Small Town Murder - Death Party Crime Spree - North Smithfield, Rhode Island

Episode Date: February 14, 2026

This week, in North Smithfield, Rhode Island, a five day teenager party results in a horrific murder that touches off a multi state spree of crime & violence that shakes the entire area, for years to come. The beef starts between the party's host, and a troubled guest, with a gun being pulled to "restore order". This leads to revenge, and a terrible scene of overkill & carnage, ending with 2 teens, on the run, with a gun & not much of a plan!   Along the way, we find out that lousy sounding festivals tend to have lousy sounding bands, that letting a child do meth, while beating him to "toughen him up" just may cause some future problems, and that if you're a chiropractor, you should NEVER go on vaction!!   New episodes, every Wednesday & Friday nights!! Donate at patreon.com/crimeinsports or at paypal.com and use our email: [e-mail] Go to shutupandgivememurder.com for all things Small Town Murder, Crime In Sports & Your Stupid Opinions!   Follow us on... instagram.com/smalltownmurder facebook.com/smalltownpod   Also, check out James & Jimmie's other shows, Crime In Sports & Your Stupid Opinions on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts!!

Hello everybody and welcome back to Small Town Murder Express. Yay! And choo, too! Oh, yay indeed, Jimmy. Yay, indeed. My name is James Petro Gala. I'm here with my co-host. I'm Jimmy Wiseman.

Thank you, folks, so much for joining us today on another absolutely crazy 10-pound murder and a two-pound bag edition of Small Town Murder Express. We are very excited to get to this wild story. Before we do, though, definitely head over to shut up and give me murder. What's there you may ask? Tickets. Tickets, tickets and more tickets. Tickets to live shows, everybody.

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Definitely get yourself Patreon. Anybody $5 a month or above, you get everything we put out. You get a huge back catalog, a bonus episodes you've never heard before, immediately upon subscription. You get new ones every other week, one crime and sports, one small town murder,

and you get it all. including this week, no different. For crime in sports this week, we're going to talk about William Tank Black, who was a college football coach turned agent. Oh, Master P is involved in that somehow. And then he turned criminal after that. So it's a, it's a, he did a reverse Master P. Why did Master P do that all the time?

He probably made a bunch of money. Yeah. And then that's a big thing. It happens a lot. Why does anybody do anything, what are we doing here? Yeah. Well, we'd be here anyway. But then for Small Town Murder, we're going to talk about that perfect neighbor documentary, the one on Netflix.

And we've been asked a million times to do this for Patreon. So we're going to do it. A lot of also supplemental stuff on YouTube. You can find all the body cams and all that kind of thing. Very, very interesting. Patreon.com slash crime in sports. And in addition to that, you get a shout out at the end of the regular show. And you get everything we put out.

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I think it's time to sit back. What do you say? Let's all clear the lungs. What do you say? Arms to the sky. And let's all shout. Shut up. And give me murder.

Let's do this, everybody. All right. Let's go on a trip, shall we? We've got to. We've got to. Let's go to Rhode Island. Fine. It's been a long time since you've been in a lot.

Rhode Island. It's such a small state. Yeah. It's a small town in itself. Yeah, it's hard to find murders there that aren't Providence-based because that's pretty much that's the main city. There's only two cities, right? Between Providence and another one. That one. This is North Smithfield, Rhode Island we're going to. It's in North Central Rhode Island, which really is about half a mile away from southeastern Rhode Island. It doesn't really matter. It's about an hour to Boston, so it's commutable. People don't realize that Rhode Island is a Boston suburb. Oh, it's right there. It's there. And it's all of like the TV. It's all the local Boston stations. And you're going to hear that accent when they're on the news. Everything like that. Twenty-five minutes to East

Providence, Rhode Island, our last Rhode Island episode, Episode 508. That's how long. This is 674. That's how long ago it was. July of 2020. It was the last time we... 60-something. Wow, that's a year and a half. That was stopping a serial killer was the name of that. I'd love to tell you more about it, but it was a year and a half ago, and I don't remember. It's been a minute. I bet it was a good one, though.

I know that. Positive. This is in Providence County. Area code 401, population here, 12,57. Oh, that's a good-sized town for Rhode Island. Decent, but still a small town. I mean, you're very close to other places, though. You're only 25 minutes from Providence.

So the median household income here above the national average, it's $87,121. And you're going to need that because the median home cost also above the national average. $430,000. Yeah, $430,000 is a median home cost. It's a little pricey. And they're not, you know, spectacular large homes or anything like that. A little bit of history of this town, we'll get through. In the 17th century, so the 1600s here.

British colonists settled North Smithfield. They developed it into a farming community and named it after Smithfield, London, England. Oh, yeah. Yeah, got to do that. And then I'm sure there's towns like in Nebraska named Smithfield that are named after somebody who was from Rhode Island. I'll bet that port plant is named after England, too. That's possible. Yep.

It was incorporated as North Smithfield in 1871. Sure. In the early 1700s, a Quaker colony developed in Northfield here. And today they have, they used to have a bunch of industry, but today, really, the industry that I found was Barrico Yarns. They make yarn. Yeah. This is a continuation of the original family-owned woolen company established in 1809. Is Barrican, is that the brand or is that a type of yarn?

I think it's the, I think it's the brand. B-R-R-O-E. COCO. I think it's Barraco Yarns. When there's a co on the end, generally a company. That's unusually a company. We've never been to Nord Smithfield. We don't know anything about it. Let's find out what other people think about it with some reviews. What do you say here?

Here's five stars. Okay. I love how everyone knows everyone. Why does everyone always say that in every five-star review? It's a big deal to people to be recognized places. People want that. Why? Why do they want to go everywhere and have to see somebody? Don't you ever want to

just put a hat on in your warm-ups and go get, you know, go get a pack of cigarettes or whatever you're getting in an orange shoes at the store and I'll have to wage to six people. You want to be stopped everywhere you go and asked about the kids. Fuck the kids. Yeah, Jesus. We have to see everyone you went to high school with every goddamn time you leave the house. I don't want to do that.

You know everything about me. They're alive. It's fine. Yeah, they're there. Look, I saw them. That's good enough. Everyone knows everyone. And people are always willing to help out if someone is in need.

Neighbors pull together to help each other. And the whole town looks out for one another. I guess that's the benefit, James. When you know everything about everybody, you know when somebody's struggling and you don't just make fun. But they don't help each other. No, they don't.

Normally they just go out. I hear Bob and Susan are losing their house. And then they go on continuing with what they're doing. No one helps out. They say their help. Then what do we know? I don't think I would want anything to change. I love to close-knit.

I think the is what they're going for. I love the close-knit environment North Smithfield provides. All right, here's three stars. The only concern I have is the potholes. That's the only one? There are so many potholes that it feels as though my car could fall into one, which would be a very large pothole. Only in Michigan. Yeah, only Michigan.

Is that possible? I've seen a car just disappear completely. We were like, wow, someone notify the family. I don't know what to say. They're gone. Center of the earth must be. But you know, for the taxes that New England pays, there should be zero potholes. Yeah, probably.

I don't know what they are in Rhode Island, but I assume. Yeah, I don't know if it's high. or lower than that might be the allure of not living in Massachusetts. Maybe. I don't know. Here's two stars. I don't think there are many places in my town where people can get jobs. A lot of people who have jobs have to travel 20 minutes or so to the bigger city.

20 minutes. Holy shit. Do you know anyone in Phoenix that works less than 20 minutes away from their job? No. No. And Phoenix is becoming further and further away from Phoenix. Yeah. It is forever to get anywhere and a half from Phoenix.

It's so far. It's crazy to get into town now. It's wild. If you have to drive into downtown or anywhere near where there's like commerce, it's hours to get anywhere. It's so frustrating. The traffic. People talk about New York and L.A. and Chicago. Phoenix is just as bad.

