Small Town Murder - #229 - Chief Horny The Ladykiller - Tea, South Dakota
Episode Date: June 24, 2021This week, in Tea, South Dakota, the Chief of Police's wife is found dead, on her kitchen floor, but nothing is as it seems, including cause of death, and people involved. The whole thing unf...olds into a ridiculous web of attempted, or half conceived plots, meant to cover up everything bad in the killer's life. A very twisty mess! Along the way, we find out that some people REALLY like tea, that love can make you calm, even after murder, and that maybe your murder weapon shouldn't be city property!! Hosted by James Pietragallo & Jimmie Whisman New episodes every Thursday! Donate at: patreon.com/crimeinsports or go to paypal.com & use our email: crimeinsports@gmail.com Go to shutupandgivememurder.com for all things Small Town Murder & Crime In Sports! Follow us on... twitter.com/@murdersmall facebook.com/smalltownpod instagram.com/smalltownmurder Also, check out James & Jimmie's other show, Crime In Sports! On iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts## 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're listening early and ad-free on Wondery Plus.
What if you married the love of your life and then stood by them as they developed 21 new
identities? What would you do? This Is Actually Happening is a weekly podcast that features
extraordinary true stories of life-changing events told by the people who lived them.
Listen to the newest season of This Is Actually Happening on the Wondery app or wherever you get
your podcasts. This week in Tee, South Dakota,
when the police chief's wife is viciously killed in her own home, the whole thing goes from just
plain sad to sad and very dirty and very twisted very quickly. Welcome to Small Town Murder. hello everybody and welcome back to small town murder yay yay indeed jimmy yay indeed
my name is james petrigallo i'm here with my co-host i am jimmy wissman thank you folks so
much for joining us today we could not be excited, which is a strange thing to say before we tell a story about a terrible murder. But still, we like to hang out together and we like to hang out with all of you. And this is great. Thank you. Also, just want to thank everybody before we get started. Little house cleaning for your reviews this week. Five stars on Apple podcast helps a lot. We don't know why, but that purple icon, get on there and help us out.
Also, head over to ShutUpAndGiveMeMurder.com right now for everything crime and sports and small town murder, especially merch.
How many shirts?
There's so many shirts and things and bags and shoes and you name it.
Ever expanding.
It's ever expanding.
Just library of things there.
And in addition to that, tickets to live shows all throughout 2022.
Can't wait.
Yeah, and a lot.
I can't wait either.
And a few at the end of 2021.
And just so you know, if you're like, oh, well, those are next year.
I'll get my tickets later.
These are all rescheduled from 2020.
So a lot of them are close to sold out or sold out.
So if you want tickets, I know it's weird, but you kind of have to get them early so just yeah let's get on there i know it's a strange thing to buy a ticket for
something that's like you know 14 months from now but that's that's kind of just the way the
cookie crumbled here so that's the world we live in that's right also patreon.com slash crime and
sports is where you need to be my goodness are the episodes crazy and fun over there.
Just we try to keep it a variety of different things,
murdery things, lighter things.
And we've had some very murdery things lately.
We had the, you know, the son of Sam stuff and the cult stuff and all that.
So this week's going to be a little bit different.
We're going to do some silly things, which is awesome.
One of our funniest things are when they're really silly. So the crime and sports one in honor of father's day we are
going to do the all paternity team which is the athletes with with the most amount of kids and it
will help to have the most amount of mothers and the least amount of child support paid that'll be
the criteria there and we're just going to have a ball with that that'll be a lot of fun and for small town murders we are going to do one star or just bad reviews of small town like
mostly motels because i some reason a bad motel review there's nothing better the vitriol people
have for it is just awesome because they're sitting in filth writing at these fucking place.
So it's so funny.
And we're going to haven't taken to that yet.
It's no, I don't care about review.
I'm not going to review it.
So we're going to review it to me.
That's exactly right.
Tell you what other people think.
And I'll tell you what I think.
And no one.
Yeah.
So we're going to do that.
It'll be like motels and small town businesses that are just disasters and
these kind of middle of nowhere places
where they don't care about service at all.
It'll be very funny. And you get access to
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At the end of the show,
Jimmy will say your name poorly,
but he'll try his best.
So that's the way that's going to work.
It's going to be a lot of fun.
And let's get to the disclaimer quickly.
Oh, Game of Crimes quickly also.
Subscribe to Game of Crimes.
We put the trailer up last week.
It is the first show of our new network,
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and we wouldn't be giving it to you
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Put it that way.
We really trust us.
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and do your thing there. Disclaimer, this is a comedy show it is it's also a murder
show so we're going to have murder and then there's going to be jokes we we do know how to
separate those things that's the thing if you're like well you can't do that you can though because
it's it's murder isn't funny the act of murder isn't funny you don't know while someone's
dismembering someone you're not like that don't know while someone's dismembering someone.
You're not like that's hilarious.
But if they're dismembering them because they think if they, you know, scatter each part around in a different neighbor's yard, no one will find anything and they'll get away with the murder.
That's kind of funny.
Just their thought.
That's the things that are funny.
See, that's how this show works.
And we go out of our way not to make fun of the victim.
Yeah.
Victim's family.
Why?
Because we're assholes.
What?
But we're not scumbags.
That's how that works there.
So if that sounds good to you, we're going to have a good time.
If not, you don't think true crime and comedy should ever go together.
It might not be for you, but it might be.
So I would stick around, maybe try to loosen up by sitting back and shouting,
Shut up and give me murder.
Yes.
All right.
Let's do this, Jimmy.
Can't wait.
Let's go on a trip, shall we?
We shall.
We shall.
We are going all the way.
We're coming from South Carolina.
And I said, let's keep it going with the Souths.
And we're doing South Dakota now.
We're going all the way to T South Dakota. Like golf?
T-E-A, like a cup of tea South Dakota, cup of South Dakota. It's in Southeastern South Dakota.
It's right where it goes into a little panhandle down there. Yeah. So it's into where Iowa is and
Nebraska. In between, it's a little wedge of South Dakota, a little panhandly wedge.
It's about 20 minutes outside of Sioux Falls.
Is there any place called Barely?
Because this should be Barely, South Dakota.
It's Barely, South Dakota.
It really is.
It's close to not South Dakota, but this is very South Dakota.
So it's right outside Sioux Falls, for whatever that's worth.
It's about two and a half hours down to Omaha, if you want to go someplace worse than this, I'm sure.
Because, you know, it's worse than everything.
So it's got to be worse than this.
And 35 minutes to Canastota, South Dakota, which is our last South Dakota episode, Jimmy.
You'll never believe when that was.
Episode 72.ober of 2019 uh june 6 2018 that came holy shit it's been a long it's been three years since
we've been to south dakota so sorry south dakota but hopefully people will care i don't know the
thing is nobody lives there so it's difficult and And people go, South Dakota. Anyway, it's in Lincoln County, one of the several hundred Lincoln counties throughout the country here.
Area code 605.
It's about three square miles, so it's a small town.
We'll buzz through the town stuff because the murder is pretty thick, so we've got to get to that.
The motto of this town is tea, a growing tradition.
Literally, the tea ellipses, a growing tradition.
How growing is it?
Well, in the town, the tradition is more known for the second motto, which is tea bagging, an even stronger tradition.
Which, I guess, when you get there, I don't know if that's how they initiate you into the town or what, but sorry, I know that was immature.
How many people have actually teabagged?
I mean, and been like, hey, I'm doing it.
I don't know.
Like as a joker, some sort of.
Yeah.
I don't think I mean, I think most teabagging i'm gonna say is man on man
yeah i'm gonna say it's 97 man i'll bet you the vast majority of teabagging that has actually
been done was during a pledge week of some sort some sort or somebody passes out and you're like
take a picture of me teabagging fucking johnny you know like weird shit guys are weird man
the whole idea never do that
chicks wouldn't be like oh oh she fell asleep here get take a picture of me grinding on heather's
forehead with my with my vagina that never that's probably not a snail trailer watch this
i'm gonna put my butthole right on her nose see if i'm gonna see if she makes her like cough and
like you know they call it a banana split because you you put the labes on the nose and it looks like a scoop of ice cream.
We have gone very far in the first eight minutes of this show, I would say.
This is way more sexual than the town shit usually is, I've got to say.
But let's do it anyway.
So apparently they needed a name for the town the town's name was
byron b-y-r-o-n and they just this is i don't know some some byron so 1894 when they laid all
this out they were they found out at a meeting that the uh postmaster said there was already a
byron so you couldn't use byron. So they said, shit.
The town fathers sat down, and they had a big meeting.
They had the community select 10 short names, and they'd pick one out of that.
They wanted a short name for some reason.
I don't know why.
That was very important to them.
They said they sat around. They came came up with nine names couldn't think of
a tenth um they always drank afternoon tea here because it was like a german-based community
and so they said they would take a break for tea and they said well let's put tea on the list
then that sounds interesting and then they said yeah and then they said we'll take that one and
they named it tea so actual tea is the reason why this town is named for this shit um
little piece of history i looked through all the history and i found something kind of funny so
uh a guy named john heron was the first postmaster and it's a pretty rural out there in 1903 when he
starts delivering shit out there i would say you know he's going out to the middle of nowhere
and um he's the first postmaster i'm sorry and then henry here in which i think was his brother
is the first male carrier going out to all these rural roots i like it yeah uh yeah he started in
1903 and was dead by 1906 that's how hard that job is i don't know if he was like killed on the job
or just you know bad health of the know, early 20th century or what.
But he died.
So then his wife, Laura, took over his mailbag.
I love it.
She just said, I'll take it and carried the mail for the next 30 years.
Wow.
She continued going 30 years.
Flora, the mail lady, was coming.
She was there.
And then she died 30 years later like i said not
sure on the job or what uh whatever but then since she died not a speck of mail has been delivered
anywhere near you know i'm just kidding can you imagine that was it they've got no mail since just
piles up they're waiting for volunteers anybody want to do it it's open we can't get into the
system flora died with the passwords. We can't hire anybody.
We don't know what she did.
Yeah, she's got the little, those boxes have little tiny keys.
We don't know where.
I don't know which goes to which.
She had a key ring, but it was all bigger keys.
Like it was a couple of the doors.
I don't know, but none of those little ones.
So we don't know what to do.
No one can get in there.
Fuck it.
So, yeah, anyway, so they picked tea because it was short and they like tea
anyway i found reviews of this town and they're all pretty good i couldn't find any real bad ones
here so it's the opposite of what our patreon episode is going to be here's a five star review
and it's they they love it they make it sound like it's they're it's like they're like a disney
princess in a fantasy land uh the town of T has been an amazing experience from living here.
This community is very close, friendly, respectful, and it is truly a family here in this town.
We all support our small local businesses, the amazing school and the education it gives students, including myself.
And the town especially loves our sports.
OK, they're very excited about this place.
Three square miles.
They've got sports.
They've got sports, probably high school sports, I would imagine.
Even still.
Yeah, either way.
Well, Sioux Falls is where South Dakota State University is, I believe, too,
so you could go there.
That's 20 minutes away.
Sioux Falls is a big deal.
Yeah, it's a bigger place.
Here's five stars.
I quote, I've lived in tea all my life.
I have had two amazing
jobs here along with a group of
lifetime friends. The people
here are so warm and welcoming.
By the way, how old do you think this person is?
48 from the sound of it, the tone
of it. But you think about 48
mid 40s probably from the tone
I've lived here all my life
amazing group group of lifetime friends though you know it sounds like a very older person the
people here are so warm and welcoming i have never had any big issues in this town with my 17 years
of living here it's a 17 year old yeah seven 17 i think and i'm here and have never locked my car when I have to leave it outside.
I have never had a bad day here.
It's a wonderful smaller town if you want to stay near the city, but also far enough away from the city that you don't have to worry about anything bad going on.
Never had a bad day?
Never had a bad day here.
Good for you, you bragging fuck.
This place is just bluebirds are landing on their shoulders.
Do you understand?
Can you imagine living somewhere and going, never had a bad day?
It's amazing.
It's South Dakota.
You know how cold it gets there in the winter?
That's a bad day.
How about a day when the wind chill was negative 27?
What do you think of that?
Was that a good day?
Was everybody thrilled?
Bill Gates has all the money.
I guarantee he has bad days.
Well, he's having a lot of bad days right now.
He's going to lose a lot of that money.
A lot of his shit's coming out.
Melinda's giving that money away.
A lot of sexual stuff's coming out of it.
Wow, he's banging this one and banging that one.
But I mean, what do you expect?
I don't know.
I expect billionaires to bang people.
I feel like that's why dorks like that make a billion dollars,
so they can have sex with everything that moves,
because no one would ever have sex with them.
Look at his face. Yeah.
Look at his face and his body.
Of course he needed money.
No one wants to have sex with him.
No.
He needed a lot of motivation, not even a little.
Just being a rich guy, just driving like a nice car,
that wouldn't have done it.
He had to be like,
I'm in the top five richest people on the planet. you understand yeah that's and it's the weird sex like you need the money or
some sort of status to get that weird sex otherwise you're financing the shit that you do own to get
that weird sex sex where you have to like offer expensive things in the middle of the act to keep
it going don't worry i'll also put rims on
that car yeah exactly you have to keep it going it's a long long story keep sucking so here's a
three-star review um too much sexual content here in the top of the show sorry no i keep we keep
doing it i don't know why it keeps coming up the word t is just I don't know why. It keeps coming up. The word tea is just, I don't know why.
It just keeps opening up.
It started with tea bagging.
It's gone from there.
It's just, we're sorry about this.
So three stars.
I'm not sorry.
Fuck it.
We're having fun.
Three stars.
Tea has the small town feel while remaining a good size.
You get the good public school city, public school city, but the small town of caring of teachers.
The amount of attractions and businesses could always be improved.
So three stars.
Everything's great.
They could use a couple more restaurants is what they're saying.
It's three square miles, man. Yeah.
I don't know how much more shit you want.
Go to 20 minutes away.
Go to Sioux Falls.
They probably have stuff.
I don't know.
So this place, very small.
Sioux Falls. They probably have stuff. I don't know.
So this place, very small.
As of 1980, and this is right around
when our story's going to take place in the early 80s,
there was only 729
people here. My God.
And that was a big boost. It was only 302
in 1970. So it's
gone a lot here.
Right now, the population
4,866.
People never having bad days.
Happy-go-lucky people whistling zippity-doo-dah down the street.
So awesome.
It's up 519% since 1990.
It's just climbed a lot.
Female males, a couple more males than females.
Median age, very young here, young here 28 and a half which is usually
about 38 uh every demographic under 44 years old is very high and all everything older is very low
so it's just i don't know if it's college kids and people who just maybe i don't know they they
went to college they met somebody and got married and moved to the suburb out there and now they're
like 26 and i don't know how the fuck this works.
That could happen.
Very much a kind of a family town,
68% married population,
which is way over the normal 50-50.
It's very few single with no children people here,
so it's pretty family here.
Race of this town, 96.3% white.
But it's South Dakota.
This is pretty much about what I expected.
0.5% black.
That is not a lot of, that's a family or two.
That's few enough where people go, I saw the black family today.
Like, hey, it was cool.
I said hi, and I know the guy. today, you know, like, hey, it was cool. I said hi.
And, you know, I know the guy.
He's pretty nice guy.
And I was very excited about it.
He said, I need to up my shoe game.
And yeah, he said my said my shoes were terrible.
And I agreed with him.
He's right.
I haven't.
I appreciated it.
I let him get it.
I let him get dirty and I didn't clean him.
And these laces, three bucks.
I could have a new pair of laces look much better.
So I'll see on Amazon if anybody needs me.
There you go.
I'm going to check this out.
So 0.0% Asian, 0.0% Native American, which is weird for this area.
For South Dakota, yeah.
This is definitely, you know, formerly an area heavily populated by Native Americans.
And still is, isn't it?
Yeah, but not here, apparently.
2.9% Hispanicpanic so it's
it's pretty white uh religion here 42 percent religious so that's kind of the younger there's
a lot of younger people so that's to be expected also mostly lutheran 19 percent lutheran lutheran
the baptists of the northern plainsains regions. Lutheran.
Lutheran.
Yeah, they're all Lutherans.
A couple of Presbyterians thrown in there.
0.0% Jewish, though.
That's not happening out here.
Politically, 37% of the people voted Democrat in the last election.
60% voted Republican.
This is in the whole county, in Lincoln County.
And 2.5% independent.
And economy, as far as that goes, very low unemployment rate here.
There's a lot of jobs in this area, in the Sioux Falls area.
Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's a low population and a good amount of jobs.
So it stays pretty balanced well.
2.5% unemployment here, which is like, that's in the range of, we can't staff anything because
there's not enough people.
So median household income is high here.
Normally, it's about $57,000 in the rest of the country.
Here, it's $79,978, so $80,000 a year, which is pretty damn good.
More than three times the amount of financial, financial and insurance related jobs here than normal.
So it's a lot of white collar stuff here.
Cost of living 100 is average normal here.
It's 92.
It's not that cheap.
Housing's an 84 out of 100 median home cost.
One hundred ninety five thousand nine hundred bucks.
OK, not that expensive and if we've convinced you damn it
you need to head up to uh if you're want to really start practicing your lutheranism we have for you
the t south dakota real estate report Your average two-bedroom rental here goes for about $960 a month.
So it's actually a little bit cheaper than...
In line with the housing, though.
Three-bedroom, one-bath house I found here.
1,226 square foot.
I'm going to be honest.
It's not great.
No, and it's small.
It's not a great house.
Needs a lot of work is the problem
it's that's there's a lot of there's a lot wrong with it it's got some uh looks like and i gotta
go to home depot yeah some rooms are like half painted where they like they started a wall and
then they didn't finish it and it's like you know half purple and half primer james i can it's not
terrific uh 144 900 bucks so you're gonna have to put a little elbow grease into that one, though. I found a four-bedroom, three-bath, 1,903 square feet.
It's nice.
Nice house.
Clean.
One problem.
It's orange.
And I mean, it's very orange.
Like, bright orange.
Like, it looks like it's John Elway's house or some shit.
