This Sociopath Got Away With Murder THREE TIMES, Escaped Prison & Is Still AT LARGE.. "LA PISTOLERA"

In March of 1960, police in Independence, Missouri were notified that a local man named James Kinne had been shot in the back of the head in his home. The 25-year old passed away en route to the hospital. After questioning his wife, police believed her story that their 2-year old daughter accidentally shot her father while playing with his gun. As implausible as that sounds, James Kinne’s wife, Sharon Kinne, was very convincing. The incident was determined to be a terrible accident, but when more deaths began to occur around Sharon, it started to become clear that this was one master manipulator and extreme sociopath. Her charm and power of persuasion was strong enough to fool juries, win over courtroom spectators and convince herself that she could get away with anything, including murder. As of 2024, no one has been able to prove this woman, who would become known as “La Pistolera”, completely wrong in that assessment.

Sharon Kinne was born on November 30th, 1939 as Sharon Elizabeth Hall in Independence, Missouri. She spent most of childhood there, although her family did move to Washington State for a couple years in her teens before returning to Missouri. She first met James Kinne in 1956, when she was just 16 and he was 22. They began to date, but he eventually moved to Utah to attend Brigham Young University. After learning from Sharon that she was pregnant, James returned to Independence and the couple married on October 18th, 1956, while she was still just 16. The marriage license showed her as being 18 and a widow.

Sharon Kinne

Sharon claimed to have miscarried the baby that caused James to return to Missouri. Based on everything we will learn about Sharon Kinne, there is a strong likelihood she was never pregnant in the first place and used this story to convince James to return to Missouri, although this cannot be proven. Whatever the case, she actually did become pregnant later and the couple had a baby girl named Danna. To help support the family, James worked as an electrical engineer. Their income was modest but Sharon lived lavishly, spending her days shopping and burning through the family’s money. She also engaged in relationships outside of the marriage. This continued even after the couple had a second child, a boy named Troy. Meanwhile, Sharon was getting serious in one of her extramarital affaris with a friend from High School named John Boldizs.

James was now contemplating divorce due to the financial strain Sharon’s spending put on the family as well as her infidelity. Sharon wanted out as well, but saw another way out other than traditional divorce. Although she had told James she would give him a divorce if he gave her the house, the children and $1,000 in alimony, she was also likely eyeing the life insurance policy on James which was valued at $29,000 – almost a quarter of a million today. This leads us to March 19th, 1960, when police responded to that emergency call.

James Kinne

James Kinne had been shot in the back of the head and died on the way to the hospital. When interviewed, Sharon seemed absolutely devastated and convincing to the point that investigators mostly believed that a 2-year old pulled the trigger. According to chief of police James R. Browning,

“I thought she was credible, and she was very distraught, and it was very genuine. And then, for me, it became a problem of, if the little girl did it, what a shame, what a terrible tragedy.”

Some of the members of the sheriff’s office were skeptical, but since there were no other witnesses there, they had to accept her story. Furthermore, the two-year old proved able to pull the trigger in tests performed afterwards, and according to neighbors, James had been known for letting his daughter play with his guns. Combined with all of that, Sharon’s ability to tell her version of what happened with complete confidence eliminated any chance of her being further investigated much less charged with the murder. According to James Hays in the book “The Sharon Kinne Story,”

“All they could do was just buy into whatever it was Sharon was telling them. And she was very convincing. And that’s not to their discredit. When Sharon told you something, you were expected to believe it. She was that good.”

Sharon convinced the insurance company as well and was paid the $29,000, which she used to go shopping for a new vehicle. In her efforts to buy a Ford Thunderbird, she likely used her charm and skills of manipulation to get the best price possible when speaking to the salesman, Walter Jones. Walter, who was already married to a woman named Patricia, took a liking to Sharon and they began an affair. Sharon wanted him to leave his wife and children and begin a new life with her. He had no intentions of leaving his family, but when Sharon wanted something, she gets it, no matter what it takes. She reached into her bag of tricks and attempted one that had worked in the past – she told him she was pregnant, expecting him to drop everything and run to her side as James did. However, Walter was already married with a family and not interested in starting another. He told her that the affair was over, breaking up their relationship.

So, Sharon had to take matters to another level, which she had no problem doing. In her mind, she could get away with anything and no one would question her. She called Patricia Jones and explained that her husband was having an affair with another woman. However, she did not identify herself as that woman, rather as the woman’s sister. She asked Patricia for a face-to-face meeting to discuss the matter in detail. Patricia agreed and when the time came, left her home for the meeting, but never returned again.

Walter Jones filed a missing person report and tried frantically to find out what had happened to his wife. He found out that Patricia had a meeting with an unknown woman and had been dropped off at a street corner where she entered a car with this woman, who matched the description of Sharon. Walter confronted Sharon, demanding more information. She admitted to meeting with his wife, but said she dropped her off near her home and had not seen her since. Then, things take a wild turn when Sharon got involved in the search. She took one of her other lovers, John Boldizs, along with her, and directed him to a popular lover’s lane area about a mile outside of Independence. There, she told him to get out of the car and check out a certain area. He did so and was absolutely horrified to come upon the body of Patricia Jones, laying in the grass, shot dead.

