Janice Morgan
Appearances
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
This episode includes discussions of murder and poisoning. Consider this when deciding how and when you'll listen. Author Charles Dickens called William Palmer the greatest villain that ever stood in the Old Bailey. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle referenced him in a Sherlock Holmes story. Madame Tussauds made the Prince of Poisoners a wax figure. But officially, Dr. William Palmer only killed one person.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
That same day, Palmer invited Newton, the pharmacy assistant who'd sold him strychnine, over for brandy. After serving the drink, he asked two important questions. One, how much strychnine does it take to kill a dog? And two, does strychnine stay in the body after death?
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
Newton replied that between half a grain and a grain would kill a dog, and no, it would not linger in the tissue or digestive system after death. According to Newton's later testimony, Palmer, quote, Then, Palmer dismissed Newton, quote, Meanwhile, authorities moved forward with the autopsy. Allegedly, a coroner wasn't present.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
Instead, two local doctors performed the examination in a room full of observers. One of those observers was Dr. William Palmer himself. As the procedure got underway, the doctors stated their intention of trying to get samples of Cook's stomach contents. Those would be sent to the coroner for additional testing to see if there was any poison in Cook's system.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
Unfortunately for all involved, Palmer had other plans. Shortly after the physicians extracted the majority of Cook's stomach contents and put them in a jar, Palmer took it out of the room for what he said was safekeeping. According to one version of events, after the procedure was over, the other doctors convinced Palmer to return the jar.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
However, when he brought it back, the jar's seal had been cut open. What little contents remained from Cook's stomach were sent to the coroner for testing. Unfortunately, with such a small sample, they weren't able to tell if there was any poison in Cook's system when he died. Palmer thought he could breathe a sigh of relief, but his troubles weren't over.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
The local authorities began looking into his history, because this wasn't the first sudden or mysterious death around Dr. William Palmer. Other people close to him had died, leaving Palmer cash he gambled away. And in retrospect, many cases resembled strychnine poisoning. It couldn't all be coincidence, could it?
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
Let's go back to the beginning and see how those sudden deaths stack up against Palmer's known M.O., William Palmer didn't start off broken desperate. Quite the opposite. He experienced a pampered childhood in Rugeley, England. His father is said to have worked as a carpenter and used his expertise to build the family's large house.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
However, Joseph Palmer reportedly made a much greater fortune buying and selling large quantities of expensive wood. Neither Joseph nor Sarah Palmer hid the family's wealth from their many children. Instead, they taught them to appreciate it But Palmer took it further. He seemed to relish in the fact that he came from money. Nowhere was this more apparent than at school.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
Palmer never focused, mostly because he didn't think he had to. He had the family fortune waiting. He didn't seem interested in making friends either. According to the Liverpool Mercury, Palmer's classmates recalled he had, quote, "'wretched moral conduct.'" However, Palmer's carefree childhood came to an end when tragedy struck the family in 1836. Palmer's father passed away.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
Even with the breadwinner gone, the family was still well taken care of. Joseph Palmer had squirreled away funds for years. By the time he passed, the family had amassed a great fortune. But Palmer's mother, Sarah, didn't want her children relying on their inheritance. She made it clear they would have careers. So when Palmer was a teen, he went to work for a local doctor.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
Palmer reportedly hated the work almost immediately and constantly felt undervalued. It wasn't long before he decided to remedy that. Soon after starting, Palmer began stealing small amounts of money from patients. Palmer may not have needed the funds, but it seems he felt entitled to them. The modest sums added up, and after three months, his employer caught on and fired Palmer.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
For Palmer, the firing didn't matter. He could easily find another job, and if things got bad, he could lean on the family fortune. His mother quickly found him a new position at the Stafford Infirmary. There, Palmer watched as the medical staff operated and cared for patients. However, like most rural hospitals at the time, the conditions were horrid.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
Locals knew being admitted into the facility was potentially akin to a death sentence. There weren't nearly enough staff to properly care for all the patients. And without sufficient resources, patients weren't kept clean. Infections were rampant. Patients died from minor ailments like colds, cuts, or scrapes. Death was everywhere. Perhaps not only from infection.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
There's a legend about Palmer's time in Stafford. Apparently, the wife of a local plumber caught his eye, so Palmer challenged her husband to a drinking contest. Palmer won because his opponent couldn't hold his liquor. The poor plumber suffered intense vomiting. Then he passed away. While the death was never prosecuted, in retrospect, it's theorized that Palmer poisoned his romantic rival.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
Palmer didn't stay in Stafford long. He quit the infirmary or was asked to leave before he completed a full year. A few weeks after leaving the infirmary, Palmer set off for London. He had his eyes set on becoming a physician. In London, Palmer studied at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, one of the country's oldest.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
However, while Palmer attended all of his lectures, it appears his heart wasn't in his studies. The rambunctious nature that drew the ire of classmates in Rugeley blossomed in London. Palmer spent many late nights at local pubs, drinking until he stumbled home sick. On his days off, he spent countless hours at the nearby horse track. Win or lose, Palmer didn't mind.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
He had his inheritance and a lucrative career as a physician to look forward to. Once he opened his practice, he'd grow up. But starting a medical practice was easier said than done. While Palmer dutifully carried on his education at St. Bartholomew, he was woefully unprepared to take his medical entrance exams.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
It seems Palmer's interest in experiencing everything London had to offer came at the expense of his medical knowledge. So Palmer's mother paid a local doctor to tutor him. The physician spent weeks with Palmer, going over the basics and making sure he knew the pitfalls of the test. To his and Palmer's credit, Palmer passed and was officially licensed as a physician in 1846.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
Shortly after, Dr. William Palmer moved back to Rugeley, where he quickly opened up a practice. It was a difficult undertaking, but Palmer's practice thrived in its first year. To everyone in town, it seemed Palmer had rounded a corner and finally grown up. And in his business, Palmer acted kind and courteous. Yet this professional attitude was a facade. Palmer still had the same wild spirit.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
On days he could sneak away, he was at the races. Apparently he feigned interest in the sporting aspect of racing to disguise his true interest, gambling. But he didn't spend all his money at the races. Some reports claimed that Palmer paid £22 a week for a luxurious home near his practice.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
And while this may sound like a small amount, it was more than half the average UK salary at that time, annually. However, this flashy lifestyle made him an attractive suitor. Within a few months, Palmer caught the eye of 19-year-old Anne Thornton. Anne was the illegitimate daughter of a former British colonel.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
The colonel had died several years before, leaving both Anne and her mother with what Palmer believed were substantial inheritances. This immediately drew Palmer's attention, and it didn't take him long to propose. In 1847, the pair married. The couple seemed happy as Anne moved into Palmer's home, excited to start the next chapter of their lives.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
Sometime around 1849, Anne's mother, Mrs. Thornton, came to stay at the Palmer residence, but her stay did not go as planned. Anne's mother fell seriously ill. conveniently, Dr. Palmer was there to look after his new mother-in-law. He disappeared into her room for hours each day to perform comprehensive checkups. Each time he emerged, Anne saw the look of disappointment on his face.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
Palmer told her things weren't looking good. Only a few weeks after her arrival, Mrs. Thornton died. The circumstances of her death were said to be oddly similar to John Cook's. The afternoon that William Palmer's mother-in-law died, another doctor came to the house. He collected the body to determine Mrs. Thornton's cause of death.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
Allegedly, after the examination, they concluded Mrs. Thornton died of apoplexy. You might recall that this was the initial cause of death listed for Palmer's known victim, John Cook. And to be fair, strychnine poisoning has some similar symptoms to a stroke.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
But note that Mrs. Thornton's health didn't decline until she visited the Palmers, and that William Palmer believed she'd leave his wife Anne a big inheritance. At the time, people didn't have reason to believe Palmer had a hand in his mother-in-law's death. But most of the residents of Rugeley didn't know about William Palmer's emerging financial problems.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
He simply didn't have the income to support his lifestyle, unless he got another inheritance. Except there was no inheritance to be had. For some reason, Ann Palmer did not inherit her mother's estate, On top of that, Ann was pregnant. Perhaps out of stress or thinking he'd win big this time, Palmer started spending even more time at the horse races.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
He was drawn to the sound of thundering hooves and the allure of quick cash. He studied the horses, the jockeys, and the trainers, anything that could give him an advantage while placing bets. His addiction was only growing. At some point, Palmer purchased his own racehorses. If you were ever a kid who asked your parents for a pony, you probably heard one thing. Horses are expensive, and they are.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
Unlike most parents, Palmer spent the money, and spent and spent. Now, a prize racehorse can earn money through winnings and stud fees, but not all horses are winners. So Palmer may have had a contingency for this. Some say he used strychnine to poison his own horses, not to kill them, but to make them sick enough to ensure they lost.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
This would have allowed Palmer to win cash by betting against his own horses. But most often, regardless of his strategy, he'd leave the tracks with far less money in his pockets. Months ticked by as Palmer tried to quiet his financial stress. Then, in 1850, Anne gave birth to their first child, William Jr. Only a few months later, Anne got pregnant again.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
This could have sent Palmer into a spiral. He went back to the horse races in earnest, looking to get lucky. With another baby on the way and his inheritance stretched, Palmer presumably needed cash. In April 1850, Palmer reached out to an acquaintance he met at the track, Leonard Bladen. Bladen agreed to give Palmer a sizable loan in the range of several hundred pounds.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
A few weeks later, the pair returned to the track. Bladen had a great day. He won a large sum of money betting on a single race. Palmer? Not so great. Not only did he lose, Bladen expected repayment. From the track, Bladen wrote as much to his wife, saying he looked to collect on Palmer's debt. But first, they had to celebrate Bladen's win. They headed back to Rugeley and had a few drinks.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
While they were still at the pub, Bladen complained of abdominal pain. It grew so bad he doubled over in agony. Conveniently, Palmer was right there to help his friend back to his feet. Palmer even took Bladen to his own home to care for him. but things didn't improve.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
Allegedly, no one else was in the room as Palmer attempted to treat Bladen, but sounds of excruciating pain reverberated through the house. Later that evening, William Bladen passed away. His cause of death was listed as an abscess in his pelvis that led to an infection. This was attributed to an event a few months earlier when he was hit by a cart, at least according to William Palmer.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
See, authorities took the doctor at his word and no autopsy was recorded. However, after Bladen's widow collected his body, a rumor spread that she noticed there was no cash on him and his betting ledger was missing. She never laid eyes on her husband's final winnings or the money he lent to William Palmer. But just like William's mother-in-law's death, this looks more suspicious in retrospect.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
At the time, Leonard Bladen's death didn't warrant investigation. It would be almost five years and many, many more deaths before anyone caught on to William Palmer. That's next week. Thanks for tuning in to Serial Killers. We're here with a new episode every Monday. Be sure to check us out on Instagram at Serial Killers Podcast, and we'd love to hear from you.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
So if you're tuning in on the Spotify app, swipe up and give us your thoughts.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
Today we'll start with the murder we know William Palmer committed. Then, with those details in mind, we'll flash back and compare it to the murders he may have committed. In 1855, Dr. William Palmer was deep in the hole. He had around 11,000 pounds of debt, the equivalent of about $1.7 million today. We'll cover the exact details of how Palmer got into debt later, but in a word, gambling.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
For more information on William Palmer, we found the contemporary publication The Most Extraordinary Trial of William Palmer for the Rugeley Poisonings, which lasted 12 days, the book The Poisoner, a gripping account of the murders committed by Dr. William Palmer, the Prince of Poisoners, and his dramatic trial by Stephen Bates, and the book Staffordshire Murders by Alan Hayhurst, extremely helpful to our research.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
Stay safe out there. This episode was written by Robert Tyler Walker, edited by Maggie Admire, fact-checked by Bennett Logan, researched by Chelsea Wood, and video edited and sound designed by Spencer Howard. I'm your host, Janice Morgan.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
In the past decade, his gambling had snowballed. So it wasn't surprising that on November 13th, Palmer went to the races in Shrewsbury, England. There, he met up with his friend, John Cook. When it came to the track, Cook always seemed to leave with more money than he brought, unlike Palmer. It didn't help the situation that Cook had inherited a large sum, so he had money to spare.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
I'll add here, much of the information about this case comes from contemporary reporting back in the 1800s. And as you'll hear, the story took off in the media, which led to some sensationalizing. The pair arrived at the track early. They surveyed the conditions, looked at the riders and observed the horses. Palmer then went to the board listing all the races.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
While scanning, Palmer had a moment of clarity. There was the afternoon race that would fix his fortunes. At the window, Palmer placed a bet worth a few hundred pounds on one of his own horses, named the Chicken. If the Chicken won, not only would he win his bet, he would also win the prize money of 3,000 pounds.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
To make things interesting, Cook placed a bet on one of his own horses, named Polestar. That afternoon, the horses lined up at the starting gate. Then, in a flash, they were off. The chicken, Palmer's horse, positioned perfectly as the pack thundered around the first curve. The horse wasn't so near the front where they might burn out by the end or in the back where they'd get left behind.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
So how did a man convicted of a single crime become known as an infamous serial killer? And how many victims did he actually take? Welcome to Serial Killers, a Spotify podcast. I'm Janice Morgan. You might recognize me as the voice behind the investigative docuseries Broken and the true crime podcast Fear Thy Neighbor. I'll be your host for the next few weeks, and I'm thrilled to be here.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
But by the end of the race, the horse Palmer bet his last hopes on was nowhere near the front of the pack. Instead, Cook's horse Polestar led the group across the line. Cook had just won thousands of pounds. Palmer likely twinged with jealousy. Cook had all the luck and he'd been left in the dust again. That evening, the pair retired to a local inn called The Raven.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
For Cook, it was a celebration. He bought the group a round of champagne. As the night wore on, the pair continued to drink. When Palmer couldn't stand it anymore, he left their table and retired to his room early. The next morning, Palmer headed back to home in Rugeley, a town 130 miles northwest of London. Unfortunately, more bad news awaited him there. A creditor had left a note.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
Palmer needed to pay a designated sum of money immediately, or they'd go after his mother, tell her he hadn't paid, and try to collect his debt from her. Which would have been embarrassing. Already at his lowest and feeling the waters rising, Palmer reached a breaking point. He grabbed his medicine bag and headed back toward Shrewsbury. That afternoon, Palmer reunited with Cook.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
They attended a handful of other races before returning to the Raven. There, they ate dinner with a few acquaintances. Palmer excused himself for a moment. When he returned to the table, he had a round of brandy for everyone. According to some accounts, Palmer carefully handed Cook his glass before distributing the rest. Palmer toasted Cook's success, and the group drank.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
Cook coughed and said his brandy burned as it went down. Palmer looked at the table in amusement. He grabbed Cook's glass and slurped down the little bit of liquid left. Palmer laughed, saying he didn't taste a thing. The group brushed off the incident and continued eating late into the night. Eventually, Palmer excused himself and retired to his room.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
The rest stayed at the table, but the good nature of their celebration didn't last. A short while later, Cook fell ill. His stomach burned and he doubled over in pain. Back in his room, he vomited uncontrollably. His two friends looked over him as he closed his eyes and prayed for the pain to pass. Cook's friends likely wondered what ailed him. Was it contagious? Was it in the food they ate, too?
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
At this point, Cook's symptoms weren't specific enough to diagnose. But to Cook himself, the answer seemed obvious. In between bouts of vomiting, he wheezed out his suspicion. Palmer poisoned him. His friends exchanged questioning glances, but didn't think much of it. To them, these were the words of a man in distress and not to be taken seriously. Cook finally fell asleep early the next morning.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
When he woke up, he still felt unwell, but for the most part, his symptoms had subsided. That morning, while Cook lay in his bed, Palmer went back to the track. He wanted one final shot at getting out of debt. But that day, he left the races empty-handed yet again. When Palmer returned to Cook's room at the Raven, he found his friend sitting up in bed looking slightly better.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
So the pair headed home. When they got to Rugeley, Cook booked a room at the Talbot Arms Inn. He'd stayed there before. Cook still felt lousy, so he went to lay down. On Sunday morning, Palmer contacted his friend Dr. Bamford and asked for two sedative pills. He pocketed the drugs and headed back to the inn where he ordered soup for Cook.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
Cook happily accepted the food, but minutes later vomited again. The pain in his gut returned and he lay in bed clutching his stomach. The chambermaid, Elizabeth Mills, took the half-eaten bowl back down into the kitchen. Curious, Mills took a sip, but didn't taste anything odd. However, a moment later, she fell ill. Mild nausea came over her, and she too needed to lay down.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
Meanwhile, Cook spent the rest of the day in bed. He experienced fever, aches, and more vomiting. All day, Palmer watched over Cook. He didn't want any intervention. Early the next morning, Palmer headed to London with John Cook's accounting ledger. Palmer was about to be several thousand pounds richer. He walked down the cobblestone streets of London before entering into a small pub.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
We'd love to hear from you. Follow us on Instagram at Serial Killers Podcast and share your thoughts on this week's episode. Or if you're tuning in on the Spotify app, swipe up and leave a comment. This week, we'll cover Dr. William Palmer's criminal conviction, then dive into the tragedies that followed him through the 19th century.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
The doctor met with one of Cook's associates and collected almost 2,000 pounds on Cook's behalf. With the cash in hand, Palmer quickly left the city and headed home. There, Palmer paid off his most urgent 800-pound debt. He was still at least 10,000 pounds in the hole, but it was a start. With access to Cook's financial accounts, Palmer hoped to make an even larger dent.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
So it was crucial Cook didn't get his ledger back. That day, Palmer paid a visit to Mr. Salt's surgery, a sort of pharmacy. He spoke to Salt's assistant, Mr. Newton, and purchased three, quote, grains of strychnine on credit. Better known as rat poison today, strychnine used to be prescribed as a stimulant to treat heart or digestive problems.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
In small doses, strychnine causes muscle contractions. And in the Victorian era, it wasn't uncommon. According to Smithsonian Magazine, strychnine was even used as a performance enhancer in the 1904 Olympic marathon. It was also used the way it is today, in larger doses to kill vermin. So Newton didn't find anything odd about Dr. Palmer's request.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
With Cook's ledger and the strychnine pills in his possession, Palmer headed back to Talbot Arms to check on Cook. For 28, he looked awful. When no one else was in the room, Palmer allegedly handed Cook the strychnine pills, claiming they were sedatives given to him by Dr. Bamford. Cook gazed up at his friend, who was there for him now in his lowest moment.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
Palmer smiled down at Cook, assuring him it wasn't a problem. As a doctor, he felt strongly he should be there to help others. He bid Cook farewell and returned to his home across the street. But while Palmer had a pleasant evening, Cook did not. He tossed and turned, unable to get comfortable because of the pain. Still, Cook survived the night.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
The next day, Palmer went to another pharmacy, one belonging to a Mr. Hawking's. He started requesting his order, but stopped abruptly when Newton, the assistant from the other pharmacy, came in. Palmer and Newton didn't know each other well, but Palmer smoothly struck up a conversation and guided Newton out of the shop.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
Newton recalled Palmer asking him how long his boss, Mr. Salt, would be out of town. Within minutes, they were interrupted by a friend of Newton's passing by. Palmer took the opportunity to slip back into the shop, where he completed his order. Prussic acid, opium, and six more grains of strychnine. It appears Palmer didn't want Newton to see his purchases.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
That afternoon, he paid another visit to Cook. Then, in what was perhaps a bid to cover his tracks, Palmer called on a friend, Mr. Jones, to stay with Cook. Jones watched over Cook late into the night while his condition further deteriorated. Sometime that evening, it's believed Cook took the pills Palmer gave him, and Jones didn't intervene.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
He appeared to wholeheartedly believe in Dr. Palmer's medical opinion and let the sinister plot pass right under his nose. To be fair, beyond testing the pills on himself, Jones wouldn't have been able to see what they contained anyways. John Cook was completely at Dr. William Palmer's mercy. Just past midnight, Cook's muscles spasmed and he howled in pain. His heart beat wildly.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
Next week, we'll look at some of Palmer's other murder allegations and his criminal trial. Along the way, we'll examine his potential methods and motives and try to determine if he was, in fact, a serial killer. Stay with us.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
Sweat coated his skin. Cook's back arched backward, slowly, painfully, and completely out of his control. He looked like he was in an Exorcist movie. Cook called out for Palmer in desperation, but his friend was nestled in his bed across the street. At 1 a.m. on Wednesday, November 21st, 1855, John Cook suddenly went still. Nothing could bring his pulse back.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
Dr. William Palmer had taken his friend's life. On the morning of November 21st, 1855, Dr. William Palmer went to check on his so-called friend, John Cook. When Palmer entered Cook's room, he found Dr. Jones standing next to a body frozen in abode position. Cook was twisted like a contortionist, with his back arched and feet flexed.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
Intense muscle spasms had caused Cook's body to stiffen, locked into a painful position as he died. When rigor mortis set in, he became stuck that way. The sight was horrifying. And it's a telltale sign of strychnine poisoning. Still, Palmer acted coy as Dr. Jones recounted how Cook died in the middle of the night. No one was accusing him of anything yet. Cook still needed an autopsy.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
So he contacted his old friend Dr. Bamford again. Dr. Bamford created a death certificate certifying that Cook died of apoplexy. That's the 19th century term for a cerebral hemorrhage or stroke. Not an unusual cause of death, but odd to put on the certificate since the muscle contortion evident in Cook's body was not a typical symptom of either.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
It's not clear if Dr. Bamford observed Cook's arched body and conveniently ignored it, or Palmer managed to hide it from him. Either way, Palmer had a death certificate absolving him of any involvement in John Cook's death and a plan. Two days later, on November 23rd, Palmer met with Cook's stepfather, a Mr. Stevens. Hoping to receive even more money, Palmer claimed Cook owed him £4,000.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
Stevens hesitated. He knew Cook well and had never heard of any such debt. Upon further investigation, Stevens found his stepson's ledger to be missing and couldn't locate any trace of Cook's recent £3,000 track winnings. Stevens thought Cook's death was suspicious, and as it turns out, so did many Rugeley locals. Authorities launched an inquiry into Cook's death and planned an autopsy.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 2
This episode includes discussions of murder consider this when deciding how and when you'll listen Sometimes criminals are the ones you'd least suspect, the ones you never see coming. This was true for Helen Goulet and Olga Ruderschmidt. To everyone around them, they were just two older women with a penchant for fitness classes.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 2
So when he walked in, she sat straight up and waved him over. Ed was equally smug. He took a seat across from her and passed her an envelope. He watched as she ripped it open to find a check inside. only it wasn't the one she wanted. Ed explained that the insurance policy was refunding her premiums.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 2
Because she had lied about the nature of her relationship with Kenneth and obtained the policy through criminal means, they weren't going to pay her the death benefits. Helen was furious. They couldn't do this. The policies were supposed to be incontestable. She shouted at Ed, accusing him of being out to get her.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 2
Then she stormed out of the diner and reportedly reached out to Olga to let her know what had happened. Olga had also scheduled a meeting with Ed for that morning. But after Helen's alleged phone call, she blew it off. So he went to her. Later that day, Ed stood at Olga's apartment door and handed her a letter that explained why Mutual of New York wasn't going to honor her policy.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 2
Helen and Olga had just lost everything they'd spent the last two years working for. It felt like they'd hit rock bottom. Which might be why they turned on each other.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 2
After two long years of planning the perfect murder, Helen Goulet and Olga Ruderschmidt were back to square one. They weren't getting the big payout they'd hoped for, at least not when it came to Kenneth McDavid. But for someone else, that was up to fate to decide. So by early 2006, the two septuagenarians had already started hunting for a new victim.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 2
Around this time, Olga sparked a conversation with 74-year-old Yosef Gabor. He was a fellow European immigrant and didn't seem to have any close friends or family members around. And though he wasn't homeless, he lived alone. When Olga offered to help him get settled in the city, he happily accepted. Step one was setting him up with a bank account that she and Helen could deposit money into.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 2
All she needed from him was to sign a few documents before they drove down to Bank of America and opened a checking account. It was all so simple. Except, unbeknownst to Olga and Helen, undercover cops had been tailing them for months, and they even got pictures of the whole encounter. It was clear to authorities that Yosef was their next victim.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 2
But suspicion of a future crime isn't enough to arrest someone. And the LAPD still didn't have enough to bring the pair in for either Paul Vados' or Kenneth McDavid's murders. Fortunately, the FBI was more than happy to lend a hand. Homicide charges might have to wait, but they could nab the women on mail fraud, which was a federal crime.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 2
At least that would get the women off the streets, and it would give the LAPD time to amass all the evidence they needed for the real charges. So in the early morning hours of May 18, 2006, law enforcement officials from the LAPD, FBI, and the California Department of Insurance all gathered together, then split in two. Half of the task force headed toward Hollywood, the other to Santa Monica.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 2
There, officers knocked on Helen's door. She answered in her pajamas, dazed and confused. A moment later, an FBI agent arrested her for mail fraud. Across town, task force agents swarmed Olga's apartment in Hollywood and accused her of the same crime. She was barefoot, dressed in nothing but a nightgown, and she was absolutely irate. This was outrageous, she screamed. She'd done nothing wrong.
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Ignoring her protests, the authorities threw her in the backseat of a squad car and brought her to the LAPD headquarters. Helen was there too. But before either woman was officially processed, detectives brought them into a room. They were hoping they might just talk... And boy, did they deliver. The second the cops left them alone, Olga turned on Helen.
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So in the early 2000s, after years of dead ends, the police shelved the files for safekeeping. Meanwhile, Helen and Olga made off with nearly $600,000 in life insurance benefits. But even though they'd scored a six-figure payout, it wasn't enough. They each had a vague goal of making the most money possible. So they went back to the drawing board to do it all over again. Their plan was simple.
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She let out a tirade against her partner in crime, blaming her for getting too greedy and taking out too many policies. If only she'd treated Olga as a real partner, Olga could have steered her in the right direction. In response, Helen kept saying the same thing over and over. "'Be quiet.'" But the damage was already done.
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In fact, it was going so well that the cops worried a judge might deem it entrapment. So every few minutes, an officer went back into the room and reminded the women they were under arrest so they couldn't argue that they'd forgotten. Then he'd leave again, and Olga would go right back into it. But despite her chatter, Olga never mentioned either of the murders.
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It was all about the insurance scheme for her. The authorities were disappointed that they couldn't get a confession, but it didn't matter much in the long run, because while the women were locked away, officers searched their homes. In Olga's apartment, they found photocopies of Hillary Adler's driver's license, which the women had used to purchase the Mercury Sable.
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In Helen's apartment, they found meticulous records of all the insurance policies. They also discovered bottles of prescription sedatives, the same drugs that showed up in Kenneth's toxicology report. But most importantly of all, they uncovered a post-it note in Helen's planner. On it, she'd scribbled a partial vehicle identification number and Hilary Adler's name.
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The detectives ran the partial VIN through a DMV search. Sure enough, a silver Mercury Sable came back. It was a model that matched the blurry security footage. Officers tracked the car down to a local LA family. They'd brought it in a few months ago after it had been impounded not far from Olga's apartment. The detectives paid the family for the vehicle, and they sent it to the lab for testing.
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At this point, nearly 11 months had passed since Kenneth's death, so investigators couldn't find any useful prints on the car. But they did notice that the fuel line had been crudely repaired. And since they already knew that Helen had placed a call to AAA the night of the murder, the car was looking more and more like a smoking gun. Then they found the last piece of the puzzle —
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On the undercarriage of the car were trace amounts of blood that were a match for Kenneth McDavid. The police knew then. They'd found the murder weapon. With that, the FBI hit pause on the mail fraud charges and the LAPD booked Helen and Olga on murder charges. The women were held without bail until their trial started nearly two years later.
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In March of 2008, both women pleaded not guilty, although neither spoke in their own defense. The trial itself was a finger-pointing extravaganza. Olga's lawyer made the case that she was an innocent, impressionable woman who'd been dazzled by Helen's lifestyle. She'd gone along with the insurance fraud for the money, but she had no idea about the murders.
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Helen, on the other hand, shocked everyone by blaming her 40-something-year-old daughter for the crimes. Her lawyer argued that Helen's daughter had killed Kenneth, possibly with Olga's help. No one understood why Helen and her legal team chose that strategy. The prosecutors never even considered the daughter a suspect. The flimsy defense didn't sit well with the jurors.
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Still, when they were sent off to deliberate, they had to reconcile the facts of the case with their strong feelings toward the elderly women. At the time of the trial, the LA Times interviewed Jonathan Simon, co-chairman of the UC Berkeley Center for Criminal Justice. He told them gender and age biases could play a big role in the deliberation process.
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Most people have an innate belief that older women are either nurturers or in need of protection. And age is seen as, quote, proxy for non-threateningness. But Simon also noted that those same biases can also work against people like Helen and Olga. Even if a juror initially believed they were innocent, the second they changed their mind, their opinions took a sharp turn.
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Do exactly what they did before, only better. More life insurance policies, higher premiums, and a way bigger payout. It took them a minute to find the right guy. But finally, in 2002, Olga met him. She'd just finished a workout at the gym. As she made her way out, she spotted 45-year-old Jimmy Covington across the street.
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As Simon explained, juries can be less forgiving of women when the allegations run counter to the nurturer ideal. Like, say, how Helen threw her own flesh and blood under the bus, and Olga lured invulnerable men only to hurt them. Together, the duo went against everything that older women are supposed to represent, and it certainly painted them in a new light.
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Three weeks after the trial commenced, the jury found 77-year-old Helen and 75-year-old Olga guilty of murder. Both received life sentences. They were sent to the same prison in Central California, about 250 miles north of Los Angeles. But even behind bars, they lived very different lives. Helen was placed in a special unit for seniors where she wrote drafts of a memoir.
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Olga was sent to general population. She told journalists she felt she was getting the short end of the stick and begged for legal help. And although their paths have diverged, Helen and Olga remain united on one front. To this day, they maintain their innocence. They don't have much in common anymore, but at least they have that. That and the fact that they'll likely die behind bars.
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For more information on Helen Goulet and Olga Ruderschmidt, Amongst the many sources we used, we found Signed in Blood, The True Story of Two Women, A Sinister Plot, and Cold-Blooded Murder by Jean King and reporting from Dateline extremely helpful to our research. Stay safe out there.
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This episode was written by Alex Burns, edited by Jane Oh, Joel Callen, and Maggie Admire, fact-checked by Bennett Logan, researched by Mickey Taylor and Chelsea Wood, and sound designed by Alex Button. I'm your host, Janice Morgan.
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He was sitting on the steps of an office building and appeared to be living on the streets. Olga approached Jimmy and told him about the office she had, conveniently right upstairs. There was a futon to sleep on so he could stay there at night, as long as he was out early in the morning and didn't return until after office hours. There was just one catch.
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In order for her to help him, he had to sign a couple of papers. Jimmy didn't have a problem with that. Olga clapped her hands in delight. Then she ushered him upstairs and got him settled. But for him to stay, she'd need a little more detail. His birth date, his social security number, even his parents' social security numbers. Jimmy wasn't eager to hand over such sensitive information.
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For days, Olga haggled him for answers. Finally, Jimmy had enough. The whole situation seemed to be more hassle than it was worth. He marched down to the building manager, returned the key, and never came back. When Helen heard from Olga that Jimmy was gone, she couldn't have been happy. She'd already filed an insurance application under his name, and it wasn't cheap.
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She requested $800,000 in guaranteed death benefits. more than she and Olga made off their last kill combined. Jimmy was supposed to be their next meal ticket, but they had no idea where he'd gone or how to get him back. That left them at square one, and back at the Hollywood Presbyterian Church. The ladies knew there was always a group of down-on-their-luck men there on Sundays.
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But the truth was they planned, they plotted, and they pulled off a crime that was almost perfect. At least, they would have gotten away with it. But then greed got the better of them. And like all the best criminals, they turned on each other. This is Serial Killers, a Spotify podcast. I'm Janice Morgan.
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A few months later, in the summer of 2002, they prowled the grounds and found 47-year-old Kenneth McDavid sleeping outside. He had no job, no family, and no close friends to lean on. So he accepted Helen and Olga's help. Helen handled all the logistics, the finances, and most importantly, the paperwork. She set their mark up in a Hollywood apartment.
