Small Town Murder - #331 - A Pact Of Evil - Bernardo, New Mexico

Episode Date: November 4, 2022

This week, in Bernardo, New Mexico, a strange trio, including a married teenage girl set out to have some fun, and decide that the best way to do that would be to find someone, walking, and "scare the hell out of them" with an array of weapons. What follows is as unnecessary as it is violent, treacherous, simply evil. They almost get away with it, but mouths can't help but run. We end up with the ultimate "Hillbilly paradox" of can you be charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor... if she's also your wife?? A wild, nasty story!!Along the way, we find out that New Mexico is super into birds, that "scaring the hell out of someone" isn't an idea for a fun night, and that even a 90 pound teenage girl can be as brutal as anyone!!Hosted by James Pietragallo and Jimmie WhismanNew episodes every Thursday!Donate at: patreon.com/crimeinsports or go to paypal.com and use our email: [e-mail] to shutupandgivememurder.com for all things Small Town Murder & Crime In Sports!Follow us on...twitter.com/@murdersmallfacebook.com/smalltownpodinstagram.com/smalltownmurderAlso, check out James & Jimmie's other show, Crime In Sports! On Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Wondery, Wondery+, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

You're listening early and ad-free on Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Small Town Murder Express. Yeah, and choo-choo. Oh, yay indeed, Jimmy. Yay indeed. My name is James Petrigallo. I'm here with my co-host. I'm Jimmy Wissman.

Thank you, folks, so much for joining us all aboard the murder train. You're on. Choo-choo and pulling away from the station. Doors are closing. Doors are closing. Guys are shoveling coal in there. It's a very old train that we got. We couldn't afford a newer train. It doesn't have doors.

Just jump up the steps. It's not really an express. It's more of a locomotive from the 1880s. But we're going to get it moving. And these episodes are crazy, as we say. Ten pounds of lightning in a two-pound bag. So let's do this very quickly. Check out shutupandgivememurder.com right now.

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You'll have access to it all this week, which we're going to give you here is for crime and sports. We're going to talk about Len bias, who was a basketball player drafted number one overall in 1986. The night he was drafted, that night he went out, partied, and had an overdose of cocaine and had a heart attack and died. It's a damn good night. He was going to be the sure thing next Michael Jordan and ended up being not any of that. And then for small-town murder, we're going to talk about Jeffrey Dahmer, the Netflix series,

and compare that to the real-life happenings and see where Netflix kind of conflated some things and just made up some things and did all that sort of thing because it's done so well cinematically that that's going to become the record of what everybody believes. And we need to talk about the real stuff.

So we'll do all of that and more. Patreon.com slash Crime and Sports is where you get it all and you'll get a shout out at the end of the regular show where jimmy will mispronounce your name that said let's get to this i think it's time to jump right in here and uh sit back clear the lungs wherever you, hopefully not in too public of a place, and sit there and shout, shut up and give me murder. Let's go. Let's do this, Jimmy. Let's go on a trip. Okay.

It's somewhere you don't want to go. No? You never want to go. Oh, fucking Jesus. We're going to New Mexico, Jimmy. Your favorite. So dusty. Your favorite place.

We're going to Bernardo, New Mexico. Oh, my teeth are already gritty. Oh, it's gritty, too. The picture of of this place they just show it like from a plane like it's from like 30 000 feet because it's just a giant barren area that's the best way to see that's that's how you see it yeah going over it yeah that's the person in charge of taking the pictures didn't even stop there they're just like i'll just fly over it i'll go to like san antonio or something i'll just take the pilot tell me when it's time all right no okay uh bernardo's 50 minutes to albuquerque it's south of albuquerque it's down there it's in the mountains because if albuquerque kind of comes down a hill into albuquerque the mountains

are huge down there it's elevation,750 feet elevation this town is. What? Tall. It's up there. Yeah. But it's like Flagstaff or so. Flagstaff's like 7,000. 4,000.

4,750 feet. Wow. It's very, very high. If you've ever driven up southern New Mexico to Albuquerque, it is so mountainous. These huge grade that you're- That's square in the middle of the state. It's a mountainous. These huge grade that you're square in the middle of the state. It's a lot there. So this place, this encompasses kind of Bernardo, the town of Bosque, the town of San Antonio, New Mexico.

Yes, there's a San Antonio, New Mexico. Why would I close that close? It's kind of this whole area. The zip code 8706, 87006 is the zip code. There is 703 people in the entire zip code 8706 87006 is the zip code there is 703 people in the entire zip code we're talking 12 people per square mile wow that is no density whatsoever that's like a ranch awesome 12 people per square mile think about that square miles big yeah it's a lot it's like hundreds of acres think about that epstein went's big. It's a lot. It's like hundreds of acres. Think about that. That's why Epstein went there. Probably. There's nobody there to do anything. Median household income here is about $37,500

a year, so it's low. But median home cost is also lower than the national average, $222,200 there. So quickly, a little bit of history. There was almost twice as many people here like 15 years ago really they've really cleared out of this area i'm not sure why uh it was bernardo was named in 1902 after a friend okay a friend a guy there's a guy named john becker his friend's name was bernardo i know a guy so he named the town bernardo that's literally what it was oh boy um the main point of interest here is the bernardo wildlife management area which has sandhill cranes and that's a big deal here the bird the bird yeah all these huge birds here they have uh it's situated in the albuquerque basin uh old route 66 goes through there and all that kind of shit um so yeah not much history to

the area because nothing's happened still right so nothing happened then nothing happened now it's just new mexico it's in the middle of the of a desert mountain there's nowhere nothing to do reviews of this town uh these are reviews uh from around here different uh this is like bosque farms right around here So it's the same area. It's all one big barren area. Five stars. This town is so small it's considered a village. Exclamation point.

Many of the residents are friendly and willing to help out. If you can find them. If you can track one down. You can't say the word many when there aren't many people. There aren't many people there at all. I mean I guess many a percentage, like a high percentage of them.

It's mostly quiet with the Rio Grande running to the west and the Sandia and Manzano mountains running east. There are many trails to walk and run on and plenty of room. That's a fact. The only issue I have is the commute. This town isn't very close to a college. It's in the middle of fucking nowhere. It's not even a town. It's just an area.

It's a village. In the middle of nowhere. I'm really upset that my village isn't even a town. In the top of a mountain. Yeah. Weird. Three stars here. Bosque Farms is a wonderful community for rural living.

It's a beautiful area along the Rio Grande with many farms and ranches. It has a strong sense of community. I love the ditches and bike paths. Jesus, that sounds... I love the ditches. You can just throw a hitchhiker in there and just, you know, you can just steal a woman from the city, drive her out there, toss her in there. No one will find her for six to eight months.

It's just, I love it here. It's wonderful. When the review includes ditches. I love the ditches and bike paths. First of all, you're a creep. Second of all, there's not a lot going on there when the ditches stand out as an activity. Unreal. Which I frequently ride my horse on on the bike paths. I also love being so close to the Bosque woods.

I love the birds that are everywhere like cranes, egrets, falcons, and hawks. The diversity varies a lot depending on which part of the community you're in. I think they mean in birds. I would like to see more diverse populations in all of Bosque Farms. I think they mean people. All in all, it's plenty of bird diversity. All in all, it's a wonderful town if you want to live in a rural part of New Mexico. In other words, it's a nightmare run screaming with your hair on fire. Nobody wants that. Four stars. Bosque Farms is a cute little town.

