October 5, 2023 • 28 mins
Nancy Clark and her friends are celebrating their last weekend of summer before heading out to college when an escaped convict forces the town into full lockdown. It’s a “cat and mouse” game as he terrorizes his way from home to home. When police finally catch up with the murderer, they’re shocked to see the familiar face of an angry teenager they put away just two years earlier.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
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 (00:13):
Ay swimmers.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
It's top of the hour, which means it's mandatory rest time.
Speaker 4 (00:18):
Everyone out of the pool until ten after three.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
It's the summer of nineteen eighty seven. We graduated a
couple of months before, and we're excited for the next
chapter of our lives to begin. But honestly, losing mister
Billingsley made all the pomp and circumstance feel kind of trivial,
you know. But yeah, we graduated. I'm hoping the summer
will be better, and I have high hopes, mainly because
(00:46):
I am now a lifeguard at Pineside Pool.
Speaker 5 (00:50):
Oh my god, you were so strict, you'd constantly be yelling.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Walk walk walk true. But you know what, I don't care.
No one is going to get hurt on my watch,
no one. But what happened outside of the pool that
I wish I could have controlled. I'm Nancy Clark. This
(01:36):
is The Murder Years, Episode seven, Leicester. It's Thursday, August
twenty seventh, the last weekend of summer, and my friends
and I will soon be leaving for college. We're all
excited because on Saturday there's a big keg party at
the show Walter's farm, and we are all going. Tatiana
(01:57):
and I are counting down the hours for my lifeguard
shift to be over.
Speaker 5 (02:02):
I laid out at the pool all day.
Speaker 6 (02:05):
I wanted to be supertan.
Speaker 5 (02:07):
After the pool closed, all of us went to Melanie's
to get ready.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
We are so excited about the party at Shelley's. She's
in our grade, but we're not super close. She grew
up out in the country on a fifty acre farm
with her parents and two older brothers. Her brother's parties
are legendary. Melanie and I had attended several over the years.
Speaker 7 (02:28):
I remember Shelley's brother had some of the biggest parties
in the history of Mount Pine. This one would no
doubt be epic.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Shelley's parents are away for the weekend and her brothers
are the quote unquote chaperones.
Speaker 7 (02:43):
I did my first keg stand and Tatiana did her
first beer bomb that night, but of course we had
no idea what was going down. Just like three farms away.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Nine one one, what's your emergency?
Speaker 6 (03:02):
Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Yeah, So we'll just broke into my house. City. Oh god,
someone's in your house. Hang up the phone. Where are you?
Hang up the phone now? Or out.
Speaker 8 (03:23):
Back?
Speaker 1 (03:23):
In nineteen eighty seven, when someone would call into nine
one one, their location was unknown because this is before
GPS and caller ID, so unless the caller gives their address,
first responders don't know where to find them.
Speaker 9 (03:37):
I was at the station when the call came in.
It was around midnight.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Officer Pat Shepherd has been working for the Mount Pine
p D for about three years in nineteen eighty seven,
and in those days he preferred the night shift. That's
why he was first on the scene at Lisa Anderson's
murder in episode one, and why he will be again tonight.
Speaker 9 (04:00):
Center was just down the hall and I actually heard
the call come in. I took notice because it sounded
like the woman was in danger.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Today, Shepherd is a sergeant and looking forward to his retirement,
he agrees to share what he remembers from that day.
Speaker 9 (04:15):
So, yeah, since the woman wasn't able to give her location,
there was almost nothing we could do. We just had
to hope she would survive whatever was happening out there
and then be able to call.
Speaker 6 (04:26):
Us back.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Nine one one. What's your emergency? He's gone, He's gone.
This is Joel and McBride. I called before, Where are you?
I'm eighty seventh County Road fourteen.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
So we're at the party, pretty wasted when we hear
and see several police cars and ambulances whiz by, and
we get a little freaked out because most of us
are underage, everyone pretty much scatters and gets the hell
out of there.
Speaker 9 (05:15):
I remember there were lots of units sent out there
that night. When we arrived, there was a woman on
a huge wrap around porch standing there crying with blood
dripping down her face.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
It was awful. I was so relieved to see the police.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Back in August of nineteen eighty seven, joe Ellen McBride
is twenty three years old and taking care of her grandparents'
farm while they're out of town visiting family. Today, she's
fifty eight in a vet living in Boise, Idaho. She
was surprised to get my call, but said she'd share
her story with me.
Speaker 10 (05:51):
So I remember this night like it was yesterday. I
told the officer it was maybe around eleven thirty when
I heard the noise downstairs with my grandparents out of town.
I was alone in the house, and I was scared.
At first, I thought it was just the wind or
the old house which was so creaky. So I laid
in bed and waited. I mean, I tried really hard
(06:13):
to talk myself into falling back to sleep because it
was nothing. I heard nothing. I kept telling myself it
was nothing. But then I heard another noise that one
sounded like footsteps. I was really scared. I could feel
my heart beating in my throat. You know, I decided
I couldn't just lie there. I needed to go check
(06:34):
it out or I would never be able to fall
back to sleep. Was that a smart move or a
dumb one? Well, I was about to find out. So
I quietly and slowly went down the stairs, but with
every step I took, they creaked. When I got down
to the first floor, standing there in the living room
was this kid. He was a teenager, a flipping teenager.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Joellen says. The kid standing in front of her is white,
around sixteen or seventeen, dirty and shirtless.
Speaker 10 (07:05):
I screamed and he told me to shut up. Then
he rushed me and punched me twice in the face.
I fell down and I could feel the blood streaming
down my face. When I started to cry, he told
me to shut up.
