Sword and Scale - Episode 192

Episode Date: July 19, 2021

In February of 2017, 28-year-old Kayla Crocker was found bound, bloody, and unresponsive in the nursery of her Florida home. After she was rushed to a nearby hospital, county police called upon several other law enforcement agencies to assist with the investigation, including the U.S. Marshals Service and out-of-state highway patrol. The reason the local police called in so much help was because Kayla Crocker was not a lone victim. There were several others, all of whom had unwillingly become part of someone’s week-long and multi-state murder spree.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised. We are looking now aggressively for someone who is a killer in our community. Some are saying, well, Sheriff, you're scaring our community. I hope I am. if you're scaring our community. I hope I am. Hey, right on cue. This is season eight, episode 192 of Sword and Scale, a show that reveals that the worst monsters are real. Okay, I'm going to remind you one more time about our new Sticker perk.

It's available right now through the month of August through the end of the month of August. So make sure you're a plus member before then at the $10 level or higher to get it. So it's gill.com slash plus. www.cobslashplus I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a man Love is, well, where do I start? We all need it, in some form or another. And many of us, if we haven't already, hope one day that we're going to find that special someone, a life partner, a soulmate. But true love is like a missing piece of a puzzle. It only seems to reveal itself when we aren't searching for it.

This is why the act of finding love is so aptly named, falling in love. You can't find it. In almost every case, love finds you. Despite this somewhat common knowledge, millions of people continue to search every day, hoping to find that perfect made. to search every day, hoping to find that perfect mate. It explains the surge of dating apps, and the annoying commercials that go with them. Look, there's definitely nothing wrong with putting yourself out there, and being optimistic hoping to improve your chances of finding love. But some people grow tired of waiting. So tired, in fact, that they become desperate, and that's when problems start happening. After all, you can never underestimate a truly desperate person. There's really no telling how far they might go and what they might do to get what they want.

Sheriff 911, where's the emergency? Hey, we got a ambulance around. She said her mom called her and said her sister was hurt at the house. Her vehicle's missing. Okay, do you know how she or what happened to her? I don't know. My mom said, call immediately. I don't know what's on her.

Okay, so she's been her and her vehicles also missing? Yes. On the morning of February 6, 2017, 28-year-old Kayla Crocker of Pensacola, Florida was expected at her mother's house. The typical arrangement for Kayla was that her mom would babysit Kayla's two-year-old son while Kayla was at work. But on this morning, Kayla did not show up.

And as most mothers would, Kayla's mom became concerned. most drop them off at 5.30. 5.30. Did Kayla ever show up to drop her shop? No. Did you go over to her house? Yes I did. And when you got to Kayla's home, what did you get to say? There was a jewelry box laying in the driveway that she had gotten for Christmas from my oldest daughter. Do you remember her in the car with you?

The car was not there. When Kayla's mother arrived at her daughter's home, she found Kayla's car was gone. And some of Kayla's belongings had been thrown about her driveway. With a gut-wrenching feeling that something was very wrong, Kayla's mom cautiously approached her daughter's front door. I unlocked the front door to the porch.

When I got into the trailer, it felt warmer than what Caleb usually has replaced. I thought that was kind of odd. When I went to go through the kitchen, I noticed the nursery door closed. So I walked over and I pushed it open, I sink her in there. Because she wasn't laying, she was sitting. She was sitting leaning up against the dresser with her legs under the crib, she was facing the crib. She had blood that was dried and running down the side of her face. And her hands were tied with a chouxace, real tight, her hands were purple, and then there was white rope wrapped around that, tying it to the back of her, but having

it firm against her waist. Kayla's mother found Kayla in the nursery of the home. Dryed blood caked the side of Kayla's head and face, and she was bound by shoelaces that had been tied so tightly, Kayla's hands had turned purple. I called my daughter, told her to call 911, get ambulance there immediately, because her breathing, it was like a mechanical, it was horrible, but she was still breathing.

And my phone was about ready to die. So I asked her to call, and I went into the kitchen looking for scissors, but I found a knife instead I couldn't find the scissors. So I cut the shoelaces off of her, and I leaned her forward and I seen it was a half bow, so I pulled the one and it came apart and then she fell over. Kayla's mother cut the bounds that had been cutting off her daughter's circulation, and although Kayla was unresponsive and her breathing was faint, she was still alive.

And what must have felt like an eternity, Kayla's mother waited for help to arrive. And when it finally did, EMT's rushed Kayla to a nearby hospital. Meanwhile, Kayla's house was taped off as a crime scene in detectives, went to work, or trying to make sense of what had just happened. What they quickly realized is that Kayla's home had been ransacked, and many of her belongings had been stolen, including her car. We're looking for a 2006 white, Chevy cobalt. Our victim's name Kayla Crocker. She is currently in one of the

local hospitals. She did sustain a gunshot wound. I want to assure the public that we call in all of our available resources. We have the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Engaged, US Marshals are engaged to course ourselves, Santa Rosa, any law enforcement agency in our area and of course out of state with Baldwin County and the appropriate police departments in Alabama Highway Patrol. In an effort to capture the person or person responsible for the robbery and attack on Kayla Crocker, the County police called in several other law enforcement agencies to assist, including the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, U.S. Marshals, and even out-of-state highway patrol. With respect to Kayla, a home invasion, grand theft auto, and even an attempted murder,

doesn't typically elicit such a heavy-handed response from police. The reason that the county police called in the big guns for this particular crime scene is because they had very quickly inferred who was responsible. You see, Kayla Crocker was not a lone victim. In fact, there were several others, all of whom had unwillingly become part of someone's murder spree. A murder spree that began one week earlier inside a Milton, Florida hotel room. Sheriff's Office, this is the 911 center. Clicked on. I had a desk call in and they heard multiple gunshots.