For the most part, it is quiet. It's no shit. It's nice being out away from the busy city. The only thing is everyone knows everyone. Yeah. Yeah. That's just 700 people in an entire zip code. 12 people per square mile.

You better get to know those 12 people. You're also in a scenario where you need those people sometimes so you better know you better know them or yeah you're gonna be out there with no water or something here's three stars maybe my favorite review in the history of small town reviews here uh quote i haven't been in the market for long but it seemed about the same as everywhere else. What? No difference. It's the same. Don't worry about it.

People are bragging about your ditches. It's a piece of shit. It's certainly different. Things to do here. Festival of the Cranes. Okay. Oh, yeah. They're into that. Come see stunning birds in vast numbers who travel the world to be in New Mexico's backyards.

numbers who travel the world to be in new mexico's backyards three days of expert seminars and field workshops fabulous auditorium and meeting rooms in new mexico at new mexico tech in socorro a very special keynote speaker whom they don't name so special we gotta keep it a secret it's fucking wild you can participate in duck banding what what is that you grab a duck and you like rubber band its feet together and then throw it back in the water and see if it can swim still. I don't know what the fuck that is. It sounds terrible. Is it like tagging? It's got to be. I have no idea.

I have a list, a price list of all these things. Okay. Morning with the cranes. This is a legit festival just around foul. Just around foul. And everything is separate, by the way. Morning with the Cranes. You got to be there at 5.30 in the morning.

Jesus. 5.30 to 9.30 a.m. $80. Oh, my God. Yeah. Deadly Beauty Behavior, looking at them at 8 a.m., $35. Winter Raptors of the Southwest, that'll cost you $50. To stare at a bird.

To look at the birds. Creative Bird Photography, $50. It better be creative for $50. less that'll cost you fifty dollars to stare at a bird to look at the birds creative bird photography fifty dollars it better be creative for fifty dollars using light creatively in bird and nature photography eighty dollars friends annual dinner forty dollars what holy shit so there you go that's what to do there three hundred dollars to do everything here dude that's just one day you could if you did everything on this one day it would cost you like a thousand dollars and that's it's like a four-day festival like you bring your goddamn wallet to this joint because they are not south by southwest just became the

second most expensive festival this is crazy this makes coachella look like a bunch of bitches that said everybody let's talk about a murder that happened here. So, I mean, Jesus, you'd think 12 people per square mile. Just get away from someone. You don't have to be near them enough to murder them. But you would be surprised. They actually do here. Now, November 24th, 1992.

It's right before Thanksgiving, 1992. On this day, there are some like conservation wildlife people, workers, and they're doing their normal rounds, checking on the birds, making sure they're flying still and eating shit and shitting on people and all that stuff. that they didn't want to come across, obviously. They come across the body of a young person here who's clearly not alive anymore and who looks like they've been run over by two cars and then shot a whole bunch of times. Wow. Bruised, battered, and with tons of holes in this.

I mean, everywhere. Head, body. Really? Horrific. They can't even, like, they couldn't identify him if they tried. It's not from the birds a human being the birds pack heat in new mexico that's the thing no there's gunshot wounds in his face he's got holes in his face made by gunshot wounds it's it's it's all you can tell

it's a male at this point and he's been murdered hard he's been murdered a lot yeah like wow this is extra what the fuck did this kid do to somebody basically um so they figure they find out in the end it's 10 rounds from three different weapons as well and in addition to being beaten wow so when we're talking 10 rounds from three different weapons that's like sunny corleone at the toll booth and the godfather like that's crazy who the fuck gets killed like that you can't carry three guns no you know what i mean so that's a lot of people it's like a cartel or something would do that like that's that's crazy you you stole coke from the wrong person right you can't turn up like that that's wild like boondock saints yeah so let's go back two days earlier okay two days earlier november 22nd 1992 okay here's a few people

we'll introduce you to here michael apodaca a--P-O-D-A-C-A. A name familiar to you at all? It is. Why? Okay. You'll find out later, but nobody look up the name because by the end of the show, you'll go, oh my God, this has a big like left hook of a punch at the end of this motherfucker. So, okay. Yeah. This episode is wild. He's 19 years old at this time. He lives on the 300 block of Morningside southeast in Albuquerque. He works at the St. Joseph Hospital drawing blood. Oh. That's his job. Phlebotomist.

Phlebotomist, exactly. His friend here, good friend of his, is named Eric Smith. Eric Smith is 21 years old. He's a big guy, big kind of red-headed big giant guy eric smith um and uh she he's his mom's favorite as we find out like he is mom's absolute apple of mom's eye here and all that kind of shit so uh these two are friends apodaca and smith were friends for a long time good friends and hanging out and doing all that kind of shit. They both work at the hospital?

No, no, no. No, Apodaca does his thing, yeah. They do different separate things. He works at All Supps. I don't know what the hell that is. What is that? I know what it is. Is that a gas station?

Maybe. I think it is. All Supps is where he works. In Bellin, I guess, is where he works. So now they're all tied together apodaca is married to eric smith's sister so they're brother-in-laws now and they were friends for a long time and now uh also eric smith has a girlfriend okay his girlfriend's 17 at the time which i don't like that he's 21 that's not okay 21. That's not okay. But either way, Darcy is her name.

Darcy Morrison, who will soon be Darcy Smith, by the way. Is that right? Oh, absolutely. They're going to get married. These two are going to get married. She works at the Pizza Hut. Okay. All sups in Pizza Hut.

All sups in Pizza Hut. A couple of careers. It's time to get married, I feel like. We've accomplished everything else we've come to accomplish in life. Now it's time to settle our personal affairs. A couple of people with part-time jobs. Finances are taken care of. Now to work on personal items.

That's fucking crazy. Also, my successful best friend is banging my sister. I'm not happy about that. Awesome. This is great. Well, he married her, though. He married her. He made her an honest woman.

Yeah, but there was a moment when he had to look at him square in the face and go, I got to tell you something. Yeah. Or it could be the opposite. Apodaca might have said, why don't you go out with my sister? That'd be cool. We'd be fucking brother-in-law. That'd be awesome.

Because that happens, too, sometimes. But Apodaca's banging Smith's sister, right? What is it? No, the opposite. Apodaca is married to Smith's sister. There it is. Yeah, he's married to Smith's sister right i what is it no the opposite apodaca is married to smith's sister yeah he's married to smith's sister so maybe smith was like yo go out with my sister that'd be cool we're buddies he can't be happy about this there maybe not every friend that i've ever had is like no you don't want your friend no absolutely unless maybe it's an older sister yeah maybe

that's possible or apodaca might be a good dude you know what i mean and then you're like that's the other thing he might be that they might be so close that he's like, no, I'd want you to marry my sister. Every one of my friends was like, you're a piece of shit. Don't do that. That's the thing. If your friends don't want you to go out with their sisters, that's more on you. That's more about the person they don't want. It's because they knew me.

Yeah. They're like, you're not going out with my sister. I know what you're about. I will not have this. So on this day, November 22nd, the three of them spend the evening drinking. Yeah. They're like, you're not going out with my sister. I know what you're about. I will not have this. So on this day, November 22nd, the three of them spend the evening drinking. Yeah. There you go. That's nice.

