WEBVTT 1 00:00:07.879 --> 00:00:11.199 In our last episode, we began telling the story of 2 00:00:11.279 --> 00:00:16.440 Earl Nelson, aka the Gorilla Killer, so be sure to 3 00:00:16.480 --> 00:00:18.960 listen to part one and join us today as we 4 00:00:19.039 --> 00:00:22.719 carry on with part two. So with that being said, 5 00:00:23.199 --> 00:00:24.760 my name's Ben, I'm. 6 00:00:24.679 --> 00:00:27.920 Nicole, and you're listening to Wicked and Grim, a true 7 00:00:27.960 --> 00:00:30.559 crime podcast. Warning. 8 00:00:31.199 --> 00:00:38.840 The following podcast and material intended for matial audience. Listener 9 00:00:38.920 --> 00:00:40.759 discretion is advised. 10 00:00:58.719 --> 00:01:01.280 I'm gonna need a recap. It's been a long week. 11 00:01:01.719 --> 00:01:05.599 Okay, Part one The Gorilla Killer. There you go, there's 12 00:01:05.599 --> 00:01:06.120 your recap. 13 00:01:06.519 --> 00:01:09.480 Okay, I mean you're ready, just like that. That name 14 00:01:09.640 --> 00:01:13.239 alone does like make you recall a lot of things, 15 00:01:13.280 --> 00:01:14.159 because it really does. 16 00:01:14.280 --> 00:01:17.000 It's a bit unique, it is, honestly, it's it's a 17 00:01:17.120 --> 00:01:19.879 very interesting name, but of course it comes because of 18 00:01:19.879 --> 00:01:22.439 his physical feature. Yeah, I do have a recap for you. 19 00:01:22.519 --> 00:01:23.879 Do you want to just dive into it and get 20 00:01:23.920 --> 00:01:25.359 right into it. I can do that, or do you 21 00:01:25.400 --> 00:01:26.640 have anything you want to start with first? 22 00:01:27.280 --> 00:01:29.560 I don't know. We just did a pre show or 23 00:01:29.640 --> 00:01:32.280 on Patreon and we were literally just talking about food 24 00:01:32.480 --> 00:01:34.959 because we've been healthy eating. So I think we should 25 00:01:34.959 --> 00:01:35.719 just dive right in. 26 00:01:35.920 --> 00:01:39.400 Okay, before we start talking about fried chicken and all 27 00:01:39.439 --> 00:01:42.079 that sort of stuff. Yeah, all right, Okay, I'm going 28 00:01:42.159 --> 00:01:43.920 to get right into the recap. Then here we go. 29 00:01:44.480 --> 00:01:47.560 So up until this point, we've followed Earl Nelson from 30 00:01:47.560 --> 00:01:50.959 the very beginning of his life, from a troubled childhood 31 00:01:50.959 --> 00:01:55.040 to a serious head injury, two years of instability, arrests, 32 00:01:55.200 --> 00:01:58.719 and time spent in and out of different institutions showing 33 00:01:58.799 --> 00:02:02.359 it his life never really found any kind of solid structure, 34 00:02:03.040 --> 00:02:05.599 and by nineteen twenty five he was on his own, 35 00:02:05.840 --> 00:02:10.759 moving between cities, using different names and blending into wherever 36 00:02:10.800 --> 00:02:15.319 he went. Then by nineteen twenty six, that's when everything shifted. 37 00:02:15.960 --> 00:02:19.280 Women renting out rooms began turning up dead in their 38 00:02:19.319 --> 00:02:24.000 own homes, all under nearly identical circumstances. He would show 39 00:02:24.080 --> 00:02:26.599 up looking for a place to stay, gain their trust, 40 00:02:27.159 --> 00:02:30.479 and then get them alone, and when that occurred, then 41 00:02:30.520 --> 00:02:35.560 he attacked, strangling them to death. Now, at first, investigators 42 00:02:35.560 --> 00:02:40.199 treated each case as isolated events, different cities, different investigators, 43 00:02:40.439 --> 00:02:43.759 no clear connection. But as the murders continued in the 44 00:02:43.759 --> 00:02:46.919 pattern became harder to ignore. That's when it started to 45 00:02:46.919 --> 00:02:49.919 become clear that some of these things were not random. 