Jessica McCord
I am actually surprised that I have never blogged about this case. This is one of those cases that have stuck with me from the moment I heard about it. I am almost certain I have researched it in the past and have watched or read anything I could get my hands on about the case. Why? Probably because Jessica McCord is simply the face of evil. She is the reason ex-spouses (especially wives) get a bad reputation, and yet in the same breath she makes us thankful that while we too may be in stressful situations at least we are still alive to stress about it. In the same respect, as I pointed out in another story, I have to give it to her, unlike so many others, Jessica was not scared to get her hands dirty. Then again that is because Jessica believed she was better than everyone else, her ideas were better, and in the end she believed everyone would believe her. She thought being the "Mommy" and batting her little eyes to everyone, including judges would get her whatever she wanted. But, when that did not work she had to come up with another plan. I am sure as Jessica serves her life without parole sentence she blames her husband, Jeff, for them being caught because I am certain she believes she did nothing wrong.
I think most of us think we have dealt with or know someone who has dealt with someone like Jessica McCord. We see it all the time. A mother who is vindictive when it comes to their ex husband, who does whatever it takes to turn their children against their father, who does not care what they say to the children or if it is even true. The most important things to them is making the ex spouse suffer as much as possible and making sure they win at every turn. It is never really about loving their children. It is about manipulating and lying to their children to make them love them more and push out the father. It also becomes more about image and how others see them. For decades it was almost a universal belief that mothers should retain custody of their children. Of course that belief came about because mothers stayed at home while the fathers worked to support families. Traditionally children have more of a bond with their mothers. As times changed and women began fighting for equal rights and began working more and more outside the home as the divorce rates rose, slowing things started to be looked at differently. To be truthful it still, in 2015, often takes a lot for a father to retain custody of children after a divorce but is more and more a reality when the mother can be proven (some times it takes a while) unfit. But, just because the courts feel that way does not mean that everyone else does too and often a man will put up with way more than he should, allowing the mother to have more control than she should probably have just to keep peace for the most part. That was the case with Jessica McCord and her ex husband Alan Bates.
Jessica and Alan came from very different types of homes and were polar opposites when it came to personalities. Alan came from a stable home where his parents remained married without any semblance of violence or turmoil. Jessica on the other hand came from a divorced family (by the time she met Alan) where her father abused her mother, Jessica and her siblings. In fact, in 1992, not long after Jessica gave birth to her and Alan's first daughter her father, George Callis murdered his second wife. He received a 40 year sentence for that crime and was still in jail when his daughter was also tried for murder. Jessica and Alan were both still in high school when Jessica became pregnant. Jessica proceeded to drop out while Alan finished school and went on to college. But, that did not stop Alan from "doing the right thing" and marrying Jessica while they were both still high school students. They went on to have another daughter around two years after the first. During this time Alan was working as well as taking classes at he community college while for the most part Jessica stayed home with the kids.
In every marriage there are three sides to a story... his side, her side and somewhere in the middle is the truth. I am certain Jessica and Alan's marriage was no different. That does not mean that one side is closer to the truth than the other and in this case it was likely Alan's side that was closer as friends of the couple seemed to confirm. Now, if you were to search this case on your own the only time you are likely to hear anything bad about Alan comes from either Jessica or her mother, Dian Bailey, who by the way was also convicted of perjury after lying for her daughter at her trial. Was Alan really as great as everyone seemed to say and state? Obviously I cannot say for sure but I would gander to guess that while most do not like to talk ill about the dead (although Jessica had no problem) he became a better person because he was not here. Do not take this to mean that I am a victim basher. But, I do tend to make people, dead or alive, accountable for their actions and I do not believe that when someone dies, no matter how tragic or unwarranted they automatically become qualified for sainthood. I am sure Alan had his own issues too, but we all do. So while Alan is at work or school to support his wife and children, Jessica was home alone with the kids for the first several years. Life apparently was not as she expected. Most agree that obviously Jessica was not happy and was often accusatory of Alan being unfaithful although there was no evidence of such. In the end though, it was Jessica who was unfaithful and in 1995 Alan filed for divorce.
By most accounts it seems that people believe for the most part Alan and Jessica got along at least in a civil manner for the next few years. However, by the sounds of it, it may have been more of a situation in which Jessica was not around a whole lot really to fight Alan on things. It seems the kids spent a lot of time with her mother and stepfather, Albert and Dian Bailey. It was later said that Alan often picked the girls up at the Bailey home and I suspect that was more likely in the time just after their divorce. Jessica would leave the kids there for long periods of time and in fact started dating a guy who most say she thought was going to come into some money at some point. She then got pregnant again. Some of her friends seemed surprised that she kept this child. According to them, Jessica had had several abortions over the years. Most of of them believe that she only kept the children that she did to get her hooks into the men. Soon Jessica and her new baby's father split up too, without marrying. So now she has child support coming in for three children, from two men, and things still seemed good to her.
In the meantime Alan was moving on with his life too and had met a fellow theater stage worker named Terra Klugh. This is when things started getting harder. Not only did Jessica not have Alan, who she really did not want, but did not want anyone else to have, she was now a single mother of three. She became one of those women who decided their children were not going to be around another woman and was ready to take extreme members to make sure the children were not close to her. It is funny how some women are so insecure as mothers that they fear someone else coming in and loving their child. It is then that they fear of losing control. When Alan and Terra started talking marriage Jessica decided it was time to act. At some point she had worked as a dispatcher for the Birmingham Alabama police department. While she was there she met a man by the name of Jeffrey Kelly McCord Jr. In time Jessica lost her job there after she was charged with attacking Alan, and for reasons I am uncertain Jeff also left the Birmingham PD and went to work in the nearby town of Pelham as an officer. Jessica had decided that there was no way that Alan could appear to be more stable than she and after screwing up Alan and Terra's first attempt to marry by denying him his visitation, she hurried and got Jeff to marry her. Jeff and Jessica and Alan and Terra were both married in June of 2000. By now things had already started to get ugly in the Bates divorce, but it was not nearly as ugly as it would become.
Jeff McCord only knew what Jessica had told him about Alan. She had told him that Alan was very volatile and had been abusive to her and their girls. Jeff no doubt got to see Jessica's bad side a few times and he was smart enough (or dumb enough) not to cross her. In fact, this was the attitude of the father of her third child too. He apparently had little contact with his daughter because Jessica had made it nearly impossible to maintain a relationship.
