August 31, 2023 • 38 mins
18-year-old Sam Foster’s been planning this special night for weeks. He and his girlfriend Dawn Cartwright are celebrating their one-year anniversary and he’s taking her to the Mt. Pine drive-in movie theater. But the happiest night of his life turns into a nightmare that changes his life, and the lives of the Mt. Pine community, forever.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
This series is inspired by true events. The stories you're
about to hear are fictional, and so are the characters
who are played by actors.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
I'd make it.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
We're back. I'm DJ Johnny Joulton.
Speaker 4 (00:22):
Boy.
Speaker 5 (00:22):
It's a hot one out there.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
Get yourselves to the lake or up backyard pool, or
just turn.
Speaker 5 (00:26):
On a hose.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Just stay cool.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Friends. Samantha from Mount Pine just called in to request
Cruel Summer by Banana Rama. Yes it is Samantha, Yes
it is.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
The dog days of summer nineteen eighty four are in
full swing. It's the summer between our freshmen and sophomore years.
Kids are hanging out in now Lake during the day,
smoking cigarettes and jumping from rope swings into the murky
lake at night. They get pretty wasted at friends cake parties.
But for all the summer fun we're having, there's a
(01:02):
dark cloud hanging over me and my friends Tatiana and Melanie.
Speaker 6 (01:07):
Lisa Anderson's murder was the worst thing ever. I mean,
it devastated us, but it wasn't like that was the
end of it, because other weird stuff kept happening too.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
In the three months since Lisa Anderson's murder, Mount Pine
has seen two fatal car accidents, one drowning, and a
small plane crash which killed the pilot, the only person
on board. That's a lot of tragedy for one small town.
Speaker 6 (01:34):
We hoped people dying and all that dark stuff was
behind us. Little did we know we'd be there for
the next one.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
I'm Nancy Clark. This is The Murder Years, Episode two, Dawn.
Speaker 7 (02:05):
Nine one one. What's your emergency?
Speaker 8 (02:07):
Yeah, I don't know. It's really loud here, but I'm
kind of freaking out. I think I just heard gunshots.
I mean, there are lots of gunshots, but I think
I just Oh my god, Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Saturday, August eleventh, nineteen eighty four is a hot one.
On this particular day, Tatiana, Melanie and I are at
the lake trying to escape the heat when our other friend,
Carla Espinoza joins us. Back in nineteen eighty four, Carla
is fifteen years old and in our grade, and her
mind is like a steel trap. She has not forgotten
(02:54):
a single detail in almost forty years.
Speaker 9 (02:58):
I remember I got sun in at the store and
I was going to put it in my hair for
the first time that day. I was hoping it would
be way lighter by that night because I got a
date that night. We were going to get pizza then
go to the drive in. Anyway, the lake was packed.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
I know.
Speaker 9 (03:14):
I saw Sam Foster there with his parents. They were
on their boat.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Eighteen year old Sam Foster, a senior at Mount Pine
High School, is not just cute. He's Matt dilloncute. He's
also smart, kind and popular and in love with Don Cartwright,
another eighteen year old senior. We were all envious. The
two were the perfect couple.
Speaker 10 (03:39):
Yeah, this is going to be interesting and pretty, hearn's
talk about. But I'll do my best.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Today. Sam's fifty six years old and owns a restaurant
in town. I'm surprised he hasn't left Mount Pine. In
nineteen eighty four, Sam's girlfriend Dawn would become the second
murder victim and left less than six months. He agrees
to share his painful memories of that day.
Speaker 10 (04:07):
I remember the moment I started liking Don car Ryan.
It was ninth grade in biology class. She was so pretty,
like unbelievably pretty. Plus she was smart and a really
good writer. She wrote with the school newspaper, the Mount
Pine Messenger. Well so, anyway, well, she finally a couple
(04:30):
years later, gave me a chance and we found love
like that deep teenage love that well you can only
really understand if you've had it.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
And on this Saturday night, August eleventh, is there official
one year anniversary as boyfriend and girlfriend. But their plans
for a perfect evening would turn into a nightmare.
Speaker 10 (05:02):
Oh yeah, I was playing in A real nice night
started with dinner.
Speaker 5 (05:08):
I had seen a recipe.
Speaker 10 (05:10):
In one of my mom's magazines for broiled chicken breast
marinated in mayonnaise and Italian dressing. I was going to
make that. I can't believe I actually made that. Oh gosh.
So anyway, after the lake, I went to shop a lot.
(05:31):
I got a disc out there. I got the chicken
and some salad stuff and Spomoni ice cream, you know
the kind with the with the three flavors and the
little candied pieces in it. It was it was Don's favorite.
Back at home, I have say goodbye to my parents
who were going to a cookout. I took a shower,
(05:54):
and yeah, and I got dressed.
Speaker 5 (05:58):
I was so excited.
Speaker 10 (06:00):
I ran to open the door and stand in front
of me was Dawn smiling, and behind her was her dad,
and Don's dad waved as he backed out of the
driveway in his cream convertible buickre Vi Era. Man, that
car was so cool, and I well, I poured some
(06:22):
rum from my parents' liquor cabinet, uh, and we toasted
and we sat in the dining room. I tried to
make it special, you know, fancy tablecloths, candles. I used
my mom's good china. She would have killed me, but
Don was impressed, just as I planned, and we ate.
(06:44):
After dinner, we headed out and my mom's powder blue
Forward station wagon and into the driving.
Speaker 5 (06:52):
We went to see Red Dawn.
Speaker 10 (06:54):
It was about American high schoolers fighting the Russians who
invaded their town, which which felt kind of real back done.
But I also chose that one, you know, because they
had my girlfriend's.
Speaker 5 (07:10):
Name in it.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Tatiana and I are also at the drive in that night,
but we aren't there to see Red Dawn. We're seeing
the Karate Kid. Carla and her date are there too.
Speaker 9 (07:23):
We were at Karate Kid, and my dude brought pillowcases
to put up on the side windows in case we
wanted to make out. Most cars back then had jackets
or pillowcases up for privacy. I'm not sure kids watched
the movies much back then.
Speaker 10 (07:40):
Yeah, I brought a couple of pillowcases too, so yeah,
I put the cases up. Don moved closer to me
and mccuddled. Half Way through the movie, nature called and
I went to the bathroom, and then I stopped at
(08:02):
the concession stand. I ordered Dawn a hot pretzel, which
was her favorite, got some popcorn for me, and two cooks.
I remember I couldn't hear how much it was over
the noise from the movies, and so I asked the
guy to.
Speaker 5 (08:20):
Say it again.
Speaker 10 (08:22):
And then suddenly.
Speaker 9 (08:35):
Nine one one, what's your emergency?
Speaker 8 (08:37):
Yeah, I don't know. It's really loud here, but I'm
kind of freaking out. I think they just heard gunshots.
I mean that there are lots of gunshots, but I
think I just, oh my god, oh my god, oh
my god, you need to get someone here right now.
Speaker 11 (08:51):
Where are you calling from?
