May 24, 2023 • 45 mins
On July 27th, 1971, 10-year-old Brenda Crockett did not return home from a trip to the grocery store. Hours later, Brenda called home to deliver a cryptic message. And then, the line went dead. Her body was discovered just hours later...
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to the Freeway Fanom, a production of iHeartRadio,
Tenderfoot TV, and Black bar Mitzvah. The views and opinions
expressed in this podcast are solely those of the podcast
author or individuals participating in the podcast, and do not
represent those of iHeartMedia, Tenderfoot TV, Black bar Mitzvah, or
their employees. This podcast also contains subject matter that may
(00:24):
not be suitable for everyone. Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Well, you never know what to expect, to expect the unexpected,
I guess. I mean, you never know what time you're
going to be called out for an assignment. It could
be during the day, it could be in the middle
of the night. Typically, if you're working day shift or
second shift, you would just go ahead and work whatever's
on your caseload. But I remember getting a call. It
(00:54):
was towards morning. It came over as what we call
the signal seven eighty one that was a death. It
was a warm morning and it was pretty dry. When
I got there, I guess there was a crowd starting
to come out arriving on a scene. I was directed
to where this child was laying on the side of
(01:16):
the road and just making more observations whatever I could
detect at the scene, which wasn't very much at the time.
It appeared that she was probably either dragged out of
the car or thrown out of the car, and I
just called our ID section and they responded and did
what they do typically taking pictures and if there's anything
(01:38):
else at this area. I mean, there was no fingerprints
to be taken or anything like that, look for tire tracks,
so there was really nothing to look for except the
deceased person. Everything happened so quick and just the type
of crime it was, in the place where it happened
and everything. I'm sure this happened at someplace house, but
(02:00):
she was merely dumped in that area another one hundred
feet it probably would have been in DC, and I
wouldn't add any involvement at all.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
The homicide detectives termed the cases the little girl case.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
This child was laying on the side of the road.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
I wouldn't go no way, I would call up my house.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Those first five murderers should have been a huge warning
bell for the police.
Speaker 5 (02:29):
We just want to know what happened.
Speaker 6 (02:30):
This person must have saw that.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
They were thinking that maybe it's just one person and
he says, they need to know this is me.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
I thought that they would catch him. I thought it
was just a matter of time.
Speaker 5 (02:43):
I'm Celeste Headley, and this is Freeway Phantom. The Freeway
Phantom had already claimed two victims, Carol Spinks and Derlinia Johnson.
Although Carolyn Darlinia's bodies were dumped fifteen feet from each
other and were killed the same way, law enforcements still
(03:04):
hadn't linked the two murders. They'd asked a potential suspect
in Darlinia's death if he knew Carol Spinks. He didn't,
so the two murders were still being treated as individual cases.
But on July twenty seventh, nineteen seventy one, eight days
after Darlinia's decomposed body was found, the Freeway Phantom's third
victim would be discovered.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
I remember how she was clad. I remember how she
was dressed. I remember she had some pink rollers in
her hair, and she had just a little outfit on
a little top. But it was it seems to me
it was a matching outfit. There wasn't really that much
to see there far as she was concerned. I just
(03:48):
wrapped her hands in baggies and called for a corner
to go ahead and transport her or was an ambulance.
I should say this is.
Speaker 5 (03:57):
A retired detective Hillary Zuklowski, who we heard from at
the top of this episode. He was one of the
first to arrive at the crime scene.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
We weren't there very long because there really wasn't much
evidence together, maybe an hour. I don't think they shut
down the roads or anything like that because the manner
of the way she was dumped on the side of
the road.
Speaker 5 (04:19):
Brenda Crockett was four and a half feet tall and
weighed only seventy five pounds. She was the youngest victim
of the Freeway Phantom, and like Carol Spinks and de
Linia Johnson, she was discovered right off a busy highway.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
She was a child of God. She loved church. She
was going to refrigerate it eat raw bacon, but you know,
the pigs were better back then. She had a dimple
up here in her cheek. She loved bacon and she
loved the Lord at ten years old, but I do
remember that I looked up to her that as she
(04:56):
was cute. My name is Berta Crockett and I am
the youngest sibling of my family. Brenda was my oldest sister.
She was four years older. I have a twin brother
who is deceased now, and we had an older brother.
(05:16):
We lived on to ours place. It was a beautiful
community to be honest. As a child, we did everything.
We had the fire hydrants out in the summertime. We
had arts and craft. We had a lot going on.
Because one of the gentlemen that lived in the area,
(05:37):
he worked for the Department of Rets, so he bought
all of this activity to our street and we were
like like a one way street.
Speaker 5 (05:44):
Brenda lived with her family in Northwest Washington, d C.
Which was a crosstown from the first two murders. Like
the neighborhoods where Carol Spinks and Delinia Johnson lived, it
was tight knit. I briefly visited her neighborhood and found
where Brenda's house used to be. So we're standing in
front of the house where Brenda Crockett lived. She would
(06:05):
have stepped down this step uh to leave her house
for the last time. We see again this quiet I
would call it a sweet residential street. And she walked
just a few blocks. The blocks it's five blocks, but
The blocks here are quite small. This is not a
New York block. And she walked just a short way
(06:27):
to the Safeway and bought what she needed to buy
and never came home again. How someone can snatch a
little girl off the street like that, I mean, this
is not like where Carol Spinks and Derlinia we're living.
We do not see aunties on the porch. But that
could also be because the the Gude neighborhood is obviously
(06:47):
flipped over. This is not a majority black neighborhood anymore. Still,
leading up to Brenda's murder, fear hadn't infiltrated this community.
It could be that Carolyn Delini's murders hadn't been connected,
or that they happened too far away for anyone here
to notice. Whatever the reason, people here had yet to
(07:10):
realize that there was a killer targeting young girls. If
they had, things might have gone differently. It was neighborhood
movie night on Main Street when Brenda headed to the store.
Speaker 4 (07:23):
All the kids in the neighborhood could watch movies on
the screen. So in the summertime, you remember, it was
daylight until about nine o'clock PM. So my mom, my sister,
being older the store that she went to was literally
two blocks around the corner and two blocks down the street,
and because she didn't come back by the time it
(07:45):
was turning dark, my mom went looking for her because
we were getting ready to watch the movies on the
big screen.
Speaker 5 (07:53):
Brenda wore a white and blue plaid halter top with
matching shorts and had pink rollers in her freshly pressed hair.
A witness said Brenda had been barefoot. She was headed
to buy food for Ringo, Rex and Romeo, the family's
three dogs, along with bread and typing paper.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
When my sister didn't return from the grocery store, my
mom didn't realize that no one had went with her,
and so after she didn't come back, because it should
have been literally a half hour forty five minutes, my
mom went looking for her and she didn't find her.
My sister didn't return.
Speaker 5 (08:33):
Here's what Reetha Crockett, Brenda's mother, told the police about
the night Brenda went missing, as read by a voice actor.
Speaker 7 (08:41):
I sent my daughter to People's drug store to get
type in paper, also to the Safeway store located at
fourteenth and U Street's northwest to get some dog food.
This was about eight o'clock. After a while, she didn't return,
so I looked at the door for her. I thought
she went to the store with her brother and sister
and a friend, like she always does. I went outside
and it was starting to get dark. I found my
(09:03):
other two children, Benjamin and Bertha, and asked them if
they had seen Brendan, and they said no. All three
of us watched the corner of thirteenth in w streets
to look for I told Benjamin to return to the
house to lock the door, and when he didn't return,
I sent Bertha to get him. She came back and
said he was going to stay and watch the street movie.
She said he don't want to go. Mamma, Can I
stay too? So I said yes. I walked down the
(09:25):
safeway and it was closed and there were some boys
sitting outside, and went back home to see you she there,
but she wasn't. I then asked my neighbor, missed A. Bundy,
if he had seen her, and he said no. I
walked back to fourteenth Street, where I seen a police
car and asked him what to do when your daughter
goes missing. They told me to stand on the corner
that they were out at their area. And that they
would have another policeman come and take a missing person report.
(09:49):
I was stand there, I see mister Bundy walking out
Seventh Street, so I ran across the street, thinking she
had come home. Mister Buddy said she was not home,
but she called.
Speaker 5 (09:59):
At around nine twenty that night, the phone at Brenda's
house rang, and Bertha answered.
Speaker 8 (10:06):
I'm in Virginia in a white man's house.
Speaker 9 (10:09):
The witness came a car and cured me.
Speaker 8 (10:12):
To his house. My mother see me.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
I'm seven years old. I remember it like it was yesterday.
So my sister was ten years old. She was old
enough and wise enough to remember our home number at
that time. She called home and she said that somebody
had picked her up and took her to Virginia. They
were going to send her home in a cab. And
I answered the phone the first time. I'm too young
(10:39):
to even understand what's really going on. So that call
went out, and then the next call came in. My
mom's fiance at the time, who became my mom's husband,
answered the next call and he said, well, Brenda, if
you tell me where you are, come and get you.
She says, I'm in Virginia. This man picked me up
and took me to He's going to put me in
(11:01):
a cab and send me home. She's ten years old.
At the same time, my mom went looking for her,
and she was asking my stepfather me or whoever at
that time did my mom see me? Which led us
to believe that whoever captured her had her in a
vehicle or some sort and saw my mom looking for her.
