Morbid - Episode 274: The Friday the 13th Murder

Episode Date: October 31, 2021

Alaina brings us the case of Mark Branch who killed Sharon Gregory on the afternoon of October 24th 1988 in Greenfield Massachusetts. Mark was obsessed with horror movies, specifically the Friday the 13th franchise and really took that to a horrifying place the day he killed Sharon Gregory. It would be over a month before they found Mark, who went on the run after the murder. All of the happenings in this case are truly something out of a horror film. As always, thank you to our sponsors: BeanBox: Order today at beanbox.com/MORBID and get your first Tasting Box for just $5 with promo code MORBID BestFiends: Download Best Fiends FREE today on the App Store or Google Play Liquid IV: Grab your favorite Liquid I.V. flavors nationwide at Walmart or you can get 25% off when you go to LIQUIDIV.COM and use code MORBID at checkout. Everlane: Go to everlane.com/MORBID and sign up for 10% off your first order plus free shipping. 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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of your home. Download the free Angie mobile app today or visit Angie.com. That's ANGI.com. Hey weirdos, Halloween, Halloween. And actually this was supposed to be a little earlier in the week, but we had a Norrester up here in the Northeast. In the North East. And the Swats called a Norrester. You know, I didn't know that.

I know I love that you should know. For that the other day, I was like, why did they even call it a Norrester? And I was like, well, directions. And I was like, you know, you're right. It has nothing to do with Easter. No, it certainly does not. But we had a pretty gnarly one and it knocked out the power for our entire area for days on end. Yeah, we were without for like two and a half days. Yeah, it was back to like

Puritan times and it was horrific. That was tough. I did, however, play a lot of best fiends. Yeah, I did too, actually, because it was, we didn't have any internet, no Wi-Fi, no cable, no nothing, which sounds, again, first world problems. Like, we are like, we didn't have TV. I did. But like, it's a very cushy life. It is a very cushy life that we could be so destroyed by not having Wi-Fi. Seriously.

Like, for sure. But it was like weird, because we've just had it. Yeah, it was just so quiet. And it was funny. Not funny. It was like ironic, because you were talking about that. Yeah, it was just so quiet. And it was funny. Not funny, it was like ironic, because you were talking about that in the Voluska Axe murders, like we cried out everything was.

And then I was sitting there in bed, like, oh cool, I'm literally never going to sleep then. Yeah. Dead silent. And so dark. And then the wind was crazy. So like if I hit your house in a certain way, it was making like super creepy, like howling noises.

Yeah, it was definitely, it was a throwback for sure for a few days. And with kids it was like, whoo, it was tough. Yeah. But we figured it out, we kept them busy. We made it through. We were very lucky to still have heat. So I can count on that. We had the stuff we really needed, so that was good.

But all our like extra things were like me. But it also made it so that we could not post our episode because we didn't have the internet. But here we are. We're here now. We have power, we have all that good stuff and we are able to post this Amazon. And finish it. So that's good. But another in the meantime, and I couldn't wait to talk about this, a huge true crime thing happened this past week. Yeah, it did. One of the unidentified victims from the John Wayne

Gacy case was finally identified. That's huge. Like crazy, because that was like, almost like 40 years ago. Yeah, like that's a very long time. And imagine like his family. Yeah, I'm sure other people passed away in his family without knowing whatever happened to him.

Oh yeah, the people who were on scene that day, like I read something in the Chicago Sun Times and it was one of the attorneys that was there from Chicago, his name's Terry Sullivan. And he said, quote, the entire gacy story was on the face of one of those skulls. And he said, it had the look of horror, pure horror. Oh my God.

And he said, the remains we found were no longer bodies, bodies removed by time, bones, but the look on the face of one of those skulls from the crawl space was something I can never forget. Wow. So this, I mean, that case, if you go back and listen to our episode, you'll see it's brutal.

He's a horrific monster, and there are still unidentified victims, but we now know that one of those victims has a name and it is Francis Wayne Alexander and he was 21 years old. Oh baby. Yeah and he was adorable. Like the picture of him years like oh I just want to grab your face. I know only like smiling in the picture like ruins you. Yeah and he lived on the north side and he had disappeared no one know where he went and that's unfortunately what happened So I'm glad that there's closure on that. Yeah, I hope that brought like people in his family closure in France

Yeah, but to any of his family members that are you know still around like who our heart goes out to you Absolutely, that is horrific but Rest in peace to Francis Yes, and we're glad that it's at least moving in that direction. Hopefully, we can get him all identified. I know the cool thing is that DNA is just coming even now, still so far, that I think a lot of these victims hopefully will be named. Yeah, hopefully we'll keep seeing the progress in that. But, yeah, so that was a really,

really good, but still like somber thing that happened this week. Yeah. Other than that, I think it's really just been the lead up to Halloween, which is always like a kind of sad to me the week before Halloween. Okay, I had fun but sad. Because I'm like, oh no, it's gonna be over. In fact, I have like a little Halloween countdown thing and today I did it to one and I was like,

no. Yeah, it's like great, but you're like, oh no, but then it's gonna be over for another year. And then spooky season ever leaves here, but no, of course not. Like the official spooky season. Right, like haunted houses are gonna be gone. But then at the same time, like Alina and I

were saying this to each other the other day, like then it's kind of exciting because like all the holidays come. Like this is a really good time of year. It is, we love this time of year. It just feels like a happy time of year. It does. And hopefully it's gonna be a happy time of year

for every goodie. I think so. Keep the spooky the all year round. We love this time of year. It just feels like a happy time of year. It does. And hopefully it's gonna be a happy time of year for everybody. I think so. Keep the spooky the whole year round. A. Uh, but in, you know, in the Halloween spirit, we decided to do a story that has like a lot of lore with it and it's also a Massachusetts story, which we love. We love a Massachusetts. This is a terrible story, but we love to talk about Massachusetts. This is the story of Sharon Gregory and the man who brutally murdered her in 1988.