Speaker 2 (08:54):
A paper? At that, I meant sunset four drive in.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Oh my god, I remember this so clearly. Tatiana, her sister,
and I are watching the movie. Then all of a sudden,
mount Pine police and emergency vehicles are everywhere.
Speaker 5 (09:22):
It was total chaos.
Speaker 6 (09:25):
I was terrified. We all were.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
At this point. We have no idea what's actually going on.
But soon we hear people say a woman's been shot
and killed.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
It was an incredibly chaotic scene.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
That's Detective Kurt Peters. He's retired now, but back in
nineteen eighty four he was only three years on the job.
And because Mount Pine had so few homicides, Peters mostly
works in the robbery division, but not on this night.
Speaker 5 (09:58):
They were just.
Speaker 4 (09:59):
Talking some people everywhere. I mean, there were two screens
of moviegoers, not to mention employees of the drive, and
there was.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
A lot of people.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
And while we wish we could send them home, we
knew they were potential witnesses or maybe one of them
was actually the killer. So the first thing I did
was talk to the young man sobbing on the other
side of.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
The police tape.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
He said his name was Sam Foster, and he told
us how victim's name was don Codwright. She had been
shot in the chest and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Speaker 10 (10:44):
So I told the detective somehow, and I don't even
know how I got words out. I was at the
concession stand when I heard something, and then a few
months later, saw people looking at the direction of our car,
so so I ran over and that's uh, excuse me,
(11:09):
that's when I saw Dawn. She was slumped over and
pleading from her chest.
Speaker 5 (11:18):
I couldn't got rid what I was seeing. He was distraught.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
He said, everything was okay, you went to the bathroom.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
Then the concession said he said he was nowhere near
the car at the time of the shooting.
Speaker 10 (11:37):
Well he uh. He asked me if I owned a gun,
and I told him, yes, a rifle, but it was
at home and I had only used different hunting with
my dad. And then he asked if I had any
motive for killing Dawn, and that's and I really lost it.
Speaker 5 (12:01):
Shit. I wanted to marry that girl.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
We are all freaked out in really just wanting to
go home, but to the cops, we're all potential witnesses,
so we end up staying at the drive in for hours. Meanwhile,
our parents are finding out about the shooting on the news.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Yeah, Dan, I'm here at the sunset for drive In.
There was a shooting during the eight o'clock screening of
Red Dawn. Please tell me there is one victim who
is deceased after being shot in the chest and a
killer who is still on the loose.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
Detective Peter says a quick assessment of the crime scene
leaves him believing they were two shots fired, one that
went into the frame of the car and one through
the windshield, and they're thinking the killer used a nine millimeter.
Around midnight, Detective Peters arrives at the Cartwright home. He
has to break the news to Don's parent.
Speaker 11 (13:01):
It was late when the doorbell rang.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Don's father, Michael Cartwright comes to the door in pajamas.
Heart writes, now in his late seventies, he agrees to
share the family's heart wrenching story.
Speaker 11 (13:14):
I actually couldn't compute what I was being told. I
was like, you're telling me my daughter's dead. Our dawn
has been murdered. It felt totally surreal, like our whole
(13:35):
world just ended. And I thought, look, if it's that
kid in the leather jacket that she's got the major
crush on, I'll break every bone in his body.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Detective Peters says, a little after one am, he meets
with Sam Foster and his parents at Mount Pine Police Station.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
I started by asking about his relationship with.
Speaker 10 (14:08):
Don, and I told him we were so happy, so
in love. We were going to attend State College next
year together. Don was going to study early childhood education
and I was going to study hospitality management.
Speaker 4 (14:26):
I asked him again about what he did in the
hours before the shooting.
Speaker 10 (14:32):
And I told him how my parents went out that night,
I went to the grocery store and then home to
get ready for our anniversary dinner.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
I then asked him if he knew anyone who might
want to hurt Don, and he just moaned and started
sobbing again.
Speaker 10 (14:52):
I remember, yeah, I told him, yes, I know someone.
Speaker 5 (15:00):
Who might want on debt.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Sam Foster is at police headquarters telling Detective Kurt Peters
he may know someone who would want his girlfriend Don gone.
Speaker 10 (15:22):
I told him I maybe knew someone who would want
to hurt Don. I said something did happen earlier in
the day that I hadn't shared with him yet. Well,
my ex girlfriend, Michelle had actually come over. I didn't
let her in, but she sat on my front steps
(15:43):
and said she she wanted me back. She didn't care
that I love Don. She was going to get me
back no matter what.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Sam's referring to nineteen year old Michelle Smith, who graduated
the year before. She and Sam met while working at
Shop a Lot and they dated for almost a year.
Apparently Michelle was still hung up on Sam and determined
to get him back.
Speaker 10 (16:08):
I told Michelle she needed to leave. I was getting
ready for Dawn and my anniversary dinner and we were
going to the driving later. Yeah, Michelle was pissed, really pissed,
but I wasn't sure she was capable of hurting anyone,
I mean physically at least, and I told Detective Peters that.
Speaker 4 (16:34):
So Michelle knew they were going to the drive. Then
I wondered if her obsession with Sam was strong enough
for her to commit murder. So Sam said Michelle was
living with a few roommates and he gave me the address.
(16:57):
When I got there, though I knot but no one answered.
I hope she hadn't skipped out, and then found out
her mom's adevsk and went there.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
At this point, it was like the three in the morning.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
I knocked and a short bald man in boxer came
to the door. I introduced myself and asked who he was.
He said it was how How Michelle's stepfather, Michelle's stepfather.
I asked if he knew where Michelle was, and he said.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
She's with her mom there at the hospital. She's with
her mom, and they were at the hospital.
Speaker 5 (17:36):
Michelle was having some abdominal pains.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
He sat around six o'clock that night before.
Speaker 4 (17:41):
Michelle was having some adominal pain, so her mom took
her to the er. Turns out Michelle had appendicitis and
was rushed into the emergency surgery.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
An officer is sent to the hospital to confirm Michelle
is there. She's been there since early evening the day before.
She has an air tight alibi.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
So that was a dead end.
Speaker 4 (18:08):
And a while later I was back at my desk
when I was told there was someone there to see me.
I walked out to the lobby and I saw, to
my surprise, Michael Cartwright, Don's dad. He said he needed
to talk, so I escorted him to an interview brough.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Here's Michael Cartwright once again.
Speaker 11 (18:34):
I told that Detective Peters that I thought maybe I
knew who killed Don. I told him I just kicked
this guy out of the building I own. I mean,
this guy was bad news. He was selling drugs right
out of the apartment. He hadn't paid rent in months,
and he was starting to get into all sorts of
altercations with the other tenants. It took a long while,
(18:57):
but I finally got him out last week. Since then,
I see him around a lot, so much around that
it's like he's following me.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Down.
Speaker 11 (19:06):
Even says she'd seen him once at the gas station,
like he appears out of nowhere, and I'm telling you, she.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Was super creeped out.
Speaker 11 (19:15):
I told him I would report it.
Speaker 4 (19:17):
I asked mister Carr right the guy's name, and he
said Todd Wilson. So I ran his name through the
system and I learned Todd Wilson was twenty five years
old and he had a record, but mostly for drug
offenses and shoplifting.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
I knew we needed to talk to him right.
