Speaker 1: Mass murder a very serious and dark topic, whether it's
Speaker 1: referring to modern unfortunate events with public shootings, cruel wars
Speaker 1: around the world, or historical cases like Richard Speck. Richard
Speaker 1: had a very dark history of his own, a dark
Speaker 1: history involving substance abuse and trouble with law. Everything he
Speaker 1: was involved with escalated throughout his life, and it would
Speaker 1: all come together in a tragically violent night where nine
Speaker 1: nursing students found themselves helpless to Richard's every whim. Warning.
Speaker 1: The following podcast contains graphic content and material intended for
Speaker 1: a mature audience.
Speaker 2: Listener discretions advised.
Speaker 1: Hey, how's it going.
Speaker 2: My name's Ben and I'm Nicole and you're listening to
Speaker 2: Wicked and Grim.
Speaker 1: True crime podcast. You're doing it there, it is boom,
Speaker 1: how's it going? Everyone? We're a day light, but it's
Speaker 1: gonna be worth it. We did a lot of a
Speaker 1: lot of research on this case, so sorry for that.
Speaker 2: We apologize, but hey, better late than never.
Speaker 1: That's true. Sometimes we need that little bit of extra time.
Speaker 1: We're human.
Speaker 2: We're trying our best over here. We really are.
Speaker 1: We work day jobs, you know. This is just kind
Speaker 1: of like a side hustle a fun thing that we do.
Speaker 1: So forgive us. Once in a while, these things happen,
Speaker 1: but we are still here and we got an epic
Speaker 1: case coming down for you guys.
Speaker 2: Once in a while, life just happens. Yes's true, it's
Speaker 2: just the case for everyone. Life gets in the way.
Speaker 1: I mean that was certainly the case for my parents
Speaker 1: when I was born.
Speaker 2: Oh my word, they would not agree with that.
Speaker 1: I know I'm the best child you are, I.
Speaker 2: Am, by fine, I'm biased, but I very much so think.
Speaker 1: So one to know who else is actually super awesome?
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Speaker 2: They are today?
Speaker 1: We do actually so we have these people signed up
Speaker 1: for Patreon this past week and are absolutely incredible. Thank
Speaker 1: you so much for supporting us over there. The people
Speaker 1: who signed up and we've got to give a good
Speaker 1: old shout out to are Holly Gunwoldsen hopefully I said
Speaker 1: your last name right, Mallory Cumberland, Shelby Strunk, Lindsey Gott
Speaker 1: and Britney.
Speaker 2: Brown right on.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for your support. You're absolutely incredible.
Speaker 1: Even if you guys don't support us on Patreon, you
Speaker 1: just want to listen here, we still appreciate that you
Speaker 1: are still incredible. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2: We just think everyone's incredible around here, pretty much, don't we.
Speaker 1: Yeah, even the dog goes look a look at Ripley.
Speaker 1: She's curled up in a little ball right now.
Speaker 2: She sleeps well. Actually, anything that dog does as cute
Speaker 2: as hell. Not gonna lie.
Speaker 1: Okay, while I was just finishing the research for this case,
Speaker 1: she just walked over and she just set her chin
Speaker 1: on my knee and just looked up at me and stared,
Speaker 1: which you.
Speaker 2: Think is adorable. But I literally that happens to me
Speaker 2: probably five times a day because I majored, like I
Speaker 2: mostly work from home. Yeah, and so that happens all
Speaker 2: the time. And it's almost like, yeah, but yes, Ripley.
Speaker 1: My day job, like I'm at work for like ten
Speaker 1: hours plus drive so I'm not home for.
Speaker 2: Like hours freaking melt into the ground.
Speaker 1: Yeah, pretty much. But also back to our patrons, we
Speaker 1: also have someone we got to give a big old.
Speaker 2: Congrats to an extra thank you too.
Speaker 1: Do you want to do this this big old extra
Speaker 1: congrats shout out thank you whatever to well.
Speaker 2: The thank you is in regards to We had a
Speaker 2: little contest over there, right. We had a short story.
Speaker 2: We did chat about this on the podcast already, I
Speaker 2: think we did.
Speaker 1: We hinted at it, but we didn't want to give
Speaker 1: too much detail about it.
Speaker 2: But yeah, you had to. Basically we had a couple submissions.
Speaker 2: It was amazing and you had to write a short
Speaker 2: creepy story. Basically they write and it got to be
Speaker 2: under five.
Speaker 1: Hundred words exactly.
Speaker 2: So it was a bit of a challenge, Like that's
Speaker 2: a challenge.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So we put out this contest, you know, do
Speaker 1: your own creepy Pasta. If you don't know what creepy
Speaker 1: Pasta is, it's a web form where writers go and
Speaker 1: post their writings of creepy stories, fictional stories that make
Speaker 1: up or whatever. And yeah, we had a few submissions,
Speaker 1: awesome stories that people wrote over our Patreon. We have
Speaker 1: incredible writers over there apparently, I know, blew my mind.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 1: And a big old congrats to Sarah Granby who won. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so her story was incredible. It was entitled not Me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was really well done. It was really well done.
Speaker 1: So what did you win?
Speaker 2: So we got to we have that exclusive merch that
Speaker 2: basically can only get by winning something.
Speaker 1: Yeah, one of our contests or giveaways.
Speaker 2: So she got a T shirt and then she got
Speaker 2: her story read by Jacko.
Speaker 1: Which is epic, so epic. So we post that story
Speaker 1: recorded by Jacko over on Patreon. If you want to
Speaker 1: go give that a listen, and you're on Patreon, you
Speaker 1: can go check it out right now if you'd like. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and speaking of Jacko, actually he's going to be making
Speaker 1: a return this Halloween Week, which is basically a month away.
Speaker 2: At this point, we get asked, actually, oh yeah, that
Speaker 2: is a hot, a hot question. Is Jacko coming back
Speaker 2: for Halloween Week?
Speaker 1: Yes, so Jacko is one percent making his return. He
Speaker 1: will be our EMC for every episode. He might be
Speaker 1: involved a little bit more. We'll have to stay tuned
Speaker 1: to find out.
Speaker 2: Okay, that literally makes me sover and excited.
Speaker 1: Why is that?
Speaker 2: I don't know, because it's like last okay, I've never
Speaker 2: super been like a huge Halloween person. Like I thought
Speaker 2: it was. It was cool and it's okay, and like
Speaker 2: you love it, so that's nice. But then last year
Speaker 2: I just like really loved Halloween. I don't know, it's
Speaker 2: this podcast made me love it even more. It was fun,
Speaker 2: it was really fun.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and your guys engagement Actually last Halloween made it
Speaker 1: really fun for us too, not just the work in
Speaker 1: fun we were having putting it out there, but the
Speaker 1: reactions and engagement we were getting was incredible. So looking
Speaker 1: forward to that again too.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and we're doing another photoshoot too for Halloween we are,
Speaker 2: which is very exciting. It's a different theme of course,
Speaker 2: but yeah, and.
Speaker 1: We're planning to do a Halloween live as well. That'll
Speaker 1: probably happen on over Instagram. Do we think. We haven't
Speaker 1: really planned that out just yet. Details aren't for sure.
Speaker 2: I think so.
Speaker 1: But there is going to be a live happening at
Speaker 1: some point for Halloween, and we're dropping new merch, so
Speaker 1: he's going to be a few new Halloween centric designs,
Speaker 1: maybe just cool new designs in general. But the Halloween
Speaker 1: centric design may or may not include Jacko.
Speaker 2: Himself, and it's all drawn by you in case people
Speaker 2: don't know.
Speaker 1: It is I'm there. Very cool, but a really cool
Speaker 1: thing about the Jacko merch that's going to be released.
