A Very Tragic Chain of Events

This is one of the most tragic tales I have stumbled across so far. So many different families affected by the actions of two lawless young men. There was a fight in a cafe/bar with a young man dying. Then a female companion of the two killers was murdered because of what she witnessed, stripped of identification, and covered with tree limbs in an unsuccessful attempt to conceal her body. There was an attempt to kill two young boys who were in the wrong place at the wrong time, with one of the boys later killing his own father, and a policeman. Then later one of the original killers in this story stabbed, and killed a fellow inmate in the state prison.

John Andrew Riley, and Jerry Wayne Blow

On April 9, 1969, John Andrew Riley, 25, his girlfriend, Barbara Pike, 20, who was married with a 3-year-old child at home, and Jerry Wayne Blow, 19, went to the Starlight Café in Birmingham, Alabama. While there they had an altercation with 22-year-old, Terry Norman Tranthan, who was an acquaintance of theirs. Witnesses said that the foursome had sat and drank together for a while, and about 11:15, a fight broke out and Tranthan was shot, and killed. The other three quickly fled the scene.

On Wednesday, May 21^st, Riley went to Mrs. Pike’s home to pick her up and they left, apparently going to Pensacola and staying with Jerry Blow, who’s mother was living in the area.

The Todd’s go fishing

On May 24, 1969, Bartoe J. Todd took one of his children, Pete Todd, 6, and a friend, Albert Lee, 9, fishing at Bayou Marcus, in West Pensacola. About 5:40 pm Mr. Todd sent the two boys to where their car was parked to get some water. While walking through the woods toward their car they heard a series of gunshots. Curious, they continued to their parked station wagon where Pete climbed in to retrieve a canteen of water. Young Pete heard Albert moan and was stunned to see him stumble in front of the car and scream, “They cut me, run!” Pete ran toward the swampland, but before he got too far heard a shot, and felt a sharp pain in his elbow. He continued running as bullets whizzed past him. He kept running until he reached his father. “Daddy, I’ve been shot! They’ve hurt Albert bad!”  Mr. Todd picked up Pete and started quickly walking back to the car. About halfway there, he found Albert moaning in pain. He picked him up and carrying both of the young boys, he reached his car and sped down the dirt road until he reached Ezell’s Grocery store in Bellview where he phoned for an ambulance, and the police.

Sheriff Sgt. Don Powell, and Deputy Steve Dunn arrived at the store at the intersection of Bellview Cutoff, and Lillian Highway. The officers searched the scene of the attack looking for spent cartridges or any other evidence and loosely covered with branches found the body of a young woman with multiple gunshot wounds. Apparently the two little boys were attacked because they stumbled upon the aftermath of a murder when the victim’s body was being concealed. The two boys survived their wounds. Pete was treated and released, but Albert had to be admitted to Escambia General Hospital in Satisfactory condition. Pete had a gunshot, and stab wound to his arm. Albert had gunshot wounds and stab wounds.

Identification, and Capture

The female victim had been shot three times with a .22 caliber firearm and also shot with number 9 bird shot in the chest. She was dressed in a black and red pin-striped blouse, black slacks, and brown loafers. She had no identification on her.

Identification was made when the Sheriff’s Department Identification Officer Robert Grant lifted a fingerprint off the body, and later described in to the FBI. The victim was identified as Barbara Pike, 20 years old from Birmingham, Alabama. She had been arrested earlier in the year for prostitution. On Sunday, May 25, the victim’s father Ted Pennington traveled to Pensacola to provide information about his daughter. I believe this is when the authorities issued the “be-on-the-lookout”, for Riley, and Blow.

On May 26, Mrs. Pike’s body was flown from Pensacola back to Birmingham for her funeral on May 29.

The car that was used in the disposal of her body was identified as a green and white 1957 Chrysler 4-door sedan with Georgia license plate 4-A-1959.

