The Freeway Phantom

Between 1971 and 1972, the nation’s capital was gripped by fear. A ruthless predator was stalking the streets of Washington, D.C., abducting young Black girls in broad daylight… only to dump their bodies along the I-295 corridor. The press would dub him the Freeway Phantom—a name that still chills those who remember the case. But over 50 years later, not a single arrest has been made. Who was this phantom? Why did the killings stop? And why do so few people even remember these girls’ names? This is the story of the Freeway Phantom.

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Music: Hard to Beat (OCAAT Theme) and Investigations Inc by Artist Musical Logos

Sources:
1. WUSA9 – Cold Case: Freeway Phantom Series https://www.wusa9.com/
2. The Washington Post Archives (1971–2023)
3. Washington Afro-American Newspaper (1970s)
4. NBC4 Washington — "Who Was the Freeway Phantom?"
5. Metropolitan Police Department (Washington, D.C.) — Cold Case Unit
6. FBI Cold Case Files (Freedom of Information Act releases)
7. Prince George’s County Police Department Records (PGPD)
8. Tantamount - Blaine Pardoe and Victoria Hester
9. Washington City Paper - Mysteriously Missing FBI Report Could Have Helped Solve the Freeway Phantom Cold Case Murders


#crime #unsolved #horrorstories #facts #history #serialkiller #unsolvedmysteries

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
In nineteen seventy one. In nineteen seventy two, the nation's

(00:04):
capital was gripped by fear. A ruthless predator, while stalking
the streets of Washington, d c abducting young black girls
in broad daylight, only to dub their bodies along the
I two ninety five corridor. The press would dub him
the Freeway Phantom, a name that still chills those who

(00:24):
remember the case. But over fifty years later, not a
single arrest has been made. Who was this phantom? Why
did the killing stop? And why do so few people
even remember these girls' names? This is the story of
the Freeway Phantom. Hi, and welcome to One Crime Metatour.

(01:00):
I'm Shannon, and today we are covering the crimes of
a brutal serial killer that murdered young black girls in
our nation's capital and dump their bodies along Interstate to
ninety five, a killer known only as the Freeway Phantom.
Before we get into it, I just want to remind
you that you can reach out to us at one

(01:21):
Crime Pod on all of the social platforms, and if
you like what we do here, you can join our
patreon for just the dollar ninety nine a month. Links
will be in the description for this episode. You can
also support us by giving us a like and review.
Now on with our story. In the early nineteen seventies, Washington,

(01:42):
d C. Was a city of contradictions. Just a few
miles from the White House, where lawmakers spoke of justice
and equality, lay neighborhoods where broken promises echoed louder than
any speech. In Southeast d C, a largely black working
class community fought every day for dignity, safety, and recognition.

(02:03):
The streets were cracked and schools were overcrowded, Grocery stores
were scarce, and in many areas, the only thing more
common than poverty was silence. At the time, the city
was nearly seventy percent black, but the systems in place, policing,
media coverage, city services still reflected something else. If a

(02:23):
white child from Georgetown went missing, it was front page news.
But in neighborhoods east of the Anacostia River, black families
learned to whisper their grief because the world rarely listened.
That's the environment the Freeway phantom emerged into. A predator
was stalking black girls in their own neighborhoods, near their
own homes. And dumping their bodies like trash just outside

(02:47):
the city limits. And somehow no one saw him, or
maybe they did, but no one did anything. This is
not just a story about a serial killer. This is
a story about who gets justice and who gets forgotten.
Thirteen year old Carol Denise Sphinx was one of seven

(03:07):
children being raised by a hard working single mother in
Southeast d C's Southeast twenty second Street. She was in
seventh grade and considered shy but sweet. Carol loved playing
jack's with her sisters and had a gentle, soft spoken demeanor.
On April twenty fifth, nineteen seventy one, Carol left her
family's apartment to buy groceries at a nearby seven eleven.

(03:31):
Her mother had told her not to go out, but
Carroll's older sister convinced her to make the short walk
to a seven eleven. She never came back. Six days later,
her body was found on a grassy embankment a long
eye t ninety five. She was found wearing only underwear
and a blouse. Most of her clothing was neatly folded

(03:51):
beside her body, including her shoes, suggesting the killer took time,
possibly as a signature or form of ritualistic de attachment.
She had been sexually assaulted and strangled. Seamen and unknown
pubic hairs were recovered. There were clear marks around the
neck consistent with manual or ligature strangulation. Some sources report

(04:14):
possible wrist abrasions, suggesting her hands may have been tied.
It is believed the killer had kept her alive for
several days, and autopsy revealed the presence of partially digested
food in her stomach that she hadn't eaten before leaving home,
indicating the killer fed her while holding her captive. Her
death devastated the Sphinx household. Carol was considered the baby

(04:36):
of the family, and her mother would later say she
never fully recovered. Just two months later, the killer would
strike again. Sixteen year old Darlenia Denise Johnson was full
of promise. A high school sophomore at belou High School,
she was outgoing, responsible, and had dreams of becoming a nurse.