Like, it's fucking, it's so orange.
Dark. Dark orange. It's so orange. It's very orange. Yeah, it's John Elway's house or some shit. Like, it's fucking, it's so orange. It's just like bronco orange.
It's very orange.
Yeah, it's wild.
So, kind of interesting.
But $315,000 for this.
It's a nice house.
Then I found a four-bedroom, three-bath.
Still no T-balls and B-holes matching up here.
3,571 square foot.
It's a spacious, nice house.
Very nice.
It's on two acres.
Fuck yeah.
And no one appears to be around you.
It looks like you're kind of in the middle of a plane.
You can feel like you're in a Western.
It's a dream.
$685,000.
That's wonderful.
It's not too terrible, actually.
For space?
Under a million dollars?
Way under.
You got to put some trees up or something.
Otherwise, it's fucking going to look depressing.
There's just nothing there. Yeah. seems out of place it seems random you know like is that a meth shack just a nice one because why is it in the middle of nowhere
are there dirt roads to it or is it like paved and everything there's i don't know what's around
it there's a there's a road leading by it's like kind of off the highway so yeah it's like a
highway i don't want an address where number, number, route six.
I don't want that.
I don't want to go like, all right, I'm going to go drive to get the mail.
I'll be back in 20.
Right.
It's going to drive down to the highway to get it off that weird mailbox.
Make a sandwich for me in the meantime.
I'm mighty hungry.
Taking some lunch with me.
Things to do here. There's only one thing to do, and it getting a mind of hungry. Taking some lunch with me. Things to do here.
There's only one thing to do, and it's teapot days.
That's the name of this.
Oh, boy.
It used to be called teabag day.
That's exactly what I'm saying.
I was like, I was just going, come on.
I mean, it's.
They changed it.
So teapot days.
Come join the fun at teapot days.
Enjoy all of our great events.
Fun for all ages.
Don't miss the kids' tractor pull.
Okay, now are the kids driving the tractors?
Are the tractors pulling children?
What are we doing here?
Are we pulling tractors with children in them?
Are we harnessing things to children and making them pull?
I don't know what's happening.
I want it to be the children driving.
I want it to be the children pulling.
I want to see like six little kids in harnesses, likeen trying to pull something it's in the mud while they fall down
and cry i don't know why that would be funny but it kind of would they can't really get hurt or
anything miserable it's like you know what life sucks kid life really sucks doesn't it yep i'll
get you that's what life is it's pulling something that doesn't move as you tread in the mud and
don't go anywhere forward and fall down every once in a while.
Get up and do the same shit and never advance.
That's life.
Enjoy.
Yeah.
And then when you're done, there's no reward.
Yeah.
There you go.
Okay, kid.
There's a carnival, vendor booths, fireworks, blah, blah, blah.
So I found the schedule for this fucking thing.
And this is going on like, I think it just happened last week.
Really?
Or it could be going on. Right now, it just happened last week. Really? Or it could be going on.
Right now, it just happened.
It's over with now.
All sorts of bands and a dart tournament.
We got a kid's pedal pole, which I don't know what the hell that is.
That sounds like a pedal car tractor pole right there.
Something.
Crowning.
This is the thing here.
The crowning of Ma and Pa Teapot this i can get behind you put
the teapot crown on your head which i assume looks like a teapot yeah and you look fucking
ridiculous are they married it's a married couple or is it like no i think it's like
fred looks like shit but his wife is hot so let's take her i think it's prom king and queen style
it's not couple based
it's an individual award i believe that at all that's not gonna work out well it's gonna cause
some problems it's gonna make fights happen there's a junior achievement 5k bacon run so i
don't know if you have to eat bacon and then run 5k and see who's still left afterwards whose heart
didn't explode like reggie lewis during practice i don't know what's going on here so head into the
hardwood of the garden i found a couple of bands one this is hilarious that's if they play after
the bacon run called quote dnr do not resuscitate which is how perfect is that to line that up right
after a 5k bacon run you eat bacon and then they play about they sing songs while you're
dying about how they're not going to resuscitate you and uh then one called guilty pleasures is
playing after that so i don't know what that would be in this area but and then uh crime rate what
we're interested in is uh it's low property crimes about one-third under the national average so
pretty low and it's near college too so it's very low for an area like that.
They're tired, James.
They're letting that bacon course through their veins.
That's true.
And they know they're not being resuscitated, so they really got to take it easy.
Violent crime, murder, rape, robbery, and, of course, assault.
The Mount Rushmore of crime is about half the national average.
Great.
That's pretty safe.
That said, let us definitely talk about just a horrible murder that happened here, shall we? I would love that. Nothing else to do. So let's get into this. Let's jump right in the middle of this bad boy and both feet diving right in. And I always say that I'm diving in with both feet, which makes no sense, because if you're diving in, you'd be diving in forward.
Face. Right. That's you can jump in with both feet, I guess.
Disregard is is by the face.
Why are you being why are you being so so careful, you Nancy?
What's the matter? I don't get it. Jump on. Jump in.
Yeah. What's the difference between your face and your underhand?
Right. If you're jumping in with your both feet feet that means in less than a quarter of a second whatever is that is going to be there is going
to be in your taint and balls and assholes so that's not good we're about to lose your legs
yeah or your legs none of these things are all as valuable as your face yeah so i would say i think
that your undercarriage is more sensitive than your face your face can take some abuse would
you jump in a wood chipper by the feet?
No, you're jumping in right into the face.
Oh, head first.
Yeah, get it over with.
Let's do it.
So this murder, June 16th, 1983.
Let's go back to it.
All right.
It's one o'clock in the morning.
All right.
It's one o'clock in the morning and the sheriff's called.
Uh-oh.
Sheriff's coming on in.
Now, the sheriff of Lincoln County, Sheriff Al's coming on in now it's sheriff the sheriff of
lincoln county sheriff albers is his name hell yeah it's a lbers so albers comes in here and
he comes in the the house he pops into this house and he's called there obviously that they think
somebody might be dead so they pop in and he finds barbara mcdowell who is a like a 37 year old woman
married mother of one and uh oh by the way she's married to the t the town of t's chief of police
as well so she's the wife yeah she's the wife of the chief of police here. So kind of a big deal if she's just dead in her house from, you know, what looks like some kind of trauma.
So the they call the county coroner and a forensic pathologist.
They're both called to the scene of of this woman here, Barbara McDowell. And they both, now this is the county coroner and a forensic pathologist, both tell the sheriff here that her death could have been accidental.
Now, could have been accidental.
She could have fell and hit her head here.
Now, there's a little bit of, you know, we're working on it, though.
That's an expert's opinion now, mind you, forensic pathologist.
Now, the sheriff said, quote, I had a gut feeling that something was wrong.
Now, this is going to be very funny in a second.
Trust me on this.
The three people are going to look very stupid here.
So Sheriff Albers says he was called to the home shortly after 1 a.m.
He's called by Edward McDowellell who is the t chief of police
yeah the town's chief of police uh also in the house at this time are mcdowell's brother and
his sister-in-law who are james and linda mcdowell so they're in the house as well and
friends of theirs uh ron uh ron plucker and his wife, Darlene Plucker.
So the Pluckers are here.
His brother, his sister-in-law, and the Plucker family are all in attendance here.
So let's find out.
Father Plucker.
I was going to say, let's see what these mother Pluckers are doing here at 1 o'clock in the morning.
Why are people here with a dad?
And Barbara McDowell, obviously, who is no longer with us.
And the chief was at work or was he in the house also?
We'll get to he's there now.
When the sheriff arrives, that's who's in the house.
There's five people there.
So, well, six, if you count the deceased Barbara.
So six bodies, six.
Yeah, six humans are there.
Five of them are sentient at the moment.
Got it.
So the sheriff says that he found
barbara's body on the kitchen floor covered with a blanket yeah okay uh he said quote this is wow
quote i ascertained she was dead so which is really trying to squeeze some police lingo into
his work there makes him sound like i did policing things
five people are there and it's like like there's a party going on and she dies and like we'll just
put a blanket over her no need to get excited keep on going yeah another scotch and soda right
on buddy and he's pouring it here you go there's music still playing strobe light going on no this is uh i ascertained she was dead now normally like a
layman like you you could come in and you could try to find out if she's dead but that's not what
a trained professional no such as a show i ascertain her whether her status of death or
aliveness and that's a very professional thing to do see that's why they pay me and a professional
insight you see a blanket dead giveaway dead giveaway and someone hey you know what not
breathing blanket over on the floor hmm dead giveaway called the sheriff said she was dead
i figured out she was dead so he said and i only make fun of this guy because you'll see why.
He said, quote, and I noticed a little blood in her nostril.
All right.
So there was very little bleeding going on.
There wasn't a lot of blood around at all.
There's just a little blood in her nostril.
And so he said he lifted up her head and then he said a bunch of blood gushed out of the back of her head.
He has what he said, but he didn't see any wound he just said it like fell out like you know my it was magic blood i don't know what happened like it was like in the shine follicles yeah yeah like it was no source
of it it just it just flooded the hallway and these two little girls were there and it was i
don't know what happened you ever seen those rainfall shower heads? Kind of like that. It was a little like that. So he said that it gushed out and, yeah, no wound.
So according to him, she was wearing a sailor-style tie.
So I guess that's kind of the crossover.
Right.
She's a very conservative woman, Barbara, by the way, and she's got kind of conservative garb on.
A little ass.
Yeah.
This was pulled over her face so that the knot was between her eyes oh like
pulled kind of up you know what i mean like a tupac uh bandana yeah if you pulled your shirt
up like that and then your knot was there and then your sailor straps coming down which would
have been an interesting look for tupac how he decided to adopt it and if he lived you never
know you know he could have today could have went yeah could have went with like a sailor style tie as in the future who knows so he says quote i asked those present if
anyone had placed the tie over her face maybe out of respect for the dead they all said no one had
touched the body and ed who is the chief of police he said he had not touched the body at all yeah so
nobody's touched the body
so the coroner by the way let's i gotta give these people's names because of their wonderful work
here uh donald anderson and dr brad randall who was the sioux falls forensic pathologist there's
the one they're the ones that went looks like an accident to me they said this is the quote they
told albers quote mrs mcdowell might have hit her head on a stove handle after slipping on the throw rug.
That is their fucking Columbo.
We figured it out, everybody.
She slipped on the throw rug, hit her hand on the stove.
Well, we're sorry for your loss, sir.
We're all getting out of your house here.
Everybody go back to partying he then so the sheriff then uh he said that he looked at the stove handle and
it wasn't damaged at all okay now we've all had to have a stove in our house the handle's pretty
sturdy but if you hit your head on it hard enough to kill you it would probably damage the handle
of the should leave a dent yeah you know what i'm saying like
it's probably not as hard as your head i don't know i mean if you have an industrial i don't
yeah and if you put your head on it hard enough to to kill you you've got some you got a crack
there's an abrasion there should be some blood or some hair some sort of biological remnants on it
yeah it's not going to be a clean just blink and and then she's just dead, and you lift her up, and blood falls out of an unknown source.
It's a hell of a stove you got.
That's a strong stove.
It's a magic stove.
Is it a Sub-Zero brand?
What is that?
What is that, a Viking?
That's a nice one.
Ooh, boy.
Them Vikings are nice nowadays.
The Vikings, that's the thing.
That's why they call them Vikings, because the knobs have sharp edges on them. they're real sharp you you could kill with impunity with a viking that's
what you do that's that's why people have those in the house he said that uh this is the sheriff
the quote that handle would have bent before her head did i thought something stinks that's his
quote handle would have bent forehead did. I thought something stinks here. So he something. Really? You think so? Yeah. This is a stunningly barely competent police work.
should have said i told i'm i hit one like fucking i i played mo and i hit one like curly and one like larry and told me get the fuck out of my face you incompetent assholes then i called in the state
people to do something because these provincial local dickheads obviously don't know what the
fuck they're doing stupid idiots they thought the goddamn stove handle if he said that that
would be completely warranted and understood. Went to college for this shit?
For you to say that?
How dare you?
You call yourself a doctor?
I hope you paid your parents back, you sorry son of a bitch.
Dr. Pepper has more goddamn medical knowledge than you do.
I would rather make an appointment with Dr. Pepper, licensed gynecologist.
Dr. Schultz, Dr. Dre, any other doctor.
Anybody. And not even Dr. Dre like, you know dr dre dr dre dr dre from mtv right from yo mtv raps in the 80s him the fat one yeah
and ed lover i'd rather have ed lover look into this i don't care i feel like he'd have more
goddamn experience in this it's all a light-hearted nightmare on our podcast, Morbid. We're your hosts.
I'm Alina Urquhart.
And I'm Ash Kelly.
And our show is part true crime,
part spooky, and part comedy.
The stories we cover are well-researched.
He claimed and confessed
to officially killing up to 28 people.
With a touch of humor.
I'd just like to go ahead and say that
if there's no band called Malevolent Deity,
that is pretty great.
A dash of sarcasm and just garnished a bit with a little bit of cursing.
This mother****er lied.
Like a liar.
Like a liar.
And if you're a weirdo like us and love to cozy up to a creepy tale of the paranormal.
Or you love to hop in the Wayback Machine and dissect the details of some of history's most notorious crimes.
You should tune in to our podcast, Morbid. Follow Morbid on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.
You can listen to episodes early and ad-free by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on
Apple Podcasts. It's all a lighthearted nightmare on our podcast, Morbid. We're your hosts. I'm
Alina Urquhart. And I'm Ash Kelly. And our show is part true crime, part spooky,
and part comedy. The stories we cover are well-researched. He claimed and confessed to
officially killing up to 28 people. With a touch of humor. I'd just like to go ahead and say that
if there's no band called Malevolent Deity, that is pretty great. A dash of sarcasm and just
garnished a bit with a little bit of cursing. This mother****er lied.
Like a liar.
Like a liar.
And if you're a weirdo like us and love to cozy up to a creepy tale of the paranormal.
Or you love to hop in the Wayback Machine and dissect the details of some of history's most notorious crimes.
You should tune in to our podcast, Morbid.
Follow Morbid on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.
You can listen to episodes early and ad-free by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple
Podcasts. In May of 1980, near Anaheim, California, Dorothy Jane Scott noticed her friend had an
inflamed red wound on his arm and seemed unwell. She insisted on driving him to the local hospital
to get treatment. While he waited for his prescription, Dorothy went to grab her car to pick him up at the exit, but would never be seen
alive again, leaving us to wonder, decades later, what really happened to Dorothy Jane Scott?
From Wondery, Generation Y is a podcast that covers notable true crime cases like this one
and many more. Every week, hosts Aaron and Justin sit down to
discuss a new case, covering every angle and theory, walking through the forensic evidence,
and interviewing those close to the case to try to discover what happened. And with over 450 episodes,
there's a case for every true crime listener. Follow the Generation Y podcast on the Wondery
app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to Generation Y
ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. Now, this goes to show you, too, how little, like,
kind of death investigation that really goes on that's not standard. Oh, old lady died. Oh,
this guy had a heart attack. You know, that sort of shit in this area because they don't there's no expertise really here in this whole thing.
So he says the sheriff, he says, well, I need to question the husband here.
So I'm going to question him.
He asked him where he was and all of this type of shit.
And he also he says that Darlene Plucker was there.
Like we said, Ronald and Darlene Plucker, they're friends, and she's a very good friend of Barbara.
She said,
the sheriff said, quote,
Darlene was uncommunicative. She had
glassy-looking eyes. She was fidgeting.
She was nervous.
It's at this point where
Sheriff Albers says, I think
we should have an autopsy.
It's at this point that he finally takes
it all in now. Magical blood and stove handles and shit killer stove handles and magical blood
right so he gets uh he ends up doing that they take her in for an autopsy wouldn't you know it
wow uh they get her in there they do an autopsy wouldn't you know she had a damn bullet in her head
well i'll be yeah i thought it was the dang stove handle i was ready to close the case and put her
in the ground did they ask the chief of police what caliber stove handle they got that's the
thing yeah well they did actually they said they wanted to run on the said they're running
ballistics on that because they have that and there's a bunch of other stove handles in the neighborhood they want to take a look at.
They're going to bring everybody in for questioning and see who lines up with it.
Check the rifling on your stove.
I think that's the only way to do it.
I really do.
You have to.
I mean, you take them in there.
You got to take and beat it into the water.
The chief police only has a 22 caliber stove and and it's a.45 caliber wound, then
we got a problem. Well, it's a
small wound if they couldn't even see it. So I'm
going to have to go with maybe like a camper stove
could have been involved. Something like that. Something
very small that could have been
maybe hidden in a car trunk. A little Coleman stove.
Yeah, a little Coleman, a little one of those maybe.
I'm not sure. A little Coleman.25 caliber.
A little propane tank you screw on, one of those
bad boys. It's possible, I think.
We're going to check all the stoves in the neighborhood, though, and ask if any of the dishwashers or refrigerators have seen anything, really.
They're going to be our only witnesses, obviously.
There's a blender that we talked to.
He gossips a lot, and he's not dependable.
He does some drugs, drinks a lot, a lot of booze flowing through him, so he's not real dependable.
Bad gas travels fast in a small town.
We'll see.
So he said the autopsy revealed a small entry wound, quote, like you would get if you took something with a sharp point and poked.
Oh.
So a small entry wound.
They established a single bullet lodged in her brain right between her eyes like it got
it didn't get through the front of her skull to have an exit it just lodged kind of right there
so uh clearly from the back obviously um number one where the fuck was edward he's the husband
he's the chief of police where are you chief literally he said He said he was at the dog races that night betting on dogs.
By the way, this is actually believable because he is a fucking degenerate gambler.
This guy, by the way.
Oh, he's got not only that.
He's also we'll find out.
He's got some bookmaking going on.
