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Hi, crime junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers. And I'm Britt. And >> the story I have for you today is the
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shiny example of why you should never give up hope and why you should never jump to conclusions. Because in the span
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of multiple decades after a young girl's death, a number of people come on police's radar who you would think just
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have to be the guy. But it turns out the guy was hiding right under their noses all along. This is the story of Wendy
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Jerome. It's about 8:00 p.m. November 22nd, 1984 when 30-year-old Marlene Jerome just
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like jolts awake from a postth Thanksgiving dinner nap on the couch. She doesn't know what it is that woke
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her, but immediately she senses that something is wrong. And being a mother, her mind immediately goes to her kids,
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specifically her 14-year-old daughter, Wendy. And so, she kind of like pops off the couch and starts looking all over
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the house for her. Like, she just needs to lay eyes on her and then everything will be okay.
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But Wendy isn't home. Marlene's husband, Wayne, tells her that Wendy went to her
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friend's house a couple of blocks away to deliver a birthday card. And this is like her best friend that she's going to
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see. Her name's Sue. But that was over an hour ago, and she has now missed her 8:00 p.m. curfew, and she's about to
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miss having pumpkin pie, which is her favorite. And they'd all planned to eat it together after Marlene's nap. Now,
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listen, she's only missed curfew by a few minutes at this point. But Marlene is just like getting progressively more
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worried. So, she calls Sue's house, though, that doesn't exactly help settle her fears because nobody answers over
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there. So then she tries other friends who live nearby, but no one has seen Wendy. Now, despite her gut instinct,
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Marlene told our reporter that she was clinging to the hope that maybe Wendy had gone somewhere with Sue's family.
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And it's a thought that she holds on to for hours as she tries telling herself not to overreact. I mean, in 1984, it is
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wait it out or call the police. Not a whole lot in between. But that last shred of hope that she had is torn to
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pieces at 11:30 p.m. when Marlene finally gets a hold of Sue's mom. Yes, Wendy had come by, but way earlier. And
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no, she hadn't been with them. Like, she left their house at about 7:30. And Sue's mother must kind of get a rush of
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the type of fear that has been building in Marlene for hours because she knew something that she didn't want to tell
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Marlene over the phone. on her way home, she had driven by a bunch of police and
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like commotion on the local school grounds. So, as she's like having this realization, all she can bring herself
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to say to Marlene was, "You need to hang up and call the police immediately," which Marlene does. And she said police
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were at her door within minutes. Now, she wanted to show the officer a picture of her daughter that was missing so he
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knew who to look for. But she said that he couldn't even bring himself to look at it. All he said was Wendy had an
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accident. >> And even in that moment, her mom is looking for all the explanations that
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aren't the worst one. She said she remembered thinking, oh, like maybe she got hit by a car or something. And you
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can almost pinpoint the moment in her story when the real trauma happened and Marlene's brain started trying to
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protect her from it because the actual words that came out of the officer's mouth are fuzzy to her now. But she says
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that she just remembers he said something like she came across a bad person and somehow she was told that
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Wendy was dead. And to hear Marlene talk about it even 40 years later like it will rip you apart. I mean right after
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she said that like her eyes just kind of drifted up and over and I could tell like in that moment she was right back
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in 1984. She has probably spent so much time in that memory. But before she let it consume her, she physically like in
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our interview had to like shake it off and keep going. Now Marlene wanted to go to her baby. She wanted to be the one to
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identify her. But the police wouldn't allow it. And she was furious. She said she had this image of Wendy like naked,
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beaten, sprawled out in the snow. And she couldn't stand the thought of all these men there with her little girl.
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Like she was the mother who brought her into this world. She was the one who celebrated Wendy's birthday with her
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just a couple of weeks before and now she was just gone. >> And when she's imagining this, like were
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they giving her details about what had happened? >> Not really. I mean, and truthfully,
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they're still trying to figure out what happened at school 33, but the picture Marlene was developing
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in her head wasn't actually the one police were dealing with. And, and don't get me wrong, it was brutal. Wendy had
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been beaten so badly, you couldn't ID her from her face. It was actually her school ID in her pocket that helped them
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get there. Two of her teeth were found on the ground next to her. And the ME would later determine that she died from
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blunt force trauma to the head with multiple skull fractures and cerebral contusions. And she also had numerous
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cuts and contusions to her face. Lots of defensive wounds on both of her hands. And there was a laceration to her neck
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that looked like it came from a knife. Now, it's not like a deep huge wound like I've seen reported in this case,
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but a cut nonetheless. Blood had also pulled around her head. But the thing that I'll say is really different from
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what Marlene was picturing is she actually wasn't naked. Though it was clear that she had been at some point
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and then had redressed because she was wearing unzipped jeans and a sweater, but her bra and coat were found kind of
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strewn about. Though someone must have been ashamed of what they done because they used her t-shirt and pink hoodie to
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cover her face. And in all this, could they tell if she had redressed herself or if someone had like put her clothes
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back on her afterwards? >> Afterwards. Yeah. So, we spoke to Sergeant Gus Vinosa of the Rochester
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Major Crimes Unit and he says that they believe she was allowed to get dressed after being sexually assaulted. And
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they're basing this off of the blood patterns that they have. And speaking of, so about 45 ft from Wendy, there
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were some blood droplets. So, the theory is that Wendy might have been taken to the secluded part of school 33. She was
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attacked. At some point, she sat up in the spot where those blood droplets were and then the blood is like dripping from
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her having been beaten. And then afterwards, she started getting redressed and then her attacker began
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beating her again. Possibly, they have the theory that maybe she even tried to run away.
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>> And like, was that the plan all along? Did she say something that made him realize he would get caught if he let
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her go? Like they don't know that part yet. >> Well, and I mean I'm thinking like was
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he lying and wait for her? Did he take her there? Like how did this all even happened?
