GUILTY TX - Jeffrey Wright, 34, murdered at his Houston home, 13 Jan 2003

I saw an episode about 6 weeks ago on either "American Justice" or "48 Hours Mystery", though I'm not 100% sure of which show, since I watch so
many.

The case was fascinating. It was a VERY attractive blonde woman in her late 20's or so, who was accused of brutally stabbing her husband to death.
She was *model beautiful*, which struck me...and she seemed like a nice, normal person.

She denied doing it, and there are a lot of very weird aspects to the case.

I would love to read more on it, but cannot remember the woman's name.

Does anyone know her name? (or anything about this case)

Thanks so much.

Tristan said:

I saw an episode about 6 weeks ago on either "American Justice" or "48 Hours Mystery", though I'm not 100% sure of which show, since I watch so
many.

The case was fascinating. It was a VERY attractive blonde woman in her late 20's or so, who was accused of brutally stabbing her husband to death.
She was *model beautiful*, which struck me...and she seemed like a nice, normal person.

She denied doing it, and there are a lot of very weird aspects to the case.

I would love to read more on it, but cannot remember the woman's name.

Does anyone know her name? (or anything about this case)

Thanks so much.

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I wish I did. It sounds interesting.

Is it the one where she killed her husband because of having an 'emotional' affair with their good friend? If I remember correctly they were all religious people, she claimed someone broke into their home & murdered her husband. Police suspected a conspiracy between her and the friend - many years later both were arrested and convicted.

Sound familiar?

Tistan, I think the case you're referring to is that of Susan Wright. She was accused of stabbing her husband 193 times in their home. She claimed to be victim of domestic violence. After stabbing her husband 193 times (while he was tied up during sex I think) she buried his body in their basement or some other part of the house. Anyway, this was featured on 48 Hours Mystery.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/07/11/48hours/main708111.shtml

That is exactly who it was... I remember because of the 193 times stabbing etc.

MsRusty said:

Tistan, I think the case you're referring to is that of Susan Wright. She was accused of stabbing her husband 193 times in their home. She claimed to be victim of domestic violence. After stabbing her husband 193 times (while he was tied up during sex I think) she buried his body in their basement or some other part of the house. Anyway, this was featured on 48 Hours Mystery.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/07/11/48hours/main708111.shtml

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THANKS SO MUCH, MsRusty!! I remembered the 193 times, as soon as you said it. I cannot even imagine having the energy to stab someone that many times.

Originally aired: Friday September 17, 2004 on Oxygen Show Stars:
(Susan Wright)


A 30 minute TV show about it:

To everyone who knew her, Susan Wright seemed like she had everything. Married to successful salesman Jeff Wright, she was a stay-at-home mom raising two adorable young children in their suburban Houston home. But, then, in January of 2003, Jeff mysteriously disappeared. Susan told others that Jeff had walked out after striking their five-year-old son. But, one of Jeff's co-workers became suspicious and called the cops. With police closing in, Susan eventually told local authorities that she had killed Jeff - in self-defense - and buried his body in the backyard. At her trial, the prosecution claimed Susan had killed Jeff not in self-defense, but for insurance money. Her lawyers, on the other hand, painted Jeff as an abusive husband and claimed that Susan killed him after he attacked her with a knife. But there were plenty of holes in Susan's story; 192 to be exact. That's how many times Susan had stabbed Jeff in "self-defense." The jury convicted Susan of first-degree murder and sentenced her to 25 years in prison.

This show is on again tonight on 48 Hours Mystery. It is going to be on at 10pm est on CBS.


Respectfully,
dark_shadows

i believe her 100%. he sounds like an absolute psycho, which is a mind-bogglingly common scenario-- the man plays the charmer, the perfect gentleman. then the woman marries him and gets pregnant, next thing you know, the psychotic 'other personality' comes out. i can guarantee you that if she had left this man, he would have tracked her down and killed her in cold blood.

I thought of Susan Wright immediately as well, too, although I remembered it because the prosecutor caught hell for "re-enacting" the crime during the trial.

She buried him in the backyard, psycho or control freak he may well have been, that tends to get you a conviction.

Here's a link about the trial:

http://www.khou.com/news/local/stories/khou040226_mh_wrightbody.2e118ac1.html

reb said:

i believe her 100%. he sounds like an absolute psycho, which is a mind-bogglingly common scenario-- the man plays the charmer, the perfect gentleman. then the woman marries him and gets pregnant, next thing you know, the psychotic 'other personality' comes out. i can guarantee you that if she had left this man, he would have tracked her down and killed her in cold blood.