46 00:02:50.639 --> 00:02:53.479 They soon realized they were dealing with someone who was 47 00:02:53.520 --> 00:02:56.599 moving from city to city, staying ahead of their investigation 48 00:02:57.039 --> 00:03:00.800 and leaving behind just enough to suggest there could be 49 00:03:00.879 --> 00:03:04.680 a connection between these events, but never enough to stop 50 00:03:04.759 --> 00:03:07.680 him in time, and by the end of nineteen twenty 51 00:03:07.719 --> 00:03:11.879 six the situation was only getting worse. But in November 52 00:03:11.919 --> 00:03:14.960 of nineteen twenty six, someone would survive an encounter with 53 00:03:15.039 --> 00:03:19.199 Earl aka the Gorilla Killer and was able to tell 54 00:03:19.240 --> 00:03:22.759 police all about it. And that is where we left off. 55 00:03:23.120 --> 00:03:27.840 Okay, right, he did have a very unique but rough upbringing, 56 00:03:28.159 --> 00:03:31.680 Yes he did. That was, Yeah, that was interesting to 57 00:03:31.759 --> 00:03:34.319 listen to. But still that's no excuse to be this 58 00:03:34.400 --> 00:03:37.199 kind of monster that he had totully turned into. 59 00:03:37.199 --> 00:03:40.000 For sure, And outside of the head injury he sustained, 60 00:03:40.360 --> 00:03:43.439 there's no like one specific thing that you can say 61 00:03:43.560 --> 00:03:45.919 that was the indicator for what you become. Even the 62 00:03:45.919 --> 00:03:49.879 head injury, you can't fully blame that. So it's very interesting. 63 00:03:49.960 --> 00:03:53.080 It's like this culmination of so many things and potentially 64 00:03:53.120 --> 00:03:54.240 who he was to start with. 65 00:03:54.560 --> 00:03:57.039 Yeah, and then I had forgotten that this happened in 66 00:03:57.080 --> 00:04:01.479 the nineteen twenties or around there, So very difficult for 67 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:04.800 you know, solving any type of thing like this exactly. 68 00:04:04.800 --> 00:04:07.400 That's a big part of this story because nineteen twenties, 69 00:04:07.599 --> 00:04:11.199 you know, the communication between cities and everything identifying patterns 70 00:04:11.759 --> 00:04:17.240 is a big, massive, glaring hole in society, and it 71 00:04:17.319 --> 00:04:19.959 allowed him to actually go through with many of these killings. 72 00:04:20.040 --> 00:04:22.240 It makes sense how it was, I guess able to 73 00:04:22.279 --> 00:04:23.639 do all this, which sucks. 74 00:04:23.800 --> 00:04:26.959 Yes, And even in part one, as investigators started to 75 00:04:27.040 --> 00:04:30.079 like put the pieces together, it's like, okay, some of 76 00:04:30.120 --> 00:04:34.000 these are related. Many of them were not connected until 77 00:04:34.160 --> 00:04:37.639 like much later still, because there's just too much to 78 00:04:37.680 --> 00:04:40.560 go with, okay. So even so they were starting to 79 00:04:40.560 --> 00:04:43.480 slowly kind of catch on, much of it was still 80 00:04:43.560 --> 00:04:45.279 just wide open and unknown. 81 00:04:46.439 --> 00:04:51.000 Cal I am very interested to hear about this person 82 00:04:51.079 --> 00:04:56.040 that survives, Okay, so come on, Well, you made us 83 00:04:56.079 --> 00:04:57.680 wait long enough. Well. 84 00:04:57.720 --> 00:05:00.360 It was in San Jose, California, where a woman named 85 00:05:00.399 --> 00:05:03.519 Miss Murray, who had been several months pregnant at the time, 86 00:05:03.839 --> 00:05:06.439 would encounter a man who approached her in the same 87 00:05:07.000 --> 00:05:10.879 sort of way that others had described. He presented himself 88 00:05:10.920 --> 00:05:13.720 as someone who was looking for a room and was 89 00:05:13.759 --> 00:05:17.199 allowed to take a look inside at the accommodations being offered. 90 00:05:17.879 --> 00:05:21.079 The situation started off normally enough, but it didn't end 91 00:05:21.160 --> 00:05:24.160 the same way as all the others. At some point 92 00:05:24.399 --> 00:05:28.879 during their interaction, well, he attempted to attack her. However, 93 00:05:29.439 --> 00:05:34.160 instead of being overpowered immediately, she fought back fiercely, and 94 00:05:34.199 --> 00:05:38.000 in doing so, she managed to leave visible scratch marks 95 00:05:38.279 --> 00:05:42.000 on his face during the struggle. Yeah, this scratches were 96 00:05:42.040 --> 00:05:45.160 deep enough and done hard enough to actually drawn blood. 97 00:05:45.439 --> 00:05:47.680 Okay, and she was also pregnant. 98 00:05:47.759 --> 00:05:48.680 She was pregnant. 