Glenna Whitley’s February 1993 article contains all the horrific details of the torture and humiliation that Bill Cathey subjected Wendy McKee to while holding her captive in his Sunnyvale home for two weeks in May 1991. He was a well-liked UNT professor, and she was a 22-year-old drug addict who’d had run-ins with the law. He figured no one would miss her when he talked her into his car late one night and then pulled a gun on her. He hung her naked in a closet and began a bizarre brainwashing experiment in an attempt to make her a “perfect woman.”
Read the whole thing. It’s one of D Magazine‘s 40 greatest stories.
At the time the article was published, Cathey’s whereabouts were unknown. He’d disappeared just before his trial was scheduled to begin in July 1992. It turned out that he’d gone to southeastern Oklahoma. Under the name Preston Primm, he bought 20 acres in Le Flore County and lived there, ingratiating himself to his neighbors, until April 1993. That’s when, according to the Oklahoman, Cathey ended up in a gun battle with a couple of prison guards and local policemen who were checking out a stolen car.
After his real identify was established the next day, he was charged with attempting to kill the officers (plus possession of methamphetamine.) He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison along with several other 10-year sentences on related charges. In 2006 he was convicted on a new charge of assault with intent to commit a felony and another 10 years was added to his term.
Now 72 years old, he’s at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester and scheduled to be there through April 2066, though he does have a parole hearing set for next month. Since he was already facing life in prison for his crimes in Oklahoma, Texas prosecutors decided not to extradite Cathey to face trial for what he’d allegedly done to McKee.
As for McKee, a quick online search reveals that, unfortunately, her life continued to be a troubled one.
