WEBVTT - Afrikka Didn't Need to Die 0:00:01.560 --> 0:00:04.680 The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely 0:00:04.720 --> 0:00:08.200 those of the authors and participants and do not necessarily 0:00:08.200 --> 0:00:12.160 represent those of iHeart Media, Tenderfoot TV, or their employees. 0:00:12.920 --> 0:00:17.320 This series contains discussions of violence and sexual violence. Listener 0:00:17.360 --> 0:00:25.560 discretion is advised, whether we want to or not. We're 0:00:25.600 --> 0:00:30.840 constantly creating records of our lives. Phone calls, emails, even 0:00:30.920 --> 0:00:34.159 credit card purchases can be used to pinpoint where we 0:00:34.159 --> 0:00:37.800 were at a certain time. When we touch a door knob, 0:00:37.960 --> 0:00:41.240 the oil from our hand leaves fingerprints and her skin 0:00:41.520 --> 0:00:45.280 sheds DNA, and if we drive by a security camera, 0:00:45.560 --> 0:00:49.080 our license plate can be scanned and entered into a database. 0:00:50.400 --> 0:00:54.320 But despite all of this information we're creating all of 0:00:54.360 --> 0:00:57.600 this power that we're giving the government and police, the 0:00:57.720 --> 0:01:01.120 United States isn't getting better at saul being serious crimes 0:01:01.160 --> 0:01:08.040 like homicide. In fact, we're getting worse. Murders were solved 0:01:08.040 --> 0:01:13.600 in today. That number has dropped dramatically. One of every 0:01:13.720 --> 0:01:19.959 three murders goes unsolved. One reporter found those stats unacceptable. 0:01:20.280 --> 0:01:23.720 Every day in America, people die who did not need 0:01:23.800 --> 0:01:28.400 to die, because every solved murder reduces the occurrence of 0:01:28.560 --> 0:01:34.120 murker from my Heart Radio and Tenderfoot TV. This is 0:01:34.200 --> 0:01:39.600 Algorithm and I'm ben Key Break, just to introduce myself 0:01:39.640 --> 0:01:43.760 really quick. Normally I don't host podcasts. I'm a producer, 0:01:43.840 --> 0:01:48.240 which means I normally just do stuff behind the scenes, research, writing, 0:01:48.400 --> 0:01:51.960 setting up interviews. Almost a year ago now, I was 0:01:52.040 --> 0:01:55.800 working on another show called Monster DC Sniper when I 0:01:55.800 --> 0:01:59.160 got an email from a friend. It was a link 0:01:59.240 --> 0:02:01.960 to a story about the murder of this young woman 0:02:02.160 --> 0:02:06.960 named Africa Hardy. The story was fascinating. It seemed to 0:02:06.960 --> 0:02:10.840 flip everything I knew about crime on its head because 0:02:10.880 --> 0:02:14.120 it wasn't just a story about trying to solve a murder. 0:02:14.200 --> 0:02:16.240 It was also a story about what could have been 0:02:16.280 --> 0:02:19.800 done to prevent the murder in the first place. And 0:02:19.840 --> 0:02:22.720 there were aspects of the case that we're still unclear. 0:02:23.280 --> 0:02:26.440 But if they checked out, then they could fundamentally change 0:02:26.480 --> 0:02:29.720 the way homicides are investigated in the United States and 0:02:29.800 --> 0:02:35.560 maybe all around the world. Obviously I was intrigued, but 0:02:35.639 --> 0:02:38.000 at the time I was busy working on the DC 0:02:38.160 --> 0:02:40.800 Sniper podcast, so I put it on the back burner. 0:02:41.880 --> 0:02:44.600 I tried to just forget about it, but I couldn't. 0:02:45.520 --> 0:02:48.600 I'd find myself on my phone late at night, searching 0:02:48.639 --> 0:02:51.960 for articles about Africa's case when I should have been sleeping, 0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:56.160 And I was frustrated because I had big questions about 0:02:56.200 --> 0:03:02.400 the murder investigation that it seemed like no one was asking. Eventually, 0:03:02.560 --> 0:03:07.040 I realized my curiosity wasn't going away. If I wanted 0:03:07.080 --> 0:03:09.679 these answers, I was going to have to find them myself. 