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Speaker 1: A wealthy couple spent an evening gambling in Atlantic City,

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Speaker 1: but found trouble on their way home.

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Speaker 2: It was a problem with this tire. He stopped at

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Speaker 2: rest stop and then he was knocked out from behind,

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Speaker 2: and his wife was shot twice in the back and

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Speaker 2: died almost immediately.

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Speaker 1: The mystery over what happened led investigators to a telephone

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Speaker 1: some fourteen hundred miles away.

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Speaker 2: They had no motive, they had no opportunity, they had

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Speaker 2: no money trailed. They only had those punge calls.

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Speaker 1: Today, we're in New Jersey for part one of Murder

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Speaker 1: on the Parkway. I'm Sloan Glass and this is American

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Speaker 1: homicide and just a warning that what you're about to

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Speaker 1: hear is graphic.

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Speaker 3: Please take care while listening.

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Speaker 1: When New Jersey legalized gambling in the late seventies, Atlantic

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Speaker 1: City came roaring back to life.

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Speaker 3: By the eighties.

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Speaker 1: It was the East coast version of Las Vegas, and

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Speaker 1: for locals like Robert and Maria Marshall, it was where

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Speaker 1: they went for their weekly date night.

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Speaker 4: She liked Atlantic City, She'd liked going out to dinner there.

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Speaker 5: They had friends down there.

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Speaker 1: Jim Churchill investigated major crimes for the Ocean County Prosecutor's office.

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Speaker 4: They noted a chef down there where they went, and

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Speaker 4: he would come out and make a big fuss over

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Speaker 4: her and him.

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Speaker 1: Maria and Robert were a popular couple who many called

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Speaker 1: Barbie and Ken. Maria was a stunning blonde. They were

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Speaker 1: high school sweethearts. The two were a nineteen eighties version

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Speaker 1: of a power couple.

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Speaker 5: I suppose it would be an ideal American family.

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Speaker 1: Robert was a successful insurance salesman. In nineteen eighty four,

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Speaker 1: he sold more than fifty million dollars worth of insurance

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Speaker 1: that afforded the Marshalls a lavish lifestyle filled with expensive cars,

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Speaker 1: a boat, and a fancy house in the New Jersey

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Speaker 1: suburb of Tom River.

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Speaker 4: They were members of the Thomsriver Country Club. Most of

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Speaker 4: their social life surrounded that particular place. They had three

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Speaker 4: boys who were very active in swimming and tennis and

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Speaker 4: stuff like that.

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Speaker 5: At the country club.

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Speaker 1: Maria was known as the mom of the swim team.

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Speaker 1: At every swim meet, you'd find her and Robert cheering

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Speaker 1: on their kids in the stands.

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Speaker 3: The couple made family time a priority.

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Speaker 4: As a matter of fact, they used to take off

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Speaker 4: every Friday to be with the family, and many people

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Speaker 4: at the country club admired him for that and other things.

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Speaker 1: On the night of September sixth, nineteen eighty four, Robert

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Speaker 1: and Maria had dinner and drinks in Atlantic City. Afterwards,

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Speaker 1: they played some blackjack and called it a night just

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Speaker 1: before midnight.

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Speaker 4: It was a school night, so she said she had

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Speaker 4: to be home early because the kids had to get

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Speaker 4: ready for school the next morning.

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Speaker 1: Maria always treated her boys to pancakes breakfast, and since

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Speaker 1: it was a Thursday night, she had to be up

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Speaker 1: early the next morning, so Robert cashed out his blackjack

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Speaker 1: winnings and the two headed home.

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Speaker 4: It was a short drive, maybe an hour or so

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Speaker 4: from Tom's River.

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Speaker 1: As their Cadillac headed north on the Garden State Parkway,

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Speaker 1: Maria slid off her shoes and earrings and laid back

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Speaker 1: in her seat to get a little sleep, but Robert

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Speaker 1: was concerned with how his Cadillac was handling the road.

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Speaker 4: He was having trouble with the tire almost immediately when

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Speaker 4: he left Atlantic City, but it got progressively worse as

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Speaker 4: he came up the area.

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Speaker 1: It was a forty five mile drive from Atlantic City

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Speaker 1: to Tom's River and Robert tried his best to make

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Speaker 1: it all the way home, but the tire had other plans.

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Speaker 1: The faster he drove, the more it would shimmy and weave.

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Speaker 5: He thought it might have been a slow leak, but

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Speaker 5: he had to pull off and see what it was.

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Speaker 1: Robert's exit was still fifteen miles away when he decided

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Speaker 1: to pull over at the Oyster Creek picnic area. Back

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Speaker 1: in the nineteen eighties, these picnic areas along highways were

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Speaker 1: popular for travelers who needed a place to stop, stretch

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Speaker 1: their legs, and use the restroom.

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Speaker 3: The only problem with.

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Speaker 1: The Oyster Creek picnic area was that it was tucked

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Speaker 1: among a bunch of trees.

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Speaker 5: It was very dark. There was no lights.

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Speaker 4: The only thing there is a cinder block building that

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Speaker 4: has restrooms in it. The only light in that area

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Speaker 4: is about three hundred yards down.

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Speaker 5: Where the rest area is.

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Speaker 6: That.

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Speaker 4: He pulled an air to check on the tire, went

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Speaker 4: to the back, told his wife to pop the trunk

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Speaker 4: from the glove compartment inside the cadillac. There's a switch

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Speaker 4: you can hit and it pops the trunk in the back.

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Speaker 1: The light from the trunk lit up the nearly pitch

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Speaker 1: black picnic area. As Robert bent down to examine the

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Speaker 1: rear passenger tire, he noticed another car pull in behind them.

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Speaker 1: Seconds later, someone hit Robert over the head and he

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Speaker 1: fell to the ground.

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Speaker 5: Next thing you knew, he was waking up from being

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Speaker 5: hit on the head.

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Speaker 1: Unconscious, Robert felt woozy, his head was pounding, and a

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Speaker 1: warm stream of blood ran from his forehead and down

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Speaker 1: his cheek. He managed to get back on his feet,

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Speaker 1: put his hands into the pockets of his tan khaki.

