Every few days there will be something related to Cecil Wells, Diane Wells, Johnny Warren, William Colombany, or the 1953 murder that features in The Alaskan Blonde. It could be adverts, family photos, newspaper clippings, legal documents, FBI files, or anything else interesting or unusual that I wasn’t able to feature in the book - so there are a lot of interesting, amazing and odd things to come!
CASE NOTES – Feb 18, 1960 – Chief of Police Stanley Zaverl, who investigated the Cecil Wells murder, sends fingerprints from William Colombany, Cecil’s business partner Lloyd Martin, and local criminals Douglas Joslyn and Jack P. Martin (no relation to Lloyd) to the FBI. None are a match to those found at the crime scene.
Recently I visited the former Bank of Italy building in Ventura, California, which was also the home of the law office where Erle Stanley Gardner - creator of Perry Mason, who was asked by the Wells family to recommend a private detective to look into Cecil's murder - once worked.
CASE NOTES - Feb 5, 1923 (not 1924, as listed here) - Guillermo Barillas Colombany is born in Jutiapa, Guatemala. He has an older sister, Marina, and his name is Anglicized to William. He becomes infamous as the "Third Suspect" in the Cecil Wells murder, and later serves jail time in relation to it.
Feb 4, 1954 - After mentioning that in her last letter Diane sounded "really blue," friend Jouida Gail mentions the Fairbanks rumor mill about Colombany, who came to LA after Diane did. “Everyone thinks the two of you are really carrying on. Someone is always asking me if you are engaged, married yet."
Saundra recalled that “If somebody started flirting with her (Diane), he (Donald) would just go into a rage.” However, until the day he died, Saundra said, he would often play "Take Five" by Dave Brubeck as he said its tempo and rhythm reminded him of Diane.
Feb 3, 1948 - Donald and Diane Walker are divorced after 10 years of marriage; their children Saundra (l) and Bonnie (r) now live with their Grandma Lee (middle) - and never see their mother Diane again.
Much later, Front Page Detective magazine would call Diane “the most beautiful woman in Alaska”.
Feb 1, 1954 - Front Page Detective magazine covers the story of the Cecil Wells murder. It's a good example of how the media covered the story at the time....
CASE NOTES - Jan 27, 1954 - William Colombany is arrested by Fairbanks Deputy Marshal Frank Wirth and LAPD detective A.T. Boswell ("Boz") at the Sideshow Bar in Hollywood (where this market store is today). They questioned him about Cecil's murder, and a few months later Colombany successfully sued the LAPD.
Jan 26, 1953 - two thieves break into the Wright home and shoot local businessman Tommy in front of of his wife. Fairbanks is furious that the murder is unsolved. Nearly nine months later, it is alleged that two men broke into the Wells Northward Building apartment and shot Cecil in front of his wife Diane too....
At the excellent Pioneer Museum in Fairbanks, there is the original chair and witness stand from the Fairbanks Courthouse - Diane, Johnny and William Colombany would all have taken their place behind it back in the 1950s...
Jan 15, 1922 - Dissie Diana Baker is born in Portland, Oregon to Florence and Charles (who was known as Harry). A few years later, her lawyer uncle Tom Marquam served as mayor of Fairbanks, and nearly 30 years after that, Diane would be called "the most beautiful woman in Alaska" by Front Page Detective magazine.
CASE NOTES - Jan 15, 2011 - exactly 89 years after the birth of his late friend Diane Wells, William Colombany, the "Third Suspect" in the Cecil Wells murder case, dies in Las Vegas, NV.
CASE NOTES - Jan 14, 1954 - the FBI confirm that no GSR (gunshot residue) was found on Diane's pajamas. But were they the pair she was wearing when Cecil was shot? And why didn't they get sent to the FBI sooner?
CASE NOTES – Jan 13, 1956 - over two years after it happened, Johnny Warren is reportedly going to face trial in May for the murder of Cecil Wells.
CASE NOTES – Jan 12, 1954 – the FBI confirm that latent fingerprints found on a whiskey bottle at the Cecil Wells murder scene don’t match those of Herbert Mansing, a friend who had a late dinner with Cecil and Diane on October 16 – and was the last person to see Cecil alive.
Jan 8, 1952 - Diane and Cecil go to Brazil. It involved a series of flights, and such foreign travel was pretty rare at the time. This is Diane's entry visa - note she signed her legal first name, Dissie.
CASE NOTES - Jan 4, 1948 - Johnny Warren marries a pregnant Clara Malcolm in Seattle. Alas their son would die soon after birth, and a few months before the Cecil Wells murder in 1953, they adopted 5 year old Suzanna, the eldest child of Annette Wood, who had been shot dead by her boyfriend in the Talk of the Town club in Fairbanks. Amazingly, just a few weeks later Johnny himself was arrested for murder.
The 1st issue of "Official Detective Stories" was in January 1954, and its cover story was the Cecil Wells murder.
Diane, Cecil and son Mark, around Christmas 1951.
There are other members of Cecil's family in this pic too.
Dec 21, 1949 - a divorce is granted between Diane and William Aspee. By this time Diane and Cecil had been married and living in Fairbanks for nearly three months.
CASE NOTES - Dec 20, 1955 - over two years after the murder of Cecil Wells, Fairbanks PD asks the FBI to analyse four .380 cartridges and a pistol (the fourth submitted so far) to see if they are a match...
Pittsburgh Courier headline - Dec 19, 1953.
CASE NOTES - December 18, 1953 - ex-Fairbanks Chief of Police EV Danforth tells a reporter about the "5 Questions" he still has about the case. One of them relates to Diane's annotated copy of "The Prophet" by Kahlil Gibran, and so I couldn't believe it when I found a statue of him in the Central Library of LA, where I did so much research and writing of "The Alaskan Blonde."
I believe this is a picture of Cecil's parents, Winfield and Frances, in their younger days.
