Murder 101 - With a Little Help from my Friends

Episode Date: January 17, 2024

Classmates describe the profile of each victim and how their search brought them closer to the victim and ensuring justice for them. Journalist Shane Waters shares his connection to the classroom and Alex Campbell.    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"-6'2", 180-270 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 2, with a little help from my friends. with a little help from my friends. I'm Jeff Shane, a television and podcast producer at KT Studios with Stephanie Lidecker, Courtney Armstrong, and Andrew Arno. Once the class had named their killer, they wanted to focus on the victims connected by his senseless crimes.

Who were these six women, and why did he choose them to die? How do six women go missing and nobody knows that they're missing? There were six victims, all with red or reddish hair. Only one of the victims is identified. They were found along like highways or interstates. Most of them were in Tennessee. There was one in West Virginia, Kentucky. They were all around the South.

were in Tennessee. There was one in West Virginia, Kentucky. They were all around the South. So we named the killer the Bible Belt Strangler just because he was killing in the Bible Belt. Most of them were suffocated. They also had some other interesting similarities. They were all white. All of them were estranged from their family. Many of them were transient, oftentimes involved with prostitution. And it appeared that many of them were actually abducted on or along the interstate so it was this tie to these interstates. They were either pregnant, had recently lost a baby, or had had a c-section. So there were some very interesting things. So they were all killed up close with the hands. So some of them had blunt force trauma or suffocation or strangling was how they died.

So those are the major similarities. It's scary to think that somebody in my community or in any community could go missing and nobody look for her. Nobody know her name and she'd be found a state away and nobody knows that she's from here. During the semester, junior Kayla Vandivore recalls the assignment structure. Our class, we each divided into groups to pick a specific victim. We got to know every detail about that victim, and we felt very connected to our victim. I had the West Virginia victim, and I picked her because I have family in West Virginia, so I felt very connected to her. I felt like I would basically say I felt like she was family

because I'd worked so hard to find her justice. Here's what we know about each victim according to Mr. Campbell's class's research. The Campbell County Jane Doe. On January 1st, 1985, the body of a woman was found disposed of over the side of the guardrail near Stinking Creek in Campbell County, Tennessee. The body was hauled up the embankment off the southbound side of Interstate 75 near the small town of Jellicoe. The victim had been dead for an estimated three days and was in an advanced state of decomposition. She had been beaten, bound with strips of cloth taken from her shirt, and strangled with a ligature. She was Caucasian and had shoulder-length curly red hair. Her age was estimated to be between 17 and 25, but possibly as old as 30. The victim was found clothed in a tan pullover, a shirt, and jeans.

The young woman had freckles over her body and various scars, including a burn mark on one arm. She was 10 to 12 weeks pregnant when she died. She had a partial upper denture holding two false teeth. It is believed that she was between 5'1 and 5'4 inches when she died and was approximately 110 to 115 pounds with green eyes. Additionally, she had been wrapped in what has been variously described as a blanket, comforter, or bedspread. Cheatham County, Tennessee, by a driver who had a mechanical breakdown.

She was believed to have died between three and five months previously from an unknown cause. Her remains were found at the site of Interstate 24 between mile markers 29 and 30 in the same time frame as the rest of the victims and the known physical features being similar. The body was found with a shirt, sweater, pants, and underwear. She was white, between 5 feet and 5 feet 2 inches tall. However, her weight could not be determined. An examination of her teeth showed that the victim had some evidence of crowding and overlapping in her mouth. This woman was believed to be between the ages of 31 and 40 at the time of her death. The Knox County Jane Doe On April 1, 1985, the body of a woman was found in a large white Admiral refrigerator in Gray, Knox County, Kentucky, alongside Route 25.