Right. You'll find out what the like, you know, the lean, all the lore and rumors that came along with this, that kind of fit with the Halloween theme. So this took place in Greenfield, Massachusetts. It's a very small town. It has about 18,000 people. I've literally never heard of it. It's only like a, like a few hours away from where we are. It's like in Western Massachusetts. Okay. Our murderer that we're going to talk about is Mark Branch. He was 18 years old at the time of the crime. I should say this ahead of time, not a ton is known detail-wise about this. It was like scrounge city to try to find anything I could.

So I won't have like the most detailed background on all these people. Like I normally would, it's just not out there. But he did, what we know is he did have a history of emotional trouble as like a teen and a young kid He was not from what we could see we don't know if he was diagnosed with any kind of mental illness But he definitely had some emotional turmoil going on Now he attended New Salem Academy for a few weeks and then dropped out to receive care at McLean I don't know why it's so hard for me to say that word McLean McLean. I don't know why it's so hard for me to say that word, McLean.

McLean? I don't know why it won't come out right. But yeah, McLean. So anybody from Massachusetts, probably a sort of McLean hospital. Again, not a lot is known about what exact care he received there and for what, but he was obviously, you know,

he was emotionally disturbed at the time. And that's what a lot of people around him will say that. His parents, Betty and Richard Branch, really didn't comment on his mental health or anything really about this case. So we have very little to go on when it comes to that. Now, the union news published an article saying Marc Branch was socially awkward, aggressive,

and emotionally disturbed. Everyone they spoke to after the crime who knew him said he was teased a lot. People really treated him kind of like shit, but he would also retaliate with aggression. So it kind of like forced to this cycle. One thing they all agree on is that he talked about killing people a lot. Oh, he would offhandedly say, I wonder what it would be like to kill someone. Okay. Or like I would really like to kill someone. Like it was just very casual. Like I would like to do this. Probably look more into that everybody around him. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly.

And he would say it very bluntly, just I want to kill people. But because he was quiet and kind of emotionally unwell at the time, they figured he was kind of just going through it. Acting. And they were like, he's not really, because nobody thinks anybody's really going to do it. I know. We probably should like work on that a little bit. I know. It's hard though, because it's like, you never think you know a murder. Of course, that's not like what you think is going to happen. But it looks like his parents did try to get him help. Yeah. They did what they could.

Right. It states that that same article says that he went through public school in Massachusetts, then went to a private alternative school, and then went into two programs for emotionally disturbed adolescents, all while doing some really messed up things to his classmates that we're going to talk about in a little bit. Oh, one thing we do know about Mark Branch II is that he loved horror movies. Now specifically, he loved Friday the 13th in Jason Voorhees. This is often referred to as the Friday the 13th murder. It did not happen on Friday the 13th. It's said that because he idolized Jason Voorhees. Very weird idol. I was going to say a very interesting item because one not real. But I guess guess I mean it does make sense to some degree because like Jason was picked on so much and he probably

He felt like I got yeah like a kindred spirit with Jason now before we go any further obviously we always say We've said in a million times movies do not make people kill people They don't know and it's not even like how Billy was like movies, don't blame the movies, movies don't kill people. They make killers more creative. Like, it's not even that. If you're going to kill someone, it's not because a movie told you to, told you to, you're a disturbed person.

Exactly. He was going to kill someone. But they really back then, especially when this was happening happening 1988, everyone blamed anything they've read. Everything that they could outside of the actual human. It was that around the same time of like satanic panic. Oh, this was the 80s were definitely satanic. Yeah, so this was like really perfect. But video expo one in Greenfield said when they talked to like a manager there,

he said, quote, he rented Strictly Gore period, the Goryer, the Better. Again, this proves nothing. Robert Quesnell, who managed the video store, said that Branch also helped him out there sometimes on the weekends, just because he loved movies in general. But he was also working at a stop and shop at the time. Okay, you know, normal like 18-year-old kids. I was gonna say.

Hey there, fellow podcast listener It's Elena and Ash and we're taking you back to the days before streaming services Whoa, you know when you would come home from high school and it was only a few hours until that TV show Everyone was watching was about to come on well in 1999 that show was Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In our podcast with Wondery, the re-watcher Buffy the Vampire Slayer, we take it back to 1999. So get out your knee high boots

and paste that poster of Angel on the Wall. It's time to enter the Buffyverse. Some of you avid morbid listeners already know what we've gotten store. Hey, your nose. Join us as we slay our way through Buffy's drama, action, and romance. Episode by episode. Slacy.

Follow the rewatcher, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen early and add free on the Amazon Music or Wondery app. Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un-un 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 and 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. Now Sharon Gregory was 18 years old as well. She was a Greenfield community college freshman and she was majoring in psychology. Friends described her as, quote, an independent and determined to be an artist, a painter, like an amazing young woman. Wow.

Also, people said she was, quote, one who loved art in the theater and cared for all people. She had many friends in the ties with her family were very, very close. She was an individual of free spirit. My love for the house. Sounds awesome. I know, she sounds like awesome.

Now, she and Mark Branch knew each other. But we're not like best friends, or anything, they were like acquaintances, really. Then they're from the same town. Yeah, they're from the same town. It's some of the same people they were hanging out with, so they would cross paths a lot. Yeah. And they talked, they. They knew each other. It's not like they were just like passing in the night. They knew each other. Now a friend of branches who did, he hung out with regularly,

said the night before the murders. He had hung out with Sharon Gregory and two of her friends and he said he saw all of them together. Mark was with them. Okay. So this was one thing that they were doing together. The only issue that seemed to point to any kind of motive in this murder, because that was the problem. Once we get to the whole crime, you're going to say, what the fuck happened? Right. If there are just acquaintances, nothing seems to have tipped this off. Now, apparently, there were a lot of sources point to the idea that there was like a psychological profile that apparently had Mark's diagnosis on it

from the hospital. He had it in his possession. Apparently Sharon got it in her possession at some point, and a lot of sources claim that she was using it as a psychology student to do a profile on him herself. Okay. Tons of sources say that. I wonder how she got it.

