# Barbara Stager

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{{short description|American murderer}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Infobox criminal
| image_name        = 
| name              = Barbara Stager
| image_size        = 
| image_caption     = 
| birth_name        = Barbara Terry<ref>{{cite news|last1=Greenya|first1=John|title=DOUBLE INDEMNITY|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/entertainment/books/1994/07/31/double-indemnity/b80a2b04-ee3b-4c4a-b4d4-69ff7af1f3cf/|accessdate=10 March 2017|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=31 July 1994|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170330180931/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/entertainment/books/1994/07/31/double-indemnity/b80a2b04-ee3b-4c4a-b4d4-69ff7af1f3cf/|archive-date=30 March 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>
| birth_date        = {{birth date and age|1948|10|30}}
| birth_place       = 
| other_names       = Barbara Ford
| death_date        = 
| death_place       = 
| conviction        = [First degree murder](/source/First_degree_murder)
| conviction_penalty = [Death](/source/Capital_punishment); commuted to [life imprisonment](/source/life_imprisonment)
| conviction_status = [Incarcerated](/source/Incarceration)
| spouse            = Larry Ford<br> Allison Russell Stager III (Russell Stager)
| victims           = Allison Russell Stager III
| weapon            = .25 caliber pistol<ref>{{cite web|title=North Carolina Reports: Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of North Carolina|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6jpOAQAAIAAJ&dq=.25+caliber&pg=PA299|publisher=state|accessdate=March 10, 2017|page=299|language=en|date=January 1, 1991}}</ref>
| date              = February 1, 1988
| time              = 
| country           = U.S.
| states            = North Carolina
| locations         = [Durham](/source/Durham%2C_North_Carolina)
}}

'''Barbara Stager''' ({{nee}} Terry; formerly Ford; born October 30, 1948)<ref>{{Cite web|title=NC DPS Offender Public Information|url=https://webapps.doc.state.nc.us/opi/viewoffender.do?method=view&offenderID=0386206&searchLastName=stager&searchFirstName=barbara&searchDOBRange=0&activeFilter=2&listurl=pagelistoffendersearchresults&listpage=1|access-date=2021-12-05|website=webapps.doc.state.nc.us}}</ref> is an American woman who was convicted in 1989 of murdering her husband, Allison Russell Stager III (Russell Stager), the previous year. Russell was shot while in bed; Barbara reported the shooting as accidental. Her first husband, Larry Ford, had also been killed under similar circumstances a decade earlier.<ref name="wral">{{cite web|title=Parole denied for Durham woman who killed husband|url=http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/5134301/|website=WRAL.com|publisher=Capitol Broadcasting Company|date=13 May 2009|accessdate=11 September 2015}}</ref><ref>[https://forensicfilesnow.com/index.php/2019/09/13/barbara-stager-murderer-and-spendthrift/ Barbara Stager, murderer and spendthrift], forensicfilesnow.com. September 13, 2019. Accessed April 4, 2024.</ref>

Stager was originally [sentenced to death](/source/Capital_punishment) but that sentence was overturned on a procedural issue, and the [life sentence](/source/Life_imprisonment) she subsequently received by a different jury made her eligible for [parole](/source/parole) in 2009. She has been denied parole but has privileges which allow her to eat outside the prison complex provided she is accompanied by a court-approved sponsor.<ref name="wral"/><ref name="NCNewsObs">{{cite news|url=https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article174912241.html|title=She's serving a life sentence for killing her husband. But she goes out to lunch?|first=Anne|last=Blythe|publisher=[The News & Observer](/source/The_News_%26_Observer)|location=[Raleigh, NC](/source/Raleigh%2C_NC)|date=September 22, 2017|access-date=January 2, 2020}}</ref>

