After the Huntsville Police learned of the tip it took only minutes to establish that Peggy Lowe was Betty Wilson’s twin sister. Investigators decided it was time to pay Mr. White a visit.
James Dennison White was a 42-year-old Vietnam veteran who had a history of mental disorders and antisocial behavior caused largely by drug and alcohol abuse. He had been in a number of mental institutions as well as serving time in jail. While serving time for selling drugs he escaped and was captured almost a year later in Arkansas, where he was involved in kidnapping a man and his wife. One of his last mental evaluations described him as suffering from delusions and unable to separate fact from fantasy.
At first, as White was being questioned by the detectives, he denied everything. Slowly, as the evening and night grew longer he began to contradict himself, spinning a web of half-truths, lies and fantasies. He denied knowing Peggy Lowe, then admitting it. He denied knowing Betty Wilson, then said he was going to do some work for her. Gradually a pattern emerged. As he would get caught in one contradiction, he would admit it but deny everything else. The detectives were used to this type of behavior though; almost every criminal they interrogated did the same thing. They understood from experience that it was going to be a long drawn out process in getting white to tell the truth.
Finally, just as the sun was peeking over the horizon, White broke down. Though it would take another several months, and numerous different confessions to get him to tell the whole story, he basically confessed to being hired by Peggy Lowe and Betty Wilson to kill Dr. Jack Wilson.
He claimed to have met Peggy Lowe at the elementary school where she worked and where he had done some carpentry work. After he did some work at her house, according to White, Mrs. Lowe became infatuated with him and spent hours talking to him on the phone. Gradually she began to talk about her husband and hint that she would like to see him killed. A short time later, though, she dropped the subject of her husband and began talking about her sister who wanted to hire a “hit” man. White pretended to play along, saying he knew someone who would do it for $20,000. Mrs. Lowe told him that was too expensive; her sister was almost broke. Finally they agreed on a price of $5,000 of which Mrs. Lowe gave him half, in small bills, in a plastic bag.
More Wilson Murder on next page.
Murder of Dr. Wilson
BettyWilson--My Story Part 1
BettyWilson--My Story Part 2
The Confession of James Dennison White
Poll: Who Plotted to Kill Dr. Jack Wilson?
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