Well, we'll get into that. Because at first, I couldn't find anything that said how she got it. Right. And then finally, I found an affidavit that gave me a little more information about what was going on, which like cleared up a lot of stuff. Because even when we get to the point where they point to him as the killer, I was like, are you guys sure, though? Like, I don't know where your evidence is, but the affidavit has more in it. Now chief David McCarthy said, the police chief

David McCarthy said, quote, Sharon Gregory had in her possession a psychological profile of Mark Branch. And that profile was wanted badly by Mark Branch. He didn't like her having it and he wanted it. She did a profile on him and she made it known to him what the profile was They're very vague when they talk about this. Just she had a profile. That's it. The end. Okay, but we'll get more into it. Don't worry So another friend of Marx named Scott Landry said he was with Cheryl Gregory Cheryl Gregory is Sharon Gregory's identical twin. Oh, shit. Okay.

It was Cheryl who had heard Mark talking about the psychological profile that was done on him while he was receiving medical treatment at the hospital. It was Cheryl who asked, can I see it? And asked him, can I take it home to like read through it? Mm-hmm. And Mark agreed. But said, don't show it to anyone, and when you're done reading it, burn it. Okay.

So I think it was just bizarre. It is. I can't imagine like one of my like acquaintances, these are friends going to treat me, and then like being like, can I read this? Yeah. But apparently people were interested. I think he talked about it a lot, so maybe it was just, it's a strange thing.

And I mean, she's a psychology major. Yeah. So well, and Cheryl isn't, is the twin. So I don't even know if she's a psychology major. Or no, I mean Sharon. Sharon was now Sharon knew about this because of course, her sister Cheryl. But no one was able to find this profile after the crime. Okay, this profile, no one could find it. It wasn't in the home where Sharon ended up being killed, and it is said in a lot of sources that Sharon was writing that psychological profile on Mark. They never found that either.

In that, they say that's why he was mad, that he didn't want her writing this psychological profile in him. But the affidavit I found proves otherwise otherwise that it was Cheryl who asked for the official psych profile he had and he willingly gave it to Cheryl. Right. Sharon knew about it, but that's as far as that part goes. I honestly wonder, would he have killed Cheryl if Cheryl had been the one at home? Yeah.

That's right. Because what we will see is that he came into their house and he killed Sharon. We're going to talk about it. Do you think he possibly can, like, did they look so much like we're in this case? Well, that's what I wonder. I don't know how alike they looked, but their twins and she was the one with that profile. Right. And I wonder.

And he's the one that wanted it back. Yeah, and I wonder if it was Cheryl in the house that day, would he have killed Cheryl? Right. It's horrifying to think about regardless. No, regardless. I'm sure Cheryl thought about that, too. Yeah, the affidavit really like threw me for a loop when I read that because I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa. No one seems to be thinking about that.

Positive. That it could have been Cheryl that he was actually going after. Right. Because there's no other, there's nothing that says he was specifically going after Sharon. Right. I think he was being weird with them no matter what. Because I think they had talked to friends.

I won't mention it. And they were like, he's like weird, and I don't know. Like they felt a little uncomfortable with him. Okay. But nothing would have pointed to this. Right. No. Yeah. So let's talk about the crime.

So on October 24th, 1988, in Greenfield, Massachusetts, Mark Branch dressed in full Jason for his cosplay. He was wearing the hockey mask, which is terrifying. He had like seven of those hockey masks. Okay. That were like props. Yeah. Which like on any other thing, I'd be like cool collection.

Right. But with this, I'm like a little different. Hate it. He had on the black boots, the outfit, everything. He set out for Sharon's apartment. Plant in Sharon's apartment where she was with her, like her family's home. Okay. Now, he apparently was planning to end this psychological study once and for all. That was the motive that they put out. No one knows for sure exactly what happened. Like, you know, moment by moment when he got there.

But what we do know is that he showed up, he was seen by a witness, which we'll talk about in a second. And he chased her up her stairs. Oh my God. And into her bathroom, where she tried desperately to hide from him. He found her and brutally stabbed her to death. Oh, that's so funny. Her twin sister Cheryl found her. Oh my God. Her brutalized Cheryl found her. Oh my God.

Her brutalized body in the bathroom in her bathtub. She had been stabbed repeatedly in the head, chest, and abdomen. In the head? Yes. Now, police chief David McCarthy said, quote, I've been a cop for 25 years, and this is the grossest killing I have ever seen.

She received a lot of stab wounds, and there was a lot of blood. It was a gruesome scene. I would think so. Which, yeah, absolutely. But also, I was like, the grossest killing. That's what you have to say. Yeah.

I just thought that was a very weird way to say it. I was like, you want to... The Soros that really quit. I don't know. Maybe a different adjective. You don't really want to be quoted as being like roast. So that's like, yeah. It was just a very strange way to say it. Maybe this is going worst.

Yeah, I was like, I don't know. Now again, I found that affidavit, and it has the officers who came to the scene first, and it tells a horrifying tale. So here are some of the tidbits I pulled out of it. One of the things says I pulled out of it. One of the things says, and this is directly right from the affidavit, preliminary examination

of the deceased at the scene showed evidence of multiple stab wounds about the back in the head and that the deceased's throat had been slashed. There was a large amount of blood in the bathroom and outer hull as well as traces of blood on the stairway. The weapon used to inflict the injuries was not found at the scene. The deceased was closed. Now Detective F. Peter Clark spoke with the deceased sister Cheryl. She resided at the same address with the deceased and their parents. So again, it could have been her there that day.

