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No 25 00:00:55.719 --> 00:00:58.560 purchase necessary boid. We're prohibited by long eighteen plus terms 26 00:00:58.560 --> 00:01:03.000 and conditions applag see website for details Loop Tabian. 27 00:01:12.439 --> 00:01:15.879 You are now listening to True Murder The most Shocking 28 00:01:15.959 --> 00:01:19.000 Killers in True crime History and the authors that have 29 00:01:19.079 --> 00:01:26.640 written about them Gasey Bundy, Dahmer, The Nightstalker DTK. Every week, 30 00:01:26.799 --> 00:01:30.640 another fascinating author talking about the most shocking and infamous 31 00:01:30.719 --> 00:01:34.719 killers in true crime history. True Murder with your host, 32 00:01:35.079 --> 00:01:37.560 journalist and author Dan Zupanski. 33 00:01:42.799 --> 00:01:49.560 Maybe good evening. This is your host Dan Zupanski for 34 00:01:49.599 --> 00:01:52.560 the program True Murder, The most shocking killers in true 35 00:01:52.560 --> 00:01:55.599 crime history and the authors that have written about them. 36 00:01:55.959 --> 00:02:00.400 Murder in the Mountains. The Muriel Baldridge Story Real. It's 37 00:02:00.439 --> 00:02:03.799 the slaying of Muriel Baldridge, the seventeen year old high 38 00:02:03.799 --> 00:02:08.280 school cheerleader who was found beaten to death on the 39 00:02:08.280 --> 00:02:12.120 morning of June eighth, nineteen forty nine, in Prestonsburg, Kentucky, 40 00:02:13.439 --> 00:02:17.000 after a decade's long investigation. It featured an amazing array 41 00:02:17.039 --> 00:02:20.520 of twists and turns, including a sensational trial and a 42 00:02:20.560 --> 00:02:25.719 controversial verdict. The case remains unsolved to this day. Muriel's 43 00:02:25.800 --> 00:02:29.919 murder is considered the most bizarre and confusing case in 44 00:02:29.960 --> 00:02:35.360 the annals of Eastern Kentucky crime. The book that was 45 00:02:35.400 --> 00:02:38.080 featured this evening is Murder in the Mountains, The Muriel 46 00:02:38.120 --> 00:02:42.319 Baldridge Story with my special guest journalist and author Michael Crisp. 47 00:02:42.520 --> 00:02:44.840 Welcome to the program, and thank you for this interview. 48 00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:45.919 Michael Crisp. 49 00:02:47.280 --> 00:02:50.159 Great, Thank you, Dan. I appreciate you having me on tonight. 50 00:02:50.800 --> 00:02:54.280 Thank you very much for coming on. Let's start off 51 00:02:54.280 --> 00:02:56.639 without giving any of the story away, if you can 52 00:02:56.719 --> 00:03:01.240 possibly do that. Why was this a story that you 53 00:03:01.319 --> 00:03:04.479 were either picked for or you chose to do. Why 54 00:03:04.639 --> 00:03:07.080 was this story? Give us the audience a little bit 55 00:03:07.120 --> 00:03:10.039 of the background, why you would want to do this book, 56 00:03:10.120 --> 00:03:13.080 or why someone picked you specifically to do this. How 57 00:03:13.120 --> 00:03:16.120 did you become involved with this and why? Without giving 58 00:03:16.199 --> 00:03:18.439 us too much of the story, but tell us about 59 00:03:18.439 --> 00:03:19.240 that please. 60 00:03:19.759 --> 00:03:23.520 Certainly it is a great story. I live in Kentucky 61 00:03:23.800 --> 00:03:27.199 and over the last few years I've been known pretty 62 00:03:27.240 --> 00:03:31.479 much as a documentary filmmaker, and about three or four 63 00:03:31.560 --> 00:03:34.800 years ago I had the opportunity to do a documentary 64 00:03:34.840 --> 00:03:39.560 film about a really bad school bus wreck that happened 65 00:03:39.560 --> 00:03:43.199 in nineteen fifty eight in the town of Prestonsburg, Kentucky. 