Going West: True Crime - Lake Waco Murders // 46

Episode Date: November 26, 2019

In 1982, three Texas teenagers went out to watch the sunset over Lake Waco and didn't come home by curfew. When the night passed, their families feared the worst. But that following evening, their bodies would be discovered at a different park across the lake, and an intense investigation would begin. This is the story of the murders of Jill Montgomery, Raylene Rice, and Kenneth Franks. This is the case of the Lake Waco Murders. ______________________________ Anaheim investigator Julissa Trapp is not like other detectives. She’s the only woman on the homicide squad, and a skilled chameleon: undercover cop in vice stings, crime-scene commander, patient confidante of killers. A master interrogator, she invokes her personal experience – and deepest griefs -- as a tool to elicit confessions. When a young woman’s body is found at a trash-sorting plant, Trapp learns the murder may be linked to the disappearance of three other women in nearby Santa Ana. Trapp embarks on a dark journey that brings her face to face with a man who takes “a little piece of her soul.” Listen now at: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1485636621 ________________________ *Case Sources* https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/the-murders-at-the-lake/ https://www.wacotrib.com/news/crime/last-lake-waco-triple-murder-defendant-dies-in-prison/article_0e671f9a-4171-594a-987c-82199afd628c.html https://www.kcentv.com/article/news/crime/sons-of-man-executed-for-lake-waco-murders-sue-texas/433127124 https://historydojo.blog/2019/09/23/the-case-of-the-lonely-loser/ https://murderpedia.org/male.S/s1/spence-david-wayne.htm Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is going on Truecrank fans? I'm your host Tee. And I'm your other host Daphne. And you're listening to Going West. Let's kick this off as usual with some five star reviews that we got this week on Apple Podcast. Thank you so much to Ali from Idaho and Sherry from Arizona. In a big thanks to Joe from Butler, Pennsylvania and Audrey from North Carolina. Thank you so much to Megan from Alabama and Danielle from Michigan.

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All right guys, you know what time it is. This is episode 46 of Going West, so let's get into it. The The name is Acuters of Initiating 1982 Murder Plot that left teenagers Juman Gunry Rayleigh and Ryse and Ken of Frank's dead. The name is on trial and cleaver to form a gunry's murder. The prosecutors are trying to prove that Gunry was mistaken for her method of toll, where is an unguile county. Stagen for the preventative toll resident Gail Kelly Channel Werner David Spitz is one of the four-bed charts with a torture at Killing 13 Andrews, Der Lea, Lake, on 1982 Prosecutors calls the Bonsch murder for higher scale Kenneth Franks was born in Tyler, which is a small city in eastern Texas on February 16, 1964, to parent Sandra and Richard Franks.

Growing up, Kenneth had a tough time in school due to being dyslexic, and he was put in special education classes throughout his school career and didn't get good grades at all, which made him resent school. When he was 11 years old in 1975, his parents divorced which only made things worse for Kenneth because it made him act out and rebel even more. But his parents couldn't tell him why they were splitting up since Kenneth was so young. Richard, Kenneth's dad, worked for a Waco-based paint company and traveled much of the time for business reasons. But on his travels, he cheated on his wife Sandra countless times and she found out about

it. So they did marriage counseling for about two years before finally deciding to split up for good. When they separated, Sandra decided to stay in Tyler, Texas, whereas Richard moved to Waco, Texas, since his job was based there anyway. Originally, Kenneth and his younger brother Curtis stayed with his mom, which Kenneth didn't like because he was two and a half hours away from his dad. But after about a year, Sandra and her sons moved to Lake Jackson, Texas because Sandra

got a new job and began dating a man named Byron, who was divorced with a young daughter of his own. Kenneth disliked this even more because he was now three and a half hours away from his dad, and he hated the fact that his mom had a new man in her life. Because of his consistent rebellious attitude and behavioral issues, Kenneth went to live with his grandparents for a while in rural Texas, which he actually enjoyed. But they didn't feel like they could give him the supervision and parenting that he needed, so Sandra and Richard sent him to the Buckner Baptist Children's home in Dallas where he lived for a year and a half until

the age of 15. At this time, he was kind of starting to shape up a little bit more, and his mom agreed to let him move back in with her in Lake Jackson. But that didn't really last very long because within a year in Lake Jackson, Kenneth was already back to his old habit. So in the fall of 1980, Sandra sent Kenneth to live at the Methodist home in Waco, Texas, since they raised their children in a Methodist church. Kenneth didn't mind this too much because he'd be closer to his dad, but he hated it there for a while. The Methodist Tom is a big brick building that houses children under 18, and it sits on a 130 acre lot.

