Feb. 6, 2025

Part 2 | The Storyville Slayer

Part 2 | The Storyville Slayer

In this episode of Bloody Angola, Jim concludes “The hunt for the Storyville Slayer”, who terrorized New Orleans from 1991 to 1996, after being possibly linked to over 20 murders in the area an arrest was made, but…was there more then one killer?...

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Season 7

In this episode of Bloody Angola, Jim concludes “The hunt for the Storyville Slayer”, who terrorized New Orleans from 1991 to 1996, after being possibly linked to over 20 murders in the area an arrest was made, but…was there more then one killer?

#storyvilleslayer #neworleans #louisiana #bloodyangola #podcast #crime

Timestamps
04:26 Investigation Challenges
05:19 Profiles and Suspects
07:06 Discovery of New Bodies
08:01 The Florida Interrogation
10:56 Chilling Call to Howard Stern
22:40 The Elwood Investigation Deepens
33:31 Evidence and Witnesses
45:29 The Trial Begins
51:08 Verdict and Sentencing

Sources:
- Associated Press. https://www.newspapers.com/image/218520318/?match=1&terms=lydia%20madison The Town Talk. 24 Oct 1992.
- Darce, Keith. https://www.newspapers.com/image/1037358474/?match=1&terms=cheryl%20lewis%20 L’Observateur. 28 Feb 1993.
- Hoeschen, Brad. https://www.newspapers.com/image/1037313819/?match=1&terms=karen%20ivester L’Observateur. 17 May 1995.
- Hoeschen, Brad. https://www.newspapers.com/image/1037330105/?match=1&terms=serial%20killer L’Observateur. 11 Aug 1995.
- Associated Press. https://www.newspapers.com/image/470233309/?match=1&terms=serial%20killer The Daily Review. 28 Aug 1995.
- Associated Press. https://www.newspapers.com/image/218627459/?match=1&terms=serial%20killer The Town Talk. 30 Aug 1995.
- Associated Press. https://www.newspapers.com/image/218658672/?match=1&terms=serial%20killer The Town Talk. 06 Jan 1996.
- Associated Press. https://www.newspapers.com/image/470144403/?match=1&terms=russell%20ellwood The Daily Review. 05 Dec 1997.
- Associated Press. https://www.newspapers.com/image/1037843915/?match=1&terms=russell%20ellwood Southwest Daily News. 14 Dec 1997.
- Associated Press. https://www.newspapers.com/image/1037881536/?match=1&terms=russell%20ellwood Southwest Daily News. 17 Jan 1998.
- Associated Press. https://www.newspapers.com/image/539253523/?match=1&terms=russell%20ellwood The Daily Advertiser. 21 Jan 1998.
- Associated Press. https://www.newspapers.com/image/228918590/?match=1&terms=russell%20ellwood Daily World. 26 Jan 1998.
- Associated Press. https://www.newspapers.com/image/1037886313/?match=1&terms=russell%20ellwood Southwest Daily News. 01 Mar 1998.
- Associated Press. https://www.newspapers.com/image/470203793/?match=1&terms=russell%20ellwood The Daily Review. 04 Mar 1998.
- Associated Press. https://www.newspapers.com/image/228914329/?match=1&terms=russell%20ellwood Daily World. 05 Mar. 1998.
- Associated Press. https://www.newspapers.com/image/228915697/?match=1&terms=russell%20ellwood Daily World. 09 Mar 1998.
- Associated Press. https://www.newspapers.com/image/473176716/?match=1&terms=russell%20ellwood St. Mary and Franklin Banner-Tribune. 13 Mar 1998.
- Associated Press. https://www.newspapers.com/image/219319355/?match=1&terms=russell%20ellwood The Times. 23 Mar 1998.
- Associated Press. https://www.newspapers.com/image/228919234/?match=1&terms=russell%20ellwood Daily World. 24 Mar 1998.
- Associated Press. https://www.newspapers.com/image/228924261/?match=1&terms=russell%20ellwood Daily World. 10 Apr 1998.
- Associated Press. https://www.newspapers.com/image/447587358/?match=1&terms=russell%20ellwood Abbeville Meridional. 10 Jul 1998.
- Associated Press. https://www.newspapers.com/image/217952239/?match=1&terms=russell%20ellwood The Times. 03 Oct 1998.
- Associated Press. https://www.newspapers.com/image/473175745/?match=1&terms=russell%20ellwood St. Mary and Franklin Banner-Tribune. 05 Nov 1998.
- Gray, Leonard. https://www.newspapers.com/image/1037555417/?match=1&terms=russell%20ellwood L’Observateur. 07...

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WEBVTT

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Hm, I walk straight line shackle change, Oh weesome, gird

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it's calling my name.

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There is no mercy and it's been a tentery juice

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as the huge stream game Wrangle three.

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Come in by me to die.

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Inside these walls, inside the wild.

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Hadn't went no girl as I'm.

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Hey, everyone, Welcome back to Bloody Anga, a podcast one

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hundred and forty two years in the making, the complete

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

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back with this second part of the story of the

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Storyville Slayer who absolutely terrorized the city of New Orleans

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in the mid nineteen nineties. Now, when I left you last,

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it was May nineteen ninety five, and the task force

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had finally been formed to capture the person or persons

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responsible for the killing of at least twenty three people.

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All was strangulation being used as the cause of death

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in the police they're investigating, But at some point NOPD

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realizes they need more resources and outside help to solve

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this case, and in August of nineteen ninety five, a

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regional task force has formed that included the FBI. Now,

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on August eleventh of nineteen ninety five, an FBI agent

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by the name of Neil Gallagher made the official announcement

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of a regional task force and noted they were searching

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for a serial killer. The task force included Saint John

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the Baptist parish officials who believed the man had killed

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at least twenty four people and had been dumping them

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in places like the River parishes since nineteen nine two.

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Gallagher pointed to a map dotted with orange stickers and

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it marked dozens of bodies were covered in Saint john

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the Parish and Saint Charles parishes, as well as Orleans Parish.

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Officials went public with the serial killer theory at a

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press conference at FBI headquarters in New Orleans. Now it

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had been about three months since the killer struck and

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they hoped to capture him before he killed again. In

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regards to the police connecting those murders together, Gallagher said

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the quality of the earlier investigations were not up to standard.

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The nineteen ninety two investigations were crippled by not acknowledging

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the killer could be one person praying on sex workers.

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There were claims made that the investigation was put on

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the back burner in that the coroner's office neglected to

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perform certain tests on a parent victims, so much so

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that detectives began to attend autopsies to make sure pathologists

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checked for clues. For example, when you are strangled, there's

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a tiny bone in the back of your neck and

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it often snaps, and it's a sign that if you're

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not looking for it, it can easily be missed. Now

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that's called the highly bone, and basically pathologists they were

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content to deem certain deaths as overdoses instead of strangulation

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by not looking for the highly bone. The director of

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the New Orleans Metro Crime Commission was even quoted as

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saying that it's not surprising a string of dead prostitutes

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failed to animate the department or the public. I'm sure

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the background of the victims means law enforcement didn't give

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them the scrutiny another class of victims might have had.

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And I totally agree with that quote. I said back

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in episode one that when it's people who live high

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risk lifestyles, they're just not the urgency there. Bob Keppel,

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an investigator with the Washington State Attorney General's Office who

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tracked Ted Bundy. He tracked the Green River killer in

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the Pacific Northwest. He said, somebody has to be missed,

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and somebody has to care that they're missed. But usually

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no one cares, and there isn't any clamoring at all.

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If it was your daughter or the mayor's daughter in

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the mix, it would be a whole different story. In

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the budget to catch the killer would be practically unlimited.

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So the FBI, they come out with a profile of

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the killer, and they identified him as a black man

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in his thirties with a muscular build. Now remember in

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part one of this story, I told you that one

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of the suspects in the killings is New Orleans Police

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officer Victor Gant, who was dating the last victim, Sharon Robinson,

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at the time of heard death in nineteen ninety five.

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Well NOPD Chief Richard Pennington said in a press conference

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that Gant is considered a suspect in at least two

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of those killings and had cooperated with the investigation. And

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he was still on duty at the time in an

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office position with the seventh District station in New Orleans.

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And I want to reiterate that Gant was considered a

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suspect in the murders of only Sharon Robinson and Karen Ivester,

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and authorities had not named him a suspect in the

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other twenty two murders by this point, and some would

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say Gant fifth bill and the profile as a young man.

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He was a boxer, and he regularly went to the gym,

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he did weight lifting, and he closely matched the nineteen

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ninety one sketch that Brenda had given that very first victim.

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But again he was only a suspect in two of

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the murders. So the investigation continued and no bodies for

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a while. That is until December twentieth of nineteen ninety five,

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when the body of Sheryl Cackagen, who was forty six,

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is found on a New Orleans road. Her cause of

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death was undetermined, and police at this point decided not

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to link it to the Storyville slayer. Then, five months later,

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and eleven months after the final body was found that

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was directly linked to the slayer, police discovered additional skeletal remains.

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She was identified as thirty nine year old Lola Porter,

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who had gone missing from New Orleans in nineteen ninety two.

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Police later interviewed her friends and her acquaintances, who stated

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she had been cohabitating with a white male who vanished

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shortly after Porter went missing. Four months after that, in

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August of nineteen ninety six, Victor gant Is dismissed from

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the New Orleans Police Department. Remember that cab driver I

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told you about in episode one that got caught masturbating

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in his car. I told you keep his name in

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the back of your mind. Russell Elwood Well. On July

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twenty third of nineteen ninety seven, the pass Force traveled

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to Seabring, Florida, so they could question Elwood, who at

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this point was living with his elderly father. Once located,

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Elwood was informed of his rights and within three days

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gave several statements recorded on tape. It was tape back

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in these days. During the interrogations, he admitted to seeing

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black prostitutes throughout his life. He claimed that he knew

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more than one hundred girls, and in addition to that,

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he frequently took drugs such as heroin, cocaine, and LSD

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for years now. Investigators became increasingly suspicious when Elwood started

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speaking about having a dream in which he was being

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questioned about a series of murders, and later admitting to

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frequenting the locations where the body was found, but continued

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to say he was innocent, but he would share that

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dream with the police, So they interrogate him over the

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course of about a week. Every day he'd come in

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and they'd talked to him for a little while, but

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they didn't have enough to hold him, so just days

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after the interrogation was completed, Elwood was arrested for buying

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cocaine from an undercover police officer at his home in Florida.

