WEBVTT - New Confessions 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:03.279 The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely 0:00:03.320 --> 0:00:06.479 those of the authors and participants and do not necessarily 0:00:06.519 --> 0:00:10.400 represent those of iHeart Media, Tenderfoot TV, or their employees. 0:00:11.000 --> 0:00:15.280 This series contains discussions of violence and sexual violence. Listener 0:00:15.320 --> 0:00:23.320 discretion is advised. Previously on Algorithm, I looked at two 0:00:23.400 --> 0:00:28.240 cases from Hargar's list that, upon closer inspection, looked unlikely 0:00:28.280 --> 0:00:30.560 to be the work of Darren Vaughan. The next day 0:00:30.600 --> 0:00:33.159 is when his girlfriend was found in about it big, So, 0:00:33.240 --> 0:00:35.280 I don't think it has anything to do with in 0:00:35.360 --> 0:00:38.280 the serial killer was once in a lifetime thing. And 0:00:38.320 --> 0:00:42.640 I explored Darren Vaughan's confessions with regard to Chicago. Probably 0:00:42.680 --> 0:00:49.360 had a whole while they have they have way more. 0:00:50.280 --> 0:00:54.000 But Bond later contradicted himself and didn't give any specifics 0:00:54.040 --> 0:00:56.680 that could link him to the crimes Hargrove had identified, 0:00:57.160 --> 0:01:01.480 and the interrogation ended abruptly after Vaughan informed detectives that 0:01:01.520 --> 0:01:04.280 he'd spoken with a lawyer. You said you thought lawyer 0:01:04.400 --> 0:01:07.160 day James Giving Day, he gave me a lawyer. You're 0:01:07.200 --> 0:01:09.800 going have told us that in the beginning. I'm not 0:01:09.840 --> 0:01:11.360 I'm not worried of me because I might have to 0:01:11.400 --> 0:01:20.960 fire from my heart radio and Tenderfoot TV. This is algorithm. 0:01:21.000 --> 0:01:24.880 When Vaughn was arrested for the murder of Africa Hardy, 0:01:25.319 --> 0:01:27.840 he told police he didn't want to confess to murders 0:01:27.840 --> 0:01:30.360 that took place out of state because he didn't want 0:01:30.360 --> 0:01:34.000 to involve other jurisdictions. He wanted a speedy trial and 0:01:34.040 --> 0:01:37.680 a quick execution. But somewhere down the line he changed 0:01:37.720 --> 0:01:40.640 his mind about wanting to receive the death penalty. So 0:01:40.680 --> 0:01:43.280 I wondered what happened there and if he might now 0:01:43.360 --> 0:01:47.400 be open to talking about additional crimes. I asked Vaughn's lawyer, 0:01:47.520 --> 0:01:51.240 Guiko Kosach, to walk me through Von's trial and why 0:01:51.360 --> 0:01:54.320 Vaughan had changed his mind. At the very beginning, he 0:01:54.440 --> 0:01:58.160 just wanted to plead guilty before he even met his lawyer, 0:01:58.800 --> 0:02:01.760 and he wanted the death penalty, and of course they 0:02:01.760 --> 0:02:06.240 wouldn't allow that, so he was not very cooperative. The 0:02:06.280 --> 0:02:09.079 way we do things in Lake County is if you're 0:02:09.080 --> 0:02:12.040 ever appointed public defender to a human being, you are 0:02:12.080 --> 0:02:13.960 married to that human being for the rest of your 0:02:14.040 --> 0:02:19.680 natural lives. So Darren had had a previous felony early eighties, 0:02:19.720 --> 0:02:22.600 something like that. I can't remember the exact date. And 0:02:22.880 --> 0:02:25.640 uh he had been appointed to a certain public defender 0:02:25.639 --> 0:02:27.480 who he was very happy with because he got the 0:02:27.520 --> 0:02:31.160 case this Mr resolved quite favorably. So now when Darren 0:02:31.240 --> 0:02:34.840 comes back on this, they appoint the guy who replaced 0:02:34.840 --> 0:02:38.680 that public defender, Matt Fetch, to represent Darren. Now, in Indiana, 0:02:38.800 --> 0:02:42.320 we have a criminal rule especially deals with death penalties, 0:02:43.000 --> 0:02:45.160 and for you to be a first chair in a 0:02:45.200 --> 0:02:47.600 death penalty case, you have to have been involved in 0:02:47.600 --> 0:02:51.480 a previous death penalty case. So the powers that be 0:02:51.639 --> 0:02:57.760 decided to appoint a first chair, qualified death penalty lawyer, TERSA. 