WEBVTT - Vann's Early Crimes 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:02.960 The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely 0:00:03.000 --> 0:00:06.080 those of the authors and participants and do not necessarily 0:00:06.120 --> 0:00:09.879 represent those of iHeart Media, Tenderfoot TV, or their employees. 0:00:10.360 --> 0:00:14.560 This series contains discussions of violence and sexual violence. Listener 0:00:14.600 --> 0:00:22.040 discretion is advised. Previously on Algorithm. Four years after Thomas 0:00:22.120 --> 0:00:24.880 Hargrove had tried to warrant Gary, Indiana that they might 0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:29.320 have a serial killer, the police one town over in Hammond, Indiana, 0:00:29.480 --> 0:00:34.560 arrested Darren Vaughan. How many people are you responsible for killing? 0:00:34.960 --> 0:00:38.320 But it is a lifetime. How couldn't even two? Vond 0:00:38.400 --> 0:00:41.479 led investigators to six bodies? And while the m O 0:00:41.720 --> 0:00:45.360 matched one of the patterns, Hardroup had identified young women 0:00:45.440 --> 0:00:49.040 who had been strangled and left in abandoned buildings, none 0:00:49.080 --> 0:00:52.239 of these victims were on Hargrove's list. They were all 0:00:52.360 --> 0:00:55.560 more recent murders that have been committed after Hargrove sent 0:00:55.640 --> 0:00:59.240 the letter to Gary. But in a press conference, police 0:00:59.280 --> 0:01:02.640 mentioned that On had confessed to murders going back twenty years, 0:01:03.080 --> 0:01:05.680 and the Hammond mayor wrote, he'd confessed to a couple 0:01:05.720 --> 0:01:10.399 of murders into and they told Hammond police that he 0:01:10.440 --> 0:01:13.160 had been active going back to the mid nineties, and 0:01:13.280 --> 0:01:16.000 I would take him at his word. So it was 0:01:16.120 --> 0:01:19.479 Vond responsible for the killings that Hargrove's algorithm had picked 0:01:19.560 --> 0:01:23.440 up on. Where was something else going on? This episode 0:01:23.600 --> 0:01:26.399 we explore what Bond was doing back in the nineties 0:01:28.160 --> 0:01:33.680 from I Heeart Media and Tenderfoot TV. This is algorithm. 0:01:33.680 --> 0:01:39.440 I'm ben Key brick. Hard Grove's algorithm had identified fifteen 0:01:39.480 --> 0:01:44.840 homicides between and two thousand seven. The first step in 0:01:44.880 --> 0:01:48.400 figuring out if Vaughn was responsible for these murders were 0:01:48.440 --> 0:01:51.559 other cold cases is figuring out where he was living 0:01:51.720 --> 0:01:56.240 and what he was doing during that period. Von told 0:01:56.240 --> 0:01:59.360 detectives that in the early eighties he was recruited into 0:01:59.400 --> 0:02:03.480 a gang, the Gangster Disciples, by an older boy named 0:02:03.520 --> 0:02:08.000 Big or Big Mike. The Bond's brother, Reginald didn't buy 0:02:08.040 --> 0:02:15.080 this story. Ok, his friend Big Mike, he likes to 0:02:15.120 --> 0:02:17.720 talk about talk about him and Big Mike grew up 0:02:17.760 --> 0:02:21.880 in homes together him, Big Wings. He remember him, Big Mike, 0:02:22.000 --> 0:02:26.040 Big Bad. But nobody and my family knows Big Mike. 0:02:26.919 --> 0:02:29.959 Nobody's ever seen Big Mike. You know what I'm saying is, 0:02:30.480 --> 0:02:33.919 come on now, it's not plausible. Big Money is a 0:02:33.960 --> 0:02:40.320 fictional character as far as I'm concerned. Well, the last 0:02:40.320 --> 0:02:43.000 thing he said I was with Big Mike. He just 0:02:43.360 --> 0:02:45.360 like we get to talk about the old days and 0:02:45.360 --> 0:02:47.600 stuff like that. He likes to build himself up to 0:02:47.680 --> 0:02:49.520 be like I don't know, I don't put it man, 0:02:49.639 --> 0:02:53.800 uh fucking guy complex. He tells stories and like, you know, 0:02:54.320 --> 0:02:56.560 back in my day, I could have sold all these drugs. 