Frances Wells, Cecil's mother.
CASE NOTES - Dec 15, 1919 - Johnnie Condon Warren is born in Columbia, Mississippi. He is always named "Johnny" in newspaper reports, something that helps me identify what is likely his only 7" recording, a 1969 version of the famous song "Crazy".
Frances Wells and her sons Cecil and Max, and sister Edna. Date unknown.
Dec 11, 1953 – Diane tells reporters that “I’m afraid the District Attorney isn’t going to let it go. It’s such a big case, he’s afraid to drop it.” She also answers questions about why she came to LA – to treat lasting pain from her head injuries during the home invasion: “I have a headache that aspirin won’t help….”
Dec 10, 1953 - Diane and son Mark arrive back in LA and stay with family friends the Mansfields.
Dec 10, 1953 - Jet magazine reports on a "new suspect" in the case. US deputy marshal Frank Wirth, who extradited Johnny back to Fairbanks and felt he was innocent, talks about this suspect to reporters: it's clear he means William Colombany.
An undated family photo showing Cecil Wells and his 4th wife Ethel alongside Cecil's brother Max and his wife Betty.
CASE NOTES - Dec 7, 1953 - the second gun sent to the FBI, a Hi-Standard G .380, comes back as not linked to the bullets from the crime scene; the hunt for the murder weapon continues.
Dec 5, 1954 – Following her suicide, two lists are made of Diane’s possessions, mainly jewelry and furs. Many are valued highly, but they end up at a public auction selling for less…
Dec 5, 1953 - in the wake of Cecil's murder, his will and probate come into play; as such Diane's jewelry and fur coats are valuated...
Nov 30, 1953 - Life magazine runs "The Case of the Beat-Up Blonde" about the murder, showing pictures of Diane with two black eyes, and a recreation of how she said she was attacked. On the same day, Chief of Police EV Danforth resigns...
Dec 3, 6pm at the North Hollywood Library: come and hear me tell the story of my true crime book "The Alaskan Blonde: Sex, Secrets, and the Hollywood Story that Shocked America", which reexamined a murder that happened in 1953 in Fairbanks, Alaska, and ended with a suicide in Hollywood six months later.
CASE NOTES - Nov 24, 1953 - US Marshal Frank Wirth tells reporters about the "Third Suspect", saying "I know who he is, and he knows I know." Later he names William Colombany (pictured) as that suspect, and in his private notes says where he thinks the murder weapon is...
CASE NOTES - Nov 24, 1953 - US Marshal Frank Wirth escorts a handcuffed Johnny back from California to Fairbanks. in this unpublished photo from Wirth's papers, you can see they got on well - Ebony magazine quoted Wirth as saying "I don't think he pulled the trigger," and that he "liked the guy" - apparently they shared a love of playing the guitar.
“Disputes are resolved in battles royal, and guns, which do not have to be registered, are carried as openly as Milady’s purse” - Front Page Detective magazine writes about the case in Feb 1954 under the headline "Death and the Midas Touch".
CASE NOTES – Nov 22, 1955 – over two years after the murder, the US Marshals in Fairbanks submit a fourth gun (a Hungarian .380 pistol found in the basement of the Talk of the Town Nightclub) to the FBI for analysis. Like the previous guns, it does not match the bullet that killed Cecil.
Nov 20, 1969 - the date handwritten alongside a signature on a 7" vinyl record. I believe it's a recording by Johnny Warren himself, and is part of a YouTube playlist I have put together of songs from the time of the Cecil Wells murder (click here to be taken there).
Nov 19, 1953 - despite the murder life goes on, and Wells Alaska Motors takes out an ad in the News-Miner that includes a statement on Cecil's death.
Nov 16, 1953 - Newsweek runs an article called "Drummer and Blonde", showing the Country Club photo where Johnny and Diane "met" for the first time. Diane's eldest daughter Saundra later recalled that when Diane entered a room, "all eyes would land on her”. Cecil Wells Junior later recalled that Diane "really took a hit in the media", and from then on the story - she was a murdering gold digger; perhaps Johnny too - was more or less set in public opinion.
Nov 16, 1948 - Diane marries Walter Aspee in Seattle, W. Their marriage barely lasted a year, and when Diane married Cecil she was still technically married to Aspee; their divorce wasn't final for another six months.
CASE NOTES - Nov 12, 1953 - Fairbanks Police send 24 cartridges and found Gun #1, believed to have once belonged to Johnny Warren, to the FBI for analysis.....
Nov 8, 1939 - 14 years earlier, Sarah Hill of Portland, OR - part of the Marquam family - comes to see her new granddaughter Saundra.
CASE NOTES - Nov 8, 1953 - Out on bail, Diane Wells takes son Mark down to Los Angeles to stay with friends the Mansfield Family.
Nov 7, 1939 – Saundra Diane Walker, Diane’s eldest daughter, is born in Sacramento, California. When she celebrated her 14th birthday, she knew nothing of the arrest chaos her mother was facing in Fairbanks.
Nov 6, 1953 – Diane and 3 year old son Mark arrive back in Fairbanks, where she faces the charge of conspiring with Johnny Warren to kill Mark’s father (and her husband), Cecil Wells. She tells waiting reporters that she is being “railroaded into a murder conviction".
In Seattle, Diane tells reporters: “I never flirted with anyone in my life, especially a man like him." (Johnny Warren)
CASE NOTES – Nov 5, 1953 – Carrying young Mark in her arms, Diane is arrested at Seattle airport. In Oakland, CA, Johnny Warren is arrested too. Johnny’s pregnant wife Clara tells reporters “I know Johnny is innocent. I’m positive of it. I’m certainly going to stick by him.”
CASE NOTES – Nov 3, 1953 – exactly 35 years after Diane is taken to that orphanage, a grand jury meets in secret in Fairbanks and arrest warrant 1770 is issued for her and Johnny Warren for the crime of first degree-murder. Already under criticism for the investigation, Fairbanks Chief of Police EV Danforth tells reporters “the clock just keeps going round.”
