My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark - 203 - Live at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta (2018)

Episode Date: January 2, 2020

Karen and Georgia cover the kidnapping of Barbara Mackle and the Barbie Bandits. With special guest Chuck Bryant.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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You guys know we're not David Bryan, right? We're Eddie Vedder. Wow, Atlanta, what is up? Nice to see you. So nice. We have our Satanic carpet here. Yes. We had some nascent weave this carpet for us.

Just a lot of very intense symbology only we understand that we'll be looking at all night while we worship our Lord. Guys, it's the second to last show of our fall tour. It went by so fast. It went by really fast. But we're happy, excited to be here. Yes. Great food. Oh my God.

I appreciate that. And a great hotel room. That's the only thing I've seen so far. God, it's gorgeous. I did a thing I haven't done in so long on tour, which fills me with joy is that I ate something outside of the hotel. It's always a good idea. And went to a vintage store, which are like the only two things I love. Which one?

Give him a plug. Shit. Oh, fuck. I ate it real. Yeah, it could have been the goodwill. Actually, I just broke into someone's house and stole their clothes. That's what I felt. That's my grandmother's sweater.

That's been a big shock for me. I ate at Mary Max though. Oh, shit. That was amazing. Now, how did you get in? So I guess there's normally a long line, but we just breezed right in at like two. No big deal. I'm the pond guest.

So you're going to want to seat us in the window, probably. Well, when I put my name down to, you know, get seated, and I just fucking love being here. Because I'm like, look, they're like, what's your name? And I'm like, Georgia. And they're like, oh, you must own the state. Come on in. Heiress to the Georgia 14. It's pretty great after like a lifetime of not having your name on any, you know, at any

souvenir shops at any. Bike license plate. Right. Never ever. There's a ghost fucking with that. Then to see your goddamn name everywhere. It's just like, it's pretty great. I love it.

Yeah. You should come here more often. I am. I had some names on bike plates, but all I've really ever wanted was my name in a song. And I just have that one super bummer James Taylor one where it's about like, Karen, look at her back. She's leaving again. What a bitch.

Look at her back. Look at her back. What a bitch. She's leaving. That's what she's like. Get used to it. You know that song, James Taylor. It's called get used to it.

Don't rely on her. She won't pick you up. It's Karen. Karen. Yeah. I guess I got lucky in the department. You looked out. I did.

You really did. Shit. I had something I wanted to tell you. Now I can't remember what it is. Can I tell you that? When I ordered food today, I was like, right, I'm going to get the fried chicken because I fucking love fried chicken. But then I was like, maybe I'll get healthy sides and I almost ordered healthy sides.

And then I did it. I was like, what are you doing? Healthy fucking sides. I know. Georgia as an entire state is like, we don't do those here. Yeah. Then I realized you can get a side order of fried green tomatoes. Yes.

Wow. Good stuff. Oh my God. Did you go right into the movie? You were like, oh my God. The fried green tomatoes. Kathy Bates. Kathy Bates.

Scall around me. That's right. I have such a good anecdotes right in front of my brain. I'll remember it later. Tell them what you're wearing. Oh yeah, that's what. Could it be that? Could it be my dress with pockets?

Yeah. Look at me. Look at me in my pockets, everybody. Look at me in my pockets, Georgia. I love it. It's the pockets revolution. Can you hold my things? Yes, I can hold every single one of your things.

Look how big. My pockets are. Every easy and fun. I'm gone. Her and she's still the sun, your best walk away. She stole your microphone. I know. Oh no.

Don't look at it. Don't look at it. Can you not do that? I did it. Good job. Thank you. Let's see your dress. Oh, this old thing.

It's just the old thing. Thank you. I'm just excited. I'm wearing my shoes that I got married in. Thanks. Nice. We're falling apart. Not my marriage though.

Nope. Not as strong as ever. Oh, cute. I am excited though because this dress is fine, whatever, but I decided that the next tour I'm not wearing black dresses anymore. I just can't fucking do it. Oh my God. You heard it.

Here first, Twitter, Instagram, let the social media world know. But truly, I just can't keep buying black dresses that I'll never wear in real life when I have a closet full of gorgeous vintage like crazy couch, your grandma's couch dresses. So is that what you're going to do? Are you going to walk us through your collection of gorgeous vintage dresses? I could and then I'll just start buying more too. Yes. You should do a thing that not unlike the hometown order where you wear a dress from the city

that we're in that day. What if that's it? What if that's it? This becomes a shopping podcast. I would be so happy. But that's, it's going to be hard to get into because it's a podcast about us shopping. We're not going to help you shop. There won't be any interactive parts.

But at the end of the show, I'll just unzip my dress and hand it to someone too. First you have to go like this. Yes. That would be actually kind of fun to do. Like, you have to get your outfit that day. That'd be great fun for me. Yeah, that'd be great fun. Well, I mean, I'm saying I would do it with you.

Oh, you would? Okay. But then, but then I would definitely be sarcastic when I did it. Where I'd like show up in a blockbuster video shirt and just be like, what? Check it out, motherfuckers. Anti-glam. Blockbuster video shirt is probably vintage too. You gotta imagine.

Yeah. They don't exist anymore. No. Those fucking right wing assholes. They were. Them and Domino's. Get out. So that's the political part.

Hey, this is my favorite murder. We're out to find out about that. Yeah. This is, this is your new governor, Karen Kilgaran. And this is shoe superstar, Georgia Hardstone. Guys, we got tricked into drinking Folger's backstage and it was pretty good. It was delicious. It was called some, like, it was like a bespoke name that they did.

Like how sometimes cores will be like, no, it's really like the cores from this other area of our plant. That's like nice. It's for hipsters. It's nice stuff. But this was like, it was called like 1882. And I was like, I love that year. Six years before Jack the Ripper.

Stuff like that. Really enjoying it. And Vince is like, this is fucking Folger's. Oh my God. I like it. I love it. Record a commercial. This is the best.

Should we sit down? Yeah. Let's just sit down. This is a good chair. This is a gorgeous, well-worn chair. It is. It's like someone took Grandpa's chair. Yeah.

There's no padding. It's okay. I might fall through the bottom of this chair. It's definitely got, it's definitely missing a part. We both pull out gifts. Oh my God. And then the chairs just collapsed. Oh, those gifts were holding up the chair.

Oh my God. I love it. Steven's not here. Oh yeah. Let him know how you feel. Let him know how mad you are at him. He's going to listen to this alone in his, in an apartment. That's right.

And he needs to know that you care that he's not here. They really are falling apart. Is it falling apart right now? Yeah, but I don't care. If you take him off and throw him in the audience, I think people will really be excited. A lady with a fucking shoe heel and pale to her eyes. He's son of a bitch. I used to like this podcast.

Don't I have to get them framed since I got buried in them or something? Yes. Is that what people do with their wedding shoes? They frame them? They frame them in a glass cube and put them on your desk. Lighted and everything? Yeah. Halogen lamp above it.

Bronze them? Yes. They have their own shoes. Yes. Like a huge sexy baby. My fucking mom recently gave me my baby bronze shoes and I'm like, where did these for you to keep? Why the fuck do I have to have these in my house?

I already wore those. I don't want them back. What kind of narcissist has their own bronze baby shoes in their fucking house? That's why you kept dragging your finger along the counter where you put the bronze baby shoes every time I come over. I was like, anyway, anything new in your life? Because their shirt are two new bronze things in my life. Look how tiny I once was.

I'm so kind of such a petite, skinny baby. Look how little I was. Hardly any fat. And like they couldn't find shoes to fit me because my feet were so skinny. It was so sad. I had to go into fetal sizes because I was such a tiny baby. New business venture. Steven, trademark that.

Idea. You get a zillion dollars in Los Angeles. It's like, oh, you wear kids sizes. You can't fit into fetal. Okay. Okay. Good luck with that. Okay.

I have a great spinning instructor if you want her name. Oh my God. She is next level. You will love it. I told, I had a friend that wouldn't stop asking if I would go to a spinning class with her. Is it me? No. It's happened more than once.

It's my friend Stephanie. And finally I said, I'm going to go to the spinning class with you and I'm going to die during it just to fuck you over. I'm going to have a massive coronary. I think that's a great idea. Four French riser to pop out of my mouth and you're going to have to clean up the body. Stupid motherfucker. Leave me alone. I don't want to ride a still bike.

That's the saddest thing of all time. You're going to ride it and go the fuck outside. Sorry. I don't agree with that statement. Here we go. But I agree with you feeling that way about it. Point counterpoint on spinning. Georgia, go for the pro side.

