The Misery Machine - James Hicks Part 2 | The Murder of Lynn Willette | Maine's Only Serial Killer

Episode Date: May 4, 2020

  This week, Yergy and Drewby conclude the case of James Rodney Hicks, arguably Maine's only known serial killer - and speculate as to why Hicks got away with his crimes for so long. On 1 November 2000, Maine's Penobscot County grand jury formally charged confessed killer James Hicks, 49, with the murders of Jerilyn Towers and Lynn Willette. Hicks served six years of a 10-year prison sentence for killing his first wife, 23-year-old Jennie Hicks, who disappeared from the couple's Carmel home in 1977. Hicks was not arrested for her murder until 1983 and was convicted in 1984. Before his arrest, Towers, 34, of Newport, disappeared after leaving a Newport bar with Hicks. In fact the police investigation into Towers' disappearance prompted the re-examination Jennie Hicks' disappearance and subsequently the charging Hicks with her murder. At the time he was not charged with Towers' death because police lacked adequate evidence. After his release from prison in 1990, Hicks met 40-year-old Willette of Orrington with whom he worked at the Twin City Motel in Brewer. The two eventually lived together at a South Main Street apartment where Hicks now claims he killed Willette on May 26th 1996. Though also suspected in her disappearance, Hicks was never charged with her death because of lack of evidence. That is until he was handed a 55-year sentence in Lubbock, Texas, and confessed to the three killings and led authorities to their bodies. Hicks was convicted in Texas of holding a gun to the head of a 67-year-old woman, forcing here to write a check to him and sign over the title to her car, and then write a suicide note. He planned to drug and drown the woman to make it look like a suicide, but she somehow managed to escaped. When he was convicted to 55 years in prison Hicks asked to cut a deal with authorities in Maine whereby he agreed to direct them to the bodies of the three missing in exchange for serving his time in Maine instead of Texas. Back in Maine Hicks located the remains of his three victims after two days of digging around his former home in Etna and at several roadside sites in Aroostook County, Maine. The remains of his former wife and Towers were found 100 feet apart next to the home where he grew up. Willette's remains were found in concrete buckets buried next to the road in Aroostook County. Apparently all the bodies were dismembered and some parts he allegedly tossed in a nearby river. Join Our Facebook Group to Request a Topic: https://t.co/DeSZIIMgXs?amp=1 Support Our Patreon For More Unreleased Content: https://www.patreon.com/themiserymachine PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/themiserymachine Instagram: miserymachinepodcast Twitter: misery_podcast #truecrime #podcast #mystery 

We're the misery machine. Oh, hey. I'm Drewby. I'm Yergy. And this is our part two of the James Hicks case. So in this episode, we're tying up the last few murders that he committed as well as the end of his case. We'll probably touch on some other things involving murders in Maine, why they often go unsolved and not handled correctly. But this will probably be a shorter episode than normal.

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which lately has been about one a week. But yeah, without further ado. Here's James Hicks, part two. So to pick back up where we left off, James Hicks had just been arrested, sentenced for manslaughter of his wife. He serves five years in prison and is released early due to model behavior. After this, after he's released a year later,

so it's around 1991, 1992, he's about 37 and 38 at the time. Karen Gomes is introduced to James Hicks through James' brother Steve, who was married to her sister Melinda and they begin a relationship. James and Linda, the woman he married in prison, filed for divorce during this time. Following the divorce with Linda, James marries Karen, and the couple moves in with her parents. So, this couple then separates three times and also files for divorce. During both marriages, Hicks also has an affair with Louise Robertson, which the two met while being employed at the Twin City Motel.

So at this point, by age 37, 38, he has been married three times and has four children. This is ridiculous. Yergy is 36 and has been married zero times. How does fucking Bangor Handsome James Hicks pull this one on? It was a different time back then. Who are these women? No, it was a different time back then. It was really easy to get everybody wanted to get married back then, it seemed like.

It's true. I haven't been married either, which I'm happy about. This is true. I think it's good to not be married. I think all these people rush into it, and I've known men and women that it's absolutely fucked over, so, you know? Kind of pat myself on the back for that. You should pat yourself on the back.

