Nobody Should Believe Me - Introducing: Fruitloops

Episode Date: October 10, 2025

Two cousins. Four murders. One homicidal summer. In 2004, Angel Ford-Wright & Caroline Peoples lured victims with false promises, then executed them. One confessed. One went to trial. Both got life. *** Listen to Fruitloops: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fruitloops-serial-killers-of-color/id1400426755 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

True Story Media These are harrowing times in America, especially for our friends and neighbors in immigrant communities. So if you're looking for resources or ways to help, we wanted to let you know about a wonderful organization that we're partnering with this month. The National Immigrant Justice Center has worked for more than 40 years to defend the rights of immigrants. NIHC blends direct legal services, impact litigation, and policy advocacy to fight for due process for all and to hold the U.S. government accountable to uphold human rights.

NIGC's experienced legal staff collaborate with a broad network of volunteer lawyers to provide legal counsel to more than 11,000 people each year, including people seeking asylum, people in ICE detention, LGBTQ immigrants, victims of human trafficking, unaccompanied immigrant children, and community members who are applying for citizenship and permanent residents. NIHC continues to fight and win federal court cases that hold the U.S. government accountable to follow U.S. law and the Constitution. In recent months, NIGC's litigation has challenged ICE's unlawful practice of arresting people without warrants and has successfully blocked President Trump's proclamation to shut down access to asylum at the border. As ICE continues

to abduct people from our communities and the U.S. government deports thousands of people without a chance to have a judge consider their cases, it is more important than ever that we come together to defend due process. All people in the United States have rights, regardless. of immigration status. You can donate and learn more about NIHC's work by visiting immigrantjustice.org. That's immigrant justice.org. You can find that link and more information at our website. This ad was provided pro bono. Hey, it's Andrea. It's come to my attention that some of you have been served programmatic ads for ICE on my show. Now, podcasters don't get a lot of control over which individual ads play and for whom on our shows, but please know that we are

trying everything we can to get rid of these by tightening our filters. And if you do continue to hear them, please do let us know. In the meantime, I want it to be known that I do not support ICE. I am the daughter of an immigrant. I stand with immigrants. Immigrants make this country great. This podcast contains adult themes and language and some of the things that we discuss may be disturbing to some listeners. In this podcast, we discuss sexual assault, torture, race, and murder. Listener discretion is advised. Please take care of yourself. Thank you. Hello and welcome to Fruit Loops,

and Buiiotti Binafi, thank you so much for listening. Fruit Loops is a true crime, history, and comedy podcast that delves into the often overlooked stories of serial killers of color and, more importantly, the victims. We take deep dives into the lives and crimes of these killers worldwide, while also examining the history, culture, and social factors that may have influenced their actions. And the reason that we cover these crimes is because they often go unnoticed by the public. And why is that? Because of the simplest of terms, the news is racist, allegedly. we are Wendy and Beth. She's Wendy, a black Latin ex woman, and I'm Beth and I just happen to be white. That's just a little piece of who we are. Another piece is that although we are both fascinated by true crime, really fascinated by true crime, and we know a lot about it. Keep in mind that we are not journalists, investigators, or psychologists, and the opinions expressed in this podcast are just that, our opinions. Okay, Beth, who are we talking about today? We're talking about,

Angel Ford Wright and Caroline Peoples, two cousins who murdered four people in Chicago, Illinois in 2004. But before we get into it, how are you going? I'm hanging in there. It's been a really, really rough year for me. Worse than usual. But things are looking up, I think. Yeah. You know, what's interesting is worse than usual is probably everybody's temperature right now.

Yeah. Worse unusual, but I'm still alive. I mean, aside from all the political stuff, yeah. My personal life has been a shithole, but, um. And you know how every year, you're like, I can't wait until this year is over. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. That's. Oh, girl. It's okay. Yeah. You're like, oh, we can still plant stuff. Yeah. But no. I'm you. I'm you. I'm you this year. So I can't wait for this year to be over. Oh my God. Dare I say, has, has Beth turned? black i'm just kidding i wish is beth woke oh something something funny that's doing the rounds on social media

is saying you're a non-participating white have you seen that what does that mean it means that you don't participate in the racism and all that stuff so i'm a non-participating white we knew it all along We knew it the whole time, but you didn't have to tell us, but we, we appreciate you mentioning it. And I hope that if anybody's new here or along the ride and listening, like, man, it sucks out here. What can we do? Yeah. What can we do? Yeah, just agree to not participate in this really fucked up game.

Yep. Just don't participate. I've been sitting out since January 19th or November 8th. Yeah, I just. Just maybe it'll work itself out. I'll do what I can, but that's it. That's it. I'll do what I can, but that's it.

So I appreciate the energy, and I appreciate you being honest about it. And I love it. And I hope that your season for recharge and fighting will come. It gets better. It's not that time for you right now. Not right now. Yeah, I'm just surviving right now. And that's okay.

Yeah, that's okay. And you're going to be okay. We're all going to rally around Beth while she gets through this shitty season. Because we all, like, who hasn't had a city season in their lives? Amen. But how are you doing? Oh, I'm doing really good. The break has been for me really wonderful. I mean, I forgot how to podcast while we're away. So apologies in advance. But yeah, we're going to fumble around. Let's see how this goes. Yeah, let's see how it goes. But no, it's just one of the things that people like about our show is the love that Beth and Wendy have for each other. Yeah. And we have been going through it. And so we really appreciate like the fruity is just being like, it's all good. Like nobody's like, where the fuck is the episode? Yeah, everybody's been really nice and understanding.

They might be thinking it, but they haven't been expressing it. So we appreciate that. And we can't, we can't think you know. We are really, really good friends and we care about each other. We love each other. And just appreciate that the listeners follow suit. Yeah, we really appreciate it. Yeah.

