Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén - “The Cross-Country Killer” Tommy Lynn Sells Pt. 1

Episode Date: May 31, 2021

For over 20 years, Tommy Lynn Sells hitchhiked across the U.S., killing indiscriminately and without mercy. What started as a revenge fantasy involving his childhood abuser grew into a deadly impulse that would claim nearly two dozen lives.  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 murder, molestation, rape, and assault. We advise extreme caution for children under 13. On the night of July 5, 1979, 15-year-old Tommy Lynn Sells ambled through the humid streets of Mississippi. It was nearing 3 a.m., and he had nowhere to go. On evenings like these, it was easy for him to wish he had a real home. family. But Tommy swatted these thoughts away like pesky mosquitoes. A year of homelessness had taught him how to provide for himself. He didn't need parents. He needed a beer, and he would do just about

anything to get one. As he rounded a corner onto a long, isolated road, Tommy saw a perfect opportunity. At the end of the street stood a small unlit house, the occupants of which were sure to be fast asleep. Tommy made his way to the building. Tommy made his way to the building. climbed onto the porch and popped open a window. He crawled inside and tiptoed around, surveying the cozy living room. A pack of cigarettes sat on the coffee table. He shook a few out and pocketed them. Just past the dining area was the kitchen.

Tommy opened the fridge and dug around for a beer, but there was nothing but milk and juice. Frustrated, he took a few swallows of milk and sat the open jug on the counter. Out of sheer curiosity, Tommy kept exploring. The first door he opened led into the master bedroom where a middle-aged couple lay sleeping. When he saw the man's face, it reminded him of someone. Suddenly, Tommy's mind flooded with images of his childhood, his trauma at the hands of an older man.

It wasn't the same man, but that didn't matter. In a flash, Tommy whipped a 32-caliber handgun out of his pocket. He shot the sleeping man and slipped out of the house, disappearing as quickly as he'd come. By the time police arrived, the man was dead, but the milk on the counter was still cold. Allegedly, Tommy Lynn Sells got into a white Chevrolet with Mississippi plates and drove off,

riding high from his latest in a growing list of crimes. 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 covering Tommy Lynn Sells, known as The Cross Country Killer. 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, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Tommy Lynn Sells, later deemed the Cross Country Killer, hitchhiked and terrorized communities

across the United States for over 20 years. Today, we'll see how Tommy's childhood trauma turned into murderous rage, leading to a terrifying and seemingly indiscriminate killing spree. Next time, we'll dive into Tommy's nomadic adulthood. We'll cover law enforcement's search for the serial killer who was always one step ahead of them until one fatal slip-up brought the cross-country killer undone.

We've got all that and more coming up. Stay with us. This episode is brought to you by Shopify. Bonnie and Clyde, the lonely hearts killers, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. These are infamous criminal duels. But you don't need to break any laws to find your perfect business partner

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Enjoying Activia twice a day for two weeks as part of a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle may help reduce the frequency of minor digestive discomfort, which includes gas, bloating, rumbling, and abdominal discomfort. If there was one word to describe Tommy Lynn's cells his life, it would be transience. From a very early age, he learned that nothing was permanent, not family, not friendship, and definitely not home. This instability made it difficult for Tommy to develop a real identity. His personality changed as rapidly as his location, and he didn't understand himself or his self-destructive tendencies. As he grew older, he would do anything to slip away from the painful reality of his life, if only for a few hours.

But Tommy's moments of peace, like everything else in his life, were transient. They passed as quickly as they came, leaving him consumed by the pain and anger that would one day define him. The roots of this fury were planted early. As an infant, Tommy learned that he couldn't count on anybody, least of all, his family. He and his twin sister, Tammy Jean, were born in Oakland, California in 1964. Their biological father was never in the picture. Their mother, Nina, lived with a man named William Sells, so the twins received his last name. For the first 18 months of their lives, Tommy and Tammy were inseparable. Then tragedy struck. Tammy contracted spinal meningitis. Nina rushed her children to the hospital, but she wasn't fast enough.