0:02:56.600 --> 0:02:57.560 You know what I'm saying. I could have been a 0:02:57.639 --> 0:03:00.280 key opinion, isn't that? You know? Fred? You know what 0:03:00.320 --> 0:03:03.919 I'm saying. But I'm talking to just sitting here, I'm 0:03:04.320 --> 0:03:07.040 telling you a little around like you want to. I know, 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:10.120 it's not possible, you know what I'm It's not possible 0:03:10.160 --> 0:03:13.959 that he exists. Yeah, yeah, I mean I mean that 0:03:14.080 --> 0:03:21.240 you think this was possible? Really really trying to explains, Man, 0:03:21.240 --> 0:03:22.840 we we don't we don't know you probably like you 0:03:22.840 --> 0:03:25.760 know your brother. Yeah, I mean, that's why we're That's 0:03:25.800 --> 0:03:29.799 why we're here. It's just like, all right, you you 0:03:29.919 --> 0:03:33.560 talked to somebody and they come with this crazy yeas 0:03:33.720 --> 0:03:36.520 story and they just have to want to up you 0:03:36.520 --> 0:03:38.600 know what I'm saying. And when I talked to him, 0:03:38.640 --> 0:03:40.960 sometimes I just started. Notice you know he does that. 0:03:41.200 --> 0:03:43.640 You know what I'm saying. We had a conversation with 0:03:43.720 --> 0:03:47.200 the fucking neighbor. He was like, yeah, I remember the 0:03:47.200 --> 0:03:50.280 teacher got killed in Rosevelt. Roosevelt is one of the 0:03:50.360 --> 0:03:53.400 high schools. And Gary like, you remember, you remember, you know, 0:03:53.560 --> 0:03:55.680 trying to d you know, And I'm like, I don't 0:03:55.680 --> 0:03:58.280 know you're talking about I don't remember no teacher getting 0:03:58.320 --> 0:04:01.120 killed that Roselt. But that's the type that she does, 0:04:02.680 --> 0:04:07.840 Like I didn't that conversation's park Uh, we were talking 0:04:07.880 --> 0:04:13.640 about we were talking about white people. You care it's 0:04:13.680 --> 0:04:16.520 finely yeah, you know, I don't want to you know, 0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:20.560 don't worry about it. You know about it about so 0:04:22.000 --> 0:04:24.440 you know, we were much have one of those conversations. 0:04:24.440 --> 0:04:27.800 You know it's me and him and the neighbor who 0:04:27.839 --> 0:04:30.400 you were talking about. No, that's not right. I don't remember. No, 0:04:30.520 --> 0:04:33.240 tis a game Carol's house. Last time we get a 0:04:33.240 --> 0:04:38.400 conversation with him. Let me ask you this what he 0:04:38.400 --> 0:04:40.120 talks about Big Mike, because he ever see him and 0:04:40.160 --> 0:04:43.320 Big Mike do this, or him Big might do that, 0:04:43.560 --> 0:04:46.880 or know what's what's that conversation? If I gotta passed 0:04:46.960 --> 0:04:49.320 pass you know it's about selling drugs and you know, 0:04:49.520 --> 0:04:52.240 gag ship. You know what I'm saying is any game 0:04:53.800 --> 0:05:01.720 says any game? Yeah? What was her? Sasonlin decides say, hey, man, 0:05:01.880 --> 0:05:04.040 but as far as I could call him, and he 0:05:04.160 --> 0:05:08.200 was the nerdy kid who wanted to be bad, like 0:05:08.600 --> 0:05:12.479 he'd come home watch cartoons and danced movies and swearing 0:05:12.520 --> 0:05:14.080 in the hard board. You know what I'm saying it 0:05:14.839 --> 0:05:17.080 to me, It don't ain't no sense, you know. But 0:05:18.800 --> 0:05:21.080 you brought up a good point though, like I ain't 0:05:21.120 --> 0:05:24.679 picked this ship was possible. But I really don't think 0:05:25.360 --> 0:05:28.600 Big Mike is a real person. When you started to 0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:30.280 talking about Big Mike, you said, fuck it, here he 0:05:30.320 --> 0:05:34.880 goes Big Mike. Why did the team Mike? That was 0:05:34.920 --> 0:05:37.880 a lot of for years to let out. I mean, 0:05:38.600 --> 0:05:46.160 kind of this life, I honestly don't believe it's this 0:05:46.320 --> 0:05:53.920 dude is really okay, And it's borderline crazy to have 0:05:54.120 --> 0:06:00.040 flashbacks of somebody who I ain't real okay. I I 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:04.000 don't see how include brother some of these these stories 0:06:04.040 --> 0:06:07.880 of Grids him Hill. We still have keys and stuff 0:06:07.920 --> 0:06:10.240 like that. And I've never seen more brother with more money, 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:14.960 you know than the average person. Von's lawyers also had 0:06:15.000 --> 0:06:18.760 their doubts about some of Von's stories. Here's Goyko Cossage. 