1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:03,280 Speaker 1: There's nothing like a person whose charm lights up a room, 2 00:00:03,920 --> 00:00:08,320 Speaker 1: unless they're a murderous psychopath. I'm Patty Steele. From murderer 3 00:00:08,360 --> 00:00:12,200 Speaker 1: to media darling and back again. That's next on the backstory. 4 00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:20,680 Speaker 1: The backstory is back. One of the most dangerous kinds 5 00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:25,480 Speaker 1: of criminal is the super intellectual and frequently charming psychopath. 6 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:28,880 Speaker 1: They charm their victims and others, and because they don't 7 00:00:28,920 --> 00:00:33,160 Speaker 1: feel any guilt whatsoever, they don't look guilty, so it's 8 00:00:33,280 --> 00:00:35,600 Speaker 1: kind of easy to get sucked in, at least for 9 00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:40,000 Speaker 1: a while. Perfect examples include Charles Manson, who charmed his 10 00:00:40,120 --> 00:00:44,440 Speaker 1: followers into committing vicious murders for him, and Ted Bundy, 11 00:00:44,920 --> 00:00:48,680 Speaker 1: who would meet young college women joke around with them. Frequently, 12 00:00:48,720 --> 00:00:50,760 Speaker 1: he'd be wearing some kind of a sling on his 13 00:00:50,880 --> 00:00:53,440 Speaker 1: arm and he'd ask for help putting something in his car. 14 00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:56,560 Speaker 1: Then he'd crack him over the head with a tire 15 00:00:56,640 --> 00:00:59,760 Speaker 1: iron and stuff them in the back seat. Now here's 16 00:00:59,800 --> 00:01:04,000 Speaker 1: the thing. Sometimes these people are able to convince others, 17 00:01:04,080 --> 00:01:07,959 Speaker 1: including powerful people, to help them clear their name. That 18 00:01:08,200 --> 00:01:11,240 Speaker 1: was the case with Edgar Smith and famous writer and 19 00:01:11,440 --> 00:01:16,319 Speaker 1: TV political commentator William F. Buckley Junior. Back in nineteen 20 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:19,320 Speaker 1: fifty seven, when Edgar was a twenty three year old 21 00:01:19,360 --> 00:01:21,800 Speaker 1: ex marine with a wife and a baby at home. 22 00:01:22,360 --> 00:01:25,479 Speaker 1: He borrows a friend's car to take a drive. It's 23 00:01:25,520 --> 00:01:28,679 Speaker 1: a cold winter evening in New Jersey, and he spots 24 00:01:28,760 --> 00:01:32,679 Speaker 1: fifteen year old Vicky Zelinsky, an honor student and cheerleader 25 00:01:32,959 --> 00:01:36,160 Speaker 1: at their local high school in Ramsay, New Jersey. She's 26 00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:40,160 Speaker 1: walking home from a friend's house. Edgar stops. He asks 27 00:01:40,200 --> 00:01:42,760 Speaker 1: her if she wants a ride, since she knew him 28 00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:46,560 Speaker 1: from around the neighborhood. She said sure, thank you. He 29 00:01:46,680 --> 00:01:49,840 Speaker 1: drives her then to an abandoned sand pit and parks 30 00:01:49,880 --> 00:01:53,840 Speaker 1: the car. She realizes what's happening and she tries to 31 00:01:53,880 --> 00:01:57,240 Speaker 1: get out, saying she'll walk home. He grabs her and 32 00:01:57,320 --> 00:02:00,280 Speaker 1: she struggles. Then she yells at him and slap as 33 00:02:01,080 --> 00:02:03,920 Speaker 1: He claimed he hit her back and then couldn't remember 34 00:02:03,960 --> 00:02:06,920 Speaker 1: what else happened. Turns out he had beaten her to 35 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:10,000 Speaker 1: death with a large rock as well as a baseball bat. 36 