Also, announcement alert. Well, y'all should know that we're switching up the format a little bit again. And the extra fun stuff, listener letters, shoutouts, and how not to get murdered. love true crime you don't want to die it's it for you so we're going to be moving that to our love you by episodes we're just testing it out yeah so if you're looking for those segments don't worry they're still around but you can find them on our love you by segment yeah and we will no longer be doing the fruit loop shorts because we're just going to dedicate the episode to the story and then all the extra stuff will be in the love you buys it is what it is

Hey, by the way, I learned a new Garifana word, an indigenous African language, which my mother speaks, for it is what it is. And she told it to me and I wanted to share it with the fruities. Awesome. It tarala. I-T-A-R-A-L-A is what is. I-T-R-A-A-T-R-A-L-A. That's my saying for this year. Hey, man. Everybody gets a tattooed on your forehead. No, just kidding. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. you to do it. But inshalla, it is what it is. I mean, that's, I couldn't have said it better myself. So with all that said, let's take a quick break and then we're going to get into the story when we come back. Sounds good. We're back. This is the love and light portion of our program, and we like to say, rest in power to the victims.

And those people whose lives were cut short and love and light to their loved ones and communities left in the wake of this crime. The victims were Jose Marquez, 36, Kenneth Redick, 37, Kelvin Armstrong, 24, and Aisha Epps, who was 30 years old. So now let's get into the setting and the early life of the cousins who murdered four people. Take us there, Beth. So the setting is Chicago, specifically the south side. long before the city was founded, the Putawatomi, Ojibwe, and Ottawa peoples lived along its waterways and prairies, deeply connected to the land. But by the early 1800s, treaties like the 1833 Treaty of Chicago, part of the broader Indian Removal Act, which we don't have to tell you how bad that is, you can imagine, had forced native people from their ancestral homes, replacing centuries of tradition with the first, waves of industrial growth. And by the way, I just wanted to say, like, America is like

growth, growth, growth. Yeah. It's like at some point, is there an end to the growth? Like, I don't want to grow anymore. I just want to survive. Yeah. It's, it's something, it seems to be an American thing for sure. All people care about is the line growing, growing up. The line growing. Y'all, you're going to grow, grow, and be gone. We don't need to. Do you remember one of our first episodes we covered was Swift Runner. Yeah. And the disease that they described when the white men came was the disease of capitalism. Right.

And eventually it killed Swift Runner. And he, well, first he killed his family. Right. Right. But that's, it's just consuming so, just constant consumption, constant growth. That's unsustainable for human beings. I just wanted to point that out. It's not healthy.

No. No. But go on with the story. Okay. here you go. Sorry. In the late 19th century, factories and stockyards transformed the south side of Chicago into a major century of industry. Immigrants from Ireland, Germany, Poland, and Lithuania settled in working-class neighborhoods close to the rail yards, slaughterhouses, and steel mills. In the early 20th century, a new wave of migration transformed the south side. The great migration,

which is a significant point in American history, look it up. But during the Great Migration, hundreds of thousands of black families fled the rural South, escaping the legal segregation and terrorism of the Jim Crow era. Drawn by the promise of jobs in Chicago's factories and stockyards, but restricted by discriminatory housing laws, these people settled in the quote-unquote black belt. They brought with them rich cultural traditions, which helped shape the South Side into a hub of black business, music, politics, and community life.

Hey, Beth, I wanted to ask you, have you ever heard it said that black Americans do not have culture, do not have any culture? No, I haven't heard that. So that is a comment that is made by many people, white communities, black and brown. I mean, they have more culture than white people. Isn't that's, yeah, it's, I don't understand how people can fix their lips to say that, but it is a theory that exists in the world. And so it's just, it's crazy. People, I think it's people just brushing aside their culture, like devaluing their culture. Yes, that's exactly what it is. Like they don't think it's important. Yeah. And it's,

it's bullshit. It is completely. And you and I, a pretty, appreciate culture so much. Like I, we, one of the funnest things is this segment of the show where we get to talk about the setting and we get to talk about culture and learn about other things. Yeah. And so I just think that it is important to point out that there is a theory that black Americans have no culture. And we know.

Well, that's total bullshit. That they do. So there. And on top of that, they built vibrant communities like Bronzeville, aka the black metropolis. which was home to legendary institutions and figures like Ida B. Wales, she deserves a hip-hop air horn because she's my favorite journalist in the history of... In the history of journalism, because she would publish stories about lynchings and really shitty stuff that concerned white violence and nobody else.

And it was a dangerous endeavor. And so I love Ida Bay Wells. Also, we got Nat King Cole and Gwendolyn Brooks. But prosperity faded after World War II. de-industrialization, white flight, and decades of disinvestment left many Southside neighborhoods struggling with unemployment, poverty, and violence. In Chicago, the highest levels of violence, particularly gun violence and homicides, are concentrated in neighborhoods in the South and West Sides.

Violence in these areas stems from the long history of redlining, segregation, mass incarceration, and underfunded public surveillance. services, including limited access to quality education and health care. Welcome to Culture Corner, True Crime Edition, the Red Summer Chicago Race Riots of 1919, where whites got away with murder. And this case, in Chicago of 1919, a very hot summer day, a young black male teenager was at the beach with his friends, and he drifted into the arbitrary boundary of the quote-unquote white beach. And at the time, beaches and pools were segregated

because people truly believe that black people in the same body of water as white people would contaminate the white people. But it's okay because there's a line, an imaginary line. Right, which it's so fucking stupid. And so a white man by the name of George Stobber, please remember that name. And if you know anybody who knows him,

ask him why he did this. George Stobber, through a rock at young Eugene Williams, who was 17 years old. So a teenager enjoying the summer, just like all teenagers do. Every other teenager, yeah. And the rock was thrown at Eugene. He fell off his raft, and he drowned. And beach goers saw all of this happen. And then they saw the 24-year-old white guy, what's his name again, George Stobber, at the scene.