(11:25):
I thought it was that Mama is out looking for you.
Where are you? That's my thought, Dan, even now to
this day, I look at the scenario of where from
DC from where we grew up to Maryland to Virginia,
because like, we grew up at twelfth Street Northwest, and
then I work at twelfth Street Southwest and then right
(11:48):
around the corner, you just hit that bridge and you're
at Virginia. So I'm like, was she really familiar with
where she was going? Did she see a sign that
says she was going to Virginia? You know, It's like
all of the questions in my head. I got the
impression that she was a little frightened, that she was
like just thinking as whoever it was was gonna put
(12:09):
her in a cab and send her back home. She
said I'm in Virginia and he's gonna put me in
a cabin send me back home.
Speaker 5 (12:17):
This was new. This was a complete change from the
Freeway Phantom's mo Although there had been reports of him
calling the families of the first two victims, this is
the only confirmed contact. What makes this even more strange
is that Brenda didn't call once, but twice. Theodore Caldwell
was raythist fiance. In his statement, Caldwell said he met
(12:38):
Bertha coming up the street. This was right after Brenda
had called the first time, so Caldwell was aware Brenda
had said a white man took her to Virginia. When
Brenda called again around nine forty five, Caldwell picked up
the receiver. This is a voice actor reading his statement.
Speaker 10 (12:56):
Brenda said, mister Ted, I say, yes, Brenda, are you
at She said, I'm in Virginia and a white man's house.
I asked how she got over there. She said the
white man put her in the car and carried her
over to his house. I asked her, is there anyone
there besides you and the man? She said no. I
told her tell him to come to the phone and
(13:17):
tell me where you're at, and I'll come pick you up,
and she said, did my mother see me? I said no,
how could she see you when you're in Virginia asked
her again, tell the man to come to the phone.
I heard someone walk in Heaven. She said, really low,
I'll see you, and someone just cut the phone.
Speaker 5 (13:38):
There's no definite reason why Brenda went to the store
alone that night. Eartha thinks it could be because it
was only two blocks from where they lived at the time,
and the fact it didn't get dark until nine pm.
But there was another person to see Brenda before she disappeared.
Here's how one investigator described their interview with a witness
named Paulette Johnson.
Speaker 11 (14:01):
Missus Johnson was asked if she could recall the night
of July twenty eighth, nineteen seventy one, and the incident
involving Brenda Faye Crockett. Missus Johnson stated she was well
aware of that evening and the night, and that she
had become acquainted with the victim, Brenda Crockett, prior to
her abduction on that night. Missus Johnson stated that at
(14:23):
approximately eight forty five to nine pm on the night
of July twenty eighth, nineteen seventy one, She was walking
from the quarner of Fourteenth and U Street northwest, heading
south on the east side of fourteenth Street, near the
Safeway store. Just as she approached the Safeway store, Brenda
Crockett walked around beside her and passed just in front
(14:45):
of her, heading toward the door of the Safeway store.
Missus Johnson stated she knew Brenda Crockett by sight because
the Crockett Girl's father works for one of her boyfriends,
and she recalled that Brenda had been to her daughter's
birthday party a few days before this incident. Missus Johnson
stated that it was her opinion that Brenda Crockett could
(15:07):
not have been taken from in front of the Safeway
store by force without someone seeing and observing the incident.
She stated that as she turned the corner on Wallick Place,
she lost sight of the Crockett girl, and shortly thereafter
when she returned, she did not see her in front
of the store. She stated that the time elapsing after
(15:28):
she last saw the Crockett girl and when she returned
to in front of the Safeway store was approximately five minutes.
Speaker 5 (15:37):
If missus Johnson's timing was accurate, this means Brenda was
kidnapped within a five minute window. This means missus Johnson
could possibly be the last person to see Brenda alive
other than the killer. Police questioned Raytha about the abduction.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
Has your daughter ever told or advised you that men
were trying to entice her into a vehicle?
Speaker 11 (15:58):
No?
Speaker 8 (15:58):
Did she often go to the door alone?
Speaker 7 (16:01):
Just the star around the corna, not the safety buzz self.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Is there anyone you suspect?
Speaker 6 (16:07):
No?
Speaker 10 (16:08):
Is there anything else you can add to the statement?
Speaker 7 (16:10):
No?
Speaker 5 (16:34):
As we heard before the break, Brenda called home not once,
but twice. Brenda had said that a white man abducted
her and that she was in Virginia. This information seemed
suspicious and it raised a lot of questions. Was the
killer feeding Brenda lies to tell her family and.
Speaker 12 (16:50):
Why he was doing a lot of things to deliberately
mislead the authorities.
Speaker 5 (16:58):
This is writer Blaine Pardo, who co wrote a book
about the Freeway Phantom. He says it didn't make sense
that a white man would have abducted Brenda as she
claimed over the phone. When we talked with members of
the local community, they agreed that a white man would
have stood out in the congress Heights neighborhood, since the
area has always been predominantly black.
Speaker 12 (17:18):
Anything he had her say, you have to put under
a microscope and go Is he trying to throw the
trail off?
Speaker 2 (17:26):
In this case?
Speaker 12 (17:27):
I definitely think he was in terms of Virginia. I
don't know for sure on his race, though, very creepy
and if he was, imagine her knowing that she's lying
to her family about this. That had to ratchet up
her terror level.
Speaker 5 (17:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 12 (17:45):
It's one thing. If somebody's holding you and they said
you could tell him we're in Virginia and you're in Virginia,
you tell him I'm white because I'm white. But if
they're telling you things that you know aren't true, you
got to be more scared. That just ugh scares me
to think about that.
Speaker 5 (18:02):
Having Brenda call home was a new mo for the
Freeway Phantom, and it showed that he was starting to escalate.
In fact, it was only eight hours or so after
that phone call that Brenda's body was discovered. In the
early morning hours of July twenty eighth, nineteen seventy one,
Donald Ray Carter began to head home from work. He
worked at the Safeway Bakery in Landover, Maryland, but lived
(18:25):
in Alexandria, Virginia. While he was trying to hitch a ride,
he spotted Brenda's body in Chevley, Maryland. Carter had the
cab that had stopped for him take him to Joy
Donut Shop to call law enforcement and let them know
about the body. After law officials were on the scene,
the medical examiner declared Brenda's time of death at six
fifty five am. Brenda was killed and disposed of in
(18:48):
less than eight hours.
Speaker 12 (18:51):
It was really sad when we saw the pictures of her.
I was deeply moved because she's laid on her back
and her eyes are open, looking up and it's on
the curve of a cloverleaf exit.
Speaker 5 (19:05):
Blaine tells us he spoke with Carter, you know.
Speaker 12 (19:09):
He said it was the saddest thing because he said,
she's just laying there, and he said, I just thought
maybe she's asleep, maybe she's not feeling well, something along
those lines, And it turns out that's not the case.
What's interesting, too, is you see a trend with this.
Her shoes are missing and the killer has taken shoes
(19:29):
off several of the victims. That's usually a control mechanism.
You know, if you take someone's shoes, it's harder for
them to get away or flee or whatever, and he
may be keeping those things as souvenirs. Also missing from
her were some pink hair curlers that she had. We
know it was a fairly narrow window of time, so
(19:50):
narrow in fact, that it almost rules out when you
know the geography of dc DC being kind of wedged
between Virginia and Maryland, the time that her her body
is found versus the phone calls, etc. And when she disappeared,
it would have been very difficult for someone to go
anywhere but other than right across the border into Virginia.
(20:12):
If indeed the killer was there, the thinking that most
law enforcement have had is that he had fed her
that information to deliberately mislead the authorities. We just don't
know for sure, but you know, the concept of a
killer taking his victim back and then letting her call
home twice is very disturbing. It's just incredibly creepy.
Speaker 5 (20:35):
The killer placed Brenda's body along the Prince George's County,
Maryland line. Here's how the police report describes the scene.
Speaker 11 (20:43):
The body was viewed by this detective and it was
observed that she was clad in a blue and white halter,
matching shorts, white cotton underpats, and around her neck was
an orchid colored silk scarf knotted and a greenish colored
quarter inch cord attached to which was a silver house key.
(21:05):
The body was rigor and no visible trauma was present.
The deceased was laying approximately five feet six inches from
the curb side, flat on her back with her arms outstretched.
After the body was removed, it was noted that the
ground was extremely dry under the deceased, however, around the
(21:27):
body was wet.
Speaker 5 (21:29):
The orchid scarf was new, Brenda hadn't been wearing it
when she left for Safeway, and this further added to
the theory that the Freeway phantom was redressing the girls.
Brenda's body was taken to the Morgue at Prince George's
County Hospital. This is her autopsy report.
Speaker 13 (21:47):
Cause of death was ruled to be ligature and manual strangulation.
She had been vaginally raped and there were ring like
contusions around her nipples, suggesting they had been bitten. There
was a small contusion in the left temple region of
her scalp she was fully clothed, with the exception of
her shoes. It was noted no soil on her feet.
(22:09):
On her head were pink plastic hair curlers, several of
which were missing. A few small hairs of negroid origin
were found on the palm of her right hand, but
were too small for any sort of comparison. Synthetic black
textile fibers were recovered from her scarf. Green synthetic fibers
were also recovered from her blouse, shorts, and panties. Blood
(22:30):
mixed with semen was found in the crotch of her panties,
but could not be conclusively grouped.
