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Speaker 1: Diversion audio.

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Speaker 2: A note this episode contains mature content and descriptions of

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Speaker 2: violence that may be disturbing for some listeners. Please take

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Speaker 2: care in listening. The kind of police work that burglary

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Speaker 2: investigators did in nineteen seventy four Chicago land happened mostly

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Speaker 2: behind a desk. Jack Sherwin was the first to this

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Speaker 2: particular site, though, and he expected business as usual. He

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Speaker 2: would get a statement from the victim confirming facts like time, location,

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Speaker 2: and what had been stolen. Then the police would follow

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Speaker 2: up with a phone call afterward. But given how rarely

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Speaker 2: they recovered people's losses, the investigators didn't typically exert much energy.

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Speaker 2: As Jack looked over the police report on his way

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Speaker 2: to Linda Taylor's apartment, he was already intrigued. Meeting the

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Speaker 2: complainant herself was even more interesting. She stood just over

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Speaker 2: five feet, had olive skin and dark, heavy lidded eyes,

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Speaker 2: and a pronounced cupid's bow. Her makeup was perfect, her

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Speaker 2: outfit was nice, and when she smiled, she revealed gold

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Speaker 2: dental work. In other cases, when Jack arrived first on

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Speaker 2: the scene, he could typically see where the break in

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Speaker 2: had happened, but there were no signs of forced entry here. Actually,

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Speaker 2: this apartment was very tidy. He went through the officer's

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Speaker 2: original report, confirming the stolen items one by one with

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Speaker 2: Linda Taylor. A large green refrigerator, a gold stove, hospital

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Speaker 2: end tables, two large Chinese lamps, elephant figurines, stereo speakers,

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Speaker 2: a grandfather clock. She confirmed the items one by one,

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Speaker 2: growing more agitated with each confirmation he required. This too,

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Speaker 2: was weird. Most burglary victims were glad their case got

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Speaker 2: any attention. This woman seemed annoyed he had stopped by.

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Speaker 2: He didn't press her for more details, but on the

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Speaker 2: way out, Jack checked in with the neighbors. No one

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Speaker 2: had seen a mysterious stranger wedge a refrigerator out the

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Speaker 2: tiny window of Linda Taylor's apartment. Jack was not surprised.

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Speaker 2: Most robbers snatched whatever they could carry, not large appliances

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Speaker 2: that could not go unnoticed. Certainly not grandfather clocks, which

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Speaker 2: required a specialized team to try transport safely. Jack showed

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Speaker 2: up intending to investigate a burglary and recover stolen property

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Speaker 2: from an innocent victim. Half an hour after meeting Linda Taylor,

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Speaker 2: he felt like he should instead be investigating her. Welcome

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Speaker 2: to the greatest true crime stories ever told. I'm Mary

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Speaker 2: Kay mcbraer. Today's episode we're calling the most Nefarious Welfare Queen.

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Speaker 2: It's the story of a woman who seized every opportunity

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Speaker 2: to commit fraud and a whole host of other crimes.

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Speaker 2: It's the story of con artist Linda Taylor. And no,

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Speaker 2: that's not her real name.

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Speaker 1: Y'all know.

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Speaker 2: I love a good con artist story. I love to

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Speaker 2: see how slick they can be. Can they get away

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Speaker 2: with it? Especially when the money they scam feels more

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Speaker 2: like reparations than stealing. It's more like stealing back. But

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Speaker 2: it's hard to say whether that's the case in this story,

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Speaker 2: partly because the story itself is so tricky to untangle.

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Speaker 2: After all, when you're running a scam, you don't exactly

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Speaker 2: want to be traceable. At the end of this episode,

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Speaker 2: I interview Josh Levine, whose book The Queen the Forgot

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Speaker 2: in Life Behind an American Myth served as a key

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Speaker 2: source when researching Lynda Taylor. We'll link that book in

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Speaker 2: the show notes and make sure you hang around for

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Speaker 2: that talk. It's going to be juicy. When Jack Sherwin

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Speaker 2: came to investigate the Burglary, he had shown up to

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Speaker 2: an apartment leased by Connie Jarvis. She went by many

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Speaker 2: other names as well, including Constance Wakefield, Martha Miller, and

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Speaker 2: Linda Taylor, which is how I'll mostly refer to her,

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Speaker 2: But in nineteen seventy four people recognized her as the

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Speaker 2: welfare Queen. Lynda Taylor was only actually in the public

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Speaker 2: eye for a few years. The late seventies were her

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Speaker 2: ultimate showcase. One reason for that notoriety was due to

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Speaker 2: the presidential candidate at the time, Ronald Reagan, had heard

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Speaker 2: something like her story, and he spun a kernel of

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Speaker 2: truth about Linda Taylor's story into his speech. In nineteen seventy.

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Speaker 3: Six, in Chicago, they found a woman who holds the record.

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Speaker 3: She used eighty names, thirty addresses, fifteen telephone numbers to

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Speaker 3: collect food stamps, social Security veterans, benefits for four non

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Speaker 3: existent deceased veterans' husbands, as well as welfare. Her tax

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Speaker 3: free cash income alone has been running one hundred and

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Speaker 3: fifty thousand dollars a year.

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Speaker 2: He never pointed to Linda Taylor by name because that

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Speaker 2: would illustrate some inconsistencies between the person and his poster child.

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Speaker 2: You might already know that part of Reagan's platform was

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Speaker 2: to smash welfare programs, and he did so both for

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Speaker 2: those few who abused it and for many who were

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Speaker 2: deserving and dependent upon it. To me, Linda Taylor was

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Speaker 2: in both of those camps, or rather she started in

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Speaker 2: one and ended up in the other, and then maybe

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Speaker 2: went back again. But her scamming did not start with

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Speaker 2: the government welfare programs. When she showed up in court

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Speaker 2: in nineteen sixty four as Constance Wakefield, Linda Taylor already

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Speaker 2: had a rap sheet, albeit under many different names, which

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Speaker 2: is wild nowadays you have to jump through a thousand

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Speaker 2: hoops to change your name. Back then, you just lied anyway.

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Speaker 2: Sixty four was the year her face went out into

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Speaker 2: the world. Linda showed up in Chicago upon the death

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Speaker 2: of Lawrence Wakefield, a recently and suddenly deceased wealthy policy king.

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Speaker 2: Lawrence Wakefield ran a gambling racket for decades. Upon his death,

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Speaker 2: police saw more cash in his house than they'd ever

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Speaker 2: seen in one place. It was piled on the floor,

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Speaker 2: pouring out of bank bags, jammed between couch cushions, and

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Speaker 2: stuffed behind a closet door. Some of the bills were

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Speaker 2: the kind of oversized banknotes that hadn't circulated since the twenties.

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Speaker 2: It was so much cash, in fact, that investigators took

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Speaker 2: photos of it, and the photos made their way into

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Speaker 2: the newspapers. And you know what happens when there's unclaimed

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Speaker 2: money on the table, someone shows up to claim it.

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Speaker 2: That's when Linda Taylor pulled up, claiming that she was

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Speaker 2: the only child of the intestate gambling kingpin, and she

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Speaker 2: was prepared. She provided everything from witness accounts of her

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Speaker 2: childhood to delayed birth certificate copies to forged wills from

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Speaker 2: Lawrence with his name miss. The first thing people noticed, though,

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Speaker 2: was that Lawrence Wakefield was black and Linda, who was

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Speaker 2: going by constance at this point, was passing as white.

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Speaker 2: Linda was ready for that too. She had an Illinois

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Speaker 2: birth certificate identifying her as his daughter, as well as

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Speaker 2: a family Bible that listed her race as white. Out

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Speaker 2: in the country before social securities and standardized records, sometimes

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Speaker 2: the family Bible was the only family tree written down

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Speaker 2: because it was an illegal form. It was just a

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Speaker 2: record for the family's use, and there generally be no

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Speaker 2: real reason to lie in it. I've never heard of

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Speaker 2: family bibles listing the members races, but that's what she brought.

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Speaker 2: Linda also explained that her father was quote confused by

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Speaker 2: the race issue, so much so that her elected guardians

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Speaker 2: were made to withdraw her from the segregated colored school

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Speaker 2: in Arkansas, so she never got any formal education. That

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Speaker 2: also meant there wouldn't be a record of her at

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Speaker 2: any grammar schools, which was convenient. But Cook County's assistant

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Speaker 2: State Attorney was good Gerald Mannix cast a wide net,

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Speaker 2: even enlisted a brain trust firm for their help. A

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Speaker 2: quick sidebar. This took place in nineteen sixty four, when

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Speaker 2: there was no Internet to search through, just stacks and

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Speaker 2: piles of actual paper disintegrating into the smell of vinegar.

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Speaker 2: I've said it before and I'll say it again. With

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Speaker 2: cell phones and DNA technology, you can't get away with

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Speaker 2: nothing now. But even then, even with the best detectives

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Speaker 2: hot on your trail, I personally feel like you'd have

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Speaker 2: to be really sloppy not to get away with crime.

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Speaker 2: But like I said, this probate court was for real.

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Speaker 2: They tracked down two of Linda's alias's, Beverly Steinberg and

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Speaker 2: Beverly Singleton, and asked if she ever went by those names.

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Speaker 2: Linda surprised them, she said yes. She said she had

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Speaker 2: also gone by the last name Miller after she married

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Speaker 2: Paul Steinberg Yarborough in Oakland, California. She also went by

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Speaker 2: Constant steinberg Yarborough too. You probably already know that the

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Speaker 2: best way to tell a lie is to tie it

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Speaker 2: as closely as possible to the truth, which is what

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Speaker 2: Linda did here. Mannix then asked her, in a line

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Speaker 2: of questioning that had to seem irrelevant in the moment,

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Speaker 2: as it does now, were you ever known as Martha

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Speaker 2: Louise White?

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Speaker 1: No?

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Speaker 2: Did you ever live in arab Alabama?

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Speaker 3: No?

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Speaker 2: Was your mother's name, Linda Lydia Mooney? No, She'd never

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Speaker 2: been married to Buddy Elliott or given birth to Clifford

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Speaker 2: Lee Harborough. She said. Any spectators must have wondered where

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Speaker 2: these names were coming from, until Linda said that she

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Speaker 2: did know Hubert Mooney. Hubert Mooney was her uncle. He

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Speaker 2: was white, and if I might say so, he was

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Speaker 2: a real piece of work. When the lawyer asked, Hubert,

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Speaker 2: are you a negro? Hubert replied, I hope I am not.

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Speaker 2: With reference to Constance Wakefield. Is she a Negro? No,

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Speaker 2: definitely not, at least I know her mother is white.

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Speaker 2: He went on to clarify that there were no negroes

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Speaker 2: at all in the Mooney family tree. He even went

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Speaker 2: so far as to say there has never been a

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Speaker 2: Negro who lived in Coleman County. This rule was publicized

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Speaker 2: by an openly racist sign declaring Coleman a sundown town,

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Speaker 2: among other racial slurs, on an official sign at the

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Speaker 2: border entrance to the town. It meant that after sunset,

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Speaker 2: the town invoked all the racist laws they could to

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Speaker 2: make sure they stayed in all white residency. This is relevant,

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Speaker 2: I promise stay with me. If it was unclear before,

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Speaker 2: let me clarify. Linda Taylor was lying. She was attempting

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Speaker 2: inheritance fraud, and she should have definitely been caught and

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Speaker 2: punished for her crimes. But it makes me so mad

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Speaker 2: that this is how they got her. Hubert convinced his

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Speaker 2: elder sister, Lydia to testify, and although she was very sick,

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Speaker 2: they got some information from her. A baby had been

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Speaker 2: abandoned at her home with an arm tag reading Constance Wakefield.

