True Crime Campfire - A "Special Place in Hell" Grab Bag

Episode Date: February 21, 2025

We’ve covered some real nasty pieces of work on our show over the years. Dive into true crime for any length of time, and you’re bound to come across plenty of people you wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley. Or a lit one, even. But even among the rogue’s gallery of devil’s rejects out there, there are some in a league of their own. People so devoid of morals and human empathy that they should really just be shoved in some dank little spider-infested oubliette somewhere and forgotten about, just to protect the rest of us. Today, we’re gonna tell you about two of them.Case 1: Hell's Belle - The Crimes of Melissa PattersonCase 2: Making a Killing - The Story of Mark Barton, the Day Trader KillerJoin Katie and Whitney, plus the hosts of Last Podcast on the Left, Sinisterhood, and Scared to Death, on the very first CRIMEWAVE true crime cruise! Get your fan code now--tickets go on sale February 7: CrimeWaveatSea.com/CAMPFIRESources:Appeals court filings, Patterson v State: https://casetext.com/case/patterson-v-state-2099Investigation Discovery's "Diabolical," episode "The Rich Get Richer"Oxygen's "Snapped," episode "Melissa Patterson"Martin Knell's ObituaryKRGV: https://www.krgv.com/videos/murder-victim-s-only-son-speaks-out-following-conviction/My RGV: https://myrgv.com/local-news/2023/09/23/five-years-later-monica-melissa-patterson-still-claims-innocence-despite-the-evidence/Time magazine: https://time.com/archive/6736072/a-portrait-of-the-killer/New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/31/us/shootings-in-atlanta-the-overview-killer-confessed-in-a-letter-spiked-with-rage.htmlWashington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1999/07/31/killer-wrote-of-fear-hopelessness/af33786a-de37-45cd-9d5f-1098379892dd/South Coast Today: https://www.southcoasttoday.com/story/news/nation-world/1999/07/31/atlanta-shooter-had-been-disgruntled/50508538007/Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-campfire--4251960/support.

Hello campers. Grab your marshmallows and gather around the true crime campfire. We're your camp counselors. I'm Katie. And I'm Whitney. And we're here to tell you a true story that is way stranger than fiction. We're roasting murderers and marshmallows around the true crime campfire. We've covered some real nasty pieces of work on our show over the years. Dive into true crime for any length of time and you're bound to come across plenty of people you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley, or a lit one even. But even among the rogues gallery of devil's rejects out there, there are some in a league of their own. People so devoid of morals and human empathy that they should really just be shoved in some dank little spider-infested obliette somewhere and forgotten about, just to protect the rest of us. Today, we're going to tell you about two of them. This is our special place in hell grab bag. Case 1. Hell's Bell, the crimes of Melissa Patterson.

So, campers, for this one, we're in New Bronfels, Texas, January 28, 2015. It was around 9 o'clock in the morning when Mark Nell's cell phone rang. It was his 96-year-old father, Martin's neighbor. Mark, I don't know what's going on, but there's a fire truck and an ambulance in front of your dad's house. she said. That's a call nobody ever wants to get, especially not Mark, who had lost his mom Penny just a few months earlier. His heart racing, Mark ran to his car and headed toward his dad's house in McGowan, several hours drive away. The neighbor was doing her best to explain the situation, but she didn't really know anything specific, so Mark quickly hung up with her and

reached out to his dad's caretaker, Melissa Patterson. What's going on? He texted, call me. A minute or two later, his phone rang. Mark, this is Melissa. She sounded breathless and upset. I'm in the ambulance with your dad. I don't know what happened. She said that Martin's housekeeper, Celestina, had found Martin slumped over the kitchen table,

unresponsive. She'd called 911 right away. Celestina thought he'd probably had a heart attack, Melissa said. EMTs showed up, and now they were on their way to the hospital. Mark drove as fast as he could save drive, desperate to get to his dad before it was too late. As he drove, Mark puzzled over what Melissa had said. A heart attack. His dad didn't have a history of heart problems. Marty Nell was 96, true, but he was an amazing shape for his age. He did a daily morning workout routine that guys

half his age struggled to keep up with. When he was younger, he was a talented basketball and baseball player. He'd been a coal miner for years, and you've got to be tough as nails to do that. Everybody in the family was convinced Marty would live past 100. But it wasn't to be. When Melissa called back a few minutes later, it was to tell Mark that his father was dead. The loss felt even worse

because Mark and his dad hadn't been getting along lately. They hadn't really been communicating at all. Seemed like he had a hell of a time getting his dad to pick up the phone. It was always Melissa or the housekeeper and they'd almost always have some excuse for why Marty couldn't talk right then.

