Morbid - Episode 248: Marion Stembridge

Episode Date: July 18, 2021

You know we love an old-timey case around these parts, and boy does Alaina have a doozy to deliver. Marion Stembridge was out there wildin’ in Georgia scamming people out of money left and right with his shady underground businesses. He came from money but always wanted more and would stop at nothing to get it. When he got got though, he was not pleased and as we will see he went on an absolute rampage killing anyone he felt wronged him. AND he did this all while the town of Milledgeville was trying to celebrate their 150th birthday. Priorities, am I right? Georgia Tales by Ray Chandler (Great book with interesting tales!) For Case suggestions! https://forms.gle/RwV5pXKroFdbJ4Hd9 As always, thank you to our sponsors: Hello Fresh:Get up to fourteen free meals—including free shipping! — with code morbid14 at HelloFresh.com/morbid14 GoodRx: Start saving up to eighty percent on your prescriptions today. Go to GoodRX.com/morbid CareOf: For 50% off your first Care/of order, go to TakeCareOf.com and enter code morbid50 Credit Karma: Go to CreditKarma.com/podcast to learn more and find offers tailored just for You. MVMT: Join the MVMT and get 15% off today — with FREE SHIPPING and FREE RETURNS — by going to MVMT.com/MORBID See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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That's W-O-N-D-E-R-Y-P-O-D. Audible.com slash wondery pod or text wondery pod to 500-500 to try audible for free for 30 days. Angie has made it easier than ever to connect with skilled professionals to get all your home projects done well. Whether it's routine maintenance and emergency repair or a dream project, Angie lets you browse home on her reviews, compare quotes from multiple local pros, and even book a service instantly. So the next time you have a home project, just Angie that and start getting the most out

of your home. Download the free Angie mobile app today or visit Angie.com. That's ANGI.com. Hey weirdos, I'm Ash and I'm Elena feeling better. And we're feeling better. I was going to say, can you tell because I'm singing and being annoying that I feel 10 times better. I was gonna say, can you tell, because I'm singing and being annoying that I feel ten times better. I'm like just feeling better, like, because I got it after Ash,

because I waited until everybody was okay, and then I decided to fall into it really. You really did. Like you said, it was like that mom thing. Yeah, just, my body kept it away until everyone was on the up and up, and then it was like crash. But he's like, oh no.

So I had two days of being like, pretty ill. But today I'm feeling better and so is Ash. So yay. We're on the other side. Dude, Andrews still hasn't got it. I'm like, I feel like you're not gonna get it. I feel like he's not going to either. And I'm proud of him.

He's a weird anomaly. I'm really proud of him. I guess he's health. But he's health. I think he's health. You know what though, I keep saying it to John and he actually got mad last night because he was like what are you trying to say because I was like He was like you're gonna have a few more days of feeling crappy like this is what happened to me

And I was like no, I think I'm gonna be fine tomorrow And then I was like I like go you hang on to things a lot longer than I do And he was like what is that supposed to be? I was like I don't know You just keep things longer than I like I throw them off faster. I don't know. You just keep singing the song and then I throw them off. Faster, I don't know. Guys, let's be real. A man cold is a real thing. That's what she's trying to say.

I'm trying to be nice here, but I don't know. You just keep it, you keep it longer. My mean system's just like real quick. A man cold is a totally different story. It really is, it really is. Seriously, it was like, shut up. Like, I'm glad the druid didn't get it because I mean, he did a wonderful job taking care of me,

but I was like, I don't really wanna return the favor. Like, you know, I'm tired from being sick. John got it pretty. You got a pretty gnarly version of it. Yeah, but, you know. That's our family update. I'm out of it, so that's good everybody. I might sound slightly stuffed up,

so I apologize for that, but, you know, we do what we can do. We just have our sexy Phoebe voices on. Phoebe buffet, which apparently you always have, but. Yeah, guys, I'm so... I want to talk about that every single time we talk. Like, here we are, we're sitting down again. I have never in my life heard this comparison that I-

Lisa Kudra. That I sound like Lisa Kudra. I've never heard it in my life. I don't know until we had a podcast. Even when I closed my eyes, I can't hear it, but there's a lot of things I didn't find out about myself until we started a podcast. I know.

Exactly, but it's just wild to me. But that's not why we're here. Why we're here is to talk about crime. True crime. And weird stuff. Weird stuff. And so I think I posted a photo on my Instagram the other day and everybody was like, oh my god,

I don't know if I want this episode or I don't want this episode. It's not this episode. Oh, I was like, I thought that it wasn't that episode. It's not. But I just wanted to like update on that. So I bought this book called Berried Alive and I've been doing like crazy research

on premature burials and like fear of being buried alive. Great, I'm so excited. So that's going to be an episode for next week because it's just become so intense. Yeah. That I want to make sure I do it right. So I pushed it next week, but it's coming. So I decided to do like a fun old-timey murder. Yeah, you know, fun. It's fun. Nothing's fun here. But like you know what I mean. Yeah. All time. Yeah. So this one was the the murderer's name is Marion Stembridge. It is a man. And because Marion was like a very big man's name back in the day. Yeah. Just put it on. I guess it's John Wayne's real name was like Marion. I'm pretty sure. Yeah. And even though that.

Yeah. But um, so I found a lot of information in this book called Georgia Tales, Stories of Georgia and Georgians by Ray Chandler. And it has a lot of cool like crazy tales from Georgia. A lot of love if you can tell that. But it's a really good one. And they did a whole thing on Marion's STEM bridge. And I was like fascinated by it.

So Marion's STEM bridge, this obviously takes place in Georgia. He was born August 28th, 1892 in Baldwin, Georgia. He grew up in a pretty prominent family. According to an ancestry search that I actually signed up for ancestry.com to go look into his family tree for this because it was kind of hard to find information on him. Wow.

Thank you to the person who actually did a search on him and like set up his family tree because that was awesome. That's a lot. His parents were John Wesley Stembridge and his mother was Mary Lebritt. He was one of at least five children that I could find. He had a brother Roger who was an older brother and he had three sisters,

Mildred, Martha, and Ellen. Oh, Mildred, I love that name. Mildred Martha and Ellen. Mildred. His father passed away in 1925. I'm not sure what of because again there's not tons of like detailed information about this. Probably prohibition. Probably died of prohibition. That's probably what happened. I would have. I could just, you know, getting too roaring with it. So he was very close to his mother. And even as he got older, she would financially help him a lot of times. Like he was that kind of... A little trust fund baby.

He was that kind. Yeah. And basically she would go to bat for him even when she, like, probably shouldn't. Because he was always kind of a dick. Okay. Just from the get go. You know what I'm getting? I'm getting Dandy vibes.

Oh my God, that's literally what I was thinking the entire time I was. I love one around the same way. I almost put a Dandy reference in here. I love that you did that. So funny. In my head I kept picturing like thin as Dandy. Immediately.

As soon as you started saying, like, his mom would always help him out and like vouch for him when he should. And I was like, oh, like, Dandy. And give him money. Like, I started picturing that. Yeah. Yeah. He's murder.

