Family fight that left dad headless
How far would this mother go to protect her teenage children?
They say you never know what happens behind closed doors.
Seemingly happy families find their bonds stretched at the seams, pulled apart by the stresses of life.
For some, it’s crippling debt, for others it can be something much darker.
Take the Green family of Raleigh, North Carolina...
In the beginning, things were very much the norm.
David Green Jr met his partner Wendy in the early 1990s and soon afterwards they welcomed their first child – a daughter, Alexis.
The couple didn’t marry, but Wendy took the Green surname, and their trio became four when baby boy David III arrived.
From the outside looking in, this foursome were like any normal family.
But, unfortunately, the truth was far less happy.
Court records documented the struggles, including David Green Jr’s fight to be named on his daughter’s birth certificate.
Later on, Wendy petitioned for full custody of the children.
Most worrying of all, a domestic violence charge was brought on David
Green Jr in 2007.
Though he was arrested and charged with regards to that incident, David Green Jr never served time for the alleged crime.
Instead, it may have proven to be his undoing.
In January 2009, it is said that Alexis, who was just 15 at the time, fell pregnant.
Mother and daughter had been hiding the pregnancy from her father, but now the truth was about to come tumbling out.
Furious Green Jr threatened to take Alexis to the doctor and, if the pregnancy rumours were true, kill Wendy and bury her in the back garden.
It was at this point that Wendy enlisted her kids in a deadly plan.
That evening, as the three of
them crowded into Alexis’ room, Wendy laid out her roadmap to freedom.
There was one major bump in the road... Her partner, Green Jr.
So she would kill him. The mother-of-two sent her young son to her husband’s room as he slept.
David, who was aged just 13, entered the room three times, armed with a different weapon on each occasion.
First a samurai sword... But he refused to slash his father.
Second, a grudge hammer – a metal cylindrical tool used to crack slate and other stone. But he refused again. Though Alexis took no role in the violence, she did witness it and urged on her younger brother, reportedly saying, ‘Well, if y’all are going to do this, do it.’ Finally, David fetched a smaller, carpenterstyle hammer.
And some time that evening in January 2009, he delivered two sharp blows to his father’s skull with one of the hammers. Only…
It didn’t kill him. Instead, confused and bleeding, Green Jr crawled about the house desperately asking for help.
Calls that would never be heard, nor answered. Instead, his family hid his wallet, keys and phone. All part of the cover-up plan. Several hours later, he died. That’s when Wendy, Alexis and David wrapped up the body in a bed sheet, and used their pitbull’s lead to drag it to the basement.
There, they shoved the body of Green Jr into the freezer. Laid to rest in an icy coffin. The deed was done at last, but would the family manage to get away with it?
They bought rug cleaner, and worked to clean the house,
removing all evidence.
As time went by, Alexis gave birth to the baby, who has since been adopted. David was in and out of school.
For months, the family seemed to get by without raising suspicion.
But after two family funerals passed with Green Jr not in attendance, family members became concerned.
In order to quash any concerns, Wendy insisted he was travelling abroad.
Still more months passed by...
Green Jr had always been a man who’d kept himself to himself, and it appeared no-one really missed him.
That is until a neighbour of the Greens, Allen White, noticed strange behaviour in July 2010.
Wendy had apparently moved out, leaving her children and pitbull behind.
She was in the town of Lumberton, 100 miles away, where she had been caring for her unwell father before settling there for good.
Concerned, Allen left a note at the Green home, warning he would call animal control if they didn’t take care of their dog, as the temperature had reached 100 degrees.
It was at this time that Alexis got into trouble and was arrested for burglary.
Weeks later, Wendy was back and acting peculiar.
But it was not until the lawn had begun to get unruly – something Allen White knew Green Jr was meticulous about – that he called the missing man’s mother, urging her to file a missing person report.
Which was done in September 2010.
The police conducted a preliminary search of the Greens’ home, but uncovered nothing untoward.
They had to consider that Green Jr may have left of his own accord.
But, determined to find some clue as to what had happened, a second search was soon carried out.
By now, Wendy’s money had run out and the electricity to the house had been turned off, leaving the freezer to defrost.
The police recognised the stench of death as soon as they entered the property.
They quickly discovered Green Jr’s rotting corpse in the basement, just as the family had left it the year before.
Within hours, Wendy was arrested, followed later by both of her kids. All three were charged with murder.
The teens were to be tried as adults, though they would not receive the death penalty as the crimes had occurred when they were minors.
In September 2011, all three appeared at court.
Prosecutors told how David Green III returned to the basement later that fateful night with an axe, knife and chainsaw to decapitate and dismember his father.
He was only successful in the decapitation.
Wendy’s defence lawyer claimed in court that she had been suffering from batteredwife syndrome.
‘There was mental, physical and emotional abuse to Wendy and the children over a long period of time,’ he said.
Ronnie Ansley, a defence lawyer for the children, said, ‘The mother was the puppetmaster. She was telling them what to do, and they were doing it.’
Alexis Green, 17, who admitted to helping her mother and brother hide their father’s killing, received a six-year prison sentence for accessory and unrelated burglary charges.
David Green III, who was then aged 15, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder, and he was duly sentenced to a minimum of 23 years in prison.
His lawyer filed notice to appeal the sentence.
Wendy Edmond Green, 42, who pleaded to second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder, was sentenced to a minimum of 30 years.
A family behind bars after so much had happened behind closed doors...