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Born in Violence: The Case of Neota Green · Gone Cold - Texas True Crime

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Gone Cold podcasts may contain violent or graphic subject matter.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Listener discretion is advised before the murder of Neoda Green,
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  Speaker 1: before the headlines, the flames, the courtroom drama, and the
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  Speaker 1: long silence that settled in afterward. We need to go back.
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  Speaker 1: Neioda came into this world in nineteen thirty five, the
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  Speaker 1: daughter of Emery and Elva Mode, a young couple married
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  Speaker 1: during the Great Depression, in a time and place that
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  Speaker 1: did not recognize a wife's right to safety, to dignity,
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  Speaker 1: or even to ownership of her own pain. Nioda wasn't
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  Speaker 1: born into a home. She was born into a battlefield
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  Speaker 1: disguised as a household. She was born in violence, and
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  Speaker 1: decades later she would die in it too. You're listening
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  Speaker 1: to Gone Cold, Texas True Crime. I'm vincent and this
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  Speaker 1: is born into violence, the case of Neoda Green. In
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  Speaker 1: nineteen thirty one, Elva Shearer, a young woman from the
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  Speaker 1: unincorporated community of Chisholmville, Arkansas, married Emery Earl Mode in Greery, Oklahoma.
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  Speaker 1: She was eighteen, he was twenty and the son of
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  Speaker 1: Reverend Charles Samuel Mode, a local minister. From the outside,
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  Speaker 1: their union might have looked ordinary for its time, but
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  Speaker 1: inside the walls of their home it was something else entirely.
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  Speaker 1: Elva would later testify under oath to a packed courtroom
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  Speaker 1: that the abuse started almost immediately. Within five days of
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  Speaker 1: their wedding. She said, Emery became angry with her in bed,
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  Speaker 1: began hitting her, choking her, and refusing to let her leave.
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  Speaker 1: I cried and cried, she would tell a jury. More
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  Speaker 1: than a decade later, when she became pregnant with her
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  Speaker 1: first child, Ilova, Emory slapped her, choked her, and knocked
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  Speaker 1: her to the floor. The first time she proudly took
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  Speaker 1: her baby daughter to meet Emory's parents, she came home
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  Speaker 1: to a beating. Emory told her she had made a
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  Speaker 1: fool of herself over the baby, that it wasn't something
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  Speaker 1: to be proud of because it was a girl. He
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  Speaker 1: wanted a boy. By the time Neota was born in
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  Speaker 1: nineteen thirty five, Elva had already endured multiple beatings and
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  Speaker 1: even a miscarriage due to the abuse. The family had
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  Speaker 1: moved to Cisco, Texas in the spring of nineteen thirty two,
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  Speaker 1: a small oil and railroad town steeped in traditional values.
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  Speaker 1: In Cisco, what went on behind closed doors, stayed there,
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  Speaker 1: and what a man to do his wife in private
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  Speaker 1: wasn't considered criminal. It was considered a part of marriage.
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  Speaker 1: Police didn't often intervene in domestic disputes. There were no shelters,
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  Speaker 1: no restraining orders, no safe exits for women like Elva,
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  Speaker 1: and Emery knew it. Standing over Elva with her face
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  Speaker 1: swollen and eyes red from crying, he once told police
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  Speaker 1: that she was his wife, this was his house. He
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  Speaker 1: could fight her if he wanted, and nobody, not neighbors,
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  Speaker 1: not the law, was going to stop him. Multiple witnesses
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  Speaker 1: later described horrifying assaults. Emory's sister in law watched him
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  Speaker 1: knock a coffee cup from Elva's hands, hit her with
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  Speaker 1: his fist, breaking her teeth in the process, and then
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  Speaker 1: shout that he didn't give a damn if he broke
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  Speaker 1: her head. Once he dragged her naked across the sun porch,
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  Speaker 1: then threw her into the bathtub and out again like
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  Speaker 1: a rubber ball, and still Elva stayed. What else could
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  Speaker 1: she do? This was a time when women had no
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  Speaker 1: legal autonomy, not really, abuse wasn't a legal reason for divorce.
