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That's Chumbuck Casino dot com 22 00:00:56.840 --> 00:00:59.159 and live the Chumba Laine, No, We're necessary, I Daly 23 00:00:59.240 --> 00:01:03.920 Voidhever everybody lost your reading play loop to Canadian. 24 00:01:13.000 --> 00:01:16.400 You are now listening to True Murder, The most shocking 25 00:01:16.519 --> 00:01:19.519 killers in true crime history and the authors that have 26 00:01:19.640 --> 00:01:26.879 written about them Gasey, Bundy, Dahmer, The Nightstalker BTK. Every 27 00:01:26.959 --> 00:01:30.599 week another fascinating author talking about the most shocking and 28 00:01:30.719 --> 00:01:35.200 infamous killers in true crime history. True Murder with your host, 29 00:01:35.640 --> 00:01:38.760 journalist and author Dan Zupanski. 30 00:01:48.079 --> 00:01:52.879 Good Evening. In nineteen seventy seven, four teenagers were kidnapped 31 00:01:52.879 --> 00:01:57.760 and attacked near and on Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. Only 32 00:01:57.840 --> 00:02:01.560 one survived. This book is written by the first responder 33 00:02:01.640 --> 00:02:05.480 to the call, Missouri State Highway Patrol Trooper JB. King. 34 00:02:06.200 --> 00:02:08.639 He goes back in time to tell how it was 35 00:02:08.759 --> 00:02:10.800 from the moment of the crime until the conviction of 36 00:02:10.840 --> 00:02:14.840 Military Police game Warden Johnny Lee Thornton. His purpose is 37 00:02:14.919 --> 00:02:18.039 to tell the story of Pulaski County, Missouri's crime of 38 00:02:18.120 --> 00:02:22.120 the century, in detail and with clarity, from the first 39 00:02:22.199 --> 00:02:26.039 minutes after this attack was reported. The United States Army, 40 00:02:26.319 --> 00:02:30.759 the Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI, the Army's Criminal Investigation Command, 41 00:02:31.000 --> 00:02:34.719 CID and the United States Attorney's Office work together to 42 00:02:34.800 --> 00:02:37.919 bring the killer to justice. This book is a first hand, 43 00:02:38.360 --> 00:02:42.960 comprehensive look into the investigation and the shocking story. The 44 00:02:43.000 --> 00:02:45.879 book they were featuring this evening is Frozen Tears the 45 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:50.680 Fort leonard Wood MP Murders with my special guests, retired 46 00:02:50.759 --> 00:02:55.240 law enforcement professional and author JB. King. Welcome to the program, 47 00:02:55.319 --> 00:02:57.360 and thank you very much for greeing this interview. JB. 48 00:02:57.520 --> 00:03:02.719 King shape the opportunity to talk to your audience today. 49 00:03:04.199 --> 00:03:06.759 Thank you very much. It's a remarkable book and an 50 00:03:07.479 --> 00:03:13.639 equally remarkable case. Now you open this in January thirteenth, 51 00:03:13.840 --> 00:03:19.599 nineteen seventy seven. Tell us what your role was, what 52 00:03:19.759 --> 00:03:23.319 we were doing professionally in law enforcement and with who? 53 00:03:23.719 --> 00:03:27.479 Tell us a little bit about this, also this Fort 54 00:03:27.599 --> 00:03:31.800 leonard Wood Reservation military base. Tell us about this where 55 00:03:31.840 --> 00:03:34.120 it is. Tell us a little bit about this and 56 00:03:34.240 --> 00:03:38.199 what you were doing in your official role at that time. 57 00:03:40.479 --> 00:03:43.879 Well, Dan, that's a pretty broad question. Fort leonard Wood 58 00:03:44.080 --> 00:03:48.759 was established in nineteen thirty nine, when World War Two 59 00:03:48.960 --> 00:03:53.120 was looming on the horizon and the United States government 60 00:03:54.240 --> 00:03:58.919 appropriated roughly seventy five thousand acres of land in the 61 00:03:59.039 --> 00:04:04.680 Central Ozarks Island just off of Route sixty six at 62 00:04:04.719 --> 00:04:08.439 that time and established the military base of Fort leonard Wood. 63 00:04:08.520 --> 00:04:13.120 It was used for training combat troops going overseas and 64 00:04:13.360 --> 00:04:18.480 has basically been used for