Speaker 4 (19:43):
His last known address listed was the one he was
just evicted from, so her question was where is it.
Speaker 11 (19:53):
I told the detective that his sister might know.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Detective Peters looks her up and finds her address.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
When I got to the sister's apartment, I could see
through the window there was a guy sleeping.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
On the sofa.
Speaker 4 (20:09):
I was thinking it had to be him, right, I
knocked and the guy stirred. I knocked again, then watched
him get up and walked towards the door. I put
my hand on my gun. I needed to be ready.
The door open place where a mess dirty clothes were
(20:29):
strewn around the room. Empty food containers and beer cans
clutted the coffee table and the floor around it. It
didn't smell too good in there either, like someone had
been microwaving fish. And standing before me at the door
was this unshaven guy, white, mid twenties and wreaking of alcohol.
(20:49):
I asked him his name. He said, Todd Wilson. Suggest
who I was looking for. I told him I was
investigating a murder and I had some questions for him.
And I was actually surprised when he invited me in
corn and.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
He looked nervous though.
Speaker 4 (21:07):
I asked him if he was on anything, any drugs,
but he said no. He told me he recently got
evicted and he was furious. I'll be able to pay
my rent soon. He told his landlord he was going
to be able to pay the rent soon. But the
dude didn't care. He just wanted him out. I asked
(21:28):
him his landlord's name, Cartwright cart Right. He said, I
think he's.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
The same guy whose daughter got killed last night.
Speaker 4 (21:36):
I think he's the same guy whose daughter got killed
last night. I asked him if he confronted the landlord,
if he provoked the guy after he got thrown out.
He said no, no, I haven't seen the guy since,
and no, I didn't do anything to his daughter.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
He swore he didn't do anything to his daughter. I
asked him where he was last night and he stuttered.
Then he said he went to the movies. Seriously, he's
admitting this.
Speaker 4 (22:04):
I asked maybe he had proof, and he said yes,
and he had the ticket stub.
Speaker 5 (22:11):
In his wallet.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
Detective Peter says, Todd Wilson opens his wallet and pulls
out a ticket stub for the seven point thirty showing
of Red Dawn. But when Peters examines the ticket more closely,
he sees it from the Mount Pine Cinema downtown, not
the Sunset four driving.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
I was like, damn it.
Speaker 4 (22:31):
I would still need to interview the employees at the
movie theater to confirm he was actually there. I mean,
he could have gotten the ticket stub from a friend,
but he had it already. He didn't know I was coming,
And it seemed like my gut was telling me this
guy was not the killer.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Detective Peter says after his interview with Todd Wilson, he
goes home to get a few hours of sleep. It
may be a long road to catching his killer. As
the days turn into weeks with no real leads, Detective
Peters says he's at a loss. Then a call comes
in that gives him some direction. Uh.
Speaker 8 (23:20):
Yeah, I don't get my name or anything, but I
think I know where that gun, the one that was
used to kill that girl at the drive in.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
I think I know where it is.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Several weeks after Don Cartwright's murder, lead, Detective Peters gets
an anonymous tip.
Speaker 8 (23:46):
Yeah, that gun, I heard It's in the lake behind
the drive in.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Peters says all tips are taken seriously, this one, especially
since Mount Pine doesn't have a dive team they asked
for from the county. Turns out, the county's dive team
is responsible for a total of two hundred and eighteen
lakes and bodies of water. Officer Cliff Nelson will lead
the crew of ten in the search for the murder weapon.
(24:13):
He's long since retired, but he graciously agreed to take
me through what they did that day at the lake
behind the drive in.
Speaker 12 (24:22):
Normally we use specialized equipment for searching, such as metal detectives.
It was just, you know, it was just impossible. This
lake was topped to bottom, thick with weeds. It was murky.
We couldn't even see down there. So we had to
come up with a different procedure, which was walking it
and stepping on things and picking them up and seeing
(24:43):
what it was. So we decided to link arms and
we walked slowly, trying to feel with our feet with
every step, out of the area where we thought the
gun would be about the size of a football field.
Right then, about thirty minutes in, officer yells, hey, I
think I just stepped on something. He reaches down, pulled
(25:06):
up a gun was a nine millimeter jackpot.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Yeah. I mean it was a good day, you know.
Speaker 12 (25:12):
Detective Peters was very pleased, I can tell you that.
Speaker 4 (25:16):
So now we got the gun, but it had been
underwater and maybe wiped clean, so there were no viable
prints on it. But we were able to run the
ceial number and it came back registered to Leslie Perkins.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
Detective Peters heads out to talk with forty one year
old Leslie Perkins, who lives in a modest home on
a cul de sac, the last street before the industrial
part of town. The house is run down, it could
use a paint job. Actually, newspapers covered the windows in
lieu of curtains. When Peters knocks on her torn up
(25:57):
screen door, a boy appears.
Speaker 4 (26:00):
Kid looked around fifteen years old, maybe fourteen. His clothes
were dirty, his hair matted. I asked him if Leslie
Perkins was home, and he said yes, that was his mom,
and he'd go get her.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Leslie Perkins invites Detective Peters inside. The place is as
depressing inside as it is out, ripped up furniture, bowls
of old food everywhere. Peters explains why he's there.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
I'll got you to chase.
Speaker 4 (26:30):
I told her we believed her gun had been used
to murder an eighteen year old girl. I asked her
if she knew Don Cartwright.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
And she said no, I don't. Then I asked her
where her gun was.
Speaker 10 (26:44):
It's in my nightstand.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
She didn't hesitate. She said it was in her nightstand.
Speaker 9 (26:48):
As a single mother, I have it for protection.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
As a single mother, she said she had it for protection.
I asked her to.
Speaker 4 (26:55):
Go get it, but fully knowing it wouldn't be there
because we believe we at it.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
Leslie Perkins leaves the room and returns empty handed.
Speaker 8 (27:06):
The gun is gone.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
She said the gun was gone.
Speaker 4 (27:10):
I asked her who knew she had it? Just then
she looked over at her son standing in the doorway,
and he just faulted and ran out.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
The back door.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
Detective Peter says, he runs after him, but the kid's
too fast. He's gone.
Speaker 4 (27:27):
So I called the backup and fibolo a be on
the lookout. They put out for a white mouth around
fourteen years old. He was wearing a zzy top T
shirt and jeans.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
Police search mail Pine for hours. They called in the
canine dogs from the county, but they eventually lose his scent.
Detective Peters says it was as if the kid pulled
a Houdini like. He totally disappeared. Six hours into the search,
police find and we find him hiding in a storm
(28:02):
drain near the elementary school. His name is Dennis Perkins
and he's actually sixteen years old.
Speaker 4 (28:10):
Finally, right we took him into custody and went to
the station where the mother was already waiting. But there
wasn't going to be an interview because Dennis's mother refused
to let her son speak with us as a lawyer present,
The interview was over before it ever began.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
So we got a.
