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On September nineteenth, twenty twenty three, just over nine months after William Vick was found dead on his bedroom floor in Clarksville, Arkansas, his house caught on fire. The house at nineteen fifty four County Road thirty two fifty nine was where William, his wife Laurinda, and Lorenda's mother, seventy
two year old Martha MacLean, had all lived together. Martha lived in a detached house behind the property, but in a shocking twist of events, Martha had apparently tried to take her own life, and she left behind a note saying she didn't want to hurt anymore. She also left a second note confessing to William's murder. Martha wrote in her letter that she had tampered with William's prescription medication, and later she said she injected him with sex of methonium,
a paralytic drug. Martha was close to death, but after police found her struggling to breathe with drugs including razapam and morphine all around her, they administered narcan on the way to the hospital, and Martha survived. She was in
the hospital for around two weeks. After that, the prosecutor Jeff Phillips told William's family that he was issuing a warrant for Martha's arrest, but before that could happen, Martha MacLean was sent home from the hospital into Lorenda's care, and then just a few hours later, Martha MacLean died. After Martha's death, William's family believed that the investigation was stalling.
Then they got some more shocking news, this time about William's eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars life insurance policy. William had told his children will and Ashley that each of them would be getting twenty five percent of the life insurance and that Lorenda would get the other fifty percent, but they found out after William's death that Lrenda was now the only beneficiary of that policy, meaning Lorenda would
be receiving one hundred percent of the money. So it seemed to some members of William Fick's family that this investigation was on ice. The life insurance money was gone, and William's house burned to the ground under very suspicious circumstances. I'm Catherine Townsend. Over the past five years of making my true crime podcast, Helen Gone, I've learned that there is no such thing as a small town where murder
never happens. I have received hundreds of messages from people all around the country asking for help with an unsolved murder that's affected them, their families, and their communities. If you have a case you'd let me and my team to look into, you can reach out to us at our Helen Gone Murder line at six seven eight seven four four six one four five. That's six seven eight seven four four six one four five, or you can send us a message on Instagram at Helen Gonepod. This
is Helen Gone Murder Line. We've talked to William's brother Ted and Ted's wife Michelle repeatedly about their suspicions following William's death. They had a lot of questions about Lorenda, especially after learning that Lorenda's mother, Martha, was about to be charged with William's murder. We've also heard from William's son Will will lived with William and Larenda, and in fact had left their home and moved out just a
week or so before his father was found dead. Will said that Martha had never liked William, so that was established, but everyone wondered what would be Martha's motive for wanting to kill William at that time, that was something that the family just couldn't figure out. As we said earlier, Martha was close to death, but she lived, and after surviving that apparent suicide attempt, Martha was sent home to Lorenda's care. Just a few hours later, Martha was dead.
William's family was reeling from his death, and then after that Martha's confession letter in her death that happened so soon afterwards, They said Lorenda was behaving in a way that made them suspicious. So over the next several months, Ted and his wife Michelle, and some other members Oflliam's family decided to do some of their own detective work. We talked in the last episode about the ongoing litigation between Farmer's Insurance company, who issued the life insurance for
William Vick, and the estate of William Vick. But William's family got another surprise after his death. They learned that William's father, who had co owned the property the house was on with William and Larenda, had apparently been removed from the title to the land. This was a change that Ted claims his father was unaware of. Ted told us that he was estranged from William for around four
years before his brother's death. Remember. He said that this was because William allegedly gained access to their parents' accounts. Ted said that he found evidence that both William and Larenda had spent money from the accounts. Ted and William's mother died in December of twenty eighteen. Ted said that his mother's funeral was one of the last times that he saw his brother face to face their mother died. Ted said that his father moved to Missouri to live
with him and his wife, Michelle. Ted and William's father co owned the property that William and Laurinda lived on, and his name was on the title. But Ted said that after his father moved in with him, somehow his
father was taken off the title to that property. Ted says that this happened without his father's knowledge, and after a period of time, Ted said that his father started getting phone calls, calls that Ted said were about the title to the house that Ted's father co owned with William and Laurinda back in Arkansas.
