Murder 101 - The Next Generation

Episode Date: February 7, 2024

After four and a half years since the original assignment, Mr. Campbell brings in two current students to continue finding justice for the victims of the Redhead murders. They were eager to get started. Follow us on Instagram @kt_studiosSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bring a little optimism into your life with The Bright Side, a new kind of daily podcast from Hello Sunshine, hosted by me, Danielle Robay, and me, Simone Boyce. Every weekday, we're bringing you conversations about culture, the latest trends, inspiration, and so much more. I am so excited about this podcast, The Bright Side. You guys are giving people a chance to shine a light on their lives, shine a light on a little advice that they want to share. Listen to The Bright Side on America's number one podcast network, iHeart. Open your free iHeart app and search The Bright Side.

I'm Johnny B. Goode, the host of the podcast, Creating a Con, the story of Bitcoin. This podcast dives deep into the story of Ray Trapani and his company, Centratech. I'll explore how 320-somethings

built a company out of lies, deceit, and greed. I've been saying since a very young age that I. Listen to Creating a Con, the story of Bitcoin, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or whereverers in Hollywood are as old as the Hollywood sign itself. And while fame is the ultimate prize in Tinseltown, underneath it lies a shroud of mystery. Binge this season of Variety Confidential from Variety, Hollywood's number one entertainment news source and iHeart podcasts. Six episodes are waiting for you right now to dive into the secret history of the casting couch to explore the scandalous history of Hollywood's casting process. Listen to Variety Confidential on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A group of high school students, high school students, Elizabethan high school students started a project to research a string of unsolved murders. Their research led to the identification of the killer. Investigators now have an answer to a 34-year-old question.

Once you start getting a few tips or a few leads or a few identifications, then the cold case isn't so cold anymore. There's a pretty good chance he's still alive. Everything that the students predicted through their profile turned out to be accurate. Redhead killer profile male Caucasian 5'9 to 6'2 180 to 270 pounds unstable home absent father and a domineering mother right-handed IQ above 100 most likely heterosexual. There is no profile of this killer except for the ones the students created. Just because some of these women no longer have people to speak for them does not mean that they deserve to not be spoken for.

What if this guy's still alive? Like, what if he comes after us? I said, are you going to kill me? And he said, yes. This is Murder 101, Season 1, Episode 5, The Next Generation. I'm Jeff Shane, a television and podcast producer at KT Studios with Stephanie Lidecker, Courtney Armstrong, and Andrew Arno. It had been four and a half years since the original assignment wrapped up, but Mr. Campbell always felt there was more to uncover. While scheduling and timing made it challenging for Mr. Campbell to teach another sociology class, something even better would come his way. In the fall of 2022, I spoke to him about a potentially game-changing update. I mean, who says it has to be them to do the work? I mean, you know, I mean, this class did this work

four or five years ago, but I have students now that could do the work too and may want to do the work. For example, I had two young ladies basically beg me to teach a class on criminal psychology. And it's so funny because I don't even think they knew really all the background of things I did years ago. They weren't even at the high school then. But what I'm saying is there is work that needs to be done. And we also have other students that I think are really willing to do it and they want to learn and they want to do exciting things and help people too. If there's a world where we can bring current high school students in and have them kind of be a part of these group meets where

you assign things and we talk about it and sign me up. We had a teacher get sick. And so we're short of subs that, you know, teachers help cover each other's classes. So I went into that classroom and it was a, you know, it was a health science class or something. And I don't know how it came up, but, you know, they got their work done. There was a few minutes at the end and I'm just in there to make sure everything's kind of calm. I don't have anything new to teach them or anything. And they started talking about it and, you know,, it just comes out they're so into this. They're so into true crime. They're so into psychology and sociology and criminology.

They were so excited. And I'm sitting here thinking, like, they don't have any idea who they're talking to. Because I'm excited about this stuff, too. And they don't realize that there's this very important work that needs to be continued. about this stuff too, and they don't realize that there's this very important work that needs to be continued. A few days later, Mr. Campbell officially enlisted juniors Riley Whitson and Marlee Mathena to help work the case. The plan was for the two teens to start meeting Mr. Campbell before school to see what they could find. Okay, so originally the students from about four or five years ago were looking at six different victims.

