Small Town Murder - #27 - Family Problems, Killer Solutions in East Lyme, Connecticut

Episode Date: July 19, 2017

This week, we look at the town of East Lyme, Connecticut, where a family squabble led to battles in the courtroom, followed by a murder for hire plot from a pair of lawyers that shocked the a...rea, and still divides the family members.Along the way, we find out how old houses are in Connecticut, how lousy the roads are in New York, and exactly how much a coke dealer charges to kill a male stripper.Hosted by James Pietragallo & Jimmie WhismanNew 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: crimeinsports@gmail.com 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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Starting point is 00:00:00 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, we look at the upper- class town of East Lyme, Connecticut, where a family squabble turns into a dead body in a car. Welcome to Small Town Murder.
Starting point is 00:00:48 Hello, everybody. Welcome back to Small Town Murder. Yay! Yay! Jimmy, yay. Yay. I'm telling you, yay. For sure. Not as enthusiastic, but I'm yay.
Starting point is 00:00:56 Listen, dude, yay. You're saying it with a point. I'm pointing at you. Yay, goddammit. Welcome back. Thank you guys so much for listening. My name is James Petragallo. I'm here with my co-host. I am
Starting point is 00:01:05 Jimmy Wissman. We can't thank you enough for being here. We're excited, as always, to be here with Murder, which is what you want, we found. Shut up and give me murder. Shut up and give me murder. Yes, indeed. We're very, very excited. We have to thank everyone this week so much for your iTunes reviews. It's been an avalanche of
Starting point is 00:01:22 them this week. Unbelievable. And it's helped us out so much. It really, that's tremendous. You can't, we can't put it into words how much that helps business wise. It drives you up the charts. It makes you more attractive to this one. It's good stuff. Basically you're putting, you're, you're getting our hair all nice and putting a pretty dress on us. And we really, really appreciate it. Cause I don't have any. Yeah, that's true. You're getting my hair all nice and putting a pretty dress on Jimmy and making us look presentable. There you go. So thank you guys so much for that. Really, if you haven't done it yet, please, we ask you.
Starting point is 00:01:48 It helps us so much. It does. Please get on iTunes. I know it takes 30 seconds. You have to sign in and all that stuff. But this takes so much longer than that. Trust me. It does.
Starting point is 00:01:56 This is brutal. I have not slept in days. I hope you can't hear it in my voice. But it's been a long week. I think you sound great. I'm trying. I'm trying. Yeah, it's a little gravelly.
Starting point is 00:02:04 It's OK. I think that works for me. Yeah, it's a little gravelly. It's okay. I think that works for me. Yeah, it's charming. I don't know about that. We'll see. But if you haven't got on there, please get on there. Give us five stars. Tell us anything you want.
Starting point is 00:02:13 Anything. Tell us your favorite color. We don't care. We'll be like, great, terrific, perfect. The five stars are what really, really matters to us. If that is not enough for you, if you are a person that says, I need to do more. I feel it in my soul. Sometimes I do. In my soul. Sometimes I do. If you feel it in your soul, I need to do more, I feel it in my soul. Sometimes I do. In my
Starting point is 00:02:25 soul. If you feel it in your soul, you can get on patreon.com slash crime in sports and you can make a donation there. You can do that. You can get on PayPal if you want to make a one-time donation. Our address there is crimeinsports at gmail.com. Since we've mentioned crime in sports, you should be listening to crime in sports. Go listen to crime and sports when you're done with this podcast. I know you're thinking, I don't like sports. Doesn't matter. Do you like towns? No, you're interested in murder.
Starting point is 00:02:50 That's the same thing. The town, the sport is as much of the part of it as the town is here. It's just a setting, a backdrop. You have to show someone's rise to grace to show them fall from grace. And everybody wants to see that. As we always, always see. So you can do that. Also, listen to P.S. I Hate This Movie with me and my girlfriend, Sarah, talking about
Starting point is 00:03:09 bad romantic comedies and making fun of them unmercifully like we do with killers and everything else here. Also, too, you can check me out at Stand Up Live in Phoenix, July 21st through 23rd with Paul Verzi, who is a hilarious guy, New York guy. Works with Bill Burr all over the place. Really funny and a good friend of mine. So that is a show you definitely want to come out to. 100% good time all around. Also listen to the Verzi Effect. It's a podcast. It's very good shit.
Starting point is 00:03:34 And if you want to come see us you can get a hold of me and I will put you on the list. So you can do that. You can crimeandsports at gmail.com. You can do that or you can do I won't give you my email address because you'll have to spell my last name. So just do crimeandsports at gmail.com. You can do that or you can do – I won't give you my email address because you'll have to spell my last name. So just do crimeandsportsatgmail.com and I'll keep track and I'll put you on the list if you want that. Do have to say the disclaimer as usual.
Starting point is 00:03:52 We have to do it every time. It's a bummer. But we have to. This is a comedy podcast. It's definitely a comedy podcast. We're stand-up comics. We're not journalists or serious people. Now, mind you, trust me, I do everything I can that's humanly possible on this earth to make sure all the facts are real.
Starting point is 00:04:09 The research is done as well as we can do it. But we're going to make jokes. Of course. It's going to be at the expense of a small town. Who cares? We're all from a small town. It's like process tragedy. That's it.
Starting point is 00:04:20 That's exactly it. If I listen, I think it's episode seven. Listen to my story about my great-grandmother's funeral and you'll understand where we're coming from here. Believe's how that's exactly it. If I listen, I think it's episode seven. Listen to my story about my great grandmother's funeral and you'll understand where we're coming from here. Believe it's that one. But yeah, otherwise, it's a comedy podcast. So we're going to make jokes. We're going to make fun of a killer because screw them.
Starting point is 00:04:33 We're going to make fun of a bumbling police force, whatever it is. We never, ever, ever intend to make jokes at the expense of the victim or the victim's families. As we've come to say, we are assholes, but we're not scumbags. We're not. We're not. So we're good guys. We're not. We're not. So we're good guys. We're here.
Starting point is 00:04:47 We're trying this. Hopefully you guys are on board. Anybody that's left, thank you for being here. If you think that true crime and comedy never belong together, then thank you. We appreciate you giving us a shot, and don't let the door hit you on the way out. We'll call it a failed blind date and move on. Yeah, exactly. So here we go. Without further ado, let's get into this, Jimmy.
Starting point is 00:05:04 What do you say? Let's do it. Let's go to, let's head somewhere different. Let's head to East Lyme, Connecticut. Exactly. So here we go. Without further ado, let's get into this, Jimmy. What do you say? Let's do it. Let's go to, let's head somewhere different. Let's head to East Lyme, Connecticut. Oh. East Lyme, Connecticut. Now, last week we were in Tennessee. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:05:13 We were in the Appalachians. We were landlocked pretty much. With an ex-soldier. Oh, yeah. Ex-soldier, landlocked. This time we're going in the Northeast. East Lyme, in terms of Connecticut, is in the southeastern part of the state. It's on the southern shore there on the water. Very nice. It's in East Lime, and in terms of Connecticut, it's in the southeastern part of the state. It's on the southern shore there on the water.
Starting point is 00:05:27 Very nice. It's in New London County. Oh. We got to be scared of a town called East Lime right away because that's the disease. It's spelled the same way, too. And it's in that area of the country a lot because they have deer flies that are gigantic, and they will eat you alive. And deer ticks.
Starting point is 00:05:41 And they give you Lyme disease. I know lots. Both my parents have had Lyme disease. Deer flies do it, too. There you go. You get them. I they give you Lyme disease. I know lots. Both my parents have had Lyme disease. Deer flies do it, too. There you go. You get them. I didn't know that. I didn't know about the flies.
Starting point is 00:05:48 But we're in the southeastern part of the states in New London County. Zip code 06333. Okay. 06333. You know they say that on every radio ad and TV ad. 06333. Yeah, absolutely. Area code 860, in case anybody's calling from there.
Starting point is 00:06:02 Now you know. It's a big town in terms of land mass. It's 42 square miles. Big one. So it's a big town for a small town. Not a lot of people there. Sprawling tiny town. Sprawling.
Starting point is 00:06:12 34 of the square miles are land and the rest is water, obviously, because it's on the ocean and we know how the- Yeah. They got to include some of it. Yeah. It counts as a certain amount out to shore there. During the summer months, the population doubles- Wow.
Starting point is 00:06:23 For beach season. So yeah, people come. It gets, you know, much more congested at that point. All the traffic. It's got to be annoying. Shit tourists. Screaming kids. The locals hate them.
Starting point is 00:06:34 Oh, you know they hate them. Like, here they are, these assholes again. God damn, I hate summer. But they're paying for that new water line we're putting in. That's the thing. Yeah, that's the thing. I'm sure a lot of your businesses operate around there. The oldest house in Connecticut is here, and it's still in its original state.
Starting point is 00:06:50 It was built in 1660. It's the oldest one in the entire state of Connecticut. The entire state of Connecticut in this town. It's in the southwestern part of East Lyme. It's the Thomas Lee House. Like I said, 1660. So that's amazing. In the late 1700s, Lime, East Lime, which it was then, East Lime had taverns, tons of taverns. The booze was drawing people. Basically, it was like a traveler place. You're stopping from here to here, you stop in here
Starting point is 00:07:18 and booze it up in the 1700s. Stop at one of these taverns. Yeah, they didn't go to the beaches. Beaches didn't seem like a real recreational thing for people back then. No? No, it seemed like 1800s people started going to the beaches. Well, the bikini wasn't invented yet. Maybe that's what it is. Yeah, maybe that's what it is. I don't know if tanning wasn't really considered a thing to do.
Starting point is 00:07:36 Not yet. I don't know what it is. But yeah, so there's that. I think that your pale complexion was celebrated back then. Yeah, maybe. The whiter you are, the cooler you are in society. Yeah. Like in Asia now.
Starting point is 00:07:49 Yeah. That's true, too. The more pale you are, the more popular you are. In Vietnam, you see them all covering themselves. They're not covering themselves up for disease. They're covering themselves up from the sun. To keep from getting- Literally, they don't want any of their skin showing because it's like a class thing.
Starting point is 00:08:01 It's super weird. Super, super fucking weird. I don't understand it. They also got that thing there that they're trying to brown themselves up to look like Mexican gangbangers. Have you seen that? I have not seen that.
Starting point is 00:08:10 That's interesting. It's a very bizarre cult. There's a new culture of like lokes in, I don't know if it's Japan or Vietnam or whatever. It's some fucking Asian country where they- That was great. Jimmy just said, I don't know, one of them slanty countries over there.
Starting point is 00:08:24 What the hell do I know? I don't know one of them slanty countries over there what the hell do i know i don't know nothing one of those guys very broad brush you just painted with there you just lots of tweezer thingies users you just included about i don't know a little over a billion and a half people and lumped them right in together and we're like one of those fucking people i don't know that was i love it yeah you gotta love art they like they want to be low like we've said, we request that you find our ignorance charming. That's what we've asked of everyone. That's what we do here. Mine is actually stupidity.