Speaker 5 (22:40):
Brenda's case is different from Carol and Darlinia's in two
major ways. One is the time period between capture and killing.
Carol was kept alive and even fed for about a week.
Authorities weren't able to determine an exact time of Darlinia's
death due to the decomposition of her body when she
was found. However, they did confirm that it was a
(23:00):
shorter interval than the previous murder. The second difference, as
we mentioned, are the phone calls, but outside of that,
the similarities remain. How the girls were killed, the killer's
dump sight and the washed feet. Although Brenda had been barefoot,
her feet had still been washed. But there's another detail
(23:20):
in Brenda Crockett's case that wasn't initially noticed. This is
Romaine Jenkins, the retired Metropolitan Police Department sergeant who investigated
the freeway phantom cases. We visited her at her home.
Speaker 6 (23:34):
What do you think of her hair?
Speaker 4 (23:36):
Her hair's been washed, thank you very much.
Speaker 6 (23:39):
See, men didn't notice that. I noticed that and me
all said, oh, the hay has been washed in water
some way, So how tied up it is? And her
sister said their hair had just been done. They had
just been pressed and curled and put on rollers and
look at it. Now, she's been in water. Yeah, but
(24:00):
the guys didn't notice that. They did not. I knew
that when I saw that picture.
Speaker 5 (24:05):
Here's what Bertha Crockett has to say about her sister's
hair being wet.
Speaker 4 (24:10):
When they found her. I think her hair was wet
with the rollers in it. If that's the case, I
think he would have tried to remove evidence. If you're
gonna wash your victims, you're removed trying to remove evidence.
And you know, as black women, we don't do wet hair.
I can't even remember my hair back then, but I
(24:32):
have one picture of her at Easter and her hair
was cute, So I guess we would have had to
been pressing, pressing curl back then. In the seventies, it
met shampoo, blow dry, iron, curl on the stove and
press and roll up with rollers. None of this.
Speaker 13 (24:54):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (24:56):
I don't remember curling eyes. I don't remember h flat eyes.
I don't remember any of that. It's just you press
it with the straightening comb on the stove and you
rolled it up with some greeds.
Speaker 5 (25:12):
Reports also showed the negroid headhairs in Brenda's right palm
were not hers, and for the third time now green
rayon fibers were found on the body. Here's Blaine Pardo again, So.
Speaker 12 (25:25):
We now know for sure she's linked to Carol Spakes.
So at that point law enforceman knows they've got somebody
who's doing this. And more importantly, those fibers are showing
up under their clothing. If you think about it from
a perspective of what's happening, if you get your victim
(25:45):
to disrobe because you're going to sexually assault them, or
you disrobe them if you're putting their clothes on the
source of those fibers, You're still kind of laying clothes on.
Let's say it was a reading blanket out of bed.
When you're throwing the clothes on there, the fibers are
still going to be on the outside of the clothing.
(26:08):
These things are showing up inside. And you know, it's
a real scary concept of what's happening here as to
how they're picking these fibers up and from.
Speaker 5 (26:20):
What The Maryland Police Department issued an award for any
information on the case. And while the police were searching
for the killer, birth as send. The community changed.
Speaker 4 (26:33):
After that. The community became really strict. Like I was
in a short block. I mean I'm talking like maybe
a quarter mile, not even that. When the lights came on,
you better be in front of your home to go
in the house. In our neighborhood, the community raised us.
(26:55):
So if you did anything wrong, the neighbors told your
parents be for they even got home. So everything. Everybody
was watching out for everybody. It was so strict, and
it was just what it was after that, And I
think I think my sister's death is what sparked such
a tight knit a lookout for everybody on that block
(27:21):
and on the next blocks. I I was on twelfth Place,
so we had Twelfth Street. On the next block we
had thirteenth Street. So we just kept a tight knit
community after that. It was so sad, though, because I
didn't understand the restrictions that I had on me as
a little child. But my mother didn't want anything to
(27:41):
happen to me either.
Speaker 5 (27:44):
Here's an excerpt from the book The Mystery of the
Freeway Phantom by Wilma Harper.
Speaker 9 (27:50):
The death of Brenda had a traumatic effect on the
neighborhood where she lived. The residents said the area would
never be the same. In contrast to the usual crowd
to frolicking youngsters, only a few children were playing ball
on the block. After Brenda's body was found. An eight
year old boy refused to go to the store for
his mother because he was afraid he would be kidnapped.
(28:12):
Neighbors and friends along twelfth Place, which is just behind
Cardoza High School, described Brenda as a bright fifth grade
student at nearby Harrison Elementary School. Missus Eva Artist, a
neighbor who cared for the children when their mother was
at work, said we usually have lots of games going
on the street, but nobody's been acting right today. I
(28:33):
think everyone is disturbed.
Speaker 5 (28:37):
But Bertha Crockett says the death of her sister had
an even bigger impact on her immediate family.
Speaker 4 (28:44):
I know it took a lot on my mom, though
I saw my mom just appreciate from that. But she
just wasn't her stuff anymore. It's like life went out her.
And so then that's when you that's when you you say, well,
(29:05):
why wasn't it me? Why would God take that Anchel?
Because she had going no way better than me, even
at seven years old. You want to think that, like
I know her, I knew her. I didn't, you know
what I'm saying. I didn't. I wasn't on her level
because she had her own girlfriendstead of friends at ten
years old, she had a whole school of girlfriend that
(29:30):
loved her. I went to the cemetery about a month ago,
but I could not find her, and I couldn't. My
mama is in the same place, the same cemetery, but
I couldn't. So I will have to literally go back
and ask them to show me the plot, because it's
been fifty years to show me where my sister I
(29:54):
know she's located in Hilltop Garden of Roses. That the
name of the place where they, you know, have her
laid to rest. But my mom is in the same place.
My mom is on that big tree. But yeah, it's
said that, you know, having a sister that I really
(30:14):
didn't get to know because she got taken away at
such a young age, growing up without a sister, and
then like in my early twenties, I lost my mom,
so I mean out here forever, and so some things
just bring emotion back.
Speaker 5 (30:39):
Well. Bertha and her family were grieving Brenda's death. The
police had begun to suspect that her murder might be
connected to Carol and Derlinia, and months later those suspicions
were finally confirmed when another girl was found dead. Sixteen
(31:14):
year old Stephen James Potopio was watching TV when he
decided to go visit his friend Chuck. On his way
to Chuck's house, he passed by a broken down pontiac
on the shoulder of Pennsylvania Avenue near a sign that
said Upper Harborough twelve. Stephen said he heard a man
holler a girl's name and told her to cut the
lights on. He described the woman as young and white,
(31:36):
no older than nineteen or twenty. The man was also
white and well dressed, with brownish blonde hair, glasses, and
about five foot ten inches. Stephen said he noticed the
guy was staring at him, so when Stephen was about
twenty feet from the car, he jumped the bank to
cut across the cemetery to Chuck's house. When he got there,
(31:56):
nobody was home, so Stephen decided to head back to
his house. This next part is an excerpt from Stephen's
statement to the police.
Speaker 8 (32:06):
I then left and headed home the identical where I came.
As I was walking up Pennsylvania Avenue toward Maryland, I
started walking backwards, shying the thumb hitchhike. I noticed a
box sitting off the shoulder on the grass. I walked
over to the box and saw glass in it. I
turned and saw something in the grass, but right then
I didn't know what it was. I walked up to it,
but I didn't know if it was a man or
(32:27):
a girl. I stood there a couple seconds to see
if you wuld move. I took my right foot and
kicked it two or three times, and the body seemed
to wiggle. I stood there a couple seconds, and it
felt the body under the ribs to see if the
heart was beating. The body felt cold, and then something
hit me, maybe it was dead.
Speaker 5 (32:46):
Stephen had found the body of twelve year old Ninamosha Yates,
a sixth grader at Kelly Miller Junior High She was
a well behaved, quiet child, and now she was the
fourth victim of the Freeway phantom. Ninamosha lived with her
father and stepmother in the Benning Heights neighborhood in southeast Washington,
d C. Benning Heights is about six miles from Congress Heights,
(33:10):
a completely different area on the other side of d
C from the first three murders. It was Friday, October first,
nineteen seventy one. Ninomosha's stepmother had just given birth and
was at the hospital with Nina's dad. About seven p m.
Ninomosha was given five dollars and sent to Safeway to
buy sugar, flour, and paper plates. The grocery store was
(33:32):
located at forty eight oh one Benning Road Southeast. That's
the same road Ninomosha lived on. Although the store was
only about a block away, her father had instructed her
not to talk to strangers. According to witnesses, Ninamosha made
it to the grocery store, but she never made it back.
Here's Victoria Hester, who co wrote a book about the
(33:53):
Freeway Phantom with her father, Blaine Pardo.
Speaker 14 (33:57):
We know that for sure she was at the Safeway.
The store manager confirmed on October first. It would have
been pretty dark at that time. It was normal to
go down the street to a Safeway at nine o'clock
at night in DC at that time.
Speaker 5 (34:12):
It wasn't until the next day, October second, that a
Safeway employee found the items nan Emosha had purchased.
