All Episodes

July 4, 2025 28 mins

Summary


In this episode, Joel Davis delves into the chilling story of William Jennings Choice, a serial killer who led a double life as a family man while committing heinous crimes against vulnerable women in California. The conversation explores the psychological background of Choice, his victims, the investigation that led to his arrest, and the impact of his actions on the families left behind. Through a detailed narrative, the episode highlights the complexities of human nature and the justice system's response to such brutal crimes.


Takeaways


William Jennings Choice led a double life as a family man and a predator.

His violent upbringing contributed to his criminal behavior.

Choice targeted vulnerable women, often sex workers, due to their perceived low value in society.

The evolution of DNA technology played a crucial role in his capture.

Victims' families expressed profound loss and a desire for justice during the trial.

Choice's wife discovered his dark secrets through suspicious items in his belongings.

The episode emphasizes the duality of human nature, showcasing how someone can appear normal while hiding monstrous behavior.

Justice for the victims was delayed but ultimately served through forensic evidence.

The societal neglect of marginalized victims contributed to the prolonged suffering of their families.

Choice remains on death row, reflecting on his actions without remorse.


Sound Bites


"Her laughter was silence. We want justice."

"Justice came slowly, but definitively."

"He thought he was too clever to get caught."


Chapters


00:00 Introduction to Black Friday Crime Stories

03:24 The Case of William Jennings Choice

07:27 The Dark Duality of a Family Man

14:50 The Victims and Modus Operandi

15:27 Justice and the Aftermath


Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:04):
What is going on? How is my folk doing?
Welcome to another episode of You Can't Make This Be as up.
It's your hope. You guessed it, Joel Davis.
And you know what segment it is,baby.
That's right. This is the infamous Black

(00:26):
Friday. That's right, it's Black Friday.
Y'all know what we do on Black Friday?
We discussed some of the craziest, most twisted, most
insane crime committed by a melanated AKA black.
Whether it's in the Americas, AKAUS of A North America,

(00:51):
whatever you want to call it or international baby, either way
it goes, it's black. Now I want to say thanks to
everyone who supported last black Black Friday episode.
It really made me feel good to hear you guys interact over
there on my Youtubes and also onmy Instagram.

(01:12):
And please follow my Instagram. You can't make this BS up ever.
I had to put ever at the end because my original one got
slammed out of this world some way.
Somehow I lost everything. I was working hard in that
Instagram, but it's OK. It's not it's not nothing wrong

(01:35):
with starting over. You know, sometime it happens.
You know what I'm saying? I'm it happens.
That's part of the game. So let's see here.
This time we are going to head on over to the West Coast and on
the West Coast we're going to talk about a gentleman who

(01:57):
haven't heard a lot about podcasters talk and we're going
to get over and start that storyin a minute.
But there is some housekeeping things I have to remind you guys
of. First things first, do me a
favor and please make sure guys that if you like or see in my

(02:19):
content, OK? If you do not like a certain
content or you think I did not do good on the episode, do me a
favor and just leave a comment, but don't give me a bad rate.
It stops the flow of all of the hard work that we are putting in
over here on the podcast to get people to find us on true crime.

(02:45):
So I really think you just give me a bad review and comments and
we'll go from there. Just don't rape me as less than
A5. It just it, it hurts me at the
end of the day also too. I am also going to try to record
this evening or if it's not tonight, especially by tomorrow,
I will re release a special episode on my paid

(03:10):
subscriptions. That's the one on my Spotify
also be on my available on my Apple podcast and it will also
be available on my Patreon. That's right, you can't make
this BSF Patreon. So you guys got all of access to

(03:30):
those. I will have the links down below
for you to join any of those groups.
I would love for you to join allthree that are really support me
and help me. But hey, if you feel like you
got to go by your budget, the cheapest one will possibly be
the one on Spotify, then you gotthe one on Apple and then you

