true crime

Sharon Kinne disappeared after murdering 2 husbands. She was never found.

In 1960, Sharon Kinne was living in the US state of Missouri as a bored housewife. She was a mother of two, and married to James Kinne, a Mormon man who was six years her senior.

To keep herself occupied, Sharon would shop and cheat on her husband.

Both she and James knew their marriage was over, and were looking for a way out, until one day, Sharon found him dead by a clear gunshot wound to the head. 

At the time, she had told police that their two-year-old had accidentally fired at him, but then a few months later, her lover's pregnant wife was murdered too.

Although she was acquitted for both murders three times, Sharon would strike again after fleeing to Mexico in 1964. However, after five years behind bars, she broke out of the Mexican prison she was locked up in - and hasn't been seen since.

Watch: Holiday mistakes that attract burglars. Post continues below.


Video via Mamamia.

This makes Sharon Kinne one of the longest-missing felons in the history of America.

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Sharon Elizabeth Hall was born on November 30, 1939, in Independence, Missouri. By the time she was a teenager, she was desperate to leave her small town, and thought 22-year-old James Kinne, a Brigham Young University student, was her way out.

Sharon married James and converted to Mormonism after she fell pregnant with his child. The two welcomed a baby girl in 1957.

Bored and unhappy, a now 20-year-old Sharon picked up a bad shopping habit, one that saw her burn through cash. While James was busy working night shifts as an electrical engineer, Sharon rekindled a relationship with her high school friend, John Boldizs.

By March 1960, James, who was in debt and suspicious of his wife's infidelities, wanted a divorce, but his Mormon family encouraged him to "try it one more day".

Sharon also wanted to separate but for a completely different reason.

In the same month, Sharon called the authorities after reportedly finding her husband's dead body. She said that she heard a gunshot come from the couple's bedroom while she was in the bathroom at around 5.30pm.

When she went to investigate, she said she was shocked to discover that her toddler had shot him in the back of the head while he was napping.

Sharon told police that James would often let their daughter play with his guns, a fact that was confirmed by those close to the couple. They ran no gunshot residue tests on Kinne or her daughter, and investigators concluded she could be telling the truth. After James' death, Sharon received his life insurance policy of $230,000.

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Things really took a turn when her lover's pregnant wife was found dead.

On April 18, 1960 - a month after James' death - Sharon bought herself a Ford Thunderbird with some of the life insurance money. The man who sold it to her was a married car salesman named Walter Jones. Walter and Sharon would go on to have a brief affair, which ended when Sharon told him she was pregnant.

Soon after, Walter's pregnant wife Patricia disappeared on May 26.

After filing a missing person's report, Walter was told that Patricia had met with an unknown woman a day earlier. The woman was seen sitting in a car, wearing a headscarf and oversized sunglasses.

Walter was furious and confronted Sharon who admitted to calling and meeting his wife.

Sharon and her ex-lover John led police to Patrica’s body, which was located off the path of their usual lover’s lane. Patricia had been shot four times in the head, stomach and shoulders by a .22 calibre pistol the previous evening.

The police suspected three people: Sharon, Walter and John. Both men told investigators they had dated Sharon, and they passed their polygraph tests.

Sharon, who was the last person Patrica met and saw before she died, was arrested on May 31 for her murder. Police also charged her for murdering her husband.

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But Sharon's trials had to be postponed as she gave birth to her second daughter on January 16, 1961. When the Patricia Jones trial kicked off, there was no murder weapon to use as evidence, but a man who worked with Sharon admitted to buying a .22 calibre pistol for her in early May 1960. 

When police searched her house, however, they only found an empty gun box.

In June 1961, the all-male jury acquitted Sharon citing "just too many loopholes". Afterwards, she was asked for an autograph by one member of the jury, which she happily signed.

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On January 11, 1962, Sharon was found guilty of murdering her husband and was sentenced to life in prison. According to court documents, John, who acted as a witness during the trial, said Sharon had asked him, "Would you kill my husband for $1000?" which he initially took as a joke.

In March 1963, a Supreme Court reversed her conviction, demanding a new trial. The second trial ultimately ended in a mistrial, and the third had a hung jury. Sharon, who was released on a $25,000 bond, ran to Mexico City in September 1964, changing her name to Jeanette Pugliese.

While Sharon could travel, she was prohibited by the bail bond company to leave the US, making her a felon on the run.

On September 18, 1964, Sharon walked into the bar of the Del Prado Hotel, where she met Mexican-born American citizen, Fransisco Parades Ordonez. The night ended with her in his motel room, to apparently look at some photos.

But once they entered the room, Ordonez allegedly had other plans. Sharon reportedly fought off his advances and shot him two times in the chest "just to scare him off".

A motel employee, who entered the room after hearing gunshots, was also shot and injured, resulting in Sharon being locked inside and arrested despite claiming self-defence.

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The Mexican police didn't believe her and instead thought it was a robbery gone awry.

During an interrogation, Sharon allegedly told a US embassy official that she had shot men before and got away with it. When authorities searched Sharon's hotel room, they discovered the .22 pistol that most likely killed Patricia.

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Although ballistics tests matched that of her 1961 trial, she could not be charged for the murder of Patricia because she had already been acquitted. 

Sharon, who was now in Mexican custody, could not attend her fourth retrial for the murder of James, prompting authorities to release an arrest warrant.

On October 18, 1965, Sharon was convicted of Ordonez's murder. She had been given the nickname "La Pistolera" which translates to "the gunfighter" by the Mexican press. She was sentenced to 13 years in Iztapalapa women's prison, and while many thought that would be the last they heard about her, they were wrong.

Because on December 7, 1969, Sharon was declared missing. 

After missing two routine roll calls, guards had noted her absence. Around the same time, the prison was dealing with an unusual blackout. Despite the suspicious activity, it took officials several hours to report her missing to the police.

They searched for her extensively, but Sharon Kinne was never found or heard from again.

It's been over 50 years, and yet Sharon Kinne still holds the longest outstanding arrest warrant for murder in the history of Kansas City, Missouri.

Feature Image: Getty.