Suddenly Jessica started doing whatever it took not just to keep Alan from seeing his girls, but from allowing him to speak to them even. She did not care what the courts said about visitation, those were her children. The effect was evident to everyone. In one event one of the girls had a play at the theater in which Alan worked. She told her teacher that was her dad as she pointed at Alan and when the teacher told her she was welcome to go say hello the child spewed about how Alan did not really love them and their mother told them they were not allowed to speak to him. This teacher later testified at trial. On the off chance Alan was able to get his girls for visitation it seemed he had to spend time de-programming them, once that was done the girls were happy and fine only to go back to Jessica and be told all of her vile things about Alan. The girl were likely scared to show they loved their dad or had fun with him. After allowing the kids to visit with Alan and Terra, who by then had moved to Maryland for their jobs, in the summer of 2000 for almost the next year and a half Alan was prevented from having contact with his daughters. He did not completely take this sitting down. He had a lawyer and they were constantly pulling Jessica into court for violations. Finally in 2001 a judge ordered that she was in contempt of court and ordered that she serve 10 days in jail. Well, she did not go to jail that day because, well Jessica had stopped going to any court hearing. She tried to later say that she had no idea until that December when the police went to her home to arrest her that there was a warrant for her arrest. No one tends to believe this as there were too many signs that she knew. She had gone as far as removing the children from school on the premises of homeschooling them although she was not qualified but also to remove her mailbox so she could not get mail from Alan, his lawyer or the court. Then when she was arrested in December of 2001 she tried lying to the police officers that went to her home that she was her sister. The officer's called in to have a picture of Jessica sent to them when she finally admitted who she was. They hauled her off to jail to serve her 10 days. This apparently landed right at Christmas time and although Jessica was in jail it seems Alan still did not see his kids, but his permission was asked to allow her to break her time up so that she could spent two days with her children, she now had four since she and Jeff had had a son together. Alan agreed although he had had enough of Jessica. By the time they had finally gotten her served he had decided to file for custody of the children.
Most agree that it was this time while she was in jail that Jessica decided the only way to get Alan off her back and get her way was for him to die. According to Jeff McCord it was after she served her time that he first heard her mention this and while he did not take her seriously about it at first, it did not take long to know she was not joking and she expected him to help. There seemed no better time than February 15 (2002) when Alan would be coming to Birmingham for depositions on their custody case.
Prior to arriving in Birmingham apparently, through their lawyers Jessica had agreed that when the depositions were finished on that Friday Alan could get the girls and take them to Georgia for the weekend to spend time with his family. The plan was for Alan, who brought Terra along, to pick the girls up at the McCord home at 6 pm. Alan and Terra, and the lawyers probably thought Jessica had agreed so that she did not look quite as bad considering the lawyers, and the judge in the depositions knew he was in town. However, she could not keep her cool completely. When the depositions ended earlier than expected Alan asked if they could get the girls early so they could beat Friday night traffic on their drive. Jessica's temper came out and she absolutely refused, demanding they stick to the 6:00 schedule. Probably thinking he had ruffed enough feathers and at least she was agreeing to let him see his daughters that he had not seen in over a year Alan did not fight her. As Alan and Terra went to go get a bite to eat Jessica headed back to her home in Hoover Alabama, a near by suburb. What Alan and Terra did not know is that neither of Alan's girls would be at the McCord home. In hindsight considering what was to occur, for the girls' sake this was a good thing.
One has to wonder what Alan and Terra were thinking from the time they got to the McCord house. When they got to the house there was a note on the door saying to go to the back door that there was an issue with the front door. So Alan and Terra walk around to the back and find a very cheery Jessica waiting for them to let them in. This was the first time in the 7 years since their divorced that Jessica had allowed Alan in her home so you have to wonder if their "Spidey senses" were going off. Jessica welcomed Alan and Terra in and asked them to sit down on the couch in the den. She told them that the girls were upstairs getting ready and that they wanted to put on a play for Alan. Again, such odd behavior coming from Jessica as she runs off to supposedly fetch the girls. As she appears to be coming back into the room Jeff McCord comes in and opens fire at Alan and Terra. They were each shot four times. They proceeded to wrap their bodies and load them into the trunk of the car the Bates had rented at the airport. While they were doing this Terra's phone started to ring... her dad was calling her. Jessica then went to her own phone and called Alan's cell phone, leaving a message asking him where he was. Before Alan and Terra arrived Jeff and Jessica had gone to her mother's house and asked if her mother and stepfather would watch the children (her two other children) so that they could have a post-Valentine's Day night out and told her mother that she would direct Alan to her house when he came. After they had murdered Alan and Terra, Jeff and Jessica headed to the movie theater and bought tickets to The Lord of the Rings. The movie is over three hours long so they were trying to establish an alibi. Jessica then went to a pay phone and called her mom to check on the kids and to announce that Alan had not showed up. Then, with Jessica driving her vehicle and carrying Alan and Terra's cell phone she took the lead as Jeff followed her in the rental car. Along the way Jessica would take the Bates' cell phones and call them back and forth. She had also tried to access Terra's voicemail without success to hear the voicemail that was left. Finally Jessica found and out of the way area in rural Georgia to leave the car. The idea was supposed to be that the car would be headed in the direction that Alan and Terra would have gone after leaving her house and attempt to make it look like a car jacking and murder. Yeah, they were idiots. Along the way they had bought a gas can and filled it with gas at a station. When they got the car positioned as they wanted first Jessica wiped it down using paper towels she had brought from home and then Jeff poured the gasoline all around. He tried twice to get it to light and failed. Finally Jessica took one of the paper towels, lit it and got the car to set ablaze. They then returned home to do some clean up and was in line at their local Home Depot when they opened the next morning.
Not long after they left the scene of the fire, that by coincidence happened to be on land owned by someone Jeff McCord knew (apparently he owned the land but didn't live there and prosecutors do believe it was a coincidence), the fire was spotted and the fire department was called. Along with the fire department came the police. Initially the authorities assumed it was a case of a stolen car that had been burnt in the rural area. But then they opened the trunk to find two charred bodies inside. By a stroke of luck (good or bad depending on which side of the law you were on) the fire had melted the bolts to the license plates and they had fallen to the ground basically unscathed. Authorities were very quickly able to determine where the car came from, and who had rented it.
