1 00:00:15,356 --> 00:00:21,076 Speaker 1: Pushkin Hello, hello Malcolm. Here, Before we get to the episode, 2 00:00:21,476 --> 00:00:23,076 Speaker 1: I want to let you know. You can get this 3 00:00:23,476 --> 00:00:28,636 Speaker 1: entire season now ad free by subscribing to Revisionist History 4 00:00:28,636 --> 00:00:31,356 Speaker 1: on Pushkin Plus. Sign up on the show page on 5 00:00:31,396 --> 00:00:36,676 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or at pushkin dot fm, slash Plus. Pushkin 6 00:00:36,716 --> 00:00:42,636 Speaker 1: Plus subscribers can access ad free episodes, full audiobooks, exclusive binges, 7 00:00:42,956 --> 00:00:45,356 Speaker 1: and bonus content for all Pushkin. 8 00:00:45,036 --> 00:00:51,036 Speaker 2: Shows previously on Revisionist History. 9 00:00:51,796 --> 00:00:53,396 Speaker 1: Was he a good feature? 10 00:00:53,636 --> 00:01:01,076 Speaker 3: Evidently he must have been charismanic, Yes, very charis many flawreence. 11 00:01:01,196 --> 00:01:04,996 Speaker 4: You don't get here by accident, and so the idea 12 00:01:05,196 --> 00:01:11,076 Speaker 4: that someone was in this framework do something like Charles 13 00:01:11,076 --> 00:01:15,356 Speaker 4: Sennett did was very disruptive. He worked very hard to 14 00:01:15,356 --> 00:01:19,236 Speaker 4: make sure nobody knew outside that tight circle of biological family. 15 00:01:20,596 --> 00:01:22,996 Speaker 5: When someone says I'm a member of the Church of Christ, 16 00:01:24,076 --> 00:01:27,756 Speaker 5: that means that they are members of the True Church. 17 00:01:29,716 --> 00:01:33,436 Speaker 5: That's not a denomination, that's not Protestant, it's not Catholic, 18 00:01:33,476 --> 00:01:33,836 Speaker 5: it's just. 19 00:01:33,796 --> 00:01:34,436 Speaker 6: The true Church. 20 00:01:48,796 --> 00:01:52,156 Speaker 1: We're now into the hills. We're now into the Alabama 21 00:01:52,236 --> 00:01:59,996 Speaker 1: hills of We're We're in a long, winding two lane 22 00:02:00,036 --> 00:02:04,316 Speaker 1: road following an F one fifty pickup truck. Like much 23 00:02:04,316 --> 00:02:13,236 Speaker 1: of this corner of Alabama, it's it's gorgeous countryside. We 24 00:02:13,276 --> 00:02:16,356 Speaker 1: are way out in. I mean, we haven't passed up 25 00:02:18,396 --> 00:02:23,036 Speaker 1: a house in quite some time. On one of our 26 00:02:23,076 --> 00:02:26,116 Speaker 1: trips to the shoals, my colleague Ben Adaf Halfrey and 27 00:02:26,156 --> 00:02:28,356 Speaker 1: I drove out to find the house where Charles and 28 00:02:28,436 --> 00:02:32,036 Speaker 1: Elizabeth Sennett lived. We didn't have a precise address, just 29 00:02:32,116 --> 00:02:34,236 Speaker 1: the name of the road, which turned out to be 30 00:02:34,276 --> 00:02:37,756 Speaker 1: a long, winding gravel track that runs high along a 31 00:02:37,796 --> 00:02:41,036 Speaker 1: mountain ridge. Coon Dog Cemetery. 32 00:02:40,556 --> 00:02:42,516 Speaker 6: Road your destination. 33 00:02:44,796 --> 00:02:49,396 Speaker 5: We're all all the best coon dogs alive find their 34 00:02:49,436 --> 00:02:51,036 Speaker 5: final resting place. 35 00:02:51,676 --> 00:02:55,276 Speaker 1: Oh my god, it's an actual Because we couldn't find 36 00:02:55,276 --> 00:02:58,876 Speaker 1: the Senate house, we ended up at the cemetery. There 37 00:02:58,876 --> 00:03:02,636 Speaker 1: were headstones, lots of American flags. There's a little sign 38 00:03:03,636 --> 00:03:06,436 Speaker 1: with a coon dog on it. Only cemetery was kind 39 00:03:06,436 --> 00:03:09,876 Speaker 1: in the world. Troop first Dog late to rest here 40 00:03:09,956 --> 00:03:14,476 Speaker 1: September fourth, nineteen thirty seven. Then we met an older 41 00:03:14,476 --> 00:03:17,916 Speaker 1: couple who gave us directions. We drove back the way 42 00:03:17,956 --> 00:03:20,116 Speaker 1: we came and finally found it. 43 00:03:20,836 --> 00:03:20,996 Speaker 7: Here. 44 00:03:21,116 --> 00:03:23,836 Speaker 3: This is the driveway and there's the gate. 45 00:03:24,676 --> 00:03:30,436 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, there's the drain pipe, the drain pipe. I 46 00:03:30,476 --> 00:03:33,796 Speaker 1: think I see the remains. So it's just an overgrown 47 00:03:33,876 --> 00:03:39,156 Speaker 1: gate with some posted signs. The house is gone now 48 00:03:39,156 --> 00:03:42,876 Speaker 1: as it's a double wide trailer burned down a couple 49 00:03:42,916 --> 00:03:45,836 Speaker 1: of years a couple of years ago. There's a pond 50 00:03:45,956 --> 00:03:46,476 Speaker 1: back there. 51 00:03:47,236 --> 00:03:47,636 Speaker 2: It's a. 52 00:03:49,236 --> 00:03:52,596 Speaker 1: If we hadn't met that that guy, we would have 53 00:03:52,596 --> 00:03:53,396 Speaker 1: had no idea. 54 00:03:53,956 --> 00:03:56,316 Speaker 8: Yeah, you would not have identified this as I guess. 55 00:03:56,316 --> 00:03:58,876 Speaker 2: There's the only thing is the gate that says private property. 56 00:03:58,956 --> 00:04:04,676 Speaker 1: It's all overgrown. Now if you wanted to hide, let's 57 00:04:04,716 --> 00:04:09,276 Speaker 1: just say this is a very good place to hide. 58 00:04:10,316 --> 00:04:19,756 Speaker 1: Nobody's going to trouble you. My name is Malcolm Gladwell. 59 00:04:20,036 --> 00:04:25,476 Speaker 1: This is the Alabama Murders. I talked in the last 60 00:04:25,516 --> 00:04:29,236 Speaker 1: episode about the notion of the Failure cascade, a crisis 61 00:04:29,276 --> 00:04:32,676 Speaker 1: that does not resolve itself, but rather accelerates in a 62 00:04:32,716 --> 00:04:36,876 Speaker 1: way that we neither anticipate nor desire. In this episode, 63 00:04:37,236 --> 00:04:39,156 Speaker 1: we're going to go deep into the crime that took 64 00:04:39,196 --> 00:04:41,676 Speaker 1: place in the morning of March eighteenth, nineteen eighty eight, 65 00:04:41,836 --> 00:04:44,876 Speaker 1: that kicked off the cascade and tore the Senate family 66 00:04:44,916 --> 00:04:48,956 Speaker 1: apart before it accelerated and spread to countless others. 