0:02:57.760 --> 0:03:02.120 Hollins Worth to start out. In his first appearance in court, 0:03:02.360 --> 0:03:05.240 Vaughn refused to answer questions and he was warned that 0:03:05.280 --> 0:03:08.320 he could be held in contempt of court. At his 0:03:08.400 --> 0:03:11.520 next hearing, he complied with the judge and a preliminary 0:03:11.560 --> 0:03:14.720 non guilty plea was entered on his behalf. But a 0:03:14.760 --> 0:03:17.399 month later, Von didn't want to come into court at all. 0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:21.040 They ended up stripping him down naked and putting him 0:03:21.040 --> 0:03:24.120 in a restraint chair and they put some kind of 0:03:24.280 --> 0:03:27.520 vest on him, wheeled him in the court and Teresa 0:03:27.639 --> 0:03:32.240 just went absolutely ape shit, and Judge Boswell agreed that 0:03:32.400 --> 0:03:34.160 you know, you're not going to have court with him 0:03:34.280 --> 0:03:37.040 naked with that restraint vest, so they ended up taking 0:03:37.120 --> 0:03:40.480 him back to the jail. After that incident, Vaughan ended 0:03:40.560 --> 0:03:43.840 up bonding with Teresa Hollandsworth, but he still wanted the 0:03:43.840 --> 0:03:46.840 death penalty and he still didn't want to participate in court. 0:03:47.480 --> 0:03:51.680 At the next hearing, Vaughn communicated through Teresa, whispering into 0:03:51.720 --> 0:03:55.080 her ear. She announced that Vaughn was waving his right 0:03:55.120 --> 0:03:58.520 to appear at all future court proceedings unless the court 0:03:58.600 --> 0:04:02.280 required him to appear. The prosecution worried that this could 0:04:02.360 --> 0:04:04.920 open them up to an appeal down the line, but 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:07.240 the judge ruled that it was Vaughan's right to not 0:04:07.320 --> 0:04:10.560 appear in court. So things were kind of rolling along 0:04:10.680 --> 0:04:13.240 and they were doing their things for a good year 0:04:13.440 --> 0:04:18.120 or so, and Teresa got a job opportunity to work 0:04:18.120 --> 0:04:21.320 in the juvenile court for more money, so she took 0:04:21.360 --> 0:04:25.920 that position. Nobody can blame her, so at that time 0:04:26.480 --> 0:04:28.880 they had to replace Teresa. We don't have a lot 0:04:28.880 --> 0:04:31.320 of people anymore in the unequalified and death been with 0:04:31.440 --> 0:04:33.960 cases because they're just not filing them anymore. At used 0:04:34.000 --> 0:04:36.359 to file thirty fifty a year. Now if it's for 0:04:36.760 --> 0:04:41.520 they're lucky. So um, Teresa referred me and the powers 0:04:41.560 --> 0:04:44.440 that be agreed and I got involved in the case. 0:04:44.600 --> 0:04:47.679 And the proverbial should hit the fan right from the beginning, 0:04:48.480 --> 0:04:53.720 because Darren had established quite a close relationship with Teresa. Uh, 0:04:53.880 --> 0:04:56.640 let's just say she was his perfect type and he 0:04:56.760 --> 0:05:00.000 really liked her. Throughout his life, women have abandoned him 0:05:00.320 --> 0:05:06.240 his mother wife, and when she left, here's it another time, 0:05:06.520 --> 0:05:09.520 or a woman that he had some trust in he 0:05:09.680 --> 0:05:13.839 felt abandoned him. So I was locked out. He wouldn't 0:05:13.880 --> 0:05:17.200 even talk, and he wanted to go pro se, which 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:21.120 means represent himself. So I kept banging my head against 0:05:21.120 --> 0:05:23.200 the door. I kept sending him letters. I kept going 0:05:23.320 --> 0:05:25.640 up to see him. He would refuse to see me, 0:05:25.760 --> 0:05:27.359 but I told him in my letters, I'm gonna come 0:05:27.400 --> 0:05:29.640 to see you every week. I'm proven to you that 0:05:29.640 --> 0:05:32.200 I'm in this for the long haul. And at some 0:05:32.279 --> 0:05:34.880 point he just indicated, well, I just need thirty more 0:05:35.000 --> 0:05:38.160 days to myself, and then he says, okay, come see me, 0:05:39.240 --> 0:05:42.400 and uh we kissed and made up, and uh, I 0:05:42.440 --> 0:05:46.120 