Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén - Bloody Babs Pt. 2

Episode Date: November 20, 2023

After her sentencing, investigators and the American public thought the case of ‘Bloody Babs’ was finally over. But as Barbara revealed new details about her version of events, her guilt was once again put into question. Keep up with us on Instagram @serialkillerspodcast and Tiktok @serialkillerspodcast! Have a story to share? Email us at [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Due to the nature of this episode, listener discretion is advised. This episode includes discussions of substance use, sex, violence, and murder. Consider this when deciding how and when you'll listen. With a name like Bloody Babs, you'd think Barbara Graham would have had a body count a mile long, but not so much. Prior to the spring of 1953, the striking beauty only had a few misdemeanors and a perjury charge under her belt. Hardly bloody, right? But then she was picked up for murder, which obviously changed everything.

Before she knew it, she was declared guilty and sentenced to death. And that's where we're starting today, because although it might seem like the tale of bloody babes was coming to a close, you haven't heard the full story. And when you have, it'll be time to decide once and for all, was Barbara Graham guilty as sin? or was she just in the wrong place at the wrong time? I'm Vanessa Richardson, and this is Serial Killers, a Spotify podcast.

You can find us here every Monday. Be sure to check us out on Instagram at Serial Killers Podcast. Last week, we learned about a motley crew of criminals who broke into the home of Mabel Monaghan and left her for dead. We followed authorities as they caught their suspects and set up a sting operation that left Barbara Graham's defense in tatters. This week, we'll go back in time to piece together how Barbara found herself caught up in a murder trial. Then we'll watch as the fight to save Barbara begins. Stay with us. This episode is brought to you by Shopify. Bonnie and Clyde, the lonely hearts killers,

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Off campus, L, every single. year after, the love hypothesis, Sterling Point, and more. Slow burns, second chances, chemistry you can feel through the screen. Your next obsession is waiting. Watch only on Prime. Barbara Graham was going to die. And even as she protested her innocence, it's easy to imagine the 30-year-old wondering how it had come to this. Where had it all gone wrong? Well, according to her, the first misstep happened before she even took her full. first breath. When Barbara was born in Oakland, California in 1923, her mother, Hortense Ford, was only 17. More importantly, given the time period, she was unmarried and either didn't know

or didn't care to name the father. So with the Great Depression just around the corner, it wasn't a great time to be a single mother. By the time she was 19, Hortense was a mother of two, and it seems her parents were fed up. So they sent her to her. to the California School for Girls at Ventura, a reform school for young women who, quote, lacked strong moral values. Of course, two-year-old Barbara and her baby sister didn't understand what happened.

To them, Hortense had simply disappeared. Before we continue with Barbara's psychology, please note that I'm not a licensed psychiatrist or psychologist, but we have done a lot of research for the show. According to psychologist, Dr. Jonee's Webb, parents leave their children in many different ways, and for many reasons. Whether they left because of divorce, death, or choice, the reason matters far less than the fact that he or she left.

Dr. Webb goes on to point out that it's difficult for a child's brain to absorb the enormity of abandonment. Psychologist Dr. Audrey Sherman adds that the effects of child abandonment, both physical and emotional, are long-lasting. Aside from anything else, it can plant an insidious idea in a child's mind that they are unloved or unwanted. This potentially leads to a whole host of problems that can follow a child into adulthood, like poor coping mechanisms and compulsive behaviors, attachment disorders, relationship problems, and promiscuity. Her mother's disappearance likely affected Barbara in more ways than one, even if she didn't understand why or how.

