00:00:00
Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences.
00:00:06
Listener discretion is advised. Did you choke her? Did you put something over her face? Or how did you stop her reading?
00:00:16
Did you use something? Did she say anything to you when she got home? Did you even give her an opportunity?
00:00:20
Welcome to Sword and Scale, Season 11, Episode 272. A show that reveals that the worst monsters are real.
00:00:50
Thank you. It hurts to see someone struggling. Someone that's in pain. There's an instinctual empathy for a person in need, especially if it's family.
00:01:47
The natural reaction is to help. If someone's feeling down, you cheer them up. If someone needs a little money, you loan it to them.
00:01:57
If someone's hungry, you feed them. You know, all the things that this country was founded on.
00:02:04
Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, etc. Sympathy like this usually makes those that are helped, and the world in general, a better place.
00:02:16
being helped normally gives those down on their luck renewed hope about life even those offering
00:02:24
help get the pleasure of seeing the happiness return to their downtrodden faces they get to
00:02:31
feel like they did something and they did but here's the thing you need to hear and probably
00:02:38
don't want to sometimes it's better just to mind your own fucking business karen and yes i'm
00:02:45
specifically talking to the white women in the audience, which is all of you. I know you want to help, but sometimes it's better to worry about your own problems
00:02:54
instead of trying to solve the world's problems. Sometimes it's better to just mind your own business,
00:03:03
because sometimes helping can actually hurt. It can stunt a person's emotional growth.
00:03:10
Let me ask you something. if someone's always helped you do something and you count on it why do it yourself why bother
00:03:20
in this week's case we're going to examine a mother who loved her son so much that she always
00:03:28
wanted to be there for him when he was in need which happened to be most of the time she wanted
00:03:37
to help her son, even to her own detriment. Sometimes a person in need, no matter how hard you try, can't be helped.
00:03:49
And if you're not careful, they'll drag you down with them. On September 28, 2022, Hurricane Ian made landfall on the Gulf Coast of Florida.
00:04:32
The state of Florida is under assault tonight, and the damage is likely to be catastrophic.
00:04:38
Hurricane Ian blasted ashore today near Fort Myers on the Gulf Coast and began a slow trek toward the Atlantic.
00:04:45
It packed sustained winds of 150 miles an hour and knocked out power to more than a million homes and businesses.
00:04:53
With historic rainfall and flooding predicted, Venice resident Nancy Luton took the cue to evacuate ahead of the storm.
00:05:02
She didn't want to hang out and find out for herself if her double-wide mobile home, less than half a mile from the beach, could withstand it.
00:05:13
Smart. Early this morning, Hurricane Ian quickly escalated into a near Category 5 storm.
00:05:20
Across Florida's Gulf Coast, residents braced for a brutal impact. Boarding up businesses and stocking up on supplies and gas.
00:05:29
Forecasters warned that storm surges could reach up to 18 feet across more than 200 miles of the Gulf Coast.
00:05:37
The storm is expected to track across the state, dumping as much as 18 inches of rain on areas like Orlando in central Florida and Jacksonville on the Atlantic coast.
00:05:48
She hopped into her Red Ford Escape aptly named I might add and set off to outrun the hurricane wind and rain She drove nine hours straight to her niece Amy house in Dallas Georgia She came here to escape the hurricane
00:06:06
Their other residence was damaged in the hurricane. They came here to Georgia to stay with me.
00:06:14
But little did Nancy know that another storm was brewing at her home in Toledo, Ohio.
00:06:22
She had some concerns about her son, some things going on there. Nancy was originally from Ohio, and even though she retired to sunny Florida after her husband passed away,
00:06:35
she kept the family home in Toledo. Now she was worried about her son who stayed behind.
00:06:43
In Georgia, escaping the wrath of Ian, she was already halfway there. So she decided to drive to Toledo to check on him.
00:06:53
And then continued on to Ohio. Okay, his name? And his name is Travis Luton, same last name.
00:07:05
Travis Luton was Nancy's 31-year-old son. He lived alone in their family home. Nancy had been trying to get in contact with him since before she evacuated,
00:07:16
but hadn't gotten a reply. I think he has some issues that, you know, she was concerned may require maybe some intervention,
00:07:28
some kind of intervention of some sort with getting help. And I'm not privy to all of that.
00:07:39
I just, I'm sure my mother, her sister, who is also here from the hurricane, could, if it came to that, could offer more information.
00:07:51
Nancy often tried to intervene in Travis's life. To say he had issues was a bit of an understatement.
00:08:00
Despite being in a private school, he got into plenty of trouble. And by the time he was 18, got his first real charge.
00:08:07
He hit a parked car. And when officers arrived, Travis leaned against the trunk for stability
00:08:14
exclaiming I was driving drunk. Probably not a good strategical move. Strategical?