(03:52):
have the other one that's my Patreon.
So either way it goes. Let me know what you can do and
support and we will go from there.
If you start joining my Tik Toksover there on my TikTok and and
we start growing my Instagram and my Twitter, You can't make
this BS up, which is you as in the letter UC, as in the letter

(04:15):
C and then make this BS up. That's my ex, formerly known as
Twitter. You go over there on X and
follow me and we get enough of afollowing over there.
I'm telling you right here rightnow, we will start doing
subscriptions over there too. We may even go as far as have a

(04:38):
actual live conversation about recent cases that are going on
in the media. But it like I said guys, it's
got to I have to have y'all participation and follow me and
to support me. The more I get support, the more
I can put back into maybe makingthis a full time job.
But it's all about y'all supportat the end of the day.

(05:01):
All right, enough of the housekeeping, us and everything
else we about to go into this guy that nobody is really like I
said, I've heard no one talk about this man.
I don't know if it's because he is.
You know, sometimes there's certain situations where people

(05:22):
like, there's certain people that they don't talk about
because they don't really know too much about it.
But it's on the West Coast, likeI said earlier.
And the guy name is William Jennings.
Choice man, man, Will is not your typical black American.

(05:43):
Nice. Now Will got some twisted
fantasies and behavior and the man is really like the sheeps
and wolves clothes. But after I get through
discussing Williams Jennings choice, a man who played
multiple roles. He was a father, he was a

(06:05):
husband. But when he was in those two
roles, baby, he had a third row where he was a damn predator and
a trigger warning. There's a lot of brutal stuff
that's going to be in this episode.
So if you're not upped about violence, especially violence
against women and violations, view of discretion is it.

(06:27):
But I'm going to tell you that this man stalked California St.
for over 10 years, OK, 10 years.He had a violent upbringing that
had caused him to become a cold blooded murderer and at the same
time, the family that he was raising under his roof,
especially his sweet, adoring wife, Alison Swafford, Alice

(06:53):
Watford, She had no clue. And but we're going to talk
about statements, trials, everything that's happened that
caused this guy to be honest in the monstrous actions he did.
So let's jump into the story of William Jennings Chance Choice.
William Jennings Choice was bornon December 19th 1953 in Alameda

(07:20):
County California. His parents name was William
Jennings Choice Senior and his phone off the yeah sorry about
that and his mother name was Arise Choice.
Now they say his mother Arise was off the chain.

(07:44):
Growing up she was always on Williams.
Every time she had a chance to destroy that boy, she would
destroy him verbally and physically.
Now y'all got to remember back in the feast going into the 60s
and 70s a child abuse had to be extreme.

(08:09):
OK? It was bad enough that parents
would back in their kids real quick, like in a hurry, you
know, pick up anything and knockthem out whenever they didn't
like what they were saying or did disrespect them.
But we're talking about extreme as in some of these parents
would wake up and be like, oh, you've been a bad day.

(08:30):
Your ass is mine type of type ofthing.
You know what I'm saying? Or, you know, you come home and
tell your Mama, hey, I didn't dogood on this, on this homework.
You know, instead of y'all talking it out the first time
before they go into whooping ass.
She like no motherfucker, you are the problem and your ass

(08:51):
getting towed up right then and there.
So this is how it was with it. When they they talk about abuse
to the extreme. We're talking about locking you
up in rooms, you know, not barely feeding you.
I'm talking about torturing you,whipping you with things that
could leave not just marks, but big whelp, whelps and marks.