99 00:05:48.759 --> 00:05:50.600 Wow. So yeah, Well, I mean she had a lot 100 00:05:50.639 --> 00:05:52.680 to fight for I guess right for sure, Not that 101 00:05:52.720 --> 00:05:54.560 the others didn't, but you know what I mean. Yeah. 102 00:05:54.959 --> 00:05:57.360 Now, the attack broke down quickly after that, and he 103 00:05:57.439 --> 00:06:00.959 fled the scene before could escalate any further her. So, 104 00:06:01.040 --> 00:06:03.680 for the very first time, there was a victim who 105 00:06:03.720 --> 00:06:07.480 had survived an attack from the Gorilla Killer, and they 106 00:06:07.480 --> 00:06:10.800 could describe not just the man's appearance, but the interaction 107 00:06:10.920 --> 00:06:15.120 itself with him. Now, her account added something investigators hadn't 108 00:06:15.160 --> 00:06:18.079 had before. See, it wasn't just a description of someone 109 00:06:18.199 --> 00:06:21.199 entering a house or being seen leaving like the other cases. 110 00:06:21.800 --> 00:06:24.040 In this case, she was able to confirm how he 111 00:06:24.120 --> 00:06:27.560 approached the victims, how he behaved once he was inside, 112 00:06:27.920 --> 00:06:32.279 and how quickly the situation shifted from normal conversation into violence. 113 00:06:32.879 --> 00:06:36.040 She also told investigators that she had in fact injured 114 00:06:36.079 --> 00:06:37.040 him with those scratches. 115 00:06:37.240 --> 00:06:41.160 Well, yeah, and an injury that you couldn't really hide exactly. 116 00:06:41.439 --> 00:06:43.519 So now there's this chance that the culprit is moving 117 00:06:43.519 --> 00:06:46.160 about through the public with visible injuries on his face. 118 00:06:46.399 --> 00:06:49.360 Someone might notice that and could hey point it out 119 00:06:49.360 --> 00:06:52.680 to investigators or police. Now this was a small shift, 120 00:06:52.720 --> 00:06:55.639 but it mattered a lot, and the investigation had its 121 00:06:55.759 --> 00:06:59.759 first real break, But it still wasn't enough to identify 122 00:06:59.839 --> 00:07:03.480 him or even stop him. In fact, they were always 123 00:07:03.560 --> 00:07:06.759 working backwards up until this point, trying to understand what 124 00:07:06.879 --> 00:07:10.439 had already happened, rather than stopping what was about to happen. 125 00:07:11.279 --> 00:07:14.040 But that began to shift with the new information they had, 126 00:07:14.360 --> 00:07:16.920 and as new cases appeared towards the end of nineteen 127 00:07:16.959 --> 00:07:20.600 twenty six. On November twenty third of that year, in Seattle, 128 00:07:20.959 --> 00:07:24.480 Florence Monks was found dead inside her home. Like the 129 00:07:24.519 --> 00:07:27.000 early victims, she had been renting out rooms and had 130 00:07:27.040 --> 00:07:31.399 allowed someone inside. The attack followed the same structure of 131 00:07:31.480 --> 00:07:33.600 being in private. It was very controlled and it was 132 00:07:33.639 --> 00:07:37.000 over quickly, which meant by the time her body was discovered, 133 00:07:37.040 --> 00:07:41.519 the man responsible was already long gone. However, something stood 134 00:07:41.519 --> 00:07:45.800 out about this case, and it was that something was missing. See, 135 00:07:45.879 --> 00:07:49.160 some of her personal belongings, including pieces of jewelry, had 136 00:07:49.160 --> 00:07:52.639 been taken. Now, some theft had actually been noted in 137 00:07:52.680 --> 00:07:54.759 some of the earlier cases as well, but it hadn't 138 00:07:54.800 --> 00:07:58.399 been treated as anything more than a secondary detail. But 139 00:07:58.519 --> 00:08:01.120 now it started to take on a bit more importance 140 00:08:01.160 --> 00:08:04.600 in this story. Also around the same time, another case 141 00:08:04.639 --> 00:08:08.959 began to offer something more concrete. In Portland. During the 142 00:08:09.000 --> 00:08:13.160 investigation into the killing of Blanche Meyers, investigators were able 143 00:08:13.160 --> 00:08:16.519 to recover fingerprints from the scene. Now, at the time, 144 00:08:16.600 --> 00:08:20.639 fingerprinting was still becoming a standard tool in criminal investigations, 145 00:08:21.160 --> 00:08:24.480 but it had already proven useful in identifying suspects when 146 00:08:24.720 --> 00:08:27.800 a match could actually be made. In this case, the 147 00:08:27.879 --> 00:08:31.800 prints were clear enough to be preserved and documented, but 148 00:08:32.200 --> 00:08:35.039 they still had no match to them without an existing 149 00:08:35.080 --> 00:08:38.360 record to compare it against. The fingerprints didn't lead anywhere immediately. 