October 7, 2025 • 24 mins
Season 23 : No Theme
When two cousins realized they both had dark fantasies about sexually assaulting ans killing women, they worked together to terroize the coastal town of Vero Beach, Florida.
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When two cousins realized they both had dark fantasies about sexually assaulting ans killing women, they worked together to terroize the coastal town of Vero Beach, Florida.
Sinister Podcast : https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/sinister--5428204
Sinister YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/@SomewhereSinister
Or search for "Somewhere Sinister" where ever you listen to podcasts.
Our Regular Merch Hosted by FourthWall! : https://thisismonsters.com/
GTFOH Doormats : https://this-is-monsters.printify.me/
Socials:
LinkTree : https://linktr.ee/thisismonsters
Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/thisis_monsters/
Threads : https://www.threads.net/@thisis_monsters
My other shows:
This is Monsters YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/@thisisMONSTERS
Vlog : https://www.youtube.com/@jileswithaj
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Blood ties turned deadly in the peaceful citrus groves of
Indian River County, Florida. The quiet communities nestled along the
Atlantic coast became hunting grounds for two men bound by
family and savage desires. Not only was one a trusted
auxiliary deputy with the local Sheriff's department, but the other
(00:20):
was his cousin. The relatives unleashed a wave of terror
that would earn them the moniker, the killing cousins. This
is monsters. David Allan Gore was born on August twenty first,
(00:58):
nineteen fifty three, in Florida. His childhood wasn't marred by
physical abuse, like many people who turn into evil monsters,
but he did suffer from persistent illnesses. When he was
a toddler, he fell into a hill of fire ants
and was bitten around his head and face. He developed
a high fever, and his family said he wasn't the
(01:19):
same afterword. It's been reported that as a child, his
mother would sit him on her lap and read him
Bible verses and only her underwear, which might have triggered
some form of conflict in his mind. David became close
to his cousin Fred Waterfield after learning that they both
had a sexual dark side as teenagers. That shouldn't have
(01:41):
been surprising, as Fred showed many signs of a budding killer.
Born on September twenty ninth, nineteen fifty two in New Jersey,
he was known to have slaughtered and mutilated farm hogs
without reason, savagely beat his dog with a metal pipe,
and spiraled into patterns of substance abuse. The cousins would
talk about sexually assaulting and even murdering young women. They
(02:05):
eventually escalated a peeping on girls in the locker room
of their high school gym class. Soon after, Fred sexually
assaulted his cousin David's sister. Not only did David not
protect his little sister, he held her down while the assault
took place. David's first job ended in disgrace when management
(02:26):
discovered he had drilled a peep hole between restrooms at
the gas station where he worked. Sexual violence consumed the
cousin's thoughts during their teenage years. Fred's father, absorbed in
his work at NASA, remained largely absent. That lack of
supervision created a perfect breeding ground for their twisted alliance.
(02:49):
David married his first wife Donna in nineteen seventy four,
when he was twenty one years old. They had a
son together within a year, and then divorced. David married
an woman in nineteen seventy five. Fred had married his
wife a few years prior and already had two children.
Despite having partners, their sexual sadism was not satisfied by
(03:12):
the traditional marriages. Their partnership grew more calculated with each
passing year, and what began as shared phantasies evolved into
a grotesque business arrangement. On June twenty third, nineteen seventy six,
Diane Smalley was driving her new Chevy to Lake Wales
when she heard pops and felt that her tire was flat.
(03:34):
She pulled over, and immediately David and Fred pulled up
next to her and offered her assistance. Once out of
the car, she felt a gun in her ribs and
was pushed into the back seat of her own vehicle. Fortunately,
another car appeared and Diane flung herself out of her
car and into the road. The couple driving that vehicle
stopped while David and Fred drove away. He was later
(03:58):
learned that one of the men had shot out her tire.
Diane reported the incident to the police, but hadn't gotten
their license plate number. It wasn't until years later that
she would connect the attack to the killing cousins. It
was only a month later, on July twenty second, that
David and Fred got the opportunity to carry out another attack.
(04:20):
Angela Hamel went to her car to go to work,
but noticed she had a flat tire. He would later
be revealed that the tire had been slashed. She called
Fred because he had been a friend of her ex husband,
and he came to her house and offered to give
her a ride to work. He told her he knew
a short cut and drove through some orange groves, where
he eventually claimed the car was stuck. He told Angela
(04:44):
to wait in the car while he went for help,
and soon he returned with David. Fred pulled a snubnose
twenty two caliber revolver out of the glove compartment and
pointed it at her head. Then the cousins took turns
sexually assaulting her. When they were finished, they pulled out
a knife and threatened to kill her and feed her
to the alligators. Instead, they made her promise not to
(05:07):
tell anyone, and they agreed to let her go, but
Angela did tell someone. She went to the hospital and
reported the attack. When David and Fred were arrested, they
insisted the sex was consensual, and despite the bruises on
Angela's body, they believed the men. They made Angela take
a polygraph and told her it showed she was lying.