Starting point is 00:08:51 I don't know if that's a thing. We'll go with charm, though. Town is incorporated in 1839. It's been a town ever since then in Connecticut. All right. Whatever. People here. Population, 19,343 people.
Starting point is 00:09:02 Oh. So a bigger, small town. But for the area, it's not too populated. Still not a lot of people for 43 square miles. Yeah, you figure there's a bunch of people by the beach, and then it's pretty spread out. And that's exactly pretty much how it works here. Skew's a little bit older. Median age is about eight years above the average of 37, which is the normal.
Starting point is 00:09:19 Stats are all pretty average. A few more married people than non-married than usual, but nothing crazy. Racially breaks down 81% white. So pretty white town. Pretty much what you'd expect in Connecticut. I've been to Connecticut a lot. There's, you know, 4% black. There's a few black people, but nothing crazy.
Starting point is 00:09:35 It's Connecticut. Asian? Right on the nose. 5% Asian, so good for you guys. You've allowed some Asians into your town, unlike Jimmy. If Jimmy was there, obviously he wouldn't let any in knowing him. He'd be sitting there like, I don't know. They were locs. Which one of you guys is browning yourself up for?
Starting point is 00:09:51 Yeah, no good. 7% Hispanic, so it's a Northeast town, and it's Connecticut, so whatever. Religious-wise, religion, 45% religious, so a little below the average, nothing crazy. 32% Catholic, which is little below the average, nothing crazy. 32% Catholic. Yeah, I'd expect that. If we're in Alabama, it's going to be 32% Baptist. Here we're going to be Catholics, the Baptists of the North. That's very clever. I like it.
Starting point is 00:10:15 I think that's their new marketing slogan. The Baptists of the North. Come see us. 0.8% Jewish, so almost 1% Jewish, almost. 0.1% Muslim, so there's like three. There's a family hanging out, getting on there. Voting-wise, this is about 58% Democrat, 40% Republican, which is exactly on pace with the rest of Connecticut. That's just how they roll there.
Starting point is 00:10:37 Average household income is up here. This is a – I don't want to say it's affluent, but it's definitely upper middle class. I mean, there are people that aren't affluent. And there's a reason I'm going to explain something here, because we've had a few people. I've had a few people go like, oh, why do you do the stats? Why do you do the stats? Like, I don't get it. What's the deal?
Starting point is 00:10:53 And I do the stats because you got to set the scene of the town. And if I set the scene and I just go, it's kind of a poor town or it's kind of an affluent town. And then we're going to get a bunch of people tweet and go, well, I live there. It's not right. There's a neighborhood here that's nice. And it's like, I know that's why I give stats. Right. So it's like, an affluent town. And then we're going to get a bunch of people tweeting, going, well, I live there and it's not poor. There's a neighborhood here that's nice. And it's like, I know. That's why I give stats. So it's like, oh, I know that.
Starting point is 00:11:09 I said 52% of people make under this. So that's that. And there's no arguing that. That's why I do it, honestly. Because it's too. 48% that got money. 52. It's Twitter guard.
Starting point is 00:11:19 Right. I don't want to hear you say that. Twitter guard. It is. I don't want to say that I painted with a broad brush like you with the Asians. I don't want to do it. I want a broad brush like you with the Asians. I don't want to do it. I want people to fucking know that I'm doing this. I'm saying this because it's statistically true.
Starting point is 00:11:30 That's basically what it is. I'm backing. I'm showing my math is all it is here. When I figure out this is what kind of town this is, this is how. It's the average household income there. Twitter guard. Twitter guard. That's what it is.
Starting point is 00:11:42 It's like headgear and boxing. Average household income here is $81,711. So that is almost $30,000 above the national average. That's a lot of dough. That's what I mean. And it's expensive. Connecticut's high taxes, high everything. But one thing I will say about Connecticut, you can say anything you want about taxes.
Starting point is 00:11:57 But when you drive on I-84, because I'm from New York and I know we've gone Danbury a million times. When you drive on I-84 and it connects from New York to Connecticut and you're driving in New York, it's ba-bum-ba-bum-ba-bum-ba-bum. The second you hit Connecticut, I mean the instant. Smooth sailing, huh? The instant. It says, you know, sign, welcome to Connecticut. You could play a basketball game on that road. It's beautiful, smooth blacktop.
Starting point is 00:12:19 And it snows like hell there, too. And that's the other thing, too. And they somehow figure it out. I've gone there when it's snowing, and the New York side's all shitty the connecticut side clear and dry i'm not even kidding they clear that and dry it's yeah it's it's amazing they work on their truck with a blow dryer on it say what you want but it's a nice place they figure it out they figure out how to live comfortably in that shit weather yeah no it's true it's absolutely true they take your money and put it to use that's that's what it is, the schools are good and that sort of thing.
Starting point is 00:12:45 So, I mean, you know, you could say whether you like taxes or you don't like taxes, it doesn't really matter. But, you know, if you make a decent amount of money, you could have a decent life there. If you make a shit amount of money, you're not going to have a great life there. But your kid can go to a nice school. So you got that. And you won't be replacing your struts every six months. That's another thing here. Everything under the $50,000 income range is all under the average usual.
Starting point is 00:13:07 Like way down? The usual average. Yeah, it's under that. Everything over the $50,000 a year range is up in terms of average. So people make money here. It's a nice affluent town. They have jobs. They have sport fishing and marinas.
Starting point is 00:13:19 That's a big, you know, for the whole summer tourism, the restaurants, all that. It's a beach town. Seafood restaurants, all that sort of thing. I'm sure there's tons of those. Yeah, camping, swimming. They have Rocky Neck State Park, so it's a lot of picnics. And it's, you know, people go and they hang out, basically. Even when you look at the jobs, it's, you know, more business and finance and that sort of thing than usual.
Starting point is 00:13:38 All right. You know, sales is up, you know, same around. Sales is about normal, that sort of thing. But we're half of the usual production, transportation, material moving, like less blue-collar jobs and normal in this sort of area. It's that sort of thing here. And there's a reason for that, because the cost of living is high. We do par being 100. Cost of living here, 132.
Starting point is 00:13:59 132, very high. And that's mainly because the highest factor of all is housing at 162 with 100 being average. Those old colonial houses, and they're built so well. And they're just expensive, too. Like I said, it's just one of those properties expensive, too. When you have natural disasters and stuff, you have to build the house nicely, and you have to build them well. And when they're built like that, they're expensive. They stand up to weather.
Starting point is 00:14:18 A lot of them are brick, and they're good foundations. They have basements, all of them, too, so you look at it that way. But the median home cost is $301,000 there. So that's median. That's high. Less than 13% of the homes are valued at under $200,000. Less than 13%? Less than that.
Starting point is 00:14:33 It's like 12.5% are valued at under $200,000. And that's a shithole, I'm sure. Yeah, there it's not great. 60% of the houses are between $200,000 and $400,000. So that's like your average house is, like we said, $300,000. Now, if we've convinced you that you need to move to East Lyme, you have to be there. You want to hang out by the beach.
Starting point is 00:14:50 I love this part. We have the East Lyme real estate report right here, folks. Two-bedroom apartment on the average there is about $1,127. Holy shit. Which is $100 higher than the national average. I found a three-bedroom, two-bath home, 1,600 square feet. Very nice little house. Nice lawn. Very nice. Not even little. Very nice little house. Nice lawn.
Starting point is 00:15:06 Very nice. Not even little. Just very nice house. $284,999 there. And I found a four-bedroom, three-bath house. This is a big one. Nice lawn going up to it. 3,140 square feet, $569,900.
Starting point is 00:15:20 So $570,000 for that one. For a 3,000-square-foot house, you're looking at half a million dollars. More than that. Yeah, that's steep. That is very steep. Like here, you're looking at $350 for that probably in Phoenix, Arizona. That's a lot. Of course, Phoenix, Arizona, it's also 114 degrees outside right now.
Starting point is 00:15:36 And your house will be made of chicken wire and a little bit of concrete on outside of it. Yeah, particle board that you could kick your way through. Right. You want to be a burglar in Arizona, super easy. Just bring your boots. You can just kick your way through a wall and You want to be a burglar in Arizona, super easy. Just bring your boots. You can just kick your way through a wall, walk right in. Steel toes do it. You absolutely could.
Starting point is 00:15:49 No problem. Buy a pair of steel toes and you'll get all the big screen TVs you want. That's it, man. Everything you need. Things to do there, just like we would think. Beach, drinking, camping. That's it, pretty much. Fishing.
Starting point is 00:16:01 Fishing. Dicking off. Dicking off. That's it. That's a great name. That's a great slogan for this town. Dicking off. East line. Fishing. Dicking off. Dicking off. That's it. That's a great slogan for this town. Dicking off. East Lime.
Starting point is 00:16:08 Come on down and dick off. Dick off in East Lime. Come see the Catholics. I want that shirt. Baptists of the North. They have many slogans this town. God, that's so good. Many slogans.
Starting point is 00:16:19 Twice the wine and twice the guilt. Come on down. Come on down, everybody. You can do it. It's amazing. Catholics of the North. The Baptists of the North. Baptists of the guilt. Come on down. Come on down, everybody. You can do it. Catholics of the North. The Baptists of the North. What am I doing? I'm ruining your
Starting point is 00:16:29 own fucking slogan. It's all right. It's no problem. It's not mine. It's the town of, it's the Catholic churches. I didn't make it up. What do I know? I'm not a part of the, you know, I'm not a part of the church hierarchy. I don't know anything about this. Now, crime here, what we're interested in, Ollie, is the crime rate. Property crime is slightly, what we're interested in is the crime rate.
Starting point is 00:16:49 Property crime is slightly lower than average, but in the range of normal, basically. And violent crime, slightly higher than average, but still in the range of average. So we're not talking about anything aberrant. This is kind of your typical kind of upper middle class American town would be the best way to put it. And let's find out some things that happen in a typical American town, shall we? Before we do that, real quick, I want to clarify something. Because we had a lot of people asking us this. A lot of death penalty talk this week.
Starting point is 00:17:13 Yeah, that was weird. Look, here's our deal. Jimmy, I don't know. You might be different than me, but I think we were on about the same page with this. I'll let you speak for me, because I know that we agree. Okay. Neither of us like the death penalty. Hate it.
Starting point is 00:17:25 Neither of us like it. We don't think that the government should be killing people because they know that we agree. Okay. Neither of us like the death penalty. Hate it. Neither of us like it. We don't think that the government should be killing people because they fuck up a lot. Right. That's why we don't think it's right. That's the problem. That's the problem. We never said, oh, let's hope the state kills this guy, although we did because we just wanted someone to kill him. I don't care if it's an inmate.
Starting point is 00:17:39 That's the thing. I think my suggestion was I would rather the victim's father be able to drag him from a rope on his car. So that's much harsher than the death penalty, but that's how I feel like we should treat this person. Case by case, too, by the way. And I'm sorry, but if you go to a 15-year-old girl's house at 5.30 in the morning, gang rape her, and then stab her 17 times, 14 of them being torturous knife wounds and making this poor girl be in excruciating pain and then finally stabbing the shit out of her and killing her. I don't give a fuck what happens to you.