In the meantime Alan's parents were getting worried in Georgia. Alan, Terra and the girls should have been there by 9 pm and Alan was always good about being on time or calling. They tried to contact their cell phones and got no answers. Phillip Bates, Alan's dad, even called Jessica's home despite not wanting to but again, there was no answer and he was forced to leave a message. By the next morning both he and his wife knew something was wrong and decided to call all the rental car companies at the Birmingham airport. Very quickly Phillip found the right one but he knew even more so now that something horrible had happened. When he explained to the person who answered the phone why he was called his call was directed to the manager of the company. He was then told that he was to contact the Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI).
Obviously Jessica was the number one suspect. Not only did it appear she was the only person that Alan (or Terra) had an issue with, but everyone knew that they were going to her home. The biggest question for the Bates family was, where were the children? While still at the scene of the car fire several different agencies started working together. They already knew who the car was rented to, why they were in Birmingham, where they were going after they left Birmingham and who they were seeing when they were there. They had also learned that their prime suspect, Jessica McCord was married to a Pelham police officer. They called Jeff's superiors to find out when he was due to work next and when they found out he was scheduled to work that afternoon they made sure to be there when he arrived. They had also contacted the Hoover police. They knew that if Alan and Terra were killed at the McCord home or at the very least nearby they would have jurisdiction and so they were giving them a head's up. Hoover PD went ahead and started watching the McCord home until they could get more information and what they saw was very interesting. It seemed that Albert Bailey, Jessica's step-father was doing some "re-modeling" on the house and making some trash runs. At that point they really had nothing to stop him or examine things but their observations would become key. In the mean time when Jeff got to work he was met by members of the GBI and questioned about the evening before. Jeff claimed that Alan and Terra never showed up at the house and that the Bailey's had ended up watching the children while he and Jessica went to the movies, then a strip club and even later just a nice little stroll like two love birds would do for Valentine's Day. He even pulled the ticket stubs from the movie out of his wallet. No-one seemed to be buying his story but they really had nothing at that point. While he was being interviewed apparently Jessica is burning up the phone to the PD trying to get a hold of Jeff. GBI had asked that her called not be let through and they complied. One has to wonder where the "Blue Code" was when it came to Jeff because it seems that everyone that he worked for were complying with this investigation. Jeff told the investigators that Jessica was at her mother's house at that time.
As soon as they were done with Jeff they headed to the Bailey home. By this time, there were three detectives working together from different agencies. They had to figure out where the murder took place to know which agency, or even state had jurisdiction. I think it is safe to say that detectives were not fond of Jessica right away. She was very curt and standoffish and they were pretty certain, especially by the look on her mother's face when Jessica began telling her version of the night before. Her version matched Jeff's (almost too perfectly) except for one key point. According to Jessica sometime around midnight or just after they had gone to her mother's house to pick up the children but that her mom had told her they were sleeping and to just leave them for the night. While one detective was asking that question another was looking at her mother, Dian. She later stated that up until Jessica stated that her mother seemed quite uninterested but that when Jessica said they had stopped by her house and told to leave the children her mother visibly had a reaction. According to the detective her mother's jaw dropped and she rolled her eyes as if to say "What are you talking about?" It seems that everyone knew both Jeff and Jessica were lying, they just had to prove it.
While they still had an officer watching the McCord house investigators worked on getting a search warrant. While that was being conducted another officer was interviewing Alan and Jessica's children. One of the questions that she asked was if they had been at the house at any point that day and if they noticed anything different from the night before. Both girls, who were now 10 and 12 years old, stated that the den looked different. By the time the detective was able to contact those doing the search they had all but released the house finding very little. Part of their problem was that the home was a mess. Apparently Jessica never had been a good house keeper. In another area they were also working on a warrant to have phone records available. They needed to know where Alan and Terra had been at what times. After hearing about the den they were determined to get another search warrant for the house.
In the meantime Jeff and Jessica obviously knew they were in trouble. First they packed up and took the kids to Jessica's sister's house in Florida. Then they apparently came back to the Birmingham area and were "hiding" out with a friend. Luckily the police had an informant who was letting them know Jeff and Jessica's every move so while they were gathering all the evidence they could, they knew exactly where to find them when they were ready. It did not take long. By the fifth day both Jeff and Jessica were arrested on two counts each of first degree murder. So, in the end what did they have against the McCord's? Well the biggest evidence they had was on the second search of the house they had discovered a hole in the den wall leading to the garage. It was under some very poorly installed new wallpaper but in the garage laid the shell casing. They compared that to one that was found in the trunk of the car with the bodies and found a match. They also found a small amount of blood in on a coffee table in the den. DNA results matched this to Terra's blood. They had found the same type of paper towels in Jessica's home as was at the scene of the car fire and had discovered that particular pattern was only sold in the Birmingham area. The cell phone records had shown that it was almost completely certain that Alan and Terra had made it to the McCord home. Both when Terra's father called her phone and when Jessica called Alan's phone, leaving the message asking where he was, they pinged on the tower closest to their home. Also while Jessica thought she was smart in taking the phones and having them call each other while they were on the way to dump the car both phones pinged off the same tower leaving someone to ask, why if they were so close to each other would they be calling each other, not to mention they had only one car between them.