think developed a pretty good relationship and I would have 0:05:46.279 --> 0:05:48.960 deep conversations with Darren. I would meet with Darren almost 0:05:48.960 --> 0:05:51.760 every week at least for a couple of hours because 0:05:51.839 --> 0:05:55.520 he needed the time with human beings. So newspapers, you know, 0:05:55.520 --> 0:05:59.080 would often go ahead and make fun of this being 0:05:59.480 --> 0:06:03.280 the Gyko costage for a one K plan, that I 0:06:03.320 --> 0:06:05.920 was just going over there needlessly to go ahead and 0:06:05.960 --> 0:06:09.480 pad my bill. But with death penalty cases, you you 0:06:09.520 --> 0:06:12.000 have to earn trust, and part of that is going 0:06:12.080 --> 0:06:14.760 over there. But you know, we would talk about things, 0:06:14.800 --> 0:06:17.160 and one of those things would be this plan of his. 0:06:18.120 --> 0:06:22.919 And uh, from the very beginning, Darren wanted the death penalty. 0:06:23.279 --> 0:06:25.000 He did not want to go back to prison. He 0:06:25.040 --> 0:06:28.760 had done prison time in Texas for a sexual assault 0:06:28.800 --> 0:06:32.839 case and he did not want to go back to prison. 0:06:33.200 --> 0:06:36.240 So he says, hey, if I give you six more bodies, 0:06:36.680 --> 0:06:39.520 can you promise me you're gonna kill me? And he 0:06:39.560 --> 0:06:42.000 says they said yeah. They say no, we were never 0:06:42.040 --> 0:06:45.080 promising that, you know, And at some point then Darren 0:06:45.800 --> 0:06:48.599 eventually decides he doesn't with the death penalty or what 0:06:48.720 --> 0:06:51.960 happened with that. There's not easy answer to your question, Ben, 0:06:52.000 --> 0:06:54.840 I mean, it's from the very beginnings, and one death 0:06:54.839 --> 0:06:56.560 and want death. I want death. And then all of 0:06:56.600 --> 0:06:59.719 a sudden, about three days four days before we cut 0:06:59.720 --> 0:07:03.360 the a, he changed his mind. There's probably several things 0:07:03.400 --> 0:07:06.400 that played a factor in it. Cossage says that he 0:07:06.440 --> 0:07:08.920 wanted Von to take a plea deal, and the first 0:07:09.000 --> 0:07:11.280 thing that really helped was getting Bond to see his 0:07:11.320 --> 0:07:15.720 stepsister Regina and half brother Reginald. And after that his 0:07:15.880 --> 0:07:20.240 attitude changed. Someone We kept telling Darren, Darren, you know, 0:07:20.360 --> 0:07:22.880 you go to trial, you got you get convicted. They 0:07:22.960 --> 0:07:27.240 might not whack you for eighteen years with LWOP life 0:07:27.240 --> 0:07:30.600 without parole, he would be in the general population with 0:07:30.840 --> 0:07:35.400 death penalty. He's in a cage twenty three hours of day. 0:07:35.640 --> 0:07:38.800 The key then after that was Keisha. We had a 0:07:38.880 --> 0:07:42.320 fabulous and she still works with those. Keisha Evans I 0:07:42.360 --> 0:07:44.360 grew up in the Etna section of Gary and that 0:07:44.680 --> 0:07:46.800 she lives there now, so that's kind of my et noboddy. 0:07:47.080 --> 0:07:50.080 But Keisha's black. She's like a sister to him, and 0:07:50.200 --> 0:07:53.160 they just hit it off. Cossage says that they're close 0:07:53.200 --> 0:07:55.840 to making a breakthrough it Von and getting him to 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:58.800 consider a plea deal that would avoid the death penalty. 0:07:59.000 --> 0:08:01.600 When Keisha asked to speak to Van one on one. 0:08:01.960 --> 0:08:04.520 Keisha went in there. Actually we all went in there. 