September 22, 2025 • 30 mins
In May 1983, a young couple parked near the Loch Raven Reservoir in Baltimore County, Maryland, was suddenly ambushed when gunfire shattered the quiet night. Just four weeks earlier, another couple had been shot in a similar lovers’ lane attack, but they managed to survive. This second tragedy claimed the life of a 22-year-old woman and left the community shaken with fears that a serial predator was on the loose. Then, as suddenly as the shootings began, they stopped. More than forty years later, investigators are still searching for the person behind this chilling crime.
TIPS: Baltimore County Police at 410-887-3943
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Music By Universfield: https://pixabay.com/music/mystery-dramatic-atmosphere-with-piano-and-violin-143149/
Sources:
https://www.wmar2news.com/marylandcoldcases/1983-lovers-lane-murder-still-unsolved-who-shot-cathy-britt
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-aegis-similarities-in-the-crimes-and/181328657/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-sun-obituary-for-cathys-bri/181328877/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-sun-family-hopeful-until-the/181328946/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-sun-attending-catherine-brit/1
81330312/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-aegis-composite-sketch/181330830/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-aegis-composite-sketch-generates-lea/181330950/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-aegis-suicide-12/181331171/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-aegis-john-back-at-work/181331436/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-sun-forest-fantom-was-never/
181332188/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-sun-killer-from-loch-raven-m/181332243/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-baltimore-sun-woman-dies/181335357/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-sun-hopeful-to-the-last-minu/181336070/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-sun-more-deets/181336548/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-baltimore-sun-first-attack/181350856/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-sun-critical-condition/181336759/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/carroll-county-times-more-details-on-fir/181351045/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-sun-no-other-cars-nearby-1/181351060/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-baltimore-sun-2nd-loch-raven-shootin/181351461/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-baltimore-sun-search-for-evidence-in/181351489/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-sun-students-warned/181351533/
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/a-simpler-time-true-crime--6665681/support.
TIPS: Baltimore County Police at 410-887-3943
Case suggestions: simplertimecrimepod@gmail.com
IG: @simplertimecrimepod
Youtube: https://youtube.com/@simplertimecrimepod?si=OlCWQ2Ky8qFaof02
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@simplertimecrimep?_t=8s31x9iCrNv&_r=1
Music By Universfield: https://pixabay.com/music/mystery-dramatic-atmosphere-with-piano-and-violin-143149/
Sources:
https://www.wmar2news.com/marylandcoldcases/1983-lovers-lane-murder-still-unsolved-who-shot-cathy-britt
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-aegis-similarities-in-the-crimes-and/181328657/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-sun-obituary-for-cathys-bri/181328877/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-sun-family-hopeful-until-the/181328946/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-sun-attending-catherine-brit/1
81330312/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-aegis-composite-sketch/181330830/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-aegis-composite-sketch-generates-lea/181330950/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-aegis-suicide-12/181331171/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-aegis-john-back-at-work/181331436/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-sun-forest-fantom-was-never/
181332188/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-sun-killer-from-loch-raven-m/181332243/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-baltimore-sun-woman-dies/181335357/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-sun-hopeful-to-the-last-minu/181336070/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-sun-more-deets/181336548/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-baltimore-sun-first-attack/181350856/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-sun-critical-condition/181336759/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/carroll-county-times-more-details-on-fir/181351045/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-sun-no-other-cars-nearby-1/181351060/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-baltimore-sun-2nd-loch-raven-shootin/181351461/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-baltimore-sun-search-for-evidence-in/181351489/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-sun-students-warned/181351533/
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/a-simpler-time-true-crime--6665681/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
In May of nineteen eighty three, a young couple is
parked in a scenic spot near the lock Raven Reservoir
in Baltimore County, Maryland. Without warning, they are ambushed, with
shots being fired into the car and the couple is
seriously wounded. This would mark the second double shooting at
a lover's lane in the area in just four weeks time.
(00:33):
While the first couple survived and recovered from their injuries,
this second shooting took the life of a twenty two
year old woman. The violence set forth fears of a
potential serial killer in the area, but just as the
shooting started, they stopped. Over forty years have passed, but
police haven't given up hope that they can find this
(00:55):
cold blooded killer. I'm your host, Megan and each week
on Simpler Time True Crime, I cover older unsolved cases
and challenge the idea that a simpler time means a
safer time. This week, I'm bringing to you the unsolved
murder of Kathy Britt Just as a content warning. In
(01:37):
a couple of minutes, I'll be discussing a death by suicide,
and I know that can be triggering to some listeners,
so please take care when listening. What do you think
of when you hear of lover's lanes? I personally think
of the Zodiac Killer because of the way he targeted
these locations. I also think of how absolute they are
(01:59):
now and what a place of vulnerability they were in
terms of people's safety. Lover's lanes once held a special
place in American dating culture. These tucked away spots, whether
a wood clearing, a quiet road on the edge of town,
or a scenic overlook, where some of the only places
(02:20):
young couples could be alone together. At a time when
many people lived at home until marriage, privacy was hard
to come by, and a parked car became its own
little world. But as the decades rolled on, their popularity
began to fade. More adults gained access to apartments, in
dorm rooms or other private spaces. In dating itself shifted
(02:43):
away from the rituals of cruising and parking. Lover's lanes
also developed a darker reputation. While they were meant for
stolen kisses and whispered promises, they too often became backdrops
for danger crimes at these locations, sometimes sensationalized in headlines,
sometimes whispered about in urban legends and later cemented in
(03:07):
horror films, created an association with risk and vulnerability that
never really left. At the same time, the world around
them changed too, Once secluded roads were paved and developed
into neighborhoods or shopping centers. Even in rural areas, patrols,
surveillance cameras, and neighborhood watch groups make it harder to
(03:29):
find that sense of secret seclusion. Today, lover's lanes are
more of a nostalgic image than a lived reality. Modern
couples have more choices. They have late night coffee shops
and streaming movies in someone's apartment, or even sharing intimacy
over a FaceTime call. Privacy hasn't disappeared, it's just moved
(03:52):
indoors or online. What remains of lover's Lanes is their
cultural memory, part romantic, part omas, a reminder of a
time when young love had to make do with the
glow of a dashboard light and the hum of a
nidling engine. One such couple was a twenty two year
(04:12):
old woman named Catherine who went by Kathy Britt and
her boyfriend. Now he is listed in early newspaper articles
with his full name, but I've noticed he's not listed
in some of the more recent case coverage, and because
I don't know if he just wants to have some
peace and distance from this traumatic event, I'm going to
(04:32):
operate cautiously and just refer to him by his first name, James.