(05:30):
Then the authorities told her that if she tried to
move forward, she would be prosecuted for perjury and that
Fred and David would sue her for slander. This is
one of the reasons many women don't report sexual assault,
because they're violated a second time by being treated like
this by the authorities. He was later reported that she
(05:51):
voluntarily dropped the charges because she was too embarrassed, which
Angela responded, quote, this is not true. Where did they
get this? I see it quoted all over the internet.
I never dropped the charges. If anyone should be embarrassed,
it should be the Sheriff's Department and the DA for
not prosecuting Fred and Dave for my rape. I believe
(06:12):
six innocent women would be alive today if the sheriff
and DA had done their job in nineteen seventy six,
and I hold them culpable for the abduction, rape, and
the death of six women that we know of. Sadly,
there may be more deaths that we don't know. That
would only be the beginning of the failures of the
Indian River County Sheriff's Office, though, as they ended up
(06:32):
giving David his deadliest weapon in early nineteen eighty one,
a simple badge transformed the predator into something far more dangerous,
a wolf in lawman's clothing. In the years after the
attack of Angela Hamel, David divorced his second wife and
remarried his first wife. They had another son in nineteen
(06:53):
eighty one, around the time David became an auxiliary deputy.
During the day, he helped his father tend citrus groves
while darkness brought the power of his auxiliary deputy's badge.
That dual existence created the perfect hunting ground. It was
at that time Fred saw the dark potential, offering David
(07:14):
one thousand dollars for each victim secured through his newfound authority.
They developed a system where David would do the hunting,
using his position as an auxiliary deputy to find targets.
Once a target was selected, Fred lurked in the shadows,
waiting for his cousin signal. That was their arrangement. On
(07:34):
February nineteenth, nineteen eighty one, when Yang Hua Lang, who
was seventeen, stepped off her school bus into David's carefully
laid trap, one flash of official credentials eased her suspicions
and sealed her fate. The Ling family had immigrated to
the US from Taiwan, and Yang was a high achieving
student at Vero Beach High School. David had been stalking
(07:58):
the girl for a few weeks and knew were family's routine.
Her father worked nights and left the house hours before
she got home from school, and it seemed that he
thought her mother would also be gone. David used his
badge to get Ying into his car and then took
her to her house, expecting it to be empty. When
he found her mother, Shang Wong Ling, still home, he
(08:20):
told her that she needed to go with her daughter
to the police station. He drove them out to a
citrus grove, where he sexually assaulted both victims while he
waited for Fred to arrive. Once there, Fred tied Shang
to a tree, but the way he tied her made
the rope tighten around her neck as she struggled, and
she slowly strangled to death. After Fred sexually assaulted Yang,
(08:44):
David killed her. Then he dismembered both bodies and put
them in steel drums that he buried on the Citrus Grove.
When the Ling's young son arrived home after school, the
door was open and the house was empty. When nobody
returned that eve, he went to a neighbor's house and
they called the police. Shang and Ying were reported as
(09:05):
missing persons, and their fate would not be discovered for years.
On July fifteenth, nineteen eighty one, Julie Daily had been
in Vero Beach visiting her family with her two teenage
daughters when David spotted her around Island Park. She had
dropped her daughters off at a more popular beach spot
and then went to the park to have some quiet time.
(09:27):
After she left her car, David disabled it and then
waited for her to return. Fred had told David to
find him a blonde, and at one thousand dollars a pop,
David was happy to oblige. When Judy's car wouldn't start,
David was right there, auxiliary badge in hand, ready to
offer her a ride to a payphone. Once she was
(09:48):
in his car, he pulled out his gun and handcuffed her.
He drove her out to the orchard where he met
Fred and they both sexually assaulted the woman. Then David
killed her, dismembered her, and bare her, just like he
had with the Lings. Then David called Judy's family and
told them she was having car trouble and wouldn't be
able to pick up her daughters from the beach. Judy's
(10:12):
sister and brother in law drove to the park and
when they found her car, they found the coil wire
had been disconnected. It was clear that her car had
been intentionally disabled, so they called the police. Detective Tom
White was assigned to the case, and he got two
tips that both identified David Gore. One person had seen
(10:32):
him at Round Island Park that day and someone else
had seen him using a payphone around the time Judy's
family had been called, and that witness said it looked
like he had blood on his clothes. David was questioned
and he said he had just been at the park
that day looking at the waves. When authorities searched his vehicle,
they found two blonde hairs that ended up being matched
(10:54):
to hairs from Judy's hair brush, but the district attorney
said he couldn't file charges without a body. David got
a lawyer and the investigation stalled. The close call did
nothing to slow David down. He attempted to secure another
victim just a week after the murder of Judy Daily.
Despite not actually having the authority to pull vehicles over,
(11:18):
he did anyway, and this time it was eighteen year
old Dana Sturgis. He questioned the woman about a fake
robbery and told her that her vehicle had been involved
in the crime. He convinced her to follow him down
the road to a place where he could take a
better look at her car. Once down the road, they
were spotted by a fisherman, so David abandoned his plan
(11:39):
and let her go. Dana told her parents about the incident,
and her father called the Sheriff's office and made a complaint.