Speaker 1: This is technically the only piece of Jacko merch that
Speaker 1: is available or has been available to the public, because
Speaker 1: we had one piece that was only available for one
Speaker 1: week for patrons when we first opened up our Patreon yeah, so,
Speaker 1: and that design is never coming out again never. So
Speaker 1: those people with that design are like, they're like.
Speaker 2: They have some spe never say never, never say never.
Speaker 2: One day, like the vault might just have to open
Speaker 2: or something.
Speaker 1: The vault opens and that piece is released again, it
Speaker 1: cannot be the same. Maybe maybe a color palette change
Speaker 1: or something.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's true, that's very true.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but it will not be the same, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. There will be something to define it
Speaker 1: to be different, whether it changes slightly in one way
Speaker 1: or another.
Speaker 2: Well, we're gonna be chatting a lot about Hallo Hallow
Speaker 2: in week and getting everyone excited because it's gonna be
Speaker 2: freaking awesome. Last year was awesome, and like it's going
Speaker 2: to be just as awesome, if not more.
Speaker 1: Oh, it'll be more awesome.
Speaker 2: Every year will just be more awesome, of course.
Speaker 1: But do you want to know what's not awesome?
Speaker 2: The person we're talking about today.
Speaker 1: The person we're talking about today, Richard Speck.
Speaker 2: Yeah I gathered that from the intro there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's not a cool being. And to give you
Speaker 1: guys a bit of a heads up, this is part
Speaker 1: one of a two part episode regarding Richard Speck. I
Speaker 1: did not realize how involved this case is until I
Speaker 1: was researching, I knew it was a big case. But
Speaker 1: his background is very, very thorough. There's a lot of
Speaker 1: information on him. I'm not a huge fan of covering
Speaker 1: the history of a perpetrator, a murderer, someone like that.
Speaker 1: Generally we try and make it more about the victims
Speaker 1: when at all possible. Right, So this first episode is
Speaker 1: going to be more centered around him and his upbringing
Speaker 1: and where how he got to what he does. The
Speaker 1: second episode we're going to try and revolve that a
Speaker 1: little bit more around his victims.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and sometimes that happens. I don't know these people.
Speaker 2: There's a lot of information out there and it's interesting
Speaker 2: too sometimes to figure out how they got to where
Speaker 2: they are. So there are cases like that that are
Speaker 2: more heavy on the friggin'.
Speaker 1: Definitely asshole, definitely, And that's what this is going to be.
Speaker 1: It's a lot of figuring out how he got to
Speaker 1: become who he became. So, without further ado, let's dive
Speaker 1: into this.
Speaker 2: And I should say, actually I have I've never heard
Speaker 2: of this no, which I don't know if that's weird,
Speaker 2: but I definitely happened.
Speaker 1: I've heard of the name, but that was about the
Speaker 1: extent of it. And then I ran across what he
Speaker 1: did and I was like, shit, shit, So yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: let's go, okay, let's dive into this. Richard Benjamin Speck
Speaker 1: was born in Kirkwood, Illinois, in nineteen forty one. He
Speaker 1: was a young boy who had several siblings. His parents,
Speaker 1: Benjamin Franklin Speck and Mary Margaret Carbo, had a total
Speaker 1: of eight children in fact. Oh wow, five daughters and
Speaker 1: three sons, with Richard being one of them. Now, after
Speaker 1: Richard was born, the family would move into Monmouth, Illinois,
Speaker 1: a small town that was established in eighteen thirty one.
Speaker 1: A small sized town of four point twenty six square miles.
Speaker 2: Wow, that's very small.
Speaker 1: It's tiny. Now, Richard's parents were both very religious, and
Speaker 1: they were both tetollers to tollars. I'm not sure how
Speaker 1: you say it exactly. It's a word that I specifically
Speaker 1: had to look up for this podcast.
Speaker 2: Okay, kiss, Yeah, I don't know what that is.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a person who participates in abstinence from psychoactive
Speaker 1: drug ethanol, which is commonly referred to as alcohol.
Speaker 2: Oh okay, okay.
Speaker 1: So they specifically practice abstinence of.
Speaker 2: Alcohol, so they don't have any drinks correct, beverages of alcohol.
Speaker 1: Yes, and this is also extended to strict rules against smoking.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: Now this was so extreme to the fact actually, particularly
Speaker 1: with his mother, that Richard's father, Benjamin, would endure an
Speaker 1: extremely angry wife after having a single beer one night
Speaker 1: at a fish fry.
Speaker 2: Really, yes, just one beer.
Speaker 1: One beer, and he was getting scolded extremely by her apparently.
Speaker 2: Yikes.
Speaker 1: So his parents were both very hard working and they
Speaker 1: did their best to put food on the table and
Speaker 1: pay the mortgage of their modest family home. Now, Richard's
Speaker 1: father worked several different jobs, picking up extra hours when
Speaker 1: he could, and he did what he needed for his family.
Speaker 1: He worked as a packer, a roofer, a farm hand,
Speaker 1: and a logger.
Speaker 2: Wow, I thought I was busy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he definitely did what he could, I mean bouncing
Speaker 1: around from job's job, he did multiple things, but doing
Speaker 1: what he could to provide. Now, the family, though rather large,
Speaker 1: seemed to be verily tight knit and did well as
Speaker 1: a wholesome unit. Now, when Richard was old enough, his
Speaker 1: father would actually frequently take him out to go fishing
Speaker 1: at a nearby lake for bluegill fish. It was something
Speaker 1: that they began to kind of share together, and it
Speaker 1: gave an opportunity for them to build a relationship between
Speaker 1: each other as father and son. It's something Richard considered
Speaker 1: extremely special and he held it very close to him
Speaker 1: and you know, it made him feel even closer specifically
Speaker 1: with his father.
Speaker 2: And sorry, can I just ask a little question here?
Speaker 2: Of course, Richard? Is he the oldest of the boys,
Speaker 2: do you know?
Speaker 1: No, he's the second youngest child after Richard. It was
Speaker 1: his sister, I want to say, Carolyn or something like that.
Speaker 2: Oh, okay, okay, yes she was.
Speaker 1: Yes that I'm going to point this out. There is
Speaker 1: some information like that that I have omitted because this
Speaker 1: is a very very very large history that they have
Speaker 1: documented with this guy's background.
Speaker 2: Right, and I was just curious. It wasn't super important.
Speaker 1: So if you have questions, feel free to ask. I'll
Speaker 1: answer what I can, but I have omitted some of
Speaker 1: the information because it's just so extreme, a lot of
Speaker 1: information that's kind of mundane totally. But any any case,
Speaker 1: Richard had a great relationship with his father and they
Speaker 1: became very very close and held these special moments. That
Speaker 1: is until nineteen forty seven. Now, by this time, Richard
Speaker 1: was six years old. And unfortunately, sometimes things can unravel
Speaker 1: and unwind, and all it takes is for a single
Speaker 1: thread to be lost and a whole thing can come undone.
Speaker 1: And that's exactly what happened when his father died from
Speaker 1: an unexpected heart attack at the age of fifty three.
Speaker 2: No, I was not expecting that. I was like, Okay,
Speaker 2: what happened. Ooh that's sad. That's very, very very sad.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Richard took the loss of his dad very hard.
Speaker 2: Dang.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So without his father, he actually began to act
Speaker 1: out in school in very odd ways. Now his elementary
Speaker 1: school co students or whatever the word you want to say, peers,
Speaker 1: that's a way better word than co students, thank you,
Speaker 1: noticed that he would actually frequently begin to like whine
Speaker 1: and almost act like a baby. He would whine often,
Speaker 1: he'd even eat crayons.
Speaker 2: And that's so sad that that's so young to be
Speaker 2: losing a.
