WEBVTT - The Murder Years S2: Ep. 4, Loser 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:05.240 The following podcast contains explicit descriptions of violence, including sexual violence, 0:00:05.280 --> 0:00:09.040 that some listeners may find upsetting. Continue at your own risk. 0:00:13.160 --> 0:00:13.680 Nine one more. 0:00:13.760 --> 0:00:17.959 What's your emergency? No One just tried to kidnap me? 0:00:18.560 --> 0:00:20.400 He said he was gonna kill me. Are you in 0:00:20.480 --> 0:00:21.360 danger right now? 0:00:21.520 --> 0:00:23.040 I don't, I don't know. 0:00:23.600 --> 0:00:26.239 I don't even know where I am. Where the fucking 0:00:26.320 --> 0:00:28.960 am I? 0:00:28.880 --> 0:00:32.600 I'm at the Quick Film station at the five. 0:00:32.479 --> 0:00:34.600 North on ramp outside Domino Beach. 0:00:35.479 --> 0:00:39.040 Just off, just just off Pickford, Yeah, pick Pickford. 0:00:39.120 --> 0:00:39.400 Please? 0:00:39.479 --> 0:00:41.680 Hi, I don't know you might be coming back. 0:00:42.120 --> 0:00:52.040 Can I have your name, ma'am? Angela, Angela Power. It 0:00:52.080 --> 0:00:55.400 was just after midnight on November nineteenth, nineteen ninety four, 0:00:55.560 --> 0:00:58.000 when nine to one one received an emergency call from 0:00:58.080 --> 0:01:02.520 twenty two year old Domino Beach resident Angela Bowers. It 0:01:02.640 --> 0:01:05.839 was a bad month for serial killers. In ten days, 0:01:05.880 --> 0:01:09.319 notorious Milwaukee cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer would be beaten to death 0:01:09.360 --> 0:01:12.880 in prison by another inmate, and closer to home, the 0:01:12.959 --> 0:01:34.320 Domino Beach killer had finally made a critical mistake. I'm 0:01:34.400 --> 0:01:39.680 Courtney Barnes and this is the Murder Years, Episode four Loser. 0:01:45.120 --> 0:01:47.840 It had been two months since registered sex offender Stan 0:01:47.920 --> 0:01:50.680 Major has committed suicide and taken the blame for four 0:01:50.720 --> 0:01:53.160 of the five murders that happened in Domino Beach over 0:01:53.160 --> 0:01:57.280 the past two years. Here's retired Del Soul County Sheriff 0:01:57.480 --> 0:01:58.800 Damon Stokes. 0:02:00.320 --> 0:02:02.640 The cases may have been officially close to satisfy the 0:02:02.680 --> 0:02:06.320 city council, but I was still working on I told 0:02:06.360 --> 0:02:09.080 you I never believe Majors killed those spring breakers, not 0:02:09.560 --> 0:02:10.680 for one second. 0:02:12.600 --> 0:02:15.600 And Stokes wasn't the only one with doubts. This is 0:02:15.639 --> 0:02:18.640 Domino Beach resident Maya Morales, who you've heard from in 0:02:18.680 --> 0:02:22.480 our previous episodes. Did I feel safe? Of course, not 0:02:22.480 --> 0:02:23.720 not really, But. 0:02:23.680 --> 0:02:26.600 I mean, what was I supposed to do? Lock myself 0:02:26.639 --> 0:02:28.640 in my bedroom? I still had to go to work, 0:02:28.840 --> 0:02:30.160 still had to live my life. 0:02:30.520 --> 0:02:33.000 Did you believe Stan Majors committed any of the murders. 0:02:33.880 --> 0:02:34.360 I don't know. 0:02:34.880 --> 0:02:38.000 I mean, I guess not to be honest, I didn't 0:02:38.040 --> 0:02:41.960 really have an opinion. But Connor, sure as hell did. 0:02:42.880 --> 0:02:46.240 Things between me and him weren't so good at the time, 0:02:46.440 --> 0:02:49.520 but he would tell anyone who would listen about how 0:02:49.560 --> 0:02:53.360 this was awesome scam his dad was running. Seriously, he 0:02:53.400 --> 0:02:56.359 signed a paranoid as hell. He was convinced it was 0:02:56.440 --> 0:02:58.760 some great bit conspiracy. 