I agree. Because you have zero divorces, unlike James Hicks here. Yeah, who is a ton of divorces, but he's probably just wearing it like a badge of honor. So James and Louise, they also have a daughter. Hicks initially denies paternity, however, blood test confirms otherwise. And then the affair between James and Louise ends about five years after it began. Louise claims Hicks never said anything about his first wife or acknowledged having four other children. So he's five children at this point.

Who's the mother of these other ones? I've like lost something here along the way. Let's see. He had two with Jenny. And then... Do you have some with Linda? Maybe. Maybe he has one with Karen. I don't know. This one says that he has four other children. So hard to say. So we're just going to call this five children at this point. Yeah, we're just going to say this. Like apologies if we're over. overestimating one, but I think you're, you'll forgive us. He has more children later, so just wait for it.

Wait for it. The main state police are actively still investigating Jerylain Tower's disappearance and interview Hicks' ex-wives and girlfriends, which there are many. The police are also contacted by Vance Tibbitts, who was Jerylund's brother, who confronted Hicks in prison. So even after Tibbitts and Hicks both get out of prison, Tibbitts confronts Hicks again. And at this point, Hicks claims that Jerylain left the gateway lounge with a trucker, whereas in the past, he claimed he didn't know who she was.

So Lynn Ann Willett meets James Hicks when she begins working at the Twin City Motel in Brewer, Maine. The same place that James Hicks worked, and coincidentally, the same place he met his last wife. Yeah, you know, when you're looking for love, no better place than the job. We saw plenty of that when we were at that call center we worked at. Yes, plenty of that. That was the only place that people seemed to date from. It was pretty disgusting. Anyways.

Anyways. Hicks moves into Willett's apartment and Brewer, because that's what Hicks does. Hicks feels that Tibbitts, Vance Tibbitts, that is, is stalking him, which he was. But, like, for good reason. Legally, he was actually stalking him. So he files a complaint against Tibbitts with the Brewer Police Department. The case is then turned over to the main state police. What had happened when I watched the interview with this, the cops came up to him,

and Vance Tibbitt admits the whole thing, yeah, I have been stalking him because he killed my sister. So if you want to arrest me, do it now. But instead of arresting him, they decided to reopen the murder case. They got all like Columbo on him. Yeah. Detective Zambooney of the main state police interviews Hicks about the possibility of a polygraph. Hicks is reluctant to do so and suggests doing the test at a later time. Around 525, 1996, James Hicks murders his girlfriend, Lynn Wollett.

It's the estimated time anyway. In the couple's apartment in Brewer, Maine, following an argument about Hicks' past. The method of murder is through strangulation. So much like he does with everything, and because he loves talking to cops, Hicks report Lynn Wollett missing to the Brewer Police Department. She's just up and left. We had an argument and she left. Hicks claims he does not know where she is and he has done no harm to her.

After discovering inconsistencies with Hicks's alibis, the police become increasingly suspicious. Lynn's car is discovered off of I-95 at a truck stop in Herman, Maine. I'm only assuming it's over at Dysarts. It's got to be. That's the only one I can think of. Yeah, it's the only one I can think of. After interviewing numerous people who both knew James and Lynn, police have not discovered any evidence that suggests Lynn is dead or that James killed her. It is reported James moved into another

woman's apartment months after Lynn disappeared. Despite being unable to find specific information, police still remain highly suspicious and continue the investigation. How do you fuck this up so much? I just don't get it. This is ridiculous. There's just no evidence, man. There's just none. But I mean, I was complaining earlier that he was convicted on hearsay, basically. So, I mean, if they went with like some sort of theory that she took off with a trucker. Yeah. Which is what he alleged about Jerylund Towers. But if he went and played into that, you know, again, having the car over at Dysartz,

which is one of the biggest truck stops in northernish main. Yeah. And also delicious. Yeah, I hear there's really good pies there. It's really good everything there. Nothing Drewby can eat. There's plenty you can eat. Really?

You could eat their corned beef hash, which is amazing. Oh, okay. Yeah. But yeah, you would think that, you know, this guy, Whoever he's with just keeps going missing, but I think this would make people dig a little bit deeper. So in September of 1996, Hicks moves in with his 18-year-old girlfriend, Brandy Mayo. He's 44 at the time. But he's Bangor-Hansom.

But he's Bangor-Hansom. I don't want to age shame, but this seems a little suspect. But he doesn't have anything to offer. I know. It was a different time, 1996. It was a different time. He reminds me of someone. Uh-oh.

