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Speaker 1: You're listening to the Freeway Fanom, a production of iHeartRadio,

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Speaker 1: Tenderfoot TV, and Black Bar METSPHAH. The views and opinions

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Speaker 1: expressed in this podcast are solely those of the podcast

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Speaker 1: author or individuals participating in the podcast, and do not

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Speaker 1: represent those of Ourheartmedia, Tenderfoot TV, Black Bar, MITZVAH, or

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Speaker 1: their employees. This podcast also contains subject matter that may

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Speaker 1: not be suitable for everyone. Listener discretion is advised.

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Speaker 2: In nineteen eighty four, when I decided to reopen the cases,

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Speaker 2: I was really concerned because in talking to some other

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Speaker 2: detectives that other people around they were under the impression

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Speaker 2: that the cases were closed.

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Speaker 3: And I knew better.

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Speaker 2: I knew that, you know, there had been a massive

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Speaker 2: investigation of the being Vega guys, but the evidence eventually

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Speaker 2: showed that that was a farce, that they didn't have

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Speaker 2: anything to do with it. So I decided I was

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Speaker 2: going to take up the banner of these cases because

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Speaker 2: they should have been close. There wasn't a real emotional

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Speaker 2: toll on me when I went to homicide. My primary

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Speaker 2: reason for going to homicide was to handle all the

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Speaker 2: instant deaths, the child's deaths in the city, the abortion cases,

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Speaker 2: and so seeing young people dead, you don't ever get

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Speaker 2: used to it, but you know that's part of your job,

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Speaker 2: and once you break down and cry and so forth,

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Speaker 2: then you're not serving the public because your personal feelings

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Speaker 2: get in the way of what you're.

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Speaker 3: Trying to accomplish.

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Speaker 2: You know, after you work so hard on the case

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Speaker 2: and you talk to so many people, you kind of

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Speaker 2: get a feeling of what types of young ladies they were,

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Speaker 2: and the fact that the youngest woman was ten years

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Speaker 2: of age. You know, you can imagine how they felt

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Speaker 2: that somebody had abducted them off the street and there was.

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Speaker 3: Nobody to stop it.

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Speaker 2: And then the abduction site were heavily populated places, but.

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Speaker 3: Nobody saw anything, and it's just so hard to believe.

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Speaker 2: And so, you know, I felt that, hey, if I

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Speaker 2: can bring resolution to these cases, I will do it.

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Speaker 2: I'm going to try my best to do it. But

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Speaker 2: I'm also going to try to make sure should I

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Speaker 2: not be able to get a resolution in these cases,

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Speaker 2: then I'm going to see that everything that was humanly

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Speaker 2: possible is done to solve these cases. I felt I

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Speaker 2: owe that to the family and owe that to the girl.

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Speaker 4: The homicide detectives termed the cases the little girl cases.

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Speaker 2: This child was laying on the side of the road.

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Speaker 5: I wouldn't go no way, I wouldn't talk about house.

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Speaker 3: Those first five murderers should have been a huge warning

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Speaker 3: belt for the police.

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Speaker 6: We just want to know what happened.

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Speaker 3: Person must have saw that.

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Speaker 2: They were thinking that maybe it's just one person, and

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Speaker 2: he says, oh, they need to know.

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Speaker 1: This is me.

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Speaker 4: I thought that they would catch him.

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Speaker 5: I thought it was just a matter of time.

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Speaker 6: I'm Celeste Headley, and this is freeway Phantom. The murders

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Speaker 6: of eight young black girls, six of whom were confirmed

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Speaker 6: Freeway Phantom victims, were undeniably tragic, but their cases were

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Speaker 6: just the beginning. In the decades since their murder, the

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Speaker 6: plight of missing and murdered black girls in DC has

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Speaker 6: only intensified. Today, it just looks a little different, but

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Speaker 6: the issue of these cases not getting the proper media

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Speaker 6: coverage or police attention they deserve is still too prominent.

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Speaker 5: Each year, they are over six hundred thousand people reported

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Speaker 5: missing in the United States, and close to forty percent

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Speaker 5: of persons of color, and that numbers about two hundred

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Speaker 5: and seventy thousand a year that's reported missing. There's so

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Speaker 5: many more individuals that are not reported missing to law enforcement,

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Speaker 5: where they're not added to the national crime database. These

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Speaker 5: families are not speaking up, so we believe that the

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Speaker 5: numbers are much larger.

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Speaker 6: This is Natalie Wilson, one of the co founders of

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Speaker 6: the Black and Missing Foundation.

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Speaker 5: The inspiration behind the Black and Missing Foundation is that

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Speaker 5: in two thousand and four, Tamka Houston vanished from Spartanburg,

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Speaker 5: South Carolina, and that's the hometown of my sister in law, Derko,

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Speaker 5: and we learn how her family struggled to get media coverage,

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Speaker 5: particularly national media coverage around her disappearance. So Derek and

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Speaker 5: I decided to do some research. We weren't sure if

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Speaker 5: this was an issue affecting the minority community, particularly the

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Speaker 5: Africa American community, and most aren't young, attractive white women.

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Speaker 5: In fact, most were persons of color, particularly black African Americans,

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Speaker 5: and they made up thirty percent of all persons missing

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Speaker 5: and attracted almost no media coverage at all, especially nationally.

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Speaker 5: So you know, it weighed really heavy on our hearts,

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Speaker 5: and Dereka and I decided why not us, why don't

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Speaker 5: we do something about it because I'm in public relations

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Speaker 5: or media relations and Dereka's in law enforcement, and those

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Speaker 5: are the two critical professions needed to bring awareness to

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Speaker 5: our missing and that's how the organization, the Black and

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Speaker 5: Missing Foundation was created. We said, you know, if we

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Speaker 5: can just bring one person home or provide closure for

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Speaker 5: one family, we have done our job. And now we're

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Speaker 5: motivated to keep going because forty percent of all persons

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Speaker 5: missing are of color, and these families rely on us.

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Speaker 5: We are their last resort. By the time they get

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Speaker 5: to us, they're desperate, they don't know what to do,

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Speaker 5: and many times they're not getting the assistance from law

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Speaker 5: enforcement or the media to help find their missing loved one.

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Speaker 6: Natalie says one of their core objectives is getting the

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Speaker 6: media involved. Whenever there's a new missing person's case.

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Speaker 5: Media coverage is very important, especially intense early media coverage.

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Speaker 5: It ensures that the community is looking for that missing

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Speaker 5: individual and it increases the chance of a recovery. And

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Speaker 5: for us throughout the years, because we started this organization

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Speaker 5: in two thousand and eight, I've been able to build

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Speaker 5: media partnerships with black Press so that again they're using

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Speaker 5: their platforms with millions or hundreds of thousands of followers

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Speaker 5: to help us get the word out about a missing individual.

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Speaker 5: So it's vital and we believe that media coverage should

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Speaker 5: be equal across the board.

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Speaker 6: We asked Natalie why historically the media is so hesitant

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Speaker 6: to report on these cases.

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Speaker 5: Well, there are a number of reasons for the lack

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Speaker 5: of media coverage. One is we're realizing that when a

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Speaker 5: child is reported missing oftentime, law enforcement they classify the

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Speaker 5: child as a runaway, so they do not receive any

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Speaker 5: type of media coverage or especially the Amber alert at all,

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Speaker 5: and that is not necessarily the case. We have so

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Speaker 5: many cases of missing children where law enforcement classified them

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Speaker 5: as a runaway and they did not leave voluntarily. So

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Speaker 5: we need to stay away from that phrase as runaway

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Speaker 5: because ultimately, even if the child left home voluntarily, what

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Speaker 5: are they leaving from and ultimately what are they running too.

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Speaker 5: We know that children who leave home voluntarily, they're on

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Speaker 5: the streets within twenty four to forty eight hours. Their

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Speaker 5: proposition for sex because they have to find a way

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Speaker 5: to survive, and they have to find a way for

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Speaker 5: you know, housing, food security, and these predators, you know,

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Speaker 5: they get them into a lifestyle that they cannot get

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Speaker 5: out of us. We also need to change the narrative

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Speaker 5: that missing black and brown individuals are most likely involved

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Speaker 5: with some type of criminal activity and they're represented as

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Speaker 5: such in the news cycle. You know, we have to

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Speaker 5: realize that these missing individuals, they have names, and they

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Speaker 5: are an important part of our society, our community. Their mothers,

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Speaker 5: their fathers, their sisters. There's brothers, aunts, uncles, their grandparents,

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Speaker 5: and we need to make sure that we represent them

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Speaker 5: in the best light.

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Speaker 6: Natalie says the issue has become much more complex than

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Speaker 6: it was during the time of the Freeway Phantom, but

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Speaker 6: she says there are things we can do now.

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Speaker 5: You know, many of our cases, it highlights the significant

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Speaker 5: racial injustices, you know, not just in policing but media.

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Speaker 3: So we need.

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Speaker 5: To make sure that we vote and that there are

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Speaker 5: laws to protect our children. You know, Marylyn has a

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Speaker 5: safe harbor law where if an underage child has been

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Speaker 5: arrested for prostitution, that they are not thrown into jail.

