True Crime with Kimbyr - 80’s Halloween KFC Killing: Robin Hoynes Part 2

Episode Date: September 9, 2024

In this gripping follow-up episode, Kim delves deeper into the tragic murder of Robin Hoynes, a 21-year-old assistant manager at a KFC in Torrance, California. On the eve of Halloween in 1984, Robin's life was tragically cut short when she was brutally attacked during her shift by William Charles Marshall, a former employee intent on robbing the restaurant. Although Marshall was initially arrested, insufficient evidence allowed him to walk free, leaving the case unsolved for over two decades. It wasn’t until 2006 that a crucial piece of foam from his boot linked him to the crime, finally bringing long-awaited justice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There was blood on Robin's face and neck. Things were scattered all across the floor, including a lot of paperwork, as well as photographs of Robin's nieces and nephews that she always kept with her in her purse. Cheryl was terrified. She immediately ran out of the door hysterical, and that's when she saw the cook.

He was in the parking lot, and she was frantic. But she was able to quickly explain what she had just seen and told him to call the police, and that's exactly what he went inside and did. It was clear. clear that this was a homicide. Detective Jeff Lancaster from the Torrance Police Department, Homicide Division, was one of the first officers sent to the scene as well as his partner, Detective Kronk, and Detective Dave Krespin, among many others who

were tasked with finding out what happened. Here's what I want to point out about policing in the 80s. It was primitive and sure he'd evolved from decades before, but there were no computer systems and police cruisers and actually police cars were pretty just like any other car in the road, for that matter. There weren't the plastic bucket seats in back or the divider between the cops in the front and the suspects in the back seat. No. They had radios in their cars, but no portable ones yet.

And the cop cars were equipped with things like an electric siren, a spotlight that was connected to the driver's side, so they could use it to shine on a suspect or in addition to the lights on the top of the car. And cops were issued things like books, maps, and 36-inch riot batons that sometimes melted. in the sun if you lived in a hot climate before they were changed out for wood. And in most cases, all they had was handcuffs, a flashlight, and a Smith and Wesson model 38 caliber,

six-shot revolver, so you better be trained to hit your target with precision, because six shots really isn't that much before you need to reload. There were no tasers or pepper spray, and only a select few cops carried mace canisters. There were no dash cams or body cams, so no one had any way to know exactly what went down during a traffic stop or when you pulled up to the crime scene. And getting to the crime scene was another thing altogether. There was no GPS. You had to know your way around town. So can you imagine trying to hurry to the scene of a crime? No clue where to go other than using a big paper map in the car? What if you got lost? Well, most times cops would have to stop at the nearest gas station and ask whoever was out there pumping gas where a certain street was.

And if that didn't work, remember when I told you about those pay phones? Yeah. Cops would have to call their supervisors. And most times, they would definitely get yelled at. But at least it would put them in the right direction. Laws were different back then, too. There was no law about wearing your seatbelt. Our mother's arms.

That was our protection as kids in the 80s when she stopped short. So our face wouldn't hit the dashboard and car seats weren't even used either. And all this meant that accidents were much more safe. serious when they happened. And at the time, paramedics weren't even a thing. An ambulance, that was pretty much just to transport a patient to the hospital. That's it. No medical attention provided until they made it to the emergency room.

Just let that sink in. If you think that the response times are bad now, just imagine it back then. And what's worse is that things like drunk driving, they were socially acceptable. I kid you not. So there wasn't an emphasis on chasing down people with open containers in their car while driving or who were under the influence that they got pulled over for something else and I don't want to be like it was a man's world but it kind of was like the cops they wouldn't take certain things seriously including

domestic incidents where a man would be harming his wife because back then it was acceptable that a woman was supposed to submit to her husband and if she didn't a good smacking could be warranted and also men forcing themselves on women to have intercourse that was taken a lot more lightly almost like what's the big deal it's just sex but we know that it's much more and that it's wrong. But times were different. And that's kind of crazy that cops would be more likely

to shrug off someone that had been drinking behind the wheel if you think about the fact that cars were not as safe back then. I just told you seatbelts weren't enforced or worn very often. And it was common for blood alcohol levels to be 0.15 to 0.25. Now if you get caught with a BAC of 0.08% or higher, you get a DUI. get a DUI, like handcuffs you're going to jail. And it's even lower in some states depending on your age. All of this to say, when cops came out to a scene,

there wasn't much that they had to assist them besides deduction skills. And most of the stuff they learned was from on-the-job training. So they just learned as they went along and as they experienced each murder or crime. They did have cameras and video recording devices back then, and they did rely on photographs and videos to document what was at the scene, which was important,