I mean, it's just spinning. They're spinning on it. But I agree with you. Are you going to drink water the whole time? Yeah, I'm going to angrily drink water. Roll my eyes so hard but drink water. Oh, you look so hydrated and angry. I think I want to spin it off, but I don't.

I want to retain, retain, retain. Because you can tell that's the new thing that's coming. We've already gone through the fucking 90s Allie McBeele Amatiation bullshit. Big butts are now in. Big boobs are coming in. Kind of classic. I mean, big boobs have always been. Big boobs is hard to shove those guys out of style.

Thank God. Now I really feel like water retention in the midsection is going to come in. I'm just waiting. I'm into it. I am here for it, as the cool kids say. I'm eating prangles for it. This is one thing, and we've talked about this on tour before, but my problem, my addiction is in almost every hotel room we stay in,

we offer, when you walk in the door, it's there waiting. A little half can of prangles. A perfect little can, just right for you. It's just enough. You don't have to like, it's not a full can. You're like, I know I'm going to eat this whole thing and be bummed. It's just this much. It's almost a third of a stack of a pipe of pringles,

is what the technical term is. Pringles piping. And when I eat them, I call Georgia on the hotel phone and say, I'm about to lay some pipe. I do. God, I wish that were true. And she says, don't call me at this number. We have so much fun on tour.

This is the front desk. Your friend, Georgia, said not to giggle you. I was going to tell you. What? Oh no, what did you do? It's so funny. It's not that good actually, sorry. I'm just so thrilled I remembered. I'm still here.

Last night we got in super late, but they had a 24-hour menu. So I was like, well, I'm just going to get something tasteful and feminine. A pizza. So I called down. It rings 100 times. And then finally, the most harried room service worker answers the phone.

He's like, yes, room 1501. What can I help you with? We spoke to that person, too. He was very mad at us. Out of his mind. I understand it's busy. It's like 11.37 at night. How many people are ordering pizza?

On a Thursday. What's happening in this hotel? And it was almost like he goes, can I just get a pizza and a Diet Coke? And he goes, it's going to take an hour and a half. Almost like he was complaining on my behalf. He was upset about it more.

And he was the only person that could change that time or make that a different experience. But he was letting me know that that sucked. And then so I go, well, there's nothing I can do. I didn't say this out loud. It's amazing. I'm like, well, sir, I simply don't know what to do.

I didn't eat dinner. We just flew in. So I'm like, okay, well, I just have to get it anyway. Is what I said. And then as I'm saying that sentence, he goes, no, no, I'm sorry. Chef is looking at me and telling me, no pizza.

No pizza. We're out of pizza. Wow. And I go, okay. And I'm about to say, like, I'll pick something else. And he goes, no, no. The chef just told me there's absolutely no pizza. And I go, I get it. And I just hung out.

And ate Pringles. And I ate, you know what I did? I looked at that second stack of Pringles. I said, hello, friend. Hello, Mr. Mustache friend. Your name is dinner tonight. And then I just drank a container of salt. Right just like, what's the new trend?

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These live shows are so much fun to begin with, but it's also fun because you find these fucking stories that you're like, how have I never, I never would have heard about that. There's a ghost behind you. I'm not afraid. It's really scary. Oh, hey, what's up?

Oh, and we never saw her again. Karen, we're missing. There she is. She died of, she died of violent death here at this theater. Or maybe it's you in a different time. It's fifth dimensional me. Do you like Pringles in this timeline? Do you like Pringles?

Yes. Great, it's you. I'm sorry, so bad at improv. It was a yes or no and you got it right. I panic. I panic. Two choices are so many choices when you're panicking. Okay, so this is the fucking banana story

of the kidnapping of Barbara Mackle. Oh. You don't even know about it. I'm going to tell you. Some do. One person does. Yeah. All right.

In 1968, here, Barbara Mackle is this lovely 20-year-old girl. She's enjoying her senior year at Emory University in Atlanta. Emory. The fighting. The fighting J-Birds. That's right. The J-Birds. Oh, Emory J-Birds.

Oh, they fight. They'll peck your eyes out in football. The fighting J-Birds. J-Birds. Squat, squat. Yeah. That's right. It just all goes squat.

Lower and louder until the other team leaves because they're embarrassed. This is too nerdy for us. Sorry. J-Birds are already without scary. Why are they swapping at us? So it's almost, let me show you a photo of her. What happened?

Uh-oh. Just a light drip. Mostly for the front row. Okay. I don't know where to point this thing. It could be there, but it's not. It's usually. Steven.

There she is. Dude, I think I did this one on a crime to remember. Oh, shut up. Yeah, I swear to God. I think if this is the one I remember. Okay, don't talk about it. If this is the crime I remember. Maybe it's a crime to not remember.

Pretty little thing. Look at her. Look at her little butt nose, et cetera, et cetera. There's a Christmas thing. Okay. So she's not a Jew. You have to use context clues and put the mystery together yourself. It's important.

Pay attention. Okay, it's almost Christmas break at Emory University. Or everywhere, probably. All around the world, it's Christmas break. Context clues. You know. Yeah. And it seems that everyone at school is getting this crazy ass thing called the Hong Kong

flu, which is like a bananas epidemic virus thing that had killed over a million people. Everyone's getting fucking sick of shit, right? And even though... That totally sounds like something I would make up to call in to be late to work. So even though Barbara is a real estate heiress, she's not immune to this virus. Can you believe it? You can have all the money in the world, you're still going to get sick. That's right.

That's right. So shut up, Richies. Shut up, Richie Rich. So she comes down with the Hong Kong flu, but she doesn't want to go home. She has her finals to take still. So even though she's sick, she is rich enough that her mother drove from their family home in Florida to take care of her so she could go to things. To class?

Yes. So she's rich in love? Yes. Citrus Grove is where she's from, which is richie rich places in Florida. So... I can't... My mother, if I was sick and had to go to class, she'd be like, good luck. I hope you do well.

My mom's got that, like, the slight Munchausen vibe proxy thing where she's like the best mom when you're sick. Like, it's lovely. If I ever... If I'm ever sick and need her, she's fucking there for me. Not like as a dick. Like, that was terrible for me to say. She's just there because she loves me.

Not because she has a fucking disorder. I don't know. I think your right to be suspicious about her love. I think your right to doubt love. It's very tricky. Oh, I am so fucked up. Okay. Okay.

So, she comes to Georgia to take care of her sick daughter for Christmas break. They're staying a few miles off from campus at the Roadway Inn in Decatur, Georgia. It's so gorgeous at the Roadway Inn. That's where we're staying, too. We love it. We love it. Amazing room service. Only roadway ins on this whole tour.

We pull right up into our room. Sorry. We sleep in the car. At around 4 a.m. on December 17, 1968, still there. There's a knock at the door of their room and a man is dressed as a fucking cop and he says he's a fucking cop and he tells Barbara that her boyfriend Stuart had been in a car accident and to open the door and let him in. Which you would do.

You would do in 1968. These days we know if you're a cop alerting me about a car accident that already happened, you don't need to be in my fucking hotel room to tell me about it. Whisper it through the fucking window. Call me on the phone. Why you need to be in here near me? Let me see your badge. Let me see your badge is the fourth question to ask.

Barbara opens the door to the cop and she's immediately hit with the fucking truth, which is the man not shockingly is not a cop. If he was, the story would be over. But still interesting. The guy's name is, the knock cop's name is Gary Christ. He's a 23-year-old from Miami who was a research assistant at SeaWorld. Hold on. Real quick.

We'll get into him more. I'm just saying he would go on Wikipedia and look up stuff about orcas and then just be like, 1968. Guess what? So he'd be on that micro fish every weekend. The micro fish? The micro fish about fish? Micro fish?

It's in there somewhere but it is. It's in there somewhere. It's right there. It's right there. It's right there. And he isn't a cop. He had actually been stalking Barbara for months planning her kidnapping. Okay.

So let's go back. In the fall, way before all this started of 1968, this guy Gary had gone to the Miami Public Library to look at names on a social register. He was looking for, he gave a fake name and said he was researching wealthy Floridians to learn about their work habits and personalities for a psychology dissertation. That's not true. No, it is not. It's a terribly concocted lie about the rich.

That's right. But back then they were like, great. We'll give you their social security numbers and you can have everything, anything you want about them. Call-a-dress, PO box, parents' names. Exactly. He was actually planning, in reality Gary's planning one of the most elaborate kidnapping plots in FBI history.

