February 3, 2022 • 45 mins
JoAnn’s neighbor, Steve Yancey, is currently serving time in a Kansas prison for a heinous crime. For the first time publicly, he shares his memories of JoAnn, Melissa, and Renee, the day of the murder, and his interview with police. Will anything Yancey says reveal he’s the real killer?
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
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 (00:00):
A warning this episode contains content that may be disturbing
to some listeners. M. Hello, you have a call at
no expense to you from an inmate at Chances Department
of Correction, Hutchinson Correctional Facility. It's Steve Yancy to accept
(00:27):
this call pressed by. In Steve's last letter, he said
he'd call. I didn't actually think he would ye. I'm
Leah Rothman. This is the real killer. Episode nine wished
(00:52):
her no harm. It's called will be recorded and subject
to monitoring at any time. Remember, Steve Yancy is the
guy who was Joe Anne's seventeen year old neighbor around
the time of the murder. Melissa said he also sometimes
(01:15):
babysat her in Renee when her mom went out. And
if you remember from episode seven, we heard former Midwest
Innocence Project investigator Nadia Flam described what Steve allegedly told
his wife, Terry Yancy, that he killed a woman who
walked in on him while he was molesting one of
the two girls he was babysitting. Because of all this,
(01:38):
some people wonder if he may be the real killer.
He may begin speaking now, so oh my gosh, I
know I don't sound cool at all. Steve hasn't spoken
to anyone about Joanne and the girls in almost forty years. Today,
(02:01):
he's a fifty seven year old man who's been behind
bars since two thousand eight for kidnapping and sexual battery
intentionally touching a child under sixteen, a crime he committed
with his former wife, Terry Yancy, a crime will talk
a lot more about later. For the record, Steve Yancy
may have had nothing to do with Joanne's murder and
(02:23):
the attack on the girls. I mean, he's never been
arrested or charged with anything in relation to what happened
to them. He should be presumed innocent, but I still
have a lot of questions. My goal is to go
slowly and in case he did have something to do
with it, keep him talking. And I want to warn you.
(02:45):
I am nice to Steve, and he does come off
as likable. It's disarming, actually, I mean I find myself
wondering is he being real or am I being played? Oh?
And I offered to pay for the calls, but Steve
said no. He said he has a job and can
afford to pay for them. So how are you, first
(03:06):
of all? How are you? Oh? I'm okay, well as
can be expected. So our conversation begins like two people
chit chatting while waiting for the bus. Inside, I'm freaking out.
Did you work in the garden today? No, I don't
work in the garden today. So I just got off
(03:28):
work at uh the company I work for, we make
a minimum wage and above. Yeah, I actually pay taxes
and everything. And you've been there. How long have you
been there since? I've been here for a little over
two years at this place, at this facility. But in
Kansas Prison, I've been in for fourteen years. It is
(03:53):
what it is. I mean, I gotta do it before
I can really get started. Steve quizzes me. My question is,
how did you get a hold of missing Melissa? Yeah,
(04:14):
you know that's all because I never called her Melissa
when she was a little I always called her missing.
Why why did you Why did you call her missy? Uh? Well,
that's like a short just like a little nig name
for Boling. Yeah, that's a I think she probably was
(04:38):
kind of sassy. He was. He was actually a little
sweetheart when she was a kid. She was her sister,
Ray was the hyper one. She was the fighting one. Yeah,
she liked to wrestle. She was a little roughneck. She
was she was a little roughneck. And Ray that's a
nickname for Renee, right, Renee. Yeah, I still don't understand
(05:04):
how you and Melissa came to me. Yeah, I mean
I met her. I guess back in two thousand fifteen,
she went on a show to say that she believed that,
you know, the person that she put in prison, that
(05:24):
she helped put in prison, was the killer. So I
was working on that show, and that's around the time
that I met her. When I wrote Steve, I told
him my questions about Joanne, Melissa and Renee, and since
he was one of the few people from the Hyde
Park neighborhood who knew them, I was hoping he'd be
willing to talk and help me learn more. Remember, it's
(05:48):
been alleged that the reason Steve ended up living with
his grandmother in that neighborhood was because he was sent
there after he got caught molesting some of his family members. Also,
keep in mind, I asked some questions I already know
the answers to. Yeah, So tell me, I mean, when
did you were you from the neighborhood? Did you grow
(06:11):
up on for our street? Well, I had lived there
for a while, originally from St. Louis. I was born
right here in St. Louis. I lived all over North St.
Louis and lived in the county for a little while
and moved back to the city. Yeah, graduated eighth grade
(06:31):
there and went there O'Fallon tech and all that stuff
high school. Yeah. I was actually one great behind her
oldest daughter. Steve is referring to Joanne's oldest daughter, the
one we've agreed not to name right. I think she
(06:51):
was like seventeen or something around then. Yeah, and I
was only sixty. Then I asked how he and Joanne
first met. The way I met Joe was I remember
I was helping. I think it was missing us taking
her home one day because we had to escort the
little once home because I was I was a patrol
(07:13):
boy at the time, safety patrol. And that's how I
met the mom and me and Joe picked it off,
and we hit it off, and we started talking and
then off, and of course, me being young, I uh,
I thought it was kind of cool that a thirty
something year old was interested in me. So you were
(07:37):
just kind of friends with benefits, you know. It was
kind of it was kind of strange. It was you know,
she I think she just needed somebody there and I
was available and receptive. And what was what was Joanne Lake?
What do you remember about Joanne? What? Didn't really spend
(08:02):
a lot of time around them, but she was always
she's always wanted to help people. She was like super
super friendly. She loved I mean, she loved the little
Girl's death. And uh, I mean she was just really cool,
brill laid back, brill mellow. You can tell some guys
(08:22):
had not treated her good in her life. I mean,
she she greaved positive attention now that I looked back
at it, Back then, I didn't notice that. But she
was an absolute sweetheart. When I first met her, she
was dating some guy and he was in his like
(08:43):
late twenties, and I didn't know him, but uh, and
they broke off something something, and that he went away.
And that's when I I think she was a little
leary of it, because a couple of times she asked
if I come over for dinner and we play bingo
and at the dinner, you know, sometimes I go to
(09:05):
store and pick up stuff. Because he didn't have a
lot of money. A lot of time I had a job,
so I will pick up some food, bring over and
cook man. We sit around just just her, be her,
and the two girls sit around play bingo. Do you remember, like,
do you remember the first time you guys hooked up?
(09:26):
Or I mean, how did that even come to be?
Do you remember? It was the one she had asked
me come over for dinner, and she she asked me
if I just stayed, So I stayed. I mean it
all there was only like three four times and that
was it. And and then next thing I know, the
(09:47):
cops were over there. Yeah, tell me, tell me what
you remember from that day. I got up. My friend Jay,
who lived right down the alley from her over, was
beat on the door. And I got up because I
worked night shift at the time, and I got up
and said, what's up? He said, something's going on? And
(10:09):
I went over and her oldest daughter was there, and
I said, what's going on? May She she had told
me that somebody in there and they found her mom
dead and the girls weren't pretty messed up and stuff.