the couple times they had spoken in recent months it hadn't gone well at all now the realization hit him that he'd never have the chance to fix what had gone wrong between them martin nell's death was ruled natural without any real investigation after the funeral a few days later mark went up to melissa and told her he was going to stop by his dad's house in a little while melissa's face went stony no she said we're not opening the house today Uh, what are you talking about? Who the hell is we? And what authority do you have to keep me out of my parents' house? You need to go to your dad's attorney's office, Melissa said. He'll fill you in on the details of your dad's new will. New what? What the hell was she talking about? Mark was about to learn things that would confirm the creeping suspicions he'd had about Melissa for quite some time, things that would turn his family's world upside down. Melissa Patterson had come into their lives because of Martin's wife, Mark's mom Penny. Martin and Penny had been married for 73 years, which is just mind-blowing to me. Together, they'd seen World War II, where Martin was a paratrooper in the 82nd airborne. They'd seen the moon landing, the Kennedy assassination, the civil rights movement, the horrors of 70s fashion, 9-11, and through it all, they stayed totally in love with each other. their son Mark says they were always laughing, dancing around the house, and singing, supporting each other in every possible way.

They were a true love story. But they were old now, and their health wasn't what it used to be. Penny had been struggling quite a bit ever since she fell and broke her pelvis. Martin suffered from bipolar disorder, and taking care of Penny by himself had been taking a major toll on his mental health. She was the love of his life, and he was determined not to fail her. But he was having trouble. At one point, Penny ended up in the hospital because Martin made a mistake with some of her meds. That freaked the whole family out. Sometimes Martin would get overwhelmed and call Mark crying, saying, I can't take care of her anymore.

But when Mark would drive down there to help, Martin would send him away. Pride, I guess. Yeah. Mark tried to talk both his parents into moving up near him so they'd be close by if they needed anything. But Penny vetoed it. She couldn't stand the thought of leaving the community they'd lived in and loved for so many years. Finally, shit hit the fan. Penny had just been discharged from the hospital.

An ambulance brought her home, and Marty, probably in the throes of a manic episode, it sounds like, refused to let the EMTs bring her in the house. He was screaming at them that he couldn't take care of her at home anymore. He didn't know how to work the machines she needed. Poor Penny lay in the ambulance for hours while everybody tried to work something out. the hospital couldn't take her back, but finally, success. They'd found her a place in a local non-profit care home called Comfort House Services. Penny really liked the place, though they did get off to a rough start. Martin showed up at Comfort House the next day to visit Penny, but because the director of the facility had heard about the big blow-up with the EMTs the night

before, she wouldn't let him in, told the staff to put the place on lockdown. Marty didn't take this well. Melissa called the police on him, told them this old man had threatened to come back with a gun if they didn't let him see his wife. It was ugly. Martin went to the sheriff's office and complained that the comfort house staff were illegally preventing him from seeing his wife. The sheriff's office had Martin checked into the hospital on a psych hold so he could be evaluated. Mark decided to take charge of his mom's medical care. He and his wife went down to visit her at Comfort House and they were relieved to see Penny doing so well. After their visit, though, the facility director introduced herself to Mark and took him inside. We want you to take out a restraining order against your father,

the director said, to prevent him from coming here and causing trouble again. Mark was totally stunned. No way, he said. We won't do that. I'll do it then, she said. I have connections in the DA's office. Oh, barf. Mark later told investigation discovery that he felt like the woman wanted them. them to know she was the boss. It really rubbed him the wrong way. This director was, of course, Melissa Patterson. She'd taken over the place about a year earlier, and the reviews from the staff

had been mixed. Some people liked her okay, but others were immediately put off by her. As we've said before, some people have better radar than others. As soon as she took over as director, Melissa had gone around to all the staff and collected their keys. She changed the locks to the offices. She spent a shit ton of money on new furnishings, money the non-profit

couldn't afford to spend. And she took over the finances herself, something the previous director hadn't had a hand in. The lady who'd done the books before her was instantly suspicious, so much so that she quit. On her way out, she told a colleague, I won't work for the devil, and that woman is the devil. Yeah, I think that's actually showing mad disrespect for the devil. He ain't half as bad as Melissa on her best day. The staff at Comfort House began to notice that they weren't receiving financial reports anymore. They used to get them regularly, but Melissa always had an excuse why she couldn't give them one just now. Hmm. Okay, so that's the backdrop of what had been going on for about a year

or so when Martin and Penny Nell entered the picture. So while Penny got settled in at Comfort House, Marty got a few days of psych treatment and was released. Melissa had taken out a case against him with adult protective services, claiming he'd neglected his wife, but the doctors at the hospital and the investigators from APS thought he seemed fine now that he'd been stabilized on meds and realized his wife was in a place where she was happy for the time being. Martin showed up at the care home to visit his wife, this time with a friend, and finally he was able to see his lady love. Melissa didn't seem happy about it at all, but then a strange thing happened. Mark, disturbed by his first meeting with her, had decided to put in a request to