Tammy, her only daughter, died. Tommy's twin sister, his closest companion, had been stolen from him. At that young age, he realized life was short, transient, unreliable. It's possible that Tommy also contracted meningitis, as he displayed symptoms similar to those of his sister. However, he survived, and the fact that he potentially had the disease might have contributed to his future struggles with mental health. Vanessa is going to take over on the psychology here and throughout the episode. Please note, Vanessa is not a licensed psychologist or a psychiatrist, but she has to take over. done a lot of research for this show.

Thanks, Greg. According to a 2012 article published in the medical journal The Lancet Neurology, approximately one-third of children who contract bacterial meningitis will experience long-term after effects. These include mental health problems such as anxiety and behavioral disorders. In severe cases, meningitis causes certain membranes protecting the nervous system to swell, which can lead to an equivalent. required brain injury. According to the meningitis research foundation, brain injuries resulting from

the disease can lead to anger, impulsivity, and obsessive behavior. Although it's impossible to say whether or not Tommy suffered a brain injury as a result of his illness, he certainly displayed the symptoms associated with one. He was an impulsive, difficult to control toddler who grew into an angry adolescent. Part of Tommy's anger had to do with the fact that he didn't have a stable home life. After recovering from his illness, his mother sent him to live with his aunt in Missouri. Over the next two and a half years, Tommy grew comfortable living with his aunt. She became like a mother to him and even considered adoption, but Tommy's biological mother wouldn't allow it. As soon as she learned that her sister wanted to become Tommy's legal

guardian, she forced her five-year-old son to move back in with her in 1969. At this point, Tommy's mother, Nina, was also living in Missouri. She had other children to raise and little time to spare for Tommy Lynn. Most of the time, she left him to fend for himself, which made him resent being taken away from his loving aunt. In Nina's small home, Tommy didn't have any room to grow. The trailer was cramped. He had few books and even fewer toys. School might have been a refuge, but he rebelled against the structure of the classroom and the authority of his teachers. When he was in first or second grade, Tommy started playing hooky. With no one watching over him, seven-year-old Tommy was free to get into trouble.

At this incredibly young age, he tasted his first sip of alcohol. His grandfather lived nearby, and Tommy knew he kept a bottle of liquor beneath the passenger seat of his truck. So on days when he skipped class, he stole swallows. It didn't take long for him to realize that liquor muted his feelings of rage against his mother and sadness for the happy life he'd lost with his aunt. Tommy had found a way to self-medicate, and in his mind, this was a good thing. He didn't know he was developing an addiction that would eventually spiral out of control.

All he knew was that getting tipsy and adventuring around his small town was much more fun than going to class. On what of these weekday outings, eight-year-old Tommy met a man who will call Frank Jones. Frank was middle-aged and lived in the nearby town of Frisbee. Unbeknownst to Tommy, Frank was also a predator. He allegedly manipulated the eight-year-old boy, gaining his trust through a tactic called grooming. This predatory behavior involves giving gifts, time, and attention to someone vulnerable, then betraying that trust with physical, emotional, or sexual abuse.

Frank took advantage of Tommy's emotional vulnerability, masquerading as a caring, fatherly figure. After a while, he convinced Tommy to come to his house. There, according to Tommy, Frank molested him, and Tommy was too young to understand what was happening. He still saw Frank as a friend and caretaker, so he continued going to the man's house, sometimes for days in a row, and no one tried to stop him. In this instance, Nina failed to protect her son. She knew Tommy was spending nights with a strange man, but at the time she was working around the clock. She was busy and distracted with her other children, so she did little to intervene. By the time Tommy was 10, in 1974,

he lived with Frank full time. The pair drank regularly and occasionally smoked cannabis. By this stage, understood that something about his relationship with Frank wasn't right. Sometimes the older man seemed kind, but other times he was violent. Mood swings aside, Tommy really didn't like the things Frank forced him to do. As he got older, the reality of the situation began to make sense. Tommy realized he'd been sexually abused. But before this trauma turned eventually to rage, it manifested itself in bizarre sexual behaviors. At 13 years old, Tommy crawled into his grandmother's bed completely naked.

