WEBVTT - If Books Could Kill 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:02.160 Before we get started, I want to let you know 0:00:02.200 --> 0:00:06.680 that Hitman contains graphic scenes of violence. Listener, discretion is advised. 0:00:08.320 --> 0:00:10.400 I'm going to tell you about this book I found. 0:00:12.640 --> 0:00:14.400 If you saw it on a shelf, you might think 0:00:14.400 --> 0:00:16.760 it was a comic book or a silly polp novel. 0:00:17.800 --> 0:00:21.160 The cover's purple, with a James Bond Dick Tracy looking 0:00:21.200 --> 0:00:24.119 guy on the front, wearing a bright yellow suit and 0:00:24.160 --> 0:00:28.320 a fedora. He's holding up a gun with a silencer attached, 0:00:28.680 --> 0:00:31.400 and behind him there's this red outline of a body. 0:00:31.920 --> 0:00:35.040 And on the back cover is a crew drawing of handcuffs, 0:00:35.080 --> 0:00:37.879 a bottle of poison, a knife, some red gloves, and 0:00:37.960 --> 0:00:42.440 that same gun. The book's title even sounds kind of ridiculous. 0:00:43.800 --> 0:00:48.040 It's called hit Man, a Technical Manual for Independent Contractors. 0:00:48.640 --> 0:00:51.800 It was published in nineteen three by a Colorado publisher 0:00:51.960 --> 0:00:57.120 called Paladin Press. Here's how the author, Rex Ferrell begins. 0:00:58.120 --> 0:01:02.600 A woman recently asked how I could, in good conscience 0:01:03.120 --> 0:01:06.000 write an instruction book on murder. Oh, and we got 0:01:06.000 --> 0:01:08.520 an actor to read his lines. How can you live 0:01:08.560 --> 0:01:11.400 with yourself if someone uses what you right to go 0:01:11.440 --> 0:01:16.200 out and take a human life? Wind Rex Ferrell has 0:01:16.400 --> 0:01:20.360 very specific tips for the aspiring contract killer. He writes, 0:01:20.600 --> 0:01:23.720 step by step, you will learn where to find employment, 0:01:23.840 --> 0:01:26.560 how much to charge, and what you can and cannot 0:01:26.600 --> 0:01:29.480 do with the money you earn. And beyond all his 0:01:29.560 --> 0:01:32.679 logistical secrets, because of this book is full of those, 0:01:33.240 --> 0:01:36.280 he takes it a step further. He walks you as 0:01:36.319 --> 0:01:40.040 if you're his apprentice through the mental preparation it takes 0:01:40.160 --> 0:01:43.200 for a person to commit murder, like how to handle 0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:46.919 the emotions. He says, you won't feel after your first job. 0:01:48.040 --> 0:01:52.120 You had wondered if you would feel compassion for the victim, 0:01:51.960 --> 0:01:55.400 im mediate guilt, or even experienced direct intervention by the 0:01:55.400 --> 0:01:58.680 hand of God, but you weren't even feeling sick and 0:01:58.920 --> 0:02:07.320 by the side of the body. It's hard to get 0:02:07.360 --> 0:02:10.680 your hands on an actual copy of hit Man, and 0:02:10.720 --> 0:02:14.520 it's been out of print since I first discovered it. 0:02:14.560 --> 0:02:17.160 When I was researching a story for another radio show. 0:02:17.560 --> 0:02:21.600 They wanted pitches about amateurs, stories of ineptitude and failure, 0:02:22.360 --> 0:02:26.760 but also people who had stumbled into success despite dubious qualifications. 0:02:27.800 --> 0:02:30.360 That was five years ago. I thought it would be 0:02:30.400 --> 0:02:33.560 this little eight minute peace, but it turned into this 0:02:33.639 --> 0:02:38.239 eight episode podcast on the back of the book, it 0:02:38.400 --> 0:02:41.919 says Ferrell is a hit man. He is the last 0:02:41.960 --> 0:02:44.920 recourse in these times when laws are so twisted that 0:02:45.080 --> 0:02:48.520 justice goes unserved. He is a man who controls his 0:02:48.639 --> 0:02:52.400 destiny through his private code of ethics, who feels no 0:02:52.520 --> 0:02:55.720 twinch of guilt at doing his job. He is a 0:02:55.760 --> 0:03:00.519 professional killer. Rex Ferrell talks a out about how to 0:03:00.560 --> 0:03:03.960 stay anonymous, and he recommends using a fake name, especially 0:03:04.000 --> 0:03:07.119 when running a car or checking into a hotel. It's 0:03:07.120 --> 0:03:09.880 obvious he did this when he wrote his book. The 