the same purpose ever since. Now. 65 00:04:19.079 --> 00:04:22.759 At the time this particular case came up, I was 66 00:04:22.800 --> 00:04:27.040 a trooper with the Missouri State Highway Patrol. The Patrol 67 00:04:27.120 --> 00:04:31.519 did assignments by counties, and my assignment was Pulaski County, Missouri, 68 00:04:31.639 --> 00:04:38.920 which includes the Fort leonard Wood Federal Reservation. The fact 69 00:04:38.959 --> 00:04:42.240 that it's the federal reservation leads to some special legal 70 00:04:42.319 --> 00:04:48.199 circumstances because on the federal land, all criminal activity is 71 00:04:48.439 --> 00:04:55.079 the strict purview of the United States government. So in 72 00:04:55.199 --> 00:04:59.399 this particular case, the actual crimes were committed on Fort 73 00:04:59.680 --> 00:05:04.199 d Wood, where I had no jurisdiction, but the surviving 74 00:05:04.360 --> 00:05:09.480 victim walked off base into my territory, so to speak, 75 00:05:10.360 --> 00:05:13.879 and as a result, I got a chance to interview 76 00:05:13.959 --> 00:05:16.079 her and start this case. Rolling forward. 77 00:05:18.399 --> 00:05:21.360 Now, you write that the call came in at one 78 00:05:21.480 --> 00:05:26.720 eighteen pm, and this was mister Needham. Tell us what 79 00:05:26.839 --> 00:05:29.439 he says to you and what you discover about his 80 00:05:29.600 --> 00:05:32.680 daughter and this entire case. What do you find out 81 00:05:32.720 --> 00:05:33.720 at that time was he. 82 00:05:33.759 --> 00:05:38.720 Saying, Well, he called in to Troop I headquarters at Rolla, 83 00:05:38.800 --> 00:05:44.279 Missouri and basically told the dispatchers there that he was 84 00:05:44.360 --> 00:05:48.319 the father of a runaway girl aged sixteen, and that 85 00:05:48.439 --> 00:05:51.560 he knew where she was and where the other kids were. 86 00:05:52.680 --> 00:05:54.959 But then he added the fact that one of them 87 00:05:55.040 --> 00:05:58.759 had been shot, which at the time did not make 88 00:05:58.839 --> 00:06:03.800 sense on the initials scenario. So my role was as 89 00:06:04.160 --> 00:06:07.639 a trooper patrolling Pulaski County on that particular day shift, 90 00:06:08.240 --> 00:06:11.839 I was sent south on Missouri seventeen to contact mister 91 00:06:12.000 --> 00:06:14.519 Needham and find out exactly what was going on. 92 00:06:17.439 --> 00:06:20.040 You also found out around about this time that there 93 00:06:20.120 --> 00:06:25.000 had been four teens reported missing Wednesday night. Tell us 94 00:06:25.040 --> 00:06:27.399 about that, and tell us some weather conditions that night 95 00:06:27.439 --> 00:06:27.800 as well. 96 00:06:29.120 --> 00:06:34.800 Okay, we had a miscommunication or not enough information was given. 97 00:06:34.839 --> 00:06:37.480 I'm not sure at this late date which way it went, 98 00:06:38.680 --> 00:06:41.879 but we had no knowledge of any missing kids. While 99 00:06:41.920 --> 00:06:46.959 I was driving to the scene, the Troopy dispatchers contacted 100 00:06:47.000 --> 00:06:50.399 the Fort Leonard Wood Military Police and learned that the 101 00:06:50.879 --> 00:06:54.560 four kids had been reported missing the night before. Now, 102 00:06:54.680 --> 00:06:56.480 it took me quite a while to get down to 103 00:06:56.560 --> 00:06:59.439 the scene because unfortunately, I was driving a rear wheel 104 00:06:59.519 --> 00:07:03.240 drive vehicle and we had eight inches of snow and 105 00:07:03.360 --> 00:07:07.040 ice on the road, so speed was not exactly a 106 00:07:07.160 --> 00:07:08.480 factor in this response. 107 00:07:09.680 --> 00:07:09.879 Yeah. 108 00:07:12.160 --> 00:07:16.399 Now, when you came up to mister Needham, you describe 109 00:07:16.480 --> 00:07:20.199 him as being hysterical, and he had a woman in 110 00:07:20.800 --> 00:07:23.959 the vehicle, So tell us what he says in what 111 00:07:24.160 --> 00:07:25.000 you observe. 