So I grabbed my key and I went down there and I knocked three different times like I was supposed to. And all I did was to the computer door, open the door and I see her laying halfway in the bathroom, him laying in bed and everything's covered in blood. How many gunshots did you hear? They said they said they said they said they're 5 to 7. Are they dead? I don't know.

I can't walk again. On January 31, one week before the attack on Kayla Crocker, the sheriff's office in Milton, Florida received a call from a desk clerk at the Emerald Sands in Hotel, reporting that she had found two bodies covered in blood inside one of the hotel rooms. When police arrived, they quickly identified the two victims as 30-year-old Alicia Greer and 39-year-old Jacqueline Moore.

Both women had been shot to death, and shortly after the bodies were identified, a witness came forward. It turns out that while these two women were being gunned down, it was a third woman inside the hotel room. Alicia was trying to get away from Billy and take some time to clear her head because they have been arguing. We were going there so she could get away from Billy and Jackie and I were kind of like her support system and not long after we were at the hotel she didn't have telling Billy where she was at, which defeated the

purpose. How old do you know Bill? Did you just I know? I only knew that he was a very violent person. Alicia Ann Greer was the mother of three children. And prior to being gunned down in a hotel room, she worked as a memory care specialist at an assisted living facility in Pensacola, Florida. To the people that knew her, Alicia was considered something of a goofball and was known for her caring, energetic, and happy, go-lucky personality. But not long after Alicia's 30th birthday, she began dating a 44-year-old named William Billy Boyette.

Alicia Greer started dating William Boyette around Thanksgiving of this past year. The relationship quickly turned sour. Alicia Greer was beaten so bad by Boyette. She ended up in the hospital just 10 days before she was killed. They choked it down the ground, kicked her in the face. Here's so hard in the head with a two-liter bottle of soda that was unopened. She had half-ditches on the top of her head. After learning the hard way that Billy Boyette was an abusive boyfriend,

Alicia decided to end their relationship. And Billy wasn't overly thrilled with that decision. Fearing that Billy might hurt her again, Alicia decided to hide out at a hotel with two overgirlfriends and hope that Billy would eventually cool down. But on that very day that Alicia checked into her hotel, Billy called Alicia on her cell phone and she made a horrible mistake. He convinced her to tell him where she was staying and she did.

When Billy got to the room, you were not in bathroom, right? You were still in the main... Yes. Yes. Was anybody with him? No. They were arguing whenever I did go in the bathroom and I was going to go to shower. I don't know if it got physical if he hit her or if she hit him. I don't know what happened when something got in the bathroom.

But I could hear them talking. I turned the shower on and got a shower and I heard the gunshots. All right. And then, when you came out of the bathroom, you just got out of there, you ran. And I ran to the mall. I think it's Miles furniture. OK.

When Billy arrived at Alicia's hotel, he immediately began arguing with her in front of her girlfriends, one of whom decided to remove herself from the situation and went into the bathroom to take a shower, a decision that would undoubtedly save her life. Unfortunately, Alicia's other friend, Jacqueline Moore, wasn't as lucky. Billy fled the hotel and Alicia's surviving friend

eventually opened the bathroom door to find a horrific and bloody scene. Her two friends, Jacqueline Moore and Alicia Green had been shot to death. After police spoke to the bathroom witness, they began searching for Billy while also digging into his past. To no one's surprise, it turned out that Billy Boyette

had a lengthy criminal history. We know William Boyette had a lengthy criminal history. We know William Boyette Jr. is a dangerous man and looking at his past offenses confirms it. Charges listed included aggravated assault, battery, two counts of aggravated battery, false imprisonment, and obstructing justice. Billy Boyette had been in and out of prison his whole life and for police it was obvious that this very dangerous man needed to be found and caged again. But after Billy

fled from Alicia's hotel, no one seemed to know where he had gone and no one could have guessed what he would do next. I don't know, I've been asleep for a while, not real short time, it was still my time. And he came to the banger door and he came in and he had blood on his head. He had a gun and he held it at me. It means we're going to grab some things. And I knew it would leave. I know it's like, why? Why do I believe in you? It was like hell.

After murdering his ex-girlfriend and her friend, Billy Boyette drove to the nearby home of a young mother, 37-year-old Mary Rice. And according to her, on the night that Billy killed Alicia, Mary awoke to the sound of someone banging on her front door. The crazed and bloody Billy Boyette entered her home with a handgun and demanded that she get into his car. You do, you do me. Take a deep breath, Mary. You're all right now. Just take a deep breath.

You're awesome. Mary Rice followed Billy's instructions. She got into the car and the two of them drove into the night. Mary was eventually reported missing by her family and police quickly put two and two together. Billy Boyette was on the run and had likely taken Mary Rice as his hostage. And as police were unable to locate him, they had little choice but to warn the public. Deputies are looking for William Boyette Jr.

A person of interest in the case, he's considered armed and dangerous. Investigators say he lives in his Gambia County. He's about five foot 10 and weighs 220 pounds. Do not, our repeat, do not attempt to contact or engage with Mr. Boyette. This gentleman has gone far and above, what we normally deem as incorrigible.