transfer his mom to a different facility. And once Melissa got wind of that, her attitude toward Martin seemed to magically change. She announced to Mark that Martin had taken back control of his wife's care. This is the same guy who she just claimed had neglected his wife. Why in the sudden change of heart? Mark wasn't sure, but he soon learned that his dad had started hanging out at Comfort House every day, visiting with Penny and chatting with the staff. He'd have lunch there and hold court, telling war stories, and charming the socks off everybody he met. The staff loved him. There was just one thing that troubled his son. Martin loved to talk about his investments. He'd invested wisely over the years, and now he and Penny were sitting on a substantial nest egg. They were millionaires,

not that you'd ever know it from the way they lived. Mark wasn't happy about his dad taking control over his mom's medical care again, and he said so. But Martin had always been a stubborn, independent guy. He didn't appreciate his son telling him what he could and couldn't do. They argued about it, but they didn't really get anywhere. Martin was digging his heels in. Soon came the day of Penny and Martin's 74th anniversary, and Mark and his family drove down to visit. It was supposed to be a happy day, but when Mark got there, Melissa Patterson met him at the front door of the facility and ushered him into her office. I'm afraid your mom's not going to last the night, she told him. What? He had no idea she'd taken a downturn. He rushed to Penny's room and he couldn't believe it. The last time

he saw her, she looked great. She was sitting up, laughing and chatting and happy. Now she looked like a different woman. She could hardly open her eyes all the way. She was struggling to breathe. Most disturbing of all, she was so thin, almost skeletal. She'd clearly lost a lot of weight in a short span of time. And it turned out Melissa Patterson was right. Penny Nell breathed her last at about nine o'clock that night. Martin bent down and kissed her as she went. It all hurt Mark's heart so much.

His mom had wanted to die in the home she'd lived in for decades. He'd wanted to give her that, and as he saw it, he'd failed. And it was worse than that. Mark had a nagging feeling in his life. his gut, an instinct that something was wrong about his mother's death. It was a horrible thought, but it wouldn't go away. She'd just lost so much weight. In his deepest heart of hearts, Mark suspected that the facility had stopped feeding her. And if they had, they'd done it right after Mark's dad had taken over control of Penny's health care. Mark was uneasy about it,

but he didn't have any proof. He didn't think anybody at the care home would tell him the truth if he asked, obviously, and ultimately he just tried to push the awful thought away. As for Martin, well, try and imagine how you'd feel if you were in your 90s and you just lost your life partner of 74 years. I can't imagine anything worse, literally. His life had revolved around Penny since he was like 22 years old, and like a lot of people would in his place, Martin began to sort of withdraw. His mental health was clearly suffering. His personality seemed less somehow, as if somebody had turned the voles. volume down. Martin was at the most vulnerable point in his life, a life with a gap gaping hole in

it now. And into that gap, stepped Melissa Patterson. I've got to hand it to this woman. She knows how to play a long game. Penny Nell was gone now, so she no longer had anybody from the Nell family at Comfort House, but she encouraged Martin to keep coming by for lunch every day. And every day, she worked on him. Melissa's got a sort of Suzanne from designing women vibe about her, and I can just imagine the syrupy southern charm she must have poured on Martin to get him and his money under her control. It's not like it would be hard anyway, winning over a man who's just found himself alone after losing his wife of 74 years. Martin Nell didn't stand a chance. She started getting in his ear about his son Mark. There was already tension between them because

of Martin's insistence on taking over Penny's care before she died, so there was a nice big crack there for Melissa to crowbar into. When Mark called Martin up to invite him up for Thanksgiving, Martin said no. He already had plans. Melissa had invited him to have Thanksgiving with her family. And we should take a second to clarify here. Ms. Melissa Patterson didn't need to take money from anybody. She'd grown up in a family of Texas political royalty. Her relatives were successful politicians and judges and mayors. She had no need for Gryfton, but that didn't stop her. Didn't even Slow her down. Melissa told Martin that she didn't approve of that son of his. All Mark seemed interested in was his money, she said. He just wants to control you, Marty. And if there was one

thing Martin couldn't stand, it was being controlled. Do you see a familiar pattern developing here campers? What's the first thing we do if we want to take advantage of somebody? Isolate them from their support system, become their whole world, the only voice in their ear. Penny was already gone. And Mark being a few hours drive away made it easier from Melissa to maneuver Martin right where she wanted him. Soon, Martin stopped answering Mark's calls and wouldn't return his voicemails. Finally, after weeks of this, Mark got his dad on the phone, and he barely recognized the voice on the other end of the line. Mark later told investigation discovery, the words he used, I can't repeat. Martin sounded furious at his son, told him he was sick of his meddling, that he knew all

Mark wanted was his money and to, quote, put me in the crazy house. Mark was totally bewildered. Where would he get an idea like that? But then, further into the conversation, he became aware that there was somebody there with his dad. Is Melissa there, he said? Yeah, she sure was. She told me what you've been up to, Martin said, trying to get power of attorney over me,

trying to take my driver's license away, trying to get your hands on my money. She told me you're the one who committed me to the mental hospital, too. which was not true at all. This part just absolutely kills me that this woman was so easily able to convince this man that his own son was out to get him. It sounded to me like he and Mark had always had a really good relationship

before Melissa Patterson entered the picture, so I'm just confused. I do know, though, that sometimes when people are suffering from dementia, they can be more prone to anger and paranoia, they can get a little aggressive. So I don't know if that was a factor here or not, but I do know Martin was 96. and, I mean, I wouldn't be surprised.