She told Detective Clark that the deceased had recently been concerned about an individual named Mark, who Cheryl knew to be a person who hung around with Scott Landry of Maple Street Greenfields. The deceased had told Cheryl that she was frightened by the manner in which Mark stared at her. So that's when you look at like every other source about this, what's this not a lot, when you look, you really have to dig. They don't give you, they just say, okay, well Sharon was making this psychological profile on him,

he was mad, he didn't want it done, so he killed her. Right, and it seems like- And it's like- And it's like, but then they're like, so the police just arrested Mark and you're like, how did they know that though? Like when you've got no connective tissue there and all of them always like,

why did they just suddenly think of Mark Branch? And like, what evidence did they have? Exactly. But now we see in the affidavit that Cheryl had said she was concerned about him. And then we will also see there's physical evidence as well that ties him that they don't mention and a witness, you said. Yeah. So immediately, obviously, as soon as Cheryl says, Mark, Mark Branch is now the name that everybody's saying.

Of course. Now, other than Mark Branch, Sharon was very popular, very well liked. She had a lot of close friends and family. None of them had anything against her. There was no enemies here. Police went to Mark's home to chat with him after this, but he wasn't home.

His mother spoke to the police and said she hadn't seen him since that morning and she described the car he was driving. She said he was driving a gray Chevrolet Chevette and it was in good shape. So bad for his mom. Imagine I feel awful. On her door and she's like, what? And they're like, we're looking for your son in relation to a murder. Yeah. I mean, this is horrible. And they seem like they tried. Well, I really had to get him the help he needed not like he was ignored or neglected help wise. No, they gave it their best shot Yeah, they sent him to multiple programs. Yeah, so I really feel for his parents When they looked up his information at the DMV it confirmed that he was driving in 1983 Chevy Chevette color gray And it was a two door sedan. Okay now this is what brings us to the witness that they were in the find

So this witness described seeing Mark described him to a tea at the scene that morning and they were able to accurate The accurately describe him and his car at Sharon Gregory's home when the murder occurred Now from the affidavit Michael J. Rockwell lived across from Sharon Gregory's home when the murder occurred. Now from the affidavit, Michael J. Rockwell lived across from Sharon Gregory. Mr. Rockwell told the officers that at 12 noon on this state, he had just begun to watch television when he heard the sound of a car door closing. The sound came from the driveway to the east of his house. He looked out his window and observed a dark gray chavette, possibly two door, parked

facing into the driveway. The front end of the chavette was about even with the walk going from the driveway to the front door of the residence. Mr. Rockwell observed a white male approximately six feet tall, approximately 180 to 195 pounds with dark hair. Mr. Rockwell said the hair was a long military cut. He did not see any facial hair. Mr. Rockwell said the hair was a long military cut. He did not see any facial hair. The man was wearing jean type pants, a jean jacket, both of stone washed or acid

dyed color. The man was clean cut, the man had his hands in his pockets, and Rockwell watched him walk to the front door of the address. The man was not wearing glasses. That is describing Mark Branch to a T. Yes. Between about three and five minutes later, Mr. Rockwell again heard a car door from the direction of the driveway. He looked out the window again and saw the same person now seated in the chavette. He heard the engine start and saw the chavette back out of the driveway and head west. Approximately 30 to 40 minutes later, Mr. Rockwell again, heard a car in the same driveway. Looking out, he saw Cheryl's car pull in. Moments later, he saw police cars arrive. Oh, wow. So he saw the whole thing.

Oh, can we also talk about the fact that this happened at 12 noon, 12 noon, like what the middle of the day? This guy's just sitting down to watch TV and that and he sees that. Yeah. And he has no idea what's going on. He had left his, so Mark Branch had left his parents home earlier that morning. And we're like, bye, going to do some stuff, be back. And that's what he's going, like, what? And then just even you describing him,

just like then he pulled out of the driveway and headed west. Just brutally killed in the car, stabbed her in the chest, faced head, and then just backs out of her driveway. And then just leaves for someone to find her. For her family to find her. That's so wild.

He's a wild individual. In this case, only gets weirder. Really? Now, after speaking with Mark's mother, they were given permission to search his bedroom. Okay. It's when they went into his bedroom that the case gets like kind of ridiculous. So they saw a ton of horror paraphernalia, especially Friday the 13th and Jason

stuff. He had like action figures, all that stuff. Now he had tons of horror magazines like replica weapons from the horror movies, the whole gamut. But obviously this is not the reason he did this. But at the time the police went in there and we're like, this is why he was watching horror movies and it's like, no, he's just a stirrup. Now, as soon as this was happening, former friends of his said they were worried he was just on the run believing he was actually Jason or he's just trying to be him.

No, and that's like mental illness. That's what I was gonna say, right? Like he does have a mental illness. He does, it seems to me like he was just trying, I think he wanted to kill someone. It was very clear he did. He said it to people, he's entirely multiple occasions. And he just found a persona that seemed to fit him well,

and that's what he did. I don't think it has, you can't correlate the horror movie with what he did, I think he wanted to do it. Jason just gave him an identity. And he did. That's all. Now, people started coming forward saying that in high school, Mark had written obsessive and threatening letters

to girls, literally describing how he would murder them. What? And nope, that people were just like, hey, by the way, this happened. Yeah, they're like, that was weird. He also pulled a knife on a girl in school as well. And another girl from high school said he left school after threatening her and then putting a scalpel

through a photo of her and leaving it in her locker. And he was pulled out of school. What the fuck? Yeah. So I mean, this is- Where did this kid get a scalpel? This is an extremely violent kid. Yeah, clearly.

This is sad. Like, this is horrible. Because clearly it seems like this could have been stopped. Like, he could have been put somewhere where he would have been had help. Yeah, it's for long term. But on the flip side of it too, not even on the flip side, but the other side of it here,

like he is just an angry violent person. Right, I think like he's emotionally an angry, violent person. Right. I think like he's emotionally disturbed. Yeah. Because I don't know what he was diagnosed with if anything. We don't even know because that's never been released. His parents fought to keep those private. I just know that this is clearly a violent, angry individual who was talking about doing

something for ever. And it's like, but I don't, I also am like, what do you do? That's like, I feel like there needs to be protocol for something like this. And there's still a one, I don't know what it would be. It's like really sad. But also people he went to school with said that he kept files on girls and would call them at night

and use the information in the files to scare them. Like he would keep like detailed information. And then call them at night and use the information and the files to scare them. Like he would keep like detailed information. And then call them at night and be like, let me just read things to you to like, like, in scream. What? Yeah. And scream wasn't even out yet. Yeah, that's a lot.