So when Hortense was finally able to go back home in the summer of 1927, the four-year-old was just happy to have her mom back. As far as I can tell, Hortense was eager to make up for her two-year absence. But at the end of the day, she was 21. She was in the prime of her life. Not to mention she was very beautiful and enjoyed the attention this brought. So it's not that surprising that in 1929, she found herself pregnant for a third. time. Though she tried her best, Hortense struggled to keep things together. She found work at a laundry facility, but it was hard to find someone to keep an eye on the kids. When she couldn't rely on

family and friends, she sometimes left them completely unsupervised. This wasn't ideal, and in 1935, social workers caught wind of the situation and placed 11-year-old Barbara and her younger sister in an orphanage. You might be used to hearing nightmarish stories about how awful orphanages can be, but Barbara said it was one of the best times of her life. Unlike Hortense, the nuns who ran the orphanage were kind and attentive. They made her feel loved. Perhaps things would have turned out differently if Barbara had stayed in their care.

But before the year was up, Hortense brought the girls home to Oakland, only for Barbara, the homecoming was short-lived. By this stage, Barbara was on the cusp of teenagehood, and her behavior changed for the worse. She started acting up, as most preteens do, and Hortense didn't have any patience for it. Making things worse was the fact that Hortense seemed to actually resent Barbara. If this was the case, it's possible this animosity stemmed from the fact that she was the eldest. Her birth had marked a turning point in Hortense's life. Then again, it's also possible.

that Hortense was simply jealous of her daughter. Because even at a young age, Barbara was already getting attention, and it wasn't just boys her own age who pined after her. Grown men couldn't take their lecherous eyes off her. Once upon a time, Hortense had been the center of attention, but now people only seem to have eyes for her daughter. Whether this attention got to Hortense, or she just couldn't handle her daughter's behavior,

she'd had enough. Just months after bringing Barbara back home, she sent the 12-year-old off to the home of the Good Shepherd, a reform school for wayward young ladies. But like always, the situation was only temporary, like so much of Barbara's life had been. After a few months at the school, she was allowed to return home in 1936, and it seems her time away had done nothing to curb her rebellious streak. She started hanging out with a rougher crowd, often skipped school and stayed out late. She also started running away whenever things got tough, which isn't surprising given how transient her life had been. And it was a habit she'd have a hard time breaking. Still, she always came back home, either by force or on her own volition, but eventually Hortense had had enough

again. In the summer of 1937, she sent Barbara to the California School for Girls at Ventura. It was the same reform school Hortense had attended years earlier. The matrons running the facility informed Barbara that she was, quote, a chip off the old block. And to be fair, they weren't wrong. Both Barbara and Hortense had been locked away for being promiscuous, at least by the standards of their time. But some of the girls she was, rubbing shoulders with at Ventura were actual criminals. We're talking convicted thieves and gang members. To keep them all in line, the school forced their students to abide by a strict regimen. From sunrise to long past sundown, the girls were trained in the art of domestic

and commercial work. And acting out was not an option. Put a toe out of line? Well, corporal punishment wasn't out of the question. While we don't know for sure, sure if Barbara was ever subjected to any physical abuse at the school, she clearly wanted out of there. She managed to run away three times. Once, she made it the 300-odd miles home to Oakland and begged her mother to hide her. She promised she'd change her ways that she'd be better. But Hortense wasn't moved. She promptly called the authorities and had Barbara taken away again. It's possible this is what really cemented Barbara's trajectory. While she would eventually outgrow the system, she'd have a much harder time growing past

the emotional whiplash of her childhood. It felt like she'd only ever been loved in fits and starts, and it left a hole in the pit of her stomach. And so much of what came next seemed like attempts to fill that emptiness. Love, attention, support. It didn't matter. she'd take whatever she could get. Of course, she wasn't going to get a morsel from her mother,

and if she wasn't going to get what she wanted from her family, she'd just have to go looking for it elsewhere. Up next, Barbara searches for love in all the wrong places. Are you looking for support in your weight management journey? Zepbound tersephotide 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

