1
00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:17,720
Speaker 1: Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis. The stories about

2
00:00:17,800 --> 00:00:21,840
Speaker 1: rock and roll pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis are insane. He

3
00:00:21,960 --> 00:00:25,160
Speaker 1: smashed people in the face with Mikes stands. He shot

4
00:00:25,200 --> 00:00:27,400
Speaker 1: his bass player in the chest with a three fifty

5
00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:31,360
Speaker 1: seven magnum. He was born into hell fire and hell

6
00:00:31,440 --> 00:00:35,800
Speaker 1: bent on assassinating the King. One of these knights, Jerry

7
00:00:35,840 --> 00:00:38,240
Speaker 1: Lee was going to get past the guards at Graceland

8
00:00:38,640 --> 00:00:41,320
Speaker 1: and stick fat Elvis good and has past his prime

9
00:00:41,400 --> 00:00:44,520
Speaker 1: belly with his new hunting knife, the one that said

10
00:00:45,120 --> 00:00:49,000
Speaker 1: King of rock and Roll, Because fuck Elvis Presley, Jerry

11
00:00:49,040 --> 00:00:52,840
Speaker 1: Lee Lewis was the real king. He was also paranoid

12
00:00:53,159 --> 00:00:56,840
Speaker 1: and dangerous. He slept behind a door fortified with steel

13
00:00:56,880 --> 00:01:00,480
Speaker 1: bars and with a loaded pistol under his pillow. He

14
00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:04,679
Speaker 1: mainlined speed directly into his stomach, so much so that

15
00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:06,880
Speaker 1: it was like he was doing it for sport instead

16
00:01:06,880 --> 00:01:11,679
Speaker 1: of pleasure. But Jerry Lee Lewis made great music. The

17
00:01:11,760 --> 00:01:13,560
Speaker 1: music you were hearing at the top of the show

18
00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:17,080
Speaker 1: that wasn't great music. That was a preset loop from

19
00:01:17,080 --> 00:01:23,120
Speaker 1: my mellotron called Cha Cha Swinging Flutes MK. Two. I

20
00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:25,880
Speaker 1: played you that loop because I can't afford the license

21
00:01:25,959 --> 00:01:29,600
Speaker 1: for every breath you take by the police. And why

22
00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:32,919
Speaker 1: would I play you that specific slice of paranoid Cheese?

23
00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:36,240
Speaker 1: Could I afford it? Because that was the number one

24
00:01:36,280 --> 00:01:39,959
Speaker 1: song in America on August twenty fourth, nineteen eighty three,

25
00:01:40,440 --> 00:01:43,479
Speaker 1: And that was the day that Jerry Lee Lewis, also

26
00:01:43,600 --> 00:01:46,399
Speaker 1: known as the Killer, also known as the man who

27
00:01:46,480 --> 00:01:49,240
Speaker 1: may or may not have invented rock and roll, became

28
00:01:49,320 --> 00:01:51,520
Speaker 1: the man who may or may not have gotten away

29
00:01:51,560 --> 00:01:56,400
Speaker 1: with murdering his fifth wife. On this our first episode,

30
00:01:56,720 --> 00:02:01,400
Speaker 1: cha Chaw swinging flutes, paranoid Cheese, the Killer and getting

31
00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:12,240
Speaker 1: away with murder. I'm Jake Brennan in this this disgraceland

32
00:02:28,040 --> 00:02:31,040
Speaker 1: in the South, where Jerry Lee Lewis was born and raised.

33
00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:35,880
Speaker 1: His first cousin, televangelist Jimmy Swaggert, was more famous than

34
00:02:35,919 --> 00:02:39,880
Speaker 1: the Beatles, but Jerry Lee was the Holy Ghost. He

35
00:02:39,960 --> 00:02:42,920
Speaker 1: was larger than life and took zero shit from anyone,

36
00:02:43,360 --> 00:02:48,120
Speaker 1: especially not from his rock and roll contemporaries. Supposedly, Chuck

37
00:02:48,160 --> 00:02:51,040
Speaker 1: Berry had once refused to go on before him, so

38
00:02:51,160 --> 00:02:54,680
Speaker 1: Jerry Lee set his piano ablaze, played through the Flames

39
00:02:54,720 --> 00:02:58,400
Speaker 1: with Rob Pentecostal Fury and made an impossible act for

40
00:02:58,520 --> 00:03:02,480
Speaker 1: Chuck to follow. His live shows were legend, and his

41
00:03:02,680 --> 00:03:05,840
Speaker 1: raw power was a sight to behold. The way Jerry

42
00:03:05,880 --> 00:03:09,239
Speaker 1: Lee performed it hadn't been seen before in popular music

43
00:03:09,680 --> 00:03:13,480
Speaker 1: or anywhere else. His body rattled and shook with violence

44
00:03:13,560 --> 00:03:16,680
Speaker 1: and overt sexuality as he bent his six hundred pound

45
00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:20,119
Speaker 1: piano to his will and his hair flailed wildly, while

46
00:03:20,160 --> 00:03:23,640
Speaker 1: his googly eyes scanned the room for non believers, of

47
00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:28,480
Speaker 1: which there were none. Jerry Lee's madman reputation preceded him.

