True Crime All The Time - James Ruppert

Episode Date: April 8, 2019

James Ruppert's entire life was full of frustration. It started in childhood with his mother and brother and continued throughout his life. Adding to this frustration, Ruppert became increasingly paranoid that others, including his own family, were out to get him. This culminated in a massacre on Easter Sunday 1975 where Ruppert killed 11 members of his family. Join Mike and Gibby as they discuss the life of James Ruppert and the massacre that happened by his hands. What exactly happened during Ruppert's childhood that would stay with him for the rest of his life? And why exactly did James murder his entire family? Was it about money as the prosecution claimed or did he get to a point in his life where the frustration and paranoia finally became too much for him.You can help support the show by going to patreon.com/truecrimeallthetimeVisit the show's website at truecrimeallthetime.com for contact, merchandise, and donation informationSponsors:Betterhelp.com/tcattSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

everyone and welcome to episode 125 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. Gibby, how are you? Hey man. I'm doing well. You're doing well today? Yeah, doing good. And he didn't say man. Didn't I say man. Hey man. I don't think he did. I was waiting for a man. I'm doing great, man. Okay, man. Because I always, I feel good. I feel like that's good luck. That's that means a good episode's Man, I'm doing well. All right, Gives. We have some new Patreon support of shoutouts.

Let's do those. We had Brandy Bush. Hey, thanks, BB. Sean Mitchell jumped out at our highest level. Hey, thank you, Sean. Lenita McAfrety jumped out at our highest level. Awesome. Thanks, Anita.

Claire Soroy Melvin. Soros Melvin. Nicole Loubert. Hey, thanks, Nicole. Kimberly Ginn. Awesome, Kimberly. Mary Bond. Just call me Mary.

Bond. Megan Sullivan. Hey, Megan. Mandy Ward jumped out at our highest level. Oh, Mandy, thank you. Van Morrison, brown-eyed girl. Man, I love that all these bands are jumping on. I know.

Joseph Strank. Hey, Strunk. PR. Puerto Rico's on board. Carrie Teagan. Hey, thank you, Carrie. Chris Johnson jumped out at our highest level. Thank you, CJ.

Catherine Ocison. Ocison. I like that strong. That is like an oak. Yeah. Your mom. Oh, thank you, Mom. Veronica Fender

Veronica I always like that name Veronica Macchia Perry McKia That's a cool name I do like that Mackey

Taylor Ailsworth Hey thank you Taylor Jamie Fickett Get the Fickett out of here man Scott Just Scott

Just Scott With two T's Yep with two T's And then Ronda Allred jumped out of our highest level as well Look at Rhonda

Coming through And then if we go back Into the Vault Gibbs Okay This week We selected Lois, Kerry. L. C. Man.

Been with us a long time, long time Patreon supporter. And we really appreciate that. Yeah, thanks, Lois. We appreciate the new support, the continued support. It goes a long way. We had some great PayPal support as well. Luis Martin. Louise.

Dorothy Ballerini. Oh, I wonder if she relates to that country singer. Yeah, what's her name? Casey. Casey Ballerine. Yeah. As I say with confidence. Something like that.

she's good yeah Audrey Farmer hey Audrey she was the one that was on the voice right and she win the voice

or something like that I don't watch TV and then I think that catapulted her did it really I've never seen the voice I just I thought I heard

she was gone I do not you're a big Blake Shelton I do love Blake Shelton but I don't watch posters right over there I'm looking at him right now I don't watch the voice

Melinda Coonin that all Coonin is what you get out of that big well name there is four ends and two H's. So I would say coo-nin-nin-nin-nan-nan.

Like you know, the car won't start. You're like, kun-a-na-na-na-na-na-na. You're like, come on, start, come on. That's actually pretty funny. And then Chelsea Camp. Oh, Chelsea. You know, some great PayPal support as well.

Don't forget about CrimeCon. If you're getting a badge, make sure you use our promo code, crime all the time, 19. You'll save 10%. So Gibbs, right now, we have a brand new episode out on True Crime All Time Unsolved. We do.

It's on 19 year old faith hedge path. Yeah. We're going back to 2012. And we're going to the research triangle, Chapel, Hill area of North Carolina. Yeah. This is, you know, kind of one of those heartbreaking cases, a little different from some of the ones we've had recently, where the victim has been.

missing, but you don't know what happened. We know what happened to Faith HedgePath. Exactly. It wasn't good. Nope. She was murdered. Yeah. We just don't know who. Right. So that's what we'll get into. We'll talk about that. I feel bad because I know your daughter's going off the college soon. Mm-hmm. So I just stop picking cases where girls are murdered at college. Would you please? That's what I'm, yeah, you don't need any more anxiety. I don't. Oh, I've already have enough anxiety. And I actually talked to a listener the other day who's having the same anxiety. Yeah.

You know, getting ready to send a child off to college. So Gibbs, I have to give a shout out to Rob and Hannah. She was our February Patreon merch winner. Yeah. I totally forgot to give her a shout out. Well, she's so. She's awesome. Yeah, she really is.

I mean, I'm getting ready to pick the March winner. Oh, yeah. And we'll probably announce it next week. And, and realized I. totally forgot to announce February. Is it me? It's not you. Do you have to be a member of Patreon to win?

Yes, you do. You know, I'm not going to. You're also excluded as being too close to the show. Oh, man, you're one of those people. Yes. If you, you can't work at the company. And when? All right.

We got to get into this episode. We are talking about James Rupert. And this is a case that occurred actually really close to us. What are we from Hamilton? 30 minutes? 30 minutes. Yeah. It's a little more than halfway between where we are in Cincinnati.

Yeah. Yeah, pretty. I mean, I make it about 20. You take about 35. Right. You and I drive different speeds. This is a mass murder that we're talking about. There have been way too many mass shootings in recent years.

Gibbs, right? Oh, absolutely. schools, churches, restaurants, concerts, that big one that happened, you know, at the country concert, it seems as if it could happen anywhere. But on Easter Sunday, 1975, James Rupert was responsible for one of the deadliest mass murders ever inside a private residence, right? That's the type of, you don't talk about a lot. You and I covered the Defeo murders. Yeah.

You'd have to call that a mass murder. Well, we don't talk about it a lot because, you know what? You really should never have to worry about being in your home or a friend's home and have to worry about someone killing you. Or a loved one's home. That's where you should feel safe, right? Especially when you're talking about your mother, your grandmother. Didn't you always feel safe at your grandmother's house?

Oh, yeah. That was like your safe space, right? It was. And bacon. She always made me bacon. And bacon is your safe space too, I know. Yeah. But that still is to this day.

I mean, you could have the van that looks like a bad van, one of those vans that you like shouldn't ever get in. Right. And it says bacon on it. They got bacon and you smell the bacon and they're holding the tray of bacon. I'm probably going to get in. There you go. That's how much you like bacon.

I do. But in this story, not even, you know, that type of. house was safe for the people involved. So let's talk a little bit about James Rupert. You know, this was a guy Gibbs that seemed to be very frustrated his entire life. And then later on, he started to become paranoid. And I think really that's what this story is ultimately about. It's about frustration.

