Criminology - The Seven Bridges Serial Killer

Episode Date: November 22, 2020

Between 2003 and 2009, ten women disappeared from the Rocky Mount area. Nine of them were found murdered in wooded areas near Seven Bridges Road, just outside of town. One woman remains missing to this day. All of the female victims were black and had a history of drugs and prostitution. Because of this, many people have said that the police didn't investigate the murders as hard, and, the media didn't provide much coverage. Join Mike and Morf as they discuss these murders that many people believe were committed by one person dubbed "The Seven Bridges Serial Killer." A man named Antwan Pittman was arrested, charged, and convicted of one murder. Is Pittman the Seven Bridges serial killer? To this point, the police have not found enough evidence to charge him with any of the other murders. You can help support the show at patreon.com/criminology An Emash Digital production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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is a true crime podcast that may contain discussion about violent or disturbing topics. Listener discretion is advised. Hello everyone and welcome to episode 136 of the criminology podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson. And I'm Mike Morford. Mr. Morford, how are you doing? I'm doing pretty good. I'm getting settled into the warm Florida life here. How about you? Well, I'm okay, but you don't have to rub it in, my face, that you're down there in the warm weather. I'm stuck up here in Ohio.

It's like 40 degrees every day, seems like. Oh, it's only 64 here today, so not that much warmer. But I'm happy for you. I'm glad you're starting to get settled in. I mean, I think anytime you move, that is not an easy proposition. Yeah, it's a lot of work, but, you know, hopefully it goes good and we'll get settled in. So we have some new Patreon supporters. Let's give those shoutouts.

We had Alessa Reyes, Ryan Kaiser, Maley Romero, Alex, Alex, Meeley Romero, Alex, Miller and Shamika. So some great support. We really appreciate that. Yeah, we thank everyone each week and it really means a lot to us. And if there's anyone out there that would like to help the show out, they can go to patreon.com slash criminology. Don't forget about Stitcher Premium. If you're looking for some of our older episodes, any criminology episode older than six months is out on Stitcher Premium. And they have a free 30-day trial. So there's really nothing to lose. Go check that out and get caught up. All right, buddy,

it's time to get into this case. And this one takes place in Rocky Mount North Carolina, which is a mid-sized town that sits in two different counties, Edgecombe and Nash. And it's roughly about 60 miles east of Raleigh. The current population is around 54,000. You know, this is a town with a rich history. Some of that history is good. Some of it is not so good. The Rocky Mountain Mill was built in the 1800s, and during its first 30 years of operation, the workers were slaves and free people of color. A one-day raid during the Civil War in July 1863 destroyed the mill, the railroad bridge, and surrounding buildings. The city would eventually rebuild, but it took years. For decades following the Civil War. White men, women, and children form the workforce. Rocky Mount Mill's website states

that African Americans undertook segregated millwork roles in the 20th century. But throughout the community's history, black labor, whether in the fields or in the loading docks, or in the kitchen, was crucial to the economy. By 1960, Rocky Mount was ranked as the world's largest bright leaf tobacco market. Back then, Rocky Mount was home to several tobacco warehouses and the Rocky Mount Mill. Nothing impacted the city of Rocky Mount more than Hardy's food systems, founded in 1960 by Wilbur Hardy. Rocky Mount natives, Jim Gardner and Leonard Rawls opened Hardy's first company store in Rocky Mount in May, 1961. Do you have Hardee's up near you? I do. And I'll tell you They're good. Oh my gosh.

Their biscuits, they blow me away. In 1962 during the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King Jr. gave a speech at Booker T. Washington High School where almost 2,000 spellbound African Americans heard him say. And so, my friends of Rocky Mount, I have a dream tonight. One year later in Washington, D.C., he immortalized those words in his famous, I have a dream speech. But Rocky Mount, as we mentioned earlier, has a dark part in its local history as well.