It's not. If we go to L.A. It's pretty fun. You never sit for 40 minutes or anything. Atlanta, too, is a hard. I've never been able to see my destination and then it's still take an hour and 20 to get there. I've never seen that before. That's crazy. Yeah, I've done that in New York going to like a Yankee game.

You go, it's stadium's right there. I can see that. Yeah. Here's two stars. I don't think there are many places. Oh, that's the get jobs. Okay. However, new stores are being built, so that means there will be some more opportunities available.

Oh, good for that. Oh, yeah. Retail jobs. Oh, terrific. Those are the best. Things to do here. The North Smithfield Great Pumpkin Festival. Oh, yeah.

There we go. Boy, do they love fall. It's a one-day event at the North Smithfield High School. One day? One day. Featuring kids' games and competitions, art and other demonstrations, great food and lots of pumpkins. Oh, boy. Are you even in New England if it's only one fucking day?

It's fall, for Christ's sake. Admission is $2 at the door. Oh, so it's nothing much. And then there's root stock. What is that? That is a agricultural thing with music. So it's root like Woodstock, but with roots. What about the, yeah.

It says we couldn't be more excited to welcome you to this annual celebration of music, nature, art, and community. Okay. So there's a bunch of like plants. Literally, you can be like, can I get a clipping off your fig tree? And like, that's part of it. And then there's all these bands. Here we go. Experience, not spelled even close to experience.

It just says, expeens. E-X-X-P-E-I-N-C-E. Expeens up and local coming back. up and coming local bands. Expeens them. Oh, that's not the name of a band. No, no. It's just them telling you how to do it.

How to do it. Expeens it, yeah. Coventry-based quartet Sesh brings a jam-inspired mix of genres and improvisation. Oh, because it's a jam-sush. No, thanks, Fish. You can.

No, thank you. Courtney and Brad. Ah, nice. This is the first name. Now, what does that sound like to you, Courtney and Brad? Uh, contrary as fuck, right? Nope. They add their signature blend

of Japanese language songs, playful banter and expert musicians. Did you think that's what it was going to be? Courtney and Brad do that? Courtney's going to bust some Japanese out. No problem. Courtney's got this covered. You don't understand what Courtney's about. You're underestimating, Courtney. Roamskin, R-O-M-X-N.

Romsin? I don't know. Deliver sounds designed to make audiences move and feel. Is that music? Or just sounds. No, Romstein? I don't know. Don't know. Hopper offers a whimsical yet thoughtful blend of influences ranging from pop rock to backyard archaeology. What is that? None of this music makes sense to me. I can't figure this.

That is my new genre of music. I'm telling people. Backyard archaeology? Yeah. I'm super into backyard archaeology. What's that? If you don't know, it's going to be hard to talk to you about. How am I supposed to explain this to someone who's just not cool? You're not hip. That's the problem. If you don't know. I can't be the one to tell you. Poppy in the beat patch. Ah, yeah. Set full of music memories and laughter. Space Cowboy Newt, N-E-W-T, merges classical harp with dreamy psychedelic pop.

What? And then of the sun, whose ritual-inspired soundscapes create an immersive and otherworldly listening experience. This is the weirdest lineup we've ever seen. And then, of course, Ludicrous. No, I'm just kidding. He's done here, actually. Is this supposed to be inspired by, like, psychedelics and shit? That's what it sounds like.

Yeah, maybe it's everybody's supposed to, maybe the root part is just all mushrooms, and that's what people are doing. It's subtly telling you make sure you bring your mushies, because we're going to have a great day. Well, let's have a great day, me and you here, and let's talk about some murder. What do you say? All right. Let's do it. Let's start out. I don't know why lately 1992 keeps coming up, but. We keep ending up in 1992 lately. I don't know why. The universe wants us to keep talking about boys too much. I was just going to say, Jimmy, number one song in 1992?

Who is it? It's just the next word out of my mouth so you can. It's the end of the road, Ben. I'll never forget that. So here we go. Let's talk about a murder. November 28, 1992. This is a couple days after Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving. It's 3 a.m. And we are in Mystic, Connecticut. Matchbox, 12. All right. Let's do it. Mystic, Connecticut,

if you don't know, is a tourist town where you go and they have like water shit and people go there to eat pizza because they made a movie 40 years ago

about a pizza place that had... Mystic pizza. I wasn't saying Mystic had great pizza. They just... It's crazy. Anyway, just based around people who work at a pizza place.

Anyway, Michael Holmes is 35 years old. Okay. He's sleeping in his car in the parking area off the I-95 northbound at 3 a.m. in Mystic, Connecticut. So he was making his way up the seaboard and couldn't take it anymore, had to pull over. A little too much pizza, got a, yeah, a little. Which is what rest areas are for.

Yeah. Okay. Now, he's away. I wouldn't do that, but some people don't. No. No, no, no. This is why I wouldn't do it. He's awakened by two men.

Oh. Now, after a brief conversation, one of the men just opens fire on this guy, unlike the mom. Oh, Jesus. Yeah, absolutely. Shoots him four times. Nothing is taken. They just shoot him four times and flee. So the point was the murder?

No robbery. Yeah, no robbery. So this Michael Holmes shot four times, starts the car and drives himself to exit 90 and used a phone there because this is 92. He has no cell phone, found a pay phone and called 911. Wow. So the police respond to the scene. and he's admitted to the intensive care unit at Lawrence and Memorial Hospital after undergoing surgery for small caliber had gotten wounds, basically, a 22. He's been peppered with a 22, essentially.

So to find those in his body after where they go is a mess. Well, the hole itself is small. It's small, yeah. They miss that sometimes when people are shot with him. So this, he ends up surviving Michael Holmes. He does not. What? They pull all the bullets out of him, and he's fine.

He's in the hospital for like a week and then they discharge him. So he's discharged from the hospital by December 2nd. That's a strong man. Michael Holmes don't take any shit. Yeah, don't mess with Michael Holmes. That's off to you, sir. Now, how did this all start? Yeah, what the fuck?

This all started because a chiropractor wanted to spend Thanksgiving weekend in a warm place. That's how this started. Okay? And is Michael Holmes the chiropractor? Not at all. No. Michael Holmes has nothing to do with it. All right.

God damn it. To find out how this happened, we've got to go back in time about a week from then, not even, and go to Monday, November 23rd, 1992, which is we started out on the 28th. We're at the 23rd. This is Thanksgiving Week 92. Francis Ramella, R-A-M-E-L-L-A. He's the chiropractor who wanted to go to the Cayman Islands for Thanksgiving. Oh. Causing this.

Well, not his fault, obviously, but him, his wife, and his daughters, younger daughters are all spending the week in the Grand Caymans on vacation. Not a bad life. Jesus. Chiropracting is going well for him, huh? Evidently. But the whole family isn't going. Just them.

No? There is one family member they've left behind, and that's a 20-year-old son. Because you're 20, I'm not paying for you to go to the Caymans. Fuck off. Yeah. Yeah. Do you have a job? Get a job and go.

What do you get taking a vacation from? Fuck off. No. So they're not taking him along. This is 20-year-old. Trevor Ramallah, I'm sorry. So Trevor, everybody describes Trevor as like a happy go lucky kind of cat, which his behavior over the next few days denotes happy go luckiness and a little bit of kind of screwball.

Not screwball. Dangerous. Recklessness, things like that. And also a little drop of just a, we'll talk about it before I don't want to describe it too much. So a kid, he's, they live in a nice house. So he's got the house to himself on Jefferson Road for a whole week. His family's gone. So he decides to spend literally this entire week throwing a party.