And then the police officer, let's remember his name too. His name was Daniel Callahan refused to. take stobber into custody, refused to arrest this man. And so the police refusal to serve slash protect slash seek justice for a killed human being in their community sparked anger in the black community. Why didn't that black boy's life matter? Yeah. And so very soon after there was violence. Um, it resulted in 38 deaths. There was 538 people injured and thousands were left homeless. There was an eight-day riot. This was one of many racial conflicts that occurred all over the country in this particular year. It's a significant year because it's known as the

Red Summer because there was so much blood spilled when violence was wielded by white people and agents of white supremacy to reassert racial dominance and white supremacy over black people. And this was after the end of World War I was it? World War I ended, started in 1915 and then it ended. Yeah, so it would have been at the war ending and black people coming back. And black people coming back from the war. And so white people were asserting their dominance. Yeah. Because this is my belief. And I'm not a white person, so I don't know, but that white people have been programmed to understand that they deserve comfort. They deserve to be more comfortable than anybody else at all costs. I think FDR said, you know, you might be poor.

but at least you're not a black person. I'm paraphrasing. So if history or if facts or D.I or pick or name the solution, because we know white supremacy harms all of us, not just black people. Yeah. And so, you know, we just can't have it. It's we have to.

You need to know the history. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. If it makes it uncomfortable, it's because history is uncomfortable. History is by design. Yeah, absolutely. So sorry if. that was a rant, but I felt like we should talk about these crimes that, I mean, in the other

history sections on the cases that we cover, I'm going to be looking for lynching cases or land theft cases that are relevant to the history of racism, crime, and America. Sorry, that's what I'm going to do. So back to the story. This was the south side that Carolyn Peoples was born into. Her earliest memory, she says, was at about age four, sitting on the living room floor, in tears, while her father smashed every window in the house and beat her mother. Oh, geez. By seventh grade, her father was in prison.

Her mother was working two jobs and drinking heavily, and Caroline was mostly on her own. School didn't really hold her attention. And after school, she walked home through the streets in gangster disciple territory, where drug dealing and gang activity were as routine as, the passing cars. She became part of that world. And I don't know how she could not have, right?

Like if you, it was part of her world. She didn't really have a choice, right? Yeah. She has to go to school. She has to traverse these places. Right. And the cards lie where they may. She ended up being a part of this group, part of this world.

And known to the gangster disciples as Lil Sis, which is a, if somebody calls you that, that feels good in your heart. Yeah. Yeah. And one day, her good friend Pete, someone she looked up as to, as like a big brother, was shot in the head right in front of her. She walked home alone, covered in his blood, then took a bath and cried herself to sleep. At home, life offered no safety. Caroline says her stepfather raped both her and her sister repeatedly.

Then after he was gone, she had to deal with her mother's boyfriends. At 13, when one of them held a gun to her head for coming home late, she packed her things and left. So she's a young person. She's a child still. And it's not safe for her. And she's... It's not safe anywhere.

Right, right. And our survival instincts are so strong. She's just trying to survive. Yeah. And so she drifted around a little bit, first living with her older sister, then on the streets, before being jumped into the gangster disciples. And when they jump you in, that's when they beat the shit out of you and say, you're in our gig now. Yeah.

So once in the gang, for the first time, she felt loved, protected, and respected. Even if it came at the cost of violence. By age 14, she was living with a gang member and delivering drugs for him. 14 years old. It's, yeah. That man, she says, committed terrible acts, torturing people and ordering girls to be raped. afraid of him. She went along with whatever he demanded. But when he was arrested, she was left pregnant, homeless, broke, and vulnerable, falling into another abusive relationship. She claims to

have survived shootings, stabbings, and relentless physical abuse. So yeah, all of this is coming from Caroline. So I don't doubt that it's true, but we can't verify it. There's nothing to verify it. But on the face of what she says, given what we know she has done, I believe that she probably was a severely harmed person. Yes. And that's why it made her capable of doing it to other people. Right. So Caroline tried at times to imagine a way out, right?

She's got these circumstances that suck. She earned a GED and even considered joining the Navy, passing the entrance exams, but backing out at the last minute, afraid to leave the only world she knew. She says her children became her only focus. Years later, after her arrest, a doctor diagnosed her with depression and PTSD, noting symptoms like sudden anger, impulsiveness, dissociation, and memory gaps. She claims that her own mitigation specialist told her that she was a psychopath.

That's... Yeah. So what happens with that information? I don't know. What, what, what, what, what, what? So now what do I do? I mean, does that, I mean, I just, it feels like sometimes in life, the die can just be cast. And that's it. And I wonder if the mitigation specialist cast the die by telling her that. Like, there's no. This was after. This was after she was arrested. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah. Okay. So, yeah, I don't think. Like, I don't know. I don't know what you say. I am. Like, you say I am. Like, you say I'm a loser. You say. I'm a failure. You say I'm this. And then I guess I am. I guess I am. Yeah. Which, you know, maybe she is a psychopath. I don't know. But I don't know what to say about that. So this diagnosis came afterwards. After the crimes. Okay. Thank you for clarified now. The OG a true crime.

She comes through every time. So we know far less about her cousin and partner in crime, Angel Ford Wright. And this brings me to my question that has been burning in my mind for weeks now, Beth, because there is an observation that has been made on the black corners of the internet. And I wanted to ask you about it. Like, how come you never hear why people say they stayed at the cousin's house? Black and brown people, we always stay at our cousin's house. We do shit with our cousins that we don't want to do like the cousins in this case. And sometimes we do stuff that we do want to do.