So while Kenneth was living there, he was also attending Waco High School, and after about six months, he started almost liking living there because even though there were a lot of rules, he was making a lot of friends and he had his independence. He also used this opportunity to get closer to his dad. They hung out all the time and I think that this really improved Kenis' behavioral issues overall since he had a lot of general resentment and anger because of the divorce. So getting closer with his dad I think helped him heal a little bit. So Richard even ended up telling Kenneth why

he and Sandra split up, and Kenneth apologized to both his parents for his past actions, and accepted the whole situation. Through his friend Gail, he was introduced to another girl who also lived at the Methodist home, and her name was Jill Montgomery, and was about a year younger than him. They really began liking each other and started spending a lot of time together. Kenneth even bought Jill a ring to imply that they were going steady. He told his dad how excited he was about her and how he even loved her. So just after Kenneth's 18th birthday in 1982, he asked his dad if he could move into his house. He liked being with his friends at the Methodist home, but since he was 18, he was free to decide

where he wanted to live. And since Kenneth had been doing really well behaviorally for a while, Richard happily let him move in. Jill Montgomery was born on April 9, 1965 in Waxahatchee, Texas, to parents Nancy and Rod Montgomery. Jill also had a pretty rough childhood and a strangely similar story to Kennet's. She also was found to be dyslexic early on and had a lot of trouble doing well in school. While she was young, she had a little bit of a speech impediment which made her incredibly self-conscious and, in turn,

she pretty much never spoke up in class and wasn't outgoing in school. Over time, she would start getting better grades but skipped up in class and wasn't outgoing in school. Over time, she would start getting better grades, but skip school a lot so she could watch TV and listen to records with her friends. Her parents divorced early on, and she lived with her mom, who worked as an admin assistant for Placid Oil Company, on Lake Waxahatchee, while her dad Rod owned a granite company in the Waxahatchee area, so she got to see both her parents very often. But much like Kenneth, Jill resented her mom and always wanted to live with her dad.

But when she finally got her wish, she realized he was much stricter than her mom and begged to make the switch again. Jill became a lot less insecure she got into high school and began making a lot of friends and also meeting boys at this time. She was a beautiful small town girl who loved rock music, fashion, and going on adventures with her buddies, but she still struggled a lot at home with her mom. So finally at the age of 16, her mom Nancy recommended the Methodist home, and as I just said, Jill loved adventure, so she was originally super

excited about the chance to live somewhere new and meet new people. But she was faced with a harsh reality for the first three months as she adjusted to a whole new way of life. And no time she was thriving there, but missed walks a hachee and even her mom. They too got closer with the separation and visited each other often. The Methodist home was proving to be really great for Jill. She was dating Kenneth who took her out on dates and let her ride on the back of his motorcycle. She was working a job at the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum. She was doing really well.

In June 1982, Jill took a weekend trip with her older brother Brad and his wife Gloria to visit the Six Flags theme park in Arlington, Texas. They had a great time and ended up going back to Brad and Gloria's afterwards to have dinner and stay the night. While Jill and Gloria were getting dinner ready, Jill took a pocket knife out of her bag, which surprised Gloria. She asked Jill why she would ever carry a weapon on her and all Jill said was protection. The following day, Jill and her suitcase made a surprise trip to Waxahatchee to see her

mom, but she ended up sobbing and explaining that she didn't want to go back to Waco and that she missed home. Her mom was a little bit confused because as far as she was concerned, Jill was having a great time in Waco, so she didn't know what happened, but regardless, she called the Methodist home and explained that Jill would be moving back to Waxahatchee. Jill was back in good spirits after a couple weeks and was really looking forward to the upcoming school year. She applied at a barbecue restaurant in hopes of making enough money to get herself some cute new clothes for her senior year of high school.

While Jill and her mom enjoyed dinner one night in July, Jill asked, what do you do when you love someone who you know isn't good for you? Nancy asked if the question was regarding Kenneth and Jill said yes. Her mom told her to follow her heart and use her head. The following day, which was Tuesday, July 13, 1982, Jill told her mom that she wanted to go to Waco so she could pick up her final paycheck from work and get some records she left behind at the Methodist home. Nancy was hesitant at first because she didn't want Jill going by herself, and she also didn't

want Jill's 13-year-old sister Monica to be a home alone all day. But Nancy ended up dropping Monica at her sister Jan's house and Jill asked her friend Raylene Rice to join her on the hour-long road trip. Raylene agreed and offered that they take her car since Jill didn't have one of her own. At about 12.50 pm, Raylene and Jill set off for Waco, promising their parents they would be home by dark. And Raylene Rice was born on December 11, 1964 in Alamagordo, New Mexico, to her parents Raymond and Samily, and she had a sister named Ray Nell. Her and her family moved to Waxahatchee, and she became friends with Jill in school. And at this time in the story, she was 17 years old just like Jill was.

Once the girl's got to Waco, we know that Jill picked up her paycheck and got it cashed out. She hadn't seen Kenneth in a few weeks and he was completely heartbroken that she had left. But since Jill and Raylene didn't have to be home until dark, they had a few hours to have fun. It was very hot that day, nearly a hundred degrees in Texas, and Kenneth was in summer school.

