95 years ago, a Phoenix murder case shook the state: Winnie Ruth Judd, the “Trunk Murderess”

February 8th, 1932, Winnie Ruth Judd was sentenced to death for the murder of two of her friends. She spent some time in prison in Florence Arizona but never faced the gallows. Between escaping asylums, and dodging prison time, Winnie Ruth Judd is one of the most interesting criminals in Arizona's History.

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Winnie's life

Winnie Ruth Judd was born in Darlington, Indiana in 1905. According to Arizona Memory Project, Winnie was the daughter of a methodist minister. When she was 19 years old, she married a man 22 years older than her named Dr. William C. Judd. The two of them settled in Los Angles, California after spending years moving around for work.

After settling down in LA, Winnie's husband developed a substance abuse problem, and Winnie ended up with tuberculosis. In 1930 she packed up and moved to Phoenix, where she met Agnes Anne LeRoi and Hedvig Samuelson. These three young ladies became roommates, and all worked in the same clinic. Winnie moved into her own space less than a year later.

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The Crime

On October 16, 1931, Winnie visited her friends Agnes and Hedvig for dinner and drinks. Supposedly, an argument broke out between the friends. No one knows what the argument was about: men, money, or popularity, but in the midst of it, a gun was brandished, and all three women were shot. Winnie was shot in her left hand, while the other two's wounds were fatal.

Winnie received the nickname the "trunk murderess" for the way she dealt with the bodies. Instead of calling for help, Winnie stuffed her friend Agnes in a large suitcase. The other suitcases Winnie was too small for Hedvig, so she split her up between multiple suitcases.

Winnie then put clothes and other things in these suitcases and boarded a train to California with them as her luggage. it didn't take long for people on the train car to notice something wrong, and police met Winnie at the LA train station. Here Winnie claimed she did not have the keys to the suitcases, and that it was with her husband. She then fled from the scene.

Winnie's trial began on January 19th, 1932. She claimed self-defense, but due to the graphic state of the bodies, the jury sentenced her to be hung. She never made it to the gallows though, because days before her execution in 1933, she was found to be insane and was placed in an Arizona mental hospital.

Escape Artist

During the 38 years Winnie Judd spent in the asylum, she escaped 7 times. Her most notable escape according to azcentral was in 1952. During this escape she tied together old rags and climbed down from the asylums third floor. Upon her escape, Winnie fled to California again.

Here she took on a new name, Marian Lane, and became a nanny. It took officials an entire 6 years to find her. When she was caught, she asked for a sanity hearing. In 1969 her case was opened back up, but her parole got denied. She spent another 2 years in a hospital when in 1971 her parole was accepted and she was let go. She returned to California as Marian Lane and never talked of her past again. in 1993, at the age of 93 she died in her sleep.

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So, what do you think? Was Winnie a wounded women whose stay in a mental asylum was warranted, or did she deserve a more extreme punishment from the state of Arizona for all of her crimes?