Richard Speck

Hey guys! This week we're discussing the murder of 8 innocent nurses by the crazed Richard Speck in 1966.
My main source for this was;
"The Crime of The Century" by Dennis Breo and William Martin

Episode Transcript

(00:10):
Oh god, should we switch itoff? Hi, and welcome to give
us morgue. I'm Nive and I'mMegan And that was so weird. It
was kind of weird. Let's popping, you guys, what's popping? Poppingpen?

(00:31):
Oh wow, bounced off that microphone. The refurberation in your earballs was
toasty. So we've already had afew technical difficulties. Yeah, this is
a whole new style of recording thatwe're doing right now. It's really uncomfortable
kind of So any hoodles, howhave you guys been you enjoying our episodes?

(00:56):
Up? I thought Megan had aglass of wine? There I do.
It's my second So wag should thatbe concerning as to what this case
entails or slightly? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, get yeah, yeah yeah.
I just have my Starbooks Halloween cupbecause I am that bitch. It's

(01:17):
beautiful. I had a rough weekand it was my It was like a
reward. Let's look the reward.I have been having a little glass of
wine almost every night this week.So fair because we found out that we
had a surplus of wine from thatparty get together thing that we had,
oh know what tragedy. I knowtragedy. When you find the wine inside

(01:42):
your fridge, it's tragedy. Sothe only option is to have a glass
every night because as I'm living isstressful life. You're welcome, guys.
Do copyrights. Copyrights, guys,copyrights. That was that was my best
work copy written. So guys,guess what I learned this week And yeah,

(02:07):
I'm going to brag about it becauseI'm so proud of myself. Megan'son
slaying slaying at her new job.So I got a new job, and
it's me scary. I'm still inthe same place, it's different. But
yeah, yeah, So this weekI learned what market cap is and oh,

(02:30):
she's got a definition for us.Oh I'm not going to tell you
the definition because I can't explain itlike properly yet, Like I don't mean
that in a bad way, butthat would just go right over math mathematical
formula. Fuck. No. Sofor this week's episode, you guys,
it's really there's a lot. There'sthere's rape, there's murder. Okay,

(02:53):
So yeah, if you're not feelinglike you want to listen to that right
now, it's fine, go checkout some of her other stuff. We
have some like I was gonna saylighthearted, but they do all involve murder
of some kind, so that's notthe correct term. There is. We
have other episodes that you might beable to listen to Bridget Cleary. Yeah,

(03:14):
that's a fun one, a littleless heavy. Yeah, if you
want to hear about banshees and changelinks and everything like that, go back
to our I think it was ourthird ever episode. Oh god, you
don't want to go back that far. That was not our best era.
We're in it now. It's okay, okay, I loved that era.

(03:36):
Okay, that era was me andNeve sitting in her garage, sharing a
microphone, just doing our damn best, just being like, wouldn't it be
so funny if we started a podcastover Snapchat one night and then it just
it just grew from there, andhere we are. Here we are three

(03:57):
years later. I know. Yeah. Now when people tell me they listen
to us, I'm like, oh, I'm so sorry. Yeah. No.
Still to this day, when peoplesay, oh, yeah, I
listen to the podcast, I'm like, oh, why would you do?
Don't tell me? God, yeah, I don't want to know. I
like, let me live my life. I like to pretend we are just
talking into the void. We're talkingto each other and nothing ever. Literally

(04:20):
though, I got through the processof editing it and then uploading it and
I'm like, yeah, nobody listens. It's fine, it's fine, it's
fine. And then we get emailstelling us how many people have listened.
Oh not the weekly statistics. Ohgod. And when we're on our sabbaticals
and we're getting the weekly statistics andthey're just dwindling and twinkling because we have

(04:43):
because we're like, we're taking aweek's holidays. Five months later, they're
like, oh, are you guys, maybe you want to post an episode
please. People are kind of forgettingabout you. Yeah, and we're just
like, I don't see you rightnow, Marcus read anyway, We're about

(05:05):
to jump right on in. Let'sgo, let's get this, let's go.
So this week's case is about RichardSpeck. I feel like he's not
as spoken about in the true crimeworld. Oh why do I know that
name? Because he is, like, he is well known, but he's
not I feel very spoken about.And if you watched American Horror Story,

(05:26):
they do have a scene in itthat is very like what he had done,
and you'll know what's scene I'm talkingabout when we get to the end.
Okay, all right, so let'sget into it. Oh, it's
like I don't know how to readanymore. Richard Speck was born December sixth,
nineteen forty one, the seventh ofeight children born to Mary and Benjamin
Franklin in Kirkwood, Illinois. Eightgoddamn children, Such strong Catholic family.

(05:49):
Yeah are My mom was like telsenough to be fair. I was a
demon child, so I was,yes, I was. I yeah,
I'm fully sure on the sill reasonshe was like, yain, no,
we're not having any much. ButI feel like it's always the case.
It's like the first child is alwaysan angel, and then the second child

(06:11):
is just megan. I put coalin the computer and in the VCR ME.
Yeah, I put playing cards inthe floppy disk part of the computer.
You know what you are doing,an investigation. I was curious.

