Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - BUSTED: Man Makes 'ACCIDENTAL CONFESSION' TO MURDER

Episode Date: March 12, 2024

April 23, 1993: the owner of  Ajax Liquor store, Steve Weltig, is found dead on the floor on the floor of his shop. Investigators say it appears a struggle took place just before Weltig is shot in the head. Detectives work the case and develop a suspect sketch, but no real evidence leading to a killer is found and the case goes cold. The case is assigned to different investigators over the years. New leads are investigated, and evidence is collected. In 2015, reliable tips led detectives to Loril Harp. Harp's former wife contacted police and told them Loril Harp shot Weltig. She tells detectives she did not drive her former husband to the liquor store on the day of the murder. She was at home and when Harp came home that morning he immediately took a shower. She tells police her ex-husband tells her he just shot a man in an Arnold liquor store. A friend and former co-worker of Weltig's also tells Arnold police that Harp told him that he shot Weltig. Harp is brought in for an interview but investigators fail to gather enough evidence to seek charges for the murder. Twenty-seven years after the murder of Steve Weltig, another set of detectives take over the case. Looking back over the case file, they watch the 2015 interview with Loril Harp. In that interview, detectives leave the room for a few minutes. During the break, Loril Harp makes a call on his cell phone and what he says lights a fire under the investigation. Loril Harp tells the person on the phone that he is not under arrest,  but "I probably will be before I leave here." The detectives recognize this as a near admission that Loril Harp is expecting something after all these years. Harp is brought back in for a new interview. Investigators Cpl. Brett Acklermann and Detective Corporal Josh Wineinger spend hours talking to Loril Harp.  At 68 years old, Harp is in bad health and needs 24-hour nursing care. During his interview with the detectives, Loril Harp says he did not shoot Steve Weltig multiple times. Harp admits that he and Weltig got into a fight, and Harp says he hit Weltig a few times and left. Harp claims he went home and took a shower, right away. And the detectives begin talking about cleaning up the blood when Harp is asked if he had a little blood on him, Harp replies "I must have if I shot him." This phrase is all detectives need. Joining Nancy Grace Today Darryl Cohen – Former Assistant District Attorney (Fulton County, Georgia) Former Assistant State Attorney (Florida), and Defense Attorney: Cohen, Cooper, Estep, & Allen, LLC; Facebook: “Darryl B Cohen;” X: @DarrylBCohen Dr. Jorey L. Krawczyn  - Police Psychologist, Adjunct Faculty with Saint Leo University; Research Consultant with Blue Wall Institute, Author: Operation S.O.S. - Practical Recommendations to Help “Stop Officer Suicide” Detective Corporal Josh Wineinger -  Arnold Police Department  Dr. Kendall Crowns – Chief Medical Examiner Tarrant County (Ft Worth) and Lecturer: University of Texas Austin and Texas Christian University Medical School Tony Krausz  - Leader Newspaper Reporter; Facebook, IG, TikTok, YouTube & X: @myleaderpaper  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Loose lips sink ships. Truer words were never spoken. Now, that phraseology came from Great Britain around the time of the World War, when the Brits were convinced, rightly so, that spies were everywhere. So if you knew anything about the battle raging across the world, keep your pie hole shut. Well, it didn't always work. suspect busted in a police station after he incriminates himself when detectives leave the room. Is nobody watching TV? Don't they know there's somebody on the other side of that mirror

watching you or that there are cameras watching you that pick up audio as well? What cave is this guy living in? He's got to be living under a rock in a cave on the other side of the world with definitely no cable TV or he would have seen Jinxed for Pete's sake where millionaire Robert Durst said, of course I did it under his, and it was caught on a microphone. Anyway, he did it. And he went years without being caught until his inadvertent loose lips sunk his ship. I'm Nancy Grace.

