Cold Case Files - REOPENED: The Taunt

Episode Date: January 30, 2025

A serial rapist seals his own fate when he sends a taunting letter to police... Hers: Start your initial free online visit at forhers.com/coldcase for your personalized weight loss treatment options. 

In America, one out of every six women have been the victim of rape, and there's a sexual assault every 73 seconds. But the trauma lasts much longer than the event itself. 94% of rape survivors develop PTSD symptoms. For many survivors, the relief that comes from a conviction is just the knowledge that the attacker can't strike again. That knowledge is powerful, but as far as the impact on the victim is concerned, a guilty verdict doesn't undo the past. In this case, the victim lived in fear for over 10 years

that her rapist might return. From A&E, this is Cold Case Files. I'm Brooke, and here's the dignified Bill Curtis with the classic case, The Taunt. The Taunt. I think my brain literally just stopped for a second. You know, I didn't feel anything. I felt numbness. Twenty-year-old Kara Ash awakens to a nightmare. There is a man in her bedroom.

I saw him for a split second, and he turned me around and blindfolded me with a bandana. He just said, do everything I say. He kept telling me, don't look at me. Do exactly as I say, don't say anything and I won't hurt you. I just was just like, God, please just save me. You know, I don't know what's going to happen here, but don't let him kill me. I'm not ready to go yet. The man rapes Kira and leaves her with a set of instructions.

He told me to lie down, as I was already on my knees, told me to lie down face down, not to look to the left or to the right, and to count to 50. Kira Ash does as she is told. Eventually police are contacted. A rape kit is taken but no seaman is recovered and the case goes cold. Meanwhile a rape victim moves on but never entirely passed the moments that changed her life forever. Even another rape victim can't understand what you've been through. They have their own story. And no one can understand the emotions that you feel.

God had helped me erase that almost from my memory. Not erase it from my memory, but erase it from my heart. Somebody jumped on top of me and said, don't you know when somebody's robbing you, you pretend like you're asleep. Four days before she is to be married, Lisa Meredith finds herself alone with a man intent on raping her. He immediately put a pillowcase over my head, and so I didn't see anything. When he pulled me over to the side of the bed,

and he asked me to take my clothes off, I knew then that's when I started really getting scared, and I knew what was going to happen. Lisa is sexually assaulted, then told to count to happen. Lisa is sexually assaulted, then told to count to 200. Before he left he tied me up with Michael's ties and tied me up on the bed. Michael is Michael Burns, Lisa's fiance. The night it happened we had had an argument and I left the apartment. So, you know, it was my fault because I wasn't there. If I wouldn't have gone out, the door might not have been

unlocked, you know. So I felt guilty. I would try and tell him, you know, if he was there, it could have gotten a lot worse. You know, he could have even killed him or they got in a scuffle. Louisville police begin investigating Lisa's rape, but find more questions than answers. At the time, working these types of cases, we were a little skeptical of whether this actually occurred. Lisa cannot provide a description of her attacker, and there is no sign of forced entry or semen from Lisa's rape kit. We really didn't have a whole lot to go on looking back on the domestic dispute and the things that occurred prior to. We kind of had a little question. They more or less thought it was just a lover's quarrel and she was trying to get back at me. They asked me to take a lie detector test and I said, yes, I'll do whatever.

You know, just please, somebody believe me. Lisa passes the polygraph, but the investigation takes its toll on the young couple and casts a shadow over what should have been the happiest day of their lives. over what should have been the happiest day of their lives. Up to one point we had decided to postpone the wedding and we decided, you know what, we're not going to let him take this away from us. With love, I, Lisa, this ring. Give you, Michael, this ring. It was hard trying to keep a smile on, you know, for a couple hours during the wedding and so on. But it turned out to be the best day of our lives.

Michael and Lisa Burns go on with their lives. on with their lives. Lisa's case, however, joins the rape of Kira Ash in the Cold Files, where both will sit for six more years. Are you tired of feeling overwhelmed by weight loss? Weight Loss by Hers is here to help in 2025. Imagine starting the new year in control of your weight, potentially losing up to an average of 9 pounds in your first month with their personalized compounded GLP-1 treatment plans. HRS is revolutionizing women's health care by offering affordable weight loss treatment plans delivered right

