True Crime All The Time - Jake Bird

Episode Date: January 31, 2022

Jake Bird was known by the media as "The Tacoma Ax-Killer." He was arrested and charged with two murders and convicted of one. But, Bird claimed that he murdered many more. He was a serial killer, rapist, and burglar who committed his crimes in the 1930s and 1940s. Join Mike and Gibby as they discuss the crimes of Jake Bird. Police believe that he is responsible for 11 murders but Bird claimed he killed 44. If Bird was telling the truth, this makes him one of the most prolific killers in US history. Jake’s crimes are a lesser-known part of history, but that doesn’t make his crimes any less heinous than those of well-known killers.  You help support the show at patreon.com/truecrimeallthetimeVisit the show's website at truecrimeallthetime.com for contact, merchandise, and donation informationAn Emash Digital productionSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 269 of the True Crime All the Time podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson and with me as always is my partner in true crime. Mike Gibson. How are you doing? Doing good. Doing all right. All right. Hanging in there.

Hanging in, man. You're like that cat poster. Hang in there. Hang in there. The famous cat poster. Yeah, that's me. I'm doing well. I'm trying to get on my workout regimen.

I'm riding my bike. I'm lifting a little bit. Yeah. My goal is to trim down by the time we go to Vegas. So I have a clear cut goal in mind. I'm working towards it. I will give progress updates, hopefully, as long as they're good. If they're not, you won't hear anything about it.

Just no mention at all. No mention at all. Hey, we got some Patreon supporter shoutouts to give. We had Kelly Epler. Hey, Epler. Layla. Hey, Leila. Lauren Bocott.

What's going on, Bocai? Amanda Null. Thank you, Amanda. Annette, Bro. What's going on, bro? Casey Sims. Hey, Casey. Jasmine H.

Thank you, Jasmine. Jamie jumped out at our highest level. And thank you, Jamie. We had Faith Martin. Hey, Faith. Just Linda. Well, thank you, Linda. Georgina Ortiz.

Well, thank you, Georgina. Mary Bader. What's going on, Bader? Carrie Bynlich. Hey, good old Carrie. Sandy Rovell. Hey, Sandy. Alexandra.

Alexandra. Jamie Diltz. Hey, Jamie. Tiffany Mendoza. What's going? What's what on, Tiffany? And Chris Chamberlain. Hey, Chamberlain.

So we appreciate all that new support. And then if we go back into the vault, this week, we selected Ashley Bridges of Madison County. Or London Bridges falling down. Yeah. Or we just say, hey, thanks, Ashley. Yeah, thanks, Ashley. We appreciate all the new support, the continued support.

We had great PayPal donations from Karen Robinson. Hey, thank you, Karen. Heather Hunter. Hey, there's Heather. Thanks. And Kelly Moyer. Hey, Kelly. So thanks to everyone.

Gibbs, right now we have a lot out. On Unsolved, we have an episode out on what is known as the vanishing triangle. Yeah. So we're headed to Ireland. We are. We're a number of women vanished. Yeah. We're diving to the 1990s and we're talking about eight women that vanished in three different counties.

So that's out now. Check it out. We just put out a brand new Patreon episode on. Saturday. We're talking about Daryl Parker, who was wrongly convicted in the 50s. After he came home from work, he found his wife murdered. I think he was around 24 years old at the time, Gibbs. And it took him 56 years, I think, to clear his name. It's a long time. A very long time. But, you know, it's a good episode. Check it out. Yep, definitely. Real quick, I want to give a shout out to Connie Sullivan, who was selected as our Patreon merch winner for December.

Hey, congratulations. Connie? Yeah, I meant to put it on last week's episode, but I forgot. All right, Gibbs. Are you ready to get into this episode of true crime all the time? I'm ready. We're talking about Jake Bird, who was a man known as the Tacoma Axe Killer. Pretty gruesome moniker.

It is a pretty gruesome one. Now, he was arrested for two murders, only convicted of one. but he has claimed over 44 victims. It's a big count. That's a large number. He said that most of these were women. He attacked while living a transient lifestyle. So, you know, if Byrd was telling the truth,

this would make him one of the more prolific killers in U.S. history. Yeah, sure. Jake's crimes committed mostly in the 1930s and 40s are a lesser known part of history. But that doesn't make his crimes any less heinous than those of some of the well-known killers. Yeah, I think a lot of times we think back to the 20s, 30s and 40s and think, okay, not that many serial killers. Right. Got a lot of maybe gangsters, mafia, things like that. But there were killers.

There were serial killers. Maybe not as prolific as the 70s and 80s because we do a lot more cases during those decades. but Jake Bird was a serial killer, rapist and robber, who committed his crimes from the 1930s all the way up until 1947. It's thought that he killed at least 11, but like we said, possibly as many as 44, most of his victims were women. His preferred method of murder was beating his victims with an axe or stabbing them. Jake killed his victims in multiple states. but his case failed to get widespread national attention. Now, let's face it, a little harder maybe to get widespread attention in the 30s, 40s,

no 24-7 news cycle. Jake Bird was born on December 14th, 1901 in Greenwood, Louisiana. Jake told law enforcement that he grew up, quote, somewhere out in Louisiana, where there ain't no post office. Well, that's out in the boonies. Well, it's out in the boonies, but in 1901 in Louisiana, I imagine there was quite a few places where there was no post office. According to South Sound Talk, his home life was trouble. But there's very little details about, you know, exactly what the trouble was.