Smith, Darcy, and Apodaca? Yeah. I think there's one person of age in this group. But they're spending the evening drinking. And then they decided, once they're good and drunk, they decide, let's go out and shoot rabbits. What? Once they're good and drunk, they decide, let's go out and shoot rabbits. What?

I don't understand it when people, some people get drunk and decide they want to shoot stuff when they're drunk, which is the one time you definitely shouldn't have a firearm anywhere near you is when you're drunk probably. And also don't hit moving targets that could possibly run in front of your friend. I guess they do this in the desert all the time. So they head out to do this, all right? They each have a weapon desert all the time. So they head out to do this. All right. They each have a weapon, by the way.

All three of them are in it. She's into it too. Darcy's got it too. Eric here has a, Eric Smith has a nine millimeter and a holster on him. Apodaca has a 12 gauge shotgun. He's going to incinerate

these fucking. What's the point of that? See that rabbit now see it no more do you i'm a better magician than copper feed poof fucker's gone i made him into a pink fine mist make him appear in my hat he's all over your head yeah all over and darcy smith who by the way is about a hundred pounds, about 100-pound 17-year-old girl, is rocking a.44 revolver. What the fuck?

That is a hand cannon. That's a huge gun. Why does Smith carry the pussy gun? What the fuck? He's got a holster for it. She wants the.44, though, everybody says. She likes the.44, which is, I mean, that thing would probably knock her ass down, probably. 100 pounds?

You've got to really know how to shoot. That's going to sting your wrist. You've got to really have some. Two hands, honey. Yeah, I would say. I would have to use two hands. Fucking 44? Hell yeah.

That's a big goddamn gun. So they are all good at shooting. They go out shooting all the time. And they said that Eric's real good, and so is Apodaca. Andaca and they said darcy's a badass too she's really good with the gun um you know she's excellent especially uh with handguns they're not doing this for anything other than to just kill something because it's just look at that rabbit blow up got that little varmint that's all it is none of those guns are are to wound or shoot no they're made to blow a rabbit apart yeah to make it useless it's not a 22 or something no they're going out to just shoot stuff and then laugh when it explodes that's what they're doing yeah they're

jerk offs so at some point in this excursion they never make it to rabbit shooting put it that way they go out to go rabbit shooting they go go out to drive out to the desert. And as they're doing it, they decide, hey, you know what would be more fun than shooting at rabbits? Because that's pretty fucking lame. What are they going to do? What are we, 11? It would be super cool to pick up a hitchhiker, right? Just pick someone up at random, offer them a ride, and then, quote, scare the hell out of them.

Just offer them a ride once they get in the car. of like fear and loathing in las vegas like they get in the car and then you're gonna freak them out that wasn't the plan but that's kind of what they're thinking they're gonna do they're gonna get them in the car freak them out scare them have you know guns out and shit till the person's like no no i'm good let me out right here and then they're all gonna laugh at how they scared the shit out of this poor hitchhiker person. Never ask me why I don't like New Mexico ever again. This is who has that idea. This is how they fuck around.

This is this is this is how they have fun. This is fun. What the fuck? Y'all want to go shoot rabbits with high powered weaponry so they'll explode or y'all want to pick up a hitchhiker and scare the hell out of them? Is there nothing good on TV? Both of those options are equally terrifying. They're fucking awful. I would much rather rent a movie. Want to go make victims?

This is great. It's 1992. Go rent a movie. There's plenty of shit to do. Oh, my God. There's so much good stuff happening right now. You can go rent a movie and be home. It wasn't like this is the 40s and they were like, oh, the radio broadcast is over for the night.

What do we do? Find something to do with yourself. Isn't Coneheads out right now? Oh, it's been out for five years. It's an amazing movie. No, 93 that came out. 93. So it's not quite out yet.

Hang tight. We're almost there. Enjoy the suspense. Goodfellas is out. Yeah. Watch it. not quite out yet. Hang tight. We're almost there. Enjoy the suspense. Goodfellas is out. Yeah. Watch it. So much is out. It's pretty good.

Instead, they're going to go scare the hell out of a hitchhiker. Wow. Bored. This all sounds like it happened in the 20s, by the way. Doesn't it? Dust clouds behind the cars. Rural-ass southern countries. Yeah.

You know what I mean? Southern state. Every time the car pulls away, like the Model T fucking fishtails in the dust. And they do this because the car only goes 12 miles away before we have to do things to it. Yeah, you got to put a new tongue in it or something, whatever it was on Oregon Trail. So you got to do a six mile radius. That way, when we get back, we just got to work on the car. Yeah.

So they're in the area of University of New Mexico. They're passing by and they spot a young man that they're like, I bet we could scare the shit out of him. He's 17 years old. He looks pretty young, though. He looks a little younger than 17, honestly. His name's Adam Price. He's walking along. He had gone to he was a senior at Freedom High School, but he apparently had stopped going to classes lately.

His friends said he seemed to be bored by it, by his classes, and just wasn't really interested anymore. So he had just kind of drifted away from school in the beginning of his senior year. Early 90s was a big thing for dropping out. It really was. You were like, what am I doing here? Yeah, this is crazy. A year is a long time when you're 17. It really is. dropping out it really was you were like what am i doing here yeah this is this is crazy so a year's a long time when you're 17 it really is and it feels like well if i don't get something going

now yeah i mean then what yeah i'm fucked then what we're so dumb at 17 because we're both idiots that's why we're the same idiot you understand am I going to do the rest of my life? You like country music. Otherwise, we're the same idiot. Honestly, the same exact idiot, except for that one difference. So it's fucking stupid. So they're there. What he's doing, what now is he's at an arcade playing video games.

Oh, my God. Basically, hanging out, playing video games. Oh, my God. Basically, hanging out, playing video games. He just needs guidance. Yeah, not going to school. And this is at night. He's hanging out playing video games. It's dark. He goes out walking in the dark afterwards.

They see him on the road, and they go, maybe this is the guy. Okay? So they go out. By the way, they're driving a Buick. They're driving Eric Smith's Buick. Yeah. Hot smith's buick yeah hot hot ride so it's darcy michael and eric in the buick and uh they're looking at yeah probably a regal or a century or something and he was a century probably got it from like his grandmother it's his grandmother's century you know it is absolutely because i had an osmobile cutlasslass Sierra that was my stepmother's father's.

That's how I got it. Nobody under the age of 60 buys that car back then. And the Buick in the 90s. Late 80s, early 90s. That was a bad car. Big piece of shit. Ugly. Nobody wanted that.

You are not picking up chicks in that car. No. My great aunt and uncle would get a new one every year. And they were like 75 years old, so it made sense. My friend had a diesel Cadillac. Diesel Cadillac? Diesel Cadillac.

I said, they have diesel Mercedes, too, I know. And it's like, okay, well, they're German. There's something about whatever. But the diesel Cadillac makes no sense whatsoever. That's a fascinating little car. What a weird car. It's a strange, strange car. It's a piece of shit.

So, man. So, they said that they were looking for someone to pick up and scare um now darcy says they saw this kid walking down the street near near east central avenue in albuquerque new mexico yeah they didn't know him but eric smith said ah he's perfect we can scare the shit out of him look at him he looks like a little f little f word well yeah he throws that out there yeah there you go i don't want to get any shit so he says that even though it's quoting a asshole but still he says that but not meaning that in it right you have to understand 1992 that you that you'd be less likely to call someone you actually thought was gay that then

you would just some kid walking around or you would your best friend or something that's who you'd say that disparaging to straight people yeah all it was but he just said yeah look at this little thing that was that so they said let's pick him up he'll get we can scare him probably um now darcy said that that eric yelled something out the window to him, and the kid flipped him off, which I find is great. I'm like, fuck you, Adam. You flip him off, brother. That's right. Ah, fuck you.

