Accused Elderly Couple May Finally Pay for Murder of Their Ex-Spouses and Children 30 Years Ago

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
by Maressa Brown 1 hour ago

An elderly Missouri couple is at the center of a horrifying tale that sounds more like a creepy movie or Twilight Zone or CSI episode than real life. Seventy-four-year-old Alice Uden and her husband, 71-year-old Gerald Uden, allegedly killed their spouses, along with two children, back in the mid-1970s and early '80s.

Prosecutors say Alice killed her then-25-year-old husband, Ronald Holtz, sometime between Christmas Eve 1974 and February 5, 1975; five years later, they say Gerald shot his wife, then-32-year-old Virginia, and his two adopted sons on a bird-hunting outing and hid the bodies in September 1980. Both crimes occurred in Wyoming; however, it's unclear to investigators how -- if at all -- the murders are linked. In other words, no one can say if whether the Udens knew about each other's alleged crime. So bizarre.

All we do know is certain details that have come to light after 11 agencies have spent 33 years investigating the crimes. Holtz's remains were uncovered in late August in a Laramie County mine shaft. Police say Alice confessed to an unnamed witness, allegedly saying she killed her husband as he slept and moved his body to the shaft in a barrel. Ugh.

Meanwhile, Gerald reportedly confessed this past Friday to his crime. So, currently, the Udens are both in jail in Christian County, and will be extradited to Wyoming.

While it's reassuring that it seems like justice that has been a long time coming may finally be served here, I still feel as though there are many questions left to be answered. For instance, is it possible the couple may have conspired together? The Laramie County prosecutor said in a telephone interview that he didn’t know if the murders of the Udens’ ex-spouses and children had anything to do with the Udens marrying each other. But it just seems like there are a couple of big coincidences here that seem to make that a possibility ...

It's all extremely eerie and disturbing. Hopefully, the trials end up shedding even more light on the whole, big, grim picture.

What do you make of this?!

Image via eoringel/Flickr

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Maressa Brown

has enjoyed reporting and writing for a variety of entertainment and women's magazines and websites. More often than not, you'll find her blogging, hitting the gym, reading, researching something on her iPhone, laughing, chatting at an above-"normal" volume, or getting her caffeine fix.

More
?