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Trailer Trash

Given the demographics of our readership here at QuizLaw, it seems unlikely that too many of you have spent a lot of time in trailer parks. From experience, I know that trailer parks aren’t exactly fertile grounds for gang wars or anything, but that doesn’t mean they are no less a cesspool for violence. So, I present to you today a typical example of the trailer park experience – a slice of life, if you will.

The story concerns two South Carolina women, Elizabeth Ann Tillman, 22, and Crystal Lee Walker, 24. The events began a couple of weeks ago, when Tillman’s older brother broke into Crystal’s trailer home and stole her electronic equipment – that probably amounted to a few old VCRs, an 8-track player, and a black-and-white television with rabbit ears that the man probably planned to hock at a pawn shop for $25. Unfortunately, the man never got a chance to pawn them because police pursued him in a high-speed chase after the burglary and the thief ultimately died in a wreck.

From what I can piece together, this resulted in a bit of a feud between Elizabeth and Crystal. Elizabeth was pissed that Crystal was cheating on her boyfriend, though there is no evidence to indicate why Elizabeth would care, unless she was the adultery police. At any rate, the two began leaving nasty notes outside each other’s house, and this went on for over a year.

And from there, things really escalated. Elizabeth went out and bought a pistol, learned to shoot it, and then amassed an arsenal of weaponry that would make Jack Bauer proud: syringes filled with insulin, a filet-knife, a hatchet, a drywall saw, duct tape, latex gloves, scissors, super glue, pepper spray, and bullets. And she put it all in her “murder bag.”

Elizabeth’s plan was to shoot Crystal up with insulin, inducing a diabetic coma, and then torture and kill her with the other supplies. So earlier this week, Elizabeth put her plan into motion, breaking into Crystal’s trailer at 5:30 a.m. by using a library card to force open the front door (and yes, it’s that easy).

Unfortunately for Elizabeth, Crystal woke up and she and her son barricaded themselves in a back bedroom. Elizabeth tried to get in through the door by shooting it down. One bullet managed to get lodged in Crystal’s thigh before Crystal and her son escaped through a bedroom window. Elizabeth then gave chase, shooting at them while they ran.

Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt, and Elizabeth has been brought up on charges of attempted murder, burglary, etc.

But here is my absolute favorite part of the ordeal. A neighbor was questioned, and she said she heard about three shots at 5:30 in the morning and woke her son after she heard two more shots. “I heard a lot more than five shots” she said. “But it sounded like it was coming from higher in the trailer park, and sometimes they get to shooting up there. I didn’t think nothing of it.”

“Sometimes they get to shooting up there. I didn’t think nothing of it.”

And that, folks, is the life of a trailer-park resident.

Posted by Dustin on May 3, 2007 | Comments (5)