Later that day when he got home to his dad's house, they hung out for a bit before Kenneth left to pick them up some dinner from Waterburger. While Kenneth was out, Jill called the house asking for him, but Richard explained that he was picking them up a couple burgers with fries, and that he would be home shortly. After Kenneth got back, Jill called again telling him she was in town and wanted to see him. Since Kenneth was in love with her, there was no him she was in town and wanted to see him. Since Kenneth was in love with her, there was no way he was passing up a chance to hang out with her.

So he finished eating with his dad and got ready for the night. Jill had asked Kenneth if he wanted to join her and her friend Raylene at the local park so they could all watch the sunset. Kenneth called his friend Bobby to see if he wanted to join, explaining that Jill was bringing her cute blonde friend, but he was grounded so he couldn't come. Since Kenneth's motorcycle was in the shop, he asked his dad if he could borrow his car, but Richard didn't want him to use it even though the park was only a mile away.

Richard then asked Kenneth if he just wanted the girls to come over and that they could use the pool, but the girls just then offered to pick Kenneth up instead. The biggest reason Richard didn't want Kenneth to go out is because the next day was a Wednesday, so he would have summer school again and he didn't want him to miss his class. But Richard gave him a curfew of midnight and he was on his way. Interestingly enough, Kenneth's dad Richard went for a drive by the lake that night. After enjoying some burgers with Kenneth, he watched TV. After Kenneth went out, he was going to watch a movie and relax for the evening, but

felt like a drive was a nicer idea. He even drove past the entrance of Cone Park on his way to Midway Park, which was just a couple miles away, where he sat in his car and watched boats go by at about 8.30pm. And by the way, we don't actually know if that's how the park is pronounced. I'm not sure if it's Cone or Coney. Yeah, we called about 8 businesses surrounding this park to try to figure out how to pronounce it and nobody knew what it was, so we tried. So we're just going to go with Cone Park.

But anyway, at this point, the sky was pretty much dark since the sun began setting at 7.30pm that evening. Richard later told police that he lost track of time and didn't get home until just after midnight, and that's when he noticed that Kenneth was not home yet. By lost track of time, he was apparently just sitting in his car and enjoying the view for three hours. Richard waited up for a bit, but at about 1am he went to sleep. He wasn't too worried about Kenneth because he'd done this so many times before, but he just hoped that he'd be back in time to get to school. Randomly at about 2.30am, Richard woke up and realized that Kenneth still wasn't home. So now he was upset,

but just to be sure he got up and went to Kenneth's room to see that his bed was made and he was nowhere in sight. 4am came and Richard was getting angrier but also kind of worried. As far as Kenneth told him, they were just going to Cone Park to watch the sunset. And Jill had to get back to walks a hatchy, so it didn't make sense why he wasn't back yet. That's when he decided to get in his car and drive down to Cohn Park to see if he could find the kids. As Richard pulled through the gates, he noticed an orange 1977 Ford Pinto in the parking lot, and it was the only car there. He knew that it was Kenneth's friend's car, so immediately started thinking that someone else had picked them up, and they went somewhere

else since he didn't see them in the park and it was really dark. So he kept driving through the area to see if he could catch any sign of them, but he didn't. What he did see though was another car in the vicinity where he had parked earlier that evening in Midway Park. There was no one inside but it had been broken into and some of the cars' doors were open along with having smashed windows. Richard had a CB radio in his car, so he used it to tell a stranger to call police.

I wonder why he had that in his car. From what I know about CB radios, when my dad was growing up, he explained to me that his parents, my grandparents, had used CB radios to talk to other people on the road, and that it was pretty common for people to use them, and even going so far as to explain that these CB radio users would all meet up for potlucks and things like that when they would get a chance. So, I feel like the CB radio is probably normal for 1982. I guess that makes sense because Richard did travel a lot, so he probably used it to be

less lonely on the road kind of thing. Yeah, I kind of think that the perception of using a CB radio is kind of guided towards truck drivers, but I think that a lot of people actually had them in their cars at that time. I know that my grandpa was a truck driver, but he also had one in his own car. At this point, it was approaching 5 a.m. and Richard was still waiting in the park for police. When they arrived, Richard told them that he had been out looking for his son and was

getting worried after not finding him and his friends, and then he stumbled upon an abandoned car. The reporting officer got a little more information from Richard regarding Kenneth, Jill, and Raylene, and then got Richard's contact information so he could let him know if he spotted the kids around. But this wasn't an official missing persons report. So as the sun was starting to rise a bit, Richard went back to Cone Park to see if the kids had returned. When he saw Raylene's Ford Pinto still parked, he went to take a closer look.

