Oxygen's Black Widow Murders: Where is Barbara Stager now?

Black Widow Murders on Oxygen will take a dive into Russ Stager's 1988 murder by his second wife Barbara Stager on Sunday, October 30. The episode is named after the convicted murderer, who was found guilty in connection with the case in August 1989.

Here's a look at the synopsis for the upcoming episode:

"A voice from beyond the grave helps investigators solve a crime after a Sunday School teacher loses two husbands in a row under suspicious circumstances."

Barbara was found guilty of first-degree murder and was given death penalty. However, a procedural error in the initial process led to the death sentence being altered to life imprisonment. She is currently serving time at the North Carolina Department of Corrections.

This article will further discuss the murder case details and about Barbara Stager's life.

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What happened on the night Russ Stager was shot by his second wife Barbara Stager?

On February 1,1988, Durham High School's baseball coach Russ Stager was fatally shot while he was in bed.

While investigations were underway, his second wife, Barbara Stager, claimed that Russ always kept a gun beneath his pillow while sleeping. That night, after assuming that there was an intruder in their house, she attempted to pull the loaded gun and it went off, shooting Russ who was fast asleep. He died a few hours later at a hospital.

In 1989, a jury found Barbara Stager guilty of first-degree murder because the prosecution did not accept her version of events, due to the fact that her former husband, Larry Ford, was also shot and killed in his bed in a somewhat similar manner. Barbara had stated that the incident was a mishap back then and the case was closed. This time, however, it was one piece of evidence they used against her.

Just a few months after Ford's tragic demise, whose death was ruled an accident due to a lack of evidence to file criminal charges, Russ and Barbara Stager married. The incident was brought to police notice by Russ Stager's ex-wife and good friend, Jo Lynn.

Despite their divorce, Lynn and her ex-husband shared a cordial relationship. She stated that two months before he passed away, Russ confided in her that he was facing financial difficulties and that Barbara was cheating on him. Lynn also told authorities that her former husband told her that he feared for his life.

Jo Lynn reportedly told cops:

"He asked me, if anything ever happened to him, would I please look into it."

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Barbara Stager's death penalty was changed to life imprisonment in 1993

Initially, Barbara Stager was given the death penalty. But the verdict was overturned in 1993 due to a procedural error, after which she was instead given a life sentence, which qualified her for release in 2009.

During the resentencing, Barbara Stager's younger son, Jason Stager, gave testimony for the first time. On the morning of incident, Jason, who was 14 years old at the time, was the only other person in the house. He testified:

"I was taking a shower when I heard a popping noise. I thought it was a toilet lid dropping. I finished my shower and was just getting out when my mother came in and told me that Dad had been hurt. She said I needed to call 911."

Jason added that when his alarm went off, his mother awakened him and he got up for a shower. The statement contradicted Barbara's account, who claimed that when she heard Jason's alarm go off, she reached for the pistol from under her husband's pillow and it went off in her hands.

Barbara Stager is currently serving her life sentence at Raleigh's North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women. According to sources, she was denied parole once in 2009 and again in 2018.

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Tune in to Oxygen's Black Widow Murders on Sunday to learn more about the case.