Going West: True Crime - Addie Hall // 353

Episode Date: October 31, 2023

In October of 2006, police responded to a call about someone jumping from the roof of a New Orleans hotel. When they arrived, they found a note in the man’s pocket, confessing to committing a horrific crime just streets away. But when police reported to the apartment in question, the circumstances of the crime were more shocking than they’d imagined. This is the story of Addie Hall and Zack Bowen. BONUS EPISODES Apple Subscriptions: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/going-west-true-crime/id1448151398 Patreon: patreon.com/goingwestpodcast CASE SOURCES https://vocal.media/criminal/the-horror-house-of-new-orleans https://medium.com/p/6802cff46eb6 https://ghostcitytours.com/new-orleans/ghost-stories/zack-addie/ https://www.ranker.com/list/zack-and-addie-new-orleans/patrick-thornton https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/18823332/adriane-mathias-hall Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is going on True Crime fans? I'm your host teeth and I'm your host Daphne and you're listening to Going West. Happy Halloween everybody! Yeah, happy Halloween our favorite time of year. Unless you're listening to this after November 1st because I think we can all agree November 1st is like the first day of Christmas. That's what everybody believes. Yeah I feel that way personally. Anyway thank you guys so much for tuning in. I hope you're gonna have some fun tonight if you are listening on

the day. Please be safe. Today's case was recommended by Lee. So thank you very much, Lee. This is a horrific story out of New Orleans from October of 2006. Yes, very, very tragic story. But also, I wanted to note that if you're looking for a fun and spooky episode for the end of spooky season, we just covered our favorite bonus episode yet,

which is called, I See You. Very, very creepy, very, very fun. That episode includes stories of a suspicious Craigslist post, a creeper outside of a cabin, someone underneath your bed, the smiling man on the street, a killer in the elevator, and a stranger at the car window.

So if you want to listen to that episode, it really is my favorite thus far, I think. And 98 other full-length bonus episodes, all of which are true crime cases, except for our latest one, I see you, which was just a fun collection of true scary stories for the season. You can do so by trying the free trial on Apple subscriptions and Apple podcasts or head over to patreon.com slash going west podcast and subscribe there on any device. I think that's all the news that we have for you guys again. Please be safe out there for Halloween and let's get into today's episode. Alright guys, this is episode 353 of Going West, so let's get into it. In October of 2006, police responded to a call about someone jumping from the roof of

a New Orleans hotel. When they arrived, they found a note in the man's pocket, confessing to committing a horrific crime just streets away. But when police reported to the apartment in question, the circumstances of that crime were more shocking than they'd imagined. This is the story of Addy Hall and Zach Bowen. Adrian Matthews Hall, who went by Addie, was born on January 15, 1976. Now unfortunately, it's been reported that her upbringing in North Carolina was quite abusive.

We don't know much else about her childhood other than the fact that sexual abuse was involved, and that this led to various abusive romantic relationships as she got a bit older. This also led to her being a heavy drinker, so this young woman suffered quite a bit in her short life. We also know that she dropped out of high school to travel around the country, teaching ballroom dancing and salsa. And then she eventually moved down to New Orleans, Louisiana, and this proved to be a great choice for her originally,

as she started to find a community for herself where she could really express her wonderful, free, spirited artistic side and be the sharp, witted, and funny young woman she was. And New Orleans was a great place for her to grow as a poet and dancer and artist, so she loved it there, specifically the French Quarter. By age 29 in 2005, Addy was working as a bartender in the French Quarter, and that's where she met fellow bartender and co-worker, Zach Bowen.