Like, it's just all there. Yeah. That's crazy. He's Dandy. And, you know, everyone in the area said that the Stembridge family were very nice people. And really, the only one who was difficult and quite frankly a real asshole was Marion. Okay, he was the only one that everybody was like,

what the fuck is wrong with you? Can we call him Dandian? Dandian, so Dandian. So not a ton is known about his childhood, but people who knew the family said they were good people. He wasn't abused, he wasn't mistreated, none of the kids were, by all accounts. But by the age of 19, his older brother,

like something must have gone down, because his older brother and one of his sisters tried to have him committed to a mental health facility in Millageville, Georgia. Oh dang. So obviously, I mean, like we said, he was always an asshole, and I think he was becoming a little more aggressive and scary, a we said, he was always an asshole, and I think he was becoming a little more

aggressive and scary, a little unpredictable, so they were trying to get him committed. It didn't end up happening because he wouldn't agree to it and he was 19 years old, and his mother also stepped in and said it was not necessary. But as these things often go, this really created an issue between the siblings obviously. Right. Now he's not in the mental health facility, but he knows you tried to put him in there. Yeah. So there's a problem.

So Marion wanted nothing to do with his older brother, Roger, anymore, and the sister who I couldn't figure out which sister it was who did it. But he completely cut them out. Okay. Didn't want anything to do with them ever again. Like that was it. I mean, I guess I'd be pretty mad too. He was pretty mad for sure, but he would only talk to his mother and his two remaining

sisters, those are the only people he would have contact with. He did go into the army for a spell, but he was medically discharged at one point. There was a point when he did check himself into a mental health facility, but I wasn't able to find any information about what that was for and what happened or how long. Oh. And his family wouldn't talk about it. Well, maybe they had it like, like, expunge or something like that. I think it was just one of those things that like, it just wasn't talked about. He did graduate from the University of Georgia School of Law. Wow. But he never applied for the bar, so he never actually became a lawyer, Craig. But he was a great, great, great, great, great, great.

Are you there? Are you playing those there? But he did eventually. Yeah, he did, right? There you go. Do you guys watch Bravo? Did he? I don't know.

I don't remember. I don't remember. I'm pretty sure he did. Craig? Hey, Bravo. Bravo, head. Craig Conever, are you listening? You did, I don't know. I think he did. Pretty sure he did. Okay. Hey, Bravo, Bravo heads. Craig Conover, are you listening? You did, right?

But yeah, so people actually described him as intimidatingly smart. He was brilliant. Okay. Very, very smart. But brilliant in the bad way. He used it to be cunning, conniving, manipulating. His siblings in their spouses all described Marian

as super entitled, hashtag dandy literally and just an asshole in general. They all just fucking hated him. And his sister-in-law who was married to his older brother Roger said quote, he thought he was the crown prince of the family. Oh my god, that's literally so weird. I saw him. Maybe so funny. I wonder if American horror story story actually like knew this story. Maybe. Maybe. So him, maybe so funny. I wonder if American Horror Story actually like knew this story. Maybe.

Maybe. So after he graduated from law school, apparently for no reason, he started his own business. And it was like a mail order business. And it was apparently very financially rewarding for him at first. OK. From this, he did do a ton of other random things

to make money. And this eventually he did do a ton of other random things to make money, and this eventually led him to acquiring a grocery store, so he became a grocer today, which is now called Riles Bakery, and it's in the area still. Oh wow. So if you're in the area and like you know what that is, that's cool. He also had a lumber yard, and he doubled in real estate. So he was putting his hands in all different areas now? A Marianne of all trades. He's a dandy of all trades.

And he was successful at all these things, but he was successful because he was an asshole and because he was intimidating people. And he was like using force to get his way. Okay. Now clearly nothing is on the up and up here. It kind of looks like it is, but it's not. I'm just picturing him like walking into like an open house with like potential buyers and being like,

you need to buy this fucking house. You guys fucking house. 10 Bay windows, you fucking need it. I boiled cinnamon sticks on the fucking stove. You know what that's called? Po-Berry baby. You know what that's called? Pobari baby. You know what I did? I set this shit up.

I staged it for you, okay? I took time out of my day. I pictured your dumbass family living in this house and I put shit in here that I knew you would like. I staged the place. That's what he did. He's using force. That's what he did.

But yeah, he did, and everybody was just around town, you know, was just like, okay, he's a dick that just does good business. He's just a business dick, that's all he is. And they were all just like whatever. But he soon opened another business, and it was in the back of one of his like existing stores. Well, that's all he's been... In the back of a store, it feels shady. Oh, that's in they're shady. It's in the back of a store. It feels shady.

Oh, that's in the back building. That's in the back building. And it was the Stembridge Banking Company. Put on quote. And it was touted as like a private bank. Yeah, but. So already you're like, oh no. I mean, that's not a credit union.

In reality, it was just a total facade for bad shit. He was dabbling in like loan-sharking, and you know, like, just any bad bunny thing you can think of. Long-during. He was going ahead and dabbling in that. All of the above. He was also fucking with like poor and like black communities

because he was giving them high-interest loans that he could later come after them very aggressively for. And he would also take advantage of non-educated or illiterate communities by purposely putting like language and contracts that he knew they couldn't understand, and then fucking ask forcing them, like intimidating them into signing these contracts. Jesus, what the fuck?

It's also like you're already rich, bro. Yeah, anybody's getting rich off the backs of lower income families and like people that are being already marginalized. Yeah, no, and it's like, but you like your mom is going to give you money anyway. So like, why do you need to do that? You jack hole. Because he's a dick. Yeah, that's just he liked being an asshole. I'm just mad about it. Now, according to that ancestry search that I did, it did say, and I could have find this in a lot like any other sources. So I was like, ooh, look at me finding it out in the accessory. He did marry a woman named Lois Denive Marchin in 1927.

Lois. It also claims they had a daughter named Evelyn, but that's never mentioned again. And he marries again. Okay. So this little marriage with the daughter is never mentioned. Interest in this. But it's in his dim family tree, okay?

It's in there. In a prominent family though, like a divorce. Yeah. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, that's what Mama Dandy said. She said, yeah, she said, oh, oh, oh, oh, she probably did it beyond this. Shmay of, I think she might have.

Choked on her brandy and went, oh, that's not working. Well, yes, so apparently that wasn't working for them. But as his widowed mother, because remember, she's widowed now. She's getting older. She obviously needed a little more care. So she moved in with Roger, the older brother. She moved into his house with him and his wife.

And she lived there with him. He took care of her, like, all was good. And now I said, Marion was close to his mother. But he still was, and he would visit her a lot, and he would go to Roger's home, but remember, he's not speaking to Roger,

so when he would visit, he refused to go inside the house, and he wouldn't speak to Roger, so he would have full-blown visits with his mother through a window. Meet me at my window. He would stay outside. It's you would be sitting in the fucking window because he was that petty.

He was like, mom, you could use a hero right now and I could use someone to save. I had to. I love it. That's a lot of silly mother. You can't come outside to sit with you. Like sit at the window seat, beauch. Sit at the cold ass window much. Let's open this window so you can talk to me

while I stand here like an idiot. Also can't you just walk in the house and like not like, you know, not say much? Honestly, I would think it would be pedier to walk into the house, not speak to Roger Ors. I would rather. And just visit with your mother in his house. And believe that.

That's some jumping-and-eye type shit that I would absolutely do. I think that's pretty next level. And I think like Dandy Slash Marion really missed out on an opportunity here. I think so too. But maybe Roger was the kind of guy where like you couldn't come in his house

without speaking to him. Yeah, I mean, personally, if my sibling, who I wasn't talking to, walked in my house to have a visit with him. My mom, they, personally, if my sibling, who I wasn't talking to, walked in my house to have a visit with my mom, they'd be like, kicked so far down the street. Yeah, I would personally ask for the mom. They were split in two, but like, I don't know.

Yeah. You gotta try it, I guess. Shoot your shot, Dandy. Shoot your shot. But he would just make his mom talk to him outside the window. And again, Maryen was always known around the area, even since he was younger, because he was the only asshole in that otherwise normal family. But now that he was an adult, he was really becoming kind of a shady figure in the community.

