- Police/Fire - Janesville Sesquicentennial
-
- Snake venom death plot is among strangest crimes
- One of the most bizarre crimes in Janesville's history unfolded
here in August 1977.
- It involved the arrest of a former Milton College professor
and a Milton woman who plotted to
- kill the woman's wealthy estranged husband with deadly cobra
venom.
- The professor, Loren MOORE, 46, and Charlotte R. DURFEE,
46, both of Milton, later were
- convicted of conspiracy to commit murder. Mrs. DURFEE
was sentenced to four years in prison. MOORE got three
years probation on the condition that he serve one year in Dane
County Jail.
- Here's what happened:
- MOORE was hired by Mrs. DURFEE - a former student
of MOORE - to obtain poisonous
- snake venom to kill her husband, Miles C. DURFEE,
73, owner of DURFEE Roofing and Siding Co., and make it
look like he suffered a heart attack. The venom was to be administered
by a syringe.
- Mrs. DURFEE hired MOORE because she wanted
more money out of the divorce and stood
- to gain a larger amount of money if her husband was dead,
the criminal complaint said, so a homicide plot was concocted.
- Mrs. DURFEE, married 11 years, was scheduled to be
divorced in late-August. Part of her
- settlement would have included $1,000 a month, while DURFEE's
annual income was listed as $100,000 annually.
- MOORE agreed to the plan. So, he contacted a Madison
pet store owner and the attendant of
- Vilas Park Zoo on Aug. 19 and "started asking all kinds
of questions about snakes" who delivered fatal bites.
- MOORE told the attendant, Thornton WILLOUGHBY, he
wanted the information to kill some-
- body. And, WILLOUGHBY told him cobra venom would do
the job.
- That night, WILLOUGHBY got another call from MOORE
at his home and the zoo attendant
- became concerned that MOORE would steal one of the
zoo's snakes. The reptile keeper then phoned Madison police who
began to check into the matter.
- On Aug. 26, MOORE called again to meet with WILLOUGHBY
to talk about deadly snakes.
- WILLOUGHBY agreed to the clandestine meeting - with
approval from police - and was offered 412,500 by MOORE
to collect the cobra venom.
- WILLOUGHBY agreed to the terms, but said he needed
several days to collect the poison.
- Though MOORE did not identify himself, he dropped
hints about the murder then, saying the venom was intended for
a wealthy, elderly man engaged in a divorce with a younger wife.
- Madison detectives were given the clues and went for a long
shot. They contacted police in other
- jurisdictions, Rock County among them, to check out divorce
records. The DURFEE case seemed viable, so the roofing
contractor was warned about the plot.
- Three days later, MOORE went to WILLOUGHBY's
home about 8 p.m. to get the venom -
- which was fake - and was arrested by Madison police as soon
as he left the residence with a vial of placebo venom he thought
would kill "a couple of horses."
- Mrs. DURFEE was arrested at her home the next day
and was transferred to Dane County
- where criminal proceedings occurred.
- At MOORE's sentence hearing, Dane County Judge Michael
TORPHY told him he was
- confused by the entire case, and said: "The last act
of trying to acquire the snake venom borders on the ludicrous.
That was one of the stupidest things I've ever heard of."
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