112 00:07:27.439 --> 00:07:31.680 Well, the first thirty seconds to a minute, I don't 113 00:07:31.759 --> 00:07:34.879 know what he said. I couldn't make out what he said, 114 00:07:35.720 --> 00:07:38.439 and he, I think, got frustrated with me because he 115 00:07:38.560 --> 00:07:41.839 finally paused for a minute, took a deep breath, and 116 00:07:41.920 --> 00:07:45.240 then he pointed toward his vehicle and said, we'll do something. 117 00:07:45.399 --> 00:07:48.639 She's been shot in the chest. So I walked up 118 00:07:48.680 --> 00:07:52.399 to the vehicle and there was a slender, young lady 119 00:07:52.480 --> 00:07:58.160 sitting there quietly crying, very well dressed, very clean, no 120 00:07:58.319 --> 00:08:02.040 blood in sight, no dirt. Definitely did not look like 121 00:08:02.120 --> 00:08:05.839 a gunshot victim. And I believe I said to her 122 00:08:05.920 --> 00:08:09.519 that he said you were shot. She lifted up her 123 00:08:09.720 --> 00:08:11.680 left arm and showed me what appeared to be a 124 00:08:11.759 --> 00:08:16.120 bullet crease across the arm. It could have been made 125 00:08:16.160 --> 00:08:18.680 by some other mechanism of injury, but it did appear 126 00:08:18.720 --> 00:08:21.319 to be a bullet crease. And then I said, well, 127 00:08:21.439 --> 00:08:23.120 he said, you were shot in the chest. And at 128 00:08:23.160 --> 00:08:26.879 that point she lowered her blouse and she had a 129 00:08:27.040 --> 00:08:31.120 major caliber entry hole right near the top of her breast. 130 00:08:32.159 --> 00:08:39.120 And the wound was obviously many hours old. It was glazed, 131 00:08:39.559 --> 00:08:44.440 crusted over, and it clearly was not a serious wound, 132 00:08:44.519 --> 00:08:47.480 despite the fact that it was obviously a major caliber wound. 133 00:08:48.039 --> 00:08:52.480 I know that sounds like a contradiction, but that's the 134 00:08:52.559 --> 00:08:56.159 way it was. She was exhibiting no signs of physical 135 00:08:56.240 --> 00:09:01.080 distress from the gunshot wound, but she was obviously and 136 00:09:02.440 --> 00:09:04.919 I hate to use the word, a catatonic state, but 137 00:09:05.200 --> 00:09:09.840 she was close to it. She was frightened out of 138 00:09:09.919 --> 00:09:15.559 her mind and like I said, crying. So very unusual 139 00:09:15.720 --> 00:09:18.039 site to look at this young lady. 140 00:09:20.240 --> 00:09:22.679 Now, what's the tale that she tells you that she 141 00:09:22.759 --> 00:09:23.360 imparts to you. 142 00:09:26.320 --> 00:09:31.480 Well, according to her, her three friends and herself had 143 00:09:32.639 --> 00:09:37.399 been spending a quiet evening together playing cards and having fun, 144 00:09:37.519 --> 00:09:44.039 and the gentleman who owned the vehicle, Tony Bates, decided 145 00:09:44.080 --> 00:09:48.799 that he needed some gasoline, and so they all piled 146 00:09:48.840 --> 00:09:52.279 into the vehicle and went to the gas station in 147 00:09:52.399 --> 00:09:55.960 their small town locally, which was closed, and at that 148 00:09:56.600 --> 00:09:59.879 time there was not a whole lot of commercial estate 149 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:02.720 publishment south of Fort Leonard Woods, so that meant they 150 00:10:02.759 --> 00:10:06.519 had to drive across the base to the wayins Old 151 00:10:06.559 --> 00:10:09.120 Saint Robert area on the north side of Fort Wood 152 00:10:09.919 --> 00:10:15.120 and obtain their gas there. School had been canceled throughout 153 00:10:15.200 --> 00:10:18.159 the area because of the snow, so they weren't worried 154 00:10:18.159 --> 00:10:24.399 about getting back late or anything along those lines. So 155 00:10:24.519 --> 00:10:26.279 they set out driving across post. 156 00:10:30.120 --> 00:10:35.000 Now who do they encounter and what does this person 157 00:10:35.120 --> 00:10:36.919 say to them? What does he do? 158 00:10:39.000 --> 00:10:42.320 They encountered a military police officer in a marked vehicle 159 00:10:42.480 --> 00:10:48.120 who stopped him and began questioning them, asking for identification. 