Going West: True Crime - Murders at Horseshoe Lake // 282

Episode Date: February 25, 2023

In 1996, two members of the prominent Snowden family were found murdered on their picturesque lakeside Arkansas property. 24 years later in 2020, the Snowden's endured further tragedy when another family member was slain in the same mansion...by the same man. These are the stories of Sally Snowden McKay, Lee Baker, and Martha McKay. Also known as the Murders of Horseshoe Lake. BONUS EPISODES patreon.com/goingwestpodcast CASE SOURCES 1. People Magazine Investigates: https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B091Q9BQ6Q/ref=atv_dp_season_select_s5 2. People: https://people.com/crime/inside-the-bizarre-case-of-a-killer-striking-twice-23-years-apart-murdering-a-mother-and-daughter/ 3. Southern Bride: https://www.southernbride.com/wedding_vendors/snowden-house-wedding-venue-arkansas/ 4. NBC: https://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/woman-found-murdered-same-snowden-property-horseshoe-lake-arkansas-where-n1169906 5. Memphis Magazine: https://memphismagazine.com/habitats/lady-of-the-lake/ 6. Sally's Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/198241915/sara-day-mckay 7. The Cinemaholic: https://thecinemaholic.com/sally-snowden-mckay-and-lee-baker-murders-how-did-they-die-who-killed-them/ 8. Google groups, Lee Baker: https://groups.google.com/g/soc.culture.african.american/c/eQsLFwnt5OE 9. Arkansas State Chamber: https://www.arkansasstatechamber.com/partners-links/leadership-arkansas/leadership-arkansas-class-xiv/joseph-baker/ 10. Press Reader: https://www.pressreader.com/uk/sunday-express-1070/20200517/282037624352901 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is going on True Crime fans? I'm your host Tee. And I'm your host Daphne. And you're listening to Going West. Hello everybody. Today's case is such a compelling one. I've been wanting to cover it for years, so here we finally are. And after listening today, if you're all caught up, we are officially on

Apple Podcasts subscriptions with all 80 plus bonus episodes. And if you subscribe, you can listen to our entire catalog and continue to catch new bonus episodes that come out, including the one we just released today on Terracida Bossa. Yeah, I mean, that case is truly insane. It's probably one of the most bizarre cases that we've covered thus far on our bonus episode series. And it's about a healthcare worker who was murdered in her apartment in Chicago who allegedly solved her own murder

from beyond the grave after possessing another woman and speaking through her. So go subscribe to Apple Podcast subscriptions on our page in the app, or if you're not an Apple user, you can also find the same episodes on Patreon and the link for that is in our episode descriptions. But remember, this is just kind of a thing that makes it a little easier for Apple users to subscribe to get bonus episodes. Exactly. So if you have been wanting to

join Patreon, but you're on Apple, this is an easier way to, but yeah, so let's get into our story. It is raining so hard out there in LA today. It's freaking crazy. We have a blizzard warning. So good weather to tell this crazy story we're about to tell. Exactly, well guys this is episode 282 of Going West, so let's get into it. 1 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd 2 nd In 1996, two members of the prominent Snowden family were found murdered on their picturesque lakeside arc and saw properties. One-E-Four Years Later in 2020, the Snowden's endured further tragedy when another family member was slain in the same mansion by the same man. These are the stories of Sally Snowden McKay,

Lee Baker and Martha McKay, also known as the murders of Horseshoe Lakes. Before we get into this bizarre and mysterious story, we're going to give you a little bit of backstory about the family and the house involved in today's case. So the Snowden family were a prominent American family in the south, dating back to the 1600s. John Snowden and his family came over to the United States from Scotland in the 15th century, and 200 years later, his descendant Robert Snowden and his family, purchased the former plantation that became the famed Snowden House.

The Snowden House was a stunning historic property right on the banks of Horseshoe Lake in Arkansas, and if you're interested in seeing photos, they are up on our social accounts. Horseshoe Lake, which is a town of less than 300 people, was situated just off the banks of the Mississippi River, and near the state lines of both Mississippi and Tennessee. And actually residents need to venture out for just about everything, like the town has no police station, no bank, no post office, and it just has one restaurant, one gas station, and one grocery store, which are all combined. Yeah, they're all in the same building.

