WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:02.480
<v Speaker 1>Are you tired of hearing about the Ted Bandies and

2
00:00:02.560 --> 00:00:06.280
<v Speaker 1>Jeffrey Amazon true crime podcasts? I thought, so, who goes

3
00:00:06.280 --> 00:00:07.200
<v Speaker 1>something just for you?

4
00:00:07.599 --> 00:00:10.240
<v Speaker 2>I'm Pat and I'm Darcy and we are the hosts

5
00:00:10.240 --> 00:00:12.919
<v Speaker 2>of Pod of Terror, a true crime podcast that dives

6
00:00:12.919 --> 00:00:15.080
<v Speaker 2>into lesser known cases from around the world.

7
00:00:15.279 --> 00:00:17.879
<v Speaker 1>Grab a glass of wine and join us every Thursday

8
00:00:17.960 --> 00:00:21.160
<v Speaker 1>as we discuss the most vile, despicable human beings on

9
00:00:21.199 --> 00:00:21.640
<v Speaker 1>the planet.

10
00:00:21.920 --> 00:00:24.359
<v Speaker 2>It'll be a dark and twisted journey, so don't forget

11
00:00:24.399 --> 00:00:26.039
<v Speaker 2>your drink. You're gonna need it.

12
00:00:26.399 --> 00:00:28.519
<v Speaker 1>We're looking forward to say in your next Thursday.

13
00:00:29.000 --> 00:00:32.799
<v Speaker 3>Hey, it's Melissa from the Murder Unscripted podcast. This Pride Month,

14
00:00:32.840 --> 00:00:35.880
<v Speaker 3>we celebrate love, authenticity, and the courage it takes to

15
00:00:35.920 --> 00:00:39.000
<v Speaker 3>be yourself. Happy Pride Month from all of us at

16
00:00:39.079 --> 00:00:41.600
<v Speaker 3>Murder Unscripted and the dark Cast Network.

17
00:00:44.479 --> 00:00:48.679
<v Speaker 4>Welcome to dark Cast Network, the best of indie podcasts.

18
00:00:49.520 --> 00:00:52.880
<v Speaker 4>I'm Jackie and I'm Jenna of Stop Who Does That?

19
00:00:53.240 --> 00:00:56.759
<v Speaker 4>And you are listening to Rainbow Crimes with hopefully some

20
00:00:56.960 --> 00:01:24.799
<v Speaker 4>Unicorn justice.

21
00:01:26.640 --> 00:01:30.640
<v Speaker 5>Hey there, Warriors, it's me CJ and welcome to the

22
00:01:30.680 --> 00:01:33.959
<v Speaker 5>first of many minisodes coming your way in the next

23
00:01:34.040 --> 00:01:37.680
<v Speaker 5>six to seven weeks. Oh, I'm not hanging up my

24
00:01:37.799 --> 00:01:41.319
<v Speaker 5>microphone just yet. I only need to do some shorter

25
00:01:41.439 --> 00:01:43.799
<v Speaker 5>cases so I can get some things done around the

26
00:01:43.799 --> 00:01:46.040
<v Speaker 5>house for the next month and a half. As I

27
00:01:46.040 --> 00:01:50.319
<v Speaker 5>already alerted you two, I hope this episode finds you

28
00:01:50.400 --> 00:01:53.840
<v Speaker 5>all well, both mentally and physically. And I do hope

29
00:01:53.879 --> 00:01:57.280
<v Speaker 5>you're having fun at your pride celebrations and that you're

30
00:01:57.319 --> 00:02:01.239
<v Speaker 5>being safe out there. The worst case I have for you.

31
00:02:01.359 --> 00:02:04.920
<v Speaker 5>This episode is from the history vault of nineteen seventy

32
00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:09.039
<v Speaker 5>six in Reno, Nevada, and while it's not totally an

33
00:02:09.159 --> 00:02:14.240
<v Speaker 5>LGBTQ case, the allegations made against a woman charged and

34
00:02:14.319 --> 00:02:18.680
<v Speaker 5>convicted for the murder does such upon the LGBTQ community

35
00:02:19.039 --> 00:02:22.800
<v Speaker 5>in ways I couldn't have thought possible. But then again,

36
00:02:22.919 --> 00:02:27.960
<v Speaker 5>not too much surprises me these days. Nineteen year old

37
00:02:28.039 --> 00:02:31.319
<v Speaker 5>Michelle Mitchell was a nursing student at the University of

38
00:02:31.400 --> 00:02:36.280
<v Speaker 5>Reno in Nevada. This was in nineteen seventy six. On

