Small Town Murder - #478 - Evil Deeds & Ouija Writings - Baileyton, Tennessee

Episode Date: March 29, 2024

This week, in Baileyton, Tennessee, a nice family, on their way home from a religious event, come across a group of what appear to be troubled teens, at a rural rest stop. What the family doesn't know, is that they were entering a situation of unspeakable horrors, and cruelty. The attempted getaway is as dumb, as the killings were cruel, but will occult ties, satanic rituals & Ouija board aided "automatic writing" save them from the death penalty?Along the way, we find out that Ouija boards aren't just for fun, anymore, that Mexico is a bad place to try to escape, and that apparently, six people can legally pull two triggers!!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 Plus. What if you married the love of your life and then stood by them as they developed 21 new identities? What would you do? This Is Actually Happening is a weekly podcast that features extraordinary true stories of life-changing events told by the people who lived them. Listen to the newest season of This Is Actually Happening on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Small Town Murder Express. Yay, 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, for joining us so much all aboard the murder train. We got a crazy one for you. Even the town name is crazy. It makes no sense how they say it.

We'll get into all of that. Before we do, very quickly, top of the show, thanks for all that you do for us. You're heroes. You are. Head over to ShutUpAndGiveMeMurder.com if you want to be bigger heroes and go to a live show. Oh, yeah. April 5th, Sacramento. April 6th in San Francisco.

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Themed up? Themed up, because it's 420. I'll make Jimmy smoke out of crazy things that will scare the shit out of him we're going to dress up in costumes get there come see it we cannot wait we're so excited for it shut up and give me murder.com quickly patreon.com slash crime in sports is where you get all of the bonus material great there's so much bonus material, too, as we know. A couple hundred back episodes. Anybody that's $5 a month or above, a mere cup of coffee will get you. That money will get you so much more than a cup of coffee.

Stretch your dollar. Our cup is so much deeper than a cup of coffee. And it runneth. It runneth way over. A couple hundred back episodes, and then new ones every other week. And this week is no different. What you're going to get is for Crime and Sports, which you'll also have access to, we're going to talk about Hans Nieman, or Nyman, who was, he's a chess player

who has been accused of having a vibrator up his ass to be signaled of chess moves. So it seems like something that would be more handy for cards, but I guess chess too. Learning Morse code for this. You have to learn a lot for this. We'll talk all about that on other up-the-ass mechanisms people have used over time. Jesus. And then for small-town murder, D.B. Cooper. Let's find out what happened there.

We'll talk about it. Let's talk about it. I've read so much about it. The guy obviously had money and said he had a bomb and jumped out of a plane and never was seen again. So one of the biggest mysteries there are are we'll talk about all that and more patreon.com slash crime in sports and you get a shout out at the end of the show you bet into the main show that said let's get to this let's go we got a lot of story whoo let's do it i think it's time everybody to sit back let's clear the lungs arms to the sky everyone and let's all shout shut up and give me

murder let's do this everybody okay let's go on a trip shall we all right we should we're going to bailton tennessee now i say it like that with a little bit of skepticism in my voice because it is spelled Baileyton. B-A-I-L-E-Y-T-O-N. And it was originally Baileytown. And then they dropped the thing, I guess, because town is a lot to say. And they like to shorten things up in the south, so Baileyton. And then they said, what the fuck do we need the e4 just bailton screw it and here we are at with bailton who doesn't look like bailton so we don't even say it right nobody says it right i'm sure that

goes there you know uh it's in northeastern tennessee in that panhandle that comes out of the northeastern part of tennessee about an hour from Knoxville, five hours to Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, which was our last Tennessee episode, which was called Fat Sam and Crazy Crystal. I remember that one. Hell yeah. That was a crazy one. Population of this town, 430. What?

Very small town here. Median household income here, $36,875, which is about half the national average. That is not good. Median median home cost here also very low 156 800 bucks this is a picturesque this is the hills up here yeah it's picturesque it's beautiful if you flew over it you go it's beautiful but there's not a lot going on down there right um it was originally called laurelap when it was first settled. It was first settled in 1776. So back in revolutionary times here. That's a specific year. Very specific.

That's a big deal. Yeah. A lot of people lived here were all farmers, everybody there. First it came, it was called Bailey Town, two separate words. Then it was Bailey Town, one word. Then for some reason the W was dropped in 1915 and it was Baileytown, one word. Then, for some reason, the W was dropped in 1915, and it was just Baileyton. This was named after two brothers that lived there, Claudius and Thomas Bailey. And now it's just Bailton, they call it.

So, beats the shit out of me. Those poor guys. Wow, yeah. Their name just bastardized. It's not even about them anymore. Can you imagine having your name, Jamestown, and they just call it Jameton? Yeah, well, if it was my last name, I'd get it. I'd be furious if it's named.

Drop some vowels. I understand. It's complicated. But if it's named after you, fucking pronounce my name. Give me the credit, man. It's not Petrogallo. It's Bailey. It's very easy.

It's two syllables. Nope, too many. One syllable, Bail. Bailton, and that's it. So whatever. That's fine. It's your town. You can call it whatever you want. Just spell too many. One syllable, Bail. Bailton, and that's it. So whatever, that's fine. It's your town. You can call it whatever you want. Do it.

Just spell it right. Yeah, that's how you change the spelling, like you did when you dropped the W. Reviews of this town. There's only one review here, and they love it. So let's find out. Really? Five stars. I've had a good experience in Bailton.

Sorry. I have grown up here all my life. Everyone is extremely nice and helpful, and they would help you have grown up here all my life everyone is extremely nice and helpful and they would help you out with anything i like how everything is so close like five minutes from balton school and eight from north green wow they're not even saying 10 they're going eight minutes exact james there are 400 people here how big can the shit be you can't have that much traffic either like right you figure half the people don't have cars. Some are too old and some are too young. I would like to see more things added to the Balton Park area, maybe like a volleyball net or something like that.

They're not asking for a lot. Yeah, but you own a volleyball court in a town of 400. Head on over to Walmart and pick it up and stake it in the ground. Set it up in your yard. Yeah. But, I mean, most of these are like, I would like to see more restaurants and a mall. I would like it to not be a small town. They're like, I'd like to see a volleyball net.

Just put a net up. We don't even need, you don't even need to mark it out. We'll mark out the sides and everything. No, we don't want the sand. It's fine. So families could go have and play or have a picnic. Other than that, it's a nice place to park and hang out like for birthday parties or just to get together at.

Alright. Things to do. Not a lot. You've got to go to Greenville. The Greenville Iris Festival, which is in Greene County, and it's their annual Iris Festival, and they have Iris, not Irish. No, no. Iris, the flower.

Not the Irish Festival. Alright. No, no. That's St. Patrick's Day. We have that already. This is just about flowers. You can shop at over 155 vendors. I don't know if they're only selling flowers or what, but you can also go to the Sundown on Depot, which it says rev your engines and roll into the Sundown on Depot car show. It's got a classic car show.

and roll into the sundown on Depot car show. It's got a classic car show. And then, for some reason, at the end of all this, we're celebrating flowers, I guess, and things like that. There's an axe throwing and renaissance fair. May as well. Channel your inner warrior as you try your hand at axe throwing, a sport that combines precision and fun.

Yeah, I've done it. It's's not so bad but it does fucking hurt the next day yeah who throws axes in your everyday life have we been lumberjacking no that's not a normal procedure no one throws an axe normally it hurts so bad for several days and you're not gonna like a nerve and you're not gonna like work those muscles out you'd have to throw like four times a week to be able to not be sore and surprise surprise you're all shit at it everyone's shit at it and if you were good at it then what what are you gonna be yeah turn pro who gives a shit like great you're good at a hobby terrific yeah i'm good at an exercise bike good for you it's the same thing there's no there's no three-letter league for this shit go back back to work. That said, let's talk about some murder because we're packed chock full of murder today here.

