1 00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:03,600 Speaker 1: You're listen to the Freeway Phanom, a production of iHeartRadio, 2 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:07,960 Speaker 1: Tenderfoot TV, and Black Bar METSVAH. The views and opinions 3 00:00:08,039 --> 00:00:11,520 Speaker 1: expressed in this podcast are solely those of the podcast 4 00:00:11,600 --> 00:00:15,040 Speaker 1: author or individuals participating in the podcast, and do not 5 00:00:15,120 --> 00:00:19,800 Speaker 1: represent those of iHeartMedia, Tenderfoot TV, Black Bar, MITZVAH, or 6 00:00:19,800 --> 00:00:24,040 Speaker 1: their employees. This podcast also contains subject matter that may 7 00:00:24,079 --> 00:00:27,600 Speaker 1: not be suitable for everyone. Listener discretion is advised. 8 00:00:32,120 --> 00:00:35,400 Speaker 2: There was a series of rapes of adult women, of 9 00:00:35,479 --> 00:00:38,599 Speaker 2: kidnappings and rapes of adult women that were done by 10 00:00:38,600 --> 00:00:42,280 Speaker 2: this group of men called the Green Vega Rapist and 11 00:00:42,320 --> 00:00:44,920 Speaker 2: they were basically, I guess the best way to describe 12 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:46,720 Speaker 2: them is like a rape club. I mean, some of 13 00:00:46,720 --> 00:00:48,599 Speaker 2: them would go out some nights, others would go out 14 00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:51,400 Speaker 2: other knights, and they would drive a green Vega around 15 00:00:51,400 --> 00:00:53,840 Speaker 2: and they would kidnap women off the street, look at 16 00:00:53,840 --> 00:00:57,040 Speaker 2: bus stops and things like that, take them to someplace, 17 00:00:57,280 --> 00:01:00,120 Speaker 2: rape them, sodomize them, and then let them go. Well, 18 00:01:00,760 --> 00:01:04,120 Speaker 2: some of the rapes were pretty brutal, and when they 19 00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:08,559 Speaker 2: finally got captured, one of them started making noise and saying, well, 20 00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:12,160 Speaker 2: I know who the Freeway Phantom is and he starts 21 00:01:12,240 --> 00:01:14,960 Speaker 2: naming people within the group and starts talking about how 22 00:01:15,440 --> 00:01:17,840 Speaker 2: he knew about the different murders and stuff like that. 23 00:01:18,440 --> 00:01:20,920 Speaker 2: We call him Joel House snitches or informists. He's desperate 24 00:01:20,959 --> 00:01:24,840 Speaker 2: because if he can give up information that that increases 25 00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:27,759 Speaker 2: this chance of getting a deal and getting out from 26 00:01:27,800 --> 00:01:31,360 Speaker 2: under this. We're desperate because you know, of course we 27 00:01:31,400 --> 00:01:35,319 Speaker 2: want to solve this case. Joe House's informants are really 28 00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:39,480 Speaker 2: good as suckering us as detectives because we want to 29 00:01:39,520 --> 00:01:41,800 Speaker 2: believe and that's exactly what happened. 30 00:01:47,400 --> 00:01:51,800 Speaker 3: The homicide detectives termed the cases the little girl case. 31 00:01:52,040 --> 00:01:54,840 Speaker 4: This child was laying on the side of the road. 32 00:01:55,280 --> 00:01:58,560 Speaker 4: I wouldn't go no way. I would call out my house. 33 00:01:58,880 --> 00:02:02,560 Speaker 5: Those first five murders should have been a huge warning 34 00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:03,520 Speaker 5: bell for the police. 35 00:02:03,880 --> 00:02:05,640 Speaker 6: We just want to know what happened. 36 00:02:05,840 --> 00:02:07,560 Speaker 7: This person must have saw that. 37 00:02:07,600 --> 00:02:09,840 Speaker 3: They were thinking that maybe it's just one person, and 38 00:02:09,960 --> 00:02:12,640 Speaker 3: he says, oh, they need to know this is me. 39 00:02:13,720 --> 00:02:15,480 Speaker 4: I thought that they would catch him. 40 00:02:15,960 --> 00:02:16,840 Speaker 2: I thought it was just. 41 00:02:16,800 --> 00:02:17,680 Speaker 4: A matter of time. 42 00:02:18,560 --> 00:02:28,200 Speaker 6: I'm Celeste Hedley and this is Freeway Phantom. In nineteen 43 00:02:28,240 --> 00:02:32,160 Speaker 6: seventy four, two years after the last confirmed Freeway Phantom murder, 44 00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:36,400 Speaker 6: investigators turned their attention to the Green Vega Gang, also 45 00:02:36,480 --> 00:02:39,639 Speaker 6: known as the Green Vega Rapists. This group of five 46 00:02:39,720 --> 00:02:42,040 Speaker 6: or six men were known to drive a green Chevy 47 00:02:42,120 --> 00:02:46,559 Speaker 6: Vega around the DC Maryland area. They were collectively responsible 48 00:02:46,800 --> 00:02:50,680 Speaker 6: for numerous rapes and abductions that occurred near the Washington Beltway, 49 00:02:51,480 --> 00:02:55,360 Speaker 6: but through somewhat strange circumstances, they became prime suspects in 50 00:02:55,400 --> 00:02:58,200 Speaker 6: the Freeway Phantom case. It started when a few of 51 00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:00,720 Speaker 6: the Green Vega members had been arrested and put on 52 00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:03,760 Speaker 6: trial for a case involving two gang rapes. 53 00:03:04,680 --> 00:03:07,960 Speaker 8: And when they were brought into court, the lawyer made 54 00:03:08,040 --> 00:03:11,040 Speaker 8: the comment of well, they weren't even looking for the 55 00:03:11,080 --> 00:03:14,280 Speaker 8: Green Bega guys, they were looking for the freeway fanom Well, 56 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:17,519 Speaker 8: the investigators for a freeway fan said, well, maybe these 57 00:03:17,560 --> 00:03:18,840 Speaker 8: guys are the same guys. 58 00:03:20,200 --> 00:03:24,040 Speaker 6: This is writer Blaine Pardo, As he says, an offhanded 59 00:03:24,120 --> 00:03:27,520 Speaker 6: mention of the Freeway Phantom case during this trial sparked 60 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:30,600 Speaker 6: the idea that the two cases were connected. 61 00:03:31,120 --> 00:03:35,120 Speaker 8: And they opened a multi jurisdictional task force that involved 62 00:03:35,160 --> 00:03:41,680 Speaker 8: the FBI, the Park Police, Washington DC Metropolitan Police, Maryland 63 00:03:41,720 --> 00:03:46,080 Speaker 8: State Police, the Prince George's County Police, etc. They all 64 00:03:46,120 --> 00:03:50,160 Speaker 8: began to crawl into this, and unfortunately, these Green Vega 65 00:03:50,200 --> 00:03:53,080 Speaker 8: guys saw this as a bargaining chip. In other words, 66 00:03:53,080 --> 00:03:56,160 Speaker 8: if we flip on our fellows and say they did 67 00:03:56,200 --> 00:03:59,480 Speaker 8: the Freeway phantom murders, maybe I'll get a lighter sentence 68 00:03:59,600 --> 00:04:03,600 Speaker 8: or get some benefits on the side of doing this. 69 00:04:03,760 --> 00:04:06,280 Speaker 8: So several of the members flipped. 70 00:04:07,600 --> 00:04:10,960 Speaker 6: The Green Vega Gang members were individually interviewed by the 71 00:04:10,960 --> 00:04:15,080 Speaker 6: Metropolitan Police Department at Lorton Prison between nineteen seventy four 72 00:04:15,200 --> 00:04:18,320 Speaker 6: and nineteen seventy five. One of the members provided a 73 00:04:18,320 --> 00:04:23,800 Speaker 6: statement implicating another member. His testimony substantiated the investigator's belief 74 00:04:23,960 --> 00:04:26,920 Speaker 6: that the Green Vega Gang was responsible for the Freeway 75 00:04:26,960 --> 00:04:31,080 Speaker 6: phantom murders, and that's because the informant provided signature details 76 00:04:31,080 --> 00:04:33,599 Speaker 6: of the crimes that were not released to the public. 77 00:04:34,320 --> 00:04:36,640 Speaker 6: Police took the informant to sites where he said the 78 00:04:36,720 --> 00:04:40,599 Speaker 6: victims were abducted, assaulted, murdered and disposed of, and he 79 00:04:40,720 --> 00:04:45,000 Speaker 6: provided a concrete alibi ruling himself out as a suspect. 80 00:04:45,279 --> 00:04:49,960 Speaker 6: This informant asked to remain anonymous. Then information that a 81 00:04:49,960 --> 00:04:52,679 Speaker 6: Green Vega member at Lorton Prison had provided a break 82 00:04:52,720 --> 00:04:54,800 Speaker 6: in the case was leaked to the media by a 83 00:04:54,800 --> 00:04:56,480 Speaker 6: political candidate in Maryland. 84 00:04:57,480 --> 00:05:00,480 Speaker 8: It literally consumed the case for months. 85 00:05:01,640 --> 00:05:04,440 Speaker 6: One of the investigators looking into the Green Vega Gang 86 00:05:04,880 --> 00:05:07,679 Speaker 6: was former FBI Special Agent Barry Culvert. 87 00:05:09,080 --> 00:05:11,880 Speaker 9: The thing that came to our attention with the Green 88 00:05:11,960 --> 00:05:15,800 Speaker 9: Vega cases, it was a gang that were going around 89 00:05:15,839 --> 00:05:20,240 Speaker 9: abducting young women and raping them. That might be the 90 00:05:20,279 --> 00:05:23,159 Speaker 9: way to solve it. That there was something in common 91 00:05:23,360 --> 00:05:26,799 Speaker 9: with our Freeway Phantom cases in these Vega rape cases. 