Speaker 14 (34:21):
We know wherever she went she was either forcibly taken
only because the bag of sugar that she had bought
from Safeway was found in the parking lot of Safeway,
so she didn't get very far. She wouldn't have left
that bag of sugar. If she was getting a ride
home or getting a ride to somewhere else by someone
driving by, she would have taken that with her, which
(34:43):
kind of leads us to believe it was forcibly. But
at the same time, with it being a well lit
parking lot, she would have screamed. She would have made
some sort of noise and a area I she was
being forcibly taken, so it gets kind of tricky and
that sense because of her age too, she was twelve.
(35:04):
Was she easy to convince to get in a vehicle?
Speaker 4 (35:07):
Just to me?
Speaker 14 (35:07):
It makes it look forcible since her bag of groceries
that she went out to get was left behind. Another
important thing about it was her body was found dry
on wet grass, so we know she wasn't killed where
she was dumped, and she wasn't killed outside or she
would have been wet. She was wearing her clothes that
(35:30):
she was wearing when she disappeared. The cause of death
was known to be strangulation and she was sexually assaulted.
She also had fingernail marks on her neck, so either
from being strangled or trying to fight back and getting
marks on her neck.
Speaker 5 (35:48):
Ninemosha was found in cut off brown shorts, a white
sweatshirt with green lettering that spelled Randall, Highland hornets, and
white zips tennis shoes. Autopsy reports indicated her a soft
was crushed. Not only did Ninomosha have more wounds than
previous victims, but the killer had accelerated his timeline. She'd
left home around seven pm and her body was found
(36:12):
around nine fifteen pm. This means she was taken, murdered,
and disposed of in roughly two hours. Like the others,
green fibers were found on the body, Negroid hairs from
a person's head were on her panties, brazier, sweatshirt, cut
off jean shorts, and shoes. At the time of her disappearance,
Ninomosha was wearing a sanitary napkin. Semen was found in
(36:35):
that napkin. Additionally, two dollars ninety one cents and a
grocery list were found in her pocket, along with two
house keys. Attached to a string. Near her body were
several items, including a single woman's loafer. Police considered the
loafer was dragged out of the vehicle with Ninomosha's body
because it was also dry. Remember Darlinia Johnson was missing
(36:58):
loafers when she was found. There were also drag marks
from Ninamosha's heels in the wet dirt. The police report
noted that tire tracks created by a small vehicle were
found near the body and had been photographed. Later. Another
witness told police they'd seen Ninamosha get into a blue
Volkswagen with a yellow stripe down the side headed in
(37:20):
the direction of the safeway. The witness assumed it was
her mom, since she drove a similar car.
Speaker 14 (37:27):
Kind of sent a wild goose chase on the Volkswagen
issue with a witness thinking that they saw her get
into a Volkswagen. It kind of created this, well, now
we've got to find this car that happens to be
one of the most popular cars right now, and it
really went nowhere. It's kind of unfortunate. It's nice that
the witness thought they saw something, but at the same time,
(37:49):
it created a lot of misleading information about who they
were looking for, and it wasted a lot of police
time running all these plates and trying to identify all
these cars.
Speaker 5 (38:04):
Later, investigators interviewed Stephen again. This time he added to
a statement The following is from that report.
Speaker 11 (38:12):
He advised he furnished what he thought was the full
facts of what he had seen that evening, but he
has since recalled he had seen another car in the
vicinity of where he discovered the body Potopia related after
he left his residence and turned east toward Washington d C.
On Pennsylvania Avenue in the right hand lane, he observed
(38:33):
a Volkswagen in the westbound lane. This Volkswagen pulled off
onto the side of the road and parked about twenty
five feet west of where Potopia discovered the body. Potopia
looked back after he had seen the car park and
observed two men get out of the Volkswagen, a white
from the driver's side and a Negro man from the
(38:55):
passenger side. The two men walked along the side of
the road distance and then went down the embankment, and
she no longer thought anything about it. Potopia then crossed
the westerly lane the median and then in the westerly
lane observed the other car with the hood up, which
he had put into the signed statements.
Speaker 5 (39:19):
The car with the hood up belonged to the young
couple we heard earlier. Police were now investigating two sets
of individuals, one a young Caucasian couple, the other a
black man and Caucasian man, but this didn't last long.
Shortly after the news broke about Nina Moosha Yates, a
(39:40):
witness came forward. Here's what James Richard Lloyd told police,
as read by a voice actor.
Speaker 15 (39:47):
I was with Jay Robinson in his nineteen seventy one
Pontiac Laman, which is brown in color, and we were
coming from the Fairfax Village in Washington, d C. Jay
heard a noise coming from the engine, so we stopped
along Pennsylvania Avenue, just passed the gates to the cemetery.
We got out and opened the hood. Jay was trying
to find where the noise was coming from. About that time,
someone walked past us. I first saw him walking up
(40:09):
the road as we pulled off. He was walking toward DC.
While we stopped, I saw two cars stopped along the
road in front of us, about one hundred yards up
the road from us. They were close together, but I
don't know what type of cars they were. We got
back in our car and drove off.
Speaker 5 (40:24):
James told police he came to speak with them after
Jerry's mother had read about the news. It had been
only him and Jerry in the car when they stopped
just pass the entrance to the cemetery along Pennsylvania Avenue.
He said he saw both cars the entire time he
and Jerry were pulled over. This was about three to
four minutes. James also told police the cars were there
(40:45):
when he and Jerry left, and he didn't see anyone
or anything else as they drove off. With James's statement,
both sets of suspects were ruled out. Authorities were back
to square one. There were now four young dead black girls,
girls that were from tight knit neighborhoods, places where the
community kept an eye on children, places that were meant
(41:08):
to be safe, Yet the police had no leans. Here's
Romain again.
Speaker 3 (41:14):
Whoever grabbed these young ladies grabbed them right in their
own neighborhood. Nina Mostates went to the grocery store in
the forty eight hundred block of Benning Road. She's picked
up that she she's grabbed in the forty nine hundred block,
and nobody sees anything. All the people out there, I
don't care. When you go out there. You have East
Capitol Street there, it's always people because you're close to
(41:38):
the district line. People are doing shopping. She's grabbed at
a time when there are lots of people out, kids
are out, and nobody.
Speaker 6 (41:45):
Sees the thing. Because he fit in with the community,
nobody was suspicion.
Speaker 5 (41:52):
What happened to Ninemosha was also true in the case
of Brenda Crockett. Both girls had been snatched in broad Daylight.
As Romaine has said, it's very likely the killer was
somebody from the neighborhood. I asked Bertha Crockett if she
had any suspicions about who the killer could be.
Speaker 4 (42:11):
Back then, we used to have officer friendlies that came
to our school and they got to know the kids.
That means officers that used to come to your school
and make sure that the kids feel safe. Like right
now they have patrol officers or officers in the school
and make sure kids are not doing the violence stuff
that they've been doing lately. But back then they were
(42:32):
called officer friendlies and they would come to your school
and have like little conversations with you and and it
always made me feel like an officer friendly was somebody
that saw different girls and he selected them.
Speaker 5 (42:58):
Next time on Freeway Phantom.
Speaker 3 (43:01):
DC had never had a serial killing before, and so
it wasn't something not that you ever get used to it,
but it wasn't something they were familiar with. The fourth
body that brought more people in because where's the body found.
You're talking about PG County, right, You're talking about crossing
jurisdictional lines, So then he is PG County coming into play?
Speaker 13 (43:23):
All of these girls were not from runaway families.
Speaker 5 (43:27):
These girls, they were good families.
Speaker 10 (43:30):
And if they do investigate, they don't investigate when it
comes to black people, you know, unless it's something that's juicy.
Speaker 7 (43:38):
And all of a sudden, the guy, he comes out
of the driverside and he comes around the front of
the car.
Speaker 3 (43:43):
And snatches me.
Speaker 4 (43:45):
There's no emotion on his face. None.
Speaker 1 (43:53):
Freeway Fantom is a production of iHeartRadio, Tenderfoot TV and
Black Bar Mitslaw. Our host is Teless Hilly. The show
is written by Trevor Young, Jamie Albright, and CELESE.
Speaker 2 (44:03):
Hidley.
Speaker 1 (44:04):
Executive producers on behalf of iHeartRadio include Matt Frederick and
Alex Williams, with supervising producer Trevor Young. Executive producers on
behalf of Tenderfoot TV include Donald Albright and Payne Lindsay,
with producers Jamie Albright and Tracy Kaplan. Executive producers on
behalf of Black Bar Mitzvah include myself, Jay Ellis and
Aaron Bergman, with producer Sidney Foods. Lead researcher is Jamie Albright.
(44:29):
Artwork by Mister Soul two one six, original music by
Makeup and Vanity set special thanks to a teammate, Uta
Beck Media and Marketing and the Nord Group. Tenderfoot TV
and iHeartMedia, as well as Black Bar Mitzvah, have increased
the reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction
of the person or persons responsible for their Freeway Fan
(44:51):
of murders. The previous reward of up to one hundred
and fifty thousand dollars offered by the Metropolitan Police Department
has been matched a new toe A reward of up
to three hundred thousand dollars is now being offered. If
you have any information relating to these unsolved crimes, contact
the Metropolitan Police Department at area code two zero two
seven two seven nine zero ninety nine. For more information,
(45:15):
please visit Freeway dashfanom dot com. For more podcasts from
iHeartRadio and Tenderfoot TV, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Thanks for listening.
