Everything She Ever Wanted: A True Story of Obsessive Love, Murder, and Betrayal

by Ann Rule

  Dating brought its own series of pitfalls to a woman who had never expected to be suddenly single in her early forties. But in the mid-nineties, Susan met a man who was at first only a friend. Their friendship grew into love and they were married several years ago.

  Courtney, grown and on her own now, has remained on the east coast, while Susan and Adam moved with Susan’s new husband all the way across the country. Although Susan never expected to find love again, she did. Her life is much happier today than it was ten years ago. She speaks on the phone occasionally to Bill Alford, who has also remarried.

  Pat Taylor herself continues to defy predictability. Confined to a wheelchair when she began her most recent prison term, she seemed to be a woman with a very short life expectancy. However, it wasn’t long before Pat was able to walk unaided. By the time she was moved to a prison facility in Atlanta, she didn’t need a wheelchair, crutches or a cane at all.

  Pat was released from prison on parole well before the millenium. Reportedly, she is once again living with elderly relatives. She has been seen near McDonough and appears to be in fine health. After all, she will only be sixty-five this year. She keeps a very low profile, but people who have been involved with her in the past tell me that it chills them to catch a glimpse of her.

  Every once in a while, I get an e-mail or a letter from someone involved in the saga of Patricia Vann Radcliffe Taylor Allanson Taylor. Don Stoop writes that he has moved on to other law enforcement agencies and no longer lives near Atlanta. Currently, he is in Baltimore.

  I heard from Dr. Lanny Jones who cared for Paw and Nona Allanson, and was initially mystified by their sudden acute illness. He was one of the first to focus on Pat when she insisted that Paw had become a heavy drinker. Years later, Dr. Jones recalled his suspicions to me, and his sadness that such a strong old man had his life diminished by the poison Pat gave him.

  I was in Atlanta signing my latest book in January 2002, when William Weller, once a Fulton County Assistant District Attorney, came to have a copy of Everything She Ever Wanted signed. Weller recalled prosecuting the case against Tom Allanson back in October 1974. Mostly, he remembered how disruptive Pat was during that trial. Weller, tall and gray-haired some quarter century after the trial that convicted Tom, grimaced as he spoke of the negative impact Pat had on her husband’s chances for acquittal. He has handled many, many cases since, but Weller’s memory of Pat remains crystalline. And I was reminded again about the impact she had made on so many lives.

  On February 5, 2002, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution noted the passing of one of Pat Taylor’s victims. The obituary ran next to a photograph taken some fifty years ago, a picture of a very pretty woman in her early forties. It was Elizabeth Crist. The Journal-Constitution noted that she was the widow of James F. Crist, one of the founders of the Southern Company, which owned Georgia Power. Betty Crist will be remembered for the way she personally landscaped the eight acres of lawn and gardens around her home. “She had a beautiful yard,” a friend recalled. “The house was lined with azaleas and dogwood trees and roses. They loved to entertain in their yard so that other people could enjoy the grounds as well.”

  Although her love of flowers and painting were often mentioned in gardening magazines, Betty Crist was also remembered in her obituary as a victim of poisoning at the hands of Pat Taylor and her daughter, Debbie. Jim Crist succumbed in 1988 shortly after being placed in Pat and Debbie’s care, and it could never be absolutely proven that he, too, was poisoned. He was already ill when the two “nurses” were hired. Betty lived fourteen years as a widow and she was ninety-one when she died.

  Atlanta and its suburbs change and grow with every visit I make there, but some things remain the same. Pat is still cosseted in the bosom of her extended family. Whether she will ever find her own Tara remains to be seen.

  In the meantime, the screenplay for a miniseries of Everything She Ever Wanted has been revised several times.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  ***

  Although the author’s name is the only one that appears on the jacket of a book, I suspect few readers realize that we are supported by a benevolent army of editors, agents, publicists, readers, friends, relatives and observers kind enough to share their opinions and recollections. A book of this scope, covering so many years, so many miles, and such a plethora of legal details, would have been impossible without the gracious help I received from so many.