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And how very convenient for her that Jeff is no longer around to tell his side of the story... IMO, she's right where she deserves to be.

i wonder if Susan Polk had heard of this case when she came up with her defence.

From what i've read i'm not sure what i believe. If it is true she witnesses or was abused by her father also, then coupled with an abusive husband, during the time she killed him she was in a state of shock and having flashbacks of her father.. She was obviously delusional to think he would get out of the grave after she buried him.
Yet i many abuse cases, once a woman gets married, and then has children, the abusive husband sees it as a means to control the wife more, especially with children involved. I wish it would specify what drug abuse issues he had with what drugs. I don't see pot making anyone abuses, as it's more of a sedating type drug. If Susan has battered women's syndrome which would have been the case, even stemming back from her father, then that would explain the overkill.
Autopsy shows Jeff was high on cocaine that night, which i would think make him harder to fight. If there were other drugs involved that didn't show in the autopsy, then they were processed through his system before his body was discovered. If he was a marijuana user, that usually stays in the system the longest 30 days, as opposed to cocaine which can leave the system at 1-3 days after single use. He had to be a heavy cocaine user for it to still be in his system to be present for the autopsy. I would imagine cocaine would instigate his abusiveness. I do think she was abused by him, yet i'm not sure if she killed him in self defense (as for the legal term goes). I think she perceived she killed him in self defense do to his past abusiveness, yet that night his murder didn't go down as she said. There is no way any rational person would tie a body to a dolly to move it. That is even more work, and too hard to do with dead weight, her being the size she was and him his size. Her dragging him logically fits the equation. There is evidence she was abused and also their son. If he blacked out during one of his drug episodes maybe she took advantage of that to kill him to avoid any more abuse from him.

I think this is the trial where the state brought in a mattress or maybe even the mattress.

I saw this last night for the first time on 48 Hrs. I am also on the fence. I do believe she was abused. And the punching of the child would be traumatic with the alleged history, even if it wasn't hard enough to leave bruises. (Does anyone remember 48 Hrs saying if the child had bruises?) And with the alleged history of Susan I believe it is possible that she suffered a psychotic break at the time she killed her husband.

It is interesting with battered women. Women who are frequently and severely abused usually see the hubby as all powerful. They are afraid that if they leave he will come after them and kill them. And they believe that if they stay he will kill them or even the children in some cases. And during the abuse they don't feel strong enough to fight back, and feel that he would prevent them from calling police or that no one would believe them if they told.

And apparently what they sometimes do is wait until the hubby goes to sleep or is otherwise incapacitated. And they claim self defense, even though he was asleep. In their minds it is self defense, because they feel so powerless and they feel he is so powerful, that the only way they think they can defend themselves is to kill him while he is asleep.

chicoliving said:

I think this is the trial where the state brought in a mattress or maybe even the mattress.

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I think they set up the entire bed in that courtroom Chico!! I believe she's as guilty as sin.

mysteriew said:

And apparently what they sometimes do is wait until the hubby goes to sleep or is otherwise incapacitated. And they claim self defense, even though he was asleep. In their minds it is self defense, because they feel so powerless and they feel he is so powerful, that the only way they think they can defend themselves is to kill him while he is asleep.

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I agree that they very probably believe that it is self-defense, but as you know, the law does not. Either women need to get out or kill him during an attack. Otherwise, too many more battered women are going to stay too long in prison.

Jeana (DP) said:

I think they set up the entire bed in that courtroom Chico!! I believe she's as guilty as sin.

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It was the entire bed I remember watching it. It was horrible.

so, ok, for self defense you guys are saying you only do it enough times to make them "dead" or make them stop? anything beyond that is just "revenge" killing? or killing for other motive?
is that what the prosecution was saying? i think i have seen this one before... woman tied up her hubby like they were going to do it kinky, then she stabbed him, right?
i just couldn't shake the fact that if she was really that abused, how she might have just kept stabbing to make sure he was dead? however, in this case did think she had planned it out, and i wasn;'t too sure he was abusive, ect. but in other cases... i could see an abused woman going for overkill.

chicoliving said:

It was the entire bed I remember watching it. It was horrible.

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didn't she make some kind of tourture marks on his privates?
that was what made me think she was guilty. she tourtured him. but otherwise... i don't see why a psychologically abused woman might not freak out and just keep going... otherwise. i mean just looking at bunch of stab marks vs 1 stab mark doesn't mean that it is ALWAYS a preplanned murder for - revenge, to make someone suffer - right? scared people could in theory use overkill (at least i would think...)