This gentleman is a killer. The word was out. A killer was on the loose. But unfortunately, alerting the public about Billy Boyette wouldn't be enough to keep everyone safe. As Billy's reign of terror and what would ultimately become his weak-long crime and murder was only just beginning. On January 31, 2017, 44-year-old William Billy Boyette, gunned down his ex-girlfriend Alicia Greer,

and her friend Jacqueline Moore at a Milton Florida hotel. A few days later, a young mother, 37-year-old Mary Rice, was reported missing by her family, and police surmised that Mary had been kidnapped by Billy. After this kidnapping, Billy drove south towards Baldwin County, Alabama with Mary in tow. And along the way, he made several stops and purchased a variety of supplies.

They came to my register, both of them. Came to my register. How did she appear to you? Scared. I asked how they were doing, and he said to me, I just killed my girlfriend. OK. What was your response to that?

I thought he was joking. OK. While shopping at a small variety store, Billy brazenly told the cashier that he had killed his girlfriend and then purchased some outdoor survival and camping gear. Billy was seemingly planning to spend a few days and nights in the woods, but as other purchases indicated he was also planning something else. Well, let's go stay with Walmart. Where did you get it, Walmart? In the mission. You said you went to someplace else in Crestview?

Yes. Where else did you go for us? There's another low-end mission. What did you buy in that store? More mission. He just had this like, wow, they had a more look to him. It was, it had ever seen anything like it. It was like, he got it. Where my blood, it's not worse this time progressed.

In addition to buying camping gear, Billy also made several stops to buy bullets. He was apparently stockpiling ammunition and reportedly Mary Rice was getting a bad feeling that Billy was planning to hunt humans. Then three days after the murderers of Alicia Greer and Jacqueline Moore tragedy struck again. This morning around 8 a.m. the Bowling County Sheriff's Office received a call about the

deceased female lying in the yard. Deputies have responded to the scene. At this time we believe we're working a homicide. She was found in the yard. Yes. Who was she found by? a homicide she was found in the yard. Yes. Who was she found by? By a family member. On an otherwise quiet Friday morning, about 40 miles south from the hotel where Alicia Greer and Jacqueline Moore lost their lives

in a small neighborhood of Lillian, Alabama, 52-year-old Peggy Bros was found dead in her front yard. She had been shot once, point blank in the head. Miss Bros was a church member of ours, been a church member here for years. Was always there when she was needed, even if she had just worked the night before. She was a respiratory therapist at Baptist Hospital

for some 20-some odd years. She's got a husband and two grown children. They're holding up the best you can right now in this circumstance. Peggy Bros. was a wife, a mother of two children, and a beloved member of her community. After finishing an overwork shift at first Baptist Hospital, Peggy drove home and when she stepped out of her car, Billy Boyette skulked up her driveway and shot her in the head.

The murder of this sweet old lady was seemingly committed for no other reason than to steal her car, a 2003 white Chrysler Concord. We believe the Concord has a den or scratch on the right from a quarter panel. If anyone sees this vehicle though, call 911. Other than the vehicle that you are looking for, any other personal effects missing at this point, Mars or any other person. There's nothing else that we're looking for right now that the big thing is the vehicle if people spot that vehicle we ask it to we urge that they call an animal. As news spread of Peggy Bros. murder and authorities in Alabama were contacted by police in Milton

Florida, there was little doubt as to who was responsible. But why would Billy Boyette murder a random elderly woman? If all he wanted was her car, he could have simply pushed her down and stolen her keys. We're dealing with an extreme situation here. Let me tell you just how extreme. We've received information from more than one source. On Mr. Boyette, he is a member and has been a member for a long time of the drug coach. He's a known to be a heavy user of spice.

These people stay awake for four or five, six days at a time. Billy's breakup with Alicia Greer was likely the catalyst of his murderous behavior, and police believed that his continuous rampage was being fueled by an addiction to the drug spice. If you're not familiar with spice, pat yourself on the back. That's a good thing. People of the blame murders on this drug,

perhaps in some cases, for good reason. In addition to being considerably dangerous, spice is also a fairly complex drug. In fact, it's not a single drug at all, but a wide variety of laboratory-made chemicals designed to mimic the effects of marijuana, except it doesn't really do a good job of that. The effects can be disastrous. In short, the behavior of someone that's on spice is impossible to predict, and Billy Boyette was known to be a heavy

user of this drug. There was no telling where he would go or what he would do next. Still, police continued to search and they began interviewing people that knew Billy, starting with his mother. Do you think Billy's going to reach out to you at some point? mother. Do you think Bill is going to reach out to you with some point? I'm the only person he's ever really had. And if he did, it certainly would let you know because he needs to. But I'm afraid he's going to kill himself. Well, anybody heard somebody else. Any idea where he would go? I have no idea whatsoever. Is any other female that you know that he was involved with? Oh, yes. He was involved before Alicia with the Bethany, Lutz.

Prior to his relationship with Alicia Greer, Billy had dated a different Florida woman, 25-year-old Bethany Lutz, and not surprisingly, his relationship with Bethany didn't last too long. How long we guys together as a couple? Just a couple of months. You mentioned that the building was vied with you at some point in your relationship, right? Yes, sir. The first couple of weeks were sweet and then went to the nightmare.

Okay. So he was by multiple agents? Yes. Okay. And during that time, did you have you ever met her or heard of Mary Rice? I had seen messages on this case, so the friend had in her. She was talking about one of you with Billy and some of you

to be sure to heard in her family and talk about herself and this and that. It's frankly that she was just like, friend with him or she tried to date her. She was flirtatious. As police were digging into Billy's life and questioning the people that knew him, they quickly learned something very interesting.