This is Crime Stories. Thanks for being with us here at Crime Stories and on Sirius XM 111. How did the whole thing start? Well, of course, at a liquor store. Take a listen. On the morning of April 23rd, 1993, a couple stops by Ajax Liquor Store to pick up a pack of cigarettes and finds the owner of the store, Steve Weltig, on the floor, dead. Investigators notice it appears that a struggle took place prior to Weltig being shot in the head. Major K-Squad detectives work the case and develop several leads as well as a suspect sketch, but no real evidence leading to a killer is ever found and the case goes cold. Okay, straight out to high-profile lawyer, former prosecutor in inner

city Atlanta, defense attorney Daryl cohen daryl cohen thank you for being with us why does everybody say they were in the liquor store just to buy cigarettes well because no one goes to a liquor store to buy liquor because there are all these bootleggers nancy when you start making up lies they become more and more absurd, more ridiculous. And the more you lie, the more you think, oh, OK, they've got it. It's great when these people are smarter than the rest of the world. In Ajax liquor store in the morning to buy cigarettes. OK, you know what? Fine.

I will accept that because I'm less concerned about them lying about getting boozed up first thing in the morning than I am about the dead body on the floor. Let's try and focus on the dead body. Joining us right now, investigative reporter from Leader News. You can find him at myleaderpaper.com. Tony Krause joining us from Arnold, Missouri. Tony, thank you for being with us. Tell me about the location of Ajax Liquor Store. Ajax Liquor Store actually no longer exists. It is right off one of the main roads in Arnold, Missouri called Jeffco Boulevard.

It's right down the middle of the city. It had been a liquor store that Mr. Welty could own, and that is where his body was found in the morning in 1993. And it had also, after it had been a liquor store, it became an auto shop. Joining me right now, Detective Corporal Josh Weininger from the Arnold Police Department. I guess it hurts any chance of getting forensic evidence when the crime scene location not only changes hands, but changes the nature of the business going from then a liquor store to multiple businesses, including auto body shop. And now I believe it's a wellness center. I mean, that floor has been replaced. Maybe walls have been moved, repainted. There's no, there's not a scintilla of forensic evidence left behind.

You're absolutely right. The building has 100% changed. The only thing that's the same, the only thing is the shell. The inside is completely redone. Nothing looks the same. So this liquor store is open and operating the morning. It was a Friday morning, I believe, on April 23, when the murder goes down. What more do you know about the scene, detective? It was a graphic scene. There was scenes of a struggle, a violent struggle. Responding officers knew right away that a struggle ensued and there was a fight for Steve for his life. They could tell that right away. The victim, 40-year-old Stephen Wilting, fought for his life. Now, how that right away. The victim, 40-year-old Stephen Wiltig, fought for his life. Now, how did they know that, Detective Corporal?

Because there were scattered, like any convenience store, chips and merchandise. And it wasn't just secluded to one area. Like, he was found behind the counter of the business. He was in front of the counter, behind. There was scattered merchandise throughout the store. Okay. Scattered merchandise throughout the store. You could tell a battle ensued.

I assume that there were no video cams or anything of that nature, correct? There was one back then. They were very large and it was outside the building, but it was not functioning at that time. You know, that reminds me of Detective Corporal, the Chandra Levy case. When Chandra Levy left her apartment in Washington, we couldn't tell what was she wearing. Was she with anybody? Her body was found much later. Well, what was left of it, she was skeletonized in the Rock Creek Park there in D.C.

after all sorts of high-powered politicians had been questioned under suspicion. We never knew. Did she leave to go jogging? Was she abducted? Because they had surveillance cameras within her high-rise apartment in D.C., but every 72 hours, they would tape over themselves. So by the time cops went there, after, you know, searching for her, by the time cops went to get the video it had been taped over forever irretrievable no way to get it back so you're telling me that there was a video cam surveillance video but it wasn't working yes that's what i'm telling you and it's unfortunate because i could have solved the case in 1993 oh Oh, gosh. When I'm thinking about the

woulda, coulda, shouldas in this case. Anyway, back to the murder. We know that Stephen Weltig, 40 years old, was there bright and early that Friday morning. He was the owner. He ran the liquor store, convenience store, and that he put up a battle. He fought for his life, as the detective corporal is telling us. But somebody was hell bent on murdering him. When you said, Detective Corporal Josh Weininger, that it was graphic, what do you mean by that? The scene was graphic. A lot of blood. A lot of blood.

