Jan. 9, 2025

Avenging the Peaceful Warrior - The Conviction of Eric Mickelson and Beverly Arthur

Show Notes
Transcript

In this episode of Bloody Angola Podcast, Jim Chapman covers the case, conviction and incarceration of Eric Mickelson and Beverly Arthur, linked to the tragic murder of 86-year-old war hero Charles Martin Jr. Jim provides insight into Charles’s life, the tragic incident that led to his murder and the manhunt for those responsible. What starts out as a quest to prove a case for one victim turns into a race to solve a missing persons case from eleven years prior.

Timestamps
01:40 Introduction to Charles Martin
08:46 The Mysterious Disappearance of Charles Martin Jr.
12:04 Uncovering the Truth
16:28 Eric Mickelson's Background
20:10 The Confession
20:44 The Search for Kristi O’Pry

Sources:

Find-a-grave. Kristi Gwen O’Pry.
Kristi Gwen O’Pry Obituary.
Kristi Gwen O’Pry. The Charley Project. Accessed 07 Dec 2024.
Find-a-grave. Charles Martin Jr.
Allen, Sammy G. “Local woman still…” The Times. 28 Jul 1996.
Martin, Margaret. “Family searches for…” The Times. 11 Aug 1996.
Staff Writer. “Times Update: Missing…” The Times. 07 Dec 1996.
Burton, Larry. “Woman missing for…” The Times. 27 May 1997.
Walker, Don. “Search for woman…” The Times. 28 Nov 1997.
Walker, Don. “Search planned for…” The Times. 27 Dec 1997.
Burton, Larry. “Search for woman…” The Times. 28 Dec 1997.
Staff Writer. “O’Pry case topic…” The Times. 03 Feb 1998.
Staff Writer. “East Carroll inmate…” The Times. 16 Nov 2004.
Staff Writer. “Murder Suspect admits…” KTBS3 News. 13 Jul 2007.
Wilson, Loresha, and Causey, Adam Kealoha. “Accused killer admits…” The Times. 14 Jul 2007.
Prime, John Andrew.

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WEBVTT

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M M A Wall Street line, shackle change, Oh do

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someome girdie, it's calling my name. There is no mercy

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and it's been a tentery juice as the huge stream

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game Rango three.

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Come in by me to die.

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Inside these walls, inside the wild han't went no girls.

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I Hey everyone, and welcome back to Bloody Angola, a

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podcast one and forty two years in the making, the

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complete story of America's bloodiest prison. I'm Jim Chapman, and

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today I'm bringing you another story of someone incarcerated in

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America's bloodiest prison and a female accomplice incarcerated elsewhere. Is

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we cover the crimes, conviction, and incarceration of Eric Michelson

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and Beverly Arthur. Now, before we get into this, just quickly.

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This is the first episode I have recorded on Bloody

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and Gola since the horrific terrorist attack in New Orleans

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that left fifteen people dead, including the piece of shit responsible,

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and many more injured. I'm sure that most of you

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have heard the details, so I won't get into that here.

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This event happened about an hour from where I record

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here in South Louisiana, and obviously my heart and prayers

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go out to the victims of this tragedy in my

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home state of Louisiana. It goes without saying, there's no

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honor in what this fuckstick did. He's a coward and

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he died a coward, and that is that. So we're

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gonna get into today's episode, and I'm going to start

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off by telling you a little bit about Charles Martin Junior. Now,

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Charles Martin Junior was born on May fourteenth, nineteen twenty one,

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in Colorado. He was from a large family, actually one

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of eleven children, and of course, during this time in history,

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the twenties, large families were very common. And when Charles

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was five years old, his family picked up and they

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moved to Shreveport, Louisiana. Which Shreport is in the northern

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part of Louisiana, about four and a half to five

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hours from where I record, and it borders Texas to

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the west in Arkansas to the north. Now, when he

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was a little boy, Charles was a musical talent. He

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loved to play the harmonica. He would go to nursing

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homes and he would cheer up the older folks by playing,

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and he actually got so good at it he started

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composing his own songs, but it spoke to who he

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was as a person, even at a very young age.

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And then he would go to those nursing homes and

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want to put a smile on the face of these

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older people just by entertaining them and playing harmonica. But

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he was very mechanically inclined as well. He loved to

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work with his hands. He even designed and built his

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own home security system as well as many other electronic devices.

