PHOENIX — The story of Winnie Ruth Judd has fascinated Arizonans for nearly a century and her infamous crimes will soon be reexamined in a new stage play put on by the Phoenix Theatre Company.
The Phoenix woman, who was dubbed the "trunk murderess" in the 1930s after she was accused of killing two people, will be the subject of a theatrical production that attempts to delve deeper into Judd's decades-long story.
"The Truth About Winnie Ruth Judd" will premiere at the Valley theater in February 2024, as part of the company's 104th season of shows. The play first was workshopped at the Festival of New American Theatre in 2020 and will soon have its world premiere.
The company describes the new show as a "bizarre investigative play" that will have "audiences raising their magnifying glasses to the newspaper-sensationalized woman and her real story."
On Oct. 16, 1931, then-26-year-old Judd killed her two friends -- Agnes Anne LeRoi and Hedvig Samuelson -- after a fight broke out between the three women. Prosecutors claim Judd then dismembered Samuelson's body and stuffed the remains of both victims in two trunks.
Two days later, Judd boarded a train to Los Angeles with the trunks and was caught after a baggage handler detected a foul odor coming from the suspect's luggage.
The case became headline news and Judd was later found to be mentally incompetent, resulting in her being committed to the Arizona State Hospital. Judd would escape from the facility several times before she was paroled and released in the 1970s. She died in Phoenix at the age of 93.
Gov. Rose Mofford, Arizona's first female governor, met Judd in the 1940s when Mofford worked at the Arizona State Hospital and thought of Judd as a kind person who helped other patients, according to the Arizona Republic.
''She found her peace, her peace came from helping others," Mofford said of Judd.
More information about the Phoenix Theatre Company's 2023-2024 season can be found here.
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