00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:14,639 Speaker 1: The next morning, her parents found her mangled body. Meantime, 37 00:02:14,880 --> 00:02:18,680 Speaker 1: Edgar's friend called the police, saying Edgar had returned his car, 38 00:02:18,880 --> 00:02:22,360 Speaker 1: but it was covered in blood. Edgar was arrested, and 39 00:02:22,440 --> 00:02:24,880 Speaker 1: he led the police to the spot where he'd abandoned 40 00:02:24,919 --> 00:02:29,639 Speaker 1: his own bloodied clothes and Vicki's school books. Pretty straightforward, right, 41 00:02:30,160 --> 00:02:36,880 Speaker 1: Not so fast. Despite changing his story and even trying 42 00:02:36,880 --> 00:02:39,240 Speaker 1: to finger the friend who loaned him the car as 43 00:02:39,280 --> 00:02:42,480 Speaker 1: the killer, he was convicted and sent to death row, 44 00:02:43,160 --> 00:02:46,600 Speaker 1: but he continued to loudly claim he was totally innocent. 45 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:50,040 Speaker 1: Don't forget. He was still saying he had no memory 46 00:02:50,080 --> 00:02:52,760 Speaker 1: of the murder. That's when he began to reach out 47 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:55,680 Speaker 1: to William F. Buckley, who had a popular show on 48 00:02:55,760 --> 00:02:59,120 Speaker 1: TV called Firing Line. He was also the publisher of 49 00:02:59,160 --> 00:03:03,000 Speaker 1: a magazine car called National Review. Edgar had kind of 50 00:03:03,040 --> 00:03:06,040 Speaker 1: gotten interested in it in prison, and when he lost 51 00:03:06,120 --> 00:03:08,800 Speaker 1: access to it, that's when he started reaching out to 52 00:03:08,800 --> 00:03:13,000 Speaker 1: Bill Buckley. Gradually, Edgar managed to convince Buckley of his 53 00:03:13,120 --> 00:03:17,680 Speaker 1: innocence through fifteen hundred pages of letters over a nine 54 00:03:17,760 --> 00:03:21,320 Speaker 1: year period. He claimed his confession had been coerced by 55 00:03:21,320 --> 00:03:25,240 Speaker 1: the cops. Buckley took up Edgar's cause, as did another 56 00:03:25,320 --> 00:03:28,240 Speaker 1: journalist who believed in him, and Buckley got him a 57 00:03:28,240 --> 00:03:31,720 Speaker 1: team of high end lawyers to appeal his case. In 58 00:03:31,760 --> 00:03:35,200 Speaker 1: the meantime, in nineteen sixty eight, Edgar put out a 59 00:03:35,200 --> 00:03:39,200 Speaker 1: book called Brief Against Death through the publishing giant canop 60 00:03:39,720 --> 00:03:42,680 Speaker 1: It became a best seller thanks to Buckley promoting it 61 00:03:42,720 --> 00:03:47,000 Speaker 1: on his TV show. Other books followed. Edgar was actually 62 00:03:47,080 --> 00:03:51,080 Speaker 1: nominated as the first convicted murderer to join Pan America, 63 00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:55,200 Speaker 1: which supports authors who fight for human rights. He quickly 64 00:03:55,240 --> 00:03:58,280 Speaker 1: shot to stardom, and his publisher also pushed for a 65 00:03:58,320 --> 00:04:02,720 Speaker 1: retrial in the case. Finally, in nineteen seventy one, his 66 00:04:02,880 --> 00:04:06,720 Speaker 1: case was completely vacated because Edgar had never been read 67 00:04:06,840 --> 00:04:10,400 Speaker 1: his miranda rights when arrested, and a retrial was ordered, 68 00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:14,000 Speaker 1: but instead he took a plea deal that resulted in 69 00:04:14,040 --> 00:04:18,120 Speaker 1: a sentence of time served. William F. Buckley picked Edgar 70 00:04:18,200 --> 00:04:21,200 Speaker 1: up from prison in a stretch limo with a catered 71 00:04:21,240 --> 00:04:24,559 Speaker 1: steak dinner inside. They were driven straight to a TV 72 00:04:24,720 --> 00:04:28,360 Speaker 1: studio where they filmed two episodes of Buckley's