Starting point is 00:18:11 That's my stance on it. And I'm of that same opinion. And then when you have done that to her mother before that. I don't care about you anymore. It's all in God's hands at that point if there's one. I couldn't give a fuck. And I'm not a person that's, you know, I get that there's cases. Exonerations are the reason why I don't think
Starting point is 00:18:28 we should do the death penalty. But when you have evidence, witnesses, and two people saying they did it, they probably fucking did it. I'm going to go ahead and say they did it at that point. There's physical evidence. There's witnesses. It's too much.
Starting point is 00:18:39 I don't care what happens then. And the state, yeah, not ideal. I'd rather the father drag this guy behind a truck, that's not going to happen here and it's organized society unfortunately they pass laws that that's not allowed we can't do that so instead for an eye anyway but that's got a little clarification because people are kind of like are you into it are you not and we're like not really no but we just want to kill we want some people to be dead though so it's one of those it's it's we gotta wait it's real it's a struggle for us really when there's when there's too much conflicting evidence and i'm like, he can't do that.
Starting point is 00:19:07 Don't kill that guy at all. Yeah, I don't. Just on principle, just in case. Let's err on the side of not killing the wrong people, please. Yeah. But that guy last week, he had a fucking comment. Fuck that guy. Screw that guy.
Starting point is 00:19:16 And it bothers me that he's still breathing. Still breathing. So is his buddy there. Anyway, let's get into this town. Let's do it. We're in East Lyme here. Let's talk about a guy named Buzz. Okay.
Starting point is 00:19:26 A fella named Buzz. All right. Anson Buzz Clinton. What? How did he get Buzz? It's the haircut. They call him Buzz. I don't know.
Starting point is 00:19:34 Well, his middle name is B, the initial B. It's not Buzz, but they probably just call him Buzz. I have no... Anson, that's a shit name for a kid. Yeah, I'd go by Buzz, too. I'd go by Buzz, too. You know, he's... Yeah, he's... I Buzz, too. I'd go by Buzz, too. He's grown up in the 70s and 80s. He don't want to be Anson. What the hell kind of name is that for a kid?
Starting point is 00:19:50 Buzz Aldrin had just been on the moon a few years earlier. Yeah, that's kind of a cool, tough name. I don't know. Something like that. This guy here, he's a certified nursing assistant, is what he works at sometimes. Also an exotic dancer on the side. He does odd jobs here and there,
Starting point is 00:20:05 and he recently started stripping in the evening here. I admire any dude that does that shit. It's ballsy, I'll say that. Because I can't do it. No, I can't dance, so I'm not shaking anything. I can vaguely dance. It's not interpreted any way sexy. It's not interpreted any way sexy.
Starting point is 00:20:21 I can gyrate around a bit, but I don't want my shirt off. That's not my favorite thing. This guy could apparently shake it. Old Buzz Clinton here. Buzz Clinton's 28 years old in 1994 and on March 10th 1994, he is found
Starting point is 00:20:36 shot to death, shot six times in his car off a road off the I-95. He's found lit up like a Christmas tree in his car on the side of the road. So right away, police— You start asking all the mothers in town. Yeah, hey, where's this guy?
Starting point is 00:20:51 Well, right away, they kind of know of this guy. He's a local guy, and he's kind of a fuck-up. He's a drug. You know, he gets into drugs here and there and that sort of thing. So immediately, the police suspect this is like a drug deal gone bad, or this is some scumbag he's gotten in bed with, lured him out here and shot him and left him there. That sort of thing.
Starting point is 00:21:09 That's just what they expect. What ended up happening is that day on March 10th, 1994, he leaves his home, Buzz, in East Lyme. He makes plans to meet a potential buyer of his tow truck. He's apparently got a tow truck. And that's why he leaves his house. And police, after some investigation, figure out that the buyer of the tow truck that wanted to see the tow
Starting point is 00:21:31 truck is probably the guy who actually killed him and probably ambushed him. Oh, that's fascinating. Yes. They're trying to figure out why, what's the motivation here. He was like five times in the head, I'm sorry, and once in the chest. All close range also. Very close range. And then he was run over by a vehicle. Jesus I'm sorry, and once in the chest. All close range also. Very close range.
Starting point is 00:21:46 And then he was run over by a vehicle. Jesus. And then he's back in his car. So there's a lot of... Somebody picked him up after he was dead and put him back in there? Yeah, and put him back in the car. This is on the Rocky Neck Connector off the I-95 in East Lyme. Okay.
Starting point is 00:21:59 Okay, so let's find out about him a little bit, about a dead Buzz Anson. Because we start out with a dead male stripper on the side of the road, which I think is intriguing, at the very least. It's pretty fascinating. I'm thinking like, you know, jealous husband, something like that. You know, is this guy shaking his ass a little too hard and taking a little bit of someone's 401k a little bit too much? And they're like, hey, you know, like an angry wife would go to a stripper and be like, hey, fuck you. That's my mortgage payment. You're stuffing in your bra.
Starting point is 00:22:23 You know, that's the thing here. You're stuffing that down by your dick there. That's my mortgage payment. You're stuffing it in your bra. You know, that's the thing here. You're stuffing that down by your dick there. Get it out. That's my kid's fucking braces, you jerk. You are sopping your ball sweat up with my kid's brace money, and I don't appreciate it. So you figure something like that. That's where I.D. would have taken the commercial break right after the dead stripper in a truck.
Starting point is 00:22:39 Yeah, absolutely. They would have taken that. We did, too. We took our own kind of commercial break, which is what we do here after a dead man's on the side of the road. It doesn't make him any less of a person, that he was an exotic dancer, all that. It just makes it a little funnier that it's a guy exotic dancer because, you know, guy exotic dancers and women are judged much differently. I judge a male exotic dancer way harsher than a woman. I get it.
Starting point is 00:23:04 I mean, whatever. But a male guy, it's just like. I get it. I mean, whatever. But a male guy, it's just like, I get what you're doing, but it's kind of funny. Like from guy to guy, it's like, that's pretty funny, dude. It's one of those things. It's just a weird thing. I hope he was still wearing the fireman outfit. Like, I don't want him to.
Starting point is 00:23:18 Still wearing tearaway pants? Some velcroed pants. The medical team, the examiners, they'll get there and they're like, oh, take his pants off. And they just one shot, rip him off. Like, that was easier. Cut those off. I don't have to, sir. I don't have to.
Starting point is 00:23:27 They're Velcro. I don't know what happened. He could be a stripper, sir. So, yeah, he goes to meet this guy. Now, back to the beginning. 1993, January of 1993, he marries a woman named Kim Carpenter. And this is Buzz. This is Buzz.
Starting point is 00:23:42 Now, Kim is kind of the black sheep of her family. She is the she's for lack of a better term. She's considered the fuck up of her family. We'll talk about her older sister and her brother, but they're both very, very successful and very overachievers. And they go out in the world and they kind of do things. And she is not. She's dating this guy. She has a couple of kids by age 20 and another one on the way. She's pregnant. It's a very tough lifer. She has odd jobs. Lime, Connecticut, where it costs
Starting point is 00:24:11 300 grand to buy a house. Absolutely. And we'll talk about their living situation in a minute here. Yeah, we'll do it right now. They were a carpenter family, Kim's family, very opposed as you might imagine. They've raised their kids well and now she's with this idiot in their mind. They're like, this guy is not, you know, future-wise, this isn't the guy you want to be with.
Starting point is 00:24:30 You have kids, find somebody better. So they especially got angry when they found out, the Carpenter family found out that Kim and Buzz were living in a converted tool shed behind Buzz's parents' house with her child and her pregnant self, and they're living in a converted tool shed in the Buzz's parents' house with her child and her pregnant self, and they're living in a converted toolshed in the backyard. Oh, Christ. That is as white trash as you get at that point in time, if you're living in a converted toolshed with children.
Starting point is 00:24:53 It's not ideal. Not ideal. No. Right there. It's not great at all. So let's bring... So her life and his life, it's a little rocky right here. They're trying, I guess, but they're also partying and being idiots at the same time. Well, they're shitting in like a Home Depot bucket.
Starting point is 00:25:10 Yeah, I don't know. I don't know how. I don't know if there's a bathroom. Yeah, I don't know how hooked up it was. That's what I assume. Yeah, it's not ideal. That's what I see. I see an orange you can do it bucket in the corner.
Starting point is 00:25:21 Probably, yeah. That's bad if you have him shitting and then the kid has to shit on it too. I don't like that at all. What a terrible situation. That's no good. So let's talk about Kim's sister, Beth Ann Carpenter. She goes by Beth, but people have called her Beth Ann and we'll talk about why here. She was born actually the day after the Kennedy assassination.
Starting point is 00:25:38 She's born November 23rd, 1963. So she definitely didn't do it. Positive. Positive it wasn't her. She's innocent. We here at Small Town Murder are officially clearing Beth Ann Carpenter of any involvement in the JFK assassination. Could have been anybody except her.
Starting point is 00:25:53 Except her. Definitely not her. So yeah, she was born then. She is the oldest of three children. They have a brother, Richard, and the youngest is Kim, and then Beth is the oldest. And Beth is a real overachiever, big-time overachiever. She's about 30 years old at this point. They come from a good family, like I said.
Starting point is 00:26:10 The father, Richard, he spent 22 years in the Navy as an engine man. So, I mean, he's in the service. He owns his own landscaping company that he runs at this point in 1993. The mother, Cynthia, Cynthia Carpenter, is a nurse practitioner. She consults with local nursing homes. They're nice, upstanding people sort of thing. They seem to raise their kids right. Beth Ann and Kim, all of them, attended the Ledyard Public Schools.
Starting point is 00:26:36 There was three girls, apparently, in Beth's second grade class named Beth. So she had to go by Beth Ann. That's why everybody calls her Beth Ann all the time. She hates that name, but still, there it is. In That's why everybody calls her Beth Ann all the time. She hates that name, but still, there it is. In the media, everybody calls her that related to this case. Brutal. Beth Ann. Always going to be Beth Ann. Gotta hate when that happens. One of
Starting point is 00:26:53 her hobbies, she liked to crochet as a kid. She would sell her crocheting projects at church fairs to raise money for the church. She's just, you know, an all-American, as typical as you can be. Business girl right up front, too. She's just, you know, she's an all-American as typical as you can be. Business school right up front, too. She's English, German, their background, you know, nationality.
Starting point is 00:27:11 She's just a very white girl. She's a redhead. Beth Ann is red as they come. Really? Very red, very freckled, super red. Everybody thinks she's Irish, especially in the Northeast, and she's not Irish. Her nickname is Red in high school. That's what everybody calls her.