160 00:10:50.360 --> 00:10:53.440 After a moment or two, he told the kids that 161 00:10:54.440 --> 00:10:56.879 their vehicle was a match for a vehicle that had 162 00:10:56.919 --> 00:11:00.000 been used in an armed robbery of the Southgate, Texas 163 00:11:00.320 --> 00:11:02.679 which is on the south side of Fort Leonard Wood, 164 00:11:04.159 --> 00:11:07.240 and that he was going to have to take them 165 00:11:07.320 --> 00:11:16.960 in for questioning. Now, the two boys did not I 166 00:11:17.000 --> 00:11:19.440 would imagine they were not too alarmed at this point 167 00:11:19.559 --> 00:11:23.600 because one of the boys, Wesley Hawkins, his older brother, 168 00:11:23.759 --> 00:11:27.200 worked at the gas station, so I don't believe they 169 00:11:27.240 --> 00:11:29.960 had any fear of, you know, charges being filed or 170 00:11:29.960 --> 00:11:33.919 anything like that, so they very quietly allowed the officer 171 00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:36.919 to handcuff him. He put them into the back seat 172 00:11:36.960 --> 00:11:41.240 of his patrol vehicle, had the youngest girl sit between 173 00:11:41.320 --> 00:11:44.480 them in the back seat, which was a bench type seat, 174 00:11:45.639 --> 00:11:49.720 and he had the other girl sit up front. He 175 00:11:49.840 --> 00:11:52.200 then went around and started to get into the vehicle, 176 00:11:52.240 --> 00:11:54.200 and then at that point he stopped. He drew out 177 00:11:54.279 --> 00:11:59.600 his forty five caliber semi automatic pistol and fired three shots. 178 00:12:00.120 --> 00:12:03.480 He shot each boy one time and had one complete miss. 179 00:12:08.039 --> 00:12:11.120 Now, the reaction from these women are one of the 180 00:12:11.360 --> 00:12:14.360 girls asks why did you do that? Why did you 181 00:12:15.480 --> 00:12:17.480 why did you shoot these words? 182 00:12:19.240 --> 00:12:22.039 And his answer was basically, so they wouldn't get rowdy. 183 00:12:25.120 --> 00:12:27.159 A number of reasons why you would have done it 184 00:12:27.279 --> 00:12:31.200 that way, But the sheer shock of the moment has 185 00:12:31.279 --> 00:12:35.080 got to be an extremely emotional impact on both of 186 00:12:35.159 --> 00:12:39.519 the young ladies. Obviously, the two boys, each of whom 187 00:12:39.600 --> 00:12:43.039 has been hit by a forty five caliber slug, is 188 00:12:43.559 --> 00:12:49.720 completely different. So basically he obtained control of the situation 189 00:12:49.919 --> 00:12:50.879 totally at that point. 190 00:12:53.200 --> 00:12:56.679 You're right that one of the boys is unconscious. It 191 00:12:56.759 --> 00:12:59.240 looks like or not making any noise, and one is groaning. 192 00:12:59.559 --> 00:13:04.000 So you have that situation. Now, what is this person 193 00:13:04.200 --> 00:13:08.080 in this MP's vehicle saying that he's got these people 194 00:13:09.320 --> 00:13:12.159 suspects in armed robbery. I don't know if anybody can believe, 195 00:13:12.639 --> 00:13:14.720 you know, especially the girls can believe this at this point. 196 00:13:14.759 --> 00:13:17.600 But what does this person do and where does he 197 00:13:17.720 --> 00:13:19.000 take them and what does he say? 198 00:13:20.519 --> 00:13:23.320 Well, he started to leave the scene of the abduction. 199 00:13:23.840 --> 00:13:27.399 Then he stopped and drove back a number of yards 200 00:13:27.519 --> 00:13:31.200 back to the car that these kids had been in. 201 00:13:32.000 --> 00:13:34.000 He got out of the vehicle and took a knife 202 00:13:34.039 --> 00:13:37.440 and punctured a front tire so that the vehicle would 203 00:13:37.480 --> 00:13:41.960 display a flat tire. While he was doing that, he 204 00:13:42.120 --> 00:13:46.960 left the International Scout running. But it was a stick 205 00:13:47.039 --> 00:13:50.159 shift vehicle and neither one of the girls knew how 206 00:13:50.200 --> 00:13:53.759 to drive it, and so they lost the golden opportunity 207 00:13:53.840 --> 00:13:55.360 to escape from him right there. 