Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén - Best of 2022: The Texarkana Moonlight Murders Pt. 1

Episode Date: December 26, 2022

In 1946, the city of Texarkana was plagued by a series of attacks and murders on couples parked in their cars. Police, however, failed to act quickly enough, potentially giving the murderer enough time to get away. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hi, listeners, happy holidays from Parcast. To celebrate the holiday season and the year that was, we're featuring two of our favorite episodes from 2022. Enjoy our best of serial killers this week, and be sure to join us next week for all new episodes. Thanks so much for listening. We'll see you in 2023. Due to the graphic nature of this killer's crimes,

listener discretion is advised. This episode includes discussions of sexual assault, violence, and murder. some people may find disturbing. We advise extreme caution for children under 13. On February 22nd, 1946, Jim Hollis and Mary Jean Larry drove onto a dirt road and parked their car. After a successful movie date and a trip to a late-night cafe, the young couple were looking for a more intimate setting. Jim, a romantic, was pulling out all the stops for Mary Jean. He complimented her, told jokes, and even serenaded her. At one point, he got out of the car to gaze up at the starry sky above Texarkana, Texas.

As he stood in the open air, a tunnel of light suddenly blinded Jim, and a figure holding a flashlight emerged from the dark. Jim tried to distinguish who the figure was but couldn't make it out. The only thing he could see was the barrel of a pistol. The man yelled at Jim to drop his pants. Confused, Jim struggled out of his trousers. But before he could take them off all the way, the figure lurched forward and slammed the pistol into Jim's head. He crumpled to the ground, but the man continued to beat him.

Mary Jean jumped out of the car and tried to give the attacker Jim's wallet, hoping money would make him stop. But this only angered him more. He hit her on the head and she fell to the ground. As she struggled to her feet, the figure told her to run. Apparently he wasn't finished with Jim. Dazed, Mary Jean took off down the road, hoping she could make it to someone's house to call the police. She couldn't understand why he let her go, but she wasn't about to ask questions.

Within minutes, Mary Jean heard footsteps behind her. It seemed the attacker had changed his mind. Now she was his prey, and he was getting closer by the second. Hi, I'm Greg Paulson. This is serial killers. a Spotify original from Parcast. Every episode, we dive into the minds and madness of serial killers. Today we'll take a look at the Phantom Killer, the unidentified serial killer responsible for Texarkana's Moonlight Murders.

I'm here with my co-host, Vanessa Richardson. Hi, everyone. You can find episodes of serial killers and all other Spotify originals from Parcast for free on Spotify. In today's episode, we'll examine the Phantom's escalating attacks as the Texarkana community spirals into panic. Next time, we'll dive into the desperate investigation and the one man widely believed to be the Phantom Killer. We've got all that and more coming up. Stay with us.

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where zesty Brazilian lemonade accord meets coconut milk and golden-brown sugar. Don't miss Sol de Janeiro's limited edition perfume mist collection, only at Sephora. In 1946, a series of violent and random attacks cast a dark cloud over Texarkana, a city that res between Texas and Arkansas. The assailant came and went like a ghost, leaving no clues behind. He became widely known as the Phantom Killer. The attacks turned Texarkana from a peaceful suburb to a veritable ghost town. A curfew was implemented.

Neighbors shunned one another and families booby-trapped their front doors. From local police to the Texas Rangers, authorities tore the small town apart, desperate for anything that would reveal the identity of the killer. But after countless suspects, arrests, and theories all led to dead ends, it was clear the phantom would live up to his nickname. He would never be found. We're telling you this now because we want you to keep in mind that the Texarkana Moonlight Murders remain unsolved to this day.

However, there was one suspect that stood out from the rest. But to understand this man and his potential motives, we need to explore every murder committed by the Phantom Killer, starting from the very beginning. Before the killer's first known attacks in 1946, Texas, Texarkana was a suburban utopia. Kids played outdoors without supervision. Homeowners left their doors unlocked,

and everyone in the town gathered on Friday nights to watch the local high school football team play. On the surface, the community appeared to be a nice place to settle down and raise a family. But Texarkana wasn't as idyllic as it seemed. After World War II, Texarkana became a transportation hub for soldiers returning from back. As men returned from the war and flowed into the city, they brought their troubles with them. Pockets of crime developed on the outskirts of town. But instead of facing its problems head on, the community tried its best to ignore them.