Nov 3, 1928 – 6 year old Dissie Diana Baker is admitted by her mother Florence to the Maria Kip Orphanage in San Francisco; Florence may have been struggling as a single mother to raise two children (Diane and her younger sister Bonnie). Florence returned for Diane some 17 months later.
Oct 31, 1953 – Jim Messer was like a son to Cecil Wells, and his family told me that over the years he talked about Cecil’s murder regularly: he was convinced Diane was the killer. In the early 1980s he even hired a private detective, and a collection of interviews, tapes and files were assembled. Jim was considering writing a book, but it was all lost (along with furniture and other household items) when a family member was scammed by a fake removal company.
Oct 28, 1953 - They have cartridges with distinct markings on them, so now just need to find the murder weapon itself...
Oct 28, 1953 - police determine that the weapon used was a .380 Italian Beretta.
CASE NOTES - Oct 28, 1953 - the inquest concludes that Cecil was murdered by person or persons unknown around 2-4am; he's buried a few days later in Anchorage Cemetery.
CASE NOTES #1 – Oct 27, 1953 – Johnny Warren voluntarily talks to the Oakland PD, and confesses to “intimate relations” with Diane Wells. He recalls the night they met at the Country Club a couple of months earlier: “I thought she winked at me, and then she did it again…. advances with her eyes meant that she might appreciate attention.”
Oct 27, 1902 – Cecil Moore Wells is born in Litchfield, Pennsylvania. His grandson Darrell Rafferty noted some 65 years later that “Cecil was worth quite a bit more alive than he was dead…”
CASE NOTES #1 – Oct 25, 1953 – Diane is asked to give handwriting samples; the FBI wants to compare them with “love letters” allegedly sent by her to Johnny…
CASE NOTES - Oct 24, 1953 - police take Diane's copy of "The Prophet" by Kahlil Gibran from the crime scene; it's marked at p46, which has the quote "What penalty lay you upon him who slays in the flesh yet is himself slain in the spirit?”. The page before the quote reads: “If any of you would bring to judgement the unfaithful wife, let him also weight the heart of her husband in scales, and measure his soul with measurements.”
CASE NOTES - the last remaining physical evidence from the crime scene? It was found in the Alaska State Archives, and I believe they are segments of a necklace or bracelet that Diane was wearing the night of the murder - they may even have had blood on them at one time....
CASE NOTES - Oct 22, 1953 - tests on blood found at the Wells bedroom murder scene only show Diane and Cecil's blood groups; nothing is obtained from the whiskey bottle. Should Danforth have sent the samples to the FBI, rather than the local hospital?
J Edgar Hoover's signature on one of the FBI documents about the case. He called Danforth "My Dear Chief" in letters - until the investigation began to hit problems...
CASE NOTES - Oct 21, 1953 - Chief of Police EV Danforth submits his report on the murder - including bloody fingerprints left on a whiskey bottle - to the FBI. Witnesses interviewed in the Northward report hearing rows and screams in the Wells' apartment previously - and it notes that Diane once called the CPS.
CASE NOTES #2 – Oct 20, 1953 – the Coroner’s Inquest opens at Fairbanks Courthouse, and features crime scene photos taken by a commercial photographer from the Fisher Studio.
CASE NOTES #1 – Oct 20, 1953 – Diane Wells tells police about the two masked men that broken into the apartment, one of whom said to her: “Shut up, or I will kill you” before physically assaulting her. The Daily News-Miner reported on her injuries: “Her eyes are shiny black, her jaw is puffed, her nose is lumped out of shape, her lips are swollen thick, and there are lacerations scattered on her face and scalp.”
The headline in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner on October 17, 1953.
CASE NOTES #4 – Oct 17, 1953 – News of Cecil’s murder knocks the opening of the Anchorage International Airport off of the front page headline of the city's own Anchorage Daily Times.
CASE NOTES #3 – Oct 17, 1953 – Dr. Paul Haggland performs the autopsy on Cecil Wells, and determines he was killed by a .380 bullet, probably from an Italian Beretta.
CASE NOTES #2 – Oct 17, 1953 – Dr. Donald McLean is summoned to the Northward Building, and he quickly tells a sobbing Diane that “It’s too late for Cecil.” Soon after the Fairbanks police, led by Chief EV Danforth, start interviewing other residents.
CASE NOTES #1 – Oct 17, 1953: Cecil Wells is murdered in room 815 at the Northward Building; his wife Diane is badly beaten too, and tells police that two masked men broke into the apartment and shot Cecil while he slept, then escaped with money and jewelry…
CASE NOTES - October 15, 1954 - Months after her death (and almost exactly one year after Cecil's murder), Diane's ashes are finally interred in the columbarium at Hollywood Memorial Park (now Hollywood Forever).
CASE NOTES - Oct 9, 1914 - EV Danforth is born in Rhode Island. After a spell with San Diego PD (see pic) he was appointed Chief of Police in Fairbanks. He led the investigation into the murder of Cecil Wells, and suspected Diane from almost the beginning - but he made mistakes, and resigned six weeks into the case.
Really honored that "The Alaskan Blonde" was included in a True Crime exhibit at the University of Alaska - Anchorage library. The library system has a number of copies too, if any students want to read it!
“All of the facts are not known and may never be, but enough became public to make the Alaska murder case a grim thriller that outdid anything invented by mystery writers like James Cain, Rex Stout, or Mickey Spillane” - Ebony magazine, October 1954
CASE NOTES - Oct 1, 1954 - Ebony magazine features the case, and this picture of Diane Wells, which also runs in English newspaper "The Herald".
CASE NOTES - Sep 28, 1953 - Diane writes to Johnny c/o the Piggly Wiggly in Fairbanks. This "love letter" was brandished in the 1955 perjury trial, and was a vital piece of evidence showing an affair - and perhaps then a murder conspiracy.
