Steven Thompson, Part I, I Can’t Even

Before I tell you about how I came to know him, you should probably know what he did. I had to wait until after I took my sleeping pill to be able to write even this much about it, and I’m not going to use my own words to tell you. Once again, I’m going to rely on the appeal court’s description. It is horrific, and I will understand if you decide that you don’t really need to know exactly what he did.

Steven Allen THOMPSON v. STATE.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama.

April 12, 1988.

Rehearing Denied May 24, 1988.

The appellant was indicted for three counts of capital murder as follows:

… <a long discussion of the precise counts of capital murder are given here. Basically, he beat, raped, and stabbed Robin Balarsz to death, tied her up to his car and dragged her 3000 feet down the road, where he mutilated her corpse.> …

The appellant pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. The jury found the appellant guilty of the capital offenses charged in the indictment and, following a sentencing hearing, recommended life imprisonment without parole by a vote of eight to four. Thereafter, the trial court sentenced the appellant to death by electrocution.

The trial judge in his sentencing order outlined the facts surrounding this shocking and vicious crime:

"The victim, Robin Balarzs, was engaged to marry David Roberts, a long-time friend of the defendant. On May 11, 1984, David Roberts was absent from Huntsville due to military service. Defendant was aware of this absence. On that day defendant went to the home in Huntsville where Robin Balarz resided with her parents and her young child. The parents and the child were also out of town. Robin and her friend Cindy McElroy were at the residence. Defendant, Robin and Cindy engaged in normal conversation and defendant slept on a sofa while the girls retired to separate bedrooms. Early on the morning of May 12th defendant left the residence. Cindy McElroy left at a later time. Cindy noticed no unusual behavior on the part of the defendant. "Defendant was absent without leave from the Navy and had need for money and goods which he could convert to cash. He planned to return to the Balarzs household to feloniously take money, gold or silver. In his planning defendant bought tape, bandages and other items with which to bind Robin. On his arrival in the night of May 12, 1984, defendant entered the household on invitation of his friend and followed a course of conduct which can be described as beyond human comprehension in its vileness. Defendant bound and gagged Robin with a sock, bandage, rope and tape he had brought into her home with premeditated design. He cut her clothes from her person and beat her with his fists. He took a meager $1.00 bill from her purse (although at some point he also took her engagement ring). He stuffed a sock in her mouth. He cut her with a knife. He positioned his rental vehicle near the garage to facilitate her removal from the residence. He made some effort to conceal the blood and physical tracings of his acts of brutality, placed Robin, still alive, in the vehicle, left the home and drove to secluded Green Mountain, a rugged area in Huntsville, Madison County. There, he proceeded to brutalize Robin Balarzs in a manner almost unspeakable in its nature, character and extent. Defendant had sexual intercourse upon her, shoved a large knife into what he thought to be her vagina, bound her breasts with a rope, tied her to the vehicle and dragged her through mud, over rocks and on pavement for a distance in excess of 3000 feet. At some point he pulled and shaved her hair with a razor especially purchased. He stabbed her about her breasts and cut her with the knife. "Robin Balarzs died during her ordeal. Some of the atrocities were against her corpse. "The defendant realized that left in the Balarzs home were items which would reveal his crimes, if not his identity. He returned to the residence for the purpose of securing these items, leaving Robin Balarzs on Green Mountain. "While defendant was attempting to re-enter the Balarzs home David Roberts returned. Seeing David drive up to the residence, defendant evaded detection and drove away to spend the rest of the night in his vehicle. "David Roberts entered the home and noticed signs of the defendant's depravity. He contacted neighbors and friends of Robin, called hospitals and tried to locate her. Finally, David Roberts called Huntsville Police Department and investigation into the case began. David recalled seeing defendant's vehicle parked near the residence and an alert was dispatched on defendant by radio. At that time it was in connection with a missing person report. In the early morning of May 13, 1984, two uniformed officers saw defendant in his vehicle and stopped him. Defendant's vehicle was dirty and damaged and defendant had what appeared to be blood and mud about his person. Defendant was properly advised of his constitutional rights, taken into custody, removed to police headquarters and questioned. After first denying knowledge of the fate of Robin Balarzs, defendant made statements admitting his activities and led an officer to the scene atop Green Mountain. Robin's battered body was found. Her parents and David Roberts were advised that she was dead."