Great. Well, it's just a wild story that's tragic on many sides. It's one of those. Here, let's talk about some people first. All right. Yeah. Let's talk about some people. All these people are going to be from Kentucky.

Okay. Bailton's going to kind of be a stopover where something bad happens from people that are outside of it. Talk about a young lady first named Karen Howell. Karen, we're going to talk mainly about like 1996, 1997. She was born in 1979, late 79. So when all of this takes place, she's 17 years old. She's born in Ohio.

Her family moved to Kentucky when she was three. Her parents got divorced when she was nine. She says they got divorced because her mother was a Christian and her father wasn't. Either one of them would be tired of the other one's bullshit at that point. You know what I mean? They think whatever the other's doing is wrong. It's a miracle that they got along at all. If this is driving them apart in the first place, you know what I mean?

Yeah. It's crazy. That's true. I don't know how they got together or maybe she became more of a Christian. He became lesser. I'm not sure. Oh, okay. So some people fall out of it.

I don't know. Yeah. Her parents had some violent, nasty fights between them. violent, nasty fights between them. She also says later on that she was sexually abused between the ages of five and ten by an uncle and a cousin. Oh, two? I don't know if it's the same time. I hope not.

I really don't want to know. But unsurprisingly, with beginnings like that, by 13 she started cutting herself. She's doing great. Yeah, very well adjusted that's yeah that's that's oh man poor thing that sucks man yeah that's unfortunately predictable with that yeah yeah yeah yeah it comes with the territory unfortunately yeah uh she also attempted suicide a couple of times twice by cutting her wrists and twice by O.D.ing on drugs.

So she's had some stuff going on here for a young, young lady. Until 14, until she was 14, she lived with her mother and fought with her constantly. And she's not good, everybody says, including school and everybody else. Not good with rules and regulations. Doesn't care for them much. Both of them yeah are awful yeah not liking that and also has kind of a uh a hard time functioning at school due to the you got to follow a lot of rules and regulations at school is a problem so those do apply there yeah and and if you don't like yourself anyway yes as evidenced by self-harm who gives a shit

if i succeed or not through this bullshit school that has all these rules and then comes along with the regulations? Well, she's also doing a lot of drugs at this time, too, which definitely changes. How old? 14, 13, 14, 15. She would run away all the time. Also developed an interest in witchcraft, which she began by use. She would use her Ouija board and and auto quote automatic writing do you know what that is no okay let's talk about automatic writing that's we got to talk about that

for a minute this is right from wikipedia also called psychography is a claimed psychic ability allowing a person to produce written words without consciously writing so like something's channeling you and you're just it's moving your hand to write words i don't know that you could channel that for english class yeah you're lucky that the thing speaks english whatever's channeling they're not writing it in like ancient sanskrit or something yeah what does this mean jesus what am am I writing? Symbols and shit, calligraphy. Practitioners engage in automatic writing by holding a writing instrument and allowing alleged spirits to manipulate the practitioner's hand. The instrument may be a standard writing instrument or maybe one specifically designed for automatic writing, such as a planchette or a Ouija board. She would do that on there in the Ouija.

Yeah. So her mother found some of these writings. Oh, boy. And gave them to ministers who then attempted to, quote, cast out her demons, which I'm sure was great for her psychologically as well. As we all know, exorcisms really do a great job on people's psyches as we found out over time that ought to fix her that ought to do it um so she claimed though that these weren't bad spells she wasn't trying to do anything black magic or anything

crazy weird she just had created love spells to get two boys she liked to want to date her that's what she was doing hell yeah which every teenager does that in some way shape or form whether they do it formally through automatic writing or they just try to conjure some you know positive visualization in their head or or spray on some polo sport or just close their eyes and jerk off one of the three that's a good way for guys yeah that's so i dated many a girl all of them all of the hot girls so they that's how that goes um she also says she hears voices yeah which is a problem obviously she says she started hearing voices at age 13

and also claimed to have visual hallucinations of things such as snakes, spirits, and demons. Okay, but she's also on drugs. She's also on drugs, and yeah. By 15, she was starting to be sexually active voluntarily. She also was experimenting with a lot of drugs by 15, like weed and booze, as a lot of kids do, with a lot of drugs by 15. Like, you know, weed and booze, as a lot of kids do. Sure.

But also LSD, taking acid, dropping acid. Doing PCP, so she's doing dust. This is the mid-90s. Dust is very... I smoked dust too in the mid-90s, mixed with weed and blunts. Not for fun, though, right? Not on purpose? Yeah, on purpose. Jesus Christ, James.

Yeah, you buy the little fucking beacon, and you buy the little Red Devil bags, and you mix them with blunts, and that shit was shit was good yeah i was a fucking hooligan that's why you're out of your fucking mind man and uh also doing coke and shit which i don't like any uppers of any kind so that never my thing did that once she's really wow this is horrible she's really trying everything except for meth huh yeah i don't know how much meth there was in the mid 90s in a rural area too good point yeah that was it's that was tough to find probably tougher than now it's everybody's got it i'm sure oh god it's fucking insane she said she tripped

about on acid about 14 times which is a lot that's a good it's a decent amount um i'll tell you whether or not you like it i'm still i'm still not sure how i feel still on the fence i'm on the fence let me try it a couple more let's get to 20 she said she had two bad trips which two out of 14 not bad that usually happens earlier then you learn how to set up your set yourself up for success like by like the fourth fifth time you do acid you have a whole there's a whole plan and a structure for the night you're gonna be our zero variables yeah we're gonna watch this we're gonna watch this i bought these things to play with and i got things to do and we're not going anywhere we're locking the doors zero variables yeah one time during a bad trip she had a worse

one than i ever had uh she tried to chew her friend's arm just like eat her friend's arm i don't know if she had like a bugs bunny on a stranded on an isolated island fantasy that her friend turned into a chicken or what jesus remember when bugs would be stranded and every time it was that turkey looked great it looks so good and a big hamburger i've never had i've never had a meal that looked as good or on uh whenever they would be barbecuing a steak on a cartoon it looks so good the bone in the middle the little bone in the middle what is that i don't know what steak i don't know what i've never seen that steak before but i've been looking for it since i was three i really i've never seen that steak in my entire life if i find one it's on i'm gonna eat that shit out of that

thing boy it's all i'll be doing is barbecuing cartoon steaks. It's probably some shit cut, right? It's got to be like something they throw in the trash. Some terrible cut from the 50s. Yeah, for dogs. That's made into good dog food now. That's what that is. So the second time she had a bad trip, she sat alone on the bathroom floor for hours, which that'll give you a bad trip.

You got to get around people. You can't just sit in a room and stare at a wall. No, that's why you can't take too much acid because you have to be aware enough to go, you're on drugs. Yeah. You did this on purpose. This is what happens. Yeah. This is what you wanted.

Now, this is how these are the steps you have to take to try to fix what's going on here and do positive things. You paid money for this. Yeah. And she's got to have friends. That's what you do with friends, too, because you look for your friends. You got to look out for people if you're tripping. So if you see somebody sitting on the bathroom floor, you go, hey, come on, Karen. Let's go.

Let's go do something. Come on. Yay. Also, at 14, you're not capable of handling this. I think it was like 15, 16 she was doing this. It's still a bit young, right? That's when I was doing it. I don't know.

Still, it's not. I wouldn't recommend it for kids. No. If you're listening and you're 15, I don't recommend acid for you for a long while. My kid's 15. I don't recommend fucking sugar for him. Yeah, yeah. He's out of control already.

Yeah, you give my son a Sprite. It's on. Watch out. Not even the caffeine, just sugar. Sprite and you've got to fucking pat down the hatches. Oh boy, Tasmanian devil on your hands. Yeah. Psychological testing indicates that Karen functions within the, medically I'm going to use this, quote unquote, borderline

retarded range of intelligence. Her IQ is 78. Okay. But did she take that test? Forrest Gump is 72. So just to... I always do the Gump scale. Like, think of Forrest Gump. This is close there.

But did they take it on a day that she was drugged up do you know what i mean because no this is a couple different times we'll talk about it but that's that's the number um a psychiatrist stated that she does not suffer from a primary mental retardation but and she has the potential to function within the average range of intelligence and has an ability to speak effectively but does not function well under pressure and gives up easily she's got a host of problems she's got a bunch of problems to her yeah all stemming she needs a lot of help is what she needs so um she had low grades and she she said she never paid attention in school and they said she probably also has add at the same time too

sure she drops out of school at the age of 16 she started as a freshman at three different high schools 14 15 16 oh yeah that do and then just couldn't why would you even why would you she did she after her first semester of high school she moved in with her father and that was you know they never really even talked she said which was weird after a few months she moved back in with her mother and she said it was fine with her dad. It wasn't that bad, but she just wanted to move in with her mother. But she couldn't require she said she couldn't perform the required work in school. She couldn't do it. So she was going to try to get her GED.

She was also babysitting for her brother and sister in law every day. And her sister in law was helping her study for her GED. her brother and sister-in-law every day and her sister-in-law was helping her study for her ged so uh her mother by the way had been has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and has similar behavioral patterns to her whereas the depression and then hyperactivity and rage and these waves her mother on her on her her grandmother on her mother's side and her grandfather were also diagnosed bipolar. So genetic. Yeah, certainly runs in the family. She she meets some new friends here.

Perfect. That. Yeah. Who is she going to attract? You know what I mean? Who is she going to look for as a kid? That's rebelling. Yeah.

She finds a young lady named Natasha Cornett. Natasha Wallen at the time. She'll later be Natasha Cornett when she gets married, when she turns 18 for like four months. So she's from Betsy Lane, Kentucky. And Cornett also likes witchcraft and also claims to hear voices. So they're a match made in heaven here. Yeah, it's wow. It's a lot.

They she comes from a really tumultuous family here. Yeah. Her mother, I guess. Well, her mother was divorced and had a kid when she was born. She her father, I guess, didn't realize that her mother was having an affair. And that's what she is. The product of was this affair that her mother didn't know about so she thought her father was her father till she was five when she learned that a guy named roger burgess who was a pikeville kentucky police officer was actually her father oh my god so that's a little you're starting on shaky ground when that's what you're finding out at five that's what that's what made manson that's you can That's what made Manson. You can't. You gotta. Fuck, man.

Sometimes facts suck, but you gotta be honest with these kids, man. My God. Jesus. That's rough, man. You gotta tell them who and what they are. Fuck. Apparently, one of her boyfriends,

one of her mom's boyfriends, made an attempt to be a father figure to her, but when Natasha was seven, her mother left the relationship. Iasha was seven her mother left the relationship and i'm sorry the guy left the relationship because her mother had persistent infidelities so and violent outbursts because she's got mental illness that's untreated at that point yeah she's a party uh natasha was smoking cigarettes by the age of five okay she found out her dad wasn't her dad and was like let let me tell you something, sweetheart.

You think you got problems, honey. I got it much worse, all right? I got kindergarten tomorrow. I'm doing mornings. I want to do afternoon. It was all full up. I got to pile up over here. I got to get checked out later on. Hand me the Marlboros, would you?

Hey, honey, would you hand me the Benson and Hedges, please? Thank you. I smoked a 120s. It's a better value. Get more for my dollar. Get more for my dollar. So in 1985, her mom was treated successfully for breast cancer. So it's really a lot.

Really, really a lot, I'll tell you. I mean, she's got a lot of stuff. She's being put with different people. When her mom's sick, she's living with her grandmother and all of that. She was fascinated with her grandmother's discussions of the paranormal, apparently. And she got into that from there and got into the occult. And her grandmother claimed that she could speak with dead people. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. and her grandmother claimed that she could speak with dead people. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So her mother then that year, she went back with her mother, and then her mother had a nervous breakdown and a back surgery. I wonder why. Oh, my God. So then after having an affair with a married attorney in Pikeville, her mom filed a suit for sexual harassment against somebody else at her job or something. And finally at this point, her mom gets medication and some psychiatric counseling, which will help stabilize home at least.

So that's good. Take somebody literally blowing her back out for a day. Yeah. Get some therapy. Fuck yeah. But Natasha, by the sixth grade, she's already dealing with bulimia and depression. Oh my God. She lost 30 pounds and was hospitalized for an eating disorder in the sixth grade.

Sixth grade. Oh, man. Her clock is way sped up. She's smoking by five, having eating disorders by fucking 10, 11. This girl's 19. This is insane. She's 11 having problems with this. Right.

So, wow. It's a lot. problems with this right so wow it's a lot um her father i guess her real father the police officer his wife ends up dying so he starts to show an interest in her and like calling her and stuff because her wife this guy's wife didn't want nothing to do with his affair child right now now that lady's dad that hates me uh for what i did yeah now i can do this uh but that relationship was on again, off again. In elementary school,

she was a straight-A student. Really? Yeah, she'd have to take a few smoke breaks every day, but other than that, when she'd get in the classroom, she was really focused.

She was up with a thermos and a cigarette. Yeah, no shit. Thermos full of coffee. Yeah, smoke on. All right.

Let's get to these fucking ABCs. What do you say? Let's go. I brought a nice egg salad sandwich for lunch. Smoke on. All right. Let's get to these fucking ABCs. What do you say? Let's go. I brought a nice egg salad sandwich for lunch. Smoking. Yeah, yeah. The farmer and the dell. Let's go.

Yeah, the farmer and the dell. Yeah, yeah. Moo moo here and a moo moo there. All right. Jesus Christ. Bingo is his name-o. I'm going to play another one. I know the end of this one already.

Come on. Fuck you, spider. I don't care how big he is. Christ. Itsy or bitsy. That thing ain't going to fit down the drain, you know. It's going to get clogged. You're going to have to call a plumber.

That's, you know, $89 an hour we're talking. I don't know what you want to spend. It's $75 for him to show up. Just to get in the door, it's $75. Flush that motherfucker down the toilet let's get over it so I feel terrible for this girl honestly she everybody said before like the 7th grade

she'd been a good student polite conservative in dress and that sort of thing by 6th grade she's cutting herself and she's wearing dark clothing and black fingernails and dark eye makeup and lip makeup. But she's just dressing gothy, 90s, kind of Marilyn Manson-y at the time. Yeah, she's leaning into feeling like an outcast.

Yeah, which would be fine because everybody can express that except her grades slipped and all that sort of thing. She's become sexually active at about 13 when she was a little young. Oh, no. Also, she fought with her mother all the time. In 1993, she threatened to cut herself with a knife, and her mother tried to take the knife away, so then she threatened to stab her mother with it. Okay.

That's jail time, right? Well, yeah. Her mom called the police, and she was arrested. She was released by police into the custody of her father. While living there, she tried to commit suicide by slashing her wrists. She's hospitalized for 11 days for psychiatric care at that time. Here's a couple diary entries from her. Oh, lucky me to rot in this godforsaken world.