Now Zachary Morgan Bowen, who went by Zach, was born on May 15, 1978 in Bakersfield, California, making him about 2 and a half years younger than Addy. He had two older brothers, and they all moved around a bit while they were younger, and then eventually when Zach was a teenager, they settled into California's central coast region with their mom Lori after she left their dad Jack, who abused alcohol during the boys upbringing. In school, Zach was known to be pretty funny and charming and well-liked, bit of a class clown, and he was even up for homecoming king during a senior year of high school. But he didn't win, and in general, reportedly felt like a bit of a failure, and like he

wasn't really cut out for school. So he dropped out, left California, and moved up to Portland, Oregon with his father for a little while. So after Zach and his dad took a trip to New Orleans together, they stayed for a while. And reportedly, they absolutely loved it, especially Zach. So when he turned 18 in 1996, he got a job as a bartender and cemented himself into the community, making friends and even meeting a young woman named Lana Shupac. Now Lana, who was about 28 years old at the time, was actually from Dallas, Texas, and

was just visiting New Orleans on vacation. But this little vacation fling turned into a full-blown relationship, and Lana ended up moving to New Orleans to be with Zach. The weird thing was that Lana didn't know Zach's real age. She didn't know that he was 10 years younger than her, because he had lied about it. And this lie lasted months, and even after she became pregnant with his child the following year. But before their son was born, she learned the truth and actually broke things off with

him. But Zach got word of the baby being born and he started showing up and even proposed to Lana, saying that he wanted them to be a family. So after he put it out there that he wanted them to be close and become a family, she agreed and at age 19 and 28, Zach and Lana married. Shortly after the birth of their son Jackson, Lana became pregnant again and they welcomed a daughter Lillie the following year. Although Zach was working a lot bartending and just trying to help support their little

family, he felt that he needed to step into a more mature role, so he worked towards getting his GED, and he enlisted in the army, where he truly felt like he belonged. But after a few years moving from bases in Germany and Kosovo alongside Lana and the kids, he was deployed to Iraq, where he witnessed some truly horrific and unforgettable things, like watching his best friend die on duty. So eventually 27-year-old Zack was honorably discharged and he moved back to New Orleans with Lana, but the things that he saw during the war would change the course of the rest of his life.

Because of the deep trauma that he endured in Iraq, he and Lana's relationship suffered and things went even more downhill for them when he met Adi Hall at the Hogsbar in the French Quarter, which is a now closed dive bar. Now, at first, Adi didn't consider Zach her type, particularly because he had been in the military and she grew up with a Vietnam veteran as a father, so she was very familiar with how that had affected him. But soon enough, she was crazy about Zach, like they just worked very shifts together and she got to know him and they really hit it off.

But it just seemed like Zach was definitely that type of guy that lied to women to kind of come off better because when they started their relationship, Addy had no idea that he was married with two children. Yikes. Yeah, that's probably something that you want to disclose right off the bat. But it's just like how he lied to Lana about his age originally because he wanted to make it work and, you know, so it's like he's doing that all over again. Sure.

But when Adi did find out, because of course she found out, at this point she was already in love with Zach and just felt this very deep conundrum of what to do, because she didn't want to be with a guy who would hide something so serious from her, but she was head over heels for him. So she was fine with kind of accepting that he had lied to her, and I think he had probably said to her, oh, we're not really together and whatever, like you probably were splitting up. Exactly.

So when Zach chose Adi over Lana, Adi was ready to get serious with him, and Lana filed for divorce. So she was totally blindsided by him, and Lana filed for divorce. So she was totally blindsided by this, of course, Lana was. And all of this was even more stressful with the fact that it was happening as Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana. And I know we've talked about Katrina on the show before, and a lot of you guys live in the United States and are very familiar with it, but for those who are not familiar, it is regarded as the third most catastrophic hurricane in US history.

But at the time it hit, it was regarded as the second worst, because now the second slot is Hurricane Maria, which took place 12 years after Katrina in 2017. Hurricane Katrina is estimated to have killed over 1800 people and caused over $100 billion in damage along the Gulf Coast. So during this horrific time for the area, Lana was trying to shelter somewhere with Zach and the kids, and this is when Zach officially told Lana that he was staying with Addy. So he's making that decision instead of staying with his wife and two children he wants to be with his new girlfriend and shelter with her.

