50 Shades of Evil: Arizona “The Baseline Killer”

0:15 I walk a straight line, shackled and chained. Oh, gruesome Gertie is calling my name. There is no mercy in this penitentiary. Just ask the hill string gang, a wrangle of three. To die inside these. Walls inside the wild.

0:56 And when the wolf cries Hey y'all, welcome back to Bloody Angola. I'm Jim Chapman, and we are back with a Fifty Shades of Evil series. Each week, one state, one of its most dangerous inmates, and this week y'all, we're headed to Arizona. Now look, Arizona is the Grand Canyon State, right? Red rocks, desert sunsets, the whole postcard.

1:53 But in the summer of 2005, Phoenix had a monster walking around in broad daylight. A concrete finisher, a husband, a neighbor. And by the time anybody caught him, nine people were dead. All of them shot in the head with the same gun. A gun, by the way, that has never been found. Today, I'm going to tell you about the crimes of Mark Goudo. So let's get into it. Now, we're going to start out in 1964 and 50. Phoenix, Arizona, because that's where Mark Guto was born to his parents, Willie and Alberta. He was part of a very large family and he was the youngest of 11 siblings. Now, obviously, big family like this. In most cases, money becomes extremely tight.

2:45 There's a lot of stress that comes with that, and that was certainly the case here. According to reports, both of Guto's parents abused alcohol so early on, Mark had it pretty tough as it relates to his childhood. this did not get any easier. And when he was just 11 years old, his mother would die unexpectedly from a stroke. So at this point, his older siblings really took the role of raising young Mark and his father kind of drifted in and out of his life. Now, into his teenage years, Mark would already show signs that he may be becoming somewhat of a social problem. He gets accused of rape. However, the woman refused to press charges, so that case goes nowhere. In his early 20s, Mark secures a job working as a valet at a car dealership, basically taking these newly sold cars, he would detail them prior to the customer's taking delivery of those vehicles. It was hard work. It was blue collar. And at this point, Mark just appeared to be a normal guy making his way in the world. However, he would show early signs of just not being right. Something being off with this guy.

4:07 Let's go to August of 1989 and the Phoenix police are called out late at night to a domestic disturbance. An officer pulls up to the scene and He observes a white female, completely naked, running outside of a residence and approaches his patrol car. She is in total panic, y'all. So much so that she was struggling to even get the words out to this officer that she had been attacked. She finally composes herself enough to let police know she had been sexually assaulted. and that the assailant was still in her apartment. So this officer waits for backup, and once it arrives, officers approach the door. They knock on that door, and Mark answers the door. Totally cool, calm, and collected. basically acts like he was having consensual sex with this girl, and she just jumped up and ran out of the house, butt naked. But police notice a lot of things. Guto had blood on his hands, and the woman that had confronted police was beaten up. They also noticed things were turned over inside of this house, which...

5:21 was indicative of a struggle. They questioned Guto, and after investigating on the 29th of November of 1989, Guto does in fact get charged with sexual assault, kidnapping, and attempted murder of this woman. Now, those are serious charges, y'all, but shockingly, he's released on bail. Now, believe it or not, all these charges, despite that, people who knew Mark, they simply didn't believe it. He even had a girlfriend who stuck with him, by the way, through all of this, and all of his friends would stick with him, co-workers, etc.

6:03 No one believed this guy was responsible for this or anything else. that I'm going to tell you about today. Now, the details of what he did to this woman in her apartment, eventually those would come out and they were quite shocking. He had beat her with a barbell after threatening her with a shotgun. He then forced her to snort cocaine and then raped her. Two witnesses would come forward and say they saw him doing this and attempted to intervene and he chased them away with a shotgun. Just a horrific crime. So you would think while he is awaiting trial for this, he would kind of lay low, but he doesn't. Over the next year, he commits a series of robberies and assaults. And on August the 6th of 1990, almost exactly a year from that first attack, Guto strikes again when he assaults a woman in her home with a shotgun. He beat her with that shotgun, raped her, and then ran water in the bathtub in an attempt to drown this woman. Now, miraculously, this woman would escape and go to police. Again, he is arrested. Again, he bails out. And again, this guy cannot just lay low.