66 00:03:43.719 --> 00:03:46.759 And to this day. That school bus wreck, which claimed 67 00:03:46.759 --> 00:03:50.360 the lives of twenty seven young people, is still tied 68 00:03:50.680 --> 00:03:55.800 with It's still the number one traffic fatality in the 69 00:03:55.879 --> 00:03:59.520 United States regarding a school bus. And while I was 70 00:03:59.599 --> 00:04:03.759 making film, Throughout the course of the interviews, I had 71 00:04:03.840 --> 00:04:07.879 several people that I interviewed tell me that although their 72 00:04:07.919 --> 00:04:11.360 town was known for this horrific accident in nineteen fifty eight, 73 00:04:11.960 --> 00:04:15.919 the town was also known for a very bizarre, unusual, 74 00:04:16.600 --> 00:04:21.199 strange murder and subsequent investigation that happened just nine years 75 00:04:21.240 --> 00:04:24.600 before in the same town there in nineteen forty nine. 76 00:04:25.199 --> 00:04:28.160 So the case really fascinated me quite a bit as 77 00:04:28.199 --> 00:04:32.319 I was making the school bus wreck film, and then 78 00:04:32.920 --> 00:04:35.839 about a year ago, I decided to start making a 79 00:04:35.879 --> 00:04:40.360 documentary film about this nineteen forty nine slaying, and a 80 00:04:40.399 --> 00:04:44.000 few days into the process, the family of the murder 81 00:04:44.079 --> 00:04:50.000 victim contacted me and said, we fully support your project. However, 82 00:04:50.199 --> 00:04:52.600 we feel it would be a little bit more tasteful 83 00:04:53.079 --> 00:04:55.439 if you wrote a book about it as opposed to 84 00:04:55.480 --> 00:04:59.800 doing a documentary film. The reason being was the documentary 85 00:04:59.839 --> 00:05:03.399 film film that I did about the best wreck, it 86 00:05:03.439 --> 00:05:06.480 won some awards, It did really well, It was extremely 87 00:05:06.519 --> 00:05:10.439 popular it played theatrically, and there was probably a period 88 00:05:10.439 --> 00:05:13.560 of a year where you really couldn't go through Appalachia 89 00:05:13.759 --> 00:05:16.920 or go through Kentucky without seeing the film in some 90 00:05:17.079 --> 00:05:19.639 sort of theater. So they thought it would be a 91 00:05:19.680 --> 00:05:25.240 little bit more tasteful to the murder victim's memory and 92 00:05:25.279 --> 00:05:28.319 to the family, especially that still survives, if we. 93 00:05:28.199 --> 00:05:28.720 Did a book. 94 00:05:28.759 --> 00:05:30.319 And so that's how I decided to go ahead and 95 00:05:30.360 --> 00:05:31.720 approach this as a book. 96 00:05:32.399 --> 00:05:35.199 Right, And with that cooperation, you knew then you would 97 00:05:35.199 --> 00:05:38.079 have something because you have to have access, especially with 98 00:05:38.120 --> 00:05:42.759 a crime a little bit older. But regardless, it's interesting 99 00:05:42.800 --> 00:05:46.000 for the reader to have that access, and it's pretty 100 00:05:46.040 --> 00:05:48.879 well essential for the journalists to need something, something other 101 00:05:48.959 --> 00:05:53.040 than the reports, the official reports in the courts transcripts 102 00:05:53.079 --> 00:05:54.160 not right, Oh. 103 00:05:54.560 --> 00:05:57.519 Yes, exactly. And from the get go, I was very 104 00:05:57.560 --> 00:06:03.319 privileged to have met and known a couple relatives of Merle. 105 00:06:03.399 --> 00:06:05.759 I got to talk a few, I got to talk 106 00:06:05.800 --> 00:06:08.199 to the feud during the course of the of writing 107 00:06:08.240 --> 00:06:13.279 the book. That the lady that writes the opening uh 108 00:06:13.639 --> 00:06:17.120 paragraph or the opening I guess prologue to the to 109 00:06:17.160 --> 00:06:20.319 the book. Her name is Lynn Preston and she is 110 00:06:20.360 --> 00:06:23.639 a niece by marriage of the murder victim, and she 111 00:06:23.879 --> 00:06:28.120 gave me so much information and was extremely helpful. She 112 00:06:28.279 --> 00:06:31.040 opened up a lot of doors to be to be 113 00:06:31.079 --> 00:06:33.360 able to have this book become a reality. So we're 114 00:06:33.480 --> 00:06:35.120 very thankful for her support. 