By the 1980s, crack cocaine dealers began operating in an area known as the neighborhood. Many women turned to sex work to pay for drugs and to support their families. Between 2003 and 2009, 10 women disappeared from the Rocky Mount area. Nine of them were found murdered in wooded areas near six. Seven Bridges Road just outside of town. One woman remains missing to this day. All of the victims were black women who came from low-income families and had a history of drugs and prostitution.

The first woman to go missing was Denise Williams, who was 21 years old. She lived on the 600 block of Center Street. Denise had earned her GED at Edgecombe Community College. She was good with computers and had dreams of a career in telecommunications. Denise had two children, a seven-year-old girl named Shenotica, and an eight-month-old boy named Elijah. Denise Williams disappeared on May 27, 2003. Her body was found floating in Coki Swamp near Pleasant Hill and Clover Roads, about five miles southeast of Rocky Mount at 4 p.m. on Monday, June 2, 2003. Almost two years later, 21 people were arrested in a prostitution ring.

April 2005. Male police officers posed as Johns and female officers posed as sex workers. They spent three weeks targeting various areas at night throughout Rocky Mount. Police set up the operation after citizens complained of prostitution occurring in some regions of the city. 29-year-old Melody Wiggins was one of those arrested, but she made bail and was released. But not long after, on April 23, 2005, police charged Melody's boyfriend, 42-year-old Mitchell, Leon Williams, with domestic violence. It was a trying time for Melody. Two weeks later, she vanished. Her body was found on May 29th in the woods southeast of Rocky Mount. Residents on Noble's Mill Pond Road, riding recreational vehicles discovered the body, and called, the police, she had been beaten to death.

Initially, investigators were unable to identify Melody and asked the public for help, but they ultimately identified her a week later using dental records. Four days after the discovery of Melody's body and the day before she was identified, Mitchell Williams reported her missing on June 2nd. His delayed response in reporting her missing caused police to be suspicious of Williams. But at the time of her disappearance and murder, he was in jail. for most of May 2005 on a shoplifting charge. The day after his release, he reported her missing

and told investigators that he last saw her leaving her South Grace Street home on her way to her friend's house. By the time Williams reported her missing, her body had been found. Investigators had few clues in Melody Wiggins' murder. They spoke to over 120 people and ran down rumors, but had nothing concrete at that point. They believe she was killed a week before she was found. By July 2005, detectives had exhausted most of their leads,

and they reached out to the public to help find Melody's killer. Their leading theory in her murder was that an overzealous customer killed her during some sort of altercation. Melody was a known sex worker in Rocky Mount, and police thought her occupation may have led to her death. And I think you see this in a lot of cases that involve a sex worker or sex workers. It is a high risk occupation. I don't think anybody would argue with that. And police in many jurisdictions definitely view it that way.

And I think in that community and that line of work, a lot of people are tight-lipped and don't really cooperate with police. So the police have a hard time figuring out what's going. on there. Well, and there's a reason for them to be tight-lit, right? What they're doing is considered legal by the law, so, you know, nobody wants to get themselves in trouble or their friends or acquaintances. So, yeah, there are dangers in even coming forward to offer up information. Thinking that the killer might be amongst the pool of men who had hired these sex workers over the years. Investigators questioned 60 men who had been charged with soliciting prostitution

since 2000 in Rocky Mount, but they turned up no substantial leads from the interrogations. However, they did find the last person who saw Melody alive. An Edgecombe County deputy had served her child support order at her home on May 23rd. Melody was under a court order to pay child support for two children who lived with a foster family in Wilson County. The North Carolina medical examiner's office determined Melody died sometime between May 23rd and May 25th. Melody's body was found roughly 2,700 feet off the road near an unpaved trial typically used by farm workers who tend the nearby cornfields. Police found blood spots there and commented to the media that she had put up one hell of a fight. Over two years later, in August 2007,

authorities found human remains behind an abandoned Edgecombe County House a month later. The remains were identified as belonging to 34-year-old Jackie Nekulia Thorpe, who was reported missing by her mother on May 22, 2007 to the police. Her mother told detectives that she last saw her daughter at about noon on May 8, 2007, on Carolina Avenue in Rocky Mount. Jackie usually checked in with her mother, but this time she didn't. On August 17, 2007,

a man searching for bottles between the towns of Battleboro and Whitakers found a skeleton behind a residence on Seven Bridges Road. He called the Edgecombe County Sheriff's Office and reported the discovery. Detectives didn't have much to go on with the remains, and they were unable to ID them.

