Small Town Murder - #370 - The Dance Of Death - Butte, Montana

Episode Date: March 17, 2023

This week, in Butte, Montana, a long standing beef between residents of a small apartment building seems to cool off, when all the neighbors have an unhinged afternoon. drinking party of epic... proportions. The problem is that eventually these issues come to the surface, resulting in a most brutal murder, and a chaotic scene, complete with brawling, knife swinging, death threats, a ton of whiskey, and some very odd dance moves! Will the "whiskey defense" work in court, or will it just be seen as the cold blooded murder that it was?Along the way, we find out that weird stuff must happen, down in the mines, that miners have quite the tolerance for whiskey, and that once you've killed one person, you might as well kill everyone!!Hosted by James Pietragallo and Jimmie WhismanNew episodes every Thursday!Donate at: patreon.com/crimeinsports or go to paypal.com and use our email: crimeinsports@gmail.comGo 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.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to Small Town Murder early and ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. What if you married the love of your life and then stood by them as they developed 21 new identities? What would you do? This Is Actually Happening is a weekly podcast that features extraordinary true stories of life-changing events told by the people who lived them. Listen to the newest season of This Is Actually Happening on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Small Town Murder Express. Yay!
Starting point is 00:00:50 Choo-choo! 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. Yeah. All aboard the murder train, pulling away from the station, coming to you.
Starting point is 00:01:03 Here we go. We have, again again a crazy every one of these cases are crazy because it's like oh this case is too crazy not to do but not long enough for a full show well let's pack it into this hour instead and it's insane there's not enough words in the english vocabulary that that uh lend to insanity crazy unhinged uh crazy with you know to the fourth power to the 10th but you can just say you know what level of crazy it is that's it's always bananas around before we get started real quick head over to shut up and give me murder.com all the tickets are on sale for the rest of the year for live shows get them quick because there's shows that are months and months
Starting point is 00:01:42 away that are sold out already boston salt Salt Lake City, Denver's almost there. San Diego, Minneapolis almost there. They're all getting there. So get in there right away. We can't wait. And, of course, be there the 23rd and 4th of March in Seattle. And then the 25th, two shows in Portland that night. So get your asses there.
Starting point is 00:01:59 We can't wait. Shut up and give me murder.com. Also, get the tickets to the virtual live show, 420. That's right. Jimmy's getting stoned. He's going to laugh his ass off. It's going to be a lot of fun. And that's available for a week after that as well.
Starting point is 00:02:12 So you can get those tickets. Shut up and give me murder.com. Also, head over to patreon.com slash crime and sports. That's where you get all the bonus stuff, full back catalog, everything like that. Anybody $5 or above, you get access to everything, including new episodes every other week. You get one crime and sports, one small town murder, and you get it all. This week for crime and sports, we're going to talk about the worst franchise beginning in the history of sports. The 0 and 26 Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the beginning.
Starting point is 00:02:43 Son of a bitch. Why were they dressed like creamsicles? Why did they have a strangely homoerotic mascot? We'll talk about all of it. Shout out for sticking it out. Let's do it. Talk about it all. Then for small town murder, we're going to talk about a very requested case.
Starting point is 00:02:58 Jodi Arias we'll talk about. We were both in Phoenix during that time. So we will look inside the mind and other places of Jodi Arias, as the courts did as well. She will let you. Only if you come knocking. If you come knocking, come around the back door, though. She doesn't want you to come around the front, from what I understand. So that is patreon.com slash crimeinsports.
Starting point is 00:03:20 And keep an eye out. Coming soon, our new show. It is coming. Your Stupid Opinions, where we talk about terrible, stupid reviews from all soon our new show it is coming your stupid opinions where we talk about terrible stupid reviews from all over the internet it is coming yeah there's a bunch of business stuff we had to get in a row and another thing we had a bunch of stuff we were working on so we wanted to be able to launch it hardcore and we will be doing that so keep an eye out that said i think it's time for everybody to sit back i I think it's time to clear the lungs, maybe.
Starting point is 00:03:45 You know what I mean? That's right. Where are you? Where are you? You got a Dairy Queen with your kid's soccer team? They just played a game? That's right. Slap the dilly bar out of that goalie's hand.
Starting point is 00:03:56 No, no, no. Have them raise them to the sky. Cones to the sky, damn it. And you have the whole damn lot of tiny tiny eight-year-olds shout there we go let's go on a trip jimmy now that you've ruined the minds of a good section of the town's youth let's move on let's go on a trip shall we we should all right we're going to montana today hey big sky country going to butte montana which of course is the funniest town in america because it has the word butt in it so you can't beat that any town with the word
Starting point is 00:04:37 butt in it is a winner for me right in your butte right in your butte hole it's funny that we're doing jody arias this week on patreon and we're covering butte so this is in southwestern montana it's really not close to anything it's almost two hours to missoula montana that's the closest and then it's about four days from any other town or city really it's anywhere it's it's a stop it's a stop. It's a stopover. It's no direct drives from anywhere. Missoula or empty gas? That's it. It's about five hours to Fort Smith, Montana, which was the last Montana episode we did. Population here, I think it's the second largest town city in Montana, I believe. I could be wrong. Maybe the third. 34,465.
Starting point is 00:05:22 Billings has got to be bigger, right? I think it's bigger. I think Missoula is bigger,465. Billings has got to be bigger, right? I think it's bigger. I think Missoula's bigger, I believe. Median household income here is about $40,359. So it's a little bit low, and the cost of housing is also a little bit low. But it's nicknamed the richest hill on earth. What does that mean? That's the motto.
Starting point is 00:05:44 I don't know. I think because there was a lot of mining here. I was going to say it has to do with some gold panning. A lot of mining. As a matter of fact, into the history of the town very quickly, there was a tragic accident here. 2,000 feet below the ground. Oh, no. So, you know, most of the way into the earth's crust, essentially.
Starting point is 00:06:03 Almost to hell. What happened? Pretty much. June 8, 1917 Earth's crust, essentially. Almost to hell. What happened? Pretty much. June 8th, 1917, this happened, too. So this is in, there's no. Yikes. They don't know what they're doing. We're just digging a hole.
Starting point is 00:06:13 We got 2,000 feet down. Well, shit, send some immigrants in there. All right. And then a bunch of my relatives are, hey, it's so nice. It'll be in America. And then they're going to be 2,000 feet in the ground before you know it. 2,000. 2,000 feet here. It's a fire happened in America. And then they're going to beat you 2,000 feet in the ground before you know it. 2,000. 2,000 feet here.
Starting point is 00:06:26 A fire happened in the Granite Mountain mine shaft. Oh, shit. It spewed flames, smoke, and poisonous gases throughout the labyrinth of tunnels, including into another connected mine, the Spectacular Mine. There was a rescue effort, but carbon monoxide was screwing the whole thing up because yeah couldn't do anything it's over several men barricaded themselves against bulkheads to try to save their lives but a lot of people died in a panic and you know yeah ran each other over all the oxygen that's what happens uh rescue workers set up a big fan to prevent the fire from spreading we'll get a fan it was 1917 so it was just two guys in a big like yeah just a big piece of wood just waving it back and forth uh
Starting point is 00:07:13 this worked for a little while but then when the rescuers tried to use water the water evaporated creating steam that burned everyone who was trying to escape. Oh, my God! Yay, we're going, oh, Jesus, what the fuck is this horrible raining down terror upon me? Holy shit. It's hotter than the fire. What a terrible thing. The fire was way over there.
Starting point is 00:07:37 You poured water on it, now the steam's all the way over here. Jesus Christ, man. Holy shit. Many of the bodies were mutilated beyond recognition, leaving many, many unidentified bodies. 168 people died total in this. Oh, my.