It was May fourteenth, nineteen eighty three, and Kathy and
James had a fun evening together. They had gone out
to the restaurant Steak and Ale, which is or rather
was a popular chain restaurant into the early two thousands.
(04:53):
Then they went out to see a movie Dinner in
a movie, the classic date night. After the movie ended,
they went back to Cathy's place that she shared with
her sister. James said that she had gotten dressed up
for their date night and she wanted to get changed
into something more comfortable, and they watched the Baltimore Orioles
(05:14):
game together. They were playing the Texas Rangers and the
Orioles lost two to one. To keep the evening going
just a bit longer, they decided to hop into James's car,
an AMC Spirit, which I had to look up because
I was unfamiliar with them, and it makes sense because
they were only made for a handful of years from
(05:35):
nineteen seventy nine to nineteen eighty three. They were a
sporty little two door car. It was described in one
article as AMC's answer to a Chavette or a Pinto.
The two headed out to the lock Raven Watershed area.
Lock Raven Park surrounds the Loch Raven Reservoir in Baltimore County, Maryland.
(05:57):
It's a beautiful natural area that serves both as a
protected drinking water supply and a popular outdoor recreation spot.
Its forested hills, scenic shoreline, and extensive trail network make
it a favorite for hikers, also bird watchers, fishers, and
people who liked to boat, and because of its seclusion,
(06:18):
it was a popular spot for young couples to pull
off in their cars on romantic date nights. Kathy and
James pulled off to the side of Poplar Hill Road
on the northern side of the reservoir. They were there
for about an hour when they noticed a car speed
by them, going very fast. They didn't think much of
(06:40):
it after that, and they didn't see it return. They
were thinking of wrapping up their evening and leaving as
it was getting late. It was around two am. Suddenly
out of the pitch black area. The couple saw the
light of a gun on the passenger side window, and
the window just blast open. The gunman fired multiple shots,
(07:04):
striking both Kathy and James six shots total, and all
of them hit. The gunman then walked up to the
driver's side door and demanded James's wallet, which he immediately
turned over. It only had ten dollars in it. Despite
being seriously wounded with shots striking him in his head, chest,
(07:26):
in arm, James gunned it out of there. James admitted
later that he isn't great with directions, and back then
you couldn't just plug an address into your car's GPS,
so he had to try to find his way in
the dark, and he didn't know how to get to
the hospital, so he headed in the direction that he
(07:46):
did know Kathy's apartment. Kathy had been shot at least
twice in the head and was slumped over. James kept
talking to Kathy for the entirety of the five mile drive.
He kept saying he was so sorry that it was
so cold because of the wind blowing through the open window,
telling her he was trying to get back as fast
(08:08):
as he could, which wasn't super fast because he had
been shot in the chest and had two collapsed lungs,
which made it too painful for him to shift out
of second gear. James made it back to the apartment
and began pushing all the buzzer buttons to try to
get anybody to open their door and help. He then
(08:30):
collapsed on the floor of the hallway. Just as he
thought nobody was going to help, a good samaritan opened
his door. The neighbor, a man named Steve Sherman, found
the bleeding man and stayed with him and Kathy while
also calling for an ambulance in police there in the
early morning hours. The pair were rushed via Maryland State
(08:53):
Police helicopter to the University of Maryland Hospital's Shock trauma unit.
Because one of the bullets grazed James's head, they weren't
able to give him any pain medication, and once the
adrenaline wore off from getting help, he recalled being in
a ton of pain. His condition was very serious, but
(09:15):
Kathy's was grave. She slipped into a coma, and doctors
worked incredibly hard to save her. For a couple of days,
Kathy clung to life, and the neuro team tried everything.