On March 7, 2009, the Blocum, body of 29-year-old Tahara Chenice Nicholson was found in the woods off Marriott Road. She had been reported missing on February 22nd. Authorities knew right away that it was Tehera, the victim bore a tattoo of her name across her arm. Teherra was partially clothed and had been strangled to death. Her father, Lou Jean Williams, said he last saw her leave their home on foot at 1238.

a.m. on February 21st. A few days later on March 13, 2009, the body of 50-year-old Ernestine Battle of 619 Branch Street was found in the woods off Seven Bridges Road. She had been missing for more than a year. Her sister, Cornetta Battle, last saw Ernestine in front of her home, where she got a no car with an unknown male. Cornetta didn't recognize the vehicle. A farmer taking down an electric fence found Ernestine's body off Seven Bridges Road. He smelled a foul odor near a tree stump. He initially thought it was a carcass of a rotting deer, but then he noticed human hands raised above the skull. Ernestine was a sex worker and used the money she made to support her crack habit. She had two children, but had stopped taking care of them. Ernestine had been in and out of jail

for the previous nine years on drug and prostitution charges when her family gave her food. Ernestine would trade it on the streets for drugs. When she disappeared, her family grew concerned because she had always stayed in touch with them no matter what. The fear of a serial killer walking the streets of Rocky Mao only fueled their concern. And I think one thing that's worth noting here is that Ernestine new Jackie Thor, because Jackie lived down the street from her. After facing a backlash from concerned citizens in Rocky Mount, in June 2009, authorities revealed that a state and local task force,

led by Edgecombe County Sheriff's James Knight, had been investigating possible connections between the unsolved deaths. The task force also included the Rocky Mount Police Department. The community hoped that the task force would ensure that there would be no further victims. Unfortunately, there would be more. On June 29, 2009, just weeks after the task force was announced, a local farmer found the skeletal remains of 31-year-old Jarnese Harve Grove and a wooded area off Seven Bridges Road.

The remains were found wearing only a white pendant around the neck and a metal band on the right ring finger. Her body had been abandoned out in the elements for nearly two months. An autopsy conducted several months later in January 2010, failed to determine the cause of death, but police believed Jernice was strangled. She hadn't been seen since May 2nd, 2009. As the murders gained media attention, John Kelly, a profiler and president of the New Jersey base system to apprehend lethal killers, or stalk, for short, said he was convinced

a serial killer was preying on vulnerable women in East Rocky Mountain. Kelly and his partner, Frank Adamson, helped profile and catch Green River killer Gary Ridgway in Seattle almost a decade before. Kelly believed the killer was local and familiar with the area along Seven Bridges Road. The killer would kill again unless he was put in jail or dead. He also said that the location where the bodies were dumped was key to solving the murders. Following Kelly's findings, authorities refused to say whether they believed they were dealing with a serial killer. Meanwhile, another woman disappeared. 40-year-old Mary Michelle Williams failed to pick up her two children from a babysitter on Sunday, July 19, 2009.

Details of Mary's background appeared to match that of other victims, and police were worried that she might be found dead. But luckily, the police located Mary shortly after 8 p.m. on Tuesday, July 21st, and she advised them she did not want her family to know her location and she was keeping a low profile. A local resident Stephanie Jones, who knew several of the victims, formed a group called Missing or Murdered Sisters to bring awareness to the killings and to raise money for a search team to find those still missing. Around the time Stephanie started the group, three additional women were reported missing to police. Forty-year-old Christy-year-old Christi. Bean was reported missing on January 16, 2007 by her daughter-in-law, Susan Ann Boone, who told

