GUILTY OK - Bobbi Parker charged in prison escape of Randolph Dial, Granite, 1994

[mysteriew]

Dial, who told authorities that he never forgot that he was a fugitive, rarely left the farm. He attended a nearby Pentecostal church periodically with Parker, and once drove to Oklahoma City to attend an event held for the release of a book about his disappearance. Without making any effort to disguise himself, Dial got the author to autograph a copy for him. Undetected, he went back home.


At some point, Parker began signing her receipts at the farm supply store "Samantha Deahl" and referred to him as her husband. She fretted to acquaintances about Dial's heart condition, one of the few pieces of her life she ever discussed.

But Josephine Nichols, 61, who lived across the road, said she thought something was amiss. Parker never talked about herself, Nichols said, just her chickens. And when they spoke, the conversation was brief. Parker was always looking over her shoulder — apparently for Dial, who was rarely seen without his shotgun.

"She told me he was very jealous and that she was not allowed to talk to anybody," Nichols said. "She never looked very happy. She never smiled. And why should she? She had nothing to look forward to."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationw...7apr07,0,2463146.story?coll=la-home-headlines

 

[mysteriew]

Parker had numerous opportunities to leave Dial, but she didn't. Dial explained why. "I had worked on her for about a year trying to get her mind right. I convinced her the friend was the enemy and the enemy was the friend. I think they refer to it as the Stockholm Syndrome."

The theory of a victim becoming sympathetic for their kidnapper evolved from a hostage situation that happened in Sweden thirty years ago. Psychiatrist Dr. James Buckingham explained, "The hostages wound up identifying with the men, taking their side. One wound up engaged to one of the men, another raised money for the defense fund when it was all over with."

http://www.ktre.com/Global/story.asp?S=3176887&nav=2FH5YMqe

 

[VespaElf]

I think she left willingly and once she saw how bad it looked in the intial reports that she didn't want to leave the chicken farm she changed her tune.


Why would he keep her alive for so long??? Fine if he intially threatened her family BUT her husband is LE!!! Her story doesnt make sense AND usually if it doesnt make sense its NOT true!!


Something stinks imo..........

 

[mysteriew]

Parker, the wife of an assistant warden, disappeared with fugitive killer Randolph Dial in 1994 during his escape from an Oklahoma prison. Dial was arrested Monday, and authorities believe he kept Parker from escaping all those years by threatening to hurt her family.

"Our indications are from our initial investigation that she was in fact kidnapped and held against her will," Oklahoma City FBI spokesman Gary Johnson said Wednesday.

Parker, 42, spent Tuesday night with her husband, Randy Parker, who was an assistant warden when Dial escaped and is now warden of a different prison. Nacogdoches County Justice of the Peace Donna Clayton witnessed their reunion earlier Tuesday.

"They just looked at each other, and both of them took a deep breath, and the next thing I knew, both of them were hugging and crying," Clayton said. "I think on both their parts it was, 'Are you really there?'"

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=648152

 

[peggy]

some background from LATimes article today:

Dial has been charged with escaping from a penal institution, said Greer County, Okla., Dist. Atty. John Wampler. Additional charges related to the abduction are likely. Dial is being held at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.

Wampler said there were no plans to charge Parker with a crime, provided her version of the events holds up.

"There is a question there that a lot of people have problems with, and that is why she didn't call or contact someone," he said. "The investigation is still open."

link

 

[KatherineQ]

As time goes on, and this story becomes clearer, it really does seem that Bobbi felt she was kidnapped and had to stay captive to protect her family.

It seems also that Dial developed a real and true affection for her, and there's a kind of disbelief that this played out for as long as it did.

We all know people who don't really exist in the real world - they fall for scam artists and don't seem to have any ability at all to tell truth from lies. Of those people, I don't know any who would live this way for 11 years continuously, but I do know people who really don't seem to be able to sort out scams and bogus threats from realism that the rest of us can do easily.

That said, I wouldn't blame her daughters if they never forgave her for this. They were in MUCH greater danger, from EVERYTHING, being motherless children in this world than they were from this one artist trustee she was living with all these years in that trailor.

I just don't have patience with people like her, I guess is what it boils down to.