(06:32):
There's nothing wrong with curiosity apart fromwhen it breaks the family computer. I
used to wash my dolls hairs inthe toilet. Oh, I'd get a
hold of the shampoo as well,Like they'd be shampoo in the toilet.
Yeah, like my mother was like, and no more children, take my

(06:54):
take my fallopian tubes away. Hisolder six siblings were all consider older than
him and his younger sister Carolyn.His mother, Mary was extremely religious and
was a pioneer slash teetoler, whichmeant that she didn't drink. Benjamin the
dad was a little more easy going, and he would have a drink here
in there. Yeah. He hadbeen working as a stonemason in Monmouth when

(07:17):
he died of a heart issue atonly fifty eight years old. Geez Louise
Richard was only six years old whenthis happened, and he was very close
with his father. Actually both parentsdoated on all of the children, so
this really affected him. About threeyears later, Mary met a man named
Carl August Rudolph Lindbergh. Oh mygod, what a fucking name. I

(07:43):
struggled. That was a struggle.I'm sorry, I gen't when he thought
like it was gonna end and thendidn't know. I was like, oh
my goodness, that's the name.And he was a traveling salesman from Texas
and they met while she was ona train to Chicago. What a random

(08:05):
place to meet a ma'am. Iknow isn't it like people these days have
to join Tinder and go through somany people. But now she found Carol
and she fell in love. She'sjust training her way to Chicago, and
this Texan man is like, howdy, ma'am. Oh, you know what,
I get it married. It wouldhave followed for it too. Yeah.

(08:28):
So they did get married very quickly, and I'm sure that did have
something to do with the fact thatMary had eight children that she was trying
to raise by herself. Yeah.I could see that there were a few
of them that had married and movedout at this point, but like,
there's a lot going on there andyou can't do that by yourself. No.
Fuck. Now, this didn't stabilizeRichard and Carolyn at all. They

(08:50):
stayed with their sister until they finishedthird grade, and then they joined their
mother and stepfather in Texas, wherethe home life was shit. Oh goodness,
Yeah, it was really bad.They moved around Texas a lot,
about ten times. Jesus m.Carol was a psychologically and physically abusive criminal
with a rap sheet the length ofTexas, and the two kids were subject

(09:11):
to endless abuse. This is notfunny, but it's funny Carol had a
half leg after being in an accident, and he needed crutches to get around,
and sometimes when Carol would beat him, Richard would fight back and tell
us step father that he would beathim up with his crouches. I'm sorry,
that is iconic, all right,Richard, Okay. I just needed

(09:33):
to put in there because I neededto note that Richard was threatening to beat
up a grown man with his owncrutches at a young age. At a
young He's like, beat me,I'll beat you back with your goddamn crutches.
Richard's eighth grade teacher would describe himas quote, he was sort of
sulky, but he didn't talk back. Evidently he had been taught at home

(09:54):
not to talk back. He wasa loner. He didn't have any friends
in class. He seemed sort ofit didn't seem as though he knew what
was going on. I don't thinkthat I ever saw him smile. I
wasn't able to teach him anything.I don't think anybody could get through to
him. He seemed to be ina fog and that he is sad when
you think about it. Child andan abusive home. They can't take full

(10:15):
advantage of school because there's so muchgoing on at home that they're too distracted
about what's going on in their homepersonal lives that they're not soaking anything up
in school and they can't make friendseither, because I'm sure he was absolutely
terrified that if any of his friendsever found out what was going on at
home, and then as well asthat, it's like I can't have my

(10:37):
friends around to the house, oryou know, like, am I going
to get in trouble if I askedto go stay with a friend or exactly.
Richard didn't speak in class either,and refused to wear his glasses that
he needed to wear, and Ithink maybe for fear of being bullied when
he was already a bit of aloner. That's sad. He was also
suffering quite badly with acne too,so thin were not going well. For

(11:00):
god. Yeah, no, he'snot having a good, good thing.
And it didn't help either. Whenhe was only thirteen, he was actually
arrested for the first time for trespassingm He had started drinking at twelve,
and by the age of fifteen hewas as much of a hard drinker as
his stepfather was. Oh my god, that's no life. But at the
same time, it's like he's dealingwith a lot of like grown up issues

(11:26):
at quite a young age. Soto him, he's like, no,
I need the drink. Yeah,it's escapism. Really, he left school
at sixteen, and now he wouldspend his time quote bragging, drinking,
lying, and whoring. Oh mygoodness, not the whoring, not the
horn. The book that I readfor this states that he was treated for

(11:48):
goneria five times and syphilis twice.Jesus Christ, Richard, Yeah, we're
not here to shame anyone, Okay. An STD's very easy to get.
You can sleep with one person getan STD. But five times you're syphilis
twice. That's a lot of gnaria, Richard, it's a lot of I
feel like it might be too muchgonaria. Like I feel like one time

(12:11):
one STD is you know, toomany STDs. Book easily is like easily
happened. Two STDs is like maybefive STDs is like five times. The
fifth time of gnarihea, It's like, no, Richard, you're not even
trying anymore. Are you going backto the same person? What's happening?

(12:35):
How many? Why are you gettinggonaria so much? He walks into the
doctor's office and they're like, ah, we don't even need to check.
He walks in and they're Likenaria andhe's like, again, we're not here
to shame anybody. SuDS happen justa part of st Yeah, it's that's
just it's a lot, That's allI'm saying. Not like I'm not I'm

(12:58):
just like five times, it's justwhat like what any hoodles. When he
was around nineteen, he got ajob working at a bottling factory for seven
up and it was around this timethat he met fifteen year old Shirley and
Malone Richard. That's not okay.They met at a Texas state fair,

(13:20):
and after only a few weeks ofdating, she got pregnant. Oh no,
Richard, that's double not okay.They had a bit of a shotgun
wedding, but Richard continues continued hisshenanigans, and while his daughter was being
born, he could not attend becausehe was in jail serving twenty two days
for a bear fight. Oh Richard, now I know you've had a shitty

(13:41):
upbringing, but now's your time.Now's your time to get it together and
be like I'm not gonna let mychild go through anything traumatic. And you're
in jail for a bear fight atnineteen by the way, as well twenty.
You're not even legally supposed to bedrinking. Why are you getting in

(14:01):
bare frights? And I don't this, I don't think this was his first
time in jail at all. Likehe was a he was a return caller,
just like the gonorrhea. Anyway,he's tryna break world records. Sorry,

(14:28):
and we'll compose ourselves, I promise, Hey, whine the wine making
megan joke if you just almost killedme, I apologize. How are you