That's pretty much all I heard. And uh, of course
(10:34):
I asked if i'd be able to go see the girls,
and uh, she asked if I could, They said, family
all the way, so I couldn't go in. Did you
hear the details of what was done? Uh? One of
the aunts gave me a few little things. They said
that she was stabbed up real bad, and the girls
(10:55):
had been the young cut up. I heard that one
of the girls was pinned to the floor with a
butcher knife. And then all I had heard and I
heard they were they were both cut up really bad. Yeah,
it was really bad. Well, the oldest sister is the
(11:15):
one that told me that one of was was that
had a butcher knife holder to the floor or something
like that at some kind of a night bolder to
the floor. That didn't actually happen, but I don't correct him. Yeah,
it's still so hard to like imagine what they went through. Oh,
(11:38):
I can't even try to imagine. I couldn't even try
to imagine that. Or it was a big deal in
the neighborhood, wasn't it. Yeah, a kid, we were just
breaking down. We didn't know what the hell was going on.
(11:58):
But it was a real short guys, think of everybody
like that. I don't want to talk about I don't
want to talk about it. I mean, like the pambo,
you didn't want to bring me. You didn't want to
talk to anything else, and to existence why because if
you talked about it, it was more real. I guess. Yeah.
(12:19):
I mean what happened to Joanne and the girls was
not just like a simple attack or murder, right, I mean,
it was this That was that was that was in
my opinion, that was that that was personal human coming
from what I heard that end to have been personal.
(12:44):
That's just not something the stranger would do. Steve says.
The next time he sees Melissa and Renee is at
his house. So when they got out of the hospital,
one of their ends over because I'm staying with my
grandma at the time. And I sat there on the
(13:05):
steps and talked to Missy until they went until they
had to leave, and all I remember is her saying,
they got him, they got the guy that heard us.
I didn't talk much. I cried for me anything else,
because you had talked for fifteen minutes for a total
cost of three dollars, and this method is that no cost.
(13:28):
He may continue speaking. Now there you go, Now you
hear what I pay Uh yeah, she uh, just seeing
the way she was walking, because you know, she was
still pretty stitched up and everything. I guess because she walked.
(13:48):
She had a lot of problems walking. She couldn't really
come up the steps very well, so you know, and
it it just tore me up. But she was just
such a sweet kid. I got a lot of respect
for her because that little girl bounced right back. And
I mean when I when she seen me, she got
(14:09):
all perfect up and just big old smile, And I
was like, I don't say how you can smile, you know,
it's just h That's part I cried most of the
time she was there. Ray was was completely different. She
was completely quiet, she didn't speak, very subdued. That just
(14:33):
wasn't the same Renee. I knew that just wasn't the
same girl Renee. She was just really distant. She just
you could tell it affected her really bad. That was
the only time I saw him afterwards. I never had
any contact with anyone after that. I go back to
(14:55):
the morning Joanne and the girls were found. They read
in some of the police are where it's that you
came over and talked to police. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
What was what was what was that like that morning?
I mean, can you just sort of describe the scene
outside the house. It was. It was it was like
a circus. I mean it was crazy. I mean everybody
(15:15):
was everywhere. Nobody knew exactly what was going on. And
then I've seen her oldest daughter and I asked her
what happened, and she told me because she told me
that the girls were still alive, but they were like
real bad to the shape. And that was the last
time I talked to her. But they or two later
as when the cops came and talked to me, and
(15:38):
I went in and went downtown and when the police
questioned you, did they I mean did they were you
with them for a long time or I mean a
couple of hours? And it just said because I thought
they were trying to say I didn't. You know, they
were trying to accuse me of it. You know, they asked,
(16:01):
you know when you take a polygraph? Yeah, sure, no problem.
That would have freaked me out. Oh I was freaked.
Don't don't get me wrong. I was. I had to
go to Joeanne's sister's house. I've breaked out. After I
left the police station, I breaked out. But you know,
when they asked me, I'm sure I'll take one. I
ain't got home I ain't got note died? And what
(16:28):
happened with the polygraph? Did you pass? Oh? Yeah? Did
they give you the results right there? And then oh
yeah maybe? I said, so, what's not He said, you
don't got nothing to worry about it. He said, we're
done with you. I said, okay, Yeah, they've never bought you.
I've never been bothered about it. And then yeah, they
(16:50):
never went to your work to to ask you if
you were at work that night or anything like that. No,
because I had Uh, I don't know if they did
or they asked me where I worked. I told them.
I don't know what they called my boss or not.
I have no clue. I asked Detective Joe Burgoon if
they talked to Steve's boss to verify his whereabouts at
(17:11):
the time of the murder, but he said he doesn't remember.
How how long did you live in the neighborhood after
the murder? I'm gonna I'm moved down in the latter
part of eight two. What what was life like for
you after that? I don't know. I just say I
(17:33):
just stay away from people now. I don't really I
don't trust people no more. How come I have no idea?
I mean, you just you never know what anyone's capable of.
Then I got off into drink and drove. It all
(17:54):
went down to hell for me after that. Do you
have any idea who could have done this to them?
Who could have killed Joanne and hurt those girls? No,
I had no idea about that. All I know is
that the girls told him who it was, and they
said they caught him. That's what Missy said. They arrest
(18:14):
they put a guy and riven for it. Did you
have any thoughts or feelings when you learned that someone
had been arrested. Oh, I was happy. I was ecstatic.
I was hoping they'd give him this. Then. Have you
thought about Joanne and the girls a lot over the years,
(18:37):
Not so much Joe, but I've always wondered how the
girls are doing. You know, I know how Joe is.
I have no doubt in my mind where she went,
and there the heaven that's where she went. But I've
always wondered how the girls were doing. But I didn't
want to take a chance to traumatize in anyone by,
(18:58):
you know, trying to get a whole both and bring
back man memories or anything like that. You know, I'm
figured they're they're living their life. Hopefully they're doing well well.
Renee died what Renee passed away from cancer in like
two thousand and eight. Oh man, damn, Yeah, it's very sad. Yeah,
(19:32):
the tone of the conversation has changed. We talked briefly
about prison life, his current girlfriend, and COVID. Then end
our calls soon after you have thank you you took by.
Steve calls again the next day, Hello, how how was
(19:57):
the rest of your evening yesterday? Not very good? I
got to thinking about Ray, which told me about Ray
and then kind of made for bad eavening. I didn't
kind of depressed me a little bit. I honestly wish
I would have gotten back in touch with him later,
but I just I was afraid that it brings bad
memories for him, you know, and I just didn't want
(20:19):
to be that person bring that on him. Yeah, but
I really, I really hope Melissa's doing well. And if
you ever speak to her again, tell her that I
said that I hope she's really doing well and that
I wish her nothing but the best for the rest
of her life. I know why I didn't contact them,
(20:41):
But then at the same time, I feel bad because
I didn't try. Does that make sense? Yeah? I mean
to me, it makes sense, but when I say it
out loud, it don't really found all that good. Yeah,
I mean it makes sense. Yeah, it probably feels bad
(21:02):
that since Rene's not here anymore. Yeah. That that really
that got me because I figured, you know, in my mind,
they they're out there living their lives, doing good, and
then I'm sorry to be the bearer of that bad news.
(21:22):
Oh it's okay, are you getting them? Look? Sorry, I
should just give me a second. Wow. Uh yeah, I
(21:44):
got a little joking there. I mean, kids just don't
deserve that kind of stuff. And then to her, her
to lose her life that young, I mean that's crazy. Yeah,
you've done had enough done to her over two years.