208 00:13:56.519 --> 00:14:02.399 Yeah. One of the things that we didn't touch on, 209 00:14:02.559 --> 00:14:04.440 and I think this is important, it will be important later, 210 00:14:04.559 --> 00:14:07.519 I think, is that he asks if any of these 211 00:14:07.559 --> 00:14:09.840 people he looks at their identification, but he asked if 212 00:14:09.840 --> 00:14:12.879 any of these kids are military dependents. 213 00:14:14.320 --> 00:14:18.639 That's correct, he was screaming very carefully. 214 00:14:22.360 --> 00:14:25.919 Now where do they go? Where does he go with 215 00:14:26.000 --> 00:14:28.120 these women? And what does he have them do? 216 00:14:30.639 --> 00:14:33.720 The four hundred Wood Reservation, as I said earlier, is 217 00:14:33.759 --> 00:14:37.240 about seventy five thousand acres at that time. It's now 218 00:14:37.360 --> 00:14:42.279 down to about seventy two thousand, but it has thousands 219 00:14:42.360 --> 00:14:47.200 of acres of land that I think the average person 220 00:14:47.240 --> 00:14:49.399 would say it out in the middle of nowhere, out 221 00:14:49.440 --> 00:14:55.159 in the boondocks. And he took these four kids down 222 00:14:55.279 --> 00:15:00.120 to a what you would call it, I guess the 223 00:15:00.200 --> 00:15:03.440 shack on the river. Now, at the time, the Rubydoo 224 00:15:03.519 --> 00:15:06.879 River was frozen over, and this shack is cold, there's 225 00:15:06.919 --> 00:15:10.200 no electricity, but there is a pot bellied stove in 226 00:15:10.279 --> 00:15:11.960 it that you can put wood in and crank it 227 00:15:12.080 --> 00:15:15.279 up and actually get the place somewhat warm. And that's 228 00:15:15.360 --> 00:15:18.559 what he did. He left the boys in the scalped 229 00:15:18.840 --> 00:15:23.879 vehicle out back, took the two girls inside, started a 230 00:15:23.960 --> 00:15:27.600 fire in the stove, and got the place reasonably warm. 231 00:15:31.440 --> 00:15:34.120 You talk about, not to get into the details, but 232 00:15:34.320 --> 00:15:36.320 what does he have these women doing? What does he 233 00:15:37.000 --> 00:15:39.120 oddly and strangely say to them. 234 00:15:40.879 --> 00:15:44.879 Well, he made a number of statements. He made one 235 00:15:44.960 --> 00:15:47.519 statement that he was in an MP. He made another 236 00:15:47.559 --> 00:15:53.120 statement that he was deserting the next day, but his 237 00:15:53.360 --> 00:15:57.039 actions were much more serious. He kept the forty five 238 00:15:57.120 --> 00:16:00.279 in his hand at all times. He forced the two 239 00:16:00.360 --> 00:16:07.440 young ladies to strip everything but their socks, and he 240 00:16:07.600 --> 00:16:11.159 then forced them to commit a series of sexual acts 241 00:16:11.279 --> 00:16:16.039 upon each other, and then later after he had taken 242 00:16:16.120 --> 00:16:22.559 off his clothing, to perform sexual acts on him, and 243 00:16:22.679 --> 00:16:27.919 then he raped both of them. This entire scenario took 244 00:16:28.000 --> 00:16:31.120 about three and a half hours. As near as we 245 00:16:31.240 --> 00:16:32.120 can calculated. 246 00:16:34.919 --> 00:16:37.360 They were under the impression, these girls because he had 247 00:16:37.399 --> 00:16:40.360 said things to them like that if they complied, so 248 00:16:40.519 --> 00:16:43.159 there was not they did comply because there was this 249 00:16:45.200 --> 00:16:50.440 insinuation that if you cooperated, if they complied, that they 250 00:16:50.480 --> 00:16:52.200 would be okay and he wouldn't hurt them. 251 00:16:53.440 --> 00:16:57.080 Correct, And it probably got a little more excuse me 252 00:16:57.240 --> 00:17:01.279 complex than that, because several times during the course of 253 00:17:01.360 --> 00:17:03.159 this three and a half hours he had to leave 254 00:17:03.279 --> 00:17:06.440 the shack and go outside and get more wood, and 255 00:17:06.599 --> 00:17:09.880 every time he did that, they heard him talking to 256 00:17:10.039 --> 00:17:14.519 the boys in the scout, and so the surviving girl 257 00:17:14.680 --> 00:17:18.319 got the idea somehow that he had sedated the boys, 258 00:17:19.839 --> 00:17:23.440 