Small Town Murder - #587 - Confessions Of A Monster - Gastonia, North Carolina

Episode Date: April 17, 2025

This week, in Gastonia, North Carolina, when bodies start being found in remote locations, detectives must piece together the last brutal hours of these lives. After speaking to many people, detectives find one particular man, who has too many coincidences with all the victims. He shockingly confesses to everything they're suspicious of, then begins to tell police about even more murders!!Along the way, we find out that bands named after dirt bikes might not be that great, that smoking crack is dangerous for many reasons, and that once you give a detailed confession, it's hard to take it back!!New 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.

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. When Luigi Mangione was arrested for allegedly shooting the CEO of United Healthcare, he didn't just spark outrage. He ignited a cultural firestorm. Is the system working or is it time for a reckoning? I'm Jesse Weber. Listen to Law and Crime's Luigi exclusively on Wondery+. When a young woman named Desiree vanishes without a trace, the trail leads to Cat Taurus, a charismatic influencer with millions of followers. But behind the glamorous posts and inspirational quotes, a sinister truth unravels.

Binge all episodes of Don't Cross Cat early and ad-free on Wondery Plus. This week in Gastonia, North Carolina, when bodies start being found in remote locations, detectives must piece together the last brutal hours of these lives and all roads lead to one very strange man who may have killed many more. Welcome to Small Town Murder. Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Small Town Murder. Yay! Oh, yay indeed, Jimmy. Yay indeed. My name is James Petragallo.

I'm here with my co-host. I'm Jimmy Wissman. Thank you so much for joining us today on another absolutely insane edition of Small Town Murder. If you've been listening, you understand that it's been crazy lately and it continues this week and it'll never stop. There's enough crazy out there for everybody.

So we'll get into all of that. First though, head shut up and give me murder.com get your tickets to live shows First of all April the 19th is our virtual live show. It's a Saturday night. It's our 420 virtual live show We do it every year. It's becoming a holiday tradition for us here. So we're very excited You can watch it's just like a regular live show. The pictures, the story, except we're also in costumes and we're gonna smoke, I'm gonna force Jimmy to smoke weed out of strange and larger apparatus. But you can watch it anywhere in the world with internet.

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is. The Friday of St. Louis. Get your damn tickets now. So do that. That's shutupandgivememurder.com. Then you definitely, first of all, want to listen to our other two shows, Crime in Sports, where we have a very long Evil Knievel series going on right now. So you definitely don't have to like sports.

And then also Small Town, or this is Small Town Murder, Your Stupid Opinions is what you want to like sports. And then also small town, or this is small town murder, your stupid opinions is what you wanna listen to. Which is reviews from all over the internet where we make fun of them and it's a lot of fun. But then you wanna get Patreon. Patreon.com slash crime in sports is where you get all of the bonus material and it is a ton. Anybody five dollars a month or above,

you're gonna get a giant back catalog of hundreds of episodes you've never heard before. New ones every other week, one crime and sports, one small town murder, and you get it all, baby. You bet. This week, which you're gonna get for crime and sports, we're gonna talk about fraternity hazing.

Okay. Some of the craziest incidences of it, and it goes back to the 1700s this has been going on for. Is that right? Yeah, we're gonna talk about that. Then, for small town murder, we are gonna talk about the. Then for small town murder, we are going to talk about the upcoming Karen Reid retrial, which

is the woman who is accused of murdering her police officer boyfriend in Boston. And she says it's a conspiracy with the whole police force against her. And she actually had a mistrial the first time. So it's very interesting. We'll talk about all of that and more. Get you ready for that.

And that is patreon.com Slash crime in sports and you get a shout out at the end of the show as well We're Jimmy will mess your name all up that said I think it's time for the disclaimer Look, this is a comedy show everybody. We are comedians The stories are a thousand percent real Nothing's made up. There's nothing, you know Embellished for comedic effect or anything like that. No, no, no. We tell the stories straight and there's plenty of jokes to be made in there.

You might go, well, where does that happen? There's a lot of places where that happens. People go, I think I can get away with murder. That's... But you can't. I'm going to make fun of that person right away, you know what I mean? But what we don't do, what we never do, is we never make fun of the victims or the victims families Because we're assholes, but but we're not scumbags. Yeah that goes there you go

So if you think that sounds good to you, you're in for a wild show If you think true crime and comedy should never ever ever go together You might not enjoy the show, but we think you actually might so give it a shot either way No complaining later. That said I think it's time to sit back everybody let's all clear the lungs here arms to the sky let's all shout let's do this everybody okay let's go on a trip shall we yeah still it we are going to North Carolina this week Gastonia, North Carolina. Yeah. Oh, yeah, baby. Have you heard of Gastonia, North Carolina before I've heard of Estonia That's the country isn't that where uh, where Brendan Frazier was from an Encino, man, I believe

So, uh, we have that's funny. That's our it's a real country, but that's our only reference of it a guy who wasn't even from there He was from a cave. Yeah fake guy. They dug out of a pool. So this is in South Central North Carolina down near the border of South Carolina over there It is about 30 minutes to Charlotte. So it's kind of a suburb of Charlotte really So it's grown a lot in the last 30 years and it's about two hours and 50 minutes to Charlotte so it's kind of a suburb of Charlotte really so it's grown a lot in the last 30 years and it's about two hours and 50 minutes to carry North Carolina our last North Carolina episode which was Google map my murder which was pretty funny because we just had this guy's entire hey that's what I mean we say it what are where are their jokes to be made I don't know when

your entire murder plot can be just tracked and shown on a map that you've done yourself that seems dumb County here is at Gaston County. So Gastonia Gaston County Guest home area code is 704 here and they have several nicknames for this place A couple a nickname and a motto will say so the motto is spindle city A nickname and a motto, we'll say. So the motto is Spindle City. Okay, I don't know, Charlotte's. I don't know, Charlotte's the queen city. They're the Spindle City, I don't know.

And then the other one, the motto is great place, great people, great promise. All the same. Yeah, that's just alliteration, so. There you go. History of this town, we'll do a little bit because we got a lot of story for you today. It is named for William Gaston,

who was a congressman from North Carolina. So they named the town after him and the county after him. I guess they had railroads that came through here and where the two railroads crossed was kind of the beginning of the textile industry. They started building factories and stuff around there. So that brought jobs and all that kind of the beginning of the textile industry. They started building factories and stuff around there. So that brought jobs and all that kind of thing. And it started, more people started coming over here.

The initial population of the town was only about 200 people. And the land area was less than a square mile. So that was the original and it grew from there. So here's some reviews of this town because we've never been there and we don't know anything. And I have to say beforehand, because I've gotten several messages lately with

people angry at me personally for people other people's reviews of the town these aren't our reviews of the town we're not saying this this is what other people have posted on the internet we're just reading them so you it's please don't get mad at us for it that's crazy crazy. Think about that for a minute. Here's one. Five stars. This town has helped me recover from my many problems in my past. The town did that? The town, the whole town has done it.

I don't know, the water department was in on it. I'm moving to Gastonia, James. I've got so many fucking problems. People who pick up the garbage helped out. It was wild. I look forward to spending the entirety of my teenage here, my teenage here. My teenage here.

And find myself quite endorsed by the beauty of the community. Engrossed, maybe? Is this person 11? I think this person is, yeah, a teenager, I believe. And the beauty of the community and nature around me in day-to-day life. You're endorsed by that.

I don't know what that means. How many problems could you have had? You're a lefthand. That's what I mean. What happened? What was going on up till then? Jesus. Here's four stars.

Gastonia is a small town right outside of Charlotte. It offers a safer and less hectic atmosphere that is still close to a big city. There's not much to do in terms of entertainment, but the city is growing. And Charlotte's a half hour away, and they got tons of shit going on. New developers are looking to make Gastonia the next Charlotte within the next few years. The next Charlotte.

The next Charlotte, right next to Charlotte. Charlotte's right there. It's right there, you already have a Charlotte. Now is a great time to move in before everyone else catches on to this small town's great potential. Are you a real estate agent? What are you talking, this is a sales pitch. What do you want about nobody catches on to this small town's great potential. Are you a real estate agent? What are you talking about?

This is a sales pitch. What do you want to bet nobody catches on? Man, the population's grown a lot in the last 20 years or so. It's a suburb. They can thank Charlotte for that. It's just things were shittier in Charlotte, so they went here. Here's one star. Grew up in Gastonia and could not wait to leave.

Small, nasty nasty boring town It's nasty nasty. I would never recommend anyone to live there never and anyone is very strong And then finally one star Gastonia is terrible It is unsafe people will get shot right in front of your house in broad daylight What all the time apparently. It's just happening constantly. It's dirty, more so than your normal overpopulated city. The last person said it's a small nasty boring town.

Now it's an overpopulated city. Which one is it? If you care about your family, don't move here. Jesus Christ. Did you just threaten my family? I think so. They're definitely going to be murdered on your front yard in broad daylight. If you move here, family? I think so. They're definitely gonna be murdered on your front yard in broad daylight.

If you move here, I'll kill your whole fucking family. I'll kill them. I think that's what they just said. Somebody will. I'll make sure of it as a matter of fact. In broad daylight. Now people of this town, population here is about 79,000 right now.

It was about 50,000 when our whole thing started here. So yeah, so it was a smaller town at the time and it's still, from what I can gather, has a small townness to it because it's not a big city. It's a suburb. So, way more women than men here. It is 52.2% women, so I don't know what's going on here with that.

Median age is right at the national average, about 38. Family here, it's about 46% married. A lot of people single with that. Median age is right at the national average about 38. Family here it's about 46 percent married. A lot of people single with children. 25 percent are single with children which normal it's 10 percent. So race of this town 58.2 percent white, 27.1 percent black, 2 percent Asian, 9.7 percent Hispanic, which North Carolina whenever we go there's a lot of mixed, if everybody's mixed up in the cities, you know what I mean?

I don't know about the, out in the rural parts. Yeah, I don't know how it is in the rural area, in fucking Marlboro. Yeah, we know Charlotte and Raleigh because we play there, you know what I mean? So 58.1% of the people here are religious, and the number one religion here, with a bullet, by far, is Baptist. It's 31% Baptist here.

My word. By far. Baptist as we know are the Catholics of the South. Because in the Northeast it's all Catholic, down here it's all Baptist. If you haven't heard that explanation in a while it might sound crazy. So yeah, not a lot of anything else here going on. It's mainly just Baptist. The unemployment rate here, 5.9%, which is a little above the national average, but not terrible. Median household income could be better though.

The average in the rest of the country, 69,000. Here it is $52,990. Wow. That's not great there, almost 20,000 less. I don't know, because maybe it's cheaper, so maybe cheaper than Charlotte, so you move there. Yeah, Charlotte's right there. It's right there.

The cost of living here, 100 is average and regular across the country. Here it's 89, so a little bit less. And the housing, median home cost here, $272,700. It's a bit steep, isn't it? For making 50 grand a year, that's rough. Yeah, that's tough. So maybe you're going to pull it off though and you're going to find a place and you're going to get in here before everyone else hears about it. Like that reviewer said, if

so, we have for you the Gastonia, North Carolina real estate report. The average two bedroom rental here goes for about $1,090. So not too expensive. It's under the national average. Not low enough. Not super low. Here is a two bedroom, one bath, 480 square foot pile of shit is the best way to describe it. It the side of it looks like it's falling apart before your eyes.

Like if you touched it, you know, like old tape that's been in the sun. If you touch it, it'll like explode in 100. A little brittle. That's what the siding looks like on this house. And it looks brittle. That's a good way to put it. It's really fucking bad. The ceilings and floors are intact, at least. It's not falling in like some of the houses, but it's really fucking bad. The ceilings and floors are intact at least. It's not falling in like some of the houses,

but it's not great. And it says the only, this is the entire listing text, quote, property sold as is, where is. What? I think it's like a manufactured home. I don't think you're moving it though. It'll crumble to pieces if you try to figure out. Where is?

Sold as is, where where is I put that in there? Cause I've never seen that before in a real estate listing. And we've done this a lot. So here that house is 44,500 bucks. Okay. And, uh, comes with like a quarter of an acre too. So there's that. Yeah. But no, no, no, there's no house. There's not a, no house there. Here's a four bedroom, three bath, 2,544 square foot. It's like a nice good size family home here. It's on.79 acres, so not bad, almost an acre there, four fifths of an acre.

It's nice porch, a nice deck. It's not bad. It's okay. There's some weird, it's painted a little weird inside in a couple of places, but it's not terrible. $499,000 for, it's painted a little weird inside in a couple of places, but it's not terrible. $499,000 for that. It seems a little high. And then here's a four-bedroom, three-bath, 4,028-square-foot house on 1.59 acres.

And it's a beautiful house. It looks like a mini plantation house. It has those columns and shit. That's what it looks like. It has like in the yard, like this long walkway up to it. It's very pretty. It's a really nice house. The inside could be fucked with a little bit, but it's not bad. Amazing garden. 1.59 acres. So a little bit of land, really nice garden. 899,000 bucks for that. So steep though you know. Yeah. It's a little steep. Things to do here. Okay the Gaston All-American Fair. There we go. That's one of them here. The Gaston All-American Fair brings

rides, games and more to where Jimmy? You may ask. Where? The Eastridge Mall of course obviously. There we go. It's free to get in and rides and games will have a fee though. You can walk around for free. Armbands are $25 and will allow the rider to, the wearer to ride unlimited rides for that day. Sure. So, you know, 25 bucks all you want. And for some reason, I don't know what they had last year, but it says there will be no contests this year. I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings. There will be no contests this year. I don't wanna hurt anybody's feelings. There will be no, not be contests, which always makes me think,

when I hear something like that, it makes me think of Slums of Beverly Hills. Miss Ball is issuing no treats this year. Have you ever seen that movie? I don't think so. Fucking great, you should watch it. Alan Arkin. Doesn't sound familiar to me.

Alan Arkin. Who is it? Alan Arkin. Alan Arkin, Natasha Lyonne, what's her name? Taya Lyonne, you mean? No, no, no, Alan Arkin, Natasha Lyonne, what's her name? No, no, no, Natasha Lyonne. Yeah, her, Marissa Tomei's in it. How old is this?

98-ish. It's fucking great. How fucking old was Natasha Lyonne that she was in that? 17 some, she plays like a 16 year old in the movie. So it's set in the 70s, it's really funny. Is she my age? I think so, yeah, she's about our age.

Yeah? Yeah, she's in the ballpark of our age. There's also Gym Fest, J-I-M Fest, that's for us. Oh, what? Finally, a festival for us, dammit. Gym Fest Out West, a festival for unsigned artists. Oh Never mind. I don't want to go anymore That was just Jim's here. No, no, not guys named Jim. Here is the bands heart sick

Heart and the heart would be sick if they heard you in other words black water drowning you in other words black water drowning they're there are like an upbeat an upbeat like a Spanish group obviously they're not death metal I'm sure death of Uriah okay forever may fall Donny Brook North Carolina Tony that's a fight that's a fight yeah yeah it's like. Yeah. Yeah. It's like, I guess they're gonna brawl on stage. Dun, Dun, our dumb Haru, mechanical band, Wither the Fallacy, Two Stroke Smoke. Oh yeah. You gotta have that. Two Strokes, Two Strokes Smoke. Yeah, smells nice and toxic. And Saving Darkness.

Yeah, it was. Let's pick who's gonna make it out of these bands. Who's gonna make it? I hope it's two strokes smoke, they sound awesome. That sounds fun, I doubt it though, just by their name. I don't think they're, got a broad appeal, let's just say here. I'm going with Forever May Fall,

sounds like the name of a band doesn't it? Yeah, they make like like chick like Evanescence or something like chick music There's a band called into the darkness and then one called saving able if those are two Maybe they're that saving. I don't understand saving darkness. I don't get the saving I don't understand any of this shit saving saving darkness. I don't know They're setting the clock back. Their whole point is to abolish daylight savings. That's what all their songs are about. It's always midnight.

Always. Crime rate in this town, what we are interested in here, is honestly shocking. The property crime is about double the national average. Wow. Which seems. They aren't kidding. Like a lot, yeah, that run reviewer was not bullshitting and then violent crime, murder,

rape, robbery, and of course assault. The Mount Rushmore of crime is about a third above the national average. It's dangerous. What's happening over here, man. What's going on? I think it's more dangerous than Charlotte. Honestly, I really do. I think Charlotte's crime rates a lot lower than that. And I don't know. I've walked around Charlotte. it doesn't seem scary. I've never felt in danger in Charlotte, ever. Or Durham, when we were in Durham,

I didn't feel, they're fine. So that said, let's talk about some murder. Oh boy, we're gonna come in hot here. Okay, October 29th, 2009. Let's go back to here. All right, now Now on this day, um, police are called to what they call a crunch, a country gravel and dirt road. This is in,

this is in York County, South Carolina, which is not far from here, but over the border, obviously into South Carolina. It's near Clover, South Carolina. That's the closest town to this area. They are here to investigate. Somebody had called in and said they think they saw a dead body down this road. Yeah, pretty sure I found a dead body. So they come up and they find the body of a female human being here. This is the best way to put it. There's definitely a body and it's a woman here. She'd been dumped on an obscure road where nobody would really notice her. It's just a dirt road out in the middle of nowhere outside of a small town.

This is in York County like we said. Now she's dressed in a sweatshirt and socks and that's it. Oh Nothing else. They said there was a striped sock on her toe and Her naked calf protruding from a bush. That's what someone saw They just saw a foot and a and a calf and then they called the cops and the cops came in So they said the body was white. She's a white woman with blue veins visible beneath the skin. She had a long deep gash in her side, but they didn't know it looked like it could possibly be from an animal's claw of some kind. Possibly a claw, maybe not an actual, you know, cutting instrument wound there. So once, and they don't know how long

she's been out here. So out in the middle of a rural, you know nowhere you're gonna get caught up by something There's a lot of animals out there. There were more scratches along her body They looks like these scratches are from dragging like she was dragged from a car or something out into the location where she is right now So she's naked from the waist down She has on a hoodie, but it's pulled up above her breasts. Yeah. And socks, and that's all she's got on. Oh boy.