7:24 In August of 1990, he walks into a Phoenix supermarket armed with a shotgun and robs it. He gets caught in this robbery charge combined with his other previous charges that he would plea down netted him a $ 20 year prison sentence. Now he would not have it so bad on the inside though. And he would even marry his girlfriend while he was locked up on this 21 year prison sentence for rape and all of these other things that he had done. So Mark Guto, he serves these 13 years in prison and inside he's a model prisoner.

8:07 There's not a whole bunch of write-ups or or anything like that. And before he is paroled in 2004, he tells the parole board, quote, prison is a place that will never see me again. Unquote. Now that coupled with the fact that his girlfriend who he married in prison was really fighting for him. And she was like in public doing this in the news. She didn't believe he did any of this stuff. She actually really assisted in him getting parole so early. So upon his release, he moves into his wife's home. And incidentally, her name is Wendy Carr. Now, Mark Guto, he appears to be on the right path. First thing he does is he gets a job as a concrete finisher and just appeared to be a rehabilitated man trying to get through his life and get everything back together. But y'all, it was all a facade. So let's go to the summer of 2005 and And the Phoenix PD at this point of time in history, they're already being overwhelmed with crimes of all type, from gang violence to robberies. It just was not a good time to be in Phoenix, Arizona. So on September 20th of 2005, two sisters in their 20s, they're at a public park with their family. They're just having a great time on a weekend. They're playing in like the water.

9:41 the concrete water sprayers and all those sorts of things at these parks. And as the day wrapped up, these two sisters decide to walk home. It was a pretty evening. They didn't live far from this park. And along their walk, a man, much later determined to be Guto, approached them near what was known as Baseline Road. And he had a handgun. He pulls the gun out, forces them into some large bushes by the sidewalk, and orders them to strip. Then he sexually assaults the younger of the two sisters. But while attempting to penetrate her, he was struggling to get an erection, and he was having difficulty getting on the condom. Now, it's important to note, the older sister in this particular incident was visibly pregnant. Six months along.

10:36 So at this point, he is apparently frustrated. He can't get an erection. He takes the gun and he points it between the legs of the older sister, who at this point starts begging for the life of herself. and her unborn child. And at this point, the sisters start fighting back for the gun. One sister grabs it and she tries to shoot, but she can't figure out how to fire the gun. The other sister then at some point gets her hands on the gun But she has the same issue. Can't figure out how to fire it. Eventually, Mark gets the gun back and he's panicked at this point. He leaves the bushes. But before he does, he has one of the sisters spit on his hands and he takes the spit in some dirt and he had scooped this dirt off of the ground and he rubs it all over both of the sisters breast everywhere that he touched. Now, later, it would be determined that it was in an effort to destroy any DNA he may have left on these girls.

11:39 Guto being in prison, he was somewhat familiar with DNA, even though DNA, even at this point in time, was in its infancy. Now, I want to back up six weeks because police got, obviously, this report of this attack, but they weren't aware this was not the first time this guy had attacked somebody. Six weeks prior, in August of 2005, three minors were approached on the same road, Baseline Road, at gunpoint. The assailant, later determined to be Guto, claimed he had just robbed a bank and needed directions. He then ordered the teens, and there were two girls and a boy in this group, behind a church in a secluded spot, and he sexually assaults both girls. And he wipes them off with a towel before leaving. Now, because he wore a baseball cap low on his head that night, none of the teens could identify the assailant.

