Athalia Ponsell Lindsley (July 25, 1917 – January 23, 1974) was an American model,

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

dancer, political activist and television personality on the show '' Winner Take All''. Lindsley was murdered by an unknown assailant on the front steps of her home in St. Augustine, Florida. Her murder remains unsolved.

Early life

Lindsley was born to a wealthy family in

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...

and was raised on the Isle of Pines, an island possession of

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

in the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...

. She spent 20 years in New York as a model, chorus line dancer and hostess on

Bud Collyer Bud Collyer (born Clayton Johnson Heermance Jr., June 18, 1908 – September 8, 1969) was an American radio actor and announcer and game show host who became one of the nation's first major television game show stars. He is best remembered for ...

's television game show '' Winner Take All''. She had dated Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., elder brother of President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

. There were rumors of an engagement between them, but Kennedy died while on active duty during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. She made an unsuccessful bid for state senator and had plans to run for a seat on the St. Johns County,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

Commission. She married a former mayor of St. Augustine, James "Jinx" Lindsley, a successful real estate agent, four months prior to her murder. Despite being newly married, they resided in different homes; she lived at 124 Marine Street on the

Matanzas River The Matanzas River is a body of water in St. Johns and Flagler counties in the U.S. state of Florida. It is a narrow saltwater bar-bounded estuary sheltered from the Atlantic Ocean by Anastasia Island. The Matanzas River is in lengthU.S. Geolo ...

, while he alternatively used the historic Lindsley House at 214 St. George Street and another on Lew Boulevard on

Anastasia Island Anastasia Island is a barrier island located off the northeast Atlantic coast of Florida in the United States. It sits east of St. Augustine, running north–south in a slightly southeastern direction to Matanzas Inlet. The island is about long ...

Death

Lindsley had been in an ongoing feud with Alan Griffin Stanford Jr., her neighbor at 126 Marine Street. One of the concerns was the six stray dogs she took in that barked incessantly. In a transcript of an October 1973 county meeting, one of the commissioners had remarked, "I am aware you are a neighbor of the Stanfords and that y'all have had neighbor problems," to which Lindsley answered, "That's true. (But) my life has been threatened. You mention personal things. He threatened my life." Between 5:30 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. on January 23, 1974, Lindsley was attacked on the front steps of her home at 124 Marine Street by a white middle-aged male wearing a white dress shirt and dark dress pants. According to medical examiner Dr. Arthur Schwartz, who performed the autopsy, she was struck nine times with a

machete Older machete from Latin America Gerber machete/saw combo Agustín Cruz Tinoco of San Agustín de las Juntas, Oaxaca">San_Agustín_de_las_Juntas.html" ;"title="Agustín Cruz Tinoco of San Agustín de las Juntas">Agustín Cruz Tinoco of San ...

on her hand, arm and in the head. One of her fingers was severed and she was nearly decapitated. The only thing missing from her house was a pet blue jay, whose cage was found smashed. Toward the end of the attack, an 18-year-old neighbor, Locke McCormick, heard the sounds of a commotion and went outside to look. He allegedly shouted to his mother that "Mr. Stanford is hitting Mrs. Ponsell." After the perpetrator left, the McCormicks went next door and saw Lindsley lying in a pool of blood on her porch and called the police. Stanford was indicted, pled innocent and was brought to trial; after two hours of jury deliberation, he was acquitted. Critics accused the police of botching the investigation and tainting evidence.

In media

In 1998 ''Bloody Sunset in St. Augustine,'' a work of fiction intermixed with facts from the case, was locally published by Jim Mast and Nancy Powell, friends of Lindsley. In 2000, the cable channel A&E aired an hour-long documentary on the case in its ''

City Confidential ''City Confidential'' is an American documentary television show, originally transmitted on the A&E Network, which singled out a community during each episode and investigated a crime that had occurred there. Rather than being a straightforward ...

'' series titled ''St. Augustine: The Socialite and the Politician''. In April 2019 the case was covered on the popular online true crime show ''

BuzzFeed Unsolved ''BuzzFeed Unsolved'' (also known as simply ''Unsolved'') was a documentary entertainment web series created by Ryan Bergara for BuzzFeed that ran from February 4, 2016, to November 19, 2021. It first appeared on the YouTube channel ''BuzzFeed ...

''. November 16, 2018 Southern Fried Crime covered the case in An Inconvenient Woman - Athalia Ponsell Lindsley

Second attack

On November 3, 1974, Lindsley's friend and neighbor Frances Bemis went out for her evening walk and never returned. Her body was found the next day in a vacant lot on the corner of Bridge and Marine streets with her skull crushed. Having been a professional newspaper writer, amongst other professions, she may have been gathering material for a book on Lindsley's murder; she had alluded to having certain information. Her murder, like Lindsley's, was never solved.

References

External links