189. Maury Troy Travis: The Basement Tapes

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
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(00:24):
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Speaker 2 (00:38):
Hello, and welcome to Reverie True Crime. I'm your host page.
On May twenty first, two thousand and two, Saint Louis
Post Dispatch reporter Bill Smith opened his mail to find
something that would change everything. An envelope postmark worked from

(01:00):
Saint Louis. The American flag stamp was a fixed upside
down a distress signal. The return address read only quote
I Thraldom a bondage website inside typed in red ink.
Beneath a bizarre graphic of flowers and rakes was a

(01:22):
message that made Smith's blood run cold. Quote nice sob
story about Teresa Wilson. Write one about Green Wade. Write
a good one and I'll tell you where many others
are to prove I'm real. Here's directions to number seventeen.
End quote. Attached was a computer printed map of West Alton, Missouri.

(01:47):
A single X marked a spot near the woods. What
the sender didn't know was that this map, this one
piece of digital evidence, would become the thread that would
unravel everything. Within days, it would lead investigators to a
quiet suburban home in Ferguson, Missouri, to a man who

(02:10):
seemed ordinary on the surface, and to a basement chamber
of horrors that would reveal one of the most disturbing
serial killers in American history. This is the story of
Mary Troy Travis, the videotape killer, the street walker strangler,
and the women whose lives he stole. Let's get started.

(02:36):
To understand this story, we have to start not with
Mary Travis, but with the women he targeted. Because for
too long, their stories went untold, their disappearances went unnoticed,
their deaths were ignored by a society that had already
turned its back on them. Between July of two thousand,

(03:00):
in May two thousand and two, the bodies of at
least twelve black women began appearing along roadsides and in
wooded areas throughout the Saint Louis metropolitan area and across
the river in Illinois. They were found in East Saint Louis,
Washington Park, West Alton, Highland, Mascouta, and Columbia. Many had

(03:26):
been reduced to skeletal remains. Some had ligature marks on
their wrists and ankles. As former Saint Louis Police Department
Captain Harry Heger would later recall, quote, by the end
of the summer, it was one after another after another

(03:47):
end quote. But here's the thing that haunts this case.
For months, no one connected these deaths. No one was
looking for patterns. Because the victims were sex workers, they
were drug addicts. There were black women working the streets
to survive. In the eyes of many, they were disposable.

(04:11):
Let's talk about who these women really were. Teresa Lynn
Wilson was thirty six years old when her body was
discovered on May fifteenth, two thousand and one, in East Alton, Illinois.
Teresa had a normal childhood. She loved roller skating and

(04:32):
going to the movies with her best friend. She got
pregnant at seventeen, dropped out of school, and turned to
prostitution to support her daughter Chastity, and a growing cocaine addiction.
Detective Kenneth Dye of the Saint Louis Police Department would
later say about Teresa Wilson, quote, it showed that even

(04:54):
though she was a sex worker, she did have a life.
She had friends, and she had family, and she fell
into a rut and she couldn't get out end quote.
Sometimes Teresa would ask little Chastity to wait on a
bench while she went to tend to a customer and
a car. A girlhood friend noticed how thin Teresa had

(05:19):
become and offered to help, but Teresa refused. A local
man who saw her work in the street gave her
a job at his bike shop, trying to help her
turn her life around, but the addiction was just too strong.
She began stealing cash and forging checks. Her daughter was

(05:40):
taken away, and then Teresa disappeared into the night. She
could be identified by a distinctive upper dental plate. Her
family loved her despite everything. They loved her. Mary Shields
was sixty one years old grandmother when her body was

(06:02):
found on July thirty first, two thousand, in East Saint Louis.
She was the first known victim, though at the time
no one realized what was beginning. Mary had lived a
full life before her path crossed with Travis's. She had children,
grandchildren who loved her. She deserved to grow old in peace.