When somebody is shot in the head, the heart is still pumping. Blood is still coming out of the body. So there was a great deal of blood. There's blood spatter. We have evidence all over the place. And for years, we kept the flooring to that business. And so you could just tell when I picked up the cage 27 years ago how much blood was involved in this case. You kept the flooring? That is incredible police work. Tell me about that. The officers, the detectives that investigated at the time, there was obviously modern police work has taken over with technology. But back then, I think they did a decent job of processing that crime scene.

They see stuff that was pertinent to the investigation. And at that time, you don't know what is and what isn't. And they see stuff that wasn't. That floor was very important. It helped me, years later, kind of reconstruct that scene. I'm trying to imagine what you're saying because we see, you know, modern day reconstructions and the 3D recreations and all that. But you actually have the floor. You had the flooring from the scene.

Did you say it was carpet? It was carpet. And I worked this case with Detective Brett Ackerman at the scene. Did you say it was carpet? It was carpet, and I worked this case with Detective Brett Ackerman at the time, and he and I, we looked at this carpet for a long time and tried

to put the puzzle back together 27 years later. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Detective Corporal Josh Weininger joining us. Can I tell you about a case I tried? Okay. So there was a very high powered law firm in Atlanta and my boss, Lewis Slayton had been the elected district attorney, the longest of any DA in the country. I believe it was 37 years. And I remember him calling me on the overhead.

Nancy, come to my office. I can hear it right now because I'm chill. And I specifically, I've been offered a different office, a really nice one. But I took a little bitty one on a corner with no view at all. I looked on top of another building because it was by the stairs, Detective Corporal. Why? So I could run down to the elected DA's office whenever he called me and be there in about two minutes, even in heels. So I ran down there and he told me he had a case he wanted me to look at because the daughter of his friend, they had known each other 30 years, who is now a partner in this big firm, was killed and it had been chalked up as suicide. But the father and

mother didn't believe it. So I grabbed the file, race out to the scene and we take the bedsheet. She reportedly ostensibly shot herself in the head while completely nude. Okay, right there, alarm bells are going off because that statistically never happens with a female lying in bed, lying down with her head on the pillow and she shot herself. Now, something about that just seems wrong, right? Do you agree with me so far, detective? 100%. But it wasn't until I knew it was wrong, but I didn't know why it was wrong. We get the sheets to the crime lab. And guess what? Her pillow, Janelle, that was her first name. Janelle, beautiful, I might add, with a precious little boy.

Janelle was lying on a pillow. And guess what was under the pillow, detective? Blood spatter. Not a drop of blood, not a blood smear. Blood spatter. Which means the scene was staged. If she had truly been lying on that pillow, butt naked, which you know rarely happens with females, and shot herself in the head, why would there be blood spatter all underneath her pillow? It wouldn't be. The blood didn't even soak all the way through the pillow. Impossible. You see what I'm saying? Yes. So my point is you guys kept the flooring because you never know as the weeks turn to months,

turn to years, and you keep looking at it and looking at it and looking at it. What might dawn on you? I got to hand it to you and the Arnold PD for saving so much of the evidence. Okay, so tell me about the investigation into this case, Detective Corporal Josh Weininger. Why did it go cold? I believe it went cold from what I read through many, many police reports because of leads that had nothing to do with the case. So the major case investigated it. And one of the, one of the patrons to the convenience store that morning was,

and like, I want to say witness protection from a different state and they didn't want to get involved. So major case kind of said, this is weird. This guy is possibly involved in criminal activity. We're going to look into him. As being a potential suspect in the shooting. Correct. And that's where that case went.