0:02:58.080 --> 0:03:04.120 Or whatever Maya's talking about. Connor Langford, son of city 0:03:04.120 --> 0:03:08.400 councilman Greg Langford. Connor's relationship status with Maya had fallen 0:03:08.440 --> 0:03:12.040 into its complicated territory by late nineteen ninety four. 0:03:14.960 --> 0:03:18.160 Yeah, Maya and I were kind of growing apart. Well, 0:03:18.600 --> 0:03:20.440 I think it was more of a thing like she 0:03:20.680 --> 0:03:25.359 was growing and I was staying the same. No, that's 0:03:25.400 --> 0:03:28.840 not true. The truth is I was starting to use 0:03:28.919 --> 0:03:34.200 drugs pretty heavily at that time, and boom, I wasn't. 0:03:34.000 --> 0:03:37.400 Myself what kind of drugs whatever. 0:03:37.120 --> 0:03:41.320 I could find. I mean, I'd always been a pothead 0:03:41.320 --> 0:03:42.920 and i'd like to drop, I said, every once in 0:03:42.920 --> 0:03:46.080 a while, I'd occasionally do some party drugs like cocaine, 0:03:46.080 --> 0:03:49.480 ecstasy or molly or whatever the fuck they call it now. 0:03:50.360 --> 0:03:52.720 But this is the time when you had started experimenting 0:03:52.760 --> 0:03:55.240 with harder drugs too, isn't that right? 0:03:56.640 --> 0:04:01.000 Yeah, I'd tried heroin a couple times, but I wasn't 0:04:01.040 --> 0:04:05.600 in it, if you know what I mean. Not then Anyway, 0:04:05.600 --> 0:04:07.480 The point is I was driving my way not just 0:04:07.480 --> 0:04:09.760 because of my drug use, but because I was always 0:04:09.760 --> 0:04:10.920 bitching about my dad. 0:04:13.280 --> 0:04:15.960 So Maya said, you might have believed your father was 0:04:15.960 --> 0:04:19.680 involved in, or maybe directing some sort of conspiracy. 0:04:21.320 --> 0:04:24.320 I'm sure I sounded crazy to her, but I wasn't wrong. 0:04:25.279 --> 0:04:28.200 My dad knew that sex offender dude was not the killer, 0:04:29.279 --> 0:04:31.600 but the dumbfuck shot himself, and it's not like there 0:04:31.640 --> 0:04:33.960 was anyone else to speak out in his defense. You know, 0:04:37.160 --> 0:04:39.159 my dad just wanted Domino Beach to go back to 0:04:39.200 --> 0:04:43.320 being known as a nice, pretty little vacation destination. It 0:04:43.360 --> 0:04:46.120 didn't matter if it was actually safe, as long as 0:04:46.120 --> 0:04:50.520 he created the illusion of safety. 0:04:50.600 --> 0:04:53.160 It wouldn't be long before that illusion of safety and 0:04:53.240 --> 0:05:03.000 Domino Beach would be shattered. Courtney, Hey, Angela, Yeah, it's me. 0:05:03.520 --> 0:05:06.280 How are you. It's been forever? 0:05:07.440 --> 0:05:12.279 Okay, let me provide a little context here. Angela Bowers 0:05:12.320 --> 0:05:14.240 is about a year younger than me, and we knew 0:05:14.279 --> 0:05:16.240 each other back in the early nineties when we both 0:05:16.279 --> 0:05:19.800 lived in Domino Beach. She waited tables at Gertie's Diner, 0:05:20.000 --> 0:05:22.120 which was one of my favorite places to set up 0:05:22.160 --> 0:05:24.200 camp and write whenever I wanted to get out of 0:05:24.200 --> 0:05:28.240 the office during tourist season. Gertie's was open until like 0:05:28.400 --> 0:05:30.160 two or three o'clock in the morning and was a 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:33.599 final stop for partying kids after the bars and clubs closed. 0:05:34.000 --> 0:05:37.440 They had great coffee and pretty decent food if you 0:05:37.560 --> 0:05:40.719 like your breakfast extra greasy, and let's face it, who doesn't. 0:05:41.320 --> 0:05:43.520 I was in there so much back in those days. 0:05:43.640 --> 0:05:48.279 Angela and I became friendly, if not actual friends, but 0:05:48.720 --> 0:05:51.679 after what happened in November of ninety four, we became 0:05:51.720 --> 0:05:52.480 a lot closer. 0:05:53.680 --> 0:05:55.719 So what's going on? Still teaching? 