Sharon Kinne

Sharon Kinne (born Sharon Elizabeth Hall; November 30, 1939 – January 21, 2022), also known as Jeanette Pugliese and La Pistolera in Mexico, and Diedra Grace "Dee" Glabus (later Diedra Ell) in Canada, was an American murderer, suspected serial killer and prison escapee who was convicted in Mexico for one murder and is suspected of two others in the United States, one of which she was acquitted of at trial, during the 1960s. She was the subject of the longest outstanding arrest warrant for murder in the history of Kansas City, Missouri, and one of the longest outstanding felony warrants in U.S. history. In January 2025, it was announced that Kinne had lived in the small Canadian town of Taber, Alberta, from approximately 1973 until her death in 2022.

On March 19, 1960, Sharon's husband, James Kinne, was found shot in the head inside the home they shared in Independence, Missouri. Sharon claimed that the couple's two-year-old daughter, who had often been allowed to play with James' firearms, had accidentally shot him, and police were initially unable to disprove her story. Then, on May 27, the body of 23-year-old Patricia Jones, a local file clerk, was found by Sharon and a boyfriend in a secluded area. Investigators found that Jones had been the wife of another of Sharon's boyfriends, who had tried to break off their affair shortly before Jones disappeared. When Sharon admitted to having been the last person to speak with Jones, she was charged with her murder and, upon further investigation of his death, that of James.

Sharon went to trial for Jones' murder in June 1961 and was acquitted. A January 1962 trial on charges of murdering James ended in conviction and a sentence of life imprisonment, but the verdict was overturned because of procedural irregularities. The case went to a second trial, which ended within days in a mistrial. A third trial ended in a hung jury in July 1964. Sharon was released on bond following the third trial and subsequently traveled to Mexico before a scheduled fourth trial could be held in October 1964.

In Mexico, Sharon, claiming to have been acting in self-defense, killed a Mexican-born American citizen named Francisco Paredes Ordoñez, who was shot in the back. An employee of the hotel in which the shooting occurred, responding to the sound of gunshots, was also wounded but survived. Investigation into the shootings showed that Ordoñez was shot with the same weapon that killed Jones. Sharon was convicted in October 1965 of the Ordoñez killing and sentenced to ten years in prison, later lengthened to thirteen years after judicial review. She escaped from prison in Iztapalapa during a power outage in December 1969.

Sharon's whereabouts remained unknown for over fifty years until January 2025, when U.S. authorities confirmed she had taken the name of "Diedra Glabus" and lived in Canadawhere she initially ran a local motel and, later on, operated a real estate agencybetween 1973 and her death in 2022, at age 82. While Sharon's case is officially closed, authorities still seek information about her movements after 1969.

Early life and marriage South Main Street in Independence, Missouri, Kinne's hometown. Sharon Kinne was born Sharon Elizabeth Hall in Independence, Missouri, a suburb of Kansas City. In the summer of 1956, at age 16, Sharon met James Kinne, a 22-year-old student at Brigham Young University (BYU), while attending a church function. The couple dated regularly until James returned to BYU that fall.

Sharon, who was reportedly searching for a partner with prospects who could take her away from Independence, The new couple held a second, more formal wedding the following year at the Salt Lake Temple in Salt Lake City, Utah, after Sharon had completed the process of joining the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. but on James' salary they lived first in a rented home next to his parents' residence, then in a ranch-style house they had built at 17009 East 26th Terrace, Independence. James worked the night shift at Bendix, and Sharon filled her days with shopping and, later, with other men. By the time the couple had a second child, a boy named Troy, Sharon was carrying on a regular extramarital affair with a friend from high school, John Boldizs. or find someone who would, Sharon called police, but James was dead by the time the ambulance carrying him arrived at the hospital.

Police were unable to recover any fingerprints from the well-oiled grip of the pistol,

The pistol that killed James was taken into police custody and never returned to Sharon,

With the investigation into his death closed, James was buried and Sharon collected on his life insurance policies, valued at about US$29,000 (US$230,000 in present day). After graduating from Benton High School, she married Walter T. Jones Jr., her high school sweetheart. By 1960, almost five years into the marriage, Jones was working as a file clerk for the Internal Revenue Service while her husband was a car salesman.

