Ash
Appearances
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Hey weirdos, before we unleash today's macabre mystery, we were wondering, have you ever heard of Wondery Plus? It's like a secret passage to an ad-free lair with early access to episodes. You can join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or in Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
And despite having not been in the bathroom at the time or having been told what his boss had discovered, he told the officer on the other end, there's a woman tied up in the bathtub.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Yeah. So homicide detectives arrived at the apartment a few minutes later and they confirmed what Fiorenza had claimed on the phone. Nancy was laying face down in the tub. She was nude except for a white slip around her waist and the pink pajama top and house coat that had been tied around her neck and used to strangle her. That's awful. There was really no sign of a struggle in the apartment.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
So detectives concluded that she had to have known her attacker and most likely let him in voluntarily.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Based on the state of disarray in the bedroom, they assumed that some kind of assault had occurred there. The clothing that Nancy had been wearing that morning was strewn about the room and it looked actually like it had been ripped from her body. So there was evidence of a struggle for sure. Yeah.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
That's K-A-C-H-A-V-A dot com slash morbid. What's it like to get the new iPhone 16 Pro with AT&T next up anytime? It's like when you first light up the grill and think of all the mouth-watering possibilities. Learn how to get the new iPhone 16 Pro with Apple Intelligence on AT&T and the latest iPhone every year with AT&T next up anytime. AT&T, connecting changes everything.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Examining the body, the medical examiner, Thomas Gonzalez, found ligature marks around her wrist and surmised that Nancy had been bound and most likely sexually assaulted before her pajamas were double knotted around her neck and she was dumped in the bathtub. Holy shit. Just thinking of her pajamas being used to strangle her is so dark. Oh, that's awful. Ugh. Yeah.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
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Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
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Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
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Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Subject to your available earnings, location, daily max, and pay period max. See earnin.com slash TOS for details. Earnin is a financial technology company, not a bank. Bank products are issued by Evolve Bank and Trust member FDIC. After doing his preliminary examination, Gonzalez ordered that Nancy's body be removed from the tub and transported to the morgue.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
And it was at that point that they discovered a 12-inch length of cord underneath her body, which presumably was what was used to bind her wrists. But remember, they were no longer bound. Nancy's friend Georgia told reporters, poor little Nancy. She couldn't fight. She had no strength. She wouldn't know what to do. All she could do was scream. Because she was a woman of very small stature.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
She was very petite. No, the crime scene didn't lend a lot of clues. The Venetian blinds were all shut, and the apartment had been dark when the two men arrived to deliver the love seat.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
In the bedroom, both beds appeared to still have been made from that morning, but the bed near the bathroom was, quote, slightly rumpled, as though somebody, perhaps during a struggle, had brushed heavily against it.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Investigators checked the fire escape and concluded that there was no way somebody would have been able to reach that from the street, so the killer definitely would have had to come through the front door. And then in the bathroom, they did discover a fingerprint on the tub, and in the bedroom, they found a fountain pen on the floor. Just all the clues that they could have possibly found.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Apple Intelligence coming fall 2024 with Siri and device language set to U.S. English. Some features and languages will be coming over the next year. $0 offer may not be available on future iPhones. Next up, anytime features may be discontinued at any time. Subject to change. Additional fees, terms, and restrictions apply. See AT&T.com slash iPhone for details. Hey, weirdos. I'm Ash.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
While technicians continued to process the apartment, detectives fanned out around the building, just trying to talk to potential witnesses and any neighbors who may have heard something. The first person they talked to was obviously Nancy's husband, Louis.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
He actually arrived at the apartment about an hour after police had started their investigation, and he hadn't been told about his wife's death yet. So he just walked into this. Oh, that's awful. And he was shocked to find countless detectives and police in his apartment when he got home. Imagine showing up to that. Yeah, he actually, when he heard what happened, he collapsed. Oh, God.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Yeah, it's very sad. And given his horrified and very devastated response to what had happened, he really seemed like an unlikely suspect. Yeah. But they did confirm his alibi as well and it checked out. So he had nothing to do with this. The others who were initial but not very strong suspects included four painters who had been working in the building that day.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
And actually, theirs were among the fingerprints that had been discovered in the apartment. But since they were working in the apartment in the days leading up to this, that obviously made sense. But they also had alibis that were checked into and they were ruled out as suspects.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Other than the maid in the apartment below, none of the neighbors actually heard any noises coming from the apartment that morning. And one neighbor told a reporter, my collie is a very nervous dog. If there had been any great disturbance, I'm sure he would have barked. Oh, so there you go. Yeah. And I believe that. Yeah.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
There was, however, another strange occurrence relayed by Countess Alice Hoyos, who lived in the apartment two floors beneath the Titterton's. Countess? The Countess. Oh, shit. And because she's a Countess, I just refer to her as the Countess. The Countess. According to the Countess. And this is really freaky.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
An unknown man had rung the bell at her apartment multiple times in the days before the murder. And she said each time it was like he was trying to disguise his voice so he sounded like somebody different each time he did this. And she told detectives each incident went the same way.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
She said the buzzer would ring, she would answer it, and then the man would say, I'm looking for a miss, and then he would mumble a name.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
I don't like that. But, like, not actually come out and say any name. Hoping somebody would open the door to be like, who are you looking for? Yes, exactly. So, obviously, these freaked her out. These calls freaked her out because she was sure, like you just said, they were a ruse to get her to open the door. So she actually tried to get a good look at the man before he walked away.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
She told detectives he was young, wore good clothing, and seemed to be attempting to hide his face.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
And she told them that the last time the man rang the bell was actually just a few hours before Nancy was murdered. Ooh. Yeah. That's haunting. It is. So the following day, the medical examiner, Dr. Gonzalez, released his autopsy report, which confirmed, among other things, unfortunately, that Nancy had been sexually assaulted. And the cause of death was listed as ligature strangulation.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Yeah. The report also stated that, quote, the strangulation caused a hemorrhage of the larynx and three slight internal hemorrhages of the scalp. Wow. So this was a violent assault.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
So the time of death was listed between 11 and 11.30 a.m., and that was based on the fact that rigor mortis had, quote, become virtually complete by the time that Gonzalez made his preliminary examination around 5.30 p.m. Okay. And this more or less corresponded with what the downstairs maid said. She told police that she heard those screams coming from the apartment.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
And scratching and bruising on Nancy's hands and arms suggested that she actually had tried very hard to fight off her attacker. In their statement to the press, a spokesperson for the NYPD appeared optimistic. He told reporters, there are a lot of things that haven't been developed yet. The research detectives have taken something to the laboratories for further examination.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
And I'm Alayna. And this is Morbid. Morbid. I know. I'm sick. She's like very loopy. Did you take Dayquil today? No. You didn't take anything? I didn't. You're so loopy today.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
We're making a thorough search, but we won't be able to get any real basis for investigation until final reports from them. Now, despite the optimistic tone, the truth was that they really didn't have a lot of evidence to work with, and they had almost zero leads.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Other than the short length of cord found with the body, which was pretty unremarkable, the only other significant clue was that unidentified fingerprint in the bathroom. Now, at that time, police forensic departments were actually just starting to work with a new fingerprinting process. They would use silver nitrate to lift prints from surfaces like fabric and porous materials. Oh, interesting.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Yeah, right? But the system was new and it was going to take a lot of time, so investigators had to be patient with that. So while investigators waited on science to provide any leads, the press seized upon the story of yet another murder in Beekman Place. Author Harold Schechter wrote that the killing occurred one week to the day after Vera Stretz's acquittal only added to its lurid appeal.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Of course. Now, she was somebody who lived in the apartment, Vera Stretz, and she had been accused of murdering her lover in a jealous rage, but she was actually acquitted after she testified for hours on the stand that her murder had been committed in self-defense. The Daily Mirror was among the press who reported the story in a very crude manner.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
They quote, and this is awful, they quote, presented the gruesome sex killing as a five panel comic strip complete with graphic drawings of the corpse and a fedora wearing detective bearing a marked resemblance to Dick Tracy.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
They made a literal comic strip, a five-panel comic strip. Like, you gotta be tapped. Damn. You gotta be tapped to do that. Yeah, that's... Wow. And just to publish that and be like, yeah, this is a good choice.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
astronomical zero zero integrity and nobody was like this isn't bad taste yeah i don't know how that got through other papers particularly the tabloids focused on nancy's quote owlishly solemn bookish demeanor and claimed that she quote liked to parade around her apartment in a negligee even when delivery boys and workmen were present Oh, shut the fuck up.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Number one, even if she did, that's her fucking prerogative. She's in her own home. And number two, oh, were you there? Did you know that? Like, fuck off. Ew. And actually, that's incorrect. She was wearing pajamas, which she was strangled with. That's awful. Nice try. She knew whatever the fuck she wants. Again, it's her fucking apartment.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
But the more reputable outlets like the New York Times focused on the scientific aspects of the investigation, drawing comparisons to other recent cases where science actually played a critical role in catching the killers, like Richard Hauptman, who was found responsible for the Lindbergh baby kidnapping and murder.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
A New York Times reporter wrote, test tubes bubbled, microscope experts bent over slides, and a group of police research men pondered possibly important notes yesterday. Fields of science almost ignored heretofore were entered yesterday, and some of the methods of scientific investigation suggested in the Hauptman case have been resorted to. I just love how they used to talk.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Yeah. That's a fun, that's got a nice mouthfeel.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Now, within days, the tabloids had resorted to sensational tactics like hiring psychic mediums to comment on the identity of the killer. In a Daily Mirror article a few days after the murder, the paper, quote, Okay. She also consulted Nancy's chart and deduced, quote, the murderer was an older man and that he either came from or has gone to a distance since the crime was committed.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Whoa. Settle down, brother. It's been very funny up in the pod lab today. It's been a good... We're good time gals today. We are. Mikey included.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Which it's like, there's a time and a place for astrology, and I just don't feel like it's here. I don't think it's here. And I don't know what somebody's chart can tell you about the person that murdered them. Yeah, I don't know about that. Like, I know your chart can tell you a lot about you. Yeah. And, you know, maybe when you're going to die, but I... It just feels inappropriate.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Yeah, and it'd be one thing if, like, you know, for some reason her husband wanted to consult with an astrologist about this, but it's a tabloid. To just take it upon yourself is really wild. Yeah, but she wasn't the only one. The Mirror were not alone in their tacky, sensational journalism.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
The New York Post, not wanting to be outdone, consulted their own astrologer, Belle Bart, and she claimed the murderer is German or English, has a light complexion, takes drugs or drinks, met Miss Titterton in the fall of 1935, and escaped from Beekman Place in a southwesterly direction. Again. Okay. I don't know how astrology would tell you that. Yeah. I'm not sure about that.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Astrology's not going to tell you how and where this man escaped to. Like, that doesn't make any sense. No. Meanwhile, actual detectives focused on the few pieces of evidence that they did have in the case, and the biggest piece among them was the length of cord found in the bathtub.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Unlike a traditional rope that you would expect to find in a case like this, this cord was thin, and it looked like the kind of cord found on the blinds in the Titterton apartment. Oh. But all of the cords in the apartment blinds appeared to be intact, so it wasn't from them.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
But given the length, a little over 12 inches, it seemed unrealistic that it would have bound Nancy's hands for very long. So detectives theorized that it had to have come from a longer piece of rope. And if that was the case, they believed, quote, the killer, intent on removing all physical evidence, had sliced off the rope and carried it away with him.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
What's up with you? How's your... What day is this coming out? Like, what's going on? I think this comes out, like, after Thanksgiving. Yeah. So, like, how was your Thanksgiving? It was great. You were there. Yeah, I was. I was just looking for things to chat about. Fucking asshole.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
However, in his rush to get away, he must have missed the shorter piece concealed under Nancy's body. And they were correct. Okay. Now, Nancy's funeral service was held on April 13th and attended by over 200 people. Wow. That's telling. That's very telling.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
That same day, investigators released another statement to the press, this time to address the growing number of rumors in the press that Nancy had been having an affair and was murdered by her lover. Oh, my God. Which was just completely untrue. Seriously. Assistant Chief Inspector John Lyons said, we are satisfied now that Mrs. Titterton voluntarily admitted the man.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
This does not mean, however, that he was a lover or a close friend. It may have been a salesperson or a repairman of some sort, someone who made a casual call. Yeah, that's the thing. It doesn't need to be salacious. Just because she let somebody in, it doesn't mean they were involved with each other romantically. Exactly.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Investigators felt confident that they were zeroing in on the type of man who had murdered Nancy, but days after her body was discovered, they were still no closer to identifying a suspect. The fingerprints that they pulled from the fabrics on the ligature were too degraded to be of use, and the skin fragments found under Nancy's nails were equally useless, unfortunately.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
By midweek, the list of potential suspects had narrowed even further, as Nancy's friends and family were all cleared one after the other. By the end of the week, investigators had run down pretty much all of their leads and finally admitted publicly that despite the full-time efforts of 65 detectives on the case, they were at a loss. Wow. Yeah. That is so, that would be devastating to hear.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Yeah, especially as her family, her husband, like I can't imagine. Yeah. All attempts to trace the manufacturing of the cord used to bind Nancy's hands had proved fruitless, but still the cord remained one of the only viable clues in the case. And finally, on April 17th, detectives got a break in the case when a representative from the Hanover Cordage Company in York, Pennsylvania contacted them,
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Wow. Which is like, that's crazy. That is crazy. Damn. Oh, okay. They gave detectives a complete list of their distributors and investigators started tracking the various shipments from the distributors to see if any cordage had made its way to service people in or around Manhattan. After combing through a very large number of records...
