This day in history police in North Carolina responded to a 911 call. They arrived at a house in Washinton NC to find Lieth and Bonnie Von Stein stabbed and beaten. Lieth was dead, but his wife Bonnie was still clinging to life despite terrible injuries. Angela, the daughter of Bonnie from an earlier relationship was found safe and well. Angela said that she had slept through the brutal attack. She was noticeably calm. Anglea did not have the appearance of a young woman who had miraculously survived a brutal attack on her parents unharmed.
The police were suspicious and believed that the crime scene had been staged to make it look like a burglary. A witness came forward to say that he saw a fire about the time of the killing of Leith and the attack on Bonnie. Important evidence including a hunting knife, some clothing, and a rough map of the neighborhood was recovered from the ashes of the fire.
Detectives discovered that Lieth had had a bad relationship with his two stepchildren, Angela and, Chris. Both had issues with drugs and alcohol in the past. Leith had recently inherited a million dollars from a relative. The investigation dragged onto 1989 and the police assigned to the case began to focus on Chris. Initially, they had focused on Angela but soon Chris became the no 1 suspect. He was not helpful and refused to take a lie-detector test, to help the police with their inquiries.
Chris was known as a nerd and he loved Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game. Chris during one game told his fellow players about his bitterness towards his step-father and mother. He believed that they should have spent more of the money that Leith had inherited to him and his sister. One of his fellow students reported that Chris may have asked some of his fellow gamers to become involved in an unknown plot.
The police managed to turn one of the Dungeon and Dragon players into a state witness and he provided the testimony that allowed the authorities to charge Chris with the murder of Leith. He testified that Chris had supplied him and others with a map of the house. Chris also had given him a key to the house and instructed him on what to do. He wanted his step-father dead in order to inherit his money.
The witness stated that the actual killer of Leith was a student by the name of Upchurch.
Chris and Upchurch were both convicted of murder. However, the conviction of Upchurch is controversial as he was only convicted on the evidence of a witness who had been granted immunity in return for his evidence. Upchurch was sentenced to murder and Chris was sentenced to life in prison.