So yeah, this is, I guess, just beyond a small concrete bridge. They said, yeah, it was horrifying. A cop yelled, they were looking after that because they said, well, where's the rest was horrifying. Cop yelled, you know, they were looking after that cause they said, well, where's the rest of her clothes? Number one. And are there any other clues? So, you know, if you find a body,

you then spread out in a circular area to search for it. So at one point, they are near a small concrete bridge in Gaston County, North Carolina. So they've crossed the line there. And they said they saw something red with smudges of mud that was half on the edge of the roadway and half in the brush. And so they the one said, I think it's a red shirt. So they look into the woods here and they

see something sparkling in the sun, too, down near the red shirt. So they go down the hill and, um, it's a short embankment where the shirt is located. And then one of the cops saw a pair of blue jeans with a diamond studded or, you know, rhinestone studded belt on it. And the jeans and belt were farther down near the actual Creek that the road as it was named for here. So they then discovered that inside the jeans stuffed in there are

A red bra and a black pair of women's underwear. Oh So what she was wearing a core, you know seemingly stuffed inside there the jeans had the belt Inserted around the loop so it wasn't like ripped off or anything was still around the waist So they look at where the clothing is recovered. The shirt is at the top of a ridge near the bridge. The jeans and bra and panties were down by the creek. They said it appeared somebody might have tossed them out of a car window while pulled over or even flung them out of a moving vehicle and that's where they fluttered to basically.

They said or maybe this is where this happened and then the body was moved We don't know it might have happened there stripped her down and threw the clothes out or the opposite So they're there's right that the person that did this was also here Yeah, there's two places that where this are part of this crime scene now So the items matched with the size of the woman that they found too, so they're pretty shorts. And all the stuff she's missing is here. She's missing bra, underwear, jeans.

Here's bra, underwear, jeans. Yeah, here they are. So that's interesting. Now they didn't touch the clothing. They had forensics come out and do all that kind of stuff. So in addition to that, near her clothing, they find a crack pipe also Oh like a used crack pipe. Yeah, so now they don't know is that her crack pipe or is that that somebody who dumped all this? Were they smoking crack? This seems like something a crack smoker might do. I mean

Somebody was smoking crack when somebody was smoking crack now they're going to initially call the cause of death undetermined the, the, um, it's, it's a homicide, but the what killed her is undetermined. They don't know that at that point, they do find out after doing some canvassing about the area here, that two suspicious vehicles had been spotted on the road during the time that this body could have been dumped.

So they learned that one was a Ford F-150, a red Ford F-150 pickup. And, you know, they put that out there and they said it had tinted windows and a flatbed liner cover. So, you know, one of the covers on the back there. It had been seen in the area of Robinson Yelton Road between noon and one o'clock on October 27th that's just two days earlier the second vehicle is a two-tone Chevy s10 pickup with a blue top and tan bottom possibly an 87 to 90 model yeah this is in 2009 so it's an old truck to be driving around yeah, the thing is though in the in the country Everybody's got an old pickup truck. Yeah, like you're saying anybody right here got an old pickup truck

It's everybody right because you need to haul things and you know they got a new pickup truck that they drive to town for dinner That's a lady, but they got the old one do the work. That's for the dirt roads and shit for banging around Yeah, picking crap up from the just taking shit to the dump and stuff like that So they said that vehicle the s10 pickup had been seen in the area on October 25th and 26th Between 9 and 10 p.m. So at night so they were like okay. They think maybe that one of these vehicles You know belongs to the murderer obviously So they get an identification on this young lady and we find out is a young woman named Heather Marie Catterton

C-a-t-t-e-r Ton She's 17 years old. Oh my god. Yeah, that's crazy So they were like whoa, they thought she was older initially Initially they had her in with the veins and such they had her at 25 to 35 Was what they that when they were released the press released out said a woman's body was found a white woman between 25 and 35 Blah blah blah blah. So people that knew Heather weren't real worried because she's 17 not 25 to 35. Yeah So they're trying to figure out what how the hell she would end up here

They find out that she's had a real crazy home life. It's been rough for her She had a rough relationship with her father Her father's name is Nick and she often ran away for you know days to a week at a time to just get out of the house. So now they also find out that she has a criminal record at 17. She was recently charged with possession of cocaine and marijuana with intent to distribute. Oh boy. Yeah.

The charges were pending and she, I guess only weeks earlier had gotten out of jail. Really? Yeah, so that's before that. She's so young. So young, that's what I mean. There's gotta be something going on here. She's from Gastonia, North Carolina. She was not enrolled in school, even though she's 17.

They said that they found out she frequently would just stay with friends for long periods of time, just to get her out of her house. She'd been in and out of the foster care system for years as well. Oh. Even though she has parents they're not the best parents it seems like. So the Department of Social Services took over the custody of Heather when she was 15. Her father explained it this way. Now imagine they came and took your kid and someone asked you what happened. Would this be your answer? Quote, they would say activity has gone on. Could you be a little, could you be more vague, sir?

That is really nothing close. It was illegal obviously. It was bad for kids either way. Not appropriate for a child. Dangerous. So they said one night in their previous home, which was in Grover, North Carolina, a shot was fired by someone in the house

and Heather was placed in care of the Department of Social Services over child endangerment concerns. You know, cause there's shots being bucked off in the living room. She is an indoor. It was an indoor shot. No, in the house. The shot went off. So they're like, let's get the kid out of here. Maybe that'll probably be good if you're going to be having fucking gun fights

in here. So you're going to have duels in the living room. I'll take the kid. So social services finally released her from its custody when she was 16 because this is, this is why Nick said they did this. Quote, they couldn't control her running away from these homes. Generally- Get this gunplay, man. No, no, this meeting the foster homes. She was running away from those.

Yeah, now generally they won't release you because you're kind of a pain in the ass. You'll just, your custody will get tighter. That's how it works usually. So a little backstory, Nick and Heather's mom, Stella never got married. They were never married. Stella had a four year old boy that she brought to their relationship. She and Nick had begun dating in 1983. In the early hours of December 4th 2024, CEO Brian Thompson stepped out onto the streets of Midtown Manhattan. This assailant starts firing at him.

And the suspect He has been identified as Luigi Nicholas Mangione became one of the most divisive figures in modern criminal history. I was meant to sow terror. He's awoking the people to a true issue. Listen to law and crimes Luigi's exclusively on one degree plus enjoying one degree

plus the one degree app Spotify or Apple podcasts. In the early hours of December 4th 2024 CEO Brian Thompson stepped out onto the streets of Midtown Manhattan. This assailant pulls out a weapon and starts firing at him we're talking about the CEO of the biggest private health insurance corporation in the world. And the suspect he's been identified as a weegee Nicholas Mangione became one of the most divisive figures in modern

criminal history was targeted premeditated in Minnesota terror. I'm Jesse Weber host of Luigi produced by law and crime and twist this is more than a true crime investigation we explore a uniquely American moment that could change the country forever. He's awoken the people to a true issue. I mean maybe this would be rich and powerful people to acknowledge the barbaric nature of our health care system.

Listen to law and crimesimes Luigi exclusively on Wondery Plus. You can join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Spotify or Apple podcasts. They lived in South Carolina, just below the North Carolina border. Stella got pregnant with Nicole, uh, which is Heather's older sister who plays heavily into the story. And then at Heather after that. Heather is, when she's a kid, known as like the most cheery person in the world.

She's a real upbeat kind of a young lady here. Nick worked as a plumber on new build construction projects. That's what he did. Initial. Well, it's easy stuff, but all right. Yeah, you don't have to fix anything. Right, you don't have to fix anything. It's right The drywalls not up yet. So have at it my friend very easy. Yeah, so he worked a lot though

He'd leave the house at six in the morning get home at seven at night type of thing Yeah, Nick said we started off in South Carolina and things were going great. We were a family so yeah, they would take the kids to the beach and have family days and shit like that. But once Heather was born, Nick said we had to cut back after Heather came along. Quote, but these was some really good, good times. Oh boy. That's an exact quote, yeah. These are like real country people,

a lot of these people. Very real. A lot of their quotes are gonna be real, real fucking Southern. Lucy goosey with the English language. With the grammar and the English, yeah, which is fine. I'm just warning you ahead of time. Play it loose and fast. With the grammar and the English. Yeah, which is fine. I'm just warning you ahead of time so

Laying loose and fast at the language folks So while she was in school after her family moved from Florida to Grover, North Carolina You know where they would take her away for gunplay Heather her I guess is really good on computers and stuff like that and like she would help the Teacher out with shit and tell the other kids how to use stuff use computers and stuff like that and like she would help the teacher out with shit and tell the other kids how to use stuff use computers and stuff in the 90s not everybody knew how to use a computer so someone knew how to use a computer was like a magic trick like oh man look at her she knows how to use a

computer fucking crazy so now they had been Nick and Stella had a lot of problems over the years and when they went back to North Carolina, things got worse. When they broke up, Nick took the girls, Nicole and Heather, and moved to Gastonia, and Stella and her son, that was around beforehand, went their own way. So she is around, though, Stella, because we know that for a fact based on something later that is pretty disgusting that we'll talk about.

So Nick said drinking was his big issue. Yeah, there's something in the mix here, and it's something, it's alcoholism, there's gotta be something. So he said that he drank a 12 pack every day and a case a day on the weekends. So, yeah. 12 pack every day and a case a day. Okay, so he yeah. Every day in a case a day.

OK, so he doubles it on doubles it up. Yeah. Well, he has time. He's home all day then. Yeah. He's got to squeeze a 12 pack in from like seven to 10 at night. That's a tough one. In the six hour window.

Yeah. Yeah. Three hours. I can hammer another 12. Oh yeah. You can chill. So Heather started to rebel junior high middle school era here You know, that's that's when she really started to do that

She started to look more towards her friends and social stuff and you know all that kind of thing here. She Her dad said so she found a family that was home schooling and she did that because she wasn't doing well in school He said and I was paying this lady who had four or five kids to homeschool her. Now that lasted till she was 13 when she didn't want to do any kind of school and Nick's drunk all the time, her mom's gone, and that's when social services starts stepping in

because she kept running away as what happened which means 90% that she's probably the fact that she runs away and tries to stay away means she's Nick is probably beating the shit out of her. This is a physical kids run away and stay away from physical abuse usually or sexual abuse or some kind of abuse situation. They don't just, they're not just like, I'm gonna go start my own life, you know, for no reason. I'm just tired of things around here, you know, I just wanna set up my own shop. So, she was reported missing at least five times in one year when she was a teenager. In one year? One year reported missing. Every two. Yeah. Oftentimes they would find her not too far from the home.

She'd just be kind of away from there though. So I mean, she doesn't know where to go. She just doesn't want to be there. She, um, you know, she was having a hard time with the whole thing. Nick called her a daddy's girl and said she got into trouble because of her quote, free spirited nature. That's all this is. It's just she's just a free spirit That's all it's not that I'm a drunk who fires gunshots off Indiscriminately and beats the shit out of my kids. She's just a free spirit My daughter's a troll. Yeah, that's all it is free spirit

I mean and free spirit is you know getting arrested for drugs and being in the custody of the Department of Social Services and shit like that. That's, that's pretty free. It's she's a free bird. All right. Yeah. So, now her brother, this is Stella's son said that she was a joyful person, always high spirited, got along with everyone. Everyone always liked her. She always had a smile on her face so but she She's always has a smile, but she's running away. So it's really hard to

Figure out Nick said he that he lately had been encouraging Heather to study for her GED But her several drug arrests and Gaston County Kind of kept that from happening and he blamed that on on her friends. He said, she's a good girl, but people she hangs out with are bad. Here's a picture of Heather, by the way. Okay. Well, she looks sad. She literally has a lip out pouting. So I think that's a mugshot. That's why. But she's a pretty young girl, though. She's, you know, nice. She girl though. She's you know nice. She looks nice She's Nick said this she's always been a good girl. She just got those teenage genes in her

Them teenage genes they don't develop till she's about 13, and then they start a blossom and popping out of them kid jeans He said teenage inner Teenagers nowadays think they can do anything and they're all grown up. That's different from the ones earlier. Yeah. Teenage genes. I've never heard that before. No, that's wild. Um, she, he said, quote, she wouldn't even tell me who she was with because she knew I would come right then and get her. A father and mother can tell about their kids more than anyone else in the world parents know the signs a lot of time They don't believe the signs, but the signs are there okay, so what happened to your daughter. Why didn't you what's going on? He said that she was self-aware and strong and that if someone attacked her she would have definitely tried to fight off her attacker and

That's what everybody says. She's not a meek child at all. Yeah, think about what she's been going through. She's been running away. She's been in foster care. She's fought, you know what I mean? She knows what she's doing. He said she was a very smart girl.

She was street smart. That's what made me think that it couldn't be her when the body was found because at the first sign of trouble, as soon as the opportunity hit She would have run like a rabbit. She would have done something so now that that's Fine, I'm sure but that means somebody tricked her probably or did something whatever So he said that he would have sacrificed his own life to protect her Nick said I just won't stop drinking though

That's one thing I can't do. I sacrificed my whole liver for this. Let me put down my Miller light and we'll talk about it. Now, he said I would definitely trade places with her, anybody would for their kid that they love. It just breaks our hearts. Whoever did this couldn't have been in their right state of mind.

They had to be some kind of monster, a maniac. And then he said please come forward and give peace of mind to They had to be some kind of monster, a maniac. And then he said, please come forward and give peace of mind to everyone who loves her. Whoever it is, they're going to catch you anyway. That's happened before. Yeah, no, no one's ever gotten away with this. I should just give myself up. So I'm going to go ahead and do it. He said they'd catch me anyway. So now they go back to when was the last time she was seen by people.

So now they go back to when was the last time she was seen by people and that is October 17th, 2009 is the last time she was seen, which is 12 days earlier. And she was, she was last with her friends, summer Hefner and her boyfriend, Michael Moore. Okay. Um, so those are, that's who she was with. Not the second time we've had a Michael Moore in a lot of Michael Moore. Okay. So that's who she was with. That is the second time we've had a Michael Moore in history. A lot of Michael Moores, yeah, because one of the West Memphis Three Kids was Michael Moore, wasn't it? That's what it is, yeah.

Yeah, we've had that. So anyway, it's not her, not Heather's boyfriend, it's Summer's boyfriend, Michael. So they're a couple, they're hanging out with Heather. This is the late in the day October 17th 2009 Now they're gonna spend time that day drinking and smoking crack That's what the that's what the group is as as you do on a Saturday. Hey, you know what? It's my fucking weekend. Don't tell me what to do

Smoke crack with me. I smoke crack. That's what do we do when we have a weekend off? Just smoke crack. I mean, what else is there to do? Walk down to the creek and smoke crack. Smoke some crack. Why not? So that part of the intro of the Andy Griffith show, I don't remember. I remember them walking down and they had a fishing pole and they were going in and Andy didn't go, no, you go ahead and drop it in your line in the water. I'm going to go look at something over here that Andy dip behind a tree fucking start lighting up the crack pipe We'll see so Anyway, this is fucking crazy So they find out that they were also hanging out with another guy too at some point during that day, a guy named

Danny Robby Hembree Jr. Danny Robby. His legal name is Danny. And his middle name is R-O-B-B-I-E. Danny Robby. And Hembree. So it's E-E-E all the way. Junior of course, obviously.

There's another Danny Robby? There's another Danny Robby? There's another Danny Robby, Henry Jr. As a matter of fact there is another Danny Robby, Henry III because he has a son named Danny Robby, Henry III. Just so you know here. Danny Robby. Wow. That's one way to make sure family got a dr drjr right there dr jr oh i'll bet you that's never happened dr jr really not so so danny here danny had been dating nico Nicole, Heather's older sister for a few months and had been hanging around the house, Nick's house and like staying over half the time

and all that kind of shit for months now. So he knows the family, he's in the mix here. He's also known as a guy who knows his way around the streets in this area, knows a lot of people, has a criminal record, and kind of has an into the underworld, and he might have heard something, basically. So they go to talk to Danny at Jacob's Food Mart, out where he works, he's working out there. He's born in 1962, by the way, so.

Older than me. Way older than any of these people, which is another thing that's weird here He's been dating Nicole. Like we said, he's got a lengthy arrest record as we'll talk about here a little bit about Danny Danny Robbie here number one. He had just been released from prison in January of 2009 so that's number one his parents are Danny Robbie senior obviously and Jacqueline He's got a couple of siblings. He's got a sister and a brother David and Kathy. He's the oldest or he's got I'm sorry There's a third, but I don't know who the third sibling. I don't know the name

So he's the oldest of four children his mother was 18 when he was born his dad is a strict military guy The opposite of Nick. Danny Robbie's been to jail or been to the service? Danny Robbie senior was in the service for a while. Danny Robbie jr. couldn't fucking no he couldn't handle a service at McDonald's. He couldn't handle any. He's got nothing here. So his stern father not only is he a stern military man, but he's a stern vodka drinker as well. Oh really?

Oh yeah. And when he drank vodka, he became super violent and the main lightning rod of his violence was Danny Robbie, obviously. So that's how that goes. I guess he's got a cousin here, Danny Robbie does, and they were like brothers, and Danny Robbie's cousin said they would party together all the time,

and that Hembree's father, Danny Robbie Sr., didn't react well when he learned his son wasn't behaving. So they don't call him Danny, they call him Danny Robbie. They call him Danny Boy. Everybody calls him Danny Boy. Oh my God. That's what everybody calls him, but I'm calling him Danny Robbie because it's fucking hilarious to me Just makes me laugh just makes me giggle to call him Danny Robbie. I don't like Danny boy

I don't like no either you're not Irish. Are you you're in North Carolina? You're your Irishness is a moot point down there Move to Waltham or Waltham or fucking Walpole or something if you wanna fucking go by Danny Boy. That's some Massachusetts suburbs shit there. So apparently his cousin said that dad would quote, beat the shit out of him all the time. He said he would use his hand, a belt,

or any other thing that was close by to discipline both his sons, not the daughters, just the sons he would beat the shit out of. At least he had some level of where the line is anyway, he had a line. Both the sons consequently suffer from mental illness. Shocking. Shocking. As you do. Yeah.

You beat your kids mercilessly with weapons. And odd that they'll be mentally ill from that. Strange, right? Weird. So they said that Danny would often help caring for his siblings and stuff like that. His mom, Jacqueline, said, quote, You couldn't ask for a better child as far as loving and caring until he became a teenager and

started having these problems. Okay his problems are a lot. He seemed to be a very nervous kid they said. He would like chew the skin around his fingernails and disrupt class and shit like that. You know ADD type of shit. Yeah that's what I mean. I didn't want to sit there either. So his parents took him to a pediatrician where he was diagnosed with depression at a young age. How old do we know? Again, no, I'm not sure. Young age, so, but I mean, he's getting beat constantly.