Almost as if operating with a hive mind, the entire town developed a powerful case of ostrich effect. Vanessa is going to take over on the psychology here and throughout the episode. Please note, Vanessa is not a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist. but we have done a lot of research for this show. Thanks, Greg. Although the name sounds innocent, ostrich effect is a cognitive bias that can cause serious damage.

According to a 2009 study published in the Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, the unconscious desire to ignore negative news can make people slower to acknowledge bad events happening around them. To avoid the negativity, they put their head in the sand, hence the ostrich effect.

In the mid-1940, Texas Arcana was dealing with a host of serious issues, like violence and socio-racial conflict. But for the most part, the community dismissed these problems. They were determined to believe their town was perfect. The thinking seemed to be that you could avoid trouble as long as you didn't go looking for it. And if you went looking for it, you deserved whatever came your way. Of course, that kind of thinking doesn't hold much water. In 1946, the last thing 19-year-old Mary Jean-Lillard,

Larry wanted was trouble. Her wartime marriage had fallen apart and she was ready for a fresh start, something sweet and easy. So when 25-year-old Jim Hollis asked her on a date, she eagerly agreed. On February 22nd, Jim and Mary Jean went to see a movie. After the film, they stopped at a late-night cafe. After they finished their meal, they drove to a quiet, dirt road known for being a lover's lane. The two began talking. It turned out they had a lot in common. Jim had also recently separated from his spouse, and he fell for Mary Jean quickly. It seemed like the beginning of a very romantic night.

At one point, Jim got out of the car to look at the stars, only to discover that he and Mary Jean were not alone. A figure with a flashlight appeared from the darkness and approached them, carrying what looked like a pistol. The attacker ordered Jim to drop his pants. At first, Jim thought it was some kind of twisted prank. He tried to laugh it off. But when the man yelled at him again, Jim and Mary Jean quickly realized it wasn't a joke. Jim unbuckled his belt and pushed his trousers down.

At the same time, the figure ran forward and attacked him, cracking his skull open. While the man continued to kick Jim, Mary Jean ran out of the car and tried to give the attacker Jim's billfold to leave them alone. But he turned his fury on Mary Jane. Jean. In one swift movement, the attacker hit her in the head.

She fell to the ground, dazed, but still conscious. When she tried to stand, the man told her, chillingly, to run. Mary Jean stumbled away from her attacker, but apparently she was headed in the wrong direction. The man yelled at her to go up the road instead. Terrified, the 19-year-old did as she was told. Eventually, Mary Jean saw an old mom. car parked on the shoulder, hoping someone was sitting inside, she threw herself toward it. But nobody was there. With a pang of dread, she realized that the car belonged to the attacker.

As she tried to think of what to do next, she heard footsteps approaching from behind. Petrified, she started running again, but she was tired, her head was throbbing, and the man caught up with her quickly. As he approached, he asked why she was running. Mary Jean told him she was only following his directions. Angered, he struck her on the head. She hit the ground and warm blood spread over her skull. But she couldn't focus on that now. The man tugged off her underwear.

Then he sexually assaulted her using a metal object. Likely the pistol Jim thought he saw earlier. The violent assault strongly suggests that the attacker lived with a sexual sadism According to the DSM-5, individuals with a sexual sadism disorder feel aroused by the physical or psychological pain of others. This would explain the man's lack of satisfaction from taking Jim's wallet. He was much more interested in beating Jim to a pulp and in his cat and mouse game with Mary Jean. The attacker also used a foreign object to assault Mary Jean, which indicates some form of sexual deviancy. A 2020 study published in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence

found that people who use foreign object insertion, or FOI, enjoy torturing their victims. Whoever her assactor was, he seemed to use Mary Jean's pain for his own sexual gratification. Paralyzed with fear, the teenager waited for the ordeal to be over, wondering if the man would kill her when he was through. But he didn't.

As quickly as the man had appeared, he stopped assaulting her and vanished. It was as though something had scared him off. But Mary Jean didn't want to wait around to find out what had spooked him. She ran to the nearby houses and banged down their doors, calling out desperately for help. Eventually, someone answered and called the police, who sent an ambulance looking for Jim. The paramedics found him alive, but barely. He slipped into a coma as soon as he got to the hospital.