(06:28):
Elisa Greenwade was thirty four years old, a mother of two,
and she was trying. She had recently gotten out of
jail and was struggling with crack cocaine addiction. She lived
with a minister named One Goozi, a woman who tried
to help vulnerable women on the streets. Elisa Greenwade called

(06:53):
her mom. Minister Juan Goozi would later recall quote, she
felt trapped, you know, and she knew that what was
happening with her was wrong. It was not good for her.
She knew all of this. What she didn't know was
how to get out of it. End quote. One night late,

(07:18):
when the minister was fast asleep, the telephone woke her up.
It was an excited Alicia, who wanted Wan Goozy to
speak with a man she had met that evening. The
minister hesitated at first, but then agreed to talk to
the unknown man. She said, quote, we sort of didn't

(07:39):
know what to say to each other, but we kind
of made up a little conversation. I told him, I said,
you've got my girl over there, and he said yes.
End quote. That was the last time Minister Juan GOOZI
could hear Alicia's voice. Her body was discovered on April first,

(08:01):
two thousand and one, in Washington Park, Illinois. She had
ligature marks on her wrists and ankles, evidence of restraints
of bondage of torture. The man on the phone that
night was Mary Travis. Betty James was forty six years
old when she was last seen in Venice, Illinois, in

(08:25):
the spring of two thousand and one. Her body was
discovered about two months after Green Waves found in Saint Louis, Missouri,
on May twenty third, two thousand and one. When investigators
examined her remains, they found something chilling, a tire impression
on her leg, a good, rich advantaged tire mark pressed

(08:50):
into her flesh. The killer was taking them across state lines,
adding federal implications to an already horrific case. Later investigators
would identify Betty on one of Travis's videotapes, her final
moments captured for his Twisted collection between May and October

(09:14):
two thousand and one. Four more women were tortured and strangled.
Verona Thompson thirty six, Yvonne Cruz fifty, Brenda Beasley thirty three.
Verona Thompson's body was found on June twenty ninth, two
thousand and one, in West Alton, Missouri, just sixteen feet

(09:38):
from where Teresa Wilson had been discovered. Yvonne Cruz was
found on August twenty fifth, two thousand and one, in
East Saint Louis. Brenda Beasley's body was discovered on October eighth,
two thousand and one, also in East Saint Louis. DNA

(09:59):
from Yvonne Cruise and Brenda Beasley would later prove crucial
to the investigation. Then there was Cassandra Walker. She was
just nineteen years old, the youngest victim. Her body was
found on March twenty fourth, two thousand and one, in

(10:19):
Washington Park, Illinois. But Cassandra's story is particularly horrifying because
we know with certainty what happened to her. Travis filmed
her murder on the videotape labeled quote your Wedding Day.
Investigators found footage of Cassandra chained to a wooden support

(10:42):
beam in Travis's basement, her hands and legs restrained behind her,
Travis wrapped a belt around her neck. He strangled her.
While the camera rolled. With Cassandra dead on his basement floor,
Travis spoke to the camera, his voice cold and matter

(11:04):
of fact. This is first kill number one. First kill
was nineteen years old. Name I don't know, and I
don't give a fuck. End quote. Nineteen years old. He
didn't even know her name or didn't care. Three more

(11:26):
women were found in early two thousand and two, reduced
to skeletal remains, unidentified, nameless, Jane Dowes forgotten. It would
take until twenty twenty five, twenty three years later for
investigators using advanced DNA genealogy to finally give them back

(11:49):
their names. Kelly Johnson, Crystal Lay, and Carol jene hemphill
Illinois Department of Transportation workers found Johnson's skeletor remains alongside
Interstate sixty four near Mascauta on January thirtieth, two thousand

(12:09):
and two. Near mile marker twenty two on the east
side of the Silver Creek overpass. Lay was discovered on
March eleventh, two thousand and two, along Interstate seventy near
Highland on the eastbound side near mile twenty three, just
west of Illinois Route one forty three, close to another

(12:33):
Silver Creek overpass. Hemp Hill was found on March twenty eighth,
two thousand and two, in a creek bed adjacent to
Illinois Route three in Columbia, wearing a green sports shirt
with a large M and the word Mavericks across the front,
along with khaki shorts. She had a heeled fracture on

