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| Copyright 2002 Statesman Journal, Salem, Oregon |
Ex-JW Living in Sin Suicides or Murdered?
by blondie 5 Replies latest social current
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blondie
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Funchback
blondie-
I was JUST about to post this story myself!
Folks on this board are sleeping on this post. There are so many twists and turns and surprises to this story.
Do you think she poisoned her hubby? If so, was it because she didn't want to go back to the meetings?
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sf
"Bimla Boyd has been involved in other legal problems, court records show.
As a civil lawsuit against them and their church gained momentum early this year, the Boyds became concerned about protecting their property and other assets from a possible future financial judgment against them, Polk County records show."What in the world? Civil lawsuit...church gained momentum....protecting property....
hmmmmmmmm
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SixofNine
He took her to doctors appointments, helped her shower and transported her two children to a school bus stop, according to investigative records and interviews.
Yeow! She can't get reinstated that way!
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blondie
Update:
http://news.statesmanjournal.com/article.cfm?i=50237
The life of Bilma Boyd
Friends call her tenacious. Others call her domineering and manipulative. Polk County authorities call her a killer.
FRANCHESCA PEREZ / Statesman Journal file
Bimla Boyd appears in Polk County Circuit Court on Sept. 30 in Dallas. Boyd is charged with murder in the death of Robert Daniel Spencer.
ALAN GUSTAFSON
Statesman Journal
October 20, 2002
Born and raised in the Fiji Islands, she came to the United States more than 20 years ago, a divorced young mother determined to build a new life in a new land.
In Oregon, she studied to become a nurse before fashioning what appeared to be an ordinary life as a suburban, stay-at-home mom.
Closer inspection reveals a life fraught with turmoil and strange turns, a life her oldest son describes as a surreal existence.
Now 46, she bides her time in a Polk County jail cell, accused of killing the caretaker at her rural property.
Who is Bimla Boyd?
That question lurks at the heart of a larger mystery: Why have so many people turned up dead at least five, possibly seven during the past four years on her 30-acre hillside land, nestled amid wine and farm country about 10 miles west of Salem?
A flattering portrait of Boyd emerges from loyal, longtime friends who tell of her generosity and compassion. They portray her as an aggressive good Samaritan.
But a broader picture, drawn from interviews with relatives, court records and investigators reports, casts her in a darker shadow. She has left a trail of deception, fraud and fractured relationships.
On Monday, Boyd pleaded innocent to a charge of murder in connection with the Sept. 29 slaying of Robert Daniel Spencer, 54. His caretaker duties ranged from feeding animals and fixing fences to helping Boyd shower and escorting her on trips.
Authorities allege that he was slain during an argument with Boyd. No motive has been made public.
Spencers relatives said he was shot at close range with a rifle. The bullet struck him in the cheek and went through his neck.
He had no chance at all, said Dave Spencer, the victims identical twin. It was a cold and maliced killing.
Spencers slaying was the latest in a chain of deaths that unfolded after Boyd moved to the property in 1998 with her now-deceased husband:
On Nov. 23, 1998, three young adults Jason Kinser, 26, Suzan Osborne, 26, and Celesta Graves, 24, were shot dead at a trailer owned by Boyd. Kinser and Osborne took care of her property in exchange for free rent.
Philip Scott Cannon of Salem, who was at the trailer that day to bid on a plumbing job, was convicted of the slayings. Bimla Boyd was a key witness against Cannon, testifying that she saw him on the property shortly before the shootings.
On Feb. 14, 2002, Charles Timothy Boyd, 44, died at his ex-wifes five-bedroom home. The exact cause of death was not determined, but a medical examiner concluded that he probably died from a nonlethal dose of prescription pills and health complications.
At 6:21 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 29, authorities went to the home and found Spencer shot to death. They were responding to an emergency call from inside the house. Police records indicate that Boyds 16-year-old son made the call.
Sources say an elderly man and woman also died while staying at Boyds home during the past two years. The two previously lived with Bimla and Charles Boyd when they ran an adult-foster-care business in their Keizer home. They subsequently moved with the Boyds to their new home in Polk County.
Their deaths apparently stemmed from natural causes, said people who lived on the property or visited there.