Quite often when a prosecutor takes a case to trial they do not have all the facts and their idea of what happened is a theory at best. This case was no different when Jessica went to trial in February of 2003. Rumor has it that while investigators tried to get Jeff McCord to talk and testify against Jessica, he would not comply, but that when it came to Jessica they would not even consider offering any sort of plea. Prosecutors believed that this was all on Jessica. They were certain that she had manipulated and lied to Jeff, not that he was innocent but that she was the instigator. But since Jeff would not talk they had to base their case on their theory. The funny thing is that later when they did learn the story from Jeff they were almost completely right in their theory. The evidence completely told the story! Of course though Jessica was entitled to a defense and as most defense attorney's do when there is a mostly circumstantial case they argued that the prosecutor had no proof at all that Jessica was even remotely involved and protested her innocence. One almost had to feel sorry for Jessica's lawyers. By law she was entitled to a defense and really they had very little to work with and one of the things they did have was a client who apparently did not know how to tell the truth to save her soul, let alone her life. One can only assume that her lawyers did their homework on Jessica and likely advised her that testifying was not in her best interest but she was having none of that. She had spent her life manipulating people and getting her way, why would she stop now? It appears that Jessica had two goals. The first was to proclaim her innocence, still insisting that Alan and Terra had not come to her home on February 15, 2002 and the second was to make sure everyone knew that Alan was not the angel most believed. She got up on the witness stand and victim bashed. It did not bode well for her. She repeatedly claimed that Alan had been abusive to her and the children; she claimed he skipped out on visitations quite often and most surprisingly told the court that their oldest child (the one she became pregnant with in high school) was not in fact Alan's child and proclaimed that he knew this. The only sign of abuse in the relationship came from Jessica. She had in fact attacked Alan once after their divorce in which he fell down some stairs and hurt his arm... this was documented. There was nothing else and she stumbled when trying to explain why she had never called the authorities or pressed charges. Some of her lies were just simply ridiculous. For instance, earlier in the trial Alan's lawyer had testified that once Alan had moved to Maryland Jessica stopped going to court hearings, sending only her lawyer. It was at one of those hearings that the warrant for contempt of court was issued. While on the stand Jessica claimed to have been at these hearing saying that Alan's lawyer must have not seen her. Yet, out the other side of her mouth she tried to claim that she knew nothing about the warrant for her arrest. Jessica had an answer for everything..... why did you remove your mailbox from your house around the same time the warrant was issued? "It kept falling down." Why did you remove the kids from school around the same time? "I was homeschooling them." Why was there a bullet casing found in your garage? "Jeff accidentally fired in the house." If she was not so pathetic and had resulted in the unnecessary deaths of two people it would have almost been comical.
Apparently defense attorney's did their best to find character witnesses for Jessica to proclaim her story of innocence or at the very least collaborate what she had said about Alan and his behavior. The only person willing to do this was her mother, Dian Bailey. Albert Bailey had died while Jessica was awaiting trial and prosecutors were debating on filing charges against him. They were convinced that he had to have known what had happened or at the very least helped destroy evidence and clean up after the crime. Dian Bailey got on the stand and talked about what a horrible childhood Jessica had living with her biological father, the man now in prison for killing his wife. When pushed she admitted that her home was not a second home to Jessica's children, but more like their first. She did not miss the opportunity to bash Alan either. She too claimed he missed many visitations. What I never was able to determine is if the times she believed he missed visitation if that information came from Jessica. Who is to say that the children were not at Dian's house and Jessica said Alan was coming and then when he did not show Dian believed her when in fact there was not a visitation scheduled? No one will really know for sure. However, where Dian really messed up is when she testified in court that Jeff and Jessica had come to her house just after midnight on the night of the murders. Prosecutors were furious. If the jury were to believe this from her, then they would believe that Jessica was not guilty. She could not be at her mother's house AND driving with Alan and Terra's cell phones to dump the car at the same time. In the end the jury did not believe the defense and convicted her of first degree murder. The jury then had to decide whether to recommend life without parole or the death penalty. It was close (7-5) but in the end they recommended the life without parole sentence. Most believe that the jury, as well as the judge who later took their recommendation, did so because of her children.... of which she now had five. She had given birth in prison to her the second child belonging to Jeff.
It did not take Jeff long after hearing the verdict in Jessica's case to want to cooperate and strike a deal. He of course was the actual shooter and the fact that he was a man was not likely helpful either. Her jury was nearly ready to send her to the death chamber, he may not be so lucky. The prosecutors offered him a deal, in exchange for telling everything that happened AND testifying against anyone else they may charge in the case, or if needed, against Jessica at a later date (you just never know what appeals may bring), they agreed to take death off the table and give him two life sentences with the possibility of parole after 24 years. This is when they learned that their theory in court had been almost dead on. Although Jeff seemed to express remorse in his words when it came to the crime and disbelief that he had fallen for Jessica's trap, prosecutors were not so sure. Some people claim that is just Jeff's personality. He tends to laugh at inappropriate times and appears as "matter of fact." Having Jeff's story at hand they now decided to move forward with charges on two more people. It may have been three if Albert Bailey had not died. None of my research really uncovered just what Jeff stated that Albert knew and maybe investigators did not press him since he was no longer around to charge. Although it would have been reasonable to believe that if Albert knew what was going on and had happened, so had Dian. But, just getting the story from Jeff and knowing that Dian had lied when she testified that Jeff and Jessica had gone to their home just after midnight seemed to be enough for them. They charged Dian with perjury. It was pretty easy to get her convicted. She ended up getting 8 years for that but ultimately she served about 6 months on work release with the rest on probation. The information I got on the other person (well and truthfully Dian also) came from the book Death Trap by M. William Phelps. According to the book authorities were informed by someone that this friend not only had allowed them to all but hide out at his home but had also offered him and Albert Bailey money to dispose of items that were stored in a storage unit. He too (I could not find his name again) got some work release and probation for his role.
It does not much sound like Jessica has done well when it comes to adjusting to prison. She apparently spends her time complaining, out loud and in writing about the conditions she is forced to "suffer" from. Rumor is that she spends a lot of her time in segregation or in the infirmary. One has to wonder how she feels not being able to manipulate and get her way as well as likely being surrounded by other manipulators like herself. Although, I think Jessica is in a class of her own. Alan's parents are now raising the children she had with Alan and apparently other family members have her other children although I was unable to conclude with whom. Phillip Bates and Tom Klugh (Terra's father) both sued Jeff and Jessica McCord for wrongful death. Part of the strategy for that apparently was to prevent them from gaining any monies when it came to television, movies or books. From my research it appears that Jeff complied and agreed but Jessica, as is her way, was fighting it and forcing it to trial.
On another side note. By the time that Jessica was given her sentence Jeff had already took his plea and had told the story. Apparently there was one bus that transferred inmates from the county jail to the prison although there is a division that separates the males and females. Jeff and Jessica ended up on this same trip, along with others. According to Jeff as she got on the bus and noticed Jeff there, Jessica announced to everyone that he had been a police officer. The implication was that she was trying to cause him trouble knowing that ex-police officers often have a hard time in prison. When asked he said although he was sure it was for revenge for telling everything that happened it really did not matter seeing as his case had been in the media for a while and it was common knowledge he was an ex police officer. Most inmates who have been involved in law enforcement in the past are given a little extra guarding and that presumably was already going to be taken care of before Jessica ever said a word. It goes to show how vengeful she could be when she did not get her way.