Sometimes we do stuff we don't want to do. Sometimes we do stuff we do. Whatever. even the play cousins but i don't i i can't think of any time in my life where i've heard a white person say i go to my cousin's house uh do you even have cousins beth do you even know your cousins do your cousins do your cousins have houses do you play with them what's going on so i can't answer for all white people obviously of course of course i think in bigger families if they stay in the same area, then they probably do talk about their cousins and hang out with their cousins and stuff.

Like your cousin? Well, I can only speak for myself. I don't come from a big family. Okay. Okay. And my parents, they both moved away and they met in a different state. So we didn't live near the rest of my family. My cousins. Yeah. I've met them. Okay. I know them. Okay. Well, some of them, I'm not all of them. But yeah, we didn't grow up with our cousins. But, you know what? It makes me think about it a little bit. Like, white people, you know, they probably don't need their families as much as black people do, you know?

Yeah, yeah. I think you're 100% right. Yeah, the communities. All the white people I know hate their families. And I think that's crazy. They hate their parents specifically the most. I don't, but I don't hate my family. Beth is not, yeah, Beth is like an unusual white person.

She's not like the rest. But, yeah, I think black people, you know, there's safety in groups and communities. So I think sticking together makes sense. Yeah. You know, safety in numbers. Absolutely, absolutely. Yeah. So old whitey is, he is from a big family.

Oh, okay. A bigger white family. I mean, I also will say that white people, in my experience, they don't have big, like, extended families that they commune with. Right. But Old Whitey kind of does. And he has cousins. We have hung out with his cousins. So I know, you know, white people are not a model.

It's just like how black people are not a model. Right. But I just, I did think that it was interesting. Oh, Waddy, we didn't meet your cousins until after somebody died. Like, white, what, you guys don't just hang out for fun? Like, yeah. And they, they really don't, from what I can see. So anyway, I also, Fruties, let us know how you commune with your cousins.

Do white people you know have play cousins? Do they hang out with their cousins? I'm dying to know. Please educate us. Anyway, thank you, Beth, for telling you're welcome, your story. because I was really concerned and curious. I heard you talk about your family.

Right. But you never say the cousin word. Well, I have because I've met. I think I told stories about visiting my cousins like in Arkansas and stuff, but they don't live near me. You say family.

I'm talking to family on Zame in Arkansas. I'm going to see family. But you never like, my cousins. My cousins. Yeah, yeah. Because your cousins are like your friend family. Right. And it doesn't seem like why people have that.

It's a little different. It's a little different. Yeah. It's officially fall. And the world is complicated. I just want to be cozy. And being cozy starts with having the ripe brown underwear because if your most sensitive bits are not comfy, how can the rest of you be? This is why I always reach for skims, which was my favorite underwear brand even before they were a sponsor. I'm a huge fan of the fits everybody boy short and the high-wasted brief. These are my go-toes.

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the show. So anyway, sorry for the tangent. We're back to the two cousins and four murders. Record show Angel worked as a receptionist in a doctor's office and had also been employed at some point as a security guard. Given she came from the same family and lived in the same area, she probably had a similar upbringing, but it's hard to know for sure. Yeah, and it's hard to know just how much the Southside's history of displacement, poverty, and survival shaped these cousins' lives, but it definitely had a big impact on both of them. At the same time, these neighborhoods are far more than crime statistics. They're home to vibrant communities, rich cultural traditions, and strong grassroots groups

working for change. Programs like Cure Violence and Ready Chicago focus on preventing violence and supporting rehabilitation, while local activists advocate for more funding for mental health care, education, housing, and economic opportunities. Despite ongoing challenges like gentrification and economic inequality, the South Side remains a proud, creative, and vital part of Chicago's identity, with many residents dedicated to rebuilding and strengthening their communities. I've never been to Chicago, but I love Chicago because of what comes out of it. Yeah. The art and Oprah Winfrey.

Lots of, you know, it's all good stuff. Yeah, lots of really creative stuff. Yeah, it just seems like, and you know how diamonds are created, right? All this pressure under the earth. Yeah. And it feels like Chicago creates diamonds. In my mind. But this case is not a, not a diamond.

No, this is not one of those diamonds. This is not one of those diamonds. Sorry, I had to make the distinction. Thanks, Beth. So now let's get into the timeline. And here's what happened. In March and April 2004, Angel Ford Wright was working as a receptionist at the Wu Medical Center, where Jose Marquez, who was 38 years old, was a patient.

According to the office manager, Jose occasionally visited the clinic just to see Ford Wright. He sometimes gave her lunch money and would pick her up and drive her home. In April of 2004, after Jose had surgery on his leg, Ford Wright told the office manager that she'd be helping him at home during his recovery. She also said that Jose wanted to marry her so that he could stay in the country. And in return, he agreed to give her money each pay period and provide. insurance for her children. Hmm. I mean, I'm not seeing a reason to say no yet.

Right. So according to Caroline Peoples, this is from court records. On May 22, 2004, Ford Wright told her she wanted to go to Jose's apartment to borrow money. At Jose's apartment, Ford Wright sat in a chair next to Jose, who was on the couch while Peoples went to the kitchen. When Peoples came back from the kitchen, Ford Wright asked Jose to change the station on the radio. As he turned to do so, she pulled out a gun and shot him in the back of the head. According to Peoples, she was shocked. She said she hadn't even known that Ford Wright

had a gun. I guess therein lies the rub. We'd love doing stuff with our cousins, but we don't like it when it turns illegal. Come on. Yeah. So as they were leaving, Ford Wright took a black case containing cash and other items. She later drove to an ATM and tried to. to withdraw money using a bank card from the case. Didn't ask for the pin number though. And she was unsuccessful because she didn't know the pin.

The pin, yeah. The next morning on May 23rd, a neighbor found Jose dead in his apartment, having been shot once in the back of the head. Police found no signs of forced entry, but a small amount of cash was missing. So this was like

kind of pointless, you know? Yeah, it wasn't. They didn't get a lot out of it. And they didn't get very much money. Yeah. And they didn't have to do this. No, they did not. Absolutely did not.