But because of their work, a lot of stuff has really been coming out in the last few years. So why don't you ladies tell me what you've been working on. Marlee, why don't you go first? I've been working on the DeSoto County Jane Doe, and she was found January 24th in 1985. She was adjacent to Highway 78 in Olive Branch, Mississippi, and she was white with red or strawberry blonde hair. She was about to Highway 78 in Olive Branch, Mississippi, and she was white with red or strawberry blonde hair. She was about 20 to 35 years old. She was kind of a smaller lady. She was only 110 pounds, about 5'2 to 5'4. She was wearing a top, some jeans, but she had no underwear, socks,

shoes, bra, jewelry, any of that. They don't know her eye color. They think maybe brown, but they don't know for sure. And she had scars from surgeries and piercings and tattoos and everything. And they think that she was sexually assaulted and her cause of death was asphyxiation by ligature strangulation. So you feel the DeSoto County Jane Doe deserves to be included with the other six that the students had found a few years back. Yeah, I think she does. What, I don't know, what is it that jumps out about that case that makes you think it needs to be included with that list? Well, it just kind of lines up with everything, like the strangulation and that she's smaller, has red hair, and that she was dumped off on a highway. Now, you said it was in Mississippi?

Yes. And Mississippi doesn't seem to fit the kind of east-west I-40 corridor kind of thing. Where's that at in Mississippi? It's in Olive Branch, but I think that's where his sister lives. Jerry John's sister? Yes. He did have a sister that lived in Batesville, which I think was kind of just south of the Tennessee state line.

So maybe we need to look at that and let's see how far this victim was found from West Memphis, where Lisa Nichols was found. And then let's see how far that is from his sister's hometown there in Mississippi. So maybe we can do that by next week. Does that sound good? Yep. Riley, what have you been digging into? I've been looking at the case of baby girl Jane Doe, who has now been identified as Tracy Sue Walker.

Walker was born June 2, 1963, and reportedly went missing from Tippecanoe Mall in 1978, which made her around 15 years old at the time of her disappearance. Her mother also reported her as running away a couple of times, so this made people believe that she had just run away until she was identified in 2022. Okay, so what are some of the things you think make this case deserve to be included with the original six? Obviously, she had red hair. She was younger, smaller girl. Some of the previously mentioned similarities between all of these cases, but something very interesting we found in the last

couple weeks of research was that there were similarities between the knots and cloth of Tina Farmer and the survivor Linda. So that's been a very interesting finding and pretty compelling as far as tying this all to Jerry Leon John. Are you looking at that on your computer? Yes. Let me see that. You know, this is fascinating because a few years back we scoured the Internet. The students scoured the Internet looking for all this information.

And I'm going to be honest, this was not there a few few years ago and holy mackerel i think this is big so let me tell you this what state is that in i know it was up north a little bit i think it was indiana hold on yeah indiana lafayette lafayette yeah lafayette indiana that Lafayette, Indiana. That is very interesting because I know that area, not because I've ever been up through there, but actually Tina Farmer, who was the other Campbell County Jane Doe, went missing from around Indianapolis. Yes. Which is, at that time, probably close to a 10-hour drive from Knoxville, which is where Jerry Leon Johns was spending a lot of time. Right.

And so think about this. Think about this for a second. Tina Farmer goes missing from around Indianapolis. This girl goes missing from Lafayette, which is about an hour from Indianapolis. And those are about 10 hours away. And both of those girls end up dead within a mile of each other, 10-hour drive away. I think that's really big. What's the chances that that would happen?

Either the greatest coincidence of all time or... And they're both redheaded and they're both white and they're both teenagers and they both have the same body style and height and weight and all those things. That is crazy. And then also, I know that by looking at the history of Jerry Leon Johns that the cops put together for the Linda Schick prosecution, that he had lived in Rockford, Illinois, and he still had family in Rockford, Illinois. And if you look on the interstate, you have to go through, from Tennessee, you have to go through from from tennessee you have to go through indianapolis and lafayette