(04:57):
She worked at Oxen Hill Recreation Center during in the
summer to save money for school clothes. She lived just
five blocks from where Carol Sphinx had lived and where
she too would be taken. Her abduction was so eerily
similar that residents began fearing a serial predator. Her mother
described her as someone who always called home if she

(05:17):
was going to be late, so on July eighth, nineteen
seventy one, when Darlenia didn't return home from work, her
mother knew something was wrong. Her family said she had
been excited for a neighborhood party the following week and
was planning to do her hair that day. Darlenia was
last seen heading to her job. She never made it home.

(05:38):
Nearly eleven days later, her partially decomposed body was found
fifteen feet from where Carol Spinks had been dumped. Some
articles of her clothing were removed and placed nearby, though
not as neatly as in Sphinx's case, possibly due to
body decomposition or animal activity. She too had been basalted.
Her body was too decomposed for definitive conclusions as to

(06:01):
whether any viable DNA was found. Hairs may have also
been collected, but sample integrity was likely poor. Her cause
of death was presumed to be strangulation. However, since her
body was partially decomposed, the lack of soft tissue preservation
made it impossible to confirm ligature marks like Carol. Her
autopsy revealed the presence of partially digested food, suggesting she

(06:25):
was kept alive. For days. After the abduction, two girls
from the same neighborhood found feet from each other and
matching m o. This put residence on high alert. Unfortunately,
the killer was only beginning. Brenda Fay Crockett was bright
eyed and friendly. She was a fifth grader who loved
animals and dreamed of being a teacher. Her home was

(06:47):
warm and loving. Her stepfather, Reginald Crockett, worked hard, and
her mother kept the household running. She had a close
bond with her younger brother and loved watching TV, jumping rope,
and pretending to teach her dolls. She was known for
being cautious and not talking to strangers, making the events
of her abduction especially unsettling. On July twenty seventh, nineteen

(07:09):
seventy one, she went out to the store and never returned.
But this case was different. Hours after her disappearance, her
family received two chilling phone calls. The first came from Brenda.
She called home and spoke to her seven year old sister.
She said, a white man picks me up. I'm in Virginia.
I'm coming home soon. Her voice sounded frightened and she

(07:30):
seemed to be reciting something, possibly under duress. Her voice
was trembling. Then the line went dead. She then called
back and spoke to her stepfather. She asked, did my
mother see me? Did my mother see me? Then she
hung up. Investigators believe she was coached by the killer
to say she had been taken by a white man,

(07:53):
possibly to throw off the investigation. The phone call itself
was a major anomaly, as no other victim were known
to have contacted anyone while in captivity. Her body was
found the next day on US Route fifty. She had
been raped and strangled with a scarf. There was clear
ligature evidence around the neck and semen and pubic hairs

(08:16):
were recovered as before. The autopsy revealed the presence of
partially digested food, once again suggesting she was kept alive
for days after abduction. Although there is no mention of
clothing being folded, she was found partially clothed with her
blouse pulled up. Multiple green synthetic fibers were found in

(08:38):
her hair and on her clothing. These fibers were not
consistent with clothing she owned. Or had worn that day.
Investigators believe they may have come from a carpet or
upholstery inside the suspect's vehicle or home. Two investigators. This
suggests she may have been held in a specific environment,

(09:00):
potentially a vehicle or basement. Her phone call to her
family added a haunting dimension to the case. Her little
sister still remembers picking up the phone and hearing Brenda's
trembling voice. She would be the youngest of the freeway
Phantom's known victims. At this point, community leaders and black

(09:22):
newspapers began suggesting a pattern. One girl was a tragedy
to a grim coincidence, but three black girls, all under
age seventeen, found assaulted and strangled within three months. This
was in a wave of crime. This was a killer.
Public sentiment turned to fear as parents began walking children

(09:44):
to school. A Washington Afro American editorial said, if these
girls lived in Georgetown or chevy Chase, this would be
national news. Instead, we bury them quietly. However, it would
take another victim for the police to begin investigating this
as a serial case. Anemoshia Yates's nickname Menya, was twelve