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  Speaker 1: Women couldn't even open a bank account without their husband's approval,
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  Speaker 1: Elva had nowhere to go. By the mid nineteen forties,
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  Speaker 1: Emery and Elva Mode's marriage was unraveling. In nineteen forty four,
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  Speaker 1: Emory deeded a piece of property to Elva, likely during
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  Speaker 1: divorce proceedings, but the couple reconciled. If Elva thought that
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  Speaker 1: meant the violence would end, she was wrong. It continued
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  Speaker 1: and finally culminated, perhaps in the only way it could
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  Speaker 1: have a death. On August thirty first, nineteen forty nine,
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  Speaker 1: she was treated by a doctor for a gash above
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  Speaker 1: her eye, a swollen cheek, and a badly bruised shoulder.
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  Speaker 1: The couple separate again. Then came Sunday, September fourth. In
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  Speaker 1: the early morning hours of that day, Irene Mode testified
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  Speaker 1: that she and her husband, Emory's brother Roy, had just
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  Speaker 1: closed their restaurant around two thirty am when they spotted
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  Speaker 1: Elva driving through Cisco with Joe Lee Moore, the town pharmacist.
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  Speaker 1: They began to follow her and picked up Emory along
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  Speaker 1: the way. The pursuit lasted nearly five hours, with Irene
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  Speaker 1: and Roy claiming to spot Elva's car at least four times.
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  Speaker 1: Around five am, Emory appeared on Elva's porch and told her,
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  Speaker 1: you've been caught. I've got witnesses. Not long after, Elva
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  Speaker 1: reportedly threw a rock at Roy and Irene's car. She
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  Speaker 1: was at her wits end. At five thirty am, Elva
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  Speaker 1: went to Roy and Irene's house and spoke with her
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  Speaker 1: mother in law. She said Emory's relatives had been harassing
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  Speaker 1: her all night, that she threw a rock at them
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  Speaker 1: and was only sorry she missed. Elva told the woman
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  Speaker 1: to pass along a message that Roy and Irene should
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  Speaker 1: keep their noses out of her business and that she
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  Speaker 1: could whip all three of them with one hand. Roy
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  Speaker 1: said he and Emory returned home around seven am and
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  Speaker 1: went to sleep. At twelve thirty pm, Emory woke Roy,
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  Speaker 1: claiming he had spoken with Elva and that she was
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  Speaker 1: coming to kill them. Emory left the house shortly after.
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  Speaker 1: According to Elva, he drove up over a neighbor's sidewalk,
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  Speaker 1: parked near her house and threatened her again. Emory, for
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  Speaker 1: God's sake, leave me alone, she told him, but he
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  Speaker 1: replied he'd get out of the car and beat her
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  Speaker 1: to death. Elva didn't take the threat lightly. She knew
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  Speaker 1: what he was capable of. She with her face already
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  Speaker 1: bruised and her arm in a sling, said that as
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  Speaker 1: Emory reached the door, she shot him. Emory drove back
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  Speaker 1: to Roy's house within eight minutes of the shooting, yelling
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  Speaker 1: from his car that Elva had got him three or
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  Speaker 1: four times and that he was dying. His sister in law, Irene,
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  Speaker 1: drove him to the hospital, arriving at around one point
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  Speaker 1: fifteen pm. Neighbors would later tell police they had overheard
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  Speaker 1: Elva yelling on the phone earlier saying that she had
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  Speaker 1: gotten a gun. Emory was shot twice, and one bullet
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  Speaker 1: went through his lung, diaphragm, and liver. He lived just
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  Speaker 1: long enough to talk. In a deathbed interview with the
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  Speaker 1: Cisco Justice of the Piece W. E. Brown, Emory gave
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  Speaker 1: his version of events. He said he told Elva over
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  Speaker 1: the phone that he wanted to talk with her about
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  Speaker 1: a divorce and property settlement, and told her he'd give
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  Speaker 1: her the divorce as soon as he could get the money.
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  Speaker 1: Emory said he later saw Elva on the street and
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  Speaker 1: she told him, come on over here. I can whip
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  Speaker 1: you with this one hand. He said he told her
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  Speaker 1: he loved her and always had that he had taken
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  Speaker 1: good care of her. I still love you, he said,
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  Speaker 1: he proclaimed, But he continued, Elva replied, I hate you.
