The Murder of Rene Cote, Part Two
Bertha Surprise Cote, wife of Rene Cote
This is part 2 of two-part series.
Click here for part one of The Murder of Rene Cote.
Bertha Cote makes an appearance
It was a cold day, but the winter sun carved through the frost that coated the windows of the shops on Main Street in Brockton, MA. On a typical February morning, the sidewalk would be much quieter—shopkeepers and customers would be tucked inside, away from the cutting wind. But this was not a typical morning—Main Street was buzzing with a sizeable crowd. They gathered around the steps of the Plymouth County District Court.
At last, just before 10:00AM, a car pulled up to the sidewalk in front of the courthouse. The crowd seemed to collectively hold their breath. Out of the backseat stepped a tiny older woman wearing a fur-lined coat and a flowered hat. She glared at the pack of reporters pressing close to the vehicle.
And then a leg emerged from the car. It was wearing a slim white high heel, which touched delicately onto the sidewalk, amid the cigarette butts and gray slush. The rest of the leg’s owner soon followed. She was a young woman, dark-haired, of small stature. She was fashionably dressed in a gray skirt and jacket, a white blouse, and fur stole.
Flashbulbs went off in blinding bursts. The reporters shouted for her attention, “Bertha! Bertha!” Some lobbed questions at her: “Did you do it? Did you kill him?”
Another barrage of questions and flashes erupted. After a few moments, Bertha Cote and her chaperone were admitted through the front door. They made their way to the courtroom where they would hear the results of the grand jury that had been assembled to decide if Bertha should be indicted in her husband’s murder.
Police investigation continues
Just a month prior, Bertha’s detainment in the Plymouth County Jailhouse had been as a “material witness” in the case against Walter. Walter sat in jail under the weight of a murder charge that was propped up by Bertha’s accusations. Though she was charged with no crime, she had retained an attorney by then, Eben Townes who had cautioned her to stop speaking with the police.
Lt. Sullivan, though, had found Bertha in the jail library on multiple occasions and had asked her to repeat what had happened on the night of her husband’s death. Each retelling seemingly left new threads in Bertha’s story for the police to pull at. She spoke to him on the 4th, 7th, 17th and the 19th—each time, without her counsel even knowing.
Bertha had developed a rapport with Brockton Police Lieutenant Edward Sullivan, who habitually sought her out to discuss the case without her lawyer present. And Bertha, it seemed, could not stop herself from talking.
A surprise turn of events
It was about 3.5 weeks after the murder, on the morning of January 20th, and an icy deluge of rain poured down on the city of Brockton. The next stop in Walter’s murder case was a probable cause hearing—a hearing for a judge to determine whether or not there was sufficient evidence for it to continue to the next step in the legal process.
Sometime over the past week, Eben Townes had managed to convince his client that it would be in her best interest not to testify against her former lover. Bertha was under legal obligation to take the stand, but she didn’t have to answer certain questions. Judge Rowe told her, “You are not obligated to testify to anything that will incriminate you, but [you can speak to] other matters. What do you say?”
Bertha said, “I refuse to testify,” invoking her 5th amendment rights.
And in that moment, everything changed so swiftly that spectators audibly gasped.
Judge Rowe ordered Walter released from jail, and derisively commented to the prosecutor that Bertha’s accusations should not have been sufficient evidence to arrest him in the first place.
Bertha was startled as the clerk of the court once again asked her to stand. She rose to her feet as the clerk read a complaint against her. Judge Rowe asked how she pled. Bertha half-turned from the clerk and spoke out sharply, “Not guilty.”
Bertha was composed as she was taken away out a side entrance, escorted by an officer and the jail matron, who kept a comforting hand on her elbow. This time, she would be behind bars not as a witness, but as the accused.
Grand jury hearing
The morning of Bertha’s grand jury hearing arrived. Inside the courthouse were 21 jurors, all men and all residents of Plymouth County. The prosecution consisted of District Attorney Edmund Dewing and four assistants, while the defense team included Townes and his associate, Edward Stevens.
In the vast majority of murder cases, the grand jury listens to the prosecution present its case at a secret hearing and then basically rubber-stamps the charges, giving their seal of approval, which is known as an indictment. In Bertha’s case, the grand jury functioned in a less common secondary role—as an investigating body.