48
00:03:28,880 --> 00:03:31,960
Speaker 1: Rumors circulated that he was possessed, that he had been

49
00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:34,920
Speaker 1: touched by the devil, that he was a vampire, that

50
00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:37,200
Speaker 1: he was a vampire who fought for the South in

51
00:03:37,240 --> 00:03:40,560
Speaker 1: the Civil War. Okay, he wasn't a vampire, but if

52
00:03:40,560 --> 00:03:42,720
Speaker 1: he was, he'd be the type of vampire who fought

53
00:03:42,760 --> 00:03:45,840
Speaker 1: for the South, lost and then never really acknowledged that

54
00:03:45,880 --> 00:03:50,600
Speaker 1: the North had won. In nineteen seventy seven, the year

55
00:03:50,640 --> 00:03:54,040
Speaker 1: Punk broke, a shit faced Jerry Lee rammed his Lincoln

56
00:03:54,080 --> 00:03:58,360
Speaker 1: into the gates at Graceland at three am, waving a pistol,

57
00:03:58,880 --> 00:04:02,360
Speaker 1: demanding to see Elvis Presley. When the cops asked him

58
00:04:02,400 --> 00:04:05,320
Speaker 1: what he was doing, he flatly said, I'm here to

59
00:04:05,360 --> 00:04:10,960
Speaker 1: assassinate the king. If Elvis was sex incarnate, Jerry Lee

60
00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:15,360
Speaker 1: was violence incarnate. And Jerry Lee hated Elvis. He thought

61
00:04:15,400 --> 00:04:18,240
Speaker 1: he was a hack, a thief, and that he couldn't

62
00:04:18,279 --> 00:04:21,599
Speaker 1: hold a candle to real musical originators like himself or

63
00:04:21,640 --> 00:04:26,520
Speaker 1: Hank Williams or Al Jolson. When Elvis died and they

64
00:04:26,560 --> 00:04:29,680
Speaker 1: asked Jerry Lee for a quote, he said, I was

65
00:04:29,720 --> 00:04:32,560
Speaker 1: glad man, just another one out of the way. I

66
00:04:32,600 --> 00:04:36,159
Speaker 1: mean Elvis, this Elvis that What the shit did Elvis

67
00:04:36,200 --> 00:04:38,400
Speaker 1: do except take dope that I couldn't get a hold of.

68
00:04:39,920 --> 00:04:42,440
Speaker 1: But Elvis was the king. He wore the crown that

69
00:04:42,480 --> 00:04:45,719
Speaker 1: Jerry Lee thought was rightfully his. At least it was

70
00:04:45,760 --> 00:04:48,560
Speaker 1: his before that mess over in England back in the fifties.

71
00:04:49,800 --> 00:04:52,520
Speaker 1: If you know two things about Jerry Lee Lewis, they

72
00:04:52,520 --> 00:04:56,120
Speaker 1: are probably these. You know, the piano lick to Great

73
00:04:56,200 --> 00:04:58,960
Speaker 1: Balls of Fire. Then you probably also know that he

74
00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:03,360
Speaker 1: married his thirteen years old cousin, Myra Gale. But when

75
00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:06,960
Speaker 1: news of Jerry Lee's child bride was made public, it

76
00:05:07,040 --> 00:05:10,640
Speaker 1: ruined him. He was in England in the late nineteen

77
00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:13,400
Speaker 1: fifties at the height of his early Rock and roll fame,

78
00:05:14,120 --> 00:05:16,440
Speaker 1: and in a heartbeat, he went from making ten grand

79
00:05:16,480 --> 00:05:19,719
Speaker 1: a night to being kicked out of the country, blacklisted

80
00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:23,320
Speaker 1: on the radio, back home, and stringing together one nighters

81
00:05:23,360 --> 00:05:27,080
Speaker 1: for a couple hundred bucks here and there. His reputation

82
00:05:27,200 --> 00:05:31,400
Speaker 1: never really recovered, but by the early seventies Jerry Lee

83
00:05:31,440 --> 00:05:35,160
Speaker 1: did regain his fame and his fortune. He was conquering

84
00:05:35,160 --> 00:05:38,760
Speaker 1: the charts again, this time as a country singer, with

85
00:05:38,960 --> 00:05:44,120
Speaker 1: hit after hit after hit. Between nineteen sixty eight and

86
00:05:44,240 --> 00:05:48,200
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy seven, Jerry Lee had seventeen top ten hits

87
00:05:48,200 --> 00:05:52,000
Speaker 1: on the Billboard Country charts. This is a hugely popular

88
00:05:52,080 --> 00:05:57,160
Speaker 1: run my point. By late seventies early eighties standards, Jerry

89
00:05:57,200 --> 00:06:00,719
Speaker 1: Lee Lewis was a star and a household name, and

90
00:06:00,839 --> 00:06:03,599
Speaker 1: money wasn't a problem anymore, at least if he could

91
00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:06,200
Speaker 1: keep his newest ex wife, Jarin out of his pocket

92
00:06:06,560 --> 00:06:09,640
Speaker 1: and the irs off of his back. Jerry Lee was

93
00:06:09,680 --> 00:06:13,640
Speaker 1: flush again and hiding his money in shoe boxes. But

94
00:06:13,800 --> 00:06:16,760
Speaker 1: then in nineteen eighty one, all of that speed he

95
00:06:16,760 --> 00:06:19,120
Speaker 1: had been taken caught up to him, and his stomach

96
00:06:19,160 --> 00:06:22,400
Speaker 1: nearly exploded. The doctors gave him no better than even

97
00:06:22,480 --> 00:06:26,440
Speaker 1: odds that he'd lived, friends like Johnny Cash and Elizabeth Taylor.

