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you can listen to new episodes of Murder in the Orange Grove the troubl case against Crosley green early and AD free
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with a 48 Hours Plus subscription join 48 hours plus on Apple podcast today can you ask him to come
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in hey how you doing hey Crosley hey hey good to see you again it's great seeing
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you I told you I would be here soon this wasn't quite as soon as I hoped just soon
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enough here I'm talking to Crosley green Crosley is a 67-year-old africanamerican
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man he's fairly tall just under 6 ft with a lean build and delicate features these days Crosley is mostly bald with a
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receding hairline that's speckled with more salt than Pepper did you get finally get a letter from me no see I
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kept I got one sent back I sent another at the time of this interview in June of
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2024 we had been meeting like this for 25 years we sound like old friends catching up except instead of meeting in
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coffee shops we meet in Florida state prisons why do I keep coming back because in my entire career as a
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journalist and and I've been doing this now for 40 years this is the case that troubles me most it's a bizarre and
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maddening tale that involves murder a timeline that doesn't quite add up a sister testifying against a brother
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death row and even the US Supreme Court and at the heart of the story Crosley green a man who has lived more than half
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his life behind bars for a crime he says he didn't commit yet even after all these years Crosley only asked for one
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thing don't listen to him look into his case yourself you know are you going to believe me me telling you or you going
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to go out there and try to find a truth out for yourself because I can tell you things and whether not you believe it or
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not it's up to you but to me for anything to be truthful that I tell you you have to go out there and
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read it yourself get knowledge of it yourself I'm 48 Hours correspondent eron Mori this is murder in the Orange Grove
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the troubled case against Crosley Green episode 1 moonless Night Sheriff's case number 89-
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33497 to tell crosley's story we have to rewind the tapes all the the way back to
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1989 the date is April 4th 1989 time is approximately 8:20 a.m. back to a sheriff's office in Titusville
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Florida the county seat of Bard County along Central Florida's Space Coast uh Kim for record would you please State
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your full name and spell your last name please Kim sual h a l l o c k on the morning of April 4th
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1989 police were interviewing 19-year-old Kim H about a trauma that began unfolding the night before one
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that would forever change the lives of Kim her ex-boyfriend Charles chip Flynn and Crosley green you somly swear the
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statement you're about to give is true and corrected the best of your knowledge to help you out yes okay okay at the
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time of this recording Kim had already been with investigators at the sheriff's office for 4 hours but this was the
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first time they were recording her sworn statement uh let's start by uh what was the first time that you saw
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the victim who is uh it was Charles Flynn we call you call him chip yes okay Kim HCK and Charles Flynn he went
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by the name chip both lived in the city of Titus Ville Kim was white with dark eyes and haircut above her shoulders
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those who knew her described her as a fairly smart Nic looking girl 22-year-old chip was also white with
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Shaggy Sandy brown hair and a smile always on his face they dated a little over a year and a half but had broken up
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about 2 months earlier Chipen moved on he had a new girlfriend and didn't talk about Kim anymore to his family or
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friends but he hadn't fully cut ties with Kim either when was the first time that you saw chip yesterday which would
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have been 43 of 89 about 10:00 at night he came over to my house Kim said that she and Chip watched a movie together
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Pretty in Pink it was around 11:00 p.m. when he asked her if she wanted to go for a ride in his pickup truck it was a
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82 ship relay Stepside 4x4 pickup truck what color dark blue chip had a manual transmission
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truck a a stick shift there was only one row of seats so Kim sat on the passenger
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side while chip drove to holder Park in the nearby town of Mims they parked the truck on the doomes by the baseball
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field under some trees after about 15 minutes a patrol Deputy drove by but he didn't see the couple another few
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minutes passed and Kim said she saw someone else walking towards them from the baseball fields it's after that a
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black guy walked up in front of the truck Kim told the police that she and Chip were instantly unsettled by this
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unknown man who she called quote unquote the black guy you'll hear Kim say this over and over again when speaking with
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police I was looking out and then I looked down and I saw the black guy come up and I told Chip there's a black guy
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on on your side and he rolled up the window real quick Kim said she was unnerved by the encounter and told Chip
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she wanted to leave the park but chip said it was all right because the man had left Kim said that about 20 minutes
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later chip got out of the truck to go to the bathroom and that's when she heard him say wait a minute hold on wait a
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minute man and I just look and I saw a black guy according to Kim's timeline the time would be between 11:30 and
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midnight Kim said that she remembered that chip had a pistol in the glove box so she pulled it out and hid it under a