67 00:04:50,076 --> 00:04:51,876 Speaker 9: Thirty five years. 68 00:04:52,396 --> 00:04:57,596 Speaker 10: That's how long Elizabeth Sennatt's family waited for justice to occur. 69 00:04:58,756 --> 00:05:01,556 Speaker 10: Thirty five long years. 70 00:05:02,476 --> 00:05:05,676 Speaker 1: This is the Attorney General of Alabama, Steve Marshall, at 71 00:05:05,716 --> 00:05:09,516 Speaker 1: a press conference in twenty twenty two. By the way, 72 00:05:09,636 --> 00:05:12,876 Speaker 1: the senecase still wasn't over when it still had one 73 00:05:13,396 --> 00:05:15,716 Speaker 1: final grotesque act to come. 74 00:05:17,036 --> 00:05:22,716 Speaker 10: To give some perspective, almost half of Alabama's population wasn't 75 00:05:22,796 --> 00:05:28,676 Speaker 10: even born when this malicious crime was committed. The well 76 00:05:28,716 --> 00:05:34,836 Speaker 10: known axiom is true, the justice delayed is justice denied. 77 00:05:35,556 --> 00:05:35,716 Speaker 2: No. 78 00:05:36,396 --> 00:05:39,836 Speaker 1: What the senecase teaches us is that justice delayed is 79 00:05:39,916 --> 00:05:43,116 Speaker 1: what justice is in the world we have chosen for ourselves. 80 00:05:44,236 --> 00:05:47,636 Speaker 1: The question is why, how does a crime turn into 81 00:05:47,636 --> 00:05:54,876 Speaker 1: a cascade? Episode two, Coon Dog Cemetery Road. 82 00:06:01,276 --> 00:06:03,836 Speaker 11: So, then, have you seen pictures of this family of 83 00:06:03,956 --> 00:06:09,836 Speaker 11: Charles Senate and Liz So Actually, Charles Senate kind of 84 00:06:09,916 --> 00:06:15,636 Speaker 11: looked like a nineteen eighties TV evangelist. 85 00:06:16,516 --> 00:06:19,276 Speaker 1: This is Lacy Kennemer, whose husband was one of the 86 00:06:19,276 --> 00:06:21,276 Speaker 1: many lawyers drawn into the Senate case. 87 00:06:22,156 --> 00:06:29,676 Speaker 11: He was hadsome, dark headed, kind of had that southern 88 00:06:30,276 --> 00:06:34,716 Speaker 11: a little bit, a little bit redneck, but look, she 89 00:06:34,916 --> 00:06:38,716 Speaker 11: was hungly as a mud fence, I mean, and and 90 00:06:38,876 --> 00:06:44,036 Speaker 11: everything that I've read about him, and what I've never 91 00:06:44,116 --> 00:06:51,756 Speaker 11: heard humly as a mud fence, I've never heard. You 92 00:06:51,756 --> 00:06:58,236 Speaker 11: can imagine. Yes, So what I remember, what I recall 93 00:06:58,916 --> 00:07:06,916 Speaker 11: about this was the fact that he was having an 94 00:07:06,956 --> 00:07:12,196 Speaker 11: affair with a parishioner. There weren't seventy people that went 95 00:07:12,236 --> 00:07:15,196 Speaker 11: to that church. How did they not know that this 96 00:07:15,396 --> 00:07:21,156 Speaker 11: was going on? And then they lived. They lived out 97 00:07:21,436 --> 00:07:27,316 Speaker 11: on what's called Kungdaks Cemetery Road, which is in rural 98 00:07:27,356 --> 00:07:32,516 Speaker 11: part of Colver County. And when I say rule it, 99 00:07:32,516 --> 00:07:39,636 Speaker 11: it's frighteningly rule, which makes me wonder about this guy. 100 00:07:40,036 --> 00:07:43,996 Speaker 11: I mean, it had to be Kungdal Cemetery Road if 101 00:07:44,036 --> 00:07:48,356 Speaker 11: you were on out on it. He had to live 102 00:07:48,436 --> 00:07:53,356 Speaker 11: thirty two miles from his church building and a long 103 00:07:53,436 --> 00:07:59,796 Speaker 11: way from his parishioners. I think the guy was crazy. 104 00:08:00,556 --> 00:08:04,356 Speaker 1: On March eighteenth, nineteen eighty eight, just before noon, Charles 105 00:08:04,396 --> 00:08:07,676 Speaker 1: Sennett returned home from a morning in town. His house 106 00:08:08,276 --> 00:08:12,076 Speaker 1: was ransacked. The living room was a mess. A coffee 107 00:08:12,076 --> 00:08:15,836 Speaker 1: table had been turned upside down its legs. Broken wood 108 00:08:15,876 --> 00:08:20,236 Speaker 1: fragments were everywhere. A stereo and VCR were missing and 109 00:08:20,316 --> 00:08:22,596 Speaker 1: lying on the floor. Of the den. In a pool 110 00:08:22,596 --> 00:08:27,396 Speaker 1: of blood was his wife, Elizabeth dorleyan Senate. She'd been 111 00:08:27,436 --> 00:08:32,236 Speaker 1: stabbed repeatedly. A white and blue afghan covered her face 112 00:08:32,276 --> 00:08:36,836 Speaker 1: and torso. Senate called the Colbert County Sheriff's office. An 113 00:08:36,876 --> 00:08:40,796 Speaker 1: investigator named Ronnie May answered the phone. Senate was hysterical 114 00:08:40,956 --> 00:08:43,876 Speaker 1: and May couldn't understand him at first, didn't even know 115 00:08:43,916 --> 00:08:45,876 Speaker 1: whether he was speaking to a man or a woman. 116 00:08:46,596 --> 00:08:51,436 Speaker 1: May said, calm down, then again, calm down. Senate said, 117 00:08:51,876 --> 00:08:54,716 Speaker 1: I've just come home. My house has been broken into 118 00:08:55,076 --> 00:08:58,916 Speaker 1: and my wife has been killed. May said, stay where 119 00:08:58,916 --> 00:09:04,356 Speaker 1: you are, we'll be right there. May and his officers 120 00:09:04,556 --> 00:09:08,156 Speaker 1: drove out to Senate's house. It was raining heavily. As 121 00:09:08,156 --> 00:09:11,876 Speaker 1: he walked in to the carport, came running towards him, 122 00:09:12,316 --> 00:09:16,516 Speaker 1: wrapped his arms around him and said, Ronnie, Ronnie, they've 123 00:09:16,596 --> 00:09:20,596 Speaker 1: killed her. They've killed her. Ronnie May walked into the 124 00:09:20,636 --> 00:09:24,596 Speaker 1: den where Elizabeth Sennett's body was lying. He reached for 125 00:09:24,636 --> 00:09:30,276 Speaker 1: a pulse, couldn't find one. Thought she was dead, but 126 00:09:30,316 --> 00:09:33,076 Speaker 1: when the ambulance arrived a few minutes later, one of 127 00:09:33,076 --> 00:09:39,196 Speaker 1: the paramedics found a faint pulse. Chuck and Mike Sennet, 128 00:09:39,396 --> 00:09:42,676 Speaker 1: their two sons were twenty five and twenty three years 129 00:09:42,716 --> 00:09:43,476 Speaker 1: old at the time. 130 00:09:44,276 --> 00:09:48,316 Speaker 2: Mom was just the homemaker, kind, nurturing boiler every day 131 00:09:48,316 --> 00:09:49,916 Speaker 2: after school, you know, growing up. 132 00:09:50,156 --> 00:09:53,236 Speaker 7: You know, we never missed a time with her and Daddy. 