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She paid the rent, utilities, and unbeknownst to Kenneth, his life insurance premiums. Olga was the muscle. She brought Kenneth groceries every week, partly to keep him fed, but mostly to keep an eye on their...investment. After losing their last prospect, she wasn't about to let Kenneth slip through her fingers. So she played it cool and kept him happy.
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But the same couldn't be said for Helen and Olga. Trouble was brewing between the two friends. It seemed they both wanted to make more and more money, even if it meant stabbing each other in the back. As planned, they applied for a couple insurance policies together, where they'd take an even cut of the payout.
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But in secret, they also took out additional policies where they would be the sole beneficiary. Combined, they held 13 different policies for a total payout of $3.7 million, but only three listed them as co-beneficiaries. From the remaining 10, eight were under Helen's name. Olga only managed to take out two for herself.
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Both women knew they had to wait two years before they could cash out, so it didn't do them much good to keep taking out more policies. Each one reset the clock. So in 2003, they moved to the next phase. That spring, Helen got her hands on a purse belonging to a woman named Hillary Adler. Hillary had never met Helen or Olga before, but it appears they all went to the same gym.
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And that month, someone broke into Hillary's locker. Then, in January of 2004, Olga used Hillary's ID to purchase a silver Mercury Sable. After buying the car, Olga parked it in the alley behind Helen's Santa Monica apartment. It sat there for the rest of the year, waiting for its big moment. Once that was taken care of, there wasn't much left to do except wait.
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Helen and Olga now had their murder weapon, the mercury sable. They had their insurance policy times 13. And their victim, Kenneth McDavid, had no idea about any of it. In fact, he'd gotten a little too comfortable. At some point, he decided it was his turn to pay it forward. When someone needed a place to stay, he opened his doors, or I should say, Helen's doors.
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Eventually, Olga found out what was going on. To make sure no one else moved in, she hired an armed security guard and ordered him to remain in the apartment with Kenneth. By the start of 2005, Kenneth was over the strict living conditions. He took his bike and his belongings and returned to the streets. This caused a problem for Helen and Olga.
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The insurance policies they'd taken out on Kenneth wouldn't mature until later that summer. The women had to keep him within their grasp for another six months. So they tracked him down and made a new offer. Helen would give Kenneth money to stay in various motels around Los Angeles, all so she could keep tabs on him. For a while, Kenneth went along with that.
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But by June of 2005, he was getting harder to keep track of, and Helen and Olga worried he'd disappear entirely. So even though not all of the policies had hit the two-year mark, they decided they had to act. If they didn't, they'd lose everything. And losing was not an option. The time had come to kill Kenneth McDavid.
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You might recognize me as the voice behind the investigative docuseries Broken and the true crime podcast Fear Thy Neighbor. I'm guest hosting for Serial Killers, and I'm thrilled to be here. You can find us here every Monday. Be sure to check us out on Instagram at Serial Killers Podcast, and we'd love to hear from you. So if you're listening on the Spotify app, swipe up and give us your thoughts.
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Helen Goulet marched down to the back alley of her apartment and slipped into the silver mercury sable she and Olga had bought especially for this day. It had been parked there periodically for a year and a half. But on June 21st, 2005, it was finally go time. Helen drove east to Hollywood where she found Kenneth on the streets.
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While we don't know exactly what happened next, we can make an educated guess based on the evidence later presented in court. Helen got Kenneth and his bike into the Mercury Sable and took off. Around 11.45 p.m., she pulled into an alleyway on the west side of L.A. Either Kenneth got out of the car on his own or she forced him out into the alley.
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Then Helen put the car in reverse and backed up for a running start. When she had enough space, she changed gears, then slowly drove over Kenneth. The front tires crushed his chest and shoulders. But as Helen eased forward, the fuel line on the car's undercarriage got caught on his body. She pressed down on the gas. As the car shot forward, the fuel line broke. And then the engine died.
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Maybe that's when she saw the bright light shining ahead. There was a gas station just around the corner. All she had to do was make it there and she could leave the crime scene. The alley was on a slight downslope, so she was able to coast to the gas station. Once there, she put it in park and used her phone to call a tow truck. It seemed like she'd gotten away with it.
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There didn't appear to be any visible evidence of her crime. She'd driven over Kenneth slow enough that his major injuries were internal. There was no shattered glass, and most importantly, no trail of blood. At least, that's what she thought. Helen had no idea there was a small amount of blood on the undercarriage of the car.
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Half an hour later, a tow truck arrived and drove her back home to Santa Monica. According to the driver, there was nothing suspicious about his passenger that night. You'd never have known she'd just killed a man in cold blood. When she got home, she phoned Olga, presumably to tell her it was done. Unbeknownst to Helen, someone had already found Kenneth's body.
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His bike was positioned off to the side of his body, and one of the wheels was completely off. It almost appeared like he'd stopped to change a flat tire before he was hit by a car. While Helen was getting towed home, paramedics raced to the scene, but it was too late. Kenneth was dead.
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Fortunately, he had his ID on him, so by the following day, investigators traced his last known address to his old Hollywood apartment, the one Helen paid for. The cops got a hold of Helen's name and notified her of Kenneth's death. They hoped she'd be able to help them answer some questions. And she did. She pretended to be Kenneth's cousin and soul next of kin.
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She identified his body at the morgue. The 74-year-old didn't seem like a killer, so it wasn't questioned when she paid to cremate him. Around the same time, the LAPD discovered that a security camera had recorded part of the alley on the night of Kenneth's death. The footage showed a silver vehicle passing through the alley, but it was too blurry.
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They couldn't make out a license plate, let alone the specific model of the car. With no other real leads, the case fell to the wayside in the overworked traffic division. And that would have been that if it wasn't for one pesky insurance investigator. 59-year-old Ed Webster worked for Mutual of New York Life Insurance. He traveled the country and looked into questionable insurance claims.
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Last time, we covered how Helen Goulet and Olga Ruderschmidt became fast friends after meeting at an L.A. gym. They bonded over small-time scams and frivolous lawsuits before devising a more sinister scheme. In the late 90s, they took out life insurance policies on an innocent man and killed him.
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And this one fit the bill. Red flag number one. Helen told the police she was Kenneth's cousin, but on Kenneth's insurance application, she wasn't listed as a relative. Red flag number two, Helen and Olga were both listed as beneficiaries, but neither would take the time to talk to Ed.
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Usually, if there were questions about a claim that was legitimate, the beneficiaries were more than happy to clear the air. Red flag number three, the crime scene itself. The bike positioning didn't make any sense. Maybe at first glance, it looked like Kenneth was changing a flat tire, but it was fully inflated, good as new.
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Not to mention Kenneth's injuries, which were consistent with being run over by a car, yes, but not a hit and run. If a vehicle had come at him fast and accidentally hit him, there should have been lower body injuries. Instead, he had marks all over his chest. That meant he'd likely been on the ground when he was driven over.
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And a toxicology report showed alcohol and a notable amount of prescription sedatives in his system. He may not have even been conscious when he died. After a few months of sleuthing, Ed went to the LAPD and presented his case. He believed that Helen and Olga were not only trying to commit insurance fraud, he was certain that the duo had killed Kenneth McDavid.
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At first, the authorities had a hard time buying it. A couple of grandmas were cold-blooded murderers. Yeah, right. But then one of the officers piped up. The case sounded strangely similar to one he'd worked on six years back. He checked the old file, and sure enough, it was all right there.
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Helen and Olga had reported Paul Vados missing before claiming his body and receiving his insurance payouts. What's more, he too had been killed in an unsolved hit-and-run incident. The rest of the officers couldn't believe it. They were dealing with repeat offenders. In response to the new information, the LAPD combined Paul Vados' case with Kenneth McDavid's.
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By late 2005, they assembled a task force to investigate the two women. The squad included several undercover detectives who followed Helen and Olga wherever they went. As author Jean King explains in her book, Signed in Blood, Helen was easy to keep eyes on. Every day, she drove her flashy Mercedes SUV down to Izzy's, a Santa Monica deli that she loved.
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She always sat in table 22, where she did her bookkeeping. Olga, on the other hand, was a little harder to trail. Remember how Helen and Olga had initially bonded over their workouts? Well, Olga had never stopped. Even at 72, she was a machine. She was always running along the beach or up through the Runyon Canyon trails. She was so fast that even the LAPD detectives struggled to keep pace.
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Today, we'll see the duo strike again and hear how the LAPD and insurance companies banded together to track them down. Stay with us. In 1999, 68-year-old Helen Goulet and 66-year-old Olga Ruderschmidt had just gotten away with murder. Technically, Paul Vados' hit-and-run death was still an open case, but there were no solid leads.
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The women had the cops run ragged, even though they had no idea they were being tailed. It didn't even cross either of their minds that they might be in danger of getting caught. All they were concerned about was getting their money. Which they did. In August of 2005, just two months after Kenneth's death, Helen and Olga received about $250,000 in death benefits.
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But that was only some of the money owed to them. Remember, there were over $3 million to collect. but they wouldn't see a dime more if Ed Webster had anything to say about it. The police might not have had enough evidence to arrest the women, but Ed wasn't working with the same burden of proof.
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He was convinced Helen and Olga were responsible for Kenneth's death, and he told Mutual of New York not to pay them out. The company agreed, and he got to deliver the message. In January 2006, he asked Helen to meet in person over at her favorite spot, Izzy's. She probably thought he was coming to admit defeat and hand over her long-awaited check.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
They find Floyd has used a number of different identities since his 1973 parole. And Agent Fitzpatrick finally learns what you already know. Floyd and the woman they knew as Tanya Hughes had previously gone by the pseudonyms Warren and Sharon Marshall. But for Fitzpatrick, this only raises more questions. He doesn't know Tanya, aka Sharon's real name. He doesn't know her real connection to Floyd.
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The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
First she was his daughter, then she was his wife. Is it possible that this twisted man really changed his daughter's name and then married her? Or is there something else going on? What's the truth and what's the lie? All Fitzpatrick can figure out is that Floyd dragged Tanya, a.k.a. Sharon, across the country for years. They moved from Oklahoma City to Louisville to Atlanta to Phoenix to Tampa.
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The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
By now, Floyd and Michael could be in any of those places or none of them. Weeks pass with no breakthroughs. Then, on November 9th, Fitzpatrick gets a call from the Department of Transportation. A man named Warren Marshall just tried to renew his driver's license in Louisville, Kentucky. Fitzpatrick flies to Louisville that afternoon.
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The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
He leads a team of FBI agents to the used car lot where Floyd had gotten a job as a salesman. With little fanfare, Floyd is arrested for Michael's kidnapping. But there's a problem. Michael is nowhere to be found. They search Floyd's apartment and find nothing.
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The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
They interview the neighbors, Floyd's co-workers, and none of them recall seeing a child with Floyd in the weeks since he's arrived in town. When they interrogate Floyd, he won't say a word about where the boy is. But other people will, and their statements are chilling. One of Floyd's friends from jail says he didn't just confess to killing Michael. He said he threw the boy off a bridge.
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The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
Professional athletes and musicians are regular clientele. Inside, two dancers, Cheryl Comesso and Sharon Marshall, get ready for their shifts. They only recently met. Cheryl is new to the club, but they've become fast friends. When she's not dancing, Sharon's taking care of her nine-month-old son, Michael. She's a single mom and lives with her father, Warren Marshall.
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The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
But it seems Floyd can't keep his own story straight. His sister tells police he told her he drowned Michael in the bathtub. He's repeatedly admitting to murder, but changing the details about exactly how he did it. The FBI searches every inch of the area, every lake and river, but they don't find any trace of Michael.
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The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
Cadaver dogs alert to a scent in Floyd's truck, leading police to believe he killed Michael and transported his body in his car. But they don't know where. With no proof Michael is even dead, they can't charge Floyd with murder. Ultimately, Floyd is only charged with kidnapping, carrying a firearm, and car theft.
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The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
The proceedings take a few months, but in August 1995, Floyd is found guilty of kidnapping Michael Hughes. He's sentenced to 52 years in prison without the possibility of parole. Since he's 52 years old, that amounts to a life sentence. With Floyd behind bars, detectives take the opportunity to question him about another cold case, the disappearance of Cheryl Camesso.
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The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
There have been significant developments in Cheryl's case since she went missing, and Floyd has some explaining to do. 19-year-old Cheryl Camesso disappeared from Tampa, Florida in 1989, shortly after getting on the bad side of a man she knew as Warren Marshall. By 1995, the FBI know that Warren Marshall is actually convicted kidnapper Franklin Delano Floyd.
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The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
With Floyd now in prison, they approach him to see if he's got anything to say about Cheryl's disappearance. As it turns out, there have been some major developments in her case in just the last few months. Earlier that March, a landscaping worker found a skeleton near a landfill in Pinellas County, Florida. A root had grown through the bones of the right leg.
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The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
A forensic botanist said that part of the root was several years old, meaning the remains could have been there for six years. Lead fragments were recovered from the skull, consistent with two .22 caliber bullets. The cause of death, two gunshots to the head. Eventually, the remains were identified as Cheryl Camesso.
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The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
This development seemed to open the floodgates because two days after the skull was found, another huge discovery fell into the FBI's lap. A mechanic in Texas was working on a truck he'd recently purchased at an auction. He knew the white Ford pickup had been stolen in Oklahoma and later found in Dallas, Texas.
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The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
What he didn't know is that the previous owner of the truck was James Davis, the principal of Indian Meridian Elementary School. This was the truck Michael Hughes was kidnapped in. While fixing up the vehicle, the mechanic found something hidden on the top of the gas tank. An envelope full of photos. Many of them were of women and young girls in sexually explicit poses.
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The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
Some showed a woman who'd been bound and severely beaten. He gave the photos to the police who sent them to the FBI. Special Agent Joe Fitzpatrick examined the photos himself. It took a while, but the woman who was bound and beaten was eventually identified as Cheryl. In the photos, she has swelling and redness around her right cheek, consistent with a fracture that was found on her skull.
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The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
Based on the forensics, that fracture must have occurred shortly before Cheryl died, which means Cheryl's killer must have taken the photos. And the last person to drive that truck was Franklin Delano Floyd. It's not hard for investigators to put two and two together, which is why they lay all this evidence in front of Floyd, hoping for a quick confession. Floyd won't give it to them.
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The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
She recently started dating a man named Carrie. And Carrie quickly begins to notice something strange about his girlfriend and her father. Warren's in his mid-40s. A lot of people say he's creepy. He tends to hang around the club while his daughter is working and never lets her out of his sight. He makes inappropriate sexual comments to his daughter and other dancers.
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The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
They're forced to turn to a grand jury. At the hearing, authorities lay out everything they know about Cheryl. Her argument with Floyd shortly before her disappearance. Her body dumped on the side of the interstate. The photos of her being tortured found in the truck Floyd had stolen. On November 12, 1997, the grand jury indicts Floyd for first-degree murder.
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The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
It takes five years for the case to go to trial, but once the proceedings are underway, they go quickly. In 2002, after nine days of testimony and four hours of deliberation, Floyd is found guilty of murdering Cheryl Camesso. This time, he's sentenced to death. But that's still not the end of the story.
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The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
Authorities are still wondering what really happened to Michael, who was Sharon Marshall, and what's her connection to Floyd? Some answers appear to be on the horizon because something else was also found in that envelope from the Ford pickup. Among the nearly 100 photographs, investigators pieced together a series depicting the same girl over the course of her whole adolescence.
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The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
There's pictures of her as a child, a teenager, and an adult. Many of the photos are pornographic. When the photos land in the hands of Special Agent Fitzpatrick, he recognizes the girl immediately. It's Sharon Marshall, a.k.a. Tanya Hughes. As far as investigators can tell, this woman was never a willing partner in crime. It appears Floyd kidnapped her as a young child.
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The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
It's a major discovery, their first real clue about who Sharon could be and how this twisted story all started. It also completely changes the way authorities think about this case. If anything, it makes them even more determined to find Sharon's real name.
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The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
But they don't know where to turn next, because based on her age, Floyd must have kidnapped this girl in the mid-1970s, and that presents a serious problem. There was no centralized database for missing child cases until the mid-1980s.
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The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
Finding the identity of a child who was kidnapped 10 years before that is going to be nearly impossible, especially considering the FBI has no idea what city or even what state she was taken from. Agent Fitzpatrick uses every tool at his disposal to search for the girl's true identity. He searches for years, but there's no progress.
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The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
Eventually, Fitzpatrick retires with the investigation still incomplete. It shelved for over a decade. Then, in 2013, the FBI does a cold case review of the Michael Hughes kidnapping. The next year, agents spend days interviewing Floyd in prison. And after 11 years on death row, he's unusually cooperative. He reveals two secrets, one of which he's been keeping for almost half his life.
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The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
First, Floyd tells them the truth about what happened to Michael. On the long drive from Oklahoma City to Dallas, Floyd said the six-year-old's behavior was getting on his nerves. So he shot Michael twice in the back of the head and buried him off the interstate near the Oklahoma-Texas border. Not only that, Floyd reveals Sharon Marshall's true identity. This is the story he tells. It was 1973.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
Floyd was on the run after skipping bail, going by the name Brandon Williams. He met a woman named Sandra Brandenburg in North Carolina. Just two weeks after meeting, the pair married and later moved to Pennsylvania with Sandra's three daughters. Then, in 1975, Sandra was arrested for writing a bad check and had to spend 30 days in jail. When she got out, her new husband and children were gone.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
When Carrie spends time with the family, he notices that Sharon is nervous around Warren, like she's scared of him. Still, Cheryl takes a liking to Warren. He claims to have connections in the pornography industry in Los Angeles, and Cheryl thinks he could help her break into the business. Over the next few months, she grows closer to Sharon, meaning she's also spending more time with Warren.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
Sandra found two of her daughters living in a church. The only daughter she couldn't find was Suzanne Savakis, because Floyd kept her. From the time she was six years old, Floyd and Suzanne bounced around the country living under various pseudonyms.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
All the while, Suzanne attended public school, was involved in extracurriculars, and had a small group of friends, none of whom knew her real name or understood what was going on in her home. In high school, she joined the Air Force ROTC and dreamed of becoming an aerospace engineer. As her graduation neared, she got a scholarship to her dream school, Georgia Tech.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
But before she could even enroll, Floyd whisked her away to Phoenix. None of her friends ever heard from her again. Months later, Suzanne was working at a hotel restaurant when she got pregnant. The father was one of her co-workers. By the fall of 1987, Floyd once again forced her to pack up and leave town, this time to Tampa, Florida. When Suzanne had the baby, she named him Michael.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
From here, you know most of the story. Suzanne worked at the Mons Venus strip club where she met Cheryl Camesso. Cheryl reported Suzanne to social services. Enraged, Floyd murdered Cheryl, and he and Suzanne fled the state. Floyd likely knew authorities would be on the lookout for him and his so-called daughter, so he fabricated entirely new identities for them both.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
He forced Suzanne to marry him and pretend Michael was his son. Eventually, they settled in Tulsa, where Suzanne got a job at Passions and took the name Tanya. Floyd, aka Clarence, made Suzanne work at the strip club and hand over her money to him at the end of a long night while she held on to dreams of a different life. going to college, supporting herself and Michael on her own.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
That was always Suzanne's goal, to make a better life for her son. In the spring of 1990, she was ready to make a break for it. She made one last ditch effort to escape Floyd, the man who'd abused and exploited her for the last 15 years. Within days, Suzanne was dead. Even during his tell-all confession, Floyd refuses to talk about Suzanne's death. He says he's innocent and knows nothing about it.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
Her murder remains officially unsolved, and we'll likely never know the truth about what happened to Suzanne. Floyd died on death row in 2023. In a story with few bright spots, we can end on one. Suzanne's mother learned what happened to her. Her family didn't receive justice, but they did get the truth. And that made one important change possible.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
In 1990, Suzanne's gravestone was marked with the name Franklin Delano Floyd gave her, Tanya. But in 2017, it was finally replaced. Now it reads, Suzanne Marie Sivakis, devoted mother and friend. Thanks for tuning into Serial Killers, a Spotify podcast. We'll be back Monday with another episode.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
For more information on Franklin Delano Floyd, amongst the many sources we used, we found the books A Beautiful Child and Finding Sharon, both by Matt Burbeck, extremely helpful to our research. Stay safe out there.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
This episode was written by Kate Gallagher, edited by Karis Allen and Andrew Kelleher, researched by Mickey Taylor, fact-checked by Bennett Logan and Laurie Siegel, and sound designed by Alex Button. I'm your host, Janice Morgan.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
Things are going well. At one point, Warren even does a topless photo shoot of Cheryl, promising he'll send her pictures along to his contacts in Hollywood. But then it all falls apart. One night, Cheryl lets Warren take her out on his boat on nearby Lake Okeechobee. While they're on the water, Warren starts making sexual advances. Cheryl turns him down and Warren explodes.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
He tries to physically attack her. Cheryl is so terrified she jumps overboard. She swims to shore and has to hitchhike all the way home. It's traumatic and also heartbreaking. She'd hoped Warren would help her break into the pornography business, but he was just taking advantage of her. Cheryl's disappointment soon gives way to rage. She wants revenge.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
She knows Warren's daughter, Sharon Marshall, doesn't report all the money she makes at work. A lot of it is cash tips, so it's easy and pretty common to try to avoid paying one's fair share of taxes. In Sharon's case, it allows her to receive welfare checks to pad out her income.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
Cheryl knows that Sharon and Warren depend on that extra money, and she's boiling with anger at Warren, so she decides to hurt him. She calls social services and tells authorities Sharon's been shirking the system. Her plan works. Pretty soon, Sharon's welfare checks are suspended. Warren is furious. One day in March 1989, he calls one of Cheryl's friends.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
He says he knows Cheryl's the one who turned them in, and she's going to have to answer for it. It's not just about the welfare money. Sharon and her baby son Michael were on Medicaid, and now they've lost their coverage. Fair or not, by ratting them out, Cheryl's put the family in a serious financial bind.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
Not long after this, some of Cheryl's co-workers see her and Warren arguing in the club's parking lot, apparently while Sharon is inside working a shift. Nobody can hear what they're saying, but they both look livid. Later, another dancer hears screaming from the parking lot. She goes outside and sees Warren trying to pull Cheryl into his car. Bouncers have to run over and intervene.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
Warren lets Cheryl go and speeds away. One week later, Cheryl walks out of her father's home and never returns. She's not the only one to disappear. In late May, shortly after Cheryl's car is found abandoned in a parking lot, Warren, Sharon, and Michael abruptly leave town. Their trailer burns down soon after they move away. The cause of the fire is ruled an arson.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
In June 1989, Cheryl's father reports his daughter missing. Her case goes cold. And it seems like that's the end of the story. At least until ten months later. It's just after midnight in April 1990. Delbert Ray Collins and two of his friends are driving down a dark service road just outside of Oklahoma City when they see a shoe in the middle of the street. Delbert slows.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
She calls around, knocks on doors, and eventually finds two of her daughters living in a church. Apparently, her husband gave up the girls without her knowledge or consent. But Sandra has no idea where Brandon or her other child, five-year-old Suzanne, is now. She'll spend the next 40 years looking for Suzanne and wondering what kind of man her husband really was.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
About 200 feet away, he sees a shape lying in the gutter, a woman convulsing. Groceries are scattered around her, a loaf of bread, two bottles of Dr. Pepper, a package of cookies, and a broken antenna and windshield wiper. You might be thinking Cheryl Camesso has finally been found. However, this isn't her. We'll come back to her story, so keep her, Sharon, and Warren in mind.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
But for now, Delbert and his friends call paramedics who soon arrive at the scene. The woman is rushed to the nearest hospital. At first, doctors assume she's been involved in a hit and run, but the woman doesn't have any broken bones or external bleeding, which is surprising if she was hit by a car.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
Instead, her most serious injury is a hematoma or an internal collection of blood on the back of her head. The woman is stabilized and kept in the hospital overnight. The next morning, a man arrives at the hospital. He introduces himself as Clarence Hughes and identifies the injured woman as his wife, Tanya. From the jump, something about Clarence seems strange.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
He has almost no emotional reaction to seeing his wife in a coma. When the doctor explains that Tanya's brain is bruised and she's in serious condition, all Clarence does is request that no visitors be allowed in to see her. But when Clarence leaves the hospital, a visitor does show up, one of Tanya's coworkers, Karen. A doctor pulls Karen aside and tells her, this was no car accident.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
Karen feared as much. In fact, she thinks she knows who might have hurt Tanya. And the story she tells doctors might sound familiar. Karen met Tanya the previous fall at a Tulsa strip club called Passions. Tanya was bright and hardworking. She never drank or used drugs. Between sets, she would read books and crochet clothing for her son. Her son named Michael.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
But Karen and other dancers at the club couldn't help but notice Tanya's husband, Clarence. He always drove her to and from work and hung around in the parking lot during her shifts. As author Matt Birkbeck writes in his book, A Beautiful Child, the staff all found him creepy and controlling, not to mention he was at least twice his wife's age.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
It's 1975, and Sandra Brandenburg just got out of jail. It was a short sentence, 30 days for writing a bad check. Now, as she turns the knob of her front door, she's smiling. She can't wait to see her husband, Brandon, and her three young daughters. But when she steps inside, the house is empty. Her family is gone. Sandra's confusion quickly turns into panic.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
According to Karen, Tanya would sometimes show up to work covered in bruises. Some of the other dancers tried to convince her to leave her husband, but she was afraid. She said she'd tried to run away twice, but Clarence found her. He threatened to kill her if she tried again. That spring, right before Tanya was found on the road, she'd reportedly come up with a plan to leave Clarence.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
She was determined to get away from him. That, Karen thinks, is how Tanya ended up in a coma. She tried to escape her husband, and it all went wrong. The staff tells Karen she needs to take her suspicions to the police. But then, Clarence shows up. Karen leaves before he sees her. Clarence is in and out of the hospital for the next few days. Tanya's condition appears to be improving.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
Then, it takes a nosedive. She's put on life support. Clarence visits one evening, and when Karen comes the next day, Tanya has died. Clarence asks for his wife's organs to be donated and her body cremated. He doesn't even want a funeral. And when a medical examiner performs an autopsy on Tanya's remains... he finds something very suspicious.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
The medical examiner finds that Tanya Hughes suffered blunt force trauma to the back of her head. That's how her brain was bruised. Like doctors suspected, the injury isn't consistent with a hit-and-run accident. Instead, her death is ruled a homicide. Police in Oklahoma City start investigating in May of 1990.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
Their first person of interest is Tanya's husband, Clarence, so authorities go to the Hughes home in Tulsa. It looks like Clarence has already skipped town, but someone is still nearby, Tanya's son, Michael. Authorities learned that Clarence placed two-year-old Michael in temporary foster care on May 1st. He said he would return to pick up the boy, who he claimed was his child, in a week.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
Welcome to Serial Killers, a Spotify podcast. Every Monday, we bring you the true crime stories that stand out. I'm Janice Morgan. We'd love to hear from you. Follow us on Instagram at Serial Killers Podcast and share your thoughts on this week's episode. Or if you're listening on the Spotify app, swipe up and leave a comment.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
But Clarence never came back to get him. Michael's currently living with a foster family in Choctaw, about 20 miles outside of Oklahoma City, and he displays signs of serious emotional distress. He cries constantly. He won't sleep or talk. In fact, at two years old, it seems Michael has never learned to speak. He's clearly traumatized.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
But just as police are learning about Michael, they get a call that changes everything. It's an insurance agent. He says a man by the name of Clarence Hughes just attempted to cash out two life insurance policies on his wife, Tanya. They were worth a total of $80,000, but receiving payment required him to provide his social security number.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
When he did, the agent realized the number didn't match with the name Clarence Hughes. It belonged to someone else. It appears Clarence had been using a fake identity. His real name? Franklin Delano Floyd. The police were already suspicious of this so-called Clarence.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
Knowing his real name only makes them more concerned because Franklin Delano Floyd has a rap sheet that would send a shiver down anyone's spine. He ran away from his rural Georgia home at 15 and started racking up criminal offenses. At 16, he was taken into custody for breaking into a Sears store. Over the coming years, he was arrested for an attempted prison escape and for robbing a bank.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
His crimes became increasingly violent and predatory. At one point, he was convicted of child molestation. In January 1973, Floyd was out on parole when he tried to kidnap a woman from a gas station. She escaped and Floyd was arrested, but he posted bail and skipped town. He's been on the run using various pseudonyms ever since. That's 17 years as a fugitive.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
Now police suspect him of Tonya Hughes's murder, and they're determined to track him down. It takes six weeks, but authorities eventually find Floyd living in a trailer in Augusta, Georgia. They arrest him on a fugitive warrant and put him back in prison for the 1973 attempted kidnapping. However, he's not charged with the murder of his wife.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
The Oklahoma City police keep investigating, but they can't find any concrete evidence linking Floyd to the crime. They do figure out that Tanya Hughes wasn't his wife's real name. She was also using a pseudonym. Tanya Hughes is none other than Sharon Marshall. However, at this point, authorities have no idea about her and Floyd's, aka Warren's, life in Florida.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
They don't know anything about Floyd's fights with Cheryl Camesso, the woman who reported Sharon to social services, then disappeared. And Floyd certainly isn't going to tell them. He's also not forthcoming with information about Michael. He insists he's the boy's biological father, but given his history, authorities don't trust him.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
They tell Floyd the only way he'll ever regain custody of Michael is by submitting to a paternity test and proving he's Michael's dad. Floyd refuses the test for months until a court order forces him to comply. As police suspected, Michael is not Floyd's biological son, which means all Floyd's parental rights are immediately terminated.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
This episode includes discussions of violence, kidnapping, murder, and sexual abuse of children. Consider this when deciding how and when you'll listen. Stay with us. It's January 1989. Tampa, Florida is decked with old Christmas lights, but the neon sign of the Mons Vena Strip Club shines brightest of all. It's one of Tampa's most lavish clubs.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
And since Floyd won't say a word about who actually fathered the boy, Michael remains in foster care. But Michael flourishes with his new foster family. He starts talking, calling his foster parents Mama and Daddy. The only remnants of his past life are his nightmares, the ones where he's locked in a dark room, crying out for his mother. But now he's in a safe place.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
Over the next couple of years, he grows into a happy, well-adjusted kid. Then, in March of 1993, after serving 33 months in prison, Floyd is released on parole. And he begins his search for Michael. It's Monday, September 12, 1994, just after 9 a.m. Franklin Delano Floyd walks into Indian Meridian Elementary School in Choctaw, Oklahoma. He asks for a meeting with the principal, James Davis.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
When Floyd sits down across from Davis, he says, I've been grieving for four years and I'm ready to die. I want you to help me get my son. Then he reaches into his pocket and shows the handle of a gun. Principal Davis knows his life is on the line, but even more importantly, so are the lives of his 500 students. He tries to stay calm. All he can do is follow Floyd's orders.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
Davis leads Floyd to Michael's first grade classroom. The principal asks the six-year-old to come to his office. When Michael steps into the hall, he realizes something's wrong. Even though he hasn't seen Franklin Delano Floyd in years, he remembers him. And he's terrified of him. Floyd forces them both out into the parking lot. He asks where Davis' car is.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
The principal points to a white Ford pickup truck. Floyd tells him to get in. Floyd settles into the passenger seat. Michael sits in the center. Principal Davis drives until Floyd directs him to stop in a nearby field. While Michael stays in the truck with the radio on, Floyd walks Davis into the woods. Floyd handcuffs him to a tree and duct tapes his mouth closed. But then, Floyd walks away.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
A few moments later, Davis hears his truck start up and drive off. He screams for help until he's rescued over four hours later. He tells the police what happened, and local authorities call the FBI for help. Special Agent Joe Fitzpatrick reads everything they have on Franklin Delano Floyd. His arrest records, his wife's death, his custody battle for Michael.
Serial Killers
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
Now add kidnapping Principal Davis with a gun, abducting Michael straight out of class, and making off with a stolen vehicle to that list. Authorities have to find this man. Fitzpatrick sends agents to interview anyone who might know Floyd. They search his room at the halfway house he's been living in since his parole.
Serial Killers
The 10,000 Bones at Fox Hollow Farm
I wonder if you could put into words how you measure the success of your investigation.