It's about paranoia. maybe some jealousy, maybe some greed culminating in a shocking mass murder. So James Rupert was born on March 29th, 1934 to Leonard and Charity Rupert. He was the second child. They already had a boy named Leonard Jr. That was two years old at the time that James was born. I think it was rough for the kids. growing up, you know, there were reports that the family lived in a barn type structure.

They didn't have running water. There was no indoor plumbing. You know, you were going to the outhouse at midnight if it was 20 below, which I know you still do today. Oh, yeah. Most people around here don't. They have indoor plumbing. Well, I don't want to pay for that. I know.

When you can just dig a hole and sit over it, you know. This is why I don't go to your house. but you know but 1930s right there was probably you know they weren't the only one right that wasn't unheard of i don't think no but on the country it was probably fairly regular so i'm not going to say that that was a part of a you know a bad childhood or anything but what was you know was that their father leonard senior he was an extremely violent man he had a bad temper add on to that the fact that he didn't show his two sons much affection, didn't show them love, and he didn't hold back on the discipline. Jimmy would later say, and you'll hear me say James, Jimmy, I go back and forth,

but Jimmy would later say that he thought his father was a failure. You know, in his eyes, his father was a failure. The flip side of that is he also said his dad thought he was a failure. So here you have father and son, each one of them thinking that the other is a complete failure. Yeah, good support system there. Yeah, it works out well. You're a loser dad. Well, you're a loser too, son. But, and, you know, and his dad would tell him that saying that you are a loser. You're never going to amount to anything later in life. You know, so Jimmy heard this a lot growing up. Well, you know, you tell somebody enough something. Guess what? They're going to believe it. And you're going to, make that happen for it.

Well, I was going to say, and somehow magically it will come true. Yeah. They may let it come true. Well, sure. If you hear it, especially by people that you should trust and feel good about, you know, around you. And they're telling you're going to be this loser. You're going to manifest that in your mind. And then you're going to act it out.

I like that. I know. I like where you're coming from. Yeah. I think your head's in the game. Team Givie. Team Givy. I'm going to drop that.

You're saying Team Givie for no reason. I'm going to drop it like subliminal to you. Like every now and then, hold on. Don't give me. So he's got that going on with his dad. At the same time, his mother made it very clear to him that she didn't want another son.

What she wanted was a girl the second time around. This is something that we've heard before. We have. In the childhoods of killers. Now, I mean, listen, I get wishing for your baby. to be a certain sex, right?

A lot of us have done that, right? Dad wants a boy who's going to grow up to be the star quarterback. Yeah. Mom wants a ballerina or a girl that's going to grow up to be the first female president. Or that she can just dress up and play dolls with or whatever you want to say. Yeah. Or a quarterback too. Or a quarterback.

The mom wants the quarterback. I think it's very common when, especially when you already have one child. maybe to wish for your second child to be of the opposite sex so that you have one of each. Yeah, I think that's pretty common. I think that's common. Yeah. I understand that. What I don't understand is actively, and I think in the case of Jimmy's mom, maliciously,

telling your child that you wish he would have been a girl or she would have been a boy, what are you hoping to gain from that? And what are you doing to that kid's psyche? Well, not good. Can't be good. There's no good going to come from that, right? Nobody likes feeling like their second best to you. Nobody wants to be a constellation prize.

Well, Jimmy's going to feel second best to his brother. That's one thing. But feeling like you should never have been born, I actually think that's even like a whole other level, Right? I think I was watching a movie the other night called The Duchess. And it had the... The Duchess.

Yeah, it had like that... I can't remember her name. English actor. Actress? Actress. Okay. She played the Duchess. Mm-hmm.

And then it had... I mean, is she older, younger? No, she's younger. She was in Love Actually, the... Kira Knightley? Yes. Okay. Yeah, she was in it.

Or Pirates of the Caribbean? One of the biggest movies of all time. It's true. She was in that. Yeah, she did a great job on that. And then the guy that played the, I guess he's the Dutch. What are you if you? The Duke?

The Duke. He's the Duke. He's the Duke. What's wrong with me tonight? Oh, my God. Anyway, but he wanted a male for his. Who was he? Man, he, uh, what movie was he in?

He was in a lot of good movies. Was he in Love Actually? But actually, was in another movie that was way, way bigger. No. He, he, uh, he, uh, Um, he's actually in the, um, one of the scary movies. A scary movie. Yeah.

Oh man. I can't remember his name. Anyway, he wanted a, uh, desperately wanted a boy. She could only give him girls. Mm-hmm. And, uh, you know, he didn't really pay attention to the girls because they weren't a boy. I don't know where I was going with that. I don't either.

Number one, sounds like a horrible movie plot. It's actually kind of good. There's going to have to be a lot more to it, right? Yeah, there was like, like cheating. Okay. fairs and some, you know, unfortunate event. Did you watch this with a bottle of wine or? No.

Were you taking a bubble bath at the time? No, it wasn't like that type of, it wasn't like a, that type of movie. It sounds like it. Did you think this Dutch was, uh, was a handsome fellow? You know who he was? He played, uh, the villain in Harry Potter, um, von der, Voldermolt, Voldermolt. Why can't I speak tonight?

You're talking about Ralph Fines? Ralph Fines or Fennis or whatever his name? Yeah, I don't know if it's Fennis or Fines. Yeah. I thought it was Fines, but okay. We're getting somewhere now. See, I'm getting there. So Harry Potter.

Sure. Great movies. One of the biggest series of movies of all time, right? Pirates of the Caribbean. Huge. Huge series. Yeah. Why would you not say that the people were in those?

It didn't hit me like that. Instead of looking for some more obscure, Um, it's a good point. Okay. Point taken. Well, we got the Dutch out of it. And that's the best part. So the movie we called The Duchess.

Good flick. Maybe, maybe not. I'm glad I sidetracked you. No, it's, we're getting back to this whole concept of Jimmy's mother, not wanting a boy. And you and I don't make excuses for killers, right? We don't make excuses. What we do is we talk about the things that happened in their lives that maybe led to them doing what they did, it doesn't excuse it. I don't think there's any doubt. Some of the things that James Rupert went

through, they weren't good. They are things that we know from past experience can lead to some bad things down the road. And to a certain extent, I think they do in this case as well. Sure. So the family, you know, like I said, they weren't well off. They raised some livestock. I think they barely got by. That's probably a pretty easy assumption to make based on the fact that you don't have indoor plumbing. At a pretty early age, Jimmy developed asthma and some allergies. All of this was exacerbated by the chickens, the livestock, the different things they raised. Farm life. Not good, right?

When you can't be around the one thing that the family relies on for money. And it was described as a pretty serious case of. asthma. This wasn't like asthma maybe that I had as a kid because I didn't like to run. Did you have asthma? I think I told my dad. I did. I had a buddy had it. Because I didn't want to, I didn't want to run laps. You didn't take medicine then. I might have had a puffer at one point. I had a buddy. He took like powder and went up in the air and he had to breathe it in. Really? Yeah. I don't think I had full blown asthma. I think I was lazy and I didn't want to run. And I think I had some allergies that maybe was related to that as well.

