Going West: True Crime - Lady of Crescent Lake // 366

Episode Date: December 20, 2023

In the summer of 1940, a woman’s blanketed and hogtied body surfaced in Lake Crescent, Washington, her body having turned to soap in a strange chemical transformation. After identifying her remains,... it was revealed that she was a woman who went missing three years earlier, just days before Christmas. So who killed her, and why? This is the murder of Hallie Illingworth, otherwise known as The Lady of Crescent Lake.  BONUS EPISODES Apple Subscriptions: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/going-west-true-crime/id1448151398 Patreon: patreon.com/goingwestpodcast CASE SOURCES 1. Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/20841050/hallie-brooks-illingworth 2. Stockton Evening and Sunday Record: https://www.newspapers.com/image/843766400/?terms=%22hallie%20illingworth%22&match=1 3. The Oakland Post Enquirer: https://www.newspapers.com/image/1000413154/?terms=%22hallie%20illingworth%22&match=1 4. The Seattle Star: https://www.newspapers.com/image/773679708/?terms=%22hallie%20illingworth%22&match=1 5. History Link: https://www.historylink.org/File/8599 6. Washington History: https://www.washingtonhistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/1992-v6-n2-final.pdf 7. https://www.peninsuladailynews.com/life/back-when-part-2-lady-of-the-lake-murder-mystery/ 8. WikiTree: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Spraker-127 9. Buffalo Courier Express: https://www.newspapers.com/image/973313909/?terms=%22hallie%20illingworth%22&match=1 10. My Olympic Park: https://www.myolympicpark.com/park/history/the-lady-of-crescent-lake/ 11. WNPF: https://wnpf.org/2019/02/05/a-dive-into-lake-crescent-history/ 12. Seattle Times: https://www.seattletimes.com/life/lifestyle/our-deep-lakes-incite-curiosity-and-conjure-legends/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:00 What is going on True Crime fans? I'm your host Teeeth and I'm your host Daphne and you're listening to Going West. Hello everybody! Today's case was recommended by Lida, so thank you so much Lita. This is an older case that occurred during a cold Pacific Northwest winter. Right up Daphne's alley, she loves those cases. My favorite kind, you are right. And this one is both fascinating and disturbing. A lot of mystery in this one. Yes, and I also want to give an exciting little personal announcement. Ooh, look at that smile on the deafness page. You can't see her, but I'm looking at that smile. So I just launched a coffee company. It's called Elders
Starting point is 00:00:54 Coffee. I launched it with my sister and we have naturally flavored organic coffee. It is really, really good and we've been working on it for so long so I'm really excited about coming out with it. But if you want to support, that would be amazing. Actually created a discount code if you want to try it. It's 15% off using the code going west. And we have like strawberry scone flavored coffee and their coffee beans, ground coffee,
Starting point is 00:01:20 coconut lavender, cinnamon bun, and peppermint bark. They're like insanely good. So the perfect flavors for this time of year as well since it's so chilly, you just want to cozy up with a nice delicious cup of coffee so go check out elders. Thanks. Well, let's get into today's case. All right guys, this is episode 366 of Going West, so let's get into it. You stick with the things you love, like working out with Peloton. This holiday season, bring home a Peloton bike, bike plus or tread, and work out your way.
Starting point is 00:02:14 Unleash yourself. Ride, run, box, or freak the hit out. It's your workout, your rules. For Peloton's December offer, head to 1peloton.ca slash deals. I'll access membership separate, terms apply. Whole Trenfrew is sharing joy for the holidays with gifts for everyone on your list, and maybe even a special treat for yourself, too. Discover the new collection for Burberry by Daniel Lee. Add some ambiance with Louis V. Home.