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This was on August fourth of nineteen ninety seven, and

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as a result, he was convicted and sentenced to eighty

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five days in county jail with three years of probation.

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But while incarcerated, according to his cellmates, Elwood implicated himself

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in the prostitute killings back in New Orleans and the

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various suburbs that surround New Orleans. One cell mate, Stan Hill,

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he contacted the CA Prosecutor's office and claimed that Elwood

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had described to him in detail how he had driven

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the women to outlying areas of the city, offering them

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large amounts of drugs that cost overdoses, then strangled and

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dumped their bodies. The exact identical mo to the Storyville Slayer.

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A number of other inmates witnessed a fight between Elwood

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and another inmate, during which he allegedly said, yeah, I

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killed that in word, bitch, and I'll kill you too.

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Another inmate, Stephen Michael Busser, he told the police that

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Elwood bragged of being wanted for more than sixty murders

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within the state of Louisiana, and it even described to

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him in detail one of those murders. Then a little

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over a week later, on August thirteenth of nineteen ninety seven,

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the very popular at this time Howard Stern Show, they

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received a call from a man who identified himself as Clay,

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and during an over the year conversation with Howard Stern himself,

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which was broadcast live, Clay described details for more than

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twelve murders and gave some details about his background, indicating

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that he was a white resident of New Orleans. And

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it's widely believed that this was the actual Storyville Slayer

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calling this show. I have the actual clip, and here's

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what that sounded like. But I want to warn you

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it's a very chilling call and it may be disturbing

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to some lesseners.

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Here it is get a guy on the phone who

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claims he's been killing prostitutes and he's wondering why he's

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doing it. So maybe he thinks I have an answer?

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Is his ed? Ed?

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No, this isn't d H.

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You haven't killed any presidents?

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No, I never said my name was said? Sorry, that's okay.

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What's your what name do you use?

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You can call me Clay Clay, yes.

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Clay, Okay Clay. So what happened? How many prostitutes have

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you be killed?

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Twelve?

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And you're wondering why you do it?

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I have a pretty good idea.

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Why did your mom beat you? Did your mom spank it?

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Where's your mama prostitute?

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No? Actually, nothing like that.

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What is it?

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Then? I think I just do it for the sense

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of the power? Right?

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Do you have sex with them first?

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Yes?

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And then what you strangle them?

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Once?

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How else did you kill him?

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Well? A few times, actually most times with a hammer?

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H And where do you do this? Primarily?

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Uh?

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I've done it twice in the parking garage and the

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direct of the times on the side of the road.

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And you're from the New Orleans area.

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Yes, I mean what are you?

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You beat him to death with a hammer.

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That usually takes once.

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Then, dude, you got to have a lot of anger

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in you. Yeah, and that meets your heartless Do you

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used to kill small animals?

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No, I've killed a rat?

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Yeah, dude, you're a serial killer? Yeah yeah, wow, and

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you get away with it, I guess because they're hookers

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and so far nobody what.

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Is this how Yeah?

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Hello? Hello?

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I didn't know this was Howard?

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Yeah? Powered? Yeah, yeah, not never killed a kitten. So

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how old were you when you killed your first woman?

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Sixteen?

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And you must be a powerful kind of guy, big guy.

204
00:13:50.519 --> 00:13:54.120
I wasn't then, right, And when you killed your first one,

205
00:13:54.120 --> 00:13:55.639
did you go in there know one you were going

206
00:13:55.679 --> 00:13:57.200
to kill her? Or it just sort of happened?

207
00:13:58.960 --> 00:14:01.799
I knew I had. I really had.

208
00:14:01.840 --> 00:14:04.240
Planned out m you know, I wanted to do the

209
00:14:04.279 --> 00:14:07.000
whole sending clues right, oh yeah.

210
00:14:06.840 --> 00:14:08.759
Are you in baffle people? But it turned out no

211
00:14:08.759 --> 00:14:09.440
one noticed for.

212
00:14:09.399 --> 00:14:11.759
A long time, right, Like, like, you killed her on

213
00:14:11.799 --> 00:14:12.679
the side of the road.

214
00:14:14.559 --> 00:14:16.639
Her that was the parking garage, Okay, And.

215
00:14:16.559 --> 00:14:17.919
Then what did you do with the body? You dumped

216
00:14:17.919 --> 00:14:18.440
that somewhere?

217
00:14:21.320 --> 00:14:21.519
Yeah?

218
00:14:21.600 --> 00:14:23.559
Actually I think, gosh, she's probably one of the ones

219
00:14:23.559 --> 00:14:25.559
that they found. Yeah, but let me ask you.

220
00:14:25.559 --> 00:14:27.720
Say you were sending clues that you were going to

221
00:14:27.759 --> 00:14:28.000
do this.

222
00:14:28.360 --> 00:14:30.360
No, I was. I was going to like doing that.

223
00:14:30.480 --> 00:14:32.039
He was gonna leave like a note for the newspapers

224
00:14:32.039 --> 00:14:33.519
and you know, but she decided not to.

225
00:14:34.080 --> 00:14:36.159
He didn't want to be famous or grow attention to himself.

226
00:14:36.480 --> 00:14:38.639
But my problem is that's what I wanted to do,

227
00:14:38.720 --> 00:14:39.279
but you.

228
00:14:39.200 --> 00:14:40.440
Did, but no one noticed the clues.

229
00:14:41.639 --> 00:14:43.480
I don't know. I never sent the clues.

230
00:14:43.519 --> 00:14:44.799
I never left anything. You know.

231
00:14:44.840 --> 00:14:47.440
I wanted to have my little signature, right. I wanted

232
00:14:47.480 --> 00:14:51.320
to thumb paint. Oh really, what do.

233
00:14:51.240 --> 00:14:51.639
You want to do?

234
00:14:51.759 --> 00:14:53.279
Some paint with their thumbs?

235
00:14:53.720 --> 00:14:54.639
Some paint what though?

236
00:14:54.960 --> 00:14:56.159
I don't know, oh anything.

237
00:14:56.639 --> 00:14:58.159
It was an a comic book a couple of years

238
00:14:58.159 --> 00:14:59.879
ago with it just seemed like a good idea.

239
00:15:00.080 --> 00:15:01.639
But like you take the girl you killed, you do

240
00:15:01.679 --> 00:15:03.559
different thumbs and paint and then you do like a

241
00:15:03.600 --> 00:15:06.279
thumb painting on a piece of paper.

242
00:15:07.200 --> 00:15:07.840
Yeah.

243
00:15:08.039 --> 00:15:09.840
Now, when you after you kill somebody, do you play

244
00:15:09.879 --> 00:15:10.360
with the body?

245
00:15:13.919 --> 00:15:15.720
Actually, the closest I've ever done of that is I

246
00:15:15.759 --> 00:15:17.320
always make sure I pay them and I make sure

247
00:15:17.320 --> 00:15:21.799
they keep their money, really when they're still alive. But uh,

248
00:15:22.039 --> 00:15:25.559
with one of them. I did put the money in

249
00:15:25.639 --> 00:15:30.159
a compromising place, but that was this one.

250
00:15:29.879 --> 00:15:31.200
It had a p s.

251
00:15:32.279 --> 00:15:33.919
Oh was a guy?

252
00:15:34.360 --> 00:15:35.960
Yeah yeah, I didn't know at first.

253
00:15:36.279 --> 00:15:38.559
So do you ever get Do you think the reason

254
00:15:38.600 --> 00:15:41.720
you're so angry is because you were abused or something?

255
00:15:43.440 --> 00:15:44.720
No? I wasn't abused, Howard?

256
00:15:44.960 --> 00:15:49.919
Where's your family? And you got a mom and dad

257
00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:51.720
or wife? Children? You got any of that.

258
00:15:53.440 --> 00:15:56.840
I've got a couple of kids, but I no wife,

259
00:15:56.919 --> 00:16:01.440
not married to the mother. You're a white guy, yeah,

260
00:16:01.519 --> 00:16:03.799
or that's pretty funny because the only suspect they had

261
00:16:03.840 --> 00:16:05.960
when they started finding the bodies of a black police

262
00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:14.159
officers out, one of them was associated with them.

263
00:16:14.279 --> 00:16:15.960
Oh really, are you on drugs?

264
00:16:18.679 --> 00:16:22.279
I've done acid a few times, so so nothing happen.

265
00:16:22.559 --> 00:16:24.399
So if you killed after you killed the first sixty

266
00:16:24.480 --> 00:16:26.519
year old, like, uh, you finished?

267
00:16:26.519 --> 00:16:27.840
You finished sixteen?

268
00:16:27.960 --> 00:16:29.759
Oh that's right, I'm sorry. He was right, So you

269
00:16:29.840 --> 00:16:34.320
finished with your sexual gratification and then you always no,

270
00:16:34.799 --> 00:16:38.759
not always, you don't even want to get laid sometimes no,

271
00:16:38.840 --> 00:16:40.240
I just you just want to kill.

272
00:16:40.519 --> 00:16:44.559
I'm just bored, right, But does the killing sexually satisfy.

273
00:16:44.120 --> 00:16:44.720
You in some way?

274
00:16:45.960 --> 00:16:50.039
I can't believe that mcmaon'son laughing. I'm pretty lucky off

275
00:16:50.080 --> 00:16:51.039
thinking about it later.

276
00:16:51.240 --> 00:16:54.720
Yeah, what are you saying? He's pleasured himself thinking about

277
00:16:54.720 --> 00:16:55.080
it later?

278
00:16:55.159 --> 00:16:57.840
Oh yeah, Okay, Now how far a part of these murders?

279
00:16:57.879 --> 00:16:59.679
Like do you murder and then like you feel satisfied

280
00:16:59.679 --> 00:17:00.000
for a while.