to get to rockford which is about an hour away so if he's traveling back and forth from his family back down to areas here in tennessee in east tennessee those interstates and those cities are on the is on that interstate right on the way. And the fact that both those young ladies went missing from so far away and then end up dead within a mile of each other, within a couple of years of each other, about 30 miles north of where Jerry Leon Johns is hanging out, that's crazy. And from what we've seen, I believe that Jerry Leon Johns, I believe he's a very opportunistic, but also calculated killer. So I think wherever he's traveling, that's where we'll see the path of destruction. You know what I'm saying? So when we see these

patterns of him traveling to these different places, you know, he's bound to wreak havoc where he goes. Yeah. So I think that's big. I definitely agree with you. We need to look at the Tracy Sue Walker case. And that's not because of bad work of the original students. It's because it's new information. Right. And she wasn't identified until August of this year, you know? Okay. Awesome. So I think you guys are doing a good job. I think we definitely need to continue to look at these two victims and maybe they need to be included in the inner circle. Marlee, we'll go back to you. What do you think you need to do next to really solidify the fact

that you think she's connected with these other murders? Let's stop here for a break. We'll be back in a moment. Bring a little optimism into your life with The Bright Side, a new kind of daily podcast from Hello Sunshine. Hosted by me, Danielle Robay. And me, Simone Boyce. Every weekday, we're bringing you conversations about culture,

the latest trends, inspiration, and so much more. Thank you for taking the light, and you're going to shine it all over the world, and it makes me really happy. I never imagined that I would get the chance to carry this honor and help be a part of this legacy. Listen to The Bright Side on America's number one podcast network, iHeart. Open your free iHeart app and search The Bright Side.

My name is Johnny B. Goode and I'm the host of the new podcast, Creating a Con, the story of Bitcoin. Over this nine-part series, I'll explore the life and crimes of my best friend, Ray Trapani. I always wanted to be a criminal. If someone's like, oh, what's your best way of making money? I'm like, oh, we should start some sort of scheme. You see, Ray has this unique ability to find loopholes and exploit them.

They collected $30 million. There were headlines about it. His company, Centratech, was one of the hottest crypto startups in 2017. It was going to change the world. Until it didn't. I came into my office, opened my email, and the subject heading was FBI request. It was only a matter of time before the truth came out. You can only fake it till you make it for so long before they find out that your Harvard degree is not so crimson. How could you sit there and do something that you know will objectively cause more harm in the world?

Listen to Creating a Con, the story of Bitcoin, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Abusers in Hollywood are as old as the Hollywood sign itself. And while fame is the ultimate prize in Tinseltown, underneath it lies a shroud of mystery. Binge this season of Variety

Confidential from Variety, Hollywood's number one entertainment news source, and iHeart podcasts. Six episodes are waiting for you right now to dive into what lies beneath the glitzy image of Hollywood's golden age and all the sex, money and murder that's been swept under the rug for decades. Using the Variety archives, each episode offers a rare glimpse into little known casting couch stories that have long lived in the shadows. So join us as we navigate the tangled web of Hollywood's secret history with host Tracy Patton, along with expert Variety reporters and correspondents, as they discuss the secret history of the casting couch to explore the scandalous history of Hollywood's casting process.

Listen to Variety Confidential on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Murder 101. I think I definitely need to figure out the relationship between where she was found and where his sister lives. So definitely figure out that so then it gives like a reason for why he would be going down

there and it just connects it so it's not like it's crazy out of the way. And I think look at the other victims a little bit more and try and find like connecting factors between this like. And an unfortunate fact too is so many of these women were done injustice as far as the investigation goes just because so many of them were transient or were possible sex workers or away from home so many of them were done a disservice by the justice system and enough wasn't enough attention wasn't given to them yeah for tina farmer and linda they were cloth that had been tied around their necks

and the knot was in the cloth around their necks. All right, so right here I have a huge three-ring binder. This is all of the information that was collected for the Linda attempted murder by Jerry Leon Johns. So that's the only one that went to court. So we have all this information, and I have it right here. And in this stack of a couple hundred pages, we actually went down to Nashville,

and here are some pictures of the knots that were tied around her neck. Now, it says in here that he took the t-shirt she was wearing, ripped it into strips, and then used that to bind her ankles together, and then her wrists together, and then tied her wrists to her ankles, like a hog tie. And when she was in the car, that's how she was tied. And so

then he used those t-shirt strips to strangle her. And you're telling me that they found something similar on Tina Farmer, who was also the other Campbell County victim? Yes, they found cloth that had been ripped up and tied around the neck of her as well. So very, very similar, as you've said, too. And just something interesting that when we were first looking into this case, it just kind of blew my mind and shows you the ruthlessness and the savageness of Jerry Leon Johns.

