Small Town Murder - #14 - One Drifter, Two Murders in Ovando, Montana

Episode Date: April 19, 2017

This week, we check out the extremely small town of Ovando, Montana, where a drifter came into town, and committed a shocking crime. Luckily, his stupidity left a trail for police to follow, leading to his demise, and his eventual request for a good, old fashioned hanging. Find out if he gets what he wants, in the end.Along the way, we find out just how dangerous buffalo hunting was, a thousand years ago. Exactly how long people will wait for a railroad to be built, and what happens when the movie "Funny Farm" goes wrong!Hosted by James Pietragallo & Jimmie WhismanNew episodes every Thursday!!Please subscribe, rate, and review!Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts!Head to shutupandgivememurder.com for all things Small Town Murder!For merchandise: crimeinsports.threadless.comCheck out James and Jimmie's other show: Crime in Sports Follow us on social media!Facebook: facebook.com/smalltownpodInstagram: instagram.com/smalltownmurderTwitter: twitter.com/MurderSmall Contact the show: [e-mail] See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to Small Town Murder early and ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. What if you married the love of your life and then stood by them as they developed 21 new identities? What would you do? This Is Actually Happening is a weekly podcast that features extraordinary true stories of life-changing events told by the people who lived them. Listen to the newest season of This Is Actually Happening on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. This week, we check out the tiny town of Ovando, Montana, where one drifter came through and changed everything. Welcome to Small Town Murder. Hello, everybody.

Welcome back to Small Town Murder. Yay! That music gets me jacked. It does. It gets me pumped up. My name's James Petrigallo. I'm here with my co-host. I'm Jimmy Wissman.

And we're excited to be here this week. Yes. Thank you guys so much for everything this week. Your iTunes reviews do not go unnoticed. No. Thank you, thank you, thank you. We've really, really kind of blown up a little bit this week. I would say.

It's pretty cool. We were, just a quick thing, we were in the, as of this morning, we were in the top 200 total of podcasts. Worldwide. iTunes wide. Yeah. In the U.S. on iTunes, which is absolutely bonkers. Yeah.

We are above shows that we thought were cool shows when we started. We still think are cool shows, but it's just thank you guys so much. Honestly, it's not a brag thing. We just really want to thank you guys. You did it. You did it. We're just making the show, and if none of you cared, listened, reviewed any of that stuff, we would just be doing this anyway for ourselves.

Maybe. Maybe. I'd probably be just dead by now of depression and sadness. stuff, we would just be doing this anyway for ourselves. Well, maybe. Maybe. Maybe. Probably not. I'd probably be just dead by now of depression and sadness. But thank you, guys. If you haven't done it yet, please, please get on iTunes and give us five stars. It doesn't matter what you say. We don't care.

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Recovering still from Matthew Cushing last week and his – What a monster. His fiery, monstrous, flat, affected ways. You know what I noticed the week before, though? The psychopath that kidnapped the girls. Yes. The two weeks before, because it's a two-parter. Yeah.

The man, he had a stop number of 26. 26. And if you add those two girls' ages together, you get 26. You get 26. Yet he did not stop. He didn't stop. No. He deserved everything he got from the legal system.

He did. He deserved more, probably, honestly, I think. Unbelievable. That's one of those, like we always say, we're not big death penalty proponents. But if you're going to do it to anybody, that might be the guy. Just a hint, hint, nudge, nudge. It doesn't even have to necessarily be a death penalty. Just zip a zip tie around his neck really tight and walk away.

You did nothing. You did nothing. That's what he said. That was nothing. You don't have to do anything. It's his exact words. You just tighten it up and walk away. You did nothing. You did nothing. That's what he said. That was nothing. You don't have to do anything. It's his exact words. You just tighten it up and you go. And the next week we have a guy that, how did we top that?

How did we find a guy that's just as cold hearted and maybe worse? Well, you find a guy who kills his entire family, including the dog. The dog! And then burns the house to the ground. So yeah, we're building up. We have a guy, another guy this week. Guess what? Not a nice guy. Shocker, right? Hell're building up. We have a guy, another guy this week. Guess what? Not a nice guy.

Shocker, right? Hell-bent on destruction. Are you shocked about that? A little bit. A little bit. Everybody should be a little surprised. You know what I mean? Just got to do the disclaimer as usual here.

Just to let you guys know, we are, this is a comedy podcast. We're comedians. All the facts are real. Surprisingly enough. Research is real. Facts are real. Everything like that is real. But we do make jokes.

Yeah. We never try to make them and we never do make them at the at the expense of the victim or of the victim's families we're not into that we're not jerks they want to make fun of horrible things that happen to people and the people that they happen to right what we do make fun of where the humor comes from mainly is a we make fun of the small town that we talk about first and you know what i don't care if you're offended by that because we're all from shitty small towns and they're all shitty so make when you're in the town, you make fun of them. And maybe your big

town sucks too. It does. Most towns suck. There's a lot of places that just are no fun to be in. There's like four places that are good. Everything else sucks. So relax, okay? You know what I mean? Calm down. And usually it's a bumbling police force or the criminal himself. Sorry, we don't feel any mercy for these people.

So you know what? What the hell? We're going to do it. But if that's all good with you, great. Climb on board. We're happy to have you. If you think that true crime and comedy never belong together, leave. Unsubscribe. Please.

Thank you. We'll shake hands and we'll say, great to meet you. Have a good one. Happy trails. It's been a nice day. It's been a nice time. But we are going to get into a horrible thing that happened in a dumpy small place. You go your way. We're going to go have fun. Let's do this. Let's do a nice day. It's been a nice time, but we are going to get into a horrible thing that happened in a dumpy small place. You go your way.

We're going to go have fun. Let's do this. Let's do it, everybody. Our town this week, Ovando, Montana. Ever heard of it? No. No, neither have I. I didn't know this place existed.

I think you could be in Montana pretty close to it, and you still wouldn't know it existed. And we'll tell you why here. That's always nice. Absolutely. If you're not from the U.S., Montana is up on the Canadian border. Dead middle of the country, up on the Canadian border. It's cold. It's desolate.

It's Marlboro country. It's Marlboro country. There's Marlboro country. It's a huge state land-wise. It's enormous. So big. And there is no people there. It's just so cold and open.

The only town I've heard of is, I think, what's the capital? Helena is the capital. You've got Missoula. That's the one I was going to say. Billings is a town I've heard of. And Billings, all right. I got two now. I'm done.

Helena, Billings, Missoula. Everything else, don't know shit. Ovando is in the western central part of the state. So it's not even like on a border of anything. It's just there. Just stuck in the middle of this western part of this huge state. You're almost to Canada. That's the good news.

It's close. You're almost to Canada. You're also almost to Idaho. So I don't know what that means, if that's a positive or a negative. Sometimes not positive. No. It's in Powell County. It's actually high because there's mountains around there.

This is a mountainous part. It's where the Rockies kind of catch a piece of that. Most of Montana is pretty rocky. Yeah, I think it gets flatter toward the eastern part of it, but it's 4,088 feet elevation. Oh. So that's pretty high. That's almost a mile high getting up there.

Get yourself a nosebleed. Yeah, 1,000 feet short. Zip code 59854, area code 406. It's a small town in terms of size. It's a nine-square-mile town. It's a pretty small town, but I'll tell you where it is, too. It's 75 miles northwest of Helena, which is the capital. So that's if you're looking on a map, the one dot in Montana will be Helena because that's the capital.

They have to show you that. It's around there within 75 miles. They've got a legal obligation or some shit to show that. Yeah, just to show what that is. The population of this place, smallest we've ever had, by the way, population, nine square miles, population, 80. Holy shit. 80.

How do you even call that a town? I can't even fathom 80 people. Like when we do the stats and we're like, yeah, the 3% of this, that's like four people. I think I've got 80 people that live on my street. That's what I mean. That's crazy. Think about this. Think about like we're comedians.

