Barbara Stager
{{short description|American murderer}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Infobox criminal
| image_name =
| name = Barbara Stager
| image_size =
| image_caption =
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1948|10|30}}
| birth_place =
| other_names = Barbara Ford
| death_date =
| death_place =
| conviction = First degree murder
| conviction_penalty = Death; commuted to life imprisonment
| conviction_status = Incarcerated
| spouse = Larry Ford
Allison Russell Stager III (Russell Stager)
| victims = Allison Russell Stager III
| date = February 1, 1988
| time =
| country = U.S.
| states = North Carolina
| locations = Durham
}}
Barbara Stager ({{nee}} Terry; formerly Ford; born October 30, 1948){{Cite web|title=NC DPS Offender Public Information|url=https://webapps.doc.state.nc.us/opi/viewoffender.do?method=view&offenderID=0386206&searchLastName=stager&searchFirstName=barbara&searchDOBRange=0&activeFilter=2&listurl=pagelistoffendersearchresults&listpage=1|access-date=2021-12-05|website=webapps.doc.state.nc.us}} is an American woman who was convicted in 1989 of murdering her husband, Allison Russell Stager III (Russell Stager), the previous year. Russell was shot while in bed; Barbara reported the shooting as accidental. Her first husband, Larry Ford, had also been killed under similar circumstances a decade earlier.{{cite web|title=Parole denied for Durham woman who killed husband|url=http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/5134301/|website=WRAL.com|publisher=Capitol Broadcasting Company|date=13 May 2009|accessdate=11 September 2015}}
Stager was originally sentenced to death but that sentence was overturned on a procedural issue, and the life sentence she subsequently received by a different jury made her eligible for parole in 2009. She has been denied parole but has privileges which allow her to eat outside the prison complex provided she is accompanied by a court-approved sponsor.{{cite news|url=https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article174912241.html|title=She's serving a life sentence for killing her husband. But she goes out to lunch?|first=Anne|last=Blythe|publisher=The News & Observer|location=Raleigh, NC|date=September 22, 2017|access-date=January 2, 2020}}
In media
"Till Death Do Us Part: The Barbara Stager Story", is an episode of A&E's television series American Justice, which profiled the case.{{cite web|title=Till Death Do Us Part: Barbara Stager Story - Overview - TCM.com|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/479338/till-death-do-us-part-barbara-stager-story|website=Turner Classic Movies|publisher=A&E Television Network|access-date=10 March 2017|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312053710/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/479338/Till-Death-Do-Us-Part-Barbara-Stager-Story/|archive-date=12 March 2017|url-status=live}}{{cite web|title=American Justice|url=http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/american-justice/episode-25-season-8/till-death-do-us-part-the-barbara-stager-story/194507/|website=TVGuide.com|publisher=A&E Television Network|accessdate=10 March 2017|language=en|date=25 August 1999|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312070022/http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/american-justice/episode-25-season-8/till-death-do-us-part-the-barbara-stager-story/194507/|archive-date=12 March 2017|url-status=live}} Jerry Bledsoe wrote a book in 1994 about the case, entitled Before He Wakes: A True Story of Money, Marriage, Sex and Murder,{{cite web|last1=Bledsoe|first1=Jerry|title=Before He Wakes: A True Story of Money, Marriage, Sex and Murder|url=http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/before-he-wakes-jerry-bledsoe/1119563618|website=Barnes & Noble|publisher=Diversion Publisher|accessdate=10 March 2017|language=en|date=28 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312044925/http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/before-he-wakes-jerry-bledsoe/1119563618|archive-date=12 March 2017|url-status=live}} which was later made into a TV movie in 1998 with the same title starring Jaclyn Smith. A&E's City Confidential presented its perspective on the case in the 2003 episode "Durham: Dangerous Housewife".{{cite web|url=http://www.aetv.com/city_confidential/city_episode_guide.jsp?episode=135411 |title=City Confidential - Episode Guide |publisher=Aetv.com |date=2010-08-18 |accessdate=2012-08-08 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110526220946/http://www.aetv.com/city_confidential/city_episode_guide.jsp?episode=135411 |archivedate=May 26, 2011 }} Investigation Discovery's Deadly Women series portrayed the story in the 2010 "Fortune Hunters" episode{{cite web|title=Deadly Women (Fortune Hunters) on Investigation Discovery, TV Guide UK|url=http://www.tvguide.co.uk/detail/1528604/116317920/deadly-women|website=TVGuide.co.uk|accessdate=10 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312050934/http://www.tvguide.co.uk/detail/1528604/116317920/deadly-women|archive-date=12 March 2017|url-status=dead}} and their Scorned: Love Kills revisited the case in its own "'Til Debt Do Us Part", in 2012.{{cite web|title=Scorned: Love Kills {{!}} 'Til Debt Do Us Part|url=http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/scorned-love-kills/episode-14-season-1/scorned-love-kills-till-debt-do-us-part/348542/|website=TVGuide.com|accessdate=10 March 2017|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312065738/http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/scorned-love-kills/episode-14-season-1/scorned-love-kills-till-debt-do-us-part/348542/|archive-date=12 March 2017|url-status=live}} The Forensic Files series had an episode "Broken Promises"{{cite web|title=Forensic Files - Season 5, Ep 14: Broken Promises|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JjHeJ8UIzI|publisher=FilmRise|accessdate=10 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312180444/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JjHeJ8UIzI|archive-date=12 March 2017|url-status=live}} about this case; Investigation Discovery examined the case a third time in 2015, with an episode entitled "No Accident" in its Fatal Vows series.{{cite web|title=Investigation Discovery GO {{!}} Fatal Vows {{!}} No Accident|url=https://www.investigationdiscoverygo.com/fatal-vows/no-accident/|website=Investigation Discovery GO|accessdate=10 March 2017|language=en-us|date=3 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312041739/https://www.investigationdiscoverygo.com/fatal-vows/no-accident/|archive-date=12 March 2017|url-status=live}}
In 1999, the Discovery Channel's The New Detectives series, Season 4, Episode 6, "Women Who Kill" featured Barbara Stager's crime.{{cite web|title=The New Detectives: Season 4 - Ep 6 "Women Who Kill"|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMlyUfGuPxo|publisher=FilmRise|accessdate=10 March 2017|date=1 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312180023/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMlyUfGuPxo|archive-date=12 March 2017|url-status=live}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://webapps.doc.state.nc.us/opi/viewoffender.do?method=view&offenderID=0386206&searchOffenderId=0386206&searchDOBRange=0&listurl=pagelistoffendersearchresults&listpage=1 Current status of Barbara Stager, Offender Number: 0386206], North Carolina Department Of Public Safety website. Accessed April 4, 2024.
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JjHeJ8UIzI Forensic Files - Season 5, Episode 14: "Broken Promises"]
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMlyUfGuPxo The New Detectives - Season 4, Episode 6: "Women Who Kill"]
- [http://law.justia.com/cases/north-carolina/supreme-court/1991/212a89-0.html State of North Carolina v. Barbara T. Stager (1991)]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stager, Barbara}}
Category:American female murderers
Category:American people convicted of murder
Category:American prisoners sentenced to death
Category:1988 murders in the United States
Category:20th-century American criminals