0:06:19.600 --> 0:06:22.080 All of us, I think, at some point in time, 0:06:22.200 --> 0:06:24.520 thought that Darren would tell us some things that were 0:06:24.560 --> 0:06:28.279 either puffing or maybe just going ahead and obfuscating things, 0:06:29.120 --> 0:06:31.200 because I mean, let's face it, the guy was charged 0:06:31.240 --> 0:06:35.840 with multiple death pediment accounts and to expect a full 0:06:35.960 --> 0:06:39.760 honest answer um. But he was in denial on some things. 0:06:39.800 --> 0:06:43.000 We found some people who were at Thelmbal Marshall with him, 0:06:43.520 --> 0:06:46.680 a couple of white brothers, and Darren would tell us 0:06:46.760 --> 0:06:49.760 that he was not being bothered at Tholba Marshal because 0:06:49.800 --> 0:06:53.520 he was physically stronger than the other people that were 0:06:53.600 --> 0:06:55.680 Themba Marshall and they looked at us like we were. 0:06:55.960 --> 0:06:58.640 They said he was the smallest kid there. He was tiny. 0:06:59.240 --> 0:07:01.880 We had to pretended him. He was always getting picked 0:07:01.960 --> 0:07:04.839 on and pushed around by the others, and and Darren 0:07:05.279 --> 0:07:09.080 swears that didn't happen so in his mind, be it 0:07:09.200 --> 0:07:12.360 from the organic injury or something he had convinced himself, 0:07:12.880 --> 0:07:17.480 there were episodes in Darren's life that he remembered completely 0:07:17.600 --> 0:07:21.920 different than what we had incredible evidence for happening in 0:07:22.000 --> 0:07:24.800 another fashion. It's hard to know what to make of 0:07:24.880 --> 0:07:27.880 all of this. It's clear that Vaughan isn't always a 0:07:27.960 --> 0:07:30.680 reliable narrator of his own life, and many of his 0:07:30.840 --> 0:07:34.320 stories sound crazy, but also many of the things that 0:07:34.440 --> 0:07:37.640 he did do, like strangling seven women over the course 0:07:37.680 --> 0:07:40.080 of a year, might have sounded made up as well. 0:07:41.720 --> 0:07:43.400 This is a point in the story where I'd like 0:07:43.480 --> 0:07:46.680 to reach out to you, to our listeners, I'd really 0:07:46.760 --> 0:07:48.600 like to get in touch with someone who went to 0:07:48.680 --> 0:07:51.000 the Thelma Marshall Home at the same time as Von, 0:07:51.640 --> 0:07:54.440 where anyone who knew him or this big year, big 0:07:54.520 --> 0:07:57.680 mic guy, please call and leave us a voicemail. You 0:07:57.760 --> 0:07:59.560 can get the number in the show notes or at 0:07:59.600 --> 0:08:01.880 the end of the episode, and maybe you can give 0:08:01.960 --> 0:08:04.160 us the in road we need to help figure out 0:08:04.240 --> 0:08:09.200 how much Von's story we can trust, regardless of whether 0:08:09.280 --> 0:08:12.520 Big E was real or just a figment of Vaughn's imagination. 0:08:13.320 --> 0:08:16.840 Vaughn was soon drawn away from Gary at sixteen. He 0:08:16.960 --> 0:08:20.280 was reunited with his mom and your mother picked you 0:08:20.440 --> 0:08:27.800 up getting back to Okay. Von's mother was now almost 0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:30.480 thirty and she was living with a new partner and 0:08:30.600 --> 0:08:35.000 two young children. Reginald Von's half brother, who you heard 0:08:35.040 --> 0:08:38.200 from earlier, was just three at the time, and Regina 0:08:38.600 --> 0:08:42.640 von step sister was just six. For Vaughan, it was 0:08:42.720 --> 0:08:48.679 a big adjustment. I don't know about the family, and 0:08:48.760 --> 0:08:52.400 soon after Vaughan rejoined his mother, the family moved to Lima, 0:08:52.880 --> 0:08:58.560 a small rust belt city in northwest Ohio day where 0:08:58.679 --> 0:09:02.760 I was coat shocked. They have no game at that time. 0:09:04.080 --> 0:09:07.600 Lima might not have had gangs, but Bond's life was turbulent. 