Okay. Hold on. Hold on. Let me follow up with everybody. With me, an all-star panel makes sense of what we know right now. Did loose lips sink a ship? You know, Tony Krause is with us from Leader News. Detective Corporal Josh Weininger joining us from the Arnold PD in Missouri, but also with me, high profile lawyer, Daryl Cohen out of the Atlanta jurisdiction. Dr. Jory L. Crossan is with us. We're now psychologists, now faculty

at St. Leo University, and Dr. Kendall Crowns, chief medical examiner. That's not easy to get. You didn't just go to med school. You didn't just become a medical doctor. You focus on pathology and then you work your way up to become the chief medical examiner. Also lecturer, University of Texas, Austin and at TCU, Texas Christian University Medical School. Dr. Kendall Crowns, why is it? I mean, I'm just thinking back on all the murder cases I investigated and prosecuted. The profuse amount of blood that occurs when someone is shot in the head. And we see it. Say, I went to a wrestling match for my twins, high school. They're not wrestlers, but their friends were wrestling.

And we were watching you know if you get hit in the nose or the mouth anywhere around your head you bleed like a stuck pig you bleed like crazy why is that where on other parts of your body you don't bleed as profusely so the scalp the, all have a large amount of blood vessels feeding the tissues of that area. And then once you get past the skin, which is very vascular, then you also have the brain, which has a lot of blood supply getting to it because the brain needs constant oxygen, constant nourishment to function. So all these areas on your head have a lot of blood supply when compared to the rest of your body. And that's why you see so much hemorrhage associated with them because the brain is so important for your

function. It needs a large amount of blood vessels. Daryl Cohen joining me, as you know, former prosecutor, now defense attorney. Daryl, I understand completely what Weininger is telling me, because they're investigating this murder. Then they find out a witness. And for those of you that can't see me, I'm using air quotas, is in the Witness Protection Act somewhere else. Yes, of course. They went down that, let me just call it a pig path. You know what a pig path is, right, Daryl Cohen? You're a city boy, but do you know what a pig path is? I'm a city boy, but I know. In a straight line, a pig runs all crazy. And let me just tell this story again. My dad, who would work really long hours with the then Southern Central Railroad, now Norfolk Southern, my mother's brother convinced him they should start a pig farm.

So they got some pigs. And basically what that meant is every day when he would come home from work, he would have to chase the pigs to get them back in the fence. That's what a pig path is. It's crazy. It doesn't make sense. It goes in all crazy directions. So you find out the witness is in witness protection. Of course the cops investigated him as a potential suspect.

I couldn't help but laugh because witness protection, who is he? Different name, different person, not different physical statistics or different fingerprints or different DNA. But what it does is it takes an already complicated case and multiplies the complications because if he or she is in witness protection, then the feds don't want him to be looked at, don't want him to be spoken to, don't want him to even exist because he might be murdered. You know, you can't get anything out of the feds. Detective Corporal Josh Waninger, have you ever tried to work with the feds? Have you ever

tried to get them to cooperate? I have all the time. I currently work cases with the feds. Oh, sorry. But all my experience of working with feds, and I was a fed for three years, a law clerk to a federal judge, and then with the Federal Trade Commission and antitrust. But for the bulk of my career in the courtroom, I was a felony prosecutor. And I remember one triple homicide and I had no idea. I was working so hard to crack that case.

The feds had a whole file on one of the defendants because he was involved in a huge drug trafficking trade coming straight up from Miami, stopping in Atlanta and then moving to New York. Did I get one piece of paper from them? No, nothing. I had a triple homicide, but they thought their drug investigation was more important than three dead teen boys. I believe it's very tight-lipped in the police report and reading the police report over. It's uncertain on who this individual is and why he was in our town, where he came from. I just know he was a person of interest at that time. And it kind of went cold pretty quick once we figured out that we should go some other direction. Some other direction as indicated by the feds.