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>> This is what's interesting. So the school isn't on the way to or from Sue's house where we know she was going.
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>> I mean did she go to this school? >> No. Her 10-year-old brother did though and it was really close by to her house.
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Everything. So I mean I know she was familiar with it. Most likely the killer grabbed her or lured her from somewhere
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else. But this whole area, again, everything is within close proximity. I think wherever he took her from, he had
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this place in mind to bring her though because this whole area is pretty residential. Like even where she was
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found was close to a street. But the one particular spot of the school where she
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was is kind of like this al cove of an unlit courtyard that's protected by some like brick kneeh high walls. and a
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fence. So, this plus the darkness at night can give it a sense of seclusion despite, like I said, I mean, it's it's
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only a couple hundred feet from the street. >> Well, and knowing all that, I have to
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think it was a little more premeditated than not if this guy like took her to this place that was not well lit behind
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a wall. Like, he knew that this place was here and he had a knife to cut her. >> I was going to say I mean, that's what
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he could have threatened her with to get her to that al cove area with him. But you I mean you'd have to think that
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someone who was willing to do that would also be willing to use it, right? But speaking of the knife, they don't find
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any kind of weapon at the scene or any clothing or personal effects from the attacker. There were some cigarette
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butts and a lighter according to the Democrat and Chronicle. Though they're not totally convinced these are
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necessarily connected to their killer because apparently this is an area where people would regularly kind of just
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stand around and smoke. But that is not to say he didn't leave real clues behind. The biggest of which is his DNA,
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which they end up retrieving from a sexual assault kit. But they had a couple of things that were a little more
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tangible that they could actually like do something with in 1984, >> the '8s. Right.
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>> Right. So, like they had some foreign hairs, including pubic hairs, and a physical trail of blood that showed them
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which direction their killer took off in. About 300 ft from where Wendy was laying, blood droplets are found on the
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sidewalk by the school. On like the side that runs along a street called Rosewood
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Terrace. And then a few hundred feet from that, there was a single drop of blood on the corner of Rosewood Terrace
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and Schaefer. How do they know it's from whoever did this and not from Wendy like
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trying to run away or something? >> I don't think they definitively know that it wasn't, but it would mean that
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Wendy ran several hundred feet and then would have been like dragged all the way
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back to where her body was found, which doesn't seem likely because there were >> there would be like more evidence,
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>> more blood, right? We have a single drop on a corner. >> I also feel like someone would have
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heard or seen something more. We don't get anything like that from witnesses. And now listen, they end up typing the
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blood out and it is the same blood type as Wendy's. So again, theoretically, yes, maybe it could be hers. I think
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that seems like the least likely. It could also be blood dripping from a murder weapon like a knife. But Sergeant
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Venosa doesn't think that's likely. He always believed that their killer most likely cut themselves during the attack
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>> and has the same blood type as Wendy. >> Yeah, that was the theory at the time.
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But again, I mean, we also know the attack was very bloody, so they do not know for sure. They just know which way
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they believe this guy ran. But did he get in a car and drive away? Did he walk another 1, 5, 20 miles after leaving
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that final drop at the corner of Rosewood Terrace and Schaefer? >> They're not going to know until they
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find their guy. And when they look for their guy, there are two people they already have on their list before the
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scene is even cleared. [Music] In Wendy's pocket, along with her school ID, detectives also found a note that
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read, "I love Joey." in like bubble letters. Now, Joey was the top of their list to speak with, but first up was the
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24year-old man who actually had found Wendy's body in this al cove in the first place. This guy's name is Craig,
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and he tells police that he had gone to a nearby bar that night, but he didn't want to pay the cover charge. So, he
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left, headed towards his friend's house instead, cutting through the school property to get there. And he says at
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first he just saw someone laying down in the distance and thought it was somebody
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who was probably passed out drunk. But when he got closer and saw all of the blood, he freaked out, ran to his
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friend's house, asked them to come back with him and make sure what he was seeing was real. And the two of them
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ended up going to a neighbor's house and calling police together. Now, it's pretty easy to check this guy's story,
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the bar, the cover charge. They even interview the friend that he was with. >> Well, and even despite all that, that
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would have meant that Craig called the police on himself, which wouldn't have made a lot of sense.
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>> True, right? Police quickly realized that Craig's most likely not their guy. Now, they don't know who Joey even is
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yet, but they figure Sue might. And since Sue was likely the last person to interact with Wendy before she met her
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killer, they want to get in front of her. Now, she tells police that Wendy popped by a little after 7:00 p.m. They
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chatted for a little bit about sleepovers and birthday parties, like normal 14-year-old girl stuff. And Wendy
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mentioned to her that she didn't have to be home until 8:30. And though she didn't say that she was going to go
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anywhere specific before heading home, Sue kind of wondered if Wendy could have decided to go to their friend Amy's
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house. She was another girl who lived in the neighborhood. And interestingly, the
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route to Amy's house might have put her near the school depending on which street she would have taken. Well, and
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I'm also imagining their age. Like she's there at 7:00. Her she doesn't have to be back till 8:30. Like when we were
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that age, like that means we were walking through the door at 8:29 with like 30 seconds to go.
