Small Town Murder - #24 - Bad Decisions, Deadly Results in Eufaula, Oklahoma

Episode Date: June 28, 2017

This week, we look into the sleepy town of Eufaula, Oklahoma, where a down on their luck, and meth addled couple hatch an ill conceived plan that leads to a brutal double murder. Along the way, we find out exactly how hard it is to escape to Mexico, how much worm dung one would need to farm to make a living, and how easy it seems to be to escape from an Oklahoma jail!! Hosted by James Pietragallo & Jimmie Whisman New episodes every Thursday!!Please subscribe, rate, and review!Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts!Head to shutupandgivememurder.com for all things Small Town Murder!For merchandise: crimeinsports.threadless.comCheck out James and Jimmie's other show: Crime in Sports Follow us on social media!Facebook: facebook.com/smalltownpodInstagram: instagram.com/smalltownmurderTwitter: twitter.com/MurderSmall Contact the show: [e-mail] See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to Small Town Murder early and ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. 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, we head to the town of Eufaula, Oklahoma, where a couple's ill-conceived plan ends in tragedy. Welcome to Small Town Murder. Hello, everybody.

Welcome back to Small Town Murder. Yay! Yay. My name is James Petrogallo. I'm here with my co-host. I have Jimmy Wissman. Jimmy Wissman. Yay for murder is what he says.

Yes. Give me murder. Give me murder or give me death. Yes. Give me murder or murder me murder or give me death. Yes. Give me murder or murder me to death. Let's do that. Thank you folks so much for joining us this week. We are super excited to be here as always.

This week we have a crazy story, as usual. Thank you guys this week, first of all, for all of your iTunes reviews because enormous this week. You guys were a flood this week, and we can't thank you enough because, like we say all the time, it is insanely helpful to us on the business end to have those iTunes reviews. It's a weird algorithm that iTunes does, and it sends you up the charts, and that's how people judge you. You guys are figuring it out to get us judged in a favorable light. In a positive light, and we thank you for that so, so much.

If you haven't got on there yet, I know it takes 30 seconds. It's a bit of a pain in the butt. We realize that. But get on there. Give us five stars. Tell us you like the show. Tell us anything you want. Whatever.

Anything. Clouds are fluffy. They are. Yeah, they are. They're super fluffy. We'll be happy with that. It doesn't matter. On the business end, though, it is insanely helpful.

Some people, though, that's not enough, Jimmy. Sometimes. They say, you know what? I need to do more. I do. And you can do more. Yes, you can. You can go on patreon.com slash crimeinsports.

That's our other show. All that money comes to us. And you should listen to Crime and Sports. Yeah, please do. You should. It's true crime. You don't have to like sports. So much fun.

It's sports are to that show what the town is to this show. Right. It's just to give you context. That's all the sports is. It has nothing to do with that. Also, listen to P.S. I Hate This Movie with me and my girlfriend Sarah Hunt making fun of bad romantic comedies, because that's funny, too. But get on patreon.com slash crimeandsports.

You can make a donation. We have some cool rewards on there. Yep. And if you want to do a one-time donation, no problem. You could do PayPal. Our PayPal there is... Crimeandsports at gmail.com. That's right, Jimmy.

Crimeandsports at gmail.com. You can make a donation there. Do whatever you want. If you don't want to do any of that, Jimmy. Crimeandsports at gmail.com. You can make a donation there. Do whatever you want. If you don't want to do any of that, understandable. What you can do, you can sit back and you can listen to a tale of murder. Shut up and give me murder. Shut up and give me murder. Also, too, we have to do the disclaimer.

That would be nice. As always. My favorite part. This is a comedy podcast. We have to say this every time because some people, they don't understand or they don't know what they're getting themselves into. This is a comedy podcast. We have to say this every time because some people, they don't understand or they don't know what they're getting themselves into. This is a comedy podcast. All the facts are real.

The story's real. All the research is very real and very meticulously done. Trust me. It's true. Well, we're comedians. We're stand-up comics. We make jokes. So we're going to make jokes about the town.

We're going to make jokes about a bumbling police force or an asshole murderer who's a murderer. So it's fine to make fun of them. We never make jokes at the expense of the victims or of the victims' families. Like we say a lot, we're assholes, but we're not scumbags. You know what I mean? That's true. That's our slogan.

It really is. We should make that on a T-shirt. Speaking of T-shirts, you can go to our site, truecrimecomedyteam.com. That's just launched. And you can get your Small Town Murder and Crime and Sports t-shirts there if you want to. So do that. But if you want no t-shirt and you want no part of this after hearing that, you think that true crime and comedy have no place in the same plane of existence, we say thank you very much. We shake hands and we part ways, and we tell you you're probably not going to like this.

See you around. See you around. Thanks for giving us a shot. If you're still here after we've told you not to listen, thank you for being here. Stick around. Stick around. And we're going to get it on right now. We're coming away from New Jersey last week.

We were by the shore in New Jersey. Gross, but we were in the northeast by the shore in Atlantic City. You could smell the ocean scum and the hypodermic needles washing up on shore. Ocean breeze smells a little musty. It's a little musty. We're going to go completely opposite of that now. We're going to Eufaula, Oklahoma. Oh, boy.

You can't get any more different than Ocean Grove, New Jersey, than Eufaula, Oklahoma, I feel like. It's in the eastern central part of the state, which means it's pretty much dead in the middle of the country. There's no water. There's no water. There's no nothing. It's just land. And you've been through Oklahoma, haven't you? Yeah, it's so dusty. It's a flat, dusty.

It's one of those where you feel like you're in a western, where you're like, it's never going to end. It's not far off from like, there's like 100 miles in each direction of its border that are exactly the same as what's there. Yeah, it doesn't change. It's some seriously stagnant landscape, we'll say. Yeah, no hills. No.

Not a hill to be seen. As we know from the Dust Bowl, one hill would have saved that whole region. It seems like in the distance there might be one, and then you get to where what you saw was at, and it's just still flat. Mirage. Like in deserts, they have mirages of water. Yeah. And there they're like, maybe we'll let you see a hill. Maybe.

Maybe you'll get a hill. Nope. Gone. No hills for you. Carpet pulled right out from under you. It's about two hours outside of Oklahoma City and about an hour and a half from Tulsa. I mean, those are the closest major cities. This is in the middle of goddamn nowhere would be the best way to put it.

It's 32 miles south of Muskogee. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Muskegee? I think it's Muskogee if you go by the. It's 32 miles south of Muskogee. Yeah. Muskegee? I think it's Muskogee if you go by the song. I'm just going by Tuskegee. We don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. The old song. I assume that's where it's from, which this place sounds not like a place that's fun to visit. They make songs about how much they don't smoke marijuana there. I'll bet there's songs about how much marijuana they do smoke. Probably. I'm sure there's an alternate version.

We like to smoke lots of meth here in muskogee i think that's what's that's what it is it's like you don't smoke weed here how dare you think that you're going to just get high and enjoy yourself not much meth you are going to be doing hard drugs hard you will have bent spoons and lots of fire let's do it you'll be in mcintosh county because that's where this is uh youfaula. Zip code 74432. Area code 539. They also added 918 recently. So moving up in the world.

It's right in the middle of everything. It's about 9.6 square miles, this town. There's some water. There's some river there. There's a river. So it's about 6.6 square miles of land. Gotcha. The slogan here is, well, I mean, this is... They took the time for the slogan here is oh well i mean this this has they took

the time for a slogan they made a slogan it is visit for the weekend or stay for a lifetime and this is on this podcast that that lifetime is not too long that sounds like a threat yeah yeah it does is it for a weekend or stay for a lifetime if we want you to like no i want to leave now jesus i don't think I want to stay here for a lifetime. I didn't even want to stay overnight. This is terrible. We just stopped because it was late. And I heard that if you fall asleep, you can die.

I saw a sign for hotel, so I just pulled off the road. It was a lot of driving. I was tired. The days in looked decent. It didn't even look nice. And you're threatening me with a lifetime? But I guess I'm going to be here forever. It didn't even look nice, and you're threatening me with a lifetime?

But I guess I'm going to be here forever. Eufaula, they have Lake Eufaula, which is like the, you know, that's their main attraction. It is the largest lake contained entirely within the state of Oklahoma. Uh-huh. Because they made the Eufaula Dam, and that caused that. So every other lake is on the border? I guess there's a bigger lake, but it goes into other states, apparently. That seems to be how it works here.