0:08:04.600 --> 0:08:07.560 Keisha threw us out. Keisha talk to him for about 0:08:07.600 --> 0:08:10.800 forty minutes. She came out crying. We went back in. 0:08:11.000 --> 0:08:13.280 He was crying, and at that point in time, he 0:08:13.320 --> 0:08:15.520 agreed to take the police to life without for all. 0:08:16.080 --> 0:08:18.320 You get to this point, and you've got to get 0:08:18.320 --> 0:08:20.320 it done in the the next couple of days because when 0:08:20.360 --> 0:08:23.280 they're starting to think about it, you've gotta keep hammering 0:08:23.400 --> 0:08:26.440 and keep hammering and keep hammering and get it done, 0:08:26.520 --> 0:08:28.640 because if you give them too much time to think 0:08:28.680 --> 0:08:32.080 about it, they'll change their minds. So again, this is 0:08:32.080 --> 0:08:35.120 an ongoing process that we're going on for years and years, 0:08:35.160 --> 0:08:37.800 and all of a sudden the last few days, boom, 0:08:37.960 --> 0:08:43.440 everything came together. On May fourth, almost four years after 0:08:43.480 --> 0:08:47.920 his arrest, Von pled guilty to seven murders, the murders 0:08:47.920 --> 0:08:51.200 of Africa Hardy and the six victims he led police 0:08:51.240 --> 0:08:54.960 to on the death March weeks later, Von was given 0:08:55.000 --> 0:08:59.720 seven life sentences, one for each victim. Marvin Clinton was 0:08:59.760 --> 0:09:03.240 the only person to make a victim impact statement. He 0:09:03.320 --> 0:09:07.120 read the names of the victims out loud. Africa Hardy, 0:09:07.320 --> 0:09:14.280 nineteen of Chicago, Anne Jones of Maryville, Tracy Martin forty 0:09:14.360 --> 0:09:20.520 one of Gary, Christine Williams thirty six of Gary, Sonia 0:09:20.600 --> 0:09:27.560 Billingsley fifty two of Gary, Tanya Gatlin of Highland, and 0:09:27.679 --> 0:09:33.240 Tierra Baty of Gary. Clinton said that Vaughan didn't have 0:09:33.320 --> 0:09:36.400 a heart or a soul, that he had anger for Vaughan, 0:09:36.920 --> 0:09:39.120 but that Tierra wouldn't want him to hold on to 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:43.800 that anger. But Vaughan never heard what Clinton said because 0:09:43.840 --> 0:09:46.560 he'd opted not to show up to his own sentencing 0:09:46.760 --> 0:09:50.720 and the court allowed it. Clinton also said that while 0:09:50.760 --> 0:09:53.120 he knew the defense counsel had a job to do, 0:09:53.600 --> 0:09:56.079 he was frustrated with all of the time and money 0:09:56.120 --> 0:10:00.400 being spent assisting Vaughan. Cossage expressed him that they to 0:10:00.480 --> 0:10:03.839 all of the families in the courtroom and apologized. I 0:10:03.880 --> 0:10:06.920 was curious why Cossage in Lake County has spent so 0:10:07.000 --> 0:10:09.480 much time and effort to convince von that he didn't 0:10:09.520 --> 0:10:13.600 want the death penalty. Are you philosophically opposed to the 0:10:13.600 --> 0:10:16.720 death penalty or what motivates you to go to to 0:10:16.840 --> 0:10:19.840 all these lengths for your client? You know I waver 0:10:20.000 --> 0:10:22.920 back and forth. You know I was very much o 0:10:23.120 --> 0:10:27.440 death penalty before. Now I cannot say that I'm against 0:10:27.440 --> 0:10:32.360 the death penalty in every single case, but you know, 0:10:33.160 --> 0:10:37.400 dollars are dollars, and you do the calculation that it 0:10:37.520 --> 0:10:41.040 probably costs ten times more money to execute someone in 0:10:41.200 --> 0:10:44.400 the given life without parole. You know, the delay that 0:10:44.480 --> 0:10:47.559 was one of the selling points I think to Darren. Ultimately, 0:10:47.760 --> 0:10:49.800 is Darren, if they ordered the death penalty today, you're 0:10:49.840 --> 0:10:52.839 gonna be sixty two years old before you get executed. 0:10:53.160 --> 0:10:55.880 So you know, aren't you better off living eighteen years 0:10:56.000 --> 0:10:59.400 or whatever in g POP and die a natural death 0:10:59.440 --> 0:11:02.360 out of general population and sitting in a cage for 0:11:02.440 --> 0:11:06.240 eighteen years with a cat because I let him have 0:11:06.320 --> 0:11:10.120 cats on death row. It's one of the person death row. Um. 0:11:10.160 --> 0:11:13.040 We've been talking forever, and I probably would just keep 0:11:13.040 --> 0:11:16.439 talking forever. Um, I need to run to the bathroom 0:11:16.440 --> 0:11:18.640 really quick. If you don't mine, that's funny because I 0:11:18.960 --> 0:11:22.120 ran with my laptops. You did it while you were 0:11:22.160 --> 0:11:39.640 talking to me. No, you didn't have me on camera. Ultimately, 0:11:39.960 --> 0:11:43.000 I'm glad that Von decided to take the plea