Clifford L. Linedecker - Poisoned Vows

The author and publisher have provided this e-book to you for your personal use only. You may not make this e-book publicly available in any way. Copyright infringement is against the law. If you believe the copy of this e-book you are reading infringes on the authors copyright, please notify the publisher at: us.macmillanusa.com/piracy.

Contents

Jill had the rare ability to spot vulnerabilities in a man, and she focused in on their weaknesses like a hungry cheetah surveying a herd of wildebeest to pick out a prey animal that was too young or too old, lame or sick. Men were her prey, and when she was on a blood scent she didnt deviate from her target. She was a sultry temptress who could addle male minds with her sexual charisma, serve as a charming dinner companion, or chat knowledgeably about sports cars, guns or business.

Acknowledgments

Books dealing with true events do not come into being solely through the efforts of the authors, but are the result of the active assistance and cooperation of many people. This is especially true when the primary subject of the book was so peripatetic, who crisscrossed the country and repeatedly settled in one state and then another.

Some of the individuals and organizations the author wishes to thank for assistance in tracking Jill Billiot-Coit around the country and unraveling her story include:

In New Orleans: Jeannine Macaluso and Irvin L. Magri, Jr.

In Houston: Ed Wendt of Texas Media Services; and B. B. McCurdy.

In Indiana: Carl V. Steely; Worth Weller of The News-Journal in North Manchester; and a number of friendly folks in North Manchester, Plymouth, and Culver who shared personal recollections with me and helped dig through dozens of documents and files.

In Steamboat Springs: The helpful staff at the Steamboat Pilot and Steamboat Today, especially reporter Joanna Dodder; staff at the Routt County Courthouse; and the waitresses, clerks, shoppers, and others who willingly shared experiences and stories with me.

My special thanks to the Reverend and Mrs. Charles Coit of Orange Park, Florida, who were so helpful in passing on recollections of their brother and brother-in-law, William Clark Coit, Jr.

Finally, thanks go to my editor at St. Martins Press, Charles Spicer, and to my agent, Tony Seidl of T. D. Media, for their encouragement and support.

Authors Note

This book is totally nonfiction. Nothing has been made up. The events happened, and they are recounted here as accurately and faithfully as it is within the ability of the author to do so. No names have been changed. Conversations and quotes are taken from the recollections of law-enforcement officers; other participants who were interviewed by the author; journalists and other news sources; statements in legal files; or testimony from court proceedings. In cases where accounts or recollections conflict with each other, I have used the story that is most plausible or presented both, while pointing out the sources so the reader can decide for him- or herself. In a few instances, accounts are given slightly out of chronological order for the purposes of smoothing out the narrative and making the story more readable.

October 1994

Introduction

Its not news that society in the United States is violent. At this writing, according to the latest statistics available, the FBIs annual Uniform Crime Reports show that approximately 24,500 people were murdered in this country during 1993.

And through the early months of 1994 there was no indication of any significant let-up in the rate that Americans and occasional visitors to this country, shoot, stab, strangle, poison, and beat each other to death. Violent crime in the United States has shot up a mind-boggling 560 percent during the past thirty years, according to US Justice Department figures.

The unwary, unlucky, and sometimes grossly foolish, can become murder victims in myriad ways.

Drug deals go bad and turn into violent shootouts; women and children of both sexes are murdered by rapists; serial killers troll for male and female prostitutes, barroom pickups, or hitchhikers; longtime drinking buddies kill each other in drunken brawls; men and women are shot down for a few dollars after making withdrawals at ATM machines; other die in coldly-calculated, carefully-planned executions; and family members are turning on each other with increasing frequency.

It is a continual struggle between good and evil that provides plotlines for countless movies, television series, newspapers, and books. There is a fascination with murder that is unequalled by any other crime. And the obsession with homicide is especially keen when the accused killer is a woman.

Women arent supposed to do such things. They create and nurture life. It is the testosterone-driven male with his naturally-aggressive, competitive, and territorial instincts who most often kills on the battlefields during wars between nations or during the ongoing war that rages on Americas streets and in its homes.

When a woman abandons her more traditional function in the deadly game of homicide as victim, survivor, or observer and assumes the role of killer, its especially disturbingand sensational. Even then, her behavior is often linked to ties with a homicidal male companion that gives their crimes a Bonnie-and-Clyde patina.

They are women like Judith Ann Neelly, who was barely fifteen when she ran off to marry husband, Alvin, and began to make babies and murder anyone unlucky enough to stray into their path during a rape, robbery, and murder spree in Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee; of Debra Brown, who joined boyfriend Alton Coleman in a savage orgy of sex and murder that linked them to the slayings of more than a half-dozen men, women, and children in the Midwest. Both murder teams went about their bloody work in the early 1980s.

Women with homicide on their mind also tend to look for a man to do the dirty work for them. Or they use poison to do the job themselves. Any crime historian worth his or her salt can compile a long list of Arsenic Annies, who have inflicted agonizing deaths on unsuspecting victims with poisons. Cyanide and strychnine are other lethal compounds that are sometimes used by both female and male poisoners.

Occasionally, homicidal females freelance on their own, but with rare exceptions such as serial killer Aileen Wuornos, a hitchhiking prostitute now on Floridas death row, their victims are people who have been dependent on their care in hospitals and nursing homesor family members. When women kill, the victim is likely to be someone who knows and trusts them, or did trust them at one time. Its a tragic fact that a disproportionate number of women who kill tend to murder boyfriends, husbands, and former mates.

The woman who is the subject of this book fits neatly into that mold. Jill Coit has been described by a private investigator as a black widow, a lethal creature who murders her mate then feeds off his corpse.

That term, when applied to humans, is usually reserved for women who have killed a series of husbands. At this writing, Jill was charged with a single murder of an ex-husband who was shot to death with a .22 caliber pistol in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. But an earlier husband she was feuding with in Houston died in disturbingly similar circumstances.

Jill has had a lot of husbands. And the fact she was married multiple times, to nine different men, was a big factor in my decision to examine her life and try to figure out what makes this particular woman tick.