Serial Killers
The 10,000 Bones at Fox Hollow Farm
You mentioned earlier that you offered remains to the families of loved ones, and I'm not trying to ask you to speculate on their reasons, but I wonder if you know why they refused their remains?
Serial Killers
The 10,000 Bones at Fox Hollow Farm
Could a criminal investigation posthumously solve this case? Do you think that's possible?
Serial Killers
The 10,000 Bones at Fox Hollow Farm
Well, I've been a writer and producer on serial killers for a while now, so I have news alerts set up for the types of cases we cover. And a little while back, I got this notification that a coroner in Indiana had identified more victims in this case that dates back to the 80s. I was a little surprised that I'd never heard of it before, especially because it had such an enormous scope.
Serial Killers
The 10,000 Bones at Fox Hollow Farm
I'm reading about victim numbers in the double digits, a killing spree thought to have lasted more than a decade across two states in five jurisdictions. But there was also this really small element to it. Many of the victims disappeared from the same four-block radius, a sliver of a city that was supposed to be a safe haven for them. And it's actually a type of place I'm very familiar with.
Serial Killers
The 10,000 Bones at Fox Hollow Farm
And the more I read, the more it felt like in another world, in another timeline, those victims could have been me.
Serial Killers
The 10,000 Bones at Fox Hollow Farm
When did the name Fox Hollow Farm first come across your desk?
Serial Killers
The 10,000 Bones at Fox Hollow Farm
How many of the remains have gone through lab processing?
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
And still, he was nothing more than an object to them, a means to an end. During those two years, they figured out how the 71-year-old would die. They'd run him over with a car. They'd run him over with a car. As far as insurance companies were concerned, hit and runs weren't usually indicative of foul play.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
Perhaps the two friends knew that and figured they could easily make it look like an accident. So on November 7th, 1999, 68-year-old Helen and 66-year-old Olga picked Paul up from his apartment. They took him to the theaters, where they bought tickets for The Bone Collector, a film about the hunt for a sadistic serial killer. It was an eerie hint of what was to come next.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
Of course, Paul had no idea. While we don't know exactly what happened next, we can make an educated guess based on the evidence. After the movie, the trio went to a dinner. There, it's believed the women spiked Paul's food when he wasn't looking. Then, Helen and Olga waited for the drugs to take effect.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
When he was clearly inebriated, the women guided the 73-year-old back to the car and drove toward Hollywood. When they were about a mile away from Olga's place they pulled into an empty alley and put the car in park. They dragged Paul out of the back seat and into the street laying him flat on his back. Then they got back into the car and drove over him.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
Afterward they didn't even stop to check if he was dead. They just kept driving down the alley and never looked back. They'd done what they'd set out to do. The next morning, LAPD officers found Paul's body. But without any ID on him, they labeled him a John Doe and sent him off to the lab. Two days later, his toxicology report came back clean.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
But it's important to note it didn't test for prescription drugs. Meanwhile, Helen and Olga knew they couldn't jump the gun. If they reported Paul missing right away, it might look too suspicious. So they waited over a week until they went to the police. When they finally did, they fed the cops the story that Helen was Paul's one-time fiance and Olga was his cousin.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
The two of them were just oh so worried about him. The police took down the report. When they connected the dots to their John Doe, they reached out to Olga and informed her of her cousin's death. She collected his body and Helen, his pseudo-fiancé, paid for his burial.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
The police had no real leads in the hit and run, so once the women took Paul's body off their hands, the officers filed the case away. But while the police had hit pause on the investigation, the insurance companies weren't so quick to close the book. Given that Paul had died in a hit-and-run with no witnesses, they needed to double-check that everything was above board.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
That was an inconvenience, for sure. But Helen understood they were playing the long game. They'd waited two years already. What was a few more weeks? Besides, Helen had come into another fortune of her own. Her longtime real estate partner, Artie Aaron, recently died from cancer. Helen saw an opportunity to enrich herself.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
With lightning speed, she produced a power of attorney agreement and assumed control of the deeds to 13 of his properties. Those buildings were worth millions and might have gone straight to Artie's family. But Helen had documents that said otherwise. Helen did have a history with forging signatures. Still, the documents appeared to be genuine.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
So when his family tried to contest them, it made no difference. That meant Helen was rolling in more dough. She treated herself to a designer wardrobe, a brand new Mercedes SUV, and a facelift. All the while, Olga watched from the sidelines. She wanted a cut of Helen's earnings. They were partners, after all.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
But Helen saw the properties as a separate deal and made it clear that Olga wouldn't get a dime of that money. This left Olga fuming. Helen knew that she was struggling, and yet she wouldn't even offer her a lifeline. To rub salt in the wound, Helen had the audacity to complain about how much her plastic surgery hurt. It was behavior like this that perhaps brought Olga to her breaking point.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
She felt like she had the short end of the stick. Before the next bit of insurance money came in, she wanted to make sure she got her cut first. So in March of 2000, she called the Mutual of Omaha, one of the companies where they held a policy. As Paul's cousin and blood relative, she tried to convince them that they should pay her before Helen. But apparently, they declined.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
Both of them were listed as co-beneficiaries, and they couldn't change that after Paul's death. After hanging up, she realized that her request might just get her into trouble with her partner. She called the company right back and asked that they didn't tell Helen about her call. And it seems they respected her request. Helen never learned about that little betrayal.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
Which was a good thing, because as much as Olga hated to admit it, she needed her partner in crime. Without Helen, she couldn't get much done. That became clear in August of 2000, when Helen finally stepped in and took charge of the lingering insurance issues. She threatened to sue the companies if they didn't pay out properly. Sure enough, her ultimatum worked.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
By the start of October, Helen and Olga received their checks. Between all the policies they took out on Paul, they each collected nearly $300,000 in benefits. For Olga, this was a life-changing amount. She could finally live the high life like Helen. But that huge wad of cash lost its luster sooner than expected. Olga was envious of Helen still having so much more than her.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
And that's an emotion that can spell disaster. Before long, Olga was willing to do whatever it took to have all that Helen had. And if that meant taking another victim, then so be it. Thanks for listening to Serial Killers. We're here with a new episode every Monday. Be sure to check us out on Instagram at Serial Killers Podcast, and we'd love to hear from you.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
So if you're listening on the Spotify app, swipe up and give us your thoughts. For more information on Helen Goulet and Olga Ruderschmidt, among the many sources we used, we found Signed in Blood, The True Story of Two Women, A Sinister Plot, and Cold-Blooded Murder by Jean King, extremely helpful to our research. Stay safe out there.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
This episode was written by Alex Burns, edited by Jane Oh, Joel Callen, and Maggie Admire, fact-checked by Bennett Logan, researched by Mickey Taylor and Chelsea Wood, and sound designed by Alex Button. I'm your host, Janice Morgan.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
Once they became friends, Helen Goulet and Olga Ruderschmidt did just about everything together. But while the two were joined at the hip in adulthood, their beginnings couldn't have been more different. Because she was born first, we'll start with Helen's story, which begins in Texas in 1931. her childhood was marred by instability and tragedy.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
Soon after her birth, her mom left the family and ran off with another man. When she was still just a young girl, her dad died in a car crash. She moved in with her grandfather in Texas, then her cousins in Washington State. But nothing lasted. Eventually, during her late teens, she ended up in foster care, which she left when she turned 18.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
This episode includes discussions of murder. Consider this when deciding how and when you'll listen. At first glance, you probably wouldn't clock Helen Goulet and Olga Ruderschmidt as serial killers. Helen was a Texan with big hair and a mind for real estate. Olga was a fast-talking Hungarian immigrant who made a habit out of suing people. Both were over 62, old enough to retire.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
After graduating high school, Helen tried to establish herself in Oakland, California, struggling to find a good job and provide for herself. But she soon found out that it was easier to rely on someone else than to fend for herself. In this instance, that someone else was 22-year-old Vernon Goulet.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
When they met in 1951, Vernon was a Navy veteran on his way to becoming a dentist with a steady salary. That meant he could take care of Helen in a way no one had since she was a little girl. The couple married and settled down in Salem, Oregon, and went on to have two daughters. For a while, it seemed that Helen's life had changed for the better.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
She wanted for nothing and was in a loving, stable home. But then, around 1960, after nine years of marriage, it all came crashing down when the couple divorced. Helen kept the girls and returned to California. At some point after that, she got back into the dating scene. And in the spring of 1962, she wound up pregnant. The relationship didn't last, but she decided to keep the baby.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
In her book, Signed in Blood, author Jean King claims Helen's ex, Vernon, wasn't happy with this new development and made it clear that he'd only pay child support for their two daughters and not her daughter with another man. It's unclear if Helen ever even asked him to help out with her youngest daughter, but the fact remains that there was now an extra mouth to feed.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
The stress of it all seemed to weigh on her, as did her ex's financial presence. By the mid-60s, 30-something Helen was a struggling single mom in Los Angeles, which has never been an easy city to make it in. Helen picked up odd jobs, but at times, she had to rely on welfare just to get by. Then, one day, her luck changed.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
At some point in the 70s, she got a job in real estate, which brought her into the orbit of mogul Artie Aaron. She started bringing in real money for the first time in her life, and she was even able to purchase several rental properties of her own. Given her history, you might expect Helen to be a sympathetic landlord, but that wasn't the case.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
She wanted to make as much as she possibly could, so she raised her rents through the roof. But in 1979, the city of Los Angeles passed the rent stabilization ordinance. This meant that landlords could only increase rent once a year and only buy so much. After that, a lot of property owners felt like they couldn't make a profit anymore. Helen, though? She took it in stride.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
She figured there were other ways to make a quick buck off her tenants. One of which was collecting fines if they broke any of her rules. But for that to work, Helen had to catch people in the act. So over the next several years, she reportedly peered in windows, listened at doors, and generally snooped.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
In decades on their own, neither woman was a hardened criminal. However, once they got together, they became co-conspirators in a shocking insurance scheme, one that left millions of dollars in their pockets and at least two bodies in their wake. This is Serial Killers, a Spotify podcast. I'm Janice Morgan.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
Unsurprisingly, most of Helen Gley's residents weren't too pleased when she wrote them up for frivolous reasons. They came to think of her as a mean-spirited bully without an ounce of empathy. But it seems Helen didn't care what people thought, as long as she got her money. That said, it was a lonely way of life, made even lonelier when all three of her daughters grew up and moved out.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
But instead of sitting home alone, she became a regular at the Sports Connection Athletic Club, This was the perfect place for her to run into like-minded people. Around this time, Jazzercise was taking America by storm. Women of all ages were flocking to their local gyms in colorful spandex, ready to sculpt their bodies. And Helen couldn't get enough of it.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
She was obsessed with her appearance and went to the gym as often as she could. It was on one of those days, sometime in the mid-80s, that Helen met Olga Ruderschmidt. At first glance, Olga was just like her. She was in her 50s, fit, and fabulous. But as I mentioned at the start, their beginnings couldn't have been more different.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
Olga was born in 1933, just two years after Helen, and thousands of miles away in Budapest, Hungary. As Olga tells it, the defining moment of her youth happened one night in 1944. World War II had taken over her home country. Overhead, Allied forces were bombing German-occupied Budapest. It was a scary time for everyone.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
Whenever Olga and her parents heard the attacks above them, they raced down into the basement. It was as close to a bomb shelter as they'd get. Usually, they stayed there until the fighting ceased. But on that day, the 11-year-old grew tired of waiting. She just wanted to play her piano, so she ignored her parents' order and ran upstairs.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
She booked it to the instrument, but just as she hit the first few keys, a bomb hit her family's apartment. Olga was blown back by the force, and the building crumbled around her. Her hand was crushed by a block and she struggled to break free. And for a few excruciating minutes, she probably wondered if she'd die right there.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
Olga's parents climbed through the rubble and came to her rescue, but she didn't make it out unscathed. Her right hand was badly damaged, and she worried she'd never be able to play piano again. Throughout the ordeal, Olga had been holding back her tears, but now she let it all out. It's possible it was the first time she wanted to leave her home country, and it certainly wouldn't be the last.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
You see, life was complicated in Budapest, and her family situation didn't make it any easier. When Olga was a teenager, her parents divorced, and her father started a second family. This meant Olga and her mother had to fend for themselves. To make matters worse, an uprising broke out in Hungary in 1956. By then, Olga was 23 and ready for a fresh start.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
So she left her mother and her homeland behind. She journeyed to New York City, where a local family sponsored her. What she actually got up to in New York is unclear. But by the early 1970s, the 40-something moved to Los Angeles. There, she met and married her husband, Andre Ruderschmidt. Soon after that, the two opened up a coffee shop in Hollywood.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
In a way, the small business symbolized her rise to success. From a child of war to a businesswoman, Olga was the American dream personified. Unfortunately, her life followed a similar trajectory to Helen's. Great until it wasn't. In 1978, Olga's marriage ended. The coffee shop closed down. Olga was on her own. Even worse, she was low on cash. Her solution? Lawsuits.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
You might recognize me as the voice behind the investigative docuseries Broken and the true crime podcast Fear Thy Neighbor. I'm guest hosting for Serial Killers, and I'm thrilled to be here. Be sure to check us out on Instagram at Serial Killers Podcast, and we'd love to hear from you. So if you're listening on the Spotify app, swipe up and give us your thoughts.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
One time, she was at a grocery store and claimed that a stack of boxes had fallen and maimed her. She hit the store with a personal injury claim. Another time, she complained to a coffee shop manager that she'd been served subpar food. A nearby customer overheard the commotion and came to interject. Only, they didn't just use their words.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
According to Olga, this third party shot her with a stun gun, right there in the middle of the store. It's almost too wild to believe. But Olga insisted it was all true. What's more, she claimed the attack had caused her physical injuries and emotional trauma. So she filed a negligence claim against the coffee shop.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
It seems like a frivolous case, but it might have worked out for Olga Ruderschmidt, because by the mid-80s, she could afford visits to the Sports Connection Athletic Club. That's where she reportedly met and became enamored with Helen Golay, and that friendship would change her life. Call it fate or destiny, but when Helen Goulet met Olga Ruderschmidt, she felt an instant kinship.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
They were both beautiful health nuts, both divorced, and most importantly, they both liked the idea of easy money. It was almost inevitable that the 50-somethings would be fast friends. One of their early capers together involved a trip to the exclusive Beverly Hills Hotel. Once inside, Helen grabbed Olga's arm and took her to the bathroom.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
They changed into their sexiest swimsuits and spent the day lounging at the pool. But they weren't finished. They were on a mission to find a fabulously wealthy man and make off with whatever they could. It didn't take long for a guy to approach. He was immediately taken by Helen's southern drawl. And as Helen flirted with him, Olga pickpocketed his wallet. Then the two ladies excused themselves.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
They said they just needed to run to the bathroom and promised they'd be back in a minute. Instead, they ducked into a stall, changed back into their regular clothes, and strutted out of the hotel. By the time the guy realized he'd been fleeced by two middle-aged women, they were long gone. As far as we can tell, Olga was more than happy to be Helen's wingwoman. But Helen wasn't quite so pleased.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
While the scheme was fun, stealing wallets was small-time stuff. If they wanted to make real money, they'd need to change up the game. At this point, they'd each dabbled in the litigation business and now seemed like the perfect time to combine their efforts. Not that Helen needed the cash.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
By this point, she owned multiple properties in the Santa Monica area and her real estate business was booming. And though we don't know the exact numbers she pulled in, she lived a comfortable life. Meanwhile, Olga lived off housing subsidies and social security, and that might have made her desperate.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
Today, we'll meet Helen Goulet and Olga Ruderschmidt. They found their victims in Los Angeles in the late 90s and early 2000s, in between trips to the gym. Stay with us.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
So when the opportunity to threaten people with lawsuits for money came up, Olga was all for it. And when Helen suggested a more sinister plan, well, Olga agreed to that too. If there was money to be had, she wanted in. So they put their plan into action, scouring the street for the perfect target. Soon, they stumbled upon 71-year-old Paul Vados.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
He was in dire straits, waiting in line at the Hollywood Presbyterian Church for a free meal. He also seemed to have no close ties to anyone. To Helen and Olga, he was the perfect mark. The women made their way past volunteers and approached Paul with the gift of a lifetime. They promised to give him a home, pay his rent, and help him get his life together. Paul couldn't believe it.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
It was like he'd met two genuine angels. And the women made good on their promises. They moved him into an empty apartment, and since he was so frail, Olga came by every day to help feed and bathe him. Meanwhile, Helen not only paid the bills, she orchestrated the most crucial part of their plan, applying for life insurance.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
On the paperwork, she listed herself as Paul's fiance and Olga as his cousin. All they needed now was to get him to sign the dotted line. Olga had that covered. She got her hands on a document with Paul's signature. Then she marched down to the Hollywood Rubber Stamp Company and ordered a signature stamp. With that, they had their all-important life insurance policy. But one wasn't enough.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
Nope, they took out at least six policies on Paul, with the potential benefits adding up to $879,000. Now, Paul was overinsured with just one policy. He was unhoused and had no income. But the women could pile up the policies because at that time, insurance companies didn't share information with each other. So they had no way of knowing Paul was already covered.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
What's more, they tended to overlook applications for smaller policies. Perhaps with that in mind, Helen and Olga only applied for modest amounts, 50,000 here, 75,000 there, nothing that would raise any red flags. For Helen and Olga, the most important part of each policy was its incontestability clause.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
This meant that after two years from the signing date, the insurance companies would have a much more difficult time denying the claims. In such cases, even if the companies realize they've been deceived, they still might have to pay up. One of the only surefire ways to null such a policy is to prove criminal intent. So the women's plan was simple.
Serial Killers
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
They'd take out life insurance in Paul's name and then wait. In the interim, they'd watch over him and keep him happy. All the while, they'd mark days off the calendar. And when those two years expired, they'd kill him. Two years. That's all Paul Vados had left to live once he met Helen Goulet and Olga Ruderschmidt. The women spent that time cooking for Paul, taking care and cleaning up after him.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
This episode includes discussions of murder. Consider this when deciding how and when you'll listen. In 2025, a manhunt for a killer likely involves CCTV and facial recognition, GPS and digital intelligence, and advanced DNA testing. With so much surveillance and evidence, it's not easy to get away with a crime. But in 1910, the hunt for a fugitive was much harder and slower.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
The defense argues that the boneless torso had been buried by some unknown person, possibly before the Crippens had moved into their house. But a significant piece of evidence from the prosecution seems to disprove this. The pajamas that the human remains were wrapped in matched pajamas that Cora gifted to Dr. Crippen the previous year.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
To further corroborate this, the clothes manufacturer testifies that the specific pattern found on the fragment was not sold prior to 1908. This means that the remains couldn't have been placed in the house before Dr. Crippen and Cora first moved in in 1905. Additional witnesses for the prosecution include several pathologists who shed light on hyacine found in the corpse.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
Prior to the murder, Dr. Crippen had purchased significant quantities of the drug from a local chemist. This certainly made it appear as though Crippen hadn't just killed his wife, but had premeditated it. A major sticking point is that the body can't be confirmed as Cora's until one of the prosecution's pathologists gives the remains another look. He finds a mark on the body's abdomen, a scar.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
It's consistent with scars left over after surgery to remove ovaries. Cora had undergone that very procedure in 1893. It's not a smoking gun, but it's pretty compelling. Ultimately, science can't prove beyond reasonable doubt that the body is Cora's. However, the mounting circumstantial evidence is overwhelming. And during the four days of trial, Dr. Crippen has little to add to his defense.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
On October 22, 1910, after only 27 minutes of deliberation, the jury delivers a verdict. They find Dr. Crippen guilty of murdering his wife Cora. He's sentenced to death. Ethel is tried shortly after Dr. Crippen's conviction, but the jury determines she had nothing to do with the murder and sets her free.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
Dr. Crippen's last request is for a photograph of Ethel and some of her letters to be buried with him in his unmarked grave. The request is granted. On November 23, 1910, Holly Harvey Crippen is hanged at the Pentonville prison. After the trial, Londoners put forth many theories as to why and how Dr. Crippen might have killed his wife. With the doctor dead, we'll never know the exact story.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
Barrister Edward Marshall Hall proposes one theory. He suggests Dr. Crippen gave his wife hyacine to put her to sleep while he enjoyed a night out with Ethel, but it backfired when Cora died of an overdose. Panicking, he must have tried to break down the corpse and hid her remains in their cellar.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
Over half a century later, in 1981, several newspapers in Britain published reports that a man named Sir Hugh Rhys Rankin met Ethel Lenev in 1930. She supposedly told him that Dr. Crippen murdered Cora because she had syphilis. But stranger than any of these speculations is the idea that Dr. Crippen never committed the crime at all.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
John Trestrail, a modern-day forensic toxicologist, is unsettled by the circumstantial evidence in Dr. Crippen's case. He's never heard of a poisoning case where the murderer also dismembered his victim. If Dr. Crippen had both poisoned and dismembered Cora, it doesn't make sense that he would have disposed of so much of the body only to leave incriminating evidence in his home.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
Intrigued, Trust Trail analyzes Dr. Crippen's court records. After finding more inconsistencies in the case, Trust Trail brings in a forensics expert. They conduct a comprehensive genetic search to find descendants of Cora Crippen and, thanks to the internet, are able to identify three of Cora's living relatives. Then, they try to obtain Cora's DNA.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
Scotland Yard had kept three strands of hair and charges £17,500 to run a test on two of them. Unwilling to pay that steep fee, Trestrail turns to the Royal London Hospital archives, which had preserved nine pieces of tissue from the case. At Trestrail's request, the historic medical facility hands over a nearly century-old tissue sample of the torso found in Dr. Crippen's cellar.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
Trestrell compares its DNA with that of Cora's relatives, and the DNA of the body does not match any of Cora's three living relatives. Even weirder, their research shows that the torso found might not even be female. With this new scientific evidence, Trestrell begins to reexamine police and court archives.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
He uncovers a series of documents that had reportedly been suppressed during the court case. Among them was a letter from Cora herself to Dr. Crippen after the alleged murder, in which she claims to be living in America with no plan to stop his execution. During the 1910 trial, Scotland Yard suspected the letter was a hoax, so it was kept from the jury.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
This makes Trestrell wonder if, under media pressure, the police had tampered with the evidence to close the case. However, this claim remains in dispute. With DNA that old, some have argued that accurate results aren't guaranteed. The tissue had likely become contaminated.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
Some note that conclusions drawn from two scientists who'd tested a single, century-old sample is not good cause to reopen the case. The UK's Criminal Cases Review Commission seemingly agree. In 2009, after reviewing Trestrell's findings, they declare that the Court of Appeals will not hear the case to pardon Dr. Crippen posthumously.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
While it seems an innocent man wouldn't run from his crimes, the Modern DNA investigation certainly raises interesting questions. Then again, if the corpse did belong to someone other than Cora, it's possible Dr. Crippen was involved in that murder. Despite these theories, we can look to Occam's razor to deduce what most likely happened.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
The simpler explanation between two theories is generally preferred. But that doesn't mean it's not worth a second look, even if the crime is more than a century old. Because as Trestrail says, justice doesn't have a time limit.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen had ample opportunity to avoid infamy. If it were not for his horrific crime, he'd largely be forgotten. Even then, records of his life before his 30s are sparse, like most men born in 1862. We do know Crippen's father was a wealthy merchant, which allowed Hawley to enroll in the University of Michigan's College of Homeopathy.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
Thank you for listening to Serial Killers. We're here with a new episode every Monday. Be sure to check us out on Instagram at Serial Killers Podcast. And if you're listening on Spotify, swipe up and give us your thoughts or email us at SerialKillerStories at Spotify.com.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
For more information on Dr. Holly Harvey-Crippen, amongst the many sources we used, we found Thunderstruck by Eric Larson and Molecules of Murder by John Emsley, extremely helpful to our research. Stay safe out there.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
This episode was written by Amy Paulette Hartman, edited by Chelsea Wood, researched by Chelsea Wood, fact-checked by Bennett Logan, and video edited and sound designed by Alex Button. I'm your host, Janice Morgan.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
Homeopathy is a form of alternative medicine partially based on the idea that like cures like. If a natural substance causes a symptom in a healthy person, a small amount of the same substance may help relieve symptoms of the illness. For example, cutting onions usually makes chefs tear up, but homeopaths believe a diluted onion extract called allium sepa can treat watery eyes caused by allergies.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
But there's risk involved. Some of the substances used in homeopathic practice can be deadly if administered incorrectly. Many experts are skeptical about their effectiveness. As of early 2025, the FDA has not approved any homeopathic products. But when Crippen enrolls in medical school in 1882, homeopathy is growing increasingly popular in Europe and the United States.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
His studies take him to a mental hospital in London, where he treats violent patients with natural remedies. Crippen graduates in 1884 and spends the next few years working in homeopathic practices across the states. He meets a nurse, Charlotte, whom he marries in 1887. Charlotte gives birth to a son, Otto, but dies two years later of a stroke.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
Dr. Crippen isn't willing to step up to single fatherhood. He leaves Otto with his parents and moves to New York alone. When he arrives, Dr. Crippen finds a burgeoning world of possibilities. In the city, streetcars have replaced the horse-drawn carriage. Life literally moves at a faster pace. Innovation is everywhere, and Crippen is eager to be a part of it.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
He finds work in a medical practice and lives in the head doctor's home. And in the fall of 1892, he marries a patient named Cora Turner. Cora aspires to be an opera singer, and Crippen is happy to help finance her dreams. But the following May, the country experiences a financial crisis known as the Panic of 1893.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
Demand for homeopathy wanes, and Dr. Crippen is forced to stop paying for Cora's singing lessons. Worse, Cora has been ill, so she undergoes an operation to remove her ovaries. She won't be able to bear children. According to Eric Larson, author of Thunderstruck, it contributes to a strain on the marriage. But by 1897, things are starting to look up for the couple.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
The homeopathic clinic Dr. Crippen has been working for promotes him to manager of a new office in London. The job comes with a significant pay raise. It's also promising for Cora. She hasn't found success in the New York opera scene, so perhaps England will be a nice change of pace. For the next few years, things appear to be going well for the Crippens.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
The police depended on unreliable eyewitness memory, fingerprint science was in its infancy, and the world's first crime laboratory just opened that year. So how did you catch a criminal in 1910? For Scotland Yard, it took a brand new invention, wireless telegraphy. It was revolutionary. Criminal investigations could now take place between two countries or on a transatlantic ship.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
The Doctor is making more money than he's ever made before, and Cora is booking roles. But Cora's not the star she wants to be. Newspaper reviews pan her performances, and one of her shows is shut down within a week of its debut. She decides to set aside her dream career and focus on her social life.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
What Cora lacks in musical talents, she more than makes up for in charm, and she quickly finds successful friends. They include music hall performer Lil Hawthorne, her husband and manager John Nash, and the circus-performing strongwoman Kate Williams, better known as Vulcana. All are big names at the time.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
However, Cora doesn't yield much success from her connections, and it's putting Dr. Crippen in a financial bind. He's been funding her career from singing lessons to her own production, and it isn't just her stage act he's paying for. Cora insists on keeping up with the latest fashions, no matter the cost. Crippen also loses his well-paying job at the clinic.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
He takes a series of new jobs at facilities that are essentially scams. One is at Drouet Institute for the Deaf. There, Dr. Crippen spends mere minutes with patients before prescribing a supposed cure. It's a significant pay cut, and Crippen can't keep up the lifestyle. The couple is forced to move to a smaller, more affordable apartment.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
but Cora keeps buying lavish jewelry and expensive clothing. And she spends most of her time at clubs and social events with her friends. Dr. Crippen's resentment festers because he soon learns Cora isn't just out networking all night. She's having a very public affair. By 1901, Dr. Holly Crippen's second marriage resembles the medical cures he peddles, little more than a sham.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
His wife Cora is smitten with a variety show performer, so Crippen goes looking for a lover of his own. The same year, Drouet Institute for the Deaf hires Ethel Lenev to help Dr. Crippen around the office, and he takes a fast liking to her. To Crippen, Ethel is everything Cora isn't. Kind, quiet, and unassuming. She's a diligent employee eager to please.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
Before long, the doctor finds himself making excuses to stay late at work. Over the next several years, Dr. Crippen grows even further from his wife. And even closer to Ethel. He makes more room for his lover in his life. He invests in a large home in London. The property allows Crippen and Cora to sleep in separate bedrooms and easily continue their separate affairs.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
Still, as a public formality, Dr. Crippen stays with his wife. By all appearances, the two are a happy couple, which makes what happens next all the more surprising. On the evening of January 31st, 1910, the Crippins host two of Cora's show business friends, Paul and Clara Martinetti. They have dinner and drinks, then play a few games of cards. The Martinettis leave around 1 a.m.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
No one knows exactly what occurs next, but in the following days and weeks, one thing becomes clear. Cora Crippen has disappeared. In February 1910, Cora's friends and social clubs receive letters purportedly written by Cora. At first, the letters claim Cora has gone back to the States to visit a sick relative.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
Eventually, Dr. Crippen amends this story, saying his wife had fallen ill and died while in the U.S., The odd claim grows even less believable in the spring of 1910. At some point, Ethel and Nev moves in with Dr. Crippen. Shortly thereafter, she begins wearing Cora's clothing and jewelry. For all intents and purposes, she is the new Mrs. Crippen.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
Ethel and Crippen continue this charade well into the summer. Seeking answers, Cora's circus performer friend Kate Williams reports Cora's disappearance to the police. An investigation begins, but the case takes on new urgency when Cora's other friends, entertainer Lil Hawthorne and her husband John Nash, escalate the case to Scotland Yard.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
But science still had a long way to go. And over a century later, people have wondered, did forensic shortcomings send an innocent man to death? Welcome to Serial Killers, a Spotify podcast. Every Monday we bring you the true crime stories that stand out. I'm Janice Morgan. We'd love to hear from you. Follow us on Instagram at Serial Killers Podcast and share your thoughts on this week's episode.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
On July 8th, 1910, they dispatch Chief Inspector Walter Dew to interview Dr. Crippen and search his house. He doesn't notice anything odd until he begins talking to Dr. Crippen, who changes his explanation of his wife's disappearance yet again. He claims that Cora had run away to America with her lover. Under questioning, Crippen admits his earlier lies.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
He'd said Cora died to save himself embarrassment. Inspector Dew buys the story, but tells Crippen he'll have to confirm with Cora herself. The next day, Crippen shaves off his distinctive mustache, and Ethel disguises herself as a boy. Posing as father and son, the pair flee to various cities across Europe. In Antwerp, they buy passage to Canada on the SS Montrose, leaving on July 20th, 1910.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
Back in London, Chief Inspector Dew returns to the Crippen house to a surprising discovery. It's been abandoned. Dr. Crippen and Ethel's sudden departure was a bright red flag. After all, innocent people seldom flee their homes. Inspector Dew orders three more searches of the Crippen residence, scouring it from top to bottom. On the final inspection, detectives discover loose bricks in the cellar.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
Beneath them, they find ripped, bloodied pajama bottoms wrapped around a headless, limbless, boneless torso. Though Inspector Dew can't immediately identify the victim, he has a hunch that it's Cora. and the killer, her husband, Dr. Crippen. Now it's up to Scotland Yard to track him down. The remains in the pajamas are sent in for analysis and autopsy.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
In the process, one of Scotland Yard's senior scientific analysts finds something else unusual in the remains, traces of the drug hyosine hydrobromide. In modern medicine, hyosine is sometimes used to treat motion sickness. In the 19th century, it was occasionally used as a sedative, but the drug was only rarely prescribed as it was a strong poison that could be deadly in large amounts.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
With this terrifying find, Scotland Yard issues a warrant for Dr. Crippen's arrest. Combine that with the fact that Dr. Crippen's wife had been missing for months, and now Dr. Crippen himself is missing, the story quickly becomes headline news. It strikes a chord with Londoners, who are still shocked from Jack the Ripper's killing spree just 20 years prior.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
And like Jack the Ripper's crimes, this horror soon finds an international audience. With growing attention, Scotland Yard faces great pressure to crack the case. Even Britain's Home Secretary, a young Winston Churchill, offers a £250 reward for the capture of the fugitives. Crippen and Ethel are on equal footing with the most wanted criminals in London, and they have no idea.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
Floating across the ocean aboard the SS Montrose, they think they've successfully escaped detection. They don't know that just before the ship's departure, two Scotland Yard officers told Captain Henry George Kendall to be on the lookout for the suspects. Even more, their faces are plastered on the cover of the Daily Mail.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
Assuming they're safe, Dr. Crippen and Ethel do little to keep up with their disguises aboard the steamship. While they remain dressed as father and son, they are oddly affectionate with one another and frequently hold hands. And on top of that, Ethel's boy clothes clearly don't fit her body. Captain Kendall notices.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
He instructs his wireless operator to telegraph the British authorities immediately. The message states, quote, Notably, this is the first time wireless telegraphy, or radio telegraphy, is used to track a criminal, bringing even more notoriety to the chase. After receiving the telegram, Inspector Dew boards a White Star liner, the SS Laurentic.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
It's faster than the SS Montrose, which means Dew will arrive in Canada before Dr. Crippen does. Once there, Canadian authorities bring him to the criminal's ship. On July 31, 1910, as the SS Montrose enters the St. Lawrence River in Quebec, Inspector Dew and his fellow officers come aboard disguised as harbor pilots, the officials who guide ships into port.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
Or if you're listening on the Spotify app, swipe up and leave a comment. Stay with us.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
Meanwhile, Captain Kendall asks Dr. Crippen if he'd like to greet the pilots. Delighted, Dr. Crippen agrees, but he's in for a harsh discovery. When the so-called pilots enter the room, one steps forward and removes his cap. He introduces himself as Chief Inspector Dew of Scotland Yard. After a pause, Dr. Crippen apparently replies, Thank God the suspense is over.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
Inspector Dew arrests Crippen and his accomplice, Ethel. Within days, Crippen is back in England awaiting trial for the murder of his wife. Dr. Crippen's trial begins in October 1910, three months after his arrest on the Montrose. Filled with salacious details and a thrilling search, newspapers describe the tragic tale of an unfaithful wife slain by her bitter husband.