police Christine was suicidal. 46-year-old Joyce Renee Durham of 1505 Harper Street when missing on June 17, 2007, her brother-in-law Winston Durham reported her missing and told police that she frequented drug areas, 37-year-old Yolanda Snap, Lancaster of 507 East Grand Avenue, was last seen February 5th, 2009 at her mother's home. It seemed by this point that the task force was having no effect on curtailing the victim count. The FBI joined the investigation in July 2009 and interviewed friends and family members of the victims. After the FBI got involved, a group of Rocky Mount residents

formed the campaign for murdered or missing women after police connected the string of five murders. They posted digital billboards at three spots throughout the city that showed pictures of the murdered victims and the three missing women. On August 12, 2009, the murders made national headlines when CNN broadcast a story about the case

on Anderson Cooper 360. Shortly after that, Nancy Grace of CNN headline news expressed an interest in the story. Jarnice Hargrove's mother, Patsy Hargrove, was supposed to speak at a Raleigh studio for the show, but no one arrived to take her. On the Nancy Grace show that evening, Grace's guest host, Jean Caceres, began the show with breaking news of a woman who had just vanished in North Georgia. Christy Cornwell, a white female, disappeared while. while out on a jaw. The show's lead story also involved a white female, a Florida newlywed

accused of hiring a hitman to kill her husband. Many residents of the Rocky Mount community were extremely disappointed not to see the case on Nancy Grace. And a lot of people felt that since the victims were black and involved in either sex work or drugs, that their stories were being overlooked. In October 2009, authorities finally identified a body that they had recovered on February 13th of that year, along Melton Drive at the Nash-Eddccombe County line. They believed that body had been there for six months to a year. The body belonged to a 33-year-old named Elizabeth James Smallwood, the only victim of the Seven Bridges killer who was never reported missing. She had a criminal history of drug abuse and prostitution. Details of her murder,

matched those of many of the other victims. Elizabeth was the only victim to be found within city limits. The cause of death wasn't determined because of decomposition, but authorities believed she was strangled. Sadly, after Elizabeth's body was found, no one came forward to claim it. She seemingly had no family, and little was known about her past. The police did know that she had a lengthy criminal record.

She had been arrested numerous times since 2001 on drug and prostitution charges. She had been charged with prostitution as recently as 2007. It took several investigative leads in an extensive background check to identify Elizabeth after her body was found. They finally found her biological father and made phone contact with him. He lived in Georgia and said he had not spoken to his daughter in several years. It took forensic scientists two weeks to match the remains with.

with Elizabeth's medical records. During this time, her body remained unclaimed at the city morgue. Some of the locals reported seeing Elizabeth a few times, but they did not know much about her. She was known to spend time at motels along U.S. 301 and in a few neighborhoods off North Raleigh Street. Elizabeth had told people she lived in a home on Hill Street in 2007, but the landlord who managed the property said he had no one.

record of her living at the duplex. The person who had lived there the previous six months moved out and the property was vacant. Multiple sources in Rocky Mount told the Rocky Mount Telegram that Elizabeth had children in the area, but authorities never confirmed they were denied this claim. Telegram reporter Mike Hicksenball, who extensively covered the murders, wrote in an October 25th, 2009 article that the telegram made unsuccessful attempts to locate Elizabeth's March 24th, 1976 birth certificate, but it was unclear where she was born or if Smallwood was even her birth name. In the suburbs of D.C., a woman fails to show up for work and is found brutally murdered. I wonder which emergency? We just walked in the door and there's blood in the foyer.

For the next two decades, the case remained unsolved until new technology allowed investigators to do what had once been impossible. A new series from ABC Audio in 2020. Blood and Water. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts. The Shaw Festival presents the most beloved musical of all time. My Fair Lady. This is the story of Eliza Doolittle, the Cockney Flower Girl who Professor Henry Higginsbecks,

he can turn into a lady. Don't miss, My Fair Lady, a wonderfully laughing. and lovelry production this year at the shaw. For best seats at best prices, go to shawfest.com. A local lawyer who had represented Elizabeth Smallwood on the 2007 prostitution charges said he couldn't reveal much about his former client. Investigators had no information on Elizabeth's personal life.

