at Mojave and the deputy coroner,

reporting that the death was suspicious.

C

ooley was still dazed and unable to

give a coherent account when the

Mojave deputies arrived. Dr. Troy said

he thought Mrs. Cooley had been beaten

to death, so the deputies phoned Sheriff

LeRoy Galyen’s office in Bakersfield, and

investigators set out for Tehachapi. Other

officers were dispatched to the Willow

Springs ranch, arriving to find it now

Ella Mae’s death on his return home. He

had to wait until the investigators had

finished their interrogation. Then when

his father was led out, the two rushed

into each other’s arms.

“Oh, dad!” John Cooley cried in a

choked voice.

“I’m sorry,” Spade sobbed. “I’m sorry,

John. Take care of the kids.”

The two men then had a short,

whispered conversation, and Spade was

given permission to phone his attorney.

Right, Donnell “Spade” Cooley

and his wife Ella Mae. In the

years after his career had cooled

and his relationship with his

wife had becoming increasingly

fractious. On the night of the

incident her injuries did not

tally with the “accident” Cooley

suggested she had suffered...

ER KING

RN SWING

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RN SWING

Reporters sped to the

police station. From their

iles, they knew that the

Cooleys had been having

marital trouble, and that

Spade had recently iled

for divorce

locked-up, dark and deserted.

Cooley accompanied the deputies to

Mojave, and when Investigator Harmon

Cooper and Sergeant Tom Shuell arrived

from Bakersfield at 2.30 a.m. he handed

them the keys to his home, giving them

permission to search it. Shortly before

dawn, his 28-year-old son by a previous

marriage hurried into the police station

with his frightened wife. John Cooley

lived in Lancaster, had been in Los

Angeles on business, and had learned of

her to be taken to a hospital. He insisted

on going to the hospital at Tehachapi, 45

miles away across the mountains, instead

of to Lancaster, so she was placed in the

ambulance, Cooley climbing in to join

her.

They reached Tehachapi Valley

hospital at 12.20 a.m. Five minutes later,

after a brief examination, Dr. Vincent

Troy said that Ella Mae had been dead

for several hours. There were cuts,

bruises and abrasions all over her body,

and he could not immediately determine

the cause of death.

Cooley said she had fallen and hurt

herself. “My God, this is terrible,” he

moaned repeatedly.

The doctor was puzzled by her

injuries, and he phoned the sheriff