  I wish to thank the staff of District Attorney Lewis Slaton of Fulton County, Georgia, particularly Investigators Don Stoop and Michelle Berry, and Assistant District Attorneys Andy Weathers and Bill Akins, the East Point, Georgia, Police Department, and law enforcement personnel from Pike County and Forsyth County, Georgia.

  Although there were as many points of view in this true-life saga as colors in the rainbow and few participants agreed, nevertheless I appreciated the time various family members and friends shared with me: Colonel Clifford Radcliffe and Margureitte Radcliffe, Deborah and Michael Alexander, Bill and Susan Alford, Courtney and Adam Alford, Tom and Liz Allanson and J.C. and Rena Jones. Their perceptions added a great deal to the voluminous public records and transcripts furnished by government officials in Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, and Washington, D.C. From all the stories, each interwoven with the next, strand upon strand, emerged one story, the final golden thread that became this book.

  Life can sometimes be cold and lonely for a writer at work, and I thank my backup people: My first reader, Gerry Brittingham, and my friend and field assistant on this book, Donna Anders, for their help on the first fledgling research and the roughest draft. And, scattered from Massachusetts to Wyoming, from Michigan to Oregon, in no particular order: Sophie Stackhouse, Laura, Rebecca, and Matthew Harris, Leslie Rule, David Coughlan, Andrew Rule, Michael Rule, Marlene Price, Bruce Sherles, Shirley and Bill Hickman, Lois Duncan, Fred and Bernie McLean, Jeoff Robinson, Jay and Betty Jo Newell, Bill and Maureen Woodcock, Martin and Lisa Woodcock and Don White (who enlarged my office right over my head as I worked), Jennifer Gladwell, Edna Buchanan of Miami Beach, Mike Bashey, Elida Vance, Nancy Hrynshyn, Jann and Sid MacFarland and the houseboat gang, Ed Eaton, Betty May and Phil Settecase, Verne Shangle, Sue and Bob Morrison, Ruthene Larson, Joan and Jerry Kelly, Cheri Luxa, Ginger and Bill Clinton, Hope Yenko, Brian Halquist, Dee Reed, Rose Mandelsberg-Weiss, Elaine and Wayne Dorman, Dr. Peter J. Modde, Anne Jaeger, Marsha MacWillie, Jenny Everson, Dee Grim, Mildred Yoacham, Johnny Bonds of the Harris County, Texas, Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, Dr. Martha Krenn, Lola Cunningham, Joyce and Bill Johnson of Mukilteo, Don Wall, Luke and Nancy Fiorante, M.L. Lyke and Susan Paynter, Joyce and Pierce Brooks, Sergeant Myra Harmon and Sergeant Marsha Camp, Charlotte and Austin Seth, Geri and Bill Swank of San Diego, Danny House and Karen Ritola.

  To the enigmatic and arcane Northwest B. & M. Society, of which I am proud to be a founding member: Jeannie Okimoto, Judine and Terry Brooks, Ann Combs, John Saul, Margaret Chittenden, Michael Sack, Donna Anders, Don and Carol McQuinn; and to the Pacific Northwest Writers’ Conference where every writer learns and grows.

  To my Ohio relatives—descendants, as I am, of the late Albert Sherman and Florence Stackhouse: Bertha and Bob Mowery (now of San Benito, Texas), Lucetta Mae Bartley, Sherman Stackhouse, David Stackhouse and Glenna Jean Longwell, Neva Steed Jones, and my fellow author, James Steed.

  To my Michigan relatives—descendants, as I am, of the late Chris and Anna Hansen: Emma McKenney, Chris and Linda McKenney, Freda and Bernie Grunwald, Donna and Stuart Basom, Bruce and Diane Basom, Jan and Eby Schubert, Karen and Jim Hudson, Jim and Mary Sampson, Maxine Hansen, Christa Hansen, Terry Hansen, and Sara Jane and Larry Plushnik.