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At the time in history where electronics really being discovered

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for the first time. Now Charles grandsons Martin and Chriss

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would later say, we took a part on copy machines

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to get the parts to make that alarm system. So

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he would repurpose other electronic items. Just an amazing guy

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with his hands. He also loved to fish, and when

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he had his own children later on in life, he

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would take them fishing on Caddo Lake any chance that

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he got. But throughout his life it was the military

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in serving his country where Charles really found his calling.

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He enlisted in the army during World War II, and

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he was a true blue war he wrote, y'all. He

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served as a radio operator. He took classified calls as

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a member of the B Company, sixty second Signal Battalion,

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and it was during World War Two, while on a

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mission off of the coast of Florida in the Atlantic Ocean,

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that he was wounded when a German U boat attacked

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the ship he was on. By the time he left

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military service, he was a very highly decorated military individual,

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having received the Purple Heart, the Military Merit Award, the

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Good Conduct Award, in numerous other awards. So he gets

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discharged from the Army and then Charles works as an

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aircraft mechanic at Barksdale Air Force Base. He then went

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on to work for Bronx Auto as a mechanic and

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eventually Charles and his brother they open up a specialty

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paint coutings company called Martin's Specialty Coatings, where he will

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work as a house painting contractor until he retired in

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nineteen eighty five. Now service was important for Charles, and

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throughout his life he not only dedicated himself to it,

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but he was also recognized often for it. He spent

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his time educating people on the laws, the constitution, and

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he had some pretty conservative Christian beliefs. He spoke all

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over the country. He campaigned and ran for many offices,

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and he drew up a lot of petitions to support

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the causes that he compassionately believed in. He was the

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founder and president of the National Petitioning Committee for Constitutional Government,

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and he even received the Young Americans for Freedom Award

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for that committee. And interestingly enough, in nineteen sixty Charles

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obtained an estimated twelve million signatures to impeach US Chief

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Justice Earl Warren, who sought to repeal the Fourteenth Amendment

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and oppose the Federal Reserve system. Now, in addition to

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all that, he was also a lifetime member of the

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VFW Post twenty two thirty eight, and he was awarded

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the State of Louisiana's Honorary Attorney General Award by the

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State of Louisiana Department of Justice in nineteen fifty six

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and then again in nineteen sixty. This guy was a

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stud He was even honored for outstanding patriotism to God

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and country on May twenty eighth, nineteen sixty. He was

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given the key to the City of New Orleans and

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awarded Honorary Citizen of New Orleans by the mayor in

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nineteen sixty seven, and he was even awarded the Honorary

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Secretary of State Award in nineteen eighty five under Jim Brown. Now,

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even with all that, he was also a family man.

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Been married to his wife Mary for fifty six years,

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and he had three children, nine grandchildren, eighteen great grandchildren

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and three great great grandchildren. And even at eighty six

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years old, when his amazing life came to a tragic end,

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he was a go getter. He would get up early

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and he would work on things around the house at

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eighty six years old, and he would do that until nighttime.

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And his grandson would say, even at eighty six, he

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could still whip my ass if he wanted to. It's

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how he earned his nickname peaceful warrior, A true family

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man and a warrior, just an amazing human being. So

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on July eleventh of two thousand and seven, a then

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eighty six year old Charles Martin, he gets reported missing

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by his daughter. She had tried to call him several

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times she could not reach it, which was way beyond

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the pail for Charles. So she goes to his home

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and she finds no sign of Charles or his vehicle.

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Now one thing is daughter noticed when she and other

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family members went inside the home was how clean it was.

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It wasn't that he did not keep a tidy home,

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but this was like museum quality clean, not just tidy.

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Another strange thing they noticed was that the motion detectors

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that were positioned throughout the home were turned off. Of course,

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at eighty six years old, hearing is something you lose

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as you age, and Charles was hard of hearing, and

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those motion detectors were what he used to alert him

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when somebody was approaching the home or entering the home.

