00:00:00
Hey weirdos. I'm Ash. >> And I'm Elena. >> And this is More Bed. [Music] >> This is Morgan,
00:00:19
>> [ __ ] >> On the weekend. >> I know. It's so weird. I feel like we very rarely record on the weekends.
00:00:25
>> We try not to. >> The weekend. >> The weekend. If you've seen the Urban Legend movie,
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>> which I hope you have. If you haven't, go watch it. >> If you haven't, what the hell are you
00:00:34
doing? >> What the hell? >> What's the If you haven't seen the Urban Legend movie, then where the hell are
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you at? >> I don't think that one really worked, but whatever. Um, >> I don't think it did.
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>> Okay. I didn't need you to double down on my own opinion, >> but here's the thing. I really liked it.
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>> Okay, that's good. >> I'm just very tired. >> Yeah. No big facts. >> So tired. We had our first live show
00:00:58
last night at the Wilb. >> At the Wilb Old Wilbur. >> Ye old Wilbur is what we thought what we
00:01:04
found out it's called. >> It was so much fun. >> You guys, I said on my Instagram story,
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you showed up and you showed out. >> You did. You showed in every direction. >> You showed in, up, down, left, right,
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center, everywhere. >> Under on top. >> It was so much fun. >> And like we had a couple of like
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hiccups, but like super minor hiccups. And you guys were just ling with us. Yeah, cuz they were funny hiccups.
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That's how they, you know, ruined anything. But like I it started right away when I didn't know when I was
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supposed to go on stage. >> I know. >> And I think everyone heard me over the microphone be like, "Do I do I go up
00:01:36
now?" >> And I was I literally was like, "Yeah, just just go. >> Just go. >> Go."
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>> But yeah, so that was so much fun and we got to meet a bunch of you. It was just
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it was great. >> I know. Everyone we met was so lovely and >> the vibe was so good in there.
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>> It really was. >> Like you guys really brought some just delicious vibes. Yeah, here's the thing.
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Um, you're going to be hearing this after it already happened just because of the way the cookie crumbles, but
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Sunday crowd, you better have brought it. >> I hope you brought it >> cuz Friday brought it.
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>> Yeah, they brought it. >> Yeah. So, yesterday's crowd. >> Yeah. >> Hope you brought it.
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>> And shout out to Lauren who made us the coolest cross stitch I've ever seen. >> And was the sweetest Bobi. Sorry, I gave
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you the most awkward hug um of human existence because my shoes were so high and the stage was high up. So, I like
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went to give her a side hug, but I kind of just leaned on her. >> I think I just grabbed your arm or your
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hand because I just didn't know what to do. >> You hugged last night >> and I hugged and we all hugged.
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>> Hey, it's going it's all I love you guys. >> Yeah, I say I'm not a hugger, but then I
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just go and hug everyone. >> Yeah, >> you are. I'm a secret hugger. >> You are. >> I'm You know what? I'm coming out of the
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closet as a hugger. >> You're officially saying it. >> Here I am. >> Here she is.
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>> Except don't hug me. I'll hug you. >> Yeah, that's all it's like. If I want to
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hug you, I'll hug you. Yeah. >> Yeah. So, if I hugged you, I wanted to hug you. Look at that. Look at that.
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>> Look at that. >> Yeah. We had everybody was so amazing and we had all the people, you know,
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that love and care about us back there with us, which was so lovely. >> Yeah. But yeah, I'm exhausted.
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>> Very big tired. >> Um, you know, one of my kids is going through like a slight little like sleep
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regression type duad. So, >> little dad. So, uh, I don't exactly sleep through the night ever right now.
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It's like it feels like a newborn a little bit, but >> I slept through I'm sorry. I slept
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through the night and I slept in and I'm still tired. >> I got I didn't sleep through the night
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and then I woke up and took one of them to dance and then immediately went to karate. And this is like John was going
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to just do all the things, but because I was I had the thing last night and I >> and we had some of the day taken up.
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>> Yeah. don't like missing like, you know, bedtime with them and everything. So, I
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was like, "No, I want to do it all." >> And then I was like, "But I'm so tired."
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>> You're like that Sarah Jessica Parker movie. How does she do it all? >> Except I think she might be a [ __ ] in
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that movie. And you're probably Well, I mean, you're bitching, but you're not a [ __ ]
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>> You're bitching, but you're not a [ __ ] >> I like that. >> Donest Darko. >> Um, but yeah. So, I'm exhausted, but you
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know, here we are. It's all good. >> It's all good exhaustion. >> It's Yeah. Honestly, life has been like
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>> Well, before I go too far, >> I was just going to say, where's this going? >> It's so professional life has been
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[ __ ] sick lately. >> Oh, yeah. We We are [ __ ] >> professional life did a 180. And then
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like personal life went a little like >> Well, it's like life in our in our own um little houses. A+ [ __ ] awesome.
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>> Outside of that, >> outside of that could use a little uh WD40 cuz it's a little squeaky. I think
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we need more than that, babe. >> But you know what? >> But you know, >> babe, I got you, babe.
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>> I got you, babe. >> That's my I'm the we're we're Sunny and Sher before they divorce.
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>> So, there's that. >> Yeah. >> Um, but yeah, we're going to We have a case for you today. That's why you're
00:04:56
here. >> They're like, "Can you can you get to it?" >> They're like, "Can you stop being
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insane?" >> This could be very unhinged. Uh, but, you know, here we are. I'm going to talk
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about the aspirin bandit today. >> The what? I just took a sip of coffee at like the wor the worst.
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>> The aspirin bandit. >> Is this about someone stealing the aspirin? >> You would think. No,
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>> you would think it's a little different. So, I know that's that's a very interesting name, but we'll get to it.
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>> Topical. >> Uh, so let's let's begin at the beginning. >> Okay. >> You know, a really good place to begin.
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>> Yeah. By the way, I'm sorry about my straw. There's nothing I can do about it.
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>> Oh, yeah. Mikey, don't worry. It's fine. I need the coffee. >> We have It's It You know, we're trying
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to like be kind to the environment with glass and and metal straws, >> but then it does a little like
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>> But it >> But you know what? ASMR. >> Yeah. We won't do it all the time, so don't worry.
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>> So, on the afternoon of January 13th, 1941, Betty Allen was home home alone. Home alone.
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>> Home alone. I don't I was gonna say home alone. I'm not really sure. >> Maybe alone. I'm not I don't know what's
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going on. She was she was living that makin life. >> What? >> That's what she was living.
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>> Wait, what? Mol Kulkin. >> Mccoli Kulkin. I did the K too soon. Jesus Christ.
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>> Oh my god. >> I told you. >> Christ almighty. >> I warned you. >> What's the other Kirkin? What's the
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other Kulkin? God damn it. There's many Kulkans. Who? Who's Roman? Roman is uh Kieran maybe.
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>> Is it Kieran? >> There was a Kieran. Now I have to look this up. >> We're never going to get to this story.
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>> We haven't even started this. >> Hello. >> I think it's Kieran Kulkin. There's
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Kieran Shipka. >> Yeah, it's Kieran Kulka. It's Kieran Kulkin. But Kieran Shipka.
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>> There's McCaulay Kulkin. There's Rory Kulkin. >> No, you don't have to tell me all of I
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just like Kieran. >> Yes. And Kieran Kulkin Kieran Kieran Kulkin is Roman. >> He is.
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>> But Rory Kulkin was in Scream 4. He plays Charlie. >> Oh, I did like Charlie, too.
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>> And I thought he was so good in that. >> He really was. >> I really thought he was awesome in that.
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>> Of all the of all the Kulkans, Kieran is my favorite. >> Kieran is your favorite. I mean, I get
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that. I think I think he's pretty high up on people's lists right now, but honestly, they all kind of rock.