Serial Killers
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
Though the body in the cellar still hasn't been proven to be Cora's, everyone in London has their mind made up. When Dr. Crippen's first day in court finally comes on October 18th, 1910, 4,000 people line up to hear the case play out. Dr. Crippen's defense holds to the doctor's claims that Cora had left him for another man. It was Crippen, the jilted husband, who was the victim.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
But for Lisa, the good news is, aside from the fact that Renee and Sharon disappeared in August 1971, not July, Bell's list seems to support her and Fred's theory. Then Lisa gets another letter from Bell. It's the one with his Eleven Who Went to Heaven poem. And he seemed proud of it.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
You might recognize me as the voice behind the investigative docuseries Broken and the true crime podcast Fear Thy Neighbor. I'll be your host for the next few weeks, and I am thrilled to be here. We'd love to hear from you. Follow us on Instagram at Serial Killers Podcast and share your thoughts on this week's episode. Or if you're tuning in on the Spotify app, swipe up and leave a comment.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
Detective Fred Page had already linked Bell to the murders of Debbie Ackerman, Maria Johnson, Sharon Shaw, and Renee Johnson. But over the years, Bell had confessed to killing anywhere from 7 to 11 female victims. Soon, Fred and Lisa are basically partners in their investigation, and they want to find out exactly who Bell claims he killed.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
In the summer of 1971, Colette Wilson was immersed in band camp. She played the clarinet. And every day after camp, her band director would drop Colette off in the same spot where her busy mom could easily swing by and get her. But when her mom arrived on June 17th as planned, Colette was nowhere to be seen. Her skeletal remains were found a few months later near a reservoir west of Houston.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
Colette's father, a dentist, confirmed her identity using her teeth. Ed Bell used Colette's full name in his letter, and Lisa and Fred learned that the spot where Colette's mother was supposed to pick her up was right along Bell's commute to work. Belle didn't receive much attention at the time.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
Then there were the other victims Belle alluded to. One he identified only as Gigi in Houston. Fred and Lisa believed the initials could refer to Gloria Gonzalez, a bookkeeper who was last seen at her Houston apartment in October 1971, and whose death was already tied to Colette Wilson's.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
Which makes sense. The remains of two murder victims were found mixed together in the same place, so they probably had the same killer. After Gloria and Colette were found in November 1971, investigators concluded the following. Gloria was most likely strangled with some kind of cord or rope, while Colette died from blunt force trauma.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
The further Lisa and Fred went, the more legitimate the crumbs bell dropped in his letter seemed. He included the name Pitchford in one, along with a few other details, like that the girl was blonde and wearing a black coat. He also implied he found her near a mall in Houston called Gulfgate.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
As it turned out, a girl named Kimberly Pitchford had disappeared one evening in January 1973 after driver's ed class. She was wearing a black coat she'd just gotten for Christmas. Her body was found two days later near a drainage ditch with a bridge nearby, not far from I-45. It was also close to Highway 6, which led straight to Bell's home at the time.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
To help us tell today's story, we interviewed Lisa Olson, the investigative reporter and author whose work on this case is featured in the docuseries The Eleven. We're so grateful she could share her expertise. Stay with us.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
It's the same highway Colette Wilson disappeared on.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
Another name that appears in Lisa and Fred's investigation is Brenda Jones. In July 1971, she vanished on her way home from visiting her aunt at the hospital. She was also found in the water, under a bridge, but actually in Galveston proper. Like some of the other possible victims, her wrists and ankles were bound and she was in a state of undress. Bell knew the hospital Brenda visited too.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
He'd once been admitted there for psychiatric treatment. He was released the year before Brenda's murder, but we know he returned to that hospital at least once when he tried to abduct a patient there.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
When the woman initially reported what happened, she wasn't taken seriously. But her story never changed. If you're keeping track, Brenda Jones would make eight possible victims Lisa and Fred have identified. They believe she's one of the, quote, five girls in Galveston Belle mentioned.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
Not everyone is convinced, though, mostly because Brenda was black and most of Belle's other alleged victims were white. But Lisa and Fred believe the connections are just too hard to ignore. Then there's the unsolved murder of Susie Bowers in 1977. She disappeared while walking in her Galveston neighborhood, just a few blocks from where Sharon Shaw and Renee Johnson were last seen.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
Bell has made statements that could tie him to Susie. He told Lisa that he killed a girl in Galveston a year or two before Larry Dickens, the murder that ultimately landed him in prison. Susie's case is the only unsolved murder that seems to check all the boxes. And then there's this coincidence.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
Not to mention, two years later, Susie's remains are also found in a remote field next to a canal out in Alta Loma. Lisa and Fred know Bell used to live nearby, so they track down an old neighbor of his who confirms where Bell parked his trailer back in the mid-70s. The spot is roughly 20 miles from where Susie went missing and just 2.3 miles from where she was found.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
If Bell really killed 11 girls, that leaves two more. And Lisa and Fred have identified who they think those two could be. It's another best friend, double homicide case that matches part of Bell's list. Two in Dickinson, one blonde, one brunette. Their names are Brooks Bracewell and Georgia Gere.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
In September 1974, Brooks and Georgia decided to cut class. That afternoon, they ended up at the El Rancho Motel in a public area with games like pool and pinball. Other kids from school, even Brooks' older sister, were there too. When it was time to go, some of the kids caught a ride with a friend, but there was no room in the car for Brooks or Georgia. It wasn't a big deal, though.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
They weren't far from home and could walk. But as the car pulled away, one boy looked back at the girls. It looked like they were trying to hitchhike. When the girls didn't come home that night, their parents involved the police, but they assumed the girls had run away. It took years to finally track them down, out in a drainage ditch in an oil field.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
By then, there were few remains left and even less forensic evidence. The murders went unsolved. With so many connections between Bell and these unsolved murders, it might seem a little baffling that the DA's office ended their investigation so quickly, until you learn about one of Bell's other claims.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
It turns out, in addition to these murder confessions, he's been trying to tell another story for years, one that he says explains all of his predatory behavior and involves a vast brainwashing conspiracy he believes is run by the government. He calls it the program, and it's kind of like a nightmarish version of the Truman Show. He even referenced it in the poem he sent to Lisa.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
Maybe the DA's office found it hard to take his confession seriously in the midst of ranting about a conspiracy. But what if he wasn't making it all up? Thanks for tuning in to Serial Killers, a Spotify podcast. I'll be back next Monday with part two of this story.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
We'll dig deeper into Ed Bell's claims about the program and reveal the most compelling evidence that Lisa and Fred found during their investigation. A big, big thank you to Lisa Olson for her time and expertise. If you haven't already, check out the docuseries The Eleven and look for her book, The Scientist and the Serial Killer, coming out in April 2025.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
Along with The Eleven, we also found Catherine Casey's book, Deliver Us, Three Decades of Murder and Redemption in the Infamous I-45 Texas Killing Fields, extremely helpful to our research. Stay safe out there. This episode was written and produced by Mickey Taylor, edited by Connor Sampson and TTU, fact-checked by Laurie Siegel, and sound designed by Spencer Howard. I'm your host, Janice Morgan.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
So, Mickey, you're a producer here and you brought us this story because you have a connection to the case, right?
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
This episode includes discussions of violence and murder. Consider this when deciding how and when you'll listen. In 2011, investigative reporter Lisa Olson receives a handwritten letter in the mail. There, at the top of the page, is her name, scribbled out in mostly capital letters. But it's not from an old friend or a member of her family.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
It was 2011 when Lisa Olson first became aware of a suspected serial killer named Ed Bell.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
That's Lisa talking about an unrelated or maybe not so unrelated article she was working on at the time.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
It's been sent to her by a convicted murderer named Edward Harold Bell. And in it, on lined notebook paper, he includes a poem he wrote.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
Her article quotes a forensic anthropologist who believes that, due to the age and the amount of remains recovered, it's not possible for investigators to identify the gender. After the article publishes, she gets a call from a man named Fred Page. He's a detective in Galveston, an island off the coast of Texas, about 50 miles from downtown Houston.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
He's working to solve some cold cases from the 70s, and he thinks that several of the homicides could actually be connected to the same killer.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
Lisa won't receive that poem we mentioned earlier for a few more months. But Fred tells her it was actually two other letters that Bell sent from jail that originally piqued his interest in Bell as a potential suspect. Both were sent in 1998, one to the Galveston County DA, the other to the Harris County DA.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
In the letters, Bell confesses to having a hand in the deaths of seven girls across those counties, four fewer than the 11 he'll later claim. What really grabs Fred's attention is how Bell describes an unsolved double homicide from 1971. The victims were teenagers and best friends, Debbie Ackerman and Maria Johnson.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
Bell even includes their names for the DAs, and then he goes on to list a lot of specific details about the murder, like how he bound their hands and feet, how he'd shot them from a bridge with a specific gun. He even includes the specific locations of their bullet wounds. As far as Fred could tell, it's pretty accurate.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
To Fred, it seems like Bell might have actually been involved, because if he totally fabricated his story, it's a stunning coincidence that And if he read about those details long ago and is now lying and taking credit for a crime he didn't commit, he has an incredible memory.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
By the time Detective Fred Page calls Lisa, the DA's office in Galveston had tried to talk to Bell about making an official on-the-record confession. But he refused to cooperate. And that kicked off a never-ending cycle of confessing and recanting over several years. Without more to work with, there's not much the DA's office can do. So they dropped their investigation.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
But Lisa was just starting hers.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
And Fred says, no, he hasn't spoken to Bell yet. It's not an easy ask coming from a homicide detective. It would be more straightforward for Lisa to request an interview as a reporter. So she does just that. Ahead of the interview, Lisa studies the case Fred has already put together. So far, Fred has focused on two double homicide cases in particular. We mentioned one already.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
When he sends this letter to Lisa, Bell is already in prison for murdering a man in broad daylight in front of the man's family. Now, he's claiming responsibility for more murders. The victims, all teenage girls who disappeared from in and around Houston and Galveston, Texas throughout the 70s. They later turned up dead, but their killer or killers were never caught.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
Debbie and Maria were murdered in November 1971. That month, the 15th, Monday, was a school holiday, an extra day of freedom, so Debbie and Maria planned to make the most of it. A few students were hanging out at an ice cream shop that morning and saw the girls outside. According to one friend, Debbie and Maria said they planned to hitchhike into Houston, which isn't all that unusual for the time.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
Catching rides from strangers if you can't drive yourself is just something that happened back then. Debbie and Maria waited outside the ice cream shop for someone to pick them up. A driver in a white van finally stopped and talked to them. By the way they interacted, one witness assumed it was somebody they knew. The girls climbed in and the van took off.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
Two days later, Maria's body was found in the murky waters of Turner Bayou, in the middle of nowhere, over 20 miles from Galveston. Maria's hands and feet were bound and she was partially unclothed. She'd been shot and left near a wooden bridge. Investigators determined she was probably killed late on Monday night because that's when a local heard gunshots ring out across the field.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
Debbie was found soon after Maria, not far away. She too had been bound, undressed, shot, and left in the water. According to the medical examiner, her wounds suggested she had tried to save her best friend by placing her body in front of Maria's. The case did get media attention, but it took a while for people to connect this double homicide to a second, similar crime.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
Another pair of best friends disappeared from Galveston about three months earlier. They, too, were killed and their bodies left in water. They just hadn't been found yet. On August 4th, Sharon Shaw woke up at the home of her best friend, Rhonda Renee Johnson, who typically went by Renee. Confident Sharon was athletically gifted, especially at water skiing, and Renee loved to have fun.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
And with freshman year of high school looming over them, the inseparable best friends were living for that summer of 1971. That day, they decided to go from Webster, their hometown, to Galveston, about 30 miles away. Their first stop was Wick's Ski School, but the water was rough and choppy, not great conditions for going out on the bayou.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
So they met up with their friend Glenda along one of the city's hotspots, the seawall that runs along the beach. Now, Glenda had a convertible and a driver's license, so the friends spent the late morning cruising up and down the coast. Around lunchtime, Sharon and Renee realized they needed to get back home. They told Glenda they didn't need a ride, they would hitchhike. Then, they vanished.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
Their remains weren't found until winter of 1972, about three months after Debbie and Maria's bodies were found. In January 1972, a couple of teenage boys thought they saw a volleyball in the water, but it turned out to be a skull. Officials later found a few other bones nearby, but not many. Dental records confirmed that the skull belonged to Renee Johnson.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
Sharon's remains were found the following month, just a quarter of a mile away from her best friend. This time, the investigators recovered 29 bones, along with some black twine and a surfer's cross, a popular piece of jewelry in the 70s. An autopsy couldn't confirm Sharon's cause of death, but the medical examiner concluded she was killed.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
Bell lists some of these girls in his letter. He names three of them. Others he only refers to by their initials or hair color. Sometimes he includes years or locations that are meaningful to their cases. He calls his poem about his alleged victims, The Eleven Who Went to Heaven. Welcome to Serial Killers, a Spotify podcast. I'm Janice Morgan.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
A connection was eventually made, though. Local detectives wondered if an interest in surfing could be the common thread between the four victims. There were other commonalities too, both sets of best friends, both known to have been hitchhiking, both last seen alive in Galveston, and all found in remote waterways.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
All these years later, Lisa Olson and Fred Page want to prove another connection, Ed Bell. In 1970, Bell met a man named Doug Prunes, a local Galveston legend. His surf shop was a popular teen hangout back then, and Bell, an avid diver, did business with him. Debbie and Maria were known regulars, and Bell spent a lot of time there too.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
Maybe that's why Debbie and Maria seemed to know the person driving the white van that day. In 2011, Lisa gets the opportunity to interview Bell in person.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
Bell's now in his early 70s, with a white crew cut and hard of hearing. It makes their conversation difficult through protective glass. But there's another challenge, too.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
Lisa gets Belle to admit that Maria and Debbie had been in that dive shop. But for all his talking, Belle doesn't give up much else. That is, until the interview is almost over.
Serial Killers
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
He does. In July 2011, Bell sends Lisa the first of two letters. Much of it is in the form of a list. For example, three Galveston, two fall 1971, one fall 1976, two Webster, 1971, July, one blonde, one brunette. The list goes on, with Bell reducing the bright lives of these young girls to bullet points.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
When Charles was supposedly possessed, he became a dark being, or as some people involved in this story would say, a zombie. Remember when he told police Laurie accused him of being someone named Nick or Ned Schneider? That's because Chad gives these dark entities names like Ned or Garrett or Hillary.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
After Chad claims Charles is possessed, Laurie invites a few like-minded friends to an intense prayer circle she hopes will cast the darkness out. Once finished, Chad tells her it worked, but a new, more powerful entity moves in. By July 2019, Lori lives in a new house about 30 minutes outside of Phoenix that Charles rents for her and the kids.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
He stays in Houston, but makes trips back and forth to visit and care for JJ. That's what he's doing on July 11th when he arrives at Lori's house to drive JJ to school. He's also planning an intervention for Lori and is flying in one of her brothers, Adam, as backup. But at some point, another member of Lori's family finds out and tips her off.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
When Charles arrives to pick up JJ, he's met by Lori's other brother, Alex Cox. He's an aspiring stand-up comedian, and he's always been protective of his little sister. Now that he's one of Chad and Lori's followers, that's especially true. Chad even tells Alex it's his personal mission to protect her.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
It's Alex who dials 911 that morning and reports, quote, I got in a fight with my brother-in-law and I shot him in self-defense. The dispatcher instructs Alex to perform CPR until help arrives, but Charles dies. Alex tells investigators that earlier that morning, Lori and Charles got into a heated argument.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
Every Monday, we bring you the true crime stories that stand out. I'm Janice Morgan. You might recognize me as the voice behind the investigative docuseries Broken and the true crime podcast Fear Thy Neighbor. I'll be your host for the next few weeks, and I am thrilled to be here. Be sure to check us out on Instagram at Serial Killers Podcast because we'd love to hear from you.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
Tylee came into the room holding a bat as if to back up her mom, but Charles snatched it from her hands. That's when Alex says Charles took a swing, hitting him in the back of his head as Lori fled with Tylee and JJ. Alex grabbed his pistol from the room where he was staying, but Charles wouldn't stop advancing on him. So Alex shot twice in self-defense, he says.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
Then he called 911 just minutes later. there is a lack of clarity surrounding what happened that morning. Before we get into it, it's important to note that as of this recording, Lori is still facing charges of conspiracy in Charles' shooting. She has pled not guilty. One conflicting report has to do with where Lori was when Charles was shot.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
Alex tells police Lori had already left before he shot Charles, but Lori tells police she was still inside the house, she just didn't see it happen.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
According to evidence released by the Chandler Police Department, 43 minutes passed between the time Alex shot Charles and the time he called 911. Phone records indicate that Alex's first call wasn't to emergency services. It was to Lori.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
The medical examiner determines where Alex was standing when the second shot was fired based on the trajectory of the bullet. And when paramedics arrive at the scene and begin chest compressions, it's clear from the blood in Charles' lungs that Alex never attempted CPR. Now, Charles is gone, and Lori is sealed to Chad for all eternity.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
But as Lori will remind Chad many times, they still can't be together in the mortal realm. Chad is still married to Tammy. Lori seems to be waiting in the wings, relocating from Arizona to Rexburg, Idaho, where Chad and Tammy live.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
In text messages, Chad laments this separation between he and Lori. He even likens his ordeal to that of another powerful and misunderstood person. Harry Potter. He tells her, quote, Every few weeks I get to escape and have amazing adventures with my goddess lover. But then I have to return to my place under the stairs, feeling trapped.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
If you're listening on the Spotify app, swipe up and give us your thoughts. Today, we'll be talking to author and retired criminal defense attorney Lori Helles, who spent years researching the case for her new book, Children of Darkness and Light, Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell, A Story of Murderous Faith. We're so thrilled she could join us today.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
Chad isn't the only one getting caught up in fantastical books.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
And I think Chad was very much the same. That September, Chad urges Tammy to visit her family in Utah, which may or may not be because he's had another premonition, that Tammy will die in a car accident. But Tammy survives the trip. The following month, on October 5th, Chad messages Lori to say he's figured out Tammy has been taken over by a Level 3 demon he calls Viola.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
Because Chad says he can communicate beyond the veil, he adds that he's reached out to the real Tammy, and she's instructed him to get Viola out.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
On the morning of October 19th, it's Chad's turn to call 911. He reports that when he woke up that morning, Tammy had fallen halfway off the bed, and as he tried to pick her up, he realized she'd passed away in her sleep. He adds she'd been feeling sick the night before. He requests to forego an autopsy, and Tammy is buried just three days later.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
Then, exactly two weeks after that, Chad and Lori exchanged wedding rings on a beach in Hawaii. Rings they had ordered from Amazon while Tammy was still alive. Lori's brother Alex also gets married to a woman named Zulema he'd recently met through Lori and Chad. But Alex's wedded bliss is short-lived.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
The medical examiner later rules that Alex died of natural causes, a blood clot in his lungs. But before that official ruling is released, some people are suspicious about the timing of Alex's death. For one thing, it occurs the day after an order comes down to exhume Tammy's body so an autopsy can be performed. Zulema asks Alex if he was involved in Tammy's death, and he assures her no.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
But he also says he thinks he's becoming Lori and Chad's fall guy. She presses for more information, but Alex doesn't answer. Then investigators come to realize that both JJ and his older sister Tylee are missing. and they have been missing for a while.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
Tylee was last seen on September 8th on a family trip to Yellowstone, and JJ hasn't been seen since September 22nd when Lori's friend Melanie saw him at his house. As the search for Tylee and JJ wears on for several months, Melanie tells investigators something that's been troubling her, something that happened the day before JJ disappeared. Lori told her the little boy was no longer her son.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
As Lori Daybell heads into her first of two trials in Arizona, it's important to note that she pleaded not guilty to all charges. Stay with us.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
Like Tammy and Charles before her, JJ had been possessed by a dark entity. By now, authorities know Tylee and JJ were last seen alive in September. At the beginning of this episode, we talked about Lori's unnervingly cool attitude during the time her children are missing. As police investigate, there's also growing concern over Lori's attitude in the weeks leading up to their disappearances.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
It's not uncommon for people to change as we leave childhood behind. But Lori Daybell believes there's a supernatural explanation for Tylee's behavior.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
Tylee disappears shortly after that family trip to Yellowstone National Park we mentioned. Photos show her smiling, holding her brother in her arms. Investigators believe she returned to Rexburg with her family on the evening of September 8th and that she was dead by the following day. Detectives are able to use cell phone data to track Lori, Chad, and Alex's movements over the next few weeks.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
On the night of the 8th, after their trip, Alex returns to Lori's twice. Once, he makes a quick trip to a gas station and stays at Lori's until 11.44 p.m. He then drives home and comes back to her place in the early hours of September 9th. He's there from 2.42 to 3.37 a.m.,
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
Later that morning, Alex goes to the Daybell property after Tammy leaves for work, and he's there for a little over two hours. That same day, Chad texts Tammy to tell her he burned some debris in their fire pit and buried a raccoon in their yard. JJ, who's still alive, remains with Lori.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
Alex returns to Chad's property on the morning of September 23rd, the day after JJ was last seen alive. This time, he doesn't stay very long, but Chad is there too. Detectives later use cell phone data to confirm that much. About five months later, police arrest Lori in Hawaii on February 20th, 2020. They extradite her to Idaho and charge her on multiple counts, including abandonment.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
But they still don't know where her children are. Chad also leaves Hawaii, moving back into the home he once shared with Tammy. He's still there on June 9th when authorities show up at his door with a search warrant. In one area of his property, in the shade of what will become known as JJ's tree, they uncover the boy's body, wrapped in a garbage bag.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
In another part of the yard, they locate Tylee's burned and dismembered remains. Her DNA is found on tools still hanging in a shed. Chad makes an attempt to flee in his vehicle, but he doesn't get far before he's stopped and taken into custody. In Idaho, Lori and Chad face multiple murder charges in connection to Tylee, JJ, and Tammy's deaths.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
Tammy's autopsy revealed that she hadn't died of natural causes. She was asphyxiated. Lori's case moves ahead first, but before opening arguments are made, she spends 10 months in a state psychiatric hospital to ensure she's competent to stand trial. Later, her diagnosis will be revealed to the public.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
an unspecific personality disorder with histrionic and narcissistic features, coupled with hyper-religiosity. In May 2023, Lori is convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to murder Tylee and JJ, as well as conspiracy to murder Tammy. Lori's attorney gets the death penalty taken off the table, and she's sentenced to life imprisonment. The same isn't true for Chad.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
When he's found guilty on three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of conspiracy to murder, he's sentenced to death. As of the recording of this episode, Lori faces more charges in Arizona across two cases. She has pleaded not guilty in both. First, as we mentioned, she's accused of conspiring in the death of her fourth husband, Charles Vallow.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
And second, the attempted shooting of a man named Brandon Boudreau. Back in October 2019, an assailant in a green Jeep opened fire on Brandon outside his home. He missed and sped away, but not before Brandon registered who the person was. He says it was Alex Cox driving Tylee's Jeep. Brandon is the ex-husband of Lori and Alex's niece, who's counted among Chad's followers.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
One of the lingering questions in this story is, did Lori and Chad really believe everything they told their followers? Did they kill Tammy, Tylee, and JJ because they thought their victims were possessed and standing in the way of a divine mission? Or was their motive something simpler? One theory is that they just wanted to be together, unburdened by children.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
This episode includes discussions of gun violence, dismemberment, child death, and murder. Consider this when deciding how and when you'll listen. It's January 2020, and newlyweds Lori and Chad Daybell lounge by a tranquil pool in swimsuits. After months of planning, they've traded snowy Idaho for the sunny Hawaiian island of Kauai.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
We also know that they benefited monetarily. Lori collected JJ's social security checks after his death, and Chad received $430,000 from Tammy's life insurance policy. We asked Lori Helles, who spent years researching this case, what she thinks.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
Before Lori was sentenced to life imprisonment, she told the court she'd spoken with Tylee and JJ since their deaths, that she too has an ability to communicate beyond the veil, and she insisted her children are happy.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
Investigators and prosecutors seem to agree money wasn't the only motive. Ellis says those who think Lori doesn't really buy these fringe beliefs see a woman who is able to carry on with her day-to-day life. But this trait isn't totally unheard of for someone with a delusional disorder.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
By the time this episode releases, Lori's trial in the Charles Vallow case may be underway. She's been given the okay to represent herself. The Brandon Boudreau case will be tried later, and we'll be watching both to see what happens. Thanks for tuning into Serial Killers, a Spotify podcast. We'd like to thank author Lori Helles for her time and expertise on this case.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
Please be sure to check out her book, Children of Darkness and Light, at the link in the show description. Her work and interview were extremely helpful to our research. She also has a YouTube channel called Children of Darkness and Light. Stay safe out there.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
This episode was written and produced by Mickey Taylor, edited by Connor Sampson, fact-checked by Laurie Siegel, sound design by Alex Button, and video editing by Spencer Howard. I'm your host, Janice Morgan.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
In 2013, Lori is years away from meeting Chad Daybell. She lives in Arizona with her fourth husband, Charles Vallow. And after nine years together, he seems like the rock Lori's been looking for. He's a financial planner, successful enough to support Lori and her two children from previous marriages, including her daughter, Tylee.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
It would almost be the portrait of marital bliss, except for a few details. One, Chad's first wife Tammy died in her sleep two weeks before he married Lori. Two, Lori's previous husband Charles was shot under mysterious circumstances in her home last summer. Three, her youngest children, 16-year-old Tylee and 7-year-old JJ, have been missing for four months.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
And because Lori is a devout member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Charles has converted to Mormonism. From the outside, Lori looks like the perfect wife and mom. It's the reason Kay Woodcock trusts the Vallows to take good care of her grandson. You see, Kay is Charles' sister.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
She's been doing her best to look after the baby, a child with special needs, but she believes he'll thrive in Lori and Charles' home. And for a long time, she's right. So the Vallows formally adopt him and name him Joshua Jackson, or J.J., Over the next six years, something changes in Lori. It's gradual, almost unnoticeable at first, but she grows more interested in neo-fundamentalist beliefs.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
That's Lori Helles, author of Children of Darkness and Light, a book that tracks Lori and Chad Daybell's relationship, crimes, and belief system. We're going to refer to Lori Helles by her last name so things don't get confusing between the two Lorys.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
About a year before adopting JJ, Lori became engrossed in subjects like near-death experiences and doomsday. She gets more interested in the, quote, end times, which, as Helles explains, isn't unheard of given Lori's Mormon upbringing.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
But Lori tends to take things a step further. By 2018, she's attending survivalist classes and listening to doomsday podcasts because she wants to be ready for the end times, physically and spiritually. Then she meets an author named Chad Daybell. In October 2018, Lori goes to a doomsday prepper conference where Chad is one of the speakers. She already knows who he is.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
She's read his books, and one friend considers Lori a Chad Daybell superfan. Like Laurie, Chad is a devout member of the mainstream LDS church who harbors not-so-mainstream neo-fundamentalist ideas. He wove those beliefs throughout his books, some of which he marketed as fiction and others nonfiction.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
But all of his writing, he claims, is based on his life and his visions, because he says he can communicate beyond the veil. The LDS Church preaches the idea of premortal life, that people existed with God before being born here on Earth. But they say most people can't recall this time before they were born thanks to the veil, a gift bestowed by God that causes them to forget their preexistence.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
Chad tends to take mainstream ideas and put his own spin on them. In his autobiography, he says that he had near-death experiences that tore through his veil.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
At the prepper conference, Chad is hawking his books at a booth when he locks eyes with Lori, a bubbly, outgoing former cheerleader who adores his work. Once they get to talking, he thinks he's heard this woman's voice and even seen her face before. He even feels like they've been in love before. That night, he can't sleep.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
And authorities say Lori refuses to help them with their search. Believing the children's lives are in danger, an Idaho judge orders Lori to bring them to the Department of Health and Welfare and prove they're safe. When she's served with these court documents, poolside, she seems unbothered. And she never shows up with Tylee or J.J., From that point on, the case explodes.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
He's too smitten with Lori, and he can't ignore the attraction between them, which he later describes as, quote, To Chad, it can only mean one thing. He tells Lori they knew each other in a previous life.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
Biblical scholars describe James as a brother or cousin of Jesus. Whether it's a vision or a pickup line, it works. Lori shares Chad's views on a type of reincarnation they call multiple mortal probations, the idea that a soul can make several trips between heaven and earth. Things move quickly as they text and talk constantly.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
The following month, they meet in secret at a temple where Chad uses his authority to perform a sealing ceremony, cementing their relationship for all of eternity... even though they're both legally married to other people. Lori is still with Charles, and Chad has been married to his wife Tammy for 29 years. But Chad becomes more than Lori's spiritual partner. He becomes her prophet.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
He tells her she's a literal goddess and announces he's had a new vision of the future. The end times are coming, he says, soon, and it's up to the two of them to gather 144,000 faithful chosen followers and lead them to salvation together.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
Lori reaches out to friends and family members she thinks are among the chosen and tells them about Chad's visions. She also claims new powers of her own, telling one of her brothers that she no longer needs food or sleep.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
Even as they gather a small group of followers who support their mission, Lori and Chad run into a problem. According to Chad, an evil spirit has taken over the body of someone in Lori's family, her real husband, Charles Vallow. By early 2019, Lori's marriage to her actual husband, Charles, is strained.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
He has noticed her growing interest in fringe ideas for some time, but for the most part, they were still happy. Until Lori met Chad Daybell. On January 31st, Charles is in Houston, finishing up a work trip and preparing to head home to Arizona. At the airport, he learns someone has canceled his plane ticket.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
He manages to fly back anyway, only to discover his truck isn't in the airport parking lot where he left it. When he finally makes it home, Lori is nowhere to be found and won't answer her phone. Despite the rough patch in his marriage, Charles still seems shocked by this turn of events.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
But considering the bizarre things his wife has been saying lately, including allegedly threatening to murder him, he decides to call the police. After all, Tylee and JJ are also gone. It's nighttime when officers respond at Charles and Lori's house. Charles tells them he fears for his children's safety because of Lori's religious beliefs.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
Tylee and JJ's disappearance hits national news. The public learns about several mysterious attacks and deaths connected to Lori and Chad, and strange buzzwords start to pop up in the media, like reincarnation, cult, possessions, zombies, all things Lori and Chad Daybell allegedly believe in that led them to be found guilty of an unthinkable crime. Welcome to Serial Killers, a Spotify podcast.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
He says Lori claimed she was a god and that doomsday would arrive on July 21st, 2020. She also accused him of being somebody called Nick or Ned Schneider and reportedly gave him a warning. According to paperwork later filed by Charles, Lori said he was, quote, in her way and he claimed she threatened to murder him if he interfered with her plans.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
Charles asks the officers to serve Lori with a court-ordered mental health evaluation. When she arrives at the police station, she disarms everyone with her characteristic smile and charm. She agrees to a cursory screening at the local mental health clinic, which determines she's not in need of further holding or assessment. This puts even more strain on their marriage.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
Charles files for divorce and takes JJ to Houston for a while. They briefly attempt a reconciliation that spring. Later, a local news outlet obtains emails from Charles' account to his life insurance company. In them, he accuses Lori of attempting to change the password to his account during this time.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
Ultimately, it doesn't work out between the Vallos and they remain estranged, but they don't divorce. Keep in mind, Laurie says this man isn't really Charles anymore, that he's some kind of dark entity who's taken over his body. Friends later say Laurie was likely told these things by Chad Daybell.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
The idea of Satan or evil spirits sent to derail mankind exists within the mainstream LDS church and in other religions. But as Helles points out, Chad takes these ideas a step further.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
To determine if a person is aligned with God or Satan, Chad had devised his own convoluted rubric. He categorized people as either light or dark, basically good or bad. From there, he rated people on a sliding scale from zero to six based on how light or how dark they were. For example, Lori's parents were threes on the light scale, and Lori was a 4.3.