Speaker 4 (28:32):
Warrant and searched dnnisis room, and luckily we found one
significant piece of evidence, or at least we hoped it
was significant. We found a pair of tennis shoes with
some small pieces of glass embedded in them. We were
thinking it was glass from the windshield. We knew there
(28:53):
was still a lot of work to do, but we
had enough to hold him for forty eight hours.
Speaker 7 (29:00):
Luck would have it.
Speaker 4 (29:01):
The very next day a witness came for it and
said he saw Dennis Perkins at the drive end that night,
leaving the hole in the fence behind the bathrooms. We
arrested Dennis Perkins upon a second degree murder charge, along
with two counts of possession of a firearm. I asked
(29:24):
the kid why he did it. He just stared back
at me in silence. He was charged as an adult
and held with our bond.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
I tracked down the prosecutor who tried the case, Ben
blythe Today he's a circuit court judge.
Speaker 13 (29:46):
Look, the first thing I did was go back to
court to argue for the charges to be upgraded to
first degree murder. We believed he not only knew what
he was doing, it was deliberate, and that would be
corroborated by a new witness came forward.
Speaker 7 (30:01):
This witness was two cars in front of Sam and Dawns.
Speaker 13 (30:05):
He said he heard the first shot, then maybe three
seconds later, he heard a second shot. We all knew
there was a lot of heavy gunfire in the movie,
but this witness owned the same kind of gun and
knew the difference between the movie gunfire and what was
happening in real life. We believed the first shot missed
(30:27):
and it hit the frame of the car, and instead
of leaving, Perkins waited three seconds, which is actually a
long time one one thousand, two, one thousand, three, one thousand.
Speaker 7 (30:43):
Then he fired the second and fatal shot.
Speaker 13 (30:48):
So we argued that the killing was wilful and deliberate
since he waited before firing the second shot.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
And judge agrees. Dennis Perkins charges are upgraded to first
degree murder. He pleads not guilty. Nine months later, the
trial begins. Don's parents are there every day.
Speaker 11 (31:11):
I mean, the pain that my wife and I were
in was unbearable, and that guy I couldn't stand the
sight of him in the courtroom. All we could see
was the back of his head and was still.
Speaker 5 (31:24):
Enough to make.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
Me want off.
Speaker 11 (31:29):
I want to kill him for what he did to
my family, for taking Don away from US.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Prosecutor Ben Blythe believes it's an open and shutcase.
Speaker 13 (31:41):
We knew his mom's gun was used to kill Don Okay,
and it was later proven to be a match. The
glass and issues came back to match the windshield, and
he got very lucky when a friend of Dennis Burkers
came forward at trial. He testified about how they had
snuck into the drive in through the hole in the
(32:02):
fence behind the bathroom. After walking around for a while,
this guy watched Perkins knock on a car window and
asked the person to roll it down. Then he said
he heard Dennis say something about money. He couldn't hear
what the person, the woman in the car, said, but
(32:22):
it looked like she just rolled the window back up.
The friend said he started to walk away, then he
heard a shot. When he turned around, he saw Dennis
Perkins standing in front of the car. Then he saw
him shoot again. He said he ran and never looked back,
but the next day, Perkins went to his house and
(32:44):
told him he was mad.
Speaker 7 (32:46):
That the girl was rude to it.
Speaker 13 (32:48):
She was a bitch and looked like she had money
and just didn't want to give it to him.
Speaker 7 (32:55):
He said.
Speaker 13 (32:55):
In the months leading up to the killing, Perkins would
take his mom's gun and just like around the house,
pretend or practice like he was robbing someone.
Speaker 7 (33:05):
The witness said.
Speaker 13 (33:06):
He felt really awful that he never told anybody about it.
Thought he might have been able to prevent Don Kyle
Wright's death and that was something he'd have to live
with for the rest of his life.
Speaker 1 (33:26):
On the sixth day of the trial, the case goes
to the jury. They come back in five hours with
a verdict guilty. Dennis Perkins is sentenced to life without parole.
Don's father bursts into tears.
Speaker 11 (33:41):
Yeah, great, he was found guilty, but it never should
have happened in the first place. I mean, he could
have just walked away after the first shot. Why does
he have to keep shooting. Why do you have to
take our daughter away, our only daughter.
Speaker 13 (34:07):
I mean, look, as the prosecutor, I was really happy
with the verdict, but the whole thing was a tragedy.
I mean, Don Cartwright should never have been killed, and
a sixteen year old should not have made the tragic
choices he made that night that essentially ended not just
Don's life.
Speaker 7 (34:27):
But his too. This case had detected Peter's real.
Speaker 4 (34:34):
Hard This is just my opinion, but he should not
have had access to a gun. He was a kid
and a trouble kid, and I pushed for the mom
to be charged too, but the DA didn't pursue that.
(34:56):
I also thought Perkins' mom probably missed a lot of
warnings tennis, and if she had been clued in, he
could have gotten some help and Don Cotwright would still
be here.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
I don't know, just a damn tragedy.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
So another senseless murder. Why why here and why us?
We were all so scared and how.
Speaker 6 (35:32):
Were we supposed to protect ourselves from being the next
you know, the next victim. Don't go to parties or
the drive in, don't date, but make sure to give
everyone money who asked for it. It was ridiculous and honestly,
really scary.
Speaker 9 (35:48):
These murders were changing us, and the next one, damn,
it almost tore that family apart at the seams.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
Next time on the murder years.
Speaker 10 (36:13):
Nine one one what's your emergency.
Speaker 4 (36:15):
Well, I went to throw out the trash or dumpsterraw
back and there's a body inside.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
Another murder, this one behind the Bowling Alley.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
He told me he kind of hated the guy, and
that was no secret. I couldn't believe it.
Speaker 10 (36:30):
He said he did what he had to do to
keep me safe.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
The Murder Years is a production of AYR Media and iHeartMedia.
Executive producer Eliza Rosen for AYR Media co executive producer
Paulina Williams. Written by Leah Rothman, directed by Michael Celtics.
Original concept developed in partnership with Anna, Margaret Johns and
Greg Spring. Casting by Eisenberg Beans Casting Senior Associate producer
(37:06):
Eric Newman, Associate producer Jill Hushesnik. Editing and sound design
by Tristan Bankston, mastering by Cameron Taggie, Audio engineering by
Matt Jacobson, Studio engineering by Jay Brannan. Music by Nathan Bankston.
Legal counsel for a y R Media Gianni Douglas. Executive
(37:29):
producer for iHeartMedia, Maya Howard. Performances for this episode by
Gabrielle Carteris as Nancy Clark, Kelly Deadman as Tatiana Borla
Cassiby as Melanie, Maricilda Garcia as Carla, Charles Carroll as
Prosecutor Blythe Dathan B. Williams as Detective Peters. Desiree Rodriguez
(37:54):
is nine one one operator, James B. Kennedy as Sam Foster,
James Donahour as Michael Cartwright, John Ralston Craig as DJ
Johnny Jolt, John Ralston Craig as Reporter Number one, Sarah
Alascal as Al Lake Inn comm announcer, Tom Virtue as
(38:14):
Officer Nelson menaniing Day as nine one one caller Number
three menaning Day as anonymous tipster. Additional voices by Sarah
Zook and Alex Salem
This series is inspired by true events. The stories you're
about to hear are fictional, and so are the characters
who are played by actors.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
I'd make it.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
We're back. I'm DJ Johnny Joulton.
