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hey weirdos I'm Elena I'm Ash and this is [Music] morbid hey what's up hey I like that thanks you're welcome
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thank you how are you I'm feeling good like I'm going to bring the mood down a little bit in a little bit but
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always not always that you bring the mood down but always always bring it down that like a a sad case will it's
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true it's true you know what brought my mood down this morning what found my first [ __ ] gray hair oh Lord
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everybody B settle in can do you uh I mean I started going gray at like 18 yeah that's
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horrible it's horrible it's just so sad aging you know [ __ ] that it's a beautiful thing it's
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also just I decided to stop dying my hair and then my hair said oh no no baby continue it said no start up again start
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up again yeah just days before her 28th year I'm saying that's when I mean you're lucky you went that far I know
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hon especially our family history yeah we all have gray hair did you go gray before your sisters though I don't know
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your other sisters your other sisters SS that aren't me um probably yeah it kind
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of seems like you did yeah you know I'm just an old soul that's just me you kind
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of are I get that I like that I liked your Tik Tok that you made this morning uh that you you guys help me make yeah
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that was a full pod lab collaboration me and Mikey were the creative directors true you were like faint on this cup
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hold the book like this drop the book like that yeah we did a Tik Tok um I'm trying to I'm trying to figure out
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creative ways to get you all excited about the butcher game to market the book since you're the marketing genius
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yeah I'm trying to get I'm trying to get more creative with it and actually it's
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kind of fun so when I heard this sound which go check out you know my Instagram or Tik Tok to see the video but when I
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heard that sound I love that sound oh my God it's the one that's like these are my ladies big mouth is such a fun show
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and it's such a [ __ ] funny sound that I was like I need something to do to this and then I was like wait a second
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perfect wait a second all the different languages of the book I got these International book covers let's go what
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a boss [ __ ] thing to say I got these International book covers wow wow just boss [ __ ] doing Boss [ __ ] things
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it's a pretty cool thing but it was fun and uh yeah you guys got a little sneaky
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peeky at the Pod lab a little bit yeah a little bit you should shout out your handles probably on both I'm Elena to
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the max Elena to the m m Max pretty sure let's double check that just to make sure it's absolutely correct the truth
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yep Elena a l a i n a to the max on Tik Tok I'm not good at shouting out my things my handles know that's what
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zillennials are here for yeah I think on Instagram I'm the same same thing look at that I try to keep it uh very simple
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for myself and for others bold oh my God I love the cover photo W this is great all right tonight I said tonight it is
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the day today's case it's going to be a tup a tup one because it's long there's a lot of information in it so I don't
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want to like try to condense it too much and miss some information yeah and two man oh
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man you're so brutal lately I know I apologize everybody what's going on in your psyche um this one's it's from the
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20s from the 20s from the the the 20s um um speaking of ghosts it'll always happen who's excited
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for that movie who's excited exited but yeah this is from the 20s it's um taking place in December of
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1927 it is the murder the kidnapping and murder of Maran Parker oh no Marian Parker was a 12-year-old girl oh no um
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so just know that ahead of time this crime is shocking yeah just be forewarned it is very brutal it is very
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shocking and it's just like the whole story is just at the end of it you're just going to go what the [ __ ] that's
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all you're going to be able to say I think okay yeah um so let's begin shall we let's
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now Francis Maran Parker and her twin sister margorie were born on October 11th 1915 in Los Angeles California
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their parents were Perry and Geraldine Parker and although they were almost always together like stuck to each other
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at the hip um and they definitely preferred each other's company over the company of anyone else the girls were
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actually really different in disposition and in personality which I think is a lot of times the case in twins yeah and
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I think just like sisters in general sometimes now according to author James nyore uh quote Marjorie was very much a
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girl who liked girly things but Marion had a slightly rougher Edge not afraid to get dirty or get hurt Maran was what
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would be considered a tomboy now kind of sounds like you're twins yeah it really
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does now although she had many girlfriends Maran preferred to spend her time outside of school playing with you
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know what we would now like what society would deem to be traditionally like more
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boy oriented toys like trucks and especially in the 20s it was very societal like these are boy toys these
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are girl toys like you know trucks trains playing football with the boys in the neighborhood like she did she was
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definitely a tomboy yeah um but despite her Rough and Tumble approach to play she was also very sensitive she was shy
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she was a little reserved she didn't like to be away from home or be away from her parents for very long which is
