bubblepup
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Born Elizabeth Gwendolyn McCarthy but adopted soon after by William Creekmore, a wealthy Joplin MO cattleman and bootlegger who would serve prison time for the latter endeavor, Gwendolyn Creekmore -- she was also known for short times as Gwendolyn Farnahan and then Gwendolyn Polston, following brief marriages along the way -- had suffered in her early years a severe illness which left her physically impaired and unable to speak; she found herself thus easily taken advantage of despite her protective father and soon-inherited wealth.
Indeed, her first marriage, to C.B. Farnahan, soon after her father's death, culminated in Farnahan stealing the family sedan and leaving town, never to be seen again. (The Southern fiction writer Flannery O'Connor may have used this incident as a component in her short story "The Life You Save May Be Your Own," published in 1953, not long after Gwendolyn Creekmore's murder; in it, an impaired, mute bride, Lucynell Crater, loses her car to a nefarious husband, who abandons her at the beginning of their honeymoon.)
Her marriage to Cliff Polston was less adventurous but was also shorter, lasting barely a year.
Next, Gwendolyn Creekmore became engaged to her third suitor, and, after that relationship, began seeing a man named Lee Moxley. Moxley was to become a prime suspect in Creekmore's May 1950 murder, as did second husband, Polston, and the family yardman.
The homicide itself was baffling: there were no signs of forced entry; Creekmore was discovered in the mansion she shared with her mother, Hallie, beaten severely with a meat mallet, and with a poison, mercurochrome, revealed at autopsy to be abundantly present in her stomach and kidneys, having been ingested, willingly or not, by Creekmore. The coroner believed the poison was the cause of death.
Her clothing had been burnt off after her body was set ablaze; it was still smoldering when she was found by a family friend. The bloody weapon was found in the basement. A cocked .38 revolver belonging to the Creekmore family was found next to the telephone in the living room; there was an old lamp cord in the middle of Creekmore’s bed; the basement door, generally kept locked, was found unlocked. Her expensive diamond jewelry was left undisturbed in the home. Earlier on the night of her death, she had tried to obtain poison at a pharmacy.
The articles below will give an idea of the woeful job the local police did in attempting to solve the case, as well as provide a look at suspects, circumstances, and motive for the murder of Gwendolyn Creekmore, still unsolved nearly 70 years later.
Who killed "Joplin's Poor Little Rich Girl"?
The Unsolved Case of Gwendolyn Creekmore
Find A Grave: Gwendolyn McCarthy Creekmore
Creekmore Murder: May Have Been a Woman
Indeed, her first marriage, to C.B. Farnahan, soon after her father's death, culminated in Farnahan stealing the family sedan and leaving town, never to be seen again. (The Southern fiction writer Flannery O'Connor may have used this incident as a component in her short story "The Life You Save May Be Your Own," published in 1953, not long after Gwendolyn Creekmore's murder; in it, an impaired, mute bride, Lucynell Crater, loses her car to a nefarious husband, who abandons her at the beginning of their honeymoon.)
Her marriage to Cliff Polston was less adventurous but was also shorter, lasting barely a year.
Next, Gwendolyn Creekmore became engaged to her third suitor, and, after that relationship, began seeing a man named Lee Moxley. Moxley was to become a prime suspect in Creekmore's May 1950 murder, as did second husband, Polston, and the family yardman.
The homicide itself was baffling: there were no signs of forced entry; Creekmore was discovered in the mansion she shared with her mother, Hallie, beaten severely with a meat mallet, and with a poison, mercurochrome, revealed at autopsy to be abundantly present in her stomach and kidneys, having been ingested, willingly or not, by Creekmore. The coroner believed the poison was the cause of death.
Her clothing had been burnt off after her body was set ablaze; it was still smoldering when she was found by a family friend. The bloody weapon was found in the basement. A cocked .38 revolver belonging to the Creekmore family was found next to the telephone in the living room; there was an old lamp cord in the middle of Creekmore’s bed; the basement door, generally kept locked, was found unlocked. Her expensive diamond jewelry was left undisturbed in the home. Earlier on the night of her death, she had tried to obtain poison at a pharmacy.
The articles below will give an idea of the woeful job the local police did in attempting to solve the case, as well as provide a look at suspects, circumstances, and motive for the murder of Gwendolyn Creekmore, still unsolved nearly 70 years later.
Who killed "Joplin's Poor Little Rich Girl"?
The Unsolved Case of Gwendolyn Creekmore
Find A Grave: Gwendolyn McCarthy Creekmore
Creekmore Murder: May Have Been a Woman