He's terrified in his own house. Yeah, that'll do that. He attended Hunter Hus High School, but dropped out before he graduated. He got married when he was 18 to a 16 year old neighbor. That should be illegal, right? I mean, I don't know what the age of consent is in North Carolina.

I'm not sure what the age of consent is in North Carolina, but I know her parents had to sign something for her to get fucking married, I think, at 16. Yeah, Jesus. So, and he was already in trouble by then his His ex-wife later on but his wife at the time said he was already addicted to drugs then at 18 When they got married now, he's not an idiot. He dropped out of high school He did get his GED later while he's in jail as we'll talk about cuz gonna be in jail an awful lot He never failed any grades in school or anything like that

He kept yeah, he kept it up. He just dropped out. They said he had an IQ of about 90 Which right? It's not good 80 to 90 is considered quote dullness. Oh Yeah, and then 90 to 110 is normal, average intelligence, and then over 110, 120 is very intelligent. So an IQ score of 90 is in the normal range. That's right at the borderline of normal and a little dull, but definitely not like medically Forrest Gump,

you know what I'm saying? Not Gumpian or anything like that. He can tie some shoes. He's a shoe tying some bitches when he goes. Yeah, he's got plenty. He's got plenty going on. Now at the age of 10 is when they thought he was bipolar and put him, or 12, I'm sorry, and they put him on lithium.

Which is- God damn, that's strong. Really strong, really powerful shit. But we're talking early 70s. So there is not a lot of these drugs that we have now really popped in the 90s and early 2000s and late 80s. By the 70s it was we could drug you to where you sit there and drool,

or you can just go about your business. Those are your options pretty much. He's 12? Yes, which I don't. Getting lithium. I don't think that's good for your brain probably not Fucks you up. It's a heavy one depending on the dosage. I mean, yeah Microdose mushrooms, I'm not tripping by any stretch mushrooms coursing through my body, but I

Know it. I just dose them. I I want to I am tripping. I love those fucking things. I love those things, they're great. So, yeah, he's married for 15 years. He's gonna be married from 80 to 95. And I'm sure most of that is just because he was unavailable to get a divorce because he was in jail. So, I don't think that was 15 happy years of marriage. He has three kids, this fucking guy.

God damn. Three, two sons and a daughter Which is wild His mental illness as a child made him cut and burn himself all the time Yeah, he overdosed on drugs and alcohol A few different times where they'd take him to the hospital He intentionally drove a car into a tree in a suicide attempt That's a aggressive way to do it terrible way die there, not a fun way to do it. Addicted to cocaine is his main lady. He really loves the blow there.

Oh boy, so from his teens that's what he's really into is that. And he struggled with this for years and years and years. They said his demeanor would change depending on whether or not he was using cocaine. They said under his wife at the time said under the influence he would turn into a different person and he would hit her and be mean to her and all that kind of shit.

Which I don't know why you would do drugs to make you shittier. It sounds like you're not having fun. Right, that's why I don't understand. I mean, I don't understand. Makes no sense, you think he'd be hitting her and then he snort a line and go, whew, I'm so sorry, I don't know what I was thinking there.

You know, I feel much better now. They get so fucked up, they hit people. It's fucking weird, man, really weird. May 22nd, 1990, let's catch up with old Danny Robby here. There's an article in the newspaper, the headline is two clover men face charges in burglaries. Notice that Clover, by the way, is where he lived. Clover, South Carolina, which is right outside the town.

That town is outside of where they found Heather. So he and another man have been charged in connection with two burglaries in which a car was used to ram into the front doors of area businesses. That's how they're gonna do it, huh? Real sophisticated robbery plan. Our key is a Buick.

Not exactly Ocean's Eleven here. You know, we're gonna get all of this is. Well, you just drive it through the front window and I'll jump out and get shit. That's what this is. It's a totally different thing. So it's Danny Robbie and a guy named Billy Eugene Knight here, and they were arrested and charged

with third degree burglary. The front door of Ace Hardware at 4800 Old York Road in Newport was smashed in on May 15th, and two packs of beer were reported stolen. From Ace Hardware? First of all, that's a great Ace Hardware. They sell beer too, which is they should. That's smart. I probably need a 12-pack to put this drywall up. We're gonna build a deck. Hell, there's some Budweiser over there. But that's

that's all they took. They broke in at full access to the store. Didn't take expensive tools or power tools they could sell. That's the most easily tools or power tools they could sell. That's the most easily exchangeable commodity is power tools. You can sell those anywhere on the side of the road for fucking cheap if you wanted to. They stole two packs of beer, but the damage to the door is $1,500.

So that's the main loss of the robbery is the damage to the door. They stole like eight bucks worth of beer maybe at the time. So minutes later, the front door was smashed at North's grocery store and nothing was that's what I mean and nothing was reported stolen just broke the door sounds like they're just joyriding through fucking doors they just think it's fun to smash in the building was pretty damn fun

now the groceries more doors they got good and drunk and forgot to steal shit from in there I think. Woo that was fun. Oh boy. So later on in 1993 in January of 1993 while he still lives in Clover he is arrested again for breaking and entering and larceny as well. Now, this seems to be his thing now. It is, and apparently burglaries, this is not the only two times he was caught for this. There was a whole bunch of other ones in there, and he ends up receiving an 11-year prison sentence. He got 11 years for this?

11 years for second-degree burglary and criminal conspiracy. I wanna jot that down somewhere so I can always remember that because people serve way less time for way worse things. Oh God, people get out for fucking, Bill Cosby's walking around right now. Yeah, that man's out. He's walking the fuck around right now.

11 years for fucking breaking through front doors of Ace Hardware is a lot, so they get him good in 1997 though after serving three years he is paroled So that's not bad. That's February of 1997. He is paroled But while paroled he's not think he's gonna be on the straight and narrow No, he's charged with more crimes in Gaston County including two counts of robbery with a dangerous weapon which is a step up from breaking through the door and stealing beer, and also financial transaction

card fraud, driving while his license was revoked, and reckless driving. None of these things you're allowed to do on parole. No. They don't want you to have any, like if you get pulled over for having a tail light out you have to go call your parole officer and tell them you had a you had a contact with police so they don't violate. I was doing something illegal what were you doing I had a tail light out yeah that's definitely illegal anything higher than that come on

man yeah you're you know you can't get in trouble what are you doing this for. Now while they get him back in there he He first he was just a suspect They're rearrested him on a forgery case While in custody he confessed to several armed robberies That they didn't even they didn't even just two goddamn honest too honest they didn't even have him thought of for those I just need you guys to close the books on these four. You know what? I don't want anybody doing any unnecessary footwork is what it is. It's tearing me apart that we're wasting tax payers dollars and investigating this.

You should just know. And then he's chasing his tail. I mean, then what? So he said- I'm made up with it. He said he confessed to the robberies because he wanted to go back to prison he said because he wanted to kick his drug addiction and he said he was clean while he was in prison and That's the way he's gonna do it

So he's like I'm confessing because I want you to send me back to prison So I can kick my addiction and live a normal life you got a buddy. That's right He said he confessed to quote set the record straight is what he wanted to do The confessions came while police interviewed him on charges that he passed two checks that belonged to his father's account Oh, so he might not even have got sent back and he was like, oh I want to get sent back He also talked to police. He said I got another one. You probably want to hear about it's not it's a lot older though Oh, he said yeah, this is all this stuff is from 93 to 97. He said 97 on he said I got to talk to you about something that happened in 1980. Oh

He said it was I got it's about a a rape beating and kidnapping of a Bessemer City convenience store clerk in 1980 Yeah, we do got to talk about that one. Yeah, he in 1980. Yeah we do got to talk about that one. Yeah he said that well here's the article by the way from the Charlotte Observer from September 11th 1980 when it happened so we can get an overview of the crime here. They said a 23 year old Bessemer City convenience store clerk was kidnapped and raped early Wednesday morning by two men who robbed the store. They said that the store was the pantry on North Carolina 274 just inside the Eastern City limits.

It occurred just after 3am. The woman who had worked the night shift at the store for almost a year said that a man entered the store, pulled a knife on her and said this is a robbery. She said the man was in his early 20s, 5 foot 8 with curly blonde hair and a beard, wore blue jeans and a t-shirt with a 99 on it. He's a big Ricky Vaughn fan. But 1980, before that.

Now, that does not fit Danny Robbie's description at all. He's about, he's 6'', a little bit over, brown hair, doesn't fit at all. After the man took- Hates Ricky Vaughn. Hates Ricky Vaughn. Hates him. After the man took an undetermined amount of money from the cash register the woman told police that he Told her to walk toward a light blue pickup truck parked near the store. She said the truck had no tailgate

She told police a second man waited in the truck She described him as young and slender with brown hair and wearing blue jeans, but no shirt that sounds more like him She said she was ordered into the vehicle driven to a secluded area near the old Lincoln Academy and the grass valley golf course Near Crowder's Mountain and was raped by both men fucking awful That is fucking horrifying they the men then beat her cut her with a knife and dumped her from the truck They the men then beat her cut her with a knife and dumped her from the truck Fucking a couple of pieces of shit. She was unconscious for a time after the beating but then awoke shortly before 5 a.m

And ran through the woods to a nearby house Yeah, she went to this house, but the house had no telephone It was a rural area yeah, no telephone so they had to like take her in their pickup truck to go get help. She had to sit in the back because no one sits up front but my dog, obviously. What was that, planes, trains and automobiles or whatever? So they took her to the hospital. They said that the police routinely check convenience stores during the third shift and an officer had been to the store minutes before this happened.

Just do a quick stop in here, which unless you're going to sit there, a stop in is really pointless. Kind of pointless. So they said that they had no suspects and everything like that. So the this he's telling them all about this. The store by the way is now now Jiggers Drive-In. Don't like that. Jiggers, yeah.

So he, Danny Robbie, gives police information about this and they reopen the investigation. He said, I have particular information about that crime. And he said, I haven't had, I haven't said I had anything to do with it, but I sure can solve it for you. Oh? Yeah.

He knows about it. He also told police he knows about a 1981 robbery in Kings Mountain, and police are trying to find the victims there. Now, the detective said, quote, it's very unusual. You usually don't have them come forward and start talking about stuff. Right.

Yeah, that you haven't even asked about? Yeah, no. So they charged him with three armed robberies, one larceny and common law robbery, all dating back to 1993. They also charged him with forgery and yeah, maximum sentences for robbery with a dangerous weapon were 40 years at the time of the crimes. But he said that he hopes he can get out in less than 20 years. That's what he says at the time. Fingers crossed. Wow.

He said, I wanted to make sure I either never got back out or got help with my addiction. That's what he said. That's how strong addiction is, man. Yeah, I'll just sit in jail forever. I'm in prison already anyway. Right, may as well have the powers. I'm gonna do it.

So he said that he could be incarcerated for the rest of his life. But he said, I believe if people see I genuinely want some help and I'm willing to put my life on the line to get this help somewhere along the line, I'll get help. In the early hours of December 4th, 2024, CEO Brian Thompson stepped out onto the streets of Midtown Manhattan. This assailant pulls out a weapon and starts firing at him. We're talking about the CEO of the biggest private health

insurance corporation in the world. And the suspect has been identified as Luigi Nicholas man, Johnny became one of the most divisive figures in modern criminal history was targeted premeditated and meant to sow terror. I'm Jesse Weber host of Luigi produced by law and crime and twist this is more than a true crime investigation we explore a uniquely American moment that could change the country forever.

Welcome the people to a true issue. Finally maybe this would be rich and powerful people to acknowledge the barbaric nature of our health care system. Listen to Law and Crime's Luigi exclusively on Wondery Plus. You can join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Spotify or Apple podcasts. In the early hours of December 4, 2024, CEO Brian Thompson stepped out onto the streets of Midtown Manhattan. This assailant starts firing at him.

And the suspect. He has been identified as Luigi Nicholas Mangione. Became one of the most divisive figures in modern criminal history. I was meant to sow terror. He's awoking the people to a true issue. Listen to Law and Crime's Luigi, exclusively on Wondery+.

You can join Wondery+, the Wondery app, Spotify or Apple podcasts. You know those creepy stories that give you goosebumps? The ones that make you really question what's real? Well, what if I told you that some of the strangest, darkest, and most mysterious stories are not found in haunted houses or abandoned forests, but instead in hospital rooms and doctor's offices? Hi, I'm Mr. Ballin, the host of Mr.ollin's Medical Mysteries, and each week on my podcast,

you can expect to hear stories about bizarre illnesses no one can explain, miraculous recoveries that shouldn't have happened, and cases so baffling they stumped even the best doctors. So if you crave totally true and thoroughly twisted horror stories and mysteries, Mr. Bollin's Medical Mysteries should be your new go-to weekly show. Listen to Mr. Bollin's Medical Mysteries on be your new go-to weekly show. Listen to Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen early and ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app

or on Spotify or Apple podcasts. He said, if I can't be helped, I might as well be locked down like an animal for the rest of my life. He said, I knew with the check thing, I'd be back out. That's why he confessed, because he said they would've let me out pretty quick after that, that wasn't a big deal. He said he always used a BB gun to rob places,

never a real gun. It doesn't matter legally. In the eyes of the law, right. But it matters sentencing wise. Tremendously. Yes, to say that he wasn't, couldn't have actually killed somebody. He wasn't actually to that level.

He said, I never used a real weapon in any of my robberies. The only person that I ever could have got hurt in any of my robberies was me, not to minimize or justify it. So that's cards on the table. I need help. That's a good sign that he might be growing up a little bit finally.

So that was what you would imagine. But we find out not so much because April 20th, 1998, he's back in prison. Well, he was back in prison. And then they detected him missing at 930 a.m. while they did count at the Manning Correctional Institution. He fucking escaped. He did all of that and then escaped.

To escape. This guy, unforced error all day long, this fucking guy. Man, talk about regret. Oh shit. I didn't wanna do this. I guess officials locked down the prison because they suspected an escape attempt was coming up. They heard something, somebody ratted, I'm sure.

They said they don't know how he got out. There was no break in the fence around the minimum medium security prison. They said, but because he was missing, they assumed he'd escaped. Can't find him. So they said also he then stole a van from a convenience store on Interstate 20 and US 21

on Columbia's north side near the prison. A white Ford Econoline van with McEC contractors on the side a big contractor van Couldn't be a less fucking more conspicuous vehicle unless he stole a fire truck. That's crazy Yeah Holy shit, they said that although he doesn't have a violent past, they consider all escaped convicts to be dangerous. They said they did an inmate count and he wasn't there, so who the fuck knows.

They figured out later that he scaled a wall at about 8.30 a.m. And they didn't find it for an hour that he was gone. And hours later, a York County Sheriff's Deputy saw a man resembling Danny Robbie, but he couldn't stop him, couldn't get to him. So anyway, he had been transferred to this jail because Gaston's jail was full. And yeah, while working in this jail's kitchen, that's when he escaped wearing his kitchen

white still. So wearing a very obvious, obvious prison outfit he's a painter. One or the other. He's painting somewhere. Well, with the contractor van and a white outfit, he's a painter at that point. It's a guy. Done and done. Perfect. So, he's like, either that or I gotta find an ice cream truck.

One or the two. Yeah. Fuck it. So, he's described as... Good humor, man. Yeah. All white. You know what I'm talking about.

Slang an ice cream guns right here. Why not? No one's going to suspect that. No. That's the least conspicuous vehicle somehow. There was a mob hitman that did it for Christ's sake. Mr. Softy there. He killed people from the van like crazy.

So he's white, six foot two, 200 pounds with brown hair and hazel eyes. So that's why I said that description didn't fit him earlier. He's wearing a prison uniform that description didn't fit him earlier. He's wearing a prison uniform that may have had a white apron because he's a cafeteria worker. Now, April 21st here, they say they believe he's somewhere in his home county. They say York in South Carolina, a York County Sheriff's Deputy spotted him again, near Clover, A York County Sheriff's Deputy spotted him, again, near Clover, in a stolen van.

The Deputy had arrested him several years ago, so he recognized him. Knew who he was, yeah. Watched him get into the van and take off, but then was unable to catch him and stop him. Hey, dipshit, get out and fuck. Why are you letting him get into the fucking, why are you letting him re-steal this person's van?

How about that? He blended in with the whole fleet of the goddamn things. Holy shit. April 23rd, a couple days later, he's captured. It's only three days on the outside. It's pretty good though. Not bad, he's charged with resisting arrest and he didn't wanna go. And escape.

And escape, yeah, from the arrest here. They got him at about 12.45 a.m. at a convenience store in Gastonia That's that so 1999 his brother dies in a car accident. It looks like here And then his father is gonna die the next year So yeah, it's all Robbie Danny Robbie senior now Drugs are obviously a fucking problem.

Clearly. Yeah, he can't shake them, man. No, he really can't. When he gets out of prison in 2009, remember January 2009 he got out of prison for all this, he founds a little bit of steady work in Charlotte at an apartment complex. Just to be in like a maintenance guy fixing shit, you know, here and there. But this is who they're hiring to fix shit So when you just go, yeah, I'll just leave my door open for you

This is who's coming into your apartment everybody to do maintenance or whatever. So you want to be there when that's going on So I would say He had trouble keeping a full-time job because he said drug use kept on going and going as soon as he got out. He was a slave to it for Christ's sake. Yeah, he said at one point just about, he would do just about anything you could get high or drunk on. That's what he would do. He said alcohol is my drug of choice, but crack cocaine, ecstasy, I mean anything really. That's what he said. But that's the that's the hierarchy here though.

It's alcohol, crack cocaine, ecstasy's fun. He claimed that through his life he'd been prescribed hundreds of prescriptions and at one time or another taken every psychiatric and narcotic drug ever made. He said during this time, 2009 when he got out of prison, he was supposed to be taking Neurontin and Ultram. When prescribed with other drugs,

Neurontin is used to treat seizures associated with epilepsy in adults, and Ultram is a narcotic-like pain reliever. Okay, so he's got drugs. Narcotic-style? Yeah, okay, so like oxys and shit's and shit. Yeah, it's a cold Ultram Never heard of it some some fucking 2009 shit

I'm sure it's been pulled off the market because people's hearts were exploding or something who knows it caused fucking tumors in your eyes Yeah, some fen fen like issue So he was prescribed both of them. He said for neuropathy in his feet and joint pain. So that's who we're dealing with now. Now, back to October 17th, the last time we saw Heather Marie Catterton, and she was with Summer Hefner and Michael Moore. So they spent time with Danny Robbie that day.