Mary Rice was not a random victim. She knew Billy and had met him months earlier while Billy was in prison. I had taken Mary to the museum visitation on last year towards the end of the year. To your knowledge, was that the first time they had met in person? Yes. Was that his, the jail? Yes.

And did you go inside with him while he were? Yes. Do you remember what the conversation was about or what they talked about? He had nowhere to go when he got out. I believe it was a month, maybe two months away from getting out. He had nowhere to stay, to go and she had all worked in a mistake to come stay with her. I'm going to say this right now. I've been doing this for a long time. There are a lot of ladies that listen to this show.

And some of you get a little, I don't know, obsessive with true crime. There's a line you probably shouldn't cross. A line that Mary Rice decided to cross. During Billy's most recent stint behind bars, he and Mary Rice had become pen pals. A short time later, Mary went to visit Billy in prison and offered to let him live with her upon his release.

Now, I know that a lot of women like the bad boy, but inviting a violent ex-con to live in your home isn't something you should ever think about doing. But apparently for Mary Rice, this was common practice. The two started writing to each other in 2016 while Billy Boyet was in jail, and that's not unusual for her. She wrote to a lot of inmates, and then even once so far as to let them stay in her house upon their release to get back on their feet. Needless to say, Mary Rice was kind of an odd duck. And although she was a mother, Mary was mostly estranged from her children. I wonder why. She lived alone and spent her free time writing

to mail inmates before inviting them to stay at her home when they got released from prison. As for Billy Boyette, the exact nature of Mary's relationship with him wasn't widely known. Mary and Billy were they dating at the time? I just friends. I don't know. I think they were dating, but they could have been friends. It wasn't really like, set in stone. I gotcha.

I mean, she said she liked him. We've been talking, but she didn't tell me they were together and together. Having learned that Mary Rice was friends with Billy and more likely romantically involved with him, police began to wonder was Mary a victim of kidnapping. Or had she left with Billy willingly? Was she a hostage or an accomplice? Then five days after Mary was supposedly kidnapped, police got what they felt was the answer to these questions.

And then answer came from an unlikely source, a local deer hunter. Did you monitor your being cameras on a regular basis back then? Yes, ma'am. Two or three times a week. Now, did I come in time when your cameras actually caught some people in the service channels? Yes, ma'am. When I checked my camera, brought it back, plugged it in, checked that I seemed to individuals. Welcome through my phone file. If you're not up to date on the latest technological achievements in deer hunting, many hunters

now use what they call game cameras to monitor and track animals. These motion-activated cameras are typically attached to trees and heavily wooded areas, and in order to bait deer to them, hunters will often leave a pile of grain or corn nearby. When this particular deer hunter went to review his game camera footage, he didn't see any deer. Instead, he saw Billy Boyette and Mary Rice walking through one of his corn piles. And Mary Rice, a supposed kidnap victim, didn't appear to be walking with Billy against her will.

She was quite clearly walking beside him, as if nothing was wrong. As other sightings of Billy Boyette and Mary Rice started to funnel in, police also began collecting surveillance footage of Mary shopping in convenience and department stores while having ample opportunity to escape from Billy. One such instance even showed Mary shopping in a Walmart by herself before returning to a parking lot where Billy picked her up. For guarding your rights, what evidence makes you guys make that jump to a suspect? Because of the photographic information that we have from convenience stores, from a shot taken in a wooded area where there was sufficient time for her if you will to make an escape, to walk away, to seek refuge if you will and safety. But she has returned,

you know, continually to him. So at this point in time, we upgraded her status if you will and she would be treated as a suspect within the contact with law enforcement. Authorities officially changed Mary Rice's status from hostage to suspect, but this didn't make any sense to the people that knew Mary. Mary had never been in trouble with the law, and was certainly not perceived as a violent person. For her family, the idea that Mary could be helping Billy Boyette or was somehow involved in murder was not only improbable.

It was unimaginable. Now I talked to Mary Rice's brother. He said their family is just beside themself for any information because at this point they don't know if she's dead or alive, a hostage or an accomplice. It's been heart wrenching to find out that she's even involved in all this stuff. This meaningless, senseless killing and rampaging, it no. It's nothing like her.

We just want to see her home safe and find out the truth that was going on. Although her friends and family doubted that Mary was Billy Boyette's accomplice, the surveillance footage of the two of them together was problematic. There were clearly several opportunities where Mary could have escaped or asked someone for help. Still,

according to one of Mary's friends, there was a possible explanation for this. I just can't believe it. I mean, Mary is a good person. I don't care. I mean, I just can't. And I could see him being manipulating. I can see his demeanor is very scary, so I think that all those things that in the Walmart thing, you know, in the videotape and all that stuff, there's still many things that could be. I mean, he could said, you know, you got 10 minutes. He could have put a little camera on her and said one long word or one note. And I will go after your kids. I'll leave you here because he knew her his family lived. So why couldn't he manipulate her? For Mary's friend it was conceivable that Billy Boyette had threatened to hurt Mary's children if she stepped out of line. Perhaps Mary was in so much fear stepped out of line. Perhaps Mary was in so much fear and so concerned for her children's lives that she dared not do anything to upset her capture. On the other hand, Billy's

ex-girlfriend who knew Billy quite well had her suspicions about Mary Rice. Women always have that intuition, Delta. It's really it's that they had her on camera, go like walk in or go across the street and get food for them or something similar. Now, I know Bill, Bill is very insured if he is going to be hostage. Bill is not getting his sleeping. Bill is either going to be at her back with a gun or he's going to be holding on to her by the back of the neck