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very heart-wrenching when you consider the fact that she is the one who will be kidnapped and murdered oh no um she had
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a very close bond with her father Perry um she would actually often spend afternoons by his side at the First
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National Trust and Savings Bank where he worked as an assistant cashier so she would just like hang out with him there
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that's so sweet um the girls also had a very close relationship with their brother they like adored him Perry Jr he
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was several years older than Maran and marjerie but he always made time for them like it was just a really good
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family yeah um in many ways Maran Parker was like most girls of her generation and age she loved movies she loved radio
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plays is just like very 20 she loved to dance to the music on her to music on her
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parents photograph she loved to make her siblings and parents laugh with jokes and Impressions she was just a typical
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12-year-old cool chick yeah just you know they just sound like a very like like for lack of a better way of saying
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it like all American Family very wholesome very just like very tight bonds seem to all love each other and
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take care of each other now unfortunately because it was the 20s and she's only 12 years old these are really
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the only things that we we know about her life we don't have a whole lot of details other than that but I think it
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gives a good picture of her family life her relationships inside of the house outside of the house you know what kind
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of what kind of gal she was it sounds like that pretty much like mostly would cover it for a 12-year-old like I think
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you got a good amount of information of who she was well thank you and thank you
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Dave yeah shout out da so the week of December 15th 192 27 was a hectic one at Mount Vernon Junior High you know the
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Christmas season is in full swing the students are all excited about the holiday and the holiday break the
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school's Christmas party was just a few days away and to make matters worse the the school principal cor Freeman was
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actually out on the 15th oh okay so this left one of the teachers Mary Holt in charge of the students coming and going
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for the day oh that's a lot of responsibility especially if you're not used to it you know
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and it happens to be on a holiday week where it's chaos like it's already chaos according to nyore uh quote Mrs Holt was
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quite strict about student deportment and even more careful about strangers visiting the building but that's good
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she was very overwhelmed by the Dual responsibility she had that day she was still acting as a teacher and acting as
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like guarding who was coming and going so she let her guard down a little bit unint of by you know there's a lot going
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on and that probably haunted her for the rest of her life yes now that afternoon
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a young man entered the school's front office and walked up to Mrs Holt at the reception desk and said he would like to
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see the Parker girl now the man was small average looking he said his name was Mr Cooper
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and he said that he worked with Perry Parker at the bank he said Mr Parker has been in an accident and is calling for
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his daughter just one there you go uh so slightly confused Mrs Holt said The Parkers have two daughters
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and the man said he wants the younger one they're twins twins in hindsight that should have been the red flag yeah
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and to be honest I'm a little confused here why she didn't catch on to that yeah like I'm not she lived with the
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guilt for the rest of her life course this was negligent big time and I would be [ __ ] furious oh my god well this
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obviously this is way before the days of like who are the three people allowed to
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pick them up let me check their sheep that kind of thing but oh my God and this is why it needs to be if you to
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your kids if you I will never send someone that you don't know to come get you never ever ever never it will never
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happen no um again this should have been a pretty big red flag because the man seemed not only ignorant to the fact
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that the Parkers had two daughters yeah but also that they were t TNS and there wasn't an apparent obviously there's
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always a quote unquote younger one in twins but like let's be real he's not being like the one that's 3 minutes
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younger right so Mrs HT said do you mean Maran why you giving him that information yeah why like what you're of
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course he's going to be like yeah what do you think he's going to be like oh no I don't know who Maran is he's going to
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be like yeah of course yeah Marian and he said yes yes ma'am and he said that's that's her name oh no later Mary Holt
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would tell investigators that the man seemed to know Maran and could describe her and he seemed so confident that it
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never occurred to her that he could be lying why wouldn't you just call like OB again we know I'm sure she lived with
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the guilt forever but you got to call the parents to say hey was somebody else supposed to pick Maran up today and why
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the whole situation like I'm like why didn't that grub you as strange that he's asking for one of his daughters
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when he's been in an accident well and that's that's part of thing too and it's also like I know we're supposed to be
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looking at this and being like I know she live with the guilt for the rest of her life I'm going to say right now [ __ ]