Starting point is 00:27:24 She'd rather go by that than Beth Ann. It's better than Beth Ann, apparently. I don't think she had a choice in the matter. I and she's not Irish. Her nickname is Red in high school. That's what everybody calls her. She'd rather go by that than Beth Ann. It's better than Beth Ann, apparently. I don't think she had a choice in the matter. I think she was just Red, and she's like, shit. Anything's better than Dog Boner. Yeah, no shit. At least they didn't call her that. She's an honors student all throughout high school.
Starting point is 00:27:37 She's on the track team, baseball team, swim team, works on the school newspaper, the yearbook. She is an overachiever. She's one of these kids that's scheduled 24 hours a day, and she loves it. She does everything. She keeps everything straight. Yeah, her guidance counselor told her to go to George Washington University, so she did. She took pre-med courses there, but she's kind of stopped wanting to be a doctor after that. She doesn't apply to med school.
Starting point is 00:28:02 She graduates instead, just kind of on a whim, takes a law school entrance exam and scores in the top 10 percentile of it. So she's very, very smart. So she decides to go to law school instead. She goes to the University of Connecticut School of Law, and then she ends up graduating from Columbus School of Law at Catholic University in 1990. So, I mean, she's a brilliant kid. Then after that, she goes to Europe with her brother for several months. They go on like a trip to Europe after law school. And I wish I grew up like this, by the way. That sounds amazing.
Starting point is 00:28:32 I always think like I didn't grow up like this at all. My family, whatever, they're fine and everything. But no one was going on a trip to Europe for several months. Backpacking through the weather. It was never. They would have been like, are you fucking high? Go get a job. You know, that's what I would have been.
Starting point is 00:28:44 So get a fucking job. What is wrong with you? You want to go do that? Backpacking through Europe weather. It was never. They would have been like, are you fucking high? Go get a job. You know, that's what I would have been. So get a fucking job. What is wrong with you? You want to go do that? Backpacking through Europe. Do this. Yeah. And finance your way. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:28:50 Knock yourself out. Yeah. And then by the time you pay all the bills that you've got, then it's like, I've got no money to go back. You won't be able to go to Europe anyway. Yeah. You're not going anywhere. That's it.
Starting point is 00:28:57 And you're stuck in East Lyme for the rest of your life, and you've got to be a male stripper. That's what happens. That's that guy's life. I'm that guy. That's what I mean. Yeah. I relate much more to that guy than I do to this lady. You know what happens. That's that guy's life. I'm that guy. Yeah. I relate much more to that guy than I do to this lady. You know, so I totally get that. This was a tough time for her when she when she gets out. She gets back from Europe. She's going around looking for
Starting point is 00:29:16 a job in corporate law. But this was a tough time early 90s economically. If you remember, the economy was crashing, which is why George Bush Sr. only got one term because the economy went in the shitter. And then Clinton came back and got us a surplus. Yeah, by the end of that, the end of the 90s, we were doing much better. But at the beginning of the 90s, we were not doing well. I remember that. And it was wartime. There was a lot of bad shit going on there.
Starting point is 00:29:38 Yeah, I remember I grew up in New York and the town is very heavily IBM and IBM was laying people off. And I remember kids in school freaking out because their parents were getting laid off, and they were having to move. Shit was crazy. Unbelievable. It was a bad time. Not quite as bad in East Lyme, probably. Right.
Starting point is 00:29:54 I'm from Wappingers Falls, New York. It was a little different. They're probably not. Unless the stock market was tanking, they're probably doing okay still. They're probably fine still. So she ends up getting a job in the Norwich Public Defender's Office working with an attorney named Edward O'Regan. He says about her that she was a very nice person, kind of shy, kind of bashful, that sort of thing. So nice person.
Starting point is 00:30:17 She goes to do this. She passes the bar in New York, Connecticut, and in Washington, D.C. Wow. Yeah, she's doing great. I mean, you can't intern at the Securities Exchange Commission, too. Jesus. She's really working it. She's the type of person that you're like, man, she's doing everything right, this person
Starting point is 00:30:32 here. That's what I want my daughter to do. Yeah, yeah. Reagan introduces Beth Ann to another lawyer named Michael Haas to wind up sharing an office space. They'll know each other more later. Of course. As Haas was moving into a private practice.
Starting point is 00:30:46 Beth Ann said that it was her first paying job. She said she had clients, but it wasn't the best thing in the world. But she was fresh out of law school, and she was just happy to be working, practicing law, having a job. Because if you get out of school and you get a job doing the thing you went to school for, you win. That's victory. It worked for you. You're living to your plan. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:31:05 How many people do you know that work in like retail? None. Oh, so many. I know some people that work in retail that have a degree in whatever the hell that they're not working in. I know tons of people that have all those liberal arts degrees doing nothing. Next time you're out to eat, ask your server how many degrees they have. I bet they have a lot.
Starting point is 00:31:21 Yeah. They got a few. I bet they have a couple that they're not using currently while they try to start an Etsy business. That's what people are doing. I make bedazzled diapers for children instead of accounting. Yeah, because there's no jobs there. But I count the shit out of that business. I count everything.
Starting point is 00:31:38 Now, Kim, let's talk about Kim a little bit. Kim meets Buzz Clinton, our dead fella on the road here, back in 1992. She meets him while he's exotic dancing. Of course. So that's right there. At this time, Kim and her daughter at the time, young daughter, were living with Beth and their parents,
Starting point is 00:31:58 Richard and Cynthia, in their home. But like I said, they got together. Kim moves out and goes to the trailer. But she leaves her daughter with her parents for long periods of time. She's the type, like, said, they got together. Kim moves out and goes to the trailer. But she leaves her daughter with her parents for long periods of time. She's a type like, yeah, I'll be back later. And then she doesn't come pick her up. It's one of those things, which is so hard for a kid. Not terrific.
Starting point is 00:32:14 So what they do is Beth, since she's an attorney, and her mother Cynthia begin a legal action to have Kim removed as the girl's guardian. That's how serious it is. She's not paying attention to her kids. She's not taking care of them. Yes, Cynthia also files a motion for a temporary custody. The girl was two years old. Her name is Rebecca.
Starting point is 00:32:35 In October 1992, the probate court grants Cynthia temporary custody, but there's a list of, because Kim's the parent, there's a list of things. If you do all of this, you can have your kid back. And she carries out all the court-ordered steps. And so they have to give her their kid back. They're upset about this, though, because they know she was just – she's not going to stick with that. They know it.
Starting point is 00:32:54 Absolutely. So Beth now, in November 7, 92, she's 28 years old. She joins a law firm called the Old Saybrook Law Firm. It's a law firm of Klein and Frazier. Okay. Klein is with a C, by the way. No, C. Oh, C.
Starting point is 00:33:10 C. They're like kind of high-powered real estate lawyers, these guys. Gotcha. So they're making money and they think they're hot shit. They're like real, like if you've ever seen the movie Boiler Room. That's how I picture it. They think they're like, you like, our shit doesn't stink. We got money.
Starting point is 00:33:26 Do anything. Money and power. Yeah, it's one of those type of thing. It's just a vibe I get. Obviously, I don't know. Now, Klein, when Beth joins the firm, Klein is 60 years old at the time. Or I'm sorry, he is 50 years old at the time. He is 22 years older than Beth when she joins the firm. He's a short, paunchy, little slouch-shouldered guy.
Starting point is 00:33:50 He's a mess. That's what he is. He's just this little guy who makes a lot of money doing real estate law. And she's a young, attractive, redhead girl, woman. She's a woman. She's a lawyer. She's a goddamn attorney. She's not a 12-year-old girl.
Starting point is 00:34:02 But to him, he's looking at her probably like, oh, my goodness, look at this. Like a T-bone that he can afford. Absolutely. So she gets a job in November 92. By November 93, they are having an affair. Oh, boy. They are having a huge affair. He is married.
Starting point is 00:34:15 He has four kids. Oh, boy. This guy, Heyman Klein is his name. Heyman. Ugh. Heyman Klein, which just makes me think of Heyman Lee from Serial. It's all I think of now. This is an ugly name. Yeah, Heyman Klein, which just makes me think of Heyman Lee from Serial. That's all I think of now. It's just an ugly name.
Starting point is 00:34:26 Yeah, Heyman Klein. He's the attorney here, and they begin having an affair. It's pretty clear that Klein is obsessed with her. You know what I mean? He likes his drugs, too. He likes his cocaine. That's where I get the douchey thing. Loves his cocaine.
Starting point is 00:34:41 At one point in the relationship, he actually impregnates Beth, and she is pregnant with twins but miscarries in the fourth month. Jesus. So, I mean, that's, yeah, and he was already married with four children and everything else. He was about to have six. Yeah, this is getting crazy here. Wow. Absolutely. So, like we said, this brings us to January 93, where Buzz and Kim get married, like we talked about earlier.
Starting point is 00:35:07 After the child is returned to Kim, there's more litigation. Goodness. They have more litigation, and Buzz and Kim threaten to move to Arizona with the kid, at which time the grandparents wouldn't really have any say in anything. They're not even in the same state. That's his parent. That's it there. So what ends up happening here, in this case, in this particular case, Buzz acts as Kim's attorney.
Starting point is 00:35:29 Yeah, that's smart. Hi, I'm Buzz the male stripper. I'm going to do family law now. I'm going to practice family law. Please state your name. Mr. Fireman. Yeah, against a lawyer. You know what I mean?
Starting point is 00:35:39 He wins. Really? Buzz wins the case. Oh, my God. How humbled must a lawyer feel when a guy in a bedazzled thong kicked his ass? You don't want to get beat in court by a stripper named Buzz. You don't. That's not.
Starting point is 00:35:53 That is not okay. He entered the courtroom after they sounded a fire alarm and he came down a copper pole. He needed entrance music. That's like, you can't do that. Hilarious. Lawyers don't need entrance music. She's fucking mad as shit, as you can imagine. And he drug his balls all over their table. Yeah. It's like, you can't do that. Hilarious. Lawyers don't need entrance music. Yeah. She's fucking mad as shit, as you can imagine. And he drug his balls all over their table.
Starting point is 00:36:07 Yeah. It's insane. She continues having this affair with Hayman Klein. She's pissed about this. Their whole family's mad about their arrangements. Everybody's upset, okay? Early 1994, Beth and her brother Richard go to talk to Buzz's father. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:36:23 They're like, will you help us break them up? Literally. They're like, will you help us break them up? Literally, they're like, will you help us break them up? Because they're no good for each other, obviously. They're both fuck-ups. They're living in a tool shed. They're living in a tool shed right back there. It's your house. But if I'm that dad, I go, yeah, but the guy that lives in a tool shed just beat you in court.
Starting point is 00:36:38 He beat you in court. Yeah, maybe he should be the lawyer. I'm actually kind of proud of the guy. Yeah, what do you think? Because I am at this moment. I like him a lot. I'm impressed with the guy anyway. I'm actually kind of proud of the guy. Yeah, what do you think? Because I am at this moment. I like him a lot. I'm impressed with the guy anyway. I really do.
Starting point is 00:36:47 I really do like him. So they go over there. Buzz's father doesn't agree. He says, you know, I don't want any part of this. I don't know what you're talking about. So Beth tells this guy who's Anson Clinton Jr. because Buzz is the third. So juniors and thirds, as we know from crime and sports, is dangerous.