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>> Yeah, they're all good. They're all pretty great. So, >> I like you all. I'm just saying the
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best. Since you're obviously listening, it's fine. >> Listen, listen, Kulkin weirdos.
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>> Listen, Kulkin, >> I feel like I'm losing my mind. >> Uh oh, one little side note again.
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>> Oh my god. >> I feel like and again, this is coming out after uh the Sunday show. I don't
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know. I made a joke at the end of the um at the Friday show that like Tobias Forge was coming out.
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>> I don't know if you should do that tomorrow. >> I don't think I should do it Sunday. I
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think I genuinely disappointed everyone cuz I was like, just kidding. Yeah, don't do that at the end of the show
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>> cuz like he's he's in Mexico. Like he's he's not here. >> It was funny though when you were like
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I'm kidding. He's in Mexico. >> Yeah. I was like come on. Like he's not even here.
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>> Oh man. >> But I think I think everyone believed me for a second which like thank you for
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having the faith in me that you think that I could get Tobias Forge to come out for the end of our show.
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>> That's Here's the thing. If we were going to get Tobias Forge to come out, I feel like we wouldn't put him at the end
00:08:18
of the show. That'd be so rude. >> I would have had him sat on that chase lounge the whole time. I was like, "What
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are you about to say? Where where would you have him sat >> on the Sha's lounge on the on the
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>> He would have just been a little ornament that sits there and every now and then I'd be like, Tobias Forge,
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what's up? >> Hey, Tobias. >> So funny that you heard Tobias. >> But yeah, it was funny. I made that
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joke. I I don't think anybody was mad at me about it, but I felt the disappointment, so I didn't I don't
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think I'll do that on Sunday. >> Here's how I'll call your disappointment. Our pumpkin necklaces
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that I ordered us just came in. >> Oh, hell yeah. >> I want to wear the [ __ ] out of that.
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>> Let's [ __ ] go. >> So, yeah, if you were at the Friday show, >> sorry if I disappointed you with that
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joke. I truly didn't mean to. Okay. >> Um, someday we'll have him be a special guest.
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>> Yeah. You know, >> on a chase >> on something. We'll put him on a Chase lounge.
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>> But in Sunday, who knows if I made that joke. And if I did, sorry I disappointed
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you, too. >> I'm telling you. I don't know if you should. I don't think I maybe I'll just
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tell you on Sunday that I made that joke and it disappointed everyone. >> There you go.
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>> There you go. >> And now you'll just hear it again. >> I figured it out. Okay.
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>> Okay. All right. We're We're losing it. >> All right. So, on the afternoon of
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January 13th, 1941, Betty Allen was home alone >> and a ran >> and a ran in the Bronx apartment she
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shared with her husband. >> The Bronx. >> And she heard a knock at the door. When
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she opened it, Betty was met by a young man with olive skin. That's how he was described in dark hair who she had never
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seen before. The man explained that a few days earlier he had been hitchhiking in Connecticut and was picked up by her
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husband who was driving his bakery delivery route. The young man told Betty he'd had a hard life and had grown up in
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Boy's Town which was a small village in Nebraska established a few decades earlier by father Edward Flanigan as a
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home for orphaned boys. >> Oh, I feel like I've heard of Boytown. >> Yeah. He was on his way to visit his
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sick sister in New York. And Betty's husband had been kind enough to not only give him a ride, but also lend him a few
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dollars. Now that he'd arrived in the city, he wanted to repay the small loan, which is like really nice.
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>> I don't know if I buy it. >> Betty explained that her husband was still at work and would be home later
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that day if he wanted to return information. >> Yeah, that you can't do that. >> Your husband is always home as far as
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strangers are concerned. Uh the man seemed a little disappointed and again expressed that he really just wanted to
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return the money. But Betty just reiterated her previous statement. My husband is not home. He will be home
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later this evening. Accepting this whole thing, the man was about to leave. But before he did, he wondered if Betty
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might be able to spare a few aspirin and a glass of water because he said he had
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a terrible headache all day and would have to walk back to his sister's apartment, which was like kind of far
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away and he was really dealing with a headache. >> All right. >> Betty was like, "Yeah, of course." So
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she said, "Yeah, wait. Wait here. I'll get you the pills and the water." But as soon as Betty had walked away, the man
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slipped in behind her and closed the door. >> Oh no. That is really scary. >> Really scary. And actually, like I hate
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saying this, but that's such a good way to get in. Like most people really wouldn't think twice about that.
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>> He endeared himself and then he just asked for something very simple, which is like I really have a headache. Do
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you? And he didn't like insist on coming in the house. He like waited >> knowing that she's not going to like or
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most likely not going to lock the door behind her. >> But now you know lock the door.
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>> Yeah. >> So once inside the apartment, the man forced Betty into the back bedroom and
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pushed her on the bed. >> Oh no. >> Uh then he and just as a obviously I think you can all see that this is going
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to be a rough one. I would love to throw a trigger warning right now just in case
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there's some sexual assault in this one. It's a little little tough. Um, he tied
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her hands with a necktie and her feet with a towel. And then he gagged her with a handkerchief.
00:12:05
>> Jesus. >> She was laying face down on the bed, but she could hear him rumaging through the
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apartment, you know, presumably looking for cash and valuables. But when he'd finished ransacking the apartment, he
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returned to the bedroom, and he could she could hear him taking off his clothes,
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>> presumably to sexually assault her. Yeah. >> Fortunately, just as he had started to
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unbutton his pants, the telephone rang really loudly and scared him. >> Oh. >> And like freaked him out and he quickly
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dressed himself up and ran out of the apartment. >> The telephone scared him off. That's
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crazy. >> I don't know if it's just like >> I'm glad. But >> it's just like interference from the
00:12:42
outside world maybe just made him be like, "Oh, [ __ ] Like I'm going to get in trouble here." I don't know.
00:12:47
>> Interesting. Now, when Bronx detective Ed Burns came to the Allen apartment, the scene supported the story that Betty
00:12:53
had told. Someone had clearly torn the place apart. You know, ripping out drawers, pulling out the contents of the
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cabinets. But when he spoke to Betty and her husband, Burns only learned like a few things of value that had been
00:13:05
stolen. He was like, he didn't really take a lot. >> And other more valuable items were left
00:13:10
behind. >> Weird. So, also after giving investigators a description of her attacker, both Betty and her husband
00:13:16
claimed they didn't know the man, and her husband couldn't think of anyone who matched that description. So, that story
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>> was a was not was ruth. >> Yeah. >> The rest of the crime scene was pretty unhelpful. There was a glass of water
00:13:30
and a bottle of aspirin on the table in the kitchen. But when they dusted the glass, neither Betty nor the attacker's
00:13:35
prince were even visible on it, indicating that he'd actually been smart enough to wipe it down before leaving
00:13:41
the apartment, because he had wiped Betty's off, too. >> Oh. When he considered all the evidence,
00:13:46
Burns theorized that this probably wasn't the first time this attacker had done something like this, cuz that was
00:13:51
pretty smart. >> Mhm. Uh, also he left behind valuables laying in plain sight while taking again
00:13:57
the smaller, less valuable ones. So he was like, I don't even think that robbery was the prime motive here. So
00:14:03
later that afternoon, detectives brought Betty and her husband into the station to look over like a bunch of photos of
00:14:09
50 known criminals that they wanted to take a look at. >> That's a lot of people.
00:14:13
>> And she flips through a few pages and she identified Anthony Litzy as the man
00:14:17
who attacked her. >> Okay. At the time, Litzy was known to bronze police for his involvement in a
00:14:22
number of robberies a few years earlier, but since he's he'd been released from prison, he'd stayed out of trouble, and
00:14:28
he'd actually maintained employment with a local construction crew. So, they were
00:14:32
like, "Fuck, is he like back at it again?" >> Yeah. >> Now, there was nothing in his past as
00:14:37
well to suggest that he was a violent predator, too, which made them like consider what was going on.