39
00:02:36.319 --> 00:02:39.719
<v Speaker 5>the night of February twenty fourth, Michelle drove her yellow

40
00:02:39.800 --> 00:02:43.080
<v Speaker 5>Volkswagen Bug to run an errand into a local bowling

41
00:02:43.120 --> 00:02:46.280
<v Speaker 5>alley where her dad was. She took him some orange

42
00:02:46.319 --> 00:02:49.039
<v Speaker 5>juice because he was diabetic and he needed to get

43
00:02:49.039 --> 00:02:53.159
<v Speaker 5>his blood sugar up. Once Michelle left the bowling alley

44
00:02:53.199 --> 00:02:56.759
<v Speaker 5>to return to her home, her Volkswagen Bug had some

45
00:02:56.879 --> 00:02:59.800
<v Speaker 5>type of mechanical failure and it died on the road

46
00:02:59.800 --> 00:03:04.599
<v Speaker 5>near the university's campus. A passer by saw Michelle and

47
00:03:04.680 --> 00:03:07.759
<v Speaker 5>her dead car. They got out and they helped Michelle

48
00:03:07.840 --> 00:03:10.479
<v Speaker 5>push the vehicle into a parking lot across from the

49
00:03:10.560 --> 00:03:15.400
<v Speaker 5>campus's agricultural building. Michelle then walked to a phone booth

50
00:03:15.479 --> 00:03:18.039
<v Speaker 5>on campus and she called her mom to ask for

51
00:03:18.120 --> 00:03:22.360
<v Speaker 5>a ride. Her mom showed up just ten minutes after

52
00:03:22.439 --> 00:03:27.120
<v Speaker 5>Michelle called, but there was no Michelle, only her abandoned

53
00:03:27.199 --> 00:03:31.159
<v Speaker 5>yellow Volkswagen Bug in the parking lot. Her mom looked

54
00:03:31.199 --> 00:03:35.520
<v Speaker 5>inside Michelle's car, lady sees some of Michelle's personal items,

55
00:03:35.919 --> 00:03:40.879
<v Speaker 5>but no car key. Her mom was panicked. Where was Michelle?

56
00:03:41.680 --> 00:03:44.199
<v Speaker 5>What a tragic thing to get to the site where

57
00:03:44.240 --> 00:03:46.560
<v Speaker 5>your kid had just called you from, only to have

58
00:03:46.719 --> 00:03:50.080
<v Speaker 5>them vanish within minutes of the call. Something like that

59
00:03:50.199 --> 00:03:55.280
<v Speaker 5>really sends chills through me. Michelle's parents, friends, and law

60
00:03:55.360 --> 00:03:59.280
<v Speaker 5>enforcement started a frantic search for the nineteen year old

61
00:03:59.280 --> 00:04:03.680
<v Speaker 5>college student. Two and a half hours later, they would

62
00:04:03.719 --> 00:04:08.439
<v Speaker 5>find Michelle in a residential garage near the university. Her

63
00:04:08.479 --> 00:04:12.039
<v Speaker 5>hands were bound in twine and her throat was slit.

64
00:04:12.840 --> 00:04:16.920
<v Speaker 5>She was pronounced dead on the scene. It seems the

65
00:04:16.920 --> 00:04:21.519
<v Speaker 5>garage was just a random homeowner's garage where Michelle was placed.

66
00:04:22.240 --> 00:04:26.800
<v Speaker 5>Reno police investigated, but as we know, DNA wasn't even

67
00:04:26.839 --> 00:04:30.879
<v Speaker 5>a sparkle yet, not until nineteen eighty six, and even

68
00:04:30.920 --> 00:04:33.959
<v Speaker 5>then it sure wasn't anything compared to what it is now.

69
00:04:35.160 --> 00:04:37.759
<v Speaker 5>There were a few witnesses to say they saw a

70
00:04:37.839 --> 00:04:41.560
<v Speaker 5>man leaving the crime scene, but that was it. No

71
00:04:41.680 --> 00:04:48.079
<v Speaker 5>real leads, no real evidence, and no real suspects, which

72
00:04:48.160 --> 00:04:51.959
<v Speaker 5>made this case become cold rather quickly, and it became

73
00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:57.519
<v Speaker 5>an embarrassment to the Reno Police department. Three years after

74
00:04:57.639 --> 00:05:01.720
<v Speaker 5>Michelle's abduction and murder. In in March of nineteen seventy nine,