Speaker 4 (00:22):
Boy.
Speaker 5 (00:22):
It's a hot one out there.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
Get yourselves to the lake or up backyard pool, or
just turn.
Speaker 5 (00:26):
On a hose.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Just stay cool.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Friends. Samantha from Mount Pine just called in to request
Cruel Summer by Banana Rama. Yes it is Samantha, Yes
it is.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
The dog days of summer nineteen eighty four are in
full swing. It's the summer between our freshmen and sophomore years.
Kids are hanging out in now Lake during the day,
smoking cigarettes and jumping from rope swings into the murky
lake at night. They get pretty wasted at friends cake parties.
But for all the summer fun we're having, there's a
(01:02):
dark cloud hanging over me and my friends Tatiana and Melanie.
Speaker 6 (01:07):
Lisa Anderson's murder was the worst thing ever. I mean,
it devastated us, but it wasn't like that was the
end of it, because other weird stuff kept happening too.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
In the three months since Lisa Anderson's murder, Mount Pine
has seen two fatal car accidents, one drowning, and a
small plane crash which killed the pilot, the only person
on board. That's a lot of tragedy for one small town.
Speaker 6 (01:34):
We hoped people dying and all that dark stuff was
behind us. Little did we know we'd be there for
the next one.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
I'm Nancy Clark. This is The Murder Years, Episode two, Dawn.
Speaker 7 (02:05):
Nine one one. What's your emergency?
Speaker 8 (02:07):
Yeah, I don't know. It's really loud here, but I'm
kind of freaking out. I think I just heard gunshots.
I mean, there are lots of gunshots, but I think
I just Oh my god, Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Saturday, August eleventh, nineteen eighty four is a hot one.
On this particular day, Tatiana, Melanie and I are at
the lake trying to escape the heat when our other friend,
Carla Espinoza joins us. Back in nineteen eighty four, Carla
is fifteen years old and in our grade, and her
mind is like a steel trap. She has not forgotten
(02:54):
a single detail in almost forty years.
Speaker 9 (02:58):
I remember I got sun in at the store and
I was going to put it in my hair for
the first time that day. I was hoping it would
be way lighter by that night because I got a
date that night. We were going to get pizza then
go to the drive in. Anyway, the lake was packed.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
I know.
Speaker 9 (03:14):
I saw Sam Foster there with his parents. They were
on their boat.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Eighteen year old Sam Foster, a senior at Mount Pine
High School, is not just cute. He's Matt dilloncute. He's
also smart, kind and popular and in love with Don Cartwright,
another eighteen year old senior. We were all envious. The
two were the perfect couple.
Speaker 10 (03:39):
Yeah, this is going to be interesting and pretty, hearn's
talk about. But I'll do my best.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Today. Sam's fifty six years old and owns a restaurant
in town. I'm surprised he hasn't left Mount Pine. In
nineteen eighty four, Sam's girlfriend Dawn would become the second
murder victim and left less than six months. He agrees
to share his painful memories of that day.
Speaker 10 (04:07):
I remember the moment I started liking Don car Ryan.
It was ninth grade in biology class. She was so pretty,
like unbelievably pretty. Plus she was smart and a really
good writer. She wrote with the school newspaper, the Mount
Pine Messenger. Well so, anyway, well, she finally a couple
(04:30):
years later, gave me a chance and we found love
like that deep teenage love that well you can only
really understand if you've had it.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
And on this Saturday night, August eleventh, is there official
one year anniversary as boyfriend and girlfriend. But their plans
for a perfect evening would turn into a nightmare.
Speaker 10 (05:02):
Oh yeah, I was playing in A real nice night
started with dinner.
Speaker 5 (05:08):
I had seen a recipe.
Speaker 10 (05:10):
In one of my mom's magazines for broiled chicken breast
marinated in mayonnaise and Italian dressing. I was going to
make that. I can't believe I actually made that. Oh gosh.
So anyway, after the lake, I went to shop a lot.
(05:31):
I got a disc out there. I got the chicken
and some salad stuff and Spomoni ice cream, you know
the kind with the with the three flavors and the
little candied pieces in it. It was it was Don's favorite.
Back at home, I have say goodbye to my parents
who were going to a cookout. I took a shower,
(05:54):
and yeah, and I got dressed.
Speaker 5 (05:58):
I was so excited.
Speaker 10 (06:00):
I ran to open the door and stand in front
of me was Dawn smiling, and behind her was her dad,
and Don's dad waved as he backed out of the
driveway in his cream convertible buickre Vi Era. Man, that
car was so cool, and I well, I poured some
(06:22):
rum from my parents' liquor cabinet, uh, and we toasted
and we sat in the dining room. I tried to
make it special, you know, fancy tablecloths, candles. I used
my mom's good china. She would have killed me, but
Don was impressed, just as I planned, and we ate.
(06:44):
After dinner, we headed out and my mom's powder blue
Forward station wagon and into the driving.
Speaker 5 (06:52):
We went to see Red Dawn.
Speaker 10 (06:54):
It was about American high schoolers fighting the Russians who
invaded their town, which which felt kind of real back done.
But I also chose that one, you know, because they
had my girlfriend's.
Speaker 5 (07:10):
Name in it.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Tatiana and I are also at the drive in that night,
but we aren't there to see Red Dawn. We're seeing
the Karate Kid. Carla and her date are there too.
Speaker 9 (07:23):
We were at Karate Kid, and my dude brought pillowcases
to put up on the side windows in case we
wanted to make out. Most cars back then had jackets
or pillowcases up for privacy. I'm not sure kids watched
the movies much back then.
Speaker 10 (07:40):
Yeah, I brought a couple of pillowcases too, so yeah,
I put the cases up. Don moved closer to me
and mccuddled. Half Way through the movie, nature called and
I went to the bathroom, and then I stopped at
(08:02):
the concession stand. I ordered Dawn a hot pretzel, which
was her favorite, got some popcorn for me, and two cooks.
I remember I couldn't hear how much it was over
the noise from the movies, and so I asked the
guy to.
Speaker 5 (08:20):
Say it again.
Speaker 10 (08:22):
And then suddenly.
Speaker 9 (08:35):
Nine one one, what's your emergency?
Speaker 8 (08:37):
Yeah, I don't know. It's really loud here, but I'm
kind of freaking out. I think they just heard gunshots.
I mean that there are lots of gunshots, but I
think I just, oh my god, oh my god, oh
my god, you need to get someone here right now.
Speaker 11 (08:51):
Where are you calling from?
Speaker 2 (08:54):
A paper? At that, I meant sunset four drive in.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Oh my god, I remember this so clearly. Tatiana, her sister,
and I are watching the movie. Then all of a sudden,
mount Pine police and emergency vehicles are everywhere.
Speaker 5 (09:22):
It was total chaos.
Speaker 6 (09:25):
I was terrified. We all were.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
At this point. We have no idea what's actually going on.