Her death was by suffocation. Contradicting reports have her being killed from the night before to a few days earlier. Distinguishing features of the body included a number of moles on the right side of her neck, near one ankle, and below each breast, a yellow stained upper incisor, and a scar and other marks on her abdomen indicating that she had born at least one child. Her eyes were light brown and hair was red and nearly a foot long, which fit the pattern of the redhead murders. After the autopsy, this victim was determined to be between 24 and 35 years old and approximately 4 feet 9 to 4 feet 11 inches tall. The victim was nude except for two distinctive necklace pendants,

one of a heart and the other of a gold-colored eagle, and two pairs of socks, one white and the other white with green and yellow stripes. There are reports that the victim may have been soliciting a ride to North Carolina over CB radio, and she could have been at a nearby truck stop the previous night. 500 people attended the Jane Doe victim's funeral, which was even televised, and a headstone and burial plot were donated. The case was a local sensation as the town was a quiet and sleepy place where little out of the ordinary usually happened. The DeSoto County Jane Doe is a woman found murdered on

January 24th, 1985 in Olive Branch, Mississippi. The victim was found by a truck driver driving southbound on U.S. Highway 78, 100 feet east of Coldwater River Bridge at around 7.30 a.m. Her body was 20 feet south of the highway and her shoes, undergarments, and jacket were missing. She was strangled with a ligature and possibly sexually assaulted. Authorities speculate she may have been tossed over the side of the bridge. She is estimated to be 20 to 40 years old. She was approximately 5 feet 2 inches to 5 feet 4 inches tall, with a weight of 105 to 130 pounds. She is believed to have been a heavy smoker. She had three piercings in each ear and her fingernails were deeply bitten.

She also was a Caucasian with red hair. The Campbell County Jane Doe. On April 3rd, 1985, the skeletonized partial remains of a young girl were discovered about 200 yards off Big Wheel Gap Road, four miles southwest of Jellicoe, Tennessee in Campbell County near a strip mine. She was believed to have been dead between one and four years. Her age was estimated between nine and fifteen years old. She was found by a passerby in an area where trash was often dumped, and it appeared her body had been moved from its original site because of animal activity.

The cause of death was listed as undetermined, which did not rule out homicide. 32 bones, including her skull, were recovered from the scene. Walker was Caucasian, had a very small build with red hair and freckles. A necklace and bracelet made of plastic buttons were found nearby, as well as a pair of size 5 boots and a few scraps of clothing. The Green County Jane Doe On April 14, 1985, the body of a young white female was found in Greenville, Green County, Tennessee. Her body was discovered by a fisherman in the brush beside a small creek that was 58 feet from the exit ramp for Geraldstown Road. She was determined to have been killed between three and six weeks previously,

and her body was in an advanced state of decomposition. She appeared to be beaten and died most likely from blunt force trauma, which caused a head wound and could not rule out a laceration to an internal organ. However, decomposition hindered these assessments. She had been approximately six to eight weeks pregnant shortly before she died, but had miscarried before her death. She was estimated to be 14 to 20 years old, possibly as old as 25. She was approximately 5 feet 4 inches to 5 feet 6 inches tall with a weight of 130 to 140 pounds. She had a slight overbite and had some fillings in her teeth showing that she had dental care in her life.

Her fingernails had pink polish. She had light brown to blonde hair with red highlights. Only one of the six victims would be identified. The Crittenden County Jane Doe. On September 16, 1984, the body of a woman was found in Crittenden County, Arkansas, along Interstate 40 near West Memphis. Despite all the traffic, her body lay alongside the highway for four days before a hitchhiker noticed Nichols' corpse and contacted local authorities. She was found near the exit ramp. Her body had been there for several days and was beginning to decompose. Her body was covered only by the remnants of a knit

top. She had been killed by strangulation. She was identified as a 28-year-old Lisa Nichols. She was Caucasian and had a petite frame. Her family members described her as growing up with beautiful red hair, but many would characterize it as strawberry blonde by this time. She was identified by a couple from Florida who had allowed her to stay with them for a period of time. She was positively identified through fingerprints. 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. Good, 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. I used to have so many men. How this beguiling woman in her 50s. She looked like a million bucks. With zero qualifications. She had a Harvard plaque. Tricks her way past a wall of lawyers and agents. She's got all of these Maseratis and Bentleys all in the driveway. Is it like a mansion? Yes, it's a mansion. That this queen of the con uses to scam some of the biggest names in professional sports out of untold fortunes.

