Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén - "Crazy Dave" David Edward Maust Pt. 1

Episode Date: November 28, 2022

A volatile childhood and stints in a hospital psych ward set the stage for a violent killer who murdered teenage boys in Germany and the U.S. from the 1970s to the early aughts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Due to the graphic nature of this killer's crimes, listener discretion is advised. This episode includes discussions of domestic violence, child abuse, sexual abuse, violence, and murder. We advise extreme caution for children under 13. It was a warm summer evening in Frankfurt, Germany. 20-year-old David Moss revved his moped engine. Behind him, 13-year-old Jimmy McClister held on tight, laughing at how fast they were speeding. All of a sudden, David steered the bike down a dead-end street and stopped. When David got off the scooter, Jimmy followed him, still giddy from the ride.

But David wasn't laughing. In his head, he heard a cold whisper, do it now. A familiar rush of adrenaline flowed through David as he pulled a knife from his pocket and pointed it at Jimmy. The voice purred, he deserves it. Seeing the flash of metal, the teenager froze, panic filling his eyes. David seized his chance and tied Jimmy to a tree. Overwhelmed by fear, the boy fainted. But that didn't stop David.

He picked up a wooden board from the ground and swung it down onto Jimmy's body, which spasmed under its force. Eventually, David stepped back. The rush he felt just seconds earlier had disappeared. Now all he could feel were the sobs rising up through his chest. chest. But the voice in his head came back, clear as day, soothing him, and he knew he'd done the right thing. 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're exploring

the life of David Edward Moss, a man whose psyche was almost as twisted as his crimes. 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 discuss how the turmoil in David's childhood left him with lasting psychological issues. Then we'll follow David as he moves from one institution to the next, and watch as he seeks love through violence. Next time, we'll watch as David's murderous spree continues, even as the police close in on him. We've got all that and more coming up. Stay with us. This episode is brought to you by Shopify.

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Embrace a floral and fruity scent inspired by Rio's nude beach with chiquet bikini or caps for sun-kissed bliss with limonada gelada, 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. Most people are familiar with the classic visual representation of morality. An angel sits on one shoulder, a devil on the other. With every encouragement from the angel, the devil whispers honey-coded advocacy for a sin. For the vast majority, this good versus evil metaphor is just that, a figurative representation

of their conscience. But for some people, the fight between virtue and chaos can be an endless screaming match, David Moss's story is proof that good doesn't always win. David was born in the spring of 1954, in Connellsville, Pennsylvania, surrounded by lush forests, rolling hills, and the Yacagamee River, but town was small but bustling. Coal miners, railroad laborers, and other hardened blue-collar workers had long called Connellsville home.

David's father, George, was one of them. George worked for a railroad company and often didn't come home to his family until after midnight. However, it's unclear if he truly worked these grueling hours, or if he spent his nights in bars to avoid his wife, Ava. A small, bony woman with sharp features, Ava had a fearsome temper. Originally from Ritesville, Georgia, some suspected that she married George as a way out of her simple farm life rather than actual love. Despite her possibly mercenary attitude towards her marriage, Ava resented her husband for leaving her home alone all day. And with him gone for such long hours, she directed all of her frustration toward her children,

especially Little David. At this point, we want to take a moment and let you know that a lot of what we know about David's story comes directly from an autobiography he wrote. Using that manuscript, plus notes from his lawyer, author Dory Moss, sketched out a fuller picture of the killer's life. Having married one of David's relatives, she also spoke with family members to round out the story. However, because so much of the book's content was based on David's own recollections, trusting that it's all the truth can be difficult.

Keep that in mind as we move forward. While we've confirmed facts wherever possible, getting verifiable insight into David's mind is impossible, and his own accounts of the events of his life might be skewed. According to David's account, he and his siblings all faced verbal and physical abuse, but he bore the brunt of his mother's fury. To him, it felt like from the moment she gave birth, Ava invented reasons to be angry with him. She withheld food, left him alone for hours at a time, and frequently insulted or hit him.