98
00:06:26,880 --> 00:06:29,719
Speaker 1: They came by the hospital to say their farewells. But

99
00:06:29,880 --> 00:06:34,080
Speaker 1: miraculously he got better, and in January of nineteen eighty two,

100
00:06:34,560 --> 00:06:37,880
Speaker 1: looking beaten up and worse for wear, he appeared on

101
00:06:38,040 --> 00:06:42,440
Speaker 1: NBC in a special celebrating twenty five years of Jerry Lee.

102
00:06:43,640 --> 00:06:46,200
Speaker 1: They call me the Killer, he told the audience, But

103
00:06:46,240 --> 00:06:48,200
Speaker 1: the only thing I ever killed in my life was

104
00:06:48,240 --> 00:06:52,720
Speaker 1: possibly myself. Maybe that was true, but the next two

105
00:06:52,800 --> 00:06:55,960
Speaker 1: years would be full of death. In Mayhem, a raid

106
00:06:56,000 --> 00:06:58,920
Speaker 1: of his house by tax men turns up cocaine and marijuana,

107
00:06:59,440 --> 00:07:02,839
Speaker 1: alluding to divorce settlement from his fourth wife, Jaren threatens

108
00:07:02,880 --> 00:07:07,560
Speaker 1: to bankrupt him yet again, but then Jaren suddenly turns

109
00:07:07,640 --> 00:07:12,320
Speaker 1: up dead, face down in a pool. No witnesses, the

110
00:07:12,360 --> 00:07:17,760
Speaker 1: official ruling an accident. Jerry Lee's wife is now gone,

111
00:07:17,880 --> 00:07:20,640
Speaker 1: and so is the expensive divorce settlement that she was seeking.

112
00:07:22,040 --> 00:07:25,600
Speaker 1: A year after Jaren's death, almost to the day, the

113
00:07:25,720 --> 00:07:30,880
Speaker 1: killer took bride number five, Sean Michelle Stevens, a cocktail

114
00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:35,160
Speaker 1: waitress from Michigan, nearly half his age, on June seventh,

115
00:07:35,360 --> 00:07:38,680
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty three, on a tree shaded patio on Jerry

116
00:07:38,760 --> 00:07:42,160
Speaker 1: Lee's eighty acre estate, the one with the piano shaped

117
00:07:42,160 --> 00:07:46,400
Speaker 1: poolau back. They were married, jerry Lee in a white tux,

118
00:07:46,960 --> 00:07:49,880
Speaker 1: Sean in a white dress. In picture shot for the

119
00:07:49,960 --> 00:07:53,480
Speaker 1: National Inquirer, they look happy. Sewan is wearing a six

120
00:07:53,560 --> 00:07:58,880
Speaker 1: thousand dollars ring. Seventy seven days later, Sewn is dead.

121
00:07:59,320 --> 00:08:04,040
Speaker 1: The official of death an accident, but unlike Jared's death,

122
00:08:04,400 --> 00:08:09,200
Speaker 1: Shawn's death attracted some attention. Police reports went missing. The

123
00:08:09,200 --> 00:08:12,360
Speaker 1: EMTs you found Sean's body at jerry Lee's house, noticed

124
00:08:12,360 --> 00:08:17,960
Speaker 1: blood under her fingernails, scrapes on Jerry Lee's hand, bruises

125
00:08:18,000 --> 00:08:22,360
Speaker 1: on Sean's body. The nearby Memphis newspaper had rolled over.

126
00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:27,400
Speaker 1: But in Detroit, near where Sean's parents lived, reporters uncovered

127
00:08:27,440 --> 00:08:30,720
Speaker 1: a bunch of details that didn't add up. It was

128
00:08:30,760 --> 00:08:33,040
Speaker 1: starting to look like a cover up, and not a

129
00:08:33,160 --> 00:08:37,160
Speaker 1: very good one. And then there was the matter of

130
00:08:37,160 --> 00:08:39,199
Speaker 1: the call that Shawn made to her mother the night

131
00:08:39,240 --> 00:08:42,240
Speaker 1: before she died, the one where she told her mom

132
00:08:42,679 --> 00:08:45,080
Speaker 1: that she was trying to leave Jerry Lee but that

133
00:08:45,160 --> 00:09:05,480
Speaker 1: he wouldn't let her. And to think, just three months earlier,

134
00:09:05,679 --> 00:09:08,960
Speaker 1: Sean Stephens Lewis was happily married into a bona fide

135
00:09:09,040 --> 00:09:13,400
Speaker 1: celebrity to boot a raging speed freak and alcoholic, but

136
00:09:13,559 --> 00:09:18,240
Speaker 1: a celebrity nonetheless. Marital bliss soon gave way to the

137
00:09:18,240 --> 00:09:22,040
Speaker 1: reality of living with a spoiled, narcissistic, drug and alcohol

138
00:09:22,080 --> 00:09:25,240
Speaker 1: addled rockstar who was used to getting his way all

139
00:09:25,400 --> 00:09:30,160
Speaker 1: the time and beholden to absolucko lutely nobody Sean got

140
00:09:30,200 --> 00:09:34,640
Speaker 1: hip quick. Jerry Lee liked to drink a lot. Rule

141
00:09:34,679 --> 00:09:39,640
Speaker 1: number one, let him Jerry Lee's stomach hurt a lot.