About $6 million. Approximately $11 million. Nearly $10 million was all gone. Employing whatever means necessary to bleed her victims dry. She would probably have sex with one of her clients. Hide your money in your old Richmond because she is on the prowl. Listen to Queen of the Con, Season 5, The Athlete Whisperer, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Murder 101. With their list of six victims, the class wanted to figure out what drew the killer to these particular women. We looked at two parts, the how of the crime and the why of the crime. So the how would be things like picking up people along the interstate, killing them with a knife, or something like that. But the why is really what drives the killer to do this. Why do they want to choose a redhead? Why do they want to choose Caucasian? Why do they want to choose somebody who's in the sex trade? Why would they prefer to kill them with their hands instead of a gun or a knife? That's what makes each killer an individual, is that there's this profile they share which hardly any other killer will match. I think especially with the prominence

of legal and law enforcement and crime scene investigation and entertainment that you see on TV and in the movies and right now, that helps pique the interest of the students in a situation like this and also to explore what it's really like. True or is it really, you know, much more difficult and dirty? My name is Josh Boatman. I'm principal at Elizabethan High School. The first I'd heard about it was when Mr. Campbell came to me and pitched the idea. He's walking and said, I've got kind of a crazy idea. Let me see what you think about it. Honestly, the first thought is usually, wow, what would happen if this was my aunt or my sister or, you know, someone in my community now? You know, how would I feel and what would I want

the justice system to do? But how did the project fit in to Elizabethton High School's curriculum? Our job is obviously to teach academic standards in your English and math and science, but even more so, we have a social responsibility to our students to prepare them for life after school. How do you engage with people? How do you engage with your community? How do you apply what you've learned? I think that as a school, we're really focusing heavily on right now is how can we take this basic core knowledge and really apply that to our personal lives? Would I rather be doing something like that or sitting in class learning from a textbook, hearing a lecture from a teacher? You know, I really just kind of thought it'd be a great idea for the kids to apply what they're learning and kind of take ownership.

When the students, you know, step into a role where their learning and their application of knowledge ties to the community and ties to the world around them and they become passionate and interested in the subject matter, the learning almost comes as a secondhand product of that. And it's fun and it's exciting for them. And they're engaged in a way that you don't always see students. If you look back in human history, you know, at times a 15, 16, 17 year old is considered a grown adult and had grown responsibilities. And too many times we don't expect enough of our youth. You know, yes, they still need mentoring. They still need help. They still need guidance, but they're capable of phenomenal things.

As the semester continued, the class worked in groups to uncover information. We shared information, like if the group that was working on a victim found something that might help another group, they shared that. One group found the podcast that Shane had done about the murders. And then like we relay all our information to Mr. Campbell and he would make the phone calls. And then Alex found me through Facebook and explains that he's a teacher out of Tennessee. In his class, he noticed that one of the Jane Doe's in this case is in their county

and he would like to do some type of project with his students. To be honest with you, I thought that it was a weird prank. So I'm Shane, Shane Waters from Foul Play Crime Series podcast. Been doing this podcast for a long time. Started it in January of 2014,

which makes it one of the only crime series podcasts that predates Serial. Shane Waters is a podcaster and journalist who happened to be working on a story about the same six women. I tried to come up with some type of similarities between the victims and try to find some type of link of which ones were more than likely linked together. And that's when I came with the six. The only one

that I thought could be the seventh was a young child who was also found in Campbell County. But she was so young and I thought that was going to be a really far-fetched thing just because of her age. So I ended up not including her and just calling it the six. When Alex and I had our first conversation, he was like, how many did you come up with? And I was like, six. And he's like, what six? And I told him which six I had. And he's like, that's funny because that's the six we had.