(12:57):
her forehead from a childhood injury. These women had been
deceased so long that even fingerprint and dental information could
not identify them. State Police investigator Scott Wobe explained the
tragedy quote, the biggest hurdle is first you have to

(13:19):
identify a victim. Once you idea a victim, then you
can start figuring out who the suspect is end quote.
But there were survivors too, though their stories are almost
as tragic. One woman forty four years old was found

(13:41):
near death on April fourth, two thousand and one, in
East Saint Louis. She had been so severely tortured that
she suffered permanent brain trauma. She survived, but couldn't help
with the investigation. She couldn't identify her attacker. She couldn't testify.

(14:02):
The damage to her brain was too extensive. Another woman
managed to escape from Travis's house screaming in two thousand
and one. Neighbors called the police, but when officers arrived
and asked if she wanted to press charges, she declined.

(14:22):
Perhaps she was too afraid, Perhaps she didn't trust the
system to protect her. Perhaps she just wanted to forget.
She had gotten away and that was enough. She didn't
know how lucky she was. These women were not just statistics.

(14:44):
They were daughters, mothers, sisters, and friends. They had favorite
songs and childhood memories and dreams that got derailed. Riley Franklin,
an Siue graduate student who help to identify three Jane
Does in twenty twenty five, said it simply quote every

(15:07):
person deserves to be identified and remembered. End quote. But
in two thousand and one. In two thousand and two,
as bodies piled up, the investigations moved slowly. These women
worked an area known as the Stroll, a section of
North Broadway and the Baden neighborhood of Saint Louis. They

(15:32):
were what society calls quote high risk victims. They lived
on the margins. Many wouldn't be reported missing right away
when they vanished, the world barely noticed. But someone was noticing.
Someone was hunting. One zero zero one four Drive Ferguson, Missouri.

(16:00):
A quiet street in a quiet suburb, tree lined, neat
houses with well kept lawns, the kind of place where
neighbors waved to each other, where nothing terrible ever happens.
At least that's what everyone thought. Mariy Troy Travis lived

(16:21):
in a modest ranch style home at the end of
the block. The house was owned by his mother, Sandra,
though she no longer lived there. Neighbors described Maury as
pleasant and helpful. Even He regularly washed his black two
thousand Mitsubishi Eclipse in the driveway. He cleaned his gutters,

(16:47):
he mowed his lawn. One neighbor told reporters that Mariy
quote wouldn't her to fly. Reverend Linda Harrison shared a
common wall with Travis's home. She described him as causing
quote not the tiniest of problems. Once, when he surprised

(17:09):
her in the shared basement while she was doing laundry,
She said, quote, he startled me, and he was so apologetic,
he said, Miss Harrison, I'm so sorry. After that, each
time Travis came down into the basement, he would break
into a hum or a song to let her know

(17:30):
that he was coming. Her son, Zebray Harrison often drank
a couple of beers with Travis in front of their homes.
Zabray recalled quote, I don't have a bad thing to
say about him. I guess you never know what happens
behind closed doors end quote. Marie Troy Travis, thirty six

(17:53):
years old at the time of his arrest, worked as
a waiter, first at the Mayfair Hotel Hell in downtown
Saint Louis, later at a restaurant called Holy Mackerel. Co
workers remember him as friendly, even as an advocate against drugs.
He would talk about auto mechanics with them during breaks.

(18:17):
He seemed like a regular guy trying to make a living.
But who was Maury Travis? Really? Where did this monster
come from? Mariy Troy Travis was born on October twenty fifth,
nineteen sixty five, to Sandra A. And Michael V. Travis.

(18:40):
The family started out in the car Square public housing
complex in Saint Louis, one of the city's rougher areas,
But when Mary was ten years old in nineteen seventy five,
the family moved to that ranch house on four Drive
in Ferguson, seeking a better life for their son. At

(19:03):
Ferguson Junior High School and later McClure High School, Maury,
sometimes called by the nickname Toby, kept a low profile.
He wasn't a particularly good student, but he wasn't a
troublemaker either. Teachers barely remember him. He was quiet, withdrawn, unremarkable.