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  Speaker 1: I hate you. Then she drew a pistol from her
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  Speaker 1: arm sling and shot him from the first time just
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  Speaker 1: as Pece Brown spoke to Elva, He said he thought
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  Speaker 1: the shooting was justified. Brown told Elva he did not
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  Speaker 1: intend to file charges against her and instructed her to
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  Speaker 1: go home. He reportedly told her she should have shot
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  Speaker 1: him a long time ago. That evening, however, Judge Floyd
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  Speaker 1: Jones charged her with assault with intent to murder. Elva
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  Speaker 1: was released from the Eastland County Jail under a one
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  Speaker 1: thousand dollars bond on the assault charge. On Tuesday, September sixth,
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  Speaker 1: nineteen forty nine. Elva returned to the hospital and stayed
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  Speaker 1: there until the night of the ninth. She complained of
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  Speaker 1: the same pain and injuries she had suffered at the
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  Speaker 1: hands of Emery Mode on August thirty. First. The pain
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  Speaker 1: in her right wrist. Her fingers were also badly bruised.
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  Speaker 1: Emery died at eleven ten am that morning. The charges
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  Speaker 1: against Elva changed from assault with intent to murder to
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  Speaker 1: plane murder. Elva was indicted on September fourteenth, nineteen forty nine.
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  Speaker 1: The trial of Elva Mode for the murder of her
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  Speaker 1: estranged husband, Emery Mode, was a local spectacle. The courtroom
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  Speaker 1: was packed mostly with women over forty five, many sitting
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  Speaker 1: through the lunch breaks to avoid missing a single word,
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  Speaker 1: and what they heard was shocking. Elva took the stand
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  Speaker 1: for a total of eight hours. She detailed thirty five
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  Speaker 1: separate instances of abuse across eighteen years of marriage. She
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  Speaker 1: told of beatings during pregnancy, emotional humiliation, control, and isolation.
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  Speaker 1: Elva admitted she wasn't perfect. Once she said she had
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  Speaker 1: hit Emery with a baseball bat and once threw a
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  Speaker 1: chair at him, but those things were done in self
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  Speaker 1: defense instead of instigation. She said she was never responsible
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  Speaker 1: for any of the trouble with her husband. It always
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  Speaker 1: started with Emery. During the trial, the prosecutor asked, you
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  Speaker 1: still loved him after thirty five beatings. Yes, she responded,
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  Speaker 1: you can't kill love. The case went to the defense.
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  Speaker 1: They built it on self defense. The jury heard Emery's
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  Speaker 1: dying words, saw the bruises on Elva's body, and understood
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  Speaker 1: if not legally, then morally that the woman had little choice.
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  Speaker 1: After ten minutes of deliberation, they acquitted Elva Mode of
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  Speaker 1: the charges. Defense attorneys called it the quickest verdict in
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  Speaker 1: Eastland County history. Elva Mode would go on to own
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  Speaker 1: and run a restaurant in Cisco. She never remarried. Her
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  Speaker 1: name faded from the headlines, but her story never really
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  Speaker 1: went away, not for Elva's daughter, Neoda, and decades later,
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  Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty three, Neoda would die violently, nude, beaten,
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  Speaker 1: and left to burn in her own home. An accused
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  Speaker 1: man walked free. When it was all said and done,
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  Speaker 1: and the fire still burns cold. Let's go back to
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  Speaker 1: the beginning. Neoda Mode was born on July twentieth, nineteen
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  Speaker 1: thirty five, in Cisco, Texas. She was the youngest daughter
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  Speaker 1: of Emery and Elva Mode, and she grew up with
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  Speaker 1: one sister, Elova. Cisco was a small Eastland County town
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  Speaker 1: where faith, family, and reputation held significant weight. By all accounts,
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  Speaker 1: Nioda was a talented and spirited young woman at Cisco
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  Speaker 1: High School. She played the coronet in the band and
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  Speaker 1: was a majorrette. Those who knew her described her as
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  Speaker 1: vivacious and proud, a young woman with a commanding presence
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  Speaker 1: and strong will. In nineteen fifty four, she graduated from
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  Speaker 1: Cisco High and earned a Twirling scholarship to Texas Christian University.
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  Speaker 1: During the nineteen fifty four nineteen fifty five school year,
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  Speaker 1: she became a purple majorette with the Horned Frog Band.