(14:52):
guys? And we're gonna have tocut like half of that egg because it's
just was laughing like cooking Motley.It was this time when he was in
jail that he got a few shittytattoos. On his left calf was a

(15:16):
tattoo of a bird with wings thatalso had an erect penis oh for its
head. And then he also gotborn to raise Hell on his forearm and
surely on his shoulder. No,Robert, that's embarrassing. Richard. Oh

(15:37):
Richard. Wait, he's called himRichard and he has born to did you
this cup dick head on the bird? Did he call himself is he saying
that tattoo is He's probably saying he'sfree like a bird, but he's like

(15:58):
nickaated dick Dick. Yeah, that'salso but also born to raise. Your
name is Richard, and you're gonnaget born to raise hell And that's like
what's like the female version of Richard? Like Richard's a posh name? I

(16:18):
don't know, like Mary. ImagineMary getting like born to whole one or
like what your name's Mary? Margaret? Margaret? Literally like, hello,
my name is Margaret. I'm bornto who? You know what? I
always think every time we use theword whore on this podcast, I'm like,

(16:40):
are we going to get canceled likeparam where I got canceled? No,
because we don't have enough of afollowing to be canceled. Praise Jesus
for that. What's going to happenif we ever do get a following,
I'm not gonna have to rein itin. I don't know if I can.
All right. He had just gottenShirley tattooed on his shoulder, too,
but at this point him and Shirleywere already separated parably due to say

(17:03):
that he treated her during her pregnancy. She broke up with you, and
you were like, I'm gonna gether tattooed on me. But this is
the thing. He's an extremely jealousand paranoid man, and he would often
accuse her of cheating, but thento return the favor, he would like
drive and park in front of herhouse in his convertible and like kiss and
touch other women in the car infront of her house, try and make

(17:26):
him jealous. First of all,this per girl is like fifteen, sixteen
years of age, Like, whatare you doing, Richard, go back
to prison, just honestly, justyou know. They they have the room
waiting, They have one set asidehas your name on the door. And
this happened at least six times.At least he would also threaten Shirley with

(17:48):
a knife and look for sex sixto seven times a day, and he
would rape her if she refused.Six to seven times a day. Richard,
that's not humanly possible, Like I'msure it is, but I'm sure
it is. But like at thesack fucking now, Richard, Jesus Richard,

(18:10):
he's happened a little a little viagra. He had to have been popping
fucking something six six times a dayat that point, he's just coming powder.
Honestly, he's a horrible, disgustingman. So Richard had even attacked
and threatened Shirley's mother a couple oftimes. No, that's definitely not okay.

(18:33):
And it was really weird because heonce brought a picture of her in
a swimsuit to the local bar andthen gave her number out to the guys
that are like, oh, yeah, she's pretty hot, and then she
got multiple calls from men looking fordates. That would be terrifying, wouldn't
it, Like that's like somebody sendingyour nudes around? Basically, yeah,
basically she reported him to the policeafter he threatened her with a knife,

(18:56):
but no arrest was ever made.Richard was when known to the police,
though, obviously, and right here, I'm just gonna take a very quick
ad break. So welcome back fromthe break, you guys. We refilled
our refreshments. We are back backwith a bang, bitch. Before Richard

(19:17):
was twenty four, he had beenarrested forty one times. What the fuck,
Richard, what he'd stop it?That's no, that has to be
a world record. At that point. I'm sure the police were just styling
you know the stairs sixty nine therecall button. Yeah, he's back in
again. Mary. In nineteen sixtythree, he had been sentenced to three

(19:38):
years for robbing a store and stealinghis co workers paycheck, but he was
paroled for good behavior after only sixteenmonths. No, because he's clearly not
on good behavior, because he's fortyone times has been arrested. It seems
to be that he can be ongood behavior when he really wants to be.
It's really weird. But it didn'treally translate into the real world because

(20:02):
after less than a week he wasarrested for attacking a woman in a car
park with a seventeen inch carving knife. Oh, sweet mother of Divine Jesus.
When she screamed, a guy cameout and was like what is going
one? And she ran and likethat gave her enough time to make an
escape and Richard was picked up aftera few minutes and they found then I've

(20:22):
dumped in a bush like he ranand the police were very close already,
but they caught him like right away. He was sent back to prison then
for a violating violating, violating hisparole, violating his parole, getting him
six months and beat the attack,giving him sixteen months, so two separate
charges. Yeah, but I guaranteehe'd like only served like six months of

(20:45):
that. The two sentences were torun concurrently to each other, but due
to basically a filing error, hewas released after only six months. Ah,
there we go. And the paroleofficer had this to say, quote,
when Spec is drinking, he willfight or threaten anybody as long as

(21:07):
he has a knife or a gun. When he's sober or unarmed, he
couldn't face down a mouse. That'sall well and good. Tell that to
the girlfriend. Yeah, poor,surely. But basically the parole officer was
saying, SPEC's a big old pussy. He's a big old fucking loser.
It's only when he's drinking that he'sfucking Johnny big balls. Yeah, we

(21:29):
all know those people. That's likefrom your man Paul last week, the
Merda murders with the big hands,the jazz hands. I'm getting angry.
In case you guys don't know,Paul Murdo used to spread his fingers out
wide when he would get drunken angry, very terrifying. It's like when you

(21:51):
need a bear and you raise yourarms up to make yourself seem bigger.
After his release, he went towork as a trucker for a meat company.
He got into six accidents in thetruck, but then he was only
fired for just not showing off oneday. Six accidents. If I make
one singular, small, tiny,eighty bay little mistake at work, I'm
like, oh, crucify me,just let fire me. I'm no good,

(22:15):
I'm no good. But six truckaccidents, Richard, Richard, why
are you going to try break everygod damn fucking Guinness World record there is?
You know what if he was justborn to raise hell? Richard,
stay in your lane. Just stayin fucking prison. Oh my god,