133 00:09:53,756 --> 00:09:56,076 Speaker 1: They later gave an interview to the local news about 134 00:09:56,076 --> 00:09:56,516 Speaker 1: that day. 135 00:09:57,116 --> 00:10:00,076 Speaker 7: Chuck got the news before I did. 136 00:10:00,436 --> 00:10:01,756 Speaker 2: Laddy called me work. 137 00:10:02,396 --> 00:10:05,996 Speaker 7: Yeah, Chuck called me at work, said something happened to 138 00:10:06,076 --> 00:10:08,916 Speaker 7: Mom at the farm. Get out here quick. 139 00:10:10,076 --> 00:10:13,876 Speaker 1: Elizabeth Sennet was taken by ambulance to Helen Keller Hospital 140 00:10:13,916 --> 00:10:18,116 Speaker 1: in Sheffield. In the er, the medical staff tried frantically 141 00:10:18,196 --> 00:10:22,836 Speaker 1: to keep her alive. The doctors started cardiac resuscitation, put 142 00:10:22,916 --> 00:10:26,476 Speaker 1: in an IV, gave her fluid, put in a breathing tube. 143 00:10:26,756 --> 00:10:30,156 Speaker 1: They took Elizabeth Sennate to the operating room, opened her chest, 144 00:10:30,716 --> 00:10:33,956 Speaker 1: found no blood in her heart or vascular system. In 145 00:10:33,996 --> 00:10:35,956 Speaker 1: one last attempt to save her life, they put a 146 00:10:35,956 --> 00:10:38,876 Speaker 1: clamp across her aorda on the chance that the fluid 147 00:10:38,876 --> 00:10:40,156 Speaker 1: would fill her heart chamber. 148 00:10:41,756 --> 00:10:45,116 Speaker 7: We sat there for a while and then they invite 149 00:10:45,196 --> 00:10:48,316 Speaker 7: you up to the second floor, which is where they 150 00:10:48,836 --> 00:10:50,236 Speaker 7: delivered the bad news. 151 00:10:53,316 --> 00:10:57,116 Speaker 1: Elizabeth Senate was pronounced dead at two five in the afternoon. 152 00:11:00,636 --> 00:11:02,876 Speaker 1: Lacey kennemer knew one of the nurses who was there 153 00:11:02,916 --> 00:11:05,756 Speaker 1: at the hospital when Elizabeth was brought in that day. 154 00:11:06,476 --> 00:11:11,756 Speaker 6: So she's and the er, it's the doctor and the 155 00:11:12,516 --> 00:11:17,516 Speaker 6: and miss Senate. And the doctor said, please go out 156 00:11:17,836 --> 00:11:21,676 Speaker 6: and tell her husband. She is still hanging on. She's 157 00:11:21,716 --> 00:11:22,916 Speaker 6: still with us. 158 00:11:23,516 --> 00:11:24,076 Speaker 2: She said. 159 00:11:24,316 --> 00:11:26,636 Speaker 6: I walked out of that I will never forget as 160 00:11:26,636 --> 00:11:30,556 Speaker 6: long as I live. I walked out of that emergency department. 161 00:11:30,636 --> 00:11:33,676 Speaker 6: I walked out of the emergency room room and went 162 00:11:33,756 --> 00:11:38,636 Speaker 6: to him and tell him. And he was astounded. He said, 163 00:11:39,276 --> 00:11:40,276 Speaker 6: that cannot be. 164 00:11:42,116 --> 00:11:42,636 Speaker 2: Wow. 165 00:11:44,516 --> 00:11:49,356 Speaker 1: It wasn't long before the speculation began. I'm just really 166 00:11:49,396 --> 00:11:54,236 Speaker 1: curious about when the news broke about what had happened 167 00:11:54,236 --> 00:11:59,836 Speaker 1: to Elizabeth or Elizabeth Orlean. Can you tell me about 168 00:11:59,836 --> 00:12:00,596 Speaker 1: what that was like. 169 00:12:01,156 --> 00:12:03,876 Speaker 3: I can tell you every minute of that one. 170 00:12:04,516 --> 00:12:07,676 Speaker 1: This is Shirley Bill who went to Charles Sentence Church. 171 00:12:08,116 --> 00:12:10,556 Speaker 3: When we stopped by to visit at the church the 172 00:12:10,676 --> 00:12:13,556 Speaker 3: last time, where he was preaching. On the way home 173 00:12:13,716 --> 00:12:18,636 Speaker 3: to visit our parents, he back handed his child. I 174 00:12:18,636 --> 00:12:20,876 Speaker 3: don't know what the child had done. My husband was 175 00:12:20,916 --> 00:12:24,276 Speaker 3: furious because he says, you just don't do that to 176 00:12:24,316 --> 00:12:27,116 Speaker 3: a child across its face, you might hit its ear 177 00:12:27,156 --> 00:12:30,396 Speaker 3: and causes the hearing to be gone. So he was 178 00:12:30,436 --> 00:12:33,036 Speaker 3: really mad about it. So when we heard the news 179 00:12:33,116 --> 00:12:36,116 Speaker 3: on the radio one morning at breakfast, Charles Sennett's wife 180 00:12:36,156 --> 00:12:39,276 Speaker 3: has been murdered, my husband looked right straight at me 181 00:12:39,276 --> 00:12:43,316 Speaker 3: and he said he did it. That's how convinced he 182 00:12:43,476 --> 00:12:48,396 Speaker 3: was over that slapping, that the viciousness was there, that 183 00:12:48,436 --> 00:12:50,956 Speaker 3: he could do something like that. I don't know, but 184 00:12:51,076 --> 00:12:52,996 Speaker 3: that's where we heard it first. Was that sitting at 185 00:12:53,036 --> 00:12:53,836 Speaker 3: the breakfast table. 186 00:12:55,036 --> 00:12:58,836 Speaker 1: Carl Roden, a member of Sentence Congregation, spoke to Senate 187 00:12:58,916 --> 00:13:00,956 Speaker 1: on the morning of the murder and drove him to 188 00:13:00,996 --> 00:13:01,636 Speaker 1: the hospital. 189 00:13:02,516 --> 00:13:07,116 Speaker 8: Picked him up at Highway seventy two, two forty seven. 190 00:13:07,676 --> 00:13:09,356 Speaker 8: He was an animust and they got out. I got 191 00:13:09,356 --> 00:13:11,316 Speaker 8: in the car with man. I brought him onto the hospital. 