They honeymooned in Hawaii.
Diane signed the wedding certificate as "Shelley Diane Walker" - a fictional first name, and leaving out the last name of her second husband, Aspee, who she was not yet technically divorced from.
Sep 25, 1949 - Cecil and Diane are married in Fairbanks, and she wore a “softly-tailored brown wool suit complimented with a corsage of pink and white roses.” Cecil’s mother, brother, and sister-in-law were there, and a dinner followed at the Fairbanks Country Club...
Sep 20, 1955 - a horrific case of drunken domestic abuse; Mrs Kennison is badly beaten by her husband, who then shoots himself. An anonymous cop is quoted as saying: "If you think Diane Wells was beat up, you should take a look at this woman." Did the FPD think the Cecil Wells murder was a domestic abuse case turned violent?
Hawaii perhaps?
Diane Wells in an undated photo... lovely flowers!
In a later interview about the night on Sep 5, Johnny Warren told police in San Francisco that: "I thought she winked at me, and then she did it again…. advances with her eyes meant that she might appreciate attention.”
CASE NOTES - Sep 5, 1953 - the photo at Fairbanks Country Club, where Diane and Johnny (both arrowed) allegedly met for the first time: "Advances with her eyes meant that she might appreciate attention," Johnny told police later about that night...
CASE NOTES - Sep 1, 1953 - young lawyer Theodore "Ted" Stevens, new in Fairbanks as the US Attorney, takes on the Cecil Wells murder case - which seems like it could be a career-maker (or ender).
Diane and Cecil at the Will Rogers Shrine of the Sun in Colorado Springs, CO. Humorist Rogers and pilot Wiley Post left Fairbanks en route for Barrow in August 1935, and crashed just before arriving at their destination.
CASE NOTES - August 20, 1955 - after serving just 60 days in the Fairbanks city jail, William Colombany - a friend and neighbor of the Wells - is released after his conviction for perjury. He is the only person to be jailed in relation to Cecil's murder.
Cruelly dubbed the "murder orphan" by newspapers, Mark unsurprisingly had a difficult childhood, as noted a relative: "He was kind of a brattish child. After his parents’ death he didn’t turn out very well.”
August 18, 1950 - Marquam Wells is born to Diane and Cecil Wells in Fairbanks. Before he's 4 years old he is an orphan and a millionaire. But what happened to him? The book attempts to find out...
During that Alaska trip, Walt Disney meets Cecil Wells - this is a family photo - and there are many stories of Disney decorating the Wells' basement with a cartoon mural....
Aug 11, 1947 - Walt Disney, his daughter Sharon, and several other movie producers take a trip to Alaska. They're looking over some business interests, but Disney is also location-spotting...
NEW playlist for "The Alaskan Blonde" on YouTube. It has 14 tracks including popular songs from 1953/1954, the possible 7" single released by Johnny Warren that I found on sale on eBay, and the jazz classic that always made someone think of Diane....
Aug 4, 1955 - Fairbanks Police Chief EV Danforth was only a few months into the job when the Cecil Wells murder happened, and he tried to take an iron grip of it from the start – but mistakes were made the forensic evidence, he clashed with US D.A. Ted Stevens and other law enforcement agencies, and the public’s desire for a quick arrest saw him in the firing line: he resigned on November 30, just six weeks later. This article talks about what he did next – and he seemed he had little luck elsewhere….
July 30, 1953 - Cecil hosts a Chamber of Commerce Hawaiian-themed party in Fairbanks, and Diane and other women did some hula dancing. Chunks of lava from Hawaii were at the party - or one later in the year - which is considered very bad luck within the island culture.
July 29, 1956 - as Johnny prepares to go to trial (though it's again postponed). the New York Sunday News writes a long article about the case...
"The Alaskan Blonde" WON the Non-Fiction Prize at PSWA Awards in Las Vegas! The PSWA (Public Safety Writers Association) is an organization of writers from the world of law enforcement and security, so the fact they gave it a nod means a lot.
Alaska Public Radio interviewed me about what I'll be talking about at the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival - hopefully it will make you want to come to the workshops on July 17 and 18.
I will be in Fairbanks at the Summer Arts Festival giving two workshops: on 7/17 it's "History & Mystery: Researching True Crimes," and on 7/18 it's "The Alaskan Blonde". Both take place 1-3pm at the Joy Community Center. Click on the logo to buy tickets.
Monday July 1 at 7pm ET - I will be giving a Zoom talk on "The Alaskan Blonde" for the excellent Tewksbury Public Library - click on the logo to join me!
June 29, 1943 – Bonnie Sue Walker (right) is born near Seattle, WA. Bonnie’s older sister Saundra is also alongside paternal “Grandma Lee”, who they live with for quite some time after their parents Diane and Donald split up. Neither of the daughters ever see Diane again.
June 25, 1951 - The News-Miner writes about drugs being brought into Anchorage. Some said organized crime was behind Cecil's murder a few years later...
CASE NOTES - June 24, 1954 - the fingerprints of local criminals Pete Lloyd and Travis Spaulding are sent to the FBI in relation to those found at the Cecil Wells murder scene; there was no match.
An unseen picture of Diane Wells; on holiday in Mexico, I think. Picture probably taken by husband Cecil.
CASE NOTES - June 18, 1955 - William Colombany, guilty of perjury in relation to the Cecil Wells murder, will now be sentenced...
June 14, 1930 - after a stay of over 19 months, 8 year old Diane is collected from the Maria Kip Orphanage in San Francisco by her mother Yvonne.
June 8, 1956 - The Cecil Wells case still not come to trial, Ted Stevens resigns as US Attorney for Fairbanks. He goes on to serve Alaska for decades in government.
June 6, 1997 - Johnny Warren dies in Spring, TX, aged 77. I visited his gravestone at the Houston National Cemetery. He hadn't ever mentioned his ordeal in Fairbanks to either his young son John, or his fifth wife Ellen.