Prayers that family can put themselves back together somehow after this.

 

[kgeaux]

Wampler said there were no plans to charge Parker with a crime, provided her version of the events holds up.

"There is a question there that a lot of people have problems with, and that is why she didn't call or contact someone," he said. "The investigation is still open." [/I]

link

Greta asked the detective who was present when Bobbi was reunited with her husband whether or not the investigation was closed, and he said no. He said LE from Texas, Oklahoma and the FBI are all still actively investigating.

A woman who employed Bobbi and Dial for 2 years in the late 90's completely believed Bobbi's story and said that Bobbi (whom she knew as Samantha) behaved very much like an abused wife.

ABC (is it the Today show?) is going to interview someone in the next few minutes concerning this case. I wish someone could explain more about Stockholm Syndrome.....from what I've read some believe it is really questionable as to whether or not this syndrome can last for such an extensive period of time, others believe that is perfectly possible. I just don't know what to believe yet!!

 

[kgeaux]

I just don't have patience with people like her, I guess is what it boils down to.

Prayers that family can put themselves back together somehow after this.

Well, Katherine, I'm having the same trouble! I found myself reading one of the news articles and thinking, "Did this woman not have two brain cells she could have banged together and come up with an escape plan????" Maybe she is just an EXTREMELY compliant person....I am so rebellious by nature that i cannot believe I would put up with captivity for nearly 11 years when so many opportunities to escape were available.

 

[gardenmom]

Well, Katherine, I'm having the same trouble! I found myself reading one of the news articles and thinking, "Did this woman not have two brain cells she could have banged together and come up with an escape plan????" Maybe she is just an EXTREMELY compliant person....I am so rebellious by nature that i cannot believe I would put up with captivity for nearly 11 years when so many opportunities to escape were available.

This the story is nothing to make fun of, but I must admit, I loved when you said "Did this woman not have two brain cells she could have banged together..." I'll have to remember that one for future use!

 

[Bobbisangel]

That pisses me off...

At least she asked the agents about ther daughters.

The news said that she is now back with her husband?????????????????
Didn't she say that she was held captive? For that length of time????
That is pretty hard to believe.

 

[Bobbisangel]

If she was really afraid to leave because he might contact the mafia there are things that she could have done to prevent him from contacting anyone...like shooting him or stabbing him while he was sleeping in his seperate bedroom. She would never have been charged with murder.

Seperate bedrooms for 11 years??? How did he escape from prison anyway? Did he hold a gun to her head....a homemade knife?

I wonder what kind of a man the Warden is. Maybe Dial looked good to her if her husband was a controlling man. It will be interesting to see how this story unfolds.

 

[kgeaux]

This the story is nothing to make fun of, but I must admit, I loved when you said "Did this woman not have two brain cells she could have banged together..." I'll have to remember that one for future use!

That's a line my momma used to use when we were being thoughtless, I don't know if she made it up or got it from her momma. It comes in handy sometimes.

This case has really grabbed my attention for some reason. I think we'll be hearing more about it as time goes on. Like Bobbisangel, I wonder why Bobbi didn't just shoot Dial to escape....we know he had a gun in the house. If she was too timid for that, she could have just not dialed 911 when he had his heart attack. No Dial=No threat to family. I admit I don't understand much about Stockholm Syndrome; I do know it leads the captive to have sympathy for and to identify with the captor....I guess it's the length of time in this case that is so hard to believe.

Did anyone catch Geraldo last night? He interviewed the author who wrote the book on Dial on and the author does NOT believe Bobbi was held against her will. He spoke with her on the phone during the time she was with Dial and she said she was happy. He also said LE never looked too hard for them. The person they worked for DOES believe. A representative from LE was interviewed over the phone and he said he has the same question that Geraldo has, and that the investigation is not over. He said LE is going through the home and interviewing everyone who knew them during the 11 years. ....Geraldo also interviewed a man who shared a hospital room with Dial when he had a heart attack. They said Bobbi stayed with Dial while he was being settled into the room, then left to go back home and work on the chicken farm. They also said that Dial kept pretty close tabs on her by calling home often. I guess you could take that two ways. It could be Dial making sure Bobbi didn't try anything, or Dial calling the woman he loved! WHO knows????