This is such a teenager. Yeah, this is just Winona Ryder and Beetlejuice. Yeah, that's that's what I mean. It could just be that because that's what she did too. But you never know. 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 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 in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. In May of 1980 near Anaheim, California, Dorothy Jane Scott noticed her friend had an inflamed

red wound on his arm and seemed unwell. She insisted on driving him to the local hospital to get treatment. While he waited for his prescription, Dorothy went to grab her car to pick him up at the exit, but would never be seen alive again. Leaving us to wonder, decades later, what really happened to Dorothy Jane Scott? From Wondery, Generation Y is a podcast that covers notable true crime cases like this one and many more. Every week, hosts Aaron and Justin sit down to discuss a new case, covering every angle 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. I am death. Look at me. I am hate. Do hate me. Never love me. No, for I am the unloved, untouched, and unwanted. Give me, take me, shred me away so I will not harm. unwanted. Give me, take me, shred me away so I will not harm. Jesus, that's dark for a 14-year-old. She then writes, what's happening to me? I feel my hatred rise unto the most inner parts of my soul. Love seems to be a common word now. Tears flow, but why do they? Will no one love me? Will hell take me from all this confusion and pain?

Will death no longer take my surrender? Stare at me in fright and confusion, for I am different. I am alien to the world you live. Fill my heart of death for what is said I do not understand. Jeez, that's a lot. Her diary that all this was written in is a pink book with a unicorn on it by the way that's what makes it fucking weird that's really does um wow is it like you know is it ironic is yeah doing it ironically like i'll buy this cute frilly shit and then write all this dark shit in it i bet someone gave her to gave it to her for her birthday or something she's like well i got a diary i mean it's pink watch watch this she could have sharpied it over you know i

think she probably found the irony amusing she seems smart by the by her writing she doesn't see yeah that's that's the other part she's a very very sharp girl to understand those words and uh also stuffed in her diary were two movie tickets from an October 22nd, 1995 showing of Halloween. An anniversary release or one of those deals. So also her walls and ceilings in her mom's trailer in her bedroom in the trailer are covered with her writings. And she lets her friend write all over the walls. And oh, like written on it, not like a tape. No, no, no, no.

Writing on the wall. Whoa. like graffiti. She was diagnosed with severe depression and also bipolar disorder, was prescribed Prozac and lithium, which if you watch The Sopranos in the first season when Junior tries to have him killed, spoiler alert if you haven't seen it, Tony's in this haze the whole time where he's just like he's until that gunshot happens there's this music and he's like this weird ethereal dream sequence he's on prozac and lithium at the same time that's what's causing this lithium's heavy shit he has for a especially for a child one yeah he's a 275 pound mob boss and he's having right there's a whole

episode that's a lithium hallucination of a woman next door that doesn't exist remember he had lunch with nobody so she's got a lot of issues um she entered at 15 the big sandy kentucky impact program which was a treatment program designed to help children through school and cope with family issues, but she dropped out because she said it wasn't doing any good. She told a psychiatrist she believed she had lived prior lives and had out-of-body experiences and believed that her soul may have become pregnant at one point in her life, but not her body.

I didn't know you could get a soul knocked up, but that's a whole new level of scary for all you kids out there. That's a deep dick. You can get her soul pregnant wow that's a big old cock it's a hammer she drops out of school before completing the ninth grade and uh by 14 she's arrested for the the theft of a box of checks and for forgerygery. She gets probation for that, and then she's arrested for threatening her mother with a knife, and the court dismissed those charges. She's drinking. She's using drugs.

She's even using, like, heroin and ecstasy and shit, too. Like, she's not just having a little fun here. She also found crystal meth, too. So she got into meth. She said she tripped on acid over 100 times. At what age? 16, 15. That's dead serious, man.

Yes. She married, on her 17th birthday, she married Steve Cornette. That's how she ends up with that last name. And while Natasha, she said that they dress different. So they make a big deal out of the fact that they dressed in goth shit to get married. They were chained together by collars and shit, like all that shit. They were married like four months. That didn't go anywhere.

Chained together. Yeah. So Natasha had depression after that. You know, when you're a 17-year-old divorcee, that'll happen. Yeah, yeah. And then she moved to New Orleans where she panhandled on the streets with a girlfriend of hers in the late 90s in the late night in 96 97 master p is right next to her selling tapes out of the trunk of his car and she's like hey can i got five bucks let me get the hey percy you got five bucks um she says she was raped on the street while she was there oh god damn it horrible surprise

yeah uh but what ended up happening is she moves back into her home she's having problems um but there's no supervision her mom lets her do whatever she wants she's got a group of friends that she believes to have led the group in dark practices. She will say as well. Uh, she considers herself a vampire and named her black dog Malkavian after a blood sucking clan and her favorite vampire fantasy board game. Okay. Um,

a, a kid from school described her as a dark soul. Who'd give you the willies. Okay. Um, yeah. Uh, so, so uh then there's a kid here we'll enter named jason blake bryant he's 14 he's from marrow bone kentucky that is a real place marrow bone one word marrow bone kentucky yeah oh one word. Okay. Maybe that's the bone that's in the middle of that really good steak. It has to be. What would be in the middle of that bone?

Marrow. It's a marrow bone steak. Now, this kid is only 14 when he meets her in March of 1997 when she's 18. Jason Blake Bryant is his name. Jason Bryant. He's 14. She picked him up on a street corner in Pikeville, Kentucky, and took him home with her.

While he was there, she gave him vodka and bourbon. Then they kissed and spent the night at her home. And she said she didn't know. Both of them said she didn't know how old he was until the next morning. At 14, he's walking down the street, gets picked up by an older girl. She gives him booze and then makes out with him. Oh, my God. Who gives you booze and hangs.

Yeah. Best day ever. None of his friends are ever going to believe this, by the way. Ever. Yeah, that's his big bitch story. Yeah, right. Sure. No, she was hot.

She had black lipstick and shit. It was awesome. Yeah, it was all over my face. I had black thingies. All right, man. Yeah, right. Okay. It was awesome. It was all over my face. I had black thingies. All right, man. All right, okay. Sure, sure. Sure.

He has an IQ of 85, which again is, you know, average is 100. So, you know, it's approaching it, but still not great. It's one of the highest in Kentucky, though. It's still pretty good. For the panhandle region of Kentucky, not bad. Not bad, yeah. He has, according to tests, the social skills of an 11 year old, though. Oh, boy.

So, yeah, he has also a history of drug and alcohol abuse from the age of he began to use alcohol as early as the age of three, which I don't even know. No, you didn't. I mean, he might have said that felt good when I did that. I mean, somebody rubbed it on your gums when you were teething. That's not using alcohol. He said he used marijuana and other drugs since the age of nine. I feel like there's a lot of parental supervision going on here. It's going great.

Yeah. He was arrested twice in 1996. The first charge was that he was, quote, beyond the school's control. I don't know what the hell that means. That's a charge? That's a charge. You get arrested for that. Beyond the school.

And also he was found to be a habitual runaway because he stole his sister's car and had a joyride to Indiana. Sweet Christ. States across the state line. Not going well. He is during his period of supervision for probation. After that, he passed drug screenings and all of this, but he'll end up seeing Natasha again in April,

1997. They don't see each other for a while after the first initial hookup, April, 1997, though they hook up again. And this time there's more people there we'll talk about, too. Now Natasha has her own boyfriend. So, you know, no more.

Brian's not going to hook up. Edward Dean Mullins, who's 19. He's from Toler, Kentucky. And he is at this point in the process of getting his GED. He doesn't really drink, doesn't do any hard drugs. He smoked weed a few times. That's pretty much all he does here. No criminal record. I don't know where

she's... That's what I mean. He's like a guy in a romantic comedy that's like, her wild spirit, I don't know, it just takes me away. She's so free. It's weird. I just quit my job. She says what's on her mind. I quit my job at the insurance company and we're driving cross country. I don't know.

