Thrasher Banks
Appearances
Lords of Death
6 | Angel of Death
At that point, they went inside the house to check on Matty and Geraldine, who were both distraught.
Lords of Death
6 | Angel of Death
After killing Jack, they wrapped his body up in a rug and put him in the back of a pickup truck. They decided that Mick and Miles would bury his body in a remote part of Wayne National Forest while Caleb stayed home to clean up the blood and pick up the shell casings.
Lords of Death
6 | Angel of Death
Nick and Miles spent several hours digging the hole for Jack's body. By the time they were done, it was daylight, and they drove into town to wash the blood off of the truck.
Lords of Death
6 | Angel of Death
It took authorities nearly two years to figure out what happened. When they first spoke with Mick, he wrote out a detailed confession about the murder. Here's part of his statement. That was a very nice family, Mick wrote. They would do anything for a person. But when Jack came into their lives, it was a whole new deal. Jack had that family scared to death.
Lords of Death
6 | Angel of Death
What we did was the only way out for the family. And if you knew Jack the way we did, you would agree that was the only way out for them too. You know, I've never had any feelings of taking someone's life. And after we shot and killed Jack, things in my life haven't been the same for me. And I'm sure it hasn't been for Miles and Caleb. You have these weird dreams, can't think right.
Lords of Death
6 | Angel of Death
But as time goes by, it clears up little by little, but not all of it. I can see myself not wanting to do things like I used to. It's just a different life to live with. Although Miles, Maddie, Caleb, and Geraldine could finally live in peace after seven years of fear, beatings, and whatever else Jack put them through, they are free to live their lives the way they want to.
Lords of Death
6 | Angel of Death
But you gotta understand this much. I ain't no murderer. I don't intend to be one either, even though I have killed a person. But that was the only chance that I could see of getting something done about Jack. You must understand, it had to be done. We had a purpose to do what we did, and I sure do feel bad about it. We had no choice.
Lords of Death
6 | Angel of Death
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Lords of Death
6 | Angel of Death
All I want to do is get this out in the open so I can go on living a normal life. Because I feel that after all this is over with, I'll be able to go on without any problems. But I want you to understand, we're not cold-blooded. And I don't want to be thought of as that. Just investigate it, and you'll see I speak the truth.
Lords of Death
6 | Angel of Death
Even with Mick's confession, the lack of a body made it difficult to build a case. So they asked Mick to take them where they buried Jack, out in Wayne National Forest.
Lords of Death
6 | Angel of Death
I found documents in the box about Jack's murder and noticed that an attorney named Rick Faulkner represented Mick on the case. I have no reason to doubt making Caleb's account, but I hope to get additional clarification from a third party. So I gave Rick a call and asked him if he remembered Mick's case.
Lords of Death
6 | Angel of Death
Even law enforcement understood why they killed Jack. As Caleb said, they went through seven years of hell. Given the pattern of abuse they were subjected to, I could see why they did what they did, although I don't condone it. And so far, it sounds like Mick has been truthful about why they killed Jack. His public defender, Rick, was able to confirm it almost to a T all these years later.
Lords of Death
6 | Angel of Death
So the discrepancy between Mick's account and Rick's is that Mick told me that they buried Jack, but when he went with law enforcement to search for the body, he told them they dumped him in a well.
Lords of Death
6 | Angel of Death
So what I gathered, without Mick stating it explicitly, is that he had no intentions of leading them to Jack's body. So he made up the story about the well. Even though they didn't recover Jack's body, Mick was charged with aggravated murder.
Lords of Death
6 | Angel of Death
Given the circumstances of Jack's murder, Rick was able to get the courts to throw out the aggravated murder charge if Mick pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter, which carried a sentence of three to 10 years. After that, Mick never saw his cousins or Geraldine again.
Lords of Death
6 | Angel of Death
Mick's cousins avoided charges for the murder and didn't know what happened to Mick until I connected with Caleb a few years ago.
Lords of Death
6 | Angel of Death
When my mom, Carrie, gave me the box that started all of this, I wanted to figure out why Cindy Cozad was murdered in June of 1995 and what was the extent of Mick's involvement. When I was a kid, my mom was adamant that Mick was just driving the car and had nothing to do with the murder. But if this is true, it's not clear why Tim killed Cindy. Even today, Mick claims he doesn't know.
Lords of Death
6 | Angel of Death
Learning about the circumstances surrounding Jack's murder gave me a new perspective on Mick. It turned out that he wasn't manipulating my mom at all. What he told her about the murder when they first met was true. What he did wasn't right, but he did it to protect his family. So he operates in a moral gray area.