Fuck you. 17-year-old kid, multiple people in the car, and he flips him off. I like his balls. You know what I mean? It's what you do. It's what you do. So at that point, Eric Smith grabbed the 44 and pointed it out the window and told him to get in the fucking car right now or I'm going to shoot you with this giant hand cannon. And so he did.

Adam Price got in the car. And at that point, Darcy said that's when, quote, things went bad. And she said that Adam started mouthing off at Smith and started mouthing off. The kid has balls. I'll give him that. So Smith started hitting him, and we'll talk about that. As they were driving, Eric became very angry with this kid, so he asked Apodaca to steady the steering wheel.

You hold the wheel so Eric could turn around in the driver's seat and smack him in the face with the butt of the.44 revolver. Hold the wheel. I got shit to do. I'm going to pistol whip this guy in the back seat. Okay. So while he did the wheel, Darcy Smith was in the middle. Darcy, she kept her foot on the gas to maintain the speed. You got two people operating the car.

So we have, yeah, one in the driver's seat. The other two people are doing separate things there while the driver beats a child with a gun essentially in the back seat. So this is a mess. They leave Interstate 25. The Bernardo exit comes up.

They see that and they pull off to the road. And it's one of those middle of nowhere exits like when we drove back from la at one in the morning and we couldn't stay awake so we pulled over and we were like is this even how is it where are we what does this exit go to it was an exit there you pulled off and then just like the concrete kind of ended and then you were just in the desert we were just like we're in this we're in the fucking desert. I don't see anything or anybody. I don't see a sign.

I thought I was dreaming like this was some sort of weird evil dead thing or like a sandworm was going to come out and eat me. A whole lot of stars out here. This is crazy. It was weird, man. That was strange shit. Was the daytime stop or the nighttime stop? The nighttime stop. Yeah, that one was crazy.

That was weird. We were just like, what's here? You hear nothing but tires humming on asphalt that are driving by. Every once in a while because it is one of the mornings. So you just hear like. That's it. And then you'd see the lights go off in the distance. And you're like, there's nothing here.

There's no sound. And if you heard anything, you'd run because it's an animal that wants to eat you. So anyway, they pull off at the Bernardo exit and it's – this is a big like a wildlife preserve area and like a – kind of a – what is it? Like a park. Okay. You know, a preserve area, national park type area. State park, I guess. So it's the middle of nowhere.

I mean there's nothing here. There's no stores. There's no buildings. It's preserved, nature preserved. So they pull off there and they stop the car and pull pull off to the side of the road eric smith takes adam price out of the car and has him stand at the back of the car like a cop would do or something right and then has um apodaca and darcy join him yeah as well so the three of them are standing there in front of him all three three of the car people are armed.

And obviously Adam Price isn't. He's just standing there. So they're arguing at him even more. They're like yelling at him. Eric Smith is yelling at him. Then Eric Smith begins to beat him up more. He's hitting him with the gun. He's hitting him with his fists and everything like that.

So that's pretty fucking crazy. Then, Jesus Christ, then he takes out the 44 oh my god and shoots adam price twice with the 44 why from close range why the fuck which is a lot at that point because at first with all this happening is abedaka or darcy you got to assume that yep this is scaring people is about i guess yeah and then as shot. Then you leave him in the desert, I guess. That's scary. That's horrible. He's going to walk up the exit and hitchhike on the thing, and that would be scary.

But once you beat him, that's not really scary anymore because you're scared of something that might happen. This is actually happening. Right. This is terrifying. Right. The idea of fear and scaring somebody is the unknown. Unknown. What's going to happen?

I don't know. Now you know what's happening. It's happening. And now it doesn't matter because they shoot him twice with a.44, which is a lot. So at that point, Price falls to the ground, obviously, after being shot with a.44 twice at close range. So Darcy comes up. She's got the 9mm now they traded. And she shoots him twice with the 9 millimeter to pumps a couple into him.

So after that, Apodaca, he's going to shoot her to shoot him as well with the shotgun or that's going to come up in a second. So anyway, wow, this is fucking crazy. The Darcy at that point picks up one of the spent shell casings, not as like to cover the evidence because the nine millimeters, not a revolver, obviously. So he she takes one as a souvenir. Gross. She wants a little trophy. That's a six, 17 year old. That's fucked up.

Yeah, that's some shit going on there. She's into this shit. So next, Eric Smith goes and gets the shotgun from the car and both he and apodaca each take a turn shooting adam price with the shotgun they shoot him three times with the shotgun okay um after that as well um the uh darcy smith takes the 44 and shoots him as well. Oh, my God. Yeah. So they've all really just done a – it's been a lot. That's a lot of shots. That's a lot.

It turns out to be 10 rounds in all, 10 shots in all. It's a lot. And all close range and all unnecessary after the first two, honestly. So there's that. Then they return to the car after they take his jacket, which he had taken off, Adam Price. They keep his jacket. Wow. Jacket doesn't have holes in it or anything.

So they keep it. I'm talking they keep it and just keep it as like, oh, here's our new jacket now. I guess if we need an extra jacket, here's one. So the morning of the 24th, which is like 24 hours after this all goes down, that's when he's found, obviously, by game and fish officers off the us 60 in bernardo and um yeah they were they're only able to establish identity because he had a gift certificate in his pocket given to him by his grandparents for his birthday which was november 23rd just which was at midnight So they killed him like right on his birthday

which is pretty fucked up. So his grandparents had given him a gift certificate before. And a gift certificate back then had like your name and it was paper. It was a paper thing

with your name. It wasn't like a card. It was an actual gift certificate. To Michael, love grandma and grandpa. Very personal. Yeah, he would have a heart on it and shit and have all the deal.

Now it's bullshit. Now it's just like here you go, here's some card i picked up in the at the gas station there you go here's money that used to be good everywhere now it's only good here have fun i've made your choices for you enjoy them enjoy my choices i've decided what you want yeah enjoy them you really should in may of 1980 near anaheim cal California, Dorothy Jane Scott noticed her friend had an inflamed red wound on his arm and seemed unwell. She insisted on driving him to the local hospital to get treatment. While he waited for his prescription, Dorothy went to grab her car to pick him up at the exit, but would never be seen alive again.

Leaving us to wonder, decades later, what really happened to Dorothy Jane Scott? From Wondery, Generation Y is a podcast that covers notable true crime cases like this one and many more. Every week, hosts Erin and Justin sit down to discuss a new case, covering every angle in theory, walking through the forensic evidence, and interviewing those close to the case to try to discover what happened. And with over 450 episodes, there's a case for every true crime listener. Follow the Generation Y podcast on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to Generation Y ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus.