Yeah. So a week later, in the evening on June 1st, Ford Wright and Peoples met up with 37-year-old Kenneth Reddick at his apartment. Ford Wright had previously been in a romantic relationship with him. And although they had broken up, they remained friends with benefits. Ford Wright told peoples that Kenneth wanted them to come over to his apartment and strip for him. She said he had a lot of money and that she knew where he kept it. But she added, if they robbed him, they'd have to kill him because he knew who she was and where she lived. And People's agreed.

So when they got there, Kenneth made drinks and put on some music. People sat on the couch while Ford Wright started dancing for him, eventually taking off all her clothes. People's then joined in, stripping down to just her underwear. and Kenneth undressed too. Kenneth's upstairs neighbor heard loud music and female voices in Kenneth's apartment at around 9.30 or 10 p.m. She could still hear the loud music

when she went to bed at 11. As the two cousins were dancing, People's maneuvered herself behind Kenneth, who was behind Ford Wright. People suggested to Kenneth that he should spank Ford Wright, and she told her cousin to bend over. Later in court, people said she did this,

so she wouldn't accidentally shoot Ford Wright when she was aiming at Kenneth. As Kenneth was spanking Ford Wright, people took the gun from her jacket, held it behind Kenneth's head and pulled the trigger. But the safety was on, so nothing happened. So then she switched off the safety and shot Kenneth once in the back of the head.

And thinking about this, I'm like, how did he not hear it? But it must be because of the music. Yeah. And the vibe, right? It sounds like the lives are really fun, too, beautiful naked women and music, I mean, would you be thinking, right, yeah, that'd be the last thing on your mind. So the upstairs neighbor heard a pop sound coming from Kenneth's apartment shortly after she went to bed at 11 p.m. But the music continued, so she went to sleep.

After shooting Kenneth, Peoples put the gun back in her jacket and she and Ford Wright got dressed. They then started searching the apartment. Ford Wright went through the bedroom while Peoples took Kenneth's DVD player and anything she thought might have her fingerprints on it. It was not the payday that they were expecting. Kenneth did not have wads of money stashed away as Ford Wright promised, but before leaving, Ford Wright gave people some cash that she found. She later returned to take Kenneth's Jeep.

Makes me think of The Grinch. What do you mean? They took everything. And then she came back and took the Jeep, like, you know, the Grinch when he takes everything, including the crumbs. Yes. Yeah, you're, yeah, you're right, like the Grinch. Yeah. But, you know, we learn the Grinch has a backstory.

Yeah. And we don't, we are not so angry at the Grinch. So we'll see where this story goes. Well, the Grinch didn't kill anybody either. Right. Oh, excellent point. Oh, my God. Hip-Up Airhorns for the OG of True Crime.

The Grinch, the Grinch. Yeah, that's, you know, somebody should laminate that. The Gritch didn't kill anybody. He didn't kill anybody. Thank you so much. On the morning of June 2nd, a few of Kenneth's friends stopped by his apartment after not hearing from him. When they found his body, they immediately called the police who arrived around 10 a.m. Kenneth was lying on his back wearing only socks with a single gunshot wound to the back of his head. There were no signs of forced entry in the building or apartment, but his wallet, car keys, cell phone, DVD player DVDs, and his 1994 Jeep Grand Cherokee were missing. Weeks later, police found the Jeep in the possession of a man who bought it from a woman named Dave a Lutz. Lutz later testified that in 2004, she befriended a woman named Angel, identified in court as Ford Wright and her boyfriend, Tony.

That June, Ford Wright and Tony asked her to help sell a white Jeep. They said belonged to Ford Wright's mother. She sold it for $1,000, kept $500, and gave the other $500 to Ford Wright and Tony. So they didn't really make that much money. No. And to sell a Jeep for $1,000, that's crazy. Yeah, I know. Oh, my God.

Everybody wants a Jeep. Yeah. You, I mean, finding one for $1,000. Yeah, he had to have known something was up. You would have to know, this is a hot item. Yeah. I might go to jail if I buy this, but at least I got a good deal. But he bought it anyway.

So in the early morning hours of June 18th, Ford Wright picked People's up. Ford Wright was driving her uncle's van and she and People's discussed finding someone to Rob. So I guess, I don't know if we're going to believe their story, the first. time peoples was like oh my god and the second time they planned it and now they're planning to find some stranger to rob they decided to park by a currency exchange and wait for someone to leave the exchange with a lot of money how would you know they're leaving with a lot of money uh i don't know i mean everything that they plan has not yeah everything that they've planned so far is not really I mean, it's been, yeah, they've been, it's been kind of pointless.

Like they're, if they're killing people for money, it's not really working out that well. I don't think they're killing people for money. Yeah, and I'll get into that more in our takes. Like, these are also two young ladies who are trying to survive. I mean, you know, they go from school in gang territory. Can't make it. They force you into the gang by jumping you in. And now you're kind of stuck doing things that.

that prevent you from achieving your dreams, really. Yeah, but I mean, these crimes are just pointless. Yeah. They're not really making money off of these crimes. Right, right. Where are the gazillionaires that we can arrive? Exactly, exactly. Well, they're not on the south side.

So at some point, Ford Wright told people that she saw someone inside the exchange put money inside his sock. It was Kelvin Armstrong, and he was 24 years old, And he was last seen by his mother at approximately 9.30 p.m. on June 17, 2004, when he left their house to cash a paycheck at the currency exchange. We just earned all this money. Yeah. He was feeling so good. Saw his mama.