Speaker 9 (07:20):
While Joellen was telling me all this, she started to
get very emotional.
Speaker 6 (07:25):
She said.
Speaker 9 (07:25):
The guy started threatening her life unless she gave him money.
Said she didn't have any money, no more than a
couple of dollars, which he took from her purse. He
was mad, and he hit her again. This time he
punched her right in the eye. Then he said he
wanted her to cook him some food.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Joellen says, she makes him a sandwich, and then while
he's eating it, he asks for a clean shirt. This
is her chance to call for help.
Speaker 9 (07:50):
She went upstairs to her grandparents bedroom and called nine
one one. Moments later, she turned around and the kid
was standing in the doorway with a knife in his hand.
Hang up the phone. Punched her a few more times,
opened a drawer and pulled out a shirt, made him
go back down to the kitchen.
Speaker 10 (08:08):
I couldn't believe he didn't stab me right there. And then,
I mean, why did he bring a knife from the
kitchen upstairs if he didn't intend to use it anyway?
He just sat down at the kitchen table for what
seemed like forever. I watched the clock behind him, and
twenty two minutes went by before he said or did
(08:28):
a thing. That's when he asked me for my car keys.
I was afraid he was going to take me somewhere
with him, so I lied and said my car didn't work.
It broke down yesterday, and I told him my boyfriend
was on his way over to spend the night so
he could take me to work in the morning. A
car worked, of course, and I didn't have a boyfriend.
(08:50):
I was shocked because it seemed to work. Seconds later,
he got up with a knife from our kitchen drawer
still in hand. He opened the back door and ran off.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Joellen watches the guy as he disappears into the night.
She takes a deep breath, then calls nine to one
to one again.
Speaker 9 (09:10):
I tried to get a good description of the guy,
Joel and said. When he arrived, he was shirtless and
he was wearing gray pants and white tennis shoes. But
he left wearing her grandfather's shirt, an old John Dear
Green T shirt.
Speaker 6 (09:23):
It was Hugh John.
Speaker 7 (09:26):
Officer.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Shepherd calls the station with all the details and be
on the lookout. Bulletin is put out. Officers alert nearby
residents while others patrol Mount Pine, but it seems like
the guy has vanished into thin air. About seven hours later.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Nine one one, what's your emergency?
Speaker 8 (09:48):
This?
Speaker 10 (09:48):
Yeah, this is Mary Charles.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
My husband is bleeding, is bleeding a lot. What happened? Please?
Speaker 10 (09:55):
Is that help?
Speaker 2 (09:56):
He's lost so much blood.
Speaker 10 (09:58):
We're at two zero the country road four fifteen.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Please hurry.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Police arrive at Mary and Lester Charles farm to a
blood soaked scene. Forty seven year old Lester Charles is
lying in the barn bleeding from his neck. Paramedics try
to stabilize him, but he's lost a lot of blood.
They quickly get him loaded into the ambulance and speed off. Sadly,
he dies on the way to the hospital.
Speaker 6 (10:31):
So we had another homicide.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Detective Wallace will be the lead on this case. He
just solved the murder of the loved teacher Mark Billingsley
nine months before.
Speaker 6 (10:42):
When I arrived at the Charles farm, I remember Missus
Charles was in consolable, but I knew as hard as
it was for her to talk, I needed to know
if her husband said anything about what happened to him
before paramedics took him away. Anything that could help us
catch his attacker, shit his killer. The only thing her
(11:05):
husband said was that he caught a guy sleeping in
their barn and the guy attacked.
Speaker 11 (11:10):
Him with a knife. I asked if it seemed her
husband knew the guy. She said no, she didn't think so.
I asked if she saw him. She said no. It
was a trail of blood that led out of the
back of the barn, small droplets, maybe from the knife,
or maybe the assailant was cut too, But just yards
(11:33):
away from the barn, the trail of blood seemed to stop.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Detective Wallace says, they call in the county's canine unit.
The dog does pick up a scent, but then loses
it about a mile away. Maybe the guy got into
a car and the dog lost the scent. With very
few leads, Detective Wallace says, he goes back to the station,
leaving officers and technicians to process the scene. But back
(11:57):
at the station, he learned something that may possibly changed
the course of his investigation.
Speaker 6 (12:02):
When I heard what I heard, my jaw dropped to
the floor.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Detective Tom Wallace is working the homicide of Lester Charles.
He was killed in his own barn by some unknown assailant.
Although he's at the very beginning of investigating the case,
Detective Wallace is stumped until some information comes into the
station that points him in a certain direction.
Speaker 6 (12:36):
It came across the wire that Stephen Hartford was on
the run.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
You might remember Stephen Hartford from episode five. He was
fifteen years old when he abducted and brutally killed thirteen
year old Victoria Brown. At this point, he's seventeen and
serving life without parole for that murder.
Speaker 6 (12:54):
So, yeah, I learned that Punk escaped prison the day before,
Thinking was he the guy who broke into Joe Ellens
and later was sleeping in Lester Charles's barn, I called
the reporting authorities, needing to learn more. Okay, now I'm
just going to read from my notes here. While Stephen
(13:15):
Hartford was being transferred to another prison, he and another
inmate overpowered the driver and then fled. Now, the authorities
told me they didn't contact our jurisdiction because they were
two hundred miles away. They caught the other escaped inmate,
and they felt confident they would find Hartford before he
got very far. But when they learned he carjacked someone,
(13:38):
they contacted us, thinking he could be headed back to
the area. I knew I had to let Detective Thompson
know right away for many reasons, one of which she
could be in danger.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Marcia Thompson is the detective who worked the Victoria Brown
murder and helped put Stephen Hartford behind bars. Talking about
this particular case is hard for her.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
I almost fell over when I heard the news. How
in the world was this kid able to escape? So
there was no way I wasn't going to work the
case with Wallace. I wanted that psychopath Hertford back in prison,
and I was going to put him there a second time.
