Alice Uden

Case overview

Alice Uden was convicted of second-degree murder in Cheyenne, Wyoming, for killing her third husband, Ronald Holtz. A judge later sentenced her to life in prison.

Background

Alice Uden was 75 at sentencing. Her death-related proceedings involved Ronald Holtz, who was 25 at the time of his death. Holtz was a Vietnam veteran and had been honorably discharged in 1970 for psychiatric problems, including threats of suicide. Holtz had a history of mental instability and had been diagnosed as having sociopathic tendencies, and he had violent outbursts at two different VA medical centers.

Alice Uden married Ronald Holtz on Sept. 17, 1974. After less than five months of marriage, Uden filed for divorce. The divorce was granted after records from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs showed Holtz had been released on a work-study program on Dec. 24, 1974. After Christmas that year, Holtz’s family never heard from him again.

The case involved Uden’s daughter Erica Prunty, who was described as having cancer and having been given six months to live. Uden also had children including Todd Scott and Theresa Twyford, who testified at trial. Todd Scott was 53 at trial.

Uden testified that Ronald Holtz flew into rage over the girl’s crying and was inches away from attacking her in bed. She also described Holtz’s behavior as frightening and unpredictable, and as hostile and explosive.

The offence

Alice Uden killed Ronald Holtz in late 1974 or early 1975 in Cheyenne, where he was living with her and her 2-year-old daughter.

Uden testified she shot Holtz with a rifle. She said the shooting occurred when Holtz charged at her and threatened to kill her daughter. Uden testified that Holtz was angry and that he knocked her down and ran into her daughter’s bedroom. She testified she was by the mop closet, grabbed a gun there, followed him, and shot him in the back of the head. She testified Holtz fell over the crib railing, slid down to the floor, and remained there until she returned.

Uden testified that she took her daughter to Holtz’s parents’ house in Commerce City, Colorado, while she returned to dispose of the body. She also testified she removed Christmas decorations from a large cardboard barrel and put Holtz’s body inside. She testified she wrestled the barrel into her trunk and dumped the barrel in an abandoned gold mine on a ranch between Cheyenne and Laramie. Authorities later dug up Holtz’s remains from the Remount Ranch mine shaft.

During trial, the prosecution presented expert evidence about the direction of the shot. Dr. James Wilkerson testified about fractures in the left orbit of the skull and demonstrated using a skull with the top sawed off and a trajectory rod. He also said the trajectory could be consistent with someone sitting down in a chair or bending over while standing. Uden claimed Holtz was bending over her daughter’s crib to harm her when she shot him.

Investigation

After Holtz was missing, investigators later investigated the disappearance of another family. In September 1980, the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office started investigating the disappearance of Gerald Uden’s ex-wife, Virginia, and her two sons, Richard and Reagan. During that investigation, information about another disappearance in Laramie County was discovered.

A Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation special agent knew that Alice Uden had married Ronald Holtz on Sept. 17, 1974. The records showed Holtz was released on a work-study program on Dec. 24, 1974, and after Christmas his family never heard from him again. In 1989, police interviewed a witness who said Alice Uden confessed to killing Holtz in 1975 or 1976 and told the witness she shot Holtz in the back of the head with a .22-caliber rifle while he was sleeping. The witness said Uden wrapped Holtz in blankets, put his body in a cardboard barrel, and disposed of it down an old mine shaft at the Remount Ranch.

Investigations continued from 2005 to Uden’s arrest in Missouri, along with Gerald Uden. During that time, investigators discovered Holtz’s remains 40 feet down the Remount Ranch mine shaft. A .22-caliber bullet was found inside his skull. After previous, unsuccessful attempts to find Holtz’s remains in the mine filled with the carcasses of cattle and other ranch animals, investigators dug deeper and finally excavated Holtz’s remains.

On Jan. 18, 2005, DCI agents interviewed Alice Uden in Missouri. She provided information on her children and all her marriages but didn’t mention her marriage to Holtz. The next day, she was interviewed again and asked about not mentioning the marriage. When Holtz’s name was mentioned, Alice Uden fell back against the wall and said, “My kids told you.” She said she hadn’t mentioned Holtz because the marriage was so short she didn’t consider it a real one.

On Nov. 1, 2007, a witness met an agent at the Remount Ranch and showed the agent the abandoned gold mine believed to be the mine referred to by Uden’s confession. The agent photographed the site and obtained GPS coordinates. On Aug. 27 of that year, the mine shaft was excavated; human remains were found about 40 feet down and were later identified as Holtz.

Arrest and extradition

A Missouri couple, Gerald Uden and Alice Uden, was arrested in Missouri. Alice Uden was arrested Thursday on a charge of first-degree murder filed by the Laramie County District Attorney’s Office. She allegedly shot her ex-husband Ronald Holtz in the back of the head while he was sleeping. Holtz was last seen in December 1974 in Sheridan. Alice Uden’s husband Gerald Uden was arrested Friday on three counts of first-degree murder filed by the Fremont County Attorney’s Office in Lander.

Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation released information about the arrests. Alice and Gerald Uden were being held in a Christian County, Mo., jail until they were extradited to Wyoming. Laramie County District Attorney Scott Homar said Alice Uden waived extradition, and he wasn’t sure when she would be brought to Laramie County.

Trial

Jury selection

Jury selection began Tuesday in the murder trial of a Missouri woman accused of allegedly shot her newlywed husband to death 40 years ago while he slept. About 70 potential jurors filled Laramie County District Judge Steven Sharpe’s courtroom to begin the process.

Sharpe told jurors: “You must not discuss the case with anyone, form or express any opinions on the trial until the case has been formally submitted to you for deliberation,” and “You are not allowed to speak with any of the parties, view any news coverage or conduct online searches of this case.”