If you want to read the whole appeal decision, here’s the link:
 https://law.justia.com/cases/alabama/court-of-appeals-criminal/1988/542-so-2d-1286-0.html 

Here are a few newspaper articles: 

Interview with Steve:
 https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1891&dat=19860829&id=HLIfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=W9cEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1532,6284220&hl=en 

A notice that the execution had taken place, with a brief background on the crime:
 https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.true-crime/y5OJdZLi7wU 

I told you it was horrific. Don’t blame me for the nightmares. 

I promise I will post more on this subject. It’s just really hard to think about, much less write about. The bottom line is that he was electrocuted to death in the Alabama electric chair, “Yellow Mama”, almost exactly 20 years ago. 

Next time, I will reveal how I became involved in this, and we will begin to read Steven’s words from his own pen. 

I Dated An Axe Murderer

Some Murderers I Have Known, Part 2

I Dated An Axe Murderer

I didn't date an axe murderer. Not really. She used a pistol. 

She was the sweetest girl you could ever want to meet. Her name was Eileen Orstein. She was a Jewess who had converted to Christianity as a result of our church’s outreach. Her parents, broken-hearted and enraged, threw her out of the house. She was in her late teens and unable to support herself with no notice, so the Crumptons, some of our church friends, took her in. Their daughter Pam was about her age, so it was a good fit. She spent a lot of time with our church youth group, coming to Bible studies and other activities. She was a fixture at church, and had a very pretty smile that was only slightly diminished by a small brown stain on one of her upper front teeth. Everyone was delighted to have her in the church. 

One night we had a banquet at church - a substitute for prom. Everybody wore their finest and got dates. Eileen was going to go with Pam’s brother Danny, who was home from college, and I was going to be Pam’s date. I drove to their house, and we all went in Danny’s car. It was a fun night, and we all had a good time. At least, I assume that’s what happened. In truth, I don’t remember anything about it. It was yet another church banquet that was about the same as ever. Given when it was, there is little doubt that Dad provided the entertainment because he always did. He would write a skit, or get a group together to play music, or do a funny recitation, or some such nonsense. We always laughed ourselves silly when he did that, and I suspect we did that night. 

Over time, I lost track of Eileen. I did know that she had married (turns out his name was Janezic, but I didn’t know that at the time). I went to college, and I didn’t know where she went. I was busy building my life, and I had plenty to occupy me. For example, I started dating Sandra soon after that, so that pretty well dates this story to about 1979. 

In 1993, I was working at SigmaTech in Huntsville’s Research Park when some harsh news whipped through the company. The pastor of one of our co-workers (the lady’s name was Bobbie) had been murdered.  Rev. Jerry Simon, the pastor of Valley Fellowship Church had been murdered, as they say, “by person or persons unknown.” Police were looking for a young, white female. The news followed the investigation for a few days, but there didn’t seem to be a lot of progress. Then, about a week later, there was a media storm as a woman went to a health clinic in Decatur, shot a man (only wounded him) and then went into an armed standoff with police for the next six or eight hours. The police waited her out, and eventually took her in. When I saw the woman they had arrested, she had wild platinum blonde hair, and a crazed look in her eyes. Nothing about her triggered any recognition in my brain. Nothing could have been further from the sweet, quiet girl I knew than the wild, rambling creature I saw on the news. She was clearly in a drug- and insanity-induced fog of rage. 

I could go on, but I’ll let the court speak for me. This is a quote from the decision denying her appeal. 

