The Legs Murder Case

In 1935 in Laurel Mississippi a hunter, out with his dog discovered at least partial legs on the side of an isolate road. Research indicates that the body parts found were only thighs. But exactly how authorities were led to believe those legs belonged to Daisy Keeton seems a bit unclear. Ultimately investigators would accuse Daisy's daughter, Jaunita “Ouida” Keeton and her “lover,” prominent business man, William Carter, with the murder and dismemberment. It seems that a witness had claimed to see Ouida on the road where the legs were found at some point. This case was nicknamed the Legs Murder Case not because they had been discovered, but because they were the only body parts ever found. Ouida also received her own nickname, “Mississippi's Lizzie Borden.”

Daisy had been married to John Monroe Keeton who had “mysteriously died in a railroad accident in 1907” when Ouida was eight years old. Ouida was the second oldest of five children shared by Daisy and John. It was later said that there had been multiple life insurance policies taken out on John not long before his death and that it was this money that made Daisy “wealthy.” It seems that prosecutors could not decide if Ouida had murdered her mother for her money or because she had been preventing her affair with Carter, who was much older than Ouida.

While I never determined just exactly how authorities believed Daisy was murdered it was made clear that they believed that it was William Carter who had dismembered the body. They alleged that “most of the remains” were disposed of by burning in a fireplace but also flushed in a toilet and that only the legs had remained. William and Ouida would face separate trials with Ouida pleading insanity. Both would be convicted. It was said that at some point Ouida had attempted to blame a former employer saying she had witnesses him committing the crime. It appears they were both sentenced to life in prison but Carter's case was overturned and it was ordered that he was to get a new trial. By this time it was alleged that Ouida's mental health had severely deteriorated and she was in a mental hospital. Because of this Carter was never re-tried. Carter had once been in the lumber and real estate businesses but it was said that his reputation and career were ruined by the allegations.

One of the articles I read indicated that Ouida was twenty years old when her mother died but that did not coincide with anything else I found. It appears that she was closer to thirty-five or thirty-six while it was reported that Carter was nearly seventy at the time of Daisy's death. It was said that Carter would die in his eighties and that Ouida would die at the mental hospital in 1973.

One report stated that there was a “full scale funeral” held for Daisy Keeton and appeared to have decent details. Another claimed that absolutely nothing was done and the legs were buried fairly fast.