A woman named Gail Nelms had chaired a jail cell with Elizabeth. in 2007, and the two women had bonded. After they both were released from jail, they reconnected and stayed together at the Sunshine Inn, off U.S. 301, known as a hotspot for prostitution. Nelm said Elizabeth never mentioned anything to her about family, but Nelms was sure of one thing. Elizabeth would never have stepped foot into a stranger's vehicle. So she must have known or been.

acquainted with her killer. The Rocky Mount community was saddened that no one claimed Elizabeth's body or seemed to care at all about her. This inspired the support group murdered or missing sisters to hold a memorial service for Elizabeth.

The group was formed to support the victim's families. Elizabeth's autopsy report wasn't released until December 2009. Without an official cause of death, the police refrained from calling it a homicide. While the medical examiner said the cause of death was undetermined,

he reported that the discovery of unclothed female remains in a remote area is highly suspicious for homoidal violence. Toxicology analysis of a hair sample showed Elizabeth had used cocaine, but the medical examiner didn't know what role, if any, played under death. Residents of Rocky Mount were beyond frustrated and worried about family members that may have been involved in sex work or were involved with drugs, to the victim's families, the investigation of the murder seemed to be going nowhere. Police finally announced that they believed a serial killer was responsible for all of the murders.

Then in early September 2009, investigators arrested 31-year-old Antoine Maurice Pittman and charged him with one count of first-degree murder in the death of, Tehera Nicholson, the fourth victim found in Western Edgecombe County since 2003. Diana Nicholson, Tehera's mother, cried tears of joy and relief when she found out and told the telegram, I'm so happy. They found the man who killed my baby. I still just want to know why he did it. Antoine Pittman was born in Rocky Mountain on July 15, 1978 to Gloria Pittman, a single teenage mother. Gloria was only 18 years old when she gave birth to Pittman at Edgecombe General Hospital, which is now Vident Edgecombe Hospital in Tarborough.

Family members helped to raise him. Those who knew Pittman described him as a normal child. His first brush with the law came at the age of 16, when police charged him with the attempted rape of a two-year-old. According to the Rocky Mount Telegram, as part of a plea deal, he was convicted of taking indecent liberties with a child, a lesser charge. He was sentenced to spend time in North Carolina's impact probation program,

a 90-day military-style boot camp for young offenders, but he was booted out of the program one month later for trying to start fights. Pittman was then placed under house arrest with Gloria, where he was to serve out his probation. But he violated his probation in January 1996, and a judge ordered him to serve 15 months at the Western Youth Institute in Morganton. While there, he racked up new, numerous infractions and was punished each time with solitary confinement.

After Pittman's release from the facility in 1997, he had a string of arrests and convictions for assault, underage possession of alcohol, resisting an officer, and robbery. In 2003, he served 45 days in jail for failing to register as a sex offender. The following year, he was convicted of driving while impaired. In 2007, Pittman was accused of soliciting sex workers, but the charge was later dropped after the arresting officer left the department. In April 2009, Pittman failed to appear. In a Nash County courtroom on a drunk driving charge, he avoided authorities for several months before Nash County deputies arrested him on August 12, 2009 for driving with a revoked license and failing to register. his address as a sex offender.

While in the Nash County Jail, Edgecombe County deputies charged him with Tahrara Nicholson's murder after Pittman's DNA matched DNA found on Tahrara's body. He then became a strong person of interest in the other murders. Shortly after his arrest, Pittman made his first court appearance in front of District Court Judge Pell Cooper, who granted Pittman a probable cause hearing for September 16th, 2009. The judge appointed two attorneys Tommy Moore and Tom Salinger to defend him. He was transferred to central prison in Raleigh for his own protection and held without bond. About a week later, an Edgecombe County grand jury indicted him on first-degree murder. The indictment negated the

preliminary hearing scheduled for September 16th. In December 2009, profiler John Kelly, who had been studying the case since June, said he believed a cross-strand. dressing man found dead in Rocky Mount in 2006 was likely the victim of the same killer who murdered the five women. Kelly said the fact that the man dressed as a woman could have made him a potential target for a habitual killer who typically stalked women and that perhaps the killer mistook this victim for a woman. In 2006, a fisherman found the body of 24 year old Travis were Regis Harrison, lying in a brush pile along a bank of the Tara River. The body was naked except for socks.