Whenever Linda was choked, she was choked so hard that she was blind for three days after the assault. And the whites of her eyes, we've seen the pictures from the hospital, the whites in her eyes were completely red, as deep as red as you can think. It was a haunting sight to see her picture from the hospital. I'm going to say something else. That information about Tina Farmer being strangled with a cloth was not out there either. It didn't say anything like that when we were looking. I didn't even know that she was found in a blanket until it came out that she was identified and they knew that jerry leone johnson killed her because his dna was found on the blanket so they didn't even release that so the fact that now we know that

she was strangled with a cloth from her t-shirt from a t-shirt from her t-shirt okay from her t-shirt very very similar to and then this this girl, Tracy Walker, who disappeared about an hour from Tina Farmer up in Indianapolis, ends up about a mile away from her. She also has been, they found the T-shirt that survived? Yes, I believe. So they have strips of cloth with a knot in there. And then we know for a fact on the Linda's case that he tied her and then strangled her with a T-shirt. If that is not signature.

Honestly, yeah. Then I don't know what is. I totally agree that Tracy Sue Walker definitely needs to be like right in the center of the possible victims. And I believe we should look and see what we can find on other victims to see if there's that possible same MO. I mean, if he did something so similar for these three victims, he's bound to do it for others, you know. Is there anything else we need to do this week, you know,

just kind of research and see if we can continue to pull these together? Like I said, I think looking more into, I mean, we know some of these small details that may seem insignificant, but these are the type of details that we're going to put together to really make a compelling case for ourselves, you know? Yeah. Well, girls, great job. I know it's almost time to go to class. I appreciate y'all coming in early.

I know you're busy. You've got basketball. You've got school. But I appreciate y'all coming in before school and working on this in your spare time. I really think we've come a long way. I can't wait to see what else you guys find. So who are the young woman going above and beyond in the search of justice? I'm Riley Whitson, obviously. I'm 16. I'll be 17 the day before, no, two days before Halloween. So I've kind of always had that spooky ambiance. Follow me around everywhere I go. But yeah, I've always been very interested, morbidly fascinated with stuff that most people are like,

wow, you're either going to be a serial killer or a brain surgeon when you grow up. Hi, I'm Marley Messina. I'm a junior at Elizabethan High School and I'm 16. Marley spoke about the extracurricular club. We started like a little club, which right now it's just me and Riley. So we just started getting into it. I would say that it's definitely out there. Like, I'm not going to take away from that.

But, like, anyone's capable of anything. So we decided, you know, to come in early a few times a week and do some work on our own when we could. Me and Marley both play basketball for the school, so we'll be in the locker room talking about it, and all our teammates are like, what the heck is going on? The rest is history, I guess. Marley and Riley are best friends. Riley's my best friend. She has been since, like, third grade, so we've always been close.

Well, in third grade, we met through been close well in third grade we met her basketball and we both still play basketball now and we go over to her or I used to go over to her house all the time and we just did everything together and back then I used to be like really really quiet like I would have a panic attack before I had this phone call and she was more outgoing but she's still probably a bit more the outgoing one and all that. But I think I've gained a little bit more of the outgoingness from her. We spoke to Riley's dad, Mr. Whitson. I mean, they are literally best BFFs, best friends.

Our families are best friends. We vacation together. Like, we go to Florida together every year. You know, we travel. We stay together. we vacation together like we go we go to Florida together every year we you know we travel we stay together we you know we get together on weekends cookouts we don't hang by the pool we're and she has a younger brother who is the same age as my youngest daughter and their best friend so it's just like our whole family dynamic it's we were we were we didn't know them back then but me and

my wife got married like a month apart from Marley's mom and dad, Mikey and Courtney. And then we had our first kids at the same time and our second kids at the same time. They're just a couple months apart. So yeah, it's a pretty interesting dynamic. We also got the chance to connect with Marley's mom, Mrs. Mathena. They are peanut butter and jelly. Raleigh is much more, Raleigh is the extrovert. She's outgoing. She could talk to anyone. She's definitely not shy.