Got to take your chances sometimes. Got to do it. He worked at a grocery store for a while and that sort of thing. But he ends up moving in with Natasha. Yeah. And his family did not like his interest in her because they said he had negative changes immediately in his behavior. He used to attend church and then he became involved with her and all of that

sort of thing. They're planning to be married by the way. Why not? Oh boy. Joseph Lance Reisner, he's 20 years old from Paintsville, Kentucky. He is dating Karen Howell, the first girl we talked about there. Okay. He's born in Hazard

Kentucky him and the Duke boys I guess yeah uh no juvenile record uh either he's had kind of a tough life too is is never met his biological father um his mom was married a couple of times but he said he had a good relationship with his stepdad so nothing too terrible there nothing awful he did he started to use uh he started his parents started to do drugs a lot which kind of i guess fucked him up um yeah there's and then his father had an affair or stepfather had an affair with one of his mother's close friends. That blew up the whole family and that wasn't great. That's not good. He also uses weed. Weed, booze, does some acid, does shit like that. Said he first did acid

at 11, which is a little too early. He had sexual relationships with babysitters by 12. He was hooking up with the babysitters and flunking out of 7th grade basically by that time. You get a taste of adult woman.

Why are you going to go to school? This is dumb now. Yeah. It's hard to learn about Abe Lincoln's hat now. It's not going to work. Then he gets a stepdad. The stepdad ends up crashing into somebody and pleading guilty to charges of reckless homicide and second degree assault and getting sent away for prison.

Holy shit. So that screwed him up too. As a guy he was finally close to, this happens. June of 95, Reisner joined the army but gets kicked out immediately for testing positive for weed. He doesn't even make it through basic training here. Dishonorable.

Dishonorable. I don't even know if he's discharged. I don't even know if he got a uniform yet. Yeah. We didn't even issue you anything. Just fuck off. We'll just tear the paper up and throw it in the garbage. It never happened. Get the hell out of here.

So, yeah, he's got some issues, we'll say here. But he's actually doing good in school at this. He started doing well in school and that sort of thing so yeah he was doing all right but then he's dating this girl and things are to start to go downhill also krista renal arena sturgill or sturgill uh crystal sturgill she's 18 it's got to be sturgill sturgill sturgill s-t-u-r-g-i-l-l yeah that sounds like sturgill yeah it probably is especially there they're going to call be Sturgill. Sturgill, Sturgill, S-T-U-R-G-I-L-L. Yeah, that sounds like Sturgill. Sturgill, yeah, it probably is. Especially there, they're going to call it Sturgill.

That's how Sturgill Simpson spells his first name, so it's got to be Sturgill. There you go. Yeah, I think it has to be. That's a good point. So she's in her senior year at Betsy Lane High School in Betsy Lane, Kentucky. That's a town, Betsy Lane, Kentucky. It's named after Betsy Lane. Betsy Lane, it has to be. She's a big deal. She planned to go to Murray State after graduating.

Oh! Wants to major in child psychology. She's very good in school. She does well. No criminal record or anything like that. One time she did receive an in-school suspension for smoking in a locker room. And she was once suspended for three days for fighting on the school bus with a girl

who she thought was picking on her younger brother. I hope she won. That's good. That's good character to me here. She's involved in the Future Homemakers of America organization. Does that still exist? In the 90s in Kentucky, apparently. She hoped to marry her boyfriend, Patrick Charles,

as a means of leaving home. So this has really rewound the clock 30 years from where they were here. She also accused her stepfather of sexually abusing her. She claimed the abuse started when she was four years old. Oh, my God.

What the fuck? And by 13, her stepfather was having sex with her. But then he stopped when she started dating this boy she wanted to marry. So she's going to hold on to this guy like grim fucking death, whether he's good or not, because at least it's not her stepfather jumping up and down on her. What is that about? Do you think it's man? She told, I guess, her her guidance counselor about the abuse and everything, too.

So, yeah. her guidance counselor about the abuse and everything too. So, yeah. So then she was placed in some other home, in a foster home, and she stopped attending school when she made the allegations that basically sent everything into the toilet. God damn it. Yeah, not great. That's supposed to fix your life.

God, fuck. Then she had moved to Arizona for some reason and ended up coming back, and everyone had turned her down as a place to live. She had nowhere to live, she called natasha cornet just because she knew people were allowed to crash at her house all the time she didn't even know her that well she didn't even like her and natasha said sure you're more than welcome and her mom didn't care so there you go and that kind of you know made her part of that now by this time karen Howell and Tasha Cornett, they were really close friends. They say that Cornett said she could communicate with Karen during out-of-body experiences.

So they can communicate with each other from separate places. She also described Karen as her soulmate, but not in a sexual way, she said. Yeah, she's a best friend. Yeah, and stated that they cut themselves and drank each other's blood, too. Oh, Jesus. So, yeah. In April of 1997 here, they went to a motel, the Colley Motel in Pikeville, which is closed now. It's 30 miles east on the West Virginia border.

I bet it's beautiful. Of Kentucky. Oh, I'm sure it's lovely. They were in. They were sweet. It's a a 27 per night motel okay so even now it would be 69 bucks which is not okay that's great that's a terrible unacceptable not gonna be good you expect you're taking home bed bugs just know it know it no

luggage burn your clothes on the way out yeah you. You're going to have ringworm. Oh, for sure. That's without saying. I'm just bed bugs. You never know. So they're in room seven. And I guess this night they said that her mother, Natasha's mother, later said that they, quote, did something in a hotel room that unleashed a powerful demon spirit on them. That's what her mother says the very religious natasha cornetts cornetts mother um it's very weird but they gathered up um to burn

black candles and do some kind of bullshit we'll say here apparently that night jason bryant the 14 year old who made out with natasha there last for a while, they tried to burn, I guess he carved something in his skin that night. And also they attempted to burn 666 into the hotel room's carpet. Which teenagers do dumb shit. Okay. They thought that because of this, the next day they were like, oh, fuck, we're going to get in trouble for fucking this room up. So they instead stole some shit from the office and attempted to take off. They're on the run.

They're on the lam. Why not just complain and say this was already here? There's a big 666 burned in the carpet. Why would you give me this room? This place is crazy. No, instead they stole a television set from the office and several pairs of work boots.

Okay. Very odd here. So then they went to a campfire, but there was a bunch of other kids there and they wouldn't talk to them. They were just like by themselves, sat around a fire. Then they stole they broke into two homes in Paintsville taking two semi-automatic pistols.

Okay. Now it's getting real bad. Yes. So they go from Kentucky. The plan was go to New Orleans because Natasha said we can go to New Orleans. I know stuff down there. Okay. Yeah.

So they have a nine millimeter and a 25 caliber pistol and they're on the run here so they realize their car though joseph reisner has a piece of shit chevy citation which if you've ever seen one of those it's a piece of shit they didn't even make that in the 90s no oh it's like an 83 citation it's an old shit box the thing would the wheels will fall off never mind it's not gonna run down to to New Orleans. Cops stopped using them. They're pieces of shit. They're terrible cars. So they decided they should probably steal a car from a parking lot or a dealership or something.

So they have wheels that work. Dealership, brand new. Brand fucking new. But that might draw a lot of attention. So they're like, maybe we'll just steal one from a parking spot somewhere. So they go to an Interstate 81 rest stop near the Baileyton, Tennessee exit of the Interstate where they encounter a van they find.

And they're like, look at that fucking van. There's six of them. There's a bunch of us. A van would be great for this. Yeah. The van is not sitting there unoccupied, though. There's people that drove the van there. The Lilliad family.

