Every Town - The Most Extraordinary & Strange Mystery Involving A Mother and Son Ever

Episode Date: February 21, 2025

Today we’re looking into those events that unfolded in this small, sleepy community that turned it into a vortex of tragic happenings with an ending that feels like this story was destined to be no matter what anyone did. So let’s head on over to Harrington and explore the very odd death of Dorothy Donavan. 👀 Watch This Episode On Youtube: https://youtu.be/urkC3iCYWNY 👁 Check out our movie AN ANGRY BOY for FREE! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvtlOlODQ8g&t=5238s https://tubitv.com/movies/100029672/an-angry-boy International & Other Ways To Watch: https://www.anangryboy.com/ 💀 MERCH: https://scary-mysteries.teemill.com/ 💀 Free 7 Day Trail on Exclusive Episodes, Podcasts & Perks! https://www.patreon.com/scarymysteries   🎧 Our Other Podcast Scary Mysteries: https://open.spotify.com/show/3ZooEZMoZ421WdsOVJhVkT 👁 X: https://x.com/ScaryMysteries1 👁 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andrew.fitzg 👁 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@andrewfitzgerald 👁 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scarymysteriesofficial 👁 X: https://x.com/ScaryMysteries1 🗣 Business Inquiries, questions and comments hit us up at [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Everytown has a dark side. It was a little past midnight in Harrington, Delaware, when Charles Holden pulled into the Hardy's parking lot. After finishing his shift at the DuPont factory on that warm June night back in 1991, he was looking to get his hands on a burger and coffee before heading home. It sounds simple enough. However, within just a few hours, Charles would find himself at the center of a murder investigation, one that involves such a strange series of events and coincidences, that it sounds important. possible to be true, and yet it most certainly is.

Hey guys, it's Andrew, and thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Everytown, where today we're looking into those events that unfolded in this small, sleepy community that turned it into a vortex of tragic happenings, with an ending that feels like this story was destined to be no matter what anyone did. And so, let's head on over to Harrington and explore the very odd death of Dorothy Donovan. The DuPont Company factory in Delaware had its own rhythm after dark. As the night shift wound down on June 22nd of 1991, Charles Holden gathered his belongings, said good night to his co-workers, and walked out to his truck.

Another 11-hour shift complete. At 41, Charles had built a life around routine, work, family, and a small farm he shared with his mother. The factory job paid the bills, while the 160,000, acre farm connected into the land as family had worked for generation. The digital clock on his dashboard clicked at 1230 a.m. as he pulled into the Hardy's parking lot at the intersection of U.S. Highway 13 and State Highway 14. The fluorescent lights cast long shadows across the nearly empty lot. Inside, the night crew was preparing to close, and Charles ordered as usual, my hamburger and coffee. Simple comforts, the end of a long

day. And the restaurant sat at a crossroads that connected Harrington to the wider world, and truckers, travelers, and locals all passed through here. On any given night, you might find farmers finishing late harvest, factory workers ending their shifts or travelers seeking refuge from the darkness of rural Delaware's highways. And tonight, it would become the starting point of a long and drawn-out nightmare. And Charles walked across the parking lot towards his truck, food in hand. That's when the shadow appeared at his window. A man had approached his driver's side door, African-American, slim build, wearing distinctive large plastic-framed glasses and brown dress pants. He had a story to tell as well, that his sister had just had a baby at Milford Memorial,

and he desperately needed a ride there. In many small towns across America, such requests weren't uncommon, and people help their neighbors, strangers included. But this simple act of kindness was about to spiral into something far darker than a trip to the hospital. And Charles was unsure at first to get involved since it was pretty late. And sensing him wavering, the man pressed his case, claiming he was in a big-time bind and could really use the help. And Charles explained to him that he lives nearby so he couldn't take him too far. And again, the stranger insisted. Against his better judgment, Charles agreed to take him part of the way there. The men drove off together, and about three miles down Highway 14 is when everything changed.

