In 2000, Leslie White was lured to a trailer in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, kidnapped, and murdered by her ex-boyfriend, William Housman, and his girlfriend Beth Ann Markman.
Leslie White started working in the photo shop in a Walmart on August 2, 2000. While working, she had met William Housman, who was a coworker. Their relationship would eventually turn romantic. Housman was in a relationship with Beth Ann Markman.
Markman found out about Housman and Leslie shortly after the relationship started. This caused physical and verbal altercations between Markman and Housman. Eventually Leslie stopped seeing Housman and started dating someone at her school. Markman did not believe this and still thought Leslie was causing trouble in her relationship.
On October 4, 2000, at 5:30 p.m. Markman and Housman drove to a gas station.
Housman called Leslie and lied to her, telling her that his father had passed away and asked if she could come console him.
Housman told Leslie he was alone. Leslie became worried that he may become suicidal due to the loss of his father. She left work early, around 6:16 p.m. and drove to his trailer.
When Leslie arrived at the trailer, she and Housman began talking in the living room; Markman was hiding in a backroom.
At some point, Housman took out a hammer and hit Leslie in the hand. Markman then left the room to get fresh air and noticed that Leslie’s hand was swollen. Markman then assisted Housman in binding Leslie.
They used a speaker wire to bind her hands with her feet and placed a cloth in her mouth, which they secure with a gag they tied behind her back. They left Leslie tied and gagged on the floor and went outside for a cigarette.
Markman and Housman decided they would kill Leslie. They went back inside the trailer. Markman held down Leslie while Housman used a speaker wire and his arm to strangle Leslie to death.
The medical examiner stated the combination of Housman strangling her and the cloth in Leslie’s mouth caused her to asphyxiate.
Markman wrapped Leslie’s body in a canvas tent. The couple then put her remains in the back of Leslie’s Jeep and drove to Housman’s father’s home in Virginia. Housman drove Leslie’s Jeep; Markman drove her Buick.
They put Leslie’s body in the trunk of an abandoned car in a rural area of Floyd County, Virginia.
They got rid of her belongings and sold her camera to a pawn shop.
When Leslie did not come home her mother reported her missing.
Police were able to locate the Jeep and recovered Leslie’s remains. They were also able to track down her camera, which had several pictures taken after the murder that depicted Markman jokingly strangling Housman.
Housman and Markman both were charged with homicide, kidnapping, unlawful restraint, abuse of a corpse, two counts of theft, conspiracy to commit homicide, conspiracy to commit unlawful restraint, conspiracy to commit abuse of a corpse, and conspiracy to commit theft.
They were found guilty on all charges and sentenced to death.
Though appeals, Markman was granted a new trail in 2007. Instead of going to trial she pleaded guilty in exchange for a life sentence.
In 2020 Housman’s appeal for a new sentence hearing was granted. His death sentence was overruled, and he was sentenced to life in prison.