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  Speaker 1: College life wouldn't last long. Sometime after her junior year,
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  Speaker 1: Neoda left college and married William Henry dude Green, a
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  Speaker 1: man who would later be described in media accounts as
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  Speaker 1: a fort Worth gambler. The couple would go on to
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  Speaker 1: have two children, Cynthia Lee and Bartley Allen. By the
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  Speaker 1: late nineteen fifties, Niota and dude Green had settled in Benbrook,
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  Speaker 1: a quiet suburb just southwest of Fort Worth. They moved
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  Speaker 1: into a modern brick home at eight thousand and one
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  Speaker 1: Chapin Road, valued at thirty five thousand dollars equal to
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  Speaker 1: about four hundred thousand dollars in twenty twenty five. At
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  Speaker 1: the time, the house was a symbol of stability and
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  Speaker 1: a fresh start, if not a foot in the door
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  Speaker 1: of a comfortable middle class life, but behind the idyllic
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  Speaker 1: suburban image change was coming. In late October nineteen sixty
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  Speaker 1: Nyoda filed for divorce from Dude. The split was finalized
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  Speaker 1: on January thirteenth, nineteen sixty three. Afterward, Neoda began working
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  Speaker 1: as a barmaid at the Tempo Club, a private member's
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  Speaker 1: only spot on Camp Bouie Boulevard. It was there through
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  Speaker 1: her job that she met Ronnie Blankenship, a man from
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  Speaker 1: a prominent fort Worth family with deep ties to race horses,
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  Speaker 1: real estate, construction, trucking, and lumber. A new chapter in
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  Speaker 1: Nioda's life was unfolding, but it wouldn't lead where anyone expected.
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  Speaker 1: After her shift, on the night of Saturday, March twenty third,
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  Speaker 1: nineteen sixty three, twenty seven year old Neeoda Green went
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  Speaker 1: out with Ronnie Blankenship, a tall, thirty year old, dark
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  Speaker 1: haired building contractor. Ronnie was married at the time to
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  Speaker 1: a woman named Jane. The couple had a young sol
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  Speaker 1: and while he would later claim they were separated, one
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  Speaker 1: thing is clear. He and Niota had spent time together
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  Speaker 1: socially for several days leading up to that night. According
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  Speaker 1: to later testimony, the two joined at times by others,
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  Speaker 1: including Helen Shaver and Helen Rickey visited several bars on
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  Speaker 1: the west side of Fort Worth. These included the Tempo
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  Speaker 1: Club where Neoda worked, the Town Pump on University Drive,
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  Speaker 1: and the Key Room at the Western Hills Hotel. Witnesses
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  Speaker 1: later described the mood as social but awkward. Helen Shaver
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  Speaker 1: later testified that Blankenship made multiple sexual suggestions to Neoda
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  Speaker 1: throughout that evening. He reportedly told her she needed a
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  Speaker 1: relationship with a man to calm her down, and even
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  Speaker 1: nicknamed her frigid Missus. Ricky also said that Ronnie at
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  Speaker 1: one point wanted to go home with her, but Nyoda refused. Used.
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  Speaker 1: She described Neoda as intoxicated when she left them at
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  Speaker 1: the Key Club about closing time, Neoda left the nightclub
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  Speaker 1: with Ronnie. They returned to her home on Shape and
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  Speaker 1: Road sometime around one thirty am. At around four thirty
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  Speaker 1: am on Sunday, March twenty fourth, nineteen sixty three, a
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  Speaker 1: teenage newspaper carrier named James Hargrove noticed flames shooting from
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  Speaker 1: the back of Neeoda Green's house. He was preparing to
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: start his morning paper route when he spotted the blaze. Alarmed,
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  Speaker 1: he woke his father, Jay Gordon Hargrove, and the two
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  Speaker 1: rushed over. James broke a window in an attempt to
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  Speaker 1: get inside, but was overwhelmed by the thick smoke. Firefighters
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  Speaker 1: soon arrived and began battling the intense fire. Ben Brooke
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  Speaker 1: Assistant fire Chief H. E. Brown described the heat and
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  Speaker 1: smoke as unbearable. Inside the house, firefighters found a shocking scene.
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  Speaker 1: In the dining area of the three bedroom home. They
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  Speaker 1: discovered Neoda Green's nude body, face up on the floor.