0:03:09.960 --> 0:03:13.840 name Rex Ferrell is too perfect. Farrell literally means wild. 0:03:14.480 --> 0:03:18.200 He wants you to think he's dangerous. So of all 0:03:18.200 --> 0:03:21.280 the mysteries around this book, the biggest one is Ferrell's 0:03:21.320 --> 0:03:25.799 true identity. The publisher has always protected the author. Their 0:03:25.840 --> 0:03:28.480 real name can't be found in court documents, and it's 0:03:28.480 --> 0:03:31.560 never come out in public, which is fitting because in 0:03:31.600 --> 0:03:35.200 his book he promises that he'll always remain elusive, that 0:03:35.280 --> 0:03:44.240 he'll never be caught. If my advice and the proven 0:03:44.320 --> 0:03:48.440 methods in this book are followed, certainly no one will 0:03:48.440 --> 0:03:52.760 ever know. But I wanted to know who would write 0:03:52.760 --> 0:03:57.320 an instruction manual for murder? And why so? I initially 0:03:57.360 --> 0:04:00.960 set out to find this Rex Ferrell, but the truth 0:04:01.200 --> 0:04:09.280 behind this book was so much bigger. He followed it 0:04:09.280 --> 0:04:13.080 a step by step to come in and murder my family. 0:04:13.720 --> 0:04:15.480 Some of this you can figure it out without a book, 0:04:15.480 --> 0:04:18.360 so you couldn't. Some of it is bordering on any 0:04:18.560 --> 0:04:20.440 Do we really want to tell people this because it's 0:04:20.560 --> 0:04:22.559 kind of evil? You know? How do you go after 0:04:22.640 --> 0:04:26.000 a book? I don't care what it says. This ship 0:04:26.160 --> 0:04:29.480 cannot be protected by the First Amendment. Motile legacy is 0:04:29.520 --> 0:04:33.039 motile a legacy, and everyone who was there, whatever they did, good, bad, 0:04:33.320 --> 0:04:35.800 what they say and ugly, you know, it's all part 0:04:35.839 --> 0:04:38.080 of the legacy. I got woke up in the wee 0:04:38.120 --> 0:04:40.800 hours of the morning. There had been an explosion and 0:04:40.800 --> 0:04:44.160 they had located a dead body. He was obviously good 0:04:44.160 --> 0:04:46.960 at concealing his identity. He literally just kind of fell 0:04:47.000 --> 0:04:50.120 off the face of the earth. I'm Jasmine Morris from 0:04:50.160 --> 0:04:53.880 My Heart Radio and Hit Home Media. This is hit Man. 0:05:00.800 --> 0:05:03.760 I learned very quickly that no one wants to talk 0:05:03.800 --> 0:05:07.520 about this book, certainly not the publisher. Back in two 0:05:07.560 --> 0:05:10.360 thousand fifteen, I made a phone call to Paladin Press 0:05:10.839 --> 0:05:12.880 and I asked if I could speak with someone about 0:05:13.000 --> 0:05:16.039 hit Man. There was a long pause from the person 0:05:16.080 --> 0:05:18.960 on the other end, and the call lasted about ten seconds. 0:05:19.400 --> 0:05:21.520 I still haven't been able to get anyone from Paladin 0:05:21.560 --> 0:05:25.599 on the phone or to answer my emails. In later episodes, 0:05:25.640 --> 0:05:28.280 we're going to explore the whole bizarre story of Paladin, 0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:33.440 but for now, here's what you need to know. The 0:05:33.480 --> 0:05:37.039 publisher began in Colorado in nineteen seventy, founded by two 0:05:37.120 --> 0:05:41.599 Vietnam veterans named Paidar Lund and Robert Cape Brown. In 0:05:41.680 --> 0:05:45.560 earlier photos, they're often posing with guns, wearing military fatigues 0:05:45.680 --> 0:05:49.480 bandanas across their foreheads. Lande looks just like Martin Sheen 0:05:49.560 --> 0:05:53.400 from Apocalypse Now. At one point, the company website said 0:05:53.400 --> 0:05:56.559 they named their press Paladin after the knights who served 0:05:56.560 --> 0:06:00.160 in Charlemagne's court in eighth century France, knights who were 0:06:00.240 --> 0:06:04.039 quote dispatched by the king to redress wrongs in the land. 0:06:04.760 --> 0:06:08.520 Brown would eventually start the Mercenary magazine Soldier of Fortune, 0:06:08.839 --> 0:06:12.719 while Lund soldiered on at Paladin, publishing books with titles 0:06:12.839 --> 0:06:15.640 like be Your Own Undertaker, how to Dispose of a 0:06:15.720 --> 0:06:20.800 dead Body, and Sneak It through Smuggling made easier in 0:06:20.839 --> 0:06:23.680 the eighties, they got into the video business, putting out 0:06:23.680 --> 0:06:26.800 instructional tapes like the lock Picking Guide b An E 0:06:27.040 --> 0:06:30.040 A t Z. How to get in anywhere anytime, getting 0:06:30.040 --> 0:06:33.600 into everything from padlocks to bank a vaults. You're going 0:06:33.640 --> 0:06:38.080 to see a steal of Mercedes, Corvette Ferrari, we are 0:06:38.080 --> 0:06:40.520 going to blow up a safe and was burning bars. 0:06:40.520 --> 0:06:45.160 We're gonna use everything can be done to get in someplace. 