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Arizona History: Winnie Ruth Judd with Robrt Pela

Writer in Residence Partnership with Paradise Valley Community College

Robrt Pela will discuss the several stories he’s written about the Judd case, as well as his theories about what really happened one fall night in 1931.

A few years ago, award-winning journalist Robrt Pela stumbled on a secret: The confession letter of notorious murderess Winnie Ruth Judd. For decades, everyone believed that Judd had been falsely accused of plotting the death of her two best girlfriends in 1931, and that someone other than Winnie had cut apart one of the dead women, crammed both bodies into luggage, and sent Winnie Ruth off to Los Angeles with this pile of grisly baggage. But the letter Pela found, written in Judd’s own hand from a death-row prison cell in 1932 and kept hidden away for more than 70 years, explained precisely how and why she’d murdered her friends. The writer’s research led him to many new discoveries in this notorious local murder case, including a stash of letters Winnie wrote, trying desperately to get her confession back so that she could destroy it.

Pela will discuss the several stories he’s written about the Judd case, as well as his theories about what really happened one fall night in 1931.

This program is generously provided through a partnership with the Writer-in-Residence program at Paradise Valley Community College. 

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