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pair of jeans on the seat beside her and that's when the man she said told Chip to get on the
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ground did you see that uh the black male was armed at that time yes I did cuz he was in front of the door okay she
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said he asked how much money they had and started calling calling them names even calling him crack crackhead crack
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cracker head and me chips just said just let her go you have me there as salent said he would
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let them go but first Kim said he threw one of Chip's sneakers at her and then told her to take the shoelace out she
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said that while the assalot was tying up Chip's arms with that shoelace his gun went
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off nobody was hurt and Kim told please that she didn't think the gunshot was intentional but on the moonless night it
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would have been terrifying Kim said that at this point chip was on his knees no shoes on his
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arms tied behind his back with a shoelace the as salent pulled Chip's wallet out of his pants pocket and he
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opened up the wallet and then he threw me told me to take out the money M and count it and approximately how much
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money was in the wallet $185 okay the as salent allowed her to get out of the truck himim said and then
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come around to where he and Chip were standing before instructing her to start the truck what is he doing with the gun
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while he is instructing giving you the instructions he's got Chip he's holding the gun on chip
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yeah then according to Kim all all three of them got back in the pickup truck on
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that one row of seats chip is now in the passenger side with his hands tied Kim in the middle and they're now kidnappers
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steering and shifting gears They begged him to let them go with chip once again offering himself up to save Kim Take Me
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Do What if you want just let her go he said he was going to but he I knew he wasn't this might have been the best
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chance Kim how it got to really look at the as salant although it was still pitch black and according to Kim the
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truck's interior light might not have been working the police officer questioning Kim was eager to try to pin
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down a physical description of the as salant from his height how tall was he between 58 and about 6 foot mhm and his
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weight about 108 lb mhm kind of a big Bill to his clothing had a big heavy jacket on a
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dark heavy jacket remember what possibly green a real dull green blue jeans and big heavy boots
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like working boots to his hairstyle just afro and there nothing fancy nothing weird was a thick long short just
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thick kind of long was not long a little bit little bit of an ass uhhuh but Kim was unable to provide a
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detailed description anything else unusual about the face not really not I really didn't get a real good look
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at him I was really scared in her teror Kim said she did not get a good look at the as salant another police officer
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prester about the man's Footwear again later in the interview describing his Footwear are you certain of what type of
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Footwear he was wearing yes or no not real sir so the answer is no right okay could he have been wearing
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tennis shoes that's possible isn't it yeah but it seems like tennis shoes weren't heavy
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enough for what he was okay your recollection in describing his Footwear is not based on something you visually
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saw and remember remember it's a sound you heard Kim told B that the man made her and Chip duck down as they drove out
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of holder Park and when chip lifted his head Kim said the as salent yelled at him to put it down or he'd blow his head
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off okay what was he doing with the gun on he had it at me where where was he pointing at my side mhm was he holding
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it there while he was shifting too how was he how was he doing that he had he had his hand sh for
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sure if you couldn't quite hear Kim said that their kidnapper was holding the gun
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pointing it at her while shifting gears and driving at this point chip found his
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own gun the one that Kim said she hid under a pair of jeans on the seat chip motioned to Kim to scoot up so he could
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get a clear shot at their as salent but Kim said she couldn't move without the driver
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noticing 10 minutes later the as salent stopped the truck at a familiar Landmark
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the orange factory nevan's orange factory that's it mhm Kim and Chip were in an Orange Grove in the city of
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Titusville Florida they is salent she said shut the car off it was completely dark then he yanked Kim out of the
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driver's seat by her arm Kim said she pulled free and then ran around to the passenger side of the truck opening
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Chip's door and just as she put one foot inside the as salent yanked her out again and she fell to the ground by the
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back rear tire the as salant got one arm around her and held his gun on her my hand it was on my face okay Kim said
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that when she started to cry the as salent shouted that he was going to quote blow her brain out if she didn't
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shut up and that's when according to Kim chip leaned out of the passenger seat his pistol still clutched in his
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shoelace bound hands his hands were behind his back he leaned out of the truck and somehow shot
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at the guy and the guy steep back chipped them out of the truck I jumped in the truck shut the passenger door
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then I reached over and locked it and I heard about five or six gunshots so if you're following Kim said that chip shot