Speaker 1: Parent, it is, dang. His teacher would actually almost have
Speaker 1: to coddle him and treat him like a baby, and
Speaker 1: one classmate actually once even saw the teacher letting him
Speaker 1: sit on her lap. Just because she didn't know what
Speaker 1: else to do with him. He's acting like such a baby.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, and she also probably felt so fri and bad. Yeah, hard,
Speaker 2: but yeah, that's that's yeah, that's that's very difficult.
Speaker 1: Yeah. But I mean it may not have been the
Speaker 1: lack of father figure though, too, because he didn't receive
Speaker 1: much attention from his grief stricken mother either.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean she was dealing with a lot.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, rightfully.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I mean, well, how many friggin children she had?
Speaker 1: Yeah, she was also like affected completely. She just lost
Speaker 1: her spouse. I mean, though it's no excuse to ignore
Speaker 1: a child. No, but without her husband or parenting partner,
Speaker 1: she's now a single mother of eight, and that would
Speaker 1: be extremely difficult.
Speaker 2: She was probably very overwhelmed and of also being like, well,
Speaker 2: how am I going to keep all these children alive
Speaker 2: by myself?
Speaker 1: One hundred percent? And like, I have the utmost respect
Speaker 1: for any single parent, let alone someone who is the
Speaker 1: sole provider and caregiver for eight human beings. So and
Speaker 1: also on the other hand, perhaps it wasn't that she
Speaker 1: wasn't giving Richard attention, but maybe it was that she
Speaker 1: was spread a bit thin and she couldn't give Richard
Speaker 1: enough attention or the attention he demanded, right, So that's
Speaker 1: a very big possibility too. Yes. Regardless though, she would
Speaker 1: eventually seek out another partner in crime, someone to confide it, right,
Speaker 1: share a life with, and help, you know, fulfill the
Speaker 1: role of a father figure to her children.
Speaker 2: Uh, okay, has this Sky a good guy?
Speaker 1: Well, you'll find out here in a second. She would
Speaker 1: find what she was looking for during a train ride
Speaker 1: to Chicago, and three years after the death of her husband,
Speaker 1: she would marry a man on May tenth, nineteen fifty
Speaker 1: by the name of Carl August Rudolphdenburg in Palo Texas. Sorry,
Speaker 1: Palo Pinto, Texas.
Speaker 2: It's quite the name.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So Carl Lindenberg is what he often went by.
Speaker 1: We're just going to call him Carl.
Speaker 2: Not cool?
Speaker 1: Carl?
Speaker 2: Is he not cool?
Speaker 1: Carl's not cool? Carl?
Speaker 2: Oh my god, he's Carl's.
Speaker 1: I know, right. So, now, Carl was a far stone's
Speaker 1: throw from the man she was previously married to. He
Speaker 1: was a traveling insurance salesman from Texas who had a
Speaker 1: large twenty five year criminal history. Now this history or
Speaker 1: record would range from forgery to multiple DUIs, which leads
Speaker 1: me to mention that Carl was a very heavy drinker.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, and she wasn't for that, was she she was?
Speaker 1: Heck, so she clearly let something slip. Maybe it was
Speaker 1: in her expectations of a partner, or maybe she's desperate
Speaker 1: to have someone else with her, but she let something
Speaker 1: slide regarding what her Uh, I can't think of words today,
Speaker 1: expectations are of someone.
Speaker 2: I guess well, she should just spend a little tiny
Speaker 2: bit longer looking. She probably could have found someone better.
Speaker 2: Maybe that meant her, because that's a big one. Like
Speaker 2: she was so against el guy. He's pretty much an alcoholic,
Speaker 2: and like that's something.
Speaker 1: This guy is an alcoholic.
Speaker 2: Okay, he's an alcoholic, and we're gonna let that slide.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So I don't know anyways. Now, while the couple
Speaker 1: were in Texas they were getting married, Richard had actually
Speaker 1: stayed with his older sister, who had recently married herself. Now.
Speaker 1: He had stayed there, back in their home for a
Speaker 1: few months to finish the second grade in school before
Speaker 1: he moved over to Texas with his mom and his
Speaker 1: new stepdad in Santo Texas. Now, Richard didn't enjoy his
Speaker 1: new father figure too much. In fact, many articles I
Speaker 1: read described him as hating or loathing him. The family
Speaker 1: dynamic he once knew with his biological dad quite literally
Speaker 1: crumbled right, and now he was left with something completely different,
Speaker 1: and he resented his mother for it as well.
Speaker 2: Dang, I mean it sounds like this person did have,
Speaker 2: like this new father figure person had like pretty big
Speaker 2: shoes to fill.
Speaker 1: Oh definitely. But also I don't think he even attempted
Speaker 1: to fill those shoes in any shape or form.
Speaker 2: Really, Oh shit's given not really.
Speaker 1: In nineteen fifty one, the family would move to East Dallas.
Speaker 1: Now this would start a string of moves to the
Speaker 1: family where they would go from place to place and
Speaker 1: home from home. The family would actually go to ten
Speaker 1: different addresses, usually in underprivileged neighborhoods, over the course of
Speaker 1: the next twelve years. Oh shit, So essentially moving to
Speaker 1: a new home every.
Speaker 2: Year, which is very hard for like kids who are
Speaker 2: growing up.
Speaker 1: Well, I mean that's very hard for anyone, let alone
Speaker 1: kids growing up.
Speaker 2: Ye.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, you don't have a stable home, you can't
Speaker 1: make friends very easily. You're bouncing back and forth. Now,
Speaker 1: to be fair, I don't know how many of those
Speaker 1: are different neighborhoods. Maybe he's still going to the same
Speaker 1: school in some of those moves. Not too sure now,
Speaker 1: But in that time, during nineteen fifty two, Richard would
Speaker 1: actually suffer another family loss when his eldest brother, Robert
Speaker 1: would pass away as a result of a car accident.
Speaker 1: And Robert was only twenty three years old when he passed. Wow,
Speaker 1: so he's going through a lot, a lot of big
Speaker 1: impacts on this little boys.
Speaker 2: At a very young age.
Speaker 1: Yes, so Richard's life by this time was very much so,
Speaker 1: extremely different than it had started out. Now, if the
Speaker 1: path had stayed true with when he was younger before
Speaker 1: his father passed away, who knows where he would have
Speaker 1: ended up. But he was on a different path now
Speaker 1: and taking after his new father figure. He began drinking
Speaker 1: at the age of twelve, and by the age of fifteen,
Speaker 1: Richard could have been considered and in fact was considered
Speaker 1: an alcoholic. And he drank consistently and was drunk almost every.
Speaker 2: Day at fifteen years old. Yes, that's very very sad.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine being I mean, well fair enough, I
Speaker 1: wouldn't have been able to handle my alcohol at fifteen,
Speaker 1: so it would have been very.
Speaker 2: Easy to get drunk, but you build your tolerance like
Speaker 2: it sounds.
Speaker 1: Yeah, of course, but could you imagine getting drunk every
Speaker 1: day at fifteen? Like what the fuck? Like, first of all,
Speaker 1: how can you, like, where are you getting that money?
Speaker 2: Right? Yeah, getting the booze? I never even thought that.
Speaker 1: I will touch on that a little bit here later,
Speaker 1: where he's getting at least some of the boots. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but yeah, like it's it's absurd to even think, how
Speaker 1: could a fifteen year old. I know, this is a
Speaker 1: prevalent thing, like it happens to a lot of people
Speaker 1: in society unfortunately. Yeah, but I just can't imagine being
Speaker 1: in that situation. It's tragic. It is what I'm getting too, basically.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, that's a great way to describe it.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So in that timeframe he had also began his
Speaker 1: negative behaviors in other aspects. His first arrest was actually
Speaker 1: only at the age of thirteen in nineteen fifty five.
