Insider Tells Us About Tracy McCourt, Post Wonderland


Thanks to Betty for sharing some insight into the private world of Tracy McCourt. Actually, I cannot thank you enough. I had tried to contact Joni and their daughter before, but was not able to get in touch with them for an interview.

Here’s what Betty had to say:

I knew Tracy very well while he attended EKU. I was a den mother of sorts to him & his college roommates. He loved to come to our house to be a part of a southern, country style family. When Tracy first spoke of his involvement in the Eddie Nash caper we thought he was really full of it only to find he was telling the truth.

He repeatedly landed in jail in Madison County, but was always released to our amazement. I later learned it was because the LA police told Madison Co. to let him go. I guess when they arrested him here & ran his name his record came up which prompted them to contact Orange County. They eventually came to EKU pulled him out of class & offered him money & a new identity to testify in the trial against Nash.

They flew him & wife Joni out to LA. Put them up during the trial. When it was over he got nothing they promised him. That was when the family packed up & moved to Colorado. He was always looking over his shoulder & justifiably so, He spoke rarely of the murders, it pained him deeply. He did speak of the ordeal in depth on more then one occasion. I knew the name of his daughter & have been in contact with her. We talked about the movie & I commented on the very small acclaim they gave his character. She replied w/ information that sounded so Tracy McCourt. She told me that her dad couldn’t leave (the film) well enough alone & kept buggin’ the crap out of them for more money for his part or information he could give. He called them so much that he pissed them off and cut his recognition of involvement to what we saw on the screen. So typical Tracy never being satisfied, always wanting more. Those of us who knew him here had a genuine fondness for him & his crazy ways. He could be extreme with his desire for drugs & alcohol, but I reckon’ that’s what addicts do.

I used to take him to his grandmother’s house several counties over where I met his family on more then 1 occasion. His mother made stained glass. I saw several beautiful pieces she had made. His grandmother was wonderful!!! His brother was there as well but his name slips my memory. Last time I heard from Tracy was in ’97. He called from Colorado wanting to stop & visit on his way to Florida. He never showed. I wondered about him from time to time. It was only when I made contact w/ his daughter that I learned of his passing. She told me it was Hep C. That was no surprise to me. RIP TRACY. LOL He loved to think he looked like Huey Lewis!!!!

Wow. Thanks again, Betty. You are Awesome!

I read that the movie shot in like 20 days, and so no wonder James Cox ran a tight ship, did things his way, and already had his angle for the movie via David Lind, Sharon and Dawn’s version of events. That’s too bad. Tracy’s view would have helped a lot because his testimony is truthful to the Wonderland reality, the way the gang was, the personas of each person, the drugs involved, the way that the house was run. His testimony is for Holmes prelim trial is posted here on this blog. Go check it out.