Between beatings, Ava would act sweet to David, apologizing for everything she had done. David later guessed that it made Ava happy to watch him accept punishments and still love her, so perhaps the abuse was a way for her to test her power, or her son's admiration. Ava struggled with her mental health. Staff at the Chicago State Hospital described her as needy, self-centered, and narcissistic. And according to Dory Mast, Ava struggled with depression, paranoia, and maybe even psychosis.

It's unclear whether these were official diagnoses, but we know that these disorders can cause mood swings, emotional manipulation, and occasional violence. So if Ava did live with any or all of these conditions, they almost certainly affected her relationship with her children. However, instead of learning to hate his mother for the erratic way she treated him, David only craved her love more. 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. According to a 2013 article in the International Journal of Psychology Research, abusers create a connection to their victims through what's called trauma bonding. If the abuser creates a power dynamic that places them securely on top, then alternates between violence and kindness, it can be difficult for the victim to recognize the situation as toxic. And the victim can form an even stronger bond with the abuser because their self-esteem relies on the very person who's tormenting them. No matter how poorly Ava treated David, all she had to do was turn on the charm, and he forgave her for everything.

even if it meant opening himself up to more disappointment and danger. For example, on David's fourth birthday, Ava told her son they would have a party later in the day. Then she apparently plopped him in his high chair and went to take a nap. Too excited to sit still, David attempted to pull himself out of his high chair, but his foot caught on the chair and he crashed onto the tiled floor. Finding David passed out on the floor, Ava dragged him into the living room. When the toddler came to, he began vomiting and seizing. That wasn't all.

David also couldn't see anything. In the frightening darkness, all he could focus on was Ava's panicked voice, which was tinged with annoyance. What happened immediately after that is unclear. But Ava eventually brought him to a medical clinic, where he received some kind of treatment. Details about what this was are vague. But David's symptoms may suggest that the fall left him with a traumatic brain injury, which can cause brain damage.

After that day, David remembered feeling more lethargic and quiet that he'd been before, and Ava became even more vengeful. In August, 1958, Ava gave birth to another son she named Jeffrey, but the birth was complicated. After two surgeries, Ava was told she could no longer have children. Coupled with her existing psychological issues, the news was a blow to Ava, and it set off an emotional breakdown that landed her in Connellsville State Hospital Psychiatric Unit sometime in 1958.

When Ava was released a month later, it seems that little had changed. She still had emotional outburst, and David felt like he was the target of whatever abusive instincts she held. But when he was six, David's already tumultuous childhood turned completely upside down. In February of 1960, George was fired from... from his railroad job. With nowhere else to go, the moss packed up and moved to Ava's childhood town of Ritesville, Georgia, the very place Ava had escaped from years prior. Ava always hated it there, so she was especially brutal toward David after they arrived

in Georgia. According to him, she liked to take his bed sheets on cold nights, leaving him to shiver. Then during the day, her insults and beatings were even more venomous than before. Wrightsville also offered David more freedom than he had before. He and his brother would spend all day outside, exploring fields and splashing in creeks. This was mostly because Ava didn't want to see David, but he didn't mind that so much. He loved the adventure and opportunity for imaginary games. In Georgia, it seemed David was finally allowed to be a child. But that only lasted for so long. About a year later, George found a job in Chicago. So in June of 1961,

the masts moved to Humboldt Park, which was then a low-income and crime-ridden neighborhood. This transition was far less welcome than the southern comfort David had found in Georgia. In comparison, the city was overwhelming, loud and crowded. After failing kindergarten in Pennsylvania and skipping school in Georgia, David started school again, but he struggled academically. To make matters worse, the kids in their neighborhood mocked him for being a hillbilly. It seemed David and its siblings tattered clothes were acceptable on the farm in Georgia, but laughable in the city's playgrounds.

