A community demands answers when three teenagers are found brutally slain in a scenic lakeside park, and it breathes a collective sigh of relief as righteous local lawmen quickly zero in on the perpetrators. But when the dust finally settles, many are forced to ask: who pays the price when ego eclipses justice?This is Part 1 of 2.Want to listen to Part 2 right away? You can find Part 2 in the Crime Junkie Fan Club App, available in the Apple Store and Google Play. And for more information on the 2025 Crime Junkie Tour, please visit our website! Source materials for this episode cannot be listed here due to character limitations. For a full list of sources, please visit: crimejunkiepodcast.com/infamous-the-lake-waco-murders-part-1 Did you know you can listen to this episode ad-free? Join the Fan Club! Visit crimejunkie.app/library/ to view the current membership options and policies. Don’t miss out on all things Crime Junkie!Instagram: @crimejunkiepodcast | @audiochuckTwitter: @CrimeJunkiePod | @audiochuckTikTok: @crimejunkiepodcastFacebook: /CrimeJunkiePodcast | /audiochuckllcCrime Junkie is hosted by Ashley Flowers and Brit Prawat. Instagram: @ashleyflowers | @britprawatTwitter: @Ash_Flowers | @britprawatTikTok: @ashleyflowerscrimejunkieFacebook: /AshleyFlowers.AF Text Ashley at 317-733-7485 to talk all things true crime, get behind the scenes updates, and more!
Chapter 1: What are the details of the Crime Junkie tour?
And I'm Britt. And I have some exciting news. Last week, we officially shared that we are hitting the road for a Crime Junkie tour.
And today, I'm excited to tell you that tickets are officially on sale.
We are so excited to see you guys in just a few short months. And I cannot wait to bring you, seriously, like, the wildest case, Ashley. Like, and to do it in person.
I know. You guys can find... a full list of tour stops, and purchase tickets to a show near you on our website, CrimeJunkiePodcast.com. Listen, the best I can, like, tell you is to get it now because how many years is it? It's been five years. It'll be six years since we were on tour again. We might wait another six years. If you want to see us in the flesh, do a show.
This is it. And six years ago, tickets sold super, super fast.
Oh, yeah. Venues are bigger this time, but we sold out, like, lickety-split. I know.
And like you even like it even happened when you went on a tour with the deck, too.
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Chapter 2: What happened on the night of the Lake Waco murders?
Yes. So do not wait. Get yours. Get them fast. And while you're over there, like going to CrimeJunkiePodcast.com and securing your tickets, let me jump into our story. It's a big one. This story that I have for you today is about the people we trust to steer the ship of justice and those who sometimes get swallowed up in their wake. This is the story of the Lake Waco murders.
Patrol Sergeant Truman Simons isn't your standard American cop. He is a go-at-it-alone man. Thing is, law enforcement is a group sport. You got to be able to play well with others and play by the rules. So being more rebel than ride-or-die hasn't always endeared him to his brothers in blue. But in his 17 years on the force, his record of closing tough cases is second to none.
So this guy's not here to make friends. And people kind of know that about him by now. When the radio in his patrol car crackles to life early in the evening of July 14th, 1982, and dispatch directs him, another officer, and a special investigator to one of the parks on the shores of Lake Waco, he can read between the lines.
Chances are this is something serious because special investigators are the big guns. They don't get called out for just anything. Mm-hmm. Just then, dispatch radios over again and says that they're responding to a quote-unquote questionable death and that deputies from the sheriff's office are going to meet them out there too.
He pulls up to the Spiegelville Park gate at the same time as a bunch of other investigators. A few of the faces he recognizes, like Detective Ramon Salinas from his own agency, Waco PD. Now, the crime scene isn't something you can just ride up on. So a pickup truck has to escort this like line of people down deep into the park, down this like winding dirt road.
But for a remote woodsy scene in a remote woodsy park, what they pull up to is borderline chaos. A local television news crew or two beat them there. A good number of other investigators did as well, like the sheriff's deputies, some park rangers, some constables. And unbelievably, Carlton Stowers writes in his book Careless Whispers that someone even brought their young kid to this crime scene.