He's got some he's deep into gambling shit he's an
idiot so he's uh betting on the dog races at the sodrak park he said he stayed until the end of
the 10th race but he did place a bet on the 11th race and then left before it started which who the
fuck does that who bets on something and you walk away i guess i don't know if it's like a like a
lotto ticket like you come in next time and just they run it through the scanner and see if you won last time or what but i feel like
there's a time limit on that kind of shit so but also that's a no luck shot that's crazy that's
really where he's i'm a shit better anyway that's when you know you're a degenerate when you know
you're not gonna win well i bet on it so it's not winning i guess i'll go home now i was gonna lose anyway
yeah never mind here he said that he left for the track about 7 p.m he stopped along the way
in jefferson south dakota to check on a dog racing track that on a race dog that he keeps there so
he's got a race dog there and we'll find out that when they picked it up and everything, too, because we get that. It was 11 o'clock when he left the racetrack.
He said he got to T about 1210.
He locked up the post office.
Was it wide open before midnight?
They're not open until midnight.
So I guess, well, that lady died, so I guess he's the only guy with keys now.
He's locking it up?
They just hand it from chief of police to chief of police now since that one lady died.
So he locked it up.
I did get a call last night, James, from the police here asking me if I left my garage door open at the rental that I used to live in that I no longer live in.
I was like, what?
Did you leave it open?
I don't fucking care.
They're like, we just got a call that your garage door is open.
I'm like, I don't even live there.
And they're like, all right, we'll lock it up for you i'm like wait what not
for me don't care do whatever you want he's like we do this a lot really you just run around
shutting people's garage doors for him that's it wow that's all that training for this that's
interesting there's a lot going on in phoenix i feel like they could put their energy into that
but it's a bit out of the norm.
That's a little odd.
I can see, like, an HOA, maybe.
You know, like some weird shit.
Some nosy lady that lives across the street or some old man who pierced her with wine.
Clearly somebody nosy.
Somebody nosy as fuck.
Someone, yeah.
I don't live there.
Don't really care.
Like I said, shit in there.
Do whatever you want in there.
Took a batch of meth in there for all I care.
I don't live there.
Do you have an enema that you could do in there?
Yeah.
That's a thing that I've heard about from somebody.
Buddy, I know.
I said you guys do that.
A guy.
Say a guy.
So he locks the post office.
He stops at the plucker home, the plucker abode, to have a cup of coffee. I guess they're friends. He's at midnight. He'sode to have a cup of coffee.
I guess they're friends.
And I'm still he's at midnight.
He's stopping by for a cup of coffee.
Now, Darlene Plucker is a good friend of Barbara's.
She's a business partner of Barbara's and everything else.
She says that she hadn't talked to Barbara that night at all.
Whatever.
She hadn't talked to Barbara that night at all, whatever.
Now, Ed and Barbara's daughter, Heather, was at the house staying the night at the Pluckers because they have a daughter, too.
So they were hanging out.
She's staying over there. So he stops by, has a cup of coffee.
His kids sleep in there.
She hasn't talked to Barbara.
They keep going.
So he had a couple of cups of coffee with Dlene and ronald and uh they talk about the
rate his race dog and the races that tonight you know what he did and all that shit not much going
on someone comes by with news of the racetrack and you're like oh sit down and have some coffee
by all means it turns in midnight it turns into goodfellas like when they came with you know
billy batts in the trunk to joe pesci's mother's house, it turns into that all of a sudden.
Oh, man.
Give me news of things happening, please.
Let me set the table.
Fuck.
But at this point in time, there's about 800 people in this town.
So it's a very small town.
So at about 1.10, he returns home, and that's when he found Barbara on the floor.
Finds Barbara on the floors.
Oh, my God, Barbara.
And he said he immediately called the Lincoln County sheriff and also telephoned his brother and the pluckers.
That's why they're there before.
I also love that the pluckers and the brother and sister in law roused in the middle of the night.
Mind you, have a better response time than the fucking sheriff.
Is that is that that's not good, right?
That seems backward.
That seems bad to a dead person.
Like, right.
What else is going on?
They must be checking garage doors all over that place because hold on.
Wait, there's a dead body.
You said, wait, I got a few garage doors open.
I need to check on and then we'll go get to the dead body and see what happened there.
They better live directly across the street.
Otherwise, they should be pulling up to, I don't know,
11, 12 cop cars with lights going.
With a crime scene tape.
He's over there going, I think she hit her head on the stove handle.
It took them hours to figure out that maybe we need an autopsy.
Everybody's going a little slow.
If this was the first 48, you'd be watching it going,
for fuck's sake
jesus like i'm by no more than this right so it's this is infuriating so uh anyway they
she said he says he did that and uh so they're looking into it uh now barbara let's talk about
barbara for a minute and kind of who she is and how this all happened. Barbara is Barbara Croteau McDowell.
Croteau is her maiden name.
C-R-O-T-T-E-A-U.
Croteau.
Croteau.
She was born June 27th, 1946.
So this is 11 days before her birthday.
She's found dead on the floor.
She's from Wisconsin.
She is the first child, oldest child, her parents are Bob and Marie.
She grew up in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, which is a lot of Wisconsin.
Wow.
Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin.
That's a lot.
It's a paper mill town, they say.
So they had a big paper mill back in the time.
Her dad was an insurance agent, and they were very, very Catholic.
She was brought up excessively Catholic, Catholic school, Catholic upbringing, very conservative.
And she's not a rebellious girl either, Barbara.
She goes along with it.
She's into it.
She's a good old-fashioned Midwestern girl back then.
She's born it. She's a good old-fashioned Midwestern girl back then. She's born in 46.
So this is pre kind of she's not like in high school during like hippie times or anything like that.
It's the early 60s.
She might have liked the Beatles and hid it from her parents and shit.
They're cute.
Oh, they're so cute with that hair.
So Lorraine Arnold, a friend of hers at Assumption High School, which is a pretty funny name for a high school.
I don't know.
That sounds like a makeout spot.
We're going to Assumption Point tonight.
Get up there and do some assuming.
Some assuming.
I'm going to make an ass out of somebody, boy.
I'll tell you what.
And you high five your friends.
that to somebody boy i'll tell you what and you high five your friends so uh she uh uh she says that uh uh you know she was a very conservative girl and uh you know not she didn't rebel at all
barbara graduates from high school in 1964 she goes to the university of wisconsin at stevens
point so she's in college from you know 65 66 67 and the world's changing a lot
here but she never did she was just always very she is 1950s going forward here yeah she uh they
said her roommate said that she was conservative she's uh she's also kind of naive she didn't like
like you know i don't. She wasn't real socially.
She wasn't a big, like, social butterfly going out and partying and things like that.
She didn't like, like, the music that everybody else liked.
She liked kind of, like, you know, old-fashioned stuff while everybody else was listening to, like, Bob Dylan and shit.
What happened when we used to describe guys as dreamy?
What is going on?
Yeah, this is so just.
What's this groovy and out out of sight what
are we doing elvis is still gorgeous isn't he he's still so cute i know he's put on a couple
pounds lately which is sort of weird but i mean he still got something i don't know what it is
just dreamy he's very dreamy like when a guy calls me his dream angel oh man i'm still so
sad about james dean you know he was just he was just so dreamy.
Whole life ahead of him.
Whole life.
Imagine what he'd look like now.
So at some point here in the late 60s or early 70s, I'm sorry, she meets.
Well, her car breaks down.
She has to take her car to a mechanic and she takes it to the shop and she meets a man there who is the
mechanic and uh he's gonna fix her up real nice if you know what i'm talking about oh yeah i've
seen pornos that start like this this is a this is the beginning of a porno except a very conservative
porno that would be very long because there'd be like eight dinners first and like a bunch of
other there's a lot of courting involved in this porn it's a slow burn porno minus the oral
it's a it's a slow burn and at the end you get like a four minute missionary position one yeah
covers over everybody and all the lights off so it's not quite you know it's not real dirty but
uh if that sort of thing gets you going yeah you're gonna love it it stays inside and then
there's a lot of apologize it's it's really good The next one in the series is two Hasidic Jews doing the same thing.
It's really just a very conservative group.
It's a conservative pornography series that they put together.
It's that.
It's very conservative.
A lot of back patting.
Yeah, it's very much just a lot of, you know, sometimes there's a marriage involved.
There's a wedding before it happens.
It's very much.
It's a lot. There's like wedding before it happens it's very much it's a lot there's like a series it's like twilight there's like six of them and then in the last one there's finally four minutes of missionary sex and that's it
so that no one enjoys it's called dare you to get a boner watching this yeah it's a it's a you
really got to keep it going.
I got to keep a half chub here through the whole thing.
It's going to be difficult for me because they're just eating dinner.
They're hanging out with their parents a lot.
That's boring.
I don't really want to see your father watch a football game.
Is there any not hot porn like that?
Because I kind of want to see that.
I think that's just called movies that are normal movies.
I think just normal movies that are yeah if you if you think
it's boring and then there's no fucking it's the movie we're describing that movie's called
million dollar baby not hot at all that movie's called yeah some fucking the piano there you go
something like that or that boring shit from the 90s yeah jesus christ that's just boring anyway
uh i tried to think of the most boring movie possible.
So he's a mechanic, takes care of a car, and he takes care of both rear ends, if you know what I'm talking about.
Now, Edward, he is born September 12, 1948.
He's two years younger.
He's born in Bells Hill, Scotland.
Oh.
So there you go.
A little accent.
Absolutely. He's also the oldest go. Little accent. Absolutely.
He's also the oldest child.
His father's a Scottish coal miner.
Oh, Jesus.
Something.
That's awesome.
Yeah.
That man's breath is flammable, James.
Imagine the yelling and the screaming at that.
You son of a bitch.
Just chasing people around.
It's just Mike Myers.
And so I married an axe murderer.
He keeps an addictive chemical in his chicken that makes you crave it fortnightly.
He's just like a son of a bitch.
And he's just beating the shit out of his kids.
I feel like I just picture this is how ignorant we are.
So I just picture literally a live action groundskeeper.
Willie, just angry, you know, in a constant state of rage could be drunk
could just be some odd scottish rage i'm not sure but normal weight fat bastard just more rageful
more rageful yeah but he can at the end of the day though if he's in a good mood plays the bag
pipe like an angel just knows how to do it it's a weird thing sits on the porch you know yeah just
he just sings him you're like oh wow that's that's beautiful and then if you tell him that he beats
the shit out of you with the bagpipes with just absolutely takes it by those whatever the hell
those things are those horns yeah beat you with the bag part that he keeps a brick in for situations
just like this you never know and someone's gonna come at you and you're playing the pipes.
That's why I put pool balls in it.
I broke him with the seven ball I did.
Made dust out of you.
I said cue ball corner pocket asshole
and I nailed him.
So he's, Jesus Christ.
So anyway, his mother is Mary McDowell, which sounds very Scottish.
And they they all are.
I'm sorry.
When he was a kid, he spent a lot of time with his father, who was a degenerative or degenerate gambler also at racetracks.
So that's how he grew up at the racetrack with his dad watching that.
And his mother said, quote,
this is a regular thing in Scotland with the guys.
That's just...
Just gambling.
That's what they do.
That's it.
So at 16, he came over with his family
to Chatham, New Jersey.
So he moved to New Jersey,
which is a very different place in Scotland.
And yeah, they came over here.
He works as an auto mechanic, which, you know, he's got an accent.
He's exotic for a mechanic, you know.
So he works as a mechanic for six years in New Jersey.
And then he gets out of that, and he's a security guard from 70 to 72.
And this is after he meets he gets out of he gets out of the relationship with or he gets out of mechanics right kind of after after he meets Barbara when she brings her car in.
So then he becomes a security guard, which gives him a an interest in law enforcement.
We'll say, oh, I could do this and probably get paid more and get benefits.
If I,
you know,
worked for the County or whatever.
So his family returned to Scotland in 1969,
but,
uh,
he,
he stayed behind.
And,
uh,
because he,
before he met Barbara,
he had gotten married.
So he's married over here.
And,
uh, apparently he um he would send his parents like tape recorded messages to scotland to you know that's about the most you could do
technologically in the 70s to long distance calls were very expensive it was cheaper to do that
and much cooler much more personal yeah it's cool to hear somebody talk. I mean, you can't talk back, but I guess you could answer.
So in his first marriage, he does have a son as well.
And you don't hear anything about him for the rest of the time.
So I don't know what the hell's up with him.
Really?
Has he lost touch with him or what?
But him and his wife get divorced in 1972 there.
And one of the grounds for divorce was that he was having an affair with another woman
and it's at this time right after the divorce in 1972 when he marries barbara lee creteau so
feel like that was probably the other woman um she was a librarian with the veterans administration
so she at the va yeah she is extremely i, she's just very she's a librarian.
I mean, she's a super conservative woman.
They met when I said when they had when he worked at the garage.
So he's known her for three years.
So I don't know if this affair has been going on for this long or.
And if so, how conservative is she if she's sleeping with a married man?
I don't know.
I mean, he might be that charming.
Who the fuck knows?
He might be lying.
She may not even know.
He might be lying.
Yeah, he might be leading a double life.
So they moved to Amarillo, Texas, where when Barbara gets transferred there with the VA, so he goes with her.
And he works as a mechanic there because you can always get a job as a mechanic if you're a mechanic if you have a skill like that it's a good thing so he
works there for about a year uh he works there i mean and then for about a year he's employed as a
technician at the hospital and i guess he's like a maintenance guy at the hospital so uh her mom
now barbara's mom said she's very shy and reserved until she gets to know people.
She did join a sorority in college, but she was still, you know, she was social, but she just needed to get to know people first.
She's not, you know, like that.
She's not super outgoing.
So she's had the job with the VA since she got out of college. It was like six months out of college.
And this is she she met they were
married on june 2nd 1972 uh she worked at the patient library uh which she would her thing
was reading to emotionally damaged vietnam veterans that oh that's amazing she would have
like uh she was treating ptsd before we knew what it was yeah by yeah reading to them and i don't
know trying to be make people comfortable, I guess.
And she did.
Her parents said she would be really drained by this, though.
This would emotionally.
Her dad said, quote, she got too involved with her patients.
Those boys were her own age and it got to her.
Sure.
So she got, which is understandable.
So she switched to the medical library.
She ended up getting a promotion. That's when they moved to uh amarillo they had a good relationship they were ever got
they got along well except they matched up did not match up sexually well at all that's the problem
they had um because he's yeah scotsman who drinks a lot and likes it oh he wants to yeah fun for him is you know
it's so what if i smack you a few times right it's all in good fun yeah no it's coming don't you
like no he's i don't know if it's like that or not but he said he told people that uh barbara
had had a bad experience in college oh no we don't know what what that
consists of but we can all use our imaginations and um at that so she didn't like sex even with
her with her husband because she was you know she probably needed some help there and he said that
he told her or told her he asked her to see a counselor and she didn't want to see a counselor because she didn't want to talk about it with a stranger, which is she's a very conservative person.
It's the early 70s.
This isn't this isn't now where you'd be like, what are you talking about?
It's someone, you know, they're trained for this is what you should do.
But back then, any kind of counseling was considered kind of out there anyway.
And then if you involve sex in it, too.
Oh, it's so dirty.
And someone who's been brought up to not think, you know, think that's okay which i've got to talk about that with somebody that
i don't know right you know yeah hard it was tell me to tell you you're my husband
exactly i just had to tell you because you wouldn't stop humping me and trying to t-bag me every night
so uh he said every time he brought up the subject to try to talk about it he said that
she would get very defensive about it so it never really got resolved just didn't really happen much
in 1975 she and eddie moved to sioux falls in south dakota and barbara began to do well
in the library services section of the VA here.
One of her department managers here said, quote, Barbara was probably the best, most
progressive medical librarian in the state.
I don't know what that consists of.
Good for her.
She really that her Dewey decimal is spotless.
I mean, it's spotless.
Really?
You can't even catch her in the rye with her eyes
closed she knows exactly where she can tell you what number it is right boom pow get the card
fucker get it this is old fiction non-fiction you can't fuck with her can't mess with her she knows
it all she knows it all she knows what is what she's got it all down she was one of the founders
of the south dakota health sciences library association and they said that she's got it all down. She was one of the founders of the South Dakota Health Sciences
Library Association. And they said that she's her one of her fellow librarians described her as a
methodical, precise perfectionist. So there's that. Her career developed. Her friend said Barb
definitely wanted the power. She wanted to run things in the association, but she was in the best position to do it.
I respected her abilities and ideas.
So she's a smart, professional woman who's got some issues in her private life.
Whatever.
There it goes.
So she's a person.
She's a complicated, normal person here.
So one of her ideas was to develop patient information facilities at medical
libraries and it wasn't a big thing at that time and she did this and apparently it helped everybody
out a lot uh one of her friends said she was the best supervisor ever she's terrific uh she even
had cancer in 1979 oh my god that you know that's what what is she 32 or something at that
point she's like the first one to get it yeah she has cancer and she has to have a surgery
a successful surgery but they said like her people at work and stuff said they barely noticed it she
didn't even like make a big deal out of it it wasn't she was just you know took a day off to
have the surgery and then she was back and plowing right through it no complaints didn't hear shit about it meanwhile today people
like have a spot removed from their forehead and they and they change their twitter bio to cancer
survivor yeah it's no it's true and this woman goes out for a surgery comes right the fuck back
you wouldn't have a clue no she didn't give a shit she didn't
care she was just like i got library shit to do you know what i mean i gotta stack these books
my cancer is very unimportant at this point so yeah i don't understand i don't understand that
at all yeah she's a different it's a different kind of person i think also just you know kind
of a grin and bear it type of uh attitude rather than a, you know, not grin and bear it, but grin and tell everybody in the world about it all the time.
Every possible every possible digital setting that I could that I could muster.
So she's the chief medical librarian at one point here.
Janine Elif Elifson.
at one point here uh janine elif elifson um now she's a woman who worked with uh uh edward obviously barbara's husband in 1975 and she thought it was really weird in 75 just to go back to
edward here uh she worked with him and she answered the phone and she said that he got tons of calls from various women all the time edward
at the job and so she ellison asked him if he had a good marriage and he told her that he was you
know uh that he was married to his wife it did help him get citizenship plus her paycheck he
thought uh you know that that all that sort of thing had helped. So he liked that about her.
Basically, he told her that he wasn't really into her, which sounds like a dude who's trying to fuck this girl. And he's like, I mean, you know, you just were together.