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soft lightly lined cups for a natural shape, and no wire comfort that lasts all day. All over smooth, all-day comfort, vanity fair lingerie. Find yours at Target today. Now back to the story. In the late 1930s, Barbara Graham was living in a state-run reform school in Ventura, California. It was supposed to be a facility that straightened out. troubled teens, but the environment only exacerbated Barbara's behavioral problems. Desperate for attention, she continued acting out and receiving right-up after right-up. Finally, in 1939,

even the school officials wanted to wash their hands of her. They allowed the 15-year-old out on parole on the condition that she find a place to live and work. So that April, Barbara got a job as a domestic servant. But after a few months of scrubbing floors and washing dishes, she was let go. According to Barbara, her patrons were worried that she would steal from them, but no job meant that Barbara would have to return to the system she'd just escaped, and she wasn't going to let that happen. So 16-year-old Barbara set out on her own, oscillating between northern and Southern California. To get by, it seems she started dabbling in sex work, capitalizing on her striking good looks. But after a few short months, she started to think about her future

more seriously. Deciding that she needed to settle down, she made her way back to the Bay Area and enrolled in college. But as good as her intentions were, Barbara was still a teenager, with all the impulse control issues you'd expect. When she wasn't in class, instead of studying, she frequented local bars. And that's where she met 26-year-old men. mechanic Harry Keelhammer. Barbara told Harry that she was 23, and the two started dating, but things got real when Barbara became pregnant. She didn't want to have a child out of wedlock, so she copped to her real age, and the two gave married life a shot. But Barbara was still very much a child herself. When she gave birth to their son in July of 1940, she was overwhelmed.

Not knowing how to cope, Barbara did what she did best. She ran away from her problems. Exactly how long she was away for? We don't know. But we do know she ended up in San Diego, where she was arrested for vagrancy in March of 1941. Only, she wasn't exactly alone, because she was pregnant again.

Needless to say, when Barbara returned to the Bay Area that winter, her marriage was on shaky ground. She and Harry went there separate ways in 1942, and the kids went to live with Harry's mother in Seattle. According to Barbara, the arrangement was supposed to be temporary. She wanted to get her GED, find a job, then get her boys back. She had a plan. But, well, the thing about plans is they don't always work out. Because no matter how hard Barbara tried to turn her life around,

few people wanted to hire a reform school runaway. So Barbara returned to San Diego and allegedly got into sex work once more. That is until 1944 when a sailor made an honest woman out of her. But things fizzled out after the guy shipped off to war and the two got divorced. Barbara was back on her own and back on the streets. She was arrested for vagrancy months later in San Diego. Then in June, she was picked up in San Francisco for a third view. vagrancy charge. Today, vagrancy laws are a rarity. That's because they're super vague and

pretty discriminatory, but back in Barbara's day, cops used vagrancy laws to arrest anyone they deemed socially unsavory. This included the homeless and women who they thought were committing sex work. In Barbara's case, it's believed she was arrested for the latter, and facing her third vagrancy charge in as many years, Barbara Graham seemed like a puzzle to the court. courts. Here was a beautiful young woman who was full of potential, and yet she kept making a mess of her life. Perhaps that's why when the courts held her for 30 days, they also ordered her to undergo a personality test. Maybe they'd find a way to explain why she wasn't doing better in life. Now, it's unclear exactly who examined Barbara while she was behind bars, but whoever it was,

they determined that she had, quote, psychopathic tendencies that lead to delinquents. Whether this was an official diagnosis or not, it seems she never received any treatment for the issue, and after a month, she was released from custody and ready to make the most of her freedom. During the next few years, Barbara hopped around big cities, working odd jobs to get by. In Reno, she worked as a dealer in dice games. In Chicago, she was a cocktail waitress, and whenever necessary, she turned to sex work. No matter the location, all of her jobs placed Barbara in somewhat shady working environments, where she met plenty of unsavory characters.