(22:04):
You couldn't help the door of the kids. They were
just sweethearts. They were too young to even understand what
real hate was. The conversation pivots back to Joanne. I
mean I liked her to death. Did you have any
deeper feelings for her? Like, did you love her? I'm
(22:26):
not sure at that at that age, I really loved
much of anything. I cared about her. You know, I
liked her a lot I cared about her. Uh, I
never wished her any harm, Which brings me to one
of the most important questions I have for Steve. And
(22:49):
one of the letters that you wrote, you said you
never babysat the girls. No. No, God, Joe was always
there to help. M hmmm. Steve says, no, he never
babysat the girls. Melissa, as we know, said he did.
The reason why this matters it goes back to the
(23:13):
very disturbing conversation Steve's then wife, Terry Ancy, had with
Nadia Flam, an investigator with the Midwest Innocence Project, back
in two thousand and eleven. The interview took place while
Tara was in prison. Here's Nadia describing that exchange. She said, well,
I know that he killed someone, but I don't really
(23:37):
I don't really know all the details. And I'm like, well,
how did that come out? And she said, well, she
had found out that he lied to her, that he
had a that he did have a criminal record, and
that his criminal record included like child molestation, and so
she starts poking him about it and bugging him about it.
(24:00):
Me finally is like, like, fine, I'll tell you. She says,
he said that he was in a house with a
woman and two little girls, and in her head, the
woman seemed like it was a babysitter. But we, you know,
we weren't correcting her and we were just like a
(24:20):
woman and two girls. And she said the woman um
had to go out for a second, like run an errand.
And while she was gone, Steve started doing something to
one of the girls and was caught in the act
when she got home, and so he had to kill her.
(24:41):
And I was like, let else did he say? And
she's like, you know, he's the kind of person if
he's told you once, you don't ask again. Um, But
you know that stood out. I think she she said
that she did ask again, though, and he said it
was a bloody mess and if you would seeing the
crime scene photos, you would know it was me. So,
(25:09):
if Steve's alleged confession is to be believed, who was
he talking about. Steve Yancy admits to having a sexual
(25:30):
relationship with joe Ane Tate around the time of the murder,
and he denies ever babysitting Melissa and Renee. Melissa said
he did babysit them. If Steve's confession to Tara was true.
Was he talking about Joanne and the girls? And did
I just catch him in a lie or did Melissa misremember?
(25:54):
Maybe she was confused. As we know by now, there
were other things Melissa can Fla did. Maybe this was
one of those things. For now, I'm moving on from
the babysitting topic. I will go back to it again
very soon. Back around the time of the attack on
Joanne and the girls, I saw that you were quoted
(26:16):
in the newspaper. I was quoted in a newspaper. Yeah,
it's I think it was a St. Louis Dispatch interviewed you.
If they did, I didn't, I never even knew I
was talking to a reporter. Yeah. I think you're quoted
as saying joe Anne was perfect. She was what perfect
(26:37):
um As as far as a person, you couldn't have
found a nicer person. Yeah, yeah, as far as that goes, Yeah,
if you're talking about a big hearted person that cares
about everyone she meets, Yeah, she's perfect. We've talked for
minutes for a total cust of three dollars, and this
(27:02):
method is that no, cos you may continue speaking now.
I don't remember talking to any reporters because about a
known name was reporter. I've never said a word. It's
a delicate question. But was Joanne your first? Oh? No, no,
(27:23):
I think I lost my virginity back when I was
about and len Oh wow, that's young. Yeah to a babysitner.
And it was like, wow, that that must have been hard.
That must have been sort of a life changing moment
for you. Yeah, I guess I thought it was kind
(27:46):
of cool. I was a boy, you know, it's different
for boys than it is for girls. For boys is like, oh, yeah,
cool that, you know. I look back, it probably started
me on pretty unhealthy uh obsessioned with older females. Mm hmm.
(28:07):
I mean a girl I went to school with one
of her, her mom, her step mom, and uh, we're
together for a little while. That was before Joey and
and she was in her late twenties early thirties, which
Joanne was too. She was in her thirties. After that.
They were all pretty much my age or a little younger.
(28:32):
Some were children. It's why he's currently doing time. How
long have you been at that facility since February of
night being okay, can you can you tell me why
a little bit about why you're there? I'd rather not
discuss that because I'm still fighting on that issue. Oh
(28:57):
I didn't fighting some of that in the courts discus
with my ex wife. I mean, it wasn't any kind
of violence. You're done. It's a kidnapping against my ex wife,
re using to allow her to leave the house. And
you're you're in Kansas. They got weird laws. If you
don't allow someone to leave a domicile, that's considered kidnapping.
(29:22):
I was convicted. I'm just I'm still fighting it though.
I think I got way too much time for for
for what it really was. Like I mentioned earlier, Steve
Yancy is currently doing time for kidnapping and sexual battery
intentional touching of a child under sixteen. The boy was
actually eleven. His wife at the time, Terry Yancy, was
(29:46):
convicted of raping that child. The authorities believe Steve was
the mastermind behind this truly awful crime. So you doing time?
How to do with something with your wife? Pardon you
doing time right now? Had to do with something with
your wife? Was my wife? Yeah? The kidnapping was on her.
(30:07):
That's what I'm in prisip for kidnapping, for reusing to
allow her to leave the home. How long? How long
were you married? Uh? I was married for ten years. Wow,
and you're obviously you're not no longer married. No, do
(30:28):
you have any kids? Yeah? I have three kids. I
want to know more about Steve's relationship with Tara, who
was twenty years younger than him, just eighteen or nineteen
years old when they got together. How did you two meet?
And I got a little night job at McDonald's and
she was my trainer, and that's that's kind of how
(30:51):
we met. At first, I wouldn't talk to her because
I thought she was a lot younger than she was.
And one of the guys and I guess you had
went to him and he said, and why don't you
talk to her? I said, Man, I'm I'm a grown
ass man. I don't talk to little kids. Man. And
he goes, no, man, you know she's got a kid
and everything. Is she's over eighteen? I said, no, she's not, Yes,
(31:13):
she is. Then I started talking to her kind of
when kind of built from there. Yeah. We were together
for ten years a little over ten years. Was it
a happy marriage For the most part, The first five
was pretty good, and it got to where I couldn't
trust her with with the kids alone, so I'd have
(31:35):
to send them to daycare while I was at work,
and things just started going downhill. The last really bad,
the last three years. She was still young and won
her the party, and I was for the stay at
home family person. I reached out to Terry Yancy, but
(31:57):
having heard back back. In that two thousand eleven interview
with the Midwest Innocence Projects investigator Nadia Flam, Tara said
that Steve at least once had been violent with her.
He even threatened to kill her. Tara was released from
prison in two thousand eleven, but when I went to
check her information recently with the Department of Corrections, I
(32:21):
found out she went back into prison November due to
a parole violation. As of February, she is still in
prison with no clear indication of when she'll be released.