And that's exactly what he did. Yes, and so he and Addy sheltered together just the two of them and their love reportedly really launched during this scary time together. So when the hurricane finally ended, Zach and Addy got together with their community to try and rebuild and get help to their city. And as things slowly started to get somewhat back to normal in New Orleans the following year, things between Zach and Addy began to fall apart. Addy got a job at a place called the Spotted Cat, which is still standing and described

on Google as, quote, a weathered bar and intimate jazz venue hosting live acts on a tiny stage for a standing room crowd. So it's located on the famed Frenchman street in the Marini, which is a bustling well-preserved neighborhood right next door to the French Quarter. And then Zach got a job at a grocery store nearby. The two were constantly fighting at this point, and drinking and doing more drugs together in a part than they ever were before. Yet Zach was also becoming overly possessive of Addy, and they both thought that the other person was cheating, which is never a good scenario if you're constantly pointing the finger at your partner saying, hey, you're cheating and they're doing the same thing to you.

Well, a big reason why Zach thought this, which, you know, wasn't true, but basically I said earlier that Adi loved to dance. So at the bar that she worked at, she would kind of dance on the bar a lot and, you know, try to make tips, which a lot of bartenders do and servers do, you know, that's like part of the business is making those tips. So she would do that and he would come in and see it and just be totally not okay with that behavior. And thinking that her dancing to make tips meant that she was cheating on him. So it became this whole other thing

where he is accusing her of things that she is not doing. Right, and the jealousy was basically attached to the possessiveness. Exactly. So things became incredibly tumultuous as 2006 rolled along. And by fall of that year, Adi had reportedly told friends that she had had enough of the drama and toxicity

and was really ready to leave Zach. Yeah, and this was about a year after Katrina, because Katrina took place in August of 2005. So a year ago, from this point, things were really great between them and starting to blossom. But as, you know, that the months roll along of a new relationship, that's when you kind of start to realize whether or not this person is right for you and Adi just feels like Zach is not the one.

Yeah, and on top of that, Zach was feeling the exact same way, actually. So he booked a train ticket all the way to Washington, so across the country, and then moved down to Portland, Oregon to spend a few weeks away. And he was prepared to move there and start a new, but the idea of getting Adi back and being near his kids was something that he just could not get out of his head. So he returned to New Orleans, Louisiana, and made things right. Now at first, he and Addy were doing fantastic.

They were happy, they were falling back in love, but as September approached, he was showing this possessive jealous side again, which Adi could not stand. But the problem was that in September, Adi got evicted from her apartment, so she needed a place to stay. And although she apparently wanted out of her relationship again, she and Zach decided to get an apartment together and just see things through. They quickly found a little place to rent above a voodoo shop called the Priestess Miriam's voodoo spiritual temple, which is right where the French Quarter bleeds into Marony.

But here's when things got a bit tricky, because it seems like Adi was using Zach for his security deposit, because as soon as he paid it with his savings, she signed the lease in her name only only without immediately telling Zach and requesting to the landlord that Zach not be on that lease. And I think she just did this because she really needed a place to live and she was trying to get out of this relationship and even though she kind of did use him for his money. At this point, he had also just recently before moving. He had hit her for the first time and so there was physical abuse involved. Yeah, and he was very emotionally abusive as well. It seemed so she just kind of used this opportunity to be able to move after her eviction and finally try

to get away from him. But obviously, he's not going to be happy when he finds out that he's not on that lease when he was planning to be. Because then this would mean that he would have nowhere to go. So when he did find out that she was ready to kick him out, he became infuriated. So this was all happening at the beginning of October, and the landlord was aware of this argument by the way because Zach had gone to him and said hey what the hell I need to be on the lease and the landlord's like you have to figure that out with Addy that is not up to me. Yeah not his problem. Yeah so so there wasn't anything that he could do about it because Addy had already signed

the lease so she didn't want Zach staying there, he wouldn't be allowed to. Now this conversation between Zach and the landlord took place on Thursday, October 5, 2006. And that was the last day that Adi was seen alive. The day after this, Adi didn't show up for her shift at the spotted cat, which was very unlike her. And it was also unlike her to fail to answer her boss's calls, so her boss became concerned right away.