Yeah. I had asthma, but I just kept on going through the triathlon. Yeah, Iron Man competition. I didn't stop. But what this asthma did for Jimmy, it's severely limited what he could do. And I'm not just talking about, you know, around the house, helping out with the livestock. He was sick all the time as a kid.

It talked about the fact that he was. walked in like hunched over. Really? Yeah, that he had a bunch of illnesses as a kid that really kind of debilitated him. And I mentioned frustrations early on, right? I talked about that with Jimmy. It's going to be a huge thing for him. So these illnesses made him frustrated.

The fact that he was sick. He couldn't do what the other kids were doing. He didn't play sports. hell, he couldn't even really play at all, period, with other kids his age. Well, that would make you frustrated. He was frustrated about that. Absolutely. No social life.

He was described as extremely frail and very short. And that's the thing. I don't know why we keep getting these guys, but as an adult, he's only going to get to be about five, six. Okay. And I think there's frustration there as well. You know, does that the way that he looks plays into how his life goes later on, you know, as we go along. Okay. Yeah.

But all of it that we're talking about, you know, they are things that you and I in research of other killers know can be bad for people that later kill can be triggers can be, or at least as part of their kind of makeup, they're growing up. You know, Jimmy was a loner because of these things. going on in his life. He didn't hang out with other kids. So he was teased at school. He didn't date girls. More frustration. He didn't go to school functions as most kids did. So no football games, no dances, nothing. No social life. No. When Jimmy was 12 years old, his dad died from tuberculosis. And I mentioned it, right? Jimmy's brother, Leonard Jr. was two years older than he was. So he's 14. He essentially had to become the man of the house, but both boys.

They had to step up, take on more of an adult role after their father passed away. And this is where Jimmy's mom comes in again. And I hinted at it a little bit, but she really favored Jimmy's brother. Yeah, he's the oldest. He's the oldest. He's also much taller than Jimmy. Yeah. He was athletic.

He was smarter. He got better grade. He was the perfect child to her. He was basically, in many ways, the opposite of Jimmy. Plus, he was the first child. I'm telling you, the first child, first born, gets a little more favoritism. I don't know about that. I might challenge you on that.

I don't know about favoritism. I think the second born gets away with more. The last born gets away with more. Or the last, however. I only have two. so for me the second. But hmm. And then you have the middle kid like, oh, I don't know.

Me gets screwed on both sides. Nobody knows who that person is. Man. They just get the hand me down tights. They don't get new tights. It's just something saying it's rough. First born, you got it made. Last born, you got it made.

Middle kid. So you're basing that off of your childhood now. I know you are. I'm just saying all the middle kids out there right now are going to you out. Preach it, Gibby. So I was an only child? Yeah. So I got it all.

You got it. Yeah, you were spoiled all the way through, man. You can't do anything wrong. Your mom's probably still coming over running your bath water. No, that would just be weird at this point. So Jimmy's mom, charity. Like I said, thought Leonard Jr. walked on water.

He couldn't do anything wrong. Meanwhile, she felt like Jimmy couldn't do anything but wrong, right? Couldn't do anything right. Now, much of this comes from Jimmy later on in life. but he has told psychiatrist that after his father died, his mother beat him on a regular basis. And not only that, but she encouraged his older brother to beat him as well. With the rubber hose. Oh, yeah.

This wasn't just, you know, I'm going to hitch in the arm until you say, uncle, his brother, like you said, beating with a rubber hose. He tortured him. locked him in closets, you know, set on him, tied him with a rope, wouldn't let him go. I mean, it was, it was a little more than brotherly fighting, which I know you're aware of, because you had brothers. Oh yeah, we used to do all the time, throw each other into the dishwasher, the fridge, whatever. This was really more torturous than playful, even though playful, you know, sometimes

crosses the line. I think this was a crossing of the line each and every time. I also think the torment that Jimmy received at the hands of his brother, it's going to be a catalyst for the evil that's going to come later. So all of this that he's going through at this time, it becomes too much for Jimmy to handle. And he ran away. He was about 16 years old. He also attempted to take his own life with a bed sheet. But he was unsuccessful.

All right, Gibbs, let's take a quick break. to talk about our sponsor BetterHelp. If anyone out there has anything that's interfering with their happiness or is preventing them from achieving their goals, Better Help, Online Counseling is there for you. They offer licensed professional counselors who are specialized in issues such as depression, anxiety, family conflicts, and so much more. You can connect with a professional counselor in a safe and private online environment. It's unbelievably convenient and anything you share is confidential.

And you can do it at your own time and at your own pace. They have secure video and phone sessions plus chat and text options. And if you're not happy with your counselor, you can request a new one at any time for no additional charge. But best of all, it's a truly affordable option. And TCAT listeners get 10% off your first month by going to betterhelp.com slash TCAT. So why not get started today? Go to betterhelp.com slash TCAT. All you have to do is fill out a questionnaire.

that helps them assess your needs, but also helps them match you with a counselor you will love. That's betterhelp.com slash TCAT. So we're going to move forward a little bit. Leonard graduated high school. Jimmy went on to graduate high school. But it's from there that their lives really take very different paths. So the older brother Leonard, he obtained a degree in electrical engineering, got a job at General Electric, GE.

That's a good job. It's a good job. Huge facility down in that area. Yeah. He met and married the love of his life, a woman named Alma, and the pair would have eight kids. Eight. Eight kids.

Oh, my goodness, man. That's a lot. I mean, that's an NCAA basketball team. That's a starting five and three subs. Probably could have did better than Kentucky did. Oh, you had to go there. Sorry. Now, I did read one thing.

I had a hard time corroborating it, but I'm going to put it out there anyway. And it was around the fact that James supposedly dated Alma, maybe at one point, maybe even introduced her to his brother. And then his brother ends up marrying her. It's like Rudy, man. Rudy goes away, comes back and his girl's married to her brother. That's a great movie. One of the movies that I can watch every time and will cry.

I will cry at the end. Really? Every time. When Rudy gets in, when he makes that tackle that sack, I will cry. Chokes you up, huh? Oh, yeah. That, Marley and me cry every time. There's a handful of movies that I've seen multiple times.

Yeah. Hope float sucks. Oh, God, that's what you say. So if that is true, right, this whole thing about Jimmy, maybe dating Alma, that's not going to help this situation. Leonard and Alma went on to buy a nice two-story house in a good neighborhood. They were living the American dream. I've seen pictures of their house.

It's very nice. You know, two-story, two-car garage. But by contrast, James didn't finish college. He bounced around from job to job. He didn't have any luck with women. Dated very infrequently. He was set to be married once. but his fiance ultimately called it off.