Meanwhile, the authorities questioned Mary Jean, who said the attacker was a six-foot-tall black man wearing a white mask, with holes cut out of the eyes and mouth. This description made the authorities nervous. Just four years earlier in 1942, a white woman had accused a black man of attempting to kidnap and rape her. In response, the community shot and lynched the man before an investigation could take place. Most of Texarkata's residents moved on from the shockingly violent execution, seemingly unfazed. It's possible the town ignored its racism to try and preserve their image of a safe and friendly town, but the police hadn't forgotten the event. The aftermath of the accusation was likely at the forefront of investigators' minds when Mary Jean described her attacker. Even though Mary Jean claimed she didn't know the offender, authorities thought the attack was too cruel to be random.

It seemed personal. Investigators wondered if Mary Jean was protecting someone, but before they made up their minds, they wanted to speak with Jim. Jim's testimony was essential to the case because there was no evidence left behind at the scene of the crime. The man had disappeared without a trace. With no physical evidence, the police were completely in the dark about who the phantom could be, or why he attacked the couple. They were hoping Jim's testimony would help.

But when he finally woke up, his version of events only added more confusion. When Jim came out of a coma a week later, he claimed the Phantom was a white man who was not wearing a mask. The conflicting witness accounts puzzled law enforcement. But there was a possible explanation for the two different narratives. Both Jim and Mary Jean had suffered head trauma, and it's possible their injuries impacted their memories. A 2008 article in the journal Cortex explains that damage to the prefrontal cortex can cause confabulation, which is when the brain unintentionally creates false memories. So even though the memories aren't real, they feel like true recollections to the person retelling them.

Jim and Mary Jean both sustained head injuries during the attacks, so it's possible their memories of what happened and what the assailant looked like weren't wholly accurate. But for some reason, the conflicting witness accounts solidified one thing in the minds of the investigators. Mary Jean was lying. It's unclear why they believed Jim and not Mary Jean. It's possible they wanted to avoid another racist lynching. Or maybe it was simply a misogynistic belief that men are more trustworthy than women. Regardless of the reason, the authorities decided that the attacker must have been an enemy of Mary Jean's.

They still assumed that the assault was personal. Even after they cleared her ex-husband and they were left with no other suspects, police figured she didn't want the attacker to go to prison, so she created a false trail to lead them away from the truth. After they reached this conclusion, the investigation lost all sense of urgency. With no evidence to direct them, they believed it would be a waste of valuable resources to continue looking, especially since they didn't believe that whoever attacked the couple

was a threat to the general public. Despite what the police thought, both Mary Jean and Jim insisted that the man who attacked them would strike again. They had nightmares of the phantom and were traumatized by their memories of his violence and rage. Mary Jean described the man's voice as that of a killer, but nobody took their fears seriously. The community of Texarkana accepted the police's theory about what happened. After all, there was no way a town as perfect as theirs could be home to someone so senseless. violent. As it turned out, Mary Jean and Jim couldn't have been more correct.

The Phantom had tasted the thrill of the hunt, and he was just getting started. Coming up, the Phantom takes his attacks a step further. Are you looking for support in your weight management journey? Zepbound terseptide may be able to help. Zepbound is a prescription medicine used with a reduced calorie diet and increased physical activity to help adults with obesity, or some adults with overweight who also have weight-related medical problems to lose excess body weight and keep the weight off. Zepbound is approved as a 2.5, 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5, or 15 milligram injection. Zepound contains terseptide, and should not be used with other

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for not taking their attack more seriously. They believed that the phantom would strike again, but it was pointless to continue arguing with authorities. For the most part, life in Texarkana went on. As spring flowers bloomed and the cool winter nights turned warm, young lovers made the most of the weather, spending long nights outdoors. Even after the February attacks, people felt safe in the community. But they had every reason not to.

On March 23rd, 29-year-old Richard Griffin and 17-year-old Polly Ann Moore went out to dinner, caught a movie, then headed to the local cafe for a snack. Late that night, they drove about half a mile out of town and parked in a secluded area. They weren't there long before a man approached the car with a flashlight and a pistol. It wasn't a coincidence that the Phantom chose Richard and Polly, According to a 2007 FBI profile of another killer targeting couples parked on lovers' lanes, the isolated locations are the perfect setting for a crime. Lovers want a dark and quiet place where nobody will interrupt them, and so do criminals.