Yeah. Do I have to turn off the mics for this one? Yes. Okay. Hold on. I'm going to have a laugh. I'm going to do that. So we've decided to say it.

This guy just reminds me of my dad. Anyway. God. Okay. So. He doesn't listen. My aunt Syl does, though. Maybe she'll laugh.

She probably will. Okay. Okay. I didn't know how liked your dad is. Detective Zamboani interviews Mayo's mother in Maine and discovers strangers. strangers have reported James abusing Brandy. Despite this, a year later, Hicks and Mayo have a daughter.

This is we're on kid number five or six now. Yeah, it's question mark. If he's anything like my dad, who knows? Oh my God. Who knows? Hey, let's be fair. Your dad hasn't killed anybody. Yeah.

That yeah is not very convincing, Yergy. That we know of. Oh, my goodness. He is part of that biker game. Oh, my gosh. Oh, okay, so he's not actually part of a one-percenter group. No, it's like an old man, biker gang. They're all firefighters.

They're all firefighters, yeah. So we think that somebody recognizing you as his daughter screwed us out of getting an apartment. Yeah, so early on, we were looking at this apartment, and it was really great. Yeah, it was nice location. It had a really nice porch. Yeah. The downstairs neighbor had a really nice apartment. really, or was the upstairs. One of the neighbors had this wind chime that was amazing sounding.

And had a pug. And had a pug. So obviously that's hook line and sinker for Drewby. So this guy, he kept us there for like an hour and a half chatting and showed us every square inch of the building. Yeah, he just showed us every little thing. He showed us all the storage spaces. You just couldn't shut the guy up. He just seemed so interested. I'm like, wow, maybe he really likes us and is looking to get this out. He told us the whole history. He told us details about all the residents and I'm just like, damn, I guess he really, all the neighbors, all the neighbors. How to get the washing and drying machines in and out easily? So we're like, okay, I guess he wants it. So we put in applications and he does a hard inquiry

on our credit and then he just ghosts us. I have impeccable credit. I don't know what his issue is, but he did comment, are you? Are you Mike's daughter? And then I just like, with the head around and I'm like, how am I recognized? I don't feel I really look like him too much. Because he didn't know your name either. Yeah. And we don't have the same last name. Yeah. Well, even still, maybe he had heard him mention your name in passing.

Like, no, he just looked at your face and knew he was your father. So we wondered if they weren't on good terms or not because the landlord was a firefighter. Who knows, right? Who knows? Every time we go buy this apartment, we talk about shitting on his property. Just because if you're not interested, why do a hard inquiry? There was nothing on either of our credit reports. that would have fucked us over.

No. And I had more than enough money for a deposit. So fuck him. Anyway. Anyway. The FBI's critical incident response group assigned to the National Center for the analysis of violent crime, analyzed Hicks' behaviors and activities and concluded he most likely had some responsibility in the disappearance of Jerylind Towers and Lynn Willett.

This is in 1999. You don't say. It's like two years after they get married and have a kid. James Hicks and Brandy Mayo moved to Levelin, Texas. Maine's Department of Human Services assumed custody of the couple's daughter. Okay. They have another child in Texas, so we're on six or seven at this point. Levelin Police Department received information from Maine about Hicks' nature and potential danger.

After discovering the couple had a child in Texas, the state of Texas recommended removal of the child within days after it being born. The child is then removed from the couple's home, And I heard they didn't put up much of a fight. No. So like Zamboani actually called down to Leveland and was like, hey, you've got one of our assholes. Yeah. That's basically what happened here.

I heard they didn't even put up a fight on them taking the kid. I just don't get it. I don't understand. Hickshis doesn't like to pull out. Well, so I made this comment the other day. And I've known so many men and women who more men that openly talk about this, but women through secondhand information, but most, but some men are so proud. Oh yeah, I never pull out. Okay, well, do you use condoms? No, fuck that. It feels like a garbage bag. What the fuck is wrong with you?

