Sharon Kinne “La Pistolera”

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Listen to the story of La Pistolera Sharon Kinne who in December 1969, escaped a Mexican prison.  How did she end up there?  Not for the murder of her dead husband or the murder of her lover’s wife.  No, there was another victim who unfortunately ran into Kinne while she was out on bond having left the United States for Mexico with her newest male paramour.  This unbelievable tale resulted in the longest outstanding felony warrants ever issued by Missouri.  

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Location

This week’s episode takes place in Independence Missouri, the fifth largest city in the state, located in Jackson County.  Independence is known as the Queen City of the Trails as it was the point of departure for those headed west who were using either the California, Oregon, or Santa Fe Trials. It was named after the Declaration of Independence and was founded in 1827.   It is also home to the Temple Lot, a temple constructed in 1831 as part of the Latter-Day Saint movement.  

March 19, 1960

On March 19, 1960, Sharon Kinne, the twenty-year-old wife of James Kinne, age 26, was in the bathroom of their ranch-style home when she heard her two-year-old daughter, Danna, say “how does this thing work, daddy, how does it work?”  Then a gunshot rang out coming from the direction of the couple’s bedroom.  James had been lying down prior to going to work the night shift for an electronics firm.  When Sharon entered the bedroom, she found Danna standing next to the bed.  Sharron also discovered her husband’s High Standard .22 caliber pistol on the floor.  On the bed, James was bleeding from a gunshot wound to the back of the head.

Sharon called the police who soon arrived along with an ambulance.  James would die en route to the hospital.  

Beginnings

Sharon Kinne was born on November 30, 1939, in Independence to Eugene and Doris Hall.  The family had moved to Washington State for a few years when Sharon was in junior high but they moved back when Sharon was 15 years old.  It was during the summer of 1956 that Sharon (16) met 22-year-old James Kinne at a church social.  James was attending BYU (Brigham Young University) and the two dated until he left to go back to school that fall.

It was that fall that Sharon wrote James to tell him she was pregnant.  James left school and returned to Independence and the couple married on October 18, 1956.  Interestingly when the couple filled out their marriage license they put her age down as 18 and that she was a widow.  There is no explanation as to why the widow designation.  Sharon claimed that she had been married to a man when she was in Washington state and he had later died in a car accident.  This would have been when she was 15 or younger.  

The following year the young couple would be married in a formal wedding held at the Salt Lake Temple in Salt Lake City, Utah.  This was after Sharon had finished her conversion to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  The couple then moved to Provo Utah where James started his studies again at BYU.  The couple would only stay there until the end of the fall semester and they would find themselves back in Independence.  

Sharon reported that she had a miscarriage but soon became pregnant again with the couple’s first child, Danna born in the fall of 1957.  James began working the night shift for Bendix Aviation as an electrical engineer.  Sharon to make extra money took on babysitting jobs and worked in various retail stores.  

Stepping out

It was while James was working and sleeping during the day that Sharon filled her time with shopping.  It is said she liked to spend money on finer quality items.  She is also said to have wanted to spend her time with various men.  One of those men was an old high school flame, John Boldizs, who was married and working as a service station attendant.   

James and Sharon would go on to have a second child, Troy and the couple moved into a ranch-style home they had built at 17009 East 26th Terrace, Independence.  Even with two small children at home, Sharon continued her extramarital affair with Blodizs.  

By early 1960, James believed Sharon was cheating on him, and he wanted a divorce.  There was also an issue with her lavish spending habits. James tried to keep his marriage intact, but on March 18, 1960, he had finally had enough and he went to talk with his parents.  He told them Sharon agreed to divorce but only if he allowed her to keep the house, gave her custody of their daughter, and paid her $1000 a month in alimony. Jame’s parents who were devoted Mormans tried to talk him out of a divorce pleading with him to stay in the marriage.

Perhaps if they knew that Sharon was also looking for a way out of the marriage they might have consented.  However, her way was a more permanent solution.  Sharon had offered her lover, Boldizs $1,000 to kill James or to find someone who would do the job.  

Investigation

Once Sharon told police what had happened they began their investigation not quite believing that a child could have shot her father.  They would be disappointed if they hoped to get fingerprints off the firearm.  The pistol had oil all over its grip, making it impossible to lift any prints.  It also makes you wonder how small little hands were able to grip the gun if it was so oily.

The police did not perform any gunshot residue tests on either Danna or Sharon.  They did, however, talk to family members and neighbors of the Kinnes.  Investigators discovered that James would often leave his firearms around the home and let Danna play with them.  The police decided to test if Danna was able to pull the trigger on a similar gun and she was able to.  With no other evidence, James Kinne’s death was ruled an accidental homicide.  