The first attack on Jim and Mary Jean may have been opportunistic, but attacking another couple in the same vulnerable position was no accident. The phantom was developing his pattern. He knew he could find the victims on the back row. of Texarkana. So it's likely that he camped out and waited, like a predator stalking its prey. Then when the time was right, he lunged on Richard and Pollyann. We can't be sure exactly what happened next, but the crime scene and the phantom's developing patterns provide some clues.

The attacker approached the couple and forced Richard to drop his pants, possibly to humiliate him. Then the phantom shot Richard in the back of the head. likely while he was still in the car. Next, he dragged Polly out of the car before he turned the gun on her and killed her. Strangely, he moved Polly's body back to the car and placed her in one of the seats. This may have been a half-hearted attempt to clean the scene.

Then he took off into the night, leaving no physical evidence behind. But once again, his behavior of the crime scene provided some insight into his motivation for killing. According to FBI research, fantasy-driven killers are ritualistic, and they often move the bodies of their victims after killing them. This could be to arrange the corpse according to their fantasy, or to cover up evidence. These kinds of killers are typically more careful, making them more difficult to catch. Based on his behavior, Richard and Polly's killer was likely fantasy-driven.

He clearly enjoyed causing pain, fear, and humiliation. He also repeated behaviors from his first attack, like making the men remove their pants. Then he manipulated the murder scene, possibly in an attempt to cover his tracks. The next morning, on March 24th, a motorist driving down Highway 67 West, spotted a parked car on a dirt road. Something seemed strange to the driver, so he pulled over to take a closer look. At first, he only saw two sleeping figures, but when he stepped closer, he saw one. blood splattered all over the car. He rushed to find a phone and called the police. But with the authorities came a crowd of curious onlookers. Word spread quickly in Texarkana,

and it seemed that everyone in town wanted to get a glimpse of the double homicide. Unfortunately, the police failed to close the crime scene to the public. People trampled over any footprints and even helped push the car toward the road once it was ready to be towed. Any evidence the killer left behind was ruined by the circus of neighbors. But that wasn't the only botched part of the investigation. Authorities allowed Polly Ann Moore to be embalmed and buried before an autopsy was conducted. According to an FBI memo, that meant she wasn't officially tested for sexual assault. To add to the confusion, a physician claimed that the body was examined and Polly was not raped,

while several documents from the Texas Rangers claimed that she was. We can't be sure of what really happened. Things get even murkier when we consider that several sources over the years have accused the Texarkana authorities of concealing the truth to prevent public panic. Crucially, nobody had linked the attack on Polly and Richard to the earlier assault on Mary Jean and Jim. Still, a double homicide was a serious enough crime to involve the state's police department. Before anything else could go wrong, a Texas ranger named Jimmy Gear arrived in town to help out with the investigation. Gear was furious at the local police's mishandling of the investigation.

Not only had the crime scene been contaminated, but authorities hadn't even removed the bullets from Polly's head before she was buried. Gear ordered the medical professional to retrieve the pieces from Richard's head. He was determined that no more evidence would be lost on his watch. After examining the bullets, experts determined that the killer had likely used a 32 automatic cult pistol to kill Polly and Richard. And while this was a helpful development, it was nowhere near enough information to catch their guy. In a matter of days, authorities questioned between 50 and 60 people who had been around the crime scene. They were pulling in anyone they could think of, desperate for more clues. But they found nothing.

Eventually, investigators determined that the murder was likely another isolated incident, and again was not a random attack. And just like the first time, the town's residents seemed to buy it. While the stubborn disbelief might seem ridiculous, it can be easy for a community to ignore what's right in front of them. Texarkana locals took pride in their safe, quaint city, and they likely didn't want to believe that they lived in a place where such brutal and random attacks could occur. This thought process was likely amplified by groupthink or collective ideas.

According to a 2009 article published in the Indiana Journal of Political Science, Group Think works against normative conflict adaptations. In other words, when a group will only listen to its own members and reinforce the same ideas, they're less likely to acknowledge different ideas or take other courses of action. The vast majority of Texarkana residents believed that, Contrary to all evidence, their town was safe. But there was one person who knew the true danger ahead, Mary Jean Larry. Up in her new Oklahoma home, Mary Jean caught wind of the recent double murder.

As she poured over the stories in the newspaper, she recognized the signs of her own attacker. She still heard his snarling voice in her nightmares. Determined to put a stop to the criminal who ruined her life, Mary Jean traveled to Texarkana to tell authorities it was the same man. But when she arrived, the police refused to hear her out. But within weeks, the authorities would wish they'd listened. Coming up, the people of Texarkana finally realize they're not as safe as they once thought. This episode is brought to you by Prime.