or have control of her son house that she has the bowl. Billy has a situation under control. He's not done by any means. Just your gut feeling is you don't think Mary was being held hostage. And my alarm, I don't believe that she is being held hostage. As the people that knew Mary Rice and Billy Boyette speculated on whether or not the two of them were working together, or if Mary was an unwilling hostage, police continued their search to find them

and focused their efforts on locating the car that Billy had stolen after murdering its owner Peggy Bros. It's right off the ICANN interstate on 90. I found the car that went to the Lillian murder. Oh, is it parked? Yes. It's off the side of the road and it's behind some trees that have been cut and there's a couple of packages on the side of the road. So, is there anybody in the north of just abandoned?

I don't know. The trees are covering the whole car except for the fact. Anybody in the north of just abandoned? I don't know. The tree's a cover in the whole car except for the fact. Two days after the murder of Peggy Bros., her car was found in a wooded area of a Scambia County, Florida. It was abandoned, covered in tree branches, and Billy Boyette and Mary Rice were nowhere to be found. As police inspected the car,

they found why Billy had likely abandoned it. Peggy's car had a flat tire. Billy was now on foot and likely in search of another vehicle. Police knew it was no longer a question if he would kill again, but when? And they were desperate to find him. We are looking now aggressively for someone who is a killer in our community. There is currently a Capitol murder warrant out in Alabama from Mr. Boyette, but we want this image everywhere. Some are saying, well, Sheriff, you're scaring our community. I hope I am. I want everyone that has a Facebook page. I want all of our media.

Everyone to assist us in the location and eventual capture of Mr. Boyette. We have reason to believe that he's been involved in three homicides to date. You know, for God's sake, let's don't make it four. Unfortunately, there would be a fourth victim. If you remember from the start of this story, 28-year-old Kayla Crocker was preparing to take her two-year-old son

to her mother's house before going to work, and she had left her car running in the driveway. She had taken her diaper bag out to the car. She started her car and it was running and she was warming it up before she took the baby out to the car. I believe that she saw a young the image of Kayla's hair around her on the floor. Kayla's mother found Kayla bound by shoelaces in the nursery of her home and she had been shot in the head. When help finally arrived, Kayla was rushed to the hospital, but sadly, Kayla's mom was given the heartbreaking news. That evening, they said they weren't getting no brain activity.

And they were going to retester in 12 to 24 hours to see if there's any changes. The next day, they said there's no changes. And they declared a great dead. In addition to being extremely brutal, the murder of Kayla Crocker was also especially disturbing because when Kayla was shot in the head, her two-year-old son was in the room. She was shot in front of the baby. We don't know if the baby was awake or sleeping. That's something we'll never know.

We do know that they took her into the nursery and shot her in the nursery. With the death of Kayla Crocker, Billy Boyette was now wanted for her murder and the murders of three other women. Our Santa Rosa County victims were discovered on January 31st in the Emerald Sands Inn in Milton, Florida. The two deceased were identified as 30-year-old

Alicia Ann Greer, 39-year-old Alicia Ann Greer, 39-year-old Jacqueline Jeanette Moore. Baldwin County Victims shot in her driveway on February 3rd, 52-year-old Heddie Bros. And unfortunately, today in the Scambe County, we have our first victim, 28-year-old Kayla Crocker. It is difficult to speak about this, ladies and gentlemen, because these are the cases that we in law enforcement fear.

But we have what is apparently with the last two victims anyway, a random selection. Having no previous connection to Peggy Bros. or Kaila Crocker, Billy Boyette was now choosing his victims at random. This was not only horrifying because it meant that anyone could be next, but it also meant that Billy's next move was Impossible to predict However, police did eventually learn what Billy had been up to and it wasn't good In fact, it was downright terrifying. Did you advertise an SKS assault rifle in the shop? Yes. Did you get a phone call about it?

Yes. Okay, it was one of those phone calls from a female. Yes. And did you end up selling this SKS rifle? Yes. Where did you sell it? Physically. In my front yard.

And can you describe the person you sold it to? Well, woman, 30-ish, at 5'6, 5'5, some like that. Around the time of Billy Boyette's murder spree, an Alabama man had placed an advertisement in his local newspaper. He was selling his SKS semi-automatic rifle, a weapon that is capable of firing 45 rounds per minute. Several people called and expressed an interest in buying the rifle,

but its owner ultimately settled on selling the weapon to a woman that claimed to be buying it as a birthday gift for her husband. That woman was Billy Boyette's assumed accomplice, Mary Rice. Billy had murdered four women, two of which didn't even know him. They were completely random victims. And now, Billy had a semi-automatic rifle. And what he intended to do with it was anyone's guess. In late January of 2017, 44-year-old Billy Boyette shot and killed his ex-girlfriend, Alicia

Greer, and her friend, Jacqueline Moore, in a Milton, Florida hotel room. Three days later, he shot and killed a complete stranger, 52-year-old Peggy Bros. in Lillian, Alabama, before stealing her car. And two days after that, he shot and killed another stranger, 28-year-old Kayla Crocker in Pensacola, Florida, before also stealing her car. Billy Boyette was on a murder spree, and he was in the company of a 37-year-old woman, Mary Rice, who police believed to be Billy's accomplice, but it was also possible that she was his hostage.