142
00:09:40,200 --> 00:09:43,160
Speaker 1: Rule number two get used to him shooting taw and

143
00:09:43,240 --> 00:09:47,319
Speaker 1: straight into his belly with that big, ugly needle. Jerry

144
00:09:47,360 --> 00:09:51,160
Speaker 1: Lee liked attention from the ladies. Rule number three, don't

145
00:09:51,200 --> 00:09:55,079
Speaker 1: give a fucking inch. Jerry Lee was your man. Grab

146
00:09:55,120 --> 00:09:57,000
Speaker 1: that needy slap by the hair and tell it to

147
00:09:57,080 --> 00:09:59,400
Speaker 1: fuck right off back to the dirt floor, shack her

148
00:09:59,400 --> 00:10:01,760
Speaker 1: white trash mama failed to do her the favor of

149
00:10:01,840 --> 00:10:04,480
Speaker 1: miscarrying in and get back to the business of being

150
00:10:04,520 --> 00:10:08,880
Speaker 1: the one and only missus Jerry Lee fucking Lewis. Jerry

151
00:10:08,920 --> 00:10:11,320
Speaker 1: Lee was like a needy puppy, and he needed to

152
00:10:11,360 --> 00:10:15,360
Speaker 1: be reminded of who his woman was and Like most

153
00:10:15,400 --> 00:10:19,800
Speaker 1: needy men, jerry Lee was jealous, really jealous, even though

154
00:10:19,800 --> 00:10:22,560
Speaker 1: his eyes wandered in the eyes of women everywhere wandered

155
00:10:22,640 --> 00:10:25,839
Speaker 1: right back. Not only was Sean determined not to give

156
00:10:25,880 --> 00:10:28,679
Speaker 1: an inch, she also wasn't afraid to let her man

157
00:10:28,760 --> 00:10:33,400
Speaker 1: know she was no sucker. Confidentially a high school crush

158
00:10:33,440 --> 00:10:36,720
Speaker 1: was back in Michigan waiting for her. Should thinks with

159
00:10:36,800 --> 00:10:41,200
Speaker 1: jerry Lee not work out, the killer was not pleased.

160
00:10:42,400 --> 00:10:45,880
Speaker 1: Once Sean threatened to leave jerry Lee. This did not

161
00:10:45,960 --> 00:10:50,360
Speaker 1: please the killer either. You're my wife, he said, I'll

162
00:10:50,480 --> 00:10:55,000
Speaker 1: kill you before you leave me quickly. Sean had learned

163
00:10:55,040 --> 00:10:58,280
Speaker 1: that jerry Lee liked group sex. Why settle for one

164
00:10:58,320 --> 00:11:00,640
Speaker 1: woman when a romp with two or thirs three would do.

165
00:11:01,760 --> 00:11:04,560
Speaker 1: Sean was cool, but a swinger she was not, and

166
00:11:04,600 --> 00:11:07,320
Speaker 1: she wasn't having any of it, especially not with her

167
00:11:07,360 --> 00:11:12,440
Speaker 1: younger sister, Shelley, as Jerry Lee had been maneuvering. When

168
00:11:12,480 --> 00:11:16,240
Speaker 1: Shelley batted down jerry Lee's advances, his reaction was something

169
00:11:16,280 --> 00:11:21,200
Speaker 1: between petulance and rage. Screaming at Shelley and banging his

170
00:11:21,240 --> 00:11:24,600
Speaker 1: fist into a counter. He screamed at her, you scared me.

171
00:11:25,320 --> 00:11:27,800
Speaker 1: You should be why do you think they call me

172
00:11:27,840 --> 00:11:32,319
Speaker 1: the killer? How'd I get that name? Huh? According to Shelley,

173
00:11:32,800 --> 00:11:39,280
Speaker 1: he then slapped her face. Shortly after this happened, Sean

174
00:11:39,360 --> 00:11:42,880
Speaker 1: was found dead in her home. For the local EMTs

175
00:11:42,920 --> 00:11:45,000
Speaker 1: who took the call, there was nothing out of the

176
00:11:45,080 --> 00:11:47,880
Speaker 1: ordinary about heading over to Jerry Lee's to provide medical

177
00:11:47,880 --> 00:11:51,480
Speaker 1: assistance to some passed out reveler. It was part of

178
00:11:51,520 --> 00:11:56,120
Speaker 1: the gig. Finding a dead body, that was something new.

179
00:11:57,320 --> 00:12:00,000
Speaker 1: The first thing they noticed was the absence of mister Lewis.

180
00:12:00,520 --> 00:12:02,600
Speaker 1: The second thing they noticed was how the body of

181
00:12:02,640 --> 00:12:07,559
Speaker 1: missus Lewis was situated or placed neatly on a fully

182
00:12:07,600 --> 00:12:11,760
Speaker 1: made bed in a guest room, not in her bedroom

183
00:12:12,160 --> 00:12:16,640
Speaker 1: with her newlywed husband in a guest room. The EMTs

184
00:12:16,720 --> 00:12:20,760
Speaker 1: checked for vitals while Lottie Jackson, Jerry Lee's caretaker of

185
00:12:20,800 --> 00:12:25,640
Speaker 1: more than ten years, knocked on his bedroom door. Within seconds,

186
00:12:26,160 --> 00:12:30,600
Speaker 1: the killer emerged. The EMTs quickly noticed the bright red

187
00:12:30,640 --> 00:12:33,360
Speaker 1: scratches on the back of Jerry Lee's hand, you know

188
00:12:33,440 --> 00:12:36,120
Speaker 1: the kind the kind of looked like scratches your cat

189
00:12:36,160 --> 00:12:40,400
Speaker 1: would make, except Jerry Lee didn't own a cat. Blood

190
00:12:40,640 --> 00:12:44,040
Speaker 1: was also visible on Jerry Lee's robe and on his slippers.