12:40 But it was later determined to be Guto. Now, let's go to September 8th of 2005. And I'm going to tell you about a 19 year old girl by the name of Georgia Thompson. Now, Georgia was a beautiful girl, but she was living in the world of high risk lifestyles. She was a dancer at a strip club. On the night of September 8th, her and her friend, they go to a bar in the area. They have a few drinks. And after a night of fun, she heads home to her apartment. But she would never make it to her front door. A neighbor reported hearing a woman scream the words, quote, leave me alone. and then a loud gunshot. Georgia Thompson is found dead in the parking lot of her apartment with a single gunshot wound to the head. Her pants are unbuttoned, and they're unzipped, and her keys were still in her hand. Now, at the time, due to the amount of killings going on in the area, police didn't connect it to the prior rapes by what many were now calling the Baseline Rapist. Let's go to September 28th of 2005 and two attacks in one evening. Now, in the first, a restaurant takeout window on Baseline Road. You've got two female employees and they're working when a man walks up to that window. He points a gun. at

14:11 these girls, and he demands money. The two women ran away from the window, but the assailant grabs the purse of one of the women, which was within arm's length. He just kind of stuck his hand in, grabbed the purse, and runs off. Moments later, in that same parking lot, a woman and her 12-year-old daughter are just sitting in their car when Guto walks up, gets in the back seat, orders mom to drive, and starts demanding $ 20. Now, during that drive, he actually sexually assaults this girl's 12-year-old daughter.

14:52 He then orders mom to pull over behind a store. He orders mom out of the car. He sexually assaults her, and then he orders her to drive back to the restaurant parking lot they just came from. And he even took time to wipe down everything, including the victims in this case, when he got back, which this is strange behavior, y'all, especially in 2005. Most people had no idea how DNA worked. And this type of thing that he was doing every time he would assault somebody, it would actually aid police. in linking these crimes because nobody did that back then. Now, obviously, by this point, this guy has lost all control. Two attacks in one night and the attacks, as well as the murder he had already committed, are getting closer and closer together as it relates to time frame. And Mark Guto, he would just keep getting bolder as he pulled off these crimes and didn't get caught. And on November 3rd of 2005, two more attacks, just minutes apart. The first one at 8.01 that evening in Phoenix, Arizona, he goes to a lingerie store called Cupid's Toy Box and he robs the cashier of all the money in the register.

16:12 And then he leaves the store and goes right across the street. He sees a woman and she's placing items in a donation bin. One of those big metal bin jaw. He abducts her at gunpoint. He forces her to drive and he tells her, hey, I just robbed a store with a buddy of mine and my buddy kind of left me holding the bag. He tells her to pull over into what was a quiet neighborhood and he sexually assaults her. inside of that car he then tells her to do the exact same thing you've heard before he tells her to spit on his hands which he then uses the saliva to wipe her down with now this is three days after halloween y'all but the victim said he was wearing a halloween costume and black glasses imagine How terrifying that must have been to have a guy come up on you, kidnap you, and sexually assault you in a Halloween costume. Then, just a few days after that, Mark commits three armed robberies in one night. He robbed two people outside of a Mexican restaurant and then robbed one person across the street at a Little Caesars parking lot.

17:31 And those three robberies netted less than $ 500 total. But he's getting bolder, y'all. He is getting confident. And that is a problem when you're this guy. Let's go to December 12, 2005. And we're going to talk about 39-year-old Tina Washington. Tina was a preschool teacher. And every day, she would take the bus from the preschool where she worked to home. This particular evening after work, she took the bus to her normal drop off point and cut through an alley to save some time walking home where Guto finds her. And there is a struggle and two shots ring out. A man who was working in his business, he hears this and exits his business through the back door into the alley where Guto sees him, points the gun at him, squeezes the trigger, but it misfires. And this guy, panicked, retreats back to his store and he calls police. And the police arrive and they find Tina Washington dead with two gunshot wounds to her head. She was robbed of the little bit of jewelry that she had, including a ring with an inscription inside of it, which much later was found in Guto's home. Now, you have a lot of incidents happening here, and police at this point,