Either way, while Mary was with Billy, she purchased a semi-automatic rifle, and there was no telling what she or Billy were planning to do with it. Thankfully, before either of them had a chance to use it, Mary Rice was located. I had a, and it did. So I circled that around. She was pulling out of the store, and I followed her in, followed the car with her in it, all the way to the West Point Motel. Okay. And did you observe anybody else in the car? No, I did not.

Okay, was she in the driver's side or passenger side? Driver's seat. Okay. So she's in the driver's seat, and then you followed the car, back to that. Wow, that little motel that went west in West Point, is there?

An eyewitness saw Mary Rice driving Kayla Crocker's car to a motel in Troop County, Georgia. And after police were made aware of this sighting, they quickly surrounded the area. Billy eventually confirmed his presence by waving at the police through one of the motel room windows. He had finally been found. Now the police just needed to capture him. A task that was much easier said than done. Police ordered Billy out of his motel room and told him to surrender, but Billy had no intention of following their commands. Instead, he remained in his room and refused any contact with the police.

For several hours, a standoff ensued as Billy ignored repeated commands to surrender. Finally, the police decided they were going to make entry into Billy's room. But just as they were about to do so, his door opened, and Mary Rice stepped out. With her hands raised, and police firearms firmly pointed at her, Mary Rice slowly walked towards the police. Then, a gunshot. Roseanne, it's amazing that this thing has ended after a weeks of searching for them, and it all happened here.

Mary Rice came out and surrendered, and Billy Boyette allegedly had killed himself. Billy Boyette's week-long murder spree was over. As for Mary Rice, she was taken into police custody and he'd list to say authorities had a whole lot of questions for her. When police finally sat down with Mary, they began the interview by asking what happened on his head and he had a gun. And he held it at me. And he told me to grab some things. And the next thing I know is we're in into the vehicle, and it was not red vehicle. It was just kind of a bigger vehicle, dark, government.

According to a tearful Mary, on the night she was kidnapped, Billy held her at gunpoint and ordered her into his black SUV. The two of them then drove towards Alabama and spent two nights camping in the woods. All the while, Billy allegedly drugged, beat, and raped her. Then on the third day of her captivity, Mary claimed that Billy duct taped her to a tree and left their campsite, only to return a short while later driving a white Chrysler Concorde. This was the car that belonged to Billy's third victim, 52-year-old Peggy He goes off with the dark SUV and comes back with a white car. Yes, yes. Look, where did he leave you?

He left me a duct taped to a tree. And then he makes me, yes, somebody with him. They have a gun on the back. I have to follow him in the white car to a parking area. Mary explained that when Billy returned with Peggy's car, he wasn't alone. A masked gunman was with him, and this masked man allegedly forced Mary into the driver's seat of Peggy's car. Then she claimed the man ordered her to follow Billy's SUV to a nearby parking lot.

Once there, Billy unloaded items from his SUV into Peggy's car, Mary and Billy then drove away, leaving the mysterious masked gunman behind. According to Mary, she and Billy lived out of Peggy's car for the next two days and drove back to Florida, stopping only to buy food, gas, and ammunition. All the things you need in life. I guess that's all fine with him until I get flat tire. I get flat tire. Move on a little ways, coming out in some dirt roads, some dirt roads, there's a place

that sits a long ways. Okay, this girl's already a car was started, but he throws me in and okay, he takes a keys, follows her inside. Just as police suspected, the flat tire forced Billy to ditch the car he had stolen from Peggy Bros, after which he and Mary walked for some time until coming across the home of Kayla Crocker. According to Mary, Billy saw that Kayla had just started a car in her driveway. Billy then threw Mary into the back of Kayla's car and followed Kayla into her home.

The doors are moving in from the back, you know, and I'm trying to maneuver my way to get to the front to see if I can get out the front. Then I gunshot go off and out the car he is. It started to happen with God. After you hear what you think is a gunshot, After you hear what you think is a gunshot, he comes running out of the house and then is it given to the car? Yeah, it gets in the car, you can get gas. Did you? It was healthy, didn't it? You did it, you did it, you made me fall, go, go, go phone call. Oh, come on, my baby.

He's so big. Yeah. During this interview, Mary Rice noticeably attempts to speed through any details that make her seem like a willing participant in Billy's rampage. Focusing instead on this opposed trauma she had experienced as a victim of kidnapping.

But rightfully so, the detectives just were not buying this crap. What did you hear? That's the people who did you see. You heard it gunshot. Okay. Where were you when you were in bed? I was dotted to tree down below. Someone else was on the damn mask. The full mask. Far would have told you that numerous people saw you and Billy you were with them because

you guys were seeing you okay. I know. They're standing here. They're coming out. They're coming out. And then Billy got out of the car. Okay, we're aware of this. Yeah. Then. Is that when you back the car up to the driveway and that's when you're really gonna shot? You. Okay, so Mary, just look at me and let's be honest with each other. And there was never a third person left there. I'm not, it's okay.

For detectives, it didn't require much effort to get Mary to admit that there was no masked gunman involved in Peggy Bros. murder, and Mary was never tied to a tree. Instead, Mary drove Billy's SUV to Peggy's home where Billy shot Peggy in the head before stealing her car. Then Mary followed Billy to a parking area where the two of them loaded some things from the SUV in a Peggy's car and abandoned the SUV. But Mary still maintained that she had no other choice in the matter. I just told a circumstance. It was just like bam, bam. So it's just kind of like opportunity to not and build COVID.