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Speaker 2: The lawyer balked at this admission. They asked if this

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Speaker 2: was her child, and with Linda so close to her

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Speaker 2: she could physically reach out and touch her. She said no.

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Speaker 2: Later evidence would show otherwise. At long last, Hubert would

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Speaker 2: confess that Martha, that is the woman we're referring to

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Speaker 2: as Linda, Martha's biological father was a black man. Lydia

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Speaker 2: had been fourteen when she discovered her pregnancy, and she

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Speaker 2: fled to Tennessee, a place where interracial marriage was not illegal,

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Speaker 2: and Marvin White became Linda's legal father, and it's not

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Speaker 2: clear how much of this Linda knew. For his part,

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Speaker 2: Hubert didn't care about the truth. He had come to

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Speaker 2: Chicago to make sure a shameful family secret stayed buried.

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Speaker 2: Linda was both black and white, and there was no

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Speaker 2: record of her birth. The midwife who birthed her later

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Speaker 2: testified that the Moonies didn't want her birth on record,

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Speaker 2: and Linda had in fact been expelled from all white

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Speaker 2: schools as a child. But she wasn't Lawrence Wakefield's heir.

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Speaker 2: It's clear that she wasn't, even though I knew she

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Speaker 2: was a scammer when I started researching this story. The

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Speaker 2: reality of this part really bummed me out. Humor me

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Speaker 2: for a second. Let's just for this one fraudulent instance,

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Speaker 2: try to get into her frame of mind. Okay, so

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Speaker 2: I know y'all can't see me right now, but I'm

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Speaker 2: an ethnically ambiguous woman who grew up in Georgia. My

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Speaker 2: parents were in kindergarten when the public schools were integrated,

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Speaker 2: and my mother, who was Arab, went to a private

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Speaker 2: school before that. To my knowledge, we are not black,

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Speaker 2: but to a town whose population was either black or white,

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Speaker 2: nothing else. The appearance of my family was confusing. Not

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Speaker 2: to put too fine a point on it, but I

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Speaker 2: was asked what are you? By people I didn't know

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Speaker 2: the entire time I lived in my hometown. Granted, the

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Speaker 2: stakes for me were much lower than they were for Linda,

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Speaker 2: but I was still instructed to answer white when asked,

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Speaker 2: if only for self preservation. So it's not hard for

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Speaker 2: me to understand number one why Linda would assimilate, and

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Speaker 2: two why her family would insist that of her. I

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Speaker 2: don't agree with it, but I can get there. The

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Speaker 2: baby in a Basket story protected Lydia in case the

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Speaker 2: truth got out. Also, Linda was both black and white,

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Speaker 2: and she grew up in a sundown town. Her mother

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Speaker 2: wouldn't or couldn't, if we're being generous, claim her parentage

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Speaker 2: for both their safety. So here she is a little

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Speaker 2: girl getting booted out of school for no real reason,

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Speaker 2: hiding a fact that may or may not be true

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Speaker 2: her whole life, who moved from city to city until

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Speaker 2: people realized that she was just white passing, not actually white,

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Speaker 2: and her opportunities fell apart. And then here comes Lawrence Wakefield.

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Speaker 2: He's a rich black man in Chicago. He has the

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Speaker 2: last name that Lydia insisted was on her wrist as

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Speaker 2: a foundling. Lawrence was not married, didn't have any other kids.

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Speaker 2: What kind of fairy tale would it be if Lawrence

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Speaker 2: really was her father, if his last dying deed really

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Speaker 2: did change her life forever? How amazing? It's the surprise, actually,

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Speaker 2: your Princess of Genovia story that little girls can only

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Speaker 2: dream about. That was not the fairy tale ending though

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Speaker 2: none of this is a fairy tale. I mentioned before

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Speaker 2: that Linda Taylor already had a storied past when she

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Speaker 2: showed up to claim Lawrence Wakefield's inheritance. So let me

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Speaker 2: catch you up. This sequence is going to happen at

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Speaker 2: breakneck speed for the sake of time. So I'm gonna

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Speaker 2: gloss over a lot of information without unpacking it, So

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Speaker 2: just hang on. In nineteen forty, Martha Miller maybe her

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00:18:43,440 --> 00:18:47,240
Speaker 2: real name, is identified as a white thirteen year old

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Speaker 2: on the census, and she has a son, Clifford. Clifford

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00:18:52,400 --> 00:18:56,439
Speaker 2: has dark skin, and Linda often hides him away or

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Speaker 2: sends him to live with relatives because of it. It's

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Speaker 2: no excuse for actual criminal activity, but it does provide

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Speaker 2: a reason why she fled Arkansas for Port Orchard, Washington.

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Speaker 2: When she arrived, it turned out that the opportunities for

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Speaker 2: work for persons of color were not as ubiquitous as

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Speaker 2: they had been advertised, and one item on her rap

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Speaker 2: sheet under the name Betty Smith is an arrest for

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Speaker 2: engaging in prostitution. Nineteen forty eight, under the name Connie Harbough,

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Speaker 2: Linda is arrested in Oakland for contributing to the delinquency

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Speaker 2: of a minor. She marries Navy enlisted man Paul Harbough

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Speaker 2: and gives birth to a second son, who's also named Paul.

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00:19:47,119 --> 00:19:51,959
Speaker 2: Paul Senior does not learn about Clifford's existence until after

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Speaker 2: this child's birth. Nineteen fifty, Linda gives birth to a

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Speaker 2: third son, Johnny, in Arkansas. Johnny passes for white. Nineteen

258
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Speaker 2: fifty one, Linda gives birth to a daughter, Sandra in Arkansas.

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00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:19,439
Speaker 2: Sandra is ethnically ambiguous like Linda. Nineteen fifty two, Paul

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Speaker 2: Harbaugh divorces Linda in Tennessee. She marries Troy Elliot in Arkansas.

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Speaker 2: He remarries as well. When the topic of getting custody

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00:20:30,400 --> 00:20:34,199
Speaker 2: of Paul's children from his first marriage comes up, his

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00:20:34,359 --> 00:20:38,760
Speaker 2: new wife deliberates and reaches the conclusion that a dark

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00:20:38,800 --> 00:20:43,000
Speaker 2: skinned person in their family would upset the balance and

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00:20:43,200 --> 00:20:47,199
Speaker 2: likely damage their child somehow. And the world is a

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Speaker 2: terrible broken place. Nineteen fifty six, Linda Taylor gives birth

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Speaker 2: to a fourth son, Robin, in Arkansas. Nineteen fifty nine,

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00:21:00,440 --> 00:21:03,960
Speaker 2: Linda helps a family of friends escape the deprivations of

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Speaker 2: sharecropping in Arkansas. As a person who can pass for white,

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00:21:08,760 --> 00:21:11,239
Speaker 2: Linda is able to stand up to their landlord in

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00:21:11,280 --> 00:21:16,280
Speaker 2: ways that they can't. They all move together to Peoria, Illinois.

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Speaker 2: While living there, a gas line explodes in Paul and

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Speaker 2: Sandra's school. Miraculously, none of the children are seriously physically hurt.

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Speaker 2: And the adults handle the situation incredibly, snapping into evacuation

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Speaker 2: mode and making sure no children further expose themselves to harm.

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Speaker 2: Here's the first case of fraud on the books. Linda

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00:21:42,280 --> 00:21:46,680
Speaker 2: files a lawsuit alleging her children, Paul and Sandra, were

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Speaker 2: injured in a school explosion. I would argue that a

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Speaker 2: gas line exploding in an elementary school is plenty of

280
00:21:55,600 --> 00:21:59,320
Speaker 2: reason to sue, but the laws were different then, and

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00:21:59,400 --> 00:22:02,960
Speaker 2: the lawsuit is dismissed a little more than seven years later.

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Speaker 2: That brings us to nineteen sixty four, when Linda is

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00:22:08,440 --> 00:22:11,760
Speaker 2: sentenced to six months in jail for contempt, though she'll

284
00:22:11,800 --> 00:22:15,440
Speaker 2: never serve that time regarding the last will and Testament

285
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Speaker 2: of Lawrence Wakefield. But this story is just getting ramped up.

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Speaker 2: I don't know about y'all, but if all this shit

287
00:22:23,160 --> 00:22:26,359
Speaker 2: had happened to me, I would be getting angry and

288
00:22:26,400 --> 00:22:30,000
Speaker 2: I'd probably be figuring out how to get even. Let

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Speaker 2: me tell you all about that right after this break.

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00:22:54,440 --> 00:22:56,960
Speaker 2: Just before the break, I mentioned that Linda Taylor had

291
00:22:57,000 --> 00:23:00,000
Speaker 2: sued the school with the gas line explosion, without success.

292
00:23:01,359 --> 00:23:05,600
Speaker 2: She didn't let it go though. Linda remarried in nineteen

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Speaker 2: sixty nine to Willie Walker, her third husband. He drove

294
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Speaker 2: a cab in Chicago for work, and to my knowledge,

295
00:23:13,800 --> 00:23:16,400
Speaker 2: he was not a veteran, so I'm not sure how

296
00:23:16,480 --> 00:23:19,960
Speaker 2: she did this next part, but Linda convinced the Veterans

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Speaker 2: administration that her daughter Sandra was quote a helpless child

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Speaker 2: due to the explosion at the elementary school. I'm also

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00:23:28,440 --> 00:23:31,040
Speaker 2: not clear on the details of this, but Willie only

300
00:23:31,080 --> 00:23:34,800
Speaker 2: stayed at home on the weekends. In the meantime, nineteen

301
00:23:34,880 --> 00:23:39,399
Speaker 2: year old Charles Bailey stayed with Linda. Linda got to

302
00:23:39,440 --> 00:23:42,840
Speaker 2: know Charles when she was advertising her services as a

303
00:23:42,960 --> 00:23:47,560
Speaker 2: quote spiritual adviser and quote reader of the unknown in

304
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Speaker 2: the Chicago Defender. His aunt, Francie had gone to get

305
00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:56,920
Speaker 2: a theatrical reading full Seance Vibe, and Linda had told

306
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Speaker 2: her that she had the feeling Charles wouldn't live much longer.

307
00:24:01,080 --> 00:24:03,320
Speaker 2: She called him up within an hour, and she told

308
00:24:03,359 --> 00:24:07,040
Speaker 2: him that his family was plotting his demise. Linda described

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00:24:07,080 --> 00:24:09,800
Speaker 2: the exact clothes he was wearing at that moment, which

310
00:24:09,840 --> 00:24:12,560
Speaker 2: she had learned from his aunt earlier, and in that

311
00:24:12,680 --> 00:24:24,040
Speaker 2: way she convinced him to come stay with her. When

312
00:24:24,040 --> 00:24:28,479
Speaker 2: Willie was home, Charles didn't sleep in Linda's bed. He

313
00:24:28,520 --> 00:24:31,119
Speaker 2: minded the three children in the house, although he couldn't

314
00:24:31,160 --> 00:24:33,919
Speaker 2: figure out how the three white children belonged to Willie,

315
00:24:33,960 --> 00:24:37,119
Speaker 2: who was black. If he asked questions about any of

316
00:24:37,119 --> 00:24:40,640
Speaker 2: the errands she ran, like applying for benefits at child

317
00:24:40,680 --> 00:24:44,679
Speaker 2: services or cashing government checks that she stored in the

318
00:24:44,720 --> 00:24:48,399
Speaker 2: closet at the currency exchange, Linda told him to quote,

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Speaker 2: leave it alone, and when she brought home another infant,

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00:24:52,880 --> 00:24:57,000
Speaker 2: a little black boy, without any explanation, he knew better

321
00:24:57,080 --> 00:25:00,840
Speaker 2: than to ask. If you recall from the very top

322
00:25:00,920 --> 00:25:05,640
Speaker 2: of the episode, investigator Jack Sherwin thought Linda seemed familiar

323
00:25:05,760 --> 00:25:08,760
Speaker 2: when he showed up to her house regarding the burglary.