It contains Standing Rock, this lake, which is a historical monument which you can't see since they created the lake. It's underwater. So apparently I heard it. You see a drop of it if it gets really low, if there's a drought. Fascinating. It's probably all the time, I think, in Oklahoma. Yeah. It's either a drought or a flood, I feel like. Right.

That's the type of place where the weather is unforgiving. Yeah. It's either a tornado, a drought, or a flood. You're going to die from the weather the type of place where the weather is unforgiving. Yeah. It's either a tornado, a drought, or a flood. You're going to die from the weather there. That's crazy. Hide in your bathtub, asshole.

That's just all it is. That should be the Oklahoma State's law. Oklahoma, come on down. Die in your bathtub. Come on in there. Hide on in there and die in your bathtub.

Stay for a weekend and die in the bathtub. And die in your bathtub. Enjoy. With no water. All right. Huddle with your children. Excellent.

Come on down. We've got bathtubs. Enjoy. With no water. Alright. Huddled with your children. Excellent. Come on down. We got bathtubs big enough for the whole family. The whole family can die in our bathtubs. That's right. The name Eufaula comes from the Eufaula tribe of Native Americans. Yeah. They were part of the Muskegee Creek Confederacy.

Yeah, they were joining together. This is the whole formation of this in Oklahoma through all the reservation, the Native American reservations, all that sort of thing. This is all from the 1830s Trail of Tears being driven from the southeast, and they drove them here. So there's a bunch of people here that are basically misplaced, forced here from the southeast and the trail of tears is the only like phrase in american history that like it oozes racism without with like being like no we're using it because we have to tell you history it still feels it's so bad it does and so torturous because it is it's horrible fucking horrible it really is yeah it's there's no doubt about that it feels so racist though just to say

it's like white people saying it. It feels like you're getting a pass, so you smile when you say Trail of Tears. Trail of Tears. Something you shouldn't say happily, I don't think, really. Not at all. The natives, they really used this area as a gathering ground, I think, because maybe the water, the lake, maybe it was nice to hang out there. I don't know.

But they had a lot of powwows there, as they called them. There's another one. Yes. But that's official. That's an official term. That sounds like some racist shit you learned when you were eight. You know what I mean? That's terrible.

But it's true, though. What are you going to do? White people started coming to this town about 1872 after the arrival of, guess what? Oil? Yes. Jimmy, oil. Yes. No, it's not oil at all no it's the railroad as usual all right it's always the railroad damn it i thought you were setting me up to be white to be right for one no i was saying because i figured that one was like okay it's across the west

it's just oil it's always fucking oil. I like it. I like it a lot, man. Americans and their oil. Goddamn oil. So, yeah, it's incorporated into a town. It's in Indian territory, technically, but it's a town anyway incorporated in 1898. This is a crazy story of this town, the type of thing we're dealing with with the old people. Imagine, too, back then, first of all, the people, no offense, Oklahoma, but nobody set out from the East Coast to stop in Oklahoma.

No. They might have when they were doing the land grab. When they were doing the land giveaway, they might have said, okay, fine. We're going to go get our piece. Yeah. Before that. Can't be that far from the ocean. It's fine.

Yeah. I feel like a lot of them are people that just didn't make it all the way to California. They had a wagon wheel break and they were like, this is fucking good enough, I guess. If you played Oregon Trail, one of the kids got bit by a rattlesnake. You're like, fuck it, we'll live here. That looks like a hill over that horizon anyway. I think it's a hill. I think it's good. We're fine. So that ended up happening.

So these people, though, there's some tough, hardscrabble people here. Yeah, it's because they tried to find the beach, and one day they were like, we've driven for eight hours. There is no water inside. There's no water. We're just staying here. They're like, let's turn it around and just be hardscrabble and boondoggle Oklahoma. Yes. Well, this is between 1907 and 1909.

This was right after Oklahoma was admitted to the union as a state. There was a huge dispute with Chakotah, which is a nearby town, and it's known as the McIntosh County Seat War. And Chakotah was which is a nearby town, and it's known as the McIntosh County Seat War. And Chakotah was designated as the county seat. The people of Eufaula refused to hand over their county records to them. They said, fuck you guys. We don't care what you say. Who in that town fucked the mayor's wife? What happened?

I don't know. But after this, a group of heavily armed men from Chakotah attempted to seize the records from the courthouse. What? This is an armed standoff over records. Over seize the records from the courthouse. This is an armed standoff over records in a courthouse, but were beaten back and forced to surrender during a huge gunfight that followed. They had a shootout gunfight at the courthouse over records with a neighboring town over the county seat. Thank God for the internet and public records for your information scouring, your scavenger hunt for information.

You'd be going to these towns. You'd have to carry a rifle, James. Bring your gun with you. Exactly. I would like to know about a murder that happened here. Get out of here, boy. Come on. Let's go.

No. Come on now. Get away from me. So who ended up winning this? Well, let's see here. About one year later, see who wins this. Ufala is designated as the permanent seat of Macintosh guys. They win.

An armed standoff kept them going. Little things that might make this town a little bit famous here. On September 25th, 1964, President Lyndon Johnson traveled there to dedicate the Lake Ufala Dam, which created their giant lake. The Selman brothers are there, who all played at University of Oklahoma. Football players, Leroy Selman. You ever heard of him? He's a Hall of Fame NFL player. Oh, that makes me feel like a piece of shit.

Two of his brothers. He played in the 70s. Okay, it still yanks my man, Carl. I've been to the Hall of Fame. I should know the name. I think he played for the Cardinals, too. So, I mean, the St. Louis Cardinals, you don't really need to know much about that. There's only a couple of them that are in the Hall of Fame anyway.

Yeah, it's not a long list. Not a spectacular. We have more people that donate to our Patreon page than have gotten to the Hall of Fame from them. Oh, fuck yeah, a ton more. I mean, every week. Thank you. Not just like. Yeah, thank you for making us better than the Cardinals.

The TV show Dirty Jobs filmed two episodes there. Two. Really? Two shitty jobs there. One was a worm d episodes there. Two. Really? Two shitty jobs there. One was Worm Dung Farmer in Eufaula, which sounds terrible. So that's what they have to do there. How do you even do that? It sounds awful.

And then the other one was Dirtiest Water Jobs featuring catfish noodling in Eufaula. Okay. So I at least know what that is. But the other one, yeah, I don't know. So there's catfish noodlers and then people that wait for a worm to shit. They wait for a worm to shit and they gather it up. They take it home with them. Throw it in the net.

And they call that a job. That's their career. The amount of dung that must come from a worm, though, is it worth farming? Worms ain't shitting enough today. I'll tell you right now. They're not shitting enough any day. They're all backed up, these worms. I don't know what happened here.

Too much cheese. Now, the people here, population 2,936. So a pretty small town. Up 11% since 2000. So people are coming. Wow. They're coming to you Fallen Boy. Thanks to Mike Rowe. Thanks to Mike. Maybe that's what it was. They wanted

to noodle or collect worm dung. That seems like an easy job. Yeah. That seems not hard, I guess. You don't need a college education, probably. No, goodness, no. You can get on with that easily. That seems like in the field work. I think so.

We'll just teach it. On-site training, I believe. In the field education. There's an apprenticeship. There's an apprenticeship. Yeah, you helped. I'm an apprenticed worm shit farmer. Thanks.

Wow. My boss is a journeyman worm fucker. He's good. He's been everywhere. Wow. That escalated fast. Never mind. You know what he is.

Journeyman addict. You get it. Holy Lord. Male-female population is about normal. Median age is a little over, about five years over the average at 42.2. So it's a little bit older. And it's one of these things where it's over 65 age group, it's double the average of all those age groups. So a lot more older people.

Lower than average in every age group. Under 25. And then the middle is kind of normal. So it's one of those. More old, less young, some in the middle. So just not a lot of kids there. those more old less young some in the middle so just not a lot of kids there everything about normal on the married and single and all that sort of thing except about twice the average number of widowed people there with old people that's what you'd expect yeah a little more divorced people

than normal that sort of thing but otherwise outlive the other someone's got to outlive the other and uh it's odd though because the male and female are about equal which is strange yeah you'd think there'd be more i don't know what what happened. More younger guys, more older women. I don't know what it works. But racially, break it down here, white people, 53.52% white, which is a little lower than the 62% average. 4.76% black, lower than the 12.25% average there. 0.52% Asian.