And you're on the ground on that. Now, when he left on the white car, or any of you followed on the black car, I had no choice. OK, I had no choice. You think he got me from my home in the middle of the night? Well, let me ask you, very take a deep breath. After clarifying the events of Peggy Bros. murder,

detectives then started asking more questions about Billy's last victim, Kayla Crocker. And once again, Mary's story began to change. And I want you to concentrate on that time that you guys got the last car. Was that girl being, was she being Mowdy? Was she really talking back to Billy? Yeah.

Well, what kind of things was she saying? She was kind of like, how? And she's doing all this inside her house? Well, she had orange. You were right there on that porch area, or did you actually go inside of the house? I'm sorry, but that... And Mary, let's...

At the point I actually decided to help. Okay, and I'm glad that you said that, okay? Because that eliminated my next question. Initially, Mary told detectives that when she and Billy came across Kayla Crocker, Billy threw Mary into the back seat of Kayla's car and then went inside Kayla's home. But then, Mary changed her story and admitted that she had also gone inside of Kayla's home. And that's not all. She was madly with him. And Billy couldn't really tie her up by himself.

Yeah, and I was, I was not able. So you weren't, you didn't help tie her up at all? In the back, I tied a little bow. I mean, to where she could get out of it. So to where she could get out of it. Yes. Come on now, you know what I mean? Well, did he ask you to hold her hands warm? So he could tie her. Not only did Mary go inside Kayla's home, she also helped Billy tie Kayla up so that the two of them could ransack her home for food, money, and jewelry. But again, Mary persisted that she had no choice, and was only following Billy's lead out

of fear that Billy might kill her. What in the world did Kayla say to make him shoot her? I thought I was an in there, I swear to God what in there he may leave. With the bags, he may leave with the bags, I was not in there, I swear to God, what in there he may believe. With the bags, he may have been labeled with the bags, I was not in there, I swear to God, what in there. Okay, so when Billy comes out, what does he say to you? He said, she was now calling God, I couldn't trust her. Okay, and what else did she say? He didn't say what she said.

He didn't, he didn't. He just said that she upset him. 28-year-old Kayla Crocker was bound and helpless in the nursery of her home when Billy shot her in the head in front of her two-year-old. Mary claimed that she didn't witness the shooting, but for detectives, it didn't matter. To them, Mary Rice was clearly an accomplice to murder. The fact that detectives were questioning her as a suspect and not as a victim was not lost on anybody, especially not Mary.

I would like you to take him all the life for me, I would not get anything, I would never give up. Mary, we're almost done. Mary. Take a minute. Take a second. You're okay. I'm not okay. I'm not okay. Take a minute, bro. Mary was right.

She was not going to be okay. In fact, after this interview ended, Mary was arrested and charged. Mary was arrested. She was arrested. She was arrested. She was arrested. She was arrested. She was arrested. She was arrested. Mary was arrested. She was arrested. Mary was right. She was not going to be okay.

In fact, after this interview ended, Mary was arrested and charged with several serious crimes. In order to be more efficient, we have decided to charge Mary Rice with not only the homicide in this Gambia County, involving Miss Crocker, but also the accession to the fact from Santa Rosa County based on evidence we have.

We understand that she used her real ID as Mary Rice to check into this motel. Do you have any reason to believe that she was wanting to be caught? No, I don't. The evidence that I'm familiar with based on the investigation that I'm aware of today, it indicates that she did everything she could to keep him from being called, but I have substantial evidence to establish that she was in fact an accessory and really made no effort to have him be called. Prosecutors charged Mary Rice with first degree murder for the death of Kayla Crocker and as an accessory in the murder of Peggy Bros. to which Mary pleaded not guilty to both charges. Not surprisingly at Mary's trial, her defense team attempted to paint Mary as a battered victim of kidnapping and torture

and argued that that bad man Billy Boyette forced her to help him. The evidence will show that she was basically tortured. And if she didn't do exactly what he wanted to do, at exactly the time he said to do something, he would use pain to bring her back in line. At Mary's trial, there was no dispute about whether or not she was with Billy Boyette during the Smirter Spring. Everything boiled down to just one question. Was Mary Rice a hostage?

Or was she unaccomplished? In an effort to prove the latter, prosecutors called in over 50 witnesses, many of whom were cashiers or convenience store employees that interacted with Mary as she was purchasing food, gas, or camping supplies during Billy's week-long rampage. Many of these customer service witnesses testified that when they encountered Mary, she seemed perfectly calm, and in some cases, Billy wasn't even with her. Prosecutors also presented the store's surveillance footage that clearly showed Mary casually shopping. As you do, going out to Tarje on a Saturday afternoon, often alone with ample time to either make a run for

it or ask someone to call police. Finally, and perhaps the most damning evidence against Mary Rice is what she said to a cellmate when Mary was first taken into custody, clearly not a hardened criminal. Allegedly, Mary confessed to everything she had done while sitting in a cell with a random inmate. Chatti Kathy over here spilled her guts out the first time she gets arrested to a stranger. And authorities only learned about this when that inmate called home. I mean, I don't have to tell you guys that they record your conversations when you call

from jail, right? You should know that. You should already know that unless you're a complete idiot, you know that. We got those just me and her and myself. And she was like, telling me all this stuff and she was like, I'm going to lie and say that he held me hostage and that he raped me and beat me and forced me to stay there with him and like she told me all this fucking shit to

details about these murders oh wow it's like yeah and I'm like I don't even know you, what the fuck? Obviously after hearing this jail call detectives and prosecutors knew they needed to speak with Mary Rice's cellmate. So your house in the same pot as Mary? We was in an interview room together by ourselves.