He's going to have a five-day rager at his house. Bender. Everybody's coming over. Everyone's coming over. Nobody has to leave. Well, no, you can leave at the end of the night, but there'll be a party again the next day. So it's one of those. I mean, I got to straighten up. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, I guess so I got to be fixed house up. Otherwise, it'll be. I'm going to glue some shit back together. I got to get you guys out of here for a little bit. It'll be a pile of splinters by the time my parents get back otherwise. So Monday night, November 23rd, 1992 is the first party. And it's the smallest of the group.

I don't know if it's because it's on a Monday. It's Monday plus word has to spread that there's a five-day party going on. So teenagers and a lot of kids from high school are there. This kid's 20, but he's got a lot of high school kids showing up there. It's a lot of kind of that age group. So a lot of people show up. There's beer going. Everybody's drinking.

Trevor is socializing. He's the, you know, he's the master of the party. He's the host. He's got to go around. What he does, though, is he keeps a 22 revolver on him the whole time he socializes, which is an odd way of socializing with a man who's a party world together. Or the best way to keep people in line in your folks' house. That could be.

And that's what I'm saying. Like, he might have done this before and realizes that he needs. some force behind him to be able to get people to do what he wants. So he's just carrying it around, just around the party. So multiple people say they saw Trevor carrying the gun at multiple gatherings throughout the week

and nobody really thought much of it. It's just what he did. He carried a gun around. That's a trap, man. He's just got... Yeah. He's a party pistol. He's like an old film director with a bullhorn. They're like, he doesn't need it. We're six feet away, but it makes him feel comfortable. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Like Windy City

Heat when Bobcat Golf Way goes on. I have to use it in here, else I'll forget to use it on the set. You mean the president of Hollywood? No, no, he was the director. I love that. The president of Hollywood is the president of Hollywood. Who was the president of Hollywood? I don't even remember who it was.

I swore it was Bobcat. No, no, Bobcat was the director of the movie the whole time. He was, yeah, he was the one of the director. So nobody was really concerned. It's like, oh, Trevor's got a gun. And, you know, if you go through a whole night and he hasn't shot anybody, you figure, all right, he's just carrying it around. You're fine. So here are some guests that are at the party.

two of the guests anyway, are 16-year-old Ryan Wright, and 17-year-old Stephen Parkhurst. Parkhurst. So, okay, now, Stephen Parkhurst knows Trevor. That's how this happened. He's three years younger than him, but he's got older siblings named Jason and Jen, and Jen was in one of Trevor's classes.

So they know each other, and they've all lived in the local area for a long time. Stephen has gone, he's gone out and came back, but he's known Trevor since he was six essentially. And everybody knows his dad. He's the chiropractor in town. It's 12,000 people. So it's not a, and even that, it was smaller back then. So he heard Trevor was having a party at his house, and Stephen didn't know if he was going to go because he hadn't seen Trevor in a long time. Right.

It's like, I don't know if I can just show up at this dude's house. I haven't talked to him, really. But, you're like, Stifler going, what the fuck are you doing here and slamming doors and people? Exactly. But he knew a ton of people that were going. He knew everybody that was going. It was like all of his friends. So he's like, well, all my friends are going. Why can't I go? So he decides to do that. Now, a little bit about Stephen here is going to help. His parents divorced when he was young because his dad was pretty abusive, apparently. So apparently, allegedly, his dad beat his mother with a sandal one time really bad, which is a crazy way to beat somebody. That sounds like my grandmother. attacking me for imitating her when I was a kid. She did that many a time. It's usually an adult figure throwing the shoe at them or maybe a couple of wax, but you don't just beat your wife with that.

No. Or the 12-year-old Thai girl who said her, her mom beats her with a sandal if she doesn't do well in school. I was like, oh, boy, at the restaurant. Anyway, one night also, he held a knife to her throat. Oh, that's impressive. That was it after that. Once you hold a knife to someone's throat, if they have any semblance. semblance they're going to get out of there.

So this is when Stephen was about five. So his mother, they get a divorce, and then his mother marries a retired Marine. All right. So basically, he just, the kids were like his workforce, this Marine. Slaves? Well, he had a snack bar and restaurant that he owned, and he just made the kids all work there when they were eight and nine.

For like long days, too, like long, long days. Free labor, yeah. And he was also apparently super flirtatious. with all the women customers. And Stephen's mother didn't like that. They thought about it. And guess what? More divorce.

Sure. That happens. Now, when Stephen was about 12, he went to California with his dad. His dad was out in California. His, you know, sandal beating, knife holding back. There's some abuse in the house. Dad got wind of it. Bring him out in California.

Bring him some time to, yeah. His dad's a house painter in Stockton, which sounds miserable one and two right there. Now, young Stephen, all. also hung out with his father's brother Rick. And basically, Uncle Rick here, he called where they lived Eastside Okeville. Which means it's white trash is what he's trying to say. Inland, California hillbillies. Exactly.

It's not good. No. And these are all the ex-o. We talked about in another episode. The ex-Oakies, this is where they came to because this is where the defense jobs were after the depression and all that kind of shit. So these are basically there's a lot of meth in the neighborhood. Yeah. It's that kind of place here.

Uncle Rick here, which is interesting. Uncle Rick had a theory for young Stephen. He's 12. He needs to learn things. And Uncle Rick's going to teach him, see. Uncle Rick's never good to learn from. No. Never learn from Uncle Rick here.

Nope. Now, Uncle Rick says, you got to know how to take an ass whoopin if you ever want to give one. Yeah. I mean, sure. But then you don't say, I'm not. going to beat you up to teach you. Here's... I need you to learn how to eat a punch.

Now. A is fine. B is 10 miles down the road. You just fucking, yeah. How do you feel about that, Stephen? Sounds logical. Poundges him right in the face. Stick your chin out.

So then, according to Stephen, Uncle Rick and his friends, too, would all beat the living shit out of Stephen. And Stephen didn't know if, like, are they kidding with me? Is this like a hazing ritual? Are we, what's the story here? Because you're 12. You have no idea what the hell's going on. And the sandal was softer.

Yeah, when adults that are supposed to be protecting you or beating you. Yeah. It's crazy. So at about 14 here, Stephen gets into Uncle Rick Speed, by the way. All right. They start doing that together. And Stephen ends up returning to Rhode Island. And he's arrested twice as a 14, 15 year old.

Because he's got a healthy meth habit out there. Yeah. Yeah. for breaking into cars and stealing radios. This is back when that was still worth something. His stepfather was mad at him. So he drove him to the airport, put his credit card down on the counter

and just said, ticket to California. Him that way. Don't care. He said, there you go. And he said, fuck off and left. Sent him back.

Send him back. So Stephen moves in with, not his dad, with Uncle Rick. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good influence here. Uncle Rick, he knows what's up. That's right.

He went to high school. About a year later, his father, sick of him out there again, this kid keeps getting, nobody wants him, basically. Shipping him back to fourth cross country. His dad is a house painter, so a little less lofty here. He just buys him a greyhound ticket back. What? The next thing he's just going to say, we hold your thumb like this, see, and you stand on the side of the road and that's how you get rides. I'm going to reckon his friends are going to help you get more sympathy.

Yeah, yeah. Like your chin out. So Stephen arrived in Providence with $20 in his pocket. And he stayed with friends because his parents didn't want him there. Remember, a stepfather, sent him away. So he at one point broke into his mother's house. This is what he would do. He knew how to break into the house.

So he'd break into the house to take a shower and to get some food and to steal money from her purse. Which I don't know what you expect a kid who's 14, 15 to do. It's not like you can go get a job and get your own apartment when you're 15. So 1991, he ends up in ocean tides, which sounds lovely. It sounds like a resort. It doesn't sound bad at all. Sounds like I'd like to stay there next time we're in a, you know, like a San Diego or something. A ocean tides.