Lords of Death
6 | Angel of Death
He's willing to make sacrifices to protect the people he loves, even if it involves violence. If they didn't kill Jack, Maddie could have ended up dead. But what does this mean for his role in Cindy Cozad's murder 10 years later? Do you think that Mick would kill someone, kill a woman for no reason?
Lords of Death
6 | Angel of Death
I found a news article in the box where Mick is quoted saying that Tim had threatened to kill me, my mom, and my sister if he told anyone about the murder. He even echoes this sentiment in his interview with Detective Wade Lawson.
Lords of Death
6 | Angel of Death
So if Mick did shoot Cindy, did he do it out of fear that Tim would harm my family? If he was coerced by Tim, is he equally responsible for Cindy's death? Ultimately, that question was decided by a jury at his trial.
Lords of Death
6 | Angel of Death
When I spoke with Tim's close friend, Pete Gravins, he revealed one potential motive for the murder.
Lords of Death
6 | Angel of Death
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Lords of Death
6 | Angel of Death
This made me wonder if the murder was supposed to be Mick's sacrifice to join the Lords of Death. Remember, to join the group, you had to take a soul. As much as I didn't want to believe this, I couldn't just write it off. And the only person who knew the real reason behind the murder was Tim. So I wrote him a letter and asked him to tell me the truth about what happened and if Mick shot Cindy.
Lords of Death
6 | Angel of Death
You want to know if Mick lied? He wrote, I'm not asking you to believe me over Mick. So ask him to explain what happened on his last case when he went to prison for manslaughter. So Tim's reasoning for why I should believe Mick shot Cindy Kozad is simple. He says Mick has killed before. But if this is true, I need to know the full story.
Lords of Death
6 | Angel of Death
So here's the thing about my mom. She always looks for the best in people. The idea that Mick sacrificed himself to protect his family outweighed the fact that he had killed someone. But for me, as an adult, I had a hard time believing Mick's story. I mean, what are the odds that Mick was involved in two different murders?
Lords of Death
6 | Angel of Death
At this point, I started thinking that maybe Mick had manipulated my mom and wasn't the person we thought he was. But to give Mick the benefit of the doubt, I gave him the opportunity to tell me his side of the story.
Lords of Death
6 | Angel of Death
Mick's uncle Jack lived in a rural part of southeastern Ohio with his wife Geraldine and her three kids from a previous marriage. To protect their privacy, I'm not using their real names. There was Caleb, who was Mick's age, his brother Miles, and their older sister Maddie.
Lords of Death
6 | Angel of Death
After spending a few summers in Ohio with the family, Mick developed a close relationship with his cousins. For a while, everything seemed fine. Mick even admits he enjoyed spending time with his Uncle Jack and the rest of the family. But in the summer of 1985, things started to change.
Lords of Death
6 | Angel of Death
Mick witnessed some of this firsthand, like the bullet holes in the bedroom wall that he mentioned. But his cousins shared other stories about Jack that detailed a pattern of abuse they'd endured during the seven years he'd been in their lives. Here's one of the cousins, Caleb. He refers to Mick by his first name, James.
Lords of Death
6 | Angel of Death
Some of the stories Caleb and Mick shared with me are so horrific, I don't even want to go into detail here.
Lords of Death
6 | Angel of Death
Matty had it the worst of them all, and as the abuse escalated over the coming months, the other cousins couldn't bear to let it go on a day longer.
Lords of Death
6 | Angel of Death
As the night went on and Jack became more intoxicated, his behavior towards Maddie grew more violent and unpredictable, making his cousins felt that if they didn't do something, her life could be in danger.
Lords of Death
6 | Angel of Death
The way Jack was treating Maddie pushed Mick and his cousins over the edge. Rather than let him continue to abuse her, they decided to finally do something about it.
Lords of Death
6 | Angel of Death
And according to Mick, the cousins weren't the only ones ready to do something about Jack.
Lords of Death
6 | Angel of Death
The cousins decided that rather than call the police and run the risk of Jack making bail and it all coming back on them, they needed to end it once and for all. To them, the only way out was to kill Jack. So after he left the house with Maddie to drink with a friend, Mick, Caleb, and Miles put a plan into motion.
Lords of Death
6 | Angel of Death
The plan was for Mick and Miles to wait behind a coal pile and shoot Jack when he got out of his truck. Caleb's job was to guard the back door with a shotgun in case Jack tried to get inside.
Lords of Death
Who are the Lords of Death?
It all begins with the grim murder of Cindy's host dad in Triangle Park. The 29-year-old was shot twice, killed, and left for dead in a park shelter. It was a pair of shorts, women's shorts, and they were covered in blood and brain matter.
Lords of Death
Who are the Lords of Death?
I'm Thrasher Banks, the host of the new Tenderfoot TV podcast, Lords of Death, available now.