But I'm not.
I'm free to kind of, you know, wet my beak here and there.
Yikes.
You know, I'm free to teabag around as I please.
He just rattled off all the reasons that dudes are awful to women.
She has good money.
She she got me my citizenship and uh i fuck everybody else yeah maybe maybe he said that uh he said maybe down
the line i'll get rid of her though that's what he told her so she said well what do you mean by
that he said that rather than you know i'll get a divorce or whatever he said well maybe she'll
have a hunting accident. Who knows?
Oh, my God.
That's what he said.
So she was like, okay, that's an interesting thing.
I'll mark that in my diary for later.
Yeah, right.
All those words in a row.
Yeah.
He'll say later on that he meant to joking around.
Obviously, I was just kidding around.
That's how we get up here.
But it didn't feel like a joke at that time from what she said in 1975 um barbara and
edward have a daughter that's born so they had to have some sex clearly at some point yeah at least
once um and uh that's their daughter heather and uh he says that it was total accident the whole
thing that's what he said yeah not like we were trying i must
have knocked her up i don't know i fell down and some i did that thing out where you put your penis
inside a woman uh until uh things happen and then accident you would think that but to be honest i
feel we was just barbecuing and then the next thing you know i don't know how it happened maybe the heat from the grill or something but i'm suspicious i'm calling weber i'm gonna see i didn't i threw the instructions
away i don't know what the warnings are there was fire inside this box i put meat on it it came out
it was done i'm calling weber there's a problem where's the problem here i shouldn't knock my
wife up right so he said though he told um know, he still wasn't satisfied sexually or anything like that.
From 76 to 78, Edwards sold life insurance for an insurance agency in Sioux Falls.
So there must be a big insurance, like it must be a big hub of insurance shit up there because there's still, remember I said in the beginning, all the insurance jobs there.
There must be a headquarters for places are there something he didn't like it though as
i mean you're not gonna have fun selling fucking insurance that's not a fun job it's not exciting
the stories of why you have to cut a check are probably exciting but if you're interesting if
you're in the in the appraisal business not fun fun. Not so great. So in 1978, he gets hired as a police officer for the town of Hartford, South Dakota.
So there you go.
1979, the couple, the McDowells, they move to T, the town of T.
And at the time, he was still working for the Hartford PD.
But after about a year and a half, he gets hired on as the chief of the T police
wow so Edward has really he's come up he's the chief of the but there's like I said there's
like 700 something people here at this point so it's not like it's you know a giant huge job but
still it's a lot of responsibility that's a that's an immigrant that came to this country and
yeah followed his followed everything to this. This is pretty good.
Yeah, that's the thing.
And Barb, at this time, 1979, when they moved there, this is the time where she underwent her cancer treatment and all of that.
So she moved and had a cancer treatment and her husband switched jobs.
There's a lot going on.
She's pretty stoic.
I understand that anybody who's paid attention to the media
would have to come to the conclusion
that I killed my wife
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Though her younger sister said, quote, even in the hospital, Barb was always more concerned with
how other people were getting along. That's that's how she is. So now he's hired in March of 81 as the police chief.
And the same day, another person's hired in that office as the town's finance officer.
What's her name?
Darlene Plucker.
That's our friend Darlene Plucker.
So he also met a woman named Shelly Amato, who was the finance officer when he was a police officer there. And in 1981, this is before Plucker came in,
he had a little thing going on with a motto.
We don't know if it was a sexual thing, but at least a friendship.
I feel like it had to be only a penis.
Only love of a penis could make somebody do this,
or love of a sexual organ of some kind, either gender or whatever you like.
In 1981, he got her to force forge his
wife's name on a loan application if women are doing that for you for you not only are you
fucking them you're fucking them correctly at that point if you're doing that for you
a bad fuck no one's doing that for a bad light it's not happening you got you are really laying
down some business you're doing exactly what they like.
Yeah, they're like, I'll forge your wife's name on an insurance document.
They've been looking for whatever it is that you do.
They've been looking for it for a very long time.
It has to be.
It's the only explanation.
And he also had an affair with a Barbara Reinstroffer, who we'll talk about.
affair with a barbara reinstraffer who we'll talk about he she's the woman who gets the uh finance officer job after darlene plucker moves on to another position so holy hell whoever's in that
chair he's just like well i guess i'll be putting it in her mouth now like i don't know what this
guy what kind of what kind of like magic thing does he have he's got a coxman i don't yeah it's the weirdest shit these women
just fall all over themselves for for him and we'll talk about they do things for him that
you wouldn't expect it's certainly not the accent because we know a guy who has the accent no he
can't it's harsh the women run from him they literally make a face they wince and they go oh
god they'll walk up and he's like you're pretty
and they're like oh i like your tits what what'd you say to me
like a scottish guy asking a woman out sounds like a threat
you want to go out sometime it's like oh my god i don't think i um are we gonna fight like do it should i be afraid
of this what are you gonna do to me if we do like that's what we've seen in a yeah in action it's
abrasive it's they're they're and then there's like one or two women here there that are like
i just they love it you know they're really turned on by it but then the other ones are just like
whoa what the fuck is wrong with him the girls it's hilarious. The girls that would end up fucking him, he'd tell me stories.
I'm just, I was horrified by the things.
Oh, yeah, they were.
Horrified.
Not just that, his relationships that he'd have with these women.
He'd be like, so I woke up tied to a tree in the park with no pants on.
And I'm like, what?
I don't know, man.
It's what she likes to do when you're like, what the fuck are you talking about?
This is an actual story he told me. He woke up tied to a tree with no pants on like fucking
danny devito and always sunny when he's stuck in the playground thing that's what happened
there with this guy the type of dude we're talking about yeah great guy fucking a girl
handed him a dildo with dog teeth marks in it and he goes yeah i was like what happened he goes i fucked
her with it i'm like why what are you talking about why didn't you leave why didn't you say ew
that's not being tied to a tree with no pants on is not a deal breaker jimmy what are you thinking
that's just dog teeth marks it was still fine yeah she's like he's like shouldn't ask me to
fuck myself with it i mean what do i that's what she wanted that's her it's her business what are you doing man it's a little
abrasion i don't know so she said it's like reverse studded you know how that goes
he says uh jesus christ where the hell are we now? I don't know. I'm back on track. No, we're both. Yeah, this is it's fun.
I don't care.
So anyway, Edward, people like him.
He's well regarded by the police officers.
A patrolman that works with him said that, quote, he was a good policeman.
And he even said he organized.
Edward did a group of area lawmen, quote, lawmen who met monthly to discuss law enforcement techniques and new things
they might have learned so a little quorum to get together that's nice and he uh mcdowell even
talked about running for sheriff of lincoln county and that's mr albert's job that we talked mr
that genius sheriff that came over i don't know if a stove handle can kill a woman
um just jumped right out and got her.
So he's generally thought to be a good policeman.
The only thing about Edward is he's also flashy.
He's got a big Ford Thunderbird that's flashy, one of those late 70s ones.
My grandmother had one of those.
It's about six miles long.
It is fascinating how those cars went from two-seat midget cars, you know what I mean, to this enormous fucking boat, and then they started shrinking it back down, and then people wanted nothing to do with them, and they quit making it.
No.
My grandmother had the Diamond Jubilee Edition.
It was like a 78.
It was the biggest fucking car.
When you closed the door, it sounded like a giant bank vault closing. It was like the... You heard all sorts of things grabbing and hooking metal.
It was huge.
Yeah.
Very big car.
And orange also.
You got to make that car big to fit the word Thunderbird on it.
Yeah.
Diamond Jubilee.
It was just down the side.
It was all the way.
It said Thunderbird Diamond Jubilee from taillight to
taillight it fit that's it all fit on there this thing was enormous and bright orange so there's
that also he uh he had that and also he was uh involved with a lot of different women and all
this sort of thing and he liked to gamble yeah and uh all the other officers, whether it was admiringly or some derisively, they all called him Fast Eddie.
That was his name. It's Fast Eddie, which we know from crime and sports is not a good nickname.
It's not a positive thing to be called. No.
So by 1983, a close friend of Barbara and also a co-worker, she said Barbara appeared to be depressed much of the time the last you know through this 82 83
which i mean her husband's nickname is fast eddie and she's a conservative religious you know
veterans librarian like you could imagine why things might be bad she's married to fast eddie
and she doesn't even like sex no she doesn't even like sex and well maybe it's good that he's fast
eddie anyway if he was slow,
Eddie's not good either.
If he'd taken his time,
Eddie,
I don't think she would like it much.
Probably really romance and Eddie.
She calls him.
At least he gets it over with quick Eddie,
which is a less,
you know,
it's not as bad from her.
So he,
her friend said,
quote,
I just figured it was financial.
She walked with her head down a lot.
She was more withdrawn.
She didn't say what was bothering her about Barbara.
She said that she never spoke of any unhappiness in her marriage with her friends.
She's very private about that sort of shit.
She would never divulge that information to her friends.
She thought that her daughter and things like that were important to her and that seemed to be
okay.
She would kind of got back into the church a little bit when her daughter
got into communion.
She kind of,
since she married Eddie,
she kind of drifted away from religion a little bit.
Right.
And then when her daughter,
yeah.
Yeah.
And then when her daughter did her communion,
then she got involved in it and,
uh,
she volunteered to help set up a library for the church.
And she got she got all involved in shit like that.
And nobody was ever allowed to say anything bad about Eddie as well.
Her friend said, quote, she was very protective of him.
She always seemed concerned about him.
Yeah. So, yeah, she like is his like she she's the shepherd and she's trying to bring him back to the flock always
and that's her i feel like that's her goal here and uh i can fix him and it's not it's not working
so let's talk about this mother plucker over here uh darlene plucker again we'll talk about she
and edward became close friends and they became close friends after she started working for him.
And mostly from what she says is because in August of 1980, she had to have a surgery and have her colon removed.
Oh, no.
Darlene Plucker.
Yeah.
So she wore, you know, a bag.
Yeah.
So she had no colon, for Christ's sake.
bag yeah so she had no colon for christ's sake um and basically uh from what she told edward that basically her husband could not accept her as a woman after this and didn't want to have sex
with her anymore and they just became roommates and he was disgusted by her and didn't want
anything to do with her physically anymore yikes so that's tough man yeah that's that's brutal
that sucks for her so she um she ended up getting the job at the City of Tea, and she said that Edward was very emotionally supportive about this whole ordeal.
Very emotional.
Yeah, he confided to her as well that that's very funny that you bring up the fact that your husband doesn't want to bang you.
You know who doesn't want to bang me?
My wife.
So we have a real common thing here.
Let's talk about it.
Yeah.
And it doesn't take long before they're plucking it up all over the place.
August of 81, they began a sexual relationship that lasts a long time,
and it keeps going on.
And also, the sexual relationship spills over into a financial and business relationship as well, where Darlene Plucker would loan Edward money from her personal accounts as also and also from the business account, which they she had with with Barbara McDowell.
Oh, my God.
So she's stealing money from
barbara to give to him to fuck off it's really it's a weird thing yeah so she said they uh this
whole thing happened here uh her uh her relationship started with him and uh she said he was a good
friend at a time in my life when i really needed a male friend, which I don't know what the difference would be other than you want somebody to be there for you.
And also, you know, and also have some dick there as well, which I understand.
So she said that it began in a Sioux Falls motel on August 4th, 1981.
And within a few months, though, he was asking her for money. She said he said that someone was blackmailing, and then she was forging loans in Barbara McDowell's name,
and finally writing checks on the account of Elite Uniforms, which was a business jointly owned by Ronald, Darlene, and Barbara McDowell.
So she was embezzling money from there.
Now, by the spring of 83, he started just asking her for money to pay gambling debts at this point.
He stopped with the stories about blackmail and all that shit.
He's like, look, I fucking lost at the track.
All right.
The ponies didn't the ponies didn't do what I wanted.
Pony up, honey.
That's they just went to that.
Yeah.
She said, quote, always one more bookie.
No matter how bad I needed the money, he needed it worse.
So that was that.
She said that Edward had a, quote, hypnotic effect on her.
Hypnotic.
It sounds like he has that on everybody.
He's like he just sways his cock around in a circle and just hypnotizes these women.
Quote, he'd always say the right thing to make me feel on top of the world.
But in the same breath, he could make me feel that there was nothing worth living for.
He could make me feel so low.
And the only way to feel high again was to do what he said.
He could have ran a cult, this fucking guy.
He better be hot as fuck, James.
I'm going to be furious.
You'll be furious when you see him.
Put it that way.
No, he's not.
So this is exactly what the young ladies used to say about Charles Manson.
Exactly what they used to say about him.
So it's pretty funny, like almost exact quotes.
She said that he didn't, and people didn't even have, while this is all going on, he's doing a good job at work.
The mayor described him as, quote, an adequate chief.
Not outstanding, but adequate.
So he's fine.. So he's fine.
Yeah.
Yeah, he's fine.
Also, they said that Darlene isn't like his wife, Barbara, either.
She's a very outgoing person.
The fire chief said that she sometimes asked other men to dance because her husband didn't like dancing.
This was like a whisper whisper.
She's dancing with people.
They're dancing. I mean, after after that what comes out of talking they're gonna be talking next time and then what anything could happen right having dinner and then you know what's happening next
they're moving around their genitals are all just aligned up like that it's just like it's just like
sex it's the same thing movement genitals everything we don't play one-on-one basketball around these parts either because it's just too sexual too many it's just too
it's too sexual too many genitals you could and what are you gonna do post up then what happens
that's genital own own ass crack that's pole to hole right there that's what that ain't gonna work
pal so uh throughout uh um 82 and on through 83 he Edward, is spending more money than he's earning.
And so he would get loans, like we said, and all this sort of shit.
So at some point, he says, look, this is what we need to do, obviously.
Between, obviously, we need to be together, me and you, Darlene.
You know, I love you.
You're the best.
And then on top of that, you know, we need like a need like a one time cash infusion here to really just settle all the debts.
And then we can start over.
Yeah.
With a new life, obviously.
Clean slate at that point.
So he says, tell you what, let's kill Barbara.
OK, let's do that.
Me and you.
What do you say?
Yeah, let's do it.
Me and you and the stove will involve the stove.
No, no stove.
So he said, this is what we're going to do.
He and Darlene, you know, put this together, devise it themselves.
They're going to exchange her medication.
Okay.
They're going to switch out her medication.
She has a vested retirement account and a $100 life insurance policy from her employer.
So he will get paid pretty well.
And so what
she does is
she has a
she takes a prescription.
Barbara. She takes
Synthroid, which is
used to treat an underactive thyroid.
And it's
apparently she needs this or else she will
be very ill and possibly die like her thyroid's that fucked up so this is a very important thing
their plan is to substitute her synthroid for brevicon which is a birth control pill
which will not do shit for her her thyroid and will probably make her die. Really?
That's what they're hoping for.
That's the outcome here. So Plucker gets a three-month supply of Brevicon to switch it out to see if this will work
and all this sort of shit.
Now, this was to maintain her hormone balance, and I don't know if it would kill her to not
have it, but she said that Brevicon tablets have an appearance like Synthoid tablets.
And we don't know if it ever ended up happening or if that would have worked or what the fuck.
But that never ended up going down.
They got them.
They got them as far as getting the birth control pills, but never executed it.
They're like, that's I mean, that's clean.
OK, this is the thing here.
You're going to kill somebody. You know, that's I mean, that's clean. OK, this is the thing here. You're going to kill somebody.
You know, that's the cleanest way.
I will poison her.
She'll slowly die and she'll just drop dead.
There's no blood.
There's no spatter or anything like that.
It's, you know, oh, look, I'm very sad.
My wife was sick.
She had cancer a few years ago.
You know how it goes.
So all of that.
But when that doesn't work, you go, you know what?
Let's go other end of the spectrum.
Let's go other end of the spectrum. Let's go other end of the spectrum.
How about I beat her to fucking death with a hammer?
What do you say about that?
Which is, you can't get a more opposite way of murdering someone than from that to that.
Unless you try the Brevacon thing and it doesn't work and you're just frustrated.
You're so angry.
Yeah.
He just went, no, no, no.
A hammer's the way to go about it.
It's different.
It's different.
He said he'll hit her over the head
and make it look like a household accident.
Yeah.
That's what he'll do.
Hang in a picture, and the picture fought back.
He said that he told Darlene once back in the day,
I hit Barbara in the head with a hammer while she slept, but not hard enough to kill her.
Apparently, he just whacked her in the head with a hammer and then was like, huh?
And she was fine, I guess.
No.
And went on with their lives.
She said that she later complained of severe headaches for about a week after that.
She got fucking racked and her skull was probably fractured for Christ.
And I feel like I have like brain fluid leaking into my. for about a week after that. She got fucking racked, and her skull was probably fractured, for Christ's sake.
And I feel like I have brain fluid leaking into my... You drilled her with an east wing
and then just stood there?
Stood over.
What are we talking here?
Framing?
Framing hammer?
Ball peen?
What is it?
Attack hammer?
Did she see the waffle marks on her fucking...
She wish she would have known.
Was it one of the little pink ones?
Because that...
Yeah, those aren't going to do any damage. That's not's not gonna do anything was it a ball peen that's gonna fuck
you up yeah so this didn't work here uh and so yeah so that didn't work that time so they said
let's do the hammer thing um plucker purchased a hammer for him you know you can't be seen buying
hammers over here he said he was gonna hit her on the head and make it look, because she got dizzy spells sometimes, because of her hormones.
So he said he was going to hit her on the head, make it look like it was a dizzy spell, and have her tumble down the stairs.
She gets to the top of the stairs.
He whacks her.
She falls.
It's like the staircase case.
So that's the plan here.
We're going to rock a staircase type of action.
And boom, she's going to go down the stairs.
And they'll never know the difference between a hammer blow to the skull.
With this fucking crack medical staff, they probably wouldn't.
Right.
She had a gunshot wound.
They're like, I think she might have slipped on the throw rug and hit her head on the stove.
She's got a gunshot wound.
Did anybody check if there is antifreeze in the house?