Wild, so according to one resident, they said, quote, Horseshoe Lake is about 50 years behind the rest of the world. But that's why I like it. And the nearest large city is Memphis, which is only about a 40-minute drive away. So if you did need a taste of a faster pace, it's easy to reach. The Snowdon's were known as one of the founding families of Memphis, and even briefly owned the Peabody Hotel,

which is one of the most famous and historic hotels in the country dating back to 1869. Probably haunted as well. I definitely, definitely haunted. And actually both a local street and a school were named after the Snowden family. Now before moving into the Snowden House, the family lived in Ashler Hall, which is a castle in Memphis, built by the Snowden's themselves. The Snowden House quickly became famous in Horseshoe Lake and the surrounding areas, known as a stately home on a sprawling property of a thousand acres. The house itself boasted three stories, 6,000 square feet, and stunning details.

The foyer at the entrance of the house featured black and white checkered marble and a grand staircase. And over the foyer hung a massive antique chandelier and marble fireplaces dotted the rooms in bedrooms. Inside were five bedrooms and six bathrooms. On the spacious grounds of this property were Magnolia, Oak, and Cypress trees, and the front of the house had a screened-in porch with a view of the lake. I mean, it's basically just yards away from this lake.

The property was even featured in the 1994 movie The Client Starring Susan Surandon. Bob and Grace Snowden, who purchased the property when it was a simple cabin, had four children and raised them there. One of them was Sarah Day Snowden, better known as Sally. I just wanna say really quick, there's gonna be a lot of names thrown out, so try to

keep up with the connections of everybody we're going to do our best to remind you guys, but there's a lot of names coming up. Yeah, there's a lot of family members in this story. So tell us about Sally. So Sally grew up there and she married a local man named Pete Hughes, and then a short while later, the two parted ways. But then she met an actor from New York named David McKay and finally decided to leave her beloved home and also the South for a new life.

The pair moved out to San Francisco and had three daughters, Grace, Katie, and the youngest who was Martha. Martha remembered later that, despite living across the country, the Snowden House was still a huge part of their lives, saying quote, Mother would bring us back for the summer and leave us here. It was just wonderful. I felt like I was royalty.

Everything was fresh from the garden, fresh eggs and all, and we even had a peach orchard. We got to swim every day, and it was just ideal. Both my grandparents just loved having a house full of kids, and they showed it. In 1992, when David passed away, Sally decided to return to her roots and take over operations at the Snowden House. So she left San Francisco and took over operating the property as a bed and breakfast. In addition to this main house, there were a couple cabins on the ample grounds, which Sally rented out. And one of these cabins that was on the property was being rented

out to her nephew, Lee Baker, his wife, and their three sons. So Lee Baker was born Joseph Lee Baker, Jr., but he went by Lee, and his mother was Sally's sister. He spent his whole life in Memphis and the Memphis area in general and was somewhat of a local legend. Starting in the 60s, he and some friends formed a musical group and began singing at some of Memphis's many music festivals. Yeah, I mean, Memphis is just, if you don't know, Memphis is huge for blues music and just music in general and also a lot of jazz and if you've't know, Memphis is huge for blues music and just music in general. And also a lot of jazz.

And if you've ever been to Beale Street, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Yeah, lots of blues. And actually Lee did get into that more of that music scene, like more of the Memphis blues scene. But first, his first band that he had was called Mollick, which was named after the ancient pagan god of child sacrifice in the Hebrew Bible. So this was his first band and in it, Lee sang lead vocals and he played guitar. But after that group broke up, he started playing with more established artists such as Fury Lewis and Booker T.