And then my mom passed December the thirteenth of eighteen, so then I heard a little funeral that we had or not really a funeral, but going down to the the just going down to the going down to the funeral home and making the arrangement. That was probably one of the last times that we had spoke. So yeah, about a year and a half later, my dad started getting phone calls. I moved my fall up here in Missouri.
We built him a little house beside us after my mom passed, and we had him moved up here by around Mark Yeah about May, yeah, April May timeframe of nineteen, so shortly after that, I think it was twenty twenty. About a year after that, Willy starts calling my dad saying, hey, we need you to sign over a quick claim beat and so, you know, Dad lets me handle all his business. And but I absolutely talked to my dad about all his business. I mean, he he's the yes or no,
you know, he's the final say so. So Dad brought it to my attention. She's like, hey, I don't know why, but Willy wants to bring you know, wants me to sign a quick claim beat over to the property because my mom and dad was half owner of their property. I mean they technically owed him about seventy grand.
And Ted said that William asked their father to sign over his share of the property. Ted told William that their father would not agree to that. That seemed to be the end of it.
At least temporarily, And then a couple of times I received a call from one of those title companies and they were trying to get me to convince my father, and I'm like, I can't convince my father. My father said, no, he's not signing over you know, Adeed, He's not signing a deed. And that was a company out of Texas. And then all of a sudden, then we just stopped hearing about it, probably a month and a half. Two months later, didn't hear petpe out of it anymore. So.
Ted claims that somehow their father's name was removed from the title to that property, which meant that the title was in William and Larenda's names only. And this wouldn't be the last financial discrepancy that Ted said he and his family experienced in the wake of William's death. Now a lot of people may wonder why I'm going so much into the weeds of what happened with things like title changes. In addition to trying to help get justice for people. My hope for this podcast is also to
help educate people. I want people to be aware that this can happen to them, that people can and do get names on things like property titles changed without the other party's knowledge, and this case really is kind of a case study in how that can happen. In order to have a valid signature, you have to rely on the credibility of one person, the notary, and as we'll soon see, that can be a serious problem. And then even more shocking was when Ted and Michelle say they've
looked at the signature on that quick claim document. They insisted that Ted and William's father had never signed that document, and they were right because they talked to the notary. The notary was a friend of Lorenda's and this person told them that William's father was not present when she notarized that quick claim document.
Shortly after my brother's murder, my niece's mother, just Linda, not Lorenda, my brother's first wife, calls us and says, hey, did you guys realize your dad? Your mom and dad are off the property. And I'm like, what I mean, how would she even know that? But anyway, I guess she somehow figured out that William Lorenda was able to get Mom and Dad off the property. The notary admitted it.
Lorenda seeked out this notary that was also a nurse friend of hers, and she was also an oary, so she allowed Lorenda to she signed and notarized all the
documents to have to quit claim deed. And then when she was confronted by me over a phone call, the notary she admitted it, and then we called the police and the prosecutor, and at the time I was still talking to the prosecutor, and so then they called her in and she gave a statement and admitted, yeah, that my father was not present and she shouldn't have allowed them to do that to the deed. Now, my brother was never said to have been there. Lreinda did set
it up. And so whether my brother was there or not, I don't know if he was physically present, but I'm certain he knew about that far.
Then, almost a year after William's death, which had been quickly followed by Martha's death, Ted said that he got a call on Christmas Eve in twenty twenty three from someone he didn't know, a guy who had bought fifteen acres of land from Laurinda after William died, and this man said that William's house had burned to the ground. On Christmas Eve in twenty twenty three, Ted got a Facebook message followed by a phone call from a stranger. That's when he says things got even more surreal.
After my brother's murder. I get a Facebook message from my brother's neighbor. They bought fifteen acres off Florinda after my brother's murder. But I get a message for him saying, hey, do you mind if we talk? We really want to you know, Lrenda's kind of sketchy right now. We want to talk to you guys. I'm like sure a call, and in that conversation was in about twenty minutes, he
tells us the house burned down. I'm like when, and he's like, it was September the nineteenth, But it depends on what fire report you look at, because I think it was really close to midnight because I saw I did see one fire report said September the twentieth, and then I saw when it said September the nineteenth. But according to him, it was September the nineteenth of twenty three.