because cops were usually taking handwritten notes on little notepads and they wouldn't create a full report until the end of their shifts. So knowing all the facts of a case was hard until all of the officers on scene were done with their reports. And sometimes they never got done at all, unfortunately. This is what the scene looked like in the parking lot of the Torrance Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant

that Halloween morning. You can see Robin's car in the foreground. Then behind her car, there was a parking lot full of detectives officers talking about what they knew so far, which wasn't much. I like to find the exact locations, and I match this picture of this blue Capri building in the back and this cement wall that had different levels to it to this exact location, where this compounding pharmacy now stands. You can see the same wall, and there's the Capri building. It's surprisingly still there, and it looks very similar to the way looked almost 40 years ago. Detective Lancaster made his way into the back kitchen area, and this is what it

looked like. You can see it's been cleaned for the night. There were steel countertops where food was prepared on the left and on the right is a work station. It's also where they kept supplies including the chicken buckets and containers for other food items. That's where the paperwork was typically done at closing time. You can see Robin's purse in this shot as well. When Detective Lancaster looked into this area, he observed Robin fully clothed in her work uniform lying on the floor. She had on pants, a shirt, vest, bra, underwear, a tie, shoes, and socks on.

She was lying face down on the concrete floor, right in front of the steel counter on the left. She was parallel to it with a pool of blood under her head and neck. He could see slash marks on the left side of her face and a neck wound that appeared to be caused by a knife across her throat. He could also see two wounds on Robin's back.

To the right of her body was her purse, which I showed you earlier. So that was a little above her feet. She was laying with like her feet facing towards the back and her head towards the front. And then her purse was to the side. And it looked like it had been dumped out. All the contents were on the floor beside her. Let's take a look.

You can see in this picture there's the brown purse to the bottom. And there was a hairbrush, pens, juicy fruit-flavored gumsticks, some kind of brochure, a checkbook, a pack of tissues, some bobby pins. what looks like a bottle of medicine maybe and miscellaneous papers, an empty wallet, as well as photos of Robin's family that she kept with her, and also what might be a day planner or a notebook from work, as well as just other random items thrown all around. On the counter to the right, they found paperwork, white out, a calculator, pens, receipts, the typical end-of-shift documents that employees who were closing the store would prepare at the end of the night.

It appeared as though Robin had finished up her shift, completed the cleaning, sent all the employees home, and was standing at the workspace counter in the back kitchen area, balancing the cash register and calculating sales and then documenting everything when someone attacked her. Because of the fact that her purse was dumped out, the officer suspected that this was probably a robbery, but this investigation had just begun. Here's a video that the detectives took of the scene. It looks like an ordinary storage area with supplies. and here's a shot of the contents of Robin's purse from a different perspective, along with what looks like paperwork and a work notebook on the floor, among other things.

This right here is actually a cash deposit bag that banks provided businesses. It's where employees would put all the money from the shift, and then they would take it to the bank or put it in a safe place on site to be deposited later. That's telling, but was it empty, or was there cash inside? Well, we're going to get to that later. There also looked to be a set of keys next to the deposit back.

Next to the deposit bag. Here's a better shot of where Robin was working on the paperwork. You can see a briefcase on the counter and back and papers scattered all around. All that had been done at this point, as far as the investigation was concerned, was a walkthrough of the scene. The next step was to identify the victim,

notify their loved ones, and then find witnesses or anyone with information about Robin or this Kentucky Fried Chicken store to interview them. And of course, they were there to collect evidence and analyze it if there was anything of value found. So the detective looked into Robin's wallet, and he found her driver's license. And that's how he knew her address. So he sent an officer out there to notify next of Ken, but no one was home at the Hoyne's residence.

That's why he left that note that was eventually found by Kim. And that is where I left off. Kim had just been notified that her little sister had been killed. She knew that she needed to tell her mother, but she didn't think it was appropriate to have that conversation over the phone. She told Detective Lancaster that she was going to drive over to the house where Ethel was babysitting and tell her in person. Lancaster was worried about Kim driving in that state of mind. Just being told that your family member was stabbed to death was a very traumatic event. But Kim insisted that she would be fine, that she had to tell her mother in person.

And that's exactly what she did. She drove over to the family friend's house where Ethel was babysitting the afternoon, and she informed her mother that Robin had been killed. She couldn't bring herself to say the word murder because of the impact that that word had. And it took many years before the Hoyne's family could use that word to describe what happened to Robin. But it's true.

This was not an accident. Somebody had brutally murdered her. When Ethel heard what Kim said, she immediately started yelling at her, saying, no, you're lying to me. You're lying to me. And she repeated. that over and over again but Kim was like, no, Mom.

I wish I was. And Ethel couldn't believe this could be true. But she didn't have much time to let it sink in. There were other family members who needed to know what happened and right away. Kim and her mother called Virgil next. He was still at work at the water company when they called him.