But if you think about it, it's easy to imagine Barbara feeling right at home there. As a teen, she'd been thrust into close quarters with young ladies who'd crimed their way to reform school. After that, she'd spent much of her time drifting from place to place, getting by with help from people who probably had remarkably similar experiences. I'm willing to bet that Barbara felt like the world's outcasts were her true family. These so-called undesirables gave Barbara the love and attention she'd always craved as a child. They called her beautiful, they called her loyal, and in return she called them her friends.

Unfortunately for Barbara, sometimes being a good friend meant committing a crime. In 1947, a man named Mark Monroe asked Barbara for a favor. He was on trial for attempted murder in San Francisco and needed an alibi. Ever reliable, Barbara told authorities that she was with Mark in San Francisco at the time of the incident. But Barbara never expected the authorities to do their homework. They checked her testimony and discovered that she was actually in Chicago that day. So in 1948, Barbara was charged with perjury and sentenced to a year in jail. Interestingly, her time behind bars wasn't so bad.

While she cooled her heels in San Francisco County Jail, Barbara had time to indulge her love of music and literature. She listened to hours and hours of jazz, dove into Oscar Wild, and recited poetry. Her probation officer even described Barbara as a pleasant and quality. It seemed like, if given the chance, she might have been quite content to live a quieter life, maybe even study a little. But Barbara couldn't just walk away from the life she loved. So when she was released in 1949, the 25-year-old headed straight to Reno, back to the world of fast money and even faster romances. Around this time, Barbara met and married a traveling salesman, but like all the others, the union was short-lived, and the trail of broken relationships was starting

to look like a pattern. According to psychiatrist Mark Banchich, one common explanation for increasing divorce rates with each successive marriage is that people often enter into relationships on the rebound from their last. In this scenario, it's possible that serial brides like Barbara don't give themselves enough time to, quote, recover from their divorce or to get their priorities straight before taking their vows again. They enter their next marriage for the wrong reasons, not having internalized the lessons of their past experience. The upshot of this is that these people are liable to repeat their mistakes, making them susceptible to similar conflicts, and another broken marriage follows. Barbara certainly followed this pattern, but in early 1950, she had more

important things on her mind than finding husband number four. After leaving Nevada, she made her way to Washington, hoping to reunite with her two boys. The eldest was now 11 and the youngest nine. But her mother got to them first. She told the boy's paternal grandmother about Barbara's perjury conviction. She also got in touch with Barbara's San Francisco probation officer and told him that Barbara was an unfit mother. After that, seeing the boys seemed next to impossible. Obviously, Barbara was upset with her mother's betrayal, but she wasn't just frustrated. She was done. She was ready to throw in the towel. It's not like trying had ever done her any good anyway, so she gave up her dreams of getting her boys back and stopped reporting to her probation officer altogether.

That made her a fugitive on the run. With the open road ahead of her, the 27-year-old went to South Los Angeles, where she met up with a guy named Emmett Perkins. He ran an illegal gambling parlor just outside the city, and he offered the striking beauty a job. Every so often, Barbara would put on her best outfit and head to a bar. There, she'd flirt with whichever man tried his luck, then bring him on over to the parlor.

At the end of the night, Emmett gave Barbara a share of the man's losses. Interestingly, it was while she was working that Barbara met her fourth and final husband. Only Henry Graham wasn't a mark. He was the bartender, and they fell head over heels for each other. They tied the knot in November of 1950. Now that she was married to someone she truly loved, with a steady income, it seemed like Barbara might be turning a corner. Slowly she let herself hope again.

Maybe she could have a happily ever-out. after, after all. The problem was, Henry wasn't as solid and dependable as Barbara thought. He was a regular drug user and was arrested on narcotics charges at least once. Even after she gave birth to their son, in February of 1952, the first time father couldn't curb his dependency. He eventually lost his job, which meant that the family of three had a new problem, cash flow.