75
00:05:01.800 --> 00:05:06.439
<v Speaker 5>and a mental hospital in Shreveport, Louisiana, a twenty nine

76
00:05:06.519 --> 00:05:10.160
<v Speaker 5>year old woman named Kathy Woods, not to be confused

77
00:05:10.160 --> 00:05:13.319
<v Speaker 5>with the killer Kathy Woods, who, along with her girlfriend

78
00:05:13.439 --> 00:05:17.399
<v Speaker 5>Gwyn Graham, murdered senior citizens at the facility where they

79
00:05:17.439 --> 00:05:22.079
<v Speaker 5>were nurses, but at different Kathy Woods. This Kathy Woods

80
00:05:22.120 --> 00:05:25.720
<v Speaker 5>had suffered from mental issues all of her life. She

81
00:05:25.759 --> 00:05:30.920
<v Speaker 5>only had a sixth grade education. She was involuntarily committed

82
00:05:30.920 --> 00:05:35.600
<v Speaker 5>to the hospital after hearing voices. At some point, Kathy

83
00:05:35.639 --> 00:05:39.319
<v Speaker 5>would tell her mental hospital staff she killed a girl

84
00:05:39.399 --> 00:05:45.839
<v Speaker 5>named Michelle, and Reno concerned Kathy's treating mental psychologists. He

85
00:05:45.959 --> 00:05:48.959
<v Speaker 5>contacted the Reno police to see if they had any

86
00:05:49.079 --> 00:05:53.120
<v Speaker 5>open cases for the murder of a girl named Michelle. Well,

87
00:05:53.160 --> 00:05:57.399
<v Speaker 5>it just so happened they did. Michelle Mitchell. In nineteen

88
00:05:57.439 --> 00:06:03.439
<v Speaker 5>seventy six, police went to Louisiana and collected Kathy to

89
00:06:03.519 --> 00:06:07.639
<v Speaker 5>bring back to Reno. Once they were back at their station,

90
00:06:08.480 --> 00:06:13.800
<v Speaker 5>the detectives used Kathy's mental issues in below average intelligence

91
00:06:14.199 --> 00:06:19.600
<v Speaker 5>to coerce her into a confession. They needed Michelle's case solved.

92
00:06:20.079 --> 00:06:23.800
<v Speaker 5>That was her bottom line, So the detectives painted the

93
00:06:23.800 --> 00:06:27.360
<v Speaker 5>picture of Kathy being a lesbian because she looked very

94
00:06:27.399 --> 00:06:32.000
<v Speaker 5>mannish to them. They told Kathy she obviously hit on Michelle,

95
00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:36.399
<v Speaker 5>but was turned down, and the rejection enraged Kathy to

96
00:06:36.480 --> 00:06:41.399
<v Speaker 5>the point of murdering the victim. Kathy apparently was deemed

97
00:06:41.439 --> 00:06:45.360
<v Speaker 5>mentally competent enough to stand trial for first degree murder

98
00:06:45.360 --> 00:06:49.959
<v Speaker 5>in Nevada in nineteen eighty. She was convicted solely on

99
00:06:50.079 --> 00:06:55.399
<v Speaker 5>the evidence of her unrecorded confession to her doctor in Louisiana.

100
00:06:56.199 --> 00:06:58.839
<v Speaker 5>Can you believe they would convict her on her just

101
00:06:58.959 --> 00:07:02.360
<v Speaker 5>saying I can't held a girl named Michelle and Reno

102
00:07:02.519 --> 00:07:06.000
<v Speaker 5>and the conversation wasn't even recorded. It was with her doctor.

103
00:07:06.800 --> 00:07:12.199
<v Speaker 5>So much for doctor patient confidentiality. Kathy was sentenced to

104
00:07:12.319 --> 00:07:16.839
<v Speaker 5>life without parole. In nineteen eighty five, Kathy was given

105
00:07:16.879 --> 00:07:20.399
<v Speaker 5>another trial. It would seem the Supreme Court in Nevada

106
00:07:20.480 --> 00:07:24.240
<v Speaker 5>overturned the original sentence and they retried Kathy with a

107
00:07:24.279 --> 00:07:28.360
<v Speaker 5>new jury. But wouldn't you know it, this same outcome

108
00:07:28.519 --> 00:07:32.079
<v Speaker 5>came of it, and again Kathy was sentenced to life

109
00:07:32.079 --> 00:07:36.720
<v Speaker 5>without parole with the courts in the juries didn't understand

110
00:07:37.319 --> 00:07:42.000
<v Speaker 5>was that Kathy, a mental health patient, did not murder Michelle.

