Doris Angleton

Doris Angleton

Doris Angleton
Born Doris McGown
(1951-04-11)April 11, 1951
Died April 16, 1997(1997-04-16) (aged 46)
Houston, Texas, U.S.
Nationality American
Other names Doris Beck
Alma mater University of Texas

Doris Angleton (April 11, 1951 – April 16, 1997) was a Texas socialite and murder victim. Doris Angleton's husband, Robert Angleton, had been accused of planning the crime. Roger Nicholas Angleton, Robert Angleton's brother, admitted to directly killing his sister-in-law and exonerated his brother before killing himself.

Early life

Doris McGown was the first child born to Randy McGown, a Dow Chemical engineer, and his wife, Ann. She grew up in Lake Jackson, Texas, and had one sibling, a younger brother, Steven McGown. She graduated from the University of Texas with a degree in speech pathology. After graduation, she began a career as a schoolteacher, and later became a sales representative for a pharmaceutical firm.[1]

Marriages

In 1976, McGown met William "Bill" Beck, a representative for an office products company. They married and moved to Clear Lake City. She met Robert Angleton, a successful bookmaker, at a bar in the Houston West Loop when she was 28 years old. According to Robert Angleton, he and Doris met because William Beck, Doris's husband, was a client of his bookmaking business. Both Robert Angleton and Doris Beck, although already married, were attracted to each other, eventually divorcing their spouses. They married in 1982. On August 1, 1984, Doris Angleton gave birth to twins, Nicole and Alessandra.[2]

Robert Angleton earned an estimated $2 million a year by running a sports-betting scheme. He managed to do this by becoming a police informant and reporting his rivals to the Houston Police Department.[3] He moved his family to the wealthy River Oaks area of Houston, Texas.[2]

Although her friends believed that she was happy, Doris Angleton had reportedly told others that she wanted out of her marriage when she grew tired of bookmaking. In February 1997, she went ahead with the divorce process, seeking 50 percent of their joint assets.[2]

Murder

On April 16, 1997, Robert Angleton expressed concern when Doris failed to show up for their twin daughters' softball game. After the game, he drove the girls home and finding the door ajar, called police. An officer discovered Doris's body. She sustained multiple gunshot wounds to the face and chest.[3]

Around the time of her murder, Doris' brother in-law, Roger Angleton, had been arrested in California on unrelated charges. He missed his court date in that case (which was April 16, 1997). He was stopped at the DFW Airport 5 days later with 2 guns in his luggage, but fled before being arrested. Police searched the abandoned suitcase that revealed him to be her killer. Roger was found by police in the Las Vegas city jail, having been arrested for providing a false identification to police. He died after cutting himself in a Houston prison cell[2][4] more than fifty times with a disposable razor. Roger Angleton left behind a suicide note that cleared his brother of the murder of Doris Angleton.[5] Robert Angleton was later found not guilty in his wife's death.[6]

Due to the investigation, Robert Angleton's income was investigated. As they were earned in relation to an illegal sports betting scheme, the U.S. Department of Justice indicted and jailed Robert Angleton. While awaiting trial, Robert fled to the Netherlands, where he was apprehended by the Dutch government. A Dutch court ruled that he could not be extradited on a charge related to the murder of his wife because he had already been found not guilty. However, they ruled, he could be extradited on the tax evasion charges.[6] He was subsequently convicted of tax evasion and passport fraud, and was sentenced to twelve years in prison. He was incarcerated in the Federal Correctional Institution, Terminal Island in San Pedro, Los Angeles. He was released on January 27, 2012.[7]

References

  1. ↑ Smith, Carlton (1999). Death in Texas. Macmillan. pp. 56–57. ISBN 0-312-97075-7.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Smith, Carlton (July 15, 1999). Death in Texas: A True Story of Marriage, Money, and Murder. St. Martin's True Crime.
  3. 1 2 "The Bookie's Wife". cbsnews.com. 2002-06-10. Retrieved 2009-05-16.
  4. ↑ "The Bookie's Wife"; CBS News; June 10, 2002
  5. ↑ Dave Kopel, "Redefining Justice" National Review; August 27, 2001.
  6. 1 2 Robert Angleton to be extradited from the Netherlands, abc13.com; accessed December 6, 2014.
  7. ↑ "Robert Nicholas Angleton", Federal Bureau of Prisons website; retrieved February 7, 2012.
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