Washington, better known as Book of White. and it was that one of these music festivals he was playing where he met his future wife, Carol Dowling. For the next two decades, Lee really cemented himself as a pillar in the Memphis Blues scene. But on August 12, 1996, Lee, his wife Carol and their three sons faced a personal tragedy when their home burned to the ground suddenly, with one of Leigh's guitars and most of his blues memorabilia inside. While police were never able to determine the culprit, the motive was believed to be

Arsene, as Leigh had a substantial amount of cash inside the home at the time, which was the money for the recording of his next album. That fire set off a strange chain of events that would leave four people dead, and a host of questions that we may never know the answers to. The bakers had been living on the grounds of the Snowden House in one of the rental cabins like Heath had said, and Lee would help with the operations of the properties, including collecting rent from the tenants, you know, the people who lived in the other cabins. After the fire left the Baker's home uninhabitable and took most of their possessions with it,

Sally helped them move into a different cabin on the grounds of the Snowden House. On Tuesday, September 10th, 1996, Lee Baker and Sally McKay set off to collect rent from the other tenants. One of these tenants was Gladys Lewis and her five children, three girls and two boys. Her sons befriended the three Baker boys and they would all play together on the Snowden grounds and in the lake. As Lee and Sally were believed to be collecting rent, updating their ledger and making a large deposit to the bank, a local resident named Bobby Couples stumbled upon an eerie car crash.

There was a red toyota corolla propped up on its side in the road near the snowed in property, and strangely, there was no one inside or even nearby. Upon seeing this, Bobby headed off to the local Horseshoe Lake Grocery store to report the incident. The store owner, Levi Glassper, believed that the car belonged to Sally Snowden McKay, so both men, Levi and Bobby headed to the property to basically just check on her make sure she was okay. What they found was far worse than the remnants of a car accident. Levi's white pickup truck was parked in the driveway, but oddly was parked so close to the door to the house that it was blocking its access,

and the screen of the door had been slashed. The men saw and smelled smoke, so they called 911. But what they found inside was as sad as it was shocking. 75-year-old Sally Snowden McKay and 52-year-old Lee Baker had been shot and partially burned, and the house had been set on fire from the inside. and partially burned, and the house had been set on fire from the inside. Police really struggled to put together the pieces of the bizarre sequence of events that led to this discovery, you know, the car accident,

the house fire, and now the bodies of two beloved local residents. Lee's son, Joe Baker, said sadly, quote, my mom had lost everything in the fire and now lost my dad. I had two younger brothers. It was intense. As they surveyed the scene, police began to guess that it had been a crime motivated by robbery.

As Sally, you know, she would have had a significant amount of cash on her that day in particular since she was collecting rent from the tenants. But I mean, also, this makes you wonder, like, who could have known that she had this amount of money on her and also who was willing to murder two people to obtain this money? Exactly. It is, I mean, that's a huge question because, like you're saying, yeah, they would have

had to have known that she was collecting rent that day, or they just were planning to rob her that day and hope that there would be some cash, but you know, it kind of seemed like a convenient time to commit this robbery. And crazy enough, as the search widened to include the rest of the snowed in property, a stunning discovery was made. The Baker's new home occupied for less than a month since the house fire of their other cabin had been robbed again. So assuming it was a robbery gone wrong, investigators combed both houses and Sally's car for clues, finding hair and fingerprints, but the next step was matching it to the guilty party or parties.

Due to the significant damage done to the driver's side windshield of the Toyota Corolla, investigators surmised that the driver of the vehicle, whom they believed to be, you know, the robber and murderer fleeing the scene, would have been significantly injured. And in the small, very small, community of Horseshoe Lake, there was a very high probability that they would find the injured party just based on local gossip of who had been seen with an injury. So police also combed local hospital records looking for anyone who had sustained a head injury on the day of the murders.

But then, a local man came forward and told Arkansas State Police that he had seen two teenage boys driving erratically away from the Snowden House on the morning of the crime, and what he believed to be Sally's red toyota, Corolla. Police took the description of the boys and matched that to everyone in the area with a criminal history, one of whom was 20-year-old Edrick Smith, the son of Gladys Lewis, who again was a tenant on the Snowden property. And Edrick did in fact have a criminal history, but he could prove that he had been away from Horseshoe Lake at the time of the murders because he had actually checked in with his parole officer that morning in another city around the same time.

So this is how they were basically able to rule him out. But there was also Gladys' other son, 15-year-old Travis Lewis. While Travis Lewis was a good student and a friend of the Baker's sons, the family had had to run in with him shortly before the murders. Lee's son Joe, who had grown up alongside Travis and considered him basically a friend, said that he suspected Travis of stealing from the family before the first house fire. See, Travis had been over at the Baker's house to play video games, and after he left, they found that their games were missing.