Shit. So this dude Gary had escaped. He was like a convict. He had escaped from prison and on the run, but he was a really smart dude. So he got a fake name and was working at a college as a research person. Or a SeaWorld. It depends on what Wikipedia you ask. It depends on what paragraph you're looking at.

That's when he found, when he was doing all this research, what he was really looking for was to get that victim. He found this guy Robert Mackle who was a wealthy real estate developer with ties to President Nixon. And what Chris was looking for was a daughter who was a rich, tough-minded female. That's what he was specifically looking for because he wanted to find someone who could stand up to the trauma of being kidnapped and his crazy kidnapping plan. Sorry.

So he was kind of casting his victims. He was. And he didn't want to feel bad when it was over. He was like, I need a sturdy lady that can handle being pulled out of her roadway motor logs at 3 a.m. He's like, I need someone who is, he doesn't want to, you wouldn't do it with a child. He has, I guess, scruples? I don't know.

He wouldn't do a whale because he loves fish and mammals. He wanted, you know, he tried to find this, was he casting a fucking kidnapping victim, someone who could like deal with the ordeal of being kidnapped? Well, I mean, that's partially considerate. Yeah, I guess. Thanks. Thanks, Gary. I'm sure when Barbara found out, she was like, thank you.

I guess. I guess it's a compliment. I guess. And he found Barbara Mackle. She was the 20-year-old daughter and he thought she was the perfect victim. So let's see. The Mackle family, they were this crazy land developer people in Florida. They changed the landscape and demographics of Florida with their company General Development

or Largest Land Development Company, Florida, blah, blah, blah, who cares? I care. Okay. They turned thousands of square miles of swamp land and thick woodland into residential communities for the middle class. Oh, thank God the middle class has somewhere to live. Thank you so much. They paid right over it and put in a parking lot.

And they also developed Marco Island and Port St. Lucy. Good shit. You have these guys to thank for your place. How about you write the Mackles a letter for once? Maybe this Christmas break. Write them a nice note. Okay. So back to the roadway in 4 a.m. when Barbara opened the door.

So Gary Christen is a accomplice who is a 26-year-old female named Ruth Eisman Shearer. She's disguised as a man. They break the fuck in. They rush inside and they chloroform Mackle Barbara's mom and tie her up. And then they force Barbara at gunpoint in the back of their waiting car. Can I just tell a quick story that I don't know is facts about that woman? Be a accomplice? Yeah.

Is this the story you did for? Yeah, but no, it's not the truth. This is just what I made up in my mind when I heard this story. Absolutely. Because I think this podcast is. It's all bullshit. Mostly bullshit. They work together at SeaWorld or they met in college?

He escapes prison, right? And she meets him in college. I think he's like working for one of the teachers. He's super smart and she's like, this guy's hot. I might have a photo of him, but I'm scared it's going to, what photo did I put up? Roll those dice. There he is. Well, hello.

Yeah. He's like a Jason Manzukas kind of. If Jason Manzukas was trying to hypnotize you from across a party, after he got a nice haircut. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. If that guy was like, hey, do you want to go down to the coffee machine with me?

I'd be like, sir, no, absolutely not. Go back into your office. He looks crazy, but this girl met him and then found out about his escaping prison. And I guess that dick must have been great because she was like, let's do it. She's like, you know what? It adds, it doesn't take away. So she was like, not only am I okay with this, I am going to help you. I'll accomplish the shit out of you.

I just imagine that her glasses are so thick that her eyes are five times bigger than they actually are in reality. I think we have a photo of her. Oh, please. Okay. Look at her. She's like, yeah, that face. Yeah.

She's like, still waters, bitches. We don't all have to be blondes. That dick. Got that breakout dick. I got that orca dick. Holy shit. Is it the end of this tour? What?

Out of my mind. It fucking is. Because she was, look at her eyes. She keeps her hair short because she doesn't have time. She's getting so much dick. You know what I mean? You got to go. Three brushes and you're out.

Oh, what am I doing? That was just a job. This is our job. We get paid the best we can do. You pay us to talk shit to you. Truly in all my life. A true dream come true. I could never have imagined.

I'm going to start crying. Do it. Hey. How about in the television made for TV movie from 1990 called 83 hours tell dawn. That'll make sense more later. That's an exciting title. Dettai's Gary Christ is played by Peter Strauss. Peter Strauss from?

From, of course. How do you even know? I didn't even know who he's from because I figured you'd always know this shit. I mean, all I can think of is the guy from airplane that goes. You ever see a grown new way out of it? No. He even knows. Sorry.

Go ahead. He's from 6 feet under? Oh. Can someone look it up on a computer please? A desktop? Not a phone? Everyone pull out your laptops. A desktop?

A desktop only. Yeah. Only a desktop. Is that Peter Strauss? Strauss. Oh, it's his father. Jerry. And Barbara is played by Samantha Mathis.

Oh, yes. She's usually a blonde. And she's from? And she's from Arkansas. I don't know. Samantha Mathis was in a bunch of 90s movies. She was like a teen. Super Mario Brothers.

Super Mario Brothers fuck off. She was. What did she say? Our food critic right here. Food critic. Movie critic. TV critic. We believe you.

I believe you. I don't think any of this is real. Okay. Alright. Who cares? Okay. So anyways. They chloroform the mom.

They kidnap Barbara into the car. And they drive her about 20 miles away to a remote pines grove in Gwinnett County near Duluth. Such a powerful county where all the pines are filled with pines. And then they, okay, this gets, okay, ready for the bananas parts of this. They get her, they get to a spot. They tell her to climb into a trench that they had dug for her. And I would be like, no, I will not do that. Shoot me in the face asshole.

That's what I'd say. You might as well. No, don't. Don't do that. Oh, don't do that. Don't do that. We've decided for you to not do that. Okay, but here's the thing.

Let's not, let's don't forget this poor fucking girl has the goddamn Hong Kong fucking. Oh, that's right. So bad that her mommy is taking care of her and she's 20. Like that's hardcore. So she's just like, are you fucking kidding me? I can't even eat a saltine and you're getting me into a fucking. Can I bring a hot water bottle down there with me because I'm already very uncomfortable. Right.

And rich. So at the bottom of this trench is a strategically engineered fiberglass box that they had made. It had a pump and two plastic pipes that gave me a Barbara air from the outside. And they had left food, water that was laced with sedatives and a battery powered lamp to keep her company and then they buried her fucking alive in this box. Spoiler alert. She survives. That's why that's why the movie is called 83 hours.

I don't want you guys to get scared. That's why the movie is called 83 hours till dawn. It's because she fucking hung out down there for 83 hours. 83 hours is like almost two days. What's that in 2018 years? 2018 years. Yeah. The only cool thing about, first of all, I'm picturing those two lunatics making their

own fiberglass box. I think that, I don't, okay. Well, yeah. We talked more about that. Yeah. We'll talk more about that. But then also cool of them put sedatives in the food because that's if you're buried alive.

Night night. Come on. I want to go night night. Please. Yeah. Or just a, how about a ball peen hammer I can hit in my own head. Yeah. It's fucking great.

That's why, because remember when he was like, I want to find someone who's not going to go crazy when I kidnap them. This is why. Because he was like, I need someone who's got to fucking not lose their goddamn mind. Gary, if you're going to do something where you have to pick an incredibly strong individual because you're going to bury them alive, you sidestep that part and then go straight to what you're doing. And give that more of a think.

Yeah. Never in their reserve. What the fuck am I doing? I mean, never. Is it the strength of the woman that needs to be worried about or my mind? Okay. So then Gary takes a photograph of Barbara lying down in the trench while she holds up a handwritten sign that says kidnap to be used for the ransom note.

You all want to see it? Yes. Okay. I have to warn you. It kind of looks like she's smiling, but she's actually fucking, they had already, it's a day that the shit out of her, so she's not smiling. But are you ready for your nightmare? So just, she can't control her lip muscles anymore and they're just falling back.

They're like, you guys, this is, how am I not rid of this? Am I wrong to say that it looks like me a little bit? I did. Your nose, yeah. And I would be like, yeah, just keep them sedatives coming. More pills. How scary. It's too close also.

It's terrifying. Okay. So then what happens is they shovel two feet of mud on top of the box and she would remain there for three days, aka 83 hours. I said 83 hours. 83 hours. In her book that she later writes about it, called it 83 hours. Barbara recalls the experience, she said, quote, I screamed and screamed, the sound of the

dirt got farther and farther away. Finally I couldn't hear anything above. I screamed for a long time after that. No. So Gary and Ruthie. I wish she had done yoga or something. She probably did after. Yeah, I bet after she was great at it.

Yeah. So Gary and Ruth are kidnappers. They contact Robert, Barbara's dad, and Demana ran some of $500,000. And I do have the equivalent of today. It's 3.5 million. Oh shit. That's a lot of money. In exchange for Barbara's safe return and Robert, Robert Mackles played by Robert, did

I already say that? Robert Oldridge? No. That's who he's played by. We don't know who anyone is anymore, so it's okay. Is that Skeetal Rich's dad? Yes. Okay.

In the note, the kidnappers specify that the ransom is to be put in a suitcase and that Robert had to make a drop in the woods alone. And because of Robert's connections with the president, the FBI director, J Edgar Hoover scratches the man who investigated both Kennedy assassinations to oversee the case. He didn't solve the first one, so how the fuck are you going to, right? Finish your other fucking job. Five shooters on the hill. That's right.

And maybe the second one. I'll speak to some people. Hoover calls that guy. And he's like, I'm going to send down the guy that investigated, and they're like, oh, thanks. She's not. Okay. Appreciate it.

Okay. So Robert is fucking determined to get his daughter back, of course. He gets all the money together, puts him inside a suitcase, and he goes to bring it to a bridge that's near, he goes to bring to the drop point. Great. But it doesn't go smoothly because Robert gets fucking lost looking for the drop off point. Oh, dad. Dad's losing his shit.

No, no, no. I don't need the map. I know. It's around here somewhere. Great. So this looks really, it's fine. I got it. And meanwhile, Gary is like, hunkered down with binoculars.

Like, where the fuck are they? This is crazy. Kind of a big deal. It's kind of a big deal. This is the moment. And finally, he finds the drop off spot. And unfortunately, the FBI, who's like waiting for this shit to happen, didn't tell the local cops what was going on.

So the drop spot is right next to where the local cops like to hang out and have like their lunch and their car. So there's two fucking cops sitting in a car right by the drop point. And Gary... I said no cops. Right. I didn't invite them. And they're like, we don't know what's going on.

Everybody loves this bridge. That's right. Gary grabs the money and he's coming down the fucking... He is hanging out with a suitcase full of money, a rifle, and scoop a gear when he happens to be on these two fucking cops. And that looked on his face. So he's like, what? Nothing.

I love water. I love water. Fucking capers. He fucking starts to run. Cops open fire. He gets away. And he had to fucking jump over a fence and he injures his groin pretty bad. So they're rude.

Yeah. No, it's great. It took me three hours to sunset or whatever that... Yeah. It was a comedy. It was like a... It was a particle physical comedy. Not for Barbara, who's still fucking in that goddamn box.

That poor baby. And then she goes, oh, a lamp. Click. God, this food is good. It's just relaxing. Okay. So then the FBI probably kicks the cops in the dicks and is like, what the fuck did you do?

But after that, they find Gary's abandoned car. And inside the car, they find photographs of Gary and Ruth. Some of them are naked photos. Just around the car. They're like, bullets are in the car. Gary. Gary. They take bullets and then just throw them over their shoulder.

Yeah. They're just like, they're 60s. Apparently there's one photo where he's got the cop hat that he used to get into the house and it's over his D. Maybe. That might not be true. Who wants some Miranda rights? Did you make it up? I didn't make that up, but I saw that somewhere.

Jesus Christ. And then they find that the car is registered to a person in the name of George Deacon. So the second ransom drop is successful. And so Gary had to leave that money behind when he ran from the cops, but he does get this money. And the FBI, at that point, traces this guy George Deacon to the University of Miami where they realized that he had built ventilated boxes for a living. Maybe for Star Wars.

No. Seaward. Same dip. Same dip. So maybe that's what it may be. It's all the same characters. I think that he must have made, what do they call, aquariums. Sure.

It's our new theme of our podcast. And so that's how he made the box to put her in. Right. So he made those for a living. It's like a picture if we had a dolphin. But she was a lady. She didn't need water. And then, so George Deacon turns out is our friend Gary.

So it's one of the same. Sorry, I forgot to tell you that. Deacon's boss at this coffin building company is like, oh, and he hangs out with this chick Ruth who has just like these eyes that isn't, you know. Look at him make that box. So then the FBI contacts, oh, okay. Then the FBI has contact by a local man in Georgia claiming he had just bought a small trailer from a man and found some weird paperwork inside.

They discovered. Was it sex paperwork? It wasn't. That's when they realized that George and Gary are the same person and that George is an escapee from California prison since 1966. Blah, blah, blah. They realized it's the same guy. That was okay.

Then on December 20th, Gary calls and gave a switchboard operator calls the, you know, zero. I don't know. It's a thing you could do back then. Yeah. But it's more like, it's a round thing. It took four minutes. He gives the FBI vague directions to where Barbara is buried.

And then over 100 FBI agents then spread out in the area and they eventually, they're yelling her name and they can fucking hear knocking and that's when they find her. In a forest? Uh-huh. Well, nighttime? Night night. No, but it's what it pretended is. So after being underground for 83 fucking hours, Barbara's burial site was located by

searchers. They dug up the box and Barbara emerged slightly dehydrated, but otherwise unarmed. Because she's strong. Probably needing a nap. What a nightmare. I bet you whatever FBI agent lifted her up out of that fucking fiberglass box, she's like, marry me right now. I propose to you whatever your name or space is.

That's right. So Gary's captured and ironically captured at place in Florida called Port Charlotte, which is ironically a math development. She gets caught on one of their like islands. He's a accomplice. He scooped out to the islands and then got caught there. Ruth is the first woman to be named to FBI's 10 most wanted list. Shit.

For her. She's eventually caught in Texas. She's sentenced to seven years in prison. Before being paroled, she's deported back to her native Honduras. She's now a grandma and has a Facebook account and I think he can find it. For real. She's like, oh, the 60s. Anyway.

And then also the 60s. Oh, the 60s, right? Grandma, tell us a story about when you were younger. What's America like? She's like, why don't we focus on the now? Two months after his capture, Gary's tried in Georgia where he faces the death penalty, but the jurors acknowledged that he tried to keep his victims alive and fulfilled his promise to reveal where she was buried.

So they were like, you clown. It's okay. So he got life, but he only served 10 years. Shit. And he's really some parol. He wrote a book himself called The Man Life, The Man Who Kidnapped Barbara Jane Mackle. And then he's like, it was me. It just says it was me.

I did it. And then that's pictures on the cover. He's like, it's me. Me and my beard. We got this idea. But he also wrote a letter to Barbara apologizing, apparently, which is like, you can apologize by getting in a pit for three fucking days. So after his release, he's allowed to attend medical school in Granada.

He earns a medical degree in 2001. He's approved by the Indiana Medical Licensing Board. And it turns out he's Dr. Depp. It all comes together full podcast circle. That's right. He worked as a physician in Indiana until 2003 because of some disciplinary action he did because he's a fucking kidnapper. He kept sticking his whole arm in the aquarium.

And they're just like, Dr. Heist, we can't have you. Dr. Heist. What's his name? I don't know, but it's Dr. Heist. It's Dr. Heist. You are your crime. Your name is your crime. Yeah.

He gets arrested again in 2006 for some cocaine shit. He goes to prison again. He goes back and forth to prison. He's a lover of life. The only thing that I can tell you now is he lives in rural Georgia today. You guys. And here he is tonight, Dr. Heist. Get out here, you son of a bitch.

You put him in a box for the rest of the show. Oh my god. Shit. But as for Barbara Backel, remember the guy that you knocked on the door and was like, your boyfriend's been in an accident. She ends up marrying that dude, Stuart Woodward. And how did he fare in that accident? Karen, there was no accident.

There was no accident. Barbara wrote the book in 1971 with the late Miami Herald reporter and Pulitzer Prize winner, Jean Miller, 83 hours till dawn, which was made into a TV movie, blah, blah, blah. Barbara and Stuart had two children and they were married for 43 years until Woodward's death in 2013, not Barbara. Barbara. Fucking badass Barbara has never spoken publicly about her or her deal since the publication of her book. When she was asked, let's see, I think we have a photo.

Oh, that's the dish. I know. And then here's her. She said, when asked how she endured the heroin experience, she claimed she knew she wouldn't die in the box. And she imagined spending Christmas with her family. And that's how she survived, how she survived it. And that's the fucking insane kidnapping of Barbara Mackle. Amazing.

Thank God it ended so nicely. And she spent Christmas with her parents. The only creepy thing is she doesn't have a brother. Look at his face. He just followed her for the rest of her life after that eight, three hours. Holding a fucking Christmas thing above her head. And she's like, why are you the thing that's haunting me? I don't know if that's her brother or her boyfriend or what.

If it's the boyfriend, that's bad news. Because he's holding, because he's holding a missile till over her dad's head. She's like, Barbara, we don't know why you're dating this basketball player, but we think he likes your dad. Oh my God. Bananas. Amazing. That was great. It's so funny, because I did that story on that show, but I don't remember anything.

All right. So I also wanted to do something a little different, and I had never heard of this. It's true crime. It isn't murder. It's the story of the Barbie Bandits. What? Oh, you don't know the story of the 2007 Barbie Bandits? Okay, 2007 Barbie Bandits, Heather Johnston and Ashley Miller.

I don't. Okay. Well, you're about to. You know, it scared me just now. There's something on this document that is, uh-oh. Oh no. Is it the wrong document? We'll see.

Most of the information I got from this was from a terrible fucking ID show called Pretty Bad Women. Oh, because they're pretty and they're bad. Oh, ID. You can do better than that. Uh, which reminds me of every comedy show in Los Angeles in the 90s when I first moved there. It was all pretty funny women. I actually got booked on a show at the comedy store called Pretty Funny Women. And when I showed up, the woman who booked it, it was her show.

She goes, this is so great, because you're pretty and funny. And I was just like, I have to go, I couldn't find a parking spot. So I'm going to bail on this show and all of comedy. All right. So let's see. We'll start with Heather Johnston. Okay. So she was actually the focus of an episode of Prime Time, which you can watch on YouTube.

That's pretty hilarious. Throughout this story, the parents and the teachers and different people, they constantly talk about that these two girls fell in with a bad crowd. I'm here to tell you, these two girls are a bad crowd. They are the death finish. Own it. Go for it. And they really do. So Heather Johnston is a suburban teenager.

She's got everything going for her. She's a good student. She's a promising tennis player. She dreams of someday being a swimsuit model. Dare to dream, Heather. So do all of us. I mean, wouldn't it be the best if you could just stand around in a swimsuit no matter the weather with a bunch of strangers taking your picture for taking you and telling you your fact, even though you've been starving for 17 years. But in her junior year of high school, she begins to rebel.

She starts dating a guy her parents don't approve of. They say you have to stop dating him. She says, fuck you or something like that. Even in the history of you have to stop dating him has ever stopped dating him. No. It's the best when your parents are like, we don't like him. You're like, yeah, some of the dates I should have. It's all I'm looking for in a man is someone my parents hate.

Yeah, parents, I think they know parents these days will learn that lesson where they're like, oh, we're not going to tell you we hate him and you can't stop seeing him. We're going to just get up into your life. No, we love his face tattoo. Yes. Make sure he comes to every dinner we have. Okay. So she moves out of the house because her parents are like, you have to stop dating him. She's like, yeah, drugs away.

And of course drives back three months later like, he's the worst. And they're like, come back and play tennis with us. She was her senior year of high school. She gets a college scholarship. It seems like everything is on course. And then her mom in this prime time special says, we went to the college orientation, but she seemed distracted. And that's when I knew something was wrong. So let's take a look at Heather's senior portrait.

Stone of the bone. And if there's, right? So stone. You can't have smaller eyebrows. That means, what year is this? This is 2000 and spy. Okay. That sounds about right.

Eyebrows. Ball chain necklace. You should kind of see it. Right. I have those on in my senior picture. I had one that was a choker and it just looked simple. I looked like a bulldog. It was terrible.

Just like, take that thing off. But Heather makes it work. The only thing is to just, if you wonder whether or not your child is on meth, if they have eyebrows like that, they do. They're on meth. If you can't leave your eyebrows alone, it's because something is telling you to keep plucking, keep plucking. Four more hairs. Perfect. Keep going.

And I know. Because. Oh my God. I'm not just going to talk shit on Heather and not put up, not show my receipts. Sure. That's how I know. I love that Steven just called it 90s Karen. 90s Karen.

That is glorious. I mean, I hadn't slept in seven weeks in this picture. So much speed coursing through my veins. Oh, I love it. And that's, I'm on medical grade fucking speed and that's as thin as I got. Most people, I was supposed to be Ali McBealing and I was like, sorry, nothing else goes away. Everything else is staying right where it is. My apologies.

My apologies, Hollywood. But I can get these eyebrows a little smaller. You know what can get skinnier? My eyebrows. My eyebrows. All right, so. I thought you might put one up of me. Of you just doing a huge fine.

I didn't even know that existed. Don't do drugs. Don't do drugs. For real. I mean, at least not math. We'll just tell you about fun things we did. Yeah. Don't do white drugs.

Yes. We'll specify. Yeah. We trust you with everything else, but fuck. We stepped into that white drug world. You're going to end up a Barbie bandit. Ready? Okay.

So she tells the interviewer on prime time and this girl is like the girl that did it. She says she just wanted to do something crazy, which is just like, you mean like tons of drugs. So she gets a job at a strip club called Shooters Alley, which I'm sure you've all been to and enjoy so much. After party at Shooters Alley. Shooters Alley. Where all your dreams of romance come true.

That sounds like a sexual in you. I know that I don't understand and don't want to understand. Well, yeah. I think it's right there, you know. Shooters Alley. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Shooters Alley. No.

Got it. Okay. It's called a metaphor in literature. Okay, she also told the host that she always loved dancing. I love dancing. Don't we all? Yeah. So now she's making that sweet, sweet stripper money.

They save between three and 500 bucks a night. That's good shit. She's 19 years old. Yeah. Oh yeah. And as Hissie Elliott says, ain't no shame, baby, do your thing. Just make sure you're ahead of the game. That's right.

That's the key. No judgements. No job judgements. You get that fucking money however you want. But then you don't let people tell you what to do. That's what's important. You get a savings account. That's what you tell you what to do.

Put that money in a savings account. Pay taxes on it. You can't get it. I already for Christ fucking saved. I'll just put you on the phone with my dad. He'll tell you all about it. Retirement's important because you're going to want to strip forever. Karen.

There's a high rate of burnout. You're going to get tired of that poll. You're going to want to go into modern dance or square dancing. Tap dancing. There's always tap, especially when you're older. That's right. Okay, so then she finally breaks it to her parents that she's stripping, which I'm sure was a calm conversation over a warm mug of herbal tea.

They kicked her out of the house, of course. So that's when she moves in with her coworker and best friend, Ashley Miller. Okay, who's also a stripper at Shooters Alley. Ashley was described by her high school teachers as being quirky, fun, and oh, fun loving, which is the same as fun, although it's more about her. She was a cheerleader and she volunteered at a local nursing home. Here's her, this is her senior portrait. There she's tan.

A good friend would bail you out of jail. A best friend would be sitting right next to you saying, man, we messed up. Oh, no. This is what we call foreshadowing in the spring riding community. She was planning on going to jail with her friend for years before it happened. Also, that's an, it's an unaccredited Jeff Fox worthy quote. Are you serious? Which is, there's a lot of feeling around.

She didn't credit anyone for that quote. Isn't that bullshit? She made her friends think that she had a Jeff Fox worthy thought. She must be a redneck. All right. So, thank you so much. Under that, it says, plans to major in business administration at Gainesville College. Right, the fighting.

Orwellians. Orwellians? Fighting Orwellians. They're such a menacing, creepy crowd. Orwellians. They just creep you out and so you just give up the game. You forfeit the game. These guys are creepy.

I don't want to fight against a talking pig and then the other guy. Yeah, God, this looks like the future looks bleak here. I don't want to win. Not that, not nice. I don't know why it doesn't, I don't even, this was such a hard game we started. It's a tough game. You know why? Because you don't want to be, you don't want to be too creative.

Yeah. You don't want to be under creative. Right. It's hard, it's hard to hit it. I think Orwellians was beautiful. Thank you. You're welcome. It turns out that Heather and Ashley take over Shooters Alley.

They take over the school. Okay. They take their high school asses into Shooters Alley and everyone's like, oh my God, Christmas has come early. Because it turns out that Ashley, after high school, had gotten a job at. They won't say it in this pretty bad girls show. They won't say it. But she worked at Hooters.