Many people thought of him kind of as just someone who was weird, kind of eccentric, he was cold, he was distant, he was definitely not like inviting conversation. Like you just kind of walk through and you just don't even maybe tip your hat to him. I don't know what to do. I don't know what they did back then just tip their hats. I have literally no idea. But someone who didn't like, he was definitely someone who didn't like to chat. He didn't like small talk, which like I feel him on that.

He wasn't looking to make tons of friends He just went about his business Plipa quiet, but they also said that He only ate cheese and canned goods What why What My lactose intolerant ass just like literally had to excuse myself to go to the bathroom. Like, I'm like, hold on, actually. The thought of only eating cheese and canned goods with my IBS over here, I'm shook.

I'm literally shook right now. Like you're just eating cheese, beans, and soup, sir. That's not on the pyramid. It is on the pyramid, but you have to complete each step of the pyramid. But you can't just have like one part of the pyramid, sir. No. Like are canned goods even on the pyramid? No. And she was very particular about his big hand goods. About his canned goods. He would only pull a canned good from the back of the shelf.

Oh. Because he had this weird thing where, which I'm going to be real. Like, I know it's neurotic, but like, it's kind of true that they push the ones they want to sell to the front. No, it's true. Actually, one of my really good friends always picks the second thing, which like, well, when I read this, I was like, oh, no. Yeah, and ever since she told me that.

She's always pulled back. I usually pick like the second or third one, because she told me that. And she was like, yeah, and now I'm like, yeah. And now I'm like, yeah. Can't good smell the like, yeah, and now I'm like, yeah. And now I'm like, yeah. Can't good smell the back leaves. Now we're all like, yeah. So, you know, here we are.

We're like, yeah. Like the milk ever since I was younger. Oh, milk, if moss, I need to get milk, I'd always take the back one. Always, always. Because they put it there first. Just look at the dates, guys. The date, the closest date is always sitting there

staring you right in the face in the front row. If you pull from the back, you're like, oh, okay, I'll have this milk for a full last month. Thank you. Literally, the other one. The other one. You better drink that in 48 hours, or you're gonna be chewing it.

Do you ever buy milk? And it's literally like, like I always pull from the back, but in the past, there's been circumstances where maybe droogos from up and up and up. There's been moments just flip up. And it's like, the due date is literally like two days from now, and I'm like, what do you think I'm gonna do

with this milk in 48 hours? Do you think I'm just gonna like bathe in it? Like this gallon of whole last milk, which is like it's never in my house. But what? I'm gonna chug that. What? Yeah. It doesn't make sense.

You know what? A lot of questions for the lactose industry. Marion felt the same way. But back then, I think it was only weird though because he only ate hand goods and cheese. So like that made any other kind of neur though because he only had goods and cheese. So like, that made any other kind of neurotic behavior with that good or cheese. A little weirder.

A little weirder in Borks at the time. Maybe he was like scared of, maybe he had like, I don't know. He was scared of a lot of things. He was very paranoid. I wonder if he had, like, a hearing-am armchair diagnosed thing. But I wonder if he had like some kind of OCD or something. I mean, he definitely, I think he was just a paranoid man

because I think he did a lot of bad things. He knew he fucked over a lot of people. He could've hurt shoulder. He fucked over a lot of families. He was always, like, we'll get into it that he was always worried about being poisoned. Like a king. He was always worried about being poisoned.

So maybe that's why he only ate canned goods because you need to can't open them. That's exactly, that's what I was thinking is like, it's a little more tamper proof. And then I guess cheese, I guess it's like cheese is mold, so it's like you might as well just go with it. Yeah. Who's gonna poise and cheese?

Well, I can't imagine his shitting life. Like, dead ass, gross, but dead ass. Dead ass. His ass may as well be dead. I need to know about your GI tract, man. I do. I'm so interested. But, you know, again, everybody knew him as cold, distant, just quiet.

Nothing really like crazy, but if you were doing business with him, it was a different Marion. People who dealt with him in business said he was ruthless. Like ruthless. He would get super aggressive and intimidating wherever money was on the table. If we were dealing with money, he's going to fuck you up. He's like a mob boss. He's going to fuck you up. He's going to fuck you up. In fact, he was known to always carry at least three guns with him at all times. He would have

a German army issued nine millimeter. And it's called, it's like a Walther P-38 semi-automatic. It's like that. I've read it in that book. That gun people, you can tell me if that's crazy. Because actually, somewhere I read that it was weird because he kept it in his coat pocket. And somewhere I read like, that's a weird gun to have in your coat pocket. I think it's, I'm imagining it's not one of those like little ones. Maybe it could go off easily or something. And it's for, I imagine it's probably cumbersome. It's probably not one of those little like pocket ones.

Yeah, but we don't know what kind of jacket he was, he was repping. I don't know. But then he would also carry a leather briefcase with two guns in it. Okay. At all times, everywhere he went. See, that seems like the teeth. That seems like it would be more difficult because you have to open your briefcase to get access.

You do, but maybe it's because he has that one, so he's ready to go like pow pow, and then while you're like, whoa, he's like opening his briefcase. Yeah, pow pow, pow pow. See, I picture him with like one in his pocket, like he's an asshole, so he needs a shoulder-hostar.

It would honestly, it would be like, like, because this is what, like, the 50s or whatever, like, you know, he's like out of the 20s and shoot. Yeah. And like, I feel like he should have those suspenders and like the shoulder-hostar. Yeah, me too. Make it look cool at least.

But now he's just like, I'm not gonna change. He's just like, I'm not gonna change. He's just like, I'm not gonna change. Yeah. Like, it turned. Right. That doesn't seem real.

But yeah, that's what he did. I don't know. But it, so he was paranoid. I mean, that's what he did. I don't know. So he was paranoid. I mean, that shows you how paranoid he was. He always felt like he had to be armed to the teeth. And at some point, he must have left his first wife, but I can't find when that happened. Okay.

Either way, in 1947, he got remarried. Okay. This time, he married Sarah Jordan Terry. She was an English teacher at the Women's College of Georgia. And according to multiple sources, she was described as, quote, big and mean as sin. I mean, she does have three names. Which like, wow.

Somebody described me as big and mean as sin. I'd be like, you damn skipping. You damn straight, I have to. Damn skipping. So, I mean, wow, okay. Like, good for him. Yeah, that's a yes. So, 1948 was when his first real legal trouble hit.

Like, he got into a couple of... Well, it took that long. Well, like, Scripps and Scraps, they're rebels. But this is when shit got like, whoa, like he means business, well, baby. So a man named Johnny or Richard, I've seen it twice. And like, several sources, some people call him, Johnny, I've seen it twice. Like several sources, some people call him,

Johnny, some people call him Richard. This is also a time where I see that people will have a name like Stephen, as we'll see later, and people called him Pete. Yeah. So like none of it makes sense. So maybe his name was Richard and they were like, hey, Johnny, come here.

Well, maybe it was like a middle name type situation. And sometimes it just, it just wasn't. And they just called him a different name. Yeah, you know, it's his name was Steven and they were like Pete. The four of these. So, you know, it happens. Either way, his last name was Cooper. Okay.