191
00:12:45,040 --> 00:12:47,240
Speaker 1: There was a pile of bloody clothes in the bathroom,

192
00:12:47,600 --> 00:12:50,280
Speaker 1: a rivulet of blood on a door, more blood on

193
00:12:50,320 --> 00:12:54,120
Speaker 1: the carpet. Broken glass was scattered across the floor. Throughout

194
00:12:54,120 --> 00:12:58,360
Speaker 1: the house. There was blood on Sean's dead hand, in

195
00:12:58,440 --> 00:13:02,080
Speaker 1: her hair, on her clothes and on a bra that

196
00:13:02,200 --> 00:13:07,360
Speaker 1: was in another room, Dirt all over her body, bruises

197
00:13:07,480 --> 00:13:11,679
Speaker 1: on her arms, on her hip, Her fingernails were broken

198
00:13:12,040 --> 00:13:15,199
Speaker 1: with something that looked a lot like blood underneath them.

199
00:13:16,040 --> 00:13:18,920
Speaker 1: All of this physical evidence on and around a woman

200
00:13:19,440 --> 00:13:21,760
Speaker 1: lying dead on top of a neat and made bed

201
00:13:22,080 --> 00:13:25,640
Speaker 1: that wasn't hers, in a guest room in her own home,

202
00:13:26,360 --> 00:13:29,920
Speaker 1: down the hall from where her newlywed husband slept alone.

203
00:13:31,360 --> 00:13:34,880
Speaker 1: Stranger than that, the evidence wouldn't even be reported until

204
00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:38,640
Speaker 1: after the grand jury convened. Is it any wonder that

205
00:13:38,679 --> 00:13:42,959
Speaker 1: they found no indication of foul play? We'll be right

206
00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:49,240
Speaker 1: back after this word word word. Missus Jerry Lee Lewis

207
00:13:49,320 --> 00:13:52,480
Speaker 1: was dead in a home field advantage. Grand jury was

208
00:13:52,520 --> 00:13:55,760
Speaker 1: about to determine that no crime had occurred. How is

209
00:13:55,800 --> 00:14:00,520
Speaker 1: this possible? Jerry Lee's world was de Soto County, Mississippi.

210
00:14:01,480 --> 00:14:05,120
Speaker 1: Elvis had Memphis up the road, apiece. So Jerry Lee

211
00:14:05,160 --> 00:14:08,680
Speaker 1: had De Soto, and De Soto had Jerry Lee right back.

212
00:14:09,400 --> 00:14:13,160
Speaker 1: He was their very own celebrity. DeSoto County law officials

213
00:14:13,200 --> 00:14:17,040
Speaker 1: occupied a special place in Jerry Lee's pocket. Jerry Lee

214
00:14:17,160 --> 00:14:21,280
Speaker 1: was one of their own. Plus when it counted, Jerry

215
00:14:21,360 --> 00:14:25,240
Speaker 1: Lee made the appropriate campaign contributions to the appropriate men

216
00:14:25,600 --> 00:14:28,560
Speaker 1: who made sure that DeSoto County remained an appropriate place

217
00:14:28,600 --> 00:14:31,600
Speaker 1: to fear God in and to raise your children upright in.

218
00:14:34,080 --> 00:14:37,520
Speaker 1: When Jerry Lee fucked up, he didn't arrest him. You

219
00:14:37,600 --> 00:14:41,600
Speaker 1: made sure the mess went away. The night before Sean died,

220
00:14:42,040 --> 00:14:44,160
Speaker 1: Jerry Lee drove his car off the road and into

221
00:14:44,200 --> 00:14:48,360
Speaker 1: a ditch. DeSoto County deputies got his car toad, gave

222
00:14:48,400 --> 00:14:51,240
Speaker 1: him a ride home, and didn't test him for intoxication.

223
00:14:52,240 --> 00:14:56,560
Speaker 1: The incident wasn't even recorded by the Sheriff's department. The

224
00:14:56,600 --> 00:15:01,120
Speaker 1: county dispatcher John Crawford is on records saying, I knew

225
00:15:01,120 --> 00:15:03,240
Speaker 1: not to log it or nothing. When I heard it

226
00:15:03,280 --> 00:15:05,480
Speaker 1: was Jerry Lee Lewis, I knew it was just a

227
00:15:05,520 --> 00:15:11,280
Speaker 1: community service. This was the culture in DeSoto County, and

228
00:15:11,320 --> 00:15:14,040
Speaker 1: it was in this culture that the investigation took place.

229
00:15:14,480 --> 00:15:19,240
Speaker 1: And the investigation never really had a chance. When state

230
00:15:19,280 --> 00:15:22,600
Speaker 1: investigators arrived on the scene the morning Shawn was found dead,

231
00:15:23,480 --> 00:15:27,120
Speaker 1: County officials were already muddling through the house, and the

232
00:15:27,160 --> 00:15:30,760
Speaker 1: state's investigators reported that Jerry Lee was secluded in his

233
00:15:30,880 --> 00:15:35,040
Speaker 1: den alone with DeSoto County's deputy share of Jack McCauley

234
00:15:35,560 --> 00:15:39,720
Speaker 1: for more than an hour. What were they talking about.

235
00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:43,480
Speaker 1: Nobody knows for sure, But what we do know is

236
00:15:43,480 --> 00:15:47,800
Speaker 1: that soon after that conversation, state investigators learned that the

237
00:15:47,840 --> 00:15:52,600
Speaker 1: decision had already been made by DeSoto County authorities unilaterally

238
00:15:53,120 --> 00:15:56,520
Speaker 1: to use a private medical examiner instead of a public one.

