Part 3 | Cold Blooded Killer: Felix Vail

0:05 M hmm, I walk straight line shackle change. Oh weesome, Girdie, it's calling my name. There is no mercy and it's been a tentery juice as. The hill Stream game wrangled the three. I'm here, bef, I'm.

0:46 Here to die inside these walls, inside the wild. Han't went more girls. I'm hey everyone, and welcome back to Bloody Angola, a podcast one hundred and forty two years in the making, the complete story of America's bloodiest prison.

1:40 I'm your host, Jim Chapman, and we're continuing with this third installment in the Felix Veil series. And the last time that I left you, I was giving you the story through the eyes of the journalists who really cracked this case, and I'm going to continue on with that. And if you will remember in the last episode, I told you about Felix Veil's passion for journaling, and when those journals were found, they were going through by this investigative journalist named Jerry Mitchell, as well as Miss Frenzel, who you'll remember was a private investigator known affectionately as Batgirl.

2:23 So one of the interesting things that they did in order to really get a lot of evidence after Felix Veil's arrest. Was that these two people went through those journals and they tried to locate as many people as possible that they would see referenced in the journals to see if they had any sort of evidence on Felix Veil's or rent of terror. They're trying to build as much evidence as possible. They want to make sure that this guy is going to get convicted this time, and unlike fifty years prior, he doesn't get out. So I'm going to pick up with Jerry Mitchell's account. For every person Frinzily and I tracked down that Val had mentioned in this conversation in journals, there were hundreds we were unable to find. In many cases we didn't have last names, and many others we had no names. That was the case with the team we came to call bicycle boy who bicycle would veil across California. Val told Frenzl he was a real smart teenage boy with long hair who kind of looked like a girl. Both of them wore cotton jim shorts. They biked in the sun all day.

3:37 At night, they slept under pup tents under the stars, and Val remembered it being one hundred and ten degrees in the desert. When police pulled the pair over, officers held him in the back of the squad car for more than an hour, questioning him, and when his story indeed checked out, they opened the door and they apologized. He said police became suspicious because he didn't look like his driver's license picture. Instead of looking older, he looked about ten years younger. We need to find bicycle boy, Frienzel told me. I bet he knows something. How can we find him when we don't even know his name now. After Vale's arrest, Rose did something she hadn't done in ages.

4:21 She danced. It was like a weight had been lifted, she said, knowing he's behind bars. In fall of twenty thirteen, she telephoned me with the news that the couple who had purchased Vale's home in Tulsa had discovered something in the attic. So there did end up being something in the attic after all. On October tenth of twenty thirteen, I accompanied roseen frienzled to the Tulsa Police department, where walls displayed photographs of famous criminals those officers had busted, including my Barker and pretty Boy Floyd. The detectives led us inside an office where they showed photographs of what they had found in the attic, a woman's overnight bag which contained two complete outfits, a swimsuit and sunglasses. They pointed at a blown up photograph of birth control pills.

5:10 Rose confirmed the signature on the prescription as belonging to her daughter, a Net. Tulsa police opened their files, and I noticed all the contradictions in Vale's statement. He had told officers he dropped a Net off at the Trailway bus station in Saint Louis, where she went inside to buy a ticket to go to Denver. Vale told police their marriage was not working and that Annette was tired of her family. That was why Vel explained she wanted to get a fake ID in head for Mexico. But his whole story had been blown up by the revelation that the couple had been seen weeks later by his relatives. The couple had visited during the cal Cam Fair in Sulf Louisiana in nineteen eighty four. Before the couple left and Vale returned alone. Why didn't the police confront him over that? When Detective Lorie Visser questioned Veil in nineteen ninety four. Veil claimed Annette called him from Mexico, first when she was pregnant and later when she had a child.

6:13 We have only his word as to why net is gone. Viser said there may be other victims. In a nineteen ninety five report, a consultant by the name of Michael Greer told Tulsa police that Vell killed to free the spirit of each woman he considered whores who needed release from domineering mothers. Gear concluded that freeing the spirit became Veil's justification for these crimes. That evening, rose Friendzly and I visited the couple who had made the discovery. Inside Vale's old home, John Hall, scept Veil removed a padlock from the attic door last November and left with a big box full of items. He didn't know what Veil removed.