115 00:06:36.240 --> 00:06:39.759 Right now, you made the correction to her her She 116 00:06:39.879 --> 00:06:42.959 really her name was really pronounced despite Muriel the way 117 00:06:43.000 --> 00:06:45.759 I mispronounced it. It really she was really known as 118 00:06:45.839 --> 00:06:49.680 Muriel uh. And so thanks for that correction. So I 119 00:06:49.720 --> 00:06:53.000 don't keep making a mistake during the entire interview. Now 120 00:06:53.319 --> 00:06:55.879 take us. You say you're from Kentucky, but tell us 121 00:06:56.040 --> 00:07:00.360 what Prestenburgh is really like. It's give us, maybe even 122 00:07:00.480 --> 00:07:03.879 leave in a brief history, but give us what Prestenburg 123 00:07:04.079 --> 00:07:09.399 in nineteen forty nine Prestinsburg was really like before we 124 00:07:09.720 --> 00:07:14.519 introduced the main character of this incredible tale. 125 00:07:14.680 --> 00:07:19.040 Oh, certainly, it was just a small town in eastern Kentucky, 126 00:07:19.240 --> 00:07:24.120 comprised of really just a couple thousand people. And during 127 00:07:24.160 --> 00:07:27.360 that time, the railroad was a pretty big industry in town. 128 00:07:28.319 --> 00:07:31.600 Coal mining was pretty big. But the people were very 129 00:07:31.639 --> 00:07:36.560 tight knit, much as they are today. Lots of families 130 00:07:36.720 --> 00:07:39.800 were related to each other, people lived fairly close to 131 00:07:39.879 --> 00:07:43.199 each other, so you knew almost everybody in town, and 132 00:07:43.639 --> 00:07:47.199 the people of that particular area, as well as throughout 133 00:07:47.240 --> 00:07:53.439 Appalachia in general, mainly have Irish ancestry. They're very smart, 134 00:07:53.560 --> 00:07:56.800 they're very hard working, and they're very tight knit. And 135 00:07:57.680 --> 00:08:01.600 so in that particular time period, you had a very 136 00:08:01.600 --> 00:08:05.759 small community that everybody pretty much knew each other. But 137 00:08:05.839 --> 00:08:08.879 the time period was also interesting as well because World 138 00:08:08.879 --> 00:08:13.120 War Two had just wrapped up four years prior. There 139 00:08:13.160 --> 00:08:17.319 was a sense of relief and a restoration of innocence 140 00:08:17.480 --> 00:08:21.079 in that community, and people were just happy and they 141 00:08:21.079 --> 00:08:24.120 were looking forward to the future ahead, and little did 142 00:08:24.160 --> 00:08:26.879 they know that such a traumatic event would change their 143 00:08:26.879 --> 00:08:27.560 lives forever. 144 00:08:29.319 --> 00:08:33.240 Right now, What was the sort of the industry and 145 00:08:33.279 --> 00:08:38.320 what was how was the town really? Basically does this 146 00:08:38.360 --> 00:08:41.080 little town thrive? What was it known for? What was it? 147 00:08:41.559 --> 00:08:43.440 A little bit of its history and background. 148 00:08:44.519 --> 00:08:47.320 Yeah, in many ways, it was like the small towns 149 00:08:47.320 --> 00:08:50.960 of today. The main street area was pretty popular. You 150 00:08:51.080 --> 00:08:56.519 had florists and restaurants and different things that you would 151 00:08:56.519 --> 00:09:00.360 see in pretty much most small towns today. But one 152 00:09:00.399 --> 00:09:03.519 of the largest industries and the biggest industry in town 153 00:09:04.320 --> 00:09:08.360 was the Cno railroad, and there was a depost station 154 00:09:08.480 --> 00:09:12.600 that saw lots of activity. Passenger trains would come through 155 00:09:12.639 --> 00:09:16.080 on the railroad, they would stop off at the depost station. 156 00:09:16.759 --> 00:09:21.360 There was a restaurant nearby, a bath house nearby. Hundreds 157 00:09:21.399 --> 00:09:23.559 of people would come in and out of town each day, 158 00:09:24.039 --> 00:09:26.480 and coal was a big industry there too, and so 159 00:09:26.639 --> 00:09:30.720 the coal would come in and out on these railway cars. 160 00:09:31.399 --> 00:09:35.679 And that's the railway plays a big role in the 161 00:09:36.559 --> 00:09:40.120 story because, first off, a lot of the people that 162 00:09:40.159 --> 00:09:42.120 are connected in the story, a lot of the main 163 00:09:42.200 --> 00:09:46.480 people were there because of the railroad, and if they 164 00:09:46.480 --> 00:09:49.120 didn't work for the railroad, they had some sort of 165 00:09:49.879 --> 00:09:53.320 indirect connection to it as well. And then the very 166 00:09:53.360 --> 00:09:59.559 famous bridge which still stands today that Merle was killed underneath. 