150 00:08:38.759 --> 00:08:42.200 They were stored, cataloged and held as evidence, waiting for 151 00:08:42.240 --> 00:08:44.360 future moments when they might be useful. 152 00:08:44.799 --> 00:08:47.039 So super cool, but it's not like they have much 153 00:08:47.039 --> 00:08:48.399 of a database. 154 00:08:48.200 --> 00:08:51.879 Exactly, so they have something that it might be useful 155 00:08:51.919 --> 00:08:52.320 later on. 156 00:08:52.799 --> 00:08:53.360 Yeah. 157 00:08:53.639 --> 00:08:56.759 Now, taken together, these developments began to change some things. 158 00:08:57.200 --> 00:08:59.799 For the first time, there was a combination of elements 159 00:08:59.799 --> 00:09:03.600 that could potentially move things forward. You have a surviving witness, 160 00:09:03.799 --> 00:09:06.799 You have stolen property that could maybe be traced, and 161 00:09:06.840 --> 00:09:10.399 physical evidence that could one day identify a person responsible 162 00:09:10.799 --> 00:09:13.840 if they had prints to compare. None of it solved 163 00:09:13.879 --> 00:09:18.720 the case on its own, but it was something Even Still, 164 00:09:18.759 --> 00:09:22.159 the same problem remained. Though every new piece of evidence 165 00:09:22.200 --> 00:09:25.159 came from a place that he had already left. They 166 00:09:25.159 --> 00:09:30.720 were still following a trail, and he still wasn't done. 167 00:09:30.840 --> 00:09:34.919 On December twenty third, nineteen twenty six, in Council Bluffs, Iowa, 168 00:09:35.440 --> 00:09:38.759 Almira Barrard, a woman who rented out rooms in her home, 169 00:09:39.440 --> 00:09:42.600 was found dead. Just as in the earlier cases, she 170 00:09:42.639 --> 00:09:46.120 had allowed someone inside. There had been a struggle and 171 00:09:46.159 --> 00:09:48.840 she had been strangled, and of course by the time 172 00:09:48.840 --> 00:09:52.559 anyone realized what had happened, the person responsible was once 173 00:09:52.600 --> 00:09:53.480 again gone. 174 00:09:53.879 --> 00:09:56.720 I'm very unhappy because I was thinking the fact that 175 00:09:57.080 --> 00:09:59.879 you were, like, yes, someone survived, that we were done 176 00:10:00.720 --> 00:10:05.440 with all these all all of these victims. Just how 177 00:10:05.440 --> 00:10:08.200 many has he killed at this point? Like so many? 178 00:10:08.440 --> 00:10:10.519 We'll get to numbers at the end. Don't worry. 179 00:10:10.840 --> 00:10:12.960 Okay, it's tough to listen to you though, because it's 180 00:10:13.080 --> 00:10:15.279 and it's so easy of how he just gets in 181 00:10:15.279 --> 00:10:17.919 there and figure it out this way. So I don't 182 00:10:17.919 --> 00:10:19.200 love that. Well. 183 00:10:19.200 --> 00:10:21.480 Only a few days later, the same pattern appeared again 184 00:10:21.519 --> 00:10:25.320 in Kansas City, Missouri. There, Bonnie Pace, a young woman 185 00:10:25.360 --> 00:10:29.639 who also took in borders, was killed under nearly identical circumstances. 186 00:10:30.039 --> 00:10:32.320 She led a man into her home and the interaction 187 00:10:32.480 --> 00:10:35.879 turned violent. Once they were alone, she was strangled and 188 00:10:35.960 --> 00:10:39.000 items were taken from the house before the attacker left. 189 00:10:39.360 --> 00:10:41.720 In the same city, within that same period of time, 190 00:10:41.919 --> 00:10:46.120 two more victims were connected in the same sequence. Jermania 191 00:10:46.200 --> 00:10:49.919 harpin another landlady was found dead along with her young son. 192 00:10:50.279 --> 00:10:51.120 Oh. 193 00:10:51.200 --> 00:10:54.240 Now, this child had also been killed, making him the 194 00:10:54.519 --> 00:10:59.360 only male victim connected to this series of murders. But 195 00:10:59.559 --> 00:11:02.759 each victim had been approached in the same way that 196 00:11:02.799 --> 00:11:06.440 didn't immediately raise suspicion. Each allowed a man inside. Each 197 00:11:06.480 --> 00:11:10.320 had been attacked quickly, in private and without a witness present. 198 00:11:11.240 --> 00:11:13.559 Now what stood out just as much as the method 199 00:11:13.759 --> 00:11:17.440 now was also the pace of the attacks. There was 200 00:11:17.559 --> 00:11:20.639 very little time in between these incidents. He wasn't staying 201 00:11:20.679 --> 00:11:23.840 in one place, and he wasn't slowing down by any means. 