“Kiss and Kill” refers to the March 20, 1961 homicide of Betty Williams, a teenager from Odessa, Texas. Betty was reportedly killed by her ex-boyfriend John Mack Herring at her own request in Winkler County, Texas.
Herring was tried and acquitted for the killing after his lawyers argued that he had temporary insanity.
Williams and Herring were both students at Odessa High School. Williams, who had counter-cultural views, was not considered popular, while Herring, an American football player, was considered to be popular.
Williams engaged in sexual activity with boys she was not in a relationship with, something seen as taboo at the school. The two became lovers, but Herring later broke up with her. Williams asked multiple individuals to kill her, requests they took as jokes.
Herring killed Williams on March 20, 1961. Herring and Williams went next to a stock tank on his parents’ hunting property in Winkler County, 26 miles (42 km) from Downtown Odessa. He shot her in the head with a twelve-gauge shotgun.