They go all, they describe Hooters in all these different ways where it's like, she already worked at a place where she showed a lot of body for tips or whatever. And she had thick tights on or orange shorts. The thickest suntan nylons, she could find at the store and then white high top shoes. Not sexy, yet everyone still had a boner. Oh God. As she's working at Hooters or some such place, maybe an un-franchised. Right.

Mom and Pop style sex waitress restaurant. Ew. That's where you want it, near your wings. Yeah. Oh God. So she's working there and doing the fucking hard job of being waitress while at the same time being like, take a fucking gander, now tit me. And she thinks to herself, I could be making way more money and just take my shirt off.

Well, yeah, the strip club, not there. And she's like, who got the zucchini circles? Just weird slap on exciting boobs. But still the shorts. None of this is written on this piece of paper. Oh, you didn't plan on the zucchini circles joke? No, it's so written. So she nopes out of Hooters, goes to the Book and Shooters alley where all your dreams come

true, meets her friend, Heather. They're like, this is the best. Let's move in together. They get an apartment. They're making, they're getting all their singles, put them in piles at the end of the night. Again, drugs, hair spray and drugs. And of course, tweezers everywhere.

Okay. I had to pull some screenshots. I mean, Steven's like, hell, because we're supposed to get him all the pictures we want to use in like the afternoon so he can put these nice mortises on everything and make sure that basically only the first 300 people can read the little things that he writes there. And everyone else is like, we don't even know what's fucking going on. Okay.

Also, he puts the newspaper mortise, but like the picture could be twice as big. And then instead he's like, but look at my design. Love it. God bless him. God bless Steven. Absolutely. I bless Steven by criticizing him very thoroughly. Anyhow, so in this pretty bad girls reenactment, they show the girls this is them working at

this strip club together. It's everybody's dream come true. Once tall, once short, they're both blonde, they're both down. It's super exciting. I think they said that Ashley would wear her cheerleading. She did a cheerleading theme. Of course. Because that was her background.

Sure. People love that. Go with it. Go with what works. Right? People love cheerleading. Yeah. They then cut from here.

And it's just these two girls, these poor actresses who are like, I got a part. And they're like, there's no lines. They're kind of fake stripping in this reenactment, and then they cut to the guys in the audience. What have you had to be the extra? Look creepier. Look creepier. This is like fucking a scene from Sling Blade got cut into pretty bad girls or whatever. Guys, this is what your first 10 years in Hollywood is like.

It's all this. You have to be an extra. Sorry, you just look like a creepy dude that would be in a strip club. What about this guy? Oh, no. Oh, no, tits. Type cast. Oh, my God.

I don't know if I'm more scared of this beer or this stripper. Oh, God. Mom, I got a part in a TV show. Okay. All right. Scared. Okay. This is my favorite part.

At one part, I'm watching this, and I keep rewinding to get this piece of information. Like whatever the date or time was or some stupid shit that I of course didn't include in it. And this is my favorite part of this reenactment is she's stripping and her bra tag is hanging out. I don't think someone could have run in there and fixed my hat. There's no costume department on this shoot. It was like BYOBRA. You're on your own.

None of those extras are going to be like, hey, put your tag in. This is your fucking 30 AA cup tag sticking out. It is like fucking depressing. Yeah, it's really depressing. I watched it like this and then all the TV producer and me is just like, I immediately am in the meeting with the costume department where I'm like, look, this is a visual medium. I'm not trying to be a perfectionist. We're trying to tell a story.

Basic stuff, people. Keeps them in the story. It's just I'm asking you to watch the monitor. That's what I was doing at 5.30 today as I'm trying to fucking put this story together. So they in the midst of all of this, they are hanging out one night and Ashley starts dating a regular who's also an ex-con. Great idea, right? Perfect.

It's like she's shitting where she eats in the almost most literal sense of the term. And the way they keep telling the story, first person and second person is that one night they're all joking about robbing a bank and then the boyfriend goes, yeah, we can rob a bank. And basically it's like, I'm going to make your dreams come true. Bitches. Oh, I don't like that. So they, right?

Yeah. Yeah, it's very undercutting. Disrespectful. It is. So Heather and Ashley both think they're all joking. Right. And that it was just something to talk about while they snorted their 100th line of cocaine. But it turned out, you know, she's boyfriend serious and he calls the next day.

The more cocaine you do, I feel like the more robbing a bank sounds like a great idea. Yes, robbing a bank, starting a record label, food truck stuff comes up a lot. Right. Maybe doing a choreograph strip dance. Are you trying to get me to tell my cocaine story of the choreograph strip dance? We didn't strip. We didn't strip, but we did at my friend's birthday party. We, we all wore plaid skirts, black shirts, black tights.

My friend Dave wore plaid pajama bottoms and a black turtleneck. And then in the middle of the party, like right when it was like getting exciting, we made everyone back up and we did a fully choreographed and rehearsed routine to whip it. Can we get a photo? I wish. If there was, it would just be me with just tons of cocaine pouring out of my mouth. The fact that I'm not dead is proof that Jesus is real. I'm not kidding.

So, they think they're joking cocaine style about robbing a bank. The boyfriend's absolutely serious. He calls in the next morning and gives them very specific instructions of the bank they need to go to, what they need to write on the ransom note, the whole fucking thing. Is it a ransom note when you rob a bank? To take charge, man. That's right. It's nice when he orders for you and when he picks the place that you should go on the date

and when he plans the bank robbery that he makes you do for him. Okay. So, they get into, so on February 27, 2007, these two girls get up and they kind of like throw themselves together and they get into the car. Later on, there's a picture of, I don't have it. I saw a picture and I didn't want you to see it. I just want to tell you about it. But they did show a picture in this show of the inside of the car and there were like no less than four empty boxes of new ports.

Yes. And I was like, these girls are smoking menthol cigarettes. Things have taken a turn. This serious shit. Fucking yes. When you're like, hmm, I'm going to smoke, but it's also like having a mint. No, it's not. Okay.

Let's stop talking about menthol cigarettes for one second, Georgia. Can we ever stop talking about menthol cigarettes? So now they have this plan, they've been told you're going to go rob the Bank of America and they're like, sounds great. And they get into the car. They're driving to the Bank of America. They realize they don't have any paper to write their ransom note on. It's so typical. Do you have paper?

Do you have paper? What? I don't carry a notebook. Why would there be paper? So, one girl got a scholarship. She's probably fucking twice as smart as I am. But let's just generalize. So, they don't have paper, they have to stop and buy paper.

Yes, money. Then they get the note dictated to them what it needs to say over the phone. And then they go to the B of A and they walk in and they're standing there and they realize it's the wrong B of A. God, when you're in your teens, early 20s, you can't get shit right. No. They're just like, I drank so much Malibu rum last night. I had too many Emirato sour. And now I'm fucked up.

What did I drink? Oh, fucking melon balls. That's like, if you want to get drunk but you also like diabetes, you have to try this. It's so delicious. Okay. They pull over, they write their ransom note on their brand new single piece of paper because they're like, we don't need any other paper. We have blackberries. I don't.

We don't need any other. What were those ones, the flip-up ones? The sidekicks. Sidekicks. We have sidekicks, thank you. Sidekicks. They have our sidekicks. Okay.

Also, when you know when they go into the wrong bank, they're high as fuck, right? They're high. So, they have to call the bank teller who's their inside man. So, the boyfriend has a friend who's a bank teller. He's the inside man. He knows exactly what they all need to do. Got it. So, he was the one that told them, yeah, I'm at the B of A. And then they're like, we went to B of A, you weren't there.

And then he was like, no bitches. Wrong fucking thing. And they're like, stop calling us a bitch. Stop it. That's wrong. They were supposed to go to the B of A inside the Ackworth Kroger. Love that Kroger. So, they're pulling a bank heist inside a fucking grocery store.

That sounds stupid. It's highly dumb. I'm not a bank robber yet, but that sounds really stupid. I honestly, of all the drugs that we were on at this age, I feel like if you and I were doing this and then we got to a Kroger, we'd be like, you know, let's not do this anymore. Let's get some fresh fruit and go back and watch movies because this is dumb now. Like, it's embarrassing just to go to a regular, a bank inside a grocery store. It's just like, I'm not poor. It's just convenient.

But still, they stick with the plan. Keep going. Keep going, no matter what Heather and Ashley. And that's what they do. They put on what in the primetime interview Heather describes as her stunner shades, which are, they both put on those humongous pair of sunglasses. Oh no. Stunner shades. They were told to wear wigs, but they just didn't do it.