Starting point is 00:37:02 That's terrible. Beth says to her brother, when Buzz's father refuses to do anything, she says to her brother, let's go, Richard. We're not getting anywhere here. I'll take care of it. That's her answer. That's what she said. Ominously, yeah.
Starting point is 00:37:14 Just I'll take care of it. Don't worry about it. Holy shit. So they're all thinking, yeah, she's going to break them up. She's going to go legally figure something out to where they have to break up. Yeah, maybe she'll set them up with a girl and videotape it or something. Maybe that was 25 years ago. I don't know if they're doing that then.
Starting point is 00:37:30 But it's still always a good idea. I don't think she has much jealousy in her. That's true. If he's a dancer and she doesn't. Right. She's going to do something to break them up. I don't know why. Figure out what his weakness and her weakness is and we're going to.
Starting point is 00:37:40 We're going to do this. So January 1994, she figures out how to take care of it she goes to uh hayman klein and asks him to kill buzz she goes to her attorney boss lover yeah and says will you kill this guy for me now according to him she told him beth told klein that her niece little rebecca was being abused by buzz and the only way to stop is she said we've tried everything we went to court and that didn't work. We tried to break them up. I went to the father.
Starting point is 00:38:08 We did everything in the route we should go. And it's still not ceasing. And we can't get this kid away from him. We got to kill this guy. It's the only option. She's an asshole. I would say. Now, the girl, according to court records, by the way, later on, there's no indication
Starting point is 00:38:19 that the girl's abused. We don't know if she was or not, but there's no records of her being abused. She is developmentally delayed, but that doesn't really have anything to do with abuse. It could. That could cause problems, but more than likely it didn't because that was from the start. So there's no real evidence of any kind of abuse. So eventually, Heyman kind of hems and haws because he's like, yeah, I'm having sex with this young woman.
Starting point is 00:38:39 I don't really. Sure, yeah, I'll kill the guy. You don't worry about it. I got you. Yeah, I got it. Yeah, we'll talk about it next week. I got a real busy week. I got court this week. I got a lot of stuff to do. You don't worry about it. I got you. Yeah, I got it. Yeah, we'll talk about it next week. I got a real busy week. I got court this week.
Starting point is 00:38:46 I got a lot of stuff to do. So we'll talk about it maybe. She's becoming problematic to him anyway. Oh, yeah. She's pregnant and she lost it. And he's still obsessed with her, though. He's obsessed with her. You know he was praying every night for that miscarriage, though.
Starting point is 00:38:58 Yeah, you know, because he's in his 50s. He's a scumbag. And that's the thing. I'm sure he's sitting there. He's not happy. He looks at himself in the mirror and he's a paunchy fuck. And this probably makes him feel like he's some kind of big man, I guess. Every day through his 40s, he's looking in the mirror going, I'm never fucking a 20-year-old
Starting point is 00:39:11 ever again. And then he sees her. It happens, and he's like, I'm a king. I'm a god. Exactly. That pumps up his pathetic ego in this case. So eventually, he actually says, OK, I know a guy. There's a guy named Mark DePrez.
Starting point is 00:39:25 He really knows a guy. He knows a guy. He said Mark DePrez might be willing to do this. Beth said make whatever arrangements you have to. We'll pay him whatever he needs, the whole deal. So that's what he says here. Now, whatever happened, what ends up happening is DePrez is a guy who he is Haven Klein's drug dealer. He's also a used car salesman. That makes dealer. He's also a used car salesman.
Starting point is 00:39:46 That makes sense. He's also a used car salesman, but he's also his Coke dealer. He has no record for any kind of violent crime or anything like that, but he figures. So Klein just thinks he knows a guy. He thinks he knows a guy. He's like, I've seen movies, guys that deal Coke, they kill people all the time. I know a guy. That's pretty much it.
Starting point is 00:40:02 So what he does is he says, this guy agrees. DePerez agrees to kill Buzz for $8,500. I love when we have these contract ones the different negotiations. One guy did it for like $500. He was going to do it in the end. First it was $5,000 down to $500. People in Manistique ended up doing it for like meth. They did it for meth. For a little bit of meth.
Starting point is 00:40:19 That's pretty much what the guys did in Tenasket, Washington too. It was a little bit of meth. This guy wants actual cash. They give him $2,000 up front. Heyman Klein does. Beth doesn't talk to this guy. She doesn't know this guy. It's a dude's drug dealer.
Starting point is 00:40:32 It's Heyman Klein's drug dealer. A month goes by, February 1994, and it's just nothing has happened. It's kind of cooled off. And apparently the relationship between Klein and Beth is kind of cooling off also, which we'll get into. They've had some problems here and a little bit of issues. So Klein calls off the hit. He calls off the hit.
Starting point is 00:40:54 Beth, though, a few weeks later returns to him, the way he puts it, in, quote, a state of hysteria, telling him that her niece had been burned with a cigarette and locked in Kim's basement, and she asked him to contact DePrez again to carry out the killings and said she's willing to pay for it herself. She doesn't care. This guy needs to die. Holy shit. He's abusing the shit out of this girl. Okay.
Starting point is 00:41:15 So, and that's Klein's story, we'll say. But that seems to be the accurate one. He gets back in touch with DePrez again, and now they agree on $5,000 for the murder. So the price has gone down. That's amazing. The economy is down. We'll say that. Yeah, the prices for service is going down a little bit here.
Starting point is 00:41:32 $5,000. Of course, he's already been paid $2,500. Right. And out of that $5,000, they agree to give him $1,000 right then. Okay. Okay. Now, the murder ends up happening on March 10, 1994. DePrez learns about the tow truck, he's kind of still find out exactly how.
Starting point is 00:41:48 But he's been keeping an eye on Buzz for a few weeks. Oh, yeah. He's still been watching. He's like, just in case it comes down. Well, in February, he finally took that, agreed to the five thousand and the one thousand. And that a month goes by. And in that month, he's looking for an in on how to kill Buzz. So what he does is he finds out he's selling a tow truck and he says, OK, fine. So what this Mark DePrez guy, listen to what he does. He brings his 15-year-old son Chris with him. What the fuck? They meet in the parking lot of a Howard Johnson's restaurant on I-95 because it looks – hey, that looks legit.
Starting point is 00:42:18 I'm bringing my kid with me. Who's afraid of someone who brings their kid with them? It's the Green River Killer thing. The prostitutes would feel comfortable with him because he would have his baby in the car sometimes or pictures of his kids, whatever. So this DePrez is thinking. He's thinking about this whole thing. What they do is they meet in this parking lot.
Starting point is 00:42:34 Buzz agrees to show him the tow truck because DePrez said he's willing to pay cash for it. And this is when Buzz wants to move to Arizona to get away from the Carpenter family. And he needs money. He needs this money and this guy's paying in cash. Perfect. We can get the fuck out of here immediately. So he drives away. Buzz drives away.
Starting point is 00:42:52 He's going to take him to the tow truck. DePrez and his son are following him, following Buzz. As they exit the I-95, DePrez flashes his headlights, you know, like pull over like he's got a problem. The two cars pull over to the shoulder. pull over like he's got a problem. The two cars pull over to the shoulder. Buzz gets out of his car and approaches DePrez's car who's got his son in it and DePrez.
Starting point is 00:43:10 DePrez puts his gun out and shoots him six times with a.38 revolver. The kid sitting right there. The kid sitting right there. Then he sees the headlights coming back in and he sees the headlights coming down the road so he hops back in his car quick to not make it look like he's standing out there.
Starting point is 00:43:26 Yeah. Then he runs him over a little bit, puts him back in the car, drives away. Holy shit. He's like, oh, let me do that. And then runs away. Okay. Now, initially, like we said, there was drug dealers. But then after that, they're like, okay, it wasn't drug dealers.
Starting point is 00:43:38 This is clearly some sort of setup. Who hates him? Yeah. Gee, I don't know. Only one. Two weeks earlier, he beat Beth in court. Yeah. So wonder who this might be. Let's investigate. I mean, it could be a number of people. This is a good place to start. He is selling a tow truck. I mean, it could be
Starting point is 00:43:54 if there's an ad on a paper. It could be anybody. Exactly. Could be anybody. But they're like, let's just, you know what, let's take a look at the carpenters. Let's just take a look, see and see what they're doing. So they get also, another reason why is because it's a well-known thing that Beth, it's a well-known thing that Beth Ann's father tried to strangle Buzz at one point. And then he was strangling him, literally like Bart Simpson, like Homer Simpson strangling Bart until Cynthia said, Richard, your blood pressure. And he stopped.
Starting point is 00:44:22 He was like, yeah, you're right. I don't want to have a heart attack over this guy. This guy's going to give me a stroke. Richard, calm down. Stop choking. I'm trying to kill that man. You're going to kill yourself. That just so sounds like, you know, Seinfeld's parents on Seinfeld. Marty, your blood pressure. Like it's something that would come out of
Starting point is 00:44:38 that show. It's insane. So they're the initial target. The trail, they go through everything and they find out they find out a little bit about Beth and how she feels. They talk to Buzz's dad and have the I'll take care of it line comes out. So then they're concentrating on her. Eventually, they get down to Heyman and DePrez. At the course of the investigation, too, they learn that not only was Klein, Heyman Klein, not only was he hiring hitmen for murder plots, but he was also actively defrauding his clients.
Starting point is 00:45:06 He's dealing coke on his own and he's stealing money from trust accounts that are under his care. Oh, what a scumbag. Part of that money paid DePrez for a hit. Holy shit.
Starting point is 00:45:15 So he's selling drugs and paying for hits with clients' money. Like, this is a mess. What a dick. This is a fucking disaster, I swear to God. Just a complete mess.
Starting point is 00:45:23 So May of 1994, two months after the murder, police execute a search warrant of the home of DePrez's mother, but they don't find the murder weapon. We find out why we don't find the murder weapon here shortly, don't worry, but the murder weapon, we find out where it was.
Starting point is 00:45:39 They don't find anything, but they're on to him. I mean, if they found this guy, that's probably a bad sign. This is pretty incredible police work, too, by the way. Well, they got a tip. They got a tip. And this is the thing when you get with drug people. You're going to get a lot of tips because they get charges a lot, and they have sentences that are higher than they think they should have, and they're willing to tell anything to not go to jail for coke, basically.
Starting point is 00:46:01 By the way, I know a guy that murdered somebody. Yeah, because I want to get out of jail and do more coke. So I got to do that. What ends up happening here, she quits her job with Bethann, quits her job with Klein. She takes another job with another law firm in January of 1995. But that's just for a few months before she moves to England in the summer of 1995. She takes off. She says she was looking for a job for about 10 months unsuccessfully in the States. And she was looking in England, and she got an offer and followed it up, and boom. She goes over to England.
