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That's Chumbuck Casino dot com 22 00:00:56.840 --> 00:00:59.520 and Live the Chumba Laine, No, We're necessary, I Daly Voidhever, 23 00:00:59.560 --> 00:01:01.039 Everybody lost CONTI Eatingland. 24 00:01:08.280 --> 00:01:11.680 You are now listening to True Murder, the most shocking 25 00:01:11.760 --> 00:01:14.760 killers in true crime history and the authors that have 26 00:01:14.879 --> 00:01:22.120 written about them Geese, Bundy, Dahmer, The Nightstalker DTK. Every 27 00:01:22.200 --> 00:01:25.840 week another fascinating author talking about the most shocking and 28 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:30.120 infamous killers in true crime history. True Murder with your 29 00:01:30.200 --> 00:01:46.200 host journalist and author Dan Zufanski, Good Evening. There was 30 00:01:46.239 --> 00:01:49.319 a time when New York City was dying a fast death. 31 00:01:49.799 --> 00:01:53.319 The slums were war zones, the government bankrupt and sputtering. 32 00:01:53.959 --> 00:01:57.760 Mobsters disassembled one another nightly and dropped hefty bags of 33 00:01:57.840 --> 00:02:01.560 mixed parts off the carnesi. Peer gangs rumbled in the 34 00:02:01.599 --> 00:02:05.359 city's playgrounds and ghost towns, each battle busted up by 35 00:02:05.400 --> 00:02:09.719 the sound of gunfire or police siren. Co Eds were 36 00:02:09.800 --> 00:02:13.919 raped and sent home shattered. Wide swaths of real estate 37 00:02:14.039 --> 00:02:18.000 former ghettos were abandoned and left to the squatters. Times Square, 38 00:02:18.080 --> 00:02:21.000 once seemingly the center of the universe, had sunk into 39 00:02:21.080 --> 00:02:25.639 an odorous septic tank, a choice of porn loops in 40 00:02:25.719 --> 00:02:31.479 a booth of somdulant live sex shows continuous New York 41 00:02:31.520 --> 00:02:34.039 had crumbled into a city of ancient ruins. When city 42 00:02:34.120 --> 00:02:36.960 tough blades of sharp breasts poked through each crack in 43 00:02:37.039 --> 00:02:40.360 a pavement. A city undergoing a so called fiscal crisis, 44 00:02:40.800 --> 00:02:44.120 but more a crisis of the soul. A city of 45 00:02:44.199 --> 00:02:49.000 routine muggings, vacant lots turned dump sight parked, and abandoned 46 00:02:49.080 --> 00:02:52.400 roads to nowhere. A city that President Gerald Ford told 47 00:02:52.439 --> 00:02:54.639 to drop dead. A city in which four murders a 48 00:02:54.759 --> 00:02:58.199 night was the norm. A city of scary shadows, vacant lots, 49 00:02:58.280 --> 00:03:01.560 sewer gas from a cracked manhole, a stinging rain of 50 00:03:01.680 --> 00:03:06.159 rust from tenement fire escapes where pedestrians routinely dodged bell 51 00:03:06.240 --> 00:03:10.560 Bottom angel dust, time bombs, where young savage baby boomers 52 00:03:10.719 --> 00:03:13.039 washed down black beauties with Ryan bowled out of a can. 53 00:03:13.680 --> 00:03:16.280 Where each glance into the shadows was an assault upon 54 00:03:16.840 --> 00:03:21.599 civilized sensibilities. A derelict big apple, rotten at the core, 55 00:03:22.159 --> 00:03:25.560 with no signs of hope. In the South Bronx ten 56 00:03:25.680 --> 00:03:28.680 square blocks per year, five thousand housing units were lost 57 00:03:28.719 --> 00:03:32.479 to arson. Owners abandoned properties rather than pay the tax, 58 00:03:33.039 --> 00:03:36.800 often torching them at night to collect insurance, leaving block 59 00:03:36.960 --> 00:03:40.639 after block of charred hulks forward Apache. They called it 60 00:03:40.719 --> 00:03:43.800 after the old Western movie where it looked like the 61 00:03:43.879 --> 00:03:47.719 bomb had gone off, nothing but steamy, bricked streets and 62 00:03:47.800 --> 00:03:51.919 smoldering rubble. It was a ghost town inhabited only by 63 00:03:52.560 --> 00:03:57.280 clawnleishly uniformed soldiers of vague cause, who moved like insects, 64 00:03:57.639 --> 00:04:01.319 who fought for worthless turf and and dignity through the 65 00:04:01.360 --> 00:04:03.080 smoke of despair. 