I love a good coincidence, don't you. It is so satisfying when the
universe throws unexpected things at you at just the right moment. I've mentioned before
that at the start of COVID nineteen I began listening to way more audio books
Chapter one. One day I decided to go back through the Hunger Game series.
No sooner had I finished the first one when I learned that Suzanne Collins
had written a prequel, Woe Baby, I had a new book to read.
Granted, the book is still sitting on my shelf waiting for me to
start it, but it was pretty rad to learn that once I finished the
story of Panama again, I'd get to open a new chapter. Another great
series I started rereading was Harry Potter Lord. Getting Ahold of those books,
whether audio or ebook, is damn near impossible through my local library. I
was on a waiting list for about a month before I could finally get the
second one. And then one day, when I went to do laundry,
I noticed that someone had left copies of the first four in our laundry room
with a please take and enjoy sign next to them. Those puppies were in
near mint condition and I snatched them up faster than green grass through a goose.
Wowee, was I one happy homo that day. Sometimes, though a
coincidence doesn't happen for something fun, Sometimes a coincidence happens between two unsolved murders
in a town that most people call mister Rogers neighborhood Clayton, Indiana, a
small town beauty bunked up with her rough and tumble beast in their Midwest castle.
All was perfect until the day they disappeared. Welcome too, dead time
stories, good morning, and Henna. It's Tuesday, June sixth, nineteen
seventy eight. The weather is turn that shit off. Don't forget to lock
your cardoor. The sneaky are still. Twenty five year old Tim Willoughby rolled
over with the grown as his girlfriend, twenty two year old Mary Anne Higginbottom
cheerfully woke him up. Wakey, wakey, eggs and bakeykodning. How can
you be so fucking happy in the morning? Come on, grumpy, where's
the rest of the seven dwarves? I'll make us some breakfast, now,
skip breakfast. They normally have donuts at the shop anyway, Okay, that's
fine, Just don't forget you promise my mom you would fix your trail light
this week. I remember a woman. Just leave me alone, Okay,
we'll find then. I guess I'll just eat breakfast at the diner. Since
you clearly don't want to talk to me, Lisa, get respect there.
Marianne drove to him to his job at the autobody shop. She took note
of new cars with no damage sitting outside the building. New cars. Yeah,
they came off the interstate. Okay, but isn't that one of the
cars that's been stored. Don't ask questions, you don't want answers. To
pick me up at six sharp. I'll do my best, but my shift
isn't done till five and we have to close up. Just be here at
six women. After that less than pleasant interaction, Marianne made her way to
her job at Lofner's Diner and Plainesville. Little did she know that it would
be the last day she would ever tie on her apron and swipe her badge
on the time clock. Two hikers trekked through a nearby forest. So did
you get that job at burger Chef? Yeah? But I just don't really
want to work for the man I got my rockstar dreams. Yeah, fuck
off, you're just scared of get an eighty six like those kids last year.
If you're confused about this jump back in an episode, Okay, back
to the Hikers hasn't even been a year. Man. They never caught the
guys who did it. Nah man, Oh, it was just robbery gone
bad, the pigs saying nobody saw anything. I still think it has something
to do with that chick's brother and his weed problem. Probably oh to debt.
Yeah, I don't know. I still think it has something to do
with someone trying to hijack her new call he dickhead. Look, Yo,
is that a keg? Fuck you bro yo, that is a keg.
The two young teenagers scurried over to what they thought was a pot of gold
in the woods, but they quickly realized that this was no keg at all.
Using a strong tree branch, the two pride opened this barrel in the
woods and screamed, Oh, good morning, Speedway, Welcome back to the
morning. Eagle Eye with me Sky on one oh one point two FM.
It's a sunny eighty five degrees on this Tuesday, June fifth, nineteen seventy
nine. It's another sad day for Indiana's youth. A missing twenty two year
old female was tragically found by hikers in White Lick Creek in Morseville. She
had been shot in the head execution style and was found shoved in a barrel.
If you ever. Marianne's mother, Norma, shuffled down the local Morgus
hallway as bravely as she could. The mortician awaited her by the door.
Is is she in there, missus boff? Yes, police believe it's her.