According to her later testimony, on the afternoon of May 26, Sharon contacted Patricia at her office Sharon then met with Patricia that evening to discuss the matter further before dropping her off near the Jones residence.

Based on her admission over the phone, Walter met with Sharon late Friday evening and insisted she give him more details about his wife's whereabouts; he later admitted to going so far as to hold a key to her throat threateningly. Sharon's response was, after leaving Walter, to call Boldizs and ask him to help her search for Patricia. Shortly before midnight, within hours of her conversation with Walter, Sharon and Boldizs discovered the body of a woman in a secluded area approximately one mile outside of Independence. According to Boldizs, he had been the one to suggest searching the area in which they encountered the body; it was a spot to which they had often gone on dates before. She was buried on May 31. and both agreed to lie detector tests; Sharon gave an oral statement to police but declined to sign a written one She was questioned again on the morning of May 30, Sharon's brother Eugene was also interviewed on May 31, but declined to answer questions. attempts were made to find the murder weapon and the bullet that had passed through Patricia's body, including the sifting of dirt at the crime scene the same night as Patricia's funeral. The same day, the Jackson County sheriff requested that prosecutors consider a second charge of murder, this one for the death of James Kinne. Walter was taken into custody on June 2 as a material witness to the case and was freed the same day on US$2,000 bond.

Sharon's arraignment on July 11 resulted in denial of bail, but the Missouri Court of Appeals struck down the ruling days later based on the prosecution's reliance on circumstantial evidence. She was freed on US$24,000 (worth US$ in 2013 dollars) bond on July 18. After a delay in her trial date due to her advanced pregnancy, Sharon gave birth to a daughter she named Marla Christine on January 16, 1961. and the trial commencing days later with an all-male jury.

Opening arguments by both prosecution and defense set up cases based on purported times of death. Basing their assertion on pathologist-given testimony that Patricia had died about six hours after she ate lunch on May 26, the prosecution claimed that Jones had died more than 24 hours before Sharon and Boldizs found her body; defense attorneys argued that death had more likely occurred six to eight hours prior. cited testimony by Walter Jones and Chief of Detectives Lt. Harry Nesbitt as evidence of Sharon's motive for the crime: Nesbitt recalled statements by Sharon that she was afraid Walter was drifting away from her leaving her children with James's father and traveling as Pugliese's wife under the name "Jeanette Pugliese." The couple later said that they had gone to Mexico to get married. Under the legal terms of her bail, Sharon was permitted to leave the country, but her contract with the company that posted her bond prohibited her from leaving Missouri without written permission from the company's agents. Sharon, saying that she felt unsafe in the foreign country, bought a pistol—which meant that the couple now possessed multiple guns, having brought one or two with them from the U.S.

On the night of September 18, Sharon left the hotel without Pugliese, either to acquire money because the couple was running low entered the room. Sharon fired again and hit Rueda in the shoulder. Wounded, Rueda fled the room, locking Sharon inside, and called the police. and later filing charges of entering the country illegally and carrying an unlicensed gun. The gun found in the couple's room that night was later proven through ballistics to be the same gun that killed Patricia Jones in 1960, but because Sharon had already been acquitted of that crime, she could not be charged again for it based on the new evidence. before being transferred to Lecumberri for her trial.

Pugliese, cleared of the charges against him, was deported to the U.S., but Sharon was convicted on October 18 The appeal, rather than overturning her sentence, lengthened it. The three-man superior court that heard the case overturned one aspect of her conviction—charges of attempted robbery—but upheld her murder conviction and increased her sentence to thirteen years, saying that her original sentence of ten years had been too lenient. a nickname subsequently adopted by the Mexican press.

Escape On December 7, 1969, Sharon was not present for a routine 5 p.m. roll-call at the Iztapalapan prison where she was serving her sentence. Her absence was not officially noted until she also failed to show up at a second roll-call later that evening. The news of her escape was not reported to Mexico City police until 2 p.m. the following morning. due to authorities' belief that Sharon may have been heading for the last known whereabouts of a former inmate to whom she had grown close while they were in prison together.