Oh, sorry. Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, family. L-I-L-L-E-L-I-D-S. unoccupied though there's people that drove the van there the lilyad family uh sorry lily lily lily lid family l-i-l-l-e-l-i-d-s or l-i-d-s is the whole thing little lids so you got vidar who's 34 years old he's uh the hotel bellman in knoxville he's from norway he moved here 10 years ago oh boy uh he met his wife delphina who is a New Jersey native whose parents are from Honduras. He met her in Miami. They got married in 89 and moved to Knoxville in 92. The man came from another country, shacked up with a beautiful woman, I imagine. You don't find a lot of Honduran chicks in Norway, probably.

So he's like, this is great. This is way different. The man is doing it. That's the American dream. And they're very, very much devout Jehovah's Witnesses. Okay. They are on their way back from a big Jehovah's Witness day-long assembly in Johnson City, Tennessee. That's why they're in the rest stop, because Delfina, who's 28, that's his wife.

They also have two kids with them, Tabitha, who's six, and Peter, who's two. They needed to use the bathroom, so they stopped at the rest stop because, as you know, every rest stop you're stopping at. Road trips are a nightmare with young kids. So Vidar, while the wife is in the bathroom with the kids, sees these young people over here that look troubled. They're wearing gothy stuff.

It's written right on them he goes right up to them and goes hey guys and starts trying to you know preach to them basically and then you know tell them shit and talk about religious views um it'll help them yeah then he has his son peter with him and eventually so he's first he approached cornet and howell so the two girls there natasha Natasha and Karen, then Reisner and Bryant come over and join in the conversation. By then, Delfina, the wife and the daughter, Tabitha, are seated at a nearby picnic table. It's all a lighthearted nightmare on our podcast, Morbid. We're your hosts. I'm Alina Urquhart. And I'm Ash Kelly. And our show is part true crime, part spooky, and part comedy.

The stories we cover are well-researched. He claimed and confessed to officially killing up to 28 people. With a touch of humor. I'd just like to go ahead and say that if there's no band called Malevolent Deity, that is pretty great. A dash of sarcasm and just garnished a bit with a little bit of cursing. This mother****er lied. Like a liar. Like a liar.

And if you're a weirdo like us and love to cozy up to a creepy tale of the paranormal. Or you love to hop in the Wayback Machine and dissect the details of some of history's most notorious crimes. You should tune in to our podcast, Morbid. Follow Morbid on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. our podcast, Morbid. Follow Morbid on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to episodes early and ad-free by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. It's all a lighthearted nightmare on our podcast, Morbid. We're your hosts. I'm Alina Urquhart. And I'm Ash Kelly. And our show is part true crime, part spooky, and part comedy. The stories we cover are well-researched. He claimed and confessed to officially killing up to 28 people.

With a touch of humor. I'd just like to go ahead and say that if there's no band called Malevolent Deity, that is pretty great. A dash of sarcasm and just garnished a bit with a little bit of cursing. This mother****er lied. Like a liar. Like a liar. And if you're a weirdo like us and love to cozy up to a creepy tale of the paranormal.

Or you love to hop in the Wayback Machine and dissect the details of some of history's most notorious crimes. You should tune in to our podcast, Morbid. Follow Morbid on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to episodes early and ad-free by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. I understand that anybody who's paid attention to the media would have to come to the conclusion that I killed my wife. Hi, my name is Zach Stewart-Pontier. I'm one of the filmmakers behind The Jinx, and I'm excited to bring you the official Jinx podcast. We'll be revisiting all six episodes of part one and watching along with part two as it airs on Max starting April 21st.

Bye bye. The official Jinx podcast. Listen on Max or wherever you get your podcasts. And after a time, everybody, they're all talking. The whole family's talking with these people. At some point, Reisner pulls one of the guns out this guy thought he was making progress with them and instead Reisner says quote I hate to do to do you this way but we're gonna have to take you with us for your van and he told them to

get in the van yeah dad said hey well you don't need to take my wallet take my keys it's all yours just leave leave me alone with my kids and he said or just take me leave the leave the wife and kids and they said no no everybody's gonna go okay so vidar drove the van while reisner sat in the passenger seat with a gun on him oh my god um yeah mullins and sturgill everybody's in the van except for mullins and sturgill who are following in the citation. They brought the piece of shit. They brought the piece of shit. Yeah. So the mother, Delfina, starts singing to the kids to try to relax them.

And Bryant points a gun at her and tells her to stop singing, which is ridiculous. In front of children. Tells him to go off the interstate and then turn on to a secluded road off the next exit yeah okay now at this point there's claims that brian this is what the all of them will say later brian the 14 year old took charge of the situation so a 14 year old with an 85 iq is going to dominate a situation wrought with adults why not not? The kid thinks he's invincible. He got to make out with a girl when he was 14. That's true.

A woman. So Reisner claims he handed the gun to Cornette also, his gun to Cornette, saying that he couldn't do any more about this. He was ordering a woman to stop singing a minute ago. Now his conscience is getting to him. Cornette says that she placed the weapon on the floor of the van while Bryant, who had the.25 caliber, ordered the family to stand in front of a ditch. According to everybody but Bryant, they were pleading for their lives, the family, and especially for the lives of the children.

Just let our kids go, for Christ's sake. I mean, Jesus. Kids, too. They're saying, we won't call the cops. Let's go. They said, we're religious people. The Lord will do whatever. We don't care. They were literally saying that. We won't get the cops involved.

They said that all of the kids except for Bryant say that Bryant said no and then that Karen and Natasha pleaded with Bryant to let them go. That's what they say. But according to everybody else, nope. Bryant said, no, no, no. They're going to call the cops.

They got to die. Bryant then he told the girls that I won't hurt the kids. So Natasha and Karen said that they returned to the van where Reisner was the whole time. Then they heard a rapid succession of gun gunshots oh my god some say that the father was the first to be shot some say it was delphina that was the first to be shot so all say that when the shooting stopped bryant returned to the van and said they're still fucking alive he then grabbed the other gun and emptied that one too. Oh my.

Then they said he laughed and bragged about it. After the shootings, Reisner went to his car and removed a license plate, the license plate and the registration from his car, and then he says that as he was trying to get out of there with the van, he accidentally ran the bodies over. Oh dear Christ, ran the bodies over. Oh, dear Christ. Get the fuck out. Because the Bryant guy ordered him to turn the van around.

You know, because he's in charge. And accidentally hit the whole family's dad, James? No, we'll talk about it. Oh, my God. Bryant says it was Reisner who ordered them out of the van, directed them to stand by the ditch. He said that Reisner first shot Vidar with the.25 caliber, then slapped Mullins on the shoulder, and then that Mullins also shot at him, too. Bryant claims that he kept his eyes closed during the shootings, that he never fired either weapon.

He says that Mullins and Reisner ordered the others into the van after the shooting. So the sound of these shots are heard by a nearby there's a house nearby yeah they also heard not only that laughing and hollering something like a party so they thought kids were out there having a party shooting off guns so he called the cops well that lends to one kid not doing it all nope and the cops when they get there they expect to see kids fucking around in a field and instead they don't see that they get there, they expect to see kids fucking around in a field. And instead, they don't see that. They get there. They find a fucking massacre.

They find bodies about 260 feet from the abandoned Chevy Citation that they left there. The adults are lying on their back with their feet extending into the road. Vidar's pants and Delfina's shin-length khaki skirt had tire tracks on them. Oh, God, Jesus. Tabitha, the daughter, was lying across her father's chest, still alive but unconscious. Oh, God. With her shoulder twitching. A bullet entered near her left ear and traveled through her brain, exiting on the right side of her head.

