Flash forward three months and a hot topic of conversation in Michigan was the death of another young girl - Anna Lee Townsend. Anna was 4-years-old and had been beaten to death. Police suspected Jeanette Grosso, her aunt and chief caregiver, was the culprit.
Muriel Wrightman, 23-years-old, was having a few drinks at a downtown bar in Detroit one night with some friends and agreeing that Mrs. Grosso was indeed a terrible person when she paused long enough to make a phone call to police. She wanted to confess to killing her niece, Shirley Ann Little. She hung up the phone and waited for a squad car to pick her up.
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| photo from The Times Herald - April 2, 1946 |
Muriel told police she loved Shirley Ann but had grown weary of caring for her younger half-sister's baby and she especially didn't like hearing how pretty the child was. And not simply beautiful but how much prettier than her own 2-year-old daughter Victoria this new baby was. Muriel claimed that after work she's stopped off for a few drinks, came home drunk and jealousy drove her to stuff the corner of a baby blanket into the infant's mouth. She then drank a few beers an went to bed. The following morning she learned of her niece's death.
Guilt over the death gnawed at Muriel for months. She had been plagued since that night by nightmares of her own daughter being suffocated but it was reading about the awful crime committed by Jeanette Grosso that finally made her break. She thought, "I'm no better than that woman." When people on the street offered her a smile she thought, "Why should the smile at me? After all, I am a murderer." On March 29, 1946, Muriel told police "I want to clear my conscience." "I did it; I murdered Shirley Ann; I want to be punished."
Here's the problem with that confession though - nobody believed her. Not her family nor the doctor who had signed Shirley Ann's death certificate. The police certainly had their doubts however Muriel took two lie detector tests which supported her claims and Muriel DID insist she was guilty. Three days later she was arraigned on a murder charge.
Edward Kane, acting coroner at the time of Shirley Ann's death, told the authorities and the press that he felt Muriel's confession was "a publicity-seeking hoax."
Shirley Ann's body was exhumed then examined by two other physicians and they agreed with Dr. Walter H. Boughner's original determination that Shirley Ann had not been murdered. Dr. Boughner was re-interviewed and he said Shirley Ann was malnourished and would probably not have been strong enough to push the blanket off of her own face but there were no signs of violence on the body.
Muriel's mother Rebecca Evon and her 14-year-old stepsister Sally Evon also refuted her claims.
Sally was the most certain of Muriel's innocence, "I'm sure Muriel didn't do it, and my four brothers don't think she did either." Sally told police that she'd let Muriel into the apartment that night, sat up with her stepsister as she drank a few bottles of beer, watched her go to bed and then turned in for the night herself 30 minutes later.
Rebecca Evon seemed less sure and told authorities "I don't know if Muriel did it or not. She does get mean when she's drunk, but she never threatened to do anything like that."
Muriel Blanche Wrightman was a troubled individual even before the death of her niece and not even she was sure why that was. She was an honor student who often ran away from home. "I had a good home. My stepfather was a fine man. I had plenty to eat. I just ran away." "I was the favorite child in my family. I was the one my parents fussed over. They were always kind and good to me. But I ran away just the same."
Three years prior Muriel had attempted suicide by throwing herself in the St. Clair River.
Muriel was a single mother to Victoria Ann but by choice. She had rejected an offer of marriage from Victoria's father, a man she loved, because she had no desire to settle down. He was in the Army and while he was convalescing in a Georgia hospital, Muriel sent him a "Dear John" letter breaking off the relationship. Muriel never told him she was carrying his child or that she had given birth. There are few clues to his identity except for Victoria's last name being Arnott.
Muriel was interviewed at length and while sure of her crime, she offered up motives and timelines that conflicted with testimony from others.
Muriel contended her half-sister Phyllis had practically abandoned Shirley Ann after only 2 weeks. Yet, Rebecca Evon denied this and said "Shirley Ann was in my care, just as Muriel's own baby was when Muriel went to Detroit." When neither Rebecca or Muriel were available to watch the children, it was Sally who took over. At the time of her daughter Shirley Ann's death, Phyllis Little nee' Evon was visiting with her husband Jerry in Kentucky where he was stationed.