There wasn't anyone in the car, but the passenger side door was unlocked. He opened it, and the driver's side front seat was pushed forward. So nothing too strange here since the car had only two doors, and Kenneth, who was sitting in the back seat, would have gotten out by pushing the front seat down. But then Richard noticed Kenneth's keys poking out of one of the back seats headrests that it was wedged in, and this struck Richard with both confusion and concern, because it was such an odd place to put his keys, especially since they had his motorcycle key and his house key on him. So he didn't know why Kenneth would take off without them.

And then he remembered that he used to tell Kenneth that if he was ever in a dangerous situation, he should hide his keys. Despite the fact that it was so early in the morning, Richard raised back home to call all of Kenneth's best friend's houses to see if he was there. He even knocked on Stranger's doors. No one had heard from Orrstein Kenneth or the girls, so he decided to once again go back to Rayleigh's car to see if there was any kind of phone number for her parent stashed inside. The only thing he found was an address for a Raymond Rice, who was Raylene's father. He looked up his phone number when he got home and called him only to discover that Raylene's

parents also were panic that their daughter didn't return home. They gave him Jill's mother's number, whose name is Nancy, and Richard then called her, and she answered immediately. They all had the same story, up all night waiting for their children who didn't come home by dark. Richard went down to the Waco police station and filed a missing persons report

for his son Kenneth Franks, as well as Raylene Rice and Jill Montgomery. All the parents, including Kenneth's mom Sandra, waited by their phones at home to wait for any kind of call. But the day turned into night and no one heard a thing until 9.30 pm when an officer called Nancy Jill's mom and told her he would be over in a few minutes. She was surrounded by family and this call made them fear the worst. When the officer arrived to the door, he explained that Jill, along with Raylene and Kenneth, were all dead.

As soon as she heard these words, Nancy fainted. Shortly after the officer named Truman Simon's was headed to Waterburger for some food since he would be working to 1am. But while on the way, he got an urgent call over the radio, explaining that a body was discovered at Speagleville Park at Lake Waco, which was across the lake from Cone Park, where the kids had been hanging out that night. So the quickest way to get from Cone Park to Spiegelville Park is to make the 15-minute drive up the road and across the bridge, but you can also get there by boat.

Waco is a city with around 100,000 people, and that summer they had already faced 12 murders. Spiegelville Park was a beautiful spot for camping, fishing, and hiking. But as officer Simon's drove up to the park entrance, it was chaos. It was approaching sundown, but it was still light enough to see what was going on. There were police cars everywhere as they met two fishermen, the ones who discovered the body while looking for a place to fish. The body was at the base of a tree near the water. The fishermen originally thought that this person was either drunk or sleeping or possibly a mannequin.

It was a male whose aviator sunglasses sat crooked on his nose. As the fisherman got closer, they noticed it was a young man whose hands were tied behind his back, and he was soaked in blood after suffering 20 stab wounds to his body. When Simon's and other police walked up to the dead boy, they determined that it was indeed 18-year-old Kenneth Franks, based on the photo that his dad had provided another deputy earlier that day. After confirming his identity, the deputies then knew that based on their report made by Richard Frank's that Kenneth had been with two girls that night, there were likely

more bodies nearby. The deputies spread out across the park to look for Jill and Raylene, and within just a few minutes, they were found. They first spotted Raylene. She was naked, gagged, and her hands were tied behind her back. She had nine stab wounds to her body, and her bra was tied around her right leg. She had clearly been tortured. It was also determined later that she had been raped, but no semen was found on her.

Nearby Raylene's body was Jill's. She had been found stabbed 17 times, and her throat had been slit. She was also found bound, gagged, and nude, and they later discovered that she had too been raped. Some of their staboons had been fairly shallow, making it seem like this was one of the forms of torture they endured. Out of all the murders these officers had seen, they all agreed that this was the most horrific in brutal. It was determined that Jill had endured the brunt of the horror, so they thought that whoever did this to them had likely been targeting her. Police weren't immediately sure why this crime happened, nor by who, but they quickly discovered that the money from Jill's paycheck that she had cashed that day,

along with both Jill and Raylene's purses, were stolen by their killers. So they began believing that this could have been a robbery gone wrong. But the attack also seemed incredibly personal and sadistic. stolen by their killers. So they began believing that this could have been a robbery gone wrong. But the attack also seemed incredibly personal and sadistic. Police started off by telling the parents that their children had been murdered and then questioned all of them to develop the timeline. Since this news had quickly spread to the newspapers and television news stations, countless people called in to give tips and leads. Many witnesses came forward explaining that they had seen the three teenagers arriving that night at Cone Park, but no one saw them leave.