Starting point is 00:07:52 It was terrible. Jesus Christ. As of 2017, it remained the largest hard rock mining accident in history. Not good. Only 100 more people died on that MH3 uh 370 plane and they're making documentaries about this is wild reviews of this town here okay yeah uh five stars let's give you a little variety five stars born and raised here in butte everyone knows every one kind of town that comes together when needed any of your typical i love this small town review which is nice okay here's three stars um
Starting point is 00:08:27 you know not and not as good like any city we have a few instances of attempted robberies mainly casinos in parentheses well that's where the money is um which doesn't really affect you unless you work at the casino so who cares um that doesn't seem like i've seen a lot of movies about fucking over a casino that's never a good idea it never works you're gonna get your ass kicked or dead you end up with your head in a vice talking about charlie evans not good for anybody uh drug and alcohol abuse also the police are highly visible during uptown festivals like st patrick's day the folk festival and Knievel Days, which we'll talk about. Oh, yeah.
Starting point is 00:09:10 They have Evil Knievel Days. Oh, wow. And this tends to lessen the likelihood of crimes, fights, drinking and driving, etc. Because there's cops around. There's cops. Here is one star. Butte is the Butte hole of the US yeah there we go waiting for someone to put that in there trashiest city this side of Mexico well you've never been to Tucson I
Starting point is 00:09:34 think this side of Mexico this side of Mexico means the whole country never been to Kingman I don't think walk the neighborhoods and trash is everywhere. I don't know if they mean people or actual trash. People are like the Stepford Wives. Very nice on the surface until they get in a car. Then the horns come out. Mean drivers. There is no respect for the water.
Starting point is 00:10:01 Neighbors water daily. Really? I don't know if they have droughts there. Businesses are terrible and do nothing of customer service they only want tourist money and refer to them as nuisances per to per the local news to be put up with in the summer the only positive is low traffic great place to avoid so and then finally one star They come out swinging hard here. They come out like Tyson in the first round. One star. Butte is full of inbred, unemployed, alcoholic drug addicts.
Starting point is 00:10:32 That is laying it right on the line. Some nice new people move in briefly but leave quite shell-shocked. The locals are an angry lot of dulled zombies. Fun for slumming for a day, though, makes any town look much better. Okay, so it's a fun place to go joke about. Wow. Yeah, you go, wow, that place is trash, and then you leave. And some people really, there's a lot of disagreement.
Starting point is 00:10:56 There's a lot of one star and a lot of five stars for this town. And things to do, it's Evel Knievel days, obviously. I mean, what else are we going to talk about? This is part of Evel Knievel. You want to see some wild Evel Knievel days, obviously. I mean, what else are we going to talk about? This is part of Evel Knievel. You want to see some wild Evel Knievel? This is kind of even wild for Evel Knievel, Jimmy. Here, roll your chair over. See that?
Starting point is 00:11:13 Oh, God. Look at that. It's kids in a big blow-up bubble on a pool. It's not dangerous at all. They're just bumping into each other. That's not taking your life in your own hands. That's just a lot of fun right there. They do have daredevils there.
Starting point is 00:11:25 There's a guy jumping a dirt bike. That looks like fun. Oh, and that globe right there. Look at that globe. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That metal globe. They put motorcyclists in that. Oh, yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:11:33 More than one and ride around it. That shit's crazy. I've seen that. It's like a little steel cage match for motorcycles. They have daredevils with their, will take their skateboards, BMX bikes, motorcycles, and more to extreme heights and put on a dangerous show in the spirit of Evil Knievel that you won't find anywhere else, including kids in big bubbles bumping into each other in a pool. Evil Knievel is the worst hero ever. He got hurt so many times, and we all tried to do the same shit and got hurt, too.
Starting point is 00:12:03 Oh, yeah. He caused so many injuries how many how many broken arms a boon for the emergency room business of the country in the 70s they were like oh man we're seeing 10 year olds with broken arms like crazy come on in and then and then he went and had a had a son to do the same shit dirt bikes and ers so that said and once you get done with evil knievel days, let's talk about a murder. What do you say, everybody? Hey. All right.
Starting point is 00:12:28 Somebody's trying in a very creative way to commit suicide. No, this is not a way to use off-road vehicles to kill yourself spectacularly. This is a different way here. All right. We're going to go back in time a bunch this time. Last Express episode was like 2009. It was like very recent which is weird we're going all the way we're going to 1966 here oh shit montana 1966 you could be a real cowboy here
Starting point is 00:12:55 back then for real like you could be like a no shit cowboy back in these days these are real people like 16 right now oh yeah he's still looking to hurt himself in some way, shape, or form. So let's talk about this. We'll go back to April 26th, 1966. Now, I have to tell you, everybody, I read a lot of court documents. Like,
Starting point is 00:13:17 when you're looking for cases between me and Allison too, we're reading, you read a hundred different cases. So, most of the time, it's a dry recitation of the facts um the person doing it obviously typing it up isn't putting like a spin on it it's not a it's not a novel you know what i mean it's opinion yeah every once in a while something so nuts that in the beginning they're like holy shit this is wild and it's to crack that person who does nothing but put out the court documents of
Starting point is 00:13:45 murders you really gotta have something wild and in the beginning of this case it says this quote the circumstances leading up to and surrounding the violent death here uh i won't tell you of who blah blah reveal a drama not unlike the plot of a sordid grade B movie. Oh, a sordid one. A sordid grade B movie. And that is from court documents. That is from court documents from 1967 in Montana. They allowed a little bit of editorializing. I like it.
Starting point is 00:14:18 That was this person going, dude, this is wild. So, yes. Now, we'll talk about quickly the building here. This is important. The building that everything's going to take place in. It consists of six apartments. It is three stories high, two apartments too wide. That's how this works here.
Starting point is 00:14:42 So, there's different people that live amongst these little cubicles of houses. First guy we're going to talk about, Roy A. Brooks. Alright? Roy. Roy. Roy is 60 years old in 1966. So born in 1906. That is
Starting point is 00:15:00 an old man. Yeah, very dead by now either way, no matter what happens here. So he would be well dead no matter what. Goddamn in fucking butte montana well he's not from there so let's he moved there we'll talk about his background a little bit here he's got a wife named mary mary brooks roy and mary um they live on the ground floor of this the sixth building sixth building here it is him and his wife it's roy and mary and they live with um or i'm sorry they their other apartment on the ground floor is a guy named jay smith and his wife okay so roy brooks and mary jay smith and his wife that's the ground floor all right now a little bit
Starting point is 00:15:40 about roy here he came to butte in 1951 oh which is still very early to go to montana that's that's out there man still a lot of wood building wow yeah that is great it looks like deadwood still probably yeah he had served he's from kentucky and also he'd been in arizona he lived in a lot of states and in most of them he also lived in their prisons for a while, too. He's had some problems, Roy. Roy is a rambling man. He's a rambling, hustling, cow-roping, fucking horse-thieving kind of a cat here. He served three and a half years in a Kentucky state prison and five years in an Arizona state prison. Jesus. Both times on armed robbery convictions.
Starting point is 00:16:23 Roy. Roy. Jesus Christ, Roy. convictions. Roy! Roy. Jesus Christ, Roy. Get a job, Roy. Holy fuck, man. He was 50 years old doing that shit. What are you doing, Roy? Get your act together, man.
Starting point is 00:16:33 He was arrested also in Butte once he moved there, and he moved to Butte to try to chill out. Try to really get on the straight and narrow. Straighten myself out here. There's nobody else around. I can't fuck up. So he got arrested in Butte in 1955 on a charge of discharging a firearm within city limits. What? He might have just been doing some yippee-ki-yay, I'm a cowboy type thing.
Starting point is 00:16:59 Drunk shooting at the moon. Yeah, I think maybe it's a little drunken moon shooting, which is really very common. He was doing the moon shoot boogie. That's all it was. Common, that type of night. Exactly. We'll pop the mic. Moon shooting boogie.