I'm sure it's, sure there's no ocean nor tides. It's near the ocean. It's in Rhode Island. But it is a residential home for delinquent youth is what it is. It's a group. Oh, that sounds bad. Yeah. They said, according to a monthly review by the Department of Children, Youth, and Families,

juvenile corrections division. They called it after a long history of school, home, and community behavioral problem, Stephen was put in there. Oh, boy. Now, a report cited that detentions at two different boys' homes, which he left without authorization, of course, and then was arrested on May 7, 1991 for car theft, and then again, two weeks later for another car theft. Steven's a mess. he ran away from another youth facility then was picked up by police again so he's a menace and he doesn't learn his lesson

he doesn't learn his lesson no clearly not and what's he afraid of he's used to get in the shit beaten out of him by adults he's not really afraid of much at this point punch me nor hit me with a shoe you're going to put me in another room with free food and shit that's fine so he at Ocean Tides attributed his problems to his troubled relationship

with his mother and stepfather the staff described him as mildly anxious mildly anxious, but honest about describing his community difficulty. So he was honest about his crimes. The report said the primary focus would appear to be an examination of inter-familial relationships. So they think his main problem is he's got shitty all right. No nurturing.

Nobody cares about him, basically, he feels like. So August 1991, he gets out of ocean tides and returns home to live with his mother, probably because the state mandated it. State probably said, you have to take him in. You're his mother. You can't just, he's not a kid. He's a kid. So by the end of October, his mother was tired of his bullshit and persuaded the state to place him in another group home in Providence.

Wow. His mother said, please take my son away for me. He was allowed to keep attending North Smithfield High School. They said, though, he kept disappearing from the group home. He kept taken off. And he on November 13, 1992, This is just now. He left the group home for good, took off, and went and stayed at his sister Jen's apartment.

To call his shit and moved out to his sister's house. That's it. His duffel bag and he left. Now, Stephen begins drinking all day every day. That's all he's doing. Whether he's hanging out with people or not. If he's alone, he's drinking. 17?

Yeah. Yeah. He's just drinking. All day, huh? So Jen threw him out of her apartment because she caught him having sex in there. with somebody. She came home and her drunken little brother is porkin a 10th grader on her love seat. And she's like, that's it.

Enough. The fuck out of my house. I will not. Drunken kid brother is banging in her home. Not having my kid brother's giz stains on my fucking cushions. It didn't happen. Get out. She said, you're making my life hard.

You can't keep doing this. Two days later, she let him back in. He had nowhere to go. Okay. So she feels bad. There's a thing with older, we were just talking about this last night. Sarah and I were talking about this. Something about older sisters and younger brothers.

They take care of younger brothers. Younger brother could be the biggest fuck up in the world. Their older sister will absolutely stick up for them no matter what. It's weird. It's like a motherly family. In a healthy environment, yeah? In any environment, honestly, because these two, they didn't grow up. They didn't grow up in a healthy environment, you know?

Well, yeah, it may be different for you. But among the most part, it's kind of like the... That would have been great. Yeah, but you also, there was other issues there, too, I think. Oh, yeah. Great point. So he, this here, he's known as like kind of, the kids are kind of like, ooh, he's a badass. Like, that's his right.

He's been to jail. You know, he was in group home. He was in California, like getting in trouble. Like, so in a small town like that's, oh, you're the big badass. Just because you've lived outside that small town. They're like, what has he seen? He's been other places. Do tell.

Yeah, he went to California. And instead of having a great time, he went to jail. Yeah, so he must be a badass. He's cool. So, anyway, this is how he ends up at the party from all this, because he knew Jen. Now, Tuesday, Wednesday, October, November 24th, 25th, 1992, more parties. Tuesday night, more people show up than Wednesday and then Monday. So that's how you know your party's good.

More people came the next day. They drink. Trevor's just letting all these bad people. people in his house. This is the place to be. Like, this is the party spot. And apparently, Trevor got mad at Stephen for, quote, unquote, taking unfair advantage of an inebriated 16-year-old girl. Apparently, Stephen was, you know, finger in a soft more. And they didn't like that. And this Trevor guy didn't like that. So that's a nice thing. Trevor's sticking up for some girl is too drunk to defend herself. Great. Or to approve or disapprove. That's what I mean. So, yeah, that's

not cool. So, and this is 92. This is in the days when it was like, is she drunk enough to try to fuck her yet? Like, that's how it was back then.

Yeah, Brass Monkey was on the radio. That's what I mean. Yes, exactly. And people were into it. Getting jingy with it. Yeah. So anyway, that's

what goes on. Trevor is angry. He's pissed. And he decides to kick Stephen out from the party. But he does it at gunpoint, which probably wasn't necessary. Probably could have just

asked him to leave first. That's pretty fucking cool. He came gun drawn. Not cool at all. No, but I mean, as a teenager, like, yeah. Yeah. Provado and protecting a girl. This is all very teenage bravado shit.

As an adult, you're like, put guns, don't point guns at people. Don't do that. Just beat the living shit out of him. I don't know. Everyone at the party saw it. Several people at the party tried to kind of calm everything down, telling Trevor put the gun down. It's all good.

Don't fucking point your gun in people's faces. freaks people out. The chicks, dude, the chicks are freaking out, man. You can't do that. Oh, nobody's getting laid

now. You've ruined the whole party at that point. Yeah. Not cool. It sucks. So, and they're telling Stephen,

it's not a big deal. Just let it blow them both sides. Let it blow over. It's fine. Just, you know, everybody's had a bunch of drinks and every, tensions are high,

essentially. Yeah. So that's what goes on. So Stephen leaves. He leaves with Ryan Wright, Rebecca Moran, Wendy Bouvier, Marge, Patty,

and Selma's sister. Yeah. They all get into Rebecca's car with Stephen driving for some reason. I'm not sure. So they drop Wendy off first here, old Bouvier, and then he parks near in a lot to let Rebecca sober up before she goes home. Remember that as a teenager?

I am way too fucked up to walk into my house right now. We got to sit here for a minute. Hold on. So I'm going to get sober and I'm going to walk in. She's still going to smell it. There's no fucking way. Oh, there's no way. At least if I'm not like falling in.

into the refrigerator, they might keep their distance from me or something. I might be able to get past her before she smells it and take a shower and brush my teeth and get in bed. Totally. So now, Rebecca's in the back seat of her own car, by the way, which is always strange to me. And the two boys are up front. And she hears Stephen and Wright there, Ryan Wright, talking in the front seat. She heard Stephen say that he was pissed off at Trevor for pointing a gun at him, which, as you would be.

Understandable here. and he said that he wants to get him back. I'm going to get him back for doing that. So according to Rebecca, they're just getting increasingly agitated. They talk about, let's go back and kick his fucking ass. And they're like, yeah, we should kick his ass. And then they're talking about, we'll kick his ass and then we'll just run, get out of Rhode Island. We'll just take off.

That's what they're saying. Now, by the end of this conversation, Ryan Wright is like, yeah, dude, you should totally do. You should kick his ass and you should get the fuck out of it. He's totally encouraging. home and you go ahead yeah that's you do that no he said i'll go with you but oh okay yeah yeah but he's going on so that's what's going on this girl in the back seat's like i'm sure hurting from her eyes rolling so hard of jesus shut up so let me sober up so thursday november 26th nineteen ninety two is thanksgiving night so everyone comes full of turkey and

full bellies and big parties now rebecca moran the one who was in the car in the back seat and sarah dexter another young lady meet stephen park at the house. Rebecca says, are you serious about leaving Rhode Island? And Stephen was like, ah, I was just drunk. I was just talking shit. I was, you know, I was drunk run on my mouth the other night, he said, basically. I was drunk talking, driving your car.