A lot, because I know who you're talking about. And these are, well, it's not just him. I had a really close friend that used to say that shit, but I know so many people that don't make much money and they're just like, I don't care. I'll fucking get my nut off and get somebody pregnant. I just don't want to pull out. I don't want to pull out. I don't care if a kid results for me. I don't want to pull out. It's not this noble why really want to have a kid. No, you're just a fucking slave to your vices. It's just like, man, you know what? Busting a nut in a girl's worth? 120 grand, because that's your paying average over the lifetime for a kid. And people just don't fucking care. I don't understand this mentality. This is always scared the shit out of me

ever since I was young. Like before I even started being sexually active, the prospect of that scared the shit out of me. And I just know people that just don't care. Whatever, I'm just not going to pull out. What the fuck is wrong with people? I don't get this. My goodness. Can somebody like shed some light on this?

Especially we can get birth control and emergency contraception somewhat free. I've heard of dudes shaming women about them not letting the dude come inside her. And then I've known plenty of girls who shame you for not coming inside them. What the fuck is this shit? I don't understand people. Drew, you're tacking out. Like, you're scaring Kighton. I'm sorry, Kighton. I'm sorry.

He's had a very bad day. He's a good little boy. I just don't understand it. People complain about being in debt. And I know so many people that say they regret being parents. God, why are people such slaves to vices like this? Getting your nut off a fucking addiction to some of these fucking people. I don't know.

That's my, continue. James Hicks sounds exactly like these fucking people I grew up with. All right, continue. And my dad. Anyway. My God. Oh my. Oh my.

So Hicks working as a handyman. Also, something my dad did. Is this just going to be the episode where we just rail on your dad the entire time? Yeah. It's the one where he decides to listen to. Oh, my goodness. I think he actually likes one of the pages. Really?

Yeah. He won't actually listen. All right. So anyway. I guess we'll find out. We will. Well, my mom said she's going to start listening soon. So that should be interesting.

She'll get some teahies. Oh, boy. So he contacts customer June Moss, who is old. She's elderly. She's elderly. Hicks has been working at her house and claimed the check she wrote to him was a closed accounts. So June tells Hicks to come back to her house in Leveland in order to pay him for his services.

You'd think she'd know if it was from a closed account or not. Maybe it actually really was. Maybe, I don't know. Maybe she made an error. You know, some old people have a million checking accounts. I know they do working in my industry. You should know. I kind of saw that at the call center, but anyways.

So Hick points a gun at her head and threatens to kill her. He also forces her to write a check for $1,250 and to give up the title of her car. Yeah, to sign it over to him. Yeah. And forced her to write a suicide note and drink an entire bottle of cough, Sarah. Apparently this dumb, dumb doesn't know. That's not how you kill somebody. That's how you robo trip.

Yeah. Grandma's going to be sipping some lean. Yeah. Some purple drank. some drank. I can say all this. This isn't victim shaming. This woman survived and is still alive. Thank you. She is. She is responsible for him being arrested finally. Yes. So before you go and hate on me in the comments. She is a hero. Yes. She is a hero. So while Hicks is in the rear of the home, June escapes to the neighbor's house where the neighbor calls the police. The same neighbor notices Hicks leaving June's home in his van and follows Hicks to his home and level in Texas. Police arrive at Hicks's home and arrest him. June survives the attack. Hicks is then taking.

the Lubbock County Jail in charge with aggravated robbery of an elderly person. I didn't know there was a distinction there. Is there a more heavy charge if it's an elderly person? Clearly in Texas. I guess so. A very serious crime in Texas, so says here. His bond is set at $250,000. So Hicks is indicted and faces life in prison. The maximum sentence in Texas, considering Hicks is a convicted felon and use a gun to rob an individual. As we said in a month's previous episode, I thought Texas still had the death penalty. I was surprised it didn't. And somehow they don't.

So Hicks's brother Steve contacts Detective Zamboni and requests a deal in exchange for extradition to Maine for information regarding the disappearances of Jeryl and Towers in Lin-Wilett instead of almost immediately serving a life sentence in Texas. Hicks writes a letter to Zamboni stating he will only cooperate if he can be extradited to Maine and have things go his way. Quote. In quotes.

Hicks confesses to murdering Lynn Willett in 1996 in Lubbock, Texas, and offers to lead Detective Zamboni to Willett's remains. And I should be clear, the way I deliver that, so he confessed in Lubbock, Texas. He did not murder Lynn Willett in Lubbock, Texas. I want to be clear about that. Zamboni then informs Hicks that he is investigating five murders instead of three as a strategy to receive information about the other two victims.