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Speaker 5: They are then taken to a safe house where they're

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Speaker 5: given the resources to be rehabilitated. So we need to

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Speaker 5: see laws like this that protects our community. And there

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Speaker 5: also needs to be laws where there's a sense of

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Speaker 5: urgency and a sense of fairness when a person is

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Speaker 5: reported missing. So again there's a loophole with the Amber Alert.

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Speaker 5: So if you're classified as a runaway, you do not

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Speaker 5: receive the Amber Alert or any type of media coverage.

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Speaker 5: How do we close that gap? We need to really

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Speaker 5: take a look at it to ensure that the individual

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Speaker 5: who did not voluntarily leave home gets the right classification

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Speaker 5: when they're reported missing.

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Speaker 6: Natalie told us about one case that highlights the problems

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Speaker 6: evident in the current system. It was a story of

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Speaker 6: a girl named Relisha Rudd who went missing in twenty fourteen.

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Speaker 5: She and her family were evicted from their apartment in

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Speaker 5: Das and they moved to the DC General Homeless Shelter

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Speaker 5: and Relicia was one of six hundred children living at

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Speaker 5: the shelter. And we became involved with relicious case as

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Speaker 5: one of our then board members and she was Assistant

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Speaker 5: Chief of Police. Diane Grooms shared the news release issued

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Speaker 5: by MPD on March to twentieth about relicious disappearance.

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Speaker 6: Flicia was last spotted on a hotel security camera, accompanied

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Speaker 6: by a man named Khalil Tatum, a friend of Relicia's mother.

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Speaker 6: A few weeks later, Tatum's wife was found shot dead

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Speaker 6: in a hotel, and after that, Tatum's body was found

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Speaker 6: in a shed, dead from an apparent suicide. Relicia was

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Speaker 6: never found.

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Speaker 5: We were very alarmed, but we were very determined to

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Speaker 5: find Relicia. And there are so many unanswered questions about

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Speaker 5: this case, and the most disheartening is that no one

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Speaker 5: was really keeping up with Relicious whereabouts, you know, not

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Speaker 5: her family, not the shelter, not the school. So there

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Speaker 5: is enough blame to go around for everyone. And we

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Speaker 5: believe that, you know, African American and Hispanic children, they

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Speaker 5: deserve the same innocence as other children. So it's definitely

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Speaker 5: a case that weighs heavy on our hearts. And when

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Speaker 5: someone finds out that I'm, you know, one of the

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Speaker 5: co founders of the Black Missing Foundation in the DC area,

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Speaker 5: the first case they always ask us about is Relicious.

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Speaker 5: What happened to her? We believe that she was a

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Speaker 5: victim of sex trafficking and the janitor whom her mother

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Speaker 5: gave supervision over her was grooming her for sex trafficking.

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Speaker 5: It's just so heartbreaking, but we will never stop searching

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Speaker 5: for Militia. Behold on to hope that she's alive and

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Speaker 5: that she can be reunited. So much love in the

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Speaker 5: DC area for her.

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Speaker 6: One of the people working in the Relasia Rudd case

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Speaker 6: all these years is Henderson Long, who he met last episode.

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Speaker 6: Henderson is the CEO of DC's Missing Voice. He essentially

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Speaker 6: acts as a go between for d c's Metropolitan Police

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Speaker 6: and the black community. Henderson says that in many cases

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Speaker 6: of missing and murdered children, someone in the community knows something,

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Speaker 6: So you have to get out there and talk to folks.

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Speaker 7: Tian Jones, you know, and I know y'all know about

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Speaker 7: that homicide.

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Speaker 6: And from Saturday, Henderson invited us to one outreach event

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Speaker 6: at a seven to eleven in southeast d C. He

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Speaker 6: was there handing out flyers with missing persons information about

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Speaker 6: Relasia Rudd.

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Speaker 7: The goal of to day is to create greater awareness about,

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Speaker 7: you know, the tragic circumstances of all our children in

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Speaker 7: the District of Columbia.

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Speaker 8: Militia Rudd.

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Speaker 7: Her day being a platform, I was going to read

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Speaker 7: the proclamation and show you the proclamations, the Mayas sign

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Speaker 7: regarding Militia Rudd Day.

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Speaker 6: Like the Freeway Phantom Victims Relicious case, did not receive

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Speaker 6: sufficient media coverage. For the first three weeks that she

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Speaker 6: was missing, there was no mainstream media outlet covering the

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Speaker 6: story at all. This was also due to the fact

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Speaker 6: that no one, including police, considered her a missing person.

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Speaker 6: But after she was officially reported missing, people like Henderson

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Speaker 6: Long were able to get the media involved.

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Speaker 8: Well, y'all on July eleven. That was the big media pushing.

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Speaker 8: You know, everybody's not on social media.

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Speaker 7: So my goal was to take Milicia Rudd's plight and

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Speaker 7: all the plight of all our children and missing persons

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Speaker 7: to the street because you never know what you're gonna

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Speaker 7: run into. We may run into some information that's usual

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Speaker 7: to help us close the case and bring some closures

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Speaker 7: to some families and make the district a little safer,

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Speaker 7: you know, it's our cart.

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Speaker 8: I approach this work with the.

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Speaker 7: Understanding that the police can't do it alone, that we

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Speaker 7: both need each other and in the community is a

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Speaker 7: tremendous asset to the police department when they can get

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Speaker 7: these tips in. I heard Chief Conti yesterday begging people

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Speaker 7: to call me. I'm send the rest in pieces up,

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Speaker 7: but I need phone calls.

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Speaker 8: I need people to call in and give me some tips.

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Speaker 3: Now.

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Speaker 7: I appreciate the flowers, the cars, this that and the other,

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Speaker 7: but we need calls. We need people to call in.

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Speaker 7: We need information in the community. They know who's committing

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Speaker 7: these crimes. These crimes, anything that involve criminal malice, they

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Speaker 7: know who's doing and we need the police to handle

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Speaker 7: that type of stuff. When it's not anything a criminal nature,

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Speaker 7: you need them.

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Speaker 8: To be involved.

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Speaker 6: Henderson says, there are certain valuable pieces of info you

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Speaker 6: need when investigating one of these cases. You need an

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Speaker 6: up to date photo, a complete physical description, and if possible, fingerprints.

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Speaker 7: Fingerprints is heavy in terms of identification union positivity. I

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Speaker 7: d somebody who it is, because sometimes you'll find someone,

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Speaker 7: you'll locate someone, somebody will come upon them. They may

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Speaker 7: be incapacitated, they may even be deceased. We can roll

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Speaker 7: those fingerprints and if they had any pride, run INDs.

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Speaker 7: You know, y'all know the deal, You pull them right up.

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Speaker 7: So fingerprints are invaluable.

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Speaker 6: Henderson says the biggest goal of these outreach events is

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Speaker 6: to build relationships between the community and the police. That's

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Speaker 6: why there were a handful of officers there unarmed, handing

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Speaker 6: out flyers.

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Speaker 7: We try to educate people on what MPD within their

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Speaker 7: general orders, what kind of what they expect, because some

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Speaker 7: people come to the thing with the wrong expectation. So

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Speaker 7: we get out into the elementary schools, we get out

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Speaker 7: into the daycare centers, we fingerprint children, We educate the

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Speaker 7: parents on what to do.

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Speaker 8: A lot of parents don't know to.

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Speaker 7: Call the police, and then you know, you got the

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Speaker 7: street code out there too, don't deal with the police.

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Speaker 7: So we try to deal with some of that by

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Speaker 7: fostering relationship with the police, showing people that hey, look

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Speaker 7: the police are not all what you think it is.

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Speaker 8: Ninety eight percent of them are good people do down here.

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Speaker 8: They trying to do their job.

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Speaker 6: So Henderson says, the case of Relasia Rudd is a

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Speaker 6: prime example of what can happen when communities like this

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Speaker 6: remain relatively closed off. Over the last nine years, there's

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Speaker 6: been a little movement on the case, but Henderson is

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Speaker 6: convinced someone knows something. By reminding people about Relitia, he

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Speaker 6: says he's hoping to prevent cases like hers in the future.

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Speaker 7: This is an age regression photo of what Relitia Rudd

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Speaker 7: would look like today.

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Speaker 8: That's her age regression photo is what they think she

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Speaker 8: would look like. I think at age fifteen.

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Speaker 7: And as I said when I talked to the media,

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Speaker 7: a murder, suicide, and deception attached to a child, eight

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Speaker 7: year old child name, that's totally unacceptable. Murder, lies, and suicide.

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Speaker 7: That's the worst you can get for child seven. Relasia

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Speaker 7: Rudd that totally dependent on us, to totally dependent on

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Speaker 7: people around her.

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Speaker 8: You know, kids are totally dependent on us. They have

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Speaker 8: no other choice but to trust the people that they're

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Speaker 8: under their care.