Serial Killers
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
Meanwhile, two of Lori's exes were twos or higher on the dark scale. Charles started out as a three light, but according to Chad, everyone's ratings could change if something happened, like if they were taken over by a demon or another dark entity.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
Maybe Brenda knew her killer. That could explain her apparent sense of calm. Maybe she thought the note was a strange joke and she was just helping a friend. Detectives pursue this new theory. They speak with Brenda's friends and family. But it doesn't get them any further.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
By December, it's been eight months since the Freeway Phantom's first murder, and investigators are once again combing over the evidence, making sense of the disparate pieces. The fruit found in Carol Spinks' stomach. The phone calls to victims' families. The shorter timelines of the killings, starting with the two-hour abduction and murder of Nina Moshe Yates.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
I'm Janice Morgan. We'd love to hear from you. Follow us on Instagram at Serial Killers Podcast and share your thoughts on this week's episode. Or if you're listening on the Spotify app, swipe up and leave a comment. Stay with us.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
The coat draped over Brenda Woodard's body. The bizarre note left inside. Investigators know that a few of the victims were abducted from the same neighborhood, but the killer's locations and tactics have changed enough that it's hard for them to draw conclusions. All they know for sure is he's probably Black, he enjoys toying with people, and he's more violent and emboldened than ever.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
The lack of progress is heartbreaking for the victims' loved ones. In interviews with People Magazine Investigates, many express frustration with authorities. They feel a sense of indifference from police. And some wonder if things would be different if the killer's victims were white. As they continue to push investigators to solve the five homicides, a specter hangs over Washington, D.C.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
It seems like only a matter of time before another young Black girl ends up dead. But the other shoe doesn't drop. Months go by without another body appearing, and there's hope that maybe the killings have come to an end. But those hopes are dashed in September 1972, when the freeway phantom comes out of hiding again.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
17-year-old Diane Williams spends the evening of September 5th, 1972 on a date with her boyfriend in Southeast D.C. After, he walks her to the nearest bus stop, watches her board, and sees the bus drive away. The next morning, a trucker finds Diane's body on the side of I-295. She's been strangled to death, and forensics analysts reveals clear sign of sexual assault.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
Almost immediately, her murder is connected to the so-called freeway phantom. Diane becomes victim number six. Terror sweeps through D.C. all over again as communities desperately search for answers. At times, it feels like grasping at straws. Amateur sleuths learn that three of the six victims all had the middle name Denise and wonder whether that could mean something.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
But investigators eventually find a more promising pattern. Five of the six victims were found with green synthetic fibers on their clothing, all identical. They look like carpet fibers, possibly from the inside of someone's car or home. The only victim without green fibers is Darlenea Johnson, whose body was left outside for over a week.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
It's possible the fibers were lost due to weather or decomposition. The investigation continues, making no real headway for years. In 1974, two years after Diane Williams' murder, the FBI creates a task force of over 100 detectives and agents to find the Freeway Phantom. They investigate hundreds of suspects, from army generals to psychiatrists.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
But arguably the most notable is a computer engineer named Robert Askins. Askins was previously convicted of murder. In 1938, he poisoned a sex worker and served 20 years in prison for the crime. Notably, in court documents, he used language which later appeared in the Freeway Phantom's note to police, specifically the word tantamount.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
Investigators use the loose connection to obtain a search warrant for Robert's property. They find some pretty disturbing evidence. Photos of girls and young women, buttons and jewelry under the seats of his car, and a knife that was apparently used in a separate unrelated crime. Officials take samples of the carpet in Askin's home and car, as well as strands of his hair.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
Neither match the fibers or hairs found on the Freeway Phantom's victims. But investigators do find evidence to tie Askins to two other unsolved kidnapping and rape cases in the D.C. area. A dangerous criminal is taken off the streets when he receives a life sentence for those crimes. But officials can't definitively tie him to the Freeway Phantom murders. They're forced to look elsewhere.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
Later that year, they zero in on another potential suspect named Morris Warren. Warren is a member of the Green Vega gang, responsible for a series of kidnappings and rapes that occurred in D.C. around the same time as the Freeway Phantom murders. Authorities suspect there could be a connection. Though free at the time of the murders, Warren is now incarcerated.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
Investigators speak with him in prison and find him unusually forthcoming. He says he knows who the Freeway Phantom is, and it's not one person. It's many. Members of the Green Vega are behind the homicides. According to him, he can prove it with the information he knows. He says he can show detectives exactly where the victims' bodies were found. But it turns out to be a bluff.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
First, his information doesn't add up. Then, police find letters that Morris Warren wrote admitting that he lied to try and get his prison sentence shortened. It's another dead end. Over the next 13 years, the FBI's task force slowly disintegrates. Some detectives retire. Others move on to different projects. But Romaine Jenkins never forgets about the murders.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
Ever since Carol Spinks's murder back in 71, she's been slowly working her way up in the department. In 1987, at age 44, she gets her biggest promotion yet. She finally becomes a sergeant. One of the first steps she takes is to open up the case files for the Freeway Phantom murders. Staring her right in the face are two words. Evidence destroyed.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
The hairs, the green fibers, and all the original case files are gone. All Romaine can think is, why? Why? Officials need to prove a case is closed before they destroy any evidence. That's protocol. And the Freeway Phantom case is very much still open. Romaine is devastated by the discovery, but she doesn't give up. She contacts the FBI and requests the information they compiled on the case.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
She also reaches out to the original investigators and asks for their notes. Then, she rebuilds the case back together, piece by piece, as best she can. She passes the results to the FBI's recently formed Behavioral Analysis Unit, who puts together a psychological profile of the freeway phantom. They believe he's a textbook psychopath who acts alone and has a deep hatred for women.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
They suspect he was in his late 20s or early 30s at the time of the murders and that he may have worked in the area. Perhaps most significantly, given how quickly he was able to earn their trust, profilers believe he likely knew some of his victims. The FBI also plots out where each victim's body was recovered and uses the pattern to determine the killer's comfort zone.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
It's all useful information, but officials still face an uphill battle. The most important information in the case has been destroyed. Even if they identify a suspect, they can't use forensic evidence to tie him to any of the crimes because, for unknown reasons, it was destroyed. It's another mystery in this case, how and why that was allowed to happen.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
But ultimately, the lack of evidence is a hurdle investigators never get past. Sergeant Romaine Jenkins retires in 1994 and the murders remain unsolved. Romaine sits down with People Magazine Investigates for a 2019 episode of their series. She says she still looks into the Freeway Phantom murders from time to time. She keeps copies of the case files in her home
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
As for the images of the six victims, those are forever burned in her mind. There's been one glimmer of hope in the case since Romaine retired. In 2002, Metro Police learned that not all forensic evidence had been lost. A medical examiner's office still had a sample of the killer's semen. Analysts ran tests straight away, but were unable to extract enough DNA for it to prove useful.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
So the glimmer of hope faded quickly. It's something the victims' loved ones are used to at this point. Many of them have connected since the murders and advocated for more support from law enforcement. They share a feeling of being overlooked, a feeling that's been validated by some officials.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
Romaine Jenkins, for example, believes the six Freeway Phantom victims weren't prioritized by Metro Police. There were many factors that she says played a role, including general disorganization in the department and the city's ongoing protests. But according to her, race was also a factor. Tommy Musgrove agrees.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
He joined the Metro Police in 1972 and has gone on record to say that if the victims had been white, the department would have put more manpower behind their cases. There's no doubt in his mind. Whether that's true or not, data shows a discrepancy in clearance or solve rates for homicides in the United States.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
A data analysis by Scripps Howard News Service examined all murder cases in the United States from the year 1980 to 2008. Homicides with white victims had a solve rate of 78%. In cases where the victim was Black or Hispanic, the number dropped to 67%.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
Data compiled by a volunteer-run nonprofit, the Murder Accountability Project, found that solve rates for homicides have overall been steadily declining in the United States since the 60s. Which may be surprising considering all the new technology we have, but those numbers aren't exactly as they appear.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
While the average may have remained in decline, solve rates for cases with white victims have actually been rising since the early 90s. The reason for the overall decline is because the racial gap has continued to widen. In 2019, for example, 81% of cases with white victims were solved, compared to just 59% of cases with Black victims. What's driving those numbers?
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
No one has been able to point to one root cause, but regardless of the factors, the impact remains the same for victims' families and loved ones. In the case of the freeway phantom, they're still waiting for answers. Some hold out hope that the case will one day be solved. As Diane Williams' sister Patricia told the Washington Post, You never forget. There is no closure.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
Whoever did it has gotten away. They may be living somewhere else, doing it again. It's not too late to say something. You have a whole generation of family members who would like to see someone brought to justice. Thanks for tuning in to Serial Killers, a Spotify podcast. We'll be back Monday with another episode.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
If you have any information about the murders of Carol Spinks, Darlenea Johnson, Brenda Crockett, Nina Moshe Yates, Brenda Woodard, or Diane Williams, contact the Metropolitan Police Department at 202-962-2121. For more information on the Freeway Phantom murders, we recommend checking out the coverage done by People Magazine Investigates.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
Amongst the many sources we used, we found it extremely helpful to our research. Stay safe out there. This episode of Serial Killers was written by Karis Allen, edited by Sarah Batchelor and Connor Sampson, fact-checked by Claire Cronin and Laurie Siegel, researched by Mickey Taylor, and sound designed by Alex Button. I'm Janice Morgan.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
This episode includes discussions of murder, rape, sexual assault of minors, and suicide. Consider this when deciding how and when you'll listen. To get help on mental health, visit Spotify.com slash resources. Does it sometimes feel like the whole world is vying for your attention? The ads, the calls, the emails... There's the content you seek out and the content you don't.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
It's the spring of 1971, Washington, D.C. President Richard Nixon sits in the Oval Office. The now-famous Watergate scandal that will end his career is right around the corner, but Americans don't know it yet. Many in the nation's capital are focused on their country's presence overseas, where the war in Vietnam continues to rage on. Sixteen years of bloodshed that Nixon promised to end.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
As anti-war protesters flood the streets of Washington, the city experiences an uptick in violent crime. And it's against this backdrop that an entirely different story makes front page news. One that kicks off 17 months of domestic terror and begins with a simple trip to buy groceries. It's April 25th, 1971. Carol Spinks is 13 years old. She's home alone with her seven siblings for the day.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
Their mother, Allentine, went to visit a friend in Maryland. Allentine made it very clear that none of them are supposed to leave the apartment while she's away. But at some point, Carol's older sister tells her to run to 7-Eleven to buy some bread, soda, and frozen dinners. She obeys. The store is only a few blocks away, so it shouldn't take long. But along the way, something strange happens.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
Carol looks up and sees her mother standing on the street. They lock eyes. Allentine's apparently returned home from Maryland early, and she isn't happy to see her daughter out of the house. She tells Carol to quickly finish her errand before returning home. After they part ways, Carol makes it to 7-Eleven. She picks up her items, checks out, and exits the store. But she never makes it home.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
The doom scrolling that maybe falls somewhere in between. And then there are the news headlines pouring in from all over the world. With so much global access, the volume alone can be dizzying to process, let alone the decision of where to invest your time and energy. Where do you fit in? How do you respond? It can be hard to know where to start.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
When Allentine enters the apartment a short while later, she finds her other children in a panic. They're worried they'll get in trouble for letting Carol leave the house. But as time passes, their concern is more for Carol's safety. It's been over an hour since she left. Carol's older sister, Evander, decides to go out looking for her.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
She traces Carol's steps down the street and speaks to the clerk at 7-Eleven to see if maybe they heard or saw something. But she returns home without any sign of Carol and without any leads. That's when Allentine calls the Metropolitan Police Department and reports her daughter missing. She's frantic on the call, but it quickly becomes clear authorities don't share her concern.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
They tell Alantine her daughter probably just ran away. They don't dispatch any officers to conduct interviews. They don't help look for the missing girl. They leave the Spinks family on their own to figure out what to do next. Alantine calls friends, knocks on neighbors' doors, and assembles a search party. They scour the area for any sign of Carol, but come up empty-handed.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
Six days later, a group of children playing behind St. Elizabeth's Hospital find Carol's body lying at the bottom of an embankment. She's been strangled and has cuts on her face, neck, chest, and hands. An autopsy reveals Carol was raped and probably had been dead for two to three days before she was found.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
To make sense of the unaccounted-for time, authorities believe her killer likely kidnapped and held her captive for a few days, and based on the undigested pieces of citrus fruit they find in her stomach, they also might have fed her. When the news breaks, the community is horrified, but the city's political unrest pulls resources away from the case.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
Officer Romaine Jenkins is assigned to the case. At 28 years old, she is a trailblazer on the force, the first woman to ever become a homicide detective in D.C. She's supposed to go interview potential witnesses in Carol's neighborhood, but due to anti-war protests that erupt that day, her supervisor reassigns her to patrol duty.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
In fact, the whole Metropolitan Police Department is put on emergency alert, tasked with making sure demonstrations don't turn violent. With all eyes on the protests congregating in and around West Potomac Park near the National Mall, it leaves a vacuum in other parts of the city, like Carol Spinks' neighborhood, located to the southeast and separated by the Anacostia River.
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"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
About two months after Carol's murder on July 8th, 16-year-old Darlenia Johnson never shows up to her work shift. Her mother, Helen, reports her missing that day. She never hears from her daughter again. But a few days after Darlenia's disappearance, Helen receives a phone call from an unknown number. When she picks up, she hears a man breathing on the other end, but he doesn't say a word.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
Helen reports the call to police, but they can't trace it to a source. That technology doesn't exist yet. So there's not much they can do, even as the harassment continues. For over a week, the haunting calls keep coming in. It's the same thing every time, just a man breathing on the other end. Then, one day, the pattern changes and the man speaks just a handful of words. I killed your daughter.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
Then, he hangs up. A few days later, police get a call about the body found on the side of the I-295 highway. It's not the first time they're hearing about it. It's actually the third. Officers were dispatched to the scene days earlier, but they apparently never got out of their car. They just drove by, claimed they didn't see anything, and left.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
Or maybe you're one of the people vying for attention. You desperately need help. Lives are at stake in your community and you need support. Maybe it feels like no matter what you do, you can't get the investment you need. Everyone is putting their resources elsewhere. And if you're lucky, you get what's left. Before you go pining for simpler times, this isn't a new phenomenon.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
This third call comes from the same man who first reported the body. He was shocked and disturbed to find it still lying there days later, in the same spot, left to decay in the summer sun. This time, he contacts his boss, who's friends with a DC police sergeant. Even though he's off duty at the time, the sergeant responds to the call right away, searches the area, and locates the remains.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
The victim is young, black, and female, but the body is too decomposed to determine a cause of death. The medical examiner has to use fingerprint analysis to make an identification. Sure enough, it's Darlenia Johnson. It doesn't take authorities long to figure out that Darlenia and Carol Spinks lived in the same neighborhood. Their bodies were found within 15 feet of one another.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
It's immediately clear the two cases could be connected, but detectives barely have time to investigate before another girl goes missing. Eight days after police recover Darlenea's body, 10-year-old Brenda Crockett leaves her house to buy some groceries around 8 p.m. When she doesn't return in a timely fashion, her mother goes out to look for her.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
While she's away, the phone rings in the apartment. Brenda's little sister picks up around 9.20 p.m. On the other end, she hears Brenda's voice. Over the phone, 10-year-old Brenda Crockett tells her little sister that while she was out running an errand, a white man picked her up. Brenda's crying, but she tells her sister that the man is going to send her home in a taxi soon.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
About 30 minutes later, Brenda calls back. This time, her stepfather answers, and Brenda's story has changed. She sounds distraught and confused. She says something about being held in Virginia and asks if her mother saw her. Her stepfather tries to make sense of what she's saying. How could her mother see her if she was in Virginia? But Brenda never answers the question.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
She mumbles a quick goodbye and hangs up. Early the next morning, Brenda's body is found along the edge of Route 50 in Chevrolet, Maryland, a town just outside of DC. Like Carol Spinks, tests reveal she's been raped and strangled to death. The news crushes Brenda's family. Everything happened so fast. Brenda left for groceries and less than 24 hours later, she's dead.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
The Crockett's tell police about the phone calls from Brenda, about the white man who allegedly picked her up and drove her to Virginia. But investigators don't know what to make of the information. First, Brenda's body was found in Maryland, not Virginia. But second, why would Brenda's abductor allow her to make two phone calls?
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
Detectives believe the calls could have been an intentional misdirection, a concerted effort to throw police off the killer's trail. So they come to the conclusion that Brenda likely never went to Virginia and that her killer probably wasn't white. Beyond that, officials don't have any leads or evidence to work with. So the investigation stalls.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
And only two months pass before there's a fourth victim. Black, female, and 12 years old. Right away, the similarities are clear. The evening Nina Moshe Yates disappears, her father sends her to buy sugar, flour, and paper plates. The store is only a block from their apartment in Southeast D.C. She's later found raped and dead from strangulation.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
Today's case begins back in 1971, and the problem of split focus and an unequal distribution of resources runs all the way through it. Right up until its effective ending, the last two words any homicide detective wants to see in a serial killer investigation. Evidence. Destroyed. Welcome to Serial Killers, a Spotify podcast. Every Monday, we bring you the true crime stories that stand out.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
But unlike the others, only two hours pass before she's found. Her body is still warm when officials arrive on the scene. If it wasn't clear already, police are now certain that all four murders are connected. If true, it would be DC's first known serial killer in history.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
Newspapers run with the story and headlines give the killer a name based on the fact that his victims were all found by highways. The Freeway Phantom. For those living in the victim's neighborhood, fear eventually gives way to anger. The string of murders might be the most serious crime spree to ever grip the city, but many feel like the police aren't doing enough.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
After the public backlash and recent media attention, investigators decide they need additional support, so they call in the FBI. Federal agents revisit the evidence from all four cases, and it's at this point that they find evidence the Metro Police apparently missed. Three of the victims had hairs in their underwear belonging to someone else. Presumably, their killer.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
DNA testing isn't available yet, but analysis finds the hairs most likely belong to a black man. With that information in mind, agents begin to build a profile. Given his pattern of behavior, agents believe the killer could be a DC local, someone familiar with the area, someone able to travel the streets relatively undetected. It doesn't narrow the field much.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
There are still tens of thousands of people it could be, but it's a starting point. Detectives continue looking for new evidence to narrow the scope of their investigation, but another victim appears before any real progress is made, the fifth since April. In mid-November, another Black female is found murdered in Chevrolet, Maryland, this time 18 years old.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
Her body is found near the access ramp to the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, slightly north of I-295. The victim's name is Brenda Woodard. She attended a night class before going out to eat with a friend the night before. After dinner, she got on a bus alone and headed home. But she never made it back. Everything about the crime matches the known M.O.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
A young black woman kidnapped off the street, raped, and strangled. But there's evidence the killer's violence is escalating. Brenda's also been stabbed. Notably, the killer draped Brenda's velvet coat over her body, a measure the freeway phantom had never taken before. And inside one pocket, investigators find a handwritten note. It reads, quote,
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
This is tantamount to my insensitivity to people, especially women. I will admit the others when you catch me if you can. It's signed with the killer's new moniker, Freeway Phantom. Investigators obviously have a serial killer on their hands, one who's aware of his growing notoriety and seems to revel in it. So much so, he's taunting the police. But the note isn't the only surprise.
Serial Killers
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
A handwriting analysis reveals it wasn't actually written by the killer. It was written by Brenda Woodard. Presumably, the killer dictated the note to Brenda so investigators couldn't use his handwriting to identify him. But what's maybe more surprising is the penmanship itself. It's crisp, clear, legible. Not something you'd expect from anyone in such grave danger. It gets officials thinking.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
This case fell into the Virginia State Police's jurisdiction, so it was now two for the state and two for the FBI. Virginia state police officers quickly learned that the car belonged to 21-year-old Daniel Lauer and that he'd been traveling to Virginia Beach with his brother's girlfriend, 18-year-old Anna Maria Phelps.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
The two were supposed to arrive at Daniel's brother's place the day before, but never did. Here's the strange part. The car was found on the westbound exit ramp, which heads in the opposite direction of Virginia Beach. Once again, authorities searched for the missing pair, but they didn't find anything. Some wondered, or perhaps hoped, that Daniel and Anna Maria ran off together.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
But with all the rumors of a serial killer in the area, everyone braced for the worst. Six weeks later, some hunters stumbled upon two decomposing bodies. They were in a forested area near a logging trail, impossible to see from the road. Soon after, Virginia State Police Officer Daniel Plott arrived on the scene. He had forensics run analyses on the couple's remains to confirm their identities.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
You might recognize me as the voice behind the investigative docuseries Broken and the true crime podcast Fear Thy Neighbor. I'll be your host for the next few weeks, and I'm thrilled to be here. We'd love to hear from you. Follow us on Instagram at Serial Killers Podcast and share your thoughts on this week's episode. Or if you're tuning in on the Spotify app, swipe up and leave a comment.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
They were, in fact, Daniel and Anna Maria. But determining a cause of death was harder due to the state of their bodies. The medical examiner eventually concluded that Anna Maria likely died of a stab wound, but Daniel's cause of death remained undetermined. Forensics also found a small cut on one of Ana Maria's finger bones.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
Officer Plotz suspected that Ana Maria sustained the wound when trying to block her attacker from cutting her throat. But like the other cases, it was impossible to know for sure without finding the killer. To improve the search, state authorities worked in tandem with the FBI. Seeking a unified theory, they mulled over these main points.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
In all the Colonial Parkway cases so far, wallets and glove boxes were found open, as if the victims had been reaching for driver's licenses or registrations. All of the attacks happened at night in secluded areas, involving young people who appeared to be couples, with most of the cars found near water.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
Now, double homicides are rare, and three, potentially four, in just three years, all within the same 30-mile radius, off the same stretch of road, well, that's even rarer. That said, there's no clear motive, and no concrete M.O., Some believed they were dealing with a murderer who evolved, changing his methods each time he killed. But for others, things just didn't add up.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
The cases were similar, yes, but could they be linked conclusively? And then, just like that, the killings stopped. Years passed. The Parkway communities regained a sense of peace, and the pressure on authorities to find the killer lessened. But people still needed answers, especially the victims' families.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
For the next 12 years, investigators tried to bring them closure, but there just weren't any more leads. The case got a new look in 2001, when an FBI trainee named Steve Spingola dove into the Bureau's stack of cold cases. Pouring over the files, he came across the Colonial Parkway murders.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
At this point, the public was long convinced that the double homicides were all the work of the same serial killer. But Spingola wasn't so sure. He wondered if the serial killer angle was just the easiest pill for people to swallow. At least, it was easier than admitting there were four different attacks in one small area. Spingola looked into Kathy and Rebecca's case first.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
He wondered if this case did have a motive, one that wasn't properly looked into, mainly that the two women were romantically involved. In an Oxygen docuseries on the murders, former FBI profiler Jim Clemente suggested the killer saw himself as a moral enforcer, someone who doles out punishment on those he deems sinners.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
That same documentary revealed that Kathy and Rebecca regularly visited the parkway on Thursday nights, so it's possible the killer wasn't just lashing out at a random couple, but targeted them specifically. If Spingola is right that the killer targeted Kathy and Rebecca specifically, then that muddies the water for the other three cases.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
But even if there aren't four separate perpetrators, Spingola believes there might be more than one. So he looked at all the files and focused on the last double homicide, Daniel and Anna Maria. It didn't seem to fit with the other three. Unlike the other cases, they weren't pulled off onto a lover's lane. They were at a rest stop. Their attacker could have been anyone.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
Today we're covering the murders of three young couples and the disappearance of another all along the same stretch of road over a three-year period. We'll dive into the 39-year hunt for answers and how a chance break in the case revealed a suspected serial killer who evaded the police until years after he died. Stay with us.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
Still, Spingola's theory was only a theory. And without new evidence or suspects, the case grew cold and the files collected dust. Even though the victims' families desperately wanted answers, they were stuck. That was until the FBI made a major mistake. In 2008, nearly two decades after the final set of murders, a man named Fred Atwell enrolled in a school for private investigators.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
Atwell was a former Virginia sheriff's deputy with some knowledge of the Colonial Parkway murders, but it had been a long time since he'd thought about the case. So what his teacher showed the classroom one day came as a major shock. Atwell was stunned to see photographs of the Colonial Parkway crime scenes and victims used as teaching materials.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
The Colonial Parkway cases were still open investigations. No one should have had these photos. So we contacted both the FBI and Virginia State Police to let them know. According to Atwell, they didn't do anything about it. That didn't sit well with the former deputy.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
So in 2009, he went to the local news channel, WTKR, and told them that nearly 80 crime scene photos were leaked from the FBI to a private training agency. Naturally, WTKR reported on the scoop. Once they did, the FBI scrambled to round up the photos and offer an explanation. Apparently, a, quote, non-agent FBI photographer had taken the slides without authorization and gave them to the school.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
The photographer passed away a few years earlier, and the school continued using them. Thanks to Atwell's whistleblowing, the FBI secured all the photos. But more importantly, the case was now back in the forefront of people's minds. it was a chance for the cases to get another look. At least that's how Bill Thomas saw it.
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Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
Bill is an older brother of Kathy Thomas, one of the first women killed on the parkway in 1986. In 2009, Bill had never actually spoken to other victims' families. But after the FBI leak, he decided to reach out. He felt they now had an opportunity to make demands. The FBI messed up, and now they owed the families.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
Bill convinced other siblings and parents of the victims to team up as a united front. Then he contacted the FBI. He asked them to spend more time and resources on these cases. The FBI agreed to meet with all the families. It was the first in-person meeting with everyone together. FBI agents discussed the status of the case and answered questions to a degree.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
The FBI didn't share everything they knew with the families, nor did they share files with the media. Regardless, the families felt this meeting was a step in the right direction. It helped to have whistleblower Fred Atwell on their side. He seemed to genuinely want to help and offered the family's support.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
Atwell believed the theory that the murders were committed by at least one, if not two, law enforcement agents. He even named names. However, he offered no proof, and no one has been charged based on his accusations. But around 2010, not long after the FBI family meeting, Atwell started acting strange.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
First, he claimed to be in contact with a lawyer working for an anonymous client involved in the murders. Atwell said he was just the middleman, but the client wanted $20,000 to reveal the location of Keith Call and Cassandra Haley's bodies. Those are the victims in the third Parkway attack who've never been found.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
Virginia authorities were skeptical, and after questioning Atwell, authorities decided his claims weren't worth pursuing. The following year, in 2011, Atwell set up a raffle, which he advertised as a charity event. He said the prize was a new car, and all the proceeds would go to the Colonial Parkway Victims Fund.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
But Virginia police learned he was actually pocketing some of the money for himself, so they arrested him on charges of obtaining money under false pretenses. Soon after that, Atwell allegedly called a suicide hotline and claimed he was a suspect in a serial murder investigation. He said the FBI was after him and he wanted to die by suicide.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
It's unclear whether authorities verified this call, but Atwell spiraled further. A few weeks later, he robbed a woman at gunpoint, stealing $60. Officers caught Atwell and arrested him again. Atwell was convicted of multiple crimes and sentenced to a decade in prison.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
Despite his alarming behavior, the families of the Colonial Parkway victims never seem to suspect Atwell of the crimes, although it's not out of the realm of possibility given that he would have been in his late 30s at the time of the first murders and presumably working in law enforcement in the Colonial Park area.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
Even if Atwell was considered a suspect, any opportunity to get answers out of him vanished in 2018 when he died in prison. But just a few years later, new DNA evidence would blow the case wide open. Through the 2010s, Bill Thomas continued fighting for answers about his sister Kathy's murder. He started a Facebook page, and he actively passed tips to the FBI.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
In early 2020, he started a podcast called Mind Over Murder, where he covers cases and advocates for victims' families. With cold cases, it's often parents fighting for answers. But in this instance, it's been so long that many of the victim's parents have either passed or are in declining health.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
The burden of keeping the cases alive falls to the victim's siblings, like Bill, and like Joyce Call Canada. She's Keith Call's older sister. She hyphenated her last name so that if he was ever looking for her, he'd find her. Cassandra Haley, who went missing with Keith, has sisters looking for her too, Paula and Terry Haley.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
Both have regularly written letters to the FBI seeking updates and answers. Similarly, Robin Edwards' sister Jeanette took over as her family's spokesperson. Her dad passed away, and her mom could no longer deal with the stress of the case. Jeanette's son was only a year old when her 14-year-old sister was murdered. Now, he's a grown adult with three children of his own.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
All these siblings hoped to get answers before their children had to seek them. Perhaps out of fear, in 2021, the families came together to make a new demand of the FBI. They wanted DNA tests. Bill Thompson gave an interview with the Virginia Gazette to explain the request.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
He said the FBI would not confirm if DNA was collected from the crime scenes, but he was sure that three of the four cases did have DNA and now was the perfect time to test it. Bill and the rest of the families were inspired by the genetic genealogy testing that caught the Golden State Killer. That killer's crimes had been unsolved for even longer than the Colonial Parkway murders.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
But in 2018, investigators took DNA from old crime scenes and then used genetic genealogy sites to identify Joseph D'Angelo as the killer. After waiting for years, the Golden State Killer's victims' families finally had answers and some justice. D'Angelo is currently serving life in prison without parole. Bill, Joyce, Paula, Terry, and Jeanette hoped the same could be done for their siblings.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
The FBI and Virginia State Police agreed. So the state police profiled the DNA they did have from Robin Edwards' sexual assault. It turned out the siblings were right. There was a genetic match. To the rape kit from the murder of Teresa Spa Howell. If you're about to rewind to remember who Teresa is, don't. This is the first time we've mentioned her.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
And don't worry, the Virginia State Police were just as confused. Because up to this point, Teresa's case hadn't been linked to the Colonial Parkway murders. It didn't fit the established profile. Because Teresa was seemingly killed alone. Teresa was last seen at a club on July 1st, 1989.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
The next day, construction workers found women's clothes scattered across their worksite on the edge of a forest. As they continued looking around the area, they found a body in the woods. Teresa's. She'd been strangled to death and sexually assaulted. All less than 15 miles from where Robin and David were killed. With the DNA match, authorities had what they called a common suspect.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
The trouble was, they didn't know whose DNA they had. So they dusted off the case files and reviewed old suspects. Maybe there was someone linked to both crimes. In the process, they learned that one of the suspects they'd cleared up had died. And in a random turn of events, the state had his DNA sample. I'm going to back up a second here.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
Back in 2017, a delivery driver noticed a house with an open door. Concerned, the driver walked up to alert the owners and got a shock. They quickly called the sheriff. When the authorities arrived, they found a dead body so severely decomposed, it required a DNA test to identify it. The test revealed it was Allen W. Wilmer Sr.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
That's the suspicious fisherman who passed a polygraph test back in 1989, the one who went by Pokey. Because the DNA test was ordered by the state, they kept Wilmer's sample on file. So that's how the FBI was able to use a dead man's DNA to investigate him for a crime that happened 35 years before and resolve the case.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
A test done in June 2023 confirmed that Alan Wade Wilmer's DNA matched the DNA found on Robin Edwards and Teresa Spa Howell. For the FBI, this proved his connection to their murders and in the murder of David Nobling, who was killed alongside Robin.