So Lee stopped by Gladys' house to see if the games had gone home with Travis, and in fact, they had. But Travis fained innocence, saying that it had been an accident, and his mother and his siblings backed him up on this. And since this was kind of a simple situation, the Baker family just dropped the issue. And it hadn't seemed like a major problem at the time, but after two robberies, the arson of two homes, and now, the addition of two murders, the odds were being stacked against Travis.

Especially since police also learned from those in the Snowden and Baker families that the previous summer, Travis had stolen a check written out to Sally and tried to cash it out for himself. So with this information, police focused their investigation on him. Investigators checked the records at a school nearby Hughes, Arkansas, and found that not only was Travis not in school that day, the day of the murders, he had been suspended. But Travis claimed that he was home all day and his mother Gladys corroborated this story. So police questioned Travis multiple times, but each time he denied his involvement.

After Travis passed three polygraph tests while being questioned, investigators learned that Gladys had not actually known that her son had been suspended, which pretty much discredited her account. So this prompted them to issue a fourth polygraph test, which Travis failed. After this, Travis broke down and confirmed that his mom Gladys had not known

that he was suspended when the murders occurred. So this really just left, you know, major questions as to Travis' whereabouts that day. And in his new account, Travis claimed that he hadn't wanted his mother knowing that he had been suspended. So that day, he ventured out on his bike, ending up at the Baker's house, which he had planned on breaking into. But on the way, he ran into his teenage friend named Andre, who wanted in on this plan. And according to Travis, Andre said,

I am fixing to go with you. But as they headed to the Bakers cabin, they hatched an alternate plan. To come away from the robbery with even more, they decided to break into the Snowden House as well, and go after the money that Sally had collected that morning from her tenants and guests. Which is interesting because it's almost as if Travis is stealing from his own mother because this money would have included Gladys' rent. Exactly, yeah. So I don't know if he just didn't really care or what.

Yeah, but this also explains and answers the question that Heath brought up earlier of, did this person know about the money? And yeah, Travis would have. Yeah. So in this new plan, Travis would cover the Baker's home while Andre would tackle Sally's. Before that quick break, we were talking about how Travis Lewis and his friend Andre were planning on breaking into the Baker home and also Sally's home in order to steal money. Now according to Travis, Andre broke into Sally's home attempting

to steal the cash and the other items of value that were in the home. But when he showed up at the Baker's house, driving Sally's stolen car, Travis knew that something had gone awry. According to Travis, Andre had arrived in a panic, claiming that he hadn't expected Lee Baker and Sally's Snowden McKay to be inside as he went into burglarize the house. Now Travis claimed that Andre had panicked, shot and killed both of them, and stolen Sally's car to flee the scene. Travis referred to Andre as the mastermind behind this plan and had apparently been brandishing a handgun. The two returned to the Snowden house to hide the bodies, but when they proved too

heavy for the teenage boys to move, they hastily decided to stage a house fire. So with that, they barricaded the door with Lee's truck, hoping that that would impede any attempted rescue efforts. Then, the two raced from the scene in Sally's car with Travis claiming that Andre was driving until they crashed a ways down the dirt road from the house. According to Travis' account, they fled on foot after the crash and Andre tossed the handgun into Lake Horseshoe. So at this point, investigators knew

that they needed to hear from Andre, but they also had enough evidence to book Travis at least for the robbery. So they did, and after taking him into custody, police obtained fingerprints and a hair sample from Travis, which matched a plum print and a piece of hair that was found in Sally's car. So when investigators begin asking around for information about Andre, they heard from Andre's cousin, who more or less confirmed Travis'

account, telling them that Andre had told the cousin he had something to do with the murderers. Another witness, germane Lowe, who knew both Travis and Andre, claimed that Andre had gone to the hospital for the injuries that he sustained in the crash, but had used and assumed names, so his treatment would have been very difficult to trace. This witness claimed that he had seen Andre shortly after the murders, and that Andre had complained of getting his teeth knocked out in an accident.