So again, for him, another frustration, right? That had to be a huge source of frustration. Finally, at some point, he'd trained to be a draftsman. I like that. I took those courses. Yeah, he actually worked at some really nice places like, you know, some aviation places and different things like that. But for whatever reason, even with that scale,

skill, he had a hard time keeping a job. Now, why is that? Normally, if you have the smart, you have the skills, it just means you got a bad work ethic. Yeah. You're just not a good worker. Just not. You don't show up on time or at all. You take two hour lunches, you leave early, whatever, or some combination of that. And you blame everybody but yourself. That too. So we're talking about this frustration, right, in James' life. Then you get into, to some of the paranoia that creeps in over the years, right? So on the frustration end, he can't live up to his brother. Nothing seems to be going right in his life, but then the paranoia kicks in and it took hold pretty hard in James's life. You know, over the years, he became convinced

that both his mother and brother were plotting against him. This is your own family. Yeah. He He thought that they were talking with the FBI about him. Really? Yeah, he was that important that they needed to consult with the FBI. He thought that they were telling them lies about him. He was a communist. He was a homosexual. These are all the things that are running through his head about his mom and brother.

Man, that's rough. And it lasted for years. You know, he thought the FBI was watching him. He thought they were tapping his phone. So we're talking about some severe paranoia here. Yeah, and that's a shame because you really know when FBI is watching you, you're no. Well, you would know. You also know how far you can run flat out.

That's right. Until you get winded. Until I get exhausted. Yeah. Well, it's just like, come on. You got that ice cream truck out front? Hmm. It's 30-some degrees out.

Nobody's buying ice cream the day. We know what they're doing. We know. You get the 1982 Ford Crown Vic. Yeah. Who's got a Crown Vic these days? Hey man. It's a great vehicle.

Undercover. Undercover. We just lost our Crown Vic followers. I can imagine that that was huge. I love my 82 Crown Vic. So I mentioned the fact that he thought that the FBI was tapping his phone, but that wasn't just at home. You know, he thought this was happening wherever he went.

Like somehow the FBI knew where he was going to go. And he wouldn't use any of the phones, you know, anywhere, whether it was his favorite bar, somebody's house. He just assumed that the FBI, everybody was in on it. Sure. Yeah. So I got a conspiracy theory, man. And over the years, Gibbs, I just really think it's spiral that got,

worse and worse, he started to believe that there were a lot of other people that were out to get him. People were sabotaging him at every turn. Remember, his life's not going great. So is it that much of a stretch to think, hey, somebody's sabotaging me because everything I do turns out to be caca. Kaka. If he went out to his car and it wouldn't turn over, sabotage. Maybe if you lived in Russia and did the mob wrong. Well, it would just blow up. That's different.

It'd be like when I did that person's name earlier, you know. It wouldn't be that it wouldn't start. It would just blow up. Just blow up. But he started to get real specific. And, you know, Jimmy believed that it was his brother that was constantly sabotaging his car. I guess he just thought he was messing. with it instead of thinking my car is a piece of junk i got to get some stuff done here to take care of

this thing right he thinks his brother is coming over and messing with the internals so you have all of this right coming together the reasons why he can't keep a job why the women in his life have left him it's all because other people were against him and they were determined to see him fail. Right? It can't be anything that I've done wrong. There's got to be a reason. And the reason is the FBI is trying to ruin my life.

Yeah. Or others, my family, other people. Jimmy began drinking a lot. He also began collecting guns. So I think we can see where this is heading, right? We know there's a massacre, a mass murder that's about ready to happen after it does. neighbors would say that yeah they saw james with guns all the time they saw him down at the uh the great miami river shooting tin cans you know the great miami literally i could almost throw a baseball from

here to the miami river yeah you probably could it's very close to my house yeah there was a gun store clerk that said rupert asked him about getting a silencer about a month before the murders occurred So to me, this is not a good recipe. Heavy drinker starting to collect guns, paranoid, hints of mental illness. I don't think there's any, you know, diagnosis yet at this point. This all leads us up to Easter of 1975. James Rupert is unemployed and he's been living with his mom charity in her house for some time. a couple months, something like that.

But we've talked about it, right? The years of frustration, paranoia, the excessive drinking, all of that has taken its toll on Jimmy. So the Saturday night before Easter, Jimmy goes out drinking to one of his favorite bars, the 19th hole cocktail lounge. It's been on a golf course, I'm guessing, or near a golf course, 19th hole.

Good play on words. Yeah, I don't know. if it was near a golf course or if it was on the way home from a golf course or it was just a good play on words. But there was a woman at the bar that knew Jimmy would later testify that he talked all night about his financial problems and his family problem. He said that his mother was threatening to kick him out of her house. And I guess apparently Gibbs she told him, if you can drink seven days a week, you should be able to pay rent. That sounds like pretty sound thinking in my book. Yeah, I think hard to argue that one. You don't have a job. You're living rent free with your mother.

He's like 40 years old at this point in time. Yeah. But somehow the money that you do have, you're giving to the 19th hole bar. Something's not right there. Definitely not right. So Jimmy drank all night. He'd left the bar at 2.30 a.m. and went back to his mother's house. So the next day is Easter Sunday. And the whole family is scheduled to come over to Charity's house for Easter dinner. Now, James essentially slept all day. From the reports I read, he didn't get up until around 4 o'clock p.m. It's like your sleep schedule. If I could have that sleep schedule, I would take it. I'm a night owl. I would stay up as late as I could. could and sleep all day. However, your wife is the exact opposite. She is. She's up early in the morning

and wondering why I'm not up. I also have to take my daughter to school. So there is a point in time where no matter what, I have to get up. Yeah. Well, a couple more years, she'll drive herself. That's true. So he slept till four. And after waking up, he loaded up his guns and he walked downstairs. Now, James later testified that he talked to his brother Leonard. And his brother asked him, how is that Volkswagen running? And the way that James tells it is that his brother was mocking him. Yeah. Essentially saying, hey, I've been messing with your car. I mean, remember, James already thinks that Leonard has been sabotaging his car. So he very well could have said, how's that Volkswagen running? You and I might say that right to each other. Sure. How's your car running, Gibbs?

Yeah. It doesn't mean I've been out there messing with the wires and stuff, but that's the way James took it. And I definitely didn't mess with your truck wiring. And you didn't cut the brake line either. Not all the way through. 75%. Yeah. Got some things. happen on their own. But this was it. This conversation. Now, I say this was it, but he walked down with four guns. So, you know, I think to hear James tell it he was going to go target shooting and then all of a sudden he talked to his brother and that was it. But, you know, again, whether you believe that or not, but either way, he opened fire in his mother's house, killing everyone. But he started with his brother and then his mother and then killed everyone else.

And then apparently he sat down on the couch to think about what he should do next. And he later told police that, you know, he spent those two hours contemplating whether or not to take his own life. But he ultimately settled on the fact that it was a mortal sin to do that. So he couldn't. Well, he could go ahead and do all the other mortal sins. but not that one. Right. He's just killed 11 people.

Mowed them down in cold blood. On a holy day. On a holy day. So his next step, he's already decided he's not going to take his own life. His next step was to go back upstairs, change his clothes, tidy up a bit because that's what you need to do. Yeah, straighten up the house. Sure.

And prepare to call police. because James Rupert's not going to run away. He's not going to, you know, try to elude, capture or anything like that. So about three hours goes by from the time that, you know, he murdered everyone in the house. That part was said to have taken about five minutes to kill everyone in the house. And then like we said, he spent a couple of hours kind of plotting his next course of action. He finally called. the police at 9.41 p.m. And apparently he said on the phone, he's dead, she's dead, they're dead. And then he hung up. Well, that should get somebody's attention. Well, I think it did.