Starting point is 00:17:14 Yeah, take that, you fucker. Tombstone, yeah. Absolutely. That's what he was doing, the moon shooting boogie. He was on opium, though. That was a different. Yeah, that's true. This guy could be on opium, though. That was a different. Yeah, that's true. This guy could be on opium, too.
Starting point is 00:17:27 I don't know. But he worked as a miner. Okay. Since 55, he's been working as a miner. Everybody in Butte, all the men seem to be miners. Yeah. Other people we'll talk about in this story, also miners, fellow miners. I imagine most people in Montana at this time were mining.
Starting point is 00:17:43 Everybody was. Yeah, there wasn't much else to do. So he's mining. And he, on April 6th, 1965, so about a year before we're going to talk about, he just up and quit one day. He's done. Just stopped and said, I ain't mining no more. He's done. Too old for this shit.
Starting point is 00:17:59 He said it was a combination of, he's 59 years old at the time when he quit, was number one. He said it was a combination of he's 59 years old at the time when he quit. It was number one. And he had physical ailments like arthritis, silicosis. What the fuck is that? What is that? That's turning into silicone. I don't know.
Starting point is 00:18:16 That's an old timey disease. I saw silicosis. Maybe think of cirrhosis, but that's not what it is. It's worse. Maybe he's ingesting too much silicone. Was silicone invented in 1966 i don't even know who knows uh and he also had emphysema oh yeah when you add all those yeah all those things together you go well he was a minor too so you could not smoke and i mean minors you get the black lung horrible shit yeah so who knows what the hell was in his lungs.
Starting point is 00:18:45 But I would say this particular triad of things wrong with him is called the too old for this shit triad. Right? That is hard living triad. Yeah. General minor problem, minor syndrome. He quit because of 1966. That's why he quit. I'm going to be 60 goddamn years old so he was drawing
Starting point is 00:19:07 disability during from social security after that sure but not making a whole lot of money off of that obviously so right he probably didn't pay much in and he's been in prison for some time so he wasn't paying during that time obviously yeah well also he wanted to quit because he has hobbies that he wanted to get to too you know as know, as you're 60 years old, you kind of, you know, you want to find something to stretch out, tinker. Yeah. Fix it. Maybe make cuckoo clocks. Do like make fly for fly fishing out in your shed like Bo Jackson, something like that.
Starting point is 00:19:35 But his particular hobby was drinking as much as humanly possible. Just as much alcohol as his body could possibly ingest in the times before he passed out at night i like you that's that's a good guy that's how roy decided to spend his days but that chilled him out a lot he wasn't discharging firearms or anything he was just drunk maybe he wasn't angry from mining so that's good that is a good point maybe waking up in the morning without a with a little less joint pain made him smile a little bigger yeah now on the second floor is uh friends of theirs well was friends and sort of his friends let's talk about this this is where things get a little weird all right of roy and mary yeah kind of um sort of one of the people is even though they're married i think
Starting point is 00:20:21 as the court documents put here uh one is uh let's talk about Jesse Villalobos. He's 45 years old, old Jesse here. Called him Jess. Everybody calls him old Jess. He's a minor as well, obviously. He has a wife named Anna Villalobos. But the thing is, and this is right from the court document, quote, there is some question as to whether Anna was still was actually the wife of Jess or isn't or they were divorced.
Starting point is 00:20:50 So we don't know if they're actually were married and are now divorced, were never married or are currently married in this situation. We're not sure. But they live together. Yeah. Even the state of that. Yes. Even the superior court of montana couldn't figure it out so who are we to delve into this shit they had access to way more documents
Starting point is 00:21:10 than we do so they've got a marriage license database hopefully apparently not so uh anna sometimes they call her ann too so i don't know i don't know which one it is yeah it's short well and ann is one syllable so we'll go with Ann. She's 48, three years older than Jess here. Ann is employed at the state hospital at Warm Springs. That's where she works. And Mary Brooks also works at a hospital as well. So the women work in hospitals.
Starting point is 00:21:41 The men work in the mines. They get injured in the mines, get taken to the hospital. Their wives fix them up. That's how it works. So now they live in the second floor outside of their second floor apartment. There's an outside stairway on the west side of the building and a narrow inside stairway near the kitchen of the apartment. So there's two different ways to go upstairs. So, you know, OK, smaller one, bigger one. All right all right so um yes now there's been some beef between jess and roy okay here's the weird part though okay after this beef they have the previous new year's eve jess doesn't want roy around doesn't like roy doesn't want him in the apartment but ann still hangs out with roy and they're good friends his wife
Starting point is 00:22:26 yeah jess's wife so this pisses jess off not only is i don't like this guy and he lives below me and now he's hanging out with me all the time but my wife likes him and hangs out with him not only that when they go out to like bars the wife will buy him drinks and shit like that so he's like he's spending our fucking money on this bum like he's just now he just hates roy you know can't stand him uh the previous new year's eve new year's eve of 65 into 66 via lovos had uh jess had wrestled roy to the floor up in via lovos's apartment um where you know roy was an invited guest of a New Year's Eve party. And at that point, too, Villalobos also attacked another guy who was hanging out with Roy that night. What the fuck?
Starting point is 00:23:11 Jess Villalobos freaked out and started fighting people in his own apartment there. So that's what's been going on. Jess doesn't want Roy around, but he's around anyway, drinking with the wife all the time. He's a little reckless, that Jess. He's a little bit reckless here. Well, I i mean he's dealing with a reckless guy too so everybody these are minors i mean and his and his live-in whatever yeah like possible yeah i mean minors not only is tomorrow not guaranteed it's kind of it's kind of mocking you as a matter of fact it's just if it does get there finger right when you wake up
Starting point is 00:23:47 if it does get there it's gonna hurt so it's all bad so enter another fella here uh ben uh benito sandoval they call him benny okay yeah old benny sandoval because nobody wants to go by benito after mussolini ruined that for you it It's also a lot of goddamn syllables. Yeah, that's the other thing. And it's only six letters, so it's a lot of syllables. Syllables for six letters. And it's only three, but it feels like so many more. Yeah, it's Benito.
Starting point is 00:24:15 It's a lot. He's really stumbling. It's clumsy. Benny is a friend of Jess Villalobos here. August the 26th, he saw Jessess via lobo's benny did saw him very early in the morning at the board of trade bar so at the bar early in the morning which is a great place to to do this um they played pool and drank beer for a, and then they went to a restaurant and ate. Try to sop it up a little.
Starting point is 00:24:48 From there, they went to Jess Villalobos' apartment, and they arrived about 5 a.m. Oh, man, his wife who works at the hospital must love him showing up shit-hammered at 5 a.m. with some scumbag friend of his from the bar. She must love that. It's a nice time to be here. Thanks a lot, asshole. I'm early. You're damn right you're early. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:25:10 And when they got there, they didn't even like chill out. They had a pint of whiskey and they drank that. We're going to keep drinking at 5 a.m.? Yeah, after they've had their post-drinking breakfast. So they drink a pint of whiskey and then they go to sleep. All right? they've had their post drinking breakfast so they drink a pint of whiskey and then they go to sleep all right so um they're sleeping uh here on the uh in the room like we're talking about here so they're sleeping and uh jess obviously when he's been drinking his wife wouldn't let him in the apartment so rather than go to jess's apartment and sleep they weren't allowed in so he had to
Starting point is 00:25:46 go downstairs uh and at jay smith's apartment oh jay's place so they had to go down there and sleep this is like a dorm or something here it's it's fascinating i can't imagine being this welcome at so many everybody's revolving doors in everybody's place. It's too much. So around noon, the two of these two woke up, Benny and Jess, and they went upstairs to Jess's apartment. Now he's allowed in once he hasn't been out drinking all night, which the wife is smart. She's like, my hard-drinking minor husband is getting home. It's fucking 5 o'clock in the morning with his shit-faced friend. Let's not let him in. To continue drinking. That's the other part. fucking five o'clock in the morning with his shit-faced friend let's not let him in to continue
Starting point is 00:26:25 drinking that's the other part well i mean at the very least i'm gonna save myself cleaning up a bunch of piss that's because someone's pissing somewhere that it's that's not that kind of drinking when you fall asleep it's not even sleep it's just a it's just a unconscious digesting of alcohol and all that is it's not good your body's shutting down because it can't do it anymore. So once they get there, as soon as they get there, Benny goes out and buys a fifth of whiskey. Good Lord. Got a hair of the dog, you know what I mean?