Now a former classmate was quoted in a news article confirming these accusations of his behavior growing up and saying, quote, he's been planning to kill someone ever since he was a kid. Yeah. So this is not horror movies. This is, he wanted to kill someone. Right. Now the next morning after the murder,

his car was located. Mm-hmm. It was abandoned about, without him in it, about 13 miles from Greenfield, Massachusetts. It was parked right outside of a forest. And when they searched it, they found blood on the front seat and on the center and front console. It later matched Sharon Gregory's blood.

So there's your physical evidence connecting him to it. Detective, this is from the affidavit. Detective Peter Skurrett from the Greenfield Police Department spoke with Thomas Smith MD, who conducted the autopsy of the deceased. Dr. Smith said upon first impression that the instrument which made the stab wounds in the deceased was likely a single edge knife with a blade width of approximately one to one and a half inches, and a blade length of between four inches and five inches. Wow. Death resulted from multiple stab wounds numbering about two dozen. Oh, two dozen

stab wounds. Now, this is where we bring in a man named John Monty. Okay. Who's John Monty, you ask? I do. You want to know? I do. He was a house painter from Quincy, kid Quincy. Who discovered that he had psychic abilities. How? Pain houses, I'm not really sure. But damn thing, I don't know. We're all familiar with how I feel about psychics and police investigations.

I am normally very against it. I think it causes more harm than good. John's kind of wild. There's times when you're just like, okay, John. Yeah. Like you might know stuff. And then there's other times where you like

John stay out of it. Okay. And that's why psychics and investigations like this, I think are just not good. Because if they're not good, 100% of the time, they're not good. They're doing harm. And it's like when they're telling parents

that their kid is alive or dead and it's the other way around, it's like, yeah, nobody needs that. We don't need that. We need real investigation here. And we need science. We need like hard, we need eyeballs looking at real things. There are other times when you go to a psychic.

Absolutely. Like go to psychics. Like go get your tarot cards red. Like that's fucking fun. That's fun. But when it's like life or death here, it's like, I think it just brings more harm. That's me, but in this case, it's weird though. In this case, because you're gonna be like,

it is like a case-by-case situation. Yeah, which to me makes it harmful, right? Because if it's not working in all cases, then why are we doing it? Right, I can see that. Because you can't really trust it, you know, because people get lucky. Now, yeah.

So he does have a pretty good success rate, to be honest, if we're really judging by psychics who involve themselves in crimes. In March, I'm just going to give you a couple of background things on him, just so you can see why he was pulled into this case. Because the investigators actually pulled him into the case to help.

Oh, wow. Because they were like, that's a need to find Mark Branch at this point. Because remember, he wasn't in his car. They don't know where he was in. So they were kind of desperate and we'll talk about how crazy the town got. But they immediately pulled John Monty in and were like, you know, he's local. He's had some success. Let's see what he has.

Well, they're probably at the point where they're like, what the fuck else are we gonna do? And honestly, on this side of in the investigation, I get it a little more because we're looking for the killer. That is a different, but when we're talking about where is a missing child? A victim. Is this child alive? Is this victim alive?

That's when it gets hairy to me. I get, yeah, absolutely. When we're talking about whether this kid is alive or where your loved one is alive or not, or where they could be. What happened to them? Yeah, that's When we're talking about whether this kid is alive or where your loved one is alive or not or whether it could be. What do you what happened to them? Yeah, that's when I hate it. Looking for the killer. All right, I'm in. Right. Why not? What's the worst thing that happened? We don't find it. And that's like the sure. I feel like that doesn't hurt people as much. So in March 1981, just to give you a little bit of John Monty. He predicted on a taped radio show that

President Reagan would be shot by the end of March. Whoa, but he would survive. He wrote it down too to document it. It happened on the radio. He said, quote, there is sadness around President Reagan. I feel he will be shot in the left side of his body after a speech in Washington. I feel it will happen by the end of March, but the president will live. Imagine hearing that as President Reagan. I'd be like, you fucking kidding. I'd be like, I'm not going to. I'm not going to. I wouldn't give any fucking speeches.

Now in case you didn't know, Reagan was shot March 30th. Yeah. Uh, by John Hingley, Jr., who was released by the way and now releases YouTube videos of him singing Wild. Just putting it out there. Like he's on YouTube now. He didn't know that. He's just like strumming a guitar singing. No, thank you. There's a lot.

But that's another story for another day. He attempted to assassinate the president because he became obsessed with the movie taxi driver. And in turn was obsessed with Jody Foster in that movie. He thought that his thought process was that if he killed the president, Jody would fall in love with him, seems legit. It didn't, you know, his thought process was that if he killed the president, Jody would fall in love with him. Seems legit. It didn't work. Again, movies don't do this. Real weird. But he was shot at the Washington, Hilton Hotel by Hingley when he fired six

shots at him and the men around him. He was shot in the left lung. That's crazy. So John Hing, Monty said the left side of his body. Yeah, he did. And it just missed his heart, so he survived. His secret service agent Timothy McCarthy was shot as well, but survived. And a DC police officer was shot. But they, and I think the DC police officer was Thomas still a handy. Reagan's press secretary Brady, was shot in the head. The bullet literally got him in the eye, and he was permanently affected with brain damage. He had partial paralysis, speech and memory issues,

as a result, like really sad. From that, he became a huge advocate for stricter gun laws and requirements for background checks for weapons. Congress actually passed the Brady Bill in 1993 from the soul saying, just had to give you a little quick look. That was a cruel history lesson. But yeah, so John Monty was right.