66 00:04:04.199 --> 00:04:07.240 And for a year. Scariest of all, it was the 67 00:04:07.360 --> 00:04:12.599 city of Son of Sam, a terrifying specter of sadism 68 00:04:12.960 --> 00:04:17.639 and ritualistic blood sacrifice. The book that we're featuring this 69 00:04:17.759 --> 00:04:21.839 evening is The Wicked King Wicker, The Son of Sam 70 00:04:22.040 --> 00:04:25.639 Siege upon New York with my special guest journalist and 71 00:04:25.720 --> 00:04:29.120 author Michael Benson. Welcome to the program, and thank you 72 00:04:29.240 --> 00:04:31.639 so much for this interview. Michael Benson. 73 00:04:32.319 --> 00:04:36.079 Thanks for having me, Dan, Thank you so much. 74 00:04:36.240 --> 00:04:42.800 Michael, did this incredible introduction that you've written so eloquently, 75 00:04:44.399 --> 00:04:47.959 tell us a little bit more about before we start 76 00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:52.759 about the siege that Son of Sam put upon New 77 00:04:52.879 --> 00:04:56.040 York City, Just tell us where New York City was 78 00:04:56.120 --> 00:04:57.759 in nineteen seventy six. 79 00:04:58.920 --> 00:05:02.839 Well, you know, not only was the son of Sam, 80 00:05:02.959 --> 00:05:06.360 the most infamous serial murder case in New York history. 81 00:05:07.839 --> 00:05:10.879 But it happened against a backdrop of a city that 82 00:05:11.040 --> 00:05:14.120 seemed to be at death's door. New York was in 83 00:05:14.279 --> 00:05:18.360 bad shape. He was kind of a smoldering ruins. I'm 84 00:05:18.399 --> 00:05:21.680 not really an expert in why it was that way, 85 00:05:22.279 --> 00:05:26.480 but it did come back. We recovered. But in nineteen 86 00:05:26.519 --> 00:05:30.279 seventy six and seventy seven it was a place to leave. 87 00:05:31.439 --> 00:05:34.319 And I know because I was going to school at 88 00:05:34.360 --> 00:05:36.560 the time on Long Island and I used to go 89 00:05:36.680 --> 00:05:38.480 into the city all the time, and that a lot 90 00:05:38.519 --> 00:05:42.000 of times it was just terrifying. You could you're afraid 91 00:05:42.040 --> 00:05:45.040 to go down a street for fear that somebody would 92 00:05:45.079 --> 00:05:49.480 jump you. A crime was out of control. Part of it, 93 00:05:49.560 --> 00:05:51.079 I think had to do with the fact that the 94 00:05:51.199 --> 00:05:56.439 baby Bloomer generation was in its late teens and early 95 00:05:56.519 --> 00:05:58.600 twenties at that time, so people in there at the 96 00:05:58.680 --> 00:06:05.879 rowdiest and most to commit crimes were plentiful. Also, the 97 00:06:06.000 --> 00:06:10.759 mafia was having wars. They were knocking each other off 98 00:06:10.800 --> 00:06:15.759 every night. There was gunfire in the streets. And considering 99 00:06:15.800 --> 00:06:18.759 the fact that between July of nineteen seventy six and 100 00:06:18.839 --> 00:06:22.560 July nineteen seventy seven, there were maybe fifteen hundred murders 101 00:06:22.600 --> 00:06:27.079 in New York City. The Son of Sam committed six murders, 102 00:06:27.959 --> 00:06:33.040 wounded seven in eight attacks. And yet the Son of Sam, 103 00:06:33.120 --> 00:06:36.360 and I will sometimes referred to him as he, although 104 00:06:36.399 --> 00:06:41.720 it's a day, was on the front pages of the 105 00:06:41.800 --> 00:06:49.000 newspapers for much of that time. And that's because although 106 00:06:49.040 --> 00:06:50.920 there were many places in New York City that were 107 00:06:50.959 --> 00:06:55.040 considered to be highly dangerous at that time, the Sun 108 00:06:55.120 --> 00:06:59.279 of Sam attacks occurred only in the pockets of perceived safety. 109 00:06:59.439 --> 00:07:02.079 Son of Sam made everyone, even the beautiful kids of 110 00:07:02.160 --> 00:07:07.360 successful parents, feel like targets, and kids who were used 111 00:07:07.399 --> 00:07:10.959 to doing pretty much what they pleased when they pleased, 112 00:07:12.240 --> 00:07:14.879 all of a sudden realized that the boogeyman was real 113 00:07:15.560 --> 00:07:17.160 and he was going to get them if they didn't 114 00:07:17.199 --> 00:07:21.680 look out. I've always felt the close association with these crimes. 