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They also found a wat of hair under a seat

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cushion and the bedroom door was broken, so police get

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called to the scene and they interview his daughter and

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they asked her if she had any idea who may

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have wanted to hurt Charles. It's not like Charles had

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a bunch of enemies. He was really beloved by everyone,

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as you can tell who knew him. But there was

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one person that his daughter thought may have something to

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do with his disappearance. His daughter mentioned to police that

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Charles had been spending time with someone by the name

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of Beverly Arthur. She said Beverly had stolen prescriptions from

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Charles in the past, and the daughter suspected a rug

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in a wooden barrel full of rare in foreign coins

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that it went missing in the past from Charles' home

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to have been stolen by Beverly So police armed with

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this information, they find a copy of charles bank statement

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at his home and they discover some suspicious bank transactions.

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So they go directly to the bank and they speak

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with the staff and sure enough, not only did they

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find out that Beverly Author had recently tried to cash

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a check from Charles Martin's account, but they also get

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a copy of the surveillance video showing her attempting to

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cash that check, as well as her address because when

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she attempted cash said check, she provided her driver's license,

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which the bank happened to make a copy of. They

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were also told by bank personnel that another individual they

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identified as Michael Jones had attempted to cash a check

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from Charles's account. So, on Thursday, July twelfth of twenty

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twenty four, armed with Beverly Author's address, a corporal for

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the Shreport PD as well as his partner, they head

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over to Beverly Author's home and their idea there was

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We're going to surveill it and see if they spot

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Charles Martin coming or going from the house, or anything

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that may lead to his disappearance without necessarily alerting Beverly

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Author that they're doing so. So they turned out down

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the street. They arrive at the home and right away

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they have a key piece of evidence. Right there in

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the driveway is Charles Martin's Chrysler three hundred m vehicle,

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which a white male is standing right beside it, who

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police would identify later as Eric Michelson, but at the

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time they thought was Michael Jones, the other guy that

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tried to cash that check. So there's no need to

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surveil now, right, you got the car right there in

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the driveway. Police pull into the driveway, and as soon

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as they pull in Eric Mickelson, who they described as

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appearing very nervous, he starts reaching for his waistband and

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of course the officers they s freak out. They fear

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that he's reaching for his gun. So one of the

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detectives he pulls his weapon and he orders Micklson onto

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the ground where he is searched and he is handcuffed. Meanwhile,

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one of the other detectives he makes his way to

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the front door of the house, and he spots Beverly

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Author and her mother exiting that house. So the scene

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gets secure and everyone is taken into custody for questioning,

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and the police do determine that Michael Johnson is actually

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Eric Mickelson. But Eric Mickelson was definitely the guy that

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tried to cash a check. So who is Eric Mickelson? Well,

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Eric was not what you would consider a model citizen.

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Between nineteen ninety five and two thousand and six, he

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had been booked into jail five times, from charges ranging

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from vandalizing cooke machines to drug possession, the felony theft

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to simple burglary. He had a son, though they were

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estranged and they didn't speak until his son was eighteen

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years old, and he also had a brother. His shreport

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neighbors would describe him as very strong, saying he would

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spend hours just sitting outside his house and talking on

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the phone and pacing back and forth. Just a weird guy.

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And what about Beverly Author, Well, in all honesty, she

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had her shit together a little more than Mickelson did

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in some ways. She was a graduate of LSU's report.

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She had a bachelor's degree in accounting and she had

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been married, but in two thousand and four, her husband Michael,

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committed suicide by shooting himself in the head with the

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twenty two caliber handgun and get ready for this. That

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handgun was registered to Charles Martin. Charles Martin had actually

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reported the gun stolen three days before the suicide at

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Beverly Author, who was known by our friends as Susie,

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also had a five year old son. Now in the onset,

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it might seem that Beverly might have been a pretty

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good citizen, you know, with the degree in all that

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this can be further from the truth. As a matter

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of fact, her rap sheet was actually twice as long

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as Michelson's. Between nineteen ninety five in two thousand and seven,

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Beverly had been arrested and booked into the Cato Parish

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Correctional Center ten times for everything from unauthorized use of

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a motor vehicle, the forgery to theft to drug possession.

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She and Mickelson had been lifelong friends, and Beverly Author's mother, Betty,

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would later describe Michelson as weird and demanding, and described

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her daughter as having a dark side that was often

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triggered when she was under the influence of drugs. So

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police on the scene they asked Mickelson whose car that

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three hundred m was, and Mickleson confirms that it was

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the still missing Charles Martin's vehicle. And Micklson tells the

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detective on the scene that he and Beverly Author dropped

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Charles off at a bus stop in downtown Shreeport, and

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the detectives, knowing this sounded like bullshit, they radio for

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backup and then they get the keys from Beverly Author

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and they conduct a search of the vehicle, which doesn't

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really turn up anything that would raise an eyebrow. No

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signs of a struggle on the inside of the vehicle,

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no blood droplets anywhere, nothing that they saw that would

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raise any sort of suspicion. The detectives then asked to

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search Michelson for a second time, and when doing this,

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what do you think they find? Well, they find Charles

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Morton's wallet and his ID in the pocket of Mickelson.