She kicked him out, but the event horrified his family. None of Tommy's relatives knew what to do with him. Most of the time he stayed at Frank's house. But when he came home, he was strange, even frightening. Nina didn't feel safe around her son anymore. This might be why, according to Tommy, she abandoned him. Tommy claimed that his family disappeared from their trailer around 19, 78 when he was 14. He came home from Frank's house one day to find his mother, siblings, and grandparents

gone. Before he was even old enough to get a learner's permit or a real job, he was left homeless and forced to fend for himself. However, no other members of the cell's family corroborated the story. It's also possible that Tommy got sick of Frank's abuse and his family's lack of support and chose to leave home voluntarily. Whatever the reason, 14-year-old Tommy Lynn Sells was on his own. He gathered up a few meager belongings, including a pistol that he'd either stolen or been given at some point prior. Then he hitchhiked out of town. He didn't know it yet, but he was headed for a life of drugs, violence, theft, and murder.

Coming up, desperation drives Tommy to violence. The worst serial killer, the creepiest cult, the most outrageous con? If you're a true crime fan, you've probably pondered these things. Well, now you can get answers, or at least some passionate opinions. Every week on our podcast's Crime Countdown, my co-host Ash and I, rank 10 unsettling crimes centered around a common theme, debating each case with just a hint of humor to lighten the mood. Elena and I may not be experts, and we may be experts,

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Call 1-800-545-5979 or visit zepbounds.lily.com. Now back to the story. After a childhood defined by loss, abuse, and instability, 14-year-old Tommy Lynn Sells found himself homeless. In 1978, he hitchhiked away from his hometown of St. Louis, Missouri. On the road, his rage boiled over. Tommy loathed his father for abandoning him and his aunt for not trying harder to adopt him. He despised Frank Jones for sexually abusing him and his mother for not doing more to protect him.

Most of all, Tommy hated himself and the messed up world he lived in. As he walked down Missouri streets, Tommy took out his anger on passers-by. In one town, a woman apparently did something to upset him. It's unknown what exactly the woman said, but Tommy's response was swift. and violent. He beat her with the barrel of his gun, then made himself scarce. Over the next few months, Tommy hitchhiked all over the United States. He went to Niagara Falls, the Grand Canyon, and the Las Vegas trip. He got money, food, and drugs from strangers, and slept in abandoned cars and motel rooms. By the time he was 15, he had all but mastered

his grifting, transient life. But up to that point, his violent urges were kept mostly beneath the surface. Sure, he'd thought about killing plenty of times, fantasizing about exacting revenge against his childhood abuser, but he didn't act on this deadly impulse yet. Then, one night during the summer of 1979, Tommy broke into a small Mississippi home looking for beer. He snuck into the master bedroom, where he found a middle-aged couple, John and Kathleen Cade, fast asleep. Tommy had gone into the home expecting routine mischief, but as soon as he was, he was. He was not as he saw John's face, his excitement turned to rage. Something about John Cade reminded him of Frank Jones. Memories of Frank's abuse flooded back to him. The anger he felt was so overwhelming that it

almost knocked him off his feet. Tommy had never been so furious. He pulled the gun out of his pocket, shot the man, and fled the Cade's home. John woke in a flash of pain and confusion, ran to the bathroom to wash his bloody hands, then promptly fell unconscious and bled to death. Desperately, Kathleen called the police and searched their home for an intruder, but Tommy was long gone. He'd already driven off, disappearing like a specter into the night. Sitting in the car, Tommy relived the crime over and over. He thought about how easy it was, how quick. His anger and desperation were replaced by pure adrenaline. He felt a lot. Later, Tommy would say, the first time I killed somebody, it was such a rush.

It was just like that, a shot of dope. I started chasing that high. By early 1980, Tommy had made his way to California and settled in Los Angeles. Drugs were easy to find, and the city had a large population of homeless people who, for the most part, looked out for one another. But Tommy didn't protect anyone but himself. Shortly after arriving in L.A., he killed. killed a man with an ice pick, perhaps in a scuffle over food or drugs.

He was never caught, possibly because the LAPD was particularly swamped with murder cases that year. This left Tommy free to continue his violent ways. After making it to Oakland in late 1980, 16-year-old Tommy got into a gang-related fight that left him hospitalized with internal bleeding. But just like he'd rejected the authority of his school teachers, Tommy pushed back against doctors. He refused treatment and left the hospital against medical advice. Still, Tommy knew he needed help. Humbled by his injuries, he found himself pining for the care of someone unexpected, his mother.

So Tommy hitchhiked back home to St. Louis, where Nina lived. When he found her, Nina welcomed Tommy back with open arms. Even after his turbulent childhood, she was willing to look after her son until he was back to full health. Then, in an even more unexpected turn of events, Tommy and the whole Sells family moved to Little Rock, Arkansas in 1981. And for a while, everyone got along. But the peace didn't last. Tommy just couldn't forgive Nina for failing to protect him as a child. To him, she didn't even feel like a mother.

Anytime she tried to make him go to school or stick to a curfew, his rage bubbled up. Tommy's resentment overwhelmed him, and when he'd had enough of NeNeum, he'd had enough of Ney, His attempts at discipline, he left his family once again, moving into an Arkansas youth home. He still visited his mother occasionally, but for all intents and purposes, he was on his home. While living at the group home, Tommy continued doing drugs, but he also developed a new coping mechanism, chasing women. He spent the time he should have been in school flirting with girls, and he never stayed with one woman for very long. Tommy had a serious problem with infidelity, cheating on every one of his partners. But that wasn't the worst of it.

His sexual escapades were also marked by his inability to take no for an answer. He was overly insistent and routinely disregarded women's boundaries. Most disturbing of all, Tommy didn't just treat strangers or girlfriends this way. He viewed all women as sexual objects, even his own mother. One day in May 1981, Nina was showering before work. As she shampooed her hair, she heard the bathroom doors squeak open. Before she could react, 16-year-old Tommy yanked back the curtain and jumped in the shower. He attempted to sexually assault his mother under the cascading water, but Nina fought back, kicking and punching at her son.

Tommy eventually backed off, but it was clear that something was very wrong. Allegedly, Nina knew about her son's time with Frank Jones, and that life on the streets would have brought even more challenges. But she didn't realize the full extent of what happened to him and just how sinister Tommy's behavior had become as a result. Although the link between childhood molestation and future sexual crimes is complicated, many sex offenders, both adult and juvenile, report experiencing sexual abuse in their youth. A 2008 study published in the journal, Child abuse and neglect theorizes that this is because sexual offenders have been socialized to satisfy human needs of intimacy and sexuality through maladaptive means. In other words, being molested by Frank Jones led Tommy to develop an unhealthy idea of

how to ask for love. As a young adult, he still wanted his mother's care, but he didn't know how to request it. It seems that parental affection was difficult for Tommy to distinguish from sexual gratification. Tommy's sexuality was already tied to abuse, problematic power dynamics, and a total lack of boundaries. His attempt to sexually assault his mother was perhaps, in some twisted way, a cry for attention. But of course, his behavior was inexcusable. After the attempted sexual assault, Nina didn't want him anywhere near her. He was dangerous, but he was also her son, and he clearly needed psychological help. So she had him admitted,

to the Community Mental Health Clinic in Jonesboro, Arkansas. As an outpatient, Tommy met with a psychologist who tried to get to the bottom of his behavior. When asked why he attacked his mother, Tommy replied, I don't know who I am, I don't understand why I did it,