0:03:10.919 --> 0:03:13.639 I decided to start researching the case in my spare 0:03:13.720 --> 0:03:18.200 time and documenting things as I went. But before I began, 0:03:18.520 --> 0:03:24.400 I wanted to reach out to Africa's mom, Lorie Townsend. Hello, 0:03:25.000 --> 0:03:28.520 Hi Lori, Yes, Hey, it's been Is now still a 0:03:28.560 --> 0:03:33.480 good time? Yes? I think I wanted her blessing to 0:03:33.520 --> 0:03:36.520 embark on this project to make sure I wasn't just 0:03:36.600 --> 0:03:40.839 opening up old wounds. If this was in person, i'd 0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:43.000 see if you had a water to drink? Do you 0:03:43.040 --> 0:03:45.520 have something like that around I? Do I have a 0:03:45.560 --> 0:03:51.840 bad rich grape juice? Great juice? Yeah? And I didn't 0:03:51.880 --> 0:03:54.360 just want to write a story about why Africa's case 0:03:54.480 --> 0:03:57.360 is so important that treated her solely as a victim 0:03:57.480 --> 0:04:00.720 or crime statistic. I wanted to learn earned more about 0:04:00.760 --> 0:04:06.000 who Africa was and how would you describe Africa. Just beautiful. 0:04:06.200 --> 0:04:08.520 She she really was beautiful. And I'm not just saying 0:04:08.520 --> 0:04:12.000 that she she's my daughter. She was beautiful. She had 0:04:12.040 --> 0:04:16.040 a very bright smile. My daughter was with African American 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:21.200 in Caucasian, so she had tight, curly hair and her 0:04:21.320 --> 0:04:27.720 smile just she radiated with a smile. Is there like 0:04:27.760 --> 0:04:31.080 a particular memory that stands out when you think back 0:04:31.120 --> 0:04:36.600 about her everything? Um, she was Saffy WHI. She was 0:04:36.600 --> 0:04:38.799 a little shows She's try to bully her older brother. 0:04:40.400 --> 0:04:42.240 She would put her hands on her hips to say, 0:04:42.320 --> 0:04:47.640 I'm not considering you, I'm not considering you. Yeah, she 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:49.880 was like one or two wish. She was so that 0:04:49.920 --> 0:04:54.880 all the time. She loved Disney movies like Toy Story 0:04:55.040 --> 0:04:58.880 was one of her favorites. You know, William Buzz, We'll 0:04:58.880 --> 0:05:01.120 see one of those people that knows the words to 0:05:01.200 --> 0:05:03.760 all of the songs. Yeah. She could hear song once 0:05:03.800 --> 0:05:06.400 and pick it up and never leave you alone about it. 0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:16.960 She would sing it until her place out. Yeah. Yeah, 0:05:17.320 --> 0:05:21.320 she's my best friend. She really was. We went through 0:05:21.520 --> 0:05:25.679 so much together. To me adding that mother and daughter 0:05:25.760 --> 0:05:29.400 don't usually go through. When you say it's like going 0:05:29.440 --> 0:05:33.960 through odd stuff, do you have an example, um, I 0:05:34.080 --> 0:05:37.680 was a little abusive relationship. My daughter was there with me. 0:05:38.320 --> 0:05:42.480 She helped me get out of it. We were homeless, 0:05:42.880 --> 0:05:47.800 We lived in hotels together. You know, I wasn't financially 0:05:47.839 --> 0:05:51.800 capable of taking care of my children. Lori was a 0:05:51.880 --> 0:05:55.080 young mother trying to rebuild her life, and she felt 0:05:55.160 --> 0:05:58.720 she couldn't provide Africa or her son the stability they needed. 0:05:59.279 --> 0:06:01.839 But she didn't want to put them in foster care either. 0:06:03.080 --> 0:06:06.760 Instead of losing my children to the system, I placed 0:06:06.760 --> 0:06:08.640 them where I would be a part of their growing 0:06:08.720 --> 0:06:12.640 up and where I knew they would be safe. Lorie 0:06:12.880 --> 0:06:16.240 enrolled her kids in Moose Heart, a charity run boarding 0:06:16.279 --> 0:06:19.560 school west of Chicago, and then she worked to get 0:06:19.560 --> 0:06:23.680 both feet back on the ground. Lorie started a new 0:06:23.720 --> 0:06:27.280 life in the suburbs of Denver, and once things spelt stable, 0:06:27.400 --> 0:06:31.400 she brought her kids out there. As a teen, Africa 0:06:31.440 --> 0:06:34.160 had plans to go to college and study to become 0:06:34.160 --> 0:06:38.080 an audio engineer or maybe a nurse. But when Africa 0:06:38.200 --> 0:06:41.479 graduated from high school, Lorie was working at a seven 0:06:41.520 --> 0:06:46.240 eleven and struggling financially, and Africa wasn't sure she could 0:06:46.240 --> 0:06:49.960 afford tuition. As she tried to figure out next steps. 