Sharon asked for her husband’s gun back, but the police would not return it and kept it in evidence, perhaps hoping that someday they would have the evidence to charge Sharon with her husband’s murder.  What police would later find out is that Sharon had one of her male friends secretly buy her another .22 caliber pistol.  This friend had initially registered the gun under Sharon’s name, but once she found out she asked that he re-register the gun under any other name but her own.  

All about the money

After Jame’s funeral, Sharon collected on his life insurance policy valued at $29,000.  In today’s money that equals over $290,000.  Did Sharon save that money?  No, she went out and bought a brand-new Ford Thunderbird convertible at a local car dealership.  That is where she met car salesman Walter Jones on April 18, 1960.  The two soon began a sexual relationship soon after.  

At the time, Walter was married to his high school sweetheart, Patricia age 23.  Patricia Jones was one of six children from St. Joseph’s Missouri.  After graduating from Benton High School the couple married.  Walter enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and the couple relocated to the west coast.  Upon Walter’s discharge, the Joneses settled in Independence with Walter working in car sales and Patricia as a file clerk for the Internal Revenue Service.  The couple had two children, Jerry, age 3, and Cindy age 2.  

Like Sharon, Walter had a wandering eye always looking for a good time.  His good time this time was with Sharon. For Walter, it was all about the fun but for Sharon, she was said to be looking more for a long-term commitment.  

Trouble

On May 25, 1960, Sharon returned from a trip to Washington state after a family visit to inform Walter that she was pregnant and was expecting him to marry her.  Walter surprised her by ending their relationship instead.  Sharon did not go quietly and instead placed a call to Patricia’s work the next day telling her that Walter was having an affair with her sister.  Sharon did not have a sister.  She arranged to meet with Patricia later that day to talk about the matter further.  

Patricia never returned home that night.  Walter, not knowing what happened to her, started calling around friends and co-workers.  That is when he found out that she had received a call at work from an unnamed woman who wanted to meet up with her.  Patricia had asked the carpool driver to drop her off at a street corner in Independence which he did.  The other passengers in the car had seen a woman waiting for Patricia in another vehicle but did not recognize her.  When they described this mystery woman Walter knew precisely who she was.  

Walter called Sharon, confronting her and asking her where Patricia was.  Sharon told him that she did call Patricia at her work and had met with her, later on, to talk about their affair.  However, she claimed that she dropped Patricia off near their house. The last she saw Patricia was talking to a man in a green 1957 Ford.  

The search

Sharon contacted Boldizs whom she still kept in touch with asking him to drive around with her to help locate Patricia.  The couple drove around for hours and it was shortly before midnight that Sharon suggested going to a secluded area known for being a lovers’ lane type about a mile outside of Independence.  The couple pulled in and their headlights illuminated a body not far off the road.  Sharon told Boldizs to get out and check it out.  It was the body of a deceased woman.  

Boldizs went to notify authorities with Sharon asking him to leave her name out of it. That plan didn’t last long when police started asking Boldizs why he was out on lover’s lane at midnight all alone.  Not liking that he was being looked at as a suspect he told them he was with Sharon Kinne who asked him to help her search and suggested looking at that location.

Patricia Jones had been shot four times with a .22 caliber pistol.  The fatal wound was to her head with the bullet entering near her mouth in what would be described as an upward trajectory.  She also suffered a through-and-through shot to her abdomen and two penetrating shots to her shoulders.   Powder burns would be found on the hemline of her yellow skirt that had been pulled up to her waist.  Police believed this was to make it look like she had been a victim of a sexual assault.  There was no indication that Patricia had been sexually assaulted.   Her approximate time of death was around 9 pm on May 27th.  Patricia Jones would be buried on May 31, 1960.

Questioning

On May 28th, police brought Sharon, Boldizs, and Walter in for further questioning.  Both Boldizs and Walter told the police that they had both “dated” Sharon perhaps simultaneously.  Both Boldizs and Walter agreed to polygraph tests which indicated they showed no deception in their statements.  Sharon also gave an oral statement but when asked to sign a written one she declined.  She also declined to participate in a polygraph examination.  

While police were questioning the trio another unit was investigating the crime scene. They were searching for the murder weapon and any bullets that had passed through Patricia’s body.  They even deployed a local boy scouts troop to help search the nearby area.  A .22 caliber bullet was dug out of the dirt Patricia’s body had been covering but no murder weapon was ever located.  