I think most of us think we have dealt with or know someone who has dealt with someone like Jessica McCord. We see it all the time. A mother who is vindictive when it comes to their ex husband, who does whatever it takes to turn their children against their father, who does not care what they say to the children or if it is even true. The most important things to them is making the ex spouse suffer as much as possible and making sure they win at every turn. It is never really about loving their children. It is about manipulating and lying to their children to make them love them more and push out the father. It also becomes more about image and how others see them. For decades it was almost a universal belief that mothers should retain custody of their children. Of course that belief came about because mothers stayed at home while the fathers worked to support families. Traditionally children have more of a bond with their mothers. As times changed and women began fighting for equal rights and began working more and more outside the home as the divorce rates rose, slowing things started to be looked at differently. To be truthful it still, in 2015, often takes a lot for a father to retain custody of children after a divorce but is more and more a reality when the mother can be proven (some times it takes a while) unfit. But, just because the courts feel that way does not mean that everyone else does too and often a man will put up with way more than he should, allowing the mother to have more control than she should probably have just to keep peace for the most part. That was the case with Jessica McCord and her ex husband Alan Bates.
Jessica and Alan came from very different types of homes and were polar opposites when it came to personalities. Alan came from a stable home where his parents remained married without any semblance of violence or turmoil. Jessica on the other hand came from a divorced family (by the time she met Alan) where her father abused her mother, Jessica and her siblings. In fact, in 1992, not long after Jessica gave birth to her and Alan's first daughter her father, George Callis murdered his second wife. He received a 40 year sentence for that crime and was still in jail when his daughter was also tried for murder. Jessica and Alan were both still in high school when Jessica became pregnant. Jessica proceeded to drop out while Alan finished school and went on to college. But, that did not stop Alan from "doing the right thing" and marrying Jessica while they were both still high school students. They went on to have another daughter around two years after the first. During this time Alan was working as well as taking classes at he community college while for the most part Jessica stayed home with the kids.
In every marriage there are three sides to a story... his side, her side and somewhere in the middle is the truth. I am certain Jessica and Alan's marriage was no different. That does not mean that one side is closer to the truth than the other and in this case it was likely Alan's side that was closer as friends of the couple seemed to confirm. Now, if you were to search this case on your own the only time you are likely to hear anything bad about Alan comes from either Jessica or her mother, Dian Bailey, who by the way was also convicted of perjury after lying for her daughter at her trial. Was Alan really as great as everyone seemed to say and state? Obviously I cannot say for sure but I would gander to guess that while most do not like to talk ill about the dead (although Jessica had no problem) he became a better person because he was not here. Do not take this to mean that I am a victim basher. But, I do tend to make people, dead or alive, accountable for their actions and I do not believe that when someone dies, no matter how tragic or unwarranted they automatically become qualified for sainthood. I am sure Alan had his own issues too, but we all do. So while Alan is at work or school to support his wife and children, Jessica was home alone with the kids for the first several years. Life apparently was not as she expected. Most agree that obviously Jessica was not happy and was often accusatory of Alan being unfaithful although there was no evidence of such. In the end though, it was Jessica who was unfaithful and in 1995 Alan filed for divorce.
By most accounts it seems that people believe for the most part Alan and Jessica got along at least in a civil manner for the next few years. However, by the sounds of it, it may have been more of a situation in which Jessica was not around a whole lot really to fight Alan on things. It seems the kids spent a lot of time with her mother and stepfather, Albert and Dian Bailey. It was later said that Alan often picked the girls up at the Bailey home and I suspect that was more likely in the time just after their divorce. Jessica would leave the kids there for long periods of time and in fact started dating a guy who most say she thought was going to come into some money at some point. She then got pregnant again. Some of her friends seemed surprised that she kept this child. According to them, Jessica had had several abortions over the years. Most of of them believe that she only kept the children that she did to get her hooks into the men. Soon Jessica and her new baby's father split up too, without marrying. So now she has child support coming in for three children, from two men, and things still seemed good to her.
In the meantime Alan was moving on with his life too and had met a fellow theater stage worker named Terra Klugh. This is when things started getting harder. Not only did Jessica not have Alan, who she really did not want, but did not want anyone else to have, she was now a single mother of three. She became one of those women who decided their children were not going to be around another woman and was ready to take extreme members to make sure the children were not close to her. It is funny how some women are so insecure as mothers that they fear someone else coming in and loving their child. It is then that they fear of losing control. When Alan and Terra started talking marriage Jessica decided it was time to act. At some point she had worked as a dispatcher for the Birmingham Alabama police department. While she was there she met a man by the name of Jeffrey Kelly McCord Jr. In time Jessica lost her job there after she was charged with attacking Alan, and for reasons I am uncertain Jeff also left the Birmingham PD and went to work in the nearby town of Pelham as an officer. Jessica had decided that there was no way that Alan could appear to be more stable than she and after screwing up Alan and Terra's first attempt to marry by denying him his visitation, she hurried and got Jeff to marry her. Jeff and Jessica and Alan and Terra were both married in June of 2000. By now things had already started to get ugly in the Bates divorce, but it was not nearly as ugly as it would become.
Jeff McCord only knew what Jessica had told him about Alan. She had told him that Alan was very volatile and had been abusive to her and their girls. Jeff no doubt got to see Jessica's bad side a few times and he was smart enough (or dumb enough) not to cross her. In fact, this was the attitude of the father of her third child too. He apparently had little contact with his daughter because Jessica had made it nearly impossible to maintain a relationship.