The family would go on to later thank the doctors
and the neurology team for everything they did to try
(09:35):
to save their daughter, but it became clear that Kathy
was not going to survive her extensive injuries. Two days
after the shooting, Kathy was taken off life support, and
a couple of days after that, on May nineteenth, Kathy
passed away. Kathy's family honored her wishes and she was
(09:57):
able to donate organs to both research and those who
were in need. Kathy and James were high school sweethearts
and they had been dating for about six years. James
was a year ahead of Kathy and school they both
shared a huge love of athletics and fitness. After graduating,
(10:19):
James attended Hartford Community College for a couple of years
before transferring over to Towson State University and earning a
degree in sports management. Upon his graduation, he became the
fitness director at a local fitness club that he had
worked part time at for a few years. Kathy Britt
also attended Towson State University and was due to graduate
(10:42):
with her bachelor's degree in geography and economics the Sunday
after her death. Kathy loved running, and her and James
were set to do a race that weekend. She also
loved racquetball, and she played that at Towson State. She
was described as fun, loving and kind. The couple had
(11:03):
no enemies, and the shooting appeared to be totally random,
but authorities knew this was bigger than just a random
one time event because it eerily mirrored a similar attack
just four weeks earlier, almost to the day. Just a
(11:31):
month earlier, in April of nineteen eighty three, an engaged
couple named Jill and Ronald were hanging out in their
car at the lock Raven Watershed. They were about two
and a half miles away from the area that James
and Cathy were shot, but still in the northern end
of the park. Jill and Ronald were set to marry soon,
(11:51):
but they were still living in their respective families' homes,
so they were out on this night to have some
privacy and alone time. They had parked in the old
North Central Railroad right of way on Phoenix Road. It
was around two am when suddenly, out of the pitch black,
Ronald's driver side door was ripped open. This instantly turned
(12:17):
on the dome light in the vehicle. But before Jill
and Ronald could see who was there or even collect
themselves to figure out what was going on, a gunman
blasted multiple shots at both of them. The gunman never
uttered a single word. Ronald had been shot in the
arm and it had shattered the bone, but he managed
(12:39):
to turn the car on and drive away. He began speeding,
seeing his fiance horrifically wounded with gunshots to the head
and chest. His speeding caught the eye of a patrol officer,
who pulled him over for speeding and then promptly radioed
for help for the injured couple. Ronald made a quick recovery,
(13:01):
and miraculously Jill survived her injuries as well, though she
spent nearly a month in the hospital and had a
very long recovery. Jill and Ronald didn't get a good
look at the suspect at all, and Jill actually couldn't
even remember the incident. Now, this made the paper, and
I did find several articles about it, but according to James,
(13:25):
he said there was a relatively low level of publicity
on this. In fact, he hadn't even read about this shooting,
he said, had he known the danger, he and Cathy
wouldn't have gone there that night. Nowadays, we have the
twenty four hour news cycle and social media, where if
a couple got shot in the way that Jill and
Ronald did, there would be likely both citizens doing posts
(13:50):
on say Facebook, and police posting warnings as well. Police
wanted to get the word out more so they stepped
up patrols in the area they already actually had after
the first time around, but this time they did even
more so. They ordered twenty signs to go around the
park that said no parking dusk until dawn. They began
(14:14):
warning couples, they say, as they stepped up their patrols,
and they were sending officers into local high schools, warning
students not to park in the watershed area and to
avoid Lover's Lanes altogether. But to the officer's immense frustration,
they continued to find couples parked there, ignoring the warnings.
(14:36):
Police could not definitively say that the cases were connected,
but they implied it heavily, and later would go on
to say that they believed they were at the time,
they were waiting for ballistics testing to confirm, but in
real time they were able to say that both attacks
had the following overlaps one. In both instances, the attacks
(14:59):
occurred in the same area around two am. Both shootings
involved a twenty five caliber automatic pistol. In both attacks,
the shooter said nothing before opening fire. Neither man recalled
hearing a car start up, so it seems as though
the perpetrator left on foot. In both cases, the women
(15:23):
were shot in a much more serious way. Both men
were shot, but the women were shot in the head
and the men were able to drive off and get help.
Both shootings occurred on very dark, rainy, moonless nights. In
terms of the differences, the second attack had a robbery aspect,
(15:45):
where the shooter spoke and demanded that James give him
his wallet. Also, in the first attack, the shooter approached
the driver's side door and opened it, whereas in the
second attack he shot through the passenger side window. While
both were on weekend days, the first shooting occurred early
on a Saturday morning, and the second occurred early on
(16:08):
a Sunday morning. The rain kept up for several days
after James and Cathy's attack, which got in the way
of investigators looking for clues around the crime scene. When
the rain did let up, police searched the area for
physical evidence, but remained quiet about anything they found, in
part because they weren't sure what would prove to be significant. Later,
(16:32):
they scoured the woods and even found a man living
in a tent in the woods. Because the suspect seemingly
fled on foot, he was very much worth looking into,
but from all the reports I can tell, it sounds
like they do not believe he was involved in the shootings.
Police were concerned that the timelines of these shootings were
(16:54):
ritualistic in nature, and so they began staking out certain
days and weekends they thought they killer might strike again.
They actually set up a decoy car. They put a
sporty car with two mannequins in it, pulled off to
the side of the road, and police waited in the
woods to try to lure out the suspect and get
(17:14):
an arrest. But they didn't trick the unknown shooter. Instead,
a group of three men were walking in the area
after a night of drinking and approached the car to
warn the couple not to park there for their own
safety because of the recent shootings. So you can imagine
their surprise when they realized the couple were mannequins, and
(17:36):
suddenly they were surrounded by officers telling them to put
their hands up. It was interesting, just as fast as
the shootings had started and the fear was instilled in
the community, suddenly they stopped. And a few weeks after
the second shooting, a rumor began to emerge as to
why that may be. In June of nineteen eighty three,
(18:09):
police announced that they were working to investigate a connection
between the shooter and a man who had recently died
by suicide. A bel Air High school graduate had taken
his own life only hours after allegedly speaking to his
attorney and a priest about the murder. Now, I don't
know how they know about the priest's part, because priests
(18:31):
have a real code of silence on these things. But
perhaps he told his lawyer that he told the priest
they wouldn't go as far as saying that he confessed
to the murders, So I'm not exactly sure what was said.
Is promising as this seems, especially how it would explain
away the lack of continued shootings. Police came forward to
(18:52):
say that this person was virtually eliminated and they were
ninety five percent sure he wasn't connected. One high ranking
official even told reporters that his talks of involvement were
a hoax, which that is some extreme dedication to a hoax.
But it does sound like this man had some mental
(19:13):
health issues, and if you are a true crime listener,
this would not be the first time you've ever heard
of someone struggling with mental health confessing to a crime
they didn't commit. Maybe one of the things ruling this
man out was his appearance. Because I haven't told you
this yet, but James did get a look at the shooter.
A composite sketch was made, but it was never confirmed
(19:36):
who contributed to that. Was it James? Was it Richard?
Was it both? Remember the shooter took James's wallet, which
likely had his ID and address in it, so maybe
police were just being cautious about naming him as the
source of the sketch for his safety. I'll have the
composite sketch on my Instagram at simpler time crime pod.
(19:59):
The suspect was described as twenty two to thirty two
years old, about five foot six to five foot seven,
with a slender build, and was about one hundred and
thirty five to one hundred and forty five pounds. He
also had stringy brown hair and may have had a
small mustache, and I say that to say it was
thinner and not one of those like big, bushy mustaches.
(20:23):
Once the composite sketch was released, two hundred calls came
in about who it could be, and I will say,
like many composite sketches, it did have a rather generic
look to it. One of the modern day detectives working
on the case did say it looked like a lot
of people at the time. It had all he just
(20:44):
had a general appearance of what people looked like in
the eighties. One thing I thought was cool was that
police age progressed the composite sketch over the years, which
I've heard of people doing with missing persons posters, but
I haven't seen a lot of it done on the
perpetrator side, and it makes sense to do so someone
(21:05):
isn't going to look the same twenty years later. I imagine, though.
It must be tricky because you aren't working off of
a photograph like you are in a missing person's case.
You're working off a person's memory of an encounter with someone,
which is already going to be a bit more generic.
Police did develop a bit of a profile of their
(21:27):
suspected shooter. They said that the person was likely local
and knew the watershed area well and could get around
easily undetected. They believed the killer had a hatred towards
women in possibly targeted couples because of his own inability
to secure a relationship, a real old school in cel,
(21:47):
if you will. They also believed that the killer enjoyed
the stalking aspect of the crimes as much, if not
more than the killings themselves, waiting out in the woods,
watching the couple's kissing and what not, knowing he was
going to strike. Years passed with no other attacks, but
also no more progress in the case. In nineteen ninety one,
(22:12):
The Evening Sun out of Baltimore did a piece on
the unsolved attacks at the Watershed area, and in it,
reporter Mike Klingeman interviewed Detective Ken Zigler. The pair met
up at the sight of the Kathy Britt murder. Mike
Klingeman described the woods along Poplar Hill Road as lovely,
(22:33):
dark and deep, the workshop of poets and painters. Detective Zeigler,
on the other hand, had a different opinion. He said,
they gave him the creeps, and he told Mike, quote,
it feels real cold and impersonal up here. I really
loved the outdoors and I like to walk in the woods,
but I can't relax up here because I know what happened.
(22:59):
Detective Zigler gave updates on some of the work they
had been doing on the case, like anniversary stakeouts and
those again failed to trap the killer. He talked about
how early on they investigated and background checked every worker
at the theater and restaurant that James and Cathy went
to that night in the event that the killer followed
(23:19):
them that evening, they looked for any old flames who
may have a grudge or jealousy, but that also came
up empty. They never recovered the weapon, and the gun
was never connected to any other homicides. He said, if
they could figure out why the killing stopped, they could
probably find out who did it. He said he was
(23:42):
so frustrated because they would find a suspect who had
a lot of guns, but then the person wouldn't own
a twenty five caliber gun, or they find someone who
they think is a good suspect, only to find out
that he was in jail at the time. Detective Zeigler said,
in the years following the shootings they followed up on
four hundred leads and had ten suspects, two who were
(24:04):
new to the case in the last month or so.
As of nineteen ninety one. Detective Zigular believed that the
man was either locked up in some sort of mental
institution or prison, that he had died, or that he
had moved away. And remember that guy who died by suicide,
while Zigler went on to say that actually another person
(24:25):
had committed suicide around the same time, and that that
person had also confessed to the crimes. The first person,
as I mentioned, they were pretty much ruled out. But
this second person they aren't so sure. He lived close
to the watershed area and frequented it. He matched the
physical description of the killer, and he had emotional problems,
(24:48):
but the family was not cooperative after his death and
denied his involvement in the crime. This person who had
died by suicide had allegedly confessed to a confidential source
before he had died. James continued to look at suspect
pictures but never identified anyone out of a photo lineup.
(25:09):
Some detectives who work the case believed he found a
romantic partner in his life that allowed him to table
some of his rage towards women, and that's why the
shooting stopped. Detective Ziegler seemed to lean more into thinking
that the suspect was deceased. One thing that popped into
my head during the research, besides that whole Zodiac killer piece,
(25:31):
who he would definitely not match the suspect description, was
the Colonial Parkway Murders and the Colonial Parkway serial Killer.
The Colonial Parkway Murders they are a series of homicides
that occurred between nineteen eighty six and nineteen eighty nine
along or near the Colonial Parkway, which is a scenic
highway in Virginia that runs between Jamestown, Williamsburg and Yorktown.
(25:56):
In those cases, the victims were young couples, often parked
in secluded or semi rural areas. Several crime scenes involved
cars left behind in strange conditions. There were similarities suggesting
law enforcement knowledge, such as how the vehicles were staged,
leading to speculation that the killer may have impersonated an officer.
(26:18):
No clear motive of robbery or sexual assault emerged in
most of the cases. Just last year, in twenty twenty four,
a suspect was tied to some of the cases via
DNA evidence. A fisherman named Alan Wade Wilmer, Senior died
in twenty seventeen, so he can't be charged or further investigated.