324
00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:13,040
Speaker 2: She reported that was because he actually had met her before.

325
00:25:14,440 --> 00:25:18,720
Speaker 2: In nineteen seventy one, Linda divorced Willie, and she sent

326
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Speaker 2: Charles out to mind some land she had on a farm.

327
00:25:22,280 --> 00:25:25,080
Speaker 2: She was alone when Jack Sherwin showed up to investigate

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00:25:25,080 --> 00:25:28,879
Speaker 2: a robbery, she reported, and she couldn't say exactly what

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00:25:28,960 --> 00:25:33,439
Speaker 2: had been stolen. Jack thought it was fishy, so he

330
00:25:33,520 --> 00:25:37,159
Speaker 2: asked around to her neighbors. When he turned up nothing,

331
00:25:37,800 --> 00:25:41,760
Speaker 2: he was certain that she was committing insurance fraud, and

332
00:25:41,800 --> 00:26:00,240
Speaker 2: he called up her insurance company to report her. Tenda

333
00:26:00,280 --> 00:26:03,520
Speaker 2: Taylor left Chicago before they could get her on insurance fraud.

334
00:26:04,440 --> 00:26:06,960
Speaker 2: She found a nice guy real estate agent in Van

335
00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:11,480
Speaker 2: Buren County and Michigan and introduced herself as doctor Connie Walker,

336
00:26:12,160 --> 00:26:15,720
Speaker 2: a heart surgeon from Chicago. He showed her a new

337
00:26:15,760 --> 00:26:19,240
Speaker 2: built house and Linda told him it was perfect. She

338
00:26:19,320 --> 00:26:22,040
Speaker 2: put four hundred dollars down and said she'd pay the

339
00:26:22,080 --> 00:26:26,359
Speaker 2: rest in full in two months. He never saw that money,

340
00:26:26,960 --> 00:26:29,879
Speaker 2: not even as checks from the state of Michigan arrived

341
00:26:29,880 --> 00:26:33,639
Speaker 2: in Linda's mailbox. She was receiving eighty one dollars in

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00:26:33,720 --> 00:26:37,080
Speaker 2: food stamps and an additional two hundred and thirty six

343
00:26:37,119 --> 00:26:40,320
Speaker 2: dollars every two weeks through the Aid to Families with

344
00:26:40,400 --> 00:26:46,360
Speaker 2: Dependent Children program. Because Linda reportedly had seven dependent children,

345
00:26:47,760 --> 00:26:52,320
Speaker 2: she did not The children who were there did not

346
00:26:52,480 --> 00:26:56,040
Speaker 2: have their origins accounted for, and she was accused of

347
00:26:56,080 --> 00:27:00,560
Speaker 2: stealing children. Later, though those charges did not stick, and

348
00:27:00,560 --> 00:27:03,600
Speaker 2: when another social worker reviewed Linda's case, she got so

349
00:27:03,720 --> 00:27:07,520
Speaker 2: overwhelmed just looking at the names, so overwhelmed that she

350
00:27:07,600 --> 00:27:10,960
Speaker 2: didn't notice the set of twins and the subsequent set

351
00:27:10,960 --> 00:27:16,080
Speaker 2: of triplets were born just five days apart. What finally

352
00:27:16,119 --> 00:27:19,240
Speaker 2: brought the law's attention to her in Michigan was purchasing

353
00:27:19,280 --> 00:27:23,919
Speaker 2: a new Cadillac. Not only that, but she had Charles

354
00:27:23,960 --> 00:27:27,600
Speaker 2: Bailey parket in the neighbor's garage, the garage of a

355
00:27:27,600 --> 00:27:31,439
Speaker 2: neighbor who did not know her. The neighbor asked for

356
00:27:31,520 --> 00:27:34,199
Speaker 2: it to be moved, and when no one moved the

357
00:27:34,280 --> 00:27:38,080
Speaker 2: car from his own garage, he called the police to

358
00:27:38,080 --> 00:27:41,720
Speaker 2: tow it. That's when they opened an investigation on the

359
00:27:41,760 --> 00:27:45,760
Speaker 2: woman who owned it. They learned about the unpaid four house,

360
00:27:46,280 --> 00:27:49,840
Speaker 2: the government assistants, and the car, not to mention the

361
00:27:49,880 --> 00:27:53,640
Speaker 2: fraudulent social Security checks her underaged nanny was receiving at

362
00:27:53,640 --> 00:27:59,240
Speaker 2: her behest. In February of nineteen seventy two, when Linda

363
00:27:59,359 --> 00:28:02,720
Speaker 2: was loading up a moving van, the police arrested her

364
00:28:02,760 --> 00:28:06,480
Speaker 2: and booked her in a Michigan jail. She was charged

365
00:28:06,520 --> 00:28:09,639
Speaker 2: with the felony of welfare fraud to the amount of

366
00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:14,560
Speaker 2: six hundred and ten dollars. A district court judge determined

367
00:28:14,600 --> 00:28:16,919
Speaker 2: that she was a flight risk. I mean she was

368
00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:19,400
Speaker 2: loading up a moving van at the moment they came

369
00:28:19,440 --> 00:28:22,639
Speaker 2: to arrest her and set her bail at ten thousand dollars.

370
00:28:24,359 --> 00:28:28,800
Speaker 2: After the preliminary examination, another judge reduced her bond to

371
00:28:28,840 --> 00:28:32,439
Speaker 2: one thousand dollars. Linda paid it, got out of jail,

372
00:28:32,680 --> 00:28:51,520
Speaker 2: left Michigan, and never showed up to trial. The next

373
00:28:51,520 --> 00:28:55,080
Speaker 2: two years saw two marriages and two divorces for Linda.

374
00:28:56,200 --> 00:28:59,480
Speaker 2: That brings us to nineteen seventy four, the year Jack

375
00:28:59,520 --> 00:29:03,720
Speaker 2: Sherwin came out to investigate another burglary and recognized her.

376
00:29:04,560 --> 00:29:07,280
Speaker 2: When he got a warrant to search her place, he

377
00:29:07,400 --> 00:29:12,360
Speaker 2: found multiple public aid identification cards and he discovered her

378
00:29:12,400 --> 00:29:17,520
Speaker 2: outstanding felony warrant. Jack arrested Linda on behalf of the

379
00:29:17,520 --> 00:29:22,200
Speaker 2: state of Michigan. That's when her story went viral. She

380
00:29:22,600 --> 00:29:27,440
Speaker 2: was the welfare Queen. As I mentioned before, Linda became

381
00:29:27,560 --> 00:29:31,200
Speaker 2: one very hot topic for Ronald Reagan's rallies when he

382
00:29:31,280 --> 00:29:35,880
Speaker 2: was campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination in nineteen seventy four,

383
00:29:36,720 --> 00:29:39,680
Speaker 2: and even though Reagan was not the Republican nomination in

384
00:29:39,760 --> 00:29:46,120
Speaker 2: nineteen seventy four, people remembered the welfare Queen. Linda was

385
00:29:46,720 --> 00:29:50,800
Speaker 2: for sure committing fraud, but the amount she was accused

386
00:29:50,800 --> 00:29:53,520
Speaker 2: of stealing at this time was six hundred and ten dollars.

387
00:29:54,320 --> 00:29:58,760
Speaker 2: In today's money, that's about four thousand dollars. I don't

388
00:29:58,760 --> 00:30:00,800
Speaker 2: want to say that four thousand dollar is not a

389
00:30:00,800 --> 00:30:03,360
Speaker 2: lot of money. I know I personally could do a

390
00:30:03,480 --> 00:30:07,000
Speaker 2: lot of damage with four thousand dollars, But to the

391
00:30:07,040 --> 00:30:12,400
Speaker 2: government it seems like nothing. Granted, there could be a

392
00:30:12,440 --> 00:30:15,240
Speaker 2: lot of reasons for a low number like that, other

393
00:30:15,400 --> 00:30:18,680
Speaker 2: than that's all she stole. Maybe that's all they could

394
00:30:18,680 --> 00:30:21,720
Speaker 2: link to her. Maybe that's all she stole from the

395
00:30:21,760 --> 00:30:24,760
Speaker 2: state of Michigan. Maybe that's all she stole from the

396
00:30:24,840 --> 00:30:30,760
Speaker 2: state government of Michigan. Maybe that's all she stole through welfare. Regardless,

397
00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:35,720
Speaker 2: welfare fraud was and always would be her claim to fame.

398
00:30:36,680 --> 00:30:55,200
Speaker 2: Even when her crimes escalated. Linda fled again, but they

399
00:30:55,240 --> 00:30:59,080
Speaker 2: found her in Tucson, Arizona. That's the first time she

400
00:30:59,200 --> 00:31:03,040
Speaker 2: was referenced as the welfare Queen. To be fair, Reagan

401
00:31:03,120 --> 00:31:05,880
Speaker 2: never called her that. He just detailed her frauds and

402
00:31:06,080 --> 00:31:10,520
Speaker 2: then added some more. Police removed Linda back to Illinois,

403
00:31:10,760 --> 00:31:14,080
Speaker 2: the state having jurisdiction of the crime. To my knowledge,

404
00:31:14,080 --> 00:31:16,760
Speaker 2: she did not bring any of her children, biological or

405
00:31:16,800 --> 00:31:20,160
Speaker 2: otherwise with her. It seems like they were either residing

406
00:31:20,200 --> 00:31:22,800
Speaker 2: with other family members or rewards of the state at

407
00:31:22,840 --> 00:31:28,360
Speaker 2: this time. Then she moved in with her friend, Patricia Parks,

408
00:31:28,400 --> 00:31:32,280
Speaker 2: and this is where the story gets sadder. The women

409
00:31:32,320 --> 00:31:36,200
Speaker 2: had met at mass, although Linda was not necessarily a Catholic,

410
00:31:36,920 --> 00:31:40,480
Speaker 2: and she saw that Patricia Parks needed help. Patricia was

411
00:31:40,520 --> 00:31:44,000
Speaker 2: thirty six, a former teacher with a master's of education.

412
00:31:44,800 --> 00:31:48,479
Speaker 2: She had three children, nine, seven, and five, and she

413
00:31:48,560 --> 00:31:52,160
Speaker 2: was in the middle of a bad divorce. She also

414
00:31:52,280 --> 00:31:56,640
Speaker 2: had multiple sclerosis and recurrent bladder and kidney problems, and

415
00:31:56,680 --> 00:32:00,800
Speaker 2: her husband did not help with those medical bills. Patricia

416
00:32:00,880 --> 00:32:04,040
Speaker 2: was an emigrant from Trinidad and she had no family

417
00:32:04,080 --> 00:32:09,440
Speaker 2: to lean on. She was a perfect victim. Linda invited

418
00:32:09,440 --> 00:32:13,000
Speaker 2: Patricia to a seance where she predicted that Patricia would

419
00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:17,480
Speaker 2: die in six months, but of course Linda could change that.

420
00:32:19,040 --> 00:32:22,640
Speaker 2: She packed her stuff and moved into Patricia's house. She

421
00:32:22,760 --> 00:32:26,160
Speaker 2: told the nine year old Brigetta, I'm here to take

422
00:32:26,200 --> 00:32:30,240
Speaker 2: care of you. But Linda had no interest in kids.

423
00:32:30,280 --> 00:32:32,920
Speaker 2: I mean, aside from how much she could get from

424
00:32:32,920 --> 00:32:36,680
Speaker 2: the government for claiming them as her dependents. She just

425
00:32:36,720 --> 00:32:38,560
Speaker 2: wanted them to stay out of the way while she

426
00:32:38,640 --> 00:32:43,400
Speaker 2: nursed Patricia, and just in case her health didn't improve,

427
00:32:44,320 --> 00:32:47,600
Speaker 2: Patricia wrote up her last will and testament, which left

428
00:32:47,640 --> 00:32:50,920
Speaker 2: her estate to a trustee who would provide for her children.