202 00:11:24.200 --> 00:11:26.960 He moved from city to city, committing a killing and 203 00:11:27.000 --> 00:11:30.440 then leaving before the investigation had even fully begun where 204 00:11:30.440 --> 00:11:35.240 that killing just occurred. He was on a full out spree. 205 00:11:35.320 --> 00:11:36.639 Yeah, he's out of control. 206 00:11:36.960 --> 00:11:39.679 And by the time authority started working on one scene, 207 00:11:39.759 --> 00:11:42.879 he was already somewhere else, repeating that same pattern and 208 00:11:42.960 --> 00:11:44.879 staying one step ahead. 209 00:11:45.360 --> 00:11:48.440 You have to wonder, too, I'm betting anything as he's 210 00:11:48.480 --> 00:11:53.480 going into houses to other houses and there's like a 211 00:11:53.600 --> 00:11:56.639 husband there or something, or he's or someone there, that 212 00:11:56.759 --> 00:11:59.519 he's not able to commit the crime. So I bet 213 00:11:59.559 --> 00:12:03.200 you there's a lot of potential victims too that he 214 00:12:03.279 --> 00:12:06.840 just had to move on from one hundred percent. You're right, yeah, 215 00:12:06.840 --> 00:12:09.080 I guarantee, which is really scary too. 216 00:12:09.720 --> 00:12:12.720 Now, by early nineteen twenty seven, the investigation had reached 217 00:12:12.759 --> 00:12:16.879 a point where none could deny the pattern, but authorities 218 00:12:16.879 --> 00:12:19.960 were still working with fragments and trying to communicate back 219 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:24.240 and forth between all these jurisdictions. California had its cases 220 00:12:24.360 --> 00:12:28.639 Oregon had its own cluster. Washington, Iowa, and Missouri each 221 00:12:28.639 --> 00:12:32.039 had incidents that fit the same structure, but those connections 222 00:12:32.559 --> 00:12:34.720 they needed to take a lot of time to form. 223 00:12:35.159 --> 00:12:39.320 Information moved extremely slow, and finally, by the time one 224 00:12:39.399 --> 00:12:43.000 department began to suspect a link, well, he was already 225 00:12:43.039 --> 00:12:45.279 just moving on to the next place. In fact, in 226 00:12:45.320 --> 00:12:48.759 April of nineteen twenty seven, a woman named Mary McConnell 227 00:12:49.039 --> 00:12:51.720 was found dead in Philadelphia. She'd been living in a 228 00:12:51.759 --> 00:12:54.559 home where rooms were rented out, and she allowed someone 229 00:12:54.639 --> 00:12:58.679 inside and it ended in strangulation. There were signs of 230 00:12:58.720 --> 00:13:01.120 a struggle and items from miss from the scene. Once again, 231 00:13:01.759 --> 00:13:05.000 a month later, on May thirtieth, nineteen twenty seven, in Buffalo, 232 00:13:05.080 --> 00:13:09.519 New York, another woman, Jenny Randolph, was killed under nearly 233 00:13:09.600 --> 00:13:13.440 identical circumstances. Once again, the details match, but they'd already 234 00:13:13.480 --> 00:13:16.559 seen across multiple states. The method, the setting, and the 235 00:13:16.639 --> 00:13:20.600 approach were all consistent with the earlier cases. Then within 236 00:13:20.720 --> 00:13:24.480 days the pattern appeared once again. In early June of 237 00:13:24.559 --> 00:13:29.080 nineteen twenty seven, killings were reported in both Detroit and Chicago, 238 00:13:29.679 --> 00:13:33.039 each following the very same sequence. A man looking for 239 00:13:33.080 --> 00:13:36.879 a room, a private interaction an attack, and then just 240 00:13:36.879 --> 00:13:42.639 as quickly he was gone. Investigators across several different cities 241 00:13:42.679 --> 00:13:45.960 were now working with descriptions that matched very closely, and 242 00:13:46.000 --> 00:13:49.360 they were desperately trying to bring this reign of terror 243 00:13:49.399 --> 00:13:52.399 to an end. Now he was a stocky man, often 244 00:13:52.440 --> 00:13:55.000 described as being in his late twenties or early thirties, 245 00:13:55.039 --> 00:13:58.519 with large hands and a quiet demeanor, the same kind 246 00:13:58.559 --> 00:14:00.480 of man that had been seen in San Francis, in 247 00:14:00.519 --> 00:14:03.559 Portland and Seattle and now cities across the Midwest and 248 00:14:03.600 --> 00:14:07.399 the East. However, as difficult as it was, there had 249 00:14:07.440 --> 00:14:10.399 been a bit of a break