6:57 Hall's wife, Stephanie, caught Veil ten making a picture of their three year old son. Veil had a shocked look on his face, she said, over and over, he tried to get my son alone. She led us upstairs to the attic storeroom and shut us the dust covered suitcase. When she opened the suitcase and saw the name on the birth control pills. She said she realized it was Veil's wife who had been missing since nineteen eighty four, and that the explanation he had given for her disappearance was obviously a lie. She put the items back in the bag and called police. What kind of lady takes off for a new life and does it take her birth control? She asked. It really sunk in when I saw her name. He really did this. In the weeks that followed, I discovered something Tulsa police had overlooked. There had never been a Trailways bus station in Saint Louis, just a Greyhound bus terminal built in nineteen sixty seven.

7:56 Frienzil figured out that the torn photograph Rose found in Veil's home in nineteen eighty five was actually a NETS stamped passport photograph. Ripping the picture out would have rendered her passport unvalid. So why would Vale have hung onto that photo a reminder of what might have been a souvenir? No one will ever know. On November twenty third of twenty thirteen, Frienzell finally got her chance to confront Vale when she visited him at the Calcashu Parish Correctional Center in Lake Charles. Vel talked about some kind of circus I have gotten swept up into, she said. Frenzel told him that there was a lot of stuff out there and it's all bullshit. Veil replied, my wife fell out of a boat fifty years ago and drowned in a river.

8:46 She asked about the photographs of his wife Mary when she was recovered from that river. He insisted he hadn't seen them. She asked him about the missing women. I've dated several hundred maybe in my lifetime. He replied, I don't know where any of them were. In the end, he said, these women were healthier and smarter than when I met them. There's that arrogance again, y'all said, tell me about Sharon. Frenzel said, you're telling me. The story is she settled off into the wild blue yonder. I don't know where she is or where she went, he said. Frienzel asked when he last saw her someplace where the boats are, he said. She asked him about where he last saw in that vel. He said they were walking around a zoo and ran into several people, and she left with those people on a bus in Saint Louis.

9:36 Why would she get on a bus with people she didn't know? They were going to South America? They were going south? He said, yeah, Well, why would she leave with people she didn't know? I asked she wanted to go south? She asked why he didn't go with her? We were together off and on. She asked if that was the last time that he saw in it. Yes, he replied, I don't believe it. She said, they'll stared at her now. I hope you're getting paid well. Her reply was not a single dime. What's your motive? He asked, justice? She said, justice is a joke here. He replied, I have done nothing bad. I slapped one woman in my entire life. He said he had to hit a woman in self defense because she had slapped him three times.

10:27 He denied. The woman he hit was Beth Field, who secured a nineteen eighty eight protective order against him after he beat her twice, bursting her ear drum, according to court records. He denied that too. He denied he had carried out any violence in his lifetime, except twice in self defense when mobs of men supposedly attacked him. Friends will say court record show you beat the shit out of Beth Field. They'll denied that accusation, saying authorities laughed about the claim and that Field went home with him friends. Will pressed him. From the bottom of your heart, you know you're not getting out of here, you know that, so why not just tell the other two families about where their women are so they can sleep at night.

11:11 Do you sleep at night? Do you incredible? He said? She replied, You're never gonna get out of here, so why not give the family some closure? Veil said, they have no right to arrest me. They have every right in the world. She replied, Nope, they didn't, and with that, Veil hung up the phone. In spring of twenty fifteen, I answered my telephone. The woman on the line signed hysterical, and I was ready to hang up when I heard her mention that she had been married to Felix Veil. I stayed on and listened to Alexandra Christiansen tell her story. And y'all, I told you all about the Alexandria Christiansen situation in the last episode, and I'm gonna get a little bit into the trial now. So District Attorney John DeRosier stepped in front of the jury. The sixty nine year old prosecutor still bore the firm grip he had from his days in the Vietnam War when he was a machine gunner for the Marines. He told history in three chapters, starting with Homecoming Queen Mary Horton. On the night of October twenty eighth, nineteen sixty two, he said, William Felix Veil quietly slipped the lifeless body of Mary Horton.