According to Barbara, she begged Henry to find another job, but he didn't see the point. He got enough from his unemployment checks to fund his next fix. When it came to luxuries like groceries and medical bills, well, that was another story. Needless to say, Barbara was livid. She thought she'd finally made good, but after less than three years, her marriage was a complete nightmare. All they ever seemed to do was fight, which brings us to the fateful night. of March 9, 1953. Now, before we go any further, I want to point out how important this next part is,

because it's where you're going to need to decide if you trust Barbara's version of events or not. This is the night Mabel Monaghan was murdered in her Burbank home. When she told her story to reporters later, Barbara said that she was at home with Henry that night. They were having the biggest blowout of their lives. Without a steady income, Barbara had... had been forging checks to get by, which only exacerbated their existing issues. The domestic quarrel began in the afternoon and lasted until the early hours of the next morning. They finally called it quits around 4 a.m., which is when Henry walked out. After that, Barbara called her

friend and boss Emmett Perkins. She needed help. She was alone. She had no money, and the police would surely be knocking on her door over the forged checks any day. She needed to get out of the apartment fast. So at some stage after Henry left, Barbara went on over to Emmett's parlor. That's where, according to her, she encountered John Santo. It's also where she found out that she, Emmett and Santo were accused of murdering a woman during an attempted robbery. Again, this is Barbara's version of events, so it's entirely possible her account of this moment wasn't the whole truth. But if we'd take her at her word, then we know the accusation floored Barbara. She'd been accused of a lot of things in her life, but murder? The thought was

absurd. Still, ridiculous or not, she knew it didn't look good for her. She'd violated her probation, had a conviction for perjury, and had been forging checks. If the cops believed this story, then she was in trouble. decided to do what she'd always done. She went on the run and hid out with Emmett and Santo, although she wasn't very good at laying low. About a month later, in April, cops noticed her walking around L.A. as if she wasn't wanted for murder. They eventually followed her to an old auto shop in Linwood, where they also scooped up her supposed accomplices. In the interrogation room, Barbara swore she never crossed paths with Mabel, but investigators weren't buying it.

They charged all three of them with the murder, and in September of 1953, the trio were found guilty. And that's exactly how Barbara found herself locked up, facing a date with the gas chamber. From her jail cell, she told her life story to journalist Stuart Palmer for American Weekly magazine. After the two-piece story hit the stands in April of 1954, there was a bit of a shift in the way people felt about Barbara. After her arrest, Bloody Babs had become a bit of a minor celebrity. According to the media, she was a gorgeous, ruthless femme fatale who'd killed a defenseless woman in a moment of greedy frustration. It was a juicy take on the story. But now, as readers flipped through the pages of American Weekly, something new.

enter the narrative. Doubt. Maybe Barbara wasn't a ruthless killer after all. Maybe they had gotten her all wrong. Then again, authorities had captured her on tape, admitting that she was with Emmett and Santo the night Mabel was killed. So who's to say what really happened? Well, that's where I come in,

because I think the truth is buried among the different versions of this story. Do I trust Barbara's version of events completely? No. I think it's most likely that she was there the night of the murder. Her story changed too many times before and after her trial, and that's a red flag. But do I think she killed Mabel? Also no. I think she was along for a payday, sure.

But given what we know about Barbara, it just doesn't seem like it was in her nature to be violent. If it was, wouldn't that have popped up on her record somewhere along the way? And that seemed to be a conclusion that quite a lot of people were coming to. in 1954. And if Barbara wasn't a killer, then she didn't deserve to die. But if she was going to be saved, there wasn't much time left to do it. Coming up, the fight to save Barbara's life. Transport your senses with Solte Janado's limited edition perfume mist collection. At Sephora, sprits on lush notes of rainforest orchid and crisp sea breeze with he fresco paraizzo. Embrace of floral and fruity scent inspired by Rio's nude beach with cheeky bikini or caps for sun-kissed

