The Texas Cheerleader Plot

Football, cheerleaders and high school—enduring symbols of the adolescent rite of passage—but in a sleepy Texas town, the desire to be part of this world prompted one woman to plan to commit the unthinkable. Wanda Holloway, mother of a teen-ager who did not make the coveted place in the cheerleading squad, plotted to kill the young woman and her mother whom she blamed for her daughter’s misfortune. Wanda Holloway hired her ex-brother-in-law, Terry Harper, to murder Verna and Amber Heath to secure a spot for her daughter. The Texas Cheerleader Murder Plot would be useful for classes on Law and Order, American Culture and Ethics. It is appropriate for middle school and high school.

• bizarre
• cajole
• conspire
• culminate
• delusional
• ensuing
• felony
• gnaw
• hallowed
• motivation
• nemesis
• null and void
• obsession
• perceived
• proverbial
• renounce
• revered
• solicitation
• veritable
• vicariously

1. Why was it so important for Shanna Holloway to become a cheerleader? Is this a reflection of our society?

2. Wanda Holloway’s upbringing was a bit different from most of her friends. How did Holloway’s childhood influence her later actions?

3. What is an obsession? Was Wanda Holloway obsessed? What other crimes have been committed because of obsession?

4. Holloway lived vicariously through her daughter Shanna? What does this mean? What are the dangers of something like this?

5. Holloway blamed Verna and Amber Heath for Shanna’s failure to make the cheerleaders. Why did she target Verna and Amber? Why did she blame them?

6. Holloway’s crime was premeditated. What does this mean? How is a premeditated crime different than a crime of passion?

7. Terry Harper, Holloway’s ex-brother-in-law, wore a wire to record his conversations with Holloway. Why did Terry Harper go to the police?

8. Why did this case garner so much media attention and publicity?

9. Why was the defense able to appeal the verdict?

10. Should Wanda Holloway have gone to jail? She her sentence have been harsher? Why or why not?

1. Research newspaper accounts of this story. What was the role of the press? How did the media present this story?

2. Conduct a trial for the Texas Cheerleader Murder Plot.

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