While testifying at Cannons 2000 murder trial, Boyd revealed that an 89-year-old man her adopted dad resided at her home in a downstairs bedroom. She did not identify him by name.
The Statesman Journal was not able to ascertain his name or the identity of the elderly woman.
Polk County District Attorney John Fisher said he wasnt aware of deaths at Boyds property other than the five confirmed since 1998.
As for those deaths, Fisher drew no sweeping conclusions.
We dont have that many murders in Polk County. To have four people murdered is definitely peculiar, he said. Right now, what I would say is, its just a coincidence, an unlikely coincidence.
Intense person
As critics tell it, Bimla Boyd is abrasive, controlling and manipulative. But Tim Methvin said he is grateful for the support and friendship she gave him during the past two decades.
The Salem man said Boyd repeatedly came to his rescue when he faced health problems and other hardships. Her good works helped other people weather their own crises, he said.
Over the years, she has devoted far more of her time and money to helping other people than she has to enriching her own family or her reputation, he said.
Methvin, 47, said Boyd pushed hard to get what she wanted and, when met with resistance, refused to take no for an answer. He said her tenacity cut through bureaucratic red tape and enabled him to get a long-overdue operation and post-surgical care.
Methvin said her assertiveness turned off some people. But not him.
A lot of people get the idea that Bim is a lot more domineering than she actually is, he said. Shes not domineering. What she is is a modern woman. She knows what she wants and what she doesnt want.
James Boyd, 28, a computer software engineer who lives in Keizer, the oldest son of Bimla Boyd, described his mother as a complex, troubled woman.
She means to do well, but shes her own worst enemy, he said. She can only keep that up for so long before she succumbs to her own selfish nature.
Bimlas penchant for helping people was offset by many contentious encounters, James Boyd said.
She goes through friends like some people drink coffee in the morning, he said. People get burned out on her. Shes a very intense person.
Life begins in Fiji
Bimla Wati Lal was born Oct. 1, 1956, in Fiji.
To American eyes, Fiji perhaps is best known as a palm-tree-studded paradise, where tourists enjoy white-sand beaches, turquoise waters and dazzling vistas.
But the remote South Pacific nation long has simmered with racial conflict. Indigenous Fijians and ethnic Indians, who make up almost half of the population, struggle to coexist.
In 1970, when Bimla was 14, Britain relinquished colonial control of Fiji. But independence led to a succession of political coups and deepening poverty.
Bimla, as a teenager, fell in love with a high school science teacher named Sudesh Maharaj. He fathered her first child, a son who later became known as James Boyd.
Oregon records indicate that Bimla got a divorce in Fiji in June 1974, a month after James was born.
James said he never knew his father.
He wanted to be in my life, but my mom had other ideas, he said. He ended up going to New Zealand, and my mom ended up coming to America.
About 1980, when James was 6, he and his mom boarded a 747 jetliner and left Fiji.
It was just a grass-is-greener situation, he said, explaining his moms motivation for leaving their native land.
Canada was the first stop for the single mother and her young son. After a year in Vancouver, B.C., they moved to Oregon.
In Springfield, Bimla married her second husband, becoming Bimla Schultz. The marriage, which led to a quick divorce, helped Bimla gain U.S. citizenship.
Leaving Springfield, Bimla and her son settled in the Portland area, where they lived with relatives. Bimla attended Portland Community College and studied to become a nurse.
In the early 1980s, Bimla met Charles Boyd, who then lived in Molalla. Eventually, she started attending his Jehovahs Witnesses church. Romance blossomed, and the two were married near Molalla in 1982.
A few years later, Charles, Bimla and James moved to Keizer. The family expanded with two more children, a boy born in January 1986 and a girl born in March 1988.
Home stability ends
Bim and Tim.
Thats how Bimla and Charles were known to friends and fellow members at the Jehovahs Witnesses church in Keizer.
Friends and relatives described Charles as quiet, hard-working and responsible. He was steadily employed as a mailman. Bimla stayed home with the children.
In the mid-1990s, turmoil shattered the stability of their middle-class lifestyle. The Boyds became embroiled in a dispute about the care of a disabled man who attended their church.
Years earlier, Shad Wagner had suffered serious head injuries in a car crash, prompting a judge to appoint his brother, Ronald Checkley, the legal guardian and conservator.