429
00:32:52,480 --> 00:32:55,480
Speaker 2: She also named an executor to manage any real estate

430
00:32:55,520 --> 00:33:20,680
Speaker 2: in their favor. She named Lynda Taylor for both roles. Meanwhile,

431
00:33:21,320 --> 00:33:24,280
Speaker 2: detectives were building a case against Linda, and her bill

432
00:33:24,400 --> 00:33:27,080
Speaker 2: was stacking up to be much more than six hundred

433
00:33:27,080 --> 00:33:31,120
Speaker 2: and ten dollars. She was now charged with stealing seven thousand,

434
00:33:31,160 --> 00:33:34,920
Speaker 2: six hundred dollars, even though she had likely stolen much more.

435
00:33:36,480 --> 00:33:39,320
Speaker 2: Linda was flamboyant too. She did not fit in with

436
00:33:39,360 --> 00:33:43,400
Speaker 2: Patricia's ring of refined teacher friends, and her now ex

437
00:33:43,520 --> 00:33:46,360
Speaker 2: husband boiled at the side of Linda. He knew something

438
00:33:46,400 --> 00:33:51,320
Speaker 2: wasn't right. Patricia's health did decline, and when her multiple

439
00:33:51,320 --> 00:33:56,200
Speaker 2: sclerosis started to affect her speech, doctors prescribed her tranquilizers.

440
00:33:57,080 --> 00:34:00,000
Speaker 2: She also tried the West Indian remedies her mother recommended

441
00:34:00,200 --> 00:34:05,800
Speaker 2: in her letters. Nothing helped. As she got worse, Linda

442
00:34:05,840 --> 00:34:10,960
Speaker 2: put her in isolation. Patricia took Brigetta's room. Brigetta slept

443
00:34:11,160 --> 00:34:13,480
Speaker 2: in a twin bed in her brother's room while the

444
00:34:13,480 --> 00:34:18,440
Speaker 2: boys shared another bed, Linda moved herself into the primary bedroom.

445
00:34:20,000 --> 00:34:23,400
Speaker 2: In some of her dying moments, Patricia had her lawyer

446
00:34:23,719 --> 00:34:27,640
Speaker 2: changed the beneficiary on her life insurance policies from her

447
00:34:27,680 --> 00:34:32,280
Speaker 2: ex husband to her children, and on April thirtieth, nineteen

448
00:34:32,360 --> 00:34:36,040
Speaker 2: seventy five, Patricia gave Linda the quick claim deed to

449
00:34:36,080 --> 00:34:41,120
Speaker 2: her house. Both of these signatures happened in her hospital bed.

450
00:34:42,760 --> 00:34:47,279
Speaker 2: On June eleventh, Patricia was released from the hospital. Four

451
00:34:47,360 --> 00:34:51,160
Speaker 2: days later, she was found unconscious at home, and she

452
00:34:51,280 --> 00:34:55,600
Speaker 2: was pronounced dead on arrival to the er. A later

453
00:34:55,719 --> 00:34:59,480
Speaker 2: article in the Chicago Tribune stated that investigators found an

454
00:34:59,520 --> 00:35:04,200
Speaker 2: excessive amount of medical drugs, including barbiturates, in her blood.

455
00:35:05,840 --> 00:35:09,239
Speaker 2: It didn't prove murder, but a barbiturate overdose like this

456
00:35:09,280 --> 00:35:15,680
Speaker 2: one definitely raised questions about Patricia's caretaker. The name that

457
00:35:15,800 --> 00:35:19,239
Speaker 2: said caretaker signed on the informant line of Patricia's death

458
00:35:19,280 --> 00:35:45,960
Speaker 2: certificate was Linda C. Wakefield. Patricia's three kids moved to

459
00:35:46,040 --> 00:35:53,560
Speaker 2: three different Terrible Foster homes. They missed their own mother's funeral. Finally,

460
00:35:53,600 --> 00:35:57,719
Speaker 2: a Cook County judge granted their father custody. He and

461
00:35:57,760 --> 00:36:00,879
Speaker 2: his parents were astonished when they saw the kids. They

462
00:36:00,880 --> 00:36:03,880
Speaker 2: were all emaciated, and the youngest one had taken to

463
00:36:03,960 --> 00:36:06,600
Speaker 2: hoarding food, which many children do when they don't know

464
00:36:06,640 --> 00:36:11,040
Speaker 2: when they'll eat again. Their father barricaded himself and his

465
00:36:11,120 --> 00:36:15,040
Speaker 2: in Patricia's home. He blamed himself for letting Linda take over,

466
00:36:15,360 --> 00:36:17,719
Speaker 2: but he wouldn't let her take their house, and he

467
00:36:17,800 --> 00:36:22,120
Speaker 2: was convinced that this was murder. Police did launch an

468
00:36:22,120 --> 00:36:25,759
Speaker 2: investigation into this claim, but Linda was never arrested nor

469
00:36:25,840 --> 00:36:30,319
Speaker 2: charged with a crime. The obvious question here is why not?

470
00:36:31,280 --> 00:36:33,800
Speaker 2: And I don't have a good answer. When Josh Levin

471
00:36:33,920 --> 00:36:38,080
Speaker 2: went to interview John Parks, Patricia's ex husband, in twenty thirteen,

472
00:36:38,760 --> 00:36:41,840
Speaker 2: he said, boy, you waited a long time to come.

473
00:36:43,640 --> 00:36:47,480
Speaker 2: It had been thirty seven years. In his book about

474
00:36:47,520 --> 00:36:51,480
Speaker 2: Linda the Queen, Josh Levine writes, in terms of the

475
00:36:51,480 --> 00:36:55,839
Speaker 2: bottom line, there was little value in marching cheaters into court.

476
00:36:56,840 --> 00:37:00,840
Speaker 2: George Lindbergh, the former state comptroller whose signify adorned the

477
00:37:00,880 --> 00:37:04,800
Speaker 2: front of Linda Taylor's welfare checks, said in nineteen seventy

478
00:37:04,840 --> 00:37:09,160
Speaker 2: seven that trying to extract cash from fraudsters was pointless.

479
00:37:10,040 --> 00:37:12,839
Speaker 2: They didn't have any, so the state wasn't getting any.

480
00:37:13,640 --> 00:37:16,879
Speaker 2: Taylor costs the state money as both a public aid

481
00:37:16,960 --> 00:37:23,239
Speaker 2: recipient and a criminal defendant. I'm sure that's true. But

482
00:37:23,360 --> 00:37:26,360
Speaker 2: the decision not to press her for murder because the

483
00:37:26,440 --> 00:37:30,799
Speaker 2: welfare case was more indictable, that doesn't seem right to me,

484
00:37:31,920 --> 00:37:43,239
Speaker 2: especially because the sentencing was pretty light. But before we

485
00:37:43,320 --> 00:37:50,960
Speaker 2: get to that welfare fraud trial, first, more crime. In

486
00:37:51,040 --> 00:37:56,280
Speaker 2: January of nineteen seventy six, Linda married Sherman Ray in Chicago.

487
00:37:56,680 --> 00:38:01,120
Speaker 2: In case you're counting, this is marriage number six. In February,

488
00:38:01,320 --> 00:38:04,000
Speaker 2: she was charged with stealing from her ex room mate

489
00:38:04,239 --> 00:38:08,319
Speaker 2: a television, a fur coat, an electric can opener, and

490
00:38:08,440 --> 00:38:16,000
Speaker 2: other household goods. She also effectively kidnapped Sherman's niece. In

491
00:38:16,080 --> 00:38:21,439
Speaker 2: brief Sherman was his niece, Diana's default babysitter. Diana knew

492
00:38:21,480 --> 00:38:24,040
Speaker 2: Linda from the times when they'd eat peanut butter sandwiches

493
00:38:24,080 --> 00:38:27,239
Speaker 2: and watch soap operas, So when Linda kept up the

494
00:38:27,239 --> 00:38:31,520
Speaker 2: babysitting routine, Diana was not alarmed at all, not even

495
00:38:31,560 --> 00:38:33,759
Speaker 2: when Linda baby sat her at a different house for

496
00:38:33,840 --> 00:38:39,320
Speaker 2: several days, maybe a week. Diana wasn't alarmed, but her grandfather,

497
00:38:39,440 --> 00:38:43,520
Speaker 2: Raymond Shure was. That was Sherman's dad, he never liked Linda.

498
00:38:44,640 --> 00:38:46,840
Speaker 2: Raymond showed up with police to the house where Linda

499
00:38:46,920 --> 00:38:49,600
Speaker 2: was holding Diana, even though Diana never knew about it,

500
00:38:49,920 --> 00:38:52,480
Speaker 2: and Raymond carried her to the car because she didn't

501
00:38:52,480 --> 00:38:57,400
Speaker 2: have any shoes. Later, Diana learned that her uncle Sherman

502
00:38:57,520 --> 00:39:01,880
Speaker 2: told her granddad Raymond where Linda was, even though he

503
00:39:02,080 --> 00:39:06,279
Speaker 2: stood by Linda after she abducted his niece. Raymond did

504
00:39:06,320 --> 00:39:09,400
Speaker 2: his best to keep Linda away from Diana, but Raymond

505
00:39:09,440 --> 00:39:13,440
Speaker 2: never pressed charges against her. I'm assuming that's for two reasons.

506
00:39:13,520 --> 00:39:16,960
Speaker 2: One police aren't always trustworthy, and two she was his

507
00:39:17,080 --> 00:39:32,760
Speaker 2: son's wife. Finally, in nineteen seventy seven, her welfare fraud

508
00:39:32,800 --> 00:39:36,759
Speaker 2: trial began. The process was very drawn out and hard

509
00:39:36,760 --> 00:39:40,440
Speaker 2: to follow, so I will just summarize its outcome after

510
00:39:41,000 --> 00:39:44,000
Speaker 2: I tell you about what she wore to court. I

511
00:39:44,040 --> 00:39:46,319
Speaker 2: know that this is a tacky red carpet question that

512
00:39:46,440 --> 00:39:50,080
Speaker 2: only women get asked, but it's so interesting to me,

513
00:39:50,520 --> 00:39:53,560
Speaker 2: so I need to tell you about it. I told

514
00:39:53,560 --> 00:39:57,080
Speaker 2: you before that she was flamboyant. Don't forget that this

515
00:39:57,320 --> 00:40:02,520
Speaker 2: was also the seventies, so flamboyant is relative. Linda completely

516
00:40:02,560 --> 00:40:06,360
Speaker 2: ignored the dress coat her council advised. To her first indictment.

517
00:40:06,400 --> 00:40:09,960
Speaker 2: Back in nineteen seventy four, she'd worn a thigh length

518
00:40:10,239 --> 00:40:16,120
Speaker 2: leather coat with shearling trim, a black hat, and leather gloves. Fantastic.