At the intersection by Killen Pond Road, well, Charles pulled over because this was his turnoff, just a half mile from his home. But in reality, he stopped there because despite the story and the pleas, he still felt something was off and didn't want to show the stranger exactly where he lived. Nothing in particular was said or done. It was just a feeling in his gut. He regretted ever agreeing to this and just wanted out of the situation. So he pointed to a nearby phone booth,

the one he had seen hundreds of times before, suggesting his passenger could call for another ride, perhaps a taxi. However, at that point, the man's demeanor shifted in an instant. The kind stranger act that he was putting on faded away fast. And at that point, with the engine still idling, he told Charles that he had a problem and that under no circumstances

was he going to get out of that truck. It was a crossroads for Charles he could give in and just continue driving, hoping for the best. He wasn't going to get pushed around by just anybody, especially not a stranger. And he stood his ground, reiterating that he wasn't going any further

and that the man needed to get out of his car immediately, and that was that. Before Charles could even see a coming, a fist connected with his face and then it was on. And he fought back, and fists flying in the confines of the truck's cab as Charles tried to defend himself, until suddenly the stranger's hand found a screwdriver on the floor, one Charles always kept for repairs, and began using it to stab him in a violent fit of rage. Charles reacted instinctively. He grabbed his keys out of the ignition, and there's no way he was giving up that truck. He jumped out just to get away from the danger.

The man tried to drive away, but of course couldn't. And what followed was a desperate chase on foot, when the man got out to chase down what he needed. And Charles ran to nearby Blake's garage, hoping to find help, but the business was closed. He pounded on the windows, but still no one was there. The man pursued him, brandishing that screwdriver, saying, I'm going to kill you. I'm going to kill you right here.

He demanded Charles hand over those keys. In a moment of quick thinking, and Charles then pretended to surrender. Both of them bleeding and exhausted. He told the man he would take him wherever he wanted to go, but he couldn't give him that vehicle. As they walked back to the truck, and Charles saw his opportunity, rushed to the driver's door, jumped in, locked the doors, and sped away before his attacker could reach the passenger side. And Charles drove in the opposite direction of his property, making sure he wasn't followed, hoping to lose any trace of the man who was still looking to kill him.

After several minutes, a driving around back road, convinced he'd lost his pursuer, and he finally turned towards home. And he couldn't have been more wrong. It sounds like a scene in a movie, but when Charles finally turned up his driveway at 1.19 a.m., the site before him froze him in place. And there, illuminated by his headlights, stood the man who attacked him.

And the stranger was methodically moving around, on Charles' trailer, peering through each window, seemingly searching for a way inside. And that's a real moment Charles knew we needed backup, real help. He backed his truck out and headed to the nearest payphone, which was back at the Hardee's, where he then called the police. A low-priority call, and that's how they categorized it. A man who had been attacked, whose mother wasn't answering her phone, whose property was being stalked by an unknown assailant.

Somehow this didn't warn an immediate response in rural Delaware that night. For the next hour and 40 minutes, and Charles stayed in that Hardy's parking lot, alternating between calling the police dispatcher and attempting to reach his mother. In terms of the cops, well, he needed them there before he went back. I mean, this guy wanted to kill him. And for each call to the house, well, those just went unanswered. It wasn't until 3 a.m. that Corporal Mir McKinney arrived at the pay phone,

and together with Charles, they headed over to his house. homes. They drove past his trailer and didn't see anything amiss, but that wasn't their main concern. That's when they noticed something at the main farmhouse, just 60 feet away that made Charles's stomach sink. It was a broken window right next to the back door. Inside the farmhouse, Charles called out to his mom who usually waited up for him to come home from work, but just like the phone calls, there was silence. Up the stairs he went, in one of the bedrooms, and there she was. 70-year-old Dorothy Donovan was lying on the floor dead, having been violently stabbed in the chest and face more than two dozen times. It was a very bloody and brutal crime scene. Blood everywhere. My butt splatters throughout the bedroom.