I actually hope there was something else going on because it's scary to think an intelligent man could be that easily turned against his own blood. This was enough to disturb Mark, who was hours away and feeling more and more helpless about Melissa's hold on his father. But there was still a lot he didn't know. For one thing, he didn't know

she'd been embezzling money from Comfort House pretty much since the day she took over as director. She'd already soaked them for about 200 grand, which she'd spent on parties in Vegas. trips and spa days. And when Martin Nell showed up talking about the $1.5 million he'd saved up over the years, it was like Christmas morning for Melissa. All she had to do was separate him from anybody who might try to protect him. You should give me power of attorney, she told Martin. I have a good friend who's a lawyer. He'll do it for us real quick and easy. Martin agreed. And soon after that

was done and dusted, Martin started withdrawing huge amounts of cash from his bank account. A hundred grand, than another hundred grand in another. Just gobs of cash. Melissa's idea, of course. Why would you trust the bank in these troubled times, Martin? You're much better off keeping your money where you can keep an eye on it. Just squirrel it away in the house somewhere. And then Melissa made another great suggestion,

a new will to reflect his new realizations about his Benedict Arnold of a son. They sat down again with Melissa's good friend, the attorney, and drew up the new document, which, of course, made Melissa executor and sole beneficiary. And she wasn't finished yet. She also talked Martin into signing a DNR, a do-not-resuscitate order. You don't want to be a vegetable, Martin. You don't want to end up in the hospital waste and away on machines. Melissa's plan was going perfectly.

She must have been pleased to sponge with herself, but then an anonymous letter showed up on the desk of one of the senior members of the board of directors for comfort house. The letter writer laid everything out, how Melissa had convinced Mr. Nell that his son was not to be trusted, that she'd had herself made power of attorney, the whole thing. Many of us staff members know that she is taking advantage of this poor man, the letter said. Somebody needs to help him. The letter ended, the board of directors needs to investigate this Melissa. She's a mean and selfish lady. This made a major impression on the guy who received it, so much so that he called adult protective services on Martin's

behalf. When Melissa found out, she was furious. But the thing was, everything she'd done was nice and legal. She'd had her lawyer buddy see to that, so there was really nothing the sheriff's office could do as long as Martin Nell said he agreed to everything. Unfortunately, at no point did anybody fill Mark in on any of this. He had no idea Melissa had talked his dad into changing his will and putting her in charge of his entire life. And then one morning, in the shower, Martin fell and heard himself. And Melissa pounced.

You need in-home care, she insisted. Let me find you somebody. Enter Celestina Muscoro, a trained caregiver who just so happened to be fiercely loyal to Melissa. Celestina started living with Martin five days a week, and Melissa gave her strict instructions. If his son calls, he can't come to the phone. Melissa took over for Celestina on weekends, so one of them was always there with him.

During this time, several people noticed that Martin seemed confused and out of it. At one point, he gave his age as 66 instead of 96. A bank official who had a phone call with Martin heard a woman whispering to him in the background. Oh, it's so creepy. I know. Oh, my God. She's just a little snake. It wasn't long after Celestina moved in with Martin that Mark got that terrifying call from the neighbor about the ambulance and fire trucks in front of his dad's house, and that awful call from Melissa about half an hour later that his father was dead of a heart attack. Mark would later

find out that when the EMTs showed up at the house and started trying to revive Martin, Melissa waved the DNR under their noses and made them stop life-saving measures. And of course, we already know what she said to Mark at the funeral. You can't come to your dad's house today. In fact, we had the lock changed. It was your dad's idea. The next few days must have been a continuous nightmare for Mark as he learned about all Melissa's machinations. The power of attorney, the cash withdrawals, the new will, the DNR. All his worst suspicions about Melissa confirmed and then some. His suspicions about his mom's death too.