We do. If 80 is like a shitty Thursday night crowd where we're like, oh, this is disappointing. That's 80. That's the whole town. Shut up. And we're like, oh, this sucks. 80 people, you're just looking out going, fuck. I'm going to have to make the energy tonight, aren't I?

We're failures. Shit. Yeah, this headliner is going to be, oh, boy. He's going to be pissed. I don't know if he's going to be coming back next year. Somebody's not bonusing this weekend. No, I would say not. You've got Thursday.

You've got to get it in early. But in a town of 80 people in Montana, you can guarantee there's still a country radio station on that dial. I'm sure there is. You guarantee it is. I'm sure there is. There's probably several. It could be just some guy in his house with a tin can coming out broadcasting to a few pickup trucks in the area.

I'm not sure. All Clint Black all the time. Yes, and we're ignorant of this town, obviously. I know I've read this and we're going to get into it, but obviously we don't know a ton about it. But 80 people is 80 people. This is a tiny fucking backwoods town. Sorry. I dare you to tell me this is a sprawling metropolis and it's just as fun to live there as it is to as it is to live in new york city this challenge me yeah this is a backwoods uh hole is what this is

uh the area itself has been inhabited by people for over 14 000 years i like that you said inhabited inhabited like there's a problem yeah it's been inhabited they're ruining everything up there i don't know but 14 000 years there's been people in this area. So that's, you know, we're talking like this is way back. This is pre, I mean, figure 14,000 years ago. That's 12,000 years B.C. basically. That's how long people lived there? That's how long there's been people there.

They're thought to be first populated by the Kootenai peoples, which were, I think, they came across the land bridge. That's literally what we're talking about here. Absolutely. They found their way through're talking about here. Absolutely. They found their way through Pangea and landed there. That's exactly what happened. Yeah, this is what we're talking about, the people who found this place. Eventually heavily populated by all the Indian tribes around there, all the native tribes. The Nez Perce were the ones that really had their claws into the place.

They really were holding on to it. It's a buffalo hunting area around here, so it was always a source of fighting for local tribes. This is where tribes fight over buffalo. Tribes will wander in, hey, there's buffalo over here, and they're like, no, no, this is our land, and then it turns into the wire-style corner drug-dealing beef. I love it. Meriwether Lewis, actually, of Lewis and Clark fame, on the way back, he went to the Pacific, and I believe Clark went on a boat around he went to the pacific and he i believe clark went on a boat around okay and mary weather lewis came back through land and he actually

stopped here why would he do that i don't know why you'd want to do that again that's a story that i didn't know yeah he came back through land he was like you know what i'm gonna do that again backwards let's do that that was fucking terrible let's do it again let's do it again did he take second with him i I think no. They left too. They left too. So she jumped on the boat and he's like. They already were through the path there.

I think he did it a lot lighter. Half the problem, and this is way off base, but half the problem I've seen a lot on Lewis and Clark. Half the problem with Lewis and Clark was how much shit they had. They had tons of people and ships and boats and things. They had so much shit. It's not a fucking explorer. It was such a huge thing to do a company move.

We're moving out and it takes a day just to get ready to move to go somewhere. Whereas on the way back, I think he moved pretty quickly, him and his dog and probably a few other people. He's like, now I know where all the food sources is, so I'll just bring- Absolutely. So yeah, he stayed there on the way back. The Nez Perce tribe took care of him on the way back because I think they had heard about him on the way in.

They made friends with a lot of tribes. It was interesting. There was an important Indian trail that came up the Blackfoot River from Missoula into this area. And there's a gorge called Hell Gate, which sounds awesome. And it's just like it sounds because the Blackfeet Indians would wait for people to come into this gorge to go hunt buffalo. And then they just get them from a place of higher ground.

They just slaughter them. So it's called Hell Gate. So you come in there, you get slaughtered by these people. You're going to hell right now. That's awesome. Through this gate. Yes. There's the gate.

There's hell. Go ahead. The first non-natives coming in here, the first basically white people settling this area was in the 1870s. Really? This is some old west shit, man. This is like dead. This town is deadwood.

Deadwood, yeah. It's total deadwood. Wild. It's incredible, this town. It's pretty much deadwood. That'd be awesome if they're still that way today yeah right you just go up there and there's no cars it's just horses and buildings horses and guns shit in the street whiskey swilling just crazy people that's awesome you get look at somebody wrong and they shoot you in the streets that That would be a really fun town. I would visit that town.

That would be like Westworld, actually. I dare you not say Hattie, boy. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Westworld. I think we just invented a show that already happened. Perfect. Yeah, this is the type of town like Wyatt Earp would come in to clean up.

You know what I mean? Like it's got, in 1883, this is six years before Montana even became a state, the first post office was built by a man named Ovando Hoyt. So I wonder where that came from. Gotcha. He builds and operates it. Also, too, the Blackfoot Telephone Company, which still operates today, was founded in 1882 when a guy named Charles Jackways put wire on top of fence posts. And then he ran out of fence posts, so he strung the wires from tree to tree.

And then when there was no trees, he'd use an old rubber boot to pin it to. The original telephone pole. Yeah, absolutely. That's where it came from. That became a telephone company. It's still in operation, so I guess get some ingenuity out there. I like that he gave it his first name. Yeah.

I think that's pretty cool. That is cool. Rather than calling it Hoyt, Montana. That sounds terrible. You also had to, there was some negotiating to go with the name. They originally wanted to name it something else, and they decided that this was easier because it was a more complicated name. So this was like whatever the compromise that was come to was Ovando. It's a good name.

It sounds okay. It sounds like a town, I guess. It's something that nothing else is named. Yeah, that's true. And who the hell names their kid Ovando? What a terrible name. This was in 1830. Who the hell knows?

I'm sure it has some biblical significance that i know nothing about because i'm ignorant to that name though absolutely now the town at this point it's bustling stores saloons barber shop drug store hotel it's deadwood picture the street on deadwood on the hbo show that's what it is uh they they're waiting for the railroad there is rumors that the railroads here it's not oil they're not looking for oil they're waiting for the railroad to come through town so they're basically just sitting here going, that railroad's coming soon. Then everything will be better. That's what everyone's doing.

And they're still waiting. Let's still do it. Let's wait. Yep. In 1919, still no railroad. Oh, no. A large fire in one of the stores basically burns the entire town to the ground. Nice.

Minus a few buildings. Between the fire and the lack of railroad at that point, most of the people just left. They had more than 80 people back then, but they just left. They were like, well, what are we doing here? We're in the middle of nowhere. Now there's not even a store. Right. We got shit.

We got nothing. Let's leave here. So yeah, so several of the, there are now still several of the 100 plus year old buildings that survived the fire that are still there now. Wow. Which is pretty cool. There's a trading post and a few other things. They look awesome too.

Yeah. Like this is a place where if you were driving cross country, you'd want to stop in this town to be like, this is— Just for the touristy shit. Yeah. Like, how is this still here? Yeah. Right. This is some crazy old west town that's barely survived, and it's like a ghost town kind of, but not really.

It's a functioning ghost town. It's basically what it is. In 1990, the population was only 54. Wow. Yeah. It's up 48% since then. Bustling. 26 people have raised it that much.

It was up to 71 in 2000. Now it's up to 80. They are growing. I'm telling you, this is growing. There's nine people per square mile. So that's just spread out. That's fantastic. I can't even see that guy over there.

91 is average in America. Wow. Yeah, it's a lot more males than females. And 56% male, which is way above the – it's usually – the average is 51% female. So that's out of whack. Median age in this town, we've discussed some old towns. Yeah. We were like, yeah, there's a lot of old people here.