But soon we hear people say a woman's been shot
and killed.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
It was an incredibly chaotic scene.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
That's Detective Kurt Peters. He's retired now, but back in
nineteen eighty four he was only three years on the job.
And because Mount Pine had so few homicides, Peters mostly
works in the robbery division, but not on this night.
Speaker 5 (09:58):
They were just.
Speaker 4 (09:59):
Talking some people everywhere. I mean, there were two screens
of moviegoers, not to mention employees of the drive, and
there was.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
A lot of people.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
And while we wish we could send them home, we
knew they were potential witnesses or maybe one of them
was actually the killer. So the first thing I did
was talk to the young man sobbing on the other
side of.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
The police tape.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
He said his name was Sam Foster, and he told
us how victim's name was don Codwright. She had been
shot in the chest and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Speaker 10 (10:44):
So I told the detective somehow, and I don't even
know how I got words out. I was at the
concession stand when I heard something, and then a few
months later, saw people looking at the direction of our car,
so so I ran over and that's uh, excuse me,
(11:09):
that's when I saw Dawn. She was slumped over and
pleading from her chest.
Speaker 5 (11:18):
I couldn't got rid what I was seeing. He was distraught.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
He said, everything was okay, you went to the bathroom.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
Then the concession said he said he was nowhere near
the car at the time of the shooting.
Speaker 10 (11:37):
Well he uh. He asked me if I owned a gun,
and I told him, yes, a rifle, but it was
at home and I had only used different hunting with
my dad. And then he asked if I had any
motive for killing Dawn, and that's and I really lost it.
Speaker 5 (12:01):
Shit. I wanted to marry that girl.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
We are all freaked out in really just wanting to
go home, but to the cops, we're all potential witnesses,
so we end up staying at the drive in for hours. Meanwhile,
our parents are finding out about the shooting on the news.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Yeah, Dan, I'm here at the sunset for drive In.
There was a shooting during the eight o'clock screening of
Red Dawn. Please tell me there is one victim who
is deceased after being shot in the chest and a
killer who is still on the loose.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
Detective Peter says a quick assessment of the crime scene
leaves him believing they were two shots fired, one that
went into the frame of the car and one through
the windshield, and they're thinking the killer used a nine millimeter.
Around midnight, Detective Peters arrives at the Cartwright home. He
has to break the news to Don's parent.
Speaker 11 (13:01):
It was late when the doorbell rang.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Don's father, Michael Cartwright comes to the door in pajamas.
Heart writes, now in his late seventies, he agrees to
share the family's heart wrenching story.
Speaker 11 (13:14):
I actually couldn't compute what I was being told. I
was like, you're telling me my daughter's dead. Our dawn
has been murdered. It felt totally surreal, like our whole
(13:35):
world just ended. And I thought, look, if it's that
kid in the leather jacket that she's got the major
crush on, I'll break every bone in his body.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Detective Peters says, a little after one am, he meets
with Sam Foster and his parents at Mount Pine Police Station.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
I started by asking about his relationship with.
Speaker 10 (14:08):
Don, and I told him we were so happy, so
in love. We were going to attend State College next
year together. Don was going to study early childhood education
and I was going to study hospitality management.
Speaker 4 (14:26):
I asked him again about what he did in the
hours before the shooting.
Speaker 10 (14:32):
And I told him how my parents went out that night,
I went to the grocery store and then home to
get ready for our anniversary dinner.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
I then asked him if he knew anyone who might
want to hurt Don, and he just moaned and started
sobbing again.
Speaker 10 (14:52):
I remember, yeah, I told him, yes, I know someone.
Speaker 5 (15:00):
Who might want on debt.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Sam Foster is at police headquarters telling Detective Kurt Peters
he may know someone who would want his girlfriend Don gone.
Speaker 10 (15:22):
I told him I maybe knew someone who would want
to hurt Don. I said something did happen earlier in
the day that I hadn't shared with him yet. Well,
my ex girlfriend, Michelle had actually come over. I didn't
let her in, but she sat on my front steps
(15:43):
and said she she wanted me back. She didn't care
that I love Don. She was going to get me
back no matter what.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Sam's referring to nineteen year old Michelle Smith, who graduated
the year before. She and Sam met while working at
Shop a Lot and they dated for almost a year.
Apparently Michelle was still hung up on Sam and determined
to get him back.
Speaker 10 (16:08):
I told Michelle she needed to leave. I was getting
ready for Dawn and my anniversary dinner and we were
going to the driving later. Yeah, Michelle was pissed, really pissed,
but I wasn't sure she was capable of hurting anyone,
I mean physically at least, and I told Detective Peters that.
Speaker 4 (16:34):
So Michelle knew they were going to the drive. Then
I wondered if her obsession with Sam was strong enough
for her to commit murder. So Sam said Michelle was
living with a few roommates and he gave me the address.
(16:57):
When I got there, though I knot but no one answered.
I hope she hadn't skipped out, and then found out
her mom's adevsk and went there.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
At this point, it was like the three in the morning.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
I knocked and a short bald man in boxer came
to the door. I introduced myself and asked who he was.
He said it was how How Michelle's stepfather, Michelle's stepfather.
I asked if he knew where Michelle was, and he said.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
She's with her mom there at the hospital. She's with
her mom, and they were at the hospital.
Speaker 5 (17:36):
Michelle was having some abdominal pains.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
He sat around six o'clock that night before.
Speaker 4 (17:41):
Michelle was having some adominal pain, so her mom took
her to the er. Turns out Michelle had appendicitis and
was rushed into the emergency surgery.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
An officer is sent to the hospital to confirm Michelle
is there. She's been there since early evening the day before.
She has an air tight alibi.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
So that was a dead end.
Speaker 4 (18:08):
And a while later I was back at my desk
when I was told there was someone there to see me.
I walked out to the lobby and I saw, to
my surprise, Michael Cartwright, Don's dad. He said he needed
to talk, so I escorted him to an interview brough.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Here's Michael Cartwright once again.
Speaker 11 (18:34):
I told that Detective Peters that I thought maybe I
knew who killed Don. I told him I just kicked
this guy out of the building I own. I mean,
this guy was bad news. He was selling drugs right
out of the apartment. He hadn't paid rent in months,
and he was starting to get into all sorts of
altercations with the other tenants. It took a long while,
(18:57):
but I finally got him out last week. Since then,
I see him around a lot, so much around that
it's like he's following me.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Down.
Speaker 11 (19:06):
Even says she'd seen him once at the gas station,
like he appears out of nowhere, and I'm telling you, she.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Was super creeped out.
Speaker 11 (19:15):
I told him I would report it.
Speaker 4 (19:17):
I asked mister Carr right the guy's name, and he
said Todd Wilson. So I ran his name through the
system and I learned Todd Wilson was twenty five years
old and he had a record, but mostly for drug
offenses and shoplifting.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
I knew we needed to talk to him right.
Speaker 4 (19:43):
His last known address listed was the one he was
just evicted from, so her question was where is it.