It's all a lighthearted nightmare on our podcast, Morbid. We're your hosts. I'm Alina Urquhart. And I'm Ash Kelly. And our show is part true crime, part spooky, andbid. We're your hosts. I'm Alina Urquhart. And I'm Ash Kelly. And our show is part true crime, part spooky, and part comedy. The stories we cover are well-researched. He claimed and confessed to officially killing up to 28 people. With a touch of humor. I'd just like to go ahead and say that

if there's no band called Malevolent Deity, that is pretty great. A dash of sarcasm and just garnished a bit with a little bit of cursing. This mother f***er lied. Like a liar. Like a liar. And if you're a weirdo like us

and love to cozy up to a creepy tale of the paranormal, or you love to hop in the Wayback Machine and dissect the details of some of history's most notorious crimes, you should tune in to our podcast, Morbid. Follow Morbid on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to episodes early morbid follow morbid on the wondery app or wherever

you get your podcasts you can listen to episodes early and ad free by joining wondery plus in the app or on apple podcasts so the medical examiner will later say that um uh here that the autopsy revealed he'd been shot 10 times had bled to death from his wounds they said though um given the likely the likely that he would have died anyway, they said it was he didn't like wasn't left there to bleed to death. There was no way he was surviving this. No, he bled to death pretty quickly. They also had numerous. They found numerous injuries to the face, bruises, lacerations caused by a blunt object like the butt of a 44. The injuries were consistent by being with being struck by that. Additional bruising found on the forearms and back of the hands was also caused by a blunt object. Defensive wounds. Well, he's trying to, you know, keep him from raining down upon him. So, yeah, there was that. They said that the they said that they were testing the bullets and shotgun pellets that they found. They said it's a 12-gauge shotgun,.44 caliber revolver, and a 9mm.

So they find everything. They have all the evidence, but they have zero evidence. Who do you match this to? This is so random that this is how people get away with shit. There's no connection. No one's ever met this kid before. It wasn't a crowded area. It was the middle of nowhere.

Who the fuck knows? And that last part makes it way worse. Yeah. The middle of nowhere. There's no ties to shit out there. No ties to shit. No ties. They don't see anything.

I mean, they didn't preserve any tire tracks or anything like that. They didn't even think of it. All we've got is a gift card. Find the grandparents and question them. That's it. Did you want that money back? Do you question that decision? The gift card to the mall? Were you trying to get it back from him? Meanwhile, that's the best gift they ever gave him because it identified him. Yeah. It gave us an idea of who this kid is. I'm sure they would have figured it out eventually, but quickly identified him anyway,

so they could get an investigation going. But investigation yields ugots nothing uh nothing that's november this goes all the way into 93 no suspects no clues no it's just as cold as a case could be dead kids shot up and they have they're like he this is overkill three different weapons were you know it's got to be three different people one of these are probably big guys one's a 44 like they're picturing you know he crossed a cartel or something that's involved in something terrible what it has to be um june of 1993 that's when darcy and eric get married they're married isn't that very nice i mean the couple that kills together what are you that's what i'm saying the couple that stays together stays together wait wait here we've said that before i think that was the name of an episode once i think um we'll find out too how he feels about her a lot of this is based on the fact that she's a badass and will go out

and shoot a guy in the face after he's dead wow so they get married then um they begin a housing arrangement where there's a couple jennifer and b Brian Jones, that they share a house with here. This is this will go on for a little while here. So they're living with another couple who's a little bit older. And on December 15th, 1993, there's a tip into the Crimestoppers line. OK, apparently they had all watched this on tv this show on that had this to do please call if you have any information and they were all kind of talking to each other did you see this did you see this type of thing so jennifer jones who's one of the people they live

with the part of that couple she separated from brian jones in 1993 in october and she went to live with apodaca and his wife after that. Okay. I guess they split up that way. So she said that on the night of this shooting that happened, obviously when Adam price died, she was at Apodaca his home in Albuquerque back then. And Apodaca Smith and Darcy all came back with several weapons,

like holding all their weapons, which they said they were going to go shoot rabbits. That's normal but she saw blood on smith and apodaca as well and she said that they all had been drinking too so they were like what the fuck is going on with these three just some bloody drunken shits coming in heavily armed that's a what is this deadwood jesus christ yeah that's terrifying so um yeah she said that this was October 30th, 1993, that Brian Jones called on the phone and asked, that's her husband, that they'd split up and said, did you see the Crime Stoppers show involving the killing of Adam Price? So, and Darcy kind of got weird. So Jennifer asked Darcy what was going on. It got weird.

So Jennifer asked Darcy what was going on. And Darcy said, well, me, Eric, me, my hubby, and Apodaca went out driving in the Buick there. We were just looking for someone to pick up and scare and then told her everything. Whoa. Not only told about it, really bragged about it. Really was sticking her chest out. Darcy said that she would do anything or go anywhere to keep Eric happy, to keep Smith happy, and she said that the night of the Crime Stoppers broadcast, she said she didn't even care about it.

She's like, I don't even care. They were like, don't you feel bad? And she goes, no, I don't even know him. He's a stranger. Why would I feel bad? I didn't know he existed to begin with. Why would I care that he's dead? You participated in the murder of a stranger you weirdo yeah yeah but a psychopath would say

i don't fucking know that person that's exactly how they'd react to it i didn't know they were alive before why do i care that they're dead now that's what i mean my god and she wants to be with this guy who wants to murder right who the fuck, what was her dad like? Jesus Christ. Also, she said the quote, we shot him and she said also that she used the.44 to shoot him at the end.

She made sure to say, I even shot the.44. Yeah. Yeah, I even got that. She then even took Jennifer Jones out to the place to show her where it happened.

Whoa. To say, this is where we did it. So, everything like that. Yeah, so that's how it goes. At because oh the other one the other witness here brian jones the estranged husband of jennifer he said that he was friends with both eric and apodaca and that about a week after the shooting he was at apodaca's house and eric smith said quote we killed somebody yeah why are they telling people you too also who

are you psychos fucking yeah we killed somebody yeah then uh brian jones said that eric smith told him after they abducted this poor fucking boy they took him to socorro county they took him out of the car made him kneel down and shot him uh he also said that darcy told him uh and shot him he also said that Darcy told him uh told Jones Jones says this Darcy told him quote I shot Adam once in the face and she was proud of it and then um Eric told Jones that quote he was proud to find a woman that would actually kill for him oh my god what the fuck is wrong with these people didn't kill for you man man. No, but she would. And that's fucking creepy that he's that's what he's into. He wants to have a natural born killers type situation going on here.

So after the tip, the first one they find is Apodaca and they bring him in and, you know, they tell him what they know. And he is he cracks like a fucking like a cantaloupe, man. He cracks fast. That night, Jennifer Jones called Darcy and said, hey, did you hear Apodaca got arrested? And, you know, and Darcy said, oh, they don't have any proof. They don't know what they're talking about. Oh, baby. They don't have any proof of anything.

She doesn't know that the person on the phone with her is the informant. out oh baby they don't have any proof of anything she doesn't know that the person on the phone with her is the informant so um at that point darcy said that the barrel to the nine millimeter that was used in it and another part of the weapon were still in apodaca's possession and then apodaca wouldn't say anything because they all made a pact you see i trust those a pact yeah a fucking pact they said we all told each other if we don't get married by the time we're 35 we will start killing teenagers is that what the pact was a pact that whoever most of the evidence fell on if anybody got arrested whoever most of the evidence fell on would take the blame and not tell on anybody else you got it sure okay a pact mob

guys take a pact and they don't fucking keep that one that's a blood oath with you know everybody they know standing around and a saint burning in a car it's a big ceremony big deal this here is just three jackasses going you won't kill no i swear on my cheesy gordita crunch, I won't tell nobody. That's what's going on here. Right here on the state seal of New Mexico. You guys swear to God, damn it. Right on the fourth corner. So they made a pact.