Just like his interactions with his mother, David was desperate for the other boy's approval. It seemed that his experience with trauma bonding had affected his ability to form healthy relationships with anyone. So he tried to prove himself by accepting reckless dares, such as setting fires and committing petty theft. He started sneaking out of the house late at night so he could run to the park and play by himself. Though David feared his mother's punishments, he seemed to find a small amount of control and power in his rule-breaking. Still, sneaking out and getting into trouble wasn't enough to drown out the chaos building at home. At some point in 1962, George finally moved out,

which was a net positive given that he had a drinking problem and physically abused his wife. But his departure left Ava feeling lonelier than ever. On the days when it got bad, Ava turned her frustration on David, using her words to make him feel small. And at night, the abuse was even worse. After dark, Ava would shake David awake to invite him to sleep in her bed. David jumped at the chance, thrilled to be closer to his mom. But once they were beneath the sheets, Ava would sexually assault him. Afterwards, David drifted off to sleep.

But that doesn't mean the trauma of his mother's abuse. didn't affect him. The eight-year-old started waking up in the middle of the night, drenched in sweat after horrible nightmares. After that, he snuck out even more often, hoping to outrun his own dreams. That's probably why nine-year-old David snuck out one day in March of 1963, taking his little brother with him. We can't be sure exactly what happened, but according to David, four-year-old Jeffrey fell into a pond trying to fetch a ball. If we believe David's version of events, then that's why he arrived home with a soaking wet Jeffrey.

He expected a beating at the very least, but Ava had other plans. When she saw the state her sons were in, Ava was likely shocked at first. But eventually, she came up with the ultimate punishment for her least favorite child. Coming up, David's imaginary games take a dark turn. Behind every missing person is a story. to be told, look closely at the details and you may just find the answers. Find the answers, find the truth. I'm Sarah Turney, host of disappearances. Every Thursday, join me for a deeper look into history's most gripping missing persons cases, tracking timelines, analyzing clues,

and piecing together as many answers as possible to find the actual truth. From the tragedies of Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh Jr. to the mysterious circumstances, surrounding Tierra Williams and the Aguala mass kidnapping. Each week on Disappearances, we're spotlighting the stories you thought you knew, and the ones you'll be shocked to discover. Because no one just vanishes into thin air. The truth is out there waiting to be found. Follow the Spotify original from Parcast Disappearances.

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Now back to the story. It seemed to little David Mossed that his mother Ava had never been too concerned with his behavior. She'd already subjected him to every kind of abuse, no matter what he did. But when the nine-year-old let his younger brother fall into a pond on an outing to the park, Ava thought of a way she could make him pay. In July of 1963, Ava addressed David and announced they were going on an outing. Having always craved his mother's attention, he was ecstatic at the opportunity to finally go somewhere fun with her.

After taking several buses, they arrived outside an elegant-looking building with columns lining the front. Above the door, a sign read, Cook County Hospital. Now, we can't know for sure what Ava told the hospital staff that day, but decades later, Jeffrey Moss claimed that his brother tried to kill him twice, including an incident involving a pond, so it's possible that Ava had her son committed to protect her youngest child. Whatever she told the hospital staff, the result was this. He wasn't going home with her.

Eventually, one of the men at the hospital put his hands on David's small shoulders and walked him to a tiny room with a bed and a window. The orderly sat David down and told him to wait. The minutes in that room stretched into hours. A ball of panic swelled in David's chest and tears welled up in his eyes. Once they spilled over onto his cheeks, they refused. to stop. He knew that Ava was gone, and he was alone. After he'd spent a couple days crying in that small room, he was transferred to Chicago State Hospital. Unlike the Cook County Hospital, the building was dark and looming. There, he ended up in a room with about 50 other children.

At the time, Chicago State Hospital's psych ward was infamous for its lack of care and humanity. Hygiene conditions were terrible. Patients didn't receive proper medical. Patients didn't receive proper attention and people with all sorts of disorders were thrown together without any thought. Ava sometimes visited, but only because those were the terms of David's admittance to the psych ward. When she skipped her visits, David made excuses for her, telling the nurses she probably had a cold or her back was bothering her. Even trapped in a psychiatric ward, David still needed to convince himself that Ava loved him, despite all the evidence. When she did bother to show up, she was always standoffish. But then at the end of a visit, Eva would bend down and kiss David deeply on the

mouth. When the nurses finally noticed the upsetting behavior, they restricted Ava's visits. But David didn't understand what was going on. All he knew was that his mother's absence hurt him. The times he got to see her had been a bright spot in his monotonous new existence. Because life at Chicago State Hospital was mind-numbingly boring. It didn't help that David didn't make any friends there, He felt intimidated, surrounded by so many other children who had behavioral, intellectual, or family issues. One boy who slept near him wore a baseball catcher's mask because he constantly slammed his head into the ground. Another girl vomited all the time and was always covered in it. One day, David noticed a fly land on her lips, but the girl didn't move.