An undated photo of Diane, probably taken by Cecil. Mexico?
San Fernando Valley Historical Society talk under the sun/stars at the Andres Pico House in Mission Hills - big crowd of lovely people!
Thursday May 23, 7pm at the Andres Pico Adobe Park in Mission Hills, I am talking about historical crimes for the San Fernando Valley History Society - and I'll be mentioning "The Alaskan Blonde" too...
May 21, 1956 - The on/off again trial of Johnny Warren (now the only defendant after Diane Wells's suicide in 1954) has been postponed, prompting the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner to call the Cecil Wells murder investigation "a comedy of errors”.
May 15, 1939 - Wells Alaska Motors opens in Fairbanks; its perhaps the first dealership in Alaska to have cars on the lot - before this, you ordered from a catalog.
CASE NOTES - May 12, 1956 - Johnny Warren can breath again, at least for a while, as the Statesman Journal notes that "Musician's Murder Trial Postponed"
Diane by a volcano - location/year unknown. Anybody have any ideas where it might be? Hawaii? Mexico? Peru?
CASE NOTES – May 5, 2017 – I received the FBI file on the Cecil Wells murder, which include this DOJ listing card, and a number of redacted and unreleased pages – but I managed to get them all later…
A free sample of the audiobook version of "The Alaskan Blonde" read by Tom Lennon is available - go to www.thealaskanblonde.com
May 1, 1928 - Cecil Wells, prisoner #3894, is admitted to McNeil Island Penitentiary. He had been sentenced to 18 months for living with a married woman, Maud Raudabaugh, while he himself was married. She was found guilty too, and fined. On his release 13 months later, they were married.
This iconic picture of Diane (and in fact almost all the ones seen in the press of her) was taken at Seattle Airport, where she was arrested after a flight from Fairbanks. She was sent back to face the charges in court in Fairbanks at midnight the next day.
(far left) me on the "Every Story is a Mystery" panel at Left Coast Crime in Seattle
April 28, 1955 - "On the Inside" in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner has a "hot tip" that a $5,000 and $10,000 bounty had been placed on Cecil's head at the time of his murder in October 1953...
CASE NOTES – April 22, 1955 – A shocked William Colombany is found guilty of perjury in relation to the Cecil Wells murder trial that was due in 1954 (and still hasn’t happened yet…)
CASE NOTES – April 21, 1955 – at the perjury trial of William Colombany, people notice a woman in dark glasses sitting alongside his lawyer. Turns out she is Catherine McAfee, wife of noted Las Vegas founder/mobster Guy McAfee. But what is she doing there?
April 18, 1950 - the divorce is finalized between Diane and her second husband, Charles Aspee. By this time Diane was pregnant with Marquam, and she and Cecil had married several months before this process began - which might explain why she signed "Shelley" and used her first husband's last name, Walker, on her and Cecil's marriage certificate.
I will be in Seattle at Left Coast Crime this week! See you there!
Barely aged 4 when he becomes an orphan, Marquam Wells only receives his inheritance at age 21. According to his son, the only thing luxury thing he bought out of the money that was left was a DeThomas Pantera sportscar like this one.
One of Diane's suicide notes had asked family friends Reuben and Clara Tarte to "raise him (Mark) as their own"....
April 9, 1954 - Cruelly christened the "Murder Orphan" by one newspaper, custody of Cecil and Diane's son Mark (Marquam) is awarded to Edna, Cecil's sister, who takes him right back to Fairbanks.
April 6, 1953 - the first ad for William Colombany's dance studio (in his home at the Northward Building) runs in the News-Miner. Cecil and Diane Wells sign up for lessons, and they become friends.
CASE NOTES - April 3, 1955 - William Colombany arrives back in Fairbanks to face charges of perjury in the Cecil Wells murder case from October 1953. This mugshot (marked "Third Suspect") is of Colombany, and was found in the private notes of US Deputy Marshal Frank Wirth, who arrested Colombany in LA. The mugshot was taken in Seattle, which is the connection stop between LA and Fairbanks.
March 29, 1955 - two gunmen break into the home of former mayor George Nehbras demanding money; one says: “There’s been two prominent businessmen killed in this town. Tommy Wright and Cecil Wells. You are going to be next.”
March 28, 1954 - news of Diane's suicide (and the question of Marquam's future) reaches as far as Australia.
CASE NOTES - March 28, 1955 - William Colombany is indicted for perjury in relation to the trial of the Cecil Wells murder (which had now been postponed).
March 25, 1953 – fearing the threats and violence of her boyfriend Donald, 26 year old Annette Wood writes a short “in the event of my death” note, asking that Johnny and Clara Warren adopt her daughter Suzanna. A few months later, Donald shoots her at the Talk of the Town nightclub, and the Warrens do indeed adopt Suzanna. Suzanna joins Johnny when he drives down to Oakland in October, and then a couple of weeks later Johnny, her new father, is accused of shooting Cecil Wells.
March 25, 1952 – As criticism of Alaskan law enforcement increases (and the push for Statehood carries on), it’s announced that 50 Deputy Marshals will be hired…
March 21, 1954 – William Colombany sues the LAPD for wrongful arrest in relation to his detention back in January; he wins a $10,000 settlement. The address book found among Diane’s possessions after her suicide listed his phone number, and inquiries found that when he called the Drake Hotel to talk to her, he told the operator he was her husband.
March 20, 1954 - Diane's suicide is reported as far away as the UK and Australia; her mother Florence angrily writes to the LAPD saying that “Diane was driven to do what she did…”
March 17, 2024 - I'll be discussing "The Alaskan Blonde" at the 27th Mystery Authors Luncheon, held by the Anaheim Public Library Foundation, at the Sheraton Park Hotel in Anaheim.