which she didn't quite understand what was going on, but yes, 259 00:17:23.640 --> 00:17:27.200 they retained an element of hope that if they cooperated, 260 00:17:27.279 --> 00:17:30.359 then they would come out of this nightmare, you know, 261 00:17:30.599 --> 00:17:31.559 alive and well. 262 00:17:33.960 --> 00:17:38.279 Soon. Though they hear gunshots, don't they We only have 263 00:17:38.400 --> 00:17:42.400 one witness, but they both hear the same thing. What 264 00:17:42.519 --> 00:17:47.079 do they hear? What do they what does he do? Well? 265 00:17:47.160 --> 00:17:49.240 At the end of the three and a half hour period, 266 00:17:49.680 --> 00:17:53.359 when he was done, he made the statement that it's 267 00:17:53.400 --> 00:17:57.079 four twenty am and I'm behind schedule. So we had 268 00:17:57.160 --> 00:18:00.559 the girls get dressed again, put them back in the vehicle, 269 00:18:01.240 --> 00:18:04.279 and drove about another mile and a half from the shack, 270 00:18:05.599 --> 00:18:10.599 and then drove just a little waist down a dirt path, 271 00:18:10.680 --> 00:18:14.240 I guess you would call it. When he stopped, he 272 00:18:14.279 --> 00:18:16.680 had the girls get down and start walking down the path, 273 00:18:17.920 --> 00:18:20.599 and they got about twenty yards or so from the 274 00:18:20.680 --> 00:18:23.279 scout vehicle, and he told him to stop and turn around, 275 00:18:23.319 --> 00:18:25.599 and when they turned around, he fired shots at him. 276 00:18:26.880 --> 00:18:30.160 The surviving girl was hit and fell to the ground. 277 00:18:31.200 --> 00:18:34.440 The other young lady was not hit, but she fell 278 00:18:34.559 --> 00:18:41.799 to the ground, and she then drug her into the woods, 279 00:18:42.880 --> 00:18:46.599 deeper into the woods, and evidently discovered that she was 280 00:18:46.680 --> 00:18:51.119 faking and stood directly over and fired one shot straight 281 00:18:51.240 --> 00:18:54.839 down into her chest. He came back and picked up 282 00:18:54.880 --> 00:18:58.599 the surviving girl, drug her into the woods, kicked her 283 00:18:58.640 --> 00:19:00.759 a couple of times to make sure she was dead, 284 00:19:01.759 --> 00:19:04.799 buried her in a snowbank, just as he had done 285 00:19:04.839 --> 00:19:07.319 the other young lady. And then he went back to 286 00:19:07.400 --> 00:19:11.759 the vehicle took out the one young man that was 287 00:19:11.839 --> 00:19:15.359 in the vehicle who had taken a bullet right through 288 00:19:15.400 --> 00:19:19.599 the heart and had died almost instantly. He drug him 289 00:19:19.640 --> 00:19:21.799 off into the woods, buried him in the snow bank, 290 00:19:22.880 --> 00:19:24.880 and then he took the fourth young man off that 291 00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:29.880 he had shot and wounded earlier, and was leading him 292 00:19:29.960 --> 00:19:34.720 off into the woods when that young man, whose name 293 00:19:34.799 --> 00:19:37.519 was Toby Bates. By that time, I had to know 294 00:19:37.599 --> 00:19:40.359 what was going to happen next, so he broke free 295 00:19:40.440 --> 00:19:42.799 from him and took off running, But he only made 296 00:19:42.839 --> 00:19:45.319 it about seventy or so feet before he tripped over 297 00:19:45.400 --> 00:19:48.160 a log that was hidden in the snow, and before 298 00:19:48.200 --> 00:19:50.240 he could get up, Tarton came up behind him and 299 00:19:50.279 --> 00:19:52.480 shot him in the back of the head, killing him instantly. 300 00:19:55.079 --> 00:20:00.440 Now you say one, Nita didn't lose consciousness again like 301 00:20:00.519 --> 00:20:05.759 the other girl, but more successfully. She has made him 302 00:20:05.799 --> 00:20:07.680 believe that she's dead, doesn't she. 303 00:20:08.759 --> 00:20:14.599 Yes, her presence of mind, her desire to live, her fortitude, 304 00:20:15.559 --> 00:20:20.759 any way you want to put it. She was absolutely yeah. 305 00:20:20.759 --> 00:20:23.920 I'm almost at a loss for words here her actions 306 00:20:23.960 --> 00:20:29.920 that they were tremendous, not only for herself but probably 307 00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:33.079 in preventing other victims from coming up in the future. 