Candyman: The True Story Behind The Bathroom Mirror Murder - The Strange Death of Ruthie Mae McCoy

Episode Date: September 18, 2024

52-year-old Ruthie Mae McCoy’s frantic 911 call stated, “They want to come through the bathroom.” Nearly three days later, police found her shot to death, her apartment breached through her bathroom medicine cabinet. In Candyman: The True Story Behind the Bathroom Mirror Murder, Chicago native and journalist Dometi Pongo uncovers the terrifying reality of McCoy’s murder, which was one of the inspirations for the “Candyman” horror franchise.Get early, ad-free access to episodes of Candyman: The True Story Behind the Bathroom Mirror Murder by subscribing to 48 Hours+ on Apple Podcasts or Wondery+ on the Wondery app.Subscribe to 48 Hours+: https://apple.co/4aEgENoSubscribe to Wondery+: https://wondery.com/plus/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

As a kid growing up in Chicago, there was one horror movie I was too scared to watch. It was called Candyman. The scary cult classic was set in the Chicago housing project. It was about this supernatural killer who would attack his victims if they said his name five times into a bathroom mirror. Candyman. Candyman? Candyman. Candyman? Candyman. Candyman. Now, we all know chanting a name won't make a killer magically appear.

But did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? Ruthie Mae, according to the medical examiner, had been shot four times. Before she was gunned down in her apartment, Ruthie Mae McCoy, a 52-year-old grandmother, tried to get help. But what she told 911 sounded almost unbelievable. She said the intruders were coming through her bathroom mirror. I was struck by both how spooky it was, but also how outrageous it was. This was in 1987, and she lived on the 11th floor of a Chicago project building.

When police came, they knocked on her door and called out to her, got no answer. So after about a half hour, they just left. I'm Dometi Pongo. And from 48 Hours, this is Candyman. The true story behind the bathroom mirror murder. We're going to talk to the people

who were there. I'm the one that got them to open the door. And we're also going to uncover the larger story. My architect was shocked when he saw how this was created. Literally shocked. Plus, I'll ask the writer and director of Candyman about how a short story is officially credited as the movie's inspiration, when many of the details actually came from a real-life murder. You take things from the world around you and put them into new forms. That's really what fiction is.

And we'll look at what the story tells us about injustice in America. If you really believed in tough on crime, then you wouldn't make it easy to crawl into medicine cabinets and kill our women. From 48 hours, you can find Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, wherever you get your podcasts.