For her safety, I decide not to share anything. She
told Nadia with Steve, when did you divorce while I
(32:45):
was in prison? And was there like a final straw
or or just the relationship run its course? Well? Yeah,
I mean once I got was and it was over
my eyes. Yeah, it just I mean I don't hold
(33:06):
it against her yet. She she told him a few
little not truth, but I think she did so to
keep from getting in trouble, because I think she realized
whole ship. I started something and it's snowballing and I
can't stop it. You said she lied up, You said
she lied about some stuff. Well, she didn't flat out live,
(33:29):
but she had to kind of stretch the truth a
little in order to keep from showing that it wasn't
a forced thing. You know. See, she made it sound
as if I had threatened her. I asked Steve, if
this is the first time he's gone to prison. No,
I went to prison years ago when I was young
(33:52):
for sex with an underaged girl. When I was like
nineteen twenty years that's twenty years old. Was that in
Missouri or Kansas? Missouri? Remember in n four in St.
Louis County, just two years after Joanne's murder and the
(34:12):
attack on Melissa and Renee, Steve Yancy pled guilty to
sodomy and sexual abuse in the first degree. Both victims
were under fourteen years old. They have heard that, um,
people who are in prison for sex offenses or you know,
as a sex offender. It's very, very, very hard in
(34:35):
the prison population Yep, you gotta find a lot. Did
you have to deal with that? Well, yeah, I had
to fight a lot sometimes the one sometimes I did.
I heard there's a name of a prison in Missouri
(34:58):
called it used to be called Walls. The Walls. Yeah,
well they don't use that one anymore. They shut it down,
but yeah, the old Jefferson City Prison. Yeah, I heard
it had this saying that it was like the bloodiest
forty the bloodiest forty acres in the state, in the
in the Midwest. Yeah, and that's where I did my time. Yeah.
(35:27):
When were you there, uh, the late eighties. Yeah. It
wasn't good, it wasn't nice. I think that's where the
guy who got um Rodney Lincoln, who got convicted of
Joe Anne's you know, murder and the attack on the girls.
(35:49):
I think he was at the Walls around that time.
I didn't know who he was or what his name
was or nothing. Yeah. If I would have, I'd probably
still be there. What do you mean if I had
known he was there when I was there, I probably
would still be there because he wouldn't be I wanted
(36:22):
to ask you in your letter, In one of the
letters that you wrote, you said something about how like
three people had tried to talk to you over the
last ten years. What was that about? Uh, some reporter
from the St. Louis, some lawyer from an innocence project
trying to help that guy get out of prison. I
(36:43):
told him, I have nothing to say to you. As
far as I'm concerned. There is a special place in
hell for that guy. Oh and just and in somebody
else from the Innocent Project trying to get ahold And
I told him I have nothing to say to you people. Yeah,
have you ever wondered if considering the Innocence Project was
(37:04):
contacting you. Did you ever wonder like, oh, shoot, maybe
that guy didn't do it. I don't know. I know.
All I know is she said they got the guy
and that was the one, and that's that was good
enough for me. I'm not going to question her. I mean,
he's been in there all these years. If there was
(37:25):
anything that proved of what neum he'd done, been out
and there's nothing I could say or do to help
this guy. I don't even know who he is. Do
a lot of people in prison say that they're innocent? Well, yeah,
everybody does. I mean every now and then you get
the few you know. Technically, yeah, I'm guilty for what
(37:49):
they what I'm in here for. They refused to let
her leave the house. Technically, by law, that is kidnapping.
So yes, I am guilty. Again, that's not what the
courts say happened. And for the record, the time Steve
did at the Walls wasn't the only other time he
was incarcerated. In Jefferson County, Missouri, he pled guilty to
(38:13):
sex abuse and forcible sodomy. He was sentenced to ten
years in prison. Back to Joanne and the Girls and
the very important babysitter question. Last night, I was going
through some other some other documents, and you know what's
weird is that Melissa said at one point that you
(38:36):
did babysit them. Well, I don't know where he got
baby that. I mean I was there, but I never
baby then them. I mean I was always got their
Their mom would all Yeah, she said, she said that
when her mom would go out sometimes you would watch them. No,
(38:56):
I never did that. Well wait, I might have watched
him one time when she ran to the store, but
I mean that was just a few minutes and she
was right back because the store was just down the street. Yeah,
she didn't have a car, she walked, and it was
(39:17):
only like, hatt, Steve, Steve, Steve, Steve, are you still there, Steve?
(39:54):
Is it a coincidence that, of all the moments, the
call drops at this particular moment. I mean, of what
Terry Yancy told Nadia is true, then I wonder, is
Steve hanging up on me now because I'm zeroing in
on something he doesn't want to discuss because it could
actually be incriminating. WHOA, but come on, there's got to
(40:15):
be a logical explanation for the line going dead right.
Probably maybe I'm stunned, and I'll put money on the
fact that I'll never hear from Steve again. I'm wrong.
He calls back within the hour. I think our call
got dropped or something because I lost you. I know
(40:39):
I lost you. I kept saying, Steve, Steve, Hello, Hello,
I'm glad you called back. Thank you. So what were
we talking about? Um? Oh uh, yeah. Melissa had said
that when Joanne would go out, you would you would
baby sit the girl rolls. Yeah. The only time I
(41:02):
had ever done that is when I was over there
and she needed to run to the store real quick.
But it was just down on the corner. I mean
it was just half a block away. Or baby should
go take a shower, I mean a bath or something
like that. Or No, I never watched them while she
went anywhere significant, Yeah, I mean it's it's something Melissa
(41:25):
said back in two you know, around the time when
police were talking to her. So, yeah, when you're little
like that, I mean, mommy ran to the store. That's
babies in you know. Yeah, her mommy's in the bathroom,
you know, taking a bath, that's baby. I don't know.
It's hard to say how a little kid's mind works
(41:47):
when they're that little, because I can't remember what I
used to think when I was at age. I think
what she said was when her mom would go out,
you would baby said, but yeah, don't come. I donanda
if she was running. I was there and she had
to run to the store or something like that, and
the store was just down the street about a half
(42:08):
a block. I can't remember any time I ever actually
watched him while she went someplace. I know. I'm confused
to Yes, he did just say he may have watched
the girls when Joanne quote had to run to the
store or something like that, but he can't remember ever
(42:29):
watching them quote while she went someplace, very very confusing.
We wrap up the call soon after. And how does
that I mean now that my number is on the
approved list? Does that mean that you can indefinitely Okay, great,
unless you call and ask him to remove it or blocking.
(42:52):
I see, I'll talk to you again soon, okay, okay,
by I have more questions for Steve, A lot more
questions about Joanne's murder, his crimes against children, and what
he will say when he learns Rodney Lincoln is out
of prison, a man he basically said he would have
(43:14):
killed himself if given the chance. Next time on The
Real Killer, does memory get better? With your memories better? Now? No,
memories are at the very center of this case, but
just how reliable are they? I battle between what I
(43:38):
remember and this narrative that I developed over the time
with the police. There should be a lot of things
you don't consider tampering with, like to witnesses memory when
invested beginning of crime. It's the same as going into
a crime scene and I'm gonna I'm gonna move the gun.
(44:00):
M The Real Killer is a production of a y
R Media and I Heart Radio, hosted by me Leah
Rothman Executive producers Leah Rothman and Eliza Rosen for A
y R Media. Written by me Leah Rothman, Senior associate
(44:23):
producer Eric Newman. Editing and sound design by Cameron Taggy,
mixed and mastered by Cameron Taggi. Audio engineering by Jesus c.