00:14:42
>> Yeah, that's weird. But when investigators spoke to his employer, they learned that Anthony had been
00:14:46
working at the Parkchester Chester Apartments on the day Betty Allen was attacked, which is where she lived.
00:14:52
>> Okay. >> So, he was brought in for questioning. Under interrogation, Litzy vehemently
00:14:58
denied having anything to do with this whole thing. Um, and he offered two of his co-workers as alibis. He was like,
00:15:04
"I did not do this." But when they learned that both of Litzy's alibis were related to him by blood or marriage,
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>> that doesn't [ __ ] check out at all. He was arrested for the attack on Betty
00:15:14
Allen. >> All right. I still don't know if it's him. >> You don't know. So, his arrest
00:15:18
represented the best possible outcome. A quick resolution >> that brought this whole thing to a
00:15:23
close. >> Feels too soon. >> Or so it seemed. Imagine if I was like, "And that's the end."
00:15:28
>> That's it. >> The end. >> Yeah. The end. >> Welcome to the shortest morbid ever
00:15:32
recorded. >> And what a happy ending. He got caught. >> I know. And like, you know,
00:15:36
>> bye. Uh, so three weeks after the attempted assault on Betty Allen, Ed Burns was
00:15:42
called to the apartment of John and Catherine Papus. John had been at work that afternoon when someone came to the
00:15:48
apartment and killed Catherine. >> Oh, >> yeah. According to John, there were several things missing, including a
00:15:55
necklace, a diamond engagement ring, and an unknown amount of dimes that Catherine had been saving in a tin on
00:16:01
her dresser. >> Oh. But what immediately caught Burns's attention was the open bottle of aspirin
00:16:07
and a glass of water sitting on the coffee table. >> Oh [ __ ] >> Now you know why he's called the aspirin
00:16:13
baby. >> And that is such good detective work >> to notice something cuz again >> that's pretty innocuous.
00:16:18
>> Innocuous. Many people get headaches and especially around this time we're in the
00:16:22
40s here. >> Everybody got headaches. >> You taking some aspirin, you got headaches. Like shit's rough. We like
00:16:28
depression era like you know like post depression. It's like everybody's got a [ __ ] headache and you're all taking
00:16:34
an aspirin for it. It's just like a normal thing to do. >> Now, in the bedroom, Catherine's body
00:16:38
was on the bed. She had scratches and bruising on her face. Her bra was torn and her dress was hiked up to her waist,
00:16:45
but she was still wearing underwear. >> Later, the medical examiner would confirm that she had not been sexually
00:16:51
assaulted, but she had been strangled and several of her neckbones had been broken in the process.
00:16:57
>> That's brutal. >> Brutal. When she was discovered, she had a linen towel tied around her throat,
00:17:02
which had been ripped, and the other was used to bind her ankles and her wrists.
00:17:06
Um, had been bound with a man's new uh, blue necktie. On the bed, there was also a bald-up
00:17:12
handkerchief that looked like he had tried to use it as a gag, which is exactly what he did with Betty.
00:17:17
>> I was just going to say >> to Burns, the scene clearly looked very much like the Betty Allen scene
00:17:22
immediately. >> Yeah. >> Uh, there was no sign of forced entry. the bottle of aspirin on the table. The
00:17:27
apartment had been ransacked and looted. >> Same bindings. >> Yeah. The only difference was in this
00:17:32
case, Katherine Papus had fought her attacker with every ounce of energy she had in her and for that she was likely
00:17:40
killed. >> Yeah. >> They thought like she fought so hard that he just like lost it.
00:17:44
>> Right. Now, investigators interviewed John, who was an owner of a small coffee
00:17:48
import business, and he told them he had been at work when his wife was killed, which was confirmed by several of his
00:17:54
employees. And John told detectives he and Catherine had met in Egypt, where she had grown up, and they had married
00:18:00
just two years earlier. Since their marriage, Catherine moved to America and spent most of her time volunteering with
00:18:06
their church, where she taught Sunday school, and she just kept up with domestic responsibility. She's just like
00:18:12
a stay at home wife. >> Very 40s. >> Yeah. [Music] According to John, he returned home
00:18:30
around 10 p.m. that night and rang the bell. And he explained that because his wife was new to the country, she was a
00:18:36
little anxious and uncomfortable about being alone, especially when she was home alone, which is smart.
00:18:41
>> I'm I've lived here my whole [ __ ] life and I'm anxious when I'm home alone.
00:18:44
>> So, what's what's so kind of him is he got in the habit of ringing the bell when he arrived so that she wouldn't be
00:18:50
frightened by him just entering the apartment. >> Oh my god, that's adorable. >> Yeah. She didn't want him to hear she he
00:18:55
didn't want her to hear the door open, like think somebody was coming, right? But that night after ringing the bell,
00:19:01
he put his keys in the door and was surprised to find out that it wasn't locked.
00:19:05
>> Oh. >> And he was like, "That's not We don't leave this unlocked when she's there."
00:19:10
So he went in the apartment and found it had been ransacked and he found Catherine dead in the broom, which is
00:19:16
when he called the police. >> That's so sad that she was so worried about being here in the first place.
00:19:20
>> The one thing she was worried about happened >> and it's like you do wonder if she felt
00:19:24
some sense of that. >> Yeah. Like she could almost tell that something was impending.
00:19:28
>> Yeah. It's really I you hear this a lot in these cases >> and it's always fascinating
00:19:34
>> where it's somebody who's like really nervous or very anxious about being alone and so locks the door a lot or
00:19:40
does whatever they knew and then they end up being the victim of these things and you're like
00:19:45
>> it's just so horrifying to me for someone to be that's their worst nightmare and it comes true.
00:19:49
>> Yeah. I mean >> the one thing they didn't want to happen comes true >> and you do like everything you can to
00:19:54
avoid it. >> It's I hate it. Yeah. >> So, when it was suggested that she might have been having an affair, which they
00:20:02
of course brought up, >> so rude. >> John flatly rejected the very idea, saying that she was an exceedingly
00:20:07
proper woman who would never have done anything to compromise her reputation. >> Also, we were in love.
00:20:13
>> He's like also like she's my wife. Um, so also he was like they have a she has
00:20:17
a very small so social circle, mostly people she knew from church and would have been really out of character for
00:20:23
her to invite a stranger into their home under any circumstances. >> So the medical examiner fixed
00:20:29
Catherine's time of death between 11:00 a.m. and 300 p.m. >> Basically, that's when she would have
00:20:35
been home alone, like the bulk of when she would have been home alone. Uh when detectives asked the door man if he'd
00:20:41
seen anyone unfamiliar that afternoon, he told them as he was arriving for his shift at 2:00 p.m. he did see a man with
00:20:48
olive skin and dark hair leaving the building like he was in a hurry. >> H Now investigators worked through the
00:20:56
night to process the scene, which was really light on evidence and clues. And in the living room, they discovered
00:21:02
several cigarette butts in the ashtray. And there was a brand that John and Catherine did not smoke.
00:21:07
>> Oh. So the discovery of all these cigarettes suggested that the killer had lingered in the home
00:21:14
>> smoked inside like a douchebag. >> Yeah. Of course it was a 40 so they all >> everybody smoking inside.
00:21:19
>> I was like yeah that was just normal. But this belief was supported by the presence of coffee cups on the table
00:21:24
which indicated that Katherine had provided at least the int like like a coffee water and aspirin at the very
00:21:32
least to this intruder. >> Huh. >> Which is like out of character. >> Or maybe he made his own coffee there.