You're listening to the Freeway Fanom, a production of iHeartRadio,
Tenderfoot TV, and Black bar Mitzvah. The views and opinions
expressed in this podcast are solely those of the podcast
author or individuals participating in the podcast, and do not
represent those of iHeartMedia, Tenderfoot TV, Black bar Mitzvah, or
their employees. This podcast also contains subject matter that may
(00:24):
not be suitable for everyone. Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Well, you never know what to expect, to expect the unexpected,
I guess. I mean, you never know what time you're
going to be called out for an assignment. It could
be during the day, it could be in the middle
of the night. Typically, if you're working day shift or
second shift, you would just go ahead and work whatever's
on your caseload. But I remember getting a call. It
(00:54):
was towards morning. It came over as what we call
the signal seven eighty one that was a death. It
was a warm morning and it was pretty dry. When
I got there, I guess there was a crowd starting
to come out arriving on a scene. I was directed
to where this child was laying on the side of
(01:16):
the road and just making more observations whatever I could
detect at the scene, which wasn't very much at the time.
It appeared that she was probably either dragged out of
the car or thrown out of the car, and I
just called our ID section and they responded and did
what they do typically taking pictures and if there's anything
(01:38):
else at this area. I mean, there was no fingerprints
to be taken or anything like that, look for tire tracks,
so there was really nothing to look for except the
deceased person. Everything happened so quick and just the type
of crime it was, in the place where it happened
and everything. I'm sure this happened at someplace house, but
(02:00):
she was merely dumped in that area another one hundred
feet it probably would have been in DC, and I
wouldn't add any involvement at all.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
The homicide detectives termed the cases the little girl case.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
This child was laying on the side of the road.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
I wouldn't go no way, I would call up my house.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Those first five murderers should have been a huge warning
bell for the police.
Speaker 5 (02:29):
We just want to know what happened.
Speaker 6 (02:30):
This person must have saw that.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
They were thinking that maybe it's just one person and
he says, they need to know this is me.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
I thought that they would catch him. I thought it
was just a matter of time.
Speaker 5 (02:43):
I'm Celeste Headley, and this is Freeway Phantom. The Freeway
Phantom had already claimed two victims, Carol Spinks and Derlinia Johnson.
Although Carolyn Darlinia's bodies were dumped fifteen feet from each
other and were killed the same way, law enforcements still
(03:04):
hadn't linked the two murders. They'd asked a potential suspect
in Darlinia's death if he knew Carol Spinks. He didn't,
so the two murders were still being treated as individual cases.
But on July twenty seventh, nineteen seventy one, eight days
after Darlinia's decomposed body was found, the Freeway Phantom's third
victim would be discovered.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
I remember how she was clad. I remember how she
was dressed. I remember she had some pink rollers in
her hair, and she had just a little outfit on
a little top. But it was it seems to me
it was a matching outfit. There wasn't really that much
to see there far as she was concerned. I just
(03:48):
wrapped her hands in baggies and called for a corner
to go ahead and transport her or was an ambulance.
I should say this is.
Speaker 5 (03:57):
A retired detective Hillary Zuklowski, who we heard from at
the top of this episode. He was one of the
first to arrive at the crime scene.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
We weren't there very long because there really wasn't much
evidence together, maybe an hour. I don't think they shut
down the roads or anything like that because the manner
of the way she was dumped on the side of
the road.
Speaker 5 (04:19):
Brenda Crockett was four and a half feet tall and
weighed only seventy five pounds. She was the youngest victim
of the Freeway Phantom, and like Carol Spinks and de
Linia Johnson, she was discovered right off a busy highway.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
She was a child of God. She loved church. She
was going to refrigerate it eat raw bacon, but you know,
the pigs were better back then. She had a dimple
up here in her cheek. She loved bacon and she
loved the Lord at ten years old, but I do
remember that I looked up to her that as she
(04:56):
was cute. My name is Berta Crockett and I am
the youngest sibling of my family. Brenda was my oldest sister.
She was four years older. I have a twin brother
who is deceased now, and we had an older brother.
(05:16):
We lived on to ours place. It was a beautiful
community to be honest. As a child, we did everything.
We had the fire hydrants out in the summertime. We
had arts and craft. We had a lot going on.
Because one of the gentlemen that lived in the area,
(05:37):
he worked for the Department of Rets, so he bought
all of this activity to our street and we were
like like a one way street.
Speaker 5 (05:44):
Brenda lived with her family in Northwest Washington, d C.
Which was a crosstown from the first two murders. Like
the neighborhoods where Carol Spinks and Delinia Johnson lived, it
was tight knit. I briefly visited her neighborhood and found
where Brenda's house used to be. So we're standing in
front of the house where Brenda Crockett lived. She would
(06:05):
have stepped down this step uh to leave her house
for the last time. We see again this quiet I
would call it a sweet residential street. And she walked
just a few blocks. The blocks it's five blocks, but
The blocks here are quite small. This is not a
New York block. And she walked just a short way
(06:27):
to the Safeway and bought what she needed to buy
and never came home again. How someone can snatch a
little girl off the street like that, I mean, this
is not like where Carol Spinks and Derlinia we're living.
We do not see aunties on the porch. But that
could also be because the the Gude neighborhood is obviously
(06:47):
flipped over. This is not a majority black neighborhood anymore. Still,
leading up to Brenda's murder, fear hadn't infiltrated this community.
It could be that Carolyn Delini's murders hadn't been connected,
or that they happened too far away for anyone here
to notice. Whatever the reason, people here had yet to
(07:10):
realize that there was a killer targeting young girls. If
they had, things might have gone differently. It was neighborhood
movie night on Main Street when Brenda headed to the store.
Speaker 4 (07:23):
All the kids in the neighborhood could watch movies on
the screen. So in the summertime, you remember, it was
daylight until about nine o'clock PM. So my mom, my sister,
being older the store that she went to was literally
two blocks around the corner and two blocks down the street,
and because she didn't come back by the time it
(07:45):
was turning dark, my mom went looking for her because
we were getting ready to watch the movies on the
big screen.
Speaker 5 (07:53):
Brenda wore a white and blue plaid halter top with
matching shorts and had pink rollers in her freshly pressed hair.
A witness said Brenda had been barefoot. She was headed
to buy food for Ringo, Rex and Romeo, the family's
three dogs, along with bread and typing paper.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
When my sister didn't return from the grocery store, my
mom didn't realize that no one had went with her,
and so after she didn't come back, because it should
have been literally a half hour forty five minutes, my
mom went looking for her and she didn't find her.
My sister didn't return.
Speaker 5 (08:33):
Here's what Reetha Crockett, Brenda's mother, told the police about
the night Brenda went missing, as read by a voice actor.
Speaker 7 (08:41):
I sent my daughter to People's drug store to get
type in paper, also to the Safeway store located at
fourteenth and U Street's northwest to get some dog food.
This was about eight o'clock. After a while, she didn't return,
so I looked at the door for her. I thought
she went to the store with her brother and sister
and a friend, like she always does. I went outside
and it was starting to get dark. I found my
(09:03):
other two children, Benjamin and Bertha, and asked them if
they had seen Brendan, and they said no. All three
of us watched the corner of thirteenth in w streets
to look for I told Benjamin to return to the
house to lock the door, and when he didn't return,
I sent Bertha to get him. She came back and
said he was going to stay and watch the street movie.
She said he don't want to go. Mamma, Can I
stay too? So I said yes. I walked down the
(09:25):
safeway and it was closed and there were some boys
sitting outside, and went back home to see you she there,
but she wasn't. I then asked my neighbor, missed A. Bundy,
if he had seen her, and he said no. I
walked back to fourteenth Street, where I seen a police
car and asked him what to do when your daughter
goes missing. They told me to stand on the corner
that they were out at their area. And that they
would have another policeman come and take a missing person report.
(09:49):
I was stand there, I see mister Bundy walking out
Seventh Street, so I ran across the street, thinking she
had come home. Mister Buddy said she was not home,
but she called.
Speaker 5 (09:59):
At around nine twenty that night, the phone at Brenda's
house rang, and Bertha answered.
Speaker 8 (10:06):
I'm in Virginia in a white man's house.
Speaker 9 (10:09):
The witness came a car and cured me.
Speaker 8 (10:12):
To his house. My mother see me.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
I'm seven years old. I remember it like it was yesterday.
So my sister was ten years old. She was old
enough and wise enough to remember our home number at
that time. She called home and she said that somebody
had picked her up and took her to Virginia. They
were going to send her home in a cab. And
I answered the phone the first time. I'm too young
(10:39):
to even understand what's really going on. So that call
went out, and then the next call came in. My
mom's fiance at the time, who became my mom's husband,
answered the next call and he said, well, Brenda, if
you tell me where you are, come and get you.
She says, I'm in Virginia. This man picked me up
and took me to He's going to put me in
(11:01):
a cab and send me home. She's ten years old.
At the same time, my mom went looking for her,
and she was asking my stepfather me or whoever at
that time did my mom see me? Which led us
to believe that whoever captured her had her in a
vehicle or some sort and saw my mom looking for her.
(11:25):
I thought it was that Mama is out looking for you.