The search also encompassed country-wide transport hubs and eventually circled back to the Mexico City area. U.S. authorities, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), were also alerted of Mexican authorities' belief that Sharon may have been attempting to work her way back into her native country, but the FBI noted that it was unlikely to have jurisdiction in the case.

Initial police speculation was that Sharon had bribed guards to look the other way while she escaped the prison—an unusual blackout had been reported at the prison on the evening of and at the approximate time of her escape. Investigation showed that a door that should have been locked had been left unsecured.

News reports of the time reported numerous theories about Sharon's escape, including that she had bribed prison guards, and that Sharon may have disguised herself as a man to effect her escape. A more recent theory incorrectly speculated that Ordoñez's family had helped her escape and then killed her.

The intensive manhunt for Sharon was short-lived. By December 18, the Mexican secret service and the Mexico City district attorney's office were both reporting that they were no longer involved in searching for the escaped prisoner, while the federal district attorney was reporting that responsibility for the hunt belonged to the city district attorney's office. Investigators speculated that Sharon had already fled to Guatemala, mooting the purpose of a Mexican manhunt. They noted that she was fluent in Spanish after her years in Mexican prison, and she could therefore "get along rather well" in nearly any Spanish-speaking area of the world. Sharon was reportedly concerned about the monetary implications of this forfeiture: "I could always use the money"; the Altus, Oklahoma, Times-Democrat quoted her as saying: "I don't intend to spend all my life in jail."

A US$30,000 supersedeas bond was issued in August 1965 as the United Bond Insurance Company continued to dispute the payment of Sharon's original US$25,000 bond. The supersedeas bond allowed the company to defer payment of the US$25,000 bond until a ruling on the matter was handed down by the Missouri Supreme Court, but when that court upheld the bond's forfeiture, the US$25,000 was paid to the State of Missouri in October 1965. The United Bond Insurance Company later filed suit against Sharon's family to recover the cost of the bail, lawyer's fees and manhunt for Sharon after her escape.

Shortly before her scheduled Missouri trial date, Sharon's Missouri counsel filed a motion to change the venue of any eventual fourth trial in the death of her husband, claiming that news coverage of the case had so prejudiced residents of Jackson County against Sharon that it would be impossible for her to get a fair trial there.

When Sharon failed to appear for the fourth trial, a warrant was issued for her arrest in October 1964. It was still outstanding at the time of her death, making it the oldest outstanding murder warrant known to exist in the Kansas City area. Sharon's status in the Mexican system also remained outstanding, though authorities pointed out that at the time of her escape, jailbreak was not a crime under Mexican law; if she were re-captured there, she would have only had to serve out the remainder of her outstanding sentence.

Posthumous discovery

In December 2023, the Jackson County Sheriff's Office and the Kansas City Police Department both received an anonymous tip that Sharon had been living in the town of Taber, Alberta, Canada, approximately 121 miles (195 km) southeast of Calgary, under the alias of "Diedra Glabus," nicknamed "Dee." U.S. authorities publicly announced these findings on January 17, 2025.

Life in Canada Sharon married her second husband, James Thomas Glabus, in Los Angeles, California, in February 1970, two months after her jailbreak in Mexico. The couple relocated to Taber in 1973, where they operated a motel and, later, a real estate agency; advertisements for the latter business showing Sharon's picture were printed in local newspapers. Despite her fugitive status, the details of how Sharon obtained legal documentation such as a travel visa, identification and citizenship remains unknown.

On August 11, 1979, at age 38, Glabus died from complications related to diabetes and alcoholism. She later married her third husband, William "Willie" Ell, in March 1982. Ell died in on April 7, 2011, at age 79. Sharon herself died of coronary artery disease on January 21, 2022, at age 82, with Alzheimer's disease being listed as a contributing factor on her death certificate.

Details about Sharon's movements after her prison escape remain largely unknown. In Taber, she performed volunteer work, including serving as chairwoman for a daycare center steering committee, and was known for needlepoint artistry, making banana bread and playing bridge.

In I'm Just an Ordinary Girl: The Sharon Kinne Story, Hays asserts that Sharon was inspired to kill her husband by a magazine article she read about Lillian Chastain, a Virginia woman who shot her husband during an argument and blamed the gunshot on the couple's two-year-old daughter. Charges against Chastain were filed in February 1960, weeks before James's death.