She may have consumed it.
I feel like, yeah, that's very poisonous now.
People don't realize that.
Is there a carbon monoxide detector hooked up right now?
Because from what I've heard, fucking idiots.
So the second plan with the hammer here, she purchases the hammer.
He's going to do that.
And he said, look, we need a new hammer because I'd use uh, she purchases the hammer. He's going to do that. And he said,
look,
I'd use,
we need a new hammer cause I'd use the old hammer in the house.
But,
and this is,
we never get killers that actually think about shit like this.
So the chief of police should know investigative techniques and what to
avoid.
So he actually did.
He said,
if we,
if I hit her with the old hammer,
they're going to be able to pick rust particles out of the wound and match that shit to my hammer so not good that ain't going to be a good thing so let's
not do that so um this is all starts to be a plan but it never takes place they never execute
operation hammer smash never goes on too many plans that they haven't executed already right
now the two of them should go you know
this is complicated and awful we should not this is really silly that's right that's the thing
so the pills don't work the steel tea bag doesn't work either that fucking plan doesn't happen
either and uh so they go to a third plan here's a third plan you can't go to third time's a charm it's enough guys it's enough
fucking you know right you got enough plans if the first two don't work yeah that's it give it up
already i mean we're gonna they're very different the third plan is kind of a meat in the middle
between bashing her with a hammer and giving her uh medication so this involves uh a gun this time
now this might be the stupidest thing I've ever heard.
He said, we're going to murder her in the kitchen.
And he says, tell you what, you, Darlene, meet me behind the house.
And this is what we're going to do.
He meets her behind the house and he gives her what he calls the, quote, old city gun, which is the property of the city of T and is kept in a safe in the police station.
It's just an old gun that they have, extra gun that they have that they keep locked up in there.
It's not like a term for like a rifle of some sort.
It's just the old city gun.
He said that this is the perfect thing to use because they'll never suspect it.
It's right under their noses.
They'll never go check the ballistics of it because it's way back there.
Also, they wouldn't need a fucking warrant to because it belongs to them.
You stupid fucking idiot.
That's the other thing.
You know, you have no access to it.
Also, you can't get rid of it because then it's fucking missing and it's obvious.
So you've really kind of backed yourself in a corner with this trying to be overly clever.
I feel like you idiot so groundskeeper willie over here says he's gonna do that
and he said will you uh come to my house and shoot my wife he says to darlene come over and
shoot her with this gun would you he said i can't do it myself if i do it myself i'm obviously gonna
be the first suspect i mean i've been banging you I've been banging this one. I got they call me Fast Eddie, for Christ's sake.
I got a lot going on.
Who's her husband, Fast Eddie?
Well, let's look at him first.
I feel like he said, I'll tell you what.
Let's sweeten the deal a little bit.
Let's do this.
He said as a, you know, to show that I'm not such an asshole and I'm not a lazy guy.
You kill my wife.
And then in the future, if you want me to, I'll kill your husband.
Chris Cross.
Yeah.
That's it.
Chris Cross.
That's all.
What do you say?
He goes, not now, but like on layaway.
Like if you want it down the line.
If not, no worries.
But in like 87, if you're like, you know what?
Fuck Ronald.
I'll go over and I'll off him.
No problem.
You got yourself a fast steady gift card, my dear.
This is, that's it. it yeah that's all it is it's good for any amount of time really as long as i'm
physically able to do it so uh in may and june he keeps explaining to darlene that killing his wife
has advantages with if they do it with the gun it's got a lot of advantages this is the way we
can do it i'm telling you it's gonna work You're talking about it for a month. Finally, they finalized June 15th, 1983.
We're doing this shit.
We're doing it.
He's super in debt, being hounded by creditors.
His ex-wife is on him for child support.
He's got bookies looking for him.
He's got a lot of financial pressure.
He's written several bad checks recently as well.
So he's got a lot floating around.
He really needs a cash infusion here.
All sorts of gambling activities.
Just a fucking disaster.
Darlene had quit her job as the city finance officer and decided to run for the city council.
That's Darlene's plan.
She's going to be a politician right after she shoots the chief of police's wife.
No problem.
She's got to be shitting her bag right now. chief of police his wife right no problem she's
gotta be shitting her bag right now she is really that's when she's scared boy you can you know it
you can hear you can tell so uh he decides that he at one point uh earlier to this he's going to
be a bookie himself him and his uncle are going to be bookies, the chief of police. Yeah. He needed capital, and he said, this $100,000, I can get out of debt.
Not only that, I can get on my feet with a bookmaking operation because that's just the perfect job for a degenerate gambler.
Right.
It's like if you're a huge coke head, you should probably sell coke because that'll work out great.
You'll make a lot of money.
He could use a good call-in to Dave Ramsey to discuss this.
Yeah, I feel like he needs a lot of help, Jimmy.
This is this is outside of radio talk show expertise here.
He needs he needs a team.
This man, he needs like a whole thing going on, a whole company that's thinking about nothing but how to figure his bullshit out.
At minimum, he needs a dave ramsey book yeah he needs like uh like tom hagan from the godfather that just like handles
all his affairs you know i only handle one client so he decides that so june 15th 83 about 2 p.m
he uh edward picks plucker up and uh you know she he says that, listen, you got to kill my wife today. Seriously.
I know we talked about it like this is, you know, let's get it together. He says, if you don't,
I got two choices. I either got to leave and go somewhere else. I got to run away or I got to kill
myself. Those are my only options. So either way, I'm not going to be around you anymore. So,
you know, if you want me to be here, you got to kill my wife.
Other words, I'm going to.
Otherwise, I'm going to sing Freebird and ride off into the sunset.
That's all it is to it.
You're never going to see me again.
I got two options.
And neither of them, you see me.
No.
Yeah.
Both of them are bad for you, sweetheart.
And I'm thinking of you here.
The third one is kill somebody.
What?
And then we'll be together.
And then, well, later, after i kill your husband in a
few years but eventually it'll all work out so she says she tried to talk him out of it but she
couldn't because he was so desperate and and you know she said she got in an emotional state
and uh he was so persuasive she couldn't help it he she said he loaded the city gun
and uh showed her how to shoot it showed her how to fire she
didn't know how to fire a fucking gun she never fired one before um and told her shot one is
gonna be into somebody's head yes showed her how to fire you pull it back pulled like a don clemenza
with uh you know al pacino in the basement where she's like hey you know this one prints and
teaching her how to murder showed her how to shoot it showed her where to shoot her, hey, you know, this one prints and teaching her how to murder. Showed her how to shoot it. Showed her where to
shoot her. This is what you want to do.
Really gave her the whole, a little
tutorial, you know, as you do.
Yeah.
He said, look, I'll have an alibi.
That's important for me. I'll have an alibi
which is I'm going to go to the dog track
so everybody sees me. I have racing slips.
Says what time the races were.
Best alibi ever.
He said that after this, Darlene says, he told her, when you're done, hide the gun, take a shower, and wash your clothes so you get all the gunpowder residue off of it.
Again, police officer knows this shit.
So about 10 p.m.
This is fucking amazing.
And one of the few times this has ever happened.
About 10 p.m.
Darlene goes over to the McDowell house.
How does she get there?
She rides her bicycle.
Carrying a city gun.
She had.
How wicked which is the last.
He had loaded the gun for her and hit it in a cowboy boot.
So she rode over there on a bicycle holding a cowboy boot with a gun in it, which that's not suspicious or anything.
What you got in the boot, ma'am?
I mean, that's that's just amazing.
And rides over there with playing in the background.
So Darlene asked Barbara if she would make some coffee.
Hey, would you make some coffee?
And we'll put it in Darlene's words.
We'll let her tell the story of how it went from there.
She arrived there.
She walked in, greeted Barbara, and that's how it worked.
She said, quote, I said something like, let's have a chat,
or how about a cup of coffee, something to get her over to the sink.
She walked over to the sink and that put her back to the stairs just like it was supposed to happen.
We'll talk about it.
He he talked about maybe from the stairs, maybe here would be a good angle.
That way you can you can anchor the gun so you can doesn't shake because you're going to be shaky so you can lean in on the banister and shooter.
This is like the plan that they got going on.
So he she says, quote, I walked straight past the table into the living room.
I took the gun out of my boot.
She was looking down into the sink.
That's what I must have walked up behind her and put the next thing.
The gun was up to her head very close.
There was a huge noise.
My ears were ringing. She went very close there was a huge noise my ears were ringing she went limp
there was a thump i took a i took one leap over her and went out the door so she just went up and
shot her in the back of the fucking head she said she quickly pedaled home which your escape thing
is a bike which is we've had a guy try to escape on a tractor one time which was
ridiculous but a bicycle is really we've had guys kids on a dirt bike i want to say we've had a lot
of shit but a grown woman riding her bike home with her cowboy boot and her gun after murdering
another grown woman is really just disturbing cowboy boot holster jesus christ cowboy boot
holster that makes it real cumbersome to carry a weapon
if you gotta drag it around in a boot that's what i mean it's a lie you should have just put it in
like a basket doesn't she have a basket on that thing put it in a little like a grocery bag
something put it where toto basket picnic basket that would have been nice you know
picnic basket with a lock on it yeah well i feel like the picnic basket. That would have been nice. So Toto was in, wasn't it? A picnic basket
with a lock on it?
Yeah.
Well, I feel like
the picnic basket's nice
because you can take the gun
and you can take a sandwich
for later, too,
in case you need it.
Like, you know,
any kind of supplies you want.
Nice baguette and some cheese.
You never know.
A bottle of wine
you could fit in there.
Who knows?
So she pedals home
and she hides the gun,
Darlene does,
under the front seat
of her car,
which is a terrible hiding place for a gun.
She said that at that point, Edward telephoned her from a truck stop near the T exit on Interstate 29.
It's about 11.45 p.m.
And Mrs. Plucker here, Darlene, says that Edward told her to wash her hands with gasoline to get that way that when they do the test to see if you fired one, it won't come up.
Gasoline.
Take a bath and make sure you wash your hair because you'll get residue will go in your
hair.
A very long bath.
Have you ever gotten gas on you?
That takes for fucking ever to get that smell to go away.
Here's another thing.
What the fuck is Ronald doing?
Her husband.
I'm going to go ride my bike. And then when she gets home i'm gonna take an hour-long shower where do we
keep the gas can what the fuck kind of thing is that when you come home yeah no i need to i need
to wash my hair with gasoline right now what why are you okay honey no just i need to do it okay
where do we put it okay sure bicycle makes me sweat it's yeah the only thing that makes
me feel clean is gasoline i don't know what it is so i need to feel flammable to be clean
so i need that nice static feeling when i get it on you know how it is yeah don't light a cigarette
around me she said edward arrived around her house shortly after midnight and put uh the murder weapon in his own car he
took it at that point and uh so she said uh uh she showered put on a robe washed her clothes like he
had told her to begin with and she said she couldn't settle down she said she moved the gun
from her garage to her car and quote may have moved it several times after that as well she
was just like running around the, moving it to different places.
Like, just in a panic.
Oh, my God.
Didn't know where to put it.
When he finally got there, it was back in her car again,
which it had been in her car and out of her car and then back in her car again.
She thought about it and moved it and then decided, no, no, that's the best place.
Yeah.
She found a scenario in her head where somebody will stumble upon that weapon where it is.
So then she moved to somewhere else.
Then found another scenario.
Not there.
And then just back to the front seat of the car.
You're better off taking a spoon, going into the yard and digging a tiny hole and putting
dirt over it.
That's better than your front seat of your car.
Put it in a knot in an oak.
Yeah. There you go.
Just stick it in there.
So according to Darlene, this all was going on.
He gets over there.
They have coffee, remember we said.
They're talking.
And oh, the racetrack and the dogs and all this shit.
This is, you know, Ronald's like, oh, everything's fine.
Just a guy having coffee here at midnight talking about normal stuff.
Oh, my wife reeks of gasoline.
Nothing abnormal here.
Nothing to see here.
Shortly after this, he's there.
He leaves at about one o'clock.
He goes over there.
Boom.
Finds Barbara on the floor.
The sheriff comes over going, hmm, this might have been a forensic pathologist saying looks like an accident.
Should we bury her
oh my god so um uh this is how this uh went down like we said earlier when he found her
so she's dead this is all going on there's an affair there's a weird there's all this
shit going on the town is just a a titter with scandal it's just. And they don't know who did it,
but he's not even really a suspect, Edward.
He was at the dog track the whole time.
So everybody just feels bad for him.
Yeah, it's at this point,
but there's an article here from the Argus,
was the Argus something from South Dakota,
Argus leader in South Dakota here.
And this article says, quote,
murder is a foreign word to the residents of this
town of 800 no one can even
remember the last killing even the
sheriff is not sure there ever has been one
that's a bad sheriff
you should know your murders
he's not so yeah
they said it's it's big time
the sheriff or this is mayor
Woody Schroeder he says quote
there are a number of Quincy's in this town who have it all figured out.
Quincy is an old show, like a 70s show about a detective, I guess.
I thought Quincy was a doctor.
Yeah.
Medicine woman.
That's no, that's that's Quinn.
Dr. Quinn.
Medicine.
That's right.
Quincy was an old man.
I just it's before my time.
I don't know if it's a doctor or a detective based on this guy
yeah he didn't have a barnaby jones locked and loaded nothing a colombo a kojak there's a lot
of 70s like you know tv shows i'll even accept tj hooker he had a uniform on it's something
he might have been able to find a clue i don't know so he says at this point quincy jones has
eclipsed the fame of that show, sir.
Definitely.
Oh, that's he's an investigative coroner.
That guy apparently Quincy.
He says my comment to the spec speculators is let the professionals do their job and we'll all know what happened.
He has a lot of confidence in old Sheriff Ken Albers.
So Ken has all he has is the bullet and a bunch of shit like that. That's that's all he really has for evidence here. They send them to to Pierre to get it all checked out. They ask him, do you have a suspect? And the sheriff says, quote, I can't say an arrest is imminent. No idea what's going on here. It's just could be anything. That's all it is. He says, if if you looked at it you could very well believe she
had died of a fall but then i realized that she didn't so he's trying to give himself credit for
this in the paper right like i then i said it's probably i couldn't have just blood can't gush
out of nothing can it um whoa uh so people said that the mcdowell's were private people they said
that uh you know quote this is this is Mayor Woody Schroeder.
They stayed pretty much to themselves, especially Barb.
It seems like everything that should have happened.
Every seems like this is something that should have happened somewhere else.
Not in my town.
Everyone is he says everyone is kind of shocked that it happened.
And we haven't been talking about who we haven't't even been talking about who is what a woman says.
There's never been a murder in tea.
There's never been a murder, and everyone's just blown away by it.
That's all there is to it.
They said that people in the surrounding towns that they know call them to try to get information.
It's the gossip of South Dakota.
What the hell is going on here?
So June 17th, they talked to Edward.
They do an interview with Edward.
And this is all recorded and everything.
And he says, quote, I just still can't believe that somebody would do that to her.
That's what he said in the interview.
He says, it's terrible.
They said, look, do you have a girlfriend?
Would you like maybe someone who would like to see your wife dead or out of the way?
And he said, no way. Of course not. Are you're kidding me i'm an upstanding chief of police
he said i was over there hanging out with darlene and ron and i came home and that was that
he and they said well what about darlene what was she wearing and he said that she had her robe and
pajamas on like he would at midnight and he said quote i don't see how she could have done it he
said that uh the two they're genuine friends barbara and darlene couldn't have been her because they
were asking about everybody that was in the house when they got here um he said that uh he retraced
all his steps he said that he came home late the night before or that evening because he had uh he
said the behavior of the family's yorkshire terrier was strange and that's why he went looking for
barbara because the dog was acting weird.
That's when he found her on the floor.
He said, quote, I just looked at her.
She was white as a ghost.
There was no chest movement.
So he said he called the, you know, he called the sheriff.
He said, quote, I just don't know what to say.
And also, he made sure to tell them that he was taking a medication three times a day, including today, he was taking phenobarbital, which is a anti-seizure medication.
And it's also, back in the day, they used to think it was like a truth serum.
Like, you'd tell that because it relaxes you.
MK Ultra, they experimented with it a little bit to see if they could do it, figure it out.
And so he said, you know, I'm even on phenobarbitalital so you know i'm telling the truth literally i can't lie it's impossible
can't have a seizure can't do either one of them shit but i got a colon he uh now uh darlene
plucker said uh they said that she broke down when she was told about Mrs. McDowell being shot.
And she said, quote, I have tried and I've tried to think of who would want to do this.
I just don't know.
She was such a nice person.
I just don't know.
Can't figure it out.
She's sticking with it.
This is great.
I mean, they ask a girl that'll do that for you.
At least she's sticking to the story.
Down as fuck.
Yeah.
He said she said they said, were you having an affair?
Did you do it?
And she said, good God, no, not my friend Barbara.
Absolutely not.
No.
She, they, but Sheriff Albers tells her, look, I knew he tells her, look, I know you did
it.
This is on the 17th.
I know you did it and you need to confess now and make it easier for yourself and your family.
He's acting like a mob boss with her.
She became agitated at times, and she would curse at him and shout her answers sometime and all this type of shit.
At one point, Albers said, quote, you made a big mistake when you shot Barbara.
Don't make another one now.
Why did you do it?
It's the only thing that can save you.
Say it.
You have to start he's like badgering her once because he knows if she did it edward's involved and that's
what he's trying to get to so she says i don't have access to any guns and i didn't leave my
house that night i don't know what the fuck you're talking about don't have guns i was in a bathrobe
didn't leave my house so he then asked the sheriff asked asked if if Edward was involved and he said, quote, don't force me to wreck what's left of your life.
You owe that to yourself and your family.
Well, don't make me ruin you.
And so another time now that she never gives it up.
OK, so they let let her go from the interview.
July 20th, a month goes by.
