{"id":104389,"date":"2025-09-22T11:37:42","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T15:37:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/?p=104389"},"modified":"2025-10-30T13:24:26","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T17:24:26","slug":"fearless-frontiers-it-reads-like-fiction-but-all-so-true-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/fearless-frontiers-it-reads-like-fiction-but-all-so-true-part-3.html","title":{"rendered":"Fearless Frontiers: \u2018It Reads like Fiction \u2013 But All So True\u2019 (part 3)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction:<\/em><\/strong> In this article, James Pylant describes the shocking conclusion to the extraordinary life and adventures of a relative on his family tree: Harry Wham. While tracing his ancestry and conducting a <\/em>last name origin<\/a><\/em> study, James uncovered a story far more dramatic than most family histories. James is an editor at GenealogyMagazine.com and author for JacobusBooks.com, is an award-winning historical true-crime writer, and authorized celebrity biographer.<\/em><\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s Note:<\/em><\/strong> When researching your family tree, you never know when you will uncover a surprising story. James Pylant has uncovered many interesting ancestors and relatives \u2013 perhaps none more so than Harry Wham, who had so many adventures that one family member commented his life \u201creads like fiction \u2013 but all so true.\u201d James has written a three-part article to tell the tale of Harry\u2019s life. In Part 1<\/a>, James provided context by filling in details of the family background, beginning with a migration in covered wagons. In Part 2<\/a>, James wrote about the thrills and dangers Harry faced. And now in Part 3, James describes the most shocking and dangerous event in Harry\u2019s colorful life.<\/p>\n

Harry Wham, 58, celebrated New Year\u2019s Day 1978 by marrying Margaret Marie \u201cPeggy\u201d Camp Stuberg, 35, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Reportedly, it was the seventh time down the aisle for both. The couple soon separated, and their divorce was finalized in June. (1)<\/p>\n

Yet they reunited, and in March the following year, a tavern license was approved for Sin City\u2019s Keyboard Lounge<\/a> with Harry as president and Peggy as vice president, secretary, and treasurer \u2013 each holding 50 percent ownership.<\/p>\n

Performing as \u201cStormy Wham,\u201d Peggy was also the tavern\u2019s featured singer.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Las Vegas Review-Journal (Las Vegas, Nevada), 21 April 1979, page 38<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On 3 April 1981, the Las Vegas Review-Journal<\/em> briefly reported that Harry Wham was hospitalized but \u201cin good condition\u201d after being \u201cwounded in the arm early Thursday morning after his wife allegedly shot him during an argument.\u201d Few other details were provided, and no follow-up was given, as if it were hardly noteworthy.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Las Vegas Review-Journal (Las Vegas, Nevada), 3 April 1981, page 18<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Strangely, it happened again \u2013 without news coverage this time. The second incident came on 26 January 1983 when Harry, returning home, was robbed and shot in the neck. Nearly two years passed before details about this shooting appeared in print, and only after a third shooting at the Wham home made headlines \u2013 because this time, the shooting was fatal.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Las Vegas Review-Journal (Las Vegas, Nevada), 14 February 1983, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This article reports:<\/p>\n

The owner of the Keyboard Lounge was shot and killed Sunday when a gunman ambushed him in the garage of his Paradise Valley town house, authorities said.<\/p>\n

Harry Wham, 63, was shot in the head several times about 4:30 p.m. in the garage behind his home in the Greenbriar Town House complex, 165 Pecos Way, authorities said.<\/p>\n

Paramedics said the lounge owner\u2019s heart was beating faintly and he was gasping when they arrived, but Wham died at the scene. One paramedic told police it looked as though Wham had been shot twice in the cheek area and possibly another time in the head.<\/p>\n

Wham\u2019s body was found slumped behind the wheel of his Alfa Romeo, with his legs sticking out the passenger door. Both car doors and the garage door were open when police arrived.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Shortly before the shooting, Harry and his brother-in-law (unnamed in reports) arrived simultaneously at the garage in separate vehicles. The brother-in-law placed a video cassette recorder on the luggage rack of Harry\u2019s car, left to park his pickup, and then returned to find somebody had killed Harry. Peggy was in the home at the time of her husband\u2019s shooting death. A neighbor saw the fleeing gunman disappear between nearby townhouses.<\/p>\n