Suddenly Jessica started doing whatever it took not just to keep Alan from seeing his girls, but from allowing him to speak to them even. She did not care what the courts said about visitation, those were her children. The effect was evident to everyone. In one event one of the girls had a play at the theater in which Alan worked. She told her teacher that was her dad as she pointed at Alan and when the teacher told her she was welcome to go say hello the child spewed about how Alan did not really love them and their mother told them they were not allowed to speak to him. This teacher later testified at trial. On the off chance Alan was able to get his girls for visitation it seemed he had to spend time de-programming them, once that was done the girls were happy and fine only to go back to Jessica and be told all of her vile things about Alan. The girl were likely scared to show they loved their dad or had fun with him. After allowing the kids to visit with Alan and Terra, who by then had moved to Maryland for their jobs, in the summer of 2000 for almost the next year and a half Alan was prevented from having contact with his daughters. He did not completely take this sitting down. He had a lawyer and they were constantly pulling Jessica into court for violations. Finally in 2001 a judge ordered that she was in contempt of court and ordered that she serve 10 days in jail. Well, she did not go to jail that day because, well Jessica had stopped going to any court hearing. She tried to later say that she had no idea until that December when the police went to her home to arrest her that there was a warrant for her arrest. No one tends to believe this as there were too many signs that she knew. She had gone as far as removing the children from school on the premises of homeschooling them although she was not qualified but also to remove her mailbox so she could not get mail from Alan, his lawyer or the court. Then when she was arrested in December of 2001 she tried lying to the police officers that went to her home that she was her sister. The officer's called in to have a picture of Jessica sent to them when she finally admitted who she was. They hauled her off to jail to serve her 10 days. This apparently landed right at Christmas time and although Jessica was in jail it seems Alan still did not see his kids, but his permission was asked to allow her to break her time up so that she could spent two days with her children, she now had four since she and Jeff had had a son together. Alan agreed although he had had enough of Jessica. By the time they had finally gotten her served he had decided to file for custody of the children.
Most agree that it was this time while she was in jail that Jessica decided the only way to get Alan off her back and get her way was for him to die. According to Jeff McCord it was after she served her time that he first heard her mention this and while he did not take her seriously about it at first, it did not take long to know she was not joking and she expected him to help. There seemed no better time than February 15 (2002) when Alan would be coming to Birmingham for depositions on their custody case.
Prior to arriving in Birmingham apparently, through their lawyers Jessica had agreed that when the depositions were finished on that Friday Alan could get the girls and take them to Georgia for the weekend to spend time with his family. The plan was for Alan, who brought Terra along, to pick the girls up at the McCord home at 6 pm. Alan and Terra, and the lawyers probably thought Jessica had agreed so that she did not look quite as bad considering the lawyers, and the judge in the depositions knew he was in town. However, she could not keep her cool completely. When the depositions ended earlier than expected Alan asked if they could get the girls early so they could beat Friday night traffic on their drive. Jessica's temper came out and she absolutely refused, demanding they stick to the 6:00 schedule. Probably thinking he had ruffed enough feathers and at least she was agreeing to let him see his daughters that he had not seen in over a year Alan did not fight her. As Alan and Terra went to go get a bite to eat Jessica headed back to her home in Hoover Alabama, a near by suburb. What Alan and Terra did not know is that neither of Alan's girls would be at the McCord home. In hindsight considering what was to occur, for the girls' sake this was a good thing.
One has to wonder what Alan and Terra were thinking from the time they got to the McCord house. When they got to the house there was a note on the door saying to go to the back door that there was an issue with the front door. So Alan and Terra walk around to the back and find a very cheery Jessica waiting for them to let them in. This was the first time in the 7 years since their divorced that Jessica had allowed Alan in her home so you have to wonder if their "Spidey senses" were going off. Jessica welcomed Alan and Terra in and asked them to sit down on the couch in the den. She told them that the girls were upstairs getting ready and that they wanted to put on a play for Alan. Again, such odd behavior coming from Jessica as she runs off to supposedly fetch the girls. As she appears to be coming back into the room Jeff McCord comes in and opens fire at Alan and Terra. They were each shot four times. They proceeded to wrap their bodies and load them into the trunk of the car the Bates had rented at the airport. While they were doing this Terra's phone started to ring... her dad was calling her. Jessica then went to her own phone and called Alan's cell phone, leaving a message asking him where he was. Before Alan and Terra arrived Jeff and Jessica had gone to her mother's house and asked if her mother and stepfather would watch the children (her two other children) so that they could have a post-Valentine's Day night out and told her mother that she would direct Alan to her house when he came. After they had murdered Alan and Terra, Jeff and Jessica headed to the movie theater and bought tickets to The Lord of the Rings. The movie is over three hours long so they were trying to establish an alibi. Jessica then went to a pay phone and called her mom to check on the kids and to announce that Alan had not showed up. Then, with Jessica driving her vehicle and carrying Alan and Terra's cell phone she took the lead as Jeff followed her in the rental car. Along the way Jessica would take the Bates' cell phones and call them back and forth. She had also tried to access Terra's voicemail without success to hear the voicemail that was left. Finally Jessica found and out of the way area in rural Georgia to leave the car. The idea was supposed to be that the car would be headed in the direction that Alan and Terra would have gone after leaving her house and attempt to make it look like a car jacking and murder. Yeah, they were idiots. Along the way they had bought a gas can and filled it with gas at a station. When they got the car positioned as they wanted first Jessica wiped it down using paper towels she had brought from home and then Jeff poured the gasoline all around. He tried twice to get it to light and failed. Finally Jessica took one of the paper towels, lit it and got the car to set ablaze. They then returned home to do some clean up and was in line at their local Home Depot when they opened the next morning.
Not long after they left the scene of the fire, that by coincidence happened to be on land owned by someone Jeff McCord knew (apparently he owned the land but didn't live there and prosecutors do believe it was a coincidence), the fire was spotted and the fire department was called. Along with the fire department came the police. Initially the authorities assumed it was a case of a stolen car that had been burnt in the rural area. But then they opened the trunk to find two charred bodies inside. By a stroke of luck (good or bad depending on which side of the law you were on) the fire had melted the bolts to the license plates and they had fallen to the ground basically unscathed. Authorities were very quickly able to determine where the car came from, and who had rented it.
In the meantime Alan's parents were getting worried in Georgia. Alan, Terra and the girls should have been there by 9 pm and Alan was always good about being on time or calling. They tried to contact their cell phones and got no answers. Phillip Bates, Alan's dad, even called Jessica's home despite not wanting to but again, there was no answer and he was forced to leave a message. By the next morning both he and his wife knew something was wrong and decided to call all the rental car companies at the Birmingham airport. Very quickly Phillip found the right one but he knew even more so now that something horrible had happened. When he explained to the person who answered the phone why he was called his call was directed to the manager of the company. He was then told that he was to contact the Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI).