According to his death certificate, Jake's parents were Charles and Deely Bird. he had brothers named Andrew Henry and Lenny. Jake left home at the age of 19 to seek work opportunities and to live in different cities. He never really settled anywhere for long. And he worked odd jobs to get by. He had a lot of jobs that involved manual labor. He also worked as what was called a Gandy dancer on the railroads. I know you've done a lot of Gandy dancing.

in your lives. I have. Mostly on the weekends in venues that are poorly lit. Well, they need to be poorly lit for obvious reasons. And not very well advertised. Never advertised. So Gandy Dancer apparently is slang for a section hand, which is a person who laid and maintained parts of the railroad before that work was done by machines.

And all that railroad work made Jake, pretty strong, right? He was a fit guy, which helped him easily overpower his victims. Sounds like a pretty labor intensive job. It does. As I think a lot of jobs were right back in the day. Lack of machines, lack of automation meant what? There were a lot of manual jobs. I think it's one of the reasons why people were a little more fit back then. Sure. The other reason is less mass produced food. We kind of have it pretty darn easy. I think in 2022 when it comes to things like that.

We've got some other stuff going on. Yeah. Yeah. But we can't complain in some areas, though. No, but it's led a lot of us into what you'd have to call an unhealthy lifestyle. But that wasn't Jake. He was a very strong guy.

Jake often snuck on to train cars, hopped off once he got to the next. town. He worked for meals, places to sleep or cash, and then moved on to another city. And he committed petty crimes before he left town, which also meant he left before police were able to catch him. That's one way to keep from getting in trouble, leave the town before it finds you. We have talked about a number of people who were, I guess what you would call train hoppers. Some serial killers who killed, got on a train. Okay. Next thing you know, they're in a a different state, they kill, they hop back on the train. Jake continued this lifestyle until

1947 when he was 45 years old. Jake was arrested in Tacoma, Washington on October 30th, 1947. He arrived in the city a few days earlier and he was walking through town when he decided to break into the home of Bertha Clutt. Bertha was a 52-year-old widow who worked at a local bakery. she and her 17-year-old daughter, Beverly, a recent high school graduate and Baker, lived together at 1007 South 21st Street. Now, Jake later claimed he was out looking for work, but it was around 2 a.m. I don't know what kind of work you can get at 2 a.m. Well, I know what kind of work you get at 2 a.m.

But most people do not go out looking for legal, morally defensible work. at 2 a.m. Typically not. So I think that fact alone, Gibbs, has led many to the assumption that, okay, he really wasn't out looking for work. He was looking to commit crimes. Now, you could argue that that was his work. He considered that to be his work.

Jake spotted the dark house and he decided to break in. He snuck around the back of the house and retrieved an axe from the woodshed. I know you and I talked about this in. another axe murder case. I can't remember if it was the Velisca axe murder case. But the thought was back during that time frame. Okay. Most people had a wood shed. Most people were chopping wood. Sure. To heat their homes or cook a meal on a stove. Cook a meal, whatever it would be. So the chances that someone could find an axe sitting somewhere outside the home were much greater. Yeah.

right back in the 30s and 40s, then they would be in, let's say, 2022. There are some sources that say Jake removed all his clothes and walked into the house naked. I think this is somewhat questionable because the police reports from the time indicate that he only took his shoes off. Most likely, this was probably a detail added by outlets, you know, for shock value, which it would be shocking to think. to think that he walked in stark naked.

Yeah. You do that here. I don't understand why. I never can figure it out. Sometimes I feel like I need to be free. Yeah. My wife is very disapproving. Well,

we're trying to eat enchiladas. It's not the best thing to come into the kitchen with, but, you know, it's easier to clean up my mess when I eat. I don't have to ruin my clothes that way. That's true. That's true. You got to worry about scolding, though.

I do in a situation like that. Now, Jake entered the house as silently as possible through the unlocked back door. Bertha Clutt woke up. She saw a stranger and screamed loudly. At 2.30 a.m., Mrs. Steinsifer, a concerned neighbor heard what she later described as horrible screams and she called the police. She saw a man standing in the kitchen illuminated by the porch light and she heard the sound of fighting. Now, she said that she turned all of her lights off so that she wouldn't scare away

the intruder. And it's thought that her actions most likely kept Jake at the scene long enough for the police to show up. Most likely did. So officers Andrew Sabutis and Evan Skip Davies were dispatched to the house at 2.40 a.m. Officers Davies and Sabutis caught Jake Burke retreating from the crime scene and he was covered in blood. He ran out the back door and crashed through a picket fence. They chased him through multiple backyards. Jay copped fence after fence, but he was finally cornered in an alley because he failed to jump to the last fence. So he missed it, right? He tried, but he missed it. He cut his face and mouth when he fell. It can be rough, you know, missing that fence. I missed the fence once. Speaking as a man who has had to run away from the authorities on many

different occasions. Saying, I missed the fence once. And, you know, the little wire thing on the fence went through the bottom of my chin and through and to my mouth and my tongue. Yeah. And that wasn't even a time that you were actually trying to escape anyone. Well, I was just showing off. The authorities anyway. Yeah. So Davies and Subutas cornered Jake in the alley. He charged at them with his knife and he managed to wound both officers. He slashed Davies in the hand and he stabbed Subbutus in the shoulder. But Officer Subbutus was a former prize fighter and he was able to subdue Jake with a left hook to the jaw and a kick to the groin.