0:05:56.120 --> 0:05:59.240 Well? I actually called to talk about you, same. 0:05:59.040 --> 0:06:03.840 Old Courtney, all business all the time, not all the time. 0:06:04.080 --> 0:06:08.080 I relax, I'm kidding. So what's this about writing another book? 0:06:08.680 --> 0:06:11.799 No, this is for a podcast I'm working on based 0:06:11.839 --> 0:06:14.440 on my book, actually, and I'm recording this call if 0:06:14.480 --> 0:06:15.040 that's okay? 0:06:16.040 --> 0:06:18.320 Yeah, sure, what up? 0:06:18.360 --> 0:06:21.960 True crime nerds ready to hear me recount the worst fucking. 0:06:21.800 --> 0:06:25.000 Night of my life? And you know we don't have to. 0:06:25.880 --> 0:06:29.320 It's fine. It was a long time ago, court I. 0:06:29.320 --> 0:06:32.280 Know, but sometimes releaving events like this can be. 0:06:32.839 --> 0:06:34.920 Yeah, yeah, trigger warning. I get it. 0:06:35.279 --> 0:06:37.520 Look I said it's fine and I meant it. Now, 0:06:37.560 --> 0:06:38.880 come on, let's do this thing. 0:06:43.320 --> 0:06:46.320 November is a quiet time for Domino Beach, which makes 0:06:46.320 --> 0:06:48.000 it one of the favorite times of year for the 0:06:48.040 --> 0:06:51.240 local surfers, who would rather not compete with tourists for 0:06:51.279 --> 0:06:55.120 the waves that they consider rightfully theirs. In fact, not 0:06:55.240 --> 0:06:57.560 only are there note tourists that time of year, but 0:06:57.640 --> 0:06:59.920 even a lot of locals start leaving town for Thanksgi, 0:07:00.600 --> 0:07:03.120 some of them not coming back until after New Year's 0:07:03.800 --> 0:07:05.880 But Angela was going to be there for the winter. 0:07:06.640 --> 0:07:09.440 She had arrived in Domino Beach about two years before me, 0:07:09.760 --> 0:07:12.840 another college dropout who decided she'd rather live among the 0:07:12.880 --> 0:07:15.560 surf and sand while she was young, figuring she had 0:07:15.600 --> 0:07:17.680 plenty of time to decide what she wanted to do 0:07:17.760 --> 0:07:21.400 with the rest of her life. I always admired that 0:07:21.440 --> 0:07:24.200 way of thinking. I decided I wanted to be a 0:07:24.280 --> 0:07:27.520 journalist in like the third grade and never deviated from 0:07:27.520 --> 0:07:31.080 that path. I've never looked back. Pretty Much every decision 0:07:31.120 --> 0:07:33.240 I've made as far back as I can remember, was 0:07:33.360 --> 0:07:36.200 made to help me achieve that goal. I'm kind of 0:07:36.280 --> 0:07:38.240 jealous of people who are able to just go with 0:07:38.280 --> 0:07:41.160 the flow, confident that one day everything will work out 0:07:41.200 --> 0:07:44.600 the way it's supposed to. Angela is one of those people. 0:07:47.800 --> 0:07:49.600 I had her take me back to that night in 0:07:49.640 --> 0:07:54.120 November nineteen ninety four, a night that changed her life forever. 0:08:03.640 --> 0:08:07.920 Okay, So, Gurdi's closed at eleven o'clock during the off season, 0:08:08.320 --> 0:08:10.840 and that night I don't think we had a customer 0:08:10.840 --> 0:08:14.640 since like nine or nine thirty. So Andre, he was 0:08:14.640 --> 0:08:15.840 the cook. Do you remember Andre? 0:08:17.080 --> 0:08:19.880 I'm not sure it's okay, it doesn't matter anyway. 0:08:20.240 --> 0:08:22.680 Andre had already cleaned off the grill before we even 0:08:22.720 --> 0:08:25.080 locked the door for the night. He had a girlfriend 0:08:25.080 --> 0:08:26.760 in Riverside and he was trying to get over to 0:08:26.800 --> 0:08:29.160 her place before it got too late. So I told 0:08:29.240 --> 0:08:30.960 him to go on that I'd go ahead and lock 0:08:31.040 --> 0:08:33.600 up by myself. It wasn't the first time, and well, 0:08:33.720 --> 0:08:35.240 I just didn't think anything of it. 0:08:35.679 --> 0:08:38.520 What about the murders of the spring Breakers earlier that year. 0:08:38.720 --> 0:08:41.320 Weren't you scared being alone? Not really? 