(09:13):
Back then, that was considered extreme abuse.
And even then, people didn't intervene because in their mind,
it's none of my business. And the way they would talk to
their children back then was horrendous.
Some of these moms were worse than men anyway.
I mean, William once admitted that his he spent his early life

(09:36):
desperately trying to earn his mother's love and approval, but
to no avail. Now he had at least one sibling.
I thought he had at least one sibling, though their identity
still had not. I could not find the dysfunction
at home would form the rules of a dual identity that would

(09:57):
terrify California for decades. Now when I was doing my research
it looked like he had more than one, that he had multiple
siblings, but I could not confirm they were siblings,
cousins, or anything of that nature when I did my research.
So later on when Choice became an adult, he married his

(10:20):
childhood friend Alice Wofford. Now they had a daughter named
Crystal. Now to the outside world he was
like the perfect husband. He was hard working, He was
attentive, He was dedicated. But see, Alice would start to
open up and say in interviews, and she was even featured on the

(10:43):
show, Evil still lives here. Evil lives here.
I meant that she felt that something was always off with
her husband. Like, if, you know, she was one
of those women, like a lot of people, when they have that, you
know, you have that eternal feeling like you sit there and
you like, OK, this person checksthis box.

(11:05):
They're good. They attended, but they're hard
working. They love me.
Or, you know, we're very intimate or we're this and that.
But you still feel like, wait a minute.
I just feel like this person in my life is not who they say they
are. It's like they're hiding
something. It happens a lot in these kind

(11:26):
of cases. And that's how Alice felt.
She felt like this Negro was toodamn good to be true.
Now, according to a memoir, Conquering Darkness, William
often stayed out late and he started frequently visiting
strip clubs and he was secretly arranged encounters with sex

(11:47):
workers. Now, his family never even
suspected the level of darkness hiding beneath his polished
exterior. You know, like I said, as later
detailed in the Evil Lives Here episode, Alice described her
growing unease. Like she said, he was charming a

(12:09):
tit. But I couldn't shake the feeling
that something was wrong out here with him.
Now, when it comes to his victims and his MO, if you don't
know what I meant, his mother's opera operandi, William preyed
on vulnerable women. And back then, what was those

(12:29):
vulnerable women, especially with a lot of these serial
killers starting from the late 60s all the way up to the early
thousands, when before they started getting bombarded with
the evolution of DNA, It was sexworkers.
Yes, it was sex workers. They were easy.

(12:54):
The reason why sex workers and runaway and hitchhikers were the
primary target for a lot of these predators, whether it was
sexual predators or just straight killers, they felt like
these was the undesirable peopleof America.
Like no one is looking for the prostitute out here that's

(13:20):
always on such and such a streetevery day, every night.
Maybe her pimp, but who is goingto go and search for her when
her pimp voted to the police? And the pimp ain't gonna go to
the police all the the time anyway because he don't want he
on his operation because he's prostituting and that's illegal.

(13:40):
So serial killers were already on the point of they were saying
to themselves, this is like the easiest field of victims that we
can get. These women are the undesirable
they are either strung out on drugs, a lot of them got so many

(14:01):
mental health issues and other issues that if they were to go
missing, even if they did got somebody looking for them,
police ain't going to put all their effort into it.
Especially if they black women back then.
Because black women was definitely back then considered
to be the low end commodity and a lot of black folks didn't have

(14:25):
the resources for the gall in a lot of ways to push to get the
answers. Because all it took was somebody
to be like, get off that damn phone.
We cannot help you, your daughter or whoever is a junkie.
And we know they did probably somewhere they ran off.
Now stop this shit. So you get bombarded with that

(14:48):
type of behavior and you in a situation where they don't
believe you. And that's why it was like it
was. So let's get back to the store.
I'm going off my soapbox a little bit.
So let's talk about the first victim, Victoria Bell.
It was April 17th, 1988. Victoria was doing her thing

(15:11):
like she normally do. Now give me one.
OK? Give me, give me, give me one
moment guys. I am so sorry.
All right guys, I am back with this.
Let me go where I look off here.Sorry I had to take a short
break here. So as I was saying, so you got
Victoria Bell, it's April 17th, 1988 for you is doing what she

(15:36):
normally does. She is doing her duty as lady of
the night. So she was hanging out in
Oakland on International Blvd. William was over there, like he
always do when it comes to his stalking slash fray mentality.