See, he knew that would come in handy someday. That's a pretty good combination, right? Left to the jaw, kick to the groin. You're going to have a hard time recovering from that combo. Yeah, that kick to the groin can be pretty brutal. Additional officers at the house found Bertha and Beverly's bludgeon bodies. Laying in pools of blood. There was blood everywhere.

Gibbs, it was described as covering the walls and the ceilings of the house. Bertha was in her bedroom. Her head was nearly severed by a blow to the throat. She had multiple severe head injuries. Beverly was lying on the kitchen floor. It was said that both women had 16 wounds between them. Bertha died of suffocation as a result of a cut on her neck, which severed her windpipe. Brutal stuff.

Yeah, brutal to think that, you know, a blow to the throat nearly severed her head. Obviously, it did sever her windpipe. And I think once that happens without immediate assistance, you're in big trouble. Yeah. and the murder weapon was left at the scene. This guy didn't care. When he was done, he left the murder weapon behind. Well, my thought is, you know, you probably don't want to be carrying an axe, a big axe around with you,

especially when you're trying to evade the police, jumping over fences. Time to get rid of the axe. Yeah, a little harder, I guess, to take with you. Plus, you didn't bring it, right? This was a weapon that he found at the crime scene. So was there really any need to take it with him anyway? Detective Lieutenant Earl Cornelison determined that the killer attempted to sexually assault Bertha. Beverly most likely ran from her room to the kitchen in response to her mother's screams and was murdered.

So they got him. Yeah. Detective Lieutenant Sherman Lyons led the interrogation. At first, Jake tried denying the murders, blaming them on a moment. man named Leroy. Leroy Brown. Baddest man in the whole darn town? Yeah. I mean, if you're going to come up with the name, I guess Leroy is not a bad one, according to the spokesman review, Jake told Lyons. I don't know who he was or where he came

from. Jake claimed that Leroy picked him up when he arrived in Washington. And it was said Gibbs that, you know, I guess he was such a good liar that he almost had some of the officers fooled with his story. But that was until his pants were processed. The police presented to him evidence of brain matter that they had found on his pants. And it was after that that Jake finally admitted to the two murders. So I think there's a couple of things to unpack here. I mean, number one, they solved this very quickly. I mean, they caught him at the scene and eventually got him while he tried to flee. But so then they get him back.

He's trying to lie his way out of it. And, you know, by all accounts, he was a pretty good liar. He almost had some of the officers fooled. But when they find brain matter on your pants, okay, you're going to have to think of something really good to get out of that. You know, we're not talking about a cat hair. No. That you could have picked up anywhere. You're not just going to have brain matter attach itself to your pants as you're going through your

your day. No, this is definitely going to pinpoint you at that location. Yeah, it's going to tie you to the scene, tie you to the murders. According to the Tacoma News Tribune, Jake said, I done it. But I don't want to talk just now. I'll tell you about it after I rest up a bit. Hey, guys, you know what? I'm kind of tired.

Yeah. It's been a long night. I'm responsible for all this. Let me get a cat nap in. And then I'll tell you all the detail. Maybe bring me a sandwich. Then we'll talk. Almost a complete opposite of what we talked about on our Patreon episode,

where we talked about a very intense interrogation, no food, no drink for quite a long time. No sleep. No sleep. Right. Sleep deprivation. According to History Link,

Jake claimed that it was a burglary, gone wrong. He said he entered the house to commit what he called an easy burglary. And he really only brought the axe to bluff off anyone who tried to bother him. He said that he took off his shoes, snuck into the bedroom, and stole a dollar and 50 cents from Bertha's purse. When he got to the kitchen, he found Bertha standing behind him. He told her he just wanted her money and he'd leave. But he said, Suddenly, Beverly grabbed him from behind. They got into a fight and he killed the two women.

He said he hit Bertha in the head with the axe first and then attacked Beverly, swinging the axe until the women stopped moving. He said he thought the police officers were going to shoot him, which is why he attacked them. So he moved pretty fast through the house. Didn't waste a lot of time. Well, which is what I think good cat burglars try to do, right? most of them are not trying to set up shop they're trying to get in and out and steal whatever it is they're after as quickly as possible now this is his story whether it's really what happened or not

you know that's something that we have to you know kind of figure out it's plausible right he is admitting to the murders now i always wonder with killers when they're confessing are they saying it exactly the way that everything went down or as we've seen in a lot of the episodes that we do are they you know leaving out of detail here are they embellishing a little bit you know here to make them look a little bit better yeah right so he doesn't say you know i went in with the intention of killing these two women i went in just to steal some money I took the axe because I wanted to scare someone away if I needed to, but I was forced to kill these women because they attacked me.

I just always question these types of confessions because it seems to me there's always a little something there that's different that maybe lightens their role. They still killed. Right. But now he's acting as though, okay, yes, he was in there to rob, but he was provoked, right? They attacked him. So he had to do what he did versus I just went in with the axe and I killed them. If you're thinking about breaking some bad habits this year, start with this one, overpaying for your prescriptions. To do that,

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That is goodrrx.com slash T-Kat. GoodRX.com slash T-Kat. Good RX is not insurance, but can be used instead of insurance in 2021. Good RX users saved an average of 79% on retail prescription prices. The police learned that Jake got to town on October 27th. He checked into the Stratford Hotel under the name H. Lee. On October 29th, he may have snuck onto the porch of Gene Weimer at 3.35 a.m. But he didn't break in.