But while Addy was nowhere to be seen, Zach was out at bars and hanging out with friends as usual, though he reportedly missed work on October 6th as well. The excessive partying went on for over a week, with Zach's friends noticing that he was picking up the tabs and spending more money than he usually would. Addy wasn't a big point of conversation amongst the friends, but apparently, when he reached out to Lana wanting to see her, he told her that he and Addy were over and that she had left town. On October 16th, 2006, just over 10 days since Adi had last been seen, was the last time

that Zach was seen. Because the next day, October 17th, 2006, New Orleans police reported to the scene of a call regarding a body found on the roof of a hotel parking garage. Business notifications getting out of hand, buried under an avalanche of customer emails, texts, and social media messages, keep your edge with Thrive Small Business software and never miss a message again. Thrive offers one solution to communicate, market, and run your business, which simply small businesses run better on Thrive. Get Command Center for free today at thrive.ca. That's THRYV.ca.

Terms and conditions apply. Free plans have limited functionality. At 8.30pm on Friday, October 17, 2006, a call came into the New Orleans Police Department about a body on the roof of the Omni Royal Orleans Hotel. So this hotel is a four star, seven story hotel with a rooftop observation deck featuring a pool and a bar. Perfect for relaxing with fantastic views of the city around you. But the call that came in was a troubling one. That someone had jumped from the hotel's rooftop bar, landing on top of a neighboring parking garage, multiple stories

below. The person who laid there deceased was 28 year old Zach Bowen, who was very easy to identify because of his army dog tags, but suspiciously, he had a note and a key in the pocket of his pants, and the note was addressed to the police. The note which was signed by Zack stated quote, this is not accidental, I had to take my own life to pay for the one that I took. This note also included the address to an apartment on North Rampart Street, which was Addie's little apartment just above the voodoo shop just a few streets away. As police investigated the scene, they were told by a bartender that Zach came in alone

and ordered multiple drinks from the rooftop bar, acting very nervous. And the bartender was actually worried that Zach was going to like drink and dash. So he watched, Zach nervously paced while he got progressively more drunk. And not long after that, he made the fatal jump off of that roof. Other officers immediately traveled to the apartment on the note and were granted permission to enter by Addie's landlord. Completely unaware of the unthinkable scenes of horror that they were going to walk into. Upon entry, police first took note of the spray-painted messages across the interior walls,

which included things like, total failure. I love her. Call Lana Bowen. Help me stop the pain. I'm sorry I couldn't finish and terrifyingly look in the oven. But when police got to the oven in the kitchen, spray painted on the white appliance in black letters was don't look. Now this next part is definitely gruesome so if you're sensitive to crime scene details we suggest you skip forward 30 seconds. Because inside the oven on trays were the severed arms and legs of what police would come to find belonged to 30-year-old Addy Hall and they even appeared to be seasoned with herbs that there was no evidence of actual cannibalism.

On the stovetop, there was a large pot containing Adi's head, while another contained her hands in feet and her torso sat in the fridge. And as police continued around the apartment, it was clear that the dismemberment had been done in the apartment's bathtub, though he had since cleaned it and police soon came to realize as well that before this occurred, that committed necrophilia multiple times before falling asleep next to her body. Which obviously is just like a whole other level of sick and twisted. Yes, it is. But I also want to say that he slept in that apartment

and continued to be in that apartment for four days after he killed her. Yeah, and was going out, partying, spending money, and just drinking. And please also took note that the air conditioning had been on full blast to 60 degrees Fahrenheit or 15 Celsius to keep the room cold and likely to slow down that the air conditioning had been on full blast to 60 degrees Fahrenheit or 15 Celsius to keep the room cold and likely to slow down the decomposition process of Addie's