00:08:23
I don't know, I'm tired guys. Anyway, his blood alcohol concentration was .159, twice the legal limit.
00:08:33
Less than a year later, he was caught shoplifting headphones from Walmart. When loss prevention confronted him,
00:08:39
he put up his fists and tried to punch them. Then he brandished a pair of pruning shears,
00:08:47
likely the ones he used to open up the headphones. Those cases are a real pain in the ass with the plastic, you know?
00:08:55
Then he threatened to stab the Walmart employees. He then fled, jumped into his car, and sped away,
00:09:03
but not before sideswiping a parked car. It's kind of like his M.O., I guess. Hitting stationary vehicles.
00:09:12
About ten years later, against his mother's will, he took her car. He screamed at her that he would kill himself if she called the cops, so, you know.
00:09:22
Of course, she did call the cops, and he was arrested, and now... Apparently, her son had stolen a package off of a neighbor's porch.
00:09:35
Travis was a porch pirate. The most despicable species there is. You've seen them on the old YouTubes and the TikToks and the whatnuts.
00:09:48
We're not been stealing your packages right before Christmas. A real Grinch, you know?
00:09:54
Living next door to the Luton family home was a college student named Erica Sheehan.
00:10:00
Sheehan? Sheehan. I don't know. I'll get letters no matter how I say any word. So send them in, people.
00:10:07
See if I give a shit. anyway Erica Sheehan days before Hurricane Ian made landfall in Florida
00:10:14
was expecting a package a pair of new shoes her notification said it had been delivered
00:10:22
but she couldn't find it she looked around and it wasn't there so she checked the doorbell camera
00:10:28
there in high resolution clarity was Travis swiping the package from her porch She tried knocking on the door to ask Travis about it, but he didn't answer.
00:10:42
In the days following, he seemed to be avoiding her altogether. Erica told her mother Sue, and she emailed Nancy.
00:10:51
They were going to press charges if the package was not returned. Of course, Nancy was embarrassed.
00:10:59
Who wouldn't be? she assured them that she was trying to get Travis some help and that in no way did she condone his
00:11:08
behavior she confessed Travis had been distant since his father died you know all the excuses
00:11:15
mothers make for their kids so they can continue to stunt their development and boost their own ego
00:11:22
years earlier Travis had been mugged on the way home from high school after that he was
00:11:29
never really the same. The death of his father in 2014 only made him more reclusive,
00:11:36
she said. Of course, we've all experienced death close to us, some closer than others.
00:11:43
Not all of us are doing terrible things. Nancy sent Travis several upset emails about the incident.
00:11:51
She had to email him because he didn't have a job and subsequently didn have cellular service He relied on the home Wi for all communication In her emails she encouraged him to return the package
00:12:08
or they were going to call the cops. But she never got a response. But what would he do with a pair of lady sneakers anyway?
00:12:16
I don't believe she was getting any kind of correspondence from him either. So she left here to go there.
00:12:25
So I do know that much. When Nancy couldn't get a response from Travis, the neighbor went ahead and involved the police.
00:12:34
They came out to the house to talk to Travis about the theft. And they had, they already have had the police department, your Toledo police department, go by her home and try to do like a well check on him.
00:12:51
Apparently he did not answer. Nancy was worried about the lack of response from Travis, and she feared the worst.
00:13:00
She loaded up her Red Ford Escape and pulled another marathon nine-hour drive straight to Toledo.
00:13:06
She emailed Travis one last time before she left, letting him know that she'd be home sometime after midnight.
00:13:14
Travis was troubled. He just couldn't seem to get out of his own way. Nancy had been taking care of this overgrown child most of her life
00:13:25
and now she feared that he may have actually followed through with all those childish threats of suicide
00:13:31
she left her sister and niece behind in Georgia and hurried home but this call from Amy wasn't about Travis
00:13:40
it was about Nancy we have not heard from him for 41 hours now and she was traveling from where I live in Dallas, Georgia,
00:13:51
to her part-time residence in Toledo. And I'm calling to see if there's any way somebody could go to her home
00:14:06
and see if she's made it. You left 41 hours ago? That is correct, Thursday at 4 p.m.
00:14:14
we have called, texted, we're getting no reply. Nancy left Dallas, Georgia on Thursday, September 29th at 4 p.m.
00:14:26
As the Category 4 hurricane carved a path of destruction across Florida, Nancy carved her path through the night.
00:14:35
The trip only took about nine hours, but now it was 9 a.m. Saturday, October 1st.
00:14:43
41 hours later, and no one had heard from Nancy or Travis. My concern is that when the police department did the well check before, prior to my aunt coming home,
00:14:57
he did not come to the door. He would not answer the door. And they, you know, of course, they did not, you know, do any kind of forcible entry.