(14:24):
I just hoped he didn't hurt or kill anyone else
before we could find him.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
The first thing the detectives do is take Stephen Hartford's
mugshot to Joellen McBride. They want to see if he's
the kid who broke into her grandparents' house.
Speaker 6 (14:37):
Joellen had just gotten back from the hospital and was
pretty tired, if I remember correctly, but we showed her
a six a lineup of six photos. It didn't take
her but a second to point out Hartford.
Speaker 10 (14:53):
Yeah, it was number four, without a doubt, I remember clearly.
He was number four.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
Well, that was all we needed. Stephen Hartford was back
in town. We didn't have confirmation he killed Lester Charles
just yet, but my gut was telling me it was him.
We called in the counties helicopters, the K nine units,
and state police to assist. Officers also went door to
(15:24):
door and asked if they could search the barns and
sheds on people's properties. There was always a chance that
Hartford stole a car and was no longer in the area,
but so far no one else reported any missing cars
or carjackings.
Speaker 6 (15:41):
We had to find him.
Speaker 4 (15:43):
An official manhunt was underway.
Speaker 6 (15:47):
God having to tell Dorothy Brown and her son Donnie
that her little girl, Victoria's killer was on the loose,
that was awful. We assured them they would have twenty
four hour surveillance and protection on them.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Later that afternoon, police call a press conference.
Speaker 4 (16:12):
We've received word that seventeen year old Stephen Hartford escaped
while being transported to court and he's made his way
back to Mount Pine. Let me say this loud and clear,
Stephen Hartford is armed and dangerous.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
My parents, my friends, and I are terrified. My dad
puts a weapon in every room like baseball, bats and knives,
preparing himself in case that maniac comes to our house.
And my parents won't even let me go out. I
have to stay home where they can make sure I'm safe.
Tatiana and I talk about it on the phone for hours.
Speaker 5 (16:57):
We were trying to imagine where he was hiding, who
he wanted to hurt, was he trying to go home?
Was his dad helping him or hiding him?
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Can you believe we're now in a lockdown situation because
of a madman? A known murderer is on the loose
in Mount Pine.
Speaker 6 (17:22):
I opened my old files on Stephen Hartford and it's
more digging.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Detective Wallace learns Frank Hartford, Stephen's dad, left Mount Pine
shortly after his son went to prison.
Speaker 6 (17:33):
So looks like Frank Hartford closer to the prison so
he could visit Stephen more often. I asked some of
the guys to go to his house and interview him.
Frank was home, but not helpful. He said he hadn't
seen or heard from his son, and he probably wouldn't
help law enforcement even if he did.
Speaker 4 (17:52):
Chereming So by the end of the day I started
thinking maybe Hartford left Mount Pine. Why would he hang
around here when he had to know that everyone was
looking for The search team was coming up with nothing.
As the hours kicked by, we were all on edge
(18:14):
and going crazy waiting.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
Early Sunday morning, a tipster calls nine one one from
a payphone at the gas station on the corner of
Monroe and Sherman. He claims he saw that kid who
escaped from the prison. Several police cars arrive at the
gas station moments later and locate the nine one one caller.
He points to the guy sitting on a bench outside
the cafe next to the gas station, The guy he
(18:40):
believes is Stephen Hartford, but his officers approached the guy
they immediately see he looks nothing like Hartford.
Speaker 6 (18:47):
We got maybe twenty eight calls like this since the
press conference. The nine one one call center was flooded
with tips, but none of them, not one of them
panned out normally where I'm not trying to figure out
who committed a crime. This time, we knew exactly who
we were looking for. We just couldn't find him.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
Yeah, we needed him to mess up sooner rather than later,
because the town was beyond on edge, and rightfully so
He was a violent predator with no regard or remorse
for it anything he did or anyone he hurt.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Nine. What's your emergency.
Speaker 5 (19:29):
He's here, he won't let me.
Speaker 6 (19:34):
He's holding me.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
A nine to one one call has just come in
from a woman sounding like she's being held hostage.
Speaker 6 (19:51):
I felt in my gut it was Stephen Hartford the
woman was calling about. So we got ourselves poised and
ready to respond, but it.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
Shit scenario again. We didn't get an address before the
call got cut off. We had to hope and pray
she called back. Not that officers weren't out trying to
find her or him, because they were, but we had
nothing to go on to find this caller.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Fifteen long hours later, around eleven pm.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
It was honestly the craziest thing in all my ears
then or since.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Officer Charles Dixon has five years on the job back
in nineteen eighty seven. He works with the canine unit
and still has his best canine, Copper by his side.
That's the German shepherd that helped find Victoria Brown's body
back in February of nineteen eighty six. Today, Officer Dixon
is retired and lives in San Antonio where he fosters dogs.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
I will never forget this. I'm at the gas station
on the edge of town, fueling up my cruiser and
getting coffee. Copper was with me, probably open. I'd give
him a tree or seven, and all of a sudden,
I see this woman running towards me. She's barefoot, bleeding, hysterical,
and she was pointing behind her.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
The woman was Chris Newman, back in nineteen eighty seven.
She was fifty two years old. She has since passed away,
but her bravery that day is the stuff of legends.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
She was freaking out, said the.
Speaker 10 (21:22):
Guy who escaped from prison.
Speaker 8 (21:24):
He's in my house.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
I immediately called in medical help for gave dispatcher address
on County.
