Real name: Thomas Christopher Dilbeck

American country music songwriter.
Born: November 17, 1905 Arkansas. Died: June 30, 1983 (age of 77).
On January 16, 1968 he shot and killed his wife Mrs.Hildegard Dilbeck in a Los Angeles court house and wounded her two attorneys, an accountant, and a prospective witness of hers--she was seeking a divorce. He began serving a life term at the California Men's Colony in San Luis Obispo, California and later his estate paid an estimated $250,000 for suits filed by the people shot and Hildegard's parents from West Germany.