Seduced to Slay: Where Are Janie Ballard’s Killers Leslie MacKool and Mike MacKool Now?
ID’s true-crime show Seduced to Slay chronicles the capital murder case against Janie Ballard’s killers Leslie MacKool and Mike MacKool. The episode titled “The Good Girl” will air on the network on Monday, December 18, 2023, at 10 p.m. ET.
An official synopsis for the upcoming episode states, “When recently widowed Janie Ballard is found brutally murdered in her home, police suspect it’s a home invasion gone wrong; when detectives learn that Janie’s husband left her with a sizeable estate, their list of suspects turns personal.”
Leslie MacKool stabbed her mother, Janie Ballard, to death at the latter’s Little Rock, Arkansas, home before stealing valuables from the house. Ballard died of at least 70 stab wounds and had a slit throat to the point where she was nearly decapitated. Leslie eventually confessed to the murder, but her lawyer alleged that her husband, Mike MacKool, made her commit the crime. Both were charged with capital murder.
Janie Ballard’s killers: Where are Leslie MacKool and Mike MacKool now?
According to Fox News, in May 2004, a jury found Leslie MacKool guilty of capital murder in mother Janie Ballard’s murder case. She received a life sentence without the possibility of parole and an additional 60 months for a property theft charge. Meanwhile, Mike stood trial separately, which resulted in a first-degree murder conviction. He received a 40-year prison sentence and a consecutive term of 20 years for a property theft charge.
Currently, Leslie is serving her sentence at the McPherson Unit in Newport, per the Arkansas Department of Corrections records. The Cinemhaolic reported that Mike is serving his sentence at the Varner Unit in Gould.
Reportedly, Leslie stabbed her 58-year-old mother, Janie Ballard, to death on September 13, 2003. Then-deputy prosecutor W.A. McCormick alleged that she and her husband Mike plotted the murder after reading the former’s later father Les Ballard’s will. The couple believed she would inherit her father’s $1.5 million to $2 million estate as they struggled financially. The only condition was that Ballard had to die within 30 days of Les’s death on August 19, 2003.
But the Ballards had revised the will after Leslie became involved with Mike MacKool, leaving her with only $25,000. The parents disapproved of Mike, who had a shady past and had once faced manslaughter charges after causing a friend’s death.
NBC News reported that Leslie’s lawyer alleged Mike made her commit the crime because he was a controlling husband. Moreover, defense attorney Bill James claimed she was afraid that Mike would kill her if she mishandled the murder.
After the murder, investigators brought in Leslie for questioning because they suspected Mike’s involvement in the crime. However, in a twisted turn of events, she admitted to murdering Ballard. “I did it – I killed my mother,” she said. Mike, on the other hand, denied any involvement but eventually admitted to some part of the homicide still insisting it was all Leslie, Fox reported.
The outlet reported that Leslie also led police to her home, where they found her bloodied clothes. There, they also found a stash of jewelry she claimed to have stolen from the victim’s house. She also informed police that she saw her husband throw the murder weapon into a nearby lake. A dive team eventually recovered the weapon, a butcher knife with an 8-inch blade.
Seduced to Slay on ID airs with an all-new episode on Monday, December 18, 2023.
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