0:09:08.280 --> 0:09:11.319 Even though his mother was older and more mature, she 0:09:11.480 --> 0:09:16.199 still had issues. She suffered from schizophrenia and struggled with 0:09:16.320 --> 0:09:20.080 addiction to hard drugs, and Vaughan was often running away 0:09:20.120 --> 0:09:23.920 from home. Sometimes he hitchhike the two d miles back 0:09:24.000 --> 0:09:27.760 to Gary. I ran away, called a truck while part away. 0:09:27.800 --> 0:09:29.960 It came on my rapple out and they wore booking 0:09:30.040 --> 0:09:32.719 for me in Ohio. Your grandpa keep you there And 0:09:32.920 --> 0:09:36.240 now he called don't right. It's like, just come get him. 0:09:36.320 --> 0:09:38.559 Don't mess one, because you know you're gonna get around. 0:09:39.679 --> 0:09:42.599 Von stepsister. Regina was young enough that she didn't know 0:09:42.720 --> 0:09:45.920 everything that was going on, but she told police Vawn's 0:09:45.960 --> 0:09:52.079 mother was physically abusive. It was definitely, um abuseless. I 0:09:52.240 --> 0:09:56.559 know she was abuseless. I know she was. We share Sidney, 0:09:56.640 --> 0:09:58.760 and I know bought back. She was abusive to that 0:09:58.920 --> 0:10:01.439 Sidney from a man she loves that's taking care of 0:10:01.520 --> 0:10:04.000 that shot. I can only imagine what she had no 0:10:04.120 --> 0:10:07.200 problem to all of a sudden at Dan taken Carol. Now, 0:10:07.240 --> 0:10:10.920 when you say abusive, like verbally, abusive physically, I don't 0:10:10.960 --> 0:10:14.520 recall all the different, but I know she will, right. 0:10:14.720 --> 0:10:17.199 I mean, that's why we're asking, because you know it's 0:10:17.240 --> 0:10:20.120 important for us, and also know where he's coming from, 0:10:20.200 --> 0:10:24.360 because that might actually help us, you know, to find 0:10:24.400 --> 0:10:28.520 a lot more things out about him. So um, so 0:10:28.679 --> 0:10:32.240 she was definitely abuse to ze. Regina says that when 0:10:32.320 --> 0:10:35.800 she got older, family members told her that when Vaughan's 0:10:35.880 --> 0:10:39.040 mom got really mad, she'd make Vaughn cover his skin 0:10:39.160 --> 0:10:43.320 with alcohol, presumably so that his wounds would sting as 0:10:43.400 --> 0:10:46.280 she beat him. This laws grown up. I heard it 0:10:46.360 --> 0:10:48.839 in the household from the other siblings, write telling you 0:10:48.880 --> 0:10:51.040 about it, right, I really don't remember, But I don't 0:10:51.080 --> 0:10:54.160 remember this alcohol. I thought it was a little different. 0:10:56.679 --> 0:10:59.920 Vaughan graduated from Lima Senior High School and moved back 0:11:00.000 --> 0:11:03.120 to northwest Indiana. He says that that's when he made 0:11:03.160 --> 0:11:06.599 the first of what he calls his mistakes. Killings that 0:11:06.679 --> 0:11:10.520 were not gang related were intended at all. So were 0:11:10.600 --> 0:11:12.959 these the twenty year old murders that the police and 0:11:13.080 --> 0:11:18.000 mayor were referring to. Vaughn first all detectives about these killings. 0:11:18.120 --> 0:11:20.520 On the second night of the death March, he just 0:11:20.640 --> 0:11:24.640 finished leading Detective Forward and Captain Hinajosa to three more 0:11:24.720 --> 0:11:29.320 bodies and abandoned buildings and Gary being Hammond police. Ford 0:11:29.400 --> 0:11:32.400 and Hinajosa asked Vaughn whether he had any murders to 0:11:32.480 --> 0:11:36.560 confess to that had taken place specifically in Hammond. Vaughn 0:11:36.679 --> 0:11:39.800 directed the police to a vacant lot in southwest Hammond 0:11:40.000 --> 0:11:42.960 where a bar had once been located. Vaughn said he'd 0:11:43.040 --> 0:11:46.240 robbed an older couple there sometime back in the early nineties, 0:11:46.800 --> 0:11:50.079 that it only was abandoned then. Yeah, And so these 0:11:50.120 --> 0:11:53.560 two people, why were they in the building? I'll robin, Well, 0:11:53.800 --> 0:11:55.560 but how did you get him there? At the ground 0:11:55.559 --> 0:11:58.440 the point, I'll robin, because they're why used to cut 0:11:58.559 --> 0:12:00.679 through the hilty lite used to be a way to 0:12:00.760 --> 0:12:04.040 cut through back order a mad gun point into the 0:12:04.120 --> 0:12:06.679 bill right and then rob But what