Starting point is 00:26:58 Benny. So then the three of these people here, we got Benny, we got Jess. No, Jay's back down in his apartment. They went up to their apartment. The only three people here are Benny, Benny, Jess. So Benny and the Jess is here. Benny and the Jess and Anne. Benny and the Jess and Anne, Jess's wife.
Starting point is 00:27:18 Those three proceed to drink the fifth of whiskey. My God, you guys. At noon. At noon. Okay. And they've all just w At noon. At noon. Okay? And they've all just woken up. This isn't like- It's a hell of a day, man.
Starting point is 00:27:29 This isn't like they got up at five, they had a full shift at work, got off, and now they're drinking. No, this is noon, and they just woke up. This is three people that need therapy. Yeah. Three people drinking a fifth of whiskey at noon is disturbing. That is disturbing. Yeah. You want to get more disturbing by three o'clock benny goes out and buys a second fifth and returns and they continue drinking that
Starting point is 00:27:52 we hammered a fifth in three hours passing the bottle yep we're not too drunk yet no let's get it let's get another at three what do you think they're gonna be like at 10 tonight holy shit what do you think you're gonna be like at six 10 tonight? Holy shit. What do you think they're going to be like at 6? Oh, drooling, throwing up tacos. It's going to be disgusting. Yeah. That's dinner time. 6.
Starting point is 00:28:11 I have not heard one word of we're going out to eat yet. No, no. They did go out for breakfast at like 4 in the morning. But after that, no one's like, let's get some food in our stomachs before we start drinking two-fifths of whiskey. No one suggests that at all never wow so about four o'clock p.m you know three quarters of the way into the second fifth they got to be shit hammered benny and ann decide that they think there's a leak in the gas pipe in the building oh god we've got these two. Do you smell that? I smell something. I don't know what it is.
Starting point is 00:28:46 It's your breath. That's what it is. Sounds like Jess breathed out hard and then blamed it on the gas pipe because she's embarrassed. Jesus Christ. So they decide to go downstairs to check if the gas pipe is leaking. Oh, God. And they run into Roy Brooks down there, obviously. Now, Brooks, like we said, is friends with Ann, so they like hanging out.
Starting point is 00:29:08 So, Jesus Christ, Brooks had just gotten back. He'd been hanging out with a Mrs. Felter. And he had just been at her house playing P-Knuckle and getting shit-faced. So, everybody's early afternoon drinking here. What is going on uh board games yeah three in the afternoon cards and booze is a fine midnight thing but not at fucking 2 30 so uh roy was what everybody said drunk but able to walk and uh he was anxious to get home before his wife got back from her job at the Silver Bow General Hospital, which is the county.
Starting point is 00:29:49 It's in Silver Bow. So he wanted to get home and, I guess, not be in trouble for not being home because he's out drinking with some other lady. Right. Getting hammered with Mrs. Felton. Mrs. Felton. Did you Felton? Felton? Felton.
Starting point is 00:30:01 Felter. No, it's Felter. Did you Felter? I Felter. So Roy later will say that he meets Benny and Ann. Well, you know, when this is going on and he had already had a pint of whiskey that day and he was a little drunk, you know, a little drunk. This pint just gets him a little tipsy. So Roy returns with Benny and Ann to the apartment where Jess is back to the Villalobos apartment.
Starting point is 00:30:27 So Jess isn't happy about that, obviously. But they hang out and they finish the second fifth of whiskey. Why not? In May of 1980, near Anaheim, California, Dorothy Jane Scott noticed her friend had an inflamed red wound on his arm and seemed unwell. She insisted on driving him to the local hospital to get treatment. While he waited for his prescription, Dorothy went to grab her car to pick him up at the exit, but would never be seen alive again. Leaving us to wonder, decades later, what really happened to Dorothy Jane Scott?
Starting point is 00:30:59 From Wondery, Generation Y is a podcast that covers notable true crime cases like this one and many more. Every week, hosts Aaron and Justin sit down to discuss a new case, covering every angle and theory, walking through the forensic evidence and interviewing those close to the case to try to discover what happened. And with over 450 episodes, there's a case for every true crime listener. Follow the Generation Y podcast on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to Generation Y ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. 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
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Starting point is 00:32:03 The pair form 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. They pound that. So the whiskey runs out, so I would say it's like 4.30 at this point.
Starting point is 00:32:39 I would say, okay, we've drank enough for now. But Benny says, no, I'm going to go back to the store, and since there's more of us now i'll get two fifths of whiskey they're gonna be four fifths of whiskey into this day before day before a nine to five or even gets out of work this is wild unbelievable this is this is a crazy style kind of life right here this could have saved a lot of walking buying a handle this morning. Fuck me. That's what I mean, too.
Starting point is 00:33:08 How would you like to be the guy who works at the store going, whoop, here he comes again? Little drunker every time he comes in. Isn't it crazy that a bartender can cut you off, but not the guy that just sold him four fucking fifths? Not my problem. While he wanders in more and more hammered? He's not drinking it in there, tearing the place up, so you go home and do whatever you want.
Starting point is 00:33:30 Yeah, I guess you can't prove he put it all in him. Not my problem. Yeah, maybe he's having a giant party. Maybe there's 100 people back there. He's making a huge punch. We don't fucking know. He's only had two drinks. He just can't handle booze.
Starting point is 00:33:42 Wow, this is crazy, man. This is just a lot so wow uh about 4 30 mary gets home from her shift at the hospital imagine your get home from your shift at the hospital christ you're stone sober coming in from a shift where you went in at 7 30 in the morning to the hospital you are to see the worst parts of humanity hey mary how's it going hey mary's here sweet look at her hey mary i have an 86 year old shit on my neck can i take a shower not before you give me a kiss because i kind of this sounds good right now anybody else hungry like i'm hungry fuck so holy shit they uh he returns with the two-fifth and they start to
Starting point is 00:34:28 drink hey everybody's drinking um mary jumps right in too well why not what the fuck is she gonna do she starts drinking so everybody's getting hammered and uh and shit-faced and you know doing all that um mary's the least drunk as she just started everybody else has been drinking for hours catching up to do yeah um now they're this day like we said there was new year's eve there'd been hostilities between jess and roy the previous day also jess and roy had jawed back and forth at each other had some words no physical altercation but they had had some words so there's a lot going on here the words the day before you want to know what the argument was over what was this over okay well the argument was over 17 so yeah there was a who was who roy or jess jess is saying that that mary or not mary that
Starting point is 00:35:20 ann spent 17 on him at the taverns in the last few days. Okay. And my wife spent that money. Roy's bar tab is what we're arguing about. Yeah, exactly. Hey, Norm, give me over that $17. And Roy's like, it was a gift. And he's like, no, it's not, motherfucker.
Starting point is 00:35:37 My wife is not giving you nothing. And they're yelling at each other. You want it back? Head on down to the bar and take it out of the ice trough. You can go down there and you can drink it off. So how's that? Open your mouth. I'll give it right back.
Starting point is 00:35:51 It's coming. It's all coming. A lot of it's on my curtains from the morning. What do you want to bet he said you want it back? Open up. Open up. So this is a- Open your pocket and I'll put it in there.