Starting point is 00:46:29 She is distancing herself from him real fast. A little bit. Now, when she's in England, her visa expires in early 1997. She decides to move to Dublin, Ireland at this point because they'll let her in over there. No warrant for her is issued, none of that. this point because they'll let her in over there. No warrant for her is issued. None of that.
Starting point is 00:46:49 She tries to take international law and taxation courses, but she can't afford it. So she works in a gym and a pub to kind of make up for it to afford the classes in the next semester. This is a girl that passed the bar in D.C., New York and Connecticut, and she is now in Dublin working at a bar. Working at a bar. Well, going to law school, though. They're going to school for whatever international horseshit. But she doesn't need to, is my point, unless she's running from something.
Starting point is 00:47:11 She's got other things going on over there, though. Now, she also, she's over there under her own name. No alias. Both countries, no alias. At one point, she filed a lawsuit against a drunk driver who hit her with her car as she walked home from the gym and messed her shoulder all up. Yeah. You know, she went to the authorities there, filed a lawsuit. Like, she's not hiding over there.
Starting point is 00:47:31 She's being whatever. There's a reason for that because they know she's there. And sometime during this time period, Scotland Yard contacts her through the Connecticut authorities to help for them to, for her to help in their ongoing investigation of this murder. So what ends up happening, October 1995, DePrez is arrested for the murder. He's initially uncooperative. But in December of 1995, he gives a lengthy statement implicates Heyman implicates Beth, everything puts them all in there. And many of the facts that he talks about are backed up by his son, Chris.
Starting point is 00:48:06 Ouch. And we'll get to his statement. Now, as he was arrested, DePrez, Heyman knows, writing on the wall, he is trying to take off. He is looting clients' accounts. He's stockpiling money in different bank accounts all over the country. Yeah. He's doing some scummy shit. Getting ready to flee.
Starting point is 00:48:22 Yeah, absolutely. Now, December 15, 1995, the police are literally going to arrest him, and ready to flee. Yeah, absolutely. Now, December 15th, 1995, the police are literally going to arrest him, and he's gone. Poof. Like a puff of smoke. Like Kaiser So Say, he's out of there. So they issue a warrant for him. He flees. Now,
Starting point is 00:48:38 during this whole time, he's wanted for capital felony murder. So this is not great. That's death penalty shit right there. It's the worst thing you can get. So he doesn't know, though, that Scotland Yard and the Connecticut authorities have been talking to Beth Ann over in Europe. And they have.
Starting point is 00:48:53 And he has been keeping in touch with her since she's been in Europe. So he talks to her. She tells them everything he's doing. This sort of thing. So it's a mess. It was Beth. She supplies a date, a time, and a phone number to a pay phone in California where she's supposed to call Klein at a certain time. Exactly that. They figure it out.
Starting point is 00:49:13 He picks up the phone. He's talking to her outside of a convenience store in California in February of 96, and the cops warm up. Yes. And he tells her on the phone, you set me up. That's that. He's like, shit. Big fat pudgy fuck standing there in California in his straw hat. In his straw hat going, shit.
Starting point is 00:49:32 Damn it. You set me up. You set me up. So DePrez goes to court. This is a crazy ass story. DePrez goes to court. Christopher, his son, Chris, testifies with immunity because he was 15. He describes how his father stalked Buzz for weeks up to 94.
Starting point is 00:49:51 He says that he sat in the passenger seat. He saw his father meet Clinton in the parking lot. He knew about the pretense of the tow truck, the whole deal. They followed, just like we said, they followed Clinton's car. DePrez flashes headlights, the whole deal. And Chris, just like we said, they followed Clinton's car. DePrez flashes headlights, the whole deal, and Chris says, this is insane. Turns to his father and he said, I asked
Starting point is 00:50:12 him what he was doing. He said he was going to kill him. So he tells his son that. Son's like, what are you doing? He's like, I'm going to kill this guy. I'm going to kill this guy. Don't tell your mother. Oh, thanks. That's a huge don't tell your mother. But he lives also to Chris is in his father's care. His father has full custody.
Starting point is 00:50:27 Really? This guy has full custody. I don't know what the hell the mother could have done. What is she doing? Good God. She must have been a goddamn disaster. She's got a hell of a body count if this guy kills one and keeps the kid. Yeah, absolutely.
Starting point is 00:50:37 So Mark DePrez tells Buzz the reason why he got out and flashed him. He said, oh, I'm running out of gas. I'm running out of gas. And then Chris says, Chris DePrez says, then he shot him. I saw sparks come out of the gun, and I heard him shoot six times. Holy shit. Yeah, he said. What kind of gun?
Starting point is 00:50:52 38 revolver. So he opened the whole thing up. Yep, emptied it on him. Emptied it on him. Close range. He said for a month before the shooting, he would drive with his father as they tried to find him at home or at work. Buzz, they kept, he said that his father had a picture of Buzz and drove around looking for him.
Starting point is 00:51:08 He said, my dad was going to kill the guy. So, yeah. And you said he got him five in the head and one in the chest. I think it was two in the chest. I think I was mistaken. I think it's four in the head, two in the chest, and a car run over you. Good God. Wow.
Starting point is 00:51:20 Of that kind of weapon, it's over. Yeah, it's over. That's overkill, I would definitely say. Now, what they're saying here, too, is they're thinking that Beth is the person who provided the picture. So that wrapped her right up. Because he's saying, she's the one who gave me the picture. I got the picture through Haman, through her. Chris testifies that they shot Buzz, went back home in Deep River, where they're from, and they smashed the gun with a hammer.
Starting point is 00:51:45 And then they drove, took the pieces, and threw them out the window as they were driving in Essex. Little by little. So, yeah, little here, little there, so no one would find it, smashed it with a hammer, which I guess is smart if you're going to do that sort of thing. In the end, DePrez ends up pleading guilty to killing Buzz, and he's sentenced to 45 years in prison.
Starting point is 00:52:03 That's pretty light. 45 years. Yeah, it's a little light. Well, he ended up giving up the other prison. That's pretty light. 45 years. Yeah, it's a little light. Well, he ended up giving up the other ones. Oh, yeah. He ended up giving up Heyman. Now, Heyman Klein also pleads guilty in the end here. He pleads guilty to conspiracy to commit murder, and he faces a 45-year term, but his sentencing
Starting point is 00:52:20 is not going to be done until after he testifies against Beth. That's nice. So now they're working on a case against Beth here. But they said he was so helpful in building a case against Beth, the prosecutor in the case called him, quote, the most cooperative witness I've ever worked with. And so that's why they deferred his sentence until after he testified. Look, if he's going to be this great, we might be able to lighten this up a little bit on him. we might be able to lighten this up a little bit on him. So 1997 in August they finally in Connecticut
Starting point is 00:52:46 get an arrest warrant for Beth. She's in Ireland. She's still gone. But it's a capital crime so it carries a death penalty. So Dublin won't do it, huh? Dublin won't do it. That's the problem. They will not extradite her to a death penalty
Starting point is 00:53:02 which most European countries won't. She was in the gym when this all happened. She said she's in the gym. She said a guy came up to her and said, are you Beth Carpenter? And she said yes. And then another cop in plainclothes came and took her in. She said they just took her right to jail. She said she didn't know why.
Starting point is 00:53:17 I think she knew why. I'm sure she knew. I'm thinking. She stays in. She had a bit of an inkling. I would imagine. What have I done illegal? Oh, yeah, that's right.
Starting point is 00:53:23 I set up a murder. That's all. I've only done one thing. I ran a red What have I done illegal? Oh, yeah, that's right. I set up a murder. That's all. I've only done one thing. I ran a red light a few days ago. I didn't think that was it. I thought this was a little heavy for that. But the murder. Figured hunting me down at the gym for a red light.
Starting point is 00:53:34 That's a tough one. Yeah, I think it's probably the murder. She remained in Mount Joy Prison in Ireland for 17 months. She was there while they were fighting. She said it's great over there. She praised their humanitarian approach. Apparently, let their the inmates wear their own clothing uh they address and listen to inmate complaints uh she said that everybody's nice to each other the inmates are better she says she was saying how you know they they had they staged a play
Starting point is 00:53:57 for charity while in while in jail and the and the uh the inmate actors were permitted to talk to the guests afterwards the guests to? Like non-prison people. It was for charity. Holy shit. So they were allowed to like socialize afterwards. I was thinking it was just like a play for the prison inmates. Irish prison is different. Irish prison, much different.
Starting point is 00:54:15 Do they allow guests in? Yeah, that's what I mean. They had a Christmas service there in prison that was broadcast nationwide. What? And Beth read a poem during the service to nationwide Irish TV. That's crazy. What the fuck? She was playing rugby and volleyball in there.
Starting point is 00:54:31 Unbelievable. Even though she's a tiny, she's only 5'3", and she's real thin, a little person. Not a little. Not a little person, but yeah, not a little, little person. Not a literally a little person. So they didn't want to extradite her. She's finally arrested November 97. Like I said, spends all that time there. She is when she gets back to Connecticut is eventually they said,
Starting point is 00:54:51 OK, fine, we will not you know, we won't seek the death penalty against her. And then Ireland lets her go. She comes back in. She said an Irish prison. She never once had handcuffs on her. They never used handcuffs. And she said the second she got to York in the United States, she said the second she got to the United States, she was taken to York in shackles and wrists and a belly chain like she's Hannibal Lecter or something. Like a real criminal. Like a real criminal. She complains that she doesn't get enough showers there. They know the conditions aren't very good.
Starting point is 00:55:19 And she's a lawyer, so she's going to complain and pitch and file things. She said she used her migraine medication. There wasn't even a Christmas play. I did not get to speak to a national audience through my poetry. I am not happy about that. She said you shut down in there. You show no emotion. If you're crying, they put you on suicide watch.
Starting point is 00:55:37 So she's like, there's nothing you can do. They didn't give her her migraine medication on time. She's seriously complaining. She says that once she leaves prison, she says, you know, I am going to go back to jail, and I'm going to fix this shit. I'm going to make this happen. So she's in jail. The tampons are just cardboard. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:55:58 This is so great. It's insane. I love that she's bitching about you orchestrated the murder of a man who now he doesn't even get to live that kind of life. She's like, I have a bit of a migraine. What? So she does this. She's in there for about six months in the States in prison, and her lawyers are constantly petitioning to get her out. They persuade a judge to reduce her bond from $1 million to $150,000 on a condition of house arrest.
Starting point is 00:56:31 So, yeah, that's she's so she's for like the next year to get out. Yeah. For like the next year, she is at home with an ankle monitor and probation officers drive her to and from court and turn her ankle monitor back on. There is a big fluff piece about her in the paper. My goodness. There is a fluff piece. I was like, are you kidding me?
Starting point is 00:56:50 She gives a big interview. Listen to this. This is an exact piece of the article. I'm going to read you two paragraphs of the article. You tell me what this paints. If you think this paints a murderer or, I don't know, just don't have an opinion maybe. Be a journalist and don't be objective. Or take this lady's side.