Speaker 1: Now it wasn't anything terrible, mind you. I mean illegal
Speaker 1: is illegal, and an arrest is an arrest, don't get
Speaker 1: me wrong. But it was for trespassing. Not cool for sure,
Speaker 1: But depending on the situation exactly I'm not too sure
Speaker 1: of the situation would have been a lot worse. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's a lot worse he could have done. And depending
Speaker 1: on what he was trespassing on, was it just like
Speaker 1: some farmers field, Was it an abandoned building or was
Speaker 1: he breaking into someone's house? You know, there's a difference. So, however,
Speaker 1: it would only escalate from there now where he would
Speaker 1: be arrested for several other misdemeanors over the next eight years.
Speaker 1: Now it seems that Richard was taking after his new stepdad, Carl,
Speaker 1: but even if that is the case, it didn't lead
Speaker 1: him to having a good relationship in any aspect basically.
Speaker 2: So, Okay, this is sort of devastating because I feel
Speaker 2: like if his dad had not died, that this story
Speaker 2: probably would not exist.
Speaker 1: That's a very big possibility.
Speaker 2: I just I don't know. I just don't think he
Speaker 2: probably would still be like fishing with his dad and
Speaker 2: just like, oh my god, my heart, I just can't.
Speaker 1: But such is life. Everyone loses someone eventually, some earlier
Speaker 1: than others. Yeah, everyone goes through something eventually.
Speaker 2: It's not an excuse.
Speaker 1: It's not an excuse.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's not.
Speaker 1: I'm I understand. Shit. Happens, Shit hurts, But that doesn't
Speaker 1: mean you have to become toxic, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: Everyone deals with things in different ways and that's that's okay,
Speaker 1: But for what he does later on in life, it's
Speaker 1: still not an excuse. No, no, where am I here now? Okay,
Speaker 1: I got it. So Richard hated Carl like their relationship
Speaker 1: was terrible, and Carl hated Richard and he actually even
Speaker 1: wanted to kick Richard out of the house because he
Speaker 1: couldn't stand the sight of him. And he told Richard
Speaker 1: quote that he was a gutter rat.
Speaker 2: Cool. Yeah, that's great.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So Richard fought back in spite of his stepdad,
Speaker 1: and he would this is where we know where he
Speaker 1: gets at least some of his alcohol. He would break
Speaker 1: into his liquor cabinet and have his fill on his
Speaker 1: stepdad's dime. And he'd do this when no one was
Speaker 1: watching his means of revenge. I mean, it's as best
Speaker 1: as a young team can do to fight back, right,
Speaker 1: So he drink and then disappear out of the house.
Speaker 2: And the family didn't have a ton of money either,
Speaker 2: did they.
Speaker 1: No, definitely not.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So.
Speaker 1: Richard's struggles would follow him seemly wherever he would go,
Speaker 1: not necessarily due to circumstances either. He hung out with
Speaker 1: the wrong crowd. He began smoking the Devil's lettuce and
Speaker 1: taking undisclosed pills. He also carried around a switchblade knife
Speaker 1: on him wherever he went and used it to do
Speaker 1: break ins. So it's not like he's necessarily being influenced
Speaker 1: in or cohersed into these things. Did you hear the
Speaker 1: way I said cohursed? Yeah, it was a very emphasis.
Speaker 2: I feel like you say it like that. Course, so
Speaker 2: I didn't really do I react?
Speaker 1: Do I really?
Speaker 2: I feel like so? Yeah, that didn't seem abnormal.
Speaker 1: Oh gross, that's like saying cool hip. Oh I go,
Speaker 1: don't do.
Speaker 2: It, okay, well pointed out to you next time?
Speaker 1: Please do I need to stop that? That's saying okay.
Speaker 1: Back to the case. I think it's safe to assume
Speaker 1: that no one will be surprised if I say he
Speaker 1: didn't do well in school either.
Speaker 2: Though, No, that would makes sense.
Speaker 1: Yeah. At one point, his vision began to actually decline
Speaker 1: and he needed to have glasses, but he refused to
Speaker 1: wear the glasses, apparently in fear of people staring at
Speaker 1: him and building up too much anxiety.
Speaker 2: That they would stare more at him because he was
Speaker 2: wearing glasses.
Speaker 1: Yes, he didn't like the idea of wearing glasses because
Speaker 1: people would look at him. Oh yeah, which I mean
Speaker 1: that's totally sad to hear that, right.
Speaker 2: It is. But maybe back in that in the day,
Speaker 2: like I mean, this is a little bit back in
Speaker 2: the day, not super but maybe people weren't like not
Speaker 2: everyone were really wore class.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was. It wasn't a major thing or anything
Speaker 1: like that. Classes back I mean, glasses were glasses one
Speaker 1: hundred percent, but it wasn't as prominent. Now as his
Speaker 1: class did progress, he just fell behind and refused to
Speaker 1: speak up in class when asked. He just fell behind,
Speaker 1: fell behind, He just didn't want to speak up again
Speaker 1: because of that anxiety. He had to repeat the eighth grade.
Speaker 1: And in nineteen fifty seven, he was in grade nine
Speaker 1: in high school and he failed every single subject and
Speaker 1: he did not return for the second semester. He officially
Speaker 1: dropped out of school in January of nineteen fifty eight,
Speaker 1: after his.
Speaker 2: Sixteenth birthday in grade nine.
Speaker 1: In grade nine, Now, I do want to preface this,
Speaker 1: just like we were kind of talking about the glasses thing.
Speaker 1: Ninth grade education in nineteen fifties was still rather educated.
Speaker 1: It's a significant like a significant amount of people didn't
Speaker 1: graduate high school in those days. It's not abnormal for
Speaker 1: people to drop out and pursue work and other endeavors,
Speaker 1: you know, after family family, Yeah, exactly. Yeah, so ninth
Speaker 1: grade was rather normal as far as I'm aware. Like
Speaker 1: I know several quote unquote boomers in that era. I
Speaker 1: don't mean to knock people by saying boomers by any means,
Speaker 1: but like that that generation, you know, I know like
Speaker 1: my dad, I believe he's either tenth grade or eleventh grade,
Speaker 1: I'm not sure, but he didn't graduate, and he's a
Speaker 1: welder fabricator and he went on to have a great career. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and he has lots of friends that had the same
Speaker 1: sort of thing. My mom has friends that didn't graduate
Speaker 1: high school. Like it's a normal thing for that generation.
Speaker 2: It absolutely was.
Speaker 1: Yes, so ninth grade that's not necessarily bad.
Speaker 2: But he seemed like he kind of stopped because he was,
Speaker 2: like I have his anxiety and failing everything, and it
Speaker 2: wasn't necessarily because he had other commitments that he had
Speaker 2: to meet.
Speaker 1: Correct.
Speaker 2: So his I feel like, his circumstance isn't really great.
Speaker 2: For lack of better words, I guess.
Speaker 1: One hundred percent you're right. He didn't have the same
Speaker 1: circumstances of it, or he didn't his circumstances were different
Speaker 1: than most for not finishing high school, right, Yes, so
Speaker 1: after he did fall out of high school, though, Richard's
Speaker 1: extracurriculars only escalated into the worse as criminal record expanded
Speaker 1: and he began experimenting with sex workers, which led him
Speaker 1: to develop an unfortunate opinion and view. Women in his
Speaker 1: eyes were either pure or I for lack of better word,
Speaker 1: I guess tainted, like one or the other. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: either like you're good or your shit. Okay, there's no
Speaker 1: in between.
Speaker 2: For them, Okay, And I do want to talk.