She's back getting
interviewed again and uh he says that she sought him out for the interview uh he she asked can i
talk to you and he secretly recorded it which you can't do that anyway um i guess you can't if you're
an agent you can it's a weird thing i guess you can secretly record her but it's just i don't know
how i don't think it's admissible and certain i don't know if you had a warrant or
there's a lot of gray area there i don't know they do that all the time but they have like
warrant wiretap warrants oh yeah so during the but i guess if you're in person i don't know
so during the interview here uh she then says that she was blackmailed and that's why she took
money from the business because they found out that she took money from their business. And now
they're like, we know you did it because you took money and you were trying to cover it up.
And she said, look, yeah, I took I took money from the business, but I didn't kill her. And
actually, Sheriff, I could really use your help to try to catch this vicious blackmailer that's after me okay that's a that's a thing she said that about a year and a half earlier she got
drunk at a pierre convention that she went to and had sex with some guy that she met at the gathering
she said then in december 1981 she got a phone call demanding $1,000 and then another call later demanding
another $300 in blackmail money.
She said she paid the money and she told the sheriff that the call started again in March
83 and continued through April and May.
She said that the blackmailer now wanted $5,000 and she didn't have that kind of money.
So she turned to her business account, which was elite uniforms.
And that's what the money was for.
It wasn't to help Edward get a gambling debt.
It was to help her for her fuck blackmail.
You know, so she said she wrote checks to Edward.
The only way he was involved is because she wrote checks to him and had him cash them and then give her the money back so she could pay off for blackmailers.
And, you know, she made up an excuse for getting the money later on to the business partners.
That's how it worked.
So this is fucking amazing.
July 23rd now, Albers talks to Edward McDowell, also his brother James, and their uncle Michael McDowell on the 23rd.
And, yeah, they said they produce a note written by darlene now this is this is
fucked up she's down as fuck for him and he's like i have a note from her in the note the note said
basically that darlene knew her husband was going to leave her at some point and it was and in the
note it said that she thought if barbara was out of the way, then Eddie would be mine.
So I think she might have killed my wife.
He's saying this is crazy.
Oh, man, I trusted her.
Oh, how dare she?
The note said she hoped she'd be forgiven for what she'd done.
And a sample of her handwriting was looked at.
And they said it looked pretty similar.
So they were definitely interested in her
uh the sheriff said then he returned back to tea went to darlene's home and arrested her
and uh he said her eyes were glassy and her speech was slurred but there was no odor of alcohol
when he took her so he took her to the hospital rather than jail
now this unraveled because of bad checks because of bad checks yeah anything you do like that with
a paper trail you don't murder with a paper trail it's a bad idea it's bad enough you're lucky to
get caught not get caught anyway so the bullet found in barbara's brain matched the uh ballistics
from a 38 caliber revolver taken from the safe in the T-City Police Department. You fucking idiot.
Fucking moron, man.
So indictment comes down.
He's indicted on 21 counts of conspiracy to commit murder, aiding in forgery, and attempted grand theft
in connection with his wife's death.
So all this shit.
Problem is, Darlene is going to have something to say about this whole thing here.
So they end up in the indictment.
They find out that Barbara McNowell's name, there was loans taken out on her name using her life insurance policy in connection with loans.
While they plotted her murder, they traveled to Sioux Falls three times in 82 and 83 to apply for loans at two finance companies and forge Barbara's signature the whole time.
Darlene Plucker posed as Barbara in each of the case and forged her signature.
She said, yeah, I'm Barbara.
They didn't ask for ID or anything.
I mean, why would you?
If a woman shows up with a guy and he's got ID, you just go, oh, yeah, that's his wife.
Yeah.
Back then in Sioux Falls, too.
Who knows?
with a guy and he's got id you just go oh yeah that's his wife yeah back then in sioux falls too or who knows so before each loan application plucker practiced forging barbara's signature
according to this whole thing going on here and uh they also accuse uh edward of supplying plucker
with his wife's salary pension benefit and credit information so she could run other shit on this
whole deal using her life insurance policy they received joint credit life insurance.
Joint credit life insurance means that an insurance company would assume payments on loans if Barbara died.
You take out a bunch of loans on Barbara, then make sure that she's insured against those loans in case she dies,
and then you kill her, and all those loans you took out are forgiven, and you get her life insurance money.
And she looks like a debtor who died.
That's all it is.
That's how it works.
So, yeah, they say that they they drove there back and forth.
They have evidence of that.
They also said Edward sent it.
They say he sent his eight year old daughter, Heather, to stay overnight at the Pluckers on the night of the murder, drove to the racetrack and did all that shit so uh anyway uh and also that night plucker had put her children in bed by 9 30 which she's normally the
kids stay up a lot later than that so she put them to bed or it's gotta go to bed early tonight kids
that was also part of the whole thing so september 26 1983 plucker makes a full confession and agrees to a plea. Hey, he burned her and she burned him back.
That's how it works here.
So basically, the cases are, you know, we just it was over one hundred thousand dollars in all this insurance and all these scams.
The prosecutor says that Edward was, quote, a heavy gambler, deeply in debt because of his penchant to bet on dogs and other sports.
gambler deeply in debt because of his penchant to bet on dogs and other sports.
And they say that if it goes to trial, you're probably going to learn a lot more about bookmaking than you'll ever want to know.
That's wow.
He said that he had a continuing need for money.
Generally, his betting went pretty good, but then also it would go bad.
Jurors would also hear a lot about a bank account that held money generated by a gambling operation because they had a separate bank account for their bookmaking thing that was going on, too, on the side.
Let's see.
Calls placed to betting services.
His wife's life insurance benefits, $50,000 of which are waiting in a bank account for McDowell pending the outcome of the case.
If he gets done or not.
pending the outcome of the case if he gets done or not.
McDowell's overdrawn checking account and about twenty eight thousand nine hundred dollars of cash at McDowell's disposal during the six months preceding his wife's death.
So that's what that's how that all works here.
They argue a lot about the amount that was available to him and all this type of bullshit. But it doesn't matter.
They also said he gets out on bail by the
way yeah he uh it's a 50 10 of a 50 000 bond he's out on five grand for fucking killing his wife
for merwell he's the chief of police yeah i mean he can be trusted out there lucky it wasn't ror
for christ's sake so uh they said that if uh his lawyers like this is bullshit. If Edward were the murder mastermind that they're portraying him as, he wouldn't have taken out insured loans in his wife's name just months before the death.
He wouldn't have been gambling and creating debts.
He wouldn't have allowed the gun retrieved from the safe of the police of the police department to be found.
He would have hit it.
Obviously, he wouldn't have taken that gun to begin with he would have got another gun he said that you know it's all
about it's all about darlene you know that's it he said he's not a master criminal it's all her
uh she's sent to a hospital at first here she's uh remained under guard at the mckinnon hospital
here uh quote in our view there's a definite
and substantial indication that she's a danger to herself and possibly others so her lawyer says i
don't think she's a danger to others but i'll give you she's a danger to herself let's keep her in
the hospital there she ends up pleading guilty she's the bad guy they're holding her and they're
letting this guy out granted she did on bail did pull the trigger. Yeah. Yeah.
And also, he's the chief of police.
Yeah. So she ends up doing a plea agreement here.
Sure.
And she pleads guilty to conspiracy to commit second degree murder.
And she is given, you ma'am, may fuck off 50 years.
That's steep for second.
Not really when you hear when she gets out so uh this is a very it's a very loose 50 years we'll put it that way it's 50 give or take 45 or so
it's a lot what way do you hear it so we'll get to it by the way this is the greatest i love this
so much i gotta show you this let's have a look Tearful plucker tells how she shot Barbara McDowell.
I don't know why.
She's a tearful ass plucker, man.
So, yeah, she also has to testify against Edward as part of the agreement here.
She she said that she had to because he threatened to kill himself if she didn't comply. She said, quote, he used that on me a lot. He wasn't just going to leave. He was going to end it all. She said, even hearing his voice on tape, everything, she heard the tapes and she said, quote, they relaxed me to the point where I just might forget everything.
she's telling this to the fucking cops like yeah she's giving her story like i don't know he's just as long as i hear his voice everything's okay everything's okay hold on a minute that's i'm
too wet to talk right now i gotta so april 84 is the trial for him and she's going to testify
against him this trial takes case like we said this is the extreme southeastern part of the
state it takes place in pennington county which is the extreme western part of the state.
Oh.
To try to get away from the publicity of it.
It's juicy.
It's a fucking.
Yeah.
It's grimy.
It's a soap opera.
And the problem is that everybody still fucking has heard about it.
It's even that far away they've heard about it.
They said that a couple of court ruling stuff,
72 pages of a transcript
of an interview
with Edward McDowell
is not going to be
admissible as evidence.
And it was part of
the July 23rd interview,
the one where his brother was there
and all that kind of shit.
And this was the one
where James McDowell
had called the sheriff and asked to talk to him about what they could do to help Edward McDowell.
So the sheriff went to James McDowell's home and about halfway through the interview, Edward showed up.
And basically they said that everything that happened before Edward's arrival can't be part of the trial.
So not a big deal.
They also ruled that some of the telephone records of their bookmaking operation are inadmissible as well.
The records after July 14th can't be admitted as evidence.
So it's interesting.
They have a couple of the prosecutors, an astrophysicist or some shit, by the way, which is very weird.
Aspire.
He's a he's he's a never mind.
They made a big deal because he wants he's going to school for physics basically he wants to be a physicist but he's not at this
time he's an attorney so um yeah anyway he they said that since this has happened this has been
the only thing anyone's ever talked about it's kind of turned their life upside down both these
attorneys said like it's kind of been like it's all anyone will bring up to him how's your not
how's your kids it's so what's going on with that chief of police?
And he shoot his wife or what?
So fuck your kids.
This is fuck your kids.
So with the jury prior to the trial, the state notifies everyone that it will be seeking the death penalty if he's convicted.
Oh, boy.
Oh, yeah.
And the trial court, therefore, permits the state to inquire whether the prospective jurors could follow the trial court's instructions relating to could you impose the death penalty?
Basically, that's part of it.
And death penalty case is out on five grand, five grand death penalty.
That's a lot of motivation to run.
No. Lucky he's in so much debt.
Yeah. He's going to hit it big at the dog track and take off.
Fix it. Number eight wins. It's freedom to hit it big at the dog track and take off. Fix it all.
If number eight wins, it's freedom.
If not, to the slammer.
Death penalty.
It's a very important race.
Run like my freedom depends on it.
Yeah.
The jury selection takes 13 days.
They question 108 jurors.
The trials moved, like we said.
jurors. The trials moved, like we said, and the defense lawyers said that the jury polling in Lincoln County, where they're from, showed that, quote, 100% of the people had heard of the case
and had an opinion. So there was no way to do that. They said that one or two of the prospective
Pennington County jurors were also disqualified because of pre-trial publicity uh 10 to 12 were disqualified
because they opposed the death penalty and uh one was disqualified one was disqualified because he
quote overwhelmingly favored the death penalty he was a little too they were like you're liking a
little too much sir let's uh from all i don't care uh well you got parking ticket fucking
doll stick a goddamn needle in his
arm so fucking quick it ain't even funny well let me ask you something your honor do we just get to
say that he dies that way or do we get to do it because we get to do it because i'll take i'll
take part in this son of a bitch i'll tell you what is there an opening do y'all need some help
you've been stealing well that's a death penalty, son.
Sorry.
I mean, that's just how we do it around here in South Dakota.
So they had to delay a little bit because some of the jurors were sick.
The defense strategy is to depict him as a simple, shy man, a simple, shy immigrant who worked his way up.
He's a good police officer, a devoted father, and a caring husband as well.
And that's all well and good
if he doesn't show his dick
to every woman he knows.
He said, yes,
he's been sloppy with his finances, sure.
I'll give you that.
But he may have lived beyond his means,
but who among us hasn't
at some time or another?
They said, but so have a lot of other people.
This is what they said. So he said, yeah said yay periodically placed bets in hope of hitting it big but he didn't have any
large gambling debts this is crazy and he's such a nice guy prosecution portrays him as a conniving
womanizer and a man in desperate financial straits because of heavy gambling so desperate that he
plotted his wife's murder to collect $100,000
of insured fucking money and loans
and all this shit. So they bring
in witnesses. One of the witnesses
this is bad. You gotta watch where you
put your dick everybody.
One of the witnesses is Barbara
Reistroffer who was another
woman he had an affair with. She's the woman who
followed Darlene in her city finance job
and she said she had an affair with Edward McDowell when she traveled with
him to pick up a racing dog.
And they said that they were on a trip to Abilene,
Kansas to pick up a Greyhound Greyhound.
And they left on April 21st,
1983.
So this is a couple of months before that.
And this was a short time after Plucker had resigned.
She said she also helped arrange a meeting between McDowell and Plucker
after Plucker was bailed out of jail.
They weren't supposed to be seeing each other,
but she was the middleman in this,
so he went to her to arrange a meeting.
Yeah.
She said they met on September 6th, 1983, at her mobile home.
So her trailer in Sioux Falls here.
That's where they fuck.
That's where they fuck.
The meeting was set up after Darlene asked to visit Reistroffer and mentioned that she
wanted to see McDowell, but she couldn't do that because of a promise she made with her
family.
So Plucker visited Reistroffer at the finance office soon after she was released and then asked Reistroffer to call McDowell for her.
She said, this is Reistroffer, quote, she only said one thing, and that was, I think they offered him deals like they did me.
That's all she said about the conversation.
And she also said she wasn't present when they met later in the home, and she didn't think she'd done anything wrong in arranging the meeting, saying she did so as a friend to each of them.
And she said that later on, Darlene called her and she said that Darlene was upset because Darlene had heard that Reistroffer had given incriminating evidence against her.
So there's that. Now, Linda McDowell, barbara's sister uh or i'm sorry that's uh
his brother so that's his sister-in-law not barbara's sister she said that it appeared in
the following days and the days following the death that uh darlene's affection for edward
wasn't mutual she said quote it was as though she always wanted to see him, but he didn't appear
reciprocated. That's a funny way of saying that she didn't appear reciprocated. Now,
she did describe him, though, Edward, as an emotional wreck after his wife's death,
who was deeply upset by the loss of his wife and said, quote, like you'd expect anybody to behave
after a shock like that. He complained of stomach and chest pains and lack of sleep and poor appetite,
and he even had to be hospitalized for several days during the grand jury investigation.
He was just so overwhelmed.
So much grief.
Guess who gets called to the stand?
Who's that?
It's Darlene Plucker.
Yeah.
She is going to mother pluck him right now in the middle of this fucking courtroom.
In front of everybody.
In front of everybody.
So they hear the tape recording of her September 26th confession.
She described on the tape how she bicycled over there,
had the cowboy boot gun and the whole deal going on.
Yeah.
Would have been funny if,
and not funny, obviously, for poor Barbara,
but if she used the cowboy boot as a holster and shot the hole through it
like people do with a paper bag in an old movie.
Yeah.
Just pow, and the fucking heel comes out.
Or the toe.
The toe, boom.
So Plucker also said she was nervous
immediately after the murder,
but her mood changed after Edward arrived at the house.
She said, quote, After I talked to him, I was totally calm.
I put the murder to the back of my mind.
That that's that's some dick.
Yeah, that's some dick right there.
If you can knock the murder out of a woman out of a woman's head yeah a nice woman who doesn't murder people
normally and has shot a woman in the head and your dick will put that quote to the back of
her mind you are doing something right so uh she said that uh uh in the interview she said well
the worst part is over and uh or they they told her the worst part is over and the prosecutor and
she said no it's not the prosecutor who was interviewing her over and the prosecutor and she said, no, it's not. The prosecutor who was interviewing her said, what's worse?
And she said, saying this in a courtroom with Edward present.
It's like a tranquilizer when he's there.
I can sit here and tell you he's not the worst person.
I can sit here and tell you he's the worst person in the world.
But sometimes I don't believe it.
And they said, do you still love him?
And he said, yeah.
She said, yeah, I worry about what's going to happen to him.
She does not. She is just dedicated yeah nope uh she told the defense attorney on cross examination that he called her on june 15th and said that she'd be over with something uh that is
the murder weapon she described how um you know how he pulled the murder weapon from his boot
took out four bullets and laid them on the table. She described how he was going over and over and over the plan.
And the attorneys asked, you know, what did he say?
And she questions.
And he said she said she had questions.
She said, quote, Like I said, I couldn't do it.
He said I could.
I said the gun would make too much noise.
And he said it wouldn't.
I said someone would see me.
And he said it would be dark.
So he's got an answer. You're good now you're all right just shoot her she also said that edward told her to ride a bicycle because a car would be easy to spot nosy neighbors that's that's the
thing avoiding that he said walk up behind her and do it and that's what i did uh so then the lawyer
said that when he proposed the crime quote you must have been
pretty shook up and she said not as long as that he was present i wasn't wow wow man yeah this is
fucking wild uh so uh this whole thing goes on with darlene during the end of cross-examination
he had the defense attorney asked our pans Darlene
a large diagram of the interior
of the McDowell residence and it
was prepared by the prosecution also
gave her a pencil and said quote
why don't you mark with a red X where you
first saw Barbara the night of the killing
and she got all mad she
made a red mark and then he walked her
through the killing and you know you did
this you shot her and all this type of shit uh while your friend made you coffee you walked up behind
tried to make her just look as cold-blooded as possible um so he asked if uh barbara's shoulders
were squared to the sink and she said quote i imagine uh they were all i know is the back of
her head was toward me and he said said, did you cock the pistol?
And she said, no.
And she said, he said, when the gun actually came up in contact with Mrs. McDowell's head, what did you do next?
She said, I pulled the trigger.
And then, you know, she said, make he said, draw a stick figure of her on the floor.
Oh, and yeah.
So she drew the stick figure.
And that's that's that was she was kind of the star witness here.
Obviously she testified that they had talked about the killing for months, um, and everything.
Uh, the defense layer said, if you folks were so active in discussing how to kill Barbara
McDowell, don't you think it was a bit crazy to forge her name on a loan on May 26th?
She said, I had already done it so many times.
What was one more time?
I was in deep fuck it um
uh she said that uh uh she uh the uh there was a suicide note that that she wrote a suicide note
that's what that was but then she never tried to kill herself that suicide the note that said you
know that they found and that she uh edward turned over to the. And it said in the note that if she hadn't fallen for McDowell,
then she wouldn't write the whole thing.