92 00:05:27,480 --> 00:05:30,160 Speaker 9: I think Lou Richardson, he was one that continued from 93 00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:33,160 Speaker 9: the Freeway Phantom cases to that case. He thought that 94 00:05:33,360 --> 00:05:36,279 Speaker 9: might be the same people that our girls were killed 95 00:05:36,320 --> 00:05:37,640 Speaker 9: by the Vega rape people. 96 00:05:38,839 --> 00:05:41,799 Speaker 6: Lou Richardson was one of Colvert's partners on the Freeway 97 00:05:41,800 --> 00:05:45,360 Speaker 6: Phantom case, but Colvert says he had his doubts during 98 00:05:45,400 --> 00:05:49,479 Speaker 6: the investigation. He says most of the eyewitness accounts placing 99 00:05:49,520 --> 00:05:52,840 Speaker 6: the Green Vega Gang near the murder sites were unreliable. 100 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:58,240 Speaker 9: People described cars in the damnedest ways, and what they 101 00:05:58,279 --> 00:06:01,320 Speaker 9: think was the Green Vega may have been a Chevy 102 00:06:01,400 --> 00:06:04,560 Speaker 9: Chevelle or something. They just don't always get it. Right, 103 00:06:05,279 --> 00:06:07,800 Speaker 9: unless you get a guy or a woman. We've had 104 00:06:07,839 --> 00:06:10,800 Speaker 9: a couple of women. Man, they knew their cars. If 105 00:06:10,839 --> 00:06:13,920 Speaker 9: they said it with a Green Vega, probably sixty nine 106 00:06:13,960 --> 00:06:15,960 Speaker 9: because they had a spoiler up here and this kind 107 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:19,120 Speaker 9: of hoodcap. Don't count on that me in your car. 108 00:06:19,440 --> 00:06:23,200 Speaker 9: If it was green and small and tudor go with that, 109 00:06:23,200 --> 00:06:24,440 Speaker 9: that's what you probably had. 110 00:06:26,760 --> 00:06:30,480 Speaker 6: As investigators looked deeper into the Green Vega gang, things 111 00:06:30,480 --> 00:06:33,240 Speaker 6: only got weirder. Here's blein Pardo again. 112 00:06:34,880 --> 00:06:39,560 Speaker 8: Remarkably what stug me was as they were going through 113 00:06:39,600 --> 00:06:42,760 Speaker 8: these cases, they started realizing the confessions didn't match the 114 00:06:42,760 --> 00:06:47,840 Speaker 8: physical evidence. No way could they they describe and they 115 00:06:47,839 --> 00:06:50,279 Speaker 8: didn't know about the green rayon fibers, but none of 116 00:06:50,320 --> 00:06:52,880 Speaker 8: them could describe that. We took the victims to the 117 00:06:52,880 --> 00:06:55,799 Speaker 8: same place each time. They always sat in the same 118 00:06:56,320 --> 00:06:59,960 Speaker 8: vehicle in the same place. There's no consistency with this end. 119 00:07:00,080 --> 00:07:03,080 Speaker 8: They described the deaths of these girls very differently. It 120 00:07:03,080 --> 00:07:06,960 Speaker 8: doesn't match physical evidence to the point where they described 121 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:10,840 Speaker 8: one of the ten year old victim as being dressed provocatively, 122 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:13,880 Speaker 8: you know, and sexy, and no, she was dressed like 123 00:07:13,920 --> 00:07:17,000 Speaker 8: a ten year old girl, you know, and just the 124 00:07:17,040 --> 00:07:19,720 Speaker 8: stuff just didn't match up. But unfortunately the police were 125 00:07:19,800 --> 00:07:23,680 Speaker 8: under such pressure to close these cases. When we talked 126 00:07:23,680 --> 00:07:25,880 Speaker 8: with Jim Trenum, he brought that up. 127 00:07:26,920 --> 00:07:29,320 Speaker 6: Detective Jim Trainum, who you heard at the very top 128 00:07:29,360 --> 00:07:33,040 Speaker 6: of the episode, never believed the Green Vegas could be responsible. 129 00:07:33,560 --> 00:07:36,440 Speaker 6: He says, the informant was a complete fraud. 130 00:07:37,680 --> 00:07:40,080 Speaker 2: So what happened was they took him to some of 131 00:07:40,080 --> 00:07:42,400 Speaker 2: the crime scenes and things like that, and he was 132 00:07:42,440 --> 00:07:46,080 Speaker 2: pointing out stuff and all. And later as all of 133 00:07:46,120 --> 00:07:49,400 Speaker 2: this unfolded, it turns out and he admitted, and other 134 00:07:49,440 --> 00:07:53,400 Speaker 2: people admitted that he was just playing these these detectives. 135 00:07:53,720 --> 00:07:57,280 Speaker 2: He would kind of gather bits and pieces of information 136 00:07:57,400 --> 00:08:00,360 Speaker 2: from them. If they took them to a crime he 137 00:08:00,360 --> 00:08:02,800 Speaker 2: would kind of like watch them and see what they 138 00:08:02,880 --> 00:08:05,400 Speaker 2: would want him to maybe point to. He would get 139 00:08:05,400 --> 00:08:08,640 Speaker 2: clues from them. It's kind of like a false confession 140 00:08:09,200 --> 00:08:11,640 Speaker 2: in that, Okay, I want to confess to a crime 141 00:08:11,840 --> 00:08:14,000 Speaker 2: that I didn't commit, how do I get the information 142 00:08:14,080 --> 00:08:17,480 Speaker 2: about it? And so, you know, those guys, they really 143 00:08:17,520 --> 00:08:21,200 Speaker 2: didn't fit. They're victims were all adult women. These were 144 00:08:21,240 --> 00:08:24,880 Speaker 2: not adult women, I mean totally different. And also the 145 00:08:24,960 --> 00:08:29,080 Speaker 2: fact that this guy really didn't have any information, and in. 146 00:08:28,960 --> 00:08:32,320 Speaker 6: Fact, there were no charges brought against any members of 147 00:08:32,360 --> 00:08:35,800 Speaker 6: the Green Vega Gang for the Freeway phantom murders. There 148 00:08:35,840 --> 00:08:39,120 Speaker 6: was reportedly a grand jury hearing, but the evidence was 149 00:08:39,160 --> 00:08:43,160 Speaker 6: insufficient to reach a conviction. Willma Harper wrote about this 150 00:08:43,200 --> 00:08:46,160 Speaker 6: in her book The Mystery of the Freeway Fandom. 151 00:08:47,040 --> 00:08:51,760 Speaker 10: Sources close to the investigation who asked for anonymity independently 152 00:08:51,840 --> 00:08:54,280 Speaker 10: told The Star that the probe was closed after a 153 00:08:54,320 --> 00:08:58,679 Speaker 10: disagreement in the US Attorney Earl Silbert's office about how 154 00:08:58,720 --> 00:09:03,720 Speaker 10: to proceed. One source said the dispute involved two opposing groups, 155 00:09:04,400 --> 00:09:07,160 Speaker 10: one wanted to submit free a phantom evidence to the 156 00:09:07,160 --> 00:09:10,480 Speaker 10: grand jury and the other that argued that the evidence 157 00:09:10,600 --> 00:09:12,880 Speaker 10: was insufficient to go before. 158 00:09:12,559 --> 00:09:13,280 Speaker 6: The grand jury. 159 00:09:14,280 --> 00:09:18,600 Speaker 10: On August third, nineteen eighty, the Washington Posts published an 160 00:09:18,720 --> 00:09:22,000 Speaker 10: article that summarized what occurred after the grand jury made 161 00:09:22,040 --> 00:09:26,400 Speaker 10: a decision on the Green Vega rape suspects, saying, quote, 162 00:09:26,800 --> 00:09:30,480 Speaker 10: law enforcement officials involved with the cases believed that four 163 00:09:30,520 --> 00:09:33,840 Speaker 10: men involved in hundreds of brutal rapes in the city 164 00:09:34,160 --> 00:09:38,520 Speaker 10: from nineteen sixty nine to nineteen seventy three were implicated 165 00:09:38,559 --> 00:09:41,920 Speaker 10: in the child murders, but the men were not convicted. 166 00:09:42,559 --> 00:09:44,960 Speaker 10: It is difficult for the families to come to grips 167 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:48,040 Speaker 10: with the fact that eight or nine years later the 168 00:09:48,160 --> 00:09:50,040 Speaker 10: deaths have not been solved. 169 00:09:51,240 --> 00:09:55,480 Speaker 6: As this article mentions, many investigators still believed the Green 170 00:09:55,600 --> 00:09:59,920 Speaker 6: Vegas were responsible for the Freeway phantom murders. Here's Blaine Pardowick. 171 00:10:02,120 --> 00:10:05,600 Speaker 8: Despite the fact that they never filed charges against the 172 00:10:05,600 --> 00:10:09,280 Speaker 8: Green Vega guys, there's this prevailing attitude that even exists 173 00:10:09,280 --> 00:10:13,360 Speaker 8: today in Washington, DC that well, we know who did it. 174 00:10:13,360 --> 00:10:15,880 Speaker 8: It was the Green Vega guys, we just couldn't prove it. 175 00:10:16,800 --> 00:10:19,760 Speaker 6: Blaine recalls that Jim Trenam even struggled with this decades 176 00:10:19,840 --> 00:10:22,160 Speaker 6: later when he tried. 177 00:10:21,960 --> 00:10:24,880 Speaker 8: To reopen the case in two thousand and six. There 178 00:10:24,920 --> 00:10:26,959 Speaker 8: was a lot of pressure of why are you doing this. 179 00:10:27,160 --> 00:10:29,240 Speaker 8: We already know who did it. It was the Green Vega guys, 180 00:10:29,240 --> 00:10:32,840 Speaker 8: and he was like, no, Green Mega guys. They recanted, 181 00:10:32,960 --> 00:10:37,080 Speaker 8: all of them recanted their confessions, and the confessions never 182 00:10:37,160 --> 00:10:41,439 Speaker 8: held water. They just didn't hold against the physical evidence, 183 00:10:41,679 --> 00:10:44,280 Speaker 8: and that was a huge distraction. 184 00:10:45,559 --> 00:10:49,400 Speaker 6: Retired MPD homicide detective Romaine Jenkins agrees. 