(22:37):
that's what I mean. That's hislane. Why are you? Why are
you getting arrested forty one times?Getting gunnery at five? Six truck accidents?
Syphilist twice, that's Richard? Areyou okay? One divorce? Oh
before he's hit fucking thirty. NancySimms was a twenty nine year old single

(22:57):
mother of Tree. She was anex wrestler turned bear woman at Jinny's,
a bear that Richard frequented, butshe was actually struggling to find a babysitter
and Richard's mother Mary basically asked her, like asked Nancy, if Richard could
move in and in return he wouldprovide babysitting services. Oh no, Nancy,

(23:18):
you do not want Richard babysitting yourkids. First of all, he
has a kid of his own thathe doesn't even see. I mean just
I would not want him around mychildren. He's a criminal, a convicted
criminal. I wouldn't even want himaround me, never mind my job.
Like that's a whole other like not. I don't even don't even look at

(23:41):
me, Richard. Now. Sheeventually kicked him out for having a fight
with her ex husband, and shedid notice that Richards drank a lot and
done awful things to people when hewas drunk, But he was always sorry
when he sobered up. Way sorry, well, good job. Was he
sorry to Shirley when he raped her, when he would feel up other women

(24:03):
in front of her? Was hesorry? I don't think he was.
Was he sorry when he tried toattack her with a knife? Her mother,
that's her mother, Jesus Christ.Richard. I felt sorry for you
in the beginning. Then I calledyou Robert, and no, I don't
like you at all, morbid.I always say that like it's okay,

(24:25):
not that it's okay, but likeyou can feel sorry for the kid.
You don't have to feel sorry forthe adults because when you're an adult,
you can decide you have free will. But as a kid, when you're
in this situation, you don't havefree like enough free will to be able
to go and do whatever you want. I feel like though, like Richard,
just like you know, sad story, sad story, out of control.

(24:48):
He was like, I'm going tobe the baddest bitch there is,
and he took that literal. I'mgoing to get a tattoo of a bird
with a dickhead because I I'm adickhead. Not long after this, Richard
was in Jinny's when he attacked anotherpatron, stabbing him with the switchblade that
Richard always carried on him. Becausecasual fine, he was only given a

(25:11):
ten dollars fine after Mammy got hima lawyer. He stabbed somebody Mary and
wait till you hear this. Herefused to pay the ten dollars fine,
so he Richard three whole, threewhole days in jail instead. Richard,
it's ten fucking dollars, you scabbyass bitch, you basically could have paid

(25:34):
ten dollars to stab somebody. Yeah, essentially. In March of nineteen sixty
six, he bought a nineteen fiftyfour Plymouth and used it to sell cigarettes
out of after burglarizing a grocery storeto steal the cigarettes. I mean at
least didn't stab anybody. Yeah,I mean it's a non violent crime.
Our expectations are on the floor there. It was a non violent crime.

(25:56):
No, they're not even on thefloor. They're in the circle right there.
He was ann violent crime, youknow. Good on him. Yeah,
Oh, he's improving. He leftthe carrot there like where he was
selling the cigarettes from, and thepolice were easily able to track him down
after they checked the carrot and sawthat he had bought it. They tracked

(26:17):
the carrot to his sister's house,but he wasn't there with this and arrest
warrant was out for him, andhe realized that it was about time to
skip town to avoid prison. Asmuch as he enjoyed bragging about his time
on the inside, you know,he's one of those guys like you always
spent six months. I spent theguy got three days. Yeah, my

(26:41):
arm says, so he left Texasfor Chicago when his sister brought him down
to the train station. He movedfrom place to place, staying with friends
and family, taking up odd jobsthat he could never keep. He made
his way back to his original homeof Monmouth, where he continued his criminal
activity. On April second, Richardbroke into the home of sixty five year
old Virgil Harris. She had returnedhome from a babysitting job to see that

(27:04):
her home had been ransacked and asix foot one figure standing in the dark
in her room. He forced herto strip before raping her, cutting up
her dressing gown to bind her withit before leaving. She managed to get
to a neighbor's house, and shedid thankfully survive, and interestingly, she
was checked over by the same doctorin Monmouth that had aided Richard's mother in

(27:26):
his birth. Jesus Christ, it'sa small ten, I believe. On
April ninth, nineteen sixty six,a thirty two year old bear maid named
Mary Kay Pierce went missing after finishingher late shift at the bear She was
found dead in an abandoned little likebuilding slash structure kind of thing. I
think it was used to hold likepigs in. She had been hit in

(27:48):
the stomach, which ruptured her liver. Speck was questioned regarding her murder.
Richard faked being sick the first time, so the police told him that they
would interview him again another time.When that day came and the police were
looking for him in the hotel thathe'd been staying in, they were told
that he had left earlier in theday. That's not suspicious exactly. It's

(28:11):
not confirmed that he killed Mary Kay. It is while widely believed, Oh
God, yeah, like, whywould you not go for the police interview
if you were innocent. He movedin with his sister Martha in Chicago at
this point and her husband and twoteenage daughters. He very quickly overstayed his
welcome. Richard wasn't working, andhe was sleeping on their couch. And

(28:33):
from what I know, I believethey were in like an apartment that was
already pretty cramped with the two daughtersand the husband and the wife. To
have somebody else staying there and sleepingon the couch, it's not a comfortable
situation. It was noted, though, that he was very clean. He
would have multiple showers a day,He would change his shirt multiple times a
day. When you look at Richardas an adult to his skin is completely

(28:57):
pock marked. And like I said, he did have acne when he was
younger, and knowing somebody that hadreally bad acne, like cystic acne when
they were younger, they told methat being in the shower it makes you
feel clean, like to have multipleshowers a day because you feel clean,