Unseen by the public before, this picture is of Cecil and Diane at the Will Rodgers Shrine in Colorado Springs; Wells family members say that Cecil met Rogers and pilot Wiley Post on their tragic last flight in 1935.
March 12, 1954 - Diane's will leaves money to Mark and to Saundra and Bonnie, the daughters from her first marriage. At the time the two girls were living with her former in-laws, who probably didn't pass on any of her letters or cards, so Diane listed them in her will as "address unknown."
March 11, 1954 - co-defendant Johnny Warren now appears to be left on the hook for the murder charge, but maybe the trial will never happen after all?
March 11, 1954 - it emerges that DA Stevens was about to postpone the trial; unfortunately it's too late to save Diane.
CASE NOTES - March 10, 1954 - the autopsy reveals that Diane had recently had an abortion, or had suffered a miscarriage. If it was the former, she would have had to find someone to perform what was then (and is again now) an illegal operation.
Diane's body rests at the Utter-McKinley Mortuary in Hollywood.
CASE NOTES - March 10, 1954 - the Coroner's Report on Diane's death rules it a suicide.
March 10, 1954 - the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner report is the one of many that are seen around the world...
March 10, 1954 - one of the newspaper headlines about Diane's death
March 9, 1954 - RIP Diane.
CASE NOTES - March 9, 1954 - One of Diane's suicide notes read i part: "I’ve decided this is no worse for Mark than the terrible, widespread publicity of a trial, which is sure to crop up all his life. This will be less publicity and over sooner.”
CASE NOTES - March 9, 1954 - among her possessions are a child's wooden streetcar and this St Christopher Medal - she writes in one of the notes that she "won't need it on this journey."
CASE NOTES - March 9, 1954 - this note is found too, written around the time she moved into the Drake Hotel.
CASE NOTES - March 9, 1954 - she leaves notes at the Drake Hotel and the Hollywood Plaza; one asks the Tarte family to raise Mark "as their own," two are to William Colombany offering thanks and apologies, and this one, which addresses her guilt in Cecil's murder.
CASE NOTES - March 9, 1954 - Diane's body is found by a hotel maid (this photo ran in Ebony magazine).
The Drake Hotel today - it has been a few different names since then, and is now a Scientology Center.
CASE NOTES - March 9, 1954 - after checking into the Hollywood Plaza Hotel the previous evening as "Doris May", Diane starts to take the first of 20-30 barbiturate pills she had smuggled in with her.
CASE NOTES - March 6, 1954 - a newspaper article mentions Seattle PD detectives Paust & Dailey are giving lie detector tests in Fairbanks; the article is later found in Diane's room at the Drake Hotel in Hollywood.
Cecil and Diane (left) at the house of Jim Messer and his family in 1951 - Christmas I think, judging by the tree in the background.
March 1, 1954 - the first edition of Five Star Detective magazine highlights the Wells case - and has a racy blonde on the cover!
Feb 28, 1952 - the luxury, 8 storey Northward Building opens in Fairbanks. Cecil, Diane and their son Mark move in soon after.
Feb 25, 1954 – ambitious young lawyer Theodore “Ted” Stevens is formally appointed as the District Attorney for Fairbanks. Despite a long and successful future, his failure to bring a trial in the Cecil Wells murder remains an early red mark on his career.
CASE NOTES - February 17, 1953 - an outraged editorial about local crime runs in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner after the home invasion murder of Tommy Wright. When Cecil is murdered nine months later in what seems to be another home invasion, the pressure increases on Police Chief EV Danforth....
CASE NOTES - Feb 14, 1954 - unhappy and relying on barbiturate pills to sleep, Diane Wells leaves her friends the Mansfields, and checks into the Drake Hotel on Hollywood Blvd. This is a postcard of the Drake around that time.
CASE NOTES - Feb 9, 1967 - Jimmy Ing, a later suspect in the Cecil Wells murder, is shot to death by police in Reno, NV. "I couldn't think of a more fitting end," said a Fairbanks cop.
Feb 2, 1954 - Front Page Detective magazine calls Diane “the most beautiful woman in Alaska” and says that Cecil "was no longer so lithe on the dance floor, (but) he still had one of the most flexible bank rolls in Fairbanks.”
CASE NOTES - Jan 26, 1953 - Local businessman Tommy Wright and his wife are attacked by two thieves in their home. He is shot dead, and the crime is never solved: nine months later, it seems the same thing happens to Cecil Wells and Diane.
Hollywood Forever yesterday.
An actual copy of the News-Miner from Nov 19, 1953, framed on my wall. The red headline was due to a new printing press, which was first used for that issue.
Jan 3, 1959 - Alaska becomes the 49th state of the USA. That Alaska was still a territory when Cecil Wells was murdered in 1953 really affected the investigation, and Terrence Cole in his book "Fighting for the Forty-Ninth Star" notes that it '"remains to this day the most notorious and baffling case in the history of Fairbanks”.
CASE NOTES - Dec 20, 1955 - FBI analysis shows no connection between the bullet that killed Cecil Wells and gun #4 (a Hungarian pistol) nor to some .380 cartridges that were suspected of being the murder weapon...
Dec 19, 1953 - the headline in the Pittsburgh Courier shows the story has hit the Lower 48; Diane always denied that she and Johnny Warren were lovers...
Dec 18, 1953 – Alaska Weekly interviews the recently-resigned Fairbanks Chief of Police, EV Danforth, who says there are “5 Unanswered Questions” about the investigation….
“All of the facts are not known and may never be, but enough became public to make the Alaska murder case a grim thriller that outdid anything invented by mystery writers like James Cain, Rex Stout, or Mickey Spillane” - Ebony magazine, October 1954
Raymond Burr, who played “Perry Mason” on television, often visited his sister and niece in Fairbanks; it’s possible that the Wells Family reached out via him to Erle Stanley Gardner, “Perry Mason” creator and mystery author, to ask for the name of a private eye to investigate Cecil’s murder independently….