Speaker 1: About this for a minute, and I want to talk
Speaker 1: about how unfortunately common it seems to be in the
Speaker 1: true crime world male serial killers like developing the ideology
Speaker 1: that promiscuous women are trash and for a lack of
Speaker 1: better word, like from their point of view, not that
Speaker 1: I agree with this word or definition or anything at all,
Speaker 1: but for what they view the word whore like, they're
Speaker 1: viewing these women as as such some people seem to
Speaker 1: get the idea of that if someone doesn't fit their
Speaker 1: idea of pure, righteous, wholesome or whatever, then they deserve
Speaker 1: to die in their eyes, which is just disgusting.
Speaker 2: It is so there's like two boxes really yeah and only,
Speaker 2: but there's ridiculous amounts of in between.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And they feel that they have the right to
Speaker 1: put people in those boxes judge as they see fit.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that they can make that judgment call.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And I do have a theory here. I don't
Speaker 1: think it has anything to do with actually being good, bad, pure, tainted,
Speaker 1: or however you want to word it. I think that
Speaker 1: it's someone finds themselves in a situation where they can
Speaker 1: take advantage of someone, which means they have some sort
Speaker 1: of power over the other. Now, when they are in
Speaker 1: this scenario, they like the power, and they of course
Speaker 1: they want more, so they decide in that moment that
Speaker 1: I'm better than this person and act out in whatever
Speaker 1: fantasy they wish and simply as a power hungry move.
Speaker 1: I think it has nothing to do with sex. I
Speaker 1: think it has nothing to do with the individuals or anything.
Speaker 1: I think it simply has to do with the individual
Speaker 1: can gain power over said type of people easily, and
Speaker 1: they're going to create a logical reason to continue to
Speaker 1: seek out that power.
Speaker 2: So these people in the one box that they have
Speaker 2: judged are all people that they feel like they can overpower,
Speaker 2: that they're better in their mind.
Speaker 1: Well, if you take a look at sex workers, they
Speaker 1: put themselves in a like a very vulnerable position. Okay,
Speaker 1: so the individual who hires a sex worker pays the
Speaker 1: person to be vulnerable. So they're paying them to let
Speaker 1: me have all the power over you. Yeah, simple as that.
Speaker 1: And they like that and they say, Okay, now that
Speaker 1: I have the power, I'm better than you. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: I just like this.
Speaker 2: All of that is just like disgusting.
Speaker 1: It's absolutely disgusting. But I think that's what's going on
Speaker 1: with these people when they get in these situations and
Speaker 1: why sex workers are generally targeted.
Speaker 2: Well, then it's just like putting fuel to the fire. Really,
Speaker 2: oh definitely, And the more the more encounters and stuff
Speaker 2: that they have like that, it's just like it's gonna
Speaker 2: make them worse and worse and worse.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Now there are other things at play, like definitely,
Speaker 1: like some sex workers may be living a life where
Speaker 1: they're a little bit more vagrant and they're not going
Speaker 1: to be understood if they're actually missing as soon as
Speaker 1: someone else or deemed what's the what's the best best
Speaker 1: way to put this, uh, deemed important to search for
Speaker 1: by police officers or something like that, like you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, there's other things at play. I think
Speaker 1: this is just the psychological aspect. So either way, it's
Speaker 1: a whole fucked up situation.
Speaker 2: Yes, very much so.
Speaker 1: So anyways, back to this though, Richard had a large
Speaker 1: history of work, which honestly is rather well documented. But
Speaker 1: I'm not going into a lot of detail about it
Speaker 1: because in all honesty, we could literally do a whole
Speaker 1: episode probably just on his resume.
Speaker 2: Is work really so this isn't necessarily surprising.
Speaker 1: Actually, he hopped job to job to job to job
Speaker 1: to job quite a bit, and so I don't really
Speaker 1: want to do that cover a whole episode on his
Speaker 1: whole freaking resume because mostly just useless information and I
Speaker 1: can sum it up relatively easy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's fine with me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So I'm basically going to try and cover the
Speaker 1: more important stuff. So from nineteen sixty to nineteen sixty three,
Speaker 1: he would work as a laborer for the seven seven
Speaker 1: up bottling company in Dallas.
Speaker 2: Oh wow.
Speaker 1: Then in October nineteen sixty one, he would meet a
Speaker 1: young fifteen year old girl while he was working there. Sorry,
Speaker 1: not while he was working there, while he's employed there
Speaker 1: at the time. Oh yes, outside of work I worded
Speaker 1: that weird. Sorry. So he's employed by at this company
Speaker 1: doing this thing, and he goes out to the Texas
Speaker 1: State Fair and he meets Shirley Annette Malone. Now Shirley
Speaker 1: is a fifteen year old girl. And by this time,
Speaker 1: Richard was twenty years old.
Speaker 2: Okay, because I was Okay, how does he Yeah.
Speaker 1: So he's twenty and now picture this. Richard had slicked back,
Speaker 1: slicked back, blonde hair, with a deeply pitted face from
Speaker 1: like kind of acme scars. He drank, he smoked, and
Speaker 1: he had a tattoo on his forearm that read born
Speaker 1: to raise Hell.
Speaker 2: Oh wow, yeah, okay, that actually really fits the whole visual.
Speaker 1: There, I know, right, like I almost picture. I can't
Speaker 1: remember the guy's name, but one of the guys from Greece. Okay,
Speaker 1: there's one specific character from Greece. I can't remember his name,
Speaker 1: but I believe he's the guy who was He was
Speaker 1: the Dick who who was dancing in the dance contest
Speaker 1: and he stole sandy from Danny or something like that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know, I can't remember his name either. Someone
Speaker 2: will let us know.
Speaker 1: That's guy I'm picturing. Anyways, though, I do think this
Speaker 1: tattoo was actually a reference to both his own birthday
Speaker 1: and his lifestyle that he led now clearly born to
Speaker 1: raise hell like he thinks he's cool. It's a statement
Speaker 1: about his life, right, But I do think there's a
Speaker 1: little bit of something else with his birthday in there too. Now.
Speaker 1: The day after his birthday, you see, was the infamous
Speaker 1: attack on Pearl Harbor during World War Two, So there
Speaker 1: was a direct quote from Richard in response to the
Speaker 1: question when were you born, and this quote and documentary says,
Speaker 1: day I was born, all hell broke loose the next
Speaker 1: day hasn't stopped since.
Speaker 2: H wow.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So as kind of like surface level, like skeezy
Speaker 1: the tattoo sounds, I think there's a lot more depth
Speaker 1: to that tattoo, which, not that I respect it, I
Speaker 1: do think it's kind of cool that it's a little
Speaker 1: bit more personalized in that way.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I'm glad you explained that but also
Speaker 2: he's a dick.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, he definitely is. We've hardly even scratched a surface.
Speaker 2: I know, and I already really I just like, yeah,
Speaker 2: I don't I don't like I don't like them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well this want to be greaser. He managed to
Speaker 1: swoon this fifteen year old Shirley. The two began dating
Speaker 1: shortly after they met, and only three weeks after they
Speaker 1: began dating, Shirley got pregnant.
Speaker 2: Holy okay, wow, like she's fifteen.
Speaker 1: She's fifteen and now with a child on the way.
Speaker 1: The two did the right thing and decided to stay
Speaker 1: together and so doing and doing so, they got married
Speaker 1: on January nineteenth, in nineteen sixty two. I do want
Speaker 1: to say this, there's many ways to raise a child.
Speaker 1: It's not that you have to be together, you have
Speaker 1: to be married. I was worried about writing the sentence
Speaker 1: multiple times, from like, how can I word this? Best way?
Speaker 1: As long as you're together for the kid, right, that
Speaker 1: was their intent. So that's why they got married.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: Now, Richard may have done the right thing to stay
Speaker 1: together for raising the child and standing by Shirley's side,
Speaker 1: but that didn't mean he continued to do the right
Speaker 1: thing going forward?
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, now this is almost more cringe this story.
Speaker 2: The fact that he's a father.