That's when he realized she wasn't breathing. She had died and no one had noticed. Perhaps that's when it dawned on David that he couldn't rely on his peers or even the adults in charge. So he decided to keep to himself. The 10-year-old stopped showing emotions in front of other people and didn't bother trying to socialize. This was likely around the time he developed yet another coping mechanism. According to Dory Moss, David lived with schizophrenia, and in her book, Blood-stained, when no one comes looking, she wrote that he started hearing a voice,

in his head. With all that had happened in David's life to that point, it's hard to know exactly what might have caused his schizophrenia. But according to a 2011 study published in Schizophrenia Bulletin, traumatic brain injuries can lead to an increased chance of developing the disorder, so perhaps David's childhood fall from his high chair was a factor. However, the voice might also have developed as a coping mechanism for abuse and neglect. A 2014 article published in Plus One describes one mental process of schizophrenia as splitting, in which the person separates emotions, thoughts, and even memory into different categories, which may confuse the person's sense of self.

Whatever caused it, the voice comforted and soothed David, but it also told him what to do. According to Dory Moss, it sometimes instructed him to try to escape the hospital. Other times, it told him that Ava never cared about him and said that he should forget her. For four long years, David and his voice kept one another company. And though he'd long ago realized he might never get out, the hospital officials began doubting that he belonged there. Apparently, no one could see any proof that David was the dangerous boy Ava had described. Social workers even recorded the discrepancies between the picture that Ava had painted

and David's observed sensitivity and reliability. They did, however, note David's intense preoccupation with his parents. parents' rejection and abandonment. But that wasn't a good enough reason for the child to take up a bed and three meals a day. So in June of 1967, the Chicago State Hospital ruled they could no longer keep David Moss. However, there was one problem. After four years, Ava refused to take her son back. She made various vague claims that he was still too dangerous or that she couldn't afford to care for him.

So instead of finally returning to a child, family, 12-year-old David was sent to yet another institution, ULick Children's Home. Having spent so long in highly regulated, restrictive living conditions, David was shocked by the amount of freedom he had at ULick. There were field trips, late curfews, and freedom to roam around outside the grounds, not to mention the other children. But whatever peace he found in his new home was disrupted when another boy at the home learned that David used to live on a psychiatric ward.

admitting any sort of mental illness was taboo in the 1960s. Living on a psych ward was unforgivable. The boy threatened to tell everyone about the secret unless David traded a favor. So he walked David to an empty room and made the newcomer take his clothes off. Then he ran his hands over David's body from the waist up. According to David, he pretended to be asleep. He didn't like what the boy was doing, but at least this way, nobody would fall. find out about his past.

At first, the whole exchange seemed wrong to David, but after a while, he noticed other boys sneaking away for similar interactions. They weren't necessarily looking for sexual partners, rather they needed physical contact. Many of them had been touch-deprived for years. David himself had gone without physical attention for most of his life. So in January of 1968, he decided to try out this technique himself. David offered one of his friends Donnie a pack of cigarettes if he touched David in return. Donnie agreed and the two spent a few hours kissing and caressing each other.

They also played the knockout game, which David claimed was somewhat popular at the home. One of the boys would choke a partner until they passed out, or more often pretended to be unconscious. Then, per the agreed upon rules, the aggressor was allowed to touch their victim. Later, David admitted that he'd embellished some of his stories about his time at Eulik, and it's likely these incidents were no exception. That makes it hard to know exactly what happened between him and the other boys. But based on how he described the game, it was about intimacy, more than power. And this was the only way they knew how to get it.

