Cold Case Files - The Lady Killer

Episode Date: September 24, 2024

Two decades after Ruth Masters was brutally murdered while out for a bike ride, the testimony of three prison inmates helps convict the man who did it. Quince: Go to Quince.com/coldcase for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns Rosetta Stone - Cold Case Files listeners can get Rosetta Stone’s lifetime membership for 50% off when you go to RosettaStone.com/coldcase 

Hi, Cold Case listeners. I'm Marissa Pinson. And if you're enjoying this show, I just want to remind you that episodes of Cold Case Files, as well as the A&E Classic Podcast, I Survived, American Justice, and City Confidential are all available ad-free on the new A&E Crime and Investigation channel on Apple Podcasts and Apple Plus for just $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year. And now onto the show. This program contains subject matter that may be disturbing to some listeners. Listener discretion is advised. From A&E, this is Cold Case Files, the podcast. On May 14th, 1977, in Miles Standish State Park near Plymouth, Massachusetts, at a little after 1 p.m., Ruth Masters leaves her young family, hops on her bike, and starts down a path leading into the woods. As she rounds a bend, the air grows still, and she hears a slight rustle in the trees. A man emerges from the tree line with a.22 rifle in his hands. He cracks the butt of the weapon across Ruth Master's skull

and drags her limp body back into the woods. Two hours later, Ruth's husband Wayne and her daughter Pam, then nine years old, begin to worry. I remember a lot of the stuff that we did when dad started to think that it was too late, that she hadn't come back yet. And I remember riding the bike path up and back. I remember driving around in the car with him looking for her. As night falls, Ruth Masters is still missing, and law enforcement prepares to search the park beginning the next morning at sunup. Over 100 people w weighed into more than 25 square miles

of forest and fields and worked their way through the underbrush. Less than 150 feet off one bike path, they find Ruth Masters lying on her back, her skull crushed and body mutilated. George Madsen and Warren Atino are Plymouth detectives and members of the search team. She was crushed on the side of her head.

It was just a lot of, you know, very physical things that had been done to her body. She was pretty well carved from her anal area all the way up to her throat. Police emerged from the woods to find Pam Masters waiting with other family members for news about her mother. It is left to Pam's father to explain that her mom is gone. I remember my father telling me that they had found mom, but that she was dead and that everybody started crying and, you know, everybody was very upset. And so I knew it was bad,

and I knew something terribly wrong had happened, but I didn't know what. Back in the woods, police processed the scene for evidence. They find the victim's jacket apparently ripped from her body during the attack and a magazine clip from a.22 rifle. Master's body is removed from the park and autopsied. Despite the mutilation done to the body, no evidence of semen is found. X-rays, however, reveal a further piece of evidence lodged in the victim's chest. And in the x-rays, it showed that there was a piece of a metal object in her chest. When the autopsy was done, this piece of metal was taken out and it was a piece of a knife. The small piece of metal bears the letters EKCO that is traced to a Chicago-based company that

manufactures kitchen knives, thousands of them every year. The knife will be no help in tracking Ruth Masters' killer. Likewise, the.22 clip found at the scene yields no prints and is impossible to trace to any particular gun shop or owner. With their physical evidence offering no obvious leads, detectives turned to their next best source of information, people. We worked back trying to find out all the people that were in that reservation during that day, and then we started to work talking to people and finding out if anybody had seen her or if they'd seen anything related to the crime scene. One of the few potential leads comes from a park ranger who remembers seeing a blue car

parked in the area around the time of Master's attack. He saw a blue motor vehicle with black roof racks packed on the side. And many days and weeks we spent driving around through the reservation looking for any vehicle like that. Months after Ruth Masters was murdered, the car remains a mystery, and Plymouth detectives have no leads or suspects in the case. Life at Miles Standish Park returns to normal, or at least it appears so. Underneath, however, runs a constant current of apprehension. Who killed Ruth Masters, and would they try again? Five months after the Miles Standish murder, a call comes into the Plymouth PD. A female

hitchhiker has just had a close call with a man wielding a knife. George Madsen takes the victim's statement. The subject that picked her up and drove her turned heading towards our power station, where he pulled her to the side and then tied the woman up. And he continued to drive on and he went up into the Kingston area, where she jumped out of the motor vehicle. Laura Lee Clark gives Madsen a description of her attacker and the car he was driving, a blue compact. The car clicks with Madsen as a possible connection to Ruth Masters' murder. The following morning, a second call comes into the station. A police officer in the nearby town of Wareham has heard about the hitchhiker and wants to share some information about a man who has been harassing women over the past few days and driving a blue Chevy Nova.

