In 1977, a hand-built, brick mansion was built by Dr. Charles L. Scudder and his partner, Joseph “Joey” Odom. The pair was interested in the occult and decided to name their new home "Corpsewood Manor". The home was adorned with gargoyles and the pair lived happily there with their two Bull Mastiffs.
Scudder and Odom were openly gay, which was not fully accepted in the 1970s, but still they were well liked by their community. They were also members of the Satanic Temple. Contrary to popular belief most members of the Satanic Temple, including Scudder and Odom, did not worship the devil but instead were Atheists who believed in the lawful separation of church and state within the US government.
The pair were also known for throwing big parties at their large estate, at which drug use and sexual acts out in the open were encouraged. At one of these parties, two residents of the area attended, 17-year-old Kenneth Avery Brock and his roommate, 30-year-old Samuel Tony West, among others. At the party, the pair took notice of the large home and collection of expensive art and other items inside the home, and they started concocting a plot.
On December 12, 1982, Brock and West drove to Corpsewood Manor with two of their teenaged friends named Joey Wells and Teresa Hudgins. Once there, they took part in some homemade wine and drugs from Scudder and Odom. At one point in the evening, Brock retrieved a rifle from his vehicle and shot and killed Joey Odom and the two Bull Mastiff dogs. He then got ahold of Dr. Scudder and showed him his murdered partner and dogs and ordered him to retrieve all of the cash from the house, but Corpsewood Manor had no safe and virtually no cash within its walls. Once the murderers realized they wouldn't be leaving with riches, they shot Dr. Scudder 5 times in the head, gathered any valuables they could find, and left the home.
At that point, Brock and West went on the run with what little valuables they gathered from Corpsewood Manor. In Mississippi, they killed another man in another attempted robbery, before both finally turning themselves in by Christmas of 1982. Samuel West went to trial and was found guilty on two counts of first degree murder and sentenced to death. Kenneth Brock pled guilty to two counts of first degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison.