Morbid - The Strange Case of Hallie Illingworth

Episode Date: July 29, 2019

We love a good, creepy case from the 40s in here, don't we? The strange, tragic murder of Hallie Illingworth is fascinating for one big reason, and that reason is saponification. Trust us, this one has it all....science, history and corpse wax.  This episode was sponsored by Embr Wave. Head over to EmbrWave.com and use our special code MORBID for a big $50 discount at checkout! Sources: https://www.myolympicpark.com/park/the-lady-of-crescent-lake https://morbidology.com/the-lady-of-the-lake-hallie-illingworth/ https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/04/06/lady-of-the-lake-2/ https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/chemistry/saponification Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash KelleyListener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra LallyListener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey weirdos, I'm Elena. I'm Ash. And this is super duper morbid. A whole ass morbid for you to listen to. Supersized. Whoa. Actually, it's just regularized. I'm pretty sure.

All right. Let's find out. Either way, it's going to be good. It's always good. We're here. 10 out of 10 recommend morbid. Yes. To all your friends.

To all your friends. And people you hate. Do it. Yeah. Say, fuck you. Listen to morbid. I fucking hate you. Ruin your day. Go listen to Morbid.

Thanks, everybody. So first, I just wanted to start out by saying, you guys are the most beautiful people that have ever existed on planet Earth. They are. Correct. Because you were all so sweet when I announced John and my little bundle of weird that is coming anytime now. I dead ass thought you were going to say a bundle of joy and I was like, get the fuck out of here. Bundle of Weird.

A bucket of weird just coming into the world. A whole bundle of weirdo. And so I just wanted to thank each and every one of you for all your amazingly kind words. You're like stupid beautiful, all of you. You're just stupid beautiful. I hate it. I want to hit the beautiful right off your face. Like I hate you so much because you're so wonderful each and every one of you.

So I just wanted to tell you how lucky we feel that you all cared. And also, um, Billy Jensen congratulated us. So he listens to the podcast, I bet. So I'm dead. He also said that your baby could be named after him because it works for a boy and a girl. He suggested Billy has a name for either way. And you know what? It's inconsideration.

I mean, we have to. I feel like it's not our choice anymore. But yeah, that was really rad. So again, thank you guys so much. You guys are the sweetest and you like humble me. So prove to us every day how amazing you are. And how lucky we are. So we just fucking love you.

Speaking of lovely things. Let's talk about some fucking body parts. You guys heard about because we definitely got sent this a lot, which I love that everybody sends us these great stories. I love it. It's amazing. I'm sure you have all heard about the crazy bonkers scene at the Arizona body donation facility. So basically what happened was at the Arizona Biological Resource Center,

the FBI raided it in 2014, and they, closed it. Okay. But the witness testimonials have just become public and holy shit. Oh no. It is house of a thousand corpses up in there. Really? It's insane. So an FBI agent named Mark Kouinar, I think his name was. He said in his, and it's like in testimony like recorded, sworn, everything. He said he saw infected heads. Ew. He saw buckets of heads, arms and legs everywhere, just thrown around. And there was a cooler filled with male genitals. What the fuck? Which sounds like a nightmare.

What the fuck? And the worst thing was that on the wall, no. Used as a decoration. No. Was a large man's body with a tiny woman's head sewn on top of it. What? And he called it like a Frankenstein type thing.

Who owned this place? So these crazy fucks that were working in here, sewed a tiny woman's head onto a large man's body and then hung it on the wall like it's funny. Okay, that is like, that is somebody's mom or dad or grandma. The worst part is it's like these people were donated to science. They were expecting their bodies to be used for research purposes and treated respectfully. Oh, my God, that's horrific. This guy named Troy Harp was saying he gave his mother and grandmother's bodies to this place

because he said he believed they would be used for scientific research and that's what they had You know, because somebody wants to be donated for that. Yeah. And he said, quote, cancer and leukemia and whatever else using sample cells. That's what I was told. And it's like now he learns that like people's heads are being sold onto other people's bodies. And you have no idea what's happening in there. Like, that's awful.

Apparently the guy who owned it, Stephen Gore, which. Wow. Wow. Wow. I mean, you can't write that shit. You really can't. Stephen Gore said to, in a letter to the judge. that the business was, quote, a labor of love in that it had just overwhelmed him.

So you did, what? Yes. What? And he's literally said this is an industry that has no formal regulations to look for, to get for guidance. And it's like, oh, I'm sorry. You don't need to look for guidance to not hang a man's body in a woman's head on a wall. Like, I'm sorry.