Speaker 11 (19:53):
I told the detective that his sister might know.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Detective Peters looks her up and finds her address.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
When I got to the sister's apartment, I could see
through the window there was a guy sleeping.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
On the sofa.
Speaker 4 (20:09):
I was thinking it had to be him, right, I
knocked and the guy stirred. I knocked again, then watched
him get up and walked towards the door. I put
my hand on my gun. I needed to be ready.
The door open place where a mess dirty clothes were
(20:29):
strewn around the room. Empty food containers and beer cans
clutted the coffee table and the floor around it. It
didn't smell too good in there either, like someone had
been microwaving fish. And standing before me at the door
was this unshaven guy, white, mid twenties and wreaking of alcohol.
(20:49):
I asked him his name. He said, Todd Wilson. Suggest
who I was looking for. I told him I was
investigating a murder and I had some questions for him.
And I was actually surprised when he invited me in
corn and.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
He looked nervous though.
Speaker 4 (21:07):
I asked him if he was on anything, any drugs,
but he said no. He told me he recently got
evicted and he was furious. I'll be able to pay
my rent soon. He told his landlord he was going
to be able to pay the rent soon. But the
dude didn't care. He just wanted him out. I asked
(21:28):
him his landlord's name, Cartwright cart Right. He said, I
think he's.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
The same guy whose daughter got killed last night.
Speaker 4 (21:36):
I think he's the same guy whose daughter got killed
last night. I asked him if he confronted the landlord,
if he provoked the guy after he got thrown out.
He said no, no, I haven't seen the guy since,
and no, I didn't do anything to his daughter.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
He swore he didn't do anything to his daughter. I
asked him where he was last night and he stuttered.
Then he said he went to the movies. Seriously, he's
admitting this.
Speaker 4 (22:04):
I asked maybe he had proof, and he said yes,
and he had the ticket stub.
Speaker 5 (22:11):
In his wallet.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
Detective Peter says, Todd Wilson opens his wallet and pulls
out a ticket stub for the seven point thirty showing
of Red Dawn. But when Peters examines the ticket more closely,
he sees it from the Mount Pine Cinema downtown, not
the Sunset four driving.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
I was like, damn it.
Speaker 4 (22:31):
I would still need to interview the employees at the
movie theater to confirm he was actually there. I mean,
he could have gotten the ticket stub from a friend,
but he had it already. He didn't know I was coming,
And it seemed like my gut was telling me this
guy was not the killer.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Detective Peter says after his interview with Todd Wilson, he
goes home to get a few hours of sleep. It
may be a long road to catching his killer. As
the days turn into weeks with no real leads, Detective
Peters says he's at a loss. Then a call comes
in that gives him some direction. Uh.
Speaker 8 (23:20):
Yeah, I don't get my name or anything, but I
think I know where that gun, the one that was
used to kill that girl at the drive in.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
I think I know where it is.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Several weeks after Don Cartwright's murder, lead, Detective Peters gets
an anonymous tip.
Speaker 8 (23:46):
Yeah, that gun, I heard It's in the lake behind
the drive in.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Peters says all tips are taken seriously, this one, especially
since Mount Pine doesn't have a dive team they asked
for from the county. Turns out, the county's dive team
is responsible for a total of two hundred and eighteen
lakes and bodies of water. Officer Cliff Nelson will lead
the crew of ten in the search for the murder weapon.
(24:13):
He's long since retired, but he graciously agreed to take
me through what they did that day at the lake
behind the drive in.
Speaker 12 (24:22):
Normally we use specialized equipment for searching, such as metal detectives.
It was just, you know, it was just impossible. This
lake was topped to bottom, thick with weeds. It was murky.
We couldn't even see down there. So we had to
come up with a different procedure, which was walking it
and stepping on things and picking them up and seeing
(24:43):
what it was. So we decided to link arms and
we walked slowly, trying to feel with our feet with
every step, out of the area where we thought the
gun would be about the size of a football field.
Right then, about thirty minutes in, officer yells, hey, I
think I just stepped on something. He reaches down, pulled
(25:06):
up a gun was a nine millimeter jackpot.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Yeah. I mean it was a good day, you know.
Speaker 12 (25:12):
Detective Peters was very pleased, I can tell you that.
Speaker 4 (25:16):
So now we got the gun, but it had been
underwater and maybe wiped clean, so there were no viable
prints on it. But we were able to run the
ceial number and it came back registered to Leslie Perkins.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
Detective Peters heads out to talk with forty one year
old Leslie Perkins, who lives in a modest home on
a cul de sac, the last street before the industrial
part of town. The house is run down, it could
use a paint job. Actually, newspapers covered the windows in
lieu of curtains. When Peters knocks on her torn up
(25:57):
screen door, a boy appears.
Speaker 4 (26:00):
Kid looked around fifteen years old, maybe fourteen. His clothes
were dirty, his hair matted. I asked him if Leslie
Perkins was home, and he said yes, that was his mom,
and he'd go get her.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Leslie Perkins invites Detective Peters inside. The place is as
depressing inside as it is out, ripped up furniture, bowls
of old food everywhere. Peters explains why he's there.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
I'll got you to chase.
Speaker 4 (26:30):
I told her we believed her gun had been used
to murder an eighteen year old girl. I asked her
if she knew Don Cartwright.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
And she said no, I don't. Then I asked her
where her gun was.
Speaker 10 (26:44):
It's in my nightstand.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
She didn't hesitate. She said it was in her nightstand.
Speaker 9 (26:48):
As a single mother, I have it for protection.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
As a single mother, she said she had it for protection.
I asked her to.
Speaker 4 (26:55):
Go get it, but fully knowing it wouldn't be there
because we believe we at it.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
Leslie Perkins leaves the room and returns empty handed.
Speaker 8 (27:06):
The gun is gone.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
She said the gun was gone.
Speaker 4 (27:10):
I asked her who knew she had it? Just then
she looked over at her son standing in the doorway,
and he just faulted and ran out.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
The back door.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
Detective Peter says, he runs after him, but the kid's
too fast. He's gone.
Speaker 4 (27:27):
So I called the backup and fibolo a be on
the lookout. They put out for a white mouth around
fourteen years old. He was wearing a zzy top T
shirt and jeans.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
Police search mail Pine for hours. They called in the
canine dogs from the county, but they eventually lose his scent.
Detective Peters says it was as if the kid pulled
a Houdini like. He totally disappeared. Six hours into the search,
police find and we find him hiding in a storm
(28:02):
drain near the elementary school. His name is Dennis Perkins
and he's actually sixteen years old.
Speaker 4 (28:10):
Finally, right we took him into custody and went to
the station where the mother was already waiting. But there
wasn't going to be an interview because Dennis's mother refused
to let her son speak with us as a lawyer present,
The interview was over before it ever began.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
So we got a.
Speaker 4 (28:32):
Warrant and searched dnnisis room, and luckily we found one
significant piece of evidence, or at least we hoped it
was significant. We found a pair of tennis shoes with
some small pieces of glass embedded in them. We were
thinking it was glass from the windshield. We knew there
(28:53):
was still a lot of work to do, but we
had enough to hold him for forty eight hours.