Okay, Oh oh, my baby. No, no, my baby,
no, my little little girl. I'm so strong. No, no,
no, don't touch me. Don't touch you. Kramer, Cramer,
Where's where's Kramer? One of the officers involved on Marianne's case. Get that
side of a bitch down here now. You tell him to find the monsters
who've done this to my little girl. The police are working hard him.
Where's Tim. Mister Willoughby hasn't been found. Mister Willoughby. Please, I
know that no contraction has something to do with this. I told her.
I told Marianne to leave him and get out of Clayton. A year.
My baby has been missing for a goddamn year, roughly a year before this,
Norma marched down the police headquarters hallway. Marianne never came home after her
shift at the diner, end Norma hope the cops would be able to find
her. Hey there, Jim, nice to see you, Norma. How's
the kids? Actually, my kids is what I wanted to talk to you
about. Have you seen Marianne lately? Not today? No, Okay,
it's just she hasn't been home in a couple of days. I'm sure she's
fine. You got yourself a smart girl, Thanks Jim. It's so sweet.
Jim. Yes, Norma, you haven't seen Tim, have you?
Yes, Yes, I have. I saw him at the shop last week.
Okay, thank you. It's I'm just a little mormal. Come on
now, we're busy over here with murders, drug dealers, mass cult suicides.
She's probably on the back of one of Tim's bike's halfway to California for
a long weekend. It's not like her to not phone me, Norma.
She's fine. Sadly, even back in nineteen seventy eight, missing persons cases
didn't receive the attention they needed. The Hendricks County Police Department just brushed Marianne's
disappearance off and sent Norma back home to worry. On March fifteenth, nineteen
eighty one, nearly two years after the hikers found Mary Anne, the Drug
Enforcement Administration and an undercover Indianapolis police officer arrested thirty year old James Freed on
charges of conspiracy to sell cocaine. All of Indianapolis was buzzing about the arrest,
suggesting that James had been involved in some way or another with the Burger
Chef murders. His sister Jane was one of the victims, after all,
and in Ronald Reagan's America, anyone with even the slightest contact with drugs was
obviously a scumbag murderer. Come on, freed this way? Yeah, yeah
too, pig, I know where I'm going. The overzealous officers threw the
con into his cell. Well, thank you, it's gorgeous. Likes mama's
pad. The officer towered over James with a condescending smile. Hey, fret,
be honest. You offer your sister and those kids from Measley five us
fucking pig dick motherfucker eat shit like you like it. You pay some asshold.
Later that spring, while James was eating what I'm sure was a healthy
lunch. A scrappy, red headed fellow passed by him and mumbled, you
might remember this man as one of the callers. In the last episode.
Alan pruittt claimed to have seen Marianne's boyfriends. Tim shoved Jane into the back
of his orange fan. Sorry about your sister. James quickly stood up.
What did you just say, boy? I said, sorry about your sister.
We can all get That's what happened next. The news of the jailyard
squabble was everywhere. Marion County Jail was pulsating. Okay, okay, free,
come on, let's cool down. Everyone saw that everyone saw him.
Hit me first, saws ya. Allan was often dragged down to the prison
counselor's office for checkups, and most days he'd just sit and stare at the
counselor. Today was not like most days. While are we here today?
Alan? Alan gave his counselor the elevator eyes and chuckled, how old are
you? Oh? Look, the dead has arisen? Is that why we're
here today? Alan? Discuss my age? No, would you like to
discuss the fight you had with mister Freed? He I didn't start it.
I don't care what that son of a bitch this I didn't. I never
said you did, Alan. I simply asked if you would like to talk
about it. Yeah, he sure. Alan Pruhet dove into incredible detail how
on November seventeenth, nineteen seventy eight, he had witnessed two men abduct the
victims of the Burger Chef murders. Now, I know what you're thinking,
Skylar. There's no way that these unsolved murders on young adults that took place
only a few miles away from each other in Indianapolis six months apart, involving
cars and attractive women and missing men are related. But it makes you wonder.
Right State Troopers Jim Kramer and Donovan Lindsay, investigators of the Burger Chef
murders, were notified by Marion's prison counselor that Alan wanted to talk to them.
Hello, mister Pruet, I'm Officer Lindsay, and this is Officer Kraigh.
I knows who you is. I hear that you have some information for
us. Maybe maybe I put you back in solitary way or to begin One
night, Alan stumbled by the Dunkin Donuts next door to the Burger Chef.