I think police made their way to the house and James stood in the doorway to the home waiting on them to arrive. As officers walked up to the house, they could see the bodies on the floor behind Rupert. So they asked him to step outside. And he did. And, and, you know, everything in the research said he was cordial. He didn't put up any type of struggle. He complied with, you know, any and all demands by the officers. Eventually, he was placed in the back of a squad car and driven to the police station. But then the officers get inside the house and they find 11 bodies. some in the kitchen dining area and the rest in the living room. And you've got to imagine this is a horrific scene, right? First of all, it's Easter.

There's Easter baskets. Yeah. In the house. There's a big Easter lily. There's eggs hidden. I'm sure. That won't be found. I'm sure there are eggs hidden.

There was a family portrait of the entire family sitting on a table in the living room. every person in that photo, except for James Rupert, was now dead. Shame. I mean, like I said, this is a big family event for many families, Easter celebration, and something you would never expect to happen. You just wouldn't. I mean, you're like, let's hunt eggs, let's go to church together, let's, you know, eat all this amazing food and take time to reflect and, you know, whatever.

You don't expect someone to come downstairs and just do that. So the 11 bodies turned out to be James's mother, Charity, his 42-year-old brother, Leonard, Leonard's 38-year-old wife, Alma, and then there were the eight children. So you had Leonard Rupert III. He was 17 years old. Michael Rupert was 16. they both attended Baden High School, 15-year-old Thomas, 13-year-old Carol, 12-year-old Anne,

and 9-year-old Teresa all attended Sacred Heart School. So you're looking at the age ranges of these children. They pretty much had a child every, you know, a couple years, one to two years. Sure. And then there was little four-year-old John. He was just a preschool. And again, I mentioned it, a horrific scene. One of the officers that was on the scene later recounted that as he entered the house,

he saw the four-year-old boy. He said he was wearing blue bibb corduroy overalls. He was lying on the couch with a bullet in his head. I don't know how anybody can do any of that. But man, a four-year-old, you're going to. I just don't get it. So the officer went on to say, you know, he sees this poor little boy. He's, you know, obviously dead.

He's lying on the couch. And the officer notices that in his right hand, he is holding a chocolate Easter egg with the tinfoil wrapper partially torn off. So this officer was quoted saying, you know, that was a sight that shook me to the depths of my soul. and I have never forgotten it. There was so much blood in that house that it dripped through the floorboards.

I know this is graphic, but you have to paint the scene of what this was like. This is a, you know, probably a seasoned officer detective that had seen some things. Sure.

Right? Throughout a career had never seen anything like this. Came to a shock. And it, like he said, it shook him. It's something that probably until the day that he died or will die, I don't know how old he is at this point, or whether he's still alive, he would never forget something like that. The authorities determined that all but one of the victims was shot in the head.

Alma was shot in the heart. There you go. What does that mean? Does it mean kind of what I hinted at earlier, that there's, been some reporting that either James dated Alma, had a crush on Alma. That seems awfully strange, right? Ten people shot in the head. She's the only one shot in the heart. They also found a heated skillet on the stove. There was some sloppy Joe's in it. That's not really a typical Easter dinner. Well, there were some other signs of cooking as well, but the table had not been said.

I've read some varying accounts. One account said that they were making sloppy joes for the kids. Oh, that would make sense. And that would make some sense. But you're right. That is not a traditional Easter dinner. It's not something I'm getting all geared up for on Easter. I want a big ham.

I want mashed potatoes. When you mean geared up, you mean you sit and wait until your mom or your wife says come get it? No, I mean like wearing my best sweatpants. Oh, yeah. To give a little extra room, that type of stuff. Thank goodness you're putting pants on. Sheesh.

That's a good day. When I visit family, I like to wear pants. I don't know. I'm family when I come over. The other thing that officers noted inside the house was there wasn't any signs of a struggle within that, within that house, with the one exception of an overturned garbage can. So we're getting ready to talk about it, right? A lot of shots fired. 11 people killed. Now, you can do that fairly quickly, but you would think, and this is what a lot of

people have asked. You know, one of the big questions surrounding this case is, why didn't these people put up more of some type of struggle or take off running or, so when you talk about the guns, police found four weapons inside the house, two 22 caliber pistols, one 357 magnum revolver and a 22 rifle. There were two pistols on a living room table. One was on the arm of a chair. And then the rifle was leaning against the refrigerator. Sounds like that one show you watched with that guy has all those guns.

The punisher. Oh, yeah, the punisher. He's got him staged it all over. Yeah. Much like I do. Carries like a duffel bag. So it's been said that between the four, weapons, they were fired a total of 35 times. Wow.

35 times to kill 11 people. Obviously, people were shot more than one time. They collected the shell casings. The majority of them were 22 caliber. There were some 38 caliber casings as well. I think you and I have talked about it before, but a 357 can also shoot 3.57. Can also shoot 38. Exactly. It's a more of a minor load. 357, you know, sometimes you got a little kick to it. Just a little bit. But a 38, a lot of people will buy 357, but when their target practice shooting, they'll use 38. It's just a more pleasant round to shoot. Right. The strange thing is that when the police began to question neighbors, not a single person said that they heard. a gunshot. Not that they heard 35. They didn't hear a single gunshot. Not a one. And I'll post out on

Facebook a picture of the house. But what you'll see is, I don't know if it's a row house, right? They're not connected. But these houses are so close together. It's almost unbelievable that somebody didn't hear a gunshot. We would say with those houses, if you're sitting in the bathroom, we needed some TP, she should just be able open the window and ask the neighbor next door to hand it to you. It was that close. Yeah. They are very, very close together. So all of these details come out, right, about these murders.

This shocked the community. They'd never seen anything or, you know, heard of anything like this. But it didn't just shock them. People were outraged. You know, everyone spoke very highly of Leonard and Alma Rupert. And of all the Rupert children. Apparently, this was a great family. They were religious.

The kids were just spoken about in the most glowing terms. Very well liked. Yeah. Very well respected. There were quotes in local papers in the days after the murders from townspeople who said they wanted to kill Jimmy Rupert. Really? They wanted to get a pop. bossy together, like in the old West days, make the police turn him over and they wanted to take

care of him. They wanted civilian justice. This is how outrage they were. And unfortunately, the anger wasn't just directed at Jimmy Rupert. Apparently Gibbs, there was another guy that lived in the Hamilton area by the, that had the last name Rupert. Oh, no, man. Now, his first name was Donald. but people assumed that he had a connection. Turns out he wasn't related in any way, shape, form to any of these people. He got pulled in anyway, didn't he? Yeah, it didn't stop people in the town from, you know, thinking he was the murderer. He was related to this guy.

