Mary Josephine Bailey, 81 was found guilty of killing a woman back in 1985. She is facing a life sentence. While it’s great that they finally caught the killer, it makes you wonder what’s the point of a “life sentence” at the age of eighty-one!
December 12th 1985, Yvonne Carrol Menke was leaving her apartment around 6:30 a.m. She was coming down the narrow stairs when she was shot three times with a 22 caliber handgun. A boot print was found at the scene, and the police had a suspect right away, but somehow the case still went cold.
Mary Josephine Bailey was in the middle of a love triangle dispute over a man named Jack Owen. The other woman was Yvonne Menke. Police questioned Bailey at the time of the homicide. She owned both a .22 caliber handgun and a .22 caliber rifle. She claimed that she gave the handgun to her boyfriend to sell it for her weeks earlier and no longer had it. She also said she did not know how to use the rifle. Her boots also matched the tread pattern found at the crime scene. Still with all of this circumstantial evidence they could not bring Bailey in for murder. the case would sit for 36 years.
In the meantime Jack Owen had gotten married and moved off to Montana. Bailey had broken into his home and taped pictures all over the house. They were pictures of Owen and Bailey together. Written across all of the pictures were obscenities of various natures. This is the type of woman we are dealing with.
In 2021, a witness came forward saying that Bailey had an ex-boyfriend burn her clothes on the day of the homicide. Another witness claimed Bailey actually was well versed in firearms and definitely knew how to use her weapons.
Mary Bailey was arrested in November, 2023 and found guilty of first degree murder on May 30th 2024. She showed very little emotion. She was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 20 years. She would be 101.