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Speaker 3: Pants and found them empty.

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Speaker 1: His wallet and the two grand he won from playing

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Speaker 1: blackjack were gone.

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Speaker 3: One thing ran through his mind.

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Speaker 4: Somebody must have followed him from Atlantic City and did this.

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Speaker 1: That's when Robert ran towards the front of his Cadillac

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Speaker 1: to check on Maria.

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Speaker 4: Missus Marshall was found in the front seat of the car.

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Speaker 4: She died of two gunshot wounds to the back that

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Speaker 4: eventually hit her heart.

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Speaker 1: Robert's wife of twenty years was gone. He cried out

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Speaker 1: into the dark ness for help, but there was no

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Speaker 1: one around.

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Speaker 4: He then ran out in the parkway, flagged down a

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Speaker 4: couple of people who were coming back from Atlantic City,

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Speaker 4: and they got help.

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Speaker 7: My name is Dan mahoney and I was an investigator

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Speaker 7: with the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office Major Crime Unit.

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Speaker 1: In the early morning hours of September seventh, nineteen eighty four,

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Speaker 1: Dan Mahoney responded to the picnic area.

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Speaker 7: We got to call that there was a homicide, robbery,

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Speaker 7: homicide at that location and there was one victim. Missus

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Speaker 7: Marshall had been shot twice. The two wounds were almost

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Speaker 7: on top of each other. She wasn't giving any resistance,

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Speaker 7: she wasn't fighting. She probably never knew what happened.

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Speaker 1: The killer executed Maria with a forty five. They took

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Speaker 1: her purse, but her gold jewelry and wedding ring were.

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Speaker 3: Left untouched, which is odd.

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Speaker 1: So whoever did this seemed to be after their ca

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Speaker 1: and they picked a perfect place for the crime.

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Speaker 7: There was no restaurants, gas stations, or anything like that.

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Speaker 7: It was secluded. It was secluded. It was about I'd

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Speaker 7: say two miles from the larger rest area.

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Speaker 1: Detectives found a pool of blood at the rear of

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Speaker 1: the car where Robert Marshall fell after being hit on

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Speaker 1: the head. The gash on his head required a handful

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Speaker 1: of stitches at a local hospital. He was released around

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Speaker 1: sunrise and immediately met with the police.

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Speaker 5: He wanted to know who who killed his wife.

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Speaker 7: He wanted this to get to the bottom of this tragedy.

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Speaker 3: The investigation took off from there.

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Speaker 7: We had a lot of questions and most of them

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Speaker 7: had to be answered by mister Marshall. When did he

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Speaker 7: plan to go to Atlantic City? Did he see anybody

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Speaker 7: down there that he knew? Did he think he was

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Speaker 7: being followed? Will you rob or you're missing anything.

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Speaker 1: Robert told the police that he left Atlantic City with

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Speaker 1: two thousand dollars and explained how the tire was acting

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Speaker 1: up on their way home.

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Speaker 7: And I guess when he got out to take a

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Speaker 7: look at the tire he was attacked. The lost consciousness

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Speaker 7: I believe.

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Speaker 1: Robert told police he remembered a dark colored sedan pulled

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Speaker 1: in behind him at the rest stop, but.

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Speaker 3: He didn't think anything of it.

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Speaker 1: He thought the driver had either pulled in to take

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Speaker 1: a nap or had stopped to help him with his tire.

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Speaker 7: I believe it was the passenger rear that was flat,

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Speaker 7: and it looked like it suffered damage to the wall

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Speaker 7: of the tire, not the tread like a nail would

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Speaker 7: do or you picked up a piece of debris on

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Speaker 7: the road cut the tire.

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Speaker 5: This was on the side of the tire.

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Speaker 1: By the end of the weekend, Robert had hired a

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Speaker 1: top notch investigator from nearby Philadelphia and offered a ten

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Speaker 1: thousand dollars reward for information related to his wife's murder.

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Speaker 7: To me, it's always been about the victim. The victim

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Speaker 7: needs justice. I know you've heard it before, but they

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Speaker 7: can't speak for themselves.

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Speaker 3: Well, Maria mar Shell could not talk.

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Speaker 1: The private investigator she had hired that summer would be

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Speaker 1: the first to talk with detectives. The newspaper headline set

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Speaker 1: it all. Woman slain at rest area on New Jersey Parkway.

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Speaker 1: That woman was a forty two year old mother of

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Speaker 1: three named Maria Marshall.

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Speaker 6: She was a wonderful, wonderful person that everybody loved. I

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Speaker 6: mean everybody was shocked.

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Speaker 1: Maria's friend, Linda Fenwick, heard the tragic news from her son.

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Speaker 6: I remember standing by the refrigerator and he said, guess

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Speaker 6: what happened. Mom.

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Speaker 1: Linda was shocked to hear her friend and carpool partner

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Speaker 1: had been murdered.

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Speaker 6: Our children went to swim camp in the middle of

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Speaker 6: Pennsylvania and we would drive back and forth. I would

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Speaker 6: drive one way, she would drive the other way. There

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Speaker 6: were meets several times a week, and we always went

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Speaker 6: to their house afterwards because they always entertained the team.

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Speaker 1: The Marshalls would videotape the swim meets and then hosts

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Speaker 1: the team for a viewing party, where Maria would serve pizza,

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Speaker 1: which is why they called her the mom of the

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Speaker 1: swim team.

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Speaker 6: Center of her world were her boys. There was no

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Speaker 6: doubt about it. They were the center of her world.

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Speaker 6: Everything revolved around them and swimming.

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Speaker 1: Nearly all of Tom's River showed up at Maria's funeral

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Speaker 1: to support the three Marshall boys and Maria's husband, Robert.

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Speaker 6: He had a bandage on the back of his head

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Speaker 6: and he was crying the whole way down the aisle,

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Speaker 6: and everybody was sympathizing with him. It was very difficult

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Speaker 6: for everybody that knew them. Well, you know that this

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Speaker 6: could have happened to Maria because she was such a

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Speaker 6: kind person. You know, nobody quite could get a handle on.