(26:41):
The main similarity to me was just the idea that
he was targeting young couples along this highway, and I
did that thing that I was just talking about in
an earlier episode about not doing. I put the composite
sketch of the suspect in Maryland next to a photo
of Wilmer, and I did see similarities. The Colonial Parkway
(27:01):
killings occurred just a few years after the Maryland ones
and would explain the stopping of the Maryland ones. But
you'll recall they believe that the Maryland shooter was local,
and from what I could find, it looks like Wilmer
was born and died in Lancaster County, Virginia. The lock
(27:29):
Raven Watershed shootings continued to haunt the area as a
killer has never been apprehended and never struck again in
the area, at least not in the same way. Police
back early in the investigation had asked the public to
come forward with certain things, and I think it still
applies today. They said, if they noticed anyone acting differently
(27:51):
or abruptly leaving town or changing their appearance right after
the murder, if they were acting nervous or preoccupied, or
closely found the story or on the flip side, really
distancing themselves from the story. Did the person shave their
mustache off, anything like that could be connected. Police do
(28:11):
ask if you were in the area in nineteen eighty
three and you saw something, no matter how small you
think it is, please contact the Baltimore County Police at
four one zero eight eight seven thirty nine forty three.
There is still a two thousand dollars reward for information.
(28:31):
While some people connected to the families have passed away,
there are still many people who want to know who
this killer was. Some sources dubbed this elusive killer the
forest Phantom, But to me, he doesn't deserve some hyped
up nickname. He wasn't mysterious. He was a coward who
(28:52):
brutally gunned down four defenseless people in the dark, taking
the life of one of them and forever changing the
other three. This has been another episode of a Simpler
Time True Crime. If you appreciate the work I'm doing,
please follow the podcast on your preferred listening platforms and
(29:15):
leave a five star review. If you are able to
support the show financially, I now have a Spreaker supporters
Club link at the bottom of the show notes. This
is not expected but much appreciated, as every little bit
helps me to further the work I'm doing. Case suggestions
can be made to Simpler timecrimepod at gmail dot com.
(29:36):
I'm also on other social media platforms, but I'm mostly
active on Instagram. I love connecting with listeners in that way,
so please feel free to comment DM. I'm always up
to chat. Thank you so much for listening, and I'll
see you again next Monday. Short cooluclud so cool. Includ
In May of nineteen eighty three, a young couple is
parked in a scenic spot near the lock Raven Reservoir
in Baltimore County, Maryland. Without warning, they are ambushed, with
shots being fired into the car and the couple is
seriously wounded. This would mark the second double shooting at
a lover's lane in the area in just four weeks time.
(00:33):
While the first couple survived and recovered from their injuries,
this second shooting took the life of a twenty two
year old woman. The violence set forth fears of a
potential serial killer in the area, but just as the
shooting started, they stopped. Over forty years have passed, but
police haven't given up hope that they can find this
(00:55):
cold blooded killer. I'm your host, Megan and each week
on Simpler Time True Crime, I cover older unsolved cases
and challenge the idea that a simpler time means a
safer time. This week, I'm bringing to you the unsolved
murder of Kathy Britt Just as a content warning. In
(01:37):
a couple of minutes, I'll be discussing a death by suicide,
and I know that can be triggering to some listeners,
so please take care when listening. What do you think
of when you hear of lover's lanes? I personally think
of the Zodiac Killer because of the way he targeted
these locations. I also think of how absolute they are
(01:59):
now and what a place of vulnerability they were in
terms of people's safety. Lover's lanes once held a special
place in American dating culture. These tucked away spots, whether
a wood clearing, a quiet road on the edge of town,
or a scenic overlook, where some of the only places
(02:20):
young couples could be alone together. At a time when
many people lived at home until marriage, privacy was hard
to come by, and a parked car became its own
little world. But as the decades rolled on, their popularity
began to fade. More adults gained access to apartments, in
dorm rooms or other private spaces. In dating itself shifted
(02:43):
away from the rituals of cruising and parking. Lover's lanes
also developed a darker reputation. While they were meant for
stolen kisses and whispered promises, they too often became backdrops
for danger crimes at these locations, sometimes sensationalized in headlines,
sometimes whispered about in urban legends and later cemented in
(03:07):
horror films, created an association with risk and vulnerability that
never really left. At the same time, the world around
them changed too, Once secluded roads were paved and developed
into neighborhoods or shopping centers. Even in rural areas, patrols,
surveillance cameras, and neighborhood watch groups make it harder to
(03:29):
find that sense of secret seclusion. Today, lover's lanes are
more of a nostalgic image than a lived reality. Modern
couples have more choices. They have late night coffee shops
and streaming movies in someone's apartment, or even sharing intimacy
over a FaceTime call. Privacy hasn't disappeared, it's just moved
(03:52):
indoors or online. What remains of lover's Lanes is their
cultural memory, part romantic, part omas, a reminder of a
time when young love had to make do with the
glow of a dashboard light and the hum of a
nidling engine. One such couple was a twenty two year
(04:12):
old woman named Catherine who went by Kathy Britt and
her boyfriend. Now he is listed in early newspaper articles
with his full name, but I've noticed he's not listed
in some of the more recent case coverage, and because
I don't know if he just wants to have some
peace and distance from this traumatic event, I'm going to
(04:32):
operate cautiously and just refer to him by his first name, James.
It was May fourteenth, nineteen eighty three, and Kathy and
James had a fun evening together. They had gone out
to the restaurant Steak and Ale, which is or rather
was a popular chain restaurant into the early two thousands.
(04:53):
Then they went out to see a movie Dinner in
a movie, the classic date night. After the movie ended,
they went back to Cathy's place that she shared with
her sister. James said that she had gotten dressed up
for their date night and she wanted to get changed
into something more comfortable, and they watched the Baltimore Orioles
(05:14):
game together. They were playing the Texas Rangers and the
Orioles lost two to one. To keep the evening going
just a bit longer, they decided to hop into James's car,
an AMC Spirit, which I had to look up because
I was unfamiliar with them, and it makes sense because
they were only made for a handful of years from
(05:35):
nineteen seventy nine to nineteen eighty three. They were a
sporty little two door car. It was described in one
article as AMC's answer to a Chavette or a Pinto.
The two headed out to the lock Raven Watershed area.