Definitely old people, right. Median age here is 56.5. Holy shit. Yeah, 37.4 is the average.'s crazy that is it's just old people yeah wait till we get into the the breakdown of this it's crazy what do you think does that that's just very very odd there's just no people there are 43 households total i mean think about that there are between the ages of zero to nine in this you know children children, 0 to 9, 0.00%. Wow. No kids under the age of 9. 15 to 17, 0.00%.

Wow. 21 to 24, 0.00%. Unbelievable. So there's some like 18 to 20 in there, a few people. 25% of the people there are 60 to 64. 17% are over 65. Wow. Only 7.5% are between the ages of 0 and 25 wow there is no

imagine being a single young person there what are you doing it's even worse if you're single because we'll get into this in a second what a bummer of a life it's insane 81 of the people in the town are over 45 yeah that isn't that's that's this is like the footloose town but worse like the outskirts of the foot where the the people that this is the town the people in the footloose town talk shit about. They're like, they're weird out there. We don't dance and shit, but that's weird what they're doing out there. The whole town is a nursing home.

It is. It's 80% married people, which is 50% is the average. 20% are single. So, I mean, you're screwed if you're a single person. Yeah. 0.00% widowed, so no one there is sad about a dead mate, I guess. That's good. 0.00% are single, so no one there is sad about a dead mate, I guess. That's good. 0.00% are single with no children.

Interesting. So there's no single people just hanging out with no kids. The bar is depressing in this town, man. Racially, about what you'd expect, 92%, 92.5% white. 7.50% black. That's it. No Asians. Wow.

Zero Asians. 100% non-Hispanic, it says. So that tells you a lot right there. It's black or white and barely black. And yeah, that's a couple of guys. That's all. 24% are religious, which is way under. That's about half the average. 8% of them are Mormon, 6% Catholic, 0.0% Jewish, 0.0% Muslim, as even if I had to say that. It's usually every week. 32% Democrat in this area. 65% vote Republican. I don't know what they're voting for anyway. No matter what happens, it won't affect them at all.

It seems like they all agree anyway. Just get together and talk. You could actually get everyone in town and make a consensus. You could actually get everyone together and be like, all right, let's discuss this and come out with a compromise. It's the only town in America that voting day is never fucked up. Never. It's so easy. You can just go, hey, Bob voted wrong.

Bob, quit being a dick, Bob, and then they can get it all together. It's amazing. The school in this, this is wild. This is a quick little stat here. 6.7 students per teacher. 6.7 students. Less than seven students per teacher. Per teacher.

Imagine that. But there's no students. Less than seven students per teacher. Per teacher. Imagine that. But there's no students. Well, that's because there's outskirts, too. There's like, you know, unincorporated areas where kids go to school. And they ship them in. Yeah, kids go. Not many of them, obviously. 6.7 per teacher.

If you fail, you are a dumb shit. If you live in Ovando or around Ovando and your kid failed, they're dumb. Teach them how to do a skill because they're going to need it. Find a trade school. They're literally having like one-on-one with these teachers. If they can't get it by then, imagine that. There's time to explain things. Oh, wait, let's explain it to Johnny.

Now let's explain it to Timmy. It's ridiculous. Six kids. It's unreal, man. It's wild. Not a lot of college graduate type jobs there, as you can imagine. So that's the college graduates and doctorates and masters way lower than usual uh five percent unemployment rates exactly on the average that's like seven people yeah with that kind of unemployment you

just say hey hey bill get a fucking job bill get all right we've we solved the unemployment that's one guy it's literally like seven people it's just a dude that didn't do well in school it's like seven people one of them's probably a little didn't do well in school. It's like seven people. One of them's probably a little slow. One got kicked in the head by a mule when he was younger. He's, you know, one's just lazy. One's an alcoholic. And then there's just Bill who's like, come on, somebody fucking hire Bill. All right? He's messing up the whole rate here. We can get it

down to zero. Perfect. We've solved unemployment. Done. Household income here is about, averages about $44,000. $53,000 is the average. 28% make between $40,000 and $50,000. So that's way more than usual, make that amount. So it's kind of a blue-collar-y type of place. As you'd imagine, there's only 80 people. It's in the middle of Montana. You would imagine it would be a lot of highfalutin, snobby Stanford graduates. No. Probably not. You don't

see that? Not usually, no. 0.00% make over $100,000. So no one in this town makes over $100,000. 23%, though, make between $75,000 and $100,000. So they probably live nice in this town, I would think. Jobs. What kind of jobs would be in a place like this? Well, 0.0% of these following. Engineering, social services, legal, art, media, health care, practitioners, firefighters, and law enforcement. None of any of those in this town.

Yeah. That's like what makes every big city thrive. Oh, gone. All of that. All gone. To take it all away and what happens? It shrinks to 80 people. It shrinks to 80 people.

You get 22% of them, our jobs are food service and prep jobs, which for the tourists coming in to go, this is a cute town. They can hand them a burger. Want a hamburger? They go back to their shack and cry. 36% construction and extraction. I don't know if there's some sort of extraction thing or if it's just, you know, if they're pulling minerals out of the ground or if it's just construction.

Isn't that where fracking is done up in Montana? Yes, around there. So I'm sure there's jobs where people are fracking and doing things like that. Destroying earth. Destroying the earth. Cost of living, 100 is average. As we say, that's the number that's average. 91 for Ovando is their number.

Food, health care, and transportation are above average because they're in the middle of nowhere. Yeah, and also, too, you've got 80 people. You need to make that town survive, so it better be kind of steep. That's the thing. Housing, though, 62 out of 100. Very cheap. Median home cost, $115,000. $186,000 is the average. 28% of homes are vacant vacation homes, though, 62 out of 100. Very cheap. Median home cost, $115,000.

$186,000 is the average. 28% of homes are vacant vacation homes, too, because people come up in the mountains. People vacation there? They vacation. This is like your outdoorsy people. They go hunting. They do things like that. Or people live in a shittier, smaller town somewhere else.

Let's go to the big city. Let's go to the big city. How much smaller could it be? How much smaller? 17% of the homes are regular, just vacant. Ovando. How much smaller could it be? How much smaller? 17% of the homes are regular, just vacant. Just nobody cares. Who wants to live there? It's 0% of the houses are over $400,000.

And if we've convinced you that Ovando is the place you need to be. There's not a single house over $400,000. It's nothing. I love it. Here it is, the Ovando, Montana housing report. We got it. If you're looking for a two-bedroom apartment, I don't know if they have any, but it says the average cost of one here is $658, which is about $400 under the national average. Three-bedroom, two-bath home that I found that's 1,900 square feet.

It's on 505 Main Street. It's a really pretty house. It's probably the Main Street. Yeah, that's it. And it looks like it's one of these houses where it's like nice on a Main Street, really nice looking house for $205,000. That's like the nicest house they have in town. It probably is. It's beautiful. I found a

four bedroom, one bath, 2,200 square feet for $149,000. It was a nice looking house too. I was like, well, I might go there. Wait, never mind. 80 people. I mean, I could get in a group of 80 people and not like 60 of them. Oh, yeah.

You're going to not like 75% of the town, which you wouldn't like 75% of people in the city, but you just know all those people you don't like. There'd be less of a chance to meet some people you don't like. It's a numbers game. It's a numbers game. If you just want to get a tent and put it up on a 34-acre square lot, there's one available on 725 Hobby Horse Trail for $158,500, which is 34 acres. That's great. That's a lot of open land. You never see anybody.

You could do anything you want out there. You could kill people, bury them on your property, nobody would ever notice. I think you could shoot a gun on 37 acres and nobody would hear it. Well, let's talk about that if you could here. It's funny you bring that up. Funny you bring that up. Hilarious. The crime rates here will do quick.