because 0:11:43.000 --> 0:11:46.079 I hope now that he's accepted his fate of life 0:11:46.080 --> 0:11:49.240 without parole I hope that there's a chance that he 0:11:49.360 --> 0:11:53.200 might confess to more murders. And after looking into the 0:11:53.240 --> 0:11:56.320 scarce information that there is out there about many of 0:11:56.360 --> 0:11:59.760 the murderers that her GROW's algorithm identified, I think it 0:11:59.800 --> 0:12:02.120 can feeshion from Vaughan might be one of the only 0:12:02.160 --> 0:12:04.440 ways that we can figure out some of these old 0:12:04.480 --> 0:12:07.560 cold cases. Do you have any advice to me. I 0:12:07.600 --> 0:12:10.640 don't know if the system in Indiana very well. If 0:12:10.640 --> 0:12:13.680 I wanted to reach out to Darren Vaughan and try 0:12:13.720 --> 0:12:17.839 to talk to him directly, Um, he's not gonna talk 0:12:17.840 --> 0:12:21.480 to you, okay. Um he has to put you on 0:12:21.600 --> 0:12:25.360 his list of people who correspond with He won't do that. 0:12:25.559 --> 0:12:29.000 A b uh. During the time that I represented him, 0:12:29.120 --> 0:12:32.800 he got many many letters from women, the gallows brides 0:12:32.960 --> 0:12:35.960 that are out there. He got letters from this husband 0:12:36.000 --> 0:12:38.439 and wife couple that claimed that they do interviews with 0:12:38.520 --> 0:12:41.160 serial killers and they wanted to talk to him. He 0:12:41.240 --> 0:12:44.880 had no real interest in being involved with any of that. 0:12:45.040 --> 0:12:47.640 He didn't want any more notorieting, and he already had 0:12:48.280 --> 0:12:51.040 and I don't think he's changed he will ever change 0:12:51.080 --> 0:12:53.319 in that regard. Do you know if he heard about 0:12:53.320 --> 0:12:58.280 the whole Hardgrove story. Yeah, I talked him about Yeah, 0:12:58.600 --> 0:13:01.640 he laughed. Are you able to talk to him? Are 0:13:01.640 --> 0:13:03.200 you able to reach out to him at this point? 0:13:03.360 --> 0:13:06.160 Or is he no? We stay we stay in touch. 0:13:06.800 --> 0:13:10.000 I mean, I guess if you would just mention that 0:13:10.080 --> 0:13:12.600 there's this guy out there doing this thing and um, 0:13:12.640 --> 0:13:15.880 you know, just that I'd love to talk to him. 0:13:16.000 --> 0:13:19.160 Despite costage his insistence that Vaughan wouldn't speak to me, 0:13:19.640 --> 0:13:22.560 I wrote him a letter anyways. I told him that 0:13:22.640 --> 0:13:26.760 I'd listened through his interrogations and read articles about him, 0:13:26.800 --> 0:13:30.400 but most of the articles hadn't mentioned his traumatic childhood 0:13:30.520 --> 0:13:32.480 or the abuse that he'd suffered at the film of 0:13:32.559 --> 0:13:36.160 Marshall Children's Home. I didn't ask him specifically about the 0:13:36.200 --> 0:13:39.760 cold cases or previous murders. I just wanted to get 0:13:39.800 --> 0:13:44.080 him on the phone and see what happened. And honestly, 0:13:44.320 --> 0:13:47.280 I almost forgot I sent it until a few months later. 0:13:47.679 --> 0:13:50.559 I went to my overflowing mailbox and I found an 0:13:50.640 --> 0:13:55.839 envelope from the Indiana Department of Corrections. Just checked my mail. 0:13:56.400 --> 0:14:01.000 I was looking for a wedding invitation and instead I 0:14:01.080 --> 0:14:07.080 found a piece of mail from Darren Vonn and uh, yeah, 0:14:07.880 --> 0:14:11.439 open this up. Never gotten a piece of mail from 0:14:11.480 --> 0:14:17.960 a serial killer before U It's handwritten well, so he 0:14:18.000 --> 0:14:25.400 says to ben Keybrick, Date time seven eighteen pm, I, 0:14:25.560 --> 0:14:28.840 Darren Devon would like to offer you a deal. You 0:14:28.840 --> 0:14:31.280 would have to contact my lawyer to work out an 0:14:31.400 --> 0:14:35.840 arrangement where he would have to agree beforehand. You would 0:14:35.920 --> 0:14:39.080 have to write a report of the corruption that's ongoing 0:14:39.200 --> 0:14:43.280 at the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility, from guards beating on 0:14:43.400 --> 0:14:48.040 inmates of rassin bullysh it, from fed founds, from shower 0:14:48.160 --> 0:14:51.640 not having hot water, from playing with legal mail, from 0:14:51.640 --> 0:14:56.280 filing false report, from threatening inmates with physical violence, to 0:14:56.360 --> 0:15:01.320 reckless behavior that but inmate life danger or I also 0:15:01.360 --> 0:15:04.760 believe that they're a law against family and friend work 0:15:04.880 --> 0:15:09.080 at the same time, and you that to stop we're 0:15:09.160 --> 0:15:12.720 cover up for ceo s and counselor that are doing wrong. 