Said, hey, Mom, got to go get this money. And his fate was tragic. Yeah. Ford Wright gave People's a gun and told her to hide in the back of the van. While People's did so, Ford Wright pulled out and. drove alongside Kelvin, who was on foot. Ford Wright asked him if he wanted a ride. And when he got into the vehicle, she asked him if he wanted oral sex. People's felt the van stop and Kelvin and Ford Wright continued to talk. People's crept up to the middle of the van and shot Kelvin in the back

of the head. The cousins put a garbage bag over his head because it was bleeding a lot and then dumped his body in a parking lot behind a bowling alley on 75th Street. Ford Wright took the money from Kelvin's sock and gave some of it to peoples. And I think it was like $200 or something. It wasn't that much. Okay. They then drove to a car wash and cleaned up the interior of the van. At approximately 5 a.m. on June 18th, police found Kelvin's body. He was lying on his back and appeared to have been killed by a single gunshot wound to the back of the head. Police found no more. Police found no money, wallet, or identification on his body. A couple of weeks later on the morning of July 1st at approximately 5.25 a.m., another body was

found. Oh, another one. Another one, this time in a South Chicago alley. It was a woman, but she had also been shot in the head. The woman was identified as Aisha Epps 30. So that's it for the timeline. Now we're going to get into the investigation and the arrest in this case. So investigators spoke with Aisha's friends and acquaintances and pieced together a timeline.

She had planned to go out on June 30th, 2004, but the friend she was to go out with had to cancel. The last time he heard from her was by text at 8.13 p.m. Later that night, Aisha got a couple of phone calls from someone named Cal. Then around 1 a.m. on July 1st, she was seen getting into an older, dented yellow, door car with a vinyl top, heading to Cal's apartment. Cal? Cal? Cal, okay, who's this cow guy?

So, detectives took a witness to the apartment building, and the witness pointed out a third floor apartment as cows. They rang the bell, but got no answer. So they contacted the building's management. A staff member told them that Cal was actually a woman named Caroline Peoples. What? Yeah. With his help, Detective.

entered the apartment, but Peoples wasn't home. As they were leaving, they got word that she was on her way back. They found her at 6.15 p.m. with another woman, Antonia Frazier. People's agreed to talk, saying she'd been at Antonia's all night, except for a quick trip to buy cigarettes, and that she last spoke to Aisha around 11.15 p.m. But Antonio remembered things a little differently. She said that Peoples left her home sometime between 10.30 and 11.30 p.m., and she wasn't back yet when she went to bed at 1.30 a.m. The next morning, Peoples was back sleeping on the floor. At the police station, Peoples kept changing her story. When confronted about it, she admitted to lying. She then claimed that she and her cousin, Angel Ford Wright, picked up Aisha around 11.30 p.m. on June 30th and went to Ford Wright's

house for drinks. According to people's tension grew between Aisha and Ford Wright. Feeling uneasy, she asked to go home and Ford Wright's boyfriend Anthony, a.k.a. Tony, dropped her off. That, she said, was the last time that she saw Ayesha alive. The next day after hearing about Aisha's death, people suspected Ford Wright and Anthony. People thought it was them, which is not a good sign. So she also told detectives about some disturbing conversations with Ford Wright. She claimed that Ford Wright told her that Anthony had killed a Mexican man who was a patient at the doctor's office where she worked. Another time when they were driving down a street, Ford Wright pointed out the Mexican man's house where he had been killed. Later, she said, Ford Wright picked her up in a white SUV and claimed that she and Anthony had robbed someone and stolen it.

All of these stories led detectives to the homicide file for Jose Marquez, who had been murdered on May 23rd of that year. Around 1 a.m. on July 2nd, detectives drove Peoples to Sangamon Street, where she pointed out Ford Wright's home. Outside the house was a dented yellow car, just like the one that witnesses had seen Aisha get into. Peoples was taken back to the station, but when detectives returned an hour later, the yellow car was gone. At the house, the two people inside said that Ford Wright and Anthony weren't there. So detectives set up surveillance. And around 3 a.m., Ford Wright,

herself walked up. So she just walked right up to the detectives. Yeah, they're thinking they got away with this. The murders? Yeah. Yeah. Like they're just willy-nilly wandering around town. They're not hiding.

Yeah. Yeah, they're not hiding. That's true. And People's is trying to blame everything on Ford Wright. Mm-hmm. So what happened to the cousin love? It went away. It went away.

It's gone now. way. When my cousin has me doing illegal shit, I'm not going down for this. I'm sorry. So detectives asked her if she'd be willing to come into the station and she agreed. By then, Peoples had shared more about the other murders. So hours later, detectives put Ford Wright and Peoples in the same interview room. Telling them their stories didn't match. People's urged Ford Wright. Come on, cousin. Come on. Cousin. on cousin tell the truth please tell the truth come on ford wright replied quote i wasn't the only one there i wasn't the only person that was killing people unquote oh god so dumb yeah oh well they're

they're young yeah yeah that's true and these mistakes are not like oopsies it's somebody's life i'm not the only one who broke a window oh my goodness i'm not the only one who spilled the milk. I mean, it's just so much more serious and, I don't know. Yeah. And the only reason they don't realize it is because they're young. Yeah. It's shocking to me. Yeah. That I guess that's why I find it so funny. Yeah. Because I'm a sick fuck, but also. Well, yes. Yes. Yes. And I love you for it. That they don't realize how serious this is. Shocking. Yeah. Shocking indeed. So by the end of the interviews, both women had. admitted to their involvement, not just in Aisha Epps' murder, but also in the armed robberies

and murders of Jose Marquez, Kenneth Reddick, and Kelvin Armstrong. So now let's get into the trial of the two cousins for the four murders. Ford Wright and Peoples, both 26 years old, were arrested and charged with four counts of first-degree murder and armed robbery. Caroline Peoples later pleaded guilty to all four murders and related charges and received a life sentence. Angel Ford Wright chose to go to trial. Prosecutors tied both women to the crimes through DNA evidence. People's DNA profile was found on a cigarette butt in Marquez's apartment and ballistics with a firearms expert testifying that bullets from the Marquez, Armstrong, and Redick murders all came from the same gun. So they also presented evidence that Jose Marquez's ATM card had been

used nine times at three different locations on May 22nd and 23rd of the year 2004. And each time with an incorrect pin number. Yeah, that's like nine times. You think it's going to work this time? Yeah, that's a lot. Like, I'm sure the bank is aware and concerned at this point. Yeah. What are you doing?