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may help reduce the frequency of minor digestive discomfort, which includes gas, bloating, rumbling, and abdominal discomfort. Now back to the story. When Barbara Graham was sentenced to death in September of 1953 for the murder of Mabel Monaghan, most Americans thought justice had been served. but after reading Barbara's version of events, some people started to doubt her guilt. One of those people was journalist Edward Montgomery. He was there the day Bloody Babs Graham was sentenced

and had been 100% confident that she deserved the moniker. But by the summer of 1954, that certainty had evaporated, and he wasn't content to let it go. So he set out to try and convince the people in charge that Barbara, was innocent. Through his connection at the San Francisco Police Department, Ed got his hands on John True's initial statement. That was when he'd first accused Barbara, Emmett Perkins, and John Santo of killing Mabel. Ed compared that document with True's court testimony and noticed a glaring difference. The first time around, True said that Emmett had been the one to place a pillowcase over Mabel's head,

but on the stand he laid the blame on Barbara instead. But why would he change his story? Well, according to one of Ed's sources, John Santo had arranged for Barbara to take the fall. He wanted the beautiful mother of three to get blamed for the violence because he figured she was more likely to get off. If that was true, it might explain True's different versions of events. Realizing he was on to something,

Ed met with Barbara as well as, her psychiatrist. Dr. Carl Palmberg firmly believed that she was innocent, because in his eyes, what she was was a compulsive liar, which, according to clinical psychologist Linda Blair, doesn't make someone a bad person. Compulsive liars have an issue with impulsivity. They literally can't stop themselves from telling falsehoods, whether or not they have any motives. Blair further explains that if you're an impulsive person, it's really hard to break the habit, because you have this terrible feeling inside you that you have to sort things out right now. So when it comes to your head, you just say it.

That doesn't mean you necessarily lie, but it's a little harder for you to stop from lying, more than it is for someone who's more reflective. The reasons for why this happens are still a bit unclear. But clinical psychologist Dr. Patapia Sozzoli suggests that pathological lying might be a way to bolster self-esteem, or it could be a defenseman. mechanism. Dr. Tsotsoli also points out that people who pathologically lie demonstrate an impaired ability to distinguish between fiction and reality, and it is often observed that the lie eventually wins power over the pathological liar, and he loses mastery of his own lies.

This might account for Barbara's own varied version of events, and why she didn't seem capable of sticking with just one. In Ed Montgomery's mind, compulsive lying was, what had landed Barbara on death row, not guilt. He was so convinced of Barbara's innocence that he reached out to California's Attorney General to request that Barbara be given a lie detector test. Not wanting to upset law enforcement, the AG ultimately said no.

Meanwhile, Barbara's new attorney, Al Matthews, worked on legal appeals. Her petition made it all the way to the United States Supreme Court in March of 1955. But the court denied the appeal. After that, Barbara's execution date was finally set for June 3rd. Al looked for other ways he could get Barbara's conviction overturned,

while Ed, well, he tried just about everything else. In May, he tried to convince California governor Goodwin Knight to issue a pardon. But that was a non-starter. So later that month, he wrote to Emmett Perkins in San Quentin. He was facing the same date with the gastroenter, chamber as Barbara and John Santo, and Ed thought he might be able to reason with the man. He implored him to tell the truth and clear Barbara's name. All Emmett had to do was tell the warden, and Ed would come running. At first, Emmett stayed quiet, but then as the execution date

loomed closer, the warden reached out to Ed. Emmett was ready to talk. Ed was ecstatic. He arrived at San Quentin a couple of days later, ready to hear the confession that would change everything. But then he had the rug pulled out from under him. When the men finally sat down to speak, all Emmett said was, quote, that old lady was never pistol-wipped. She was beat with her own cane. According to Ed, John Santo had heard Emmett was preparing to change his story and had convinced him not to.

Why that would be we don't know. but one of Ed's last hopes had been dashed. With that, officials prepared for Barbara's execution. On June 2, 1955, 31-year-old Barbara Graham was brought into a holding cell. She spent the night lounging in red silk pajamas, listening to music and talking to her prison nurse. At dawn, she ate a few scoops of hot fudge Sunday, but she didn't have much of an appetite.