An autopsy revealed that Travis had been dead for at least a few weeks. But a pathologist could not determine cause of death due to the severity of decomposition. After Kelly's statement, Travis's parents revealed that Rocky Mount Police were looking into possible connections between their son's death and the unsolved deaths of the Rocky Mount women. The police later acknowledged, Travis, is a potential victim of the same killer. On March 5, 2010, the remains of Christine Booth were found in a wooded area behind the former Scotland neck home of Antoine Bitman. She had been missing since January 2007. 22 days later, on Sunday, March 27th.

Another body was found along Seven Bridges Road in rural Edgcombe County. It was later identified as that of Roberta Williams, who was 40 years old. She had been missing since 2008, and she hadn't been previously associated as a possible victim of the Seven Bridges Road killer. A man riding as four-wheeler discovered the body

while traveling through a wooded area along Seven Bridges Road. As a result of the discovery, then Governor Beverly Purdue ordered search along Severn Bridges Road. By now, the bodies of nine female victims and one man had been found. Antoine Pittman was known to reside within a few miles of all the victims at different times since the early 1990s. This massive search, ordered by Governor Perdue, involved more than 100 soldiers of the

North Carolina National Guard. It also included Edgecombe County deputies, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, and FBI investigators, as well as volunteer firefighters, horse-mounted police officers, and cadaver dogs. In addition to the Seven Bridges Road, the searchers canvassed along Etheridge Farm Road, a dirt road that connects Seven Bridges Road to 13 Bridges Road, another country road that links the town of Whitakers with Scotland Net.

The search lasted a few days, but turned up no new evidence. On June 9, 2010, GQ Magazine published a lengthy article titled The Lost Girls of Rocky Mount. It was written by Robert Draper. Draper interviewed several people in Rocky Mount, including the mother of murder victim Melody Wiggins. Melody's mother had taken in Melody's son after her death. He periodically asked his grandmother if the police had found his mother's murderer, to which he always replied, no. On November 15, 2008, a tornado engulfed their home. and Melody's son was killed.

He was only 11 years old. Draper also interviewed a cab driver who knew many of the Rocky Mount victims because he had driven them to various places around town, mostly drug areas. The man didn't want his name printed in the article. Draper also interviewed then Rocky Mount Mayor David Combs. In June 2009, around the time the task force was formed, a Raleigh news reporter asked Combs to comment

on the nine women who were murdered or missing. Combs told Draper, I didn't respond. It was July or August before I really knew the extent of what we were talking about. The task force had already been formed by July, and the FBI began their investigation at the end of that month. Law enforcement officials and most likely Mayor Combs knew what they were up against well before the end of that summer. Draper's article on the murders received divided opinions. Combs believed he was negatively portrayed in the story. Simultaneously, Jackie Wiggins, who was the mother of Jackie and Echelia Thorpe,

thought Draper represented the women with dignity. Wiggins told the Rocky Munt Telegram a few days later. He gave the women a real face. He talked about not just their addictions, but how these women were actually engaged in society. They were good people. He was trying to actually put a face other than that. than a mugshot on these women. Only months after the GQ article on Monday, January 10th, 2011, a hunter found human remains

along Battleboro Legget Road in the same area where the bodies of the other women and one man were found. A few days later, the remains were identified as those of Yolanda Snapp Lancaster, who we mentioned earlier in the episode. she had been missing since the spring of 2009. Authorities also announced that a trial date for Antoine Pittman had been set in Edgecombe County for August 29, 2011. After both the prosecutor and the defense team said they needed more time to review the evidence. It was later moved to September.