308 00:20:34.240 --> 00:20:39.359 Sure, certainly, certainly now you say too that. Then I 309 00:20:39.440 --> 00:20:42.599 asked her just before this to clarify, because you conclude 310 00:20:42.640 --> 00:20:45.319 in the book a headline from a newspaper that says 311 00:20:45.359 --> 00:20:48.960 she ran twelve hours to a woman's trailer in this 312 00:20:49.160 --> 00:20:53.799 eight inches of snow and cold, after witnessing what she witnessed. 313 00:20:54.480 --> 00:20:57.920 But you say it was six hours. We'll say six hours. 314 00:20:58.640 --> 00:21:01.279 And so tell us about this encounter with this woman, 315 00:21:02.599 --> 00:21:04.200 what happens and who does she call? 316 00:21:04.400 --> 00:21:13.119 And Okay, we don't know what time the shooting actually occurred. 317 00:21:13.359 --> 00:21:15.559 Thornton had made the statement to the girls at it 318 00:21:15.680 --> 00:21:19.279 was four twenty am and he was behind schedule, but 319 00:21:19.440 --> 00:21:22.599 they had no way of verifying the time. He then 320 00:21:22.640 --> 00:21:25.279 took him off to the other section of woods where 321 00:21:25.319 --> 00:21:27.920 he shot him, and then after he shot him, he 322 00:21:28.119 --> 00:21:31.960 hung around for about another thirty minutes before he finally left, 323 00:21:32.920 --> 00:21:35.920 and the surviving young lady did not get up out 324 00:21:35.920 --> 00:21:40.799 of the snowbank until she knew that his vehicle was gone. 325 00:21:41.759 --> 00:21:47.680 So probably we're talking somewhere around five thirty am is 326 00:21:47.799 --> 00:21:51.079 going to be when she started walking for help, and 327 00:21:51.359 --> 00:21:54.960 at precisely twelve thirty she knocked on the door of 328 00:21:55.039 --> 00:21:59.440 a trailer alongside Highway seventeen. Now we know it was 329 00:21:59.519 --> 00:22:04.000 precisely twelve thirty because the lady that lived there had 330 00:22:04.119 --> 00:22:06.480 managed to get her car stuck in her front yard 331 00:22:06.559 --> 00:22:08.599 that day in the snow and could not go to work, 332 00:22:09.359 --> 00:22:12.279 so she was determined to watch her favorite soap opera, 333 00:22:13.000 --> 00:22:16.599 which was As the World Turns. And if you're familiar 334 00:22:16.680 --> 00:22:19.200 with that show, you know that the opening credit shows 335 00:22:19.319 --> 00:22:22.920 a big round globe and it starts spinning, and it's 336 00:22:23.000 --> 00:22:25.200 exactly twelve thirty, and that's when the knock on her 337 00:22:25.279 --> 00:22:25.759 door came. 338 00:22:26.960 --> 00:22:27.160 Wow. 339 00:22:28.559 --> 00:22:32.960 Her name is Janis Eckleberry. Janie opened the front door 340 00:22:33.039 --> 00:22:35.319 and found what she thought was a fourteen or fifteen 341 00:22:35.400 --> 00:22:38.680 year old girl standing there. Throws him half to death 342 00:22:38.720 --> 00:22:44.559 and almost incoherent in her talk in speech, so she 343 00:22:44.680 --> 00:22:46.519 got her into the trailer put her in front of 344 00:22:46.559 --> 00:22:50.480 the woodstove began warming her up, and for the next 345 00:22:50.519 --> 00:22:54.200 couple of minutes it was kind of spooky because the 346 00:22:54.279 --> 00:22:58.240 girl was talking about murders and rapes and Janis was 347 00:22:58.319 --> 00:23:00.720 home alone with her two small children and had no 348 00:23:00.880 --> 00:23:07.759 idea what was going on. As the young lady became 349 00:23:07.920 --> 00:23:12.880 more coherent as she started warming up, her story made 350 00:23:12.880 --> 00:23:15.359 a little more sense. She was talking about being stopped 351 00:23:15.400 --> 00:23:18.480 by the MP and him shooting them and being raped. 