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
detectives finally traced a shipment to a New York City distributor who had among their clients Theodore Kruger, an upholsterer on the Upper East Side, and the man who had discovered Nancy's body, remember. Because remember, she was getting a delivery from an upholsterer on the morning of her murder. Yep.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Detectives had actually interviewed Kruger extensively and he had been ruled out as a suspect. They were able to confirm that he had been in the shop on the morning of the murder. His assistant, John Fiorenza, on the other hand, had not been ruled out. And as they started looking into Fiorenza's background...
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
They learned that not only did he have a lengthy criminal history, but also a significant psychiatric report that described him as, among other things, a, quote, personality deviant who would have difficulty in learning to refrain from illegal acts from time to time. Oh. I also love that it's from time to time. Yeah, just every now and then.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Hey everyone, let's talk about protein for a second. There's this rumor that getting plant-based protein is tough, but listen, there are some amazing options out there. Even if you're not vegan, adding more plant-based protein to your diet is a fantastic way to nourish your body and support the planet. My go-to for tasty protein and superfood-packed shake is cachava.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Or sometimes he's going to have a hard time referring from illegal activities. He's good. Yeah. Have you ever found the house of your dreams only to learn that it has dark secrets? Netflix's new series No Good Deed follows three families vying to buy a 1920s Spanish-style villa that they think will solve their problems.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
But as the sellers discover, sometimes the home of your dreams can be a total nightmare. No Good Deed, starring Lisa Kudrow and Ray Romano, is now playing only on Netflix.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
The more detectives learned about John Fiorenza, the more convinced they became that he was the most likely killer amongst their suspects. He was described as a, quote, grade school dropout with a dull, normal IQ and a face fixed in a perpetual smirk.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
I love that. Describing something as dull just hits. It does hit. You're so dull. That word just has like a – It really does. Yeah. But it seemed that he just really didn't have a lot going for him.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
I forgot to take leftovers. And then you went away for a weekend. I know. And I didn't get to go out. We were all supposed to go away and do like this fun little family thing. And I couldn't because my cat was sick. My little Frankie was sick. And it turns out it was very scary, you guys. If your cat has ever passed a stone and you think that somebody's been murdered in your house, same.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Yeah, never really had. At the time of the murder, he was a 24-year-old apprentice living with his mother and her second husband in Brooklyn. And he was, quote, withdrawn to the point of extreme social isolation, which is scary. Yeah. Yeah. His stepfather told a reporter, and this was crazy, that, quote, Johnny had only spoken to him no more than seven times in the past 11 years. What?
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
His stepdad, whomst he lived with, had spoken to him no more than seven times in 11 years. Holy shit. Like...
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Yeah, probably. Like he left the house, but it was like a social agoraphobia, I guess.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
whoa like that's just like I like I'm a quiet person yeah you would consider yourself an introvert yeah I consider myself an introvert and that is mind-boggling to me well because you're living in the same home as somebody like you don't even and you're living in New York so presumably you're living in an apartment yeah you don't just like exchange pleasantries in the morning that's the thing I'm like what's going on there I'm also like what did you say in those seven times damn
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Yeah. He also, it was said that he hadn't started dating until a few years earlier, and he's 24, so of course that's a bit unusual. But he had started seeing his girlfriend, Pauline D'Antonio, and he was planning to marry her in the fall, actually. They were engaged.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Yeah, but his criminal history went back more than a decade, and his first arrest happened when he was 12 years old.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
i mean that's not great that's not great it's not a good start no he had stolen a bicycle and since then he had just been in and out of trouble with the law on a regular basis for the most part the crimes that he committed were petty they were like thefts but there was a grand larceny charge for stealing musical instruments from a store okay
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
And during one of his periods of incarceration, he was examined by a prison psychiatrist who described him as a, quote, interesting. Yeah. More simply put, he was the type of person who acted very impulsively and based on what he wanted in the moment without any kind of consideration for consequences. I see.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
And this, the psychiatrist believed, was supported by his many brazen crimes, including stealing cars in the middle of the day in full view of crowds of people, but just because he wanted to take them for a joyride. Damn. But would literally just like break into a car and take it. It's like whatever. And just didn't give a shit. It's mine. Yeah. Yeah.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Now, despite John's criminal history and dull personality... So dull. So dull. Theodore Kruger had taken pity on John and hired him, like we said, as an upholstery assistant three years earlier. Upholstery was a skill that John had actually learned during one of his prison stays.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
The amount of blood that I was finding just in various spots throughout my house, I was like... Oh, my God. That sounds terrifying. It was so scary. And we knew that Franklin wasn't feeling well because he gets super cuddly when he doesn't feel well. So we took him to the vet and it turns out he passed one stone. But unfortunately, my man still has one to pass. He's out here. Yeah.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
For the most part, his job was just to sweep up the studio, keep the front windows clean, help out with deliveries, but occasionally Kruger had him assist with more complicated tasks. As far as Kruger was concerned, John was, quote, good-natured but not very quick-witted, and his criminal record, which Kruger described as being over little things, had kept John from finding success.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Kruger thought that John seemed determined to better his life, though, and he found that to be an admirable quality, so he took a chance on him. Which I get that. Yeah, and Kruger seems like a nice guy.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Yeah, if somebody is showing you... Seems like they really are. Yeah, exactly. In fact, the morning that they were to deliver the loveseat to Nancy Titterton's apartment, John had arrived a few hours late to work, telling his boss that he had been at an appointment with his probation officer. So that's interesting. I was going to say probation officer.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
But, you know, he's checking in with his probation officer. So Kruger's like he's doing the right thing. He's being a good kid. Like he's doing what he needs to do. Yeah, he's trying to better himself. Yeah.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Now, although they had traced the cord back to Kruger's shop and they were pretty confident that they had found their killer at this point, investigators knew that the cord alone was not going to be able to hold him for very long and especially not on a murder charge.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
After all, that particular cord had been shipped to many upholstery shops, and they couldn't be sure if it definitely came from Theodore Kruger's shop. So this was all, like, very tenuous. Yeah, very tenuous. So rather than arrest him, John was placed under 24-hour surveillance while detectives and forensic experts desperately searched for any additional evidence that would lead to a conviction.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Now, after one week of investigation, the Titterton apartment had been thoroughly searched, and it really seemed unlikely that any new evidence was going to be discovered. But just in case, on April 20th, Dr. Alexander Gettler, a biochemist who was working with the NYPD, went back to the Beekman Place apartments in hope of finding anything new.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Now, he had been the one actually to discover the Isley contained within the cord and eventually traced its origin. So without him, like this all would be nowhere near this. It never would have happened. And if anybody was going to find something that somebody had missed, it was going to be this guy.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
At the apartment, he was combing over Nancy's bedspread with a high-powered magnifying glass when he discovered one single hair that the other technicians had missed. A single hair. This guy for life. No, honestly. It makes me think of Spencer Reed. It makes me think of Spencer from Criminal Minds. Yes, absolutely. I just picture him going over it with a high-powered glass. Yes, absolutely.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Now, later, he described the hair as white and, quote, strangely stiff. He said it certainly was not human. Now, after examining the hair under a microscope, he determined that it was horse hair, which was the kind typically used by upholsters. Oh, I didn't even think of that.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Now, aware that the Tiddertons had their love seat delivered on the morning of the murder, Gettler took a sample of the horse hair from the love seat and compared it to the one that he discovered on the bed, and the two were a match. So that hair that was found on Nancy's bed was a match to the love seat that had been delivered that morning. Shit.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Now, given that the hair came from the love seat, it didn't seem unreasonable that one of the hairs made its way to another location in the apartment. But that love seat hadn't been delivered until after Nancy was killed, which meant that the only way it could have gotten mixed up on the bedclothes or the bedspread was if the killer had it on him when he sexually assaulted Nancy on the bed.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
But they sent his cultures to Italy or something. That's fancy as hell. I know. And the cultures came back and they didn't have bacteria. So that's my cat's health for you. He's okay. And I love him so much. We love Frankie. Frankie forever. You and Franklin have a spiritual connection.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Oh, God. Yeah. And this was precisely the piece of evidence that detectives needed to break that case wide open. Damn. So they went back to Theodore Kruger, who was absolutely shocked to learn that his assistant was even a suspect. He told detectives that John Fiorenza was a, quote, perfect gentleman and assured him, quote, there was never anything about him that was bad.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
He said, why, I've even seen him take the meat out of his sandwich for lunch and give it to our dog. Oh. Which is very sweet, but like... Okay. Murderers are nice to animals sometimes.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
he was not wanting to accept yeah what was in front of him and i feel bad too because i mean that would make you doubt any kind of confidence you have in anybody of course it would you're like i took a chance on this guy i really thought he was you know wanting to better himself and i mean had he not given him a chance nancy would still be alive technically possibly well so you just think constantly like what the fuck
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Exactly. And like we said, he... He was putting out all the illusions that he was bettering himself. And Theodore confirmed to detectives that it was true that John had been late to work on the morning of the murder. But he said it was only because he had his weekly appointment with his probation officer. He's like, he's doing the right thing.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Now, Fiorenza's alibi, the probation appointment, was the last piece of the puzzle that detectives needed to knock down before they could arrest him. Fortunately, that proved a lot easier than they could have expected. Like I said, the Friday that Nancy was murdered was Good Friday. And John's probation officer, a very strict Catholic, had taken that day off.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
So there was no way John met with his probation officer.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Wow. The way this case came together, like I said at the beginning, that's why these old-timey cases are so intriguing to us because it's not, oh, his DNA was found at the crime scene. Or they saw him on a camera. Yeah, they saw him on a camera. This is like... Old-fashioned detective work.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
that that's like crazy that's crazy and like the guy who went the investigator who went back and found the hair that nobody else had found and it was this one just i mean picture one strand of horse hair like that's like a small hair it's like finding a dog hair on your bed yeah but just finding that back then and then going back and saying oh that's from the the furniture that was reupholstered like it's unbelievable it really is
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
So with the newly discovered evidence in hand and John's alibi disproven, detectives moved quickly to arrest their suspect. And at first, John denied having anything to do with the murder. He insisted he was innocent. But after more than 16 hours of relentless interrogation, he asked to speak to Commissioner Louis Valentine.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
And he told the commissioner, give me a cigarette and I'll tell you all I know.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
According to his confession, John had gone to the Titterton's apartment on April 9th, the day before the murder, to pick up the love seat with Theodore Kruger. And as soon as he saw Nancy, he said, the idea came to me of doing what I did to her afterward.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Yeah. As far as he could tell, Nancy was a slight woman, just about 100 pounds. He said she seemed gentle and soft-spoken, so he was pretty sure she wouldn't put up much of a fight, which he was wrong about because she did. Fuck that guy.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Yeah. And he's not snuggly with just anybody. No way. Like even Drew, he's like sometimes snuggly with, but most of the time it's just me. But me? Always snuggly. Always. I know.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
And the next morning, he called Kruger to say he'd be late, and then he grabbed the 52-inch length of cord he'd taken from the upholstery studio the day before and made his way to the Titterton apartment. When he arrived there, he rang the bell and Nancy released the door to let him in because she knew who he was.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Upstairs, he told her he'd come about the love seat and he wanted to know where she wanted it. He said, just to get her in there, I asked her, didn't she want the love seat in the bedroom? and the question prompted her to go to the bedroom to see if maybe she'd like the furniture in there, and Fiorenza followed her.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Once they were in the bedroom, trigger warning, this is pretty graphic, he attacked Nancy and grabbed, quote, whatever it was she had in her hand and stuffed it in her mouth so she couldn't yell anymore.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Which is why nobody heard anything. With Nancy gagged, he started ripping off her clothes in a frenzy, and then he sexually assaulted her. He said, from time to time, when she started to scream, as the gag worked loose, I throttled her with my hands.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
And just says this like he's recounting a TV show that he watched. What a fucking animal. Yeah, truly. When he was done, he grabbed the pajamas and the dressing coat from the floor, knotted them together, and used that clothing to strangle Nancy. Which is like... How do you go from grand larceny, stealing cars, to raping and murdering a woman this brutally? It's inconceivable.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
At first, he said he thought about filling the tub to make it look like Nancy died by accident, which I'm like, that wouldn't have worked because you strangled her and assaulted her, but okay.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
But he couldn't find the plug, so he left her face down to strangle.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Before he left, he got a knife from the kitchen and cut the cord that he used to bind her hands, assuming that he had taken it all with him when he left.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
So he didn't. He managed to get out of the apartment, he said, without being seen, tossed the cord in a public trash can, and then stepped into a drugstore to call his boss and say he'd be a little later than he thought because he was, you know, meeting with his probation officer, doing the right thing, cleaning up his act. He's such a good guy. Such a good guy. Gives meat to dogs. Fuck that guy.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
When he finally got back to the shop a little before noon, the two men finished fixing Nancy's love seat. So he's sitting there fixing her love seat, knowing full well that she's dead in a bathtub. Holy shit. And then they loaded it onto the truck and headed for Beekman Place. Wow. When they asked why he had done what he did, he seemed just as confused and said, She wasn't my type.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
It's getting to the end of the day, and we're goofy.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
If I saw her on the street, I wouldn't give her a second look. Fuck you. Just to be a dick one more time. Literally fuck you. I don't know. I wouldn't have given her a second glance, but I guess I just felt like it that day.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
The arrest did come as a shock to those who knew him personally. His girlfriend, Pauline, refused to believe that he'd committed the murder or was even capable of such a crime, which... You gotta believe when he confesses that he did it, but also I can understand not thinking that somebody you love is capable of that. No, of course.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
We're not going to be goofy for long, though, because I do actually have a very sad case today. That's why we're getting it out now. Yes, exactly. We had to get it out of our systems. Do you feel un-goof-fied?