0:08:41.400 --> 0:08:43.760 No, I mean that had been like six or seven 0:08:43.800 --> 0:08:47.360 months ago, and they were saying the killer committed suicide, 0:08:47.440 --> 0:08:54.880 right right, Okay, So I guess I finished all the 0:08:54.920 --> 0:08:59.080 side work and balanced the register by maybe eleven forty 0:08:59.080 --> 0:09:01.440 eleven forty five something like that. Then I went out 0:09:01.440 --> 0:09:02.480 the back door and locked up. 0:09:03.640 --> 0:09:06.040 Can you describe the back of the diner for our listeners, 0:09:06.280 --> 0:09:07.640 just because this is audio only. 0:09:08.600 --> 0:09:11.760 Yeah, it was not exactly a parking lot. I don't 0:09:11.760 --> 0:09:13.360 know what you call it, just a little strip of 0:09:13.400 --> 0:09:15.000 asphalt where employees parked. 0:09:15.440 --> 0:09:16.520 There was just enough. 0:09:16.320 --> 0:09:19.040 Room for maybe three or four cars, right next to 0:09:19.080 --> 0:09:19.600 the dumpster. 0:09:20.320 --> 0:09:21.040 Was it well lit? 0:09:22.040 --> 0:09:23.719 No, well kind of. 0:09:23.960 --> 0:09:25.719 I parked close to the back door and there was 0:09:25.760 --> 0:09:28.240 a light hanging over it. You couldn't see much around you. 0:09:28.320 --> 0:09:31.240 But I never felt scared or anything closing up at night. 0:09:31.920 --> 0:09:35.199 Kind of wish I had been scared, then I might 0:09:35.240 --> 0:09:40.280 have been more on my guard. So we can take 0:09:40.280 --> 0:09:42.880 a break if you want. No, why drag this out 0:09:42.920 --> 0:09:46.679 any longer than I have to, Okay, but take your time, 0:09:46.960 --> 0:09:49.439 and whenever you want to stop, I get it. 0:09:49.520 --> 0:09:50.520 I'll be fine. Okay. 0:09:52.320 --> 0:09:56.280 So I come out and lock the back door, put 0:09:56.320 --> 0:10:00.000 the diner keys in my purse, take out my car keys. 0:10:00.640 --> 0:10:03.160 Then I walk like eight or ten steps to my car. 0:10:03.280 --> 0:10:06.240 I unlock the door, and just as I get it open, 0:10:08.440 --> 0:10:12.400 the first thing I remember is the slap slap slap 0:10:12.440 --> 0:10:16.720 of shoes on pavement running up fast behind me. I 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:20.720 start to turn, but before I make it around, a 0:10:20.840 --> 0:10:25.160 hand clamps down over my mouth, and there's a glove 0:10:25.200 --> 0:10:28.320 on it, like driving gloves or workout gloves, you know. 0:10:28.440 --> 0:10:30.679 And his hand is big enough that I feel his 0:10:30.760 --> 0:10:33.920 thumb on one of my cheekbones and the rest of 0:10:33.960 --> 0:10:38.960 his fingers gripping my jawbone. And next thing I feel 0:10:39.559 --> 0:10:43.000 is my right arm being wrenched behind my back and 0:10:43.080 --> 0:10:45.480 he pulls it up really hard. Feels like it's going 0:10:45.559 --> 0:10:49.360 to break where my shoulder was going to dislocate. But 0:10:49.400 --> 0:10:51.040 I'm still holding out of my car keys and he 0:10:51.080 --> 0:10:54.960 takes them out of my hand, and then I think 0:10:55.000 --> 0:10:57.800 he shoves them in his back pocket, because I feel 0:10:57.880 --> 0:11:01.000 his pelvis kick forward into my back, you know, and 0:11:01.960 --> 0:11:04.400 I can feel what I first think is a gun 0:11:04.520 --> 0:11:08.640 shoved into his pants, but I later realize it's his boner. 