Starting point is 00:36:07 But Roy said that Jess actually owes him money. So this is how this happened. My wife's been buying your shit. Well, you owe me money. So $17, by the way, in 2023 money is $156.97. That's a good point. $17 is not- Now it's very trivial. That's a good point. $17 is not, now it's like very trivial.
Starting point is 00:36:26 It's not nothing, but $17 is not something to physically fight a person over nowadays, whereas $157 you might start fighting people. $157 in bar tab is, fuck it, that's a lot. That's a lot. It's a shitload of drinking. Yeah. So Benny Sandoval here, he said that they argued on and off they kept on and off over the course of this drinking party everything would be fine and then jess and roy would start
Starting point is 00:36:50 yipping and yapping at each other and uh finally several times uh jess tells roy to leave why don't you get the fuck out then and he's like i will i don't need your shitty apartment and drinking and then they just keep sitting there drinking and they argue some more and then jess goes i thought i told you to leave and then they argue some more the fuck out of my house it's ridiculous i see dwight yokem from swing oh yeah absolutely everybody and then calming down i'm sorry everybody i'm sorry if you motherfuckers weren't so just so fucking stupid to not listen to my shit and what the fuck i'm trying to tell you maybe i wouldn't have to get so angry but no i'm sorry what i meant i'm sorry no no no uh they said that the the uh argument varied in intensity too they'd be screaming at each other then it would stop and then there
Starting point is 00:37:39 would just be well you motherfucker yeah yeah you fucking son of a bitch and then it would everybody's seen this fight this is the drunk rage it keeps going um at one point uh jess went into the kitchen and benny said that he uh he thought maybe that jess went in to get a knife out of the kitchen and started toward roy um and benny said to jess hey don't cause trouble come on man let's not let's not get crazy and then jess apparently stopped and went back into the kitchen now benny said he never actually saw the knife but he thought he might have had one he thought that's what he went in the kitchen for and he was like rather than have you know benny stabbed this guy in the neck and rather than have jess stabbed this guy in the neck i'll try to calm the situation down so um and now ann who jess's wife who was in the
Starting point is 00:38:26 kitchen most of the time said she didn't have any knowledge ever of her husband grabbing a knife at that point so no knife she didn't know and roy had no idea any of this happened he didn't see any of this happen any of the arguments behind his back any of that shit so uh at various times during the afternoon this is the other thing. Look at Roy. Roy and Jess are arguing back and forth. Then Roy would stop and just start like dancing in a weird way
Starting point is 00:38:53 around the room. Everyone said he was acting crazy and dancing in a strange way. This is a retired man. He's having a great time. Yeah he'd just get up and start doing fucking weird old dance moves and shit, and they're like, what the fuck are you doing? Two minutes ago you were arguing.
Starting point is 00:39:09 This guy just almost stabbed you in the back like, what is happening? And he's just doing some little cowboy dance. Is he singing with it going, I stole $17 from Jess? Maybe, maybe. I'll drink your money, I drink your money. He's holding cash up in the air. He's got $17. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:39:32 Just wrinkling it. Wrinkling it. Yeah. Makes it rain down and he picks it back up again. It's my money, bitch. And he dances around with it a little more. So he's dancing around and doing all sorts of shit. At different times, they would just fucking start arguing
Starting point is 00:39:50 and then intermittently dancing. At one point here, too, Jess told Roy that, I'm going to have you arrested. You get out or I'll have you arrested. And everyone's like, whoa, hey, calm down. Let's not get the cops involved we've all been drinking since noon that's gonna totally harsh my buzz bro i'm gonna be real sober i see that copper badge come through that door imagine you're that cop who walks into that
Starting point is 00:40:16 scene or i can tell you what happened okay hold on he's like oh jesus sir stop dancing please he's dancing around four bottles of booze clinking all over the ground he's dancing kicking one clink clank clank you'd be you just close the fucking door go back and get in your car and drive away would you not would you stay there if you were holding her head shaking it while she leans over a bookcase or just chugging whiskey trying to catch up one or the other i'm almost there killing her nurse ratchet outfit pounding it's a disaster i saw three people code today oh i seen some shit so um yeah they're dancing around they're doing all this shit uh benny said that he uh you know he another argument starts and benny said he got tired of hearing it and he just curled up in a
Starting point is 00:41:11 chair and went to sleep you know because he's shit hammered yeah he said he woke up sometime later when he heard some noise benny does uh upon wake awakening he looks over rubbing his eyes and first things he sees here next to him is jess next to him, slumped over, bleeding. Oh, God. He's like, uh-oh. And then he looked over and saw he's just trying to, he's in a whiskey haze. I mean, you wake up from a short nap after drinking four-fifths of whiskey. You have no idea what's going on, where you are, if that's puke or whatever on your clothes.
Starting point is 00:41:47 You have no idea. Jeff, you bleeding or is that what? He at that point heard Ann screaming and saw her wrestling with Roy. So this has turned really weird. He said that Roy had a knife in his hand while Ann was hanging off him, trying to disarm him. And then Roy ran from the apartment, threw Ann off of him and ran away. Okay. Leaving his wife behind in there, which is even crazier.
Starting point is 00:42:14 Then for yourself, I'm out. Yeah. Um, so Ann has, she said she had spent most of the afternoon in the kitchen preparing a meal. She's going to make a big dinner for everybody. That's always ruined by a stabbing. You know, it's just the way it is is that what happened yeah apparently so so she said that uh that jess had entered the kitchen several times to get ice from the fridge but never saw him pick up a knife um she also said that uh sometime after m, Roy's wife, joined the party that Jess told Roy to leave multiple times and that Roy had started to do so, except he said, come on, Mary, let's go.
Starting point is 00:42:53 They don't want us here. We don't need to be here. Come on, Mary. And Mary said, fuck you. You go. I'm staying here drinking. Oh. So Mary wanted to hang out.
Starting point is 00:43:03 She didn't want to leave the party. Just because you got kicked out doesn't mean't want to leave the party just because you got kicked out doesn't mean i have to leave go give them 17 and everything will be fine it's wow so he then left the apartment but then returned a few minutes later like mary you know he thought she was he thought she was fucking playing and He laughed and looked over his shoulder. He's like, she was not kidding. She's going to stay and drink. So when Roy comes back in, that's when Jess says, I'm going to call the police. And that's when Jess went toward the telephone to actually call the police.
Starting point is 00:43:37 As Roy went toward him to try to block him, they ended up meeting at the telephone. Like that's where they physically met up with each other and then Ann said she saw Roy quote strike out at Jess and then Jess slumped over to the floor she said she didn't see anything in his hand but the angle
Starting point is 00:43:58 she was at she just saw it looked like he punched him in the neck and then he punched him in the side then he fell over so she yeah just he's got sharp hands and then he punched him in the side. Then he fell over. So she's a lector. Yeah. Just he's got sharp hands and he's got some fucking Wolverine claws. Yeah. Take that.
Starting point is 00:44:14 So Anne said that Roy then moved to his wife and said he was going to kill her, too. Oh, he said, I already killed Jess. Might as well fucking kill you, too. That was going to kill her too. Oh? He said, I already killed Jess. Might as well fucking kill you too. That was what he told her. So she was like, holy shit, Jesus Christ. And if I'm anybody else in that apartment, I go, well, I'm checking my watch going. It's about time. Because then he's going to go, I already killed Jess, and I already killed my wife.