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Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
It is wild that we know this, because if Alan Wilmer had died surrounded by loved ones, or his body had been found sooner, there wouldn't have been a DNA test to identify his remains, and this case would still be cold. But like many serial killers, Wilmer was antisocial. Around town, he was known as a loner. He didn't maintain close relationships with anyone, not even his two adult children.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
He stayed under the radar, which is what eventually linked him to the crimes, but it's also what makes this case more complicated. You see, Wilmer was never charged with a felony in his lifetime, which is why his DNA couldn't be tested sooner. And in America, dead people can't be charged with crimes posthumously. So technically, the police can't close the case.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
This episode includes discussions of murder, harm against minors, homophobia, and suicidal ideation. Consider this when deciding how and when you'll listen. To get help on mental health and LGBTQ issues, visit Spotify.com slash resources.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
The most they can say is that it's, quote, resolved, and that if Wilmer were alive, he'd be arrested and facing murder charges. In fact, the Virginia Department of Forensic Science issued a formal certificate of analysis saying as much. And don't get me wrong, this is incredible resolution for the Edwards, Nobling, and Howell families. After 35 years, they finally got answers.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
But it's harder for the other victims' families. You see, in America in 2025, if you're charged with a felony, the state can take your DNA sample and put it in a computer system called CODIS, which stands for Combined DNA Index System. CODIS is pretty impressive. It compares a given DNA sample to all DNA samples taken from crime scenes at once.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
It can link together a serial killer's crimes very quickly. It also helps identify John Doe's. But because Wilmer was never charged with a felony, his DNA legally cannot be entered into CODIS, even though we know he's guilty of three murders and Virginia police suspect he's guilty of more. But they still have to follow the ethical protocol, even when it's a technicality.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
There is a workaround, but it's much slower. Individual police departments can request Wilmer's DNA to test against specific cold cases that fit his profile. Since summer 2024, they've been doing that. So there is hope that this chance find can lead to even more closure. At least in cases where there's DNA involved. As you'll recall, not every crime scene had DNA evidence.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
Like Keith Call and Cassandra Haley, they're still missing, and the evidence inside the abandoned car was compromised. And this is hard because their case is where Wilmer was initially brought up as a suspect. Knowing Wilmer is guilty of another Colonial Parkway murder is a link, but it's not strong enough to solve the case.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
The discovery also links Wilmer to the murders of Anna Maria Phelps and Daniel Lauer. Their bodies were dumped in the woods, just like Teresa Spa Howell's. And remember how Wilmer was harassing couples in cars?
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
According to author Blaine Pardoe, during the initial investigation, one couple told police that Wilmer came up to their car on a lover's lane and mocked them for being lesbians, only to back off when he realized one was a man with long hair. Is it possible he also harassed Kathy Thomas and Rebecca Dowski and didn't back off? The connections keep coming.
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Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
On October 12th, 1986, a jogger went running along the Colonial Parkway in Virginia. Trees covered the winding road and wood stretched out on either side. Overlooks and pull-offs allowed travelers to soak in their surroundings. In the early morning hours, it was peaceful for the jogger. As they moved along, they noticed a Honda Civic on an overlook.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
Kathy's brother Bill Thomas told local Norfolk news network Wavy that, quote, We had unconfirmed reports that Kathy and Becky were seen at the Yorktown pub. Now we understand that Wilmer was a regular at the Yorktown pub. It's a possibility that if they stopped there, they might have been followed from the Yorktown pub to a location along the Colonial Parkway.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
All these possible links are on investigators' minds. An FBI spokesperson has stated that the FBI is seeking connections between Alan Wilmer and the other six Colonial Parkway murders. In early 2024, searches were performed at Wilmer's former properties and along the area's waterways. No findings were made public.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
But it's incredible that after 35 years, these cold cases have active investigation. There's still reason to hope for answers. As Bill Thomas put it to the Virginian pilot, authorities, quote, "...told me over and over again that this is a solvable case. It just takes time, attention, and resources.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
And the FBI wasn't putting in the time, attention, and resources until the families started ratcheting up the pressure." As of this recording, the resources are there again. The FBI and Virginia State Police have opened investigations into the Colonial Parkway murders. They're asking for tips, especially related to Alan W. Wilmer.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
This is a case where spreading awareness did make a difference and did catch a serial killer. And as long as people are pushing for answers, there is always the hope that justice will be served. If you know anything, you can contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or online at www.tips.fbi.gov.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
Or you can contact the Virginia State Police by emailing questions at vsp.virginia.gov or calling the Peninsula Crime Line at 888-LOCK-THE-LETTER-U-UP. Tips can be left anonymously. Thanks for tuning in to Serial Killers. We're here with a new episode every Monday. Be sure to check us out on Instagram at Serial Killers Podcast, and we'd love to hear from you.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
So if you're tuning in on the Spotify app, swipe up and give us your thoughts. For more information on the Colonial Parkway murders, amongst the many sources we used, we found Oxygen's docuseries Lovers Lane Murders extremely helpful to our research. Stay safe out there.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
This episode was written by Alex Burns, edited by Sarah Batchelor, Kate Murdoch, and Maggie Admire, fact-checked by Katherine Barner and Laurie Siegel, researched by Mickey Taylor, video edited by Spencer Howard, and sound designed by Kelly Gary. I'm your host, Janice Morgan.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
The Colonial Parkway is a 23-mile stretch of road in Virginia that connects Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown, otherwise known as America's Historic Triangle. The highway serves as a link between the three places. In much the same way, that's what investigators searched for in today's case, a link.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
It looked like it was pushed off an embankment into the brush. The car seemed abandoned, the owner nowhere in sight. Concerned, the jogger called the police. When officers arrived to check out the car, they realized it wasn't abandoned. Two young women were in the car, one in the back seat and one in the hatchback. Both throats slashed, blood everywhere.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
The car was doused in diesel fluid but not burned. Authorities presumed the suspect tried to set it on fire but didn't realize diesel is less flammable than standard gasoline. State investigators quickly identified the victims thanks to a wallet on the driver's seat floor. The woman in the trunk was 27-year-old Kathy Thomas. The woman in the back seat was 21-year-old Rebecca Dowski.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
The authorities contacted Kathy's parents, who shared the heartbreaking news with her three brothers. Eventually, the family gave investigators some insight into Kathy and Rebecca. Kathy had just left her service in the U.S. Navy and was working as a stockbroker. She was thinking about going to graduate school.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
Rebecca was a business administration major at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg. She worked in the English department and at a nearby daycare. The two women were dating, though it's not clear whether Kathy's family told investigators this at the time. The Thomases were supportive, but the women had largely kept their relationship a secret.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
That's because, up until recently, Kathy had been enlisted in the U.S. Navy, and in 1986, it was illegal to be openly gay in the Navy. Even outside of the military, lesbian couples weren't welcome everywhere. It was a possible motive for the double homicide, but by all means, not the only motive. The FBI would find that out as they combed over the crime scene.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
Now, the FBI's involvement may feel like a big escalation, but it was actually due to the crime's location. The Colonial Parkway travels through the Colonial National Historical Park, which is federal land, so this crime fell under their purview. Not long after the bodies were found, FBI Special Assistant Irvin Wells was briefed on the murders.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
He learned the cause of death was strangulation, which means the women's throats were cut after they were killed. To Wells, that meant these murders were overkill, which is when an attacker is more violent than necessary to kill their victim. This overkill led Wells to wonder if the killer knew the women and whether their deaths were personal.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
He examined the crime scene himself and noticed rope burns on the women's hands and necks. It suggested the killer subdued them somehow. Kathy and Rebecca were two young, smart, athletic women, so Wells believed they would have fought back, And yet, they were subdued.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
Then he clocked the rolled-down driver's seat window and the glove box dangling open, as though Kathy had been reaching for her license and registration. Is it possible the killer impersonated a police officer to catch his victims off guard? Or perhaps worse, were they actually a law enforcement agent? This became the prevailing theory.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
Between 1986 and 1989, six people were killed and two others went missing, all surrounding the Colonial Parkway, all in sets of two. It feels like they'd be connected, as clear as the line down the center of the parkway. But the harder you look, the fuzzier the connection gets. There are similarities between the cases, but nothing definitive. It's possible the location is just a coincidence.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
Wells and his fellow investigators believed that the killer posed as an officer in order to render the women compliant right from the jump. He probably also approached the car at night with a flashlight to obstruct their vision. However, it wasn't the only theory. Investigators also drew a line between three items used in the murders.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
Forensics showed that the knife used in the murder was curved, like one you'd use to shuck an oyster. The rope was the kind used for fishing, and diesel is commonly used to fuel boats. Together, they painted the portrait of a fisherman. Along the eastern seaboard, that was just as likely as law enforcement. we should also note that investigators immediately assumed the killer was male.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
A few studies support this theory, like a 2019 Penn State study that points out that male serial killers tend to hunt their victims, who are often strangers. On the contrary, female serial killers usually target people they know. And yes, they're already talking about serial killers here too. From the get-go, the FBI profiled this culprit in the same way they analyze serial killers.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
They seemed to suspect the other shoe would drop eventually. A year later, it did. In September 1987, 20-year-old David Knobling and 14-year-old Robin Edwards were reported missing. We don't know the exact nature of their relationship, only that earlier that day, Robin went on a date with David's younger cousin, which David and his brother chaperoned.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
Later that night, Robin and David headed to an overlook on the Colonial Parkway. The next day, a sheriff's deputy discovered a pickup truck in a parking lot near the James River. A door was left open, the keys still in the ignition, radio on, and the wipers running. The deputy also noticed a wallet left on the dashboard. He grabbed it and checked the license. David Knobling.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
Authorities reached out to David's family. According to them, the truck was David's prized possession. He would never leave it abandoned. Investigators also reached out to Robin's family. They showed her mom photos of a pair of shoes left in the truck. Robin's mom immediately recognized them as her daughters because of the way they were colored all over with markers.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
Officers surmised that David and Robin must be together somewhere, hopefully alive. Three days later, those hopes were dashed. Amid an intensive search for the couple, Robin's body was found near the riverbank. And then, David's own father found his son nearby. Both were shot in the back of the head, execution style. Robin had been sexually assaulted.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
Notably, out of the four victims so far, only Robin's body showed evidence of assault. She was also the youngest victim at just 14. Investigators took samples of the evidence, hopeful it could catch her killer. But solving the case got complicated quickly. These murders occurred about 30 miles away from the area on the Colonial Parkway where Kathy and Rebecca were killed a year earlier.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
But they were on state land, not federal. So Virginia's state investigators handled the case. Right away, the similarities to the previous double homicide were hard to ignore. Both couples were killed in vehicles, presumably at night, right off the parkway in areas known as Lover's Lanes. One notable difference was the method of killing. David and Robin were shot, not strangled.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
But authorities still suspected one thing. They had a serial killer on their hands. They moved forward with their investigation confident in this theory. But they didn't make much progress before tragedy struck again. In April 1988, seven months after the second Colonial Parkway attack, 20-year-old Keith Call and 18-year-old Cassandra Haley left a college party.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
It was at Christopher Newport University, about 20 miles south of Williamsburg. Eyewitnesses said they took off together around 1.30 or 2 a.m. They were never heard from again. The next morning, park rangers discovered Keith's car. It was abandoned at an overlook by the York River, only a few miles away from where Kathy and Rebecca were killed in their car.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
Or is it? That's the frustrating back and forth that investigators, victims' family members, and residents along the Colonial Parkway have endured for decades. It only got fuzzier in 2024 when two of the murders were solved. They were confirmed to be victims of a local serial killer.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
But this time, there were no bodies inside. The rangers called in the abandoned car to the police. Meanwhile, they searched the vehicle to figure out who it belonged to. They found a woman's shoe on the passenger seat floor and men and women's clothing in the back seat. Their best guess, Keith and Cassandra stripped and ran into the river for a late-night swim.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
Except Cassandra's family swore Cassandra would never do that. She was scared of the water, not to mention it would have been freezing at that time of year. Keith's family was equally confused. The parkway was out of the way from both the party and where Cassandra lived. And Keith knew about the previous murders. He thought going out there was dangerous.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
It made Keith's family think someone forced him and Cassandra to go there, or someone hurt the couple somewhere else, then dumped the car there. Due to the location, this case went to the FBI, who immediately began an extensive search. Helicopters looked from the skies. Police dragged the river. Bloodhounds on boats sniffed over the water.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
You might be thinking, wait, doesn't water throw dogs off a scent? What about the books and movies where people run through creeks to escape bloodhounds? You wouldn't be alone. Some members of law enforcement were also skeptical. But it turns out there's a big difference between tracking someone who's alive and recovering someone who's dead.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
Decomposing bodies underwater actually emit gases, body oils, and tissue that all make their way up to the surface. So a bloodhound can detect underwater victims. But this would only work if Keith and Cassandra were dead. In their search, the dogs didn't pick up a scent, which meant there was still hope of finding the pair alive. So the FBI homed in on suspects and made a critical mistake.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
In 1988, the FBI sought any and all information related to the disappearances of Keith Call and Cassandra Haley. One tip led them to a man who was spotted driving a unique blue pickup truck along Colonial Parkway. Apparently, he'd stopped the car and approached a few couples. They recalled his memorable vanity plate, E-M-R-A-W, MRAW. The car was registered to Alan Wade Wilmer Sr., a.k.a. Pokey.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
That's his chosen nickname, not ours. Wilmer was in his late 20s, white, fairly short, but muscular and strong from his work fishing. Wilmer farmed and sold oysters and clams. This explained the vanity plate, E.M. Raw, as in eat them raw. Wilmer also drove his own custom commercial fishing boat, the Denny Wade. He loved to hunt and was a winner in at least one local archery contest.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
As of this recording, police and the FBI are still seeking a link between that killer and the victims who remain missing. they're also exploring another chilling theory, that there was more than one serial killer along the Colonial Parkway. Welcome to Serial Killers, a Spotify podcast. I'm Janice Morgan.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
So they had a man who fit their fisherman profile, had excellent aim, owned a fishing knife, was strong enough to overpower someone, and was known to approach random couples on the parkway. Naturally, the FBI questioned Wilmer. He admitted he'd been on the Colonial Parkway the night Keith and Cassandra disappeared, right near where Keith's abandoned car was found.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
He did not admit to anything else. Still, the FBI kept an eye on him. They saw Wilmer clean and repaint his truck, as if he was getting rid of evidence. Quickly, agents put together a search warrant for Wilmer's home. When they got there, they found a pair of handcuffs and a gun, but nothing conclusive. The FBI had one more trick up their sleeves, a polygraph.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
As we've mentioned on this show before, polygraphs are not very reliable. But in 1988, they were trusted for detecting lies. So the FBI gave Wilmer a polygraph test that he passed. the FBI had no choice but to let him go, despite their lingering suspicions. With no confession and no bodies, they were back to square one, Keith's abandoned car. Except that evidence was compromised.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
When the park rangers first searched the car, they didn't realize it was a potential murder scene. So they didn't use gloves. They even removed some of the clothing they found. And apparently, when they realized the situation was more serious than an abandoned car, they tried to put it all back together the way they'd found it. But it was too late. The damage was done. There weren't other leads.
Serial Killers
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
And as weeks turned into months, Keith and Cassandra remained missing. About a year and a half later, in September 1989, another abandoned car turned up. This time, on the side of a rest stop, just off an interstate highway that connects to the Colonial Parkway. Like the other cases, the keys were still in the ignition. Unlike the other cases, there was no sign of a struggle.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
Since Palmer was already trying to defraud the life insurance company by keeping his brother sober, it's likely he pulled one over on Dr. Waddell, too. Either way, Dr. Waddell gave Walter Palmer a clean bill of health, cleared for life insurance, not a liability. Palmer was thrilled.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
A few days later, he had a deal for a 13,000-pound life insurance policy, more than enough to cover most of his remaining debt if, and only if, his brother died. Palmer paid the first annual premium on his brother. Another gamble, but Palmer seemed convinced he'd make it back. The first evidence is that in March 1855, Palmer bought two more racehorses. Then he gave his brother 19 gallons of gin.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
For context, one gallon of gin is roughly 78 shots of liquor. So that's over 1,400 shots in just a few months. Palmer funneled the gin through Walter's roommate, instructing him to let Walter drink it. This bar tab only racked up Palmer's enormous debt. But still, everyone thought he was good for it. Even as several months passed, Walter trusted Palmer to come through with the money he was owed.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
His younger brother, the physician, wouldn't let him down. On August 16, 1855, William visited Walter. That afternoon, Walter grew very ill and died. Walter had never received the money his brother owed him, and now he never would. As if this wasn't all suspicious enough, Palmer hurried his brother's burial process. Within days, the local undertaker had handed Walter's body over to Palmer.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
No autopsy was performed, and at least one doctor listed his cause of death as apoplexy. That's the same official cause of death as Palmer's mother-in-law and his known victim John Cook. And while alcohol misuse can increase the risk of stroke, it's much more common for people with alcohol addiction to die from liver disease or cancer.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
It doesn't help Dr. Palmer's case that he buried his brother without a respectable funeral and before receiving the life insurance policy that should have funded it. Speaking of the life insurance policy, Palmer probably expected his claim to go as smoothly as it had when he received the payout for his wife's death since it was the same company.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
In fact, Palmer started the process to take out another insurance policy on a man named George Bates. Bates worked in Palmer's stables as a part-time groom, not exactly raking in the cash, which meant he wouldn't qualify for a particularly large policy. But the insurance companies didn't need to know that. For this scheme, Palmer didn't work alone.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
He brought in Benjamin Thurlby, who worked in his medical office, and John Cook, his final victim. Together, the trio convinced Bates to sign the paperwork for life insurance. They submitted the documents to a few companies, including the Prince of Wales Life Insurance Company. Alarm bells immediately went off at the Prince of Wales Life Insurance Company.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
Not only was Palmer requesting a new policy, but he was filing for a major payout for his brother, after receiving a similarly large amount less than a year before. The company immediately wrote back to Palmer, saying they disputed the claim on Walter Palmer's policy and were sending investigators to Rugeley.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
Throughout the fall of 1855, Palmer went back and forth with the Prince of Wales Insurance Company. For weeks, he continued trying to get the policy payout, but they stonewalled him at each turn. The most the insurance company offered was to return Palmer's premium. He refused, insisting he was owed the full policy amount.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
Palmer had banked on Walter's life insurance money and now, without it, was even worse off than before this scheme started. He was out the money he paid for the premium on the insurance policy and the cost of 19 gallons of gin. Palmer had already been at least 11,000 pounds in the hole before he filed for the policy on Walter, and he'd kept up his lavish lifestyle buying those two new horses.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
Before long, his creditors were going to come knocking. In Victorian England, if debtors didn't pay, creditors could have the courts place them in debtor prisons. They'd remain incarcerated until they paid off their balance. But it was a flawed system. Debtors weren't allowed to leave the prisons, which meant they often couldn't find ways to pay off their debts, resulting in quasi-life sentences.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
Something very snake-like lifted its head out of the water.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
To make matters worse, the Prince of Wales Life Insurance Company also rejected Palmer's proposal for George Bates, and so did every other insurance company the trio tried. Palmer may have felt like he had one hope left, the racetrack. And that's what brought him to November 13, 1855, the fateful day at the races, when he murdered his friend, John Cook.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
Putting the pieces together in the wake of Cook's death, investigators believed they might be dealing with a serial killer. To find out, they'd have to go grave digging. Even though John Cook's autopsy in the fall of 1855 technically came out clean, not everyone was convinced he died of natural causes, especially because the person of interest was involved in the autopsy.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
Most unconvinced was John Cook's stepfather, Mr. Stevens. Stevens became a mosquito in the authorities' ear, pushing them to investigate William Palmer and even questioning locals himself. The more Stevens heard, the more it sounded like William Palmer was to blame, and a serial killer at that. Just to be clear, serial killer wasn't a common term yet.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
It would still be over 30 years before Jack the Ripper would terrorize London, and even longer before an FBI investigator coined the term. But Mr. Stevens, the authorities, and insurance companies did suspect William Palmer of multiple murders over a long period of time with the same motive.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
Within a week of John Cook's autopsy, the authorities exhumed the bodies of William Palmer's wife and his brother. The results of Ann Palmer's autopsy were limited. Her body had been buried for over a year, and much of her remains had decomposed. On top of that, strychnine doesn't stay in the human body long. It has a half-life of about 10 hours, so finding the poison was a long shot.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
Walter's corpse wasn't in much better shape for autopsy purposes. When examiners finally punched a hole into the thick, lead-lined casket, the room filled with the smell of death. His body was bloated and falling apart. Little information was gathered about Walter Palmer's cause of death, much to the delight of William Palmer, who still held out hope for his rejected insurance policy payout.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
But the lack of evidence didn't mean he was in the clear. Investigators took a leaf out of Mr. Stevens' book and went around rudely asking questions about Palmer. In the process, they too ran into many residents who had suspicions about the local doctor. One of them was Mr. Newton, the local pharmacy assistant. He recounted that he'd sold Palmer strychnine just before Cook died.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
The investigators' ears perked up. It was just the information they needed. In late 1855, the inquiry into Cook's death released their findings. They believed Palmer had killed John Cook with strychnine poison and suggested he be charged with murder. Shortly after, Palmer was arrested for Cook's murder. He was caught by surprise. He truly believed he'd gotten away with it.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
Authorities placed Palmer in a local jail while he awaited his day in court. In May 1856, William Palmer finally faced a trial, but not in Rugeley. It was believed Palmer wouldn't receive a fair trial in his hometown since he was quite well known. Up to this point, the accused in England had to be tried in their home county.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
But William Palmer's case became so newsworthy and so concerning that the British Parliament felt the need to create a new law. Nicknamed the Palmer's Act, it allows anyone accused of a crime in England to be tried at the Central Criminal Court, also known as the Old Bailey. The act is still on the books today.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
Parliament managed to pass the act just in time, so the trial was moved to the Old Bailey Courthouse in London, where the jury wouldn't have deeply preconceived notions of Dr. William Palmer. While the trial started quietly, that didn't last long. Once the local press got wind of the story, Palmer's image was plastered all over town. Nearly everyone in London heard of the Rugeley poisoner.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
In these papers, every detail of Palmer's life was exposed, from his early education to the deaths of his wife and children. Like us, the public was able to draw their own conclusions about the tragedies throughout Palmer's life. Meanwhile, inside the walls of the Old Bailey, the prosecution made their case. There was little physical evidence, but they had a compelling tale.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
They discussed Palmer's gambling and staggering debts. Palmer professed his innocence in court, but the coincidences stacked up. His racing partner Leonard Bladen dying in his home with his ledger missing. Ann Palmer's death only months after a life insurance policy was handed out. Walter Palmer's death under similar circumstances. The attempts to put a policy on George Bates.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
And now, finally, John Cook missing. Then, Mr. Newton testified that Palmer bought strychnine from him. The alleged murder weapon was in Palmer's possession. And that sealed the deal. After 12 days of testimony, the trial ended. The jury didn't even deliberate for a full day before convicting Dr. William Palmer of John Cook's murder. He was guilty. The judge sentenced Palmer to death.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
Palmer remained stone-faced. All of his scheming had landed him at death's door. And now, no amount of strategy or legal maneuvering was getting him out. On June 14th, 1856, guards grabbed Palmer out of his jail cell. They marched him towards the gallows outside of Stafford Prison. Palmer heard the sounds of a large crowd as he made his way to the platform.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
He mounted the steps, and a truly remarkable sight unfolded in front of him. Tens of thousands of people crowded around, awaiting his death. Authorities asked Palmer if he had any last words. To the audience's dismay, he had no speech prepared, though he meekly maintained his innocence. As Palmer walked over the trapdoor, legend has it that he asked if it was safe.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
Authorities placed a cover over Palmer's head before the noose came down. In the darkness, the crowd noise swelled. To Palmer, it might have sounded like he was at the horse races. Minutes later, William Palmer was pronounced dead. He was only convicted of killing one person, but his legend grew over the years. The Rugeley Poisoner is one of the most famous murder cases of the 19th century.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
Which brings us back to the big question in this case. Was Dr. William Palmer a serial killer? If you ask the people of Victorian England, the answer seems to have been a resounding yes. Though since this happened almost 200 years ago, we'll never know for sure.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
Everyone can make their own conclusions and at least rest easy in the fact that, regardless of the count of his crimes, Palmer was stopped when he was only 31 and received the maximum punishment. Thanks for tuning in to Serial Killers. We're here with a new episode every Monday. Be sure to check us out on Instagram, at Serial Killers Podcast, and we'd love to hear from you.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
So if you're tuning in on the Spotify app, swipe up and give us your thoughts. For more information on William Palmer, we found the contemporary publication, The Most Extraordinary Trial of William Palmer for the Rugeley Poisonings, which lasted 12 days.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
The book The Poisoner, a gripping account of the murders committed by Dr. William Palmer, the Prince of Poisoners, and his dramatic trial by Stephen Bates, and the book Staffordshire Murders by Alan Hayhurst, extremely helpful to our research. Stay safe out there.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
This episode was written by Robert Tyler Walker, edited by Maggie Admire, fact-checked by Bennett Logan, researched by Chelsea Wood, and video edited and sound designed by Spencer Howard. I'm your host, Janice Morgan.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
This episode includes discussions of murder, child and infant loss and poisoning. Consider this when deciding how and when you'll listen. Walk into any room and you'll probably find someone in deep, deep debt. Maybe they're young and saddled with student loans, successful enough to take out a mortgage, or just love online shopping. Others have a car loan or had to finance a medical emergency.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
William Palmer was a boogeyman in Victorian England, the man who secretly poisoned those close to him for money. But this next accusation is the darkest of all, that Palmer killed his own children. This is grim as it deals with potential infant murder, so you can go ahead and skip forward about four minutes if you choose to. Okay.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
In late 1850, William Palmer welcomed his second child, a girl named Elizabeth. Unfortunately, she wasn't well, allegedly suffering from convulsions. His wife Anne worried and doted on her daughter. She was thankful to the family's housekeeper, Mrs. Bradshaw, who helped look after Elizabeth. But even with Mrs. Bradshaw's constant attention, Elizabeth's condition declined.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
In early January 1851, baby Elizabeth passed away. Anne was crushed, and the housekeeper, Mrs. Bradshaw, was just as distraught. Outwardly, Palmer showed his grief as well, but observers would later claim that he was quietly relieved he didn't have the financial burden of a second child. Over the next three years, Ann Palmer gave birth to three more children, all of whom died in infancy.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
First, Henry, who died in January 1852, about a month after his birth. Next came Frank, who died in December 1852, just hours after being born. Last, there was John, who died in January 1854, just three days after birth. For housekeeper Mrs. Bradshaw, these four infant deaths seemed like more than just a tragedy. She suspected they were intentional.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
The day John, the last baby, died, Mrs. Bradshaw went to the local pub. There, she allegedly told her fellow patrons that earlier in the day, William Palmer had taken the baby into a room upstairs alone. She heard the infant crying, and then nothing. Nothing. Shortly after, Palmer emerged from the room, holding his still son in his arms.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
It all has the same end result. A giant, scary number. Four figures, five figures, six figures. To pay it off, you need to make a plan and stick with it. Today's subject, William Palmer, had a plan, and he stuck with it, to the tune of possibly 10 murders. Welcome to Serial Killers, a Spotify podcast. I'm Janice Morgan.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
Mrs. Bradshaw told the pub patron she believed William poisoned baby John. But with no proof, she never went to the authorities. All she could do was quit her job. Even if Mrs. Bradshaw had taken her concerns to the police, infant mortality was incredibly high in Victorian England. Authorities wouldn't necessarily bat an eye at the four children that died in William and Anne's care.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
And while their deaths are suspicious, there is one alternate explanation, the RH factor. Essentially, it's a protein in the blood that can be either positive or negative. Most of the time, it doesn't matter which type you are. Unless an Rh-positive man gets an Rh-negative woman pregnant. Then there's a chance that the baby would be Rh-positive.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
In this case, the first pregnancy between the two people is typically healthy. But during childbirth, the mother is exposed to the Rh protein in her baby's blood. This causes her to create antibodies. If she gets pregnant with an Rh-positive baby again, those antibodies can attack this second child during birth. This can lead to severe anemia and can be fatal without medical intervention.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
If Ann Palmer was Rh negative and William was Rh positive, it could explain why they only had one healthy child, followed by four who died in infancy. But of course, no one knew about Rh proteins in William Palmer's time, so it may have looked more suspicious than it was. There's just one caveat. Over the years, William Palmer had two illegitimate children.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
And those babies, who had two different mothers, also died in infancy. Their deaths were never investigated. Regardless of his guilt or innocence, Palmer's children's deaths would come back to haunt him. Because these tragedies weren't the last for the Palmers. In less than two years, two more members of Palmer's immediate family turned up dead.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
By September 1854, William Palmer found himself chased by tragedy. In the past five years, he'd lost his mother-in-law, his good friend, and four infant children. At least, that's how it looked from the outside. Multiple people, including the Palmer's housekeeper, believe he'd orchestrated some of those six deaths. Because at the time, he owed multiple creditors over 20,000 pounds.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
Today, that's worth millions. This made it nearly impossible to get out of the hole. But that didn't stop him from trying. By this point, Dr. Palmer had all but given up on his medical practice. His operating costs were too high. Perhaps he felt gambling had better odds than trudging along with his business.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
At the same time, he dug himself deeper into debt, taking out multiple life insurance policies on his wife, Anne. Anne was quite young and, by all accounts, healthy. Still, Palmer committed to outsized life insurance premiums, all on top of his existing debt. Around this time, Anne noticed that death seemed to follow her husband. She also likely observed his increasing financial desperation.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
Still, they remained married. It's likely she was dealing with her own grief over the loss of their four infants and busy raising their surviving son, William Jr. One night, Anne decided to attend a concert with Palmer's sister, Sarah. Perhaps she wanted a brief distraction from her ongoing grief. The pair traveled by carriage to Liverpool, about 80 miles northwest.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
The air was cool as they made their way through the fields and over the low hills. When the two arrived in Liverpool that evening, the hall was packed. Anne enjoyed the music. It was just what she needed. The next day, the pair returned to Rugeley. The morning after, Anne woke up feeling unusually tired. She experienced a low-grade fever and decided to spend the day in bed.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
You might recognize me as the voice behind the investigative docuseries Broken and the true crime podcast Fear Thy Neighbor. I'll be your host for the next few weeks, and I'm thrilled to be here. We'd love to hear from you. Follow us on Instagram at Serial Killers Podcast and share your thoughts on this week's episode. Or if you're tuning in on the Spotify app, swipe up and leave a comment.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
Naturally, Palmer cared for Anne, cooking her food. However, Anne's condition only deteriorated. She was quick to vomit up the food Palmer made for her and fell gravely ill. Soon, Palmer called a doctor friend to assess Anne. Dr. Bamford came right away. Same Dr. Bamford who examined John Cook after he died and issued the questionable death certificate. Dr. Bamford asked Palmer what he'd observed.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
Palmer described Anne's symptoms as vomiting, fever, and cramps. He believed Anne suffered from cholera. Already influenced by Palmer's assessment, Dr. Bamford observed Anne. Her heartbeat was irregular, and she was severely dehydrated. He prescribed calomel pills, which would basically cause her body to purge out whatever virus she had.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
But when Dr. Bamford returned a few days later, Anne had only taken one of the pills and seemed to be in worse condition. She didn't speak, and her movements were limited. Visitors over the next few days said they saw Palmer give Anne water, which appeared to be mixed with something, but they couldn't tell what it was. When anyone came to check on Anne, Palmer never left her side.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
Each visitor agreed, though, Anne's health seemed increasingly worse. On September 29th, 1854, Anne's breath was labored and her skin was cool to the touch. Palmer stayed with her, and by day's end, she was dead. Official reports state she died of cholera. Now, Anne did have some symptoms of cholera, including vomiting, cramps, dehydration, and an unusual heart rate.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
Cholera can spread through dirty water, and it's possible Anne contracted it from something she drank on her trip. However, the symptoms also line up with strychnine poisoning, much like the deaths of John Cook and Anne's own mother. And remember, guests recall Palmer giving his wife glasses of cloudy water, which could have been dosed with strychnine.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
And we can't forget the newly purchased life insurance policies. Shortly after receiving Anne's death certificate, Palmer collected £13,000 in life insurance. He quickly paid off two of his creditors. Even if Anne's death was completely random, it lines up with Palmer's M.O. for killing John Cook. And while no one in town openly accused Palmer of any foul play, things only grew more dubious.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
A few months later, Palmer's alleged love for Anne was further thrown into question when his new housekeeper, Eliza Tharm, announced she was pregnant with his child. Palmer tried to keep this a secret, but people in Rugeley talked. Meanwhile, Palmer still had over £10,000 worth of debt and struggled to come up with regular payments to cover the interest.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
His inheritance was completely gone and his medical practice couldn't support him and his son. How could he support another child? Quite simply, fraud. Palmer started signing checks in his mother's name. However, it didn't take the creditors long to call Palmer out. They threatened to go after his mother for the money he'd borrowed, allegedly on her behalf.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
This stopped Palmer in his tracks, possibly because his mother still had money left over from his father's nest egg, and he didn't want to lose out on that inheritance when she died. But as debt collectors circled like vultures, his situation only grew more dire. If he couldn't come up with the necessary cash, he'd likely land in a debtor's prison.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
Despite years of gambling, his biggest payout had been Anne's life insurance policy. He might have wished he had taken out more policies or had someone else to insure. Because when his older brother Walter stumbled back into his life, Palmer concocted a new plan. In late December 1854, Dr. William Palmer needed a plan to repay his massive debts.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
This is our second episode on Dr. William Palmer, a man whose gambling problems spiraled into at least one murder. Palmer became infamous in the Victorian era, but was he a serial killer? Today, we'll continue looking into the suspicious deaths that surrounded Palmer, especially his own friends and family, and see how they compare to his known crime, the murder of John Cook. Stay with us.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
Insurance from his wife's untimely death had wiped out about half of what he owed, and fraudulent checks in his mother's name kept him afloat. But with over 10,000 pounds lingering, Palmer was still in over his head. So he turned his attention to the rest of his family, namely his older brother, Walter. Five years earlier, Walter went bankrupt after his factory closed down.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
Then, Walter turned to alcohol. A few years later, Walter's wife left, and Walter kept drinking. When Palmer met his brother in Rugeley, he found Walter at the bottom of several bottles of liquor. Palmer later noticed that when Walter went too long without alcohol, he experienced severe tremors in his arms, possibly a sign of withdrawal caused by long-term alcohol misuse.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
At least, that's how Palmer interpreted it. After seeing his brother's tremors, Palmer believed that within a handful of years, Walter would die. And Palmer was always a betting man, so he conspired to get a life insurance policy on Walter. But there was a problem. Walter had to agree to it. So Palmer bribed him. He offered his brother 400 pounds cash and a place to live.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
When presented with this generous offer, Walter hesitated for a moment, understanding the morbid implications. But he needed the money and housing. He agreed to sign whatever forms his brother needed. To make sure his plan was foolproof, Palmer ensured that Walter stayed sober for a brief period, just enough time for his most significant tremors to vanish.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
Palmer worried that insurance companies wouldn't hand out a policy on someone with visible signs of alcohol addiction. But even with Walter momentarily sober, most insurance companies denied the request outright. Only one of the half-dozen companies Palmer visited, Prince of Wales Insurance, agreed in principle to the policy. They were the same company that had covered Ann Palmer's life insurance.