111
00:07:42.519 --> 00:07:48.040
<v Speaker 5>She had absolutely zero involvement. She didn't even know Michelle.

112
00:07:48.519 --> 00:07:53.800
<v Speaker 5>Kathy became the longest wrongfully convicted woman in the US history,

113
00:07:54.040 --> 00:07:57.959
<v Speaker 5>spending over thirty years in prison for a crime she

114
00:07:58.399 --> 00:08:02.680
<v Speaker 5>did not commit. To top it off, in spite of

115
00:08:02.720 --> 00:08:07.399
<v Speaker 5>her manly features, I'm not so sure Kathy was a lesbian.

116
00:08:08.319 --> 00:08:10.839
<v Speaker 5>That just seems to be the narrative of the Reno

117
00:08:10.920 --> 00:08:15.319
<v Speaker 5>police back in the late nineteen seventies and only because

118
00:08:15.360 --> 00:08:21.319
<v Speaker 5>they wanted Michelle's case clothes. In twenty fourteen, through the

119
00:08:21.360 --> 00:08:26.240
<v Speaker 5>magic of DNA, researchers tested a well preserved cigarette butt

120
00:08:26.600 --> 00:08:30.480
<v Speaker 5>that was left at Michelle's crime scene. The DNA that

121
00:08:30.600 --> 00:08:34.559
<v Speaker 5>came back belonged to a serial killer operating during that

122
00:08:34.720 --> 00:08:40.039
<v Speaker 5>time ERA named Rodney Halbauer. He's believed to be behind

123
00:08:40.120 --> 00:08:45.000
<v Speaker 5>what is called the Gypsy Hillkillings. The Gypsy Hillkillings was

124
00:08:45.080 --> 00:08:47.440
<v Speaker 5>the murder of five young women and girls in the

125
00:08:47.480 --> 00:08:53.480
<v Speaker 5>San Mateo, California area. After thirty five years of incarceration,

126
00:08:54.240 --> 00:08:59.480
<v Speaker 5>Kathy was finally exonerated and free to leave prison. By

127
00:08:59.480 --> 00:09:02.879
<v Speaker 5>now she was in her sixties. Kathy went to live

128
00:09:02.919 --> 00:09:07.200
<v Speaker 5>with her family in Washington State. Her legal team brought

129
00:09:07.240 --> 00:09:11.000
<v Speaker 5>civil suits against the Reno police for their negligence in

130
00:09:11.080 --> 00:09:16.559
<v Speaker 5>fabricating a confession from her. Washoe County, Nevada settled with

131
00:09:16.720 --> 00:09:22.159
<v Speaker 5>Kathy for three million dollars. The Nevada State Compensation awarded

132
00:09:22.200 --> 00:09:26.639
<v Speaker 5>her two point eight five million dollars. She received payouts

133
00:09:26.639 --> 00:09:31.200
<v Speaker 5>from the city of Reno and the City of Shreveport, Louisiana,

134
00:09:31.360 --> 00:09:35.159
<v Speaker 5>totaling to just over nine million dollars. Once all the

135
00:09:35.200 --> 00:09:39.080
<v Speaker 5>money was received, her money was put into a trust

136
00:09:39.200 --> 00:09:43.559
<v Speaker 5>to be used for her doctor in mental care. Kathy Woods,

137
00:09:44.279 --> 00:09:47.360
<v Speaker 5>the woman who spent thirty five years in prison for

138
00:09:47.440 --> 00:09:50.840
<v Speaker 5>a murder she did not commit, died peacefully in her

139
00:09:50.879 --> 00:09:54.080
<v Speaker 5>home in the San Juan Islands, just off the coast

140
00:09:54.159 --> 00:09:58.159
<v Speaker 5>of Washington on July fifteenth, twenty twenty one, at the

141
00:09:58.279 --> 00:10:03.480
<v Speaker 5>age of seventy one. Michelle's real killer, Rodney Halbauer. He

142
00:10:03.600 --> 00:10:07.600
<v Speaker 5>was already incarcerated in an Organ prison for attempted murder

143
00:10:07.600 --> 00:10:13.720
<v Speaker 5>in twenty fourteen. Although evidence was conclusive he was Michelle's murderer,

144
00:10:14.080 --> 00:10:19.080
<v Speaker 5>he never served trial for killing Michelle. The Nevada prosecutors

145
00:10:19.120 --> 00:10:23.000
<v Speaker 5>decided not to waste money and resources on a redundant case,