I'm gonna call him Johnny, because that's just fun. Johnny, Johnny. And I married Johnny, so I'm just gonna go with it. He had been in debt with Marion for a while. He was one of those lower income customers who Marion really took advantage of with his high interest rates. He had loaned him $800 plus a ton of money for insurance, like through him, to get a

1941 Chevy car. That's what he would loan for car loans and house loans. Sure. He added a ton of extra fees onto this, and he was ruthless with collecting that money. And Cooper had had his brother and his mother, Emma Joankin, be his co-signers for this loan. So they were also on the hook for the money as well. Now, a few months after getting the car, he was in an accident, and he went to Marion

for help using that insurance that he had purchased to fix it. Right. But when he got there, he discovered that Marion had charged him for the insurance, but he had never actually got the insurance for him. Oh my God. So when he needed it fixed, it was just be more money. He was like, now you just have to pay for the whole thing. Now, there are two small little deviations of the story here, but it all goes to the

same place. I'll tell you. One of the stories says that Cooper dropped the Chevy off in front of Marion's store with a note that said, you can have this pile of steel for my note. The note meaning like the loan. Sure. And this pair of piston Marion off obviously. The other story says that he just stopped making payments on the car after this insurance bullshit and this piss Marion. I like the first one because it's more petty. I feel like the first one happened because I feel like that's like

we had to make that up and it's a lot of drama. Either way, Marion was pissed and it was for money in that loan. So he ended up going to Cooper's home to deal with this. IE. And he brought along his business associate named Sam Terry with that. You mean, business associate? Air Bunnies, Air Bunnies. His plan was actually to beat the shit out of Cooper.

He brought brass knuckles. He was like ready to like boss the shit. Damn. But when he got there, he wasn't there. Okay. His aunt and his mother was there. He decided since his mother was actually a cosigner on the loan that she was the second best one to go after.

And he did. He told her he would get his money one way or another, and he would do it by any means possible. So he was like, you better get me that money. Oh, man. Of course. No, of course. No, just don't. And of course, there was some kind of disagreement that ensued, and Marion pulled out a gun, because remember, he is always carrying at least three on his

person at any given time. And he started shooting wildly at his at Cooper's mother Emma. Oh my god. He shot her four times and his aunt wants. Are you kidding me? Yep. Nope. Of course, police were called.

And when people heard this commotion, they immediately started like running towards this place because it's the 50s and they're like, let's go help someone. So Officer Eugene Ellis arrives on the scene. He's gonna be a big player in this whole story. Officer Eugene Ellis. He literally stated that when he arrived, he watched Marion hand the gun to his associate Sam Terry and Terry just took it.

And he said he later asked him why the fuck he just took the gun without hesitation. And he said, with Marion, what would you have done? Yeah, bitch, I'm taking whatever. Which tells you like, damn, like, are you kidding me? So Cooper's mother Emma died from her wounds and his aunts survived. So he's a murderer now.

He's officially a murderer. And he attempted to murder both of them. Both Marion and Sam Terry were indicted on those murder charges. So officer Ellis had to go to Marion's office and serve him the warrant for his arrest. In the book Georgia Tales Stories of Georgian Georgians by Ray Chandler, Ellis said that he got there and he just stood in front of Marion who was sitting at his desk and Marion just stared at him. And he said, quote, he had crazy eyes that could stare right through you, but I could always stare him down. I told him, Mr. Stembridge, I've got a warrant for your arrest. And he said, can I see the warrant? And when I showed it to him, he pulled a gun out of his desk. What the fuck? Yes. I'd be like, either way you're under arrest and you're gonna be even more under arrest

if you shoot me. I'd be like, you're gonna be in so much more trouble now. Spent that away. What are you doing? Well, Eugene Ellis, who is like this like crazy bad ass at this moment, had to wrestle, stembridge down on the ground and get the gun away from him to arrest him.

But he did. He said, quote, he was raising hell the whole time, saying how his rights were being violated. And he said, the state solicitor, whose name was Shep Baldwin, he'll be mentioned later too. Shep, I love it. Shep Baldwin, so in some way. Of course, charm all over the place.

It is. Why is this so much other charm? Because Georgia. Because Georgia. But he said, Shep Baldwin later told me the biggest mistake I ever made was not killing him right then and there when he pulled that gun. Yeah, because I drew. I bet he's going to kill some more people in the field.

I bet he's going to do something. I feel. So he was released on Bond. For why though? Because I forgot to mention that Cooper, his mother and aunt, were black. So I just want to put that out there. Take that from that what you will. But he was released on bond and his trial was in July and we'll see that that might play more into this a little bit. It's fairly fucked up. I'm not saying either way.

I'm just saying look at the facts here. Yeah, that's so fun. So the judge for the trial was Judge George Carpenter and the defense attorney was another guy named Marion, Marion Ennis, who was actually Marion's, no, this is going to be crazy. Hold named Marion, Marion Ennis, who was actually Marion's, another is gonna be crazy. Hold on. So Marion Ennis is now the lawyer. Yes. And he was actually STEM bridges, brother Rogers, wife's cousin.

Okay. That's a lot. That's a fucking lot. I just had to follow. Yeah, I wanted to say it's slow fucking lot. I just had to follow. Yeah, I wanted to say it's slow so you could just try to follow. So Marion is Marion's brother's wife's cousin. I got it. Hey, he was put on the case because his brother Roger was not a shitty person and he actually tried to help his brother even though he was a shitty person. Well, he was a shitty

person, but you know, and he wasn't a a shitty brother He was trying to help him out even though he was yeah, exactly. He wasn't a shitty brother That's what it is so he ended up being convicted because good hello Because murder like hell like how do you like he was literally standing over a dead body and a wounded person Holding a smoking gun holding that he then handed to us. So right He was sentenced to three years in prison for a whole last murder. A male last attempted murder. An attempted manslaughter. That's what they were calling it.

Wow, that's cute of them. That's why I'm saying like things were weird back then. Things were racist back then. Things were real racist over here. But it's important to note that Marion Stimbridge took this loss as his lawyer's faults as Marion and his fault. A-yay! And not the fact that he was found with a gun in his hand

at the scene of the murder standing over the dead body. He didn't think that was the fault. Why would that be his fault, Olinna? Marion and his fault for not taking that and turning it into an innocent. When life gives you lemons. So he blamed Marion and his for this whole innocent. When life gives you lemons. You know, so he blamed Marion Ennis for this whole thing. That's gonna go well.

Weirdly, Sam Terry, his accomplice, just vanished before his trial date and was never seen again, makes sense. So weird. I don't know. Reeses. So out of the blue. Wow.

So while out on bond during the appeals phase of his trials, he moved into the top floor of the Baldwin motel, or hotel, excuse me. I was like, he was not up in a motel. He was a hotel guy. And I don't have top floors. They don't. And he just completely left an abandoned his wife, Sarah.

Good. Just was like, bye. I've been married for like two years at this point. She's like, you know what, better off. So according to the Georgia Tales book, while there, quote, he had a dozen, he had dozens of locks and bolts put on the door of his room and would not allow the maids to clean the room unless he was there. He kept a large refrigerator in the room padlocked. Rumors spread, likely originating from the maids, that he had put sheets of glass on the floor to guard against someone trying to electrocute him, and that he had put the sheets of

lead between the mattresses of his bed, because he feared someone would try to kill him with X-rays. What? He was really just trying to hedge his bets. He was just... Wait, what? He was trying to make sure. He bets. He was just... Wait, what? He was really trying to make sure. Someone was going to kill him via X-ray.

Yeah. Okay. Obviously. Alrighty. Yeah. Obviously. Or someone was going to electrocute him. Those are two very common methods for murdering people.