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:49.479 As the company website said, quote Paladin, readers seek knowledge 0:06:49.480 --> 0:06:53.760 and information that some people think should remain secret or unpublished. 0:06:54.760 --> 0:06:57.440 Remember when they started, it was long before the internet. 0:06:57.680 --> 0:07:00.880 Lund was a First Amendment fundamentalist. He wanted to set 0:07:00.880 --> 0:07:05.320 this information free. There was just nothing that these guys 0:07:05.440 --> 0:07:09.560 one cell. That's Attorney Howard Siegel. I can hear Howard 0:07:09.680 --> 0:07:11.920 if he could be a little louder, Jasmine, you were 0:07:11.960 --> 0:07:16.120 absolutely the first person in the history of Western civilization 0:07:16.400 --> 0:07:18.760 who has ever asked me to be louder. My wife 0:07:18.760 --> 0:07:21.520 would be astounded that somebody asked me to be a louder. Yeah, 0:07:21.560 --> 0:07:24.520 Goad Howard has been an attorney for forty five years, 0:07:24.520 --> 0:07:28.200 often taking on cases no one else will. He's bombastic 0:07:28.200 --> 0:07:31.239 and unfiltered and not afraid to make his opinions known, 0:07:31.640 --> 0:07:34.080 which made him a worthy opponent of paid our loans, 0:07:34.520 --> 0:07:37.040 But we'll get into that later. I remember one description 0:07:37.080 --> 0:07:40.000 of how to build a baby bottle bomb in one 0:07:40.040 --> 0:07:43.160 of his books. That was a bomb that was literally 0:07:43.200 --> 0:07:46.520 in a baby bottle, and you would wield the baby 0:07:46.560 --> 0:07:50.200 into a crowded marketplace. That's how you would kill innocent people. 0:07:50.360 --> 0:07:53.400 And didn't bother Lund in the slightest. I mean, here's 0:07:53.480 --> 0:07:56.560 Lund himself back in the nineties being interviewed by Mike 0:07:56.600 --> 0:08:00.600 Wallace on sixty minutes. Terrorists would certainly be interested in 0:08:00.680 --> 0:08:06.080 what you publish. They might be absolutely and this doesn't 0:08:06.080 --> 0:08:08.920 worry the fact that, no, it does not. And later, 0:08:09.040 --> 0:08:11.600 when asked about a book tied to the Oklahoma City bombing, 0:08:11.840 --> 0:08:16.640 the domestic terrorist attack that killed one d sixty eight people, 0:08:17.280 --> 0:08:21.320 Lunda says this, I feel no responsibility. I have no 0:08:21.480 --> 0:08:26.160 ethical responsibility for the misuse of information. That's what this 0:08:26.240 --> 0:08:30.960 whole issue is about, the misuse, the illegal use of information. 0:08:32.679 --> 0:08:35.640 Lund died in two thousand seventeen and Paladin shut down 0:08:35.720 --> 0:08:38.680 shortly afterward. But I did speak with Tom Kelly, the 0:08:38.679 --> 0:08:41.640 press lawyer who defended Paladin in a landmark first Amendment 0:08:41.679 --> 0:08:43.760 case that we're going to talk a whole lot about. 0:08:44.520 --> 0:08:48.199 Not surprisingly, his take on Paladin's catalog was a little 0:08:48.200 --> 0:08:52.680 different than Howard's. Paladin has a niche market, a very 0:08:52.760 --> 0:08:57.840 eclectic mixture of non fiction. They focus on libertarian values, 0:08:58.320 --> 0:09:03.680 self help strategies, survivalism, knowledge of weapons and explosives, but 0:09:03.760 --> 0:09:07.240 they also include esoteric topics like quite a range of 0:09:07.280 --> 0:09:10.720 odd hobbies, or the spiritual life of the Lakota Sue 0:09:10.800 --> 0:09:13.880 Indians and that sort of thing. One of the best 0:09:13.880 --> 0:09:19.600 selling series of Paladin was the Revenge series, including Screw 0:09:19.640 --> 