He did break into the home of W.D. Dean that same day. So I don't think there's any doubt, right? This is a burglar. Right. Who's casing houses. maybe going up to them, seeing what doors are unlocked. You and I have talked about it a bunch of times that, you know, back during this time, a lot of people didn't lock their doors.

No. And so, you know, if you're a burglar, you're just walking up and down the street, maybe trying door knobs, front, back, seeing which houses are accessible, which houses may have somebody sleeping, which ones may be empty. A little bit more different. than today. Yeah, I mean, I think by and large, you know, there may be some parts of the U.S. in small towns where people still have that feeling where they don't have to lock their doors. I think it gets less and less all the time. I believe so too, yeah. With everything

that happens. And, you know, I think in the episodes that we do, a lot of times, it takes a horrific murder or that is what changed the mindset of the entire community, right? They had this kind of Mayberry feeling that it'll never happen here. And then it does. And from there on, that is kind of, you know, out the window. Everybody starts blocking their doors. People are sitting in chairs with the guns because they're scared. And that's just the way it is. Yeah. on October 31st, 1947, Jake was charged with the murder of Bertha Clutt. It was customary back then to file one charge at a time and multiple murder cases.

Basically, if a jury failed to convict him on the first charge, then prosecutors would file additional charges. So they go for the one. I hope that they got it. And if they get it, okay, that's it. Yeah, we're done at that point. If we don't get it, we fall back on this other charge. Yeah, and we'll keep going until we get something.

As far as I could tell Gibbs, it was the Tacoma News Tribune. That was the first news outlet to do a story on the case. It was titled Widow and Daughter Slain with Axe. Attacker confesses. And it's always interesting. You know, when we research these cases that are older, to go back and read articles from the 20s, the 30s, the 40s, and the 50s, you know, obviously everything is different.

But journalism. is a lot different. If you read articles from, let's say, the 40s versus an article, you know, in the 2000s, you see a lot of differences. Yeah. Judge Howard Hodge appointed James Seldon as Jake's defense attorney. Jake pleaded not guilty at his arraignment and his trial was set for November 24th, 1947.

Again, this is something that always jumps out at me too. You have confessed. Right. but you're pleading not guilty. What is the reasoning behind that? Does it have something to do with your story? That, hey, first degree, no. I didn't go in there to kill anyone.

Right. I went in there to rob, to burglarize. Yes, I ended up killing these two women, but that was not my intent. Because if not, what else could it be? Yeah. So plead not guilty and retell the story, so it benefits you during the trial.

And hope that the jury buys what you're saying and hands down, you know, maybe something different. Or you just get out from under the murder charge altogether and they've got to go on to the second one. On November 14th, Jake's attorney requested a change of venue. He also asked to be removed so that he did not have to serve as Jake's attorney. because Jake decided that he wanted to represent himself. I don't love it, man. Have to love it when they do that. You know, is it I'm smarter than everyone else?

I think I'm smarter than everyone else. Or I've got nothing to lose. I'm going to make a mockery of this entire, you know, court thing. And I'm just going to have fun with it. I'm going to see where it goes. Give it my best shot, pro se style. But the trial judge wasn't having it. Judge Hodge denied both requests.

Now, I get why you would want a change of venue, right? This is 1947. Yeah. I talked about there's no 24-7 news cycle. That also works the other way. It does. There's not going to be the next thing to take the focus off of, you know, this horrible act committed by Jake Byrd.

It's all the talk in that town. Right. Because is there going to be another horrific murder in this town? No. Probably not for some time. So everybody's going to know about it. Jake went to trial on November 24th,

1947. The trial lasted three days. It was a big event. Gibbs. It was reported that spectators showed up as early as 7.30 a.m. They were eager to see the proceedings. They were also eager to see

this killer brought to justice. They were barred from the court so the jury pool could sit in the courtroom. Yeah, I don't know how big the jury pool was. I don't know how big this courtroom was. But I know this bailiff had his hands full. Well, you know, trying to handle a big crowd of spectators. He told them that they weren't getting in.

But none of these people left the courthouse. Now, they finally were allowed in at 10 a.m. When Jake Bird was escorted into the courtroom, jury selection took an entire day. Jurors were questioned about their beliefs on the death penalty. and if they believed whether Jake could get a fair trial as a black man, James Selden repeatedly challenged jurors. He rejected one juror who opposed the death penalty, another who was the mother of the deputy prosecutor,

and one juror who knew Bertha and Beverly. Well, those would be good reasons not to have them selected. Well, you can't have the mother of the deputy prosecutor on the jury if you're the defense attorney. No. Ten potential jurors admitted their opinion was already influenced by the newspaper and radio. And if you asked me Gibbs, those were the ten people that were probably honest. Because I don't know how any of these potential jurors, right, people in the jury pool could not have been influenced in some way by all of the media coverage.

Now, influenced doesn't mean you've made up your mind, but how could you not be influenced by all the gory details and things that would have been published? Yeah, it had been difficult not to be influenced. The prosecution was led by Patrick Steele. Now, what he had to do in order to get the death penalty was to prove that the murder was premeditated. He relied on evidence from Beverly's murder because, She was killed coming to her mother's defense.

Blood and brain tissue from both women were found on Jake's clothing. He was arrested without his shoes. And, you know, at the time early on, police hadn't established the full extent of the crime. But at the station, Jake admitted the shoes found at the crime scene were his. Yeah. It's not looking good. Additionally, his bloody fingerprints were in the house, on the axe and on his shoes. That's pretty damning stuff.