19:02 they're connecting a lot of dots. And they realized that while before they were dealing with what they referred to as the Baseline Rapist, had now become the Baseline Killer. So let's go to February 20th of 2006. And I'm going to tell you about a 38-year-old woman by the name of Romelia Vargas. And she operated a food truck in Phoenix, Arizona. And early in the morning, she and an employee named Myrna Roman, they arrive at this food truck and they start working inside, I guess, prepping for breakfast that morning on this large construction site. when they were shot and killed between 5 and 7 a.m. Now, these were good, hardworking women. and mothers. Miss Vargas was a mother to six kids. Miss Roman was a mother to five kids. Customers showed up. They lined up. They're waiting for this food truck to open for them to slide the window open, whatever. And no one's coming. And that was way out of ordinary for these two ladies. Eventually, a customer is like, man, what is up? Pulls on the door and discovers their bodies inside. Now, initially, police would think that this was not related to the baseline killer, but later those killings were linked to Guto through DNA evidence. Now, again,

20:36 both women in this case had their pants unzipped and slightly pulled down, but it was determined that they were not sexually assaulted. It was almost like they were intentionally posed that way, almost as if Mark Guto was mocking police. Now, at this point, Mark Guto had killed four people, raped many others, and outside most of the robberies, rapes, and murders taking place on Baseline Road, There was no obvious pattern. You had all races, all ages, especially with the robberies. And it didn't matter if they were male or female with the robberies either. So let's go to the 14th of March, 2006. And we're going to talk about 23-year-old George Chu and 20-year-old Liliana Cabrera. Now, it was Liliana's first day of work, y'all. And it was at a restaurant called Yoshi's Restaurants. And being the nice co-worker that he is, George Chu offers to drive her home that night after her shift. They go to the car, and at some point, Guto approaches them in the parking lot and pulls a gun on them. He jumps into the backseat of Chu's car, and at some point, while Chu is driving, Guto shoots him in the back of the head.

22:03 takes over control of the car, pushes Chew out of the car, drives back to the parking lot of the restaurant. And all we know from there is 20-year-old Liliana was found dead in that car with a bullet to the back of her head and her pants undone. And Chew's keys were missing and they were robbed of all their cash. Now, if you're keeping track, this is murders five and six. and Chu was the first man killed by the baseline killer. So let's go to just two weeks later on March 29th of 2006, and I'm going to tell you about Kristen Gibbons. Now, Kristen was 26 years old, and there's not a whole lot of information on what led up to her death, but she was found dead in Phoenix with a bullet wound to the head and stuffed between a house and a storage unit. Her purse and her phone were missing. And much later, police would find a ski mask at Mark's home with Kristen's blood on it.

23:10 So at this point, police form a task force and they start working with several different agencies to catch this guy who at this point had killed seven people and raped many more. And these task force become necessary because at that point, police start sharing information. Not only one particular agency with another, but even statewide agencies, and sometimes even federally, they will share information. It becomes a key part of this investigation. Let's go to April 10th of 2006, and we're going to talk about Sophia Nunes, whose body was found in her bathtub by her eight-year-old son.

23:54 Horrific. Apparently, her son was waiting for her to pick him up from school. She never showed, so he walked home. He walked inside, and he hears water running in the bathroom, and he assumes what all of us would assume. Mom's taking a bath, right? So he's sitting down, watching TV, doing whatever it is he does, and he waited a while, and he knows that mom should be out of the bath by now. So he kind of walks down the hallway and he notices water running out from under the door. So he goes in to the bathroom and he finds his mother half naked in the tub with a bullet embedded in her eye. Now this poor kid pulls his mother out and attempts to apply CPR as only an eight-year-old can, right? He calls police. Sadly, she was already dead.