185 00:10:50,240 --> 00:10:52,839 Speaker 3: A lot of time was wasted, especially when they got 186 00:10:52,840 --> 00:10:54,120 Speaker 3: to the Green Vega guys. 187 00:10:54,320 --> 00:10:55,880 Speaker 7: That really was a waste of time. 188 00:10:57,080 --> 00:10:59,839 Speaker 6: Romayne says, even before she was assigned to the case, 189 00:11:00,280 --> 00:11:03,439 Speaker 6: she was paying attention to the suspects, and she found 190 00:11:03,440 --> 00:11:07,000 Speaker 6: it strange that the investigators at the time were so convinced. 191 00:11:08,160 --> 00:11:12,360 Speaker 3: What piqued my curiosity because I knew many of the investigators, 192 00:11:12,559 --> 00:11:16,959 Speaker 3: and especially the lead investigators on the cases, and I 193 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:18,920 Speaker 3: asked them, well, how you make it out with the case? 194 00:11:18,960 --> 00:11:19,800 Speaker 3: What is going on? 195 00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:20,400 Speaker 7: You know that? 196 00:11:20,760 --> 00:11:24,360 Speaker 3: And that's when they started talking about the Green Vega guys. 197 00:11:24,400 --> 00:11:27,240 Speaker 3: And one day I was sitting in sex squad. Like 198 00:11:27,280 --> 00:11:29,520 Speaker 3: I said, I like to read everything, and I came 199 00:11:29,600 --> 00:11:33,640 Speaker 3: across this this document which was about almost the size 200 00:11:33,679 --> 00:11:36,480 Speaker 3: of a telephone book, and it was on the investigation 201 00:11:36,600 --> 00:11:40,800 Speaker 3: of the freeway phantom cases. And I started reading it, 202 00:11:41,120 --> 00:11:44,800 Speaker 3: and the more I read, the angrier I got, because 203 00:11:45,160 --> 00:11:48,200 Speaker 3: it showed that the Green Vega cases were a hoax. 204 00:11:48,240 --> 00:11:50,600 Speaker 3: When it came to the freeway cases, they had nothing 205 00:11:50,640 --> 00:11:51,560 Speaker 3: to do with each other. 206 00:11:52,240 --> 00:11:54,000 Speaker 7: And I mean, now, why do you say that? 207 00:11:54,559 --> 00:11:59,400 Speaker 6: Because the police, multiple times officials said that the reason 208 00:11:59,600 --> 00:12:01,959 Speaker 6: they thought this could be realists because one of them 209 00:12:01,960 --> 00:12:05,640 Speaker 6: had information that no one else had. So what you're 210 00:12:05,679 --> 00:12:08,840 Speaker 6: laughing already. Why did you think this is a red herring? 211 00:12:09,320 --> 00:12:13,000 Speaker 3: Because they you know what, the FBI went back and 212 00:12:13,040 --> 00:12:16,520 Speaker 3: they reinterviewed a lot of these suspects, the people involved, 213 00:12:16,760 --> 00:12:20,280 Speaker 3: and they admitted that it was a hoax. The witnesses 214 00:12:20,320 --> 00:12:23,200 Speaker 3: said that, hey, they planned this thing because some of 215 00:12:23,240 --> 00:12:26,679 Speaker 3: the guys. One of the guys wanted immunity from prosecution. 216 00:12:27,040 --> 00:12:29,640 Speaker 3: Now I'm not saying they're not rapists, because they should 217 00:12:29,640 --> 00:12:32,800 Speaker 3: have been in jail, under the jail probably, but they 218 00:12:32,880 --> 00:12:36,400 Speaker 3: didn't do these cases. Okay, they did not do these cases. 219 00:12:36,880 --> 00:12:39,960 Speaker 3: And this is in plain black and white. 220 00:12:41,480 --> 00:12:44,920 Speaker 6: While writer Blaine Pardo agreed with Romayne, he was still 221 00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:48,920 Speaker 6: curious about the Green Vegas suspects, particularly the informant, who 222 00:12:48,920 --> 00:12:52,560 Speaker 6: we now know was named Morris J. Warren. Blaine tells 223 00:12:52,600 --> 00:12:55,400 Speaker 6: us he communicated with Warren via letters from prison. 224 00:12:57,200 --> 00:13:00,720 Speaker 8: His curse finance was kind of rambling. I took the 225 00:13:00,760 --> 00:13:03,520 Speaker 8: approach when I wrote him of I know what your 226 00:13:03,559 --> 00:13:06,520 Speaker 8: involvement in these cases are. I just need to hear 227 00:13:06,559 --> 00:13:09,800 Speaker 8: it from you. And he thought I was implying he 228 00:13:09,880 --> 00:13:13,400 Speaker 8: was involved in the cases, so he vehemently denied it. 229 00:13:14,040 --> 00:13:16,920 Speaker 8: A lot of religious texts woven into it, which I 230 00:13:16,960 --> 00:13:21,120 Speaker 8: always find interesting how convicts find Jesus and God when 231 00:13:21,120 --> 00:13:25,880 Speaker 8: they get to prison, and you know, he was like, no, no, no, 232 00:13:25,920 --> 00:13:28,280 Speaker 8: you're on the wrong track. Didn't have anything to do 233 00:13:28,360 --> 00:13:31,880 Speaker 8: with me, wasn't me, didn't do it, and he really 234 00:13:31,880 --> 00:13:34,319 Speaker 8: wanted us to come visit him, which we were unable 235 00:13:34,360 --> 00:13:37,120 Speaker 8: to do. The authorities wouldn't put us on the list 236 00:13:37,280 --> 00:13:40,480 Speaker 8: for him. And he admits, I never had anything to 237 00:13:40,520 --> 00:13:43,320 Speaker 8: do with this. You know, I did it on a 238 00:13:43,400 --> 00:13:46,360 Speaker 8: spite and revenge. He came right out and said it, 239 00:13:46,480 --> 00:13:50,240 Speaker 8: and yeah, I believe it. They were trying to cut 240 00:13:50,240 --> 00:13:52,880 Speaker 8: deals for themselves and once they realized, oh my god, 241 00:13:52,880 --> 00:13:55,600 Speaker 8: we're going to be brought up on murder charges, multiple 242 00:13:55,679 --> 00:13:59,640 Speaker 8: murder charges, I think at that point they said forget it. 243 00:13:59,679 --> 00:14:02,320 Speaker 8: Were not were not the guys that did best, and 244 00:14:02,320 --> 00:14:02,920 Speaker 8: they knew it. 245 00:14:04,240 --> 00:14:07,840 Speaker 6: The reality is the Green Vega Gang was a major distraction, 246 00:14:08,480 --> 00:14:13,079 Speaker 6: one that potentially had significant repercussions on the freeway phantom investigation. 247 00:14:14,400 --> 00:14:17,680 Speaker 8: Unfortunately, when you get a huge task force put together 248 00:14:17,880 --> 00:14:21,960 Speaker 8: of all these officers and investigators and they're focused on this, 249 00:14:23,240 --> 00:14:29,560 Speaker 8: that's time that the real killer wasn't being investigated. And unfortunately, 250 00:14:30,040 --> 00:14:32,560 Speaker 8: there were very few people that bucked the system at 251 00:14:32,560 --> 00:14:36,680 Speaker 8: the time, So there's this weird twisted thought of we already. 252 00:14:36,360 --> 00:14:39,440 Speaker 6: Know who did it to most of the people we 253 00:14:39,520 --> 00:14:42,720 Speaker 6: talked to. That tunnel vision is just one more reason 254 00:14:42,760 --> 00:14:46,520 Speaker 6: why this case was never solved. However, the same year 255 00:14:46,600 --> 00:14:51,040 Speaker 6: the Green Vegas were investigated, another suspect cropped up, actually 256 00:14:51,360 --> 00:15:18,200 Speaker 6: a pair of suspects. To police officers, there were six 257 00:15:18,360 --> 00:15:23,600 Speaker 6: confirmed victims in the Freeway Phantom case, Carol Spinks, Darlinia Johnson, 258 00:15:23,840 --> 00:15:29,560 Speaker 6: Brenda Crockett, Nenemotia Yates, Brenda Woodard, and Diane Williams. However, 259 00:15:29,680 --> 00:15:32,920 Speaker 6: early on in the case, there was another suspected victim, 260 00:15:33,360 --> 00:15:37,600 Speaker 6: and her name was Angela Barnes. On July twelfth, nineteen 261 00:15:37,640 --> 00:15:41,280 Speaker 6: seventy one, just a few days after Darlinia Johnson went missing, 262 00:15:41,600 --> 00:15:45,280 Speaker 6: Angela Barnes also disappeared. She was walking home from a 263 00:15:45,320 --> 00:15:48,080 Speaker 6: friend's house when she was kidnapped. The next day, her 264 00:15:48,080 --> 00:15:51,480 Speaker 6: body was found in Waldorf, Maryland. Her cause of death 265 00:15:51,640 --> 00:15:54,400 Speaker 6: was a gunshot wound to her head, and her murder 266 00:15:54,760 --> 00:15:58,920 Speaker 6: was initially attributed to the Freeway Phantom. 267 00:15:58,600 --> 00:16:02,160 Speaker 8: Young girl same profile is one of the victims. So 268 00:16:02,200 --> 00:16:05,400 Speaker 8: by the time you get to the second and third 269 00:16:05,480 --> 00:16:10,320 Speaker 8: Freeway Phantom victims, the real Freeway Fanom victims. Her name 270 00:16:10,360 --> 00:16:13,320 Speaker 8: gets thrown in with those victims. 271 00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:15,200 Speaker 6: Here's writer Blaine Pardo. 272 00:16:15,280 --> 00:16:19,720 Speaker 8: Again, it made no sense and it definitely muddied the 273 00:16:19,760 --> 00:16:24,840 Speaker 8: investigation because, of course the other officers in the Metropolitan 274 00:16:24,920 --> 00:16:28,280 Speaker 8: Police didn't know that she wasn't connected, So they're wondering, 275 00:16:28,360 --> 00:16:30,720 Speaker 8: did the Freeway Fantom now have an mo where he 276 00:16:30,840 --> 00:16:35,560 Speaker 8: used a gun, ligature, strangulation, etc. To kill his victims. 