Starting point is 00:02:45 Give Gorpkora try and Solomon Sneakers, and so much more. Whatever presence you pick, we know they're going to love them. Visit a store today or shop at HoltRenfrew.com. In the summer of 1940, a woman's blanketed and hog-tight body surfaced in late crescent Washington. Her skin, having turned to soap in a strange chemical transformation. After identifying her remains, it was revealed that she was a woman who went missing three years earlier,
Starting point is 00:03:30 just days before Christmas. So who really killed her and why? This is the story of Halley Ellingworth, also known as the Lady of Lake Crescent. Halley Brooks' lay thumb was born on January 7, 1901 in Greenville, Kentucky, which is a small town nestled between Evansville, Kentucky and Nashville in the bordering state of Tennessee. Hally was the fourth of ten children born to parents Mary and Phinous Latham, who were a very hardworking family with traditional values. At some point in her teen years, Halle relocated to the state of South Dakota, though whether this was with her family or for her relationship is unclear. Halle seemed to spend her whole life chasing love and companionship,
Starting point is 00:04:38 but sadly couldn't find a guy that could treat her as well as she deserved to be treated. But alas, on September 26th, 1919, 18-year-old Hally married 26-year-old Floyd Spraker in Davison County, South Dakota. Then about a year later, in 1920, they welcomed a daughter named Doris Marie Spraker. For one reason or another, her first marriage didn't work out, and Halley found herself divorced from her first husband by her mid-20s, and, with a young daughter to care for, which at that time was a pretty controversial event in her personal life. But she quickly found love again, this time to Donald B. Strickland, who she married on August 8th, 1932, when she was 31 and he was 23. Sadly, that marriage was even more short-lived,
Starting point is 00:05:28 and Halley found herself divorced for a second time. Eager for a fresh start, Halley headed west for the lush landscapes of the Pacific Northwest, hoping to put her personal life behind her for the time being. It's unclear if Halley brought her daughter Doris, who would have been in her early teens at that point with her to the West Coast, or if she stayed in South Dakota with extended family.
Starting point is 00:05:53 Because unfortunately for their daughter Doris, Halley's first husband Floyd passed away in 1931 at the age of just 38, so Doris staying behind with him was not an option. Halley found herself in Lake Crescent, Washington, which is a picturesque glacier lake known for its fishing and boating, and it's surrounded by hiking trails and a waterfall. Lake Crescent is tucked away inside Olympic National Park on the peninsula, just west of Seattle and bordering the Pacific Ocean, so it is practically at the tippy top of Washington State. After settling in, Halley started working as a server at the Lake Crescent Tavern, which
Starting point is 00:06:35 is now called the Lake Crescent Lodge, right along the water. And it was there that she met a man named Montgomery,. Inlingworth or Monty, who, like Halle's second husband, was younger than she was, this time with an age gap of seven years. That year, which was 1936, Halle was 35 and Monty was 28, which at the time was quite scandalous. He was employed as a delivery truck driver for a beer company and quickly became enamored with Halle during his stops at the restaurant. So they got married that summer just shortly after they met, and they moved into an apartment
Starting point is 00:07:12 together nearby. And neighbors took note of their relationship going bad pretty quickly in reported recurring arguments, even observing frequent police visits to their home. Monty is also remembered as a quote, ladies man, and it's believed that he may have carried out at least one extramarital affair in the year and a half that he and Halle were married. So five months into their marriage in November of 1936,
Starting point is 00:07:38 the couple became involved in a fight so violent that police had to respond to the home to intervene. And afterward, Halle reported to work with co-workers noticing that she had bruises on her face and also on her arms. Co-workers at the tavern recall seeing Halley with black eyes, and at one point, she apparently even confided in them that Monty choked her and had broken one of her teeth. On Tuesday, December 21, 1937, 36-year-old Halley reported to work as usual, finishing her day, and then she left without incident. Now the following day, she was also scheduled to work at the tavern, but she never showed
Starting point is 00:08:20 up for her shift. As time elapsed, Halley failed to check in with her parents, siblings, friends, or even her daughter. And knowing Monty personally, and having seen injuries on Halley in the past, her co-workers were instantly suspicious of her husband. But Monty claimed that he was just as devastated and confused as everyone else at Halley's sudden disappearance. He explained to anyone who would listen that she was constantly dangling the threat of
Starting point is 00:08:48 leaving over his head when they would fight, and that this time she had finally followed through with it, and that there was just nothing more to it, that she was probably fine and had just finally decided to move on. He told her family, friends, co-workers, and everyone around town that Hallie had abandoned him, even going so far as to alleged that Hallie had run off with another man, someone that she had met from Alaska. And maybe it was the era or maybe his story was just somehow that convincing, so months past with no one really looking for Halle or having known what
Starting point is 00:09:26 happened to her, and Monty saw a divorce on the grounds that Halle had abandoned him. He took up with another woman, Eleanor Pearson, who like Halle, was a waitress at an area restaurant. And when they started dating, rumors swirled that he had been seeing Eleanor before Halley's disappearance. Though Monti and Eleanor were never married, they quickly moved in together and considered themselves common law, husband, and wife. So Monti had quickly moved on and sadly neither her friends nor her family seemed to pursue answers in the case of her disappearance.