0:09:24.400 onto Others, revenge tactics for all occasions. I've also seen 0:09:24.679 --> 0:09:28.800 Paladin be described as the most dangerous publisher in America 0:09:28.960 --> 0:09:31.400 or something like that. Well, I you know, I think 0:09:31.440 --> 0:09:36.600 that's preposterous. The books published are very unlikely to be 0:09:36.800 --> 0:09:41.640 the cause of criminal conduct, murder, mayhem, what have you. 0:09:42.480 --> 0:09:45.840 This conversation is so relevant right now. What do we 0:09:45.880 --> 0:09:49.280 do with this kind of speech and information? Every few days, 0:09:49.320 --> 0:09:52.199 it seems there's another mass shooting tied to some kind 0:09:52.240 --> 0:09:56.280 of radicalized viral online hate. So we have to ask, 0:09:56.880 --> 0:10:00.959 can horrendous ideas cause horrendous acts of violence? And are 0:10:01.000 --> 0:10:06.160 the platforms that perpetuate those ideas responsible. Paladin's publisher paid 0:10:06.160 --> 0:10:09.520 our Land once said, I've never seen a man killed 0:10:09.559 --> 0:10:15.160 by a book which brings us to murders of Millie 0:10:15.240 --> 0:10:22.199 and Trevor Horn and Janice Saunders. We're like, what a 0:10:22.360 --> 0:10:25.160 book that's published? It tells you how to kill? And 0:10:25.200 --> 0:10:28.440 really we could not believe this, something like this was published. 0:10:29.520 --> 0:10:32.400 We had three people who were dead, had been murdered, 0:10:33.200 --> 0:10:37.320 and this book was used. It made me angry. I 0:10:37.400 --> 0:10:39.880 was already angry when I understood the book, and I 0:10:39.920 --> 0:10:44.200 became even more angry. That's Maryland Farmer. She's telling me 0:10:44.240 --> 0:10:47.000 about her sister, Millie Horne, a forty three year old 0:10:47.000 --> 0:10:50.320 single mom with three kids, an older daughter, Tiffany, and 0:10:50.400 --> 0:10:56.680 twins Tammielle and Trevor. We all remember her, her beautiful smile, 0:10:56.960 --> 0:11:01.120 her red lips she loved red lipstick, and her infectious 0:11:01.280 --> 0:11:06.960 laughter and just happy, loving life. We used to teaser 0:11:07.400 --> 0:11:10.760 because Millie had blonde hair, and she had green eyes, 0:11:11.800 --> 0:11:15.199 and she was fair skinned, and she had a presence 0:11:15.240 --> 0:11:19.680 about her. That presence it comes through in stories and 0:11:19.720 --> 0:11:23.559 photographs of Millie. I've heard people use words like magnetic 0:11:23.640 --> 0:11:28.840 when describing her. I've also heard determined, prideful, fearless, and regal. 0:11:29.320 --> 0:11:32.720 She's also been described as a really good mom. Here's 0:11:32.760 --> 0:11:36.600 her daughter, Tiffany. I can honestly say she invested her 0:11:36.640 --> 0:11:39.720 heart and soul in raising me. She also was that 0:11:39.840 --> 0:11:43.520 cool mom, you know, and she definitely was more carefree. 0:11:43.559 --> 0:11:45.600 Like she took me to see Flash Name. It's like 0:11:45.720 --> 0:11:48.120 I will never forget that, Like what mother takes their 0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:52.920 daughter to see a movie about strippers? It was like 0:11:53.040 --> 0:11:56.160 eight years old. She didn't know was that kind of 0:11:56.280 --> 0:12:02.319 dancy mill. He was fiercely protective of her children, which 0:12:02.400 --> 0:12:05.120 became especially clear to everyone when she gave birth to 0:12:05.160 --> 0:12:09.520 her twins. They were born three months premature. Tammiel had 0:12:09.559 --> 0:12:13.440 no major health complications, but Trevor's lungs were underdeveloped and 0:12:13.480 --> 0:12:17.080 he was in critical condition when he finally came home 0:12:17.120 --> 0:12:19.720 from the hospital. He had a tracheostomy tube in his 0:12:19.800 --> 0:12:22.400 throat and he was hooked up to an abneum monitor, 0:12:22.640 --> 0:12:25.440 which would sound an alarm if he stopped breathing. He 0:12:25.520 --> 0:12:30.920 required twenty four hour nursing care. Trevor was profoundly disabled. 