When they finally tracked Andre down and were able to administer a polygraph test, Andre too failed. But he maintained that he had not been at the Snowden House that day, nor did he have anything to do with the murders of Lee Baker and Sally Snowden McKay, and that in fact, he hadn't even been in Horseshoe Lake that day at all. He claimed he had instead been with his girlfriend. Now his girlfriend, who had also been brought in for questioning, corroborated this account. And when DNA and fingerprints were obtained from Andre,

there was no match to any evidence found at the scene or in Sally's Toyota Corolla. So the investigation really zeroed in on Travis Lewis once again. 15-year-old Travis was now being charged with two counts of murder in addition to the robbery charges that he was already facing. As you can imagine, Travis' family was just completely shocked and staunchly maintained that there was no way he could have committed the murders. Travis' brother, Edrick said quote, "'I didn't believe it, I know my brother, I know my brother man, he's got a good, a

very good heart." In Gladys' echoed quote, I definitely don't believe it. To be fair, it seems like they back him up in everything, like even the stolen video games, but so I will just say that at this point, that it's kind of hard to go off of what they say. I mean, in a lot of cases, you tend to see families trying to back up their loved ones, but it's like more often than not. Yeah, but it's like sometimes you just, you really don't know. So in a controversial move here, the state of Arkansas concluded that they would try him as an adult at the age of 15.

He was facing life imprisonment or worse, the death penalty. And his family and also defense attorney alike were just terrified for him because basically this is a black teenager on trial for the murders of two white people in the south. So although he maintained his innocence, he agreed to a plea deal. So on April 7, 1998, Travis pleaded guilty to the robbery and double murder that occurred at the Snowden House on September 10, 1996. He was sentenced to 28 and a half years in prison for the murders and five years for the robbery. The Snowden family attempted to pick up the pieces and just maintain the property was Sally's sister Edy taking over managing in operations.

But the local legacy that Sally left behind was sorely missed. Sally's daughter Martha actually came back to Arkansas from San Francisco, where she was born and raised to help smooth the transition, but ultimately she just decided that it wasn't for her. Though Martha loved this property and really relished her frequent visits, she had remained on the west coast long after her mother Sally returned to run the bed in breakfast. In July of 1978, so about 20 years prior, Martha married a German artist named Wilfried Setti in San Francisco, but tragically, the marriage ended abruptly just four years later

when Wilfried fell from a ladder while painting a mural and died. So after Sally's death in the 90s, Martha and Edie closed down the bed and breakfast at the Snowden House and updated the house a bit. In Martha's words, she helped Edie quote, hold down the fort. When the Snowden House was back up to Snowden standard, Martha again left Arkansas and moved to Virginia City, Nevada. And actually, Virginia City is a really interesting town because it's kind of an old western town. Well, and, I mean, she loved restoring old restoring old like stately houses, so this was a big reason

why she moved there, because she purchased a house from 1861 that needed significant work done. And in Martha's words, she said, quote, Over my adult life, I discovered historic preservation is something I like to do. I renovated a beautiful home in Virginia City, Nevada and two or three houses in Seattle. But in 2004 with eating no longer up to the task of maintaining the Snowden House back in Arkansas, Martha jumped on the opportunity to keep it in the family and she decided to settle back where her roots were, Horseshoe Lake, Arkansas. She said, quote,

So I sold the house in Virginia City and bought the Snowden house. It was the only way that I could see doing the kind of work that I wanted to do. So Martha poured over $100,000 into renovating the property and, quote, bringing the home up to the 21st century. Martha relished hosting friends, family, and strangers alike, and her very gentle, hospitable nature lent itself well to in keeping. She was nicknamed by locals as, quote, the lady of the lake.

A neighbor of hers said sadly, she loved that house. According to the description of the home on a wedding venue website, it says, quote, for an outdoor wedding under the trees, with the natural sounds of birds chirping and the lapping of the lake, we can accommodate up to 400 guests on the spacious lawn with the historic Louisiana

style plantation home as a backdrop. And actually the wedding website still lists Martha's email as the contact. The bed and breakfast and event spaces now of course permanently closed and we're going to tell you exactly why that is. But when Martha was operating it, she was an institution in the small community, known for her open mind, good heart, and quote, larger than life personality. Martha was a practicing Buddhist and centered in peace, kindness, and forgiveness in her life, a mindset that was even extended to the man who killed her mother. So while devastated over the

loss of her mother and cousin, Martha, after moving back to Horseshoe Lake, became doubtful that Travis had committed the murders. Martha herself requested that the case be reopened, and even went so far as to hire a private investigator to research the case further, hoping to get answers for her slain family members, and also an exoneration for Travis. And these details are so insane once we find out what happens. I just remember this graciousness and essentially what happened because of it. Yeah, because this is going to lead to decades of tragedy. To make amends with the Lewis family,