Defence and prosecution positions

Uden did not testify as to the claim that she shot Holtz to defend her daughter from him during the jury’s final consideration; however, she did argue that she shot him in the head to defend her toddler daughter. Jurors rejected the defense that it was self-defense.

The prosecution argued the killing was thoughtful and deliberate, and that Uden took Holtz’s life while he was sleeping and disposed of it so it wouldn’t be found for 39 ½ years. District Attorney Scott Homar said:

“Her way out was to take Mr. Holtz's life while he was sleeping and then dispose of it in a way that it wouldn't be found for 39 ½ years,” Homar said.

The defence attorney Donald Miller urged probation because Erica has cancer and was given six months to live. He also highlighted the psychiatric history of Holtz and told the courtroom:

“His behavior was unpredictable. He was irritable, he was hostile, he was explosive. He had no incentive to change,” Miller told the courtroom.

Evidence and testimony

Video interview and changing account

Jurors watched a video interview conducted last September by Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation special agents Tina Trimble and Loy Young. Uden initially denied knowing Holtz and then changed her story after Trimble told her they had recovered his body from an abandoned mine shaft on the Remount Ranch between Cheyenne and Laramie. Uden described a disagreement after Holtz came home from driving his taxi and said Erica began crying. In the video interview account, she said she retrieved a .22-caliber rifle from behind the door of the bedroom closet, took the rifle, and shot Holtz in the head. She said she then took her daughter to Holtz’s parents’ house in Commerce City, Colorado, while she returned to dispose of the body. During her testimony, her account changed again such that she said Holtz was sleeping in the bedroom when he woke up and heard Erica crying, became angry when the child cried constantly, stormed out, and she put her arms out to stop him, after which he hit her and pushed her to the ground.

Trial testimony: fear and the shooting

During her testimony Monday, Uden described Holtz storming out of the bedroom toward Erica’s room, and she said:

“I got up, grabbed the rifle from the mop closet and went towards Erica’s room. He already entered her room and was sort of bent over her crib with his arms outstretched. I came around the corner and saw him reaching for her,” Uden said calmly.

When asked by Donald Miller, “What happened next?” she said:

“I shot him,” she said.

Asked about what she felt, she said:

“Fear I was scared. Scared he wasn't dead and he would turn on me, beat me up or kill Erica,” Uden said.

When asked “So you were committed the moment you touched the gun?,” Miller asked. Uden replied:

“Yes,” Uden replied.

Uden testified Holtz fell over the crib railing after being shot in the head and slid down to the floor, where he stayed until she returned from Colorado. She said there was blood on the mattress and that during her testimony she referred to the mattress in question as belonging to the baby. Earlier during DCI agent Trimble’s testimony, the prosecution stated Uden had mentioned in the taped interview that there was a pool of blood on the mattress, indicating she had killed Holtz while he was in bed sleeping.

Uden also referred to a recorded jailhouse call with her daughter in which she admitted having a bloody mattress and disposing of it in an Illinois landfill with help of her mother.

Forensic evidence

Expert testimony revealed Holtz had a history of mental instability and had been diagnosed as having sociopathic tendencies. Dr. James Wilkerson demonstrated evidence based on the skull and trajectory rod and testified:

He was “more than 51 percent sure” that Holtz was shot while lying down.

He also testified the trajectory could be consistent with someone sitting down in a chair or bending over while standing.

Confessions testified by family

Todd Scott testified at trial that his mother told him decades ago that she shot Holtz while he was asleep. Todd Scott said:

“She just, out of the blue, told me how she got up one night, got a .22, and shot Ron in the head,” her son Todd Scott, now 53, told the Cheyenne jury last week.
“I don't know why a mother would tell her children she killed somebody.”

Theresa Twyford, Uden’s older daughter, supported the prosecutors’ argument that Uden shot Holtz in his sleep, and not during a fight. Twyford also testified that Uden told her Holtz was a violent man who once beat and kicked her on the side of the road.

Verdict

The jury deliberated for about a day and a half before delivering the verdict. The jury found Alice Uden guilty of second-degree murder. The jury declined to find her guilty of premeditated, first-degree murder, which would have carried a mandatory life sentence, and declined to convict her of a less-serious charge of manslaughter.

Sentencing

On August 26, 2014, a judge in Wyoming sentenced Uden to life in prison. Laramie County District Court Judge Steven Sharpe said he considered possible mitigating factors, including Uden’s lack of prior criminal history. Sharpe stated:

“This was very much a cold, calculated murder,” Sharpe said.
“The jury heard all of the evidence that was before the court and the jury rejected the defense that it was self-defense.”

Uden wore wire glasses, a court-supplied hearing aid, and a blue suit, and sat quietly in her wheelchair before speaking. She sobbed gently as she addressed the court and said:

“I've tried to atone for it,” Uden said. “I wish that I never would have met him so that none of this ever would have happened. He was a very frightening man.”

Other details

Other case involving Gerald Uden

Gerald Uden pleaded guilty to killing his ex-wife and her two sons in central Wyoming in 1980. Prosecutors said they had not drawn any link between his case and Alice Uden’s case. Gerald Uden was sentenced to life in prison on Nov. 1 (described as having been sentenced to life in prison).

The bodies of Virginia Uden and her two sons, 11-year-old Richard Uden and 10-year-old Reagan Uden, were described as having yet to be found. Gerald Uden told a Fremont County courtroom in November that he shot each of them with a rifle not far from his home, one after the other, and dumped their bodies in an abandoned mine. Months later, he said he retrieved the bodies and sank them in Fremont Lake in western Wyoming. Investigators briefly searched the deep lake and planned a more comprehensive search soon.

Jurors at Alice Uden’s trial were prohibited from hearing about Gerald Uden’s case.