Mario Studio engineering by Tom Weir and Kelly McGrew. Legal
counsel for A y R Media Gianni Douglas, Executive producer
(44:44):
for iHeart Radio Chandler Mayze. If you're enjoying The Real Killer,
tell your friends about it and leave us a review
on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts
A warning this episode contains content that may be disturbing
to some listeners. M. Hello, you have a call at
no expense to you from an inmate at Chances Department
of Correction, Hutchinson Correctional Facility. It's Steve Yancy to accept
(00:27):
this call pressed by. In Steve's last letter, he said
he'd call. I didn't actually think he would ye. I'm
Leah Rothman. This is the real killer. Episode nine wished
(00:52):
her no harm. It's called will be recorded and subject
to monitoring at any time. Remember, Steve Yancy is the
guy who was Joe Anne's seventeen year old neighbor around
the time of the murder. Melissa said he also sometimes
(01:15):
babysat her in Renee when her mom went out. And
if you remember from episode seven, we heard former Midwest
Innocence Project investigator Nadia Flam described what Steve allegedly told
his wife, Terry Yancy, that he killed a woman who
walked in on him while he was molesting one of
the two girls he was babysitting. Because of all this,
(01:38):
some people wonder if he may be the real killer.
He may begin speaking now, so oh my gosh, I
know I don't sound cool at all. Steve hasn't spoken
to anyone about Joanne and the girls in almost forty years. Today,
(02:01):
he's a fifty seven year old man who's been behind
bars since two thousand eight for kidnapping and sexual battery
intentionally touching a child under sixteen, a crime he committed
with his former wife, Terry Yancy, a crime will talk
a lot more about later. For the record, Steve Yancy
may have had nothing to do with Joanne's murder and
(02:23):
the attack on the girls. I mean, he's never been
arrested or charged with anything in relation to what happened
to them. He should be presumed innocent, but I still
have a lot of questions. My goal is to go
slowly and in case he did have something to do
with it, keep him talking. And I want to warn you.
(02:45):
I am nice to Steve, and he does come off
as likable. It's disarming, actually, I mean I find myself
wondering is he being real or am I being played? Oh?
And I offered to pay for the calls, but Steve
said no. He said he has a job and can
afford to pay for them. So how are you, first
(03:06):
of all? How are you? Oh? I'm okay, well as
can be expected. So our conversation begins like two people
chit chatting while waiting for the bus. Inside, I'm freaking out.
Did you work in the garden today? No, I don't
work in the garden today. So I just got off
(03:28):
work at uh the company I work for, we make
a minimum wage and above. Yeah, I actually pay taxes
and everything. And you've been there. How long have you
been there since? I've been here for a little over
two years at this place, at this facility. But in
Kansas Prison, I've been in for fourteen years. It is
(03:53):
what it is. I mean, I gotta do it before
I can really get started. Steve quizzes me. My question is,
how did you get a hold of missing Melissa? Yeah,
(04:14):
you know that's all because I never called her Melissa
when she was a little I always called her missing.
Why why did you Why did you call her missy? Uh? Well,
that's like a short just like a little nig name
for Boling. Yeah, that's a I think she probably was
(04:38):
kind of sassy. He was. He was actually a little
sweetheart when she was a kid. She was her sister,
Ray was the hyper one. She was the fighting one. Yeah,
she liked to wrestle. She was a little roughneck. She
was she was a little roughneck. And Ray that's a
nickname for Renee, right, Renee. Yeah, I still don't understand
(05:04):
how you and Melissa came to me. Yeah, I mean
I met her. I guess back in two thousand fifteen,
she went on a show to say that she believed that,
you know, the person that she put in prison, that
(05:24):
she helped put in prison, was the killer. So I
was working on that show, and that's around the time
that I met her. When I wrote Steve, I told
him my questions about Joanne, Melissa and Renee, and since
he was one of the few people from the Hyde
Park neighborhood who knew them, I was hoping he'd be
willing to talk and help me learn more. Remember, it's
(05:48):
been alleged that the reason Steve ended up living with
his grandmother in that neighborhood was because he was sent
there after he got caught molesting some of his family members. Also,
keep in mind, I asked some questions I already know
the answers to. Yeah, So tell me, I mean, when
did you were you from the neighborhood? Did you grow
(06:11):
up on for our street? Well, I had lived there
for a while, originally from St. Louis. I was born
right here in St. Louis. I lived all over North St.
Louis and lived in the county for a little while
and moved back to the city. Yeah, graduated eighth grade
(06:31):
there and went there O'Fallon tech and all that stuff
high school. Yeah. I was actually one great behind her
oldest daughter. Steve is referring to Joanne's oldest daughter, the
one we've agreed not to name right. I think she
(06:51):
was like seventeen or something around then. Yeah, and I
was only sixty. Then I asked how he and Joanne
first met. The way I met Joe was I remember
I was helping. I think it was missing us taking
her home one day because we had to escort the
little once home because I was I was a patrol
(07:13):
boy at the time, safety patrol. And that's how I
met the mom and me and Joe picked it off,
and we hit it off, and we started talking and
then off, and of course, me being young, I uh,
I thought it was kind of cool that a thirty
something year old was interested in me. So you were
(07:37):
just kind of friends with benefits, you know. It was
kind of it was kind of strange. It was you know,
she I think she just needed somebody there and I
was available and receptive. And what was what was Joanne Lake?
What do you remember about Joanne? What? Didn't really spend
(08:02):
a lot of time around them, but she was always
she's always wanted to help people. She was like super
super friendly. She loved I mean, she loved the little
Girl's death. And uh, I mean she was just really cool,
brill laid back, brill mellow. You can tell some guys
(08:22):
had not treated her good in her life. I mean,
she she greaved positive attention now that I looked back
at it, Back then, I didn't notice that. But she
was an absolute sweetheart. When I first met her, she
was dating some guy and he was in his like
(08:43):
late twenties, and I didn't know him, but uh, and
they broke off something something, and that he went away.
And that's when I I think she was a little
leary of it, because a couple of times she asked
if I come over for dinner and we play bingo
and at the dinner, you know, sometimes I go to
(09:05):
store and pick up stuff. Because he didn't have a
lot of money. A lot of time I had a job,
so I will pick up some food, bring over and
cook man. We sit around just just her, be her,
and the two girls sit around play bingo. Do you remember, like,
do you remember the first time you guys hooked up?
(09:26):
Or I mean, how did that even come to be?
Do you remember? It was the one she had asked
me come over for dinner, and she she asked me
if I just stayed, So I stayed. I mean it
all there was only like three four times and that
was it. And and then next thing I know, the
(09:47):
cops were over there. Yeah, tell me, tell me what
you remember from that day. I got up. My friend Jay,
who lived right down the alley from her over, was
beat on the door. And I got up because I
worked night shift at the time, and I got up
and said, what's up? He said, something's going on? And
(10:09):
I went over and her oldest daughter was there, and
I said, what's going on? May She she had told
me that somebody in there and they found her mom
dead and the girls weren't pretty messed up and stuff.