If he'd kept control of his mom's care, if he'd been able to transfer her to a different facility, would she still be here? It was a horrible thought. With Martin dead, Melissa set about executing his estate, a.k.a. helping herself to his money. But then, in February, Celestina Mascaro paid a visit to the West Loco headquarters of the Texas Rangers. She was freaking out. She told the Rangers that she'd sought them out specifically because she knew Melissa Patterson had a ton of connections in McAllen. She didn't know who she could trust. Celestina was scared for her life, so much so that she'd been couch surfing for weeks

to try and keep her whereabouts secret. She'd been threatened, she said. So had her daughter. And she had a stirring story to tell about the death of Martin Nell. It was murder, Celestina said, and she knew who did it. See, Martin had started to get suspicious of Melissa Patterson. He'd gotten a letter in the mail from one of his investment brokers, letting him know about a change that had been made on some of his stocks. A change instigated by Melissa. And on the day of his death, Martin had called Melissa in a fury, accused her of stealing from him.

Seeing her big payday go up and smoke, Melissa had a way. rushed over to the house to try and talk Martin down. When she got there, she ordered Celestina to go outside and stay there. Celestina could hear the two of them arguing, and as she stood awkwardly outside, she noticed a guy she'd met once or twice before, sitting in Melissa's car. The guy's name was Mario Garza. He was a handyman. Melissa had hired him to fix Martin's shower at one point, and he was very loyal to Melissa. His dad was a patient at Comfort House, but Celestina had no idea what he was doing there now. After a few minutes, Melissa poked her head out the door

and motioned to Mario, who got out of the car and went into the house. He was wearing a pair of latex gloves. Celestina got a bad feeling, and the bad feeling got worse when she heard a commotion coming from inside. Soon, Melissa and Mario both came out of the house. Wait 20 minutes, Melissa said. Then go back into the house.

Melissa got in her car and left, but Mario stayed behind. We know where you live, he told Celestina. We know where your daughter lives, too. Keep your mouth shut about today. And Celestina had, until now. It all unraveled from there for Melissa and her creepy little henchman Mario. Mario folded like a deck of cards the minute they hauled him in for interrogation. He admitted to holding Martin down while Melissa smothered him with a plastic bag.

Oh, God. And of course, the paper trail Melissa had left told a story of manipulation and murder. When they exhumed Martin Nell's body for an actual autopsy, it matched what Mario had told them. Martin had been asphyxiated. That was pretty much it for Ms. Melissa. She was convicted of capital murder and of embezzling funds from the nonprofit, sentenced to 75 years in prison. Mario Garza took a plea deal and got 45 years. Melissa has appealed her case since her conviction, but so far the courts have upheld the jury's verdict, and hopefully they'll continue to do so.

Because forgive me if this word offends your delicate ears, but this lady is a thundercunt from the depths of the netherhels, and she needs to stay right to heck where she is. And one more little detail that I think says a lot. She promised Mario Garza a big chunk of her inheritance in exchange for the murder, and all she actually gave him was $200. If that ain't typical. And by the way, Mark still has suspicions about Penny's death. So do the investigators, because she, I mean, from the distinctions. description of her last day. She sounds like she was doped up to me. So what an asshole. I think they just felt like they didn't have enough to prosecute on that one. So they went for Martin instead.

But this lady, like, she takes the damn cake. Evil. So now moving on to case two, which we're calling making a killing, the crimes of Mark Barton. Another mark. This time a bad mark. For this one, we're in Atlanta, Georgia, July 29, 1999. The city was gripped by fear. In the mid-afternoon, nine people had been shot and killed and 13 others wounded in an attack on two Atlanta day trading firms. And at the apartment where suspect Mark Barton lived, maintenance workers had just found the bludgeoned bodies of his wife and two young children. Twelve people did, more than that wounded, and despite the full efforts of law enforcement, nobody knew where Mark Barton was.

So how on earth did we get here? Mark Oren Barton was born in 1955. His dad was in the Air Force, so the family moved around a bit, but they eventually settled in Sumter, South Carolina. A lot of times kids who move around like that can wind up either learning a lot of social skills to help them fit into new places, or they can just turn inward, and Mark definitely fell into the second category. He was a cold fish. Smart, when it came to math and chemistry, but he made little to no effort to reach out to people or make friends. What he did put effort into was getting his hands on lots and lots of drugs. The sources we've seen just described these as hallucinogenic drugs, which suggests LSD mushrooms maybe, but Mark was hospitalized a few times for accidental overdoses, which is pretty hard to do with those.

So who knows what he was taken, but whatever it was, he was taken too much of it. He took his drug problem with him to the University of South Carolina, where he committed several burglaries to pay for his habit. He was given probation and compelled to go to therapy. Hindsight from where Mark Barton would end up gives more weight to this stuff. I mean, most people who get in trouble when they're young turn out okay. But also, most people would never consider burgling a house, and most people don't have a criminal record in their early 20s. This was aberrant behavior, and Mark was already racking up points on the PCR,

also known as the psychopath test. Despite his legal troubles, in 1979, Mark graduated with a chemistry degree, and later in the year married a fellow student, Deborah Spivey, and moved to Atlanta, where he got a job testing cleaning compounds. They moved to Arkansas and then Texas, when he got a job with a chemical company called TLC manufacturing. Mark would become the president of that company in 1988, making around 86K a year would be more than double that in today's money, so a pretty sweet gig. That same year, Mark and Deborah had a son, Matthew,

Three years later, they'd add a daughter, Michelle. But by then, Mark's life was already falling to pieces. From the outside, a high-paying job and a new family might seem like the signs of a guy whose canoe is sailing smoothly on the seas of life, but to Mark Barton, what it mainly meant was more pressure, and Mark, whose mental stability had always balanced on a knife edge, did not do well with pressure. He started to get super-controlling at home and paranoid about whether Deborah was cheating on him, which, as we'll see shortly, was very much the pot calling the kettle black.