The trial of Antoine Pittman started in the last week of September 2011 and took place in Bertie County. Antoine took the stand and testified that he had not killed Tahrer Nicholson. Pittman said that he picked her up near Braswell Memorial Library on March 1st, 2009, took her to a hotel, and the two had consensual sex. He claimed he then dropped her off near the library, and that was the last time he saw her. Pitman also claimed Tahrer was the only sex work that he had ever slept with. At trial, two former sex workers testified against Pittman. They both said that he drove them to a dark wooded area where he attacked them and attempted

to strangle the women. One managed to break free and escape. The other woman's testimony turned a little strange. She said that when Pittman tried to strangle her, she fought back, ultimately knocking both her and Pittman to the ground. When Pittman got up, his demeanor had changed, and he seemed to show concern. telling her he was going to take her home. He helped her with her coat, laid the seat down in the car for her, and drove her home,

holding her hand the entire way. This woman said in court that, quote, he asked me to forgive him for what he did to me, and he reached in his pocket and still gave me that $10. He put it in my hand and bawled my hand up with his hand on mine so that I couldn't give it back. Pittman then begged for forgiveness and apologized for attacking her. The woman told Pittman that she forgave him because she just wanted him to take her home. Pittman took her home and walked her to the front door before leaving. Defense attorney Tommy Moore asked the woman,

this man just tried to kill you, just 30 minutes earlier or so, but you let him know where you lived and let him walk you to your door. The woman replied yes. It took the jury less than 45 minutes to deliberate. They found Antoine Pittman guilty of first-degree murder, and he was ultimately sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Pittman was never charged in any of the other murders or disappearances. Antoine Pittman was briefly looked at as a possible suspect

in similar murders and brutal attacks that occurred in Hickory, North Carolina, in March and April 2004. But Hickory Authority said there was nothing. to indicate that there was a connection between the two cases. A man named Derek Colson was arrested in 2006 for those crimes, but charges were dropped in mid-September 2009, shortly after Pittman's arrest in Tahrer Nicholson's murder. So my feeling their morph is that, okay, they've got this suspect in North Carolina. They arrest him, they charge him, but then all of a sudden, Pittman is arrested for murder.

he was looked at as a possible suspect in these other murders. So, you know, my feeling is, okay, a defense team is probably going to be able to use that to their advantage and say, you know, how can you convict my client when this other guy was looked at as a suspect? He's already been arrested for another murder. I mean, my assumption is that's why the charge is. were dropped. Yeah, you would think that they would try and connect these cases together down in that area having similar crimes going on and parallel to each other. On Friday, July 27, 2002,

a local motorcycle club called Street Soldiers honored the support group parents and relatives of the missing and murdered, or prom for short, on its sixth anniversary, the loved ones of the victims formed the group, Street soldiers braved the rain for a motorcycle memorial ride to seven bridges road. The next day, the motorcycle club hosted a charity ride to benefit prom. Roughly 50 motorcyclists rode from the Gateway Complex in Rocky Mount to Clark Park in Tarboro. Afterwards, the group had a cookout and presented $500 to the members of prom.

In 2016, the Rocky Mount. Telegraph printed an article about Joyce Renee Durham, who's still missing. She's the only Rocky Mountain victim never found. She was last seen in the 1500 block of Harper Street at 2.30 p.m. on June 17, 2007. Authority strongly believed that Antoine Pittman killed her. But unless her remains are found and yield some evidence, the truth about what happened to her will remain a mystery. So Morph, as we're wrapping up this case, it's a heartbreaking case.

I mean, you've got a large number of victims. You've got a man in Antoine Pittman who was found responsible for one murder. I don't think there's any doubt that the authorities believe there's a very good likelihood that he's connected to, if not all of the others, if many of them. But I think there's a thought that he is the Seven Bridges serial killer. But the fact that they have never charged him with any of the other murders just leads me to believe that you know they would have looked into it and they've just never been able to find the concrete evidence that would stand up in court to be able to convict him. I think it's easy to see that police would think that it's very likely that there's only one person responsible for all this activity, all these missing and murdered women happening around that Seven Bridges area. But like you said, I think you hit the nail right on the head, that even though they suspect that, they can't prove it.