coming into this case 250 00:14:10.519 --> 00:14:14.320 regarding evidence from earlier cases. See, as we know, there 251 00:14:14.320 --> 00:14:16.960 were items that had been taken from victims, things like 252 00:14:17.039 --> 00:14:20.679 jewelry and other personal belongings. They were beginning to be 253 00:14:20.799 --> 00:14:26.559 traced through pawnshops, okay, and through that witnesses recalled seeing 254 00:14:26.600 --> 00:14:29.679 a man or selling and carrying items that didn't belong 255 00:14:29.759 --> 00:14:30.120 to him. 256 00:14:30.360 --> 00:14:33.639 Okay, because this is how he is affording life, basically 257 00:14:33.639 --> 00:14:35.720 stealing people's jewelry or. 258 00:14:35.399 --> 00:14:38.200 Whatever, Yes, exactly, so, then he's pawning it off and 259 00:14:38.559 --> 00:14:41.279 using it for food, room board, all these sort of things, 260 00:14:41.360 --> 00:14:42.600 and travel to the next city. 261 00:14:42.679 --> 00:14:45.519 Yeah, no kidding, okay, And though. 262 00:14:45.360 --> 00:14:47.879 Looking back in this case from our perspective now, it's 263 00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:50.679 very easy to understand that this was one man committing 264 00:14:50.799 --> 00:14:52.559 all of these acts. I mean, we have all the 265 00:14:52.600 --> 00:14:56.799 information right now. But as for authorities learning the description 266 00:14:56.919 --> 00:14:59.480 of this man being the same in the pawn shop, 267 00:15:00.440 --> 00:15:03.519 all learning all this in real time, basically, that's where 268 00:15:03.559 --> 00:15:06.039 they began to really understand that they were not dealing 269 00:15:06.080 --> 00:15:11.559 with multiple offenders or even a loosely connected group of crimes. Like, sure, 270 00:15:11.720 --> 00:15:15.240 these situations might seem similar, but this is the moment 271 00:15:15.279 --> 00:15:17.320 where they learned that they were in fact dealing with 272 00:15:17.399 --> 00:15:20.799 one individual who's connecting them all together, and he was 273 00:15:20.799 --> 00:15:23.960 in fact moving across the country, repeating the same method 274 00:15:24.320 --> 00:15:27.080 city after city, because not only do you have the 275 00:15:27.080 --> 00:15:30.519 same description from multiple locations, but you also have the 276 00:15:30.600 --> 00:15:35.320 same description from pawnshops when items from these places are 277 00:15:35.360 --> 00:15:38.879 turning up. So it was kind of the final check 278 00:15:39.000 --> 00:15:41.480 mark on the list to say, holy shit, this is 279 00:15:41.519 --> 00:15:42.639 the same man. 280 00:15:43.159 --> 00:15:47.480 Yeah, I know, us sitting here listening to all the details. 281 00:15:47.519 --> 00:15:49.120 It's kind of like, how did you not figure that 282 00:15:49.159 --> 00:15:49.799 out sooner? 283 00:15:49.840 --> 00:15:51.000 But well it was. 284 00:15:51.399 --> 00:15:54.840 It's it's time too, yeah, the fact that he is 285 00:15:54.879 --> 00:15:57.960 in a different area. Almost every murder. 286 00:15:58.120 --> 00:16:00.879 Yeah, so you have different county in different states and 287 00:16:00.919 --> 00:16:03.399 different cities. How can you be sure of a murder 288 00:16:03.440 --> 00:16:05.399 occurring in this one is the same in that one. 289 00:16:05.879 --> 00:16:08.399 They probably don't even know the murder occurred in the 290 00:16:08.440 --> 00:16:11.320 other state until like a month or two later when 291 00:16:11.639 --> 00:16:15.360 reports finally come across or newspaper articles talk about it 292 00:16:15.440 --> 00:16:16.639 and someone happens to see it. 293 00:16:16.960 --> 00:16:19.399 Well, and yeah, and these poor souls too aren't even 294 00:16:19.840 --> 00:16:24.399 don't have social media or ways of even realizing that 295 00:16:24.399 --> 00:16:26.879 they're probably in as much danger as they are too, 296 00:16:27.039 --> 00:16:28.679 Like the women who are renting out rooms. 297 00:16:28.759 --> 00:16:31.639 Yeah, the civilians and stuff, how do they really know? Yeah, 298 00:16:31.720 --> 00:16:35.200 So authorities are trying to warn cities and stuff and saying, hey, 299 00:16:35.919 --> 00:16:38.000 this guy's in the area. But by the time they're 300 00:16:38.039 --> 00:16:40.919 warning that city, he's late. He's already in a whole 301 00:16:40.960 --> 00:16:44.639 new city where people you're not warning are being targeted. 