0:11:11.640 --> 0:11:15.880 The guy's already hard, you know, already turned on. Then 0:11:15.920 --> 0:11:19.480 he presses my body up against the car, the door 0:11:19.520 --> 0:11:21.640 to the back seat, I mean, and he presses it 0:11:21.760 --> 0:11:25.240 up even harder against me, and I feel this hot 0:11:25.280 --> 0:11:28.760 breath in my ear, and he says, oh, And he's 0:11:29.000 --> 0:11:32.520 doing this thing with his voice like you know how 0:11:32.559 --> 0:11:35.960 everyone who plays Batman, how they make their voice all 0:11:36.000 --> 0:11:41.640 low and gravelly like that anyway, he says, and these 0:11:41.679 --> 0:11:43.240 are his exact. 0:11:42.960 --> 0:11:46.840 Words, scream, and you die right here and now. 0:11:49.000 --> 0:11:50.640 And then he takes his hand away from my mouth, 0:11:52.400 --> 0:11:55.920 and what do you do? I scream? I scream bloody murder, 0:11:56.520 --> 0:11:59.080 but not for long. He grabs a fistful of my 0:11:59.080 --> 0:12:01.600 hair and slams my forehead into the door of the car, 0:12:01.920 --> 0:12:06.640 right above the window that shuts me up. Then he 0:12:07.240 --> 0:12:09.720 opens the back door and kind of lets me fall 0:12:09.760 --> 0:12:13.680 onto the seat, and I hear a zipper being unzipped. 0:12:14.600 --> 0:12:16.400 I think he's about to whip it out, but no, 0:12:16.920 --> 0:12:19.640 it turns out he's not unzipping his pants. It's like 0:12:19.679 --> 0:12:24.880 a backpack ord gym bag or something. Because then I 0:12:24.920 --> 0:12:27.520 hear a piece of tape being ripped off, and then 0:12:27.559 --> 0:12:29.720 it's over my mouth, and all of a sudden, I 0:12:29.720 --> 0:12:32.000 feel like I can't breathe so well through my nose, 0:12:32.000 --> 0:12:35.840 and I'm like hyperventilating, and I feel like I'm suffocating. 0:12:35.880 --> 0:12:39.680 And then so he's already got one of my arms 0:12:39.720 --> 0:12:42.680 behind my back, so he grabs the other one and 0:12:42.760 --> 0:12:45.840 jerks it back and up real hard, and he holds 0:12:45.840 --> 0:12:48.680 my hands together. Then he puts a knee on the 0:12:48.760 --> 0:12:51.600 small of my back, and wraps one of those thick 0:12:51.640 --> 0:12:54.760 plastic zip ties around my wrists and cinches it up 0:12:54.800 --> 0:12:58.600 real tight. Now now, I'm sure he's about to try 0:12:58.600 --> 0:13:00.480 to pull my jeans down and get on top of me, 0:13:00.520 --> 0:13:03.040 but he just kind of kicks at my legs until 0:13:03.080 --> 0:13:06.319 I pull them into the car. Once I'm all curled 0:13:06.400 --> 0:13:08.920 up in the back seat, he closes the door. 0:13:10.000 --> 0:13:11.400 You must have been terrified. 0:13:12.080 --> 0:13:14.800 I must have been. But it's hard to remember the 0:13:14.800 --> 0:13:16.040 way I felt that the time. 0:13:16.640 --> 0:13:18.360 When I look back on it, I. 0:13:18.280 --> 0:13:21.600 Remember a lot of details, but it's like I'm outside 0:13:21.600 --> 0:13:24.520 looking in, you know, like I'm watching it in a 0:13:24.600 --> 0:13:29.040 movie or on TV. Supposedly that's pretty common in situations 0:13:29.080 --> 0:13:30.360 like that, but I don't know. 0:13:30.559 --> 0:13:31.440 It's weird anyway. 0:13:31.480 --> 0:13:32.720 Where was I? Oh? 0:13:32.800 --> 0:13:36.400 Yeah, lying face down in the back seat of my car, 0:13:37.040 --> 0:13:39.800 And I can feel the blood running into my left 0:13:39.840 --> 0:13:42.400 eye from where he slammed my head into the door. 0:13:43.280 --> 0:13:46.520 But the swimmy feeling is starting to ease up. I'm 0:13:46.559 --> 0:13:49.160 not clear headed yet, but I'm getting there, you know. 0:13:50.760 --> 0:13:53.800 So I'm just listening, trying to take everything in, and 0:13:53.960 --> 0:13:56.560 I hear him get in the front seat and start 0:13:56.640 --> 0:14:01.000 the car, and when he turns around, to look behind 0:14:01.080 --> 0:14:03.480 him as he's backing up, I tell myself, look at 0:14:03.520 --> 0:14:04.960 his face, Look at his face. 0:14:05.240 --> 0:14:08.160 So I do, what do you see? 0:14:09.040 --> 0:14:13.160 Nothing? Well, not nothing, but not enough. I don't know. 0:14:13.200 --> 0:14:15.720 I mean I can tell it's a white guy. I 0:14:15.800 --> 0:14:19.120 think so anyway, but it was dark and he's wearing 0:14:19.120 --> 0:14:22.320 a hoodie or maybe it's a ski mask. I can't remember. 