Where are you? That's my thought, Dan, even now to
this day, I look at the scenario of where from
DC from where we grew up to Maryland to Virginia,
because like, we grew up at twelfth Street Northwest, and
then I work at twelfth Street Southwest and then right
(11:48):
around the corner, you just hit that bridge and you're
at Virginia. So I'm like, was she really familiar with
where she was going? Did she see a sign that
says she was going to Virginia? You know, It's like
all of the questions in my head. I got the
impression that she was a little frightened, that she was
like just thinking as whoever it was was gonna put
(12:09):
her in a cab and send her back home. She
said I'm in Virginia and he's gonna put me in
a cabin send me back home.
Speaker 5 (12:17):
This was new. This was a complete change from the
Freeway Phantom's mo Although there had been reports of him
calling the families of the first two victims, this is
the only confirmed contact. What makes this even more strange
is that Brenda didn't call once, but twice. Theodore Caldwell
was raythist fiance. In his statement, Caldwell said he met
(12:38):
Bertha coming up the street. This was right after Brenda
had called the first time, so Caldwell was aware Brenda
had said a white man took her to Virginia. When
Brenda called again around nine forty five, Caldwell picked up
the receiver. This is a voice actor reading his statement.
Speaker 10 (12:56):
Brenda said, mister Ted, I say, yes, Brenda, are you
at She said, I'm in Virginia and a white man's house.
I asked how she got over there. She said the
white man put her in the car and carried her
over to his house. I asked her, is there anyone
there besides you and the man? She said no. I
told her tell him to come to the phone and
(13:17):
tell me where you're at, and I'll come pick you up,
and she said, did my mother see me? I said no,
how could she see you when you're in Virginia asked
her again, tell the man to come to the phone.
I heard someone walk in Heaven. She said, really low,
I'll see you, and someone just cut the phone.
Speaker 5 (13:38):
There's no definite reason why Brenda went to the store
alone that night. Eartha thinks it could be because it
was only two blocks from where they lived at the time,
and the fact it didn't get dark until nine pm.
But there was another person to see Brenda before she disappeared.
Here's how one investigator described their interview with a witness
named Paulette Johnson.
Speaker 11 (14:01):
Missus Johnson was asked if she could recall the night
of July twenty eighth, nineteen seventy one, and the incident
involving Brenda Faye Crockett. Missus Johnson stated she was well
aware of that evening and the night, and that she
had become acquainted with the victim, Brenda Crockett, prior to
her abduction on that night. Missus Johnson stated that at
(14:23):
approximately eight forty five to nine pm on the night
of July twenty eighth, nineteen seventy one, She was walking
from the quarner of Fourteenth and U Street northwest, heading
south on the east side of fourteenth Street, near the
Safeway store. Just as she approached the Safeway store, Brenda
Crockett walked around beside her and passed just in front
(14:45):
of her, heading toward the door of the Safeway store.
Missus Johnson stated she knew Brenda Crockett by sight because
the Crockett Girl's father works for one of her boyfriends,
and she recalled that Brenda had been to her daughter's
birthday party a few days before this incident. Missus Johnson
stated that it was her opinion that Brenda Crockett could
(15:07):
not have been taken from in front of the Safeway
store by force without someone seeing and observing the incident.
She stated that as she turned the corner on Wallick Place,
she lost sight of the Crockett girl, and shortly thereafter
when she returned, she did not see her in front
of the store. She stated that the time elapsing after
(15:28):
she last saw the Crockett girl and when she returned
to in front of the Safeway store was approximately five minutes.
Speaker 5 (15:37):
If missus Johnson's timing was accurate, this means Brenda was
kidnapped within a five minute window. This means missus Johnson
could possibly be the last person to see Brenda alive
other than the killer. Police questioned Raytha about the abduction.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
Has your daughter ever told or advised you that men
were trying to entice her into a vehicle?
Speaker 11 (15:58):
No?
Speaker 8 (15:58):
Did she often go to the door alone?
Speaker 7 (16:01):
Just the star around the corna, not the safety buzz self.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Is there anyone you suspect?
Speaker 6 (16:07):
No?
Speaker 10 (16:08):
Is there anything else you can add to the statement?
Speaker 7 (16:10):
No?
Speaker 5 (16:34):
As we heard before the break, Brenda called home not once,
but twice. Brenda had said that a white man abducted
her and that she was in Virginia. This information seemed
suspicious and it raised a lot of questions. Was the
killer feeding Brenda lies to tell her family and.
Speaker 12 (16:50):
Why he was doing a lot of things to deliberately
mislead the authorities.
Speaker 5 (16:58):
This is writer Blaine Pardo, who co wrote a book
about the Freeway Phantom. He says it didn't make sense
that a white man would have abducted Brenda as she
claimed over the phone. When we talked with members of
the local community, they agreed that a white man would
have stood out in the congress Heights neighborhood, since the
area has always been predominantly black.
Speaker 12 (17:18):
Anything he had her say, you have to put under
a microscope and go Is he trying to throw the
trail off?
Speaker 2 (17:26):
In this case?
Speaker 12 (17:27):
I definitely think he was in terms of Virginia. I
don't know for sure on his race, though, very creepy
and if he was, imagine her knowing that she's lying
to her family about this. That had to ratchet up
her terror level.
Speaker 5 (17:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 12 (17:45):
It's one thing. If somebody's holding you and they said
you could tell him we're in Virginia and you're in Virginia,
you tell him I'm white because I'm white. But if
they're telling you things that you know aren't true, you
got to be more scared. That just ugh scares me
to think about that.
Speaker 5 (18:02):
Having Brenda call home was a new mo for the
Freeway Phantom, and it showed that he was starting to escalate.
In fact, it was only eight hours or so after
that phone call that Brenda's body was discovered. In the
early morning hours of July twenty eighth, nineteen seventy one,
Donald Ray Carter began to head home from work. He
worked at the Safeway Bakery in Landover, Maryland, but lived
(18:25):
in Alexandria, Virginia. While he was trying to hitch a ride,
he spotted Brenda's body in Chevley, Maryland. Carter had the
cab that had stopped for him take him to Joy
Donut Shop to call law enforcement and let them know
about the body. After law officials were on the scene,
the medical examiner declared Brenda's time of death at six
fifty five am. Brenda was killed and disposed of in
(18:48):
less than eight hours.
Speaker 12 (18:51):
It was really sad when we saw the pictures of her.
I was deeply moved because she's laid on her back
and her eyes are open, looking up and it's on
the curve of a cloverleaf exit.
Speaker 5 (19:05):
Blaine tells us he spoke with Carter, you know.
Speaker 12 (19:09):
He said it was the saddest thing because he said,
she's just laying there, and he said, I just thought
maybe she's asleep, maybe she's not feeling well, something along
those lines, And it turns out that's not the case.
What's interesting, too, is you see a trend with this.
Her shoes are missing and the killer has taken shoes
(19:29):
off several of the victims. That's usually a control mechanism.
You know, if you take someone's shoes, it's harder for
them to get away or flee or whatever, and he
may be keeping those things as souvenirs. Also missing from
her were some pink hair curlers that she had. We
know it was a fairly narrow window of time, so
(19:50):
narrow in fact, that it almost rules out when you
know the geography of dc DC being kind of wedged
between Virginia and Maryland, the time that her her body
is found versus the phone calls, etc. And when she disappeared,
it would have been very difficult for someone to go
anywhere but other than right across the border into Virginia.
(20:12):
If indeed the killer was there, the thinking that most
law enforcement have had is that he had fed her
that information to deliberately mislead the authorities. We just don't
know for sure, but you know, the concept of a
killer taking his victim back and then letting her call
home twice is very disturbing. It's just incredibly creepy.
Speaker 5 (20:35):
The killer placed Brenda's body along the Prince George's County,
Maryland line. Here's how the police report describes the scene.
Speaker 11 (20:43):
The body was viewed by this detective and it was
observed that she was clad in a blue and white halter,
matching shorts, white cotton underpats, and around her neck was
an orchid colored silk scarf knotted and a greenish colored
quarter inch cord attached to which was a silver house key.
(21:05):
The body was rigor and no visible trauma was present.
The deceased was laying approximately five feet six inches from
the curb side, flat on her back with her arms outstretched.
After the body was removed, it was noted that the
ground was extremely dry under the deceased, however, around the
(21:27):
body was wet.
Speaker 5 (21:29):
The orchid scarf was new, Brenda hadn't been wearing it
when she left for Safeway, and this further added to
the theory that the Freeway phantom was redressing the girls.
Brenda's body was taken to the Morgue at Prince George's
County Hospital. This is her autopsy report.
Speaker 13 (21:47):
Cause of death was ruled to be ligature and manual strangulation.
She had been vaginally raped and there were ring like
contusions around her nipples, suggesting they had been bitten. There
was a small contusion in the left temple region of
her scalp she was fully clothed, with the exception of
her shoes. It was noted no soil on her feet.
(22:09):
On her head were pink plastic hair curlers, several of
which were missing. A few small hairs of negroid origin
were found on the palm of her right hand, but
were too small for any sort of comparison. Synthetic black
textile fibers were recovered from her scarf. Green synthetic fibers
were also recovered from her blouse, shorts, and panties. Blood
(22:30):
mixed with semen was found in the crotch of her panties,
but could not be conclusively grouped.