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Speaker 6: Was it for money? Why would you do that?

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Speaker 1: A few days after the murder, investigators were still looking

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Speaker 1: for suspects and a motive.

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Speaker 7: It just didn't didn't make sense.

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Speaker 3: Dan Mahoney investigated.

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Speaker 7: Well, if you're rob being, why incapacitate mister Marshall with

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Speaker 7: a bump on the head and then shoot missus Marshall

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Speaker 7: twice who was not resisting. And so I think the

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Speaker 7: main thing was to speak to mister Marshall.

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Speaker 1: With Robert Marshall's help, law enforcement recreated the events of

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Speaker 1: that night.

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Speaker 7: He told us that it was a celebration to go

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Speaker 7: to Atlantic City. They had a dinner at a certain

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Speaker 7: restaurant that he always went to he liked. He was

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Speaker 7: driving back, felt that there was something wrong with the

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Speaker 7: way the car was performing the way he could make

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Speaker 7: it to the rest area. We pulled over just to

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Speaker 7: take a look at it, and he suffered a glow.

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Speaker 5: To the head.

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Speaker 1: Investigators focused on the Marshall's rear tire and the picnic

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Speaker 1: area Robert pulled into.

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Speaker 7: It really didn't make sense to me to stop there.

229
00:11:53,320 --> 00:11:56,480
Speaker 7: If you haven't hire trouble. Anybody who didn't frequent Atlantic

230
00:11:56,480 --> 00:11:58,840
Speaker 7: City would know that rest area and know it is dark,

231
00:11:59,360 --> 00:12:01,600
Speaker 7: and you wouldn't get any light or any help or

232
00:12:01,679 --> 00:12:03,720
Speaker 7: people that pull off the road to try to help

233
00:12:03,760 --> 00:12:06,400
Speaker 7: you if you needed help, you would pulled off to

234
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Speaker 7: decide and put your flashers on.

235
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Speaker 1: Robert said he had a family friend who was struck

236
00:12:11,320 --> 00:12:14,520
Speaker 1: and killed while changing a tire on the shoulder, so

237
00:12:14,640 --> 00:12:17,520
Speaker 1: he chose the picnic area because he believed it was

238
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Speaker 1: the safest place to pull over.

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00:12:20,000 --> 00:12:21,560
Speaker 3: But then there was the tire itself.

240
00:12:22,520 --> 00:12:26,280
Speaker 7: The inspection of the tire was sort of a turning

241
00:12:26,280 --> 00:12:27,120
Speaker 7: point for us.

242
00:12:27,920 --> 00:12:31,199
Speaker 1: In the daylight, detectives noticed that the rear tire of

243
00:12:31,280 --> 00:12:35,240
Speaker 1: Robert Marshall's Cadillac wasn't just an ordinary flat.

244
00:12:35,240 --> 00:12:36,840
Speaker 5: As the tire had been cut.

245
00:12:36,920 --> 00:12:38,600
Speaker 7: I think it was about an inch maybe an inch

246
00:12:38,640 --> 00:12:40,800
Speaker 7: and a half on the tire wall the side of

247
00:12:40,840 --> 00:12:41,280
Speaker 7: the tire.

248
00:12:41,760 --> 00:12:45,960
Speaker 1: Investigators believed the tire was intentionally slashed.

249
00:12:46,640 --> 00:12:51,800
Speaker 7: That sort of give us a direction to go, because

250
00:12:52,520 --> 00:12:56,360
Speaker 7: you could not drive that car with that amount of

251
00:12:56,440 --> 00:12:59,280
Speaker 7: damage to that tire for any length of time.

252
00:13:00,080 --> 00:13:04,080
Speaker 1: The tire was intentionally slashed. Did it happen before they

253
00:13:04,160 --> 00:13:07,480
Speaker 1: left the casino or was something else going on here?

254
00:13:08,080 --> 00:13:10,680
Speaker 7: It was totally dark, so it didn't make sense to

255
00:13:10,720 --> 00:13:12,880
Speaker 7: me to pull in there. It didn't make sense to

256
00:13:12,920 --> 00:13:15,920
Speaker 7: me that did somebody happen to be in there? A

257
00:13:15,920 --> 00:13:19,480
Speaker 7: crime of opportunity at that time in the morning, in

258
00:13:19,520 --> 00:13:23,360
Speaker 7: that desolated area, it just didn't make sense.

259
00:13:23,960 --> 00:13:28,120
Speaker 1: And then investigators were surprised when a private detective that

260
00:13:28,240 --> 00:13:30,480
Speaker 1: Maria Marshall hired came forward.

261
00:13:30,880 --> 00:13:34,840
Speaker 4: I spoke with him about two days after the homicide

262
00:13:34,920 --> 00:13:35,599
Speaker 4: was discovered.

263
00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:40,080
Speaker 1: Lieutenant Jim Churchill learned Maria hired a PI to look

264
00:13:40,080 --> 00:13:44,520
Speaker 1: into her husband's supposed extracurricular activities.

265
00:13:45,200 --> 00:13:50,320
Speaker 4: She hired a private investigator to follow Marshall on two

266
00:13:50,360 --> 00:13:54,840
Speaker 4: separate occasions, once in the spring, once during the beginning

267
00:13:54,880 --> 00:13:58,400
Speaker 4: of the summer of nineteen eighty four. During the course

268
00:13:58,400 --> 00:14:02,439
Speaker 4: of the investigation, we found out that he was carrying

269
00:14:02,480 --> 00:14:05,080
Speaker 4: on an affair with a woman who was in their

270
00:14:05,080 --> 00:14:10,880
Speaker 4: social circle, and the private investigator reported that he had

271
00:14:10,960 --> 00:14:14,120
Speaker 4: seen mister Marshall and had photographs of he and her

272
00:14:14,200 --> 00:14:16,000
Speaker 4: together in the motel rooms.