(16:01):
Offered for a ride in his view, you know, and probably told her
like, hey, you know, let me giveyou this ride, You know what I'm
saying? We can go somewhere a little
private and we can know, get down to business, you know,

(16:24):
agree on some terms and you can you could take care of me and I
could possibly take care of you.You know, it'd be a tit for tat.
Well, when he got her to a secluded industrial area, things
become dark. Based upon what everybody is

(16:46):
probably going to theorize here that led up to this situation,
William probably told his told Victoria whenever she started
saying, OK, what you want. And by the way, before we get
started, I'm going to eat this bread and eat the hand.
That's probably when William probably told her, no, I'm not

(17:11):
paying nothing, baby. This is what's going to happen.
And he took it from and after that, that's when he probably
drugged her down to the lot of this industrial area, put that
steel behind her head and did execution and left her there for

(17:34):
dead. So after 1988, he kind of like
lay low now laying low. I don't know what caused him to
lay low for so long, but eleven years later he's starting to get
that itch again. William's starting to get that

(17:55):
that to be bad. So now he's in Stockton, he's
out there near Arch Airport Roadand once again he looking for
that special type of chick. He see Gwendolyn Lee, people
witnessing her speaking with William for a little minute.

(18:16):
He drove in his van which he hadretrofitted with a fold down bed
and once again he get in to a position where he can violate
her. Then he murderer and then he
dumped her body in a nearby field.
Then the next day in Stockton, it seems like William just was

(18:40):
not satisfied. William was out here like yo, I
got this itch and it's got to bescratched.
I need another Vic. This time it was Lawanda Beck.
Beck was abducted from that samearea that we talked about, Arch
Airport Rd. where all the women are like and he was killing her

(19:02):
using the same method. Then he would violate violate
this woman. And then after that execution
staff says like that her body was left in the same field as
leads, indicating premeditation and confidence in his secluded
dump site. Now these killers displayed a

(19:25):
chilling pattern. He used his tow truck job as a
cover his vehicle as a mobile crime scene and carefully
selected isolated areas that dump the bot.
So the cases went cold for about5 years, but then DNA, y'all

(19:47):
know as we as a home, what's hername Madea called Dana.
Dana started advancing and evolving.
And after Dana started evolving,a lot of these cases were able
to start testing materials and biological evidence that they
had saved over the years and preserved.

(20:07):
And in this case here, in this situation here, that's when in
2002. They linked semen found at each
crime scene to one single profile and that DNA match
William Jennings shorts. So on September the 14th, 2002,

(20:30):
police arrested Choice. That's right, Old Willie.
A search of his van revealed it had a fold down bed, confirming
suspicions that he committed thecrime inside the vehicle before
dumping his victims. Then six years later, in 2008,
Choice stood trial for the murders of Belle, Lee and Beck.

(20:54):
Prosecutors presented the DNA evidence, then survived a
testimony in forensic records. The jury found him guilty on all
counts and he was sentenced to death.
Now, during this sentencing, thefamilies of the victims
delivered powerful statements incourt.

(21:15):
Like for instance, for Victoria Bell's family, this was their
state. Her murder left us lost our
mother, sister, daughter, gone without one.
Then you had Gwendolyn Lee's family.
There's we struggle daily with the emptiness she left behind.

(21:36):
And then there's the one that Becks family state her laughter
was silence. We want justice and safety for
others like her. All this shows how much loss
that this family experienced because of this man.
It just goes to show you that Williams actions had lost left a

(21:58):
lot of pain and destruction in his back.
So we're going to touch now a little bit about the episode of
Evil Lives here, our House of Howards, which featured choice
wife who wrote a book about her life being with William Choice

(22:21):
while he was in the prime of hisserial killer career.
Now it it feasted his wife Alice, and then it had his
daughter Crystal. Now Alice shared how she solely
slowly discovered the truth. She started finding stripping
numbers in his wallet and suspicious items in his vehicle,

(22:42):
in her own words. One day I found condoms and
numbers of escorts in his phone.I started feeling like I didn't
know him at all. Hey man, that's like one of the
major signs of a serial killer. They always leave a double life
and they double life always going to lead to either.