That's how it works. You know, how it goes. Thanks for let me drive your car shit face, by the way. So later that evening, they all leave Trevor's and they all go to Sarah's house. That's when Sarah Dexter tells Stephen Parkhurst something that pisses him off big time. Okay. she said earlier that evening, Trevor demanded that I give him a blowjob. We don't know what happened if she did it or not, but we know that Trevor demanded a blowjob.

He's 20 demanding a blowjob from a 16-year-old, which is a criminal act at that point. For sure. I mean, we don't know if he knows how old she is or whatever, but it doesn't matter. If a cop showed up while you're getting a blowjob from a 16-year-old, you're going in handcuffs. That's all I'm saying. So. You know, if a guy, hey, guys, how you doing? You're like, huh?

You know, you're in trouble at that point. So I was just helping her with her homework. Yeah. Her biology homework. She won't stop sucking my dick. It's crazy. I can't do that. I'm trying to get worked on.

No good. Both morally and legally, not okay. Yeah. Not small town murder-approved behavior. We'll say that. Not at all. So now Stephen's response is, quote, don't worry. I'm going to kill him on the last night of this party.

Oh. That's what he tells us Sarah Dexter. or like, I got your back. I'm going to kill him tomorrow night, so don't sweat it, right? So Sarah figured he was just talking shit. Like, I mean, you have no idea the crazy shit, teenage boys say. We say insane shit when we're teenagers. And in our head, when we say, I'm going to kill that guy, it means I'm going to punch him.

He's going to live. Yes. You're not actually going to murder him. It's probably going to be fine. You might be sore for a little while. I might be sore for a while. I'm not even sure yet, but I'm going to start it. That's what I do not.

And for the most part, yeah, it would be, it would get broken up at a party. No one would, it wouldn't matter anyway. So we don't know. But in Stephen's mind, now he's pissed off. He's like, this guy pulls a gun on my face, kicks me out, pressure in fucking 16-year-old girls. He's a bad guy, he's thinking this, Trevor. Now, that's in Stephen's mind.

Friday, November 27th, 1992, final night of the party, okay? Yeah. Closing it up. Stephen arrives back at Trevor's house with several other people. Trevor invites Stephen on in, even though he knows he ejected him a gunpoint two nights earlier. Yeah. Still lets him in for the second night in a row. Now, by 9.30 p.m., there's about 40 people at this party, which is a big party for a house party.

Sure. And it's all indoors. This is it's cold out. So it's an indoor party. Yeah. So it's a big deal. Everyone's drinking. It's all the kids.

Trevor thinks that things are kind of getting out of hand. There's more people here than there. should be. So he decides to pull out his gun and start ordering people to leave. You got to go. You got to go. He's pointing his gun. And this includes Stephen and Ryan. So you guys got to get the fuck out. So probably everybody put his inner circle kind of a deal. Right. His friend, Trevor's friend Heath, tells him, please, dude, put the gun away, man. What the fuck are you doing? You can't be aiming. You don't need this. Especially you've been drinking all night. Like, you're going to shoot somebody. Trevor opens the cylinder and shows him it's, it's

loaded, but the next chamber's empty. Said, so if I squeeze one by accident, I'm not going to shoot anybody. So what? That's his, like, it's fine. Okay. That's your safety? That's it. So he said that, now, there's another guy named Charles Meyer there.

He says that four chambers were empty, not just one. And he says that Trevor said that was for safety reasons. So this Meyer guy, at his request, Trevor finally puts the gun away. And not in his waistband. He says, dude, put it, just get it out of here.

In a different room. He goes upstairs in his bedroom and puts it in his bedroom bureau. Leaves it there. Okay. Okay. Now, Stephen and Ryan Wright leave. They get a ride from Jay O'Hara

and Shar Chauvin to an Almex parking lot. I guess it's a gas station. I'm not sure. Whatever, some kind of store. Where they meet up with a bunch of other friends and they talk about going to a different party in Burlville.

They're like, let's go to that other party. Yeah. During the ride, Shar Chauvin overhears Stephen and Ryan talking about how much they hate Trevor. That fucking Trevor, that son of a bitch. Stephen says that Trevor humiliated him in front of his friends. Fucking embarrassed me and he said, I should have fucking done something. I don't know what you're going to do when a guy's got a gun in your face.

There's really your options are pretty limited at that point. So Jay O'Hara, the driver says he doesn't remember Parker saying something like that, by the way. So some people say they heard it. That Shar Chauvin said he heard it. Jay O'Harris says he hasn't remember Stephen saying exactly that. These are two people in an enclosed car and they can't agree on what one guy said. What just happened? This is why witnesses suck, basically.

This just happened. We're on the way from the event. Yeah. So they go to the Burlville party and they stay for about 20 minutes. Then Stephen says, we should go back to Trevers. Place is dead. Place is dead. So they go back to Jefferson Road.

Now these other two should, he's talking about, I hate this guy and all that. I come up with an alternate plan, but whatever. So as they approach the address here, they see two police cruisers parked out front because it's a teenage party. Yeah, someone called the cops. And there was just gunplay. Yeah, yeah. So they, instead of just driving off, and the reasons for this are nebulous at this point. We don't know why.

But instead of driving off, they pull into the next door neighbor's driveway. Stephen and Ryan jump out of the car and run into the woods. which is the domain of the teenager. That's an East Coast teenager. The woods are mine. No one could catch me here. Like it's fucking crazy. It's like being on home base if you're in the woods.

So now they're drunk and they have alcohol on them. So we don't know if they're doing that to get away from the cops or why they're doing that. But it might become a little clearer later here. So everyone's drunk. The police eventually leave. Okay. When they see the police leave, they emerge from the woods. Yeah.

And they go up to the door. Trevor says, come on in, which I think party's over at this point, right? Cops just left. I've kicked people out. Including you. Cops. I kicked you out at gunpoint two hours ago. The cops have just been here.

And then you came back. So, yeah, no. Party's over. Shut the porch light off. Good night. So Brian Herow, a guy at the party, said that Trevor asked him, asked Brian to give Stephen and Ryan Wright

a ride home to Woonsocket. So they said, Trevor asked his friend, will you take these two fucking home, please? They don't have a ride. They said, nah,

I don't feel like taking them home. That's what Brian said. Thank you, Brian. So then another guy at the party said that Trevor was like, you're not staying here. You can't stay here. You got to go home.

Eventually, because no one will drive them home and they live too far to walk, Trevor says, all right, fine. Fucking you can stay over, I guess. You can just stay here. Isn't their car across the street? What do they do?

No, they got dropped off by that Jay guy. Oh, got it. Yeah. So they say, okay, fine. And Stephen kind of manipulates him a little bit. He said, well, I would be able to drive except I wrecked my car earlier in the week after leaving your party that you kicked me out of.

Remember that? I was drunk and I shouldn't have been driving, but you made me leave, so I went out and wrecked my car. So now what am I supposed to do? And that's your fault. And that's your fault, which, I mean, he did pull a gun. on him and force him to leave. Yeah.

So if that was true, which it wasn't, Trevor would have felt bad. So Trevor was like, ah, shit, all right, fine. You can stay the night and he said, I'll drive you home in the morning. All right. So the Brian guy leaves,

and there's six people at the house at this point. It's Trevor, Charles Meyer, William Bergeron, Ali Gerard, who is Trevor's girlfriend, and then Stephen and Ryan. Stephen and Ryan go upstairs. Like, they're going to go to sleep in a room.