The revelation that the victim was Charles' mother turned the investigation on its head. Detectives found his story almost impossible to believe. I mean, what is more plausible? That a random guy, that Charles picked up and gotten an altercation with, then randomly found Charles's home and killed his mother before fleeing. Or, that Charles had committed the act and then created this false story as a cover-up to his crime. And the brutality of the wounds indicated that this was more than just an accidental victim. It was an act of rage with clear intention. This is what I would consider to be overkill. And this can suggest that this is a person that has a close relationship. with the person and knows that person and is very intimate, could possibly be intimate with that person.

It was a broken window, but there were no signs indicating a robbery. Her purse sat untouched, cash still inside. Drawers remain closed and cabinets untouched too. No signs of ransacking, no evidence of someone searching for valuables. The forensic team worked through the night documenting every detail. They found blood spatter throughout the bedroom, but the rest of the house remained eerily pristine. A bloody palm print marked the banister leading upstairs. And more blood, not belonging to Dorothy, stained a light switch in the living room.

This was a brutally violent crime with no apparent motive. Just violence against a helpless, elderly woman who, according to her family, had no known enemies. The investigators, the lack of robbery evidence, pointed to something more disturbing. This wasn't a random breaking gone wrong. Someone had entered that house with the sole purpose of killing Dorothy. And Charles told him the story about the strange man who had asked him for a ride, but they weren't buying it. You're telling us about a black man who assaulted you at the intersection and then minutes later murdered your mother. That's what you're trying to get us to believe.

And I'm saying it's just not logical. I don't think it's basically possible for that black man to get from that intersection. to your house, kill your mother, in the time it takes you to ride from your intersection to your house. It's just not possible, Charles. It's not believing. The case against Charles was seeming to build. Before this happened, Dorothy Donovan was a well-known figure

in the town of Harrington, and she lived there her whole life. She'd been married and widowed twice, but each time she bounced back with incredible strength. Along the way, she raised three children, Charles, Brenda Alexander, and Diana Reinhart. And she lived in the main farmhouse while Charles occupied the trailer, keeping a watchful eye on his mother.

However, he had financial problems and investigators soon discovered he was the beneficiary of his mother's recently acquired life insurance policy. And when he refused to take a polygraph test, well, suspicions deepened. What does he have to hide? If he truly doesn't have anything to do with his mother's... death, why not take it? Anytime someone refuses to take

a polygraph that always adds suspicion to that individual what's he trying to hide. Maybe he didn't kill his mother, but maybe he knew who did. For Detective Gregory Noelt and his team, Charles Holden's story didn't add up. However,

it was the physical evidence of the crime scene, and surely that had to help reveal the truth. On the banister of the farmhouse, investigators found that bloody palm print. Clear enough to be useful, it was fragmented but detailed. When they compared it to Charles's prints, they got their first surprise. Not a match.

The second piece of evidence came from a light switch in the living room. Someone had left blood there as well, presumably, after cutting themselves while breaking the window. The blood wasn't Dorothy's, and it wasn't Charles's either. Still, investigators weren't ready to completely clear. clear Charles. I mean, maybe he had hired someone. And they went back to Hardee's determined to verify if this mysterious man ever existed. And what they found changed the entire direction of the case. Well, first came the physical signs of a struggle on Charles himself.

His face showed clear injuries consistent with the fight he described. The more telling were the burns on his wrist, exactly where he said his coffee had spilled during the scuffle with the hitchhiker. These weren't injuries someone could easily fake. And then multiple witnesses came forward. They remembered the man in the parking lot that night. Tall, slim, wearing distinctive, large-framed glasses. He had actually approached several people asking for rides before.

Charles agreed to help him. The restaurant staff then confirmed seeing him get into Charles' truck. Another witness reported seeing something even more significant, a man chasing Charles at the intersection where he claimed the attack happened. And these details all match Charles's story perfectly. So the police now had a real suspect to chase. African-American male, late 20s to early 30s, 5-8 or 5-9, about 150 pounds, slender build with a pockmark complexion.

They have worn brown dress pants, brown plaid shirt, and those distinctive oversized glasses, They assembled a photo lineup, and Charles picked out Rich Mitchell, a local man with arrest for forgery and petty theft, and three other witnesses from Hardee's identified him too, but there was a problem. Mitchell had a full beard, and the hitchhiker had been clean-shaven. When they tested Mitchell's prints against the bloody palm print, there was no match. For 14 years then, this case remained unsolved. killer's bloody palm print and DNA sitting in evidence storage. And in 2004, everything changed.