In the late afternoon, I guess, Danny Robby picked up Summer and her boyfriend outside of a store on Route 321 in Gastonia. They stopped at his mother's house, and we'll talk about all of this, and then they continued to the house where Heather lived with her father because he was dating Nicole, Danny Robbie. So both Heather and Nicole, by the way, are known at this time to have sex for drugs. Sure. They will have sex for drugs,

either one of them, apparently. Now, Summer allegedly, according to everybody, I mean, I wasn't there, I don't know. Summer said that Heather was a prostitute who would trade your sex for drugs period. That's it Yeah, it's men generally don't get that opportunity. So no no they would if they could they said I'll suck your dick not Yeah, I'll let you suck my dick and give me drugs. No, that doesn't happen Yeah, so now she summer said that her and her boyfriend were at Heather's house along with Heather and Danny Robbie and that Danny Robbie offered to buy some crack for the group

Understanding that he would get sex in return So wow that when you buy a pizza, that's not the understand like I'll go get the pizza I got it. You don't expect someone to blow you before the last pepperoni is eaten That was great Wow, whip it out. Come on. So eventually the four left Heather's house drove in Danny Robbie's car to a store They said for the first several of several times that evening a dealer would walk up to his car Sell him crack through his window and they'd go they said initially they went into the trailer several of several times that evening a dealer would walk up to his car sell him crack through his window and they'd go they said initially they went into the trailer home of one of Danny Robbie's friends where they smoked all

of his crack over the next several hours the four of them went from place to place purchasing and smoking more crack drinking booze having sex and then looking for more money for more drugs and more alcohol. That sounds amazing. That's a wild night, man. Minus the crack, that's a fun night. I mean, looking for drugs, just not doing drugs and getting blown off.

That sounds great. That sounds awesome. Sounds awesome. So eventually here, we'll talk about it, but the boyfriend's going to end up getting left behind at a convenience store. And they ended up buying more crack, and then he ended up, Danny Robbie dropped later on, summer off at her boyfriend's mother's house at about 1 a.m. and Heather stayed with him. So that's what ended up happening here after they ended up at his house Danny Robbie's

house where he lives with his mother and after that is when they he says he dropped Heather off at her house so the last time summer saw Heather was when Heather a summer and her boyfriend got dropped off. Okay. Last time. Now that she's found on, on October 29th, 2009, like we talked about the autopsy now with Heather, they conduct the autopsy. She tested positive for an amount of cocaine, which could have been lethal to a lot of people. Jesus. Yeah. If you weren't, you know, we're tempered to it. Yeah. So they said that her skin had undergone serious changes in color which would go along with decomposition

It's marbling pattern that forms on the skin from decomposition very early Also a fairly prominent area of skin slippage or the top layer of skin Kind of comes off Sluffs off. Yeah. Yeah, that's a terrible word when there's d comps in the heat and They got a they got a roll them. Yeah, they're all the slough. They'll slough and sometimes they'll pop because they're swollen Yeah, so sometimes the body will pop and it will be wow horrifying for everyone involved obviously I did not know about the sloughing.. Yeah, the sluffing. That homicide David Simon book, they go over like crime scene stuff

and it's like, oh man. Roll the body and it sluffs. God, Jesus. They were talking about finding somebody who was in a Baltimore attic in the summer dead for like a week. So imagine how hot that is up there. I mean, we're talking 130 degrees and just.

Just wish it was a skeleton. Yeah, and it popped and everybody. Oh my. It was bad for everybody we'll put it that way so uh that happened uh also this was around her neck this was going on so they said this is not an easy autopsy because elements and insects and everything else had gotten to her she'd been outside it appeared that she'd been uh left on the side of the road for some time they said that that her decomposition set in,

they said marbling, left leg and flank, spotty skin condition, green discoloration there, skin slippage from the left side and back, multiple additional, oh, foci, F-O-C-I, foci, of skin slippage, face, neck, abdomen extremities, and a mild distension of the abdomen, which means she was starting to swell. Yeah, starting to blow.

Yep, the first thing they did was they washed her body and they said there was dirt and debris all over her. They said, quote, so having, this is the medical examiner, so having done that, it was apparent that she had a number of bruises and a number of scrapes to the skin. She had what looked like bruising to the right side of her face and inside corner of the right eye, some scrapes to the left side of her face. She also had bruises to the thighs, to the bottom area. She had scrapes on her

right side and a couple scratches in other places. So the medical examiner said, I had a concern that perhaps there was a violent element to her death and one possibility that I did not want to overlook was that perhaps she had been strangled or smothered or something to that effect. So they said her pupils and cornea were cloudy and poorly visualized, which is another indication they've been dead for some time. That's why when you pick out fresh fish, you don't you look for you don't want cloudy eyes you want clear eyes Means they're less time has passed there. They're all gray. That's gross. That's not good

So they said that's one of the things here They said the white part of her eye showed evidence of injury and this type of trauma to the eyes is consistent with strangulation or asphyxiation consistent with strangulation or asphyxiation. Okay, some blood and knot in the whites? Yeah, so they said that the medical examiner felt the discoloration around the neck coupled with the trauma that her eyes showed, showed that that's what they're thinking here now after a while, after a real good autopsy that she's probably strangled or asphyxiated in some way. They also said there was no bruising or external trauma around her neck, but that that finding didn't necessarily rule out

Anything basically they said ultimately the final autopsy report indicated the cause of death was undetermined But they're leaning homicide. They're leaning to strangulation asphyxiation Now Heather's funeral Danny Robbie offered to be a pallbearer at the funeral. It's the sister's boyfriend and whatever. He said he wanted to help out the family in any way he could, he felt bad. He told Nick how sorry he was for the loss

of his daughter repeatedly, and Nick was very appreciative of that. Said, my older daughter's got a nice guy here. Nice crackhead. At the funeral, Danny Robbie signed the guest book. Then when it came time to carry the casket, he just took off. He didn't do it. Well, I mean, they're heavy.

I mean, yeah. Wow. You just, okay. If you say, I'll be a pallbearer, you got to do that. Like that's... You got to stick around. You got to stick around, man. You offered to carry a dead person like that's a big commitment there There's there's six right or is it yeah, it's six. Yeah. Yeah, so or depending on who you are one side's gonna be heavier

Yeah, I mean about Ralphie May there was 12, but that's a different story. I would hope so I bet there was one and it was a crane. Yeah, probably and we love Ralphie No offense to Ralphie man. Greatest guy the fucking shit Ralphie. He would make fun of himself Yeah, that's I would assume a dead comics biggest regret is that he's dead and can't make fun of the fact that he's dead It's like that's the ultimate thing self-deprecating thing. Yeah, as I'm dead can't make fun of himself and B can't can't Make fun of the people that are making fun of him. Yeah, it's like, god damn it.

That's how a comic would think though. Like, oh man, I can't even tell the story now. I'm dying. This sucks. So that's how sick and diseased we are as people. That's what we think about. So Summer said back on October 17th when this all started, she said she took a call from Heather and Heather said, I just got out of jail and I'm at my dad's house.

She had just gotten out of jail. They said she sounded defeated and tired, but you know, happy to talk to Summer. She said, I need you to come over here now. So Summer said, I'll be right over. They often, I guess, Summer and Heather often met at one of their friend's houses here, using the house as a staging area to decide whether or not they were gonna go,

where they were gonna go party for the night, basically. So early afternoon, Summer is with her boyfriend, Michael Moore, they had no way of getting over to see Heather, so they started walking from their friend's house. They walked down the road. That's when Danny Robbie came up and picked him up off the side of the road. Hey, what are you guys doing?

Here, boy, what the hell? So they hopped in. He was driving down the road, and he had never met the boyfriend before, Michael Moore. So they said he hung his hand out the window and said, hey, I'm Danny. And you know, said, where are y'all going? And Summer told him and he said, well, that makes sense

because Heather sent me to pick y'all up. I just wanna make, I wanna take you to see her, get on in. Yeah. Why'd you ask then? You knew where they were going. I'm here to get you. Rather than saying I'm here to get you, he's lying. That's what that is.

So Summer said, looked at her boyfriend, they looked at each other and they were like, all right, I guess. So I don't have to walk. So anyway, there's that. Now Summer has always thought he was a little bit weird. This Danny Robbie here, she said he's always up to something scheming, contemplating, doing that kind of shit. He once explained how he had gone from... He explained that he used to go from dating, he had this one group,

this one family where he dated the mother and then moved on to the daughter. And he said, oh yeah, I also did that with these people, with the Cattertons. He said, quote, I had promised Stella some things that I was now giving to Nicole. You know, my dick. Yeah. These balls. These balls.

So they pulled up to Danny Henry's mother's house here, Danny Robbie's mom and a small house red brick ranch style house with black shutters and all that kind of thing. Well kept yard, didn't look like a piece of shit or anything like that, so that's fucking nice. Danny lived here with his mom. He had a bedroom and a den area, kind of to himself down the hall from his mother. So Danny told Summer and her boyfriend, wait in the car.

He said, I won't be long, I'm just running in to get some money and to see my daughter okay so they waited about 30 minutes and they talked about how weird he is and they're like Jesus Christ the fuck is going on here and she later said summer said you know how you can just tell when people are strange that was Danny Hembree yeah okay that was him he returned to the car didn't say shit and proceeded to go on to their friend's house They said that you know, they're all gonna go whatever smoke crack or whatever This is going to Nick's house, which is Heather's house Heather Nicole's house next to dad So at the house they get to the Catterton house Danny

Michael Moore summer they all get out of the car, walk in. Danny here goes about his business of hanging out with Nicole because that's where his girlfriend lives. So he goes and hangs out with his girlfriend. Summer's boyfriend sits in the living room. Summer went and found Heather. Heather was taking a bath. So she said this is the first time that Heather, Summer had seen Heather since Heather had been released from jail, so, cause she's had a bunch of fucking things there. She said she put on a little bit of prison weight,

but she's still very attractive and, you know, look like a kid. A little different. Yeah, prison weight. Well you take off baby weight, you put on prison weight. That's what it is. It's like baby weight minus the hope yeah This little never end. It's a sadder weight so uh

Heather and summer hung out in the bathroom and chit-chatted here while Heather finished a bath very comfortable with each other here summer had Summer said she would have been clean for a while and hadn't been using drugs, but she was drinking that day and they talked about... She's not so clean. She's not that clean. So they talked about what they were going to be doing to celebrate Heather's jail fucking release here. So as they're talking, Danny and Nicole walked in and Nicole...

Everyone's just hanging out with this naked 17-year-old. Can we let a 17-year year old bathe by herself, get fully dressed, and then chit chat about what we're gonna do. So Nicole asks, what are you guys up to tonight? You guys have plans, and Heather and Summer didn't really seem interested in hanging out with Nicole and Danny.

So yeah, and they didn't understand it too, because Nicole is like young and attractive, and she's dating this guy who's twice her age, a fucking scumbag fucking ex-convict? So they said his skin was like yellow and shit. He looked weird. He looked like he had hepatitis Yeah, that's what I mean. They said he had had no job He'd get up in the morning and just start drinking beer They described him as waking up in the morning with a beer in his hand and going to bed with a crack pipe in his other hand.

So they don't get it. So Danny waited till Nicole left. Nicole said, all right, whatever, and she left the bathroom. Then Danny kind of comes in conspiratorially. I don't know how much more conspiratorial you can be than being in a 17 year old's bathroom while she's bathing, but that's a separate issue. It feels like a conspiracy in and of itself.

Take that level of weirdness and that's not even, that's brushed over. It's not even a big deal with this shit. So he said, y'all want to come off and get high is what he said to them. Y'all want to come off and get high. He said, come on, I'll buy the dope. Okay. Sorry we're talking it's a free sponsored evening now at this point. So yeah. So he paused and Heather didn't respond and he said I promise a good time if you want to come. Yeah. And they were like okay and but apparently that that this is what Danny would say to girls I'll pay I'll buy the dope if you come and party with me

in other words We'll fuck and i'll pay that's all of it. So i'm buying so you're sucking That's it. Yep So that's what he said. Um, and um, you know heather He liked he seemed to be kind of interested in heather even though he's dating her sister and um He seemed to be kind of interested in Heather, even though he's dating her sister. And so yeah, she's all clean from jail and everything, hadn't been on drugs in a while. Heather said, I ain't going anywhere without Summer.

Get your ass out of here. That's what she told her. So Heather's not taking shit. She's not a meek 17-year-old. She's been in foster care, jail, everything else. She's like, fuck out of here with your fucking pervert ass. So Danny looked at Summer and took a look at Summer and said, I don't mind her going, meaning Summer.

And Summer said, I don't really know you. I'd never go with you without my boyfriend. So then Heather said, get out of here. Go, come on, get the fuck out of here. I mean, I want to get out of the tub. I'm not doing it in front of you. So he said, all right. And he walked away.

Now earlier and through this, the girls had heard Danny and Nicole arguing with each other Which is they were always arguing with each other basically whenever he wanted to get away from Nicole to go do what he wanted To do he'd start a fight so he could leave Danny later said he Nicole wanted me to buy her something. I told her no and she got pissed That sounds made up. So Summer later said Nicole talked about going out by herself that night to go hang out with people and doing shit So now Heather summer Danny Robbie and summers boyfriend Michael Moore all take off They go to a local store. Like we said, they score some crack like we talked about like summer said Some guy came out and dumped it off in the driver's window

from the store they drove to a friend's house on Chapel Grove, which is a trailer park and His buddy was home, but as soon as summer Heather Danny and summer's boyfriend got there Danny's pal took Danny's car and left all right, y'all take my trailer and he got in the car and left. And it was kind of like, they said it seemed planned almost. It was weird. Yeah, so they arrive at the trailer and he knew that Heather wanted to smoke crack.

That's what she's into. So Summer said they went off into a bedroom to go smoke crack. Heather and him, yeah. Heather and Danny Robbie. So they were gone for about 30 minutes. At one point, Summer walked in the bedroom to see what was up and make sure everything was okay

because she said she didn't trust Danny. And this is her quote, Summer said, quote, they was just butt-necking. Is that what you do when you smoke crack? That's it, you get butt-nicken. Yeah, that's fucking, yeah, for sex. I want you to burn your shirt, take it off. If you've ever seen Dope Sick Love,

you know that's, yeah, they're just smoking crack and then the one couple there, you know, with the guy, you're the best Al, that guy, that's what they do, they'd smoke crack and they'd be like hitting the crack crack, going baby I'm gonna take you fuck you and do all this shit I was like, you know, what is going on? So she said they was just butt-necked on the bed Heather seemed fine So Michael Moore starts walking down there, but summer stops him before he could go any further and he said they're all naked Michael let him be they're all naked right now. There's a youngster in there with their tits out don't go in Heather

said that's fine he can come in what's happening so they said and afterward this is summer's quote when they was done we all got high so after smoking that first round Heather and summer wanted more you You know, as crack goes. They said it's not a long crack high is short. It's not a long, not a long thing. Leaves you unsatisfied and wanting more. That's what I'm saying. So Danny told everyone that he wanted to go hang out inside another trailer nearby.

It was an abandoned trailer. Those are the cool ones. That's what you want. They said it's a filthy mess It's we're like fucking teenagers and scumbags hang out Yeah, beer bottles and empty crack vials and shit like that are all over the place There's blankets bug infested shit broken glass boarded up windows mold no electricity Piece of shit when they got they go there when they get inside Danny said he wanted Heather and Summer to have sex together so he could watch.

In here. In here. Amongst this. Cocaine's a hell of a drug, as Rick James once said. Cocaine is such an incredibly powerful drug that as a gross old man, you can tell two teenagers you'd like them to perform sex acts with each other in front of you and they'll go, okay. In a disgusting environment in a disgusting moldy shit-covered trailer

disgusting so yeah, he said that's what he wants he wants them to do that and He said that if you want to smoke more crack you'll get on with the show put on a show for me So summer said so Heather and me we put on a show Wow Jesus when they finished this Danny had a suggestion Put on a show for me. So summer said so Heather and me we put on a show Wow Jesus when they finished this Danny had a suggestion You quote me and Heather by ourselves We's going back to my mother's house so I can get some more cash to continue the party and he y'all got a problem with that

so Summer and Michael said no, that's fine. We'll wait in here in the scummy trailer. We'll wait for the crack. We'll wait for the crack. So they did. Danny and Heather went off to his mother's house in search of more cash. Danny said something about two or $300 in cash his mother had stashed inside the house. That's nice. Stealing mom's savings for crack. Your old mother's, god damn fucking that's emergency fund that is fucking gross. I was about eight o'clock at night

Summer said it seemed like forever. They were gone Danny ended up with a giant jug of pennies. That's what he ended up coming back with He said that's all he had left to his name They hadn't located any cash back at the house there left to his name. They hadn't located any cash back at the house there. So they decided let's go to one of those change into cash machines at a supermarket. Yeah, a coin star. Coin star and pay 10% to that shit. So by 11 they had exchanged the change for cash at the supermarket and Danny bought more crack. Time to party again.

So that is the last thing you have, man. Now you're gonna start pawning shit. That's it. Hopefully the night'll run out before that maybe and you'll be done. So they ended up going back to Danny's mother's house where Danny lives and the idea was for Danny and Summer's boyfriend to swap Danny, Summer and Heather.

They're gonna trade. Okay. Go summer and Heather. We're gonna trade Go back and forth He summer said that didn't work out so well because you know crack cocaine makes it to where men can't perform right? Right. Yeah, fuck your dick up. Yeah, so instead they were like fuck it and smoke more crack. Oh So when the crack was gone Danny said revisited another idea. He said he needed know my mother has money hidden. He said I know what I know what I know it So he said look there's two or three hundred dollars stashed somewhere in this house. We just need to find it So they all went out ransacking the house in a big treasure hunt the whole mom's home

treasure hunt the whole four crackheads. Robbing mom's home. They couldn't find any cash and there came to a point here where Danny began to get violent with Michael Moore, Somerset. As she said a switch had flipped in Danny he went from looking for money and willing to buy cocaine for everyone to a fucking maniac blaming everyone around him why they can't get more crack Danny soon went after Michael charging at him saying I'll shoot you man. I'll whip your ass. I'll stab you. I'll cut you I'll kill you just All the different methods. I'll do it. I'll overdose you. I'll do something He was just freaked out. So they were like what the fuck is going on here Danny then locked Michael Moore out of the house after accusing him of finding and stealing the money. Okay, you have it. It's in your pocket. It's in your

pocket. Yeah. So summer said, please, Danny, what are you doing? And Heather said, I'm getting the fuck out of here. This is getting too weird. You know what I mean? So yeah. Now Michael Moore, who had found some booze earlier, stashed with shit face drunk and coming down from a crack high sitting outside on the stoop. Yeah. Next thing you know, Summer says, it's freezing cold out there, Danny, please.

