How to Catch A Criminal: A Dark Cloud Follows Her (Part 1)

Every officer with a decent amount of time on the job knows the unexpected turns an investigation can take. Seeing a major case through to completion often involves giving up on a theory and taking your investigation in a different direction as new information becomes available. In How to Catch A Criminal, we look at the many ways not-so-perfect crimes are solved. This month, a streak of misfortune turns out to be more than just bad luck.

Some people in this world seem to have it made in the shade from day one. We all know someone who was born with the proverbial silver spoon in their mouth, and they manage to hold on to that no matter what. They spend their life falling into great jobs, getting great deals on lavish houses and fancy cars, going on exciting vacations and eating at gourmet restaurants, managing to be the right caller every time the local radio station is giving away concert tickets. They do it all while appearing to put in very little effort. They spend their years enjoying smooth sailing on a sea of good fortune. Naturally, for every person on easy street, there is someone surrounded by hardship and whose only luck is bad luck. These unlucky folk spend their life facing an uphill battle, trying to overcome hardship and tragedy.

This article appeared in the November/December issue of OFFICER Magazine. Click Here to subscribe to OFFICER Magazine.

Some persevere and make it to the good life, but others try taking shortcuts to the promised land and end up much worse off than they started.

Judias Anna Welty was born in Texas in 1943. Judias, nicknamed Judy, lived a humble, blue collar life until her mother passed away from Tuberculosis. This was the first tragedy to befall Judy, but it was quite far from the last. At four years old she was sent to live with her grandparents for a time until her father relocated to Roswell, New Mexico, and remarried. Back together with her father Judy’s future was promising, but not for long. Judy was treated poorly by her parents and step-siblings and became the family servant, forced to wait hand and foot on the rest of the family. Her remaining childhood years were long and cruel until she found herself in jail and later reform school after she snapped at the age of 14 and attacked her parents and siblings, burning two of her step-brothers with grease from a hot frying pan.

At 16, she left the reform school in Albuquerque and moved back to Roswell, but not back to her family. Judy wanted nothing to do with them and took a job as a nursing assistant, supporting herself and starting her new life solo. She even changed her name to Anna Schultz to further separate herself from her past. Judy wasn’t solo for long, however, because in 1961 she gave birth to a son who she named Michael Schultz. It was rumored the father, who would never be in the picture, was an Air Force pilot stationed nearby. Despite those rumors, Judy would never discuss his father. Not long after, Judy had met another Airman by the name of James Goodyear, and they married in January of 1962. Four years later in 1966, the couple welcomed their first child, James Jr., and their second, Kimberly, in 1967. Michael was adopted by James, and the family of five moved to Orlando. There, Judy was able to open a childcare facility, which she ran while simultaneously raising her children during James’ deployment to Vietnam. He returned home in 1971 and the Goodyear/Welty/Schultz household was whole again, a picturesque American family. Until tragedy struck.

In September 1971, James was hospitalized due to an unknown illness which claimed his life. This undoubtedly rocked the foundation of Judy’s family, but she was determined to carry on. This determination quickly met another roadblock when a house fire devastated the family residence just months after James’ death. Judy picked up the pieces and moved to Pensacola in 1972, where she met Bobby Joe Morris, who she and the kids lived with shortly thereafter. For a few years, things were looking up once again for Judy, but her streak of bad luck reared its ugly head again. In 1977, Morris moved to Colorado and Judy and the kids weren’t far behind, but they found themselves the victims of yet another house fire before they made the move. Picking up the pieces once more, Judy and her children joined Morris in Colorado. In January of 1978, just like James Goodyear, he too was hospitalized due to an unknown illness. He made a brief recovery and was discharged, but returned to the hospital two days later with the same symptoms. This time, he did not leave. Bobby Joe Morris died on January 21, 1978. Judy lost not only her husband and the father of her children, but also her longtime boyfriend and suffered two house fires, all in the span of 8 years. Despite dealing with more tragedy in less than a decade than many people deal with in a lifetime, Judy carried on. Using her real first name once again, Judy changed her family’s last name to Buenoano, a rough Spanish translation of “Goodyear,” an homage to her first husband. The Buenoano family returned to the familiarity of Pensacola and Michael headed off to enlist in the Army. Done with basic training, Michael was sent to Fort Benning in Georgia. He visited his mother and half siblings in Florida before landing at his new post. By the time he arrived at Fort Benning in November of 1979, Michael was suffering from arsenic poisoning, the source of which was unknown. Michael’s muscles began to deteriorate as a result and he soon needed sixty pounds worth of metal braces on his arms and legs in order to function. Relieved from his Army duties for the time being, Michael was living back at home with his mother, who was now responsible for caring for him in addition to running the household as a single parent.

Looking for some reprieve from the tough life she led, Judy took Michael and James on a canoeing trip in May of 1980. Unfortunately, the boat capsized and Michael, weighed down by the braces and unable to swim due to his condition, drowned. Judy explained to police that Michael cast a fishing line, which struck a tree branch and knocked a resting snake into the boat. In the scramble to remove the snake, the boat capsized. She later told a different officer the canoe hit a submerged tree stump and was knocked over by the collision. When confronted about the difference in her stories, Judy stated both stories were accurate, and the tree stump was struck while she attempted to remove the snake. There was apparently no way for her or James to assist Michael. The circumstances were odd, but officers believed her story. Ms. Buenoano had now lost three of the most important people in her life, and there was still no light at the end of the tunnel for her and her family. Although, a $20,000 life insurance policy from the Army did help the surviving Buenoano family start over.

Check Officer.com in January for the conclusion of this story.

About the Author

Brendan Rodela is a Deputy for the Lincoln County (NM) Sheriff’s Office. He holds a degree in Criminal Justice and is a certified instructor with specialized training in Domestic Violence and Interactions with Persons with Mental Impairments.