239
00:15:57,280 --> 00:16:01,920
Speaker 1: Why because this would ensure that all information gathered from

240
00:16:01,920 --> 00:16:05,000
Speaker 1: the odd toopsy would now flow back to the county,

241
00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:08,800
Speaker 1: where Jerry Lee's presence loomed large, and not to the state,

242
00:16:09,280 --> 00:16:12,800
Speaker 1: which was beyond the killer's fear of influence, and that

243
00:16:12,960 --> 00:16:16,360
Speaker 1: any and all sort of details from Seawan's death would

244
00:16:16,400 --> 00:16:20,240
Speaker 1: never be placed in the public record. But the public

245
00:16:20,600 --> 00:16:23,400
Speaker 1: did get winto some of the details thanks to a

246
00:16:23,440 --> 00:16:27,920
Speaker 1: young funeral director named Danny Phillips. Phillips is on record

247
00:16:27,960 --> 00:16:32,320
Speaker 1: saying I'd never say Jerry Lee killed that girl, but

248
00:16:32,400 --> 00:16:36,280
Speaker 1: I'd like to see it investigated. To me, I just

249
00:16:36,360 --> 00:16:39,120
Speaker 1: can't believe that that girl just got to that bed

250
00:16:39,520 --> 00:16:43,120
Speaker 1: and lay down and died. You just can't make me

251
00:16:43,240 --> 00:16:48,720
Speaker 1: believe it. Phillips was particularly perplexed by his finding of

252
00:16:48,760 --> 00:16:51,640
Speaker 1: what he thought to be a puncture wound caused by

253
00:16:51,640 --> 00:16:56,400
Speaker 1: a hypodermic needle on Sean's right arm, the same type

254
00:16:56,440 --> 00:17:00,360
Speaker 1: of needle found at Jerry Lee's house that day. The

255
00:17:00,440 --> 00:17:05,520
Speaker 1: official cause of death was fluid from the lungs from methadone.

256
00:17:05,720 --> 00:17:11,040
Speaker 1: Yet despite all of this, the private medical examiner quickly

257
00:17:11,080 --> 00:17:15,000
Speaker 1: declared no foul play, and the body was shipped out

258
00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:19,359
Speaker 1: of the lab within hours to be embalmbed. De Soto

259
00:17:19,440 --> 00:17:23,400
Speaker 1: County Sheriff Dink Sao explained away the crime scene evidence,

260
00:17:23,960 --> 00:17:27,000
Speaker 1: stating that the blood was caused by Jerry Lee cutting

261
00:17:27,040 --> 00:17:29,600
Speaker 1: his finger on a glass, but made no mention of

262
00:17:29,600 --> 00:17:33,320
Speaker 1: the countless shards of broken glass throughout the house, or

263
00:17:33,320 --> 00:17:36,480
Speaker 1: of the scratches on Jerry Lee's hand, or of the

264
00:17:36,520 --> 00:17:42,240
Speaker 1: blood under Shan's fingernails. Shawn's bruises were quote unquote superficial.

265
00:17:43,359 --> 00:17:46,600
Speaker 1: Sau claimed there were no marks of any violence and

266
00:17:46,720 --> 00:17:52,639
Speaker 1: no indication of anyone being attacked. County Attorney Bill Ballor

267
00:17:52,760 --> 00:17:59,560
Speaker 1: declared a complete and thorough investigation, but how thorough was it.

268
00:18:00,080 --> 00:18:04,400
Speaker 1: Test determining whose blood it was weren't yet completed. Nobody

269
00:18:04,400 --> 00:18:08,240
Speaker 1: seemed to care. The reporting of the evidence had been

270
00:18:08,280 --> 00:18:12,399
Speaker 1: bungled badly. It never stood a chance with the Grand Jerry,

271
00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:17,919
Speaker 1: and forget the physical evidence. Investigators didn't care about anecdotal

272
00:18:17,920 --> 00:18:22,200
Speaker 1: evidence either. Nobody thought it relevant. The three nights earlier,

273
00:18:22,720 --> 00:18:25,399
Speaker 1: Jerry Lee took two women home from group sex with Sean.

274
00:18:26,359 --> 00:18:29,119
Speaker 1: At some point things got scary and the girls were

275
00:18:29,160 --> 00:18:31,560
Speaker 1: spooked enough to run out of the house and frantically

276
00:18:31,560 --> 00:18:35,640
Speaker 1: beg the neighbors for a ride out of there did

277
00:18:35,680 --> 00:18:39,240
Speaker 1: Sean try to escape to A night before her desk,

278
00:18:39,320 --> 00:18:42,320
Speaker 1: she made two calls, the first to her mom, telling

279
00:18:42,359 --> 00:18:44,560
Speaker 1: her she was thinking of leaving Jerry Lee, but that

280
00:18:44,600 --> 00:18:48,000
Speaker 1: he wouldn't let her. It was late. Sean's mom thought

281
00:18:48,040 --> 00:18:50,480
Speaker 1: she was upset and that by morning it would all

282
00:18:50,480 --> 00:18:53,760
Speaker 1: blow over. They made plans to talk later and hung up.

283
00:18:55,119 --> 00:18:58,119
Speaker 1: Then Sean made a second call. This one wasn't a

284
00:18:58,160 --> 00:19:02,080
Speaker 1: family It was to her hometown on Sweetheart Scott's sister.

