Ernest Turley was murdered by his daughter, Mattie, due to messages she received in Ouija board sessions with her mother, Dorothea. Sounds crazy, doesn’t it? Dorothea, a singer from New York with reports advising of her immense beauty and refined taste, married Ernest Turley in 1918 and settled in Arizona in 1933 with their two children, David and Mattie. Ernest’s salary and Dorothea’s prior lifestyle did not mesh, which caused some friction between the two. Dorothea met a cowboy named Kent Pearce, whom she started spending more time with, and had an extramarital affair. She started playing with an Ouija board with her daughter during this time. These sessions came through with “messages” that Mattie should kill her father (which were manipulations by Dorothea). In November 1933, Dorothea and David went out to do errands while Ernest and Mattie tried to remove a skunk from under the house. It was at this time that Mattie shot Ernest. At first, she acted as if it were an accident, but after police questioning, she confessed that she intentionally shot her father so her mother could be with her cowboy lover and explained the Ouija board sessions and messages. Mattie was put on trial and plead guilty to attempted murder on December 22, 1933, and sent to a State School for Girls for six (6) years. Unfortunately, Ernest passed away from his injuries on December 26, 1933. This prompted a trial for Dorothea as an accomplice in Ernest’s murder, with a sentence of 10-25 years. Dorothea asked for her conviction to be overturned in May 1935; she was acquitted on September 12, 1936.
Images courtesy of the Santa Rosa Republican via Newspapers.com IMAGE LINK
The Ghastly Historian 