About 31 hours later in Lansing, Michigan, 25-year-old Estelle Beardsley, a former exotic dancer who was now working as a waitress, saw two men drive her car away from the restaurant where she was working. The restaurant was across the street from City Hall/ Police station, and as her employer ran across the street to report the theft, Estelle removed her high-heel shoes and started running barefoot down the street after her car. The car had stopped at a traffic light. When the light changed, she jumped into a cab and told the driver to, “Follow that car!” They followed the car for a couple of blocks until the stolen car stopped next to a car with Georgia plates where one man started transferring belongings to her car. Jumping out of the cab she ran up to the driver of the car and yelled, “What are you doing in my car?” The driver, later identified as Jerry Wayne Blow, pointed a gun at her. About this time the police arrived. The two men fled, and after a brief chase and a warning shot fired, the two men surrendered. Riley and Blow were arrested for auto theft, but soon it was found that they were sought for murder in Florida.

On May 27, Riley, and Blow were transferred from the jail in Lansing to the Ingham County jail in Mason. The Lansing police department contacted Florida authorities that the two wanted men were in custody. States Attorney Curtis Golden, Escambia County Sheriff W.E. Davis, Investigator John Greathouse, and Identification Officer Robert Grant departed by car for Michigan. The Florida contingent drove the 900 miles to Mason due to the amount of equipment and material they wanted to bring with them. The only charges on Riley, and Blow at the time were Grand Larceny for the auto theft. After questioning the two men waived extradition and returned to Florida on May 31. The 1957 Chrysler sedan was driven back to Pensacola by Officer Robert Grant.

Jerry Wayne Blow was no stranger to the Montgomery, Alabama police department. In November 1966 he was arrested for assault with intent to murder in connection with the stabbing of two other youths in September, at Norman Bridge Road, and Augusta St. He had escaped from the custody of Youth Aid Division detectives on August 3 where he was held for burglary. He was eventually paroled in March of 1969.

In January 1970, Jerry Wayne Blow was convicted of murder after a jury of 9 men, and 3 women deliberated 4 hours and 22 minutes. The jury recommended mercy and Blow was sentenced to life in prison. In August 1980, at the State Prison in Starke, FL, Blow killed fellow inmate Bennie Boykin by stabbing him 7 times. Boykin was pulling a 30-year sentence out of Palm Beach County for second-degree murder. The motive for the slaying was not reported. He received another life sentence for Boykin’s murder. As of July 2020, he was still incarcerated at Cross City Correctional Inst., Cross City, FL.

In May of 1970, John Andrew Riley was also found guilty, but in his case, there was no recommendation for mercy, and he was sentenced to death. At the time of his sentencing, no one had been put to death in Florida since 1964. In the June 1972, ruling in Furman v. Georgia, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled by a vote of 5-4 that capital punishment, as it was employed at the time on the state and federal level, was unconstitutional. It was reinstated in 1976, but the previous death sentences had been commuted to life terms. John Andrew Riley died in prison in 2013.

The Sad and Violent Life of Peter Todd

Little Pete Todd was about 8 years old when he and a friend of his, were shot, and stabbed by Riley, and Blow, because the two men thought that the boys had seen them kill Barbara Pike. Imagine what it must have been for him to process seeing his friend get assaulted and seriously injured, and himself shot and stabbed. Pete was plagued by nightmares following the May 1969 assault. He became paranoid, and aggressive in the Special Education classes he attended before he quit school after the sixth grade.

His father, Bartoe James Todd, Sr., was born in 1911 and was reported to have around 18 children. In 1974 he was convicted of manslaughter in a car crash on Fairfield Ave, in which 22-year-old Stephanie Forehand was killed. He was traveling westbound on Fairfield and Forehand was eastbound. Todd attempted to turn left onto Hollywood Ave, and hit Forehand’s car on the driver's side. She died about 2 hours later. Her two-year-old son had minor injuries. His blood alcohol level was measured at .14 two hours after the accident. The three children he had in his car were treated and released at Baptist Hospital. I don’t know how long he was in prison but by the summer of 1980, the Todds were living at 610 North D. Street.

On August 30, 1980, Peter Todd was riding a bicycle when he was shot in the hand. He was taken to the emergency room at Baptist Hospital to get his hand treated. He became violent and had to be restrained by ten people while he growled and barked like a dog. He was transferred to the University Hospital Psychiatric ward, and one of the Pensacola Police Department officers transporting him was Amos Cross. A retired Air Force security policeman who had been in the PPD for about a year, and a half.