281
00:17:03.159 --> 00:17:05.160
I don't even understand why I do it, Howard. I

282
00:17:05.200 --> 00:17:07.359
don't know if I ever get any satisfaction.

283
00:17:08.480 --> 00:17:13.480
But how often or anywhere was the same night you

284
00:17:13.559 --> 00:17:14.759
killed two people in the same night?

285
00:17:15.119 --> 00:17:17.160
Yeah, but I went to Mississippi for the second one.

286
00:17:17.720 --> 00:17:23.279
Mm, So there's no pattern to how many weeks or

287
00:17:23.480 --> 00:17:25.039
days between murders.

288
00:17:27.119 --> 00:17:29.119
Are these mostly white chicks or black chicks?

289
00:17:29.799 --> 00:17:31.559
It's a fair fair number.

290
00:17:31.400 --> 00:17:33.880
Of them have been black. The transstate with black.

291
00:17:34.039 --> 00:17:35.640
Does he do some racial motivation here?

292
00:17:36.480 --> 00:17:40.279
No, Howard, they were just let's just say, had Jimmy Swaggertown?

293
00:17:40.920 --> 00:17:47.319
Mm hmm. Jimmy Swaggertown. That's pretty much.

294
00:17:47.200 --> 00:17:49.559
The area around here where the prostitute thaw hangout.

295
00:17:51.240 --> 00:17:53.680
And it's just whoever comes up to you. You don't

296
00:17:53.799 --> 00:17:54.880
pick a certain type.

297
00:17:55.039 --> 00:17:56.799
I don't even approach them. I wait for them to

298
00:17:56.839 --> 00:17:57.319
approach me.

299
00:17:57.400 --> 00:17:59.319
Robin, do you ever like them asking for it.

300
00:17:59.400 --> 00:18:01.039
Do you ever like look into their eyes and go,

301
00:18:01.119 --> 00:18:03.759
you know, gee, these these people were just children at one.

302
00:18:03.680 --> 00:18:05.720
Point, and maybe they just had a tough life.

303
00:18:05.759 --> 00:18:06.720
And where the couple go?

304
00:18:07.000 --> 00:18:08.839
Yeah, like what happened in the middle of killing them?

305
00:18:08.839 --> 00:18:10.279
And then and then they what do they say? Why

306
00:18:10.319 --> 00:18:12.160
would you let one go and kill the other?

307
00:18:12.599 --> 00:18:15.680
There was this one go ahead. I think she was

308
00:18:15.720 --> 00:18:20.000
probably really new to it. Yeah, there was just something

309
00:18:20.039 --> 00:18:22.240
about her and maybe she reminded me why fiance?

310
00:18:22.480 --> 00:18:25.279
But right, you somehow relate.

311
00:18:25.279 --> 00:18:26.440
More of an innocent quality.

312
00:18:26.480 --> 00:18:30.480
I just you somehow felt bad for him. Yeah, hmm

313
00:18:31.200 --> 00:18:33.759
you so okay, So you killed your first woman.

314
00:18:34.200 --> 00:18:35.359
When was the last time.

315
00:18:35.160 --> 00:18:35.920
You killed.

316
00:18:37.640 --> 00:18:40.640
It's been a few months, right, actually, and it's been

317
00:18:40.720 --> 00:18:41.400
going on a year.

318
00:18:42.039 --> 00:18:43.359
So what do you think you're gonna do?

319
00:18:43.359 --> 00:18:45.200
Do you think you're gonna kill yourself? Do you think

320
00:18:45.240 --> 00:18:48.359
that you think you're gonna kill again? Can you stop this?

321
00:18:48.400 --> 00:18:50.519
Show myself? I missed the next Batman movie?

322
00:18:50.839 --> 00:18:51.960
Right, you don't want to do that?

323
00:18:52.400 --> 00:18:52.480
No?

324
00:18:52.920 --> 00:18:54.559
No, But in all seriousness, I mean, do you think

325
00:18:54.559 --> 00:18:57.960
that you can control this? Do you think you can?

326
00:18:58.240 --> 00:18:59.960
I think I have been Oh you have been.

327
00:18:59.839 --> 00:19:01.680
To the last couple of months a year you haven't

328
00:19:01.720 --> 00:19:02.400
killed for a year.

329
00:19:02.519 --> 00:19:03.279
Yeah, almost.

330
00:19:04.119 --> 00:19:05.519
So why do you think he stopped killing all of

331
00:19:05.559 --> 00:19:05.960
a sudden.

332
00:19:08.839 --> 00:19:11.920
I really don't know Howard. I just part of it

333
00:19:11.960 --> 00:19:13.240
had to do with my car broke down.

334
00:19:13.799 --> 00:19:16.960
No transportation, seriously, that's the reason.

335
00:19:17.279 --> 00:19:19.599
Well that was the reason for a month. But after that,

336
00:19:19.680 --> 00:19:21.680
I guess with all self control mile.

337
00:19:22.039 --> 00:19:23.559
So you don't want to do this anymore?

338
00:19:23.599 --> 00:19:25.359
No, he wants to do it, but he's controlling himself.

339
00:19:26.200 --> 00:19:27.480
But you want to kill women, right?

340
00:19:29.440 --> 00:19:29.759
Sure?

341
00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:32.960
Yeah? And what and do you like it? Do you

342
00:19:33.000 --> 00:19:34.279
enjoy seeing them struggle as.

343
00:19:34.160 --> 00:19:34.920
You kill them?

344
00:19:36.279 --> 00:19:38.240
Uh? Actually none of them really struggle.

345
00:19:39.079 --> 00:19:40.720
Do you hit them from behind? Or do they see

346
00:19:40.720 --> 00:19:41.160
it coming?

347
00:19:43.759 --> 00:19:47.039
I can't get inside their minds, but let's if I

348
00:19:47.119 --> 00:19:47.480
hit them.

349
00:19:47.640 --> 00:19:49.359
But I mean, are you facing them?

350
00:19:49.759 --> 00:19:50.000
Yeah?

351
00:19:50.359 --> 00:19:51.920
So you can see their face and everything when they

352
00:19:51.960 --> 00:19:52.200
do it.

353
00:19:52.319 --> 00:19:53.359
Yeah. Yeah.

354
00:19:53.160 --> 00:19:56.920
The worst I've ever got was one tried to grab

355
00:19:56.920 --> 00:19:57.240
my knack.

356
00:19:57.319 --> 00:19:59.440
I've never gotten any of the qualm marks or anything

357
00:19:59.440 --> 00:20:01.519
that are uh that giveaway.

358
00:20:01.720 --> 00:20:03.000
No, you must be very powerful.

359
00:20:05.359 --> 00:20:06.799
I wouldn't always alf powerful.

360
00:20:06.839 --> 00:20:07.960
Maybe uh intimidating.

361
00:20:08.119 --> 00:20:09.640
Why did you use a hammer? Do you think it?

362
00:20:10.559 --> 00:20:13.720
Uh? Because it wasn't a book I read?

363
00:20:14.079 --> 00:20:16.000
Oh, everything's coming from cartoons.

364
00:20:16.519 --> 00:20:17.920
Yeah, when's the last time you got laid?

365
00:20:19.200 --> 00:20:19.960
Last week? Howard?

366
00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:22.160
Oh yeah, so you didn't kill that girl? No, because

367
00:20:22.160 --> 00:20:22.880
she wasn't a hooker?

368
00:20:23.200 --> 00:20:25.279
No, right, it's only hookers, though, a.

369
00:20:25.200 --> 00:20:27.119
Lot of serial killers are only into hookers because they

370
00:20:27.160 --> 00:20:29.519
know A probably won't get caught, and B they have

371
00:20:29.599 --> 00:20:32.200
some kind of anger toward hookers. So there's no way

372
00:20:32.200 --> 00:20:33.960
I'm going to talk into giving yourself up or anything

373
00:20:34.000 --> 00:20:36.680
right now. I shouldn't even waste my time. I don't

374
00:20:36.680 --> 00:20:38.160
many get calls after Some people are gonna go, Howard,

375
00:20:38.160 --> 00:20:39.000
how can we even catch him?

376
00:20:39.599 --> 00:20:42.680
Has anybody ever been close to catching you?

377
00:20:42.720 --> 00:20:46.599
No? No, actually someone when it was in the newspaper,

378
00:20:46.680 --> 00:20:49.400
someone joked to you. I know it was you, but uh.

379
00:20:49.319 --> 00:20:50.160
Well they were joking.

380
00:20:50.400 --> 00:20:51.759
Right, do you have a lot of tattoos?

381
00:20:52.519 --> 00:20:53.480
I don't have any tattoos.

382
00:20:53.480 --> 00:20:54.839
I wouldn't do that to myself, right.

383
00:20:54.880 --> 00:20:56.720
And do you get high before you do that?

384
00:20:58.079 --> 00:20:59.680
I've gotten pretty drunk before.

385
00:21:00.279 --> 00:21:02.079
I'm the only guy you can I'm the only guy

386
00:21:02.119 --> 00:21:08.920
you ever told about this. Yeah, wow, I guess that's

387
00:21:08.960 --> 00:21:09.599
sort of an honor.

388
00:21:09.920 --> 00:21:12.359
I've told a couple of women, Howard, but they're dead.

389
00:21:12.519 --> 00:21:14.400
Yeah, can you tell him first and then you kill him?

390
00:21:15.240 --> 00:21:15.559
Yeah?

391
00:21:15.680 --> 00:21:16.960
What do you say to him? Let me hit on?

392
00:21:17.000 --> 00:21:18.359
All right, let's seat now, and then you can play

393
00:21:18.400 --> 00:21:20.079
the running game. If you're out in the middle of nowhere.

394
00:21:20.160 --> 00:21:21.880
We got a lot in the middle of nowhere.

395
00:21:21.559 --> 00:21:27.480
Down here, right. So in other words, let's say you're

396
00:21:27.519 --> 00:21:30.440
with a woman, right hooker, yeah, Howard, and you say

397
00:21:30.440 --> 00:21:33.240
to her, okay, honey, you know you just had sex

398
00:21:33.279 --> 00:21:35.759
and everything. What do you say to ords a tormentor

399
00:21:36.960 --> 00:21:38.599
how do you break the news or that she's gonna die?