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that [ __ ] this was negligent and it was stupid and somebody a whole family paid
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a the biggest price you can imagine for it I think it's [ __ ] up I think it's [ __ ] up that Mary Hol just handed over
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this child to this stranger I think it's [ __ ] up yeah I do too I'd love to be to be nicer about it but no I wouldn't
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actually well I'm sure the family would to yeah I'm sure the family felt the same way it's a mistake but it's a
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mistake you can't make and that's just the way it is and it sounds like it's a mistake that cost somebody's life you
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know it absolutely was now also what she wasn't realizing is that during their exchange she was actually feeding him
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pieces of information by giving Marian's name Away by saying The Parkers have two
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daughters you're just handing this stranger more personal information about this family and these children and just
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the fact that you have to say The Parkers have two daughters obviously you're dealing with somebody who's not
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supposed to be here to pick one of them exactly and by giving him these little details in these little pieces you are
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allowing this man to come off as more familiar than he actually is yeah and also the man said he worked with Perry
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Parker and knew details about Mr Parker's employment which of course gave him a little more credibility but still
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Mary Hol never bothered to ask even the most basic questions like what type of accident happened why was he only asking
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for one of his two daughters or why a coworker was sent to get the little girl instead of a police officer or any other
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member of the family yeah instead she just sent for Maran and handed her over to this man oh no [ __ ] that that's
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[ __ ] up honestly honestly cuz like why wouldn't her older brother be there why
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wouldn't an aunt or an uncle be there you know like here's the Mary hle felt the repercussions from these this
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mistake for the rest of her life I'm not taking that away but I'm that's [ __ ] up I mean that's [ __ ] up I I when I
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read this I could not believe that this little girl was handed over to a complete [ __ ] stranger who didn't
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even do the basic [ __ ] to get this little girl this woman just fed her the him the information that's the
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responsibility that you take on it in that role like if if you weren't prepared like obviously it's hectic
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sure but this isn't like you're a server and it's a hectic time at the restaurant
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you give somebody the wrong dish like this is you're the wrong kid to someone this is big like you're handing out
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someone's baby to someone else that's a big deal right oh it made me so angry reading this like I was feeling I'm so
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stressed out right now cuz who the [ __ ] is this man it's going to get really bad
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and I need you I'm not going to go into DET we don't know details about like what happened during her captivity okay
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the aftermath is rough so I just want everyone to know that now when Maran appeared in the front office the man
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told her the story your father's been in an accident he sent me I work with him at the bank and you know he he asked to
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see you so Maran probably more concerned about her father than her own safety at that
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moment cuz remember she has a deep deep bond with her father right um she just left with him willingly she's she's 12
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you know like what is she so as James nbor points out this was the 1920s also a time when children trusted adults and
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authority figures with a certain Blind Faith yeah I mean you weren't allowed to question adult Authority back then so
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it's that's what makes it even more up to the adults in charge to make sure that that child's Blind Faith is not
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placed in the wrong adult yeah so it didn't occur to her that her teacher would hand her off to a stranger without
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completely verifying this story she just took it as okay this must be true my teacher would never hand me to this man
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or or she would never even think that an adult would lie to her about something so serious like her father being why
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would especially having it be S for nefarious purposes she's 12 yeah in fact if someone had asked one or two
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clarifying questions that day even just one or two questions just to to get a little more information from this guy or
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taking the time to even call the bank yeah and say hey did an accident happen with Perry Parker was someone from your
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bank sent to pick up one of his children from school the story would have a totally different outcome absolutely and
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I just don't understand not not trying to one call home or two call the bank and that's why I don't have sympathy for
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the other side of this equation I just don't yeah now having not sensed anything strange about the incident um
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neither Mrs Holt nor Mrs Freeman thought to say anything about it to margerie Mrs
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Freeman was another uh worker at the school sure um margerie was waited a long time outside the school for her
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sister once the day had ended because they always went home together oh no and the girls you know they walked home
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together and so when the school was finally locked up for the day margerie headed ended up heading home without her
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sister after waiting for her for a long time cuz no one told her what the yeah this is all just like
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a lot of information cuz I'm also like I'm sorry Mrs Holton Freeman so a man came