Speaker 1: Oh well, his daughter, Robbie Lynn Speck, would be born
Speaker 1: July fifth in nineteen sixty two, but he wouldn't be
Speaker 1: around for his wife or daughter, as he was in
Speaker 1: jail serving a twenty two day sentence for disturbing the
Speaker 1: peace during a drunken fight.
Speaker 2: Okay, so it wasn't even there for the birth.
Speaker 1: He wasn't right off the bad and the couple's relationship
Speaker 1: would get extremely rocky in their future. Now Richard would
Speaker 1: even well, he would earn a living, and he would
Speaker 1: do so you know, intent to hey, you know, bring
Speaker 1: home the paycheck, right, But he wouldn't even bring the
Speaker 1: paycheck home. He would go out use it, blow on drugs, alcohol,
Speaker 1: and sex workers.
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, real winner right here.
Speaker 1: And during this time, his whole point of view on women,
Speaker 1: you know, whether being pure or not, would continue, and
Speaker 1: he actually began to develop these ideas for his wife,
Speaker 1: and he thought he started to picture her and think
Speaker 1: that she was actually having affairs, which led to him thinking,
Speaker 1: you know that she is not pure, whatever the hell
Speaker 1: you want to say, So we'll skip all those derogatory terms.
Speaker 1: But beneath what he thought, she swore she wasn't being unfaithful.
Speaker 1: She swore that she was faithful, faithful to only him,
Speaker 1: but he wouldn't believe her.
Speaker 2: Okay, he doesn't do anything, does he?
Speaker 1: Well, he does a lot, but we're gonna get on her.
Speaker 2: No, okay, because I was like, that's the mom of
Speaker 2: his kid.
Speaker 1: Well he does, well, he does, and he doesn't. We're
Speaker 1: gonna touch on to this.
Speaker 2: Care I don't want to. Yeah, sorry, jumping ahead here.
Speaker 1: What he would what he would do. He would blow
Speaker 1: his money on sex workers and drive by their house,
Speaker 1: park outside and begin lude acts so his wife could see,
Speaker 1: and then he would speed off into the note what.
Speaker 2: The actual shit? Yes, you're serious?
Speaker 1: That serious.
Speaker 2: That is one of the most fucked up things I've
Speaker 2: ever heard.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, So the relationship got worse where he did
Speaker 1: begin to do brutal things to her.
Speaker 2: This person is a nasty motherfucker.
Speaker 1: Oh he is. He's a douche canoe in a half.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: She was eventually living with a monster. Over the years,
Speaker 1: she began to live in fear of him and what
Speaker 1: he was capable capable of. She claims it got to
Speaker 1: the point where she was terrified for her life as
Speaker 1: he would rape her at knife point multiple times a day,
Speaker 1: up to five times a day.
Speaker 2: Wow. Wow, wow wow, Yes, I hate this.
Speaker 1: Yes. Now, by the age of twenty four, this is
Speaker 1: jumping ahead a little bit here, and we're going to
Speaker 1: kind of fill in the gaps. But by the age
Speaker 1: of twenty four, Richard will be arrested a total of
Speaker 1: forty one times.
Speaker 2: Well, my gosh, they need to keep him in jail.
Speaker 2: This person needs to stay in jail. Yes, what the
Speaker 2: frig now? Richard's probation officer once stated when he's drinking,
Speaker 2: he will fight or threaten anybody as long as he
Speaker 2: has a knife or a gun. When he's sober or unarmed,
Speaker 2: he couldn't face down a mouse. Huh. So, I mean
Speaker 2: you like, alcohol does bring down a lot of bear
Speaker 2: or like barriers, would that be the right word.
Speaker 1: It makes a lot of people think they can do
Speaker 1: a lot of shit, it does.
Speaker 2: Yeah, But I mean also they say somethings, it's your
Speaker 2: true self.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: I like to put it in the way of like
Speaker 1: hold my beer complex, like you know, like I can
Speaker 1: do that hold my beer. Yeah, whether it's I can
Speaker 1: win this fight, or hey, you know I can do
Speaker 1: a three sixty jump back flip off a swing set,
Speaker 1: whatever the case. Hold my beer, you know, gives you
Speaker 1: that confidence. Yeah, so, yeah, that's clearly what it did
Speaker 1: to Richard. It's not an uncommon way to describe him
Speaker 1: at all, a coward gutlass whether when he had a weapon,
Speaker 1: you know, he had power. So some of his criminal
Speaker 1: history would include. On July of nineteen sixty three, at
Speaker 1: the age of twenty one, he was sentenced to serve
Speaker 1: three year term in prison after being convicted of forgering
Speaker 1: and casing a coworker's forty four dollars pay check, and
Speaker 1: then robbing a grocery store for cigarettes, beer, and three
Speaker 1: dollars in.
Speaker 2: Cat Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1: He would only serve sixteen months, but his freedom only
Speaker 1: lasted a week after it was out because he was
Speaker 1: arrested again on January of ninth, nineteen sixty five, when
Speaker 1: he attacked a woman in a parking lot of her
Speaker 1: apartment building. He wielded a seventeen inch carving knife.
Speaker 2: Oholy, yeah what.
Speaker 1: However, even though she was at knife point, she managed
Speaker 1: to scream enough that he ran away. Police showed up
Speaker 1: quickly enough, and they were able to track him down
Speaker 1: via her description only a few blocks away.
Speaker 2: Okay, and see it's probably it's going to just be
Speaker 2: getting worse here. But I breakin hate stories like this. Yeah,
Speaker 2: where the person if like he just was kept in jail, yep,
Speaker 2: like so much would just be prevented.
Speaker 1: Yep. Oh, you're right, you're one hundred percent right. That's
Speaker 1: how this story goes.
Speaker 2: I know, I know where it's going. Like this is
Speaker 2: not good yep.
Speaker 1: So from this, he was convicted of aggravated assault and
Speaker 1: he was sentenced to sixteen months. However, due to an error,
Speaker 1: he was released in just six months later upon completing
Speaker 1: his parole violence sent violation sentence from the other one. Wow,
Speaker 1: because they were supposed to apparently compile on each other,
Speaker 1: but it only ended up that he served the remainder
Speaker 1: of his parole base. Yeah, so that's cool.
Speaker 2: Not no.
Speaker 1: But then he would work for three months as a
Speaker 1: driver for the Patterson Meat Company, where he had multiple
Speaker 1: accidents with their work truck, and he would be fired
Speaker 1: for not showing up for work one day.
Speaker 2: Well I'm sure that was the last all.
Speaker 1: I can't believe not showing up for work is what
Speaker 1: got him fired, though, I think like multiple accidents in
Speaker 1: the work.
Speaker 2: Vehicle, that was probably the last.
Speaker 1: Yeah, as the safety guy, I don't know's that's something
Speaker 1: that I wouldn't be able to look past just saying.
Speaker 1: In January of nineteen sixty six, Richard's wife would eventually
Speaker 1: file for divorce and she would get full custody.
Speaker 2: Of the Yes by the girl.
Speaker 1: Yeah. By this time they were separated for a few months,
Speaker 1: but she had filed for divorce officially, which is great.
Speaker 1: He had the month prior to their divorce, moved in
Speaker 1: with a twenty nine year old ex professional wrestler.
Speaker 2: Oh wow.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and she was a bartender at his favorite bar,
Speaker 1: Jenny's Lounge. He found work babysitting her three kids for
Speaker 1: a while.
Speaker 2: Okay, that should not be anything that he does for work.
Speaker 1: You say, like he shouldn't be around kids basically, Yeah.
Speaker 2: Like he should not be a babysitter.
