Episode 528: The Murders of Stan Farr and Andrea Wilborn

When Priscilla Davis filed for divorce from her husband, Cullen Davis, in 1974, she had no idea that her actions would have such tragic consequences. Less than two years later, on the same day the divorce was finalized and the terms of the alimony were settled, a man wearing a disguise broke into Priscilla’s home and killed her twelve-year-old daughter, then waited for Priscilla to return. When she arrived a short time later, the intruder said hello to Priscilla and her new boyfriend before shooting them both, wounding Priscilla and killing her companion.Cullen Davis was immediately suspected of the murders and taken into custody, leading to one of the most sensational and captivating trials the country had ever seen. The wealthiest man to ever be tried for murder in the United States up to that point, Cullen Davis was said to be the primary influence for the villainous J.R. Ewing, the main antagonist on the hit television series Dallas, and he more than lived up to the role. Davis’s wealth and status allowed him to control the narrative of the trial, which quickly became an indictment of his former wife, who, despite being the victim of a horrible crime, was vilified by the press and the defense as the real villain in the case.Although it is nearly five decades in the past, the marriage of Priscilla and Cullen Davis, and the murder trial that followed, are emblematic of many of the issues that the American justice system (and the public) continues to struggle with today including who is and isn’t a victim, and how power and money can control the pursuit and application of justice.Thank you to David White, of the Bring Me the Axe podcast, for research assistanceReferencesBrown, Greg. 2016. Texas Tragedy: The Story of Priscilla Davis: A True Story of Money, Murder and Survival. Dallas, TX: CreateSpace.Cartwright, Gary. 1977. "Rich Man, Dead Man." Texas Monthly, March 1.Cochran, Mike. 1977. "Davis trial: Haynes says Farr target of shooting." Denton Record-Chronicle, October 25: 5.Fort Worth Star-Telegram. 1977. "DA's narration to Davis jury detailed but brief." Fort Worth Star-Telegram, August 21: 2.—. 1976. "Judge defends bond on Davis." Fort Worth Star-Telegram, August 4: 1.Guzzo, Glenn. 1977. "Davis cries tears of joy after acquittal." Fort Worth Star-Telegram, November 18: 1.—. 1977. "Davis' fate now in jurors' hands." Fort Worth Star-Telegram, November 17: 1.—. 1977. "Final arguments begin." Fort Worth Star-Telegram, November 16: 1.—. 1977. "His innocence avowed, Davis doubts provocation." Fort Worth Star-Telegram, July 7: 1.—. 1977. "Questioning nets no jurors." Fort Worth Star-Telegram, March 1: 1.Hollandsworth, Skip. 2001. "Survivor's gilt: convinced that it was her husband who tried to kill her, the Texas socialite devoted herself to the best revenge." New York Times Magazine, December 30.—. 2000. "Blood Will Sell." Texas Monthly, March 1.McConal, Jon, and Mark Nelson. 1977. "Few surprised by Davis verdict." Fort Worth Star-Telegram, November 18: 1.Moore, Dick. 1976. "Slain man was liked by fans, teammates." Fort Worth Star-Telegram, August 3: 1.Moore, Evan. 1976. "Davis jailed without bond." Fort Worth Star-Telegram, August 20: 1.—. 1977. "Picture of Priscilla, Rufner not allowed as evidence by judge." Fort Worth Star-Telegram, August 24: 1.Stiteler, Rowland. 1976. "Blood-spattered white foyer tells story of slayings." Fort Worth Star-Telegram , August 3: 6.—. 1976. "Davis jailed after slayings." Fort Worth Star-Telegram, August 3: 1.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This is an unofficial transcript meant for reference. Accuracy is not guaranteed.

0:00:00 ▶

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to Morbid early and ad free. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple podcasts. You're listening to a… Morbid Network Podcast. Hey everyone, I have to tell you about this all-in-one shake that I am freaking loving! It's called Kachaba, hands down. Best thing I've found to get me all my essential nutrients into each day. Kachava is the all-in-one superfood shake made up of high-quality plant-based nutrients. It's got greens, super fruits, plant proteins, antioxidants, adaptogens, probiotics, in other words, everything your body craves to feel your best. It's creamy and smooth with juicers. Water and it comes in five delicious flavors. If you know me you know that vanilla and chai are my personal favorites like to mix half and half Together and then make my own self a little vanilla chai. But if that's not your jam, have no fear. There's chocolate. There's matcha.