00:21:37
Yeah. So, a little past 4:00 a.m., one of the investigators discovered a fingerprint on the water glass that
00:21:43
didn't match Catherine. >> Oh, I love it. >> Which, like, that's badass. I love 4
00:21:46
a.m. They're like, "Got it. They're going to run it through the database in the ' 40s."
00:21:50
>> Yeah, exactly. Fortunately, by 1941, uh, crime scene investigators had started
00:21:55
carrying fingerprinting kits and they were able to take the fingerprints of everyone who had been at the scene since
00:22:00
the body was discovered at the very least. Um, so having, you know, effectively ruled out everybody there,
00:22:08
that meant the fingerprint almost certainly belonged to the killer because they they checked John's fingerprints as
00:22:13
well. The print was rushed to Albany where the state fingerprint records were kept and a copy was also sent to the FBI
00:22:20
in Washington DC for comparison. As soon as he saw the crime scene, Detective Ed
00:22:25
Burns was convinced that this was the same person that attacked Betty Allen. Mhm. Also, in the weeks since the attack
00:22:32
in the Allen apartment, three other rape and robberies had occurred. Two in the Bronx and one in Washington Heights. And
00:22:40
in each incident, the attacker had asked the woman for aspirin before attacking them. Since Since Anthony Litzy was in
00:22:47
jail when the Papas murder and other attacks occurred, it was impossible that he was responsible for any of the
00:22:53
crimes. So he was released from uh jail and det district attorney Samuel Foley admitted there was the possibility that
00:23:00
the murder was committed by the same person. >> Yeah, I would think so. >> Now detectives fanned out across the
00:23:06
city interviewing the owners of various pawn and junk shops around the city hoping that the killer might have tried
00:23:11
to, you know, sell some of the stolen jewelry, but by the end of the day they were really coming up with nothing. And
00:23:17
at the same time, and honestly with remarkable speed at that, the results from the Albany fingerprint analysis
00:23:23
came back and unfortunately the print found on the water glass wasn't a match for any of the prints on file. Two days
00:23:30
passed since the murder of Katherine Papus, and in that time, investigators best evidence had gone nowhere and there
00:23:36
were no new leads. >> So super frustrated, Burns and the other detectives returned to the earliest
00:23:42
case, which was the attack of Betty Allen. They were certain that there was something in that case that was going to
00:23:48
lead them to the killer. Betty and her husband were called back to the precinct for another interview, and Betty told
00:23:53
her story again. She wasn't ordinarily in the habit of letting strangers in her home or even opening the door for people
00:23:59
she didn't know, but she said the young man just seemed to know a great deal about her husband, including the route
00:24:04
he drove as a delivery driver. >> Yeah. >> So, he assumed she she assumed he was
00:24:09
telling the truth. He knew all that information. >> So, he's like watching people.
00:24:13
So when they first interviewed following the attack, both Betty and her husband were adamant that they didn't know
00:24:18
anyone who matched the description of who attacked Betty. >> And neither of them had any idea how the
00:24:24
man knew all these details about them. And Betty reiterated this during the follow-up interview. But when they asked
00:24:30
Betty's husband the same question, his story changed. This time he explained that just a few
00:24:36
days before the attack, he did pick up a hitchhiker while he was on a delivery route in Connecticut. And while they
00:24:42
drove, the man told a familiar story. He had been raised in Boytown, Nebraska after both his parents died, and he was
00:24:50
on his way to visit his sister in New York because she was sick and needed help.
00:24:54
>> The story played on Betty's husband's sympathy. So, he gave the young man a few dollars, but the hitchhiker insisted
00:25:01
that he pay him back. So, Mr. Allen gave him their address in the Bronx. >> Oh, so he didn't want to like say that
00:25:09
originally, which I get. That's >> That's rough. He was probably embarrassed and felt so guilty
00:25:13
>> that he was being so like blindly trustworthy. >> That's rough. >> Now, at the time, Betty identified
00:25:18
Anthony Litzy as their attacker. So, her husband didn't mention the hitchhiker because it didn't seem relevant.
00:25:24
>> Yeah. Although it definitely [ __ ] >> It definitely was. He was That's how he
00:25:28
saw it. By the time they got around to the second interview with the Allens, the story had become familiar to the
00:25:33
Bronx detectives, having heard it from three other victims. In each case, the incidents seem to go in more or less the
00:25:40
same way. The young man shows up at the door while the woman is home alone. He claimed to have borrowed money from
00:25:46
their husbands, and he even mentions growing up in Boytown. They all still told the same story.
00:25:51
>> In each case, he asked for an aspirin and a glass of water. And that's when he
00:25:55
makes his way into the apartment, and he attacks the woman, tying them up with his necktie and whatever else he could
00:26:00
find. And then he ransacks the apartment, stealing whatever valuables he could find before wiping the
00:26:06
fingerprints off the glass and fleeing the scene. Same thing each time. Now, in each of the four cases, the attacker had
00:26:13
been picked up hitchhiking either in Connecticut or New York. And a few days later, he would show up at the victim's
00:26:18
apartment. So, to Detective Burns, it seemed entirely reasonable that if there were four victims that they knew about,
00:26:25
it was pretty possible there could be more either in the Bronx or one of the other burrows. Operating on that hunch,
00:26:32
he put out a message to all the precincts across the five burrows, and he asked for any cases that were similar
00:26:37
to these attacks on Allen and the other victims. It's unknown what type of response Ed Burns was hoping for, but
00:26:44
whatever it was, it probably pald in comparison to the incredible response he received back.
00:26:50
>> Okay. Now, within a few hours, investigators received a call from police in Manhattan regarding a case
00:26:56
that was really [ __ ] similar to the one in the Bronx. The couple was brought into the Bronx precinct and the husband
00:27:02
explained that he had picked up a hitchhiker who told him his name was Jerry Shanner. He told him he'd grown up
00:27:08
in Boytown and was trying to get to New York to visit his sister who he'd recently I think the sister had broken
00:27:13
her leg in this instance and needed help getting around. >> He probably just got tired of saying the
00:27:17
exact same thing. >> You switch it up a little. >> Just a tiny bit. >> Yeah. Like Betty's husband, the man gave
00:27:22
him a few dollars and the hitchhiker insisted he wanted to pay him back, so he got their address.
00:27:27
>> Mhm. It's just like a bunch of dudes that are trying to be nice, >> but just giving out their home address.
00:27:33
Like, god damn. >> A few days later, Jerry Shaner showed up at the door when the man was at work,
00:27:38
explained the whole thing, and he seemed trustworthy, and the wife felt sorry for
00:27:42
him, so she invited him in and offered him some lunch. >> This is such a wild way to go about
00:27:47
things. Hitchhiking with their husbands first, and then like he infiltrates the entire family
00:27:52
>> and praying on their goodness, like full goodness. He's tra fully praying on their trustworthiness cuz he's this
00:27:59
person is picking you up, giving you money, >> and then giving you their address. You
00:28:04
show up and then pray on the wife who's like, "Do you want to come in for lunch?" Like nice people trying to be
00:28:09
nice. Yeah. >> So, after eating the sandwich that she had prepared for him, >> Shaner said he had a terrible headache
00:28:16
and asked if she could spare some aspirin. When she returned with the pills, that's when he attacked her. He
00:28:21
tied her up. He sexually assaulted her. He looted the apartment. He then wiped down anything he touched and left. The
00:28:28
call from Manhattan was just the first of many, many, many more calls. And by the end of the day, investigators were
00:28:36
flooded with calls from precincts all over New York City with cases that were nearly identical to those in the Bronx.
