The Murder of JoAnn Dewey in Vancouver, Washington

by Pat Jollota

Overview

Before midnight on March 19, 1950, several startled bystanders watched two men force a screaming young woman into a car and drive away from Saint Joseph's Hospital in Vancouver. One of them yelled out that she was his wife and was drunk. That was the last time anyone saw JoAnn Dewey alive. Her battered, naked body washed up on the banks of the Wind River seven days later. Suspicion quickly fell on two brothers, Turman and Utah Wilson, who fled town before police caught them in Sacramento. Their arrest and sensational trial captivated and divided the peaceful community. Author Pat Jollota uncovers the chilling details of this tragic story.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781467138857
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	10/29/2018
Series:	True Crime
Pages:	160
Sales rank:	1,040,015
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Pat Jollota came to Vancouver, Washington, in 1982 from Los Angeles, where she had spent twenty-two years as a civilian employee of the Los Angeles Police Department. Her late husband was a sergeant at that department. She was elected to the Vancouver City Council and served there for twenty years. She was named a First Citizen of Clark County in 2012. She has published two books for the Clark County Historical Society, as well as four volumes for Arcadia Publishing.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements 7

Introduction 9

The Dewey Family 11

The Wilsons 18

Law Enforcement 28

The Crime 34

The Search 41

The Embattled Sheriff 48

JoAnn Found 53

The Investigation 60

An Uneventful Arrest 68

The Recordings 75

The Lawyers 79

The Investigation Continues 82

The Trial 88

The Defense Begins 99

The Rebuttal 109

The Verdict 115

Legal Maneuvering Begins 118

The Court of Last Resort 131

The Execution 139

The Aftermath 145

Bibliography 155

Index 157

About the Author 160