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at the As salant and then jumped out of the passenger side of the pickup truck all with his hands still tied behind his
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back the police officer asked him exactly how chip got out of the truck no like face first on the ground onto
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stomach mhm so I could get in and leave and then ask him about those other gunshots okay the other shots occurred
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after you got into the truck after I got in the truck do you recall how many shots chip
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fired I he might have shot two I'm not sure the second one went from Chip I'm not real sure but then like four or five
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came from the black guy Kim said chip yelled at her to go and in her haste to leave the Orange Grove Kim said she
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might have accidentally run over Chip's leg Kim drove for about 4 miles going past the gas station and even a local
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hospital stopping at a trailer park where Chip's best friend David Stroop lived it was just about a minute away
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from her family home David was asleep and didn't hear Kim when she banged on his trailer door so I went back to the
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where his bedroom is and I beat on the door and I told him I think chip got shot
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David strou and Chip Flynn had been best friends for close to 5 years meeting at
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a party after Chip's family moved down from Illinois to Florida they enjoyed doing the same kinds of things and spent
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many afternoons camping four-wheeling fishing David liked that chip was easygoing without an enemy in the world
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he called him country a good old boy David had been with chip just hours earlier watching a basketball game in
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David's trailer around 10:30 p.m. David had started nodding off on the couch hey
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man I'm going to go to bed he told Chip Chip left and David just assumed he was going home it was a work night after all
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when Kim banged on David's trailer it was around 1:00 a.m. in the morning David got out of bed to let her inside
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she was hysterical and told him chip had been shot up to an hour had passed since Kim
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had left the Orange Grove Kim doesn't explain in her police interview why the drive took so long David tried to get
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Kim to tell him exactly what happened but after a minute of not getting anywhere he told her hey we got a call
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911 the initial call was very ambiguous two men fighting in the road at an intersection in Mims at 1:13 a.m.
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bravard County deputy sheriff Mark rxy got the dispatch call he was out on road Patrol in fact he was the police officer
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who drove through holder Park a few hours earlier that night when when he arrived at the location given to him by
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Dispatch he didn't see a disturbance called the dispatch back and said Bard there's nobody here can we get
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you know more information dispatch relays a new location then they say well it's down
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holder road so I drive down up and down holder Road and there's nothing there something
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didn't seem right normally when somebody witnesses an incident it would not be such a drastic change of location
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if I told you that an incident had occurred at the Hilton in Coco Beach it wouldn't turn out later that it
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actually happened 2 or three miles down the road rexie even began to suspect that
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the call was fake this is a prank because nobody could get it that wrong Sergeant Diane Clark was driving
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in a separate patrol car and monitoring all the dispatch calls coming into Deputy rxy by this time dispatch was
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telling him shots have been fired out in the Orange Grove well the Orange Groves
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go from north side of Titusville all the way to the county line and Beyond so that didn't give us a lot of
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information and the the Orange Groves are there little dirt rows we we would have been tracking all night long trying
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to find him time was quickly passing so Clark met up with rexie and sent another
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deputy to pick up Kim HCK they all headed to the Orange Grove so Kim could show them the exact location of the
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disturbance but Kim refused to get out of the police car she says he's down this road a dirt road but she's afraid
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to go down there well we'll go down there Mark and I follow this dirt road or path it was so dark they couldn't see
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their own hands in front of their faces so the officers had to use flashlights you know the kind of a night you get
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where the stars are you think you can reach up and touch them they're so vibrant but when there's no moon they're
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even more vibrant but it's like pitch black out there it was a very in the middle of the woods in the
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middle of the night it was very dark both officers walk cautiously down the dark path flashlights Illuminating their
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way and while I'm walking I am noticing Tire prints in the dirt perfectly detailed Tire prints so you
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can actually see the tread and at the end of the path was a figure lying face down in the dirt it was Chip
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Flynn almost like a fetal position his hands are tied behind his back with a Sho
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string kind of crossed over behind him um he had a a bullet wound who Blood on the right side of his
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chest um he didn't have any shoes on Clark CER an ambulance while rexie moved quickly to free chip from the bindings
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on his hands he seemed very cognant very um very alert not suffering from uh the effects of a gunshot there was a
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gun on the ground just one a 22 caliber pistol and Chip was moaning alive and conscious we started asking him who did