Speaker 6 (21:30):
Road to twelve detectives.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Thompson and Wallace get the call in high tail it
too Chris Newman's house.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
While paramedics retreating Miss Newman, I got some more information
fro him. I did refresh my memory on some of
the details, so here they are.
Speaker 8 (21:44):
I'd fallen asleep watching TV in the living room, and
the next thing I knew, I heard the sound of
glass breaking. I ran to the kitchen and grabbed a knife,
but before I knew it. This kid was in my house.
He rushed me and punched me and the face and chest,
and I fell to the ground, dropping the knife. He
(22:07):
picked it up and said he would stab me if
I tried anything.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
Now, what happened next was absolutely bizarre.
Speaker 8 (22:13):
He said he was hungry and told me to make
him some food. So I made him a grilled cheese sandwich,
which she scarfed down. He sat quiet for a while,
then he paced.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
He sat, he paced.
Speaker 8 (22:27):
He told me to make him some more food, so
I made him a pork chop.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
Hours and hours went by, him sitting and pacing and
barely speaking, all the while grasping her knife tightly in
his hand. Hiss Newman said she tried to talk to him,
you know, try and keep him coming, but he didn't
want to talk.
Speaker 6 (22:45):
She said.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
They watched some TV twenty one Jump Street and then
married with children. Then, in a moment of brilliance, Ms.
Newman suggested he'd take a shower. She said he might
feel better, and unbelievably agreed. She got him a towel
and a washcloth. She said, you waited for him to
get in.
Speaker 8 (23:05):
And then I ran out the door and ran until
I found someone at the gas station.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
She ran out the door and ran until she found
me at the gas station. She was one tough and
smart lady. For fifteen hours, she outsmart at him and
kept herself alive.
Speaker 6 (23:20):
I'm incredible.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Mount Pine police surround the small white farmhouse. County and
State police arrived moments later.
Speaker 4 (23:29):
I had this one moment looking around at all the
law enforcement that were there, thinking, this dude is seventeen
years old. How in the world did all of this happen.
Speaker 6 (23:43):
So a sergeant got on the megaphone and started talking
to Stephen Hartford, trying to get him to come outside
on his own, saying it was going to be a
lot worse for him if we had to go inside
and get him. You know, the whole nine yards that
Hartford wasn't.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
Complying, waited out for two hours. Then they start becoming
concerned Stephen Hartford has killed himself, so they decide to
go inside. In Chris Newman's bedroom, they find Stephen Hartford
asleep asleep.
Speaker 6 (24:13):
He was asleep, unbelievable. So we arrested him without incident,
and as I was walking him outside, putting him in
the back of a patrol car, he said the words
I will never forget. He said, I should have killed
that bitch when I had the chance.
Speaker 4 (24:35):
You know, I never thought I was going to have
to deal with Stephen Hartford again.
Speaker 6 (24:43):
Boy was I wrong.
Speaker 4 (24:45):
And it wouldn't end.
Speaker 9 (24:45):
With his arrest.
Speaker 4 (24:48):
He was charged with breaking into Joellen McBride's grandparents' house
and assaulting her, murdering Lester Charles because we were able
to match his blood type to blood in the barn,
and he was charged with breaking into Chris Newman's house
and assaulting her, not to mention all the charges related
(25:08):
to assaulting the officers when he escaped and evaded authorities
for days.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
Stephen Hartford is eventually found guilty of all charges and
sentenced to life plus one hundred and seventy five years. Basically,
he's never getting out unless, of course, he pulls off
another escape.
Speaker 5 (25:33):
Two days after Stephen Hartford was caught, I left for college.
I should have been through the roof ecstatic, but there
was just this dark cloud hanging over me, over us.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
My friends and I were just so rocked by all
the deaths that happened during our high school years. All we
wanted was for it to be over, even if we
were moving away. We didn't want it to continue, not
for us and not for those we left behind.
Speaker 7 (26:07):
We'd be able to move away and move on for
a little while, but the piece it wouldn't last forever.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
Next time on The Murder Years, a woman's.
Speaker 4 (26:22):
Body has been found in the woods behind Mount Pine
Community College.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
After thirty years of peace, Mount Pine is under attack
once again.
Speaker 6 (26:29):
I'm at the scene of yet another murder.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
Will it ever end? The Murder Years is a production
of AYR Media and iHeartMedia. Executive producer Elisa Rosen for
AYR Media co Executive producer Paulina Williams. Written by Leah Rothman,
(26:57):
directed by Michael Selditch. Original concept developed in partnership with Anne,
Margaret Johns and Greg Spring. Casting by Eisenberg Beans Casting
Senior Associate producer Eric Newman, Associate producer Jill Pushesnik. Editing
and sound design by Tristan Bankston, mastering by Cameron Taggie,
(27:19):
Audio engineering by Matt Jacobson, Studio engineering by Jay Brannan,
Music by Nathan Bankston. Legal counsel for a y R
Media Gianni Douglas. Executive producer for iHeartMedia, Maya Howard Performances
for this episode by Gabrielle Carteris as Nancy Clark, Kelly
(27:41):
Deadman as Tatiana, or La Cassidy as Melanie, Maricilda Garcia
as Carla Menanine Day as Stephen Hartford beau Kine as
Officer Shepherd, Carolyn Jania as nine to one one caller,
Tamo Adams as young Joe Ellen McBride, Desiree Rodriguez is
(28:02):
nine one one operator, Tu d Rouch as Detective Thompson
h Richard Greene as Detective Wallace, Jesse Hendrix as Joe
Ellen McBride, Jesse Hendrix as Lauren Collins, Justin Marriconda as
Pool intercom announcer John Ralston Craig as DJ Johnny Jolt,
(28:23):
Tom Virtue as Officer Dixon, Eudonna Daniels as Reporter Number two.