On May 31, 1960, at 11 pm Sharon Kinne was arrested for Patricia Jones’s murder.  In addition to Patricia’s murder the Jackson County Sheriff also requested that prosecutors consider charging Sharon with a second-degree murder offense for James Kinne.  

Smoking gun

Police knew that the gun used to kill James Kinne was not the weapon that had murdered Patricia Jones as they still had that gun in their evidence locker.  They also didn’t find any registration for guns in Sharon’s name.  That was until the man who had secretly bought a .22 caliber pistol for Sharon came forward.  He told police that he had purchased the gun at Sharon’s request at the beginning of May.

Police got a warrant and searched Sharon’s home but once again were unable to locate the firearm.  They found an empty box that they believed held the weapon at one time.  When questioned Sharon first told police that she had lost the weapon on her trip to Washington state.  In her next version, she said that the gun had just disappeared.  

Walter Jones was taken into custody on June 2, 1960, as a material witness.  A material witness warrant allows authorities to arrest and detain an individual that holds information that is “material to criminal proceedings, and if it is shown that they may become impracticable to secure the person’s presence by a subpoena.”

He was released that same day on a $2000 bond.  

Autopsy

Dr. Hugh Owens conducted Patricia’s autopsy and recovered one of the three bullets embedded in her body.  Dr. Owens would be criticized by police and prosecutors who felt that a thorough job had not been done especially with testing Patricia’s stomach contents.  Dr. Owens claimed that the undertaker was to blame as they had, prior to his autopsy, prepared the body and that any chemical tests on her stomach contents would have been futile.  Dr. Owens did note that he did not see any “apparent food” in Patricia’s stomach during his examination.

On June 17, 1960, Patricia Jones’s body was exhumed with the permission of her family.  This was to attempt to collect any remaining bullet fragments and to get tissue samples and stomach contents that may have remained.

On July 11, 1960, Sharon Kinne was arraigned on murder charges and denied bail.  However, on July 18th the Kansas City Court of Appeals would grant Sharon bail.  She was freed on a $24,000 bond.  In today’s money that’s a little over $240,000.  Sharon’s trial for Patricia’s murder was delayed in getting started due to her late stage of pregnancy.  Sharon gave birth to a baby girl, Maria Christine, on January 16, 1961.  Sharon Kinne was twenty-one years old.  

First up

Sharon would be tried separately for Patricia and James’s murders.  On June 13, 1961, jury selection began for Patricia’s trial with an all-male jury being selected.  

Both the prosecution and defense focused on Patricia’s time of death with each giving the jury different timelines.  Lt. Harry Nesbitt, Chief of Detectives testified that Sharon had told him that she felt Walter was slipping away from her even though she offered him more financial security due to Jame’s life insurance policy money.  Walter also testified that he had attempted to end his relationship with Sharon after she told him that she was pregnant with his child.  

Prosecutors would rest their case on June 21st after calling 27 witnesses.  The defense only called 14 witnesses and took less than two days to get through all of them. Their focus was to break down the prosecution’s claim of jealousy as a motive and having the means such as access to the firearm that killed Patricia.  Sharon did not testify on her behalf.  

The jury only took one hour to deliberate and came back with a verdict of not guilty.  It has been reported that upon the verdict being read applause broke out in the courtroom.  One jury, Ogden Stephens, even asked Sharon for her autograph after the judge released the courtroom.  However, Sharon Kinne was not a free woman.  She was taken into custody and jailed that same day to await her trial for her husband’s murder.  

Trials

On January 8, 1962, Sharon went on trial for her husband’s murder.  The prosecution decided not to seek the death penalty and a jury of eleven men and one woman was seated to hear the case.  Former lover John Boldizs took the stand as a prosecution witness.  He was to testify as to his conversation with Sharon about her offering him money to kill her husband.  Boldizs should have been a strong witness for the prosecution as he had been during the grand jury proceedings.  However, this time around he testified that he thought Sharon had only been joking when she made the offer.  

Also presented as evidence at trial were Sharon’s lifestyle choices, mainly her sleeping around with other men to put it plain and simple.  According to the prosecution, Sharon knew of James’s life insurance policy and if she granted him a divorce she would not be able to collect on the policy.

The defense focused on the fact that Jame’s death was ruled an accidental homicide initially. They also attacked Boldizs testimony claiming that he “was just a poor mixed-up kid who would sign anything.” They also presented evidence from witnesses about guns being left around the house within Danna’s reach and that she often pretended to play firing guns.  