And being the strong husband and father that he was, he calmly told them that he would meet them at home. Once back at the Hoyne's residence, Kim and Ethel started calling their other family members and they sent Robin's cousin Beth over to Listerna High School. Robbins younger sister Wendy was in class that day. It was close to the end of the school day at this time and Wendy was still dressed in her lion costume and she was finishing up assignments in her sixth period biology class when her substitute

teacher answered the door and an administrator was standing outside and the two of them talked for just a moment before the administrator informed Wendy that she would need to follow him to the principal's office. Wendy wasn't sure what was going on because the only time that she'd ever been in the principal's office was when she attended student government meetings. And as Wendy walked down the hall, she noticed her cousin Beth standing by the door to the office and she thought, that's weird. What's Beth doing here? And she wasted no time. Beth informed her that Robin had been stabbed at work the night before. Wendy was in shock. She wasn't sure that she heard her correctly. And the first thing Wendy asked was, did she tell her?

was did she die because she couldn't fathom losing her sister. She wanted her to be alive. Maybe she was harmed, but alive. And sadly, Beth let her know that Robin is dead. It makes me so sad for these poor sisters and their family. Wendy immediately began to shake. At 16 years old, this was very overwhelming for her. Emotionally, she wasn't sure how to deal with

or express the feelings that were going through her. She didn't know any reason, someone would want to hurt Robin. So she wondered, is their family safe? Was someone after them for some reason? Were they next? It was a lot to take in. But she and Beth finally made their way back

to the Hoyne's residence. And in all the commotion, no one had reached out to Tricia at Sizzler. They knew that she'd be coming home that evening after her shift. And there was just so much going on with so many family members and friends driving over to the Hoyne's home to be with them that Tricia had no clue what had happened.

as she made her way down Homeland Avenue towards her house. Cars were parked all along the road, which was not typical for their streets. And as she got closer and parked, Trisha saw Beth and Wendy standing outside in the driveway, and that's when Trisha thought, okay, something must have happened. But her first thought didn't go to her own sister or even a family member. She assumed that maybe their elderly neighbor, who they all considered like a grandma, had died. What else could it be? Well, once Trisha walked up. Her family gathered around her and she heard one of them tell her that Robin had

been killed. And then everything became a blur. Tricia actually collapsed outside. Her loved ones had to pick her up and help her into the house. They got her into her bedroom and as she came to, she was just sitting there on the floor. And Ethel was yelling. She said, bring her a Pepsi and her cigarettes. I guess her mom figured she had to calm down. And back then, there's nothing a little soda and cigarettes can't help. But as Trisha was sitting there was there. She looked down and she saw Robin's name on the Flagstor outfit that she was wearing, the one that she borrowed from her closet that morning and she just lost it. She started screaming. She was like, get it off me, get it off me, while grabbing at her clothing and she was trying

to remove it. She was freaking out thinking that she was now wearing her deceased sister's clothing and she needed to take them off as fast as she could. It just felt wrong. All of this did. People People weren't supposed to die young. No, it's supposed to be old people who live their lives, and they weren't supposed to be killed. And Robin had so much life to live. Who would have done this to her? Especially on one of their favorite holidays.

It was Halloween. And before they knew it, the sun went down, and kids were starting to knock on doors throughout the neighborhood. This was the night that the Hoynes always look forward to. And even though they were dealing with a real nightmare, Time didn't stand still. People didn't know that they were sitting in darkness huddled together crying about Robin.

Instead, it was a time for most wittier kids in the area to excitedly run up to the door, banging, ringing the doorbell and shouting, trick-or-treat, and expecting to be greeted with a smile and some goodies as they stood there dressed head to toe as creatures from funny to evil in human form. And the hoins couldn't handle it. They turned off all the long.

lights, they brought in the carved pumpkins, and they hoped that no one would venture up to their door that night like Halloween's in the past. It just wasn't the same. It felt scarier, more real. Death surrounded them as they were grieving and coming to terms with their loss. Halloween would never be the same for them. And this really goes to show you that you never know what other people are dealing with, the pain that they're experiencing behind those closed doors. And back at the Kentucky Fried Chicken, officers, and detectives had been at the scene all day, piecing together any clues that they could find

to build a theory of what they believe happened. Forensic investigation was a lot different in the 80s. Detectives didn't even wear gloves. They weren't worried about evidence preservation. Instead, they were using their eyes and their observation skills. What they noticed is that there was no signs of force entry, which to authorities meant either someone

had stayed inside this restaurant after closing and somehow went unnoticed, maybe, hiding somewhere until they had a chance to sneak up and attack her? Or maybe Robin knew the person who killed her, and she let them inside. Could it be someone she felt comfortable enough with in the restaurant after hours while she was finishing up her paperwork at the end of the night?