Martha even offered Gladys a job as a housekeeper. Now Gladys had a glowing perception of her new employer, saying, quote, Martha was a beautiful woman. I did not mind getting up every morning and going to work for Miss Martha because when I walk in that door, the first thing she's gonna to do is hug me.

Perhaps due to this blossoming friendship with the mother of the man believed to have killed her mother and uncle, Martha began writing Travis in prison, and the two basically struck up this unlikely friendship. Travis swore to Martha that he did not kill her mother. She and Gladys attended Travis' first ever parole hearing, and Martha was the only person in her entire family who supported his release and believed him to be innocent. Lee Baker's son Joe, however, tried to dissuade her from this, just really worried for her safety, because he believed that he was a murderer. Like, he remained convinced that Travis had committed the murder of his father and his aunt,

and even cited their murders as the reason that he got into law enforcement. Because Joe was, uh, he was a deputy in the Horseshoe Lake area before transferring to the Memphis Police Department, where he worked for close to 20 years, eventually serving as captain. So concerned for her safety and her well-being, Joe tried to convince Martha to stay away from Travis, but Martha had really grown to trust Travis. In 2018, he was paroled, so this was about 22 years

into his 28 and a half year sentence. So Martha then gave Travis a job as well, working as a handyman and a groundskeeper, so he would be working on the property with his mom. And he also lived with her on the property. So Martha's sister Katie was very weary about this new friendship, recalling quote, we were contacted every time he came up for parole. None of us would okay it except her. We said stay away from him, but she wouldn't. So Martha basically refused, convinced that she was doing the right thing because she really

didn't believe that Travis was guilty and she felt bad because this had happened within her own family and she was close with Gladys, so it just seemed like she was doing the right thing. She was giving him a job and you know, she wanted to be this amazing person that she was. That's what I was gonna say is that I feel like because there's this closeness with Gladys and her other children that maybe she has a soft spot for this situation. Which is why it's so sad because in early 2020, Travis proved Martha wrong. Martha had recently sold the grandiose chandelier that hung in the foyer and the Snowden House for $10,000 cash.

Now, Travis had been there when the transaction was completed and had seen where she had stashed the money, planning on depositing it later in the bank. But the next day, Martha discovered that the money was gone. So shocked and disappointed, Martha wound up letting Travis go over this incident. Katie, her sister remembers quote, she fired him, she was so embarrassed. Tragically, Travis didn't stop there. Because on March 25, 2020, security alarms sounded at the house. Police arrived at the scene to check on Martha and found the back door ajar, and inside they were greeted with the smell of flammable liquid, and there was no sign of Martha.

So slowly maneuvering the house, police came upon multiple piles of clothes also doused in this mysterious oily liquid. But still, there was no sign of anyone. Then, behind the closed upstairs bathroom door, they heard what sounded like a man shouting. So approaching the door, police attempted to make contact with the person inside the bathroom, but the man refused to communicate with them. Then seconds later, they saw an unidentified adult male jump from the second story bathroom window and sprint across the lawn of the home toward the lake. The police, you know, obviously chased after him, but they didn't reach him

in time and he disappeared into the water, diving below and never resurfacing, appearing to just swim off. So police continued to comb the grounds in the house, looking for any sign of Martha as her car was still parked in front of the house. But then, at the top of the stairs, in what they originally thought was just another pile of clothing and blankets, was Martha's body. She had been badly beaten and stabbed to death,

and then her bloodied body had been wrapped very haphazardly, coated with the flammable substance and left upstairs. Beside her body was a bag containing Martha's jewelry, valuable heirlooms from the house, and a bloody kitchen knife. So it seemed as if the burglary and the murder had been interrupted by the arrival of the police, and had they not been interrupted, the murderer likely would have burned the house down. Later that morning, around 11 a.m., 39-year-old Travis Lewis' body was pulled from the water of Horseshoe Lake.