Lock Raven Park surrounds the Loch Raven Reservoir in Baltimore County, Maryland.
(05:57):
It's a beautiful natural area that serves both as a
protected drinking water supply and a popular outdoor recreation spot.
Its forested hills, scenic shoreline, and extensive trail network make
it a favorite for hikers, also bird watchers, fishers, and
people who liked to boat, and because of its seclusion,
(06:18):
it was a popular spot for young couples to pull
off in their cars on romantic date nights. Kathy and
James pulled off to the side of Poplar Hill Road
on the northern side of the reservoir. They were there
for about an hour when they noticed a car speed
by them, going very fast. They didn't think much of
(06:40):
it after that, and they didn't see it return. They
were thinking of wrapping up their evening and leaving as
it was getting late. It was around two am. Suddenly
out of the pitch black area. The couple saw the
light of a gun on the passenger side window, and
the window just blast open. The gunman fired multiple shots,
(07:04):
striking both Kathy and James six shots total, and all
of them hit. The gunman then walked up to the
driver's side door and demanded James's wallet, which he immediately
turned over. It only had ten dollars in it. Despite
being seriously wounded with shots striking him in his head, chest,
(07:26):
in arm, James gunned it out of there. James admitted
later that he isn't great with directions, and back then
you couldn't just plug an address into your car's GPS,
so he had to try to find his way in
the dark, and he didn't know how to get to
the hospital, so he headed in the direction that he
(07:46):
did know Kathy's apartment. Kathy had been shot at least
twice in the head and was slumped over. James kept
talking to Kathy for the entirety of the five mile drive.
He kept saying he was so sorry that it was
so cold because of the wind blowing through the open window,
telling her he was trying to get back as fast
(08:08):
as he could, which wasn't super fast because he had
been shot in the chest and had two collapsed lungs,
which made it too painful for him to shift out
of second gear. James made it back to the apartment
and began pushing all the buzzer buttons to try to
get anybody to open their door and help. He then
(08:30):
collapsed on the floor of the hallway. Just as he
thought nobody was going to help, a good samaritan opened
his door. The neighbor, a man named Steve Sherman, found
the bleeding man and stayed with him and Kathy while
also calling for an ambulance in police there in the
early morning hours. The pair were rushed via Maryland State
(08:53):
Police helicopter to the University of Maryland Hospital's Shock trauma unit.
Because one of the bullets grazed James's head, they weren't
able to give him any pain medication, and once the
adrenaline wore off from getting help, he recalled being in
a ton of pain. His condition was very serious, but
(09:15):
Kathy's was grave. She slipped into a coma, and doctors
worked incredibly hard to save her. For a couple of days,
Kathy clung to life, and the neuro team tried everything.
The family would go on to later thank the doctors
and the neurology team for everything they did to try
(09:35):
to save their daughter, but it became clear that Kathy
was not going to survive her extensive injuries. Two days
after the shooting, Kathy was taken off life support, and
a couple of days after that, on May nineteenth, Kathy
passed away. Kathy's family honored her wishes and she was
(09:57):
able to donate organs to both research and those who
were in need. Kathy and James were high school sweethearts
and they had been dating for about six years. James
was a year ahead of Kathy and school they both
shared a huge love of athletics and fitness. After graduating,
(10:19):
James attended Hartford Community College for a couple of years
before transferring over to Towson State University and earning a
degree in sports management. Upon his graduation, he became the
fitness director at a local fitness club that he had
worked part time at for a few years. Kathy Britt
also attended Towson State University and was due to graduate
(10:42):
with her bachelor's degree in geography and economics the Sunday
after her death. Kathy loved running, and her and James
were set to do a race that weekend. She also
loved racquetball, and she played that at Towson State. She
was described as fun, loving and kind. The couple had
(11:03):
no enemies, and the shooting appeared to be totally random,
but authorities knew this was bigger than just a random
one time event because it eerily mirrored a similar attack
just four weeks earlier, almost to the day. Just a
(11:31):
month earlier, in April of nineteen eighty three, an engaged
couple named Jill and Ronald were hanging out in their
car at the lock Raven Watershed. They were about two
and a half miles away from the area that James
and Cathy were shot, but still in the northern end
of the park. Jill and Ronald were set to marry soon,
(11:51):
but they were still living in their respective families' homes,
so they were out on this night to have some
privacy and alone time. They had parked in the old
North Central Railroad right of way on Phoenix Road. It
was around two am when suddenly, out of the pitch black,
Ronald's driver side door was ripped open. This instantly turned
(12:17):
on the dome light in the vehicle. But before Jill
and Ronald could see who was there or even collect
themselves to figure out what was going on, a gunman
blasted multiple shots at both of them. The gunman never
uttered a single word. Ronald had been shot in the
arm and it had shattered the bone, but he managed
(12:39):
to turn the car on and drive away. He began speeding,
seeing his fiance horrifically wounded with gunshots to the head
and chest. His speeding caught the eye of a patrol officer,
who pulled him over for speeding and then promptly radioed
for help for the injured couple. Ronald made a quick recovery,
(13:01):
and miraculously Jill survived her injuries as well, though she
spent nearly a month in the hospital and had a
very long recovery. Jill and Ronald didn't get a good
look at the suspect at all, and Jill actually couldn't
even remember the incident. Now, this made the paper, and
I did find several articles about it, but according to James,
(13:25):
he said there was a relatively low level of publicity
on this. In fact, he hadn't even read about this shooting,
he said, had he known the danger, he and Cathy
wouldn't have gone there that night. Nowadays, we have the
twenty four hour news cycle and social media, where if
a couple got shot in the way that Jill and
Ronald did, there would be likely both citizens doing posts
(13:50):
on say Facebook, and police posting warnings as well. Police
wanted to get the word out more so they stepped
up patrols in the area they already actually had after
the first time around, but this time they did even
more so. They ordered twenty signs to go around the
park that said no parking dusk until dawn. They began
(14:14):
warning couples, they say, as they stepped up their patrols,
and they were sending officers into local high schools, warning
students not to park in the watershed area and to
avoid Lover's Lanes altogether. But to the officer's immense frustration,
they continued to find couples parked there, ignoring the warnings.