0:06:50.160 --> 0:06:53.520 Africa decided to move back to Chicago, where she still 0:06:53.600 --> 0:06:58.880 had a lot of family. Dun A four teams. She 0:06:59.640 --> 0:07:03.520 were back to Chicago. She went back with my ex cousind. 0:07:04.720 --> 0:07:07.680 She's nineteen, so not like she was a little kid 0:07:07.800 --> 0:07:11.120 or anything like that, but her cousin wanted to get 0:07:11.120 --> 0:07:14.840 her a job like the post office. I don't know 0:07:15.160 --> 0:07:19.760 what happened. Was that exactly why she moved his unclear. 0:07:20.720 --> 0:07:24.840 Laurie says she was nineteen and looking for independence. Other 0:07:24.960 --> 0:07:28.760 relatives wonder whether she was trying to avoid putting financial 0:07:28.800 --> 0:07:33.880 strain on her mom. Regardless, Chicago was expensive but exciting, 0:07:34.560 --> 0:07:37.920 and there were so many possibilities, so many things to do, 0:07:38.400 --> 0:07:42.360 people to meet. There was a bigger city than when 0:07:42.400 --> 0:07:44.600 she used us to about her in Denver. It was 0:07:44.600 --> 0:07:46.680 hard to get around. You know, she had a car, 0:07:47.120 --> 0:07:49.680 so you know, getting on the boat with you know, 0:07:49.680 --> 0:07:54.320 a little scary horror. But she was trying to figure 0:07:54.360 --> 0:07:57.880 things out for herself out there. Was that scary for 0:07:58.000 --> 0:08:00.040 you or did you feel like she could handle it? 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:03.400 It was definitely scary, not being close enough to know 0:08:03.600 --> 0:08:07.120 exactly what's really going on. So it was definitely hard 0:08:08.840 --> 0:08:11.720 when we did talk. She was okay, and you know, 0:08:11.880 --> 0:08:15.320 she had the two friends and she was going out 0:08:15.360 --> 0:08:19.280 to eat nice places and she had nice polls. I 0:08:19.400 --> 0:08:24.680 had no idea anything was going on. When I think 0:08:24.720 --> 0:08:27.840 back now, I wonder maybe I could have prevented this. 0:08:28.760 --> 0:08:30.880 When we were talking and she was telling me where 0:08:30.880 --> 0:08:33.959 she was going out to eat or whatever, they never registered. 0:08:33.960 --> 0:08:38.679 In my mind, I still beat myself up. Why didn't 0:08:38.679 --> 0:08:42.280 the register to me? But maybe she was throwing the signs. 0:08:43.960 --> 0:08:47.040 I don't think that you know everything about child, because 0:08:47.040 --> 0:08:50.360 there's something that they're not telling you. They're either scared 0:08:50.400 --> 0:08:52.559 to tell you, but there is a shame to tell you. 0:08:53.960 --> 0:08:57.440 If I knew that this is going on, I would 0:08:57.440 --> 0:09:00.240 have stopped it. I would have went out there my 0:09:00.360 --> 0:09:26.720 child back home. Do you remember the last interaction you 0:09:26.800 --> 0:09:31.120 had with Africa? It was through Facebook. He has sent 0:09:31.200 --> 0:09:34.720 me two pictures and she said she was getting fat 0:09:35.360 --> 0:09:39.680 and I said, no, you're not. And then I got 0:09:39.679 --> 0:09:42.760 off of work on Thursday and I thought I had 0:09:42.800 --> 0:09:47.760 misplaced my phone. So I had message through Facebook and 0:09:47.920 --> 0:09:51.080 told her I think I may have lost my phone. 0:09:51.160 --> 0:09:54.839 So if you need me, messaged me on Facebook. That 0:09:55.120 --> 0:09:59.480 was Thursday night going into Friday. I didn't hear anything 0:09:59.520 --> 0:10:03.120 back on around Friday. Then the following days when I 0:10:03.160 --> 0:10:09.360 found out. It was the making of my fiancing birthday. 0:10:09.600 --> 0:10:12.200 So we had went out to eat earlier that day 0:10:12.320 --> 0:10:15.280 and we were just at home. Lest you walking dead, 0:10:16.559 --> 0:10:20.880 I received a message from my ex husband's girlfriends. She 0:10:21.280 --> 0:10:25.600 messaged me oundkasebook and she said, you need to call Tasha. 