Starting point is 00:10:03 So no one seemed to be looking for her or questioning Monty's recollection of events. So maybe they did believe that she actually had run off with someone as she seemed to be a hopeless romantic and was kind of constantly seeking love and maybe even validation. And it was also a very different time, so tracking down a missing person, especially if they believe that she had fled to remote reaches of Alaska, would have proven very difficult. But regardless of the reason, Halley remained a missing person for years. But then, on July 6, 1940, two and a half years after Hally vanished. Two brothers outfishing on Lake Crescent in a rowboat spotted a large item bobbing up
Starting point is 00:10:52 and down in the near distance of the water. It appeared as if a hand was breaking the surface of the water. So curious they got closer and beneath the hands suspended in the lake was what looked like a body. But the body had been restrained, bound with rope, and wrapped in blankets. So the fisherman reported their findings to an employee at the nearby docks, who joined them to the site of the discovery. He initially thought it was a deer, but was horrified upon further inspection to find that it was the body of a woman. The three men then reached out to the local corner in the Sheriff, Charles Kemp,
Starting point is 00:11:37 and the five men worked together on pulling the remains from the water. Lake Cresson was already mirrored in dark history and lore by this point. According to Native American legend, the lake was formed by a giant cannibalistic creature, seat co, who resembles Bigfoot. When two area Native American tribes, the squalum and quailute wouldn't stop battling over the area, resulting in mass bloodshed. Seatco broke off a piece of Mount Storm King, which was hovering above the lake. Now in some versions, it's the mountain itself who broke off the piece to stop the fighting.
Starting point is 00:12:17 But in both versions, the rock apparently landed down below in the valley of the battlefield, which stopped the river from flowing and created Lake Crescent. However, it also killed countless warriors from both tribes, dooming them to a fate of being trapped in the lake forever. For this reason, many Native Americans believed that the lake was cursed and refused to go near it, and they also wouldn't dare fish in it. Whether you believe in the legend or not, the lake is shrouded in mystery, with depths of about 600 feet, though some believe
Starting point is 00:12:52 it could plummet deeper than a thousand feet. Ugh, it gives me the shivers. Yeah, I think, uh, crater depth. There's a lake in Oregon that I've been to many times. It's called crater lake, and it's actually 2,000 feet deep. Yeah, and that is the deepest lake in the US. Yeah, super scary, but also extremely beautiful. Yeah, it is gorgeous. So before sophisticated sonar equipment
Starting point is 00:13:20 could be used to test the extent of the lake's reaches, locals refer to the lake as bottomless. It also had a reputation for holding onto its secrets, which included the people who perished within its depths. One article penned about the search for Hally explained, quote, The man in the robot fishing Washington State's Olympic Mountains crescent lake probably knew the legend. The lake never
Starting point is 00:13:46 gave up its dead, tradition held. The dead stayed dead, the dead stayed put in this icy lake, fed by the near freezing mountain streams that bordered it. So the remains of the woman were brought to the garage of the Christman mortuary in Port Angeles, Washington, which is about 30 minutes away from Lake Crescent. Dr. Irving E. Kavini, along with medical student Harlan McKnutt and corner assistant Wilbert Stikes, attempted to decipher her fate, and more importantly her identity. So this case was one of the most unique, perhaps the most unique, that these men had seen in the span of their careers.