Those are too hot. No way. I'm like, what if I were into someone I know? Sorry, I want to dip out really quick and just say, I love both of these girls dearly and I'm shitting on them, but also, how fun. How fucking fun would Ashley and Heather be to just hang out with on a Friday? Where it's like, you know when you make plans on a Friday and you're like, oh, fine, we'll go to TGI Fridays. Nothing's going to happen. Somebody's going to stay there like the waiter.

Nothing's going to happen. We're going to go home. Not when you invite these two nuts, nutcases. They'll just be like, you guys, we found this alley. Let's all go walk down it. And they're like, okay, I don't. Heather and Ashley made us walk down the alley. It was the best night I've ever had in my life.

Then we were on a train, we stole a train somehow. What? They party. They walk up to the inside man's Kroger bank window. Okay, got it. And they pass them a note that says, give us all your loose bills, no strapped cash, don't press the button, or we won't hesitate to kill you. Whoa. And meanwhile, they're laughing.

No. Oh. Stunner shapes. This is so stupid. We had to get out of here. Did they have a weapon? What's that? Did they have a weapon?

A weapon. No, just the weapon was that single piece of paper they bought at the stationery store. Paper cut your brain. Oh my God. Stunner shapes are just like, oh my God, this is nuts. Okay. So that note might as well at the bottom, it might as well have said, also this is an inside job. Who knows, who else would know that it's called strapped cash versus loose?

You wouldn't know that. Right. Pressing the button. People know about that. Yeah. Okay, so this picture, of course, is what makes them famous, because everyone's like, that's how they get the name, the Barbie Bandits. And the fact that they're laughing while they rob a bank. Like, of course, the press just, they were like, it is my birthday, thank you.

This is blondes, committing a, caught blondes committing a crime while laughing is like, everybody's done for the weekend. We appreciate it. So the inside man hands over $11,000 in loose cash that they have to stuff into a backpack. Oh my God. Yes. And then they just leave having their picture taken one billion times because it's a grocery store and a bank. So there's just no end to the surveillance cameras. And half the people at Rogers know them because they've been, it's in the town they live in probably.

Yeah. Oh my God. There's Heather. I played tennis with her. What are you doing, girl? Not now. It's not me. Stunner shades.

This crime. Committing crime. What the fuck? So they walk out, they walk out into the parking lot. They get to their car, realize no one's following them, no alarms have gone off. They burst in, they start laughing again and they get into the car and drive away. Honies. I want to say they got lost on the whale, but that would be a lie.

I thought their fucking keys were going to be locked in their car. I was waiting for that because how cool would that be? It'd be so good, yeah. And they realize, oh, I attached my keys to the ransom note. Why? So when they divide up the money, they're only left with like $2,000 each. Oh. Because they have to give the cut to the inside band.

They have to give the cut to the boyfriend. And they kind of get more than these fucking idiots. Where it's like, just work an extra week at this trip. Yeah, it's a week's worth of fucking money. You're doing it, girls. You're already doing it. So they're like, and the boyfriend says, now just keep a low profile and everything will be fine.

Oh, I bet they do. Yeah. They absolutely do. What they do is they go to the mall. Well, they change their clothes. Oh, good. So they change out of their crime blouses and they go to the mall for a shopping spree. Hell, that's what you do.

Yeah. Moments after you rob a bank. Great. Yeah. So there's apparently a fancy salon here called Carter and Barnes that's in the mall. They went to Carter and Barnes and asked to get their hair bleached Barbie style. And while they're there getting their hair done, this picture goes up on the news. No.

And everyone in the salon is talking about the Barbie Bandits. Oh, my God. And they're just sitting there like. And they can't say anything. So the police, when the police put this picture up, they were like, if you know who these two people are. And their moms are like, that's my daughter. That's obviously my daughter.

Hundreds of people called in and said that's Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie. And they actually do kind of match them really well. They do. It's really good. Oh, God. That gives me flashbacks of 2007. I mean, I remember when Paris Hilton first hit the scene and people would not stop talking about her.

And I thought to myself, oh, it's the end of civilization. Little did I fucking know. Oh, yeah. And I was like, she is like the four horsemen of the apocalypse just by herself. She tried to tell us. Yeah. Okay. So almost immediately, everyone that knows them from the strip club is like, listen, those

are two high school strippers that we all know and love and support their art. So the cops immediately know it's them. And they're just looking for them. Just two days after the bank robbery, they get pulled over in driving the getaway car. The same car that I'm sure the parking lot camera took a picture of them in. Inside the car, they still have the original ransom note just balled up and thrown down. Are you fucking kidding me? And of course the new reports and then a big bag of pot.

Yeah, this is before it was legal. So it's bad, bad, bad. Also, Ashley had a huge bag of the ecstasy on her. Oh, shit. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, you can cheer for it. But it's illegal to have in a big bag and throw it in the trunk just for that one trip. If you have already robbed the bank and you're kind of like on the run in a way, don't put

drugs in your pockets just for a little while. Yeah. Yeah. All of it. She's like weaving. She's trying to pick what she's going to put in her purse. And she's like, big bag of ecstasy. No.

Yeah. I just want it. Okay. So they're both immediately arrested. It's two days later. With our new blonde. High on the pole in Paris, right? Yeah.

But look at those hot roots. They're like, okay. Can you get this slightly more yellow? It's 2007. Look at those micro highlights. Yeah. Oh, that's all right. Go on.

I have to. Also, we can just do a quick eyebrow check on Ashley. Oh, shit. Yeah. Shit. Those eyebrows. You just don't want to do anything too permanent with the brows. No.

They fight you coming back. Oh my God, those eyebrows, I can't even look at them. They're so sad. Also, some people in their mug shots, do they use a camera that brings out all the redness in your skin? Uh-huh. It's not fair. It's not fair.

It's not fair to any of us. That's our new cause. That's our new cause. Can we get a nice proofing fucking, what do they call it? Mug shots. Get some, what do you call those? The filters. Yes.

Just a nice deer filter that could both be cats or deer or have very large eyes for reasons no one can explain. Okay. Listen. I'm just dressed. Get away the fuck out of it. Okay. Yes, thank you.

Lisa, whose Heather's mother gets the call that her daughter has been arrested, her 19-year-old daughter is facing up to 10 years in prison for robbery. And she's just like, but she was going to go to college. Sorry, picture her reacting. Heather, on the other hand, is having a great old time. She's in the interrogation room with two cops and they say it'll be better for you if you just tell us where the money is. Uh-huh.

So she pulls $1,000 out of her bra. Yes. Do you want a little bit? She's just like, the cops are like, hold on. Jesus Christ. Not what we meant. Yeah. Let's take a break.

Everyone leaves the room. That was too hot for the interrogation room. She's like, makes it rain on two cops. Heather, no. Not now, Heather. Scarface boasters suddenly behind her. Who put that up in the interrogation room? Okay.

At the trial, Heather Johnson is sentenced to 10 years probation with community service. Ashley Miller pleads guilty to theft and drug distribution, so she gets 10 years in jail, but she serves two years and then is released on probation in 2010. That's them. That's when their look really came together at the trial. Wow. That's some hair. You had to have either their hair for the rest of your life or their eyebrows.

Or the eyebrows. For the rest of your life. Which would it be? I can fill in the eyebrows. I can't balance that hair. I am the literal opposite of any concept of a blonde in any way. I would just be like, stop looking at me. I don't party.

Oh, man. Okay. It's going to be fun. Well, it's nice to be right here. So, Carlton and Bland or whatever. What's it called? Carter and Barnes. Carter and Barnes, ladies and gentlemen, for all your strip bleach needs.

Okay. 2007. That's great. From masterminding the crime, Ashley's boyfriend gets 10 years in jail. The Superior Court Judge, Mary Staley, said to him, for the theft, you used others. You orchestrated it. You sat in the back and you put the pawns out there to do it. And the bank teller, yeah.

The bank teller who's already on five years probation. Wow. He gets five years and then five years in jail. And then the bank of America is like, but come on back when you're done. You know what? Whenever you're done, buddy, it sets more shit up at the old Kroger B of A. So this is one of my favorite post scripts of all time. Oh, by the way, the NAACP absolutely called for an investigation into that case because

the two hot blonde, light blonde girls were like, oh, I guess I'll get an ankle brace set and I'll do better later. And then the two black guys were like, you go to jail. So they did look into that 2007. It's like it was 25 to 50 years ago, but hopefully things like that can change in 2011. This is just a fun post script. Ashley is arrested again. Ashley.