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>> Absolutely. >> And like totally willing to ask for more time next time. >> Yeah. And listen, Sergeant Venosa and
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Marlene kind of agree. She was probably headed to Amy's house or another friend's house. Like she was probably
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going to stay >> her time. But in talking to her other friends, they know that if that was her
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plan, she had to have been intercepted before she ever made it anywhere else because nobody reports seeing her. Her
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friends also tell police that her death makes no sense. Like, she's just a typical teenager who loves to babysit,
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listen to Journey, and dream about owning a salon one day. No one has a problem with her. She's not stirring up
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trouble. And by the way, even Joey is kind of a nothing burger. I mean, not him as like a person, but like whatever
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they had. No one knows anything salacious about Joey, but they do point detectives to the one that Wendy would
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have been talking about in that note. It's a 15-year-old who went to the same school as she did. And he ends up
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telling police that yes, they went on a couple of dates, like nothing serious. And the last time he saw Wendy was when
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they walked to the bus together on Wednesday before school let out for Thanksgiving break. He says he spent
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Thanksgiving at home, which his mother confirms. So, they end up scratching Joey off from the list, too. Meaning
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that their killer is still out there, and they have no idea who he is. And he could strike again, maybe even to the
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same family. Because this is when harassing and threatening phone calls start rolling in on the Jerome family
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house line. On one call, someone said to Marlene, quote, "I know when your husband's gone, and you better keep an
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eye on your son." Now, police try putting a tap on the family's phone, thinking that this could be their
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biggest and best lead, but they are never able to pin this guy down. They think basically he was moving from like
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phone booth to phone booth to place these calls. And in any of these calls, is he asking for something or or saying
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why he did this or anything? No, I don't even think he says anything in the calls
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taking responsibility for Wendy's murder. I mean, this might be totally unrelated and just some sick person out
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there coming after an already traumatized family. So, even though no one knows who's making these calls, this
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is still a place where everyone seems to know everyone and everyone has a close pulse on what's happening in the
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neighborhood. So, it's no surprise that police are quick to make a connection between Wendy's case and that of another
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call that officers responded to on the night of the murder. You see, there was this guy who we're going to call Dale at
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the request of Sergeant Venosa. And the night of Thanksgiving, this 29-year-old showed up to the emergency room covered
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in blood and cuts. Now, Dale's story to doctors and then to police when the doctors called them in was that he was
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attacked by a couple of guys while walking down the street. Except when they tried to dig into the details of
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Dale's claim, which should be pretty easy to verify based on where and when he said it happened, they can't find
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anyone who witnessed this attack. They can't find any sign that it took place on the street. He said it did. And Dale
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also keeps changing his story. So the police start getting suspicious, thinking that, okay, maybe Dale isn't
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the victim in this scenario. Maybe he's our suspect. And while he wasn't necessarily staying with her at the
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time, it is very interesting when they learned that Dale's mother lived on Rosewood Terrace, just a block from the
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school, same street that the Blood Trails found on. >> Yeah. >> And I told you this is a close-knit
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community. And what's interesting is Marlene told us that she knew this Dale guy kind of like tangentially. So at
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some point police corner Dale. They tell him they know that he's full of it and he breaks. He finally admits he lied.
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But the confession that comes out of his mouth is not at all what they were expecting.
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Dale doesn't confess to Wendy's murder. Instead, he said that his story can't be
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corroborated because there were no other men who jumped him. The injuries he had
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were self-inflicted with a razor blade so that he could get sympathy from his girlfriend.
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Can that be fact checked, please? And also, like, who is this poor girlfriend? Is she okay? Like, please tell me she's
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not like with Dale, cuz that's not okay. It's unhinged. And ladies and gents, some red flags are small and pink. Some
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are the size of a house and the color of crimson. >> That one. >> Yes. This is one of those.
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>> Someone does something like that, you run because that is some master manipulation.
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>> Yeah. So, okay. If this is all for her, like, did the girlfriend end up finding
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out? Like, >> I want to do an entire story on this because I don't know any follow-up on
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this. Like nobody seems to know like what happens with these two afterwards. I have all the same questions. I assume
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she found out everything because like I think they would have talked to her when
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they were checking this guy out. >> You think they would have talked to her? >> I don't know. I don't know if she got
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looped in when all was said and done or if he just went home and was like, "Oh honey, they can't find the guys who mug
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me and I was wrongly suspected of a murder." Like if he wanted attention, >> dude. I know. Like, so my biggest
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question is, did they stay together? And I don't know the answer to that. >> I mean, whenever you say stuff like
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that, I'm always like, well, like, it's on an episode now. Like, will she hear it?
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>> Oh my god. If she does, absolutely. She needs to call us. But even though Dale
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is was a bad dude, he is not Wendy's murderer. He is able to point police to the razor blade that he used.
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Apparently, he ditched it on the street. They're actually able to locate it, confirming this weird and wild story of
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his. >> I mean, I assume they're also not just like taking that for what it is. Do they
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do a comparison of some of the physical evidence? Like check all the boxes, >> right? It's not just the razor blade.
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Like again, no DNA to work with yet, but they do take hair samples and blood samples from Dale just to make sure. And
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of everything they collected, there was nothing to suggest that he was their guy. mostly because Dale is a white guy
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and the hairs that they have from the crime scene suggest that the person who attacked Wendy was black. But this gets
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police thinking it wasn't just the hospital visit that placed Dale on their suspect list. While they were deep
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looking into him, they actually talked to a local 18-year-old named Michael Ross, who told police that while outside
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a bar a few days after the murder, he heard an intoxicated Dale say that he was going to get Wendy.
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>> Wait, timing wise, this is after she's already been murdered. >> Yeah, that part didn't seem to like trip
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them up much early on, but like it doesn't make sense, right? And >> now that Dale is kind of ago, what
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they're basically wondering is like, oh, could this Michael Ross guy who is black
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and would theoretically be a better match for Harris found, could he maybe have made up this whole story? And why
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make up a story unless you yourself have something to hide, >> right? And like insert yourself into the
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investigation that way. >> And I mean, on another note, Michael was known to be a violent guy who carried a
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knife. So, when they go ask him where he was on the night of the murder, he's like, "Oh, I was just home watching TV."
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However, he did admit that he saw Wendy at an outdoor party near the school 2 days before her murder.
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>> So, he knew her, >> or at least knows of her from the neighborhood, but he swears he didn't
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have anything to do with her murder. Now, police start canvasing the neighborhood, asking around about
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Michael, and a pair of neighbors tell police that Michael could get violent and often wanted to fight. Another
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neighbor, specifically this guy Timothy, tells police that Michael was sneaky and
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he was someone that couldn't be trusted. Someone else talks about Michael chasing
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after a woman with a club once. And yet another tells police that Michael tried to burn down a house. They find another
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woman who lives nearby who tells police that she and several of her friends feared Michael. And by the way,
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Michael's own mother pokes holes in his alibi, saying that he went out at 700 p.m. on the night of the murder. So, he
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wasn't just at home watching TV. And once they know the alibi is BS, investigators haul Michael back in. And
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surprise, surprise, he changes his story. He now says that he went to a restaurant and a pool hall known as the
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Greasy Spoon at around 7:00 p.m. before leaving to go home at about 9:45. And since they're thinking whatever happened
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to Wendy happened closer to like 7:30, in theory, this could clear him, right? But when police talk to the manager of
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the Greasy Spoon and show him a picture of Michael, he's like, "Nope, dude wasn't here." And what's so strange is
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like they don't ever seem to get a real story from Michael about where he was that night. Or at least there isn't one
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that has survived old recordkeeping, but they did get hair samples from him. Also
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something that didn't survive recordkeeping. So like, did they compare those hairs? What were the results? I
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don't know. But whatever they did or had wasn't enough to prove anything because
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while he remained a person of interest, they didn't have enough to prove that he
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was involved or to actually arrest him. >> So whether it was Michael or someone else who committed this murder, police
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were going to need more. They were going to need a witness, a confession, a murder weapon. And over the next few
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months, they have moments where they think they're close to one or more of those. a time where a knife was found in
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the middle of the street a mile from the school, but it ends up not being the knife. A time where a man comes forward
00:23:03
and says that he witnessed six black men committing the murder. But the guy admits to being under the influence the
00:23:09
night that he saw it and he had just been arrested for possession of stolen property when he offered up this
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information. So, it could have just been looking to get a break with some madeup
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stuff, >> making a deal. >> Essentially, that doesn't lead anywhere either. And this Brett is kind of what
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police are dealing with. One step forward, two steps back. Every tip leads to more nothings. And even those phone
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calls that the family were getting, one day those just stop and police never determine who was making them. So over
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the following months and years, it becomes clear that the only way they're going to solve this is through
00:23:45
advancements in technology. Talk of DNA is just a whisper in the mid 80s and a whisper that probably wasn't even making
00:23:52
its way to this little corner of America. So, it's not until 1999 that police have the tools and the knowhow to
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really make something happen. Using swabs from Wendy's sexual assault kit, lab techs are able to pull a full
00:24:10
male DNA profile, one that is good enough to enter into the earliest form of the COTUS national database. But
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unfortunately, it wouldn't be that easy. There were no matches. So, whoever this
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is has never been arrested after Wendy's murder in a state that collects DNA, or
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at least they hadn't been swabbed and entered, >> right? I mean, there were a lot of
00:24:31
cracks in the system early days, as we've talked about in plenty of other episodes. This wasn't a total loss,
00:24:37
though. I mean, this DNA does help police rule out a few people that we've talked about, like Dale and Michael, who
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by that point is in prison for a sex crime, >> which I'm sure just made them even more
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suspicious of him, like when all the years. Yeah. >> Yeah. And honestly, I mean, sometimes
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there are these cases that remind you why you need a really strong case before putting someone away for murder because
00:25:03
even when it seems like all the signs are pointing to one person, like you get a situation like this. Michael Ross is a
00:25:10
rapist. >> He's a bad guy, but not >> but he didn't do anything to Wendy Jerome.
00:25:13
>> Bad guy. >> I know. >> And what about the guy who found her? Did they ever go back and check him like
00:25:18
just to officially rule him out? For sure. >> They actually did. So, um, the Democrat
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and Chronicle had reported that by this point he'd actually passed away. It was like sometime in the decade or so since
00:25:29
Wendy's murder, but they had his DNA on file after he took his own life. And because they had to do an autopsy, so
00:25:35
they took it at that point, he ends up not being a match either. So, 15 years since the murder, one DNA profile, and
00:25:45
not a single suspect left on their list. Marlene explained to us what an emotional toll Wendy's murder took on
00:25:52
their family over the years. I mean, Wendy's brother, Bill, still had to go to school 33 where Wendy was found.
00:25:59
Marlene and Wendy's father, Wayne, I mean, they really struggled emotionally after her death. It got so bad that
00:26:05
Wendy's name wasn't even mentioned in the home. I mean, eventually it became so much that Wayne and Marlene ended up
00:26:12
divorcing. And Marlene moved out of state. She tried to start over. I mean, it was like
00:26:18
the only way she knew how to survive. But that's not to say she was like putting her old life behind her. She
00:26:24
still wanted to fight for her baby girl. But it was hard when police kept her at
00:26:30
arms length. It's not like they had a bad relationship, but they weren't giving her the kind of case details that
00:26:37
she wanted. And the more time that went on as she kind of gathered bits and pieces from what newspaper outlets were
00:26:43
reporting and in the absence of facts that she had like this already gruesome image she had of her daughter laying
00:26:51
beaten and naked in the snow just kind of got worse and worse over time. >> Yeah. I mean I'm sure she had like
00:26:56
worstc case scenario images in her mind. >> Yeah. I mean she I mean she told us that
00:27:01
she believed that Wendy's throat had been slashed open from like ear to ear. And listen, for many people, they might
00:27:08
say that not knowing is better, but for someone like Marlene, like when you don't know, then everything under the
00:27:16
sun is possible, right? Like when you know the facts, you can at least try to deal with like the one thing,
00:27:21
>> right? And not the millions of things that could be possible. And like you almost go, what's worse? What's worse?