0:12:31.000 --> 0:12:34.280 That's Howard Siegel again. He was what many people would 0:12:34.360 --> 0:12:39.679 consider to be the ultimate burden, and these people treated 0:12:39.760 --> 0:12:42.600 him like he was the ultimate gift. He was our 0:12:42.679 --> 0:12:46.199 miracle child. I would have a bad day at work 0:12:46.360 --> 0:12:48.800 and I would come in and walk in the room 0:12:48.840 --> 0:12:53.080 and who's they're chuckling away at me. Tiffany was nine 0:12:53.120 --> 0:12:56.160 when the twins were born, and she remembers that close bond. 0:12:56.240 --> 0:13:01.160 Million Trevor shared, My mom was his everything, like a 0:13:01.280 --> 0:13:05.120 mother's son love you could not imagine. And it was 0:13:05.160 --> 0:13:07.360 almost like she was the love of his life. And 0:13:07.360 --> 0:13:09.760 I think my mom had been looking for that connection 0:13:10.000 --> 0:13:17.720 for a long time. Say, Fifine, I have Tammy you. 0:13:18.840 --> 0:13:23.880 What do you do in Trevor? Wait, this is footage 0:13:24.040 --> 0:13:26.959 from a home video Maryland shared with me. That's her 0:13:27.040 --> 0:13:31.120 voice you're hearing. Trevor, now four years old, is laying 0:13:31.160 --> 0:13:33.880 on a Smurf's blanket on the floor in his bedroom, 0:13:33.920 --> 0:13:36.760 which was the heart of Milly's house. They actually called 0:13:36.760 --> 0:13:40.040 it the family room. His cousins and siblings are playing 0:13:40.040 --> 0:13:43.160 with him, tickling him. His mouth is wide open with 0:13:43.200 --> 0:13:46.840 the biggest smile. He just radiates joy. You can see 0:13:46.840 --> 0:13:50.360 it on everyone's faces. And then his mother, Millie, gets 0:13:50.440 --> 0:13:58.440 down on the floor with him. What are you talking about, Trevor? STU. 0:13:59.440 --> 0:14:04.680 Look at recommend Mama, where are you going? Oh it's 0:14:04.920 --> 0:14:15.160 Trevor turned over? Look at your laving? Just like every 0:14:15.160 --> 0:14:21.120 other night. Around seven seven pm on March second, Trevor 0:14:21.160 --> 0:14:23.000 gets a bath and is rocked to sleep in a 0:14:23.080 --> 0:14:26.040 rocking chair in his room. If it wasn't Milly doing this, 0:14:26.160 --> 0:14:28.040 it would be one of the nurses she recruited to 0:14:28.080 --> 0:14:32.120 help care for Trevor. Janis Saunders, arrives around eight pm 0:14:32.160 --> 0:14:34.880 to work the night shift. Janie isn't supposed to be 0:14:34.880 --> 0:14:37.040 there that night, but she agreed to fill in for 0:14:37.080 --> 0:14:41.120 another nurse who couldn't make it. As was routine, she 0:14:41.200 --> 0:14:43.840 flashes her headlights, letting the day nurse know she's in 0:14:43.880 --> 0:14:47.440 the driveway. The garage door opens for her. She pulls 0:14:47.480 --> 0:14:50.880 in and closes the garage door behind her. The nurse, 0:14:50.920 --> 0:14:54.280 being relieved, debriefs Janice, telling her Trevor was doing very 0:14:54.320 --> 0:14:58.119 well clinically. She says he was enjoyable and very happy 0:14:58.160 --> 0:15:02.280 that they'd had a very pleasant a. Milliehorn, a flight 0:15:02.320 --> 0:15:05.280 attendant with American Airlines, is scheduled to fly out around 0:15:05.320 --> 0:15:09.640 eight am. Tammiell's sleeping over at her aunt's. Janice settles 0:15:09.640 --> 0:15:15.560 in for the night. Just before midnight, a man parks 0:15:15.600 --> 0:15:19.120 his rental car and silver Spring, Maryland. He carries a 0:15:19.120 --> 0:15:21.400 hand drawn map as he walks to Millie's big brick 0:15:21.440 --> 0:15:25.840 house nearby. This is the ax on his map. Millie 0:15:25.880 --> 0:15:30.480 is asleep upstairs. Trevor is asleep in his room. Jannis 0:15:30.520 --> 0:15:34.200 sits by his side, cross stitching and watching over the boy. 0:15:34.960 --> 0:15:38.400 At around two am, she logs his vitals continued to 0:15:38.400 --> 0:15:45.680 sleep quietly, respiratory status, stable, lungs clear, diaper dry. Her 0:15:45.720 --> 0:15:48.720 notes show that she started to write more and then. 0:15:49.640 --> 0:15:52.880 No one knows exactly what happened next, but here's what 0:15:53.000 --> 0:15:57.040 investigators piece together. The man approaches the back of the 0:15:57.080 --> 0:16:00.240 house carrying an a R seven rifle, low it with 0:16:00.280 --> 0:16:04.280 twenty two caliber ammunition and a homemade silencer affixed the barrel. 