Starting point is 00:57:06 Unreal. Okay. This sounds like her lawyer wrote it. Here we go. And the fluff piece here. Carpenter was sitting in the living room of the modest ranch house where she grew up, now a stone's throw from the entrance of the Manistucket Pequot Museum, the Foxwoods Resort Casino, and its towering hotels that were built on the dunes and trails
Starting point is 00:57:24 over which Carpenter and her friends used to ride horses and bicycles as children. Now Carpenter can no more visit that museum or casino than set foot on the grass outside her own door. Her right ankle is banded with an electronic monitoring bracelet that will sound an alarm if she steps outside the walls of the home she shares with her parents, sister, and her sister's four children aged four to 11. Another beloved family member is Rennie, the deathly sick puppy she nursed back to health. Now he's her constant companion. What? Are you fucking kidding me? How soggy is that dude's lap?
Starting point is 00:57:58 Oh, my God. How could you write that? What are you? She, the deathly sick puppy she nursed back. She killed a guy. What are we talking about? the deathly sick puppy. She nursed, but she killed a guy. What are we talking about? She goddamn killed a guy. Now she's living in a house with her sister and kids.
Starting point is 00:58:09 One of the kids, by the way, whose father she killed. Wow. Unbelievable. And this is all fine. And they're having a fluff piece. Not like, hey, how do you feel looking at that kid? Who's goddamn father? You're on trial for murder.
Starting point is 00:58:19 How does that feel every morning when you wake up in that kid's brush teeth? Unbelievable. Yeah. So she says she wants to just get out of prison. She wants to make everything work in prison, make it more like the Irish system, whatever. Her sister Kim here is working at McDonald's. Yeah. So she's an attorney.
Starting point is 00:58:35 Kim's working at McDonald's. Her brother Richard is the CEO of a company in Boston. Wow. So two kids. He's the only one who got it completely right. But at least two of them got education and jobs and careers right. Now, at the trial... Beth lives the life that you would expect Kim to have.
Starting point is 00:58:53 You know what I mean? Like somebody that's downtrodden with four children, that's working a tough job, trying to make it in society. You figure that person kills people. That's the one. That's why I said in the beginning, you thought she was the one, right? You thought she killed Buzz probably, right? Unbelievable. I might have said it up that way Yeah, no, that's what I said in the beginning. You thought she was the one, right? You thought she killed Buzz, probably, right? Yeah. Unbelievable. I might have set it up that way, but yeah, that's right. Hey, guys, I just want to tell you real quick,
Starting point is 00:59:15 web support is brought to you by WebAndWriter.com. If you're looking to build a website, go over to WebAndWriter.com. They build websites that look great on all screens, graphics, logos, engaging content. Go over to WebAndWrcom. They build websites that look great on all screens, graphics, logos, engaging content. Go over to webandwriter.com or go over to facebook.com slash web and writer. They'll build you an unbelievable website at a very fair rate. They'll build you a website at a very fair rate. They'll build you a very great website. Go see them. webandwriter.com. So 2002, finally the trial.
Starting point is 00:59:49 Finally. We meet, by the way, Deloy D. Clinton, by the way. D. Clinton rules. That is Buzz's mom. Really? She's awesome. And it's D-D-E-E, isn't it? It's D. D is her nickname. D.
Starting point is 01:00:03 Oh, I got you. D. Lloyd is her first name. Deloy D-A-L-O-Y't it? It's D. D is her nickname. D. Okay. Oh, I got you. Day Lloyd is her first name. Deloy D-A-L-O-Y-D. Okay. Deloy Clinton. She's become like a big homicide. She's out. She's like a victim's advocate, basically.
Starting point is 01:00:16 She attends every one of the court hearings. She wears the same dress. She wears a midnight blue dress that she wore to her son's funeral. Oh, that's nice. So she's like, this is the dress. Prosecution. So she's at every day of this trial. Prosecution is obviously saying that Beth Ann wanted Buzz out of the way because, you know, they were going to move out of state and the kid and all that.
Starting point is 01:00:35 Heyman here, Heyman Klein, testifies against her that due to his obsession with the young, attractive woman that he said he would have done anything for her. And it was just this obsession that he couldn't help himself but do anything under her spell. What does she have? The defense. Listen to this defense. The defense argued that Beth was actually under Klein's spell. She said that Beth was under Klein's spell.
Starting point is 01:01:00 He was a domineering and dominating lover that psychologically controlled him. She said, quote, I didn't feel right when I wasn't with him. He sort of valid made validated me and made me feel whole. She said that on the stand. But the jury's looking at her and looking at him and going, that guy's making you fuck. Are you kidding me? Are you serious? That guy? He's a disaster. He hasn't seen his dick in 20 years. He's not psychologically having a spell over anybody, especially she. and it would be possible, but not someone with so much, I can't see someone with so much drive and personal force. Right.
Starting point is 01:01:32 If she wants someone dead, she will go arrange death. Yeah. She's not going to be like, I just, I can't stop. Like, I don't see that happening. And, you know, she may have at some point been so good in manipulating it, what she was doing with him that he may have assumed. Maybe he thought he was controlling her for a second. And then he realized after all of it was done that, no, no, no, no.
Starting point is 01:01:50 She definitely had me underspelled. Definitely. Yeah. So she gets on the stand. She said that she admitted confiding in Klein that she was afraid for her niece and that she wasn't being properly cared for. But she never wanted Buzz to kill him. She didn't want that. She didn't want Buzz to take or she didn never wanted Buzz to kill him. She didn't want that. She didn't want Buzz to take—or she didn't want them to kill Buzz.
Starting point is 01:02:08 She didn't want anybody to kill Buzz. She just didn't want Buzz to take the kid across the country. She denied knowing anything about DePrez or anything like that. The defense tried to introduce police reports that raised allegations against Buzz with the abuse, but they really didn't go anywhere. And the prosecutor, Kevin Kane really didn't go anywhere. And the prosecutor, Kevin Kane, said that it amounted to putting the victim on trial. And so that really didn't work too well with that.
Starting point is 01:02:35 They tried to say that he was a drug trafficker and threatens people with murder and all that kind of thing. There wasn't really any evidence to that. Might have been true, but there wasn't really any evidence to that. The theory of the defense here is that Hey uh, Heyman wanted to impress Beth. So he set the whole thing up on her on his own. She knew nothing about it. And he was just like, you know, we're going to impress her. If I kill that guy, she hates.
Starting point is 01:02:54 That'll do it. Cause I've been asking her, I want to get her something real nice. Yeah. She's just been down lately. She's been four shots to the dome piece. That'll do it. Yeah. That's it.
Starting point is 01:03:02 Uh, yeah. Unreal. the dome piece that'll do it yeah that's it uh yeah unreal uh she she testifies on directing the examination that she continued the affair uh following the murder because she felt completely emotionally dependent on her on him you know just the whole thing she also said that at one time she tried to leave Klein but she couldn't break away she said it would last three or four weeks at a time she said she changed the locks in her house and her phone number and everything else. But Klein would come back or he'd call and she'd always answer the door. She couldn't say no to him.
Starting point is 01:03:29 She'd always take him back. On cross-examination, it was a little different. She said that she made no attempt because they made a big deal out of this. She made no attempt to hide the affair from Klein's family, even flaunting it in front of his children. She's trying to stir the pot. She wants to screw up his family because she wants him. I don't know what people's personal, interpersonal workings are here. This whole thing, she said that she called his home, went to a restaurant where he was
Starting point is 01:03:56 dining with his family to tell him that she miscarried the twins. She went there or called there? Went there. Oh, my God. She walked right up to the table? He's with the wife and kids at Red Lobster. They just put out the Cheddar Bay Biscuits. I'm going to go tell them about the miscarried twins.
Starting point is 01:04:09 Met him at a local commuter park where they had a big heated discussion. It lasted for an hour right as he was leaving with his family on a vacation. Appeared on the doorstep of his residence when she argued with him in front of his children and followed him on a family vacation to Key West. That's fucking sick. And we're supposed to assume that this woman is being controlled by him. Yeah. She's a woman. She's flaunting her relationship.
Starting point is 01:04:32 What does that even mean? Does she walk like she comes to the house and jerks him off in front of the kids? She shows up at Red Lobster and said, hey, I just miscarried our twins. I think in front of the family. It's exactly crazy. It's insane. And she followed him to Key West? She followed him to Key West.
Starting point is 01:04:47 What the fuck? Yeah. Her attorney wants to bring in expert witnesses to talk about dependent personality disorders. But the judge talked to him outside. They had him talk outside the presence of the jury. The judge ruled that this was not scientifically valid, some sort of dependent personality disorder. She doesn't hear voices or see visions. That's not a thing.
Starting point is 01:05:06 So they said. She's just an asshole. Yeah, you're an asshole. You're an obsessive asshole. That's your scientific term. Obsessive asshole. There, boom, stamp right on your forehead. So they said it couldn't be used as a defense.
Starting point is 01:05:17 So it does not take the jury long to convict her of capital murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Wow. All sorts of murder. capital murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Wow. All sorts of murder. Dee Clinton here, the mom, yelled to her lawyer as he left the courtroom.
Starting point is 01:05:32 She yelled, bye, sunshine. She just strutted herself out there. Told reporters that any of the allegations against her son of abuse are nothing but, quote, poppycock. I love this lady. Yeah. Wow. And the lawyer said, hey hey we weren't trying to slander the guy we were just trying to correct the record and we weren't you know that he's such
Starting point is 01:05:50 a law-abiding devout devoted family man uh wow at this point rebecca carpenter who's the alleged abused kid back in the day here she's 12 years old and she lives with the uh the carpenter parents richard and cynthia and only sees her mother, Kim, on some Saturdays. So that's where that has happened here. Poor kid. Yeah. So we get to sentencing for Klein first, and then we'll get to sentencing for Beth. With good behavior, Klein could be free in as little as 10 years.
Starting point is 01:06:17 Wow. As little as 10 years. The mother, Dee Clinton, is pissed. I'm sure. Dee Clinton said, quote, this was a backroom deal struck by the lawyers to help out one of their own. Forty-five years is what he agreed to in a plea. That's the very least he should have gotten for killing my boy. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:06:31 That's right. So he said he was sorry. He apologized in court. He said his heart went out to the Clintons. He asked for leniency. He said, quote, I deserve to be punished. I am being punished. I'd give my life if I could.
Starting point is 01:06:43 There's no way for me to express how sorry I feel. He's not on coke now, so he's a little calmer. Reality's just like staring him in the face right now. I'm really I fucked up. Come on. In court, Dee Clinton spoke out,
Starting point is 01:07:00 yelled and said that she hopes Beth burns in hell or seize the fires of hell when she died in prison in hell or, quote, sees the fires of hell when she died in prison. She said, quote, I told my children their brother was tried, convicted, and executed by people that decided they had the right. They decided that Buzz did not have the right to life, that the death penalty was appropriate for him.