273
00:14:16,240 --> 00:14:19,120
Speaker 1: A vice principal at the local high school named Saran

274
00:14:19,240 --> 00:14:23,560
Speaker 1: crash Hour was the other woman in Robert Marshall's life.

275
00:14:23,920 --> 00:14:25,840
Speaker 6: I'm not sure how she found out, but I know

276
00:14:25,880 --> 00:14:28,520
Speaker 6: that she hired a private investigator or follow him.

277
00:14:28,960 --> 00:14:33,080
Speaker 1: Maria's friend Linda Fenwick was shocked when she heard Robert

278
00:14:33,120 --> 00:14:34,640
Speaker 1: had been cheating on Maria.

279
00:14:35,360 --> 00:14:37,480
Speaker 6: I mean, nobody would ever have suspected there was a

280
00:14:37,520 --> 00:14:40,360
Speaker 6: problem in that marriage. The relationship between the two of

281
00:14:40,400 --> 00:14:41,680
Speaker 6: them seemed perfect to me.

282
00:14:42,160 --> 00:14:42,760
Speaker 3: At the time.

283
00:14:42,840 --> 00:14:46,040
Speaker 1: Saran was a member of the same country club as

284
00:14:46,040 --> 00:14:46,720
Speaker 1: the Marshalls.

285
00:14:47,440 --> 00:14:49,920
Speaker 3: In fact, they all played tennis together.

286
00:14:50,720 --> 00:14:55,360
Speaker 1: Sarann and her husband were tennis partners with Robert and

287
00:14:55,440 --> 00:14:56,320
Speaker 1: Maria Marshall.

288
00:14:57,160 --> 00:14:59,840
Speaker 6: I didn't know Sir Anne. She was at an unhappy

289
00:14:59,840 --> 00:15:02,120
Speaker 6: mo marriage, and apparently he was too.

290
00:15:02,680 --> 00:15:05,960
Speaker 1: The police learned Maria planned to confront Robert about the

291
00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:09,680
Speaker 1: affair and seek a divorce, but she kept stalling.

292
00:15:10,320 --> 00:15:14,720
Speaker 4: After we heard from the private investigator that brought miss

293
00:15:14,800 --> 00:15:19,760
Speaker 4: cross Hour into the arena here, we thought possibly maybe

294
00:15:20,440 --> 00:15:22,760
Speaker 4: she might have had something to do with it, so

295
00:15:22,920 --> 00:15:25,480
Speaker 4: we stopped growing a way to work.

296
00:15:25,920 --> 00:15:29,120
Speaker 1: Lieutenant Jim Churchill brought Soran in for questioning.

297
00:15:29,680 --> 00:15:33,880
Speaker 4: She wasn't happy about the relationship she had with Marshall,

298
00:15:34,400 --> 00:15:36,960
Speaker 4: but she didn't apologize to us or give us a

299
00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:37,520
Speaker 4: feeling she.

300
00:15:37,560 --> 00:15:41,440
Speaker 5: Was sorry for. She didn't like the idea it put

301
00:15:41,440 --> 00:15:43,000
Speaker 5: herself in a position she was in.

302
00:15:43,360 --> 00:15:46,640
Speaker 1: Saran told the detectives she and Robert had been sleeping

303
00:15:46,680 --> 00:15:50,680
Speaker 1: together for fourteen months. The two hat plans to rent

304
00:15:50,680 --> 00:15:54,720
Speaker 1: a home together and leave their spouses. And the affair

305
00:15:54,800 --> 00:15:57,640
Speaker 1: was no secret to Maria because she found a phone

306
00:15:57,680 --> 00:16:01,440
Speaker 1: bill with a series of calls I'm Robert to the

307
00:16:01,560 --> 00:16:03,880
Speaker 1: high school where Saran worked.

308
00:16:04,280 --> 00:16:07,000
Speaker 4: But I think she was most concerned. We thought she

309
00:16:07,400 --> 00:16:08,800
Speaker 4: had some part in this.

310
00:16:09,520 --> 00:16:12,760
Speaker 1: A look into Robert Marshall's phone records confirmed what Saran

311
00:16:12,920 --> 00:16:16,920
Speaker 1: told them, But something in those phone records jumped out.

312
00:16:17,160 --> 00:16:21,600
Speaker 4: Certain numbers caught our eye because they were to a

313
00:16:21,920 --> 00:16:27,120
Speaker 4: hardware store in a place is called Boser City, which

314
00:16:27,160 --> 00:16:31,040
Speaker 4: is right across the Red River from Shreveport.

315
00:16:31,360 --> 00:16:36,960
Speaker 1: Shreveport as in Shreveport, Louisiana. The police found more than

316
00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:41,240
Speaker 1: thirty phone calls from Robert Marshall to that number. So

317
00:16:41,440 --> 00:16:45,680
Speaker 1: why was Robert calling a hardware store some fourteen hundred

318
00:16:45,800 --> 00:16:46,520
Speaker 1: miles away.

319
00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:51,080
Speaker 4: I asked that the local police department down there going

320
00:16:51,160 --> 00:16:54,000
Speaker 4: to interview anybody who could give us information.

321
00:16:53,680 --> 00:16:57,160
Speaker 5: On Robert Marshall.

322
00:16:55,920 --> 00:16:59,360
Speaker 4: And they came back to me and said that a

323
00:16:59,640 --> 00:17:02,120
Speaker 4: clerk who worked in the store, retired from the US

324
00:17:02,160 --> 00:17:05,720
Speaker 4: Air Force, said that he met Marshall at a party

325
00:17:06,040 --> 00:17:09,440
Speaker 4: during the beginning of the summer of nineteen eighty four.

326
00:17:10,280 --> 00:17:13,240
Speaker 1: Police learned that during that party in May of nineteen

327
00:17:13,280 --> 00:17:17,480
Speaker 1: eighty four, the hardware store clerk named Bobby Cumber spent

328
00:17:17,600 --> 00:17:21,640
Speaker 1: the night talking with Maria and Robert. He was even

329
00:17:21,640 --> 00:17:25,440
Speaker 1: spotted dancing with Maria. And after that party is when

330
00:17:25,480 --> 00:17:26,720
Speaker 1: all the phone calls began.