115 00:07:23.879 --> 00:07:27.519 Like I said, I went to Hofst University at that time, 116 00:07:27.720 --> 00:07:30.399 I was only six miles away from the closest Son 117 00:07:30.439 --> 00:07:33.800 of Sam shooting in Bordo Park. And for the kids 118 00:07:33.920 --> 00:07:37.600 my age in New York City, the summer of nineteen 119 00:07:37.639 --> 00:07:40.759 seventy seven was a wasted summer. Everyone in the Bronx 120 00:07:40.879 --> 00:07:44.199 and Queens and later in Brooklyn were afraid to go 121 00:07:44.360 --> 00:07:47.720 out because there was a psycho out there shooting kids. 122 00:07:51.079 --> 00:07:54.480 Now before I know, there was so much trouble in 123 00:07:54.560 --> 00:07:59.680 New York. But teenagers feel invincible, so and then they 124 00:08:00.079 --> 00:08:04.639 carry on with their lives despite the crisises and havoc 125 00:08:04.759 --> 00:08:07.839 and chaos of the streets and the city that they 126 00:08:07.879 --> 00:08:13.000 lived in. On July twenty ninth, nineteen seventy six, teenageers 127 00:08:13.079 --> 00:08:17.920 Donna Lauria and their friend Jody Valente nineteen. Donna was eighteen. 128 00:08:18.879 --> 00:08:22.000 They had gone out dancing and they were in Jody's 129 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:25.040 They had boriled Jody's car. Tell us a little bit 130 00:08:25.079 --> 00:08:28.360 about what happens in the car at the end of 131 00:08:28.399 --> 00:08:30.680 this evening on Burer Avenue. 132 00:08:32.559 --> 00:08:37.399 Well, yeah, they're parked outside Donna's apartment building. Jody was 133 00:08:37.480 --> 00:08:41.679 right around the corner, and they've coming home after a 134 00:08:41.759 --> 00:08:44.480 night of dancing at a discotheque up in Westchester County 135 00:08:45.000 --> 00:08:48.360 where it's safe. And they're in the West Sister Heights, 136 00:08:48.440 --> 00:08:51.919 Pelham Bay section of the Bronx where it's safe, and 137 00:08:52.039 --> 00:08:54.159 they're just having a little chat. Was in the radio 138 00:08:54.279 --> 00:08:59.279 before Donnah goes home and Donna's dad is on his 139 00:08:59.399 --> 00:09:02.480 way down the stairs with their dogs and take the 140 00:09:02.559 --> 00:09:05.480 dog for a walk, no problem because the streets are 141 00:09:05.519 --> 00:09:09.919 safe in that section. And Donna opens the door to 142 00:09:10.360 --> 00:09:14.519 go in, and she sees a man approaching, and she goes, Oh, 143 00:09:14.679 --> 00:09:17.720 what the heck is this? And she slams the door 144 00:09:18.159 --> 00:09:21.840 and gets bagging off back inside the car, and then 145 00:09:21.960 --> 00:09:26.519 a gunman fires four shots through the passenger side window, 146 00:09:27.320 --> 00:09:30.679 strikes Donna in the right temple, killing her instantly, and 147 00:09:30.759 --> 00:09:34.200 shoots Jody in the thigh. Jody gets out of the 148 00:09:34.279 --> 00:09:39.639 car and starts screaming. She opens the passenger side door 149 00:09:40.279 --> 00:09:45.039 and Donnah falls out of the car, And this happens 150 00:09:45.240 --> 00:09:48.639 just as Donna's dad emerges from the front door of 151 00:09:48.679 --> 00:09:53.039 the apartment building, and he immediately recognizes what he's seeing 152 00:09:53.519 --> 00:09:58.559 and bursts into tears. Jody describes the shooter as five nine, 153 00:09:59.240 --> 00:10:03.000 about one hundred sixty pounds, with curly black hair, clean shaven, 154 00:10:03.720 --> 00:10:07.600 fair complexion, wearing a white striped polo shirt, black or 155 00:10:07.720 --> 00:10:11.919 dark pants. Could not have looked any more regular or 156 00:10:12.080 --> 00:10:18.279 less scary, but he had a scary gun. Police come in. 157 00:10:19.360 --> 00:10:26.200 They because Donna and Jody are Italian girls, they assumed 158 00:10:26.240 --> 00:10:28.639 that this is part of a mafia vendetta, and that 159 00:10:28.879 --> 00:10:31.440 just really steams Donna's dead because there's nothing to do 160 00:10:31.480 --> 00:10:36.559 with organized crime. Yea profiling at its worst. And the 161 00:10:36.600 --> 00:10:39.600 most unusual thing about the murder is that, unlike the 162 00:10:39.720 --> 00:10:44.320 pocket guns that mobsters use, the bullets are forty four 163 00:10:44.559 --> 00:10:47.200 caliber and that is very rare. 164 00:10:51.080 --> 00:10:52.320 There was also dead. 165 00:10:53.840 --> 00:10:57.279 Did you throw something in here? About a year before that, 166 00:10:58.320 --> 00:11:01.080 there was another series of crimes up in Westchester County 167 00:11:01.759 --> 00:11:07.200 in which somebody was using an air gun to fire 168 00:11:07.919 --> 00:11:13.120 steel tipped feather ended darts through ground floor windows at women, 169 00:11:14.840 --> 00:11:18.080 and he was aiming high, maybe for the eyes, and 170 00:11:18.720 --> 00:11:23.679 there were women wounded in many towns in Westchester, including Yankers. 