It wasn't clear if he had drowned by accident or had taken his life, and while the exact circumstances of the morning of Martha's murder are still unknown, Travis' autopsy found that he had cocaine, marijuana, and meth in his system at the time. His mom Gladys said, sadly, quote, "'It took a lot out of me. I lost a son and I lost a friend on the same day.'" Jill Baker and Martha Siblings mournfully wish that Martha had listened when they had warned her about taking up with Travis again.

Joe said, quote, Travis Lewis should have never been out to kill Martha. Never should have been paroled. That's a crime that never should have happened. And it's just so sad because I know what they're saying, of course. She shouldn't have done this, but she didn't know. She didn't believe that Travis was guilty. She felt bad for this boy who was put in prison for something he didn't know. She didn't believe that Travis was guilty. She felt bad for this boy who was put in prison for something he didn't potentially do and she was just trying to help. So, it's kind of

harsh, I feel like that they say that, but of course, if she had followed that advice, this probably wouldn't have happened. But I just think in her heart of hearts, she thought that she could help Travis and it just really just went terribly wrong. And it's so messed up that Travis did this in the first place because this is the woman who is the reason that you're at a prison that you have a second chance at life. You're only 39 years old. You still have a lot of time to go. And he could have kept his job on the property

Saved up money figured out where he wanted to go and what he wanted to do in this new life that he was given because of Martha And this is how he repays her like for what for him to just die Yeah, and also this this kind of confirms that you know if there was anybody out there that didn't believe that he was responsible for Sally's murder back in 1996. And Lease. And Lease? Yeah, I mean, now you basically just proved it to everyone. Yeah, but it's so sad too because you're like, this is a 15 year old kid.

Not maybe he made a mistake because there's no mistake in murdering two people stealing all their shit and then birding their house down. Like, that's like a big thing to do. Yeah. So that wasn't a mistake, but you kind of would imagine even if he did that, maybe he would realize, wow, I was a horrible kid. I am going to be a better person after this. And it just goes to show you he was terrible then and he never changed.

Yeah, and it really does beg the question of whether or not certain people deserve second chances. Because obviously Travis was given the second chance and he fucked it up the first second he was out. Yeah. And then, but the fact that even he kind of saw this as there was no way out he dove into the lake again, we don't know if he died on purpose or on accident, but even so, like you didn't think you were going to get away with this.

Did you just want to go back to prison? You know, it's like, it's just so frustrating that this happened at all to such a wonderful woman who is giving him and his mom a chance. Yeah, and I kind of feel like maybe he did jump into the lake to take his own life because, I mean, where are you gonna go? I mean, he was also on a bunch of drugs. Yeah, I mean, you can't swim across the entire lake.

It's pretty far. You know, and then on bunch of drugs. Yeah, I mean, you can't swim across the entire lake. It's pretty far. And then on top of that, like, if you swim back, police are gonna be waiting on the shore for you. So, you know, it's very interesting. Yeah, it's just what a horrible, horrible tragedy. So, sadly, Martha's beloved snowden house, which had been in the family for 101 years, was sold shortly after

her death. Purchase for just $725,000. It was bought outside of the family and destroyed, like torn down to make room for a new lakefront property. And that's really sad because when you see pictures of that place it really is a gorgeous house I wonder though if they did it just because it was the property They wanted but not the house they wanted or because of all the horrible things that happen inside it I really think about three people died in the house brutally

Yeah, and I feel like it's probably a mixture of both But you know, it's really crazy is that There were reviews for this bed and breakfast up until 2020 until Martha died. And it's just so crazy to think that this one will this happened, you know, three years ago. Yeah, I mean, it was, it was so recent. So Martha's sister Katie remarked sadly after the property was sold and the house was torn

down. And of course, after Martha's untimely death," she said, quote, "'Martha didn't deserve to be killed. She didn't deserve anything that happened to her.'" 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 Tuesday we'll have an all-new case for you guys to dive into. Hope you guys have a great weekend if you're listening to this on Friday. If you are all caught up on Going West with this episode, please consider joining Patreon

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