0:10:26.080 --> 0:10:30.360 It's about Africa. I just thought Africa might be trying 0:10:30.360 --> 0:10:34.160 to contact me through Patasha too, that's her cousin. I mean, so, 0:10:34.679 --> 0:10:36.960 did you really pay any attention to it? She messaged 0:10:37.000 --> 0:10:39.280 me back Abound ten minutes later, she said, you really 0:10:39.320 --> 0:10:45.440 need to call in regard to Africa. So I called 0:10:45.440 --> 0:10:49.320 Tashay are you doing She said, we were up at 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:54.760 the corner's office. We have to identify Africa's body. Nothing, 0:10:54.920 --> 0:10:59.439 she said, pick my brain. I'm like the corner for 0:10:59.600 --> 0:11:05.240 what And she said, or we had to identify African's body. 0:11:06.679 --> 0:11:11.319 She said my daughter's name, and it hit me and 0:11:11.440 --> 0:11:17.800 I black out. When I came to I just looked 0:11:17.840 --> 0:11:23.720 up at my fiancee that Africa is dead. Cashould call 0:11:23.800 --> 0:11:30.160 me back and she told me what happens, and um, 0:11:30.160 --> 0:11:34.560 it just unreal to me. She was trying to give 0:11:34.600 --> 0:11:37.120 me details in phone numbers that I had a call, 0:11:38.280 --> 0:11:40.839 I had a contract. The leading detective on the case, 0:11:41.160 --> 0:11:46.079 Detective Forward. Detective Forward informed me that I'd probably hear 0:11:46.160 --> 0:11:49.600 some things about my child that I don't want to believe, 0:11:49.960 --> 0:11:55.440 but to know that it was true. On Friday, October, 0:11:57.760 --> 0:12:00.760 Lori was waiting for a response to message she had 0:12:00.800 --> 0:12:05.599 sent her daughter Africa, but Africa had already left Chicago. 0:12:06.520 --> 0:12:10.800 In fact, she had already left Illinois. She was forty 0:12:10.840 --> 0:12:14.720 five miles southeast in Indiana, living a life that she 0:12:14.760 --> 0:12:18.560 had never told her mom about. She'd gone to meet 0:12:18.640 --> 0:12:23.000 up with a man who she had only spoken to online. Originally, 0:12:23.160 --> 0:12:25.479 she was going to meet him earlier in the day, 0:12:25.520 --> 0:12:28.040 but he'd pushed things back because he said he couldn't 0:12:28.080 --> 0:12:32.200 find a babysitter. Africa knew it was risky to meet 0:12:32.240 --> 0:12:35.080 strangers from the internet, and she wanted to be safe, 0:12:35.480 --> 0:12:38.040 so she let her friend Shimika know where she was 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:42.120 and what she was doing, and then texted her when 0:12:42.160 --> 0:12:45.760 she met up with the man. Shimika was expecting another 0:12:45.840 --> 0:12:50.319 text from her when things wrapped up, but hours passed 0:12:50.440 --> 0:12:54.559 and the second text never came, so Shimika texted Africa's 0:12:54.559 --> 0:12:58.839 phone to check in. After a delay, she got a response, 0:12:59.840 --> 0:13:03.480 but the message seemed strange. She didn't think it sounded 0:13:03.520 --> 0:13:08.360 like something Africa would right. Shamika started to worry that 0:13:08.440 --> 0:13:11.680 something was wrong, so she tried calling Africa, but she 0:13:11.720 --> 0:13:15.960 couldn't get through. Shamika kept calling over and over, but 0:13:16.080 --> 0:13:21.400 Africa wasn't picking up. So Shamika called another friend, Eduardo, 0:13:21.840 --> 0:13:27.080 and they drove out to investigate. They arrived at the address. 0:13:27.440 --> 0:13:32.160 It was a motel six just off Interstate nine. Eduardo 0:13:32.240 --> 0:13:35.520 and Shamika found Africa's room and knocked on the door, 0:13:36.520 --> 0:13:40.319 but no one answered, so they got someone from the 0:13:40.400 --> 0:13:44.720 motel to let them in. They didn't see anyone inside 0:13:44.720 --> 0:13:48.520 the motel room, but the shower was running. They called 0:13:48.559 --> 0:13:53.480 out to whoever was there, but got no response. As 0:13:53.480 --> 0:13:56.360 they walked into the room, they saw the bed was 0:13:56.440 --> 0:14:01.359 at a strange angle. One of Africa's shoes, a platform stiletto, 0:14:01.800 --> 0:14:05.600 was lying on its side. They saw a shirt button 0:14:05.760 --> 0:14:10.199 on the floor, a broken fingernail, and a torn condom wrapper. 