The Boyds met Wagner at church and befriended him. Checkley became increasingly concerned as his brother spent more time with the Boyds and other church members, legal papers show.
Amid growing conflict between the brothers, Wagners attorney took legal steps to remove Checkley as his brothers overseer. A judge reaffirmed Checkley as guardian and conservator. By then, however, it was too late to fix the brothers tattered relationship.
Checkley sold the house in which he and his brother had lived together, placed Wagner in an adult-foster-care facility, and sued the Boyds and the church for intentional infliction of emotional distress. The long, convoluted case remains active.
In legal papers, Checkley alleged that the Boyds engaged in a deliberate pattern of brainwashing Wagner into thinking that Checkley was an instrument of satan and that Wagners salvation and spiritual and emotional health were at risk if he continued to live with Checkley.
Bimla Boyd denied the accusations in a deposition. James Boyd defends his parents actions, saying they had Wagners best interests at heart.
But Kelly Clark, a Portland attorney who represents Checkley in the lawsuit, said the Boyds, particularly Bimla, undermined and ultimately destroyed the relationship between the brothers.
By and large, it was a very ugly and unfortunate and sad case, Clark said. It was very detrimental to the relationship between the two brothers. The relationship has never recovered.
Hard time in Keizer
Fellow Jehovahs Witnesses blamed the Boyds when the church was named as a defendant in the suit, said Methvin, a member of the Keizer congregation.
The turmoil took a heavy toll on the Boyds, damaging their health and marriage, Methvin said.
Charles suffered from bouts of depression. Bimla had a long list of real and imagined health problems, James Boyd said.
She really did have legitimate medical concerns, but not to the point she complained of, he said. It was designed to bring attention to her from others.
In 1996, the couple filed for a legal separation. But they continued to live together, and, by some accounts, the separation was a legal ploy that allowed them to falsely collect government benefits.
To supplement Charles Postal Service income, he and Bimla opened their home to adult-foster-care clients in November 1996. They passed inspections and operated the home on a complaint-free basis for about 14 months, according to records at the Mid-Willamette Valley Senior Services Agency.
Operating a foster-care business was profitable, netting thousands of dollars each month. But it caused a lot of stress in the crowded home, James Boyd said.
It became a logistical headache, plus it pretty much destroyed our family life in Keizer, he said. It was a very difficult time.
Charles and Bimla closed their commercial foster home in January 1998. As James Boyd tells it, they were gearing up to make a fresh start in a new home.
Getting a fresh start
They found a serene place in the country the Polk County spread at 5909 Orchard Heights Road NW.
It was actually a heck of a deal for 31 acres, James Boyd said. He helped his parents obtain a loan to build a split-level, 2,700-square-foot house.
The property, purchased for just more than $100,000, carries an assessed market value of more than $420,000.
While the house was being built, Charles and Bimla stayed in a run-down trailer on the property. Bimla bought the trailer from Liz Malliris of Newberg.
She was a pretty hard negotiator, Malliris said. I put a price of $2,500 on it, and she said, Ill pay $2,000. I threw in $500 of the moving costs, which were about $1,000. So basically she got it for $1,500.
Once the main home was ready for occupancy in spring 1998, Bimla rented the trailer to a female caretaker. Bimla later said in courtroom testimony that she needed help because a doctor felt like I needed somebody on the property for 24 hours a day.
When the first caretaker quit, Bimla took out a newspaper ad to find new help. She received 300 replies to her offer of a free place to stay in exchange for housework.
In fall 1998, she hired Jason Kinser and Suzan Osborne. As she later explained it, they were homeless and their story broke my heart.
Kinser and Osborne were mired in the dangerous world of methamphetamine trafficking and abuse, according to evidence later presented in court. Neighbors worried about a steady stream of visitors to the trailer.
Shortly before 4 p.m. on Nov. 23, 1998, Boyd alerted police after allegedly seeing smoke from the trailer and, after going inside, finding Kinsers body in the kitchen. She called 911 at 3:57 p.m. Shortly thereafter, police discovered the bodies of Osborne and Graves under the trailer.
All three victims were shot in the head. Autopsy results showed that Kinser and Osborne had used meth within hours of being killed.