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Speaker 6: One of the people we met at the outreach event

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Speaker 6: for Relasia Rudd was MPD Commander Pamela Wheeler Taylor. She

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Speaker 6: was there helping Handerson handout flyers and after the event

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Speaker 6: we had a number of questions about how her unit

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Speaker 6: investigates these types of cases. Commander Wheeler Taylor agreed to

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Speaker 6: sit down with us. Hello everyone, I am Commander Pamela

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Speaker 6: Wheeler Taylor of the DC Metropolitan Police Department. I'm the

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Speaker 6: commander of the Youth and Family Services Division. I've been

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Speaker 6: a member of the Metropolitan Police Department for approximately thirty

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Speaker 6: one years, and my experience runs the gamut from patrol

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Speaker 6: to internal affairs to human resources, and now, like I said,

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Speaker 6: I actually happened to have been appointed to the rank

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Speaker 6: of commander in January of twenty twenty one. So obviously

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Speaker 6: the case that we're focusing on was fifty years ago,

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Speaker 6: and we were surprised at how sort of blase law

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Speaker 6: enforcement was when these children went missing. So I wondered,

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Speaker 6: if you would first walk us through today what happens

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Speaker 6: if I call you and say my child was supposed

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Speaker 6: to be home at three, she's not home.

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Speaker 9: What happens?

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Speaker 8: Typically?

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Speaker 9: What happens, and in cases such as that, the response

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Speaker 9: of the very first responding officers of utmost importance. That's

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Speaker 9: where you gather the most critical information. Things that are

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Speaker 9: set and the heat of the moment are things that

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Speaker 9: have to be memorialized because they could actually, you know,

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Speaker 9: bring about successful closure at the end. Little things that

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Speaker 9: you feel might not be important. Something as simple as

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Speaker 9: my kids said they were going to visit their friend

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Speaker 9: and I told them that they couldn't go, Or something

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Speaker 9: as simple as maybe you've taken the kid to a

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Speaker 9: location the kid may say, you know, you know, i'd

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Speaker 9: awfully I want to visit that again. You may not

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Speaker 9: think because it's in the back of your mind that

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Speaker 9: you've never taken the kid to that place, or you're

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Speaker 9: not going to take the kid again. But it's something

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Speaker 9: you have to listen to. Things that are spontaneously uttered.

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Speaker 9: You know they have a valuable evidence. At what point, then,

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Speaker 9: do you know, does the case become more serious? At

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Speaker 9: what point does does an.

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Speaker 6: Officer feel that there is a need to that it's

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Speaker 6: no longer to become aware. Could this kid have gone

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Speaker 6: as opposed to maybe something untoward happened to this kid.

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Speaker 9: Okay, so generally what happens And let me back up

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Speaker 9: a bit and maybe just explain to you what a

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Speaker 9: missing person definition is in the District of Columbia. Missing

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Speaker 9: person is anyone adult or child that is missing from

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Speaker 9: their lawful place of abode within the District of Columbia,

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Speaker 9: and they they're missing as unusual, highly unusual, or for

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Speaker 9: their patterns or things that they normally their routine, things

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Speaker 9: of that nature. Or the missing person could be missing

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Speaker 9: from another jurisdiction close to the district, but there's reasonably

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Speaker 9: there's incredible knowledge that the individual was lasting in the

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Speaker 9: District of Columbia. So again, the reporting person initial responder

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Speaker 9: are critical and determining the soircumstances surrounding the missing person's disappearance.

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Speaker 9: The first step again is to interview the reporting person.

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Speaker 9: Try to gather as much information as you possibly can,

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Speaker 9: as far as demographics available, friends, a clothing description. What

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Speaker 9: is definitely invaluable to us is a recent photo. If

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Speaker 9: you have a recent photo of the individual, it's very

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Speaker 9: valuable in the issues of a missing person's flyer, which

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Speaker 9: we distribute in every case. So, I mean, obviously you

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Speaker 9: were not around in the nineteen sevent well, you were

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Speaker 9: in a police officer and not a police officer, but

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Speaker 9: your career spans three decades, yes it does. So this

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Speaker 9: is another thing that keeps coming up to us is

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Speaker 9: how differently, even based on our very small knowledge of

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Speaker 9: police procedure, how differently cases were handled back then as

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Speaker 9: to now. And I'm wondering if you could give us

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Speaker 9: a kind of a concept of how not just technology

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Speaker 9: but resources have changed even since when you first started, mean,

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Speaker 9: how much better equipped our office to do this kind

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Speaker 9: of work. Absolutely, absolutely, And just like in anything in life,

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Speaker 9: of course, technology brings about improvements and things we have

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Speaker 9: the ability to be able to now actually track cell phones.

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Speaker 9: These cell phones are invaluable and you'll see that every

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Speaker 9: juvenile has a cell phone in his or her hand.

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Speaker 9: Once the missing person's detectives get on the scene, the

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Speaker 9: first thing we are able to do is be able

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Speaker 9: to track that cell phone. And like I said, how

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Speaker 9: quickly can that very quickly? Very quickly. It's a matter

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Speaker 9: of us forwarding an emergency disclosure request social media. Also,

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Speaker 9: we can develop an IP address for where that phone

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Speaker 9: is actually pinging that has proven invaluable or not. That's

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Speaker 9: something that we definitely did not have. It gives us

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Speaker 9: a leg up on a possible location of the individual

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Speaker 9: if we're lucky enough to have a case where a

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Speaker 9: cell phone is involved. So definitely technology, even with fingerprinting,

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Speaker 9: even with you know, like I said, just being able

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Speaker 9: to transmit a photo, transmit a photo through a cell phone.

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Speaker 9: The expediency of the inform that we receive gives us

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Speaker 9: a leg up on our search for the individual. And

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00:24:03,840 --> 00:24:08,280
Speaker 9: there's more cameras around, definitely CCTV cameras. Again, like I said,

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Speaker 9: just social media in and of itself just invaluable. What

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Speaker 9: about the importance of just community members who live in

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Speaker 9: that neighborhood, who see these kids perhaps every day. How

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Speaker 9: important are they in the whole investigation of a child's disappearance.

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Speaker 9: Very valuable, And that's one of the first things. As

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Speaker 9: the first responding unit, we go around and we call

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Speaker 9: it door knocks, good old fashioned boots on the ground

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Speaker 9: door knocks. You're knocking on neighbors doors, and a lot

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Speaker 9: of times the neighbors have information, well, yes, I saw

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Speaker 9: a little Johnny head that way, or yes, little Johnny

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00:24:40,960 --> 00:24:43,560
Speaker 9: hangs with my friend, you know, and they hang at

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Speaker 9: the park up the street. The community is at the

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Speaker 9: root of the missing person's investigations. Getting their collaboration and

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00:24:51,080 --> 00:24:55,760
Speaker 9: cooperation with us is invaluable. They are actually paramount insolving

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00:24:55,800 --> 00:24:59,000
Speaker 9: the cases, which requires that they trust the police. Trust

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Speaker 9: is it absolutely is something that we cannot do our

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Speaker 9: job without. You have to have to trust to the community.

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00:25:05,560 --> 00:25:09,000
Speaker 9: I mean, I think people maybe underestimate this particular piece

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Speaker 9: because we were out getting gathering tape in a couple

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Speaker 9: of neighborhoods yesterday and people had their eyes on us,

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Speaker 9: like they were over a dozen people watching us. Especially Yeah,

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Speaker 9: because people know what's specific to their area, to their neighborhood.

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Speaker 9: And people are cultish of their neighborhood I know. So

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Speaker 9: don't believe just because things are not said, don't believe

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Speaker 9: that you're not viewed it. Like you said, a prime

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00:25:32,240 --> 00:25:35,399
Speaker 9: example is of them being aware of their surroundings in

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Speaker 9: their neighborhoods.

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Speaker 6: So when we're talking about the requiring the trust of

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Speaker 6: communities and how important that can be in locating, especially

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Speaker 6: a missing child, does that mean it's maybe harder right

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Speaker 6: now when trust of the police is in many areas

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Speaker 6: as at a low.

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Speaker 9: You know, I have not found that to be a

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Speaker 9: deterrent when you're talking about a missing kid. Folks have

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Speaker 9: a tendency to be able to look on the other

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Speaker 9: side of things. They'll see that we're there for the good.

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Speaker 9: So I have not in my personal experience, have not

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Speaker 9: and I've never heard of any of my officers complain

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Speaker 9: about the neighborhood not talking to have a tendency. Again,

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Speaker 9: I don't know whether it's part of the code, you know,

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00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:16,520
Speaker 9: but anytime a senior or a juvenile is involved, I

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Speaker 9: have not experienced any type of not wanting to get

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00:26:20,200 --> 00:26:23,399
Speaker 9: involved in the process. And I'm sure you're aware, and

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Speaker 9: we keep hearing it over and over this impression that

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00:26:25,800 --> 00:26:28,959
Speaker 9: black communities are a lower priority for law enforcement than

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Speaker 9: white communities are. And so what is your response to, say,

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00:26:31,960 --> 00:26:38,120
Speaker 9: black residents who believe that their crises their children are

438
00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:41,280
Speaker 9: of lower priority. I'd have to stand on the laurels

439
00:26:41,280 --> 00:26:45,639
Speaker 9: of police Chief Robert J. Cont In that we investigate

440
00:26:45,720 --> 00:26:48,639
Speaker 9: all of our cases the same. We have a standardized procedure.