So they were like, we'll give them a couple of restaurants. We'll deal. If Wang Chung wants to farm worm dung, that's fine with me, but only a few of them are going to be in this town. Wang Chung brought his silkworms, and they're taking the shit off the silkworms. Yeah, I feel like that's what they're saying. Native American, 19.51%, which is the highest we've had. Well, yeah, this is the reservation area.

0.66% is normal. So that's the area. 0.66% is normal. So that's the average. 0.66% is the average? That's the average. And they have 19%. They have 19%. 2.88% Hispanic. So that's way lower than the 16%.

Religion here, way less than I thought. I thought this would be a more religious place than normal. I figured a lot of Baptists. Yeah, it's about 50-50 normally. It's 42.9% say they're religious here. So it's actually below people that say they're religious but also the native population is going to play into that. 28.5%

Baptist. So you nailed the Baptist part. 0.0% Jewish, 0.0% Muslim as we would expect if you follow Oklahoma. Right in the center of the country, right in the smack on the buckle of the Bible Belt. We haven't got there yet everybody. So 62% Republican, 38 percent Democrat, which is about on par with the state.

I think it's actually a little more Republican, the state in general, than that. The economy here, not doing well. No, not doing well as a lot of these places aren't that we've covered. Brooks didn't drive that economy through the roof. Apparently not. That sign that says home of Garth Brooks outside Oklahoma City. I don't give a shit. Don't care.

That means nothing two hours east in Eufaula. Yeah. So economy here, 25% make under $15,000 a year. So as we know, that's not terrific right there. Only 0.4% make over $150,000, which is way less than the average. So that tells you right there. Median household income reflected in that in $33,627 a year, which is about $20,000 less than the average.

Wow. So it's not doing well economically there. Not terrific, it doesn't seem like. Who knew worm shit didn't pay? I would think that worm shit would be an amazing opportunity business-wise. If you had enough to see, I'd be like, that's probably worth $10,000. That has to be worth a lot. That's a lot of shit. I've never seen that much worm shit.

Seems like it would take a while to gather that much worm shit. I'm imagining little tweezers and little shovel. That sounds awful. Pushing it together? Just awful, man. Molding it into one giant worm shit? Oh, my God. I can't say worm shit. Why can't I say it? I was going to go through the jobs, but it's all about normal as far as averages.

And also, it doesn't matter because we know what the jobs are. Worm shit farmer and noodle. That's all there is. So noodle or farm worms. Enjoy. Cost of living here, as we do the 100 being like par, that's average. Cost of living here is 88. Health care is a little higher than normal at $114,000.

The low thing is housing. Housing is a $53,000 out of $100,000. So it's very low. Median home cost is $99,000 here, which is way down from about the $185,000 average in the country. Way more houses than average in the $20,000 to $150,000 range. Way more than average. Way more than average in the $20,000 to $150,000 range. Everything is there pretty much. Nothing over half a million dollars, 0.0%. It's about half the average of everything like $300,000 to $400,000, half the average $400,000 to $500,000, half the average of normal.

So it's not a lot. If I've convinced you, if we've convinced you that you need to find some worm dung and get down to Ufala, we have the Ufala, Oklahoma real estate report for you right now. Two-bedroom apartment, average price of that is about $658, which is about $400 lower than the average, so not too shabby. I found a two-bedroom, two-bath, 1,100-square-foot house for $60,000. That seems reasonable. Very reasonable.

It'll look like a dump, but it's a nice cheap price anyway. Three bedroom, two bath house, 1,600 square feet, a little more room to stretch out, $115,000. Very reasonable. That's a very reasonable price. Seems like expensive tornado food. That's going to be tornado food. Yeah, absolutely. Everything here is like, well, hmm, how much will the insurance give me when it's leveled

by a tornado? I think that's why there's no big, nice, I can't say not nice because I don't see these houses, but there's no fucking mansion. It's because you're going to have two mansions when a tornado rips through the middle of it. Yeah, Garth Brooks, I'm sure his house is extra reinforced. It's made of steel. It's reinforced. Steel beams don't melt. That's right.

If you want to gather up everything, you've got all your inheritances, and you've saved your whole life, and you're going to move and get a sprawling estate, and you follow. Six bedroom, four bath, 3,200 square foot. Beautiful house, too. Really nice. That's giant. $379,000. Seems reasonable.

That's really reasonable for that house. That would be a million here, easy. Yeah, easy. And in Phoenix, Arizona, where it is hotter than the devil's ball sack. In L.A., that house is $2 million. $3 million. Fuck more than that. 3,000 square feet? Ridiculous. Way more than that. Six bedrooms?

Get out of here. That's going to be probably $3 million. $3.5 million in L.A., depending on the name. That's maybe Studio City. It's not even like somewhere real expensive. Things to do in Eufaula. there are things to do and this is right from the from the list here uh the it's seems like the uh macintosh sheriff's department is number two on the list i don't know go there just to go there and say how you doing

you got any do they like to do they have like a clicker for you know the guy at the door i don't know counting how many people come? Because maybe it's just more people are arrested than actually go to the Denny's in this town. That's true. That's possible. That is possible. The Oklahoma Wakeboard Association hosting their Southern Plains Festival at Lake Eufaula August 3rd through 5th. So you can get on that. These events are held in Eufaula Cove, same as last year, it says.

It's a huge resort with tons of great coves and plenty of everything to ride, blah, blah, blah. This year's festival will also contain a prize of $500 going to the top outlaw rider. Outlaw rider. Outlaw rider of a wakeboard. I don't know how on the lake. Is it illegal there?

And it says, and of course, of course, Jimmy, in case you were questioning it, karaoke will be going on all night long. Absolutely. So they have that. You're damn right it will. And, and it says, and of course, of course, Jimmy, in case you're questioning it, karaoke will be going on all night long. Absolutely. So they have that. You're damn right it will. So now that we've got that out of the way.

Somebody's got to sing Friends in Low Places after they lose the outlaw wakeboard contest. They don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee. They need to do that. The crime in this town, what obviously our area of interest here, the crime, property crime, burglary, larceny, theft, it's a good deal higher than average. Almost double the average of that. It's pretty high. So they'll steal your shit in this place. Worm dung not paying the bills.

And violent crime, murder, rape, robbery, assault is actually a good deal lower than the average. So it's kind of what you'd expect from a small town. Let us get into the murder. Yes. The murder. The murder here. Let's introduce some players. Let's introduce some people. Let's introduce a nice couple. Yes. The murder. Uh-huh. The murder here. Let's introduce some players. Uh-huh. Let's introduce some people.

Let's introduce a nice couple. I'd love that. What do you say for once off the bat? Normally we're introducing scumbags. Yeah. Let's introduce a nice couple at first here. We have a nice couple. At the time, they are 80 years old and 75 years old.

Okay. This is in 1999. They're 80 years old, 75 years old. It's Robert Pendley. He's an 80-year-old World War II veteran. Oh, goodness. His 75-year-old wife, Rosa Vivian, who everybody calls Vivian. They live on a nice large property about 10 miles west of Eufaula. It's actually in a town called Lena, but Lena isn't really a town.

I tried to do that, but Lena is like a – it's more like just a name. There's nothing in Lena. It's just a name. There's more like just a name. There's nothing in Lena. It's just a name. There's not like a main street. There's no nothing. There's just like some houses on the outskirts and nothing there. Yeah, there's really no town to speak of there. It's a ghost town. It's known as Lena. It doesn't participate

in census. It's just a town by name only that they live in the outskirts of. Robert Penley, let's talk about him. The 80-year-old. This guy, just a man. He's had a life, this guy. He fought in World War II. He fought in the Battle of the Bulge.

That's crazy. He fought the Germans off. He literally fought. This man killed Nazis, like lots of them probably. I mean, the Battle of the Bulge was no shit. That was a huge German offensive in World War II. I'm a World War II nerd, but it was a huge deal. This guy fought in that. That is impressive to me.

He fought in the 87th Infantry Division. Just a tough son of a bitch. Robert and Vivian, they lived their lives in Eufaula. He had a little store. In the 70s, they decided to build a nice home to retire in Lena, a few miles away from Eufaula. What a nice thing, right? This guy survived fighting Nazis, for Christ's sake. In Ufala, he ran a garage, and Vivian worked in a department store.

So they worked their whole lives. He fought the Nazis. They're going to build a nice house and retire to it. That sounds wonderful, doesn't it? In 1976, he was building a second story to the house. Let's add on to this house. Let's make it a little more room for us. A little expand. Yeah. The grandkids come over. They have some place to Yeah. Let's add on to this house. Let's make it a little more room for us. A little expand.