Property crime, burglary, larceny, theft, slightly above average. Violent crime, murder, rape, robbery, assault, as we always talk about, just a touch above average. So I don't know what people are doing. You would know who – hey, Bob punched me or Jim stabbed me. You would know these things. Bob didn't get a job and he raped my wife. And he raped my sister. Yeah, I was going with sister.

I don't know. You went with wife. I don't know. It's fine. But I'm not married. That's probably why I say it. It's just a job and he raped my wife. And he raped my sister. Yeah, I was going with sister. I don't know. You went with wife. I don't know. It's fine. But I'm not married. That's probably why I say. It's just a woman. It's a woman.

He raped one of the very few women in this town. He raped them. So this is bad. He raped one of the 43% of the women in this fucking town. Yes, this is terrible. So let's talk about one guy who found out about shooting guns on a huge area here. It's Terry Allen Langford. Okay.

He is not a nice person. We'll find out why. He's born in 1967. By all accounts, he grows up in North Carolina. Don't know what he's doing down there. Doesn't have much of a criminal record as a young, young person. He's arrested in his late teens, 19 or 20 in North Carolina. As we are.

As people want to do. Yeah, that happens. This was on, he ends up being on probation. This was for forgery and tampering with a vehicle. So we don't As people want to do. Yeah, that happens. He ends up being on probation. This was for forgery and tampering with a vehicle. So we don't know what he was doing. He could have been messing with a temporary plate or something like that. The details of it, it's from the 70s in North Carolina.

I do my best with the research, but that's a little extreme to find that. It's a minor fucking violation anyway. He could have been... He didn't change the tint when the officer told him to. You never know. The forgery is a little more concerning, but there's a lot of things that fall under forgery. So we'll give him, let's say.

Benefit of the doubt. Young kid, he did something stupid. Benefit of the doubt on this one. Okay. So in June of 1988, he's in North Carolina. He's on probation. He's probably bored down there. He's a restless soul.

He decides he wants to travel a bit. He is interested in becoming a mountain man. That's probably bored down there. He's a restless soul. He decides he wants to travel a bit. He is interested in becoming a mountain man. That's his goal. I want to be a mountain man. I'm going to go out west and become a mountain man. Don't think I've ever met one of those. I'm going to Marlboro country to be a mountain man. Or anybody that aspired. Nobody I've ever known to aspire. That's something you just, I was born in the mountains and I used to shoot possum and then I became a mountain man and I started selling the hides that's that's it it's an accident it's ridiculous people in the old west who would do that would be killed usually they would go out there and they'd be brutally you know they'd be savaged by whoever was out there

animals people it didn't matter or lose a duel in the fucking street they'd be screwed out there so it's it's basically first of all there's plenty of mountains in North Carolina last time I checked also. I don't know what he was thinking, why he couldn't try it out there. Like, let me try my mountaining out here, and then I'll go mountaineer somewhere else. It's an awful long trip to end back at square one. Yeah, this is more like a drifter rather than a mountain man if you're just wandering and you could have done that at home. He travels by bus, which is how I want to travel the country. I want to go, I'm going to leave and get on a Greyhound, which is

what he does. Gets on a Greyhound, arrives in Montana. He just took a bus to Montana to be a mountain man. That's it. Who does that? I admire it. It's kind of cool because it's kind of like an old-fashioned adventurous thing. Nobody does that now. They'd be like, is there Wi-Fi out there?

You know what I mean? People would be so not okay with doing this. Back then, it was like, I'm going to get in a bus and go sit in the mountains for a while. That seems like a fun thing to do. Let's try it out. As a guy with a wife and kids and tons of responsibility, I fucking want this man's life right now. You want to be a mountain man in Montana. I want to get on a Greyhound and wind up somewhere that I know nothing.

Jimmy wants to be a cowboy, everybody. Isn't that nice? Look at that. That's really sweet. Jimmy will put a little hat on you, put you up on a horse. That's nice. That's perfect. So this is the last week of June, he goes.

He arrives by bus in Ovando, gets off the state. I don't even know why there's a bus station there, but I guess for people fleeing the place like crazy. He hikes out of town into a mountainous area. This is it. I'm a mountain man now. He just hangs out in the mountains. Do you know what to bring?

How long are you going to be there? I can't imagine. That's dangerous out there, too. What the fuck, man? What are you thinking, bro? That's all I have to say. What are you thinking? Why?

Why? When you end up there and you look at your supplies, I don't care how prepared you were. When you get out there with all your supplies you go i wish i would have brought some other shit oh my god i could have used some other shit investigated this a little better just some redneck from north carolina that's like i'm living in the mountains now whoops a daisy fine so he hikes outside of there he camps out for a few days like his little mountain man fantasy camp and i don't know what happened if he got bored with his mountain fantasy or if he just was curious or if he decided, shit, this isn't going to work out.

I better do something different. But he eventually finds a property and wanders onto this property. It's a property of a rancher couple. It's 46-year-old Edward, or they call him Ned. We'll call him Ned the whole time, Blackwood, and his wife, 47-year-old Celine Blackwood. They live there. They're ranchers. Ned is from Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Originally, he's a former Marine. He's a Vietnam veteran. He's six three. Yeah. Boxer. And he does karate. He's like, and this guy is like, this guy is like Mr. Like, this is so funny.

It's like a seventies, eighties fantasy. This guy, because listen to what he does. He went to Stanford university and now he's an outdoorsman, Hunterman, Fisher, rancher, all this shit, right? He's a fucking man. This guy is a man's man. He's a man's man. He went to Stanford University and now he's an outdoorsman, hunterman, fisher, rancher, all this shit, right? He's a fucking man, this guy. Yeah, he's a man's man. He's a man's man. He absolutely is. He was a stock broker in California, in San Francisco

in the 70s, made a whole bunch of money, got out of Vietnam, came back, went to Stanford, became a stock broker, made a whole bunch of money, checked out of the game, and moved in 1982 to Ovando, Montana. That's the life I want. That's the life. Yeah, he pulledker, made a whole bunch of money, checked out of the game, and moved in 1982 to Ovando, Montana. That's the life I want. That's the life.

He pulled out, made a bunch of money, and said, we're out. I'm not going to drop dead. This lasts forever in this little town I found, baby. Follow me. Let's do it. I'm not going to drop dead of a heart attack when I'm 49 years old. Let's not do this. Let's go be ranchers and live a life.

This is the life of luxury. That's what he's got. He buys 400 acres out there. He definitely does. 400 acres. He's got land. He's spread out where it's safe, right? Yeah.

Yeah. Let's find out how safe it is. This is like Funny Farm, I picture. He's like Chevy Chase moving out there. He's actually a man and can do this shit. He's not trying to figure out how to deal with the mailman. When they said it was hardwood floors, they meant hardwood floors. That is the best movie.

That's my favorite line. And then when the guy goes, honey, were there any more apples left? Yeah. And she's like, nope, none. A little core sitting there. It's one of the best movies ever. It really is. Celine is originally from upstate New York.

I think they met back east and whatever. They got together young. They were together a long time. Now, Langford, this is the first week of July. He's still creeping around the property, their property. He camps on or near their property for a few days watching them. Or stalking is what I like to call it. He's stalking them.

That's where I was going with that, too. Yeah, I'd say stalking. Now you have a drifter stalking you from the woods. They could sure use a yellow dog at this point. Yes, they could use a yellow dog. This is what scares me about living in a town like this because right now I have a wall around my house, just a regular block wall like everybody has in Phoenix, and I can tell if someone is stalking me.

I can just see it. They'd be over there by the shed or they'd be over here by the front gate. There's nothing else there. With 400 acres and you've got a house with lights on at night, you're sitting on the porch talking to your wife, drinking a coffee or smoking a cigarette or whatever. Some dude can just be sitting off in the bushes. Looking at you. Whacking his fucking...

Slow tugging. That creepy slow tug. He's definitely whacking. That's what I was thinking. No doubt. That creepy slow tug is what he's doing out there. It's horrible. So one evening, he sneaks down near the house from the woods and enters the garage.