167 00:10:00.639 --> 00:10:05.000 That bridge was constructed basically by the railroad because at 168 00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:08.240 that time the railroad was a private company. It was 169 00:10:08.360 --> 00:10:10.480 very big, it was making quite a bit of money, 170 00:10:10.799 --> 00:10:14.080 and they needed a bridge to connect the two different 171 00:10:14.120 --> 00:10:17.879 sides of the town across the river. So the railroad 172 00:10:17.960 --> 00:10:19.240 was huge during that time. 173 00:10:20.600 --> 00:10:24.120 Yeah, so it ends up being a major landmark and 174 00:10:24.399 --> 00:10:30.279 grim reminder for the city, for the town itself. So yes, 175 00:10:31.559 --> 00:10:37.200 now tell us about Meryl Baldridge. Tell us a little 176 00:10:37.200 --> 00:10:40.440 bit about her parents, about her background, what was her 177 00:10:40.519 --> 00:10:45.679 life like in this Prestonsburg, What was she like? She 178 00:10:45.840 --> 00:10:48.279 was as the photos, I will tell the audience that 179 00:10:48.480 --> 00:10:51.759 she was a very striking woman. Very beautiful woman, but 180 00:10:51.960 --> 00:10:57.840 very striking woman too. So tell us about Meryl Balldridge, 181 00:10:58.159 --> 00:11:01.159 her siblings, her parents were they like, what was her 182 00:11:01.320 --> 00:11:03.600 background like? What was her life really like? 183 00:11:05.399 --> 00:11:08.519 Yeah, she was the youngest of seven children. She had 184 00:11:08.559 --> 00:11:12.039 three brothers and three sisters, and at the time of 185 00:11:12.200 --> 00:11:16.159 her murder, she was seventeen years old. She was a 186 00:11:16.320 --> 00:11:21.519 cheerleader for the Prestonsburg High School and she was just 187 00:11:22.559 --> 00:11:26.200 she was somebody that we've used this phrase before, but 188 00:11:26.399 --> 00:11:30.240 everybody that's ever been in high school has always had 189 00:11:30.320 --> 00:11:34.519 a classmate or a friend like Merle Balbridge, who happens 190 00:11:34.559 --> 00:11:39.240 to be considered the prettiest girl in school, the most vivacious, 191 00:11:39.720 --> 00:11:44.120 somebody who's not only smart and funny and has a 192 00:11:44.120 --> 00:11:47.279 good sense of humor, but somebody that's popular with pretty 193 00:11:47.360 --> 00:11:50.679 much everybody in high school. And that's who Merle was. 194 00:11:51.240 --> 00:11:54.600 And her family was wonderful. Her brothers and sisters were 195 00:11:54.679 --> 00:11:58.320 very supportive of her and looked over her quite a bit. 196 00:11:58.559 --> 00:12:02.919 Especially her sisters. Her mom, I believe, was pretty much 197 00:12:02.919 --> 00:12:04.840 a stay at home mom, as most of the women 198 00:12:04.879 --> 00:12:08.399 were at the time. And her dad, his name was 199 00:12:08.440 --> 00:12:12.960 George Baldridge, and George worked for the CNO Railroad, And 200 00:12:13.039 --> 00:12:18.200 in this particular spot of geography in Prestonsburg, the CNO 201 00:12:18.360 --> 00:12:23.039 Railroad depot station was just across the street from where 202 00:12:23.080 --> 00:12:27.639 Merle lived, just probably maybe fifty yards away. And then 203 00:12:27.720 --> 00:12:31.480 the infamous bridge where underneath that that the murder took place, 204 00:12:31.919 --> 00:12:34.360 was just perhaps one hundred and fifty to two hundred 205 00:12:34.440 --> 00:12:37.240 yards away. And all of this was in an area 206 00:12:37.360 --> 00:12:42.240 called West Prestonsburg, which was essentially Prestonsburg, and that really 207 00:12:42.279 --> 00:12:45.000 sets the tone and the setting for where all of 208 00:12:45.000 --> 00:12:49.360 this occurred. But she was