So you're kind of like between a rock and a hard spot. You think you know who did it, but the feds or another law agency, law enforcement agency, take him away and encourage you to shut your pie hole. Okay, there you go. So I'm sure there were detectives on this, on the case that always thought that guy did it and we can't do anything about it until, bam, there's a break in the case. Listen to Rachel Bonilla, Crime Online. The murder of Steve Welting was unsolved but not forgotten. The case has been assigned to different investigators over the years and new leads would be generated and investigated, evidence collected. Finally, a break in the case in 2015 when Reliable

Tips led detectives to Laurel Harp. Harp's former wife contacted Arnold Police in 2015 and told them Laurel Harp shot Weltegg. What? Isn't it great? Bitter, angry ex-wives call the police and try to rat their ex out for a murder. crime stories with nancy grace back to you daryl cohen i've spoken to many civil attorneys who say they'd rather try a drug lord or a murder as opposed to a divorce case because they're pretty sure the other party, the wife or the husband on the other side is going to take a shot at them when they walk through their living room in front of the picture window. I mean, there's a lot of animosity and hatred going on in many divorces. Look, Nancy, first of all, Yogi Berra said it best. It ain't over till it's over. Divorce cases never seem to be over, especially when there are kids involved or when one spouse or the other is exercising outside of the marriage. And emotions run so high.

And when emotions run high, people do things that are just plain stupid. Pull out a gun, pull out a knife, make phone calls that they really didn't make. But oh my gosh, I forgot that they could track my phone. So divorces are horrible. That's why you see from time to time a lawyer who does family law, which I think is a misnomer, I think should be called family wars. When you see a lawyer is murdered because his client or his client's spouse decides that this lawyer is his or her enemy and let's get rid of the enemy. So divorce cases are terrible to try. Horrible. And I give, if I wore a hat, I'd take my hat off to every divorce lawyer who does it right. Man, you are not kidding. It doesn't make how, it doesn't matter how educated

or rich you are. It all boils down to warfare, hand-to-hand mutual combat in the courtroom, in a nasty divorce. So, you know, to you, Dr. Jory L. Crawson, joining us, renowned psychologist, former law enforcement, faculty at St. Leo University. Dr. Jory, there is a husband-wife privilege where the wife cannot or husband cannot testify against the partner about communications during the marriage. But that doesn't mean she can't make a phone call and rat out her ex. It may not come in on the stand, but still it leads cops in a particular direction. Yeah, when I was in private practice, I used to do the evaluations for court during divorces on parents, parental evaluations. So, you know, I can really feel for the lawyers on it because I've actually had lawyers threatened, you know, and had to make the judge aware and them aware of it. One thing psychologically, when relationships break up, I have yet to see an individual that does not experience what we call a manic episode. You know, that's this excitement.

This is fueled by past injustices, you know, possibly affairs, anything. But it really accelerates their sense of retaliation. And so I could see her making a phone call. You know, this is where a lot of luggage and skeletons in closets get exposed. You know, I like the way you said that so euphemistically. That's certainly putting perfume on the pig. It exacerbates retaliation. In other words, when you've been done wrong. You get mean. And this woman had waited, what, Detective Corporal Josh Weininger, 20 years before she made that call? Yeah, 2015 was an important year. We actually had the suspect, Laurel Harp's good friend, which was also a mutual friend with Stephen Waltek, and Laurel Harp's ex-wife come forward.