400
00:21:39.880 --> 00:21:43.039
I it really depends on my mood.

401
00:21:44.200 --> 00:21:45.200
Just give us an example.

402
00:21:46.519 --> 00:21:47.640
Well, if I wanted to, I.

403
00:21:47.599 --> 00:21:49.680
Could just say baba boowie, but that would be pretty

404
00:21:49.759 --> 00:21:51.240
uh No, come on, be serious. What do you say

405
00:21:51.279 --> 00:21:53.960
to him?

406
00:21:54.480 --> 00:21:55.759
I can say you're gonna die?

407
00:21:56.759 --> 00:21:57.440
And then what do they do?

408
00:21:57.759 --> 00:22:02.000
I like to articulate a little more than that. Sometimes

409
00:22:02.000 --> 00:22:05.720
I ask them if they think it's dangerous doing what

410
00:22:05.759 --> 00:22:08.119
they're doing, if they're worried about things, and they'll laugh

411
00:22:08.119 --> 00:22:11.440
it off, and that just pisses me off, right.

412
00:22:12.400 --> 00:22:14.000
And then you go ahead and you kill them.

413
00:22:14.759 --> 00:22:18.839
Yeah hmm, all right, Well there you go.

414
00:22:19.759 --> 00:22:24.319
Now, as you can imagine this interview with the potential

415
00:22:24.599 --> 00:22:30.559
serial killer caused a massive media frenzy, and FBI agents

416
00:22:30.720 --> 00:22:35.440
allegedly went to the Stern studio and seized audio recordings

417
00:22:35.440 --> 00:22:40.880
of the call to establish the caller's location and possible identity.

418
00:22:41.279 --> 00:22:45.279
In the following years, the credibility of this incident it

419
00:22:45.359 --> 00:22:50.000
was in question. Stern Show often received numerous calls from

420
00:22:50.039 --> 00:22:53.200
people who claim to have done terrible things, with some

421
00:22:53.279 --> 00:22:57.079
people even alleging that Stern himself faked the call to

422
00:22:57.359 --> 00:23:00.480
boost his writings for the record. I don't leave that.

423
00:23:00.759 --> 00:23:04.599
It's worth noting that Russell Elwood was still incarcerated on

424
00:23:04.720 --> 00:23:07.680
August thirteenth of nineteen ninety seven, so he may have

425
00:23:07.839 --> 00:23:10.960
been incarcerated at the time of the phone call. Now.

426
00:23:11.240 --> 00:23:15.079
After his release, Elwood returned to Canton to live with

427
00:23:15.160 --> 00:23:18.279
his brother, who offered him a pretty high pan job.

428
00:23:18.519 --> 00:23:23.240
For Elwood's standards. Based on Hill's testimony in the trial,

429
00:23:23.359 --> 00:23:26.839
the task Force tracked him down and reinterviewed him in

430
00:23:26.920 --> 00:23:29.720
the presence of a guy by the name of Ron Camden,

431
00:23:29.839 --> 00:23:33.680
a twenty seven year veteran of the Cincinnati Police Department.

432
00:23:33.839 --> 00:23:39.319
During interrogation Elwood, he initially denied making any such statements

433
00:23:39.359 --> 00:23:43.279
to inmates in Florida on these killings, but after an

434
00:23:43.319 --> 00:23:48.480
audio tape of Hill's testimony was played, he admitted that

435
00:23:48.599 --> 00:23:53.519
he indeed said those things to Hill. Camden actually later

436
00:23:53.640 --> 00:23:57.119
testified that Elwood also confessed to him that he had

437
00:23:57.200 --> 00:24:00.880
killed a black girl whose corpse he had dumped near Canal.

438
00:24:01.319 --> 00:24:05.279
No recordings of this confession, unfortunately, were taken, and Elwood

439
00:24:05.359 --> 00:24:09.799
later denied ever confessing to such a murder. Now later on,

440
00:24:09.960 --> 00:24:13.240
Elwood would claim that a mental illness had caused him

441
00:24:13.279 --> 00:24:17.240
to brag, demanding that the interrogation stop and that he

442
00:24:17.359 --> 00:24:20.319
is allowed to return to New Orleans to seize attorney

443
00:24:20.440 --> 00:24:24.759
and be provided with treatment. That request was denied, and

444
00:24:24.920 --> 00:24:29.920
Elwood confessed to killing Lewis and Mack, but refused to

445
00:24:29.920 --> 00:24:33.519
be audiotaped, and then soon after began denying that he

446
00:24:33.559 --> 00:24:34.400
had confessed.

447
00:24:34.599 --> 00:24:34.680
So.

448
00:24:34.799 --> 00:24:38.839
In October of nineteen ninety seven, an inmate who had

449
00:24:38.839 --> 00:24:43.119
served time with Elwood in Florida, he tells the Jefferson

450
00:24:43.240 --> 00:24:47.279
and Saint Charles Parish officers that Elwood had told him

451
00:24:47.559 --> 00:24:50.519
that he liked to have sex with both men and women,

452
00:24:50.680 --> 00:24:53.240
and enjoyed the fun of having sex with people who

453
00:24:53.240 --> 00:24:56.359
were not in control of their bodies. He said, if

454
00:24:56.359 --> 00:24:59.880
they were high on cocaine or heroin, the heroine would

455
00:25:00.079 --> 00:25:02.519
with them in a state of mind as if they

456
00:25:02.559 --> 00:25:06.440
were paralyzed and he could take advantage of their body,

457
00:25:06.519 --> 00:25:10.599
which was part of the Storyville slayers mo right most

458
00:25:10.640 --> 00:25:14.519
of these people that they found they were not only strangled,

459
00:25:14.559 --> 00:25:18.359
but they had a insane amount of drugs in their system.

460
00:25:18.480 --> 00:25:21.559
At the time. Elwood also told the inmate that if

461
00:25:21.559 --> 00:25:24.799
a person didn't wake up, he would dump them out

462
00:25:24.880 --> 00:25:28.960
of his cab. His later defense attorney stated that Elwood

463
00:25:28.960 --> 00:25:32.119
only made up these stories to appear tough to the

464
00:25:32.200 --> 00:25:37.440
other inmates. So on November fourteenth of nineteen ninety seven,

465
00:25:37.640 --> 00:25:41.240
Elwood actually files a police report complaining that he had

466
00:25:41.279 --> 00:25:44.720
been beaten up in front of a fast food restaurant.

467
00:25:45.119 --> 00:25:49.759
He apparently had not met a scheduled probation appointment at

468
00:25:49.759 --> 00:25:53.599
the time when the police showed up, so they arrested him. Then,

469
00:25:53.880 --> 00:25:58.519
in December of nineteen ninety seven, a bunch of movement

470
00:25:58.960 --> 00:26:04.160
in the case. Russell Elwood's father, New Orleans detectives visited

471
00:26:04.240 --> 00:26:06.960
him at his home in Sea Bring, Florida, and he

472
00:26:07.039 --> 00:26:09.559
told police that his son was a drifter, saying that

473
00:26:09.640 --> 00:26:12.400
he was a slender man and was not sure if

474
00:26:12.440 --> 00:26:15.440
he was capable of killing. He just didn't think he

475
00:26:15.559 --> 00:26:18.680
was big enough to control these people. He even said,

476
00:26:18.839 --> 00:26:21.200
I asked Russell if he had done it, and he

477
00:26:21.319 --> 00:26:25.079
said no. It was also in December of nineteen ninety

478
00:26:25.119 --> 00:26:29.240
seven that police announced they now had three suspects and

479
00:26:29.359 --> 00:26:33.839
claimed to be close to an arrest. Task Force members

480
00:26:33.880 --> 00:26:36.519
announced that they interviewed a suspect who was out of

481
00:26:36.559 --> 00:26:39.519
state who may have been responsible for at least five

482
00:26:39.599 --> 00:26:42.480
of the murders. The task force said the suspect was

483
00:26:42.559 --> 00:26:46.039
interested in the occult and had turned up mysteriously at

484
00:26:46.079 --> 00:26:49.240
a murder scene and may have been connected to similar

485
00:26:49.359 --> 00:26:53.880
murders in Ohio and Florida. So on January sixteenth of

486
00:26:54.000 --> 00:26:57.559
nineteen ninety eight, Elwood is finally released from jail on

487
00:26:57.640 --> 00:27:02.160
that probation violation, and he returns to New Orleans, which

488
00:27:02.359 --> 00:27:05.559
totally blew my mind. You have all this heat on

489
00:27:05.680 --> 00:27:09.759
you in New Orleans and you return to the place

490
00:27:09.799 --> 00:27:13.319
where that heat is the hottest. Well, I'm sure he

491
00:27:13.400 --> 00:27:20.079
regretted that because he was immediately arrested on unrelated misdemeanor charges.

492
00:27:20.160 --> 00:27:24.440
He was actually taken into custody on traffic tickets, speeding,

493
00:27:24.920 --> 00:27:29.880
and some other misdemeanor charges that authorities used to keep

494
00:27:29.960 --> 00:27:33.319
him in jail for as long as six months. Now,

495
00:27:33.359 --> 00:27:37.200
remember this, the police believe this guy is a serial killer.

496
00:27:37.400 --> 00:27:41.160
The last place they want him is on the street.

497
00:27:41.839 --> 00:27:46.559
And he does get eventually released from jail. You can

498
00:27:46.599 --> 00:27:51.039
only hold somebody so long on misdemeanors. And he gets released,

499
00:27:51.160 --> 00:27:55.000
he's got a coordinate scheduled, and of course Elwood, he

500
00:27:55.160 --> 00:27:59.839
fails to appear in court on time for that scheduled appearance.