He was, you know, whatever it was. His family started receiving harassing phone calls, threatening phone calls. he said they got dirty looks wherever they went getting egged you get egged he probably got egged he didn't say that but

you've been egged no I've been teaped not egged yet but never egged but he'd say yet like you're getting ready to orchestrate and egging it is close to Easter

man it is it is close I'm not don't put it in anybody's head I don't need to be egged but this Rupert guy like I said had no connection to these people in any way. He even said that when he went to work, guys that he had worked with for years and years,

all of a sudden, because of his last name, thought that he was somehow connected with these murders. And they turned on him. Kind of makes you think of that Seinfeld episode. You know, Lane's dating this guy. They're at the Yankees game and over the loudspeaker, you know.

Is this a Joel Rifkin one? It is. Oh, okay. Yeah. When you always say that makes you think about that Seinfeld episode. There's 8,422 Seinfeld episode. One of them. It's one of those.

One of those. But how hard, you know, would it be for that to happen to you when you didn't do anything wrong? And it didn't seem to matter how many times he told people he wasn't related to this incident. It got so bad that he eventually had to change his name. name. Can't blame them at all. No. It got to the point where what else can you do? It does amaze me though that people just couldn't see past that and realize it wasn't him. Even when he told them. Okay, I get where somebody's going to look in the phone book. They're ticked off. They're going to call you and say, hey, I can't believe you're related to this guy.

People you've worked with for years and you tell them that, yeah, same last name, but I don't know who this guy is. they don't believe you. So the authorities have Jimmy, right? They took him downtown. They questioned him and very quickly. I mean, within a matter of hours pretty early on the next morning, they charged him with the murders. But he didn't confess to the murders. And, you know, at his first court appearance, his attorneys asked the court to have him examined by mental health experts. So what does that mean? What's that mean to you, Gibbs?

Well, yeah. Is he all put together? Well, I think the defense probably pretty quickly, right? In looking at everything, his guns, he was there. There's really only one way out of this thing. Yeah, with the right defense. And that revolves around questioning his mental capacity in some way. I mean, it really is.

If you think about it, no-brainer. Oh, yeah, they've got him. I don't think there's any doubt that he committed the murders, right? He called the police. He was waiting on them. So later that year, he went to trial, right? He didn't take that long. And maybe one of the reasons for that was there was no jury.

Rupert opted for a three-panel judge trial. Three-panel judge trial. Yeah. Okay. So he had the option, right? You can go jury or you can go judge. Well, I agree he made the right decision there. Probably.

I wouldn't want to go in front of a jury after doing them. I can't imagine any jury of your peers is going to be sympathetic. No. So the prosecution, they came out, and they said that the main motive for the murders was based on money. Their theory was that James wanted to get his hands on the, family's money. Really? Yeah. His, I say his inheritance, but, you know, it's really, most of it is Leonard and Alma, right? They had been doing well. Leonard had a good job. It was said to have been close to $350,000. Wow. In 1975, that's a lot of, I mean,

that's a lot of money today. Don't get me wrong. Over a million bucks. So yeah. Oh, easily. I think that would be well over a million dollars today. Almost. every witness that the prosecution called was asked to speak to Leonard's financial situation. That's really, I mean, they, obviously they talked about the forensic evidence, the guns. They talked about all of that. Right. But the main part of the trial was around this motive of money because the prosecution said that with the entire family debt, the entire estate. So Leonard and Alma's and charities would fall to James.

So now they have motive. And he was having financial problems, right? We talked about it a little bit, didn't have a job, was forced to live with his mother. I'm sure that was one of the reasons that, you know, they're looking at this financial motive. So that's the prosecution. The defense focused their efforts on convincing the judges that James Rupert was insane. Right. We talked about it. What else can they do? Yeah, they can try to combat the motive, but very hard to prove that he didn't, you know, that he didn't murder these 11 people. They're all shot with his four guns. He's the one that called the police. He's waiting on them. At this point, it's really just a matter of, is he legally responsible for what he did? Yeah, no, you're exactly right. It comes down to that. And it's an easy decision.

for me because he made sure he had the guns, made sure he loaded the guns, he knew exactly how he was going to do it. And then like you said, then he straightened up and then called the police and waited. Yeah, so I do think part of the argument on the side of the defense, and I might have said it earlier, but is that he says he was going to go shooting, target shooting. Right. So he didn't bring the four guns down to kill 11 people. He brought the four guns down to. He brought the four guns down to go target shooting, got into an altercation with his brother, and then things escalated from there. That's what the defense is going to say.

That's what James is going to say to combat what you're saying. Now, the three judge panel, I think they looked at it more the way that you're looking at it, but it wasn't unanimous. They found Rupert guilty by a two to one vote. So that means there was one judge that, now, they didn't. think he was innocent, but I think they thought he was not responsible, maybe innocent by reason of insanity. Well, I mean, you, and I guess you could argue he had to have some form of insanity to be

able to shoot and kill those kids, but especially a four-year-old. Yeah, and we're definitely going to talk about that here in a little bit. So he's found guilty. The judges sentenced him to 11 consecutive life terms. He killed 11 people. You get 11 life sentence. It's only fair. But a few years down the road, the Ohio Supreme Court is going to set Rupert's conviction aside.

And in their ruling, they stated that he was misinformed. When he waived his rights to a jury trial, he didn't understand what he was doing. His defense team didn't give him the right information. So we have to throw out that conviction. conviction and he has to go to trial again. And they take him to trial in September of 1982. He pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. And this time he's going to have a jury trial, right? Because the last time it didn't work with the judges, let's go jury and see what they say. The trial lasted for six weeks. And this time, the outcome was somewhat different. I should say very

different. So he was found guilty for the murder of his mother charity and his brother Leonard. But he was found innocent by reason of insanity in the murders of his sister-in-law, Alma, and his eight nieces and nephews. Yeah. I think a lot of people found this verdict extremely confusing. So he was convicted of killing his mother. He didn't get along with her. Right. He was convicted of killing his brother who he essentially hated. And they, according to him, had an argument. That's true. And it was almost as if, I guess it was as if the jury thought after he killed those two people, he must have snapped. He lost it after the first two. So he was sentenced with two life sentences instead of 11. I just think it's a tough verdict for a lot of people. to wrap their minds around. So that makes you wonder if he would have went to jury trial initially, what would the

verdict been? I think it's a good question. You know, he had been in prison for a number of years by the time that this second trial rolled around. My assumption is that the jury knew that, that he had been convicted already. He was being retried. Does that come into play? Does that make it harder for people to say not guilty by reason of insanity for all 11?

I think it does. But I also think they did the right thing. I don't think he was insane when he murdered his brother and his mom. All right. We're going to get into it. You and I right here right now. Let's do it. I get what you're saying.

Yeah. So then how do you turn around and say, let's say I fired four shots? Okay. I've killed my brother. I've killed my mother. I wasn't insane. Now I am. And I go on to kill nine people.

That's the part that I'm really struggling with. It seems to me that you're either, that your mental issue caused you to do it all or it played no effect. It didn't excuse anything. Well, I definitely think he, he woke up with the intention to kill his brother. maybe his mom. After that, I think just something clicked in him. And he said, I'm just going to clean the whole house.

Something clicked because he was, by definition, insane. Or there was nine witnesses that just saw what he did to those two people. Again, I don't know. Yeah, that's true. But then again, I mean, did witnesses really play in? No, because he sat there and waited for the police anyway. All I'm saying is eventually you get to those kids at a certain age. But definitely a four-year-old, you have to have something wrong with you.