Police arrested Philip Scott Cannon that night. No murder weapon was found, and there were no witnesses to the killings. Fisher, the district attorney, produced no motive, but he theorized that the slayings resulted from a drug deal gone awry.
Crucial testimony
Bimla Boyd got into a strange dispute with relatives of the victims. In the aftermath of the slayings, she denied them permission to retrieve their loved ones belongings until they paid the bill for damages inside the trailer.
She also demanded that the families sign a waiver releasing her of liability if they contracted a disease from the dried blood.
Wanting to retrieve their childrens possessions and help bring closure to a tragic chapter in their lives, the families agreed to pay Boyd $500. They also signed a waiver to absolve her of liability in case the families or their friends became ill.
In the months before Cannons murder trial, Boyd prompted concerns about whether she would show up to testify.
At one point, she consulted with a private attorney about the possibility of leaving the country until the trial was over. The attorney said Boyd told him she wanted to hide out in Mexico.
Boyd gave a different account. She said she wanted to go to Mexico for cancer treatment.
Taking the witness stand in January 2000, Boyd gave another explanation. She said a panic and anxiety disorder made it difficult for her to appear in court.
In testimony that damaged Cannons claims of innocence, Boyd said she saw him at the trailer the afternoon of the slayings. The prosecutions time frame put him there just before the shootings.
Boyd said she spent most of that afternoon sewing in her home. She heard no gunshots on the stormy day, according to her testimony.
Key evidence presented during the seven-week trial included shell casings found at the crime scene. They matched those found by police in Cannons garage, according to the prosecution. Defense attorneys presented conflicting information from their own ballistics expert.
It took a jury three hours to convict Cannon.
Cannon, 36, now is serving a life sentence at the Oregon State Penitentiary. In a recent Statesman Journal interview, he challenged Boyds credibility, saying it was shredded by her recent arrest.
Prosecuting attorney Fisher said he remains confident that he put the right person behind bars for the three slayings.
Bimlas errand boy
In the wake of the triple homicide case, Bimla hired a new caretaker. Enter Robert Daniel Spencer.
Handymans work in a country setting sounded good to the former salesman, who worked for a company that distributed price-marking equipment and grocery-store supplies. Tormented by a chronic bad back, he struggled to get by on Social Security disability payments.
Spencer and a longtime buddy, Kurt Singer, lived in the trailer. They fed chickens and goats, cut trees and cleared brush, mended fences and shooed away the coyotes that stalked the property.
Spencer also taxied Bimla to medical appointments, drove her two younger children to the school bus stop every morning and generally remained on call to respond to her around-the-clock requests, his friends and relatives said.
She continually had things for him to do, so he couldnt get away unless she went with him, said Ann Huber, a former Salem neighbor of Spencers who was his friend for 18 years. She was very dominating and very possessive of him.
It grew into something more than a business relationship. Spencer traveled with Bimla to Mexico. She later accompanied him on a two-week trip to Arkansas to visit his relatives.
Dave Spencer, Dan Spencers twin brother, said Bimla left a lasting impression on him and other family members in Arkansas.
She treated Dan horribly, he said. Do this, do that, back and forth. I spent 26 years in the military A drill sergeant has more compassion than her.
Why did his brother put up with her demands?
He did whatever she told him, Dave Spencer said. Bimla was his boss.
Accused of fraud
In late 2000, Charles and Bimla Boyd came under scrutiny for fraudulently drawing housing-assistance money from the West Valley Housing Authority in Dallas, Polk County sheriffs office reports show.
They netted between $5,000 and $7,000 by falsely maintaining that they were legally separated and living apart, said Linda Jennings, operations manager of the housing agency.
Charles Boyd, then listed as the sole owner of the property, told housing officials that he was renting the Orchard Heights home to Bimla while he claimed to be living at his previous residence in Keizer.
After an investigation revealed that Charles and Bimla continued to reside in the same house, officials terminated payments in December 2000, sheriffs office reports show.
Jennings said she intended to refer the alleged fraud case to the Polk County district attorneys office after a formal hearings process overseen by an independent officer. But the case never got to the DA.
Just due to time constraints, I hadnt gotten it to the DAs office, and the next thing I know, (Charles Boyd) turned up deceased, so there no longer was a point, Jennings said.