12:26 Veil into the Calcashu River. The blood to her head and the scarf shoved in her throat, along with other unknown trauma, would assure that she would never breathe again. In telling you the next two chapters, the district attorney read from letters that Veil wrote to two mothers after their daughters disappear. In nineteen seventy four, Vl swore to Sharon Hensley's mother that her daughter wanted to forget everyone and become a new person. In nineteen eighty five, Vel insisted to Mary Rose and that her daughter Annette was getting ready to drop everybody and start over before she disappeared herself. Veil ended the note by reassuring Rose that even if he knew where net was, I wouldn't tell you.

13:09 At that point in the courtroom, Veil smirked. Mary Horton Vale is gone. Sharon Hensley is gone, de Roger said, and in that craver, Veil is gone. He told jurors, you're gonna have to write the last chapter, and it's simply going to read. And justice was finally done. William Felix Veil guilty is charged. Then Andrew Casanov stepped in front of the jurors. In his spare time, the sixty year old public defender performed in community theater, something he believed aided him in the courtroom. Although he thought the public Defender's office was outmanned in this trial, he believed the defense could still win. He didn't need to convince all twelve jurors that this nineteen sixty two death was accidental.

13:56 All he needed was one He pictured. October twenty eighth, nineteen sixty two, is a romantic evening on the water with Felix and Mary Val. She wanted out of the house, as any new mother would understand. He said. It was a beautiful day, a clear sky, a new moon, and there was no moonlight. The couple left their baby with a sitter. He said, it gets dark fast. Then something goes wrong and Mary falls in the water alive. Felix tries to save her, but he can't. It's dark, the water is dark, and he can't find her. Meanwhile, he said, the boat Veil left is drifting because he didn't anchor it, and he is left with no choice die of exhaustion or get back to the boat. So he swims back to the boat. Vel decides to bring the boat to the sheriff's office, goes in and reports that she fell in the water. There's nothing evil or mysterious about this, the lawyer said. We all know people who fall out of boats and drown. He questioned those who plan to testify that Veil had confessed to the killing SA they failed to call authorities of the time. He described the DA's case as full of air. Push comes to shove, they got nothing. The case should have been brought in nineteen sixty two, he said, when deputies could have testified, and now their work is missing. He cited cases where people had disappeared only to reappear years later, and that Craver might be in Mexico, sham Hensley might be in a nursing home in Cleveland. Prosecutors are relying on supposition, innuendo,

15:31 rumor in a certain amount of sympathy to convict a man. Do the right thing and vote this man not guilty and send this man home. Assistant District Attorney Hugo. Holland kept the murder trial moving like an officer directing traffic. That made sense because he had worked his way through law school as a deputy. The bald, fifty three year old prosecutor bore some resemblance to the nineteen seventies TV detective Kojak. His talent for tough cases led him to be a special prosecutor, flying from district to district to ensure the bad guys went away for good. In the Veil case, he dipped into his law enforcement experience to investigate the case with Melissa Soigne from Derozer's office. They traveled across the US to conduct interviews. When Holland read Veil's letter that he had not the slightest idea where Annette might have gotten to by now, he thought of suspected Syir killer Eric Michelson, who told authorities he had no idea where the victims had gotten by now. During his legal research, Holland discovered the doctrine of chances, which enabled him to introduce the disappearances of two other women in Veil's life as evidence. The doctrine had his roots in a nineteen fifteen murder trial of George Joseph Smith in England. Three of his wives has supposedly drowned by accident in bathtub shortly after making out wills or taking out life insurance policies that been a fitted them. Although Smith was only tried for one murder, the jury was

17:04 allowed to hear evidence regarding the other two wives deaths. Eventually the jury convicted him. In Vale's trial, prosecutors called all three families to testify. Will Horton told jurors about his sister, Mary was the kind of person you would want as a friend. The same night his sister prepared to walk onto the field as homecoming queen at Eunice High School, she took the time to straighten her younger brother's bowtie. She was more concerned about him than getting herself ready. His voice cracked as he spoke about visiting his nephew after Mary's death in nineteen sixty two, which he did often I just want to build to know how much his mother loved him. As he stepped down from the witness stand, hent his some jurors wiping tears, The defense attorney told him, I know you loved your sister.