The garage is open. He sneaks in there. Langford finds a rifle in the garage. Oh, God. And he hides out there and stays in there for the night. So now he's in the garage with a rifle. We have Ned Blackwood and his wife, Celine, living a wonderful life. Think about it.

He survived war. Yeah. He came back. He made a bunch of money. This guy is doing everything right. He came back in a time when people hated our military when they came home. And he came home and he said, that's fine. I'm going to go to one of the best colleges in the country.

And then I'll go make a bunch of money. And then I'm going to go make money. And then I'm getting the hell out of here and not dealing with the rat race anymore. Get away from getting spit on. This is like defending your life, except it worked out better for defending your life, Albert Brooks. It worked. Or Lost in America, defending your life. I'm pict out better for defending your life with Albert Brooks. It worked. Lost in America, Defending Your Life. I'm picturing him

in a Munabego. Lost in America, Albert Brooks. It's what it seems like. This is such a happy ending. Go watch Lost in America with Albert Brooks. It's terrific. Anyway, yeah. And watch Defending Your Life, too. Albert Brooks and Meryl Streep. It's fantastic. Hilarious movie. Anyway, moving on. And find Funny Farm

when you're done. And find Funny Farm. Just watch all sorts of 80s movies. Just go home and watch 80s movies because that's what we know. Make a Friday out of it. Now, skip ahead. This is on like July 2nd. He's stalking. Let's skip ahead to July 5th.

Okay. Let's skip ahead to July 5th. And on July 5th, friends of the couple haven't heard from them for several days. They blew off Fourth of July plans. Nobody does that. Nobody does that. Especially not up there, especially not Ned. Ned is a solid guy. Ned says he's going to be there.

He's probably the guy with the little blowtorch lighting off the fireworks for the two kids that are there. Maybe not, because it may remind him of some shit. No, I think he's okay with it. I think he's overcome it. He's gone to counseling. You might be right. I think Ned is good.

By this time? They know that Ned is good. They know he's going to be there if he says he's going to be there. God damn it. So Powell County Sheriff Dave Collings heads to the home because he's going to check this out. That's his goddamn job. Okay.

Now let's skip that for a minute and we'll go back. Okay. That's what happens there on the 5th. Now, the day, now Ned's, let's go back to Lankford in the garage with the rifle. Okay. The next day, he's been in the garage all night. Ned enters his garage, and he finds Lankford pointing a rifle at him. Yeah, this is not great automatically.

You're just thinking, okay, this is bad. Lankford orders Ned to the ground, to lay on the ground, and makes him call for his wife, Selene. Oh, Jesus. At this point, I'm like, oh, Jesus, what's he going to do to the wife now? This is horrible. Selene enters the garage, is surprised, obviously, to see a man with a gun. I don't think they're surprised to see any man anywhere because they live on 400 acres in the middle of nowhere. How'd you get here?

Yeah, what the hell's going on here? You trekked a long way. Can I get you some water? Yeah, did you ride a mountain lion in here or something? Did you walk all the way up my driveway? What the fuck? That's far. Yeah, that's impressive.

Can I get you a drink? So Selene enters the garage and Langford orders her to the ground also. He takes his time. He doesn't know what to do here. He has them both on the ground. He hangs out for a minute trying to figure it out. After a while, Terry Langford here, he orders Selene up off the ground. He makes her tie up Ned, tie up his hands, and then orders them both into the home's living room. Hey, everybody. Just going to break away from the show for one second

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slash small. Blue Apron, a better way to cook. And now back to the show. Let's go inside. Let's not do this in the garage. Anyway, let's figure out what we're doing inside. He puts Ned in a chair and he ties him up to the chair. So he's got Ned sitting there in the chair. He has Selene lie down on her stomach on the couch. Luckily, it's not exactly what's going to happen, what you might think would happen in this situation, judging by our show and what goes on on it. He ties Selene's hands and feet together behind her back, hog ties her basically. So that's scary.

So now they're in the house. Perfect life. And now they're in the house. One's tied to a chair. One's hog tied on the couch. Prisoners in their own place. Prisoners in their own place with just a drifter who wants to be a mountain man. He's 21 years old at this point, too.

He's some kid. He was born in 67. This is 88. He's a kid, man. He's a child. He's a kid. Yeah, he's a kid. He's some jerk off from North Carolina who's like, I'm going to play mountain man. I'm going to get on a bus and. He's a kid, man. He's a child. He's a kid. Yeah, he's a kid. Some jerk off from North Carolina who's like, I'm going to play mountain man.

I'm going to get on a bus and go out there and play mountain man. And now he's doing this. Like I said, I don't know. He must have got bored in the mountains. Now, with the couple all tied up, Lankford relaxes. Cools out. Talks to them for a few hours. Wow.

Just hangs out in the living room with them. Like, small talk. Maybe he just needed a friend. Yeah, that's what I'm thinking at this point, too. He was just lonely. Maybe he's just lonely, and he thought he could have just went up and said, hi, I'm passing through, and then talked to people. I'm sure up there that's considered okay and normal. I'm sure they'd appreciate it.

They'd probably be like, come on in. They haven't seen many people in a while, either. They'd probably offer to, I don't know, water his horse or whatever they did in an old Western movie, whatever Clint Eastwood would ride up onto somebody's property. So he chats with Ned about his background. They talk about the Marines. Just chit-chat. Just, you know, do you watch Cheers this week? Wow.

Chit-chat, you know? Ridiculous. Lankford asks Ned if he has any more guns. Ned does, of course, because he lives on a ranch in the middle of nowhere and he's a former Marine, so you can bet he's got goddamn guns. Terry goes into the bedroom where Ned said they were and takes six more guns. Holy shit. Six more. There's some handguns.

There's some rifles. Mostly handguns in here. I'm kind of surprised that he wasn't carrying one, to be honest with you. Being in the mountains like that. I don't know how you would be in there with all the animals that must be up there. There's no people. You left your safe house to go to the shed. There's no people.

Carry a pistol, sir. Yeah, I would think so. Maybe that's why he was down there. Who knows? He was like, I need something. If I lived in a town like that, I might clear every room I go into. That might just be my fucking habit. Looking for bears.

You know what I mean? You got to go out to the garage. I'm going to clear the garage before I go in it. And if he did need something, he could have gone in the garage. He found a rifle. No one was there. Could have taken it. Went back in the woods.

There you go. Now you got a gun. Nobody's hurt. Everybody's fine. So anyway, Lankford hangs out for a while more. Still more chit chat. Just engaging with the couple. Crazy.

Yeah, then out of nowhere, he shoots Ned in the back of the head with one of the handguns. Oh, my God. He dies very quickly, Ned. Of course. It's a one-shot back of the head. Never saw it coming. Damn it. He was just behind him.

They were talking, and all of a sudden decided, I'm going to unload this on him. One shot. So then he moves along to Selene, who's obviously a little frightened now at this point. He shoots her in the side of the head. She does not die right away. Oh, God. She doesn't die quickly. She stays alive, gasping and choking, obviously.

So at this point, what do you do if you're a half-decent? Well, you just shot a person in the head, so you're not a half-decent human being. But even then, even if you're... Finish it. Get her out of this room. Either that or call the fucking hospital. Call and take her. Do something. That'd be nice.

Help her or do just something. Help her or help her. But no, he cuts her throat take her. That'd be nice. Help her or do something. Help her or help her. But no, he cuts her throat. That's his solution. My God. Not even another shot. That's some bloodthirsty shit. That's bloodthirsty.

Yeah, not even another shot. He said, you know what? That gunshot didn't work. I don't think I trust that now. I'm going to use my trusty knife here that he had with him. So yeah, he hangs around for a little while in the house with the bodies, just chilling, making a sandwich probably. I don't know what he's fucking doing.