Dana picked David out of a photo lineup, and he
was questioned about the supposed traffic stop. He wasn't able
to explain why he even stopped her, let alone, why
he hadn't documented the stop, or why he had led
(11:59):
her down a secluded road. David was fired from the
sheriff's department and had his badge in uniform taken away.
Without his badge to lure women, it seemed, David took
a new tactic and was hiding in the backseat of
a woman's car, waiting for his moment to strike. Fortunately
for her, she saw his head in the back seat
(12:21):
before she got into the car. Marilyn Owens was leaving
a doctor's appointment when she saw someone in the back
seat of her car and she screamed. A sheriff's deputy
was also leaving the building at the same time, so
he ran over and caught David in the backseat of
her car, with his shirt off, a bottle of alcohol
in his hand, a handgun, a pair of handcuffs, and
(12:43):
a police scanner. David was arrested and convicted of arm trespassing.
He was sentenced to five years in prison. While David
served his time, Detective White tried to find evidence that
he was responsible for the disappearances of both Judy Day
and Shang and Ying Ling. He interviewed Fred, who acted
(13:04):
shocked that his cousin had been found hiding in the
backseat of someone's car By then, David had separated from
his third wife, which was actually his second marriage to
his first wife, and when they interviewed her, she told
the investigator that he had come home one night with
blood on his shirt, but he claimed it was from hunting.
Then she told him that their dog had pulled two
(13:26):
bras out of the back of his truck that did
not belong to her. She said that after she saw them,
David shoved her into the truck and drove her out
to an orange grove, where he started a back hoe
and sat in it for a few minutes before turning
it off and driving them home. She believed he was
considering killing her, but changed his mind. When they searched
(13:49):
his vehicle again, they found hairs that linked him to
the lings, but without bodies. The DA was still unwilling
to issue an arrest warrant. Still, White went out to
the orange grove and did some digging, but never found anything.
David was released on parole in March of nineteen eighty
three after serving less than two years. Detective White watched
(14:12):
and waited, Sensing the growing darkness, he kept constant surveillance
on David, who was living with his parents at the time. Unfortunately,
the surveillance was noticed by members of the Gore family,
and David's mother complained to Governor Bob Graham's office, and
White's supervisor ordered him to stand down. White was furious
(14:33):
that they were going to allow David to go unobserved,
but there was nothing he could do. Two months after
his release, David attempted to abduct a sex worker at
gunpoint with Fred and Orlando, but she got away. The
same day, the cousin spotted two fourteen year old girls
in the area outside of a seven to eleven convenience store.
(14:54):
Barbara Bayer and Angelica La Valley were planning to go
to the beach, but they needed a ride, so the
hitchike David and Fred stopped and picked them up, and
instead of taking them to the beach, David drove around
in his van while Fred sexually assaulted the girls. Then
they stopped somewhere so David could take part in the
assault before he shot them both in the head. Their
(15:16):
remains were dumped in the woods. Barbara and Angelica's families
waited for them to return home that day, but they
never did. They became missing persons and seven months would
pass before they knew what had happened to their daughters.
Two months later, on July twenty sixth to nineteen eighty three,
seventeen year old Lynne Elliott and fourteen year old Reagan
(15:38):
Martin were spending time at the beach near Lynn's house,
but they decided they wanted to go to another beach
about ten miles or sixteen kilometers north. Lynn's car was
in the shop, so they made the fateful decision to
hitchike and were unfortunate enough to be picked up by
David and Fred. Once in the vehicle, David asked if
the girls wanted to go smoke a joint with them,
(15:59):
and the girls happily agreed. David's parents were out of town,
so the men took the girls there, but while they
were driving there, Fred's sister passed them in another car,
and he was worried that she had seen Lynn and
Reagan in the car with them. Once at David's parents' house,
Fred left to go talk to his sister and see
if she knew anything. While he was gone, David tied
(16:22):
up each girl in a different room and sexually assaulted
both of them. When he was finished with Reagan, he
went back into the room where he had left Lynn,
but she was gone. Lynn had gotten free and ran
out of the back door of the house. David ran
after her and saw her running down the road. He
fired a shot over her head and yelled for her
(16:43):
to stop, but she wouldn't. When Lynn tripped, it gave
David the chance to catch up, and he started dragging
the girl back towards his parents' house. She continued struggling,
and finally David pushed her to the ground and shot
her twice in the head, killing her. It was at
that moment moment that fifteen year old Michael Rock was
riding by on his bicycle and he witnessed the execution.
(17:06):
He raced home and told his mother what had happened.
Their call to police triggered a ninety minute stand off
at David's parents' house. Before police arrived, David put Lynn's
body in the trunk of his parent's car and then
went inside and put Reagan in the attic. He told
her that he would kill her if she made a sound.
Then he used a police scanner to listen for the
(17:28):
inevitable report. He called nine to one one himself and
reported the same crime, but gave the dispatcher a different
address in an attempt to throw the authorities off. It
didn't really work, and soon police were on the scene.