519
00:40:16,480 --> 00:40:19,279
Speaker 2: A few months later, she wore a white top with

520
00:40:19,320 --> 00:40:24,680
Speaker 2: a cleavage cutout, another leather coat, white satin slacks, and

521
00:40:24,719 --> 00:40:27,560
Speaker 2: a white tam O'Shanter, which, if you didn't know, is

522
00:40:27,600 --> 00:40:30,200
Speaker 2: the kind of traditional Scottish hat that Google and Murder

523
00:40:30,239 --> 00:40:36,279
Speaker 2: wear in Outlander. Bold Love It. Next, she wore a

524
00:40:36,280 --> 00:40:39,680
Speaker 2: denim pant suit and a ginger afro wig, and her

525
00:40:39,760 --> 00:40:45,440
Speaker 2: new husband, Sherman Ray, wore faux crocodile shoes with goldfish

526
00:40:45,680 --> 00:40:50,080
Speaker 2: in the plastic heels. This woman sucks, but her outfits

527
00:40:50,120 --> 00:40:55,320
Speaker 2: are marvelous. After a drawn out process involving more deception,

528
00:40:56,239 --> 00:40:59,560
Speaker 2: Linda was convicted of theft and perjury, and she was

529
00:40:59,560 --> 00:41:04,239
Speaker 2: sentenced three to seven years in state prison. She also

530
00:41:04,320 --> 00:41:08,719
Speaker 2: pleaded guilty to burglary charges from nineteen seventy six, so

531
00:41:08,760 --> 00:41:11,919
Speaker 2: she served a concurrent five and a half year prison term.

532
00:41:13,680 --> 00:41:17,840
Speaker 2: Just over two years later, in nineteen eighty, the Illinois

533
00:41:17,880 --> 00:41:22,960
Speaker 2: Parole Board released Linda from prison and Ronald Reagan, after

534
00:41:23,080 --> 00:41:27,400
Speaker 2: campaigning on welfare reform again and this time winning the

535
00:41:27,480 --> 00:41:52,640
Speaker 2: Republican presidential nomination, went into the White House. We just

536
00:41:52,719 --> 00:41:56,000
Speaker 2: left Linda as she was discharged from prison just two

537
00:41:56,040 --> 00:41:58,920
Speaker 2: years after she was admitted, and she was living with

538
00:41:58,960 --> 00:42:02,200
Speaker 2: her husband and va non veteran Sherman Ray in Chicago.

539
00:42:03,800 --> 00:42:07,960
Speaker 2: In nineteen eighty three, Raymond, That's Sherman's father, was at

540
00:42:08,000 --> 00:42:10,880
Speaker 2: home when he got a visitor. It was his close

541
00:42:10,920 --> 00:42:15,960
Speaker 2: friend Booker. Booker sat down and he told Raymond that

542
00:42:16,000 --> 00:42:19,560
Speaker 2: Sherman was dead. Booker had watched the whole thing happen.

543
00:42:21,239 --> 00:42:24,360
Speaker 2: Sherman had been backing away from a confrontation with a

544
00:42:24,440 --> 00:42:28,600
Speaker 2: much older man and he had been defenseless. He was

545
00:42:28,640 --> 00:42:31,320
Speaker 2: standing in front of a tree when he'd been blasted

546
00:42:31,360 --> 00:42:35,359
Speaker 2: through the chest with a shotgun. The old man who

547
00:42:35,400 --> 00:42:39,880
Speaker 2: shot Sherman was Will True Lloyd and was a quote

548
00:42:40,080 --> 00:42:44,560
Speaker 2: relative of Linda's. Will Truth swore it was an accident,

549
00:42:45,120 --> 00:42:48,680
Speaker 2: but Booker saw the whole thing and he was convinced

550
00:42:48,880 --> 00:42:52,799
Speaker 2: that Linda was an accessory. Sherman Ray had purchased two

551
00:42:52,880 --> 00:42:56,920
Speaker 2: life insurance plans before his death and Linda was the

552
00:42:56,960 --> 00:43:01,120
Speaker 2: sole beneficiary. But police she us never put together that

553
00:43:01,200 --> 00:43:04,719
Speaker 2: Linda Ray was Linda Taylor, and the press did not

554
00:43:04,800 --> 00:43:07,960
Speaker 2: connect her either. She'd been out of the spotlight for

555
00:43:08,000 --> 00:43:13,200
Speaker 2: five years. A month later, Linda moved to a house

556
00:43:13,200 --> 00:43:29,480
Speaker 2: in Florida with her husband's killer. In Florida, Linda stole

557
00:43:29,600 --> 00:43:33,560
Speaker 2: mostly from individuals. When she got evicted from one house,

558
00:43:33,920 --> 00:43:38,160
Speaker 2: she took the owner's furniture and lone corps. An older

559
00:43:38,160 --> 00:43:42,560
Speaker 2: woman named Mildred Markham stayed there with them. Linda would

560
00:43:42,560 --> 00:43:47,120
Speaker 2: claim that Mildred was her grandmother, but she wasn't. Mildred

561
00:43:47,160 --> 00:43:50,440
Speaker 2: was in her mid seventies and she was mostly noncommunicative.

562
00:43:52,080 --> 00:43:54,879
Speaker 2: It seems like Linda tricked her in a similar way

563
00:43:54,920 --> 00:43:58,200
Speaker 2: that she'd trick Patricia, telling Mildred that she would take

564
00:43:58,239 --> 00:44:01,719
Speaker 2: care of her. So told Mildred that she was her

565
00:44:01,800 --> 00:44:04,600
Speaker 2: long lost daughter and that Mildred should come to live

566
00:44:04,640 --> 00:44:08,160
Speaker 2: with her. The neighbors told Mildred's daughter that she left,

567
00:44:08,239 --> 00:44:11,320
Speaker 2: but she was smiling. It didn't seem like she was forced.

568
00:44:13,000 --> 00:44:16,320
Speaker 2: When Linda's son, Johnny came to visit, though it seemed

569
00:44:16,360 --> 00:44:20,080
Speaker 2: clear that Mildred was being held against her will, he

570
00:44:20,120 --> 00:44:24,520
Speaker 2: can't remember why he didn't get involved, Linda told guests

571
00:44:24,840 --> 00:44:29,560
Speaker 2: that Mildred wasn't allowed to stay inside because she practiced voodoo.

572
00:44:29,640 --> 00:44:32,960
Speaker 2: At meal time, Mildred collected her plate and ate in

573
00:44:33,000 --> 00:44:37,080
Speaker 2: the barn. Linda and Wiltrow also slept in the barn.

574
00:44:38,000 --> 00:44:41,719
Speaker 2: I could not figure out why. Mildred later wrote to

575
00:44:41,760 --> 00:44:46,160
Speaker 2: her daughter saying that she was mistreated. Her granddaughter tried

576
00:44:46,200 --> 00:44:48,920
Speaker 2: to track her down and rescue her, but she couldn't

577
00:44:48,960 --> 00:44:53,759
Speaker 2: find her. After that residence evicted them, they moved in

578
00:44:53,800 --> 00:44:59,920
Speaker 2: with another family. The Smells observed Linda's cruelty without experiencing

579
00:45:00,120 --> 00:45:04,160
Speaker 2: at firsthand. Linda had a dog with a tail, and

580
00:45:04,280 --> 00:45:07,800
Speaker 2: one day she randomly ordered Wiltreu to cut it off.

581
00:45:08,680 --> 00:45:12,240
Speaker 2: It was terrible. The dog recovered, but it suffered first.

582
00:45:13,920 --> 00:45:17,000
Speaker 2: She also berated Mildred for no reason, though it wasn't

583
00:45:17,040 --> 00:45:20,279
Speaker 2: clear if Mildred understood that was what was happening. It

584
00:45:20,320 --> 00:45:35,120
Speaker 2: was a matter of time before Mildred died too. It

585
00:45:35,160 --> 00:45:38,000
Speaker 2: won't surprise you to hear that Mildred Markham had money

586
00:45:38,040 --> 00:45:44,279
Speaker 2: and property. Linda fleeced Mildred. Mildred deeded one hundred and

587
00:45:44,320 --> 00:45:48,480
Speaker 2: eighty five acres to Linda in exchange for one hundred

588
00:45:48,520 --> 00:45:52,200
Speaker 2: and fifty thousand dollars, but there's no indication that she

589
00:45:52,320 --> 00:45:58,360
Speaker 2: ever paid a penny. Then, Wiltrue married Mildred in nineteen

590
00:45:58,400 --> 00:46:02,520
Speaker 2: eighty six. There was a domestic dispute between them, and

591
00:46:02,560 --> 00:46:06,360
Speaker 2: there's no reliable account of the incident that put Mildred

592
00:46:06,400 --> 00:46:11,640
Speaker 2: into the coma that ultimately ended her life. Mildred also

593
00:46:11,840 --> 00:46:16,319
Speaker 2: had two life insurance policies, and Linda Taylor was the

594
00:46:16,360 --> 00:46:21,680
Speaker 2: beneficiary of both, and Linda started collecting government checks on

595
00:46:21,760 --> 00:46:26,480
Speaker 2: Mildred too after she died. Even though everything about Mildred

596
00:46:26,480 --> 00:46:30,879
Speaker 2: Markham's death looked dubious, Linda was never tried for association

597
00:46:31,000 --> 00:46:35,400
Speaker 2: with Mildred's death either. This scam would continue until nineteen

598
00:46:35,440 --> 00:46:40,000
Speaker 2: ninety three, and she'd collect more than sixty thousand dollars.

599
00:46:40,719 --> 00:46:43,919
Speaker 2: What finally burned her was a tip on a toll

600
00:46:43,960 --> 00:46:53,520
Speaker 2: free hotline manned by federal agents. Mark Scutari was a

601
00:46:53,560 --> 00:46:58,399
Speaker 2: special agent for the United States Railroad Retirement Board. He

602
00:46:58,520 --> 00:47:03,279
Speaker 2: mostly investigated benefit fraud. He was the one who got

603
00:47:03,320 --> 00:47:07,880
Speaker 2: the call that Linda Springer had been cashing survivors benefits

604
00:47:07,920 --> 00:47:12,760
Speaker 2: on Mildred Markham, the widow of Pullman porter James Markham,

605
00:47:13,360 --> 00:47:17,760
Speaker 2: for seven years. He also got the tip that Linda

606
00:47:17,840 --> 00:47:25,040
Speaker 2: Springer was Linda Taylor. Skeataria's deductions indicated that Linda likely

607
00:47:25,080 --> 00:47:28,760
Speaker 2: pushed Mildred down the stairs, which ultimately caused the brain

608
00:47:28,840 --> 00:47:32,920
Speaker 2: injury that ended her life, so that she could collect

609
00:47:32,960 --> 00:47:37,799
Speaker 2: on these pension benefits, but he couldn't prove that, not

610
00:47:37,920 --> 00:47:43,239
Speaker 2: seven years later, not without concrete evidence. What he did

611
00:47:43,280 --> 00:47:46,560
Speaker 2: have concrete evidence of was that, as of the fall

612
00:47:46,640 --> 00:47:51,400
Speaker 2: of nineteen ninety three, Linda Taylor had received unwarranted payments

613
00:47:51,719 --> 00:47:56,120
Speaker 2: from Railroad retirement to the total of sixty two thousand,

614
00:47:56,560 --> 00:48:14,080
Speaker 2: three hundred fifteen dollars and forty four cents. In nineteen

615
00:48:14,160 --> 00:48:17,560
Speaker 2: ninety four, Linda had been out of prison for fourteen years,

616
00:48:18,160 --> 00:48:22,040
Speaker 2: and she'd committed all sorts of crimes with almost no consequence.

617
00:48:23,640 --> 00:48:27,759
Speaker 2: Now she was charged with six felony counts of illegally

618
00:48:27,880 --> 00:48:34,480
Speaker 2: cashing US Treasury checks. At her arraignment, she pleaded not guilty.