Sometime during the lunch break, District Attorney Edmund Dewing met with Townes and the rest of Bertha’s legal team, occupying their attention at the front of the courthouse while some shenanigans were underway in the back.
The members of the jury, it seemed, wanted to hear from Bertha herself, and in their role as investigators, they seemed to have had some authority to compel her to appear before them. The foreman passed this instruction to the prosecutor, who ordered the county sheriff to fetch her from the jail.
This is highly unusual. Bertha stood charged with murder. The grand jury was reviewing the charges against her, and she certainly had the right to remain silent. She was not scheduled to appear before the grand jury, and, in fact, her attorney had instructed her not to.
Nonetheless, shortly before 3:00PM, a flustered Bertha Cote arrived at the courthouse. She was spirited around to the back of the courthouse and hoisted through an open window into the law library, climbing over a table and chair—a measure ostensibly undertaken by the prosecution to avoid tipping off her defense attorney. She was then brought up the main staircase to the courtroom where the grand jury was waiting for her. All of this transpired during the lunch break, apparently while her defense team was distracted by the DA.
Her attorney caught a glimpse of her entering the courtroom, and he was livid. He rushed into Judge Forte’s chambers, where some “loud talking” took place. When he entered the lobby, where reporters were allowed to gather, he declared, “I believe this is an unethical procedure. A defendant is never brought before the grand jury. They did this without my consent. If Mrs. Cote is indicted, following forced testimony, I will immediately move to have the indictment quashed.” The Boston Globe wrote that the situation was “unprecedented in Massachusetts history.”
The following morning, February 7th, Bertha made her striking appearance on the steps of the courthouse, looking confident as she strode in to hear the grand jury’s decision.
The clerk said, “The grand jury has returned an indictment for first degree murder [against Bertha Cote].” Turning to the sheriff, he asked, “Will you serve the defendant with a copy of the indictment?”
Assurance melted from Bertha’s face as the sheriff handed her the document. It indicated that she would be tried for murder having “assaulted and beat—with intent to murder—and did kill [her husband] Rene Cote.” Curiously, there was a second charge for murder with a slightly different wording—added that she had killed her husband “with a blunt instrument,” though the weapon was not explicitly identified.
In a weak voice, Bertha pled, “Not guilty.” A moment later, in response to second charge, she repeated the words in a firmer tone.
In the following weeks, Townes fought heroically to quash the murder indictment. He said that she was told that she was brought there on the pretext that she would testifying as a witness against another party—the real attacker—when in reality the grand jury was considering her guilt and hers alone.
Ultimately, Judge Forte ruled that the indictment against Bertha was valid and her trial was set for the middle of June. She would go before a jury for murdering her husband.
The Christmas Tree murder trial begins
Wednesday, June 18, 1947 marked the start of what the media dubbed “The Christmas Tree Murder” trial.
On the morning of the first official day of the trial, ADA Wheatley launched into his opening statements with the facts surrounding the death of Rene Cote. He declared that he would prove that Bertha, acting alone, killed her husband by beating him on the head and choking him. As for motive, Wheatley told the jury that he believed that Bertha was enraged by Rene’s relationship with the dancer Nellie Strypek (professionally known as Barbara Bellmore), with whom her husband was having an affair.
Patrolman Albert Blood was called upon to describe the scene as he found it in the early hours of December 28. He recounted meeting Bertha in the kitchen and how she had collapsed upon hearing that Rene was dead. He and one of the neighbors, Mr. Winberg, had picked her up and put her on the bed. Officer Blood said that he went to get her a glass of water and, when he returned, he saw Bertha put her hand under the mattress and then into the pocket of her robe. He did not see what she had in her hand. Wheatley tried to imply that the patrolman had seen tinsel stuffed into her pocket, of the same angel hair variety that had been strewn all over the stairs leading out of the building.
Her downstairs neighbor, Margaret Minnock, shared her observations from the morning of the murder. She heard a loud crash from the apartment above in the early hours, and it was followed by several minutes of silence—perhaps as many as 10 minutes, in her estimation. Then Bertha came running down the stairs, screaming for help.