Obviously Jessica was the number one suspect. Not only did it appear she was the only person that Alan (or Terra) had an issue with, but everyone knew that they were going to her home. The biggest question for the Bates family was, where were the children? While still at the scene of the car fire several different agencies started working together. They already knew who the car was rented to, why they were in Birmingham, where they were going after they left Birmingham and who they were seeing when they were there. They had also learned that their prime suspect, Jessica McCord was married to a Pelham police officer. They called Jeff's superiors to find out when he was due to work next and when they found out he was scheduled to work that afternoon they made sure to be there when he arrived. They had also contacted the Hoover police. They knew that if Alan and Terra were killed at the McCord home or at the very least nearby they would have jurisdiction and so they were giving them a head's up. Hoover PD went ahead and started watching the McCord home until they could get more information and what they saw was very interesting. It seemed that Albert Bailey, Jessica's step-father was doing some "re-modeling" on the house and making some trash runs. At that point they really had nothing to stop him or examine things but their observations would become key. In the mean time when Jeff got to work he was met by members of the GBI and questioned about the evening before. Jeff claimed that Alan and Terra never showed up at the house and that the Bailey's had ended up watching the children while he and Jessica went to the movies, then a strip club and even later just a nice little stroll like two love birds would do for Valentine's Day. He even pulled the ticket stubs from the movie out of his wallet. No-one seemed to be buying his story but they really had nothing at that point. While he was being interviewed apparently Jessica is burning up the phone to the PD trying to get a hold of Jeff. GBI had asked that her called not be let through and they complied. One has to wonder where the "Blue Code" was when it came to Jeff because it seems that everyone that he worked for were complying with this investigation. Jeff told the investigators that Jessica was at her mother's house at that time.
As soon as they were done with Jeff they headed to the Bailey home. By this time, there were three detectives working together from different agencies. They had to figure out where the murder took place to know which agency, or even state had jurisdiction. I think it is safe to say that detectives were not fond of Jessica right away. She was very curt and standoffish and they were pretty certain, especially by the look on her mother's face when Jessica began telling her version of the night before. Her version matched Jeff's (almost too perfectly) except for one key point. According to Jessica sometime around midnight or just after they had gone to her mother's house to pick up the children but that her mom had told her they were sleeping and to just leave them for the night. While one detective was asking that question another was looking at her mother, Dian. She later stated that up until Jessica stated that her mother seemed quite uninterested but that when Jessica said they had stopped by her house and told to leave the children her mother visibly had a reaction. According to the detective her mother's jaw dropped and she rolled her eyes as if to say "What are you talking about?" It seems that everyone knew both Jeff and Jessica were lying, they just had to prove it.
While they still had an officer watching the McCord house investigators worked on getting a search warrant. While that was being conducted another officer was interviewing Alan and Jessica's children. One of the questions that she asked was if they had been at the house at any point that day and if they noticed anything different from the night before. Both girls, who were now 10 and 12 years old, stated that the den looked different. By the time the detective was able to contact those doing the search they had all but released the house finding very little. Part of their problem was that the home was a mess. Apparently Jessica never had been a good house keeper. In another area they were also working on a warrant to have phone records available. They needed to know where Alan and Terra had been at what times. After hearing about the den they were determined to get another search warrant for the house.
In the meantime Jeff and Jessica obviously knew they were in trouble. First they packed up and took the kids to Jessica's sister's house in Florida. Then they apparently came back to the Birmingham area and were "hiding" out with a friend. Luckily the police had an informant who was letting them know Jeff and Jessica's every move so while they were gathering all the evidence they could, they knew exactly where to find them when they were ready. It did not take long. By the fifth day both Jeff and Jessica were arrested on two counts each of first degree murder. So, in the end what did they have against the McCord's? Well the biggest evidence they had was on the second search of the house they had discovered a hole in the den wall leading to the garage. It was under some very poorly installed new wallpaper but in the garage laid the shell casing. They compared that to one that was found in the trunk of the car with the bodies and found a match. They also found a small amount of blood in on a coffee table in the den. DNA results matched this to Terra's blood. They had found the same type of paper towels in Jessica's home as was at the scene of the car fire and had discovered that particular pattern was only sold in the Birmingham area. The cell phone records had shown that it was almost completely certain that Alan and Terra had made it to the McCord home. Both when Terra's father called her phone and when Jessica called Alan's phone, leaving the message asking where he was, they pinged on the tower closest to their home. Also while Jessica thought she was smart in taking the phones and having them call each other while they were on the way to dump the car both phones pinged off the same tower leaving someone to ask, why if they were so close to each other would they be calling each other, not to mention they had only one car between them.
Quite often when a prosecutor takes a case to trial they do not have all the facts and their idea of what happened is a theory at best. This case was no different when Jessica went to trial in February of 2003. Rumor has it that while investigators tried to get Jeff McCord to talk and testify against Jessica, he would not comply, but that when it came to Jessica they would not even consider offering any sort of plea. Prosecutors believed that this was all on Jessica. They were certain that she had manipulated and lied to Jeff, not that he was innocent but that she was the instigator. But since Jeff would not talk they had to base their case on their theory. The funny thing is that later when they did learn the story from Jeff they were almost completely right in their theory. The evidence completely told the story! Of course though Jessica was entitled to a defense and as most defense attorney's do when there is a mostly circumstantial case they argued that the prosecutor had no proof at all that Jessica was even remotely involved and protested her innocence. One almost had to feel sorry for Jessica's lawyers. By law she was entitled to a defense and really they had very little to work with and one of the things they did have was a client who apparently did not know how to tell the truth to save her soul, let alone her life. One can only assume that her lawyers did their homework on Jessica and likely advised her that testifying was not in her best interest but she was having none of that. She had spent her life manipulating people and getting her way, why would she stop now? It appears that Jessica had two goals. The first was to proclaim her innocence, still insisting that Alan and Terra had not come to her home on February 15, 2002 and the second was to make sure everyone knew that Alan was not the angel most believed. She got up on the witness stand and victim bashed. It did not bode well for her. She repeatedly claimed that Alan had been abusive to her and the children; she claimed he skipped out on visitations quite often and most surprisingly told the court that their oldest child (the one she became pregnant with in high school) was not in fact Alan's child and proclaimed that he knew this. The only sign of abuse in the relationship came from Jessica. She had in fact attacked Alan once after their divorce in which he fell down some stairs and hurt his arm... this was documented. There was nothing else and she stumbled when trying to explain why she had never called the authorities or pressed charges. Some of her lies were just simply ridiculous. For instance, earlier in the trial Alan's lawyer had testified that once Alan had moved to Maryland Jessica stopped going to court hearings, sending only her lawyer. It was at one of those hearings that the warrant for contempt of court was issued. While on the stand Jessica claimed to have been at these hearing saying that Alan's lawyer must have not seen her. Yet, out the other side of her mouth she tried to claim that she knew nothing about the warrant for her arrest. Jessica had an answer for everything..... why did you remove your mailbox from your house around the same time the warrant was issued? "It kept falling down." Why did you remove the kids from school around the same time? "I was homeschooling them." Why was there a bullet casing found in your garage? "Jeff accidentally fired in the house." If she was not so pathetic and had resulted in the unnecessary deaths of two people it would have almost been comical.