a wonderful young lady, and 209 00:12:49.399 --> 00:12:52.399 it's a shame that her life cut short so soon. 210 00:12:53.960 --> 00:12:56.519 One thing that we know when we do, when you 211 00:12:56.559 --> 00:12:59.639 do stuff that you can really call this historical crime 212 00:13:00.159 --> 00:13:05.159 true crime, because especially what's prominent in this story is 213 00:13:05.200 --> 00:13:07.799 that in nineteen forty nine, for those listeners that are 214 00:13:07.840 --> 00:13:11.639 twenty years old or younger, or even thirty years old, 215 00:13:11.840 --> 00:13:15.840 nineteen forty nine, not that I witnessed it myself, and 216 00:13:15.960 --> 00:13:19.039 nineteen forty nine was an innocent time in terms of 217 00:13:19.480 --> 00:13:22.960 not locking the doors and the windows, but an innocent 218 00:13:23.000 --> 00:13:26.879 time in terms of serial killers and psychopathic killers and 219 00:13:26.919 --> 00:13:31.039 the knowledge of what some people were capable of, and 220 00:13:32.759 --> 00:13:37.639 so people weren't as afraid and we're more trusting. Because 221 00:13:37.679 --> 00:13:43.240 I think this is important because when this happens in 222 00:13:43.320 --> 00:13:46.600 this day and age we were, with our cell phones 223 00:13:46.919 --> 00:13:50.519 and how connected we are, this might not have happened 224 00:13:50.559 --> 00:13:53.360 the same way. So we have to account for that 225 00:13:53.480 --> 00:13:56.120 for our audience that it's nineteen forty nine, and so 226 00:13:56.320 --> 00:13:59.519 the response to things that we would sing think might 227 00:13:59.600 --> 00:14:02.720 be susues or rais suspicions didn't do so in nineteen 228 00:14:02.759 --> 00:14:03.399 forty nine. 229 00:14:04.039 --> 00:14:07.639 Right, Yeah, you're exactly right, Dan. And to also paint 230 00:14:07.679 --> 00:14:11.759 a picture of the community in that time period, so 231 00:14:11.840 --> 00:14:16.000 many people that I talked to kept referencing the television 232 00:14:16.039 --> 00:14:20.360 show Happy Days, which took place primarily in the fifties, 233 00:14:20.440 --> 00:14:23.159 and even though this was a small eastern Kentucky town, 234 00:14:23.799 --> 00:14:26.559 they were all very privy to all the music and 235 00:14:26.679 --> 00:14:29.919 movies and television and everything that the rest of the 236 00:14:29.960 --> 00:14:33.639 country had. And when you picture the TV show Happy Days, 237 00:14:34.200 --> 00:14:38.360 and regarding how innocent it seems and how you know, 238 00:14:38.399 --> 00:14:42.879 you just couldn't imagine anything this monstrous occurring. That makes 239 00:14:42.919 --> 00:14:45.600 it even that much more surreal. But something like this 240 00:14:45.639 --> 00:14:48.200 could have happened in such a small community during that 241 00:14:48.279 --> 00:14:48.960 time period. 242 00:14:50.879 --> 00:14:53.440 Now to set the stage two, we have to fast 243 00:14:53.480 --> 00:14:56.080 forward because we have such a like, so many twists 244 00:14:56.080 --> 00:14:59.679 and turns in this case, it's incredible. Now, tell us 245 00:14:59.679 --> 00:15:04.600 about mural Baldridge's life. Was she dating? Was she seriously 246 00:15:04.799 --> 00:15:07.559 in a relationship with anyone? She's seventeen years old. You 247 00:15:07.600 --> 00:15:10.919 said she's a cheerleader, she's very popular. Her family life 248 00:15:10.960 --> 00:15:16.240 is good. Relationship with her siblings is fine. Tell us 249 00:15:16.279 --> 00:15:20.840 what's happening just she gets out of school. What is 250 00:15:20.879 --> 00:15:25.200 happening in her life in June of nineteen forty nine. 251 00:15:25.799 --> 00:15:29.360 Yes, she's a junior who's going to become a senior 252 00:15:29.559 --> 00:15:32.200 in high school, so she's going into her senior year. 253 00:15:32.919 --> 00:15:35.879 She is running around with a group of girls that 254 00:15:36.480 --> 00:15:39.879 like her, are very fun but also very respectful and 255 00:15:40.039 --> 