0:15:13.760 --> 0:15:16.880 For appointment to be set up, must contact my lawyer, 0:15:17.360 --> 0:15:24.440 Goko Cassach at two one nine. All right, Well, I'm 0:15:24.480 --> 0:15:26.000 not sure what to make of a lot of that, 0:15:26.160 --> 0:15:31.040 but maybe we'll be talking to Darren Vaughan. I reached 0:15:31.040 --> 0:15:33.480 back out to Cossage to see about setting up the 0:15:33.520 --> 0:15:39.080 interview Cossage was less than enthusiastic about getting involved. He 0:15:39.160 --> 0:15:42.480 said he was busy working on a murder trial and said, quote, 0:15:42.960 --> 0:15:46.320 I'm really not excited about driving to his correctional facility 0:15:46.320 --> 0:15:48.920 to meet him. He told me to talk to the 0:15:48.960 --> 0:15:52.440 Department of Corrections and try to set it up with them, 0:15:52.480 --> 0:15:55.600 and I was less than enthusiastic about that, since Vaughn 0:15:55.680 --> 0:15:58.760 wanted to talk about allegations of corruption at the prison. 0:15:59.280 --> 0:16:02.560 But I emailed the chief communications officer at the Department 0:16:02.560 --> 0:16:06.280 of Corrections in Indiana. She told me, quote, in order 0:16:06.320 --> 0:16:08.480 to get the process started, I will need you to 0:16:08.520 --> 0:16:11.760 submit the topic of your story slash project and the 0:16:11.800 --> 0:16:14.920 list of questions you plan to ask the offender. I 0:16:15.000 --> 0:16:18.760 sent her a fairly generic list of biographical questions. I 0:16:18.800 --> 0:16:21.240 didn't feel comfortable putting anything on the list about the 0:16:21.240 --> 0:16:24.560 cold cases because I figured Cossage might object, and I 0:16:24.640 --> 0:16:27.120 was also afraid that if I put any questions about 0:16:27.120 --> 0:16:30.560 prison conditions in there, the Department of Corrections might shut 0:16:30.600 --> 0:16:34.360 down the interview. I tried to hedge things and leave 0:16:34.440 --> 0:16:38.200 open the possibility to ask other questions by writing underneath 0:16:38.240 --> 0:16:40.280 my list, do you need a list of all the 0:16:40.400 --> 0:16:43.600 questions I would ask or just a representative list of questions. 0:16:44.400 --> 0:16:47.720 The officer emailed back and told me my list should suffice. 0:16:48.880 --> 0:16:51.920 The very next day, she sent another short email. It 0:16:52.000 --> 0:16:56.480 read quote, facility staff checked with the offender, Darren Vaughan, 0:16:56.800 --> 0:17:01.400 and he declined to be interviewed. I were responded. I 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:04.000 appreciate you checking with him. I wonder if there's some 0:17:04.040 --> 0:17:07.320 sort of miscommunication, because I already have a letter from 0:17:07.400 --> 0:17:10.320 him where he's agreed to be interviewed. I'm c seeing 0:17:10.400 --> 0:17:13.520 his lawyer, Guiko Cossage. Is there a way you could 0:17:13.520 --> 0:17:15.919 ask him again and say I was the journalist who 0:17:15.960 --> 0:17:19.280 sent him the letter? She wrote back. Since he has 0:17:19.320 --> 0:17:22.199 declined the interview, we will respect his decision and not 0:17:22.280 --> 0:17:25.040 ask him again. You're welcome to write him a letter 0:17:25.400 --> 0:17:28.080 where if you're on his contact list, use email or 0:17:28.160 --> 0:17:33.280 phone to further communicate with him. I was frustrated months 0:17:33.320 --> 0:17:35.560 had passed between when I had originally sent Vaughn the 0:17:35.680 --> 0:17:38.359 letter and when I had finally heard back from him, 0:17:38.400 --> 0:17:41.400 and especially