441
00:26:48,960 --> 00:26:51,919
Speaker 9: There's no one case that is given a higher priority

442
00:26:51,920 --> 00:26:54,359
Speaker 9: than another case. Now in the media you may see

443
00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:57,520
Speaker 9: that which we don't have control over, but we investigate

444
00:26:57,560 --> 00:26:59,720
Speaker 9: every last one of our cases the same. No one

445
00:26:59,760 --> 00:27:01,880
Speaker 9: case has any priority over the other. So I would

446
00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:05,320
Speaker 9: consistently tell the residents. I would explain to them, being transparent,

447
00:27:05,960 --> 00:27:08,119
Speaker 9: this is what we do in every case, and I

448
00:27:08,119 --> 00:27:10,919
Speaker 9: would give him a highlight of each investigative step that

449
00:27:10,960 --> 00:27:13,720
Speaker 9: we've taken. So what advice do you give to somebody.

450
00:27:13,800 --> 00:27:17,280
Speaker 9: Let's say that my son is expected home at four

451
00:27:17,320 --> 00:27:20,439
Speaker 9: pm and it's five point thirty and I'm worried, Yes,

452
00:27:20,760 --> 00:27:23,520
Speaker 9: what recommendation do you have for me short of that

453
00:27:23,560 --> 00:27:25,679
Speaker 9: given in the district of Columbia. And that's a common

454
00:27:25,720 --> 00:27:28,159
Speaker 9: misperception as well, that you'll hear folks say, well, he

455
00:27:28,200 --> 00:27:30,160
Speaker 9: has to be missing for twenty four hours or there's

456
00:27:30,160 --> 00:27:32,560
Speaker 9: a certain time period. There is no time period for

457
00:27:32,600 --> 00:27:34,919
Speaker 9: you to be able to report your loved one missing.

458
00:27:35,440 --> 00:27:39,000
Speaker 9: It's based more on what is unusual for that person's situation.

459
00:27:39,320 --> 00:27:41,600
Speaker 9: If your kid is missing fifteen minutes and you know

460
00:27:41,640 --> 00:27:44,119
Speaker 9: that that's unusual for your kid, you immediately pick up

461
00:27:44,119 --> 00:27:46,360
Speaker 9: the phone and call the police. What we're seeing now

462
00:27:46,440 --> 00:27:50,000
Speaker 9: is that that gap in time from disappearance to reporting

463
00:27:50,280 --> 00:27:55,200
Speaker 9: actually puts us behind, especially in cases of elderly folks

464
00:27:55,880 --> 00:28:00,280
Speaker 9: and with juveniles maybe under the age of twelve, actually

465
00:28:00,280 --> 00:28:02,600
Speaker 9: puts us behind. So there's no time limit. As soon

466
00:28:02,600 --> 00:28:05,840
Speaker 9: as you feel that something is unusual about your kid's disappearance,

467
00:28:06,359 --> 00:28:11,040
Speaker 9: call the police. Back at the outreach event for a

468
00:28:11,040 --> 00:28:14,159
Speaker 9: relationsiou Rudd a prayer was delivered by Shantis Cotton.

469
00:28:15,160 --> 00:28:17,440
Speaker 10: We all have a destiny, we all have a purpose,

470
00:28:17,840 --> 00:28:19,840
Speaker 10: and you just have to let the Lord continue to

471
00:28:20,520 --> 00:28:22,280
Speaker 10: work in you all of the gifts and talents that

472
00:28:22,320 --> 00:28:25,080
Speaker 10: He's placed on the inside of you for his glory.

473
00:28:25,720 --> 00:28:27,760
Speaker 10: That you can get anywhere, you can be anywhere, You

474
00:28:27,800 --> 00:28:30,800
Speaker 10: can do anything that you have been allowed to do,

475
00:28:30,800 --> 00:28:33,119
Speaker 10: because God has purpose and a reason for you to

476
00:28:33,160 --> 00:28:35,800
Speaker 10: be on this earth, and so I just encourage people

477
00:28:35,920 --> 00:28:37,960
Speaker 10: just to know that God has a reason for them,

478
00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:41,400
Speaker 10: and that He has allowed the account talents that He's

479
00:28:41,400 --> 00:28:43,280
Speaker 10: placed on the inside of them to come into fruition

480
00:28:43,360 --> 00:28:46,000
Speaker 10: and to manifestation, to use them wherever they are and

481
00:28:46,040 --> 00:28:47,800
Speaker 10: to give them wherever they need to be in life,

482
00:28:48,080 --> 00:28:50,120
Speaker 10: so they can make it. Yes, they can make it.

483
00:28:50,200 --> 00:28:52,920
Speaker 10: Yes they can. Thank you, Thank you, thank you.

484
00:29:18,120 --> 00:29:21,080
Speaker 6: In learning about the cases that Henderson Long works on today,

485
00:29:21,440 --> 00:29:23,680
Speaker 6: it was striking to me how many of the same

486
00:29:23,960 --> 00:29:28,320
Speaker 6: barriers exist now that existed fifty years ago. Young Black

487
00:29:28,360 --> 00:29:32,280
Speaker 6: girls are still at a higher risk of victimization, and

488
00:29:32,360 --> 00:29:37,080
Speaker 6: their disappearances get little or no attention. Commander Wheeler Taylor

489
00:29:37,120 --> 00:29:40,840
Speaker 6: says all cases are investigated the same, and she doesn't

490
00:29:40,840 --> 00:29:43,520
Speaker 6: find a lack of trust in law enforcement to impact

491
00:29:43,600 --> 00:29:48,160
Speaker 6: cases of missing youth, But she says Henderson helps break

492
00:29:48,200 --> 00:29:52,480
Speaker 6: down the barrier between law enforcement and the black community. Today,

493
00:29:52,520 --> 00:29:56,160
Speaker 6: we have so many resources for solving these kinds of cases,

494
00:29:56,480 --> 00:30:00,360
Speaker 6: better technologies, social media, a much better understanding of DNA

495
00:30:00,720 --> 00:30:04,320
Speaker 6: and forensic evidence. We've also got people like Henderson Long

496
00:30:04,440 --> 00:30:07,120
Speaker 6: working in the community to try and make a difference.

497
00:30:07,760 --> 00:30:10,680
Speaker 6: But the fact that Henderson's work is still so needed

498
00:30:10,760 --> 00:30:14,080
Speaker 6: in twenty twenty three is a sign of failure on

499
00:30:14,080 --> 00:30:16,880
Speaker 6: one level at least. There's a problem that has been

500
00:30:16,880 --> 00:30:19,760
Speaker 6: with us since the nineteen seventies, and it's that police

501
00:30:19,800 --> 00:30:22,720
Speaker 6: have still not earned the trust of black communities in

502
00:30:22,800 --> 00:30:27,680
Speaker 6: many of these neighborhoods. And as we've learned painfully that piece,

503
00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:30,600
Speaker 6: it's just crucial when you want to solve these cases.

504
00:30:31,120 --> 00:30:34,520
Speaker 6: It's very likely that somebody in the community knows what

505
00:30:34,720 --> 00:30:39,400
Speaker 6: happened or knows something significant, and for the Freeway phantom cases,

506
00:30:39,960 --> 00:30:42,840
Speaker 6: their testimony may be all that we have left.

507
00:30:43,960 --> 00:30:47,080
Speaker 2: I think when it comes to the physical evidence, what

508
00:30:47,280 --> 00:30:50,720
Speaker 2: was left has been exhausted, so we probably will not

509
00:30:50,960 --> 00:30:54,360
Speaker 2: be able to do anything with DNA not for the

510
00:30:54,640 --> 00:30:55,760
Speaker 2: physical evidence.

511
00:30:56,640 --> 00:30:59,520
Speaker 6: This is retired MPD Detective Romaine Jenkins.

512
00:31:00,520 --> 00:31:04,200
Speaker 2: What I'm hoping is that by keeping the cases in

513
00:31:04,280 --> 00:31:06,280
Speaker 2: the public's views that.

514
00:31:06,400 --> 00:31:09,080
Speaker 3: Maybe somebody, you don't job somebody's.

515
00:31:08,600 --> 00:31:12,400
Speaker 2: Memory that you know something that they never told anybody.

516
00:31:12,560 --> 00:31:15,960
Speaker 2: They came across some hyping books, you know, that they

517
00:31:16,040 --> 00:31:19,080
Speaker 2: found when it cleaned out an apartment, or one of

518
00:31:19,120 --> 00:31:22,920
Speaker 2: their younger cousins brought some hyping books home, or some

519
00:31:23,120 --> 00:31:26,760
Speaker 2: property that didn't belong to them, some properties that had

520
00:31:26,800 --> 00:31:29,360
Speaker 2: the name Brenda Woodard on it. And this is what

521
00:31:29,440 --> 00:31:33,040
Speaker 2: I'm hoping that somebody's memory will be jobs.

522
00:31:33,680 --> 00:31:36,959
Speaker 6: Romaine says, that's why the work of Henderson Long is

523
00:31:37,040 --> 00:31:38,200
Speaker 6: so important.