That's pretty much all I heard. And uh, of course
(10:34):
I asked if i'd be able to go see the girls,
and uh, she asked if I could, They said, family
all the way, so I couldn't go in. Did you
hear the details of what was done? Uh? One of
the aunts gave me a few little things. They said
that she was stabbed up real bad, and the girls
(10:55):
had been the young cut up. I heard that one
of the girls was pinned to the floor with a
butcher knife. And then all I had heard and I
heard they were they were both cut up really bad. Yeah,
it was really bad. Well, the oldest sister is the
(11:15):
one that told me that one of was was that
had a butcher knife holder to the floor or something
like that at some kind of a night bolder to
the floor. That didn't actually happen, but I don't correct him. Yeah,
it's still so hard to like imagine what they went through. Oh,
(11:38):
I can't even try to imagine. I couldn't even try
to imagine that. Or it was a big deal in
the neighborhood, wasn't it. Yeah, a kid, we were just
breaking down. We didn't know what the hell was going on.
(11:58):
But it was a real short guys, think of everybody
like that. I don't want to talk about I don't
want to talk about it. I mean, like the pambo,
you didn't want to bring me. You didn't want to
talk to anything else, and to existence why because if
you talked about it, it was more real. I guess. Yeah.
(12:19):
I mean what happened to Joanne and the girls was
not just like a simple attack or murder, right, I mean,
it was this That was that was that was in
my opinion, that was that that was personal human coming
from what I heard that end to have been personal.
(12:44):
That's just not something the stranger would do. Steve says.
The next time he sees Melissa and Renee is at
his house. So when they got out of the hospital,
one of their ends over because I'm staying with my
grandma at the time. And I sat there on the
(13:05):
steps and talked to Missy until they went until they
had to leave, and all I remember is her saying,
they got him, they got the guy that heard us.
I didn't talk much. I cried for me anything else,
because you had talked for fifteen minutes for a total
cost of three dollars, and this method is that no cost.
(13:28):
He may continue speaking. Now there you go, Now you
hear what I pay Uh yeah, she uh, just seeing
the way she was walking, because you know, she was
still pretty stitched up and everything. I guess because she walked.
(13:48):
She had a lot of problems walking. She couldn't really
come up the steps very well, so you know, and
it it just tore me up. But she was just
such a sweet kid. I got a lot of respect
for her because that little girl bounced right back. And
I mean when I when she seen me, she got
(14:09):
all perfect up and just big old smile, And I
was like, I don't say how you can smile, you know,
it's just h That's part I cried most of the
time she was there. Ray was was completely different. She
was completely quiet, she didn't speak, very subdued. That just
(14:33):
wasn't the same Renee. I knew that just wasn't the
same girl Renee. She was just really distant. She just
you could tell it affected her really bad. That was
the only time I saw him afterwards. I never had
any contact with anyone after that. I go back to
(14:55):
the morning Joanne and the girls were found. They read
in some of the police are where it's that you
came over and talked to police. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
What was what was what was that like that morning?
I mean, can you just sort of describe the scene
outside the house. It was. It was it was like
a circus. I mean it was crazy. I mean everybody
(15:15):
was everywhere. Nobody knew exactly what was going on. And
then I've seen her oldest daughter and I asked her
what happened, and she told me because she told me
that the girls were still alive, but they were like
real bad to the shape. And that was the last
time I talked to her. But they or two later
as when the cops came and talked to me, and
(15:38):
I went in and went downtown and when the police
questioned you, did they I mean did they were you
with them for a long time or I mean a
couple of hours? And it just said because I thought
they were trying to say I didn't. You know, they
were trying to accuse me of it. You know, they asked,
(16:01):
you know when you take a polygraph? Yeah, sure, no problem.
That would have freaked me out. Oh I was freaked.
Don't don't get me wrong. I was. I had to
go to Joeanne's sister's house. I've breaked out. After I
left the police station, I breaked out. But you know,
when they asked me, I'm sure I'll take one. I
ain't got home I ain't got note died? And what
(16:28):
happened with the polygraph? Did you pass? Oh? Yeah? Did
they give you the results right there? And then oh
yeah maybe? I said, so, what's not He said, you
don't got nothing to worry about it. He said, we're
done with you. I said, okay, Yeah, they've never bought you.
I've never been bothered about it. And then yeah, they
(16:50):
never went to your work to to ask you if
you were at work that night or anything like that. No,
because I had Uh, I don't know if they did
or they asked me where I worked. I told them.
I don't know what they called my boss or not.
I have no clue. I asked Detective Joe Burgoon if
they talked to Steve's boss to verify his whereabouts at
(17:11):
the time of the murder, but he said he doesn't remember.
How how long did you live in the neighborhood after
the murder? I'm gonna I'm moved down in the latter
part of eight two. What what was life like for
you after that? I don't know. I just say I
(17:33):
just stay away from people now. I don't really I
don't trust people no more. How come I have no idea?
I mean, you just you never know what anyone's capable of.
Then I got off into drink and drove. It all
(17:54):
went down to hell for me after that. Do you
have any idea who could have done this to them?
Who could have killed Joanne and hurt those girls? No,
I had no idea about that. All I know is
that the girls told him who it was, and they
said they caught him. That's what Missy said. They arrest
(18:14):
they put a guy and riven for it. Did you
have any thoughts or feelings when you learned that someone
had been arrested. Oh, I was happy. I was ecstatic.
I was hoping they'd give him this. Then. Have you
thought about Joanne and the girls a lot over the years,
(18:37):
Not so much Joe, but I've always wondered how the
girls are doing. You know, I know how Joe is.
I have no doubt in my mind where she went,
and there the heaven that's where she went. But I've
always wondered how the girls were doing. But I didn't
want to take a chance to traumatize in anyone by,
(18:58):
you know, trying to get a whole both and bring
back man memories or anything like that. You know, I'm
figured they're they're living their life. Hopefully they're doing well well.
Renee died what Renee passed away from cancer in like
two thousand and eight. Oh man, damn, Yeah, it's very sad. Yeah,
(19:32):
the tone of the conversation has changed. We talked briefly
about prison life, his current girlfriend, and COVID. Then end
our calls soon after you have thank you you took by.
Steve calls again the next day, Hello, how how was
(19:57):
the rest of your evening yesterday? Not very good? I
got to thinking about Ray, which told me about Ray
and then kind of made for bad eavening. I didn't
kind of depressed me a little bit. I honestly wish
I would have gotten back in touch with him later,
but I just I was afraid that it brings bad
memories for him, you know, and I just didn't want
(20:19):
to be that person bring that on him. Yeah, but
I really, I really hope Melissa's doing well. And if
you ever speak to her again, tell her that I
said that I hope she's really doing well and that
I wish her nothing but the best for the rest
of her life. I know why I didn't contact them,
(20:41):
But then at the same time, I feel bad because
I didn't try. Does that make sense? Yeah? I mean
to me, it makes sense, but when I say it
out loud, it don't really found all that good. Yeah,
I mean it makes sense. Yeah, it probably feels bad
(21:02):
that since Rene's not here anymore. Yeah. That that really
that got me because I figured, you know, in my mind,
they they're out there living their lives, doing good, and
then I'm sorry to be the bearer of that bad news.
(21:22):
Oh it's okay, are you getting them? Look? Sorry, I
should just give me a second. Wow. Uh yeah, I
(21:44):
got a little joking there. I mean, kids just don't
deserve that kind of stuff. And then to her, her
to lose her life that young, I mean that's crazy. Yeah,
you've done had enough done to her over two years.