171 00:11:23.799 --> 00:11:27.159 New York. An expert said that the shooter was probably 172 00:11:27.200 --> 00:11:30.679 a peeping tom of voyeur who was taking his sickness 173 00:11:30.720 --> 00:11:34.159 to the next level. They called him dart Man. It's 174 00:11:34.200 --> 00:11:37.960 interesting here because soon after the dart Man attacks stop, 175 00:11:38.720 --> 00:11:40.600 the Son of Sam attacks begin. 176 00:11:43.600 --> 00:11:47.320 You right about that, there was a composite developed from 177 00:11:47.600 --> 00:11:50.360 this eyewitness account that you mentioned the five foot, nine 178 00:11:50.480 --> 00:11:55.159 hundred and sixty pounds, and then on October fourth, nineteen 179 00:11:55.279 --> 00:11:59.799 seventy six, there's a Molotov cocktail thrown through the window 180 00:12:00.080 --> 00:12:05.399 of the car family home. Tell us about right this event. 181 00:12:07.080 --> 00:12:11.399 Well, at the time, there is no way to make 182 00:12:11.440 --> 00:12:15.879 a connection between the two things. But right there is 183 00:12:16.399 --> 00:12:22.559 in Yonkers, in a stretch of streets that include Wicker 184 00:12:22.759 --> 00:12:26.679 Street and Warburton the Street, the home of Sam Carr, 185 00:12:27.559 --> 00:12:32.519 who has three kids, John, Michael, and Wheat, and somebody 186 00:12:32.639 --> 00:12:35.879 throws a mile off cocktail at their house. Time the 187 00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:41.600 fire department arrives, Sam's put the fire out. Not a 188 00:12:41.679 --> 00:12:46.720 major deal, but it's the it's the first indication that 189 00:12:48.200 --> 00:12:51.919 the Car family is the subject of some kind of 190 00:12:52.000 --> 00:12:57.440 psycho out there. There's another house is also there's an 191 00:12:57.519 --> 00:13:04.039 attempted arson. You're on an apartment in a large apartment 192 00:13:04.080 --> 00:13:07.440 building in Yonkers as a fire started just outside the door. 193 00:13:08.639 --> 00:13:13.159 So there's firebug going on. And also you know somebody's 194 00:13:13.200 --> 00:13:19.000 out there shooting dogs. So there's trouble in Yonkers, and 195 00:13:19.399 --> 00:13:23.720 there are weird attacks starting up in New York. But 196 00:13:24.320 --> 00:13:26.519 nobody's going to make that connection for quite a while yet. 197 00:13:27.679 --> 00:13:31.759 As you do to October twenty third, shortly after nineteen 198 00:13:31.840 --> 00:13:38.720 seventy six, and Carl Denaro and yes, and so the second. 199 00:13:38.919 --> 00:13:44.639 Yeah, okay, go ahead, go ahead. This is the attack 200 00:13:44.919 --> 00:13:48.919 that is talked about the least, you know, it's not 201 00:13:49.039 --> 00:13:54.879 the first one, and nobody's killed and the wounded person 202 00:13:55.120 --> 00:13:59.000 is mail, so journalists didn't quite pick up on it 203 00:13:59.120 --> 00:14:01.399 the way they did the other. But it was Yeah. 204 00:14:01.440 --> 00:14:05.039 Two thirty am, October twenty third, nineteen seventy six. Carl 205 00:14:05.120 --> 00:14:09.480 de Naro and Rosemary Keenan. They're not boyfriend and girlfriend, 206 00:14:09.519 --> 00:14:12.159 but they had gotten together at a bar earlier in 207 00:14:12.200 --> 00:14:18.679 the night. Carl had just enlisted and he was had 208 00:14:18.759 --> 00:14:25.960 long brown hair. Rosemary is the daughter of a police detective, 209 00:14:27.000 --> 00:14:30.519 and they're sitting in a Volkswagen Beetle parked on a 210 00:14:30.559 --> 00:14:34.480 residential street in the murray Hill section of Queens sometimes 211 00:14:34.519 --> 00:14:39.159 referred to as Easternmost Flushing, but it's murray Hill. Rosemary, 212 00:14:39.440 --> 00:14:43.039 for reasons that probably don't matter to us, is sitting 213 00:14:43.080 --> 00:14:46.360 behind the wheel and Carl is in the passenger seat, 214 00:14:46.519 --> 00:14:50.360 even though he's thee who borrowed the car. And at 215 00:14:50.399 --> 00:14:54.799 two thirty am, passenger side window explodes and Carl is 216 00:14:54.840 --> 00:15:00.120 shot in the head. Rosemary is unharmed. She managed to 217 00:15:00.759 --> 00:15:03.960 get the car in gear despite you know, must must 218 00:15:04.000 --> 00:15:07.519 been panic and drives back to the bar that the 219 00:15:07.600 --> 00:15:12.559 two had just left, and Carl's taken the Flushing hospital 220 00:15:13.039 --> 00:15:14.679 where he has to stay for a month. They put 221 00:15:14.720 --> 00:15:19.759 a plate in his head and the bullets are forty 222 00:15:19.799 --> 00:15:23.480 four caliber. Nobody makes any connection between this attack and 223 00:15:23.519 --> 00:15:27.240 the one in the Bronx. They're miles apart, right, And 224 00:15:27.919 --> 00:15:30.480 person who takes the most interest, of course, is Detective 225 00:15:30.559 --> 00:15:33.840 Red Keenan, whose daughter was in a car that was 226 00:15:33.919 --> 00:15:36.879 shot at. And you know, nobody's saying anything about the 227 00:15:36.960 --> 00:15:43.720 mafia this time, but later on it would be assumed 228 00:15:44.759 --> 00:15:49.679 that the shooter at dark at night, when the fellow 229 00:15:49.759 --> 00:15:53.360 with long dark hair thought that he was shooting a girl, 230 00:15:53.799 --> 00:15:54.919 when he was shooting a guy. 231 00:15:56.000 --> 00:15:56.159 Right. 232 00:15:56.679 --> 00:16:01.679 But you know, Carl's still around, and he's a good guy. 233 00:16:02.600 --> 00:16:04.799 But he never did get to serve in the military 234 00:16:04.840 --> 00:16:08.600 because he was shot in the head instead. This is 235 00:16:08.879 --> 00:16:11.960 bad luck. And he never, you know, never got together 236 00:16:12.039 --> 00:16:13.840 with Rosemary, even though they were sort of hitting it 237 00:16:13.919 --> 00:16:14.519 off that night. 238 00:16:17.759 --> 00:16:20.799 Now you're right. About four weeks later, in Queens, November 239 00:16:20.840 --> 00:16:26.840 twenty seventh, Joanne Lomino and Donna Demassi. Joanne's eighteen and 240 00:16:26.960 --> 00:16:29.720 Demassi is sixteen, and they go to a movie and 241 00:16:29.720 --> 00:16:32.600 they're taking a bus home and then they spot a 242 00:16:32.879 --> 00:16:37.200 creepy looking guy. Tell us about this. 243 00:16:37.639 --> 00:16:41.879 Well, they're so far out in Queens that it's a 244 00:16:42.039 --> 00:16:44.399 block and a half away from the Nassau County border. 245 00:16:45.159 --> 00:16:48.200 It's just barely inside New York City and you have 246 00:16:48.279 --> 00:16:49.759 to go to the end of the subway and then 247 00:16:49.799 --> 00:16:54.559 catch a bus to their neighborhood, Floral Park. It's close 248 00:16:54.600 --> 00:16:57.559 to where Belmont Park is where they hold the Belmont 249 00:16:57.639 --> 00:17:05.079 Stake's horse race. And November twenty seventh, it is Thanksgiving weekend. 250 00:17:06.559 --> 00:17:08.240 You know, I say that, You know it was only 251 00:17:08.279 --> 00:17:10.200 six miles away at the time, but I probably was. 252 00:17:10.440 --> 00:17:15.279 It was probably up in Rochester home for the holiday, right, 253 00:17:15.480 --> 00:17:19.400 And they got back from the movies and they're walking 254 00:17:19.480 --> 00:17:22.960 from the bus stop and they see a man hiding 255 00:17:23.079 --> 00:17:28.319 behind a telephone poll which is both terrifying and ridiculous 256 00:17:29.119 --> 00:17:32.720 because you can see him sticking out the sides it. 257 00:17:33.039 --> 00:17:37.559 You know, it's it's almost comical, but why is it 258 00:17:37.720 --> 00:17:42.440 the bizarre behavior and that translates into fear. So the 259 00:17:42.519 --> 00:17:47.839 girls hurry home and they are right in front of 260 00:17:48.200 --> 00:17:52.559 Joanne's house when they see the guy walking on the 