I don't understand anything anymore. This may be a somewhat common experience among survivors of childhood sexual abuse. According to psychological researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of Illinois at Chicago, identity confusion is a main concern for the adult male child sexual assault survivor. This confusion can manifest itself in numerous ways. Survivors might question their gender identity and sexual orientation or have more general

feelings of uncertainty about who they are. For instance, Tommy had no sense of self and was so out of touch with his own impulses that he couldn't explain why he attempted to assault Nina. Even worse, because of the shame associated with sexual abuse, it appears Tommy wouldn't acknowledge that he'd been molested. Without this information, his psychologist couldn't make sense of his perverse actions or help him recover from his trauma. This might have been one of the only chances Tommy had to heal psychologically, and he rejected it. After only five visits, he quit counseling. Tommy was too angry and traumatized to accept the help he desperately needed. It was easier for him to continue with his destructive coping mechanisms. He dealt with his rage

through violence, continued to regularly abuse drugs and alcohol. Plus, he displayed signs of a twisted and predatory sexuality. Tommy was about to enter adulthood, and his life seemed to be a rapidly filling powder keg of triggers. Things could only go downhill from there. That dissent started with repeated behaviors from his past. He chased random women, slept in abandoned vehicles and motels, drank heavily, and abused drugs.

After how much he'd already gotten away with, Tommy was confident in his abilities to skirt the law. However, his actions would soon have major consequences. In March of 1982, Tommy earned his first mark his criminal record with an innocuous charge, public intoxication. Apparently Tommy didn't serve any jail time, so the charge didn't bother him very much. He had more pressing things to think about, namely a young woman named Cindy Hannah. In spring of that year, he fell head over heels in love with her. However, like most things in his life, the relationship quickly soured.

Cindy's father was a strict churchgoer and had no love for Tommy. The final straw came in 1982. Cindy got pregnant, and her father cut her off from her no-good boyfriend. Tommy likely never met his child or saw Cindy again. Losing his baby and his first love only increased Tommy's anger and aggression. After this, his crimes became more frequent and deadly. Around this time, Tommy took a walk through a wooded area of Arkansas. He dragged his tired legs and tried to ignore.

his sharp hunger pains, but he was desperate. He saw a house in the distance and didn't think twice about breaking in. Tommy followed his usual pattern. He climbed in through an unlocked window, then located the kitchen where he searched for something to eat. But he didn't have enough time to find a meal. As he rummaged through cabinets, the resident of the house, a middle-aged man named Hal Aiken's walked into the kitchen. Tommy was caught red-handed, and Hal was furious. Terrified, Tommy fled into the woods, but Hal sprinted right after him. Tommy ran, but his legs ached and his lungs stung. He was too exhausted to get away.

Hal gained on him. Tommy knew he needed to do something. Otherwise, he might be the one that ended up dead. Feeling like he had no other choice, Tommy took out his pistol, skidded to a stop, and fired a single shot in Hal's direction. It struck the middle-aged man who collapsed to the ground. Tommy took off again, leaving Hal for dead. Luckily, Hal survived the ordeal, but he couldn't provide a detailed description of his attacker.

This let Tommy evade capture again, perhaps feeling emboldened by his escape. It's likely that Tommy felt he could get away with anything. He claimed that around 1982, he committed an even more sinister crime. He said that he and an accomplice kidnapped. a woman from a restaurant outside of Little Rock. They drove her to an isolated area where they raped and murdered her. The woman's identity remains a mystery, but this crime might explain why Tommy took off again. Shortly after the murder, in early 1983, he hitched a ride north to St. Louis. There, Tommy's life became more stable. He got a job, likely in manual labor,

and bought himself a car. It seemed like he was ready to turn over a new leaf. But Tommy's addictions to drugs, alcohol, and violence were too powerful to overcome. He craved anything that could mute the pain of his childhood. The trauma and Tommy's unresolved feelings festered, becoming toxic, turning into white, hot rage. He felt wronged by the world and everyone in it, and he decided he wanted revenge. Up next, Tommy commits his most gruesome murders yet.

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Hasbro is not a sponsor of this promotion. Now back to the story. In 1982, 18-year-old Tommy Lynn Sells left behind a life of crime in Arkansas. After allegedly committing at least one murder in the state, he wanted to turn over a new leaf back in Missouri. Unfortunately, his self-discipline didn't last long, and he fell back into old patterns. In July 1983, shortly after Tommy turned 19, he watched. the Missouri home of Thomas and Colleen Gill, a couple who owned a local beauty salon. It's difficult to know exactly what made Tommy target the Gills. At this stage, he seemed

primarily motivated by drugs, food, and emotional trauma. In the case of the Gil's, it might be that he targeted them simply because he could. Before he struck, Tommy studied the couple long enough to learn their habits. Perhaps he noticed that Thomas often didn't come home from work until later in the evening, which left Colleen and their two young children all alone. It was perfect. On a July evening, Tommy is thought to have broken into the Gill's home. Inside, he found Colleen playing with her four-year-old daughter, Tiffany. He wasted no time and used a blunt object to bludgeon them both to death.

After that, he may have planned to make his way upstairs, where Thomas and Colleen's one-year-old son, Sean, was fast asleep. but the sight of headlights coming up the driveway stopped him in his tracks. Thomas was home. He had to run. Seconds later, Thomas caught a glimpse of the dark, slender figure fleeing his home. He rushed inside and found his wife and daughter's bloodied bodies, then dashed upstairs and was relieved to find his baby son alive. Numb with shock and grief, Thomas called the police.

He was able to give authorities a description of the man who killed his family, but couldn't identify the perpetrator. Officer surveyed the puzzling scene, trying to piece things together. The gills lived in a neighborhood where burglaries weren't uncommon, but there were no signs of theft. In fact, the killer hadn't touched Colleen's large diamond wedding ring.

With no obvious motive, and the more police thought about it, the less likely Thomas' story of a random attacker seemed. Soon after, suspicion turned to Thomas, but of course officers couldn't find proof of his guilt, so no charges were brought against him, or anybody else for that matter. The case eventually went cold, and once again, Tommy Lynn Sells got away Scott Free. This incident not only reinforced Tommy's belief that he could get away with anything,

but it also taught him a dark lesson. It was potentially the first time he'd ever murdered a child, and he realized just how easy it was, far simpler than killing an adult. From that point forward, Tommy increasingly targeted mothers and their young children, people he believed couldn't fight back. And somehow, between all this horror and brutality, Tommy continued to romance women. Tommy lived a double life. By night, he was a vagrant and a killer, seeking the tandem thrills of drugs and violence. His mind was a dark and terrifying place, twisted by trauma, neglect, illness, and drug abuse.

But by day, Tommy was remarkably charismatic. He learned how to hide his predatory sexuality. Instead of insisting that women sleep with him, he flattered them, and many were swept up in the young man's charm. In early 1984, he ensnared the affections of a young woman named Nicole Snow, and he ended up getting her pregnant. But like many of Tommy's lovers, Nicole soon discovered that he wasn't the man she thought he was, In May of 1984, 19-year-old Tommy was arrested for a stealing a Ford Mustang and was sentenced to two years behind bars.

Nicole gave birth to a baby girl while he was in prison. Not long after that, in February of 1985, Tommy was granted parole after serving less than a year, but he realized that he wasn't cut out to be a family man and didn't return to Nicole or his infant daughter. Instead, he dove right back into his criminal lifestyle. He stole another car and eventually ended up in Springfield, Missouri. He kept to himself for a few months until one evening in July 1985, when he loaded up on cocaine and drove to a nearby carnival, the kind of place mothers brought their small children for fun.

21-year-old Tommy stalked the carnival grounds, looking for a single mother with a young child. Before long, he found the person. victims, Ina Cort and her four-year-old son, Rory. Tommy charmed 28-year-old Ina. He showered the young mother with compliments and bought her son a ticket to ride the Ferris wheel. It was cold, calculated, methodical. He knew exactly what he was doing. Perhaps Ina found Tommy fascinating, if a bit worrisome. He was kind, but she could see desperation in his eyes. So it's possible that she invited him back to her home that

night for a hearty meal. He certainly looked like he could use one. Tommy arrived at Ina's home very late when Rory was already sleeping. The idea of a dinner seemed forgotten. All Tommy wanted was to get Ina into bed. But first he excused himself to use the bathroom. He was only gone for a few moments, but from where he stood down the hallway, he could see Ina in the living room, looking inside his backpack. It filled him with rage to see her digging through his things. Later, Tommy said he believed Ena was trying to steal his cocaine. However, it's likely he arrived at the young mother's home with deadly intentions. He didn't need a reason to kill her. He planned to do it anyway. As he stalked back down the hallway, he grabbed a baseball bat

that belonged to Rory. Turning the child's toy into a weapon, Tommy beat Ena so savagely that he fractured her skull, leaving her unconscious. Then he grabbed a knife from the kid. kitchen and cut her throat. Meanwhile, Rory slipped out of his room and tiptoed down the hall to see what all the noise was about. As soon as Tommy caught sight of the small child, he picked up the batted knife and repeated the same terrible attack. When he was finally finished, Tommy wiped his fingerprints from the scene, left through a back door and fled into the night. And he felt incredible. The murder gave Tommy a high unlike anything cocaine offered him. He felt invincible, drunk with godlike power. But while Tommy enjoyed his perverse high,

Ena and Rory's bodies lay undiscovered in their home. They weren't found until three days later. Just like with Colleen and Tiffany Gill, investigators couldn't establish a motive or a suspect. And just miles away, Tommy was in Springfield, free of any suspicion. For the next few years, Tommy's life seemed to repeat patterns. He was arrested for drunk driving and parole violation in October of 1985, which led to another short stint in prison. After his release in 1986, he hitchhiked to Texas, where he got a job on a fishing boat. On one excursion, Tommy overdosed on heroin in the middle of the ocean. He barely survived. A near-death overdose would likely push many people towards recovery, but not Tommy. After this experience, his drug abuse

escalated. He drank almost constantly, mixing alcohol with cannabis, cocaine, heroin, LSD, and other drugs. Tommy's drug use seems inextricably linked to his violence. Both were likely the result of an impaired amygdala, a brain structure that could have been damaged by his suspected early battle with spinal meningitis, as well as the sexual abuse he claimed to experience as a child. According to Dr. Adrian Raine, a neurocriminalist at the University of Pennsylvania, one of the key differences that we find in the brains of psychopaths is that there's a structural impairment to the amygdala. The amygdala is primarily responsible for our emotions, so when it's impaired, feelings can

be muted or altogether absent. Though he was never diagnosed as a psychopath, his later behavior would certainly seem to support that theory. If he was a psychopath, it would explain his stunning capacity for cruelty. He was totally desensitized to violence and felt numb to his victim's suffering. This could also explain Tommy's substance abuse issues. His baseline emotional experience was one of numbness and rage, so he found himself searching for ways to feel happier.

Neurologically, drugs and alcohol gave Tommy a rush of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that results in positive emotions. Unfortunately, he knew that drugs weren't the only thing that gave him this high. Killing did too. Murder became just as much of an addiction as alcohol and cocaine. Tommy could never get enough. The rush of drugs and violence was transient, and every time the pleasurable feelings faded away,

he started searching for another hit. As such, Tommy was always on the lookout for new victims. In 1987, 23-year-old Tommy spotted a family. fellow hitchhiker, a 20-year-old woman trying to get to Nevada. Unfortunately, she never made it to her destination. Tommy gave her a hit of LSD. Then, according to his version of events, strangled her in the middle of the desert. Later that year, he took a train east to the small town of Ina, Illinois.

