On this day in 1925 David Curtis Stephenson, known as D. C., was indicted on charges of assault and battery with intent to kill, assault and battery with criminal intent, malicious mayhem, and kidnapping and conspiracy to kidnap, all involving Madge Oberholtzer, an Indiana state employee. He was later convicted of abducting, intoxicating and forcibly raping Ms. Oberholtzer. She attempted suicide while in his custody and when she later died, he was charged and convicted of her murder.
He was also the Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan in Indiana.
His convictions set off a political firestorm in Indiana, causing many politicians who were involved with Stephenson to lose their positions and face imprisonment.
Stephenson was later paroled on condition he leave Indiana and never come back. He later moved to Missouri where he was charged with attempted sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl; he was released due to lack of evidence and was ordered to leave Missouri and never return.
He ended up marrying (his fourth marriage, the third never ended by divorce or death) Martha Murray Sutton, who he had met when he moved to Jonesborough, Tennessee, in the early 1960s to work at the Jonesborough Herald and Tribune.
D. C. Stephenson died on June 28, 1966, and, because he was a veteran, he is buried at the Mountain Home National Cemetery in Johnson City.