501
00:28:00.279 --> 00:28:03.599
He was then arrested for contempt to court and he

502
00:28:03.680 --> 00:28:06.720
was convicted and he was ordered to spend one hundred

503
00:28:06.799 --> 00:28:11.200
and twenty days behind bars. In the meantime, officers sought

504
00:28:11.319 --> 00:28:15.599
a confession for Elwood regarding the murders. Even though a

505
00:28:15.680 --> 00:28:20.400
confession may not be necessary to gain a conviction, they

506
00:28:20.480 --> 00:28:25.279
wanted it. They felt like they didn't need it, but

507
00:28:25.480 --> 00:28:28.039
they you know, it makes things a lot easier if

508
00:28:28.039 --> 00:28:30.920
somebody confesses to it and you get it on recording.

509
00:28:31.039 --> 00:28:34.359
He had confessed to these murders before, but for whatever reason,

510
00:28:34.400 --> 00:28:36.960
he wouldn't do it on recording, and then he denied

511
00:28:37.000 --> 00:28:40.359
ever doing that. An investigator was quoted even as saying

512
00:28:40.480 --> 00:28:44.200
that evidence keeps building up. His picture's been out somewhat,

513
00:28:44.240 --> 00:28:47.359
and some witnesses have come forward with some information, and

514
00:28:47.400 --> 00:28:50.359
I hope they continue to do so. But this case

515
00:28:50.480 --> 00:28:55.519
could be made without a confession. However, on January twenty

516
00:28:55.559 --> 00:29:00.000
sixth of nineteen ninety eight, a big break in the case.

517
00:29:00.319 --> 00:29:05.359
A former girlfriend of Elwoods comes forward, and she reported

518
00:29:05.359 --> 00:29:09.160
that she had witnessed him kill someone in months, which

519
00:29:09.240 --> 00:29:12.559
is about thirty minutes from New Orleans. She also said

520
00:29:12.599 --> 00:29:16.720
she witnessed him burn the body. Ellwood told Times pickying

521
00:29:16.880 --> 00:29:20.680
reporters quote, she said, I beat a body to death

522
00:29:20.839 --> 00:29:24.279
and set it on fire. She's giving false witness I

523
00:29:24.440 --> 00:29:28.599
am an innocent man unquote. Elwood told the newspaper that

524
00:29:28.640 --> 00:29:31.839
he learned of the woman's statement when detective shot him

525
00:29:31.839 --> 00:29:35.480
a transcript. Elwood pointed out to the reporter that the

526
00:29:35.559 --> 00:29:38.799
details the woman gave do not match any of the

527
00:29:38.880 --> 00:29:43.920
twenty plus deaths that the task force is now investigating,

528
00:29:44.039 --> 00:29:47.599
and he somewhat right on that there was no bodies

529
00:29:47.759 --> 00:29:51.000
burned in any of those other cases. Elwood did not

530
00:29:51.200 --> 00:29:54.079
remember the woman's full name and said that he was

531
00:29:54.160 --> 00:29:57.759
involved with her for about a month, possibly in nineteen

532
00:29:57.880 --> 00:30:02.119
ninety three. He said that she told police the relationship

533
00:30:02.279 --> 00:30:07.279
lasted four years. Ellwood commented, quote, that's a lie. Unquote.

534
00:30:07.279 --> 00:30:10.799
Elwood said the woman was a former prostitute who helped

535
00:30:10.839 --> 00:30:14.319
him get drugs. He said he did not pay women

536
00:30:14.440 --> 00:30:18.319
for sex, although he did give her money for groceries.

537
00:30:19.119 --> 00:30:23.279
Throughout the investigation, detectives were able to place Elwood at

538
00:30:23.319 --> 00:30:27.000
several sites in Saint Charles and Saint John, the Baptist

539
00:30:27.079 --> 00:30:31.960
parishes near where bodies were found. So on March fourth

540
00:30:32.160 --> 00:30:38.119
of nineteen ninety eight, finally Elwood is charged with the

541
00:30:38.240 --> 00:30:42.559
murders of Lewis and Mack. Officially, sheriffs from three other

542
00:30:42.640 --> 00:30:47.279
parishes claimed there are four more suspects in the murders.

543
00:30:47.559 --> 00:30:51.000
Jefferson Parish Sheriff Harry Lee said we never thought from

544
00:30:51.039 --> 00:30:54.440
the beginning that this was the work of one person.

545
00:30:54.680 --> 00:30:58.079
Lee would not identify the other suspects to reporters, but

546
00:30:58.200 --> 00:31:01.119
did say in October of nineteen teen ninety seven that

547
00:31:01.279 --> 00:31:05.799
former NOPD policeman Victor Gant he was a suspect in

548
00:31:05.839 --> 00:31:08.240
two of the killings. As a told you, Gan has

549
00:31:08.279 --> 00:31:13.119
never been charged and he denied any involvement Lee in

550
00:31:13.240 --> 00:31:17.279
the Saint Charles Paris Sheriff Grade Champagne said that Elwood's

551
00:31:17.400 --> 00:31:22.160
many contradictory statements had yielded enough information to convince a

552
00:31:22.279 --> 00:31:25.400
judge to sign a warren accusing him of second degree

553
00:31:25.519 --> 00:31:29.000
murder in the deaths of Sheer Lewis and Dolores Mack.

554
00:31:29.559 --> 00:31:32.920
And I've said that many times, the truth never changes.

555
00:31:33.079 --> 00:31:36.119
You're not going to have contradictory stories if you're telling

556
00:31:36.119 --> 00:31:40.960
the truth. So when those come up, when you contradict yourself,

557
00:31:41.319 --> 00:31:44.680
usually means you're lying. Elwood was also a suspect in

558
00:31:44.839 --> 00:31:48.920
eight other murders. Champagne said, a few short years ago

559
00:31:49.119 --> 00:31:51.720
people were saying the police did not care about the

560
00:31:51.799 --> 00:31:56.400
victims because they were poor, black and had questionable reputations,

561
00:31:56.759 --> 00:32:00.160
as shown by hundreds of thousands of dollars and thousands

562
00:32:00.200 --> 00:32:03.799
and thousands of investigator mayon hours. We do care. We

563
00:32:03.920 --> 00:32:07.279
continue to care, he was quoted as saying. Now, after

564
00:32:07.319 --> 00:32:11.759
being charged with the murders, Elwood was moved from Jefferson

565
00:32:11.839 --> 00:32:15.880
Parish to Saint Charles Parish, and Elwood claimed he was

566
00:32:15.920 --> 00:32:19.519
innocent and he wanted to go before a grand jury.

567
00:32:19.720 --> 00:32:23.920
Saint John the Baptist Pairs. Sheriff Wayne Jones said, we'll

568
00:32:23.960 --> 00:32:26.400
extend him the opportunity of a grand jury if he

569
00:32:26.519 --> 00:32:30.680
wants it. Sheriff Lee commented on the many appearance changes

570
00:32:30.880 --> 00:32:34.880
in Elwood. He had changed his identity dramatically over the

571
00:32:34.960 --> 00:32:39.400
years for whatever reason, Lee said. Sheriff Champagne stated that

572
00:32:39.480 --> 00:32:44.640
since Elwood's arrest, the murder case had gotten stronger. Multiple

573
00:32:44.680 --> 00:32:48.599
witness had come forward, including an ex prostitute girlfriend of

574
00:32:48.640 --> 00:32:52.759
Elwood's and of Florida inmate who befriended Elwood when he

575
00:32:52.839 --> 00:32:56.759
was incarcerated there. And Elwood is held on a one

576
00:32:56.839 --> 00:33:00.480
million dollar bond which he for sure can't make now.

577
00:33:00.680 --> 00:33:05.240
March ninth of nineteen ninety eight, Lieutenant Sue Rushing, lead

578
00:33:05.279 --> 00:33:10.240
investigator for JPSO the Jefferson Pearis Sheriff's office, She said

579
00:33:10.240 --> 00:33:13.640
that one lead is promising and is from a witness

580
00:33:13.640 --> 00:33:17.680
who actually saw one of the victims with Elwood before

581
00:33:17.720 --> 00:33:21.799
her death. Then, on March thirteenth of nineteen ninety eight,

582
00:33:21.880 --> 00:33:25.559
an AP news report claimed that a former girlfriend of

583
00:33:25.599 --> 00:33:28.640
Elwood said he took her to a swamp and showed

584
00:33:28.680 --> 00:33:33.640
her two bodies protruding in the water. In the affidavit

585
00:33:33.720 --> 00:33:38.000
for arrest. Investigators said the timing and details the woman

586
00:33:38.079 --> 00:33:42.039
provided match those of the nineteen ninety three deaths of

587
00:33:42.119 --> 00:33:46.599
Sheril Lewis and Delores back So. According to the affid

588
00:33:46.640 --> 00:33:50.480
David Elwood told his then girlfriend that he had a

589
00:33:50.599 --> 00:33:55.799
quote surprise for her. The incident allegedly took place after

590
00:33:55.960 --> 00:33:59.319
she and Elwood smoked crack cocaine in his cab in

591
00:33:59.400 --> 00:34:03.720
a desolate of Saint Charles Parish. The two walked to

592
00:34:03.759 --> 00:34:06.759
where Elwood pointed out a body in a canal with

593
00:34:07.000 --> 00:34:11.159
just an arm and a hand sticking out. Elwood then

594
00:34:11.239 --> 00:34:15.320
pulled her over to a second body that was almost submerged.

595
00:34:15.400 --> 00:34:19.159
When the woman asked who the bodies were, Elwood allegedly

596
00:34:19.239 --> 00:34:23.400
responded with a threat that the woman died just like

597
00:34:23.920 --> 00:34:28.159
she would. Elwood's attorney said that affidavit does not provide

598
00:34:28.199 --> 00:34:31.440
evidence that Elwood killed the women or even disposed of

599
00:34:31.480 --> 00:34:35.159
the victims. He also said the fact that she never

600
00:34:35.280 --> 00:34:39.679
reported the bodies to authorities race questions about her credibility.