Sharon incredibly believed she could just tell him not to mention to police that she was with him when he found the body. As manipulative as she was, she was also overconfident, and of course, when questioned by police, John immediately informed them that Sharon Kinne was with him and told him to look exactly where the body was. Investigators remembered Sharon from the death of her husband, and almost immediately charged her with not only the murder of Patricia Jones, but also of her husband.

Each murder was charged separately and required its own trial. First came the Patricia Jones trial, the case which seemed more provable, as Sharon was the last person seen with Patricia. There was obvious motive as she was having an affair with the deceased woman’s husband and was trying to get him to leave her. Another man even testified that Sharon had secretly purchased a 22 caliber pistol from him – the same caliber that killed Patricia. The smoking gun should have been that she directed John Boldizs directly to the body, proving she knew the exact location.

Unfortunately, none of it mattered. Sharon charmed the entire courtroom, including the all-male jury. She became a celebrity across the state of Missouri, and people began to support her. The spectators were infatuated with her as well and every one focused on her during the entire trial, but with awe and fascination instead of suspicion. After the jury came back with a non-guilty verdict, the entire courtroom erupted in applause and cheers. At least one juror asked for her autograph.

It seemed if she could beat the Patricia Jones charge, she could certainly beat the charge for murdering her husband However, during this trial, John Boldizs took the stand and revealed that Sharon had once offered him $,1000 to kill her husband. He admitted this might have been a joke, however, slightly lessening the impact of the statement. Still, the jury eventually determined she was guilty. This conviction did not last long however, as the Missouri Supreme Court overturned the conviction on a legal technicality. While awaiting the re-trial, she was released on bond in July of 1963. Two more trials took place, but both ended in mistrials, one due to a tainted jury member and the other because the jury could not come up with a unanimous verdict. Before the 4th trial was scheduled to begin in October of 1964, Sharon took off to Mexico with a new lover named Francis Samuel Pugliese. They brought some guns with them from the U.S., then she purchased another in Mexico.

The couple were staying at a hotel in Mexico when, on September 18th, 1964, Sharon left without Pugliese and went to a local bar. She was likely trying to use her powers to get some money out of some lonely man. The man she found was Francisco Parades Ordonez, who was staying at another hotel in the area. She left with him to his hotel room, and once there, shot him dead. A hotel employee named Enrique Martinez Rueda rushed to the room after hearing the gunshots, and Sharon shot him as well. He ran off with a bullet in his shoulder, but managed to lock Sharon in the room. When police arrived, Sharon claimed she only went to his hotel room to see some photographs he offered to show her, but he ended up making sexual advances towards her, resulting in her firing the gun in self defense. The police did not buy it for a second, and believed she tried to get money out of Ordonez and when he refused, she shot him dead.

Police began their investigation and after testing some of the guns they found in Sharon’s room, discovered that the ballistics proved one of those guns was the same one that killed Patricia Jones. Unfortunately, nothing could be done as she could not be re-charged due to Double Jeopardy. However, she was charged and quickly convicted of murdering Francisco Parades Ordonez. She was sentenced to ten years in a Mexican prison, which was extended to thirteen years after her appeal, which was filed to reduce or eliminate her sentence, completely backfired. While in prison in Mexico, Sharon picked up the nickname “La Pistolera” – the gunfighter, and the press ran with it. However, Sharon would not serve her entire sentence.

On December 7th, 1969, she failed to show up for two consecutive counts and was officially on the loose as a fugitive. A manhunt ensued but came up completely empty. Investigations revealed that a blackout occurred around the time of her escape and a door that was normally locked was left unsecured. There was also an unguarded and open window she could have squeezed through. It is likely she used to her wit and charm to get one or more of the guards to help her in the escape. In the James Hays book, he writes about how she could have been anything she wanted, but chose a life of crime:

“She could’ve been a pioneer woman in politics or in academia or anything, but she chose to go the other way around. She let greed, avarice, and promiscuity rule her life.”

There are various theories on how Sharon escaped and who helped her do it, but we will likely never know because Sharon Kinne has not been seen since. Since she learned to speak Spanish fluently in prison, there is a strong possibility that she fled southward, heading towards Guatemala or another country in Central or South America, where she would be very difficult if not impossible to locate, assuming she lay low and not commit more murders. This might have proved difficult for this woman, who originally killed for life insurance money, but then either derived some sick pleasure from murdering, or came to the conclusion that whenever she needed some one eliminated, she could just kill them, as she felt no remorse or empathy in the aftermath.

Sharon Kinne would be 84 years old if still alive today. Unlike many other fugitive cases, there have been few sightings of Kinne. She seems to have completely vanished into thin air. Many speculate that she was murdered by the family of Ordonez. Most likely, she didn’t last long after her escape, as it seems near impossible that some one like her would not commit another crime or murder, although it is possible she realized there was no way she could just keep killing and get away with it. If she had any chance to stay out of prison for the rest of her life, she would have had to settle down somewhere quietly and live out her life without acting like the complete sociopath she was. I don’t find this to be a very likely outcome, but certainly cannot be eliminated as a possibility. As of this recording, Kinne is still considered at large and holds the record for the longest outstanding arrest warrant in Kansas City, Missouri. She’s also still wanted in Mexico, although the search stopped only shortly after her escape. Escape from prison itself is not a crime in Mexico, so even if she is ever captured, she would only have to serve out the remainder of her sentence.