0:14:22.360 --> 0:14:28.080 But I just can't see much of anything. So then 0:14:28.120 --> 0:14:31.640 he starts driving, and after a few minutes he turns 0:14:31.640 --> 0:14:34.080 off the radio and starts talking. And at first I 0:14:34.120 --> 0:14:36.560 think he's talking to himself, but no, he's talking to me. 0:14:38.000 --> 0:14:41.080 What does he say, Well, I don't remember it word 0:14:41.080 --> 0:14:43.479 for word, but he's saying that I shouldn't have screamed, 0:14:43.960 --> 0:14:46.040 that what he's gonna do to me will be worse 0:14:46.080 --> 0:14:52.440 because I did. And then he asks me if I 0:14:52.520 --> 0:14:55.640 know who he is, and when I don't say anything, 0:14:56.080 --> 0:14:59.280 he says something like he's the number one spring breaker 0:15:00.680 --> 0:15:04.040 where the Domino Beach spring breaking something like that. 0:15:04.800 --> 0:15:06.280 Did you know what he was talking about? 0:15:06.880 --> 0:15:10.080 Yeah, pretty much right away. I mean, I don't know 0:15:10.120 --> 0:15:11.960 if he's telling the truth, but he wants me to 0:15:12.000 --> 0:15:16.920 believe he's the guy who killed those ASU girls and 0:15:16.960 --> 0:15:19.680 he's saying all this stuff that he's gonna fuck me tonight. 0:15:20.400 --> 0:15:23.480 I don't care if you're alive or dead. If you 0:15:23.560 --> 0:15:25.400 want to live, you better play nice. 0:15:25.560 --> 0:15:27.520 And then he kind of laughs and says something like. 0:15:27.680 --> 0:15:29.680 Oh am, I kidding, You're not gonna live through this. 0:15:30.160 --> 0:15:31.880 And I don't like nice girls anyway. 0:15:32.840 --> 0:15:35.200 And he's disguising his voice the whole time. 0:15:35.680 --> 0:15:40.400 Yeah, like Batman. But I can tell it's a pretty 0:15:40.440 --> 0:15:43.440 young guy though, in his twenties. Probably how can you tell. 0:15:43.720 --> 0:15:46.080 I don't know just the way he sounds to me. 0:15:46.280 --> 0:15:48.680 Maybe it's his speech patterns or whatever. I don't know, 0:15:48.720 --> 0:15:53.720 but I definitely remember thinking that. And then then he 0:15:53.840 --> 0:15:57.880 stops talking, and I start feeling like he's working himself 0:15:57.960 --> 0:15:59.520 up to do whatever he's gonna do. 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:01.440 And I'm telling myself. 0:16:01.200 --> 0:16:03.680 I had to get out of this car or I 0:16:03.720 --> 0:16:07.360 am dead now. At this point, we've been driving for 0:16:07.440 --> 0:16:10.160 like ten minutes, and I get the feeling he's about 0:16:10.160 --> 0:16:10.680 to get on the. 0:16:10.640 --> 0:16:12.480 Five, the five interstate. 0:16:12.800 --> 0:16:16.160 Yeah, and something inside me says, if you're still in 0:16:16.200 --> 0:16:18.480 this car when he gets on the highway, no one's 0:16:18.520 --> 0:16:21.040 ever even going to find your body. So I start 0:16:21.080 --> 0:16:24.720 thinking and I remember, I remember that one of the 0:16:24.760 --> 0:16:27.480 doors in the back has a busted lock. It works 0:16:27.480 --> 0:16:29.920 from the outside, which is why I never bothered to 0:16:29.960 --> 0:16:33.040 get a fix, but not from the inside. So even 0:16:33.080 --> 0:16:35.000 if the door is locked, you can still open it. 0:16:35.680 --> 0:16:38.040 I couldn't believe I remembered that. I mean, how often 0:16:38.040 --> 0:16:39.640 do you ride in the backseat of your own car? 0:16:40.680 --> 0:16:42.040 Right fast? Thinking? 