56

saw this as a man who was given a second

41:58

chance when he was paroled in 1980. He

42:01

was free for just five years when he

42:03

killed again. They were out of

42:05

chances for him and it took just 20 minutes

42:07

before they returned with the sentence of death. Being

42:11

a death penalty case, there were appeals and

42:13

writs and everything we usually see. But

42:16

one interesting writ of habeas corpus

42:18

wasn't for the conviction in Gloria's

42:20

case but in Shirley's. If

42:23

the appellate attorneys could get that

42:25

guilty plea overturned, the death

42:27

penalty would follow since killing Shirley

42:29

was the only aggravating factor against

42:31

Donald. In this,

42:33

they argued that Donald wasn't truly informed about

42:36

what his guilty plea meant. He

42:38

just wanted to avoid the death penalty

42:40

and if he knew that he was

42:42

saying that he premeditated and intentionally killed

42:44

Shirley, he never would have taken the

42:46

plea. Back when that

42:48

case happened in the late 1960s, it

42:50

was common that the judge wouldn't question

42:53

the defendant very much in court or

42:55

go over what the plea meant. It

42:57

would be up to the defense attorney to

43:00

handle giving that information. They

43:02

don't do it that way anymore and usually

43:04

there are quite a few questions by the

43:06

judge when someone pleads out. Do

43:08

you understand the charge? Do you know you have

43:11

a right to a trial by a jury of

43:13

your peers? Do you understand this plea is binding

43:15

and the same as a conviction and on and

43:17

on and on? One

43:19

reason the judge does all of this is

43:21

because of the various appeals from people claiming

43:23

that their defense attorney didn't explain

43:25

it to them. And that's

43:28

what Donald was saying here that his attorney

43:30

didn't explain it to him properly. The

43:32

transcript from the plea hearing was missing

43:35

so no one knew for sure what

43:37

the judge did or did not explain

43:40

to Donald in court and his attorney,

43:42

Worth D. Henderson, had died by

43:45

this point. This writ

43:47

was filed around 40 years after the

43:49

conviction after all. So the

43:51

appellate court had to basically decide based

43:53

on what probably happened. The

43:55

bulk of the explanation of the

43:58

plea probably did occur with

44:00

the attorney, as was the habit at the

44:02

time, and a lawyer who

44:04

knew Henderson wrote an affidavit saying

44:06

that he was a capable attorney but

44:09

he wasn't detail oriented and not the

44:11

type to cross his T's and dot

44:13

his I's. In other words,

44:15

he was the type of attorney who

44:17

wouldn't have spelled out all the details

44:19

to his young and scared client. According

44:23

to Donald, pretty much all Henderson told him

44:25

after confirming he wrote that letter to Shirley's

44:27

mother was that he was going to get

44:30

the death penalty if he didn't plead out.

44:32

He didn't know exactly what he was

44:35

pleading to and he said there was

44:37

no discussion about negotiating down to a

44:39

lesser charge like manslaughter. While

44:42

that writ was pending in

44:45

2009, North Carolina passed the Racial

44:47

Justice Act which allowed death row

44:49

prisoners relief from their sentence if

44:52

they could prove that racial discrimination

44:54

played a significant role during their

44:56

trial which included the jury

44:59

selection process. The

45:01

important part of this was that

45:03

the RJA applied retroactively. So defendants

45:05

sentenced to death prior to its

45:07

passage could bring claims as long

45:09

as they did it within one year of

45:12

the law being passed. Donald

45:14

had previously included claims of racial bias

45:17

in a different appeal and he was

45:19

going to argue it again now under

45:21

the RJA. The

45:23

issue with both though was proving

45:25

it. In North

45:27

Carolina, the state has six peremptory

45:29

challenges. That means they can strike

45:31

six people off the jury without

45:33

giving an explanation or showing cause

45:35

for why they should be excluded.

45:37

In this case, the state used

45:40

all six of those on black

45:42

jurors, four primary jurors and two

45:44

alternates. When Donald

45:46

first appealed on this issue, his

45:49

attorney pointed to one of

45:51

these jurors which was a woman named Stephanie.

45:54

This one was easier to illustrate because

45:56

the defense raised a concern at the

45:58

time of jury selection. and the

46:00

judge made the prosecutor explain why they were

46:02

striking her. And it had to

46:05

do, according to the prosecution, with information

46:07

they had. That Stephanie's

46:09

father was a police officer who

46:11

had been forced to resign over

46:13

murky circumstances related to his work

46:16

with the narcotics team. When

46:18

the prosecutor asked his typical question

46:20

of, have you had any past

46:23

negative experiences with law enforcement, Stephanie

46:26

answered, no. He

46:28

said he questioned her truthfulness because her

46:30

father being forced out of a law

46:32

enforcement job would likely be

46:35

considered a negative experience for most

46:37

people. As for

46:39

why they struck the other five black

46:41

jurors, there was not an immediate

46:43

challenge to them, so it's not clear if there

46:45

was a reason that could be seen as valid

46:48

or a reason to believe they were struck

46:50

on the basis of their race. Though

46:53

Donald's first appeal was denied, he was hoping

46:56

to get a second chance to argue this

46:58

point and have it looked into under

47:00

the RJA. And

47:02

it looked like it was a possible path

47:05

off of death row when in 2012, a

47:08

judge overturned four death sentences based

47:10

on the RJA. However,

47:13

it was not to last. In

47:16

2013, the RJA was repealed,

47:18

throwing all of the pending

47:21

and granted appeals into a

47:23

multi-year battle. And those were

47:25

years James Donald King did not have. He died

47:27

on July 31st, 2013, at the age of 69.

47:33

His death was the end of all

47:36

of his appeals. And

47:38

beyond that, it was truly the

47:40

end of this case, the end

47:42

of the stress, the

47:44

worry, the anxiety that

47:47

Shirley and Gloria's families carried, wondering

47:49

if this man was going to

47:52

yet again find a way out

47:54

of prison. and

48:00

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48:06

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