The woman who was working at a gas station across the street had called and complained about this guy who was sitting there watching her all the time. So he got the plate number from the motor vehicle, got who was driving the motor vehicle, got a copy of his license and so forth. The plates check out to a man named Eric Anderson, a man who harasses women at knife point and just might be a killer. Have you ever dreamed of watching your favorite foreign film without subtitles? Amelie is my favorite. Or maybe you're planning that dream trip to Paris and want to order your croissants like a local. Well, I've got great news for you. Rosetta Stone is the most trusted language learning program available on desktop or as an app that truly immerses you in the language you

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Stone is so convenient, you can learn anytime and anywhere with the mobile app or on your desktop. And right now, Cold Case Files listeners can get Rosetta Stone's lifetime membership for 50% off. Visit rosettastone.com slash coldcase. That's 50% off unlimited access to 25 language courses for the rest of your life. Redeem your 50% off at rosettastone.com slash coldcasetoday. On October 1st, a 20-year-old named Laura Lee Clark hitches a ride near Cape Cod's Bourne Bridge, heading west towards Boston. A few miles into the ride,

the driver pulls off the road and attacks Clark. She manages to escape and contacts the Plymouth police. Two things about this story hold special interest for Detective George Madsen. First, the man used a knife. Second, he drove a blue Nova. Both details fit the profile of the man Madsen suspects attacked and killed Ruth Masters five months earlier. Madsen gets the tag number of the car and calls its owner,

a 50-year-old named Eric Anderson. He says, oh, I know what you want to talk to me about that girl. I says, what girl is that you're talking about? He says, oh, the girl I picked up down at the, where the bridge is. And I said, yeah. Anderson agrees to come in the next morning, but Madsen wants the suspect picked up now. Anderson's wife, Ann Morrison, is home when the police arrive. I'm getting dressed. I looked out the bedroom window and there were three

cruisers outside. Knocked at the door and they said, is Mr. Anderson there? He said, yeah. And they dragged him out, handcuffed him, put him in the car. And I said, what did he do? He said, come up to the precincts and you'll find out. When we questioned him, we questioned him about the clock incidents. He admitted everything as far as that goes. Then we also talked to his wife and him, and they gave us permission to search his home and to search his vehicle. A team of detectives begins to tear apart the Anderson home.

Meanwhile, another group interrogates Mrs. Anderson, asking what her husband does with his spare time. They asked me all kinds of questions, and by that time, I was so weak, I said, please let me sit down. I said, if you don't, I'm going to fall down. We searched the vehicle, and we also searched the home. In the back porch of the home is where we observed these black roof racks that were single black roof racks.

Black roof racks, a distinguishing feature of the car seen in Miles Standish Park on the day Ruth Masters was murdered. Detectives run a background check on Anderson. The father of three is on parole with a record for breaking and entering and assault to rape. He is listed as a sexually dangerous person by the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health and now sits at the top of the police suspect lists. I felt that Mr. Anderson was probably the best suspect we ever had in the Ruth Masters killing. He was our number one suspect after he committed that crime, the girl down on the canal, and it never changed our mind. Anderson admits he occasionally goes fishing at Miles Standish Park, but denies killing Masters.

As a result of the hitchhiker assault, his parole is revoked, and he receives eight to ten years. Despite the suspicions of the Plymouth PD, the blue car, and the roof racks, charges are never filed in the Masters' murder. There was no way of proving it. There was no way of saying he did it. And that's the way that our system works. We've all had times when we say, well, we know who did this, but if you can't prove it, then there's nothing you can do about it. Ruth Masters' case eventually makes its way into the cold files, and its main suspect,

Eric Anderson, drops off police radar. Twelve years later, and 300 miles north of Plymouth, he reappears. In South Addison, a New England fishing town 70 miles up the coast from Bar Harbor, two men come upon an unusual sight, a local woman running down the road screaming hysterically and bleeding. Maine State Trooper Brian Smith listens to the woman's story. While driving out the road screaming hysterically and bleeding. Maine State Trooper Brian Smith listens to the woman's story. While driving out the road, she had observed this red pickup on the side of the road with the hood up and a man, elderly man that she had seen before, apparently working on the engine of the pickup. The woman, 27-year-old Edith McKendry, pulled over and offered a ride, and the old man accepted.