==In media==
"Till Death Do Us Part: The Barbara Stager Story", is an episode of [A&E](/source/A%26E_(TV_network))'s television series ''[American Justice](/source/American_Justice)'', which profiled the case.<ref>{{cite web|title=Till Death Do Us Part: Barbara Stager Story - Overview - TCM.com|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/479338/till-death-do-us-part-barbara-stager-story|website=Turner Classic Movies|publisher=A&E Television Network|access-date=10 March 2017|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312053710/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/479338/Till-Death-Do-Us-Part-Barbara-Stager-Story/|archive-date=12 March 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=American Justice|url=http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/american-justice/episode-25-season-8/till-death-do-us-part-the-barbara-stager-story/194507/|website=TVGuide.com|publisher=A&E Television Network|accessdate=10 March 2017|language=en|date=25 August 1999|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312070022/http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/american-justice/episode-25-season-8/till-death-do-us-part-the-barbara-stager-story/194507/|archive-date=12 March 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> [Jerry Bledsoe](/source/Jerry_Bledsoe) wrote a book in 1994 about the case, entitled ''Before He Wakes: A True Story of Money, Marriage, Sex and Murder'',<ref>{{cite web|last1=Bledsoe|first1=Jerry|title=Before He Wakes: A True Story of Money, Marriage, Sex and Murder|url=http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/before-he-wakes-jerry-bledsoe/1119563618|website=Barnes & Noble|publisher=Diversion Publisher|accessdate=10 March 2017|language=en|date=28 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312044925/http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/before-he-wakes-jerry-bledsoe/1119563618|archive-date=12 March 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> which was later made into a TV movie in 1998 with the same title starring [Jaclyn Smith](/source/Jaclyn_Smith). A&E's ''[City Confidential](/source/City_Confidential)'' presented its perspective on the case in the 2003 episode "[Durham: Dangerous Housewife](/source/List_of_City_Confidential_episodes)".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aetv.com/city_confidential/city_episode_guide.jsp?episode=135411 |title=City Confidential - Episode Guide |publisher=Aetv.com |date=2010-08-18 |accessdate=2012-08-08 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110526220946/http://www.aetv.com/city_confidential/city_episode_guide.jsp?episode=135411 |archivedate=May 26, 2011 }}</ref> [Investigation Discovery's](/source/Investigation_Discovery) ''[Deadly Women](/source/Deadly_Women)'' series portrayed the story in the 2010 "Fortune Hunters" episode<ref>{{cite web|title=Deadly Women (Fortune Hunters) on Investigation Discovery, TV Guide UK|url=http://www.tvguide.co.uk/detail/1528604/116317920/deadly-women|website=TVGuide.co.uk|accessdate=10 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312050934/http://www.tvguide.co.uk/detail/1528604/116317920/deadly-women|archive-date=12 March 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> and their ''[Scorned: Love Kills](/source/Scorned%3A_Love_Kills)'' revisited the case in its own "'Til Debt Do Us Part", in 2012.<ref>{{cite web|title=Scorned: Love Kills {{!}} 'Til Debt Do Us Part|url=http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/scorned-love-kills/episode-14-season-1/scorned-love-kills-till-debt-do-us-part/348542/|website=TVGuide.com|accessdate=10 March 2017|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312065738/http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/scorned-love-kills/episode-14-season-1/scorned-love-kills-till-debt-do-us-part/348542/|archive-date=12 March 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> The ''[Forensic Files](/source/Forensic_Files)'' series had an episode "Broken Promises"<ref>{{cite web|title=Forensic Files - Season 5, Ep 14: Broken Promises|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JjHeJ8UIzI|publisher=FilmRise|accessdate=10 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312180444/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JjHeJ8UIzI|archive-date=12 March 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> about this case; Investigation Discovery examined the case a third time in 2015, with an episode entitled "No Accident" in its ''[Fatal Vows](/source/Fatal_Vows)'' series.<ref>{{cite web|title=Investigation Discovery GO {{!}} Fatal Vows {{!}} No Accident|url=https://www.investigationdiscoverygo.com/fatal-vows/no-accident/|website=Investigation Discovery GO|accessdate=10 March 2017|language=en-us|date=3 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312041739/https://www.investigationdiscoverygo.com/fatal-vows/no-accident/|archive-date=12 March 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> 

In 1999, the Discovery Channel's ''[The New Detectives](/source/The_New_Detectives)'' series, Season 4, Episode 6, "Women Who Kill" featured Barbara Stager's crime.<ref>{{cite web|title=The New Detectives: Season 4 - Ep 6 "Women Who Kill"|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMlyUfGuPxo|publisher=FilmRise|accessdate=10 March 2017|date=1 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312180023/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMlyUfGuPxo|archive-date=12 March 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://webapps.doc.state.nc.us/opi/viewoffender.do?method=view&offenderID=0386206&searchOffenderId=0386206&searchDOBRange=0&listurl=pagelistoffendersearchresults&listpage=1 Current status of Barbara Stager, Offender Number: 0386206], North Carolina Department Of Public Safety website. Accessed April 4, 2024.
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JjHeJ8UIzI Forensic Files - Season 5, Episode 14: "Broken Promises"]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMlyUfGuPxo The New Detectives - Season 4, Episode 6: "Women Who Kill"]
*[http://law.justia.com/cases/north-carolina/supreme-court/1991/212a89-0.html State of North Carolina v. Barbara T. Stager <small>(1991)</small>]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stager, Barbara}}
Category:1948 births
Category:Living people
Category:American female murderers
Category:American people convicted of murder
Category:American prisoners sentenced to death
Category:1988 murders in the United States
Category:Perpetrators of mariticide
Category:People convicted of murder by North Carolina
Category:Prisoners sentenced to death by North Carolina
Category:20th-century American murderers

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Barbara Stager](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Stager) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Stager?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.