277 00:16:36,240 --> 00:16:40,880 Speaker 8: The gun didn't make sense, you know, from an investigative perspective, 278 00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:43,120 Speaker 8: it totally did, because a gun would be a great 279 00:16:43,160 --> 00:16:46,360 Speaker 8: way to force young victims into a car. You pull 280 00:16:46,440 --> 00:16:49,560 Speaker 8: up alongside them, window down, you aim the gun to 281 00:16:49,640 --> 00:16:51,760 Speaker 8: get in the car. It makes total sense from a 282 00:16:51,760 --> 00:16:55,120 Speaker 8: control perspective, and it could be that the Freeway Fantom 283 00:16:55,200 --> 00:16:59,040 Speaker 8: did use a gun to get his victims into the vehicle. 284 00:17:00,080 --> 00:17:02,320 Speaker 8: It made very little sense though, when you look at 285 00:17:02,520 --> 00:17:04,920 Speaker 8: in the context of all the other victims, you only 286 00:17:04,920 --> 00:17:08,840 Speaker 8: have one that was stabbed. Clearly that was someone who 287 00:17:08,880 --> 00:17:13,520 Speaker 8: resisted him and was stabbed. The rest were all strangled, 288 00:17:13,920 --> 00:17:17,959 Speaker 8: and while there were evidence of fighting or resisting, it 289 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:21,480 Speaker 8: was all more manual than anything else. There wasn't the 290 00:17:21,600 --> 00:17:24,439 Speaker 8: use of a weapon like that. The only other weapon 291 00:17:24,440 --> 00:17:27,040 Speaker 8: that the Freeway Phantom used was a knife, and it 292 00:17:27,080 --> 00:17:28,280 Speaker 8: was only on one victim. 293 00:17:30,400 --> 00:17:33,840 Speaker 6: Willma Harper wrote about the curious case of Angela Barnes 294 00:17:34,160 --> 00:17:37,200 Speaker 6: in her book The Mystery of the Freeway Phantom. 295 00:17:38,280 --> 00:17:41,800 Speaker 10: One view was that Angela was not a Freeway Phantom victim. 296 00:17:42,320 --> 00:17:44,239 Speaker 10: She was the only one of the girls that had 297 00:17:44,280 --> 00:17:47,280 Speaker 10: been shot. Based on the fact that the bullet that 298 00:17:47,400 --> 00:17:51,200 Speaker 10: killed Angela had ricocheted, it was the opinion of Detective 299 00:17:51,240 --> 00:17:54,560 Speaker 10: Simpson that Angela's death had been accidental. 300 00:17:56,160 --> 00:18:00,640 Speaker 6: Police would eventually determine that Angela wasn't connected. Sometime during 301 00:18:00,640 --> 00:18:03,800 Speaker 6: the Freeway Phantom investigation, her name was removed from the 302 00:18:03,880 --> 00:18:08,320 Speaker 6: victim list, But years later, in nineteen seventy four, someone 303 00:18:08,400 --> 00:18:10,879 Speaker 6: was arrested for the murder of Angela Barnes. 304 00:18:13,280 --> 00:18:16,719 Speaker 8: It was actually they found out a police officer who 305 00:18:16,880 --> 00:18:21,240 Speaker 8: killed her, and it was a real creepy circumstance. He 306 00:18:21,320 --> 00:18:25,040 Speaker 8: and his partner abducted her, got her in the car, 307 00:18:25,240 --> 00:18:29,879 Speaker 8: performed sexual acts with her, and inadvertently shot her in 308 00:18:30,040 --> 00:18:34,960 Speaker 8: the car. And the way they caught them was one 309 00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:38,920 Speaker 8: of the police officer's wife was involved with cleaning up 310 00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:42,120 Speaker 8: the car, and they had kind of played it off 311 00:18:42,160 --> 00:18:45,320 Speaker 8: that it had nothing to do with them killing anyone. 312 00:18:45,359 --> 00:18:48,760 Speaker 8: That was the blood from one of their suspects that 313 00:18:48,800 --> 00:18:50,680 Speaker 8: they brought in. But she was like, it's all over 314 00:18:50,720 --> 00:18:54,080 Speaker 8: the front seat, which didn't make sense. And after a 315 00:18:54,119 --> 00:18:57,360 Speaker 8: while she slowly pieced it together and actually reached out 316 00:18:57,359 --> 00:19:00,080 Speaker 8: to law enforcement and they got a full. 317 00:19:01,760 --> 00:19:05,320 Speaker 6: The two police officers were named Edward Sullivan and Tommy Simmons. 318 00:19:05,680 --> 00:19:08,840 Speaker 6: They were both convicted and sent to prison for barnes murder, 319 00:19:09,600 --> 00:19:12,239 Speaker 6: but an investigators said they were not responsible for the 320 00:19:12,280 --> 00:19:16,600 Speaker 6: other six Freeway phantom murders. Still, the murder of Angela 321 00:19:16,640 --> 00:19:20,720 Speaker 6: Barnes brought up some troubling implications. Many families in the 322 00:19:20,720 --> 00:19:24,080 Speaker 6: area started to believe that a police officer could very 323 00:19:24,080 --> 00:19:27,720 Speaker 6: well have been responsible for the freeway phantom murders. You 324 00:19:27,800 --> 00:19:30,960 Speaker 6: may remember that when we talked with Evander Spinks, older 325 00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:34,440 Speaker 6: sister of Carol Spinks, she revealed her biggest. 326 00:19:34,080 --> 00:19:40,720 Speaker 11: Suspect it probably was the police, was somebody at work 327 00:19:40,800 --> 00:19:44,320 Speaker 11: with the police. That's the only thing really made sense 328 00:19:44,400 --> 00:19:48,560 Speaker 11: to me. I think it got covered up. As an adult, 329 00:19:48,640 --> 00:19:50,760 Speaker 11: I see it differently than when I was a kid. 330 00:19:50,920 --> 00:19:53,560 Speaker 11: Plus as a kid, I didn't know a lot of 331 00:19:53,560 --> 00:19:57,320 Speaker 11: stuff that had happened, how the police was handling things 332 00:19:57,359 --> 00:19:59,600 Speaker 11: because we weren't privy to that. 333 00:20:01,600 --> 00:20:05,439 Speaker 8: There was definitely a feeling and what it really contributed to, 334 00:20:05,680 --> 00:20:07,760 Speaker 8: I think was, and you read the interviews with the 335 00:20:07,760 --> 00:20:11,800 Speaker 8: families at the time, they really then begin to suspect 336 00:20:11,960 --> 00:20:15,480 Speaker 8: the police department or someone in the police department was involved, 337 00:20:16,160 --> 00:20:19,280 Speaker 8: because the minute you get one young girl who's killed 338 00:20:19,320 --> 00:20:22,560 Speaker 8: by police, you start wondering, while are other cops out 339 00:20:22,560 --> 00:20:26,800 Speaker 8: there killing young girls? And is that what's really feeding this? 340 00:20:26,960 --> 00:20:28,919 Speaker 8: And it really added to what I would call the 341 00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:33,160 Speaker 8: extreme distrust the family started developing towards the police department. 342 00:20:33,520 --> 00:20:37,320 Speaker 8: And it was, by the way, completely earned. You know, 343 00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:41,200 Speaker 8: when you've got something like that happening in a community 344 00:20:41,320 --> 00:20:45,000 Speaker 8: like that, you're not going to shake that. And there's 345 00:20:45,040 --> 00:20:47,760 Speaker 8: no amount of goodwill you can put out that's going 346 00:20:47,880 --> 00:20:51,280 Speaker 8: to change people's perceptions of that. And I don't blame 347 00:20:51,320 --> 00:20:54,040 Speaker 8: the families at all. I would still be kind of 348 00:20:54,040 --> 00:20:56,119 Speaker 8: wondering were the police involved. 349 00:20:58,160 --> 00:21:01,159 Speaker 6: When I spoke with Carolyn Spinks, the twin sister of 350 00:21:01,240 --> 00:21:04,719 Speaker 6: Carol Spinks, she revealed some haunting thoughts about who she 351 00:21:04,800 --> 00:21:09,239 Speaker 6: believed killed her sister. Have you had thoughts about who 352 00:21:09,359 --> 00:21:10,600 Speaker 6: you think was responsible? 353 00:21:11,480 --> 00:21:14,080 Speaker 4: Yes, I mean who do you think might. 354 00:21:13,960 --> 00:21:14,480 Speaker 12: Have done it? 355 00:21:15,280 --> 00:21:17,960 Speaker 4: I thought that it was a white man in a 356 00:21:17,960 --> 00:21:24,320 Speaker 4: police car. Why because this may sound crazy to you all, 357 00:21:24,359 --> 00:21:29,920 Speaker 4: but because one day I was at the store where 358 00:21:29,960 --> 00:21:32,760 Speaker 4: my mom was, because my mother was the last person 359 00:21:32,800 --> 00:21:36,560 Speaker 4: to see her alive. And right there at the store 360 00:21:36,560 --> 00:21:38,639 Speaker 4: where my mom was, it used to be a phone 361 00:21:38,680 --> 00:21:42,840 Speaker 4: booth right there. So one day, this was years later, 362 00:21:43,720 --> 00:21:46,000 Speaker 4: I was at that phone booth and a vision came 363 00:21:46,040 --> 00:21:50,439 Speaker 4: over me. I don't know where it came from, but 364 00:21:51,720 --> 00:21:54,520 Speaker 4: it was a white police but he was in a 365 00:21:54,520 --> 00:21:55,960 Speaker 4: police car. But I don't know if he was a 366 00:21:55,960 --> 00:21:58,560 Speaker 4: police where he was just like one. And he was 367 00:21:58,600 --> 00:22:02,320 Speaker 4: in a police car, and he heard my mother tell 368 00:22:02,400 --> 00:22:05,040 Speaker 4: her that she was going to get her when she 369 00:22:05,160 --> 00:22:07,000 Speaker 4: get home, because he told her not to come out 370 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:11,080 Speaker 4: of the house and she was walking home and he 371 00:22:11,240 --> 00:22:15,680 Speaker 4: followed her. This is in your vision, yes, And then 372 00:22:16,200 --> 00:22:20,320 Speaker 4: the day of my sister funeral, afterwards, we went to 373 00:22:20,400 --> 00:22:24,320 Speaker 4: my aunt house and we was outside and I looked 374 00:22:24,320 --> 00:22:28,520 Speaker 4: across the street and there was a police officer but 375 00:22:28,640 --> 00:22:33,520 Speaker 4: he had that helmet thing with a big glass black 376 00:22:33,560 --> 00:22:36,600 Speaker 4: thing across his face. And he was in that motorcycle 377 00:22:36,640 --> 00:22:39,439 Speaker 4: thing that looked like where one could ride aside it 378 00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:42,120 Speaker 4: that's made with the thing on the side. And he 379 00:22:42,200 --> 00:22:44,399 Speaker 4: was just staring at me. But he was across the 380 00:22:44,440 --> 00:22:48,080 Speaker 4: street way across from my aunt house. But I could 381 00:22:48,080 --> 00:22:50,920 Speaker 4: see him looking at me. And I got scanned and 382 00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:53,159 Speaker 4: ran in the house. And I tell my mother that 383 00:22:53,280 --> 00:22:54,560 Speaker 4: police keep looking at me. 384 00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:57,159 Speaker 8: What did she say when they came out? 385 00:22:57,200 --> 00:22:59,800 Speaker 4: He was gone, do you feel. 386 00:22:59,440 --> 00:23:01,879 Speaker 6: Like you trust police? 