You were literally looking for someone to be like, bro. Like, don't, don't create Frankenstein. Don't do that. Like you really needed someone to tell you that? Yeah. Apparently he was sentenced to one year of deferred jail time and four years of probation. That's it? Yeah.

That's a bummer. Wow. So that's a crazy story. Sure is. Thanks everybody for sharing it. In other news, we're working on a Patreon bonus episode that is being released in the next couple days. So we will let you know when that is in your feeds. Look out for that.

I think we should start our case. Start our case. Start our case. So today we are going to be talking about the lady in the lake. Oh. So the lady in the lake was Hallie Ellingworth. I love the name Hallie. And this is kind of a kooky, crazy story.

And we thought this was like, this is one of those like super old ones. I love a cold case. It's a nice old, like mysterious, crazy spooky case. a good old spook-s-pook. It is a good old spook-spook. So on July 6th, 1940, two fishermen, Louis Rolf and his brother were spending the afternoon doing what fishermen do. What do they do? They fish. Oh. Yeah. So they, while they were having a relaxing afternoon on the waters of Lake Crescent, which is located near Port Angeles and Olympic National Park in Washington. Oh, God. They're floating around. They come across something that probably shattered

you know, the picturesque surroundings and peace that fishermen often go out on the water for. It was not a fish, I'm assuming. It was not a fish. Along the shoreline, they spotted something pretty big floating. A shark. And they were like, that's a shark in this lake, obviously. Yeah, that makes sense. That was their first thought.

Duh. Absolutely. No, at first they thought it was some large debris or something. They were like, what the hell is that over there? Like, just a big bag or something. But when they got a little closer to it, they were kind of shocked to find that it was a body of a woman floating in the water. That'll really fuck up your morning. That'll ruin a fishing trip.

Totally. Because, I mean, for several reasons. Number one being. That it's a dead body and that's a bummer. Correct. And two, you're like, oh, shit, now we have to go through this whole like, yeah, we found her, but we're not involved in this. That's always my biggest fear. Yeah, I don't want anything.

any part of finding a dead body. Like I always say like, wow, it would be crazy to find a dead body. But then I'm like, yeah, I don't want any part of that. Because immediately you're the first person that they're like, so what were you doing on this afternoon? How do you know this? And you're like, oh, damn. They're like, I was going fishing. I don't know. I was just floating around the lake, man. Like, just let me live my life. So the corpse had been wrapped in two gray striped blankets and tied with heavy rope. Interesting. She was clearly wearing a green dress and they said she was. remarkably well preserved.

Interesting. So immediately they're thinking like she's been in the water like for like a minute. Like they were like, holy shit. Did someone like just put her in here? Like what the hell is going on? Now just to get into Lake Crescent a little bit. So because this is going to tie into why she was so well preserved. Lake Crescent is a super deep lake.

It's official maximum depth is 624 feet. Holy shit. It's officially the second deepest lake in Washington. and it's a freshwater lake which affects decomp in bodies. Oh, okay. Because if it's salt water, it'll slow down the process because it kind of preserves the salt. It's known for being like super blue and very clear. Oh.

And the reason for that is because it has a lack of nitrogen in the water and that inhibits the growth of algae. So there's no devil's water a la Carl Drew in this. because if you guys haven't listened to the Bridgewater Triangle episode, you should, and you'll understand that. Exactly. But yeah, green water is not devil's water. It's just algae. Yeah.

It's just science. Fucking Carl's Drew. So just to put it out there, floaters, as dead bodies in water are called. Or poop. Sometimes poop are floaters. You know, you are correct. I cannot argue. I am 12.

Hi, I'm trash. Hi, I'm trash. Flootos, floatos, floaters are rarely, if ever, well preserved. So a lot of floaters decomp is obviously influenced by fresh versus salt water. Or duration and temp of immersion. I love when you get all science. I'm about to. So get rid of me.

I'm just kidding. Hopefully that's not what I lose anybody else. No, everybody else is like, oh, my God, that's so interesting. So putrefaction is also delayed in deep water. It's really in, like, shallow water that putrefaction is going to happen really quick. Okay. It's also going to be delayed when the body is covered with clothing like she was, because obviously that's just an extra layer that the water can't go to as quick.

And the main thing that happens to a dead body that's thrown in the water, This is like really the main takeaway of because there's a lot of variations depending on fresh water, salt water, cold, hot, depth, you know, like all that stuff. But the main thing that's going to happen to a body thrown in any water that gives it its floater nickname. The bacteria in your gut and chest cavity will build up and build up and build up. Yucky. And even if I take a probiotic. Even if you take a probiotic. Yeah, you can't get away from this.

Okay. And it's going to produce methane, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen sulfide gases. So this stanky-ass, gassy combo is what makes your body bloat, and it's going to float you up to the surface. Ew. But the thing is it's going to make your torso bloat, mostly. Okay. So your torso is going to bloat, and that's why they float, but like your arms and legs are going to dangle into the water in your head. This is reminding me of Silence of the Lambs.

Yeah, there you go. When they find her in the water. Oh, yeah. there you go. And I think I mentioned some of this during my like mini episode that I did about like about the body farms. And this, that's the reason you often will find dead bodies like face down in the water floating. Okay. Because it's, it just rises you up like that.

Right. And otherwise you'll just kind of flip around like a floaty. Okay. Like a really fucked up floaty. Like a pool float that no one on July 4th wants to have. Like a pool float from hell. That's what you are. Um, your body generally breaks down more slowly in water than it will in open air.

Why? Basically, it's because it's going, like open air allows for a lot more like organisms just come. Yeah, and it's oxygen rich and, but you're going to putrify faster in warm, fresh, or stagnant water. Okay. And that's because it's a really good breeding ground for bacteria. Okay. Cold, salty, or running water is less of a breeding ground for bacteria.

So that's it's kind of like when you when you're in a freezer. Exactly. Or when you want to like wash raw chicken, you don't do it under hot water because that's a breeding ground for bacteria. You do it under cold running water because that's not a breeding ground for bacteria and that will thaw it out for you. Lake Crescent being a freshwater lake would mean that it would likely putify your body a lot faster. But the fact that this body was so well preserved actually had nothing to do with the time frame it was in the water. Okay. So Dr. Kavenny, I think his name was, he was the doctor who examined the body and did the autopsy.

He said, quote, I never saw a corpse just like this one before. The flesh is hard, almost waxy. She must be nearly as large as when she went into the water. I'd say she's about five foot, six inches in height, and that she weighed about 140 pounds when she was alive. So the main reason for her being so well preserved and it like waxy almost, like he said. Yeah, that's interesting. Is that she had been suponified. No, what does that mean?

Now, this is the process by which adipasir forms. You want to know what adipasier is? I'd like you to speak in English, please, is what I'd like. Well, adipaterer is actually referred to as corpse wax or the fat of graveyards. Shut up. Because graveyards are fat, y'all. I mean, it's same, but. But basically what adipater is is it's a product of decomp that turns body fat into soap.

What? No. Yes. And it forms through the process, like I said, of suponification. So was the water bubbly around there? So basically what happened is it tends to develop when body fat is exposed to anaerobic bacteria. So anaerobic bacteria is bacteria not requiring oxygen to thrive. or grow.

Yep. In a warm, damp, alkaline environment, like soil or water, that's when that can form. And basically, that's what, like, Crescent is. So the corpse wax is a soft, it gives, like, this weird, soft, greasy, gray appearance when it starts to form. And as it gets, as it, like, starts to age, it hardens and turns kind of brittle, and it preserves the body. So it was like around her.

It basically, it's like a, almost like a covering. Okay. But suponification will stop the decomp process in its tracks. That's so interesting. And it's, and like we said, it's going to, like, kind of encase the body. And what they'll call them sometimes is soap, they'll call them a soap mummy. A soap mummy. Yeah.

Because they're like this corpse that's perfectly well preserved in, like, wax. Like soap. Like literally soap. And it helps them to float. Now, is this soap? Like, could you like use it as soap? I mean, I wouldn't. You absolutely can, I'm sure.

If you felt like that was something you wanted to like, if that was a journey you wanted to take in your life. But is it, would it clean you? Like, does it have cleaning properties? No, it doesn't have like cleaning properties. Okay. Because your body would have to create like cleaning properties. So it's not soap.

And it, for sure, is not after you die. It's not soap, right? No. But it's like, it is like soap. It's waxy. Because actually the process of making soap is suponification as well. Wow. I'm fucked up right now.

Isn't that crazy? And so just to give a little background on how this was discovered, because this is fascinating to me. I'm so fascinated. It better be fascinating to everyone because this is insane. In 1786, but between 1786 and 1787, the graves in Paris's Cemetery of the Innocence were starting to be, they were having to like exhum them and dig them up because they were moving the bones to what would become the catacombs. Okay.

These two French scientists, Forkroy and Thoreau, or Thorei, I'm not French guys, I'm sorry, I love you guys so much. I like Thoreau. I like Thoreau, but I think it's Thorei. I like both. They were kind of like working with the exhumation and like making sure everything was going right. They were studying the decomp and the bodies that were.

being exhumed and they were like what the fuck is this waxy gray shit that's on all these bodies and it was on some of the because these were children's graves but they were like what the hell is this so they named it at a piceer which is from the latin adepts which means fat uh-huh and sere which means wax fat wax fat wax fat wax so because that's literally what it is it's like your body fat turns to wax, basically. So basically the most important ingredient is specific bacteria needs to be present. And they are the ones that are found specifically in the intestinal tract of human beings. Which again, during the Body Farm episode, I talked a lot about this, like these kind of gut

bacterias that are necessary for decont. When a body is exposed to certain conditions in the environment, a chemical reaction occurs and the fat undergoes a type of hydrolysis. Hydrolysis is just any kind of chemical reaction where a molecule of water will rupture one or more chemical bonds in your body. Interesting. Science. When this type of hydrolysis happens,

it forms fatty acid, salts, and other stuff that make up the adipusir. Okay. So during the formation of the adipusir, the water from your soft tissues is extracted, and it will make the body basically not, a cool place for bacteria to want to live. Okay. Because it takes out that moisture and bacteria is like,

I don't want to fucking live in the Sahara Desert of a body. Like, fuck this. So they're like, no. So an adipusia is also not a super hospitable place for the types of insects that also like help in the decomp process. So it keeps those away. So it makes the decomposing tissues kind of left intact. So it literally mummifies.

So it literally mummifies and preserves you. And allow those. environmental conditions around you to not contribute to your decomp. I want that to happen to me when I die because I'm not trying to let my body rot. Like, sorry, body rot is just not something I'm out here endorsing. And you know what? There is something we are out here endorsing. I'm out here endorsing what?

Okay, back to the show. All right, so back to saponification. Great. And adipasier and corpse wax. Back to dead people soap. You know. So after I gave you the whole show. Shibang about the history of adipasir and suponification and dead bodies.

Thank you for that. There was just like a little side that I thought was kind of interesting. So apparently these soap mummies can be like a big problem in graveyards. And they were an issue for some German graveyards in 2008. Not too long ago. Not too long ago are German listeners. Because apparently in Germany, a lot of German cemeteries recycle graves every 15 to 25 years. And basically, body, that's when bodies are kind of expected to be completely skeletonized.

And so what they'll do is they'll go in and they'll exhume these bodies or they'll move them over to use the plot for someone else. But apparently the soil conditions in some German cemeteries created corpse wax built up. And it got so bad that the bodies weren't decomposing. At all. So they were just preserved bodies. So they couldn't recycle the thing. So when the grave diggers started going in to exhume the graves and turn them over to do new plots, they found tons of just soap mummies, like straight out.

Just like whole ass bodies looking back at them. And so some of the cemeteries solved this problem by basically creating burial chambers and had to do like the super expensive soil reconditioning to like change the biology of the soil. That's so cool. So I just thought that was kind of interesting that it, like is still a problem. Like soap mummies are a problem. I just want you to yell bazinga now.

Bazinga. Okay, thank you. I feel like that's what science people do. We don't. No? I can tell you that right now. But yeah, I just think it's funny that like on the list of problems, soap mummies is a problem.

Pretty close to the top. Like you never think it, but they are. So basically, so these, so again, these fishermen ran across this body now that I've gone into that whole thing. I just thought of I got 99 problems, but it's so mummy ain't one. That's what I just was thinking in my mind. But it's so mummy is one. Oh, I love it.

So upon discovering this woman's body in the water, well preserved, these two fishermen were like, oh shit. So they ran to the dock of the Washington State trout hatchery. Because that is where you would go first. Like when I find a dead body, I would go to a trout hatchery. I don't even know what a trout hatchery is. It's exactly what it sounds like. Like they hatch trout to trout hatch?

I know you don't have cubs. Oh, fuck. Fish too many eggs. Yeah. Edit that out. People are going to literally be like, did you take biology, you dumb bitch? I almost want to keep that whole thing. So, yeah, they ran to the Washington State trout hatchery and they were like, hey, somebody help us.

So they found the superintendent A.D. Eminroth. So he was like, hey guys, what's going on? And they were like, whoa, we just found something real scurry in the water. We're pretty sure it's a lady. There's a lady in the water. And he was like, okay. So he followed Rolf and his brother back to the scene. And obviously they discovered that he discovered, you know, they were not bullshitting.