17:54 Testimony continued with Brian Hensley telling jurors that he saw his sister last Sharon, with Veil before the pair left Bismarck, North Dakota in nineteen seventy two. Other than a telephone call. In letters in the massa followed, he said no one had seen or heard from her since. When Mary Rose took the witness stand, Veil bowed his head, and when the screen shod a picture of him together with a net, she thought she saw a tear in his eyes. She called Annette a huge light in my life. We were always loving towards each other. She testified. The Veil ran off with her daughter and married her a Neet who inherited nearly one hundred thousand dollars and received two homes, disappeared weeks after beating those homes. To Veil, have you seen or heard from your daughter since September of nineteen eighty four? No, she replied, how long have you been waiting to tell this jury thirty two years, she replied.

18:50 Veil's former friends became some of the strongest witnesses against him. Wesley Turnage, Rob Fremont and Bruce Spiderbach swore under oath the Veil said he killed his first wife. Jurors watched a videotape of Biderbach testifying that Vell told him out of the blue that he killed his wife. He said he asked Veil if she was a bitch, and Veil said yes. I then glanced over at Veil he was laughing. Asked if he had been married before. Biderbach said yes. Was she a bitch? The defense lawyer asked, my first wife was did you kill her? No? What a strange question to ask in the hopes of proving your client's innocence. After jurors watched the videotape testimony of Bierbock in Fremont, they heard Turnage describe his nineteen sixty four conversation he had with Veil about his first wife Mary. He was talking about his wife and said that bitch and I were having problems. Turner's testified he said Vell talked about his wife wanting a second child.

19:52 He said, I don't want another one. I fix that damn bitch. She won't ever have another one. He testified that he he wanted to tell authorities, but his mother made him promise he would never speak of Veil. After his mother's death, he were gone and decided to contact me. The defense accused Turnage of wanting to be famous since he called me rather than authorities. Turnage replied that he didn't telephone me to be famous, saying he only spoke out because he felt like it was the right thing to do. After finishing his testimony, he hobbled across the courtroom. The whole time he scowled at Vail, making me wonder if he was going to try and smack him with his cane. The elderly man broke into a smile, telling Veil's lawyer, you have a nice day. Vel glared at Gina Frenzel as she took the witness stand. The red haired private investigator remained calm. She told the story of reading gone in March of twenty thirteen, and how the story of a net craver Veil still missing struck her soul.

20:54 She described her investigation, which included going under cover and speaking to Veil inside his home in Canyon Lake, Texas, after his May twenty thirteen arrest. She said he had asked her to return his truck and remove a few things from his house. She said she went inside and photographed everything she could find, including letters and journals She read. In October twentieth, two thousand and three entry in which Val wrote about a family property dispute that ended with him being evicted from his deceased parents home. He wrote about learning to handle the situation without murder. The lawyer replied, without murder, that's a normal option. Under cross examination, the defense lawyer asked her, you are probably counting the thousands you were going to make off this trial. She replied, I'm actually trying to figure out how to recoup the thousands of spent on this case. The lawyer then asked, Felix Vale did not ask you to go snooping through his house? Did he know? She replied, someone asked you to do it. No, she replied. The lawyer presents zoomed I had asked. Actually, she did it on her own, But the conversation she had with Veil in the journal she copied gave the world insight into the complex and contradictory.

22:12 Felix Veil all, in his own words, his best hope for walking free was convincing jarors the death of his wife Mary was an accident, just as the original corner had ruled. When the defense attorney complained to the judge that no one could say where Mary Veal went into the Kalkishu River, Felix vel pointed at himself and said, I can the current corner. A pathologist by the name of doctor Terry Welk testified that in the vast majority of drownings, the body comes up in a dead person's float, the back of the head surfaces first and the limbs hanging down in the water. After sharing a series of pictures to illustrate this, he showed two black and white photographs of Mary Horton Veil when her body was recovered on October thirtieth, nineteen six sixty two. Jars glimpsed at the photographs, and they looked damning her dark scarf covering her mouth and her arms in a coffin like pose.