(22:04):
You couldn't help the door of the kids. They were
just sweethearts. They were too young to even understand what
real hate was. The conversation pivots back to Joanne. I
mean I liked her to death. Did you have any
deeper feelings for her? Like, did you love her? I'm
(22:26):
not sure at that at that age, I really loved
much of anything. I cared about her. You know, I
liked her a lot I cared about her. Uh, I
never wished her any harm, Which brings me to one
of the most important questions I have for Steve. And
(22:49):
one of the letters that you wrote, you said you
never babysat the girls. No. No, God, Joe was always
there to help. M hmmm. Steve says, no, he never
babysat the girls. Melissa, as we know, said he did.
The reason why this matters it goes back to the
(23:13):
very disturbing conversation Steve's then wife, Terry Ancy, had with
Nadia Flam, an investigator with the Midwest Innocence Project, back
in two thousand and eleven. The interview took place while
Tara was in prison. Here's Nadia describing that exchange. She said, well,
I know that he killed someone, but I don't really
(23:37):
I don't really know all the details. And I'm like, well,
how did that come out? And she said, well, she
had found out that he lied to her, that he
had a that he did have a criminal record, and
that his criminal record included like child molestation, and so
she starts poking him about it and bugging him about it.
(24:00):
Me finally is like, like, fine, I'll tell you. She says,
he said that he was in a house with a
woman and two little girls, and in her head, the
woman seemed like it was a babysitter. But we, you know,
we weren't correcting her and we were just like a
(24:20):
woman and two girls. And she said the woman um
had to go out for a second, like run an errand.
And while she was gone, Steve started doing something to
one of the girls and was caught in the act
when she got home, and so he had to kill her.
(24:41):
And I was like, let else did he say? And
she's like, you know, he's the kind of person if
he's told you once, you don't ask again. Um, But
you know that stood out. I think she she said
that she did ask again, though, and he said it
was a bloody mess and if you would seeing the
crime scene photos, you would know it was me. So,
(25:09):
if Steve's alleged confession is to be believed, who was
he talking about. Steve Yancy admits to having a sexual
(25:30):
relationship with joe Ane Tate around the time of the murder,
and he denies ever babysitting Melissa and Renee. Melissa said
he did babysit them. If Steve's confession to Tara was true.
Was he talking about Joanne and the girls? And did
I just catch him in a lie or did Melissa misremember?
(25:54):
Maybe she was confused. As we know by now, there
were other things Melissa can Fla did. Maybe this was
one of those things. For now, I'm moving on from
the babysitting topic. I will go back to it again
very soon. Back around the time of the attack on
Joanne and the girls, I saw that you were quoted
(26:16):
in the newspaper. I was quoted in a newspaper. Yeah,
it's I think it was a St. Louis Dispatch interviewed you.
If they did, I didn't, I never even knew I
was talking to a reporter. Yeah. I think you're quoted
as saying joe Anne was perfect. She was what perfect
(26:37):
um As as far as a person, you couldn't have
found a nicer person. Yeah, yeah, as far as that goes, Yeah,
if you're talking about a big hearted person that cares
about everyone she meets, Yeah, she's perfect. We've talked for
minutes for a total cust of three dollars, and this
(27:02):
method is that no, cos you may continue speaking now.
I don't remember talking to any reporters because about a
known name was reporter. I've never said a word. It's
a delicate question. But was Joanne your first? Oh? No, no,
(27:23):
I think I lost my virginity back when I was
about and len Oh wow, that's young. Yeah to a babysitner.
And it was like, wow, that that must have been hard.
That must have been sort of a life changing moment
for you. Yeah, I guess I thought it was kind
(27:46):
of cool. I was a boy, you know, it's different
for boys than it is for girls. For boys is like, oh, yeah,
cool that, you know. I look back, it probably started
me on pretty unhealthy uh obsessioned with older females. Mm hmm.
(28:07):
I mean a girl I went to school with one
of her, her mom, her step mom, and uh, we're
together for a little while. That was before Joey and
and she was in her late twenties early thirties, which
Joanne was too. She was in her thirties. After that.
They were all pretty much my age or a little younger.
(28:32):
Some were children. It's why he's currently doing time. How
long have you been at that facility since February of
night being okay, can you can you tell me why
a little bit about why you're there? I'd rather not
discuss that because I'm still fighting on that issue. Oh
(28:57):
I didn't fighting some of that in the courts discus
with my ex wife. I mean, it wasn't any kind
of violence. You're done. It's a kidnapping against my ex wife,
re using to allow her to leave the house. And
you're you're in Kansas. They got weird laws. If you
don't allow someone to leave a domicile, that's considered kidnapping.
(29:22):
I was convicted. I'm just I'm still fighting it though.
I think I got way too much time for for
for what it really was. Like I mentioned earlier, Steve
Yancy is currently doing time for kidnapping and sexual battery
intentional touching of a child under sixteen. The boy was
actually eleven. His wife at the time, Terry Yancy, was
(29:46):
convicted of raping that child. The authorities believe Steve was
the mastermind behind this truly awful crime. So you doing time?
How to do with something with your wife? Pardon you
doing time right now? Had to do with something with
your wife? Was my wife? Yeah? The kidnapping was on her.
(30:07):
That's what I'm in prisip for kidnapping, for reusing to
allow her to leave the home. How long? How long
were you married? Uh? I was married for ten years. Wow,
and you're obviously you're not no longer married. No, do
(30:28):
you have any kids? Yeah? I have three kids. I
want to know more about Steve's relationship with Tara, who
was twenty years younger than him, just eighteen or nineteen
years old when they got together. How did you two meet?
And I got a little night job at McDonald's and
she was my trainer, and that's that's kind of how
(30:51):
we met. At first, I wouldn't talk to her because
I thought she was a lot younger than she was.
And one of the guys and I guess you had
went to him and he said, and why don't you
talk to her? I said, Man, I'm I'm a grown
ass man. I don't talk to little kids. Man. And
he goes, no, man, you know she's got a kid
and everything. Is she's over eighteen? I said, no, she's not, Yes,
(31:13):
she is. Then I started talking to her kind of
when kind of built from there. Yeah. We were together
for ten years a little over ten years. Was it
a happy marriage For the most part, The first five
was pretty good, and it got to where I couldn't
trust her with with the kids alone, so I'd have
(31:35):
to send them to daycare while I was at work,
and things just started going downhill. The last really bad,
the last three years. She was still young and won
her the party, and I was for the stay at
home family person. I reached out to Terry Yancy, but
(31:57):
having heard back back. In that two thousand eleven interview
with the Midwest Innocence Projects investigator Nadia Flam, Tara said
that Steve at least once had been violent with her.
He even threatened to kill her. Tara was released from
prison in two thousand eleven, but when I went to
check her information recently with the Department of Corrections, I
(32:21):
found out she went back into prison November due to
a parole violation. As of February, she is still in
prison with no clear indication of when she'll be released.
For her safety, I decide not to share anything. She
told Nadia with Steve, when did you divorce while I
(32:45):
was in prison? And was there like a final straw
or or just the relationship run its course? Well? Yeah,
I mean once I got was and it was over
my eyes. Yeah, it just I mean I don't hold
(33:06):
it against her yet. She she told him a few
little not truth, but I think she did so to
keep from getting in trouble, because I think she realized
whole ship. I started something and it's snowballing and I
can't stop it. You said she lied up, You said
she lied about some stuff. Well, she didn't flat out live,
(33:29):
but she had to kind of stretch the truth a
little in order to keep from showing that it wasn't
a forced thing. You know. See, she made it sound
as if I had threatened her. I asked Steve, if
this is the first time he's gone to prison. No,
I went to prison years ago when I was young
(33:52):
for sex with an underaged girl. When I was like
nineteen twenty years that's twenty years old. Was that in
Missouri or Kansas? Missouri? Remember in n four in St.