There, he targeted Keith and Eileen Dardine, a couple with one child and another on the way. The Dardines were trying to sell a trailer, so, as the most likely version of events suggests, Tommy posed as a buyer, then pushed his way into their home. But he wasn't there to purchase anything. He shot Keith and raped Eileen, then bludgeoned the pregnant woman and her young son to death. By now, all the crimes were starting to blend together in Tommy's head. His mind was addled by drug abuse, making his life a violent and confusing haze. But even as his grip on reality deteriorated, his mind. crimes didn't slow down. In September of 1988, Tommy later claimed he sexually assaulted and stabbed an 11-year-old New Hampshire girl named Melissa Tremblay. He dumped her body on a set of railroad tracks

near Boston, where it was found a few days later. When New England grew cold and snowy, Tommy hitchhiked south to Tucson, Arizona. Throughout December 1988, he survived mainly on money he made dealing cannabis. But one day, an exchange went sour. Tommy's customer, Kent Lawton, called him a chump, and in response, Tommy slid his throat. Kent was dead in seconds, and Tommy disappeared from Arizona almost as fast. In the wake of every crime, he left locals terrified and police confounded. Of course, authorities had no idea that one man was responsible for a string of seemingly unconnected murders across the country. There was no clear motive, no consistent MO,

and no pattern to Tommy's erratic movements. In this way, Tommy's transience became his strength. Everywhere he went, he was anonymous. He could commit a heinous crime and slip away without anyone ever knowing he was there. Police finally caught up to Tommy in 1990, when Wyoming officers charged him with public intoxication and vehicle theft.

He served another short sentence behind bars and would be released in January of 1991. But freedom wasn't what Tommy needed. In many ways, jail was good for him. It kept him away from drugs and alcohol and gave him access to psychiatric help. While he was still in custody in 1990, Tommy ended up in the hospital. It's unclear exactly why, but based on what we know, it seems likely that he experienced withdrawal symptoms. There, a doctor diagnosed him with a huge list of mental health issues, including depressive disorder, severe opioid, amphetamine, cannabis, and alcohol dependency, polysubstance

of barbiturates, inhalants, and hallucinogens, and a personality disorder with antisocial, borderline, and schizoid features. Tommy's mental health had always been unstable, but in the early 1990s, his mind was downright chaotic. He became less discerning of his victims, less concerned, that one of them might fight back. But that's exactly what happened in 1992, when Tommy finally met his match, a 20-year-old woman named Fabian Witherspoon. Thanks again for tuning in to serial killers. We'll be back soon with part two of Tommy Lin-Salsa story. Continuing as cross-country wanderings, Tommy shows no intention of slowing down

until he underestimates one kind-hearted young woman. For more information on Tommy Lynn Sells, among the many sources we used, we found, through the window, the terrifying true story of cross-country killer Tommy Lynn Sells by Diane Fanning,

extremely helpful to our research. You can find more 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 design by Russell Nash, with production assistants by Ron Shapiro, Trent Williamson, Carly Madden, and Bruce Kitovich. This episode of serial killers was written by Karas Allen, with writing assistants by Mallory Kara and Joel Callan, fact-checking by Bennett Logan, and research by Brian Petrus and Chelsea Wood. Serial killers stars Greg Paulson and 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. Stories straight from the witnesses' mouths themselves. Something very snakelight lifted its head out of the water. Hosted by me, your guide, Derek Hayes. Somehow I lost eight whole hours.

Listen now on Spotify or wherever you get your podcast. 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 podcast this year, but they're not crime beat. Search for and follow the award-winning podcast Crime Beat on Apple Podcasts. Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you find your favorite podcasts.