00:15:44.360 very nice. She's dating quite a bit, but she does 256 00:15:44.440 --> 00:15:47.559 have one boy from another town that she's dating much 257 00:15:47.639 --> 00:15:52.840 more seriously, and they also over the last few weeks 258 00:15:52.879 --> 00:15:56.080 leading up to the murder, had also become secretly engaged, 259 00:15:57.080 --> 00:16:01.519 and so she was really living just a great life 260 00:16:01.799 --> 00:16:04.440 for what an American teenager would be living at the time. 261 00:16:05.240 --> 00:16:08.759 And on the evening of the murder, I believe it 262 00:16:08.799 --> 00:16:11.720 was a Monday night in June of nineteen forty nine, 263 00:16:12.559 --> 00:16:15.039 she and her girlfriends decided to go out and do 264 00:16:15.120 --> 00:16:18.720 a handful of activities before she would return home that evening, 265 00:16:19.399 --> 00:16:23.360 and of those activities, one of them included going to 266 00:16:23.360 --> 00:16:27.639 see a movie at the local theater there on Main Street. 267 00:16:27.919 --> 00:16:31.440 She also with her girlfriends, went to see a softball 268 00:16:31.480 --> 00:16:34.720 game that was being played down sort of near their school. 269 00:16:35.240 --> 00:16:38.559 But the most infamous thing that they did, and no 270 00:16:38.600 --> 00:16:41.200 one thought it would be infamous at the time, was 271 00:16:41.279 --> 00:16:44.279 that she and her girlfriends attended a carnival that was 272 00:16:44.320 --> 00:16:48.759 traveling through town. So during the carnival, they've spent probably 273 00:16:48.799 --> 00:16:50.759 about an hour or an hour and a half down there, 274 00:16:51.360 --> 00:16:54.919 and they didn't really have any unusual or strange encounters 275 00:16:54.960 --> 00:16:56.080 while they're. 276 00:16:55.679 --> 00:16:57.960 Hello, it is Ryan, and we could all use an 277 00:16:57.960 --> 00:17:00.320 extra bright spot in our day, could we just to 278 00:17:00.320 --> 00:17:03.200 make up for things like sitting in traffic, doing the dishes, 279 00:17:03.320 --> 00:17:05.920 counting or steps, you know, all the mundane stuff. 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I lost the terms conditions eating plus the. 287 00:17:26.119 --> 00:17:29.400 Carnival, but that was the last place that they went 288 00:17:29.480 --> 00:17:33.319 to before she decided that she needed to go home. 289 00:17:34.079 --> 00:17:36.559 So she was walking back home with three of her 290 00:17:36.599 --> 00:17:43.680 girlfriends and Merle lived across the water on this on 291 00:17:43.799 --> 00:17:48.079 the Big Sandy River, and spanning that river was the 292 00:17:49.359 --> 00:17:53.000 West Prestonsburg Bridge, the Infanmous Bridge where this all occurred. 293 00:17:53.720 --> 00:17:57.079 So the four girls are walking down one of the 294 00:17:57.119 --> 00:18:00.519 main streets they're in Prestonsburg and it's time for her 295 00:18:00.559 --> 00:18:03.599 to cross the bridge in the darkness. It's now about 296 00:18:03.640 --> 00:18:07.039 ten fifteen pm and it's time for her to cross 297 00:18:07.119 --> 00:18:11.400 and go back home to her house. Some of the 298 00:18:11.440 --> 00:18:14.680 girlfriends offer and say would you like us to walk 299 00:18:14.720 --> 00:18:18.680 across the bridge with you, and she tells them no, thanks, 300 00:18:18.720 --> 00:18:21.279 I've done this a thousand times, you don't have to 301 00:18:21.319 --> 00:18:25.160 come with me. I'm okay. So they keep walking. They 302 00:18:25.279 --> 00:18:28.480 let her cross by herself, and that's the last she's 303 00:18:28.519 --> 00:18:33.519 ever seen alive again. A few minutes later, some of 304 00:18:33.559 --> 00:18:37.720 the neighbors in that particular neighborhood, here's some screams, but 305 00:18:37.839 --> 00:18:41.000 they don't think anything of it. There's a hospital that's nearby, 306 00:18:41.200 --> 00:18:44.039 and at that time, it was kind of routine as 307 00:18:44.119 --> 00:18:47.119 patients were being brought into the