Three days later on January 11, 1962, the jury after deliberating five-and-a-half hours reached a verdict, guilty.  Afterward, one jury told reports that Sharon’s morals had not been considered and none of them knew she had previously been tried for murder. Sharon Kinne was formally sentenced in April 1962, to life in prison.  She was twenty-two years old.  

Even after being sentenced for the murder of their son, James’s parents stood by Sharon and didn’t believe their daughter-in-law could commit murder.  Sharon, when asked by reporters about the verdict, replied that she regretted being “enthusiastic” when a woman was seated on the jury.

Not over

Sharon attempted to get a release on bond the following week after she was sentenced. Judge Tom Stubbs reprimanded her attorney for even attempting as they knew there is no bond once someone is convicted of murder.  Motion denied.  

However, Sharon would not be in prison long when in March 1963, the Missouri Supreme Court reversed Sharon’s conviction and ordered a new trial.  Her conviction was overturned on a technicality due to her defense being denied adequate peremptory challenges during jury selection.  In July 1963, Sharon was released on a $25,000 bond posted by her brother Eugene.

March 23, 1964, Sharon, now twenty-four-years-old stood trial for the second time for her husband’s murder.  This time, Judge Paul Carver presided with once again an all-male jury being selected.  This trial didn’t even start when a mistrial was declared days later.  The court discovered that one of the jurors had retained a lawyer who was the law partner of the prosecutor, Lawrence Gepford.  Due to this conflict of interest, another trial would be scheduled.  

Number three

On June 29, 1964, Sharon’s third trial for her husband’s murder began.  This time the prosecutor, Donald Mason, notified the court at jury selection that he intended to seek the death penalty.  Once again, Boldizs testified, and like the first trial, he downplayed Sharon offering him $1,000 to kill her husband.  He did offer a new bit of information this time around.  Boldizs told the jury that Sharon had asked him not to tell the police about her offer.  

The prosecution entered into evidence the “Precious Tomcat” letters.  These were letters written between Sharon and another female inmate Margaret Hopkins. The two had shared a cell for eight months while incarcerated in the Jackson County Jail.  The two were said to have had an intimate relationship and had even entered into a handwritten “marriage contract.”  It was at the end of one of these letters that Sharon had asked Margaret to go to her grandmother’s house and acquire a .22 caliber pistol that she had hidden in the wall by the fireplace.  

Police had searched Sharon’s grandmother’s home at 300 Fuller Street, but no gun was found.  It would be sometime later and after Sharon’s current trial that authorities would learn that they had searched the wrong home.  You see, Sharon’s grandmother had moved and the home they had searched for was her new residence.  

Another new addition was Sharon deciding to take the stand in her own defense.  Sharon stuck to her story and claimed her innocence testifying that it was Danna who had pulled the trigger killing her father by accident. She also testified that both Boldizs and Hopkins were lying.  The jury went into deliberations but in the end, they were hopelessly deadlocked seven to five in favor of acquittal.  A second mistrial was declared. 

Here we go again

Sharon was scheduled for her fourth trial in October 1964, however, in September she decided to travel to Mexico with her new love interest, Francis Samuel Pugliese.  Pugliese is described as a nomad hairdresser, blacksmith, and con artist.   Sharon left her three children in the hands of James’s parents and took off traveling under the name of Jeanette Pugliese, Francis’s wife.  The two planned to marry in the City of Palaces, Mexico City.

Now you may be wondering did Sharon have permission to leave the state or even the country for that matter.  The answer is somewhat.  The authorities did not prohibit her from leaving the state at the time, however, the legal terms of her bond did.  Sharon had to get written permission from the bond issuer which she didn’t bother to do.

After crossing the border, the couple registered for a room at Hotel Gin as husband and wife.  Sharon felt unsafe in Mexico, so she bought a pistol and other firearms when they crossed the border.

Stranger

On September 18, 1964, Sharon left the hotel without Pugliese one evening.  There are various versions as to the reason, some say it was to get money as the couple was running low and others say she went to get some medication she needed to take.  Whatever the reason, Sharon ended up in the Del Drado Hotel Bar and that is where she encountered Mexico-born American citizen, Francisco Parades Ordonez.  

Sharon and her new friend went back to his hotel room presumably to look at some photographs Francisco wanted to show her.   Sharon would later claim that she needed someone who spoke Spanish to help her secure the medication she needed and that Francisco was taking her back to her hotel.  Sharon would tell police that as soon as Francisco shut the door he made sexual advances toward her. Sharon, fearful for her life, Francisco to protect herself. She would claim later to authorities that she only meant to scare him but instead struck him in the chest.  