00:27:25
What's worse? >> So finally she gets to the point where one day she's back home visiting
00:27:30
Rochester. And she goes into the police station and she's like, no excuses. like
00:27:36
it's been years. I want to see her file. I want to see the photos. And the police
00:27:42
actually let her like crime scene photos, autopsy photos, all of it. Like they probably thought they were
00:27:48
protecting her from the details all those years. But this is what she needed. This is what finally brought her
00:27:55
even like a small sense of peace because it wasn't until now in this moment while
00:28:00
she's looking at the pictures >> almost 10 years later. >> Yeah. This is when she learned that
00:28:04
Wendy had been found clothed that night. This is when she learned that the cut on
00:28:08
her neck wasn't ear to ear. It was much smaller than anything she'd been picturing. But it was also in this
00:28:14
moment that she learned that her daughter fought back, that she might have had time to cry out
00:28:20
for help. And it makes you think back to when Marlene was woken up on her couch that Thanksgiving day. Like, did she
00:28:29
somehow on the most instinctual of levels know that her daughter was calling out for her? This moment in the
00:28:35
police station, like it heals and then it hurts all over again, but at least now Marlene feels like she's in control,
00:28:41
like she advocated for herself. And I don't think she ever gave up hope. But in almost every family I've ever spoken
00:28:49
with who lives with an unsolved case, they have moments where they try and reckon with the unknown, right? like
00:28:55
they try to make peace with what they can come to terms with the possibility that there might never be answers
00:29:02
because like how else do you survive? You don't give up, but you figure out how to keep going fully aware that this
00:29:09
might be the only reality you will ever get to know >> cuz it's not like seeing the files
00:29:15
sparked anything new for her and it didn't do anything for police. So, another call it 17 more years pass
00:29:23
putting this case over the 30-year mark without any more significant breakthroughs.
00:29:29
But sometimes you just need the right person to latch on to a case at the right time. And in 2016, that right
00:29:38
person was Sergeant Venosa. Venosa told us that when he finally got assigned to cold cases, he went to the area known as
00:29:45
the vault room where they keep all their cold case files. And one of the files he
00:29:50
started to look through was Wendy's. And he said the details gripped him immediately. So much so that he didn't
00:29:58
like take this file back to his desk. He literally in the vault room just starts
00:30:01
like pouring through everything. He couldn't even bring himself to like look away for a second. And it was the very
00:30:07
next day that he called Wendy's mom to tell her he is now her new point person. I mean, he starts reinterviewing people,
00:30:14
reooking at old tips, and at the same time, he's sending off whatever he can to be tested, like the swabs of blood
00:30:21
from the drops found by Rosewood Terrace. But those turned out to be too deteriorated to obtain usable DNA
00:30:28
samples. So, strike out there. And knowing his suspect isn't in Cotus, he starts thinking, "Okay, maybe this guy
00:30:35
is dead." And like that's why he hasn't hit their radar all these years. So, how
00:30:40
do you find a dead guy that you didn't even know the name of in life? Well, Sergeant Venosa started planning a way
00:30:46
to compile a list of like age appropriate black male homicide victims since 1984.
00:30:53
And by the way, now that they have like DNA and it's advanced so much, like all the testing, they are able to confirm
00:30:59
what the hairs were suggesting early on. Their perpetrator was a black male. But
00:31:04
according to Sergeant Venosa, before he can even get this list going, something happens that changes the course of the
00:31:10
investigation and makes things a whole heck of a lot easier on him. In 2017, a new tool was added to the Rochester PD's
00:31:20
arsenal. >> I think I know where this is going. >> Well, a little maybe, maybe not. So, New
00:31:24
York State approves the use of familial DNA testing, meaning they can use DNA from a suspect to identify potential
00:31:33
relatives in CODS. >> Okay? >> Right? Like they might not be able to get a hit on the suspect, but they can
00:31:38
get a hit. >> Get close, >> right? But one step forward, two steps back, like always, they learn that they
00:31:45
can't actually use the profile they already have that's in Kotus. So, like again, so much has developed, changed
00:31:52
over the years. They have to basically submit a new profile like a better profile is what they need.
00:31:58
>> And when the state lab comes back after 9 months, it's bad news. The profile that they are able to produce has 15
00:32:08
alals and the rule was you needed 16 to do the search. So the profile the profile gets rejected. Now luckily
00:32:18
Venosa sees the writing on the wall, right? He is advised by techs and scientists that the testing is getting
00:32:23
better and better every day. So he doesn't have to go back to making his list of dead men and checking it twice
00:32:30
like some grim Santa Claus. They say, "Listen, just give it a couple of years. They still had more samples to work
00:32:36
with, right? Like they hadn't like used up everything. Give it a couple of years. The sample will give you
00:32:42
answers." And sure enough, they were right. In April 2019, they send a new sample
00:32:50
off. This one takes even longer than the first to come back. But in July of 2020,
00:32:55
investigators are informed that yes, you have a good sample. Yes, we put it in COTUS. And there aren't just one, but
00:33:03
two hits from men in COTUS who are related to your unknown suspect. According to court documents, one of the
00:33:10
hits came back to a man named Arthur Williams, who I repeat is not the suspect. >> He was related to their suspect, though
00:33:19
they don't know how. So, they have to do some backtracking and it's kind of wild,
00:33:25
a little convoluted, but I'll do my like crime junkie best and give you like the
00:33:28
need to know cliff notes. So, when looking into Arthur, investigators discovered that at one point he was
00:33:35
pulled over for like a traffic stop. And he gave police the name of a cousin instead of his real name to try to avoid
00:33:43
getting in trouble because his own license was suspended. Like, he gets pulled over, he shouldn't be driving, so
00:33:48
he gives them the name of one of his cousins. >> Police see stuff like this all the time.