Muriel also claimed the financial strain on the family was too great - "I just thought if I do it, I won't have to pay for the baby's food anymore." It is possible the family was struggling financially. Muriel claimed she was bringing home $25 a week and her mother was receiving some money on a pension but they had so many mouths to feed. Rebecca's husband had died in 1944. Muriel worked a late shift at Detroit Gasket & Manufacturing (clocking out at 12:45 AM) and would come home worn out but always made time to feed and play with Shirley Ann, never acting jealous or resentful. But Muriel admitted "at one time I felt like strangling my own baby too, but I snapped out of it." "I had been drinking and sometimes when I drink too much, I get mean."
Of this there, apparently, was no doubt. Her Mom Rebecca told the Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Reg. S. Atkins "I don't know what to think. She used to abuse the children when she got drunk. I told her if she did it again, I'd knock her down but she never threatened to kill anyone. I don't know what to think."
On April 12, 1946, Muriel was examined by three psychiatrists. She was declared sane and the case moved forward.
On April 24, 1946 she pled guilty to first degree murder but Circuit Judge Fred W. George rejected that plea. And the judge was right to do so.
In early June, when the case came before a jury, even Muriel was starting to doubt herself. She now accepted that she was suffering from a delusion. Her court appointed attorney W. Grafton Sharp filed a motion to dismiss since the strongest piece of evidence the state had in this case was Muriel's confession; all of the physical evidence pointed towards an accidental death. Judge Fred W. George agreed completely and Muriel was released from custody and taken home by her mother.
The Times Herald newspaper took the opportunity (in a June 1, 1946 article) to question the accuracy and reliability of such lie detecting equipment. Of course, in Muriel's mind she wasn't actually lying.
My research shows that on February 14, 1948, Muriel married Joseph Solo, 27. I also discovered that Muriel had died on September 11, 1948. I was curious enough to know the cause of death that I submitted a request for a copy of Muriel's death certificate. I was expecting to see it was a suicide but I was wrong. Muriel had suffered a traumatic cerebral hemorrhage due to a fall in her home 3 days prior. She's buried in Parkview Cemetery in Livonia, Michigan.
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| Parkview Cemetery, from the cemetery's website |
When Muriel's mother Rebecca (now Rebecca Lumbert) died on February 4, 1956, her obituary stated she was survived by three sons and 2 daughters - Phyllis Little and Victoria Arnott. Rebecca's son Franklin Evon died at some point between the years 1946 and 1956 but I have no further details, not even his date of birth, although I think he was Rebecca's youngest son and quite possibly was born in 1942. Rebecca's daughter Sally died in 1953, she was between 19 and 20 years old of her death. I'm curious to know the causes of death for both Franklin and Sally but don't want to spend another $34 each for their death certificates.
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| photo from Wisconsin State Journal - April 9, 1946 |
Oh, and FYI concerning Jeanette Grosso, since I won't be covering her in a separate log entry: In August 1945, Jeanette Grosso stepped up and offered to care for her recently deceased sister's 2 children, Anna Lee (aged 4) and Jimmy (16 months). Their stepfather agreed, thinking this was the best place for them. On March 27, 1946, the beaten and bruised body of Anna Lee was removed from the Grosso home. Mrs. Grosso initially pointed the finger of blame at Anna Lee Townsend's stepfather Albert L. Radcliff, a Marlinton, WV resident, but when his alibi proved solid she admitted to severely beating her niece after losing patience with the child. A judge reduced the first degree murder charge to second degree after citing errors made by the police. Mrs. Grosso claimed temporary insanity and pled guilty to manslaughter. In December 1946, she received a sentence of 10 to 15 years in prison. There was a retrial in July 1947 and her sentenced was reduced to 5 to 15 years after news of her having suffered an epileptic seizure while in custody was revealed. I'm unsure of when she was released from prison or when she died.
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