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I'm Renee, and this is Beyond Contempt True Crime.

Thank you. I'm Renee, and this is Beyond Contempt True Crime. You're listening to Episode 37, The Wellnets Family.

Joseph Walnitz married Elizabeth Preston in 1979 in Lexington, Kentucky.

He was a veterinarian, and the couple moved to Adair County in 1981 to open a veterinary clinic.

Joe and Beth worked as a team while he performed all the veterinary work,

and Beth managed the office.

They were known and liked around the small farming community.

They gained a reputation for being generous people,

since Joe provided services to people who could not pay them.

This was a second marriage for Joe and Beth.

Beth had two kids from a previous marriage, Dennis and Meg, who both took the Walnut's name.

Joe had a great affection for these kids, even if they were not biologically his.

Dennis Walnitz was attending Somerset Community College and was living with his parents as he

worked his way through school. Meg was attending Lexington Community College. On February 26, 1993, an intruder slipped into the Walnuts family home in Columbia, Kentucky,

and shot 50-year-old Joseph, 40-year-old Elizabeth, and 20-year-old Dennis Wilmitts.

The police found no signs of forced entry, and the intruder spared no

bullets as over ten shell casings were discovered. The residents of Adair County, which encompassed

the city of Columbia, were upset as the murders seemed random and were senseless. For Columbia,

...