They wouldn't do anything. Jennifer Jones also tells the police that about a month after the shooting, Brian Jones said that he needed a jacket because he was cold, and Eric Smith handed him Adam Price's jacket and said, here, wear Adams. Gross. Here, they were talking about him and using his name. Yeah, that's the weirdest part, right? That's sleazy.

Yeah, here, to use Adams is fucking like, they're holding that as like, that's some sort of, makes them feel powerful that they have this dead person here. Now the cops right away, the first thing that gets taken because all the court documents, the press runs with the gay slur and they start saying it's a gay bashing. It's a gay bat. And then they, once they get into it, they find out it's not that at all.

Oh, look at adults being out of touch. It's just, yeah, that's what it was. But at that time too, there was a lot of that going on. So, I mean, it was a, you know, it was a common thing's just, yeah, that's what it was. But at that time, too, there was a lot of that going on. So, I mean, it was a common thing.

So they thought maybe that's what it was. And they said at the end, the lead detective said they say they were looking for someone to scare that night. And that's what I think happened. It didn't matter who it was. That just happened to be the word that he used and didn't actually think that. So the reaction here, the Price family, Adam's father, Charles, said that he was happy that someone got arrested, but also he horrified to hear the details of what happened because Apodaca spills it. He said, we're very hopeful that this is based on good information and that these are the

right people that did it. This has been very difficult for our family. It's been hard psychology to bring it to a resolution. I think this will be a big step. So he said, and then they said, well, also, because this was before they figured out that it wasn't a gay bashing. And they said, what about your son? Is your son gay and all that stuff?

And he said, that's very upsetting. Adam was not gay. He was just a 17 year old boy. So not that it matters, but you have to be like, and he's also not gay just to say, you know, whatever,

just because they're there. They were street fighter. That's what I mean. He was playing video games. So not that you can't be gay and like video games, but you know what I'm saying? So, um,

yeah, a friend of his, of Adam's said that Adam had a, a taste for living on the edge, but wouldn't give any specifics. You know, like if a car full of people comes up and talks shit, he'll just flip them off. Like that's living on the edge in the middle of nowhere. You know what I'm saying? So they said last time they saw him, he was playing video games in the area of the University of New Mexico and hanging out near the Frontier restaurant.

So his friend said when he was killed, I thought he must have gotten involved in something that he couldn't handle. He said he type of kid that he might have been out there doing something that would have got him. He was in the mix. He was, you know, he's 17. Maybe he stole a dirt bike or something. That's what I mean.

Who knows? He's 17. So and all of his friends said, yeah, no no he wasn't gay at all either by the way because they asked him was he gay and they're like oh jesus christ yeah oh not at all not that it matters but no jesus so eric smith's mom now she is uh defends him to the edge ends of the earth it's wild yeah it's her favorite son she said even in my wildest dreams i could never thought this could happen absolutely not he did the worst part of this yeah he was the ringleader of all the one that did it hold the wheel while i beat him with my gun right you're taking the first step motherfucker like everybody in the car except for me and him control the vehicle yeah i'll be right back i'll be right

back that and also he was the one who put him in the car gunpoint right so you can't do that shot first yeah so apodaca is gonna plea uh-huh because he just gives it right up they're gonna let him plea and he's gonna he's gonna testify against everyone you know because they made a pact he also he made another pact he made another pact it supersedes the previous it's a i've made other packs this pack is with the state attorney general i've made a pact with him apparently it's got jurisdiction i don't know that's a i made a county pact earlier this is a state pact it's a different pact i got going sorry so he's going to plead guilty to second degree murder oh and he's going to plead guilty to second-degree murder. Oh. And he is going to get, you, sir, may fuck off 24 years in prison.

Really? Seems light, right? Very. Seems a little light for something this senseless and brutal. He literally fired rounds into a body. He had no, there was no reason for it. But without him, this case is bullshit. That's why.

They needed his testimony. They absolutely needed it. We have to be lenient with this guy. So Eric Smith goes to trial, but with Apodaca's testimony and Jennifer Jones's testimony, it's not good. No. Everybody, the guy saying, wear Adam's jacket. It's all bad for Eric Smith here. So he is convicted of felony murder, false imprisonment.

This is about to get funny in a second here. Aggravated assault. What's funny about charges, right? Wait till you hear it. Felony murder, false imprisonment, aggravated assault, conspiracy, tampering with evidence, and the cherry on top of it all, contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Now, can you contribute to the delinquency of a minor if she's your wife

that's the ultimate hillbilly paradox isn't it it's the ultimate hillbilly paradox can i contribute but if she's my wife then technically technically so she's a grown-up. If she could balance the checking account, she ain't no minor. That's what I'm saying. Oh, my God. If there's numbers in the ledger, play ball. You know what I'm saying? Right?

That's how it goes? I think. I don't fucking know. Also, I think she was delinquent already. I don't think there's much contributing. Contributing to the delinquency of a mind. That is the hillbilly paradox. That is an absolute hillbilly paradox. I wish they would have hit him with theft of personal property, too, with the jacket.

The jacket. They should have, actually. Well, tampering with evidence, I think. If they're going to hit him with delinquency of a mind. That's wild. I don't know if that's because he armed her, maybe. Yeah, I think. If they're going to hit him with delinquency, that's wild. I don't know if that's because he armed her, maybe. Or I guess this is all a delinquent act, I suppose. It's pretty delinquent.

That's the most understated thing ever. Delinquency is really understated when shooting a teenager ten times and all this type of shit. Right? This is a little much, man. It's pretty funny. It's so Eric Smith. Obviously, he's found guilty of all this, all the witnesses against him here. He is sentenced to YUSA. They fuck off.

He's the one I'm worried about, too. Apodaca seems like the nice one here at this point. Wait till you get into this. But Eric is sentenced to YUSA,, fuck off, life plus 32 years. Oh, shit. So it's life for the murder and 32 years for all the other shit. So Eric's in there for a fucking while. Now, December 15th, 1994 is when they are going to, here's the thing.

Eric's going to be charged all that kind of shit. Then they're going to try to charge Darcy. But there's a fuckload of delays. Shitload. All their trials happened in 94. But Darcy's because she was a minor when it happened, it's got to be transferred from children's court to adult

court if they want to do that. So that's a big fight that takes four goddamn years. Four years. Children's court announced findings of probable cause the court directed they directed a psychologist to come in to see if she's like a of an adult mind and all that kind of shit um i guess it's pretty common to have the psychological evaluation of a criminal child um that's fascinating that's wild so the she agreed to stipulate to a psychologist but then several weeks later told the children's court that she doesn't won't see the psychiatrist so thereafter the children's court instructed counsel to write a letter advising each of its

party a choice of a court appointed experts one they could fucking agree on so they went back and forth this goes into j. This goes into June. This goes into August. Child's attorney notifies the children's court that they would be unavailable from September. This is now the people they've picked out now aren't available. They're like summering in France or something. So they are wherever the fuck people go. Nantucket or some shit won't be available for like two months.

What? So they're like, okay, now what do we do well let's get another one well they're not available till after the holidays i mean the holidays are coming up we can't have that so they have all these conferences this goes into 1995 oh my god it's ridiculous they finally have a written report of the expert um thereafter the children's court now has to read the report and decide what to do. So then that takes more fucking time. The court granted that she wanted a continuance. So they granted that.