since he had complained about corruption in the prison, 0:17:41.680 --> 0:17:44.359 I worried that the Department of Corrections might not handle 0:17:44.400 --> 0:17:48.480 my request properly. I wrote back to Darren Vaughan asking 0:17:48.560 --> 0:17:51.160 him to add me to his email and phone contact list, 0:17:51.560 --> 0:17:54.919 but I've yet to hear back. I'll definitely let you 0:17:54.960 --> 0:17:58.600 know if I do, but I'm unsure of how much 0:17:58.640 --> 0:18:01.399 we can trust fund anyway. Is we'd really need an 0:18:01.400 --> 0:18:04.879 airtight confession to take it seriously. We're some sort of 0:18:04.920 --> 0:18:08.480 other evidence to verify what he said, because he lied 0:18:08.560 --> 0:18:12.400 and changed his stories throughout the interrogation and towards the end, 0:18:12.640 --> 0:18:15.840 claimed that strangling women and leaving them in abandoned buildings 0:18:15.960 --> 0:18:18.600 was new for him. Disc is a new thing. It's 0:18:18.600 --> 0:18:20.639 some more my anger tour, like I gonna lock up 0:18:20.680 --> 0:18:24.120 for profits to drop. He claimed that these murders were 0:18:24.160 --> 0:18:26.520 due to his anger at getting locked up in Texas, 0:18:27.160 --> 0:18:30.000 but I think his pattern of behavior says otherwise, and 0:18:30.040 --> 0:18:32.800 I want to explore that a little bit. I don't 0:18:32.840 --> 0:18:35.320 think he was seeking revenge on the women of Gary 0:18:35.400 --> 0:18:38.160 because of the Texas sex worker who got him arrested. 0:18:38.920 --> 0:18:42.359 I think his murders were displaced aggression towards someone else. 0:18:42.800 --> 0:18:45.439 And I'm not the only one who thinks. So let 0:18:45.560 --> 0:18:48.440 me go ahead and consent to your record. But there's 0:18:48.480 --> 0:18:51.360 anything that I'm not comfortable but being recorded. The house, 0:18:51.359 --> 0:18:54.320 saying that it's off the record. A woman from Gary 0:18:54.440 --> 0:18:57.720 contacted me telling me she had met Von sometime in 0:18:57.760 --> 0:19:00.879 the middle of his killing spree, that he was a 0:19:00.960 --> 0:19:23.280 serial killer. A woman from Gary contacted me telling me 0:19:23.359 --> 0:19:25.560 she had met Vaughan sometime in the middle of his 0:19:25.680 --> 0:19:29.040 killing spree. She wanted to speak anonymously and asked me 0:19:29.119 --> 0:19:32.600 to disguise her voice. The color said she met Vaughan 0:19:32.720 --> 0:19:36.520 through her cousin who struggled with addiction. She was telling 0:19:36.560 --> 0:19:39.479 me about this guy because quite often I would have 0:19:39.560 --> 0:19:42.040 to be the one to rescue her from the drug house. 0:19:42.560 --> 0:19:45.280 So she used to tell me about the guys that's 0:19:45.320 --> 0:19:48.080 coming in or whatever. But on this particular to day, 0:19:48.119 --> 0:19:51.080 I was there able to transaction and the guy that 0:19:51.160 --> 0:19:54.119 she had been telling me a few stories about he 0:19:54.320 --> 0:19:58.000 came in, which happened to be Garon. She was telling 0:19:58.040 --> 0:20:01.840 me about his rules. So this is his rules. Once 0:20:01.880 --> 0:20:05.479 he got high, he would started taking out all his money, 0:20:05.840 --> 0:20:07.640 so all the girls that would be in the house 0:20:07.640 --> 0:20:10.080 would see his money. And you know, when they see 0:20:10.080 --> 0:20:12.840 the money, they're trying to leave with you, especially if 0:20:12.880 --> 0:20:16.359 they know you get high, they think you discombobulated. And 0:20:16.440 --> 0:20:20.399 he played real stupid, But she was telling me that 0:20:20.480 --> 0:20:22.679 one day she tried to get some money out of 0:20:22.760 --> 0:20:26.320 his pocket and he sobered up so quick. She knew 0:20:26.400 --> 0:20:30.480 he was playing the game right. So another girl left 0:20:30.480 --> 0:20:33.080 with him. This is what a long term. It was 0:20:33.200 --> 0:20:36.560 one girl that she hustled with, who would not have 0:20:36.760 --> 0:20:39.840 gone off without telling her she wasn't coming back or 0:20:39.840 --> 0:20:42.879 what