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They then confer with Author's mother, who granted permission to

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search the residents, and during the search, the officers found

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some of the coins that had been taken from Charles's

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home in a portion of a check with Charles's signature

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on it. So with this discovery, the detectives know they

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have enough to haul both Mickleson and Author to the

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station for further questioning, and they ensure that both are

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transported in separate police cruiser. And the reason they do this, y'all,

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is they don't want them communicating with each other and

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getting their stories straight right. If they're in the same

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cruiser and they're headed to the station at the same time,

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they can come up with the whole stories, and they

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make sure they're separated. So at the station, initially Micklson

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he denies everything and he sticks to his story that

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they drop Charles Martin off at that bus stop. However,

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police continued to question and eventually broke Mickleson down, and

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he admits that he had helped Beverly Author break into

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Charles Martin's home. He said that he helped open a

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window in the rear of the home and the Beverly

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Author climbed in, went to the front of the home

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and let Mickelson in. So once inside, Beverly knocked on

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the bedroom door in an attempt to wake up Charles Martin,

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whose bedroom door was locked, but as I told you,

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Charles was hard of hearing and he didn't wake up

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even with Beverly banging on that door. So Mickelson and

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Beverly they kick it in. Mickelson said, Charles woke up

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and quote wasn't real happy. Micholson said. He then quote

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grabbed eighty six year old Charles Morton by the neck

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and strangled him until he stopped moving. He then placed

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Charles Martin's body in the bathroom while Beverly Author went

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around the house stealing shit. He then said he and

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Beverly dressed Charles Martin, put his body in the back

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seat of the car and drove the car to purchase drugs,

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literally with the in the backseat sitting up as if

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Charles Morton was a live So police start asking Michelson why,

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and his claim was he did it all for Beverly,

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that it was what she wanted him to do. He

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claimed that she manipulated him to quote ring his neck. Now,

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Beverly Author, in her own interview with police, more or

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less confirmed everything Mickleson had told police, and claimed that

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Mickleson dismembered the body and disposed of it in more

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than one location, but she was unable to lead police

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to where that correct location was. So police they questioned

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Mickleson again and he said they killed Charles to keep

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him from going to police regarding money that he was

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giving the Beverly Author and that they needed money to

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purchase cocaine, and they kind of freaked out and killed him.

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Police say, well, will you lead us to where he's married,

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and he agrees to do that, and he leads police

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to the dismember remains of Charles Morton, referring to it

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as his treasure hunt jokingly. And the remains of this

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eighty six year old war hero now it is the

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peaceful Warrior were found in four different spots. The police

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found Charles Martin's torso wrapped in a trash bag and

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dumped in a wooded area in Shreveport. His legs were

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found at a dumpster at an amusement park in Shreveport.

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His head and arms were found inside a dumpster at

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a mobile home park in neighboring Keithville, Louisiana. So at

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the end of this day, obviously, Mickelson and Beverly Author

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are arrested in the charge with the first degree murder

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of Charles Martin, with both receiving a one point five

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million dollar back, but Michelson he hadn't done talking, and

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the next day, on Friday, July thirteenth of two thousand

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and seven, he makes another confession regarding a missing person's

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case from eleven years prior. So let me tell you

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about Christy o'prye. Christy O'Pry was born on May eighth,

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nineteen seventy in Mending, Louisiana, which is also in North Louisiana.