He even predicted the left side of his body, which is like crazy. And in 1995, John Monty also predicted that there would be a weapon found buried on O.J. Simpson's property. Whoa, well in 2016 2016 retired Los Angeles Police Department cop George Maycott came forward and was like oh yeah I found this in 1998. He had found a buried knife on O.J. Simpson's property in 1998. And he said he was given the knife by a construction crew

who was like digging up the Simpson's yard yard for renovation and raising the property, basically. And he actually tried to give it over to the LAPD, and they were like, nah. We don't want it. We don't care. Like literally, we're like, no. No, thank you. So shocked.

So he kept it for 13 years. So he was bringing it forward again to have it looked at. And it was determined that there was no DNA to suggest It was the murder weapon of you know Nicole Brown and Ronald Golan But still buried in the backyard weird that he knew a weapon was buried in OJ's backyard Yeah, but you can also you know there's so many things you can say about this But he's also been dead wrong on a ton of things Okay, and like lead grieving families on wild goose chases to find they're missing children, only

to find nothing. This is again why I can't get behind this shit. Yeah. Like I can get behind it when we're looking for the killer. Can't get behind it when we're looking for the other victim. Yeah, I see that. And I'm not always saying it's maliciously done. No, on their parts.

I'm sure a lot of them like thinks that they are going to help and they're trying to. Well, and they've had success in the past, so I'm sure it then makes it in the future easier to believe you're gutted. Exactly. And some of them are malicious and just bad people. That's just the way of it. I just like, but I think some of them aren't malicious or bad, but it really does bring true comfort to anyone. So John was called in for this case as well, and we know his background now. So he was local at the time, a lot of people knew him. He was kind of rising the ranks in the psychic community. So they gave Monti a photo of Sharon, and they didn't tell him anything else.

And this had just happened. There was news about some of it, but I don't think he was given any background information. And he immediately said he felt violence when he looked at her photo, which I think is a pretty safe bet when you're being handed a photo of a girl by a homicide detective.

That's just me. Yeah. That's just me. Yeah. He also said he kept hearing the name Jason. Oh, that's fucking weird. And he said it was echoing in his mind. He couldn't stop thinking of the name Jason.

Then he said he was getting flashes of images in his mind, some brutal, some confusing, but he said he knew where we had to go. He's like, I'm going to take you where you have to go. So he brings investigators near this area where the car was found abandoned. And he walks them into the forest. They walked into the forest and came across an abandoned slaughterhouse and investigators said they didn't even know that that was there. Oh, good. It was just like sitting in the middle of the forest. Um, so of course, yeah, they go inside or reminds me of like Texas change. It does. So they go inside, of course, because this has turned into

a legitimate horror movie and that's what you do in a horror movie. You go into the abandoned slaughterhouse. In the middle of the woods, correct. Inside the slaughterhouse, they found drawings on the walls. What the fuck? And these drawings were a man in a fucking mask murdering a woman on a set of stairs. Dude. Literally a recreation of the Sharon Gregory murder scene. And under the picture,

it said a death of intention. What? There was also Jason lives in Crystal Lake spray painted on the walls. That's really fucking lame. Which it's like, okay. Yeah. Now, if we're going to talk about, like if we're going to say that he was hanging out in that abandoned slaughterhouse at any point in the video. That he did this. He is there when they were searching the car. Exactly. Just sitting in that, that could be it, for sure.

But if you look at like video, where they kind of videoed inside the slaughterhouse a little bit, you can see that there's a lot of spray paint on the walls. Some of them are like Freddie Lives, you know, like lots of horror movie shit. It could just be that that was there. Yeah.

The little weird. The picture is strange, for sure. Definitely strange, but I don't know. I don't think it totally, I mean, strange. I'll say that for sure. And it's like, did John know that that was there? Had he been there before? I don't know.

You got a question. Yeah, you don't know. It's strange though. I'll give it to him. Seems like a teenage hangout. Exactly. I'll give it to them that you have to raise an eyebrow a little bit, but I'm trying to err on the side of logic here.

But you're also like the best devil's advocate. I know. It's like, it's like where you sit permanently. It is. It's where I sit. Now, I know you're thinking, okay best devil's advocate. I know. It's like, it's like where you sit permanently. It is. It's where I sit. Now, I know you're thinking, OK, look in the forest now. Correct. Because he's got to be in the forest.

That is exactly what I was thinking. Well, they did. They served. Oh, good, good. But it was called off because nothing was found. And they declared it to be clean, which I was like, you declared the entire forest clean of a whole ass town.

How big was the forest? Now, aside from the actual caveman drawings in the abandoned slaughterhouse in the woods, where Mark Branch of his car was found, that's everything else was clean apparently. There's no sign that he was anywhere. Now everyone in this town in Greenfield was terrified. Obviously.

The entire town was on edge. Well, especially because his friends were saying, like, we don't even know if he thinks he's chasing right now. There was a brutal killer on the loose, and everyone was sure they knew who it was. So now, they're all just waiting for Mark Branch to appear. And they're like, is he gonna kill again? I don't know.

And then this is right around Halloween. That really is from the terrifying. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Well, the police chief said, quote, there's fear and fren friends going on all over this town. People kept thinking they saw him. There were sightings of him everywhere, but they were not, you know, as we'll find out later, they were not confirmed. People were just so on edge that

they were seeing their real-life boogie man everywhere. Yeah. You know, an article from the Boston Globe said, quote, unconfirmed sightings of branch were reported by dozens of frightened people yesterday, prompting city officials to warn residents to keep doors and windows locked." So they were on lockdown. People as far as Albany, New York, Cape Cod, New Hampshire, they all reported sightings of him. Oh wow.