Right in the fridge for sure. You know he is. That's the thing. You know he's eating their food, which pissed me off even more. Drinking right out of the orange juice container. He's such an asshole, this guy. The milk jug. You know he is.

Gross. Backwashing. He takes their money out of their wallets. He drops the rifles, takes the handguns, takes all the handguns and some other items that he finds around the house that he was fancied, apparently. He loads them all into a blue athletic bag, like a duffel bag, and he takes off. He steals their blue pickup truck and drives. And he's gone. The cops know nothing.

They have any idea. They don't know who Langford is. They've never seen him before. He came into town, went in the woods, killed them, took off. What's he doing? Now, we have a quote from Sheriff Collings on going into the house. This is, imagine being the guy finding this. Walking into that.

And they all know each other, too. Everybody knows each other here. So he says, quote, I remember thinking going through that window that this is going to be bad. Even at that point, a case like this taps out of small departments' resources. That's a pretty helpless feeling. So he's going in going, if this is bad, we can't even help. Right. We don't even know anything about it.

So that's July 5th. The sheriff, like I said, it was called because the friends said they didn't show up. Sheriff Collings finds the Blackwoods. Ned shot in the back of the head. Celine face down on the couch with her throat slit and a gunshot wound in her head. He sees their truck is missing. Yeah. So, you know, that's curious.

And it's been a couple of days since it happened. Like, I don't know if you know how fast a body decomposes. Yeah, it's bad. It's so fast. It's so fast. And when there's a wound to it, like the wound. Yeah, fester. And it opens.

Mm-hmm. No, this is. It's so terrible. He's walking in on a scene. This is a small town sheriff. Oh, my God. This is, you know, Lake Placid, David Arquette. You know what I mean?

He doesn't know. God, there's a lot of references to bad movies in this episode. Sorry, everybody. That's a bad movie. The others are good. That one sucks. That's hilarious. Anyway, we have a police spokesman sends out a statement on this, and this is how little they could tell

about this. They say, quote, ordinarily, when there's a homicide, there's some connection. The victim knew the perpetrator, or there was some reason for the perpetrator to select that victim. So our investigators were busting their humps trying to find everybody the Blackwoods had known and done business with, and it was just leading nowhere. We just weren't coming up with a path to any leads. We talked to everybody. That's all 80 of them.

Now what? So they started thinking, well, Jesus, who knows? I mean, he's from San Francisco. He's got money. Maybe he has some shady dealings. So they start suspecting it's a contract killing. How shitty is that? Yeah, that's what I mean.

They're going around going, and that's the gossip around town. Like somebody came in and did them in. I wonder what they were up to. And that's what they're all saying about these poor people. That sucks. Who wanted nothing more than to mind their own business, which is unreal. So much so they bought 400 fucking acres. That's what I mean.

The biggest piece of land they can buy. So this is how completely clueless they are to anything. A few days after the murders, a man described as a dwarf is found in nearby Fairfield and detained for questioning of the murder. A dwarf is found. They thought the dwarf killed him. So they detained a dwarf. That's how far

off they are. There's a guy, a completely different guy. They're like, what about the dwarf? He's different. Let's get him. I'm sure they talked to the six black people first in town, make sure they weren't any. That's how I feel like these cops were like, let's talk to them. We talked to everyone they know. Let's talk to the black people, and then we'll round up the dwarf, and then we'll start from scratch if that doesn't do it.

We'll round up the dwarf and have him interview his pixies. Yeah. The dwarf was released. Just doing fucking black magic to try to find. What the hell? Holy hell. The dwarf is released. That's nice of them to get rid of him.

Now, July 7th, the Blackwoods truck, the blue pickup truck, is found in Great Falls, Montana. He apparently took the couple's, Langford took the couple's truck to Great Falls and then takes a bus, because it's found near a bus station, takes a bus out of town. He stops in Louisville, Kentucky, of the bus, and takes a cab to Jeffersonville, Indiana. So somebody's on their way back east. Wait a minute. Someone decided to go back. Went to Kentucky and then went north to Indiana? Well, because there's the right around there.

And we know that he did that because that was on July 7th that that was found. We know that where he was because on July 6th, this idiot, Lankford, is in Jeffersonville, Indiana, staying at a Star Motel. He took a cab from the bus station to the Star Motel, by the way. He's staying there. He checks in under his real name because he's a complete fucking moron, obviously. Using their money. Using their money and has a bunch of their stuff. Complete idiot. Now, he's in his room.

A maid enters his room. He waits for the maid to enter the room and pulls a knife on her and tries to rob of their stuff. Complete idiot. Now, he's in his room. A maid enters his room. He waits for the maid to enter the room and pulls a knife on her and tries to rob her. Oh, my God. You checked in under your real name. You idiot. You complete idiot. They don't even know that you did it. What are you doing?

No, he's just trying to rob her. He just needs cash. So you rob a hotel maid, the people who have cash just bulging out of their pockets all the time. We all know what they make. It's ridiculous. I can see wanting a piece of that exorbitant salary. I picture him just being on like a fugitive run like they all know. And then he's just like losing his mind.

He's just got to rob everybody. He's just like, let me rob this maid. And so she screams and freaks out. So there's a scene. He takes off because it's a small motel and everyone's like, what's going on? Employees and other guests are chasing him away. She's screaming, this guy tried to rob me, blah, blah, blah. So he disappears off down the road running.

He's got no car. He took a cab there. Now, on July 27th, 20 days later, three weeks after this, police in Jeffersonville, Indiana, find a blue athletic bag. Remember that? Yeah. I remember a blue athletic bag in a wooded area near the Star Motel. There's a clue. There's a clue. Inside the

bag, they find several handguns. He didn't do anything with them, apparently. Witnesses at the hotel say they saw Langford fleeing with a blue athletic bag, so they match it to him. It's right on the way out. Police do a check on the guns, because they're handguns, and they are traced back to the Blackwoods. Wow! Yeah, not bad. Good police work,

Jeffersonville, Indiana. Good job. Or dopey criminal work. Or dopey criminal work. A little of both, though. It. Yeah, not bad. Good police work, Jeffersonville, Indiana. Good job. Or dopey criminal work. Or dopey criminal work. A little of both, though. It takes two to tango. We need an idiot for it. It definitely does. We have both here.

Now, Montana authorities are notified. Hey, we got some guns and somebody from back there. We have guns and a name, by the way. And a name. You might be interested in it, possibly. We don't know. One of the guns is found to be the murder weapon when it's tested. So they have that.

He still has that. He couldn't have ditched that in all those miles and thousands of hundreds of miles of woods between there and there. He couldn't have thrown the murder weapon out. There was at least two lakes he passed. Because he's an idiot. Oh, God. Yeah. He was driving through rural Montana in a pickup truck.

Toss it out the window. No one ever found it. So, yeah, Lankford's prints are also on the gun. Yeah. On the murder weapon. Uh-oh. Let's just keep it with you. Yeah. His prints are also found in the Blackwoods truck in Great Falls.

There's a lot of connections now. This is getting bad here. August 12th, 1988, in Raleigh, North Carolina, Langford is arrested on a warrant from Indiana for attempted robbery at the hotel. This is closing in fast. He did everything but jerk off on something. That's what I mean. He might as well have. He left every piece

of evidence possible. He might as well have jerked off right on the counter and just left it there and said here you go with one of those little evidence cards over it. Just number one. Sign his signature in it. Idiot. Yeah, exactly. Jesus Christ. You might as well have. You'd have been fine. So North Carolina authorities contact Montana

to notify them of this bullshit that's going on. Sheriff Collings and Montana Criminal Investigation Bureau agent Ward McKay both travel to North Carolina to interview Langford. He makes a complete confession after being confronted with a mountain of physical and non, you can't even argue, evidence. He waives his extradition and goes back voluntarily to Montana because now he's starting to be in the just whatever thing as we'll see here. September 1st, 1988, he's charged with two counts of deliberate homicide, two counts of aggravated kidnapping, and one count each of aggravated burglary and robbery and theft. Kind of sounds like even the charges are kind of backwoodsy or old westy. Yeah. Deliberate homicide.