But instead of acknowledging this need for touch, the boys invented loopholes that allowed them to enjoy the experience without fully owning it. David eventually grew used to the game, and despite some bouts of shame, he enjoyed life at Eulik. He had more friends and freedom than ever before. Plus, he was learning how to read and write again. However, David's mental state was more conflicted than ever. He felt moody and aggressive, plus he developed a quick temper. If anything upset him, he would fly into a rage and break his own belongings, only to immediately regret it after.

When David stood amid a pile of broken records, the voice in his head would tease him for flying off the handle once again. Eventually, breaking items turned into pulling risky pranks, like setting off fireworks under people's chairs. By the summer of 1969, those dangerous habits were the least of his concerns, because 15-year-old David started feeling new urges to hurt his friends. mental images of shoving boys off buildings or holding their heads underwater until they went still flashed into his mind. David's voice egged him on, trying to convince him that the other boys deserved it.

But David resisted, at least for a few months. Then in March of 1970, when David was 16, David and his friend Donnie found a private room to drink beer and play the knockout game. But Donnie, whom David suspected was gay, wanted more than just touching. He kissed him deeply until David asked him to stop. Disappointed, Donnie refused to keep playing the game.

But David was frustrated. He didn't want to be kissed, but he did want to be touched. That's when David turned icy. Donnie was a jerk, he thought. And as he thought about it, his annoyance gave way to white-hot anger. David yanked an electrical cord from the wall and wrapped it around Donnie's neck. Then he pulled so hard that blood formed on his friend's lips. As quickly as he started, David stopped.

He threw the cord down and knelt to hold Donnie apologizing. While the voice in his head called him a coward for stopping, David took Donnie to the nurse's station. The teen was taken to the emergency room, and David might have thought that was the end of it. But a week later, a staff member approached David with a grim expression. Donnie told them what happened. Ulik wouldn't tolerate violence, so David was taken back to the Chicago State Hospital.

However, only one month after being shipped back to the psych ward, David escaped with two other young men. For the first time in his life, David was free to go anywhere he wanted. And though his voice told him to take advantage of this fresh start, there was only one place David wanted to be, in his mother's arms. Coming up, David's impulses rage out of control. This episode is brought to you by Prime. Obsession is in session. And this summer, Prime Originals have everything you want. Steamy romances, irresistible love stories, and the book to screen favorites you've already read twice.

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as part of a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle may help reduce the frequency of minor digestive discomfort, which includes gas, floating, rumbling, and abdominal discomfort. Now back to the story. By April 1970, 16-year-old David Mossed found himself back at his mother's door. Ava was furious to see David, but to his relief, she didn't immediately send him back to the hospital. Ava realized that if she had him committed, mandatory visits would keep him in her life. If she wanted him gone, she needed to send him farther away, so she put David out of bused to Georgia to stay with her family. David lived with his uncle Bob, and it was a good, stable existence for the teen.

He took blue-collar jobs like painting, construction, and driving. For the first time in his life, he felt useful. But like everything in David's life, it couldn't last. While David was willing to work hard, he didn't know how to be on time, behave in front of customers, or maintain basic manners. So a few months after he arrived in Georgia, one of his uncles suggested that David enlist in the army, thinking it would teach him those skills. However, it wasn't that simple for David.

At this time, the U.S. was fighting in Vietnam. And though David could be violent at times, he felt no thirst to kill for his country. Besides, he was still too young to join. But in summer of 1971, David got a call from Ava inviting him to move back in with her. Though the voice warned how strange this offer was, the 17-year-old didn't care. David was packed and on a bus to Chicago within a matter of days. It wasn't the loving reunion he imagined. When he arrived, Ava told David he needed to join the military so he could help her out with money.

While the voice in his head screamed no, David couldn't resist the urge to please and protect his mother. Maybe if he did this, she would finally love him. David was still a year too young to enlist, and the army would never take someone who'd been stuck in mental institutions for so much of his life. But Ava had thought it all through. She wrote out David's application for him, possibly including a fake birthday to make him older. Then she wrote a letter claiming that David spent his childhood in Georgia. Before David knew it, he was approved for duty, and in late 1971, he reported to boot camp in Fort Ord, California, where he was assigned to be a cooking assistant.