192 00:13:11,436 --> 00:13:12,316 Speaker 9: Yeah. 193 00:13:12,436 --> 00:13:14,596 Speaker 8: The only thing he ever said after, you know, you 194 00:13:14,716 --> 00:13:17,436 Speaker 8: look back. He said, they shouldn't have learned her that way. 195 00:13:18,796 --> 00:13:20,236 Speaker 8: Didn't really mean nothing at the time. 196 00:13:21,516 --> 00:13:24,356 Speaker 1: Her funeral was the following Sunday at the West Side 197 00:13:24,396 --> 00:13:28,276 Speaker 1: Church of Christ, her husband's church. Rodin watched Senate walk 198 00:13:28,316 --> 00:13:29,516 Speaker 1: out of the service. 199 00:13:30,156 --> 00:13:33,876 Speaker 8: After the clothing prayers and singing and all that family 200 00:13:33,916 --> 00:13:37,116 Speaker 8: comes out first, and he has her pictures up against 201 00:13:37,116 --> 00:13:40,796 Speaker 8: his chest with both hands hugging it. And he was 202 00:13:40,876 --> 00:13:43,396 Speaker 8: just most fake thing I believe I've ever saw. And 203 00:13:43,436 --> 00:13:45,796 Speaker 8: I told my wife was that most phoniest thing I've 204 00:13:45,796 --> 00:13:50,276 Speaker 8: ever saw. He just had looked put on. 205 00:13:52,236 --> 00:13:54,716 Speaker 1: Rodin lives in his small white house right down the 206 00:13:54,756 --> 00:13:57,276 Speaker 1: street from the old West Side Church of Christ, now 207 00:13:57,316 --> 00:14:00,316 Speaker 1: empty but still with the very Church of Christ's message 208 00:14:00,356 --> 00:14:04,316 Speaker 1: on the sign outside, Time is precious? Are you spending 209 00:14:04,356 --> 00:14:07,276 Speaker 1: time with the God who made you? As we were 210 00:14:07,276 --> 00:14:10,436 Speaker 1: talking with Rodin, he told us about a friend, someone 211 00:14:10,476 --> 00:14:13,596 Speaker 1: who'd worked the case when I first broke. He said, 212 00:14:13,636 --> 00:14:17,996 Speaker 1: his name is is Mickey Ricky, Ricky, Ricky Miller, Ricky Miller, 213 00:14:18,516 --> 00:14:22,796 Speaker 1: and he was one of the deputies investigating that the case. 214 00:14:23,596 --> 00:14:26,596 Speaker 8: And and he's he's you to talk with. 215 00:14:26,876 --> 00:14:28,356 Speaker 1: And so Rodent called Ricky up. 216 00:14:28,636 --> 00:14:31,076 Speaker 8: When do you say, come from the here tomorrow? I 217 00:14:31,076 --> 00:14:37,916 Speaker 8: don't know ship, Okay, get it over with. We'll be there. 218 00:14:37,916 --> 00:14:40,796 Speaker 8: And he's there now. They're famine and everything. Get your 219 00:14:40,796 --> 00:14:44,436 Speaker 8: hair combed won't be a movie. They get your hair combed. 220 00:14:44,436 --> 00:14:48,236 Speaker 8: It you got a haircut today? Well, you don't got 221 00:14:48,236 --> 00:14:55,276 Speaker 8: your hair cut. But no, they just writing a story 222 00:14:55,396 --> 00:14:57,916 Speaker 8: or something. I don't really know. They pretty good Old 223 00:14:57,956 --> 00:15:02,116 Speaker 8: Joe's any white fir or Yankees. It's just too of 224 00:15:02,196 --> 00:15:03,436 Speaker 8: them with a microphone. 225 00:15:04,916 --> 00:15:09,236 Speaker 1: Wow, okay, and be there in TIMI. 226 00:15:13,996 --> 00:15:15,636 Speaker 8: So much, thank you appreciate. 227 00:15:30,756 --> 00:15:34,076 Speaker 1: Carl Ruden's friend, Ricky Miller, lives in a small, immaculate 228 00:15:34,156 --> 00:15:37,756 Speaker 1: house in a quiet part of Muscle Shoals. He's retired 229 00:15:37,876 --> 00:15:40,236 Speaker 1: after a long career as an investigator in the District 230 00:15:40,276 --> 00:15:44,996 Speaker 1: Attorney's office. Handsome quiet recently widowed, still had a law 231 00:15:45,076 --> 00:15:45,996 Speaker 1: enforcement haircut. 232 00:15:47,156 --> 00:15:52,716 Speaker 2: I assisted the Sheriff's department and investigating a case and 233 00:15:53,796 --> 00:15:57,076 Speaker 2: it got interested. You know, the more you got into it, 234 00:15:57,076 --> 00:15:58,316 Speaker 2: the more instant it got. 235 00:15:59,356 --> 00:16:00,916 Speaker 1: He was part of the team that went out to 236 00:16:00,956 --> 00:16:03,756 Speaker 1: the sentenced property after the murder to search the pond. 237 00:16:04,276 --> 00:16:07,996 Speaker 1: They drained it found a survival knife, a fireplace poker, 238 00:16:08,396 --> 00:16:09,796 Speaker 1: and a fireplace brush. 239 00:16:10,516 --> 00:16:14,076 Speaker 2: There were so many leads and stuff we followed and followed, 240 00:16:15,036 --> 00:16:21,116 Speaker 2: but at the time, the crime stopper's phone for our 241 00:16:21,236 --> 00:16:25,276 Speaker 2: county was in my office and I entered the call 242 00:16:25,796 --> 00:16:29,076 Speaker 2: and I got all the information on who done it, 243 00:16:29,556 --> 00:16:32,356 Speaker 2: who was all involved in all the particulars. 244 00:16:33,676 --> 00:16:36,956 Speaker 1: The anonymous caller named three young men, all in their 245 00:16:36,996 --> 00:16:41,796 Speaker 1: teens and early twenties, Billy Gray Williams, John Forest Parker, 246 00:16:42,436 --> 00:16:46,516 Speaker 1: and Kenny Eugene Smith. The caller had details right down 247 00:16:46,556 --> 00:16:50,156 Speaker 1: to the location of key pieces of evidence. The caller 248 00:16:50,196 --> 00:16:52,036 Speaker 1: said they had taken a VCR. 249 00:16:53,116 --> 00:16:55,876 Speaker 2: And the call I received even told me whether the 250 00:16:55,996 --> 00:16:59,276 Speaker 2: VCR was being used, and it was on Kenneth Smiths 251 00:17:00,196 --> 00:17:03,396 Speaker 2: TV said it's sitting there right now, he's using it 252 00:17:04,316 --> 00:17:06,876 Speaker 2: and come to find out that was racrate. 253 00:17:09,116 --> 00:17:12,236 Speaker 1: Te of the young men were arrested. All three confessed. 254 00:17:13,316 --> 00:17:16,476 Speaker 1: Kenny Smith explained that he'd been approached by Billy Williams 255 00:17:16,516 --> 00:17:19,996 Speaker 1: a month earlier. He knew Williams from high school. The 256 00:17:20,036 --> 00:17:22,276 Speaker 1: two of them had talked out on his front porch. 