On the morning of the murder, Margaret had had breakfast with Bertha and her daughter, and she recalled that she showed no sign of emotion or hysteria. She recalled that Bertha had told her plainly, “Well, Rene and I loved each other. We have that to remember.” Then, when one of Rene’s brothers entered the room, Bertha suddenly started crying and clinging to him. The implication was that this emotion may have been for show.
The prosecution needed to walk a fine line here—each witness capable of building a case for why Bertha would have the motivation to murder her husband also painted her in a sympathetic light. People liked Bertha. She was young and vulnerable—a caring mother and housewife. Rene, on the other hand, was an incorrigible womanizer, wife beater, and swindler who inevitably wronged anyone in his path. Wheatley had to remind the jury that they were there to determine whether or not Bertha killed Rene, not if he deserved it.
The star witness – Brockton PD Lt. Sullivan
The prosecution began the morning Wednesday, June 25th by questioning Brockton Police Lt. Gustave Newman. The officer testified that he was the one who had found blood in the plumbing drains in the apartment, proving “the slayer had washed his or her hands.”
Lt. Newman reiterated the theory that Bertha had made the footprints in the snow with the rubber boots that were found in the Cote’s bathroom. He told Wheatley, “Mrs. Cote virtually confessed to me and Inspector Sullivan that she killed her husband and then went downstairs in men’s rubbers to make tracks in the snow to deceive the police.”
But the prosecution’s star witness had not yet taken the stand. That honor would go to Brockton Police Lieutenant Sullivan. Bertha seemed visibly affected as he testified, perhaps because they had developed a rapport during her early days in the jail, both prior to and after her arrest.
ADA Wheatley asked him to recall the conversation with Bertha from the morning of January 15th. Lt. Sullivan said that he told Bertha that he would tell her what happened the night of Rene’s murder, and, “If I’m wrong, stop me.” He then narrated a story where Rene got home late—in the middle of the night—and she reprimanded him for being out with Nellie Strypek. Rene, he suggested, just ignored her and retired in the living room. Bertha, in a rage, struck Rene as he was laying on the couch. As he was saying this to her, Bertha interjected, “You have the real story, almost.” Lt. Sullivan said that he immediately countered with “What did you hit him with?” He said that she then broke down and cried and said, “I wish I had told you gentlemen the true story,” but every time she started it got stuck in her throat.
Defense presentation
After Sullivan’s testimony, the court paused for an hour-long conference between Wheatley, Townes, and Judge Forte. When they returned around 3:00PM, the prosecution rested its case.
Now it was Townes’ turn. He began by reminding the jury that they were there to consider only whether there was any reasonable doubt as to whether Bertha Cote killed her husband. His strategy was to show that Bertha was too small in stature to have beaten Rene—a man who had, in fact, beaten her numerous times before
Townes didn’t just portray Rene as a wife-beater, but as a cheater and a bigamist. He had been married to one woman when he tied the knot with the young and unsuspecting Bertha. And he seemed well on his way to marrying Nellie at the time of his death. He was also a swindler and thief.
That night, Townes and Wheatley met with Judge Forte in his chambers. Their meeting went well into the evening, but neither attorney commented to reporters what had been discussed.
Bertha changes her plea
The next morning, court did not resume until after 10:00AM. It was a late start, and those crowding the courtroom fanned themselves as they wondered what could be taking so long.
Finally, Wheatley rose and opened the session by asking Bertha if she wished to change her plea. According to reports by the Boston Globe¸ the defendant “threw back her head as if a weight were lifted from her shoulders” and replied in a firm voice, “Guilty.”
The courtroom erupted with gasps and whispers. There had been no indication that Bertha would admit her guilt that day. Even the jurors seemed stunned by this turn of events.
Judge Forte quickly took control of the room, asking for silence. When he asked Townes why the defendant had decided to change her plea, the lawyer replied that he had not been aware of the incriminating statements that Bertha had made to Lt. Sullivan until the officer’s testimony the morning before.
Bertha did not plead guilty to murder, though, but to manslaughter—a deal no doubt forged between her attorney and the prosecutor.
Bertha only cried once that morning, when she pleaded for leniency from Judge Forte on behalf of her daughter. The press observed that many of the women in the room, including the judge’s own wife, grew teary-eyed, with some wiping their eyes with handkerchiefs.