So she was moving things out of the seat of her car when he attacked her with a knife. McKendry fought off the attack, sustaining several cuts and a broken nose. She describes her attacker and his pickup in detail. Smith believes he knows who the man might be. When she described this man and said that he had been doing odd jobs and clearing brush and things in the area, I recognized him as a man that I had talked with earlier in the year and knew who she was describing as Eric Anderson.

Eric Anderson is now 63 and a free man after serving his 10 years for attacking a hitchhiker in Massachusetts. He has lived in the area with his parents for the past two years, and it doesn't take long for police to catch up with him. We began to look for him when we saw him walking up this same woods road where the attack occurred with a wood hook in his hand. Eric looked very disheveled and bloody and looked like he'd been in an altercation and we arrested him at gunpoint. Two days after his arrest, Anderson confesses to the main attack

before he is sentenced. State Forensic Services works up a psychological profile. It determined that Eric was a man that did not show any remorse when it came to attacking women. He had a great hate for women and that he felt he was a misfit in society. A judge makes sure Anderson won't have to worry about fitting into society anymore. He is sentenced to 25 years for the McKendree assault and heads back to prison, still a suspect in the Ruth Masters murder, but still innocent until detectives can come up with evidence to prove him guilty. Three years later, Rick Nagel is a sergeant with the Massachusetts State Police Cold Case Squad and son of former police chief in Plymouth, Richard Nagel. In the late 70s, when he was chief, Richard used to tell his son about the murder they never solved, the 1977 Masters slaying. 16 years later, Rick Nagel wants to finish what his father started

and makes a call to the Plymouth County District Attorney. So I made a call to the District Attorney's office in Plymouth County and asked, I'd like to transfer it down to Plymouth County, but only if I could work on this case. Nagel gets approval from the District Attorney and begins to work the Masters case. One of his first calls is to the victim's daughter, Pam. I got a voicemail message from some guy named Rick Nagel at work, and my heart stopped. I broke into a cold sweat because it just scared me to talk about it. And I'm like, why are you calling me? This case is so

cold you could ice skate on it. The case may be cold, but it's not quite dead. Inside the carton of documents that make up the master's investigation is a notebook. Inside it, a single piece of paper containing a statement that will point the way to Ruth Masters' killer. Now all Rick Nagel has to do is find it. Transitioning my wardrobe from summer to fall used to be a struggle, but Quinn's has made it a breeze. I've been shopping with Quinn's for my seasonal wardrobe update, and I'm amazed by their timeless, high-quality pieces that don't break the bank. I recently got their cashmere sweater for just $50, and it's as soft and luxurious as designer brands, costing three times as much. Their washable silk tops are perfect for layering, and their versatile pants work for any occasion. And the best part is that all Quince

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pour through thousands of pages of reports detailing the 1977 mutilation and murder of Ruth Masters. Two things become very clear very quickly. Eric Anderson is probably their killer, but there appears to be no way to actually prove it. The only real piece of physical evidence cold case detectives have to work with is a.22 caliber clip found at the crime scene. We theorized based on finding a.22 caliber magazine that belonged to a.22 caliber clip found at the crime scene. We theorized, based on finding a.22 caliber magazine that belonged to a.22 caliber rifle, that Ruth confronted this individual along the bike path. Either maybe she stopped and had words with him,

maybe he surprised her. He must have drew down on her with a rifle, hit her on the side of the head. As her head went off to the side, she lost her glasses, and he lost his magazine clip. Well, we didn't know he lost his magazine clip because now he's fighting with her. So this is how he controlled her, I felt. Nagel digs a little further and finds a connection between the.22 rifle and the suspect. It is buried in a police evidence report generated when Eric Anderson was arrested in 1990 for an assault on a woman in Maine. I found when he was arrested for McKendree in Maine,

he had a.22-mile-an rifle in the rafters in the shed. So as far as I was concerned, I think he had a likeness for a.22-mile-an. By 1977, Anderson already had a criminal record, making it impossible for him to own the.22. Nagel looks to Anderson's family, wondering if any of them facilitated the weapon's purchase. What I found is his son purchased three Marlin rifles for him. So now I had Eric Anderson with a.22 Marlin in his hands. I felt comfortable that I was coming up and focusing in on the right person. Nagel returns to the files hoping to find more pieces to his murder puzzle.

He focuses on witness statements taken from people in the park the day Masters was killed. One in particular catches his eye. Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Moores were nearby taking a walk in the park. They talked about seeing a guy by a pond. And I noticed in the reports that no one queried them further. Judith Moores notices that this man on three different occasions is glaring at her. She becomes frightened of him. She firmly believes that this individual, given the opportunity, would kill him.