257 00:17:22,996 --> 00:17:26,636 Speaker 1: Smith said, quote, Billy said he knew someone that wanted 258 00:17:26,636 --> 00:17:29,716 Speaker 1: somebody hurt. Billy said the person wanted to pay to 259 00:17:29,756 --> 00:17:32,636 Speaker 1: have it done. Billy said the person would pay fifteen 260 00:17:32,716 --> 00:17:34,036 Speaker 1: hundred dollars to do the job. 261 00:17:34,676 --> 00:17:34,956 Speaker 2: I think. 262 00:17:34,996 --> 00:17:36,996 Speaker 1: I told Billy I would think about it and get 263 00:17:36,996 --> 00:17:39,796 Speaker 1: back with him. Smith then says he agrees to do 264 00:17:39,876 --> 00:17:43,396 Speaker 1: it and recruits John Parker to help. Two weeks later, 265 00:17:43,636 --> 00:17:46,036 Speaker 1: Smith met with the man Williams had been in contact with. 266 00:17:46,636 --> 00:17:49,556 Speaker 1: He didn't identify himself and they had no idea who 267 00:17:49,596 --> 00:17:52,956 Speaker 1: he was. The man said he wanted someone taken care 268 00:17:52,996 --> 00:17:55,836 Speaker 1: of a woman. The man said the woman would be 269 00:17:55,916 --> 00:17:59,116 Speaker 1: at home, that she never had any visitors. The man 270 00:17:59,156 --> 00:18:02,116 Speaker 1: said that the house was out in the country. They 271 00:18:02,156 --> 00:18:04,556 Speaker 1: all met again at a coffee shop. The man drew 272 00:18:04,596 --> 00:18:07,516 Speaker 1: a diagram of the house. It was supposed to look 273 00:18:07,556 --> 00:18:10,716 Speaker 1: like a burglary that went bad. The man said they 274 00:18:10,716 --> 00:18:15,036 Speaker 1: could take whatever they wanted. On the morning of the eighteenth, 275 00:18:15,076 --> 00:18:18,316 Speaker 1: Parker and Smith met up at eight thirty. Parker brought 276 00:18:18,356 --> 00:18:21,596 Speaker 1: a black handled survival knife. The two of them drove 277 00:18:21,636 --> 00:18:25,276 Speaker 1: out to Koondog Cemetery Road in Parker's Pontiac Grand Prix. 278 00:18:25,756 --> 00:18:29,596 Speaker 1: Smith told investigators John and I got to the Senate 279 00:18:29,596 --> 00:18:33,036 Speaker 1: house around nine thirty. I think I knocked on the door. 280 00:18:33,476 --> 00:18:35,996 Speaker 1: I told Missus Sennet that her husband had told us 281 00:18:36,316 --> 00:18:38,276 Speaker 1: that we could come down and look around the property 282 00:18:38,556 --> 00:18:41,596 Speaker 1: to see about hunting on it. John and I looked 283 00:18:41,636 --> 00:18:43,636 Speaker 1: around the property for a while, then came back into 284 00:18:43,676 --> 00:18:46,196 Speaker 1: the house. John and I went back to the door. 285 00:18:46,836 --> 00:18:49,316 Speaker 1: We told Missus Sennet we needed to use the bathroom. 286 00:18:49,596 --> 00:18:52,636 Speaker 1: And she led us inside. I went to the bathroom 287 00:18:52,676 --> 00:18:55,396 Speaker 1: nearest the kitchen, and then John went to the bathroom. 288 00:18:55,716 --> 00:18:58,116 Speaker 1: I stood at the edge of the kitchen talking with 289 00:18:58,156 --> 00:19:01,116 Speaker 1: Missus Senet. Missus Sennet was sitting at a chair in 290 00:19:01,156 --> 00:19:03,996 Speaker 1: the den. Then I heard John coming through the house. 291 00:19:04,836 --> 00:19:08,596 Speaker 1: John walked up behind Missus Sennet and started hitting her. 292 00:19:09,276 --> 00:19:12,516 Speaker 1: John was hitting her with his fist. I started getting 293 00:19:12,516 --> 00:19:16,876 Speaker 1: the VCR while John was beating Missus Sennet. John hit 294 00:19:16,956 --> 00:19:19,676 Speaker 1: Missus Sennet with a large cane and anything else he 295 00:19:19,676 --> 00:19:23,116 Speaker 1: could get his hands on. John went into a frenzy. 296 00:19:23,756 --> 00:19:27,676 Speaker 1: Missus Sennet was yelling just stop. We could have anything 297 00:19:27,716 --> 00:19:31,636 Speaker 1: we wanted. As John was beating up Missus Sennet, I 298 00:19:31,716 --> 00:19:33,556 Speaker 1: messed up some things in the house to make it 299 00:19:33,596 --> 00:19:37,076 Speaker 1: look like a burglary. The last place I saw Missus Sennet, 300 00:19:37,516 --> 00:19:40,436 Speaker 1: she was lying near the fireplace, covered with some kind 301 00:19:40,436 --> 00:19:43,076 Speaker 1: of blanket. I had gone outside to look in the 302 00:19:43,076 --> 00:19:45,916 Speaker 1: storage buildings when I saw John run out to the 303 00:19:45,956 --> 00:19:50,396 Speaker 1: pond and throw some things in it. End quote. The 304 00:19:50,436 --> 00:19:53,316 Speaker 1: next morning, the two of them read the newspapers and 305 00:19:53,436 --> 00:19:56,676 Speaker 1: learned that the woman they had attacked was dead and 306 00:19:56,716 --> 00:20:09,676 Speaker 1: that her name was Elizabeth Sennet. Did you at what 307 00:20:09,836 --> 00:20:14,396 Speaker 1: point in the investigation did you come to suspect that 308 00:20:14,516 --> 00:20:16,236 Speaker 1: Charles Senntt might be involved? 309 00:20:17,916 --> 00:20:21,316 Speaker 2: The first thing that called our tension, the best I 310 00:20:21,316 --> 00:20:25,956 Speaker 2: can remember, was he made too many alibis. You know, 311 00:20:26,036 --> 00:20:28,516 Speaker 2: if you go about your casual day, you might run 312 00:20:28,556 --> 00:20:32,476 Speaker 2: into one, maybe two people. But he had a pattern 313 00:20:32,836 --> 00:20:36,876 Speaker 2: everywhere he went was to make him alibi. And when 314 00:20:36,876 --> 00:20:40,996 Speaker 2: he won by Carl's house, Carlson said, told me you'd 315 00:20:41,036 --> 00:20:44,276 Speaker 2: never been to his house except that one time. 316 00:20:46,076 --> 00:20:50,036 Speaker 1: Eight to eight thirty Chill Kendrick eight thirty to nine, 317 00:20:50,436 --> 00:20:55,996 Speaker 1: Sam Garrett Junior nine o'clock, Billy Alexander nine fifteen, Missus 318 00:20:56,076 --> 00:20:59,836 Speaker 1: Louise Island sees them leave Westside Church nine thirty to ten, 319 00:21:00,396 --> 00:21:04,916 Speaker 1: Carl roadin ten, Teresa Hall ten point fifteen, a phone 320 00:21:04,916 --> 00:21:08,356 Speaker 1: call with Tammy Sue Wright, eleven am with Brenda sprayed 321 00:21:08,396 --> 00:21:12,196 Speaker 1: on Woodmontre even Tscumbia, and on and on. 322 00:21:13,756 --> 00:21:16,836 Speaker 2: He made too many of it. It was overkilled. You know. 323 00:21:16,876 --> 00:21:20,076 Speaker 2: He stopped to see people that had never seen and 324 00:21:20,116 --> 00:21:23,116 Speaker 2: that just threw up a red flag to us. Why 325 00:21:23,196 --> 00:21:26,276 Speaker 2: is he seeing all these people for the first time 326 00:21:26,596 --> 00:21:29,476 Speaker 2: that had to be at the time his wife's being murdered, 327 00:21:30,116 --> 00:21:33,596 Speaker 2: you know, and even on his way home. I don't 328 00:21:33,596 --> 00:21:36,276 Speaker 2: know if you're familiar where it happened at out in 329 00:21:36,356 --> 00:21:37,796 Speaker 2: the county. Have you ever been there? 330 00:21:39,276 --> 00:21:42,236 Speaker 1: Sat koondomps in the road, and. 331 00:21:42,676 --> 00:21:45,076 Speaker 2: It's a good ways out there. People along the way, 332 00:21:45,156 --> 00:21:48,636 Speaker 2: even on the highway two forty seven, Gord, they said 333 00:21:48,636 --> 00:21:51,116 Speaker 2: he had stopped and said he had never stopped here before. 334 00:21:52,636 --> 00:21:55,636 Speaker 2: He could tell you every time, everything, every day. Well 335 00:21:55,716 --> 00:21:58,236 Speaker 2: it had my wife just been murdered in my home. 336 00:21:59,196 --> 00:22:03,276 Speaker 2: I couldn't tell you nothing. My mind's gone, but he 337 00:22:03,396 --> 00:22:05,996 Speaker 2: knew everything in detail. That's a red flag. 338 00:22:07,676 --> 00:22:12,076 Speaker 1: So it's And then Carl told us that in the 339 00:22:12,116 --> 00:22:17,236 Speaker 1: car Carl takes him to the hospital that night, he 340 00:22:17,316 --> 00:22:21,236 Speaker 1: says said that Senate said to him they beat her 341 00:22:21,276 --> 00:22:24,276 Speaker 1: up pretty bad or something like that. They shouldn't have 342 00:22:24,316 --> 00:22:27,676 Speaker 1: done it that way. How does he know there's two. 343 00:22:27,916 --> 00:22:34,836 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, when you use a word bay, yeah, yeah, yeah. 344 00:22:34,236 --> 00:22:40,636 Speaker 1: I understand that. When Senate is he tells the story 345 00:22:40,676 --> 00:22:42,436 Speaker 1: about how it comes back to the house, he sees 346 00:22:42,476 --> 00:22:46,436 Speaker 1: his wife's body, and then they said, well what did 347 00:22:46,476 --> 00:22:49,396 Speaker 1: you do? And he said, I didn't touch her, even 348 00:22:49,396 --> 00:22:53,396 Speaker 1: though he was trained and surely that was another red flag. 349 00:22:54,356 --> 00:22:57,356 Speaker 1: His wife was lying mortally wounded a few feet away. 350 00:22:57,956 --> 00:23:00,196 Speaker 1: He didn't touch her. And this was a man who 351 00:23:00,236 --> 00:23:01,316 Speaker 1: was trained in CPR. 352 00:23:02,116 --> 00:23:04,596 Speaker 2: That was a question where I wonder, first thing you're 353 00:23:04,596 --> 00:23:07,236 Speaker 2: going to do is go to your wife. If it 354 00:23:07,236 --> 00:23:12,156 Speaker 2: had been my wife laying there plunging bloody and now, 355 00:23:12,796 --> 00:23:15,476 Speaker 2: first thing I would have done was checked her, grabbed her. 356 00:23:15,836 --> 00:23:17,996 Speaker 2: I would have had some kind of evidence on me 357 00:23:18,516 --> 00:23:22,116 Speaker 2: that I had made contact with. He lived sixteen miles out, 358 00:23:22,996 --> 00:23:24,876 Speaker 2: It's going to take him a while to get there. 359 00:23:25,436 --> 00:23:28,036 Speaker 2: So what are you doing the whole time? Are you 360 00:23:28,236 --> 00:23:30,996 Speaker 2: just standing there looking at her? Then you're not going 361 00:23:31,036 --> 00:23:33,716 Speaker 2: to check her? That's a red flag. 362 00:23:34,996 --> 00:23:35,196 Speaker 7: You know. 363 00:23:35,276 --> 00:23:37,276 Speaker 2: There would have been some kind of evidence that you 364 00:23:37,316 --> 00:23:38,596 Speaker 2: were to check your why. 365 00:23:38,956 --> 00:23:57,956 Speaker 1: That he did not. In The Brothers Grim telling of 366 00:23:57,996 --> 00:24:01,116 Speaker 1: Little Red riding Hood, a fairy tale beloved by small 367 00:24:01,196 --> 00:24:04,436 Speaker 1: children for centuries, Little Red riding Hood is tricked by 368 00:24:04,436 --> 00:24:08,676 Speaker 1: a wolf dressed as her grandmother and eating. She's in 369 00:24:08,836 --> 00:24:11,636 Speaker 1: saved by a hunter who cuts open the wolf's belly, 370 00:24:12,076 --> 00:24:14,636 Speaker 1: glimpses her red cap, and pulls her out. 371 00:24:15,436 --> 00:24:19,436 Speaker 9: Ah, how frightened I have been? How dark it was 372 00:24:19,516 --> 00:24:23,596 Speaker 9: inside the wolf's. Little Red riding Hood, however, quickly fetched 373 00:24:23,636 --> 00:24:26,516 Speaker 9: great stones with which to fill the wolf's belly, and 374 00:24:26,596 --> 00:24:29,636 Speaker 9: when he awoke, he wanted to run away, but the 375 00:24:29,676 --> 00:24:33,156 Speaker 9: stones were so heavy that he collapsed at once and 376 00:24:33,316 --> 00:24:33,956 Speaker 9: fell dead. 377 00:24:34,436 --> 00:24:37,236 Speaker 1: Then another wolf stalks her jumps on the roof of 378 00:24:37,276 --> 00:24:39,876 Speaker 1: her grandmother's house, and Little Red riding Hood and her 379 00:24:39,876 --> 00:24:43,196 Speaker 1: grandmother foil him by putting a pot of sausage flavored 380 00:24:43,196 --> 00:24:44,396 Speaker 1: water in front of her house. 381 00:24:44,956 --> 00:24:47,956 Speaker 9: Then the smell of the sausages reached the wolf, and 382 00:24:48,076 --> 00:24:51,756 Speaker 9: he sniffed and peeped down, and at last stretched out 383 00:24:51,756 --> 00:24:54,676 Speaker 9: his neck so far that he could no longer keep 384 00:24:54,676 --> 00:24:57,836 Speaker 9: his footing, and began to slip and slip down from 385 00:24:57,836 --> 00:25:01,476 Speaker 9: the roof straight into the great trough and was drowned. 