23:09 They also saw the videotaped testimony of Isaac Abshire Junior, who died in twenty fourteen. He said her body was stiff when it surfaced either sideways or face up when she bobbed up and down in the Kalkashi River. That testimony helped contribute to Wilke's homicide conclusion. So did the unbroken, grease like stain across her chi Omega sweatshirt, which he believed could have come from a tarp covering her. He believed she was dead and stiff before body went into the water, which he said explained why rigor mortis had set. In the defense, forensic pathologist doctor James Traylor disagreed, saying there was no evidence she was dead before she went in the water. Trailer sounded convincing, and Jerors appeared to be paying close attention. I knew all it took was Trailer disputed the prosecution claim that her body was in rigor because she had been in the water seventy two hours or so, but under cross examination, he conceded her body could be stiff if she had been in the water less than a day. What Trailer didn't realize was the death certificate he had relied on for his conclusions had the wrong death date. She had indeed been in the water one less day than he thought. Before he finished testifying, He pointed out the hematoma on the back of her head, saying any determination regarding her death would need to account for that. The autopsy showed Mary Vale suffered a four inch hematoma on the back of her head.

24:42 She also suffered a four inch beries to her right calf and a two inch beries above her left knee. Forensic pathologist doctor Michael Baton, testifying for the prosecution, discount of the defense theory that she could have suffered from all these injuries falling out of the boat. These were not scrapes, he tested divide, they were blunt force injuries. He said. The more likely scenario was the blow that caused Darima Tuma knocked her unconscious, making it possible for her killer to asphyxiate her. Beadon pointed to a photograph which he suggested she was strangled with a scarf. The scarf was found four inches into her mouth, according to the autopsy report. A scarf doesn't go into her mouth by itself, He said, my opinion is that Maryvelle died of asphyxia because she couldn't breathe. On the afternoon of August twenty sixteen, Jars examined a Net's close and her birth control, which had been hidden inside Felix Vale's attic for three decades. His niece, Vicki Lyons, told jurors that he internet joined them in attending the Calcam Fair on October of nineteen eighty four, before the couple left and Veil returned alone. Her testimony contradicted his alibi to Tulsa police that he hadn't seen a Net since he dropped her off at a bus station in Saint Louis on September sixteenth of nineteen eighty four. In closing arguments, Holland made his case that Veil was guilty of the murder

26:13 of his wife Mary. Despite receiving thousands from an insurance policy, he didn't pay for his funeral. What kind of man doesn't pay the funeral bill for his wife, Holland asked. The prosecutor also talked about the disappearances of Sharon Hensley and in that craver Veil. How unlucky is this guy? He asked? His first wife dies, his second wife slash girlfriend disappears off the planet, his third wife disappears from the planet. He is either the most unlucky person born on the planet, or he's a killer who learned from his mistakes. In his closing argument, the defense attorneys were kind of the words of Bruce Binback, who testified Val told him that he killed his wife, that it was ruled in an accident, and then he tried to use an but it didn't work out that well. The defense attorney suggested Val accidentally hit his wife on the head with the oar, or perhaps she hit her head falling out of the boat. If either one happened, he didn't mean to kill her. He didn't want her hurt. You must say not guilty. And man, that seems like a weak defense, right, Hugo Holland told Jersey Veil was indeed guilty.

27:23 He pointed his finger at Veil, who jabbed his finger back at the prosecutor. Holland called on jurors to convict for the sake of Mary Horton, Veil, Sharon Hensley and in that craver Veil, you need to put him in prison. Don't take long, he gestured towards the women's family sitting in the front row of the courtroom. Don't make these people wait any longer. After Judge Wyatt finished giving his final instructions, jurors began to deliberate. Outside of the courtroom, I spoke with Will Horton and Mary Rose. Brian Hensley had flown home to Bismarck. Rose asked me how long it could take hours? I replied, In each cold case I had covered, jury deliberations had lasted several hours and sometimes much more. Don't expect anything in the first hour, I advised. Not long after we talked, where came out.

28:14 The jury had a verdict. A verdict. It wasn't even a half hour, I thought. I followed her inside the court room, where she sat beside Will Horton. They held hands waiting for the verdict, and when they heard that Felix Veil had been found guilty of murder, they embrace Their journey for justice was over. Prosecutor Hugo Holland's voice broke with emotion as he spoke about the case that had consumed him. I'd like to think the verdict today was not just for Mary, but for Sharon and Annette as well. He talked about the possibility of the victims beyond these three, and shared something else that jurors didn't hear about Vail. He's not just a murderer, He's a child molester. He and the FBI had confirmed Vail and molested a child in Oklahoma thirty years ago, but authorities were unable to pursue the case because a statute of limitations had expired. Annette's mother, Rose, called the guilty verdict a prayer answered, a dream come true, that someday justice would be done and that Felix Vale would be held accountable for these three beautiful women's lives that he took.