While under treatment at Lakeview Center, Peter received anti-psychotic drugs, but even so, he crawled on the floor, hallucinated, continued to bark, growl and exhibit explosive behavior. On September 5, the psychiatrist treating him, believing Todd had improved, released him from the hospital. Within an hour, Todd was thrown out of a bar, tossed a brick through a window, and shot a gun at the man who he believed shot him in the hand.

The next day he was arrested, along with the man he accused of shooting him in the hand. On September 8, County Judge William Henderson, unfamiliar with Todd’s past, or that he was on probation for a previous offense, released him on his own recognizance.

On the night of September 12, 1980, Peter got into an argument with his father. Someone called the police, and Officer Amos Cross was the first to respond. As he stepped up on the porch, Peter Todd shot him twice in the face with a shotgun, killing him instantly. Officer Gary Cutler exchanged gunfire with Todd, and suffered wounds to his hand, and leg but shot Todd in the head. The scene was secured and Todd was taken to the hospital and survived his wound. During the investigation at the house, Peter Todd’s father was found dead in the backyard with a shotgun wound. Relatives later stated that the night before the shooting, Peter had spent the night in a closet barking like a dog.

After the killings that night, Peter Todd went under court-ordered treatment at the Forensic Unit and the Florida State Hospital in Chattahoochee. The psychiatric reports about Todd in 1980-82 described Todd as flagrantly psychotic, and incapable of standing trial. In December 1983, Dr. Robert Berland reported that Todd’s condition improved enough for him to stand trial. He faced two murder counts, and one attempted murder for wounding Officer Cutler.

In August 1984, Todd pleaded no contest and received a mandatory two life sentences, plus 30 years for attempted murder in the shooting of Cutler. He is still in prison, (as of July 2020), at the Lake Correctional Inst. In Clermont, Florida.

Officer Amos Cross

There were three Pensacola Police Officers killed in the line of duty in the first 9 months of 1980.

Officer Cross was a native of the small town of Adel, in Cook County, Georgia. He was retired Air Force where he had been a Security Supervisor. He moved to Pensacola in October 1978. He was well-liked by the other officers that knew him and had a good relationship with the civilians he had contact with. He was married and had three sons. He, and his wife Margaret, attended classes at Pensacola Junior College.

Margaret Cross filed a lawsuit against the Lakeview Center and the Psychiatrist who released Todd from custody the week before the killings. In April 1987 a jury consisting of 6 women ruled the defendants were not responsible. The attorneys for Lakeview had offered a $450,000 settlement during the trial, because they felt there was a real risk of losing the case. Mrs. Cross turned down the offer because she rightfully wanted them to be held accountable.

Officer Amos Cross was buried with full military honors at Ft. Barrancas National Cemetery at Pensacola Naval Air Station.

Officer Amos Cross

More Todd Tragedy

At about 7 pm on March 4, 1995, Bartoe J. Todd, Jr. was in a phone booth at the Citgo Station at 4404 N. Palafox, when a 16-year-old boy, who was acquainted with him shot him in the chest. Todd ran to his car, pulled out onto Palafox, then looped back around and parked at the station. When EMS arrived, he was almost dead. He died soon after. His wife was 9 months pregnant, and he went to pick her up at a hairdresser. She wasn’t ready yet so he went to the Citgo to buy a soda. It is believed he was calling to see if his wife wanted him to get her something to drink. The police believe robbery was the motive.

So, there it is. A tragic chain of events that is mind-boggling. So many families and individuals were affected by these events. The bravery of Estelle Beardsley causing the two killers to be captured. (although, realistically I’m sure they would have been caught soon. They weren’t the smartest crooks) Barbara Pike’s little boy growing up without his mother. The family of the original victim, Terry Tranthan losing their son. Margaret Cross, losing her husband, and her three sons losing their father, and even the Todd family and the pain they suffered through Peter’s life, and dealing with the death of their father. It is so sad.