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
And she told a group of reporters assembled outside her apartment, he did not do it. They're telling lies about him. He did not confess. He would not have confessed to such a thing. He will be back and we will be married in September.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
you know if he's implicated in this most likely not obviously we see cases where false confessions happen and yada yada yada this is not one of those this exactly is not one of those and I'm just like he has a shit eating grin you gotta be careful of those ones yeah honestly good for her that she was able to get away eventually honestly now and this is sad obviously John's mother was similarly stunned she told reporters Johnny was a good boy he had a girl they were going to be married like murders do sometimes get married and
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Theodore Kruger echoed the disbelief, telling reporters, he was a nice boy, I always thought. Why, I remember when he saw the body, he said to me, this must be the work of a maniac.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
His mom, his girlfriend, and somebody he worked every single day with. And I can't imagine working with somebody, discovering a body with someone, and having that experience. And then finding out they did it. Finding out that they did it and reacted in the moment like so...
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
so normally like yeah like organically yeah like oh this must be the work of a maniac meanwhile he's the maniac no that would be really yeah like that would fuck you up that would fuck you up for a long time definitely
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Now, despite their disbelief, John was arraigned the following day on charges of rape and first-degree murder, which, again, he confessed to the crime. After the arraignment, he accompanied detectives back to the Titterton apartment, where he reenacted the crime and also retraced his escape route.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
With a full confession and now very strong evidence, the assistant prosecutor predicted a very speedy trial and announced he would take the case to a grand jury in the coming days. The judge at the arraignment magistrate, I think it's Aurelio, commended the police and the prosecutor's office for their efficiency and skill.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
He said this case proves that no crime can be hidden from effective police work. As a citizen of this city, I feel extremely proud of the work done by the police.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Yeah. In his statement to the press, Commissioner Valentine, quote, Yeah. He noted that not only was this the biggest murder investigation in New York history to that point, but he also emphasized the fact that it wouldn't have been solved without the dedication of more than 65 police officers and, quote, the help of their technical research lab in Brooklyn and of the city toxicology laboratory.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Okay. While detectives on the case were relentless in the pursuit of Nancy's killer, quote, science, Valentine told reporters, quote, played a deciding role in the solution.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Which I knew you would love. I love that. It was science. Science. It was. With the killer caught, the DA, William Dodge, assured residents and reporters that he had every intention of moving quickly to secure his indictment and conviction. Just three days after the arrest, Fiorenza's case went to a grand jury on April 25th.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
And after reviewing the evidence and listening to the testimony from eight witnesses, an indictment for first-degree murder was returned in less than half an hour. Despite the hearing, Firenze's attorneys, quote, brought strong intimations that they would seek to have him declared insane and would assail the method with which his confession was obtained. Police. Yeah, ridiculous.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
They insisted, despite the fact that he confessed multiple times to rape and murder, that he actually had nothing to do with the crime and had actually been coerced into a confession. I doubt it. Yeah, me too. True to their word, though, the district attorney's office moved very quickly, surprisingly quick. And John's trial started May 20th, just a little over a month after the murder occurred.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Anticipating that Fiorenza's team would go for an insanity plea, Dodge's office enlisted at least four highly regarded psychiatrists to argue otherwise. But to their surprise, Fiorenza's lawyer, Henry Klobber, made a different claim and again asserted that his client had nothing to do with the murder.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
He told the jury, "...a fiend was on the loose, and it was not this defendant who murdered Mrs. Chitterton," as he pointed over to his client. According to the defense, another woman had been attacked in the area days before Nancy, and they intended to show that it was the same attacker and not John Fiorenza who was responsible for the murder. It's a good tactic. It's like, that's cool.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Why did he confess multiple times then? Yeah. Klobber's claim certainly wouldn't have been the first time a defense lawyer had attempted to pin the blame on just a mysterious unnamed person.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
But the problem was that he had no evidence to support his claim. And once the jury heard Fiorez's full and very convincing confession read aloud in court, he changed strategies and started building that insanity defense.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
It was evidence. My bad. My bad. And just to be safe, his cross-examination of the detectives who took the confession indicated that he was ready to challenge it on the grounds of coercion. I think that's all he's got. He's playing a dirty game. That's all he's got. Exactly.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Much to the surprise of the prosecution, though, while their previous defense didn't appear to be working out, Klobber and the rest of the defense team just seemed to be keeping all their options open and juggling several arguments at once. Yeah, you gotta hedge your bets there. Not a great plan, though, to go for everything all at the same time.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Probably not, but when you got nothing, you gotta work with everything. You know, exactly. The insanity plea seemed the best bet, but they still called John's mother to the stand, Oop, who testified that contrary to the confession, her son hadn't left the house until a little before 11 a.m.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
on the morning of the murder, which would have made it impossible for him to have committed the murder and still made it to work by 1230 p.m. Which it's like, yeah, timelines are a little rough and I don't think we should rely on his mom's version of events, unfortunately. If anyone's going to lie for you, it's going to be your mom. It's your mom.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
But you did determine that you actually did eat the germs up. I think I did.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
In support of their insanity defense, the clubber also called John's stepfather, Ignazio Coupani, to testify to John's unusual behavior going back many years. Like he didn't speak to him for 11 years, maybe. Yes, exactly. In addition to hardly ever speaking at home. His stepfather told the court he, quote, used to sit down all the time in the rocking chair with his head between his hands.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
When this happened, he would look up and he would say, who's calling? And we would say, no one's calling. We hear nothing. That's strange. It is. And his stepfather also got down from the stand and demonstrated some of John's other unusual behaviors. He said he also had a tendency to, quote, catch something or someone invisible who was following or calling him. That's weird. It's weird.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
And it's very specific. It is very specific, and I believe maybe it happened. Interesting. I don't know. Other family members, including John's aunt, gave additional testimony in support of what his stepfather had told the court. But a lot of this testimony was undermined during cross-examination by the DA, William Dodge.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
who clearly established that no matter how strange John's behavior might have been, it couldn't have been too severe because he managed to hold down a full-time job and a romantic relationship for several years.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Right. Exactly. Exactly. So finally, Klobber called on Dr. Albert Crane, and this is where it all went wrong. Albert Crane was a psychiatrist from Staten Island who had examined John. According to Crane, John was a, quote, dementia precox case with a split mentality incapable of realizing the nature and quality of his acts.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Of course, the question of his sanity wasn't the issue so much as whether he knew what he was doing was wrong at the time. And that was something Crane couldn't deny.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
On cross-examination, Dodge asked the psychiatrist, quote, if he made a confession to the police and was then asked by an assistant district attorney to state the facts again, and he refused on the grounds that it would be used against him, would you say that he knew or did not know the nature or quality of his acts?
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Yeah, could you just let me know? Could you remind me if that works out with your insanity defense? That was some top-notch lawyering. Now, Crane, who's literally sitting on the stand and knew that this is exactly what had happened in the case, and had also sworn to tell the truth, had no choice but to undermine his own previous testimony.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
He replied, I would say that he was keenly aware of the nature and quality of his behavior at
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
So why'd you say that? Explain to me. Imagine as a psychiatrist sitting on that stand and trying, you're a witness for the defense. Geek. And then the DA gets you that easily.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
That's a mic drop moment. Truly. Now, the insanity claim was even further weakened when Dodge called on four of his own psychiatric expert witnesses, all of whom testified that whether or not he experienced symptoms of mental illness, John Fiorenza knew that rape and murder were wrong, and that is why he went to great lengths to cover up his crimes. Exactly. Exactly. Clearly. Yeah, clearly.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Both sides rested their cases on May 27th, and at 3.30 p.m., the jury retired for deliberation. However, after 11 hours, the jury remained deadlocked, primarily over whether or not Fiorenzo was insane when he committed the crime.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
If he was, they would have had the option of sending him to a state hospital for the rest of his life. But if he was deemed sane and found guilty, he would most likely receive the death penalty. Which I can understand why they were having a hard time with that. Having that decision on your own heart and head is heavy.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Right. But finally, after nearly 20 hours of deliberation, they did side with the prosecution, and they found John Fiorenza guilty of the murder and rape of Nancy Titterton. I agree with that. He seemed pretty unfazed by the verdict, but those close to him were outraged. His father stood up and shouted, It's not fair. He's crazy. He should not go to the chair. They should lock him up.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
course whatever they didn't finish just to just to like get some fuel for the next thing yeah and i'm pretty that's probably what happened yeah they're gross nasty saliva germs around that that's why they're always trying to drink out of my water bottle and i'm like get the fuck away from tt stuff it's true do not touch tt's water bottle i don't say that can you imagine oh my god i would never
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
So I feel like he's got to be locked up. Yeah, I agree. But on June 6, 1936, John Fiorenza appeared before the Court of General Sessions for sentencing, and he was formally sentenced to die in the electric chair.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
At the hearing, his attorney continued to push his insanity defense, telling reporters, he doesn't even know what all this is about. He was more anxious to know when I can visit him in the death house, which is sad in some sense, you know? Under New York law, though, a guilty verdict in a death penalty case automatically triggers an appeal.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
But like in the initial trial, the appeals process moved quickly. Not surprisingly, John's attorney insisted that although his client had killed Nancy, he had only done so because of what his psychiatrist referred to as a mental confusion. I don't think so. I don't think so either. I don't see this. I think he's possibly mentally ill, but I think he knew what he was doing was wrong.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
He tried to cover it up. He went to her house the day before, decided that he wanted to kill her, came back prepared to kill her, raped and killed her, and then disposed of evidence. Exactly. Exactly.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
I think he should spend the rest of his life in jail.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Yeah. There was also multiple, if you rape somebody before you kill them, there's multiple times at which you can stop. Exactly. Before you kill them. And he didn't. And he didn't. So he went further and further. Exactly.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Fuck him. Fuck him. It's the part where his family talks about... Yeah, you feel bad for his family.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Yeah, you have to. They are victims too in this whole thing. For sure. Arguing in favor of upholding the death penalty, though, William Dodge insisted, this man is a potential maniac. There is no reason for the state of New York to be cheated of the enforcement of the law by the pretense of insanity, which I kind of agree with. Although, again, don't agree with the death penalty.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
I completely agree. Ultimately, his appeal was denied. And on January 22nd, 1937, he was executed in the electric chair at Sing Sing Prison. Just prior to his death, he exclaimed, you don't know all I've been through in this place. I don't know why they don't give me a chance.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
But I did say the other day at dance class, I was like, no, no, no, this is a grown up drink because I'm drinking like, it's like armor colostrum. So I'm like, you guys probably shouldn't drink that. But I was like, oh, fuck. Everybody at all the other moms probably thought that I said like. You had like wine in your tumbler. I'm just sipping on the scissor at dance class.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
No, you can't. Because you already murdered her.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
And then tried to cover it up and lie about it.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Fuck you, John. Such a wild case from start to finish, though. It is. The key star here is the detective work. Yes. It's early 1930s, and they had all this advanced, not advanced, but at the time very advanced, fingerprint technology and just the dedication of people who went back to the scene. Yeah. I found the investigation part of this so interesting. Oh, I think it's amazing.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
That's awful. I know. And her poor husband, too. Oh, it's awful. Stumbling home to that. Yeah, that's awful. Very, very tragic case. But very, very interesting on the investigation side, like you said. Yeah, for sure.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
but with all that being said we hope you keep listening and we hope you keep it weird but not so weird that when you deliver something to somebody's house you decide that you're gonna rape and murder them because ew that's really fucking terrible and you should stop yourself from doing things like that bye don't be a dick self-control is important Thank you.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Every serving of cachava offers 25 grams of 100% plant-based protein, but that's not all. This all-in-one shake has fiber, quality fats, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and so much more. I love that I can tick so many boxes with just one delicious shake. If you know me, you know that vanilla and chai are my favorite flavors, and I like to combine them.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
You're good, but it's only the start of the season.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Liquid IV, of course, a sponsor. Hell yeah. The colostrum I'm taking is great. 10 out of 10 recommend. Not a doctor, but... And that's health. And wellness. With me being sick. And me not being sick.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
so let's get into it today brothers i have an older case but it's you know how we always are like we do the older cases because the way that they solve it is always like so interesting yes this case in particular the way they solve this case is actually wild like it took some it took some serious detective work and it took somebody going back to the scene to find something that really even like drove it home further oh i love the dedication yeah
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
So we're going to be talking today about the murder of Nancy Evans Titterton. And I just want to say, she sounds like she was, like, so cool. Aww. And just, like, sweet. Poor Nancy. And I feel bad because she just had her career, like, really start to take off. Like, she was really, like, climbing the ladder in the right direction and...