00:28:43
The attacker went by many aliases, uh, Jerry Shaner, Jerry Mitchell, George Mitchell, George Mundy, George Blake,
00:28:51
and others, but the details were literally all the same. The boytown thing, showing up looking for aspirin,
00:28:57
attack, assault, wipe off, leave, >> all of the above. >> In 1941, police precincts and districts
00:29:04
operated more or less as like independent entities basically, despite being like a larger, you know, the NYPD.
00:29:11
This had much to do with the limited communication technology as it did the limited regions they were responsible
00:29:17
for. But as a result, they like rarely communicated with one another unless a case really required it. As a result,
00:29:24
investigators all over New York had no idea they were pursuing the same person in multiple cases across the city right
00:29:31
now. >> Oh, dang. Once detectives in the Bronx started pulling together all the cases
00:29:36
though, a bigger picture of what was going on and how surprising this one was coming into view. By plotting this all
00:29:43
the cases on a map, Burns and the other investigators were able to identify 31 cases going back 9 months all with the
00:29:51
same memo. >> Wow. There was a noticeable pattern in the movements like he would catch rides
00:29:56
from drivers in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, or New Jersey and travel into the city. Once there, he
00:30:02
would commit three or four assaults and then he would leave the city and the cycle would start over again.
00:30:07
>> All right. Yeah. Now, operating on the assumption that if the attacker could have caught rides in the states around
00:30:14
New York, it was pretty possible he could have come from further away, right? >> Investigators put out a bulletin to
00:30:20
eight states on the East Coast, stretching as far as Maine and New Orleans. >> Wow.
00:30:24
>> Asking their fellow detectives to quote, "Make a careful check of files for a man
00:30:28
who gains entrance by subtuge." claiming to know the husband. After gaining admittance and gaining women's
00:30:34
confidence, he mugs uh some by applying soiled handkerchief to some's mouth, then ties hands and feet with necktie
00:30:42
and steal money and jewelry. In the same bulletin, they included descriptions of
00:30:47
Katherine Papus' missing jewelry and asked pawn shop owners and jewelers to also be on the lookout in those places.
00:30:53
>> They're doing like a really good job with this. >> Yeah, they really are. Meanwhile,
00:30:57
detectives reached out to Father Edward Flanigan, the founder of Boytown. >> Oh.
00:31:02
>> Who explained that he didn't know anyone who fit the description of the man they
00:31:05
were looking for. He did, however, explained that he had received several postcards in recent months from men
00:31:11
whose names he didn't recognize, and he offered to hand them over if it would help.
00:31:15
>> That's strange. In their interviews with the victims and their husbands, many
00:31:19
reported that the hitchhiker had gone as far as writing out and sending postcards
00:31:23
to Flanigan while in their presence. >> So to make his story more believable basically send them is so strange. So
00:31:33
this man is man is making up these aliases and then he sits down after telling the story and like writes out
00:31:39
the postcard so they feel like he's telling the truth and then like you said is actually sending them to you could go
00:31:46
to that trouble to make the roomable but to which is also weird but to send them
00:31:51
is like a whole other level. >> Yeah. So, while they assumed the names on the cards were all aliases, Burns and
00:31:57
the other investigators thought at the very least that the postcards could provide them with a handwriting sample.
00:32:03
In fact, when they received a post the postcards from Flanigan, they were all signed with aliases or simply the mayor.
00:32:10
>> The mayor. >> Yeah. Buffy the Vampire. >> Oh, I love that character. Same. >> But an analysis of the cards found that
00:32:16
the handwriting belonged to the same person. Uh, in the two weeks after the release of the bulletin, the Bronx
00:32:22
precinct received a second flood of reports from surrounding states, all reporting cases that match the MMO.
00:32:29
Although the victims in all cases are different in age, race, and body type, the details of the attack are nearly
00:32:34
identical. And investigators added an additional 50 victims to their list. >> Oh my god.
00:32:41
>> Which was an average of one attack every 3 days. >> Holy. >> Yeah. So, who the [ __ ] is this person
00:32:47
that has all the time in the world to just hitchhike around and kill everybody? >> I'm saying
00:32:52
>> like what are you doing? >> What are you doing? >> Where do you come from? >> That's the thing. They're like, "Who the
00:32:57
[ __ ] is this thing? >> Why do you have a job?" >> Now, among the worst aspects of the
00:33:02
aspirin bandit attacks was definitely the physical and psychological trauma that the victims were experiencing. But
00:33:08
nearly as bad was the ways in which the victims were ret-raumatized in the days and weeks after the attack. In nearly
00:33:14
all the cases, the attacker was only able to commit the assaults because the woman's husbands gave him their
00:33:19
addresses. >> But because they had limited ability to cope with the intense feelings of guilt
00:33:24
and shames that caused, they frequently projected their feelings onto their wives, blaming them for the attacks by
00:33:31
suggesting they'd done something to encourage the man. >> The 40s. >> Then in a sense, the victims found
00:33:40
themselves in a catch22 situation. If they found their fought their attacker as Katherine Papus had, they could end
00:33:46
up dead. But if they didn't fight back hard enough, then they were blamed for their assault. Nice to be a I love being
00:33:54
a woman. >> Oh, how I just love being a woman. >> Damn. I'd rather be a fairy. >> Now, on February 10th,
00:34:01
>> she was a fairy. On February 10th, as Burns and the other detectives continued
00:34:06
trying to piece together the timeline of events and track the killer's movements,
00:34:10
they received a call from a couple in Heightstown, New Jersey. According to this couple, they had picked up a young
00:34:15
man hitchhiking a few days earlier. And after hearing the story about how he'd grown up in Boytown, they felt sorry for
00:34:22
him and offered to let him stay with them for a couple of days. The following morning though, the couple woke up and
00:34:29
found that he had stolen a bunch of valuable [ __ ] from their house. Whole place was ransacked and the hitchhiker
00:34:34
was gone. So both the husband and wife were artists and the woman offered to draw a detailed sketch of the
00:34:41
hitchhiker. >> That is so [ __ ] cool. >> Isn't that awesome? From memory. >> That is so cool.
00:34:46
>> And when investigators took the sketch to several of the victims, they all confirmed that is like 100% the guy.
00:34:52
That is the coolest [ __ ] way to be that woman and be like, "God damn it, you just stole all my [ __ ] and like out
00:34:58
of the goodness of my heart I let you in." But then to be like, "You know what? I'm an artist and you didn't count
00:35:03
on me do rendering a sketch from memory. >> You didn't count on me having a [ __ ]
00:35:07
skill >> of your [ __ ] ass face." >> Yeah, that's right. Like, [ __ ] that guy.
00:35:11
>> Iconic. >> So, thanks to the couple in Heightstown, detectives now knew what their suspect
00:35:16
looked like. And thanks to the dedicated police work and constant communication across precincts and even
00:35:22
So rare. >> Yeah. They had a general idea of how far he traveled and how frequently he cycled
00:35:27
back through New York. >> Unfortunately, what they didn't know was where he was and when he would strike
00:35:33
again. >> Yeah, that's tough. >> That meant that as much as it pained them to do so, they kind of had to wait
00:35:38
until he attacked someone to find his location, which is a case a lot. >> I was literally just going to say it's
00:35:43
sad how that does happen a lot, but it's also like what else do you >> don't know what else to do? It sucks.
00:35:49
>> It's a real catch 22. Now, it turned out the next attack wasn't in New York at
00:35:53
all, but in Washington, DC. [Music] On February 19th, DC police received a call about a potential break-in at an
00:36:13
apartment, but the woman had managed to fight the man off before he was able to get inside. because they had been in
00:36:19
communication with detectives in the Bronx. DC police suspected this was probably the aspirin bandit. So, they
00:36:25
rushed to the apartment to try to catch him. When they got there, they found the
00:36:28
victim in the company of the building superintendent who chased the wouldbe rapist up the stairs and onto the roof.