did you get 0:12:06.720 --> 0:12:09.640 out of the robbery? Remember it was it was something small, 0:12:09.920 --> 0:12:11.800 remember and I was like I said, I was like, 0:12:11.920 --> 0:12:14.120 it was it just money. It's just money. That's all 0:12:14.280 --> 0:12:17.520 of that. I was just a kid, damn. After walking 0:12:17.640 --> 0:12:21.160 forward and Kinajosa through his memories of the robbery turned 0:12:21.200 --> 0:12:25.960 double homicide, Von guided detectives to an alley between Tracord 0:12:26.040 --> 0:12:29.800 and Becker Street. Von told detectives he'd gotten into a 0:12:29.920 --> 0:12:33.600 fight there and ended up shooting a man. You said 0:12:33.640 --> 0:12:35.800 that you shot him near the telephone pole that was 0:12:35.880 --> 0:12:38.679 directly across right from there. How many times do you 0:12:38.720 --> 0:12:42.120 think you shot hibouree three? Do you know what caliber 0:12:42.200 --> 0:12:43.880 gun you had or anything like? Back then, I was 0:12:43.960 --> 0:12:47.360 caring to I was going badly while I was covered 0:12:47.520 --> 0:12:49.760 here in in nineteen nineties. I know who gave you 0:12:49.920 --> 0:12:54.160 to remember that that was your sweet beat. That's what 0:12:54.280 --> 0:12:56.360 they gave all of us. Meddle months. There's bag then 0:12:56.640 --> 0:12:59.559 twenty food. The twenty five was running rapid, all of 0:12:59.720 --> 0:13:03.080 you know, officers, I think these likely are the murders 0:13:03.120 --> 0:13:05.880 that police referred to in the press conference after Von's 0:13:05.960 --> 0:13:09.959 arrest when they mentioned crimes going back twenty years. But 0:13:10.080 --> 0:13:13.240 it's a bit confusing because Vaughan says in the interrogation 0:13:13.600 --> 0:13:18.280 that these murders took place around one and in the 0:13:18.320 --> 0:13:21.480 account that the mayor wrote on Facebook, he said Vaughan 0:13:21.559 --> 0:13:26.080 had confessed to murders in ninety four, and Vaughn isn't 0:13:26.120 --> 0:13:29.080 great with dates, so maybe he changed his story at 0:13:29.200 --> 0:13:32.160 some point as far as I can tell him, and 0:13:32.240 --> 0:13:35.920 police have yet to connect these confessions to any reported crimes. 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:53.920 To briefly recap, after graduating high school, Vaughan returned to 0:13:54.000 --> 0:13:57.959 Northwest Indiana in and he told police that around that 0:13:58.120 --> 0:14:02.240 time he shot at least three people in Hammond. Then 0:14:02.600 --> 0:14:07.280 Vaughn's life took a major shift, and in December, he 0:14:07.440 --> 0:14:11.679 enlisted with the Marines. Vaughn was first shipped out to 0:14:11.800 --> 0:14:14.439 San Diego, where he went through boot camp and got 0:14:14.559 --> 0:14:18.760 combat training. Then he trained as a missile system operator 0:14:18.960 --> 0:14:24.760 in El Passa, Texas, and from July to September he 0:14:24.920 --> 0:14:29.680 was stationed in Cherry Point, North Carolina. Here's his lawyer, Cossage. 0:14:30.600 --> 0:14:33.160 I think in North Carolina they got a big brawl 0:14:33.680 --> 0:14:36.160 that he got hit and he with a chair, doesn't 0:14:36.200 --> 0:14:38.080 remember what happened, and there were a couple of other 0:14:38.240 --> 0:14:43.040 head injuries that he suffered in Vaughan received and other 0:14:43.120 --> 0:14:46.680 than honorable discharge from the Marines. Let's just say that 0:14:46.800 --> 0:14:49.680 in the military he got discharged because of an active 0:14:49.720 --> 0:14:53.720 insubordination of some kind. It was really not related to 0:14:54.000 --> 0:14:58.040 the case. It's the insubordination, that thing you mentioned earlier 0:14:58.120 --> 0:15:01.640 with the head damage. No, no, I can't. You know 0:15:01.920 --> 0:15:05.640 Darren didn't take orders. Well, you know, he he didn't 0:15:05.680 --> 0:15:08.760 like being told what to do. And I think it's 0:15:08.800 --> 0:15:10.920 gone throughout his entire life and goes all the way 0:15:10.920 --> 0:15:14.120 back to age four. And at a certain point in 0:15:14.200 --> 0:15:16.760 time they decided, okay, you don't want to take orders. 