They don't have first degree murder there. No. Yeah. We're like deliberate murder. Right. I saw that too. Like deliberate murder. That's just a Montana thing.

I looked it up. It's a Montana. Deliberate murder. We don't have. We don't do none of them degrees. You're meant to do it or you didn't. Did you do it deliberately? All right, then.

That's deliberate murder. It was an accident. Ran him over with the thresher. All right, then. That's deliberate murder. It was an accident. Ran him over with the thresher. All right, then. That's different. It's ridiculous. So one week later, his court-appointed attorney, C.F. McKay, not the agent, another fucking That's the best attorney name ever.

C.F. McKay. He's a, well, I don't know how great he is. He wears a bolo tie. Yeah. Oh, you know he does. You know he does. C.F. McKay. Nice to meet you.

I'm representing the criminal. I've never met a C.F. in my life. Me neither. We got to move to Montana. Never even heard of one. He has the court send Langford to the Montana State Hospital at Warm Springs for a psych evaluation because they're like, he's either crazy or too stupid to live or something, right? So Langford stays for 54 days in the facility getting looked at and looked over, making sure he's just an idiot and not crazy. He's found sane, no mental defects, besides maybe that he's an asshole, I guess, but besides that, no men stupid

and an asshole. We found him to be stupid and an asshole, but nothing else is wrong with him. I hope there's some paperwork on that. Yes, asshole written on there. So January 5th, 1989, Lankford enters a guilty plea to all charges. He asked through his attorney for proceedings to be expedited and that he be given the death penalty. He wants to

die, he says. The court decides over Lankford's objections that a pre-sentencing report be prepared just to make everything legal and nice and whatever. Lankford refuses to be interviewed for the report by the probation officer that does this. The probation officer that compiled this report said that he was trying to make himself look worse. And he's trying to do this to get retribution on his parents. What did they do to you? Where did he touch you? Where did the man touch you, Terry? Who hugged you too much or didn't hug you enough?

At this point, I don't care because two people are dead. So fuck you. I hope nobody hugged you. Ridiculous. So he said that he wanted retribution on his parents? No, that's what they took out of it. That's what they took out of it because of other things that he said during the psycho-evaluation. It's very deliberate, obviously, that his path at this point is very calculated.

It is. It's clearly pre-met. It's everything. He sat in the garage waiting for these people. He had all night to think about what he was going to do when he found them. And after that, now that he's in court, everything's very deliberate. Like the, I did it, kill me, all that shit. And it gets, he goes deliberate in other directions too here.

January 26th, 1989 is the sentencing. Lankford reiterates his wanting of death. He offers no mitigating evidence to, you know, not get the death penalty. No reason why you shouldn't kill me. They go over his criminal record, which was nonviolent and brief. That's usually a mitigator. Right. But Lankford says that he regularly used hard drugs, but he wasn't on anything during the

murder. So he's like, no excuses. I like drugs, but wasn't doing shit during the murder. I just wanted to kill somebody. I got nothing. Yep. He denies trying to get retribution on his parents. He wants death over life in prison.

That's what he says. He knows he's getting one of the two. Tells the judge that he would kill again if provoked, and he has no remorse whatsoever. Wow. So he's looking for the death penalty. Court decides on death for using the aggravators of using a firearm and the fact that he killed two people in a scheme to rob. That's aggravating factors that causes that. Court said they searched the they, quote, searched the entire record for a mitigating circumstance to sufficiently substantiate to call for leniency for this defendant. And there are no such mitigating circumstances.

He said we looked for anything that we tried. So fucking anything to just, you know, sorry, we just you're irredeemable. We apologize. Court found his chances for rehabilitation were, quote, virtually nonexistent, which I would agree. So, yeah, he is sentenced to 100 years for the other counts. And then he is sentenced to, guess what he requests as his death? Firing squad. Hanging.

What? Hanging. Judge says, you know what? You got it, pal. Really? Let's screw this fucker up. Let's do it. Get the highest tree. Let's do this shit. So let's do an old-fashioned Old West hanging. Judge says, you know what? You got it, pal. Let's screw this fucker up. Let's do it. Get the highest tree.

Let's do this shit. So let's do an old-fashioned Old West hanging. This is some Old West shit right here, goddammit. We're happy. Fuck this guy. We're doing it in town square in public. Fuck this guy. So he says he wants to die in the most painful way possible, which I would assume hanging would do it. Now, July 12th, 1989, Lankford's

appeal is filed with his attorney now stating that he's changed his mind. Yeah. Changed his mind about the death penalty, wants to pull back his pleas, just changed his mind about everything. Can we redo the whole trial? I was just doing some thinking. I don't know if they got this guy and had some antidepressants or something. He's like, whoa, whoa, whoa.

I said, what now? Jesus Christ. So August 13th, 89, Lankford fires C.F. McKay. He says, get that bolo tie out of here. And he hires Michael Donahue Or doesn't hire him He's subbed in as the public defender This guy's a destitute piece of shit

That's where somebody gets the tag That's it So October 12th, 89 Montana Supreme Court sends the case back to the district court Allowing Langford to file a motion to withdraw his guilty pleas Claiming ineffective assistance of counsel And several other things That's why he fired the guy.

You can't say your counsel sucked and then still have him. You have to fire him first. Yeah. So July 16th, 1990, back in district court where they just sent it, Judge Ted Minzer decides the motion to withdraw, denies the motion to withdraw the pleas and his motion stating that the hanging is, because he was trying to also say that the hanging is an unconstitutional method. Cruel and unusual. Cruel and unusual.

Cruel and unusual. He said, well, you asked for it. So it doesn't really matter what they do. So it's legal. And you asked. Yep. June 4th, 1991, Montana Supreme Court denies his appeal and affirms Jug Minzer's ruling. They're just like, fuck you, dude.

Fuck you. Fall 91. This is interesting. He's in prison while incarcerated at the deer lodge montana state prison there's a huge riot okay and it's a riot man this is crazy shit uh he's awaiting the appeals process at this point riots huge prisoners took over the entire maximum security building awesome in the northeastern part of the prison which is nuts i mean i don't want guards ever to get hurt no no no yes seeing those videos bro i'm like yes keep going fellas they got into

protective custody and killed five of the prisoners that were in there. So, yeah, they used this as a way to get back some grudges. Eventually armed officers with tear gas retake the building. Thank God. Officers were found to use excessive force in the hours after the riot. Good. Normally. Who cares?

Yeah. It changed actually how Montana prisons operated because they said the causes of it were a lot of they weren't very good with security. They were just letting in weapons and shit like that. And a lot of the people – a lot of the employees were also on the payroll for people bringing stuff in and getting money and things like that. State ended up spending $2.4 million defending its employees in this lawsuit. So that's a lot for Montana, I would think. Not a lot of people there.

Lankford was charged with one count of deliberate murder because he's one of the people who killed one of those five goddamn guys. Are you serious? He's one of the murderers. And he got another deliberate murder? Deliberate. You meant to do it, you asshole. And one count of burglary.

Wow. What are you taking? Noodles? Yeah. He took some ramen off his fucking cot? What are you taking from this guy? So yeah, we both said that. What are you taking?

Unbelievable. Yeah, burglary and deliberate murder. So he's going, he's charged with that. He stole a book. He stole a copy of Funny Farm. Yeah, there it is. Funny Farm. Your VHS of Funny Farm is mine now.