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  Speaker 1: She had been badly burned. Nearby, in one of the
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  Speaker 1: front bedrooms, they found Ronnie Blankenship, also nude, lying face down.
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  Speaker 1: He was initially believed to be dead, but was revived
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  Speaker 1: with oxygen and taken to White Settlement Hospital. Ronnie had
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: suffered smoke inhalation and minor burns. An autopsy on Neeoda's
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: body revealed grim details. She had suffered three blows to
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: the head. One blow caused a three inch fracture to
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: the back of her skull. There were also injuries to
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  Speaker 1: her face and mouth. Though Neoda had inhaled smoke, the
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  Speaker 1: medical examiner concluded that the head trauma had rendered her
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  Speaker 1: on conscious before the fire, which she likely would have escaped. Otherwise,
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: the pathologist ruled her death a homicide. At the scene,
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: police found a heavy glass ash tray chipped and broken
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: into three pieces. Investigators believed it might be the weapon
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: used in the attack. Also recovered was a frying pan
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  Speaker 1: with the handle burned off, though its role in the crime,
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: if any, was unclear. Luckily, Neota's children were not at home.
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  Speaker 1: They had been left with a babysitter earlier that evening.
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  Speaker 1: The investigation into Neoda Greene's death began immediately, led by
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: ben Brook Police Chief J. E. Prince, with support from
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: the Tarrant County Sheriff's Office and the District Attorney's office.
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  Speaker 1: From the outset, one thing was clear. This wasn't just
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: a tragic accidental house fire. Some authorities suspected the blame
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: may have been intentionally set to cover up a murder.
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  Speaker 1: Inside the house, only two people were found, Neoda naked,
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  Speaker 1: beaten and dead, and Ronnie Blankenship, who was found unconscious
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  Speaker 1: from smoke inhalation in one of the front bedrooms. He
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  Speaker 1: claimed to have no memory of what happened that night.
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  Speaker 1: His doctor, doctor Jack Hardwick, confirmed that Blankenship suffered from
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: severe memory loss due to the smoke and may never
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: fully recover the details of that night, but the evidence
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: at the scene raised far more questions than answers. How
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: did Neoda suffer those brutal and fatal blows to the head,
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: what or who started the fire? And why were Blankenship's
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: pants found outside the front door. Though answers to these
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: questions were difficult to come by, as there were no
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: witnesses nor telltale evidence left behind. A suspect in the
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: murder of Neoda Green wasn't hard to come by despite
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: being the only other person in the house. Ronnie Blankenship
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: wasn't arrested, not right away, but the scrutiny around him
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: grew quickly. He initially agreed to take a polygraph, but
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: later refused on the advice of his lawyers. By March
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: twenty ninth, nineteen sixty three, five days after Neoda's murder,
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  Speaker 1: he had retained high powered legal counsel, the law firm
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: Mays and Mays, led by Clyde Mays, a seasoned and
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: aggressive defense attorney, stepped in. So did Frank Coffee, a
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: former assistant district attorney and future judge, who advised Blankenship
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  Speaker 1: to haul cooperation with investigators entirely, including backing out of
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: the polygraph. Meanwhile, fire officials debated the cause of the blaze.
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: Assistant fort Worth Fire Marshal Bill Dixon and County fire
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: Marshall Mason Lankford both concluded the fire started in the attic,
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: likely due to defective wiring. Benbrook Assistant Fire Chief H. E.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: Brown agreed, stating, I'm pretty sure it wasn't set, but
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: Terrant County Sheriff Lawn Evans wasn't convinced. He pushed for
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: a deeper investigation, suggesting the fire could have started during
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: a physical struggle, possibly when a cigarette was knocked out
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: of an ash tray onto a couch. Benbrooke Fire Chief H. S.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: Duncan went further, saying the cause remained unknown, but it
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: was either arson or what he called a hot accident.
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  Speaker 1: Arson seemed more likely, since Neoda's body was found with
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  Speaker 1: a spotted burn pattern, as if the killer, while tossing
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  Speaker 1: an accelerant such as gasoline, around the house, had splashed
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  Speaker 1: some on her. Adding to the mystery were the broken
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: glass ash tray and cooking pan found at the scene.