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in and said Perry Parker was in an accident and asked for one of his children barring all the stupidity that
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happened there that you just allowed one of the children to go with a stranger you didn't think to tell her twin sister
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your father's been in an accident yeah and maybe try to call her mother or something and so be like do you want her
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to come home some else picking her up you just you just let her sit outside of school and wait for her sister and not
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have any [ __ ] clue what happened oh man this is why I'm like yeah you earn that guilt cuz it's like I don't know
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what to tell you that's [ __ ] up uhhuh so she went home and when she got home margerie explained that Maran hadn't met
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her outside of school and she didn't know where she'd gone and at first The Parkers weren't like super concerned
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because there had been times when it's the 1920s yeah of course when she'd gone home with a school friend or stayed late
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to help a teacher at school but it was out of character her for her to stay out by herself without telling anyone that
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was the thing that bothered them so Perry called the school schol Perry Parker mhm who has not Mary H answered
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okay and Perry thought it was a little unusual because Mary H said Oh Mr Parker how are you
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feeling and he he was like I'm feeling okay but like it didn't raise any alarm he was just like I'm okay how are you
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but when he asked whether Maran was still at school and Mary Holt explained that she'd gone home with the man you
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sent to pick her up oh my God he dropped that Pleasant demeanor he was pissed and alarm like he was
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freaking out he was exactly how anybody would be he was like what the [ __ ] do you mean you sent her home with a man
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and he said there has not been an accident I have not been an accident no one has been sent to pick up my child oh
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my God you can just like you can barely even imagine the Panic running through that man's entire body I'm angry and
00:18:53
upset for him I can't even imagine angry and upset he's feeling that but also [ __ ] Panic the panic and he said in
00:19:01
fact and this is even worse he said he had been home all day with his wife because it was his wife's 40th birthday
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oh my God and that's enough like why didn't you just call home just call home and it live they literally would have
00:19:15
said we didn't send anyone to Center and you deal with the situation then call the police this could have ended oh my
00:19:23
God oh my God it's her birthday yeah their mother's birthday oh no now throughout the the early Decades of the
00:19:29
20th century kidnapping for ransom was pretty common like it was actually a pretty common feature in the press and
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it was not unheard of for this kind of thing to happen like not this exact thing but like for children to go
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missing and to turn up dead with little or no explanation it was kind of a thing
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Jesus cuz a lot of people were trying to get money and extort people and just a few years earlier in Chicago was Leopold
00:19:54
and lobe oh God they kidnapped and murdered 14-year-old Bobby Franks for the thrill of it mhm none of this was
00:20:01
lost on Perry and Geraldine Parker and they wasted no time calling the police but before Perry could even finish
00:20:08
dialing the number the doorbell rang okay so he answers the door and it was a Western Union messenger with a telegram
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and it was addressed to Perry from a sender in Pasadena the telegram said do positively nothing till you receive
00:20:23
special delivery letter and it's and so they were terrified of course terified for Marian's safety so they did as
00:20:30
instructed and they waited yeah I now oh my God the second telegram came a short
00:20:36
time later this time from alhamra about 10 I hope I said that right about 10 miles outside Los Angeles and it said
00:20:43
Mary in Secure use good judgment interference with my plans dangerous and it was signed George Fox Okay um no one
00:20:52
in the family recognized that name nobody knew who that was but margorie told her parents that a day or two
00:20:58
earlier there had been a man driving a gray car alongside the street car she and Maran had been riding in he had been
00:21:05
gesturing for the girls to get off the car and come talk to him oh no but they didn't like to be around strangers so
00:21:12
Maran was like [ __ ] no this story only further supported the Parker's belief that their daughter had
00:21:18
been kidnapped and was obviously being held for ransom now not wanting to piss off the kidnapper Perry and Geraldine
00:21:24
didn't call the police that night and waited for further instructions they were worried somebody watching the house
00:21:29
that I can't imagine that predicament cuz you're fighting internally I'm sure with yourself do I call the police is
00:21:36
somebody watching me if I call the police are they going to kill her but then every Instinct inside of you is
00:21:41
probably saying call the [ __ ] police I just want help like I need help somebody needs to help like that's the
00:21:46
like the massive amount of just helplessness and frustration and sadness that would oh and what ends up happening
00:21:54
and we'll obviously get to it is things go so arai and they go so arai through no fault of Perry's and geraldines and
00:22:04
Maran pays for it oh and it's like and they did everything that they were they did everything they thought they were
00:22:09
supposed to and actually like the the police kind of [ __ ] this up and the Press [ __ ] it up no and these two were
00:22:17
doing everything that they could to get their child's home safely now they did they waited further
00:22:23
instructions but then the morning came and they still hadn't received a third telegram so they finally called and
00:22:29
reported the kidnapping cuz they were like we can't we just waiting around and that morning as detectives were sitting
00:22:35
with The Parkers in their home to take their statements that third telegram came and it was addressed to PM Parker
00:22:42
with a lot more details and instructions in this one it said use good judgment you are the loser do this secure $75 $20
00:22:50
gold certificates US currency $1,500 at once keep them on your person go about your daily business this as usual leave
00:23:00
out police and detectives make no public notice keep this affair private make no
00:23:05
search fulfilling these terms with the transfer of currency will secure the return of the girl failure to comply
00:23:11
with these requests means no one will ever see the girl ex again except the angels in heaven oh God the affair must
00:23:18
