Opal Johnson and Opal Zacharias

[wiseguy182]

Well, I thought I'd start a thread on the Opals since there is next to no discussion on them. Other than sharing a first name, there's a lot of similarities in the cases. Both were older women who encountered 2 young male criminals in 1987.

Opal Johnson - this was the case of the postal clerk in the small town of Epes, AL, who was robbed and kidnapped during her shift. The 2 perps were a black man in his 30's, who was the 'mastermind' and the angrier, more violent, and more scary-looking. The second was a white man in his 20's, who took all the orders and, especially since he convinced the other criminal not to kill Opal, the friendlier of the two. The older perp let Opal live, but locked her in the trunk of her car before fleeing. Opal eventually made it out ok.

Opal Zacharias - this was the case of a Houston woman who was robbed and killed in her driveway one morning by 2 perps hiding out in her garage. It is believed the 2 assailants were career criminal Lance Bedgood and his accomplice Dang Lee (what a name), but neither man has paid for his crimes. Cold Case Detective Roben Talton, an ace detective who nabbed over 400 fugitives in her research, and had previously gained prominence as a female patrol officer in a predominately male area, worked on the case and had found 3 p.o. boxes registered to Bedgood. She believes Bedgood's family members are hiding him out.

There are two frustrating things about this case: One was that Dang Lee was caught and they found his fingerprints on Opal's car and in her garage, but he was released due to 'lack of evidence'. The second is the manner in which Opal was killed. Apparently, Lance thought that shooting her wasn't enough and ran over her with her own car.

[theero]

That is very interesting, i have never seen either case but were they featured as seperate cases/segments or were they tied in one case?

[WishfulDreamer]

Originally Posted by theero

That is very interesting, i have never seen either case but were they featured as seperate cases/segments or were they tied in one case?

Separate segments. I remember seeing them both numerous times in the early 2000s on Lifetime, but haven't seen either since.

[Victoria81]

Watching Opal Johnson now. Those sketches scare me.