(29:18):
and also because nobody can actually seeyou when you're in the shower. There's
nobody staring, there's nobody looking atyou, so it is a kind of
safe space. And I don't knowif maybe that's why he was taking multiple
showers a day, or if it'sjust because he was bored. I don't
know who. It got to thepoint where on the twelfth of July,
Martha and her husband drove Richards tothe National Maritime Union Hall to seek employment

(29:38):
on one of the boats, ashe did actually have some experience as a
seaman see me. However, thejob he was called in for was actually
given to another man with more kindof seniority on it, and you know,
he didn't have great records so exactly, so like we really don't know

(29:59):
if we want to but you're ina confine space with other people, Richards,
Are you gonna stab anybody? Hey, tell me the truth. Don't
be shy. We're not gonna getangry. Maybe, Okay, you know
what, Richard, I'm just disappointed. I'm not angry. I'm disappointed.
I'm disappointed his brother in law gavehim some money and sent him on his
way. And I do just wantto say here, like, let it

(30:21):
be known that the nursing dorms werevery close to the ENEMU. I went
on Google Maps, so where theNational Maritime Union Hall was is no longer
there, but from what I couldkind of gather, it literally was just
around the corner, Like I mean, it was on a block. You
turn the corner and then nurse's stormswere right there. Okay, if you

(30:47):
were probably in the backyard and ofthe nurse's dorms, you could probably look
over into the back the Union Hallfrom what I understand, I don't know
Chicago, but from Google Maps iswhat I could gather. At night,
Richard approached fifty three year old motherof ten Lama Hooper. That night.
She was carrying a gun that shehad recently. She had recently purchased it.

(31:11):
That night, she was carrying agun that she had recently purchased with
her spec came up behind her afterfollowing her for a while, and stuck
a knife to her back. Heforced her back to his room that he
was staying in and he raped her. He did let her go, and
he ordered her to meet him lateron at a bar so he could give
her some money. It was avery strange, very very strange interaction,

(31:36):
and obviously he did raper yeah,but he kind of led on like it
wasn't a rape to himself and toher, like I'm going to give you
money. It was a real caseof no, like you're a sex worker,
Like I'm going to pay you forthis, Like he decided that she
was a sex work. Yeah.When she left, she checked her bag
and she realized that her twenty twocaliber pistol was gone. Oh not only

(32:00):
did you rape the woman, butyou robbed her classy, And he'd done
it in a very sly way aswell. From the book that I read.
He picked up her bag to giveit to her to be like,
I'll meet you at the bar later, but obviously had the route through and
got the gun so earlier. Inthe day while he was at the Union
Hall, he had seen a girlin a yellow dress walking into a building

(32:22):
close by. He was mesmerized byher and he couldn't stop watching her.
Like he saw the yellow dress andhe was like, Okay, I'm going
to remember that girl. H Nowvery drunk and agitated, he found his
way to that building that he sawthat woman walk into. He broke into
twenty three nineteen East one hundredth Streetthrough a back window and found his way

(32:45):
to one of the bedrooms upstairs.Corazon Amarro twenty three opened the door to
a gun in her face. MerlitaGargulo, who was sleeping in the same
room also twenty three, had gottenout of bed to see who was at
the door. Valentina Passion, alsotwenty three, was in the room too.
The three girls were from the Philippines, and we're in the US on

(33:07):
a student visa to learn more aboutnursing. The thing about these three girls
is that they were all really homesick, but they became really good friends because
they were able to share that homesicknesstogether. Oh, they obviously shared the
same interests in food and things thatwere you know, back from the Philippines.
Yeah, you know, like Ithink that when you leave a country,

(33:30):
and speaking from experience, when youmeet somebody that is from your country,
you're like, Oh, thank God, you're gonna understand my humor.
You're gonna understand what I'm talking about. You can understand my talk really fast.
Yeah, Like we're going to bondover like things that we're homesick over,
things that we miss, things thatwe don't miss. You're gonna get

(33:50):
like my kind of humor. Andbecause every country is so different that like
m Richard moved all three of thegirls into another bedroom where three more girls
were sweeping soundly. Biggest disappointment.There are many women unfortunately involved in this
night. Patricia Mattusek, Pamela Wilkining, both twenty and Nina Joe Schmail,

(34:14):
twenty four. We're all awakened bythe disturbance. Richard forced them all to
sit in a semicircle on the groundwhile he sat in front of them.
The three Filipino girls hid in thecloset, but came out when the other
girls knocked and said that this manwas not dangerous because Richard had told the
girls that he only wanted money toget to New Orleans. So he sat

(34:35):
there and he's like, Oh,I'm not gonna hurt you. I just
need your money. I just wantto rob you. It was very much
like what BTK used to do.Yeah, Like it's a real case of
like no, like if you justcooperate and give me your money, like
I will leave you, and likeyou can just forget this ever happened.
You can move on. I canmove on. I can go down to
New Orleans, like we'll be fine. While they sat around in this semi

(34:59):
circle, Gloria Davies came home froma night out with her boyfriend. As
she walked in, she screamed whenshe saw what was happening. At this
point, Richard freaked out and heripped up some bedsheets and tied the girls
up using strips of them, whichwe can remember he'd done that to the
lady where he had broken in andran slept at home, he ripped up

(35:20):
her addressing gown. Yeah. Hefirst took Pamela Wilkining out of the room
and into another bedroom where he wasintent on raping her. Just as he
went to do this, nurses SuzanneFaris and Mary Anne Jordan walked in.
Mary Anne was there to stay thenight with Suzanne to talk wedding plans,
as Suzanne was getting married to maryAnne's brother Phil, so she didn't even

(35:45):
live there. That's yeah. Theyhad spent the evening like chatting with friends,
basically the girls that lived in thedorm next door to the dorm,
and Richard was in. They spentthe evening there. They like, they
had chatted, they'd gone I thinkit was burging that day. They were
having a great day friend and thenthey come home to this horrible They screamed