387 00:23:02,160 --> 00:23:02,400 Speaker 4: No? 388 00:23:03,359 --> 00:23:06,120 Speaker 6: I mean, have you ever or it's just since that 389 00:23:06,240 --> 00:23:09,480 Speaker 6: time when your sister was murdered? Was that the end 390 00:23:09,520 --> 00:23:11,040 Speaker 6: of your trust for law enforcement? 391 00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:14,960 Speaker 4: I never had any get into it law enforcement, you know, 392 00:23:16,119 --> 00:23:19,000 Speaker 4: at that time, so I didn't know. But as I 393 00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:21,400 Speaker 4: got older, I was like, no, I don't trust them 394 00:23:22,040 --> 00:23:26,399 Speaker 4: because you know some police deduced they do underhanded, you know, 395 00:23:26,720 --> 00:23:31,040 Speaker 4: unhanded stuff, and I guess you can't trust them. I 396 00:23:31,040 --> 00:23:32,040 Speaker 4: don't trust no man. 397 00:23:34,960 --> 00:23:38,880 Speaker 6: Author Wilma Harper wrote about this theory as well. 398 00:23:39,160 --> 00:23:43,400 Speaker 10: Questions continued to be asked but not answered, like why 399 00:23:43,480 --> 00:23:46,480 Speaker 10: no one ever saw the girls picked up? Was the 400 00:23:46,560 --> 00:23:50,879 Speaker 10: killer someone so utterly trustworthy like a policeman that a 401 00:23:50,920 --> 00:23:55,000 Speaker 10: bystander would take no notice. Was he someone they knew? 402 00:23:55,720 --> 00:23:59,520 Speaker 10: Did the killer know the freeways, the neighborhood, and what 403 00:23:59,600 --> 00:24:03,200 Speaker 10: were the chances that he lived among them? A person 404 00:24:03,240 --> 00:24:07,199 Speaker 10: of normal appearances stalking and killing adolescent girls. 405 00:24:09,720 --> 00:24:12,520 Speaker 6: We asked Blaine Pardo if he thought a police officer 406 00:24:12,560 --> 00:24:14,440 Speaker 6: could feasibly pull off these murders. 407 00:24:16,320 --> 00:24:19,560 Speaker 8: There's a feeling that the police department is either involved 408 00:24:20,160 --> 00:24:23,280 Speaker 8: simply because these girls are so easily pulled off the 409 00:24:23,320 --> 00:24:26,040 Speaker 8: streets and a policeman pulling up and a police car 410 00:24:26,160 --> 00:24:28,040 Speaker 8: could do that. You know, he could say get in 411 00:24:28,080 --> 00:24:31,040 Speaker 8: the car. So many of these are in broad daylight 412 00:24:31,280 --> 00:24:35,439 Speaker 8: and the streets are so busy. To me, that's the 413 00:24:35,440 --> 00:24:39,200 Speaker 8: one thing that this whoever this killer was, had a 414 00:24:39,280 --> 00:24:43,879 Speaker 8: technique for securing these young women in his vehicle. We 415 00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:47,000 Speaker 8: need to know what that is. Because he did it 416 00:24:47,040 --> 00:24:51,520 Speaker 8: on streets where everybody knew everybody where, people were out 417 00:24:51,960 --> 00:24:55,560 Speaker 8: and these girls simply vanish. So how he did it 418 00:24:55,600 --> 00:24:59,280 Speaker 8: without raising attention? A policeman could easily do that. 419 00:25:00,560 --> 00:25:04,600 Speaker 6: Despite this, Blaine ultimately doesn't think the freeway fandom is 420 00:25:04,640 --> 00:25:05,560 Speaker 6: a police officer. 421 00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:10,399 Speaker 8: I don't get that vibe, especially with the leaving of 422 00:25:10,440 --> 00:25:13,320 Speaker 8: a note. A police officer is going to go, look, 423 00:25:13,480 --> 00:25:18,320 Speaker 8: I'm not going to do anything at all to leave evidence, 424 00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:21,960 Speaker 8: even evidence where I've got the victim writing out a note, 425 00:25:22,520 --> 00:25:26,880 Speaker 8: why taught police? If you're in the police department, they're 426 00:25:26,960 --> 00:25:30,640 Speaker 8: not going to do that. And that note still sticks 427 00:25:30,680 --> 00:25:34,520 Speaker 8: with me. That's someone who's literally flipping the finger off 428 00:25:34,560 --> 00:25:37,119 Speaker 8: at the police department. You know, he's saying, catch me 429 00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:40,280 Speaker 8: if you can, and I'll confess the others when you do. 430 00:25:40,960 --> 00:25:43,359 Speaker 8: If this was a police officer, I just can't picture 431 00:25:43,440 --> 00:25:46,480 Speaker 8: him being diabolical enough to go I'll throw the scent 432 00:25:46,560 --> 00:25:49,840 Speaker 8: off by pretending I'm a craze killer. And it's something 433 00:25:49,880 --> 00:25:54,480 Speaker 8: that's very rare among serial killers to actually communicate to 434 00:25:54,560 --> 00:25:57,800 Speaker 8: the authorities. They just don't do that. There's too much 435 00:25:57,880 --> 00:26:00,320 Speaker 8: risk involved, and I think even in that time, I 436 00:26:00,359 --> 00:26:02,040 Speaker 8: don't think a police officer would do it. 437 00:26:03,680 --> 00:26:06,480 Speaker 6: But the tragedy of Angela Barnes proved that not everything 438 00:26:06,640 --> 00:26:10,280 Speaker 6: was as it seemed. Her inclusion in the Freeway Phantom 439 00:26:10,359 --> 00:26:14,760 Speaker 6: case skewed perceptions of what was possible, and she wasn't 440 00:26:14,760 --> 00:26:17,960 Speaker 6: the only one. As it turns out, there was yet 441 00:26:17,960 --> 00:26:22,800 Speaker 6: another unofficial Freeway Phantom victim, and her case is even 442 00:26:22,880 --> 00:26:49,280 Speaker 6: more terrifying. Angela Barnes wasn't the only unconfirmed victim of 443 00:26:49,320 --> 00:26:53,000 Speaker 6: the Freeway Phantom. In November of nineteen seventy two, just 444 00:26:53,119 --> 00:26:56,879 Speaker 6: two months after the last confirmed victim, Diane Williams, was killed, 445 00:26:57,280 --> 00:27:00,520 Speaker 6: police found the body of eighteen year old Terrace Bryant. 446 00:27:01,600 --> 00:27:05,359 Speaker 6: To many investigators, Tara Bryant is considered the seventh victim 447 00:27:05,480 --> 00:27:08,600 Speaker 6: of the Freeway Phantom, but she was ultimately ruled out 448 00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:11,760 Speaker 6: for a number of reasons which we'll get into. Still, 449 00:27:11,840 --> 00:27:15,680 Speaker 6: we and others believe the similarities are too striking to ignore. 450 00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:19,600 Speaker 6: Tara was a young mother with a one year old 451 00:27:19,680 --> 00:27:23,640 Speaker 6: son at home on Sunday, November twenty sixth, nineteen seventy two, 452 00:27:24,119 --> 00:27:26,880 Speaker 6: just three days after enjoying a Thanksgiving with her family. 453 00:27:27,280 --> 00:27:30,439 Speaker 6: Tara's mother dropped her off at Leland Memorial Hospital for 454 00:27:30,480 --> 00:27:33,840 Speaker 6: a medical appointment. She was wearing a shiny red jacket 455 00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:37,080 Speaker 6: over a striped red, white and black dress, along with 456 00:27:37,240 --> 00:27:40,960 Speaker 6: white knee high socks and brown loafers. Her mother gave 457 00:27:40,960 --> 00:27:42,840 Speaker 6: her bus fare so she could ride the bus home 458 00:27:42,920 --> 00:27:46,840 Speaker 6: after her appointment. According to a relative, Tara called home 459 00:27:47,080 --> 00:27:49,720 Speaker 6: just after five pm and spoke to her brother Terence. 