00:36:35
But by the time the officers got to the top of the building, the man had disappeared down the fire escape and was
00:36:40
gone. >> So, a little less than a week later on February 25th, another call came into
00:36:45
the Bronx. this time from detectives in New York, New Jersey, where another rape/robery had been committed under
00:36:52
similar circumstances. That report was followed by three more calls, all reporting similar attacks in New Jersey.
00:37:00
>> Jeez. >> So, by plotting the attacks on the map of the suspect's movements, investigators in the Bronx are able to
00:37:06
track his movements and suspect he's making his way back into New York. >> And this time, they were like, "We're
00:37:12
going to catch this fucker." So, if their estimations were right, detectives in the Bronx expected their suspect to
00:37:18
arrive back in the city on or around March 3rd, which is >> [ __ ] badass that they were able to
00:37:26
track him to be like, "He's coming back in here in March." Like March 3rd. >> That is impressive.
00:37:31
>> So, they set up checkpoints at every train and bus depot as well as every bridge and tunnel across the city.
00:37:38
>> I love to see that. anything coming into the city, stopping anyone who vaguely
00:37:43
resembled the sketch. >> Good for them, dear. >> At the same time, police officers
00:37:47
flooded the city, checking every motel and hotel for new arrivals and showing front desk staff every sk the sketch.
00:37:54
While they were there, they also checked the handwriting samples from the postcards sent to Flanigan against the
00:38:00
hotel log books, but nothing was an obvious match. >> But they got everything. >> They were going for it. So that evening,
00:38:07
detectives on man Manhattan's west side stopped into the Mills Hotel, a place popular with like day laborers looking
00:38:13
for a clean but like affordable place to stay for a short period of time. >> Uh the emphasis on the short
00:38:18
>> short. As they were sitting in the lobby, they noticed a man entered the hotel wearing the same blue green coat
00:38:24
and bright yellow shoes described by many of the victims. >> Bright yellow shoes. Get the [ __ ] out of
00:38:29
here. >> Yeah, that's like a real That's a crime. Like bold of you to wear those.
00:38:33
>> I know. Bold of you to wear bright yellow shoes and try to be in Especially, yeah, especially when you're
00:38:37
committing crimes. >> Uh, and he strongly resembled the sketch that was provided by the couple in New
00:38:42
Jersey. After the man registered with the clerk under the name George Koski, >> George.
00:38:47
>> George, >> he started up the stairs towards his room and one of the detectives rushed to
00:38:52
the desk and compared the handwriting to the postcards, which appeared to be a match.
00:38:56
>> That is so [ __ ] cool. >> Such cool investigative work. >> I love it. However, when the detectives
00:39:03
looked up at the register, the man was coming back down the stairs in the direction of the clerk's desk.
00:39:09
>> He said, "I'd like my 50 cents back. I just remembered I have to go to work at
00:39:13
1:00." So, not wanting to miss their opportunity, they seized the man by his arms and forced him to write his name
00:39:20
again and again. The handwriting match. >> Yeah. >> Which was, as far as they were
00:39:24
concerned, reason to place him under arrest. >> It was very strange that he was just
00:39:28
like, "Oh, [ __ ] I forgot I have work today." I wonder if he knows, he was like, I think those might be detectives,
00:39:33
so I should leave. Yeah, >> cuz why else would you be like, >> why else would you?
00:39:37
>> Well, never mind. >> Just kidding. >> Once they had him in the interrogation room at the Brocks precinct,
00:39:42
investigators learned that their suspect's name was not George Kowski, Jerry Mitchell, or George Mundy, but
00:39:48
George Joseph Spec, a 23-year-old transient with a long criminal record. 23 >> 23 and several stays at juvenile
00:39:58
detention centers in his past. >> Uhoh. >> At the time of his arrest, police described him as a, and this is their
00:40:04
description, quote, "A common road bum." >> A common road bum. That is such a read.
00:40:11
>> He's just a common road bum. >> Get out of here. Get out of here, you road bum.
00:40:15
>> You common road bum. >> You nasty node. You're not even common road bump. >> You're not even a unique road bum.
00:40:22
You're common. You're You're a basic road bump. >> A basic road >> bump. I am obsessed with that and I will
00:40:32
be adding it to my vocabulary. Thank you. >> I'm going to call everyone that pisses
00:40:37
me off a common road bump. >> I'm No, I'm calling them a basic road bum. You Cuz here's the thing. You'll go
00:40:45
you basic. And they're going to think that you're going to say [ __ ] but no. You're going to hit them with road bum.
00:40:50
>> You hit them. You hit someone with road bumps. >> Yeah, there ain't no coming back.
00:40:54
>> See it coming. >> They'll never in a million years see that coming. >> And they won't know what hit them.
00:40:58
>> And you know what? That's a little gift from us to you. >> Call them a big >> use it in your next argument.
00:41:02
>> There you go. You're welcome. >> Um yeah, he had no permanent address and no employment to speak of.
00:41:07
>> Road bug. >> So a brief look into George's background reveal revealed a rather unremarkable
00:41:12
and directionless young man who'd made his way in the world through theft and other criminal activities.
00:41:18
>> Not great. George was born born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in a large and generally uh dysfunctional family.
00:41:24
>> Relatable. >> When he was 12 years old, George was caught robbing his own parents' house.
00:41:29
>> [ __ ] that's [ __ ] up. At 12. >> Yeah. And when his own mother tried to intervene, he beat her and continued
00:41:35
robbing them. >> What the [ __ ] >> He's a [ __ ] demon. >> Yeah, he's beyond road bum. Uh I
00:41:43
wouldn't even I wouldn't even say he's a basic road bum. This goes far beyond road bummer.
00:41:49
>> Yeah, this go this goes far beyond road bummer. [Laughter] This is not just your typical day-to-day
00:41:59
road bummer. This is different. It's so different. That really got you. This is just your
00:42:12
your classic road bummer over here. >> It's not. This is This is not >> This is >> um This is not You are correct. This is
00:42:19
not classic road bubbery. I don't know what this is. >> I don't know why that that word is just
00:42:25
that phrase is so funny. >> I love it. >> It's just How can you not laugh at that?
00:42:31
>> Uh but either way, this this case of far beyond road bummer got him a short stay
00:42:37
in a boy's reformatory, not Boytown. >> They were like, "Don't beat your mom's house."
00:42:41
>> Yeah, don't do that. And when he was released, he returned to his parents' home and attempted to rob them a second
00:42:46
time. >> Get out. Get out. Get out. >> Yeah. For a second robbery, he was returned to the reformatory.
00:42:53
But that time, he was sentenced to 5 years. By the time he was released, George was old enough to be on his own
00:42:59
and spent the next 5 years supporting himself through robbery and theft. >> Yikes. When she was told about the news
00:43:05
of her son's arrest, Barbara told a reporter, "He's my boy, and I don't want to see him die in the electric chair,
00:43:11
but I don't feel too much sympathy for him. He's always been bad. He's always wanted to steal money and not work for
00:43:16
it. I guess he's no good." >> Oh, that's so sad. The end of that. I guess he's no good. It's literally
00:43:23
devastating. >> Oh, that poor mama. >> Yeah, >> it's not your fault, girl. >> I don't know that for sure, but it
00:43:30
doesn't feel that way. I can't totally stand on that business cuz I don't know your life.
00:43:34
>> I'm like I'm five toes down on that. >> Yeah, there you go. >> Yeah. >> Now, when confronted with the
00:43:39
accusations, George denied having anything to do with the Papus murder or the other sexual assaults and robberies
00:43:45
in several states up and down the East Coast. But when investigators fingerprinted him and compared his
00:43:50
prints to the print left behind at the Papus murder scene, they determined it was a match.