Not good. According to the Tacoma News Tribune, Officer John Hickey testified on November 25th. He said he arrived at the scene and found the suspect covered in blood. Two officers were wounded. He handcuffed Jake Bird and entered the house. He saw a young girl still in her pajamas lying partially in the doorway of the dining room and kitchen. He said,

she was lying on her face in a large pool of blood. Bertha was covered with so much blood I couldn't see the wounds. The position of her body and her disarrayed dress made him believe that Jake Bird attempted to sexually assault her. When Hickey arrested Byrd, he asked him about the murders and Bird blamed them on Leroy. He said he allegedly met Leroy at a pool hall in Tacoma. he told Hickey, I was just there looking around.

Leroy done it. Hickey testified that he hit Bird, knocked him against the front of the car. Then he took out his club and he hit Jake several times. And according to History Link, Officer Hickey testified, I regret to say that I lost my temper after returning from the clute home in viewing the terribly hacked bodies of the two women.

I had asked Bird as we sat in the patrol, wagon why he murdered the two women. He said he didn't do it. I asked him who did it then, and he said it was Leroy. I asked him, who's Leroy? He said, oh, another man around town. Hickie said, I told him that he was lying. And he looked at me with a smug and insolent look.

I know I shouldn't have done it, but I hit him in the jaw with my fist, knocking him to the front of the patrol wagon. Then I struck him a number of times with my nightstick. until he said, don't kill me. That brought me to my senses and we took him to the hospital where a nurse said he wasn't badly hurt. So I, you know, I think gives, there's a couple of things here. Number one, this officer is admitting under oath that, you know, he roughed this guy up

pretty badly. You know, today that would not go over well at all. First of all, it would be caught on somebody's iPhone. Yep. And it would go viral and it would be, you know, all over the news. news. Obviously, back then, the officer didn't have any problem saying that he did it. Now, he was under oath. So, you know, he's supposed to tell the truth. But my thought is it wasn't viewed the same way that it would be viewed today. But Jake's attorney objected to the

admission of Jake's confession, arguing that it was obtained under duress. And I think this is where this comes in, right? He's saying, okay, Jake feared for his life. after receiving a beating from an officer. But the judge overruled his motion. And I think that might be different today as well, right? If you have a police officer who admits to beating a suspect. Right. And then all of a sudden, that suspect confesses.

I'm not sure that it plays out in court the same way it did back in the 1940s in this case. I think we'd be looking at a different outcome. Yeah. You know, Jake's attorney wasn't real nice about the way that he described Jake. He called him a dumb transient. He also used some very racially insensitive words that no one would use today. But he did say his only crime was being in the wrong place at the wrong time. And he tried to explain the brain tissue on Jake's pants.

in acts saying that it was caused by the careless way that the police handled the evidence. Now, there's one thing that really hasn't changed from the 1940s to today, right? Even back then, you have a defense attorney trying to explain away what today would be forensic evidence by claiming that it was mishandled by police. We see that in so many cases today. You do. DNA transfer, right? All kinds of different things. The prosecution presented to acts, what they called the fatal fingers of proof.

They showed Bertha's purse, which Jake dropped while running away. Both of these pieces of evidence contained smears of blood and brain tissue. A pathologist identified the brain tissue as belonging to Beverly. According to the Tacoma News Tribune, the prosecutor demanded, the death penalty as a deterrent to other criminals, as a just punishment, and to protect society. The prosecution then read Jake's confession and rested their case. I think they had to be feeling pretty good about what they had. I think so too.

Testimony lasted through the morning of the 26th. And the defense rested without calling on Jake or any other witnesses. pretty bold move for them as well or maybe they just knew this is what we have and we certainly don't want to put him on the stand. Yeah, I think for the defense, right, there's always a lot of gamesmanship. I mean, there is on both sides, but, you know, especially with the defense, because the burden is on the prosecution. They have to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. So, you know, you do see in some instances where the defense makes the decision that, oh, they haven't done it. So we're not going to do anything. We're obviously not going to

introduce something that they can, you know, then talk about. Yeah. Introduce witnesses that they can, you know, cross-examine. Seems a little strange in, in this case to me, because from what we know, the prosecution seems to have quite a bit of evidence. And I think that's evidenced by the fact that the jury deliberated for just 35 minutes. I can't even barely eat my lunch in 35 minutes. No, that's really quick. Well, I'm not saying it can't be done that quick. I think what it says to most people is that they knew. Yeah, before they ever went into the jury room. Right. That everybody had made up their mind. It probably just took one vote.

Now, I don't know that for a fact, but it's kind of what, you know, 35 minutes is so quick, right? On November 26, 1947, Jake Bird was found guilty of the first degree murder of Bertha Clutt. The jury voted to impose the death penalty. According to the spokesman review, his only outward change in expression at the verdict was an increase in the tempo of his breathing. According to history link, Jake said nothing in court. But allegedly on the way back to jail, he asked his guards, what's all the excitement about? Okay. If that's true, that's a very strange question. Why can't he understand what the excitement's about? Well, that's what I'm wondering. Does he really not know? Does he not understand the gravity of,

you know, what has just transpired? Right. And what's about to come up, right? And what's about to happen, sure. But let's go back through this timeline real quick. You know, all of this kind of goes down on October 30th, right? The murder, he's arrested. The very next day he's charged. His trial begins on November 24th.