A doctor who interviewed people said she claimed she never planned the murders, calling her actions impulsive. Ford writes. defense argued that peoples acted on her own and without planning and sought to introduce evidence of people's mental health issues, including her depression and PTSD. The court, however, ruled that that evidence was irrelevant. I would argue that it's not irrelevant. You know, people always point to Chicago, well, at least on the right, white, rich people on Fox News say, look at Chicago. They kill each other, but there is evidence that people's lawyers presented about mental health and

depression and PTSD that does play a role in how the people there live and treat each other and try to survive. And all these things are relevant. So I think it was all I, all that to say, it's a mistake. I think it was a mistake. And I'm not trying to excuse explanations, right? So I think Ford Wright's defense was trying to throw peoples under the bus and say that Angel Ford Wright, she didn't do anything. It was all people's by introducing her mental health issues, people's mental health issues. Yeah, to further separate them from the actions. Right. And that's part of, you know, putting cases on trial.

Exactly. So Ford Wright was convicted and also sentenced to. to life in prison. Though her case went through appeals, her defense challenged the court's decision to exclude the mental health evidence. And I think that's a good move. That's fair. Yeah. Come on now. Yeah. But let us know what you think about the case. Now we're going to get into where are they now? Lifestyles of the murderous. Tell us, Beth. So Ford Wright is currently being housed in Logan Correctional Center in Broadwell Township in Illinois. At some point, People's was transferred to a Florida prison by way of an interstate compact

because there is a big industrial prison complex. People make a lot of money from people being locked up. So we know that she was there in 2018 and 2019 because she started writing an inmate blog. She was being housed in Lowell Correctional Institution in Ocala, Florida. Then in Homestead Correctional Institution in Florida City. but we're not exactly sure where she is at this moment. Yeah, I tried to find her. I suspect she was transferred to another state,

but I don't really know. I can't find her. Yeah, and I'm just curious because follow the money, you know. I mean, she's a human being housed in a place that gets paid to keep her alive. But she also has a skill of writing and is very prolific, my understanding, from her prison blog. And, you know, do the prison officials want to keep her? from saying things and that's why they're moving her?

Or do they want to somehow capitalize on her skills? When I was doing research, well, when I was trying to find her and I was doing research on interstate compacts, I guess the inmates can also request transfers. So it's hard to say exactly, I don't know where she is. I don't know why she's not there. I don't know why she left. So it's hard to say if they moved her or she requested it and it was granted. But yeah, there you go.

Yeah. Thanks, Beth. You're welcome. Thanks for trying. Yeah, I tried really hard. Yeah. We love you for that. Thanks, Beth.

So I read her blog, the inmate blog, trying to find out more about her life. And that's where I got all of the information about what her life was like as a child. In her blog, she talks a lot about God. But she also complains a lot about being locked up and about how her relatives don't keep in touch, which, uh, well, okay. Yeah, like, yeah, well, uh, you're in jail. So I understand. I understand that complaint. Uh, it might be hard for them.

Yeah. Yeah. Plus they move, they're moving the inmates around. It's hard for, you know, what she was in Chicago. Like, Chicago and Florida are not close. So she does. make some good points about the prison system and why it sucks. Yeah. And in the Florida prison system, she said she was working as a law clerk. Oh, good for her. I think, you know, there's a lot of people in prison

who are innocent. And so there's law libraries within prisons and people who are behind bars doing what they can to help themselves and other people get out of the prison system. So I think that's a good skill. She could be helpful as a law clerk. Yeah. Yeah. She's doing something. Yeah. Yeah. So now we're going to get into our spicy hot takes, what we think may have made these two cousins snap. So Beth, what are your thoughts about this case? So we know that Caroline Peoples had a rough childhood and I'm willing to bet that Angel Ford Wright did too. And I feel bad for the kids that they were growing up in poverty without much guidance surrounded by crime. And when that's your normal, when you see people like the gangster disciples committing crimes, it can start to feel like that's just the way things are. Yeah. And they got

away with it. Like, they don't always go to jail. So maybe I want either. And I think that plays into why they were so kind of blasé about why they didn't get the seriousness of the murders. And I was wondering if either of them would have done what they did on their own. Yeah. Hard to say. Same with figuring out who was leading and who was following or if they were both equally into it. Don't know. Like a mini mob? A mini mob mentality? Well, sort of. I mean, a lot of times when there's two people doing something, one person is the leader and the other is the follower. But I didn't get a sense of that with this. It sounded like they were both equally into it, but no, I could be wrong. Yeah. And one just spoke up more about it than the other. Yeah. So Caroline People, she decided to do a plea deal and she was the one who told us everything. So we got everything from her point of view. I don't know. You know what Angel Ford Wright's point of view is. So I would love to hear it. Yeah. And the truth is we don't really know what went down. Chances are both of them lied about parts of it. So we don't know. And so there's something else that stuck out to me. What's that? Both women had just. children. But the articles, the news articles barely mentioned them. Like they mentioned, yeah,

or, you know, the fact that they had children. Yeah. There wasn't actually much detail in the news at all, which I found kind of strange. You'd think there'd be, I mean, this is what? We've been doing fruit loops for a long time. I know. I know. But, but this was one of those stories where it was really difficult to get more information. Like some stories, there's, you can at least find more information, but this was, this was hard. This is tough. Yeah. And you would think with this two cousins committing murders, two female cousins, committing murders with guns. Yeah. You know, it's so unusual. You would think there would be a little bit more coverage about the story and the psychology behind it. Yeah. Yeah. And there really wasn't. Yeah. I share your frustration. There