Hicks then admits to killing towers and his first wife, Jenny. James Hicks pleads guilty in Lubbock County, Texas to aggravated robbery. The judge recommends a 55-year sentence. However, Hicks waives extradition to Maine pending an arrest warrant is issued. Detective Zamboni obtains an arrest warrant for Hicks and then returns to Texas to extradate him to Pinabscot County, Maine. Hicks agrees to locate the remains of his victims and goes to Hainesville Woods on the outskirts of Holton. That's up in a roostock county. So it's not as far away as where he had been going to work in Woodlands,

but it is still quite a drive away from the Bangor Brewer. area. Yeah. It kind of borders Canada. But I mean, if you want to bury a body, it's a decent place to go. Yeah. So now you're suggesting people hide people in the forest county. I mean, you said it so many times last time. I'm just saying from his, why would he he travel that far? Well, obviously, to bury a body. Right. That's what I'm trying to say. So the remains are discovered to be dismembered and buried in a bucket in a shallow grave. The other remains of the victim were found buried near Jenkins Beach in Bangor, Maine. Hickson elaborates how he murdered Gerald and Towers. Hicks admits to keeping Towers body two weeks after he murdered her and then dismembered her remains and buried them in a field on his property. Hicks then admits to killing his first wife, Jenny, and dismembering her remains and dispersing them in the wilderness throughout Carmel area. On November 6, 2000, at the age of 48, Hicks is indicted for the murders of Jeryl and Lynn Willett in Pinnob, Scott County, Maine. He pleads guilty to both charges. Texas Governor George W. Bush and Maine Governor Angus King signed an executive agreement.

transferring Hicks to Maine to serve his sentence for criminal homicide. He then appears in court at Penobscot County Superior Court, leads guilty to two counts of murder for the slains of Jericho and Jarrelland Towers in 1982 and Lynn Willett in 1996. He also cut a deal with authorities in Maine, whereby he agreed to direct them to the bodies of the three missing women in exchange for serving time in Maine instead of Texas. James Rodney Hicks has found guilty of the murders of Lynn Willett and Jerylton

Towers. The judge states, Hicks shows no remorse to the crimes, and sentences Hicks to two life sentences without parole plus restitution to be awarded two towers and the Willett families. I'm kind of surprised he said he shows no remorse because... He doesn't, though. There was one documentary I watched where he said he realized that if he didn't spend the rest of his life behind bars, he was going to kill somebody else and he didn't want that

to happen. To me, that's a show of remorse. Are you capable of recovering? No, but you understand that you're sick and twisted and can't stop yourself from killing people. I think he's just addicted to it. because the state of Maine clearly fails and just let him keep doing it. Yeah, exactly.

But there's times where the judges like this defendant shows no remorse. And I don't know where that comes from exactly. I mean, granted, my example, James Hicks isn't the best example, but I've seen far more undeserving situations where judges have said that in cases. I just can't think of any off the top of my head. But anyways, James Hicks is sent to Texas for sentencing in the assault of June Moss. He's issued a 55-year sentence. is serving all sentences in the Maine State Prison in Warren, Maine. And he's still there. He's still incarcerated to this day. He is

68 or 69 now, I'd say. Yeah. And I believe, I mean, don't quote me on this, but when I was doing some research, I think I found some articles stating that he got married again. Oh, really? Oh, my God. Even though he's never going to be released. Yeah. Because he has no possibility of parole from what I understand. And he just turned 69 a couple weeks ago. I don't think I'd ever want to be with anybody at the main state prison because as we learned last weekend, that's a hell of a drive. Yeah, that is a hell of a drive. Oh, it says, yeah, number of children confirmed, seven. Seven. Seven. I don't know. And then there's talk about a lot of other missing persons cases from like the 70s and 80s. That they're trying to attribute to him. That they think that might be. Well, the thing is that he wasn't very smart about covering things up, and he wasn't smart about keeping a low profile. So most of the people he's killed were definitely seen with him. The one that was the most low key, if I could put it that way, is the Jerylain Tower's killing because he met her at a bar and left with her that night. Could he have gone to multiple bars and done this? Maybe. It's certainly in the realm of possibility, but I have a hard time thinking that he could have killed me.