remains. But the notes did not stop there because there was another note found in that apartment also written by Zach that stated quote, this is Monday, October 16th 2am. I killed her at 1am Thursday, October 5th. I very calmly strangled her. It was very quick. Halfway through the task, I stopped and thought about what I was doing. The decision to halt the first idea and move to Plan B, the crime scene that you're now in, came after a while. I scared myself, not by the action of calmly strangling the woman I love for one and a half

years, and then desecrating her body, but by my entire lack of remorse. I've known for forever how horrible of a person I am, ask anyone, and decided to quit my job and spend the $1,500 in cash that I had being happy until I killed myself. So that's what I did. Good food, good drugs, good strippers, good friends, and any loose ends that I may have had. I didn't contact any of my family, so that'll explain the shock. And had a fantastic time living out my days. It's just about time now, Zach Bowen.

Because of the state that Adi's body was found in, although they knew it had to be her, it was incredibly difficult to identify her body, but they were able to eventually do it. And that was kind of it. Like they buried her, her gravestone says poet on it, but it's difficult because she wasn't close with her parents. You know, she didn't have any family nearby.

There was really no investigation because he killed himself and confessed. Right, he admitted to doing it. And everything was there. He said, just like you read it just now. He said how he did it, why he did it. So there's really nothing else to look into, and that was kind of that. But obviously it goes without saying that when Lana was given the news of the murder and

suicide, she was beyond shocked and disturbed. I mean, because you also have to think from her perspective, if he had stayed with her, would he have done that to her instead? You know, I'm sure that crossed her mind. Right, and she's also got children with him as well. Yeah, and just knowing that her kids could have been in danger at some point. Like, it's just a fully terrifying realization here. But also, I mean, for the most part, she remembered Zach as a charming good man,

and he did have some issues with drinking and drugs, but overall, a decent person, mostly until he did have some issues with drinking and drugs, but overall a decent person, mostly until he got back from the army. But it's not like he was necessarily this stand-up guy who went to the army and he came back all kind of messed up from it. Reportedly he was kind of a piece of shit in other ways. And obviously we can even go back to his own letter. He said, I've known for forever how horrible of a person I am, ask anyone.

And also the fact that he even admits that he was scared of himself that after doing everything he did to Adi in that apartment that he felt no remorse. But here's the thing, he did feel remorse in a different way because he took his own life. He did feel remorse in a different way because he took his own life He said he said I have to take my own life because of the life that I took So in a way it feels like that is a little bit of guilt or well like he knew he did something wrong right? Exactly that's what I mean and to clarify I am definitely not on his side But I'm just saying that it's weird for him to say that he didn't have any remorse

But it feels like he did. But he had enough guilt to take his own life. Right. Or I wonder if maybe he just knew he wasn't going to get away with it and didn't want to spend his life in prison. So that was his way of getting out of it and also kind of giving up his life like he said for the one that he took. Because he is very well aware that taking somebody's life is not okay, but clearly in the moment that he was doing it didn't feel bad about it, which is horrifying. Well, yeah, and, you know, not to get too far off on a tangent, but to talk about another

case that we covered and many other cases that we've covered, a lot of times people will take the easy way out instead of having to go to prison. We talked about that with Brian Laundry and Gabby Petito. He took his own life as well because he knew that they were eventually gonna catch up with him and he was gonna go to prison forever. So yeah, you know, you know. But actually just like in Gabby Petito's case,

it is very rare that there is this confession letter. You know, usually he could have gone to prison and maybe he admitted that he did it, but it feels so rare that even when killers do admit that they're guilty, they don't really break it down for you. You know, so the fact that he wrote, put the noteness pocket and said, go to this apartment, you'll find everything you need. And then went into detail about what he did to her. Obviously, he didn't go into like detail necessarily, it was just a paragraph,

but still, the fact that he did that is kind of crazy, because we really never see that, but it did give all the answers that police kind of needed. It really does feel like, some sort of movie like 7 or something, because just the fact that there was spray paint all over the walls, there was notes left behind, there was directions like very very creepy and very eerie. Yeah like all of his scattered thoughts and actually regarding that it is believed that during his time in Iraq, Zach developed severe PTSD and fell into serious trouble with his mental health, which just got progressively worse as time went on until he hit this breaking point.