So no one could determine how they would have gotten across the lake to a different park when they didn't have their car. After searching the park further, they found bud light cans around Rainleens car, but weren't able to lift any fingerprints off them. They tried to determine if someone had picked them up on a boat for whatever reason and taken them to Spiegelville Park, but there was no evidence to suggest that. Nearly 200 people were interviewed, and they just could not figure out what happened to these kids. Nearly two months went by, and they had no good leads on this case, but they were still working at it constantly. Officer Simon's decided to pull all good leads on this case, but they were still working at it constantly. Officer Simon's decided to pull all the files on this case and have a look at them again

and see if there was anything that they didn't follow up on. He came across a tip from a 17-year-old girl named Lisa Cater, who had been living at the Methodist home at the same time as Jill and Kenneth. She had mentioned to police that there was a 23-year-old Middle Eastern immigrant named Munir Deeb, nicknamed Lucky, who worked at a local convenience store that was just across the street from the Methodist home, and he was not a fan of Kenneth. In the past, Kenneth had apparently made fun of Munir's limp and called him names. Another main reason that Munir and Kenneth didn't get along is because Munir had a crush

on Jill and Kenneth's friend Gail. Gail and Kenneth went there a lot together, so Munir originally thought that they were dating and didn't like Kenneth for this originally. Many witnesses stated that when Munir heard that Kenneth had been brutally murdered, he laughed and said that he was glad. None of this had been further looked at by police, so officer Simon's and officer buyer sat down and interviewed Gail Kelly. When they met, officer Simon's was blown away at how much Gail looked like Jill.

He even asked if she'd heard that before, and Gail said yes she had, and many people even asked if they were sisters. The officers finished out their interview with Gail, but later that night at 1am, Gail called officers' simons in a panic screaming, he did it, over and over. She then explained that she and her friend had gone out with Munir that night to see a gory horror film, and that after the movie was over, Munir said, I did it, I killed them. Gail was really good friends with Jill and Kenneth, so she was incredibly confused and upset when he said this. So Munir immediately apologized to her

and told her that it was just all a big joke. This was just less than two months after this girl's two best friends were brutally murdered, so I don't know why he would say that or even joke about it, but I also wonder why Gail went out with Munir knowing that he had laughed after hearing about the murders and that the police were looking into him as a potential suspect. I mean, it's known that they were pretty good friends and co-workers, but I still wonder if she was suspicious of him at all when they went out to the movie.

We forgot to mention that. Munir offered Gail a job and so she took it, so now they are co-workers. And that's why they were close. Gail had also discovered that Munir was planning on leaving Texas because the bank was for closing on his convenience store. This worried police because if he was gone and he actually did commit these murders, they may never catch him. Due to this risk, his arrest was approved, and that's when they interviewed Munir for

the first time. Off the bat, he was very adamant about being innocent and claiming that he knew absolutely nothing about who killed the teenagers and why. The officers were feeling a bit weary about the whole thing at this point because after meeting him, they weren't sure Munir could have carried out the brutal murders of three teenagers. I think it's pretty obvious right away that these crimes had to have been done by more than one person because Kenneth, Jill and Raylene were all young and in shape and they were in an open dark park, so how could one person murder all of them?

Especially since they had died by knife and not by gun. So, I mean, it also appears that the killer or killers took their time because it was clear that the kids were tortured. So, again, I really think it must have been like a small group. So, I see why police weren't too sure about a young convenience store owner who has a limp doing this kind of thing, at least by himself. Yeah, like you said, the park was pretty dark, so I think it would be hard, especially trying to catch three teenagers, possibly running in different directions. It would be hard for one person to catch all three of them, especially like you also said, the fact that Munir has a limp that really doesn't help. And if the girls were raped and they were tortured, they were all bound and gagged, but you

can't bound and gag three people at once, especially if you just have a knife because they can just run off. If you have a gun, then people are scared to move. But if you have a knife, people can run away from a knife kind of thing. So I feel like there had to have been multiple people involved. Right, definitely. So Officer Simon's once again called Lisa Cater, the girl who had originally sent the tip regarding Munir, and asked her if she could think of anyone else who could have done

this crime. Lisa mentioned a 26 year old man named David Spence, who went by the name Chilly. He was in a local biker gang that was known to be pretty dangerous and sadistic, and David would frequent the Rainbow Drive-In, which is Munir's convenience store. Since Gail also knew who David was and vice versa because Gail worked at the Rainbow Drive-In, Officer Simon started believing that maybe David and his gang had committed these crimes, thinking that Jill was actually Gail Kelly. I couldn't find any photos of Gail, so I can't personally confirm or deny if they looked alike, but many people didn't feel like they looked that similar, but agreed that they

could be sisters. So someone mistaking Jill for Gail seems like it may be a little bit of a stretch, but I do wish that we had some photos to confirm. So Munir wasn't completely out of the woods. Simon still thought that he could potentially be involved, so he did a little bit more digging. Turns out, Munir had taken out an accident insurance policy so that if Gail died, he would be paid $20,000. He even listed himself as Gail's common law husband, which was very much not true, and

a common law spouse is basically when you're living with your partner for a certain period of time, you're technically married in the eyes of the law. But Munir and Gail weren't living together. So it just seems suspicious all around why he would submit all of this. But what was his motive for murder, especially since he loved Gail? Please believe that since the bank was going to take his store, Munir would do anything to get the money to keep it. After a few days of convincing, Munir finally took a polygraph and he passed. There was no trace of deception in his answers, but of course, polygraphs have been deemed irrelevant and inconclusive by many, especially since they can't be used in a court of law, so we can't confirm that this proves Munir is innocent. And officer Simon's wasn't convinced it did either.