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
This crime, all crime, is obviously pretty senseless, but this one specifically was so senseless. So let's get into it. So Nancy Violet Evans was born in 1903 in Dayton, Ohio, to Frank and Stephanie Evans. From a very young age, she took a strong interest in reading and writing.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
And after she graduated from high school in 1920, she decided she was going to get her degree in English at Antioch College. She crushed it there. She won multiple awards for her writing. And once she graduated from college in 1924, she went back home to Dayton. She worked briefly in a factory, but then moved on to run a small bookshop, but then decided she wanted a little bit more for herself.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
So she moved to the Big Apple, New York City, and she decided there she was going to pursue a literary career. Wow. Yeah, just rolling with it. Rolling with the literary punches. So when she got to New York, Nancy rented a small apartment in Greenwich Village, and she found a job as a bookseller at Lord & Taylor, which is funny to think about Lord & Taylor selling books. I know.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
But in her spare time, she focused on making connections in the literary world. She wrote book reviews for a bunch of New York newspapers, just writing anywhere she could. That's awesome. And really trying to get her name out there. And the work of writing book reviews back then wasn't really glamorous, but she did it so that it would keep her connected to her passion.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
And after a few years, she was offered a job at Doubleday Books, which was one of the most prominent names in publishing at the time. And there she was instrumental in building the company's nascent but increasingly popular Crime Club series, which was a true crime series. That's pretty cool. Yeah, so she had an interest in that.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
One friend later told reporters, the principal thing about Nancy was that she was not flashy in any way. She'd rather discuss a new book, I think, than anything. She wasn't interested in politics or parties or clothes as most women are. So in 1927, Nancy met Louis Titterton, a British man who also loved literature and writing just as much as she did.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Lewis Titterton had been a star academic at Harvard and at Cambridge University, so a very educated man. He studied Middle Eastern languages there before he took a job as the assistant editor at Atlantic Monthly, which was a really, really impressive achievement for somebody who was still in his 20s.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
The job at Atlantic opened doors for him in the literary world, and within a few years, he moved on to a position as associate editor at the Macmillan Company, one of the biggest names in publishing as well. And like Nancy, he also spent his spare time writing book reviews. Huh. Which you just think of the two of them. And they're a good couple, don't worry. You just think of the two of them.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
But they also have chocolate, they've got matcha, and they've got coconut acai. I'm a big fan of the coconut acai as well. After drinking cachava first thing in the morning, because that's when I always drink it, I feel satiated for hours. I feel focused, calm, and ready to take on my day.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
I know, I was like, please tell me I can like them. Yeah, just like sitting at home writing book reviews together. That's just such a cozy life I felt they were living. I love that. They dated for two years, and then they got married in October of 1929 in a small ceremony at the little church around the corner, famous landmark in New York City.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
And not long after their wedding, they moved to the Beekman Place Apartments on the east side of Manhattan. Now, in the few years that followed, Beekman Place would actually gain quite some notoriety for a series of unconnected murders, beginning in 1935 when Vera Stretz murdered her boyfriend. And then that was followed by Nancy Titterton's murder six months later in 1936.
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Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
And finally, the murder of Veronica Gideon in 1937, which we actually just recently covered. So, interesting. Jeez. Yeah. You just wonder what the energy was in that place. Yeah. Yeah. In a tragically ironic twist, actually just after moving into Beekman, Nancy wrote to a friend about how much she loved her new place. She said, I'm so glad to get out of Hell's Kitchen.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Even though we had bars on the window, I never felt safe there. Nothing could happen to anyone on Beekman Place.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Which very much could. Oh, no. But Nancy and Lewis had a lot of good years before tragedy visited Beekman Place. By then, Lewis had accepted a new job as the chief of the script division at NBC Radio. And for somebody who spent his entire professional life focused on literature and language, this new position was difficult.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
But as Harold Schechter wrote, Lewis was, quote, intent on elevating the cultural quality of radio programming. It's like really heady people, you know? At the same time, Nancy had made a major transition of her own. She actually left her job at Doubleday to focus on her own writing full-time. At first, her success was pretty slow to come.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
She published a few stories in various literary magazines, but she was really struggling to find her home as an author. Yeah. Then, in 1935, Story Magazine, which was a prestigious journal known for launching some of the biggest authors of the day, they offered to publish her short story called I Shall Decline My Head. It was a story about a, quote, old man adrift in dreams of the past.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
So the story actually caught the attention of some major players in the publishing world, and some of them called her a writer of exceptional literary merit.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Yeah, absolutely. So after that, Nancy was offered a contract for her first novel, which was published by Story Press, a new publishing imprint of Story magazine. Damn. She had just really found big success writing.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
But unfortunately, it was short-lived. On the morning of April 10th, which was Good Friday, 1936, Lewis finished his breakfast around 8 in the morning and left to head into his office just a short time later. When he arrived, he found what he described as an amusing letter from a friend. So a little after 9 a.m., he called Nancy to tell her about the letter.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Something that I really love to do if I even want like a little bit more protein is just add a scoop of peanut butter to the vanilla and chai concoction that I make. And that, oh, is just scrum-diddly-umptious, honey. Cachava is offering our listeners 10% off on their subscription for a limited time. Just go to cachava.com slash morbid. spelled K-A-C-H-A-V-A, and get 10% off your first order.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
This was the first of two calls that Nancy got that morning. The other call came from her friend, Georgia Mansbridge. She spoke with Georgia for a few minutes and then hung up around 10.15 a.m. She and Georgia made dinner plans for that night, and Georgia later told reporters, I feel sure no one was in her apartment when we spoke.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Now, nobody heard anything from Nancy until about 1130 in the morning when Oneida Smithhead, a maid in the apartment just below the Tittertons, actually heard somebody in the building yell, Dudley, Dudley, Dudley. And then the voice suddenly went quiet. Dudley Mings was the building's handyman, so whoever this was was presumably calling out for him.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
According to author Harold Schechter, there was an urgency to the cry, but since the tenants routinely shouted for Ming's whenever a toilet overflowed, a ceiling light blew, or a sash window wouldn't open, the maid disregarded the cry, just thinking it was nothing more than that. Which you can understand. Yeah, of course.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
So a short time later, a delivery boy from a local dry cleaner also arrived at Beekman Place. He had a dress for Nancy. And he was under the impression that she would be home. But after ringing the bell several times and getting no answer, he left. Just was going to deliver the dress at a different time. Yeah. At 4.15 p.m., another delivery arrived.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
This time it was an upholster, Theodore Kruger and his assistant, John Fiorenza. They were there to deliver a love seat that Nancy had reupholstered. And after climbing the four flights of stairs, they were surprised to find that the Titterton's front door was actually open slightly.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Yeah. Kruger knocked on the door loudly and didn't get any response. But he assumed that maybe they left the door open for him so he could deliver the last seat. Like they knew this delivery was coming. So the two men entered and they set the sofa down. Kruger left the bill on the seat and he intended to call later.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
But as they were making their way downstairs to leave, he realized that he didn't have their phone number. So he wasn't going to be able to call them and make good on this. So he went back up to the apartment to get the number before he and his assistant left. Yeah. He later told the police, I found the phone in the bedroom and took the number.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
And as he was turning to leave, Kruger noticed that the bathroom light was on and that the door was slightly open. So he went over and knocked, which pushed the door open just even wider. Standing in the doorway, he could see a woman's nude leg hanging over the side of the tub. He called out to her loudly, but there was no sign of movement.
Morbid
Episode 628: The Murder of Nancy Evans Titterton
Now even more concerned, he inched closer to the tub and he looked inside. And he later said, my knees began shaking and I felt sick. I shouted to Johnny, my God, something's happened to the missus. Call the police. So Kruger's assistant did as he was told.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Hey weirdos, it's Ash. Before we dive into today's twisted tale, let me tell you about the spooky perks of Wondery Plus. It's like having a skeleton key that unlocks ad-free listening and early access to new episodes. So don't wait, try Wondery Plus today. You can join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or in Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
From there, they followed the blood trail back to the primary bedroom, which had been completely ransacked. Like, it looked like somebody had been looking for something in particular in a big hurry. And while it was a mess, they couldn't help but notice that there was no rhyme or reason to the chaos.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
So they thought it was possible that Carol was attacked, like, maybe, like I always say, some kind of robbery gone wrong. That seems staged, though. But... It felt way too staged, they thought. And on top of that, nothing appeared to be missing.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
I mean, they just found her diamond ring by the front door. Yeah.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
So there was ample evidence of a struggle, obviously, having occurred throughout several rooms in the house. And it seemed like Carol had fought back or at least tried very hard to get away. But despite that, they couldn't really determine the sequence of events and they really couldn't tell where the assault had actually started. Yeah, because it seems like chaos.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
It's chaos and everything is just a mess. And it kind of just looked like once the attack started, the attacker and the victim ran all throughout the house in several rooms and probably even doubled back actually more than once. So they canvassed the houses or the house on both sides of the street for several blocks.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
But other than the Nelsons and the Pearsons, nobody had seen or heard anything out of the ordinary that morning. Given the time of day, a lot of families had gone their separate ways by the time the attack would have happened and wouldn't be back until like late that evening. That's true. It's like work, school, errands, all that stuff. Wow. That's incredible. Yeah.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
That's K-A-C-H-A-V-A.com slash morbid. What a year it's been, you guys. I know that I have a lot to celebrate and a lot to give myself credit for. Honestly, the past few years have been pretty tough, especially for me and Elena, and it feels like a good time to step back and, you know, look at your life in this moment and and commemorate it with something beautiful, something sparkly even.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
So while they were in the process of searching the home, Carol's husband, T. Eugene Cotton Thompson, so his name is T. Eugene Thompson, but he's better known as Cotton. Cotton Weary. That's what I thought. That's what I think of. While the detectives were searching the home, he arrives home. Cotton arrives home. He had been at his law office downtown when he got a call shortly after 9 a.m.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
from the Nelson's son, Sidney, saying that there had been an accident involving Carol. Sidney didn't tell him too much because obviously he's like, you have to drive here.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
And nobody even knows exactly. So he just said there was an accident. By the time Cotton got the call, Carol was on her way to Anchor Hospital. But instead of going directly to the hospital, Cotton drove back home and actually even stopped briefly at the Nelsons' house before then going back to his own house. Which was definitely a little weird. Yeah.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
And, like, I'm sure you're not thinking straight, but it was something that people took note of. For sure. I can understand that. Yeah. So he told the police he had left the house that morning around 7.30, and he was taking his son Jeffrey to school, and then he went to his office. Okay. So typical morning. And also a well-trekked alibi. Uh-huh.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Around 8.30, he called the house to confirm with Carol that he would be picking up the kids at school. And he said, other than that, that was the last time he had spoken to her. He said, at that time, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. She didn't sound distressed. Nothing.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
But by the time they finished the search of the house, detectives had actually discovered very little in the way of evidence and they really didn't have any leads to indicate what exactly happened in this house. Obviously, the attack had carried out through multiple rooms covering the walls, the curtains, the rugs, everything in blood. But as for why and how it all happened, they were at a loss.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
But based on all the evidence, they theorize that Carol had been hit at least once with a piece of large, heavy rubber tubing, which they found on the kitchen floor. But they believe that she was also likely assaulted with the butt of a gun because the handle of which was broken in the process, leaving all these shards of plastic by the door.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Yeah. And she also sustained several stab wounds from what they concluded was a small paring knife. Holy shit. And that's the handle that they discovered by the front door. Damn. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. I love the burr months, December, November, all the burr months because they're so cozy.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
For some, wrapping up in a blanket with a mug of hot chocolate or, you know, watching a movie with a family is the best way to spend the month of December. You know what is another great way? Therapy. Therapy is a great way to bring yourself some comfort that never goes away, even when the season changes. I love therapy. I think therapy is awesome. I have benefited so much from it.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
So many life lessons and just like major breakthroughs I have made in therapy have shaped me into who I am today. So if you're thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. It's entirely online, designed to be convenient, flexible, and suited to your schedule.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
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Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
In all seriousness, if you're thinking of buying jewelry, there really is no better place to do it than BlueNile.com. Whether you're looking for a bit of special sparkle for yourself or to give the best holiday gift to somebody you love, your mom, your wife, your partner, whoever.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Discover the year's top audiobooks, podcasts, and originals all in your favorite genres. From memoirs and sci-fi to mysteries and thrillers, from romance and well-being to fiction, Audible's carefully curated list in every category is the best way to hear 2024's best of the year in audio entertainment. Like an almost unbelievably star-studded production of George Orwell's 1984,
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
which both honors and reinvigorates the terrifying classic. It's one of the best original dramatizations that we have ever heard, or romance that hits the spot, like Emily Henry's funny story, heartfelt memoirs like Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson's lovely one, listen to the year's best fiction like The Women by Kristen Hanna, and Percival Everett's brilliantly subversive James.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Personally, I think a best of the year is Elena Urquhart's The Butcher and the Wren and The Butcher Game. Ooh, ooh! Audible. There's more to imagine when you listen. Go to audible.com slash morbid and discover all the year's best waiting for you, like my sister's titles.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
So while they are still searching through the house and trying to figure out what the fuck happened here, doctors at Anchor Hospital did their best to stabilize a badly injured but still alive Carol. She had 25 separate cuts on her head from a blunt object, and several of those cuts had caused a, quote, skull fracture, brain hemorrhage, and contusions on the brain. This is so vicious.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
It's vicious. And she also had two stab wounds in her neck. When she got to the hospital, she was completely unconscious and was, quote, without measurable blood pressure. Yeah. Surgeons did their best to revive her, performing a tracheotomy. They also did an external heart massage, which I've never even actually heard of.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
heard of that that's when they literally like with their they will literally get the heart pumping with their like physically pump the heart i didn't even know that was an option or like a thing surgeons are wild and they also did um what's called a trepanation and that was to relieve the pressure on her brain because i think she had she had like bleeding like the skull yeah exactly but their efforts were futile unfortunately and she was pronounced dead a few minutes before 1 p.m
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Blue Nile offers some of the highest quality standards in the industry at prices significantly below traditional retail. If you know me, I agree with Marilyn Monroe. Diamonds are my best friend. I love a good sparkly sister. And Blue Nile actually helped me find this gorgeous tennis bracelet. And tennis bracelets are very in right now. So I went immediately to Blue Nile and they helped me out.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
That's awful. Which when you think about that, she arrived on the doorstep around 9 that morning, like so badly attacked. She lived until 1 p.m. 1 p.m. Like she fought hard. She must have been in agony though.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
You just hope that she wasn't since she was unconscious.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Yeah. So in 1963, violent home invasions were pretty rare in the U.S., and especially in the middle of the day in a middle class neighborhood. This is not something that happened a lot. And when it did happen, the motive was typically robbery. But in this case, nothing had been stolen.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
And aside from the bedroom, it really didn't even seem like the killer had gone through the Thompson's belongings at all. It kind of seemed like whoever attacked Carol had gone to the house to do exactly that. And given the amount of violence done to her, the objective clearly seemed to be murder. But the question that they had to ask was who would have wanted Carol Thompson dead?