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  Speaker 1: Both were considered potential weapons. Whether the fire was a
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: cover up or a chaotic accident sparked in the middle
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  Speaker 1: of violence. No one could say for sure, but with
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: a dead woman, a memory impaired survivor, and two potential
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: weapons at the scene, investigators knew this case was far
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  Speaker 1: from closed. As detectives struggled to make sense of Neoda
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: Greene's death, the Tarrant County District Attorney's office made an
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: unusual move. They called for a formal inquest, a rare
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  Speaker 1: public hearing where witnesses and suspects were legally required to
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  Speaker 1: testify under a or invoke their right to the Fifth Amendment.
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  Speaker 1: The hearing opened on April third, nineteen sixty three, presided
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  Speaker 1: over by Peace Justice TM Sheffield of White Settlement. Seventeen
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  Speaker 1: witnesses were subpoenaed, including the man found unconscious inside Neeoda's
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  Speaker 1: burning home, Ronnie Blankenship. Helen Ricky, a woman who had
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: been with Neota and Ronnie the night she died, was
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  Speaker 1: perhaps the most damning to speak. Ricky testified that while
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: the group drank whiskey at the town Pump and later
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: at the Key Room inside the Western Hills Hotel, Ronnie
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: Blankenship propositioned Neoda multiple times. According to Helen, it was
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: obvious he wanted to make love to her, but Niota
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: refused repeatedly. Helen Ricky said that at one point Ronnie
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: leaned in and said, let's have an orgy. Neeoda asked
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: what he meant. He never answered. I assumed it was
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: sex relations and that was all Helen Ricky testified. Then
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: came the medical testimony. Doctor Jack Hardwick, Blankenship's physician, testified
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: that his patient was suffering from severe memory loss due
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: to smoke inholation. According to doctor Hardwick, Ronnie only remembered
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: the smell of smoke, trying to get out of bed,
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: and Neoda yelling at him to get the children. He
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: replied that they weren't in the house, and after that
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: he claimed his memory went blank. But the state wasn't
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: buying it. Assistant District Attorney J. L. Wood dutch Winters
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: requested a second medical opinion. Justice Sheffield approved the motion,
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: but Blankenship's defense attorney, Frank Coffee blocked the exam, accusing
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: the State of trying to trap his client. Still, Blankenship
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: was compelled to testify. When asked the questions that mattered most,
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: such as what did you use when you hit Neoda
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: in the head, how did the house catch fire? And
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: why were your pants outside the front door? Blankenship invoked
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: the Fifth Amendment every time, with no answers and suspicion growing.
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: The inquest concluded with a formal murder charge filed against
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: Ronnie Blankenship on April sixteenth, nineteen sixty three. Afterward, he
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: gave a statement to reporters denying everything. I didn't hit her,
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: I didn't set the fire. I have no idea what happened.
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: As for his trousers, it baffles me too, he said.
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: But with Neoda gone and the evidence smoldering in ash,
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: Blankenship was the only person left who might have known
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: the truth, and he either knew nothing or he wasn't talking.
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: After his arrest, Ronnie Blankenship was released on a fifteen
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: thousand dollars bond and spoke to the press again denying
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: all wrongdoing. The grand jury returned an indictment in May
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: nineteen sixty three, stating that Blankenship either caused the fire
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: or could have reasonably anticipated it. His trial date was
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: postponed several times. In June nineteen sixty three, Jane Blankenship,
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: Ronnie's wife, filed for divorce. She charged Blankenship with cruel treatment,
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: requested full custody of their two year old son, Ronald,
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: and asked the court for three hundred and fifty dollars
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: a month in child support about three thousand, six hundred
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: and fifty bucks today. While the case was pending, Jane
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: also petitioned for an additional five hundred dollars a month,
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: likely spousal support. That's roughly fifty two hundred dollars in
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: today's money. It wasn't just the charges stacking up against Blankenship,
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: it was his life unraveling. The murder trial of Ronnie
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: Blankenship began on February tenth, nineteen sixty four, in Criminal
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: District Court before Judge Byron Matthews. Jury selection was slow
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: and deliberate. This was a circumstantial case. There re no
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: eye witnesses and the evidence was entirely indirect. From the start,
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: the prosecution laid out a chilling timeline. Nioda and Ronnie
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: had been out drinking the night she died. Witnesses testified
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: that Ronnie had made repeated sexual advances and Niota repeatedly refused.