 

[Jeni24]

Regarding Sassler's book, I wouldn't take anything he says or writes for granted as far as journalistic integrity is concerned. Some of what he says simply isn't true. For instance, his description of the layout of the prison--which is something very easily checked. He just took Dial's word for it. Strange, to be skeptical about Bobbi's motives, but not his or Dials, eh, what?

 

[kgeaux]

Regarding Sassler's book, I wouldn't take anything he says or writes for granted as far as journalistic integrity is concerned. Some of what he says simply isn't true. For instance, his description of the layout of the prison--which is something very easily checked. He just took Dial's word for it. Strange, to be skeptical about Bobbi's motives, but not his or Dials, eh, what?

I thought he talked to Dial after the book was published, not before? He says Dial contacted him telling him that he'd read the book TWELVE times (!little bit of ego there, huh?) and that while he (Dial) didn't agree with all of it, overall he was pleased. That makes me wonder how he could have taken Dial's word for the layout of the prison....do you have specific info about that, Jeni? Or is it just something you heard? The author is ex-LE, and while that certainly does not mean his book is totally correct, I've been giving him the benefit of the doubt. I am skeptical about Bobbi, I'll admit that! I go back and forth; it is just such a hard thing to believe IMO. But I've NEVER said I'm not skeptical about Dial's motives....I AM!! What on earth would he keep her around for??? I'm very, very skeptical of every word out of his mouth!

editing to add link to Sasser's bio:

http://www.charlessasser.com/biography.cfm

 

[Jeni24]

As a matter of fact, I don't know where he got the layout of the prison from--I assumed it was Dial, since he did, in fact, interview Dial. If not, then I have no idea, because...it's just completely wrong. Completely. Maybe I was giving him too much credit by assuming he talked to someone/Dial about the prison layout, because why on earth would you just make something up (which, if you've ever been there, you see he had to have made it up. Simply cannot have accidently made that many mistakes of such large magnitude *wink)? Short on time? During my reading, I certainly thought he'd interviewed Dial prior to the book's publication. But maybe I was wrong.

Regarding Bobbi, I guess I just got really upset when he called her a "pathetic woman". I knew her, you see, and...that's just not who she was.

Regarding Dial, the man was infatuated with her. I saw it, others saw it. I remember him being extremely possessive and controlling to everyone around him, to the extent that I was over at their house once, in the yard, and he snapped at me for "messing around" his stuff.

I don't think it was about sex/lust/love. I think it was about control. Dial is a man enamored with himself, who needed to be in control about everything. Bobbi had authority over him, and it galled him to do what she said. You could see it. In retrospect, I cannot fathom what possessed TPTB to allow him to be a trustee--a lot of other people had reservations too, but for so long nothing happened...

 

[kgeaux]

Jeni, I'm sorry if my skepticism offends you. I don't know Bobbi, and I might feel completely different if I did. I just know that this story has grabbed my attention, and I do have questions about it. Something just feels funny about it. I guess I do not understand how someone can have as much freedom to move around as Bobbi did and not manage to get away. Perhaps I just don't understand Stockholm Syndrome very well. I am reading about that, too. There are links to articles further up in this thread which show that people who knew Bobbi during her years on the chicken farm believe her story. There are others who dealt with her during that time who don't believe she was held captive, so I'm not alone in questioning the story. Here's a link:

http://www.kfns.com/APNews/APArticle.aspx?APNewsID=131880

I truly, truly do hope that Bobbi's story is upheld and that it is proven that she did not stay with Dial willingly. As sad as it would be that she could be so controlled by him for 11 years, it would be even sadder to imagine her leaving her family behind for such a piece of trash.

