My article for Crime Reads: The connection between “Perry Mason” and the Cecil Wells Murder Case

Glen “Bud” Bodell at Black Canyon in Nevada; one of his early jobs was security at the Hoover Dam

Cecil’s eldest children Phyllis and Clayton were quickly unhappy with the way the Fairbanks PD, the FBI and US attorney Ted Stevens were handling the case, so they decided to hire a private detective - and they reached out to Erle Stanley Gardner, the creator of “Perry Mason”, and asked for a recommendation. Gardner suggested Glen “Bud” Bodell, a very colorful character who had obtained some crucial information regarding Emma Jo Johnson, who had been convicted of murdering her landlady in Las Vegas. Gardner had written about the Johnson case for Argosy magazine, and he and his famous “Court of Last Resort”, a team of specialists, worked to gain her release in 1954 - so Bodell was at the front of Gardner’s mind when the Wells family came calling…. but did he find out anything? Read my article from Crime Reads and find out!

Erle Stanley Gardner, the prolific author and creator of legendary characters including “Perry Mason” and “Ironside”.

Set up by Gardner and other law, science and legal experts, the “Court of Last Resort” was a volunteer group that looked at potential miscarriages of justice. It was initially a series of stories written by Gardner, but it expanded to a best-selling book and then a 1957 TV series.