0:14:11.480 --> 0:14:15.600 They crept slowly toward the bathroom and knocked on the door, 0:14:16.240 --> 0:14:21.040 but again there was no response. Maybe someone had just 0:14:21.160 --> 0:14:24.680 left the shower running, so they cracked the door open. 0:14:26.800 --> 0:14:31.360 Shamika screamed and ran out of the room. Africa Hardy 0:14:31.680 --> 0:14:34.720 was lying in the tub, the shower water beating down 0:14:34.760 --> 0:14:38.360 on her. There was a thin red bruise going all 0:14:38.360 --> 0:14:44.120 the way around her neck. Just above that literature mark. 0:14:44.520 --> 0:14:48.560 Detectives notice that Africa had a tattoo. It was a 0:14:48.600 --> 0:14:53.360 Bible verse. It read, no weapon that is formed against 0:14:53.400 --> 0:14:59.640 me shall prosper it tap the floor informed me that 0:14:59.680 --> 0:15:02.480 I you hear some things about my child that I 0:15:02.560 --> 0:15:05.600 don't want to believe, but to know that it was true. 0:15:06.600 --> 0:15:13.080 She was an escort, prostituting, however you want to word it. Yeah, 0:15:13.320 --> 0:15:15.960 definitely something you don't want to know about your fine 0:15:15.960 --> 0:15:20.280 teen year old, beautiful child who could have had anything, 0:15:20.720 --> 0:15:25.800 done anything that she wanted to. Detective Forward had learned 0:15:25.840 --> 0:15:29.040 that Africa was working as a call girl and that 0:15:29.200 --> 0:15:31.920 was how Africa came into contact with the man she 0:15:32.040 --> 0:15:36.360 met at the motel. He was a client. I can 0:15:36.400 --> 0:15:39.320 definitely a hundred percent day that my children will not 0:15:39.400 --> 0:15:43.880 raised that way. But my children no struggle and they 0:15:43.920 --> 0:15:48.120 know how to overcome struggle. And maybe at that time 0:15:48.520 --> 0:15:51.560 Africa may have up that was the way to overcome struggle. 0:15:52.160 --> 0:15:54.960 I don't know. I think a lot of it has 0:15:55.000 --> 0:15:58.720 to do with the older female that she defriended. Him 0:15:59.040 --> 0:16:01.840 was twenty six. Was you that my daughter? My daughter 0:16:01.920 --> 0:16:06.200 was nine too, and I think she kind of primmed 0:16:06.240 --> 0:16:09.840 in prop Africa. You know, the new girl on the block. 0:16:09.960 --> 0:16:13.200 She's beautiful and you can make some money off of her. 0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:16.560 M Still to this day, I don't know why she 0:16:16.680 --> 0:16:20.440 decided to do what she did. I don't know, I 0:16:20.520 --> 0:16:24.080 don't know. I will never get that answer. Did you 0:16:24.080 --> 0:16:27.480 ever talk to that friend? Yeah, so I did speak 0:16:27.520 --> 0:16:30.040 with her, Like one time, we were on the phone 0:16:30.080 --> 0:16:34.000 for about a good hour and she mentioned that Africa, 0:16:34.320 --> 0:16:39.520 but hey, it's best money, put money, easy money, that 0:16:39.680 --> 0:16:43.480 Africa wanted to come back to Denver. She wanted to know, 0:16:43.640 --> 0:16:46.400 to help take care of her mom. So I'm going 0:16:46.440 --> 0:16:50.640 to assume that that's why, you know it happened. Yea. 0:16:51.440 --> 0:16:53.520 You know, it's hard to put myself in your shoes. 0:16:53.560 --> 0:16:55.800 But I imagine that that's kind of confusing to hear 0:16:55.920 --> 0:16:58.480 because in some ways it's like, you know, that's a 0:16:58.600 --> 0:17:02.800 great thing, she wants to to help you, But then 0:17:02.840 --> 0:17:06.960 it's also like hard because it's you know, like kind 0:17:06.960 --> 0:17:09.879 of connects you to it or something like that. Does 0:17:09.920 --> 0:17:14.560 that make sense exactly? Yeah, Like I feel guilty. I 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:17.199 mean I feel guilty about the whole scenario, but the 0:17:17.240 --> 0:17:22.240 part that she wanted to help me, you know, since 0:17:22.280 --> 0:17:24.800 Africa was little, I guess she's always looked up to me, 0:17:25.080 --> 0:17:26.879 and I have little letters and know if that she 0:17:27.000 --> 0:17:30.080 write me, and so when I get famous, I'm not 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:33.520 going to have to worry about anything anymore. I think 0:17:34.320 --> 0:17:37.120 in her mind, you know, she thought that she really 0:17:37.119 --> 0:17:39.679 had to take care of me because now that she 0:17:39.880 --> 0:17:43.160 was grown, it was her turn. You know, mother takes 0:17:43.160 --> 0:17:45.520 care of child, nor child had to take care of mother. 