386 00:25:02,356 --> 00:25:06,076 Speaker 9: But Little Red riding Hood went joyously home, and no 387 00:25:06,116 --> 00:25:09,116 Speaker 9: one ever did anything to harm her again. 388 00:25:12,796 --> 00:25:15,916 Speaker 1: Why do children so cheerfully indulge in a story that 389 00:25:16,036 --> 00:25:19,796 Speaker 1: is about, let's be clear, a pedophile because the wolf 390 00:25:19,836 --> 00:25:22,356 Speaker 1: gets his come upance in the end. It's the same 391 00:25:22,396 --> 00:25:26,476 Speaker 1: principle that explains everything from Sherlock Holmes to the television 392 00:25:26,476 --> 00:25:30,116 Speaker 1: show Law and Order to countless Tablady true crime podcasts. 393 00:25:30,876 --> 00:25:33,036 Speaker 1: We are more than happy to wallow in stories of 394 00:25:33,076 --> 00:25:36,716 Speaker 1: madness and depravity so long as order is restored in 395 00:25:36,756 --> 00:25:42,756 Speaker 1: the end. Crime stories are exercises in moral assurance. With 396 00:25:42,876 --> 00:25:45,876 Speaker 1: the Senate case, it's enormously tempting to tell a story 397 00:25:45,916 --> 00:25:49,196 Speaker 1: this way. The case is pure Southern Gothic. I mean 398 00:25:49,396 --> 00:25:51,636 Speaker 1: a preacher who has lost his way, a house on 399 00:25:51,676 --> 00:25:54,916 Speaker 1: a lonely mountain road called for goodness sake, Coon Dog 400 00:25:55,036 --> 00:25:58,876 Speaker 1: Cemetery Road, and then two local killers for hire, speeding 401 00:25:58,916 --> 00:26:01,916 Speaker 1: back to Florence with a VCR in the backseat. You 402 00:26:01,996 --> 00:26:04,636 Speaker 1: want that version, you can find it online. 403 00:26:05,676 --> 00:26:09,476 Speaker 12: This is the story of a god fearing Fai family 404 00:26:09,676 --> 00:26:13,636 Speaker 12: who preach, sing and pray together through good times and 405 00:26:13,796 --> 00:26:20,956 Speaker 12: bad but behind church doors and wholesome music, Bloom's betrayal 406 00:26:21,676 --> 00:26:25,436 Speaker 12: and deceit and a murder that will rock a small 407 00:26:25,516 --> 00:26:28,516 Speaker 12: town Alabama community to its core. 408 00:26:32,676 --> 00:26:35,596 Speaker 1: But let's be clear, the Little Red riding Hood model 409 00:26:35,676 --> 00:26:39,036 Speaker 1: is an illusion. You don't return home happily and safely 410 00:26:39,316 --> 00:26:42,036 Speaker 1: after fighting off a violent predator. You spend the rest 411 00:26:42,076 --> 00:26:46,636 Speaker 1: of your childhood recovering. The actual MIPD is nowhere near 412 00:26:46,676 --> 00:26:50,596 Speaker 1: as effortlessly effective as the fictional NPD of law and order, 413 00:26:51,476 --> 00:26:54,116 Speaker 1: and as much as everyone involved in the Senate case 414 00:26:54,476 --> 00:26:57,356 Speaker 1: wanted it to end neatly and tidily, as all the 415 00:26:57,396 --> 00:27:02,236 Speaker 1: classic crime stories do, it didn't end. It kept going. 416 00:27:06,916 --> 00:27:12,196 Speaker 1: So tell me about when this when the Senate case breaks, 417 00:27:13,276 --> 00:27:15,876 Speaker 1: when we first hear about it, what impact does it 418 00:27:15,916 --> 00:27:16,596 Speaker 1: have on the town. 419 00:27:18,356 --> 00:27:23,356 Speaker 13: Well, of course, abject horror throughout the whole community, and 420 00:27:23,476 --> 00:27:27,556 Speaker 13: it of course made the gory headlines for days and days, 421 00:27:28,116 --> 00:27:33,916 Speaker 13: especially because they didn't know who had murdered the minister's wife. 422 00:27:33,956 --> 00:27:38,476 Speaker 13: And as long as they're on the run, then everybody's frightened. 423 00:27:38,516 --> 00:27:39,196 Speaker 9: They don't know the. 424 00:27:39,116 --> 00:27:42,516 Speaker 1: Motive, Billy Warren, the Florencetown historian. 425 00:27:43,396 --> 00:27:45,596 Speaker 13: They don't know at that point that the minister has 426 00:27:45,676 --> 00:27:48,556 Speaker 13: hired these young men. They don't know anything. So it 427 00:27:49,476 --> 00:27:53,876 Speaker 13: was gripping really for the whole community because there was 428 00:27:53,996 --> 00:27:55,236 Speaker 13: so much unknown. 429 00:27:56,916 --> 00:28:00,556 Speaker 1: In the middle of this is Senate himself under suspicion, 430 00:28:00,956 --> 00:28:03,596 Speaker 1: but still at large, trying and failing to play the 431 00:28:03,716 --> 00:28:07,716 Speaker 1: role of the grieving husband and becoming increasingly aware that 432 00:28:07,796 --> 00:28:12,316 Speaker 1: his treachery was Why did Charles Sennett do such a 433 00:28:12,316 --> 00:28:15,876 Speaker 1: bad job of covering his own tracks? Billy Gray Williams, 434 00:28:15,996 --> 00:28:19,156 Speaker 1: the man he first approached with his scheme was his tenant. 435 00:28:19,236 --> 00:28:23,396 Speaker 1: For goodness sake, the sheriff's deputy, Ronnie May recognized Senate 436 00:28:23,556 --> 00:28:25,556 Speaker 1: because there had been a murder not long before at 437 00:28:25,596 --> 00:28:28,116 Speaker 1: a gas station, and Senate had come to the crime 438 00:28:28,156 --> 00:28:31,716 Speaker 1: scene uninvited and hung around as if he was studying 439 00:28:31,796 --> 00:28:35,156 Speaker 1: police procedure. And you know where he found the money 440 00:28:35,156 --> 00:28:38,676 Speaker 1: to pay his hitmen his lover. It's as if he 441 00:28:38,756 --> 00:28:42,116 Speaker 1: wasn't even trying, like he turned himself in before he'd 442 00:28:42,156 --> 00:28:46,636 Speaker 1: even committed his crime. When I try to imagine what 443 00:28:46,756 --> 00:28:48,756 Speaker 1: was going through his mind in the days after his 444 00:28:48,796 --> 00:28:51,396 Speaker 1: wife's death, I can't help but think of what the 445 00:28:51,396 --> 00:28:55,036 Speaker 1: theologian Lee Camp said in the