0:16:05.120 --> 0:16:07.760 He prizes open a basement window or possibly the sliding 0:16:07.800 --> 0:16:10.880 back door. He walks through the first floor of the 0:16:10.920 --> 0:16:15.840 house towards Trevor's bedroom, finds Janice Saunders and shoots her 0:16:16.280 --> 0:16:21.720 through the eye. He then approaches Trevor's crib and smothers 0:16:21.760 --> 0:16:26.120 the boy. Trevor stops breathing, which sets off the piercing 0:16:26.120 --> 0:16:30.080 alarm of zapnea monitor, just as she had done many 0:16:30.120 --> 0:16:33.080 times in the past. Millie hears the alarm and heads 0:16:33.080 --> 0:16:36.720 downstairs to check on Trevor. That's when she comes face 0:16:36.760 --> 0:16:38.480 to face with a man at the foot of the stairs. 0:16:39.120 --> 0:16:42.960 He shoots her in the head three times, again through 0:16:42.960 --> 0:16:47.280 the eye. Before the man leaves, he tosses furniture and 0:16:47.320 --> 0:16:51.160 takes Millie's credit cards. He takes his gun, disassembles it, 0:16:51.240 --> 0:16:53.720 and runs a rattail file down the inside of his 0:16:53.760 --> 0:16:56.640 A R seven. He grabs Millie's keys, and he takes 0:16:56.640 --> 0:16:59.000 off in her van, tossing her credit cards and the 0:16:59.040 --> 0:17:03.560 gun parts into the brush along the highway. He abandons 0:17:03.560 --> 0:17:05.560 her van and he gets back into his rental car, 0:17:05.840 --> 0:17:08.440 making one last stop to a pay phone at a 0:17:08.480 --> 0:17:17.840 Denny's nearby. All Right, it's cryptic, but investigators believe this 0:17:17.920 --> 0:17:20.919 was a hitman calling his employer to report he had 0:17:20.960 --> 0:17:30.800 completed his job. We'll be right back after a quick break. 0:17:49.640 --> 0:17:52.199 When I first reached out to Tiffany Horn, it's been 0:17:52.240 --> 0:17:55.520 twenty five years since her family was completely torn apart. 0:17:56.040 --> 0:18:00.720 After several years or decades, the family leaves that deal 0:18:00.800 --> 0:18:05.080 with this type of horrendous trauma are constantly dealing with 0:18:05.440 --> 0:18:10.359 the fallout. It never goes away, and it's a lonely 0:18:10.400 --> 0:18:14.200 existence sometimes to be part of that, because you become 0:18:14.240 --> 0:18:17.640 almost like a pariah, and it's too painful for people 0:18:17.680 --> 0:18:19.760 to want to deal with. I keep coming back to 0:18:19.800 --> 0:18:22.119 this moment in the home video that Marilynn shared with me, 0:18:22.400 --> 0:18:26.840 when Tiffany turns the camera on her mom, Mom, I 0:18:26.920 --> 0:18:30.399 go to church today. What did you do that? I 0:18:30.520 --> 0:18:36.440 tried to listen to? What else did you do? Tiffany 0:18:36.520 --> 0:18:39.160 was just a teenager when she lost her mom. She's 0:18:39.200 --> 0:18:42.720 now outlived Milly by a year. She's a forty four 0:18:42.760 --> 0:18:45.880 year old single mother of two. She travels as much 0:18:45.880 --> 0:18:49.240 as she can. She loves music and God, and she's tough. 0:18:49.640 --> 0:18:51.720 By that, I mean she doesn't let anyone walk all 0:18:51.720 --> 0:18:55.320 over her. She'll put you in your place. She first 0:18:55.359 --> 0:18:58.600 answered my call in March of two thousand eighteen. We 0:18:58.640 --> 0:19:01.120 had many more phone calls before she agreed to meet 0:19:01.160 --> 0:19:04.840 with me, and even then she was reluctant. She still is. 0:19:05.320 --> 0:19:09.080 She doesn't trust easily for good reason. Why are you 0:19:09.119 --> 0:19:12.240 sitting here with me today? I feel it's important to 0:19:13.200 --> 0:19:17.239 tell some details and some parts of my story that 0:19:17.320 --> 0:19:19.920 I don't think I've ever really talked about before, even 0:19:20.000 --> 0:19:23.440 just talking to you today. I can't have these conversations 0:19:23.520 --> 0:19:27.199 really with anyone now. My kids have grown up and 0:19:27.280 --> 0:19:30.520 they're moving on to live their adult lives, and I 0:19:30.520 --> 0:19:33.040 guess I'm left now with, oh, wow, there's all these 0:19:33.080 --> 0:19:36.960 things I'm still having to kind of sort