285
00:19:03,040 --> 00:19:05,359
Speaker 1: The one Seawn made mention of to Jerry Lee to

286
00:19:05,400 --> 00:19:08,840
Speaker 1: reclaim her sovereignty and the power played between her and

287
00:19:08,840 --> 00:19:13,280
Speaker 1: the countless women threatening their relationship. She wanted to know

288
00:19:13,280 --> 00:19:16,479
Speaker 1: if Scott still loved her. She was planning her exit

289
00:19:17,040 --> 00:19:19,199
Speaker 1: and made plans for Scott's sister to come for her

290
00:19:19,280 --> 00:19:29,240
Speaker 1: later that month. Then in mid sentence, the phone went dead.

291
00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:44,679
Speaker 1: The fifth Missus Lewis was gone, real gone. The cause,

292
00:19:45,400 --> 00:19:49,879
Speaker 1: like jerry Lee's previous wife, Jaren, an accident. Was it

293
00:19:49,960 --> 00:19:54,919
Speaker 1: a mistake, a suicide? Whatever the cause of death, there

294
00:19:55,040 --> 00:19:57,800
Speaker 1: was no coming back from it, and jerry Lee needn't

295
00:19:57,800 --> 00:20:00,880
Speaker 1: worry about the high school sweethearts busting up a hillbilly

296
00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:05,399
Speaker 1: hamlet or carefully calibrating that unique emotional cocktail he'd been

297
00:20:05,480 --> 00:20:09,440
Speaker 1: nursing since his days back in Faraday, Louisiana, sitting in

298
00:20:09,480 --> 00:20:12,719
Speaker 1: a pentecostal pew on a Sunday in fear of the

299
00:20:12,720 --> 00:20:18,320
Speaker 1: Holy ghost. You know, the cocktail, an emotional speedball, trading

300
00:20:18,359 --> 00:20:22,520
Speaker 1: on equal part self confidence, god given talent, fear of

301
00:20:22,560 --> 00:20:25,679
Speaker 1: your maker, and the shame of being a mere mortal.

302
00:20:26,840 --> 00:20:29,960
Speaker 1: With Shawn's death, shame and jealousy were on the run,

303
00:20:30,440 --> 00:20:34,800
Speaker 1: and pride was once again creeping up the backstretch. On

304
00:20:34,880 --> 00:20:37,920
Speaker 1: the day they found Sean dead. While the local cops

305
00:20:37,920 --> 00:20:41,000
Speaker 1: and state investigators got down to the business of securing

306
00:20:41,040 --> 00:20:46,000
Speaker 1: the scene and collecting slash not collecting evidence, Jerry Lee

307
00:20:46,080 --> 00:20:49,760
Speaker 1: decamped fifteen miles north at his manager J. W. Whitten's house.

308
00:20:50,720 --> 00:20:53,040
Speaker 1: By now, reporters were looking for a comment from the

309
00:20:53,119 --> 00:20:56,080
Speaker 1: killer to run in their evening editions about his newest

310
00:20:56,119 --> 00:20:59,840
Speaker 1: dead wife. So tragic? How is he able to stand this?

311
00:21:00,560 --> 00:21:04,600
Speaker 1: That sort of thing? But JW. Ever, Jerry Lee's keeper,

312
00:21:05,080 --> 00:21:07,000
Speaker 1: made it clear that the killer would not be able

313
00:21:07,040 --> 00:21:10,119
Speaker 1: to come to the phone. He was supposedly in shock

314
00:21:10,680 --> 00:21:14,680
Speaker 1: and heavily sedated. But Jerry Lee would soon find himself

315
00:21:14,720 --> 00:21:17,600
Speaker 1: well enough to make two very important phone calls within

316
00:21:17,760 --> 00:21:21,000
Speaker 1: hours of his wife's death, the first to her mother

317
00:21:21,240 --> 00:21:24,320
Speaker 1: to inform her of Shan's death, though he would instead

318
00:21:24,359 --> 00:21:28,480
Speaker 1: wide up talking to her sister Denise, and then shortly

319
00:21:28,560 --> 00:21:32,960
Speaker 1: after to his local bar, Hernando's hide Away to find

320
00:21:32,960 --> 00:21:37,720
Speaker 1: out if anyone had any hypodermic needles. Later, a witness

321
00:21:37,720 --> 00:21:40,840
Speaker 1: from the bar claimed Jerry Lee said, you got any rigs?

322
00:21:41,280 --> 00:21:46,040
Speaker 1: Goddamn cops cleaned me out. A week later, the night

323
00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:49,879
Speaker 1: after the funeral, Jerry Lee wasted no time. He was

324
00:21:49,960 --> 00:21:53,680
Speaker 1: right back at Hernando's, his favorite bucket of blood, his

325
00:21:53,760 --> 00:21:57,480
Speaker 1: go to his local honky Tonk, where there was always

326
00:21:57,480 --> 00:21:59,800
Speaker 1: a seat open at the bar for him with a

327
00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:03,320
Speaker 1: spotlight always made him look ten feet tall and ten

328
00:22:03,359 --> 00:22:07,160
Speaker 1: percent more better looking than Elvis. It was at Hernando's

329
00:22:07,160 --> 00:22:09,840
Speaker 1: piano where Jerry Lee made up a little ditty on

330
00:22:09,880 --> 00:22:12,639
Speaker 1: the spot and he sang it with two beautiful women

331
00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:16,280
Speaker 1: on the stool at his side. I told when she

332
00:22:16,440 --> 00:22:23,679
Speaker 1: left it, I'd have another in Right around this time,

333
00:22:23,960 --> 00:22:26,639
Speaker 1: Jerry Lee spoke to Sean's sister Denise for the last

334
00:22:26,680 --> 00:22:31,240
Speaker 1: time by telephone. Jerry Lee's speech was slurred. He was

335
00:22:31,280 --> 00:22:38,680
Speaker 1: on one Jesus Christ, Jerry Lee, what happened Denise Sis's day?