any more people. Yeah, so there is one person they think he could have killed. It was a girl by the name of Leslie Spellman, a yoga teacher from Massachusetts who was hitchhiking around New England's, basically Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, that whole area. And she was found dead in Northeast Harbor. They think that it could have been James Hicks due to the general area and due to the fact that he was essentially an active serial killer in Maine. But there really is no problem. proof other than that. Yeah, they weren't seen together. There's no link to them or anything like that. I mean, I have this theory that there was a lot more people killing in Maine around that period of time, but they weren't killing to the extent that James Hicks was. I think I make this example all the time, the people who

kill Native women in Canada and dump their bodies on the reservation. I don't think that's a work of a serial killer. I think some people just want to know what it's like to take somebody else's life. And I think stuff like that has happened in Maine for a long time just because our police force isn't very good. We don't really have forensics. We have a lot of unsolved murders. We do. I believe currently there's 32. Is that right?

Yeah, it's in the mid-30s, at least. I thought it was more for some reason. Yeah. I mean, there might be more now, but I know last time I looked, it was in the mid-30s because sometimes I look there looking for cases for us to do. Yeah. That's where I actually learned about Leslie Spellman. But, yeah, and a lot of them are older.

Oh, really? A lot of them are older that are unsolved. You mean older cases, not older people? No, no, no. Oh, yeah. I mean, some people are older people. They're older cases. Yeah, I figured they were older cases.

Just because the resources weren't there back then. I mean, if this case is any example, and this case was around the turn of the century, and even still look how sloppy they were. I'd like to think nowadays it wouldn't be this bad. It is. Well, it is. It's bad for different reasons. We have two in Lewis and Auburn that are recent-ish and open.

sinish and open. So you have Sam Folsom, which is the one over in the Winston. Oh, yes. Yes. Which there are different theories. There are different theories on that one. There is also a girl. Her name escapes me right now, but she was found hanging in her closet by her boyfriends. But then after they looked into it, they found it was actually a homicide. But there's really no details because I thought about covering that one. How'd they clear the boyfriend? I don't know. There's no info. There's no info. Interesting. But she was in Lewiston. And it was within the last 10 years. I was thinking about having us cover Sam Folsom, but I don't know if there's a lot on that, really. There is, but the problem with it is there's a lot of different information.

When I covered it with that other podcast, we had a friend of hers give some information, and she gave some pretty good info. However, I got some information that directly conflicts it. Oh, from a private source. From a private source, which I will not name or give any info. Of course. But yeah, it'd be a weird one to cover. Not only that, from what I understand, I don't know if this is true or not, but the gentleman that I did the podcast with got threats from Sam's family. Oh, really?

Yes. Legal threats? No. Oh. Threats of violence. Even though it wasn't exploitative or anything like that? No. It was like overwhelmingly positive. Wow.

Interesting. It's like when we did Annelese-Hineg, everybody tried to skew it into something very negative. That's the problem. I want to do more local cases, but if any from the past 10 years, people are just going to run with it in the most negative light possible. Yeah, especially the local ones. People get really mad. I'm sure some of these people love true crime, but they don't want it to be near anywhere they live. They want some distance from it.

I mean, the only reason we did Annalise Heineg was because it was during the holidays. It just happened. We wanted to somehow signal boost it because you know with missing persons that usually turn up dead, it gets out. of the media very quickly and what you know within a month it was gone yeah this wasn't getting national attention basically if no case in Maine gets national attention it will go away very quickly so we wanted to signal boost it and we got so much hate for that we got so much hate to the point we had to change the name of the episode so people would stop finding it because people would just search her name an elise heinig and we would just get these awful fucking messages and accusations of us trying to profit off it somehow

even though we don't make any ad revenue off of any of these videos, that podcast had no sponsor. Yeah. That episode had no sponsor. So that was months before we even started getting sponsors. I know. I don't think we even had any patrons at that point. No, we didn't. It's just the craziest shit.

So that's why I really want to cover more stuff in Maine for nothing else and just to raise awareness for people that are still missing. But sometimes the juice ain't worth the squeeze and that's the hard part of it is being will. to withstand that and in some cases I'd be okay with doing so I think the reason why we're not going to get any hate for James Hicks is because he was already caught and he was a shitbag and is rotting in prison and has been for the past 20 years who I'd love to cover is Kim Morrow so she's the girl who was in Jay Livermore who disappeared on prom night the name sounds so familiar so you ever drive in that area you'll see her picture plastered all over the telephone place oh okay Because her dad still puts up missing person flyers.