And she put on her shoes and said, I'm just going to walk home if you ain't going to let Michael back in. So Danny approached the door and stood in front of it and then opened the door and motioned with his hand for Michael to come back in. So Danny approached the door and stood in front of it and then opened the door and motion with his hand for Michael to come back in. He said, you sit on that couch to Michael. That's where he's allowed to sit.

Okay. That's interesting. He says, you do not move and you do not leave this living room. You fucking understand me. Okay. Sure. I guess. So summer ran over, sat down next to Michael and didn't want him to say anything to Danny and make it worse.

So Heather and Danny, after he suggested it, started to search the house for the money. You guys stay here. Me and Heather will search. So he said, look, it has to be here somewhere. But then they didn't find it by after midnight. Danny said, let's just go. And Heather said, let's just go. And Heather said, where are we going?

And he said, alone, just you and me. Oh, boy. She thought about it for a second, then turned to Summer and said, I'll be back. I'm going with Danny. And by the way, about the sex sex summer said he liked rough sex I noticed him pulling Heather's hair and he said she said I never I net quote I ain't never done seen him strangling her or anything like that. I ain't never done seen him Ain't ain't never done seen him. Yeah

Seen so she's saying hold on Yeah, it's a double negative did you not see I'm not positive I gotta remember how that works of two negative numbers Negative two plus negative two is negative four right? But I think you have to divide that by how many teeth they have. Oh, shit. Or is it, is it, yeah. By that, the number of communicable childhood diseases that were preventable that they acquired. Multiplied by amount of crack pipes in the pocket. And the number of times you've had rickets, I believe, is how it works. I think she's trying to say she's never seen him choke anybody, but he is into rough sex.

That's what she's trying to say. Yeah. He likes it rough, but not like too rough. Not like, I'll kill you. Not that I saw anyway. Yeah. Not that I saw. I ain't witnessed nothing.

I ain't seen shit. So. I ain't witnessed nothing. I ain't witnessed nothing. I ain't done witnessed nothing, is what she said. Never know how. Never ain't know how. So anyway, that is all to get back

to the point to where Danny was talking to the investigators at the food mart. This is all the information they've had is that Danny was there, Danny saw Heather that night, who knows where Heather went after that. So he talks to them at the food mart and he said the last time he saw Heather the 18th near two in the morning, which is exactly what Summer said. He said something about partying with Heather, a girl named Summer Hefner and Summer's boyfriend. He didn't want Nicole to find out that he was, you know, smoking crack and fucking his little sister,

her little sister probably. He admitted to the cops he did have sex with Heather that night. They said, how'd the night begin? And he said, Nicole and me, we got into a fight. She wanted something and wanted me to get it for her, and I told her I wouldn't. They asked about the Catterton family in general,

and Danny then says this, quote, Look, I've had sex with Heather, Nicole, and their mother, Stella. Oh, God. I've fucked everything with a vagina in that entire family I'll fuck their grandmother if I could find her but I think she's in a home somewhere I still have sisters better watch the better watch their aunt fucking Diane better watch her shit. Oh, that's the crazy lady So the cop said had you seen Heather meaning between the time she disappeared and wound up dead. And he

said, lots of people been asking me about Heather. I've been asking around, you know? And he said that I couldn't find anyone who done seen her. That's that no one done seen her. So what do you want? So they said, do you have any ideas anywhere we could any direction clues and clues. He said hmm He said there was this one guy. He'd been he'd been looking for Heather. They call him the Marlboro man. Great. Well good Well, we'll track him down Who are we looking for? Yeah, was it Don Johnson? It was he Harley Davidson or the Marlboro man? I'm not sure which one he was

They call him the Marlboro man? I'm not sure which one he was They call him the Marlboro man great so a male smoking that's what we got at this point Cowboy and snakeskin boots that have duct tape all over the table, you know how it works You know what you're looking for He said quote he drives a red Dodge. I done seen him near the 17th. He was looking for Heather. They call him the Marlboro man because of that red Dodge. He, he got, he traded in his miles and got the back, the tailgates, just a giant Marlboro logo. That's all it is. It looks like a pack of cigarettes actually from the back custom

jobber. So the investigators are like, okay, that's actually good information because there was reports of a truck with that description in the neighborhood where she'd been found. So great. So one of the pickup trucks anyway, one of the investigators asked Danny where he had been that week and he said he was working and when he got off work, he'd go to his mother's house, eat dinner, then drive over to Nicole's and he said he did working, and when he got off work, he'd go to his mother's house, eat dinner, then drive over to Nicole's, and he said he did that just about every day, and Nicole's family confirmed that,

Danny's employer confirmed that he showed up for work and all that kind of shit, so. Yeah, they're at a dead end here. He said, I don't know, I ain't seen her, so I ain't done seen her. Ain't done never. So they said, was there anything else about that night you can recall

and tell us about and he said just that summer's boyfriend was an asshole and he couldn't do nothing meaning get an erection he said so I wound up with Heather and summer. I had to fuck them both. That's how it worked. That limp dick motherfucker made me fuck two women that night. That's right now the Summer though told police it was Danny who couldn't get an erection that night, so He's projecting he's projecting erect. He's projecting his non erecting is what he's doing It's a non erecting projecting Non erection projection is what that is so they he said he dropped Heather off at the Mighty Dollar that night.

I assume it's a dollar store. He said I went back home to my mama's and stayed till about 10 o'clock the next morning when my son came over and then Stella's boyfriend and he said call then Stella's boyfriend called and that's when he came up there. So they said, returning from home, dropping Heather off, he explained that he came home, quote, watch some porn and fell asleep. Jerked off.

After he just said he had threesomes and twosomes and every other fucking kind of something there is, he's like, I need to jerk it one more time. I came home and watched porn. I didn't jerk off. I just, I just watched it to the plot and get to the end. And I got one. It's got a real good story.

I mean, it's just real interesting. You actually fast forward through the fucking to see what happens in the plot, which is rare for a porn. Yeah. So tips him after he delivers that pizza. So by the end of the week here, they have no real leads and they're just exhausted of dealing with all these crack heads. They have nothing.

They just have a crazy, crazy story to deal with. Crazy story and all this type of shit. They don't know what's going on, but they do know that they have a dead 17-year-old. Okay, now, on the night that Heather's identity is released to the public, a friend of hers sees the news broadcast. Her name is Randy Saldana, Randy with an I.

She's 29 years old at the time, and she lives in Gastonia. She's sitting in her sister Shelly's living room watching TV, and Heather's picture came up, and she said, I know her. And her sister said, from where? And she said, fuck, I don't know. He said, I know her, I know her, I know her, I know her. And then she said from where? And she said, fuck, I don't know. He said,

I know where I know where I know where I know her. And then she said, I got it. Jail. That's right. Now we're from. Yeah. She said, I've, I saw her in jail and, um, the sister said, you mean you've talked to her? And she said, yeah, yeah, I talked to her. She said, I've also seen her around town from time to time. She said, and you know, she would not have gone down like that without a fight. She was tough chick yeah so if someone who you just did jail time with says you're a tough chick you're probably a tough chick yeah one thing for your dad to say it but another for a fellow inmate to give you your props. I don't take shit off nobody yeah it hits different when it's fucking D-Lo.

I was in the pen with him. In the cell block. Yeah. Someone says I was in the joint with that guy. You go, oh shit, yeah, he's probably a badass then. So now Randy, a little bit of background on Randy here. She's got her sister, they're about a year apart, her sister Shelly.

They did everything together when they were kids. Shelly said, Randy and I both grew up in Gastonia. We had good lives. We were raised for the majority of our lives by our grandmother. We lived a very religious life. They attended the local Pentecostal Church of God every Wednesday and Sunday with their grandparents.

Never drugs or alcohol in the home, ever. This is a T-Total and God-fearing home here. Shelly said it was as straight of life as you could lead prayer, family dinners, more prayer, TV, lemonade, Bible talk. That's what they did. They were whatever. And couldn't raise your kid in a more kind of wholesome and wholesome clean environment. Um, Shelly said there were never anything that we could complain about growing up. We had good schooling a good home

She did say though Randy was never one to get out there and start trouble with people It just wasn't in her but look if someone brought trouble her way, she was never gonna back down She would stand her ground still Randy was brought up in a godly way She had more sympathy for people than anger or animosity. She never really wanted to be ugly to anyone That's her sister. Now while in high school she got pregnant. Now yeah, okay, because that's one way or the other. That's the thing.

If you if you raised three kids like that, one of them is going to be a pastor. One of them is going to be a crackhead. It's just you can't it's not all the time, but yeah Overly anything is bad overly loose alcoholic beating you with a belt or this Can lead to the same exact fucking place as the thing and that's the weird part too is you see families They have three kids, you know, two of them are fine and one of them is a fucking disaster and you're like Okay Is that the parents' fault?

Whose fault is that? Is that just some people? Some people are a disaster, I guess, I don't know. Not that she is, but I'm just. Oftentimes it's the youngest, but it just happens that way. Sometimes it's the middle one, who knows? So in high school, she got pregnant,

and she said that basically the boyfriend started coming around and causing problems for her and then some other guy. It was a big mess. So she gave birth to a son here and, and that, and so that's how that goes. So that's Randy Saldana, her friend. Now, November 15th, 2009, this is a little over two weeks after Heather is found. This is on another dirt road in York County. Two women are riding horses near the Kings Mountain National Military Park when Catherine Sturgill here says to her friend, quote, It seems like a burn spot on the ground. Looks like somebody tried to set the woods on fire

over there, look at that. So Catherine gets off her horse and goes over to the burn and she stood by what she described as a foot, or the foot, I'm sorry, of the patch of scorched, the foot of a patch of scorched ground. Yeah, with Heather it's finding a foot, this is the foot. They said it was the foot of the patch of scorched ground was just about a little bit larger than a human being size They said there was something inside the ring of char face up the face is blackened by fire and

Melted off so they thought it was they also saw what looked like a human arm sticking up in the air with black soot all over it what looked like a human arm sticking up in the air with black soot all over it. Oh boy. So they said that black soot melted into it. They said the entire thing was draped over a rotted log and there was some kind of blanket or tart melted onto this thing itself, whatever this thing was. They thought it was a mannequin. It looks like a burned mannequin.

It looks like somebody burned a mannequin. And she said it looks in the shape of a human being. It makes no sense they said the the Then they started seeing other areas that were unburned with skin exposed and she said she saw the vaginal area was visible and unburned and one breast was exposed a Leg was burned at the foot and thigh and the entire neck and shoulder and shoulders and head were charred and red Jesus Christ something some of it completely melted away. So they said it wasn't clear if the mannequin's clothing had made the blackens melted shit or

they didn't understand what it was. So they said it's really weird. Then noticed the feet of the mannequin were bound with a copper wire or cord with the look like the plastic outer coating of the wire had been burned away. Melted like a like a twisted up hanger. No, no, no. More like a like a cord like a oh solid, solid wire cord. Solid wire cord with a with a yeah, I'm thinking like a plug. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So she yelled up to her friends. Someone set a mannequin on fire. That's what it looks like So then she walks up to the the mannequin here the torso section, which was red and burned but intact and she touched it Why why? Hey, why would you make sure by touching it if you're not sure call somebody Don't touch it. Well, I don't want to make a phone call and make people come out here unnecessary like. Yep.

That seems like a waste of resources. She poked it. She said, I wanted to make sure. And she then screamed, call 911, call 911. She said it felt. It's soft. She said it was like dough. Oh, Jesus. She's like, oh God, Jesus, it's not a mannequin. Call 911, it's a body, it's a body. She said it felt like dough. Oh, Jesus. She's like, oh God, Jesus, it's not a mannequin.

Call 911, it's a body, it's a body. She said it felt like human flesh. So that is fucking horrifying. She calls the cops. They said this is a very rural area. There's only one residence on it that I know of. It runs through the state park and the area. It's a pretty isolated area.

In other words, you could dump a body here pretty easily. So cops get out and the cops, when they get there, the initial cop turns to this captain and says, I think it might be a mannequin captain. I don't think that's a real body. And the captain said like, This is why you have to touch it, James. The cops have to touch it, not you.

No, no, I mean, yeah, but. She touched it and they still don't believe it. The cop didn't know. They still don't believe it. So you get in there and fucking touch it. How about that? With your goddamn job. So the captain's like, like somebody pulling a prank

and they said, yeah, yeah, yeah. So they were like, yeah, that's what it seems like. So they approached the body. They got close enough to see the, a ridge detail on the bottom of the foot. And he said, Nope, it's a person. I see. Yeah, that's not good. Uh, mannequins don't have that. They don't put shit on the bottom of feet and mannequins. So they said that whoever placed this woman here had bound her legs together

with a wire or a cord. So they were like, man, this is obviously a cover up of a violent murder here. Clearly. So then they realized, everybody realized that this is the second body found. This is less than seven miles from Heather's body. This is found. So the same fucking area, they're like, hold on.

Yeah, these two, they know each other. They're from the same area. We'll find out what happened here. Yeah, it's pretty fucking crazy. And they said a second female having been burned, they said that shows that especially that's someone progressing and learning. The first body was found, just identified easily, got back. Now maybe we had dump it and burn it so it doesn't get found that easily. So DNA testing comes back that it is the body of Randy Saldana the young lady who saw Heather on TV

Yeah, she her mother said this is Randy's mother said she told me she loved me She told me she'd be back the next day and I never saw her again And then two weeks later they found her there And she said my daughter didn't deserve to be burnt and thrown out like trash. Nobody does No, I mean apart from The obvious, you know, yeah being What's the word when you

When you're trash and they light you on fire and put you in a bag and give you your loved ones Yeah, when you're who die when you're cremated. Yes. Yes. I kept thinking incarcerated. It's a profession. A professional does that, and it's not done in a field usually. That's the thing.

Yeah, you can't just be tied up with a landscape tie. Yeah. So they go back and they talk to Danny Robbie again, because he knows a lot, and he knew a lot about the first one. So they said, what do you know about Randy Saldana and he said I've never had sex with Randy that's his first not I know her I've never had sex with her which is how I if you asked me about anyone when I go I've never had sex with her usually that's happens all the time so I answer shit. You know about Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen? Never had sex with them.

Never had sex with them. Okay, great. So they said that he then he sat there thinking and he said, Randy did rub up, rub up against my arm one night. So I touched her, but I didn't have sex with her, but she touched me. Close. Close, yeah. I almost did, yeah. So they're swabbing him for DNA at this point.

And so they said, so there shouldn't be any of your DNA sperms alive and nothing like that on Randy at all. And he said, no, no, absolutely. I mean, she rubbed on me. I mean, I don't know if that would, whatever. But other than that, no. So then police are searching different places

and looking around and they find Randy's jewelry. When her body was found, her jewelry was missing, they end up finding her jewelry from Nicole, Heather's sister, has Randy's jewelry. Why? That's what they'd like to know here. Yeah, so they said that her aunt aunt this is Nicole and Heather's aunt said that the cops Confiscated all of her jewelry too because some of it are not all of her jewelry all of uh

Nicole's jewelry because some of it belonged to Randy They also said as Nicole went through items in the closet in front of the cops, the cops pointed something out, bent down and said, what the fuck is this? And she said, that's not mine. And it was a piece of cut electrical cord that was on the closet floor, cut into a length, which how many of those do you have around your house? Zero?

I have zero. Yeah. Zero cut electrical cords. Not a lot, yeah. They said, whose cord is this? And she said, that's Danny's. Oh, Danny's Not a lot, yeah. They said, whose cord is this? And she said, that's Danny's. Oh, Danny's got electrical cord, yeah. So then they search Danny's car as well here.

They search his car and nothing is found in the car. Then they pop the trunk and they find what he says is, quote, another piece of cut electrical wire in the trunk. He says to the other guy, look at this shit. And the guy said, that's similar to the piece of wire used on Randy Saldana's legs. Oh, uh oh. So they don't like that.

So they go in before, they don't arrest Danny right now because it could be a coincidence. Who knows, he could have been throwing out garbage and cutting up a thing. You never know. I mean, that's- Tying hay bales, we don't know. Who the fuck knows?

Could have been, he could have been making a fucking, a ball strangler with it. He could have been making cock rings We have no idea what this guy does. He's not yeah Weasley Eagle. We made cock rings So they're conducting a thorough background check on Danny Robbie now and they learned that he was questioned in 2007 as the primary suspect in the 1992 murder of another local Gastonia girl. Yeah. So they're like, Oh my God, they keep finding more and more shit to talk about with this

guy. So they called him up on the phone on November 17th. They said there was a feeling among investigators. They had to either scratch them off the list or put them at the top of the list, one or the other. He's involved too many ways in all this shit. Either all of it or none of it? None of it here. He had alibis for both cases but was still open to talking to police, but they said who knows if he was telling us the truth. So they call him up and the cop says,

listen, Danny, how are you? He says, and Danny said, good, good, what can I you and he said I'd like you I'd like to know if you could come down to the sheriff's office and take a polygraph for me and clear some things up we just want to confirm some information here you know what I mean that's it right so Danny tells him that you know I've been forthcoming but he's starting to get a little pissed off and you know that because he says quote I'm getting pissed now though y'all got me fired from my job. Oh. Yeah, so they've been putting some pressure on him and they followed him around and asked around about him

and they'd ask questions of his friends and his buddies and his work people and all that. You know, and they said, how so Danny? And he said, y'all went up there to my work site and talked to my boss. He doesn't ask you. Guy tried to say something else and Danny said, listen, my mom's thinking of kicking me out of the house

too now, you guys are fucking me over. So the guy said, come on Danny, and Danny just said, y'all went to my mama's house and you done told her I was smoking crack. Oh! You done told my mama you're smoking crack. That's the first time she found out? Yeah, and they said, we never went to your job site, Danny,

and we did not tell your mama anything that she didn't already know. And Danny took a moment, took a pause, and then said, fuck you, don't call me again, and hung up on the guy. Stop calling my mama. December 4, 2009, Danny Robbins arrested in Gaston County on a series of armed robberies He's still robbing. He's still rubble the change jars gone. He's got nothing left now, so he's fired

So he was charged with robbing the staybridge suites on Porous forest pine drive and police said that he's also a suspect in the robbery of another motel and restaurant Yeah a motel and restaurant. That seems like a bad place to rob. Yeah, a motel? In 2009, that's all credit, right? I would think, and all I could imagine is that late at night there's probably one person working there. That's the only thing I could imagine,

is they're looking for solo proprietors here. Only place with cash is the Motel 6 by the airport in Austin. That's the only one, they got a bunch of our cash. Our deposit and change. That was in 2017 when we first started this. All we had. Hadn't made a dime off podcasts yet.