(19:28):
Neighbors who knew him as a boy described him as
shy but helpful. He would cut their grass and show
them how to use tools. There's a disturbing absence in
Travis's background of the usual warning signs. No documented childhood abuse,
no significant trauma, and years later Travis himself would acknowledge

(19:53):
that he was not abused as a child. He would
later claim chillingly that he was simply quote born this way.
His parents divorced in nineteen seventy eight when Maury was thirteen.
His mother, Sondra, remarried, but divorced again in nineteen ninety three.

(20:15):
Through it all, Maury remained really fond of his mother.
He stayed close to her. After finishing high school, Travis
joined the US Army Reserve. Then, seeking something more, he
headed south to Atlanta, Georgia to study business at Marris
Brown College. This is where people first noticed a change.

(20:42):
Detective Kenneth Dye later explained, quote, he picked up a
cocaine habit, flunked out of business college, and returned to
Saint Louis, and in order to support his cocaine habit,
he held up a number of shoe stores en vote
the descent was swift. In nineteen eighty nine, Travis was

(21:07):
tracked down and charged with armed robbery. He was convicted
and sentenced to fifteen years in prison at Farmington Correctional Center,
but he served only five years and three months before
being paroled in nineteen ninety four. He had a couple
more brief stints for drug related charges, but by two

(21:30):
thousand he was free, working and living in his childhood home,
and by two thousand women started dying. Travis lived with
a girlfriend named Felicia during this period. She would later
appear on ABC Primetime and describe Maury as a quote

(21:54):
good human being who wanted to help her overcome her
drug habit and pursue a in nursing, but something changed.
He became threatening. In March of two thousand and one,
Felicia moved out. After that, the body started showing up

(22:15):
with increased frequency. What no one knew, and what no
one could have known, was what lay beneath that ordinary house,
down a flight of stairs, behind a locked door, in
a basement chamber that had been transformed into something out

(22:35):
of a nightmare. By spring of two thousand and two,
law enforcement was finally starting to connect the dots. Federal, state,
and local agencies formed a task force. The FBI joined
the investigation. Male DNA found on the bodies of Yvonne

(22:57):
Cruz and Brenda Beasley was entered into COTIS the combined
DNA index system, but yielded no matches. The killer had
no prior record in the database. The investigation was going nowhere,
and then came the article. Bill Smith, a reporter for

(23:21):
the Saint Louis Post Dispatch, had been covering the murders.
He believed that humanizing the victims might increase public interest,
might shake loose some tips or leads. On May nineteenth,
two thousand and two, Smith published a profile on Teresa

(23:42):
Wilson the woman with the dental plate, the mother who
lost her daughter, the girl who once loved roller skating.
The article worked, but not in the way anyone expected.
Five days later, on May twenty first, Bill Smith received

(24:04):
that letter, the one with the upside down flag, the
return address from a bondage website, and the map with
the X. The map indicated a location in West Alton, Missouri,
not far from where the other victims had been discovered.
Investigators followed it and found exactly what the letter promised,

(24:29):
skeletal remains. But the real breakthrough was the map itself.
FBI agents John and Melanie Jimenez recognized something crucial. The
map was a printout from expedia dot com, a travel
website that provided custom directions and maps. Here's what the

(24:52):
killer didn't know. Every time someone accessed a map on
expedia dot com, the site recorded the user's IP address.
The FBI served a subpoena to Expedia. They asked for
records of everyone who had accessed that specific map of

(25:12):
Westalton between May eighteenth, when Smith's article was published, and
May twenty first, the postmark date on the letter. The
result was stunning. Only one person had downloaded that exact
map during that window, one person, one IP address six'

(25:37):
five dot two two seven dot ONE o six dot seven.
Eight but AN ip address alone was not. Enough THE
fbi had to trace it back through layers Of internet.
Infrastructure they served another, subpoena this time To, WorldCom a