0:17:46.400 --> 0:17:49.080 It was just something in her that she thought she 0:17:49.160 --> 0:17:52.760 wanted to do to me. That speaks to you know 0:17:52.920 --> 0:17:55.760 that you guys were close and that she wanted to 0:17:55.760 --> 0:18:00.760 help you. When I've talked to people, lots of people 0:18:00.800 --> 0:18:04.360 talk about guilt, even in situations where it doesn't really 0:18:04.560 --> 0:18:08.040 make sense. I think that that is also sometimes just 0:18:08.119 --> 0:18:10.960 like part of losing someone you're very close to, you 0:18:11.080 --> 0:18:14.280 always kind of wonder. Yeah, if there's a lot of 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:18.440 things I wonder about. Did she begged for him to stop? 0:18:19.800 --> 0:18:22.080 She begged him for her life? You know, I was like, 0:18:22.840 --> 0:18:26.679 I wonder these things. I don't know if I'm wrong 0:18:26.760 --> 0:18:29.760 for wondering that. I just want to know what my 0:18:29.840 --> 0:18:34.240 daughter's wife words were when we first reached out to me. 0:18:34.560 --> 0:18:38.840 You said something about old wounds. This is not an 0:18:38.880 --> 0:18:41.760 old wound. This is a daily wound, you know, and 0:18:42.000 --> 0:18:46.840 um to adjusted things, but it never goes away, It 0:18:47.040 --> 0:18:50.760 never ever goes away. UM. I was telling my girlfriend 0:18:50.760 --> 0:18:53.400 that I was getting ready to do this interview, and 0:18:54.600 --> 0:18:58.280 her father passed away a year ago, and you know, 0:18:58.320 --> 0:19:02.120 a very different situation. And but she feels like other 0:19:02.160 --> 0:19:05.560 people get uncomfortable when she talks about it, like they 0:19:05.560 --> 0:19:08.280 don't want her to feel bad, but she wants to 0:19:08.280 --> 0:19:12.920 talk about him. Very true, very true, very very very true. 0:19:13.240 --> 0:19:16.840 People think that you're like completely broken, and they don't 0:19:16.840 --> 0:19:19.920 want to say anything or mention anything. But in order 0:19:19.960 --> 0:19:23.280 for me to keep my daughter's voice going, I have 0:19:23.440 --> 0:19:25.720 to talk about it. Let me talk. If I have 0:19:25.880 --> 0:19:28.600 to cry, and let me cry. If I wanted to laugh, 0:19:29.280 --> 0:19:32.160 let me laugh. So people are really like that. They're 0:19:32.160 --> 0:19:35.600 still like that with me today. So it is what 0:19:35.640 --> 0:19:38.399 it is. So before you were saying that you're like 0:19:38.480 --> 0:19:41.600 kind of curious about this, like you wanted to figure 0:19:41.600 --> 0:19:45.359 out a lot about what was going on after this happened. Yeah, 0:19:45.359 --> 0:19:48.320 I still have some curiosities, and there's still some things 0:19:48.400 --> 0:19:52.119 that I think me to be done and could be done. 0:19:52.840 --> 0:19:57.080 Like I get angry because he killed my daughter and 0:19:57.119 --> 0:20:01.720 my daughter was found enough freaking hotel m naked in 0:20:01.760 --> 0:20:06.919 a shower. Why you know, I get her? You know 0:20:07.520 --> 0:20:14.440 why angry myself. Here's another thing. I wonder why this 0:20:14.720 --> 0:20:22.119 guy we've left loose because here's the crazy thing about 0:20:22.160 --> 0:20:28.400 Africa's case. Well, Africa's death was senseless and seemed utterly random. 