And so we got invited to South by Southwest. And oh, boy, did we scrimp and scrape money together to get there and stay there. We had no food. Listeners bought us a meal. It's like we hadn't eaten and like, we ate like Jack in the Box the night before and it was like 24 hours later, we hadn't eaten food, it was bad.

It was bad. Can we get a room for this? And they're like, we need $100 more. I was like, that's all I have. That's it, that's everything. Here you go. That was bad, we had change literally. That was bad shit. So

They end up sitting down with Danny Robbie now They give him his Miranda and all that kind of shit and the record the interviews and everything First of all, they picked him up and put him in the box when they put him in the box in the interrogation room They like to leave you in there for a while and see what you do Number one thing they like to see if you do is fall asleep. Yeah. Because that's like homicide detective 101 is the one who falls asleep in the box is a fucking that's that's your murderer right there.

Yeah. Innocent people are uncomfortable being in an interrogation room and they taste and they look around and they knock on the door and go where the fuck are you when they do all that shit. So they return that 12 32 a.m. They look in there and he's sleeping. And so they tried to wake him up and he was having a hard time sleeping on top of his arms.

They're yelling at him, Danny, Danny, Danny. In front they grab him by the arm and he snaps out of it, Jesus Christ. So they asked Danny, can you wake up for me buddy here? Maybe a little bit. And- Morning snoozy. Yeah, they said you to talk and get all your eggs in one basket Let's get it over with the guy says to him. He said, you know, I don't want to sit there staring at you

So gave him the Miranda form fills it out all that good shit and he said, you know what we want to talk about and he says yep them robberies and They said okay, which one would you like to talk about first? He leaned back in his chair, Danny Robbie, takes a deep breath and he says, y'all get them from your county up here and y'all get me something to eat and let's talk about those murders.

I'll tell you about them two girls. Get me a steak. He said, you get me some food and grab the other people from the other county and we'll chit chat. So this guy was like, huh? He sat down to talk to him about armed robberies that he'd been arrested for So he said Okay, sure. I had that last thing he expected to happen. That's not why he was here at all. So when it so he goes back to sleep and then wakes him up again here and he said that it would take some time to get that meal and

Hembree just Blurts out actually York County. They's wasn't killed there. They's was just dumped there. They's was killed in Gastonia. Oh So there was no need to get the York County guys actually, you can probably handle this. So, the guy, the detective said, okay. He's like, the recording of it is, oh, okay. He's like shocked. So, they leave him in there for a few hours. They get hold of York County and they all go to sit down with Danny here.

He got some sleep now. They let him sleep in the box for a while. And of the investigators said well you requested York County. We're here and He said quote them girls wasn't killed in New York County And as he's doing it he's like this with his fingertip on the table Doing that killed in New York County, and they said no and he said nope eyes just dumped him there I Did I did and the way he used dumped they said was he said I just dumped him there like real They were like They said where did this happen at and he said I killed them at mama's oh

That's nice He said I killed Heather downstairs in the laundry room, and I killed Randy at mama's. Oh, that's nice. He said, I killed Heather downstairs in the laundry room and I killed Randy and my den. You'll find their blood all over the couch. And they said at your mama's. And he said, yep. Okay. They said, does your mom know? And he said, nope. Is there anybody else? No. He said, Nope. She didn't even know I smoke crack. Yeah. You had to tell her that shit. They said he talked about this as if he was just talking about about going out to TGI Fridays the night before it's some wings Like casual detached. Yeah, that's it. He talked about killing Randy and

He said that if you go downstairs in his mother's house, you can find quote where she bled and I tried to clean up the blood And they said was that blood from her nose and he said yeah I punched her in the nose after she was dead I didn't figure she'd bleed or nothing why the fuck did you punch her in the nose after she was dead why would you do that why would you fucking do that so that's really weird. He remembered when he killed Heather he said quote it was 430 on the 18th and I dumped her body that Sunday. So they said well what brought all this on? And he said I killed Heather cause I don't know I just did. I just wanted to and I killed Randy for the same reason just wanted to

Really? He said he used a bag on Heather That's how he suffocated her a fucking Walmart bag. Oh Christ. Oh, that just makes it worse for some reason I don't know yeah, I don't know why that makes it worse. That's a Walmart bag Yeah, I don't know why that makes it worse than it's a Walmart bag. There's a smiley face on it. You know I mean it just makes it just trashier for some reason if it was from like a decent grocery store It wouldn't be as bad, but about that just makes it way worse. It's horrifying He said and it took a long time to He really is digging himself. He

She struggled then what is that? He said well that night me summer and Heather had sex six or seven times. And then he said, quote, Heather was a whore and she wouldn't quit. And she was just having to sell her body to the N words every now and then. But he says it full, full. It's one of his favorite words, honestly. Oh, he says it constantly. And I just released her from that. That's what he said. I love her. I love her. I love her.

I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her.

I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her.

I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her prison at the moment. Yeah. Man.

So she wasn't knocked out, he just put it over her head and hung onto her? That's what I'm saying. Yeah, that's what's wild. So he then said, then he sat there for a minute and said, quote, I was going to get her mama this week. Really? Was going to kill Heather's mama too.

Yeah. They were like, okay. Um, so he said, yeah, he said, uh, you know, I was at someone's apartment the night before his recent, his arrest here. And he said Shorty was supposed to come over there. Shorty is apparently a local drug dealer. Yeah.

And a black guy too. And I was gonna kill him too. Heather hated Randy. They fought over the same N-word, shorty. He fucks all them young white girls and he's 50-something. He gave them crack. They should be fucking me, I'm only 40-something. And you're doing the same thing he's doing?

Yes, exactly. So he then said about Randy, when she was around an N-word, she tried to talk like an N-word. Okay, we all do it. That's, she tried to talk like an N word. Okay, we all do it. That's, well you talk around everybody that you are. Talk to an English person for an hour

and you'll start hitting it. It's just what people do. It's just people. Yeah, it's people. It's how you meld into situations. It's how you are. Interesting. Yeah, if I spend a week in Arizona, I can tamp down my accent.

No, no, never. But I can tamp down my accent. I come back to New York. It's everywhere. It's hard. It's harder. I have to concentrate. Everybody's like, why is James saying yeehaw?

It's been in Arizona. I don't know. I've never said yeehaw in my life. Well, actually I have. But it's only a sexual thing. That's the only time. It's only when I come. Only sexual. It's only when I, but it's only a sexual thing. That's the only time. It's only when I... Only sexual.

It's only when I cum. It's only when I cum. That's when I yell every time. I can't even how I don't even know why I do it. I just do it. It just happens. So he said that he just hated this about Randy and it disgusted him. He said...

Okay, so you're a racist, sir. That's your problem. He's a huge racist and I love a crackhead Fucking judging others this guy has no place to stand and say he's quote better than anybody like by birth or whatever They got a piece of shit What are you talking about he said after he murdered Heather he put her in the closet for a while and he said quote then I went upstairs watched me some TV and made me something to eat. He's hungry afterwards you know he said they said well how the what did you do

you get back how did you get down to a bag like how did this happen he said well after they had sex he said hey Heather we've got us some lighters downstairs in a cabinet inside the watch the washroom can you go and fetch me one they were their lighter died yeah so Heather got up and walked down into the basement all she had on was the Hollister hoodie that she was found in and toe socks which she was found in as well Yeah, I don't know why she's wearing those those are weird. But yeah, she liked them apparently I guess the rest of her clothes were on the floor in his bedroom. His mother wasn't home She went away for a few days to visit relatives or something

When Heather was downstairs Danny Robbie said he got up and without saying anything approached her from behind She had a flashlight in her hand and was searching on a shelf in the basement looking for a lighter He said quote with some kind of cord. He couldn't recall exactly which one He walked up behind her without speaking placed it around her neck and choked her She reacted by thrashing her arms and swinging the flashlight and smashing him in the head with it. Oh And he said it wasn't hard enough to hurt though by thrashing her arms and swinging the flashlight and smashing him in the head with it. And he said it wasn't hard enough to hurt though. So he said she tried pulling the cord with her hands as she struggled.

He said he wrestled her down to the floor. She stopped fighting but wasn't dead. She was unconscious but not dead. So he said he let go of the cord and placed both his hands on her nose and mouth and pushed down tightly trying to suffocate her. And he said that her legs kicked and her body convulsed. And they said he described it so calm and like just like it was.

He said, yeah, he said that acted out. He said he called it as a process that wasn't easy. He said she just wouldn't die. Yeah, she's 17, man. She's full of life. Yeah, so it said it took over 10 to 15 minutes. He said he even placed his foot on her neck at one point to hold her down and she still wouldn't die.

He said, I mean, I didn't want to hurt her or nothing. I just wanted her to go to sleep. Okay. So that is, then he said it wouldn't't work So he grabbed a plastic Walmart bag nearby placed it over her head pulled it tightly as he held her down And he said it seemed to work better, but she still wouldn't die He said her arms and legs were still flailing So then he said he hauled off and slammed the middle of her chest with a with his fist Like at the bottom of it like that like live damn it

But yeah, not die down the opposite motion of what you wanted to do man. Yep, and he said that stopped her heart Wow gave her a heart punch apparently so Yep, he then walked upstairs sat down watched, watched some TV, made himself a sandwich, which is insane. He said that he did it. He said he freed her from a life of prostitution. He said, I released her for that. I wasn't mad or nothing.

Now she's better off. Again. It's like, this is what the fuck. Doing God's work for you guys. Yeah, Jesus Christ, man. What are we talking about here? He said, I didn't want to bruise her up or hurt her. I just wanted her to go quick, is what he said.

Wow. OK. So no reason, just wanted to. He said, it seemed like the best thing to do at the time. I mean, I wasn't mad at her. We wasn't fussing. We wasn't even fussing. I mean, what the fuck?

During this interview, he says, in the middle of this, he goes, by the way, I also killed two prostitutes in Florida. And by the way, you know that Randy Saldana killed her too. So, yeah, yeah, killed her, killed the women down. So I got four total. Oh, wait, there's another one, too. I'm going to tell you about in a little while. So they say he said it was about November 11th with Randy. total. Oh wait, there's another one too. I'm gonna tell you about in a little while.

So they say he said it was about November 11th with Randy. He said, I also killed Randy Saldana. I killed her because it was business. I was killing two birds with one stone. He said he, he, um, wow, that is wild. He said, I killed Randy for drugs. Stella and her, and her sister and shorty gave me an eight ball and a couple of girls asked me to kill Randy. He said he did it like as a murder for hire for an eight ball. So which is wild. He said that when he and Nicole and Randy went over to the Catterton house that night, they got caught smoking crack in Nicole's bedroom and she said Stella acted like she got mad at Randy for not giving her something this was Stella's way to remove herself from the situation and put me and Randy alone so

I could kill her later from Nick's he said they drove to Shorty's where Randy and Nicole exchanged jewelry he said that's the jewelry wasn't that they just they did it then they exchanged jewelry. It wasn't after he killed her or nothing. He said that he and Randy staged that scene and Nicole got pissed and Randy left. She said, I never gave Nicole any of Randy's jewelry. He said he drove up on Randy as she walked down the street

away from Shorty's and he said he didn't need to ask her to get in, She just got in. And they planned to go hang out and smoke some crack. As they drove, Danny Robby said he knew immediately he was going to kill Randy. But instead of taking her to his mother's house, because mama was home, he said, he drove her out to that abandoned trailer.

And he said she walked into the trailer beside him. He said that he loved the feeling of power and craved it He knew what was gonna happen So he said at one point Randy had made some statement about Heather's death and that pissed him off So that's all all he needed to do So all she needed to do so as soon as Randy turned her back and said something He grabbed her by the neck with two hands and quote choked her out He said she was so scared. She done pissed herself

and and said What are you doing as this and then he choked her unconscious, but she wasn't dead She came to and said why'd you do that? and He said what you said about Heather you disrespected me and she said I didn't mean it that way get me out of here I don't want to be trapped inside here with no killer and He said look everybody got me down as a suspect who done killed Heather, and she said I'm sorry I didn't mean it that way and

Then he said look you want me to just take you back up the road or do you want to go over to Mama's house? she said it's cold in here. And then said, take me to your mama's. And he said, okay. She said, can I shower when we get back there? And he said, yeah, but we got to wait till mama goes to sleep so I can sneak you in. He's 40. Sneaking girls into mama's house.

When they got to his mother's house, he parked his car and told her to be quiet. He needed to sneak her in through a window on the side of the house. They tip-throwed through the yard. He's shh and all that shit here. Pushed open the window, helped her get up to the edge of the window pane, pushed her ass and pushed her into the room.

He climbed in behind her. Why does he have to climb in? He lives there. His mom knows he lives there. You're sneaking in yourself. That's weird. So he collected his thoughts here, and then he said, I climbed back out the window and went in through the door and told mom I was home.

He said, yeah, why am I climbing in the window? What am I doing? I'm sneaking in my own shit. He said he walked from his mother's room down the hallway into the den just outside her room where Randy was sitting on the couch. He turned on the TV. Mama was reading in bed,

about 30 feet away. He said, Mama never comes down here because she know I like to watch porn and shit. Gross, why does Mama know that? Mama knows too much, man, poor Mama. Mama knows you like, Mama didn't even know you smoked crack. Mama said, so this guy is the water boy is who he is.

So this is like the murderous water boy. That's who we have here. And mama knows he jerks off. Mama doesn't want to walk in and see it. So after watching TV for about 10 minutes while sitting on the couch next to Randy, Danny, Robbie, presume mama was asleep. So without a word, he said he just reached over and strangled

Randy down to the floor. He said she went pretty fast, a lot faster than Heather did. He didn't know if she was alive or dead though, so he cocked his fist back and punched her as hard as he could right above her nose between the eyes. He said that caused a lot of blood which spilled all over the couch and he said ah shit. So he took a look for a comforter or a blanket found one placed it over her went into his bedroom and rested for two or three hours until he was certain that mama wasn't coming out. So he said he went back for Randy stripped off her clothes rolled

her up in a blanket hoisted her over his shoulder, and walked through the house. And he said that he realized when he got to the kitchen that she was still bleeding and had left a trail of blood throughout the house. So he said, shit. So then he put her down in the basement and after cleaning up the, quote, damn mess she made, he said. She made. She made.

He then stuffed her in the same closet that he had Heather in For a few days and left her there for several days Wow, he said mama was in the kitchen reading as we was back in the den and I killed her on the couch Holy fucking shit. He said I left her in he in there for Randy stayed two or three days in there in the closet That is fucked and he said he just wanted to That's it. That's it. He said if those girls would not have been with me that night. They would not be dead I did not intentionally kill those girls and if I could bring them back I would but I can't Not intentionally

He does an accident. He tried like six different ways to kill Heather. So not intentionally he there's an accident he tried like six different ways to kill Heather so not intentionally Those are not intentionally. I made a lot of spare As just experimentin. Yeah He said that both of them died of debt later on the interview He said now they both tried of dug or died of drug overdoses, and I just disposed of their bodies And then he said it didn't happen so it freaking didn't happen you know they're like you just detailed exactly what you did for hours hours seems like he needs crack to think straight so wow a few weeks prior to this that when they

after they discovered Heather sold Randy's mom said that they are I'm sorry they said that she she thinks she met her before and she said I that at the funeral is when this all happened at Heather's funerals when he set his sights on Randy she said I think that's when he feasted his evil eyes on her I really do and she said I went to the funeral he was there so he said Nicole left the grades gravesite with Danny. It's shocking. Everyone walked up to the closed casket I don't recall him walking up there. That's what Randy's mother said now so they arrest him for all the murders obviously and Heather's dad Nick said this is this Nick is the most clueless man of all fucking time

I know you don't make fun of victims families, but holy fuck Nick You know what you're half the cause of this bro number one Yeah, he said from what I've seen of him meeting Danny Robbie Yeah, he's never hit or shown any aggressiveness toward anyone. I know I Don't get it except for Heather Except for my daughter and my other daughter who he Wow, so by the way, Randy Saldana's cause of death was very easy there They said the condition of her body she had bruises on her neck and a fracture of the cartilage there that the hyoid bone that does that and

That's right in line with the confession of what he said manual strangulation By the way, then he says I got another one for you. Oh Deborah Denise Ratchford Goes by Mickey. She was 30 years old. That's the 1992 murder that he was a primary suspect for he did it He did it. He absolutely did it. Yep. They fact she was found August 4th 1992 in a thicket of vines under a honeysuckle bush Wow, so many then that is so far length of time between the two between the three. Yeah There's gotta be more. Well, she was in jail for a while

Okay that that helps but they said a man taking a shortcut through Oakland Park at about 745 discovered the body and obviously freaked out and called the cops and the cops came and man, he noticed a pair of women's underwear and blue jeans scattered along the road and then spotted a trail of blood, followed the blood to find the body. Oh, don't do that, don't follow. Don't follow.

You just walk away. Oh, oh. The guy said it didn't make our her someone she knew said it didn't make no sense she didn't harm nobody so it's fucking it's ridiculous she was just found in a park and the park was considered a high or not considered a high crime area or anything so it was like maybe the occasional prostitution or something it was right near a cemetery. Not usually the biggest, you know, high crime areas. So her mother said, I thought everybody coming up

and down my street was a suspect after that. I wanted to stand face to face with the person who did it and ask, why did you kill my child? She was a good person. This poor woman had to wait 20 years for this almost. So yeah, she was found there, That's 1992. She had deep cuts for not to her chest and neck. That's how she died. Gashed to death. Good Christ. Yep. She said that her daughter was a lovely nonviolent person who got along with everybody. She grew

up in Gastonia and you know, was there she's her family lived there. She worked at a textile mill and at a cafeteria, sometimes lived with her mom on and off. Kept her ass off. During a six year period though, she had been charged with larceny, assault with a deadly weapon, inflicting a serious injury, driving while impaired,

and assault on a law enforcement officer. Oh no. She got into drugs is what that means. Yeah. So anyway, that's going on. on a law enforcement officer. She got into drugs is what that means. So anyway, that's going on. Now the Florida women that he took claim to kill. So we have three that we know about now, those three. Now the Florida, he said he killed two there. He refused throughout the interviews to provide details,

but eventually provided the information that they're both prostitutes, didn't recall their names, but he did bury their bodies on Merritt Island in Brevard County However these statements about the murders conflicted with other important details at one point He said he committed the murders in 92 at another point. He said it happened in 2009. It's a big difference So they never figure that out. They never find bodies on Merritt Island. They don't know what yeah could happen from 20 years ago he is charged with the murder of Ratchford with Deborah Ratchford a Deborah Ratchford and Heather and Randy

Ratchford is the one from 92. It was just found. Yeah, Mickey and In addition another man is arrested with him too for the Deborah rap Ratchford murder that is James Arthur Swanson a 41 year old who was charged But then they said they're gonna they arrested him. He said I'm not a hard fellow to find I'm willing to go to any lengths to help you all find who done this to this lady But I did not do this that man is telling a bare-faced lie That's not that. I don't know. Yeah, it's a bare-faced lie a's not the, that's not, yeah. It's a bare faced lie. A lie on me, not about me, on me. I'm innocent.