And his mind, Munir was still very much a suspect, and maybe David Spence helped him. Simon's discovered that David Spence, remember the guy from the Biker gang who went by chili, was in jail as he awaited a trial for aggravated sexual assault. But at the time of the murders, a couple months earlier, he had been a free man. Simon's had a pretty good conversation with David and actually thought he was a nice guy. David told him that in July, he had been working next door to Mooner's convenience store at a place called Berks' Illuminum. He also mentioned that his girlfriend Christine worked there, which is why he frequented so often, so Christine was a co-worker of Gail and Munir's then.

Not to mention it was right next to his job, so since Christine wasn't behind bars like David was, he told Simon that he'd have her ask around and see if she could find out who committed the murders. Because David was in a gang, it was kind of easier for him to find out about that kind of thing. So he knew that Christine could kind of go to the streets and ask people like in that way. David Wayne Spence was born on July 18th, 1956, in the state of Texas, and had a rough upbringing.

His family was very poor, and he dropped out of school before he even got to high school. As a young teen, he smoked a lot of weed, drank a lot of beer, and used endphetamines. He even married a woman at the age of 16, which was legal back then since the age of consent in Texas was 16, and to compare its now 18. They immediately began having children, and by the time David was 18 years old, he had two sons of his own, Corey and Steve. His marriage didn't go very well, though, and the couple split up by the time he turned

20. David continued to rebel against the system, and would rob convenience stores with dangerous weapons, including on one occasion, at the age of 21, when he wielded a hatchet into a shop demanding all the cash in the register. For this, he would serve just over a year in prison. It was after this prison sentence that David would join a biker gang and begin going by the name Chilly.

Officer Simon's began to get closer to the now 26-year-old inmate and they talked about the Lake Waiko murders often. His girlfriend, Christine, wasn't able to find any information about who could be connected to the murders, but David tried to help as much as he could. And he thought that he and officer Simon's were kind of becoming friends, because he was really lonely in his cell, and he really enjoyed the long talks about just about everything under the sun.

But after a few weeks, Simon's informed David that he was a suspect in the murders of Jill Raylene and Kenneth, which confused David, and he stated that he had absolutely nothing to do with it. And also from what I read and article, I believe that David was given privileges to talk to Christine obviously to get information, but that Christine would come back every single time with no information, but they would be on the phone for hours, so it's almost like they kind of were getting this phone time together. Yeah, and I think that was kind of Simon's way of

trying to bribe him, like, oh, I'll let you talk to your girlfriend for hours, you know, or almost in a way where he's trying to become friends with him so that David feels comfortable telling him secret things. Right. And I think that David and Christine kind of abused that power when I think they both knew that Christine probably wasn't going to get any information. A few months had gone by now and Simon's and David continued to talk, but no further leads came about until January 1983, when another inmate named Kevin explained to Simons that David Spence had been bragging to him and

other inmates about killing the teens at Lake Waco. Kevin even told Simons that David had explained specific details of the crime. That Raylene's bra was tied around her leg and that they had been bound with shoelaces, information that hadn't been in the news or the media. But apparently David Spence didn't act alone. His friend and fellow gang member, Gilbert Melendez, was said to have been as accomplice. It was known that previously David and Gilbert had committed sexual assaults together in the past. So this kind of situation can be a little bit tough to believe since it's a he said she said thing and this was all strictly stated by Simon's who we know just really wanted to solve these murders. But then other inmates came forward saying that David was in a satanic cult

and that he was paid to murder the teens but that he had accidentally targeted the wrong people. Another inmate said a foreign man named Lucky paid David off because he was upset about a girl that had rejected him. These confessions aren't taped, so again, it's just all coming from Officer Simon's word, but he went right to Vic Fiesel, who was the district attorney in Waco, Texas, to tell him what he'd heard.