end one way or another within 3 days 72 hours you will receive further notice but the terms remain the same it's like
00:23:26
literally making my stomach hurt yeah now unlike the previous telegrams which had only which had included what
00:23:33
appeared to be a man's name this one just was signed fate oh god what the [ __ ] yeah uh the telegram was
00:23:40
accompanied by a note like another note with it and this one and this is heartbreaking was from her handwritten
00:23:47
by Maran I'm not going to read the whole thing you can look it up online it's got
00:23:51
wrenching it's literally like addressed to like Daddy and mother um she wrote I wish I could come home home yeah of
00:23:59
course and she said I think I'll die if I have to be like this much longer won't
00:24:04
someone tell me why this has happened to me Daddy please do what this man tells you or he'll kill me if you don't and it
00:24:10
was just signed Mariam Parker oh my God yeah now upon reading the telegram the detectives were immediately struck by
00:24:19
the small amount of money being demanded by the kidnappers it didn't sound like a
00:24:23
lot and the unusual way that they were really assisting it be delivered to them adjusted for inflation now their demands
00:24:33
would be like little over $27,000 which it's not a small amount of money obviously but not really a ransom
00:24:41
demand for a whole ass child no I would say no um but either way investigators agreed to work quietly on the case and
00:24:49
allowed Perry to gather the funds and make the exchange with everyone agreeing not to alert the press or do anything
00:24:56
else to jeopardize Marian safer return so everybody was like shut the [ __ ] up we're all going to work on this quietly
00:25:02
do what we got to do so at first it seemed like everyone was doing what they need to do after giving his statement
00:25:08
Perry went to work and just acted like nothing was wrong because that's what he was told to do oh my God this man had to
00:25:15
go to work and just deal with people all day knowing his child is in the clutches
00:25:21
of people who are are going to kill her and like just oh my oh my God and after withdrawing the amount of money needed
00:25:29
from his account he went about his day just as he had been instructed to do um but he did remember to write down the
00:25:35
serial numbers for the bills so that they could be tracked later because they said hopefully we can catch them this
00:25:40
way smart meanwhile detective spent the day interviewing Marian's friends and the staff at school in the hopes that
00:25:46
someone would remember seeing anything out of the ordinary that day um with Mary Hol obviously being the most
00:25:53
important witness now obviously I know I'm I'm going hard at Mary with which I stand by but she was [ __ ] devastated
00:26:01
of course I mean it's not like this woman I'm bad mistake there was no intent in ill will or anything there was
00:26:08
no intention for something like this to happen she never thought in a million years this was going to happen um and
00:26:13
she had a hard time remembering anything because she was just in a state um she said the man was young she said but
00:26:20
otherwise he was kind of unremarkable like there was which I understand sometimes it's hard to pick out anything
00:26:26
you're like I don't know you have brown hair I mean she's probably seen how many
00:26:29
adults come pick up their kids like throughout the whole day she did say he was about he appeared to be about 25 to
00:26:35
30 years of age she could say like 5'8 in in height around 150 lb having a slender build and thin features he was
00:26:44
smooth shaven medium complexion dark wavy brown hair which I'm like actually that's pretty good Des but he also looks
00:26:50
like a lot of guys I know especially at the time and they weren't really able to
00:26:55
get a lot much more out of her other than that description because she was so overwhelmed by guil guilt that she
00:27:01
actually needed to be sedated oh wow so when I say she she felt she felt the weight of it she felt the weight of it
00:27:07
it doesn't help and it doesn't change it but she felt the weight of it she to do
00:27:13
absolutely not bad mistake I would never forgive her but that's me yeah it's and
00:27:19
I can understand why this family probably wouldn't either but when Perry returned from work that afternoon he was
00:27:25
surprised to find that the kidnapper still hadn't called but a few hours later the pH phone finally rang and in a
00:27:32
calm even voice the man on the other end confirmed that per um he said you got the money and Perry said yes and then he
00:27:40
said he would call back with instructions in 5 minutes okay but nearly a half hour passed before he
00:27:46
called back again so he's just toying playing games the kidnapper instructed Perry to get in his car and travel alone
00:27:52
a few blocks away then Park on gramar SE where the exchange would be made okay not wanting to risk anything Perry did
00:28:01
exactly as he was told he did not alert authorities when he got to the location there didn't appear to be anyone so he
00:28:08
waited and he waited and he waited hours went by and this man is waiting with cash for his child by
00:28:18
11:45 p.m. no one had come so he realiz how you make the decision to leave that's the thing so he's like something
00:28:26
went wrong so he went back back home and that's where he learned that the police
00:28:31
had been following him from the moment he left the house so he said oh no what if the kidnappers saw them and he didn't
00:28:40
alert them right like he did what he was told and they [ __ ] it up like let him
00:28:45
go like the I'm sorry let him go L I don't know especially you already have the serial numbers about it yeah you
00:28:53
know what I mean like it sounds like they were in sounds like they were pretty like they they were following him
00:28:57
it was pretty obvious oh no things got worse the following morning when Perry learned that the previous day the Press
00:29:04
had been alerted who the [ __ ] alerted the Press I don't know but now it was on
00:29:08
all the [ __ ] front pages exactly what they told him not to do all of Los Angeles all of them the Los Angeles
00:29:15
record said hunt kidnappers of girl others focused on the fact that Maran had been taken from school without any
00:29:23
resistance from the staff which I'm like you can talk about that later when she's
00:29:26
safe yeah but despite his best efforts to do literally exactly as he had been told by the kidnappers it seemed like
00:29:33
everything had gone [ __ ] wrong and The Parkers were like [ __ ] the worst is going to happen and we we didn't do it
00:29:42
now that afternoon another telegram came to the house oh no and this one said when I asked you over the phone to give
00:29:48
me your word of Honor as a Christian and honest businessman you didn't answer why
00:29:53
because those two closed cars carefully followed your car North on Wilton to 10th and stopped shortly off Wilton and
00:30:00
proceeded to circle the block on gramarcy had they not done that it sounds like they would have passed the
00:30:06
money and gotten the girl it's horrifying and it was exactly as he had feared they spotted the police car and
00:30:13
they had blown the opportunity to get Maran back and what's even worse is what they
00:30:20
wrote next in the telegram they said she was so eager to know that it would only
00:30:25
be a short while before she would be free from my Terrior torture and when you then you mess the
00:30:31
whole damn Affair how do you live like the rest of your life yeah and they said they'll
00:30:38
give him one more chance saying pray to God for forgiveness for your mistake last night and it was signed fate