146
00:10:23.679 --> 00:10:27.240
<v Speaker 5>which if I was Michelle's parents, I would be extremely

147
00:10:27.399 --> 00:10:30.440
<v Speaker 5>pissed and offended by that. I would have fought like

148
00:10:30.519 --> 00:10:34.919
<v Speaker 5>crazy to get justice for my girl. Instead, Rodney went

149
00:10:34.960 --> 00:10:37.799
<v Speaker 5>to trial for two of the five Gypsy Hill murders

150
00:10:39.080 --> 00:10:42.120
<v Speaker 5>in two thousand and eight. He was sentenced to life

151
00:10:42.159 --> 00:10:46.919
<v Speaker 5>without parole for those murders. Rodney was released on May

152
00:10:46.960 --> 00:10:50.320
<v Speaker 5>fourteenth of this year, twenty twenty six, from a Salem,

153
00:10:50.440 --> 00:10:53.720
<v Speaker 5>Organ prison, and he was sent to California to do

154
00:10:53.799 --> 00:10:57.120
<v Speaker 5>his life sentence in prison there in San Mateo County.

155
00:10:58.200 --> 00:11:01.320
<v Speaker 5>You know, it's very sad that Kathy told her mental

156
00:11:01.360 --> 00:11:04.799
<v Speaker 5>health doctor in Shreveport she killed a girl named Michelle

157
00:11:04.840 --> 00:11:08.679
<v Speaker 5>and Reno. It made me wonder if maybe she was clairvoyant,

158
00:11:09.279 --> 00:11:11.679
<v Speaker 5>or maybe she had read a news article about it

159
00:11:11.759 --> 00:11:15.240
<v Speaker 5>after Michelle was murdered there. But for her to have

160
00:11:15.320 --> 00:11:18.600
<v Speaker 5>been behind bars for thirty five years after the Reno

161
00:11:18.720 --> 00:11:22.919
<v Speaker 5>police coerced her confession, how terrible that must have been

162
00:11:23.039 --> 00:11:27.240
<v Speaker 5>for her, especially since she was in a facility trying

163
00:11:27.279 --> 00:11:31.120
<v Speaker 5>to seek out help for her mental issues. I'm glad

164
00:11:31.159 --> 00:11:34.120
<v Speaker 5>she was able to spend her final years surrounded by

165
00:11:34.120 --> 00:11:38.399
<v Speaker 5>the love of her family in Washington State. Rest in power,

166
00:11:38.480 --> 00:11:42.799
<v Speaker 5>Michelle and Kathy. It would be weird leaving you all

167
00:11:42.840 --> 00:11:46.279
<v Speaker 5>without at least one ray of sunshine, or without at

168
00:11:46.360 --> 00:11:51.159
<v Speaker 5>least a joke. So an eight year old daughter was

169
00:11:51.240 --> 00:11:54.960
<v Speaker 5>reading a book and she asked her dad what does

170
00:11:55.120 --> 00:12:00.279
<v Speaker 5>gays mean. He responded with, well, you know how your

171
00:12:00.320 --> 00:12:03.279
<v Speaker 5>mother and I love each other, Two men can love

172
00:12:03.320 --> 00:12:06.759
<v Speaker 5>each other the same way. The dad thought he did

173
00:12:06.919 --> 00:12:11.080
<v Speaker 5>very well with his explanation. She thought for a moment,

174
00:12:11.879 --> 00:12:17.360
<v Speaker 5>and she asked, what's penetrating gaze? The dad, who was

175
00:12:17.440 --> 00:12:20.440
<v Speaker 5>shook by her question, asked her to read the sentence

176
00:12:20.480 --> 00:12:25.399
<v Speaker 5>out loud to him. So the little girl read she

177
00:12:25.600 --> 00:12:32.039
<v Speaker 5>stared at him with a penetrating gaze. The dad simply said, Oh,

178
00:12:33.039 --> 00:12:36.879
<v Speaker 5>I guess it really does come down to interpretation of things, huh.

179
00:12:37.559 --> 00:12:41.559
<v Speaker 5>I love you guys, and you matter very much. Remember,

180
00:12:41.960 --> 00:12:44.960
<v Speaker 5>being a suspected lesbian does not make you a killer,

181
00:12:45.720 --> 00:12:49.960
<v Speaker 5>and never confess to a crime you didn't commit. Also,

182
00:12:50.519 --> 00:12:52.720
<v Speaker 5>it's not a crime to be gay or to live

183
00:12:52.720 --> 00:12:55.399
<v Speaker 5>your truth, unless you're a murderer.