Starting point is 00:14:29 So because of the temperature of the water, it was really, really cold, she had been fairly well preserved after all that time. Her skin was still pale and fair, with Dr. Kavini describing it quote, like marble. And sorry for the next gruesome wording, but basically there was no rotted flesh or scent of decay. Her body wasn't bloated or hadn't taken on much water like bodies normally would after drowning or being disposed of in the murky depths of a body of water, which seemed odd.
Starting point is 00:15:04 However, investigators had their work cut out for them as most of her face was missing, ruling out an identification via photograph. Potentially devoured by fish or animals, she was missing what was simply described as quote, the upper part of her face, along with her upper lip and her nose. Her fingers, which had been protruding from beneath the blankets, were also missing, as were her toes, which made fingerprint identification impossible. Before her death, the men surmised that she likely would have been an attractive young woman,
Starting point is 00:15:45 weird, around 35 years old, who stood at about 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighed about 140 pounds. She sported Auburn hair, which was actually still intact. Other identifying factors were her unusually small waist, and a large bunion on one of her feet. And scraps of a green dress that she had been wearing when she was plunged into the water still clung to her body. Her feet were bare and she'd been wrapped in two blankets.
Starting point is 00:16:18 She had then been hogtied with heavy industrial manila rope which was a quarter of an inch thick and bogged down with weights. But this rope, which was likely what the woman's murderer was employing as a failsafe, had actually been what gave up her body. As this rope began to deteriorate over the months that she spent floating in the depths of Lake Crescent, she was lifted to the surface. Now ultimately based on the bruising and elacerations around her neck, it was determined that she had been strangled. She had also sustained hemorrhaging to her chest, proving that she had been beaten before
Starting point is 00:16:59 she was strangled to death. But even more shocking than the discovery of this body was the state in which it was found. Her body had saponified, which is a chemical effect that occurs when an oil or a fat is turned to soap after reacting with an alkali. A pathologist hired to offer his expertise on the corpse recalled the quote, the lake has strong alkalis, which work on the fatty substance of the flesh, and with a purely chemical reaction, turn the body into soap. So left in place of her skin was this waxy substance,
Starting point is 00:17:41 earning her the nickname of ivory soap corpse. According to the examiners, her skin could be, quote, scooped away like putty. Dr. Kavini later explained, quote, quote, I never saw a corpse like this one before. The flesh is hard, almost waxy. She must be nearly as large as when she went into the water. When asked about the strange method of her decomposition, Sheriff Kemper called, quote,
Starting point is 00:18:11 it's more like a statue. The flesh has turned to some rubber-like substance. Which is just nuts. I mean, obviously all this happened naturally with the elements that are in crescent lake by- The chemicals and stuff. Yeah, but across the hundreds of cases that we have covered and You know many of which were found in a body of water never have we covered a case where someone's skin essentially turned to soap Yeah, that's I've never ever heard that before usually it's just we're dealing with you know regular decomposition But this is very very very strange. So strange.