She performs. She has a beautiful singing voice and is comfortable. She, you know, at many events, she, everything from performing with the praise band at her church. She sings at funerals. She has sung in front of very large crowds for community events, the national anthem. So Riley's out there. Marley's more the quiet behind the scenes. But they balance each other so well.

You know, one is more cautious. One is more of a risk taker. You know, you've got one pulling the turtle out of the shell and the other one tempering. You know, I mean, they are just yin and yang. They are a perfect, sweet little friendship. Basketball is their passion. Last year, their team went to the state tournament. We didn't win the championship, but we had an awesome run and we lost no players.

We had the juniors and sophomores last year. So our goal this year is for the girls to go back. They're working very hard. Riley is point guard. She is an awesome shooter. She has the most beautiful three-point shot you've ever seen. Molly plays the post position.

And again, her timidness has been something that she's been working to come out of. And she has really grown and pushed herself again to the next level. And in her post position, really going after the ball and crashing the boards and rebounding. Both girls are very, very, very hard workers on the court, off the court, in the classroom. Whatever they do, their work ethic, they will put in 110%. So them getting up at seven o'clock in the morning, that's not out of character for them. Aside from being honor students and star basketball players,

what truly bonded the girls was their obsession with true crime. And I think that falls in with wanting to solve the Jane Doe type stuff. She loves helping people less fortunate. Like at church, if we're at church and there's kids in the youth who are kind of less fortunate, Riley will gravitate to those kids. She wants to love on those kids and help those kids. I think that kind of really is part of her passion for wanting to solve the Jane Doe. She wants to help these ladies out or these people, these victims who don't have a voice anymore. She wants to help them out.

She is a typical teenager, but she's on her phone a lot, but I'm not kidding. If she's on her phone for five hours in her spare time of day, four and a half hours is listening to a crime podcast. For Marley's mom, the newfound interest came as a bit of a shock. She is not the child that enjoys thrill rides. She has never watched scary movies. You know, and it's like, wow, so now you're interested in true crime. That's kind of surprising.

But she's really interested into like the scientific, the forensic. And she's like, to make big, big impacts in life, you kind of have to go outside the box. The club took a few days to review the information before meeting back up. So what have you been finding? So like I said previously, we're just trying to tie Tracy Walker with the rest of these victims because we feel that there's a lot of compelling evidence that ties her to Jerry Leon Johns. So something very interesting I found, here I'm looking at my map. Tina Farmer was from Indianapolis in Indiana.

And Tracy Walker was from Lafayette in Indiana. And that's about an hour or maybe less away? Yeah, roundabout. Something like that. Well, we've covered that Jerry Leon John was a trucker. Well, there's a highway or interstate that goes directly between these two, and he would have taken this route so he didn't have to go through Chicago, which most truckers would not want to go through Chicago due to traffic, obvious reasons.

So there's a direct line between these two cities, which he would have taken, which I think is very, just gives us a direct line. But even more than that, directly above to the left of these two cities is Rockford, Illinois, which was where Jerry Leon John's family was from. And when him and his wife divorced, she actually moved back there. I mean, it's practically a perfect diagonal line. It's highway of death. Yes. As sad as that is.

I mean, there's just so many similarities. There's no way it's coincidental, in my opinion. It's hard to say two people got kidnapped 10 hours away and their bodies ended up within a mile of each other. And it wasn't the same person. And everything else matches. Exactly. And this is actually pretty interesting.

But per NamUs, we figured out that the DeSoto County Jane Doe was also strangled with a ligature. Did it say anything about what type of ligature on NamUs? It didn't. It just said that it was a ligature, but she was missing like a jacket and undergarments, which I don't know if that has anything to do with it. But he could have used the jacket. Yeah. That's a lot of good work for a couple of days. I've got to give you all a pretty good grade, too. But you're getting ready to have your big three-day weekend.

Don't rub it in. Those teachers have to work on Friday. But what do you think we need to do? Figure out more about what the ligature could have been. Riley, what are you going to be wearing? I believe just, again, trying to tie more of these cases together, looking into specific small details, even if they seem insignificant because I feel like those add up.