Speaker 5 (22:40):
Brenda's case is different from Carol and Darlinia's in two
major ways. One is the time period between capture and killing.
Carol was kept alive and even fed for about a week.
Authorities weren't able to determine an exact time of Darlinia's
death due to the decomposition of her body when she
was found. However, they did confirm that it was a
(23:00):
shorter interval than the previous murder. The second difference, as
we mentioned, are the phone calls, but outside of that,
the similarities remain. How the girls were killed, the killer's
dump sight and the washed feet. Although Brenda had been barefoot,
her feet had still been washed. But there's another detail
(23:20):
in Brenda Crockett's case that wasn't initially noticed. This is
Romaine Jenkins, the retired Metropolitan Police Department sergeant who investigated
the freeway phantom cases. We visited her at her home.
Speaker 6 (23:34):
What do you think of her hair?
Speaker 4 (23:36):
Her hair's been washed, thank you very much.
Speaker 6 (23:39):
See, men didn't notice that. I noticed that and me
all said, oh, the hay has been washed in water
some way, So how tied up it is? And her
sister said their hair had just been done. They had
just been pressed and curled and put on rollers and
look at it. Now, she's been in water. Yeah, but
(24:00):
the guys didn't notice that. They did not. I knew
that when I saw that picture.
Speaker 5 (24:05):
Here's what Bertha Crockett has to say about her sister's
hair being wet.
Speaker 4 (24:10):
When they found her. I think her hair was wet
with the rollers in it. If that's the case, I
think he would have tried to remove evidence. If you're
gonna wash your victims, you're removed trying to remove evidence.
And you know, as black women, we don't do wet hair.
I can't even remember my hair back then, but I
(24:32):
have one picture of her at Easter and her hair
was cute, So I guess we would have had to
been pressing, pressing curl back then. In the seventies, it
met shampoo, blow dry, iron, curl on the stove and
press and roll up with rollers. None of this.
Speaker 13 (24:54):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (24:56):
I don't remember curling eyes. I don't remember h flat eyes.
I don't remember any of that. It's just you press
it with the straightening comb on the stove and you
rolled it up with some greeds.
Speaker 5 (25:12):
Reports also showed the negroid headhairs in Brenda's right palm
were not hers, and for the third time now green
rayon fibers were found on the body. Here's Blaine Pardo again, So.
Speaker 12 (25:25):
We now know for sure she's linked to Carol Spakes.
So at that point law enforceman knows they've got somebody
who's doing this. And more importantly, those fibers are showing
up under their clothing. If you think about it from
a perspective of what's happening, if you get your victim
(25:45):
to disrobe because you're going to sexually assault them, or
you disrobe them if you're putting their clothes on the
source of those fibers, You're still kind of laying clothes on.
Let's say it was a reading blanket out of bed.
When you're throwing the clothes on there, the fibers are
still going to be on the outside of the clothing.
(26:08):
These things are showing up inside. And you know, it's
a real scary concept of what's happening here as to
how they're picking these fibers up and from.
Speaker 5 (26:20):
What The Maryland Police Department issued an award for any
information on the case. And while the police were searching
for the killer, birth as send. The community changed.
Speaker 4 (26:33):
After that. The community became really strict. Like I was
in a short block. I mean I'm talking like maybe
a quarter mile, not even that. When the lights came on,
you better be in front of your home to go
in the house. In our neighborhood, the community raised us.
(26:55):
So if you did anything wrong, the neighbors told your
parents be for they even got home. So everything. Everybody
was watching out for everybody. It was so strict, and
it was just what it was after that, And I
think I think my sister's death is what sparked such
a tight knit a lookout for everybody on that block
(27:21):
and on the next blocks. I I was on twelfth Place,
so we had Twelfth Street. On the next block we
had thirteenth Street. So we just kept a tight knit
community after that. It was so sad, though, because I
didn't understand the restrictions that I had on me as
a little child. But my mother didn't want anything to
(27:41):
happen to me either.
Speaker 5 (27:44):
Here's an excerpt from the book The Mystery of the
Freeway Phantom by Wilma Harper.
Speaker 9 (27:50):
The death of Brenda had a traumatic effect on the
neighborhood where she lived. The residents said the area would
never be the same. In contrast to the usual crowd
to frolicking youngsters, only a few children were playing ball
on the block. After Brenda's body was found. An eight
year old boy refused to go to the store for
his mother because he was afraid he would be kidnapped.
(28:12):
Neighbors and friends along twelfth Place, which is just behind
Cardoza High School, described Brenda as a bright fifth grade
student at nearby Harrison Elementary School. Missus Eva Artist, a
neighbor who cared for the children when their mother was
at work, said we usually have lots of games going
on the street, but nobody's been acting right today. I
(28:33):
think everyone is disturbed.
Speaker 5 (28:37):
But Bertha Crockett says the death of her sister had
an even bigger impact on her immediate family.
Speaker 4 (28:44):
I know it took a lot on my mom, though
I saw my mom just appreciate from that. But she
just wasn't her stuff anymore. It's like life went out her.
And so then that's when you that's when you you say, well,
(29:05):
why wasn't it me? Why would God take that Anchel?
Because she had going no way better than me, even
at seven years old. You want to think that, like
I know her, I knew her. I didn't, you know
what I'm saying. I didn't. I wasn't on her level
because she had her own girlfriendstead of friends at ten
years old, she had a whole school of girlfriend that
(29:30):
loved her. I went to the cemetery about a month ago,
but I could not find her, and I couldn't. My
mama is in the same place, the same cemetery, but
I couldn't. So I will have to literally go back
and ask them to show me the plot, because it's
been fifty years to show me where my sister I
(29:54):
know she's located in Hilltop Garden of Roses. That the
name of the place where they, you know, have her
laid to rest. But my mom is in the same place.
My mom is on that big tree. But yeah, it's
said that, you know, having a sister that I really
(30:14):
didn't get to know because she got taken away at
such a young age, growing up without a sister, and
then like in my early twenties, I lost my mom,
so I mean out here forever, and so some things
just bring emotion back.
Speaker 5 (30:39):
Well. Bertha and her family were grieving Brenda's death. The
police had begun to suspect that her murder might be
connected to Carol and Derlinia, and months later those suspicions
were finally confirmed when another girl was found dead. Sixteen
(31:14):
year old Stephen James Potopio was watching TV when he
decided to go visit his friend Chuck. On his way
to Chuck's house, he passed by a broken down pontiac
on the shoulder of Pennsylvania Avenue near a sign that
said Upper Harborough twelve. Stephen said he heard a man
holler a girl's name and told her to cut the
lights on. He described the woman as young and white,
(31:36):
no older than nineteen or twenty. The man was also
white and well dressed, with brownish blonde hair, glasses, and
about five foot ten inches. Stephen said he noticed the
guy was staring at him, so when Stephen was about
twenty feet from the car, he jumped the bank to
cut across the cemetery to Chuck's house. When he got there,
(31:56):
nobody was home, so Stephen decided to head back to
his house. This next part is an excerpt from Stephen's
statement to the police.
Speaker 8 (32:06):
I then left and headed home the identical where I came.
As I was walking up Pennsylvania Avenue toward Maryland, I
started walking backwards, shying the thumb hitchhike. I noticed a
box sitting off the shoulder on the grass. I walked
over to the box and saw glass in it. I
turned and saw something in the grass, but right then
I didn't know what it was. I walked up to it,
but I didn't know if it was a man or
(32:27):
a girl. I stood there a couple seconds to see
if you wuld move. I took my right foot and
kicked it two or three times, and the body seemed
to wiggle. I stood there a couple seconds, and it
felt the body under the ribs to see if the
heart was beating. The body felt cold, and then something
hit me, maybe it was dead.
Speaker 5 (32:46):
Stephen had found the body of twelve year old Ninamosha Yates,
a sixth grader at Kelly Miller Junior High She was
a well behaved, quiet child, and now she was the
fourth victim of the Freeway phantom. Ninamosha lived with her
father and stepmother in the Benning Heights neighborhood in southeast Washington,
d C. Benning Heights is about six miles from Congress Heights,
(33:10):
a completely different area on the other side of d
C from the first three murders. It was Friday, October first,
nineteen seventy one. Ninomosha's stepmother had just given birth and
was at the hospital with Nina's dad. About seven p m.
Ninomosha was given five dollars and sent to Safeway to
buy sugar, flour, and paper plates. The grocery store was
(33:32):
located at forty eight oh one Benning Road Southeast. That's
the same road Ninomosha lived on. Although the store was
only about a block away, her father had instructed her
not to talk to strangers. According to witnesses, Ninamosha made
it to the grocery store, but she never made it back.
Here's Victoria Hester, who co wrote a book about the
(33:53):
Freeway Phantom with her father, Blaine Pardo.
Speaker 14 (33:57):
We know that for sure she was at the Safeway.
The store manager confirmed on October first. It would have
been pretty dark at that time. It was normal to
go down the street to a Safeway at nine o'clock
at night in DC at that time.
Speaker 5 (34:12):
It wasn't until the next day, October second, that a
Safeway employee found the items nan Emosha had purchased.