So instead of training for the battlefield, he worked in the kitchen and went through courses at the military's cooking school. But despite the distractions of his training, his old habits and urges resurfaced. While Fort Ord was full of fellow soldiers, there were also civilians. One day, David noticed two young boys

hanging around the base, offering shoe shines for a couple of dollars. David likely felt a surge of emotion toward the boys. He saw himself in that. him, he saw his institutionalized friends. He felt a mixture of pity, tenderness, disgust, and rage. Seized by a sudden plan, he approached the children. He offered them $20 to help him deliver a message, which they agreed to immediately. But then David led them to an isolated field. There, he shoved the older boy to the ground and

started choking him. The younger brother screamed and ran to get help. David continued to squeeze the older kids' neck tighter and tighter, feeling a rush of power, intimacy, and pure emotion. He didn't want it to end. To be clear, we don't know whether David was ever officially diagnosed with schizophrenia, but Dory Moss wrote that he lived with a condition. And if that was the case, it likely affected David's life in significant ways, especially in circumstances like this one.

According to a 2015 article published in the CNS Spectrums journal, some people with schizophrenia have trouble controlling their emotions or impulses, which renders them unable to stop aggression once it starts. So even though David was at risk of being caught, the urge to choke his victim might have been exacerbated by whatever mental illness he lived with. But there was another part of David that either didn't want to kill the child or didn't want to get caught. And this piece, at least for a brief moment, overpowered the murderous urge. As quickly as he had struck, David dropped the boy and ran back toward the barracks.

He thought about returning to apologize, but he decided against it. For the next few weeks, David waited for one of his superiors to confront him about the attack. But time passed without any whisper of what he'd done. Eventually, David started to think that maybe the brothers never reported the crime, or maybe it wasn't worth it to the army to hunt down. the perpetrator. Whatever the reason, it seemed like no one was looking for him. And in January of 1972, David graduated from military culinary school, which meant he wouldn't be around for much longer.

Then, in a rare stroke of luck for David, he wasn't sent to Vietnam. Instead, he received orders to report to Frankfurt, Germany. For the month before he left, David stayed with his mom. During this time, Ava was the perfect, loving mother he'd always wanted her to be, and every time he expressed doubt about going overseas, she sweet-talked him back into it. So when the time came, he boarded his plane and headed for Europe. As it turned out, David's service in Germany was neither difficult nor frightening. In fact, his days mostly consisted of drinking, gambling, and bowling. Perhaps in an attempt to impress one of the commanding officers, David became a

came an avid bowler, which landed him on the Army's local team. At first, David struggled through the games to save face, but he soon found that he loved the sport. He spent all of his free time in the local bowling alley, working on his game. Within weeks, he was one of the best members of his team. It also helped that the bowling alley was a gathering spot for officers and their families. There, he met and befriended the higher-ups teenage sons. Not even 20 years old at the time, David was closer to their age than many of his fellow soldiers.

Likewise, the boys gravitated toward David, maybe because he was only a few years older than that. But they confided in him, trusted him, and looked up to him. Many of the boys had troubled paths or difficult family lives, to which David was sympathetic. He was more than happy to teach them what he knew, including the knockout game. Some of the boys, including a 15-year-old will call Trevor, became very interested in the game. According to David's account, Trevor and his younger friend Jimmy McClister tried to get David to play it several times,

pretending to pass out naked on his bed and calling him a tease when he didn't touch them. Though again, this was what David said happened. The 20-year-old felt a lot of conflicting emotions towards the boys. Part of him wanted to care for them, and another piece of him wanted to wrap his seat. hands around their necks and choke them. After the trauma bond he'd formed with his mother as a child, it was almost like he only knew one way to get close to other people. Over the next few months, David had several incidents in which he almost followed his violent

urges toward his teenage friends. He choked them, beat them, and almost stabbed them. But he always pulled back before delivering a fatal blow. Most of the time these boys would forgive David, He understood them, and they didn't want to give that up because of a few outbursts. It seemed they had a trauma bond of their own. This was especially true for one boy, Trevor. Looking back on it, David felt like the teen was infatuated with him. Even after David tied him up, punched him, choked him, he always returned. At first, David led him.