Around 9 a.m. as prison attendance prepared the gas chamber, Barbara prepared to die. But before she could start the long walk, the telephone rang. It was good news. The court had granted a stay of execution so that it could hear Barbara's lawyer's latest petition. Al Matthews argued that evidence seized illegally couldn't be used against criminal defendants. We can't say for certain, but it seems this argument, was aimed at the secret recording of Barbara, admitting to being with Emmett and Santo the night of the murder. If the court agreed, the recording would be inadmissible, and without that, then there was no concrete evidence that placed Barbara at the scene of the crime. But the petition was rejected,

and the execution was back on. Around 10.30 a.m., Barbara received communion and was given her last writes. She was ready to go. But at 1041 a.m., the phone rang for a second time. Al had convinced the governor to order another stay. Since John True had altered his testimony, Al's argument was that he had perjured himself. As such, his assertion that Barbara had attacked Mabel was invalid. While Al fought valiantly, his efforts only delayed the inevitable. The court rejected the petition. within minutes, and by that point, Barbara couldn't take it anymore. If she wasn't going to be pardoned, then she was ready to end this torment once and for all. Even as Ed pleaded with

Emmett to change his story, Barbara accepted what Ed and Al couldn't. It was over. And so at 1130 a.m., Barbara was finally led into the gas chamber, blindfolded so that she couldn't see the 40 or so witnesses waiting in the viewing room. Barbara hadn't wanted any of her loved ones there. She didn't want them to see. She asked that her three boys forget about her altogether, better than to live with the shame of having a convicted killer as a mother. Before Barbara took her last breath, she said, good people are always so sure they're right. And as far as last words go, those are fascinating. Was she talking about someone in particular, Ed and Al perhaps?

Maybe the prosecutors who'd put her there. Unfortunately, we'll never know. The 31-year-old died moments later. Hours later, Emmett Perkins and John Santo met the same end. And that was that. The story of Mabel Monaghan's murder came to a close with the death of Barbara Graham. But people remained fascinated with the tale of Bloody Babs long after she was gone. It was retold in books, articles, and even a song.

Then in 1958, a fictionalized version of the saga made it to the silver screen. Ed Montgomery himself consulted on the film, I Want to Live, which earned Susan Hayward an Academy Award for playing Barbara. But not everyone was moved. The prosecutor in Barbara's trial, Jay Miller Levy, said that the film was, like so much of Hollywood, just make-believe. Barbara, he said, was nothing more than a cold-blooded killer. But like I said earlier, I'm not so sure about that. Of course, we'll never really know the truth about March 9, 1953.

Then again, maybe we already do. Maybe the courts got it right and Barbara got what she deserved. Or maybe she just chose the wrong friends. Maybe she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. But almost 70 years after her execution, the search for answers seems almost pointless. The people who knew the whole story are long gone. The truth can't help anyone now.

Thanks for listening to Serial Killers, a Spotify podcast. We're here with a new episode every Monday, and be sure to check us out on Instagram at Serial Killers Podcast. For more information on Barbara Graham, amongst the many sources we used, we found Proof of Guilt by Kathleen A. Karns, extremely helpful to our research.

Stay safe out there. Serial Killers is a Spotify podcast. This episode was written by Jane O with writing assistants by Joel Callan, fact-checked by Bennett Logan, researched by Mickey Taylor and Chelsea Wood, and sound designed by Juan Borg. with production assistance by Joshua Kern.

Our head of programming is Julian Waro. Our head of production is Nick Johnson, and Spencer Howard is our post-production supervisor. I'm your host, Vanessa Richardson. Want to hear something spooky. Some monster, it reminded me of Bigfoot. Monsters Among Us is a weekly podcast featuring true stories of the paranormal. One of the boys started to exhibit demonic possession.

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