For all the kids, I think. But to pull a trigger on a four-year-old to do that, you ain't right. Yeah, I personally think he had some very serious, probably, you know, most likely undiagnosed mental issues. Maybe, you know, he was a paranoid schizophrenic. He was definitely paranoid. There's no doubt about that. To me, it just still seems like.

a weird sentence to say the first two people you killed, this is within a five minute time span. The first two people you killed, you were not insane. The next nine, we're going to say you were. You have to admit, it's a little strange. I get it. I see what they're doing. I think they don't want to let him off of all 11. Right. So they're going to say, yeah, we know there's something wrong with you, but we're holding you accountable for the first two. Right. That's my only thing. That's the only thing I can think of.

And maybe I'm missing something. This is the part where people will email in and, you know, obviously we like that. Sure we do. Except for the part where they call me a dumbass. I could do without that. But other than that. Yeah. But I think it's a, it's something to talk about.

And this is the early 80s, right? It is a different period in time. I believe when you're talking about. how cases like this were handled. Yeah, like I said, I just think he came downstairs on a mission to take care of his brother, maybe his mom, and then his whole energy change, his whole, it's just something, like I said, something in his brain clicked and he just went into this hyper mode. Well, there's no way for us to know.

We can speculate. That's all we can do. And everybody listening can say, yeah, I agree or I disagree. I think this happened. there's really no way to know for sure. We can all agree to disagree. Let's all disagree. Yeah.

But then come around and say it my way. So Rupert is currently housed at the Allen Oakwood Correctional Institution in Lima. Kind of sound like a country club at first. It did. I don't believe it is, but it did sound like it at first. He was actually housed in a number of units. He was in Columbus for a while. I think he might have been in Mansfield.

You know, they got a big thing up there before making his way to Allen. So last week, March 31st, he turned 85. He's been up for parole several times. He was denied in 95. He was denied again in 2015. I think the next time that he comes up, he is going to be at an age where it will be very unlikely that he will still be alive. Yeah.

Let's put it that way. If he is, maybe he'll give that speech like Morgan Freeman did. Sonny, go ahead and bark what you need to on that form. Is this Shawshank again? It is. Okay. You got to watch some new movies. You know, if we're going to do this movie podcast.

You need to freshen my... You're going to have to watch some new movies. So all 11 of James Rupert's victims were buried in Arlington Memorial Garden. in Cincinnati. A year after the murders, the house where the murders happened, it was opened up for auction. And I'm reading about this Gibbs and it's just flashing through my head.

So you have all these people lined up to go through this house. I mean, people love a house auction anyway. Sure, they do. But they also know what house this is. So you have a combination of regular auction people, gawkers, they're going through this guy's bedroom. I just think something like that would be very strange.

And then there is a woman that ultimately moved into the house. She was interviewed. Now, I want to play a clip of it. There's a family here on Minor Avenue that's living at a house where 11 people were massacred more than 30 years ago. It's a spectacle. It's a sightseeing type thing. You know what I mean?

So a lot of times around Halloween, people will start driving by, start thinking of Haunted Ohio. The scariest decorated house on the block is this one. But that's not what folks are interested in. You'll see people, like, they'll park down the street and walk up and down both sides of the street. They came to see the house that belongs to the Baker family. They call Minor Avenue, Massacre Avenue.

Walking out to go get lunch with your son and someone just walks right up, you know, and they want to have a talk about the house or something like that. You know, a lot of people think I'm crazy for living here. But it's not creepy. It's my house. It's my home. So I don't know how many people have lived in that house and, you know, obviously that clip is probably 10 years old or so. But I do think that would be strange as well.

You and I talk about it. We hear about it from people in voicemails. I, people send me pictures all the time saying, I was on vacation. I stopped by such and such. So, you know, I stopped by this place. It would be weird to just live in a house, a normal house. come outside and people want to talk about it as being a murder house. It would be weird.

That would be very strange. But remember we had the Amity house? Sure. They would say people would flock there all the time. Oh, definitely. They had to do so many. They had to change the way the house looked. I think they even, what did we say?

They changed the numbering system just to try to throw people off. I can't remember all the things that they did. but they just never removed the sign and said, hey, this is the house. There's a big billboard. But again, if I was in that area and you and I were traveling and you said, hey, do you want to, it's five minutes, do you want to go see this house? I would be like, heck yeah. Yeah. I want to see that house.

I want to walk through it. I'm going to knock on the door and ask these people if I can walk through this house. I want to see the red room. Does that make me weird? No. I think it's, it's history. And I go, did you see that? Did you hear that? Bigfoot? I, to be honest with you, I don't really view it that much different than going to see some historical site. It's a part of history. It's something that happened. It's like the Battle of Gettysburg, right? How many people died at the Battle of Gettysburg? Man, it was a huge massacre. But people go there all the time as a tourist attraction. Sure. I don't think.

it's weird at all. Plus it's halfway to DC, so, you know, that's true. It's a good stopping point. So when you think about James Rupert, you think about a small guy, right? He was a diminutive person, five, six, his life didn't go the way that he thought it would. Now, he didn't have a great childhood. And I do believe he had issues with, you know, mental health. He had mental health issues. he definitely had some issues with paranoia throughout the years he believed that people his own family entire agencies of the government were out to ruin him what if he's when he smoked to join if he was more paranoid or just same wow do you get more paranoid i don't smoke trap question i almost got you you almost thought you got me you had to think about it for a minute

that gave it away just there no way and i enjoy my bosses and i appreciate them listening to the podcast but this guy was a loner you know people described him as a fairly intelligent person he was an avid reader the thing about rupert and really i don't the one thing that we really haven't talked about gibbs he didn't have a record no right he had not been in trouble with the law, he didn't have that escalating pattern that we see with a lot of killers. Now, I think that's mostly with serial killers, but that's one thing you didn't hear us talk about, right? By the age of 12, he had this rap sheet and he kept getting off for all these things. Right. There wasn't any of that, but it's a different type of case. Right. But we definitely,

as we talked about, he definitely didn't have definitely, definitely, well, that's not like I was getting ready to say you do sound like rain man. Yeah. So you definitely had a rough childhood, you know. He did. Mom didn't love them, didn't want them. Dad didn't really care for them. And you wonder, right?

I, you and I, not mental health experts in the least. We have a lot of people that are in that field. How much of those really kind of traumatic, rough childhoods lead to some of of these issues that develop later in life. I think they do. I mean, as a child, you know, you're developing your mind, how you react to things, how you handle life. And when a parent is saying things that they say or not loving a child, you know, you're teaching behavior and how you should act. And man, it's just not good. Right. You know, some of the paranoia that that James had against his brother.

Did it come from in some way the fact that his brother, you know, tormented him, beat him? So naturally, at some point, you're going to build a defense mechanism, right, that says, this guy's out to get me. Yeah. And his mom championed that. Exactly. Go beat your brother. Go do this.

