Dale Pierre

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Dale Pierre Full Name: Dale Selby Pierre Alias: Pierre Dale Selby Origin: Trinidad and Tobago Occupation: U.S. Air Force airman Hobby: Watching Magnum Force Goals: Rob the Ogden Hi-Fi store Crimes: Murder Rape Torture Attempted murder Robbery Type of Villain: Sadistic Murderer

Dale Selby Pierre (January 21, 1953 - August 28, 1987) was an American airman and one of the main perpetrators of the 1974 Hi-Fi murders in Ogden, Utah. Pierre and five other men broke into the Hi-Fi store in Ogden with the intention of robbing it and took five people hostage in the basement. Pierre and William Andrews then forced the hostages to drink drain cleaner and killed three of them, leaving the two survivors with life-changing injuries. Pierre was executed on August 28, 1987.

Biography

Pierre was born in Trinidad and Tobago in 1953. His family moved to the United States when he was 17, and Pierre joined the U.S. Air Force in 1973. He was stationed at Hill Air Force Base near Ogden, Texas. He was the prime suspect in the murder of Sergeant Edward Jefferson almost immediately after his arrival, but enough evidence to charge him was never found. Pierre shared his barracks with William Andrews and Keith Roberts, two of his accomplices in the Hi-Fi murders.

On April 22, 1974, a group of six African-American men who included Pierre, Andrews and Roberts drove to the Hi-Fi store at 2323 Washington Boulevard, Ogden, in two vans. Four of them entered the store brandishing handguns while Roberts and the driver of the other van remained in the vehicles. Two employees, 20-year-old Stanley Walker and 18-year-old Michelle Ansley, were inside at the time. Pierre and Andrews took the two hostage and forced them into the basement, where they tied them up. The four men then began robbing the store. During the robbery, 16-year-old Cortney Naisbitt entered the store to thank Stanley Walker for allowing him to park his car outside the store and was also taken hostage. Later that evening, Stanley Walker's father Orren and Cortney Naisbitt's mother Carol both arrived to search for their respective sons and were also taken hostage.

With five hostages in the basement, Pierre told Andrews to get a bottle of Drano from the van. Pierre poured out a cup of Drano and ordered Orren to give it to the other hostages, but he refused. Pierre and Andrews propped the hostages into sitting positions and forced them to drink the Drano, claiming that it was vodka laced with sleeping pills. They then attempted to duct-tape the victim's mouths shut to stop them screaming but the blisters forming as a result of the Drano stopped the tape from sticking. Orren Walker was the last to be given the Drano, but spat it out when Pierre and Andrews weren't looking and mimicked the screaming and convulsing of the other hostages.

Pierre, frustrated that the victims were taking too long to die, shot Carol and Cortney Naisbitt in the head, killing Carol. He then shot at both Walkers, missing Orren and only grazing the back of his head but killing Stanley. Afterwards Pierre told Andrews to leave for 30 minutes; after Andrews left, Pierre dragged Michelle Ansley into the corner, forced her to strip naked at gunpoint and raped her. He then dragged her back over to the hostages, threw her to the ground and shot her. When Andrews re-entered, he noticed that Orren was still alive and told Pierre to finish him off. Pierre attempted to strangle him with a garrotte wire, but this failed to kill him. Andrews then placed a ballpoint pen in Orren's ear and Pierre stomped on it until it punctured his eardrum and stabbed through his throat. Believing him to be dead, Pierre and Andrews left the basement and helped their accomplices to load the vans before the group left.

Three hours later, Orren Walker's wife and other son came looking for him and found the victims. Orren Walker and Cortney Naisbitt survived upon being admitted to hospital, although Cortney Naisbitt suffered amnesia from being shot by Pierre, but the other three victims were dead. Police were attracted to the Hill Air Force Base after another soldier reported that Andrews had talked about robbing the Hi-Fi store; later that day, the victim's wallets were found by two teenagers in a dumpster near the base. A police detective responding to the scene assembled all the airmen at the base to put on a scene for them, suspecting the killers were among them. Speaking dramatically, he waved each piece of evidence in the air as he removed it with tongs. Noticing the panicked reactions of Pierre, Andrews and Roberts, the detective gained their identities from the other soldiers and arrested all three. The three men's barracks were searched, revealing fliers for the Hi-Fi store and a rental contract in Andrews's name for a storage unit. The storage unit was searched, revealing items taken from the Hi-Fi store and a half-empty bottle of Drano.

Pierre, Andrews and Roberts were charged with murder and aggravated robbery. Roberts testified against Pierre and Andrews, telling the court that they had been planning the crime for several months, intending to kill anyone they found at the store, and had repeatedly watched the film Magnum Force, getting the idea to use Drano on the hostages from a scene in which a pimp uses it to kill a prostitute. Orren Walker also testified, identifying Pierre and Andrews as the killers. Pierre and Andrews were convicted of murder and sentenced to death, whilst Roberts was only convicted of robbery.

While awaiting execution, Pierre changed his name to "Pierre Dale Selby". He petitioned for clemency, testifying at his hearing that he had committed the crime due to the influence of drugs and alcohol and that he was a changed man. However, Andrews claimed that Pierre had never used either. Orren Walker again testified against him, telling the hearing that Pierre was a sadist who had enjoyed himself while shooting the hostages. Pierre's petition for clemency was rejected. A campaign by Amnesty International and the NAACP to commute Pierre and Andrews's sentences on the grounds of racial bias (all jurors at the trial had been white and the sole African-American in the juror pool had been dismissed) failed and Pierre was executed by lethal injection on August 28, 1987.