331
00:17:27,440 --> 00:17:32,760
Speaker 4: So we're trying to find out why these calls were made.

332
00:17:33,400 --> 00:17:37,959
Speaker 1: Most suspiciously, the final phone call between Robert Marshall and

333
00:17:38,040 --> 00:17:43,320
Speaker 1: Bobby Cumber occurred just before Maria's murder, and investigators wanted

334
00:17:43,359 --> 00:17:46,879
Speaker 1: to know more about their relationship between Bobby Cumber and

335
00:17:46,960 --> 00:17:48,119
Speaker 1: the Marshalls.

336
00:17:48,480 --> 00:17:51,119
Speaker 5: So Cumber now became a person of interest.

337
00:17:51,400 --> 00:17:55,159
Speaker 1: Also, that night of dancing with Maria Marshall would forever

338
00:17:55,320 --> 00:18:07,800
Speaker 1: change the life of Bobby Cumber. In the early morning

339
00:18:07,880 --> 00:18:12,480
Speaker 1: hours of September seventh, nineteen eighty four, Maria Marshall was

340
00:18:12,560 --> 00:18:15,720
Speaker 1: murdered at a rest stop along the Gordon State Parkway

341
00:18:15,880 --> 00:18:20,199
Speaker 1: in New Jersey. Police learned her husband, Robert, was cheating

342
00:18:20,240 --> 00:18:23,119
Speaker 1: on her. They also found a bunch of phone calls

343
00:18:23,119 --> 00:18:26,760
Speaker 1: from Robert to a man named Bobby Cumber. Bobby worked

344
00:18:26,760 --> 00:18:28,800
Speaker 1: at a hardware store in Louisiana.

345
00:18:29,080 --> 00:18:33,320
Speaker 2: Within two weeks of the murder, the police glombed onto

346
00:18:33,520 --> 00:18:36,479
Speaker 2: the Louisiana connection by the phone calls.

347
00:18:36,920 --> 00:18:39,160
Speaker 3: Journalist Judy Peat covered the story.

348
00:18:39,760 --> 00:18:45,240
Speaker 2: There were thirty one calls between Marshall and Bobby Cumber,

349
00:18:45,280 --> 00:18:46,960
Speaker 2: which is what the police found.

350
00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:50,960
Speaker 1: Almost immediately, forty seven year old Bobby Cumber answered the

351
00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:53,879
Speaker 1: phone at that small Louisiana hardware store.

352
00:18:54,320 --> 00:18:57,280
Speaker 2: Bobby, at the time was living in Louisiana, even though

353
00:18:57,320 --> 00:18:59,280
Speaker 2: Bobby was originally from New Jersey.

354
00:19:00,119 --> 00:19:03,360
Speaker 1: Of soft spoken Bobby confirmed to investigators that he met

355
00:19:03,440 --> 00:19:06,240
Speaker 1: Robert Marshall during the summer of nineteen eighty four.

356
00:19:06,800 --> 00:19:11,600
Speaker 2: Bobby never knew Robert Marshall really. He decided to go

357
00:19:11,680 --> 00:19:14,520
Speaker 2: visit some family in North Jersey where they still lived,

358
00:19:14,920 --> 00:19:18,359
Speaker 2: and he ran into his high school girlfriend, who invited

359
00:19:18,400 --> 00:19:22,240
Speaker 2: him to her daughter's graduation in Tom's River. She happened

360
00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:25,160
Speaker 2: to be the next door neighbor of Robert Marshall.

361
00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:28,879
Speaker 1: At that party, Bobby Cumber noticed Robert was having a

362
00:19:28,920 --> 00:19:32,240
Speaker 1: hard time getting a drink, so he flagged down the bartender.

363
00:19:32,800 --> 00:19:35,880
Speaker 1: It sparked a conversation between Robert and Bobby that soon

364
00:19:36,040 --> 00:19:37,880
Speaker 1: included Maria Marshall.

365
00:19:38,080 --> 00:19:42,679
Speaker 2: He was stunned about how pretty Maria Marshall was, and

366
00:19:42,760 --> 00:19:45,920
Speaker 2: he was very flattered that a big shot in his

367
00:19:46,080 --> 00:19:49,440
Speaker 2: mind like Robert Marshall would pay attention to him at all.

368
00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:55,520
Speaker 1: Robert Marshall was wealthy, well dressed, and handsome, whereas Bobby

369
00:19:55,880 --> 00:19:59,440
Speaker 1: was a simple guy who enjoyed long drives in the country,

370
00:20:00,080 --> 00:20:01,640
Speaker 1: nana splits, and bowling.

371
00:20:02,160 --> 00:20:04,960
Speaker 2: It was very flattered that a tie and jacket kind

372
00:20:04,960 --> 00:20:08,440
Speaker 2: of guy would pay attention to him, because Bobby was

373
00:20:08,560 --> 00:20:09,880
Speaker 2: not a ty and jacket.

374
00:20:09,600 --> 00:20:10,040
Speaker 7: Kind of guy.

375
00:20:10,680 --> 00:20:13,720
Speaker 1: At that party, Bobby Cummer and Robert and Maria Marshall

376
00:20:13,880 --> 00:20:17,440
Speaker 1: spent that night talking. Bobby even hit the dance floor

377
00:20:17,480 --> 00:20:18,480
Speaker 1: with Maria.

378
00:20:18,880 --> 00:20:23,560
Speaker 2: But only fast dances. The Marshalls danced all the slow dances.

379
00:20:23,160 --> 00:20:26,080
Speaker 1: Together, and that was the extent of his face time

380
00:20:26,200 --> 00:20:30,200
Speaker 1: with Robert and Maria. Bobby told investigators he never saw

381
00:20:30,240 --> 00:20:33,679
Speaker 1: the Marshals after that party, but he did talk with

382
00:20:33,800 --> 00:20:35,879
Speaker 1: Robert by phone over the summer.