302 00:16:44.799 --> 00:16:46.200 Just so brutally sad. 303 00:16:46.399 --> 00:16:49.240 Yeah, And so this whole realization that it was this 304 00:16:49.399 --> 00:16:52.240 one culprit, it changed the whole scope of the case. 305 00:16:52.279 --> 00:16:54.960 It was no longer about solving a single murder or 306 00:16:54.960 --> 00:16:57.480 even a cluster of them. It was about identifying and 307 00:16:57.519 --> 00:17:02.200 stopping someone who was clearly traveling, freely, crossing all these 308 00:17:02.320 --> 00:17:05.960 jurisdictions and leaving behind a trail of death in his wake. 309 00:17:06.880 --> 00:17:09.519 The investigation had finally caught up to the idea of 310 00:17:09.559 --> 00:17:12.000 what was happening, but it hadn't caught up to the 311 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:16.039 man responsible. By early June of nineteen twenty seven, after 312 00:17:16.079 --> 00:17:19.440 moving through cities across the United States, Earl Nelson made 313 00:17:19.480 --> 00:17:25.000 a different move. He crossed the border and arrived in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, 314 00:17:25.440 --> 00:17:28.839 sometime in the first week of June. As he had 315 00:17:28.839 --> 00:17:31.359 done in every other city, he presented himself as an 316 00:17:31.480 --> 00:17:34.799 ordinary man looking for a place to stay. He used 317 00:17:34.839 --> 00:17:38.599 an alias and began approaching boarding houses asking for available rooms, 318 00:17:39.160 --> 00:17:42.359 and on June eighth, nineteen twenty seven, a fourteen year 319 00:17:42.400 --> 00:17:46.240 old girl named Lola Cohen suddenly went missing. 320 00:17:46.720 --> 00:17:51.920 Oh okay, so he's just finding a new area entirely. 321 00:17:51.599 --> 00:17:53.799 Exactly a whole new country even. 322 00:17:53.759 --> 00:17:56.240 Oh, I hate this so much now. 323 00:17:56.319 --> 00:17:59.000 Lola had worked as a flower girl selling flowers on 324 00:17:59.039 --> 00:18:01.680 the street, and she'd been last seen going about her 325 00:18:01.759 --> 00:18:07.079 usual routine. When she didn't return, concern grew fast. At first, 326 00:18:07.079 --> 00:18:10.759 it wasn't immediately connected to anything. Larger missing persons cases, 327 00:18:10.839 --> 00:18:14.359 especially involving young people, were not unheard of at the time, 328 00:18:14.440 --> 00:18:17.319 but as time passed, the situation began to feel a 329 00:18:17.319 --> 00:18:20.480 lot more serious, and two days later, on June tenth, 330 00:18:20.519 --> 00:18:25.680 another incident brought everything into sharper focus. Emily Patterson, a 331 00:18:25.759 --> 00:18:29.160 woman who also rented out rooms in her home, was attacked. 332 00:18:29.920 --> 00:18:32.079 Like the others before her. She had allowed a man 333 00:18:32.119 --> 00:18:34.240 inside under the assumption that he was looking for a 334 00:18:34.279 --> 00:18:37.519 place to stay, but that interaction suit followed the same 335 00:18:37.720 --> 00:18:42.799 horrific pattern. But Emily fought back now because of that. 336 00:18:42.880 --> 00:18:45.880 During the struggle, she managed to resist long enough to 337 00:18:46.000 --> 00:18:49.880 leave physical evidence behind. She pulled hair from her attacker 338 00:18:49.960 --> 00:18:54.079 and created enough disruption that the encounter didn't unfold the 339 00:18:54.119 --> 00:18:57.640 same way it previously had in other situations. Now the 340 00:18:57.720 --> 00:19:01.200 attack was still very much so violent and aultimately Emily 341 00:19:01.319 --> 00:19:02.599 was still killed as a. 342 00:19:02.559 --> 00:19:04.759 Result, oh seriously, but. 343 00:19:04.799 --> 00:19:07.599 Unlike most of the earlier cases, there was something tangible 344 00:19:07.680 --> 00:19:10.039 left behind that investigators could use. 345 00:19:10.920 --> 00:19:11.079 Now. 346 00:19:11.119 --> 00:19:13.759 By this point in time, the connection between the individuals 347 00:19:13.759 --> 00:19:16.960 in Winnipeg and the earlier cases in the United States 348 00:19:17.359 --> 00:19:20.960 was beginning to occur. The method in Canada was the 349 00:19:21.000 --> 00:19:23.599 same as it was in the USA. The