And Trevor, Charles, William, and Allie go to the basement to play pool. The skyropractor is doing great. Finish basements, pool tables, Grand Cayman, Thanksgiving vacation. Finish basement of a party room? This is awesome. So they're upstairs,

Stephen and Ryan watching TV. Midnight comes around. Charles Myers in the basement with Trevor and they hear noises upstairs. Sounds like running around. Like if you're in an apartment and someone's above you doing shit. So they go upstairs to see what the hell's going on. The TV

is off and Stephen and Ryan aren't there anymore. Okay. So Trevor races to his bedroom. Once he gets in his bedroom, he shouts out, they got my guns. They got guns. Guns, yeah, they got my guns. So Meyer, he runs into the bedroom and finds out from Trevor that the 22 caliber revolver that he's been wielding all week is gone from the bureau and also a black powder

hunting rifle. So like an old school, like Civil War rifle, basically. Like with the black powder. Yeah. Jesus Christ. There's also the contents of an ammunition bag scattered all over the floor. So they've taken, someone's taken ammo too. You've got to have the powder on the muzzle loader.

You got to have that. Do you have the big, get the plunger? Do you have the powder horn that goes around my neck? Get that, you got to rip it and put the ball in. Rip it and dip it and pound it and shoot it. So Trevor runs from the room toward the front door with Meyer chasing after it. him. Now, Meyer, they get to the front door and Meyer looks out the window when they get to the front door. And he sees Trevor as already lying face down in a pool of blood on the front walkway.

Oh, shit. Meyer followed him and he was two seconds ahead of him and this is what happened, apparently. Holy. So to Trevor's right, right side is Ryan Wright, okay, on the right side of Trevor, who's holding the black powder rifle by the barrel. He's got it. You know, like a club, basically. Right. So Meyer ducks behind the front door and locks it because he's like, oh, shit, there's some shit going on out there.

He tells Bergeron and Ali Girard that Trevor is down out there, which is a weird way to put it. He sprints. He's already a police officer in the military or something. He sprints to Trevor's bedroom, grabs a shotgun from under the bed and loads it up in case. people are coming back. As the three of the people left in the house decide what to do next, they hear the sound of glass breaking. They're like, oh, fuck. Oh, they're coming in.

Someone's breaking in through the front door window. Yeah. Oh, shit. So they hear voices from the basement at that point. Somebody came in and went looking for them in the basement. So they go, oh, fuck. So they think that the invaders are in the basement. So they run out the back door, the three upstairs.

Okay. Smart move. Now, minutes later, they're outside hiding, Bergeron and Gerard hear a car peeling out from the driveway. Whose car is that? These two idiots don't have a car. So Meyer runs to the neighbor's house and begs them to call 911. When he comes back, he sees that the family Toyota Selaica is gone.

Nice car. So the Ramallah family, Toyota Selleca has been taken. Sports car, yeah. Police arrive, and EMTs arrive, and the house is well lit by floodlights. lights and all that. Trevor's face down in a pool of blood. They find a small bullet hole in the back of Trevor's head behind the left ear, like a mob hit. Oh, God. When they turn the body over, it gets worse than that. Trevor had, according to the medical examiner, quote, abrasions over his left eye and forehead, deep lacerations under his right eye caused by blunt trauma. Both lips were

split through the middle and macerated. The teeth came through. Yes. Yes. four more lacerations below the bottom lip. His teeth were completely smashed and, quote, floating free in his mouth. Wow. And the medical examiner described his lower jaw as pulverized. That's not one smack, right? That's a lot. It gets worse.

Cheekbones that covered his sinuses were also described as pulverized. And internal hemorrhaging on the right side of his neck had taken place. And there was bruising in his chest, too. Two of his teeth and a piece of facial skin were found on the sidewalk. A third tooth was found under his left arm. They beat his face into a fucking... And then shot him? This is crazy.

So they said that these injuries could not have been caused by a fall to the ground unless it was out of a fucking jet helicopter. Yeah. Unless it was 35,000 feet. Right. They said that Trevor received at least four and possibly six. blows to the head with a blunt instrument consistent with the butt of a rifle, a black powder rifle, as a matter of fact. The cause of death, though, was the bullet wound shot from a distance of two or more feet,

so pretty goddamn close. Trevor's wallet was laying on the lawn seven feet from his body with blood all over it and emptied of all money. So he's been robbed, too. Pieces of the rifle's stock were found near the body as well. Beat him. A black powder. This is a robbery.

rifle it's 150 years old and they beat it they beat them until it exploded this long. This was a rifle built by a man with a fire. Yeah. This thing might have lasted through Fredericksburg and Shiloh but not the fucking party on Jefferson Road. Couldn't make it through that. Unbelievable. So

yeah, it's been broken apart by the force of the blows. So when questioned Charles Meyer remembers Stephen's first name and the name Tara Lanktot who's a friend of Stephen who is at the party, but he doesn't know Stevens' last name. Within hours, though, they get Tara Langtott at the police station identifying Parkhurst from photo lineups.

Yeah. So they have him. Shortly after Meyer, Gerard, and Bergeron all positively identified Stephen from a photo array. And Meyer specifically identifies him as the band standing over Trevor's body holding the revolver. Which is pretty damning evidence there. Yeah. So what does Stephen and Ryan do? everyone knows.

They did it in front of everybody. They went back in to clean up the mess, but they didn't get killed the rest of the crew, so who's there. They took off. They flee. In the Selica. Flea in the 1986 Toyota Celica.

Oh, it's an 86. That's not a much of that one. Not a great one. Now, those are the smaller kind of hatchbacky. A little later, it was pretty cool. They were fine. Yeah, the 90s ones. My mom had one of those. It was okay.

So their plan was to get to California. From Rhode Island? Couldn't be any far. I mean, it's only one tank of gas in that thing. Yeah. And they have, the only money they have is what they took from Trevor's wallet. You're not getting there, man. No.

So two hours later, they're in Mystic, Connecticut. Yeah. Firing a bunch of shots at poor Michael Holmes in his car. See, that's why a chiropractor caused this whole thing, unfortunately. So that's while that happened. So they leave Michael bleeding to death as he drives off to get a, an ambulance and survives. A little while after that,

they rob a hotel clerk in Brantford, Connecticut. Yeah, because they didn't even rob the guy at the rest area. No, I guess with the shots, they probably were like, oh, that's too loud. People are coming in. They probably woke people off. Yeah. So they rob a hotel clerk in Brantford, Connecticut,

but later on, too, the victim of the robbery can't positively identify who did it. They were too scared here. About 5 a.m., they're in Darien. in Connecticut. Yeah. They walk into a Howard Johnson hotel. Lots of money on hand, though.

Clearly, cash bursting from the seams at 5 a.m. And at 5 a.m. too. Like, they haven't even had a chance to build cash up from the day yet. Like, it's a bad time to rob. So Stephen puts the 22 caliber still has the murder weapon on him. He puts it to the head of a desk clerk and demands all the money. Oh, Jesus. The guy gives him the money later on.

he'll positively identify Parkhurst and Wright. Well done, sir. Then they go to Ohio. So they're cruising through. They go get through Pennsylvania. That's so far. All the way to Ohio. Yes.

It's like 13 hours. It's a long way. And they try to rob a motel in Ohio as well. The witnesses describe two young white males driving a gray foreign car with New York license plates, L6H 281. Those are not you. Not the original license plates they had in Rhode Island. They switched the plates. So now they have a stolen car with stolen plates.

Yep. Okay. Perfect. Going great so far. And anytime a cop runs the plates, they're going to see they don't belong to that car. So even if they aren't reported stolen yet, it doesn't matter. You're still getting pulled over. You're better off hoping that the car doesn't get reported stolen for a minute, I think, at that point.

Yeah. Yeah. As long as everything matches, if it's not reported stolen, any story will do. I'm borrowing up from a friend. Whatever. I'm back home. Whatever. November 30th, 1992.

Yeah. Police stop. This is in Indiana now. Okay. They have moved. Through Indiana, through Ohio into Indiana. Police stop a gray foreign car, a Selica with a New York license plates L6H281. Here are Stephen and Ryan in the car.