0:16:42.280 --> 0:16:45.320 I guess anyway, I kind of pulled myself up, so 0:16:45.360 --> 0:16:48.120 I'm leaning against the door, trying to get my hands 0:16:48.120 --> 0:16:50.960 on the door handle behind me. He thinks I'm trying 0:16:50.960 --> 0:16:53.640 to get a look at his face, so he grabs 0:16:53.680 --> 0:16:57.080 the rear view mirror and snaps it off. But I'm 0:16:57.120 --> 0:16:59.520 not even looking at him anymore. I'm looking out the window, 0:16:59.760 --> 0:17:02.840 and sure enough, up ahead is the I five. I'm 0:17:02.840 --> 0:17:05.720 not sure where we are exactly. It's not the route 0:17:05.720 --> 0:17:07.080 I usually take to get out of the five, but 0:17:07.119 --> 0:17:10.520 it doesn't matter. You know, it's pretty much now or never, 0:17:11.200 --> 0:17:13.960 So what do you do. I wait for him to 0:17:14.080 --> 0:17:16.439 slow down and take the turn to get onto the 0:17:16.480 --> 0:17:19.639 on ramp, and just as he does, I yank the 0:17:19.680 --> 0:17:22.800 handle and the door flings open. I don't even have 0:17:22.880 --> 0:17:25.160 to jump because I open the door on a turn. 0:17:25.200 --> 0:17:27.560 The momentum just pulls me out of the car, and 0:17:27.600 --> 0:17:29.960 the next thing you know, I'm rolling along the asphalt. 0:17:30.720 --> 0:17:32.000 Jesus Well. 0:17:32.040 --> 0:17:34.400 As soon as I come to a stop, I get 0:17:34.440 --> 0:17:36.919 to my feet, and that's about the same time the 0:17:36.960 --> 0:17:40.360 car starts backing up. I look around and there are 0:17:40.400 --> 0:17:44.080 like no other cars anywhere, but there's this gas station, 0:17:44.520 --> 0:17:48.080 maybe one hundred yards away, one of those that's right 0:17:48.080 --> 0:17:49.000 next to the on ramp. 0:17:49.160 --> 0:17:50.880 Okay, yeah, I know what you mean. 0:17:51.880 --> 0:17:54.200 So I run like hell. 0:17:54.880 --> 0:17:57.359 I've still got duct tape over my mouth, so I 0:17:57.400 --> 0:17:59.800 can barely breathe, and my hands are as if tied 0:17:59.840 --> 0:18:02.399 me behind my back, so my balance is fucked, and 0:18:02.440 --> 0:18:05.760 I'm just running full steam for that gas station part 0:18:05.800 --> 0:18:09.879 as I can. It's a miracle I don't fall down. Meanwhile, 0:18:10.400 --> 0:18:13.000 I can hear the car turning around behind me, but 0:18:13.080 --> 0:18:15.159 he's got to stick to the road and I'm running 0:18:15.200 --> 0:18:21.439 across the dirt right So I finally get under those big, 0:18:21.760 --> 0:18:25.040 bright fluorescent lights over the pumps, and there's some old 0:18:25.040 --> 0:18:28.480 guy there getting gas. Old it's probably younger than I 0:18:28.520 --> 0:18:31.280 am now, but he seems ancient to me at the time. Anyway, 0:18:31.680 --> 0:18:34.159 I come running up on him and he gives me 0:18:34.200 --> 0:18:37.040 this like what the fuck look that I swear would 0:18:37.040 --> 0:18:39.040 have made me burst out laughing if it wasn't for 0:18:39.080 --> 0:18:42.760 the duct tape. Then the cashier guy comes out, and 0:18:42.800 --> 0:18:45.840 at that point, the fucker who tried to kidnap me 0:18:46.119 --> 0:18:49.440 just turns my car around and peels out, heads back 0:18:49.480 --> 0:18:52.560 onto the five, and the cashier and the old guy 0:18:52.680 --> 0:18:56.480 helped cut me free. Then they take me inside and 0:18:56.560 --> 0:19:02.199 I call nine to one one, and that's it. Jesus, 0:19:02.680 --> 0:19:05.400 I haven't told that story in so long. 0:19:07.000 --> 0:19:09.400 Thank you for telling it now, anything for. 0:19:09.440 --> 0:19:14.960 You, bitch, Seriously, though, It's been like a long time 0:19:15.000 --> 0:19:16.720 since I've even let myself think. 