hospital that they might 308 00:18:47.160 --> 00:18:50.839 be moaning or they might be screaming. There's also some 309 00:18:50.960 --> 00:18:53.960 dogs in the neighborhood, so some of the neighbors passed 310 00:18:53.960 --> 00:18:57.599 off those screams as perhaps a neighborhood dog. And then 311 00:18:58.799 --> 00:19:01.960 night comes and go, and then in the morning, on 312 00:19:02.079 --> 00:19:05.720 the river bank, around six am, a truck driver driving 313 00:19:05.759 --> 00:19:09.240 across the bridge looks down and spots a clump of 314 00:19:09.279 --> 00:19:13.480 clothing that looks suspicious to him. He parks his vehicle, 315 00:19:13.599 --> 00:19:16.039 goes down to the river bank and turns out it's 316 00:19:16.079 --> 00:19:19.559 her body. And then that sets off a chain of 317 00:19:19.599 --> 00:19:23.279 events that is just so incredible, it's just hard to 318 00:19:23.279 --> 00:19:25.119 even describe. 319 00:19:25.519 --> 00:19:30.599 Now, why did she not coming home set off some 320 00:19:30.640 --> 00:19:31.759 alarms for her parents? 321 00:19:33.759 --> 00:19:36.920 Well, that's an excellent question, and it's one that we 322 00:19:37.000 --> 00:19:40.480 don't even really get into much in the book, but 323 00:19:40.680 --> 00:19:43.839 I believe that at the time, it was not uncommon 324 00:19:44.079 --> 00:19:47.039 to where if a girl was supposed to come home 325 00:19:47.279 --> 00:19:49.680 and if it got late and the parents were already 326 00:19:49.680 --> 00:19:53.200 turning in as long as they were with another girlfriend, 327 00:19:53.720 --> 00:19:57.200 it would be sort of assumed that that girl might 328 00:19:57.279 --> 00:20:00.720 be having sort of a last minute sleep over at 329 00:20:00.759 --> 00:20:05.400 another girlfriend's house. And these were the parents knew that 330 00:20:05.440 --> 00:20:10.039 she was that evening spending time with a handful of 331 00:20:10.039 --> 00:20:15.160 other very respectable young women, and if something had occurred 332 00:20:15.200 --> 00:20:17.759 to where she could have stayed over with one of 333 00:20:17.759 --> 00:20:20.160 them for whatever reason, that that would have been accepted. 334 00:20:21.119 --> 00:20:23.000 So I believe that's what happened in that case. 335 00:20:24.279 --> 00:20:26.319 Yeah, that's why I wanted to make that other point, 336 00:20:26.480 --> 00:20:29.759 because it just I know that that there's a little 337 00:20:29.799 --> 00:20:33.279 bit of not really an explanation, because you can't get one, 338 00:20:33.359 --> 00:20:36.319 but the only real explanation is that that's how small 339 00:20:36.359 --> 00:20:39.599 that community is. And I know of communities not in 340 00:20:39.680 --> 00:20:42.799 the nineteen forty nine that were trusting like that as well, 341 00:20:42.799 --> 00:20:47.039 because everybody does really believe that they know everyone else literally, 342 00:20:47.240 --> 00:20:52.559 so very trusting. Now, what happened after the discovery to 343 00:20:52.640 --> 00:20:55.759 take us. Sorry for the interruptions, but what happens after 344 00:20:55.880 --> 00:20:58.200 the discovery by this person. 345 00:20:59.599 --> 00:21:03.599 Well, what happens from there is a crowd of onlookers 346 00:21:03.640 --> 00:21:07.279 decide to descend on the area once word has spread 347 00:21:07.359 --> 00:21:09.759 that a body has been found there on the river bank, 348 00:21:10.519 --> 00:21:14.799 and then from there law enforcement starts to begin to arrive. 