Death Benefit" aka "Justice for Annie

Death Benefit and Justice for Annie are based on the same true story

2012-01-10T08:01:00.000-08:00

Insurance Fraud Case Ends in Murder

2012-01-10T08:00:00.000-08:00

Had it not been for the movie "Death Benefit" I might never have known who inpired the movie "Justice for Annie." These two movies were based on the story of Deanna Wild. In both movies Deanna Wild was named something else, I think Melissa in one and I forget who in the other. The actual story of this case was shocking. Both movies stuck very closely to the original story. I have provided the actual photos of the moments before Deanna's fall, courtesy of various books. Deanna Wild was shoved from the cliff at Big Sur on April 2, 1987. It took them quite a while to locate her body, and when they did locate it they had a difficult time reaching it due to the cliff's steepness. When they reached her she was lying face down. Her feet were badly bruised and her left leg was twisted at an akward angle, and her fingernails were all broken as if she had been clawing at the side of the cliff for life. She died from 'basal brain lacerations' caused by a deep cut to her head causing her death in minutes.

According to some witnesses, Bj and Virginia were sitting in their car while the search was going on looking very unconcerned. Instead of being out and trying to aid in the search they sat their expressionless. When they finally told the couple they had located the body Bj and Virginia looked more relieved than anything. No one actually saw Deanna's fall.

It is also amazing to me the number of death's that surrounded Virginia Rearden Mcginnis. The deputy who helped recover the body of Deanna suddenly committed suicide not long after the fall, Dick Coates, Virginia's first husband, and the only link to her past, jumped from a bridge to his death before the trial started, and Billie Joe Mcginnis died of Aids related Pnumonia before he could be tried and convicted of the murder of Deanna. It has also been hinted that Virginia, being a nurse, might have deliberately infected her husband with the aids virus through a needle, but this was never confirmed. At trial some of Deanna's old friends really tried to smear her name, painting her as a heavy drug user and a woman with no morals. Deanna was still married to her first husband Jay Wild who was still in the service at the time of her death; he came home to bury Deanna.

Jury Heads to Big Sur
hawk flew overhead, sea lions barked below and court, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, was in session.

A trial was moved from San Diego to the treacherous Big Sur cliff Thursday as jurors try to determine whether 20-year-old Deana Wild was pushed to the surf below for insurance money nearly five years ago.

"Be careful over here, please," Deputy District Attorney Luis Aragon told jurors who stood where one of Wild's high-heeled shoes was found. Her body was found 390 feet below.

Virginia Rearden, 55, and Rearden's ex-husband, Billie Joe McGinnis, 52, are, were charged after police learned the San Diego couple had bought a $ 35,000 life insurance policy on Wild the day before her death April 2, 1987.

McGinnis died Dec. 1 of complications of AIDS. Rearden is being tried for murder, accused of luring Wild to the granite cliffs on Highway 1, 120 miles south of San Francisco, so the couple could profit from pushing her off. The defense claims Wild fell accidentally.

Rearden's trail began Jan. 6 in San Diego, where the murder plot was allegedly hatched. A second day of testimony at the cliff was scheduled today.

Their son, James Coates, was named primary beneficiary of the policy because, the couple said, he was engaged to marry Wild, who was estranged from her husband. Wild had been living with the couple, who were named as secondary beneficiaries. Coates was not charged in the case.

Jess Mason, a Monterey County sheriff's rescuer, testified McGinnis told him he didn't hear Wild fall but knew she was gone when he turned back and saw one of her shoes.

Mason said the couple was calm when told of Wild's death. "There were no tears," he said.

Police were suspicious of the couple's claim that Wild made no sounds of panic because her torn fingers showed signs of a struggle to hang on.

Under questioning from defense attorney Albert Tamayo, Mason said it wasn't a very isolated place for a crime.

"This entire coastline is popular," Mason said.

Another witness, Deborah Johansen, said Rearden ran into the store where Johansen works and said there had been an accident and a woman had fallen.

After calling police, Johansen drove an agitated Rearden back to the cliff where McGinnis seemed "a little tense, but he wasn't showing any emotion."

The two told Johansen that Wild tripped while taking photographs of sea lions, but the pictures presented at trial didn't show any of the animals.

Jurors saw a dozen pictures of Wild and McGinnis taken by Rearden moments before the fall.

Rearden and McGinnis were arrested Sept. 15, 1989, and jailed in lieu of $ 5 million bail. The charge carries a special circumstance of murder for financial gain, but the state is prohibited from seeking the death penalty because prosecutors accidentally saw a psychiatric report on McGinnis.

The case went to trial after State Farm Insurance refused to pay the policy and Wild's mother sought the help of an attorney to look into the case. The lawyer took the circumstantial evidence he found to authorities.

Tidbits
Virginia Rearden is also known as Virginia Mcginnis
Deanna Wild is also known as Deana Wild

Deanna Wild Crime Scene Photos at Big Sur

2009-05-05T15:21:00.001-07:00

The photo that Deanna took

Deanna Wild before the push

Virginia Rearden photos

2009-05-05T15:18:00.000-07:00

Virginia in court with her husband

Virginia Rearden

Deanna Wild Photos

2009-05-05T15:14:00.000-07:00

Deanna Wild with her mom Bobbie Roberts

Other Cases of Young Girls Who Were Murdered by Landlords for the Insurance Money

2009-05-04T08:01:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more cases of young girls who went to live with people who took in boarders. These cases have nothing to do with the movie or the true story above.

March 1995 Eastside Park Patterson NJ African American Woman Killed Tenants that Lived in her Boarding House

In 1995, a jogger found a person on the side of the jogging path. Upon inspection he discovered that the person was not asleep, but deceased. The body was that of a Black female. She had been beaten. There was no identification on the body. Blunt force trauma to the head was the cause of death. Police identified the body to be that of 19 year-old Tara Carter. She was identified by her fingerprints. Her sister indicated that Tara was living with a widow named Celestine Payne. She rented rooms in her home. When questioned, Celestine Payne cooperated with police, and showed them the room where Tara slept. As they moved to the basement area of the home drops of blood were found on the basement floor of the home. The blood seemed to be dripping from one of the rooms above. Forensics was called and blood stains were found in a closet in the same room where Tara slept. A police investigator recalled an incident that had occurred at Payne's residence eighteen months earlier where a former tenant had been stabbed. They tried to speak with him, but they were not able to interview Eugene Cooper while he was in intensive care. After he was discharged from the hospital, he disappeared. The police decided to find him to see if he could give them some information. Eugene Cooper indicated that Celestine Payne got a man named Charlie Penchant to stab him because he would not turn over his life insurance policy. He also told police that she had set fires at the home in order to collect the insurance money. He then admitted to helping her dump the body of Alfonso Payne, Celestine's husband. When the body was originally found, his death was ruled accidental. A later examination of the body revealed that he had been murdered. Police returned to the home of Celestine Payne and found an insurance policy for Tara Carter. Penchant was also last seen at the home at the time of Tara’s disappearance.When Penchant was arrested, he admitted that Celestine put him up to stabbing Eugene Cooper. He also admitted to helping her move the body of Tara Carter after she murdered her. Celestine denied any wrong doing. Celestine had a kind disposition and a soft voice, she was able to fool many people. She also killed many more people. Payne finally plea bargained and both Payne and Penchant received life in prison. Celestine’s daughter Wendy was given 28 years.