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
So going back a little ways, Carol was born and raised in St. Paul and she had spent her entire life there. Like she's lived her entire life there. She was really well-liked. She was a mother of four. She was super, super active in her kids' lives. She was the den mother for her son's Boy Scout troop. She was a leader of her daughter's Brownie troop.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
And when she wasn't coordinating the lives of four really, really active children, she was organizing events at their church. She was the president of the Women's Association, a member of the church choir, and she even taught a kindergarten class.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
And she also, on top of all that, I think I mentioned it later, she was taking classes, too. Yeah.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
I'm like, that's... That's wild. That's a lot. Exactly. She was liked by everybody and she had all that going for her. So the police are at a loss. You're like, who the fuck did this? Who doesn't like Carol? Everybody does.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Exactly. She's not getting into organized crime here or something, I assume. No, not at all. No, she's not. So frustrated by the lack of evidence and any leads at the scene, investigators started questioning the family and the neighbors. Yeah.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
As a criminal defense lawyer, detectives actually had to wonder if one of Cotton's previous clients had been maybe disgruntled and wanted to get back at him by targeting his wife.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Yeah, but I mean, it happens, so I can see why they started there. And Cotton handed over a list of previous clients, but he also insisted that he couldn't think of a single one of them who had been dissatisfied with his legal services enough to act personally.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
like that you know like do something I mean I feel like you would have an idea if somebody was that disgruntled definitely because you would think that there would be like steps leading up to that you would at least feel like you know what this guy was really angry and like I could and he's dangerous and probably got maybe like made like a verbal threat at the very least you know
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
So investigators also started digging into Carol's background, of course. And in a lot of ways, she was pretty, I don't want to say ordinary, but like she led an ordinary life. Like nothing stuck out to them. Yeah. According to friends, she was very much an extrovert, much known and much loved by everyone, they said.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Other friends described her as somebody who was, quote, interested in everything and constantly learning.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
I know, she seems like... I love people like that, that just want to keep doing stuff. Yeah, I feel like Carol seems like somebody we definitely would have gotten along with. One friend told a reporter she was always trying to gain more knowledge.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
And God, it is so beautiful. Go to BlueNile.com to shop Blue Nile, the original online jeweler since 1999. That's BlueNile.com. BlueNile.com. Hey, weirdos, I'm Ash. And I'm Elena. And this is Morbid.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
And in fact, like I mentioned earlier, the reason that Cotton had planned to pick up the kids from school that afternoon was because Carol was taking night classes and she had plans to go to class that evening. Yeah, on top of everything else she's doing, she was going to a class. Now, by most accounts, too, Carol and Cotton's marriage had been a good one.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
They always seemed happy together, people said. People said they were an anchor in the neighborhood. They were organizing parties all the time, events all the time. Jeez. Like, things looked really good from the outside. Yeah. Carol met Cotton when she was a sophomore in college. And 10 months later, she dropped out of school and they got married.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
And then a few months later, Carol got pregnant with their first child. And she really started on her career as a wife and a mother, which was very of the time. This is the 60s. For sure. And she approached that with the same enthusiasm that she did everything in life. She was super excited, like fully devoted to everything, kids and husband.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Like, even more than whole-assed, if that's possible. Yeah. In the public and even in the press, too, she was described as the pinnacle of a 1960s housewife. But in private conversations... I was waiting for a but.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Because I was like, you can't tell me this is just the way it is. No.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
In private conversations... The interesting thing is, I'll tell you what happens, but it's not even that... Like, on Carol's end, you're like...
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
i don't know like it really doesn't explain this necessarily in private conversations with friends and neighbors detectives were starting to develop a little bit of a different picture of carol it was true she was a very devoted mother but not everybody believed that she had abandoned her own dream so willingly and not everybody was convinced that carolyn cotton's marriage was a good one
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
And she still has this love of learning, obviously. Yeah.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
That's the thing. But obviously it was just rumors. But some of the women in the neighborhood speculated that while she might not have been having a full blown affair, Carol did have a friend that everybody referred to as Big Red. Whoa. Who seemed more interested and attentive of Carol than was considered appropriate at the time. Oh.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Nobody said they saw them doing anything like scandalous or anything. But he seemed to like Carol. He seemed to pay a lot of attention to her. Well, that's not her fault. No. And she's beautiful. If you look at the picture, it makes sense. So investigators soon learned that Big Red's real name was Kenneth Morin. He was a local man in his early 30s.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
He met Cotton and Carol when he sold them some windows and doors about a year earlier. And he and Carol shared a lot of interests, so not long after meeting, Kenneth kind of became part of their social circle. According to him, he and Carol would visit museums together, go to galleries. Sometimes he would drive Carol and the kids places when cotton was unavailable.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
But he insisted they were just friends. There was nothing more to it. And he claimed he actually hadn't seen Carol since the previous November and didn't know anything about her murder. He also had an alibi for the day of the murder, which was confirmed by his boss. So he was quickly ruled out as a suspect.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
I think they definitely like thought the other was attractive probably. And like I think it was also really tough to have a friend of the opposite sex at that time. I was going to say this is such a different time too. And especially in like a small town and a close-knit community. For sure.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
I think they probably were just really good friends who like maybe found each other attractive, but it doesn't really sound like across the line at all. Okay. So even though they had ruled out Kenneth Morin as a suspect, his presence in Carol's life definitely contributed to an emerging portrait of probably an unhappy woman in an unhappy marriage to some degree. I can absolutely see that. Yes.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Like, you know. And in fact, further interviews with friends and neighbors revealed that Carol's relationship with Kenneth was a source of frustration for her husband Cotton. And one afternoon in November, he got home and he found Carol and Kenneth just talking in the backyard and demanded, he walked back out there and demanded that Kenneth leave and not come back.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Like he was, I think he was starting to probably hear people talking and I'm sure. Yeah. His pals were teasing him, that kind of thing. So he was like, stay the fuck away from my wife.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Well, Mike, and this is just me like to each their own. But if I knew that Drew had a close woman friend that he was like driving our kids around, I'd be like, I'm not super comfortable. Yeah, I too would have a problem with that. You know what I mean? Yeah. So for her part, Carol told a friend and this kind of explains what you were wondering earlier.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
She said, quote, she did not dislike Kenneth and was attracted to him, but loved only her husband and children. So she was like, yeah, he's handsome and I like being around him, but I only love my kids and my husband. She just sounds like the purest, like truly. Yeah, she really does.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Now, the other thing was the blow up in the backyard had resulted in Cotton becoming more attentive to her and the kids, which she appreciated. She's like, you know, I got a little fire under his butt. She's like, I miss Kenneth, like he was cool to hang out with, but this kind of worked out. Yeah, it was great.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
It was a testament to Carol's popularity, too, that so many people were willing to cooperate with investigators. and that they were offering whatever insight they had to her character. But their descriptions of her life and personality, even the gossip, really didn't do much to point them in the direction of a killer.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
If anything, the interviews just confirmed detectives' earlier feeling that Carol Thompson was the last person anybody would have wanted to see dead. Yeah. Or murdered, even worse. Like everyone on the outside of her life seemed to really like her. Yeah, like she didn't really have a problem with anything. She wasn't beefing. With anyone.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
So in the absence of new leads, investigators turned their attention back to Cotton, of course, the husband, who did look particularly suspicious after detectives discovered multiple life insurance policies.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Life insurance policies in Carol's name from multiple different insurance companies.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Yeah. Yeah. Like... What? About a week after the murder, it came to light that there were two term life insurance policies in Carol's name, three accidental death policies in her name, and three group term life insurance policies covering each member of the family, all totaling more than a million dollars in coverage back then, which today would be $10 million. Holy shit. More than $10 million.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Yeah, 100%. Yeah. So there's eight. Wow. Eight insurance policies. That's bonkers. Like, that's insane. That goes crazy. That goes absolutely bonkers. The news of the policies obviously caused quite a stir amongst those who knew the family. As it should. Since that much coverage seemed pretty fucking excessive by any measure. Yeah.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
In his statement to the press, Ramsey County Attorney William Randall told reporters, Thompson is the applicant for a beneficiary of the policies, which are due to expire next month. Oh. Yeah. Are you telling me? I'm telling you. This piece of fucking shit. Yeah, he did something.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
And I hope you ate all kinds of yummy food. Ooh, scrumdiddlyumptious. I'm salivating just thinking of our food that we're going to eat.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
So the discovery raised some new questions about Carol's death, and investigators obviously wanted to talk more with Cotton. But rather than address the matter with the police privately, Cotton Thompson released his own statement to the press via his friend, Douglas Young. Douglas. He didn't even go do it for himself. He had his friend do it. Don't involve Doug. Yeah, don't involve Douglas.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Come on. In the statement, Young laid out a detailed tally of the insurance policies in Carroll's name, and he included many, many lengthy specifics about the payouts and the purchase prices, just like a very unusual amount of information that most people wouldn't understand or really give much of a shit about.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Yeah, it's a great way to confuse people and make them not want to think that you're the guy. It was strategic, for sure. Yeah. Now, as for why he purchased so much insurance, Cotton said, we had no debt bills or indebtedness to speak of, and we felt that we could readily afford up to up to $200 a month on insurance as to each of us. It's like, how do you have like 55,000 insurance policies?