Additional voices by Sarah Zuk 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 (00:13):
Ay swimmers.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
It's top of the hour, which means it's mandatory rest time.
Speaker 4 (00:18):
Everyone out of the pool until ten after three.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
It's the summer of nineteen eighty seven. We graduated a
couple of months before, and we're excited for the next
chapter of our lives to begin. But honestly, losing mister
Billingsley made all the pomp and circumstance feel kind of trivial,
you know. But yeah, we graduated. I'm hoping the summer
will be better, and I have high hopes, mainly because
(00:46):
I am now a lifeguard at Pineside Pool.
Speaker 5 (00:50):
Oh my god, you were so strict, you'd constantly be yelling.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Walk walk walk true. But you know what, I don't care.
No one is going to get hurt on my watch,
no one. But what happened outside of the pool that
I wish I could have controlled. I'm Nancy Clark. This
(01:36):
is The Murder Years, Episode seven, Leicester. It's Thursday, August
twenty seventh, the last weekend of summer, and my friends
and I will soon be leaving for college. We're all
excited because on Saturday there's a big keg party at
the show Walter's farm, and we are all going. Tatiana
(01:57):
and I are counting down the hours for my lifeguard
shift to be over.
Speaker 5 (02:02):
I laid out at the pool all day.
Speaker 6 (02:05):
I wanted to be supertan.
Speaker 5 (02:07):
After the pool closed, all of us went to Melanie's
to get ready.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
We are so excited about the party at Shelley's. She's
in our grade, but we're not super close. She grew
up out in the country on a fifty acre farm
with her parents and two older brothers. Her brother's parties
are legendary. Melanie and I had attended several over the years.
Speaker 7 (02:28):
I remember Shelley's brother had some of the biggest parties
in the history of Mount Pine. This one would no
doubt be epic.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Shelley's parents are away for the weekend and her brothers
are the quote unquote chaperones.
Speaker 7 (02:43):
I did my first keg stand and Tatiana did her
first beer bomb that night, but of course we had
no idea what was going down. Just like three farms away.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Nine one one, what's your emergency?
Speaker 6 (03:02):
Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Yeah, So we'll just broke into my house. City. Oh god,
someone's in your house. Hang up the phone. Where are you?
Hang up the phone now? Or out.
Speaker 8 (03:23):
Back?
Speaker 1 (03:23):
In nineteen eighty seven, when someone would call into nine
one one, their location was unknown because this is before
GPS and caller ID, so unless the caller gives their address,
first responders don't know where to find them.
Speaker 9 (03:37):
I was at the station when the call came in.
It was around midnight.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Officer Pat Shepherd has been working for the Mount Pine
p D for about three years in nineteen eighty seven,
and in those days he preferred the night shift. That's
why he was first on the scene at Lisa Anderson's
murder in episode one, and why he will be again tonight.
Speaker 9 (04:00):
Center was just down the hall and I actually heard
the call come in. I took notice because it sounded
like the woman was in danger.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Today, Shepherd is a sergeant and looking forward to his retirement,
he agrees to share what he remembers from that day.
Speaker 9 (04:15):
So, yeah, since the woman wasn't able to give her location,
there was almost nothing we could do. We just had
to hope she would survive whatever was happening out there
and then be able to call.
Speaker 6 (04:26):
Us back.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Nine one one. What's your emergency? He's gone, He's gone.
This is Joel and McBride. I called before, Where are you?
I'm eighty seventh County Road fourteen.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
So we're at the party, pretty wasted when we hear
and see several police cars and ambulances whiz by, and
we get a little freaked out because most of us
are underage, everyone pretty much scatters and gets the hell
out of there.
Speaker 9 (05:15):
I remember there were lots of units sent out there
that night. When we arrived, there was a woman on
a huge wrap around porch standing there crying with blood
dripping down her face.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
It was awful. I was so relieved to see the police.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Back in August of nineteen eighty seven, joe Ellen McBride
is twenty three years old and taking care of her grandparents'
farm while they're out of town visiting family. Today, she's
fifty eight in a vet living in Boise, Idaho. She
was surprised to get my call, but said she'd share
her story with me.
Speaker 10 (05:51):
So I remember this night like it was yesterday. I
told the officer it was maybe around eleven thirty when
I heard the noise downstairs with my grandparents out of town.
I was alone in the house, and I was scared.
At first, I thought it was just the wind or
the old house which was so creaky. So I laid
in bed and waited. I mean, I tried really hard
(06:13):
to talk myself into falling back to sleep because it
was nothing. I heard nothing. I kept telling myself it
was nothing. But then I heard another noise that one
sounded like footsteps. I was really scared. I could feel
my heart beating in my throat. You know, I decided
I couldn't just lie there. I needed to go check
(06:34):
it out or I would never be able to fall
back to sleep. Was that a smart move or a
dumb one? Well, I was about to find out. So
I quietly and slowly went down the stairs, but with
every step I took, they creaked. When I got down
to the first floor, standing there in the living room
was this kid. He was a teenager, a flipping teenager.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Joellen says. The kid standing in front of her is white,
around sixteen or seventeen, dirty and shirtless.
Speaker 10 (07:05):
I screamed and he told me to shut up. Then
he rushed me and punched me twice in the face.
I fell down and I could feel the blood streaming
down my face. When I started to cry, he told
me to shut up.
Speaker 9 (07:20):
While Joellen was telling me all this, she started to
get very emotional.
Speaker 6 (07:25):
She said.
Speaker 9 (07:25):
The guy started threatening her life unless she gave him money.