00:33:52
Basically, like in an attempt to squirm out of trouble, you use the name of a relative or friend or someone close
00:33:57
>> and then whatever charge lands on them, right? and you pick someone that's close
00:34:00
in age instead of your own, whatever. So, that's not what stands out to them. What stands out is that the cousin's
00:34:06
name that he gave, they recognized that name, which we've been asked not to use.
00:34:12
So, I'm just going to refer to him as the cousin. >> But Venosa had seen that name in the
00:34:18
case file that he has read backwards and forwards time and time again. Now, the name isn't there a lot, mind you, but
00:34:25
back in November of 1984, a tip had come in that accused this cousin of bragging
00:34:32
about the murder. Now, it's unclear if that was ever followed up on at the time, but this obviously cannot be a
00:34:39
coincidence. >> So, police look into this cousin and they discover that back in 1984, he
00:34:46
lived on, drum roll please, Rosewood Terrace. just five houses away from the school and only three houses away from
00:34:57
where that last blood drop was found. >> Okay, just to confirm, this cousin isn't
00:35:05
the other relative that popped up, right? Like this one hit is from Arthur and this cousin mentioned and then this
00:35:10
second >> we don't they don't like I don't really even know a ton about the second
00:35:14
connection in Cotus cuz everything kind of like spawns from what they looked at in Arthur, right?
00:35:18
this cousin was not in Cotus, which means it is looking more and more like it could actually be him cuz we know our
00:35:25
perp isn't in Cotus. >> So, this guy never did anything that would have gotten his DNA put in the
00:35:30
database. >> But now, they got to find a way to get this guy's DNA like surreptitiously.
00:35:36
>> So, they put this guy under surveillance for a week. They watch his house. They
00:35:40
watch him get coffee from a Speedway gas station every day. They follow him to his security job at a hotel.
00:35:45
>> I'm sorry, security job. Eventually, Sergeant Venosa snatches one of this guy's coffee cups from the hotel lobby
00:35:52
trash can. It takes 2 days to directly compare. And guess what? It's not him. How I know. Listen, it is not the guy,
00:36:06
but this is still helping build a picture, >> right? We know our killer is related to
00:36:12
Arthur. We know Arthur has a cousin who lives near the crime scene. like this cousin didn't do it,
00:36:16
>> but like that's we have a family, >> right? We're in the same family. So, all
00:36:21
of this is relevant. It's just like a bad game of hot and cold. And right now, they're warm.
00:36:26
>> Mhm. >> So, what they do is they go back to Arthur. They start looking at Arthur to
00:36:30
see if there are any other men that he is related to that might fit. Now, they discover that Arthur's father died back
00:36:38
in 1963, and his obituary only listed his children as Arthur and him having two sisters. But that's weird because
00:36:48
when investigators reviewed a log of who had been visiting Arthur while he was in
00:36:52
prison, they show someone who comes to see him who lists themselves as Arthur's brother. And guess freaking what? It is
00:37:00
another name that Sergeant Venosa recognizes from the case file. [Music] The name is Timothy Williams.
00:37:13
This is Arthur's brother. And I don't know if Timothy sounds familiar, but way back at the beginning of our story in
00:37:20
1984 when police were canvasing the neighborhood asking others about Michael Ross, Timothy is the one who called
00:37:29
Michael sneaky and someone who couldn't be trusted. >> Oh, and is he actually Arthur's brother?
00:37:36
>> He is. Yeah. >> Then wait, why wasn't he listed in the obituary? Oh, he wasn't in the obituary
00:37:41
because Timothy's mother was actually pregnant when his dad died and he gets he's like born 7 months afterwards.
00:37:48
>> So, he wasn't there to be listed. >> Right now, when they start looking at Timothy's background, he checks a lot of
00:37:55
boxes. He would have been 20 years old at the time of Wendy's murder. So, like old enough to have committed a crime
00:38:01
like this. He was living with that cousin on Rosewood Terrace, just a few houses from the scene. So, see, it's
00:38:07
like all connected. And he too hasn't done anything that would have gotten his DNA put in Cotus. So they can't rule him
00:38:15
in or out without a direct comparison sample. And it is a long shot. But Venosa sees a potential easy way to get
00:38:24
one. >> I've heard that before. It never ends up being an easy win. >> Rarely, but you got to try, right?
00:38:31
Sometimes it pays off. So when they were looking at Timothy and looking at his background or whatever, Sergeant Venosa
00:38:37
said that he had some prior for things like possession, resisting arrest, but there was also a sexual assault
00:38:44
report filed by an ex-girlfriend of his in 1992. Now, he's never charged for this. It
00:38:50
sounds like the ex didn't want to move forward, but at the time, a sexual assault kit was done. Now, to your point
00:38:58
about things never being easy, Venosa felt like the odds of finding this assault kit after all of these years for
00:39:04
a case that didn't move forward were really, really low, >> especially because the evidence room had
00:39:09
undergone multiple revamps over time and things were purged, whatever. >> But they're going to look anyways. They
00:39:15
go down to the basement evidence storage room. And we're not talking like just a
00:39:19
room with neatly piled boxes. Everything is in this place. Like it is a hoarder's
00:39:24
garage full of stuff like bikes from the '60s, a bunch of doors that were even in
00:39:28
evidence. Like you name it. But get this, they find this sexual assault kit and not just find it. It is perfectly
00:39:37
preserved and sealed, >> which like who were these people and why weren't they running every closet ever?