So the whole like, all of New England was just on edge. It's freaking out. Now, in the same same article a resident named Kathy said, quote, my children aren't sleeping well and neither am I. And they she said his her 12 year old son said he had trouble falling asleep at night. Quote just thinking about how violent this guy on the loses. Everybody's scared. The article goes on to explain the Halloween trick oror-treating time changed for the town, and that they were literally like they were gonna change when you could trick-or-treat- I bet. to when it was laid out.

They were literally thinking this kid was going to massacre people on Halloween. A resident said, quote, that's what they're afraid of, that he's following the movie right along. Yeah, I mean, yeah, I would be scared too, I would think that. And so this is wild. Like we said, Halloween was coming up and Mark's nowhere to be found at this point. As far as everyone was concerned, he was on the loose somewhere and he was going to strike again. Yeah. So they declared that trick-or-treating had to be done only in the daylight hours in Greenfields.

That's so. They actually suggested kids not go trick-or-treating at all, but that was the only way they could do it if they chose to. And as a result, most parents kept their kids home. I would have kept my kids home. I told them I only had that. No fucking way would I get to treat. Yeah, I would just feel like we're having Halloween party at home. Like, they even suggested people turn off their porch lights to discourage any after dark wandering or trick or treating. Oh my God. So the whole town is dark. The feeling of that, like, oh my, that's scary as hell. Yeah.

And so the whole town's dark. Yeah. And the entire night police patroled all the tree lines and through the streets. This is literally Friday the 13th. It must have been so scary. Now, in the affidavit, there seems to be a reason for them to worry that Halloween would be a shitty time.

So it says, quote, in August, Cheryl had a conversation with Mark, who bragged about having 12 different masks that he had sent away for, and that last Halloween he had dressed up as Jason, and somewhere around the Greenfield Middle School, he had jumped out of the bushes with a knife and chased a girl. The girl ran, and he said he fell. He told Cheryl that if he had not fallen, he would have stabbed her. He told Cheryl that because he was unsuccessful, he planned on trying the same thing, this coming Halloween, 1988. What the fuck? Yep.

And like, what? Yeah. Now, the town had a lot of festivities that went on annually during Halloween, because like New England's like all about. Fuck yeah. Like these small towns Halloween because like New England's like all about fuck yeah. Like these small towns are all like let's Halloween. Like harvest. Let's go.

Harvest the bestest. Now there was a rag shag parade and it was which I looked it up it still happens in Greenfield which is a bag. We're like it's like a parade where all the kids dress up in their costumes and it's candy and it's like a big festival. Yeah, I love that. It was called off because it was considered too risky. Yeah, I don't blame them.

They were also scared that people may actually be dressing up as Jason for Halloween, since it was a popular movie at the time. And they could possibly scare the shit out of everyone or get their asses kicked by vigilantes. Yes. Like, this is a real problem. Like, this is a real problem. Like, this is bad all around.

And a local theater was planning to do like a whole showing of Halloween four, the return of Michael Myers for spooky season. Hell yeah. And it was just coming out, so it was like a big deal. They canceled the showing for fear that it was gonna inspire more. Dude, fuck.

Heart of branch. He really fucked with everyone's spooky season. Yeah, it'd be pissed. Like what the fuck? Now this was right in that time when people were like rock music and horror movies are making killers. So it makes sense that everybody's just like, I get why like we, they had to cancel like Halloween stuff because you got to be safe.

But it just sucks like the movies get canceled. Yeah, I'm just think. Escapeism is a thing. So the town was a mess. So they had full-time social workers and clinical psychologists hired to help members of the community deal with the fact that this man, they all knew,

was out there and had killed a woman? Yeah, and a young girl. And a woman that they all knew and loved. Like, she was part of their community. Yeah. Now, his 19th birthday passed while he was missing. And the town was ready. They were like, he might come back for like a birthday massacre.

Like we don't know. Is it going to come commemorate the occasion? Who knows? Like they're living in fear. And he was brazen and theatrical as fuck. So they were like, maybe this is going to be his thing. I'm wondering how he's like getting around. Yeah.

You know, we'll find out. Now he didn't show up. One of Branch's friends, the one who regularly hung out with him and had been speaking to the media a lot, said that he was doing so because he was genuinely scared for Branch's life now. He said he saw a couple of hunters in recent weeks at that point and he had asked them

because it was like hunting season. And he had asked them, are you hunting bucks or doze? Because you know, like rural, you know, we're just like, whatcha doin'? Yeah. And they responded, we're going after branches. Oh. Which like clever, but fucked.

Put them just like clever, but fucked. But real fucked. Now, John Monty comes back again, and he tells police, he knows Mark Branch has hung himself from a tree in the forest and he said you got to go look for them again. And they're like huh okay. Now Buckland, Massachusetts, which is where again outside of where his car had been found. November 29th, 1988. This is like a month later. Yeah. A hunter named Kevin Perrington was out following some deer.

As he stalked through the heavily wooded area, he came across a partially decomposed body hanging from a tree. The man was hanging by his own bootlaces and belts and he was wearing jeans and combat boots. Oh wow. This body was not far from that abandoned slaughterhouse, and less than a mile from his abandoned car. Huh. Shocking.

He was so close to the slaughterhouse and his car that law enforcement said if they had just kept moving like 200 yards, they would have run right into him. Yeah, obviously. And immediately authorities could tell it was Mark Branch by the clothing he was wearing. Right. Witnesses who saw Branch the day of the murder

described his clothing to law enforcement. DNA proved it to be Mark Branch's body and his cause of death was described as intentional like hanging. Okay. So, because people immediately related to someone doing that. Yeah.

The medical examiner said he had likely hung himself the same day he had killed Sharon Gregory. So they marked that fucking forest all clear. And they had been hanging there since October 24. You wouldn't have even had to cancel anything. Yep. But the death was only kind of a concern to be a suicide because it's really right for urban legend and lore to begin to swirl around what happened, because people were like, hmm,

did someone find him and do that to him? Are we sure that he died on that day? Because again, they're estimating. Yeah, exactly. It's been a month. Because time of death is a very variable thing. Especially when he's partially decomposed. Exactly.