And on the 26th of that month, he's found guilty. So that is less than a month from murder and arrest to trial and conviction. We'll see timelines like that today. No. No, absolutely not. And it was just on December 6th that Judge Hodge sentenced Jake Bird to death. His attorney made a motion for a retrop. But the judge denied it.

Bird's attorney said there would be no further appeals after that. And he went further, Gibbs. He said in court, I feel whenever any man 45 years old gets an idea that no lives are safe to anyone, except his own. That man is a detriment to society and should be obliterated. It's a big word you use. Yeah, obliterated, wiped off the face of the earth. But this is the defense attorney. Yeah, saying that about his client.

Saying, hey, we're not going to appeal. This guy deserves to be obliterated. Jake's execution was set for January 16th, 1948. And this is something that you still see today. you know, after the verdict, if someone is sentenced to death, there's a date that's set. Now, that date is never met. It always gets pushed out. There's automatic appeals, you know, 15, 20 years, 25 years goes by. If, you know, someone is ever put to death at all, there's a lot of states that don't even do them right now. The judge asked Jake for a comment. And Jake said, I was given no chance to defend myself. My own lawyers just asked you to hang me.

They apologized for defending me. If they were so reluctant to defend me, why did they contest the prosecutor's proof of murder and now say everything is proven? According to History Link, at the end of the hearing, Jake said to the court, I'm putting the hex of Jake Bird on all of you who had anything to do with my being punished.

mark my words, you will die before I do. That's some real voodoo type stuff right there. He's really putting that out there. Putting the Jonah Hex on them. Yeah. So I think Gibbs, when someone says something like this in court, I mean, what do you think? My assumption is people were snickering thinking,

this is funny. This is a joke. But then people started dying. Judge Edward Hodge died of, a heart attack on January 1st, 1948, a police officer who wrote an official report died of a heart attack on April 5th, 1948.

George Harrigan, a reporter who worked a case, died on June 11th, 1948. Sherman Lyons, the officer who recorded Jake's confession, died of a heart attack on October 28th, 1948. Jake's defense attorney, James Seldon died on

November 26th, 1948. and then finally Arthur Stewart, a prison guard, died of pneumonia in May of 1949. Now, it's the 40s, right? People died much earlier than they do today. But still, that's a large number of people connected to the case who died in 1948 and then, you know, one prison guard died in 1949. I think the other thing that was interesting was that, you know, quite a few of them died of a heart attack. Yeah. I think what it did was it made the prisoners at the state prison terrified of Jake.

I mean, he probably got some pretty instant prison credit right there. Yeah. I mean, people were probably giving him some of their food. Yeah. You know, I don't think anyone wanted to make him angry because they didn't want the hex, the curse to be put on them because it seemed as though these people were dying of the Jake Bird curse. Yeah. On December 7th, 1947, Jake was transported to the Washington state penitentiary to await his execution.

By making some confession deals, Jake was able to delay his execution for two years. Although he really never had much in the way of formal education, Jake learned a lot through his lengthy appeals process. He became known as, as a jailhouse lawyer. He argued his own case several times and knew quite a bit about criminal law. He managed to get his first confession deal himself without the help of an attorney. And remember, he wanted to represent himself, but the judge wouldn't allow.

On January 6, 1948, prosecutor Patrick Steele and detective lieutenant Sherman Lyons traveled to the prison to listen to Jake. he told them he wanted to clear his conscience. Jake told them that if he had time, he could clear up 44 murders. He had either committed or participated in. Well, you needed some time. Well, it's going to take a while. Sure. Right? To go through the details of 44 murders. On January 15th, Washington Governor Monrad Walgren, granted Jake a 60-day,

day reprieve to make his confessions. Police from other states came to interview Jake about the murders. In total, his confession was 174 pages. That's massive. So I'm getting a little bit of a Henry Lee Lucas vibe here. Yeah. Anybody that knows that story has seen some of the documentaries or documentaries. Documentaries. That you like to watch. Yeah, I do. Has seen, seen what Lucas did in confessing to a large number of murders, Jake informed the police that he was a three-time loser, incarcerated for 15 years total in Michigan, Iowa, and Utah. His record included burglary in Utah, assault and attempted murder in Michigan, and murder in Iowa.

In total, Jake confessed to 44 murders. And it was said that he had intimate knowledge. of most of the murders, which made his stories believable. Now, of the 44, officers determined he was most likely involved in 11th. Jake claimed to have killed people in Evanston, Illinois, Louisville, Kentucky, Omaha, Nebraska, Kansas, Kansas, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Cleveland, Ohio, Orlando, Florida, and Portage, Wisconsin. Now we said he traveled quite a bit. We did.

Right? He was transient. He hopped train. So that part, he could have done. He could have, you know, visited all these places. His preferred victim type was white women. And he said that he often used their own hatchets or axes to kill them. Well, we did say back in those days, people had axes laying around.