Apparently defense attorney's did their best to find character witnesses for Jessica to proclaim her story of innocence or at the very least collaborate what she had said about Alan and his behavior. The only person willing to do this was her mother, Dian Bailey. Albert Bailey had died while Jessica was awaiting trial and prosecutors were debating on filing charges against him. They were convinced that he had to have known what had happened or at the very least helped destroy evidence and clean up after the crime. Dian Bailey got on the stand and talked about what a horrible childhood Jessica had living with her biological father, the man now in prison for killing his wife. When pushed she admitted that her home was not a second home to Jessica's children, but more like their first. She did not miss the opportunity to bash Alan either. She too claimed he missed many visitations. What I never was able to determine is if the times she believed he missed visitation if that information came from Jessica. Who is to say that the children were not at Dian's house and Jessica said Alan was coming and then when he did not show Dian believed her when in fact there was not a visitation scheduled? No one will really know for sure. However, where Dian really messed up is when she testified in court that Jeff and Jessica had come to her house just after midnight on the night of the murders. Prosecutors were furious. If the jury were to believe this from her, then they would believe that Jessica was not guilty. She could not be at her mother's house AND driving with Alan and Terra's cell phones to dump the car at the same time. In the end the jury did not believe the defense and convicted her of first degree murder. The jury then had to decide whether to recommend life without parole or the death penalty. It was close (7-5) but in the end they recommended the life without parole sentence. Most believe that the jury, as well as the judge who later took their recommendation, did so because of her children.... of which she now had five. She had given birth in prison to her the second child belonging to Jeff.
It did not take Jeff long after hearing the verdict in Jessica's case to want to cooperate and strike a deal. He of course was the actual shooter and the fact that he was a man was not likely helpful either. Her jury was nearly ready to send her to the death chamber, he may not be so lucky. The prosecutors offered him a deal, in exchange for telling everything that happened AND testifying against anyone else they may charge in the case, or if needed, against Jessica at a later date (you just never know what appeals may bring), they agreed to take death off the table and give him two life sentences with the possibility of parole after 24 years. This is when they learned that their theory in court had been almost dead on. Although Jeff seemed to express remorse in his words when it came to the crime and disbelief that he had fallen for Jessica's trap, prosecutors were not so sure. Some people claim that is just Jeff's personality. He tends to laugh at inappropriate times and appears as "matter of fact." Having Jeff's story at hand they now decided to move forward with charges on two more people. It may have been three if Albert Bailey had not died. None of my research really uncovered just what Jeff stated that Albert knew and maybe investigators did not press him since he was no longer around to charge. Although it would have been reasonable to believe that if Albert knew what was going on and had happened, so had Dian. But, just getting the story from Jeff and knowing that Dian had lied when she testified that Jeff and Jessica had gone to their home just after midnight seemed to be enough for them. They charged Dian with perjury. It was pretty easy to get her convicted. She ended up getting 8 years for that but ultimately she served about 6 months on work release with the rest on probation. The information I got on the other person (well and truthfully Dian also) came from the book Death Trap by M. William Phelps. According to the book authorities were informed by someone that this friend not only had allowed them to all but hide out at his home but had also offered him and Albert Bailey money to dispose of items that were stored in a storage unit. He too (I could not find his name again) got some work release and probation for his role.
It does not much sound like Jessica has done well when it comes to adjusting to prison. She apparently spends her time complaining, out loud and in writing about the conditions she is forced to "suffer" from. Rumor is that she spends a lot of her time in segregation or in the infirmary. One has to wonder how she feels not being able to manipulate and get her way as well as likely being surrounded by other manipulators like herself. Although, I think Jessica is in a class of her own. Alan's parents are now raising the children she had with Alan and apparently other family members have her other children although I was unable to conclude with whom. Phillip Bates and Tom Klugh (Terra's father) both sued Jeff and Jessica McCord for wrongful death. Part of the strategy for that apparently was to prevent them from gaining any monies when it came to television, movies or books. From my research it appears that Jeff complied and agreed but Jessica, as is her way, was fighting it and forcing it to trial.
On another side note. By the time that Jessica was given her sentence Jeff had already took his plea and had told the story. Apparently there was one bus that transferred inmates from the county jail to the prison although there is a division that separates the males and females. Jeff and Jessica ended up on this same trip, along with others. According to Jeff as she got on the bus and noticed Jeff there, Jessica announced to everyone that he had been a police officer. The implication was that she was trying to cause him trouble knowing that ex-police officers often have a hard time in prison. When asked he said although he was sure it was for revenge for telling everything that happened it really did not matter seeing as his case had been in the media for a while and it was common knowledge he was an ex police officer. Most inmates who have been involved in law enforcement in the past are given a little extra guarding and that presumably was already going to be taken care of before Jessica ever said a word. It goes to show how vengeful she could be when she did not get her way.
I knew Jessica when we were teenagers-- I remember when she met Alan. Nothing you could tell me that she did would shock me. She was convinced she was smarter than everyone around her, and my experience was that she was not often held accountable when she got caught in a lie. Jessica was going to get her way, and it breaks my heart that lives were ruined all around her by her selfishness.
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