0:15:16.800 --> 0:15:18.520 I guess we don't need you as a marine. And 0:15:18.600 --> 0:15:22.960 he said, okay, fine. So that was that. How come 0:15:23.000 --> 0:15:27.960 you get kicked out on disciplary behavior? Good soul is 0:15:28.000 --> 0:15:31.240 you're bad at home? And they say, but what led 0:15:31.280 --> 0:15:37.760 to this, uh discharge disappeared really disappearing. We don't fight, 0:15:37.840 --> 0:15:42.960 nobody go home. So you just kind of went a 0:15:43.080 --> 0:15:45.640 wall or whatever they call it. Or I told him 0:15:45.680 --> 0:15:47.400 I was gonna be late coming back, but you know, 0:15:47.440 --> 0:15:50.640 I still a wall. I don't be late. I'm in him. 0:15:51.040 --> 0:15:54.320 I mean Geary, I'll get back. I mean, when I 0:15:54.360 --> 0:15:57.800 you seem that a president, we're not at war. Vaughn 0:15:58.000 --> 0:16:01.000 wasn't that interested in serving his country. Three. What he 0:16:01.080 --> 0:16:06.320 really wanted was to die in the battlefield Vauntel detective Forward. 0:16:06.520 --> 0:16:09.640 He'd taken out a big life insurance policy with the 0:16:09.760 --> 0:16:13.120 hopes of dying in combat and then giving the insurance 0:16:13.160 --> 0:16:17.160 settlement to his younger brother, Reginald that's already not joined. 0:16:17.160 --> 0:16:21.320 Were supposed to be going to war. Okay, so you're 0:16:21.360 --> 0:16:25.400 out in ninety three. Come back to Gary, come back 0:16:25.440 --> 0:16:29.480 to hammn to Hammond, to heaven. So I living right 0:16:29.560 --> 0:16:34.400 for man. Her real life was managed. Sometime around this point, 0:16:34.840 --> 0:16:38.560 von met the woman who'ld later become his wife. Good woman, 0:16:38.880 --> 0:16:42.480 very guy until I'll find Merry a terrible person. She 0:16:42.560 --> 0:16:44.720 believe it. Yeah, she knows I have a terrible temper. 0:16:44.760 --> 0:16:46.360 She said, I'm a good guy, so I'll take care 0:16:46.360 --> 0:16:48.640 of the house and take care of I'll just have 0:16:48.800 --> 0:16:53.080 a terrible temper. It was an unusual relationship for sure. 0:16:53.760 --> 0:16:56.640 Vaughn would have been around twenty two years old and 0:16:56.760 --> 0:17:01.320 the woman, Maria, was fifty one, twenty nine years older 0:17:01.400 --> 0:17:06.240 than him. Maria was an Italian immigrant with kids nearly 0:17:06.359 --> 0:17:10.560 Darren's age. Shortly after Von's arrest, she told The New 0:17:10.640 --> 0:17:13.879 York Times that she'd met Vaughan through some mutual friends. 0:17:14.720 --> 0:17:19.920 She described him as quote intelligent, very relaxed, very nice 0:17:20.000 --> 0:17:24.399 to everyone. But what Maria saw as kind and quiet, 0:17:24.720 --> 0:17:29.640 her son ed interpreted differently. Had spoke to CNN shortly 0:17:29.680 --> 0:17:32.720 after Darren's arrest. First of all, I didn't like it 0:17:33.040 --> 0:17:35.680 for her to marry ad almost my age. Number one, 0:17:35.840 --> 0:17:38.520 number two. He was just a strange guy. I walked 0:17:38.560 --> 0:17:40.359 in and I would see him talking to himself and 0:17:40.800 --> 0:17:43.760 you're saying hello, He's like hello and looked down to 0:17:43.840 --> 0:17:46.920 the ground. He was always in the thought, always like 0:17:47.040 --> 0:17:49.480 he had something else on his mind other than what 0:17:49.760 --> 0:17:55.240 he was. When a person walks around talking to themselves 0:17:55.920 --> 0:17:58.959 and looked like the answering himselves as long with him 0:17:59.440 --> 0:18:01.560 and then he was just says that he killed the 0:18:01.640 --> 0:18:07.600 people alight. He finally topped around just a couple of 0:18:07.680 --> 0:18:11.239 years after he'd started dating Maria. Vaughn says he got 0:18:11.320 --> 0:18:14.080 sucked back into the gang life when his old mentor, 0:18:14.320 --> 0:18:18.120 Big E, was killed. Vaughn says that during the time 0:18:18.200 --> 0:18:21.920 he's spending the Marines. The gangster disciples had fractured and 0:18:22.000 --> 0:18:25.760 split up into small, competing clicks. There was no longer 0:18:25.920 --> 0:18:29.840 any need for gang enforcers, and Vaughan felt like an outsider. 