through about 0:19:36.960 --> 0:19:47.080 my dad, about my mom, about my family. The morning 0:19:47.080 --> 0:19:50.520 of March three, Tiffany got a phone call to her 0:19:50.560 --> 0:19:54.160 dorm room at Howard University in Washington, d C. I'll 0:19:54.160 --> 0:19:57.280 never forget. They called me from the lobby and they 0:19:57.320 --> 0:20:00.159 said that the police were there for me, and my 0:20:00.240 --> 0:20:04.000 heart stopped. They just said, can you come with us? 0:20:04.960 --> 0:20:09.000 So that was like a minute tribe, and I just 0:20:09.080 --> 0:20:12.959 remember being back at the cruiser just crying and crying 0:20:13.000 --> 0:20:18.600 and crying because I didn't know what had happened, but 0:20:18.640 --> 0:20:21.679 I knew it must be something awful. So I had 0:20:21.720 --> 0:20:24.960 almost a whole hour to go through all these different scenarios, 0:20:26.280 --> 0:20:30.600 and I just remember thinking immediately maybe my mom's plane 0:20:30.600 --> 0:20:33.600 had crashed or something like. I used to have those 0:20:33.680 --> 0:20:36.040 fears as a child, so that was the first thing 0:20:36.280 --> 0:20:40.080 that came to my mind. I'm at that point inconsolable, 0:20:40.600 --> 0:20:43.520 so I run into the house and I just collapsed 0:20:43.560 --> 0:20:47.320 into my Auntie Lane's arms, screaming and crying. And that's 0:20:47.359 --> 0:20:51.480 when my grandmother was in the background, wailing that he 0:20:51.640 --> 0:20:56.640 killed my daughter, this primal whale of pain. And then 0:20:57.240 --> 0:21:01.040 that's when my my aunt told me that my mother, 0:21:01.240 --> 0:21:11.119 my brother, and his nurse Janis had been murdered. Tiffany's aunt, 0:21:11.280 --> 0:21:15.000 Millie sister, Vivian Elaine Rice lived next door to Millie. 0:21:15.600 --> 0:21:17.800 She was the first one to discover the scene around 0:21:17.840 --> 0:21:22.200 seven fifteen am. At first, everyone pointed their fingers and 0:21:22.280 --> 0:21:25.680 Millie's ex husband and father her three children, Lawrence Horn, 0:21:26.359 --> 0:21:28.520 but he was three thousand miles away at the time, 0:21:29.040 --> 0:21:33.040 and as we'll learn, he had an airtight alibi. I 0:21:33.080 --> 0:21:37.800 was responsible for the investigation and prosecution of what we 0:21:37.920 --> 0:21:42.720 call the triple murder for hire of Trevor and Mildred 0:21:43.320 --> 0:21:46.960 and Janice Saunders. Robert Dean is a career prosecutor based 0:21:47.000 --> 0:21:51.119 in Montgomery County, Maryland. After I reached out, he responded immediately. 0:21:51.480 --> 0:21:53.200 He was working in me and mar at the time 0:21:53.440 --> 0:21:55.520 when we met up just days after he returned to 0:21:55.560 --> 0:21:58.560 the States. Police didn't always ask me to come out 0:21:58.600 --> 0:22:00.439 to the crime scene, but they thought this was the 0:22:00.480 --> 0:22:03.720 type of case where it was appropriate, so I did. 0:22:04.359 --> 0:22:10.280 It was a very somber and and and solemn site. 0:22:10.359 --> 0:22:13.800 There was the body of Mildred Horn at the bottom 0:22:13.800 --> 0:22:17.080 of the stairs. There was the body of a child 0:22:17.560 --> 0:22:22.960 with clearly life support type of apparatus oxygen tanks and 0:22:22.960 --> 0:22:26.440 and and wires and so forth. By his side was 0:22:26.520 --> 0:22:33.920 Jonnas Saunders, one of his care nurses. Bob Dean still 0:22:33.960 --> 0:22:37.199 calls this the biggest case he's ever had. It was 0:22:37.280 --> 0:22:40.840 one of the most exhaustive investigations in Montgomery County history. 0:22:41.800 --> 0:22:44.480 Whoever had committed this crime had managed to leave no 0:22:44.600 --> 0:22:48.119 fingerprints behind. They didn't have much to go on, so 0:22:48.200 --> 0:22:51.440 the police set off on foot, canvassing the area for clues, 0:22:51.760 --> 0:22:54.480 and they told us they had found someone from Detroit 0:22:54.560 --> 0:22:57.479 who was signed into a hotel, stayed like six hours, 0:22:57.480 --> 0:23:00.760 and then left. This man from Detroit had checked into 0:23:00.760 --> 0:23:03.360 a nearby days in around midnight and had checked out 0:23:03.400 --> 0:23:06.680 by six am the morning of the murders. There could 0:23:06.680 --> 0:23:09.880 have been plenty of innocent explanations, but it still seemed weird. 