Speaker 1: Yeah, probably not. Not long after this, Richard would stab
Speaker 1: a man in a knife fight at Jenny's Lounge. He
Speaker 1: was charged with again aggravated assault, but a defense attorney
Speaker 1: hired by his mother got the charge reduced to disturbing
Speaker 1: the peace.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Now Richard's mother being involved began to become a theme.
Speaker 1: She was often bailing him out of jail or hiring
Speaker 1: attorneys as needed, basically coming to his defense, you know,
Speaker 1: like ms Beck and call damn near.
Speaker 2: Which I'm almost a little bit surprised, but I mean,
Speaker 2: grant you that is her son.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean like they once had this broken relationship,
Speaker 1: you know, between the two of them, like when Richard
Speaker 1: was young. It's now become patched and back to what
Speaker 1: it was prior to sort of thing.
Speaker 2: Well, it's because he's a kid that needs the attention exactly. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And with Richard's point of view on women, you're either
Speaker 1: good or you're not, he had this ideal idea that
Speaker 1: his mother was like a damn near saint, right because
Speaker 1: before she wasn't and now she's they've fixed it and
Speaker 1: she is good again in his books. So with his
Speaker 1: mom in his corner now bailing him out whenever he needed,
Speaker 1: he just walked away and committed crime after crime after crime,
Speaker 1: just simply committing to commit, continuing to commit, or committing
Speaker 1: to commit. I guess actually that works.
Speaker 2: Too, slipping through the crack. So as he went, yeah.
Speaker 1: On March fifth of nineteen sixty six, he robbed a
Speaker 1: grocery store, stealing seventy cartons of cigarettes, which then he
Speaker 1: proceeded to sell out of the trunk of his car
Speaker 1: in that grocery store is parking lot.
Speaker 2: Like I almost I just yeah, I'm just not going
Speaker 2: to say anything because I have to hold back my laughter.
Speaker 1: That's ridiculous, that's it is. Honestly. The polast would actually
Speaker 1: trace his abandoned car and set out a warrant for
Speaker 1: his arrest, but he skipped down before they could get
Speaker 1: to him. This would have been his forty second arrest
Speaker 1: if it was made. Wow yep. So instead of going
Speaker 1: to jail again, though, he would make his way to
Speaker 1: his childhood home in Monmouth, Illinois. On April second, Richard
Speaker 1: to be caught red handed as he was robbing a
Speaker 1: home of a sixty five year old woman named Miss
Speaker 1: Virgil Harris. It was one am and she was just
Speaker 1: returning home from a babysitting job when she found Richard
Speaker 1: inside her home.
Speaker 2: Geese.
Speaker 1: There stood this six foot tall, greasy douche canoe motherfucker
Speaker 1: with a knife in his hand. So apparently he gently
Speaker 1: and politely tied her up with shreds of her housecoat
Speaker 1: as he cut from the fabric, and he assured her
Speaker 1: that he wasn't going to hurt her. All she needed
Speaker 1: to do was comply with his demands. Then he raped her,
Speaker 1: ransacked her house, and stole the two dollars and fifty
Speaker 1: cents that she made babysitting that evening before leaving and
Speaker 1: going off into the night.
Speaker 2: Seriously, Hey, yes, holy shit, this guy is fucking disgusting.
Speaker 1: Oh he is. The woman would later describe her its
Speaker 1: attacker as this six foot tall white male who was
Speaker 1: very polite and spoke very softly with a Southern draw.
Speaker 1: Now this description didn't fit many people in the Illinois
Speaker 1: area and immediately put Richard under suspicion with his Southern draw.
Speaker 1: Police spoke with him briefly, but before they were able
Speaker 1: to really you make anything happen, he skipped down.
Speaker 2: I knew that was coming.
Speaker 1: Yeah. A week later, Mary Kathlyn Pierce, a thirty two
Speaker 1: year old barmaid, was last seen leaving a bar that
Speaker 1: she worked at at around twelve twenty am on April ninth.
Speaker 1: On April thirteenth, she was officially reported miss and then
Speaker 1: later that day her body was found behind the bar
Speaker 1: she worked at. She had died from a severe blow
Speaker 1: to her stomach, which had rubbed her her liver.
Speaker 2: Oh wow.
Speaker 1: Now police knew Richard frequented the bar, and they showed
Speaker 1: up to question him. Where he was staying. He was,
Speaker 1: once again already gone. I search for his hotel room
Speaker 1: that he was staying at. The police found a radio
Speaker 1: and costume jewelry that the sixty five year old Miss
Speaker 1: virgin Harris had reporting missing from her house, as well
Speaker 1: as items reported missing in a few other local burglaries
Speaker 1: in the previous month.
Speaker 2: So do they know? Do we know that he killed
Speaker 2: that woman?
Speaker 1: Or it's just like speculation, it's I don't think it's confirmed,
Speaker 1: but it's basically yeah, he pretty much did. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Okay, Well, like I'm sorry, but just skipping town shouldn't
Speaker 2: be getting you away legit, like make you be able
Speaker 2: to get away with the shit, should it? Well it
Speaker 2: wasn't nowadays.
Speaker 1: No, but nowadays it's a lot easier to get information
Speaker 1: out there. It's a lot harder to hide, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean?
Speaker 2: That's true, But I'm getting pissed.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Now where did I leave off here? Okay? Right? Okay,
Speaker 1: so April nineteenth of nineteen sixty six, Richard went to
Speaker 1: stay with his sister Martha and her family. He told
Speaker 1: them when he arrived that the mafia was after him
Speaker 1: because they were trying to wrangle him into selling narcotics.
Speaker 1: And he refused.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's at.
Speaker 1: Exactly, which now meant they were after him. So he's he's,
Speaker 1: you know, turning over a leaf. He's a good guy, so,
Speaker 1: you know what, helping out her brother and this sort
Speaker 1: of stuff. So he stayed there with her. Now, through
Speaker 1: his brother in law, Richard found work on board a
Speaker 1: freight ship, but it didn't last too long, of course,
Speaker 1: just like everything else. His first time out at sea,
Speaker 1: he was actually found on the ship buckled over in pain,
Speaker 1: holding his stomach. He was immediately taken by the US
Speaker 1: Coast Guard via helicopter to Saint Joseph Hospital in Hancock, Michigan,
Speaker 1: and was diagnosed with appendicitis. According to the doctor, another
Speaker 1: hour or so and it probably would have ruptured and
Speaker 1: he wouldn't have.
Speaker 2: Made it, no comment fair enough.
Speaker 1: After the emergency surgery, he recovered and returned to work.
Speaker 1: But just like most things, like I said, it didn't
Speaker 1: last too long. He would get himself into trouble on
Speaker 1: several occasions, you know, getting drunk, taking pills and fighting
Speaker 1: on board ship, that sort of stuff. He would even
Speaker 1: expose himself to crew members and on two occasions or sorry,
Speaker 1: on one occasion, he actually fell overboard, but he would
Speaker 1: ultimately get ultimately get let go when he pulled a
Speaker 1: knife on one of his superiors the ship, one of
Speaker 1: the ship's.
Speaker 2: Officers that would probably do it, probably gave it. There's
Speaker 2: two incidents. He's freaking appendicitis and falling overboard. God does
Speaker 2: this person like, Wow, does he have any sort of
Speaker 2: I don't know, luck, Like, how is he surviving?
Speaker 1: He's clearly got luck on his side, that's for sure.
Speaker 2: He shouldn't.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean not to say that anyone deserves death.
Speaker 1: That's not where I'm going to go with That's.
Speaker 2: Not what I'm saying either. But I mean, I.
Speaker 1: Know what you're saying. It's if this individual didn't have
Speaker 1: luck on his side, it could have saved others lives.
Speaker 1: That's what we're ultimately getting, not that anyone deserves to die.
Speaker 1: That's it. That's all I want to say about that. Now.