601
00:34:40.159 --> 00:34:45.159
The affidavit also details Elwood's alleged remarks about the two

602
00:34:45.360 --> 00:34:49.760
drug overdose cases when investigators questioned him in Canton Ohio

603
00:34:49.840 --> 00:34:53.840
earlier in the year. The affidavit does not specifically connect

604
00:34:53.880 --> 00:34:57.920
the statements to the deaths of Lewis and Mack. The

605
00:34:57.960 --> 00:35:02.000
affidavit quoted Elwood as saying, I'm willing to confess to

606
00:35:02.119 --> 00:35:05.280
two cases and give you all the details when our

607
00:35:05.320 --> 00:35:11.320
return to Louisiana. Investigators said Elwood also told them he

608
00:35:11.559 --> 00:35:14.599
dumped the body of a black woman in water in

609
00:35:14.719 --> 00:35:18.519
Saint Charles Parish. An investigators said they never mentioned that

610
00:35:18.679 --> 00:35:23.159
the bodies had been dumped in water, so at that point,

611
00:35:23.480 --> 00:35:27.199
he knows something that they've never mentioned. People and these

612
00:35:27.239 --> 00:35:31.039
investigators they always hold something back. They want something in

613
00:35:31.079 --> 00:35:34.239
their back pocket so that when they get the guy

614
00:35:34.400 --> 00:35:38.119
they think did all these things, if he provides a

615
00:35:38.159 --> 00:35:41.000
detail they've never released, they know he did it right.

616
00:35:41.199 --> 00:35:44.199
On March twenty third of nineteen ninety eight, in an

617
00:35:44.239 --> 00:35:47.079
attempt to find the bodies of two women who were

618
00:35:47.079 --> 00:35:50.880
strangled and left in the same area of Tangibajo Parish.

619
00:35:50.960 --> 00:35:55.639
In February of nineteen ninety four, investigators dug up about

620
00:35:55.639 --> 00:36:00.239
one hundred bodies from a Marshy paupers field, which a

621
00:36:00.320 --> 00:36:04.480
paupers field, y'all is a graveyard for indigent people. Jefferson

622
00:36:04.519 --> 00:36:09.400
Parish Chief Deputy Noel Norman said, every place they said

623
00:36:09.440 --> 00:36:12.800
they could possibly be the bodies weren't there.

624
00:36:12.960 --> 00:36:13.199
Now.

625
00:36:13.239 --> 00:36:16.159
One of the particular bodies that they found may have

626
00:36:16.280 --> 00:36:22.400
been patients pay Jupiter, a Waldorf, Maryland native, who disappeared

627
00:36:22.480 --> 00:36:26.840
four years before in New Orleans, and authorities were attempting

628
00:36:27.000 --> 00:36:30.559
to link the deaths to Russell Elwood. He maintained his

629
00:36:30.639 --> 00:36:33.760
innocence on that, and he maintained his innocence on the

630
00:36:33.880 --> 00:36:36.480
two women he was charged with killing. But guess what

631
00:36:36.760 --> 00:36:41.480
that grand jury he demanded, They indicted him on charges

632
00:36:41.639 --> 00:36:46.599
of killing two women. So on April ninth of nineteen

633
00:36:46.760 --> 00:36:49.480
ninety eight, Elwood goes to court and he enters a

634
00:36:49.599 --> 00:36:53.639
not guilty plea in the murders of Sheryl Lewis and

635
00:36:53.719 --> 00:36:58.000
Dolores mack And. On July eighth of nineteen ninety eight,

636
00:36:58.159 --> 00:37:01.440
during a hearing, in what can only be described as

637
00:37:01.760 --> 00:37:07.719
rambling statements, Elwood tells District Judge Kirk Grenier that he

638
00:37:07.760 --> 00:37:10.639
did not understand his rights when he was questioned by

639
00:37:10.639 --> 00:37:14.440
the task force who was investigating those murders, and defense

640
00:37:14.519 --> 00:37:18.000
attorneys asked a judge to surprise all those statements that

641
00:37:18.119 --> 00:37:22.599
Elwood gave to authorities. Elwood claimed that his rights to

642
00:37:22.639 --> 00:37:26.480
an attorney were violated. During questioning in Florida in July

643
00:37:26.599 --> 00:37:30.199
of nineteen ninety seven and in Ohio in November of

644
00:37:30.320 --> 00:37:33.400
nineteen ninety seven, Elwood told the judge he was not

645
00:37:33.559 --> 00:37:37.440
surprised that investigators visited him in Florida because he had

646
00:37:37.599 --> 00:37:41.519
dreamed they would, just like I told you. Elwood said, yeah,

647
00:37:41.719 --> 00:37:44.840
I was surprised. No, I wasn't surprised. I had a

648
00:37:44.920 --> 00:37:47.400
dream that the Task Force was coming to see me.

649
00:37:47.679 --> 00:37:52.320
Assistant Attorney General Doug Frees, who was prosecuting the case,

650
00:37:52.599 --> 00:37:57.920
charged Elwood with perjury. During the hearing, Freeze provided documents

651
00:37:57.960 --> 00:38:02.480
showing Elwood agreed to talk with investigators he had actually

652
00:38:02.519 --> 00:38:05.880
signed a statement, and Freeze asked, Elwood, are you saying

653
00:38:05.920 --> 00:38:08.920
you didn't understand what you had signed? Did you ever

654
00:38:09.239 --> 00:38:11.920
tell any of the police officers that you did not

655
00:38:12.239 --> 00:38:16.559
understand your rights? And Elwood responded, no, but I did

656
00:38:16.559 --> 00:38:19.639
not fully understand my rights. I felt the task Force

657
00:38:19.800 --> 00:38:25.639
was untrustworthy, deceitful, and manipulated. Now, during the July nineteen

658
00:38:25.719 --> 00:38:29.360
ninety seven questioning in Sea Bring, Florida, the task Force

659
00:38:29.559 --> 00:38:34.199
was late picking up Elwood, and Elwood admitted to walking

660
00:38:34.320 --> 00:38:38.239
to the Sheriff's office to go talk to him. Later,

661
00:38:38.400 --> 00:38:42.079
Elwood told how Task Force officers saw him off on

662
00:38:42.159 --> 00:38:45.880
a bus to Ohio, where his brother had made living

663
00:38:45.960 --> 00:38:48.280
arrangements for him. They just didn't have enough to hold him.

664
00:38:48.559 --> 00:38:51.800
In November of nineteen ninety eight, the Task Force had

665
00:38:51.880 --> 00:38:56.760
arrested Elwood for the murders, they come under investigation by

666
00:38:56.800 --> 00:39:02.360
the FBI. Federal agents were looking into allegations of witness tampering,

667
00:39:02.519 --> 00:39:06.920
destruction of evidence, and public corruption in the Elwood case.

668
00:39:07.519 --> 00:39:10.639
Two former members of the Task Force told the FBI

669
00:39:10.960 --> 00:39:15.079
that their leader, Lieutenant Sue Rushing of the Jefferson Pears

670
00:39:15.079 --> 00:39:19.559
Sheriff's Office, purposely hit evidence that could help clear Elwood

671
00:39:19.760 --> 00:39:23.480
and coach a key witness so her statements would corroborate

672
00:39:23.960 --> 00:39:28.079
what they had investigated. Detective Philip ramone of the Jefferson

673
00:39:28.079 --> 00:39:32.199
Pear Sheriff's Office, said that Rushing accepted claims by Sharon

674
00:39:32.400 --> 00:39:36.119
Jones of Boutet, a former living lover of Elwood, that

675
00:39:36.239 --> 00:39:42.360
Elwood had her nickname Rat tattooed on his penis, and

676
00:39:42.400 --> 00:39:45.719
that she knew for a fact that a friend, Misty

677
00:39:46.079 --> 00:39:51.280
Nicki Williams, had been murdered by Elwood. Williams was located

678
00:39:51.519 --> 00:39:55.400
alive in jail, so obviously she was lying about that,

679
00:39:55.519 --> 00:39:58.119
and not only that. Elwood does not have a tattoo

680
00:39:58.199 --> 00:40:02.159
on his deck of a rat. Ramon added, the evidence

681
00:40:02.239 --> 00:40:06.199
that was recovered from these two crime scenes cannot be located.

682
00:40:06.679 --> 00:40:10.039
I believe the evidence was destroyed and that Rushing is

683
00:40:10.159 --> 00:40:15.719
intentionally not submitting exculpatory evidence that may indicate Elwood's innocence.

684
00:40:16.480 --> 00:40:20.280
Maria Chason said it's so rare for law enforcement to

685
00:40:20.320 --> 00:40:24.840
blow the whistle on colleagues, and Elwood feels somebody's finally

686
00:40:25.360 --> 00:40:29.079
listening to him. A statement from Rushing included in the

687
00:40:29.119 --> 00:40:32.920
pack of documents centered around her efforts to get a

688
00:40:32.960 --> 00:40:37.320
federal grant to maintain her Inner Agency task force that

689
00:40:37.440 --> 00:40:41.280
was investigating the murders. In her statement, Rushing said the

690
00:40:41.360 --> 00:40:45.639
task force has again disintegrated for the third time because

691
00:40:45.639 --> 00:40:49.840
of funding issues. I'm tired of fighting to hold something together,

692
00:40:50.039 --> 00:40:55.880
attempting to maintain an impossible morale, of these severe limitations

693
00:40:55.920 --> 00:41:00.440
associated with inadequate tools in order to simply do the job.

694
00:41:00.639 --> 00:41:04.920
I have often been told, and have told subordinates. They

695
00:41:04.960 --> 00:41:07.320
would not have a problem with me if they would

696
00:41:07.480 --> 00:41:11.880
just do their job. It's chilling to realize that there

697
00:41:11.880 --> 00:41:16.480
are occasions where we are in fact prevented from doing

698
00:41:16.519 --> 00:41:20.360
our job. Defense attorneys said if the allegations were true,

699
00:41:20.480 --> 00:41:25.599
they could unravel the case against Elwood. Attorney Maria Chassan said,

700
00:41:25.679 --> 00:41:29.000
we need to find out what really happened so Russell

701
00:41:29.079 --> 00:41:33.360
Ellwood can go free like he should. The report basically

702
00:41:33.400 --> 00:41:36.800
says what Russell has been saying all along, that he

703
00:41:36.920 --> 00:41:40.599
was set up. Assistant District Attorney Doug Frees said he

704
00:41:40.719 --> 00:41:44.880
still had faith in the investigation. Quote, A look through

705
00:41:44.920 --> 00:41:48.559
the report will show you a lot of rank speculation

706
00:41:48.800 --> 00:41:52.239
contained in the statements. You have to ask yourself, where's

707
00:41:52.320 --> 00:41:56.840
the coroboration for those broad allegations. I will say I've

708
00:41:56.960 --> 00:42:01.800
never seen law enforcement officers conduct themselves in this manner before.