Wheatley seemed unmoved by her pleas. He pointed out that Bertha had accused Walter Steele—an innocent man—of committing the crime. She stood by that accusation for five months until that very morning, even though it meant that Walter might face the electric chair.
The judge asked for the indictment and took a moment to scribble on the paper before handling it back to the clerk of the court. Then he asked Bertha to stand. The clerk read his sentence aloud. “Bertha Cote, the court, in consideration of your offense [of manslaughter], orders that you be confined to the Women’s Reformatory for not less than 3 ½ years and not more than six.”
Later, ADA Wheatley told the media, “After her plea, the defendant disclosed that the weapon was a piece of marble from the base of the Christmas tree.” It had never even left the apartment. She evidently told her lawyer that Rene had pushed her into the tree, causing it to topple. That was when “I grabbed the marble base and hit him as hard as I could. I didn’t want to kill him, but I was blind mad.”
Bertha Cote is a free woman
It was October 1949. A stiff wind swept across the sparse lawn of the Women’s Reformatory at Sherborn. It was 1:00AM when the stillness of the early morning was broken by a bulb winking on above one of the side gates. The door swung open and Bertha Cote stepped out.
In the yellow light of the bulb, Bertha, now 31 years old, paused and took a deep breath. It was funny how the air felt different just on the other side of that gate, as though freedom had a particular scent and feel. Not that she was fully liberated—the parole board had been clear that she would need permission to move, to remarry, to so much as take a sip of alcohol before her probation was over. And heaven help her if she so much as looked sideways at a reporter—thus, the early hour of her departure. But she was, as of that morning, a free woman.
This portion of text has been adapted from the Murder, She Told podcast episode, The Murder of Rene Cote, Part Two. To hear the full story, find Murder, She Told on your favorite podcast platform.
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Walter Steele with his mother, after being released from jail (Boston Globe)
Walter Steele with his mother (Daily News)
Walter Steele, a free man (Boston Globe)
Pierce Leavitt, medical examiner (Boston Globe)
Edward Sullivan, Brockton PD Lieutenant, star witness for prosecution (Boston Globe)
Raymond Beale, Brockton police officer (Boston Globe)
John R. Wheatley, prosecutor (Boston Globe)
Eben Townes, defense attorney (Boston Globe)
Edward Sullivan, Brockton PD Lieutenant, star witness for prosecution (ebay.com)
Bertha Cote (Boston Globe)
Bertha Cote (Boston Globe)
Bertha Cote (Boston Globe)
The jury for the trial of Bertha Cote (Boston Globe)
Jury card for trial (worthpoint.com)
Jury seating arrangement (worthpoint.com)
Jury field trip to Cote home (ebay.com)
Bertha Cote at jury field trip (Boston Globe)
Spectators looking on at jury field trip (Boston Globe)
Bertha Cote in car with police matron (ebay.com)
Bertha Cote in police car (ebay.com)
Bertha Cote leaving court with deputy (Boston Globe)
Bertha Cote leaving courthouse (Boston Globe)
Bertha Cote with police matron Abbey Woodward (ebay.com)
Bertha Cote with police matron (Boston Globe)
Bertha Cote with police matron (ebay.com)
Nellie Strypek (Newsday)
Nellie Strypek at the courthouse for Bertha’s trial (Boston Globe)
Bertha Cote after verdict (Boston Globe)
Bertha Cote (Daily News)
Bertha Cote starting her sentence (Boston Globe)
Bertha’s mother, Laura Surprise (Boston Globe)
Womens Reformatory at Sherborn
Illustration based upon the case by Larry Kritcher (Sun-Telegraph)
Rene Cote (Boston Globe)
Sources For This Episode
Newspaper articles
Various articles from the Daily News, Fitchburg Sentinel, The Berkshire Eagle, The Boston Globe, the North Adams Transcript, and Newsday, here.
Written by various authors including Alan Sheehan, Amasa Howe, Charles Gruenberg, Charles Whipple, Edward O'Neill, Frank Harris, Fred Brady, Leonora Ross, Nat Kline, Peter Levins, Ruth Reynolds, Stanley Howard, and William Tisdel.
Credits
Research, vocal performance, and audio editing by Kristen Seavey
Research, photo editing, and writing support by Byron Willis
Written by Morgan Hamilton
Research by Ericka Pierce
Murder, She Told is created by Kristen Seavey.