Serial Killers
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
The insurance company only requested that a local physician examine Walter first. So William Palmer called up a local acquaintance, Dr. Cornelius Waddell. Like with Dr. Bamford and John Cook's death certificate, it's unclear if Palmer made efforts to deceive Dr. Waddell or if he was in on the scheme, perhaps for a cut of the money.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
They focus on six of the missing women, all but one of the victims we've discussed in this episode. It's not clear which one is left out, because different newspapers print different names. Most of the reports don't include Eva Brennan, the woman who disappeared after a dinner argument with her mother.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
Follow us on Instagram at Serial Killers Podcast and share your thoughts on this week's episode. Or if you're listening on the Spotify app, swipe up and leave a comment. Stay with us.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
Presumably that's because she was 39 years old, while the rest of the victims were younger, either teenagers or in their 20s. But that's not certain. Even the detectives assigned to Operation Trace don't know why some missing women are included and others aren't. The women who do make the cut are all relatively young, white, female, and conventionally attractive.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
Each one went missing within an 80-mile radius of Dublin between 1993 and 1998. None of them had any known reason why they'd want to run away. And that's it. They don't share a hair or eye color. Some disappeared off the street, others from their homes. Some went missing at night, some during the day. One of the victims was seven months pregnant.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
There isn't much to go off of, but there's enough for Operation Trace to develop some theories. And unlike some earlier investigations, they believe foul play definitely occurred, and they identify some persons of interest. One of them is a carpenter named Larry Murphy. At the time of the disappearances, he was in his 30s. He was clean-cut, married, and to all appearances, an ordinary guy.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
In 1993, when Annie McCarrick went missing, he lived in Enniscarry, the same town where she presumably visited right before she disappeared. He also worked for Deidre Jacobs' grandmother, and a man fitting his description was filmed on a CCTV camera at the bank Deidre visited the day she went missing.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
News reports also say he's been linked to JoJo Dullard's case, although it's not clear exactly how. Now, Ireland is a small country. At the time of the disappearances, the population was around 3.5 million. It could be a coincidence that Murphy lived near one victim and seemingly knew two others. But in February 2000, Larry Murphy starts looking a lot more suspicious.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
He apparently starts stalking a young woman whose identity hasn't been made public. One day, he drives to her workplace, which is inside the vanishing triangle. He parks near her usual spot, and when she walks past his car, he grabs her, beats her, and forces her into his trunk. Then he drives into the Wicklow Mountains, sexually assaults her, and attempts to murder her.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
He is interrupted by a pair of hunters who stumble upon the scene and rescue the young woman. Murphy is sentenced to 15 years in prison. At some point, reporters start drawing connections. The abduction feels eerily similar to the Vanishing Triangle cases. If he snatched this victim right off the street, maybe he did the same to Annie, Jojo, Deirdre, and or the others.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
Even more alarming, while he's incarcerated, at least two other inmates reportedly hear him bragging about getting away with murder. Eventually, the guardie named Larry a person of interest in all the Operation Trace disappearances, plus a couple more. At one point, they invite FBI profilers from the US to examine the evidence. The agents agree that Murphy fits the profile of a serial killer.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
To them, the efficiency with which he kidnapped that young woman suggests he'd done something like it before. But still, it's only circumstantial evidence. The guardie can't convict Murphy on the inmate's testimony or the FBI's profile. They don't have concrete proof he had anything to do with the Vanishing Triangle cases. They never arrest Murphy or press charges due to lack of evidence.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
According to police, their investigation suggests that it's more likely some or all of the victims were kidnapped or killed by someone they knew, which does fit with global statistics. In any country, women are far more likely to be killed by someone they've met rather than a stranger. Take, for example, the case of Kira Breen. She's the teenager who snuck out of her bedroom window late at night.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
The Gardies suspect she met a man in his 30s for a date that night, and he killed her. They questioned this man repeatedly and arrested him twice, but he died of an overdose in police custody in 2017, and officials never received the answers they were looking for. In the end, the officers of Operation Trace never make a single arrest related to any of the cases within the Vanishing Triangle.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
According to Detective Alan Bailey, who was assigned to Operation Trace, the only conclusion they've reached is that they are not able to tie all the disappearances to a single serial killer. The task force disbands in 2003. But that's not the end of the investigation. The Gardies still field tips. Over the years, they've followed up on a number of leads and questioned various persons of interest.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
Some of the disappearances have been reclassified as no-body homicides. As of this recording, none of the victims' remains have been recovered. But there have been some really recent breakthroughs. Let's go back to the first disappearance described in this episode. Witnesses saw Annie McCarrick board a bus to Enniscarry around 3.30 p.m. on the day of her disappearance.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
We don't know what she did for the next five and a half hours, but like I said, a woman matching her description was spotted at Johnny Fox's pub that night around 9 p.m. A lot of people assumed that woman was Annie. Almost no one questioned it. But in 2020, a private investigator working for Annie's family said he believes that woman wasn't her.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
Instead, based on a new tip and a corroborating witness, the Gardy think Annie might have actually gone to a cafe in Enniscarry where she met with a man who bought her a slice of cake. In their statements, the guardi and the PI make this sound like a huge discovery. It seems like this information might have led them to a new suspect, but they haven't released his name publicly yet.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
Another tip, the details of which haven't yet been made public, spurred the Gardie to formally reclassify Annie's disappearance as a homicide. There have also been updates in the case of JoJo Dullard, who went missing after a night out with her friends. In 2020, on the 25th anniversary of her disappearance, the Gardie announced her death is being investigated as a homicide.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
Almost exactly four years later, in November 2024, a man in his 50s was arrested on suspicion of her murder. The guardie didn't release his name, but did say they're conducting searches in the Wicklow and Kildare areas. After two days of questioning, the man was released without charge.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
Police say the information helped their investigation, but there have been no further updates as of this recording. For the families of the victims, it's likely frustrating to have no answers after all this time, but it's encouraging that the police are still investigating these cases 30 years later. Which means, connected or not, they can still be solved. These women can still receive justice.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
Thank you for tuning in to Serial Killers. We're here with a new episode every Monday. Be sure to check us out on Instagram at Serial Killers Podcast. And if you're tuning in on Spotify, swipe up and give us your thoughts. Or email us at serialkillersstories at spotify.com.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
For more information amongst the many sources we used, we found Claire McGowan's book, The Vanishing Triangle, The Murdered Women Ireland Forgot, and reporting from the Irish Times extremely helpful to our research. Stay safe out there.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
This episode was written by Angela Jorgensen, edited by Karis Allen and Connor Sampson, researched by Brian Petras, fact-checked by Haley Milliken, video edited by Spencer Howard, and sound designed by Alex Button. I'm your host, Janice Morgan.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
This episode includes discussions of sexual assault and murder. Consider this when deciding how and when you'll listen. Have you ever seen a cloud and thought it looked just like a horse or a ballerina? Or noticed a pattern in wood grain that looks an awful lot like a face? This phenomenon has a name, patternicity, the human tendency to find patterns in otherwise random or meaningless information.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
It's 1993. 26-year-old Annie McCarrick and her two roommates live in a quiet neighborhood just outside Dublin, Ireland. Annie's from the United States, but she has Irish heritage and went to college in Ireland. She moved back to New York for a while, then returned to the Dublin area in January 1993. She wants to get in touch with her roots and maybe settle down in the Emerald Isle permanently.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
That's her long-term goal anyway, but in the short term, Annie is celebrating. Her birthday just passed, and she's planning to have a dinner party at her apartment on March 27th. The day before the party, Annie's busy getting everything ready. She swings by the bank, then the grocery store to pick up food.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
Before she heads home, she stops at a payphone to call a friend, who invites her to go on a walk in the nearby Wicklow Mountains. The friend says she can't make it. Annie makes a few other calls and soon heads back to her apartment, goes inside, and sets down the groceries. Then, for some reason, she turns around and walks out again, without putting anything away. Which is concerning.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
There's cream, butter, and other perishables that should be refrigerated. But she's apparently in such a hurry that she leaves out all the food she just bought to possibly go to waste. Or she thinks she's coming right back. Soon after this, around 3.30 p.m., another friend spots Annie boarding a bus in Dublin. It runs to a small town called Enniscarry. Annie has visited Enniscarry in the past.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
And it doesn't just make us see shapes. Sometimes we spot trends that don't exist. Like assuming a lucky shirt helped our favorite team win a game when, in reality, it's just a coincidence. The thing is, it can be tricky to convince a person that these patterns aren't real, thanks to another phenomenon called confirmation bias.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
It's not far from the Wicklow Mountains, so if she still plans to go for a walk, it makes sense to go this way. There's a gap in the timeline for the next five and a half hours until 9 p.m. That's when witnesses spot someone matching Annie's description at a pub about three miles outside of Enniscarry. It's a touristy spot called Johnny Fox's.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
Numerous witnesses say they saw this woman with an unidentified man. He's clean-shaven and well-dressed. The bouncer at Johnny Fox's describes him as a, quote, yuppie. Annie has never said anything to her friends and family about having a boyfriend, but whoever this woman is who looks just like Annie seems to be on a date.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
The yuppie guy meets her outside the pub, pays her cover, and buys her drinks for the rest of the night. The next day, Annie's friends show up at her apartment for the big birthday dinner. But when they knock, no one answers. Annie's not home. Around the same time, her roommates get back from a weekend away. They go inside and find the apartment in disarray.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
The spoiled groceries are still sitting out, and so is the ironing board and the phone book. It looks like Annie was halfway through her chores when she dropped everything and left. Unnerved, Annie's friends call her father John in the United States to let him know what's going on. John's alarm bells go off immediately. He knows his daughter.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
Even from across the Atlantic Ocean, she's always easy to reach. She wouldn't just take off or suddenly stop communicating with the people she loves. Plus, John's a former police officer, so he knows how crucial it is to move quickly after someone goes missing. Right away, he and Annie's mother, Nancy, get on a plane to Ireland.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
By March 30th, four days after Annie was last seen, she's officially reported missing. The Irish police, called the Guardie, are on the case. And on the advice of the American Embassy, the McCarricks hire a private detective. The investigators chase a couple leads that go nowhere. Witnesses claim they've seen Annie in other parts of Ireland, but the guardie can't confirm the sightings.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
They also aren't able to determine the identity of the man at Johnny Fox's pub. Weeks go by with no breaks. John and Nancy's biggest goal is to hold the investigators' feet to the fire. It's horrible for their daughter to go missing, and it would be even worse for the case to go cold. They keep the pressure on by making sure Annie's story stays in the news.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
One evening, sometime around early May, a report about Annie's disappearance airs on TV. She's been missing for a little over a month. A local woman named Colette McCann catches the broadcast and thinks to herself, what an unimaginable thing to go through. She has no idea that just a few months later, she'll know exactly how the McCarricks feel.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
On July 25th, 1993, Colette attends a family gathering in the Dublin area. Her sister, Eva Brennan, is also there. Eva is a devout Catholic who's really involved with her church. She's 5'7 with short brown hair. She's 39 years old, but her family says she looks younger. It's not a perfect match, but she kind of looks like Annie McCarrick.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
That's our tendency to look for evidence to support the conclusions we've already drawn while disregarding any conflicting evidence. So imagine you're a police officer investigating a crime. You might make an assumption about who's guilty and ignore leads that might point you in a different direction. It's not like you're doing this on purpose. It's just the way our brains work.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
For dinner, Eva and Colette's mother serves lamb, but Eva's not a fan. And that causes some problems. After Eva complains about the food, it sparks an argument that leads to Eva storming out of the house. Eva's family worries about her, especially after she doesn't reach out again for the rest of the night or the next morning.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
She usually drops by to visit every day, but they just don't hear from her. Eva's father goes to her apartment to check on her. When she doesn't answer the front door, he breaks a window and lets himself inside. Inside Eva Brennan's apartment, her father finds her jacket, the one she was wearing the night before at dinner when they got into an argument. But Eva's not there.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
Other than the window he broke to get in, there are no signs of forced entry or any kind of struggle. Eva's father immediately reports her missing, but the police say she's an adult who can take care of herself. It takes multiple follow-ups before the guardie agree to investigate. And when they do, they don't find anything. Eva is never seen again.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
Her sister Colette can't help but notice the similarities between Eva's case and Annie McCarrick's. Two tallish, young-looking brunette women go missing from the same area within just a few months of each other. It could be a coincidence, but Colette keeps wondering if the cases are related. She goes to the police and asks some of the questions that have been keeping her up at night.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
What if Eva and Annie were murdered? And what if the same person killed them? The police dismiss the idea outright for a couple of reasons. First, they consider Annie and Eva missing. There's no evidence they were met with foul play. Officials still think it's possible they ran away or got lost. But Collette's theory starts to seem more credible after another victim goes missing.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
Her name is Jojo Dullard. She's 21 years old and grew up in rural Ireland. After she was orphaned at a young age, her sisters raised her. For a while, she worked as a beautician in Dublin, then decided the job wasn't for her. But she still goes back to the city every once in a while. Like on November 9th, 1995, when she goes to visit a few bars with friends.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
She's supposed to take a bus home, but she misses the last one and decides to hitchhike instead. Jojo's last known location is a town called Moon, roughly 45 miles outside of Dublin. She uses a payphone to call a friend at 11.37 p.m. and ends the conversation by saying, quote, "'Oh, a car is coming, and I have to go now.'"
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
She misses a shift at work the next day, and her family reports her missing shortly after. But once again, the Gardie don't respond in a timely manner. It takes them three days to start looking. When they finally do launch an investigation, they seem to take it seriously, interviewing countless potential witnesses. But they don't get any leads. The trail is already cold.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
A short while later, Annie McCarrick's father John gives an interview where he comments on the parallels between Jojo's case, his daughters, and another disappearance. He doesn't say exactly who, but it's possible he's talking about Eva Brennan.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
It's human nature to want to apply order to chaos, to make someone's story have a satisfying arc. But sometimes our desire for everything to fit together can lead us astray, and tidy narratives can overshadow the truth. Welcome to Serial Killers, a Spotify podcast. Every Monday, we bring you the true crime stories that stand out. I'm Janice Morgan. We'd love to hear from you.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
John references a triangular region surrounding Dublin, which stretches north from Jojo's last known location and along Ireland's eastern shoreline where Annie and Eva disappeared. It's unclear if John actually calls the area Ireland's Vanishing Triangle. If he does, he might be the one who coins the term.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
But regardless, the name Ireland's Vanishing Triangle eventually gets repeated in newspapers, radio shows, and TV broadcasts. The idea of a vanishing triangle becomes part of Dublin's local folklore, something many people know about, but no one's sure where they heard it from.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
Now, the Gardie haven't given any indication that they believe these disappearances are connected, but the press keeps running with the narrative that they are. They even go so far as to speculate about a possible serial killer in the area. They're the kind of headlines that sell papers.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
The theory makes sense to some of the missing's loved ones, but at the same time, three disappearances in four years isn't statistically unusual for a city like Dublin. In her book, The Vanishing Triangle, The Murdered Women Ireland Forgot, author Claire McGowan points out that in any given year, nearly 9,000 people are reported missing in Ireland.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
About one in 10 of those cases will ultimately go unsolved. In fact, in the four years before Annie McCarrick went missing, four other women were killed or disappeared in the Dublin area. But almost no one includes those cases in the so-called vanishing triangle. There doesn't appear to be a clear or strong reason why certain cases are included and others aren't.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
All this to say, the fact that Annie, Eva, and Jojo all disappeared in the same region around the same time isn't necessarily evidence of an active serial killer. This could be an example of patternicity leading people to false conclusions and confirmation bias reinforcing those beliefs. The whole Ireland's vanishing triangle narrative might be little more than misinformation.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
But it's complicated because in a lot of ways, it's helpful misinformation. The name alone keeps all the stories in the headlines and raises awareness for the victims, which is important because after John's interview, the number of victims continues to rise. In August 1996, 25-year-old Fiona Pender leaves her flat and doesn't come home.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
Six months later, on February 13th, 1997, teenager Kira Breen sneaks out of her bedroom at night and never returns. The following February, 19-year-old Fiona Sinnott goes out drinking with friends. She calls her ex-boyfriend at some point, who walks her home, but he's the last person to ever see her.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
Just five months later, on January 28th, 18-year-old Deirdre Jacob visits her parents in her hometown of Newbridge. It's about an hour outside of Dublin, inside the Vanishing Triangle. Deirdre is supposed to return to college in London in the fall, so she swings by the bank and withdraws money to pay for her next semester's rent. Then she drops by the post office before visiting her grandmother.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
Security cameras all over town film her running errands. Deirdre's on her way back to her parents' house around 3.30 p.m. At least eight witnesses see her walking down the street. She's only yards from home, but she never makes it. A few hours later, Deirdre's mother returns from work and finds the house empty. She sounds the alarm, and the guardies spring into action.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
This could be the break they've been looking for. Many of the other Vanishing Triangle victims weren't investigated until a day or more after they went missing. But Deirdre's trail is still fresh. Unlike some other cases within Ireland's Vanishing Triangle, the Gardie respond to 18-year-old Deirdre Jacobs' disappearance immediately.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
But their initial investigation proves just as fruitless as all the others. Nobody saw what happened to Deirdre in those final yards. Somehow she disappeared right off the street, right by her house in broad daylight. It comes as a shock to a lot of people and the news spreads fast.
Serial Killers
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
The coverage might be part of the reason why, in September 1998, the Guardi finally decide they need to do something different. They form a task force called Operation Trace. Instead of treating each disappearance as an isolated event, Trace's mission is to look for patterns, to try to see if some common denominator unites the victims.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
According to his family and friends, there is no way he would have left town without it. And yet, police found his clarinet in Lewiston. They also discovered his car still in town, along with a number of uncashed paychecks. Detectives faltered. Maybe they had the wrong idea. As the days went on, a more likely scenario emerged. Steven wasn't responsible. He was probably a victim himself.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
With Steven Pearsall reclassified as a missing person, detectives started over from scratch. Eventually, they determined a new person of interest. Frank, the man who offered to help search for 12-year-old Christina White, the one police had been suspicious of for years.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
It's not clear how authorities narrowed in on Frank, but one way or another, it came to their attention that he had a connection to all five victims. He lived in the same neighborhood as Christina White. She'd been to his home before. Some sources even told police they saw her at his house the day she went missing.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
And Kristen David, the 22-year-old who disappeared on her bike ride, might have also known him. She spent a few summers working at the same theater as Frank. That's also how he knew Christina Nelson, Brandy, and Stephen. The three of them all either worked or socialized at the theater, where Frank also worked and performed.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
According to FBI agent Bradley Garrett, who joined the case later on, it's unusual for a serial killer to target victims they know personally. But it's not impossible. And for agent Garrett, that's what makes this case so fascinating. If the authorities' suspicions were correct, Frank was a unique killer. So detectives brought Frank in for questioning.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
Their working theory was that he'd been at a bar in Lewiston when he saw Nelson and Brandy walk by. He might have offered them a lift home, and because they knew him, they accepted. At that point, he brought them back to the theater where he had enough privacy to kill them. Frank didn't anticipate that anyone else would show up at the theater, especially so late at night.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
When Stephen's girlfriend dropped him off, Frank killed him, so there wouldn't be any witnesses. That's the idea, at least. But for every question investigators threw at Frank, he gave a quick answer. He admitted he went to the theater that night, but told detectives a story about accidentally injuring himself and then taking a nap.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
He claimed he was asleep and never heard Nelson, Brandy, or Stephen enter the building. Later, he said he did move his car around back to load something up, but he swore it was just his tools. Everything about this story felt too convenient to investigators. But it's not enough to arrest Frank. And as of 2025, he's never been charged for any crimes related to the murders.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
He also declined interview requests. With Frank free to go, investigators were at a loss. For the next 18 months, there were no new leads. Five people were gone. One most definitely murdered. In all likelihood, this was an active serial killer. And it felt like there was nothing anyone could do. Tension built until March 1984. A 15-year-old boy named Marvin Meade went out to collect cans.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
He stopped on a remote property about 40 miles away from Lewiston. After grabbing the cans, he walked through the tree line back to his truck. Just then, a branch knocked his hat off. It blew down the hill and stopped near a strange gray object. Marvin figured it was an animal bone, and he thought, hey, that would be cool to have on display.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
So he reached down to pick it up, only to realize it was a human skull. Horrified, Marvin alerted the police. When crime scene technicians got there, they made another grisly discovery. It wasn't just one skull. There were two badly decomposed bodies. Detectives sent the remains back to the lab for testing. Through the clothing and jewelry found with the bodies, they could ID them.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
Sure enough, it was Christina Nelson and Brandy Miller. A year and a half after the women went missing, the police finally had some answers, just not the ones they wanted. Christina Nelson and Brandy Miller's case was now a murder investigation. Detectives brought Frank in for another round of questioning, this time as an official suspect. He repeated his claims.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
He didn't see or hear Nelson, Brandy, or Stephen come into the theater that night. But given the layout of the building and where Frank said he was sleeping, that seems nearly impossible. Investigators kept pressing. Frank was nervous and fidgety. Every time he repeated his story, details changed. Detectives still thought he was hiding something.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
But they didn't have any physical evidence to tie him to Nelson and Brandy's murders. Without that, they needed a confession. And Frank wasn't going to give one. So once again, Frank was free to go. This frustrated the police, especially after they looked into Frank's past. It doesn't paint him in a very good light.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
For example, his acquaintances recalled that a woman he once dated died by suicide. Frank was the one who discovered her body. At the time, her loved ones wrote it off as an unexplainable tragedy. But as news came out about the Lewis-Clark Valley murders, they noticed it was awfully suspicious that so much violence and death surrounded one man. They wondered if Frank was capable of murder.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
There's also the fact that Frank had a criminal record in California. While he was living there, a 17-year-old girl died under suspicious circumstances. A day or two later, Frank was arrested for breaking into the funeral home where her body was being kept. He'd been carrying a hunting knife. His behavior didn't improve, even after the police interrogated him.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
At some point in the mid-1980s, Frank put his house up for sale. A local woman came to check it out. It went fine, except that he kept insisting she come see the basement. Eventually, she agreed and they headed down. On their way down, she turned around to say something to him, and he quickly dropped his arm. He was holding something raised above his head.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
He tried to play it off, but she told him to show her his hands. Reluctantly, he revealed a bedpost finial. It's not an obvious weapon, but the woman was terrified. She later said she couldn't help but think if she hadn't turned around at just the right moment, Frank might have murdered her. So the community and the police never stopped considering Frank a suspect.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
They couldn't shake their suspicion, but they also couldn't find any proof. Then, in 1990, a man named John Jeffers took over as the Esoton County Sheriff. Bright-eyed and determined, he hoped to solve the area's most haunting cold cases. And he wanted to try something different. See, up until this point, all the investigations were handled by different agencies.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
Christina White's case was under the jurisdiction of the Esoton County Sheriff's Department. Kristen David's was split between various local, state, and federal agencies. And the Civic Theater trio was in the hands of the Lewiston PD. Not an efficient way to run things.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
Sheriff Jeffers was all too aware, especially because, as far as he could tell, law enforcement organizations were all looking at the same person of interest, Frank. The Assotin County Sheriff's Department and Lewiston PD agreed to pool their resources in hopes of finding a breakthrough. And that's when they got a tip that sent shivers down their spines.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
In 1990, the Esoton and Lewiston police departments made a huge discovery. Frank, their main person of interest, had just poured a layer of concrete into the basement of one of his properties. A chilling development. Authorities worried he was trying to hide something beneath that concrete.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
Not missing a beat, they obtained a search warrant and arrived at Frank's property with radars and cadaver dogs in tow. Despite the impulse to tear up every last inch of the basement, Assotin County Sheriff John Jeffers was methodical.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
He and his team tested different areas, using specialized equipment to look for aberrations or empty spaces beneath the concrete, signs that they should start digging. They narrowed in on one spot they believed was big enough to hide a body, and Jeffers ordered his men to start excavating. As the dig started, he watched and waited, positive this was the moment they'd all been waiting for.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
Finally, he could put this case to bed and send the man responsible to prison. When the digging was done, no one said anything. Sheriff Jeffers stepped forward and peered into the ground. Nothing was there. This marked the end of an era. Authorities didn't have probable cause to question Frank again or to search any more of his properties.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
The Lewis-Clark Valley sits along the border of Washington and Idaho. It's known for its natural beauty. There's rolling hills, tall trees, and the Snake River. Amid the stunning vistas sit a number of small, tight-knit towns. One is Esoton, Washington. In 1979, Esoton had a population of just 1,000 people.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
Until they could find something more definitive, they had to stop investigating him. So the cases went cold. Although Christina White and Steven Pearsall's bodies hadn't been found by this point, most people assumed they were dead. Because of this, all five cases became known as the Lewis-Clark Valley Murders.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
Over the coming decades, most of the officers who worked the original investigations retired. The pain of the crimes dulled, but nobody in the valley forgot. Then, in the 2000s, a new detective joined the Esotan County Sheriff's Office. Her name was Jackie Nichols, and she breathed new life into the cold cases. Since she was based in Esotan, she specifically focused on Christina White.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
Although nearly 30 years had passed since her disappearance, Jackie considered it her job to figure out what happened. She hoped to finally give Christina's family answers. So she poured over all the evidence. She re-interviewed the witnesses. She retraced the steps of both the victims and her prime person of interest.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
Like her predecessors, she believed Frank was responsible for at least four of the disappearances and deaths. In her mind, there was only one that could potentially be the work of another, second killer. That's Kristen David's case, the 22-year-old who went missing on her bike ride. Jackie thought the way Kristen's body was dismembered didn't match the M.O. in the other cases.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
So Jackie looked into a lead for a potential suspect, a convicted murderer named Harry Hantman. In 1968, when Hantman was college-aged, he was arrested for the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl. He pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity and was sentenced to stay in a psychiatric hospital. Five years later, he escaped and went on the run.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
He spent the next two decades hiding out in a cabin on the Idaho-Oregon border. It's about 100 miles away from the Lewis-Clark Valley, but still close enough that he could have easily made a day trip. Eventually, Hantman was caught and returned to prison in 1993. But that was 12 years after Kristen David's death. It's possible he killed her.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
So Jackie went to Hantman's old cabin and searched the place. As she walked the grounds, she spotted something half buried in the earth. The remains of black trash bags. Disintegrated, like they'd been sitting there for years. Jackie couldn't help but think, maybe these are the same garbage bags used to wrap up Kristen's dismembered body. It was a glimmer of hope.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
Remember, years earlier, police thought they might be able to get DNA from the garbage bags or newspapers, and genetic technology had advanced a lot by the 2000s. If samples of these items still existed, police might be able to salvage DNA from them and compare it to Hantman's genetic profile. there was a major problem.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
Jackie had no idea where the original garbage bags and newspapers even were, certainly not in evidence storage, and there was actually a pretty good chance they'd been thrown out in the last four decades. In the end, Jackie's discovery didn't amount to much. But it wasn't a dead end, because Jackie wasn't the only one searching for answers. Remember Christina Nelson?
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
Her cousin, Gloria Boebertz, devoted her life to finding answers for all the victims' families. Like Jackie and the authorities, Gloria believed Frank was guilty. But she also thought there were more than just five victims. With his history of violence, she was convinced Frank had to be responsible for other murders. If she could find proof of that, it might help prosecute him in the valley.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
Think quaint, charming, the kind of place where everyone knows everyone and nothing bad ever happens. At least, until today's story starts. In such a small community, annual events were a big deal. So even though April 2nd, 1979 was an unseasonably hot day, people came out for the Esoton County Fair. The fair still happens to this day, and even in 1979, it was a major production.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
Gloria's mission took her all the way to Chicago, where she looked into the 1963 murder of an eight-year-old girl. The victim was last seen alive at a local YMCA, the same place Frank worked as a youth camp counselor. At the time, Chicago police questioned nearly everyone in the neighborhood, including 15-year-old Frank, but he was never a real suspect.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
The cops thought they were looking for someone much older. Gloria sent everything she learned to Detective Jackie Nichols. And the more Jackie read about it, the more she thought Gloria was onto something. Jackie called up her counterparts in Chicago and shared the details of her investigation. From there, the FBI stepped in. They asked for all of Jackie's notes and files. Then they took over.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
As we mentioned at the beginning, the investigation is currently in the hands of the FBI. They continue to gather clues in hopes of prosecuting the killer. Meanwhile, in the Lewis Clark Valley, life was permanently altered. Kristen David, Brandy Miller, and Christina Nelson were all found and returned to their families. But to this day, Christina White and Steven Purcell have never been located.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
Christina's father, Gary White, held out hope that Christina was still alive until the day he died. In the 2011 documentary Confluence, he told filmmakers, quote, You just sit there and hope that somewhere down the line she'll surface and will be a happy lady. She was born in 1967, and so you know she's a young woman now if she's still alive. Who can blame him for hoping?