Ashley was Nicole Ritchie. She's being played by Nicole Ritchie. She got into this fight outside of water. Oh, my God. In a parking lot in 2010 and the reporting officer who approached them, it was two girls beating a woman that was on the ground. No, no. Our friend Ashley was one of the beaters and when the cop walked up, he didn't name which

one, but he said one of the two women was beating the woman on the ground with a knee length leather boot. So the party has not ended for Ashley or hopefully Heather. That's the story of the Barbie Bandits. That was amazing. That was nuts, right? Yeah. That was fun.

Twist and turns. Everything you could want. Well, hometown time. Yes. Now, we have a special guest for you. Yeah, Vince. Hello. Hello.

It's not Vince. He is just bringing him. Vince, any word from the tour booth? I used to have a T-Mobile sidekick. Oh, really? I just picked that thing open. People were always checking the Internet out there because it's the only one that could do it.

Was the sidekick the first? As far as I know. Okay. Someone else said something else. All right. I'm going to go get the guy. Okay. My time's up.

All right. Thank you. Thank you. I should have asked him a sidekick follow-up question. That's okay. We have a guest who's here from your hometown. We're really excited to have him. He's a friend of the podcast and has been real supportive from the beginning.

Yes. He has his own podcast. Yeah. Guys, will you please help us welcome from stuff you should know, Chuck Bryant. Yeah. He's coming out. Here he comes, everyone. Take your time.

Take a deep breath. Let's think about it for a while. He also has a second podcast called Moving Crush. Yeah. We did. Moving on. We did a Silence in the Lambs episode that was quite fun. There he is.

Yeah. Chuck. Hello, friend. Come over here. Come here, you. Come on. Chuck. Chuck Bryant, everybody.

Chuck Bryant. Oh, I'm so sorry. Hi. Wow. Don't be spoken murdering. And you're... Wow. Crazy.

And you're from here, right? You said you saw your first concert here, ever? Yeah. I saw it in 1983 when I was 12. I saw Cheap Trick from up there. Yeah. And I saw, you'll appreciate this, the Amnesty International Tour from over there. And then...

Besides, I'm not going to play Sun City that era of... Yes, exactly. Yeah. Nice. So, yeah. Being on stage here, thank you so much. Dream come true. Amazing.

We agree. So, tell us your hometown. Yeah, where are you from? From Atlanta, grew up in DeKalb County. And she went to Redan High School and the University of Georgia. Wow. What about that? The fighting.

The fighting? Vultures. Vultures. Yes. Go Vultures. Go Vultures. And then moved away a lot of years and had been back for a while. So, I went with a case that I picked for a couple of reasons.

One is because it is a murder case, so it's very sad. But she was a fucking badass. Okay, great. So, she went along the way. Yeah. And there's the tiniest sliver of silver lining at the end. Great. We love those.

That's always nice. It's small, but it's there. So, it's a murder of Meredith Emerson. Wow. That you all probably remember was like 10 years ago. And she went to the University of Georgia and was hiking one weekend in the National Forest with her dog Ella on New Year's Day, 2008. Oh, wow.

And a fucking creep named Gary Hilton, who was like 62 years old. Right? Came upon her in the woods and he had a dog. She had a dog. And she was like a grandpa to her because she was 24. And she was like, well, we can go hiking together for a little while. I know. So, because she is 24 and he's 61, she kind of got out in front of him and left him.

It was not a looped trail that literally would have probably saved her life. She had to double back and come back. And when she came back, he was there with a fucking hunting knife, overpowered her. And the one thing that he told the cops later on was, through this whole thing, she fought him so hard until he was like, and I didn't think she was going to fight anymore. And she kept fucking fighting me. Wow. I know, right?

She had a blue belt and some sort of martial art. At her memorial service, her instructor gave her a posthumous black belt. I know. So, he ends up keeping her for 72 hours in the woods and in his van, driving her to random ATMs to get money. And every single time, I think at this point, she starts to cooperate a little bit, trying to save her life. And every single time, she gives him a fake number so it would alert the bank and give

a fucking trail of where they're going. She's on it, which was amazing. A couple of people see them along the way. One is a former cop who was hiking that sees the mess on the trail of her barrette and water bottles and a dog leash. And he meets up with these other people that are like, hey, I saw a creep in the woods who think he wanted us to leave and none of them call the cops, even though he was a former cop.

No, no, no. Eventually, they release the name of who they think this person is. That guy eventually said, oh, yeah, that's definitely the fucking guy. He parks his van at the end of the 72-hour ordeal and it turns out that he had tied her to a tree, went back to make some coffee, came back. And she, it's so heartbreaking, was like, I thought you had left and were going to just leave me out here. So she was relieved to see him and he fucking killed her and cut her fucking head off.

The worst thing you could ever imagine. Then that's when these people are like, that's the guy, that's the guy. In DeKalb County, not too far from here, I guess this all happened on a mountain called Blood Mountain, by the way. And someone called the cops and said, this guy, this van that I saw in the news is at a gas station and he's got bottles of bleach. Get here. So he was just about to start dousing his van and bleach.

Not that it probably would have mattered. The cops show up and arrest him. He agrees to a plea deal to avoid the death penalty if he takes him to the body, which he does. And they ask her mom, he releases the dog, by the way, before he does this. And he was like, it was really hard to kill her because we had just spent a few great days together. I know.

So they talked to the mom in court about the plea deal and she said, I'm fine with the plea deal because I want him to rot in prison for as long as possible. And it was like, the death penalty is too easy way out for this fucking insult. So he does not get the death penalty. He gets 30 years. Then they end up ending a murder in Florida on him, an elderly couple in North Carolina on him, and possibly this one other guy. And he got life for the couple in North Carolina at times, too, in the death penalty from Florida.

Oh shit. Because I guess it's other way. Florida. Florida. I think he's still in prison today. And the tiny sliver of silver lining is they found the dog four days later and her parents took the dog in in Colorado. And I think this is the last year, but for 10 years afterward they had Run for Ella, which

was the dog's name, which was a charity run, to raise money for organizations that help people feel safe in national forests and on hiking trips. That's great. Yeah. Wow. My name is Meredith Emerson, and it was really big news in Atlanta. It was only 10 years ago. And she just apparently just fucking kicked the shit out of this guy.

Amazing. And every opportunity. Nice. And it's really the saddest thing ever, though. Yeah. They always are. That was a perfectly done hometown, Chuck. Thank you so much.

Thank you. It was so awesome. Thank you. Thanks everybody. Thank you. Great job. Chuck Ryan, everybody. I appreciate it so much.

His podcast is one of the first big, huge podcasts. He was like early, early days. Oh, oh. And also he gave us this card that someone gave him. The Stay Sexy Social is happening here in Atlanta, right? It's Benefits and the Backlog. It's on Sunday, this Sunday. Get more information.

It's at www.StaySexySocial.com. Go to this and raise money. And the Backlog. Thank you so much for doing that. That's so awesome. All your friends will be there. And thanks for getting business cards made. Yeah.

We don't even have business cards. We have to get business cards. Oh my God. Also, Payne Lindsay's in the audience. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Up in Atlanta. Up in Atlanta.

With this fucking Atlanta child murders. Oh my God. We got all the big time Atlanta podcasters. Atlanta. Atlanta. Atlanta. Atlanta. I love you.

And not just because your name is Georgia, but you guys are so supportive of us. Thank you so much for having us. It's, it's ruined because we post our live shows and the speeches that we give in the end are always, it sounds really hacky because we always say the same thing, but it's very difficult to express the kind of gratitude that we have for the listeners of this podcast and the way you guys interact, the way you guys support each other, the way you support us, the way you show up, the way you're vocal. It's such an incredible experience to feel this connected to so many people and have

this many best friends. Yeah. And we really thank you so much. The reason, the reason we say this, like this after every show is because truly the minute we walk out on stage, it's this insane feeling of, I can't believe this is my fucking one. How did I get so lucky? And it's all because of you guys being so supportive, so thank you guys truly so much.

And we just really, really appreciate it. So thank you. Appreciate it is what I meant to say. Thank you so much. Thank you, Atlanta. We'll see you soon. We'll be back. Thank you.

Thank you. Stay sexy. Bye, Atlanta. Thank you. Thank you. Stay sexy. Bye, Atlanta. Bye, Atlanta.

Thank you. Bye, Atlanta. Bye, Atlanta. Bye.