Said she didn't have any money, no more than a
couple of dollars, which he took from her purse. He
was mad, and he hit her again. This time he
punched her right in the eye. Then he said he
wanted her to cook him some food.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Joellen says, she makes him a sandwich, and then while
he's eating it, he asks for a clean shirt. This
is her chance to call for help.
Speaker 9 (07:50):
She went upstairs to her grandparents bedroom and called nine
one one. Moments later, she turned around and the kid
was standing in the doorway with a knife in his hand.
Hang up the phone. Punched her a few more times,
opened a drawer and pulled out a shirt, made him
go back down to the kitchen.
Speaker 10 (08:08):
I couldn't believe he didn't stab me right there. And then,
I mean, why did he bring a knife from the
kitchen upstairs if he didn't intend to use it anyway?
He just sat down at the kitchen table for what
seemed like forever. I watched the clock behind him, and
twenty two minutes went by before he said or did
(08:28):
a thing. That's when he asked me for my car keys.
I was afraid he was going to take me somewhere
with him, so I lied and said my car didn't work.
It broke down yesterday, and I told him my boyfriend
was on his way over to spend the night so
he could take me to work in the morning. A
car worked, of course, and I didn't have a boyfriend.
(08:50):
I was shocked because it seemed to work. Seconds later,
he got up with a knife from our kitchen drawer
still in hand. He opened the back door and ran off.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Joellen watches the guy as he disappears into the night.
She takes a deep breath, then calls nine to one
to one again.
Speaker 9 (09:10):
I tried to get a good description of the guy,
Joel and said. When he arrived, he was shirtless and
he was wearing gray pants and white tennis shoes. But
he left wearing her grandfather's shirt, an old John Dear
Green T shirt.
Speaker 6 (09:23):
It was Hugh John.
Speaker 7 (09:26):
Officer.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Shepherd calls the station with all the details and be
on the lookout. Bulletin is put out. Officers alert nearby
residents while others patrol Mount Pine, but it seems like
the guy has vanished into thin air. About seven hours later.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Nine one one, what's your emergency?
Speaker 8 (09:48):
This?
Speaker 10 (09:48):
Yeah, this is Mary Charles.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
My husband is bleeding, is bleeding a lot. What happened? Please?
Speaker 10 (09:55):
Is that help?
Speaker 2 (09:56):
He's lost so much blood.
Speaker 10 (09:58):
We're at two zero the country road four fifteen.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Please hurry.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Police arrive at Mary and Lester Charles farm to a
blood soaked scene. Forty seven year old Lester Charles is
lying in the barn bleeding from his neck. Paramedics try
to stabilize him, but he's lost a lot of blood.
They quickly get him loaded into the ambulance and speed off. Sadly,
he dies on the way to the hospital.
Speaker 6 (10:31):
So we had another homicide.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Detective Wallace will be the lead on this case. He
just solved the murder of the loved teacher Mark Billingsley
nine months before.
Speaker 6 (10:42):
When I arrived at the Charles farm, I remember Missus
Charles was in consolable, but I knew as hard as
it was for her to talk, I needed to know
if her husband said anything about what happened to him
before paramedics took him away. Anything that could help us
catch his attacker, shit his killer. The only thing her
(11:05):
husband said was that he caught a guy sleeping in
their barn and the guy attacked.
Speaker 11 (11:10):
Him with a knife. I asked if it seemed her
husband knew the guy. She said no, she didn't think so.
I asked if she saw him. She said no. It
was a trail of blood that led out of the
back of the barn, small droplets, maybe from the knife,
or maybe the assailant was cut too, But just yards
(11:33):
away from the barn, the trail of blood seemed to stop.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Detective Wallace says, they call in the county's canine unit.
The dog does pick up a scent, but then loses
it about a mile away. Maybe the guy got into
a car and the dog lost the scent. With very
few leads, Detective Wallace says, he goes back to the station,
leaving officers and technicians to process the scene. But back
(11:57):
at the station, he learned something that may possibly changed
the course of his investigation.
Speaker 6 (12:02):
When I heard what I heard, my jaw dropped to
the floor.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Detective Tom Wallace is working the homicide of Lester Charles.
He was killed in his own barn by some unknown assailant.
Although he's at the very beginning of investigating the case,
Detective Wallace is stumped until some information comes into the
station that points him in a certain direction.
Speaker 6 (12:36):
It came across the wire that Stephen Hartford was on
the run.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
You might remember Stephen Hartford from episode five. He was
fifteen years old when he abducted and brutally killed thirteen
year old Victoria Brown. At this point, he's seventeen and
serving life without parole for that murder.
Speaker 6 (12:54):
So, yeah, I learned that Punk escaped prison the day before,
Thinking was he the guy who broke into Joe Ellens
and later was sleeping in Lester Charles's barn, I called
the reporting authorities, needing to learn more. Okay, now I'm
just going to read from my notes here. While Stephen
(13:15):
Hartford was being transferred to another prison, he and another
inmate overpowered the driver and then fled. Now, the authorities
told me they didn't contact our jurisdiction because they were
two hundred miles away. They caught the other escaped inmate,
and they felt confident they would find Hartford before he
got very far. But when they learned he carjacked someone,
(13:38):
they contacted us, thinking he could be headed back to
the area. I knew I had to let Detective Thompson
know right away for many reasons, one of which she
could be in danger.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Marcia Thompson is the detective who worked the Victoria Brown
murder and helped put Stephen Hartford behind bars. Talking about
this particular case is hard for her.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
I almost fell over when I heard the news. How
in the world was this kid able to escape? So
there was no way I wasn't going to work the
case with Wallace. I wanted that psychopath Hertford back in prison,
and I was going to put him there a second time.