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: The state argued that Blankenship frustrated and possibly drunk, struck
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: Neoda in a violent outburst, then set fire to the
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: house in a panic, and passed out. The defense countered
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: with a different story that Neoda's death was a tragic accident.
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: They suggested she had fallen during the chaos of the
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: fire and struck her head on a planter box or debris,
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: causing the fatal skull fracture. Two drastically different stories, one
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: brutal and one convenient, and no one left to speak
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: for Neoda, but the evidence itself. Doctor John and Douar,
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: the pathologist, testified that Neoda suffered a blunt force trauma
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: from an object with a pointed end. The shape and
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: depth of the injury suggested an object not sharp like
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: a knife, but pointed and doll. Doctor John Rhodes, another physician,
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: testified that it was plausible the injury came from a
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: fall against a planter box that was not far from
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: where Neoda's body was found. Testimony about the fire was
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: also divided. Some fire officials said it was likely set intentionally,
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: while others speculated that a cigarette fell out of the
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: ashtray and ignited the sofa during a scuffle. Blankenship took
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: the stand in his own defense. He said he and
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: Nyoda had been on several dates following her shifts at
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: the Tempo Club where he was a member, and had
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: visited Neoda's home together ten times. Leading to that night.
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: They visited three clubs and had consumed two to three
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: drinks at each one. Blankenship said he and Nyoda mixed
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: drinks in the kitchen, and then he went to bed
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: immediately after finishing his drink. They went to bed separately,
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: not together. He testified that there had been no argument
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: and that Neoda was clothed and drinking coffee when he
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: went to bed. The last thing he remembers is taking
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: off his shirt and going to sleep. The next thing
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: he knew, she screamed something about her children, and he
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: disc covered the room was all smoky. Blankenship said he
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: then crawled on his hands and knees in the direction
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: he believed Neoda had gone. He tried to find a
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: window and thought he'd gotten out on the ground. It
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: was a lot to recall for a man who had
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: previously said he didn't remember anything. Blankenship denied setting the
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: fire or striking Neoda. One of the more surprising defense
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: witnesses at the trial of Ronnie Blankinship was the defendant's wife, Jane. Jane,
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: who was visibly pregnant at the time, told the jury
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: that although the couple had been separated on March twenty fourth,
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: the day Neoda Green was killed, they had reconciled in July,
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: just a few weeks after she had filed for divorce.
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: Jane said she'd instructed her attorney to dismiss the divorce
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: petition two days after getting back together with Ronnie. She
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: assured the court that the suit was no longer pending.
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: A check of sixty seventh District Court filings revealed the
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: divorce case had not been dismissed. In fact, a clerk
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: confirmed it was still on the books, scheduled to be
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: dismissed for lack of prosecution on March twenty third, exactly
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: one year after Neoda's death. While Jane may have stood
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: by her man in court on paper, she hadn't quite
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: let go of the divorce. On February twentieth, nineteen sixty four,
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: the jury deliberated for less than two hours before returning
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: a verdict not guilty. Blankenship's wife wept. His attorneys shook
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: hands with jurors. The state's case, built entirely on circumstantial evidence,
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: had not convinced them beyond a rea reasonable doubt. Blankenship
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: was free, free to resume his life. He loved selling
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: property and playing the stock market. He made his career
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: in real estate. Football and the beach were also two
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: of Ronnie's passions, in addition to farming and ranching in
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: Montana and Minnesota, where he had properties. There's little doubt
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: he lived his life to its fullest. Neoda's mother, Elva Mode,
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: was devastated by the verdict. Two days after the trial,
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: she told prosecutors she would not rest until she knew
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: the truth about her daughter's death. She refused to let
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: the case go cold. Elva met with Assistant District Attorney
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: Fred Fick for the first time. She told him directly
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: that she couldn't accept Neioda's death as an unsolved murder.
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: Elva made her position clear someone killed her daughter and
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: she was determined to find out who who. She told
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: Fick she planned to hire a private detective and had
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: already consulted a Cisco attorney for advice. Elva also questioned
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: the official story if Neoda had struggled. She said the
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: delicate clasp on her necklace would have snapped, but it hadn't.