(36:08):
as they saw Richard hunched over Pamela. He jumped at the two girls and
moved them into another bedroom. Hestabbed Susanne eighteen times in the back and
chest, and then used in nurse'ssock to strangle her, before moving on
to mary Anne, where he hither in the eye with the knife and
then stabbed her three times in thechest. Then he went back to Pamela,

(36:30):
where he stabbed her in the heart. He went into the bathroom to
clean himself off so that when hewent back into the original bedroom none of
the girls would see the blood onhim. Next, he took Ninishmail.
She suffered stab wounds and a brokenneck. Oh my god. At this
point, the remaining girls had hearda bit of a like a bit of

(36:52):
a commotion. Yeah, exactly.There wasn't like a lot of noise because
he was strangling them. He wasmaking sure that the other women couldn't hear
what was going on because he wantedthem to continue to believe that they were
safe. Yeah. At this point, the remaining girls scrambled to find a
hiding spot in the room. Corazon, who from now on I'm going to

(37:14):
call Cora, managed to squeeze herselfunder a bunk bed. He came for
Valentina. Next, after Valentina wasMarita. He dragged Mariita out of the
room, and Cora heard her yell. After about half an hour, Speck
came back for Patricia Matusik. Heknelt beside here, asking are you the

(37:34):
girl in the yellow dress? LikeI said earlier, he had noticed a
girl in the yellow dress and becamefixated on her. She was brought to
the bathroom, where Cora heard himtell her to lie down. Patricia was
kicked in the stomach. Spec cameback and woke up Gloria, who was
sleeping on one of the beds.Now, Gloria had come home from a
date with her boyfriend. Remember,she walked in as everybody was in the

(37:57):
semi circustoms show was quite drunk,and nobody knew what was happening to the
girls. Once they left the room, they didn't know if they were being
moved to another room. They theybelieved he wasn't hurting anybody because every time
he hurt somebody, he would goto the bathroom and he would clean himself
again. Like I say, thegirls weren't really hearing much, so they

(38:19):
didn't really know what was happening.She woke up and she said, I
dreamed my mother died. Cora lookedup from underneath the bed to see that
Speck was raping her. Cora puther head down and prayed until she could
hear no more movement. When shelooked up, Gloria and spec were gone,
and she took this chance to moveher hiding spot so that she would

(38:40):
be better concealed. So basically,she was under one bunk bed, but
her head was kind of like halffit her head under, but she managed
to kind of crawl her way toanother bunk bed that was on the other
side of the room. This tookher a very long time because she didn't

(39:00):
want to make any noise whatso shewas trying to do it as quietly as
possible. Luckily for her, itworked. When Spec walked back into the
room, he checked a purse forsome money, threw it on the ground,
and walked back out of the homesfront door, leaving it wide open.
He threw the knife into the CalumetRiver before heading back to the shipyard

(39:21):
Inn, where he fell asleep peacefully. Yeah. I just want to point
out that multiple times there were opportunities, well, I don't want to say
opportunities, there were chances where somebodymay have walked in on all of this
happening. The girl's next door thatthe other girls had been with before they

(39:44):
came home, they had ordered apizza, and originally the pizza delivery man
actually walked up to the house thatRichard was in and he was about to
ring the bell till he realized thatit was the wrong house. Oh my
god. Like, there were afew different instances where something like that had
happened throughout the Yeah, never gotto the point where anybody entered. So

(40:07):
unfortunate, I mean, is itunfortunate or fortunate because like, would he
have just taken more lives. JudyDickton woke up around five am and heard
an animal whimpering. She went abouther morning business, she had gotten up
early to study, when she heardthe sound again. She opened her blinds
to see Cora crouched on a windowledge on the top floor, saying,

(40:30):
Oh my god, they're all dead. She ran over and into the home,
where she saw Gloria Davy face downon the sofa with a strip of
cloth around her neck and her handstied behind her. Judy quickly ran to
grab the house mother so like theperson that was in control of all of
the nurse's dorms, and the policewere called. Police were absolutely horrified by

(40:55):
the scene, many of them vomitingafter being in the house. Like originally,
one police officer went in and hecame out and he vomited, and
the police were kind of like thepeople that he called for backup were like,
oh, can't be that bad.But every single one of them vomited
after they came out of the house. It was a blood bath. I'dn't

(41:15):
imagine. Eight women had been brutallymurdered, one lone survivor Cora Amiro could
hopefully provide the answers they needed,and we're just going to take a quick
ad break right here, and weare back the final stretch. Cora provided

(41:35):
a description and they managed to geta sketch made up. Got to bless
her. They brought her straight tothe hospital and she was able to get
it. Imagine you've been through allof that and you're still able to and
keep in mind, like her Englishis good, but it's not like it's
not her first few native English speakers. She's able to get a sketched one.
She just her strength is incredible.God, absolutely, Like she was

(42:01):
so worked up that they had togive her a shot to calm her down
because they had They were like,we need to preserve her sanity. Yeah,
the neighborhood was canvassed and detectives gotto work. One of the detectives
had a thought, well, ifthis guy was in the neighborhood, then
he probably went to like the localbusinesses. So he went to a gas

(42:22):
station where a worker at the gasstation remembered a man who his boss had
said, Okay, this guy camein and left his bags here a couple
of days ago, because he saidhe was going to be doing some stuff,
so he left his bags here andlike Cory's description, this man was
tall, blonde, and he hada Southern accent. While all of this

(42:44):
is going on, Spec himself andwent to a bar where he learned the
news that there was a survivor.But he just continued to drink with a
friend, like just chilling, andI think he said something along the lines
of that guy is an animal?Whoever done that? Like he was like,
oh my god, horrible? Butwhat was his name? Edgeane?
He used to hang out with thepolice officers and be like, God,

(43:04):
that person sucks. Whoever done that? Wow, I'm so sorry you guys
are having to find this guy.This sucks, you know, like what
is wrong with these people? Thepolice went to the National Maritime Union Hall
and gave their description to a manworking there who he remembered a man like
that and provided them with the nameRichard Spec. Which it's so they got
very lucky and that somebody was therethat remembered him. They were very lucky

(43:28):
like that people did because like Iwon't lie, like I serve so many
people in a day that like ifthe police were to come into me and
be like, did you serve thisman? I like, I couldn't tell
you. Yeah, I don't know. I can't remember what accent he had,
Jesus, Yeah, like I barelyremember what they bought, never mind,
like they ordered food off me andI'm straight away like what was that?