Starting point is 00:44:39 Now you're fucking dead, because why not? Benny's next. Benny in the next at this point. I'm going to get Benny right in the this point so i'm gonna get him good benny in the neck you know he's drunk i gotta stab you in the neck and then he's dancing around while he's doing that so um there he he then uh what happens is ann comes to the aid of mary Benny, Mary and Anne all wrestle Roy and
Starting point is 00:45:27 try to wrestle the knife out of his hand and they push him out of the apartment and in the melee Jesus Christ, in the melee Roy throws Mary down the steps. Oh my god. So she goes tumbling down the fucking stairs down to the first floor
Starting point is 00:45:44 in this melee. Okay. Not funny. But the fact it wasn't even on purpose. He wasn't like throw Mary down the stairs. It wasn't any of that. It was he's too drunk for that. No, no.
Starting point is 00:45:54 They were just all wrestling. And somehow he like pushed her and she ended up going down the stairs, which he was trying to kill her. So, I mean, it wasn't like he wouldn't push her down the stairs. So it's only funny because all these people are would be really dead anyway that's why it's the only reason so um then uh um uh ann goes and goes to her husband to jess to see if he's okay because she just thought roy punched him and she sees that he's bleeding she starts screaming and that's, you know, Benny's waking up, throwing people downstairs, trying to help that. She says she tried to wake up Jess, but he seemed dead. She said that Roy had told her not to use the phone, and then she didn't see him anymore
Starting point is 00:46:38 because they got outside and Mary fell down the steps. So then she said she never saw roy again until after the police arrived she didn't call the cops too somebody else called the cops because this isn't over yet okay um she uh now jay and mary smith they're downstairs another mary all right they occupy the lower floor apartment um now on this day jay said that he didn't know what the hell happened upstairs. He just heard a knock on his kitchen door. He opened the kitchen door. Hey, what's going on? And Roy charges into the room swinging a knife.
Starting point is 00:47:13 Oh, my God. A guy has nothing to do with this. Nothing to do with shit. He's just the guy downstairs who also hangs out down there. Comes in swinging the knife saying, I just killed Jess. I'll kill everybody i'm gonna kill you just and literally slashing at him with a giant kitchen knife a serrated fucking five inch plate kitchen knife just a huge knife a big steak knife hacking away at him saying he's gonna kill
Starting point is 00:47:36 him um uh smith said that roy stabbed at him at least three or four times and then was like you know waving it back and forth too. Smith somehow tackled him, probably because he's shit-faced and, you know, probably not great with the knife. He's a 66-year-old drunk man. And Jay's like, you know, at least not that drunk probably. So Jay Smith tackles him and ends up, the wife calls the police. Okay, so that's when the police are finally finally uh notified it's not over yet though they fight during all this and uh jay smith knocks the
Starting point is 00:48:13 knife out of roy's hand and it flies under the stove oh fantastic then they get up and they start fighting jay smith punches roy roy flies and flies through the screen door and knocks himself outside. So this has turned into like a real people flying downstairs, people bursting through screen doors. This is fucking wild. He hit him good, though. Super Smash Brothered him out the room. That's amazing.
Starting point is 00:48:38 That's what happens when an arthritic 66-year-old man who's had three-fifths of whiskey fucking gets punched in through a door. He's fat. He flies through it, man. The siliconitis. Yeah. That's some old west shit right there. If they had, like, a big picture window, he'd have gone bursting through that.
Starting point is 00:48:57 So the police arrive about 7.45 p.m. This has been a long day here. Yeah. When they arrive, the first thing they see because they get there and they hear you know up on the second floor blah blah blah they show up first thing they see is uh roy's wife at the bottom of the stairs on her back with her feet up in the air because she had been knocked down the stairs and she was like coming to at that point uh i'm not even kidding they were like hello are you the victim and she's like
Starting point is 00:49:25 uh-uh somebody's worse up there but there's more it's worse upstairs okay just go so uh they end up uh they end up finding roy in his apartment he's just hanging out um yeah so the cops come in say they're answering the complaint of a disturbance. And like I said, they find Mrs. Brooks at the bottom of the stairs. She gets sent off to the hospital. They arrest Brooks on suspicion of causing a disturbance. And then after that, they find out that obviously there's been a murder and all that kind of thing here. When Mary was at the bottom of the steps and they picked her up, she them i'm a little shook up right now no shit yeah you just left the hospital and we're sending you right back right back oh i'm back again you forget something yeah i forgot you
Starting point is 00:50:14 forgot a cast on my leg that i need now yeah so uh they in their opinion they said and this is interesting i don't know i don't know what the cops' criteria on this is or how they're judging it, but they said that in their opinion, Brooks was not drunk at the time they arrested him. How drunk is everybody in Butte? Dude, imagine you're getting pulled over. This isn't that drunk? So they don't think he's drunk? He'd have been, ah, Roy can drive still.
Starting point is 00:50:42 He's fine. Guy's been drinking since one. Yeah, in multiple places and everything else. So when the cops found Ann Villalobos, she was sitting at the kitchen table, and Jess was lying dead a few feet away in a pool of his own blood. And Ann was sitting there just distraught. Shell-shocked, yeah. Yeah. So they found the knife under the stove in the police apartment
Starting point is 00:51:06 and the uh smith apartment by the police yeah so it got hit and just got you know knocked under there they said that uh you know that medically matches the murder weapon could have been the murder weapon uh it quote fits well into the wounds in the body of jess via lovos jesus i don't like the way they say that that's that's the autopsy report it fits well you that's almost sounds like he's like let me see if i stick it in there yeah that's the one what are you doing did it go in like a knife block and it just stayed in there we go all right oh it's a perfect fit that's the one jesus uh it also had blood on it that's the same blood type as jess obviously no no DNA in the 60s.
Starting point is 00:51:54 So his wife here, Ann, she testified later on that the knife didn't come from her kitchen as far as she knew and didn't belong to her husband. So they're like, did Roy, he brought it in? He brought his own kitchen knife over there, which is a strange thing. To go to your neighbors to drink with your wife? Yeah, I might as well bring this kitchen knife with me i might need to stab somebody yeah well you bring a cephalon with you what the fat two in the afternoon weird uh there was also no fingerprints on the knife no discernible fingerprints so i don't know if that was just poor fingerprint uh person or what but yeah or or or it's just all smeared and ruined and not nothing that you can get got cat hair all over it and shit from underneath probably some fucking
Starting point is 00:52:31 bacon grease under the bacon grease dust bunnies and shit a 1966 stove i don't know when that shit was moved shit's leaking all over the place since 48 oh. It's barely post-war. So Anne tells police that Brooks left and came back with a butcher knife with an eight-inch blade. That's what she tells police. She said that he tried to—that she tried to restrain—his wife tried to restrain him, Brooks, but that he shoved her down the stairs after that. She had a broken arm from falling down the stairs, by the way. her down the stairs after that. She had a broken arm from falling down the stairs, by the way. So the autopsy says that, yes, this medium-sized kitchen knife with a five-and-a-half-inch blade and a three-quarter-inch wide blade with a serrated edge and a sharp point.
Starting point is 00:53:16 That's how they describe it. That's a steak knife. The guy who does the autopsy said that that knife obviously fits into the wounds and said the wound was about five inches deep, so right to the hilt, with one in the chest and the other in the upper part of the back. So he shanked him twice. Got him two times. The front wound went right through the heart, they said, and killed him pretty fast. The other ranged the lower body, so just kind of did a whole sweep in there and really got him good.
Starting point is 00:53:41 ranged the lower body. So just kind of did a whole sweep in there and really got him good. The death was definitely caused by the chest wound, and he found no contributory causes of any kind. It was just a knife through the fucking heart that did it. A chemical test of blood from the body showed that an alcohol, his alcohol level, want to guess what Villalobos' alcohol was, his BAC? Oh, is it a.26?
Starting point is 00:54:04 It is a.27. Hey! That's pretty good do i know my drugs you know your drunks point two he's like let's see four fifths but it was over the course of five hours i'm gonna say 180 pound man essentially over five hours let's see if he just had a snack maybe some chips something like that walked Walked around slightly. 2.26. Hillbilly cops should just bring Jimmy around. They don't need a breathalyzer. How much you drinking? That old boy is.26.