00:30:45
Fox uh it had another note in Marian's handwriting imploring her father to do as the kidnapp Nappers demanded which is
00:30:53
even worse because he did yeah and she being told that he didn't didn't know that he had done everything he was
00:31:00
supposed to do and that it was the police and the press that it [ __ ] it up and so she wrote please don't bring
00:31:06
anyone with you today and Perry Parker later said he does believe those notes were written by his daughter or at the
00:31:13
very least that even if they weren't composed by her she was saying it and somebody was transcribing it yeah now
00:31:20
The Parkers waited all afternoon becoming increasingly frantic as the hours are passing by and no call is
00:31:25
coming and they did however receive two additional telegrams during that time the first one said please recover your
00:31:32
senses rather than to kill your child but so far you have given me no other alternative of course you want your
00:31:38
child but you'll never get her by notifying the police and causing all this publicity I feel however that you
00:31:44
started to the search before you received my warning so I'm not blaming you for The Bad Beginning be sensible
00:31:49
and use good judgment you can't deal with a mastermind like a common crook or kidnapper Fox bait this person is
00:31:56
sadistic now the second telegram arrived a short time later and seemed to just reiterate the points made by the first
00:32:02
one um but a little more dramatic flare was in this one it said Fox is my name very Sly you know set no traps I'll
00:32:11
watch for them get this straight remember that life hangs by a thread I have a Gillette ready and I'm able to
00:32:17
handle the situation oh my God and it was signed fate this is I'm like oh this is awful yeah I'm having such a visceral
00:32:25
reaction to this right now yeah it really it's it's a cautionary Tale in about a hundred different ways now the
00:32:31
call finally came later that evening and Perry was given instructions to travel alone to Manhattan Place and wait in his
00:32:38
car if he failed to do that Maran would die and so he did as he was instructed he packed up the money he drove to the
00:32:45
destination and a little after 8:00 p.m. he saw headlights of another car coming
00:32:50
towards him and at first he worried it might be the police and this whole thing was going to be [ __ ] up again but then
00:32:57
when it pulled up next to him he saw the driver wearing a hat with a bandan covering the lower part of his face and
00:33:03
he rolled down his window and raised a sof shot gun pointed right at Perry and he said give it to me and Perry insisted
00:33:10
to see his daughter first so the driver was annoyed and then just gestured to the seat next to him and he looked and
00:33:17
he said he could see Marion wrapped in a blanket of some sort her head was nearly
00:33:22
covered by the material and later Perry said that he thought Maran was in some sort of days or maybe she had been
00:33:28
drugged okay um the driver said she was sleeping but Perry was like her eyes are
00:33:33
open and so he was like she was gazing forward unblinking like she looked out of it mhm but he said she looked alive
00:33:41
she had color in her cheeks she like she didn't look dead yeah now very eager to
00:33:47
get his daughter back he Perry reached out the window to pass the money to the kidnapper the kidnapper grabbed it from
00:33:52
him and told him to wait as he checked the contents of the envelope once he was satisfied he put the vehicle and drive
00:33:58
and rolled forward slightly and then came to a stop again and now that he was in the darkness like out of any kind of
00:34:04
light yeah he opened the pass he opened the passenger door and something large fell from the car and landed on the curb
00:34:11
then the car just sped off so when the car was out of sight Perry ran out of his car and ran to the bundle he could
00:34:18
see his daughter's face peering from the bundled blanket and he immediately reached down to pull her into his arms
00:34:24
and then he realized the bundle was surprisingly light and so he laid his daughter on the
00:34:30
ground and frantically untied the cord on the blanket and that's when he discovered that maran's legs were
00:34:36
missing oh my God and her arms had been severed just below the elbow oh my God she was
00:34:42
dead Perry's screams were loud enough to be heard by shopkeepers at nearby businesses I feel like I'm like going to
00:34:49
cry right now my God this has Honestly made me cry they ran out into the street to find out what was happening some of
00:34:56
them tried to comfort him the others went back to call the police it was chaos like this man was literally like
00:35:02
inconsolable obviously like you don't recover from that the [ __ ] do you do that to somebody yeah George Contreras
00:35:10
the lead detective in the case arrived a short time later with other investigators and Patrol officers um
00:35:15
they started cordoning off the scene and they initiated one of the largest manhunts in the state of California's
00:35:21
history now detective contrerus approached the body and in addition to the heart in details that I've already
00:35:29
given you he noticed some other things that were highly disturbing Marian's eyes were open like the like you said
00:35:36
she looked into days yeah when they looked closer they see they saw that uh the killer had used a needle and thread
00:35:42
to sew them open to make it appear that she was alive oh my God sewed her eyes open they had also applied makeup to her
00:35:51
cheeks to give her that complexion That Make Her made her look alive oh my God D we find out who did
00:35:57
this we do luckily don't worry now Marian's remains reach the morg a little after
00:36:05
900 p.m. and the coroner Dr AF Wagner began the autopsy right away uh he was a very experienced pathologist very
00:36:12
experienced coroner um but this one was really hard for him because he had lived
00:36:16
next door to The Parkers for the previous four years and knew this family very well my God now Wagner noted that
00:36:23
the remains at least you know that this doctor is going to be like I me most coroners and Pathologists are very you
00:36:29
know gentle and loving with a body but like this he knows this girl so you know at least there was somebody who cares
00:36:35
about her and knows her doing this I also think he's been the coroner in other cases that we've it sounds very
00:36:40
familiar Wagner definitely it does now he noted that the remains were incomplete and included only the head
00:36:47
the trunk quote down to an inch above the navl and the upper arms down to the Elbow joints uh there was a 2-in cut
00:36:55
along the left shoulder and the cause of death was determined to be strangulation um I guess luckily there's
00:37:02
no other signs of premortem trauma to the body so the idea that she was tortured or anything like that um
00:37:10
doesn't seem to be true okay um yeah I think they were just saying that exactly like physically tortured um also
00:37:17
Marian's internal organs all appeared to be intact and healthy uh she had not been beaten she had not been hurt in any
00:37:24
way physically until what happened yeah and these Cuts were made postmortem um there was however a towel
00:37:32
with the Belleview arms depart uh Apartments emblem on it and a piece of a man's shirt stuffed into her abdominal
00:37:40
cavity interesting the following day a man out for a walk in a lesan park found two bundles of newspaper lying beside
00:37:48
the road and when he opened them he found what would later be confirmed to be Marian's arms oh her lower arms the
00:37:55