709
00:42:02.000 --> 00:42:05.599
In December of nineteen ninety eight, Jefferson Pearish Sheriff Harry

710
00:42:05.719 --> 00:42:09.840
Lee publicly defended Lieutenant Sue Rushing, who is accused of

711
00:42:09.920 --> 00:42:14.400
destroying evidence that might clear Elwood. Lee told The Times

712
00:42:14.480 --> 00:42:18.519
peakyun I respect her personally and I respect her professionally,

713
00:42:18.639 --> 00:42:22.400
but as of now, I have no reason to discipline her.

714
00:42:22.679 --> 00:42:25.119
Lee said that the two former members of the task

715
00:42:25.159 --> 00:42:28.519
force made complaints about Rushing to the FBI because of

716
00:42:28.679 --> 00:42:32.760
grudges related to the investigation. Lee was quoted as saying,

717
00:42:32.800 --> 00:42:35.079
I think we've got a very good case. If we

718
00:42:35.159 --> 00:42:38.000
get a conviction, I will let the world know. It's

719
00:42:38.199 --> 00:42:42.760
mainly because of Sue Rushing's efforts. State District Judge Kirk

720
00:42:42.800 --> 00:42:46.800
Grenere ruled that the defense attorneys were not entitled to

721
00:42:46.880 --> 00:42:51.880
review personnel files of the case's leading investigator, Sue Rushing.

722
00:42:52.360 --> 00:42:56.039
Rushing denied under oath that she destroyed evidence that would

723
00:42:56.119 --> 00:43:00.800
exonerate Elwood. She admitted to throwing away an envelope with

724
00:43:00.880 --> 00:43:05.239
an out of state postmark with Elwood's things because quote,

725
00:43:05.760 --> 00:43:10.039
my hand moved without my brain being engaged. She also

726
00:43:10.119 --> 00:43:13.880
claimed that she quickly fished the envelope out of the trash.

727
00:43:14.119 --> 00:43:17.119
Rushing also admitted to throwing away a piece of paper

728
00:43:17.199 --> 00:43:20.639
that had the word Texas scrawled on it, but insisted

729
00:43:20.719 --> 00:43:23.679
it would not have provided Elwood with an alibi because

730
00:43:23.719 --> 00:43:28.960
it was dated nineteen ninety. Maria Chaisian asked Rushing, did

731
00:43:29.039 --> 00:43:31.639
you think it was your place to be judge and

732
00:43:31.760 --> 00:43:34.880
jury on what evidence would be destroyed and what would

733
00:43:34.880 --> 00:43:38.840
be maintained, and Rushing responded by saying, in this case,

734
00:43:39.039 --> 00:43:41.800
I wish I would have saved it to show you.

735
00:43:41.920 --> 00:43:45.519
Rushing denied throwing an out of state receipt that may

736
00:43:45.599 --> 00:43:48.920
have placed Elwood away from the murder scenes. She said,

737
00:43:49.440 --> 00:43:53.599
I wouldn't do that. And more shocking news came out

738
00:43:53.679 --> 00:43:56.559
on March first of nineteen ninety nine, when the AP

739
00:43:56.760 --> 00:44:00.800
published an article alluding that Elwood may be set free

740
00:44:01.119 --> 00:44:04.599
and that he was making plans for the future. Elwood

741
00:44:04.679 --> 00:44:07.199
said that he would move back to Ohio and may

742
00:44:07.400 --> 00:44:11.400
visit Louisiana occasionally to take part in a federal civil

743
00:44:11.639 --> 00:44:15.440
rights lawsuit filed against the serial Killer task Force that

744
00:44:15.599 --> 00:44:20.199
arrested him. Defense attorney Maria Chossingen said that Elwood's release

745
00:44:20.400 --> 00:44:24.480
is inevitable since authorities admitted that Elwood could not have

746
00:44:24.599 --> 00:44:27.960
killed Delores. Mack Chaussing said, do we have to wait

747
00:44:28.000 --> 00:44:31.559
for the trial or will the AG's office face the

748
00:44:31.599 --> 00:44:34.840
fact they don't have the evidence and drop it. Chase

749
00:44:34.960 --> 00:44:38.800
On added, common sense tells you the same person killed

750
00:44:38.800 --> 00:44:41.800
both Lewis and matt if Russell. Elwood could not have

751
00:44:41.880 --> 00:44:44.519
killed one of them. Then, obviously he could not have

752
00:44:44.639 --> 00:44:49.000
killed the other Lewis could have been out turning a trick,

753
00:44:49.159 --> 00:44:54.199
stumbling off into the canal and drown. Now, evidence collected

754
00:44:54.360 --> 00:44:58.119
showed that Elwood was visiting relatives in Ohio during the

755
00:44:58.199 --> 00:45:02.280
time Delores Mack was key. The evidence included documents that

756
00:45:02.360 --> 00:45:05.800
showed Elwood closed an account at an Ohio bank with

757
00:45:05.880 --> 00:45:09.599
his brother, and witnesses who saw Elwood at a fifties

758
00:45:09.800 --> 00:45:14.760
music community dance in the Canton, Ohio area. So, you know,

759
00:45:14.880 --> 00:45:19.400
that's some pretty crazy evidence. To the contrary of what

760
00:45:19.639 --> 00:45:23.719
they're saying. Elwood spent most of the previous week making

761
00:45:23.760 --> 00:45:28.480
collect calls to reporters, predicting that he would soon walk

762
00:45:28.480 --> 00:45:33.679
out of jail, But he remains in prison until his trial,

763
00:45:33.800 --> 00:45:37.920
which starts on June eighth of nineteen ninety nine. Now,

764
00:45:38.000 --> 00:45:41.280
the trial took place in Lafeyette. It was a change

765
00:45:41.320 --> 00:45:45.000
of venue requests that was granted by the judge obviously

766
00:45:45.239 --> 00:45:48.719
because of the massive publicity at this time surrounding the

767
00:45:48.760 --> 00:45:52.800
case in New Orleans, and both martyrs were not tried

768
00:45:52.840 --> 00:45:57.039
at the same time. Sheryl Lewis's martyr was tried first. Now,

769
00:45:57.119 --> 00:46:01.320
during the proceedings, a number of ellwood Its former salmates

770
00:46:01.440 --> 00:46:07.360
and prostitutes testified as prosecution witnesses, with the former claiming

771
00:46:07.400 --> 00:46:10.239
that he had confessed to the killings, while the latter

772
00:46:10.519 --> 00:46:15.039
claimed that he had assaulted them. Diane Gillam, a former prostitute,

773
00:46:15.119 --> 00:46:17.480
till the court she had known Elwood since the early

774
00:46:17.599 --> 00:46:22.000
nineteen nineties and even dated him periodically. She testified that

775
00:46:22.280 --> 00:46:26.119
nineteen ninety two, during a date, Elwood, while under the

776
00:46:26.159 --> 00:46:30.239
influence of drugs, assaulted, beat and strangled her till she

777
00:46:30.400 --> 00:46:33.960
was unconscious. Gillim stated she woke up to find herself

778
00:46:34.000 --> 00:46:37.400
in a pull of blood in an unfamiliar wooded area,

779
00:46:37.559 --> 00:46:41.199
where a passing motorists found her by chance and sheltered

780
00:46:41.239 --> 00:46:44.239
her in a motel where he was staying. She said

781
00:46:44.280 --> 00:46:47.000
that she did not report the incident, did it being

782
00:46:47.000 --> 00:46:49.760
a prostitute with a criminal record, and y'all that's a

783
00:46:49.840 --> 00:46:54.039
problem too. A lot of those things go unreported. Now,

784
00:46:54.079 --> 00:46:57.760
that's a Richmond, a former stripper in prostitute. In turn,

785
00:46:57.880 --> 00:47:01.679
she testified she had also been beaten and assaulted twice

786
00:47:01.800 --> 00:47:06.000
by a drug crazed Elwood, during which he also attempted

787
00:47:06.360 --> 00:47:10.280
to strangle her. Janie Stokes, a former prostitute, told the

788
00:47:10.320 --> 00:47:13.239
court that she first met him in either nineteen ninety

789
00:47:13.239 --> 00:47:17.840
two or nineteen ninety three at a gas station in Morrero, Louisiana,

790
00:47:17.960 --> 00:47:20.679
another outskirt of New Orleans, when he was working as

791
00:47:20.719 --> 00:47:24.880
a cab driver. Stokes stated that Elwood bought her lunch

792
00:47:24.960 --> 00:47:28.320
and treated her nicely before driving her to his home,

793
00:47:28.400 --> 00:47:32.880
where he suggested they use cocaine. After doing drugs together,

794
00:47:33.039 --> 00:47:37.159
Elwood beat her, but she did manage to flee. Stokes

795
00:47:37.199 --> 00:47:40.079
also did not report the crime because she was a

796
00:47:40.199 --> 00:47:44.239
drug addict. Antoinette Rainey, who worked as a drug dealer

797
00:47:44.280 --> 00:47:46.880
in New Orleans, also appeared as a witness for the

798
00:47:46.920 --> 00:47:51.559
prosecution and testified that Elwood was a regular customer. She

799
00:47:51.719 --> 00:47:55.440
recounted an incident in which Elwood forced her into his

800
00:47:55.480 --> 00:47:59.239
car at gunpoint, then drove her to an underpass where

801
00:47:59.239 --> 00:48:02.559
he beat, raped, and robbed her, threatening to kill her

802
00:48:02.719 --> 00:48:06.719
during the ordeal. Rannie was able to escape, but did

803
00:48:06.760 --> 00:48:11.239
not report the attack due obviously to her criminal lifestyle.