Like just seeing that Tina Farmer and Tracy Walker were from Lafayette and Indianapolis, you wouldn't think too much into that. But seeing that route to Rockford, I mean, that's just pretty compelling in my opinion. So maybe looking at some more geography, seeing if these would have been routes that he would have taken. I think also we need to keep working on our timeline. Yeah. Where, what was he doing when Tracy Walker disappears? Maybe see what he was doing.

Something I thought about too, those intricate knots. Could he have got those from his military training? Yeah. And his boot camp, you know. It'd be interesting to see what those types of knots are used for if we could identify them. I would love to maybe show this to a knot expert. In between meetings, Riley spoke about why she was motivated to do this work. These were people. They weren't names. They weren't Jane Does. They weren't people who didn't.

They were loved and they were cherished at some point in their lives. And their family members have gone this long, maybe not even knowing if they're dead or alive, you know, just wondering if they're still out there. And nobody wants to hear that their daughter or sister or cousin has been killed. But I think if we can bring closure to some of these people and to some of these families and say, you know, this is what happened. This is who did it. They didn't run away willingly or, you know, they were still out there or they're not still out there. I think that would just be so rewarding in itself just to know that we were able to bring some peace and some closure to people. That gets me so frustrated because, you know, I've heard it. People will talk about it and people are like, you're so young. Like,

why are you worried about this? Because if we don't face this issue now, my daughter or my mom or my sister, it could be them one day. If this was anybody in my family, I would want everybody and anybody doing whatever they could to help out. If I can give a little bit of my time to, you know, honor these women and take back their names from Jerry Leon Johns. It's just so heartbreaking to see these women die and no change come from it. Like, this is the worst possible circumstance and the worst possible thing that could happen to a person, and there's not even change coming from that. They shouldn't have died at all, but they should not have died in vain more than that. Let's stop here for another quick break. and me, Simone Boyce. Every weekday, we're bringing you conversations about culture, the latest trends, inspiration, and so much more.

Thank you for taking the light and you're going to shine it all over the world and it makes me really happy. I never imagined that I would get the chance to carry this honor and help be a part of this legacy. Listen to The Bright Side on America's number one podcast network, iHeart. Open your free iHeart app and search The Bright Side. My name is Johnny B. Goode and I'm the host of the new podcast,

Creating a Con, the story of Bitcoin. Over this nine-part series, I'll explore the life and crimes of my best friend, Ray Trapani. I always wanted to be a criminal. If someone's like, oh, what's your best way of making money? I'm like, oh, we should start some sort of scheme. You see, Ray has this unique ability to find loopholes and exploit them. They collected $30 million. There were headlines about it.

His company, Centratech, was one of the hottest crypto startups in 2017. It was going to change the world. Until it didn't. I came into my office, opened my email, and the subject heading was FBI request. It was only a matter of time before the truth came out. You can only fake it till you make it for so long before they find out that your Harvard degree is not so crimson. How could you sit there and do something that you know will objectively cause more harm in the world?

Sit there and do something that you know will objectively cause more harm in the world. Listen to Creating a Con, the story of Bitcoin, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Abusers in Hollywood are as old as the Hollywood sign itself. And while fame is the ultimate prize in Tinseltown, underneath it lies a shroud of mystery. Thank you. money, and murder that's been swept under the rug for decades. Using the Variety archives, each episode offers a rare glimpse into little-known casting couch stories that have long lived in the shadows. So join us as we navigate the tangled web of Hollywood's secret history with host Tracy Patton, along with expert Variety reporters and correspondents as they discuss the secret history of the casting couch to explore the scandalous history of the casting couch to explore

the scandalous history of Hollywood's casting process. Listen to Variety Confidential on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Murder 101 While Riley and Marley continued to research, Mr. Campbell set off to locate the only known surviving victim of the Bible Belt Strangler. When the club reconvened, he had promising news. Hey, good morning, ladies. How y'all doing? Good.

