In 1924, Louise Peete was incarcerated for murder. Three of her husbands had committed suicide, she was acquitted of the murder of Joe Appel, and convicted of the murder of Jacob C. Denton, a wealthy man living in Los Angeles, California. Death followed Peete wherever she went. And she was supposed to serve a life sentence for one such death. Part one can be found here.
While incarcerated at the California Institution for Women in Tehachapi, Peete was considered a model prisoner. She worked as a dental assistant, and maintained the flower garden. She also wrote for the prison’s newspaper.
Peete made friends, and charmed many people around her. She was especially kind to Margaret Logan, a woman who lobbied for Peete’s release and championed her innocence vehemently.
After 18 years, Peete was released on parole for good behaviour in 1939. Margaret helped her gain employment as a live-in housekeeper for one of her friends, Jessie Marcy. Jessie had also believed in Peete’s innocence, and was pleased with her release. She took her in happily.
Peete’s lobbyists also helped her change her name to ‘Anna Lee’, ensuring that Peete’s identity would remain secret after her release. Unless, of course, she told anyone. Which was highly unlikely.
Shortly after Peete began her employment, Jessie died of natural causes. With nowhere else to go, Peete moved in with another friend – Emily Latham. Emily also happened to be Peete’s probation officer. As with Jessie, she worked there as a live-in housekeeper and nurse.
In 1943, Emily died of a heart attack. Despite two women dying shortly after being in close contact with Peete, neither death was investigated as suspicious. The name change had ensured that the police weren’t aware that she’d been paroled after serving time for murder.
With two employers now dead, Peete went to work as a live-in housekeeper and nurse for her good friend Margaret Logan. Margaret’s husband, Arthur, had dementia and required a little bit of extra care. Peete assured the couple that this was absolutely no problem.
They had absolute confidence in Peete. Throughout the entirety of her incarceration, they stood by her side and believed wholeheartedly in her innocence. After Peete’s husband, Richard, had committed suicide, they even looked after her daughter for a time.
While working for the Logans, Peete, as Anna Lee, now 63 years old, met and married 67-year-old Lee Borden Judson, a banker, on May 2nd, 1944. He moved into her boarding room at the Logan residence, choosing to reside with his wife and her employers. She did not disclose her identity to him, nor did Margaret. He had no idea what he was getting himself into, and the toll his marriage would take.
Shortly after the couple married, Margaret vanished. Curious, Lee asked Peete where Margaret had gone. And Peete was ready. She knew exactly what she was going to say.
She told her husband that Arthur often had fits of rage. He wasn’t in his right mind most of the time, and took his moods out on Margaret. During these moods and fits, he would often attack Margaret.
According to Peete, on June 1st, 1944, Arthur flew into one such rage-filled fit, attacking Margaret, and she disappeared.
Claiming to be Arthur’s foster sister, Peete had Arthur committed to Patton State Hospital.
With that taken care of, Peete told Lee, and the Logans’ curious and curiouser neighbours, that the reason for Margaret’s disappearance was due to the aftermath of the last attack, the one that got Arthur committed. He bit Margaret severely, Peete claimed, leaving her disfigured. She was embarrassed and humiliated, and didn’t want to show herself in public. (Sound familiar?)
Peete ended her story by stating that Margaret was isolating herself in hospital, awaiting plastic surgery, and would return when she deemed herself socially presentable. Somehow, no one seemed to find this at all suspicious.
Lee and Peete continued to live in the Logan residence, patiently awaiting Margaret’s return. But Peete was not known for being patient.
With the Logans out of the way, Peete began forging cheques and spending their money as she saw fit. Just as she had with Jacob Denton.
On December 6th, 1944, Arthur Logan died while at Patton State Hospital, making Peete’s theft, fraud, and forgery that much easier. She donated his body to science.
Peete was lucky – three of her employers were dead, one was, supposedly, simply isolating herself, and she was married to a man who had authority and power at a bank. Louise Peete was one lucky lady.
However, her luck was about to run out very, very fast.
After Arthur’s death, employees at the Logans’ bank began to grow incredibly suspicious. One particularly eagle-eyed clerk discovered one of Peete’s forgeries, and wasted no time calling the police.
On December 20th, 1944, while investigating the forgeries, police decided to search the Logan home, where Peete and Lee were still residing. Their search uncovered Margaret’s body in a shallow grave under an avocado tree in the Logans’ backyard.
Louise Peete – as Anna Lee – was arrested and charged for the murder of Margaret Logan.
It didn’t take long for Peete’s identity to become known. After that, it really didn’t take long for Peete to change her story.
She claimed that Arthur had flown into one of his rage-fuelled fits, and attacked Margaret. She said that Arthur bludgeoned and shot Margaret during a ‘homicidal frenzy’. She admitted to burying Margaret in the yard, but denied murdering her.
She also claimed that she was afraid of reporting the murder. She said that, if her previous identity were to be known, she’d be pinned for something she didn’t do, and she didn’t want to go through that trauma. She claimed that she feared being persecuted by police. She denounced any wrongdoing.
Lee Judson was also arrested for the murder, but the charges against him were dropped on January 11th, 1945. He was released as there was insufficient evidence against him. It was fairly clear that Lee had nothing to do with the murder of Margaret Logan.
Despite his name being cleared, Lee couldn’t stand the thought of his wife having done anything wrong. He couldn’t stand what her actions had done to his good name. Lee Judson jumped to his death, from the 9th floor of an office building in Los Angeles. He was the fourth of Peete’s husbands to die by suicide.
On April 23rd, 1945, Louise Peete’s third – and final – murder trial began.
As with Jacob Denton, the prosecution posited that Peete murdered Margaret and institutionalized Arthur in order to gain accesses to their finances. They’d been her biggest allies after all, what reason would they have to suspect that she’d have anything malicious planned against them?
On May 31st, 1945, Louise Peete was found guilty of first-degree murder. She was sentenced to death.
Peete seemed nonplussed by the verdict. After learning of her fate, Peete was described as looking up to make a ‘mocking facial expression to the prosecutor’. Then, she looked back down and continued reading her book.
On April 11th, 1947, Louise Peete was executed via gas chamber at San Quentin State Prison. She was the second woman to be executed by the state of California. She maintained her innocence of all of the deaths attached to her name until the day she died.
Louise Peete had death follow her like a plague. Four husbands dead by suicide, three murder trials, one acquittal, two convictions, and multiple suspicious deaths all fell at her feet.
Death didn’t simply follow the black widow like a plague. Death obeyed her very command.
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Sources:
The Life and Life of L.A. Man Killer Louise Peete – Joan Renner – LA Magazine
Louise the Lady Killer – Mark Gribben – The Malefactor’s Register
Hollywood Crime Scene podcast – Episode 92 – Louise Peete
Louise Peete Wikipedia page
[…] Stay tuned for part two. […]