David was refusing to come out of the house. Officers
on the scene saw a trail of blood leading to
(17:48):
the trunk of the car in the driveway. When they
opened it, they found Lynn's body. After ninety minutes of negotiation,
police stormed the house and David surrendered. They found Reagan
alive in the attic. Detectives were not surprised that David
continued his crimes after being released from prison, but then
Reagan told the officers that there was another man with
(18:11):
David when she and Lynn were abductad They went to
Fred's auto repair shop and placed him under arrest. After
his arrest, David admitted to kidnapping Lynne Elliot and chasing
her down the street, but he wouldn't admit to killing her.
Despite being seen, he eventually asked for a lawyer. He
did end up telling investigators that he and Fred were
(18:33):
working on buying a house in the middle of the
woods to turn it into their quote unquote layer. The
house would have been the perfect place to carry out
the torture, sexual assault, and execution of countless women without
anyone knowing. Luckily, they were caught before that could happen.
David's trial was set for December of nineteen eighty three,
(18:53):
and only days before it began, he confessed to the
other murders that detectives had suspected he had carried out.
The da agreed not to seek the death penalty for
the new cases if he helped them recover the remains.
In the middle of December, David led police to a
citrus grove and Vero Beach, where the remains of Barbara
Bayer were found. After more diggang, the barrels containing Shang
(19:17):
and Yang Ling were found. They were only about six
feet away from where Detective White had searched. While David
was in prison, David meticulously laid out the details of
each murder, openly implicating Fred and all of the crimes.
David said he disposed evangelical Lavalis remains in a canal
off of I ninety five, and they have never been found.
(19:40):
When the trial started, David originally claimed that Fred had
murdered all of the victims, but he eventually changed his
story and admitted to having killed all six of them.
Saying Fred was only an accomplice. David's mental state revealed
itself during his trial. He spoke of dual personalities and
demonic possession, and yet his prison letters told a different story.
(20:03):
Those communications exposed his true nature as he described his
crimes as quote perfect experiences. Criminal experts later identified their
allegiance as a classic killer team dynamic. Each cousin fed
the other's dark impulses, creating a perfect storm of violence.
David's voyeuristic tendencies, paired with Fred's history of animal torture,
(20:26):
represented textbook warning signs. Those indicators, voyeurism, substance abuse, and
early sadistic behavior now serve as red flags for law
enforcement and psychologists studying violent offenders. Though David had been
given a deal for all of the new crimes he
confessed to, he was still eligible for the death penalty
(20:47):
for his original charges for the kidnapping, rape, and murder
of Lynne Elliot and the kidnapping and rape of Reagan Martin.
Reagan testified, as did Michael Rock. On top of that,
Angelohamel had s seen David's arrest on the news, and
she contacted the DA and also testified against the defendant.
David's own father testified that the gun used to kill
(21:09):
Lynn had belonged to him and that his son had
access to it. In March of nineteen eighty four, David
Gore was found guilty of one count of first degree murder,
two counts of kidnapping, and three counts of sexual battery.
He was sentenced to death. Fred always claimed he was
completely innocent and that his cousin was trying to frame him.
(21:32):
Why David wanted to frame him was unclear, since David
had admitted to committing all of the murders. Reagan testified
against him, and David was also supposed to testify, but
he had started acting crazy in prison, claiming he was
talking to God, so the DA opted not to call
him to the stand. In that trial, Fred was found
guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to fifteen years in prison.
(21:56):
Then he went on trial for the murders of Barbara
Bayer and Angelica, of that which the DA had more
physical evidence showing he was involved. He was found guilty
of those murders and sentenced to two consecutive life terms.
Twenty eight years passed before lethal chemicals claimed David's life
on April twelve, twenty twelve, final words of remorse fell
(22:19):
on deaf ears as Lynne Elliott's family watch justice delivered.
Fred remains in prison, still pleading innocence and pointing fingers
at his cousin. There have been other victims of sexual
assault who have come forward since David and Fred were
sent to prison. The daughter of one of Fred's neighbors
told her mother of the assault that happened before the murders.
(22:41):
David also wrote many letters to prison pen pals, describing
details that didn't match any of their known victims. Will
never know whether he was telling the truth or embellishing
his stories. For two people who had such a strong
urge to make others suffer, it's hard to imagine they
only killed the six vicars that are known. When people
(23:02):
turn into monsters who cannot control their urge to kill,
their body count rises pretty quickly, and there are likely
far more victims of the killing cousins than we'll ever
know about. If you're the victim of domestic abuse, please
reach out to someone for help. Please talk to your
local shelter, Call the National Domestic Abuse Hotline at one
(23:23):
eight hundred seven nine ninth safe. That's one eight hundred
seven nine nine seven two three three, or you can
go to the hotline dot org to chat with someone online.
If you're having feelings of harming yourself or someone else,
or even just need someone to talk to, please contact
your local mental health facility call nine one one, or
call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline by simply dialing nine
(23:46):
eight eight in the United States. They're available twenty four
hours a day, seven days a week, and we'll talk
to you about any mental health issue you might be facing.
If you're a member of the LGBTQ plus community and
suffering from discrimination, depression, or are in need of any support,
please contact the lgbt National Hotline at one eight eight
eight eight four three four five six four, or go
(24:08):
to lgbt hootline dot org. Thanks so much for letting
me tell you this story. If you're a fan of
true crime, you can subscribe to this show so you
don't miss an episode. My other show, Somewhere Sinister is
no longer getting new episodes, but you can check it
out if you like interesting stories from history that aren't
necessarily true crime, but true crime adjacent. It's available anywhere
(24:29):
that you listen to podcasts. You can also check out
my personal vlog, Giles with a Jay, which is sporadically
updated with stuff about my personal life, travel and music.