Shane had a deep connection that drew him to this story. So before I went into college, I was actually homeless. I was in high school and I was homeless. Shane had a deep connection that drew him to this story. Broadway people, that people, you know, take them seriously. But I know what it's like to feel less than a human being and for other people to treat you like that. Which is why when Shane first connected with Mr. Campbell, he felt it was important to make sure the class was going to handle these cases with care. And the very first conversation I had with him when he told me that his, you know, his students wanted to work on this case. I was very nervous because I already knew at that point in time why the case in this series of cases had gone cold.

I knew that it was because society was treating these women less than people. So I was curious on how high school students would portray sex workers. I was amazed that they understood and that they came away with the understanding of knowing that these women weren't defined by where they were in that point in their lives. Sex workers are often ignored when it comes to crimes committed against them, despite the fact that they are among the most vulnerable populations. According to a report by the World Health Organization, sex workers experience high levels of violence, including physical assault, rape, and murder. Further, up to 75% of sex workers report experiencing violence at some point in their lives.

Another study found that only 25% of homicides against sex workers in the U.S. resulted in an arrest, compared to the 61% arrest rate for homicides in general. Ignoring crimes against sex workers perpetuates the stigma and discrimination that these people face, making it more difficult for them to access services and support when they need it the most. This is a human rights issue that requires urgent attention and action by policymakers, law enforcement, and society at large. Shane was shocked to discover that he and Mr. Campbell's class seemed to be the only ones working these cases.

But then the more that I read about it, I was just like, this is very weird that no one knows about this. Like, why were these women just forgotten about? Like, surely this case was solved or something. Like, what am I missing? So I called the TBI and eventually I talked to this lady and the lady explains to me that the case was still unsolved and the case was with the cold case unit, but it wasn't an active case that's being worked on. the cold case unit, but it wasn't an active case that's being worked on.

She was just very not having it. And I was like, is there someone at the cold case team I could contact if I receive any tips? And she's like, no, we will contact you. You don't contact them. And I was like, okay. And then she hung up on me. And I was like, that was a very odd interaction. hung up on me. And I was like, that was a very odd interaction. So that was like the very first contact that I had with the TBI. I was very confused at that point on one, why the case wasn't being covered in the media since the 80s. And then also why the TBI was telling me that it wasn't being worked. Soon, Shane and the class got into a groove. It was kind of like they were working in a classroom and doing like the FBI work and like the book work, like the textbook work. And then I was out in the field doing the on the ground work and talking to people. And then I would go back to the school and report back and we would collaborate then. So I would go out and go to the locations and talk to all these people and,

you know, actually see the locations where these women were dropped and talk to the locals, talk to the people who own the property, talk to eyewitnesses. So each time I found those bits and pieces, I would kind of go back to the school to report my findings. For Shane, there were advantages to having the class have his back. I'm out there talking to people. And the last thing I'm sure the killer would have wanted was for work to get out, you know. So the fact that I have a classroom of students and a teacher in Tennessee, who if I go missing, they would be ringing doorbells. You know what I mean?

So that also was comforting as well because it was kind of scary, to be honest with you, because I don't know if you've ever been to rural Kentucky or Tennessee or West Virginia, but you don't have cell phone service out there. So you're going and knocking on doors and you don't know who is going to be answering that door, or if you're going to be very welcomed. Like, it's kind of scary. I'm almost shaking right now just telling you about it. I'm a very large person. Like, I'm very, very tall, but, and you're out there alone. It was a little scary, I'm not going to lie. Shane Waters wouldn't be the only ally the class had. You know, I always had, you know,

my respected law enforcement, but, you know, it's kind of offensive in a way when somebody says, well, you're a wannabe cop. It's like, if I wanted to be a cop, I perfectly well could have been. If I wanted to be, I could have took the normal route. I'm not trying to go behind the things. I don't want to be a cop.