wasn't a lot of information about the case. I found some podcasts about it, and that will be in the show notes, of course. But I, you know, everybody kept talking about these two murderous cousins, but as always on Fruit Loops, I was really concerned and interested in the backstory and the context. Right. And I do not think that these girls snapped at all. These cousins were victims of American systems of racism, capitalism, and sexism. They were able-bodied, healthy young ladies, and they didn't have an education because they got involved in the gangs early and they got screwed by their environment. Yeah, they got screwed by their environment. They could have done other things to survive that didn't involve crime, but those options weren't, they probably didn't

even know that you could do other things. I mean, this, I'm, I'm just thinking as a young person where the need for money seems so hard, intense, and profound. Like I said, you don't know what you don't know. Like they could have done so many other, they needed money. They were poor young girls. They needed money and they didn't see any other options to get it other than taking people's lives and robbing people, which is so sad. And, you know, they were like, I got to eat now. I need money now. I also think youth and lack of experience can make it hard to even see far beyond consequences of what your actions might be. And the victims were in the wrong place at the wrong time and did not deserve what happened to them. And it's so sad to think of what

could have been for the victims or their, you know, and their loved ones? What could have, what could have become of these for individuals? And the girls were not dumb. You know, one of them was, she's got a blog and all that to say. I wish patience was something we were born with. And it's not, and not something that we had to like learn how to do. Because, you know, imagine if we, if we all were just like more patient, we could, we could wait for another opportunity that did involve taking people's lives and improve upon our lives and our situations. But when you're young and you're poor and you're struggling, you don't have time for patience. Seriously.

You don't have time for patience. Right, right. And so you need a means to survive now. And crime is prevented when people have what they need, period, full stop. And these cousins did not. And many people suffered because of it. And that is, I think people will try to tell us this is the two cousins fault. And yeah, it is.

But I think also it's society's fault too. Yeah. They did the deeds, but the cousins were in a circumstance that they couldn't see any other way out of and was also not their fault. So all that to say, this is a true crime podcast and true crime is true for somebody. and we cannot forget about the victims Jose Marquez, Kenneth Redick, Kelvin Armstrong, and Aisha Epps rest in power, and our hearts go out to everyone that loves and misses them or was affected by this crime. Okay.

All right, Beth, where can the people find us? Our website is fruitloopspod.com, and we use Fruit LoopsPod for all of our social media. The footnotes for each episode can be found on our website, plus check it out for the different ways that you can support the show. You can also join us on Patreon where we have hundreds of hours of bonus content. You can also support us by supporting our sponsors or by giving us a five-star review. Five stars only, please. Don't forget to subscribe. That's right.

Now, this is a weekly podcast and episodes drop on Thursday. So until next time, look alive, y'all. It's crazy out there. Thank you. what's he doing he just mom i need a charger you know mom i need this i need that and son i've bought so many chargers and so many bricks you You should have some one. Yeah, at least one.

Yeah. Oh my God. It drives me nuts. Like you buy a bunch of chargers and they lose them all. I know. Oh my God. It's like, you know, and maybe it's because like cell phones were like newer when you and I were growing up.

Right. And so you have to be prepared to, if you're going to have a cell phone, you have to be prepared to have it charged. And these kids are like always tech, blah, blah, blah. I sound like, I sound like one of those angry white pundit males on Fox movies. Talking about kids these days. Seriously, they have, they have not known a world where it's like something dies, you do something else. Yeah. The battery dies. You do something else. You find something else to do. Yeah. Yeah. And boy, oh boy, is it frustrating because it becomes my problem. Yeah, I know.

I really isn't my problem. I know. I can think of a million things. Yeah. You could do besides charge your device. Anyway, so that's my woes at the moment. And I'm very sorry. So please forgive me.

I'm going to be professional now. Okay. Announce me. We're going to need a hip-hop era. Yeah, hang on. Hang on. I actually, when we had the technical difficulties, I forgot that I am supposed to have a soundboard.

Oh. Okay. So, you love to your girl and you don't want to die. I'm going to miss it so much. Well, we can, we'll just sing it and love you by. That's right. Yeah. I love this woman. Solutions. Always solutions. How can we fix this problem? I love it. Anyway, thank you, friend. You're welcome. I appreciate it very much. Handy little advice for today. Thank you. Well, we need all the advice we can get because the world is terrible. So thank you.

yeah thank you so much literally on fire um i don't even know how we're standing here um did you see did you see on fox news the guy who was like my infant son almost died in a chat gpt fire followed by almost what did he say what is he talking about my infant son almost died in a drug war followed by mass shootings i mean the way he and uh it's just been making the rounds on social media because it's funny and ridiculous. Okay. I'll have to watch for that. I haven't seen that yet. It's like, wait, what's a drug fire? Anyway.

A drug fire? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Beth, I'm looking to you to tell me, what is going on? What is going on? Where are we? What are we talking about today? Are you ready to start the episode? Should we go? Yeah, I'm ready. Let's do it. All right. All right, let's do it. Go ahead. we are not so angry at the Grinch so we'll see where this story goes well the Grinch didn't kill anybody either right oh excellent point oh my god hip-hop air horns for the ology of true crime the Grinch

the Grinch yeah that's you know somebody should laminate that the Gritch didn't kill anybody he didn't kill anybody thank you so much so in the early morning hours of June 18th 2000 and I'm going to take that out in the early morning It's okay, friend Okay Another one I have fun Yeah, me too

I love you And I'll love you too And I'll talk to you next week Yeah Next Thursday Here we go And I'll see you on the internet Until then

Okay, love you Bye Bye