24:56 She was just 37 years old. And that's killing number eight. So everybody, police, the public is in panic at this point. And police know they have to go public with everything they got if they want to get this guy caught. So they take to the media and they release a composite sketch. And they also let the public know, hey, this guy isn't responsible for what we believe is at least eight murders, but he's also responsible for a ton of rapes. And they list 18 crimes total that he's possibly killed. linked to. You would think that would slow Mark Goudo down, scare him, especially with a sketch being out there that looks very similar to him. But he's not deterred. On May 1st of 2006, he abducts a woman while wearing a Halloween mask yet again, and he sexually assaults her at gunpoint. Now, he tried to shoot her, but the gun misfired and she escaped the vehicle naked. However, on June 29th of 2006, Mark Guto would claim his ninth victim. Her name was Carmen Miranda. She was 37 years old. She was a mother of two and she was washing her car at a coin-operated car wash when

26:28 Guto approached her. And at the time, she was actually on her cell phone with her boyfriend. And she tells her boyfriend, hold on for a second. Someone's walking up. And then he hears a blood-curdling scream. And the line goes completely dead. But this boyfriend happened to be close by. He calls police. And he calls Carmen's brothers. And they all go running to this car wash where she was at. They arrived in a matter of minutes, but they were too late. She was gone and her car was gone. They looked for hours in and around this car wash and they eventually find her car behind a barber shop only about 100 yards away from this car wash. And inside, they also see Carmen in the car, her pants unzipped and pulled down in a bullet. in her head. Now, in this instance, the whole thing happened to be caught on surveillance video, but y'all, this is the early 2000s.

27:38 There was no ring cameras. Surveillance video back then was grimy at best. And that was the case here. And I've seen their surveillance video and it is absolutely impossible to make out any sort of identification. It is chilling though. And you can find that on YouTube if you want to check it out. Mark Guto, at this point, has now claimed his ninth victim. So, the summer of 2006 in Phoenix, y'all, it was a summer of fear. And I don't use that phrase lightly. The composite sketch, by this point, it is on billboards and posters all over the city. A $ 100, 000 reward for information leading to this guy's capture. There are thousands of hours of patrol, hundreds of tips. They had community meetings where police would tell people to be careful, to watch each other, and to lock their doors. And one thing I haven't mentioned up to this point was at this point in time, Phoenix had two serial killer cases running at the same time.

28:48 They had the baseline killer. And they also had what was known as the serial shooters. And that was two guys doing random shootings with a. 22 rifle. Two different monsters, y'all. Two different cases. One terrified city. So the police had it stacked against them. And then in August of 2006, August 3rd to be exact, something happens that almost derails the whole thing. a man named James Mullins gets interviewed by police in Kentucky on a burglary case, and he claimed responsibility for the murder of Georgia Thompson. Said he shot her outside of a strip club in Scottsdale when she tried to rob him. Now, police don't believe it.

29:37 Her body actually was found on 10 miles away in Tempe Arizona at her own apartment complex as I told you so he had the details completely screwed up and this happens sometimes with these high-profile cases Crazy people out there want to take credit for him. Now, Mullins did change his story when police definitively linked the homicide to the baseline killer by DNA. And he said, OK, I admit it. I wasn't even in Arizona at all. So on August 3rd of 2006. These murder charges that originally went up against Mullins were dropped. But police were pissed. They said publicly that Mullins caused a significant diversion of resources during the hunt for the genuine killer that they were looking for. Think about it. Weeks of police time, y'all.

30:30 Burned on a lie. But in August of 2006, there is a real break in this case. And we're going to pick that up next week. I want to thank you so much for listening today. Check out the Patreon. Patreon.com slash Bloody Angola Podcast for commercial-free early releases. You're going to hear commercials if you're listening on the free feed. It's the only way this show is paid for outside of the Patreon. So we do offer commercial-free early releases on Patreon. It's holidays, y'all. There's a lot of people out there wanting to get their ads out. And we cannot turn down money on this show or this show would not exist. So I apologize if you hear more ads than usual. And that's why I'm telling you, check out the Patreon. You don't have to listen to all that.

31:21 And it is like $ 2. 50 a week. We'd love to have you join us there. Thank you to everyone else. And until next time, for Bloody Angola Podcast, I'm your host, Jim Chapman. Much love.