It's available on YouTube. If you'd like to support the show,
check out our merchandise at thisismonsters dot com. A link
is in the description. Thanks again and be safe.
Blood ties turned deadly in the peaceful citrus groves of
Indian River County, Florida. The quiet communities nestled along the
Atlantic coast became hunting grounds for two men bound by
family and savage desires. Not only was one a trusted
auxiliary deputy with the local Sheriff's department, but the other
(00:20):
was his cousin. The relatives unleashed a wave of terror
that would earn them the moniker, the killing cousins. This
is monsters. David Allan Gore was born on August twenty first,
(00:58):
nineteen fifty three, in Florida. His childhood wasn't marred by
physical abuse, like many people who turn into evil monsters,
but he did suffer from persistent illnesses. When he was
a toddler, he fell into a hill of fire ants
and was bitten around his head and face. He developed
a high fever, and his family said he wasn't the
(01:19):
same afterword. It's been reported that as a child, his
mother would sit him on her lap and read him
Bible verses and only her underwear, which might have triggered
some form of conflict in his mind. David became close
to his cousin Fred Waterfield after learning that they both
had a sexual dark side as teenagers. That shouldn't have
(01:41):
been surprising, as Fred showed many signs of a budding killer.
Born on September twenty ninth, nineteen fifty two in New Jersey,
he was known to have slaughtered and mutilated farm hogs
without reason, savagely beat his dog with a metal pipe,
and spiraled into patterns of substance abuse. The cousins would
talk about sexually assaulting and even murdering young women. They
(02:05):
eventually escalated a peeping on girls in the locker room
of their high school gym class. Soon after, Fred sexually
assaulted his cousin David's sister. Not only did David not
protect his little sister, he held her down while the assault
took place. David's first job ended in disgrace when management
(02:26):
discovered he had drilled a peep hole between restrooms at
the gas station where he worked. Sexual violence consumed the
cousin's thoughts during their teenage years. Fred's father, absorbed in
his work at NASA, remained largely absent. That lack of
supervision created a perfect breeding ground for their twisted alliance.
(02:49):
David married his first wife Donna in nineteen seventy four,
when he was twenty one years old. They had a
son together within a year, and then divorced. David married
an woman in nineteen seventy five. Fred had married his
wife a few years prior and already had two children.
Despite having partners, their sexual sadism was not satisfied by
(03:12):
the traditional marriages. Their partnership grew more calculated with each
passing year, and what began as shared phantasies evolved into
a grotesque business arrangement. On June twenty third, nineteen seventy six,
Diane Smalley was driving her new Chevy to Lake Wales
when she heard pops and felt that her tire was flat.
(03:34):
She pulled over, and immediately David and Fred pulled up
next to her and offered her assistance. Once out of
the car, she felt a gun in her ribs and
was pushed into the back seat of her own vehicle. Fortunately,
another car appeared and Diane flung herself out of her
car and into the road. The couple driving that vehicle
stopped while David and Fred drove away. He was later
(03:58):
learned that one of the men had shot out her tire.
Diane reported the incident to the police, but hadn't gotten
their license plate number. It wasn't until years later that
she would connect the attack to the killing cousins. It
was only a month later, on July twenty second, that
David and Fred got the opportunity to carry out another attack.
(04:20):
Angela Hamel went to her car to go to work,
but noticed she had a flat tire. He would later
be revealed that the tire had been slashed. She called
Fred because he had been a friend of her ex husband,
and he came to her house and offered to give
her a ride to work. He told her he knew
a short cut and drove through some orange groves, where
he eventually claimed the car was stuck. He told Angela
(04:44):
to wait in the car while he went for help,
and soon he returned with David. Fred pulled a snubnose
twenty two caliber revolver out of the glove compartment and
pointed it at her head. Then the cousins took turns
sexually assaulting her. When they were finished, they pulled out
a knife and threatened to kill her and feed her
to the alligators. Instead, they made her promise not to
(05:07):
tell anyone, and they agreed to let her go, but
Angela did tell someone. She went to the hospital and
reported the attack. When David and Fred were arrested, they
insisted the sex was consensual, and despite the bruises on
Angela's body, they believed the men. They made Angela take
a polygraph and told her it showed she was lying.
(05:30):
Then the authorities told her that if she tried to
move forward, she would be prosecuted for perjury and that
Fred and David would sue her for slander. This is
one of the reasons many women don't report sexual assault,
because they're violated a second time by being treated like
this by the authorities. He was later reported that she
(05:51):
voluntarily dropped the charges because she was too embarrassed, which
Angela responded, quote, this is not true. Where did they
get this? I see it quoted all over the internet.
I never dropped the charges. If anyone should be embarrassed,
it should be the Sheriff's Department and the DA for
not prosecuting Fred and Dave for my rape. I believe
(06:12):
six innocent women would be alive today if the sheriff
and DA had done their job in nineteen seventy six,
and I hold them culpable for the abduction, rape, and
the death of six women that we know of. Sadly,
there may be more deaths that we don't know. That
would only be the beginning of the failures of the
Indian River County Sheriff's Office, though, as they ended up
(06:32):
giving David his deadliest weapon in early nineteen eighty one,
a simple badge transformed the predator into something far more dangerous,
a wolf in lawman's clothing. In the years after the
attack of Angela Hamel, David divorced his second wife and
remarried his first wife. They had another son in nineteen
(06:53):
eighty one, around the time David became an auxiliary deputy.
During the day, he helped his father tend citrus groves
while darkness brought the power of his auxiliary deputy's badge.
That dual existence created the perfect hunting ground. It was
at that time Fred saw the dark potential, offering David
(07:14):
one thousand dollars for each victim secured through his newfound authority.
They developed a system where David would do the hunting,
using his position as an auxiliary deputy to find targets.
Once a target was selected, Fred lurked in the shadows,
waiting for his cousin signal. That was their arrangement. On
(07:34):
February nineteenth, nineteen eighty one, when Yang Hua Lang, who
was seventeen, stepped off her school bus into David's carefully
laid trap, one flash of official credentials eased her suspicions
and sealed her fate. The Ling family had immigrated to
the US from Taiwan, and Yang was a high achieving
student at Vero Beach High School. David had been stalking
(07:58):
the girl for a few weeks and knew were family's routine.
Her father worked nights and left the house hours before
she got home from school, and it seemed that he
thought her mother would also be gone. David used his
badge to get Ying into his car and then took
her to her house, expecting it to be empty. When
he found her mother, Shang Wong Ling, still home, he
(08:20):
told her that she needed to go with her daughter
to the police station. He drove them out to a
citrus grove, where he sexually assaulted both victims while he
waited for Fred to arrive. Once there, Fred tied Shang
to a tree, but the way he tied her made
the rope tighten around her neck as she struggled, and
she slowly strangled to death. After Fred sexually assaulted Yang,
(08:44):
David killed her. Then he dismembered both bodies and put
them in steel drums that he buried on the Citrus Grove.
When the Ling's young son arrived home after school, the
door was open and the house was empty. When nobody
returned that eve, he went to a neighbor's house and
they called the police. Shang and Ying were reported as
(09:05):
missing persons, and their fate would not be discovered for years.
On July fifteenth, nineteen eighty one, Julie Daily had been
in Vero Beach visiting her family with her two teenage
daughters when David spotted her around Island Park. She had
dropped her daughters off at a more popular beach spot
and then went to the park to have some quiet time.
(09:27):
After she left her car, David disabled it and then
waited for her to return. Fred had told David to
find him a blonde, and at one thousand dollars a pop,
David was happy to oblige. When Judy's car wouldn't start,
David was right there, auxiliary badge in hand, ready to
offer her a ride to a payphone. Once she was
(09:48):
in his car, he pulled out his gun and handcuffed her.
He drove her out to the orchard where he met
Fred and they both sexually assaulted the woman. Then David
killed her, dismembered her, and bare her, just like he
had with the Lings. Then David called Judy's family and
told them she was having car trouble and wouldn't be
able to pick up her daughters from the beach. Judy's
(10:12):
sister and brother in law drove to the park and
when they found her car, they found the coil wire
had been disconnected. It was clear that her car had
been intentionally disabled, so they called the police. Detective Tom
White was assigned to the case, and he got two
tips that both identified David Gore. One person had seen
(10:32):
him at Round Island Park that day and someone else
had seen him using a payphone around the time Judy's
family had been called, and that witness said it looked
like he had blood on his clothes. David was questioned
and he said he had just been at the park
that day looking at the waves. When authorities searched his vehicle,
they found two blonde hairs that ended up being matched
(10:54):
to hairs from Judy's hair brush, but the district attorney
said he couldn't file charges without a body. David got
a lawyer and the investigation stalled. The close call did
nothing to slow David down. He attempted to secure another
victim just a week after the murder of Judy Daily.
Despite not actually having the authority to pull vehicles over,
(11:18):
he did anyway, and this time it was eighteen year
old Dana Sturgis. He questioned the woman about a fake
robbery and told her that her vehicle had been involved
in the crime. He convinced her to follow him down
the road to a place where he could take a
better look at her car. Once down the road, they
were spotted by a fisherman, so David abandoned his plan
(11:39):
and let her go. Dana told her parents about the incident,
and her father called the Sheriff's office and made a complaint.
Dana picked David out of a photo lineup, and he
was questioned about the supposed traffic stop. He wasn't able
to explain why he even stopped her, let alone, why
he hadn't documented the stop, or why he had led
(11:59):
her down a secluded road. David was fired from the
sheriff's department and had his badge in uniform taken away.
Without his badge to lure women, it seemed, David took
a new tactic and was hiding in the backseat of
a woman's car, waiting for his moment to strike. Fortunately
for her, she saw his head in the back seat
(12:21):
before she got into the car. Marilyn Owens was leaving
a doctor's appointment when she saw someone in the back
seat of her car and she screamed. A sheriff's deputy
was also leaving the building at the same time, so
he ran over and caught David in the backseat of
her car, with his shirt off, a bottle of alcohol
in his hand, a handgun, a pair of handcuffs, and
(12:43):
a police scanner. David was arrested and convicted of arm trespassing.