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
Sometimes that's the only way to deal with such terrifying, senseless violence. To hope some of the victims will turn up safe. To hope answers will be found. To hope justice will be served. These crimes serve as a constant reminder that evil lingers in the safest places. There's no turning back from that loss of innocence. And there's no forgetting, only processing.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
One local, who was a kid when the murders happened, recalled hearing a rumor about a certain man, a danger in their midst. He said in a later interview, kids and teens knew to stay away from him, even if the police couldn't arrest him. That kid, Brian Fuller, grew up to create TV shows like Pushing Daisies, Dead Like Me, and Hannibal, which is about serial killers.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
This episode includes discussions of murder, rape, dismemberment, and suicide. For mental health support, visit Spotify.com slash resources. Today's story is still an open FBI investigation. Because of that, today's serial killer doesn't have a name. They're yet to be caught, and they may not be guilty of all the crimes we'll cover.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
His childhood memories influenced those shows. By the time Fuller moved to Hollywood, there was no illusion that the Lewis-Clark Valley was a safe place where nothing ever happened. It was an inspiration for horror stories. As Lewiston reporter Sandra Lee put it in the 2018 documentary Cold Valley, these cases, how can they go away? They still all have family here and they all have friends.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
And we all know those cases. And if we didn't know those people before, we feel like we know them now because they've become part of our lives. What happened is forever a part of this community. If you have any information related to this case, please go to tips.fbi.gov or call 1-800-CALL-FBI. Thanks for listening to Serial Killers. We're here with a new episode every Monday.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
Be sure to check us out on Instagram at Serial Killers Podcast. And we'd love to hear from you. So if you're listening on the Spotify app, swipe up and give us your thoughts. For more information on the Lewis Clark Valley murders, amongst the many sources we used, we found the documentaries Confluence and Cold Valley extremely helpful to our research. Stay safe out there.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
This episode was written by Alex Burns, edited by Karis Allen, Giles Hofseth, and Maggie Admire. Fact-checked by Haley Milliken, researched by Mickey Taylor, video edited by Spencer Howard, and sound designed by Kelly Gary. I'm Janice Morgan.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
Think games, rides, and of course, a parade. That year, Betty Wilkes dragged her two daughters out of the house for the festivities. Her youngest, six-year-old Carlin, seemed to have a pretty good time. But 12-year-old Christina White got bored fast. The heat didn't help. Christina was a bit of a tomboy, not too interested in the glittery, bright colors of the parade.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
She'd much rather be with her friends, fishing on the Snake River or playing in the nearby woods. Around noon, when the sun was at its peak, Christina poked her mom and asked her if she could go to her friend's house. She had her bike at the fair. She could ride there herself and come back home for dinner. Betty nodded. The heat was starting to bother her, too.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
As Christina jumped on her bike and rode away, Betty and Carlin started home on foot. They passed Christina's friend's house on the way and saw her outside. She'd arrived safely. They waved and carried on. Later that afternoon, Betty's phone rang. It was Christina calling from the friend's house. She had symptoms of heat stroke. This had happened before, so Betty wasn't too worried.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
She told her daughter to drape a cold, damp towel over her head, then lie down for a bit. Then as soon as she felt better, bike home. Betty expected to see her daughter fairly soon, but hours passed with no sign of Christina and no call back. When she didn't show for dinner, Betty grew worried. She called Christina's friend's house, but her daughter wasn't there anymore. Nobody knew where she was.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
But there are so many connections between today's victims, it's worth investigating the serial killer theory. Because 40 years later, they might still be out there, waiting to be caught. Welcome to Serial Killers, a Spotify podcast. I'm Janice Morgan. You might recognize me as the voice behind the investigative docuseries Broken and the true crime podcast Fear Thy Neighbor.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
So Betty contacted the police. As you probably know, in a lot of disappearances, authorities wait anywhere from 24 to 48 hours to begin an official investigation. But in this case, Chief Tom Pryor immediately sprang into action, likely because Christina was so young and the Esotan community was so tight-knit. That said, Betty and the authorities thought they'd find Christina quickly.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
She was probably riding her bike around, totally unaware of the commotion she'd caused. Or maybe she was still having heat stroke symptoms and decided to lie down somewhere. Betty and the police scoured every nook and cranny of the small town, but they couldn't find Christina or her bike anywhere. As far as they could tell, she left her friend's house to bike home, then vanished.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
News spread fast in Esoton. That night and the next morning, the community came together in support of Betty and her family. They offered help in whatever way they could, searching the town, putting up posters, or simply lending a sympathetic ear. But one man was incredibly quick to offer his services. For privacy, we'll call him Frank. He was a local guy with a wife and kids.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
He worked at a local theater, sometimes performing on stage. So far, pretty normal. Except he seemed a little too invested in the search, especially right at the start, which detectives found odd. According to one Esotan police officer, it's rare for innocent bystanders to get highly involved in an investigation, but it's actually quite common for the perpetrator of a crime.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
They offer to help, but they really just want to see what the police know. Frank's behavior struck detectives as off-putting, but that was just gut instinct, not real evidence. Right then, the most important thing was finding Christina, so they took any help they could get. While the police dealt with Frank, Christina's father, Gary White, raced to Esoton to join the search.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
By the time he arrived in town, he had his own theory. Someone from the county fair kidnapped Christina. He tried to get the police to search the trailers and campers, but there wasn't enough evidence to obtain warrants. Gary was frustrated, but he had another idea. He asked a local man, Jim Pope, for a favor.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
Jim owned a helicopter, and Gary thought they might have an easier time spotting clues from above. So they took the chopper all over the county. In the air, Gary kept his eyes peeled, desperate to find his daughter. They didn't see anything. But Gary wasn't giving up. When the carnival left town, he followed it 150 miles to the Tri-Cities area.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
He conducted his own informal investigation, going through the fairgrounds and questioning everyone he could. Still, nobody knew anything about his daughter. Gary was devastated. And it wasn't just Christina's parents who were heartbroken. Her disappearance cast a shadow on the whole community.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
Esoton used to be a place where kids played in the streets, somewhere children could run around without supervision. Now everyone was on edge. Everyone wanted answers. But as the weeks turned into months, then years, it seems like they might never know what happened to Christina. Her case went cold, and slowly, the townspeople convinced themselves that her disappearance was a one-off event.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
That is, until a second girl went missing. She was last seen in Lewiston, Idaho on June 26th, 1981. Lewiston is a bigger city than Esoton with a population of around 28,000, but both towns are in the Lewis-Clark Valley and what happens in one affects the other. That day, James Archibald was driving through Lewiston when something on the side of the road caught his eye.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
I'll be your host for the next few weeks, and I'm thrilled to be here. we'd love to hear from you. Follow us on Instagram at Serial Killers Podcast and share your thoughts on this week's episode. Or if you're listening on the Spotify app, swipe up and leave a comment. Today, we're going to the Lewis Clark Valley, a collection of small remote towns on the Idaho-Washington border.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
A young blonde woman sprawled out on the ground, apparently unconscious. Her bike was strewn to the side with the back wheel still spinning. Nearby, a van pulled over. It must have hit her. And the accident just happened because the driver was still getting out of his car. Archibald saw the driver head toward the young woman. He smiled at James as if to say, all's good here.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
James considered stopping to help, but he kept driving. He figured he'd be more helpful calling 911, so he hurried home and called for help. He reported the accident to the 911 operator. Blonde biker, van, the driver around six feet tall, maybe 150 pounds. Paramedics rushed to the scene. When they got there, there was no woman, no man, no van, no bike, nothing.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
Authorities thought James made the story up, and they chewed him out for his so-called false report. But James held firm he knew what he saw. After the fact, he wished he'd stopped and done more. Now he had no idea what happened to the young woman or who she even was. The answer came a week later on the 4th of July. The fisherman was having a peaceful, pleasant day on the Snake River.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
That was until he saw a garbage bag washed up on the shore, stuffed to the brim. The fisherman put down his rod, opened the bag, and found newspapers tightly wrapped around an object. He unraveled them and could not believe his eyes. On July 4, 1981, a fisherman enjoying his holiday on the Snake River found a washed-up garbage bag and opened it up.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
He pulled back newspapers to discover a young woman's dead body. He called the police, who raced to the river to investigate. Officers examined the remains, and they quickly realized it wasn't a whole body, just one part. The victim was dismembered. They scoured the river, and before long, they found five other bags, all with additional body parts, seemingly belonging to the same young woman.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
They brought them back to the lab for testing and eventually ID'd the victim, Kristen David. Kristen was a 22-year-old journalism major at the nearby University of Idaho. Her parents described her as a loving, responsible young woman who was especially close to her younger siblings. One of her favorite hobbies was bicycling. She'd go on rides for hours.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
On the day she went missing, she was biking 40 miles from her school in Moscow, Idaho, to her hometown of Lewiston. When Kristen didn't show up for work, her family immediately knew something was wrong and reported her missing. However, the Lewiston police waited 48 hours to begin an official search.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
This is especially tragic in hindsight, because it's possible Kristen was the young, injured, blonde woman James Archibald saw while he was driving. By the time her body was recovered, over a week had passed since Kristen David was last seen, and the trail had otherwise gone cold. Beyond her body, the only evidence was the newspapers and trash bags she was wrapped in.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
Between 1979 and 1982, five young people went missing from that area. Those who were found had been murdered. Their disappearances changed the valley forever. and cast a shadow of suspicion on one man. Stay with us.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
Officials hoped they could salvage a DNA sample from the newspapers, but it would be a long shot. With the technology available in 1981, they'd need to get a sample, then compare it against a suspect's DNA. Meaning that, without a suspect, the evidence was useless. But law enforcement still had to try. Kristen David's case became a top priority for multiple jurisdictions.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
Two states and three separate counties searched for her killer. Eventually, even the FBI got involved. Yet all this manpower uncovered nothing. No clues, no potential suspects. Kristen David's case hit a dead end. It was difficult for the community to swallow. The Lewis-Clark Valley was once a safe haven. Now it felt like the setting for a horror movie.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
Locals couldn't help but connect Kristin David's story to Christina White's, the 12-year-old who disappeared on her way home from the county fair two years before. What if Christina suffered the same terrible fate? It felt like anybody's daughter could be next. chilling thought that soon became reality. Less than a year later, three more people vanished from the Lewis Clark Valley.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
On the evening of September 12, 1982, 21-year-old Christina Nelson and her stepsister, 18-year-old Brandy Miller, hung out at home in Lewiston. Both young women were known as kind and bubbly. Christina Nelson dreamed of becoming a veterinarian. Brandy was in her senior year of high school. That evening, they decided to run some errands.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
They didn't want to worry their parents, so they left a note saying they were going to the shop. They walked out the front door and were never seen again. This was the third disappearance in an area where things like this never happened. Naturally, people thought it was related to the previous two disappearances. But something was different this time.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
Christina White and Kristen David both went missing while biking alone. Christina Nelson and Brandy Miller were two young women who vanished together. There's more. The same night Christina Nelson and Brandy Miller went missing, a local man also disappeared from Lewiston, 35-year-old Steven Pearsall. Police immediately noticed that Stephen didn't match the established victim profile.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
Up to this point, they'd all been girls or young women. Stephen was a man in his mid-30s. For law enforcement, this was a red flag. Then another popped up. Stephen knew Christina Nelson and Brandy. He was a janitor at the Lewiston Civic Theater, where Nelson worked part-time and Brandy often stopped by. Detectives wondered, maybe Stephen was the killer they'd been looking for.
Serial Killers
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
He quickly became the prime suspect, not just in Christina Nelson and Brandy's case, but all three crimes. Officers talked to Stephen's girlfriend. She said on the night of his disappearance, they went to a party together. Afterward, she dropped Stephen off at the Civic Theater to do laundry and practice his clarinet. Apparently, the clarinet was Stephen's most prized possession.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
He's wearing a single gold cross earring. They'd been looking for a gold cross earring all day, and there it was, on Henry's mugshot. The officers quickly pieced together that Brandy and Vanessa had the same killer, and it was Henry Lewis Wallace. The next lead came almost as quickly. They found Betty Bauckham's stolen car in a local parking lot.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
This episode includes discussions of violence, sexual assault, violence against children, and murder. Consider this when deciding how and when you'll listen. Stay with us.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
The interior and door handles had been wiped down, but not the lid of the trunk. And sitting on the floor was a Pringles can full of spare change that had belonged to Brandy Henderson. The connection was only confirmed when officers checked the trunk lid. It had a handprint. Henry's handprint. But Henry remained on the lam even as the hunt for a serial killer hit the news.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
Women were scared, including Deborah Slaughter. She'd worked at the same Bojangles as Betty, so this hit close to home. Two days after their killings, the fear was fresh in her mind. According to local news station WSOC, when her friend knocked at the door that evening, Deborah was thankful to have some company and protection. But her friend was Henry Wallace.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
After killing Deborah, Henry bought drugs. He then returned to the crime scene to use them. The next morning, March 12th, Henry went to yet another friend's apartment. He asked to use the phone to call his ex, Sadie. Henry's friend gave him privacy in the kitchen while he had his conversation. When he returned later, Henry was sobbing and seemed completely distraught.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
Fighting back tears, he said, quote, She doesn't understand me. No one understands me. Henry eventually regained his composure and spent the afternoon watching wrestling on TV with some friends. Later, he told them he wanted to get out of Charlotte and go back home to South Carolina.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
Henry's friends gave him cash to catch a bus to the Greyhound station, but Henry never made it to the bus station, and he never made it back to his hometown. Around six that evening, police showed up at Henry's friend's apartment. They found him hiding in the bathroom. Police were able to arrest Henry for failure to appear in court. He ducked out on previous shoplifting charges.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
They took him into custody. There, he'd confess. But that confession would go much deeper than killing his co-workers and reveal victims the police didn't even know were murdered. For the first several hours he was in police custody, Henry Wallace spoke to investigators about his background, past jobs, his stint in the Navy, even sports, but not his crimes.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
Eventually, investigators confronted Henry with a frame of security camera footage showing his distinctive cross earring. When that didn't crack him, they told him they'd matched his palm print to the one found on Betty Bauckham's trunk. Again, Henry denied responsibility. The questioning dragged on for six more hours.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
Around 5 a.m., Henry mentioned in passing that he knew a Charlotte detective named Tony Rice who'd worked on Caroline Love's disappearance back in 1992. As you'll recall, Henry killed Caroline, then reported her missing to the police. At this time, in 1994, Caroline was still a missing person. Hoping for a break, officers got hold of Detective Rice and brought him into the interrogation room.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
Henry felt comfortable with Rice, chatting amiably, until Rice brought up Henry's ex-girlfriend, Sadie. Sensing an opening, Rice asked if he could lead a prayer. He held Henry's hand and prayed about repentance and forgiveness. Henry broke down and cried. Rice said it was finally time to tell the truth and cleanse his soul. And Henry finally agreed.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
He said, let's do it this way, and began writing names on a piece of paper. The investigators watched silently as Henry wrote and wrote. They thought the list would include the four victims from the last three weeks, Deborah Slaughter, Brandy Henderson, Betty Bauckham, and Vanessa Mack. But Henry wrote down five more names.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
Michelle Stinson, Valencia Jumper, Audrey Spain, Caroline Love, Tashonda Bethea, and a question mark for one victim he hadn't known beforehand. The revelation was shocking. They thought Caroline Love was missing and Valencia Jumper died in an accident. Tashonda Bethea died in another state. But they were all Henry's victims, all chosen intentionally, even the one he couldn't name.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
Each victim had reminded him of one of two people, Henry's ex-wife and his mother. Henry explained that he'd had a difficult childhood. His dad left before he was born. He claimed his mom abused him. One of his first sexual experiences was watching multiple older classmates sexually assault a girl.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
When he joined the Navy as an adult, he began using drugs and enacted his violent fantasies on sex workers. Yet, amid all this, Henry dated his high school sweetheart, married her, and had a baby. In his early 20s, Henry started acting out his violent desires on his wife. Henry told the police, quote, She told me that when we had sex, it reminded her of when she was raped.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
She later ended the marriage. Henry continued enacting sexual violence on sex workers, but now he described it as, I even visualized it being my wife. He later said he would have killed his ex-wife eventually if he hadn't moved states. Soon after, in 1990, Henry met 18-year-old Tashonda Bethea. She went to his former high school and lived in his neighborhood. She reminded him of his mother.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
For a while, Henry and Tashonda had what he called a nonverbal agreement that they were seeing each other. He drove her places and brought her lunch at school. One day, Henry was driving his car when he spotted Tashonda walking alone. He picked her up, drove her into the woods, and sexually assaulted her at gunpoint. Then he strangled Tashonda.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
When she regained consciousness, Henry slit her wrists and throat. Then he threw her body into a pond. Henry stood at the edge of the pond and watched Tashonda's body sink into the water to make sure she was dead. Describing the murder, Henry denied his own agency, saying, "'I knew that it was going to happen, but I couldn't prevent it from happening.'"
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
Two weeks after Tashonda went missing, a young boy went fishing in that pond and discovered her body. The authorities questioned people who knew her, including Henry Lewis Wallace, but there was no evidence to link Henry to Tashonda's murder. This first killing in 1990 established the pattern of his future murders against young black women who reminded him of his ex and his mother.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
He didn't just befriend them for easy access, he seemingly sought out certain traits. Even the victim Henry couldn't name fit this bill. Henry confessed that in May 1992, one month before he killed Caroline Love, he picked up a sex worker. Instead of paying her, he beat her to death with a rock. Later, authorities linked Henry's confession to the unsolved homicide of Sharon Nance.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
Sharon was 33, black, and a mother to a young son. This suggests Henry would have been a killer even if he'd never made a single friend. He might have found the same victims randomly. He told the men in the interrogation room, I know that I'm sick. I know that I have a problem. Hearing Henry's bombshell confession, investigators had a major lingering question. Where was Caroline Love?
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
In late 1991, Henry Louis Wallace needed a fresh start. So he left his hometown and moved to Charlotte, North Carolina. At 26, he settled in easily and made a lot of new friends. Henry's charisma and easygoing nature led people to trust him immediately. For example, when Michelle Stinson was pulled over with a stalled car, Henry stopped to help her. From then on, they were friends.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
For years, she'd been classified as missing. Henry confessed to dumping Caroline's body in the woods the night he killed her. Later, he returned to the grave site to remove the orange trash bag because he feared it would attract attention. He also said he moved her remains from their original location and into a ravine to further cover up the crime.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
Sure enough, authorities uncovered Caroline's remains in the ravine on March 13, 1994. Her family and friends finally received some closure. They also struggled to rationalize the murders with the man they knew, their friend, boyfriend, and co-worker, the man who comforted them at funerals. In the face of such revelations, Shawna Hawk's mother Dee continued to run Mothers of Murdered Offspring.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
Her organization still helps victims' families find justice today. Speaking of justice, Henry finally went to trial. In 1997, he was convicted on 29 counts and handed nine death sentences, one for each first-degree murder charge. His crimes and punishment made national news, and Henry gained the nickname the Taco Bell Strangler.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
Even though the world finally saw who he truly was, Henry maintained his charismatic charm. Within a year of going to prison, he convinced a prison nurse to quit her job so they could have a romantic relationship. As of 2017, they were still married. And it seems Henry Lewis Wallace still has two faces. Thank you for tuning into Serial Killers, a Spotify podcast.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
We're here with a new episode every Monday. Be sure to check us out on Instagram at Serial Killers Podcast, and we'd love to hear from you. So if you're tuning in on the Spotify app, swipe up and give us your thoughts. For more information on Henry Lewis Wallace, among the many sources we used, we found contemporary reporting by the Charlotte Observer and ABC 2020 extremely helpful to our research.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
Stay safe out there. This episode was written and researched by Matt Gilligan, edited by Maggie Admire, fact-checked by Laurie Siegel, and sound designed by Alex Button. I'm your host, Janice Morgan.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
When his sister's friend Valencia Jumper started living alone after a bad roommate situation, Henry stayed at her place to help her feel safe. They became friends too. His charismatic attitude also helped him get hired at a local Bojangles restaurant. Henry's co-workers were drawn to him. He was known as someone they could rely on if they needed a favor or someone to talk to.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
He eventually became friends with his fellow employees, including sisters Kathy and Caroline Love. Outside of work, Henry became a regular fixture at cookouts with his friends and neighbors, and even DJed at parties. When Henry moved on to a new job at Taco Bell, he maintained these friendships. In fact, he hired another Bojangles employee, Shauna Hawk, to join him at Taco Bell.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
He even made a good impression on Shauna's mom when she stopped by. He also befriended his Taco Bell co-workers, like Leslie Little. Henry and Leslie quickly bonded over rap music and pizza, and the next time they hung out, Leslie invited her sister, Vanessa Little Mack. Henry was instantly attracted to Vanessa, and often asked Leslie about her sister during their shifts at Taco Bell.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
He learned Vanessa was a 25-year-old single mom, and she worked at Carolina's medical center as a patient escort. Henry eventually took Vanessa on a date, but she preferred to remain friends. That didn't seem to bother Henry. He started dating a woman from Bojangles, Sadie McKnight. Even though he spent plenty of work hours socializing, higher-ups trusted Henry. They made him an assistant manager.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
He went on to tell researchers Ann Burgess and Robert Ressler that his good side is a chameleon who adapts to anything, any environment, any situation, and lures women in for his dark side. But Good Henry did more than simply lure women in. He spent years befriending very specific women, knowing they were the exact type Bad Henry might attack someday.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
Henry's new circle only knew one side of him, good Henry. But in under a year, they became bad Henry's targets. Around June 1992, Henry borrowed his girlfriend Sadie's apartment key and made a copy. Then, he waited until he knew no one would be home and let himself in. As Henry was using the bathroom, the apartment door opened.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
It was Sadie's roommate and Henry's old friend from Bojangles, 20-year-old Caroline Love. Henry announced his presence and told her he'd leave when he was done in the bathroom. But instead of leaving, Henry found Caroline sitting on the couch and kissed her on the cheek. Caroline wasn't happy. She told Henry she wouldn't tell his girlfriend, Sadie, if he promised not to do it again.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
Instead of agreeing, Henry put her in a chokehold. Caroline tried to fight him off, but Henry choked her till she was unconscious, sexually assaulted her, and strangled her to death. Acting quickly, Henry wrapped Caroline's body in a bed sheet, then into a large orange trash bag, and put the body in the back seat of his car. On the way out, he stole her laundry quarters.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
When Caroline didn't show up at work for the next two days, people worried. Her boss got in touch with her sister Kathy, another Bojangles worker, who in turn called a friend to try to find out what was going on. That friend was Henry Wallace. Henry put Kathy in touch with Sadie, who was clueless, but he didn't stop there.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
He met up with Kathy and even comforted her daughter, holding her in his lap and telling her Aunt Caroline would be back soon. Then Henry joined Sadie and Kathy on their trip to the police station to file a missing person report. A search of Caroline and Sadie's apartment didn't turn up any evidence. Neither did interviews.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
During the investigation, Henry actually befriended one of the officers, Detective Tony Rice. Rice had no reason to suspect Henry killed Caroline, and the case stayed open. Sadie was left shaken by her roommate's unexplained disappearance. She told Henry she was scared to go back to her apartment. Ironically, she was talking to the very cause of her fear. And she wasn't alone.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
Their friend Shauna Hawk was also freaking out. She'd known Caroline since high school and told her mom it was, quote, not like her to leave without saying anything. But with no answers, Shauna, Sadie, and Caroline's family all had to go on with their lives. Sadie kept dating Henry, and Shauna kept working with him at Taco Bell, where he was her manager.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
Over the next eight months, things settled down. Shauna continued balancing work and college, listening to Stevie Wonder, and spending time with her mom. One Friday in February 1993, Shauna was home alone. Henry stopped by and she let him into chat. When their conversation came to a natural end, Henry attacked. He sexually assaulted Shauna, strangled her, and left her in a bathtub full of water.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
Shauna's family found her that night and police began a homicide investigation. Meanwhile, Henry went back to work at that same Taco Bell. No one suspected he killed their coworker. Henry even attended Shauna's funeral. He hugged her mother Dee and told her how sorry he was for her enormous loss.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
Dee didn't initially suspect Henry, but she had a gut feeling that Shauna's death was somehow connected to her friend Caroline's disappearance. She pushed the police to pursue that angle, but they didn't. And as Dee saw it, Shawna's case was quickly forgotten. Taking matters into her own hands, Dee started a support group for parents like her, Mothers of Murdered Offspring.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
After his arrest, authorities had a question for serial killer Henry Lewis Wallace. Why'd he do it? Sitting in his orange jumpsuit, Henry answered calmly. He said, quote, I honestly believe that there is another Henry, one that I cannot control. There's the good Henry and then the bad Henry.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
Bad Henry committed heinous crimes, while Good Henry ensured he was always the last person his victims would suspect. But don't get it wrong. There was only one Henry. This is Serial Killers, a Spotify podcast. Every Monday, we bring you the true crime stories that stand out. I'm Janice Morgan. Be sure to check us out on Instagram at Serial Killers Podcast, and we'd love to hear from you.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
Its goals are to support victims' families, prevent future violence, and help loved ones navigate the system as they seek justice. They work to help cases like Shawna's get the attention they deserve. And Dee was right. Shauna's case wasn't properly investigated because detectives didn't have the time or resources. 1993 was Charlotte's most violent year yet.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
129 people were murdered, with only a handful of homicide investigators in town. Individual murders did not get proper attention, much less serial killer theories. Even if the Charlotte police had listened to Dee and had resources to follow through, they would have had a hard time catching Henry Lewis Wallace.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
While hiding in plain sight, he made significant efforts to cover up his next few crimes. That summer, he targeted Audrey Spain. Audrey was another Taco Bell friend. She and Henry often played tennis. Henry sexually assaulted and strangled her. Perhaps since Audrey lived alone, he left her body in her apartment, then walked out with her keys.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
Over the ensuing days, he returned to the crime scene and used the phone, so it would appear that Audrey was still alive and making calls. He also stole and used her credit card. Later that summer, Henry murdered his sister's friend, Valencia Jumper. Before leaving, he splashed her body with rum and put a can of beans on the stove.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
He cooked it until it caught fire, then left the apartment in flames. His plan was to make it look like Valencia died in a kitchen fire after a night of drinking, and he pulled it off. Initial investigators didn't suspect homicide. A month later, Henry killed his friend Michelle Stinson.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
After he strangled her, he stabbed her four times, to the point where the coroner listed stabbing as the main cause of death. In each crime, Henry took care cleaning up, so he didn't leave behind any DNA evidence or fingerprints. Sometimes he'd even force his victims to shower after he assaulted them, but before he strangled them.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
So even though they were all killed in the same way, by the same man, the five crime scenes appear different on the surface. Unconnected. Famed former FBI profiler Robert Ressler interviewed Henry later on and described him as, quote, all over the place. Ressler pointed out that the most baffling part of his story was that he killed women he was friends with.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
It was the same lead Dee had pointed out in her daughter Shauna's case. There was a pattern, but it wasn't one investigators were looking for. One of the officers on the case later said Henry, quote, does not fit any known profile of serial killers. As he said, the majority of serial killers are white, middle class, and target strangers. Henry was black, working class, and preyed on his friends.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
So police didn't realize they were hunting a serial killer. And even if they had, they wouldn't have looked for Henry. He slipped through the cracks. For about two years, good Henry kept bad Henry under wraps until his life went south. Through 1993, Henry struggled with drug addiction. He got evicted from his apartment. And in early 1994, his girlfriend, Sadie, left him.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
Henry's friends noticed a drastic change in his appearance. He was typically clean-shaven and well-dressed, but now he looked dirty and unkempt. It was clear to everyone that Henry wasn't getting much sleep. He seemed exhausted much of the time. When he did sleep, it was often in his old apartment. He began breaking into it at night. Good Henry had hit rock bottom and bad Henry fully took over.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
By early 1994, Henry Lewis Wallace had killed five of his friends and coworkers in Charlotte, North Carolina. He'd managed to avoid police scrutiny, but things were about to change. On February 20th, he called up his friend Vanessa Little Mac. Vanessa picked up the phone. After all, she and Henry had been friends for close to two years. But instead of talking, Henry just hung up.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
So if you're listening on the Spotify app, swipe up and give us your thoughts. Today we're covering Henry Louis Wallace. Wallace took 11 victims in the 1990s, mostly in Charlotte, North Carolina. He's nicknamed the Taco Bell Strangler because he murdered several of his Taco Bell coworkers. But his confessions revealed much more specific targets.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
Later that day, he showed up at her apartment. Vanessa welcomed Henry in. Henry asked Vanessa for a drink, but when she had her back turned, he put her in a chokehold. Henry forced Vanessa to give him her ATM card and her PIN so he could drain her bank account. Then he sexually assaulted and strangled her.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
Once Vanessa was dead, Henry checked on her baby daughter as if he hadn't just brutally murdered the child's mother. Then he took the ATM card to go get cash. But as he fed the card into different machines, he realized that Vanessa had lied to him about her PIN number. Without it, he couldn't withdraw any money.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
Henry left the ATM, but not before security cameras captured his attempts to use the machine. He'd just been caught on camera trying to use his victim's ATM card. However, the camera wasn't high resolution, so it was hard to identify him beyond his general appearance, a large, dark-skinned man wearing a dangling cross earring. The slip-up wouldn't lead anyone to Henry, at least not yet.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
Nearly three weeks later, Henry targeted Betty Baucom. Betty was another friend from Bojangles, so when Henry asked to come inside her apartment and use her phone, Betty let him in. Henry and Betty chatted for a while. It's possible they talked about her engagement or her future plans, since at the time Betty was considering moving to Sanford, North Carolina to be closer to her fiancé.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
Everything seemed normal until Henry suddenly put Betty in a chokehold and said he was robbing her. He wanted her valuables and the code to the safe at Bojangles. When Betty gave Henry the code, he released her. According to Henry, Betty asked, "'Why did you do that to me?' He responded that he was sick and that he'd hurt a lot of people.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
In a temporary moment of peace, Henry embraced Betty in a hug. She told him she forgave him. For a moment, it seemed like Henry might reconsider. But it didn't last. Henry attacked Betty again, sexually assaulting her and strangling her to death. After, he walked across Betty's apartment complex.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
He had other friends who lived there, specifically Lamar Woods and his 18-year-old girlfriend, Brandy Henderson. Brandy and Lamar used to invite Henry over to play cards, listen to music, and drink beer. Henry knew Lamar had to work that night, so when he stopped by, he told Brandy he was dropping something off for him. Naturally, Brandy let her friend in.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
He attacked and killed her, just like he had Betty. But Brandy wasn't home alone. Her 10-month-old son was also in the apartment, and he was crying. According to Henry's confessions, he wanted to quiet the child, so he used a bathroom towel to choke the baby. Once the baby stopped crying, Henry stole Brandy and Lamar's valuables, then left the complex with Betty Bauckham's car.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
He sold the stolen goods and used the money to buy drugs. The next day, Betty and Brandy's bodies were found in their apartment complex. So was Brandy's baby son. He'd survived Henry's attack. Police interviewed Brandy's loved ones and learned that her cousin had been on the phone with her shortly before she died.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
He said that while they were on the phone, she let a friend into her apartment, but the cousin didn't know who it was. So they went to Brandy's boyfriend, Lamar, and asked for a list of their close friends who Brandy would immediately invite inside. Lamar gave a list of names, and officers ran it through a criminal database to see if any had a record. One name popped up. Henry Lewis Wallace.
Serial Killers
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
Though Henry had covered up his murders, he had a history of arrests for robbery, as well as an armed assault of a teenage girl back in South Carolina. The officer in charge printed Henry's mugshot and continued to investigate. Not long after, another officer walked by and stopped cold. They're fixated on grainy security footage that shows a man using Vanessa's ATM card.