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this to you and all he said was get me out of here well could you at least tell us
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which way he went because as far as we were concerned there was an armed as salent loose in The Orchards where we
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were and it was a safety issue a big safety issue not only catching the suspect but a safety issue for us
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because we're exposed get me out of here is all he would say chip wouldn't answer any of
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their questions about his as salent I've never even heard of that happening before normally someone will say he went
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that way it's this kind of guy but it quickly became clear that the more urgent priority was saving Chip's life
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obviously he's injured he needs an am an ambulance it was a pool of blood under him Kim had called both her parents and
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Chip's parents after calling 911 and now they were all waiting together about half a mile away from where chip lay in
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the Orange Grove the police wouldn't let them any closer worried that an armed as
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salant could still be lurking nearby down the dirt path Chip's condition took a turn for the worst you know all of a
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sudden his breathing got shallow all of a sudden you know he he deteriorated really quickly chip stopped breathing
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but he still had a pulse so Clark performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and I'm waiting for the
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ambulance and it seems like forever when the am you know it just seems like when
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you're it's life and death you feel like oh my God are they ever going to get here and they could hear them in the
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distance the ambulance was close by by waiting by the main road with Kim her parents Chip's parents and more police
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that had arrived for backup but the police wouldn't let paramedics any closer still concerned that a man with a
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gun could be waiting to attack back in the Grove Clark was able to resuscitate chip but then he stopped breing the
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second time I did mou to mouth again brought him back chip had a sucking chest wound and when Clark saw it she
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knew Chip's condition was far more critical than it first appeared you know every minute that ticks away with that
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kind of a wound is closer to death it needed a cellophane dressing but she didn't have one only thing I had was a
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handkerchief so I took that out covered it to keep the try to keep the air out and try to stop the bleeding chip
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stopped breathing a third time when the ambulance finally arrived rescue Personnel sped him off to the hospital
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but chip didn't make it that far uh Communications notified me around 220 or so that he had expired that he
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had died uh we did everything we could to try to save him and you know it's like
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that's my job and it was very hard to to not have been able to do more for him officer rxy questioned why it took
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so long to nail down Chip's location in the first place if we had been able to locate him the very first
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time the time lapse between the time we found him and the time we got the call would have been about 5 to 10 minutes
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instead of 45 while Kim was transported to the Sheriff's Office for questioning officers Clark and rexie remained behind
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to protect the scene until the crime scene unit arrived before Daybreak as they left the scene rexie noticed
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something that had caught his eye the night before on the way out of the Orange Grove I followed the same path
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that the truck left the orchard in and again I noticed that the tire prints were perfectly detailed
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uh if you leave a Sandy area or a dirt area in a hurry you're going to have some Tire spin there's not going to be
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perfectly detailed tire tracks and these were perfectly detailed like there was no big rush to to
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[Music] leave by this point you're probably wondering what any of this has to do
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with Crosley green or maybe you've already guessed I was in h Park that night we all go to Holy Park I live
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there I live right right behind the baseball field there yes that holder Park the one where Kim said quote a
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black man robbed and then kidnapped her in chip before taking them to the Orange
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Grove Crosley green is a self-described sports fanatic he was a star Athlete on the high school football team back in
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the day and on the afternoon and early evening of April 3rdd 1989 31-year-old Crosley green was in holder
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Park watching a little league baseball game and after the baseball game he says he left the park hoping to catch a
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college basketball game on TV possibly the same game that chip and David were watching in the trailer it
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was the NCAA tournament championship game it was doing a playoff time I wanted to get back and watch the games
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Crosley says that he left holder Park just as it was getting dark dark sometime between 9: and 10 p.m. and
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walked to the house of his cousin carlen Brothers which is uh approximately I would
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say mileage wise 3 or 4 miles Crosley walked those miles in his white rebok tennis shoes I
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walk I walk but it I didn't go down the roads okay you can go through the Orange
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Grove you know or cut instead of go all around the corner he cut across the corners cutting through the Orange Grove
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yes that Orange Grove he got to caren's house a little after 1 p.m. he watched TV with her uh Hall was on I stayed
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there watch your hall at the time this show was running at the time at night arcenio Halls show ran from 11:00 p.m.