Electrocution. Through the floor. And X-ray. Electrocution. Through the floor. Like, and they not electrocute you anyway else. What the fuck? and through the floor. And X-ray, exposure. And X-ray, exposure. And X-ray, exposure. And X-ray, exposure. And X-ray,

exposure. And X-ray, exposure. And X-ray, exposure. And X-ray, exposure. And X-ray, exposure. And X-ray, exposure. And X-ray,

exposure. And X-ray, exposure. And X-ray, exposure. And X-ray, exposure. And X-ray, exposure. And X-ray,

exposure. And X-ray, exposure. And X-ray, exposure. And X- he was actually freed on a weird twist of events. He fired Marion NSS's lawyer, and his new lawyers argued that he was convicted on a testimony that was actually perjury, so they just let him go. All right, so he murdered someone. They just let him go.

Later, they looked into this, and they realized he likely just bought his way out of that conviction. Yeah, I'm sure. But they were going to use some kind of like weird little loophole. Now around this time, and I'm sure they regretted later, so around this time he was also sued by a former customer of his bank because he loaned this guy 50 bucks. And he ended up having this guy pay like $550 bucks on a $50 loan. So one of Marion Ennis' associates, named Eva Sloan, actually had this man sue Stembridge in Small Claims Court, and the man won in Stembridge had to pay the full amount back. So he blamed this loss on Marion Ennis' as well because it was his junior associate that sued him.

Okay. Okay. It was, her name was Eva Sloan. She'll come back later too. Dina Sloan is one of my favorite names. Eva Sloan. I'm just saying Sloan is one of my favorite names. Oh, I thought you said Dina Sloan is one of your fans. I was like, that's a very specific name. I said, did you know? No, I didn't know that.

No, you know. Well, so Marion and S is now a target for his hatred, of course. And now Eva Sloan is now not his favorite person either. Okay. So we're not racking up some good points. You know, I need to also know it's in that padlocked refrigerator. I know. I gotta know.

Well Sarah divorced him finally or started the whole thing for me. She's not Sarah. And she claimed that he was like cruel, abusive, just a terrible person. She said he slept with a gun under his pillow and that he basically did that whole king thing where he would have when she would make dinner, he would either switch the plates or make her eat some of his food to make sure that she didn't poison him. Like imagine John doing that to you. You're like yours, him. At the, like, imagine John doing that too. You're like, you're dead and he's like,

I want your plate. I'd be like, dude, make your own food then. That's fuck. I'm gonna make my own food. You make your own food. None of us will be poisoned. So a couple of years later, at the end of 1952, he was in trouble with the IRS.

Because the IRS called Gacha. And you didn't think this guy was gonna get away from the IRS. No, there's no way he from the IRS? No, no. There's no way he was paying taxes. No, that's not a thing that was happening. No. So he was not paying taxes at all for decades. How do people think that they're gonna get away with that?

I know. And he was also bullshitting on his taxes that he did pay. So apparently when the agents showed up to be like, Hey, we're gonna charge you a tax evasion. He said, you know what, I'll pay you $10,000 to make this go away. That's it. And they said, okay, maybe. Yeah. And they were like, what do people can be bought? Well, they were like, we're going to mold this over. We're going to see what's happening. So they left. And they come back on January 6th, 1953, so like a few weeks later.

And they said, sure, we'll take that $10,000 and we'll forget that you just failed to pay taxes for years. And he was like, cool. And they were like, actually, make that $10,000 each. So they were like, I want $10,000. Per person at the IRS. No, like the two people. Oh, gotcha, gotcha.

They were like, I want $10,000 and he wants $10,000. I was like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, and he was under arrest for tax evasion and attempted bribery. I love it. Apparently everybody cannot be bothered. I love it. He went to trial in April and April 27th, he was convicted of all charges. The judge told him to get all his shit together and that he was gonna come back on May 4th for sentencing. Sure.

So they were like, you're gonna go away for a while. Doubt he's coming back on May 4th for sentencing. Because this was on April 27th, so it's only a couple days away. Yeah, only a few days away that he has to come back. Judge George Carpenter, who like presided over both of his trials, got a ton of death threats over the next couple of days, over the phone,

and he said he knew they were Marion, who was 61 years old by now, by the way. Now after this, he just went radio silent for a few days. Like, no one heard from him. Because he's leaving. He's doing, and then May 1st came. And on this day, he randomly mailed two big suitcases to one of his sisters who lived in Washington, DC.

Both of them had like locks on them. I cannot find what was in these suitcases. Do you think it was just money? I don't know. I imagine maybe. I probably might. Cause they were his sisters that he like, what, that he cared about.

Yeah. But I'm also like, what? Maybe there's like evidence in shit. Maybe he like more shit he did in there. Maybe he like liquidated all his assets somehow. Like, air could change time. Maybe. But like, I wanna know.

Maybe he's not sure they were taking care of before he disappeared. I mean, just shock. Well, also apparently on that day may first, which this was a Friday, he went to Marion and his office a few times, his lawyer, who he blames for everything. He wasn't there all day. Good.

But he kept coming back and looking for a game back. And people in the office were like, what's happening? No, they were just kind of like, oh, why does he need to talk to him? No one was thinking anything of it. So May 2nd that followed like the next day. That was a Saturday. And it was a big day for several reasons. One, this was the day Marion Stembridge finally snapped,

and we're going to get to that in a minute. Two, it was the town's kickoff, Cess Quinn Centennial celebrations. What? Yes. I'm going to set the scene real quick. It was the 150th birthday of the town of Millageville founded in 1803.

Cute. On that Saturday, May 2, there was a parade planned and a huge ball and pageant to crown the queen of the Cessque and Centennial. But, yes, send me there. No, thank you. Don't give me any of that. But according to the Atlantic Constitution newspaper

on May 4, 1953, quote, More than 2,000 people, their hearts warm with pride and hands warmed with applause, gathered at Davenport Stadium on the George Military, George Military Campus for the presentation of what a narrator called a Home Folks story enacted by Home Folks. 500 Baldwin County citizens of all ages and collection of Rolling Stock,

which included everyone from an early settlers jackass to carriages, tandem bicycles, and something else paraded across the field to present the story which began with the Native Americans and ended in the president, in the president, the president. So basically it's like, whoa, we're gonna watch this whole reenactment of the town being born Everyone psyched about it. Yeah, we got donkeys over here. We got fucking tandem bicycles

We got horse-trogues Carriages everyone's having a ball. Wow, okay. The streets were all decorated with red, white and blue shit And there was all kinds of shit about the town's history. It's, I know what you did last summer. It literally is what I was thinking! Oh my god, I love it around the same lab. I was literally thinking about the Croker Queen. Yes. That's what I was thinking of. Yes.

It's like, oh my god, we are one. I know, I love it. Oh, a lot of people dressed up like the 1800s, like gear and shit. Yeah, they carried around fake muskets that just shot fireworks out, which sounds not safer than real muskets. Sounds real dangerous.

Like maybe just carry around real muskets at that point, because you could literally kill someone with fireworks. But okay. And again, reenactments, parades, presentations, pageants, parties, picnics, food, dance, and ports, just lots of fun shit. The governor was gonna come, obviously. Big deal this birthday.

Big deal. It sounds like the fourth of July for this small town. And it was gonna go on all week. Oh yeah. The ad shit planned all week, but this was like the kickoff. So, I mean, it seems to be fun. I mean, I don't, but.

Yeah, I mean, this was, I imagine it was like, this pageant sounds horrifying, but like, that's just me. Why? Because I am who I am. So, well, this is all happening and about to kick off in the afternoon with the parade. In the morning, Marion Stembridge,

Ms. Piloting some shit. Yeah. After a bit, he drove his car to the home of Shep Baldwin, the state solicitor. He was the one who had chosen initially to prosecute him on that murder. Now Shepp was in his home that morning, and he watched Marion drive up in his car through the window, and he said he just sat there for a while, and then he just left without

doing anything. And so later he realized that Marion likely saw that there was no car in the driveway and assumed he wasn't home. And that's why he left. Okay. And reality, chefs' wife had had that car and was using it that morning. And that's why it wasn't in the driveway.