(25:59):
telecommune unications company that assigned TEMPORARY ip addresses to dial
Up internet. Users remember this was two thousand and, two
before broadband was, common before wireless internet was, everywhere people
still dialed up and every time they, connected they were

(26:21):
assigned a DIFFERENT ip. Address it took painstaking, work cross
referencing thousands of connection, logs but eventually they found it
THAT ip address on that specific date and time belonged
to a single, user msn Slash Mary. Travis On june,

(26:47):
fourth two thousand and, two surveillance. Began the task force
Watched travis's house around the. Clock they watched which areas he.
Frequented area is known for prostitution and drug. Trafficking they
waited for the right. Moment they even went through his

(27:10):
Trash Captain hager later explained the operation. Quote they stopped
the trash man about a block or so over and, said,
hey we want to ride with you and pick up.
Trash we want to get trash from this one house
end quote. Quote they stopped the trash man about a

(27:32):
block or so over and, said, hey we want to
ride with you and pick up. Trash we want to
get trash from this one house end. Quote In travis's,
Garbage investigators found a. SPOON dna testing revealed traces from two,
Victims Yvonne cruz And Brenda. Beasley they had him on

(27:58):
the morning Of, Friday june, seven two thousand and. Two
at seven in the. Morning Detective Sergeant Tim sacks of
The Saint Louis Metropolitan Police, department accompanied BY fbi agents
and other law enforcement, officers knocked on the door at
one zero zero one for Drive, Ferguson. Missouri. Mary travis

(28:23):
answered in his boxer. Shorts a woman was with. Them
according To Detective, Sacks travis was not happy about the
early morning. Visit, quote he was. Mad sacks. Recalled the
first thing out of his mouth was a't seven o'clock
in the. Morning but then one of the officers said

(28:46):
something that Made travis go. Quiet, quote you know why we're.
Here mariy hung his. Head what investigators found inside that
home that morning would haunt them for the rest of their.
Lives the house itself was, immaculate not a speck of dust.

(29:08):
Anywhere travis was, meticulous obsessively, clean As Detective died described. It.
Quote when they, entered they found a neat and tidy,
home without a speck of dust end. Quote while some
investigators Pulled travis aside for questioning in his living, room

(29:30):
where he sat petting his Friendly calico, cat others began
searching the. House they made their way down to the.
Basement the first room they encountered was a TYPICAL tv,
room a floor to ceiling bookshelf lined WITH vhs, tapes home,

(29:51):
videos children's animated, films nothing. Unusual but further down the,
hall investiga gators discovered a locked. Door Detective diet described
what happened. Next Quote when they opened the, door the
overpowering aroma of the blood and bodily fluids quickly overcame the.

(30:15):
Investigators travis had tried to use room deodorant down there in,
everything but the smell was too. Strong end. QUOTE fbi
Agent John jmenez described the room as painted an unusual
blue with dark carpeting and a mattress on the. Floor

(30:37):
this was no ordinary basement. Room this was a torture.
Chamber the walls bore stains that investigators immediately recognized blood.
Spatters investigators found, bondage, equipment, restraints, handcuffs and leg, shackles

(30:59):
a stunt, gun newspaper clippings of the Murders travis had
been following his own press, coverage and most damning of,
all video. Tapes computer forensic experts Examined travis's computer and
found draft copies of the letter he had sent To Bill.

(31:21):
Smith they found his, searches his, downloads and his digital
footprint of. Death but it was the video tapes that
revealed the true horror of what had happened in that.
Basement Saint Louis Police Chief Joe maqua would later say
the tapes were so disturbing that he ordered mandatory psychological

(31:46):
counseling for any officer who watched. Them the tapes Showed
travis's crimes in chilling, detail and they revealed something even
more disturbing about his. Psychology he didn't just torture and
kill these. Women he filmed. It he performed for the.

