Ann Eden Woodward (born Angeline Lucille Crowell; December 12, 1915 – October 10, 1975) was an American socialite, showgirl, model, and radio actress.
[1] The circumstances surrounding her husband's death, which Life called "The Shooting of the Century", led to Woodward becoming a cause célèbre and, later, her banishment from New York high society.
Truman Capote published excerpts from an unfinished novel Answered Prayers, in which a pseudonymized but identifiable Woodward is accused of murdering her husband.
[6] As a young adult, she moved to Kansas City and changed her name to Ann Eden after her parents divorced and remarried.
[13] Some of her collection of paintings, Chinese antiquities, and couture clothing are housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
[5][4] On October 30, 1955, Woodward and her husband returned to their country estate after attending a party hosted by Florence Tucker Baker in honor of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.
A few hours later, Ann heard a noise on the roof and went into a darkened hallway with her gun, where she saw a shadowy figure standing in front of Woodward's bedroom door.
Believing the figure to be a prowler, Ann fired the gun, which was loaded with buckshot and should not have been lethal even at direct impact.
The Nassau County grand jury exonerated her, after deliberating for 30 minutes, ultimately concluding that the incident was an accident.
[19] Subsequently, an individual pleaded guilty to having entered the Woodward house on the night of the shooting in an attempt to rob it.
[20][21][8][22] Police later arrested a man named Paul Wirths, who admitted that he had attempted to break into the Woodwards' house on the night of the shooting.
[35] In one of the excerpts from Answered Prayers published in Esquire magazine, "La Côte Basque 1965", Capote writes about a character named Ann Hopkins, a bigamist and gold digger who shoots her husband, based on Woodward's killing of her husband, implying that it was murder.