Starting point is 00:18:45 So with identification impossible for the time being, the woman was simply nicknamed the Lady of the Lake. Hold Renfrew is sharing joy for the holidays with gifts for everyone on your list, and maybe even a special treat for yourself, too. Discover the new collection for Burberry by Daniel Lee. Add some ambiance with Louis V. Home. Give Gorpkora try and Solomon's sneakers and so much more. Whatever presence you pick, we know they're going to love them. Visit a store today or shop at HoltRenfrew.com
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Starting point is 00:21:30 Choose one of eight eligible charities, up to $500,000 in total contributions. The community was gripped by the macabre discovery of this ivory soap corpse, wondering who this woman could be and who could be behind her murder. Meanwhile, over the course of the next 18 months, Sheriff Charles Kemp, his deputy Carl Kirk, Clallam County prosecuting attorney Ralph Smith, and criminologist Hollis Fultz teamed up in an attempt to identify the body. Three women were currently reported missing in the area, all of whom happened to match the description of what the lady of the lake probably looked like when she was alive.
Starting point is 00:22:20 But the team gradually ruled out each of these women as a possibility, and all three cases were resolved. Thus, the Lady of the Lake remained a Jane Dell, but Dr. Gavini had one more avenue that they had not yet explored. Upon examining her mouth, it was discovered that she had a bridge of 6th teeth implanted, a fairly recent procedure that likely would have been memorable to a dentist. Acting on this distinctive dental work, authorities printed out more than 15,000 flyers with pictures
Starting point is 00:22:55 of this bridge and information about the victim, distributing them to dentists all over the country. Now, while they waited for tips to trickle in, they examined other aspects of the victim's life, building a profile on her. So based on the bunion that she had developed on her foot, they believed that she had worked on her feet, and was either employed as a waitress or at a laundromat in the area. They determined that she had also had her hair done shortly before her death and disposal, so police ran down the list of local salons hoping to pin her down with a description
Starting point is 00:23:31 to the salon employees. Like they were at work trying to find her name. But still nothing. The Lady of the Lake was buried in an unmarked grave in Port Angeles, Washington, which again is where her autopsy had been conducted, but police were determined to find answers in her unsettling case. Pursuing the possibility that she had been working at a restaurant, investigators contacted the United States Culinary Alliance, which is a union for chefs and food service employees.
Starting point is 00:24:02 The Secretary and Treasurer of this organization, Edgar Thompson, came forward with a few female members who had dropped out of the alliance and let their membership lapse. And one of these women was Hally Ealingworth. After joining the organization and working at a restaurant for a number of years, she had stopped showing up for work, never transferred her union status to another organization, and never made a formal request for withdrawal from the union. So for the first time,
Starting point is 00:24:36 please had this tangible lead. They reached out to a sister of Halle's named Lois, who lived in Walla Walla Washington, to inquire about Halle's whereabouts, and's named Lois, who lived in Walla Walla Washington, to inquire about Halley's whereabouts. And according to Lois, she hadn't heard from her sister since shortly before Christmas of 1937, which was now four years earlier. Lois detailed the story that she was given by Halley's husband Monty, who had since moved from that area, that Halle had fled to Alaska with a naval officer that she had just met.
Starting point is 00:25:11 Lowest also confirmed that Halle had been the recipient of a bridge in her mouth a few years before she had gone missing, making multiple connections to their Jane Doe. But at this point, Monty's whereabouts were unknown. So feeling like they were on to something, investigators reached out to more of Halley's nine brothers and sisters, including her sister, Kami. Now Kami pinpointed the exact last time that her family heard from Halley, which was in the form of a postcard dated December 21, 1937, the last day she had shown up for work. Kami also put them in contact with Halley's dentist back in South Dakota, and thus, the
Starting point is 00:25:56 final connection between the Lady of the Lake and Halley-Ilingworth came through. Dr. Albert J. McDowell, a dentist in Falkton, South Dakota, confirmed that he had performed this exact procedure on a young woman year's prior. The lady of the lake was exhumed and her dental records were compared with the dentist work, and it was a match, and the remains were confirmed to belong to Halley Ellingworth. So after 15 months of hard work, police had officially identified their Jane Doe.