Louis County, just two years after Joanne's murder and the
(34:12):
attack on Melissa and Renee, Steve Yancy pled guilty to
sodomy and sexual abuse in the first degree. Both victims
were under fourteen years old. They have heard that, um,
people who are in prison for sex offenses or you know,
as a sex offender. It's very, very, very hard in
(34:35):
the prison population Yep, you gotta find a lot. Did
you have to deal with that? Well, yeah, I had
to fight a lot sometimes the one sometimes I did.
I heard there's a name of a prison in Missouri
(34:58):
called it used to be called Walls. The Walls. Yeah,
well they don't use that one anymore. They shut it down,
but yeah, the old Jefferson City Prison. Yeah, I heard
it had this saying that it was like the bloodiest
forty the bloodiest forty acres in the state, in the
in the Midwest. Yeah, and that's where I did my time. Yeah.
(35:27):
When were you there, uh, the late eighties. Yeah. It
wasn't good, it wasn't nice. I think that's where the
guy who got um Rodney Lincoln, who got convicted of
Joe Anne's you know, murder and the attack on the girls.
(35:49):
I think he was at the Walls around that time.
I didn't know who he was or what his name
was or nothing. Yeah. If I would have, I'd probably
still be there. What do you mean if I had
known he was there when I was there, I probably
would still be there because he wouldn't be I wanted
(36:22):
to ask you in your letter, In one of the
letters that you wrote, you said something about how like
three people had tried to talk to you over the
last ten years. What was that about? Uh, some reporter
from the St. Louis, some lawyer from an innocence project
trying to help that guy get out of prison. I
(36:43):
told him, I have nothing to say to you. As
far as I'm concerned. There is a special place in
hell for that guy. Oh and just and in somebody
else from the Innocent Project trying to get ahold And
I told him I have nothing to say to you people. Yeah,
have you ever wondered if considering the Innocence Project was
(37:04):
contacting you. Did you ever wonder like, oh, shoot, maybe
that guy didn't do it. I don't know. I know.
All I know is she said they got the guy
and that was the one, and that's that was good
enough for me. I'm not going to question her. I mean,
he's been in there all these years. If there was
(37:25):
anything that proved of what neum he'd done, been out
and there's nothing I could say or do to help
this guy. I don't even know who he is. Do
a lot of people in prison say that they're innocent? Well, yeah,
everybody does. I mean every now and then you get
the few you know. Technically, yeah, I'm guilty for what
(37:49):
they what I'm in here for. They refused to let
her leave the house. Technically, by law, that is kidnapping.
So yes, I am guilty. Again, that's not what the
courts say happened. And for the record, the time Steve
did at the Walls wasn't the only other time he
was incarcerated. In Jefferson County, Missouri, he pled guilty to
(38:13):
sex abuse and forcible sodomy. He was sentenced to ten
years in prison. Back to Joanne and the Girls and
the very important babysitter question. Last night, I was going
through some other some other documents, and you know what's
weird is that Melissa said at one point that you
(38:36):
did babysit them. Well, I don't know where he got
baby that. I mean I was there, but I never
baby then them. I mean I was always got their
Their mom would all Yeah, she said, she said that
when her mom would go out sometimes you would watch them. No,
(38:56):
I never did that. Well wait, I might have watched
him one time when she ran to the store, but
I mean that was just a few minutes and she
was right back because the store was just down the street. Yeah,
she didn't have a car, she walked, and it was
(39:17):
only like, hatt, Steve, Steve, Steve, Steve, are you still there, Steve?
(39:54):
Is it a coincidence that, of all the moments, the
call drops at this particular moment. I mean, of what
Terry Yancy told Nadia is true, then I wonder, is
Steve hanging up on me now because I'm zeroing in
on something he doesn't want to discuss because it could
actually be incriminating. WHOA, but come on, there's got to
(40:15):
be a logical explanation for the line going dead right.
Probably maybe I'm stunned, and I'll put money on the
fact that I'll never hear from Steve again. I'm wrong.
He calls back within the hour. I think our call
got dropped or something because I lost you. I know
(40:39):
I lost you. I kept saying, Steve, Steve, Hello, Hello,
I'm glad you called back. Thank you. So what were
we talking about? Um? Oh uh, yeah. Melissa had said
that when Joanne would go out, you would you would
baby sit the girl rolls. Yeah. The only time I
(41:02):
had ever done that is when I was over there
and she needed to run to the store real quick.
But it was just down on the corner. I mean
it was just half a block away. Or baby should
go take a shower, I mean a bath or something
like that. Or No, I never watched them while she
went anywhere significant, Yeah, I mean it's it's something Melissa
(41:25):
said back in two you know, around the time when
police were talking to her. So, yeah, when you're little
like that, I mean, mommy ran to the store. That's
babies in you know. Yeah, her mommy's in the bathroom,
you know, taking a bath, that's baby. I don't know.
It's hard to say how a little kid's mind works
(41:47):
when they're that little, because I can't remember what I
used to think when I was at age. I think
what she said was when her mom would go out,
you would baby said, but yeah, don't come. I donanda
if she was running. I was there and she had
to run to the store or something like that, and
the store was just down the street about a half
(42:08):
a block. I can't remember any time I ever actually
watched him while she went someplace. I know. I'm confused
to Yes, he did just say he may have watched
the girls when Joanne quote had to run to the
store or something like that, but he can't remember ever
(42:29):
watching them quote while she went someplace, very very confusing.
We wrap up the call soon after. And how does
that I mean now that my number is on the
approved list? Does that mean that you can indefinitely Okay, great,
unless you call and ask him to remove it or blocking.
(42:52):
I see, I'll talk to you again soon, okay, okay,
by I have more questions for Steve, A lot more
questions about Joanne's murder, his crimes against children, and what
he will say when he learns Rodney Lincoln is out
of prison, a man he basically said he would have
(43:14):
killed himself if given the chance. Next time on The
Real Killer, does memory get better? With your memories better? Now? No,
memories are at the very center of this case, but
just how reliable are they? I battle between what I
(43:38):
remember and this narrative that I developed over the time
with the police. There should be a lot of things
you don't consider tampering with, like to witnesses memory when
invested beginning of crime. It's the same as going into
a crime scene and I'm gonna I'm gonna move the gun.
(44:00):
M The Real Killer is a production of a y
R Media and I Heart Radio, hosted by me Leah
Rothman Executive producers Leah Rothman and Eliza Rosen for A
y R Media. Written by me Leah Rothman, Senior associate
(44:23):
producer Eric Newman. Editing and sound design by Cameron Taggy,
mixed and mastered by Cameron Taggi. Audio engineering by Jesus c.
Mario Studio engineering by Tom Weir and Kelly McGrew. Legal
counsel for A y R Media Gianni Douglas, Executive producer
(44:44):
for iHeart Radio Chandler Mayze. If you're enjoying The Real Killer,
tell your friends about it and leave us a review
on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts
Host
Leah Rothman
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!