Because at first he was like, you probably are seeing a deer, you dumbasses or something, like on the shoreline. Right. But he was like, oh, no, that's a dead body. Okay. So. That's scariest. Yeah. So this superintendent, Emonroth,

um, contacted the Clalham County prosecutor slash coroner, Ralph Smyth, and Sheriff Charlie Kemp. And these are the guys that all rushed to the scene and were helping. So apparently the body, the appearance of the body well preserved and white as marble. Same. Because soap. I was going to say, same. Because, you know,

suponification right that's not why I'm white as marble but we're just Scottish and Irish yeah the two widest nations in the land yeah we are not saponified right now but you know someday so the body was taken to the mortuary immediately and an examination was done right away they probably thought again that she had been in the lake for like a minute and a half because they were like whoa shit so well so they were like wow we're gonna find so much out because she's so fresh oh and she wasn't so the um the medical student that was present at the autopsy at the time said, quote, there was no real smell

and no decay. Interesting. The autopsy concluded that with certainty that she had been beaten and strangled to death. Oh no. Poor Hallie. I know. Poor Hallie. Following her death, she had been tossed into this

lake, but she was first hog-tied with ropes and weighed down with rocks and thrown into the lake, like to the bottom. Jesus. And she was floating because whoever had done this didn't count on the fact that rope would rot away. And the suponification made the body super light. So it floated it right up to the surface.

So this dumbass, whoever threw her in there was like, oh, ha, ha, no one will ever find you. And he twisted his mustaches. Both. Both all the mustaches he had. He just twisted them all. But he wasn't thinking like, oh. subpoification. And that the rope is going to rot away

and she's just going to float back up to the surface. Right. Dumbass. If you're trying to dispose of a body, you don't know, I'm just kidding. Don't be so stupid. We're just kidding. That's not at all. Cool.

Yeah, that's not cool. Don't do that. If you're trying to dispose of a body, don't do that. Yeah, just stop doing that. Turn yourself in. So the pathologist estimated that she had been in the lake for, are you ready? One, two, three go.

Almost three years. Wow. Yes. Three years. This body that was super well preserved, did not smell and had barely any decomp. Three years. Had been in that lake for three fucking years. It's a long time.

That like blew my mind when I read it. Three years ago, you didn't even have children. Whoa. Three years ago, I couldn't legally drink. That's a long time. That's a long time. Wow. She was estimated to be in her 30s, I think like mid to late 30s.

But other than that, she was a straight up Jane Doe because they were like, Oh, she's been in there for like 400 years. We have no idea who this girl is. Like, could they not get fingerprints or anything like that? That can be tough because of slippage and stuff in water. Okay. But again, because she was so well preserved, you know, but this is also... Like the 40s.

Yeah, so this is kind of early. And it's like if her fingerprints aren't on record, then they mean nothing. Right, right, right. So the body was actually the first ever to be found floating in Lake Crescent at the time. Well, that's a plus. So, like, good on Lake Crescent. Yeah. Like, good job. But because of this, she became like known as the Lady of the Lake, like, sensationally. You know what I mean? Like, all the publications were like, the Lady of the Lake,

which romanticizes it too much, I feel like. Yeah, like she was brutally murdered and thrown in a lake. And stuffed, hog-tied and, like, thrown in a lake. She's not, like, sitting in a throne on the shore. She's not this, like, siren or something that's, like floating through the lake. Like, she wasn't there by choice. Let's not make this great. But, you know, you know how they do. And actually, funny little side note, a lot of people have been sharing that thing that says that we should stop giving serial killers like super cool names and everybody's been coming up with hilarious names and keep doing that because it's really funny. And that just reminds me of it like calling it the lady of the lake. Like don't romanticize her death. No. So she was buried as a Jane Doe in a Popper's grave

near the area initially because they didn't have anything else to do. So initially they did think they knew they might have known who she was they were like oh we think we know okay and a woman named marian francis stephens was from chicago she had disappeared in the olympic national park wilderness in september of 1939 so the year before okay um that doesn't make sense because it would only be a year but i think they were like i think the reason they were so into this was that like a lot of things including her clothing matched up with both women. And then they were like, maybe that's another reason why she's so well preserved. They were like, oh, maybe it wasn't that one.

Maybe we had it wrong. But Stephens had suffered a fractured neck vertebrae, and there was no evidence of that kind of injury on Jane Doe. So dead end. So that was a bummer because people were like, oh, we know. No, we don't know. So she was, um, Hallie, who we know who she is now, was exhumed a couple of times in an attempt to give her a name.