Starting point is 01:07:17 She's trying to say, what about these people? Cynthia Carpenter, the matriarch of the Carpenter family, said, quote, no one should have to die like as Buzz did. I empathize with the family, but Beth is not guilty. This is a terrible injustice. I pray that Mr. Klein will come forward with the truth and Beth will come home where she belongs. And we get to her sentencing. The judge here says to her during sentencing, and you don't want to hear this when you're getting sentenced, quote,
Starting point is 01:07:44 Having been convicted of contract murder, I have no difficulty imposing this sentence. Miss Carpenter, you among all people involved, it was you who could have stopped this insane notion that killing Buzz Clinton would solve the problems concerning Rebecca. And he gives her life without the possibility of
Starting point is 01:08:00 parole. She is fucked. She is away. Now, 2009, Mark DePrez starts recanting his confession and now is trying to pin it on his 15-year-old son, who was 15 at the time. What? He's saying that Chris did it. Their lawyers got some tape from the Dr. Laura radio show, that lunatic fucking asshole she is, got a tape of her, somebody saying they were Chris and confessing to the crime.
Starting point is 01:08:24 But it wasn't Chris. Like, they played the voices, and it's not even close. Like at the Phil Hendry show? Yeah, I guess Chris has a really deep voice, and somebody called just to say, I'm Chris, and I did it. I shot him. It wasn't my dad. They literally tried to do that.
Starting point is 01:08:36 Wow. Wow. June 2009, Dee Clinton dies. So that's a shame. She, you know, didn't get to see the whole thing play out. Well, she didn't get to see Beth die in prison, I guess. 2009, this case appeared on Snapped. Really?
Starting point is 01:08:50 The show Snapped. I never saw the show. It's a great show. But it appeared there, 2009. I bet they didn't do as good a job as we did, though. I'm sure they didn't. Now, she appeals this, obviously, because she's a lawyer, and she's going to appeal life without the possibility of parole. She says that they didn't let her present her insanity defense. She appeals this, obviously, because she's a lawyer and she's going to appeal life without the possibility of parole.
Starting point is 01:09:09 She says that they didn't let her present her insanity defense. She says that the other guys, DePrez and Klein, were inclined to lie. They were drug addicts and all that sort of thing. They said that the state was well aware that Klein, quote, he had an obsessive and deviant sexual interest in Ms. Carpenter and was a narcotics addict and had engaged in acts of theft involving funds belonging to his former law clients. So they're trying to say, obviously, she didn't do it. That sort of thing. Other claims, they said she claims ineffective assistance of counsel, says that her attorneys provided her with false assurances throughout the case and failed to engage in plea negotiations with the state like she would have taken a plea. Yeah, the whole deal.
Starting point is 01:09:51 Her lawyer said that she had the best interest of his client in mind. He was trying his best. She said that she was using several medications that interfered with her ability to testify accurately and lucidly. She's pulling everything out of her ass. She said that the defense failed to prepare her for the cross-examination. So they said, you know, I wasn't prepared because ineffective assistance of counsel should have prepared me better rather than I was. You sat in an Irish prison for 17 months. Thought it was great.
Starting point is 01:10:19 Right. And also, too, she says there should have been a change of venue and jury sequester and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So that gets denied in the first time. 2010, she has a habeas appeal. She tries to pull the same shit, same grounds. She's trying to get a new trial. They tell her to go kick dirt. No thank you there.
Starting point is 01:10:37 2015. Say it walking. Yeah, tell your story walking, honey. 2015, she tries to get a new trial again, and she is another failure. A Rockville Superior Court judge rejected her arguments and said that you can do that. They're all as good at law as Buzz is. That's right. They're just beating her up.
Starting point is 01:10:55 Beating her. Kicking her ass. 2017, a court, this is just recently, this is March of 2017, A court rejects her appeal and her conviction, obviously. It's a three-judge appellate deal here. This is like the last state thing you go to. Three-judge appellate court disagreed with her argument that said her trial lawyers were idiots and for not securing a plea deal and not having an expert witness examine her before trial. So good. She intends to appeal the ruling of the Connecticut Supreme Court, obviously, and try to go to the Supreme Court.
Starting point is 01:11:30 Her lawyer says, quote, the result is disappointing. We remain hopeful that justice will in the end be done. Beth Carpenter does not belong behind bars. Okay. So right now, her nieces live together and hang out together here. Brianna, the one she was pregnant with, and Rebecca, the young girl who was the alleged abusee. There's a story where a journalist talks to both of them at the same time and gets their opinions on the whole thing. And they talk about seeing the show snapped and seeing the reenactment and all that sort of thing.
Starting point is 01:11:59 That would be brutal. Yeah, totally. That's what they said. I can't imagine. They didn't know anything about it until they heard the name. And they were like, oh, that's our dad. Oh, Jesus. That's here. Oh, that town is here. Yeah, totally. That's what they said. I can't imagine. It was really brutal. They didn't know anything about it until they heard the name, and they were like, oh, that's our dad. Oh, Jesus. That's here. Oh, that town is here.
Starting point is 01:12:09 Oh, no. Brianna, Buzz's actual daughter, thinks that Beth is guilty, and Rebecca says that she's innocent. What? She says she thinks she's innocent, and she thinks they set her up. I don't know. How could she think innocent? I think it's one of those things. She was old enough to remember having her around, and she liked her, and she's her aunt.
Starting point is 01:12:26 And she's like, she's my aunt. She didn't kill my dad. Like, this is crazy. She believes her. I mean, she believes her. Yeah. That's what it is. And when you're a kid, you believe people you look up to, and you might stick with that
Starting point is 01:12:36 through your years here. Now, Buzz, Buzz Anson Clinton III here, or Anson Clinton III, Buzz, is buried in the Duck River Cemetery in Old Lyme, Connecticut. He's got a little small headstone. It looked like it needed some work, too. Someone needed to edge it with a weed whacker or something in the picture. But yep, he's there, and that's her, and she's in prison forever.
Starting point is 01:12:55 Wow. These appeals don't seem to be going anywhere at all, and she's down to her last—she's down to trying to go to the Supreme Court with this bad boy. It's over for her. Klein will be out within the next five years probably. And I don't think DePrez is going to get out anytime soon. But that's East Lime, Connecticut. My goodness.
Starting point is 01:13:11 That is a hell of a twisted tale. If you enjoyed that tale, please, please get on iTunes. You can go ahead and give us five stars. Tell us your favorite color. Tell us your favorite type of sandwich. We don't care. Just do it. It helps us with the business.
Starting point is 01:13:23 I like ham. I like roast beef and turkey. Is that yours? Yeah, I think so. Roast beef, turkey. Then we're going to get into the Italian lunch meats, and let's not go there. I could talk all night about prosciutto, and we don't need to do that. We don't need to talk about Capicola for the next four hours.
Starting point is 01:13:36 Anyway, if an iTunes review just isn't enough for you, your heart is swelling with joy from this episode. It should be. It should be. Then you can get on patreon.com slash crime in sports and you can leave us a donation or go to PayPal and use our crime in sports at gmail.com address there. We have some amazing people here, Jimmy. Yeah, we've done that just this week.
Starting point is 01:13:55 And also, too, before we get to that, you can follow us on social media at Murder Small on Twitter, facebook.com slash small town pod, who are our fine donators and gift givers and just amazing people that we, God, we love so much and couldn't do this without you. And there'd be no point in doing it without you. Yeah, that's the truth. You guys are what make this show go. So thank you guys so, so much. This week we got some mail from Kirk Withrow, Brianna...
Starting point is 01:14:20 Rose. Oh. Brianna Rose. Brianna Rose. Brianna Rose. She made us some, she knitted some things. What do they call this? Embroidered?
Starting point is 01:14:29 What do they call that? I don't know. She did some crafting. Oh, needlepoint type thing. I don't know what it is, but they're awesome. Is that crochet? That's not crochet. But they're awesome.
Starting point is 01:14:39 How is it you've come to arrive here? Yeah, they're all from Crime and Sports. Crime and Sports references. And unbelievable. Thank you so much. They're so cool. Thank you, Brianna. And then Monica Robertson sent us a big package for Frankie the Crime and Sports dog.
Starting point is 01:14:51 So that's awesome, too. Frankie, Frankie, thanks you. And we'll take a picture of Frankie wearing it. We'll post it on Frankie the Crime and Sports dog Instagram. So you can find her there. Heather Budd sent us a little bit more dough over on Patreon, the, Heather. God, guys. Not on Patreon, the other one. PayPal. PayPal. You guys are so awesome. You keep us going. You really do. You make this...
Starting point is 01:15:10 And it doesn't have to be a lot. It's these little ones. It seems like it really drives the engine. Everything helps. It really does. We can't thank you enough. Jacqueline Rodriguez, Natalie Damien. It's got to be Damien. I think so. I think so. Marinda Lynch, Lauten Melmoth, Uptids Pledge.
Starting point is 01:15:28 Wow, thank you. Annette Wright, Alex Herman, Natalie Oliver, Christine Palmer, Dan Smith, Alexandra Brown, Michael Morris, BJ Spence, Rachel Ten, Bruggencat. Bruggencat. That's a cool one. That's a cool name. Bruggencate. I like that.
Starting point is 01:15:40 I don't know. Marielle Tetreault, Jenny Langest, and Jonathan Edwards. Thank you guys so, so much for doing this. Guys, we can't thank you enough. I don't know. Marielle Tetreault, Jenny Langest, and Jonathan Edwards. Thank you guys so, so much for doing this. We can't thank you enough. You guys are really pushing this thing along. It's certainly, definitely not required, but it's sure as shit appreciated more than we could tell you guys. Honestly, thank you so, so much.
Starting point is 01:15:56 And Jimmy, where can they get a hold of you on social media? They were so inclined. At Wisman Sucks. W-H-I-S-M-A-N Sucks on Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. Interact and play along, guys. It's amazing. Definitely. I love hearing from you guys.
Starting point is 01:16:07 And I am at Jimmy P is funny. If you want to do that, copy and paste my last name from the show description. If you want to find me on other forms of social media, don't be a hero. You will fuck up the spelling. Guys, it's been so much fun. We love being here. We love this crazy-ass episode. We've had a blast.
Starting point is 01:16:22 It's been our pleasure. We'll see you next week. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. love this crazy ass episode yeah we've had a blast it's been our pleasure we'll see you next week 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. Welcome to the small town of Chinook, where faith runs deep and secrets run deeper.
Starting point is 01:17:07 In this new thriller, available exclusively on Wondery Plus, religion and crime collide when a gruesome murder rocks the isolated Montana community. Everyone is quick to point their fingers at a drug-addicted teenager, but local deputy Ruth Vogel isn't convinced. She suspects connections to a powerful religious group. Enter federal agent V.B. Loro, who has been investigating a local church for possible criminal activity. The pair form an unlikely partnership to catch the killer,
Starting point is 01:17:35 unearthing secrets that leave Ruth torn between her duty to the law, her religious convictions, and her very own family. But something more sinister than murder is afoot, and someone is own family. But something more sinister than murder is afoot, and someone is watching Ruth. With an all-star cast led by Emmy nominee
Starting point is 01:17:49 Sanaa Lathan and Star Wars Kelly Marie Tran, Chinook is available exclusively and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.

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