Yeah, they were tools, right, that were used on a regular. basis, psychologists diagnosed Jake Bird as a psychopath who got his satisfaction from the sight of women cowering in terror. And gives how many episodes have we done with male killers who chose women as their victims? And it ultimately came out that they received some type of gratification from the fear that they instilled in these women, you know, as they were about to kill them, as they were in the process of murdering them. Right. You know, we go back to somebody like Tommy Lynn Sells,

who was also a transient, a train hopper. He even said, he enjoyed watching the light go out in someone's eyes as he strangled them to death. Yeah, I remember, I remember the, I remember him saying those things. It is, you know, just to think that someone would enjoy. Yeah. Receive enjoyment, receive gratification from scaring someone, from seeing their power, the power that they hold over another human being. That type of satisfaction. Most of us can't understand it. No. Because we wouldn't want it. It wouldn't give us that feeling. It would make us sick. Exactly. It sometimes makes us sick hearing about it. Detectives confirmed that he was responsible for the axe murders of two women in Evanston, Illinois in 1942. Sherman Lyons also received a telegram from a police chief in Tulsa, advising that the suspect was believed to match the description of a black man who killed two women in Tulsa on January 14, 1943.

He asked for photographs. and fingerprints to be sent over. Jake most likely killed Mrs. Harry Richardson in Houston, Texas. Chicago police speculated that he murdered a victim found in Lake Michigan. Louisiana detective suspected him of murdering a young boy and a Jewish grocer. New York police linked him to the robbery and murder of a delicatessen owner. So, I mean, you can look at this a couple of different ways. one, this guy was a fairly prolific serial killer.

He was. And, you know, police were able to put him in the area, find some evidence that linked him somehow to these murders, or you have a bunch of detectives all over the country who are jumping at the chance to clear a case. Yeah, just to clear their books, huh? All right. We're using this Jake Bird guy. Sounds good.

I think the problem that we have is we don't know all the details of, okay, what made them believe and how strong was that belief? Was it based on, you know, some concrete type of evidence? Or was it just physical description or the fact that, hey, we got to clear this case, man. Yeah. Let's just hope it wasn't just to clear the case. Yeah. Let's hope they had some type of evidence to at least back it up. During Jake's 60-day reprieve, he appealed his conviction to the Washington Supreme Court. He claimed that Judge Hodge made judicial errors, and he requested a retrial. On November 30, 1948, the Supreme Court denied his petition for a retrial.

On December 3rd, a judge signed his death warrant, setting his execution for January 14, 1949. Jake's new attorney Murray Taggart moved for a stay of execution that would allow Jake to file an appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals. His motion was granted, but the Court of Appeals refused to review the case. Jake's execution was then set for July 15, 1949. Taggart filed four more appeals on Jake's behalf, the last on July 14th, Governor Arthur Langley declined the stay of execution. Jake's legal battles put him on page one of the Tacoma News Tribune for 20 months. So he received a lot of coverage. This was big news. They also estimated that the cost to execute him was over $10,000. Actually quite a bit of money. In 1940s, yeah, that is a lot of money.

Now, we know today that it costs a lot of money. It does. To actually execute someone. Jake spent his final days discussing a small black box. And he claimed that it contained money from past burglaries. He said the box was with a friend in Louisiana. But he wouldn't say who. Jake wrote a 20 page memoir and gave it to his attorney for release after his death.

Murray Taggart did disclose part of the writings, but much of the information in it had already come out during the trial. After serving 19 months in prison, Jake Bird was hanged at the Washington State Penitentiary on July 15, 1949. He spent his last hours with his attorney. He told Taggart he could be a good loser if he felt like he did everything he could to save his life. It was just after midnight. When Jake walked to the gallows, there were about 125 witnesses, said to have awaited his execution. A volunteer chaplain began to read Jake's final statement, declaring he held no malice towards anyone and was seeking forgiveness. But before he finished reading the note, the trap door opened, Jake dropped about five feet, and he died at 12.20 a.m.

in total the execution lasted 14 minutes. I did think it was a little strange that they couldn't even wait to finish reading the note before they sprung the trap door. Well, maybe they had a certain time that the lever needed to be pulled. Or maybe they're like, you know what, let's not have any additional drama when the note is read. So we'll pull this in the middle of reading the note. Or maybe somebody just made a mistake and turned too quickly. Flip the lever.

I don't know. Happy trigger or whatever you call it. Jake was buried in the Walla Walla Correctional Center Cemetery. His grave is only marked with his prison number, 21520. He willed his personal fortune, $6.15.15 to Murray Taggart. Well, he tried to pay his bill. Jake wrote in his memoir, I feel all my appeals have been successful because the students of the future will

asked why the questions were not answered. And I think when you look at Jake Bird's case, there are some questions that are unanswered. You know, because of some of the legal practices of the time, Jake was not really extensively questioned or prosecuted for the other murders he committed, which is why we don't have a lot of details, right, around those cases. He already had an execution date set. So it was. wasn't necessary to tack on, you know, some very long prison term or a life sentence or anything like that. And that just meant there was little to no reporting done on these other cases. So it's kind of hard to tell. Gives, when it comes to Jake Bird, did he commit 11 murders?

Or did he commit, you know, 40 plus as he claimed? Sure. I think it was probably somewhere in between that. Yeah. I think you can safely go that route. I mean, when you look at the fact that detectives say they tied him to 11. Now, we don't know how they tied him. We don't know how valid that was, but then, you know, look at some of the other ones. Did they really try that hard? Knowing that this guy was about to be executed, did some jurisdiction say, well, it could be him, but what's the point? We're not going to try him. We don't need to get another conviction. So we're not going to put that much effort into it. We have other cases we need to work. I don't know. I think it really comes down to was Jake Bird one of America's most prolific serial killers or was he just a really good liar?

Yeah. Go either way. I'm going to go with serial killer. Yeah. I think it's a determination that each person. has to make on their own. You know, was he a Henry Lee Lucas who did kill X number of people, but, you know, wanted to delay his execution by throwing out all these other murders.