460 00:27:50,280 --> 00:27:53,000 Speaker 6: She checked in on her son and said she decided 461 00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:55,439 Speaker 6: to use her bus fair to purchase Duncan doughnuts and 462 00:27:55,560 --> 00:28:00,399 Speaker 6: was walking home instead. They said goodbye, and unfortunately that 463 00:28:00,520 --> 00:28:04,080 Speaker 6: was the last time that anyone heard from Tara. When 464 00:28:04,119 --> 00:28:07,600 Speaker 6: Tara didn't return home, her mother contacted the Prince George's 465 00:28:07,600 --> 00:28:10,639 Speaker 6: County Police Department, but according to the relative that we 466 00:28:10,720 --> 00:28:15,240 Speaker 6: spoke to, law enforcement didn't respond very swiftly. Since Tara 467 00:28:15,359 --> 00:28:17,840 Speaker 6: was an adult. The police told her mother there was 468 00:28:17,920 --> 00:28:20,960 Speaker 6: nothing they could do. At the time, Tara's family knew 469 00:28:20,960 --> 00:28:24,480 Speaker 6: that something was wrong. They believed she would not run 470 00:28:24,520 --> 00:28:27,840 Speaker 6: away and would definitely not leave her young son behind. 471 00:28:28,680 --> 00:28:32,480 Speaker 6: That night, the Bryant family conducted their own search. Tara's 472 00:28:32,480 --> 00:28:34,920 Speaker 6: one and a half mile walk from the hospital took 473 00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:38,600 Speaker 6: her south on Rhode Island Avenue, so her family retraced 474 00:28:38,600 --> 00:28:42,880 Speaker 6: her steps. One relative recalled seeing a suspicious man walking 475 00:28:42,920 --> 00:28:46,760 Speaker 6: alongside the road in a dark long coat, but there 476 00:28:46,840 --> 00:28:51,240 Speaker 6: was no sign of Tara. Two agonizing days later, on 477 00:28:51,320 --> 00:28:54,360 Speaker 6: November twenty eighth, at nine a m. Tara's body was 478 00:28:54,400 --> 00:28:58,160 Speaker 6: found floating in shallow water in the Anacostia River, one 479 00:28:58,200 --> 00:29:02,160 Speaker 6: mile downstream from where she was less When police discovered 480 00:29:02,160 --> 00:29:03,920 Speaker 6: her one of her shoes was missing. 481 00:29:05,280 --> 00:29:09,120 Speaker 8: Police did an investigation along the banks and they found 482 00:29:09,280 --> 00:29:12,800 Speaker 8: just two hundred yards from her house the other shoe, 483 00:29:13,560 --> 00:29:17,800 Speaker 8: So she was very close to being at home when 484 00:29:18,320 --> 00:29:21,400 Speaker 8: she was attacked and apparently killed. 485 00:29:22,480 --> 00:29:23,720 Speaker 6: Here's writer Blaine Pardo. 486 00:29:23,800 --> 00:29:27,720 Speaker 8: Again, what we don't know is was she killed there 487 00:29:28,440 --> 00:29:33,120 Speaker 8: or taken somewhere and dumped back there. And that's the 488 00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:37,520 Speaker 8: tricky part with this, and having driven the area, you 489 00:29:37,520 --> 00:29:41,560 Speaker 8: could almost see both scenarios playing out. But it certainly 490 00:29:41,960 --> 00:29:45,720 Speaker 8: you've got a strangulation, You've got a body being dumped, 491 00:29:45,880 --> 00:29:49,959 Speaker 8: you know, along that borderline with Washington, d C. And 492 00:29:50,040 --> 00:29:53,720 Speaker 8: the surrounding communities. You know, this one was a little different. 493 00:29:53,760 --> 00:29:56,240 Speaker 8: She was dumped in water, you know, in a river, 494 00:29:57,240 --> 00:30:00,040 Speaker 8: but it's also further out from any of the the 495 00:30:00,120 --> 00:30:02,880 Speaker 8: other Freeway phantom victims, so it would make her the 496 00:30:02,880 --> 00:30:04,520 Speaker 8: final victim of all this. 497 00:30:05,800 --> 00:30:09,560 Speaker 6: According to the FBI, Tara's autopsy report determined that her 498 00:30:09,600 --> 00:30:13,360 Speaker 6: cause of death was asphyxia due to strangulation. Her neck 499 00:30:13,400 --> 00:30:15,760 Speaker 6: bone was intact and there was no damage to the 500 00:30:15,840 --> 00:30:19,680 Speaker 6: cartilage around her neck. The autopsy couldn't determine if the 501 00:30:19,720 --> 00:30:24,600 Speaker 6: strangulation was manual or ligature. The examination also couldn't determine 502 00:30:24,600 --> 00:30:28,040 Speaker 6: if Tara was sexually assaulted, but noted there was no 503 00:30:28,080 --> 00:30:30,880 Speaker 6: evidence of injury to her vagina or presence of seamen, 504 00:30:31,560 --> 00:30:34,040 Speaker 6: but since Tara had been in the water for several days, 505 00:30:34,520 --> 00:30:38,160 Speaker 6: it's possible that evidence may have washed away. The FBI 506 00:30:38,240 --> 00:30:42,120 Speaker 6: analysis stated that sexual assault was probable since TERA's panties 507 00:30:42,120 --> 00:30:44,880 Speaker 6: were located at the site where the assault most likely occurred, 508 00:30:45,320 --> 00:30:47,600 Speaker 6: and the teddy that Tara had on under her dress 509 00:30:47,640 --> 00:30:52,719 Speaker 6: was unsnapped between her legs. Officially, sexual motivation for her 510 00:30:52,800 --> 00:30:56,160 Speaker 6: murder was not ruled out, and there were no defensive 511 00:30:56,200 --> 00:31:01,440 Speaker 6: wounds on her body. A wash Rington Post News article 512 00:31:01,600 --> 00:31:05,520 Speaker 6: entitled quote police seeking help in slaying of girl was 513 00:31:05,560 --> 00:31:09,440 Speaker 6: published following the discovery of Tara's body. The article included 514 00:31:09,480 --> 00:31:12,680 Speaker 6: a photo of Tara and urged the public to contact 515 00:31:12,680 --> 00:31:16,480 Speaker 6: the Homicide Division with tips. An excerpt of the article. 516 00:31:16,200 --> 00:31:20,640 Speaker 12: Stated Prince George's County Police today appealed for help from 517 00:31:20,720 --> 00:31:23,520 Speaker 12: anyone who might have seen Tara and Bryan eighteen near 518 00:31:23,640 --> 00:31:26,440 Speaker 12: home in North Brentwood on Sunday before she was slain. 519 00:31:27,040 --> 00:31:29,320 Speaker 12: Police say they believed the girl met her assailing as 520 00:31:29,320 --> 00:31:31,880 Speaker 12: she walked south on Rhode Island Avenue between the five 521 00:31:31,920 --> 00:31:34,520 Speaker 12: thousand block and Hyattsville and her home at forty five 522 00:31:34,640 --> 00:31:37,560 Speaker 12: twenty two on Rhode Island Avenue in North Bredwood between 523 00:31:37,600 --> 00:31:39,719 Speaker 12: five thirty and six thirty pm on Sunday. 524 00:31:41,360 --> 00:31:44,800 Speaker 6: In November of nineteen seventy three, a year after Tara 525 00:31:44,920 --> 00:31:48,120 Speaker 6: was killed, a letter was published in The Washington Evening Star, 526 00:31:48,440 --> 00:31:51,400 Speaker 6: written by Tara's brother, Terrence Bryant. 527 00:31:52,360 --> 00:31:54,600 Speaker 13: In loving memory of my sister who passed away one 528 00:31:54,680 --> 00:31:58,880 Speaker 13: year ago today, November twenty sixth, nineteen seventy two, as 529 00:31:58,920 --> 00:32:01,480 Speaker 13: flowers rest upon your May the Lord be with you 530 00:32:01,520 --> 00:32:04,400 Speaker 13: through the day. It seems like yesterday when you passed away. 531 00:32:05,160 --> 00:32:08,920 Speaker 13: We think about you every day, your loving brother, Terrence Bryant. 532 00:32:10,600 --> 00:32:14,520 Speaker 6: Sadly, the investigation into Terror's murder never bore much fruit. 533 00:32:15,240 --> 00:32:16,440 Speaker 6: Here's blame Pardo again. 534 00:32:18,240 --> 00:32:21,240 Speaker 8: There were no charges ever filed against anybody for this, 535 00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:25,000 Speaker 8: so it's still considered a cold case. I requested copies 536 00:32:25,040 --> 00:32:27,440 Speaker 8: of the case file and was told no, it's still 537 00:32:27,440 --> 00:32:32,240 Speaker 8: an open investigation, which after nineteen seventy two, I'm curious 538 00:32:32,280 --> 00:32:36,080 Speaker 8: what actual investigating they're doing, But you guys know how 539 00:32:36,080 --> 00:32:40,520 Speaker 8: that goes. It was very fascinating for me because to me, 540 00:32:40,640 --> 00:32:44,200 Speaker 8: I wonder was this the last of the Freeway Fantom's 541 00:32:44,240 --> 00:32:48,440 Speaker 8: true victims. She fits the profile in so many ways. 542 00:32:48,840 --> 00:32:51,120 Speaker 8: There was nothing in the police reports about her being 543 00:32:51,160 --> 00:32:54,640 Speaker 8: sexually assaulted that I've been able to find, which might 544 00:32:54,720 --> 00:32:58,080 Speaker 8: be the telling clue in all of this. But for 545 00:32:58,160 --> 00:33:01,280 Speaker 8: the FBI to consider her on the Freeway Phantom victims 546 00:33:01,440 --> 00:33:04,400 Speaker 8: is probably good enough for me at this point in time. 547 00:33:05,760 --> 00:33:08,560 Speaker 6: The question of whether Tara Bryant was in fact the 548 00:33:08,600 --> 00:33:12,160 Speaker 6: seventh victim of the Freeway Phantom is a hotly contested 549 00:33:12,200 --> 00:33:15,440 Speaker 6: issue in this case. When we spoke with MPD Detective 550 00:33:15,480 --> 00:33:19,040 Speaker 6: Romayne Jenkins, she fully believed that Tara was killed by 551 00:33:19,080 --> 00:33:25,000 Speaker 6: the Freeway Phantom. So why was she not included among 552 00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:26,400 Speaker 6: the Freeway Phantom victims? 553 00:33:26,640 --> 00:33:27,760 Speaker 7: I have no idea. 554 00:33:28,200 --> 00:33:31,720 Speaker 3: Some people did, because I see where there were submissions 555 00:33:31,760 --> 00:33:35,520 Speaker 3: made to the FBI to examine fiber evidence and so forth, 556 00:33:35,840 --> 00:33:40,000 Speaker 3: and they included her case with it. Some did, some didn't. 557 00:33:40,080 --> 00:33:43,160 Speaker 3: I can't tell you why. I guess mainly because she 558 00:33:43,440 --> 00:33:46,000 Speaker 3: was the only victim found in the water. 