So my name is Todd Matthews, and currently I'm the executive director for Doe Network and then Namath, the National Michigan Unidentified Person Systems. Namath is based on dental records, DNA, fingerprint analysis, and fairly clinical descriptions in the circumstances of disappearance or condition that a body was found. So it's very, very not outside the layman's ability to understand, but it's very, very scientifically written to the point that it's not, it's very clinical. And the Doe Network, we use anecdotal data. Founded in 2001, the Doe Network is a volunteer organization devoted to assisting, investigating agencies and bringing closure to the national and international cold cases considering missing and unidentified people. In 2005, Todd Matthews created a larger database called NamUs.

It's a national information clearinghouse and resource center for missing, unidentified, and unclaimed persons across the U.S. The NamUs database application fills the nation's need for a unified online free secure database for unidentified remains and missing person records. Most commonly, NamUs is used by law enforcement, victims' loved ones, and medical examiners and coroners. Todd Matthews remembers when he and Mr. Campbell first connected. Well, it was a phone call, you know, originally, and you know and you get a lot of phone calls. But one, when you have an accent that's very close to yours, you kind of pay attention to it a little bit. And it's easy to talk to them.

They're from a very similar background that I am, so it's comfortable that their areas are facing some of the same problems that we have in classrooms. So we kind of got each other kind of understood. And I thought, this is something I want to do. This is not something I have to do. I want to talk to this guy. I want to see what he's got in mind, you know, to plant a seed into these kids. And hopefully it'll be something. Doesn't have to be a lot as long as it makes some change, as long as somebody understands it. So it's definitely worth it. So the thing that we set up was a virtual meeting. So we did, you know, like a FaceTime share where I could see the students. It's fun, you know, when you first talk to kids like that, you think, okay, I know you think this is fun. You watch CSI last night. Who's got it? Who's got it to go forward? Because it ain't going to be easy. So, you know, you just got to let the cream rise to the top. And they had the interest,

you know, they had the desire, they had the youth desire they had the youth they had them numbers all those eyes and all those hands so a lot of what they did was you know just going through like what would be the basic thing you would do comparison process of elimination so they were asking kind of high-level questions to get to know a murder it was a little eerie to have to think about every single detail of this man who took the lives of six women. So it was a challenge, I think, for the class to try to find every single detail. And the scariest thing about it, it might be a person that you know or somebody that your family member might know. That could just be that you kind of knew that they were kind of off or they were kind of doing something,

but they're close to home and they're killing people. It really does shock you. Let's stop here for another quick break. Bring a little optimism into your life with The Bright Side, Let's stop here for another quick break. 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. Good, 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.

I used to have so many men. on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. a wall of lawyers and agents. She's got all of these Maseratis and Bentleys all in the driveway. Is it like a mansion? Yes, it's a mansion. That this queen of the con uses to scam some of the biggest names in professional sports out of untold fortunes. About six million. Approximately 11 million dollars. Nearly 10 million dollars was all gone. Employing whatever means necessary to bleed her victims dry.

She would probably have sex with one of her clients. Hide your money in your old rich man because she is on the prowl. Listen to Queen of the Con, Season 5, The Athlete Whisperer on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Murder 101. Todd Matthews encouraged the class to look at every detail. Pour over these files, gather up every piece of data and save it and try to do something with it. Have conversations, look at these things, compare notes.

And they had so many people to bounce ideas over, so many people to see one little thing that might have been slightly different in another article. You know, people talking to town. So there was opportunity for them to find stories, comments, things that people have passed along, and they had the time and the desire to do it. He really got all of us really excited to find maybe just a name for one of these victims, because if we could just give one of these victims justice, that would be more than has happened in the last 30 years. So I think we want all the victims eventually identified.