524
00:31:38,960 --> 00:31:43,120
Speaker 2: Well, you always need someone who trusts the police. If

525
00:31:43,160 --> 00:31:46,120
Speaker 2: you're going to be an investigator and you don't have

526
00:31:46,440 --> 00:31:49,880
Speaker 2: someone who's going to give you information or what's going

527
00:31:49,960 --> 00:31:53,600
Speaker 2: on in the community, then you're wasting your time. If

528
00:31:53,640 --> 00:31:57,000
Speaker 2: you always have to pay for information. I think one

529
00:31:57,080 --> 00:31:59,520
Speaker 2: time in my whole career did I ever pay for

530
00:31:59,600 --> 00:32:03,280
Speaker 2: any You give me the information because you want to

531
00:32:03,320 --> 00:32:04,360
Speaker 2: be a good citizen.

532
00:32:04,800 --> 00:32:08,040
Speaker 3: You've given me the information because you know I'm not.

533
00:32:08,080 --> 00:32:11,240
Speaker 2: Going to divulge your name to anybody, and I don't,

534
00:32:11,800 --> 00:32:15,120
Speaker 2: and so you have got to have that trust.

535
00:32:16,720 --> 00:32:19,400
Speaker 6: I asked Romaine how we can get people to come

536
00:32:19,480 --> 00:32:22,200
Speaker 6: forward with information about the freeway phantom.

537
00:32:23,120 --> 00:32:26,240
Speaker 2: What you have to do is keep these cases in

538
00:32:26,320 --> 00:32:29,479
Speaker 2: front of the public. A lot of people don't know

539
00:32:29,560 --> 00:32:33,080
Speaker 2: about these cases, and a lot of people who who

540
00:32:33,280 --> 00:32:36,560
Speaker 2: lived here years ago when these cases happen, they are

541
00:32:37,240 --> 00:32:39,760
Speaker 2: aware of them, but they thought they were closed. So

542
00:32:39,840 --> 00:32:45,320
Speaker 2: you have to constantly remind the public that these cases

543
00:32:45,360 --> 00:32:46,000
Speaker 2: are open.

544
00:32:46,640 --> 00:32:49,000
Speaker 3: The person who did it was.

545
00:32:49,080 --> 00:32:52,880
Speaker 2: Never apprehended, so we don't know what else that person

546
00:32:52,920 --> 00:32:54,120
Speaker 2: could have done.

547
00:32:54,480 --> 00:32:57,240
Speaker 6: Romaine says that with the emergence of the Internet and

548
00:32:57,320 --> 00:33:00,600
Speaker 6: social media, there just might be new avenues for people

549
00:33:00,640 --> 00:33:02,880
Speaker 6: to investigate the Freeway Phantom case further.

550
00:33:03,880 --> 00:33:07,480
Speaker 2: You know, now that everything is computerized, I think if

551
00:33:07,480 --> 00:33:11,719
Speaker 2: somebody does have some information, they could really put it

552
00:33:11,760 --> 00:33:12,240
Speaker 2: on their.

553
00:33:12,080 --> 00:33:15,120
Speaker 3: Internet if they don't want to be involved in it

554
00:33:15,240 --> 00:33:15,960
Speaker 3: per se.

555
00:33:16,400 --> 00:33:18,360
Speaker 2: Back then, we just didn't have The only thing we

556
00:33:18,440 --> 00:33:21,960
Speaker 2: had was the newspaper and the TV and the newspaper,

557
00:33:22,240 --> 00:33:24,920
Speaker 2: which was at the time the biggest circulating one I

558
00:33:24,920 --> 00:33:28,440
Speaker 2: think was the Washington Post. You know, now we have

559
00:33:28,640 --> 00:33:31,760
Speaker 2: more and there's so many different sites, and it takes

560
00:33:31,920 --> 00:33:35,320
Speaker 2: longer to investigate things now because I think back then

561
00:33:35,400 --> 00:33:38,640
Speaker 2: they had over a thousand people who were suspects in

562
00:33:38,720 --> 00:33:42,160
Speaker 2: the case. They investigated every last one of them, but

563
00:33:42,200 --> 00:33:44,880
Speaker 2: they could not come to a favorable conclusion.

564
00:33:46,040 --> 00:33:49,640
Speaker 6: Romaine also says law enforcement is much more capable in

565
00:33:49,640 --> 00:33:52,280
Speaker 6: today's world than they might have been fifty years ago.

566
00:33:53,440 --> 00:33:56,080
Speaker 2: If you talk to THATBI they said at one time

567
00:33:56,120 --> 00:33:59,400
Speaker 2: they thought there was more than one hundred serial killings

568
00:34:00,040 --> 00:34:04,240
Speaker 2: operating within the United States. I think what's happening today,

569
00:34:04,600 --> 00:34:08,759
Speaker 2: it's being highlighted more. These cases were happening back in

570
00:34:08,800 --> 00:34:11,959
Speaker 2: the early seventies, but there was so much else going

571
00:34:11,960 --> 00:34:14,799
Speaker 2: on and they were not equipped. They didn't even use

572
00:34:14,840 --> 00:34:19,200
Speaker 2: the term serial murder cases back in the early seventies.

573
00:34:19,239 --> 00:34:20,920
Speaker 3: You know, we call them pattern cases.

574
00:34:21,040 --> 00:34:24,239
Speaker 2: Well, we gave them a name by what was the

575
00:34:24,600 --> 00:34:28,880
Speaker 2: outstanding thing that the suspect did. Because of the fact

576
00:34:29,000 --> 00:34:32,840
Speaker 2: that nowadays you can put a it's name in a

577
00:34:32,880 --> 00:34:36,040
Speaker 2: computer and god knows, you can find out everything, all

578
00:34:36,080 --> 00:34:37,960
Speaker 2: about his family tree and everything.

579
00:34:38,320 --> 00:34:40,080
Speaker 3: So everything is it's there.

580
00:34:40,560 --> 00:34:44,040
Speaker 2: But it's important that the police recognized that whoever did

581
00:34:44,239 --> 00:34:46,560
Speaker 2: a particular case is going to do it again.

582
00:34:46,920 --> 00:34:48,359
Speaker 3: It's not a one time thing.

583
00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:52,280
Speaker 2: That's why the name Freeway Phantom came in because somebody

584
00:34:52,400 --> 00:34:56,520
Speaker 2: asked in a press conference, somebody on the Metropolitan Police Department,

585
00:34:56,840 --> 00:34:59,920
Speaker 2: do you think it's more than one person involved in

586
00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:02,160
Speaker 2: and the person said, well, we think it's probably more.

587
00:35:02,040 --> 00:35:02,840
Speaker 3: Than one person.

588
00:35:03,440 --> 00:35:07,000
Speaker 2: When the water case happened, that's when the note is sound,

589
00:35:07,320 --> 00:35:09,960
Speaker 2: and the note lets you know it was just one purpose.

590
00:35:12,239 --> 00:35:14,920
Speaker 6: It was clear to us during our investigation of the

591
00:35:14,920 --> 00:35:18,360
Speaker 6: Freeway phantom. The police response at the time was impacted

592
00:35:18,360 --> 00:35:22,040
Speaker 6: to at least some degree by racial bias. I asked

593
00:35:22,080 --> 00:35:24,680
Speaker 6: Ramaine how much she worries about that when it comes

594
00:35:24,719 --> 00:35:28,200
Speaker 6: to similar cases today, it.

595
00:35:28,160 --> 00:35:31,560
Speaker 2: Might still be a problem somewhat, but it can be

596
00:35:31,719 --> 00:35:36,600
Speaker 2: hidden nowadays because everybody is looking at the police. Everybody

597
00:35:36,680 --> 00:35:40,520
Speaker 2: has a camera, they have a microphone, They're paying attention

598
00:35:40,719 --> 00:35:43,399
Speaker 2: to what is going on, and so you really don't

599
00:35:43,400 --> 00:35:48,040
Speaker 2: have not that all the prejudice and racism has dissipated.

600
00:35:48,520 --> 00:35:50,960
Speaker 3: It's still there, but it's not highlighted.

601
00:35:51,440 --> 00:35:54,719
Speaker 2: And back then what you saw a lot of the

602
00:35:54,840 --> 00:36:00,480
Speaker 2: times officers brought their personal grievances and opinions to the

603
00:36:00,920 --> 00:36:03,680
Speaker 2: office when they investigated the case. I mean, you know,

604
00:36:03,840 --> 00:36:06,879
Speaker 2: I read reports in these cases where some officers wrote

605
00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:10,480
Speaker 2: up that these young girls who were tight shorts. Not

606
00:36:10,719 --> 00:36:13,400
Speaker 2: one of these girls had on a pair of tight shorts,

607
00:36:13,440 --> 00:36:15,239
Speaker 2: and if she did, what does that have to do

608
00:36:15,320 --> 00:36:15,960
Speaker 2: with anything?

609
00:36:16,560 --> 00:36:18,759
Speaker 3: And that really upset me.

