Kathy Stafford (Daphne Ashbrook) is one of the main villainesses who appeared in Murder, She Wrote's twelfth and final season opener, "Nailed" (airdate September 21, 1995). She was a wealthy socialite and married to rich businessman Ralph Stafford.
Kathy was the great-great-granddaughter of a grain company founder. She has inherited a rare coin that was worth a fortune. But when the coin was stolen, Kathy was having suspicions that Ralph was involved in an illicit love affair, in which she was shocked to discover that her best friend Nancy Rayburn was the affair partner. The scorned Kathy came to Nancy regarding the affair, but Nancy has her own problem — she was given the replica of the coin Ralph owed to her. The two women compared notes and grew furious for Ralph's manipulation. So, the two conspired together to confront Ralph.
That night at the party, Kathy, under the identity of Jimmy Nieman, wrote a note to her husband to meet in Antoinette's Salon while Nancy stole the key to the salon. During the confrontation, Ralph attacked Nancy and Kathy stabbed her husband with a pair of scissors out of rage.
Jessica Fletcher designed a ploy to reveal Kathy as the killer. She had Steve inform Nancy of an evidence left out during the murder. Nancy contacted Kathy about this and snuck in the salon to find it, only to be caught by Jessica, revealing that the evidence was a figment of Steve's imagination. Jessica revealed that she was involved in her husband's murder when she had painted her nail with Divine Pink left by Steve in the salon (the nail polish was never opened). The Divine Pink nail polish was in her apartment, with Steve and Kathy's fingerprints on it, placing Kathy in the crime scene.
Kathy and Nancy was led to the police station, where they confessed to killing Ralph together. The two scorned women were placed under arrest for the murder of Ralph Stafford.
Trivia[]
- Daphne Ashbrook previously appeared in the seventh season of Murder, She Wrote as the evil Alice Diamond, and in the eleventh season of the series as the villainous Alexis Hill.
- Daphne Ashbrook later appeared on Cold Case as the villainous Kylie Cramer, on Without a Trace as the evil Paula Wechsler, and Crossing Jordan as callous villainess Mrs. Carter, and also played villainess Donna Peyton on NCIS.
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