(14:36):
Police could not definitively say that the cases were connected,
but they implied it heavily, and later would go on
to say that they believed they were at the time,
they were waiting for ballistics testing to confirm, but in
real time they were able to say that both attacks
had the following overlaps one. In both instances, the attacks
(14:59):
occurred in the same area around two am. Both shootings
involved a twenty five caliber automatic pistol. In both attacks,
the shooter said nothing before opening fire. Neither man recalled
hearing a car start up, so it seems as though
the perpetrator left on foot. In both cases, the women
(15:23):
were shot in a much more serious way. Both men
were shot, but the women were shot in the head
and the men were able to drive off and get help.
Both shootings occurred on very dark, rainy, moonless nights. In
terms of the differences, the second attack had a robbery aspect,
(15:45):
where the shooter spoke and demanded that James give him
his wallet. Also, in the first attack, the shooter approached
the driver's side door and opened it, whereas in the
second attack he shot through the passenger side window. While
both were on weekend days, the first shooting occurred early
on a Saturday morning, and the second occurred early on
(16:08):
a Sunday morning. The rain kept up for several days
after James and Cathy's attack, which got in the way
of investigators looking for clues around the crime scene. When
the rain did let up, police searched the area for
physical evidence, but remained quiet about anything they found, in
part because they weren't sure what would prove to be significant. Later,
(16:32):
they scoured the woods and even found a man living
in a tent in the woods. Because the suspect seemingly
fled on foot, he was very much worth looking into,
but from all the reports I can tell, it sounds
like they do not believe he was involved in the shootings.
Police were concerned that the timelines of these shootings were
(16:54):
ritualistic in nature, and so they began staking out certain
days and weekends they thought they killer might strike again.
They actually set up a decoy car. They put a
sporty car with two mannequins in it, pulled off to
the side of the road, and police waited in the
woods to try to lure out the suspect and get
(17:14):
an arrest. But they didn't trick the unknown shooter. Instead,
a group of three men were walking in the area
after a night of drinking and approached the car to
warn the couple not to park there for their own
safety because of the recent shootings. So you can imagine
their surprise when they realized the couple were mannequins, and
(17:36):
suddenly they were surrounded by officers telling them to put
their hands up. It was interesting, just as fast as
the shootings had started and the fear was instilled in
the community, suddenly they stopped. And a few weeks after
the second shooting, a rumor began to emerge as to
why that may be. In June of nineteen eighty three,
(18:09):
police announced that they were working to investigate a connection
between the shooter and a man who had recently died
by suicide. A bel Air High school graduate had taken
his own life only hours after allegedly speaking to his
attorney and a priest about the murder. Now, I don't
know how they know about the priest's part, because priests
(18:31):
have a real code of silence on these things. But
perhaps he told his lawyer that he told the priest
they wouldn't go as far as saying that he confessed
to the murders, So I'm not exactly sure what was said.
Is promising as this seems, especially how it would explain
away the lack of continued shootings. Police came forward to
(18:52):
say that this person was virtually eliminated and they were
ninety five percent sure he wasn't connected. One high ranking
official even told reporters that his talks of involvement were
a hoax, which that is some extreme dedication to a hoax.
But it does sound like this man had some mental
(19:13):
health issues, and if you are a true crime listener,
this would not be the first time you've ever heard
of someone struggling with mental health confessing to a crime
they didn't commit. Maybe one of the things ruling this
man out was his appearance. Because I haven't told you
this yet, but James did get a look at the shooter.
A composite sketch was made, but it was never confirmed
(19:36):
who contributed to that. Was it James? Was it Richard?
Was it both? Remember the shooter took James's wallet, which
likely had his ID and address in it, so maybe
police were just being cautious about naming him as the
source of the sketch for his safety. I'll have the
composite sketch on my Instagram at simpler time crime pod.
(19:59):
The suspect was described as twenty two to thirty two
years old, about five foot six to five foot seven,
with a slender build, and was about one hundred and
thirty five to one hundred and forty five pounds. He
also had stringy brown hair and may have had a
small mustache, and I say that to say it was
thinner and not one of those like big, bushy mustaches.
(20:23):
Once the composite sketch was released, two hundred calls came
in about who it could be, and I will say,
like many composite sketches, it did have a rather generic
look to it. One of the modern day detectives working
on the case did say it looked like a lot
of people at the time. It had all he just
(20:44):
had a general appearance of what people looked like in
the eighties. One thing I thought was cool was that
police age progressed the composite sketch over the years, which
I've heard of people doing with missing persons posters, but
I haven't seen a lot of it done on the
perpetrator side, and it makes sense to do so someone
(21:05):
isn't going to look the same twenty years later. I imagine, though.
It must be tricky because you aren't working off of
a photograph like you are in a missing person's case.
You're working off a person's memory of an encounter with someone,
which is already going to be a bit more generic.