Yeah. The grandkids come over. They have some place to stay. Let's do this. There's a lot of room. It's Oklahoma. Yeah. Let's build.

Well, they're building up, but it doesn't matter. Anyway, he's working on the second story of the house in 1976, and Robert falls and breaks his back, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. Oh, my God. So he is, from 76 on, he's in a wheelchair, this poor guy. I mean, the Germans couldn't kill him, but, you know, falling off the roof in Atlanta, Oklahoma will do it. At this point, Vivian, she had worked at a department store

called Sharp's Department Store in Ufala. She held the job for over 25 years, and she quit to stay home with her husband. They were in their mid-50s. I think he was in his late 50s. She was in her early 50s. And she said, I'm going to stop that. Let's retire now.

I'll take care of him since he can't walk. He can't do anything. He no longer had use of his legs. So that's obviously terrible. This guy, though, didn't give up. This is what a fighter he is. He worked to develop his upper body strength so he could move himself around and be like Joe from Family Guy and be like strong upper body.

And he drags himself places, pulls himself in and out of everything. This guy needs no help. He's one of these guys. He's a badass, this guy. His daughter-in-law, Diana, said, quote, he could lift himself out of his wheelchair onto his riding lawnmower. They had a recliner in the living room that he'd lift himself into and watch a little TV. Jesus. He's a badass.

He's tough. Yeah, he's tough. He's like, I don't need anybody's help. I'll do this shit. I can do it myself. It's amazing. Myself, I can do it. Jesus. He's a badass. He's tough. Yeah, he's tough. He's like, I don't need anybody's help. I'll do this shit. I can do it myself. It's amazing. They said she also I can do it. Yes. Yeah, this guy's a badass. This is how we should all try to be, you know, or we should all want to be, but we should all strive

to strive, but we're all pussies compared to this. No one's fighting the battle of the bulge. Then moving west to build a house. Yeah. Jimmy, how much more of a man is he than either of us? Honestly, I don't know. It's not a sex. How much more of a man is he than either of us? Honestly. That's not a sex... How much more of a stereotypical man? He fought the Germans.

He fought the Nazis off and then built a house in the middle of the frontier. Holy shit. He was legitimately out looking for Adolf Hitler. Yes. He was looking for the worst man in the world. Unbelievable, man. And then he goes home to build a house. Awesome. So apparently Diana said they took great pride in the world. Unbelievable, man. And then he goes home to build a house. Awesome.

So apparently Diana said they took great pride in their home. She said it had a three-acre yard that was more like a park. She said they manicured it like you wouldn't believe. Penn Leawood, this is another thing, too. He's so resourceful. He'd use his riding mower to get all around the property. He'd hang tools all off of it so he could go around trim and prune. Really?

He's like, I'm doing this shit myself. He's a paraplegic. It's saddlebags for all his weaponry to fight the... That's what it is. It's his weaponry to fight the overgrown shrubs now. He's got his pack and he's off. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. This guy, he's not... Three acres?

I'll take care of it. Paraplegic? Old? No problem. I got this. Don't give a shit. I got this. Don't give a shit. I got this.

Incredible, man. Also, too, they had in 1963 the Ufala high school class of – the Ufala class of 1963, not in 1963, held a reunion on their property. That's how nice of it. At their house. Because they said, quote, it looked like a park. Unbelievable. So it was like the nicest property around. Spent out there pruning the grass all week.

Yeah. Diana says, quote, mom was just a workhorse. She was going all the time. Their home was their pride and joy. Mom and Dad both took great pride in their yard. Yeah. So they really, really did. Eventually, they cleared the – because this wasn't clear originally.

Yeah. They moved into nothing, and they ended up clearing several acres to have a yard. Wow. To have a nice property that turned – they just found this area in Oklahoma and said, let's make this look like a park. I'll build a house. Let's get the yard done. Hop in my wheelchair. Let's do this.

That's impressive. The high school's like, that place looks nicer than our football field. Let's hold our graduation there. Let's do that, man. So all the way up, they've had such a, I mean, that's a life. They're 80 years old. In July of 1999, they're 80 years old. Robert is.

Vivian, 75 years old. They're not afraid of a lot either, I wouldn't think. He wouldn't be. I mean, it can't be scarier than the Battle of the Bulge, I wouldn't imagine, no matter what's going on out there. So they remain active, though, still. 80 years old. They're still active. They both like to do things.

Robert is known for once recently riding his four-wheeler. He's like a four-wheeler. Yeah, like a quad. A quad, thank you. Rode it 24 miles from Lena to a nearby town called Hannah. Those are tough to ride for 24 miles. That's brutal. I mean, on the road, too, because those tires aren't built for the road, so they kind of tug you each direction.

And I doubt it was even all on roads, probably. Him, he's like, I'm going to take a shortcut. Well, I've done it. I've ridden much further than that on a quad. But you're not an 80-year-old paraplegic. I'm not a guy whose legs don't work. I can shift it. That's what it is, exactly.

So anyway, but they're starting to slow down a little bit physically because he's 80 years old. I mean, at some point, you've got to relax a little bit physically. They wanted to see the sunset better in their property. They said the sunset was obscured by some brush, and they wanted to be able to sit down and look at the sunset. He hasn't cleared enough? He hasn't cleared quite enough. Well, it's three acres they cleared. That's a lot.

So they couldn't clear this. I guess some things that he couldn't get to. In a wheelchair, it's got to be hard. I don't think he can climb a ladder and get up on something. That's got to be very difficult. So the couple hires a man to clear some land so they could see this sunset. During this, he came a few times

and then he shows up with two other people asking if they could help too. Will you pay these people to work also? Because, you know, it'll get done faster. Right. And, you know, maybe you want to help these people out. Many hands make light work. Exactly.

This man brings with him a couple. They're a couple, too. It's not like he brought a couple of guys. They bring in Harold and Vicki McElmurray. Brought a woman to do some land clearing? To do some land. They're a married couple. Harold and Vicki McElmurray.

And they needed work, basically. And he said, I brought these people. If you could use them, they needed work, basically. And he said, I brought these people. If you could use them, they could use the work. And they said, what the hell? Get on in there. Clear it faster. Might as well. They seem like nice people.

They seem like they'd be like, yeah, let's put your friends to work also. So the Penleys say, go ahead. You do the work. Everybody does work. They clear out the brush. Sunset is more visible. Everybody's happy. All right.

Things are going great, right? Yeah. I mean, Harold and Vicki, the McElmurrays, they needed money. That's why they were here. Harold believed he had a warrant out for his arrest on a probation violation and thought he was going to go to prison. He had recently lost his job.

He had no money and he had just gotten a car recently, but he couldn't afford to get a tag for it. These people are strays. They're like stray dogs. That's exactly what they are. And he just fed them, and they're not going anywhere. No, they're like cats. It's bad.

He put out one can of tuna, and they're never going away. Harold McElmurray had previous convictions for both grand larceny and concealing stolen property. So he's had some run-ins with the law here. They also, Vicki McElmurray also has an alias of Vicki Lynn Holman. I'm not sure if that's her maiden name or what. She is also at this point on probation for two things. She pleaded guilty in February 98 to forgery and receiving stolen property and got a three-year deferred sentence.

Also had another charge of receiving stolen property dismissed in a plea agreement in conjunction with the other one. And this guy hangs out with these people. He hangs out with them, yes. She's also charged with grand larceny in September 97, and that was, I never did figure out how that one came out, but we don't need to know that for now. It shook out in the wash somehow. It shook out in the wash somehow.

Maybe they dropped it. I'm not sure. So they've been to, they've gone to the Penleys, the McElmurray's. They've done work there. They leave. Three weeks goes by. Nothing's going on. I mean, it's fine. They don't to the Penleys, the McElmurray's. They've done work there. They leave. Three weeks goes by. Nothing's going on. It's fine. They don't hear from them again.

They're just some people they paid to work on their property. Everything's good. The strays left. They got the strays to leave. They shoot them away. They didn't put out any food for a couple days and they were like, fuck it. They pushed on. Now, on July 30th, 1999, Harold and Vicky begin a walk through the woods. A walk that would last two days.

What? They walked through the woods for two whole days. They went on a walkabout. Days and nights through the woods. They stopped. We know this. They stopped at a place called Mark's Country Store, which is approximately about a mile east of Eufaula on July 30th to buy some groceries.