(32:06):
Camera in pieces released TO Abc, news. Primetime the tapes
Showed travis tormenting the, women verbally taunting them about their
fate and criticizing them about abandoning their children for. Drugs
one tape was Labeled Your Wedding day A Grotesque. Mockery

(32:30):
the video showed him first giving the women crack cocaine to,
smoke then having what appeared to be consensual, sex but
Then travis would start asking them to engage in bizarre.
Rituals he'd have them dance in white. Clothes he'd make
them wear sunglasses with the lenses blackened so they could not.

(32:53):
See then he would take them, captive binding them with
ropes and, handcuffs covering their eyes with duct, tape sometimes
in the, bedroom sometimes dragging them downstairs to the, basement
shackling them to a wooden. Post one exchange captured on

(33:16):
video is particularly. Haunting travis, says, quote you want to
say something to your. Kids the victim, Says i'm. Sorry travis,
says who's raising your? Kids the victim says, me my
mom and. Dad travis, replied you ain't raising, shit. Bitch

(33:41):
you over here on your back smoking. Crack you ain't
going home. Tomorrow i'm keeping you about a. Week he
forced one woman to, say, quote you are the. Master
it pleases me to serve. You when he didn't like
the way she said, it he yelled say it, clearer
or if she, stopped he would say why are you.

(34:03):
Stopping when another victim tried to remove the duct tape
covering her eyes and knocked his camera out of, focus
he told her, quote you don't need to see, shit
lay down on your back end. Quote the tapes showed
him forcing women to state their names on, camera to

(34:24):
say final words to people they, loved knowing they would
never see them. Again he berated, them calling them bad,
mothers telling them they were, worthless that no one would miss.
Them psychological criminologist Doctor Brianna fox later analyzed his. Methods,

(34:47):
Quote Mary travis had a rather ritualistic way that he
would kill his. Victims he would tell them they were
going to, die make them confess for their, sins or
make the him say that they were happy to be his.
Servant end. Quote and then the murders strangulation with, ligatures,

(35:11):
belts and ropes on. Camera he choked one woman to
death with his belt while. Filming the tapes documented everything the,
torture the pleading the. Death Detective Sergeant Tim, sacks who
Interrogated travis that, afternoon would never forget the look on his.

(35:34):
Face when asked about the. Victims sachs told, him, quote
we need you to help. Us we need closure for
the families of the. Victims end. Quote he remembered the
sneer that crept Across travis's. Face sachs, said quote to,

(35:54):
him these women were less than human end. Quote during
nearly eight hours of, Interrogation travis dropped his head several
times as the full weight of the evidence was. Presented
he wouldn't, confess but he wouldn't deny it. Either at one,

(36:15):
point he offered to lead investigators to another body In
East Saint. Louis they drove toward The Poplar Street bridge
On interstate sixty, four but Then travis changed his. Mind he, said,
quote take me back to. Jail end. Quote the only
thing that seemed to Bother travis was learning how he

(36:38):
had been. Caught when investigators explained that The expedia map
had led them to, him he became i rate his.
Arrogance his belief in his own cleverness had been his.
Undoing investigators also made another disturbing. Discovery at the time

(37:01):
of his. Arrest travis had recently ordered additional handcuffs and leg,
shackles and in his home they found crude diagrams plans
for expanding the basement torture. Chamber Captain Harry heger described
what they, discovered, saying, quote he was going to build

(37:22):
two cells in there where he could chain the. Women
he was planning for the air vents out the, basement
and since there would be no bathroom, facilities he made
a list of things that he, needed and one was
adult diapers so he could keep these women captive for some.
Time end. Quote he was planning to expand his chamber of,

(37:47):
horrors planning more, abductions more, torture more. Death the investigation
also revealed That travis had deliberately Chosen East Saint lewis
as his hunting. Ground he later admitted it was because
the area lacked adequate. Policing he knew he could get

(38:09):
away with it longer. There it was a calculated, decision
a predator finding the weakest part of the, herd the
place where society had already given. Up travis even told
a girlfriend of a coworker that he knew a serial
killer and where the bodies were. Left he told her