Was she expecting someone, a friend, a boyfriend? Or was this a stranger who somehow gained access to the restaurant? Robin's key ring, which included the keys to the restaurant, the safe, and her car were never found. found. They were never accounted for anywhere. It was also clear that Robin had been stabbed and no bloody weapon was found on the premises or any instrument that would have most likely caused these wounds. That made this investigation harder since fingerprints were the number one way that homicides were solved back then. Dusting for prints is one of the first ways to gain insight

on who the perpetrator may have been. It's much easier if there's a gun or a knife left behind that can be dusted for prints. Our fingers naturally have oil on them, and when they come in contact with certain surfaces, that oil is left behind. Or in some cases, the fingerprints could be left in blood at the scene. The most obvious areas are dusted first, like weapons, doors, door handles, locks,

things that we would naturally grab, and then they'd move on to dusting other areas where latent prints could be found. And they did this by using a very fine black dust that they still use today, and a soft brush that kind of sprays the dust all over the area, revealing prints that can't be seen with the naked eye. Then tape would be used to transfer these prints to a piece of paper,

and then they were examined and compared to ones that were already on file. Back then in the 80s, children as old as five would have their fingerprints taken at school, and this was part of an initiative with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. That way they were already on file in case they were needed if any of them went missing. But most fingerprints came from criminals when they got arrested for violent crimes, So their fingerprints would be on file. And if they weren't known to authorities, the fingerprints at the scene wouldn't be much use

unless they could be matched to a known suspect. However, in the early 80s, the Japanese National Police Agency established the first system for matching prints electronically. And that made it easier not only to store prints, but to also locate criminals using fingerprints. It's called the automated fingerprint identification system, or APHIS. I'm sure you've heard the acronym before.

But of course, at a workplace like this, with a number of employees coming in and going around and doing things, there could be so many fingerprints on the scene, and each one of them would need to be matched to someone, and then suspects eliminated. But they had to find those suspects first. And after the initial walkthrough of the premises, it was time for officers who canvass the nearby areas and also interview family, friends, and employees of the Kentucky Fried Chicken. Upon talking to Robin's family, they provided all the information you already know about her character, her work habits, and what her plans were the night she was killed. Now detectives move on to her coworkers. Cheryl, who was still on the scene, was being questioned.

She had explained that she switched shifts with Robin, and she knew how Robin operated the restaurant. According to Cheryl, she was very cautious. She always told Cheryl to lock the door behind her and other safety measures to take since they were handling large sums of cash during the night shift. The policy when it came to the money collected from registers at the end of the night was to put it in the on-site safe,

which I'm going to show you in a moment. However, Cheryl explained that lately, management had been instructing the closing shift managers or assistant managers to put the money into a bank deposit bag, the same one that we saw lying on the floor and pictures and video, and then to walk across the parking lot to the first interstep bank deposit drop box

and put the money inside. This is where that bank was located, just a four-minute walk or about a minute drive. But if they didn't feel comfortable doing that, because it was nighttime, they could take the money home and make the deposit the next morning. This was because management had become aware of money that was missing from the on-site safe at that location. It happened on October 15th for the first time, and then on the 18th. And guess who reported the first theft? Robin did. The second one was reported by one of the

other assistant managers. They still hadn't gotten to the bottom of how the money went missing and who was responsible, whether it was a mistake in accounting or if someone had actually stolen it. So they were just trying to cover their bases by not leaving money on site. The detectives asked Cheryl, who was one of the people who knew the combination of the safe, if she could come inside and open it. They wanted to see if the money that Robin had collected at the end of the night was inside the safe, since it was not inside the deposit bag that was lying on the floor nearby. They were trying to put together Robin's last moments. This is what the safe looked like.

It was located in the back of the kitchen area on the floor. It was encased in concrete and not removable. There was a cover that went on top, but at the time they found Robin, that cover had been pushed aside, and it was lying nearby. That's it right there. And this is what prompted the detectives

to find out whether the money had been put inside the safe that night or taken by the killer. You needed two keys and a combination to open the safe. It's a very interesting looking safe. I've never seen anything like this before. it's inside the ground, but I guess that's inconspicuous and it makes sense for this type of establishment. And sure enough, when Cheryl opened the safe, the money was inside. And she thought that was very odd considering that I just told you,

their standard operating procedures ever since that money had gone missing, was to deposit it that night or take it home with you. It was too risky to leave it behind until they got to the bottom of who was stealing it and why it wasn't accounted for. But there it was. $600. as well as all the receipts from that day stacked in an organized manner inside a union bank bag

and placed inside. I'm showing it to you on the screen. When counted up and compared to the paperwork, all of the money was there. This meant the killer didn't take the money. And this added an extra layer of mystery to Robbins' murder. If it wasn't a robbery, why was she killed? The detectives needed more information,

