The chilling tale of Terry Todd Wedding echoes profoundly in the quiet town of Greenville, where he perpetrated the horrific act of taking four lives in a single night. This incident forms the core of ‘American Monster: A Wedding and Four Funerals,’ leaving the community in shock and profound sorrow. While the initial shock may render the crime seemingly incomprehensible, the series delves into the intricate layers of the killer’s motives. Unraveling the psychological complexities behind such violent acts, the documentary explores the depths of human behavior and the disturbing circumstances that drive individuals to embark on violent rampages. The episode compellingly underscores the unsettling reality that every criminal act, no matter how senseless it may appear, is driven by a set of underlying motivations.
Remarkably, there is a dearth of information concerning Terry Todd’s childhood in public records. It is known that he completed his education at Madisonville-North Hopkins High School and graduated from Life Christian Academy in Madisonville. By June 1999, at the age of 28, Wedding resided with his parents near Depoy in rural Muhlenberg County. While reports indicate that he had encountered minor brushes with the law, facing charges for relatively trivial offenses, there is no concrete proof of the same. Police records reveal a history of mental health issues, yet the specifics remain undisclosed to the public due to the confidential nature of such information.
In early 1998, Terry Todd Wedding received a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depressive illness. Initially under care, Wedding’s mental health took a concerning turn by mid-June 1999 when he abruptly ceased taking his prescribed medications for reasons unknown. On June 15, Wedding’s family, consisting of his mother Beverly Wedding, father Manville Wedding, first cousin Joey Vincent, a Greenville police officer, and pastor at New Cypress Baptist Church, and Joey’s wife Amy Vincent, grew alarmed by his erratic behavior. Living as neighbors in a mobile home, the Vincents had a one-year-old daughter. Reports indicate that Wedding’s mother, troubled by his refusal of medication, took decisive action, resulting in Wedding being forcibly admitted to Western State Hospital with the assistance of Joey Vincent, who, as a police officer, played a role in serving a mental-health 72- hour emergency protection warrant on Wedding.
Police records reveal that Wedding displayed reluctance to be admitted to the hospital, even issuing threats to Vincent. However, the sheriff deemed such behavior not uncommon among mentally ill patients. Subsequently released from the hospital, Wedding returned to his parents’ residence. Court records recount the events of June 26, around 6 p.m., when Wedding, under the pretense of visiting his grandmother’s cemetery approximately 3 miles from home, bludgeoned his father to death with an aluminum bat. He callously disposed of the body in a nearby railroad bed. Continuing his killing spree, Wedding then coerced his mother to the same location, where he callously shot her in her Dodge pickup truck.
On the morning of June 27, at approximately 6:15 a.m., Wedding, positioned in his parents’ backyard, had a clear view of the Vincent residence some 100 yards away. Joey Vincent was preparing to take his ailing daughter, Brooklyn, to the hospital. Wedding, armed with a high-powered rifle, shot Joey as he was getting into his car. A violent struggle ensued as he approached the vehicle, where Amy, who was pregnant with her second child, fought desperately to protect Brooklyn. Wedding forcibly separated the child from her mother and shot Amy as well. Wedding did not harm the child and he took her to his residence. Derek Hembrick, Vincent’s brother and a witness to this nightmarish ordeal, promptly dialed 911. The child was with him till the police arrived, and he surrendered to them.