He also became physically abusive. Just two years into his position as El Presidente, the board of TLC manufacturing canned Mark Barton. The next day, he broke into the company offices, stole chemical formulas, and erased a bunch of computer files. He was arrested for burglary, but the same day, a TLC board member called the cops and told them, they'd reached an agreement with Mark. All charges were dropped. So what happened there?

TLC board members said Mark's growing paranoia and worsening temper caused his firing after he blew up over a disagreement about stock options. But Time Magazine dug up a report in which a detective said the burglary, quote, was not intended for the theft of the product formula, but to hide kickbacks, discrepancies, and inventory, or the possible sale of chemicals for drug

activity. Well. Who knows, but Mark was absolutely the kind of person who would steal from his employer to sell to a meth lab. And that's a story any company would prefer to keep out of the news. Yeah. The Bartons headed back to Georgia, settling in the little town of Lithia Springs, just west of Atlanta. And Mark got a job as a salesman for a chemical company. Since his loner days in high school, Mark had learned how to seem personable when he wanted to. So if you're following along with the PCR, you're you can go ahead and check off glibness and superficial charm. Another charmer in Mark's new company was receptionist Leanne Lang. She was a cute blonde who had just turned 20 and looked even younger. Leanne had gotten married to her high school boyfriend and then almost immediately realized she'd made a mistake. Her marriage was ending and she was looking for a new partner.

In an office full of older guys, she made sure that people knew she had a thing for older guys. She and Mark were soon having an affair, with Mark promising to leave his wife. Soon, babe, I promise. It didn't take long for Deborah to get suspicious. Her 37-year-old husband had started working out and going to the tanning bed and bought a new wardrobe that he was a whole generation too late for. Oh, boy. Deborah and Mark became even more distant. He started sleeping on the couch.

Deborah told her dad that a day when Mark didn't speak to her at all was a good day. She was looking into divorce lawyers. If it wasn't for the kids, she probably would have been out of there already. In June of 1993, Mark and Leanne took a trip to North Carolina, and while they were there, they had dinner with some friends of Leanne's. Mark told them he'd be free to marry her before the end of the year. The friends assumed he meant he'd filed for divorce, but nope, he had not done that. Mark tried to take out a million-dollar life insurance policy on his wife, but he couldn't afford the premiums, so he settled for $600,000.

And I'm sure we don't need to tell you this, but a husband looking to leave his wife and taking out a heavy life insurance policy on said wife, that's not just a red flag situation. That's a situation that calls for, like, air raid sirens and searchlights and stuff. Oh, shit. That's a bouquet of red flags. Debra and her mom, Eloise, decided to spend Labor Day weekend in the day weekend. Cedar Bluff, Alabama on the shores of Lake Weiss. Mark would stay home with the kids. On Saturday, September 4th, around 9 p.m., a fisherman heard what he called a real loud fight coming from the trailer Debra and her mom had rented. A while later, another witness saw a big guy running like he'd done something bad, but it was dark already and the description

went no further than Big Guy. Mark Barton was 6'4. A couple days later, Bill Spivey, Deborah's dad, and Eloise's husband, called the cops to do a wellness check after he couldn't get in touch with his family. The officers who went into the trailer found Deborah and Eloise's bodies, hacked to death by something like an axe and already starting to decompose in the late summer heat. God, what an awful thing to walk in on. That's a horror movie. Poor Bill Spivey called his son-in-law to give him the awful news, and he was shocked at how calm Mark was. They drove up to the campsite together. When they got there, Mark said, huh, I've never been here before, which sounded super suspicious to Bill. Mark said he'd been home with the kids all day, but it turned out a neighbor had seen

him leave sometime around 5 p.m. When confronted with that little fun fact, Mark suddenly remembered that, oh yeah, he had gone out actually, leaving Leanne to babysit the kids while he did some shopping and went to a movie. No, he didn't have any receipts. Then he changed his story and said he was out looking for a new job. When an officer said that was kind of a weird thing to try and do after 5 p.m. on a Saturday, Mark took back everything he'd said and asked for a lawyer.

Smooth, man. Way to stay under the radar. Luminol showed there was blood in Mark's car on the ignition switch and the seatbelt where someone with bloody hands might have touched. Mark said this must have been from the previous year when he'd cut his finger real bad.