Starting point is 00:26:34 Investigators now not only had an identification but also a murder suspect. Halley's husband Monty. While they put out feelers all over the country for Monty's location, they continued their focus on a local investigation, garnering more evidence to stack against Halle's estranged husband. They located a friend of Halle's named Jesse Hudson, who was working in the kitchen of a nearby lumber camp. Jesse elaborated on the volatile nature
Starting point is 00:27:04 of the Illingworth's marriage, claiming Halley had once told her that they would one day kill each other. And Jesse also remembered that a hotel owner had once caught them in the midst of a violent altercation, in which Monty was on the bed standing over Halley, who was crying and moaning in pain. So after tracing Monty to California due to his work records, the Washington District Attorney enlisted the help of authorities in Long Beach to track him down. An extensive search ensued and Monty was located in Long Beach, California, which is just south of Los Angeles. There he was living with his mom Florence or Flossi and Eleanor, who he referred to as
Starting point is 00:27:45 his wife after having been granted the divorce that he sought on grounds of desertion back in 1938 after Halley disappeared. Ironically, the lawyer who assisted Monty in his divorce was also assisting in finding him to bring him to justice for what he was believed to have done. On October 26, 1941, Monty Ellingworth was arrested and taken into custody by Los Angeles Sheriff's deputies. When questioned, he initially stuck to his original story, you know that he was the true victim of the situation after his wife had run out on him for another man.
Starting point is 00:28:24 But when investigators pressed him about his timeline and whereabouts on the day of Halley's disappearance, Monty began to panic, realizing that police had more incriminating information than they were letting on. He then attempted to break down that last evening for them, explaining that he had been with a friend named Tony Enoce that night. Monty claimed that he and Tony had been in a rowdy party on the evening of December 21st, and that when he had returned early in the morning hours of December 22nd, Halley had picked a fight with him before storming off. But when police located Tony Enoce back in Washington, He had a slightly different version of events.
Starting point is 00:29:06 Tony said that they had been in a party together until around 3.30 a.m. when he had dropped Monty back off at home. The next morning around 9 a.m., he ran into Monty again near a bank in Port Angeles. Monty claimed that he was in route to drop Halliop at the Ferry boat dock in Port Ludlow, which is about an hour from Port Angeles. He told Tony that she was leaving town, and this made three different accounts of that evening that Monty had alleged. Now convinced of his involvement, Monty-Ellingworth was charged with the first-degree murder of his wife, an extra-dited back to Washington to stand trial. On February 24, 1942, his trial began and became an instant media sensation in the area,
Starting point is 00:29:57 like coverage of Monty's arrest and the subsequent approach to the highly anticipated trial, even overshadowed the massive amount of media coverage of World War II at the time. Community members even gathered outside the Clalam County Superior Court hoping to witness the spectacle, and the courtroom was packed with some very curious onlookers. Monty relied on his old defense of feigning ignorance, but with a new twist. He claimed that the dead woman wasn't even hallowed. He did admit to having a fight when they'd last seen each other, but claimed that she had
Starting point is 00:30:36 then stormed out of the apartment to go to work on the morning of December 22nd. When he returned to their apartment, she was apparently nowhere to be found and then never returned. Madji stood by a story that she had frequently threatened to leave him and that fueled by their altercation she had run off with another man and was still somewhere alive. He also denied being abusive but said that Hally made a habit of hitting him. But her co-workers testified on her behalf remembering that they had frequently spotted her with cuts and bruises. Also, for him to claim that this body wasn't her, as if he knows for a fact that she wasn't
Starting point is 00:31:18 murdered, is so fishy, like he is just reaching here. Yeah, and then acting like the victim and being like, oh, she was the one that was hitting me, it's like, dude, you're such a piece of shit. Yeah, and changing your story like, nobody is believing you, Monty. Well, Halle's dentist, Dr. McDowell, also testified for her, confirming with certainty that the dental work found on the recovered body was Halle's. And multiple of Halle's. And multiple of Halle's friends identified the green dress that she had been wearing