804
00:48:11.840 --> 00:48:15.599
Three witnesses testified they had also seen the defendant was

805
00:48:15.719 --> 00:48:21.239
shri Lewis shortly before her disappearance. Now according to the testimony,

806
00:48:21.280 --> 00:48:25.320
of Denise Sanders, who was Louis's best friend. She had

807
00:48:25.360 --> 00:48:29.559
seen her with Elwood three days prior to Louis's death,

808
00:48:29.679 --> 00:48:33.239
who at the time was out driving his cab. Sanders

809
00:48:33.280 --> 00:48:36.280
also admitted to withholding this information because she was a

810
00:48:36.360 --> 00:48:40.800
drug dealer. The second witness, Antoinette Holm, who lived near Lewis,

811
00:48:40.840 --> 00:48:46.000
testified seeing her at the Timesaver restaurant in Bridge City, Louisiana,

812
00:48:46.039 --> 00:48:49.880
two weeks before she was reported missing, standing between two

813
00:48:49.960 --> 00:48:53.679
part cars and talking to a cab driver. She then

814
00:48:53.800 --> 00:48:59.840
identified Elwood as that driver. Win War Henry, Lewis's cousin,

815
00:49:00.119 --> 00:49:02.760
stated that she at last saw her at a hotel

816
00:49:02.920 --> 00:49:06.800
in Avondale, another outskirted of New Orleans, with a man

817
00:49:06.880 --> 00:49:10.800
who she identified as Elwood. According to her, Lewis had

818
00:49:10.800 --> 00:49:13.599
told Henry that she and Elwood were on their way

819
00:49:13.719 --> 00:49:16.599
to a suburb of New Orleans where her body was

820
00:49:16.679 --> 00:49:20.840
later found. Henry testified that she did not give police

821
00:49:20.880 --> 00:49:25.079
this information because she was wanted for some petty offenses

822
00:49:25.280 --> 00:49:28.679
at that time. Now Elwood himself denied knowing any of

823
00:49:28.760 --> 00:49:32.920
these victims that testified against him. Chair Lewis's mother in turn,

824
00:49:33.039 --> 00:49:36.599
admitted her daughter was a drug addict and a prostitute,

825
00:49:36.599 --> 00:49:39.880
but said that she had never seen Elwood with her

826
00:49:39.960 --> 00:49:42.679
daughter before. It doesn't mean a whole lot, but it's

827
00:49:42.719 --> 00:49:46.559
worth noting now. Elwood's attorney said that Elwood was not

828
00:49:46.800 --> 00:49:50.119
in New Orleans at the time of the murders, claiming

829
00:49:50.159 --> 00:49:53.400
that he had been in Ohio with some relatives. Elwood

830
00:49:53.679 --> 00:49:57.920
was known for keeping extensive amounts of documents and indicated

831
00:49:58.039 --> 00:50:03.039
his whereabouts, but the regarding where his supposed presence in

832
00:50:03.119 --> 00:50:08.719
Ohio was for February of nineteen ninety three had mysteriously disappeared.

833
00:50:10.000 --> 00:50:15.519
So on June tenth of nineteen ninety nine, Russell Elwood's

834
00:50:15.800 --> 00:50:20.800
trial concludes, and he is convicted of second degree murder

835
00:50:21.119 --> 00:50:25.599
by a state district court jury. And they only took

836
00:50:25.719 --> 00:50:30.039
about three hours to reach that verdict. Now was the

837
00:50:30.079 --> 00:50:33.880
defense attorney's belief because there was no physical evidence. It

838
00:50:34.039 --> 00:50:39.599
was all circumstantial stuff. That the reasons that Elwood was

839
00:50:39.679 --> 00:50:44.800
convicted was because he came across so nasty to the jurors.

840
00:50:44.880 --> 00:50:48.920
That was their statement. Elwood denied knowing Lewis, even after

841
00:50:49.039 --> 00:50:52.920
witnesses testified they were together and had been seen together

842
00:50:53.039 --> 00:50:56.920
in the past. Elwood spoke in a very condescending voice

843
00:50:57.000 --> 00:51:00.239
from the witness stand. He actually took the stand his

844
00:51:00.280 --> 00:51:05.159
own defense and attorney Ross Scissia was quoted as saying

845
00:51:05.239 --> 00:51:08.920
his arrogance really came through and the jury got turned off.

846
00:51:09.119 --> 00:51:16.559
So on August seventeenth of nineteen ninety nine, Elwood is

847
00:51:16.719 --> 00:51:26.119
sentenced to life in prison without parole in Bloody and Gola,

848
00:51:26.159 --> 00:51:31.679
and a few notable events did take place after the conviction.

849
00:51:32.079 --> 00:51:35.559
January of two thousand, the city of New Orleans wanted

850
00:51:35.639 --> 00:51:39.320
fired Victor gamt remember him to pay back the one

851
00:51:39.400 --> 00:51:42.239
hundred and nine thousand, five hundred dollars in back pay

852
00:51:42.480 --> 00:51:47.559
he actually got awarded in nineteen ninety six. Gant received

853
00:51:47.599 --> 00:51:50.880
the money in November of nineteen ninety six after the

854
00:51:51.000 --> 00:51:54.880
Civil Service Commission, which reinstated him, threatened the city with

855
00:51:54.960 --> 00:51:59.679
a contempt ruling. The commission ruled the gants firing was excessive,

856
00:52:00.119 --> 00:52:03.679
reduced his punishment to a thirty day suspension, and ordered

857
00:52:03.719 --> 00:52:07.440
the city to pay all of Gant's lost wages. Police

858
00:52:07.440 --> 00:52:10.960
Superintendent Richard Pennington said, I think he needs to repay

859
00:52:11.079 --> 00:52:14.199
every dime back to the city. He wasn't entitled to

860
00:52:14.320 --> 00:52:16.639
that money. We're trying to get the money back. We

861
00:52:16.679 --> 00:52:19.360
don't think he should have gotten it in the first place,

862
00:52:19.480 --> 00:52:23.119
because the case was still in the appeal process. Chief

863
00:52:23.159 --> 00:52:27.480
Administration Officer Marlon Gussman said, if he's going to stash

864
00:52:27.519 --> 00:52:31.000
it or send it away somewhere, he's probably already done that.

865
00:52:31.119 --> 00:52:33.960
But it doesn't mean we won't try our best to

866
00:52:34.000 --> 00:52:36.440
come up with the money. Then, in March of two

867
00:52:36.480 --> 00:52:41.079
thousand and one, the Louisiana Supreme Court refuses to overturn

868
00:52:41.239 --> 00:52:46.800
Elwood's conviction after reviewing trial transcripts and written arguments. In

869
00:52:46.880 --> 00:52:55.039
two thoy fourteen, Elwood dies at Louisiana State Penitentiary and Angola.

870
00:52:56.440 --> 00:53:00.159
Two years later, in twenty sixteen, in an interview with

871
00:53:00.199 --> 00:53:04.719
The Huffington Post, Major CJ. Dorster of the Saint John

872
00:53:04.760 --> 00:53:08.960
the Baptist Pearis Sheriff's Office confirm mc gant is still

873
00:53:09.119 --> 00:53:12.119
on the suspect less for the murder of his ex

874
00:53:12.199 --> 00:53:16.800
girlfriend and her friend. Advances in DNA testing would be

875
00:53:16.920 --> 00:53:20.440
utilized to test that what of chewing tobacco that I

876
00:53:20.519 --> 00:53:23.480
told you about in episode one found near one of

877
00:53:23.480 --> 00:53:26.920
the crime scenes, and the initial review of that twenty

878
00:53:26.960 --> 00:53:31.880
one year old tobacco was inconclusive. When it was tested

879
00:53:31.920 --> 00:53:34.400
in nineteen ninety five, and they still held on to it,

880
00:53:34.440 --> 00:53:36.920
and they're hoping that DNA one day will get to

881
00:53:36.960 --> 00:53:39.599
the point they can pull something off of it. Sadly,

882
00:53:41.000 --> 00:53:45.920
as of today, all of the murders I told you about,

883
00:53:46.360 --> 00:53:52.079
aside from remain unsolved. Elwood remains a suspect in several

884
00:53:52.239 --> 00:53:55.960
of those killings, but no charges had been filed against him,

885
00:53:56.000 --> 00:54:00.320
and now I mean he's dead. As for Gant, he

886
00:54:00.440 --> 00:54:04.360
left New Orleans after his discharge from law enforcement and

887
00:54:04.440 --> 00:54:08.840
moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where presumably he still lives today.

888
00:54:09.840 --> 00:54:12.679
And it's important to mention again he has never been

889
00:54:12.800 --> 00:54:19.000
charged in anyone's murder and has assumed innocent until proven guilty.

890
00:54:19.440 --> 00:54:22.599
So thanks so much for listening. Check out the Patreon

891
00:54:22.679 --> 00:54:27.000
at patreon dot com, slash Bloody and Goola Podcasts for commercial,

892
00:54:27.079 --> 00:54:33.079
free early releases and more. And until next time, I'm

893
00:54:33.199 --> 00:54:37.079
Jim Chapman for Bloody in Gola, a podcast one and

894
00:54:37.119 --> 00:54:40.360
forty two years in the making, the complete story of

895
00:54:40.440 --> 00:54:42.159
America's bloodiest present.

896
00:54:43.000 --> 00:55:00.679
Peace Lo straight.

897
00:55:00.519 --> 00:55:07.360
Line, shackle, Change, Oh gluesome gird.

898
00:55:09.519 --> 00:55:10.960
It's calling my name.

899
00:55:12.800 --> 00:55:19.880
There is no mercy and it's been a tentery juice

900
00:55:20.039 --> 00:55:24.840
as the hill Stream game Rango, the three.

901
00:55:26.360 --> 00:55:31.440
I'm here, be by me, to die.

902
00:55:33.119 --> 00:55:37.960
Inside these walls, inside the wild.

903
00:55:39.880 --> 00:55:44.719
And when more girls I know it's soul.

904
00:55:49.880 --> 00:55:58.119
Bloody angle, ohbody Angle

905
00:56:03.519 --> 00:56:10.719
And p