Okay. For like 24 hours, something like that. Okay, just to do you? And while you were in the room, you got to what did she tell you? She told me that pretty much it's like they rehearsed what she was supposed to say because he knew he was going to kill herself the whole time. He said that he was not going to jail. She told me that he told her everything that she needed to say to the cops before she

left the hotel room and she said that she told him that it wouldn't work because she didn't have marks on her. So she wanted to say that he raped her and that he abused her, but she told me that they were absolutely in love. Mary Selme basically confirmed what detectives and prosecutors already assumed. Mary Rice willingly went along with Billy Boyette because the two of them were romantically involved. And Mary also supposedly told her cellmate why Billy Boyette killed 52-year-old Peggy

Bros. She told him that she was freezing and she was tired of being out in the cold or whatever and he said, what do you want me to do pretty much and she's like doing anything you have to and it's like okay and so they ran up up on the lady and I guess he shot her or something. And yeah, she just laughed about it. She was like, well, I was cold. So my baby made sure I wasn't cold. According to Mary's cellmate, the reason that Billy killed Peggy Bros.

was because Mary was cold and tired of camping in the woods. She wanted a nice place to stay in a hot shower. But how did Mary feel about killing all those people and stealing their cars? Well, apparently Mary didn't even give a shit. Did she ever express any remorse for any of the other victims lady, the distal of a guy, anything like that? No, they brutally murdered them. She's just okay with it. for the Rice was not Billy Boyette's victim or his hostage. She was his accomplice and his lover.

But there was one lingering question. What exactly was their long-term plan? Did she say what their plan was? I mean, I know you said Billy the planet killed on himself, but they were they trying to get to Mexico. Yeah, we're going to Mexico. All right. They're going to, I guess, still cars the whole way there. Ah, Mexico. Beautiful beaches and all the tacos you can eat. Some ice cold cerevesa and a little mariachi as well. Fortunately, the Mexico getaway plans were canceled when police tracked the two of them to a motel in Troop County, Georgia.

Did you tell you about the final standoff up there in Georgia? How all that went down? He told her. They went over everything she was supposed to say to the cops, and she said that they made love, is exactly what she said. I guess he knew the cops were coming so he pushed her out of the hotel room and shut the door. He gave her a big kiss. That's what she said. A big kiss, that's what he said. How much he loved me

and then he made me get out of the hotel room. She said he pushed her out and shut the locked door and then she said she heard the gunshot and I was it. So she didn't run out on her own. He actually put her in. Yeah, he made her go. She didn't want to. She said that if he would have let me stay in there, I would have killed myself too. On January 31, 2017, Billy Boyette's murder spree began when he killed his ex-girlfriend, Alicia Greer and her friend Jacqueline Moore. A week later on February 7th, after killing two more women, 52-year-old Peggy Bros. and 28-year-old Kayla Crocker, Billy took his own life. This left his accomplice, Mary Rice, to fend for herself as she faced the criminal justice system. And nearly two years after being taken into custody

in late September of 2018, Mary Rice was convicted. Vertied as to the charge in count one, we the jury found the defendant Mary Rice guilty of first degree murder as charged in the indictment. As to the charge in count two, we found the jury, we the jury found the defendant Mary Rice guilty of accessory after the fact to first degree murder as charged

in the indictment. Mary was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Kayla Crocker and received an additional 30 years as an accessory to the murder of Peggy Bros. Mary's sentences were ordered to run consecutively. So what are we to make of this woman? Prior to Mary's involvement with Billy Boyette, she had absolutely no criminal record. And by all accounts, was a gentle and kindhearted person. How did she become an accomplice to a serial killer? In a twisted way, Mary Rice's story is a tragic love story. Obviously, it's not a modern day retelling of Romeo and Juliet, but Mary so badly wanted

someone to love her, she was desperate. But desperation isn't a characteristic of love. Desperation comes from a place of fear and weakness. And there's a big difference between wanting someone to share your life with and needing someone because you're afraid of ending up alone. Mary Rice was so afraid of being alone and so desperate for any man to love her, that she began writing to prison inmates and inviting them into her home. And when Billy Boyette expressed romantic feelings for her, there was nothing he could have

done, including murder, that would have made her turn him away. In the end, four innocent women were gunned down and murdered in cold blood, and Mary Rice found herself in the very position that she was desperate to avoid. For the rest of her life, Mary Rice will live in a prison cell, and she will live there, alone. Alright, that doesn't. Go listen to Sword and Scale rewind if you want some more. Also, if you haven't already, just do it today. Join Plus. It starts at just five bucks a month, you get so much content.

So much stuff you will not get on this feed and you support your favorite show. Sorenscale.com slash plus. Until next time, stay safe. I'm so obsessed with your projects. I just want to take a job, keep it moving, through all the haters, yell at them and they're going to stay. They never go away, right? Anyway, I just wanted to say good

work. You give these victims a voice. You bring up their stories with incredible wanted to say good work. You give these victims a voice. You bring up their stories with incredible content to back it up. I think it's phenomenal. And as somebody who worked on a podcast, side story, I worked on the cold podcast at Cancel. I ended up quitting not too long after because I was being sexually harassed by a manager in the workplace who was also promoting the called podcast, which is, again, sexual violence, Susan Powell, I don't know if you want to check that case out,

I'm sure you already know it. Anyway, talk about a company that doesn't practice if they preach. Thanks for being real on your podcast and never ever just trying to make a buff. You'll realize what Mike. 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc

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