One of my Subscribers told me about this old abandoned house between Ithaca and Wheeler. It has a tragic story to tell about the murder of its owner Alonzo Hart Jr. in 1970. He was a Korean War Veteran and former Saginaw police officer who was now working as a truck driver to support his family. His Second wife Sarah Jane Hart and her 17 year old lover Phillip Lippert hatched a plan to have him killed so she could collect the $18,000 insurance money. They found a killer for hire in William Pribble that would commit the murder for $1500. One night Alonzo’s wife took the kids while Pribble and Lippert waited for Alonzo to return and when he pulled into the driveway Pribble hit him over the head with a bar and beat him to death and left him lying next to his car in the driveway.
Pribble and Lippert pleaded to second degree murder and each was given life sentences. Sarah Jane Hart, who was unable to remember details to help her attorney in her own defense was ultimately committed to a state mental hospital for 18 months before her first trial ended in a mistrial. The old boarded up house still silently stands as a witness to this horrific crime.
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