0:20:28.440 --> 0:20:33.359 It wasn't random. It was part of a pattern. And 0:20:33.520 --> 0:20:37.080 years earlier, a man named Thomas Hargrove had tried to 0:20:37.119 --> 0:20:40.760 warn police. He said he had evidence that a serial 0:20:40.880 --> 0:20:44.399 killer was on the loose, strangling young women in the area, 0:20:45.240 --> 0:20:50.919 women just like Africa. Hardy. So, who was Thomas Hargrove 0:20:51.560 --> 0:20:55.840 and what was his evidence? Unfortunately, Bury, Indiana is a 0:20:55.880 --> 0:20:58.679 good place to be a killer because you're probably going 0:20:58.720 --> 0:21:18.480 to get away with him. Hey, Ben, can you hear me? 0:21:19.640 --> 0:21:23.080 I'm speaking with Thomas Hargrove over zoom here. Hold on 0:21:23.040 --> 0:21:25.280 one second. I have to warn my wife. I'm doing 0:21:25.280 --> 0:21:29.280 an interview. Harkerve's the guy who warned police in Indiana 0:21:29.480 --> 0:21:31.440 that they might have a serial killer and the loose 0:21:33.960 --> 0:21:37.560 Hargrove sixty four. He's got a white beard and wear 0:21:37.680 --> 0:21:40.959 thin rimmed glasses. He wasn't the sort of guy I 0:21:40.960 --> 0:21:45.120 imagined would be investigating serial killers, so he's curious how 0:21:45.160 --> 0:21:48.040 he got into all this. I don't know where these 0:21:48.080 --> 0:21:51.120 things come from, but when I was seventeen, I decided 0:21:51.200 --> 0:21:55.600 I had to be a reporter, and investigative reporter, an 0:21:55.600 --> 0:22:00.920 investigative reporters, somebody looking into a truth that somebody is 0:22:00.960 --> 0:22:06.359 trying to hide, Like Africa. Hardy Hargrove grew up outside Chicago. 0:22:07.119 --> 0:22:10.000 He was inspired by journalists there who came up with 0:22:10.040 --> 0:22:14.400 a creative way to expose the city's corruption. Reporters kept 0:22:14.400 --> 0:22:16.960 hearing about the bribes that business owners had to pay 0:22:17.000 --> 0:22:20.399 city inspectors, but it was hard to prove any wrongdoing, 0:22:21.160 --> 0:22:26.000 so the journalists decided to go deep undercover. The reporters 0:22:26.040 --> 0:22:29.879 fought their editor into opening a bar. They called it 0:22:29.920 --> 0:22:34.000 the Mirage. Journalists were actually becoming bar keeps, and they 0:22:34.000 --> 0:22:38.120 were running this bar for months and months. They were 0:22:38.160 --> 0:22:42.919 specifically looking for indications of public corruption. And they found it. 0:22:44.119 --> 0:22:48.560 With hidden cameras running, the reporters caught inspectors taking bribes 0:22:48.600 --> 0:22:54.000 and ignoring code violations. It was a remarkable project, and 0:22:54.280 --> 0:22:57.199 it just seemed like it was so much fun. I 0:22:57.240 --> 0:23:02.280 wanted to be like these people. After high school, Hargrove 0:23:02.320 --> 0:23:05.760 studied journalism at the University of Missouri. It's actually one 0:23:05.760 --> 0:23:09.560 of the country's top programs for journalism at that time. 0:23:09.640 --> 0:23:12.760 In the early seventies, a new field was emerging called 0:23:12.760 --> 0:23:18.080 computer assisted reporting. The idea was that reporters could use 0:23:18.080 --> 0:23:23.200 computers to analyze data like government records. Hard grow quickly 0:23:23.240 --> 0:23:28.640 grasped that computing had the potential to revolutionize investigative journalism. 0:23:28.680 --> 0:23:31.520 It allowed reporters to step back and look at issues 0:23:31.560 --> 0:23:36.359 with a wider lens. From this new perspective, sometimes previously 0:23:36.400 --> 0:23:40.000 invisible patterns would come into focus. If you didn't ask 0:23:40.160 --> 0:23:44.000 the question in exactly the right way, your program would fail. 0:23:44.280 --> 0:23:48.119 And it was very frustrating, but it was astonishing what 0:23:48.200 --> 0:23:53.680 computers could do. After college, Hargrove landed a job as 0:23:53.720 --> 0:23:57.640 a crime reporter for the Birmingham Post Herald. Being a 0:23:57.720 --> 0:24:01.359 police reporter in the Deep South was a remarkable way 0:24:01.440 --> 0:24:04.680 to get started. I came as a Yankee and really 0:24:04.720 --> 0:24:08.400 wasn't expecting to like that experience, but I did. Her 0:24:08.440 --> 0:24:11.160 Grove loved the work experience he was getting, but being 0:24:11.200 --> 0:24:15.440 a police reporter wasn't always easy. It's one thing to 0:24:15.560 --> 0:24:19.880 think I want to write exposes about crooked politics. That's 0:24:19.920 --> 0:24:25.040 another thing to see what happens because of bad policies, 0:24:25.840 --> 0:24:30.919 poverty and desperation and violence. Hard Grove kept a police 0:24:30.920 --> 0:24:36.040 scanner running all the time, even at home. If he 0:24:36.119 --> 0:24:40.160 heard a dispatch that sounded newsworthy, he'd immediately drive out 0:24:40.160 --> 0:24:43.639 to the scene of the crime. Sometimes, if he happened 0:24:43.680 --> 0:24:47.240 to be nearby, he would beat the cops there. One 0:24:47.359 --> 0:24:51.760 was at a convenience store in Hoover, Alabama. I opened 0:24:51.760 --> 0:24:56.240 the door and didn't see anybody, and then found the 0:24:56.320 --> 0:25:02.840 cashier behind the counter. The cashier had been shot. He 0:25:02.960 --> 0:25:07.800 was lying on the ground leading out. He didn't say anything. 