This goes into mid-1995. Are you sensing? This is nuts, man. This is fucking insane. Are they doing it on purpose? I mean, yeah. Delays help because the more delays you put between. The more delays you put between. this is for juvenile offenders in general.

The more delays you put between the trial and the – or the action, the arrest and the trial, it's a double-edged sword because on one hand, they look less like a child at that point. So you want to get them in as soon as possible. A lot of times if it's like a 16-year-old kid, the state will try to delay it hoping they go through more puberty or something and look more like an adult because a jury is much more likely to give a guy with a 5 o'clock shadow a couple extra years than some pimply-faced kid sitting there that looks like one of their kids. So different. But at the same time, the defense, if they can delay it a super long time, like years, that's going to be great for them because they can go, Jesus Christ, that kid was 17. Now they're like 23. They're a different person. This is crazy. Like to put them, you can't put them in for life now.

Look, they're totally- They serve six years. They're going, I was a kid back then. You know, this is like- Remember what you did when you were a kid? Yeah. So it's different strategies basically. So she ends up being tried as an adult, though, in 1998.

Wow. So it would be kind of weird to try her as a child when she's like 22 years old. Right. It would be a little strange at that point. Shit, more than that, she'd be 24 at that point. Right. That's crazy. So now she is.

The jury comes back on her, and it's a mixed bag here. Really? Now, she is. The jury comes back on her, and it's a mixed bag here. They acquit her of aggravated assault and conspiracy to commit murder. But she's convicted of false imprisonment and the big one, first-degree felony murder. Oh, shit. That's not good. So her sentence comes around. You, young lady, may fuck off life plus 18 years. Oh, Jesus.

They got her just Eric Smith at 32. Just as hard. She didn't even delinquent anybody. No. Basically, if you didn't testify, that's what you got. She wasn't contributing to shit. No. She was contributing to the lead content of a minor.

Right. That's another thing. Why can't they hit them with that? That kid was a minor. So Eric appeals and appeals appeals he appeals in 97 um he appeals to the u.s supreme court in 2001 and he's never gets anything going with the appeals they don't they don't give a shit about his appeals because it's pretty clear he's very guilty and he did a very bad thing he did a terrible fucking thing which isn't helping at all um i think that's probably part of the fact that they're like not um they less the sympathy

that that garners is there's very little very little it's tough so his mother though has a different take on his mother says quote i have lost my son i am forced into the realization that my son may never know freedom in my lifetime yeah um yeah she says i believe eric was convicted on the jurist's gut feelings and not on the facts of the case he it's his car it's his guns it's his girlfriend it's his he's the it's. One of the facts that she thinks are so compelling. Well, she says that she calls into question about 45 key points of how her case or how Eric's case was botched by these attorneys and the state and everybody else. She said some were incorporated into the appeals, but a lot of them have no legal basis as far as what the appeals are. So he said, why was Apodaca allowed to take a plea deal that earned him substantially less time in prison?

Because he testified. That's how it works. Either way, he's testifying against two other people. So she said, though, that deal was contingent on him passing a polygraph test, which he, I guess, never took. So what about that? Huh? Huh? So why did the prosecutor why was the prosecutor allowed to introduce evidence, a handgun that wasn't used in the killing?

Why could they introduce that in evidence? What was up with that? OK, why? Why? Why didn't Eric's attorney object to hearsay testimony offered by a friend of the trio why a second polygraph expert um that she the mother paid for was never even called to the stand because polygraphs aren't admitted fucking admissible in court that's why yeah you'll never get a polygraph person on the stand because that

doesn't matter a judge will go not admissible bye so that's unless he just like admitted a whole bunch of stuff that had nothing to do with the test so they said um why also why casings at the crime scene were not located until months later and then never connected to the murder weapons what's up with that he said none of these points may have been strong enough for an acquittal, but when you add them all up, make a big pile of circumstantial shit, you know. It looks different. It looks like he's pretty goddamn innocent,

according to her. She said she's left with the same feeling of disbelief she had the night that the phone first rang. She said that he'd been a good son, a caring man, and she'd been a good mom. Oh, there it is. She'd been a good son, a caring man, and she'd been a good mom. Oh, there it is. She'd been a good mom. That's what this is all about.

I'm a good mom. I'm not a failure. No. Well, yeah, I'm a good mom. I'm great. She then said, our country is full tonight with mothers grieving for sons who are either on their way to America's countless prisons, who are in or on their way to America's countless prisons. Many are probably blaming themselves. Where did I go wrong?

And she says, they didn't go wrong and neither did I. Oh, my God. Don't blame me because my son's a monster. Babe, we aren't blaming you. But also. Your son's a piece of shit and you probably made some mistakes. I don't think, yeah. Clearly, you didn't take him off of that path. You didn didn't tell him to go murder people you didn't show him out

but your boy did it yeah this is fucking crazy wow the price family though they are really classy actually they say as parents we feel deep sympathy sympathy for mr smith's mother they could have said she can go fuck herself right in the mouth and everybody would have totally understood and been fine with it. She said he they say the sympathy for Mr. Smith's mother and the devastation of his sentence. However, the aftermath of our son's murder and torture is something our family lives with every day. We will never know the full circumstances of that night that Adam was kidnapped at gunpoint on our street by Eric and Darcy Smith and Mark Apodaca. kidnapped at gunpoint on our street by Eric and Darcy Smith and Mark Apodaca.

We do know that after Adam's murder, we spent five years in trials and hearings for the three killers. So, yeah, that makes sense. They said Eric and Darcy Smith were separately represented by very capable lawyers. Each of them had separate trials with different juries, and both were convicted of first-degree murder. We have no reason to believe that these verdicts should be revisited. Yeah, that's the other part. We're good. You may be missing your son. Yeah.

But at least you know where he is. You know where you can go visit him? Yeah. Yeah, you can visit him anytime you want. Just what we can't do. No, he's fucking dead as a doornail because your son's an idiot. And your boy did it. Yeah.

You fucking stop being so, stop feeling so bad for yourself and that's what it is it's about her i feel like so be to think about that though eric smith obviously a selfish lunatic and a psychopath and wants i want a girl to kill for me and all this type of shit and his mother clearly a little bit self-absorbed as well yeah so this whole thing wonder where he gets this all yeah i feel like i'd love to know who his father is. I'm sure he's a winner. Speaking of families, and we'll get to this, Apodaca is released from prison in 2013. Oh, my. He's out there.

Way to hear about his family, boy. Oh, boy. August 2022, a couple months ago. Darcy, who is now Darcy Morrison again. Yeah. But the state still recognizes her as Darcy Smith. So that's who she is and whatever. She's at the Western New Mexico Correctional Facility. She works in the library much of the day.

Yeah. She tutors inmates. She completed her bachelor's degree. Oh. Oh, yeah. She watches Jeopardy at night. That's what she says. Yeah.

She's doing her thing. She watches Jeopardy at night. That's what she says. Yeah, she's doing her thing. She wrote one of her appeals. She wrote a 15 page handwritten court filing, which is on her own. Yeah. Written in small letters that were like a computer file. She wanted it to look good here. It's yeah, it's pretty wild here. She said that she hasn't talked to Eric and hasn't been with Eric as a matter of fact.