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She had three sisters and one brother, who tragically died

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the day he was born, and Christy had a tough

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go of it, to say the least. Early in life,

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when she was just seven years old, she was sexually

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abused by a neighbor. One of her sisters would later

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say that even at such a young age, she felt

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like that crushed her spirit. By the time Christy was

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a teenager, she would become a ward of the state. Now,

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once she crossed over into adulthood, it would not get

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much easier for Christy to describe her. She was a

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really beautiful girl, five foot seven, one hundred and fifteen

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pound head turner, and although she worked at a gentleman's

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club at one time in the Shreeport area called the

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Centerfold Lounge. She was able to maintain a long term

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relationship of six years with a guy by the name

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of Todd Dean, who she had a child with. Her

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friends described her as a gentle soul who never met

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a stranger, in a free spirit who laughed, loved and

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enjoyed life. Now, at the time that Mickelson was sitting

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in that Shreveport police station, Christy had been missing for

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some eleven years. It was on July nineteenth of nineteen

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ninety six that Christie she needed to run some air

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and in Shreeport, Louisiana, Eric Michilson, who was a friend

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of Christy's boyfriend, Todd Dean. He agreed to driver if

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she paid for the gas used. Now there's a long

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story behind that. Her and Todd Dean had gotten in

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an argument because he didn't want to have to bring

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her to run these errands and he left the house.

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She kind of lived out in the country, and so

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she couldn't just walk to go run those errands, and

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that's why she called Eric Mickelson. So Mickleson and Christy

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they hop in his nineteen seventy one Chevy pickup, and

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off they went. They also went by Christie's sisters house

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that was at around eight o'clock that evening, and her

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sister said they made small talk and she acted fine.

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Her sister also mentioned that Mickelson had stopped by a

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liquor store and bought some whiskey, and he kind of

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sat on the bed of his truck while they talked

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and just drank his whiskey. Eventually they laughed, and according

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to Michelson, his story is they went by a convenience

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store so she could use the payphon. This is in

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nineteen ninety six. Y'all cell phones were around, but they

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weren't the cell phones of today. You had to zip

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them up to use them and all that sort of thing.

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Police did later attempt to confirm and verify that they

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went by that convenience store, but they were unable to

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do so. According to Michelson, he said he then dropped

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Christy off at the Shremport Maull This was at approximately

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eight thirty PM that evening, and Christy oh Pry was

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never seen again. Christy was reported missing four days later,

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and it was revealed that Christy was actually pregnant at

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the time of her disappearance. So police noticed a lot

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of things when they started investigating this that did that up. First,

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when they searched the home that she shared with her boyfriend,

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none of her stuff was missing, not even her makeup, which,

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according to family and friends, there's no way she's going

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anywhere without her makeup for any length of time. In addition,

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she had a child, and everyone who knew Christy knew

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how dedicated she was to her daughter. There was just

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simply no way in their minds she would up and

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leave her daughter. Police in their investigation also spoke with

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the South Park Mall security guard who were at the

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mall entrance actually on horseback, and they stated they did

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not recall anyone fitting Christie's description being dropped off between

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eight and nine o'clock PM on the night that Christy vanished.

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So a lot of things aren't adding up now. Her

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and her boyfriend, they had on and off again relationship

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for six years. They fought a lot. She left the

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house a lot, you know, in the middle of the

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night and went and stayed with friend because they were

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getting an arguments. It was a rocky relationship. So if

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you're the police or you're investigating this, you're gonna want

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to talk to Todd dem right, And they did, and

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he actually took a polygraph and he passed that polygraph

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with flying colors. So although that didn't completely remove him

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as a suspect, it definitely took the focus off of him.

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So obviously, the last person to see her, I don't

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00:26:26.960 --> 00:26:29.559
want to say alive, but the last person to see

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her period was Eric Michelson, and he's going to become

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the prime suspect that you would think. Now, this particular

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case became very high profile throughout the state of Louisiana.

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As a matter of fact, a private investigator and retired

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Sreeport police officer by the name of Ken Hudson. He

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was a private investigator that was very well thought of

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in that community. He offered his services free of charged.

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He offered his services free of charge, and he advised

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the family to obtain Christie's dental records so they could

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00:27:04.799 --> 00:27:10.039
be added to nc IC. Ken also set up a

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hotline and was working with a detective named Charles Skoles

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of the Caddo Parish Sheriff's office, and he was quoted

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00:27:18.440 --> 00:27:22.039
as saying, my main objective is to find Christy, not

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00:27:22.240 --> 00:27:26.160
to conduct an investigation, and not to find who may

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have kidnapped her. A few days later, another private investigator

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00:27:31.440 --> 00:27:34.880
by the name of William Bill Meeks. He joined in

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and offered to donate his services to assist in the

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search for Christy. So time passes and in September of

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