Thank goodness. And he was like, he'd, and it definitely saved his life. Yeah, of course later, we find out that he was on his list to kill that morning. Oh my god, he has a list. Yeah. So he went back into town and he creeped outside of George, Judge George Carpenter's office for a while.

And witnesses said he was just staring in the windows and shit, but the judge wasn't there that morning. I love that, like nobody's there that morning. Nobody's there, it's not working out for him. He then walked into the office of JC Cooper, who was the clerk for the superior court And he just stood in front of him while he sat at his desk and the clerk was just like hello mr Stembridge like just said it and he just stared at him and then left

And he was like what the fuck does it and he said he like propped the door open before he left So he was like what what the fuck and later? And he said he like propped the door open before he left. So he was like, what? What the fuck? And later what they think he was like, he was definitely on his list, the clerk, but he was lower on his list. So he, and I think what we're gonna find out later

is he needed to do this quick when he was planning. And so he was going after the bigger targets first. And then he was, but he was checking to make sure where these other people were. And he was making sure he had an easy access to get them away. He could just walk by and choose the door. So he was propping open that door

to be like, I'll be right back. Yikes. So then around 10 a.m., he went straight to Marion Ennis's office. And as you can imagine, Marion Ennis is probably number one on that list. His office was above the campus theater, which showed movies and shows and all that, so it's like this old-timey cool looking theater.

Like the stars hollow. Oh, yes, that's right. That's right. Yeah. Red and white. It's like the red and white diet. It's not the diner. I think it's the red and white movie theater.

Yeah, I think you're right. Yeah, whatever. For more girls, you love it. We love it, we all love it. Here we go. So the campus theater was like that, and they'd had lines around the block that day because everybody was out that day. Stembridge walked right by this whole crowd of people.

Marion Ennis' associate, the attorney I talked about before, Eva Sloan, was also in the office. And again, she had worked on that case to sue Sembridge for that man who was made to pay like $550 for $50. Right. She was there, and she was definitely on the list, but she had just left Marion and his office and was in another office talking to another attorney.

Oh my goodness. I love how the stars are aligning for everybody so far. It's amazing. And that other lawyer said Sloan's back was to the door and he was watching, like he just happened to see over his shoulder, that Stembridge walked right by the door and he was like, what the fuck is going on? And he walked right down the hall towards Marion, Ennis's office, then suddenly the people at Sloan and that other attorney heard loud pops. Uh-huh. Now, Stembridge suddenly ran across the hall and out the front door,

past the other attorneys. Sloan ran into Ennis's office and found him lying face down in a pool of his own blood. Oh! Stembridge had shot him once in the shoulder, once in the stomach, which would have killed him the coroner later said. But then when he collapsed on the floor, he stood over him and shot him in the back. Oh my goodness. Now, Sloan later recalled that blood literally gushed from his mouth as he tried to talk to

her, and that he grasped onto her arm for support as he breathed to its last breath. Oh. Yeah. She said he literally died in her arms. Oh my goodness. I can't imagine how heavy that must be. Oh my God. And like, they worked heavy that must be. Oh my god. And like they worked to get like, that's like crazy.

So someone from the law office actually yelled out the window to the crowds below that somebody had shot an attorney and chaos just when not. Oh god. So this is happening. And Stembridge walked quickly out of that law office and into another office building called the Sanford Building on the other side of the theater.

People in line said he walked past them and tipped his hat to them. Oh, and he walked up the stairs, passed the offices and down the hall to the office of Stephen or what people knew him as Pete. Bivins. Bivins was on the list because he had represented someone who sued Stembridge in a false mortgage like foreclosure kind of thing. And he had also represented Sarah Stembridge in her divorce against Marion. So several people actually told him during that whole thing go easy on Marion. Yeah. Because they were like he's terrifying. And he said that he wasn't worried at all

because people were like, he literally murdered someone. Like, we all know he did and he tried to murder another person like chill. And he was like, no, I'm not worried about it. He was 27 years old, Bivens. Invincible. He's invincible. And he was like, you know what? He's like, he's 61 years old.

What is he gonna do to me? Yeah. And then he was like, I also carry a cult 45 on me at all times. Intusate tags. So whatever, exactly. So he was like, I'll protect myself. Well, that morning after shooting Mary and Ennis to death over his beef with him,

he walks right into the office of Bivens and just stands there. And he's just breathing heavily and looking wild. And it was even weirder because he barged into a closed office while Bivens was like dictating something to his secretary. So his secretary is just standing next to him, like taking notes. And Stembridge, I think the secretary's name was Jean Stachum, I believe it was. Stembridge just barges in, just stands there like a fucking wild animal.

And then his secretary looked him right in the eyes and she said later that Bivens just kind of just said, good morning, Mr. Stembridge, what can I do for you? Uh huh. Like what the fuck? There was a pause and Stembridge just raised his gun and shot. And he shot until his gun clicked.

And no ammunition was left. He ended up shooting Biven's four times in the chest as he was sitting at his desk with his secretary standing right next to him. And the secretary was just standing there? Yep. And I guess Biven's did raise his own gun, tried to raise it, but he didn't have the strength to like pull the trigger.

So he just dropped it. But what is crazy is Bivens didn't die right away, even with four shots directly to the chest, he got all his strength stood up while being shot, like in the middle of being shot, and started charging at Stembridge. Whoa! As this is happening,

his secretary Jean Stachem is screaming, trying to hide, but screaming for help at the same time. Stembridge is trying to put another magazine into his gun. Well, grab Bevin's gun. To shoot Bevin's mind. Since Bevin's is apparently the Hulk, so he's like, I have to keep shooting this guy. Before he can do that, Bevin's tackles his ass down and manages to grab Stembridge's gun from him. He then bivins takes off down the hall with the gun but collapses halfway down the hall onto the gun. Oh my! So he's literally

got halfway down the hallway with this guy's gun fell onto it and he died. Oh no! Yeah, and I really thought he was going to live. I know. It's so sad. And I was trying to figure out which one, either Marion or Bivens here, one of them, like Marion Ennis, one of them left behind a wife and two young children. Oh. Yeah. So both of them were very young.

So it's like really sad. Now, a chiropractor in the office, I think his name was Dr. Brown actually. He was in the same office building if he had like a different office. And he had to hide one of his patients under his desk and he was the one who called police. And he watched Stembridge run out of the building.

So the police were, are you just getting fucking adjusted and this shit happens? How terrifying would this be? I mean, you have to hide under this guy's desk. You don't know what's going on. It's the 50s. You're like, what the fuck's happening? You're halfway through an adjustment.

You're like, I'm really uncomfortable. And now I'm crouching under a desk. I feel very fucked up right now. This is not helpful. You're like, I'm making three appointments next week. Yeah, like this is not cool. Thank you so much for this. Can I have this comped?

So, so, yes. The police are already coming and sirens are going everywhere. Like people are all over the place outside. People are screaming. Like people are telling them to stop clogging the streets because everyone's crowding around this area now. It's absolute mayhem because people are already out for the celebrations. So they're in celebratory mode and now all of a sudden sirens are coming flying down here. Like what the fuck?