(10:11):
years old and in the seventh grade at Susa Junior
High School. Her unusual and beautiful name meant child of peace,
and she lived up to it. She was cheerful, polite,
and curious about the world. Ninya loved reading and had
started writing short poems. Her dream was to become a
school teacher or librarian. On October first, nineteen seventy one,

(10:35):
she had been sent a safeway to buy sugar for
the family and had promised to return quickly. When she didn't,
her mother instantly knew something was wrong. Her body was
discovered just hours later along Pennsylvania Avenue. Like the others,
she had been assaulted and strangled. Again, DNA and PUBICI

(11:00):
were recovered. She was found harshly dressed, her clothing removed
and folded beside the body, along with her shoes. Unlike
the others, her death was swift. No evidence indicated she
had been kept alive. Did the killer panic or was
this a sign of escalation. When Ninemosha was found dead,

(11:24):
the whispers became headlines. For the first time. D C
Metropolitan Police and Prince George County authorities began to publicly
link the cases. The similarities were now undeniable. Young black
girls ages ten to sixteen abducted in d C, assaulted
and strangled. Bodies dumped near I two ninety five or

(11:47):
Route fifty. Police admitted what the streets already knew, there
was a predator in their city. They formed a task force,
shared files, interviewed witnesses, but for every door they knocked on,
they missed another. It was around this time the term
freeway phantom began circulating, coined either by press or internally

(12:11):
by police. And while they chased shadows, the phantom was
already hunting his next victim. Brenda Denise Woodard was eighteen
years old in nineteen seventy one and livened along Maryland Avenue.
Brenda was outgoing and enjoyed spending time at local restaurants
with friends after school. She was described as strong willed, intelligent,

(12:36):
and deeply compassionate. She had aspirations of becoming a teacher
and often tutored her younger cousins in math and English.
On November fifteenth, nineteen seventy one, Brenda was taking night
classes at Cardozo High School, and she and a classmate
decided to have dinner at Ben's Chili Bowl after class.

(12:56):
They then boarded the bus together for the trip home.
Trend said she exited the bus at eighth and eighth
Street Northeast around eleven thirty p m. And planned to
catch a transfer for her trip home. Brenda never made it.
Her mother reported her missing immediately. Approximately six hours later,
in the early morning hours of November sixteenth, Brenda's body

(13:19):
was found just off the Route two O two Baltimore
Washington Parkway exit. She had been stabbed strangled. However, she
was found fully clothed, and she had not been assaulted sexually.
No seamen or pubic hairs were recovered. Unlike the younger girls,
Brenda had likely fought back. This is probably why she

(13:39):
was killed so quickly and not assaulted. Investigators did find
one chilling clue in Brenda's coat pocket, a note handwritten
by the killer. It read, this is tantamount to my
insensitivity to people, especially women. I will admit the others
when you catch me if you can. It was signed

(14:01):
Freeway Phantom. Investigators noted that Brenda likely wrote it herself
under duress, as the handwriting matched hers, indicating the killer
possibly dictated it. The vocabulary level was high, suggesting a
well educated suspect and implies psychological dominance and possible familiarity

(14:21):
with law enforcement or criminology. This murder may have yielded
another clue. There is an unconfirmed report of a man
allegedly seen sitting near Brenda on the bus that night.
He was described as calm, heavy set with glasses, but
police never publicly identified him. This witness was never found

(14:42):
and no composite sketch was released. Personally, I do not
believe this man would have been involved, as it seems
more likely than not that the Freeway Phantom owned a
vehicle and would not be riding the bus. Brenda would
be the oldest of the victims. It would be nearly
a year later before or the Phantom claimed his last
known victim. Diane Denise Williams was seventeen years old and

(15:09):
a senior at Ballow High School in Washington, d C.
She was a strong student with dreams of going to college.
She grew up in a large and loving family in
Hailey Terrace. She was known for her maturity, neatness, and warmth.
She babysat neighbors kids and wrote heartfelt poetry about growing
up in d C. Her family described Diane as someone

(15:33):
who always kept her word and was never out. Late
on September fifth, nineteen seventy two, Diane headed to her
boyfriend's house, a boy she had just started dating who
worked in the neighborhood. She spent the evening visiting him,
and when it was time for her to leave, he
walked her to the bus stop not far from the
location where Carol Spinx and Darlinia Johnson were abducted. She

(15:56):
was last seen boarding the bus. Diane never made a
home that night. Her body was found the next day,
again a Long Eye two ninety five. She had been strangled,
but no signs of sexual assault were confirmed. Like Brenda Woodard,
Diane was found fully clothed. There are conflicting reports as
to whether any biological DNA was found. There was no

(16:19):
mention of binding marks on her arms or legs. Diane's
murder marked the end of the known freeway phantom killings,
and her sudden loss devastated her mother, who never gave
up hope that the case would be solved. Six victims
tied together by evidence that points to the perpetrator or perpetrators.