Advances and forensic technology opened up a new door of possibilities. The DNA from the crime scene was uploaded to CODIS, which stands for the combined DNA index system. It's a national database that connects DNA profiles from across the country, helping law enforcement agencies match evidence from unsolved cases with convicted offenders or suspects. It was a game changer for investigators because after years of dead ends,

in November of 2005, the breakthrough finally came. There was a match, and the DNA that had been sitting in the database for over a year had finally linked to a name, giving the investigators the lead they had been waiting for. This was our home run hit, if you will. It was great. I mean, we were ecstatic.

I really couldn't believe it. It was only in there, for one week and now she's calling me back and telling me that already we have a match. Gilbert E. Cannon, a 41-year-old career criminal from Del Marrille, had left his DNA in the system after serving time for other crimes. At the time of Dorothy's murder, he had been living in Delaware, accumulating convictions for robbery, theft, escape, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, burglary, and assault. After leaving Delaware, he served seven years in a Maryland prison for drug charges, robbery, and a 1997 murder.

The pieces started falling into place. The police pulled Cannon's photos from around 1991, and resemblance to the composite sketch was striking. The same build, the same features that witnesses I described. But Cannon had disappeared after his release from prison in September of 2004. It would take some time, but on January 18th of 2006, investigators finally caught up with him at his girlfriend's house. When confronted with Dorothy's murder charge, Cannon initially denied everything.

The evidence was overwhelming. The evidence was overwhelming. A bloody palm print matched his hand perfectly, and his DNA was on the light switch, and the witness's descriptions from that night matched his appearance in the So I'm confronted with all this, while he then finally confessed. Basically, I went out. I mean, I don't know whether it's the drugs or what or whatever.

Honestly, I mean, I don't have any reason to lie about it now. I didn't have to say this. Sure. On the nighting question, high on cocaine, Kannon wasn't looking to go to a hospital to see his sister and newborn nephew. He had been looking for more drugs. After Charles sped away and left him at that intersection, he started walking down, Killing Pond Road. He passed several houses, but noticed they all had lights on.

Looking for a place to sleep while he stopped at the first dark house he found, thinking no one was home, Dorothy's farmhouse. A tragic coincidence that would cost her her life. And the screwdriver he had grabbed from Charles's truck ended up being the weapon he used in the murder. When he broke through the back door and Dorothy woke up. up, while he attacked her, scared she might recognize him later on. After that, he just left. As he was trying to escape, well, that's when Charles saw him from his driveway and went to go get the police. Charles had no idea in the moment, but his mother had just been attacked minutes earlier. Charles Holden had been telling the truth all along. His incredible story,

dismissed as too implausible to be real, had been vindicated by science and science. time. For several years, Charles's sisters hadn't spoken to him, unable to understand why he'd given a ride to their mother's killer. But with Cannon's confession, the family began to heal. In 2007, Gilbert Cannon pled guilty to first-degree murder, was then sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He always maintained that it was just a sad coincidence. He didn't know that the woman he killed was the mother of the same man he had tried to hurt her. earlier for not giving him a ride in his truck. We were just ecstatic.

I thank God. I'd always believe that God would, that God was there for us, that justice would be, that would be found, no matter how long it took. In the end, Gilbert Cannon's capture proved what Charles had been saying all along. And sometimes the most unbelievable story turns out to be true.

Sometimes coincidences, a line in the worst possible way. And sometimes it takes 14 years in the study march of science to prove it. So that's it for this week's episode of Everytown. I hope you all enjoyed it. If you want to watch this episode, click the link in the description

or visit Scary Mysteries on YouTube. For exclusive podcasts, plus an entire library of additional episodes, go to patreon.com slash scary mysteries. You can sign up for a free trial and even buy some bundled episodes as well. Remember to come back next week for another episode, but with scary, strange, and mysterious stories.

Because you never know. Maybe your town will be next.