Oh, my God. She was pronounced brain dead at the hospital. And she'll hospital. Right. And she'll die. Yeah. Together, they had all been shot roughly 17 times put together. Good Lord. They also said the bodies were arranged in the ditch.

What? They said they laid the parents out, laid the children over them in the form of a cross, then got in the van, turned around and came back and intentionally and maliciously ran them over. That's what the cops will say due to the evidence on the crime scene there. Holy shit, man. Now, Peter, the two year old, was cradled in his mother's lap. He'd been shot in the eye and chest, but survives. He's listed as stable in stable

condition the next day and will survive his wounds babies are so resilient how is that possible uh vaidor or vidar had been shot a total of six times one to the right side of his head and five to his chest first shot travel was she shot him in the right eye and it entered out of his ear it was fucking horrible that's disturbing as fuck um yeah there's all sorts of the uh there's and he's he has 25 caliber and nine millimeter rounds in him yeah delfina was shot eight times all eight bullets were recovered six from the nine millimetermm, two from the.25. The first of the three shots shattered the bone in her left arm. Second shot from a 9mm shattered the thigh of her left leg.

Jesus, that's painful. They said that these shots would have caused severe pain but wouldn't have killed her, but she wouldn't have been able to stand. Then she was shot six additional times while she lie on it, lay on her back. Imagine that with a child, a mother with a child, you're just coming to dump a clip into this fucking person. Three shots in the stomach, um, in a triangular pattern.

Uh, it's fucking horrible, man. It's absolutely fucking horrible. Six year old Tabitha was shot once in the head. It entered her head on the left side, traveled downward, exited behind her right ear, causing brain death. Jesus.

Oh, by the way, she was able to donate her heart, liver, gallbladder, kidneys, pancreas, spleen, and adrenals. That's nice. I mean, that's horrible, but other kids got to live. Silver Lane. Yeah, Silver Lane. At least there's that. She saved maybe upwards of six lives. I don't know.

I guess Peter somehow, he remained in the hospital for 17 days, then was transferred to a rehabilitation center. Good Lord. These idiots now, these assholes, take their van to a gas station where they buy a road map. They stop at a Waffle House while traveling through Georgia, but they didn't eat because a group of police officers arrived to eat, so they took off.

So they said, fuck New Orleans, let's go to Mexico. Okay. So they get to the border. They're denied admittance because they didn't have proper forms of identification

and, you know, a couple of them are children, but they somehow found a way into Mexico. What? Don't know. You can get into Mexico if you really want to that bad. So somehow there, the 14-year-old Bryant is shot in the hand and leg in Mexico.

That's worse than getting syphilis from a Tijuana brothel. I think I'd rather have that. It's disputed how he got it. Bryant said that Reisner asked him to take the blame for the shootings because he was a juvenile, which that kind of makes sense the way they're all saying it. He said that when he hesitated that Reisner shot him in the hand and the leg. Well, the rest of them said that Bryant shot himself in the hand and the leg. Okay. I believe Bryant.

Yeah. So they're stopped by Mexican authorities. They claimed they're lost. They ordered them out of the van and searched. This is the Federales. Oh, no. They found a knife and a photo album belonging to a family that clearly they weren't a part of. Yeah.

So they ordered them to go to the border to go back to the United States. They said, go back. Get out of here. They're lucky. They're lucky they didn't end up in a Mexican jail. So lucky, yeah. So then the U.S. Customs people did a license plate check and alerted that the

van was stolen and they found out how and everybody was taken in at that point. Oh my god. The idiots. Natasha was carrying two wallets, one that was hers and one she referred to as the shared wallet or the community wallet. The second wallet though contained the social security guard issued to tabitha the six-year-old baby yeah and uh also a 25 caliber slug found on cornet was fired by the

same gun used to kill them as well they found the gun inside the seat back cushion of a chair behind the driver's seat in the van as well. And the nine millimeter was also found there. Sturgill was carrying a key chain and keys. She denied knowing the origin of or how they got in her pocket. But they were Delphina's keys used. Yeah. Used for the front door of their home.

So also, oh, Howell was found carrying Peter's social security card as well. What the fuck, man? So they take him back to Tennessee. There's some delay on extradition. The juveniles fight extradition, but eventually everybody's taken there. They're also going to be charged. The two adults are also going to be charged with custodial interference with Karen Howell and Jason Bryant, who are minors. Yeah.

They're all going to be charged with that. That's not good. When they take them for their initial court appearance, there's a huge crowd outside. It's like a lynch mob that has gathered outside yelling murderers and child killers, and they have to protect them. Yeah. They're all shackled up and getting someone yelled out murderers. You're all going to die.

The county sheriff said, it really doesn't surprise me the crowd yelling there are a bunch of unruly hillbillies around here so this is going to happen they won't even say the full town name I can't control them but he said a crime such as this really upsets a community

especially with children involved that's understandable he said I can understand, but we have our criminal justice system to go through, and we're going to do that. We're not going to just hand them over to the crowd. Cornette's mom said that she talked with her daughter on the phone and told her that her daughter said she was scared. She said, I told her to get her Bible and pray.

She also said that there are three natasha's this is good there is the sweet caring little girl i raised there is the girl who would do anything for her friends by the way that didn't raise that one the sweet one is the one she's responsible for the language is very telling here it's very specific yeah and then there is a dark side that likes to play on the Ouija board and do seances and play vampire games. I got nothing to do with that kid. Yeah. She said, my heart goes out to the families of those killed. It breaks my heart to think of my daughter shooting babies.

Jesus fucking Christ. So, Cornette, when she's in jail, she does a press conference from jail. What? she does a press conference from jail what saying that satan will aid me and that uh the all the youths or the youth around the world should raise hell while they can before the world ends she also said that quote i guess it was my calling evil meaning she said the spirits and demons started talking to me when i was two years old and they raised me to be an occultist. So she said, I've had a lot of rough times. I looked to God, and he didn't help.

But the demons did. Now, her attorney, who's a fucking idiot, named Eric Kahn, this is his idea. To do the press conference? He's never done a criminal case before, by the way. This is a death penalty case. He's shooting from the hip. He doesn't know what the fuck he's doing. Yes, that's exactly what it is.

He's trying to go for an insanity plea. He says, quote, every aspect of the case involves the occult, every single aspect. You cannot separate any part of it because the occult was the driving force for the children's trip. It's the driving force behind anything and everything that might not that might or might not have happened in this case. So they asked her if she's insane since they're talking about insanity. She said, sometimes I feel crazy, but no, I don't think I'm insane. Yeah.

Yeah. She also ruined her. Your lawyer hates you. Yeah. She says she talks about her friend Karen and said, she's my soulmate. We've kissed, but it's not like that. And she said, we're not a cult.

We're just a group of friends interested in the mystical. Uh-oh. Yeah. She said, quote, for all the children of the world to stand up for their rights and beliefs and to raise hell while they can,

the world's going to end soon. My father, Satan, will aid me. Oh, boy. So her attorney ends up getting kicked off the fucking case. That's a dumb thing to do. The judge says, you don't know what you're doing. This is a death penalty case. This is going to get hard appealed.

