The high-profile 1976 disappearance and murder of a Columbia waitress is the focus of a new book called “The Life of a Murder.” The book is written by retired Boone County Judge Gary Oxenhandler, who presided over Johnny Wright’s murder trial. Wright was able to avoid detection for more than three decades before being captured in Georgia and eventually convicted of second degree murder for waitress Rebecca “Becky” Doisy’s death. Wright died of apparent natural causes at the maximum-security Jefferson City Correctional Center in 2015. Judge Oxenhandler retired from the bench in 2016, after he reached the mandatory retirement age of 70. He joined host Fred Parry Saturday morning on 939 the Eagle’s “CEO Roundtable”, telling listeners that Becky Doisy was from the St. Louis area and a Mizzou student who worked at Ernie’s, especially on the weekends. He says she was well-liked and had a large circle of friends. Becky Doisy was a 1971 graduate of Kirkwood high school. Oxenhandler says one of the first things he did before writing the book is contact the Disciplinary Commission for Judges and Attorneys and ask if he could do this. They told him yes, noting he’s not a judge anymore. He tells listeners that they also advised him to say retired Judge Gary Oxenhandler rather than Judge Oxenhandler. The retired judge introduces readers to each of the key players from a first-person perspective and emphasizes there are many things about the Johnny Wright case that he didn’t know when he presided over the trial. “I found in the records three other women that Johnny Wright had attacked. That would never … the only … I never heard anything about that in getting. Now had the state … the state was aware of it, and the defense was aware of it. But there has to be more of a connection than these events. And … but I learned about it afterwards,” Oxenhandler tells host Parry. Gary Oxenhandler grew up in the St. Louis suburb of University City, coming to Columbia to attend college in 1965. He was drafted into the U.S. military and finished law school at Mizzou. Then-Missouri Governor Bob Holden (D) appointed Gary Oxenhandler to the bench in 2002. Oxenhandler was re-elected twice and served as presiding judge in Boone County for three years. He presided over about 250 jury trials, including the Wright case. Ernie’s Steakhouse is mentioned several times in the book and during Fred’s interview. Judge Oxenhandler’s book is currently available at Skylark bookshop in downtown Columbia and will be available on Amazon in a few weeks. Gary Oxenhandler is also a former Columbia Chamber of Commerce president. He and his wife Janet will celebrate their 56th wedding anniversary this week:

Ver todos los episodios