Starting point is 00:54:36 When you start drinking. How much you had to eat today, Jimmy? Oh, boy, you are.26 if my name ain't Jimmy Wisman. And Jimmy just shakes his head. And they go, turn around, sir. No, the breathalyzer says you're shit-faced. Sorry. Hook him up. Hook him on up now.
Starting point is 00:54:53 Like that shit. Clean out the holler, Jimmy. So they said yes in the advanced stage of intoxication. And so, yes. They also found some evidence that there may have been two knife thrusts to the chest and also one to the back. So it's two to three stab wounds. They can't quite tell.
Starting point is 00:55:11 So I don't know if the MRI and that kind of technology is not quite the same. So the knife had been taken apparently from the Smith's kitchen. Apparently he went down there and stole a knife which is crazy he didn't have any knives apparently so that's weird how are you gonna quit working without a knife set of knives i'm sorry if you don't have a steak knife to hang your hat on you can't retire you gotta stay hang in there till you at least get a set of cut co's that you can do something with i'm gonna put a put a bow on your working career you're gonna get a knife in this house. Well, he expected when he retired they'd give him a set of steak knives, I think was the parting gift he was hoping for, but they didn't give it to him.
Starting point is 00:55:53 I am done with this mind. Give me my steak knives. Give me my steak. What? Now I heard when you retire you get steak knives. So they talk to Roy. Roy is willing to talk. They sit him down and they say, Roy.
Starting point is 00:56:04 Roy. So they talked to Roy. Roy is willing to talk. They sit him down and they say, Roy. Roy. And Roy said, yeah, there's been some trouble between me and Jess the previous day. I think so. He said, no arguments between us this day, though, which isn't true. He also said that Jess never told me to leave the apartment during the drinking party.
Starting point is 00:56:21 That never happened. Okay. Which we know is not true. He did say that he had quite a lot to drink during the drinking party. That never happened, which we know is not true. He did say that he had quite a lot to drink during the day. He said at one point, though, he wasn't kicked out, but that Jess started laughing at him, for what I don't know. You're dancing, silly sir. That's what he was doing.
Starting point is 00:56:38 He was dancing around, and he said that at that point he thought he better go because he was being laughed at. So that's when he called his wife to come with him, and the two of them started to leave. All of this is not true. He does say, though, that his wife was walking in front of him, and she – this is his – they go, well, when did you throw your wife down the stairs? He goes, oh, no, no. We were both leaving of my own volition. I wasn't thrown out of a drunk's apartment.
Starting point is 00:57:04 I was leaving because I wanted to go. She was in front of me. I wasn't paying much attention. She stopped short. I wasn't looking, bumped into her, boom, boom, boom, down the stairs. That's how that happened. Holy shit. Three people weren't trying to wrestle a knife from me,
Starting point is 00:57:22 and then I tossed my wife down the stairs. It was just a total, like, I was looking back like, yeah, we'll see you next time. Oh, jeez, I ran into her, and then she tumbled. You see, officer, you know in traffic the light turns yellow and you accelerate, but the car in front of you hits the brakes? That's what happens. There it is. Boom, pow, I didn't even see it. And you were looking back at a chick's tits on the side of the road.
Starting point is 00:57:41 It's one of them, and then you just bang right into them. Really expect her to keep on going. he accidentally knocked her down the stairs he remembers to go he remembers that he went oh no my poor wife and ran down the stairs to try to come to her aid and he says he remembers nothing after that until the police arrived though nothing now the judge in the case says well remember or not you're held without bond because holy shit you're a moron um they i liked his uh the way the paper describes him coming to court brooks appeared in court wearing a soiled white sleeve a soiled white sleeveless undershirt and blue jeans his left eye was discolored and lacerated he showed up in a arms out arms out yeah this is what he's out
Starting point is 00:58:28 guns out kind of day this was his drinking outfit that's why this is his drinking gear that's what he puts on the shiner and a gas yep the shiner is from being wrestled around with so his eye too i'll post it on social media it's all fucked up looking so he's charged with first degree murder uh but the county attorney does not ask for the death penalty though really so they're not going to go for the death penalty because they think it's well it's one drunk minor knifing another drunk minor and they're like yeah if we killed every drunk minor who knifed another drunk minor our electric chair our electric bill would be out of control in this state we can't do it we'd have to burn so much we'd have to mine just for the electric chair it's too much i'm telling you right now just to keep
Starting point is 00:59:10 keep it fired up to keep it fired up well it's it takes more electricity to start it back up again so you just gotta keep it keep it on i mean shit so uh the the trial the by the way he's they didn't give him a bail and it's like his bail or his bond is seventeen thousand dollars and he can't get out on a murder charge 17 that's what i mean i wonder if it's seventeen dollars seventeen thousand i was like whoa well let's see if he gets 17 years in jail what do do you say? 17 death sentences. 17 fucking life terms. So a prosecutor in the opening statement said that this was a willful, premeditated act with malice because he went and got the knife and all that. He left and came back. And they call their witnesses up.
Starting point is 00:59:59 Obviously, there's the people they call the narrator, the narrator the coroner up there um they also this is funny they call up the guy who did the the surveyor who prepared the floor plans of the apartment to like have a whole you know okay this is a diagram of what he built to have a map uh benny sandoval's kind of the key witness even though he was sleeping during most of this the actual attack that happened. You've got to understand, James, he's the only other man in the building or in that room with a penis. And you can't trust those pesky vaginas. Let's see.
Starting point is 01:00:33 Out of the four people in the room, two of them had tits. So we need to discount what the hell they're talking about. So, Benny, you're the most credible here. So you're the one man whose brain wasn't just completely addled with tit milk. So what was it? So he's the instigator of this. He got all these people. He said, come on over.
Starting point is 01:00:54 No, it's cool. He said everybody was drunk, obviously, and everything like that. He said, yes, I did make three trips for whiskey, bringing two fifths the last time. Everybody was drinking it. I fell asleep. said yes i did make three trips for whiskey bringing two-fifths the last time everybody was drinking it i fell asleep i found my friend bent over with blood on him when i woke up i fled the apartment uh he said he left the apartment fled and called the police also so multiple people called the police here um you know they also called jay smith who tells everything that happened there he said because jay smith was like what's going on
Starting point is 01:01:25 he had no clue he just said roy barged in and said quote i just killed jess and now i'm gonna kill you uh they described smith as a muscular man of about 35 so that's why that's why roy has a fucked up eye at this point oh he did it huh yeah he started whooping his ass a blow from smith discolored one of brooks's eyes the is what people said um the uh he said that uh brooks quote looked mad when he came in and appeared to be a bit intoxicated or partially drunk wow he's got some kind of tolerance he said that he seemed quite angry and not behaving normally. Now, unless it's his normal thing to when you unlock the door, he barges through it, swinging a fucking steak knife at you back and forth. I'd call that, yeah, a little not behaving normally, probably. So he said that he, you know, forced Brooks out.
Starting point is 01:02:19 And that's how that worked there. Now, the defense, their whole thing is to discredit all the other witnesses saying they're all, they're all drunks. How can you trust them? They were all drinking all day. They don't know what the fuck happened there. Anybody could have stabbed anybody. Let's just call it a wash.