That feels like maybe not the right move.
You don't even, like, know at this point because among all of these people, like, bustling about, Simon's zeroes right in on the reason they're all there. And it is so much worse than he expected. Under a nearby tree, there is a young man. He is dead and propped up against the trunk of the tree. His shirt is drenched in blood and it's shredded with flash marks.
What?
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Chapter 3: Who were the victims of the Lake Waco murders?
What do you mean?
He, like, can't totally put his finger on it, but, like, there's something in his gut that's telling him that it was her. Like, she was the main target of this whole thing. Like, whoever did this, whatever they were after, like, it involved her. She was, she's at the center of this.
How does he even know that there was a single target, though?
I mean, he doesn't. This is what I'm saying. It's a hunch. And Simons is a guy who just trusts his gut, and his gut is telling him that whoever did this was after Jill. Michael Hall did the most thorough piece on this case for Texas Monthly. I highly recommend everyone read it. I'll link to it in the show notes.
But in it, he describes this moment that Simons has this realization and it's just kind of eerie because he says that Simons like crouches down by Jill's lifeless body and he whispers in her ear. He says, I don't know what's happened to you, but I promise you one thing. Whoever did this won't just go to jail. He's going to pay for this.
I promise you that this won't be another unsolved murder case in Waco, Texas. And he plans to make good on that promise, no matter what. Now, here's the thing about that promise Simon's just made. If he's going to keep it, he's going to have to do it on his own time. Because even though he took the reins when everyone needed some direction, he's not the guy put in charge.
He's not even on the team. Patrol sergeants usually aren't. Waco Police Lieutenant Marvin Horton is officially put in charge with a team of seven investigators working the case with him, and they hit the ground running.
While the kids' bodies are sent off for autopsies in Dallas County, where they have more resources, the team starts talking to anyone and everyone in the teens' lives, trying to get a feel for who they were. What were their families like? What were they into? Did they have sketchy friends, enemies, love interests? Like, where were they last seen? When, where, and by whom? Like, all the things.
And what they learn actually muddies the picture almost as much as it clarifies it. So even though Jill and Raylene both live in Waxahachie with their families, Jill had been living in Waco until very recently at this place called the Methodist Home. That's how she knew Kenneth. He had lived there, too.
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Chapter 4: What do we know about the investigation of the murders?
Now, it's a pocket knife, but still, it was, like, abnormal enough that it stood out. Why does Jill need a pocket knife? And right away, Gloria's like, um... Can we talk about that knife on the table? Are you toting that thing around for any particular reason? And Jill's response was brief and to the point. Just one word, zero elaboration. She said, protection.
She was carrying the knife for protection.
Protection from what?
Gloria didn't push. Now, clearly, there is a whole lot more investigators need to find out. But even in talking to Raylene's family, too, they don't learn much more that's helpful in identifying a motive or a killer. She was just this sweet girl who was doing a solid for a friend. By all indications, she didn't have any other reason to be in Waco, not that day or any other.
It's like this, almost like this stupid twist of fate for all of them, really.
So it's kind of looking like Simons might have been right with his theory that, like, it all comes down to Jill.
It's very possible because even though Kenneth was the one clearly posed at the scene, when they talked to Richard and learned more about his movements that day, it just doesn't seem like there was anything going on in his life that would lead to something like this. And according to Richard, Kenneth didn't even know Jill was in town on the 13th until she called out of the blue that evening.
And you go back to that, like, terrible twist of fate. Like, what if he'd missed her call? Would he still be alive? Would all three of them still be alive? I mean, it's enough. Like, I can't imagine being their parents and, like, having those questions just, like, drive you absolutely up a wall. And those questions are also driving the entire city a little crazy. Yeah.
As you can imagine, once word gets out, it spreads through Waco like wildfire and beyond. And everyone thinks that they've got the key to solving the case, which means the tips do start pouring in almost right away. It was some dude from a local biker gang. No, it was members of a satanic cult. Actually, it was the nervous hitchhiker with blood on his pants.