He's telling a bare faced lie on me. I'm innocent, that's his exact quote. Oh my. So. The bastard's going to prison. Nope, they dropped the charges two weeks later. When they couldn't find a shred of evidence linking him to the murder,

other than Danny Robby saying he was involved. Why would he say that? He starts doing this to other people too. So four days later, he recants all his confessions and says, no, no, that didn't have those confessions to the Ratchford murder, the 92 murder and the two Florida murders. It's at this point also Nicole, Catterton, Heather's sister sister is arrested charged with failing to comply with a court order. So yeah we don't know what that's about. She didn't do it.

Didn't do it. Yeah she was in cuffs they took her away they wouldn't say if it was related in any way to the murders or to Danny Robbie but she doesn't end up having anything with that. So December 14 2009 he is indicted and they say, this is from the prosecutor, quote, the first time he came into court, he was acting like a rooster cussing the judge and screaming and hollering. Is that what roosters do? That's what Danny Robbie does. Yeah. They, they scream and holler at you. Yeah. So, um, yeah, by the way, it was 522 North Oakland Street is where they found Deborah Ratchford there. So, Danny Robbie here.

Now they have a profile of him because they're trying to figure out if he's done more. So they got the FBI involved. This is a multi-state thing. So they say, this is from a book that I'll give you a title of at the end here about this case profile of serial killers psychotherapist social workers certified addiction specialist and fellow at the American College of Forensic Examiners John Kelly who studied this case for this author and is my profiling guru for the investigation discovery series dark minds

Said the guys like Danny Hembree give themselves away in their behavior. They can't hide from who they are. It always comes out. He said, Mr. Hembree is a power and control focused killer. The killer that likes to use drugs as payment is extending his pleasure by extending his time and length of power and control.

This is very difficult, this is very different than the killer that shows a victim a $20 bill, gets her in the car, drives to a location and kills her. That's too fast for these guys. More time equals more power and more control, which in turn equals more pleasure. That's what he's about. He said, then also, by the way,

before he recanted the Deborah Ratchford murder confession, he took the cops to the location where her body was found. I didn't do it. Seventeen years ago. Yeah. And this guy says, when Henry went out there to the Ratchford crime scene with the officers, he was very particular about where the murder took place, about this, about that. It wasn't like he was saying over here and over there.

He was very particular about the area and he was right on about all of it. So he did it. Yeah, too, yeah. He said another thing was his details. If you're gonna make something up in law, you don't give as much detail as he did. He gave us details about, yeah, we picked her up,

I was irritated because I had to get out of the car to let her get into the back seat. We were like, why would he say this stuff if he wasn't reliving it back in his head as he told us? Which is also a pleasure for him. So the state tries to join the Heather Catterton and Randy Saldana murders together for the trial, make it a two murder thing.

The court denies that motion. They say no one at a time. As they said, they're two in the same group, knew each other, similar lifestyle, around two weeks within each other, seems like a perfect match, but they said no. So the state elects to try the Heather Catterton murder first and tries to present evidence of the Randy Saldana and Deborah Ratchford murders under a 404B, which is a rule of evidence, a prior bad act type of thing, and relevant shit.

It's a very long story of what that is. So if you ever watch pre-trial shit on court TV, you'll hear a lot of 404B shit as a big thing. So the trial court conducted two hearings on this whole thing, and they said the trial court found several similarities between Saldana and Caterton murders, including that both were white females

who engaged in prostitution. Both had died in the same guy's house within a matter of weeks. Physical evidence was consistent to show both bodies were temporarily stored in the mother's basement closet. Yikes. And that he had disposed of both of them

within seven miles of each other. So the court concluded that a lot of the evidence can be presented from the Saldana murder in this one because they were so similar, such a similar bad act. So yeah, to show that he acted with a common plan scheme or design. So there's that. Now they also what evidence they're going bring in in the Deborah Ratchford murder None of that will be admitted into this because of the length of time that went by different, you know different way they were killed Everything's different. So they said that can't be that's a different thing completely

So the murder trial for Heather Catterton in the openings here They give the openings the defense says here says Rick Beam, this defense attorney, which his real name is Richard, which is Dick Beam, which is pretty funny. He says that Danny Robbie fabricated the confession he made to police in order to cut himself a better deal in a string of armed robberies. Let's think about that logic for a moment. Yeah, I don't want to go to jail for 20, so I killed a bunch of women. I want to break on that, so I'll tell you about these murders.

That's maybe the dumbest thing I've ever heard. He said, it's very strange to normal people to tell police he killed somebody when he didn't, but everything in here in this case is abnormal. Danny Robbie wouldn't tell them anything if it would tell them anything if it benefited would tell them anything if it benefit benefited him He understood the criminal justice system and manipulated it. No, we didn't got himself arrested for worst crimes. That's not manipulating shit And later on the prosecutor will answer that in closings here

So they bring out witnesses talking about finding her body and the events leading up to her death and all the shit We already covered that we won't go over twice here because we're running out of time. So by the second day of trial, the state began to focus heavily on the evidence regarding the death of Randy Saldana. On the second day of trial, a witness described, that's the finding her and said it felt like human flesh. They bring in Heather's mom into this mess. And she said that her daughter used crack cocaine and had a sexual relationship

with Danny even though he was dating Danny's sister. She knew about this because she's the one he said he was fucking her too. The mom Stella. I don't know if that's true or not. That's what he said. So Saldana's sister comes up, Randy's sister, and they asked her what kind of relationship you had and she said that was my sister.

She was a very free spirit, very charismatic, had a heart of gold. They tried to object to that but the judge allowed it and she said, yeah, Randy was the type of person if you asked her for something and you needed it, the way we were raised you gave it. You know, you gave it with good intentions. She never really wanted to hurt anyone with the intentions of hurting anyone you know she was the type of person if she felt that if she felt that she had known that she hurt your feelings she would come back and she would freely apologize and admit to her wrong in that you know for

the most part so she says that so she's a nice person basically. So anyway, the state argues that no authority prevents us from presenting this. She told us we could, so we do. Danny Robbie has to testify, because they have him on video confessing to the whole thing. So he has to get up there and say why he would do that. So they're trying to discredit the confessions here. So he takes the witness stand and he said, We have to get up there and say why he would do that. Oh boy. So they're trying to discredit the confessions here.

So he takes the witness stand and he said, I went, he describes his whole life and how fucked up he was on drugs. He said, I went to beer. I went to bed with a beer and woke up with a beer all the time. So that's how he is. He said that he, um, once summer left that one night, the August 17th, He and Heather smoked crack and had sex at his mother's house He said they went to bed and when he woke up she was dead. Oh Musta OD or so just dead in the morning

So that's what happened. So he said I didn't I panicked so I just hid the body So he said Randy Saldana He said that he was performing oral sex on her while choking her at her own request. That's what that's how she got off. He said long arms. So that's what I mean. He's got he's like, he's already turned long reach. I'm thinking he's thinking he's turned. Think about it coming from. Yeah, coming from the side there. He's got to really be creative when you're doing that. He claimed that this was an accidental death, just trying to do, you know,

erotic ex fix, asphyxiation and it, you know, that's a bad thing. So yeah, he said, I just killed her, man. Not trying. That's what he said. Yeah. He said self preservation kicked in. I was working the system by going to South Carolina with two jurisdictions. It kind of confuses the investigation. That's why he dumped them afterwards. He said, yeah, that's what happens. He said he attempted to explain why he would falsely confess to multiple murders.

He said he'd been arrested for a series of armed robberies and with his previous record he could face a sentence of almost a hundred years. So he claimed that he believed confessing to the other offenses would grant him leverage with prosecutors on the robbery charges. Yeah, they won't even they'll dismiss those fucking things. Who cares about those? Now you're running for murder. And but that he would not be convicted based on his false confessions once the police actually investigate So he's like I get him to drop the shit Then they realize it wasn't even me that did it and it was a false confession and then I'm scot-free That's how that works

He said the confession that the jurors watched was fabricated to serve his goal of manipulating the justice system And he said none of the Florida murders, none of that was true. He said quote, I throwed it all in. Throwed it, threwed it, throwed it. He said I throwed it all in. The police were eating it up. The story got bigger and bigger as it went along.

And he said he was just trying to play the system. He also told the jury that he didn't mean to kill Randy, but he said, I was pissed off at Randy for dying. Oh, interesting. All right. He's mad at her. So cross-examination, they said, you say you manipulated the system is what you're saying. He said, well, I mean, I choose to call it working the system. Manipulation, you know, is in the eye of the beholder. No, that's beauty. That's, but he's not that dumb though, if you think about him saying that, you know what I mean? You can't be that dumb to say that. That's, I know dumb people and they

wouldn't say that. He said, I don't know, I just work the system. I do whatever's best for me. If you want to call it manipulation, then that's fine, I guess. Okay. Well, this isn't a good story man. It's a terrible story. I tried to cover up smaller crimes with much bigger ones is a bad story. Insane. So they do a jury field trip here where they go to the murder house, they go to mama's house. Yeah. Okay. Which is this, the defense wanted to do this, by the way, to allow the panel to inspect the small brick home where the mother was still present.

She's there. Oh my God. I said she was there during the tour. Oh boy. Wow, so at 10, 20 a.m. on a Thursday, sheriff's vans pulled up with the jurors and did it up. So, yep, they spent about 30 minutes touring the upstairs and basement,

and he was taken to both locations too, because he gets to watch, he gets to see anything that goes on. The defense also presented evidence to contradict his earlier claim that he'd killed two women in Florida. So he said the detective testifies that he relayed that information to authorities in

Florida who came to Gastonia to speak with Danny Robby. The Florida detective said however no bodies were ever found at that location and no unsolved murders matched the crimes that he described and they were unable to verify many of the details of the statement. So they also bring in their own medical experts here. One is a forensic toxicologist. He testifies that he reviewed the toxicology reports of Heather Catterton and the concentrations of cocaine

and cocaine metabolites in her blood might have been, but were not necessarily the cause of her death. So like he could be telling the truth is what they're saying. Another defense expert said that he reviewed the autopsy and he said that no significant bruises or wounds. He said that she did not have any trauma

that would be consistent with that being the cause of death. And his said the most probable cause of death that he says is cocaine toxicity. Overdosed on cokeko that's what that says inclusion. Now in the clothes closing arguments here they. You know try to offer obviously completely opposite. What points of view the prosecution emphasizes the substance of the confessions the fact that forensic evidence did not rule out his claim that he had suffocated her With a plastic shopping bag and that his history of manipulating others

You know two women have been killed. What are we talking about? And this is the best the prosecutor said quote confessing to two capital murders to get a deal on robbery charges That doesn't make any sense. That's amazing. Yeah, he said he wasn't coerced. He volunteered the information. We literally didn't even ask him about it. He just told us. So he said that, obviously, he said it's consistent with what the evidence shows, his first conviction. He said the autopsy shows no scientific cause of death, but he said that's not unusual.

We don't have to prove that. We know how she died. He suffocated her. We know that because he told us and he said that the defense brought in high-paid experts to put a spin on the evidence And put up a smoke screen The prosecutor says this He has manipulated his attorneys. Don't let him manipulate you don't let him work the system again You heard video confessions of how he killed Heather Catterton and Randy Saldana and then the defense started. They started up putting up these smoke screens

started to try to confuse you at no point, no point in the last 18 months since this has been a pending trial. Has he ever recanted killing Heather or Randy? Never. Not until two years later when he could look at everything and when he can study the evidence and we can get legal advice from his attorneys, does he come up with this elaborate tale as to what took place? He said two years later after he gives all these confessions to the police and says exactly how he killed Heather and Randy Saldana that now along with his two attorneys, they come together to try to create some kind of story. He said,

now the defense objected to this, and the trial judge offered no corrective instruction and told the jury that he would sustain the objection as to argument and odd comment. But there's no strike it, none of that. So he then continued, the prosecutor, think back to December 5, 2009, when he knew nothing, when he had no legal advice

consistently Volunteered told the police everything and it was consistent with the evidence showed for hours You watch this man confessed to killing Heather and Randy Saldana and now a after 18 months to two years the defense begins They try to put up a smoke screen to confuse you. We've got two women dead and he killed them. I ask that you find him guilty of first degree murder for killing Heather, thank you. Verdict here, seven men, five women on the jury. They come in less than two hours of deliberation.

It's fast. That's either great or terrible for you, one or the other. They find him guilty of first degree murder. He said he did it. He said he did it. Sentencing comes around. Randy's sister said, you're a monster. That's what she said to him from her thing, from the victim impact statement.

He presents mitigating evidence as well, saying that according to this, his disorders are better controlled when he's incarcerated, a psychiatrist said. You don't need to kill him. If you put him in prison, he'll be great. That's what he's saying. He said, prison's actually a pretty good management system

for people with personality disorders. That's not true at all. That's the worst medication on the planet in there. It's terrible for you. Yeah, it's not good at all for people with personality disorders. It's people with drug problems sometimes clean up in prison. They have to. Because it's harder for you. Yeah, it's not good at all for people with personality disorders. It's people with drug problems sometimes clean up in prison. They have to.

Because it's harder to get. I mean, you can get it, but it's a pain in the ass, and you've got to like owe some guy who's going to fuck your face later. So they said outside of constant care, he engages in destructive behavior. They also bring in his family. They bring in Danny Robbie the third. Oh, the little guy. Yeah. He's 25 now. He's a restaurant manager, Danny Robbie in this case. And he said, I love him and I know he loves me. Nothing in this world could change how I feel about my father. He recalled his father writing,

writing from prison, urging him to straighten out his life. He said he begged me to learn from his mistakes. He tried to be a good dad. He taught me how to ride a dirt bike. He was always good. That's his one example of him being a good dad. He taught me how to ride a dirt bike. Probably so you could go in and steal things and get away faster.

My daddy taught me. Ha ha ha ha ha. Wow. That sweet, sweet smell of two-stroke. Oh, the two, oh, the two-stroke, oh, we got it earlier. What was it? Two-stroke aroma. Two-stroke smoke. Two-stroke smoke, that's what it was.

So they also bring in his sister, and she says that her brother told her a few years ago that he'd been molested as a child by a relative Sexually abused by a cousin when he was five years old and that dad whipped him with a belt Okay, so she said that her father whom she portrayed as a strict disciplinarian thought that he was doing the right thing by whipping on Her brother, but she told jurors that she thought the father was wrong She said I don't think getting to see in school warrants being beaten. No. And then also I don't think I don't think smoking crack. I don't think you get to murder that person. Getting crack from a black guy means you can kill them either. So what are we talking or even on that one jury here deliberates

for 10 hours. Yeah. During sentencing the jurors asked for evidence such as psychological exam of Henry and five folders of records, but they were denied a request for the definitions of three personality disorders. So they're really getting into the weeds here with him. So they found several mitigating factors. They believe that Henry suffered from abuse from his father when he was young, had a family history of mental illness, and engaged in self-destructive behavior. They found two aggravating circumstances and 14 mitigating circumstances. Wow. Which is a lot. So in the end, they decide, you, sir, may fuck off, death penalty.

Uh-oh. Those two aggravators were bigger than 14 mitigators. But he taught a boy how to ride a dirt bike, James. Come on, there's so many kids out there that don't know how to ride a dirt bike. You're going to put me away? This is fucking ridiculous. After being sentenced to death, he said this, and I'll see if you recognize what he's trying to do here.

Quote, prison can be a living hell for me. Prison I hate every inch of you. What? This is Johnny Cash song he's trying to sing. That's San Quentin. Is it right? San Quentin, you've been living hell to me. San Quentin I hate every inch of you is the lyrics.

Oh for heaven's sake. In separate verses. But yeah. So he fucked up Johnny Cash Yeah, try that one he also said he hoped that this could bring some closure to the Catterton family as well Heather's family's got a fucking Johnny Cash song for him. Yeah. We'd like to set him on fire in a ring.

Also, I hope that needle stings. Yeah. So Nick, dad said justice got served today for this young lady. That's what this was all about. And Stella, Heather's mom, said it doesn't bring Heather back, but it took him down with her. Okay, so he's sent to Death Row. Right.

And in January of 2012, he writes a letter to the Gaston Gazette, a North Carolina newspaper, about Death Row. Really? To taunt everybody. Oh, really? Quote, My name is Danny Hembree. I was tried in Gaston County by 12 of its fine citizens. I was found guilty of first degree capital murder and was sentenced to death on November 18, 2011. The North Carolina Department of Corrections was ordered to carry out my murder.

I always wonder, or I wonder if the public is aware that the cost of my first trial was half a million dollars. Are they aware that the state has in place a system that automatically delays my lawful murder for years so that pieces of the money pie can continue to be passed around? Also, we can hopefully figure out if we fucked up and don't kill innocent people, that helps.

We also understand that there are holes in this system. That's, yeah. He said, is the public aware that the chances of my lawful murder taking place in the next 20 years If ever are very slim is the public aware that I am a gentleman of leisure Watching color television in the air conditioning reading taking naps at will eating three well-balanced hot meals a day I'm housed in a building that connects to the new hundred and fifty five million dollar hospital with round-the-clock free medical care. There's a lot of good citizens who blogged

on various websites stating their opinions about me and the punishment I deserve. I laugh at you self-righteous clowns and I spit in the face of your so-called justice system. Kill me if you can, suckers. Ha ha ha. Sincerely, Danny Empry. They published thatry they published it

Published it in complete in whole that's where I got it from Ha ha ha with an exclamation after each ha separate ha's God holy down Shit So he didn't throw in another Johnny Cash lyric he could fuck it right just do it rip this off, man So the Gaston County District Attorney lock bell his name is lock the district attorney who locks you up his name is lock CK CKE Wow lock lock bell said that he received two distraught phone calls after the letter from Nick from

Heather's father. He said I got a call from the father of the 17-year-old that he murdered in tears. He said that this is tearing the family to shreds. This is ripping the wound open. The father said he murdered our daughter, got the death penalty, and now he's just sitting in jail laughing at us. Who, oh, see, this I don't care.