Ted says that he absolutely believed that William knew about his father not being present when the document taking him off the title of the property was notarized, but he believes that William did not know about the beneficiary change in his life insurance policy. Ted says that he believes that Lrenda forged William's signature on that document just.
To say, Lrenda also used that same notary to forge my brother's name off or not off, but basically to take my niece and nephew off of that life insurance policy. The same notary did the same yep, and now Willy was not present for that because his name was forged. Yeah, he had no clue that his kids were coming off the life insurance policy. He had literally just messaged my niece and nephew because they didn't have this policy for very long. I mean just months, you know, months before
his murder. So anyway, she got with her little buddy and got that set up and got their names off the life insurance policy where she was one beneficiary.
We've seen the act, David, that the notary swore to the one admitting that William and Ted's father was not present when that quick claim deed was signed, and I also want to mention something else, Ted pointed out. The notary who basically admitted to fraud because she admitted that Ted and Williams's father was not present when the quick
claim deed was signed. Is the same notary who notarized those life insurance beneficiary policy changes, the ones that now meant Lrenda got one hundred percent of the life insurance money. And there was more alleged insurance fraud to come because on September twentieth, a day after the house fire, Lorenda filed a claim on her homeowner's insurance policy was State Farm.
A fire investigator who was a State Farm representative came out to examine the home and in their report it was stated the property quote suffered complete collapse and prolonged burning of all structural components and contents end quote. Lorenda said she was out of state at the time of the house fire, but she gave State Farm, the insurance company, a list of property that she claimed was lost in
the fire. She said that the property had an estimated value of eighty two thousand, eight hundred and six dollars. By the way, this is all according to the affidavit. State Farm reviewed the list. They lowered the estimate a little bit. They calculated the loss based on Lorenda's list at sixty one thousand, four hundred and nine dollars and seven cents. So they paid Lorenda out. They gave her two payments of five thousand dollars each, and then another
payment of fifteen thousand dollars. They gave her more additional checks, one for almost nine thousand dollars. That one was meant to replace the value of an antique govern one of the items on her list, and then another final check for another twenty seven thousand dollars. Meanwhile, Ted was getting frustrated by what he saw as a lack of progress
in his brother's death investigation. So after having conversations with the process Cocuter, Ted said he believed that the prosecutor seemed to be uninterested in pursuing the fraud charges, so he made a call himself to the Arkansas Insurance Department's Criminal Investigation Division. Sue Johnston picked up the phone. She was an insurance investigator, and she started looking into the case. As y'all know, we talk a lot about cold cases every single day. I talk to families that are frustrated
about lack of progress in these investigations. And one avenue that families ask about a lot is civil court. They want to know, can you file a lawsuit against the person you suspect may be involved in a murder? And the answer is yes, sometimes you can. Sometimes justice starts with following the money. She actually went around and interviewed Lorenda's neighbors, and the neighbor said Lorenda did not have the items she put on her list in the house
at the time of the fire. The neighbor said they knew this because this person and several other people had actually helped Larinda move all this stuff out. That's confirmed by the affidavit that before the fire, Lorenda had several people help her move a lot of stuff outside, including some of the stuff that was in her itemized list that she provided the insurance company. The people who helped Lorenda remove those items from the house are part of
public record. They were interviewed by the investigator, Sue Johnson. According to the affidavit, the interior of the house was basically empty when the fire happened. These people told the investigator they had helped Lorenda move and that except for a mattress on the floor and some toiletries, that house was empty. So a claim specialist was asked to recalculate the personal property loss based on the testimony of these people. They figured out that Lorenda was overpaid by over thirty
two thousand dollars. In the affidavit, it stated quote between October six, twenty twenty three, through November eleven to twenty three, Lorenda Vick committed theft of property when she was paid by State Farm Insurance for items she included in her claim that she alleged were destroyed in a fire that were not actually present at the time of the fire.