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By April of 1946, the sleepy town of Texarkana had shrugged off a bruce of a bruce. brutal attack on a young couple, as well as a double homicide under alarmingly similar circumstances. But the Texarkana Moonlight Murders couldn't be ignored forever. On April 13th, local high schooler Betty Joe Booker had an exciting evening planned. The 15-year-old was playing the saxophone with a local band called The Rhythamers. Afterwards, she was going to spend time with her childhood friend, 16-year-old Paul Martin. Then she was heading to a slumber party with some friends. Like most locals, Betty Jo felt safe in Texarkana.

Bad things just didn't happen of popular girls like her. So when she went out that night, she didn't give a second thought to the attacks on couples in parked cars. After her band had performed, Paul picked her up and they drove to Spring Lake Park. The park was a local hangout, where teenagers often went for privacy. Paul and Betty Joe parked the car and got comfortable, enjoying what they thought was a moment alone. Little did they know someone was watching them. It's impossible to know exactly what happened that night. What we do know is that at some point the killer approached Paul and Betty Joe,

but he didn't kill them right away. It appears he took them to another location first, probably in his own vehicle. He shot Paul four times about a mile away from him. where the couple originally parked. The teen tried to crawl toward the road to find help, but nobody came to his rescue. The killer then drove Betty Joe to another spot, almost three miles away from where she and Paul had parked.

He shot her twice, once through the head and once through the heart. His horrific work complete, the phantom vanished into the night. The next morning, a family driving past North Park Road, spotted what looked like a body on the shoulder of the road. It was the unmoving form of Paul Martin. Apparently, he'd made it to the road, but not in time to get help. The family called the police who rushed to the scene. This time, they were quick to block off the area.

Paul's ID was on him, so they were able to identify him right away. He also reportedly had his date book, which may have shown he was supposed to meet Betty Joe the night before. Meanwhile, Betty Jo's mother realized she still hadn't come home from the slumber party. More worrisome, she never dropped off her saxophone after her gig, which she always did. Concerned, she started calling around. It didn't take long to learn that Betty Joe never made it to the slumber party. By mid-morning, search parties had spread across Texarkana, looking for Betty Joe Booker.

Police begged people to stay at home to avoid ruining any evidence, but to the residents of the town, the teenager's disappearance felt too close to home. Betty Jo was a beloved student, and everyone in town knew her. She was one of their own. As news of her disappearance raced down phone lines, people piled into their cars and drove around looking for her. It was just before noon on April 14th, when three classmates found Betty Jo's body.

She was fully clothed and had one hand in her coat pocket, almost like she'd fallen asleep. They called the police. Authorities arrived and taped off the area. They couldn't understand why someone would do this and were still oblivious to the fact that a predator was behind each of the attacks. It certainly didn't help that the locations of the bodies and the car was a new step in the killer's process. It's possible he was still figuring out the best way to carry out his sexual fantasies. A 2003 paper published in the aggressive and violent behavior journal made a distinction between a serial killer's M.O. and their ritual. A ritual is the action that the offender must carry out to feel satisfied.

This aspect of their crimes is less likely to change. An M.O. or modus operandi is something else entirely. This is a learned behavior that a killer develops to help them kill their victims or avoid capture. This can be the type of murder weapon or the method of disposing of bodies. It's more logical than a ritual and can change according to the killer's needs. At this point, the phantom's ammo was rapidly evolving. He killed his victims separately this time, which meant he was possibly learning to extend and savor the murders.

He also stopped cleaning up after himself, which could suggest he was growing more confident in his ability to evade the police. One thing was clear, with every new murder he was learning more about his own disturbing fantasies and how to get away with them. Though the Phantom left no trail behind him, authorities finally made the connection between Richard and Polly's murder and this latest one. In both cases, the killer had used the same weapon, a 32 automatic cult pistol. When they discovered that, investigators had no doubts now that they were chasing the same,