(14:24):
I just hoped he didn't hurt or kill anyone else
before we could find him.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
The first thing the detectives do is take Stephen Hartford's
mugshot to Joellen McBride. They want to see if he's
the kid who broke into her grandparents' house.
Speaker 6 (14:37):
Joellen had just gotten back from the hospital and was
pretty tired, if I remember correctly, but we showed her
a six a lineup of six photos. It didn't take
her but a second to point out Hartford.
Speaker 10 (14:53):
Yeah, it was number four, without a doubt, I remember clearly.
He was number four.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
Well, that was all we needed. Stephen Hartford was back
in town. We didn't have confirmation he killed Lester Charles
just yet, but my gut was telling me it was him.
We called in the counties helicopters, the K nine units,
and state police to assist. Officers also went door to
(15:24):
door and asked if they could search the barns and
sheds on people's properties. There was always a chance that
Hartford stole a car and was no longer in the area,
but so far no one else reported any missing cars
or carjackings.
Speaker 6 (15:41):
We had to find him.
Speaker 4 (15:43):
An official manhunt was underway.
Speaker 6 (15:47):
God having to tell Dorothy Brown and her son Donnie
that her little girl, Victoria's killer was on the loose,
that was awful. We assured them they would have twenty
four hour surveillance and protection on them.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Later that afternoon, police call a press conference.
Speaker 4 (16:12):
We've received word that seventeen year old Stephen Hartford escaped
while being transported to court and he's made his way
back to Mount Pine. Let me say this loud and clear,
Stephen Hartford is armed and dangerous.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
My parents, my friends, and I are terrified. My dad
puts a weapon in every room like baseball, bats and knives,
preparing himself in case that maniac comes to our house.
And my parents won't even let me go out. I
have to stay home where they can make sure I'm safe.
Tatiana and I talk about it on the phone for hours.
Speaker 5 (16:57):
We were trying to imagine where he was hiding, who
he wanted to hurt, was he trying to go home?
Was his dad helping him or hiding him?
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Can you believe we're now in a lockdown situation because
of a madman? A known murderer is on the loose
in Mount Pine.
Speaker 6 (17:22):
I opened my old files on Stephen Hartford and it's
more digging.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Detective Wallace learns Frank Hartford, Stephen's dad, left Mount Pine
shortly after his son went to prison.
Speaker 6 (17:33):
So looks like Frank Hartford closer to the prison so
he could visit Stephen more often. I asked some of
the guys to go to his house and interview him.
Frank was home, but not helpful. He said he hadn't
seen or heard from his son, and he probably wouldn't
help law enforcement even if he did.
Speaker 4 (17:52):
Chereming So by the end of the day I started
thinking maybe Hartford left Mount Pine. Why would he hang
around here when he had to know that everyone was
looking for The search team was coming up with nothing.
As the hours kicked by, we were all on edge
(18:14):
and going crazy waiting.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
Early Sunday morning, a tipster calls nine one one from
a payphone at the gas station on the corner of
Monroe and Sherman. He claims he saw that kid who
escaped from the prison. Several police cars arrive at the
gas station moments later and locate the nine one one caller.
He points to the guy sitting on a bench outside
the cafe next to the gas station, The guy he
(18:40):
believes is Stephen Hartford, but his officers approached the guy
they immediately see he looks nothing like Hartford.
Speaker 6 (18:47):
We got maybe twenty eight calls like this since the
press conference. The nine one one call center was flooded
with tips, but none of them, not one of them
panned out normally where I'm not trying to figure out
who committed a crime. This time, we knew exactly who
we were looking for. We just couldn't find him.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
Yeah, we needed him to mess up sooner rather than later,
because the town was beyond on edge, and rightfully so
He was a violent predator with no regard or remorse
for it anything he did or anyone he hurt.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Nine. What's your emergency.
Speaker 5 (19:29):
He's here, he won't let me.
Speaker 6 (19:34):
He's holding me.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
A nine to one one call has just come in
from a woman sounding like she's being held hostage.
Speaker 6 (19:51):
I felt in my gut it was Stephen Hartford the
woman was calling about. So we got ourselves poised and
ready to respond, but it.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
Shit scenario again. We didn't get an address before the
call got cut off. We had to hope and pray
she called back. Not that officers weren't out trying to
find her or him, because they were, but we had
nothing to go on to find this caller.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Fifteen long hours later, around eleven pm.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
It was honestly the craziest thing in all my ears
then or since.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Officer Charles Dixon has five years on the job back
in nineteen eighty seven. He works with the canine unit
and still has his best canine, Copper by his side.
That's the German shepherd that helped find Victoria Brown's body
back in February of nineteen eighty six. Today, Officer Dixon
is retired and lives in San Antonio where he fosters dogs.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
I will never forget this. I'm at the gas station
on the edge of town, fueling up my cruiser and
getting coffee. Copper was with me, probably open. I'd give
him a tree or seven, and all of a sudden,
I see this woman running towards me. She's barefoot, bleeding, hysterical,
and she was pointing behind her.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
The woman was Chris Newman, back in nineteen eighty seven.
She was fifty two years old. She has since passed away,
but her bravery that day is the stuff of legends.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
She was freaking out, said the.
Speaker 10 (21:22):
Guy who escaped from prison.
Speaker 8 (21:24):
He's in my house.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
I immediately called in medical help for gave dispatcher address
on County.
Speaker 6 (21:30):
Road to twelve detectives.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Thompson and Wallace get the call in high tail it
too Chris Newman's house.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
While paramedics retreating Miss Newman, I got some more information
fro him. I did refresh my memory on some of
the details, so here they are.