349 00:21:16.680 --> 00:21:22.279 The crime scene is really sort of We could just 350 00:21:22.319 --> 00:21:26.240 say that in today's society, with today's law enforcement techniques, 351 00:21:27.359 --> 00:21:29.720 the crime scene would have been secured and there would 352 00:21:29.720 --> 00:21:32.440 have probably been a much better chance of being able 353 00:21:32.480 --> 00:21:35.960 to find the killer. But at this time, we had 354 00:21:36.079 --> 00:21:39.640 a whole lot of onlookers arriving first before any law 355 00:21:39.720 --> 00:21:43.279 enforcement arrived. It had rained a little bit the night before, 356 00:21:43.480 --> 00:21:47.079 so the area was already kind of muddy, and so 357 00:21:47.240 --> 00:21:51.160 now you have all these townsfolk coming down to see 358 00:21:52.039 --> 00:21:55.640 what's going on as the law enforcement are arriving. But 359 00:21:55.960 --> 00:21:59.720 some of the initial clues that the law enforcement find 360 00:21:59.880 --> 00:22:03.119 and one of the first people on the scene from 361 00:22:03.160 --> 00:22:06.920 the law enforcement side of things is the county coroner 362 00:22:07.079 --> 00:22:11.400 and his name is Brady Shepherd, and mister Shepherd finds 363 00:22:11.440 --> 00:22:15.279 a handful of things that are definitely of interest. There 364 00:22:15.400 --> 00:22:19.160 is a fifteen inch lead type that's a few feet 365 00:22:19.200 --> 00:22:23.559 away from her body, and so that's immediately believed to 366 00:22:23.599 --> 00:22:27.960 be the murder weapon. There is an uprooted peach tree 367 00:22:28.400 --> 00:22:32.039 that is there on the river bank. There are signs 368 00:22:32.079 --> 00:22:34.960 of struggle where the peach tree is. It looks as 369 00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:39.440 if Merle was involved in an altercation with her attacker 370 00:22:39.559 --> 00:22:43.160 and uprooted the peach tree by hand as he was 371 00:22:43.680 --> 00:22:48.559 trying to throw her body into the river. So apparently 372 00:22:48.640 --> 00:22:51.119 he killed her there on the river bank and then 373 00:22:51.160 --> 00:22:53.720 tried to get her out into the river, but was 374 00:22:53.759 --> 00:22:57.119 probably scared off by porch lights being turned on in 375 00:22:57.160 --> 00:23:01.440 the area and maybe some area when she screamed that 376 00:23:01.519 --> 00:23:05.119 might have scared some people as well. And a few 377 00:23:05.119 --> 00:23:10.279 feet away also was a empty whiskey bottle, and that 378 00:23:10.400 --> 00:23:14.720 also would lead to a, you know, an interesting direction 379 00:23:14.880 --> 00:23:18.759 that the case went to after as well. There was 380 00:23:18.799 --> 00:23:22.039 a strand of pearls also on the peach tree that 381 00:23:22.200 --> 00:23:25.359 was beginning that was believed to belong to her too, 382 00:23:25.480 --> 00:23:28.119 And so that was pretty much how the crime scene 383 00:23:28.160 --> 00:23:32.599 worked that morning, and and and from there things even 384 00:23:32.680 --> 00:23:33.359 got stranger. 385 00:23:35.119 --> 00:23:37.359 Now you talk about the pearls, and the pearls were 386 00:23:37.400 --> 00:23:40.759 given to her by her aunt, I believe, or some 387 00:23:40.960 --> 00:23:44.480 relative anyway, just the evening before, because they thought it 388 00:23:44.519 --> 00:23:46.279 went well with the dress that she was wearing. 389 00:23:47.960 --> 00:23:50.960 Yeah, that's correct. The pearls were a gift from an 390 00:23:51.039 --> 00:23:54.359 aunt that was visiting from out of state. And at 391 00:23:54.400 --> 00:23:58.720 the time, Merle had three brothers and three sisters, but 392 00:23:59.079 --> 00:24:01.960 all of her siblings had already moved out of the house, 393 00:24:02.279 --> 00:24:07.680 most were married and living fairly nearby, and so during 394 00:24:07.799 --> 00:24:11.960 the time over the summer when she was killed, she 395 00:24:12.119 --> 00:24:16.400 was living with her mother and her father, and they 396 00:24:16.440 --> 00:24:19.400 had also had a couple other younger relatives come in 397 00:24:19.480 --> 00:24:23.720 to stay because one of their parents was going through 398 00:24:23.759 --> 00:24:25.920 a divorce, and I believe one of their parents was 399 00:24:25.960 --> 00:24:29.960 one of Merle's sisters. So it was a pretty small 400 00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:33.440 household at the time. But this visiting aunt came in 401 00:24:33.680 --> 00:24:36.160