Lankford appeals in February 92, appeals the denial of his appeal. So now we're getting in the deep, getting in the deep here. July 9th, 92, Montana Supreme Court affirms Judge Minzer's earlier ruling, stating that the ruling on the hanging was moot because Lankford selected that method himself. So fuck you. It's your pick. String them up. You had multiple choice.

You picked the one. You picked the bad one. Sorry. Wrong choice, asshole. You picked all of the above, basically. You just picked whatever. You weren't very smart about that, were you? No, you did the abacadabra.

Bad choice. December 4th, 1992, Lankford is convicted of deliberate murder and burglary of the prisoner. I love that charge so much. I do, too. Deliberate murder. That's so good. Everything should be deliberate. Deliberate robbery, deliberate jaywalking.

I want deliberate everything. I'm done with degrees also. I don't want any more of them. Was it deliberate or was it an accident? Now we're asking you. Right. Deliberate? All right, then.

We're going to hang you. He's charged with accidental murder. Hang him in the square. He's charged with deliberate. That's amazing. He's given 20 years for the burglary and life for murder, for the murder of the prisoner, and he is declared ineligible for parole. Fantastic.

Just in case the hanging doesn't do it, he can't leave anyway. In case it doesn't happen. So 1997, after years of appealing on the grounds that the hanging is unconstitutional that's his big deal yeah that's what he's taken to the supreme court of the u.s that's what he wants to do the montana state legislature eliminates hanging as a method of execution damn it so that means his appeals are completely fucked because that's he has he doesn't say the court wronged him right he doesn't say that anything else all he says is you can't hang me you can't hang me and they went we're not going to hang you anyway. So he's like, well, shit.

What do we do now? Now what do we do? Yeah, so he's totally fucked him, basically. Now they use lethal injection. Now, December 29th, 97, a motion is filed for a stay of execution because he's supposed to be executed in February of 98. We are two months away from his execution date. A motion is filed for a stay of execution because his testimony is needed in court cases where the inmates are suing the prison for the riot shit.

Oh, my God. They're like, we can't kill him. He's subpoenaed. We need him. We need him. Yeah, they say January. Lucky bastard. No, not quite.

That riot is the best thing he did. Well, let's see. January 14th, 1998, judge denies motion for stay. They go, you can find that information from other people. We're going to kill this asshole. There was plenty of people there, the yacht witnesses. We're going to kill this asshole. There was plenty of people there, the yacht witnesses. We're going to kill this dickhead right now. January 22, 1998, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals refuses to hear his case, and that's like your last step before the Supreme Court.

They said, we don't even want to hear your bullshit, mister. February 12, 1998, Lankford files a writ with the U.S. Supreme Court to hear his case because he says the 1997 hanging ruling by the legislature eliminates his avenue for appeals and they need to help him. The Supreme Court denies his bullshit and says, you got two weeks less than that. You're going to die on February 24th, 1998, mister. So a week before the execution, he starts telling his aunt, Brenda Prangley, who came up from Atlanta to witness the execution, started telling her again that he wants to hang. He doesn't know why they're not hanging him because he felt like his quote, his crime was so vicious that he wanted to be put out in the same manner that he that he that he put other people. And he did not want to go out easy. You're getting a shot.

That's I mean, you're just getting a shot. Pretend it's worse. I don't know what to tell you. Pretend it's worse. That's, I mean, you're just getting a shot. Pretend it's worse. I don't know. I don't know what to tell you. Pretend it's worse. That's hysterical. He told her, quote, every day I lay my head down on my pillow, I ask myself, what happened? No shit. What the fuck happening, you idiot?

So February 23rd. Use your imagination. That's hilarious. Use your imagination. Pretend it's worse. Pretend it's a dick going in your arm or something. I don't know. Whatever you've got to do.

So February 23rd, 1998. He has his last meal. Oh, these I love. Last meal. I know I do too. It's so fun. Has a fried chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy, and a banana split. That's kind of a weak one. That's kind of a weak one. He refused a drink. What kind of a psychopath? Really? That's how I know

he's crazy. I don't give a shit who he killed, what he did. He refuses a drink. What kind of sick fucking maniac does that? You're eating chicken. What if it's overcooked? You're screwed. You need water at minimum. But he was given coffee and milk in accordance with the Montana State Prison Inmate Meal Policy.

So, you know, that happens. So on midnight, February 24th, 1998, Terry was— That guarantees real quick that he's going to be so alert now. They gave him coffee. I don't know if he drank it or not, but he's going to have the, you know, the itis from the fried chicken, I feel. He's going to need to shit. Oh, yeah.

So February 24th, 1998, at midnight, Terry is asked if he has any last words. He simply replies, no. And they inject him. He is pronounced dead at 12.07 a.m. on February 24th, 1998. He is pronounced dead at 12.07 a.m. on February 24th, 1998. And if you're curious, the Nez Perce Indians are now down to 3,500 of them left in the United States from that area also. I'm kind of bummed about that. Yes.

The town found out about this. They felt horrible about thinking that they got hit men put on them. And that's Ovando, Montana. What a terrible, terrible, terrible story. It's a terrible story. Isn't it awful? Because it's just so random. Yeah. You live the dream. What a terrible story. Terrible, terrible story. It's a terrible story. It is. Isn't it awful? Because it's just so random.

You live the dream. You go out there. It's you and the American people. That's kind of an American thing. Like, we'll get out in the wide open space and have all our own land and do all of this. And then some guy can just wander on your property and kill you. Slow stroke and stare at you and then come get you. And then come get you after a gross slow stroke and in the woods.

So, guys, that is Ovando, Montana. That's Terry Langford. That's the poor Blackwoods, old Ned and Celine. Sorry, Ned and Celine. That's a rough way to go out. Rest easy, kids. They got him finally. And, yeah, there you go.

Now Ned can kick his ass if there's an afterlife. There you go. He kicked this guy's ass. Fingers crossed. Yeah, fingers crossed. Now, if you like that, you can definitely get on iTunes. You can give us five stars. Like we said, that would help us so, so much on the business end. Also, too, like we also said, patreon.com slash crimeandsports if you really want to show your love with a donation.

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It's been fun. Watching us climb the charts and stay on the charts for now 13 weeks. It's been seriously incredible. You guys are doing it for us. Thank you so, so much. You're warming a couple of shithead comics' hearts, which is impossible to do.

We are horrible, cynical, awful people and we are, honestly, our whole outlook on the world has changed by how kind people have been cold black hearts and mine at this moment a little bit of a gray little pink in there a little pink in gray you know a little gray oh that's nice you're getting there also too for the people who just don't get it and think that we're assholes for for doing this and call us names and say that we're horrible people that are they've done it and i'm fine with it go fuck yourself because we don't

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Thank you. Eat lots of dicks. Honestly, guys. From the bottom of my heart, eat 12 dicks. Just 12 of them. Make it a nice meal. Besides that, you want to give them your social media, Jimmy? At Wisman Sucks.

W-H-I-S-M-A-N Sucks on Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. Interact and involve yourself. It's been seriously so fun. Definitely, definitely. And I am at Jimmy P is funny or you can get crazy, try to spell my last name or just do the easy thing, copy and paste it from the show description. You can friend me and say hello. But besides that, thank you so much for joining us and we'll see you next week, guys. It's been our pleasure. Bye. Hey, Prime members, you can listen to Small Town Murder early and ad-free on Amazon Music.

Download the Amazon Music app today. Or you can listen early and ad-free with Wondery Plus and Apple Podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at wondery.com slash survey. I understand that anybody who's paid attention to the media would have to come to the conclusion that I killed my wife. Hi, my name is Zach Stewart Pontier. I'm one of the filmmakers behind

The Jinx, and I'm excited to bring you the official Jinx podcast. We'll be revisiting all six episodes of part one and watching along with part two as it airs on Max starting April 21st. Bye bye. The official jinx podcast.

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