Speaker 8 (21:44):
I'd fallen asleep watching TV in the living room, and
the next thing I knew, I heard the sound of
glass breaking. I ran to the kitchen and grabbed a knife,
but before I knew it. This kid was in my house.
He rushed me and punched me and the face and chest,
and I fell to the ground, dropping the knife. He
(22:07):
picked it up and said he would stab me if
I tried anything.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
Now, what happened next was absolutely bizarre.
Speaker 8 (22:13):
He said he was hungry and told me to make
him some food. So I made him a grilled cheese sandwich,
which she scarfed down. He sat quiet for a while,
then he paced.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
He sat, he paced.
Speaker 8 (22:27):
He told me to make him some more food, so
I made him a pork chop.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
Hours and hours went by, him sitting and pacing and
barely speaking, all the while grasping her knife tightly in
his hand. Hiss Newman said she tried to talk to him,
you know, try and keep him coming, but he didn't
want to talk.
Speaker 6 (22:45):
She said.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
They watched some TV twenty one Jump Street and then
married with children. Then, in a moment of brilliance, Ms.
Newman suggested he'd take a shower. She said he might
feel better, and unbelievably agreed. She got him a towel
and a washcloth. She said, you waited for him to
get in.
Speaker 8 (23:05):
And then I ran out the door and ran until
I found someone at the gas station.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
She ran out the door and ran until she found
me at the gas station. She was one tough and
smart lady. For fifteen hours, she outsmart at him and
kept herself alive.
Speaker 6 (23:20):
I'm incredible.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Mount Pine police surround the small white farmhouse. County and
State police arrived moments later.
Speaker 4 (23:29):
I had this one moment looking around at all the
law enforcement that were there, thinking, this dude is seventeen
years old. How in the world did all of this happen.
Speaker 6 (23:43):
So a sergeant got on the megaphone and started talking
to Stephen Hartford, trying to get him to come outside
on his own, saying it was going to be a
lot worse for him if we had to go inside
and get him. You know, the whole nine yards that
Hartford wasn't.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
Complying, waited out for two hours. Then they start becoming
concerned Stephen Hartford has killed himself, so they decide to
go inside. In Chris Newman's bedroom, they find Stephen Hartford
asleep asleep.
Speaker 6 (24:13):
He was asleep, unbelievable. So we arrested him without incident,
and as I was walking him outside, putting him in
the back of a patrol car, he said the words
I will never forget. He said, I should have killed
that bitch when I had the chance.
Speaker 4 (24:35):
You know, I never thought I was going to have
to deal with Stephen Hartford again.
Speaker 6 (24:43):
Boy was I wrong.
Speaker 4 (24:45):
And it wouldn't end.
Speaker 9 (24:45):
With his arrest.
Speaker 4 (24:48):
He was charged with breaking into Joellen McBride's grandparents' house
and assaulting her, murdering Lester Charles because we were able
to match his blood type to blood in the barn,
and he was charged with breaking into Chris Newman's house
and assaulting her, not to mention all the charges related
(25:08):
to assaulting the officers when he escaped and evaded authorities
for days.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
Stephen Hartford is eventually found guilty of all charges and
sentenced to life plus one hundred and seventy five years. Basically,
he's never getting out unless, of course, he pulls off
another escape.
Speaker 5 (25:33):
Two days after Stephen Hartford was caught, I left for college.
I should have been through the roof ecstatic, but there
was just this dark cloud hanging over me, over us.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
My friends and I were just so rocked by all
the deaths that happened during our high school years. All we
wanted was for it to be over, even if we
were moving away. We didn't want it to continue, not
for us and not for those we left behind.
Speaker 7 (26:07):
We'd be able to move away and move on for
a little while, but the piece it wouldn't last forever.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
Next time on The Murder Years, a woman's.
Speaker 4 (26:22):
Body has been found in the woods behind Mount Pine
Community College.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
After thirty years of peace, Mount Pine is under attack
once again.
Speaker 6 (26:29):
I'm at the scene of yet another murder.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
Will it ever end? The Murder Years is a production
of AYR Media and iHeartMedia. Executive producer Elisa Rosen for
AYR Media co Executive producer Paulina Williams. Written by Leah Rothman,
(26:57):
directed by Michael Selditch. Original concept developed in partnership with Anne,
Margaret Johns and Greg Spring. Casting by Eisenberg Beans Casting
Senior Associate producer Eric Newman, Associate producer Jill Pushesnik. Editing
and sound design by Tristan Bankston, mastering by Cameron Taggie,
(27:19):
Audio engineering by Matt Jacobson, Studio engineering by Jay Brannan,
Music by Nathan Bankston. Legal counsel for a y R
Media Gianni Douglas. Executive producer for iHeartMedia, Maya Howard Performances
for this episode by Gabrielle Carteris as Nancy Clark, Kelly
(27:41):
Deadman as Tatiana, or La Cassidy as Melanie, Maricilda Garcia
as Carla Menanine Day as Stephen Hartford beau Kine as
Officer Shepherd, Carolyn Jania as nine to one one caller,
Tamo Adams as young Joe Ellen McBride, Desiree Rodriguez is
(28:02):
nine one one operator, Tu d Rouch as Detective Thompson
h Richard Greene as Detective Wallace, Jesse Hendrix as Joe
Ellen McBride, Jesse Hendrix as Lauren Collins, Justin Marriconda as
Pool intercom announcer John Ralston Craig as DJ Johnny Jolt,
(28:23):
Tom Virtue as Officer Dixon, Eudonna Daniels as Reporter Number two.
Additional voices by Sarah Zuk and Alex Salem
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