383
00:20:35,880 --> 00:20:40,040
Speaker 2: And Marshall asked Bobby if he could find him a

384
00:20:40,080 --> 00:20:44,760
Speaker 2: private detective, somebody to trace his wife he thought she

385
00:20:44,920 --> 00:20:46,480
Speaker 2: was cheating on him.

386
00:20:46,960 --> 00:20:50,440
Speaker 1: Robert Marshall, who was cheating on Maria, said Tom's River

387
00:20:50,600 --> 00:20:51,800
Speaker 1: was a small town.

388
00:20:51,760 --> 00:20:52,679
Speaker 3: And people talked.

389
00:20:53,240 --> 00:20:55,800
Speaker 1: That's why he wanted a PI from out of town

390
00:20:55,920 --> 00:20:58,960
Speaker 1: to look into Maria.

391
00:20:59,800 --> 00:21:02,800
Speaker 5: There is a series of phone calls to Cumber.

392
00:21:03,160 --> 00:21:05,680
Speaker 3: Lieutenant Jim Churchill investigated.

393
00:21:06,119 --> 00:21:09,520
Speaker 4: During one of the phone calls, he asks him, is

394
00:21:09,520 --> 00:21:13,480
Speaker 4: there somebody you know that can do an investigation. I

395
00:21:13,520 --> 00:21:16,400
Speaker 4: have a very sensitive investigation that I want him done.

396
00:21:16,560 --> 00:21:19,640
Speaker 4: I don't trust anybody in my area to do it.

397
00:21:20,440 --> 00:21:23,960
Speaker 4: And Cumber he tells him there's a gentleman that comes

398
00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:26,479
Speaker 4: into the store all the time that he knows as

399
00:21:26,520 --> 00:21:31,200
Speaker 4: a former sheriff's officer, Billy Wayne mckinnitt, and he knows

400
00:21:31,240 --> 00:21:34,600
Speaker 4: that he does private investigations on the side.

401
00:21:34,920 --> 00:21:38,360
Speaker 1: Billy Wayne was a deputy sheriff in Louisiana who resigned

402
00:21:38,440 --> 00:21:41,920
Speaker 1: in the late seventies after he was accused of stealing.

403
00:21:42,800 --> 00:21:44,480
Speaker 3: He then sold used.

404
00:21:44,280 --> 00:21:47,320
Speaker 1: Cars and did private detective work on the side.

405
00:21:47,560 --> 00:21:52,040
Speaker 4: So Cumber gets in touch with Billy Wayne and says,

406
00:21:52,080 --> 00:21:54,680
Speaker 4: there's this guy in New Jersey wants an investigation.

407
00:21:54,760 --> 00:21:55,520
Speaker 5: Would be interested?

408
00:21:55,920 --> 00:21:57,960
Speaker 4: He said, well yeah, He said, it's going to cost

409
00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:00,000
Speaker 4: him because I have to go up to New Jersey

410
00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:01,520
Speaker 4: to do this, all the way from Louisiana.

411
00:22:02,040 --> 00:22:04,720
Speaker 1: Bobby Cumber said that was the extent of his dealings

412
00:22:04,760 --> 00:22:08,200
Speaker 1: with Billy Wayne and Robert Marshall. Other than passing phone

413
00:22:08,240 --> 00:22:11,840
Speaker 1: calls between the two and these messages they were always

414
00:22:11,880 --> 00:22:15,080
Speaker 1: short and to the point, like tell him to call me.

415
00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:19,200
Speaker 2: He said. At the time, he had no idea really

416
00:22:19,200 --> 00:22:20,080
Speaker 2: what was going on.

417
00:22:20,960 --> 00:22:23,880
Speaker 1: Judy Peet covered the story well.

418
00:22:23,920 --> 00:22:26,960
Speaker 2: The police hammered him, They were sure that he had

419
00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:31,879
Speaker 2: something to do with it, and Bobby mostly cried and

420
00:22:32,760 --> 00:22:38,119
Speaker 2: apparently shook through the entire forty eight hours. Police didn't

421
00:22:38,160 --> 00:22:41,760
Speaker 2: believe that. After forty eight hours, they did arrest him

422
00:22:41,800 --> 00:22:43,000
Speaker 2: for conspiracy.

423
00:22:43,400 --> 00:22:46,320
Speaker 1: Two weeks after Maria Marshall was shot to death along

424
00:22:46,359 --> 00:22:50,680
Speaker 1: the Garden State Parkway, Bobby Cumber was charged with conspiracy

425
00:22:50,760 --> 00:22:51,800
Speaker 1: to commit her murder.

426
00:22:53,560 --> 00:22:55,959
Speaker 4: At this time, we still didn't know who the shooter was.

427
00:22:56,880 --> 00:22:59,520
Speaker 4: We didn't think it was Marshall. We didn't think it

428
00:22:59,560 --> 00:23:03,800
Speaker 4: was Cumber. So it's either Billy Woyne Kennon or somebody

429
00:23:03,840 --> 00:23:04,640
Speaker 4: that we didn't know.

430
00:23:05,160 --> 00:23:08,119
Speaker 1: As Bobby Cumbers sat in jail awaiting his trial and

431
00:23:08,200 --> 00:23:13,680
Speaker 1: investigators were questioning Billy Wayne McKinnon, some mysterious news involving

432
00:23:13,840 --> 00:23:15,840
Speaker 1: Robert Marshall's surfaced.

433
00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:21,040
Speaker 4: When we arrested Cumber. Not too long after that, Marshall

434
00:23:21,200 --> 00:23:26,840
Speaker 4: Enn goes to a motel, the same hotel, I think,

435
00:23:26,880 --> 00:23:29,879
Speaker 4: the same room that he and Saran would go to

436
00:23:30,640 --> 00:23:31,760
Speaker 4: on the rendezvous.

437
00:23:32,359 --> 00:23:35,320
Speaker 1: Robert Marshall turned up at the same hotel room where

438
00:23:35,320 --> 00:23:38,600
Speaker 1: he carried on his affair with Saran crash hour, but

439
00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:40,840
Speaker 1: this time Robert was alone.