other pieces of her body were discovered a few hours later in a gully nearby now Wagner couldn't say exactly
00:38:03
when Maran had died but later in court it was established that she had been killed shortly after the first botched
00:38:10
exchange on the night of December 17 so him saying I'll give you one more chance
00:38:15
was just all [ __ ] yeah no matter what had happened they wouldn't have given her back and it was that she was
00:38:21
killed after that botched exchange so she might have been given back to them alive had the police not follow been
00:38:30
[ __ ] up wow yeah now while Wagner performed the autopsy investigators wasted no time beginning their search
00:38:39
for the Killer and this is the part that they do right I mean they really [ __ ]
00:38:42
up that beginning but they go hard uh they quickly located the man's car in a parking lot on Ninth and Grand Street
00:38:49
several miles from the scene according to the parking lot attendant the driver was a young dark-haired man who said he
00:38:56
would be back for the Chrysler coupe the following day okay detectives would be staked out at the scene throughout the
00:39:01
night and into the next day but no one returned to that vehicle um and he was in fact much further away than anyone
00:39:08
would have imagined at this point the following morning December 18th the story of Mari and Parker's murder was on
00:39:14
front page of every single newspaper all across California each one we in the 20s
00:39:20
the 20s yeah uh each one was providing Grizzly details of how quote her lifeless body horribly mutilated was
00:39:28
left on a Manhattan street lawn for her father to discover after handing back the ransom the coverage of the crime was
00:39:34
honestly shocking by the standards of any era um and the Press printed large portions of the kidnappers telegrams
00:39:41
gave detailed descriptions of the moments when Perry Parker discovered his daughter's dead body including graphic
00:39:48
descriptions of the mutilation and horror contained within that bundle of little
00:39:53
blankets um they even one article wrote falsely quote death apparently came from
00:39:59
chloroform or loss of blood after a terrific lashing Jesus why you with things like this it's like it's already
00:40:07
[ __ ] horrible it's literally the worst it could possibly be you don't have to do nightmare why are you
00:40:13
embellishing but sell your papers with they're going to sell anyway and it's like that's fake [ __ ] you're just making
00:40:19
stuff up yeah where's your [ __ ] Integrity they wrote the horrible torture to which the little one must
00:40:23
have been subjected and also this was all P print printed with no verifiable details about the
00:40:30
murder and they had not confirmed anything with investigators they just made [ __ ] up and printed it for that
00:40:35
family to read false [ __ ] but conjure up more horrible images of their CH child's
00:40:42
last moments it's crazy like what the Press was able to get I mean it's crazy what press can get away with even now
00:40:48
but way back when it was so much worse now although residents of California had become kind of accustomed to reading
00:40:55
stories about kidnappings at this point this this came as a big shock this was a
00:41:00
different sort of thing this is on this is on another level this was horrifying so parents across the state were
00:41:05
freaking the [ __ ] out many decided to stay home rather than go out anywhere the next week's School attendance fell
00:41:12
dramatically no one was sending them to school cuz what the [ __ ] going to happen you just going to give them to a
00:41:17
murderer I I don't know how you would be able to send your kids to school I don't
00:41:21
even know what I would do I don't know but what's most surp what's like also a very surprising like outcome of this was
00:41:27
that the government of Mexico closed the border between the states to prevent F The Fox from escaping into Mexico wow so
00:41:35
this was huge that doesn't happen often no and those who didn't react with fear responded to the case you know the only
00:41:42
other way they knew how vigilante justice yeah as soon as Mary Holt's description was published in the papers
00:41:48
men who resembled the killer were targeted for harassment in violence so and like we said not great because a lot
00:41:55
of guys look like this guy yeah and it got really bad and you can't just go out like trying to assault any Tom Dick or
00:42:02
Harry that resembles this man like you don't know no and also it gets really bad according to journalist Cecilia rasm
00:42:10
quote one man who resembled the killer was arrested seven times within 8 hours Jesus he finally asked to just stay in
00:42:17
jail another lookalike was severely beaten by a mob and for safekeeping the police took him to jail where he ended
00:42:24
up hanging himself oh my God so it's like this got really bad what yeah now while the press and public
00:42:34
panicked and freak the [ __ ] out holy [ __ ] detective contras and the other investigators on the case continued to
00:42:40
pursue every single lead in every piece of evidence they had in a search of the area around the Parker's Home Police
00:42:47
found another note that had in been inexplicably left in a fire alarm box on the street near the house okay addressed
00:42:54
to PM Parker and apparently left after the first attempted exchange got botched the note said for all the trouble you
00:43:01
have caused margerie Parker will be the next victim oh my God nothing can stop the fox and they they who will try will
00:43:09
know the penalty if you warn anyone of this second success it will mean you next try and get me I am the fox you
00:43:16
will never know the rest of My Success you will miss her at 12:00 oh my God now upon further review
00:43:24
of this letter at the LAPD crime lab a handwriting analysts determined that the letter did not match the handwriting in
00:43:30
the previous letters and they deemed it a hoax who the [ __ ] would do that we say it all the
00:43:38
time people are always people and they always have been peopling there's always been pieces of absolute [ __ ] wow like
00:43:48
this is but I'm never I'm never not shocked no as you shouldn't be what the [ __ ]
00:43:55
yeah this family is I mean the way this man found his [ __ ] daughter yeah and then you're going to threaten his other
00:44:02
daughter cuz you're [ __ ] bored with your Jank ass life these are the people who if they were born in this era would
00:44:09
be on the internet telling people they're ugly and you know telling them to kill themselves on the internet and
00:44:15
social media forums that's these are they are the exact same person you're on the same level to like you you're just a
00:44:23
[ __ ] so well LAPD officers spanned out across the city in search of this killer others were sent to the Belleview
00:44:30
Arms Apartments because of the evidence found within the body um officers went room by room looking for anything that
00:44:37
could be traced back to the killer but they really didn't find anything meanwhile police in Las Vegas arrested a
00:44:43
man they thought might be the Killer and they turned him into the Poli uh Los Angeles
00:44:48
investigators the suspect was 25-year-old which is right in the ad ring Lewis Wyatt who was the son of a
00:44:55
Los Angeles doctor and and had a history of harassing and assaulting girls great
00:45:00
according to the initial reports from the press a spokesperson for the LAPD described why it is being in a position
00:45:06
to know intimate details of the Parker family life and said he was Keen minded well- educated and egotistical
00:45:13
particularly in believing that he has a master Criminal Mind huh now unfortunately Wyatt's fingerprints