619
00:48:36,040 --> 00:48:39,920
Speaker 2: Back in nineteen seventy eight, three of her Chicago lawyers

620
00:48:39,960 --> 00:48:44,640
Speaker 2: had big concerns. They said she was quote incapable of

621
00:48:44,719 --> 00:48:49,600
Speaker 2: knowing whether or not she was telling the truth. Even

622
00:48:49,640 --> 00:48:54,400
Speaker 2: before that, another attorney noted that two psychiatrists said she

623
00:48:54,520 --> 00:48:59,120
Speaker 2: was quote psychotic, and unable to understand the nature of

624
00:48:59,200 --> 00:49:03,879
Speaker 2: the proceedings of which she was a defendant. That did

625
00:49:03,920 --> 00:49:07,439
Speaker 2: not mean she was innocent, far from it. It meant

626
00:49:07,480 --> 00:49:12,040
Speaker 2: she wasn't much help to her lawyers. In nineteen ninety four,

627
00:49:12,840 --> 00:49:16,120
Speaker 2: her public defender said that Linda wasn't able to assist

628
00:49:16,160 --> 00:49:20,960
Speaker 2: in her own defense. Her answers to his questions questions

629
00:49:21,080 --> 00:49:23,120
Speaker 2: he needed to get answered in order to build her

630
00:49:23,160 --> 00:49:31,839
Speaker 2: case were vague, tangential, completely unrelated, or altogether fabricated. In

631
00:49:31,920 --> 00:49:36,839
Speaker 2: nineteen ninety four and ninety five, she baffled psychologists they

632
00:49:36,880 --> 00:49:39,719
Speaker 2: had to rely on an inveterate liar to tell them

633
00:49:39,719 --> 00:49:44,520
Speaker 2: about herself. One finally determined that although he couldn't be

634
00:49:44,560 --> 00:49:48,440
Speaker 2: conclusive about her diagnosis, she didn't belong in a courtroom.

635
00:49:49,400 --> 00:49:55,160
Speaker 2: His best guess was senile dementia, brain disorder, or underlying

636
00:49:55,320 --> 00:50:00,960
Speaker 2: psychopathology or mental illness, maybe a psychotic disorder or illusional disorder.

637
00:50:02,440 --> 00:50:06,600
Speaker 2: In nineteen ninety four, Linda was committed for psychiatric treatment,

638
00:50:07,360 --> 00:50:13,080
Speaker 2: and she'd be reevaluated in four months. Her own daughter, Sandra, said,

639
00:50:14,320 --> 00:50:18,279
Speaker 2: I believe the thing she says. She truly believes in

640
00:50:18,320 --> 00:50:22,000
Speaker 2: her mind that these things have occurred and claimed that

641
00:50:22,040 --> 00:50:26,560
Speaker 2: she'd tried to get Linda committed to an institution. Other

642
00:50:26,640 --> 00:50:30,280
Speaker 2: doctors were completely certain that she was competent to stand

643
00:50:30,320 --> 00:50:41,320
Speaker 2: trial despite any mental illness. On July fifth, nineteen ninety five,

644
00:50:41,960 --> 00:50:46,360
Speaker 2: Judge H. Dale Cook rolled that Linda Taylor wasn't competent

645
00:50:46,440 --> 00:50:49,880
Speaker 2: to stand trial and there was no likelihood of her recovery.

646
00:50:51,360 --> 00:50:55,520
Speaker 2: She was released from federal custody and involuntarily committed to

647
00:50:55,560 --> 00:51:00,160
Speaker 2: a mental health facility in Florida. The following year, the

648
00:51:00,200 --> 00:51:06,719
Speaker 2: federal government dismissed its indictment. The insurance fraud investigator was

649
00:51:06,840 --> 00:51:10,560
Speaker 2: sure it was a con. She'd conned the doctors, just

650
00:51:10,600 --> 00:51:30,680
Speaker 2: like she'd conned everyone else, and I'm inclined to agree.

651
00:51:31,120 --> 00:51:33,920
Speaker 2: When Linda's son, Johnny went to see her in the facility,

652
00:51:34,520 --> 00:51:38,360
Speaker 2: he didn't think it was a con. She ranted and raved,

653
00:51:38,400 --> 00:51:42,600
Speaker 2: and she didn't recognize him. When she finally did recognize him,

654
00:51:42,960 --> 00:51:46,160
Speaker 2: she begged him to take her with him. She didn't

655
00:51:46,200 --> 00:51:48,080
Speaker 2: want to stay at a homeless shelter, and that's where

656
00:51:48,120 --> 00:51:51,760
Speaker 2: she said she was headed. Linda was a terrible parent.

657
00:51:52,560 --> 00:51:56,600
Speaker 2: She had abused and abandoned all her children, sometimes multiple

658
00:51:56,600 --> 00:51:59,520
Speaker 2: times over the course of their lives, pawning them off

659
00:51:59,560 --> 00:52:04,759
Speaker 2: here and there. Understandably, none of them wanted anything to

660
00:52:04,760 --> 00:52:08,399
Speaker 2: do with her. Johnny did what Linda would have done.

661
00:52:09,400 --> 00:52:13,360
Speaker 2: He left in a few hours down the road. He

662
00:52:13,440 --> 00:52:16,759
Speaker 2: thought about Mildred Markham and how she had begged him

663
00:52:16,760 --> 00:52:19,920
Speaker 2: to rescue her. He had done nothing then, and he

664
00:52:19,920 --> 00:52:23,759
Speaker 2: couldn't remember why. He asked his wife what she would do.

665
00:52:25,040 --> 00:52:27,719
Speaker 2: His wife, Carol, said she wouldn't have left the institution

666
00:52:27,880 --> 00:52:31,680
Speaker 2: without her if it had been her mother. So Johnny

667
00:52:31,680 --> 00:52:38,200
Speaker 2: turned around. In Johnny's defense, Linda Taylor was not Carol's mother.

668
00:52:38,680 --> 00:52:42,279
Speaker 2: She was awful, But Johnny did the honorable thing, the

669
00:52:42,320 --> 00:52:45,279
Speaker 2: thing probably that would allow him to live with himself. Later,

670
00:52:46,600 --> 00:52:49,279
Speaker 2: Linda lived with Johnny and Carroll for a while, and

671
00:52:49,320 --> 00:52:51,880
Speaker 2: then she went to live with Sandra, and when her

672
00:52:51,920 --> 00:52:55,520
Speaker 2: dementia worsened, Sandra admitted her to a nursing home that

673
00:52:55,560 --> 00:53:00,640
Speaker 2: could give round the clock care. April eighteenth, to those two,

674
00:53:01,160 --> 00:53:04,319
Speaker 2: Linda Taylor died of a heart attack. The name they

675
00:53:04,400 --> 00:53:10,040
Speaker 2: landed on for her death certificate was Constance Lloyd. This

676
00:53:10,160 --> 00:53:13,000
Speaker 2: story is a wild one, to be sure. The thread

677
00:53:13,080 --> 00:53:15,799
Speaker 2: is hard to follow for many reasons, and many of

678
00:53:15,800 --> 00:53:20,480
Speaker 2: those concerned her identity. Linda grew up without an honest

679
00:53:20,520 --> 00:53:23,840
Speaker 2: identity that she could claim. She made up so many

680
00:53:23,880 --> 00:53:27,160
Speaker 2: identities in response. It is still not clear who she

681
00:53:27,239 --> 00:53:30,040
Speaker 2: really was, or what she was really trying to do,

682
00:53:31,000 --> 00:53:33,640
Speaker 2: or why she did the horrible things she did, let

683
00:53:33,640 --> 00:53:35,719
Speaker 2: alone how she got away with it for so long.

684
00:53:37,239 --> 00:53:39,000
Speaker 2: At the top of the episode, I mentioned that I

685
00:53:39,040 --> 00:53:40,959
Speaker 2: got to talk to the author of the book about

686
00:53:41,000 --> 00:53:51,959
Speaker 2: Linda Taylor, Josh Levine. Here's our conversation. Hi, Josh, thank

687
00:53:52,000 --> 00:53:55,080
Speaker 2: you so much for coming on to talk with me

688
00:53:55,640 --> 00:53:59,160
Speaker 2: about the Queen Linda Taylor. I think right after your

689
00:53:59,200 --> 00:54:04,360
Speaker 2: book Really Least, you wrote and hosted the four part

690
00:54:04,600 --> 00:54:10,120
Speaker 2: podcast series about Linda Taylor through Slate, which we're linking

691
00:54:10,160 --> 00:54:13,160
Speaker 2: in our show's notes so our listeners can go listen

692
00:54:13,200 --> 00:54:16,640
Speaker 2: to that too, because it's awesome. But my question is,

693
00:54:17,600 --> 00:54:20,480
Speaker 2: how was that experience different, Like how is it different

694
00:54:20,520 --> 00:54:25,319
Speaker 2: writing the book versus writing the podcast, Like what was

695
00:54:25,320 --> 00:54:26,440
Speaker 2: the experience like for you?

696
00:54:26,760 --> 00:54:29,439
Speaker 1: Yeah, it started for me with an article that ran

697
00:54:29,480 --> 00:54:33,680
Speaker 1: on Slate in twenty thirteen that was like a fifteen

698
00:54:33,719 --> 00:54:37,680
Speaker 1: thousand word article that took me about a year to

699
00:54:37,800 --> 00:54:40,640
Speaker 1: research and report and write, and then the book came

700
00:54:40,719 --> 00:54:44,640
Speaker 1: out in twenty nineteen, so it took me another six

701
00:54:44,800 --> 00:54:47,840
Speaker 1: years after that to get, you know, the level of

702
00:54:47,880 --> 00:54:50,680
Speaker 1: research that I needed to do to tell her story

703
00:54:51,600 --> 00:54:56,200
Speaker 1: in full, and the podcast was based on that book.

704
00:54:56,239 --> 00:54:59,359
Speaker 1: Research it was simultaneous, and so I thought it would

705
00:54:59,400 --> 00:55:03,880
Speaker 1: be really valuable and important to hear the story and

706
00:55:03,920 --> 00:55:08,560
Speaker 1: the voices of the people who lived through it. Podcasting

707
00:55:08,600 --> 00:55:10,560
Speaker 1: is a gray medium. I think we can both agree.

708
00:55:11,400 --> 00:55:16,160
Speaker 1: I love it and so yeah, I was really gratifying

709
00:55:16,760 --> 00:55:18,719
Speaker 1: to be able to tell the story in so many

710
00:55:18,760 --> 00:55:22,520
Speaker 1: different formats and to hopefully reach people, you know, wherever

711
00:55:22,560 --> 00:55:22,839
Speaker 1: they are.

712
00:55:23,440 --> 00:55:26,560
Speaker 2: My next question is actually about your research methods because

713
00:55:26,600 --> 00:55:30,080
Speaker 2: she is so slippery, like she even has like so

714
00:55:30,160 --> 00:55:33,719
Speaker 2: many aliases. So I feel like I would when I

715
00:55:33,760 --> 00:55:36,759
Speaker 2: was researching her. We second guessing myself constantly about like

716
00:55:36,880 --> 00:55:39,920
Speaker 2: cause the names don't match up even though other things do.

717
00:55:40,120 --> 00:55:42,600
Speaker 2: So can you talk about your research methods? I mean,

718
00:55:42,640 --> 00:55:45,279
Speaker 2: I know it was a very extensive experience, but can

719
00:55:45,320 --> 00:55:48,120
Speaker 2: you give us a little insight into how you how

720
00:55:48,160 --> 00:55:48,879
Speaker 2: you wrangle her?

721
00:55:49,320 --> 00:55:54,040
Speaker 1: Sure? So, when I first started this project, there was

722
00:55:54,080 --> 00:55:59,040
Speaker 1: a colleague of mine who had told me that, you know,

723
00:55:59,080 --> 00:56:03,160
Speaker 1: the welfare Queen stereotype or the phrase the welfare queen,

724
00:56:03,880 --> 00:56:06,960
Speaker 1: that it had been originally associated with a specific person.