person. Still, there seemed to be several missteps in the investigation. Once again, there were conflicting reports on whether or not Betty Joe had been raped, while the local Texarkana authorities swore that the teen wasn't sexually assaulted. The FBI and Texas Rangers reported that she was. To this day, we can't be sure what the truth is. Though the details of the investigation were murky, the impact on the community was clear. Betty Joe and Paul Martin deaths shocked Texarkana to its core. People finally realized that they weren't safe. In fact, they were being hunted. Within three days of Betty Joe and Paul's deaths, one hardware warehouse was sold out of handguns and rifles. Soon, much of Texarkana implemented a curfew, and nobody even

considered sneaking away for some privacy. The worst part was the uncertainty. With so little information to go off of, everyone was a suspect. People stopped trusting each other. Once a thriving and happy suburb, Texarkana became a shell of its former self, almost overnight. The town was tense, waiting for the next double homicide. It was no longer a question of if,

but when, where, and who the phantom would strike next. They didn't have to wait long to find out. On the evening of May 3rd, 19th, In 1846, 36-year-old Virgil Starks sat in his favorite armchair in his living room, reading the paper and listening to music. His wife, 35-year-old Katie, was already in bed. The pair never had much reason to go out before, so the early curfews barely impacted them. While Virgil flipped through the pages of his newspaper, a figure crept onto the front porch and watched him intently through the window. After a few moments, the man raised a gun and fired it into the back.

back of Virgil's head, killing him instantly. Katie heard the commotion. At first she just thought her husband had dropped something. She hurried to the living room to investigate, not expecting to see Virgil lifeless on the floor. At the sight of his body, Katie screamed and ran for the phone. But before she could get there, the phantom took aim and fired, hitting her twice in the head.

The bullets went through her cheek, shattering her teeth and jaw. Miraculously, she remained alive and alert. She crawled backward from the window and waited, listening for the killer's next move. After a few minutes, the intruders started to crawl in through the back porch window. Katie sprinted in the other direction, out the front door. As she ran, she kept looking behind her, waiting to see the man following her, but he never came. Within minutes she had reached a neighbor's house, she banged on the door and she banged on the door until someone woke up.

Horrified at the sight of Katie's face, the neighbor drove her to the hospital before alerting the authorities. Police rushed to the crime scene. It's unclear why exactly, but they thought right away that this was the work of the Phantom. They came to this decision, even though it hadn't taken place

on the back roads of some lover's lane, it was in someone's house. It's hard to say why the Phantom chose Virgil and Katie Starks, But perhaps it was because there were no couples daring enough to break curfew. Now he had to look elsewhere for his victims, and he found them. The aftermath of his attack was chaotic. Police tried to isolate the crime scene in the Stark's farmhouse,

but too many officers responded to the scene and trampled over potential evidence. Although there was a track of footprints outside, the experts couldn't be sure the prints didn't belong to their own officers. Once again, the Texarkana police were their own worst enemy. But in his rush to escape, the phantom got sloppy. There was one pair of bloody footprints in the living room that the cops did manage to isolate. If they did belong to the phantom, then it was likely the killer had stopped to look at Virgil's body, probably admiring his own handiwork before fleeing the scene.

As chilling as the thought was, authorities had something to say. celebrate, the phantom had finally slipped up by leaving something else behind, a flashlight, and they were determined to return it to him. Thanks again for tuning into serial killers. We'll be back soon with part two of the Texarkana Moonlight Murders, where we'll follow the dramatic investigation of the Phantom Killer. For more information on this case, among the many sources we used, we found the book The Phantom Killer by James Presley, extremely helpful to our research.

You can find all episodes of Serial Killers and all other Spotify originals from Parcast for free on Spotify. We'll see you next time. Have a Killer Week. Serial Killers is a Spotify original from Parcast. Executive producers include Max and Ron Cutler, sound designed by Michael Motion, with production assistance by Ron Shapiro, Trent Williamson, Carly Madden, and Bruce Kitovich. This episode of Serial Killers was written by Kit Fitzger. Gerald, with writing assistance by Sarah Hussein, Abigail Cannon, and Joel Callan. Fact-checking by Anya Bayerly and research by Brian Petrus and Chelsea Wood.

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Hasbro is not a sponsor of this promotion. A beloved 75-year-old man washing up, getting ready for bed, is brutally beaten and killed. Despite an exhaustive investigation, the killer avoids arrest and then strikes again. I'm Global News crime reporter Nancy Hicks. You might listen to a lot of true crime podcasts this year, but they're not crime beat. Search for and follow the award-winning podcast Crime Beat on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you find your favorite podcasts.