last episode about how 446 00:28:55,076 --> 00:28:59,116 Speaker 1: Senate's original transgression, his affair with a woman in his church, 447 00:28:59,796 --> 00:29:04,716 Speaker 1: would have filled him with shame. And remember the joke 448 00:29:04,756 --> 00:29:07,396 Speaker 1: he told that for us in the Church of Christ, 449 00:29:07,676 --> 00:29:10,996 Speaker 1: it's easier to get forgiveness from murdering someone than it 450 00:29:11,076 --> 00:29:14,756 Speaker 1: was for divorce. The point of the joke is that 451 00:29:14,796 --> 00:29:17,956 Speaker 1: we are the most rigorous of Christian communities, and we 452 00:29:17,996 --> 00:29:20,956 Speaker 1: will cast you out for a second degree transgression like 453 00:29:21,036 --> 00:29:23,836 Speaker 1: cheating on your wife as surely as for a first 454 00:29:23,836 --> 00:29:28,676 Speaker 1: degree transgression like arranging for her murder. The acts are 455 00:29:28,796 --> 00:29:32,876 Speaker 1: very different, but the consequences are the same. So why 456 00:29:32,916 --> 00:29:35,396 Speaker 1: would Charles Sennet act as if he was indifferent to 457 00:29:35,436 --> 00:29:39,156 Speaker 1: whether he got caught, Because maybe, in his own tangled mind, 458 00:29:39,596 --> 00:29:42,836 Speaker 1: the leap from an affair to a killing wasn't a 459 00:29:42,916 --> 00:29:46,196 Speaker 1: leap at all. From the moment he cheated on his wife, 460 00:29:47,076 --> 00:29:56,396 Speaker 1: he was already beyond redemption. Charles Senna was called in 461 00:29:56,436 --> 00:30:00,156 Speaker 1: for questioning. He admitted to the affair, but he denied 462 00:30:00,196 --> 00:30:03,636 Speaker 1: any involvement with his wife's death. He said he suspected 463 00:30:03,636 --> 00:30:06,556 Speaker 1: a black man from Cherokee, Alabama, a town not far 464 00:30:06,596 --> 00:30:09,076 Speaker 1: from his house, who he said, at an ongoing fel 465 00:30:09,316 --> 00:30:12,596 Speaker 1: with his son. The police called Senate back for another 466 00:30:12,676 --> 00:30:15,956 Speaker 1: round of questioning. One of the officers mentioned the name 467 00:30:16,276 --> 00:30:21,476 Speaker 1: Kenny Smith, and Senate turned beat red. Senate left the 468 00:30:21,476 --> 00:30:24,196 Speaker 1: police station. He drove to his son, Michael's house. 469 00:30:25,196 --> 00:30:27,676 Speaker 7: You know, he said, you know, I failed a light 470 00:30:27,756 --> 00:30:30,916 Speaker 7: to take your test. He said, you know, I've been 471 00:30:30,956 --> 00:30:38,676 Speaker 7: involved with somebody else, and uh, we're taking all this 472 00:30:38,836 --> 00:30:40,036 Speaker 7: inn can't believe it. 473 00:30:40,916 --> 00:30:44,276 Speaker 1: Charles Senate left the house, got in his Chevy truck, 474 00:30:45,196 --> 00:30:46,396 Speaker 1: picked up at twenty two. 475 00:30:47,356 --> 00:30:50,556 Speaker 7: Pyle, you're here, Hark. 476 00:30:51,036 --> 00:30:52,316 Speaker 2: He's in his truck. 477 00:30:53,596 --> 00:30:54,756 Speaker 7: Where he shot itself. 478 00:30:55,956 --> 00:30:56,396 Speaker 12: That was. 479 00:30:58,116 --> 00:31:03,316 Speaker 7: Seven days after mom and mom got killed Friday to Friday. Yeah, 480 00:31:03,756 --> 00:31:08,116 Speaker 7: lost them both in seven days. Yeah. One don't know 481 00:31:08,756 --> 00:31:12,636 Speaker 7: how much that you can take until you go through 482 00:31:12,676 --> 00:31:13,436 Speaker 7: something like that. 483 00:31:17,236 --> 00:31:20,556 Speaker 1: In the Need and Tidy version of the Senate story, 484 00:31:20,756 --> 00:31:24,596 Speaker 1: this is the ending. The killers have confessed and are 485 00:31:24,636 --> 00:31:28,796 Speaker 1: in custody. The master criminal has shot himself, the victim 486 00:31:29,076 --> 00:31:33,556 Speaker 1: is buried. A crime, a culprit, a mystery, a resolution, 487 00:31:33,956 --> 00:31:39,596 Speaker 1: a beginning, an end. But we're not telling that person 488 00:31:39,596 --> 00:31:46,636 Speaker 1: of the story. We're is getting started coming up on 489 00:31:46,676 --> 00:31:50,076 Speaker 1: the Alabama murders, the trial of John Forest Parker. 490 00:31:50,836 --> 00:31:52,836 Speaker 7: I just don't think some of these people that were 491 00:31:52,916 --> 00:31:55,556 Speaker 7: on the jury, they didn't want that to be on 492 00:31:55,636 --> 00:31:59,436 Speaker 7: their conscious the rest of their life, putting somebody into 493 00:31:59,516 --> 00:32:00,356 Speaker 7: the death penalty. 494 00:32:01,436 --> 00:32:08,756 Speaker 14: I've had other cases that technically, we're probably factually more complex, 495 00:32:08,916 --> 00:32:12,916 Speaker 14: but this is, you know, this is the one that 496 00:32:12,996 --> 00:32:17,276 Speaker 14: I is still on my mind even without chopping. 497 00:32:18,876 --> 00:32:20,596 Speaker 8: He was a chief of police in Florence. 498 00:32:21,116 --> 00:32:24,876 Speaker 4: He hererives really early on that you know. 499 00:32:24,916 --> 00:32:27,676 Speaker 6: That that it wasn't like it was like it was 500 00:32:28,156 --> 00:32:29,756 Speaker 6: supposed to be Looking Like It. 501 00:32:29,796 --> 00:32:35,436 Speaker 13: Was h. 502 00:32:44,436 --> 00:32:47,876 Speaker 1: Revisionous History is produced by Lucy Sullivan, Bend Daph Haffrey 503 00:32:48,236 --> 00:32:51,596 Speaker 1: and Nina Bird Lawrence. Additional reporting by Ben Da, Daph 504 00:32:51,636 --> 00:32:56,236 Speaker 1: Haffrey and Lee Hedgepeth. Our editor is Karen Schakerji, fact 505 00:32:56,316 --> 00:32:59,916 Speaker 1: checking by Kate Ferby. Our executive producer is Jacob Smith. 506 00:33:00,716 --> 00:33:04,676 Speaker 1: Engineering by Nina Bird Lawrence. Production support from Luke LeMond. 507 00:33:05,436 --> 00:33:09,076 Speaker 1: Original scoring by Luis Garra with Paul Brainard and Jimmy Bond. 508 00:33:09,996 --> 00:33:15,876 Speaker 1: Sound design and additional music by Jake Krsky. I'm Malcolm Gardner.