And at the time, criminologist Hollisbee Fultz had begun to look at a ton of missing persons reports from the area and he was just trying to get anything to connect. This is when it kind of started coming together. Okay. When he made this move to like really start looking into this stuff. He focused his attention on a missing person who was a missing waitress. And her name was Hallie Ellingsworth.

Oh, no. Hallie had been an attractive woman with Auburn hair in her mid-30s. It's you, bitch. that's right actually that's really scary yeah but this corpse also had Auburn hair and was in her mid-30s

and was attractive so they were like that works we like that it wasn't until 14 months later that dental records were actually a thing to really nail down her identity and it finally gave her her name back the corpse

Hallie had a unique six-tooth bridge in her mouth it was a unique six-tooth bridge. Okay. Because it was made out of, um, it was made out of beaten gold. I want fucking six gold teeth. So that's like, it was a unique one. It wasn't like just any old bridge. That's cool. That's like some baller shit. I also don't know how like common a six tooth bridge would have been then or would be now anyways. Like that seems like a pretty unique dental feature. Like you have

six gold teeth. Yeah. That's cool. That's pretty rad. Uh, investigators knew this could probably trigger someone to be able to identify her. So they distributed pictures of the bridge to more than 5,000 dentists around the area. Finally, a dentist in Falkton, South Dakota recognized it immediately

and he was like, that's Hallie Ellingsworth. She's 38 years old. She was a waitress at Lake Crescent Tavern. So they were like, boom. We got a name. Identified. Now, Hallie was last seen on the 22nd of December, 1937.

Okay. So this does match up with the amount of time she had been in the water. Yeah. She had apparently gone back home to her apartment. She was waiting there after her shift. She was waiting there for her husband Monty Illingsworth. Monty Ellingworth was a beer truck driver who had been at a party that night in Port Townsend. Okay. So apparently the last thing anyone knew was she was waiting at home for him.

Now, Monty is a real piece of work, one might say. Oh, come on. Monty and Halley had been married in Seattle in June 1936. Basically, everyone who knew them said the couple, like, constantly fought. And they were always fighting over alcohol and affairs that he was having. Oh, so he was a literal douchebag. He was a douche. And apparently he was like a wicked nasty drunk.

And during one fight, police were called to break it up. And Hallie would often come to work with a ton of bruises all over her. So he was an abusive fuck. That makes me really sad. And he was just an all-around piece of shit, like quite obviously. Now, investigators immediately locked in on him, obviously, because they were like, oh, hello. And he was eventually tracked down living with another woman. Oh, great.

In Long Beach, California, and that's where they arrested him. The woman he was living with was Eleanor Pearson, who was a daughter of a wealthy timber magnet. Oh. Just as a side. Fun fact. Fun fact about Monty. When they came to him, he told him. investigators that he last saw Hallie close to Christmas, 1937, and he was like, all I know

is that she ran off with a Navy lieutenant commander and left me. Doubt it. And it's like, yeah, right, Monty. Right. I don't believe you. You're rude. Well, further investigation revealed that Hallie had never contacted any of her family. And they were like, like, in this whole time.

And they were like, so she ran off with this random Navy commander. And then no one ever heard from her again. And just that's it. Yeah. And she was like close to her face. They were like, that doesn't make any sense. Yeah. Like, no.

Nice try Monty. So they were like, hmm. Try again. And the other thing that was pretty suspicious was the fact that Monty had filed for divorce five months after she was last seen. And he didn't file for divorce on like the grounds of like desertion, which you would do if like you didn't know where this person went. He, he's filed on the grounds of incompatibility. which they were like, that's weird that you did that. That doesn't make sense.

So they started being like, what's going on? So he was arrested at 1351 St. Louis Street in Long Beach. His mother and Eleanor Pearson, the woman who he was basically living with as a husband and wife at this time, they visited him while he was waiting to be extradited back to Washington. And they said in his jail cell, in his jail cell records, it says that Monty says that Monty, said to his mother, mother, you know I didn't do it. I didn't. And she said, yes, I know you didn't, son. I know. So it's typical, like, clearly this dude was raised to be like, yes, no, you didn't do anything wrong. Don't worry about it. And it's like, yeah, fuck you, mom. You know what he did. Like, you know

your son's a piece of shit. Now, during his murder trial, he immediately started like contradicting all his statements because then he claimed he had last seen Halley on the 22nd of December And he said that Hallie went to work that night. And he said later on she came home. They got into a super bad argument, which he'd never said before. And then he said that that Hallie just left and he never saw her again. So he told the court, I just know, he was like, I don't know where she went, but I know she just left me. Oh, yeah.