He was sentenced to five years in prison. While David
served his time, Detective White tried to find evidence that
he was responsible for the disappearances of both Judy Day
and Shang and Ying Ling. He interviewed Fred, who acted
(13:04):
shocked that his cousin had been found hiding in the
backseat of someone's car By then, David had separated from
his third wife, which was actually his second marriage to
his first wife, and when they interviewed her, she told
the investigator that he had come home one night with
blood on his shirt, but he claimed it was from hunting.
Then she told him that their dog had pulled two
(13:26):
bras out of the back of his truck that did
not belong to her. She said that after she saw them,
David shoved her into the truck and drove her out
to an orange grove, where he started a back hoe
and sat in it for a few minutes before turning
it off and driving them home. She believed he was
considering killing her, but changed his mind. When they searched
(13:49):
his vehicle again, they found hairs that linked him to
the lings, but without bodies. The DA was still unwilling
to issue an arrest warrant. Still, White went out to
the orange grove and did some digging, but never found anything.
David was released on parole in March of nineteen eighty
three after serving less than two years. Detective White watched
(14:12):
and waited, Sensing the growing darkness, he kept constant surveillance
on David, who was living with his parents at the time. Unfortunately,
the surveillance was noticed by members of the Gore family,
and David's mother complained to Governor Bob Graham's office, and
White's supervisor ordered him to stand down. White was furious
(14:33):
that they were going to allow David to go unobserved,
but there was nothing he could do. Two months after
his release, David attempted to abduct a sex worker at
gunpoint with Fred and Orlando, but she got away. The
same day, the cousin spotted two fourteen year old girls
in the area outside of a seven to eleven convenience store.
(14:54):
Barbara Bayer and Angelica La Valley were planning to go
to the beach, but they needed a ride, so the
hitchike David and Fred stopped and picked them up, and
instead of taking them to the beach, David drove around
in his van while Fred sexually assaulted the girls. Then
they stopped somewhere so David could take part in the
assault before he shot them both in the head. Their
(15:16):
remains were dumped in the woods. Barbara and Angelica's families
waited for them to return home that day, but they
never did. They became missing persons and seven months would
pass before they knew what had happened to their daughters.
Two months later, on July twenty sixth to nineteen eighty three,
seventeen year old Lynne Elliott and fourteen year old Reagan
(15:38):
Martin were spending time at the beach near Lynn's house,
but they decided they wanted to go to another beach
about ten miles or sixteen kilometers north. Lynn's car was
in the shop, so they made the fateful decision to
hitchike and were unfortunate enough to be picked up by
David and Fred. Once in the vehicle, David asked if
the girls wanted to go smoke a joint with them,
(15:59):
and the girls happily agreed. David's parents were out of town,
so the men took the girls there, but while they
were driving there, Fred's sister passed them in another car,
and he was worried that she had seen Lynn and
Reagan in the car with them. Once at David's parents' house,
Fred left to go talk to his sister and see
if she knew anything. While he was gone, David tied
(16:22):
up each girl in a different room and sexually assaulted
both of them. When he was finished with Reagan, he
went back into the room where he had left Lynn,
but she was gone. Lynn had gotten free and ran
out of the back door of the house. David ran
after her and saw her running down the road. He
fired a shot over her head and yelled for her
(16:43):
to stop, but she wouldn't. When Lynn tripped, it gave
David the chance to catch up, and he started dragging
the girl back towards his parents' house. She continued struggling,
and finally David pushed her to the ground and shot
her twice in the head, killing her. It was at
that moment moment that fifteen year old Michael Rock was
riding by on his bicycle and he witnessed the execution.
(17:06):
He raced home and told his mother what had happened.
Their call to police triggered a ninety minute stand off
at David's parents' house. Before police arrived, David put Lynn's
body in the trunk of his parent's car and then
went inside and put Reagan in the attic. He told
her that he would kill her if she made a sound.
Then he used a police scanner to listen for the
(17:28):
inevitable report. He called nine to one one himself and
reported the same crime, but gave the dispatcher a different
address in an attempt to throw the authorities off. It
didn't really work, and soon police were on the scene.
David was refusing to come out of the house. Officers
on the scene saw a trail of blood leading to
(17:48):
the trunk of the car in the driveway. When they
opened it, they found Lynn's body. After ninety minutes of negotiation,
police stormed the house and David surrendered. They found Reagan
alive in the attic. Detectives were not surprised that David
continued his crimes after being released from prison, but then
Reagan told the officers that there was another man with
(18:11):
David when she and Lynn were abductad They went to
Fred's auto repair shop and placed him under arrest. After
his arrest, David admitted to kidnapping Lynne Elliot and chasing
her down the street, but he wouldn't admit to killing her.