Dec 16, 1953 – The US Marshals in Fairbanks belatedly submit the soiled pajamas Diane was wearing on the evening before the murder to the FBI in Washington, DC. Will there be GSR and blood traces alongside her vomit after an upset stomach?
Dec 15, 1919 – Johnnie Condon Warren is born in Columbia, Mississippi – he’ll always spell his name “Johnny”, except when signing official documents.
Nov 10, 1953 – out on $10,000 bail, Diane arrives at LAX in California, where journalists and photographers are waiting. The Los Angeles Examiner reports that she says she “can’t tell the whole story now…”
“He really wanted to find Cecil’s murderer,” said Cecilia Wirth about her US Marshal father Frank (his picture here is from a pulp magazine story he later wrote about one of his cases).
CASE NOTES – Nov 12, 1953 – Fairbanks PD send 24 cartridges to the FBI for analysis, and one of them might be a match to the one fired from the murder weapon – if they can find it…
CASE NOTES - Oct 28, 1953 - the long inquest into Cecil's murder concludes he was "murdered by person/persons unknown" between 2-4am on October 17. The FBI analysis suggests a .380 Italian Beretta was used, and that it could be matched to one of the bullets - when it is found....
CASE NOTES #2 – Oct 22, 1953 – at the inquest into the murder, Cecil’s fourth wife Ethel Granite stuns the court by saying he was abusive; she gives several examples of his violence towards her – one of them in public. Interviews I conducted also revealed he was a very jealous person, and that there were public shows of his anger when he thought someone was paying too much attention to Diane.
CASE NOTES #2 - Oct 21, 1953 - The police report says: “Rumors, information and some evidence link several well-known and prominent Fairbanks residents with Wells’s wife in some ways or another,” and Danforth concludes: “I believe Dianne Wells may be able to shed more light on this case.” FBI chief J. Edgar writes back to "My Dear Chief".
CASE NOTES #1 - Oct 21, 1953 - Fairbanks Chief of Police EV Danforth sends his report on the murder to the FBI. Alongside bloody fingerprints on a whiskey bottle, the report noted neighbors hearing shouting and screaming from the Wells' apartment - and a call from Diane to CPS...
Oct 1, 1954 - The Daily Herald in the UK used this picture from Ebony. "She drew people in with her magnetism," said Diane's eldest daughter Saundra when I interviewed her.
Oct 1, 1954 - Ebony writes about the Cecil Wells murder: “Murders resulting from love triangles have spiced the breakfast coffee of the reading public with revelations of clandestine romance since headlines were first splashed across morning newspapers, but none has whetted the appetites of readers as has the current case involving a wealthy Alaskan businessman, his beautiful blonde wife and a Negro musician.”
Oct 1, 1938 - Donald Walker (circled) married Diane Baker; they had met at Pacific Grove High School aged 17 and 16 respectively, and had to get special permission to marry.
Sept 25, 1949 - Cecil and Diane are married in a civil ceremony in Fairbanks. She wore a brown wool suit, and Cecil's mother, brother and sister-in-law were the witnesses. But who there knew that the marriage wasn't technically legal, as Diane wasn't formally divorced from her second husband?
Sep 20, 1955 - after a night out, a drunken man named Kennison beats his wife, shattering her jaw, then shoots himself dead. A cop at the scene said: "If you think Diane Wells was beat up, you should take a look at this woman," a strange thing to say about what had been seen in 1953 as a murder...
"The Alaskan Blonde" was nominated for an Anthony Award. Alas it didn't win the prize at Bouchercon in San Diego on Aug 30 - Sep 3, but I was thrilled to even be nominated!
"The Alaska Blonde" won the True Crime category at the 2023 National Indie Excellence Awards!
"The Alaskan Blonde" was a Finalist in the 2023 Next Generation Indie Book Awards
Every year in July/Aug there are "Stories at the Cemetery" - walking tours of Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery, with actors playing the more notable people buried there. Cecil Wells was played by Jim Haacke (I gave him a few tips beforehand!).
Whatever happened to EV Danforth, the combative Fairbanks Chief of Police who resigned six weeks after the Cecil Wells murder? He left Fairbanks, and things didn't go well....
July 20, 1953 – Annette Wood is chased through the Talk of the Town nightclub, where she was a hat-check girl, and shot several times by her jealous boyfriend, Donald Pratt, who asked “Did I get her?” Perhaps because of the violent relationship she was in, a few months before she had written a note suggesting Johnny and Clara Warren adopt her daughter Suzanne in the event of her death – Johnny worked alongside her at the Piggly Wiggly, and regularly performed at the club too – and now he and Clara honored that request. A few months later, Suzanne traveled in with Johnny the day he left Fairbanks after the Cecil Wells murder, and, amazingly, when he was arrested for Cecil’s murder a few weeks afterward, he and Pratt briefly shared a cell together. After a spell in psychiatric care, Pratt, who had also hit an off-duty policeman, was jailed for the murder.
July 15, 1948 - tragedy for Johnny Warren and his wife Clara; they have a son who lives just a few hours. He is interred alongside other similar unfortunate children at Washell Cemetery, WA (the marker with no metal flower holder on it).
CASE NOTES - June 18, 1955 - William Colombany receives just 60 days in prison after being convicted of perjury in relation to the trial of Diane/Johnny for Cecil's murder - a trial that had never actually happened.
CASE NOTES - Just weeks after the Johnny Warren trial is postponed again, Ted Stevens resigns as US District Attorney for Fairbanks. He goes on to a long and illustrious career representing Alaska, but the Cecil Wells case is always an early stain on his career....
June 6, 1997 - Johnny Warren dies in Spring, TX, aged 77. When I was in there, I visited his gravestone at the Houston National Cemetery.
Many people asked if there was an audiobook version - and now there is on Audible.com. I hope you enjoy it!