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slash cold case. That's forhers.com slash cold case for your personalized weight loss treatment options forhers.com slash cold case. Hers weight loss is not available everywhere. Compounded products are not FDA approved or verified for safety effectiveness or quality. Prescription required restrictions apply. Wigovia and dozembeck are not compounded. verified for safety, effectiveness, or quality. Prescription required, restrictions apply. While Govee and Dozempek are not compounded, actual price depends on product and plan purchased. Two young women were raped in their own homes, in their own beds, but the attacker's DNA wasn't present in either case. Kira Asch's case went unsolved, allowing the perpetrator to attack Lisa Meredith a few months later, four days before

her wedding. Because Lisa and her fiance had an argument before she was attacked, the police became skeptical. They even made her take a polygraph before they would investigate. Because of the lack of physical evidence and the skepticism by law enforcement, Lisa and Kira's cases went cold, and neither woman would feel safe again for years to come. It was the summer of 2001 when I received a call. Lieutenant Joe Richardson is head of sex crimes at the Louisville Metro Police Department when he answers the phone and finds Michael Burns on the other end. I explained my situation, asked him, you know, I told my wife, told him that my wife was raped

six years ago, seven years ago, and nothing's ever happened and I want to know what's going on. I put myself in Mr. Burns' shoes. If I'd had an argument with my wife or my fiancé and I had left the apartment and then this happened to my wife or my fiancé at the time, I would have felt guilty. So that gave me a little bit more of a motivation to help Mr. Burns out. Richardson pulls the file. Initially it doesn't look too, until he happens upon a few sheets of paper. These three sheets were in the back of that case file, and that's what got the ball rolling in this particular investigation. The paperwork is part of a 1996 interview

between a career burglar named John Boston and Louisville detective Mike Loren. He took us to locations throughout the Louisville area where he and others had committed different type of crimes, burglaries, and I think there were some robberies involved. One location in particular interests Loren. It is the former residence of rape victim Lisa Burns. We are at 331 East Market Street. What's the significance of this location, John? Mr. Boston had claimed that another individual had gone into an apartment there, and when he came back out, Mr. Boston asked him, his accomplice, what had happened. He was talking about a sexual assault that had happened, or a possible sexual assault that had happened.

He said he had tied the woman up and left her off the side and the next day when I was reading the newspaper it said the woman had been sexual assaulted. Something about this one I just had the feeling that it wasn't the person that he was trying to claim did it. I thought that he might have been involved in it. Loran had passed the lead on in 1996, but it was never followed up. Lieutenant Richardson intends to correct that oversight.

The first thing I did was to check the arrest records over at Corrections to see if this accomplice, the person that Boston said performed the burglary, was in custody. And sure enough he was in custody on the state. So that tells me he didn't do the offense. The man John Boston claims admitted raping Lisa Burns was in jail at the time the rape was committed. John Boston himself, however, was not. How long ago was this? It was about probably six or seven months ago. Richardson digs deeper into the old interviews with John Boston and finds the burglar led police to a second house where a rape had occurred.

1250 Isle, one front of 426 West Hill Street, correction 424 West Hill Street. I recognize that that address is where we've had a sexual assault back in 95. It's the attack on Kira Ash, one that bears some striking similarities to Lisa Burns' assault. And the MO was the same. He, in the middle of the night, broke in, covered her head up, raped her, threatened her, and then looked for something, some articles to steal.

Richardson eventually locates another assault, to steal. Richardson eventually locates another assault, a rape from 1994 that carries an identical MO. I said, bingo, this is a third case. Unlike the first two, this last attack has semen evidence. Now the hunt is on to find John Boston and get his DNA. This evidence contains the letter that John Boston sent the police department. That is, until the suspect licks an envelope and unwittingly seals the case against him. It's unusual for somebody to try to taunt the police, show that they're leaving the country, to quit looking for me. He just made one mistake, and that was the fatal mistake. He sent me his DNA. Letter said, Dear Officer, this is John T. Boston.

I have not been in Louisville, Kentucky for the last week and a half. On March 4, 2002, Lieutenant Joe Richardson receives a taunting letter in the mail from a man he suspects in three unsolved rapes. By the time you receive this letter and pictures, I will be out of the U.S. I am and will not be coming back to Louisville, Kentucky for anything whatsoever. And then he puts a thumbprint at the bottom of his name. Very, very arrogant person. John Boston has gotten wind that he is a wanted man

and can't resist playing a game of catch me if you can with Lieutenant Richardson. Also inside were photos. These photos showed John Boston and his girlfriend at the time at a bridge to Canada, US customs, inside a store apparently trying on a winter coat, and standing next to a police car which put the icing on the cake. Little does John Boston know his postcard to Richardson might very well be his undoing. One of the three rapes we had DNA in, so I needed to locate him and obtain a sample of his DNA to compare it to the 94 case. Of course, Boston made my job easier. The envelope John Boston presumably licked is sent to the Kentucky State Crime Lab in

the hope that a DNA profile might be developed. Meantime, the suspect can't help himself and contacts Richardson again. Richardson? Yes, I's Tom Voelk. I'm thinking that one of the reasons he's calling me is to pick my brain so I could share information on what I have on him, which I didn't do at the time. I just tried to play it cool calm and asked him when he was going to turn himself in or if he was. When are you going to turn yourself in? I ain't even talking about turning myself in. I'm no working in Kentucky. I just let him kind of ramble on.