and that's all the information that Cheryl could provide, besides giving them the name of the general manager of the location who I briefly mentioned earlier, 26-year-old Gregory Rabdow. He came to the scene as soon as he was informed of Robin's murder. It was shocking, but a part of him suspected that something bad could happen. And I'll explain more about that in a minute. But detectives want to know the last time he saw Robin and what he could tell them about the way the restaurant operated, who worked there, who had access to the safe, things like that. Greg said that he actually came to the restaurant the night

at 7 p.m. to help Robin with closing. He explained that he needed to complete some paperwork and meet up with a former assistant manager, a guy named William Marshall, who had left his briefcase behind a few days earlier. Remember we saw that in one of the pictures? Greg explained that he had some administrative things to take care of with William, but William never showed up by 9 p.m. So Greg began to help Robin with the nightly task before leaving her alone to close. He told the detectives that the last time he saw her was sometimes,

around 11 or like 1115 or so she had all the money out on the countertop and she was doing calculations he looked over her shoulder to see what she was working on to calculate an estimation of the time of death or when this attack occurred the detectives asked Greg to take a look at the paperwork from the safe and let them know if he could estimate how much longer it appeared that Robin had continued working after he left like what had she gotten done since you saw the papers last Greg took a look and from his memory it appeared that Robin had probably dedicated at least about 10 to 12 more minutes of work after he last saw her. So now they believe the attack happened sometime after 11.30 p.m. or so.

There were other things that Greg told the detectives which piqued their interest. For one, he said that when he left, he told Robin to lock the door behind him. Okay, that's not that weird. Then after she did that, he went and checked that the other door was locked and deadbolted. He said that he had an uneasy feeling after he left. He said, quote, I'm not that kind of person. I don't believe in ghosts, but I had the feeling something was wrong. End quote.

He claimed he felt as though he was being watched and was uncomfortable leaving Robin all alone. So instead of driving off right away, Greg claims that he parked his car across the street and kept an eye on the store. He could see it from where he was parked. And he could see Robin inside completing her paper. Then he said that after he'd been sitting there for some time, he looked at himself in his river mirror and he talked to himself and said, you're crazy. After that, he drove away. That's interesting. I mean, was that what really happened? Or was Greg worried that someone may see his car park awkwardly near a restaurant as a woman was all alone inside and he was watching her? That could look

pretty bad. And telling himself he was crazy? Was he? I don't know. Perhaps he was creating an excuse in case an eyewitness put him at the scene after he was supposed to be gone. Or maybe he wasn't ever in the restaurant helping Robin that night. Maybe he came there later and he attacked her. I mean, why would he need to come help another manager close the store? Robin had done this many times in the past. And why even schedule to meet up with a former employee after 7 p.m.? Why not earlier in the day during more normal business hours?

It definitely seemed suspicious. He was trying to say that he hung around for five hours on a day that he wasn't scheduled to work. Plus, Cheryl admitted that William, the former assistant manager, had called much earlier in the day while she was working and told her that he might come by to pick up his briefcase and to drop off his uniforms. She even let Robin know he might be by later. It wasn't rock in science. It didn't need a general manager to be there. Robin was capable of handling it herself. She knew William, so it just seemed kind of odd that Greg would have needed to be there. But of course, the plot thickens. And before I get into more of those details,

I want to tell you about the autopsy report. Dr. Margaret Greenwald, a forensic pathologist, performed an autopsy on Robin. The report stated that Robin had died from two fatal stab wounds. However, it shows four wounds altogether. The two fatal wounds were on her back and the other two were on her neck. The only information I had was to actually look at the autopsy documentation and you you probably know how hard it is to read a doctor's handwriting, let alone terminology. But from what I gathered, there were two stab wounds on her lower back to the right side, and one was very deep. On the report it mentioned a total depth of nine inches, and it perforated the lungs and the heart.

The other stab wound was right next to it, and it went in at more of a side angle. It wasn't as long, but it was also very deep. So these two wounds were very intense, and they were both determined to be. to be fatal. They were also consistent with having been inflicted by a single edged knife with a thin blade. The wounds to her face and neck area. There was a slash across her neck from about the midpoint to about the left ear area, so like all across that part of her neck, as well as scratches to her left cheek. There was also a wound to the right side of her chin, so this was a very gruesome murder. It took a great deal of force. But Robin was probably

ambushed from behind, considering that those stab wounds in back were very deep. And it was most likely when she was doing the paperwork, because her body was found in that vicinity. Robin didn't have any defensive wounds, so she was unable to fight back. And Dr. Greenwald opined that Robin was likely stabbed from behind near where she lay, 12 feet away from the safe, because there was no blood trail between her body and where the safe was. So back at the crime scene, the detectives find a couple drops of blood on that safe. So they asked Cheryl if she could take a look at it. They said, does it look any different from the last time you saw it?