And they continued on through the woods. Okay. They bought someth to buy some groceries, and they continued on through the woods. They bought some stuff, and they were like, we're trekking through the woods. They end up at the Pendley's house, at Robert and Vivian's house, on August 1st, 1999. Fresh out of Lunchables. Fresh out of Lunchables, man. They stopped at the store. No more Lunchables. They couldn't farm any worm dung on the way.

Times are tough. Noodling season is over. It's over. It's August 1st. You can only noodle in the spring. I have no idea when you noodle, by the way, but that sounds good. It sounds like they'd be laying eggs or something, and you could get in there and get them at that point. On logic, I'm saying it's noodling season.

You just fisted. I did. I just fisted the wall. You're fisting a catfish's face. I am. Well, that's what they do. You've got to wiggle your fingers. Yeah, you've got to fist fuck them right in the face. That's how you work it. F catfish's face. I am. Well, that's what they do. You've got to wiggle your fingers. Yeah, you've got to fist fuck them right in the face.

That's how you work it. Fist fuck their face. That's what you do with those catfish. Sorry for that, but it's true, damn it. You can't let those catfish get away with shit, you know? Hilarious. You give them an inch, they take a mile. You give them an inch, they take your whole forearm.

They take your whole forearm off. So, Vicky and Harold do not do any sort of sexual activities to any catfish, but they do arrive at the Pendley's house on Sunday, August 1st. So, it's a Sunday afternoon, quiet times. This couple, they're laid back. Of course. Hanging out. They're waiting for the sunset, probably.

Laid back. They're essentially laid up. Yeah. He's this couple. They're laid back. Of course. Hanging out. They're waiting for the sunset probably. Laid back. They're essentially laid up. Yeah. They're waiting for their newly cleared sunset to come. They're just waiting on the sun to go down for 20 minutes of enjoyment. Yeah, absolutely. So Harold and Vicki knock on Robert and Vivian's door.

The Penleys invite them inside. Of course. Because they're nice people. Oh, we remember you. Yeah. Hey, come on in, guys. Because they were like, oh, we're walking through the area. I don't know who said they might have said we need to use the bathroom. We're fresh out of Lunchables.

Remember we cut down your trees a little while ago? Do you have a glass of water? It's August. It's hot out. We're in the woods walking. We're in fucking Oklahoma. We're thirsty. Exactly.

So it's dry. No hills. Do you see a hill? It's not true. It's not real. Harold and Vicki, the McElmurries, are woodswalkers here. And the Penleys, they are an elderly couple. They go outside because the McElmurrays wanted to smoke cigarettes.

So they went outside. They go in the garage. At some point while they were inside, Harold steals a pair of scissors at one point. He steals a pair of scissors. They smoke their cigarettes. They hang out. He stole a pair of scissors. After a little bit, they leave.

They say, thanks, guys. Good to see you. We're going to walk. And they walk over into the woods. The McElmurray's are done. Yeah. The McElmurray's walk into a wooded area across the road. They're gone for like two hours.

So the Penley's think, all right, they're gone. They're just, they walk into the woods and they're gone. Strays walked away again. They're probably at the next town over by now. Who knows? Instead, though, they were not at the next town over. The McElmoreys were in the woods shooting up meth. They were shooting up meth and trying to decide how they were going to rob the Penleys.

That's what they're thinking. By the way, any decision you make in the woods while shooting up meth, probably not the right decision. You've already made one bad decision. That's terrible, but it's only going to get worse, I imagine, at that point. Just say, you know what? I'm going to do a moratorium on decisions right now. Just hang out for a while. Moratorium on decisions.

Let this meth kind of circulate through my system. The only decision I'm making is to enforce a moratorium on decisions. Yeah. No more. They were trying to decide whether they should rob them or rob and kill them. Jesus. That was the only – decide whether they were going to rob them or not. It was just, do we just rob them or do or rob and kill them. Jesus. That was the only, that decided whether they were going to rob them or not. It was just, do we just rob them

or do we rob and kill them? What do we do here? Let's flip this bent spoon to decide. Yeah, Harold at one point tells his wife, I want to kill them, but I just don't feel right about it. He says that he didn't like Vivian very much, but he liked Robert a lot.

He says, Robert was always real nice to me, the old man. So he's like, But the old lady's a bitch. Yeah, fuck her, man. So he's like, yeah. But the old lady's a bitch. Yeah, fuck her, man. So he said that they both shot up what Harold called a little bit of crank. Any amount of crank that you're shooting up is no good. It's always too much.

Yeah, they hang out after shooting the meth here. They hang out for about 30 to 40 minutes, and then they decide to return to the Penley's house. When they get to the house, they get back there. The Penleys come out into the garage, Robert and Vivian, and Harold and Robert hang out in the garage while Vivian and Vicki, the two ladies, take a walk in the backyard. It's like an old-timey hangout. Yeah, they're going to go walk around for a while.

Hey, we're back. Let's hang out a little longer. Yeah, they go into the yard. Obviously, Robert is seated. He's in his wheelchair hanging out. Out of nowhere, nowhere, they're just talking. Everybody's talking, having a good time, just, you know, whatever. I don't know what people talk about in an Oklahoma garage with people who've cleared their brush. I don't know.

But whatever. Already stolen scissors from them. Yeah, that they don't know about. Out of nowhere, Harold pulls out the pair of scissors he had in his pocket and starts repeatedly stabbing Robert in the chest. Fuck. Enough times to knock him out of his wheelchair. And this is a strong old guy, but he's still strong. You know, he's strong.

He's a spry, but still he knocks him out of his chair. Harold, he's not done with just the scissors. He then picks up a garden hoe and starts beating Robert with the garden hoe in the chest. And the 75-year-old, there's... 80, this is an 80-year-old man. Right, but the 75-year-old, there's... 80. This is an 80-year-old man. Right, but the 75-year-old, she's walking with what's-her-fuck. Yeah, she's in the backyard with a methed-out Vicky, okay? So Harold is beating him with a garden hoe.

Oh, my God. To the point where the hoe breaks from impact. That's the only reason he stopped, because he broke a hoe from impact. On his head? On his chest. Oh, my God. And all over him. This is, I will say this, meth, if you're going to do a blitz attack like this, meth A hoe from impact. On his head? On his chest. Oh, my God. And all over him.

This is, I will say this, meth, if you're going to do a blitz attack like this, meth is the drug to do this on. This is the fuel for that, which is awful. So he's mad. This is a Gatorade of murder. It's what it is. Gatorade of attack blitz murders. Jesus. So at this point, I mean, he's got the hoe.

It's broken. So he's like, oh, this piece of shit. He's a poor guy. I'll take that back to Home Depot later. But for now, I'll take this garden rake and continue the assault. And then he took a rake? A rake. It's got to be like the super solid metal one.

It's not that tinny one. Oh, yeah, it is, too. So at this point here, he's beating him with a rake. He's on the ground bleeding on there. Vivian walks into view and sees what's going on. And she freaks out. She starts to run. She's like, oh, and sees what's going on. And she freaks out. She starts to run. She's like, uh-oh, I see what's going on here.

So Harold tells Vicky to grab her and tackle Vivian and hold her there. So she tackles Vivian out in the yard. They're on the ground in the yard. Robert. Yeah, they're scuffling. Robert's down in the garage. Harold McElmurray, meth asshole,

comes over and starts stabbing her again starts stabbing vivian now also repeatedly stabs her drags her into the garage this leaves a huge bloody trail into the garage so that was obvious what happened there uh now robert penley he was stabbed all over the place he's stabbed in the chest in the back back of the head uh it was out of the wheelchair, the whole deal. He's still alive. He sees what's going on. This guy is such a fucking man.

He's, or whatever, just such an incredible person. He starts clawing his way over there. They found claw marks in furniture of him trying to get himself up to go help his fucking wife out. Unbelievable. Unreal, man. These poor people. That's American soldiers, by the way. That's just fucking, I don't know what to say about that. That guy's awesome.

That's World War II. That's a different generation. I'm not even going to. American soldiers, we love you to death. And all soldiers, we love you to death. Not that. You didn't fight fucking Nazis. Sorry.

You could kill a million terrorists or whoever you want. It's not Hitler. Sorry. We love you to death. It's not your fault. There's no Hitler to kill. But if there was, I'm sure you could do it. I'm not saying you can't. But he actually fought death. It's not your fault. There's no Hitler to kill. But if there was, you know, I'm sure you could do it. I'm not saying you can't.