I haven't been in the Jay Livermore area in eight years, maybe longer. The thing is, is like her family are very good about people covering the case. So I'd like to cover it some date. Not only that, I have all that weird secret video footage. Weird secret video footage. So someone on YouTube started making these creepy videos and posted them for a brief period of time. And they were really, really weird. They showed a bunch of grainy footage.

You couldn't really tell what was going on. It showed like kind of a dirtyish house. But the internet geek started pulling them apart and examining all like the metadata in there. And little by little by little, they found a bunch of secret codes inside of the videos that started to suggest that they were somehow tied to the Kimmererow disappearance. So this whole group of people started pulling it apart. And I actually found the house where it was filmed at. I remember you posting this a while back, and didn't you interview somebody who was very much covering the case closely, even though he didn't live in Maine? Yeah, it was this gentleman by the name of crappy detective.

And actually, he was a friggin great detective, but we did a Skype interview with him where we dissected literally every bit of the film. Now, I mean, I have all those. I could throw them on Patreon, but I would want to do that after we actually covered her case. Yeah. So it was pretty interesting. I have the interview with that guy that we did with that other podcast in addition to the weird video footage so people could follow along. Yeah. I do want to cover more local ones. I just, I think we have to really think about it. The more I think about it, the more I don't care. If families threaten me, but I want there to be some benefit at least for having to deal with some of that. Yeah. But did you? I don't, I don't mind. I had a family member reach out to me recently and it actually was overwhelmingly positive. Oh, really? Yeah, you know about it.

So we covered Tiger King a few weeks ago. Oh, yes. Okay. Yeah, we can talk about that. Yeah, Travis Maldonado's sister actually reached out to me directly on Instagram. And it is his sister. 110% is his sister. Yeah, we checked it.

It was his sister. And she has been going crazy over this and, you know, rightly so because it's her brother. People are making fun of the fact that he is now dead. Yeah. And the ways in which he was dead and his relationship with Joe Exotic. He's being portrayed in a very negative light, and she was not taking too kindly to that. So she's gotten a lot of internet fights with people. She just basically wanted me to take off the hashtag.

I had an Instagram with his name, and I did. And then we had like a really good conversation after. Yeah. She sent screenshots of her interactions with other people because she asked them to take down their memes of him and stuff like that. And they just would respond so viciously, not just the whole it's a free country thing, but just basically like, well, your brother shouldn't have been such a shithead or stuff like that. Just like absolutely inappropriate things to say to her. And yeah, I forgot about that.

There was one that was pretty awful. So in the show, the Tiger King, they have the footage of the intern or whatever he was Joe's campaign manager. His campaign manager, yeah. His face after he watched Travis shoot himself. Someone took it and made a meme out of it into the picture of the scream, the famous painting. Oh, yeah. Okay. And where that could be an entertaining meme.

It's not so great when it's then hashtagged in your family. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, that's the problem with some of the things we take enjoyment in. And I'm not going to, like, villainize anyone for laughing at things that come at other people's expense when you're doing it. I mean, we do it all the time. I mean, you're doing it the comfort of your own home and you're seeing it in the form of a picture online, you know, we're all guilty of it. But you have to recognize where that can be upsetting for a family member to see stuff like that. Yeah.

And she's definitely, if you tag her brother, she will message you. Yeah. Yeah. I'm surprised. She put in a lot of that because there's got to be a lot of people with that tag and stuff like that. So, but yeah, I forgot about that. Let's get to the Apple reviews. Before I do, though, if you are watching on YouTube, you may have noticed a few pictures of us in these odd locations.

Well, some of these pictures are places that James Hicks' murders took place in or places where he frequented, like that Chinese restaurant. That was the Gateway Lounge. Yes. I won't get too much into that because we're going to talk a little bit about that on Patreon. So if you want to hear more, definitely check us out there. Yeah, we took a trip around the Bangor area, which is a little bit of a drive from here. And if you want to hear about that, go over to Patreon. It'll be on there within the week, I would say.