(43:52):
Police got a last known number forspec, which was his sister's house.
She directed the police towards the shipyardin called there and Richards. Richard
was called to the phone. Theytold him that they had a job for
him, Den at the hall togo out on the Great Sinclair. He
said he would be Den in aboutan hour. However, he never showed

(44:13):
up. Richard knew that the GreatSinclair was the boat that had already set
sail, because it was the boatthat they had originally told him when he
first got there. Okay, butthe job was given to the other person
at Moreau. So I was goingto say, that's the clever idea to
not tell him that it's the policelooking for him. But then they've gone
and Une fucked up and told himthe name of the book that already set

(44:36):
sail. Yep, they done goofed. They done goofed. The police sat
and waited for Richard while he packedhis bags and called a cab. While
he waited for the cab, hecalmly played the back of the bar.
I'm sorry, but would you notplace some undercover police outside the hotel?
Just in case he tried to flee? No, I guess not. No,

(45:00):
there was okay, just me thatthought about that. Richard got a
cab to the north of Chicago,to the projects, and I say that
with inverted comments. I don't knowif that's like politically correct. I don't
fucking know. And he found himselfa hotel there. The FBI at this
point had been called to see ifthey had any fingerprints of Richard spec I

(45:21):
mean to be fare he killed eightpeople, damn sure, they're calling them
FBI of course, due to hismassive amount of criminal history. They did,
and an FBI agent personally flew themout to Chicago, so he wanted
to make sure they got there.I think there was a striker. There
was delays and flights or something,so he personally flew the fingerprints out.

(45:45):
And it's mad to think like that. They don't just have a computer system
at this point, like this iswhat the nineteen seventies. I think to
mention the victims, like every singleone of them wanted to be a nurse.
Every single Filipino woman that was therewas sending money home to support their
families. If they weren't. EverythingAmerican woman that was there had written statements,
well, a couple of the Americanwomen that were there had written statements

(46:08):
about how they wanted to be anurse because they didn't like to see people
suffering and they like to look afterpeople. Like these were good women that
just got snuffed out for absolutely noreason. You know, they were getting
married, They had their own livesand cuts really really deep, and you
remember, like this podcast and everythingthat we consume, these are real people.

(46:31):
Oh yeah. Spec left the hotelthat he was originally staying at after
he found some drinking buddies that evening, and he went to stay at the
same hotel that they were staying at. Not long after he left his first
hotel, the police came in lookingfor him because even the taxi driver was
like, why do you want tocome out here? Like he didn't give
the taxi driver an exact location.He's like, just drive me out to,

(46:53):
like where where all these people hangout. The guys hang out.
He spent the night with his drinkingbuddies talking about getting out of Chicago and
train hopping. So basically they hadspoken about like they had done some train
hopping in the past, and hewas like, yeah, let's do it.
Let's let's get out of here andjust some train hopping. You guys,

(47:13):
come on. But even they weren'ttoo sure on him. They knew
that there was something fucking here aboutRespec. And these these are not guys
that are, like, you know, upstanding members of society. But even
they were like, mmmmmmm, something'snot right here. So SPEC's prints were
confirmed to be a match on theprince found at the crime scene, and

(47:36):
a rest warrant was made and anapp was put out for him. It
didn't take long for his picture tobe splashed on all of the newspapers with
accurate physical descript with accurate physical descriptionsfollowing, including all of his tattoos,
which as we know, are veryvery unique. He went into a news

(47:57):
agents one day and he saw hisown photos on the papers. He knew
what he had to do. Next. He bought a bottle of wine and
brought it back to his hotel.Now this is more of a motel where
there's like the rooms are separated bycurtains. He drank the bottle, broke
it and used the broken shards ofglass to slice his wrists open. You

(48:20):
little for all of the bragging thatyou did for being in jail before.
What you can't take the heat?Now? What's the matter there, Richard?
You're afraid nobody's going like you becauseyou murdered eight innocent women like you
don't do well in prison, dothey do they? Darling? Interesting?
He was found by one of hisdrinking friends from the night before, who

(48:44):
at this point knew what he haddone. This guy anonymously called the police,
but they never came. So thisguy found Richard fucking bleeding out and
was like, police, Hello,I just found this fucking guy that killed
those eight nurse is he's like triedto commit suicide? Can y'all come up

(49:04):
here? And they're like eh,even though they were aware that he was
in the area. Richard was takento Cook Kenny Hospital, where he was
being treated for his injuries. Ashis doctor was wiping the blood from his
arm, he noticed Richard's born toraise Hell tattoo. He grabbed the back
of Richard's neck and squeezed hard.What's your name, he asked. Richard

(49:27):
told him his name and asked forwater. Did you give the nurses any
water? Was the doctor's reply.Now, the doctor said that this was
more of kind of a murmur,like did you give the nurses any water?
But I like to believe that hesaid it out let, and Richard
was like, fuck, you know, yeah, it's fun to think that.
Yeah, I want to think ofit in a superhero in a way,

(49:47):
you know. The doctor called inan officer that was already on the
hall, and that officer then calledeverybody else this is incredible. So Cora
was given her opportunity to identify Spec. She got dressed in her nurse's uniform,
and she went into SPEC's room,pretending to be on unds with the

(50:09):
other nurses. I can incredible.Can you imagine how shit bricking you would
be doing? I just I can'timagine. She lasted three and a half
minutes before she left the room andemotionally confirmed to officers that this was the

(50:30):
man who had sought at her friendswho had intruded into her home, had
told them that no, you'll besafe. She watched him rape her colleague
and her friend, and she heardhim murder her friends. She had to
hide, and then she had togo into his room and be his nurse

(50:52):
for three minutes and so pretend tolike be like, do you need anything?
Can I get you anything, justso that she could IDENTI to fire
him like that takes, honest,absolutely incredible. He was found competent to
stand trial, thankfully, but hewas fun. I believe to be a
sociopath. Oh, you'd have tobe to behave like that of course.