That's what I mean. That's one of those where you gotta go listen. That doesn't affect me, That my, this, yeah. I- What I would be most upset as, this guy knows the address to the newspaper and sent a letter. That sucks. And they printed it. Yeah.

He said, there's a part of me that wants, this is the prosecutor, there's a part of me that wants everybody to read the letter because it tells a lot of truth about death row. He says that it's more likely that he'll die of natural causes than the death penalty. He said his punishment does not fit his crime at all. All of a sudden, we're acting like prison's great. That's not, no. Because he's got air conditioning and a TV?

I don't know, man. Yeah, and he even, the prosecutor said, he's sitting down there looking at the law and laughing. He's been sentenced to death. He shouldn't be watching color TV. We'll get him a black and white and then it's fine. Make him watch Andy Griffith. Make him watch Andy Griffith and that'll just give him ideas of where to put bodies.

Never mind. Fuck it. So they said his letters should be sent to legislators who support the Racial Justice Act. That's what the prosecutor said. That'll show you. Yeah. He said that the 2009 law says a judge must reduce

a death sentence to life in prison without parole if he determines race was a significant factor in the sentencing. How is that a bad law? At what point should race matter in your sentencing? Honestly, because that fucking, that's pro or con. You can't give somebody less because you feel bad for them because they're whatever, and you can't give somebody less because you feel bad for them cuz they're whatever

I don't think of somebody more because you don't like them people either one. I don't think he was a victim of that That's the other thing. He's a white guy. He's white as fuck didn't play into this man. No An anti-death penalty guy named Stephen dear the executive director of the rally based group people of faith against the death penalty Church people that don't like, you know, that actually read the Bible once or twice. He said, he said, would anyone, why would anyone be interested in the moral version of an unrepentant murderer,

or moral vision of an unrepentant murderer? It's no surprise that someone who would murder others and call blood would also say the things he said. He's getting the attention he wanted, fomenting the response and anger he seeks He wants to bring all us all down to his level. That's what the death penalty does to us. It brutalizes society He so I mean it's just a lot. So his family says don't listen to him. He's crazy He said he's and they also said he's fabricating the living conditions

He doesn't have color TV or gar conditioning and blah blah blah They said it's just being full of shit his sister released a letter sent to her from her brother earlier in the month that contradicts everything This letter says quote I try to put on a nonchalant attitude for you guys But it's overwhelming and depressing to look at these walls and electric doors and bright lights and depressing to look at these walls and electric doors and bright lights 24-7 and Digest the fact that I'm never going to leave here until they murder me or I just die either way. I'm never leaving here alive Right said I'm bored to death. No pun intended There's no TV and it's real hot. Yeah, it's different. It's not what he says just fucking he's trying. He's a fucking piece of shit That's the thing ha ha shit

Yeah He's just fucking he's he's a fucking piece of shit. That's the thing. He's a piece of shit Yeah His sister said I'm so very sorry for any hurt or anger that was caused by my brother's letter to the Gazette He's a very depressed man and is in hopelessness and he lashed out No person in the right mind thinks that living on death row is a life of leisure is what his son said He said there's no good explanation for why he wrote it except that he's mentally ill He said there's no good explanation for why he wrote it except that he's mentally ill He also says he talks about the four walls closing in that the lights are always on and he can't sleep and that death Row is a horrible place for anybody to be he's severely depressed. He's told us he's depressed He feels like it's over for him feels that is suicide attempt to get them to kill him because he wants out

Yeah, and then his sister said by the way, he's also innocent. Oh out. Yeah. And then his sister said, by the way, he's also innocent. Oh, ma'am. She said in every one of those confessions on all those tapes, he was coming off a three day crack binge. He hadn't slept. He was drunk and highly intoxicated. He could barely hold his head up. He's not a killer. He does not. He did not kill those girls. Wow. Then crack makes you glean murder details that of murders you didn't participate in. That's amazing. Crack makes you glean murder details of murders you didn't participate in. That's amazing. Yeah. Crack makes you clairvoyant. Yeah.

By the way, according to a 2008 study at the time, keeping an inmate on death row cost $90,000 more per year than regular confinement per prisoner. Geez. Not $90,000. $90,000 more per year. Yeah. Because they're housed in single rooms and they're staffed with like triple staff and everything else.

They said, getting from North Carolina, if they stopped the death penalty, it would cut $63 million from the state budget. Every year. That day, yeah. In North Carolina. That's 2008 money too. So now who knows, but I'm just saying

that's just both sides of the whole thing So March 2012 he wants to die. Of course he does He said he told his attorney to stop his he wants his mandated automatic appeals to stop He said I'm already dead my whole entire life's been a train wreck can't blame it on anybody but myself true Yeah, he said I'd like to get death out of the way because I got to do it anyway He said this is death row in this prisons the last place anybody on earth would want to be to be honest with you I don't care one way or another about the death penalty as far as it pertains to me. I feel trapped. There's no anxiety I have basically expected what's going on We have that March 2012 he's got right after that he's got to do the

Saldana fucking trial. Oh shit. Yeah so they give all the information we just gave you obviously and all of that and through this because a superior court judge declares a mistrial here prosecute because they declared the mistrial after Danny Robbie testified that a letter sent to attorneys that he had a sexual relationship that he testified that a letter sent to the attorney said he had a sexual relationship with a prosecutor. Also that the sister was her name Shelly, I think, Saldana's sister, yelled obscenities at him

while the jury was present. So that's why they declared a mistrial on that. So he just decides to plead guilty for Saldana. So he does. Yep, they said, yeah, well the prosecutor said, now that he's been on death row for a year and a half He appears to be more defeated. No more cussing. No more acting out in court. No more bravado I think he realized that that only hurt his family. Yeah

He also in a hearing said he has he has health issues Liver problems and he says he has cancer. So who knows? You sir, they fuck off 26 years in prison for killing Randy. The Deborah Ratchford murder is dismissed as part of the plea agreement. Okay. So we're going to not deal with it. Not deal with it. No, just that poor. She gets nothing. That's that family. Um, the pro yeah, the prosecutor said I dismissed it because I wasn't going to prosecute it anyway Danny Hembree did not do that one we investigated it and he didn't do it the person we think did it

I have been told is dead and I'm going to be checking into it to see if that fact is deceit he took them to the site pointed everything out he did it for sure right he fucking did it for sure, right? He fucking did it, yeah. I think they're just trying to get people not upset about that. 2015, he appeals the convictions for Heather here. This is the death penalty one. One is that he says the sister was allowed to give way too much glowing testimony about her sister in court. There's that also, several errors.

They admitted the evidence of the Saldana murder. Also, they said they violated 404 B and rule 403 and the North Carolina Supreme Court in a four to two decision vacates the conviction and death sentence. What? Yep. They said that they allowed admission of excessive amount of the Saldana murder evidence by allowing Shelley, the sister, to testify about the good character and by allowing the prosecution to argue without basis to the jury that the defense counsel has suborned perjury. Oh my God. Yeah.

So an attorney for Danny Robby said that he's pleased with the decision and she expects him to be moved from Death Row to another prison and he'll have a contact visit with one of his grandchildren soon. She said, I think the opinion makes it very clear that the prosecution was stretching to get a conviction on Heather Catterton's murder. We're just, bullshit, they didn't need any of that stuff.

We're just, the confession video is enough, period, done. Convicted. We're just very pleased that the justice has understood that introducing all the evidence about Saldana was not appropriate. 2017, he wants a new lawyer. Really? Yeah, he's like, this guy's terrible.

Yeah, that's it. Yeah, at one point, the judge said to him, you've made accusations against everyone. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if you made accusations against me. And Danny Robby said, oh I will. I got you coming. Give me a minute.

That is fucking crazy. So they're talking about a new trial for him and then he just ends up pleading guilty to second degree murder for that. So he pleads guilty. The prosecutor called it an early Christmas present that he just pled guilty and got it over with. He said the drugs that I provided to her

and the amount of drugs I provided to her contributed to his death. That's what he told the, so he's like, I'll admit sort of, but not really what I did. He said under the statute, as I understand it, that makes me guilty of second degree murder. I'm ready to just go ahead and take the plea. Put it to bed and just deal with it. So he's sentenced to you, sir

They fuck off again 50 more years behind bars. Okay So yeah prosecutors about yep, Nick Catterton's dead by the way So he didn't get to see this at all. He just knew that he got the overturn, but then didn't get to see this 2022 he does a prison interview here. He says that, wow, they talk about how he seems to be in good shape. He says that he's still a character. No cancer.

No, they talk to him, they say he's still a character. They said, you wanna go ahead and die now? He said, I'd like to get it out of the way because I gotta do it anyway. He said you want to go ahead and die now He said I'd like to get it out of the way because I got to do it anyway He said I would describe myself as a person that's very remorseful for the wasted life that I've lived Yeah, he said I just wanted to make it look like there was a monster running around a serial killer That was not me. That's he said he was trying to confuse the investigators and They said that he has a pacemaker and liver problems and he's going to be in prison for

the rest of his life. And he said, I've earned it. I've earned it. Yes, sir. This is what I chose for myself and this is what I've got to pay for. There is just not enough sorry in the world to apologize my way out of here. I'm hoping maybe some kid will see this and say, I don't want to wind up like him. I don't want to wind up behind bars for the rest of my life.

He says he's ready to die and meet God and he believes he'll be reincarnated and get another life and another chance to resolve the suffering. Now Shelly, Randy's sister, said tell us what happened with Deborah Ratchford. Give that family peace. They deserve that. And she says she's not buying his shit. She said women that are in his presence become dead. That's not just by accident. The book, by the way, that some of this came out of is called The Killing Kind by William L. or William M. or M. William Phelps, sorry.

And you can get it everywhere. It's an ebook, there's an audio version of it and everything like that. So it's fucking crazy. That is in there forever. There you go. That is Gastonia, North Carolina. Quickly on the end here. If you like the show, please, please tell everybody about it.

Get on whatever app you're listening on. Give us five stars. It helps a ton. Shut up and give me murder.com. Get your tickets for live shows. April 19th, virtual live show. It's available for two weeks after that to buy watch a thousand times,

just like a regular live show. But in your living room, costumes, weed, smoke, it's all gonna be there gonna be awesome stuff also follow us at small town murder on Instagram small town pot on Facebook patreon.com slash crime and sports is where you get all the bonus material anybody five dollars a month or above you get everything hundreds of bonus episodes you've never heard before new ones every other week one crime and sports one small town murder this week is no different crime and sports this

week fraternity Hazing those guys must have done sports at some point lacrosse assholes or some shit Small town murder bonus episode karen reed woman in boston accused of killing her cop boyfriend. We've all heard all about it There's a retrial coming up. We're gonna go over the the evidence that is patreon.com Slash crime in sports and you get a shout out right fucking now jimmy Hit me with the names of the people who would never ever ever Do any of this shit that happened this week to us? Hit me with him right fucking now this week's excited bros are Chrissy such and the such fam celebrating mama such It's our well, thank you

We are such grateful. She donated. Yeah, we're the We're such grateful fellas. They are She donated, yeah, we're such grateful fellas. Chrissy got a Patreon and she went to PayPal. So thank you so much, Chrissy. Oh, wow. You are a wonderful person. Thank you. And happy birthday, mama.

Gary Howard is a history nerd, I've found out. Gary! Marcellus Wallace and Boobs McGee. Happy birthday, Thomas Smith! He's celebrating over there in England with the fella. Well, have a jolly good time, Thomas Smith. He's celebrating over there in England. What is, what the, the fella, yeah. Have a jolly good time, my friend. Janice Hill, Janice Hill, Melanie Keating. I found out that they don't call it

jolly old England over there, evidently. No, no. They don't, we say it, they don't. We're mocking them, that's the point. That's what we're doing. Melanie Keating, Cody Leversey is having a baby. We have, this kid's life has evolved tremendously. We've followed him the whole time.

I love it. What a great thing is watching a nice woman and they get married and they're happy. Now they're having a kid. Congratulations. That's really nice to hear. Caroline Moore, what is this? Victoria Dizdar with a K.

Dizdar loves us. Love you too. I don't know where that K goes. I don't know why. Victoria with a K. Oh, Victoria, I thought Dizdar. I'm like, where the fuck is there a K in there? How does that work?

Dizdar with a K. I was like, huh? Anthony Annette and Mike Osborne in Yankton, James. Down in Yankton. Oh, down in Yankton where all the small in Yankton, where all the smallpox vaccines are that we're sending out Dan Doherty to go grab on a horseback. They're very healthy up there. Other producers this week, Liz Vasquez, Peyton Meadows,

happy birthday, Andrew Wilmers, 26th birthday. Happy birthday to you. We've had him around since the fucking... No shit. He was a teenager. We're raising these people. Isn't that bizarre? Jessica, Melissa, Amanda Rowe, Haley would know last name, Karen Williams, Renata Brown,

Kate Ryback, Catherine Paz-Durka, Lisa with an E, Sherry would know last name, Nancy Campbell, Sarah Rupp, Jesse Aguilar, Paul would know last name, Shelby Coulter, JD Keener, John Stoll, Chrissy Such, see there she is she is Erin Rowan Amanda Fletcher t8 I don't know if that's a gate at the airport or It's T. Eyes brother T eyes brother Cousin likely No last name Cora Hudson Sarah mafei

Jamie you worked Zach, with no last name, Cora Hudson, Sarah Maffei, Jamie Ewart, Megan Faulkner, Pookie Z-Man, Justin, with no last name, Jay Engel, Drew Patterson, Roman Paul Torn, Ivory Zvorsky, M and L, the letters, M, L, Kim, Michael, Vanilla Gorilla 73, remember that guy? Yes, I do. I certainly do. He's dead. He's dead. Yeah, yeah.

Isn't that crazy? That's crazy. I'm sorry. Comedian we know. Dead. You don't need to know him. He's dead. He's fucking dead and he never made anything of himself.

Never mind. That was Vanilla Godzilla, wasn't he? Oh, I don't remember. Either way, dead open, Mike. Vanilla Gorilla was what somebody called Jesse James, because he's gross. You're right. Thank you. Vile.

All right, we got it mixed up, but we got to the bottom of it. Vanilla Godzilla is dead. And Mosley. He's a dead open, Mike. Shia one, two, three. Amy Hotchkiss. Got that Hotchkiss money from the rear end. Oh, from the diseases that happened.

That Hotchkiss disease. I know that's Hotchkiss. That big disease money. Sherry with no last name. Alfredo Sandoval. Luke Riddle. Cody Freisner. Katherine Rowland.

Gary with no last name. Jessica Ferrego, Caroline, oh, it's Catalina Nunez-Pacheco, that's what that is. That's very Espanol-y. Josh Campbell, Steven Aug, Frances writes a bit, I hope she does. Alicia Crockett, Anthony Supa, Suppa maybe, Kel would know last name, Samantha Jachetta, Andrew R. Vaselina, Vaselina, really?

Vaselina. That's somebody's first name, Vaselina Yocheva. Wow, wow. Is that a thing in Russia? They thought it was beautiful and started naming people? Maybe, either that or her dad, her mom was very permissive with the anal, but they had some slippage and they called it as a Lena incredibly dry

Morgan Dunlap Thank you for your money, thank you it is a nice name, but also so is diarrhea You know what I mean? We don't name people that shit basilina Maybe she's the fucking heir to the whole fortune. She laughs at us. She's got Shit loads of money with her well lubricated holes Chris Pupil popple Poople

Issa brand Janete Jainaaina, Hyena. Is that Hyena? Kent with the J? Jane Kent probably. Nikki Taylor. Brandon Johnson. Ashley Parecha. Alaina Prescott. Cassandra Griffin, Mackenzie Shipman, L. Murch, Hannah Cattrell, Roman Coxie, Coksey maybe, Whitney Kurtz, Joshua Reimers, Lisa S. Kell with no last name, Amy Villarreal, Kelly Hickman, Sherry Rondlson, Emma Elbert, Kelly Cook, Courtney Height, I'm gonna have to make the font bigger, This is fucking crazy. Am I this? All right. K, Kristen K, Kelsey Tabak, Daniella, Danielle K, Brandi Dallas,

James, Greenouch, Greenach, Greenie-ach, Green-ach, Green Crotch, what is this? Channing Spann, Katie Blevins, D'Wanna, Lyria? S, this show brought to you by the letter S. Natalie Kloss, the drummer. Oh, it's Nate. See? Nate turns into Natalie. I'm so sorry, Nate. Joey would know that same. Telly McCay, Anthea Callan, it's Callan. Samsonite Swanson, that's fucking fantastic. April Allen, Danielle Chastain, that's from Dumb and Dumber. That's what her name would have been. Swanson, Swanson, Slippy, Samsonite, Samsonite. I was way off.

Caleb would know last name, Jake Seaman, is that right? Danielle Chastain, I'm gonna move along. Courtney Parker, Nicole Dutera, Libby B., Jeremy Cavender, Jason Barnett, Kim Payne, Rachel Cardy, Marsha Thomas, Justin would know last name, Leslie would know last name, Orlando would know last name, Audi but is probably Audie would know last name, Jane Louise, Victoria Albin, Camille Etheridge, really Sarah's sister, Melissa's sister, Gadjarel, Gadjarel Praben, Gajarel Prabun, Thomas James, Simon Hargud, Lee Ann, Amanda Jones, Amanda Nicholas,

Big B, Amanda Hankey, Sierra Humphrey, Aaron Picar, Steven would know last name Sophia Cronkite Obviously Carol coral coral Abrams. I like the fucking bad guy Rhea would know last name nun You damn all right fine Leah Samantha mouse even then be Robert Hoff and all of our patrons you guys are the best. Thank you. Thank you everybody so much Yeah, goddamn wonderful bastards. We appreciate everything you do for us and thank you for being here. Thank you for hanging out with us week after week. Thanks for Patreon. Thanks for everything. You want to follow us on social media, drop down menu, shutupandgimmemurder.com.

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