But definitely, if you're not listening to this on YouTube and you want to see the pictures, go to YouTube, check it out. We're going to put them throughout the episode. And if you're listening to YouTube, like and subscribe. Now, Apple Podcast reviews. So this first one is I absolutely love this podcast. I'm always relisting as I wait for new episodes to be released. You won't regret subscribing and listening from Hocus Pocus. This podcast is bogus.

Thank you so much. I like that name. I love names that rhyme. So this next one is interesting topics and good chemistry between the hosts. Easy to listen to. We'll definitely continue to tune in from curiosities and cocktails. Thank you very much. Thanks so much.

Cox. Anyways. Next one. Really impressed with this podcast. Great chemistry between the host, awesome variety of topics, good sound quality. I look forward to listening to more episodes from Nick E89. Thank you for that. And this next one is from our patron, Markey.

Shoutouts to Markey, whom we love. We love him so much. Great chemistry. Love this podcast. Fellow Mainers and great people. Thank you so much, Marky. Marky's hilarious. So, like, honestly, if you guys join our Patreon, you'll get to go into our Discord.

and he's always kind of the life of the party and loves true crime. Oh, he had me laughing my ass off today. I can't really explain. It would take too long to explain the joke. So forgive me for being rude, for not like filling y'all in. But it would take forever. But he's a total riot. So join our Discord.

Find out. Okay, this one here. How would you read this one? This one? Oh, my God. I love these two. Okay. I know who this is.

What's not to like? Just got into this podcast. And yes, I'll admit, I start with. the Tiger King episode and now we have the emoji with the hard eyes. Love the amount of research mixed with sass. You mix together as you cover some of the most interesting and controversial cases out there. I cannot wait to deep dive into your pod. Highly recommended.

Casey from Painted Trash Podcasts. You guys are fucking funny. Yeah, I know. You guys are hilarious and saying that we have sass coming from you two. That's a pretty high compliment, I'd say. I hear some sass right now. As some fucking cats are fighting behind me. Having like a little sassy fight.

Holy shit. Yeah, of course we read this one and we have a cat fight behind it. Oh my goodness. So if you're going to listen to them, poor glass of vintage port and hang on to your seat because it's funny, girl. Girl. Oh, my God. I love that. I love that too so much.

They are a small podcast. I think they just started not too long ago. They're out of Chicago. They are very, very good. There's some great stories about quarantine right now. Yes. So definitely go hit them up. Yes, absolutely do that.

So that's all we've got this week. If you want to hear your review read, go to Apple Podcasts. Leave us a five-star review and a written review. And we will show you out on the podcast. You sound like the cats right now. When Kiten hisses, he sticks his tongue out like a snake. And he has big old saber-tooth tiger fangs. It's really weird.

I've never seen a cat with such big fangs. It's very terrifying. He's a Wilford Brimley face. He's a big pile of soot. You call him our soot sprite. For any of you, Jibli fans. And when he just hisses, he just looks like a fucking cobra or something. I don't get it.

It's terrifying. He's some awful abomination of nature. But other than that, he's a very sweet, chill cat. But, like, Prada has been pissing him. off. Yeah, well, Prada's been beating on him for a long time and now he's just decided not to care anymore and she's like, wait, but love me. And he's like, no, bitch and just keeps hitting her over and over. The other day I watched him pin her down and just kept hitting her in the head over and I had to pry him off. You also watched him like have fake sex with her too. So she was fucking around with him and just like getting in his shit and he just pinned her and just held her there and just bit her neck. He didn't hump her. He just mounted her. He just mounted her. her and just kept her there. And she just kind of looked at me with, there weren't really like sad or pleading eyes. She just stared at me like, meow, meow.

And I'm just like, you got yourself into this. I don't know what you want me to do. He's not trying to kill you right now. I think you need a little time out. Yeah, I'm fine with it. Probably throw pictures of kids again. I know. They used to go on dates behind the recliner and do that.

You know, if that's what you do on dates, I mean, I don't know, man. I'm a more wholesome creature than that. I know. They're like, I ain't going on. Our cats are slutty. I ain't going on some back alley, like. you know, bump and ugly. Okay, that's not my idea of a date, all right.

A little more romantic than that. Anyways. Anyways. No, I'm a piece of shit. Anyways. So, all right, all right. Not sure what next week's episode's going to be working on that. Patreon episode coming soon.

We love you. We love you. And we'll see you next week. Bye. Bye.