And as you can imagine, the news was incredibly horrifying for their family and friends to learn about too, as well as the entire city of New Orleans, and everybody that they had served and met there over the years. I mean, a lot of people said that Addy was their favorite bartender in the city, so this just shocked the entire area. The apartment above the voodoo shop on North Rampart has been rented out since the tragedy, but reportedly, various tenants reported hearing voices and feeling watched while inside. Today, the apartment is being leased by a voodoo priestess who has turned the apartment into

someone of a museum showcasing Addie's murder. The Sins Deep Clean department includes the original stove where visitors often leave offerings behind like many liquor bottles, coins, dollar bills, and cigarettes. Now obviously it feels import taste to us to do this. Yeah, I think that's really, really disgusting. Yeah, it is. And obviously, you know, Addy's friends agree with this, that it just doesn't feel like an okay thing to do. But the owner Mary has stated that she feels

it's an important thing to offer for tourists to understand the long-term effects that Hurricane Katrina had on residents, including Addy Hall and Zach Bowen. But that feels like an excuse to me. That is such an excuse. That's just a way of getting around any sort of controversy there.

But I mean, at the end of the day, it's in very much port taste. I completely agree. Well, the apartment has also gained interest by paranormal investigators alike, including the show Paranormal Lockdown that featured Addy's apartment in a 2017 episode, where they claimed to sense a presence in the bathroom

and the smell of something burning. So yeah, so it seems like a lot of people are turning Addy's devastating and untimely death into something like light and Fun, but really it was a horrible tragedy that the city and those close to Addie and Zach will never forget Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West. Yes, thank you guys for listening to this very tragic episode of Going West, and on Friday we'll have an all new case for you guys to dive into. Yes, I know this episode was a little bit shorter than usual, but there just wasn't, I mean, there's a whole book about this case, technically.

There's a lot of details, but I think it just kind of goes into the nuances and also more of Zach's general background. There's a lot of information on his background that it didn't feel was necessarily relevant. But if you do want to read like every possible detail on this story, the book is titled Shake the Devil Off, a true story of the murder that rock New Orleans, and that is written by Ethan Brown. So thank you again, leave for recommending this story to us. Thank you everybody for tuning in. If you want to see photos from this case and every other case that we cover, head on over to

Instagram, we're at Going West Podcast, Twitter at Going West Pod, and we're also on Facebook. And don't forget to check out that Patreon and Apple subscription episode. I see you. It is so fun. It's very creepy. It's very entertaining. I think you guys are gonna love it.

I'm like passionate about that episode. I love that episode so much. It's a great one. Yeah, so go subscribe, listen to it. We also have 98 other full-length bonus episodes. The rest are true crime stories, but we wanted to have a little bit of fun with ICU for the End of Spooky season.

So check it out. Happy Halloween. I don't know if you guys know the true crime podcasts Love Murder. They are good friends of ours and Andy invited us to a Halloween party tomorrow. We're thinking about going, but we're also two lazy people

who might just sit on the couch and watch our movies and order pizza. I just had two back-to-back music videos, two days in a row of shooting like 12 hours a day, so I am exhausted. Those are gonna be so good, and we will tell you guys when Heath's music comes out because his music is amazing.

Oh, thank you so much. And it is under the name ghostly, if you wanna check it out now, but he hasn't really sent a music, so maybe just wait until we tell you. We'll be dropping it soon. We'll be dropping it soon. We'll be dropping it soon. Alright guys, happy Halloween.

Happy, we're almost Merry Christmas, a.k.a. November 1st, and we'll see you on Friday. Alright guys, so for everybody out there in the world, don't be a stranger. 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5%

1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% Thank you. you