hit show, 73 00:04:28,480 --> 00:04:33,200 Speaker 1: Firing Line. Edgar became a media darling, appearing on literally 74 00:04:33,400 --> 00:04:37,159 Speaker 1: hundreds of TV and radio shows, lecturing at colleges for 75 00:04:37,320 --> 00:04:41,120 Speaker 1: thousands of dollars, and writing many many articles. But the 76 00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:45,240 Speaker 1: good times didn't last for Edgar. Five years later, now forty, 77 00:04:45,360 --> 00:04:48,560 Speaker 1: un divorced, he married a nineteen year old girl. He 78 00:04:48,640 --> 00:04:51,479 Speaker 1: wrote several more books, but they all flopped and he 79 00:04:51,520 --> 00:04:55,599 Speaker 1: started drinking. One night, while out on a drive, he 80 00:04:55,640 --> 00:04:59,080 Speaker 1: sees a woman walking to a parking lot. He decides 81 00:04:59,160 --> 00:05:02,400 Speaker 1: to jumper a knife to her throat. He then pulls 82 00:05:02,400 --> 00:05:05,280 Speaker 1: her into his car, and when she tries to escape, 83 00:05:05,360 --> 00:05:08,680 Speaker 1: he stabs her twice with the knife plunged all the 84 00:05:08,720 --> 00:05:12,120 Speaker 1: way into the handle. He just missed her heart, but 85 00:05:12,200 --> 00:05:14,680 Speaker 1: she still managed to jump out of the car and 86 00:05:14,760 --> 00:05:18,279 Speaker 1: a witness came to help her. Edgar took off and 87 00:05:18,360 --> 00:05:21,120 Speaker 1: after two weeks on the lamb, he checked into a 88 00:05:21,160 --> 00:05:24,960 Speaker 1: hotel in Las Vegas under a false name, but then 89 00:05:25,400 --> 00:05:28,640 Speaker 1: he reached out to his old pal William Buckley for help. 90 00:05:29,320 --> 00:05:32,320 Speaker 1: Buckley kind of saw through him this time and called 91 00:05:32,320 --> 00:05:36,880 Speaker 1: the FBI in this case. During the sentencing, Edgar told 92 00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:40,240 Speaker 1: the court he deserved to reduce sentence due to his 93 00:05:40,440 --> 00:05:44,400 Speaker 1: lifelong battle with sex addiction, and to prove his case, 94 00:05:44,839 --> 00:05:48,359 Speaker 1: he finally confessed to the murder of fifteen year old Vicki, 95 00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:52,279 Speaker 1: blaming that murder on his sex addiction and hoping that 96 00:05:52,320 --> 00:05:55,240 Speaker 1: would get him sentenced to a mental hospital rather than 97 00:05:55,240 --> 00:05:58,600 Speaker 1: a penitentiary. A keep in mind they couldn't try him 98 00:05:58,640 --> 00:06:02,479 Speaker 1: on Vicki's murder again because that had already been settled. Well, 99 00:06:02,520 --> 00:06:05,120 Speaker 1: it doesn't matter because it didn't work, and he was 100 00:06:05,160 --> 00:06:08,800 Speaker 1: sentenced to life in prison, where he died in twenty seventeen. 101 00:06:09,680 --> 00:06:13,200 Speaker 1: Not long after that final case, William F. Buckley wrote 102 00:06:13,240 --> 00:06:16,520 Speaker 1: an article for Life magazine. He said he was sorry 103 00:06:16,600 --> 00:06:20,080 Speaker 1: he had allowed Edgar Smith to con him into believing 104 00:06:20,200 --> 00:06:35,880 Speaker 1: he hadn't murdered Vicky Zelenski. I'm Patty Steele. The Backstory 105 00:06:35,960 --> 00:06:39,600 Speaker 1: is a production of iHeartMedia and Steel Trap Productions. Our 106 00:06:39,680 --> 00:06:43,520 Speaker 1: producer is Doug Fraser. Our executive producer is Steve Goldstein 107 00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:47,159 Speaker 1: of Amplify Media. We're out with new episodes twice a week. 108 00:06:47,520 --> 00:06:50,760 Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to the Backstory, the pieces of history 109 00:06:50,920 --> 00:06:52,440 Speaker 1: you didn't know you needed to know.