So they had stopped to ask for directions, by the way, which is hilarious. They stopped. They asked a cop? No, they asked somebody else. Got it. For directions. And the cop happened to pull up while they were doing that and ran the plates and saw it was going on here. So they look under the seat and they find a 22 caliber revolver.

Still has it. They still have it. So they took him to a juvenile detention center in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Now, an employee at the detention center, Gary Grant, not the ex-NBA player, said later that he overheard both Stephen and Ryan bragging. to everybody else in the recreation room about what they'd done, which I assume you do to try not to get beat up in there. You don't know anybody. You're new.

Don't fuck with me. We murder people. Yep. According to Grant, Ryan Wright told the other kids that Stephen had killed a boy in Rhode Island and that they were just on their way to California. They said the reason they got caught was because Stephen stopped and asked for directions. Now we're all fucked. The interstate system is so easy to navigate.

It's so easy. You are nowhere near California. California. That way. See the way the sun isn't rising? Go that way. Toward that direction. Just chase that sunset, man.

Eventually, you can figure out north and south and whatever, but west is what you're looking for. Yeah. So they go to trial here. Well, Stephen goes to trial. Ryan's trial's going to be held for a minute here. Okay. The prosecution says they have the Connecticut robbery evidence is basically the defense is that Stephen was too drunk to have done any of this. Okay.

He was too drunk to kill him and then have the, and then get in a car and drive all the way here and drive all the way. Just too shit-faced. No one's ever gotten anywhere drunk driving, Jimmy. You know what I mean? Never happened in the history of this country. So the Connecticut robbery evidence is admitted to rebut the defense's claim that he was too drunk to form intent. They were like, he had plenty of intent when he was shooting someone in Mystic and then trying to rob a guy at a motel. The prosecution says if he was too drunk to know what he was doing at midnight when he killed Trevor,

How was he sober enough to rob a Howard Johnson at gunpoint four hours later? How was he sober enough to drive from Rhode Island to Indiana? If he's sober enough to kill, he's sober enough to drive, he's fine. Also, he's sober enough to recognize we're on E, motherfucker. We got to get out of here. We need money. So Stephen has to take the stand. He has no choice here.

He has to explain this. He said he had consumed about 12 beers on that evening of the shooting. Wow. Which is a 12-pack, quite a bit for a 17-year-old. Even an ex-crank addict, whatever 17-year-old, still tough. Even a seasoned primed one is that's a lot of beer. So he and Ryan Wright were watching television. Wright went to the bathroom, he said, and came back with the revolver.

That's his story. I was just watching TV. Ryan got up at the party, came back with a gun. Stephen says he took the gun from Ryan. Ryan left again and then returned with a rifle. Okay. So Stephen said he was feeling a little bit nauseous and, you know, like you've had 12 beers. and he said he went outside for some fresh air.

That's all just to get that fresh air. He said he started playing with the revolver, which is a good move when you're so drunk that you need fresh air so you don't throw up. He said he was... Spinning it and the shit. That's what he was doing. He was pulling the hammer back,

spilling the cylinder. He fired two shots in the air, he said. In the middle of the night? What are you doing? Oh, my God. When Trevor came running out of the house, he said the gun, quote, went off. He said it just went off and Trevor fell.

He said, I never looked at the body and never saw any blood. That's his story. So I shot him once he fell and his thud must have just exploded his face. Well, that's Ryan was that doing that stuff that he said. But that's the thing too. How did he get shot in the back of the head if he came out and he came out, ran past them and the gun went off? I don't understand how that would work. So if Trevor fell toward Parkhurst as he claims, why was the?

body found in a position suggesting it fell toward the house. And if he never went through Trevor's pockets, how does wallet get out? How did he get robbed? How do you get the Selica keys? Any of that stuff. So he admitted that when he went back in the house after Ryan Wright broke the front window with the rifle, he did not call for help. He admits that.

He said he didn't dial 911. He said he kept his gun in his hand as he searched the house. He denied seeing Ryan Wright beat Trevor with the rifle. despite the fact that the witness saw him literally standing over Trevor after he had clearly been beaten for the last 30 seconds. So that's ridiculous. Then he said that he, quote, didn't know anything about guns, didn't know how to open one and, quote, did not associate with them. Yeah. So, you know, I might have shot him by accident.

He said that for all he knew, the murder weapon could have been a BB gun or a pellet gun. He said, I didn't even know what it was. Meanwhile, it's a revolver. You can see fucking bullets in the cylinder. Boy, to pellet guns and 22 sound different when they fire. A little bit different. It feels different, too. Yeah, it's a slightly higher pitched noise.

It's something. Yeah. So about four hours later, he used the same weapon to rob the hotel clerk. He seemed to know a lot about guns at that point. Oh, right. So the verdict comes in here. The counts are he's going to be found guilty, obviously. there's tons of witnesses here.

First degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, breaking and entering, larceny of a firearm, carrying a stolen firearm while committing a crime of violence. Terrible. Yeah.

Not shit you want to be found guilty. The larceny of the firearm while using it in the crime is so bad. It's so bad. It stacks things. So the judge sentences him to, you young man, may fuck off.

Life in prison. for the murder, plus 10 years each for conspiracy to murder, breaking and entering, theft of a motor vehicle, possession of a stolen firearm, all to be served consecutively plus another consecutive five-year sentence for theft of the firearm. So life plus 45 years consecutive. That's not 55? That's 45? 45. Four tens and a five. Okay. And a five. Got it. Plus life. All consecutive. There's no way to outlive that. 17, you're going to die in prison. Period.

So Ryan Wright sees this and just pleads guilty. Yeah. Good move, Ryan. Fuck that. He admits to hitting Trevor with the rifle and everything, too. He admits to all that. So they say, you, sophomore child, may fuck off also 60 years in Rhode Island. And then he gets another seven in Connecticut.

For the... And that's the other thing, too. Stephen also has a Connecticut sentence tacked on to that, which, I mean, when we pull out as corpse, we can bring it to Connecticut. Yeah. Stick that in a room for a while. Holy shit. So 1998, Stephen appeals on multiple issues, all right?

First is the accident instruction. His defense says that the shooting was an accident, and he argues that the trial judge should have specifically told the jury that the state had to disprove accident beyond a reasonable doubt. rather than leaving the jury with the impression that he had to prove the shooting was an accident. So apparently there's a Rhode Island case called State v. Baker from 1980 where the Supreme Court threw out a conviction because the jury instructions shifted the burden of proof on self-defense to the defendant rather than the prosecution. Okay. So Stephen's saying it's the same thing.

The second one is the murder instructions. trial judge told the jury that premeditation and deliberation are not elements of murder in the second degree, but then said the distinction between first and second degree murder is the length of time of premeditation. They said that's a confusing instruction, which it is. The Supreme Court would later call the language unfortunate. Also, too, the court notes that the jury asked twice during deliberations for the instructions to be re-explained to them. They didn't get it either, which makes sense. Third one, they said that Parkhurst argues that the jury should have been given the option of involuntary manslaughter, an unintentional killing without malice.

Okay. And they said, no, involuntary manslaughter is when you kill someone while committing an awful act, an awful act, not accounting to a felony while being criminally negligent. So, you know, dumb shit, basically. If you were doing something stupid, that wasn't like a fiddlonious act. No, that would be a felonious act, I think. Is it? Shit like that. Because you have a gun.

You're in possession of a stolen firearm at that. Oh, right, right. Because it's not yours. But if you're just spinning a gun and it goes off, that's not a felonious act, right? Yeah, no, that would probably be considered some sort of manslaughter of accidental shit, which would be involuntary manslaughter, or negligent homicide or whatever. It depends on. You're still getting sued. You're getting sued.

