Movies Based on True Stories (A Vision of Murder the Story of Donielle)

The movie A Vision of Murder the Story of Donielle is based on the case of a real life psychic. The movie came to tv in the year 2000 as a movie based on a true story, and it stars Melissa Gilbert.

Psychic Murder Case, Carol Bundy and Douglas Clark

This movie is based on the case of serial killer Douglas Clark and Carol Bundy. Donielle Patton was the waitress who claimed to be psychic. There is a lot of info already on the net about this case. So I will simply post some links to the case for you.

Background on Doug Clark

Doug Clark had a very high IQ even though he had never attended college. He was a handsome man, and a highly intelligent man with lots of charm. He had an easy time getting women to fall for him. He looked for women that he could attach to easily. Women that would pay for his good time. This is one of the reasons that he chose Carol Bundy.

Background on Carol Bundy

Carol Bundy had a troubled life. She grew up in Los Angeles in an abusive household. At age 14, her mother died of a heart attack. After her mother died, Carol's own father started an incestuous relationship with her. When her father remarried, Carol started becoming promiscuous and bounced from several foster homes. She also began losing her eyesight at a very young age. She used her body as a way to receive love from men. Once she became an adult she married abusive men.  She once lived in a home for battered women. In 1979, she met and fell in love with a man named Jack Murray. He was married and he often took advantage of her. He kept promising her that he would leave his wife, and when he did not, she called his wife and tried to bribe her to leave her husband. Jack became enraged, and eventually broke it off with Carol Bundy. In 1979, she met a man named Doug Clark in a bar. At the time, she was down on her luck, and it was obvious that suffered from low self esteem. This is why she was such an easy victim for Doug Clark.

On June 12, 1980 

A worker finds the bodies of 2 young ladies. The bodies were half unclothed and hidden under some bushes in Los Angeles, California off on Sunset Boulevard. The two women had been shot in the head at another location and dumped. The two women were runaways stepsisters by the names Cindy Chandler (Cynthia Chandler) and Gina Marano. They were ages 15 and 16. The police investigate, but find no suspects. Gina received two gunshot wounds to the head. She was also assaulted. Background info on the two ladies indicated that they had run away from home several times.

On June 14, 1980

A woman calls in and states that her boyfriend admitted to murdering the two girls, and she called to get details on the actual case.

1980

Doug Clark begins telling Carol Bundy of his twisted desires, and she begins taking part in his escapades.

April 24, 1980

Carol agrees to buy two pistols, which they called the toys. The toys were for each of them. Then Doug began to look for easy prey in LA. After Doug kills the runaway girls, he confesses his crimes to Carol. Then Carol calls the police to confirm his story.  Doug tells Carol of his crimes when he was making love to her. It excites her, and she can no longer distinguish reality from fantasy.

June 1980

Police are still tying to find out who murdered the two young girls.  They eventually respond to a 911 call where they find the body of a woman in a ditch in Burbank, California. She has been shot. They identify the body as that of  Karen Jones. Later in the day they also find the body of a woman who was found in a garbage dumpster. The person had been decapitated. She is identified as Etsy Wilson.  They were both working the streets of Los Angeles. The police start to connect the two murders together. However, they do not connect the murders to the runaways. The news starts to report the bizaar murders, and sheer panic sets in. This is exciting to Doug. He loves watching the news reports.

June 27th

A box is found with the head of Etsy Wilson. It is frozen and wrapped in a t-shirt with the words "daddy's girl." Ballistics shows that the same gun was used to kill both Etsy Wilson and Karen Jones. They also make the connection between the runaway girls. Police begin questioning working girls on Sunset Boulevard to find out if they know anything. When the murders are connected Doug's story completely changes. He begins to reject Carol, and she becomes concerned that she could be his next victm.

June 30th

A body is found in a trash area. The body is identified as a woman by the name of Marnette Comer also known as Annette Ann Davis. The police finds .25 caliber bullets.

August 3

Carol starts to tell her ex boyfriend Jack about the crimes that she and Doug have committed. He does not really believe her at first. He agrees to leave with her, and they make out in his van.Carol shoots Jack and carries his head home to Doug as a trophy. The two later dispose it.

August 9

The body of Jack is found in his van. The head has been removed from the body, and he has been stabbed 9 times. A .25 caliber shell casing is found in the van.  Police question witnesses at the bar who implicate Carol as the last person seen with the victim. The police question Carol and Doug accompanies her to the police station. She tells the police that she was never with Jack. Doug seems nervous, but he is pretending to be cooperating with police. The police know that he is lying about something.

August 11

Doug calls the police. He tells the police that he had lied. He states that Carol was with him for a while, but she had departed at some point in the middle of the night. Carol also calls the police later that evening, and she confesses to the murder of Jack Murray. She states that she lured him to the van and shot him. Carol also confesses to the other murders, and she implicates Doug. She turns over photos of Doug and the 22 year old victim, and she gives them clothing that belonged to some of the other victims. Van Nuys police then arrest Doug Clark for child molestation until they can find more evidence to connect him to the Sunset Strip murders.  Doug denies involvement in any of the murders. He instead blames Jack and Carol for the murders. He only admits to helping Carol dispose of Jack's head.

During the interview, Carol keeps referring to the guns as the toys. Police are unable to find the murder weapons.

August 13

Carol is arrainged and held without bail. She gives more details about the runaways girls. She states that Doug picked them up and shot them. She also tells police that he kept the sisters in a storage area until he later dumped them. In the storage area in Van Nuys, police find a square in the floor filled with red marks. There is also a boot print. The boot print matches the boots that Doug is wearing the day he was apprehended. Bullet holes and dried blood is also found in Doug's car.

August 15

The two .25 caliber guns used to commit the murders are found

August 26

Unidentified skeletal remains are found with a bullet inside of  the skull that matches the 25 caliber guns

Jan 1983

Doug Clark is convicted of 6 counts of first degree murder with special circumstances. He receives the death penalty.

March 1983

Another body is found. Carol admits to helping Doug with the murder of this woman. She is then charged with two counts of murder.

May 1983

Carol signs plea agreement. She get 52 years to life for the two murders.

Tidbits

Update: Carol Bundy died of heart failure in 2003. Doug Clark is still on Death Row.
Photos of Carol Bundy and Doug Clark here

Donielle Psychic Connection to Doug Clark Case

According to Donielle she has been seeing visions since she was a small child. Most of the images in her head were very disturbing, and she often tried to suppress the thoughts.

The movie depicted a psychic by the name of Donielle. There was a real psychic connected to the case her name is Donielle Patton. At the time of the murders Donielle Patton was working as a dancer at the same bar that Doug often visited. She also stated that Doug would often talk to her....telling her the most intimate details of his intimate life. The name of the bar was Outrigger Bar, and it was located on Van Nuys Boulevard. The bar was closed at the time of the first murder. So many people discounted Donielle's story. Her story however was allowed into trial. At trial, Donielle testified, and she cried on the stand as she told the jurors how Doug often threatened her, and he told her that he knew where she lived. Donielle Patton has also helped in other murders and disappearances since these crimes occurred.

Tidbits
She now goes by the name Donielle Gordon