The Boyds never paid back the scammed housing money. Its kind of a moot issue for us at this point, Jennings said Friday.
Cloud of confusion
By fall 2001, the Boyds were wrapping up paperwork for a divorce.
The divorce decree, filed Oct. 15, 2001, required Charles to continue making mortgage payments. It also dictated that he maintain Bimla as the primary beneficiary of his life insurance. The value was to be not less than $400,000, according to the document.
People close to the couple said the divorce was a sham, a move to protect their property and other assets. It came as the old civil lawsuit against them and their church gained new momentum, and they became increasingly concerned about a potential judgment against them.
In coming months, a paper shuffle also clouded ownership of their property. At different times, Charles, Bimla and even Dan Spencer were listed as its legal owner.
Sham or not, the divorce put the Boyds in conflict with their new Jehovahs Witnesses church in Monmouth. Elders of the church accused Charles and Bimla of living in sin because they continued to share the same home. The Boyds were expelled from the church in December 2001.
Removal from the church plunged Charles into deep emotional distress. However, he took steps to redeem himself in the eyes of church leaders.
On Feb. 2, 2002, he moved out of Bimlas house and rented space at the Eola Bend RV Resort. He paid $335 for a full months stay there.
Husbands death
On the night of Feb. 13, 2002, Charles, Bimla and their two younger children went to church together. It was part of Charles desire to convince church leaders to allow them back into the fold.
According to Bimlas account, Charles asked her after the church session if he could spend the night at her house. She agreed. He slept in a downstairs bedroom while she slept upstairs.
The next morning, Bimla told investigators, Charles was late in getting up for work. She summoned Spencer to check on him.
When Spencer opened the door, he told detectives, he instantly recognized that Charles was dead. Spencer said he tried but failed to revive him with chest compressions.
Bimla told investigators that Charles had committed suicide by overdosing on prescription pills. But a medical examiner determined that he had taken a nonlethal amount of Oxycodone, a painkiller, and sertraline, an anti-depressant.
The coroners report listed the cause of his death as undetermined. However, it concluded that three combined factors his large, 6-foot-1, 220-pound body; the medication; and a dilated heart probably caused his death.
Authorities found insufficient evidence to pursue criminal charges against anyone.
It was investigated by the sheriffs office as a potential homicide, and there was not enough evidence, not nearly enough, to suggest that it was a homicide, said district attorney Fisher.
Seven months after Charles Boyd died, Spencer was gunned down.
Polk County officials have not revealed a motive or details of the Sept. 29 shooting. But Dave Spencer said his brother was weary of Bimla and in recent months had talked about severing ties.
Dan had threatened to leave the hill, Dave Spencer said. He had told her he was moving out. She apparently didnt like that.
Son picks up pieces
After his mother was charged with Spencers murder, James Boyd publicly called for reopening the investigation into the death of his stepfather. He suspects foul play.
Fisher did not rule out the possibility of a new examination of Charles Boyds death. But he said it would take fresh evidence to take that step.
James Boyd has met with detectives to talk about the case.
Meanwhile, he has taken Bimlas two teenage children, his half-brother and half-sister, into his home. He and his wife hope to gain permanent custody.
Im really lucky to have such great siblings, he said. Though the circumstances are certainly tragic, both my wife and I are ecstatic that the kids can come live with us and finally lead somewhat normal lives.
As for his mothers fate, James said he will wait for the legal machinery to produce a resolution. He said he hopes she can find the help she needs to find peace with herself.
In a light moment, James joked about writing a book about Bimlas life.
But nobody would believe it, he said. Its been a pretty surreal existence.
Alan Gustafson can be reached at (503) 399-6709.
TIMOTHY J. GONZALEZ / Statesman Journal file
This January 1999 photo shows the house on the West Salem property where at least five people have died since 1998, when Bimla Boyd and her now-deceased husband moved there. -
AudeSapere
{Resurrecting this OLD Post}
The triple homocide was featured on Dateline tonight. (Possibly a repeat of original airdate Aug 2010).
Bimla was presented as a 'devout Jehovah's Witness'. No mention made of her being an ex-jw.
What a crazy story.
-Aude.