So 2015 was a very important year during this investigation. So after all these years, the bitter ex comes forward and thank heaven she does. I really do. I had a conversation with her myself in 2020, but she, I believe it's, she's still struggling with some demons during, from their relationship, from what I picked up during the conversation. I think there was some domestic issues that I could never iron out. So that might be a reason she, she was willing to come forward. Well, thank heaven she did, Detective Corporal, because you know what? I don't want to tell you about it. I want you to hear it. Take a listen to the defendant in this case

as he is called in for questioning after his bitter ex, angry ex, calls cops to tip him off about a murder. Well, the first thing he says is, I didn't kill Steve, man. But then he keeps talking. Now, remember, right now, detectives are sitting right in front of him. Listen. You guys are in, it is a physical altercation because you guys are tussling. If you want to call it that, he's a punk. It's too easy. So how did it happen? How did it happen that he got a bullet hole in his head? I didn't. And you're the only other person there, Laurel. How is this going to look if you don't tell us the truth? We have to speculate and tell a prosecutor. We have to guess what happened. I'm telling you the truth. I didn't shoot him. I did not shoot C. Colton. And he is very, very convincing.

I've looked at the video as he's talking. He seems convincing, but I guess what does he want us to believe? That he gets into a, quote, tussle. That's what defendants always say when they have a full-on fight. It was a tussle. We started tussling. Darrell Cohen, have you heard that word over and over and over? a tussle. We started tussling. Daryl Cohen, have you heard that word over and over and over? A tussle? Yeah. And it's just, it's a catch-all word for a fight.

It's not a tussle. A tussle is you and I or you and somebody else or me and somebody else just wrestling a little bit. This is not what that was. I'm not going to wrestle with you, Daryl Cohen, okay? But that said, let's go. I was going to go to WWE. Tussle. Sorry. Take a listen to more of Laurel Harp. Now, remember, there's no evidence against him. All we have is his ex-wife calls in and says he's a killer.

And as all of you legal eagles know, even a confession by the defendant alone is not enough under our Constitution to bring a murder case. There has to be something more than just the wife calling in. Listen. Steve Waltek, in your words, is a punk. He's weak. He grabs the gun. Yeah, he is a punk. You're like, what are you going to do with that?

That's when... No, I wouldn't say that. I mean, in your head, not out loud, but you're thinking this guy just pulled a gun on me. Yeah, I would go after him right away or get out. Yeah. Right away. So we already know you went after him right away.

That's, we just don't know if he was charging you, if you were tussling, meaning pushing each other. You said it's not really that physical, but we've described what it was like. Like, was it, was he trying to punch you? Was he trying to? Well, yeah, he came after me with a gun. Do you notice right in the middle of that tony krause joining us from leader news he says hey can you hand me my juice this guy is not worried at all because all these years have passed and he knows the cops have nothing on him

yeah he seems pretty confident in his story that, no, he did not shoot him. And then how he's describing the, let's call it at this point, a confrontation, I guess, in his eyes, says he doesn't, says it was a tussle. And he believes they have nothing they can get him at this point, it sounds like. And there really is nothing other than the ex-wife's phone call. He says the two got in an argument and he left. He has no idea how the victim got shot in the head and ends up dead on the floor of a liquor store early on a Friday morning. Okay, keep listening.

Well, yeah, he came after me with a gun. Yeah, let mecribe that. The only thing I can remember that you're trying to tell is I remember it was a liquor store. I thought it was a bar. There was a counter. He come out from around the counter, came at me, had a gun in his hand. As soon as he got close enough, I hit him. I grabbed his arm, but I didn't shoot him., I hit him. I grabbed his arm,

but I didn't shoot him. That's just it. I did not shoot him. And he goes on. Take a listen to our cut 107. Now remember, there he's talking to detectives, but the detectives leave the interrogation room and leave

him alone. The detectives picked me up and room and leave him alone. Detectives picked me up and asked me some questions, I guess. I'm in a police station and I have no idea what it's about. They said I'm not under arrest, but I probably will be before I leave here. Let's hear that one more time. Detectives picked me up and asked me some questions, I guess. I'm in a police station and I have no idea what it's about. He said I'm not under arrest, but I probably will be before I leave here. Oh yeah, by the time they

