April 1. Serial entrepreneur Winnie Ruth Judd is dead. The 90-year-old doyenne of high society in The Peninsula was the owner of a luxury luggage store in Jetton Village as well as the “cutlery store to the stars” in Beverly Hills where football star O.J. Simpson was a frequent customer.
She was also a reformed serial killer. She was the famous “trunk murderess” of the 1930s, having shipped the dismembered bodies of former boyfriends to places like Los Angeles and Phoenix where the remains sat in postal warehouses for long periods of time.
Late demise in two ways
Sadly, she was accidentally beheaded during the delivery of her award by a drone at the Cornelius Businessman’s and Businesswoman’s Merchants & Manufacturers Association First Annual Dinner Dance and Awards Gala at the The Peninsula Club.
It happened late in the ceremony, when the 150th award, the “John Wayne Gacy Table For One Teamwork Award,” was being airlifted to her table. It also happened late in a long, interesting life.
Witnesses said her last words were, “Aaaiieee.” Well, last word.
‘Her idea’
A long-time member of the newly formed CBCBMMA, she is credited with the idea for the “mast and sails” design on the Exit 28 bridge.
The first-class design is a tourist draw for Cornelius, with nearby businesses like Jay’s at the Lake and Saeed’s reaping “clean dollars” and economic development benefits from the arts-tourism trend. The unique design was her idea, not anyone on the Town Board, the new Public Information Officer for the Town of Cornelius said. “We had nothing to do with it. It was all her idea.”
Egg plant
She was also in the midst of building an egg-laying plant that would have been built next to the proposed Bojangel’s Hotel on West Catawba. The hotel and chicken-thingy are up in the air.
Judd left absolutely no survivors, all of her family members having met their own unique early demises.
Memorial services will be held at the WorldWide Church Temporary Campus at the old Michael Waltrip RaceWorld April 31. WWC leader Frances Pope II has requested a cash offering.