(16:40):
The common mo in each of these crimes is evident
and partly Atypical evidence in behaviors can often point to
the type of suspect the killer may be. All victims
were placed within a short radius of I two ninety
five Pennsylvania Ave southeast or Root fifty. All of the
victim's bodies were laid gently, not tossed, often face up.

(17:05):
Clothing was either neatly folded or still worn, in contrast
to typical dump site behavior. The condition and placement of
the victim's clothing is one of the most telling behavioral
patterns in the Freeway phantom murders. This detail reflects the
killer's ritual control and perhaps a psychological signature. Clear ligature

(17:27):
marks were found on the necks and wrists of at
least two victims. However, no ropes or bindings were found
at the scene, implying the killer removed them. This points
to a careful and methodical killer who didn't want to
leave physical evidence behind, but he did. Unknown pubic hares
were recovered from several bodies. The first three victims had

(17:50):
biological evidence present. These are now potentially the best chance
for identifying the killer through DNA genealogy. If properly preserved.
There are possible eye witnesses in the Freeway Phantom case,
there was one unverified report that a teenage girl escaped
a potential abduction attempt that fit the Freeway Phantom's mo O.

(18:12):
She told police a man in his thirties offered her
a ride and then tried to force her into his vehicle.
When she declined, she thought him off and ran. The
girl described her attacker as African American, wearing dark clothing
and driving what she thought was a green or blue
compact car. No arrest was made. One girl later told
police that she was followed by a Green Vega and

(18:34):
ran home. Multiple witnesses in southeast d C during the
time of the killings reported a green Chevrolet Vega cruising
around school zones and bus stops, often driven by black
men in their late teens to early twenties. It was
the reports of this Green Vega that led to the
first group of suspects. The Green Vega Gang was a

(18:56):
loosely connected group of young African American men operated in
the d C and Prince George's County area. They were
known for abducting and raping black teenage girls, often using
a green Chevy Vega, a vehicle similar to the one
spotted near multiple abduction sites. In nineteen seventy four, the
FBI interviewed a jailed gang member who claimed others in

(19:19):
the gang were responsible for at least one of the
Freeway phantom murders, specifically Brenda Crockett. He claimed she had
been held in a house near Pennsylvania Avenue before being killed.
He also described crime scene details not publicly known, such
as where the body was dumped and what the victim
was wearing. This lead, however, eventually fell apart. The informant

(19:42):
failed a polygraph test and his story changed under pressure.
The FBI later called him unreliable. No physical evidence ever
tied any gang member to the murders. Still, many investigators
believed the gang may have been involved or knew who was.
Another theory heavily considered by the FBI in the late
nineteen seventies was that the killer may have been a

(20:04):
police officer, soldier, or someone with intelligence or military training.
They believed the killer may have known patrol roots and
dump site blind spots. They point out the killer was
able to evade surveillance and dumped bodies in jurisdictional gray zones,
making investigating more difficult. Others pointed out that the victims

(20:24):
were often cleaned, indicating the killer had an awareness of
forensics long before it was common knowledge. The misleading phone
call from Brenda Crockett may have suggested confidence and control,
as well as psychological manipulation, which may have been obtained
while in the military. This theory, too, would go nowhere.
Edward Leonard Selman and Tommy Bernard Simmons, two ex cops,

(20:48):
were arrested for the murder of Angela Denise Barnes. Barnes, fourteen,
was at one point thought to be a victim of
the serial killings. However, authorities later determined that Barnes was
not a victim of the Freeway phantom and resumed their
investigation on the murders. No concrete suspect was ever identified,

(21:09):
no official ever confessed or came under public suspicion, and
without DNA or direct evidence, it remained a chilling but
unproven theory. Then came Robert Askins, a convicted killer with
a mind sharper than most. Askins was a former computer technician,

(21:30):
intelligence worker, and convicted killer. He had been arrested in
the nineteen thirties and nineteen fifties for poisoning and stabbing women,
once telling police he had a deep hatred of women,
particularly prostitutes. Incredibly, he had strangled a woman with a
scarf just like the phantom. Askins was known to use