finish talking to me, I'm going to be under arrest for murder. That's right. He thinks nobody is listening. He picks up the cell phone and calls somebody and goes, before I can leave here, I'm going to be under arrest. It's not the first time someone has made an accidental or inadvertent confession. This guy knows he's going to be under arrest for murder. Does the name Robert Durst ring a bell? Take a listen to our cut 141. Robert Durst was famous for being from one of the wealthiest families in New York, but most of his adult life dealt with a very dark side of life. Long suspected of being involved in the disappearance of his wife, Kathy McCormick, in 1982, he was the subject of investigations that

never could figure out what happened to Kathy. Then the 2000 murder of someone considered his best friend, Susan Berman, and the death of his neighbor, Morris Black. In all the investigations, the only one that saw a courtroom was the Morris Black murder. Even though Durst chopped up Morris Black, something one would associate with a murder, not a defensive killing, Durst was acquitted of the murder. It wasn't until Robert Durst agreed to do a special on HBO that he was finally caught with his pants down, so to speak, in the bathroom with a live microphone. Robert Durst confessed, and it all played out in a program he didn't have to do. So he's in the bathroom, using the bathroom, literally with his pants down,

and muttering to himself in the middle of an HBO special, still mic'd up. Take a listen to HBO's The Jinx. Or maybe this is the bathroom. Yeah, that's... You're right, this is the bathroom. There it is. You're corny. Yeah, he's acting like he has no idea what's going on around him.

What is this door with a picture of a man on it? Oh, it's the bathroom. He goes in. Listen. Okay. What he said right there, he's muttering to himself is quote what a disaster he's talking about the hbo special that he has voluntarily chose to take part in and here's the money shot listen idiot he says all alone in the bathroom, I'm having difficulty with the question. I killed them all, of course. And who do we mean by of course? His wife, Morris Black, and his best friend, Kathy Berman, who knew he murdered his wife. There are so many other examples. Robert Durst is just one of them who makes a quote, accidental confession. To you, Daryl Cohen, nothing under our constitution protects you from accidental or unknowing confessions being

brought in at court. What you're saying is, Nancy, nothing protects you from your own pure, unadulterated stupidity. You are right. He is not being questioned. He is giving voluntary answers to the Ethernet or the Internet or the video or the audio. No, you can't be protected from yourself unless you're smart enough to do what a certain judge was told years ago when I prosecuted in front of him. Judge Jack Langford had a habit of just berating lawyers. And his secretary, Gloria, who was terrific, had the large letters, large font, KYD, BMS,

on one of his rolling file cabinets. And every time she heard him berate a lawyer, she would buzz him. He would be forced to turn around, look at the file cabinet, and say, keep your damn big mouth shut. Well, that's what should be for these fools who commit these crimes, but they're smarter than you are, smarter than I am, and nobody's listening or watching me. But at some point, if you trip and fall, you're toast. You know what?

I remember Judge Fryer very well. I tried cases in front of him, and we always degenerated into a huge argument. And after one of those arguments, he had to go to the hospital with chest pains. Okay. That's a whole nother story. But what about another idiot killer, OJ Simpson. Talk about inadvertent confessions. Take a listen to Dave Mack in 133. Chris Darden, the OJ Simpson prosecutor, during an appearance on the TV show The View, claims OJ Simpson confessed to the crime. Darden is referencing a story that's been told by Sergeant Jeff Stewart, who was a guard at the L.A. County Jail. He claims he overheard a conversation between O.J. Simpson and former NFL great turn minister Rosie Greer. Rosie Greer was visiting O.J. Simpson as a minister, and Sergeant Stewart claims he heard Simpson yell, I didn't

mean to do it. I'm sorry. He then claims Rosie Greer told O.J., O.J., you've got to come clean. You've got to tell somebody. Sergeant Stewart did, in fact, testify during the OJ Simpson trial, but he was only allowed to say that he heard a statement. He couldn't say what the statement was. Simpson's defense argued statements between inmates and clergy is protected, and Judge Lance Ito ruled the full accounting could not be admitted as evidence. Nancy, let me interrupt for a second. I think it's important that you mention that Rosie Greer was a former teammate of O.J. Simpson's on the Los Angeles Rams. He wasn't just a minister. That came after his playing career was over.