And she doesn't say this till 2022, though. She said that when she was arrested, she was exhausted and only weighed about 90 pounds because Eric didn't allow her to eat or sleep regularly. So nice guy. She said, I felt like someone had heard my prayers, even though I was being arrested, even though I was facing so much time time i felt like somebody had saved my life it wasn't just getting away from eric it was the fact that someone else knew and i didn't have to worry about keeping the secret anymore you weren't keeping see you were showing people where it was and telling people and bragging and high-fiving and everything else so scared of her yeah she's that's kind of terrifying. She's like, you know, I'd love to get out, though. She's 47 years old.

Oh, no, she spent 24 years. Her first parole hearing will be at 30 years. So she's 47 now, and she said she's never even been on the Internet. Good. It's going to be hard. Yeah, good. You'll drag more people in. My God.

She said, quote, I don't believe I'm innocent. I'm not faulting anyone for sending me to prison, but she said my presence that night was coerced and i was pressured into assisting two people and smith's eric's abuse grew more cruel after the murder she said in moments of anger he would threaten to treat her as he did adam price and that would drive her and he would drive her out to the desert and fire a handgun at her feet for amusement. Oh, my. Nice fucking guy. So his all of her appeals have been thwarted, except the she's trying to get trying to basically say she got sentenced too harshly for someone who was 17 at the time and not an adult.

So she's going through all of that and she has a chance to get out on that, basically. I hate that. Yeah. She said, for the most part, everyone has an experience of being around a child. She said, and one thing you don't do, you don't give up on children. Yes, I was 17 and some people might not think that's a child,

but it's not an adult either. No, but it's also you're shooting people. It's also the same age as the person you guys shot that's the thing the high school senior she said i feel like a life sentence is a lot i'm not the same person that i was i have gone through a lot of counseling i've gone through a lot of treatment i have changed and become a better person 24 years is a long time maybe it's enough oh my now the apodaca family michael obviously a real asshole and um we've had smiths have an asshole family but no one has an asshole family like michael michael's brother paul apodaca

is maybe who you've heard of because in 2021 first of all paul's such a psychopath he was put in prison in 1995 he says just to get near his brother to protect him what what did he do to get put in prison in 1995, he says, just to get near his brother to protect him. What? What did he do to get put in prison? Raped his 14-year-old stepsister and then told everybody about it so he'd go to jail. What the shit? That's what this guy did, Paul, so he could go be near his brother. In New Mexico?

In New Mexico. To be near Mike? To be near Michael in jail and protect him. I did something that will get me a longer sentence than him. fuck but he got out oh he got out um he's had paul got out absolutely and he's been around because he said wow um anyway uh in 2021 he's homeless paul Apodaca. And he, oh my God, Jesus Christ. They end up finding him because he is a serial killer. Really? He's killed at least, they arrest him on three murders at this point.

Oh my. He's a serial killer. And you know where he picked a couple of them up? Where? University of New Mexico. Get out. You don't think he told his fucking brother about that? Yeah, no kidding.

He raped a girl to get close to him in prison. You don't think he told his fucking brother about that? Yeah, no kidding. He raped a girl to get close to him in prison. You don't think he told his brother after it happened, I killed this person over at University of New Mexico, and then later on, where should we pick somebody up? Oh, try by University of New Mexico. You don't think those things were linked together? That's why I think Apodaca, Michael, probably had more to do with this, because I feel like he probably said, let's go here. Yeah. Because based on his brother. Yeah.

Yep. Paul Raymond Apodaca his brother. Yeah. Yep. Paul Raymond Apodaca charged with first degree murder. Althea Noreen Oakley is a 21 year old, was a 21 year old University of New Mexico student, killed her in 1988. Oh, long before. Long before. Yep. He had a long history of violence, too.

They said that Apodaca told the officers he had information. This is while he was in custody, about murders from a long time ago. So then they started finding people. Then he started confessing to more. Another woman he killed here, Jesus Christ, what was this? Oh, a 19-year-old he killed as well. In 1990, the woman he killed was the first recipient of the Memorial Scholarship. No, they made a scholarship for this woman, and this girl got the scholarship. They're talking about that.

Jesus Christ. Yeah, Oakley was studying education with her mother there at the hospital. She had been with her boyfriend at a party. They had an argument. She left and began walking home um and that's when she was taken that poor guy has to feel like shit for 40 years she was within three blocks of her home when he got to her they were she was she came from two miles away made it three blocks away and um multiple witnesses said they heard her screaming they said

they heard her scream and looked out into the street. And then they heard, quote, I've been stabbed. And then she collapsed. He's just serial stabbing people? Oh, yeah. He said that my intention, he said he was walking by her, Apodaca Paul. And he said my intention was just to take her at knife point to rape her. But what happened was I was sitting there and when she walked up she smiled at me because she's nice yeah and he said she said hi and smiled at me that's the worst

part that's the worst part i hurt someone that smiled at me she made the mistake of being friendly to him he also admitted to the death of 18 year old this is in 1989 caitlin claire arquette as well as the third murder and rapes of three more women and they think there's more arquette you would know because she's the daughter of lois duncan who wrote i know what you did last summer is that right absolutely that's that's her is that her that's her mom for it i don't know but this i mean she was killed in the street it was fucking crazy um she um she also wrote two nonfiction books about Arquette's homicide. The mother did. So they said the Arquette case is one of the most infamous cold cases in Albuquerque history because of the mother's high profile books about the murder. And then he he they're going to charge him with that as well.

It's fucking crazy man um yeah so the third homicide that they charged him with they didn't release details publicly right away it doesn't matter he's raping and killing people um and that's in the 90s 80s 90s he raped somebody to go why don't you just tell him what you've done yeah you could have done that why'd you have to go and rape another person hey guess what i killed three people here instead i raped a child um it's fucking crazy um yeah his it's wild they it's crazy so once they matched his dna they figured it out they also found that he was uh driving the same car that was seen in the area when our cat was killed they witnesses reported seeing them there he was there when the cops arrived in his car and they just said he was,

oh, it must've been just there. This man was at the crime scene with the cops. Our Ket's sister said, uh, how obvious did it need to be to look into this guy? They just let him walk away. And then he killed more and raped more.

And now he's in prison finally forever. Or I think, he's not on the first one. He got 45 years so they're gonna stack those he's not getting out ever he's like in his 60s too but his brother is out and his brother's out and his brother's so yeah nice family never ask me ever again nice fucking family he got there new mexico no sounds like a town in new mexico it does yeah the apodaca terror like a fruit that grows there and only there so there you go that's apodaca new mexico and that's just kidding that is bernardo new mexico

the apodaca is the smiths and uh yeah watch out for darcy coming out on the street pretty soon watch out for apodaca yeah he is there either way there you go give us a review if you want five stars would help a lot whatever app you're listening on head over to shut up and give me murder.com get tickets for everything. Get live show shit. Get all your stuff there. It's all there for the taking. Follow us on social media at Murder Small.

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very easy to do head over to shut up and give me murder.com and follow the links that go there holy shit thank you so much for joining us everybody until next week everybody it's been our pleasure 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. 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, unearthing secrets that leave Ruth an unlikely partnership to catch the killer, 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 watching Ruth. With an all-star cast led by Emmy nominee Sanaa Lathan and Star Wars' Kelly Marie Tran, Chinook is available exclusively

and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.