440
00:23:41,760 --> 00:23:44,520
Speaker 4: And while he's there, he takes a tape recorder and

441
00:23:44,560 --> 00:23:49,679
Speaker 4: makes three separate tapes, and he puts him in an envelope,

442
00:23:50,040 --> 00:23:52,399
Speaker 4: and on the back of it says only to be

443
00:23:52,480 --> 00:23:55,040
Speaker 4: opened in the event of my death.

444
00:23:55,680 --> 00:23:58,679
Speaker 1: These envelopes with the label to be opened in the

445
00:23:58,720 --> 00:24:02,400
Speaker 1: event of my death concerned the hotel staff.

446
00:24:03,560 --> 00:24:08,240
Speaker 4: It's sitting in a outgoing mailbox that people can use.

447
00:24:08,119 --> 00:24:08,840
Speaker 5: As they got ron.

448
00:24:09,760 --> 00:24:12,840
Speaker 1: The police responded and went to Robert's hotel room, but

449
00:24:12,880 --> 00:24:15,920
Speaker 1: he didn't answer the door. They forced entry and found

450
00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:18,679
Speaker 1: him passed out next to a pile of pills and

451
00:24:18,760 --> 00:24:22,280
Speaker 1: a can of coke. They woke Robert Marshall up, and

452
00:24:22,359 --> 00:24:24,720
Speaker 1: he said he put sleeping pills into his drink and

453
00:24:24,880 --> 00:24:28,000
Speaker 1: planned to take his own life at the exact same

454
00:24:28,080 --> 00:24:29,680
Speaker 1: time Maria had been murdered.

455
00:24:30,359 --> 00:24:32,720
Speaker 4: He said he put it in a coke and swirled

456
00:24:32,720 --> 00:24:35,040
Speaker 4: it around with his finger and licked his finger a

457
00:24:35,080 --> 00:24:38,120
Speaker 4: couple of times in an he fell immediately sleep and

458
00:24:38,200 --> 00:24:40,840
Speaker 4: they took him to a local hospital down there.

459
00:24:41,160 --> 00:24:44,920
Speaker 1: So investigators got a search warrant to play those cassette tapes.

460
00:24:46,119 --> 00:24:49,280
Speaker 1: They heard Robert freely admit to his affair with Saran.

461
00:24:50,160 --> 00:24:54,359
Speaker 1: He also admitted to be massively in debt. Robert also

462
00:24:54,400 --> 00:24:57,080
Speaker 1: said he believed he was a suspect in Maria's murder,

463
00:24:57,480 --> 00:24:58,640
Speaker 1: but claimed he was innocent.

464
00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:03,639
Speaker 4: He said, I love Maria, I couldn't have done this

465
00:25:03,800 --> 00:25:06,200
Speaker 4: that kind of stuff. There was another one in there

466
00:25:06,520 --> 00:25:14,360
Speaker 4: that basically said that he was dealing with this private

467
00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:18,600
Speaker 4: investigator from Louisiana, and he mentioned his name on the tape,

468
00:25:18,880 --> 00:25:23,639
Speaker 4: Billy Wayne McKinnon, and he said he probably followed me

469
00:25:24,840 --> 00:25:27,800
Speaker 4: and killed Maria because he had written me off for

470
00:25:27,880 --> 00:25:28,560
Speaker 4: a lot of money.

471
00:25:29,560 --> 00:25:32,880
Speaker 1: Robert admitted to paint thousands of dollars to Billy Wayne

472
00:25:32,920 --> 00:25:38,359
Speaker 1: McKinnon to investigate Maria, including eight hundred dollars on the

473
00:25:38,480 --> 00:25:40,720
Speaker 1: night of her murder early.

474
00:25:40,480 --> 00:25:44,919
Speaker 5: Part of October. Billy Wayne McKinnon, he was arrested and

475
00:25:44,960 --> 00:25:47,760
Speaker 5: we say we want to play something for you, so

476
00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:49,560
Speaker 5: we play the Marshall tape.

477
00:25:50,080 --> 00:25:52,919
Speaker 1: You're about to hear a recreation of the tape that

478
00:25:53,040 --> 00:25:56,119
Speaker 1: Robert Marshall labeled to be opened in the event of

479
00:25:56,200 --> 00:25:56,680
Speaker 1: my death.

480
00:25:58,119 --> 00:26:01,880
Speaker 8: I felt compelled to hire somebody who I thought had

481
00:26:01,880 --> 00:26:05,200
Speaker 8: a good reputation. This was the guy who came recommended

482
00:26:05,200 --> 00:26:09,040
Speaker 8: by a fellow named Bob Cumber, supposed to be a

483
00:26:09,200 --> 00:26:13,040
Speaker 8: very good investigator. He made two trips to New Jersey,

484
00:26:13,160 --> 00:26:16,639
Speaker 8: one in June. After I wired him twenty five hundred dollars,

485
00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:18,639
Speaker 8: he said he was going to be busy for a while,

486
00:26:18,720 --> 00:26:22,800
Speaker 8: but if I wired him additional money, he'd come back.

487
00:26:23,800 --> 00:26:25,960
Speaker 8: So on the second time, the evening Maria was killed,

488
00:26:26,560 --> 00:26:30,760
Speaker 8: I gave him approximately eight hundred dollars. He said he

489
00:26:30,760 --> 00:26:33,280
Speaker 8: would stay around a while do a little checking. I

490
00:26:33,280 --> 00:26:36,520
Speaker 8: found out later that his only purpose was to writ

491
00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:36,960
Speaker 8: me off.

492
00:26:39,080 --> 00:26:41,679
Speaker 1: Billy Wayne McKinnon had a lot of explaining to do

493
00:26:41,800 --> 00:26:46,560
Speaker 1: to investigators, and he quickly admitted that yes, he was

494
00:26:46,720 --> 00:26:49,960
Speaker 1: in Atlantic City the night of Maria's murder, but he

495
00:26:50,040 --> 00:26:54,399
Speaker 1: says he didn't kill Maria. He was merely the getaway driver.