00:39:44
>> I know >> this never happens. >> So on August 11th, 2020, this gets sent off for testing for comparison. Fingers
00:39:52
crossed. Investigators wait. Another two days go by, which like, by the way, don't tell me DNA can't be done fast.
00:39:58
Like, we're turning things around over here. And just like that, it's solved. Timothy's sperm matches the DNA
00:40:08
recovered from Wendy's underwear. They have their guy after all of these years, but they need to do more of like a
00:40:17
direct one forone sample, right? Like I mean they don't want anyone arguing anything in court
00:40:22
>> especially because like this >> came from like another case >> that hadn't been tried convicted like
00:40:27
it's like very likely him but without that ruling don't know. >> They're like let's get a sample from him
00:40:33
right now that we know is his >> directly >> right. Well what they have to do is they
00:40:37
actually have to tap the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for help because in the years since the murder
00:40:41
Timothy had moved down to Florida and made this like lowkey unassuming life for himself. The now 56-year-old was
00:40:50
married to a woman named Barbara. They had a couple of kids. They're doing normal family stuff, like, you know,
00:40:58
he's a he's a working dad. He's working. He's mowing. He's taking out the recycling.
00:41:03
That is where FDLE pulled two bottles from to directly compare. One of them does match the sample taken from Wendy.
00:41:13
And there is zero doubt now. >> So, okay. How how did any of this happen? Like did Wendy know him?
00:41:21
>> No. So this is what is so wild. Like once they like had him in their sights, they even went back and reined some of
00:41:28
her old friends. They were showing him old photos of Timothy, right? Not even the new ones, like back in the day.
00:41:33
>> No one is pointing this guy out of a lineup. Zero recollection of him. >> So Sergeant Venosa believes that the
00:41:42
only way this like probably would have happened is that Wendy ran into Timothy in front of the school. somewhere around
00:41:49
Rosewood Terrace. And this was just a random crime of opportunity. So on September 8th, 2020, Sergeant Fenosa
00:41:57
along with two investigators who had been helping with the case. This guy named John Brennan and Gary Galleta,
00:42:03
they head down to Florida to finally make this arrest. Gary Galetta had actually been among the very first to
00:42:09
respond to the scene back in 1984. And now here he was almost 36 years later taking part in the arrest of Wendy's
00:42:17
killer. >> And that's like about as full circle as it gets >> truly. And Sergeant Venosa told us about
00:42:23
like the night before the arrest like when the team is kind of like plotting this, planning this, they were all
00:42:28
sitting on this hotel balcony smoking cigars, drinking bourbon, and they they were trying to plan like we need this is
00:42:35
more than just going and putting handcuffs on this guy. They had the opportunity to really like paint him
00:42:40
into a corner. And Sergeant Venosa and John Brennan basically came up with this idea that the two of them would approach
00:42:46
his home while Gary hung back in the car keeping a perimeter with the local police. And the hope was to get Timothy
00:42:53
caught in a lie. They wanted him to say that he had never seen Wendy before, which considering the DNA evidence they
00:43:00
had, like they would know that's not like they know that's not true already, but like then you're like, "Okay, we
00:43:05
there's no excuse of like, oh, we could have had a relationship or anything." It's which we know they didn't have. And
00:43:10
listen, this dude fell for it hookline and sinker. So the next day, September 9th, they show up at his door and not
00:43:16
wanting to tip their hand, what they did is they're like, "Hey, we're investigating this cold case and we're
00:43:22
looking at the guy that you said was so sus all those years ago. Remember Michael Ross? Like, let's talk about
00:43:27
Michael." >> Yeah. Let's talk about him and get your guard down. >> Right. So Timothy is like, "No, I don't
00:43:33
even know Michael and I don't know what you're talking about. I didn't even live
00:43:37
in Rochester in 1984, >> which is like almost a bigger better lie than what they were hoping to get from
00:43:45
in the first place. >> And it's just downhill from there for Timothy. Eventually, he acknowledges
00:43:50
like, "Oh, yes, I did in fact live in Rochester at the time." >> He also admits, "Oh, yes, I had heard
00:43:56
about Wendy's murder." But he still denies knowing her after they show him a photo. And that is all Sergeant Venosa
00:44:05
and co need. They place Timothy under arrest. And while he can protest all he wants, which he does, they know that
00:44:13
they've got their man. >> Whenever the suspect is someone like this, I always like wonder what their
00:44:18
families knew or thought. Like what does his wife think? >> Totally blindsided. >> Oh my god. And Timothy clammed up once
00:44:25
he was arrested. But Barbara was like a pretty open book with police. She tells investigators they got married in 1998.
00:44:32
This is roughly like 9 years after Wendy's murder. She had no clue about any of this. The Timothy that they're
00:44:39
describing to her, she says, is not the man that she knew all these years. She said he was never violent. He was never
00:44:45
physical with her. She's like in complete shock. And you know who else is shocked? Marlene. Sergeant Venosa and
00:44:53
his team still had to tell her about the arrest. Now, the plan always was to like
00:44:58
do this in person. So, all the investigators go straight to her house, like right from the airport. And it is
00:45:04
there on her porch through tears that Sergeant Venosa gives her the news that I think she feared would never come. And
00:45:11
Marlene becomes so overwhelmed at one point that she briefly collapses and her son Bill has to like catch her,
00:45:17
>> which I don't always like know or even think about what order all this happens.