336
00:22:39,760 --> 00:22:43,879
Speaker 1: And she is a bag girl? What what do you mean,

337
00:22:44,040 --> 00:22:47,840
Speaker 1: Jerry What do you mean? She is a bag girl?

338
00:22:48,520 --> 00:22:55,160
Speaker 1: And she did chilling right. All these details are out there.

339
00:22:55,680 --> 00:22:58,960
Speaker 1: They've been expertly reported in newspapers and magazines like The

340
00:22:59,040 --> 00:23:05,359
Speaker 1: Chicago Tribune and Rolling Stone. So why doesn't America care?

341
00:23:06,920 --> 00:23:10,840
Speaker 1: Unlike the other cases of celebrity spousal abuse and potential murder,

342
00:23:11,040 --> 00:23:14,480
Speaker 1: say the oj Simpson case or even the recent celebrity

343
00:23:14,560 --> 00:23:18,040
Speaker 1: sexual assault cases, in the case of Jerry Lee Lewis.

344
00:23:18,359 --> 00:23:23,159
Speaker 1: There wasn't even an indictment, never mind a trial. Was

345
00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:27,480
Speaker 1: it because this was a pre cable news America create Internet?

346
00:23:28,880 --> 00:23:31,760
Speaker 1: Or was it because the spotlight in Little DeSoto County

347
00:23:32,280 --> 00:23:35,840
Speaker 1: didn't burn bright enough despite Jerry Lee's chart topping success.

348
00:23:37,760 --> 00:23:42,720
Speaker 1: Or maybe Sean's death was just an accident. Or was

349
00:23:42,760 --> 00:23:45,880
Speaker 1: it because we don't really care about justice We care

350
00:23:45,920 --> 00:23:49,399
Speaker 1: more about our myths. The strange and mysterious death of

351
00:23:49,440 --> 00:23:52,920
Speaker 1: missus Jerry Lee Lewis, as Rolling Stone put it, it's

352
00:23:53,080 --> 00:23:57,520
Speaker 1: just so on fucking brand for the killer, deep down,

353
00:23:58,119 --> 00:24:02,879
Speaker 1: way down, all of our self righteous notions about justice

354
00:24:02,920 --> 00:24:07,440
Speaker 1: and right and wrong. When it comes right down to it,

355
00:24:07,600 --> 00:24:11,160
Speaker 1: we want our rock stars to be bad. We want

356
00:24:11,240 --> 00:24:14,920
Speaker 1: to believe in the myths. From the time they explode

357
00:24:14,920 --> 00:24:17,960
Speaker 1: out of their mama's womb, standing up and talking back,

358
00:24:18,400 --> 00:24:21,000
Speaker 1: We take the ride with them, the one where they

359
00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:23,800
Speaker 1: misbehaved their way into our hearts. For the entirety of

360
00:24:23,800 --> 00:24:28,920
Speaker 1: our short collective pull on this mortal coil. Jerry L.

361
00:24:29,040 --> 00:24:32,080
Speaker 1: Lewis is out there right now at the time of

362
00:24:32,160 --> 00:24:36,480
Speaker 1: this recording, at the age of eighty one, and still performing,

363
00:24:37,600 --> 00:24:40,520
Speaker 1: still knocking them dead and entertaining us both in body,

364
00:24:40,520 --> 00:24:44,280
Speaker 1: on stage and in our minds. Is the Killer and

365
00:24:44,440 --> 00:24:49,000
Speaker 1: thank God for it and the Holy Ghost. I'm Jake

366
00:24:49,040 --> 00:24:58,040
Speaker 1: Brennan and miss this Disgraceland. Disgraceland was created by Yours

367
00:24:58,080 --> 00:25:01,480
Speaker 1: Truly and is produced in partnership with the Elvis. Credits

368
00:25:01,480 --> 00:25:03,639
Speaker 1: for this episode can be found on the show notes

369
00:25:03,680 --> 00:25:07,159
Speaker 1: page at disgracelampod dot com. If you're listening as a

370
00:25:07,200 --> 00:25:10,440
Speaker 1: Disgraceland All Access member, thank you for supporting the show.

371
00:25:10,520 --> 00:25:13,240
Speaker 1: We really appreciate it, and if not, you can become

372
00:25:13,280 --> 00:25:16,680
Speaker 1: a member right now by going to disgracelampod dot com

373
00:25:16,680 --> 00:25:20,919
Speaker 1: Slash Membership. Members can listen to every episode of disgracelan

374
00:25:21,160 --> 00:25:25,040
Speaker 1: ad free, Plus you'll get one brand new exclusive episode

375
00:25:25,119 --> 00:25:29,320
Speaker 1: every month, weekly unscripted bonus episodes, special audio collections, and

376
00:25:29,400 --> 00:25:34,240
Speaker 1: early access to merchandise and events. Visit disgracelampod dot com

377
00:25:34,240 --> 00:25:37,439
Speaker 1: slash membership for details, Rate and review the show, and

378
00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:41,520
Speaker 1: follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and Facebook at disgracelampod

379
00:25:41,640 --> 00:25:46,280
Speaker 1: and on YouTube at YouTube dot com slash at Disgracelampod.

380
00:25:46,520 --> 00:25:50,680
Speaker 1: Rock a Roller, He the Man