So he said this, quote, she believes, he said this in court, she believes that Armageddon has already begun, begun, that in the year 2000, all of mankind will no longer exist and that she and these other antichrists will reform the world into this new being new shape until the year 2012. And then life will begin a new under a new control. Evil will become greater than it already is and will rule everything. Oh, boy. Holy shit. So shit so yeah they they ended up saying get the fuck out of here um after that i feel like that has tainted so much with the trial because that's what they all think that the new lawyers make a deal with the prosecutors

because now the prosecutors are like we can't fucking try these kids on the death penalty that's all fucked up so he offers them a deal oh to plead guilty so they get a deal we'll get to it in a second here now um yeah the attorney by the way that's that's the judge imagine what he said to that guy you fucking dipshit the admonishment must have been so rad so they they plead guilty and here is what the judge says to Karen Howell. I'm going to give you what the judge says here. They say that, he says, number one, in mitigation, it

says that you were abused and neglected as a child, that you have a borderline retarded IQ of 78, which is not what you want in court documents, that you subordinate yourself to the needs of others in the group and that you have shown remorse the mitigating evidence evidence though is overcome and rebutted by the credible facts of the case that for a long time before this occurred you'd been doing drugs and participating in things of an occult nature and the occult mark continued on this case

throughout the events that transpired that that doesn't make any difference though that's the thing like this is like west memphis here like it doesn't make that shit doesn't make any difference though that's the thing like this is like west memphis here like it doesn't make that shit doesn't matter did you do it is he is he saying that or is he saying uh is he is he leaning it on the occult or is he saying like you are twisted and you're doing twisted shit well she well then he gets into the facts of the thing you helped steal guns and money you helped initiate the plans for the trip with ms cornette you were at the picnic table at the rest area with the lilla lids uh when you were when they the facts of the thing. You helped steal guns and money. You helped initiate the plans for the trip with Ms. Cornette. You were at the picnic table at the rest area with the little lids,

uh, when you were, when they were kidnapped and, uh, when they were crying, you were outside the van watching them be murdered. You did nothing to stop it when a weapon was available to you. Cause she said, she claimed she had it.

You deliberately and knowingly participated in every aspect of the killings and the things that led to them, including the getaway and cover-up you ma'am may fuck off life in prison without parole oh boy yeah she's 18 right now was 17 oh my god that's so long that's forever long fucking time um yeah they talk about cornet here natasha and they talk about all of her psychological stuff from the past, and they said, yeah, you've got some mitigating circumstances, but quote, not only do the

statutory aggravating circumstances outweigh those, but those mitigating circumstances are in fact rebutted by the facts of this case. A history of some violent behavior, the fact that you had killing on your mind when you left Kentucky, not necessarily a ringleader, but the evidence shows that you were the instigator and orchestrator of the trip and the things that led to the death of the family.

You took an active part in the kidnapping and at the rest area. You suggested that the guns be obtained. You, ma'am, may fuck off. Life without. Oh, boy. Edward Mullins, you had positive gunshot residue on your sweater you participate i think brian's telling the truth by the way yeah i think so too i think you did you participated in all the events in kentucky you left the rest area with the family and mr reisner's automobile you didn't

have to do that it was a deliberate knowing act following the van you guys could have turned off if you didn't want to and And you started this whole fucking thing. He said, and there's really no proof of it, but the proof is that Delfina and Tabitha were crying at the picnic table before they got in the van. And it seems to me that conversations with them about that, it's illogical to assume beyond a reasonable doubt

that you had to know something was wrong. You participated in the getaway and cover-up. You were in the van for two days with their property, a baby seat under your feet, children's toys. You had chances to get away, to do something about what was going on,

to report that a child had been murdered and a baby left for dead. You did nothing. You were a participant in it by your own actions and your non-actions, and I find, therefore, that the sentence should be in each of the three counts

of first-degree murder, life without the possibility of parole. Sir, may fuck off. Jason Bryant is 15. Oh, boy. Quote, I find that you were aggressively urging others on to do things at that time that you personally carried one of the guns that in fact you were a shooter. I don't know who all who all were the shooters. I think there was more than one. I have seen

no real remorse or emotion displayed by you. I find the evidence shows that you were aggressive in the killings, that you helped use the gun. I helped use a gun to kidnap them in the first place. You had gunshot residue all over you. You were in the van for two days with their property under your feet, including a baby seat.

You bragged about the crimes while you were in jail in Arizona. Oh, boy. You have a history of drug abuse and a callous attitude. You, sir, may fuck off. Life without parole. Oh, he's a baby. Wow.

Reisner, again, you, sir, may fuck off. Life without parole. He said you were a leader, not, sir, may fuck off. Life without parole. Wow. He said, you were a leader. Not the leader, but a leader. You had the presence of mind to take the tag from your car, your papers, and clothes at the scene. Yeah, it's like he's never heard of a VIN number. What a dork.

That's exactly. Leave his car sitting there. And then finally, Crystal Sturgill. They said there's some mitigating circumstances. But they said there was a lot of talk in Kentucky about death and killing before you set out. You were present. The rituals, the burglarizing, stealing, getting the guns and preparing. Tabitha and Delfina were crying before you left. Just like I told Mr. Mullins, you may not have pulled the trigger.

You may have been horrified by this, but everything that you did showed that you adopted this and gave it your name. Oh, my. You left a baby for dead at the crime scene. Used, ma'am, young lady may fuck off life without parole again. Oh, my God. All six of them. Every single fucking one of them. Life without fucking parole.

Wow. That's the deal they made. Reactions. One of the cops involved said, I know one thing. They're getting what they deserve. Every one of them. Because anyone who would shoot a kid point blank and he shook his head and said they're getting what they deserve absolutely that's cold fucking blooded man um they said the prosecutor said it's never entirely clear exactly who shot them or in what way or when doesn't matter he

said when it was all done they got back in the van and went to Mexico. Right. So that's that. They said by getting away, by getting away wasn't what most what was uppermost in their minds. I think it was the notoriety they wanted. What's the point of doing this if no one knows? 2001, by the way, authorities alleged that Natasha Cornett tried to help her friend Chris Krista Gale Pike, who was on death row also for murdering or was on death row at the time for murdering an 18 year old woman, kill another woman in prison. They say that they tried to strangle her with shoelaces. What the shit? OK.

Little Peter, by the way, moved back to Sweden. With family. Yep. They said he was doing fine in 2007. He was full of life and doing okay. It's wild. By the way, letters in prison, Howell and Sturgill write letters to each

other, to the newspaper, and one of them said, I'm no longer the broken shell of a girl who is too afraid to stand up on that gravel road. I still struggle with the scars that so many years of abuse have left with me, but the woman I have grown into would have done more to hide her face and cry I don't care. These kids are definitely not all equally guilty. No.

I don't think. If you've ever been in a group, there's some people that are just going along. And by a lot of their past, they really didn't have the tools to you know do but still you can't shoot babies in the face like we can't have that we can't do it 2012 the u.s supreme court found the courts couldn't make mandatory sentences of life without parole for juveniles what the court found that the child circumstances had to be carefully weighed. So it couldn't be automatic, but you can sentence them to that. Okay.

It can't be an automatic thing. So all the people who are juveniles are filing cases for that that are still going on because they're all still in prison. 2017, Peter was still living in Sweden. Yeah, Sweden now. He was from Norway originally. They asked him what he thought of Tennessee and he said it seemed like a nice place. I don't know.

I haven't been there. Why would you ask him that? Jesus Christ. 2019, he moves to the U.S. to work in the IT field. Really? He got married in 2020 has a wife named Caitlin

and they settled in Sanford, Connecticut. Good for him. New York City. He's not fantastic. He said he has nothing to say to the murderers he said uh but to the people of eastern tennessee he said thank you thank you for everything you did it played out very well in the end as well as it could have he has no he has no recollection of the of the yeah he lost an eye and has neurological damage forever because of it. So that is Bailton, Tennessee.

Holy shit. Maybe pronounce it and bad shit won't happen there. Yeah. I blame the name. So there you go. If you like that, leave a review on whatever app you're listening on. Shut up and give me murder.com virtual live show for 20 Saturday night,

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