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
That's the thing. Like I get like having a life insurance policy. Absolutely. But I don't understand having eight. Yeah. I don't understand that. I'm also like, damn, like you got really good deals on those. Yeah. According to Cotton, they did have the children in mind when they purchased the insurance and they just, he said they hadn't intended to keep it beyond the children aging into adulthood.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Why do you have eight? There's six family members, six policies, the end. And I'm pretty sure one policy can cover multiple people. Yeah. I don't know. That could be wrong, but. Well, it's like, why? I just, I don't know. Like, that just, it seems excessive. It absolutely does. So the explanation seemed kind of reasonable, even if the number of policies and coverage were excessive.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
People were willing to look past it a little bit. Yeah, I mean, it's not totally out of the realm of normality, but it's still excessive to me. It raises your eyebrows. It does. But what investigators still found unusual was that Cotton also hadn't been forthcoming about the insurance policies when they asked him immediately after Carol's death. He didn't say anything about these. They found them.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Which it's like... That's a little weird. That's real weird. When they ask you and you're just like, I don't know. But at the same time, you're like... But you also know it's going to make you look bad. You know it's going to sound bad. And remember, he's an attorney.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
It's going to be a whole thing, guys. It's so beautiful. You know what I'm thankful for? Sushi. There you go. I just had some. Good for you, man. And you had a strawberry hostess cupcake. I did. Have you guys tried those? I didn't know they existed. She broke it out and it's me, her, and Mikey in the pod lab today. And she said, we can split this into three. And I said, no need. No need to do so.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
I think he thought that he was smarter than everybody else.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Yeah. And they also thought it was weird that when the details of the policies came to light, he chose to send a prepared statement to the press instead of just talking to the detectives who were working on his wife's murder case. Yeah, that tells you a lot. You know? In fact, according to the St.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Paul Police Department and the county attorney's office, neither received a copy of the statement that had been given to the press, and they only learned about it when it hit papers on the morning of March 27th. Wow. Yeah. Yeah, that shady behavior. So they didn't see any of that coming. And then there's this like lengthy ass statement. Yeah.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
So the original policies appeared to have actually been taken out by Carol or at least somebody who signed Carol's name to the form.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
But investigators decided to send the documents to the FBI for handwriting analysis to confirm that it actually was Carol's handwriting. And in the meantime, they continued their investigation, but openly admitted that they had really made very little progress in the weeks following the murder.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Police Chief Lester McAuliffe said, we have a great deal of circumstantial evidence, but the case isn't complete by any means. We need a break to crack the case. And little did they know that break was a coming. It was going to find them. Oh, no. So in their struggle to make any headway in the case, detectives revisited the scene and revisited the evidence that they found in the home.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
For the most part, the evidence collected from the house was pretty much what you would expect to find from a home, except for the pieces of plastic that were recovered in the pool of blood by the front door. I love gift giving so much. It just like warms my heart to give somebody a really awesome gift that I know they're going to love.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
It's great when you can get somebody a gift they wouldn't necessarily get for themselves, that little bit of luxury that they don't know they're missing. For quality gifts at an affordable price, my go-to is Quince. Quince lets you treat your loved ones and yourself to everyday luxury at an affordable price, something everyone needs in their closet in my opinion.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Quince's iconic Mongolian cashmere sweaters, which start at just $50. I shop on Quince literally all the time. I have so many of those Mongolian cashmere sweaters and I need so many more. I love them and I am giving a bunch of them out as presents for this holiday season because everybody deserves that level of comfort and luxury. Gift luxury this holiday season without the luxury price tag.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Go to quince.com slash morbid for 365 day returns plus free shipping on your order. That's q-u-i-n-c-e dot com slash morbid to get free shipping and 365 day returns. quince.com slash morbid. How many transactions do you make each month? I couldn't even take a guess. And I was shocked to learn that the average U.S. consumer makes an average of 70 payments per month. Whoa!
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Keeping track of our spending these days can be overwhelming to say the least, unless you have rocket money. Rocket Money is a personal finance app that empowers you to save more, spend less, and take control of your financial life. With Rocket Money, you can see all your checking, savings, credit cards, and investments in one convenient place, allowing you to understand your spending trends.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Hey everyone, let's talk about protein for a second. There's this rumor that getting plant-based protein is tough, but listen, there are some amazing options out there. Even if you're not vegan, adding more plant-based protein to your diet is a fantastic way to nourish your body and support the planet. My go-to for tasty protein and superfood-packed shake is cachava.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Rocket Money can actually even help you set up a custom budget by identifying top spending categories and suggesting areas where you could, you know, maybe adjust your spending habits. They'll calculate your monthly spending allowance and alert you when you're too close to going over budget so you can save more and spend less.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
I love their budget tool because, you know, sometimes I get that little alert that says, honey, you're about to go over. Oh, my God, slow down. And I say, all right, all right, get it in check, sister. And then I save more money and I love saving money. Rocket Money has over five million happy members. and has saved its users over $1 billion across all the app's features.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Let Rocket Money help you reach your financial goals faster. Get Rocket Money today at rocketmoney.com slash morbid. That's rocketmoney.com slash morbid, rocketmoney.com slash morbid. In the days that followed the murder, investigators theorized that that plastic had come from the hand of a pistol, which the intruder obviously used to beat Carol.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
That caused the pistol grip to break and fall on the floor and that's where the plastic came from. But the problem was they didn't have the gun that the pistol grip had come from and they actually weren't even sure what kind of gun it was at all. Wow. So they didn't have a lot to go on.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
But despite the lack of information, they held a televised press conference where they showed those broken pieces of the pistol grip and they asked for the public's help identifying the weapon. And within a week, the St. Paul police got a call from a man named Wayne Brandt. He was a St.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Paul salesman who claimed that the gun they were looking for was his 7.65 millimeter Luger pistol, which had been stolen from his apartment on February 14th, just a few weeks before the murder.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
He was certain that this gun was his because he actually recognized the pistol grip as one he made for himself in a shop class.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
I felt like it wouldn't mix well with my sushi and dumplings. Probably not. I was like, I think I'll try that at a later date if ever. That's a great, I think you should try it because I think you might be pleasantly surprised. Okay. But not with sushi. Right now I'm in a place of those Little Debbie brownie Christmas tree things, cakes. Oh, yeah. I'm actually not a big fan. Don't you say it.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Yeah, several years earlier. According to him, the gun was one of several items stolen from his apartment along with a television, a diamond ring, and a typewriter. Poor guy. Wow. Stealing all the shit.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
I know. I can't imagine. And good for him for being like, yeah, that's mine because some people wouldn't.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Right? We love a good Samaritan. Yeah. So a few days later and by chance, a lot of things in this case just came together by chance, which I like to believe is my girl Carol up there.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Yes. So police arrested a man named Willard Ingram during a holdup, like during a legit holdup. Ingram had a long criminal history and he was actually willing to provide information about other crimes in exchange for leniency with the whole holdup case. Oh. Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Oh, shit.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
The sisterhood of the traveling gun. It's about to go crazy. You have no idea. Oh, man. There are so many people involved in this. It blew my mind. So he steals the gun, but then he gives it to his friend Norman. Yes. So Norman Mastrian was a 40-year-old former prizefighter with mob ties. Oh. And he was mostly known to St. Paul police for kind of like a series of petty crimes.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
That was until he became the prime suspect in a 1962 kidnapping and murder of a local bar owner.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Yeah. Investigators actually hadn't been able to find enough evidence to convict him for the murder, and he was let go. But pretty much everybody agreed he was the killer. Holy shit. They just didn't have enough. He's just walking. So on the morning of April 19th, a group of detectives knocked on his door with a warrant for his arrest, but he refused to let them in or come outside.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
He wasn't letting them in and he wasn't going out there. That's not shady at all. No. So after speaking with the county attorney, the detectives were actually given the authority to take him by force. So they kicked down his door and they put him under arrest without further incident, luckily. Now, once they were at the station, he said he didn't know anything about Carol's murder.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
He refused to say anything more without a lawyer. Now, obviously, this was frustrating. But by then, investigators had already found a second witness. Shut up. A man named Henry Butler, who was now in custody pending trial for a robbery.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Criminals are everywhere. Criminals in your hair. You'd be criminaling. Everybody stays criminal in this time of St. Paul. So Henry Butler claimed that he had seen Norman Mastrian in possession of the stolen pistol, but he said he also saw Norman give the gun to another man. Shut up. This gun is changing hands yet again.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
And this time it goes to Dick Anderson, yet another criminal who had left town a few days earlier. Well, and this seems shady, too. So the connections that led from Willard Ingram to Norman Mastrian to Henry Butler, those all made sense. They all had very lengthy criminal histories. They were all known to associate with other criminals, like It was like a criminal fucking enterprise.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Yeah, they just stay criminaling. Yeah, they stay criminaling, like you said. But Dick Anderson, on the other hand, he made less sense. He was a twice-wounded military vet who had fallen on really hard times, and he turned to petty burglary just to try to get by. But he seemed to be a far cry from the more hardened criminals that he was currently being associated with.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
But once the warrant for Dick Anderson's arrest went out, St. Paul police got a tip from a reporter that he was actually staying at the Tropics Motor Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona. So when Phoenix police arrived at the motel, actually, they found Anderson in the lobby, luggage in hand, ready to check out, presumably to avoid arrest. Whoa. He had definitely been tipped off. Yeah.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
I'm not. Of the vanilla? Of the Christmas tree cakes. Okay. I don't like too much frosting, and the middle is sometimes too much for me. And I fear that you're going to throw something at me. I like the brownie better. Doesn't John also? Yeah. And both of you can get the fuck out of here with your shenanigans.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
It turned out that the fucking reporter who gave the tip to police about him being in Phoenix in the first place actually conducted a phone interview with Dick Anderson and let him know that the police were looking for him in relation to this murder and this whole slew of shady characters.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Exactly. What are you doing? Like, you're playing both sides. I know what he's looking for. He's looking for a byline. Exactly. Exactly. So Anderson told the reporter that he was only in Phoenix for a few days for vacation and that he didn't know anybody named Norman Mastrian. He didn't know anybody named Henley Butler or Willard Ingram.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
He repeated these denials to the Phoenix police once he was arrested. Wow. Yeah. He then said, Okay. This murdered woman is a big stink. Is a big stink here? I would say so. Yeah. So while detectives in St.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Paul waited on Anderson's extradition hearing, they started interviewing his friends, including the man who had actually been arrested with him in Phoenix, a man named Richard Sharp, another character.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Like Anderson and the others, Sharp was an own criminal. He had actually fled to Arizona with Anderson to avoid prosecution for a recent burglary that he was involved in.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
But like the others, he was willing to exchange information in order to get leniency on his own shit. So in a 23-page statement given to the police, Sharp told investigators that Dick Anderson was lying. He said Dick Anderson actually was the one who murdered Carol Thompson.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
And that he needed Sharp to contact the quote-unquote payoff man on his behalf. Shut up. He was waiting for his money. According to the statement, Anderson told Sharp that Norman Mastrian had paid him $3,000 to kill Carol Thompson. What? Yeah, so it literally just all went full circle. Holy crap.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Now, investigators actually did find that Norman Mastrian had paid Dick Anderson to kill Carol Thompson. But what they couldn't figure out was why some small-time criminal with mob ties would want a St. Paul housewife dead.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
But it's just like, how did it end up here? Right. So they're sitting there trying to figure out exactly what you just said, and they get another lucky break when they arrest yet another motherfucking criminal, Sheldon Morris, who was a local cab driver and friend of Norman Mastrian's, who claimed he knew where Dick Anderson had disposed of the rest of the pistol that they were still looking for.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
The stolen pistol. Shit. Under threat of prosecution as a co-conspirator in the murder at this point, Sheldon Morris led detectives to a remote location in the woods where the gun had been tossed. Wow. And they found it. Shut up! Yes. So now with the murder weapon in their possession and the murder suspect on his way to St.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Paul from Arizona, investigators were really close to closing the case on Carol Thompson's murder. They knew that Norman Mastrian had received the murder weapon from Willard Ingram. He's the one who stole it in the first place. So Willard Ingram breaks into the house of the man who had made this pistol. And then he gives it to Norman Mastrian. And then Norman Mastrian gives it to Dick Anderson.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
They literally started with next to nothing, and they asked the public for help, and this guy thankfully comes forward and is like, yes, that is my gun, but it was stolen. But to pull that thread. And then they track down four or five different criminals and local criminals in the area. Exactly. That's what I mean.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
And crazy how like all of these people were willing to turn on each other because they all, they lucked out because they all had cases that they were facing. That they wanted to get, yeah. That they wanted leniency on, exactly. So it was just like lucky strike after lucky strike.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
You know what? I don't dislike them. I'll eat one every now and again. I'm horrified. But if I had to pick on a deserted island, you can only have one brownies all the way. I hate that. I'd also pick brownies over cake in general. Wow. Yeah.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
So they knew all of this now, but they were still missing the last piece of the puzzle that would, you know, wrap this entire story together, make it make sense. Yeah. They needed to know who hired Norman Mastrian in the first place because he didn't know Carol. Why would he want her dead? Where is this coming from?