261 00:17:52.599 --> 00:17:55.839 other side of the street and he's slender. It's a 262 00:17:55.960 --> 00:17:59.000 skinny guy, one hundred and fifty pounds soaking wet, five 263 00:17:59.079 --> 00:18:03.039 eight with his dirty blonde hair long parted on the side, 264 00:18:03.680 --> 00:18:06.359 and older is between twenty five and thirty years old. 265 00:18:06.400 --> 00:18:09.200 It's not a kid. This is a man wearing a 266 00:18:09.279 --> 00:18:11.920 brown three quarter length coat over what appears to be 267 00:18:12.119 --> 00:18:15.759 army fatigues. Now they stop in front of the house, 268 00:18:15.839 --> 00:18:18.279 and then Joann doesn't want to go in because she 269 00:18:18.319 --> 00:18:23.359 doesn't want the guy to know where she lives, so 270 00:18:23.480 --> 00:18:25.480 that there's they're pausing there in front of the house 271 00:18:25.799 --> 00:18:28.680 and he crosses the street and he starts to say 272 00:18:28.799 --> 00:18:34.039 something which they interpret as do you know where? And 273 00:18:34.119 --> 00:18:37.920 then he starts to mumble. They back away from him, 274 00:18:38.160 --> 00:18:41.680 and they're now up on the porch of Joan's house 275 00:18:42.319 --> 00:18:48.839 when he pulls a gun and fires wildly. He hits 276 00:18:48.880 --> 00:18:52.400 them both, but one shot hits the house. It's a 277 00:18:52.559 --> 00:18:55.920 bizarre miss, and a forty four has quite a kick, 278 00:18:56.000 --> 00:18:59.160 so it's not unusual for it to be less than accurate. 279 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:04.079 But I mean horrible things, you know. The donna's shot 280 00:19:04.160 --> 00:19:07.200 in the neck and Joanne is shot in the spine 281 00:19:07.319 --> 00:19:10.279 and is paralyzed. From the waist down to this day. 282 00:19:11.839 --> 00:19:15.920 The shooter is seen fleeing holding a gun in his 283 00:19:16.039 --> 00:19:21.720 left hand again by witnesses. Long light colored hair and 284 00:19:22.640 --> 00:19:25.640 forty four shellcas things are found at the crime scene. 285 00:19:27.680 --> 00:19:32.000 So police are starting to make the connection now that 286 00:19:32.319 --> 00:19:37.599 perhaps these are connected shootings, but they haven't released any 287 00:19:37.640 --> 00:19:40.720 information to that effect to the public yet. After the 288 00:19:40.799 --> 00:19:44.680 next shooting, that's when there would really be no no 289 00:19:44.839 --> 00:19:46.000 holding it back anymore. 290 00:19:47.759 --> 00:19:52.400 Yeah, let's talk about Christine Frund January thirty, nineteen seventy seven, 291 00:19:53.279 --> 00:19:57.480 twelve thirty am, and she's parked again. Similarly, she's parked 292 00:19:57.519 --> 00:20:01.799 with a boyfriend, John Deel. He's thirty years old and 293 00:20:03.160 --> 00:20:07.279 sadly they're planning to be engaged. February fourteenth, Valentine's Day. 294 00:20:08.119 --> 00:20:09.839 Tell us about this incident. 295 00:20:11.160 --> 00:20:16.279 If these aren't kids, these are young adults. Christine is 296 00:20:16.519 --> 00:20:22.960 a Wall Street secretary. John's thirty years old. They've been 297 00:20:23.039 --> 00:20:25.240 together for years and years. They've had their ups and 298 00:20:25.319 --> 00:20:29.640 downs in their relationship. They're in a nineteen seventy six 299 00:20:29.720 --> 00:20:33.920 blue Pontiac Firebird and they're parked in a little plaza 300 00:20:35.079 --> 00:20:41.839 fairly well lit underneath the Long Island Railroad station. And 301 00:20:41.960 --> 00:20:46.319 it's in Forest Hills, Queens, which at that time was 302 00:20:47.039 --> 00:20:49.880 known mostly for being the site of the US Open 303 00:20:49.960 --> 00:20:54.039 Tennis tournament. Away in this almost a fairyland neighborhood, all 304 00:20:54.079 --> 00:21:00.559 these Tudor style homes and tiny, curving, skinny roads, so 305 00:21:01.359 --> 00:21:07.319 they couldn't have felt more safe. And they'd just been 306 00:21:07.359 --> 00:21:09.960 to a wine and cheese place, and they're warming up 307 00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:13.759 the car before heading home and a shoot he approaches 308 00:21:13.880 --> 00:21:17.519 and fires through the passenger side window. Fires three times. 