I did compliment him. I told him that the photos he sent to the department, I kind of liked them. They were kind of neat. Hey, I kind of like those photos you sent us. They were pretty good. It was just a huge ego on his part to call me up, knowing that I'm looking for him and that I couldn't get him at that time.

I will call you back later. Okay, John. But I was confident he was the suspect. He was responsible for those three crimes, and I would eventually get the DNA. This actually is an item of evidence that was received in the John Boston case. On April 8, 2002, DNA analyst Sandra Hill pulls out the envelope mailed by John Boston

and gets to work. I made a cutting, three actual cuttings from the seal of this envelope looking for the presence of saliva and the DNA that's in that saliva to develop a profile. A male DNA profile is developed off the envelope. Hey moms, have you ever felt like there's more to motherhood than what we're told? Then you need to check out our podcast, Moms Ask Why. Hosted by Chelsea Jules and Brittany Whitney podcast Moms Ask Why. Hosted by Chelsea Jules and Brittany Whitney, Moms Ask Why dives deep into the tough questions surrounding motherhood. Our mission to

educate, inspire and empower moms like you to take charge of your children's health. With real talk, expert insight and actionable advice, this is the podcast every mom needs in her playlist. Because sometimes the best way to be a great mom is to ask why. Follow Ray Interview Moms Ask Why now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your podcasts. In 1996, the original investigators failed to follow up on a statement made by a possible witness.

The cold case detectives in 2001 were able to use that information to identify a suspect and an additional victim with DNA evidence. The rapist sent taunting letters to the investigator and even signed it with his thumbprint. However clever he thought himself to be, the rapist made a mistake. He left DNA on the seal when he licked the envelope. Seven years after the first victim was raped, the investigators had DNA from both a victim and their suspect. DNA analyst Sandra Hill was the one to compare the profiles. At that point, the DNA profile was compared to the combined DNA indexing system database and was found to match one and solve rape case.

It's one of the three rapes Richardson suspects John Boston of committing and the only one with DNA evidence. Richardson calls in the FBI and begins tracking his suspect. Through investigations and several court orders, I found the phone number of a cell phone that was used by his girlfriend. The FBI's cooperation, they could use the cell phone tracking technology. John Boston's cell phone was last used in Texas, somewhere in Dallas. FBI agent Walter Huey gets the call out and tracks the phone hit to a local motel. We're at the Lamplighter Motel. It's the edge of Dallas and Mesquite.

I came to this motel and drove through at the time and saw a van that sort of stood out to me. The van had Texas license plates that was wired on, it wasn't screwed on, but there was emblems or decals on the van that made it indicate that it was possibly from Kentucky. Huey walks into the motel and inquires about the van's owner. As I was talking to the clerk, I showed her a picture that we had of John Boston. At that point, the door opens and I do not turn around. As I look to my left, John Boston, who I believe to be John Boston, walks up to the counter standing next to me.

John Boston is arrested and extradited back to Kentucky for a sit down with some people he thought he could outrun, Louisville's cold case detectives. John Thomas Boston, which I've known since he's 13 years old or 14, he's got a huge ego and that ego is his vulnerability. On May 10, 2002, Captain Steve Thompson and Lieutenant Joe Richardson sit down with Boston and let their suspect do what he does best, talk. If he saw anything, he would have just wanted to stay out of that thing.

If we started out and he clammed up, we might not get anything out of him. So we had to, the strategy was to let him feel comfortable, start letting the ego get the better of him, to start opening up and talking. I got to go back and face what I got to face. And I know what I got to face. As long as he thinks he's in control, his ego, that he's smarter than we are, he'll keep talking. John Boston quickly lets investigators know he knows what they really want to talk about.

They talked about three rape cases, something about one on Maupie Street, one on Beard Street, and they said something about one on Markey Street, one on New York Street, and he said something about one on Cherokee Street. He obviously interrogated some previous law enforcement officer in Texas to find out what the game plan was with us on what he was really facing. He said, they got my DNA from the envelopes that I sent them and it connected me to three rates. The envelopes you sent out? Yeah.

I can tell you from knowing John Thomas Boston that he probably was trying to educate himself as rapidly as possible about everything DNA is about. All right, one more question. Is the fruit the best? I'll get the fruit the best. You gonna pay the life of me? Despite the DNA link, Boston refuses to fold. He is arraigned on three counts of forcible rape and a trial date is set. I'm most confident that after you hear, you'll be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt. The man who raped, robbed, and burgled these three women, is that man seated right there.

On March 2nd, 2004, Assistant Commonwealth Attorney Tom Vande Rustyne lays out his case against John Boston, starting with the 1994 rape, the only one with DNA evidence. We thought if we could convince the jury beyond a reasonable doubt of that first case, the similarities of that case with the other two cases would lead them to convict him on those other two cases would lead them to convict him on those other two cases. Critical to the case is the testimony of the rape victims. Each takes the stand and relives the day she was blindfolded, then raped. Today the defendant is in the courtroom. Is that man who raped you that night in the courtroom today?