Someone yells at a window, somebody's been shot, like what the fuck? So it turns out, Stembridge ran into another part of the Sanford building where one George Edwin Sibley had an office. Okay. When officer Eugene Ellis, like once again,

and Sheriff Dennis Cox came on the scene, they walked up the stairs to where the second murder had occurred, and they heard a shot. So when they get up there, they find Marion Stembridge on his stomach on the floor outside of the judge's office. There was blood pulling around his head. He apparently had heard the cops approaching and put a gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger. Oh wow. Now in that Georgia Tales book by Ray Chandler, it says that the state solicitor, Shep Baldwin, who Marion Stembridge had visited that morning and definitely Klanda Kill, he just showed up next to them at the crime scene. In the book,

Eugene Ellis says, quote, to this day, I don't know how he got there. I don't remember hearing him walk up on me, but when I looked around, he just said, it's over now, ain't it, boy? What the fuck? So I'm like, what the fuck? That's you, shady. Yeah, like what's going on there?

I'm sorry, excuse me, what? It's, I was like, whoa. Sova now, saying it, boy. And a boy. I just, yeah, that makes sense. Like that's how the movie ends. Sova now, scene and boy. Aneboy. I just, yeah, that makes sense. Like, that's how the movie ends. Sova now, Aneboy. And then it fade to black.

Like, boom. Whoa! Kind of love it, but it didn't end there, I bet. What makes a person a murderer? Are they born to kill? Or are they made to kill? I'm Candace DeLong, and on my podcast, Killer Psychie Daily, which you can find exclusively on Amazon music,

I share a quick 10-minute rundown every weekday on the motivations and behaviors of the criminal masterminds you read about in the news. I have decades of experience as a psychiatric nurse, FBI agent and a criminal profiler. On Killer Psychie Daily, I'll give you my expert perspective on cases like the mysterious New York City drugings, breaking down Lori Vallow, a.k.a. Mommy Doom stays motives, and what drove Caitlin Armstrong to murder? I'll also bring on expert guests who add even more insight into these criminal minds. I promise you won't regret adding these 10 minutes to your morning routine. Hey, Prime members, listen to the Amazon Music exclusive podcast Killer Psychie Daily in the Amazon Music app. Download the app today. Hi, I'm Lindsay Graham, the host of Wondery's podcast American Scandal. We bring to life some of

the biggest controversies in U.S. history, presidential lies, environmental disasters, corporate fraud. In our newest series, we look at the Kids for Cash scandal, a story about corruption inside America's system of juvenile justice. In Northeastern Pennsylvania, residents had begun noticing an alarming trend. Children were being sent away to jail in high numbers, and often for committing only minor offenses. The FBI began looking at two local judges, and when the full picture emerged, it made national headlines.

The judges were earning a fortune, carrying out a brazen criminal scheme, one that would shatter the lives of countless children, and force a heated debate about punishment, an America's criminal justice system. Follow American scandal wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen ad-free on the Amazon music or wonder app. So when they all they could do that trick thing where the credits roll and then oh no, boom, oh no, no, yeah, we're back. So when they searched Marion Stembridge's hotel room at the Baldwin hotel, they found out just how scary and bizarre he really is.

I think there any news. There was guns, bullets, other weapons literally in every corner of the room all over the floors. When they later went to his office, they found a suicide note. It was dated from May 1st, 1953, and it said, it was handwritten, and it said, to whom it may concern, I just do not care to be sentenced for another crime I did not commit. In this connection, I will not be able to do, or yeah, in this connection, I will not be able to do my full duty. I can only do the best that I can.

Mary and W. Stembridge, I was convicted by tampering with the jury. So they took this duty, he speaks of, to be killed as many people he saw as enemies before the police were called. Yeah, that's what I think. He would then shoot himself in the mouth, obviously. That's why he says he won't be able to fulfill his full duty, but he'll do his best.

Right. Because he knows he won't be able to hit them all, but he's going to hit as many hands. So when they checked the weapons on his person at the time of his death, he had eight extra magazines with him prepared to kill a ton of other people. Damn. They also deduced that he was planning it on that Friday because he dated the note for Friday, and he also tried to show up to Ennis' office, but he wasn't there. So on this list, they knew other than the two he actually killed, Marion Ennis and Stephen

Biven, or Pete Biven. He was going to kill Shep Baldwin, Eva Sloan, who only didn't die because she happened to leave Marion Ennis' office just before he came in. And he didn't have time to look for her because he had to get out of there. Judge Carpenter, J.C. Cooper, the clerk, his ex-wife Sarah. He was going to kill Sarah.

Yep, and probably, and they think that Eugene Ennis was also on that list. Now, a kid who was in town that day in the book, he said he was like 10 years old, and I just wanted to put the things that's like such a, he was like, I'd like a corner store. Yeah, it's, again, it's moving. Living his life as a 10-year-old. And he said he was there through the whole thing, and he said, quote,

I remember seeing him bring Ennis's and Biven's bodies out. They were covered in sheets, but the sheets looked like somebody had dumped a bucket of blood through that the whole thing and he said, quote, I remember seeing him bring anuses and bivin's bodies out. They were covered in sheets, but the sheets looked like somebody had dumped a bucket of blood over them. Those were the first murdered people I ever saw. Wow. And I was like, damn, you were 10.

That's like some standby me, shit. Now the celebrations went on, by the way. That's wrong. They canceled the parade for that afternoon, cause the ball and pageant went on as planned and the celebrations panned out for the rest of the week went out too. What did it feel the same to be crowned Miss Georgia

in that moment? No, probably not, no. But Bivens and NSI apparently had both take, like, were big in planning the celebrations? Sure. And so I think it was their families who were like, they would have wanted this to go on and people to be happy and have a fun time with this whole

and I think they did like honor them, you know, they mentioned them at times. But they did make it a big deal to like go on with these celebrations, like nothing happened. Yeah, that's, that's some. They were like the trouble say. It's important. We need just, and wait until I read you part of the newspaper article that sent me to the moon. Oh, god. Because I can't. The moon, Alice. So it's really crazy.

So a story in the Atlantic Constitution on May 5th, 1953 is the most wild thing I've ever heard. Maybe it's just me. But it was about this sesquinsentennial. And then suddenly it makes this insane comparison. Now it says this, no mother sat in by tragic death in the family in the midst of preparations for beloved child's birthday party ever rallied more bravely than did the old town of Millageville, as it hit its grief over the Saturday slaying of two of the leading citizens, and put its

best foot forward to receive the first of 10,000 visitors to attend the week-long Cess Quincentele Teniel celebration. Priorities. No mother, saddened by the death of somebody beloved while planning their beloved child's birthday party has ever rallied. Who writes this shit? Like a millage bill. Who writes this shit?

For this fucking party we made up. Like, are you fucking kidding? It's a lot. What the fuck? That's a response to a drama. The newspapers really concerned with proving that the residents of Millageville are stoic as fuck and able just to forget an actual murder rampage.

That's so of the tide, though. It truly is. Because then the next thing it says in there is the deaths of attorneysnie's Marion Ennis and Stephen Bivens before the blazing gun of banker Groscher, Marion Stembridge Saturday, was still uppermost in many minds. But as soon as the second funeral that was Bivens was over at 4 p.m., the town turned resolutely to staging the finest 150th birthday party for the finest town in the US of A.

Dude, they straight up pre-gamed this party with a funeral. And then there was an asterisk, and it says, writes for Stembridge, who killed himself after the double murder will be held privately Tuesday. So like go to those if you're in the need for an after party question,

I love that it's like everyone everyone was so grief-stricken over these brutal murders. But then they were like, fuck it. It's our town's 150th birthday. And we're the best town in the damn US of A. It's like, oh, I feel like stars hollow would do that. Whoa, whoa, yeah. I think so too.