0:19:16.600 --> 0:19:30.240 About all that. So in November of nineteen ninety four, 0:19:30.480 --> 0:19:32.720 I hadn't written about any of the murder victims since 0:19:32.800 --> 0:19:36.040 Verra Kendrick's death over two years earlier. But when I 0:19:36.080 --> 0:19:38.320 got to the so called journal office that morning and 0:19:38.400 --> 0:19:41.879 heard about what happened to Angela, well, I knew I 0:19:41.920 --> 0:19:45.159 had to be the one to tell her story. Glenn Sherman, 0:19:45.280 --> 0:19:47.639 the Journal star reporter and who I sometimes call my 0:19:47.720 --> 0:19:51.040 former mentor if I'm feeling generous, was in the process 0:19:51.080 --> 0:19:53.560 of being wooed away by the La Times following his 0:19:53.640 --> 0:19:56.280 coverage of the spring Break murders in April of that year. 0:19:56.800 --> 0:19:59.080 And if not for that, I don't know that I 0:19:59.119 --> 0:20:01.200 could have convinced him and to let me write the story. 0:20:01.800 --> 0:20:05.639 For whatever reason, he threw me a bone. 0:20:06.440 --> 0:20:08.720 I remember when you came by the hospital that morning, 0:20:09.280 --> 0:20:12.280 you brought some flowers and tried to pretend we were friends. 0:20:12.840 --> 0:20:15.600 Hello, we were friends. Hello. 0:20:15.880 --> 0:20:18.720 The only reason you could have possibly thought that was 0:20:18.760 --> 0:20:20.560 if you didn't have any real friends. 0:20:20.880 --> 0:20:25.679 Yeah, well maybe I didn't. I mean, sure, you and. 0:20:25.720 --> 0:20:27.919 I became friends, But come on, I was just some 0:20:28.000 --> 0:20:31.200 waitress you knew, and you were just some regular customer 0:20:31.240 --> 0:20:32.160 who tipped pretty well. 0:20:32.760 --> 0:20:38.199 I tipped really well. So why did you agree to 0:20:38.200 --> 0:20:39.080 talk to me back then? 0:20:40.320 --> 0:20:41.919 I don't know. You sold me. 0:20:42.359 --> 0:20:43.320 You were all, we. 0:20:43.320 --> 0:20:45.399 Can't let this son of a bitch get away with this, 0:20:45.640 --> 0:20:47.480 and we're gonna bring him down. 0:20:47.640 --> 0:20:51.000 And you're such a tough, strong woman. What can I say? 0:20:51.240 --> 0:20:53.120 You know you can be persuasive. 0:20:59.640 --> 0:21:03.600 Angela was a fantastic subject, even back then when it 0:21:03.640 --> 0:21:06.919 was all so raw and fresh. She never seemed scared 0:21:06.960 --> 0:21:09.439 to me. She was pissed off this happened to her, 0:21:09.800 --> 0:21:13.040 and I channeled that anger into my story, and it 0:21:13.119 --> 0:21:15.119 wasn't the story of a victim. It was the story 0:21:15.119 --> 0:21:18.160 of a survivor, of someone who was faced with certain 0:21:18.240 --> 0:21:21.480 death and just flat out refused. It gave me the 0:21:21.600 --> 0:21:23.880 chance I was looking for to blow apart the narrative 0:21:24.240 --> 0:21:26.600 that the now dead for two months Stan Majors had 0:21:26.600 --> 0:21:30.080 ever killed anyone. It gave me the opportunity to call 0:21:30.119 --> 0:21:33.200 out Counselman Langford and Sheriff Stokes for trying to pull 0:21:33.200 --> 0:21:37.159 the wool over all our eyes. I let our readers 0:21:37.240 --> 0:21:40.720 know officially and for the first time, that there was 0:21:40.720 --> 0:21:43.800 a serial killer preying on the people of Domino Beach. 0:21:44.920 --> 0:21:46.720 And in one of my favorite parts of the article, 0:21:46.840 --> 0:21:49.600 toward the end, I wrote that since the killer liked 0:21:49.600 --> 0:21:52.800 to reference popular music, the song that best suited his 0:21:52.880 --> 0:21:56.440 failed abduction of Angela Bauers was Loser by Beck. 0:21:57.920 --> 0:21:59.320 Yeah, I'll give you that. 0:21:59.320 --> 0:22:02.080 That was a tell me shit again. That's Mia. 0:22:02.160 --> 0:22:04.280