He swayed in a drunken haze and adjusted his screwed up eyes. A gaggle
of teenagers congregated outside the fast food joint. They was getting into an orange
van and a what vege? I thought that he was just out party.
Don't say a fucking word to me again, black boy. I know so.
Shit was going down when I saw one of them bust that black kid's
face into the side of the van. Poor kid, Mark, the boy
who was getting beat up was an employee at the burger chef. He slumped
down outside the van. Did you see any of their faces? If I
knew who killed them? Kids? Don't even think for a split second that
I wouldn't wrap them out, because I would. The next night, those
two dudes rolled up in their orange van next to me. Where was this
dairy Queen? And Avon? I was outside playing frisbee. Avon is just
west of Speedway for those curious. They were smoking grass and chilling with his
nice little bunny in the back. They asked me to join their Postum.
You did it all seemed pretty group. In the back of the van,
Alan found Marianne, her boyfriend Tim, and a man named Jeff. Red.
The chick seems stoned out of her goal. She was to the moon.
Okay was she talking? Oh godda, yeah, that's motor. The
van rumbled away from Indianapolis and up through Rule Putnam County. One hit.
Tim passed the joint to Alan, who eagerly took a long puff. Tim
and Jeff looked at each other and smirked, you have fun last night?
Yeah, man, I was drunk as a skunk. You go by Burger
Chef often, Alan froze, confused by the question, how do you know
what'd you see there last night? Well? You you saw nothing, right,
Tim and Jeff suddenly seemed very intimidating, and Alan backed down. Yeah,
yeah, nothing. As they drove on, Mary Anne started to ramble
and come too. They killed them? What they killed those kids? What
kids at the Burger Chef. At this point, Alan had no idea the
employees at Burger Chef were missing. Suddenly, this drive was the most terrifying
one Alan had ever been on. His heart pounded as Jeff drove the van
down an isolated dirt path known as Devil's Backbone and pulled over everybody out where
there's nothing around. Alan, run, they're gonna kill you too. Not
having to be told twice, Alan ripped the van door open and bolted down
the dirt path, adrenaline up through his body, but that adrenaline can't see
in the moonlight. He tripped over his feet, slid down the embankment,
and fell into the creek. What Alan was too afraid to even look back.
He waded through the shallow water until he could hitchhikelm Still to this day,
both the murders of marian Higginbottom and the burger chef employees remain unsolved.
Both happened within roughly the same time frame, in the same small town and
undersimilar circumstances. Jane and Marianne also looked very similar to each other. Officer
Kramer didn't have any reason not to believe Alan's story, and throughout nineteen eighty
one he had Alan repeat it over and over again. But as time passed
Alan began changing parts of it or retracting previous statements altogether. Was it because
he made them up to begin with, or was it because he was afraid
to Willoughby and Jeff Reid would find out he was riding them out and off
him next. I do find it suspicious that Tim has been missing since Mary
Anne's body was discovered. For now, the cases will remain in folders collecting
dust with the cold case unit. As you might remember, the local police
in these areas have to put cold cases on the backburner until they have free
time to work on them. Now. I'm not involved with law enforcement,
but something tells me free time doesn't come around very often. In the meantime,
if you have any new information on these murders, please reach out to
Investigators at three one seven, eight nine, nine eighty five ten or Crime
Stoppers of Central Indiana at three one seven, two three two tips. Beauty
and a Barrel was written by Daniel Jones and Chelsea Bray and narrated and edited
by Meat Skyler Fastonel. Daniel Jones produced the episode and Chelsea Bray served as
the recording engineer. Voice talent was provided by Jordan Catcher, Rainy Blake,
Tamra Perry, Matt McNelly, Walker Barnes, Jeremy Staple, Alan Anthony Morion,
Daniel Jones, and Sophia Sasne. Thank you for joining us for the
second episode. Of our yearly Halloween series. If you liked what you've been
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If you want to learn more about the case that we just didn't have time
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The links to all of those are in the episode description. We'll be
back in one week's time with another nineteen eighties slasher themed episode. I'm sorry
someone picking cookies or am I having a stroke? I don't know. Wait,
burnt toast is a sign of a stroke anyway, until then, stay
safe out there. I don't want you to become the next chapter's topic.
On the original Dead Time stories,