725
00:56:07,040 --> 00:56:09,480
Speaker 1: I didn't know that at all, but that was an

726
00:56:09,480 --> 00:56:14,359
Speaker 1: intriguing little tidbit. And then I started looking in news

727
00:56:14,440 --> 00:56:18,319
Speaker 1: databases that we have access to as journalists, and I

728
00:56:18,440 --> 00:56:22,440
Speaker 1: found a whole bunch of stories from the year nineteen

729
00:56:22,480 --> 00:56:25,640
Speaker 1: seventy four to nineteen seventy eight. They were all about

730
00:56:25,680 --> 00:56:30,640
Speaker 1: this woman Linda Taylor, who had committed welfare fraud in Chicago.

731
00:56:30,760 --> 00:56:33,279
Speaker 1: Was written about a lot by the Chicago Tribune, was

732
00:56:33,320 --> 00:56:36,960
Speaker 1: talked about by Ronald Reagan. But this was just a

733
00:56:37,040 --> 00:56:39,839
Speaker 1: four year period of her life. There was just this

734
00:56:39,960 --> 00:56:45,200
Speaker 1: really brief moment where she was famous all across America,

735
00:56:45,239 --> 00:56:49,960
Speaker 1: where people might have known her name, where she was

736
00:56:50,960 --> 00:56:55,120
Speaker 1: recognized as this villain who was put on trial. She

737
00:56:55,200 --> 00:57:00,160
Speaker 1: was on television. But the thing that fascinated me, that

738
00:57:00,400 --> 00:57:06,200
Speaker 1: got me hooked on this story for years and years

739
00:57:06,200 --> 00:57:09,200
Speaker 1: and years, was the fact that there was nothing written

740
00:57:09,200 --> 00:57:12,240
Speaker 1: about her before in nineteen seventy four, and nothing written

741
00:57:12,239 --> 00:57:16,520
Speaker 1: about her after nineteen seventy eight. And as you're alluding

742
00:57:16,560 --> 00:57:21,360
Speaker 1: to in that coverage, it was noted that she used

743
00:57:21,360 --> 00:57:24,560
Speaker 1: a lot of different names and so you know, where

744
00:57:24,560 --> 00:57:27,600
Speaker 1: do you start, Where do you look where? When you know,

745
00:57:27,680 --> 00:57:31,160
Speaker 1: I've done a lot of public records requests in my

746
00:57:31,280 --> 00:57:36,120
Speaker 1: day as a journalist, and having a name and a

747
00:57:36,200 --> 00:57:39,520
Speaker 1: date of birth, and I mean people might not be

748
00:57:39,560 --> 00:57:41,280
Speaker 1: aware of this, but like often, you also have to

749
00:57:41,320 --> 00:57:45,280
Speaker 1: have a death certificate or failing that, an obituary, because

750
00:57:45,400 --> 00:57:48,840
Speaker 1: the FBI, for instance, they're not going to release records

751
00:57:49,320 --> 00:57:53,880
Speaker 1: to just me, a random person who's interested. If the

752
00:57:53,920 --> 00:57:57,280
Speaker 1: person's still living, that's a violation of their privacy. So

753
00:57:58,680 --> 00:58:03,760
Speaker 1: it took me so long to follow the trail from

754
00:58:03,760 --> 00:58:06,760
Speaker 1: one name to another, from one city to another, from

755
00:58:06,800 --> 00:58:10,120
Speaker 1: one state to another, from one agency to another, to

756
00:58:10,200 --> 00:58:14,880
Speaker 1: put together all of the different pieces to even be

757
00:58:14,920 --> 00:58:17,000
Speaker 1: able to figure out that she was dead. So that

758
00:58:17,160 --> 00:58:20,439
Speaker 1: was the first thing. And what my editor at Slay

759
00:58:20,520 --> 00:58:22,439
Speaker 1: told me is that, you know, in order to run

760
00:58:22,440 --> 00:58:24,840
Speaker 1: this piece, you need to figure out what happened to

761
00:58:24,880 --> 00:58:29,320
Speaker 1: this woman. And it wasn't documents, ultimately that allowed me

762
00:58:29,480 --> 00:58:33,320
Speaker 1: to figure that out. It was getting in touch with

763
00:58:33,800 --> 00:58:37,720
Speaker 1: one of her children and he told me the name

764
00:58:38,040 --> 00:58:42,400
Speaker 1: that she was using when she died, and then I

765
00:58:42,480 --> 00:58:44,760
Speaker 1: was able to kind of backtrack and put things together

766
00:58:45,560 --> 00:58:48,120
Speaker 1: from there, and that was an important lesson is that

767
00:58:48,680 --> 00:58:50,880
Speaker 1: documents can get you part of the way there, and

768
00:58:50,960 --> 00:58:54,040
Speaker 1: a story like this interviews with people can get you

769
00:58:54,080 --> 00:58:55,600
Speaker 1: part of the way there, but you kind of need

770
00:58:55,640 --> 00:58:58,160
Speaker 1: both to put together a full story.

771
00:58:59,280 --> 00:59:03,640
Speaker 2: In the podcast, you mentioned that first court case about

772
00:59:03,680 --> 00:59:08,240
Speaker 2: her being the heir to Lawrence Wakefield was both sealed

773
00:59:08,520 --> 00:59:11,960
Speaker 2: and misplaced and you still got it, which I think

774
00:59:12,040 --> 00:59:16,960
Speaker 2: is amazing. Can you talk about what that process was like,

775
00:59:16,960 --> 00:59:18,520
Speaker 2: Like I know you said you got like a lawyer

776
00:59:18,560 --> 00:59:21,880
Speaker 2: to ask for it, and just how did that go

777
00:59:21,960 --> 00:59:24,600
Speaker 2: down that particular one, because I feel like that to

778
00:59:25,200 --> 00:59:27,160
Speaker 2: your point, I think you mentioned this maybe in both

779
00:59:27,200 --> 00:59:29,800
Speaker 2: the book and the podcast, but like that kind of

780
00:59:29,880 --> 00:59:33,680
Speaker 2: sets this stage for who she became. Like that one

781
00:59:34,640 --> 00:59:37,480
Speaker 2: court case, it's huge, but like that one felt like

782
00:59:38,000 --> 00:59:40,480
Speaker 2: it grounded me in her almost her persona.

783
00:59:40,800 --> 00:59:45,240
Speaker 1: Yeah, getting access to that was so important and kind

784
00:59:45,240 --> 00:59:50,280
Speaker 1: of opening up the whole story. And I knew that

785
00:59:50,360 --> 00:59:57,520
Speaker 1: this case existed from press accounts and there was some

786
00:59:57,880 --> 01:00:00,280
Speaker 1: you know, I mentioned that nineteen seventy four to seventy

787
01:00:00,320 --> 01:00:03,840
Speaker 1: eight period where she was actually written about. There were

788
01:00:03,840 --> 01:00:07,120
Speaker 1: a few kind of offhand references to it, so I

789
01:00:07,160 --> 01:00:10,800
Speaker 1: was able to then go back to the earlier like

790
01:00:10,920 --> 01:00:16,040
Speaker 1: nineteen sixties coverage, which she was under a totally different name.

791
01:00:16,120 --> 01:00:20,000
Speaker 1: There was no obvious connection, but kind of knowing the

792
01:00:20,000 --> 01:00:21,720
Speaker 1: different names and being able to piece it together. So

793
01:00:21,760 --> 01:00:24,600
Speaker 1: I knew that there was this court case and there

794
01:00:24,680 --> 01:00:27,120
Speaker 1: was some you know, public interest in it back then,

795
01:00:27,200 --> 01:00:31,400
Speaker 1: so there were some newspaper accounts that gave some details.

796
01:00:31,440 --> 01:00:34,720
Speaker 1: But yeah, I found out that the case was sealed

797
01:00:34,800 --> 01:00:37,959
Speaker 1: in Cook County where Chicago is, by the probate Court.

798
01:00:38,040 --> 01:00:40,440
Speaker 1: I don't think I was ever able to figure out

799
01:00:40,480 --> 01:00:43,960
Speaker 1: why it was sealed. Yeah, just had to get some

800
01:00:44,040 --> 01:00:48,080
Speaker 1: lawyers to help me get it unsealed and get those,

801
01:00:48,360 --> 01:00:50,960
Speaker 1: you know, records available for me to look through. And

802
01:00:51,000 --> 01:00:55,240
Speaker 1: when you know, for anybody who has experienced dealing with

803
01:00:55,320 --> 01:00:58,240
Speaker 1: court files or court records, you often just have no

804
01:00:58,320 --> 01:01:01,760
Speaker 1: idea what's in what's in there, what's you know, whether

805
01:01:01,840 --> 01:01:05,760
Speaker 1: there's going to be just a bunch of orders and

806
01:01:05,920 --> 01:01:08,440
Speaker 1: legal kind of argumentation, or whether there's going to be

807
01:01:08,480 --> 01:01:13,160
Speaker 1: actual evidence. So when I opened this court file, there

808
01:01:13,320 --> 01:01:16,160
Speaker 1: was you know, a photo of her. There was must

809
01:01:16,200 --> 01:01:18,400
Speaker 1: have been from like the nineteen forties. That's in the book.

810
01:01:18,440 --> 01:01:23,000
Speaker 1: It's a really beautiful striking photo of her in her youth.

811
01:01:24,360 --> 01:01:28,120
Speaker 1: There was you know, some stuff that had been confiscated

812
01:01:28,120 --> 01:01:30,920
Speaker 1: from her, like a wallet that had Lawrence Wakefield's name

813
01:01:30,960 --> 01:01:34,240
Speaker 1: in it, so you could actually like feel the real

814
01:01:34,280 --> 01:01:36,840
Speaker 1: events or kind of her presence in there. So that

815
01:01:37,000 --> 01:01:40,600
Speaker 1: was a really amazing find. But the thing that was

816
01:01:40,680 --> 01:01:45,160
Speaker 1: so just incredible was that if a case gets appealed,

817
01:01:45,280 --> 01:01:48,480
Speaker 1: what often happens is that there's a transcript of the

818
01:01:48,520 --> 01:01:54,200
Speaker 1: original case generated just because it's needed for the appeal

819
01:01:54,280 --> 01:01:57,080
Speaker 1: to you know, pointing to they said this or they

820
01:01:57,080 --> 01:01:58,960
Speaker 1: said that, and so this is the grounds for our appeal.

821
01:01:59,240 --> 01:02:02,520
Speaker 1: So she had appealed when she had lost that case,

822
01:02:04,080 --> 01:02:08,720
Speaker 1: and there was a transcript of, you know, the her

823
01:02:08,800 --> 01:02:12,400
Speaker 1: testimony when her mother come up from the Deep South

824
01:02:12,480 --> 01:02:15,440
Speaker 1: to testify against her. And so a lot of the

825
01:02:15,520 --> 01:02:20,200
Speaker 1: information that's in the book that's not even directly relevant

826
01:02:20,240 --> 01:02:22,840
Speaker 1: to that court case. It's like her aunt saying she

827
01:02:23,040 --> 01:02:25,800
Speaker 1: was born in gold Dust, Tennessee, in this house and

828
01:02:25,840 --> 01:02:27,360
Speaker 1: it was a rainy day. A lot of that is

829
01:02:27,440 --> 01:02:32,720
Speaker 1: just testimony from that court case that I was lucky

830
01:02:32,720 --> 01:02:34,320
Speaker 1: to be able to get unsealed, and I was lucky

831
01:02:34,400 --> 01:02:39,400
Speaker 1: to find within that file that you know, those words

832
01:02:39,400 --> 01:02:42,280
Speaker 1: had been preserved. It's been like sixty years now. I

833
01:02:42,280 --> 01:02:44,800
Speaker 1: guess it was like a little more than fifty years

834
01:02:44,800 --> 01:02:45,960
Speaker 1: when I started working on it.

