One Christmas morning in Madison, Wisconsin, a young man named Gerald Davies led the police to a dead body lying in a snowbank. Gerald was insistent that he did not kill the man. He explained that he and his fiancée, Barbara, had simply found the body in her apartment and buried it in the snow.

Join us for No Happy Endings. The circumstances of this situation were challenging to believe, but Gerald appeared genuine. It was then learned that the dead man was Barbara’s former partner who had recently transferred his house and an insurance policy over to her. Gerald too had named Barbara as the beneficiary of his life insurance policy. So, the question arose: was Gerald Barbara’s accomplice or was he now a potential victim?

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Sources

STATE of Wisconsin, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Barbara G. HOFFMAN, Defendant-Appellant. Court of Appeals of Wisconsin. Argued 10/281981. Decided 1/261982. Retrieved 2/10/2025

Winter of Frozen Dreams: The Shocking True Story of Seduction, Suspicion, and Murder in Madison by Karl Harter