But he actually fought Hitler. That's the point. This poor guy fought Hitler. So anyway, Harold, now that we've besmirched the soldiers as well, which we didn't at all. We didn't besmirch. You guys are awesome, honestly. We're actually bragging about them. Yeah, we're bragging about you guys.

But Hitler's Hitler. I mean, come on. Anyway, so back to this horror scene here. Jesus Christ. Okay, so Harold now, meth scum Harold, sees that Robert's still alive over here, so he can't let that go. So he picks up a three-foot pipe and begins beating him in the head until he shatters his skull and finally kills him.

Wow. So then he turns around. I mean, it's like whack-a-mole. You know, one's alive. You think he's dead. He turns around. He thinks Vivian's dead. Now she's alive.

Also, too, they didn't have any weapons. Like, this is the most painful death ever. What a jerk. They didn't have anything to do. Yeah, this is a hoe. A hoe, a rake, a fucking rake. Steal a fucking butcher knife from the kitchen if you're going to do this. Do something that ends this so much faster.

This is so terrible. Yeah. He sees that Vivian's alive. Like I said, whack-a-mole. Oh, that one popped back up. He goes over and beats her with the iron pipe until she shatters her skull as well. Scatters and shatters. It doesn't really matter.

It doesn't matter. Yeah. Before this, too, when he picked up the scissors, he cut the phone line to their house originally. He already had done that? He already had cut the phone line. Just in case. Yeah. They have pictures of everything that were admitted into evidence of the phone line being cut with the scissors.

So they figured it out. Obviously before, because if they're dead, what do you need to cut the phone line for? Yeah, who cares at that point? So the physical evidence, though, is off the charts. That's a nice little piece of evidence, though, because that lets you know that that was premeditated exactly that helps a lot it really makes it worse yeah it makes it much worse a little yeah it wasn't like he got in an argument no and lost his fucking mind or anything people yeah so they end up taking uh harold and vicky end up taking uh seventy dollars some seventy dollars they got so they figured they had a lot of money for some reason

some costume jewelry like some old lady jewelry. Nothing that was like of any... Something from Mervyn's. Yeah, so nothing special. Some brooch that an old lady would put on. Ridiculous. Takes their car keys to their Oldsmobile Delta 88. Oh, there's a winner of a car.

Yeah, it's an old person car. It's a big old person car. Two handguns, including a German Luger. Where the fuck were those earlier? I don't know. They apparently went in and searched the whole thing. It's sad to say this German Luger. Where the fuck were those earlier? I don't know. They apparently went in and searched the whole thing. It's sad to say this but I wish they would have had those earlier.

Not that we want anyone to be killed on there. I don't want anyone to be stabbed, beat with garden implements and then pummeled with a fucking iron pipe. It's horrible. To the point where garden instruments break. The rage that's going through him in the process of this. He breaks shit. It's insane. It's insane. So they take process of this, he breaks shit. Fucking insane.

It's insane. It's insane. So they take the penalties, Oldsmobile. They take the car and drive away. And they spend a day in Houston. They drive to Houston. Spend a day in Houston. Then they drive to Mexico.

So they escape the country. They're in fucking Mexico. No one even knows that these people are dead yet. They're in Mexico. They stay in Mexico two or three days. Stay there, you assholes. What are you doing? On August 5th, 1999, they cross the border back into the United States.

Probably the worst thing they ever did. Stupidest thing ever. Next to murdering two people. Well, no, that would be definitely the stupidest. And this is in Laredo, Texas. They get stopped on the border bridge. They say they were lost and how to and then ask for directions because they're trying to play it off uh now the the officer there said i don't know if they were trying to bluff their way through or what okay because they were like yeah we need to get directions but the computer check

on the car reveals that it's a 1988 oldsmobile delta 98 uh and they were driving and it was stolen and the occupants both of them who they found out who they were, are both wanted for a murder questioning. Uh-oh. Stolen car, murder suspects here. So this is not great, sneaking in from Mexico. Peter Brewster, who's the immigration officer down there, he would later testify that Vicky was the passenger. Harold was driving. They take him into custody, and immediately there's a Texas Ranger named Doyle Holridge.

Immediately Harold starts confessing. Really? He starts confessing, I murdered them, I robbed them, I took their car, I did everything. Wow. There's an officer named Martinez here. He said, quote, they look like they've been through hell. They hadn't slept at all. The female said every time she closed her eyes, she kept seeing the victims.

Well, yeah. Yeah. He would. He says about Mexico, quote, you always hear that. I'm going to go down to Mexico and hide there the rest of my life if I get in trouble. But I think once you get down there and you realize you don't have the language skills to live there, that you don't function real well in that country. And then you start thinking, well, the United States might not be half bad. Maybe I'll just run from police the rest of my life.

And then what are we going to do in Mexico where we don't even speak Spanish and we have $70 to our names? It's not going to work out very well at that point. And I picture him being one of those white trash assholes that yells at Mexicans in America saying, speak American. I'm sure he does. Fucking jerk off. Yeah, and then he goes down there and he's like, oh, shit.

Fuck, they're going to tell me to speak Spanish. Oh, no. This ain't good. I know four words. I know. he does. Fucking jerk off. Yeah, and then he goes down there and he's like, oh, shit. He's like, fuck, they're going to tell me to speak Spanish. Oh, no, this ain't good. I know four words. I know, I know. And one of them is gordita and one of them is chalupa, so I don't think I'm doing well. It's not going to work out too well for me. I know, por favor, gordita and chalupa. Shit. I'm fucked.

Shit. Go back to Oklahoma. Can y'all point me to where Taco Bell is? I have $70 to live on the rest of my life. That's all I got, so I got to make it last. Now, these two meth-addled morons. What a fucking jerk. I'm telling you, man.

These two meth-addled assholes, at least they do. They waive extradition to go back to Oklahoma from Texas, so that's good anyway. To go back to Oklahoma from Texas. So that's good anyway. The medical examiner in this case, Dr. Donald DiStefano, testified that both Vivian and Robert died as a result of multiple blunt and sharp force injuries. So basically just pummeled and stabbed to death. Ridiculous. They showed the examination.

You could see the lines from the hoe in his chest. And you could see tons of puncture wounds consistent with the rake. Yeah. That's why I know it was a strong rake, because he was actually breaking skin with a rake. He's beating him with a rake. And a rake, though? That's a meth explosion. That stab is like an inch and a half.

Yeah. Like the piece that actually can stab. It's painful. All that is is torturing. It's not hurting anything. That's exactly what it is. You know what I mean? That's it.

You're not getting into anything that you can actually get a no you're not going to kill anyone no rake uh so harold makes a written statement on august 6th 1999 yeah he says quote vivian and vicky were away from the house and i decided to go ahead and kill robert robert and i were in the garage i had picked up some scissors in the house i intended to use to kill robert all of a sudden i pulled out the scissors and stabbed robert six or seven times in the chest while he was sitting in his chair. He fell out of the chair and I hit him with a head and I hit him in the head with a hoe two or three times, which is way more times than that. But

when you're in a meth haze, you don't know what the fuck you did. I tried to count lost track. I assume your adrenaline would be pumping here. He testifies at the preliminary hearing. Harold testifies that they shot up meth and they tried to decide the whole deal. He says, quote, I wanted to kill them, but I didn't feel right about it.

Well, you should have taken that. Well, you still did it. Yeah, you fucking asshole. You felt right enough, you jerk. Yeah, it's ridiculous. He made some conflicting statements, some putting his wife in more than others, basically. Holridge, the Texas Ranger, said, quote, it seemed like he wanted to keep his wife out of the situation.

It was obvious to me that he was trying to take more of the blame. So I think he was just like, shit. Feels like he saw how much Robert loved his wife and how much of an effort he made to get to her. He was trying to get to her. He was like, maybe I should just live my life better and try to love her more. Yeah, he had some post-meth guilt. I don't know. Robert taught him a lesson in his death.

It's true. It may be. Holridge said that Harold told him right from the start that he was going to exonerate his wife, he said right away. Like, yeah. He said he was willing to get on the stand and say that she wasn't involved, but she admitted to helping. She confessed it to him. A 75-year-old lady? Yeah, she tackled him.

She tackled her and choked her while Robert went over there. That's what she ends up saying. And then he stabbed her with a pipe. And then he stabbed her and pummeled her with a pipe. So it doesn't matter what he says. She already admitted to it, so they're both fucked at this point, which is good. Now, Saturday, June 9, 2000,

he's obviously being held in a cell. He escapes. What? This asshole escapes. He escapes. What? This asshole escapes. He slipped through the bars and jumped 12 feet down to the ground and fucking escapes. How did he do that? Like an asshole.