But soon, the younger teen started to make his life tricky. Trevor's father was an esteemed officer, and David was worried that people might notice how much time the boy spent in the assistant Cook's living quarters. Trevor also pulled immature pranks to get David's attention, like shooting pellets at David's window at night, or taking his moped for a spin. David believed that Trevor had a crush on him. Around May 1974, the voice in David's head proposed an idea. The love-struck boy was too much of an inconvenience. He needed to be taken care of. The night of Sunday, May 26, David went to the bowling alley where he knew Trevor would be hanging out.

But when he saw him, Trevor asked to borrow David's moped. He decided to let him. While Trevor went off riding, David killed time by bowling a game. His game went so well that when Trevor returned, David didn't think about murdering him anymore. After David left the bowling alley, however, the impulse to kill returned. It was then that he heard someone call out his name. he turned to see 13-year-old Jimmy McClister. The teen wanted to take the moped on a joyride too.

With murderous intent raging through him, David was itching to attack someone. And if Jimmy was here instead of Trevor, so be it. David no longer needed the excuse of Trevor's indiscreet behavior to strike. He only needed a victim. He also needed some tools, so he told Jimmy to wait while he ran back to his room. There he pulled a pair of laces from his boots. When he returned to Jimmy, they both jumped on the moped and took off into the city. Jimmy laughed during fast turns, but David remained focused.

After driving into a wooded area, he steered the moped into a dead end and parked it. He got off and faced the 13-year-old, who was confused by the stop. David pulled a knife out of his pocket and pointed it at Jimmy. He started accusing Jimmy of spring. reading gossip about David, telling the other boys and officers that he was no good. This wasn't true, but David seemed to want a rational excuse for what he was about to do. He dragged Jimmy to a tree and used the shoelaces to tie him to it. The boy stammered apologies, trying to appeal to his friend.

But whatever affection David might have felt for Jimmy had been replaced by pure rage. Maybe out of fear, Jimmy fainted. Perhaps seeing him lose consciousness was the push David needed to finally act. Passing out, pretending to sleep. In David's mind, they were signs that you were allowed to do whatever you wanted to a person. That was what he was used to. So now, instead of running away as he had during his other attacks, David grabbed a wooden board from the ground.

He slammed it into Jimmy's body as hard as he could again and again. David kept beating Jimmy until the boy was almost dead. Then he untied his limp form from the tree and heaved him into his arms. David carried Jimmy into the forest, the boy's breath ragged. When the breathing finally stopped, David placed him on the ground. And as he stood over Jimmy, David's mind slowed. He just knew. This was only the beginning.

Thanks again for tuning in to serial killers. We'll be back soon with part two of David Edward Moss story. When incarceration pushes them even deeper into madness. For more information on David Moss, amongst the many sources we used, we found blood-stained when no one comes looking by Dory Mossed, 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 Cuddler, sound designed by Michael Motion, with production assistance by Ron Shapiro, Nick Johnson, Trent Williamson, and Carly Madden. This episode of Serial Killers was written by Kit Fitzgerald, edited by Amber von Schassen and Joel Callan, fact-checked by Claire Cronin,

researched by Brian Petrus and Chelsea Wood, and produced by Bruce. Kitovich. Serial killers stars Greg Poulson and Vanessa Richardson. Hi listeners, I'm Sarah Turney, host of Disappearances. In 2020, I use social media to help bring justice to my sister Alyssa's nearly two decades-long disappearance. Now, every Thursday, I'm exploring the many reasons people disappear and finding that the truth may be even harder to locate than the person. Follow the Spotify original from Parkast Disappearances. Listen free only on Spotify.

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celebrating its 40th anniversary. You win? Must be 21 to enter. 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,

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