Fourth, the Connecticut robbery evidence. The prosecution brought in the evidence of the Howard Johnson robbery and Daryan committed four hours after the murder to rebut the intoxication argument. the defense says you can't bring in evidence of other crimes just to show the defendants a bad person. The court said it wasn't about that. It was about backing up. It was about disproving your statement, essentially. So fifth was the flight instructions. The jury was told they could consider Parkhurst's flight from the scene as evidence of consciousness of guilt.

Parkhurst argues that this went too far. Okay. And finally, the wallet and the cash. The police testified that when Parkhurst's was arrested in Indiana, he had $347 in cash in a wallet on him. So they did pretty well in these robberies. The defense argued that this implied he robbed Trevor. And they don't know if anything was taken from the wallet.

That's not a fact, essentially. We didn't know how much money he had. The trial judge noted the amount wasn't excessive for someone traveling out of state. And given the jury had already heard about, teeth found on the sidewalk and a bullet hole behind the ear, the wallet testimony wasn't likely to inflame anyone even more. The beating in the face and the shooting probably would do more. That's pretty bad. Convictions affirmed.

Everything's rejected. He goes to prison. Shit changes. 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court in a case called Roper v. Simmons bans the death penalty for juveniles, ruling that children are different and for purposes of criminal punishment. Their immaturity diminishes culpability. They are more vulnerable to outside pressures. The capacity for change is great. or yeah, you could be a 16-year-old fuck up

and turn out to be the Pope or whatever. It doesn't matter, you know what I mean? 16, I know people that were nightmares when they were 16. Now they're married with three kids. They go to work every day. They're completely fine. Everything's fine.

I'm much better than I was when I was 16. Me too. I was a fucking nightmare. A long shot. Absolutely. And yeah, and also, when you're 16 and someone says 50 years, you go, I'll be dead by that.

That's crazy. That doesn't even exist 50 years. So 2008, Stephen appeals again. Parkhurst himself, he acknowledges in his later testimony, he said, I was sentenced under the teenage super predator beliefs of the early 1990s to all maximums and all consecutive. When he is sentenced, you have to understand, this was the time where the enemy number one in America was teenagers. That was it. We were public fucking enemy number one when they were going. You've got to be hard on them.

That's what it was. talk show had one of our idols on it and they were belittling them about how they are recruiting young people and poisoning our minds. That's all it was. And it was like he's got a dime bag of weed needs to go to prison. That'll teach him. Like it was, they were out of their fucking minds in the 90s. But they were right.

Marilyn Manson was a terrible person. He was a terrible person. But not for what he did with the teenagers. Much other shit. So he said that. The sentencing judge said he was not tasked with. considering all that I would work toward while incarcerated. That's what Stephen says.

He only had the senseless death of a 20-year-old young man before him. So in 2008, the life sentence plus 45 years was reduced to life with the possibility of parole, because he had no parole before, plus 20 years. So still a long time. 2010, Graham v. Florida case. The Supreme Court bans life without parole for juvenile non-homicide. offenders. Yep, I remember that kid.

And juveniles must have a meaningful opportunity to obtain a release is also what the court says. 2012, Miller v. Alabama, the court strikes down mandatory life without parole for juvenile homicide offenders. 29 states see their sentencing statutes invalidated because of this case. Wow. The court says a sentencer must consider the hallmark features of youth, immaturity, family environment, peer pressure, inability to navigate the legal. system and capacity for change.

You can't say a kid is a completed out-of-the-kiln project. He's still wet clay is what they're saying. Yeah, once they're an adult, then they're out of the kiln. Whatever they do is they're responsible for. When they're teenagers, there's a lot of other factors you have to consider that are making this. Environment, lifestyle, all kinds of shit. Yeah.

December 2012, Ryan Wright is paroled. Really? He's paroled and sent to a halfway house until 2017. A 40-year-old guy? Yeah, in that ballpark. 2014, Stephen tries to get out. He goes before the Rhode Island Parole Board and is denied. They cite the severity of the crime, the violence and use of a weapon.

They tell him he can come back in 2023, nine years. Holy shit. Which is rough. See you in nearly a decade. See in a decade. 2016, Montgomery v. Louisiana, another court case. The last one, the Miller one from 2012, is made retroactive. Every juvenile offender serving mandatory life without parole in America now has the right to a new sentencing hearing or a meaningful opportunity for release.

And this is why there's a TV show that covers a bunch of these because it's determined that that's unconstitutional. Tons of them are this happened. So 2017, Stephen files a lawsuit arguing that the Rhode Island's parole laws violate the Supreme Court. precedence on juvenile sentencing. 2018, the Rhode Island Parole Board revises its guidelines for the first time the board will consider factors specific to juvenile defenders, diminished culpability due to immaturity, rehabilitation, and personal growth in prison. 2019, Stephen goes up for parole again because the laws changed everything.

He's had a clean disciplinary record for 26 years. Wow. He earned an associate's degree and a bachelor's degree. He's pursuing an MBA through Adams State University. He trained 14 service dogs, including one for a Boston Marathon bombing survivor. Nice. He spoke, he goes around and speaks to high schools about crime prevention. He's a Buddhist now.

Okay. And he completed programs and anger management and victims advocacy as well. Isn't it crazy how you can nurture a person and give them a plan? They can follow it? Well, he's been following this even before there was hope, though. Okay, yeah. Because, I mean, he had no hope. Yeah, but I mean, that's what I mean.

He didn't even have hope. He just had a plan to follow and he did it. And this isn't even a nurturing environment. This is present. Right. This is the, you have to get your ass to do this, which is so hard in that environment. Perhaps if his parents gave a shit, maybe would have been a better kid. Maybe.

Maybe if Uncle Rick didn't say, here, take a punch in the nose and then cure it with some crank afterwards. Yeah. Maybe that wouldn't help. Take a rip off this glass dick. Yeah. So the Attorney General's office opposed his parole saying that, describing his crime as extraordinarily calculating, deliberate, and premeditated. It was also opposed by the Ramella family as well. The parole board votes unanimously to release Stephen.

Wow. But he's then transferred to Connecticut to serve an additional nine years for the armed robberies committed during the spree. So he's going to do about four years there. So ultimately he'll do about 30 years in prison for this. 2001 Mario's law comes in, which says if there's a giant tube, you're allowed to jump at it and go all the way down and get coins. As long as there's a lady to save. As long as you're saving a princess, it's fine. This is providing any person sentenced for an offense committed before their 22nd birthday is eligible for parole after serving 20 years.

Okay. 2025, Stevens out. He's working as program coordinator for Freedom Reeds, a nonprofit based in Hamden, Connecticut. He's on the legislative policy team at voices of the experience, a nonprofit in New Orleans, and has testified before the Connecticut State Legislature in its support of expanded parole eligibility for young offenders. So they also, he and other people who've had this happen formed the Rhode Island Freedom Collective and advocacy group. aimed at giving a voice to those incarcerated and confronting deep-rooted injustices in the criminal justice system.

Stephen wrote, and we'll end it here. As a rudderless and callous 17-year-old, I committed the shameful and regretful crime of murder. The sentencing judge was not tasked with considering all that I would work toward while incarcerated. He only had the senseless death of a 20-year-old young man before him. I was sentenced under the super predator beliefs. So that's what he says.

He says, sometimes we deserve what we deserve and we deserve it, when we deserve I deserved every bit of that life plus 45 when I was 17, but what about the 30-year-old or 40-year-old that I've become? That asshole deserves it, but I'm a different guy. Good article by J. Malcolm Garcia, by the way, that had some details. And on Facebook, the arguments about this fucking case are wild. It's going to be forever, too. It's insane. How dare they?

This piece of piece of shit. And then how, back and forth of equal veracity. So there you go. there is North Smithfield, Rhode Island. We're running late, so we've got to bust through this quick. Yeah. Hope you like that. If you did, get on whatever app you're on.

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