Daphne Wright

Daphne "Daffy" Wright born (1963) is an African American woman who was convicted of first-degree murder of a romantic rival, Darlene Vander-Giesen whom she kidnapped, killed, and dismembered.

Personal life

Wright was born in the rural town of Morganton, North Carolina in 1963.Fact|date=August 2007 She had a hearing problem and impairment which caused her to become deaf, but can speak and uses sign language. She excelled in schools, including sports.Fact|date=August 2007

Murder trial

Wright met Sallie Collins, another deaf lesbian who would become her girlfriend, in an online chat room for lesbians. They lived together at a house they rented from a woman in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. They got into frequent arguments and Collins moved out.Fact|date=August 2007 She moved to a place called the "Deaf Apartments" and met a short-haired heterosexual woman named Darlene Vander Giesen who had a boyfriend, Jeff Hakeman. Wright felt that Vander Giesen was getting in the way and trying to steal Collins away from her. Wright threw a gathering for Collins at Pizza Hut and asked Vander Giesen to help out.Fact|date=August 2007 Vander Giesen went missing, and a few days later some of her relatives and friends reported the fact. Investigating police brought Wright in for questioning and she admitted to knowing Collins' friend and sending her nasty and threatening e-mails under the name of "Wendy Smith," but claimed to have no involvement in her disappearance.

A search of Wright's house revealed a chainsaw, and parts of Vander Giesen that were dismembered were found at the local landfill.citation |url=http://www.ksfy.com/news/6894467.html |title=Emotional Day in Daphne Wright Murder Trial |date=2007-04-05 |first=Robert |last=Wilson |periodical=KSFY.com |accessdate=2007-08-28.] More were found bagged by the side of the road in Rock County, Minnesota.

After the jury returned to the courtroom from deliberating on April 11, 2007, Wright was found guilty of the first-degree murder that occurred on February 1, 2006. She had faced the death penalty, but the jury and the judge sentenced her to life without parole which would have made her the first deaf woman in U.S. history to be put on death row. The jury foreperson told reporters afterwards that they showed Daphne more mercy than Daphne had shown Darlene. She is currently serving her life sentence at South Dakota Women's Prison. Sallie Collins had left South Dakota after the murder trial and her whereabouts are unknown.citation |title=Life Without Parole |date=2007-04-18 |accessdate=2007-08-28 |url=http://www.ksfy.com/news/7092026.html |periodical=KSFY.com .]

In popular culture

Wright's profile and some of her life can be found on an episode of the Oxygen true crime series, "Snapped" which debuted on August 12, 2007.

References

ee also

* Sexual minority cultures