Speaker 14 (34:21):
We know wherever she went she was either forcibly taken
only because the bag of sugar that she had bought
from Safeway was found in the parking lot of Safeway,
so she didn't get very far. She wouldn't have left
that bag of sugar. If she was getting a ride
home or getting a ride to somewhere else by someone
driving by, she would have taken that with her, which
(34:43):
kind of leads us to believe it was forcibly. But
at the same time, with it being a well lit
parking lot, she would have screamed. She would have made
some sort of noise and a area I she was
being forcibly taken, so it gets kind of tricky and
that sense because of her age too, she was twelve.
(35:04):
Was she easy to convince to get in a vehicle?
Speaker 4 (35:07):
Just to me?
Speaker 14 (35:07):
It makes it look forcible since her bag of groceries
that she went out to get was left behind. Another
important thing about it was her body was found dry
on wet grass, so we know she wasn't killed where
she was dumped, and she wasn't killed outside or she
would have been wet. She was wearing her clothes that
(35:30):
she was wearing when she disappeared. The cause of death
was known to be strangulation and she was sexually assaulted.
She also had fingernail marks on her neck, so either
from being strangled or trying to fight back and getting
marks on her neck.
Speaker 5 (35:48):
Ninemosha was found in cut off brown shorts, a white
sweatshirt with green lettering that spelled Randall, Highland hornets, and
white zips tennis shoes. Autopsy reports indicated her a soft
was crushed. Not only did Ninomosha have more wounds than
previous victims, but the killer had accelerated his timeline. She'd
left home around seven pm and her body was found
(36:12):
around nine fifteen pm. This means she was taken, murdered,
and disposed of in roughly two hours. Like the others,
green fibers were found on the body, Negroid hairs from
a person's head were on her panties, brazier, sweatshirt, cut
off jean shorts, and shoes. At the time of her disappearance,
Ninomosha was wearing a sanitary napkin. Semen was found in
(36:35):
that napkin. Additionally, two dollars ninety one cents and a
grocery list were found in her pocket, along with two
house keys. Attached to a string. Near her body were
several items, including a single woman's loafer. Police considered the
loafer was dragged out of the vehicle with Ninomosha's body
because it was also dry. Remember Darlinia Johnson was missing
(36:58):
loafers when she was found. There were also drag marks
from Ninamosha's heels in the wet dirt. The police report
noted that tire tracks created by a small vehicle were
found near the body and had been photographed. Later. Another
witness told police they'd seen Ninamosha get into a blue
Volkswagen with a yellow stripe down the side headed in
(37:20):
the direction of the safeway. The witness assumed it was
her mom, since she drove a similar car.
Speaker 14 (37:27):
Kind of sent a wild goose chase on the Volkswagen
issue with a witness thinking that they saw her get
into a Volkswagen. It kind of created this, well, now
we've got to find this car that happens to be
one of the most popular cars right now, and it
really went nowhere. It's kind of unfortunate. It's nice that
the witness thought they saw something, but at the same time,
(37:49):
it created a lot of misleading information about who they
were looking for, and it wasted a lot of police
time running all these plates and trying to identify all
these cars.
Speaker 5 (38:04):
Later, investigators interviewed Stephen again. This time he added to
a statement The following is from that report.
Speaker 11 (38:12):
He advised he furnished what he thought was the full
facts of what he had seen that evening, but he
has since recalled he had seen another car in the
vicinity of where he discovered the body Potopia related after
he left his residence and turned east toward Washington d C.
On Pennsylvania Avenue in the right hand lane, he observed
(38:33):
a Volkswagen in the westbound lane. This Volkswagen pulled off
onto the side of the road and parked about twenty
five feet west of where Potopia discovered the body. Potopia
looked back after he had seen the car park and
observed two men get out of the Volkswagen, a white
from the driver's side and a Negro man from the
(38:55):
passenger side. The two men walked along the side of
the road distance and then went down the embankment, and
she no longer thought anything about it. Potopia then crossed
the westerly lane the median and then in the westerly
lane observed the other car with the hood up, which
he had put into the signed statements.
Speaker 5 (39:19):
The car with the hood up belonged to the young
couple we heard earlier. Police were now investigating two sets
of individuals, one a young Caucasian couple, the other a
black man and Caucasian man, but this didn't last long.
Shortly after the news broke about Nina Moosha Yates, a
(39:40):
witness came forward. Here's what James Richard Lloyd told police,
as read by a voice actor.
Speaker 15 (39:47):
I was with Jay Robinson in his nineteen seventy one
Pontiac Laman, which is brown in color, and we were
coming from the Fairfax Village in Washington, d C. Jay
heard a noise coming from the engine, so we stopped
along Pennsylvania Avenue, just passed the gates to the cemetery.
We got out and opened the hood. Jay was trying
to find where the noise was coming from. About that time,
someone walked past us. I first saw him walking up
(40:09):
the road as we pulled off. He was walking toward DC.
While we stopped, I saw two cars stopped along the
road in front of us, about one hundred yards up
the road from us. They were close together, but I
don't know what type of cars they were. We got
back in our car and drove off.
Speaker 5 (40:24):
James told police he came to speak with them after
Jerry's mother had read about the news. It had been
only him and Jerry in the car when they stopped
just pass the entrance to the cemetery along Pennsylvania Avenue.
He said he saw both cars the entire time he
and Jerry were pulled over. This was about three to
four minutes. James also told police the cars were there
(40:45):
when he and Jerry left, and he didn't see anyone
or anything else as they drove off. With James's statement,
both sets of suspects were ruled out. Authorities were back
to square one. There were now four young dead black girls,
girls that were from tight knit neighborhoods, places where the
community kept an eye on children, places that were meant
(41:08):
to be safe, Yet the police had no leans. Here's
Romain again.
Speaker 3 (41:14):
Whoever grabbed these young ladies grabbed them right in their
own neighborhood. Nina Mostates went to the grocery store in
the forty eight hundred block of Benning Road. She's picked
up that she she's grabbed in the forty nine hundred block,
and nobody sees anything. All the people out there, I
don't care. When you go out there. You have East
Capitol Street there, it's always people because you're close to
(41:38):
the district line. People are doing shopping. She's grabbed at
a time when there are lots of people out, kids
are out, and nobody.
Speaker 6 (41:45):
Sees the thing. Because he fit in with the community,
nobody was suspicion.
Speaker 5 (41:52):
What happened to Ninemosha was also true in the case
of Brenda Crockett. Both girls had been snatched in broad Daylight.
As Romaine has said, it's very likely the killer was
somebody from the neighborhood. I asked Bertha Crockett if she
had any suspicions about who the killer could be.
Speaker 4 (42:11):
Back then, we used to have officer friendlies that came
to our school and they got to know the kids.
That means officers that used to come to your school
and make sure that the kids feel safe. Like right
now they have patrol officers or officers in the school
and make sure kids are not doing the violence stuff
that they've been doing lately. But back then they were
(42:32):
called officer friendlies and they would come to your school
and have like little conversations with you and and it
always made me feel like an officer friendly was somebody
that saw different girls and he selected them.
Speaker 5 (42:58):
Next time on Freeway Phantom.
Speaker 3 (43:01):
DC had never had a serial killing before, and so
it wasn't something not that you ever get used to it,
but it wasn't something they were familiar with. The fourth
body that brought more people in because where's the body found.
You're talking about PG County, right, You're talking about crossing
jurisdictional lines, So then he is PG County coming into play?
Speaker 13 (43:23):
All of these girls were not from runaway families.
Speaker 5 (43:27):
These girls, they were good families.
Speaker 10 (43:30):
And if they do investigate, they don't investigate when it
comes to black people, you know, unless it's something that's juicy.
Speaker 7 (43:38):
And all of a sudden, the guy, he comes out
of the driverside and he comes around the front of
the car.
Speaker 3 (43:43):
And snatches me.
Speaker 4 (43:45):
There's no emotion on his face. None.
Speaker 1 (43:53):
Freeway Fantom is a production of iHeartRadio, Tenderfoot TV and
Black Bar Mitslaw. Our host is Teless Hilly. The show
is written by Trevor Young, Jamie Albright, and CELESE.
Speaker 2 (44:03):
Hidley.
Speaker 1 (44:04):
Executive producers on behalf of iHeartRadio include Matt Frederick and
Alex Williams, with supervising producer Trevor Young. Executive producers on
behalf of Tenderfoot TV include Donald Albright and Payne Lindsay,
with producers Jamie Albright and Tracy Kaplan. Executive producers on
behalf of Black Bar Mitzvah include myself, Jay Ellis and
Aaron Bergman, with producer Sidney Foods. Lead researcher is Jamie Albright.
(44:29):
Artwork by Mister Soul two one six, original music by
Makeup and Vanity set special thanks to a teammate, Uta
Beck Media and Marketing and the Nord Group. Tenderfoot TV
and iHeartMedia, as well as Black Bar Mitzvah, have increased
the reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction
of the person or persons responsible for their Freeway Fan
(44:51):
of murders. The previous reward of up to one hundred
and fifty thousand dollars offered by the Metropolitan Police Department
has been matched a new toe A reward of up
to three hundred thousand dollars is now being offered. If
you have any information relating to these unsolved crimes, contact
the Metropolitan Police Department at area code two zero two
seven two seven nine zero ninety nine. For more information,
(45:15):
please visit Freeway dashfanom dot com. For more podcasts from
iHeartRadio and Tenderfoot TV, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Thanks for listening.
Host
Celeste Headlee
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I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com