On June 18, 2004 investigators in rural Texas found twelve pounds of charred remains inside a burning Chevrolet. It was presumed to be the body of Clayton Wayne Daniels, who was scheduled to appear in court three days later for allegedly raping his cousin, who was 14 at the time. Clayton’s wife, Molly, confirmed his disappearance and filed insurance claims for his life and his car. She also held a memorial service for Clayton the following week, at which they played Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Free Bird—Clayton’s favorite song.
Coroner’s reports initially confirmed the body to be Daniels, even recording a “segment of penis” found on the body. However, after a DNA crosscheck with Daniels’ mother failed to match, and after investigators received reports that Molly had taken a lover named Jake who looked remarkably similar to her dead husband, officials began to suspect fraud. Texas Rangers arrested Molly and Jake at a Taco Bell near Austin, where they found in their possession forged identification cards and other documents in Jake’s name, as well as identification cards for Clayton Wayne Daniels.
An informant at the county jail convinced Clayton to confide in him, and later told investigators about the details of Clayton’s disappearance. Daniels claimed that in order to escape his pending legal charges and financial debts, he dug up the body of Charlotte Davis, an 81-year-old mentally and physically handicapped woman, and dressed her in his clothing. He then put her in his car, burned it, and pushed it over a cliff. They then attempted to use the insurance money to pay for flights to Mexico to have plastic surgery on Clayton’s face.
At her trial, Molly was prosecuted as the “brains of the operation,” and received the same sentence as Clayton: a maximum 20 years in state prison.
The related documents and artifacts displayed here were found near Burnett County, Texas in 2009.
from Mimesis is not Adaptive Behavior, 2009
Installation views: The Man Behind the Curtain, Mission 17, San Francisco
Curated by Laura Mott