835
01:02:47,240 --> 01:02:49,600
Speaker 2: There's strong I feel like there were strong evidence that

836
01:02:49,640 --> 01:02:53,200
Speaker 2: you presented that supported that she at least had a

837
01:02:53,240 --> 01:02:57,640
Speaker 2: hand in the murders of three different people. So Patricia Parks,

838
01:02:57,760 --> 01:03:02,320
Speaker 2: Mildred Markham, and Sherman are the ones that really jumped

839
01:03:02,320 --> 01:03:04,520
Speaker 2: out to me, is like, I mean, it seems like

840
01:03:04,600 --> 01:03:07,560
Speaker 2: she had something to do with all three of their deaths,

841
01:03:08,000 --> 01:03:08,840
Speaker 2: do you think so?

842
01:03:10,320 --> 01:03:15,080
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think there's strong evidence pointing in that direction.

843
01:03:15,520 --> 01:03:19,440
Speaker 1: But you know, I think one of the main points

844
01:03:19,440 --> 01:03:22,400
Speaker 1: I wanted people to come away with from you know,

845
01:03:22,440 --> 01:03:26,320
Speaker 1: this work that I did is that the fact that

846
01:03:26,320 --> 01:03:30,760
Speaker 1: that question can't be answered definitively is kind of the point.

847
01:03:31,800 --> 01:03:37,800
Speaker 1: Because the welfare fraud that she committed was investigated so

848
01:03:37,960 --> 01:03:43,040
Speaker 1: thoroughly and was focused on so intently. She was put

849
01:03:43,040 --> 01:03:46,240
Speaker 1: on trial for it, and she was sent to prison

850
01:03:46,280 --> 01:03:50,760
Speaker 1: for it, and you know, it's two things. It's like

851
01:03:51,000 --> 01:03:55,560
Speaker 1: you can just put that fact, you know, up and

852
01:03:56,160 --> 01:03:59,560
Speaker 1: note that, and then note that the other crimes, the

853
01:03:59,560 --> 01:04:03,120
Speaker 1: alligations of you know, homicide and kidnapping, were not treated

854
01:04:03,160 --> 01:04:05,080
Speaker 1: the same way, and that seems like it makes its

855
01:04:05,080 --> 01:04:07,360
Speaker 1: own point, But I think you can go one step

856
01:04:07,400 --> 01:04:14,000
Speaker 1: further and argue that whether it's police resources or prosecutorial resources,

857
01:04:14,040 --> 01:04:19,479
Speaker 1: these things are finite, and there's discretion around what kinds

858
01:04:19,520 --> 01:04:23,760
Speaker 1: of crimes are investigated, what's focused on, and I think

859
01:04:23,800 --> 01:04:29,120
Speaker 1: in this particular case, the resources that were devoted to

860
01:04:29,320 --> 01:04:32,120
Speaker 1: focusing on her welfare fraud is part of the reason,

861
01:04:32,160 --> 01:04:36,320
Speaker 1: a really big reason why we don't have answers to

862
01:04:36,360 --> 01:04:42,160
Speaker 1: the questions about those murders. And I think it's really

863
01:04:42,560 --> 01:04:47,480
Speaker 1: something that's the you know, the survivors or those folks

864
01:04:47,520 --> 01:04:51,160
Speaker 1: have a really hard time grappling with, or had a

865
01:04:51,160 --> 01:04:54,440
Speaker 1: hard time grappling with when I interviewed them, just this

866
01:04:54,560 --> 01:04:58,520
Speaker 1: knowledge that their loved ones death just wasn't deemed to

867
01:04:58,560 --> 01:05:03,640
Speaker 1: be as important as welfare by the press, by politicians,

868
01:05:03,920 --> 01:05:09,560
Speaker 1: by law enforcement agencies. And so I can marshal whatever

869
01:05:09,640 --> 01:05:13,200
Speaker 1: evidence that I have, you know, the insurance policies that

870
01:05:13,240 --> 01:05:16,720
Speaker 1: she took out in people's names, the eyewitness accounts of

871
01:05:16,800 --> 01:05:21,600
Speaker 1: how Patricia Parks was treated and how Mildred Markham was treated,

872
01:05:21,960 --> 01:05:24,280
Speaker 1: which I think is pretty strong evidence, but it's not

873
01:05:24,920 --> 01:05:27,800
Speaker 1: enough to send somebody to prison, like you need an

874
01:05:27,840 --> 01:05:32,560
Speaker 1: actual police investigation for that, which will just never It's

875
01:05:32,800 --> 01:05:35,160
Speaker 1: it's too late, like that can't happen.

876
01:05:36,280 --> 01:05:38,200
Speaker 2: The question I like to end with is like, is

877
01:05:38,200 --> 01:05:40,560
Speaker 2: there anything that I should have asked you about about

878
01:05:40,560 --> 01:05:43,080
Speaker 2: this story that I didn't or anything that you want

879
01:05:43,120 --> 01:05:44,560
Speaker 2: to talk about that we didn't touch on.

880
01:05:45,440 --> 01:05:49,600
Speaker 1: I think that Linda Taylor's story and the story of

881
01:05:49,640 --> 01:06:00,040
Speaker 1: her victims shows the power of one individual anecdote. And

882
01:06:00,280 --> 01:06:05,680
Speaker 1: everybody loves stories. Stories can inform, they can also mislead.

883
01:06:06,680 --> 01:06:10,480
Speaker 1: And this is a really crazy story, right, It's like

884
01:06:10,520 --> 01:06:13,680
Speaker 1: a story that's you've probably in various ways never heard

885
01:06:13,720 --> 01:06:18,400
Speaker 1: a story like it. And the fact that public policy

886
01:06:18,560 --> 01:06:23,600
Speaker 1: was made based on this one crazy story, the fact

887
01:06:23,680 --> 01:06:27,600
Speaker 1: that a stereotype was born out of one crazy story,

888
01:06:27,680 --> 01:06:31,520
Speaker 1: when it's actually the exact opposite conclusion that we should

889
01:06:31,600 --> 01:06:36,280
Speaker 1: reach is that, like, this woman only kind of stood

890
01:06:36,320 --> 01:06:40,320
Speaker 1: for herself. The only conclusions that you can draw are

891
01:06:40,520 --> 01:06:45,480
Speaker 1: ones about her and about I think that the victims.

892
01:06:46,160 --> 01:06:50,680
Speaker 1: But this notion that her story was used to demonize

893
01:06:50,920 --> 01:06:55,360
Speaker 1: recipients of public aid, the fact that it was used,

894
01:06:55,480 --> 01:07:01,080
Speaker 1: in my view, to demonize import people of color, I

895
01:07:01,120 --> 01:07:06,440
Speaker 1: think It's just a really important lesson for everyone as

896
01:07:07,080 --> 01:07:11,959
Speaker 1: consumers of news, of media, of stories to think about

897
01:07:11,960 --> 01:07:14,160
Speaker 1: who's telling the story and what they want you to

898
01:07:14,200 --> 01:07:18,240
Speaker 1: be taking away from it, and to just really be

899
01:07:18,440 --> 01:07:23,280
Speaker 1: careful in the kinds of conclusions that you're drawing from

900
01:07:23,400 --> 01:07:28,880
Speaker 1: one example, because I mean, I obviously thought it was

901
01:07:28,920 --> 01:07:32,720
Speaker 1: important to tell this one story and that there are

902
01:07:32,800 --> 01:07:34,600
Speaker 1: lessons that can be drawn from it. But I think

903
01:07:34,640 --> 01:07:38,400
Speaker 1: one of the big lessons is don't draw too many

904
01:07:38,440 --> 01:07:39,640
Speaker 1: conclusions from one story.

905
01:07:39,840 --> 01:07:43,640
Speaker 2: And I think that's great advice for everyone, but about

906
01:07:43,960 --> 01:07:47,120
Speaker 2: this story, for sure. And thank you so much for

907
01:07:47,160 --> 01:07:51,560
Speaker 2: coming on to talk to me about Linda Taylor the Queen.

908
01:07:52,120 --> 01:07:54,160
Speaker 2: Tell us what you're working on now and the best

909
01:07:54,200 --> 01:07:55,720
Speaker 2: way for our listeners to find you.

910
01:07:56,320 --> 01:08:01,240
Speaker 1: Yeah. So, in addition to the Queen book and podcast,

911
01:08:01,960 --> 01:08:05,880
Speaker 1: I do a lot of work in audio. I am

912
01:08:05,920 --> 01:08:08,400
Speaker 1: the aitorial director of a podcast for Slate called slow

913
01:08:08,400 --> 01:08:12,560
Speaker 1: Burn that tells the stories of really big events in

914
01:08:12,600 --> 01:08:18,519
Speaker 1: American history over in you know, the Modern Us. I

915
01:08:18,640 --> 01:08:22,559
Speaker 1: hosted a season about the political rise of David Duke

916
01:08:23,360 --> 01:08:27,000
Speaker 1: in my home state of Louisiana, which is another really

917
01:08:27,600 --> 01:08:29,720
Speaker 1: big and important and powerful story that I think there

918
01:08:29,720 --> 01:08:33,559
Speaker 1: are lessons to be learned from. I'm currently working on

919
01:08:33,600 --> 01:08:37,439
Speaker 1: a new season of slow Burn that's about the rise

920
01:08:37,479 --> 01:08:40,240
Speaker 1: of Fox News, which will be out later this year.

921
01:08:40,360 --> 01:08:45,040
Speaker 1: And I also created and hosted another history podcast called

922
01:08:45,080 --> 01:08:49,880
Speaker 1: One Year that's about different years and American history and

923
01:08:49,960 --> 01:08:54,400
Speaker 1: the wild and unexpected things that happened within them, and

924
01:08:54,800 --> 01:08:58,479
Speaker 1: a bunch of just really deeply reported stories there as well.

925
01:08:58,520 --> 01:09:00,080
Speaker 1: If folks are into that sort.

926
01:08:59,920 --> 01:09:20,880
Speaker 2: Of join me next week on the Greatest True Crime

927
01:09:20,960 --> 01:09:25,400
Speaker 2: Stories Ever Told for our episode about Anne Rule. You

928
01:09:25,520 --> 01:09:28,120
Speaker 2: might know the famous true crime author for her book

929
01:09:28,240 --> 01:09:31,720
Speaker 2: The Stranger Beside Me about her time working a suicide

930
01:09:31,760 --> 01:09:34,760
Speaker 2: hotline with one of the worst serial killers ever known,

931
01:09:35,280 --> 01:09:39,720
Speaker 2: Ted Bundy. But this episode is going to focus on

932
01:09:39,760 --> 01:09:44,439
Speaker 2: the queen of true crime writing and Rule herself. I'd

933
01:09:44,479 --> 01:09:47,880
Speaker 2: also like to recognize Josh Levine's book The Queen Again,

934
01:09:48,400 --> 01:09:52,519
Speaker 2: since it was my primary source for this research. For

935
01:09:52,640 --> 01:09:55,519
Speaker 2: more information about this case and others we cover on

936
01:09:55,560 --> 01:10:13,800
Speaker 2: the show, visit Diversionaudio dot com. The Greatest True Crime

937
01:10:13,840 --> 01:10:18,599
Speaker 2: Stories Ever Told is a production of Diversion Audio. I'm

938
01:10:18,640 --> 01:10:22,679
Speaker 2: Mary Kay McBrayer, and I hosted this episode. I also

939
01:10:22,840 --> 01:10:26,759
Speaker 2: wrote this episode. Our show is produced by Emma Dumouth,

940
01:10:27,439 --> 01:10:32,640
Speaker 2: edited by Antonio Enriquez. Theme music by Tyler Cash. Executive

941
01:10:32,680 --> 01:10:34,160
Speaker 2: produced by Scott Waxman.