End quote.
A bench warrant for Lorenda's arrest was issued on December third. On December third, twenty twenty four, a warrant was issued for Lorenda's arrest on the charges of felony theft of property related to the alleged taking of property out of her house prior to the fire. Now, because these charges involved theft of property valued at over twenty five thousand dollars, it's a Class B felony in the state of Arkansas. If convicted, Lorenda could face five to twenty years in prison.
And a fine of.
Up to fifteen thousand dollars. From what we've been able to figure out, it seems that currently Lrenda is in Louisiana. That's where she lived before and apparently where she moved back to after William died. The authorities have been notified and there is a warrant out. Ted started the Facebook page Justice for William Vick. He has been doing media outreach since William's death and it's been working. Local newspapers
have picked up the story. On Thursday, December fifth, twenty twenty four, the headline in the Courier newspaper read Johnston County woman accused of theft of property. The main story in the paper was about the alleged insurance fraud and the over thirty two thousand dollars that Lareinda allegedly took from State Farm. So what's happening with the case now?
According to Ted and Michelle, the prosecutor, Jeff Phillips said that pressing charges against Martha would not stop him from filing charges against Larenda or anyone else if he suspected that they were involved in William's death. But since Martha died, there doesn't appear to have been a lot of movement on this case. So does the prosecutors still plan on filing criminals charges against Larinda. We don't know for sure, and the prosecutor has not answered our request for comment.
As we said last week, the life insurance money from William's farmer's insurance policy amounts to eight hundred and forty four thousand dollars. Meanwhile, that money is sitting in an account and is the property of the Arkansas court system until this case is adjudicated. Basically, it's stuck now. I want to point out again, and this is very important, we are only hearing one side of the story. We haven't heard Lorenda's. She's under no obligation to talk to anyone.
No charges have been pressed against her or anyone else. No arrests have been made in connection with William's homicide. We have contacted Lorenda. She told us she did not want to comment, and she referred us to her attorney. We contacted her attorney for comment and so far we have not received a response. Ted did win another legal victory when he won a judgment against Larnda for the land that his father had co owned with William and Larnda. On October twenty third, Ted posted an update on the
Justice for William Vick facebook page. He wrote that there had been a property auction and that he and his family had purchased the land to keep it in the family. He wrote, quote, selling on the courthouse steps just doesn't bring the most dollar, but that is absolutely okay with me. One thing I can say is Larenda said I would never own that land. Guess she was wrong. Not only
do we own the property. There is still a sixty thousand dollars judgment against her for stealing from my father, but she has been wrong in a lot of things.
End quote.
In March of twenty twenty four, the judge awarded Ted and his family sixty thousand dollars for that land. He says he doubts Laarnda will ever pay that judgment, but he considers it a moral victory. The civil cases against Larenda continued. Her next court date was set for later in December, and a warrant has been issued for her arrest. Sadly, the fraud case for just over thirty thousand dollars is
moving faster than the potential murder case. So far, no one has been arrested or charged in connection with William Vick's homicide. That story in the Courier about the civil charges filed against Lorenda closes with the line quote at press time, Lorenda Vick has not been taken into custody. End quote. I'm Catherine Townsend. This is Helen Gone Murder Line. Helen Gone Murder Line is a production of School of Humans and iHeart Podcasts. It's written and narrated by me
Catherine Townsend and produced by Gabby Watts. Special thanks to Amy Tubbs for her research assistance. Noah camer mixed and scored this episode. Our theme song is by Ben Salep, Executive producers of Virginia Prescott, Brandon Barr, and L. C. Crowley. Listen to Helen Gone ad free by subscribing to the iHeart True Crime Plus channel on Apple Podcasts. If you are interested in seeing documents and materials from the case, you can follow the show on Instagram at Helen gonpod.
If you have a case you'd like me and my team to look into, you can reach out to us at our Helen Gone Murder Line at six seven eight seven four four six one four five. That's six seven eight seven four four six one four five
School of Humans,