Eddie told her to write this note to incriminate somebody else.
There's another note involved.
Anyway, the defense attorney said, didn't that seem odd?
And she said, nothing Eddie said ever seemed odd to me.
She's just, wow.
You guys don't get it.
He's got a sweet dick fucking amazing she told her that she
couldn't borrow five thousand dollars from relatives in spearfish to explain the checks
she had written to mcdowell uh so the lawyer said you mean you could kill someone over ten
thousand dollars in indebtedness but you couldn't borrow five thousand dollars to save yourself
and she said, I guess.
Sweet dick, sir.
You don't understand, though.
It's really like balls slapped just right.
You don't get it.
It's just just right.
It tastes like sugar, sir.
So almost before they're all objecting and everything,
this really gets anything she says, it goes back and forth.
There's objections. It's a very, very it's a spectacle, basically.
And there are people there watching.
People have come to watch the trial from out of town.
There's a couple where a guy, a couple came to celebrate this guy's brother's 80th birthday.
These people are a fucking old and they decided to stay in town a few more
days because of the trial this is awesome this lady said lucille white she said quote we enjoy
this very much she said that she likes an occasional perry mason or agatha christie
mystery and this is just intriguing to her she She said that she found Darlene's testimony, quote, very touching.
And her husband said, quote, I kind of feel a little sorry for.
Yeah, it's fucking insane.
So back to the trial.
For as a defense, they bring in a guy who I don't know if this would be for a defense or a prosecution, but they bring in an officer who said that there was a dog one time who got poisoned and McDowell asked another officer to shoot it because he felt bad and didn't want to do it.
Yeah.
So anyway, they get the sheriff.
No, I don't shoot a goddamn dog.
They get Sheriff Albers up there and they just grill him.
The defense absolutely fucking grills him, called him a liar, called him incompetent,
said he was misrepresenting facts to the jury.
Yeah.
Yeah.
This was outside of the jury.
Albers said, quote, you can't call me a liar.
And the lawyer replied, I can call you anything I want outside the hearing of the jury.
So, yeah.
Then he said, oh, my God, the sheriff said, jury so um yeah uh then he said oh my god the
sheriff said jury or no jury you're not calling me a liar are you going to handle it in the street
or what you can't handle in court so he's he's threatening to take him outside and beat him up
i've seen this lawyer dude he's like an old man with bushy gray hair like
it's fucking hilarious the sheriff's
like i'll kick your old ass i'll kick your ass grandpa so the dispute arose over who owned a
ten thousand dollar certificate of deposit introduced as evidence the defense said the cd
was owned by both darlene and ronald but uh the prosecution said it was purchased with ronald's
money and belonged to them,
so there was a big argument there.
Now, the defense here, Jesus Christ, what a mess here.
The defense, they talk about rent checks and that he's trying to say he didn't have money problems.
So he brings the landlord up there to say, well, his rent checks don't bounce.
What are you talking about here?
Edward also told Dennis Johnson, a Canton law officer here. He said that
he knew McDowell for three years. He said he thought Ed was a good police officer on July 9th,
83. So after the murder, Ed told him that he hoped the murder weapon would prove to be a 22 caliber
pistol. And it appeared McDowell didn't know what the murder weapon was johnson testified and
then they brought up that they asked johnson if he if he thought mcdowell had referred to albers
the sheriff this is just gossip in court now as a quote country bumpkin who was not competent
so they were just bringing it out that he was talking shit about the sheriff which is fucking hilarious i love that didn't he call him a country bumpkin uh other witnesses they bring in are uh
everybody here they get the ronald uh ronald plucker and uh they bring father plucker in
yeah they got everybody they have uh people they used to work with and all of this fucking shit, talking about his affairs, people talking about, oh, it's wild, man.
It's a lot.
The daughter testifies behind closed doors, and it's about a technical point.
Heather?
Yeah, Heather.
No jury, no anybody there, just the lawyers and the judge.
So according to the defense, they need her testimony because it contradicts a statement
by Darlene.
Now, he says the defense attorney says, I don't like to call little kids to the stand,
but that's pretty important stuff.
And according to him, she testified that she was at the Plucker house and tea with Plucker's
daughter, Jill, the afternoon of June 15th, and that Barbara didn't give the girls money to buy ice cream.
Plucker testified that, oh, I'm sorry, Ed.
Plucker testified that Ed gave the girls money to go to Dairy Queen,
and after that, and after they left, he gave her the.38 caliber revolver
and told him to kill his wife.
So who gave them the money is a point of contention point of contention uh also they didn't tell heather
it's a murder trial really she's nine and she thinks that she's on trial for illegal gambling
that's what she thinks she's on trial she thinks she's testifying and her dad's on trial for that
and not her she doesn't think she's hey guys i didn't do nothing i don't know how to make odds
i swear um the her grandfather who is uh right now barbara's
parents have custody of her thankfully um she is uh told that there she she didn't tell she's not
been told about the first degree murder uh she basically the grant the part of the custody deal
is he's not allowed to they're not allowed to say anything that could prejudice her against her father as part of it's in the paperwork.
So he said that we just don't discuss it when she's around.
And, yeah, that's all it is.
They said that she's doing better.
She did have to go for counseling.
But nowadays she's doing better.
She's young enough to, I guess, kind of bounce back there.
enough to i guess kind of bounce back there and uh the father-in-law here also says barbara's father also says that he got along well with his son-in-law and wouldn't say publicly whether he
thinks that mcdowell is guilty or not these people are very classy like they asked him that yeah he
said no comment that's that so i mean they're just real classy uh they bring the mayor in to talk
some shit he decides he's gonna testify edward's gotta testify oh shit. He decides he's going to testify.
Edward's got to testify.
Oh, yeah, he's got to.
He's got no choice.
He's got to show the jury.
They put two different, completely different images of him out there,
so he's got to show who he is.
The characters that are portrayed are entirely different.
And, fuck it, if she says he's got a sweet dick and he can just charm everybody,
he's going to charm 12 fucking people in a row.
That's the other thing.
There's a lot.
And later on, well, that'll come up, too, again.
But a lot of these guys that end up like being their own attorney and shit like that, and they want to testify or be their own attorney because they think if I can just if I can just get in front of them, I'll bullshit him.
I can make this work.
So he admitted on the stand to loan forgeries, gambling and financial transactions that were questionable, to say the least.
So he admitted to at least a half a dozen extramarital affairs and all this type of shit.
But he said, I didn't fucking kill anybody.
I don't know what you're talking about.
The closings.
Oh, my.
Are they they're just they fight back and forth in these closings.
The prosecutor says, well, folks, we're going to catch ourselves a liar right before our very eyes, is what he said.
And he finds that it's a long distance phone call placed from the McDowell home to the McDowell's Bank in Hartford at two thirty p.m. on June 15th.
He said that he was in Sioux Falls at that time.
Ed did. But instead, he was making a phone call.
So he said, right there, shows he's a fucking liar.
So that's all there is to it.
He said, then the closing for the defense is, I know Eddie didn't go out and do it for the simple reason that you would have never seen the gun again if he was the killer.
He said, I know Eddie McDowell didn't give her that gun because he told investigators about the gun.
So that's what they're they're trying to pull.
He said he goes, he's going to take the gun home.
This mastermind, this master of all things criminal.
He's going to just have this gun.
That's ridiculous.
Now, that's that's crazy.
So they go into the whole thing.
They said finally, he said, you've got a duty.
It may be an unpleasant duty, but for God's sake, do it.
He tells the jury.
out of duty it may be an unpleasant duty but for god's sake do it he tells to jerry so the trial by the way lasted 39 days which was the at the time the longest trial in the history of south
dakota and which is as a murder trial i'm glad yeah well i mean like the angelo bono trial lasted
like a year and a half in california you know what i mean like trials last a long time 39 days is not that long
for a trial yeah at all um so it finally goes to jury after 39 days the jury deliberates for two
hours um yeah that sounds like they heard enough two weeks ago that's it oh that's that's the shit
dude they they they went for dinner after that and retired
for the evening they met again at 9 30 a.m and uh by they basically they had a unanimous decision
pretty quickly so it comes in and uh it is uh he is found guilty of murder obviously um just
after the verdict was read barbara's parents, Bob and Marie, arrived at the courtroom just after that.
So they were a little late for it.
She cried.
The mother cried when she learned about the decision.
And you know what she told reporters?
Quote, I feel bad for him.
Why did he do this?
Wow.
That's how nice these people are.
Wow.
They feel bad he's convicted for it.
When asked if he was satisfied with the verdict, the father said, that's a tough question.
I'd rather have my daughter back.
No comment.
Not vengeful.
It's just, I don't know.
The whole thing's a piece of shit.
My daughter's dead.
Who cares?
These people are really normal.
So they asked the prosecutor, you said you're going for the death penalty.
What are you going to do now?
You going to go for it?
Prosecutor Jeff Mastin said that he would not seek the death penalty.
Now, he changed his mind.
He said he'll get a mandatory life sentence.
It'll just be with or without parole.
He said that after all these witnesses and everything like that,
he said that early in the trial he was going to go for the death penalty,
but he said after court he changed his mind.
He said, quote, it's a question that has haunted me since June 16thth until saturday he said he was 100 certain he would ask for the death penalty
but he said he changed his mind after observing jurors during closing arguments he said the matter
of the death penalty could have serious or could seriously divide the jury so he doesn't want him
to not get it he said that uh also several court jurors several jurors looked relieved when
he said that he wouldn't seek the death penalty and he also said that barbara mcdowell's family
asked that he did not seek the death penalty as well they didn't want the death penalty for him
because that's their that's their granddaughter's father you know what i'm saying so they don't want
the hurdle him to her to lose both parents uh he also said if a death sentence were handed down
even a small error can result
can result in reversal makes it a lot more precarious all this over again yep he said
quote to my mind i'd rather have the conviction and have him sitting in the penitentiary for the
rest of his life than to have his life which is a very mature way to look at it i'm sorry but it is
he said the case boiled down to the period between two and three in the afternoon that showed that he
was lying he said ed mcdowell made his own bed there's no question about that he wasn't in t
between two and three p.m darlene said that when the uh that was when the murder was planned which
is what he said he said though the prosecutor that he felt just great about the verdict and he said
about edward though quote i feel a little sorry for his soul,
but he lied to us all summer.
If you tell one lie, you have to tell two more lies to cover it up.
He got caught.
That's how wholesome it is around there.
They're like, I mean, he lied to us,
but I still feel bad for his soul.
Kind people.
So he says, quote,
I think justice was done here today.
I hope I never have to do another one like this again.
So the sentencing comes in.
You, sir, may fuck off life in prison.
Yeah.
Without parole.
That's it.
Life without.
And so that's stunning.
So he got 50 years now july 84 lincoln county files a suit against him edward mcdowell while he's in prison
uh to recover money of the about 11 111 000 for his trial and he's gonna pay for his trial he's
got is that what happens to the chief police apparently so uh among the defendants in the
suit are mcdowell his brother uncle, their bookmaking business, six out
of state betting advisory services, and people alleged to have engaged in bookmaking and
gambling with McDowell.
This whole thing.
The county attorney, which is Jeff Maston, the guy who prosecuted him for murder.
Yeah.
He said it's his argument that a federal racketeering statute gives him authority to sue for costs
of the trial because now they're because the whole thing was involved in that too he said i know we proved as a part of the murder
trial that mcdowell's motive in murdering his wife was to get money to keep gambling uh to pay
off his past gambling debts gambling at the present time in the state of south dakota is illegal it
was all at all times material to the mcdowell case i think the taxpayers in lincoln county
are entitled to have a little contribution back from the people who profited from McDowell.
So in 84, they are there.
They're definitely investigating his whole gambling activities and everything like that.
In 85, he files to have his racketeering lawsuit thrown out. But they they say, nope, we're going to keep it on in there.
He does not get it thrown out.
The judge also refuses to dismiss a lawsuit over trial expenses again later in 85.
It plows on through.
Trial was set to begin in March of 1986.
on through trial was set to begin in march of 1986 12 defense lawyers argued that the case should be dismissed saying there's no evidence to show their clients had anything to do with barbara mcdowell's
death so they shouldn't have to pay for the trial like his brother and people like that they really
yeah they really it's a very close degrees of separation here he also said the transcripts
of the trial are riddled with references to his gambling activities. This is the prosecutor.
So obviously, you know, he has reliance on gambling tip services and all this type of shit.
So several defendants were dismissed from the case, though, because they had not been served with the lawsuit.
And so it might get dismissed further.
Nineteen eighty nine.
He appeals very quickly.
It was pretty much just a bunch of bullshit prosecutorial misconduct he said he didn't get mirandized at one certain point in
between two interviews yeah he's the chief of police you know you know you know your rights
go you know it i'll tell you what that's the only time we don't have to read your miranda rights as
if you're the chief of police that's it you're that's the only time we don't have to read you Miranda rights is if you're the chief of police. That's it. That's the only time.
You should be aware of your rights at that point.
If not, you were an incompetent officer.
1990, Darlene is released from prison.
Wow.
She is released.
Out and running.
Out and running.
He has several appeals batted back at him.
Her ears are still ringing from that night.
That is so soon 1990 for the person that pulled the trigger i don't care how emotionally manipulated somebody
is you pulled the trigger shot a woman in the back of the fucking head it was a friend of yours
that's cold-blooded as shit holy hell man that's cold-blooded so nobody can manipulate that well, you know. So 2003, Edward is still in prison.
He's suing the prison.
He's suing, asking for nine medical procedures and several hundred thousand dollars in damages.
He's acting as his own attorney, of course, because he's a brilliant man.
And nobody's taking this case.
No.
It also contains a laundry list of demands including a digital color television a gateway
computer what do you want that for in 2003 a west bend coffee pot he wants a certain brand of coffee
pot approval to join a club to buy dvds and compact discs he wants to be a part of the Columbia Record Club here. And a free weekend in a Sioux Falls hotel before being hospitalized for the medical things that he needs to be taken in for on count one.
I want a vacation.
In addition to the digital TV and the computer and the whole Price is Right second showcase showdown.
In addition to all of that stuff.
A telephone shaped like lips. All of it.
All of it. A football phone
from Sports Illustrated's 1986
edition. He also demands
a new electric razor,
an ear, nose,
and hair trimmer,
headphones,
a lighter wheelchair, because he's got to be in a
wheelchair a bunch of the times, and
to top it off, a, new pair of Reebok high-top tennis shoes, size 9 1⁄2.
Yeah.
This is in a lawsuit here.
I want the pumps.
That's amazing.
He wants to buy top Reeboks.
He's suing the state health department, the Department of Corrections,
the prison warden, a bunch of doctors.
He's suing everybody.
The amount of vanity shit he wants is unbelievable.
That's what I'm saying.
He wasn't asking for, like, I want food and I want proper nutrition.
Medical procedures is one thing.
If you're going to house somebody against their will, you have to give them health things.
That's a thing that you have to do as a human being.
You don't have to give someone a certain brand of coffee maker.
And a night out in a hotel.
Free weekend in a hotel.
He's allowed to be out that weekend.
This is my free weekend before my surgery and then right back in the pokey.
He's lost his mind in prison, James.
This is wild.
He also said that he was subjected to unnecessarily cruel and unusual punishment and discrimination.
It says he's been diagnosed with a partial bowel obstruction, possibly caused by rectal polyps, and a spot found on his lung has yet to be properly diagnosed.
As a result, he says he has shortness of breath, wheezing, and little stamina and has gotten no treatment for that.
He's mostly confined in a wheelchair for the last several years.
He's been diagnosed with cataracts in both eyes.
He's like 55 years old right now.
He's a fucking disaster.
The problems of an 88-year-old man.
Oh, my God.
He said that prison medical officials ignored, disregarded and dismissed his questions about cataract surgery.
And he also claims he's been denied care and treatment for a throat problem that makes it difficult for him to swallow.
He said that in his lawsuit, the first procedure that should be performed is cataract surgery accompanied by two free pairs of eyeglasses.
That's his request. That's so he can see that TV and the gateway computer better.
He also says that he should get
an expense paid three day furlough
in a suite,
in a suite, Jimmy.
Not even a regular room
at the downtown Holiday Inn.
He said,
he's not going too crazy.
I need a bedroom
removed from the living area.
That kind of room.
Wow, I need a suite.
I gotta stretch my shit out. Because a prison room, that wow i need it i need a suite i gotta stretch
my shit out because a prison room that's a room i need a suite uh prison cell a battery of tests
and surgery should be performed starting the monday after the weekend furlough that's what
he's laid out uh a judge laughs that the fuck out of court are you out of your mind? No to all of that. Sorry.
And on September 6th, 2006, he dies in prison.
Of what?
At 57 years old of apparent natural causes is what they got out of it. Of all those problems he had?
To die of cataracts?
Just huge cataracts pressed on the brain.
They said an autopsy will be conducted.
Just a huge cataract pressed on the brain.
They said an autopsy will be conducted.
The Division of Criminal Investigation is investigating the death and its standard procedure on any death of an inmate to do an autopsy. So an autopsy will be performed.
But after that, nobody really gave a shit to find out the results of it and didn't report on it.
So I don't know what the fuck he died of.
But he died of being sick and shit and being like 30 years older than he should have been. That's what he died of but he died of being sick and shit and being uh like 30 years older than he should have
been that's what he died of he died of boredom because he didn't have a tv or weekend out or
he needed that holiday in that weekend could have saved his life that's the problem that one weekend
and darlene who knows yeah she's out there plucking away i don't know what she's doing
why is it so funny though it is it's so funny man he plucked
up bad on this one he deserves every bit of that too every little bit of all of that what an idiot
for what he everything he did was stupid a fast life james he did a bunch of fast eddie jesus it
would take me 50 years to do all that yeah he was like 35 when he got put in jail and he had done a
whole lot of shit he was already the chief of police a bookie a indebted gambler killing a wife divorced he had a
child support payments do we had a lot going on fucking everybody in town every in town out of
town in the county that everybody is t south dakota that's the hope that's the tea spilled
all over the place so hoping that and and Edwards jizz both spilled everywhere.