Police did develop a bit of a profile of their
(21:27):
suspected shooter. They said that the person was likely local
and knew the watershed area well and could get around
easily undetected. They believed the killer had a hatred towards
women in possibly targeted couples because of his own inability
to secure a relationship, a real old school in cel,
(21:47):
if you will. They also believed that the killer enjoyed
the stalking aspect of the crimes as much, if not
more than the killings themselves, waiting out in the woods,
watching the couple's kissing and what not, knowing he was
going to strike. Years passed with no other attacks, but
also no more progress in the case. In nineteen ninety one,
(22:12):
The Evening Sun out of Baltimore did a piece on
the unsolved attacks at the Watershed area, and in it,
reporter Mike Klingeman interviewed Detective Ken Zigler. The pair met
up at the sight of the Kathy Britt murder. Mike
Klingeman described the woods along Poplar Hill Road as lovely,
(22:33):
dark and deep, the workshop of poets and painters. Detective Zeigler,
on the other hand, had a different opinion. He said,
they gave him the creeps, and he told Mike, quote,
it feels real cold and impersonal up here. I really
loved the outdoors and I like to walk in the woods,
but I can't relax up here because I know what happened.
(22:59):
Detective Zigler gave updates on some of the work they
had been doing on the case, like anniversary stakeouts and
those again failed to trap the killer. He talked about
how early on they investigated and background checked every worker
at the theater and restaurant that James and Cathy went
to that night in the event that the killer followed
(23:19):
them that evening, they looked for any old flames who
may have a grudge or jealousy, but that also came
up empty. They never recovered the weapon, and the gun
was never connected to any other homicides. He said, if
they could figure out why the killing stopped, they could
probably find out who did it. He said he was
(23:42):
so frustrated because they would find a suspect who had
a lot of guns, but then the person wouldn't own
a twenty five caliber gun, or they find someone who
they think is a good suspect, only to find out
that he was in jail at the time. Detective Zeigler said,
in the years following the shootings they followed up on
four hundred leads and had ten suspects, two who were
(24:04):
new to the case in the last month or so.
As of nineteen ninety one. Detective Zigular believed that the
man was either locked up in some sort of mental
institution or prison, that he had died, or that he
had moved away. And remember that guy who died by suicide,
while Zigler went on to say that actually another person
(24:25):
had committed suicide around the same time, and that that
person had also confessed to the crimes. The first person,
as I mentioned, they were pretty much ruled out. But
this second person they aren't so sure. He lived close
to the watershed area and frequented it. He matched the
physical description of the killer, and he had emotional problems,
(24:48):
but the family was not cooperative after his death and
denied his involvement in the crime. This person who had
died by suicide had allegedly confessed to a confidential source
before he had died. James continued to look at suspect
pictures but never identified anyone out of a photo lineup.
(25:09):
Some detectives who work the case believed he found a
romantic partner in his life that allowed him to table
some of his rage towards women, and that's why the
shooting stopped. Detective Ziegler seemed to lean more into thinking
that the suspect was deceased. One thing that popped into
my head during the research, besides that whole Zodiac killer piece,
(25:31):
who he would definitely not match the suspect description, was
the Colonial Parkway Murders and the Colonial Parkway serial Killer.
The Colonial Parkway Murders they are a series of homicides
that occurred between nineteen eighty six and nineteen eighty nine
along or near the Colonial Parkway, which is a scenic
highway in Virginia that runs between Jamestown, Williamsburg and Yorktown.
(25:56):
In those cases, the victims were young couples, often parked
in secluded or semi rural areas. Several crime scenes involved
cars left behind in strange conditions. There were similarities suggesting
law enforcement knowledge, such as how the vehicles were staged,
leading to speculation that the killer may have impersonated an officer.
(26:18):
No clear motive of robbery or sexual assault emerged in
most of the cases. Just last year, in twenty twenty four,
a suspect was tied to some of the cases via
DNA evidence. A fisherman named Alan Wade Wilmer, Senior died
in twenty seventeen, so he can't be charged or further investigated.
(26:41):
The main similarity to me was just the idea that
he was targeting young couples along this highway, and I
did that thing that I was just talking about in
an earlier episode about not doing. I put the composite
sketch of the suspect in Maryland next to a photo
of Wilmer, and I did see similarities. The Colonial Parkway
(27:01):
killings occurred just a few years after the Maryland ones
and would explain the stopping of the Maryland ones. But
you'll recall they believe that the Maryland shooter was local,
and from what I could find, it looks like Wilmer
was born and died in Lancaster County, Virginia. The lock
(27:29):
Raven Watershed shootings continued to haunt the area as a
killer has never been apprehended and never struck again in
the area, at least not in the same way. Police
back early in the investigation had asked the public to
come forward with certain things, and I think it still
applies today. They said, if they noticed anyone acting differently
(27:51):
or abruptly leaving town or changing their appearance right after
the murder, if they were acting nervous or preoccupied, or
closely found the story or on the flip side, really
distancing themselves from the story. Did the person shave their
mustache off, anything like that could be connected. Police do
(28:11):
ask if you were in the area in nineteen eighty
three and you saw something, no matter how small you
think it is, please contact the Baltimore County Police at
four one zero eight eight seven thirty nine forty three.
There is still a two thousand dollars reward for information.
(28:31):
While some people connected to the families have passed away,
there are still many people who want to know who
this killer was. Some sources dubbed this elusive killer the
forest Phantom, But to me, he doesn't deserve some hyped
up nickname. He wasn't mysterious. He was a coward who
(28:52):
brutally gunned down four defenseless people in the dark, taking
the life of one of them and forever changing the
other three. This has been another episode of a Simpler
Time True Crime. If you appreciate the work I'm doing,
please follow the podcast on your preferred listening platforms and
(29:15):
leave a five star review. If you are able to
support the show financially, I now have a Spreaker supporters
Club link at the bottom of the show notes. This
is not expected but much appreciated, as every little bit
helps me to further the work I'm doing. Case suggestions
can be made to Simpler timecrimepod at gmail dot com.
(29:36):
I'm also on other social media platforms, but I'm mostly
active on Instagram. I love connecting with listeners in that way,
so please feel free to comment DM. I'm always up
to chat. Thank you so much for listening, and I'll
see you again next Monday. Short cooluclud so cool. Includ
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