0:00:55 ▶

There's coconut acai. Coconut acai is also really good. I like to drink cachaba in the morning because it makes me feel one satiated for hours and two it Energizes my body and it makes me feel like I'm ready for the day. Kachava is offering our listeners 10% off their subscription for a limited time. Just go to kachavaduct.com. Spelled K-A-C-H-A-V-A and get 10% off your first order. That's K-A-C-H-A-V-A dot com slash morbid. Let's see how this works. Sitting on Audible helps your imagination soar. Whether you listen to stories, motivation, expert advice, any genre you love, you can be inspired to imagine new worlds, new possibilities, new ways of thinking. Find the genre you love. You love and discover new ones along the way. Explore bestsellers, new releases, plus thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and originals that members can check out. Listen to all they want with more added all the time. Audible makes it easy to be inspired and entertained as part of your daily routine without even needing to set aside extra time.

0:01:53 ▶

To imagine when you listen. I just got to the end of my best friend's exorcism, which is the title we're going to be discussing on the weirdos audio book club. By the way, that's going to be on August 30th, just so you know. And oh my God. My heartstrings have been pulled. The end of that title, oh, you guys got a. Listen, as an audible member, you can choose one title a month to keep from the entire catalog, including the latest bestsellers and new releases. Audible free for 30 days visit audible.com slash morbid or text morbid to 500 500 that's audible or text morbid to 500-500 to try Audible free for 30 days. audible.com/morbid. I'm Alayna. I'm Ash. And this is Morbid.

0:02:51 ▶

- It's COVID free morbid. - I am negative. - She's negative and so am I, 'cause I had a brief moment yesterday where I was like, fuck. And I was like, no, I waited long enough. I was going to Target and then I decided I was not going to Target. I got hit with like this gnarly wave of nausea. And I was like, Drew, we have to go home. We have to go home. And then I took a COVID test and it said, nope. And then I took another one this morning to be safe and it was like, No girl, you don't have COVID. It was like, You don't have COVID. Go to work. Yeah, and I was like, Okay. No, I've been happy to come to work this week. Yeah, well that's COVID. Just this week. Just kidding. No, like, you know what I mean? When you get back from vacation, you're like, Oh, I'll work. Yeah. Yeah. Vacation. Vacation.

0:03:40 ▶

Alright, well... But yeah, so COVID free up in here. I was gonna say, do you have like any other news about your life? Uh, no, except for the fact that, um, I don't think he'll be listening for a long time to this because he started at the beginning, but Will Friedle from Boy Meets World. Worlds. I also had COVID at the same time so we were COVID brothers. So shout out to him whenever you get to this episode. Shout out to Will. I think he was probably gonna listen to some of the more recent ones to hear his shout out. Yeah so here's another shout out. Here's another one, Will. Yeah for having COVID. Double shout outs for you. I feel like that's only fair to shout people out when you have COVID at the same time. It's true, you know, you know, COVID brothers. COVID brothers.

0:04:23 ▶

Yeah don't get it guys it's not great. Yeah it's just like why would you? It is not great. I don't know why you made that choice in life, Alayna. I don't either. It was our choice. It was not awesome but you know covid free. Feeling good. Covid free yay. I don't really have any news since I last spoke to anybody. Yeah I'm trying to think. Yeah it's been it's really just been a convalescing time up in this house though. Yeah I've just been trying to get my life together back at home my house is a fucking wreck. Get my life together. Between like the getting married thing of it all like my house got super messy during that. Because like there's just fucking piles of wedding shit everywhere. And then we left, and then we came back and we were like, Well, we should do something about this. - And you said, Nah. - It's very overwhelming. Mostly Drew is doing something about it, so like shout out to him. - Shout out to Drew.