And she said, yeah. It looks banged up, her words. There were scratches on it. There was paint chips off of a new combination lock that they'd recently put on. So this evidence suggested that the perpetrator had tampered with the safe in an effort to gain access to its contents after Robin was killed

because there was blood present. Robin's body was found, like I said, 10 to 12 feet away from the safe. And there were blood stains on Robin's clothes, next to her left elbow, near the safe, and in several other places. But there was no trail of blood between Robin's body and the safe, which was kind of odd. They just considered that to mean she died where she was laying, that she didn't run from the safe back to where she was laying or vice versa. The detectives had a working theory.

They thought that the person who killed Robin was attempting to rob the store, and they believed that Robin saw the person and knew what their intention was, or that she felt uneasy. So instead of keeping the money with her, which she was supposed to do, that was a new policy, she opened the safe that night, possibly trying to hide the money because she was afraid the person would steal it from her,

therefore putting her in danger, so she didn't want it to be on her. Greg had told the detectives that when he saw Robin last, the money was out on the counter. And because opening up the safe wasn't exactly something you could do quickly, you'd need at least a couple minutes or so. You had to use two keys,

and put in a combination. What this suggested to them was that it didn't appear that Robin was being attacked and ran to the safe, opened it, and then threw the money inside. Remember, no blood trail. And it was stacked in an organized manner. So it made more sense that Robin saw the perpetrator

before the attack. They could have even been there while she was working and then ambushed her. Robin was a cautious person. She would not have just let anyone inside that store. And we know there's no sign that anyone broke in. So they had to be let in or had a key. So they really needed to speak with Greg again

because it was almost as though this killer knew that Robin would be able to identify them. So they knew she needed to be killed. But then in the end, they got away with nothing except the cash that was in Robin's purse. And it kind of didn't make sense that it would be Greg because he had the keys and the combination. He could have easily opened the safe at any time

and he definitely didn't need to kill Robin to get to it. But if it wasn't, wasn't him. Would he have any idea who else could have done this? Greg, of course, cooperated providing more information about the missing money and seemed to be pointing the finger at someone else. Greg explained that he had taken issue with this former assistant manager that I mentioned, William Marshall, from the very beginning of him working at that location on October 2nd of that year.

William had trained over at another location in Fountain Valley a month earlier in September. And after training, William was placed at the Torrance location under Greg's supervision. But what rubbed him the wrong way was that from the beginning, Greg said that William asked for a raise, just right away asking for more money and came in late on two occasions. And okay, I mean, sure, that's a bit bold and a little irresponsible, but not over the top. However, to Greg, it warranted a suspension for four days. He ran a tight ship at his store and he wanted to set a precedent in the beginning. that that wasn't acceptable.

Then on the morning of the 15th of October, while William was on that four-day suspension, money was missing from the safe when Robin opened the store that day. She reported this right to Greg. There were no signs of force entry on the restaurant doors or the safe. And the only people who had keys to the store

and the safe and the combination to the safe at the time were Greg, Robin, and William. Greg didn't want to jump to conclusions, but before he could really investigate, William called him on the morning of the 18th, just three days later, reporting that $1,120 was missing from the safe. William was the one who was working this shift before on the previous night. He had locked the restaurant at 10 p.m.

And then he was the first person to return the next morning. So between the time he left in the morning, someone stole the money. And again, there were no signs of force entry. This Kentucky Fried Chicken location had never experienced any thefts before William began working there. So Greg, of course, reported this to the first. the police and thought it was William because it kind of made sense to him. And then on October 20th, 10 days before Robin was killed, Greg once again suspended William believing that he was the thief, even though he didn't have any concrete proof.

And then they installed a new combination lock on a safe and changed the code without telling William. By October 26, Greg decided to terminate William because he was able to find a replacement by having Cheryl Fuller transfer from another location. At that point, he provided William with a letter setting forth the reasons for his termination including among other things his tardiness and of course the missing money william handed over his keys to the exterior doors and to the safe then gregg went a step further and changed the locks to the restaurant after this he provided new keys to robin and Cheryl as well as the new safe code and all of this is what prompted that change in how the money was handled at the end of the night not leaving the money in the safe because they still weren't sure how it

going missing. After his termination, William wrote a letter to Greg and he was pleading to please have his job back to reconsider. He really, really wanted to keep his job. He even offered to take money out of his own paycheck and replace what had been taken. Well, Greg assumed that this was an admission of guilt. So it only solidified his decision to replace William with Cheryl. And all of this was being provided to detectives to clear Greg's name and to offer William as a potential suspect. Maybe he had a grudge against Robin for reporting the first theft. But Cheryl was the one that was supposed to be working that night. So perhaps William wanted to get back at her for taking his position.