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
So just like they had done earlier, detectives went back to the basics of the case, and they looked for anything that would connect Norman Mastrian to the Thompson family. And that's when they found that list of previous clients that Cotton had given them at the start of this whole investigation. And, of course, it included a familiar name, Norman Mastrian. So there's no disgruntled former client.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Nope. It was a client that you felt so comfortable with. Precisely. Pre-fucking-cisely. Oy. So after Mastrian was arrested that previous year on the suspicion of the kidnapping and the murder, he consulted with Cotton Thompson about potentially suing the county for false arrest. Even though everybody was pretty convinced that he did this, he was so ballsy that he was willing to sue the county.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Luckily, the suit never went forward, but it was the only connection they could find between the two of them.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
The last piece of the puzzle finally fell into place when St. Paul detectives were able to get Dick Anderson back in custody in Minnesota. Because remember, he was in Phoenix, but they sent him on over.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Now, for some reason, I have such trouble with the word extradited. Extradited. Like, I can say it in a conversation, but when I look at it, I can't say it how I'm supposed to. I have words like that, too. Yeah, it's so weird. So they get him back. Initially, he stuck to his story. He denied knowing anything about the murder. He didn't know any of these people. Why am I even here? Who, me?
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
I didn't steal the cookie from the cookie jar. No. Not me. That's literally all I could think of the entire time I was going through this. He's just like, nope, we're on the same page. But by late June, he finally broke down and confessed and told them everything they wanted to know.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
According to Dick Anderson, he had been hired by Norman Mastrian to kill Carol, but it was Cotton Thompson who had arranged the entire hit.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Her husband. According to Dick Anderson, he'd been given instructions to sneak into the house through the side door before dawn and wait in the basement until everybody had left the house.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Exactly. Dick Anderson doesn't have mob ties. It's Norman Mastrian who has mob ties. Dick Anderson.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Who knew? There's so many people involved in this that it's so hard to keep track of everybody. But he really is the last person that they would have expected. Yeah, he's the one that they were like, why is this guy connected to all this? He's literally like a military vet, like not tied up in the mob, not tied up in just petty shit. Exactly.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
So, yeah, he has this guy just fucking sit in his basement while his kids are getting ready to go off to school. And his wife is, you know, preparing him for the day. This guy he doesn't know. Has no idea what he's capable of. Yeah. Yep. Wow. It's so messed up.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
So the plan was that Cotton would make a phone call to the house once he got to work, which would be Dick Anderson's signal to act because he would hear the phone ring. And then he would know that everybody except Carol was out of the house.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
So that morning, Cotton filled the bathtub with six or seven inches of water, and the plan was for Dick Anderson to strike Carol on the back of the head with a heavy piece of rubber hose, which they hoped would knock her unconscious. And when she'd been disabled, Anderson was to place her body in the bathtub, making it seem like Carol had hit her head getting into the tub and drowned.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Oh, so he really put some thought into this. Oh, he did. Because the accidental death would have triggered the double indemnity clause in several of the insurance policies, thus paying up a higher amount. Oh, so he was hoping this would look like a total accident.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Yeah, it's god-awful what happened to Carol, but it's also like, yeah, that's why you don't hire somebody to murder your fucking wife, dude, because it's not going to work out for you. Nope. But unfortunately, like we just said, things did not go to plan. So after Cotton placed the call to the house, Anderson started going up the stairs from the basement, but the stairs were creaking as he walked.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
So he was nervous that the noise was going to give him away. So he waited a minute or two. And during that time, Carol went back upstairs to lay down in bed, which sounds like something she probably never did. Yeah. Because she was so busy all the time. But she just goes back to her own bedroom. Yeah. and Anderson appears in the doorway of her room. Oh, God.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
So she panicked, assuming that it was a robbery, and she jumped out of bed, which he then immediately hit her on the back of the head with the hose, but it didn't disable her like they hoped it would. Instead, Carol fought back hard, and she was actually able to knock him to the floor, and she made a break for the stairs.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
And she stopped quickly to grab her robe so that she wouldn't run out of the house indecent.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Yeah. Anderson caught up with her in the hallway, but she was able to escape him again, and she ran for the front door. But when she reached the front door, she found that it had been locked with a chain lock.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
When you hear why this was locked, it's going to break your heart. So as she fumbled to get the chain off the door, Dick Anderson obviously caught up with her and pointed the gun at Carol. Now still thinking that she was being robbed, she took her diamond ring off her finger, her wedding ring, and offered it to him. But he responded by pulling the trigger of the gun.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
To both of their surprise, the gun jammed. Sending him into a panic, and that's when he started beating her with the gun so aggressively that the pistol grip broke and fell to the floor.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
It was also at this point that those three rounds from the clip came loose and dropped to the floor, so that's why they found those unspent clips. Now, when the beating didn't appear to have killed Carol, he went to the kitchen and grabbed a paring knife from the door, which he used to stab Carol until the handle broke.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Now, finally convinced that she was dead, he went upstairs to the bathroom where he tried to wash the blood off his hands and arms. And he went to the bedroom to stage the scene to look like a robbery. And while he was staging the scene, he heard a noise downstairs and ran to look by the door. And that's when he saw that Carol was gone. So she most likely actually played dead to make it seem like.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
So she could escape out the front door. Like she fought him as hard as she did and then had the whereabouts to pretend she was dead so she could get away. That is horrifying. So panicked when he saw that she was gone, he stopped what he was doing and he fled the house from the kitchen door and got the fuck out of there.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Now, this is gut-wrenching. Years later, Jeff Thompson, Cotton and Carol's son, would recall that on the morning of his mother's murder, his father instructed him to put the chain on the front door before they left for school.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
And Jeff even said he thought it was strange because they never chained the door. And he said if it hadn't been locked, obviously his mother would have been able to escape her attacker. He said, I had never done that before. I haven't forgiven my father. And you never should. Never. Fuck that guy. Never. I don't want you to do any of this, but you put that on your fucking son.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
You can't even just go do it. You're making him a part of this.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
To involve your kids like that is so, so messed up. Piece of garbage. So on June 21st, 1963, you will all be very happy to hear detectives arrested Cotton Thompson in connection with the murder, labeling him as the payoff man in the conspiracy. Because remember, they were looking for the payoff man.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
When he appeared before the judge for his arraignment, Cotton, quote, looked haggard, had tears in his eyes, and his voice cracked as he answered the judge's questions. Oh, fuck you and your tears. Yeah, get fucked. The news of Cotton's arrest obviously shocked the friends and neighbors of the Thompson family.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
One neighbor said there was no conflict between the Thompsons recognizable or known to their closest friends. And others recalled how, quote, he and Carol never missed a Sunday taking the kids to church and how Cotton was active with Jeff's scout troop. All of it. Like everybody was shocked.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Even the most obvious mode of the large insurance payout even didn't really make that much sense to everybody. Because remember, he's a successful lawyer. He's making like $40,000 a year back then, which today is more than like $400,000 a year. Yeah, like come on. Yeah, he's like essentially making a doctor salary. Yeah. So it wasn't like he was in desperate need of money.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
But in reality, the motive for Carol's murder had pretty much been staring them in the face since the beginning of the investigation. There were so many claims that they were this ideal couple, but it seemed like the neighborhood gossip had been right all along. Cotton and Carol's marriage was on the rocks for a long time.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Author William Swanson said, "...there were all kinds of things that wouldn't jive with Cotton's idea of a wife and mother in 1963." Before they were married, Carol had obviously big dreams and she envisioned a very exciting life for herself. She wanted to go after all her interests, all her passions.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
But her marriage and obviously the quick arrival of children pretty much sidelined all of her goals and required that she turn her attention to supporting her husband's ambitions. Yeah. Yeah.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Exactly. Exactly. But regardless of how she felt about having to prioritize her responsibilities as a wife and mother, like I said in the beginning, she approached all her new responsibilities with like open arms. She was happy to do everything she had to do. And by all accounts, she was a great wife. She was a great mother. Yeah.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
But the longer they were married, people said the more unhappy Carol had become. That author, Swanson, said, Cotton was a tough, self-absorbed character, and soon it became clear that he was intent on doing whatever he wanted whenever he wanted to. He was having affairs with other women, and he was just completely indifferent to Carol's wants, Carol's needs.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
On the bottom of an elephant's foot. Yeah, I would say like he's even lower than that. Yeah. Honestly. Later, their son Jeff would say, I know my mother knew about my dad's affairs. She was saddened by a lot of his behavior, so it would not surprise me if she was to reach out to another person. Oh, that breaks my heart. Which honestly is probably why she was so close with Kenneth Morin. Yeah.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Like, I'm sure they... Like, she just wanted somebody to be there for her. She needed someone. And it doesn't even really sound like they were having any kind of, like, almost an affair.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Yeah, and, like, of course that other person was Kenneth Morin. They had shared interests together. Yeah. They gave a shit about each other. And... You know, nobody really knows if there was an affair or not. But it seemed pretty obvious to everybody that there was some kind of connection to each other. And that was until Cotton put an end to that relationship.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
But the final straw, at least as far as Cotton was concerned, came just one day before Carol was murdered. Apparently that afternoon, seemingly out of nowhere, Carol turned to her daughter Margaret and asked what she would do if she went away for a while. Like, what would you do if mom went away for a while?
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
And Jeff Thompson remembered this happening, and he said, Margaret was very surprised and concerned, and the thought was that she was planning on leaving my father. Looking back on it, I hope she was. However, she would have been foolish to tell him. Oh, Jeff. I want to give Jeff a hug. I know, I do too.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Now, nobody knows if Margaret said anything to her father about her mother planning to leave or if he just came to that conclusion on his own. But either way, it seemed that Cotton Thompson knew or strongly suspected that Carol was most likely planning on leaving him.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Exactly. So he quickly made sure, made plans that she would never get out of this marriage. Fuck that guy. Which is... It's like, you don't want to be married either. Yeah. You're... You're going here, there, and everywhere with everyone.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
That's the thing. I'm like, why can't you do it at a certain point? What are you doing with it? Exactly. Why do you need more? You just don't at a certain point.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
That wasn't even here. That's not even here. He just wanted more. Yeah. I'm like, you have four kids. Holy shit. They all are doing what they want to do as far as activities. It sounds like you guys are throwing parties or throwing events. Like, what do you need more for? Why? Fuck that guy.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
But after several delays and a change of venue, Cotton Thompson finally went on trial for the murder of his wife on October 27th, 1963. He pleaded innocent, and in his opening statements, prosecutor William Randall laid out the state's theory about Thompson's motive for the murder.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
He said the motive was not only to enable Mr. Thompson to collect the more than $1 million in life insurance he had recently taken out on his wife's life, but also to free him up to see other women.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Just leave. They'd all be better off without you anyways. Wouldn't have got his money, so he wouldn't have been happy.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Seriously. But Randall pointed to Cotton's long history of infidelity. And one particular incident a year earlier where he apparently told his mistress, just give me 11 months, implying that after that time frame he would be able to marry her. Girl. Just give me 11 months.
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Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
to watch fall down semester again you know what though i feel like that would be akin to drew turning to me and telling me that he didn't like bravo all of a sudden and i'd kick him out of our house it's rough and then you sit here and you tell me i didn't say you do not appreciate no no no the vanilla christmas tree you at one point you said i don't really like them you said those words i heard yeah you quoted me correctly that made me upset
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
You sure do. You sure do. Testifying for the prosecution, one of the several insurance agents told the jury about the quote sense of urgency Cotton conveyed to them when he was buying up all of these policies. Eleven months before Carol's death. Come on. Cotton told one agent that he had a quote unquote premonition in which Carol would meet with a tragic accident.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Your gray matter, as public would say. What are you doing? Yeah, he said that was why he was in such a hurry to get all these policies.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Damn. Yeah. No, this is what the defense went with. The defense explained that Cotton was just an eccentric when it came to insurance. No, no. He's just eccentric. No, that's not one of those things. He's just kooky. He just, you know, he just fucking loves insurance. Just loves insurance. You guys know Jake from State Farm? Cotton's kind of like that.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
You know, Cotton, insurance is my kink kind of guy, you know? It's his thing. That's not okay. Nobody's eccentric when it comes to life insurance policies.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Ridiculous. So pointing to the excessive coverage he'd purchased for his home and car, they continued to say he was an eccentric. But he still loves it. Those amounts were also double the average coverage at the time. So he really did put like excess coverage on everything. He is eccentric when it comes to home insurance and life insurance.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
But if the urgency and amount of coverage Cotton had purchased on his wife's life weren't compelling enough, the testimony of the state's chief witness, Dick Anderson, definitely gave insight to Cotton's cruelty. Oh, boy. On the stand, Anderson recalled the attack on Carol, and he said, She managed to get out of the tub, so I knew I had trouble.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
I was instructed either way, so I went to pull the gun. So Cotton told Dick, no matter what happens, you pull that trigger and you kill her. Wow. He is so fucking cold. I don't care what happens. Yeah. He then explained, Dick explained to the jury in no uncertain times that he had been hired by Norman Mastrian who was hired by Cotton.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Also, according to Anderson, there was supposed to be a second murder. Anderson quoted Norman as telling him, the broad's father will be next in six or seven months.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
What the fuck? They were going to kill Carol's dad as well. Apparently, this was Cotton's plan to gain an even greater access to Carol's family fortune, which she would have inherited upon her father's death.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
i am so if she's dead and her father dies cotton and kids get everything so this guy is a literal fucking monster yeah like no amount of money would ever satiate that man that's like what is wrong with you like what is wrong with that's more money than you'll ever be like what is wrong with and i just i never understand valuing that much money over human life like That's the thing.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
And especially, and we always say this, I feel like, when it comes to a spouse murdering another spouse, but it's like, you take vows. You walk down the aisle with that person. In this case, you procreate multiple, multiple times with this person, and you don't feel anything? That's the thing. I'm like, you don't feel anything? You don't feel any connection to them?