Like she's a bitch. She just left me. And it's like, okay. Now, obviously during the trial, they were like, oh, that's. that's all well and found. Like, yeah, you're totally a victim, Monty. And then they were like, about the fact that you abuse her on the reg. Like, you want to talk about that? And it came up a ton. And he did confess that it was the norm for them to get into physical altercations. Oh, good. I bet it was her fault, though. Of course. He said, quote, I struck Hallie. She also struck me.

Of course. I never beat her up. I did not kill Hallie. And at one point during this whole thing, the prosecutor was like, why do you hate Hallie? Like, why do you hate your wife? Interesting. And he said he didn't hate her. And the prosecution said, quote, then why did you beat her so? Because that's how she was found. Oh, wow.

And the fucker had nothing to say. Exactly. Because how are you even going to try and cover them? That's a stupid idiot. Now, the prosecution eventually put forward the theory that they were like, okay, so Monty clearly strangled his wife during an altercation. At some point, between three eight. a.m. and 6 a.m. the night she went missing. And then he placed her body in the trunk of his sedan,

drove her to Crescent Lake, and he threw her in. And then just decided to start a new life. And thinking that she would never float up to the surface again. Right. Which he was almost right, if those things didn't all happen perfectly. And it was the rope. And this is kind of just like poetic to me, because it's like the rope that brought her to the surface is the rope that was also the smoking gun in this case. Yeah. Because a guy named Earl F. Inos, who was a manager of the Port Angeles distributing company where Monty had worked before. Okay. Said he went on the stand and he said, that rope is the exact rope I went to Monty and he never gave me it back.

Oh, shit, Monty. So they were like, yep, that's the rope. And that's the rope that brought her to the surface. You thought, Monty. Oh, you thought, Monty. Wow. Oh, you thought. So on March 5th, 1942, the jury found Monty Ellingworth guilty of second-degree murder because they all decided that it was a crime of passion and not premeditated.

Okay. Which is annoying, but whatever. Now, he was sentenced to life imprisonment in Washington State Penitentiary, and after serving only nine years behind bars, he was paroled and returned to California. Are you serious? And he lived until his death in 1975. Wow. He was paroled after nine years.

That's not a long time at all for literally murdering his wife. I mean, he dead now, but like he got out and got to live his life. RID, R-I-D, Monty, rest in distress. Yes. So that is the really spooky and weird story of the death of Hallie Ellingworth. Hallie was a bad bitch till the end. She really was. She came up, mumified.

Just so she could be like, fuck you, Monty. She was like, oh, you thought you hid me. I'm the lady of the lake, bitch. I'm the fucking Lady of the Lake now, motherfucker. She's like, you guys want to call me that? O'Ker. Okay. So, Hallie Ellingworth.

That's sad. Yeah, it's sad story. Sad, like, you know, marriage. That's awful. Yeah. And fuck Monty, man. I'm glad he's dead. But nine years, like your sentence of life imprisonment and you get paroled after nine years.

Right. He's just dick. It just bothered me. But yeah, so that's the story of the lady in the lake. Hope you enjoyed that, spooky tale. You're welcome. Also, we just wanted to quickly mention because we love to give shoutouts to awesome fellow podcasters. We wanted to give a shout out to Horror Soup, Bree and Caleb.

Our new best friends. We fucking love them, and we love their podcast. And I seriously think that all of you guys would also love their podcast. Because I listen to it every single morning. Yeah. They do deep dives into horror movies. They also do true crimes. So they kind of have like the best of both worlds going on.

Yep. And you should go listen to it because we love them and they're beautiful, hilarious, and really well researched. Super well researched. So much respect. And they just did an episode for us. They did. They just covered the craft because we love the craft and we requested it. And who doesn't love that?

I love that. So we love them. and we want you guys to listen to them because they're great. Because we love them so much that it's disgusting. It is. It's disgusting. Ew. So give them a try because I don't think you guys are going to be disappointed. And we love to let you guys know the things that we think that will make your life brighter.

Bree and Caleb, you are the chesticles. Horror soup, y'all. But you guys know what you can do to brighten your spirits after listening to like such a kind of sad case. Because you need it. You could go over to murder apparel. Do it. And buy yourself some fucking merch. You could buy the morbid shirt or you could buy the husband did it shirt because he always did it.

He did. You could find the dead inside shirt. And guess what guys? Pretty soon, murder apparel is going to have some more murbid shirts for you. Murbid shirts. Mervid shirts. You go get those marbit shirts. Your marbit shirts.