Just by the way, he's staring at her. Nagel tracks the Moores to Florida and gets them on the phone. The first thing she said is, oh my God, I still have nightmares about this. My reply was, that's good. And she said, that's good I have nightmares? I said, it's good because it's fresh in your mind.

Nagel heads to Florida with a picture of Eric Anderson. Both of the Moores pick Anderson out of a photo lineup as the man they saw that day. Judith Moores would tell you that it was his eyes. His eyes that really, you know, drew her attention to him. The Moores' original statement also indicated the man was driving a blue Nova. Nagel shows them a picture of Anderson's car. The couple IDs it as the vehicle they saw that day, right down to the dent and faded paint job. Cold case detectives believe they have enough to warrant a conversation with their suspect

and find him at the Maine State Prison, where he is serving a 25-year sentence for attacking a woman with a knife. On March 13th, Rick Nagel sits down with Anderson to talk about the attack and the murder of Ruth Masters. I said, listen, I found people who saw you in the state forest that day. And he was shaking his head, no. And I said, yes, I did. And I said, this is the car you had. And he looked at the picture and he looked at me.

And I said, you know, I'm not lying. This is the car. And they pointed to these dents and talked about the faded paint. And you were in the state forest that day and the knife broke off when you killed Ruth Masters. And he started getting teary eyed. Anderson refuses to talk about the murder and tells Nagel to go away. The detective seemingly has a choice, either charge his suspect or let the case go cold again. But Nagel may have a third option. Since 1977, Eric Anderson has been in and out of prison, and there are more than a few inmates who couldn't stand the sight or the smell of him. Eric wasn't a real popular person in prison. His hygiene wasn't the best. There's one person told me you give him a

towel on a Monday and you go back to give him a new towel. It's still clean. So he didn't have many friends. Nagel compiles a list of names inmates Anderson knew in prison who are willing to talk. He recalls one inmate's conversation with Anderson about mutilation and murder. I asked him, did Eric ever talk to you about killing someone? He says, yeah, I thought that's what he was doing time for. He told me that all women are no good. He says, what you do is you cut them from nose to toes, watch them bleed out, you watch the skin turn pale,

watch the cold set in, the eyes roll back, then you start cutting off white parts. Another inmate provides the specifics Nagel is looking for. Details about the attack in Miles Sandish Park. He said that Eric told him that Ruth Masters was walking the bike up the bike trip. He then told me Eric hit her on the upside of the head. He said to me that Eric put her in the woods and he wanted to bury her, but he heard someone and he left. And then he went to a pond and washed up. Three men, all convicted murderers, eventually agreed to testify in court against Anderson. None of them receives any deal in return for their cooperation.

After I get the statement, I want to know why, and I'm going to put it in a report. Why are you telling me this? And they all said the same thing individually, because Eric is a sick mother effer, and they don't want to see him on the street. On November 24, 2003,

26 years after Ruth Masters' death, Eric Anderson stands trial for murder. Central to the case, trying to understand what sort of pleasure Anderson derived from butchering women. I had to surmise Eric Anderson, he's a hunter. He's a hunter of women.

He hates women, especially when he's drinking. And the thing I learned about Eric Anderson, there's no rhyme or reason. All you have to be is a woman, and he's going to kill you. After a week of testimony and nine hours of deliberation, the jury returns its verdict. Eric Anderson, now 76 years old, is found guilty of murder and sentenced to a term of life in prison. Pam Masters watches as the man who took her mother's life is led away in handcuffs. It's just not hanging over my head anymore.

I'm not waiting for the next phone call. I'm not waiting for the next court date. I think for my father, it has really felt good for him to see justice come from my mother. That was very important to him. A lot of people made this happen. A lot of people. For Rick Nagel, the case his father used to talk about is solved. The answer to Ruth Master's murder, as is so often the case,

was found in the piles of evidence filed away in old boxes, waiting for a cold case detective to come along and put the pieces together. This is a unique cold case because there's no forensic, there's no eyewitness, there's no confession. There was nothing there. It was a box with dust. And you have no fear. How do you do it? Well, this is how you do it. It takes thousands of man hours and it's little pieces of the puzzle. And you just take your time and try to put it together. Cold Case Files is hosted by Marissa Pinson, produced by Jeff DeRay, and distributed by Podcast One. The Cold Case Files TV series was produced by Curtis Productions and hosted by Bill Curtis.

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