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: Elva Mode wasn't a lawyer, she wasn't a detective. She
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: was a mother, and she knew her daughter hadn't just
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: died in a fire. She had been silenced. Elva wasn't
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: going to let her memory be buried with her. To
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: be clear, no one ever proved that organized crime had
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: anything to do with Neoda Green's murder. But once you
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: start looking at the puzzle pieces, you begin to notice
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: a pattern. Not a clean, well lit picture, but something darker,
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: something just beneath the surface. Let's start with William Dude Green,
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: Neoda's ex husband in Fort Worth. He was well known
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: as a gambler. After their divorce, he later turned up
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: as a pit boss in Las Vegas, which in the
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: early nineteen sixties wasn't just a gambling capital, it was
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: mob central, a place where cash flowed, secrets stayed buried,
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: and people like Dude Green could disappear into the smoke.
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: He died in two thousand, long after the headlines had faded.
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: Then there's the Tempo Club, where Neoda worked after the divorce.
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: It was a private member's only establishment, the kind of
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: place that often skirted the edges of legality. These clubs
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: were known for high stakes gambling, under the table, liquor,
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: and the kind of deals that never made it into
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: the paper. And then there's Ronnie Blankenship, a contractor from
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: a well connected Texas family. His pe people were involved
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: in race horses, real estate, construction, trucking, and lumber industries
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: historically favored by organized crime for laundering money and conducting
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: off the book's business. If you were looking for classic
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: mob fronts, that list checks out. Blankenship died in twenty twelve,
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: and despite being the only other person found in the house,
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: he wasn't arrested right away because he too was injured.
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: He was taken to the hospital unconscious from smoke inhalation,
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: and then quickly lawyered up. Blankenship brought in Charles Mays,
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: a defense attorney known for playing hardball, and Frank Coffee,
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: a former assistant DA and future judge. These were powerhouse
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: names in Fort Worth legal circles. And then it got strange.
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: Blankenship claimed he couldn't remember anything. His doctor confirmed severe
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: memory loss, but when the DA office requested a second
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: medical exam. His lawyers flatly refused. He was subpoenaed to
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: testify and pleaded the fifth again and again. What did
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: you use to hit Neoda? How did the house catch fire?
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: Why were your pants outside the front door? Silence? The fifth, silence,
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: and here's something else. Fire officials said the blaze started
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: in the attic, possibly caused by faulty wiring. Others suggested
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: it may have been sparked by a cigarette during a struggle,
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: but some couldn't ignore the possibility of arson. There were
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: strange burn patterns on Nyoda's body, as if an accelerant
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: had been splashed on her. Arson is a tactic long
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: used to destroy evidence, and if you're keeping score, arson
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: happens to be a mob signature NIODA. Green's name appears
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: on an FBI dead list released in two thousand and nine.
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: She's marked LCN lecosa nostra, meaning mafia. That designation wasn't
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: used lightly. It meant someone believed she was connected, whether
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: as a witness, an associate, or simply someone who got
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: too close to something she shouldn't have. Perhaps it was
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: simply her marriage to William Dude Green. Whatever the case,
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: it only further shrouds Neoda's murder in mystery. To this day,
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: no one else has ever been charged in the murder
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: of Neoda mode Green let alone tried and convicted. No
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: other suspects were named, No physical evidence was preserved for
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: modern testing. Neither the Benbrook Police Department nor Terrant County
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: Sheriff's Office has an existing case file. All that remains
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: are scattered newspaper clippings, fading headlines, and questions that were
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: never answered. Nyoda was laid to rest in Oakwood Cemetery
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: in Cisco, Texas. Her children grew up without a mother.
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: Her story slipped quietly into history, but it shouldn't fade
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: from memory. Nyoda was only twenty seven years old. She
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: was born into violence but managed to thrive. Niota deserved peace,
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: She deserves justice. If you have any information about the
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: death of Nioda Green, please contact the Tarrant County Sheriff's
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: Office at eight one seven eight eight four one two
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: one three. If you'd like to join gon Cold's mission
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: to shine a light on unsolved homicides and missing persons cases,
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: get the show at free and have access to bonus content.
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: You can at patreon dot com. Slash Gone Cold podcast.
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: You can also support the show by leaving a five
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: star rating and written review on Apple Podcasts or wherever
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: else you listen. However you choose to support Gone Cold,
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: we appreciate you. Thanks for listening, y'all,