00:43:55
>> Oh, [ __ ] Despite the evidence linking him to the crime scene, George was like,
00:44:00
"Nope, didn't do it." Until investigators put him in a lineup. >> Oh. One after another, victims were
00:44:06
brought into the station to view the grouping of six or seven men, including George.
00:44:11
>> And in 1941, there was no two-way glass or video monitoring systems. So, each
00:44:16
victim was brought into a room and stood just a few feet from the man who violently sexually assaulted them. The
00:44:23
bravery that that would take >> that >> that's next level >> trauma on a level I can't even fathom.
00:44:30
>> Good for those women. >> Some looked him in the eye and firmly identified George as their attacker.
00:44:36
>> Wow. Good for them. >> And others broke down and could do nothing else but point at him.
00:44:41
>> Yeah. Because that you're being retraumatized like you just said. >> Every single one of them identified
00:44:47
George as their rapist. >> Wow. Also, while most of their husbands were able to provide moral support to
00:44:52
their wives during this horrible moment, at least one victim's husband lost his composure and tried to attack George
00:45:00
before he was physically removed by the room. And I say, why'd you physically remove him from the room?
00:45:07
>> Snaps for that, man. >> Snaps to that, man. >> Honestly, if my husband didn't try to
00:45:10
beat his ass, we'd get in the fight later. >> Honestly, like, good for that guy.
00:45:14
>> Yeah, >> I know violence is not the answer to anything. Like, I get it. I get it. But
00:45:17
I mean sometimes like >> I'm sorry if somebody is if if I'm a husband and somebody violently raped my
00:45:22
wife. >> Violence is the answer. >> I'm gonna hurt for a minute. For a quick moment for a minute.
00:45:26
>> Just a quick old one two to the face, you know, >> a quick little boop. >> Now before being confronted and
00:45:32
identified by at least a dozen of his victims. >> Wow. >> George had been confident to the point
00:45:37
of [ __ ] cockiness. >> Ew. Of course. Of course. >> 23-year-old [ __ ] But at some
00:45:43
point during the lineup, it must have come clear to him that uh he wasn't getting out of this. By the end of the
00:45:48
lineup, George had lost any hint of his previous cockiness. And in the early morning hours of March 4th, he broke
00:45:55
down and confessed to attacking at least 15 of the more than 80 suspected victims.
00:46:01
>> And don't forget, that's insane. And don't forget, he's not just a rapist, he's a murderer.
00:46:06
>> Oh yeah. And he confessed as well to murdering Katherine Papus. >> Yeah. So, he's a piece of absolute
00:46:12
[ __ ] garbage. >> Garbage. >> In their interview, George confirmed what police had already learned about
00:46:17
him. Most of his victims were women whose husbands he had met while hitchhiking and using his charm in
00:46:23
ingratiating manner. He would get enough information from them to sound convincing when he showed up at their
00:46:29
door a few days later. >> And he really did. >> When it came to the attack on Katherine
00:46:32
Papus, however, he changed his usual approach. On that day, George had happened to stop into the building and
00:46:39
look over the names on the mailboxes and decided to take what he described as a blind stab by ringing the couple's
00:46:46
doorbell. >> What? >> So, she was chosen at random. >> And he told investigators, "She told me
00:46:54
she had been making cookies for her husband and offered me some." >> And your doesn't make you want to
00:46:59
[ __ ] ring his neck. >> Yeah, that's the thing. Your [ __ ] ass went in there and took her life. this
00:47:05
woman who is literally spending her afternoon making cookies for her husband and she's the one who made him a
00:47:10
sandwich, right? >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Wow. Wow. You piece of dog [ __ ] >> Yep. >> He said, "I sat beside her on the sofa.
00:47:18
I slipped my arm around her neck and pulled her head back. Then with my right hand, I removed my neck tie and tied her
00:47:25
hands behind her back. I carried her to the bedroom and put her on the bed." Why? Once they were in the bedroom,
00:47:30
Catherine began fighting back hard and even managed to bite George's finger, leaving a wound that was still visible
00:47:38
upon his arrest nearly a month later. >> Good. >> She broke [ __ ] skin. >> I hope it hurt for the rest of his life
00:47:46
and actually into the afterlife as well. >> George claimed that he eventually clamped his hands around her neck to
00:47:51
keep her from screaming and a few minutes later he just realized that she was dead.
00:47:57
He's literally claiming that he accidentally strangled her manually. >> We've all been over this. We know how
00:48:03
long it takes to strangle someone manually. We know how much pressure needs to be consistently put upon
00:48:08
someone's neck to manually strangle them. You don't accidentally do that. >> It's like 7 minutes long.
00:48:13
>> Yeah, you don't do it. [ __ ] get out of here. >> At that point, he rummaged through the
00:48:18
apartment, grabbed whatever he could, but because he was panicked, he forgot to wipe down the water glass, and left
00:48:24
behind the fingerprints. idiot. >> District Attorney Samuel Foley told reporters following his arraignment that
00:48:30
poor woman never got a chance to scream. >> No. >> Now, despite being able to convincingly
00:48:34
link George to dozens of other sexual assault victims, District Attorney Foley chose to pursue only the murder charge
00:48:41
in the case of Katherine Papus. Because the murder charge was a capital offense and the prosecutor was seeking the death
00:48:48
penalty. So, if he were to be found guilty, George would be paying the ultimate price with or without the
00:48:53
additional charges. In the months after this, as the district attorney built the
00:48:57
case, George began speaking to any members of the press who would listen, primarily to minimize his responsibility
00:49:03
and reject the claims of additional victims. Um, he asked a reporter, "Those stories about me attacking 15 or 23
00:49:10
women, where do they come from?" >> Uh, that you attacked 23 to 50 women. >> Yeah, they come from um the reality.
00:49:17
>> They come from what? Your [ __ ] actions, your [ __ ] made actions. He said, "You got me identified by a lot of
00:49:23
women. I ain't never seen threearters of them in my life." You did immediately upon that statement. How that's phrased.
00:49:29
You did it. >> Uhhuh. >> Yep. You did it. George's trial began in midappril. And he maintained his defiant
00:49:36
stance from beginning to end. >> What a doucheb. >> Before the final members of the jury had
00:49:40
even been selected, George was admonished by the judge after he jumped to his feet and shouted at the judge,
00:49:46
"You're supposed to be sitting on this case. Mind your own business." after the judge questioned his lawyer for his
00:49:52
methods of interviewing potential members of the jury. >> Make that make sense for me. You're
00:49:58
supposed to be sitting on this case. So he's like, "Here you are doing your job,
00:50:02
which is being in my business of all the [ __ ] that I've committed." And he says,
00:50:07
"Mind your" The judge is like, "This is all of my business." >> He's like, "This is literally my
00:50:12
courtroom." >> Not like like this is my actual business. Like I get paid for this. like
00:50:17
I'm in the business of this of judging yourself of all this >> quite literally like what
00:50:22
>> and I love it because in response George uh judge James Bartlett just stared at
00:50:27
him. >> Oh, I love it. >> And then sternly said I will not tolerate such outbursts. This is the
00:50:32
first and last outbursts you will make. >> He treated him like the child he was.
00:50:37
>> You little baby man. >> He said you petulent [ __ ] >> You pet petulent little [ __ ] child.
00:50:43
that part. >> A week into the trial, the entire case had to be put on hold when Judge
00:50:47
Bartlett fell asleep dur under a sun lamp for about two hours and suffered a particularly bad burn. I was really
00:50:55
rooting for him just now and I feel different. I I feel a little bit different. Um, I really went so hard for him just
00:51:07
now and I'd like to maybe back that up like a a teeny bit. Just like just a hair. Just just a little hair.
00:51:18
>> Just like a beep beep, you know? Just what? My guy. Why? What? Idiot. What do you mean,
00:51:26
babe? >> What do you mean? >> You got to stay awake under the sun lamp. >> Yeah.