610
00:36:19,000 --> 00:36:23,440
Speaker 2: Because they're blaming these girls for their own abductions.

611
00:36:22,680 --> 00:36:24,560
Speaker 3: And rates strangulations.

612
00:36:24,600 --> 00:36:26,719
Speaker 2: You know, but this is how they felt. This is

613
00:36:26,719 --> 00:36:29,279
Speaker 2: a memo that they put out there. You know that

614
00:36:29,360 --> 00:36:30,480
Speaker 2: they wore type.

615
00:36:30,320 --> 00:36:34,919
Speaker 6: Jeans Romayne still hopes that the Freeway Phantom cases can

616
00:36:34,960 --> 00:36:38,279
Speaker 6: be solved, but she says more people need to know

617
00:36:38,320 --> 00:36:41,560
Speaker 6: about these cases and somebody needs to step up.

618
00:36:42,760 --> 00:36:47,760
Speaker 2: If I had the power, I would love to see

619
00:36:48,160 --> 00:36:52,400
Speaker 2: that these cases were resolved, either by someone telling the

620
00:36:52,480 --> 00:36:58,160
Speaker 2: police or calling the police, calling the newspapers. In fact,

621
00:36:58,239 --> 00:37:01,560
Speaker 2: get on the internet and say it. Everybody hides information

622
00:37:01,680 --> 00:37:05,520
Speaker 2: on the internet. But you know, at least in part

623
00:37:05,600 --> 00:37:08,600
Speaker 2: the information that you have that might be crucial. And

624
00:37:08,680 --> 00:37:12,560
Speaker 2: maybe you might think it didn't mean anything, but you know,

625
00:37:12,640 --> 00:37:16,160
Speaker 2: if you keep it to yourself, we'll never know. Also

626
00:37:16,680 --> 00:37:21,920
Speaker 2: that these cases are always kept alive in some manner

627
00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:26,600
Speaker 2: with PG County Police and with the Metropolitan Police Department,

628
00:37:27,000 --> 00:37:30,840
Speaker 2: and with thatbi that the files and the evidence to

629
00:37:30,960 --> 00:37:33,799
Speaker 2: not be destroyed, that it be kept forever and ever.

630
00:37:34,120 --> 00:37:37,120
Speaker 2: And maybe you can't do anything with the evidence. But

631
00:37:37,280 --> 00:37:40,440
Speaker 2: you know, maybe somebody who's in their seventies. I figured,

632
00:37:40,480 --> 00:37:43,440
Speaker 2: if the Phantom were alive today, he probably did his

633
00:37:43,719 --> 00:37:48,200
Speaker 2: late sixties or early seventies. Maybe he wants to relieve

634
00:37:48,320 --> 00:37:51,200
Speaker 2: his conscients of what he had done. You don't know,

635
00:37:51,440 --> 00:37:56,960
Speaker 2: you know, And also always keep in touch with the

636
00:37:57,360 --> 00:38:01,840
Speaker 2: families because a lot of times people in part inflammation

637
00:38:02,040 --> 00:38:04,960
Speaker 2: in them and they said, when the police don't really care,

638
00:38:05,080 --> 00:38:07,520
Speaker 2: so I'm not going to go. You know, even in

639
00:38:07,560 --> 00:38:11,040
Speaker 2: the Fantom cases, we had people who were interviewed the

640
00:38:11,120 --> 00:38:15,399
Speaker 2: knight the cases happened, and two years later they gave

641
00:38:15,520 --> 00:38:20,040
Speaker 2: up information that they didn't inationially give which was good inflammation.

642
00:38:20,760 --> 00:38:23,640
Speaker 2: It's a matter of always communicating with people.

643
00:38:26,880 --> 00:38:30,400
Speaker 6: We're also doing our part in this fight. As a reminder,

644
00:38:30,760 --> 00:38:34,560
Speaker 6: Tenderfoot TV and iHeartMedia are matching the one hundred and

645
00:38:34,560 --> 00:38:38,560
Speaker 6: fifty thousand dollars reward offered by the Metropolitan Police Department.

646
00:38:39,080 --> 00:38:42,080
Speaker 6: This brings the total reward for information leading to the

647
00:38:42,160 --> 00:38:45,440
Speaker 6: arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for

648
00:38:45,480 --> 00:38:49,640
Speaker 6: these murders to three hundred thousand dollars. If you have

649
00:38:49,840 --> 00:38:54,120
Speaker 6: information that may lead to the identification of the Freeway Phantom,

650
00:38:54,560 --> 00:38:57,600
Speaker 6: it's time to speak up. Tips can be provided to

651
00:38:57,680 --> 00:39:03,360
Speaker 6: MPD or Tenderfoot TV at tips at tenderfoot dot tv.

652
00:39:06,880 --> 00:39:09,600
Speaker 6: For the family members of these victims, any hope of

653
00:39:09,640 --> 00:39:14,080
Speaker 6: discovering the truth is complicated because it's hard to say

654
00:39:14,080 --> 00:39:18,279
Speaker 6: how they might feel about new details that could emerge.

655
00:39:18,880 --> 00:39:22,040
Speaker 6: Closure doesn't come easily when you've had a loved one

656
00:39:22,080 --> 00:39:26,440
Speaker 6: taken away by violence. Here again is Evander Spink's older

657
00:39:26,480 --> 00:39:27,880
Speaker 6: sister of Carol Spinx.

658
00:39:29,239 --> 00:39:33,360
Speaker 4: I mean, for the most part, my family is still together,

659
00:39:34,440 --> 00:39:38,200
Speaker 4: but it's still put a wedge in our family amongst

660
00:39:38,280 --> 00:39:42,520
Speaker 4: us Like me, I hold guilt because I felt like

661
00:39:43,280 --> 00:39:45,440
Speaker 4: I didn't do what I was supposed to do, and

662
00:39:45,480 --> 00:39:49,200
Speaker 4: I'm sure my older sister does even to this day,

663
00:39:49,239 --> 00:39:52,000
Speaker 4: I know I'm a lot more stronger than they are,

664
00:39:52,200 --> 00:39:57,160
Speaker 4: my younger siblings. I knew more and I learned more

665
00:39:57,360 --> 00:40:00,719
Speaker 4: because I wanted to know more and i wanted to

666
00:40:00,840 --> 00:40:03,920
Speaker 4: understand it. And I've always been trying to figure out

667
00:40:03,920 --> 00:40:07,600
Speaker 4: a way to get the hurt off of me. So

668
00:40:07,640 --> 00:40:13,720
Speaker 4: it made me stronger and more tougher and a harder

669
00:40:13,800 --> 00:40:19,200
Speaker 4: person because I wanted to know. And you can't be

670
00:40:19,800 --> 00:40:24,040
Speaker 4: a chicken and you can't be timid if you want

671
00:40:24,080 --> 00:40:26,759
Speaker 4: to know something, because you're going to have to take

672
00:40:26,800 --> 00:40:30,399
Speaker 4: some hard knocks to get that information. And that's what

673
00:40:30,400 --> 00:40:35,319
Speaker 4: this is. He's a hard knox. I told Yeah Yea

674
00:40:35,440 --> 00:40:41,960
Speaker 4: today that she came to me other night, two nights ago,

675
00:40:43,000 --> 00:40:46,400
Speaker 4: and it wasn't in spirit, it wasn't in body form,

676
00:40:47,200 --> 00:40:52,759
Speaker 4: and it's like out the peripheral view, I could see

677
00:40:52,800 --> 00:40:55,400
Speaker 4: her in her coffin, but not in her coughing dead,

678
00:40:56,200 --> 00:41:01,440
Speaker 4: but maybe just laying there. And people were talking about

679
00:41:01,440 --> 00:41:04,560
Speaker 4: her and as if she wasn't in the room.

680
00:41:04,680 --> 00:41:04,839
Speaker 2: Or.

681
00:41:07,040 --> 00:41:08,080
Speaker 5: I can I explain this.

682
00:41:08,400 --> 00:41:11,640
Speaker 4: They were talking about her as if she wasn't in

683
00:41:11,640 --> 00:41:16,000
Speaker 4: a room, but talking to her. And I was responding

684
00:41:16,040 --> 00:41:19,320
Speaker 4: because I remember saying this one thing. Wait a minute,

685
00:41:19,360 --> 00:41:23,160
Speaker 4: I want to interject on that right there. I said, No,

686
00:41:23,400 --> 00:41:27,000
Speaker 4: she wasn't like that at all. She was quiet, and

687
00:41:28,520 --> 00:41:31,960
Speaker 4: I kind of was looking at her out my side

688
00:41:32,000 --> 00:41:35,560
Speaker 4: eye and she was bybye, Carol.

689
00:41:36,160 --> 00:41:36,959
Speaker 9: She was just there.

690
00:41:38,120 --> 00:41:41,480
Speaker 4: And this just happened a couple days ago, and I

691
00:41:41,560 --> 00:41:45,040
Speaker 4: was saying, I was telling, yayyay, how good I felt

692
00:41:45,080 --> 00:41:48,640
Speaker 4: that I could. I always called her a visit. When

693
00:41:48,640 --> 00:41:51,320
Speaker 4: my family visited me, I always say.