Peggy said at first she believed her husband\u2019s murder was robbery-related<\/a>, but then decided \u201cthat there\u2019s something more.\u201d<\/p>\n

What about the gunfire that struck Harry only weeks earlier?<\/p>\n

\u201cI just don’t know,\u201d Peggy said. “Obviously, somebody hated him very much and had a personal vendetta.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then, the shocker: days later, Peggy was arrested for her husband\u2019s murder.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Las Vegas Review-Journal (Las Vegas, Nevada), 25 February 1983, page 12<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This article reports:<\/p>\n

Harry Wham\u2019s wife and three accomplices hired a New Jersey man to murder the popular Las Vegas entertainer for a large sum of money, court documents allege.<\/p>\n

\u2026According to an affidavit filed with the court, Peggy Wham\u2019s sister told a confidential police source the Wham murder was \u201ca conspiracy as well as a contract murder.\u201d The affidavit identifies the conspirators as the widow and the Parker brothers [Joseph Parker, 42, and John Parker, 30].<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The affidavit alleges that the Parker brothers hired a New Jersey hitman for \u201ca large sum of money,\u201d and that the contract murder was instigated by Peggy Marie Wham.\u201d Also arrested was Peggy\u2019s daughter, Kathy Faltinowski, who lived with the Parker brothers less than a quarter of a mile from Harry and Peggy.<\/p>\n

Memorial services<\/a> were held the day after the arrests. \u201cTwo of my sisters went to the funeral but didn\u2019t \u2018mingle\u2019 for obvious reasons,\u201d Harry\u2019s first cousin, Pat Bennett, told me. (2)<\/p>\n

\u201cI participated in a conspiracy that ended in the death of Harry Wham,\u201d John Parker confessed in July. \u201cI sent the money to get the alleged hit man out here, and I took him from place to place.\u201d Pleading guilty to first-degree murder, Parker drew a pre-arranged life sentence in the Nevada State Prison.<\/p>\n

\u201cI made a phone call back East to get a hit man,\u201d confessed his brother, Joseph Parker. He pleaded guilty to first-degree murder with use of a deadly weapon and drew a pre-arranged double life sentence.<\/p>\n

Sentences for the two brothers came with eligibility for parole<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The alleged hitman, John Oliver Snow, was arrested and detained in New Jersey. While he fought extradition, Peggy Wham stood trial for her husband\u2019s murder in September<\/a>. Deputy District Attorney Mel Harmon\u2019s opening statement in court told jurors that Joseph Parker was Peggy\u2019s boyfriend while his brother, John, was the boyfriend of Peggy\u2019s daughter, Kathy. Harmon went on to say that the hitman\u2019s first attempt to kill Harry Wham was in January.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors stated that the Whams had fought over control of the Keyboard Lounge<\/a>, with Peggy wanting it for herself. Defense attorneys claimed Peggy\u2019s sister, Sally Cook \u2013 the state\u2019s star witness \u2013 was the mastermind behind the crime, and that she was Joseph Parker\u2019s girlfriend, not Peggy.<\/p>\n

Sally Cook testified that her sister admitted to stealing $5,000 from the Keyboard Lounge\u2019s safe to pay the hitman. Peggy\u2019s father, Wendell Camp, also testified that Peggy told him that she had hired the contract killer.<\/p>\n

On September 26, jurors found Peggy Wham guilty of first-degree murder, attempted murder, and conspiracy.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Las Vegas Review-Journal (Las Vegas, Nevada), 27 September 1983, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On September 30, the widow Wham was given a life sentence without the possibility of parole; however, she was released in December 1998 after serving 15 years. The Las Vegas Sun<\/a> reported that \u201cher death from cancer is said to be imminent.\u201d She died in 1999 in Dover, Oklahoma<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Peggy\u2019s daughter, Kathy Faltinowski<\/a>, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was given a life sentence, but was later released. As a plea bargain, she testified against hitman John Oliver Snow<\/a>, who received a capital conviction.<\/p>\n

Create a free account<\/a> at GenealogyBank for 7 days to start your journey and discover the stories your ancestors left behind.<\/p>\n

Note on the header image:<\/em><\/strong> covered wagon. Credit: Gary Halvorson, Oregon State Archives; Wikimedia Commons.<\/p>\n

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