He slid through a barred window. Okay. He's that skinny where he got through the bars. He's a meth addict. Yeah. He slides through the bars. He's the size of a bar. Absolutely. And the second floor, it's the second floor jumps down 12 feet, and he's gone.

That's nothing for a methodic. Nothing. Jump and run 30 feet. Never mind. Nothing for a skeleton. Yeah. June 11, 2000 is when his trial is supposed to start. So this is two days before his trial.

It's supposed to start that Monday morning. Luckily, June 11th here, the start of the trial, they were like, well, I guess we'll start it anyway. You know, we'll start getting evidence in. Get opening statements out. Yeah. He's recaptured that morning. Aha. Just in time.

Literally, they brought him there like, oh, there he is, and bring him inside. It was that. Ladies and gentlemen, the evidence will show that the defendant, who is not currently, no, no, he's here. Hold on. Hold on. He's right outside. He was caught, taken into custody at 6 a.m. too, so before the day, when he was stopped in

front of City Hall. Wow. What the fuck are you hanging out in front of City Hall for? You're staying in downtown? Yeah, I feel like he was just like, never mind. They'll never catch me. I'll hide in plain sight. You're a fucking meth addict.

You got face blisters, you fuck. I feel like that's what he tried to do, was go out and smoke some meth for a day and then come back. And he was like, where am I going to go? Mexico's not an option, obviously. Try that. I can see him out there still in the prison uniform. Yeah, just hanging out.

Just wandering around in that orange jumpsuit having a cigarette. Looking for worm dung. So they set up. Court's trial's going to proceed as scheduled then. Fuck it. He's here. Everything's fine. Now, October 24, 2000, Vicki McElmurray enters a plea.

They do jury selection for hers, and she says, never mind, I'll take a plea. She makes a statement, apologizes to the Pendley family, asks for forgiveness. She said that her and her husband intended to rob the Pendleys but not murder them, which, why would you take scissors? Maybe she didn't. I don't know. She claims that she did not participate in the killing of Robert Pendley, but she did hold Vivian down while her husband beat and stabbed her to death, which is just as fucking bad. She's facing trial on two first-degree murder counts. And, yeah, she pleads guilty.

She's handed two life sentences without the possibility of parole. Holy shit. Take a hike, Vicky. You can't kill Battle of the Bulge heroes and get away with it and their wives. Two life sentences. She's also sentenced to 20 years for robbery by force and pleaded guilty to larceny of a car, which doesn't matter. They'll be served consecutively. So she's in for life or death parole.

It's an extra fuck you. It doesn't matter. Yeah, it's just a matter of getting it off the books. Now, his trial, asshole Harold's trial, he goes through his trial, he testifies, the whole deal. I don't know why he even bothered

going through with the trial. I don't know why he didn't plea, but I think they didn't want to plea because they want the death penalty for him. They're looking for death penalty. That's why he didn't plea because he's like, I'm not going to...

And they were like, we're not plea. Why would we have your statement? We have every bit of evidence in the world. You admitted to it. Your fucking wife admitted to it. We think it's a slam dunk and he's like, well, I'm not going to. Pretty sure we're not pleased. Why would we have your statement? We have every bit of evidence in the world. You admitted to it. Your fucking wife admitted to it. We think it's a slam dunk. And he's like, well, I'm not going to.

Pretty sure we're going to get you. Yeah. And also, too, if you tell that story, I just tell. How many of you guys want to kill a son of a bitch yourselves right now after you heard the story of Robert and Vivian? I hate them so much. You hate these assholes. That's like the best.

Those two seem like the best grandparents you could have. And these assholes killed them. This is like the whole reason that you don't do drugs. Yeah, or meth at least. Stop the egg in the frying pan commercial. Stop any stupid commercial that doesn't involve this lesson. Because this is what happens when you get too deep into drugs and you need drugs. Yes.

No, exactly. So finally, trial is over for him. Jurors take less than an hour. An hour. Wow. To shit can harold to shit can him for for death for the death penalty that's for the uh that's for the actual guilty verdict and then and then wow they decide well they are it's a recommendation and the judge does the formal sentencing okay whatever so uh they decide and then they go in for sentencing guess how long they take for sentencing? An hour.

Really? An hour. That's how long I think you have to take. It's like if you get a plumber. They're going to charge you for an hour, and it takes 40 minutes. It's one of those. It just takes an hour. That's hilarious.

They decide that he should be put to death for killing these two, which, good. Fuck him. And like we said, we're not huge death penalty proponents. I hate it. But when you pummel old people for no reason in their own garage who did nothing to you, fuck you. Or kids or some shit like that. If you rob a convenience store and accidentally shoot, like, I've got some...

There's some leeway. Yeah, yeah. And there's also circumstances of this or that or whatever. This is vile. This is awful. This is unforgivable. This is terrible. I don't even know what to say or whatever. This is vile. This is awful. Unforgivable. This is terrible. I don't even know what to say about this.

This is somebody's grandparents. Yeah, as you know whose grandparents it is. Dwayne Pendley. A guy named Dwayne Pendley. It's his. Is it the prosecutor? No, no, no. He's one of their grandsons.

And he said, quote, it's been a long week. I'm just glad it's over. I think the action certainly deserves that kind of justice. You betcha. Yeah, which this kid actually, though, as we'll get to in in a second he's got another quote that's uh he handles this well he takes it in stride and you know that sort of thing i mean harold was so out of it too here he was just he was just giving up he uh he told his attorney james bowen that he wanted to rate uh uh wave the delay before formal sentencing he just said said, just fucking do it now.

I don't need, just let him fucking do it. He's going to sentence me to death. They just said to, let's just do it now. That's a guy that's going through withdrawals. Yeah, he's going through withdrawals. Well, shit, he was just doing meth two days ago, probably, when he was out. Or no, that was before he was caught,

before the trial started. Not a long trial, though, this one. Jurors had three choices in the sentencing phase. They could either do death, life in prison, without the possibility of parole, or life in prison with the possibility of parole. Yeah. But, yeah, even his attorney called it, quote, a monstrous act. So, you know. Either way, he's never doing meth again.

No, no, no. Yeah, the attorney, his whole thing was, it's a monstrous act, but that doesn't necessarily make him a monster, you know. I mean, monsters behave like monsters. That's the thing. They had some mitigating things. His sister showed up. Harold's sister showed up and testified that her and her brother were abused by their parents growing up. Their mother would lock them outside and starve them.

She said the neighbor would feed them peanut butter and jelly sandwiches under the fence. Yeah. To keep the shitty childhood. If you do this stuff, your kid's going to kill old people later. Yeah, shitty childhood, but he stabbed and pummeled old people to death. So, you know, said the mother and father would fight. The sister said that the father would beat them and then make them wash the blood off the carpet and walls.

That's a pretty good beating if there's carpet, blood on the carpet and walls, which is terrible. They should be thankful they had carpet. Yeah, but she said she never committed a crime or became a move. They asked her, like, well, what's your criminal record then if your upbringing was so bad? And she said, well, I don't have any. They said, how much meth do you do? And she goes, I don't do any meth. They were like, okay then.

Explain the difference. So could have been fine. He's an asshole. Your brother made a bad decision. That's what's going on here. Absolutely. The judge quickly follows the juror's recommendations and sentences Harold to death for two first-degree murders. They also, for some reason, the jury urged that the judge also sentence him to 100 years in prison for robbery with a dangerous firearm and 20 years in prison for automobile larceny.

You know, just in case that death thing doesn't work. In case that death thing, yeah. You never know how tough he is. Jesus Christ. He may be a Battle of the Bulge kind of guy. He could have just maybe was born a generation too late. Yeah, that's it. The judge tells him that he's

sure of his guilt, and he believes that death is the only appropriate punishment for him, and he says, quote, Mr. McElmurray, I frankly believe that you know that as you sit here. So, you know what the fuck's up here. He writes a letter to his sister who testified on his behalf in the mitigating. She's a fourth grade teacher in Montgomery, Alabama.

Different paths there, I would say. She said, or he wrote in the letter to her that he considered dying for the crime. It might be, quote, God's way of getting him into heaven. I don't think that God has any plan for you. If there's a God, he's going to tell you to go fuck yourself. You ain't in it, bro. That's what's happening. Absolutely.