0:25:08.560 --> 0:25:16.439 He wasn't especially conscious, but he breathed his last It 0:25:16.680 --> 0:25:23.520 is an experience to see someone die. I didn't really 0:25:23.840 --> 0:25:26.560 think when I was a teenager what it was like 0:25:26.680 --> 0:25:30.760 to cover the news. I guess I didn't realize that 0:25:30.800 --> 0:25:34.760 when you experience the news rather than just right about it. 0:25:34.760 --> 0:25:41.480 It really is a life changing process. Hard Group's time 0:25:41.520 --> 0:25:44.720 as a crime reporter was also when he first learned 0:25:44.760 --> 0:25:50.080 about serial killers and a phenomenon called linkage blindness. In 0:25:50.119 --> 0:25:54.720 the late nineties seventies, the term serial killer did not exist. 0:25:55.520 --> 0:25:59.520 That was invented in the eighties. The term did not exist, 0:25:59.640 --> 0:26:03.040 but the idea that someone could kill over and over 0:26:03.080 --> 0:26:08.760 again was becoming common among Americans at that time. Just 0:26:08.960 --> 0:26:13.560 to the east of Birmingham, Atlanta was experiencing the Atlanta 0:26:13.680 --> 0:26:18.560 child murders, and those murders were not being solved. It's 0:26:18.640 --> 0:26:23.040 unusual for children to be murdered. It's very unusual for 0:26:23.359 --> 0:26:27.800 child murders to go unsolved, and there was criticism of 0:26:27.840 --> 0:26:31.399 the Atlanta Police Department for not recognizing the patterns sooner. 0:26:32.920 --> 0:26:38.160 I started attending academic symposiums that looked into the question 0:26:38.320 --> 0:26:42.480 of the Atlanta child murders, and I heard from criminologists 0:26:42.880 --> 0:26:46.800 that this is a well known problem called linkage blindness, 0:26:48.480 --> 0:26:52.719 that when there are connected cases, often the connection is 0:26:52.760 --> 0:26:55.960 not made by police because of the nature of how 0:26:56.000 --> 0:27:02.000 homicides are investigated. If someone murdered, a detective is assigned 0:27:02.000 --> 0:27:05.639 to the case. When another person is murdered, Usually a 0:27:05.640 --> 0:27:09.200 different detective is assigned to the case. If there are 0:27:09.400 --> 0:27:14.399 commonalities to the two murders, those commonalities are not recognized 0:27:14.480 --> 0:27:18.280 unless those two detectives have a conversation over the water cooler. 0:27:19.280 --> 0:27:24.080 If those killings occurred in a neighboring jurisdiction, that conversation 0:27:24.160 --> 0:27:28.919 never happens. Experts in the field, we're saying that most 0:27:29.080 --> 0:27:33.879 connected murders go unrecognized. The links are very rarely made, 0:27:34.600 --> 0:27:37.439 and I kept that in the back of my mind. 0:27:39.040 --> 0:27:42.359 Hargrove didn't know it yet, but this simple insight about 0:27:42.440 --> 0:27:47.440 linkage blindness, that connections between murders are often missed by police, 0:27:48.119 --> 0:27:51.960 That idea would become an obsession and completely alter the 0:27:52.000 --> 0:27:56.120 course of his life. But his next clue wouldn't come 0:27:56.240 --> 0:28:00.120 until decades later, when he was halfway across the country. 0:28:01.280 --> 0:28:04.200 Hargrove had climbed up through the ranks, and in two 0:28:04.200 --> 0:28:08.520 thousand four he was living his teenage dream. He was 0:28:08.560 --> 0:28:12.840 working as an investigative reporter in Washington, d C. And 0:28:12.880 --> 0:28:15.760 he was using the programming skills he learned in college 0:28:16.000 --> 0:28:21.399 to write big data driven stories. In two thousand four, 0:28:22.000 --> 0:28:25.960