(23:03):
They have a fetish that they cannot handle at home, so they
acted out when they away from the everyday duties of the life
that they are accustomed to at that present time or they will
get a part. And I've seen a lot of that in

(23:26):
these researchers that we've been seeing with these serial
killers. They'll get a partner.
It could be a chick that has no self esteem that they can just
control and do whatever they want to help them fulfill out
these fantasies against others. But sometimes it could just be
another partner to help them kill.

(23:46):
You know, it could be somebody that is like looks up to them or
really admires their work of destruction and just go with it.
So I've seen that a lot with these serial killers.
They always know how to compartmentalize everything in
their lives. And that's exactly why he was

(24:08):
able to get away with it for so long and not be affected.
He know how to come compartmentalize.
That's my other life. I'm in the good life right now.
So that can go wherever now. His daughter Crystal expressed
her how I mean his daughter Crystal sorry guys expressed her

(24:29):
horror realizing her father was a serial killer and it just
showed them struggling with a lot of guilt and disbelief.
And you got to look at it from their point of view man like
this man was the staple of perfection.
I mean everybody was probably telling them, oh you lucky to
have a husband like that girl. I wish I had somebody like will

(24:53):
keep his self in all about you girl or somebody telling
Crystal, oh I wish my daddy was like your daddy Crystal.
He always so attentive. He always there for you when
nobody else is my daddy. I don't know who he is.
So you know, they felt like welldamn we was fooled too.
We thought he was a good one of the good guys.

(25:15):
So as of today, William Choice remains on death row at Saint
Quentin State Prison in California awaiting his appeals.
Now he has shown no remorse in public or even I guess the other
inmates about the crimes he committed and right now his case

(25:39):
remains one of the most peculiarand disturbing examples of a
hidden predator in modern California history.
Now y'all also know too the reason why he is still on death
row in sin, quit in prison and probably live out the rest of
his old agent. He's currently 71 now till he

(26:01):
makes his last breath is becausethey have a stay right now in
the state of California for all death penalties to be carried
out. That was by Governor Newsom.
Now I don't know how long that'sgoing to last.
I don't know whenever they get anew governor if he's going to be
on board with doing that too. But as of now, there's a stay

(26:24):
for California and to execute their of the the the rest of the
prisoners on death row. Sorry, I had a brain brain
freeze. I'm getting tired because after
this I think I'm going to go andhead to the set because it's
already 2:50 in the morning. Choice life is just another

(26:44):
example of a dual a man who worethe mask of a family man while
committing monstrous crime. See, justice came slowly but
definitively and thanks to forensic science and the bravery
of the surviving family members that now William Jennings Choice

(27:10):
has to sit his ass down and realize that only one person put
him there himself. Like all serial killers, you
start out clean and perfecto Muno as a whistle when you do

(27:30):
your first couple of prime hits.But so now, later, you start
getting complacent. And when you get complacent, you
get what sloppy. And that what happened with this
guy right here. He thought that he was too good,

(27:52):
too good to ever find himself ina situation where he was going
to get caught up. But in reality, he got caught
up. So anyway, join me next time on
You Can't Make This BS Up where we'll talk about another famous

(28:15):
case of criminal behavior. And if you got a case
suggestion, please feel free to e-mail me at
joshua.24@icloud.com. Can we put it to you one more
time? Joshua .24.

(28:36):
All right, guys, that's it. I hope you have a productive
morning and day. I'm calling in the night.
I'm out.
Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know
Dateline NBC

Dateline NBC

Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.