Right. And he did successfully gain a couple of years. He did. By doing it. Now, Henry Lee Lucas got a bunch of strawberry milkshakes. So, and he got to tour some scenes and,

and do some of that stuff. So yeah, I don't know. I don't know that we can ever really come up with the answer. But it is a very interesting case because I think it's a lesser known case where we could be looking at a very prolific serial killer. But because of the time when these murders were committed. Right. And the fact that I don't think all of the confessions were investigated all that thoroughly.

there's really not that much to report on. They weren't reported on. So we don't have the details. That's true. So who knows? But that's it for our case on Jake Bird. We got some voicemails. You want to check those out?

Let's hear him. Hi, Mike and Debbie. This is Susan from Open, Illinois. I was actually listening to criminology today that just came out. And you guys were talking about something and mentioned the Zodiac. And I was wondering if anything ever came up about that. I thought there was going to be some recent news. about the Zodiac and I was really hopeful of hearing it but I haven't heard a thing.

I might do some research but I thought I just see what you guys maybe have come about in your research. Thank you. Stay safe and keep your own time. Yeah. I mean, Gives, there has been a lot of chatter that something big is about to break in the Zodiac case. I don't know.

I don't know if it will, but I know a lot of people have kind of been on the end. edge of their seat because they believe it's close to being salt. Now, we've been there before. We have. Not too long ago. Not too long ago. So you have to kind of take that with a grain of salt, but we'll have to wait and see. Hi, Mike and Gibby. This is Renee. I have been a listener for about six months now. And I just finished listening to the Ronald Ward case, the 15-year-old out in West Memphis. And I wanted to know if you guys picked up on some familiar players in that case that were also involved in messing up the West Memphis 3 case. Gary Gitchell was the lead detective in both

of those cases. And Judge Burnett was the judge in both of those cases. Just found that interesting. Thought you might find that interesting too. Also, back in 1990, up in a Chicago suburb, which is kind of close to where I live, there was a kid named Willie Carlson who killed his parents and did some disturbing things and didn't know if you guys maybe wanted to look into that case. But when I was a kid, my friends and I were all kind of obsessed and grossed out because he was a kid that was our age that grew up right around us. So didn't know if you wanted to look into it. Thank you so much. Keep up the good work. Keep your own time ticking.

All right. Thank you for the voicemail. We'll definitely make sure that that case is on the list. As far as the Ronald Ward case, Gibbs, I was really upset with myself because I had some of that stuff in my notes. Right. You know, we did, what, four episodes on the West Memphis three case. I've seen every documentary multiple, multiple times. And I had in my notes to talk about and bring it back.

around the Gary Gitchell and the Burnett and I forgot. Yeah. And that was on me. And I was mad at myself after it was all done because I had forgotten. It was too late to go back to it. It was. Yeah. Hey guys.

It's Kendall. And Chris. And we're calling from Wichita, Kansas. And we just want to let you know that this morning they released that the Carr brothers were approved for the death penalty. So that's my news. But have a good day. Do you have anything to say, Chris?

Team Gibby. I'm Team Fergie. But anyways, stay safe to keep your own time picking. Well, we know who the smart one in that relationship is. Well, now you're going to alienate one of them. Just because she's Team Fergie, you're going to put her down? Did I say that? That's so wrong of you.

Did I say that? No, you didn't, but everybody knows what you were saying. I'm just saying. So, again, a couple that listens to TCAT together. Stays together. Absolutely. Yeah. The Carr brothers.

without a doubt, Gibbs, some of the most despicable people that we've ever covered. For sure, man. That was a very tough episode. Yeah. And, you know, again, whatever side of the death penalty you land on,

I get it. Everybody has the right to, you know, feel about it, how they feel about it. Yeah. I will say this. If you believe in the death penalty,

there is no one I can think of that deserves it more than those. individuals. Yeah, they were monsters. They're monsters. Yeah. Hi guys, this is Bridget from New Jersey and I've been listening to you since 2017 when my son was born under one and I'm still deep into true crime all the time and I'm re-listening everything because

I just love you guys and I'm re-listening to the Robert Hanson case and I got to the part where we were giving me was trying to tell you the Nick Cage movie and I'm in drop from my kids and I'm just hysterically laughing. And the parents and the other cars are looking at me like I'm crazy. I just wanted to leave me voicemail and say, thank you. Thank you for being such a wonderful addition to my life since my son was born. And, yeah, keep up the good work and keep your own time ticking.

Thanks, guys. Oh, what a lovely voicemouth. Makes us feel great. It does. That we can help in any way, whether it's educational, whether it's, whether it's maybe a little laughter. Sure. Every now and then.

It's awesome. We try. We try. Yeah. All right. We had some mail bag. Rebecca H sent us in a big box of Garrett's popcorn. Thank you because all Fergie Dutt did was complain and moan and oh, I didn't get my popcorn.

So when the popcorn came in, obviously my wife knew. Yeah. And she was not happy. I'm sure she was not. that I had expressed my displeasure with a larger audience. Because I had not told her, but it was kind of hard to hide the fact after that. Ari Ansbrough sent us a cool Niagara Falls magnet for our studio fridge.

We love magnets. Some Buckees beef jerky for you. And a bunch of Harley chips from all over the country for me. Well, there you go. So awesome. We appreciate everything we get. All right, buddy, that is it for another episode. of true crime all the time. So for Mike and Gibby, stay safe and keep your own time ticking.