approach was 350 00:19:23.640 --> 00:19:26.079 the same, and now within the same area, you have 351 00:19:26.240 --> 00:19:30.839 two events that police had seen before. The connection was undeniable, 352 00:19:31.319 --> 00:19:34.279 and so police quickly began searching the boarding houses in 353 00:19:34.319 --> 00:19:38.160 the area, knowing the pattern of this individual, and at 354 00:19:38.160 --> 00:19:40.599 one of those houses, investigators were led to a room 355 00:19:40.960 --> 00:19:44.920 that had been recently occupied by a man using an alias, 356 00:19:45.200 --> 00:19:49.000 a man who fit that description. And when they searched 357 00:19:49.000 --> 00:19:53.880 that room, they found what they were looking for. Lola Cohen, 358 00:19:54.200 --> 00:19:56.680 the missing fourteen year old girl, was found dead and 359 00:19:56.759 --> 00:20:01.720 shoved under the bed. I was not expecting that she 360 00:20:01.759 --> 00:20:02.920 had been strangled to death. 361 00:20:03.559 --> 00:20:07.240 Holy shit. And he's just hiding her where he's staying. 362 00:20:07.279 --> 00:20:09.640 Yep, well he's not staying there anymore. He's already gone, 363 00:20:09.680 --> 00:20:11.079 but he stayed there. 364 00:20:11.119 --> 00:20:14.079 And he left behind the souvenir of a body. 365 00:20:14.240 --> 00:20:16.440 Yeah, basically, whoo okay. 366 00:20:16.720 --> 00:20:18.799 I also just have to say that is like so 367 00:20:18.960 --> 00:20:23.440 badass of that one woman to like pull a clump 368 00:20:23.480 --> 00:20:27.000 of hair out of someone's head. You gotta fight, Well, yeah, 369 00:20:27.079 --> 00:20:29.759 that's that is like she really did put up a fight. 370 00:20:29.839 --> 00:20:30.680 That's incredible. 371 00:20:30.799 --> 00:20:33.000 And I'm not saying that's these victims, some of them 372 00:20:33.079 --> 00:20:36.119 were not fighting. All I'm saying is, if all you 373 00:20:36.240 --> 00:20:38.559 have is to rip out hair, do it. If all 374 00:20:38.559 --> 00:20:40.920 you have is to bite, do it. If all you 375 00:20:41.000 --> 00:20:44.240 have is to grab hold of flesh and dig nails in, 376 00:20:45.119 --> 00:20:45.559 do it. 377 00:20:46.119 --> 00:20:48.759 Well. I mean, each scenario is just so different, right. 378 00:20:48.799 --> 00:20:51.680 It depends how caught off guard the victim is and 379 00:20:51.880 --> 00:20:53.960 exactly the size difference and stuff. 380 00:20:54.039 --> 00:20:58.400 So for sure, just do anything you can. It's important. 381 00:20:58.440 --> 00:21:02.119 It could be your survival could mean catching someone. Even 382 00:21:02.119 --> 00:21:05.160 if you unfortunately do not survive. 383 00:21:05.400 --> 00:21:08.559 They're gonna save other people exactly. Now. 384 00:21:08.599 --> 00:21:11.480 For investigators, this officially meant her story wasn't just a 385 00:21:11.519 --> 00:21:14.279 local case anymore. It was in fact a part of 386 00:21:14.319 --> 00:21:17.200 the same pattern that had been appearing across the United States, 387 00:21:17.359 --> 00:21:20.480 and it was now unfolding in their own city. The difference, however, 388 00:21:20.519 --> 00:21:24.400 this time, was the person responsible hadn't completely disappeared before 389 00:21:24.480 --> 00:21:27.960 the connection was made. There was in fact still a window, 390 00:21:28.599 --> 00:21:32.079 small but very much so real. He might still be 391 00:21:32.160 --> 00:21:34.960 in the city, He might still be within reach. They 392 00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:38.920 caught up to him fast enough, so police began moving 393 00:21:39.000 --> 00:21:42.799 quickly through the information they had, and investigators started retracing 394 00:21:42.839 --> 00:21:45.559 his steps, speaking to anyone who might have interacted with 395 00:21:45.680 --> 00:21:47.799 him in any sort of the days leading up to 396 00:21:47.839 --> 00:21:48.559 this discovery. 397 00:21:48.759 --> 00:21:51.759 This is good because this has been a rarity, right. 398 00:21:51.720 --> 00:21:54.480 Exactly, So this is good. They had this one chance, 399 00:21:54.519 --> 00:21:58.640 this one shot, one opportunity. Sorry, I'm in an eminem reference, 400 00:21:59.000 --> 00:22:01.440 but oh, I was like, that is from something else, 401 00:22:01.599 --> 00:22:05.880