Athalia Ponsell Lindsley

Athalia Ponsell Lindsley (July 25, 1917 – January 23, 1974) was an American model, Broadway dancer, political activist, and television personality on the show Winner Take All.

Lindsley was murdered on the front steps of her home in St. Augustine, Florida. Neighbor Alan Griffin Stanford Jr., with whom she had an ongoing feud at the time, was initially charged with her murder but was ultimately acquitted after trial. Her murder remains officially unsolved.

Early life Lindsley was born to a wealthy family in Toledo, Ohio, and was raised on the Isle of Pines, an island possession of Cuba in the Caribbean Sea. She spent 20 years in New York as a model, chorus line dancer, and hostess on Bud Collyer's television game show Winner Take All. Despite being newly married, they resided in different homes; she lived at 124 Marine Street on the Matanzas River, while he alternatively used the historic Lindsley House at 214 St. George Street and another on Lew Boulevard on Anastasia Island.

Death Lindsley had been in an ongoing feud with Alan Griffin Stanford Jr., her neighbor at 126 Marine Street. One of the concerns was the six stray dogs she took in that barked incessantly. In a transcript of an October 1973 county meeting, one of the commissioners had remarked, "I am aware you are a neighbor of the Stanfords and that y'all have had neighbor problems", to which Lindsley answered, "That's true. [But] my life has been threatened. You mention personal things. He threatened my life."

Toward the end of the attack, an 18-year-old neighbor, Locke McCormick, heard the sounds of a commotion and went outside to look. He allegedly shouted to his mother that "Mr. Stanford is hitting Mrs. Ponsell". and was brought to trial; after two hours of jury deliberation, he was acquitted. Critics accused the police of botching the investigation and tainting evidence.

In media In 1998 Bloody Sunset in St. Augustine, a work of fiction intermixed with facts from the case, was locally published by Jim Mast and Nancy Powell, friends of Lindsley. In 2000, the cable channel A&E aired an hour-long documentary on the case in its City Confidential series titled St. Augustine: The Socialite and the Politician.