And this issue of credibility came up again when Simon's, who in the story is now the deputy, presented the information to Vic Feezel's assistant. And the assistant explained that the information that he got would not be admissible in court since it was just hearsay. On top of this, they didn't have any evidence that David was the one behind the crimes to back up these claims. Like we mentioned, Simon's wanted this case salt. He wanted justice for the teens, but I think he was so desperate to get answers that he

may have started to create them himself. He had been having another conversation with David Spence about the Lake Waco murders when he suggested that maybe David had two personalities, and that's why he doesn't remember killing the teens. When really, he did. After a long discussion about this, David almost started to believe him. So David told Simons that he didn't remember killing the kids, and then apparently asked Simons if he did. Simons answered, I think you did, to which David responded, why don't I know? Simon's wasn't a psychologist, so it wasn't at all determined at this time that David

had any personality disorders. It was just an idea Simon's came up with. No one on the force was too fond of Simon's methods, but when they re-evaluated the case again a couple months later in March 1983, they agreed that he would be useful due to his strong relationship with a potential suspect. They decided to focus their efforts on Gilbert Melendez, who was the 28-year-old gang member who was friends with David and had apparently committed the murders as well. At that time, Gilbert was in prison for the aggravated sexual assault with intent to murder

charge that we had discussed. And David Spence had received 90 years for it after being found guilty, so he was already behind bars for life. Gilbert consistently stated that he was innocent of all crimes against the teens at Lake Waco, but it doesn't appear that either of them had an airtight alibi for that evening. Deputy Simon's kept pressing Gilbert anyways, hoping that if they bonded, he would confess. Simon's even told Gilbert that if he told the truth, he would avoid the death penalty. In response, Gilbert stated that he had been out there that night,

and that he would testify against David Spence for the murders of Jill, Kenneth, and Raylene. Simon's was ecstatic and shocked. He just hoped that he could actually get the truth out of Gilbert, so he went and grabbed his tape recorder so he could get this confession on the record. Gilbert began to unravel the entire evening. On the night of July 13th, 1982, so just eight months earlier, Gilbert explained that David had been driving them around

in his station wagon, and they ended up going to Cone Park to continue smoking weed and drinking. They saw two pretty young girls and a young man hanging out at the park, so they started talking to them. David invited them into their car to smoke and drink, and the three teens hopped in. Suddenly, David was trying to have sex with Jill and ended up raping and stabbing her right there in the car. He then did the same thing to Raylene. Kenneth was the last to die.

Then, David and Gilbert drove across the bridge to place the bodies around Spekowell Park, where they were found the next day. Simon's immediately showed the tapes to the other officers working on the case, but they noticed some discrepancies. The first was that when the murders occurred, David wasn't driving a station wagon. He didn't even get the station wagon until two weeks later. As police asked for even more details, they noticed a lot more missing pieces. They also noticed that Gilbert took himself completely out of the crime. He made it seem like he watched David do all of this, and that he didn't rape or kill anyone, which struck the police's odd.

When police started pointing out these holes in Gilbert's story, he took his confession back and stated that he had nothing to do with the murders at all. Another month went by until any new information came about. Another one of the district attorney's assistants named Ned came to Simons and explained that he might be able to find out whether or not David Spence committed the crimes after discovering in the autopsy reports that Raylene and Jill had been bitten during the attacks. So Ned wanted to see if those bite marks matched up to David's mouth. So they had a mold taken and and obviously teeth are always shifting,

but it had only been about eight months, so they would still be accurate. Just a few days later, after sending the mold of David's teeth to a forensic odontologist named Homer Campbell, they got the results back. Homer was positive that it was a match. More witnesses came forward, claiming that David had told them that he committed the murders. At this point, everyone on the force, including the DA, finally believed that David Spence was guilty. But they still knew that he didn't do it alone. Gilbert's younger brother, Tony, who was 24 years old,

had been in police custody at the time for rape and robbery. Other inmates had come forward explaining that they heard Tony saying that he had been at Lake Waco the night of the murders, even though he told police that he had taken a job painting apartments that day. But after he failed a polygraph, police weren't sure of his innocence. In late November 1983, so nearly a year and a half after that fateful night, police were confident that they knew what happened. Munir wanted Gail dead, so he hired David Spence to murder her. David recruited some friends, including Gilbert and his brother Tony to help him carry them out, and they murdered

Jill and her friends in a matter of mistaken identity. All four were arrested for three counts of capital murder and a weighted trial for the Lake Waco murders. David Spence's attorneys were convinced that all of David and Simon's unsupervised discussions had been manipulative and unfair, and they believed David was being set up for something that he didn't have anything to do with. Before the trial even began, Tony, Gilbert's younger brother, pled guilty to all charges in exchange for a life sentence to avoid the death penalty. Afterwards, Tony wrote a confession and stated that he, along with his brother Gilbert and friend David Spence, raped and murdered Jill Montgomery, Raylene Rice, and Kenneth Franks.