Hope you enjoyed that.
If so, get on Apple podcast, that purple icon.
Give us five stars.
It helps a lot.
Let's just say that it helps drive us up the charts.
Head over to shut up and give me murder dot com right now for all your merchandise needs, all of your your ticketing needs.
Mostly all of 2022 and the end of 2021 we have some tickets
available for these shows some more than others a lot of these shows the tickets were held over
so the people who bought the tickets originally in 2019 still have the tickets so there is not
a ton of tickets available for some of these shows some more than others ones like boston
sold out so like things ones like that there's a few that have just been sold out for two years.
But other ones, there's some tickets.
So get them early and get them now because they might not be there a year from now when
you go to go to the show because there was very few there to begin with.
So check that out.
Shut up and give me murder.com today.
All your merchandise there as well.
Also, definitely, definitely follow us on social media
we are at murder small on twitter at small town pod on facebook at small town murder on instagram
you get to find out all the new stuff that's happening with us like our new network which
we'll talk about in a second and uh also patreon.com slash crime and sports is where you get everything
all the good stuff that's the
that's when we have a ball man on those bonus episodes that's our furlough it's so great we
love that shit we would do that at the holiday yeah we would do that even if we weren't recording
it it would just be fun jimmy i'm gonna tell you about this crazy shit and he'd be like awesome
and we'd talk for two hours on the phone and it'd be the same thing if i said jimmy yeah call me a
little while dude i have i have to tell you about all the all of the athletes with the most kids and
how fucking bad they are to them you would be like oh my god i'll call you in five minutes
and that's the that's the crime and sports bonus this week which you'll have access to as a patron
in honor of father's day we're going to do the worst athlete fathers we can find the ones with
the the most kids from the most different mothers and the least amount of responsibility paid to the any of this shit
so we'll do that definitely and then for the small town murder one we're going to do something a
little bit different don't worry we're getting back into murdery shit next time when we do this
some hillside strangler stuff but for right now this week we're going to have a lot of fun doing reviews. We're going to do reviews of mostly bad small-town motels,
like these shitty one-horse motels that you drive by them,
and you see two cars, and you go, is that place open?
Why are they doing that?
That place is open, and people are reviewing it,
and we're going to find out what the hell they have to say about it,
and a few other small-town businesses that just have have crazy reviews people get so angry at a hotel review it's the
greatest they're just they're sitting in the filth like i said like watching a roach crawl across the
ceiling going they're motherfuckers typing the review so it's awesome i also want to hear the
ones where it's probably not as bad as these people make it out but guess what it's not as
perfect as their fucking house so they're furious about it they're just so angry they said that there would be you
know they said the wi-fi was this level of broadband and it's that level really picky shit
so you can get all of that crime and sports i'm sorry patreon.com slash crime and sports is where
you get all of that stuff and you get access to both and everything, the whole back catalog, everything like that.
And you're a producer, so Jimmy will mispronounce your name at the end of the show.
Oh, you bet.
And it's beautiful.
Very soon, as a matter of fact.
And if you just want to be a producer, have your name mispronounced, and you can do that as well over at PayPal using our email address, crimeandsportsatgmail.com.
Very quickly, subscribe right now to to uh game of crimes
our first show on our network that we're putting out here the upside down digital network it is
not us hosting it as a couple people were confused by that not us hosting it understand that you
would be confused uh it's actually two other guys who are really good and going to give you a
completely different perspective than we could ever give you. One of the hosts, Steve Murphy, he's the guy that the blonde dude on Narcos is based after.
So we can't give you the perspective of a guy who's had a fucking crazy life like that.
That's crazy.
It's impossible.
Pablo Escobar wanted to kill this guy very badly.
Can any of you say that for yourselves?
Pablo knew his name.
Yeah, that blonde son of a bitch.
You can't say that, none of you.
And he has a lot of Tommy Bahamas.
It's a crazy life.
And then Morgan Wright as well.
He's another lifelong officer and also has a lot of crazy stories.
These guys are really funny together.
And on top of that, the stories they're going to give you from different perspectives.
Sometimes it'll be a Colombian drug dealer or Colombian hitman that they busted
or that got busted that they're going to talk to from prison.
Or it'll be a case that you know about but with information you don't know about
because they're talking to people that haven't really talked before and shit like that.
They get really the inside shit.
Game of Crimes.
Game of Crimes.
Subscribe right now. Coming out very soon. Game of Crimes. Subscribe right now.
Coming out very soon.
And then another show in a couple weeks.
It's Morgan with all the Tommy Bahamas, isn't it?
Oh, you're right.
Did I say Steve?
Yeah.
Yeah, my bad.
It is Morgan with Tommy Bahamas.
Morgan's got it.
Don't judge him based on that.
Why did I mix that up?
They're great.
He loves the shirts.
They're his favorite.
So they're M's and I get them mixed up in my brain sometimes.
But I know who's who.
Morgan and Murphy.
God damn it.
Morgan and Murph, man.
So there you go.
Listen to that right now.
And everybody, we just want to say thank you so much for everything you've done.
And the only way we can do that, really, is to name as many of you as we can at the end of the show.
And have Jimmy try to pronounce them properly.
So without further ado, Jimmy, please hit me with the names of the most spectacular people on the face of this fucking earth.
This week's executive producers are Kevin Spilker, Rebecca, and Travis Isley.
They're celebrating their 20th anniversary.
Oh, congrats.
Chelsea Hanson of Bean Love Sanctuary.
It's a cat rescue.
I don't know where it's at, but Bean Love.
Yeah.
Little beans.
Little baby beans.
It's kittens.
Oh, okay.
Little baby kittens.
That's a coffee place.
Also, Jordan Bennett. She's terrific terrific and simon i love you guys uh both of them penis rodriguez jr the third james there's three all right well three penises excellent also john mccarthy turned
30 not big john just regular john uh happy birthday john thomas de mello is uh stationed in germany
right now be safe out there buddy hey definitely i think he's stationed he may not be in the
military i don't he just said he's just in germany either way germany's not there's not a lot of war
going on in germany right moment so he should be okay i made a wild ass assumption though
it's just carl kerscher alexandria krewt kiewitz krewt krewtkiewicz, I don't know.
I'm going to say, I'll be honest, I don't know.
Jude Kendall.
Be real honest with you.
Jude Kendall sent the ladle to the Gay Lords.
Thank you.
Elizabeth Earle's husband, I think, Aaron Earle, I would assume.
I don't know if she took his last name, but it's his birthday.
Happy birthday.
Happy birthday.
Georgia Bucall, Susanna Platt, Janice Hill, Jessica Finch, Dustin's wife, Danny,
got out of the hospital. I think it was his wife. May have been his mom. Somebody close
to Dustin named Danny.
He might be in the military. He might not. We don't know anything.
Danny got out of the hospital. Yay!
Hey!
Hey!
Dixon Mouth Hugs and Sharon Mahols.
I hope you're proud of yourself for that.
Both of them.
Jennifer Stevens, Sarah Caudell, Maude Finlay, Christine Strawberry Destin, Christine McGregor, also Sexual Chocolate.
That's got to be...
Sexual Chocolate, everybody.
I love Eddie Murphy.
Sarah Surridge and Frank Sidebottom.
Rabbi Shmulevich had a finger amputated because it was squashed by the car.
Douglas C. Niedermeyer, Sergeant of Arms in Omega House, of course.
Augustus Galoup, also, pride of Dusseldorf.
Steve Schnell, Lisa Bianca Lana.
Bianca Lana?
Bianca Batuca.
Yeah.
Sarah Lee, obviously the best pound cake.
John Leon Magnato.
Rob Roberts.
Bob Bob's, obviously.
Maria Rasper.
James Marder.
Liz Vasquez.
Leah and TJ are getting married this weekend.
James, congratulations.
Congrats to you.
Enjoy your day.
Lisa Tucker. Frank, the South African bird washer.
Washer or watcher?
I don't know if he washes.
Either way.
Are you washing him?
Give him a little bath.
He just grabs him and holds him.
I washed that one off good now.
He just puts it on.
Is that South African?
I don't know.
It's a weird one.
It's like in between.
It's like a pinched Australian.
It's a weird one. It's like in between. It's like a pinched Australian. It's a weird accent.
Amanda Van Hinsburg.
Jesus.
Ashley Vio.
Garrett with no last name.
He actually wrote with no last name.
AJ.
Ricky with no last name.
Jake Bird.
King Rusty.
Anne-Marie Metzler.
Mike with no last name.
Oski Dumhalt.
Diana Trippi. Corinne with no last name,
Trudy Jones, Nathaniel McCarthy, Aaron Kathleen, Pedro Marquez, Iceman, Brian Vickers, Sue Johnson,
Zachary Hall, Catherine Gross, Ian Gibson, Jordan Fahey, Joshua Giacino, Ben Vanden Dreisen,
Salvador Cordero, Cynthia O'Connell, Raphael with no last name, Stephanie Kay,
Rachel Mosley, Emmanuel Matanzo, Matanzo, yes, Delgado, Emma Kernock, I'm second guessing
myself, even when I'm right.
Go, Jimmy, go.
You got this.
Mike Pro, oh boy, Crocs, that's not right.
Lori Blanchard, Jesse K. Keegan, Ashley Bird, Victor Kostov.
Victor Kostov.
That is Russian as fuck.
Becky Galitko, Sarah Lezzi.
Boy, oh boy.
Gaetano Mule, Brandon Bowles.
Nick, you know his name.
He's got a mule on him, that Gaetano.
TJ Rossiter, McKenna Lee Wright, Mateo Aristides, Parada, Misty Monlux, Ashlyn. So many Bjorns. Bjorn. Laura Bjorg Bjornsdoter.
That was a good one.
So many Bjors.
That's a lot.
Zachary Leatherwood.
Connor Hession.
Caleb Crawdaddy.
Jacob Johnson.
Stacey Makeley.
Goldie 1692.
Ashley Hoitima.
Hurturna.
What is that?
God damn it.
Dante with no last name. Jessica Roberson. roberson roberson km loves kw james erica hoops rian rian or ryan ryan i think with no last name perky priest
morales prudence with no last name brian einloth uh courtney mccullough shanna and laura no last
names for either of them samuel lucero joe renfro i'm doing my best uh they don. No last names for either of them. Samuel Lucero. Joe Renfro.
I'm doing my best.
They're confident.
They don't need last names.
I know who I am.
That would be amazing if they just did just first names.
I think I would still stumble.
Is that me?
I don't know.
Kristen Agard.
Essence Beasley.
Julia Ponce, I think. Ponce like DeLeon.
JT, Brandy
Brooks, Brett Osborne, Aaron Anderson,
Torin Priddle, Emily Jackson,
Max Clark, Kenneth Mayo,
Anthony Kanokia,
Kananika,
Kananika,
Scott Bowes, Scuba Gear
Service, Andy X, Courtney
Cladgett, Derek Pogue, Chelsea
with no last name, and Jamie with no last name, Joseph Kramer, Derek Pogue, Chelsea with no last name, and Jamie
with no last name, Joseph Kramer, Poem A Day, Luke, no last name, Adorkable Sars, Shelly
Urban, Amanda Huber, Rosanna Brown, Stephanie Boych, Angelia Berkowitz.
Good God.
Why is that a tough one?
Confusing one.
Eric Sterling, Christy Goodman, Mary Sider.
She's back.
Kyle Statz, Darth Jotner, Sarah Nelson, Stephanie Owen, Tom Panos,
Kalia Holt, Tiffany Bogus, Alexa Price, Julianne Wilson, Libby Gendel,
Bogis, Bogis, Alexa Price, Julianne Wilson, Libby U.
Gendel, Healthcare Coalition Partners of Kansas, Ed Lee Walk, Levi Robinson, Meag 75, Selena,
Selena, Zanella, Aaron Combs, Aaron Combs, Catherine Kresser, Jessica Westfall, Angela Boder, Anna Salerno, Christina Womack, Chris Evans, not the Captain America guy, I don't think.
Melanie Fleeman, Jessica Stewart, Cassandra Meyer, Erica Carlson, Mike with no last name, Holland Sourd, Janae McSwain, Angela Carlisle, Jana Falconer, Julie Templeton, Casey Passmore, falconer julius julie templeton fuck casey passmore te sarah james uh jason rowan nathan
nathan bowie sean rice bradley craig carly with no last name dr spicy brins de what brin brinza
that's it okay fuck karen stanley neil jessic laura thoron, Sean with no last name, Bob Ackley, Alicia with no last name, Alexandria Murillo, Rachel Barker, Matt Gigliotta, Alison Sellers, Shane and Miranda Kredermacher, Carrie DeCiccio, nope, DeCiccio, DeCiccio, it's Italian as fuck.
DeCiccio, DeCiccio or DeCicco. I think it's DeCiccio. DeCiccio? It's Italian as fuck. DeCiccio. DeCiccio or DeCicco or DeCiccio.
I think it's DeCicco.
Cheyenne with no last name.
Abby Karpowitz.
Karpowitz.
Jennifer M.
Martha Karpagian.
Yoshi.
Oh, my God.
Yoshi Yasukado.
Thomas Smith.
Morgan, no last name.
Mark Head.
Sarah T.
Caleb Hargis.
Randy with no last name.
Esteban lost his password, so he started a new one.
Thank you, Esteban.
Oh, thank you.
Scary Crap.
Boy, oh boy.
Jeffrey Smith.
Sauce, with no last name.
Jack Steiner.
Kerry Gordon.
Matt Bankert.
Yvonne Lanzote.
Lanzo.
Trista Ohlendorf.
Sean Boyle.
Elizabeth Hammond.
Carla Bossier.
Bossler. Mia Charisma.
It's Charisma.
What the fuck is happening?
Ryan Zeider. Charizo almost.
Harrison Hodge, Carolyn Ochiang, Ray Allen, probably not the four talents. Octopapa.
Jim with no last name.
Amy Mulligan.
Cuddly Pie Bomb.
Hannah Dance.
Laura Thomas.
Joseph.
Nope, that's Joseph.
Sufflage.
I'm sorry, Joseph.
Matt Renfro.
Philip Wadham.
McKenna Lundy.
Waspie McTavish.
Antiopi.
Graham Cooper.
James Anderson. Griffin M. shania ziegler uh patrick mccauley tom nope that's ted perron uh taylor powell josh josh peters denise
fonger the fucking amount of french in this shit this week is bananas. Did we go crazy in France? Dakota Ledbetter.
What?
There's a Ledbetter.
Oh, no.
Shut up, Cody.
Martha O'Farrell.
What is this?
Bernie Carr, 18-wheeling redneck Vincent Perham.
Evan Miller, Zach Smith, Am Kapetapara, Laura Wilson, Jody Dyer, T. Rose, Jeremy Thomas, Roy Fish, Colton Cochran, Abagadragonite.
That's what that is.
I don't know what a dragonite is.
Oh, that's a rock, right?
I think it is.
It's a mineral.
Angela Ward, Laurel with no last name, Courtney M. Shauna Penn. Sam with no last name.
Sarah Johnson.
Gemma Huffer.
Megan Rosenberg.
Matt Randy.
Nope, that's Brittany.
Hughes.
Tulsa Collins.
Amanda Taylor.
Christ on a crutch.
What is this?
Christ.
Brittany the Macho Man Savage.
Chris Rosenhauser-Hibbard.
Aaron Rodgers Pornstache.
Brian Tomac.
Gabrielle Frame.
Owen Rector.
Damn near killed.
What? I think I wrote that in, Leslie Metters, Jesse Calley, Kyle Coburn, Josh Anderson, Carol Brewer, Joe Craven, Bridget Coons, Dakota Pritchard, Stephen McFadden, Jamar Harden, Bryce Gilbert, Sean Russell, Amy Rodriguez, Jen Lyson, Joey with no last name, Micah B., Kendra Peterson, Hannah McPherson, Melvin Payne, Sarah Gamble, Amarinda Schumer, Carrie Allen, Ellen McKay, Carly with no last name, Nikki McQuinn, Sylvie N., Kylie Burge, Jess with no last name, Cara Hurt, Vincent Graham, Christine Scott, Amanda, nope, that's Adam, Iannetti, goddammit, Mandy Viscuzzi, so many Italian, Jesse Hiller, Colleen Ishiyama, Colette, sorry, Mariette Wagger, Christine Handorf, Dylan Crandall, Kristen Mortar, Saren Goodwin, Sean Burton, Darnell Swallow, Rebecca Legger, Alex Norris, Jonathan Walsh, Keisha Campbell, Ada Evans, Venus Logan, Glenn Cavaco, Cassidy Stetcher, Tegwin Feldbush, Corey Kramer, Alicia Devane, Jared with no last name, Catherine Barnes-Samantha with no last name. Jason McClain. Rachel with no last name.
Mark Magyar-Nging. N-G-I-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R-N-G-I-R Brendan Holdorfer, El Volge, Cameron Mitchell, Shelby Papp,
Maddie with no last name, Melissa Weinstock, Wayne York,
and a lady named Renee with no last name, and all of our patrons.
You guys, thank you so much for making that so difficult on me.
Thank you so much, everybody, for all that you do for us.
Honestly, we couldn't do anything without you.
You guys are the – all of you the the producers you're
the ones that keep the ship going you really do because you're the ones that make us go well we
don't fucking care about advertisers we're not going to have 10 commercials a show we're not
going to do stupid products so you don't want to hear about because you guys make it so we don't
have to do that and we can concentrate on making the show better for you so thank you for doing that so much and what if they wanted to talk to you and thank you how
could they do that jimmy i'm on the internet um that's where most of the conversation is had and
i appreciate you guys doing that where are you're on the internet oh i am i am over at uh somewhere
there you can just google us and find us you know how to Google shit. Google website works out.
Google,
Google the show,
find us either way.
Just do it.
Just keep coming back
and listening.
We don't care.
And subscribe to Game of Crimes
and keep listening to this
every single week.
Keep coming back
because we're not going to stop.
No.
And until next week,
everybody,
it's been our pleasure.
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