(38:31):
specifically About East Saint, louis where he said his friend's
car was found set on fire after being. Stolen that
region would be the same location Where travis himself dumped his.
Victims he was taunting, people dropping, hints daring someone to

(38:53):
figure it. Out authorities were able to match the tire
tracks found at crime scenes To travis's two, vehicles the
black two Thousand Mitsubishi eclipse and in nineteen ninety Two Chevrolet.
CAVALIER a good rich advantaged tire mark was found On

(39:14):
Betty james's. LEG A bridgestone potenza tract was located Near
alicia Green wade's. Body the forensic evidence was. Overwhelming in,
all investigators Linked travis to twelve confirmed. Murders he claimed
seventeen in his. Letter some investigators believed the number could

(39:39):
be as high as twenty or. More Detective dies stated,
bluntly quote there's damn sure more than twenty based on
the frequency of the killings end. Quote the basement contained
over one thousand blood samples at least six matched known.
Victims the evidence was, overwhelming, methodical and. Horrifying travis had

(40:07):
kept meticulous records of his, kills newspaper, clippings, videotapes and
souvenirs from the. Dead if he hadn't been, caught how
many more would there have. Been at least one woman,
survived but she suffered such severe brain trauma from the

(40:27):
torture that she couldn't help with the. Investigation another woman
had managed to escape From travis's house screaming in two
thousand and, one but declined to press charges when police
arrived she had gotten. Away Mary travis was charged with
two counts of kidnapping and federal court the murders Of

(40:51):
Alicia greenwade And Betty, james whose bodies had been found
across state, lines giving federal jurisdy, diction but investigators fully
intended to charge him with many more. Murders the evidence
was overwhelming the tapes alone would ensure. Conviction travis was

(41:14):
held at The Saint Louis County jail In, Clayton, missouri
and placed on twenty four hour suicide. Watch guards were
required to check on him every fifteen, minutes but on
the evening Of, Monday june, tenth two thousand and, two
just three days after his, arrest guards missed two consecutive.

(41:38):
Checks that was all the Time Maury travis. Needed he
tore a bedstrip from the bed sheet and threaded it
through small holes in an air vent above the toilet
in his. Cell he fashioned a. Noose, then in what
investigators believe was an application of the same meticulous planning

(42:03):
that he'd used in his, crimes he put a cloth
in his, mouth placed a pillowcase over his, head stood
on the, toilet put the loop over his, head and
tied his own hands behind his. Back some, authorities including
those interviewed by The La, times believed That travis applied

(42:25):
to himself the same sadomasochistic techniques that he had used
on his, victims restraining himself so he couldn't instinctively try
to free, himself maximizing the pain and. Fear when guards
finally checked on him at approximately eight thirty at, night

(42:48):
they found him. Hanging he was thirty six years. Old
travis did leave a suicide note addressed to his. Mother in,
it he, Wrote i've been sick for a long, time
sick in the head SINCE i was. Fourteen i'm sorry
for the pain this caused you and the. Family my

(43:11):
death seems to be the only way out and a
fast in to all the. Publicity he gave no information
about other, victims no closure for the, families no answers
to the questions that would haunt investigators. Forever Stephanie, Tally travis's,

(43:33):
cousin maintained that he was, innocent that he had been
murdered in his, cell but the evidence overwhelmingly contradicted. This
Mary travis had taken control one last, time denying justice
to his victims and their. Families Captain hagger summed up the, frustration, saying,

(43:57):
quote a lot of those women may never be. Recovered
the case took on additional significance in the legal and
law enforcement. Communities it was one of the first times
a serial killer had been caught through digital, forensics through
tracing AN ip address And internet. Activity the case would

(44:22):
be used for training at THE Fbi academy In, Quantico,
virginia teaching future agents about the importance of digital evidence
in The internet. Age but for the, families there was no.
Closure Teresa wilson's Daughter chastity would grow up knowing her