“The state's evidence tended to show that on August 26, 1993, the appellant shot and killed Rev. Simon at his church, Valley Fellowship Church, in Huntsville. The victim was shot three times and died as a result of a gunshot wound to his chest. The appellant was arrested, approximately one week later, after she shot another man outside the Parkway Medical Center in Decatur. The appellant, armed with a .32 caliber gun, held 30 policemen at bay at the Medical Center for approximately 8 hours. Police Officers testified that during the eight hours, she wielded a gun, smoked cigarettes, and was seen reading from a Satanic Bible.

Carol Simon, the victim's wife, testified that the appellant started coming to her husband's church around 1984 or 1985. She did not attend regularly and in 1989 the appellant asked her to testify on her behalf in a child custody case between her and her ex-husband. Simon said she refused.” 

Eileen Janezic is now serving life in in Alabama State prison. In one of those little synchronicities of life, I am working with Bobbie again, 25 years later. Jeff Sessions, the prosecutor for the Alabama Attorney General's office in Eileen's case, is now the US Attorney General under President Donald Trump.

If you want to read the whole appeal decision, here’s the link:  https://law.justia.com/cases/alabama/court-of-appeals-criminal/1996/cr-94-2338-0.html 

The Sweet Little Murderess Across The Street

Some Murderers I Have Known

This is the first in a series:

I don’t know what pushed her over the very sharp edge of murder. I never got up the nerve to ask, and no one ever volunteered. It was sometime in the late 1970s.I don’t remember exactly when; but I was off at Youth Camp with the church, so it had to be after 1976, and it couldn’t have been much after 1980. When I got home from camp, there were interesting tales in the Parker house about the night when 8 billion cops showed up at the house across the street, along with an ambulance or two. A conference of neighbors and a quick check with the newspapers revealed that the lady across the street had shot her husband, and done quite a good job of it. He was not just merely dead; but, really, quite sincerely dead. 

She had then shot herself in the right temple, and hadn’t done quite as good a job. When the paramedics arrived, she was only mostly dead; and, as Billy Crystal can tell you, mostly dead is still partly alive. The EMTs and the nurses and the doctors must have done a deal with Miracle Max because she did survive the attempted suicide, although she looked like a stroke victim. The right side of her face drooped. She had trouble talking clearly, and she had to walk with a cane. 

I’ve no idea what the legalities were; but, somehow or other, she got out of jail within just a year or two. One day a lady in her 30s (early 40s? Teenagers stink at estimating age) knocked on my door to ask if I could cut “Muther’s” grass. I spell it like that because she pronounced it like that. It is now 40 years gone, but I remember that the way she pronounced “Muther” bothered me a great deal more than cutting grass for a murderess did. 

I cut the grass that summer, but I doubt that I made them very happy. I ran over a tree stump and tore up the lawn mower within just a few weeks of beginning. The son fixed it, and I went on about my job; but I don’t remember that being a long-term situation, probably because of how great I am at cutting grass. 

I spent very little time with the old lady herself. She would occasionally call me into the house to give me something to drink, or to pay me for cutting the grass. The first few times I talked to her, I was waiting for her to do something murderess-like, such as grow a new head, or sprout fangs; but she never did, and I relaxed. She was consistently a sweet, reserved, little, old lady of the kind you can find at any church on any Sunday in the South. Her manners were impeccable, and she was never anything but gracious and welcoming.

I never saw her wear anything other than a pink house robe and slippers, so I got the feeling that she never changed into real clothes. I am pretty sure that she never went out of the house, except when her daughter took “Muther” to the doctor. She locked herself into the house where she had murdered her husband, and had tried to murder herself. Whatever the legalities, she served a life term of imprisonment in that house, with only memories as her cell mates. 

P.S. At this time, we lived on Sparkman Drive, just at the foot of the big hill, about a half-mile from Blue Spring Rd.