So he appeals because it's a death penalty thing. He appeals. And the appeals things are so stupid. He claims that there's a problem in how they question prospective jurors, different biases they might have. All the loopholes. They're grasping. They're grasping the straws. These are pretty not that great. Sometimes I look and I go, that's a pretty good reason for an appeal.

But this one, it's not that terrific. Claims that the prosecutor used his preemptory challenges to excuse too many young women. They were saying how they were trying to get rid of the young women who might have sympathy for him and get to older people who would be scared of someone like him. So he was saying they struck out anybody who was in their 30s and their 40s, but they let in people that were in their 80s and their 60s. So, I mean, yeah, the prosecutor's trying to stack it in his. Sure. That's how it works.

That's the game. Yeah. That's what you do. Yeah, absolutely. the game yeah that's that's what you do yeah absolutely talks about statements that he made where he minimized the uh the the uh participation of his wife saying that you know some of that got admitted and that was false because she did participate so trying to say that i lied and you believed it so i shouldn't get killed for that which makes no fucking sense at all uh they said the prosecutor at least introduced at least five different

statements so he's saying how you know that i was lying at one point so how are you going to say that any of it's true which one of these are my statement you can't just take one yeah it's it's yeah we can do it we'll just figure it out you said it i mean we'll just put everything in order he tried to do a defense of uh voluntaryication, saying that he shouldn't be killed because they were high. I was high? They were high. So I'm guilty. Don't get me wrong, but maybe you shouldn't kill me.

That's a mitigating factor. I was kind of high, but they were like, yeah, but you were getting high and planning it. Right. So that kind of mitigated it. He didn't just get high and then just snap and start killing people. You got high and said, what should we do? Should we go kill these motherfuckers? Yeah, hold on.

Wait, let me jam this in my arm first. How's your night? Might need some murder. Yes. Asshole. So that appeal, all that appeal, that goes to shit. They say, go fuck yourself. Now he has obviously a bunch of other appeals because it's a death penalty case.

As we know, you get 10 appeals. Years. Well, June 2002, Harold waives his appeals and asks for an execution date. All right. Never mind this shit. He didn't file his appeal after they upheld his death sentence with the appeal we just discussed. He waived his appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Everything.

He wrote a letter in June 16, 2002, to the attorney general's office saying, quote, There is no question as to my guilt, and I feel competent to make this decision. So he said, I want to die. He's begging. He's begging. He's begging. So June 26, 2003, the Oklahoma Court of Appeals sets a July 29, 2003 execution date. So that is a month from when we're talking about. Right around the corner.

Coming right up. July 29, 2003, he has his final meal meal which i know this is your favorite yes you should see jimmy's face light up when i say final meal he's like oh i love these his final meal is disgusting it is noodled catfish and worm dung it is a canadian bacon pizza what they don't say which so he puts ham on his pizza they don which, like if it was a frozen deal or what. A pint of chicken livers, cottage cheese, and one raw white onion. What? The fuck are you eating? What is that?

That is disgusting. That's not a meal. No, that is not a meal. A pint of chicken livers. That is so much chicken liver. I'm more concerned with the one raw white onion. He's just eating an onion? I think he probably had liver and onions.

Okay. Just handfuls of them? I feel like they wouldn't give him a knife. And cottage cheese like a nine-year-old girl? So he's got to take a bite of livers and then take an apple and take a bite into an onion? That's horrific, man. That explains why he's in prison, that meal right there. That's it.

That's what you pick. You have everything at your disposal. Everything. Not everything. Everything you want to eat. That is 100% trash right there. That is just a disgusting meal. That's how you can tell if someone was white trash by their final meal.

You really can. Liver and one raw onion. Unreal. Holy shit. Wow. So that is gross. I want to kill him for that. So they take him from that awful meal with horrible onion chicken liver breath, and they

take him to be executed. He glances over at reporters, and they don't really pay much attention to him. And then he shit his pants. He gives a last statement. He says, quote, I'd like to say I'm sorry to the Penley family. I hope they can forgive me. And then he was dead two minutes later. One of the grandsons was there, Robert Penley Jr., who seems like a nice guy, this Robert Penley Jr.

He says, quote, about the apology and everything. He says, quote, I think he was sincere. I forgave Harold about three weeks ago. It was kind of a hard thing to do just knowing the brutality of the crime he had committed. I felt with Harold making the decision he made tonight, waiving all his appeals, I felt like he needed to do that. So he forgives the guy and he's moving on. And the daughter-in-law, Diana Penley, says, quote, we won't have to worry about him getting

out and doing that to someone else. It was a very horrific death. No one should have to go out like that. They were really good people. They were in good health for their age. They might have lived another 10 years, but we won't have the opportunity to find that out. That was taken away from us. If you can imagine your world being shattered, that's what it's been like.

And so that's you follow Oklahoma, and that's the poor Penleys and the shitbag McElmurrays. Vicky's still rotting away. And Harold's been dead for about 14 years now. So eat shit, Harold. Eat fucking everything. You guys suck. They offered him the last words and he gave none and he was dead two minutes later. It's like, did they get the needle in or did he just

die from that shitty meal? Yeah, maybe. It was the chicken liver that got him. So, if you enjoyed that story, you're a sick bastard, but we love you. If you enjoyed our telling of the story. Please, what you can do is get on iTunes. You can give us five stars on there. It helps us out a ton.

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I've got my work cut out for me next week. Yeah, with the shipping. Yeah, Jimmy's going to be doing the shipping. And we have some shout-outs for some fine people here. Also, our Patreon people and everything else. And also, too, some social media. If you'd like to find us on social media, on Facebook, we are facebook.com slash smalltownpod.

We are on Twitter at MurderSmall. And here are some fine people that have been so helpful to us this week. This week, the donations were fantastic with El Messier, Raul Amavisca, David Newsom, Sean Kerrigan, Kirk Withrow, Shelby Gibbs, Lauren Meredith, Jamie Marshall, Patrick Dorn,

Brittany Harrington, Heather Budd, Ryan Crum upped his pledge, and Scott sent a donation from Scott and my favorite chocolate lab ranger, who on Twitter, Scott sends me pictures of him like once a week. It's fantastic. The dog is fucking adorable, and I want to hug him every week. Anyway, Jennifer Burke, Rachel Dooley, Matthew Sears, Chandra Banton, Lucas Tudor, Jennifer Brannan, Kristen Rice or Reese, Rice, Reese, Reese. Either way.

One of those three. She knows who she is. Kristen, you're terrific. You rock, Kristen. Corin Miles, Cindy Smith, Kelly Everett, Mindy Beganat, Andrew Wigand. He sends like every couple of weeks, he sends us some cash. He's so nice. Thank you so much.

I don't know how much that helps. Iona Nelson upped her pledge, so thank you. Thank you. Iona or Iona. I think it's Iona. I forgot to. You guys are awesome. Iona Nelson and Will Jacobs.

Thank you all so much. Thank you, guys. It's great to have the interaction. It's great to have, obviously, the support, not just listening. It's the best, man. Sending the donations is amazing. I can't tell you how amazing it is. As you've noticed, the last few weeks on the show, not a lot of ads.

Not a lot. I don't know if you've noticed. Not a lot. That's kind of on purpose. We'd rather have you guys. Thank you guys. We're beholden to you guys. Jimmy, what would these fine people need to do if they wanted to get a hold of you?

Go on to Twitter, Instagram, or Snapchat. My handle is atwismansucks, W-H-I-S-M-A-N sucks on Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat. Interact, it's the highlight of my week. My wife doesn't like it because it takes time away from my kids and my wife. But you guys are awesome. Jimmy's a social animal. You guys are awesome. I love social animals.

And I am atjimmyp is funny on all the sites there. And you can try to spell my last name or just copy and paste it from the show description like a smart person. Do that. But without further ado, guys, thank you guys so much for being here. We can't wait. We'll see you next week, everybody. It's been our pleasure. Bye.

Bye. Bye. Hey, Prime members, you can listen to Small Town Murder early and ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today. Or you can listen early and ad-free with Wondery Plus and Apple Podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at wondery.com slash survey. I understand that anybody who's paid attention to the media would have to come to the conclusion that I killed my wife. Hi, my name is Zach Stewart-Pontier.

I'm one of the filmmakers behind The Jinx, and I'm excited to bring you the official Jinx podcast. We'll be revisiting all six episodes of part one and watching along with part two as it airs on Max starting April 21st. Bye bye. The official Jinx podcast. Listen on Max or wherever you get your podcasts.