Speaker 1: Regarding his loss of job on this ship, though, his
Speaker 1: union officer actually told Richard that he was willing and
Speaker 1: confident that he could get Richard his job back, but
Speaker 1: Richard declined, telling him that he just didn't understand.
Speaker 2: How on earth would he have thought he could get
Speaker 2: his job back.
Speaker 1: But okay, damn good union officer, I guess, but Richard declined,
Speaker 1: you know what he's saying, You don't understand. You don't understand.
Speaker 1: And assumably Richard knew that like the union arbitration or whatever,
Speaker 1: would potentially dig up too much of his past history,
Speaker 1: you know, his forty one arrests, his open warrants in
Speaker 1: other states, something he didn't want an employer or anyone
Speaker 1: else to know about.
Speaker 2: So he was being smart there. Really.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So he was without a job, and luckily for him,
Speaker 1: he actually befriended a nurse while he was in the
Speaker 1: hospital with his appendicitis. Now, this was Judy Lacamanani. I
Speaker 1: think I said that name right, Really, hope I did.
Speaker 1: A twenty eight year old nurse aid. Now, Richard was
Speaker 1: apparently extremely kind to her and would take her out
Speaker 1: for nice dinners during their time together. Now, perhaps this
Speaker 1: was the only time in life where he was a
Speaker 1: rather decent human being because she swears up and down
Speaker 1: he was a great guy.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 1: So on June twenty seventh, Judy would actually give Richard
Speaker 1: eighty dollars now that he's out of work, to help
Speaker 1: out while he continued to look for another job. But
Speaker 1: it didn't really help, as it just gave him a
Speaker 1: and a reason to not find work for the next two.
Speaker 2: Weeks because he had money to be buying booze and stuff.
Speaker 1: He had money to bum around.
Speaker 2: Yeah h No.
Speaker 1: Richard was staying with his sister still and was just
Speaker 1: being a lump on the couch drinking and reading comic books.
Speaker 1: But by July eleventh, he had overstayed his welcome. His
Speaker 1: bags were packed and he was on his way out
Speaker 1: the door. His brother in law drove him to the
Speaker 1: NMU Hiring Hall to find work. There, he found a
Speaker 1: room and stayed the night about a mile away. In
Speaker 1: the morning, he headed over to see what he could
Speaker 1: find for work. By noon, he was assigned on board
Speaker 1: another ship, so he headed to his new job that
Speaker 1: was just about thirty minutes away. But when he arrived
Speaker 1: things had changed. His job had actually already been filled
Speaker 1: and he was again left without work. And that is
Speaker 1: shitty it is, and needless to say, Richard was pissed.
Speaker 1: I'd be pissed. Yeah, I showed up for a job
Speaker 1: and I didn't actually have it.
Speaker 2: But it's freaking shocking. I mean, background checks and shit
Speaker 2: not a thing then, Eh, not so.
Speaker 1: Much, no, I mean back in those days, it's like,
Speaker 1: do you have a pair of work boots? Great, get
Speaker 1: well work.
Speaker 2: And we're getting in to that a little bit again.
Speaker 2: Pretty a lot of people are really not able to
Speaker 2: find employees and stuff anymore.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a weird time, actually it is. But needless
Speaker 1: to say, though, there was nothing Richard could do about it.
Speaker 1: So we went back to the hiring hall. But by
Speaker 1: the time he got back to the hall it was
Speaker 1: closed again, so he would have to wait another day
Speaker 1: and do it all over. But this time he didn't
Speaker 1: have enough money to get another room, so he found
Speaker 1: some shelter for the night in an unfinished house and
Speaker 1: again returned to the hiring hall the next morning. He
Speaker 1: was livid when he got back to the hall. You know,
Speaker 1: of course, he's pissed they sent about on this wasted
Speaker 1: his time whatever it is, right, so he couldn't find
Speaker 1: any more work. Still that day, and his sister had
Speaker 1: actually driven down that day too to see how he
Speaker 1: was doing. She took him for a drive in her
Speaker 1: car and they talked for about thirty minutes, and they
Speaker 1: parked at East one hundred Street, across the street from
Speaker 1: some townhouses where these nursing students were living. His sister
Speaker 1: gave him twenty five dollars in the meantime, but he
Speaker 1: kind of was done with the hiring hall, so he
Speaker 1: left and he walked about one half miles east to
Speaker 1: check in to a nearby shipyard inn. He's got a
Speaker 1: room for the night, and there he kind of remained
Speaker 1: for the rest of the day, drowning his sorrows in
Speaker 1: a nearby bar. But there was a woman at the
Speaker 1: bar that had caught his eye while he was drinking.
Speaker 1: This woman was fifty three year old Ella May Hooper.
Speaker 1: Now Richard watched her as he sipped from his glass.
Speaker 1: As she left, so did he. Then she would walk
Speaker 1: away and hit up another bar, and so did he. Unknowingly,
Speaker 1: she had Richard tailing her as she went from place
Speaker 1: to place. Then, unexpectedly, when he saw his chance, he
Speaker 1: approached her and took her by knife point up to
Speaker 1: his room. Wow there, he raped her and stole a
Speaker 1: black twenty two caliber rote him pistol from her purse.
Speaker 1: As we know with Richard, he's a bit of a coward,
Speaker 1: but when he gets a weapon in his hands, he
Speaker 1: becomes power hungry. And up until now he's only ever
Speaker 1: really had a knife on him.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, I was going to say, has he had
Speaker 2: a gun on him prior too?
Speaker 1: Not as much as we know. In the past few days,
Speaker 1: he's kind of been at his breaking point. Decline from job,
Speaker 1: decline from job, kicked from his sister's place, he's just
Speaker 1: sleeping under the stars, basically trying to find somewhere where
Speaker 1: he can get some shelter for the night. He's not
Speaker 1: doing too well, so in his head he had a plan.
Speaker 1: So he dressed himself up in all black with his
Speaker 1: knife and newly acquired pistol. Then he went out for
Speaker 1: a few more drinks until ten twenty pm to build
Speaker 1: up his courage. Then he started walking to that nearby
Speaker 1: nursing townhouse at twenty three nineteen East one hundred Street,
Speaker 1: And that's where we're going to stop this episode.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, Okay, the one that he was like
Speaker 2: when he was with his sister that he saw. Yes,
Speaker 2: and you're stopping in there, yes, okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 1: So to sum this up, Richard went through one hell
Speaker 1: of a life so far. He really did. I'm not
Speaker 1: going to take that away from him. He had a
Speaker 1: shit upbringing.
Speaker 2: He's had a hard time, he's.
Speaker 1: Had a very hard time. But also he brought a
Speaker 1: lot of hard times onto himself. He did a lot
Speaker 1: of absolutely horrendous things, and he's about to do something
Speaker 1: even more horrendous.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, I can't even imagine because look at
Speaker 2: what he's already done.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Wow, wow, wow wow.
Speaker 1: So if you want to hear what happens next, you'll
Speaker 1: have to listen next time on Wicked and Graham, we're
Speaker 1: gonna set the next episode out on Tuesday, as we
Speaker 1: generally always do a little bit late on this week, but.
Speaker 2: So that means a little bit less of a wait.
Speaker 1: Exactly, there you go, words right out of my mouth.
Speaker 1: Well done. In the meantime, if you're getting that itch
Speaker 1: for some more episodes, you can take a look at
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Speaker 1: we use most of these things, but we are there.
Speaker 2: We're on a lot of things, So.
Speaker 1: We appreciate you being here. We appreciate you being on
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Speaker 1: platforms are Patreon and Instagram.
Speaker 2: Totally and Facebook. Really yeah, yeah that's true.
Speaker 1: So either way, we thank you for being here and
Speaker 1: we look forward to seeing you in the next episode
Speaker 1: and until then, stay Wicked.