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Chapter 5: What evidence was found at the crime scene?
Have any of the families mentioned anything about this?
No, they talked to all of them. Not a word about this.
So it's just coming in on like tip lines.
On the tip lines. But some of these tips get pretty specific, like names and whatnot. And one of the more specific rumors going around about Kenneth is that he owed like three grand to a local drug dealer named Terry Lee Harper or Tab as they call him. But Tab was said to be running out of patience with Kenneth. Now, Tab and law enforcement go way back.
But the thing is, Tab's never been suspected of anything like this. Like, dude's always been more of a high misdemeanor, low felony kind of guy.
And this would be like a hell of a first murder, like zero to 100. Right.
But no one's ruling him out just because of that, especially because Tab himself has been going around taking credit for the murders. And listen, people bragging about murdering people when they didn't to look tough or cool or whatever, it might sound bananas, but it honestly doesn't even register for me anymore. Like, we've seen this so many times.
Especially if he's, like, trying to muscle money out of people. Right, right, right. Like, kind of puff himself up.
Right, so I'm not ready to zero in on him just based on that. But there is this other interesting little tidbit. So it turns out Tab was spotted at Caney Park that night that they were killed by multiple people.
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Chapter 6: What insights do the autopsies provide?
In that moment, he agrees with Simons. This situation is fucked. And the people he has working this case are the wrong people because they're not working it.
Right.
And in that moment, that's when Simons is like, you know what, chief? I volunteer as tribute.
Of course he does.
And Chief Scott probably has to take a beat to think about this proposal because according to Hall, these two men have something of a love-hate relationship. To be honest, love-hate relationships are kind of like Simons' jam. But Simons pipes back up. He tells the chief, listen, I will have this case solved in a week. One week.
Okay.
And that's all the chief needs to hear. The case is his.
But, like, he knows that's not real, right? Like, who the hell would promise to solve, like, any case, let alone this case, in a week?
I know. I don't think he's necessarily buying it. But at the end of the day, Simons is right on the only point that matters. To put a case that rocked the city on a shelf and basically label it, we quit after such a short time, it's indefensible. Mm-hmm. So nearly two months in, Simons is officially given his chance.
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Chapter 7: What theories are emerging about the case?
Simons had given himself a week to close this case. And here he is on day like two or three. It's all coming together. Simons is being Simons. He's like, I'm ready to move forward with an arrest now. But the other guys at his department, like Lieutenant Horton and Sergeant Bob Fortune, they tell Simons he's jumping the gun in a major way. Even Bayer has his doubts.
But there's only one guy's opinion that really matters, and that's Chief Scott. So Simon takes it straight to the top. He makes a beeline for this dude's office, fills him in on what he's learned so far about Muneer.
And when he tells him that Muneer might be about to run, to like flee the state, who knows, possibly the country altogether, that's when Chief Scott gives him the green light to just go get this guy.
Wait, is this fleeing stuff, is that for real?
To be completely fair, I don't have a solid answer. I know what I think the answer is, but I don't know.
Got it.
Anyway, with the chief's green light, Simons has Munir arrested. And by the time he's talking to him, Simons has already developed a theory. Munir had to have had help. Physically, he just does not think he could overpower all three teenagers alone. So Simons and Sergeant Fortune start going in on this kid, asking him what he knows about the murders.
And right away, he swears up and down he knows nothing. He had nothing to do with them. And eventually, Simons changes tactics. If he's not going to connect himself to the crime, then Simons needs to see if he'll connect himself to this name that he's kind of heard a few times by this point, Chili. Now, apparently this Chili guy is kind of rough. He hangs out at Munir's store.
But like all he has is clearly Chili's a nickname, right? Right. So it seems like he kind of goes off book and he just straight up asked Munir if he knows this guy. And Munir doesn't deny it, like, at all. He's like, well, listen, I own this centrally located convenience store that brings in a whole bunch of different people. And yeah, one of them is this guy that everyone else calls Chili.
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