The blood in the car must have been his own. But he refused to give them a of his blood to compare. And before the police could test the blood more closely, Mark said he'd accidentally spilled enough soda in the car to thoroughly soak both locations and destroy the evidence. So, um, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say this was not the best police work by the local cops in Alabama. If you find blood evidence in a murder suspect's car, don't you like impound the car, you know, to stop the guy from cleaning up the evidence, pouring soda all over it, whatever. Seems like maybe these guys went to clown college instead of the academy.

It's unbefriken leaveable. I can't get over this. No one involved in the investigation had much doubt that Mark Barton was behind these brutal murders. Again, two axe murders, but the Alabama authorities decided they didn't have enough evidence to charge him. him. Well, that tends to happen when you cock up the investigation as bad as they did. A week later, Leanne was sleeping over most nights, and before long, she moved in. She and Mark got married. But it turned out that living with a possibly murderous weirdo old enough to be her dad wasn't the fairy tale Leanne might have hoped for. They fought a lot, and she often stormed out, but always came back. And there were darker troubles at home. Based on what two-and-a-half-year-old

Michelle told a daycare worker, Mark was investigated for sexually abusing his daughter. With no other parent available and Michelle too young to provide testimony, Mark retained custody and the investigation found no wrongdoing. But the investigation did involve Mark being evaluated by a clinical psychologist who found him, quote, certainly capable of homicidal thought and homicidal action. Oh my God. Yikes. You know how much you got to freak out a psychologist for them to write something like that in your file? Wowie. In a new neighborhood where no one knew

anything about his first wife, Mark and Leanne seemed to be a smiling, church-going, all-American couple. Neighbors thought Mark was friendly and helpful. They noticed he cooked all the family's meals and ironed their clothes and they thought this meant he was a caring father and husband.

Not, say, a weirdo control freak. Behind closed doors, though, Mark's paranoia. and depression were both ramping up again. When he let his public mask slip, it was clear Mark's brain was starting to slip its gears. Investigators were still looking into the murders of Mark's first wife and mother-in-law, and in 1988 they warned Leanne that she might be in danger.

She insisted everything was fine. The investigators got the impression she was only staying with Mark because she was worried about what would happen to little Matthew and Michelle if they were left alone with their dad. But this conversation might have stuck in the same. Leanne's mind because she did finally move out, getting an apartment of her own and Stockbridge. She hadn't been there long when Mark showed up at her door holding his kids' hands. He said they were destitute and had nowhere else to stay.

Leanne, probably for the kids' sake, let them move in. At least financially, things briefly looked up for Mark when he finally got some money from the insurance company for his policy on his first wife, Debra. Oh my God. Because Mark was a suspect in her death, the insurers initially hadn't paid out. But with Mark suing them and no charges apparently on the way, they settled. They'd pay him $450,000 with $150,000 going into a trust for the kids. Mark had a plan. Using his brilliant mind, he would quickly grow that $300,000 into millions. He and Leanne would never have to work again. Neither would his kids. Everything would be good and fine forever and ever. The route to this promised land was simple. Mark would make a killing as a day trader. Campers, do you need us to tell you that this is a terrible idea?

Like maybe 10% of day traders make any kind of money at it. And those are people with experience who know what they're doing. Mark Barton was quite smart, but had nothing like the Olympian brilliance he imagined himself to have. That's the kind of person that day trading grinds up like sausage. me, especially because Mark was determined to make money fast and invested in high-risk internet stocks. And for his first couple of months, Mark got lucky and scored big, which was ultimately the worst possible outcome. It meant Mark thought he was a lot better at this game than he actually was, and it also meant he was hooked. This was essentially high-stakes gambling, and that

is dangerously addictive. Mark was popular at Momentum Securities, where he went almost every day to trade. He had a positive attitude. He was always smiling, and he was always willing to share stock tips. He stayed positive at the beginning of 1999 when he started losing money. He fell into the classic gambler's trap. Having lost money, the only way to get it back was to bet more and more and hope for a big win. Yep, a sunk cost fallacy. It's brought a lot of people down. I mean, you know what they say. Most gamblers quit before they hit the jackpot. He'd soon burned through every cent of his $300,000 insurance payout within a few months of receiving it. By the summer, he was $100,000 in debt and momentum suspended his account after he was unable to meet a margin call,

basically a demand that he pay up on debts created by falling stock prices. The only way Mark could imagine making enough money to cover his debt was to keep trading. So he wrote a $50,000 check to reopen his account. But the check bounced immediately, and momentum cut off his trading privileges. Within a week, Mark was directly across the street, trading at all tech investments. He lied to them, saying he was a newbie at day trading and had no significant debts. Even if that were true, it wouldn't have been for long. Mark had the opposite of the golden touch.