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to midnight after watching the show for a while Crosley says he went out to the road in front of caren's house he was
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selling drugs marijuana and cocaine at the time even though he had just gotten out of prison on a drug charge the time
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that cley was out on the road selling drugs differs depending on who you talk to Carlene's ex-boyfriend James K says
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Crosley was back inside the house at 12:40 a.m. James says he remembers because Crosley interrupted an argument
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that he was having with carlen there dispute about what she was doing and stuff like this another guy so they got
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a little argument little push around James had let the air out of a tire on caren's car so she couldn't leave
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Crosley helped deescalate the argument he wasn't the type of guy to normally get involved in other people's business
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but he says that when he saw something wrong he'd intervene he told carlen and James you ought to work things out James
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said the three of them then sat down and talked before Crosley walked to the house of another friend in the
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neighborhood never went back to Holy Park the only other place I went to from from carlen house was over to Lori rain
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house Lori Reigns had once been crosley's girlfriend and while they weren't dating at the time he had known
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her for over 10 years and she was still a good friend I mean to me he's a very very nice man I mean you know when me
00:29:31
and him first got together my daughter was young and he really treated her very nice I mean he treated me very nice I
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never had any problems with him you know I really honestly didn't he was a very gentleman to me but here's where the
00:29:44
stories about crosley's whereabouts differ Lori said that Crosley arrived at her apartment in Mims on the night of
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April 3rd around 11:00 p.m. the last time he came to my house was like 11: 11:15
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both Lori and Crosley say that he stayed at Lorie's house for the rest of the night we we basically didn't go to S
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like about 1 1:30 something like there when we fell asleep Crosley green says that he left Lor's house the next
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morning around 700 a.m. and then walked back past his cousin caren's house carlen was outside dealing with that
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flat tire that James had given her the night before carlen called out to Crosley by his nickname Papa
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let's hear from her he was walking over towards my way so I say papa I said come
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change my tie said this boy flat my tie Crosley then changed her tire for her according to carlen Crosley was in his
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usual good spirits a nice friendly move that move he always been very nice and friendly this was about 700 a.m. on
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April 4th just a few miles away at a local County sheriff's office in Titusville Kim H was meeting with police
00:31:02
telling them about the black man that she said attacked her in chip Flynn officer Mark rxy was filing his case
00:31:11
report and Chip fn's parents were grieving the death of their youngest son on the next episode of Murder in the
00:31:22
Orange Grove the troubled case against Crosley green when did you find out you were a suspect when did I find out I was
00:31:30
suspect mhm um maybe a day or two days after that was the main suspect and what was your
00:31:38
reaction what was my reaction to that was that here I go [Music] again murder in the Orange Grove was
00:31:57
reported by me Aon morard alongside producers Alan Pang Annie Cronenberg and Allison Bailey Kara orbits is our
00:32:07
coordinating producer and Florence burrow Adams is our story editor additional production support from Dylan
00:32:14
Gordon Marlon polycarp Caroline Casey and Christine Driscoll Judy tigart is the executive producer of 48 Hours Gail
00:32:24
Zimmerman asenna basak Mark goom charl Fuller Judy Ryback and Steven McCain produce the original 48 Hours episodes
00:32:34
associate producers were Michael Loftus and Shaheen Toki Patty aronowski was a senior
00:32:42
producer special thanks to Megan Marcus Jamie Benson Nick poser and Gail spru if you can't wait until next week
00:32:52
for episode 2 you can listen now with 48 hours plus on Apple Podcast 48 hours plus subscribers can get new episodes of
00:33:02
Murder in the Orange Grove the trouble case against Crosley green one week early and AD free join 48 hours plus on
00:33:12
Apple podcast [Music] today Paramount podcasts