A hotel employee, Enrique Martinez Rueda heard the shots, and when he let himself into the room he also was fired upon taking a bullet to the shoulder.  Having enough wits, Enrique quickly shut the door, locked it, and called the police.  

Murder weapon

The police quickly took Sharon into custody and got her statement.  They didn’t believe Sharon’s version of events and theorized that she had gone out that evening to rob someone and Francisco was her mark and victim. Sharon Kinne was arrested and charged with homicide, attempted robbery, and assault with a deadly weapon.  Upon searching Sharon’s purse they also found the murder weapon and a cartridge of bullets.  They also searched the couple’s hotel room at Hotel Gin.  In the couple’s room police discovered more weapons and ammunition.  Pugliese was also taken into custody and charged with entering Mexico illegally and carrying unlicensed firearms.  

When authorities in Missouri heard about Sharon’s arrest and the discovery of a .22 pistol they wanted that gun.  Assistant Jackson County Prosecutor, Don Mason flew to Mexico to retrieve the gun but  Mexican authorities would not release the gun they did, however, give Mason bullets fired from weapons for testing.  Turned out that those bullets matched the ones taken from Patricia Jones’s body in 1960.  Sharon Kinne had the murder weapon in her possession the whole time.  Since she had been tried and found not guilty she could not stand trial again for Patricia’s murder as double jeopardy was attached.  

Deja vu

Both Sharon and Pugliese were arraigned on charges, however, Pugliese was cleared of his charges and deported to the United States prior to the start of Sharon’s trial.  Sharon went on trial in the summer of 1965 she was 25 years old.  On October 18th she was convicted of murder and sentenced to a ten-year prison term.  Sharon might have been taken by surprise at this verdict due to her track record with murder trials and thinking she may just receive probation and then be deported back to the US. 

The Mexico media that had covered Sharon’s trial nicknamed her La Pistolera, the gunfighter, and the name stuck when she entered prison.  Side note, she is also known as the Black Widow of Missouri.  Sharon appealed her sentence thinking she might get it overturned, it happened before. A US Embassy employee who had visited Sharon would later tell reporters that Sharon said, “I’ve shot men before and managed to get out of it.”   However, this time the three-judge panel that made up the Superior Court upheld her murder conviction, overturned her attempted robbery conviction, and lengthened her sentence to thirteen years feeling ten years was too lenient.

Escape

For four years Sharon served her time but it was on December 7, 1969, Sharon, now thirty years old, failed to show up for the 5 pm roll call.  Prison officials noted the no-show but didn’t seem too concerned until she also failed to show up for a second roll call around 9 pm.  Still, prison officials didn’t notify Mexican authorities and their superiors until 2 am.  

A manhunt was arranged focusing on those areas north of the prison thinking Sharon would either head to the home of a former inmate she had grown close to while behind bars or try to cross the border into the US.  The FBI was notified of Sharon’s escape and assisted in monitoring any border crossing.  

Authorities had various theories as to how Sharon had escaped.  One was she had bribed a prison guard or had squeezed herself through an unguarded window.   Another is that she had enlisted the help of a Mexican policeman that she may have been dating.  Yet another was that she had disguised herself as a man and walked right on out the prison gates.  The most popular theory is that members of the Ordonez family helped Sharon escape only to have later killed her.  

Regardless of theories, Sharon Kinne was nowhere to be found.  On December 18th, the Mexican Secret Service and Mexico City District Attorney’s office made a public announcement that they were no longer involved in searching for Sharon.  By that time there was speculation that Sharon had crossed the border into Guatemala and could have traveled into South America.  Keep in mind, Sharon didn’t speak Spanish prior to entering prison but her time behind bars helped her in speaking it fluently.  

Warrants

So, when Sharon failed to appear for her fourth trial in October 1964, a warrant was issued.  However, authorities knew where Sharon was as she was serving time for murder in Mexico.  Still, the warrant stood and still stands today.  Sharon has another warrant, this one from Mexico.  Mexican authorities issued a warrant should Sharon ever be apprehended so that she can return to prison and serve her remaining time.  Believe it or not, escaping a Mexican prison at the time was not considered a crime.  

Sharon Kinne holds the record for having the longest outstanding warrant for murder in Kansas City, Missouri’s history.  In addition, she holds one of the longest felony arrest warrants in the history of the United States.  If Sharon Kinne is still alive she would be eighty-three years old. 

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