559 00:33:46,840 --> 00:33:50,920 Speaker 6: Why are you so sure that she is the seventh victim? 560 00:33:51,440 --> 00:33:54,040 Speaker 7: Because on the periphery it's the same. 561 00:33:54,120 --> 00:33:58,440 Speaker 3: You have an eighteen year old petitue, young black female. 562 00:33:58,920 --> 00:34:01,680 Speaker 3: She's dropped off at the hospital by her mother. Her 563 00:34:01,680 --> 00:34:04,280 Speaker 3: mother says, I'll come back and pick you up. A 564 00:34:04,320 --> 00:34:07,840 Speaker 3: few hours later, she calls home and says, tell my mother, 565 00:34:07,920 --> 00:34:10,879 Speaker 3: don't pick me up. I'm going to catch the bus home. 566 00:34:11,640 --> 00:34:15,160 Speaker 3: She's walking on US one Rhode Island Avenue, which is 567 00:34:15,200 --> 00:34:20,439 Speaker 3: heavily traveled. People see her walking towards her house. She's 568 00:34:20,480 --> 00:34:23,600 Speaker 3: headed home and she doesn't make it. And that's the 569 00:34:23,640 --> 00:34:27,319 Speaker 3: same thing with these victims. Also the fact that she's 570 00:34:27,400 --> 00:34:30,160 Speaker 3: in the water. Her underpants have been removed. There was 571 00:34:30,360 --> 00:34:34,600 Speaker 3: no sign of forced vaginal entry, so they couldn't say 572 00:34:34,600 --> 00:34:37,120 Speaker 3: that she had been raped. But she's in the water, 573 00:34:37,239 --> 00:34:41,480 Speaker 3: so any fiber evidence or anything is gone. And like 574 00:34:41,520 --> 00:34:45,280 Speaker 3: I said, she's headed home and she's only like forty 575 00:34:45,400 --> 00:34:48,320 Speaker 3: yards from her house is where she's attacked. 576 00:34:48,719 --> 00:34:50,320 Speaker 7: And the same thing with these girls. 577 00:34:50,480 --> 00:34:54,600 Speaker 3: They are snatched in their neighborhoods and they're depositive back 578 00:34:54,640 --> 00:34:56,280 Speaker 3: in their neighborhood so to speak. 579 00:34:56,360 --> 00:35:02,040 Speaker 6: You know, we were able to contact a relative of 580 00:35:02,080 --> 00:35:05,520 Speaker 6: Tara Bryant. They believe she was not a victim of 581 00:35:05,560 --> 00:35:09,360 Speaker 6: the freeway fandom. According to the relative. The Bryant family 582 00:35:09,400 --> 00:35:12,160 Speaker 6: shared this information with law enforcement, even telling them who 583 00:35:12,280 --> 00:35:15,960 Speaker 6: killed Tara. They believed it was one of Tara's former boyfriends. 584 00:35:16,520 --> 00:35:19,160 Speaker 6: The relative we spoke to said the ex boyfriend bore 585 00:35:19,280 --> 00:35:23,480 Speaker 6: visible scratches and marks the day following her disappearance. We 586 00:35:23,520 --> 00:35:25,759 Speaker 6: asked Blaine Pardo about this and if he thought it 587 00:35:25,760 --> 00:35:27,560 Speaker 6: could possibly be the ex boyfriend. 588 00:35:29,239 --> 00:35:31,879 Speaker 8: You know, I don't know what the motivation would be 589 00:35:32,000 --> 00:35:35,320 Speaker 8: and if they think the boyfriend did it, then charge 590 00:35:35,400 --> 00:35:38,440 Speaker 8: him with that. To me, it just doesn't make sense. 591 00:35:39,080 --> 00:35:41,440 Speaker 8: There had to be something that was an impetus for this, 592 00:35:42,120 --> 00:35:44,360 Speaker 8: And how would the boyfriend know that she'd be walking 593 00:35:44,520 --> 00:35:48,680 Speaker 8: home from the hospital, you know, in the early evening hours. 594 00:35:48,840 --> 00:35:51,640 Speaker 8: You know, if the boyfriend was going to intercept her, 595 00:35:52,040 --> 00:35:54,680 Speaker 8: how would he know where she is. Her mother didn't 596 00:35:54,680 --> 00:35:57,040 Speaker 8: even know she was walking home. Her mother gave her 597 00:35:57,040 --> 00:36:00,920 Speaker 8: a dollar to ride the bus home. So the concept 598 00:36:00,920 --> 00:36:03,920 Speaker 8: that he was driving by, saw her and decided now's 599 00:36:03,960 --> 00:36:07,000 Speaker 8: the time I'm going to kill her just doesn't make sense. 600 00:36:07,640 --> 00:36:10,880 Speaker 8: I'm not saying that there weren't terrible relations between her 601 00:36:10,920 --> 00:36:14,200 Speaker 8: and her boyfriend. I just don't see what the connection is. 602 00:36:14,239 --> 00:36:17,640 Speaker 8: And if the family believes he did it by all means, 603 00:36:17,719 --> 00:36:20,680 Speaker 8: then the police should be investigating him in charging with 604 00:36:20,760 --> 00:36:21,240 Speaker 8: the crat. 605 00:36:22,480 --> 00:36:25,680 Speaker 6: According to the relative we spoke to, the unnamed ex 606 00:36:25,719 --> 00:36:29,440 Speaker 6: boyfriend was never investigated. The relative says this forced the 607 00:36:29,480 --> 00:36:32,240 Speaker 6: family to live in the same community with the person 608 00:36:32,280 --> 00:36:35,720 Speaker 6: they believed to be Tara's killer. According to the relative, 609 00:36:35,760 --> 00:36:39,160 Speaker 6: that individual went to prison for other violent crimes and 610 00:36:39,239 --> 00:36:42,760 Speaker 6: is now deceased. We reached out to Prince George's County 611 00:36:42,760 --> 00:36:45,799 Speaker 6: for comment on Tara's case and to date have not 612 00:36:45,880 --> 00:36:53,880 Speaker 6: heard back. Blaine Pardo says the investigation of Tara Bryant 613 00:36:53,880 --> 00:36:56,759 Speaker 6: speaks to a bigger issue within the Prince George's County 614 00:36:56,840 --> 00:37:00,120 Speaker 6: Homicide department, and he compares it to another case that 615 00:37:00,160 --> 00:37:03,640 Speaker 6: occurred almost a decade after the Freeway Phantom murders. 616 00:37:04,400 --> 00:37:07,080 Speaker 8: There were a whole number of murders that took place 617 00:37:07,080 --> 00:37:09,880 Speaker 8: in the nineteen eighties as well, called the suitland Slaves. 618 00:37:10,480 --> 00:37:13,520 Speaker 8: A number of bodies found right across the DC line 619 00:37:13,560 --> 00:37:18,320 Speaker 8: in a park, all women sexually assaulted, strangled, etc. And 620 00:37:18,440 --> 00:37:21,640 Speaker 8: dumped in this very small area. It was clearly a 621 00:37:21,760 --> 00:37:26,640 Speaker 8: dumping ground for a serial killer. The suitland Slaves. They 622 00:37:26,719 --> 00:37:30,280 Speaker 8: tried to attribute to somebody else, but they never charged 623 00:37:30,320 --> 00:37:34,279 Speaker 8: him for the crimes. But he was arrested for kidnapping 624 00:37:34,280 --> 00:37:36,640 Speaker 8: a young woman in the district, so they said, well, 625 00:37:36,680 --> 00:37:38,800 Speaker 8: he must have been the one that did all of these. 626 00:37:39,320 --> 00:37:42,080 Speaker 8: There was absolutely nothing that I ever saw that connected 627 00:37:42,160 --> 00:37:45,880 Speaker 8: him to these victims. But the Suitland slangs all remain 628 00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:49,160 Speaker 8: open at this time, and Prince George's County will not 629 00:37:49,280 --> 00:37:53,799 Speaker 8: release anything on a cold case at all, nor will 630 00:37:53,840 --> 00:37:56,440 Speaker 8: their public relations people even pick up the phone and 631 00:37:56,480 --> 00:38:01,160 Speaker 8: call you back. That's really weird. Even the Metropolitan Police 632 00:38:01,160 --> 00:38:05,040 Speaker 8: Department actually communicates with me openly still to this day 633 00:38:05,080 --> 00:38:09,200 Speaker 8: on the freeway phantom stuff, which I expected the Washington 634 00:38:09,280 --> 00:38:11,400 Speaker 8: d c. Police to be a lot more rigid than 635 00:38:11,440 --> 00:38:14,840 Speaker 8: anybody else. But Prince George's County won't even return phone calls. 636 00:38:15,080 --> 00:38:18,000 Speaker 8: They don't want to talk about it. And sometimes I 637 00:38:18,040 --> 00:38:20,480 Speaker 8: get the feeling that police officers get in their mind 638 00:38:20,680 --> 00:38:23,319 Speaker 8: who they think did it, and in their mind the 639 00:38:23,360 --> 00:38:26,200 Speaker 8: cases are closed, even though nobody was ever brought to 640 00:38:26,320 --> 00:38:27,120 Speaker 8: trial for it. 641 00:38:28,200 --> 00:38:31,800 Speaker 6: Blaine says both Tara's murder and the Suitland slings add 642 00:38:31,840 --> 00:38:35,920 Speaker 6: to a larger picture of how investigations are handled depending 643 00:38:36,000 --> 00:38:39,120 Speaker 6: on who the victim is, or what the victim looks like. 644 00:38:40,360 --> 00:38:44,360 Speaker 8: You're talking the nineteen seventies and in the Suitland cases 645 00:38:44,440 --> 00:38:47,880 Speaker 8: the nineteen eighties, early eighties. You know, there tends to 646 00:38:47,920 --> 00:38:51,760 Speaker 8: be this approach that I've seen with large scale police departments, 647 00:38:51,760 --> 00:38:55,200 Speaker 8: so that if they can't get an immediate hey we 648 00:38:55,320 --> 00:38:57,879 Speaker 8: figured out who did it, got the evidence, let's put 649 00:38:57,960 --> 00:39:02,640 Speaker 8: them to trial. If it goes, they let them stay cold. 650 00:39:02,880 --> 00:39:05,719 Speaker 8: They don't focus on them, et cetera. And some of 651 00:39:05,719 --> 00:39:09,439 Speaker 8: that's budgetary now, you know, the focus is very much 652 00:39:09,480 --> 00:39:12,359 Speaker 8: on how much money are you spending and things along 653 00:39:12,400 --> 00:39:15,560 Speaker 8: those lines. And I think cold cases are just as important. 