309 00:21:18.599 --> 00:21:21.359 Christine is struck twice, first in the shoulder and then 310 00:21:21.920 --> 00:21:24.839 just as she let out a short scream in the head, 311 00:21:26.039 --> 00:21:30.200 a third bullet ricochets off the windshield and John Deele 312 00:21:30.440 --> 00:21:35.359 is uninjured now for what seemed to him forever but 313 00:21:35.480 --> 00:21:38.720 probably only a matter of seconds. He tries to keep 314 00:21:38.759 --> 00:21:41.559 her sitting up in the seat because he thinks that 315 00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:44.359 that will help, and every time he lets go over, 316 00:21:44.519 --> 00:21:47.519 she falls over into his lap. He pushes her back up, 317 00:21:47.920 --> 00:21:50.720 and she falls into his lap again. Eventually he realizes 318 00:21:50.839 --> 00:21:52.599 this is not doing any good. He gets out of 319 00:21:52.640 --> 00:21:55.519 the car and starts to scream for help, and he 320 00:21:55.680 --> 00:22:01.079 sees a man standing there staring at him, seemingly relaxed, 321 00:22:01.640 --> 00:22:04.400 So help me, help me, And the man just turns 322 00:22:04.480 --> 00:22:09.880 around slowly and walks away. And John runs around the 323 00:22:09.880 --> 00:22:13.160 neighborhood chicken with his head cut off and screaming for help. 324 00:22:13.240 --> 00:22:18.480 He's diving on the hood of cars and nobody is stopping. 325 00:22:18.519 --> 00:22:21.920 Nobody wants to get involved, especially somebody inside a house. 326 00:22:22.119 --> 00:22:25.160 Here's the ruckus and calls for the police, and the 327 00:22:25.200 --> 00:22:27.559 police show up, and it's not that much time has 328 00:22:27.640 --> 00:22:30.039 gone by, but you know, to John, it just seems forever. 329 00:22:30.680 --> 00:22:35.960 He's been all around the neighborhood. And Captain Joseph Brelli, 330 00:22:36.640 --> 00:22:40.319 who's chief of the Queen's Homicide Squad, shows up, and 331 00:22:40.400 --> 00:22:43.240 he finds a slug at the scene that's only slightly deformed. 332 00:22:44.039 --> 00:22:47.119 And from this piece of metal, they could not just 333 00:22:47.200 --> 00:22:50.200 determine that the gun was a forty four, but that 334 00:22:50.319 --> 00:22:54.000 it was a Charter Arms Bulldog forty four, a fact 335 00:22:54.079 --> 00:22:57.240 that was not immediately released to the public. Now, the 336 00:22:57.279 --> 00:23:01.400 Bulldog forty four is pretty rare. At that time, there 337 00:23:01.440 --> 00:23:03.960 were only fifty six of them registered in the New 338 00:23:04.039 --> 00:23:07.440 York metropolitan area, and they were designed for a specific purpose. 339 00:23:07.519 --> 00:23:09.759 I don't know if you remember, but back in those days, 340 00:23:10.039 --> 00:23:15.880 there was a problem with skyjackings. People were hijacking commercial 341 00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:19.440 airplanes and having them fly to Cuba. So the gun 342 00:23:19.720 --> 00:23:25.480 was designed to shoot a hijacker without piercing the fuselage 343 00:23:25.519 --> 00:23:30.720 of the plane. So the bullet lost speed muzzle velocity 344 00:23:30.920 --> 00:23:36.599 very quickly and was wildly inaccurate at anything, you know, 345 00:23:37.160 --> 00:23:43.000 more than five feet. So now they know the weapon 346 00:23:43.160 --> 00:23:50.759 that's doing these shootings, But again they don't inform the public. 347 00:23:51.720 --> 00:23:57.240 They wait, They wait for one more shooting place a 348 00:23:57.319 --> 00:24:00.799 few weeks later, in March eighth, tenteen seventy, but only 349 00:24:00.799 --> 00:24:03.559 about one hundred yards away. And this one is different. 