694
00:41:51,360 --> 00:41:52,120
Speaker 8: I had a visit.

695
00:41:54,719 --> 00:41:57,719
Speaker 6: Here's what Bertha Crockett, the sister of Brenda Crockett, told

696
00:41:57,800 --> 00:42:00,000
Speaker 6: us about how she thinks about herself.

697
00:42:02,120 --> 00:42:06,080
Speaker 11: There are other family members that lost their sisters and

698
00:42:06,120 --> 00:42:11,120
Speaker 11: they became officers and detectives because they wanted to put

699
00:42:11,480 --> 00:42:14,160
Speaker 11: the cuffs on the man that killed their family member.

700
00:42:15,000 --> 00:42:20,839
Speaker 11: But we've had no closure, no resolution, so I mean,

701
00:42:20,880 --> 00:42:26,040
Speaker 11: I've done so many podcasts and live TV and so

702
00:42:26,080 --> 00:42:29,760
Speaker 11: it's just I don't know. The gentleman that could have

703
00:42:29,840 --> 00:42:34,880
Speaker 11: done this has to be old, old now or even deceased.

704
00:42:35,560 --> 00:42:39,400
Speaker 11: And that's said, but I don't know, you know, vengeance's minds,

705
00:42:39,440 --> 00:42:42,600
Speaker 11: I would repay, said the Lord. So that's all you

706
00:42:42,680 --> 00:42:46,080
Speaker 11: have to live by when you really can't see judgment

707
00:42:47,280 --> 00:42:50,760
Speaker 11: after all these years, I don't know if it's important anymore.

708
00:42:50,920 --> 00:42:55,919
Speaker 11: I just know that if you do wrong, wrong would

709
00:42:55,960 --> 00:43:00,239
Speaker 11: come back on you. It's God's choice and chance in time.

710
00:43:00,719 --> 00:43:03,680
Speaker 11: So you know, if you think you're doing something and

711
00:43:03,680 --> 00:43:06,279
Speaker 11: getting away with it, you're not. It's not if I

712
00:43:06,320 --> 00:43:11,600
Speaker 11: don't ever see what occurred as a resolution or you know,

713
00:43:13,040 --> 00:43:18,600
Speaker 11: as closure. I know that God has me and anything

714
00:43:18,640 --> 00:43:21,480
Speaker 11: around me, So when people do stuff, they have to

715
00:43:22,880 --> 00:43:25,200
Speaker 11: recognize that you're not going to get away with it.

716
00:43:25,280 --> 00:43:28,000
Speaker 11: So if you think you have, I think God has

717
00:43:28,080 --> 00:43:30,680
Speaker 11: had something in store for them or whatever the case

718
00:43:30,760 --> 00:43:34,600
Speaker 11: may be, in their future, their present, their past. So

719
00:43:35,080 --> 00:43:37,360
Speaker 11: if I don't see I've never I haven't seen closure

720
00:43:37,360 --> 00:43:40,719
Speaker 11: in fifty years, so I can't say, you know, I

721
00:43:40,840 --> 00:43:42,399
Speaker 11: have to worry about it. And now I just hope

722
00:43:42,440 --> 00:43:46,200
Speaker 11: that that what's deserved is deserved, because I don't want

723
00:43:46,239 --> 00:43:50,439
Speaker 11: to sound bad, but I feel like if you take

724
00:43:50,480 --> 00:43:53,640
Speaker 11: a life, you shouldn't have a life. If you do wrong,

725
00:43:53,760 --> 00:43:56,520
Speaker 11: wrong should not be granted for you to be out

726
00:43:56,520 --> 00:43:59,920
Speaker 11: here doing wrong forever. And it's not that you know

727
00:44:00,800 --> 00:44:03,520
Speaker 11: somebody had to come back and take it out on

728
00:44:03,520 --> 00:44:07,160
Speaker 11: your Purposely. Stuff just happens by circumstance, So you just

729
00:44:07,200 --> 00:44:11,360
Speaker 11: have to be good in everything you do. So no,

730
00:44:11,520 --> 00:44:15,360
Speaker 11: I'm not sitting here worrying about whether that person is

731
00:44:15,400 --> 00:44:18,160
Speaker 11: still around or whatever. I just know that God has

732
00:44:18,200 --> 00:44:20,960
Speaker 11: had me and I'm just grateful that I'm still here.

733
00:44:24,200 --> 00:44:27,960
Speaker 6: After Diane Williams was killed, her sister, Patricia Williams, went

734
00:44:28,000 --> 00:44:29,560
Speaker 6: on to become a police officer.

735
00:44:30,880 --> 00:44:35,600
Speaker 12: I did not become a police officer because my sister's death.

736
00:44:36,200 --> 00:44:40,480
Speaker 12: I became a police officer because I was taking a

737
00:44:40,520 --> 00:44:44,480
Speaker 12: class in investigations and it was during one of those

738
00:44:45,120 --> 00:44:48,600
Speaker 12: classes that the professor put up at the Metrono Police

739
00:44:48,600 --> 00:44:54,280
Speaker 12: Department would be having a test at Beloosunior High School.

740
00:44:54,320 --> 00:44:57,600
Speaker 12: That's the high school that I went to. I decided

741
00:44:57,640 --> 00:45:02,520
Speaker 12: to go and take the test, and almost arrest is history.

742
00:45:02,719 --> 00:45:07,640
Speaker 12: I wounded up joining the police department. After Romayne Jenkins retired,

743
00:45:08,320 --> 00:45:11,799
Speaker 12: there was another detective, Jim Trainer, that I was in

744
00:45:11,880 --> 00:45:15,680
Speaker 12: a training academy with, and he had gotten or was

745
00:45:15,719 --> 00:45:19,520
Speaker 12: starting to pick up with the Freeway Phantom investigations from

746
00:45:19,600 --> 00:45:23,359
Speaker 12: where Romaine Jenkins had left off. One day, we just

747
00:45:23,400 --> 00:45:27,279
Speaker 12: so happened to see each other, you know, years after

748
00:45:27,280 --> 00:45:29,880
Speaker 12: we had gotten up their training academy, and he mentioned

749
00:45:29,920 --> 00:45:33,600
Speaker 12: that to me, and so we started talking about the

750
00:45:33,640 --> 00:45:36,160
Speaker 12: free Fist and he was telling me what he's going

751
00:45:36,239 --> 00:45:39,440
Speaker 12: to do, and they had gotten a grant. He was

752
00:45:39,480 --> 00:45:44,360
Speaker 12: able to get someone to assist him with reenacting every

753
00:45:44,480 --> 00:45:49,600
Speaker 12: single case, and I was fortunate enough to write with

754
00:45:49,760 --> 00:45:52,520
Speaker 12: them on one of the reenactments that they were doing.

755
00:45:53,360 --> 00:45:58,560
Speaker 12: It felt like I was back, like in nineteen seventy one.

756
00:45:58,719 --> 00:46:01,600
Speaker 12: I felt like I was there at the time that

757
00:46:01,680 --> 00:46:06,680
Speaker 12: it happened, and it really touched me just to be

758
00:46:06,719 --> 00:46:10,240
Speaker 12: a part of that and to kind of like see

759
00:46:10,920 --> 00:46:14,600
Speaker 12: what happened and what these girls may have felt like

760
00:46:14,880 --> 00:46:18,040
Speaker 12: or felt when this was going on. It put me

761
00:46:18,080 --> 00:46:21,280
Speaker 12: in a whole new different light as to this whole

762
00:46:21,320 --> 00:46:24,160
Speaker 12: investigation because I was sort of like a part of

763
00:46:24,200 --> 00:46:27,080
Speaker 12: it all the other times I was not a part

764
00:46:27,160 --> 00:46:31,480
Speaker 12: of the investigation. I remember Romayne Jenkins telling me Pat,

765
00:46:31,560 --> 00:46:36,040
Speaker 12: I don't want to show you anything involving your sister.

766
00:46:36,560 --> 00:46:39,960
Speaker 12: It's too hard to look at. You can't unsee this,

767
00:46:40,560 --> 00:46:43,799
Speaker 12: and I respected that. So even though we would talk

768
00:46:43,840 --> 00:46:49,000
Speaker 12: about it, I never saw any reports on investigations, any

769
00:46:49,040 --> 00:46:53,000
Speaker 12: photographs involving the investigations, any of that. It was always

770
00:46:53,200 --> 00:46:56,279
Speaker 12: just dialogue, talking back and forth about this, and then

771
00:46:56,320 --> 00:47:00,279
Speaker 12: they would always guard me against telling me or let

772
00:47:00,320 --> 00:47:06,960
Speaker 12: me see anything that would upset me. There is no

773
00:47:07,080 --> 00:47:11,919
Speaker 12: closure I have. Of course, I'm a lot older. There's

774
00:47:12,000 --> 00:47:15,840
Speaker 12: some things that I don't even remember. I don't know

775
00:47:15,880 --> 00:47:22,000
Speaker 12: if that's selective amnesia or what. But they'll never be

776
00:47:22,120 --> 00:47:27,279
Speaker 12: any closure. But I have also accepted that Diane's and

777
00:47:27,400 --> 00:47:30,760
Speaker 12: the other Preway Phantom victims murder will never be found.