Plus, he was supposed to come in that day to retrieve his briefcase and return his uniforms. It does sound plausible. Disgruntled employees have killed for revenge. However, every angle needed to be explored. And crime in Los Angeles in the 1980s was at an all-time high. The city was plagued by gang violence, drug trafficking, and many other forms of crime. The crack cocaine epidemic had began in the mid-80s, and it had a devastating impact on the city. It led to a surge in violence and social unrest. And at the time of Robbins' murder, Los Angeles had the highest homicide rate in the country,

with over a thousand murders committed. There were four people being murdered every day. Los Angeles also had a high rate of other violent crimes like robbery, carjacking, and assaults. And they experienced a number of high-profile crimes in the 80s, which included murders of celebrities like John Belushi and Natalie Wood, as well as the Hillside Strangler and the Night Stalker serial killings. The city was big and it's a diverse place, and police officers had to be prepared to deal with a wide range of situations. And the thing is, if you live here in LA like I do,

you'll know that there's the city of L.A., and L.A. the county. L.A. the city is where a lot of these crimes were happening. L.A. County encompasses a much larger area than the city does. And though Torrance is in L.A. County, it is not the part of L.A. that was being ravaged with crime. Most of the violent crime was in south central L.A., which is here on the map, 31 minutes away from the beach town where the Torrance Kentucky Fried Chicken is located. This area is really nice.

It's more upscale. and remember I said, Robin lived more inland away from the beach. While she worked about 40 minutes away over by the coast, and as you get closer to the beaches, the more expensive it is to rent or own a home. This area isn't known for a lot of violent crime, so Robin's murder didn't seem to be related to a random act of violence. But they had to keep their mind open.

So they went back to basics combing through the clues at the crime scene. And unfortunately, there were no fingerprints found at the scene. Wow. And to me, that's surprising because so many people would have been working there coming in now, but I guess whoever cleaned that night did a really, really good job. So then they turned to the items that were collected from the back room of the restaurant where Robin was found. And something stood out to them, but they weren't really sure what it meant or if it meant

anything at all. They were just grasping at straws looking for anything to connect someone to this crime. And this item right here stood out because they couldn't figure out where it came from or what it was. It was an oddly shaped piece of foam rubber, and it was a little curved, as you can see in this picture. It could be trash, you know, from either an employee working that day or even a customer that came in the restaurant and maybe just got swept into the area and back. They weren't sure how it got there and they weren't sure what its purpose was. They were stumped. I wouldn't know what it was.

It kind of looks like an old maxi pad. I mean, it's not, I don't think, but that's what it looked like to me. It was like a fat, thick foam maxi pad. That's what it looked like. Some of the detectives thought it looked like it could be padding, padding on like a backpack strap or a purse handle, because maybe the killer was wearing a backpack. And they got in a struggle with Robin and it broke. They didn't know.

It was all speculation. But they did take note of it since it didn't seem to come from anything that Robin owned at the scene, like her clothing or anything like that. What I noticed straight away was the piece of hair that was embedded inside. But again, no one knows where this item came from. but you think that that hair would be a huge clue. That's my modern day DNA brain thinking, but I have to remember the 80s investigative technology or lack thereof, and they weren't necessarily focusing

on hair the way that we do now with DNA testing. However, hair was a big deal in the 80s. The forensic technique used was microscopic analysis, and it was done at the renowned FBI Crime Lab, where there were hair and fiber experts. And they would use these high-powered microscopes to examine more than a dozen physical characteristics from things like pigment distribution

to something called scale patterns, to even the diameter of the shaft and the length. But then there were more subjective observations like color and texture, because what one person sees as brown could be black to another person's eye. And if a hair is curly, how curly is it? Is it spring-like curl or a wave?

Those characteristics were, less reliable. And actually the whole science of hair analysis is flawed, but that didn't stop the FBI analysts and the courts from accepting it as a valid evidentiary element to convict thousands of people. Even though there were no reliable statistics, jurors would accept what witnesses would say. And with each solved case that used hair analysis to put someone behind bars, it perpetuated this unreliable science. It wasn't until the mid to late 80s when DNA testing of hairs began and it was still in its infancy but it blew the mind of a lot of scientists when they realized that two microscopically indistinguishable hairs were not from the same person it was scientifically

invalid to look at hairs under a microscope and compare them and connect them with people and according to the Innocence project nearly a quarter of the more than 300 people that have been exonerated by DNA had been convicted in part by hair analysis Another thing is, hair is so easily shed. I mean, so much of my hair is everywhere, and it gets embedded on things that could come from all over in anyone. You could be walking on the street and get someone else's hair on your shirt, and they didn't do anything wrong.