654 00:39:16,160 --> 00:39:19,880 Speaker 8: There's still victims' families, there's still somebody who's dead. It 655 00:39:19,880 --> 00:39:22,400 Speaker 8: doesn't matter that it took place fifty years ago or 656 00:39:22,480 --> 00:39:25,680 Speaker 8: forty years ago or ten years ago. They need the 657 00:39:25,719 --> 00:39:29,279 Speaker 8: same level and attention. They probably need more because they 658 00:39:29,280 --> 00:39:32,759 Speaker 8: haven't been completely resolved yet. 659 00:39:34,719 --> 00:39:37,800 Speaker 6: Like Terra's case and the Suitland slangs, the rest of 660 00:39:37,840 --> 00:39:41,600 Speaker 6: the Freeway Phantom murders went unsolved. With the Green Viga 661 00:39:41,640 --> 00:39:44,920 Speaker 6: gang ruled out as well as Robert Askins, the case 662 00:39:44,960 --> 00:39:48,760 Speaker 6: went dark until it was picked up again by Romaine 663 00:39:48,840 --> 00:39:50,520 Speaker 6: Jenkins in the nineteen. 664 00:39:50,239 --> 00:39:53,000 Speaker 7: Eighties, I was transferred. 665 00:39:53,040 --> 00:39:56,680 Speaker 3: I guess after ten years, I ended up being transferred 666 00:39:57,320 --> 00:40:01,800 Speaker 3: over to the US Attorney's office, and there I supervised 667 00:40:01,920 --> 00:40:06,800 Speaker 3: seven former homicide detectives because they had a new division 668 00:40:06,840 --> 00:40:10,360 Speaker 3: command and he didn't like any of these old investigations, 669 00:40:10,360 --> 00:40:12,600 Speaker 3: so he put them under the career criminal unit and 670 00:40:12,640 --> 00:40:13,960 Speaker 3: they made me the supervisor. 671 00:40:14,040 --> 00:40:15,960 Speaker 7: I said, oh good, now. 672 00:40:15,800 --> 00:40:18,520 Speaker 3: I can get into my freeway phantom cases. So I 673 00:40:18,560 --> 00:40:23,839 Speaker 3: had at my disposal, I had seven senior hormicide detectives 674 00:40:24,719 --> 00:40:28,200 Speaker 3: and they said, Sorge, we're gonna work on this case, 675 00:40:28,440 --> 00:40:30,319 Speaker 3: but we're not going to do Jack the Ripper. 676 00:40:30,360 --> 00:40:33,560 Speaker 7: I said, don't worry about Jack the Ripper. We're gonna 677 00:40:33,600 --> 00:40:35,000 Speaker 7: work on these and we did it. 678 00:40:36,280 --> 00:40:39,480 Speaker 6: Now that the FBI's criminal profiling unit was more advanced, 679 00:40:39,960 --> 00:40:42,399 Speaker 6: the first thing Romayne wanted to do was create an 680 00:40:42,400 --> 00:40:46,680 Speaker 6: official profile of the potential killer. What did you think 681 00:40:46,719 --> 00:40:48,879 Speaker 6: of the FBI profile that they did back then? 682 00:40:49,360 --> 00:40:52,000 Speaker 3: They did The first one they did was mine was 683 00:40:52,080 --> 00:40:54,799 Speaker 3: for me, and I thought they did a pretty good 684 00:40:54,880 --> 00:40:58,719 Speaker 3: job considering the circumstances, you know. 685 00:40:59,000 --> 00:41:02,040 Speaker 6: You mean, considering how little we all knew. 686 00:41:01,840 --> 00:41:04,160 Speaker 3: About it, right, But they did come up with some 687 00:41:04,320 --> 00:41:07,120 Speaker 3: things that had to be keyed in on they felt 688 00:41:07,160 --> 00:41:09,719 Speaker 3: that this person was in the military. Well, at that time, 689 00:41:09,760 --> 00:41:12,640 Speaker 3: you had all these military people coming back from Vietnam 690 00:41:12,680 --> 00:41:16,160 Speaker 3: who were in hospitals here and installations here, so you 691 00:41:16,239 --> 00:41:18,480 Speaker 3: had a lot of that going on. But that was 692 00:41:18,560 --> 00:41:21,560 Speaker 3: really interesting. And the reason why I thought it was 693 00:41:21,640 --> 00:41:24,600 Speaker 3: so interesting was because when I showed the note to 694 00:41:24,640 --> 00:41:27,319 Speaker 3: the FBI, they said, this is military. 695 00:41:27,480 --> 00:41:29,080 Speaker 7: This person was in the military. 696 00:41:30,040 --> 00:41:33,600 Speaker 3: I showed the same note to the investigator at Naval 697 00:41:33,880 --> 00:41:37,440 Speaker 3: Investigated Service. He said, oh, whoever wrote this note? This military? 698 00:41:38,239 --> 00:41:41,759 Speaker 3: I had two different brains saying the same thing. You 699 00:41:41,800 --> 00:41:43,880 Speaker 3: know that this person was in the military. 700 00:41:46,000 --> 00:41:49,239 Speaker 6: In February of twenty twenty two, a new profile of 701 00:41:49,280 --> 00:41:53,840 Speaker 6: the killer was made and that idea came up once again. 702 00:41:54,040 --> 00:41:59,000 Speaker 5: I believe this was the beginning of his offending career, 703 00:41:59,480 --> 00:42:03,560 Speaker 5: and I think something significant happened right after this that 704 00:42:03,600 --> 00:42:12,279 Speaker 5: could have been he moved, was arrested, went into the military. 705 00:42:13,880 --> 00:42:16,880 Speaker 6: Next time on Freeway Phantom. 706 00:42:16,239 --> 00:42:18,960 Speaker 5: This is exactly who we wanted, and he was willing 707 00:42:19,040 --> 00:42:21,399 Speaker 5: to take a great risk to get her. 708 00:42:21,840 --> 00:42:24,600 Speaker 3: A black officer came to say, look, Sargeant, be careful, 709 00:42:24,800 --> 00:42:27,399 Speaker 3: the white offices will get you and said I don't 710 00:42:27,400 --> 00:42:29,719 Speaker 3: know what they planning, but they plotted something. He said, 711 00:42:29,719 --> 00:42:31,520 Speaker 3: I was in the locker room and I got bits 712 00:42:31,560 --> 00:42:33,040 Speaker 3: and pieces of the conversation. 713 00:42:33,680 --> 00:42:36,040 Speaker 2: He actually went out and knocked on the doors of 714 00:42:36,080 --> 00:42:40,080 Speaker 2: the detectives who actually worked on the case originally. It 715 00:42:40,160 --> 00:42:42,319 Speaker 2: turns out that a lot of the missing files had 716 00:42:42,360 --> 00:42:45,279 Speaker 2: been taken home by the original case detectives. 717 00:42:45,840 --> 00:42:50,800 Speaker 5: He's obviously loving the moniker. This is why we tell 718 00:42:51,160 --> 00:42:55,920 Speaker 5: media outlets to not nickname offenders. What it does is 719 00:42:55,960 --> 00:42:59,800 Speaker 5: it gives other people who are like minded the idea 720 00:42:59,880 --> 00:43:02,400 Speaker 5: that they can become famous too. 721 00:43:08,440 --> 00:43:11,640 Speaker 1: Freeway Fantom is a production of iHeart Radio, Tenderfoot TV 722 00:43:11,880 --> 00:43:14,400 Speaker 1: and Black Bar Mitzvah. Our host is CELESE. 723 00:43:14,480 --> 00:43:14,760 Speaker 3: Hilly. 724 00:43:15,200 --> 00:43:18,640 Speaker 1: The show is written by Trevor Young, Jamie Albright, and CELESE. 725 00:43:18,680 --> 00:43:19,000 Speaker 2: Hilly. 726 00:43:19,360 --> 00:43:23,080 Speaker 1: Executive producers on behalf of iHeart Radio include Matt Frederick 727 00:43:23,200 --> 00:43:27,280 Speaker 1: and Alex Williams, with supervising producer Trevor Young. Executive producers 728 00:43:27,320 --> 00:43:31,240 Speaker 1: on behalf of Tenderfoot TV include Donald Albright and Payne Lindsay, 729 00:43:31,400 --> 00:43:35,719 Speaker 1: with producers Jamie Albright and Tracy Kaplan. Executive producers on 730 00:43:35,760 --> 00:43:39,319 Speaker 1: behalf of Black Bar Mitzvah include myself, Jay Ellis and 731 00:43:39,400 --> 00:43:44,240 Speaker 1: Aaron Bergman, with producer Sidney Fools. Lead researcher is Jamie Albright. 732 00:43:44,560 --> 00:43:48,279 Speaker 1: Artwork by Mister Soul two one six, original music by 733 00:43:48,480 --> 00:43:52,040 Speaker 1: Makeup and Vanity Set Special Thanks to a team at 734 00:43:52,120 --> 00:43:56,080 Speaker 1: Uta Beck Media and Marketing and the Nord Group, Tenderfoot 735 00:43:56,080 --> 00:43:59,160 Speaker 1: TV and iHeartMedia, as well as Black Bar Mitzvah, have 736 00:43:59,239 --> 00:44:02,440 Speaker 1: increased the reward for information leading to the arrest and 737 00:44:02,520 --> 00:44:06,080 Speaker 1: conviction of the person or persons responsible for their Freeway 738 00:44:06,120 --> 00:44:09,680 Speaker 1: phantom murders. The previous reward of up to one hundred 739 00:44:09,680 --> 00:44:12,960 Speaker 1: and fifty thousand dollars offered by the Metropolitan Police Department 740 00:44:13,200 --> 00:44:15,880 Speaker 1: has been matched. A new total reward of up to 741 00:44:15,960 --> 00:44:19,040 Speaker 1: three hundred thousand dollars is now being offered. If you 742 00:44:19,120 --> 00:44:22,520 Speaker 1: have any information relating to these unsolved crimes, contact the 743 00:44:22,520 --> 00:44:26,520 Speaker 1: Metropolitan Police Department at area code two zero two seven 744 00:44:26,760 --> 00:44:30,880 Speaker 1: two seven nine zero ninety nine. For more information, please 745 00:44:31,000 --> 00:44:35,640 Speaker 1: visit Freeway dashfanom dot com. For more podcasts from Ihar 746 00:44:35,760 --> 00:44:40,160 Speaker 1: Radio and Tenderfoot TV, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, 747 00:44:40,320 --> 00:44:43,160 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Thanks for listening.