But I think that our main goal was to just try to bring this story to light, try to give these victims a name, try to give them family. And I think that we did that by considering them our sisters. And there's always something if you go back and reread something. Considering them our sisters. And there's always something if you go back and reread something. The kids could have looked for a later article that maybe described another object that was found on or near a body. Some other clue, a comment that somebody made in a news report. But this is going to require going back and reading a lot of information, going back and

just literally rereading articles and looking for little notes. Maybe a photograph that was a scene that maybe is not digitally available. Comments from law enforcement where they might have mentioned something about a ligature that might not have been in a file or in an autopsy report that was publicly viewable. So there was comments locally that you might pick up that you might not see on the national level during that time period. As the semester was winding down, Mr. Campbell felt the class was at an impasse. What happened was once there were no leads, once they had arrested no one,

and the case got really cold and they could never identify them, and there was no family pushing for this, I think a lot of those cases were just forgotten. Actually, I know some of those cases were forgotten. I know a semester seems like a long time, but really you only have so much time to do so much. There are people that deserve to pay for their crimes and there are families that deserve to have closure. And so I think that they realize that if we didn't do something now in 10 years, how many witnesses are left? Or in 20 years, is this person still alive? So it was really strange that even though it was over 30 years ago, I think there was a sense of like immediacy that they needed to do something now because it was going to be too late eventually. The class had two thorough and complete profiles,

one of the alleged killer and the other for his victims. With so many years of experience, Todd gave the class a suggestion that changed everything. The best way to try and help identify a serial killer is to identify bodies that we think are attributed to that serial killer. So I would say the ultimate goal is to spread the word and get these victims' faces out there. Maybe somebody could recognize someone. And see, here's the issue. Law enforcement never said, determined that any of these murders were related to one another. In class, one day, one of the students came up with a brilliant idea. Once we had this information, I told the students, what are you going to do with it? You have something that nobody else has. You have a lot of evidence that all these six are

connected and you have this profile of this person. So what do you want to do with that? So the students said they wanted to share it so that others could have the profile. And so that's when the students came up with the idea of trying to, you know, share this, you know, with everybody. They said, well, how would, you know, if the police had a profile and they were looking for a certain person, what would they do? They'd have a press conference. They would get the information out. So the students decided that they wanted to hold a press conference at the school. We invited different law enforcement officials, different media and news outlets to connect the murders would make these cases go

from single murders to a serial killer in the eyes of law enforcement. So we began to work very hard with the police agencies from four different states that were involved. And also we looked up all the print media and the TV media that are in those areas and asked them if they would all run a story on the same day and kind of have a region-wide media blitz. And so that was their strategy, get as many police and media people involved as possible to get the word out to as many people as possible to try to generate some leads that would help in the case. We knew that we needed to spread the word for it and get more people aware of what happened, especially in the areas where these women were found. It went from a class investigating something to a class trying to

share something with the rest of the world to try to have an impact or to create some change. During the semester, Mr. Campbell's students discussed their motivations. It's important to bring justice to these women because like many of us they have families and people who cared about them they don't might not know they're missing or they might be estranged but they're still a person they still had a voice. The women didn't have anybody to fight for their right to be found because no one was pushing for it. We're finally giving them the justice that they deserve whether they were estranged from their family whether they may have been prostitutes

or not they still deserved to have this justice. The Bible Belt Strangler could still be out there. If you look at the age range that the students have and the times elapsed he's getting a little older but there's a pretty good chance he's still alive. During the semester the class talked to a local reporter. He deserves pay for what he did. He needs to come and face the consequences of what he did. So you think this guy is still alive and out there? I'm not sure that he's still a truck driver, but I do think that he is still alive.

Do you think we're going to find the Bible Belt Strangler? Yes, I do. It's just a matter of time now that the word's out. More on that next time. Murder 101 is executive produced by Stephanie Lidecker, Alex Campbell, Courtney Armstrong, Andrew Arnault, and me, Jeff Shane. Additional producing by Connor Powell and Gabriel Castillo. 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. 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. Good, 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 was going to be a millionaire. If someone's like, oh, what's your best way of making money? I'm like, oh, we should start some sort of scheme. Listen to Creating a Con, the story of Bitcoin, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple 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 iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

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