778
00:47:31,040 --> 00:47:35,000
Speaker 12: I've already accepted it, and I believe in God, and

779
00:47:35,040 --> 00:47:39,480
Speaker 12: I believe that this individual has to or individuals have

780
00:47:39,640 --> 00:47:42,680
Speaker 12: an accounting, and maybe not in this life, but they will.

781
00:47:43,360 --> 00:47:47,680
Speaker 12: And I've pretty much left that now in their hands

782
00:47:48,000 --> 00:47:51,600
Speaker 12: God's hands. Excuse me to deal with them, because I

783
00:47:51,640 --> 00:47:53,520
Speaker 12: don't believe we will ever know.

784
00:47:53,920 --> 00:47:55,000
Speaker 3: And I can't.

785
00:47:55,640 --> 00:47:59,600
Speaker 12: I can't live a life of you know, hating somebody

786
00:48:00,239 --> 00:48:05,120
Speaker 12: or spending all all my time worrying about when are

787
00:48:05,120 --> 00:48:07,920
Speaker 12: they going to catch somebody? What are they doing? You know,

788
00:48:08,680 --> 00:48:13,040
Speaker 12: because in Diane's case, I honestly believe that everything has

789
00:48:13,120 --> 00:48:16,720
Speaker 12: been done. They can be done with the exception of

790
00:48:17,239 --> 00:48:20,560
Speaker 12: our confession. And even if somebody confessed to do it,

791
00:48:20,600 --> 00:48:22,759
Speaker 12: they'd have to prove it, because it's been so long,

792
00:48:22,840 --> 00:48:24,719
Speaker 12: you'd have to they would have to have some kind

793
00:48:24,760 --> 00:48:25,520
Speaker 12: of evidence to.

794
00:48:25,480 --> 00:48:26,839
Speaker 3: Prove that they did it.

795
00:48:27,520 --> 00:48:31,160
Speaker 12: After fifty years, I'm believe that that individual is no

796
00:48:31,239 --> 00:48:32,320
Speaker 12: longer with us either.

797
00:48:37,680 --> 00:48:40,520
Speaker 6: Throughout this podcast, there were a number of goals we

798
00:48:40,600 --> 00:48:44,680
Speaker 6: were trying to accomplish. First and foremost, we just wanted

799
00:48:44,680 --> 00:48:46,759
Speaker 6: to tell the stories of these young girls and make

800
00:48:46,800 --> 00:48:50,560
Speaker 6: their names heard and again. The six confirmed victims are

801
00:48:50,600 --> 00:48:56,080
Speaker 6: Carol Spinks, Darlinia Johnson, Brenda Crockett, Ninamosha Yates, Brenda Woodard,

802
00:48:56,400 --> 00:48:59,919
Speaker 6: and Diane Williams. There was also Tara Bryant, a seven

803
00:49:00,360 --> 00:49:04,480
Speaker 6: unconfirmed victim, and Angela Barnes, who was briefly on the

804
00:49:04,480 --> 00:49:09,000
Speaker 6: official list of victims. What cannot get lost here is

805
00:49:09,000 --> 00:49:12,800
Speaker 6: that these young girls were innocent, beloved members of their families,

806
00:49:12,880 --> 00:49:15,880
Speaker 6: and their community, and the impact their murders had on

807
00:49:15,920 --> 00:49:19,960
Speaker 6: their loved ones was severe. It was tragic and in

808
00:49:20,000 --> 00:49:25,520
Speaker 6: some cases insurmountable. It is our hope that they do

809
00:49:25,600 --> 00:49:29,120
Speaker 6: find some manner of peace. It's also our mission that

810
00:49:29,160 --> 00:49:32,920
Speaker 6: they someday received the justice they deserve, and that brings

811
00:49:33,000 --> 00:49:35,840
Speaker 6: us to the next goal of this podcast. We hope

812
00:49:35,880 --> 00:49:38,440
Speaker 6: to discover the identity of the Freeway phantom, and we

813
00:49:38,560 --> 00:49:43,120
Speaker 6: truly believe it's possible, but we cannot do that alone.

814
00:49:43,200 --> 00:49:45,520
Speaker 6: What we've done here is lay out the facts, give

815
00:49:45,560 --> 00:49:48,640
Speaker 6: you as much information as we could find, and now

816
00:49:49,080 --> 00:49:51,880
Speaker 6: we need the community to step up and share whatever

817
00:49:51,920 --> 00:49:55,360
Speaker 6: tips they might have. That may be the only way

818
00:49:55,760 --> 00:49:58,879
Speaker 6: that this fifty year old case gets resolved, and it

819
00:49:59,120 --> 00:50:01,640
Speaker 6: just might be the own only way that these young

820
00:50:01,719 --> 00:50:07,480
Speaker 6: girls finally receive justice. Our last goal with this podcast

821
00:50:07,880 --> 00:50:10,640
Speaker 6: has been to raise awareness of an even bigger, more

822
00:50:10,719 --> 00:50:14,919
Speaker 6: persistent issue, not just in Washington, d C. But all

823
00:50:14,960 --> 00:50:19,560
Speaker 6: throughout this country. Missing children from black and marginalized communities

824
00:50:20,000 --> 00:50:23,920
Speaker 6: rarely get the attention they need. It's past time that

825
00:50:23,960 --> 00:50:27,160
Speaker 6: we prioritize cases like Militia Rudd, both in terms of

826
00:50:27,239 --> 00:50:31,960
Speaker 6: media attention and police resources. Only then can we start

827
00:50:32,000 --> 00:50:36,880
Speaker 6: to save these lives and ensure that what happened to Carol, Darlinia,

828
00:50:37,239 --> 00:50:43,480
Speaker 6: Brenda Ninamosha, Brenda Woodard, Diane and Tara never happens again.

829
00:50:44,760 --> 00:51:01,720
Speaker 6: I'm Celeste Hedley. This has been Freeway Phantom.

830
00:51:01,920 --> 00:51:05,160
Speaker 1: Freeway Fantom is a production of iHeart Radio, Tenderfoot TV

831
00:51:05,400 --> 00:51:08,799
Speaker 1: and Black bar Mitzvah. Our host is Selese Hilly. The

832
00:51:08,880 --> 00:51:12,520
Speaker 1: show is written by Trevor Young, Jamie Albright and Celes Hiley.

833
00:51:12,880 --> 00:51:16,600
Speaker 1: Executive producers on behalf of iHeart Radio include Matt Frederick

834
00:51:16,719 --> 00:51:20,800
Speaker 1: and Alex Williams, with supervising producer Trevor Young. Executive producers

835
00:51:20,800 --> 00:51:24,760
Speaker 1: on behalf of Tenderfoot TV include Donald Albright and Payne Lindsay,

836
00:51:24,880 --> 00:51:29,200
Speaker 1: with producers Jamie Albright and Tracy Kaplan. Executive producers on

837
00:51:29,239 --> 00:51:32,799
Speaker 1: behalf of Black bar Mitzvah include myself, Jay Ellis and

838
00:51:32,920 --> 00:51:37,720
Speaker 1: Aaron Bergman, with producer Sidney Foods. Lead researcher is Jamie Albright.

839
00:51:38,040 --> 00:51:41,759
Speaker 1: Artwork by Mister Soul two one six, original music by

840
00:51:41,960 --> 00:51:46,120
Speaker 1: Makeup and Vanity Set special thanks to a teammate, Uta

841
00:51:46,320 --> 00:51:49,839
Speaker 1: Beck Media and Marketing and the Nord Group. Tenderfoot TV

842
00:51:50,200 --> 00:51:53,280
Speaker 1: and iHeartMedia as well as Black Bar Mitzvah, have increased

843
00:51:53,320 --> 00:51:56,440
Speaker 1: the reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction

844
00:51:56,600 --> 00:51:59,799
Speaker 1: of the person or persons responsible for their freeway phantom.

845
00:52:00,600 --> 00:52:03,520
Speaker 1: The previous reward of up to one hundred and fifty

846
00:52:03,520 --> 00:52:07,520
Speaker 1: thousand dollars offered by the Metropolitan Police Department has been matched.

847
00:52:07,800 --> 00:52:10,360
Speaker 1: A new total reward of up to three hundred thousand

848
00:52:10,440 --> 00:52:13,520
Speaker 1: dollars is now being offered. If you have any information

849
00:52:13,680 --> 00:52:17,480
Speaker 1: relating to these unsolved crimes, contact the Metropolitan Police Department

850
00:52:17,560 --> 00:52:21,399
Speaker 1: at area code two zero two seven two seven nine

851
00:52:21,560 --> 00:52:26,399
Speaker 1: zero ninety nine. For more information, please visit freeway dashfanom

852
00:52:26,600 --> 00:52:30,719
Speaker 1: dot com. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio and Tenderfoot TV,

853
00:52:31,200 --> 00:52:34,479
Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen

854
00:52:34,520 --> 00:52:36,680
Speaker 1: to your favorite shows. Thanks for listening.