0:18:33.359 --> 0:18:44.399 France killing France killing bro Nobody one murder place because 0:18:44.440 --> 0:18:47.840 all the killing that will years were running the streets. 0:18:49.000 --> 0:18:52.040 Vaughn says he struggled to adjust to this new gang hierarchy, 0:18:52.680 --> 0:18:55.840 and Maria, his fifty year old girlfriend, struggled with his 0:18:55.960 --> 0:18:59.639 return to criminal life. Things came to a head when 0:18:59.720 --> 0:19:03.560 one of the other gang members got arrested. Somebody else 0:19:03.600 --> 0:19:06.280 had busted on her. They thought that person was gonna 0:19:06.320 --> 0:19:08.800 tell on me, and they thought I was gonna tell you. 0:19:09.520 --> 0:19:12.960 They tried to murder me. Von says some gang members 0:19:13.080 --> 0:19:16.920 jumped him and started beating him. They busted open his head, 0:19:17.200 --> 0:19:20.680 but he got away. When he got home, Maria was 0:19:20.880 --> 0:19:24.240 terrified when my head got busted open. She wanted me 0:19:24.280 --> 0:19:27.120 to tell on everybody. I thought, that's not how it work. 0:19:27.920 --> 0:19:30.679 She was high as the say about it. That's how 0:19:30.680 --> 0:19:34.600 I ended up in Texas. To escape, Von and Maria 0:19:34.760 --> 0:19:39.240 moved to Austin and they married in city hall in 0:19:39.359 --> 0:19:43.200 front of a few friends. I got married in Texas. Yeah, 0:19:44.200 --> 0:19:46.720 year because the one important I'm married to rant I 0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:49.320 told you want to give marries you know alone another chick. 0:19:49.400 --> 0:19:52.440 I'm arey because she was a lot with me. She 0:19:52.560 --> 0:19:55.200 married a person didn't love her. Try to take care 0:19:55.280 --> 0:19:58.760 of me. But I know who I am. We all 0:19:58.840 --> 0:20:01.639 are super told like you know your hoss, son of 0:20:01.720 --> 0:20:04.800 a bitch. But she is like, oh yeah, he'll always 0:20:04.840 --> 0:20:07.399 protect us, right, That's how she moved Daddy. They'll go 0:20:07.480 --> 0:20:10.880 out his way to protective. Actually, without her, you would 0:20:10.920 --> 0:20:14.240 probably call me years ago because she gave me Vince. 0:20:14.760 --> 0:20:17.359 You don't need to do this. You got good mind work. 0:20:18.600 --> 0:20:22.280 And maybe Maria did provide Vaughan with some balance and stability, 0:20:22.960 --> 0:20:25.800 because for a while it seemed like Vaughan's life was 0:20:25.840 --> 0:20:28.880 getting back on track. Vaughn says he got a job 0:20:28.960 --> 0:20:33.160 in Austin working for Tell Computers. You work for Dell Computers. 0:20:33.680 --> 0:20:37.240 What did you do assembly with the Futers together program 0:20:37.720 --> 0:20:41.800 in Texas? Yeah? Nice? I work for Deal, I work 0:20:41.840 --> 0:20:45.200 for Thanks, I worked I worked for some nice complet 0:20:45.280 --> 0:20:50.040 to come. Maria's son ed though, remembered it souring quickly. 0:20:50.720 --> 0:20:52.440 You know how it is when you first moved some 0:20:52.600 --> 0:20:56.320 place as a new little relationship. He probably was in 0:20:56.400 --> 0:20:58.960 the happiest moment of his life. I don't know, he 0:20:59.080 --> 0:21:02.040 got some lady to marry him, Okay, but after that, 0:21:02.720 --> 0:21:04.800 you know, I think he works for a chimp agency, 0:21:04.880 --> 0:21:07.400 that kind of working on the tail. They fired him, 0:21:07.840 --> 0:21:10.800 you know, and from that moment on he went down ill. 0:21:10.920 --> 0:21:13.879 He became a creepy dude. You know, he wandered around 0:21:13.920 --> 0:21:17.520 at nights. My mom didn't think und strange about it 0:21:17.600 --> 0:21:21.159 about his mom her both friend or husband, whatever you 0:21:21.200 --> 0:21:25.880 want to call him. He's running around at nighttime on runbird. Mom, 0:21:25.960 --> 0:21:27.520 you know what kind of neighorhood that is. That's a 0:21:27.600 --> 0:21:31.040 prostitution store. He was a strange dude. He was doing 0:21:31.160 --> 0:21:33.760 something They need to be checking here at Austin. He 0:21:33.840 --> 0:21:36.399 might have been doing something more than just that long gerard, 0:21:37.520 --> 0:21:40.560 as we'll get into in the next episode. Von did 0:21:40.680 --> 0:21:43.960 have at least one victim in Austin, and there are 0:21:44.040 --> 0:21:47.160 cold cases in Austin that are worth exploring as well. 0:21:47.920 --> 0:21:51.359 But while Maria's son Ed identifies Vaughn's firing from Dell 0:21:51.640 --> 0:21:55.679 as the start of Von's downward spiral, Von himself identifies 0:21:55.720 --> 0:21:59.400 another movement. It's the point where he snapped the incident 0:21:59.520 --> 0:22:19.560 he could ever come back from. Sometime around the year 0:22:19.640 --> 0:22:23.760 two thousand, Vaughn and Maria moved back to Gary. Vaughn 0:22:23.840 --> 0:22:28.200 told Detective Forward he'd returned for a family obligation. I 0:22:28.280 --> 0:22:30.879 came home because with another answer, didn't happened. I just 0:22:31.000 --> 0:22:34.280 want to know Cuss got killed. We all came home. 0:22:34.359 --> 0:22:36.800 The whole family came home. Let's just say, you said 0:22:36.840 --> 0:22:39.520 it's your cousin that got killed. Right? Why did that 0:22:39.600 --> 0:22:45.440 make everybody move home? Because who retaliation? Sound? Who was 0:22:45.480 --> 0:22:49.880 that they got killed? Trying to think what they called 0:22:51.400 --> 0:22:53.199 you don't know your cousins thinks, So I told him 0:22:53.200 --> 0:22:56.159 I'm not family orientated. I only came back because my 0:22:56.240 --> 0:22:59.240 other cousin they asked me to come back. At first, 0:22:59.359 --> 0:23:01.879 it might sound like Von's bullshitting when he says he 0:23:01.960 --> 0:23:05.400 doesn't know his cousin's name, But remember Von didn't meet 0:23:05.480 --> 0:23:08.920 any of his family until he was twelve. Still, his 0:23:09.040 --> 0:23:11.560 shaking this with these kind of details makes it hard 0:23:11.600 --> 0:23:14.359 to pin down exactly where he was at a given time. 0:23:15.160 --> 0:23:18.600 Von stepsister, Regina, says that after he graduated high school 0:23:18.640 --> 0:23:23.240 in she lost touch with him, really got close back 0:23:23.400 --> 0:23:27.200 two thousands I broke off my engagement. He stayed with 0:23:27.280 --> 0:23:31.440 me for two months. I told you know, Dally appear. 0:23:31.520 --> 0:23:35.400 He moved out. Regina says that at the time, Vaughan 0:23:35.560 --> 0:23:38.560 was unhappy with his marriage. He was thirty two then 0:23:38.800 --> 0:23:41.520 and wanted to have a kid, but his wife, Maria 0:23:42.000 --> 0:23:46.439 was now over sixty. Maria told The New York Times 0:23:46.600 --> 0:23:49.480 that this was when the relationships started to fall apart. 0:23:50.160 --> 0:23:52.840 She said, quote, I didn't want to be with him anymore. 0:23:53.280 --> 0:23:56.359 He had single friends. There were signs that he was 0:23:56.520 --> 0:24:02.119 going with somebody else, and Maria was right. Von had 0:24:02.200 --> 0:24:05.359 told his step sister that he'd met another woman, that 0:24:05.480 --> 0:24:07.560 he was in love with her, and that his wish 0:24:07.680 --> 0:24:11.280 to have a child was coming true. He had gotten 0:24:11.520 --> 0:24:16.639 his new girlfriend pregnant. Vaughn's new girlfriend was a woman 0:24:16.920 --> 0:24:20.440 named Sharita. She liked that he was smart and didn't 0:24:20.520 --> 0:24:24.600 drink or do drugs. She told The Daily Mail that 0:24:24.840 --> 0:24:27.280 his idea of a night out was going to Barnes 0:24:27.280 --> 0:24:31.760 and Noble and reading books, usually science fiction or Harry Potter. 0:24:32.480 --> 0:24:36.320 Sharita new Vaughn was married, but he and Maria were 0:24:36.400 --> 0:24:39.680 living separately at that point, and he told Sharita that 0:24:39.800 --> 0:24:42.240 he had only gotten married in the first place because 0:24:42.280 --> 0:24:47.160 he hated being alone. But as Sharita and Vaughn's relationship progressed, 0:24:47.560 --> 0:24:50.959 she learned that Vaughan had a dark side. He'd get 0:24:51.040 --> 0:24:54.560 jealous easily, he didn't want her having her own friends, 0:24:55.160 --> 0:24:59.840