In answer to what you say about the book being completely wrong in its description of the prison, I don't know about that. I'll have to take your word for it! Charles Sasser has stated on various TV interviews that he became interested in the Dial story after hearing about the murder of the karate instructor. He may have interviewed Dial before the escape, but I haven't found anything so far that says that he did. What I have found is this: Charles Sasser is a former Tulsa homicide detective. Mr. Sasser published the book in 1998, and did not speak to Dial in the famous phone call until 2001, so the misinformation about the prison layout probably didn't come from Dial. I'm going to provide a link to a little blurb about the book which says that Sasser was working closely with Oklahoma detectives who were involved in the search for Dial after his escape. Surely these guys would have known the layout of the prison, but I don't know if Mr. Sasser ever asked them about that! Why would he include a wrong description of the prison in his book? Your guess is as good as mine, probably better because I'm all out of guesses! All I've ever seen of the prison is on the old Unsolved Mysteries show, and I don't even know if that was the real prison or not.

http://www.opengroup.com/tubooks/031/0312960417.shtml


And regarding Mr. Sasser calling Bobbi a pathetic woman, that's WAY out of line. No way should he have said that. In fact, it's inexcusable.

Again, I'm sorry if my questions offend you. I hope we all find out that my questions were as wrong as wrong can be.

 

[peggy]

Glad to see others are as interested, and puzzled, by this story as I am. Heard John Walsh's summary of capture of AMW Saturday, and from comments/statements he shared from husband/family, LE, author (who said he didn't believe Bobbi), and various neighbors, sounded like "end of story." Or case closed. But, I'm not so sure, only thing for sure is husband sure wants her back, or so he said, at least, don't want her prosecuted. Couple (well lots more than that actually) things I've been worndering about - unless they left with boat load of money, must have committed some crimes along their travels, starting with getting another vehicle after ditching Bobbi's car. Maybe they stayed in shelters though. Then secondly, if she was afraid mafia coming after family, why didn't she write husband a letter, or LE, and explain what was going on. Sure she could get paper, and had freedom to get to a post office and funds to purchase a stamp. And no way do I think they were together 11 years in separate bedrooms. Maybe it started as an abduction, but somewhere along the way I feel she developed some feelings toward this man, actually probably developed them before the abduction, guess he was a charmer in some respects. I found it strange he didn't confess to murder until 5 years afterwards, not sure if he was even a suspect until that, and found it also strange comments from his wife, who suddently died shortly afterwards, or was she murdered too.

 

[CaliKid]

I'm having a hard time believing this when a solution would've been so simple. Make 1 call to the FBI and have them move in to protect the family before they do the arrest. LE claims suspicious people in town turned them in. Nobody links Bobby Parker to the arrest, and her family is safe.

 

[Jeni24]

Hey, I'm not offended, though it may sound like it. It's just--am I the only one who watches S in interviews and thinks he sounds way too obsessed with Dial? Enamored with him? But enough about that...

Re: Stockholm Syndrome. It's interesting that it took an outside party to say, "Hey, this is too much, here." All of them, even the parents and the professors (who were supposed to be merely monitoring the study) behaved as if the situation was real. What if it really had been real? What might their reaction have been?

 

[kgeaux]

Peggy, Nice to "meet" you. I'm glad I'm not the only puzzled person here! I've wondered the same things as you. It's known that they traveled around in Texas after leaving Oklahoma, how did they get around after ditching the van? They stayed in Houston for a while, don't know if it was in a shelter or not. It is amazing that they were not found early on, I mean Texas is right next to Oklahoma for God's sakes!! Not sure what they did for money!! But so far I haven't heard anything about any crimes commited by Dial after his escape. What has snagged my attention is that the day after the capture, LE issued a statement saying that Bobbi was being reunited with her husband and that the investigation was "over." They've backed off of that and are now saying "investigation is continuing."

cali, your solution to an escape is a good one...there were so many ways she could have gotten away. IF she was thinking clearly. But that's the thing about Stockholm Syndrome, your thinking becomes changed....victim identifies with and supports the one who is victimizing them! Now whether this can go on for 11 years, I haven't a clue.

Jeni, I'm glad you weren't offended. Sasser IS completely enjoying his fame right now. I think he genuinely likes Dial on a certain level--he's called him brilliant, charasmatic, gifted, etc... I really think Dial himself has tried to capitilize on that. By reaching out to Sasser with the phone call, he increased the interest. By stating that he and Bobbi had attended a book signing, he increased the interest. All of this has led to Sasser getting a lot of attention right now, people are talking about his book (out of print, maybe this will lead to a reprint?), and he's getting to appear on all sorts of tv shows! He's probably hoping, hoping that all of his books get more attention--he's written many books.