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For 25% off some new fucking merch. Because it's awesome to get shit off merch. I love when I can get a discount. I love it. I love a good discount. Samezies. I use our discount. I do too.

I love it. Should we thank some Petrumis? Yeah, I think now we're going to thank our beautiful, bubbly, bright, brilliant patronesses. Are you going to say the names and I'll come up with the joke? Yeah. Okay. We're going to reverse it. We're going to flip it and reverse it right now.

Reverse. So the first patroness that we would like to thank tonight is Rose Grady. Rose Grady, you are so rosy-cheeked and beautiful and I appreciate you. It's true. I do too. I love you, Rose Grady. Thank you. The name Rose is beautiful.

I do too. It's really pretty. I have a rose on my foot. And it reminds me of Betty White. Yes, Betty White. So good on you. And I'm blanched ever, oh. There you go.

The next patroness we would like to thank is Callie Burroughs. Callie Burroughs. Callie Burroughs, your name rhymes let Hallie, so you're pretty much the star of the show this week. Congratulations, Callie. You win. I don't know what you win, but it's something. Our love and devotion. Yes, we love you, Callie.

Thank you. Thank you. The next person we are going to thank the next patroness we are going. to think is Amanda Ruiz. Amanda Ruiz? Yeah. Amanda Ruiz, thank you. I love you so much.

I love you, Amanda. You're the best. You're just the best. Simply love you. And the next Patronus is Annabel Club. Annabel Club, I love you, but I really hope that I don't wake up and your creepy doll faces in my room because that scares me. That's exactly what I was thinking.

So thank you so much, Annabel. You're the best. Thank you for having a great horror name. Yes. Thank you to Abby Linden. Abby Linden. The name Abby is just like so cute. Thank you.

It's like Abby Road. Yeah. It reminds me of the Beatles. It's also a cool bar in Boston that I love. There you go. Thank you so much, Abby. Thanks. Next person we're going to thank is Brooke Barrett.

Brooke Barrett. That reminds me of One Tree Hill. And I love One Tree Hill and I love you, Brooke Barrett. And we also love Barrett's haunted house. I also love her literation. So thank you. Thank you very much, Brooke Barrett. Next Patron is we are going.

to thank is Jennifer Ramos. Jennifer Ramos. I love the name Jennifer. I love your soul. I love your being. I love you. Jennifer's body. That's a horror movie.

Oh, you're getting, you're killing it. I am. You're way better at this than I am. Thank you so much, Jennifer. And the next patroness, we want to thank is Samantha Fleming. Samantha Fleming. My old cheerleading coach, her last name was Fleming, and she was so great.

So thank you, Samantha. Thank you so much, Samantha. And the next person we want to thank is Casey Gail Whitaker. Casey Gail Whitaker. Number one, Gail Weathers, that's exactly what I thought of. Whitaker, I feel like that's a tree. Yes.

I love you. I don't think it's a tree. It's not, but I want to me. Sounds good. Thank you so much, Casey. Next Patronus, you want to thank is Emily McGregor. Emily McGregor. I work with a girl named Emily, and she's one of my best friends, and I bet you would be

too, and I love you. Yep, you are our best friend, Emily. So thank you. So thanks. Thank you, best friend. And next person we want to thank is Scarlett Robles. Scarlet Robbles. I love the name Scarlet. I love all your fucking names this week. Yeah, that's great. Thank you. Yeah. Robles it up. Yeah, we love you. Go on,

and the last Patronus this week that we are going to think is Lillia. So hot right now. So hot right now. My first friend at community college, her name was Lillia. Oh, look at that. Yep. So everybody, your name is Your names are meaningful to me this week. They are. I love your names. I love your faces. I love that you love us enough to donate your cashish to us. You are beautiful.

You are brilliant and kind and wonderful. You is smart. You is kind. You is important. Exactly. And you are getting a Patronus bonus episode this week. A Patronus bonus. A Patronus bonus.

That's what we're naming the episode. Yeah. Yeah, that's it from here on out. All right, guys. Well, as always, you can follow up. us on Instagram at Morbid Podcast. Follow us on Twitter.

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We hope you keep listening. And we hope you keep it weird. But not so weird that you beat your wife up because that's rude and you can't throw her in a lake because guess what? She's going to float to the top because rope rots. And you know what? Also, she's going to turn into soap, but not the kind that you can clean your body with because that's a dead people soap and you shouldn't be doing that. And also, bye. Thank you.

Subonification. Bye.