Speaker 7 (29:00):
Luck would have it.
Speaker 4 (29:01):
The very next day a witness came for it and
said he saw Dennis Perkins at the drive end that night,
leaving the hole in the fence behind the bathrooms. We
arrested Dennis Perkins upon a second degree murder charge, along
with two counts of possession of a firearm. I asked
(29:24):
the kid why he did it. He just stared back
at me in silence. He was charged as an adult
and held with our bond.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
I tracked down the prosecutor who tried the case, Ben
blythe Today he's a circuit court judge.
Speaker 13 (29:46):
Look, the first thing I did was go back to
court to argue for the charges to be upgraded to
first degree murder. We believed he not only knew what
he was doing, it was deliberate, and that would be
corroborated by a new witness came forward.
Speaker 7 (30:01):
This witness was two cars in front of Sam and Dawns.
Speaker 13 (30:05):
He said he heard the first shot, then maybe three
seconds later, he heard a second shot. We all knew
there was a lot of heavy gunfire in the movie,
but this witness owned the same kind of gun and
knew the difference between the movie gunfire and what was
happening in real life. We believed the first shot missed
(30:27):
and it hit the frame of the car, and instead
of leaving, Perkins waited three seconds, which is actually a
long time one one thousand, two, one thousand, three, one thousand.
Speaker 7 (30:43):
Then he fired the second and fatal shot.
Speaker 13 (30:48):
So we argued that the killing was wilful and deliberate
since he waited before firing the second shot.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
And judge agrees. Dennis Perkins charges are upgraded to first
degree murder. He pleads not guilty. Nine months later, the
trial begins. Don's parents are there every day.
Speaker 11 (31:11):
I mean, the pain that my wife and I were
in was unbearable, and that guy I couldn't stand the
sight of him in the courtroom. All we could see
was the back of his head and was still.
Speaker 5 (31:24):
Enough to make.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
Me want off.
Speaker 11 (31:29):
I want to kill him for what he did to
my family, for taking Don away from US.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Prosecutor Ben Blythe believes it's an open and shutcase.
Speaker 13 (31:41):
We knew his mom's gun was used to kill Don Okay,
and it was later proven to be a match. The
glass and issues came back to match the windshield, and
he got very lucky when a friend of Dennis Burkers
came forward at trial. He testified about how they had
snuck into the drive in through the hole in the
(32:02):
fence behind the bathroom. After walking around for a while,
this guy watched Perkins knock on a car window and
asked the person to roll it down. Then he said
he heard Dennis say something about money. He couldn't hear
what the person, the woman in the car, said, but
(32:22):
it looked like she just rolled the window back up.
The friend said he started to walk away, then he
heard a shot. When he turned around, he saw Dennis
Perkins standing in front of the car. Then he saw
him shoot again. He said he ran and never looked back,
but the next day, Perkins went to his house and
(32:44):
told him he was mad.
Speaker 7 (32:46):
That the girl was rude to it.
Speaker 13 (32:48):
She was a bitch and looked like she had money
and just didn't want to give it to him.
Speaker 7 (32:55):
He said.
Speaker 13 (32:55):
In the months leading up to the killing, Perkins would
take his mom's gun and just like around the house,
pretend or practice like he was robbing someone.
Speaker 7 (33:05):
The witness said.
Speaker 13 (33:06):
He felt really awful that he never told anybody about it.
Thought he might have been able to prevent Don Kyle
Wright's death and that was something he'd have to live
with for the rest of his life.
Speaker 1 (33:26):
On the sixth day of the trial, the case goes
to the jury. They come back in five hours with
a verdict guilty. Dennis Perkins is sentenced to life without parole.
Don's father bursts into tears.
Speaker 11 (33:41):
Yeah, great, he was found guilty, but it never should
have happened in the first place. I mean, he could
have just walked away after the first shot. Why does
he have to keep shooting. Why do you have to
take our daughter away, our only daughter.
Speaker 13 (34:07):
I mean, look, as the prosecutor, I was really happy
with the verdict, but the whole thing was a tragedy.
I mean, Don Cartwright should never have been killed, and
a sixteen year old should not have made the tragic
choices he made that night that essentially ended not just
Don's life.
Speaker 7 (34:27):
But his too. This case had detected Peter's real.
Speaker 4 (34:34):
Hard This is just my opinion, but he should not
have had access to a gun. He was a kid
and a trouble kid, and I pushed for the mom
to be charged too, but the DA didn't pursue that.
(34:56):
I also thought Perkins' mom probably missed a lot of
warnings tennis, and if she had been clued in, he
could have gotten some help and Don Cotwright would still
be here.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
I don't know, just a damn tragedy.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
So another senseless murder. Why why here and why us?
We were all so scared and how.
Speaker 6 (35:32):
Were we supposed to protect ourselves from being the next
you know, the next victim. Don't go to parties or
the drive in, don't date, but make sure to give
everyone money who asked for it. It was ridiculous and honestly,
really scary.
Speaker 9 (35:48):
These murders were changing us, and the next one, damn,
it almost tore that family apart at the seams.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
Next time on the murder years.
Speaker 10 (36:13):
Nine one one what's your emergency.
Speaker 4 (36:15):
Well, I went to throw out the trash or dumpsterraw
back and there's a body inside.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
Another murder, this one behind the Bowling Alley.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
He told me he kind of hated the guy, and
that was no secret. I couldn't believe it.
Speaker 10 (36:30):
He said he did what he had to do to
keep me safe.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
The Murder Years is a production of AYR Media and iHeartMedia.
Executive producer Eliza Rosen for AYR Media co executive producer
Paulina Williams. Written by Leah Rothman, directed by Michael Celtics.
Original concept developed in partnership with Anna, Margaret Johns and
Greg Spring. Casting by Eisenberg Beans Casting Senior Associate producer
(37:06):
Eric Newman, Associate producer Jill Hushesnik. Editing and sound design
by Tristan Bankston, mastering by Cameron Taggie, Audio engineering by
Matt Jacobson, Studio engineering by Jay Brannan. Music by Nathan Bankston.
Legal counsel for a y R Media Gianni Douglas. Executive
(37:29):
producer for iHeartMedia, Maya Howard. Performances for this episode by
Gabrielle Carteris as Nancy Clark, Kelly Deadman as Tatiana Borla
Cassiby as Melanie, Maricilda Garcia as Carla, Charles Carroll as
Prosecutor Blythe Dathan B. Williams as Detective Peters. Desiree Rodriguez
(37:54):
is nine one one operator, James B. Kennedy as Sam Foster,
James Donahour as Michael Cartwright, John Ralston Craig as DJ
Johnny Jolt, John Ralston Craig as Reporter Number one, Sarah
Alascal as Al Lake Inn comm announcer, Tom Virtue as
(38:14):
Officer Nelson menaniing Day as nine one one caller Number
three menaning Day as anonymous tipster. Additional voices by Sarah
Zook and Alex Salem
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
The Nikki Glaser Podcast
Every week comedian and infamous roaster Nikki Glaser provides a fun, fast-paced, and brutally honest look into current pop-culture and her own personal life.
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.