00:45:21
didn't match those found on the ransom demands nor did the serial numbers on his $20 notes match those withdrawn by
00:45:28
Parker so they had to release him yeah now the first real clue finally came a few days later after technicians
00:45:36
finished processing the car that the killer had abandoned in the lot on the night of the murder mhm it was obvious
00:45:41
that he had gone to Great Lengths not to leave any evidence behind but he forgot
00:45:47
to wipe the steering wheel wow yep the fact that this [ __ ] went to I mean I'm happy went to Great Lengths and
00:45:55
didn't think to wipe the wheel he at least didn't wipe it clean because he left fingerprints behind and
00:46:02
the fingerprints were a match for those left on the telegram sent to The Parkers
00:46:06
and within a few days they had been matched to a set of prints contained within a juvenile court record for a
00:46:12
forgery case a few years earlier those prints belong to 19-year-old William Edward Hickman 19
00:46:22
who was also a recent Resident of the Belleview Arms Apartments so they already searched his place at that point
00:46:28
well for some he he ended up he wasn't living there at the time so for someone so young William Hickman had a fairly
00:46:35
significant criminal record that began in his mid- teens um he had been a star High School athlete in Kansas City but
00:46:44
he turned to crime in his mid- teens when he met fellow student wellby hunt and they started shoplifting committing
00:46:50
forgery all that stuff and it quickly escalated into armed robbery once they' completed High School in 1926 Hickman
00:46:58
and Hunt left Kansas City for Los Angeles where Hickman found a job as a messenger at the First National Bank
00:47:06
where Perry Parker worked as a teller so he worked at the same place now while employed there Hickman forged roughly
00:47:14
$400 worth of checks before being arrested he was given six months probation for that when his probation
00:47:21
ended he tried to get his job back but was unsuccessful obviously that LED investigators to theorize that this man
00:47:29
had a grudge against the bank and he just decided to take it out on Perry just randomly Perry's a cashier like
00:47:36
he's a teller yeah like he doesn't own the bank right but he took it out on him he's not in charge of this man's job
00:47:42
kids what the [ __ ] now 19 years old yeah having discovered the Killer's identity and address now detectives
00:47:52
returned to the bellw Arms Apartments and they learned that William Hickman had been living under the name named
00:47:57
Donald Evans and he had vacated the premises a few days earlier that's why they didn't find him at first I see
00:48:03
Neighbors confirmed that Donald Evans matched the description provided by Mary Holtz and fingerprints taken from inside
00:48:09
the apartment were a match for Hickman investigators also discovered in the apartment several razor blades copies of
00:48:16
newspapers reporting the kidnapping and a burned memo that appeared to be a draft of one of the ransom demands wow
00:48:24
despite this evidence Captain James Bean of the side Squad told reporters there's
00:48:28
nothing to indicate that Hickman took the Parker girl there I I would disagree and I would say
00:48:34
there's everything to indicate that where where do you think he took her H now when she was shown a
00:48:40
photograph of the teenager Mary Hulk confirmed that it was Hickman who had come into school the day that day and
00:48:47
left with Maran Parker she thought he was between 25 and 30 19 Perry Parker also remembered the the uh who William
00:48:54
Hickman was really and he told Detective quote the Eerie familiarity of the kidnapper speaking voice now makes sense
00:49:02
cuz he had talked to him on the phone oh my God yeah and Parker also remembered the incident that led to Hickman being
00:49:09
fired and he remembered him this that Hickman was denied his job after finishing probation but he couldn't
00:49:15
think of any reason why Hickman would have targeted him or his family right he's like I didn't have anything to do
00:49:21
with it and he said I cannot call to mind any words of Madness or Revenge that passed while I was talking with
00:49:28
Hickman while the motive might have eluded them at the time Hickman's familiarity with Parker could explain
00:49:33
the relatively small Ransom demand he knew he didn't have the money right that's what because they were baffled by
00:49:39
he just wanted some money and I think this was all just to hurt someone I don't even think the money was the
00:49:45
biggest part of it I think money was obviously part of it so do you think they were always going to kill her or no
00:49:49
I don't know I've started to question it the second like with his identity being
00:49:53
revealed now but that's what makes sense about that number now cuz it's they he knew Parker's position at the bank he
00:49:59
wasn't like running the bank so he knew the family didn't have that much money to speak of and he would only be able to
00:50:05
deliver that much right now the first real clue um to where Hickman was finally came on December 21st this this
00:50:13
is going quick at least and but just think of like normally this family would be getting ready to spend Christmas
00:50:19
coming up on Christmas and now they're just trying to find the man who murdered their daughter and burying their child
00:50:25
now uh police in Redlands California a town about 60 Mi east of Los Angeles investigated an auto accident and and in
00:50:34
that accident the driver who was a man matching Hickman's description fled the scene huh the following day
00:50:41
investigators picked up his Trail in Seattle when one of the $20 gold certificates withdrawn by Perry Parker
00:50:47
was used at a clothing store in the city and the shop owner identified Hickman as
00:50:52
the customer after being shown a photograph just buying [ __ ] clothes s child up yeah a few hours later Hickman
00:51:00
was spotted again this time in Portland Oregon where a gas station attendant um saw him filling his tank by that point
00:51:07
Hickman's photograph was unavoidable it was everywhere and as soon as the attendant recognized the driver as
00:51:14
Hickman he reported the sighting to authorities and said the man was headed in the direction of the Columbia River
00:51:20
Gorge that's where we're going to end for part one you [ __ ] uh it has a it hasn't ing
00:51:26
that at least has Justice being served in some way shape or form but we're going to stop there so that you can uh
00:51:33
you can take that in just happened cuz the rest is going to be very interesting my oh my what a tragic tragic case I lit
00:51:42
I knew you said right at the top like it was a murder and a kidnapping and a murder but I still hel held hope that
00:51:48
entire time that somehow the outcome was going to change and there's no way to describe this one like no you're like
00:51:55
it's bad and I don't know how else to describe it's brutal it's bad it's awful it's heartbreaking heartwrenching and
00:52:02
this poor family you just want to give Perry a hug man I just want to give him a hug and be like he didn't do anything
00:52:08
you just want to like you want to set time back and tell that lady maybe don't release this girl to a [ __ ]
00:52:14
19-year-old Strang hom nothing about this family my God call someone like this 19-year-old was able to trick you
00:52:22
into giving him a a child for ransom I'd be infuriated I don't know how you get past that oh man all right well we hope
00:52:31
you keep listening see you for part two yeah and we hope you keep it weird yeah I I don't think I got to tell
00:52:38
you yeah [Music] [Music] [Music]