Starting point is 01:02:33 You know, that's what it is. And also they said, well, his considering Brooks's age and poor physical condition, he suffered a blackout after heavy drinking. And so that's what it is so he doesn't even know what happened so let's just you know let him go back into the mines or some shit
Starting point is 01:02:50 like that um which is what they don't call his wife ever to the stand either really i guess because then they'd have to go so your husband threw you down the stairs and she goes yes with her fucking cast on her arm that's not good for you if you're the defense. So the defense here, they call a doctor in, Dr. Leo Rotar of Butte, and he says it's very common for heavy drinkers. He said, quote, it would have been easier for Brooks because of his age and deteriorating physical condition to have an alcoholic blackout. So, yeah, they're trying to say, come on, he had a blackoutout what's the big goddamn deal um they said that you know everybody got along fine most of the time the witnesses say said there was some
Starting point is 01:03:31 hostility the shit we just covered it doesn't matter they're trying to wash this in a blackout with stabbing a man in the fucking chest well you know they said it's yeah i mean it's all kind of a gray area really they said uh roy himself testified and he said look you know via lobos or via lobos was always fucking verbally abusive toward me and um he was very abusive he said that was it he just he said he accidentally pushed his wife down the stairs he said he had no recollection of having attacked Smith in his apartment with the knife and gotten punched in the face and saying he killed anybody. He said, that doesn't sound like me.
Starting point is 01:04:10 Um, yeah, I mean, it doesn't sound like me at all, does it? Um, so he says though, he was quote a long ways from sober,
Starting point is 01:04:21 which I believe now nobody is ever close to sober drinking that much whiskey. Whiskey during the day. So the sun and whiskey, the sun intensifies a whiskey drunk, I feel like. It really is not good. So the judge can give, tells the jury they can give seven possible verdicts. Seven. This is a lot for a jury to have to pick from here. Not guilty, just
Starting point is 01:04:45 straight not guilty. Guilty of first degree murder with the death penalty even though it hasn't been asked for which would be really bloodthirsty. Guilty of first degree murder with a life sentence. Guilty of first degree murder with a sentence left to the court. Guilty of second degree murder
Starting point is 01:05:02 with the jury fixing the sentence. Guilty of second degree murder with the sentencing left to the court. guilty of second-degree murder with the jury fixing the sentence, guilty of second-degree murder with the sentencing left to the court, guilty of manslaughter with the jury doing the sentencing, or guilty of manslaughter with the penalty going to the court. That was, yeah, that's a lot. Those are their options, which is too many options for regular people who don't work in the legal system every day. Just tell them this or this.
Starting point is 01:05:21 Pick one. Multiple choice. Here are your choices. That's too much. What is this, the fucking menu to the Cheesecake Factory? Just give me choices. It's a book. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:05:32 So they deliberate about three hours and 15 minutes, and they had time off for two different meals. I'm like, two different meals in three hours and 15 minutes. So the first, they come back with a verdict of second-degree murder, guilty, and set his punishment for 10 years but without possibility of parole before 10 years. So 10 years with no parole. He's got to do 10 years. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:05:56 So the judge told them, that's not acceptable. You can't do that. Out of all the options I gave you, which are way too many, see, this is the problem. You picked something that you can't do out of that the options i gave you which are way too many see this is the problem you pick something that you can't do out of that somehow somehow you did that i don't know i gave you an idea take one of them these are none of these he said that it's unacceptable because neither the court nor the jury may tell the parole board what they can or can't do at that point you couldn't say 10 years but he can't be paroled for 10 years. Now you could say 20 years, no parole, but at that point, you couldn't set that.
Starting point is 01:06:32 So you could only set a time, and then they can release him whenever they want. 10 years, but every Saturday, he has to do double time. 10 years, but when the prison softball team plays, he ain't even allowed to watch. That's it. Okay? All right. years but when the prison softball team plays he ain't even allowed to watch that's it okay all right 10 years through friday he still has to do some mining 10 years but no honey buns from the commissary all right that's it now that's cruel that's cruel i don't know if that might be too much so the jury went back and they come back with their second verdict which is uh you know guilty and uh obviously guilty and the sentencing comes in you sir may fuck off 40 years he gets holy yes he gets that shit from the judge 40 years
Starting point is 01:07:14 so he's that's death right oh he's dead yeah he's dead he's got emphysema and fucking what was it psilocybin fucking mushroom itis or something I don't know what he's got. Silicon Valley. I don't know what it's called. He's got silicon penis, I believe. That's not good. He's got Silicon Valley fever. You can't have that. That's a bad one.
Starting point is 01:07:33 So he's going to be dead quick. He appeals in 67 based on the jury instructions. He said that the intoxication, he wanted more of the instruction of intoxication. It could be a manslaughter thing instead of second degree murder it's a long thing that we could go through but we're not going to do it because we don't have the time and uh also he said the sentence of 40 years in state prison was unduly harsh and unreasonable yeah you murdered a man then threw your wife down the stairs the court said if the fixing of the degree of the offense as
Starting point is 01:08:07 fixed find support in the evidence and if the punishment is within the maximum limit limits fixed by law then it's fine so does it fit legally into the parameters is it legal then shut the fuck up apparently go back denied and uh we assume Roy died in prison pretty soon after that, I would assume, right? He had to. A dank 1960s Montana prison. He's dead as shit, I think, right? He lasted 12 years, I guarantee you. Maybe.
Starting point is 01:08:36 I'm saying eight. No way he got into his 80s. 69 he died. Roy Brooks, dead at 69. That's it. I'm going to say it right now, making the announcement. And that is Butte, Montana, everybody. Stick that in your Butte.
Starting point is 01:08:52 Stick that in your Butte and smoke it. Speaking of that, go to patreon.com slash crimeandsports. You get the whole back catalog, everything like that. Anybody $5 a month or above this this week and this will make sense in your beautiness we're going to talk about first of all you get access to everything you get crime and sports we're going to talk about the oh and 26 beginning of the tampa beer bay buccaneers franchise no tom brady no warren sapp no none of the guys no derrick brooks none of those fucking people no you've never heard of that they had had Steve Spurrier, not as a coach, as a quarterback.
Starting point is 01:09:25 Literally. We'll talk about it. Then for Small Town Murder, we're going to talk about somebody who there's a lot of Butte work going on with. We're going to talk about Jodi Arias, who likes it right in the Butte. And we'll talk about her murdering and her sex tape thing and her pictures that she did. Just her bizarre life. What a fascinating girl. Jodi and her gas cans we'll talk about, which which is the whole that's the crux of the case you can say anything she want the gas
Starting point is 01:09:50 cans make her guilty period that's everything we'll talk about jody arias that is patreon.com slash crime and sports and you get a shout out at the end of the regular show of course uh definitely give a review if you can five stars on whatever app you listen on. That definitely helps out a lot. Shut up and give me murder dot com is where you get all of your tickets for live shows. Let's go live show tickets and your merch. The rest of 2023 is on sale right now. And get in there because Boston in November already sold out. Right.
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Starting point is 01:10:57 regular live show except you're in your living room and we have a regular setup almost like you'd see in a theater except you don't have to go anywhere. Much more weed smoke. Yes, and you can fucking drink your booze for a lesser price. It's a lot of fun. And smoke all the weed you want. Also, follow us on social media. We are at Small Town Murder on Instagram, at Murder Small on Twitter, at Small Town Pod on Facebook. You want to follow the two of us on social media, very easy to find us.
Starting point is 01:11:23 Shut up and give me murder.com. Follow the links. Everything is there. Patreon, everything is on the site. Come hang out with us. follow the two of us on social media very easy to find us shut up and give me murder.com follow the links everything is there patreon everything is on the site come hang out with us keep coming back each and every week and 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. 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.
Starting point is 01:12:30 I'd just like to go ahead and say that if there's no band called Malevolent Deity, that is pretty great. A dash of sarcasm and just garnished a bit with a little bit of cursing. This mother****er lied. Like a liar. Like a liar. And if you're a weirdo like us and love to cozy up to a creepy tale of the paranormal, or you love to
Starting point is 01:12:49 hop in the Wayback Machine and dissect the details of some of history's most notorious crimes, you should tune in to our podcast, Morbid. Follow Morbid on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to episodes early and ad-free by joining Wondery Plus and the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.

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