Lawson Welles (born May 6, 1975 in Lubbock, Texas) is the writer, director, producer and star of the motion picture, Cricket Snapper, released in 2005 by Phoenix Rising Band, Books and Films.
Lubbock is the 11th-most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Lubbock County. With a population of 256,042 in 2015, the city is also the 83rd-most populous in the United States. The city is located in northwestern part of the state, a region known historically and geographically as the Llano Estacado, and ecologically is part of the southern end of the High Plains, lying at the economic center of the Lubbock metropolitan area, which has a projected 2020 population of 327,424.
Cricket Snapper is an independent film written, directed and produced by Lawson Welles. The film is based on the true story of Barbara Asher, who was charged but acquitted of the manslaughter and dismemberment of Michael Lord, a New Hampshire man who allegedly suffered a heart attack while chained in her dungeon. Rather than call the authorities, police said Asher confessed she and her boyfriend chopped up Lord’s body in the bathtub and dumped it behind a Maine restaurant, but DNA testing of her bathtub revealed none of Lord’s DNA or any evidence of cleaning agents. According to the Quincy Patriot-Ledger story covering the film's Boston premiere on May 6, 2011, the dominatrix's boyfriend, Miguel Ferrer "was charged with being an accessory after the fact, has never been tried" and "fled after being indicted."
Cricket Snapper is based on the true story of Barbara Asher, who was charged but acquitted of the manslaughter and dismemberment of Michael Lord, a New Hampshire man who allegedly suffered a heart attack while chained in her dungeon. Rather than call the authorities, police said Asher confessed she and her boyfriend chopped up Lord's body in the bathtub and dumped it behind a Maine restaurant, but DNA testing of her bathtub revealed none of Lord’s DNA or any evidence of cleaning agents. According to the Quincy Patriot-Ledger story covering the film's Boston premiere on May 6, 2011, the dominatrix's boyfriend, Miguel Ferrer "was charged with being an accessory after the fact, has never been tried" and "fled after being indicted."
Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th century BCE.
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. Maine is the 12th smallest by area, the 9th least populous, and the 38th most densely populated of the 50 U.S. states. It is bordered by New Hampshire to the west, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and northwest respectively. Maine is the easternmost state in the contiguous United States, and the northernmost state east of the Great Lakes. It is known for its jagged, rocky coastline; low, rolling mountains; heavily forested interior; and picturesque waterways, as well as its seafood cuisine, especially lobster and clams. There is a humid continental climate throughout most of the state, including in coastal areas such as its most populous city of Portland. The capital is Augusta.
In Welles’ film, the dominatrix and her husband dump the body, but then are hunted down and murdered themselves out in the dark, snow-covered woods of Massachusetts by a vicious serial killer.
A dominatrix, is a woman who takes the dominant role in BDSM activities. A dominatrix might be of any sexual orientation, but her orientation does not necessarily limit the genders of her submissive partners. The role of a dominatrix may not even involve physical pain toward the submissive; her domination can be verbal, involving humiliating tasks, or servitude. A dominatrix is typically a paid professional (pro-domme) as the term dominatrix is little-used within the non-professional BDSM scene.
Massachusetts, officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It borders on the Atlantic Ocean to the east, the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island to the south, New Hampshire and Vermont to the north, and New York to the west. The state is named after the Massachusett tribe, which once inhabited the east side of the area, and is one of the original thirteen states. The capital of Massachusetts is Boston, which is also the most populous city in New England. Over 80% of Massachusetts's population lives in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, a region influential upon American history, academia, and industry. Originally dependent on agriculture, fishing and trade, Massachusetts was transformed into a manufacturing center during the Industrial Revolution. During the 20th century, Massachusetts's economy shifted from manufacturing to services. Modern Massachusetts is a global leader in biotechnology, engineering, higher education, finance, and maritime trade.
A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more people, usually in service of abnormal psychological gratification, with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. Different authorities apply different criteria when designating serial killers. While most set a threshold of three murders, others extend it to four or lessen it to two. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) defines serial killing as "a series of two or more murders, committed as separate events, usually, but not always, by one offender acting alone".
Lawson Welles has acted in Hollywood films such as Boston Girls (2008) starring Danny Trejo and Robert Miano. Stets also wrote and directed WHY WE FOUGHT, composed of interviews with World War II and Korean War veterans from the United States, Canada, Great Britain and Germany.
Danny Trejo is an American actor who has appeared in numerous Hollywood films, often as villains and antiheroes. His films include Heat (1995), Con Air (1997), and Desperado (1995), the last with frequent collaborator Robert Rodriguez. Trejo is perhaps most recognized as the character Machete, originally developed by Rodriguez for the Spy Kids series of movies and later expanded into Trejo's own series of films aimed at a more adult audience. He has appeared in TV shows such as Breaking Bad, Brooklyn Nine Nine, The X-Files, King of the Hill, The Flash, Sons of Anarchy, and Babysitters Beware.
Robert Miano is an American actor.
World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war.
Cricket Snapper was released on October 10, 2005, the twentieth anniversary of the death of Lawson’s hero of the same surname, Orson Welles. Cricket Snapper cinematographer, Jerry Bagdasarian, was a veteran of the D-Day landings and worked on Rod Serling's Twilight Zone series before working on independent films. Lawson Welles was born on the 60th birthday of Orson Welles. Welles got the idea for the title after first meeting Bagdasarian to interview him over his experiences in World War II. Jerry showed Lawson a cricket snapper, a device paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne and 101st Airborne units used to communicate with one another. Cricket Snapper is not the first film to feature this device, as John Wayne explained its usage to his men in the World War II epic, The Longest Day . The soundtrack to Cricket Snapper includes tracks by Bill McElaney, Church of Satan High Priests, Anton LaVey and Peter H. Gilmore.
George Orson Welles was an American actor, director, writer and producer who worked in theatre, radio and film. He is remembered for his innovative work in all three: in theatre, most notably Caesar (1937), a Broadway adaptation of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar; in radio, the long-remembered 1938 broadcast "The War of the Worlds"; and in film, Citizen Kane (1941), consistently ranked as one of the greatest films ever made.
A cinematographer or director of photography is the chief over the camera and light crews working on a film, television production or other live action piece and is responsible for making artistic and technical decisions related to the image. The study and practice of this field is referred to as cinematography.
Rodman Edward Serling was an American screenwriter, playwright, television producer, and narrator known for his live television dramas of the 1950s and his science-fiction anthology TV series, The Twilight Zone. Serling was active in politics, both on and off the screen, and helped form television industry standards. He was known as the "angry young man" of Hollywood, clashing with television executives and sponsors over a wide range of issues including censorship, racism, and war.