00:51:30
>> I mean, now these days, don't be going under sun lamp. Don't go. Don't you [ __ ] go tanning.
00:51:35
>> My guy OBZ tax for a reason. >> Don't do it. >> Do you remember when Snookie was so
00:51:40
[ __ ] personally angry at Obama for that? >> I don't want you guys to get melanoma.
00:51:44
>> No, spray tan. >> I don't want that. >> You want to be tan? I mean, like, cool.
00:51:49
Spray tan. >> Yeah, spray tan. >> They got the mits now. They got >> I think they have like natural [ __ ]
00:51:54
that's like not even like cuz I mean other [ __ ] chemically bad. But >> do you remember were you ever a Jurgens
00:52:01
girly? Jurgens, I think it's natural glow. >> Here's the thing about me. >> You've never wanted to be tan.
00:52:05
>> No, I did at one point. I really wanted to be tan, but then I realized I'm not
00:52:08
meant to be tan. So, I did try that Jurgens journey for like a minute and a half and then I realized like this isn't
00:52:14
it. >> Here's the thing. >> Even when they smell good for like a second and I'm sorry if you self-tan,
00:52:20
but I've tried it too. I've also wanted to be tan. Yeah, >> you smell like chicken.
00:52:24
>> There is a chicken smell. >> Smell like chicken. Self tan smells like chicken.
00:52:28
>> There is a little bit of a chickeny smell. >> There is. You are correct about that.
00:52:31
>> You could mask it, I guess. But like I don't know. I never certainly smell to
00:52:34
it. But I think there's like m there's like natural ones now that probably don't have that chickeny smell.
00:52:39
>> Yeah, >> cuz I think a lot of girlies are getting like good spray tans. >> Some giries are getting good spray tans.
00:52:45
>> Whenever I did a spray tan, one, I looked absolutely [ __ ] bonkers. And two, um it always made my hands look
00:52:52
weird. >> Yeah, I would get it between my fingers. >> Yeah, but some girls have that [ __ ]
00:52:56
masked. >> That's the thing. Those are the queens out here. >> Which like I was gonna say, you're
00:53:00
queens if you can do that. >> You know who's not a king out here. >> Yeah, >> the judge.
00:53:04
>> Sleep under the sunlight. >> And do it responsibly if you're >> I really can't believe I went so hard
00:53:08
for him. >> Uh yeah, but you know what? Two weeks later, the trial had resumed. So he got
00:53:12
he got over that little speed bump. >> Yeah. That big old burn. >> He came back with like such a glow.
00:53:17
>> I was literally going to say they said, "Your honor, may I may I You're glowing.
00:53:21
>> May I?" >> And he said, "I almost died." >> Yeah. He said it was it was a real
00:53:25
journey to get here. wasn't a good sleep. >> It was a real journey to get this glow.
00:53:29
>> He said, "This glow, you don't want it. >> Don't come for free." >> Now, despite having already been warned
00:53:34
by the judge about his own outbursts, uh George proved to be incredibly difficult
00:53:39
from the moment the trial began. Uh in fact, when he finally took the stand in his own defense, he refused to answer
00:53:45
nearly all the questions put to him by the prosecution. >> Then why go on the stand, my [ __ ]
00:53:50
guy? He just chose to sit petulently on the witness stand with his elbows on the
00:53:55
railing and his chin cuped in his hand. >> Oh, what a little [ __ ] >> Finally, after countless questions had
00:54:01
been asked and unanswered, George told the prosecutor, "It's no use continuing with those questions. I refuse to answer
00:54:07
them. I told you I killed her. I want to take my punishment. It's only a question
00:54:10
of first or second degree murder." >> So, he doesn't give a [ __ ] >> Wow. >> They don't give him first degree. I was
00:54:18
when I was reading this, I was like, "Motherfucker, if they don't give him firstdegree murder
00:54:23
>> Yeah. >> I'll fight. >> I'mma head out. >> I'll fight. >> I'mma head back in time."
00:54:27
>> Yeah. And then head out. >> And then head out. >> Uh, and with that, the prosecution
00:54:31
rested its case against George. And the jury was excused for deliberation. So, they deliberated for less than a half
00:54:37
hour cuz he literally sat on the stand and said, "I killed her. Get over it." He literally did Courtney from from
00:54:43
[ __ ] Jawbreaker. He said, "I killed Liz. I killed the teen dream. Deal with it." That's what That's literally what
00:54:49
he said. He literally did that. >> [ __ ] up. >> Then he was like, "Now it's just first
00:54:52
or second." Which I'm like, "Did you think you were getting second? >> You literally said I killed her."
00:54:56
>> Like you did you really just think that you were going to you had any chance of
00:54:58
getting second after that? >> Well, everything all the all the [ __ ] you went through like you it was very
00:55:03
much premeditated. >> You literally planned the entire thing. >> So they come back into the courtroom
00:55:07
after less than a half hour and they found him guilty of first-degree murder for causing the death of Katherine
00:55:12
Papus. Um, when the ver verdict was read, the ever defiant George said nothing and just stared coldly at the
00:55:19
judge. When asked by reporters for a comment, District Attorney Samuel Foley said, "This man is a contemptable liar.
00:55:26
George has continuously tried to evade the responsibility for what he did in Bronx County on February 4th. He is even
00:55:32
low enough to bismerch the name of the woman whose life he has taken." The following day, George was back
00:55:38
before Judge Bartlett Bart uh Barrett, excuse me, who set an execution date for July 7th, 1941. After the customary
00:55:46
appeals and small delays, 24year-old George Spec was executed in the electric chair at Sing Prison on February 26th,
00:55:54
1942. Rest in distress, you petulant [ __ ] made road bum. Common road bum. basic road bummer.
00:56:07
>> Just a basic common road bum. >> Wow, that's a I can't I've never heard of that.
00:56:11
>> It is such it's I think I almost think we need to like name it something instead of the aspirin bandit because it
00:56:17
just does not give the full scope. >> Well, because it's so much more that he's a rapist. He's not just a bandit.
00:56:23
>> So, I think we'll name it something different, but it's called the Aspirin Bandit case.
00:56:26
>> Yeah. Like it's well known as that. The communication between the different precincts in different states
00:56:31
>> and the detective work like in the 40s >> the investigative work that went into
00:56:36
this was topn like this is one of those that you go >> hats off >> there it is like that's what I'm looking
00:56:42
for cuz we have so many that you're just like what the [ __ ] and then this one you're like [ __ ] yeah investigators
00:56:48
>> I love the ones where we can we can hats off to them >> cuz they really went for it
00:56:52
>> because it it gives you like a little bit of hope and humanity when like you're hearing about all these terrible
00:56:57
murders and you rapes and everything like that's awful. >> Yeah. You're like at least these people
00:57:00
like went full tilt to catch this guy and they did. It paid off. This [ __ ] didn't get far. He was only 23 years
00:57:08
old. >> Here's the thing about >> it was worth it >> about practicing um basic road bummer.
00:57:13
You'll always get caught. You're going to get caught. >> You're far too basic to to make it.
00:57:17
>> Your road bummer will come to a violent end. So, >> but yeah, that's the aspirin bandit.
00:57:22
>> What a crazy case. >> Yeah. Well, guys, if you're coming to the show or you did already on Sunday,
00:57:29
it was so much fun. And also, I can't wait to see you. >> Yeah, both simultaneously.
00:57:34
>> At the same time. So, that's what simultaneous is. >> Yeah. >> Well, we also hope you keep listening
00:57:38
simultaneously >> and at the same time. And we hope you >> keep it weird simultaneously and at the
00:57:44
same time. >> Don't be a classic road bum. Don't practice that road bummer. [Music]
00:58:34
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