Despite being seen, he eventually asked for a lawyer. He
did end up telling investigators that he and Fred were
(18:33):
working on buying a house in the middle of the
woods to turn it into their quote unquote layer. The
house would have been the perfect place to carry out
the torture, sexual assault, and execution of countless women without
anyone knowing. Luckily, they were caught before that could happen.
David's trial was set for December of nineteen eighty three,
(18:53):
and only days before it began, he confessed to the
other murders that detectives had suspected he had carried out.
The da agreed not to seek the death penalty for
the new cases if he helped them recover the remains.
In the middle of December, David led police to a
citrus grove and Vero Beach, where the remains of Barbara
Bayer were found. After more diggang, the barrels containing Shang
(19:17):
and Yang Ling were found. They were only about six
feet away from where Detective White had searched. While David
was in prison, David meticulously laid out the details of
each murder, openly implicating Fred and all of the crimes.
David said he disposed evangelical Lavalis remains in a canal
off of I ninety five, and they have never been found.
(19:40):
When the trial started, David originally claimed that Fred had
murdered all of the victims, but he eventually changed his
story and admitted to having killed all six of them.
Saying Fred was only an accomplice. David's mental state revealed
itself during his trial. He spoke of dual personalities and
demonic possession, and yet his prison letters told a different story.
(20:03):
Those communications exposed his true nature as he described his
crimes as quote perfect experiences. Criminal experts later identified their
allegiance as a classic killer team dynamic. Each cousin fed
the other's dark impulses, creating a perfect storm of violence.
David's voyeuristic tendencies, paired with Fred's history of animal torture,
(20:26):
represented textbook warning signs. Those indicators, voyeurism, substance abuse, and
early sadistic behavior now serve as red flags for law
enforcement and psychologists studying violent offenders. Though David had been
given a deal for all of the new crimes he
confessed to, he was still eligible for the death penalty
(20:47):
for his original charges for the kidnapping, rape, and murder
of Lynne Elliot and the kidnapping and rape of Reagan Martin.
Reagan testified, as did Michael Rock. On top of that,
Angelohamel had s seen David's arrest on the news, and
she contacted the DA and also testified against the defendant.
David's own father testified that the gun used to kill
(21:09):
Lynn had belonged to him and that his son had
access to it. In March of nineteen eighty four, David
Gore was found guilty of one count of first degree murder,
two counts of kidnapping, and three counts of sexual battery.
He was sentenced to death. Fred always claimed he was
completely innocent and that his cousin was trying to frame him.
(21:32):
Why David wanted to frame him was unclear, since David
had admitted to committing all of the murders. Reagan testified
against him, and David was also supposed to testify, but
he had started acting crazy in prison, claiming he was
talking to God, so the DA opted not to call
him to the stand. In that trial, Fred was found
guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to fifteen years in prison.
(21:56):
Then he went on trial for the murders of Barbara
Bayer and Angelica, of that which the DA had more
physical evidence showing he was involved. He was found guilty
of those murders and sentenced to two consecutive life terms.
Twenty eight years passed before lethal chemicals claimed David's life
on April twelve, twenty twelve, final words of remorse fell
(22:19):
on deaf ears as Lynne Elliott's family watch justice delivered.
Fred remains in prison, still pleading innocence and pointing fingers
at his cousin. There have been other victims of sexual
assault who have come forward since David and Fred were
sent to prison. The daughter of one of Fred's neighbors
told her mother of the assault that happened before the murders.
(22:41):
David also wrote many letters to prison pen pals, describing
details that didn't match any of their known victims. Will
never know whether he was telling the truth or embellishing
his stories. For two people who had such a strong
urge to make others suffer, it's hard to imagine they
only killed the six vicars that are known. When people
(23:02):
turn into monsters who cannot control their urge to kill,
their body count rises pretty quickly, and there are likely
far more victims of the killing cousins than we'll ever
know about. If you're the victim of domestic abuse, please
reach out to someone for help. Please talk to your
local shelter, Call the National Domestic Abuse Hotline at one
(23:23):
eight hundred seven nine ninth safe. That's one eight hundred
seven nine nine seven two three three, or you can
go to the hotline dot org to chat with someone online.
If you're having feelings of harming yourself or someone else,
or even just need someone to talk to, please contact
your local mental health facility call nine one one, or
call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline by simply dialing nine
(23:46):
eight eight in the United States. They're available twenty four
hours a day, seven days a week, and we'll talk
to you about any mental health issue you might be facing.
If you're a member of the LGBTQ plus community and
suffering from discrimination, depression, or are in need of any support,
please contact the lgbt National Hotline at one eight eight
eight eight four three four five six four, or go
(24:08):
to lgbt hootline dot org. Thanks so much for letting
me tell you this story. If you're a fan of
true crime, you can subscribe to this show so you
don't miss an episode. My other show, Somewhere Sinister is
no longer getting new episodes, but you can check it
out if you like interesting stories from history that aren't
necessarily true crime, but true crime adjacent. It's available anywhere
(24:29):
that you listen to podcasts. You can also check out
my personal vlog, Giles with a Jay, which is sporadically
updated with stuff about my personal life, travel and music.
It's available on YouTube. If you'd like to support the show,
check out our merchandise at thisismonsters dot com. A link
is in the description. Thanks again and be safe.
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