Photo: Courtesy Priscilla WyersMary Bailey, then 11, couldn’t believe what her mother was asking her to do.“She told me, ‘I need you to shoot him in the head,'” Mary, now 46, tells PEOPLE, recounting the night her mother asked her to shoot her abusive stepfather. “‘If you do this,’ she said, ‘it will all be over. You’re not gonna go to jail, you’re too young.'“Mary was terrified.“I pleaded with her, I told her, ‘I can’t. Please don’t make me,'” she says.But her mother Priscilla insisted.“My heart was pounding,” Mary says. “It felt like it took forever to get to the living room. I remember thinking, ‘I can’t shoot him in the head,’ so I held it up to his stomach and pulled the trigger.“It would take approximately two hours for her stepfather Wayne Wyers to die. It would take more than three decades for Mary to make peace with what she was forced to do — and also to repair her relationship with her mother.The life-changing event is the focus of tonight’s episode ofPeople Magazine Investigates. Titled “Mother’s Orders,” the episode airs at 9 ET on Investigation Discovery and discovery+. (An exclusive clip is shown above.)It all started in early February 1987 when Wyers, then 29, returned from working as a truck driver to their West Virginia home and discovered his wife Priscilla had lent his Jeep to an acquaintance who’d run it off the road.For more on Mary Bailey’s journey to forgive her mother,subscribe now to PEOPLEor pick up this week’s issue, on newsstands now.Wyers was enraged and spent the next few days turning their lives into a living hell.Courtesy Sharon McGrawMary watched Wyers slap her grandmother so hard that he damaged her hearing. Finally, he grabbed a butcher knife, pressed it against her mother’s throat and threatened to kill her before eventually passing out drunk in his chair.Priscilla then went to her bedroom and emerged with a .22-cal. rifle and put it in her daughter’s hands.After police arrived, Priscilla initially told investigators she shot him. But then “she said it was all my idea,” says Mary.Mother and daughter were both charged with murder. Mary was quickly placed in foster care and her attorney was told charges against her would be dropped if she testified against her mother.Rita HarperNow, Mary lives with her attorney husband in Gastonia, N.C., and owns a medical uniform business. She has written a memoir about her experience titled,My Mother’s Soldier.“The process of writing the book helped me heal,” Mary says.See more of Mary Bailey’s story (“Mother’s Orders”) and the case onPeople Magazine Investigates, airing Monday, June 13, at 9 p.m. ET on Investigation Discovery and also streaming on discovery+.
Photo: Courtesy Priscilla Wyers
Mary Bailey, then 11, couldn’t believe what her mother was asking her to do.“She told me, ‘I need you to shoot him in the head,'” Mary, now 46, tells PEOPLE, recounting the night her mother asked her to shoot her abusive stepfather. “‘If you do this,’ she said, ‘it will all be over. You’re not gonna go to jail, you’re too young.'“Mary was terrified.“I pleaded with her, I told her, ‘I can’t. Please don’t make me,'” she says.But her mother Priscilla insisted.“My heart was pounding,” Mary says. “It felt like it took forever to get to the living room. I remember thinking, ‘I can’t shoot him in the head,’ so I held it up to his stomach and pulled the trigger.“It would take approximately two hours for her stepfather Wayne Wyers to die. It would take more than three decades for Mary to make peace with what she was forced to do — and also to repair her relationship with her mother.The life-changing event is the focus of tonight’s episode ofPeople Magazine Investigates. Titled “Mother’s Orders,” the episode airs at 9 ET on Investigation Discovery and discovery+. (An exclusive clip is shown above.)It all started in early February 1987 when Wyers, then 29, returned from working as a truck driver to their West Virginia home and discovered his wife Priscilla had lent his Jeep to an acquaintance who’d run it off the road.For more on Mary Bailey’s journey to forgive her mother,subscribe now to PEOPLEor pick up this week’s issue, on newsstands now.Wyers was enraged and spent the next few days turning their lives into a living hell.Courtesy Sharon McGrawMary watched Wyers slap her grandmother so hard that he damaged her hearing. Finally, he grabbed a butcher knife, pressed it against her mother’s throat and threatened to kill her before eventually passing out drunk in his chair.Priscilla then went to her bedroom and emerged with a .22-cal. rifle and put it in her daughter’s hands.After police arrived, Priscilla initially told investigators she shot him. But then “she said it was all my idea,” says Mary.Mother and daughter were both charged with murder. Mary was quickly placed in foster care and her attorney was told charges against her would be dropped if she testified against her mother.Rita HarperNow, Mary lives with her attorney husband in Gastonia, N.C., and owns a medical uniform business. She has written a memoir about her experience titled,My Mother’s Soldier.“The process of writing the book helped me heal,” Mary says.See more of Mary Bailey’s story (“Mother’s Orders”) and the case onPeople Magazine Investigates, airing Monday, June 13, at 9 p.m. ET on Investigation Discovery and also streaming on discovery+.
Mary Bailey, then 11, couldn’t believe what her mother was asking her to do.
“She told me, ‘I need you to shoot him in the head,'” Mary, now 46, tells PEOPLE, recounting the night her mother asked her to shoot her abusive stepfather. “‘If you do this,’ she said, ‘it will all be over. You’re not gonna go to jail, you’re too young.'”
Mary was terrified.
“I pleaded with her, I told her, ‘I can’t. Please don’t make me,'” she says.
But her mother Priscilla insisted.
“My heart was pounding,” Mary says. “It felt like it took forever to get to the living room. I remember thinking, ‘I can’t shoot him in the head,’ so I held it up to his stomach and pulled the trigger.”
It would take approximately two hours for her stepfather Wayne Wyers to die. It would take more than three decades for Mary to make peace with what she was forced to do — and also to repair her relationship with her mother.
The life-changing event is the focus of tonight’s episode ofPeople Magazine Investigates. Titled “Mother’s Orders,” the episode airs at 9 ET on Investigation Discovery and discovery+. (An exclusive clip is shown above.)
It all started in early February 1987 when Wyers, then 29, returned from working as a truck driver to their West Virginia home and discovered his wife Priscilla had lent his Jeep to an acquaintance who’d run it off the road.
For more on Mary Bailey’s journey to forgive her mother,subscribe now to PEOPLEor pick up this week’s issue, on newsstands now.
Wyers was enraged and spent the next few days turning their lives into a living hell.
Courtesy Sharon McGraw
Mary watched Wyers slap her grandmother so hard that he damaged her hearing. Finally, he grabbed a butcher knife, pressed it against her mother’s throat and threatened to kill her before eventually passing out drunk in his chair.
Priscilla then went to her bedroom and emerged with a .22-cal. rifle and put it in her daughter’s hands.
After police arrived, Priscilla initially told investigators she shot him. But then “she said it was all my idea,” says Mary.
Mother and daughter were both charged with murder. Mary was quickly placed in foster care and her attorney was told charges against her would be dropped if she testified against her mother.
Rita Harper
Now, Mary lives with her attorney husband in Gastonia, N.C., and owns a medical uniform business. She has written a memoir about her experience titled,My Mother’s Soldier.
“The process of writing the book helped me heal,” Mary says.
See more of Mary Bailey’s story (“Mother’s Orders”) and the case onPeople Magazine Investigates, airing Monday, June 13, at 9 p.m. ET on Investigation Discovery and also streaming on discovery+.
source: people.com