Now, of course, there was a satanic cult reference in this whole thing because... I was waiting for it. It was the time in Satan always makes an appearance for humans being fuck ups. It's also Halloween. Exactly. So people were like, oh, was Sharon and Mark and the satanic cult together? No.

100% not true. No. But they, of course, were talking about it. And even now, people now today, people will say that he, quote, had help with his death. People think that maybe a mob of vigilantes hanged him, whatever night they found him. And after all, the town had been gripped in fear and had basically had to cancel all of Halloween

because of his fucking nonsense. And it doesn't seem totally out of the realm of possibility. It doesn't, but I wonder, did anybody say, like, oh, like I was part of that mob, because I can't imagine anybody would stay quiet. How about that? You were right on my way, Flank, right? Because the next thing I said was,

but someone would have spilled by now, I feel like, like, especially if, like how United is Town became in this. And if it was like your grandfather or something and he's dead now, he would tell someone. He was part of that, like he would definitely tell someone. Right, I love that you were just like, boom! I was like, grandfather, something he's dead now. He would tell you that story. He was part of that. He would definitely tell someone. Right, I love that you were just like, boom. I was like, you were right here. You were right on my way to play.

Yeah. And no one is as, you know, it just doesn't make someone would crack. Right. Because no one is as good as the parents in Nightmare on Elm Street and keeping secrets like that. Like no one's as full circle. Yeah, no one's that good.

No, and especially when it came to like somebody like this, like unfortunately people would want to take credit for that. Of course, somebody would, somebody would end up just telling it out of like guilt or just like, here's an anecdote at a party. Like, let me tell you something. Here is my anecdote of the time I captured a sadistic killer. Exactly.

So what we know is that he was hung either by his own hand or someone else. I think it was him. Yeah. We don't know. We think it was the same day, but it could have been the same week potentially because it was a month out. It was cold. So that helps like, you know, preserve, but it can also help fuck up a time of death. Right. Because like refrigeration is the same kind of thing with that. But we do know that he is dead. He was dead for quite some time. They did not need to cancel Halloween. That's so angry. So that whole thing was done while he was just hanging in the woods.

They had already looked in. Wow. That must have been like such a bad feeling. Oh yeah. Well, that's a real bad look on the police department. Yeah, I'd be like, thanks. When they had to come out and be like, he was there a long time. So yeah, he was a mile from his abandoned car in the woods that we already looked at. Sorry about no trick or treating everybody. You like it? Because not only that, it's like,

his car was right there. And then a mile away. You get miles away. When a mile away was that slaughter host that you also didn't know about. Exactly. And then like, I feel like that was probably slaughter host that you also didn't know about. Exactly. And then, I feel like that was probably just like a fucking triangle in the woods

of things leading to Mark Branch. Yeah, they didn't do a great job. That's really upsetting. I would move out of that town. It also just says like a last side note that's not to do with him, but they discovered the same week that they, or excuse me, they discovered in that same span of time

that they discovered Mark Branch me, they discovered in that same like span of time that they discovered Mark Branchen from that tree, they found a helicopter that had crashed that week, the week before over Southwest Massachusetts. They found a helicopter crash in that woods near him, and apparently had a crash, people knew, but they couldn't find where it crashed. And it was in the same patch of woods with'm like, is this just like a void of despair in these woods that just like, are these like some of the fucking haunted woods

that should recover these? Like did they go in that like forest and actually not see these things? And we're just like, well, that's weird. Like that forest that like you just keep getting lost in a very weird place. So like a week late, a week before this helicopter had crashed in those woods right near where he was.

And they found it in the same trip. Those woods must be like real scary. These things, I would not go near those. That's what I'm thinking, that's a scary. I feel like it must be one of those things where you walk in and this force be a little bit like the whole, like it just keeps you out of there. I don't know.

It's in Buckland. That's the season. I've never heard of Buckland. I know, Massachusetts is full of random places that you're like, I don't know. It's in Buckland. That's my star. I'd never heard of Buckland. I know. I know. That's true. This is full of random places that you're like, I don't even know the subject of life.

That's actually one of them. I love in this state. Wow. But that is the very strange and very like pulled from a million different resources. And even resources. Even still, I have so many questions. I feel like we're always going to have questions

about this case. It's just one of those things that that I don't think will ever have all the answers to. Poor Sharon. But I mean his parents fought to like a little bit after this happened. His parents fought to have those psychiatric records kept out of the public. They didn't want them in the media, which I'm interested to know. Yeah. What that's all about, because I'm like that might... When that help a little... I think it would make a lot of questions at least. And I'm like maybe it would hurt, but I don't know. At the same time, you have to think that 80s was, I mean, even still, like mental health is like just now.

But coming talked about, so... Of course. They probably just didn't want to be associated with it and drug through the press. And again, I truly feel like his parents did everything they could. Absolutely. I really do. I feel like his friends, you can't even, I'm like,

what are they doing? They're high school kids and they don't, they're not taking them seriously. No. Hindsight is 2020. I don't know, I mean, his behavior at school was wild. That's the only thing that I'm like, no one was, I mean, again, I don't know what you mean.

But then again, he went to so many different schools that like his friends might not have even known about the things that happen at a previous school. Yeah, so it's a very strange, very sad situation. It sounds like Sharon and her sister were really close and like her family was really close and she sounds like a really cool artistic chick who was like a psychology major like doing the damn thing and being nice to people like just it's sad. It's really just all around in her own home like it's just really sad. It's fucked.

So that is the what is called the Friday the 13th murder. Wow thank you. So it's a wild one. Yeah well as always we hope you keep listening and we hope you keep it weird. And I don't think I have to tell you not to keep it this weird. Don't keep it that weird. And watch for me to say that. And then turn it off and go live your life.

Yeah. Thank you and good night. Bye. 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.

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