Yes, it is. Point at him. When I saw him, I felt pity for him, you know. I didn't feel scared of him. I looked at him dead in the eye, and you know, I just said, just look at him like, you did this. Why did you do this? What's wrong with you?

You know? And I just felt pity on the man. I was not going to let him intimidate me. I really had to dig up because I had put so much, I tried to put so much behind me. Once I did, it just started coming out. For eight years, my most vivid memory has been of that night, not my wedding. And I feel like I've cheated my husband from that. When it's time for John Boston to take the stand, suddenly he's a man of few words. Did you write b****?

No, I didn't. Did you write Kara Ash? No, I didn't. Did you write Blasey Meredith? No, I didn't. Did you write Kara Ash? No, I didn't. Did you write Blasey Meredith? No, I didn't. The jury doesn't buy it and finds John Boston guilty on all counts. He gets 420 years. Stand beside a police car. It looks like a Detroit police car, but that really got me a goat.

According to the Kentucky cop who put John Boston behind bars, Ego got the better of his one-time pen pal and ultimately put John Boston where he is today. He was throwing it in our face. We couldn't catch him. So he had to pose beside a police car, like he can get away and we can't catch him. So that was putting salt in the wound. But it didn't stop us. It made us more determined.

It backfired. Kira Ash's verdict has since been overturned. The Kentucky Supreme Court found statements Boston made in 1996 inadmissible in her case. Kira doesn't want John Boston retried. Instead, she looks to a higher power. I hope that he finds the Lord and that he will ask for forgiveness and that he'll repent of everything he's done, not just what happened to me or the other girls, but who knows how many other bad things he's done, not just what happened to me or the other girls, but who knows how many other bad things he's done.

For Lisa and Michael Burns, the conviction puts an end to the nightmare and helps to heal a marriage that has already survived so much. I love this dress. You look beautiful in it. When you've been through as much as we've been through You know to let you know everyday things like most people get divorces over you know is nothing to us We laugh about you know we've been through way too much And you know we have our faith in each other and trust and our faith in God, and that's what's gotten us through More today than 11 years ago

more today than I did 11 years ago. Did I? Three hours after John Boston was sentenced, he placed a phone call to Lisa's parents. He then proceeded to identify and recite Michael and Lisa's social security numbers in an attempt to continue to intimidate the victim. I found a court opinion from the Supreme Court of Kentucky responding to an appeal by John Boston. In his appeal, Boston argued that the three convictions against him for the crimes against

Kira Ash should be vacated. Those crimes were rape, robbery, and persistent felonies. This gets a little tricky, but stick with me. Boston said that the tape of his ride around with the police didn't pass the evidentiary standard for the rape trial. On the tape, Boston had said that he had burglarized Kira's apartment twice, but not that he had raped or robbed her. Kira hadn't identified him until eight years later.

And then she only said she was 75% sure that John Boston was the man that had raped her. The prosecution then used the tape of the ride along to make up for the weak identification. He then argued that because the state hadn't presented any evidence beyond the tape that should have been excluded that he was the rapist, it also meant that they hadn't proven he was the rapist, it also meant that they hadn't proven he was the robber. It also meant that the persistent felony charge couldn't be applied to this case. The court vacated the three convictions related to Kira Ash and remanded his case to the county court to be tried again. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any more information on what happened in regard to Kira's case.

I do know that John Boston is now 56 years old and still incarcerated in the state of Kentucky. In 2016, he was denied the opportunity to a parole hearing and suspended from another parole hearing until 2026. In his offender profile, it states that with good behavior, it's likely that John Boston will be released in August of 2254. That sentence doesn't change anything that happened to John Boston's victims, but I hope the knowledge that Boston will live out the rest of his days behind bars at least helps

him sleep a little better at night. Cold Case Files, the podcast is hosted by Brooke Giddings, produced by McKamey Lynn and Steve Delamater. Our associate producer is Julie McGruder. Our executive producer is Ted Butler. Our music was created by Blake Maples. This podcast is distributed by Podcast One. The Cold Case Files TV series was produced by Curtis Productions and is hosted by Bill

Curtis. You can find me, at Brooke Giddings on Twitter and at Brooke the podcaster on Instagram. I'm also active in the Facebook group, Podcast for Justice. Check out more Cold Case Files at aetv.com or learn more about cases like this one by visiting the A&E Real Crime blog at aetv.com slash real crime. to solve a little crime before bedtime with NCIS or Tracker. Or curl up with a surefire hit like Forrest Gump. Run, Forrest! Pluto TV has thousands of movies and shows all for free.