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
No, I shouldn't say I don't really like them. I just don't prefer them. My preference is the brownies, you know? Write in. What's your preference? We'll do a social media poll. Oh, Lord. Alina's like, no. I'm like, no, I'll lose. America's sweetheart will win the brownie crusade. That's fine. More for me, like you said. Exactly, like you said. Like I said. Like I said. I said it. All right.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Drew and I get in a little tiff, and I'm like, I'm the worst horrible woman in the world, and I feel so bad. Like... What? You don't feel anything.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
I think he absolutely is. You have to be dead inside.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Wow. And also, like, to kill your wife, one, is absolutely just, like, unthinkable. Then to kill her grieving father six or seven months later. First of all, you're going to make him wait six or seven months. Yeah. And then secondly, you're also killing her father. Like, why? So her poor mother has just lost her daughter and her husband? Yeah. Jesus.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
So Cotton Thompson did testify on his own behalf, essentially telling the court that he had nothing to do with his wife's murder and that the extent of his relationship with Norman Mastrian was just an advisor one year earlier. But he didn't really say much else to convince the jury that he had no connection to the murder. Yeah.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Instead, the defense just argued that the jury couldn't trust a chain of circumstantial evidence and the testimony of criminals who had all turned on each other in exchange for lighter sentences. But on December 7th, 1963, the jury deliberated for more than 26 hours before emerging to announce that they found T. Eugene Cotton Thompson guilty. Yes.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Of the first degree murder of his wife, Carol Thompson. Bye, bitch. And when asked about how they arrived at the verdict, one juror said, "...there was no one primary reason for our verdict. We thought of the case as a whole."
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
And after waiving his right to a delay in sentencing, Judge Rolf Fawson immediately sentenced Cotton to life in prison, which at the time was the required sentence in cases of premeditated murder in Minnesota. Rot, bitch. Rot.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
And in the months that followed, Norman Mastrian and Dick Anderson were both tried and both were found guilty of first-degree murder, meaning they both also got life sentences. Yeah, as you should. Now, Cotton appealed his conviction, of course. Shut up.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
He appealed to the state Supreme Court in 1966, arguing for a new trial on the grounds that he had been convicted on false testimony provided by several of his criminal co-conspirators. But the Supreme Court upheld the lower court's decision and denied the motion for a new trial. Wow. Wow. Jeff is, like, a very – he's a really good person, it seems.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Yeah. Than, you know, most people. Like, that is – That's Carol's son. I was going to say that is Carol's son. That's Carol's son. That's not Cotton's son. I mean, it is Cotton's son. I'm not saying that, but you know what I'm saying. Yes. Now, just for kicks, on August 7th, 2015, on his 88th birthday, Cotton Thompson died in his sleep after struggling with failing health for several years.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
And if that's not the universe saying, ha ha ha ha ha.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
And I hate that he lived 88 years. Like, that's a long-ass life.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
But rest in fucking distress. And the universe is always gonna get ya.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Wow. I told you. It's one of those cases that just starts and doesn't stop. It doesn't stop.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
And her kids. And that's the thing. Like her kids just went to school that day.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
And had no idea. And Jeff, poor Jeff, his dad told him lock that door. And then he spent the rest of his life thinking, what if I hadn't locked that door? Like, why did my dad make me lock? Like, I can't imagine the psychological damage that would do to you.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Well, I think that was an unhinged enough intro. I do want to see Fall of the House of Usher. Fall of the House of Usher. I highly recommend it, guys, if you haven't watched it.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
That's an awful, awful case. It's such a sad case, too, because you, in the beginning, like, when I started reading about this case, I was like, oh, like, she's going to live. She's going to pull through.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
It's just so sad. That's awful. But she was a fighter. She fought hard to think that she literally dragged herself or crawled a block away after sustaining what she sustained. Yeah. Running around that house multiple times, getting out of the bathtub, like...
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
oh my god she's unbelievable truly damn but what a tragic case it really is but um as always we hope you keep listening and we hope you keep it weird but it's a way that you go and take out eight life insurance policies on your wife because somebody these days is gonna say hey that's weird and you're not just eccentric and i'm gonna call somebody yep
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
And if you work at a life insurance company, call somebody. Call somebody. Say, hey, this guy just took out eight life insurance policies on his wife, and that's kind of weird. And he needs them within 11 months because he had a premonition that she's going to die unexpectedly in a tragic accident.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
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Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
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Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
I'm willing to try his stuff. I don't think I've ever seen any. I think you would dig it. I really do. I feel like we usually have. Yeah. I wouldn't say similar tastes because you don't like the things that I love.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
I've seen the trailer of Fall of the House of Usher. I always feel like I'm going to say it wrong. And I liked the trailer. I was intrigued. I think you'd be into it. But I don't think Drew would like it. And that's tough because we watch TV together. No, I don't think that. Right now, if you're a Bravo head, oh my God, all the shows are on, honey. All of them.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Real Housewives of Beverly Hills just came back. First episode, absolutely obsessed. I do not condone smoking unless your name is Dorit Kemsley. Have you seen the picture of her lighting up a Virginia Slim and just driving around?
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
no she is she's like going through a divorce and it gets outed and she's getting chased by paparazzi and she just lights up a virginia slim and everybody knew that dorit smoked like she's been caught by paparazzi before but she's never done it on the show and she she just had such a fuck it moment yeah she doesn't give a shit it was iconic it was the smoke heard around the world but there you go don't smoke it kills it does
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
so anyway i think i said that was chaotic enough of an intro but then i made it more chaotic i love that well now we're going to get on to the case this case is absolutely bonkers from start to finish oh i'm excited yeah i will let you know like right off the top right off the top of this uh it's very brutal in the beginning but here it's called morbid it is
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
So this is the murder of Carol Thompson. And it all started on the morning of March 6th, 1963. Ruth Nelson was just sitting in her living room in her St. Paul, Minnesota home. She was catching up on the morning news. And she heard what sounded like somebody lightly knocking on her front door.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
So she went to the door and she peered through the small window and she couldn't see anybody, but she decided that she should just open the door to be sure. And when she opened the door, she saw that lying at the foot of the steps was her neighbor, 34-year-old Carol Thompson, who lived just a couple houses down. Temperatures that morning were freezing, but Carol was only wearing a light robe.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
She had no shoes on and the upper part of her body from her head to her chest was absolutely drenched in blood. And Carol looked up and in a voice just above a whisper, she looked at Ruth and said, help me.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
oh that's so haunting and she's like ruth has just started her morning just you know probably made a cup of coffee watching the news and opens her door up to wow like her beloved neighbor too yeah close and only 34 years old yeah super young neighbor so ruth called out to her husband and son who were still home they had been in the kitchen and they moved carol inside the house laying her gently on their rug and while harry nelson ran to call the police ruth and her son just tried to comfort carol however they could shit
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
And one of the two ended up asking Carol what happened to had somebody attacked her who had ended a faint voice that suggested she was losing consciousness really quickly. She answered a man did it. And Ruth asked what the man's name was. And she thought that Carol said Johnson. But by then, Carol could hardly speak. Even so, she was just speaking over a whisper.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
So Ruth would never be quite sure what the name was. Now, moments later, another neighbor, Dr. Fritz Pearson, arrived. His wife had been watching everything that morning through their living room window and suggested that he go over to help because she was like, something is, like, very wrong over there.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Oh, my God. Yeah. Ruth Nelson later said, I know Carol very well, but her face was covered with so much blood that even I didn't recognize her.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
But they also have chocolate, they've got matcha, and they've got coconut acai. I'm a big fan of the coconut acai as well. After drinking cachava first thing in the morning, because that's when I always drink it, I feel satiated for hours. I feel focused, calm, and ready to take on my day.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
So Harry Nelson's call to the St. Paul police came into dispatch at about 9.07 a.m. Just think of how early this is.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
At which point he reported only that his wife had discovered a, quote, badly injured lady on their doorstep and just that they needed help immediately. It's unclear what sergeants John Ricardo and Roy Shepard were really expecting when they got to the scene, but whatever it was, it was not really likely that they had pictured just a housewife, a neighbor just drenched in blood.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Later, Ricardo wrote in his report, the wounds were small and appeared to be stab wounds, but in truth, Carol had been injured so badly that it was impossible to tell where all the blood was coming from. She had so many wounds. So as Dr. Pearson continued providing first aid, the officers tried to get any information out of Carol herself.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
But by then she was barely conscious and she wasn't able to communicate at all. So it was Ruth Nelson who explained how she came to found Carol that morning. But nobody had any idea what happened to her, like how she got that. Yeah. Can you imagine just finding someone like that? No.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
No. And she can't tell you. That's the worst part. So the ambulance arrived a few minutes later and the EMTs were directed inside. And in their report, one of the EMTs described the extent of Carol's wounds as far as he could see at the time, writing, We also noticed a shiny metal tip or what appeared to be a knife blade protruding from the left side of the neck. Who the fuck did this to her?
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Oh, just wait. So Carol was taken to Anchor Hospital by the ambulance while the officers called for additional support and started their investigation. From what the two initial investigators could tell, Mercado and Shepard, it seemed like Carol had actually crawled or dragged her way down the street just trying to find help. Oh, that like shadow. Shatters my heart. Yeah.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
And just like this quiet 1960s suburban neighborhood and she can't yell because she's been stabbed in the fucking neck. So when they conducted their door-to-door canvas of the neighborhood, Fritz Pearson's wife, who that was the doctor's wife who had sent him over.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Something that I really love to do if I even want like a little bit more protein is just add a scoop of peanut butter to the vanilla and chai concoction that I make. And that, oh, is just scrum-diddly-umptious, honey. Cachava is offering our listeners 10% off on their subscription for a limited time. Just go to cachava.com slash morbid. spelled K-A-C-H-A-V-A, and get 10% off your first order.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
and a handyman who had been working on their house told investigators that she'd seen who she now knew to be carol slumped in front of another neighbor's house just a few minutes before she made her way to the nelson's door so she had to like stop on her way there yeah of course which is i just can't imagine looking out my window and seeing that no and also like did you tell anyone
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
She's the one that sent her husband over. Oh, okay.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Yeah, so I think she saw. I think probably what happened was initially she saw somebody, like, in the street and was like, who is that? Like, what's going on? And then looked further and saw her get to the Nelsons and realized who it was. It was like, all right, there's something wrong here.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
So when investigators arrived at Carol Thompson's home about just a block away, nobody was home and the front door was locked. So the officers ended up entering through a side door that was open and that opened up into the kitchen.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
For the most part, the kitchen actually seemed to be pretty undisturbed, except there was one drawer where silverware and knives had been pulled out and its contents were spilled to the floor. But then they saw a trail of blood that led them from the kitchen to the front door where where they discovered a large pool of blood.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
And laying in the blood, investigators discovered three unspent live rounds from a pistol, what appeared to be the handle of the knife from Carol's neck, and several pieces of hard white plastic of unknown origin. They couldn't figure out what this plastic was. Oh, fuck.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Once they confirmed that there was nobody in the house, the attacker wasn't there, a team of investigators started searching the Thompsons' two-floor home, hoping to get some insight into what happened at all.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Now, the first thing they noticed was that the front door had been locked from the inside with the safety latch, like a little chain latch, but the door had been pulled so hard from the inside that it had actually come away from the frame slightly.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
So somebody was trying to get out desperately. Right. Also discovered on the floor by the door just under the rug was Carol's wedding ring.
Morbid
Episode 627: The Murder of Carol Thompson
Which is just like... That's very chilling. Yeah, like what? Now, upstairs in the bathroom, investigators found several smears of blood in the sink, which led them to believe that whoever had attacked Carol definitely tried to clean up after themselves before leaving. And they also saw that there was about six or seven inches of water in the bathtub. Huh. Which is so weird. Yeah.