350 00:24:06.039 --> 00:24:09.200 It's seven point thirty in the evening on a Tuesday nights, 351 00:24:09.279 --> 00:24:11.960 not a weekends, not the middle of the night that 352 00:24:12.200 --> 00:24:16.720 the sun has just set. It's recently dark, and it's 353 00:24:17.200 --> 00:24:20.279 right around the corner from where Christine was murdered in 354 00:24:20.400 --> 00:24:24.240 the previous attack. Now I've walked this, I've gotten out 355 00:24:24.240 --> 00:24:27.960 of the subway where the victim got out and walked it. 356 00:24:28.480 --> 00:24:32.079 You walk right by where Christine was shot, through the 357 00:24:32.119 --> 00:24:37.119 well lighted plaza underneath the railroad station, and then you 358 00:24:37.240 --> 00:24:40.039 take a right hand turn onto Dartmouth Street and it 359 00:24:40.200 --> 00:24:46.200 is pitch black, and I can still remember the start 360 00:24:46.680 --> 00:24:49.839 of turning that corner and realizing that my eyes were 361 00:24:49.880 --> 00:24:52.240 going to have to dilate before I was gonna be 362 00:24:52.240 --> 00:24:56.960 able to see anything at all. And that's what Virginia 363 00:24:57.000 --> 00:24:58.960 of Oscar Ycian had just done. And she was a 364 00:24:59.000 --> 00:25:03.720 college girl, twenty years old, and she lived in Forest Hills, 365 00:25:04.319 --> 00:25:06.640 you know, one of the prettiest and most beautiful and 366 00:25:06.799 --> 00:25:11.400 certainly considered the safest neighborhood in all of New York City. 367 00:25:12.599 --> 00:25:18.160 And as she was walking down Dartneth Street, a small 368 00:25:18.519 --> 00:25:24.119 person gender uncertain thought you know, later described as a 369 00:25:24.160 --> 00:25:29.920 teenage boy but possibly a girl, walks right up to Virginia, 370 00:25:31.079 --> 00:25:35.319 sticks the gun at her. Virginia, who's carrying books because 371 00:25:35.319 --> 00:25:38.880 she's coming home from school, puts the books over her face. 372 00:25:39.759 --> 00:25:43.039 The shooter presses the gun against the books and pulls 373 00:25:43.079 --> 00:25:48.480 the trigger. One shot only through the books and through 374 00:25:49.079 --> 00:25:54.160 Virginia's mouth, and unfortunately, you know, through her brain, lodging 375 00:25:54.359 --> 00:25:57.720 near her spine, and she falls down across the sidewalk 376 00:25:57.799 --> 00:25:59.960 with her head awkwardly angled in a clump of bush 377 00:26:00.119 --> 00:26:05.880 is in front of for Dartmouth Street, and there are 378 00:26:06.160 --> 00:26:09.160 multiple witnesses. This is not a deserted area at seven 379 00:26:09.279 --> 00:26:14.279 thirty in the evening, and two distinctly different suspects are 380 00:26:14.359 --> 00:26:19.599 seen fleeing, and one is the young teenager teenage boy 381 00:26:19.759 --> 00:26:23.119 or girl in a dark ski cap sixteen to eighteen 382 00:26:23.200 --> 00:26:26.640 years old estimate and fleeing the scene running west. And 383 00:26:26.799 --> 00:26:29.559 running in the other direction is a white adult male 384 00:26:29.720 --> 00:26:32.720 twenty five to thirty years old, clean shaven, clear skinned, 385 00:26:32.799 --> 00:26:35.839 medium built five ten to six foot, well groomed, with 386 00:26:36.079 --> 00:26:42.400 dark hair combed straight back, which resembles the man seen 387 00:26:42.640 --> 00:26:48.119 at the first shooting by Jody Valenti. Now after this, 388 00:26:48.480 --> 00:26:52.880 there's really no secrets from the public anymore. The two shootings, 389 00:26:54.119 --> 00:26:59.359 you know, in closeness in time and geography, really I 390 00:26:59.440 --> 00:27:02.880 paste it up. There are one hundred yards apart. And 391 00:27:03.000 --> 00:27:07.920 on Thursday, March tenth, Mayor Abraham Beam, who's the mayor 392 00:27:08.000 --> 00:27:11.559 of this sinking ship, called New York City and Police 393 00:27:11.559 --> 00:27:15.279 Commissioner Michael cod decided they have to inform the public 394 00:27:15.319 --> 00:27:18.200 of what's going on. They hold a press conference at 395 00:27:18.240 --> 00:27:23.480 the Forest Hills Precinct station and they announced that the 396 00:27:23.720 --> 00:27:27.880 man who killed Virginia also killed Christine and also killed 397 00:27:27.920 --> 00:27:32.039 Donal Laurie in the Bronx previous summer. They said that 398 00:27:32.119 --> 00:27:36.039 the weapon was a Charter Arms Bulldog forty four and 399 00:27:36.319 --> 00:27:39.039 if anybody knew anyone that had such a weapon, please 400 00:27:39.119 --> 00:27:44.359 let them know. And then they did something that still 401 00:27:44.400 --> 00:27:48.039