Lots of connections here. That was a lot. So that newspaper kind of blew my goddamn mind. And then, and I have it still up here because what was the, I have to find the other part that it's like, they just go, so they're going right, right from like, you know, the double murder killed himself. And if you want to go to that, that's fun. That's happening privately on Tuesday.

And the next thing is blue wide, fair-haired, Betty McMillan, 21 winner of the county wide competition for the title of Queen of the county-wide competition for the title of Queen of the Cess Quintz and Daniel, was introduced to her subjects in a gigantic parade through downtown streets at 4.30 pm. So that same fucking day. They crowned their queen. They paraded this bitch down the streets at 4.30.

The same streets that's average had just murdered people off. They're still blood on those streets. Like what the fuck is happening? Wow. Priorities. Priorities. Priorities. I blew my down mind.

It's so stoic. That's a lot. That's a lot to unpack. So somehow this gets slightly weirder. So how investigators want to stem bridges store to clean up the mess and start like, you know, going through the will and all that Maybe find some more evidence of him being a shitty person and they found five locked safes so immediately they're like

What looks like to be in there so they open them they have somebody come in and open them What do you think can't good? Can't good. Can't good. Kind of close. She should have been. Jars of his own urine. What? Yep. They were all labeled with his name and the dates

that they were collected. And they had notes saying that when he died they were to be tested, so he could prove that he was poisoned. What the? Mm-hmm. They also found rusty nails in some of the safe and guns. What? Yeah.

I mean, things you keep in safe. Imagine you're like, you're there all definitely talking about it before they like open these up and they're like, they're their body parts and they're like, yeah, is there going to be some crazy like paperwork that leads and they're like, oh, are there body parts? So they're like, yeah. Is there gonna be some crazy like paperwork that leads us to this, like, not so investigation? Just jars of piss.

Ew. And then imagine the name on them, the person to clean that up and then it's in his will that they need to be tested. And then it's just like there that they need to pass, I'd be like, no. So then they have to, like, like, legalities.

Well, also in his will, he left Sarah one dollar. What a fucking house. And that was literally like required by lock Because they weren't legally divorced. Oh, wow, what a fucking asshole. I would take all of that piss. I feel like technically That's mine too. And I would pour it over his grief For better for worse mother fucker. Oh, Marion But he left the rest to his two sisters that he talked about. What about his child? Yeah, I don't know what happened to Evelyn. I don't know where she ever went. Girl, but in 19, what's crazy is

Eugene Ellis, the like main guy here, he later became chief of police there and he bought Marion Stembridge's desk when it went to auction. That's a choice. Isn't that a real choice, was this? He used it for a long time. He also kept the handwritten suicide note. That's, you know, it's a moment. I mean, he was a big part of this case. Yeah. And the desk, I guess, was the one that when he came

to arrest him, like, he like tackled him over. So I guess it's like, oh, yeah, okay. That I get, the desk I get, like the hit, the suicide note, I don't know, I don't know. Yeah. I mean, he was a big part of the case. I think, sure. There's like one of the police chiefs

and like the lady in the dunes case had her skull and the thing is, yeah, but that was like a reminder to like find her. But people keep like odd things, I suppose. They do. But I thought that was interesting. And I kind of get the desk, because I'm like, I want to get the desk. I feel like it things, I suppose. They do. But I thought that was interesting. And I kind of get the desk because I'm like, I want it because I feel like it has like bad vibes.

Bad vibes on it. But like, I guess get it. I would just keep the urine. I wouldn't keep one jar of that urine. I would keep the urine. I would put it in like a case. And I'd be like, you know who's urine that is? She said she'd keep the urine.

Not all of it. I wonder if the urine is around. Or if it's, they just got rid of it right away. They must have had to test it. No, maybe. There's no way the urine's still around. They didn't test that shit. There's no way they were listening to that.

So in 1989, there was a book written called Paris Trout. And it was written by Peter Dexter. And it was loosely based on this rampage, in case you want to read it. But I guess the town of Millageville was very upset about this. Because again, it was loosely based on this rampage, in case you want to read it. But I guess the town of Millageville was very upset about this, because again, it was loosely based. He never claimed it was the actual story, but everybody liked this being brought up, because it's like a kind of a black splotch on the community.

They don't like it being brought up because they're fucking having some regrets on celebrating it. Because it's a lost murder. And there was a movie made in 1991, called Pairshtrow. Oh, I want to watch it. Yeah, and I guess I haven't seen it. I've never heard of it, but we should watch it.

And the home he once shared with Sarah, it was like a boarding house. It burned down in 2019. But before that, it was said to be haunted by Marion who would stomp through the hallways. I believe that. And now people say that the campus theater is haunted by him. Oh, I bet.

Because he died right upstairs in like an office thing. I mean, that's a fun thing. And the rampage happened right up there. Yeah, I want to go there. Also, I just had an idea. We should watch that movie and then do a Patreon episode on it. Oh, we should. Hi, patrons.

Well, watch what is a perestro- Perestro- We're gonna do it. Yeah. So that's the the tale of Marion STEM Brids. That was wild. Where did you find that? Somebody recommended it. I could I like randomly had it in a list. I don't think I came up with it myself. Maybe I did. But I think I think it was a list of ones that I had like taken from people with a dress. Yeah. so whoever suggested that, you fucking rock,

because that was really interesting to look up. That was very interesting to listen to, so thank you. You know I love an old-timey murder, and he gave me a good one. I know, sorry, I just punched my microphone, so we do it all the time. But thank you so much for, if that was a suggestion, which I believe it was,

thank you so much, and you guys rock at suggestions. Yeah, feel free to always like tweet at us, suggestions, fucking message them to the email. Because I didn't know about this one, so I never would have found it. Yeah, exactly, I love it.

You guys rule. Oh, we also have a forum for fucking suggesting cases. We do. Talk until I can find it. We have a forum. Forms are fun to have for these things because they keep them all in one area in that way. You can suggest cases and we will actually see them

and they won't get lost in the abyss. Exactly. Because I don't know if I've said this, but I don't look at the email anymore. So I won't see them. Ashe will have to pass them along to me, but I did ask on Twitter the other day and I got so many good ones so you guys rule

and I love you so much. And this is a lot of fun to do. Okay, here's the form. Thank you. I'm gonna end up posting this on Instagram or somewhere, but if you're an old and you don't do that, then it is https.fuckin.dot. Hold on.

It's https.colon. Backward slash times two. Forms.g. I'm gonna have to post this because I'm not reading all of those letters. We'll just post it in the show notes, too, if you want. We'll put it in the show notes. It's gonna be all over the place.

You get those by going to listen wherever you listen. If you click on the episode, there should be an episode description. That's the show notes. Just because we've had a couple people that were like, what the fuck is a show note? It's confusing. And I feel that because before I did a podcast,

I'd be like, what the fuck is a show note? So's confusing. And I feel that because before I did a podcast, I'd be like, what the fuck is a show note? So we get it. So that's where that is. Thank you. I'll also link this book. Because this book is really interesting and has a really a lot of Georgia stories in it. And Ray Chandler's did a good job telling the story.

I can, I wonder if I should put, I can try to post the link to the ancestry tree, but you might have to sign up for it to count to the... A lot of people have accounts though, so... But yeah, and... This was fun. Love you, and we hope you keep listening. And we hope you. Keep it!

Wooo! But that's over there, you wanna kill in a rampage, and then you're like, oh, you know what, I'm done with my killing rampage. I'm, the town should just celebrate HBD Town, yay. And that's a weird that urine and urine safe. Chars of urine. Everywhere. Hey, Prime Members! You can listen to Morvid, Early, and Add Free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen Add Free with Wondery Plus and Apple

podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey. Bye.