(21:51):
advanced vocabulary, similar to the handwritten note found in Brenda
Woodard's pocket. He had worked for the National Science Foundation
and later the US Government Printing Office, which placed him
in DC at the time of the killings. He also
lived near several victim abduction sites. During their investigation of Askins,
investigators executed a full search of his home, seizing typewriters

(22:15):
and handwriting samples. He took multiple polygraphs, which were inconclusive.
Years later, his DNA was compared to evidence, but results
were either inconclusive or samples were degraded. No physical evidence
ever directly connected him to the murders, and the FBI
closed their investigation into Askins in the nineteen eighties citing

(22:36):
lack of evidence. He died in prison in twenty ten
at age ninety one, while serving time for an unrelated murder.
Some investigators believed he was the most likely suspect. He
is also the suspect named in the book Tantamount, which
was written by the father daughter writing duo Blaine Pardo
and Victoria Hester. The case dragged on. Suspects came and went,

(23:02):
but no arrests ever stuck the freeway. Phantom didn't leave fingerprints.
He left symbols, fibers that didn't match, a message pinned
by a terrified hand, a stomach full of food she
never bought. This was a killer who took his time
and erased his tracks, but in tiny, overlooked places carpet fibers,

(23:25):
pubic hairs, stomach contents, he may have left just enough.
In twenty twenty one, family members pushed for modern DNA
testing to be done on any remaining physical samples, but
the results, if tested, have not been made public. There
was one clue as to who DC's most notorious serial

(23:47):
killer might be. It was tucked away in an FBI
report detailing a man connected to a cache of incriminating evidence,
but now it is completely vanished. Community organizered Dorothy Wheeler
organized a search party for Sphinx, the first victim who
has abducted April twenty fifth, nineteen seventy one, shortly after

(24:09):
Wheeler was targeted too. According to FBI documents, she repeatedly
received threatening letters and phone calls from a deep voiced
man who insinuated he was the killer. According to her
reports to police, the caller told her quote, you have daughters,
and if you don't want them raped and dropped on
the side of the road, you'll keep your nose out

(24:32):
of this. Whoever it was seemed to know the details
of her life. She did have daughters, and the calls
came to her home number, even though her number was
unlisted and had only been installed a week before the
incident started. She also received letters without postage at her
home and workplace. There was something else unsettling. Wheeler reported

(24:56):
receiving these messages in the days before Sphinx had been
found dead on the roadside the afternoon of Tuesday May first.
Then they stopped. How would her harasser have known to
threaten her with the prospect of her daughters being dropped
on the side of the road unless he knew precisely
where Sphinx would end up. These revelations are found in

(25:18):
an October nineteen seventy four FBI Washington Field Office report,
but that report has somehow vanished. But before the reporting
question went missing, the investigator read its content aloud during
a recorded phone call. The recording stands as corroboration that
the report existed. The investigator now relies on this digital

(25:42):
version of the report too. As mentioned before, in October
nineteen seventy four, the FBI, looking to pin the phantom
murders on four incarcerated members of the Green Vega gang,
searched the case file for any indication that the gang
members nineteen seventy two green sh Chevy Vega had been
anywhere near a phantom crime scene. What they found was

(26:05):
a record of a different Green car instead. According to
this lost FBI report, in November of nineteen seventy one,
there was a late night crash on the same dark
road where Woodard's body would be recovered several hours later.
Inside a light green, black striped nineteen sixty eight Ford
Grand Tirno towed from the scene, was what appeared to

(26:28):
be a blood stained knife. As you will recall, Brenda
Woodard had been stabbed six times. As crazy as this sounds,
according to an investigative document, the owner of this vehicle
was considered a witness rather than a suspect. The document
stated that this man should be contacted for additional information. However,

(26:49):
it is unclear whether investigators actually spoke with the man.
This feels like an extremely promising lead that appears to
have slipped through the cracks. More than fifty years have
passed since the Freeway Phantom last struck. The city is changed,
the streets are paved anew But for the families of

(27:09):
six young black girls, time has not healed. It has
only deepened the silence. Their names are etched not into
court records or solved case files, but into gravestones and memory,
and somewhere buried in a forgotten evidence box or whispered
in an unspoken confession. The truth still waits until justice

(27:30):
is served. The Freeway Phantom is not just a killer
who vanished into the night. He is a wound. The
city has never closed. Anyone with information about the Freeway
Phantom murders can contact the Major Case Slash Cold Case
Unit of the Metropolitan Police Department at two zero two

(27:51):
seven two seven nine zero nine nine