29:22 Will Horton praised the DA's office, Rose, and private investigator Jeane Frinzel. He spoke of his love for a sister and his late nephew, Bill. Bill's widow, Janet, reminisced about her late husband in nineteen seventy A little boy walked a long distance until everyone his dad murdered his mom. He felt like no one heard today he was heard. On August twenty sixteen, Vale celebrated his seventy seventh birthday inside his cell at Kyle Kashu Correctional Facility, where a jailer brought him chicken smothered and gravy, butterbeans and rice, corn bread and banana pudding. He had remained silent for much of the trial, but when the judge spoke to him after the guilty verdict, veil Bart, what do you want?

30:10 When the judge explained he was just trying to set a date for sentencing, They'll asked what difference does it make? His lawyer later told me that he didn't believe Frank Salter Junior was corrupt, saying the only reason the Late DA failed to prosecute the case in nineteen sixty two was just because the evidence wasn't there. Back in the Late Charles courtroom, thell lessened as the family of his first wife, Mary spoke. Her nephew Alan Horton the Third told Val that although your ruthless, unforgivable actions in nineteen sixty two gave you satisfaction, in reality you were not successful. Over the past four years, he said, many people had shared their memories, enabling the family to see flickers of Mary.

30:55 He spoke of her smiling eyes, welcoming heart and radiant glow. You're conveyed established my aunt's immortal presence in all of us, he said. We are all at peace, Felix, a feeling you will never have, and I look forward to the day when I will meet my aunt Will. Horton stepped forward. Next, he glared at Vale and spoke, your egocentric, cosmic philosophy won't fool anyone anymore. You have been exposed as the narcissist psychopath you are. His voice cracked as he spoke about how much he loved his sister Mary and how special she was to everyone aknew her, including her son, Bill, who was only three months old when Mary died. You say you love Bill, he said, But by depriving him of his mother, you devastated him too. Horton told Val, there is no decency in you, so I don't expect you to ever reveal the truth about sharing in a net.

31:52 You're not man enough to do that. You are a killer, and you are headed to the place where killers go, and God will direct you. After wearing an oyene jumpsuit that were at inmate, Veil clutched a white piece of paper, telling the judge that ninety five percent of the trial testimony was fiction. He insisted his wife Mary died in an accident. Rather than distance himself from the disappearances, he declared he was the only expert regarding the truth of these two missing women who chose to disappear themselves from abuse of mothers, chose to disappear themselves. Really, when the truth is finally revealed, they'll said. The national press is gonna want to know why my original nine thousand word expose on him had been treated as the King James version of the gospel. He called me a professional negative spin doctor, claiming I had plagiarized my story on him from James Patterson crime novels. I laughed, guess I'm gonna have to read at least one of them now. After that, Judge Robert Wyatt reminded Veil that a jury had found him guilty of murder, sentencing him to a life in prison.

33:02 The family has experienced the loss of life, the loss of a mother, the loss of a sister. Val left the courtroom and change and his defense attorney made plans to appeal. After the hearing, Da John Derouzier approached me. It had been more than four years since we had met. He shook my hand. If you know any other guilty sums of bitches, let me know, I will, I told him, and Ray's finally got her chance to confront Vale. In a letter, she wrote Felix, I am relieved that justice had finally been done and that you were being held accountable for taking the lives of Mary, Sharon and a Net. You've enjoyed over fifty years of undeserved freedom. Your behavior has caused great suffering, and I know you will suffer greatly for the rest of your life and into the next.

33:50 My prayer is that you will acknowledge your horrific actions, seek forgiveness, and strive for the redemption of your eternal soul. So there you have it, all the full story of Felix Veil and get this. He is still alive. He is eighty five years old as he sits in Bloody and Goa. I want to thank everyone for listening. You can get commercial free early releases by joining the Patreon. We have other benefits as well, so check that out. And until next time, I'm Jim Chapman for Bloodying Gola A podcast one and forty two years in the making, the complete story of America's bloodiest prison Peace.

34:56 A Wall Street Line, Check, Gold Change, Oh, Gluesome gird. It's calling by the name. There is no mercy and it's been a tentery juice as the huge stream game Wrangle three. I'm here, be by me, to die inside these walls, inside the wild, and when more girls I know it soulboody angle, obody angle, and bad