Normally, communications between a clergy and a defendant are kept secret. However, if you violate or pierce the privilege by screaming it out so all the sheriffs hear it, then you typically lose the privilege. It's like you're talking to your lawyer at a dinner party and everybody can overhear you. So you have waived the privilege by speaking in front of other people. Of course, Lance Ito chose his own unique interpretation of the law and did not let Simpson's confession in. But what about this idiot, William Corzon? Take a listen to what he asked the police. Talk about an inadvertent confession.

Dave Mack in 139. William Corzon got away with murder for four decades. He and his wife Gloria, married in 1968, moved to Pennsylvania where they were regularly visited by police for their constant fighting. From 1968 until Gloria disappeared in 1981, law enforcement authorities investigated and documented numerous violent assaults where William Corzon assaulted and threatened to kill Gloria Corzon. Investigators said the couple got into a violent argument in which Gloria pointed her husband's gun at him and tried to shoot him, but Corzon wrestled the gun from his wife's hands and shot her in the head, killing her. He then loaded her on his boat and dumped her body in the Delaware River. After the case went cold and was put on a shelf, Warrington police spent two years reinvestigating before they finally had enough evidence to take it to a grand jury. When police showed up to arrest him, Corazon said the one thing that sealed his fate. He asked investigators,

did you find the body? Did you find the body? No. How did he know there was a body? How did he know she didn't just leave him? He knew there was a dead body, and that was his inadvertent confession. I've got so many inadvertent, accidental confessions, but you've got to hear this one that results from a butt dial. I make the twins say pocket dial, but it's a butt dial. Take a listen to the story of Erin Burrell, the true story in 140. In the world of crime, it's the victim that usually calls 911. Roswell, New Mexico authorities answer the 911 call

expecting someone to need help, but this time it's a butt dial, an unintentional dialing of 911. 911 dispatch is about to disconnect the call when they hear 37-year-old Aaron Burrell talking about a home he just burglarized with his partner in crime, Yvonne Thiberg. 911 is recording as the couple does a quick inventory of what they just stole, mainly a TV from a house in Roswell. Dispatchers listened to the unintended confession for nearly 45 minutes as the duo continued to discuss their alleged heist. Police went to the home address that was mentioned in the call and it had been robbed. Aaron Burrell and Yvonne Thyberg were both arrested and charged with multiple burglary-related offenses, and the confession is all on the 911 tape. Confession

by Butt Dial. Detective Corporal Josh Weininger is with us from the Arnold PD. So this guy, when he sees the detectives, we're back to our case in chief, the defendant in this case, Laurel Harp. As soon as the detectives leave the room, he picks up the phone and basically makes a cell call and says, in essence, man, I'm going to jail. He knew the gig was up. Yes, he knew. He made several of those incriminating statements out loud. He was cussing at himself at times. And it was those portions of the interview which led myself and Detective Ackerman to solve this case. What do you mean he was cursing at himself?

Just like when you're mad at yourself. Like verbally out loud, just upset with himself that he was in this situation because he thought he was going to jail. To you, Tony Krause, was he charged with first-degree murder? He was. It took a couple more interviews with him, and then the prosecuting attorney's office in Jefferson County did issue charges against him for first-degree murder and an armed criminal action on September 29, 2020, and he was arrested the next day.

Twenty-plus years pass, and through an inadvertent confession, a slip of the tongue, he is convicted on homicide charges. Justice delayed, but not denied. Goodbye, friend. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.