Good, yeah. Yeah, this is our last day before a little three-day weekend you guys get, so I appreciate y'all coming in early. Good, yeah. Yeah, this is our last day before a little three-day weekend you guys get. So I appreciate y'all coming in early. If this story had a hero, in my opinion, that is his final victim, which is Linda. She was the lady who was attacked, left for dead beside the road. He knew what it was like to literally see the life go out of their eyes because he choked them probably facing them with a ligature and so he left her for dead beside the road and we have to assume that she wasn't breathing and she

was for all intents and purposes dead but she comes back to life she starts breathing again and then she gets out of the culvert and goes into the interstate and gets somebody to help her remember she was blind for three days. He choked her so badly. She couldn't see. She actually made it all the way across two lanes of traffic through the median and into the other lane, and she really didn't know she was out in the middle of the road.

She just knew she was close to some traffic. But because she got out there and she got help so quickly, she was able to tell the police what he looked like, what he was driving, where they were, and they caught him. They caught him that night. And because of that, he didn't get to hurt anybody else, which is great. But if it wasn't for her will to live and, you know, just the toughness and tenacity she had, he would have gone on to hurt more and more and more people. He wasn't going to stop. So if there's anybody that's the hero in this story, it's Linda. And I've been looking for her for a long time. And what I found was she had gotten divorced a couple of years later. She had a child

and then she moved. So whenever I found him, I started looking up his name and then I found the death notice in the paper. And then at the bottom, it had listed like a special friend and it, and it mentioned Linda. So I was like, all right, not many people make it into that death announcement. So maybe it's her. So whenever I began to look for that, I found a lot of Linda, you can imagine across the country. So I just began to look, where do you look when you want to find somebody on Facebook? So I pulled out Facebook and started looking. And when I looked, I'm like, this is probably her. So I began to dig through her posts and I find that she had mentioned something about being with her son

and his last name was ****. So that was her first child. And then I find like all these kind of links to like Greenville, Green County, Washington County, Tennessee. And then that kind of falls off a few years ago and she appears and it looks like that's where one of her, at least one of her children live. So I think I found her and it's kind of like the dog that, you know, chased the car and then caught it. Like, what are you going to do? You know, I've looked for so long and now I know where's at, and I have a way to contact her. And she may not know the lives that she's possibly saved. Well, that's true.

I was talking about her being the hero of the story. If she doesn't have that will to live, if she doesn't call the police and go through with the prosecution, then he continues to hurt people and kill people. So does she even know this? I mean, it's been hard. She was just a few years older than you all. So y'all have any advice for me as I reach out to her? I wouldn't go into it as if you're, don't make her feel she's on trial or like you're asking her questions, questions, get to know her first, ask her about, you know, her current interest, her family,

how she likes, just get to know her first and get that personal connection i think it'll be a lot easier for her to open up with you if she wants to and at the same time don't push obviously you know don't push if she if she doesn't want to sending a message to her instead of calling, so that may be better since she can answer on her own time and not feel like pressured, like she has to talk about it right then, like if it's supposed to. I mean she might need a little bit to gather what she wants to say and what she doesn't want to say. That's a good point.

Just really reinforcing the idea that her story could save even more lives. It saved lives because she stopped Joey Leon John, in my opinion, but at the same time, she could bring so much justice and peace and closure to so many families. I would think so too. Okay, well, hey, I think that's been a pretty good week. So what are you going to do over your three-day weekend? Probably just research some more. Oh, okay. So y'all do schoolwork even when you're off school? Yeah.

Not like calculus or anything? Oh, no. I have to go do my calculus homework right now're off school. Yeah. Not like calculus. Oh, no. I have to go do my calculus homework right now in first period because I was looking at this. That's right. The bell just rang, right? So, well, you guys scurry on to class, but thank you for your work. Absolutely. I think it's been a really good week, and we'll just keep working and see what we find. Excited to see what we find.

Yeah, for sure. And then I'll see if I can get up the nerve to call Linda and see how she feels about that. Crossing my fingers, toes, and eyes. Yes, yes. All right. Well, thank you guys. Have a great day, okay? Thank you, too.

Hello? Is this Linda? Yes. More on that next time. More on that next time. Murder 101 is a production of iHeartRadio and KT Studios. Editing by Jeff Twa and Davey Cooperwasser Music by Vanacore Music Murder 101 is a production of iHeartRadio and KT Studios. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. We'll see you next time. daily podcast from Hello Sunshine, hosted by me, Danielle Robay, and me, Simone Boyce. Every weekday, we're bringing you conversations about culture, the latest trends, inspiration, and so much more.

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