352 00:23:19.200 --> 00:23:23.359 And as this went on but feather Janie realized she 353 00:23:23.480 --> 00:23:26.880 needed to help her, so she brought some dry clothing 354 00:23:26.960 --> 00:23:30.680 into the room and helped the surviving girl changed clothes. Well. 355 00:23:30.720 --> 00:23:34.400 When she did that, at one point, when they took 356 00:23:34.480 --> 00:23:39.119 off Juanita's sock, a men's ring fell out of the 357 00:23:39.200 --> 00:23:43.319 sock and rolled across the floor, and Juanita made the 358 00:23:43.400 --> 00:23:46.880 statement that that's my boyfriend's ring. He's dead in the woods. 359 00:23:48.039 --> 00:23:50.759 When Thornton had had them strip in the cabin, she 360 00:23:50.839 --> 00:23:52.960 had taken that ring off and slipped it into her 361 00:23:53.039 --> 00:23:55.319 sock because she was determined to hang on to it, 362 00:23:56.519 --> 00:23:59.880 and now it's rolling across the floor, And that was 363 00:24:00.119 --> 00:24:03.759 probably the first real sentence that she said to Janice. 364 00:24:04.920 --> 00:24:08.160 The other words that she uttered were sort of fragments 365 00:24:09.200 --> 00:24:13.480 of sentences, didn't make much sense. And then, of course, 366 00:24:13.839 --> 00:24:17.640 while they were changing her clothes, Jane saw the two 367 00:24:17.720 --> 00:24:22.279 gunshot wounds, and by giving her the fresh clothing, she 368 00:24:22.480 --> 00:24:26.759 presented once she met me a little while later, the 369 00:24:26.880 --> 00:24:29.759 image of a person that you know, spick and span, 370 00:24:30.599 --> 00:24:36.079 no injury here. After she got the clothing changed and 371 00:24:36.200 --> 00:24:40.720 she became a little more, a little more coherent, she 372 00:24:40.880 --> 00:24:44.519 asked to call a friend, and Janie layer call. She 373 00:24:44.720 --> 00:24:49.920 called the brother of the older brother of the young 374 00:24:50.039 --> 00:24:52.519 man that was down in the woods with her, and 375 00:24:53.880 --> 00:24:59.079 that gentleman picked up mister Needham, whose daughter was in 376 00:24:59.200 --> 00:25:02.839 the woods, and they came up to get her. Well, 377 00:25:02.880 --> 00:25:07.400 when they showed up at the trailer, well, Anita took 378 00:25:07.440 --> 00:25:09.240 one look at him and said, don't let him in, 379 00:25:09.480 --> 00:25:11.960 and she kind of ran to the other side of 380 00:25:12.000 --> 00:25:15.039 the trailer. And Janis asked her who these men were, 381 00:25:15.119 --> 00:25:18.079 and she said, well, one is the brother of my 382 00:25:18.240 --> 00:25:20.960 boyfriend and the other is the father of my friend 383 00:25:21.000 --> 00:25:23.680 in the woods. And so Janis opened the door and 384 00:25:23.799 --> 00:25:29.039 called them back. And while the three of them were talking, 385 00:25:29.319 --> 00:25:31.559 and Janie went to the backside of the trailer to 386 00:25:31.680 --> 00:25:34.640 check on her two children. She had a seven year 387 00:25:34.680 --> 00:25:37.480 old and a four year old a trailer at the time, 388 00:25:37.599 --> 00:25:40.160 and she hadn't looked in on him for quite some 389 00:25:40.359 --> 00:25:43.359 time because of the wounded girl in the living room. 390 00:25:44.319 --> 00:25:47.599 And once she finally came back up front, the older 391 00:25:47.680 --> 00:25:50.599 gentleman asked if he could call the highway patrol and 392 00:25:50.799 --> 00:25:53.759 she said yeah. So that's when the call came in 393 00:25:53.880 --> 00:25:57.160 the troopy from mister Needham. And then a few minutes later, 394 00:25:57.720 --> 00:26:01.000 excuse me, all three of them left went south on 395 00:26:01.119 --> 00:26:05.319 Highway seventeen to sit roadside at the point where her 396 00:26:05.440 --> 00:26:07.319 tracks came out of the woods and the snow. 397 00:26:10.160 --> 00:26:15.759 Yes, so now you are inextricably involved here what she 398 00:26:15.880 --> 00:26:18.440 had also said to you in this again not in 399 00:26:18.519 --> 00:26:22.200 maybe an initial interview, but you soon got the information 400 00:26:22.319 --> 00:26:26.039 out of her describing the person that was driving this vehicle, 401 00:26:26.759 --> 00:26:29.880