So, I mean, for him one day, snap or not snap, depending on what side you want. want to look at it. Either way, he decided on that day, goodbye, brother, goodbye, mom, and then he followed through the rest of the family. So then it comes down to, I guess for me, a combination of the motive. Was it really this financial windfall type motive that the prosecution put forth, or was it more of a mental illness situation or was it some of both? I just, I don't know. Rupert was broke. We talked about it.

He was out of work. He apparently had lost some money that he invested in the stock market. And he never got a dime of any of that inheritance money. And then you look at it, I think more of maybe your standpoint gives of he comes down. He sees his brother. this is the guy that he thinks has ruined his life, he's going to end it once and for all. Yeah, it was frustrated.

Did you ever watch that movie, Bernie? With Jack Black? Bernie? Yeah. So based on a true story. Seen Weekend at Bernie's? Nah, that's what I thought it was at first too, but no. But Jack Black plays this funeral caretaker,

and he's a great guy and everything, and he likes older women, Shirley Maclean, ends up being widowed, Black, Bernie gives her all this attention and he moves in with her and she's super wealthy, like a millionaire.

But eventually he gets tired of her picking on him every day, telling him how he should be living his life, running his life, right? And so one day he just walks out in the garage and picks up a gun and shoots her in the back.

But super nice guy, but he got pushed too far and he saw an opportunity and took it. And then shoved her in the freezer and then eventually the cops find it. So if you ever watch her, the movie. I just told you everything about it. You have ruined a lot of movies for me lately. Yeah. But I do think, so this is a case that people will look at. There will be a lot of opinions,

right, on James Rupert, just like we talked about. There will be some that come down on the side of, you know, serious mental health problems. There's no way that he knew what he was doing. There will be a lot of people that say, nope, he knew exactly what he was doing. He executed those people. He executed those people. people. These type of cases are fascinating because there are different sides. And that's okay, right? People have their own opinions. Sure. What's rough is 11 people were massacred. Yeah. You know, and that's the sad part. Some really great people, too, when you hear others talk about the, you know, Leonard and Alma and their family and all that stuff. But that's it. That's it for the story of James Rupert. We've got some voicemails. Let's do it.

Hey, Mike and Gibby, this is Chalice Outlaw from Florida. I love this podcast with everything in me. I've been through a lot of them, but you guys, I binge, I binge, I binge, I binge, I binge. I love the banter between the two of you guys. I finally got the nerves to leave a voicemail, but I love what you guys do. Everything is so detailed and organized because I am a very powerful. funny person when it comes to details and someone telling me the story or giving me the tea. You guys are right on. Just keep up the good work.

I wish you guys the best. Be safe and keep your own time ticket. She's an outlaw. Chalice. Chalice. You know what's funny? Her name is chalice. I'm actually drinking from a chalice right now.

What are the odds of that? I says you're like holy. The whole is chalice, man. But, you know, she's saying, oh, I'm trying to get up the nerve to leave a voicemail. She leaves like a great voicemail. She does. Very articulate, no word stumbling like

you and I do. It was very well done. You did well. Did very well. Hey, it's Jill from Chicago. I just wanted to say that I was cracking up. You was talking about his fireman outfit and his policeman outfit and the 911 dispatcher badge that you guys got,

which is super cool. That's all for Gibby's stripper act, right? That's his part-time job, which, I mean, I've seen it. It should be a full-time job. I'm just saying. She said it should be my what? Should be your full-time job.

Oh, okay, good. I mean, I've called you Magic Mike from very early on in the podcast. Yeah, I can do it. But she's expensive. She's dead on. I mean, now you walked into that. I wish she didn't say small-time job. But-da-boom.

But boom, boom. That we love Jill, though. We do. Hey, Mike and Giddy. This is Nikki, calling you from good old Massachusetts. This is a person that I really have a new podcast. Both retail and a phone. I drive a bus closing, and so I do nothing but listen to the podcast,

and you guys got me through my day. So I just wanted to tell you that I love you guys. And who knows? My mom is maybe me is Gibson and her family's from Ohio. So maybe me and Gibby are related. Who knows? So keep up the good words. Bye.

Nikki G., maybe. You might be. Might be related to the give, man. Yeah. all things are possible hey y'all it's jamie from Dallas Texas

anyways I'm calling of course I listen to the podcast all the time but I was calling for a different reason today of course I still love the podcast y'all are great you're amazing but because of

March madness going on I really never pay attention and my husband always wants Duke to win and so he's all like go Duke go Duke go Duke. Well, for some reason, I was just like, go Kentucky. And he was all, why do you want Kentucky to win? Because that's Mike's team. And it clicked to me. That's where I was always hearing

it. So anyways, it's Friday. The game is coming on later. They're playing Houston. And of course, I'm sure you know that. But I just wanted to say, go Kentucky. I hope they win. And I love you guys. And I guess this week I'll say I'm team. Now, I'm still team Givie. Bye, guys. Have a good week. I like how she psyched you there because you're like, you love her voice. I thought I had one. I thought I had one. You're like, I got her with Kentucky. But just like the Wildcats went down, you went down right there too.

So it, you know, obviously we're always a little behind on voicemails. But I wanted to play this one anyway because I really, I really liked it. Yeah. They won that game Friday night to end up losing the one on Sunday. But what I liked about it was, it was, in your words, almost blummelmend. I think in her mind. Yeah, Tim Gibby, yeah. No, she blurted out Kentucky, but she wasn't even sure right away why she said Kentucky.

Yeah, why she rooting for it. That's great, Jamie. Yeah, we appreciate it. I do more than he does. All right. We had mailbag. Let's hear it. Anna Stokes sent us a book, a really funny book about tourists.

It's basically the series of funny interactions with people from out of town. Oh, some great stories. It's when I did a podcast on that. You should do a podcast on that. Yeah. And Linita Wolf sent some Harley Chips from Eugene Oregon. From that state between California and Washington. Exactly.

I'm not allowed to say the state name anymore. No matter how I do it, it's not correct. There's one way to say it. Yeah. Oregon. That's what I say. Although I still get a bunch of people saying, I say it like Gibby too. Yeah.

I say cousins and that don't make it right, people. Make it right. And then I get all the emails that say, oh, Ferg, you mess this up and I mess all kinds of stuff up. Yeah. The problem is, Gibby is supposed to catch me because we could edit some of those. But Gibby's not paying attention. He's got one hand on his phone texting his peeps on social media.

He's got another phone that tells him his nighttime stripper job schedule. He's got to know what time. Got to make sure I'm where I'm supposed to be. He has to know what time he's got to get out. of here. All right, everyone. You got anything else, Gibbs? No, I got to start doing my flex. You got a flex. Yeah, or stretch. Yeah, stretch and get ready, you know. What are you going? You going policeman tonight? You go on, going old school UPS. Construction worker. UPS man. Uh, that's a staple. I hurt myself the other night when I did Rex West because just wearing the cowboy boots only.

It was a private party. Oh. So those, those are always fun, but they're the worst. Yeah, when he gets slippery in those cowboy boots. Yeah. especially when you're just wearing chaps. Yeah, well, it's... But the tips are good. All right, yeah, we better to leave it right there. What's wrong? All right, 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.