On June 18, 1984, nearly two years after the murders now, the Lake Waco murder trial began in Macleen and County. Family members from all three victims were present, hoping to get answers and justice for their loved ones. Again, the state was fighting that David Spence and Tony and Gilbert Melendez set off to murder Gail Kelly after being hired by Munir so he could collect on her insurance reward. But they accidentally killed Jill instead and then proceeded to murder Kenneth and Ray

Leigh since they were with Jill. Many witnesses took the stand stating what they had heard David tell them regarding their deaths. Their case wasn't very strong considering how much of the evidence was circumstantial. The only piece of physical evidence that they had was the bite mark analysis, since everyone's bite marks are different. But at the same time, there was no other physical evidence. No blood, no hair, no DNA at all, that would put David, Tony, and Gilbert at the scene

of this crime. Another piece that the defense pointed out, thanks to the help of an insurance salesman, was that the kind of insurance that Munir supposedly wanted to cash out on, was a very common kind of insurance used by employers. Also, David knew Gail Kelly. He saw her all the time at the convenience store, so how would he mix the two girls up? Turns out, there was another man who could have committed these murders. His name was James Butler.

The defense wanted to make the court believe that he and a man named Ronnie Brayton had killed the teens because someone had spotted Ronnie in bloody clothes after that night when he was supposedly out fishing. When James got to California, he had been arrested for the rape and attempted murder of two teenage girls. But since the defense didn't have any physical evidence of these men committing the murder, the judge stated that it was irrelevant and didn't let them discuss it. Two weeks into the trial, everyone made their closing statements, and just two hours later,

the jury had come to a conclusion. David Spence was found guilty of the triple murder and was given first a life sentence, but was then sentenced to death. Next, the state had to try the rest of the men involved. The following January, in 1985, Gilbert Melendez wrote a 16-page confession and pleaded guilty. He stated that Munir agreed to pay them $5,000 to kill Gail. A few weeks later, after Gilbert testified in court that he, his brother Tony and David had murdered the teens after being hired by Munir, Munir Deeb was found guilty and was also given

the death penalty. Gilbert and Tony Melendez received life in prison and avoided the death penalty because of their confessions. David continued to maintain his innocence and tried to appeal his case without luck. After almost 13 years on death row and April 1997, David's spends was executed via lethal injection for his crimes. His last words were, first of all, I want you to understand I speak the truth when I say I didn't kill your kids. Honestly, I have not killed anyone. I wish you could get the rage from your hearts and you could see the truth and get rid of the hatred. I love you all, Corey, Steve. This is very important. I love y'all and I miss y'all.

Corey and Steve are his children who at the time of David's death were the ages of 21 and 22. Gilbert Melendez died in prison due to AIDS complications in 1998, so about a year after David's death and his brother Tony passed on January 13th, 2017. Munir Deb was retried in 1993 because they didn't believe it was fair that his conviction came solely from the testimony of an inmate, and there was no other real evidence that he was involved. He was acquitted and released from prison, and he moved to Saudi Arabia to be with his

parents. Six years later, in 1999, he died of cancer. If you'd like to learn more about this case in even greater detail, check out the book Careless Whispers, The Lake Waco Murders by Carlton Stowers. And there's still a lot of controversy in this case because of the fact that the forensic odontology wasn't in exact science at the time, so the bite marks could have in fact not been David's after all. Many also believe that Deputy Simons had it in his mind to convict Munir and David from

the start, so he did whatever was possible to make sure that that happened just so the case would be closed, not caring if he put innocent people in prison. I just don't know why Tony and Gilbert would plead guilty to all charges just to avoid the death penalty if they were completely innocent. We know that sometimes people are wrongly accused of crime, so it's possible that they knew that they would sentence them to death and wanted to avoid it, but I still feel like Tony and Gilbert had to have been involved if they made a decision like that and went so far as to say that they took part in the rapes and the murders.

It's always really hard to when someone maintains their innocence because part of you wants to believe them, but sometimes you just can't look past the evidence. But a part of me at least always feels like, well, what if they're telling the truth? You know, if they're behind bars and they're saying they're innocent, do we really know that they're not? You know what I mean? So like David's last words were saying that he didn't do it, but again, his dental records matched the bite marks supposedly on the girl's bodies. And he kind of had a motive and other people who were apparently there implicated him. So I want to believe that the state of Texas didn't send an innocent man to his death,

but it kind of makes you think. And like we said, there's a lot more to this story. It actually continues and goes on a lot further. We didn't have enough time to get there, but if you guys want to check it out, there's a lot of articles and it's a huge spider web, including the murder of David Spence's mother, who at the time was looking into her son's case.

So it really kind of makes you think and there's so much information, but we want to know what you guys think. Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going Last. Yes, thank you so much everyone, and next week we'll have an all-new case for you guys to dive into. If you guys want to check out our Instagram, go to Instagram.com slash Going West Podcast. Yeah, we'll have a bunch of pictures up there for you guys to check out, and you guys can join the discussion.

Let us know what you think about this case. Also head over to Twitter at Going West Pod and let us know what you think over there. If you want bonus episodes, make sure to check out patreon.com slash Going West Podcast. It's just $5 a month and it really helps out the show. And remember, if you guys want to shout out in the show, make sure you go over to Apple Podcast, leave us a five star of you, make sure you leave your name in your location, and we'll get to you next week. So for everybody out there in the world, don't be a stranger. 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc

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