  Almost two years ago, my editor, Frederic W. Hills, agreed with me that this was a story worth exploring and he has cheered me on all the way. He and Burton Beals have helped me shape, trim, and improve every chapter and have done so with the utmost tact, kindness, and intelligence, never intruding on my own particular style. Even w
hen I balked, I knew in my heart they were right. To Daphne Bien, Fred Hill’s assistant, who left us just as we crossed the finish line, and flew off to London. How many of us will miss her! Ed Sedarbaum and Leslie Ellen handled the copyediting and found every comma, date and clause I inadvertently put in the wrong place—or at the wrong time—(or both) and I do appreciate it. To Emily Remes, my legal angel, and to the sales representatives who set out for the far corners of America, carrying books, and came back, hopefully, empty-handed.

  To my publicity team, Victoria Meyer and Joann Di Gennaro, and to the “friends for a day”—my escorts on tour who always lead me patiently and graciously around cities I have never seen before.

  Again and again, to my much loved agents, Joan and Joe Foley.

  Last of all, but truly most of all, I thank my readers. You can never know how much your letters mean to an author who has been chained to a word processor for weeks on end. Or how welcome your smiling faces and supportive comments are when I am signing books in some mall, somewhere. You have given me that rarest of joys—the chance to earn my living doing something I really love.

  Ann Rule and her daughter, author Leslie Rule. (Photo by Glenn Scott)

  Ann Rule Bio

  Ann Rule is regarded by many as the foremost true crime writer in America, and the author responsible for the genre as it exists today. She came to her career with a solid background in law enforcement and the criminal justice system. Both her grandfather and her uncle were Michigan sheriffs, her cousin was a Prosecuting Attorney, and another uncle was the Medical Examiner.

  She is a former Seattle Policewoman, former caseworker for the Washington State Department of Public Assistance, and a former student intern at the Oregon State Training School for Girls.

  Ann has been a full-time true crime writer since 1969. Over the past 30 years, she has published 33 books and 1400 articles, mostly on criminal cases. Ann has a BA from the University of Washington in Creative Writing, with minors in Psychology, Criminology and Penology. She has completed courses in Crime Scene Investigation, Police Administration, Crime Scene Photography and Arrest, Search, and Seizure, earning her an Associates Degree from Highline Community College. She also has a Master’s Degree in Compassionate Letters from Willamette University.

  Ann has attended every seminar that police organizations invite her to, including those on organized crime, arson, bomb search, and DNA. She has 30 hours credit at the University of Washington Medical School earned by attending the National Medical Examiners’ Conference. She also attended the King County Police Basic Homicide School. Today, she teaches seminars to many law enforcement groups. She is a certified instructor in many states on subjects such as: Serial Murder, Sadistic Sociopaths, Women Who Kill, and High Profile Offenders. She was on the U.S. Justice Department Task Force that set up the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (VI-CAP), now in place at FBI Headquarters in Quantico, Virginia. VI-CAP is a computer tracking system to help identify and trap serial killers. She has testified twice before Senate Judiciary Sub-committees on victims’ rights and on the danger of serial killers.

  When Ann spent her summer vacations with her grandparents in Stanton, Michigan, she helped her grandmother prepare meals for the prisoners in the jail. She used to wonder why such friendly, normal appearing, men were locked behind bars, and why the sweet woman in the cell upstairs (who taught Ann to crochet) was about to go on trial for murder. That was the beginning of her lifelong curiosity about the “Whys” behind criminal behavior. Her books all explore the reasons behind the front-page cases she covers.

  Ann’s books deal with three areas: the victims’ stories; the detectives and prosecutors and how they solve their cases with old fashioned police work and modern forensic science; and the killers’ lives. She tries to go back to the killers’ early childhood, and even back into their family histories to find some of the genesis of their behavior. She spends many months researching her books, beginning with the trial and with many subsequent visits to the locale where the crimes occurred. Once she has finished her research, she returns to her office to write her books.

  Eight of Ann’s books have been made into TV movies, and five more are in the works. She won the coveted Peabody Award for the miniseries based on her book, Small Sacrifices, and has two Anthony Awards from Bouchercon, the mystery fans’ organization. She has been nominated three times for Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America. She was also awarded the Washington State Governor’s Award. Ann is active in support groups for victims of violent crimes and their families, in programs to help battered and abused women, and support groups for children caught in traumatic living situations.

  Ann’s newest book!

  Other titles from Planet Ann Rule…

  www.planetannrule.com