In good company in the True Crime section at Skull-Face bookstore in Honolulu, Hawaii!
CASE NOTES - April 16, 1954 - still searching for the murder weapon (a Beretta .380), Fairbanks Police send a third gun to the FBI for testing - it does not match the bullets that killed Cecil Wells.
Thrilled that my tile for "The Alaskan Blonde" has finally made it onto the wall at the Noel Wien Library in Fairbanks! And by luck I guess, it's pulp magazine yellow!!
If you're in the LA area, I am giving a talk about the book on March 11 at 12pm at Central Library in downtown L.A.
Amazingly, in 2018 I was a "living exhibit" working in the window of Book Soup on "The Alaskan Blonde" (see pic of Diane, right). I had no idea then of the connection between the two buildings, past and present.
Today, the famous Book Soup store is at that location.
March 10, 1954 - the LA Daily News runs this picture of Diane and William Colombany. He had come down to LA soon after she did, and was her aide, carer and companion here.
Feb 24, 1929 - Cecil M. Wells, prisoner #6894, is released from McNeil Island after serving 13 months (with time off for good behavior). Soon after, he marries Maud Raudabaugh, who, like him, was married at the time they began to live together (the offense they were both prosecuted for, though she was just fined).
The Sideshow Bar in the 1980s (from the movie "Barfly"). During the 1954 interview, Colombany told police "I'm not talking until someone else does."
It's said that Diane at one stage came to Hollywood to try and break into the movies....
Diane's mother Florence (left) and Florence's mother Zoe (Diane's grandmother) on the right.
"Here was romance and money and mystery - and the sinister work of a killer who had to be captured" from Official Detective Stories, Jan 1954
This page from Cecil's will/probate shows he had an interest in the famous Chena Hot Springs, and one of the first vacation condos in Hawaii - which still stands today.
Fairbanks circa 1950s - Happy New Year!
CASE NOTES - Dec 21, 1949 - after being married less than a year, the divorce is granted between Diane Walker and William Aspee. By then, Diane had been married to Cecil Wells for several months....
December 19, 1953 - the Pittsburgh Courier headline suggests that Diane had "turned her back" on Johnny...
During the investigation, the Wells family contacted "Perry Mason" creator Erle Stanly Gardner to ask if he could recommend a private detective to look into the murder....
CASE NOTES - Dec 16, 1953 - the US Marshal belatedly sends the bloody pajamas Diane was wearing on the night of the murder to the FBI for analysis. Now ex-Police Chief EV Danforth had written about them in his report back in October, saying that "he had not seen them ...and they had not been recovered."
Dec 11, 1953 - Diane tells LA reporters "I’m afraid the District Attorney isn’t going to let it go. It’s such a big case, he’s afraid to drop it."
Diane arriving at LAX - when asked by the LA Examiner about Johnny Warren, she says “I can’t tell the whole story now, but let’s just say we were acquainted.”
Surely looking for some peace, Diane and son Marquam arrive in Los Angeles, where he is enrolled in school; the trial is four months away.
CASE NOTES - Dec 7, 1953 - a Hi-Standard .380 (gun #2) is sent to the FBI for testing as the possible murder weapon. It doesn't match the cartridges from the crime scene.
Dec 5, 1953 - in today's money, her mink coat cost $85,000 and one diamond ring $28,000
CASE NOTES - Dec 3, 1953 - the FBI confirm that Johnny Warren's fingerprints were NOT found at the crime scene.
Stanley Zaverl becomes the new Chief of Police, and he pursues the case for several more years.
Nov 30, 1953 - after clashing with local officials and other law enforcement agencies, EV Danforth resigns as Fairbanks Chief of Police.
Nov 30, 1953 - The Fairbanks Daily-News Miner ran a similar photo that day too.
The article also showed Diane peeping out from behind a Northward apartment door. Note it is No. 719 (not the Wells home).
The article showed a picture of Diane's injuries from that night.
Life featured an article called "The Beat-Up Blonde" about the Cecil Wells murder and recreated Diane's attack, with local photographer Jack Ryan standing in as her assailant.
Life - Vol 35, No 22, November 30, 1953
CASE NOTES - Nov 24, 1953 - Wirth also told reporters about a "third suspect" (pictured), saying "I know who he is, and he knows I know."
CASE NOTES - Nov 24, 1953 - this unpublished picture shows US Deputy Marshal Frank Wirth, who accompanied Johnny back to Fairbanks: Wirth told waiting reporters "I don't think Johnny pulled the trigger".
CASE NOTES - Nov 24, 1953 - Johnny Warren is extradited back from Oakland to Fairbanks.
CASE NOTES - Nov 22, 1955 - over two years after the murder, possible murder weapon #4 is submitted to the FBI for testing: it's not a match to the cartridges.
Nov 20, 1969 - the date written alongside a signature "Johnnie Warren" on a 7" single released by Johnny Warren. Research seems to suggest it's the same man who was involved in the Cecil Wells murder case.
CASE NOTES - Nov 16, 1948 - Diane marries marine engineer William Aspee in Seattle. The marriage doesn't last a year, and she is still in the process of divorce when she and Cecil are married.
They only find a distinguishing marking in one of the cartridges, which however could be a match - if the murder weapon is found...
Nov 7 - Saundra Diane Walker is born in Sacramento, California. She is the first child for Diane and Donald.
Pictures of Diane are shown in newspapers around the world - this is The Daily Herald in London.
CASE NOTES - Nov 6, 1953 - Diane (and son Marquam) arrive back in Fairbanks after her arrest/extradition from Seattle.
Johnny is arrested in Oakland, though he had already spoken to detectives already....
The paparazzi swarm over Diane at Seattle.
CASE NOTES - Nov 5, 1953 - Johnny is arrested in Oakland, Diane in Seattle.
CASE NOTES - Nov 5, 1944 - Diane's first husband, Donald Walker, graduates as a trooper in Washington state.