And it's a shame because all these other families of all these other victims, so far at least, haven't had a lot. day in court to try and find some kind of peace or some kind of justice. And if Antoine Pittman truly is the Seven Bridges serial killer and he's responsible for all these murders, unless they come up with something new, which they likely could at some point in time, the families will never have that day. Now, the one thing that did cross my mind is, you know, we don't know the full extent of the investigation into Pittman when it's, you know, comes to these other victims, right? Not all of that information is released to the press, but they're probably, and I think there is in a lot of cases, a consideration on the part of the

prosecutor, you know, I feel like once they get that one conviction, they're careful because they don't want to bring charges that they're not sure they can prove. And it somehow mess up the conviction that already stands. Does that make sense? Like, could they be opening themselves up for Pittman's defense attorneys to appeal his conviction if, let's say, he was acquitted on another murder charge or other murder charges? That's one thing that kind of went through my mind. I'm sure they're probably pretty careful when it comes to that. They want to get the conviction, but they want to be pretty sure about it. I think what you're saying is they don't want to undermine anything they have against him in this

case that they've already successfully prosecuted or not? Yeah, they don't want to take a chance on messing up the conviction they already have. And again, I'm making assumptions, right? I don't know that. We didn't read that. That's just kind of me riffing. I think we've covered a lot of cases. of murdered sex workers, and they always seem to be marginalized or forgotten and, you know, overlooked. A lot of times by law enforcement, a lot of people think they don't get the same treatment as other members of society where they go all out and the TV people want to talk about them. We even mentioned that a little bit in this episode that the story they were going to run was cast aside.

in favor of stories about white females. Yeah, I mean, I don't think there's any doubt that there's a huge racial component to this story. And many stories like it. I mean, this is something that you and I have seen in research time and time again. I mean, there's even a name for it. They call it white girl, white woman syndrome, where people believe that the efforts to either search for white females is much greater. The media attention that is given to missing and or murdered white females is much

greater. So you have a number of African American females murdered or missing in this area. And I believe the people of Rocky Mount were saying, hey, where is the media coverage for them? Why so much for this one woman. Georgia, right? We kind of pointed that out. You see that all too often in some of these cases. And it's not just perception. I mean, I don't have the facts in front of me, but there are actual studies that have been done about the number of articles written, the number of

television segments done on white victims, especially female, white female victims versus black female victims, there's data that backs all of this up. So it's not just perception. It has been real over the years. And I think it, unfortunately, it continues to be real. I think all of these victims, no matter what race or background or line of work they're in or their social status, in all these kinds of cases need to be treated equally and to have people fight for justice for them. just as hard as any other group of people. Yeah, I agree with you. Every person deserves the same effort.

Now, where I do think things differ and it's not going to change, we talked about some of these victims either had no family. One person was not reported missing at all where, let's say another victim has an extended family and maybe they have more resources. They have ways to get their story out to the public easier. Does that make sense? There's there is some disparity, I think, in certain situations there as well. But I agree with you 100% when you say all victims deserve the same type of effort by law enforcement. And, you know, you can make the argument by the media as well, but the media is the media. And they're going to do what they feel is going to get them the best ratings. It's kind of

hard to control. Thanks, because it to Debbie Buck at TruecrimeDiva.com for writing and research assistance in this episode. As always, if you love the show and you haven't done so yet, take a minute, go out, give us a five-star rating. Keep telling your friends about criminology. That word of mouth goes a long, long way. If you want to find us on social media, we're on Twitter with the handle at Criminology Pod. You can also find us on Facebook by searching for Criminology Podcast or by joining our Facebook discussion group, which is Criminology Podcast Discussion Fans.

So that is it for the case of the Seven Bridges Serial Killer. And that's it for another episode of Criminology. But Morp and I will be back with all of you next Saturday night with a brand new episode. So for Mike and Morph. We'll talk to you next week. Take care, everyone.