What's that? Like, the poo touch? And was soon racking up debt at this new day trading firm. This was a small world. I mean, the two companies were literally across the tree from one another, and Altec soon got a call for Momentum securities, letting them know that Mark Barton was a bad risk who owed them $100,000. Altek, just like Momentum, showed Mark the door.

He left calmly, even cheerfully, promising he'd be back soon to pay back all the money he owed. Mark's grand plan to become a millionaire had turned to dust. He was over $100,000 in debt, a hole he had no prospect of digging himself out of. there were other ways out, of course, most obvious one being to declare bankruptcy. Yeah, but then people would know what a fuck-up he was, and to somebody with Mark's exaggerated sense of self-importance, that was unthinkable. We've talked about this before, y'all, for a narcissist, ego death is death. Like, a threat to the ego can literally feel like a threat to their life. If you know anything at all about family annihilators, this probably all sounds familiar.

and with Mark Barton already a double murderer, what happened next has a kind of grim inevitability about it. On the night of July 27th, while Leanne slept, Mark crept into the bedroom and smashed her head in with a hammer. He hid her body in the bedroom closet behind some cardboard boxes so the kids wouldn't see her. The next day, he took 11-year-old Matthew and 8-year-old Michelle out to dinner, then to the toy store. Back at the apartment, he killed them both the same way he did. killed Leanne, bludgeoning their heads in with a hammer. Then he held each of them underwater in the bathtub for five minutes to make sure they were dead, which makes you think that Leanne's death might not have been as quick and easy as Mark had expected.

He tucked the children's bodies into their beds, put a teddy bear beside Michelle and a game boy beside Matthew. Mark apparently spent the rest of the evening writing self-pitying notes explaining why he'd killed his family. He described Leanne. as one of the main reasons for my demise, although she doesn't seem to have done anything other than give this loser too many chances to stay in her life. Matthew and Michelle, Mark, wrote, had died so they wouldn't have to live with the shame of what Mark was about to do. This, of course, was horseshit. More likely, Mark, like a lot of family annihilators, didn't see his family as fully real, only as property or extensions of himself. He intended to die in the next few

days, and he just couldn't stand the thought of his wife and kids having new lives without him. He didn't kill them to protect them. He killed them because he was a selfish prick. The next day, just before 3 p.m., Mark Barton turned up at Momentum Securities. He had an appointment to pay $50,000 of his debt. He didn't have the money, of course. Mark hung around for half an hour or so, calmly chatting with other traders and commiserating on the stock market decline. When office manager Kevin Dyle came out to talk with him, Mark pulled out two automatic pistols, one a nine millimeter and one of 45. He shot and killed Dyle, then started spraying the room with gunfire. Three other day traders were killed. Edward Quinn, Russell Brown, and Scott Webb. Others were wounded.

A survivor said Mark Barton didn't seem angry at all, just sad. Leaving all that carnage behind him, Mark then walked across the street to All-Tech. He spoke to the manager and his secretary for a few minutes, before again pulling out his guns and shooting two people. Both were severely wounded but would survive. But as Mark moved through the office, he shot and killed four more traitors, Alan Tannenbaum, Dean Delawala, Joseph Desert, and Jamshed Havash. He also killed Vadawati Morolidhara, and I hope I didn't butcher that name, a student working there who had just made. moved to Atlanta to escape crime in her native Trinidad. Bless her heart, what an awful irony.

By the time police arrived, Mark had fled in his green minivan, leaving behind nine dead and 13 wounded. During a massive manhunt, Mark tried to grab a teenage girl to use as a hostage, but she broke free and called the police. Given what he'd already done, I have no doubt at all that he would have killed her if she hadn't escaped. Now that they had his trail, police followed Mark to his shell station. But before they could apprehend him, Mark Barton shot himself in the head and died. So that was how it ended, like T.S. Eliot said, with a whimper. Because of Mark Barton's own weaknesses and failures, nine people were murdered in one hour. Because of his selfish cruelty, his wife and two young children were already dead. And because of his naked greed,

his first wife and mother-in-law had been murdered years before. And by the way, if he he'd been punished for that, all these people would still be here. And to the great regret of no one, except possibly his mom, Mark Barton had taken his own life too. Fifteen people dead because one creep failed at life. So, wow, what a couple shit stains, huh? Both greedy, both selfish, both entirely without empathy for others, and hopefully both riding the twisty slide to hell. Mark's probably already down there, and Melissa's turns are coming. So those were a couple of wild ones, right, campers? You know, we'll have another one for you next week.

But for now, lock your doors, light your lights, and stay safe until we get together again around the true crime campfire. And thanks to the patron who suggested this topic for a grab bag, it caught my attention immediately. I think it's a really good idea. We might do more of these in the future. And as always, we want to send a grateful shout out to a few of our lovely patrons. Thank you so much to Amy, Ruth, Ray.

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