(44:43):
mother had been murdered in a basement. Chamber Mary shields's
grandchildren would never see her. Again Kelly, Johnson Crystal, lay
And Carol Jene hemphill would Remain Jane dowes for more
than two, days decades before science could give them back their.
Names in twenty, fourteen a woman Named katrina McGaw was

(45:09):
watching THE a AND e Show Cold Case files in
her living room in her home at one zero zero
one Four, Drive, Ferguson. Missouri that is when she learned
the horrifying truth about where she was, living the house

(45:30):
Where Mary travis had tortured and killed, women the house
with the basement. Chamber When katrina confronted her, landlord demanding
her money back and release from the, lease the landlord.
Refused the landlord Was Sandra, Travis mary's, mother who still

(45:53):
owned the. Property only after the local housing authority intervened
Did travis finally agree to revoke the. Lease the, house
that ordinary looking ranch home on the quiet street stands
as a monument to the darkness that can exist behind closed.

(46:14):
Doors The Mari travis case forces us to confront uncomfortable
truths about whose society values and who it, Doesn't about
women whose lives are deemed less important because of how
they survive about the blind spots in our communities where

(46:36):
predators can operate for years. Undetected former Mayor Teresa powell
set it, plainly, quote the families are still hurting and
everyone needs. Closure end. Quote in twenty twenty, five thanks
to advances in forensic genetic genealogy and the dedicated world

(47:00):
of students From Southern Illinois University edwardsville working with The
Illinois State, police three more victims were finally. Identified Riley,
franklin one of the graduate students, involved expressed what should be,
obvious but too often is not quote every person deserves

(47:23):
to be identified and remembered end. Quote the case also
raises questions about what creates a. Monster travis showed none
of the typical warning, signs no documented, abuse no major childhood.
Trauma neighbors and family members described him as, pleasant, helpful

(47:47):
and close to his. Mother his only explanation was that
he had been sick in the head since he was,
fourteen that he was born this? Way was he or
did something happen that no one, saw no one, documented
or no one wanted to. Acknowledge travis took those answers with,

(48:11):
him so we'll never know what we do know is?
This between two thousand and two thousand and, Two Mary
travis prayed on the most vulnerable women In Saint, louis
women struggling with, addiction women working the streets to, survive women,

(48:32):
who in his, words were quote less than. Human but
they were not less than. Human they were human in
all the, complicated, messy heartbreaking ways that all of us are.
Human they had childhoods and, Dreams they had people who loved,

(48:53):
them and they had, Names Mary, Shields Alicia, Greenway Teresa,
Wilson Betty, James Cassandra, Walker Verona, Thompson Yvonne, Cruz Brenda,
Beasley Kelly, Johnson Crystal, Leigh Carol Jeene hemphill say their.

(49:17):
Names remember, them not just as, victims but as. People
that's the least we can. Do and for the other,
victims the Ones travis claimed but whose bodies have never been,
found their families still, wait they still, hope they still.

(49:37):
Grieve in his suicide, Note travis wrote that his death
was a fast end to all the, publicity but he
was wrong about. That his crimes continue to be, studied,
analyzed and, remembered not because we want to glorify, him

(49:57):
but because we need to understand and how someone can
hide in plain, sight how evil can wear any ordinary,
face how victims can be invisible until it's too. Late
The Mary travis case is a reminder that we must see,
people all, people especially those society tells us to, ignore

(50:24):
because the moment we stop seeing people as fully human
is the moment we become complicit in their. Destruction thank
you for listening to this. Episode until next, time, friends
please stay safe and take.

Speaker 1 (50:42):
Care thank you for listening to this. Episode as we close,
out let us not. Forget awareness is our greatest defense
in a world that can be dark and. Grim vigilance
is our beacon of hope when it comes to the
cases we have explored together that have remained on and.
Solved if you happen to hold a piece of the,
puzzle dare to step. Forward As Arthur lois McMaster Bouge

(51:07):
hold once, said the dead cannot cry out for. Justice
it is a duty of the living to do so for.
Them until we, reconvene my, friends stay vigilant and stay.
Informed

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