So it is very questionable evidence. And without much to go on, they began looking into William Marshall. He was only 23 years old at the time, and by all accounts, he was friendly. He was quite religious. He went to church on a regular basis, and was known to be very ambitious. But detectives decided to pay. him a visit on October 31st after obtaining all the information from Greg. The detectives visit Williams' residence where he lived with his girlfriend, Yvonne. When the detectives

arrive at Williams' home and they knock on the door, William answers, when he was informed that a murder had taken place at the Torrance Kentucky Fried Chicken Restaurant, William remained composed and he cooperated. He willingly accompanied the detectives to the police station for additional questioning. Now, during the drive to the station, The detectives were taking note of anything that stood out. First, they noted that William never asked who was killed. Instead, he waited for them to tell him. And then they made another observation.

They noticed that William had a Band-Aid on his left index finger when he was in the cop car. But later, once he was in the interview room, the Band-Aid was no longer there. But later, it was located in the ashtray in the back of the cop car. We don't have those anymore. But that used to be a thing. The cut on his finger looked like it was fresh. And the detectives observed that William was right-handed and they asked him about the cut and he was very forthcoming.

He said he got it the night before. He provided detailed information about all of his activities on the prior evening. According to his statement, he said he was home at around 7 o'clock p.m. And at that time, he left to go to a nearby liquor store and then he returned back to the house at approximately 8 p.m. Then he helped his girlfriend Yvonne prepare dinner and that is how he injured his finger. he was cutting garlic. He said he ate dinner with Yvonne and her children. They watched TV and then they went to bed. William also agreed to provide hair and fingerprint samples and permission to search his home and even called Yvonne telling her to give the detectives permission to search the house and to give

them the clothing that he was wearing the previous night. William also gave them a blood sample. He was honest about having weapons on him as well. The detectives asked him if he had any knives and William showed a pocket knife that he always carried. The detectives initially confiscated this knife but it was returned to him because it was too small to be the murder weapon now it was time to ask Yvonne a few questions mostly to secure Williams alibi she agreed to speak with them and confirmed that William was with her the night before he had come home around 6.30 or 7 p.m. then they made spaghetti for dinner and he was with her for the rest of the night however she did

mention that she went to bed around 930 and remembered that William was still watching TV or playing a video game but that he was in bed later and he was in bed when she woke up in the morning. Since they had Yvonne in front of him at that moment, they decided to show her a few pictures of the items from the crime scene to see if she'd recognize any of them. And one of those items was that weird piece of foam. Remember that thing?

So Yvonne took a look and they asked her if she happened to know what this thing was, considering, you know, William worked at Kentucky Fried Chicken. Maybe it was something related to the restaurant and Yvonne might have seen it before. But when she looked at it, she was like, no, I have never seen that Yvonne was credible. She was forthcoming and she was supportive of William. They didn't have anything to hold him on. So he was not arrested. He was like, though. Meanwhile, I want to let you know what was going on with the Hoyne's family. The impact that Robin's death had on all of them. As the oldest child, Kim stepped up and helped her parents with Robbins funeral arrangements. She assisted them in choosing the burial plot at Rose Hills Memorial Park and Whittier. She helped them pick out the coffin. The Robin would be laid to rest in and what clothing she would wear. It was a very emotional time.

One thing they needed to help with was what to have engraved on Robin's tombstone. You never think you're going to be making these decisions for your child or your sister, but this was their reality. And fortunately, they had some help with this. Their pastor stepped up with a suggestion, something that eerily came from Robin herself just a little while before she was killed. The pastor told her family that she played a Q&A with a church Bible study group. And one of the questions that was posed to Robin was, if you died tomorrow, what would you

want on your tombstone? Wow, that's actually really chilling. Robin's answer was, quote, Robin's not here, she's gone home, end quote. So that was that. The family had that exact sentence engraved on Robin's gravestone. Here's a picture of it with a teddy bear in the middle. The funeral services were so full, there were people who had to stand outside of the building. And it just goes to show you how many people loved Robin and what an impact her death had on them.

Even people that did not know her when to pay their respects to her family. Because they heard the news about what happened to her, except for one person, Cheryl Fuller, the girl that had traded shifts with Robin on the night of her murder. Rumors had spread that the Hoyne's family, they were upset with Cheryl. And they didn't want her to be present at Robin's funeral. When word got around to Cheryl, she was left feeling really guilty and remorseful, and she didn't know what to do. She couldn't help but think that it should have been her that died instead of Robin. If only Cheryl hadn't asked her to pick up that shift, then maybe Robin would still be alive.

And that's tough. And honestly, we will never know that. Because right now, the case was unsolved. So it could very well have been a targeted attack. And even if it wasn't, Cheryl was not responsible. The person who did this was.