496
00:26:55,840 --> 00:26:59,240
Speaker 4: Over a four day period, we talked with him retrace

497
00:26:59,359 --> 00:27:04,359
Speaker 4: his steps, and we could not find anything that he

498
00:27:04,480 --> 00:27:05,119
Speaker 4: told us.

499
00:27:06,520 --> 00:27:08,800
Speaker 5: That was a deliberate lie or a lie.

500
00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:13,320
Speaker 1: Billy Wayne McKinnon cooperated with investigators and identified the shooter

501
00:27:13,520 --> 00:27:14,480
Speaker 1: as a friend.

502
00:27:14,160 --> 00:27:17,240
Speaker 3: Of his, a man named Larry Thompson.

503
00:27:18,359 --> 00:27:21,280
Speaker 4: Thompson's the kind of guy that does this. This is

504
00:27:21,320 --> 00:27:23,960
Speaker 4: what he does. He kills for money. He won't kill

505
00:27:23,960 --> 00:27:25,200
Speaker 4: for anything else but money.

506
00:27:25,520 --> 00:27:28,720
Speaker 1: Larry Thompson was a short order cook and his run

507
00:27:28,720 --> 00:27:31,040
Speaker 1: ins with the law were well documented.

508
00:27:32,040 --> 00:27:34,520
Speaker 5: Thompson has fingers missing on his hand.

509
00:27:35,359 --> 00:27:38,159
Speaker 4: Dogs bid it off because he used to do dog fighting,

510
00:27:38,560 --> 00:27:39,840
Speaker 4: and some dogs bid it off.

511
00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:43,159
Speaker 3: But Larry Thompson was no help to investigators.

512
00:27:43,520 --> 00:27:46,480
Speaker 5: Thompson pretty much refused to talk to us at all.

513
00:27:46,560 --> 00:27:50,520
Speaker 1: In December of nineteen eighty four, the police arrested and

514
00:27:50,600 --> 00:27:55,080
Speaker 1: charged Larry Thompson with the murder of Maria Marshall. He

515
00:27:55,160 --> 00:28:00,320
Speaker 1: was the third person charged, and there would be one more.

516
00:28:00,160 --> 00:28:03,080
Speaker 7: To the arrest of Larry Thompson. Robert Marshall was arrested

517
00:28:03,400 --> 00:28:05,960
Speaker 7: on December nineteenth, nineteen eighty four.

518
00:28:06,440 --> 00:28:09,960
Speaker 1: The police charged Robert Marshall with being an accomplice to

519
00:28:10,040 --> 00:28:10,960
Speaker 1: his wife's murder.

520
00:28:11,280 --> 00:28:12,680
Speaker 3: But how and why?

521
00:28:13,960 --> 00:28:17,800
Speaker 7: Sometimes it's a relief. This wasn't that way. The family

522
00:28:18,119 --> 00:28:22,120
Speaker 7: believed in Robert Marshall and kept faith with him.

523
00:28:22,440 --> 00:28:26,360
Speaker 1: Did Robert Marshall have something to do with killing his wife.

524
00:28:27,119 --> 00:28:31,480
Speaker 1: His family, including his children, emphatically said no.

525
00:28:32,480 --> 00:28:35,280
Speaker 7: It's a tough thing to wrap your head around that

526
00:28:35,520 --> 00:28:37,880
Speaker 7: your father may have taken a life of your mother.

527
00:28:38,160 --> 00:28:41,440
Speaker 7: So and that's what the tragedy of this thing was.

528
00:28:41,920 --> 00:28:44,000
Speaker 7: Didn't have to be, didn't have to be.

529
00:28:45,920 --> 00:28:49,800
Speaker 1: I'm Sloan Glass. We'll learn who killed Maria Marshall, who

530
00:28:49,840 --> 00:28:54,280
Speaker 1: didn't kill Maria Marshall, and how justice was ultimately served.

531
00:28:54,920 --> 00:28:58,800
Speaker 1: That's next time on American Homicide in part two of

532
00:28:58,880 --> 00:29:09,880
Speaker 1: Murder on the Parkway. You can contact the American Homicide

533
00:29:09,920 --> 00:29:14,080
Speaker 1: Team by emailing us at American Homicide Pod at gmail

534
00:29:14,120 --> 00:29:18,840
Speaker 1: dot com. That's American Homicide Pod at gmail dot com.

535
00:29:19,240 --> 00:29:22,800
Speaker 1: American Homicide is hosted and written by me Sloane Glass

536
00:29:23,160 --> 00:29:26,960
Speaker 1: and is a production of Glass Podcasts, a division of

537
00:29:27,040 --> 00:29:31,720
Speaker 1: Glass Entertainment Group, in partnership with iHeart Podcasts. The show

538
00:29:31,840 --> 00:29:35,600
Speaker 1: is executive produced by Nancy Glass and Todd Gants. The

539
00:29:35,720 --> 00:29:39,080
Speaker 1: series is also written and produced by Todd Gants, with

540
00:29:39,160 --> 00:29:43,280
Speaker 1: additional writing by Ben Fetterman and Andrea Gunning. Our associate

541
00:29:43,320 --> 00:29:47,280
Speaker 1: producer is Kristin Melcurie. Our iHeart team is Ali Perry

542
00:29:47,600 --> 00:29:53,000
Speaker 1: and Jessica Crimecheck. Audio editing, mixing, and mastering by Nico Auruka.

543
00:29:53,520 --> 00:29:55,240
Speaker 3: Voice acting from Trey Morgan.

544
00:29:55,680 --> 00:29:59,440
Speaker 1: American Homicide theme song was composed by Oliver Baines of

545
00:29:59,560 --> 00:30:04,640
Speaker 1: Nouser Music Library provided by my Music. Follow American Homicide

546
00:30:04,680 --> 00:30:08,920
Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts and please rate and review American Homicide.

547
00:30:09,240 --> 00:30:12,000
Speaker 1: Your five star review goes a long way towards helping

548
00:30:12,080 --> 00:30:15,840
Speaker 1: others find this show. For more podcasts from iHeart, visit

549
00:30:15,920 --> 00:30:20,560
Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your

550
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Speaker 1: podcasts