Lieth Peter Von Stein[a] (March 16, 1946 – July 25, 1988) was an American businessman whose murder launched a high-profile trial in North Carolina.
An executive at National Spinning, a textile factory in Washington, North Carolina, Von Stein was stabbed and bludgeoned to death in his home as the result of a plot devised by his stepson, Christopher Wayne Pritchard.
[1][2] In the early morning of July 25, 1988, in the Smallwood subdivision of Washington, North Carolina, Lieth Von Stein and his wife Bonnie were attacked in their bedroom by an intruder wielding a knife and a club.
[1] When it was discovered that Lieth's estate was worth two million dollars, Bonnie Von Stein and her children, Chris and Angela, became suspects.
[8][3] The case became the subject of two books: Joe McGinniss's Cruel Doubt and Jerry Bledsoe's Blood Games, both published in 1991.
[10] Both books and television films heavily emphasized the three perpetrators' interest in the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons,[11] which they sometimes acted out with real weapons in the steam tunnels of their college campus while under the influence of drugs and alcohol.
"[12] Critics also remarked that both television adaptations displayed Dungeons & Dragons handbooks with artwork altered from the originals, in an apparent effort to imply they had inspired the murder.