happened. You know, there was good like that. The 0:20:43.000 --> 0:20:46.639 girl left with Darren did not come back. The color 0:20:46.760 --> 0:20:50.680 said that her cousin's friend was never seen again. They 0:20:50.680 --> 0:20:53.960 were a team. There was no way she's not coming back, 0:20:54.720 --> 0:20:57.360 and she knew that Darren had done something to turn her. 0:20:59.000 --> 0:21:02.840 Four months later, another girl left with him and she 0:21:03.000 --> 0:21:06.280 didn't come back either. That's when we knew that he 0:21:06.359 --> 0:21:09.639 was a serial killer. Do you remember what either of 0:21:09.680 --> 0:21:13.560 these girls names were or like what they went by? Uh? 0:21:13.920 --> 0:21:15.760 It was two of them that they found in the 0:21:15.800 --> 0:21:19.159 band and building close to the forty third property that 0:21:19.800 --> 0:21:23.320 was closest to forty third Avenue. Four of the victims 0:21:23.359 --> 0:21:25.920 were found on forty third Avenue. We're just off of 0:21:26.000 --> 0:21:29.720 forty three, and I knew from police interrogations that there 0:21:29.800 --> 0:21:32.080 was a drug house on forty three that some of 0:21:32.119 --> 0:21:35.480 the victims would frequent was the drug house? Was that 0:21:35.560 --> 0:21:40.920 like the corner of Massachusetts And yeah, yeah, yeah. There 0:21:40.960 --> 0:21:42.640 were a lot of parts of this story that were 0:21:42.640 --> 0:21:46.800 hard to verify, but this part seemed to check out. Now, 0:21:46.840 --> 0:21:49.200 this is why this man probably went back on to 0:21:49.320 --> 0:21:52.719 check it, or the lawn didn't go out on an 0:21:52.720 --> 0:21:56.520 average every day Monday through Friday. This is the normal dude. 0:21:56.560 --> 0:22:00.040 He's a peculiar dude, but he's a he's just a 0:22:00.040 --> 0:22:03.320 normal man in his own business kind of die when 0:22:03.320 --> 0:22:06.760 he get his paycheck. Is drugs are us? And then 0:22:06.840 --> 0:22:09.800 Nika taps in it with Satan at that point, what 0:22:10.119 --> 0:22:12.679 do you mean when you say that? Okay, this is 0:22:12.720 --> 0:22:15.840 what I mean. You know some people that do drugs, 0:22:16.480 --> 0:22:19.040 they turned into a whole another person as soon as 0:22:19.080 --> 0:22:23.040 those drugs hip like it's jackal and hide. You understand 0:22:23.040 --> 0:22:26.639 what I'm saying. And if you already had a proclivity 0:22:26.720 --> 0:22:30.840 towards the violent sex sado masochism, so he was already 0:22:30.920 --> 0:22:35.359 known for being procurliar. He likes to get high, beat 0:22:35.480 --> 0:22:39.360 and rape his girls, but he played the game so 0:22:39.400 --> 0:22:42.240 that they would think he wasn't alert. Did you see 0:22:42.280 --> 0:22:45.320 what I'm saying? I heard some people like they interviewed 0:22:45.400 --> 0:22:47.840 his son in law and that dude said he was 0:22:47.920 --> 0:22:50.160 really creepy. That you would see him kind of like 0:22:50.200 --> 0:22:52.879 talking to himself, or he would like look like he 0:22:53.000 --> 0:22:56.960 was deep in thought. Was that stuff that you ever 0:22:57.200 --> 0:23:00.760 saw around him? I wasn't close enough to observed him 0:23:00.800 --> 0:23:04.080 that way. He stayed two streets behind us. We would 0:23:04.119 --> 0:23:07.520 see him at the forty ninth gas station and he 0:23:07.560 --> 0:23:10.520 would say something like, what's up. You know what I'm saying. 0:23:10.520 --> 0:23:13.080 He'd get out the car just as cool as anybody else, 0:23:13.080 --> 0:23:17.879 what's up, what's up? His hands were clean, his clothes 0:23:17.920 --> 0:23:24.000 were clean, he smelled clean. But when he got on drugs, 0:23:24.440 --> 0:23:29.560 he tapped into satan. The day that he came over 0:23:29.600 --> 0:23:31.840 to the house, and she pointed out to me that 0:23:31.920 --> 0:23:34.480 this is the guy who she was talking about. My 0:23:34.680 --> 0:23:38.760 observation of him was watching what she told me he did. 0:23:39.280 --> 0:23:42.560 So that's what I paid attention to. I watched him 0:23:42.560 --> 0:23:46.800