Starting point is 00:31:49 as belonging to Halle. But the true confirmation of Monty's guilt lay in the rope that Halle had been tied with. A local shopkeeper testified that on the morning of December 22, 1937, Monty had come in asking for a 50-foot length of thick manila rope used to tie boats to a dock. Monty said that he was towing a vehicle and asked to borrow the rope from the shopkeeper with the promise that he would return it later, but he never did. When investigators compared the rope found around Hally to the rope that was sold in the shop, they were a match. And investigators had that rope to thing for releasing Hally
Starting point is 00:32:34 into the waters of Lake Crescent, and she only floated to the surface after the rope began to deteriorate due to being submerged in water for so long. On March 5, 1942, a jury deliberated for four hours in the case of Monty Ellingworth's involvement, and ultimately found him guilty of Halle's death. He was found guilty of second-degree murder and sentence to life in prison, sent to service sentence in the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla Washington, seven hours away from late crescent. But somehow, Monty was able to be released
Starting point is 00:33:15 for good behavior after serving only nine years of his sentence. So he was paroled in 1951 at the age of 44 and he moved back to California. There he married again this time to a woman named Genevieve and they even had a daughter named Patricia. Monty eventually died in Los Alamedos, California on November 5th, 1974 at the age of 67, which is 30 years longer than Halley got to live. This obviously seemed like a pretty shallow victory for Halley and her loved ones, especially her daughter, who was only 17 years old when she disappeared.
Starting point is 00:33:57 But although she was orphaned at a young age, Doris went on to live what appeared to be a very happy, normal life, marrying a man named Marshall, who she shared two sons and a daughter with until her death in 2011. So what really happened to Halle that morning? Because Monty refused to give any details or admit any wrongdoing, investigators believed that her murder was not premeditated, and that it was like a spur of the moment crime of passion, one that had been threatening to bubble over for the entire year and a half span of their relationship. Investigator Hollis Fultz maintained that a terrible alcohol-fueled fight broke out between
Starting point is 00:34:37 the two in the early morning hours of December 22nd. And then when Monty began to come to grips with what he had done, he knew that the lake was the safest place to dispose of her. Bringing her to the trunk of his car, he then drove to a nearby resort, which is now the log cabin resort, where he covered her in blankets, tied her with the rope that he had borrowed, and then weighed her down before dumping her remains in Lake Crescent. With his faltering stories and multiple stops, it's kind of surprising that no one caught on to what he was doing.
Starting point is 00:35:12 Not to mention the fact that he likely rode her out in a boat and dropped her into the lake in broad daylight. Yeah, like this grown woman wrapped in blankets and rope. Yeah, right. At the time of the trial, many locals actually believed that Monty had not acted alone, and that he may have had help from a friend or even his new partner, Eleanor, who seemed to just be waiting in the wings for Halley to make her exit. But this, along with many other aspects of the nearly 100-year-old murder are details that we will likely never know.
Starting point is 00:35:56 Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West. Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode and on Friday we'll have an all-new case for you guys to dive into. Such an interesting and of course devastating story. There are a few photos associated with it, so if you want to check those out and photos from all of our other episodes that we cover, head on over to our socials, Instagram, at Going West Podcast, Twitter, at Going West Pod, and we're also on Facebook. And also don't forget to check out Elders Coffee. It is honestly so amazing. The packaging is beautiful. The flavors are magnificent by yourself some today or by some for a friend or a family
Starting point is 00:36:38 member. Thank you, Heath. Remember, I am offering a discount code. If you want to try, the code is going west. We have coconut lavender flavored coffee It's all naturally flavored strawberry scone peppermint bark and cinnamon bun. They are so so good So if you'd like to support me in that way, please go check it out elderscoffeeco.com Thank you guys so much for tuning in. We love you and we'll see you on Friday. All right guys So for everybody out there in the world, don't be a stranger. Thank you.
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