00:45:21
But she had no clue this arrest was even coming. No, they no clue at all. She knew that they were like tracking down
00:45:29
leads and working like they had been for decades, right? But >> she thought they were coming over cuz
00:45:34
they did tell her they were coming over, but she thought she was just getting some kind of update. Like there is no
00:45:38
hint to her of something bigger. Now, heartbreakingly, the one person who isn't with Marlene when Sergeant Venosa
00:45:44
delivers the news was Wendy's dad, Wayne. He had died from cancer back in 2011. all those years of guilt that Wayne
00:45:52
carried for allowing Wendy to go out that night. Like, you can only imagine what he would have thought of this. And,
00:46:00
you know, Marlene and him actually had gotten back together, by the way. So, like those two were able to work out,
00:46:06
you know, their relationship and everything in his final years. Now, this feels like the end from the outside. Bad
00:46:13
guy arrested, family gets answers, but it is so far from over. I think families spend so much time thinking about
00:46:21
knowing the who and they think about the investigation leading up to that that there isn't a ton of thought about what
00:46:26
the daytoday is like after that and all the work that has to come after. I mean,
00:46:31
true crime shows are partly to blame, right? Like they got the guy the end, but there is a whole second wave of
00:46:38
trauma that families have to go through if a case goes to trial. And unfortunately, Wendy's family was not
00:46:45
spared of that. They had to do it twice. First in November of 2023, but then just
00:46:51
a little over a week in, a mistrial was declared. And we don't have a ton on this. The specific details have never
00:46:57
been made public, but essentially juror misconduct was the cause. Now, Marlene told us that the judge was furious and
00:47:04
had instructed the jury members not to discuss the case, and she thinks this mistrial had something to do with like
00:47:10
them not following those instructions. But either way, Marlene said this was devastating. She told us the family was
00:47:16
so upset. There was so much crying. And partly because, according to Rochester First, at that point in the trial, crime
00:47:23
scene photos, autopsy photos had already been shown. And now the DA had to break
00:47:28
it to Wendy's family that they're going to have to relive all of that again. So,
00:47:33
the second trial kicked off in February 2024. Enter one of the things that we probably don't think about. What happens
00:47:40
when your daughter's killer wants to take the stand and lie about your kid? >> In this trial, Timothy does exactly
00:47:47
that. According to 13WAM ABC, he says that he met Wendy outside a store in September 1984, and at some point they
00:47:56
began a sexual relationship. Of course, he's like, "I had no idea she was 14. She told me she was 16." He continued to
00:48:02
claim that on Thanksgiving, the day of the murder, Wendy stopped by his place sometime after 7:00 p.m., they had sex
00:48:09
without a condom and then she left and he says he has no idea what happened to her after that. That's the last time he
00:48:14
saw her. There is no evidence of Wendy having any sexual relationship with anyone. By the way, this was just
00:48:22
Timothy's attempt to explain away how his DNA ended up everywhere. And thankfully, the jury didn't buy it. On
00:48:28
March 8th of 2024, they find Timothy guilty of all three counts of seconddegree murder. And it was the
00:48:35
first conviction in New York State using familial DNA. Marlene told us she was so
00:48:40
elated hearing the verdict that she had to restrain herself from like jumping out of her seat. And so a month later,
00:48:47
Timothy was sentenced to 25 years to life. Following the conviction, Sergeant Venosa asked Marlene for permission to
00:48:53
get a tattoo with Wendy's initials, her date of birth, and her date of death in honor of her. A request that moved
00:49:00
Marlene to tears. And Brit, if things can't get any more emotional, it was so sweet. Sergeant Venosa also gave Marlene
00:49:06
the handcuffs that he used to take Timothy Williams into custody. He even had them engraved for her. But I think
00:49:13
this shows not only Sergeant Venosa's dedication to this case, but how much of a bond can form between investigators
00:49:20
and victims families when it is done right. >> Yes, >> right is not easy, but it goes a long
00:49:26
way. Sergeant Venosa had begun to think of Wendy as a little sister. I mean, even though they had never met, and he
00:49:33
said that solving Wendy's case was one of the most satisfying points of his career.
00:49:37
>> That's like so incredible. >> You know, we don't get it a lot. It's so easy for that relationship to go so
00:49:44
sideways and like it's really wonderful to see a family feel like they got the support that they needed, the work that
00:49:51
they needed >> and for the investigator to like identify and connect to a case like that
00:49:55
deeply. >> And through all this, Timothy, did he ever take accountability or explain
00:50:01
himself in any way? Like even after the conviction? >> No. Uh, and this is interesting because
00:50:06
according to Sergeant Venosa, in the years since Wendy's murder, Timothy has become born again. Yet, apparently, he
00:50:13
didn't feel close enough to God to unbburden himself of his ultimate sin or at the very least even apologized for
00:50:20
it. >> But apology or not, Marleene now has the closure she sought. Her years since have
00:50:26
been about keeping Wendy's memory alive. She said that she feels as long as people are talking about Wendy, like
00:50:32
we're doing right now, it means that Wendy is still alive in some way and that she hasn't been forgotten.
00:50:39
When our reporter asked Marlene what she wanted people to remember most about her
00:50:43
daughter, she said this. She had dreams. She had her life all planned out and she
00:50:50
was working even in grammar school towards getting where she wanted to be when she grew up. She was a good friend.
00:50:58
A really good friend. So I'm told. She was a beautiful soul. Beautiful soul and a loving daughter, loving sister. She's
00:51:07
missed every day. Wendy's story is a perfect example of how justice can prevail. No matter how long it takes.
00:51:15
And hopefully it will serve as an inspiration for all those families out there still waiting for their own
00:51:20
justice. There is still hope and their time will come. You can find all the source material for this episode on our
00:51:28
website, crimejunkypodcast.com. And you can follow us on Instagram, crimejunkodcast.
00:51:33
>> We'll be back next week with a brand new episode. [Music]