0:23:10.119 --> 0:23:13.800 This was clearly an interstate matter, and by this time 0:23:13.840 --> 0:23:17.320 we had asked the FBI for assistance, and investigators from 0:23:17.320 --> 0:23:21.520 the Detroit FBI office decided to pay the man a visitance. Units. 0:23:21.520 --> 0:23:23.119 We should be on that house in a few minutes. 0:23:23.359 --> 0:23:25.720 We're gonna have the handheld with us. This is the 0:23:25.760 --> 0:23:28.680 actual tape from that day. They're outside the man's small 0:23:28.720 --> 0:23:33.480 brick house in East Detroit. Hey, so, Bob case FBI, Well, 0:23:34.080 --> 0:23:36.080 see how we covered as quickly here I got from 0:23:36.080 --> 0:23:39.880 a Baltimore office. Okay, what they're looking at is, um 0:23:40.359 --> 0:23:45.880 they checked some hotels I guess on days in Gethersburg area, Rockville, Maryland, 0:23:46.640 --> 0:23:49.119 and they had information that you stayed there. I know 0:23:49.160 --> 0:23:53.399 it's going back a long time, but March second third 0:23:53.480 --> 0:23:58.040 of this year. Okay, Well, first of all March. Okay. 0:23:58.240 --> 0:24:00.359 First of all, they want to confirm there was in 0:24:00.440 --> 0:24:02.560 fact you or somebody still your I D did you 0:24:02.600 --> 0:24:05.800 lose your ID or something like that. Uh No, I 0:24:05.920 --> 0:24:09.959 was there in that area, okay, And so I can 0:24:10.000 --> 0:24:13.680 can you tell us why you were there? Well? Well, 0:24:13.920 --> 0:24:17.080 can I ask you why you're asking this question? And 0:24:17.119 --> 0:24:21.280 eventually he answers the FBI agents your own business business, 0:24:21.760 --> 0:24:26.280 church related business. The man being questioned is James Edward Perry. 0:24:26.480 --> 0:24:28.400 He was around forty five years old. At the time. 0:24:28.520 --> 0:24:30.879 He had a criminal record. He'd been in prison for 0:24:30.960 --> 0:24:34.760 armed robbery, but he'd served his time and now worked 0:24:34.800 --> 0:24:38.560 for himself as a radio minister and spiritual advisor. I 0:24:38.680 --> 0:24:41.159 traveled across this country. I've got probably maybe four or 0:24:41.200 --> 0:24:44.880 five thousand people that I counsel and in minister too. 0:24:45.560 --> 0:24:49.000 We are into basically now trying to help people, uh, 0:24:49.080 --> 0:24:52.600 what the problems that they possibly have. I found the 0:24:52.640 --> 0:24:55.560 surveillance photo of him. He's wearing a trench coat in 0:24:55.600 --> 0:24:59.040 a prayer cap. He's got aviator sunglasses hanging around his neck. 0:24:59.560 --> 0:25:03.800 He's very stylish. Perry called himself a case buster. He 0:25:03.800 --> 0:25:07.320 helped with things like choosing lottery numbers and counseling people 0:25:07.400 --> 0:25:11.960 on their marriages. There are people that because those certain 0:25:12.040 --> 0:25:16.600 things happening in their lives there they have witchcraft. They 0:25:16.640 --> 0:25:21.879 held painting that body. Uh. We pray for him and 0:25:21.920 --> 0:25:26.399 we are tempted to give them a positive attitude with 0:25:26.560 --> 0:25:29.400 My belief is that whatever it is, if you think 0:25:29.440 --> 0:25:31.399 that you're healthy, when you'll be healthy, it doesn't make 0:25:31.400 --> 0:25:33.359 no difference what you have, you have cancer or what 0:25:33.520 --> 0:25:37.400 have you that can be absolved. I'm going to take 0:25:37.440 --> 0:25:39.760 you through all the twists and turns of this investigation, 0:25:40.440 --> 0:25:43.919 But just know that eventually investigators executed a search warrant 0:25:43.960 --> 0:25:47.320 on Perry's house, and he had kind of a storefront. 0:25:48.680 --> 0:25:50.040 I don't want to call it a church, but I 0:25:50.040 --> 0:25:51.639 guess that's what we will call it, and we'll call 0:25:51.680 --> 0:25:55.760 it a church. Handle a little calling card, and there 0:25:55.800 --> 0:25:58.879 was a soldier of Fortune magazine, and then there was 0:25:58.920 --> 0:26:03.600