(51:16):
Now his trial was moved out ofChicago to Prioria, three hours outside of
Chicago, and it took six weeksto select a jury alone. They had
to take him out because everybody knewabout the crimes. So he has to
be given a fair trial. Iwhich is like, oh, he did
it, But at the same time, I get it, I get it,

(51:37):
But he is entitled to a fairtrial. Spec was given the death
sentence, which was sent commuted tolife in prison after capital punishment was abolished
in that state. No, notstate, it's just in that state.
He died of a heart attack innineteen ninety five, and his body so
I found a little bit of differentinformation. So I wrote that his body

(52:00):
was not claimed by any family,that it was cremated. Yeah, I
didn't hear also that his sister actuallydid claim his remains, and because she
was afraid that somebody would desecrate agrave, she did get him cremated and
spread his ashes somewhere. That it'snot he was their brother, do you
know, Like I mean, yeah, you grow up with that person,

(52:22):
you don't expect them to do something. So yeah, and I'm sure it's
hard to separate like all those memoriesyou have with like what he'd done,
because you'd almost be like, no, because that's not my brother, Like
my brother wouldn't do that. Yeah, Like okay, yeah, maybe he

(52:44):
stole some cigarettes, he stole thepaycheck, He don't the odd random thing
that's like you'd be like, yeah, he's done some things that aren't great,
but like murder eight women, Likeno, like that's in one night.
I always feel sorry for like theI always feel sorry for the killer's
family. They are victims too,because they are in a way they are

(53:07):
because like they're not only is theirname tarnished, but also how do you
mourn someone that's done something so horrible? You're looking back you're always always always
going to look back with rose coloredglasses. You're also going to be like,
is there anything I could have doneto stop them? Or is there

(53:28):
anything I could have done to makehim a different person? Or do you
know, like that's You're going tohave so many questions running through your head.
And we're saying this as fortunately peoplewho have never had to experience this
kind of situation, very fortunately.But I don't know. We can only
imagine that these are the kind ofquestions that you would ask yourself, Yeah,

(53:49):
well this is it. No.In nineteen ninety six, so a
year after he died, a videowas shared to a news outlet showing Richard
shortly now with breasts. He wasseen doing drugs and having sex with another
inmate. When asked about the murders, he didn't seem to have any regret
at all. He said, quote, if they only knew how much fun

(54:14):
I was having, they'd turn meloose. So he had illegally gotten some
sort of hormonal drugs into the prisonso that he would grow breasts, so
it would make it easier for otherinmates to see him as more of a
sex object. I suppose because hedecided and this is what is believed,

(54:36):
that it's easier if I turned myselfinto a sex object rather than be raped
and abused by other inmates. Yeah. Yeah, like he got titties,
Richard. I know, like youmurdered people and that's not normal. And
you know you've done some other thingsthat I said weren't nor well. And

(55:00):
every time I think that you can'tget any weirder, you get yourself some
titties. Yeah, okay. Andat one point when he was being interviewed
in prison, they're like, sowhat would you do if you got out?
He was like, I'd open myown grocery store chain. That's what
I would do. Richard, youare the definition of Dululu. Got myself

(55:25):
some new tits. I would openup a grocery store chain. Okay,
you're okay, okay, okay,alright, you do you on? You
do you? So? That isRichard spec I honestly thought this was going
to be a longer episode because Ispent so fucking long researching this asshole.

(55:51):
My heart goes out to those nursesbecause all they wanted to do was help
people, every single one of them. They wanted to help families, they
wanted to help the people that weresick. They just had no badness within
them at all. Even when anintruder enters their home and says I'm going

(56:12):
to rob you, they're like,he's not dangerous, you guys, it's
fine. Yeah, that's yeah,yeah, not okay, Robert, you're
not okay. I'm surprised we didn'tcall him dick throughout this whole episode.
Nope, but for some reason Icame up with Robert. Yeah, my

(56:34):
brain is okay, I promise.Yeah. So that was this week's episode.
We really hope you enjoyed it.Find it informational. I most certainly
did. So. If you likedthis episode and you haven't already done so,
make sure check outs over other stuff. Like last week we talked about
the Murdoch family and just every singlecontroversy that they could ever find themselves in.

(57:01):
Upcoming cases are exciting. I gota nice I got a nice eighteen
hundreds case for us. All okay, spooky season, and we've got a
case as like, not very spokenabout either. So we've got some interesting
stuff. We got some interesting stuff, and we promise where spooky seasons our

(57:23):
season, this is where we larnush. Yeah. So we are going to
bombard you. So you can obviouslycheck asidah wherever you get your podcasts such
as Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Ifyou want to, you can follow us
on social media, which is atgive us Mork on Instagram. I was

(57:44):
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If you wanted to, you cango onto our website www dot give us
more dot com. Shout out toour recent purchase. Thank you, mister

(58:10):
Mike. We appreciate it. Youcan always leave us a review. We
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(58:37):
pet Nope, meg Peal Underscore,Megpal Underscore. I got confused there for
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See you then, good bye.Launch