00:15:08
I don't know that he would come to the door. He knows probably through her texting him that even though he didn't reply to her, that it's a big situation and that the police were going to pursue some criminal charges in some way, the neighbor was.
00:15:30
Right. So I just want them to know that, that he probably, if he's in there, would probably not come to the door.
00:15:39
and if my aunt's car is in the driveway and no one comes to the door, then I just want it to be known that's the situation also
00:15:48
because she would absolutely come to the door if her car is there. Unsure of what was going on in Toledo,
00:15:56
Amy tried to give the dispatcher any scenario that should cause alarm. She knew her aunt and her cousin.
00:16:05
She knew that if Nancy's car was in the driveway, she was there. So if she didn't come to the door, something
00:16:12
was wrong. Travis, on the other hand, wasn't likely to come to the door, even if he wasn't
00:16:20
aware of the pending legal actions for being a porch pirate. Okay, he's never done anything as far as
00:16:26
you know to harm her at all. Any kind of domestic situation? Not that we're aware of.
00:16:33
But to himself, that could be potentially a possibility. Nancy left Florida to escape the storm. She left Georgia for fear
00:16:46
that something was wrong with her son. No one had heard from him, despite repeated attempts to
00:16:52
contact him. She couldn't think of any reason why he wouldn't respond other than bad ones.
00:16:59
Maybe something happened to him while he was home alone. Maybe he did something to himself.
00:17:05
Or, perhaps, whatever tragedy befell Travis was lying in wait when Nancy returned home.
00:17:35
Nancy Lewton fled Florida to escape the catastrophic destruction of Hurricane Ian.
00:17:51
But a different catastrophe was brewing on her horizon In our hometown of Toledo her son Travis was getting into trouble The neighbor had video evidence of him stealing a package from her front porch
00:18:05
This neighbor tried to contact him several times. She knocked on the door. Without answer, she left notes on both the front and back doors, asking Travis to please return the package.
00:18:18
She even had her father stop by. She knew he was in there, but never got a response.
00:18:25
finally the neighbor resorted to sending an email to nancy to see if she could intervene
00:18:30
this was a close community and she didn't want to call police on her neighbor over a stolen pair of
00:18:37
shoes nancy emailed travis several times before evacuating florida but he didn't reply she left
00:18:45
the safety of amy's house in georgia and drove nine hours back to toledo to check on her adult
00:18:51
son. Her sister and niece began to worry when they didn't get confirmation that she made
00:18:58
it home. After 41 hours with no word from Nancy and still no word from Travis, they
00:19:05
did what they actually should have done to begin with. Call the Toledo police and ask
00:19:11
them to perform a welfare check. All right, well, listen, I got it in. I appreciate it.
00:19:18
As a matter of fact, they're already, well, they're saying they're on scene there, so
00:19:20
hold on. Oh. Do you have a minute? Let's see if they... I do, ma'am. Thank you. May I put you on speakerphone?
00:19:33
Sure. Thank you. I'll call you back, all right? Okay. I gave her all the information.
00:19:39
She's checking it right now. She has the police are actually already on the scene at this location.
00:19:46
Oh, good. officers must have been in the area because they were on the scene in less than five minutes
00:19:53
nancy's niece relayed the information to her mother and nancy's sister sandra because they're there i'm gonna as a matter of fact put you on a brief hold for um and see if
00:20:05
they have any updates yet okay i appreciate it the police arrived quickly but details were coming
00:20:13
back slowly. The dispatcher put Amy on hold to see if she could reach them for more information.
00:20:20
The dispatcher didn't know that the officers who responded were stumbling onto a bizarre scene.
00:20:27
Yes, Amy. Okay, thanks, right. They're there. They haven't come over there and said anything yet.
00:20:32
So if you want, I will just keep an eye on it and see what I can find out and give you a call back.
00:20:37
I hate to keep you hanging on hold. No, that's fine. So you just don't know what's going on or why they're there or anything.
00:20:45
Yeah, they made it to the house. They came, you know, said that they were on scene there, but they haven't come over there and said anything.
00:20:52
Officers arrived at 1865 Wildwood Road. It was the fourth house on the right, just as you entered the neighborhood from Highway 24.
00:21:02
The house was a traditional two-story home with light blue vinyl siding and a bold green front door.
00:21:13
To the left of the home was a driveway leading to a detached two-car garage. The lawn and landscaping were nice, albeit a bit neglected.
00:21:23
It was clear this home was well taken care of for many years. behind the property was heavily wooded hiding the steep descent to the delaware creek
00:21:34
no sooner did an officer take all this in than a person showed up laura malik approached the
00:21:41
officer and explained her mother and georgia called her about her aunt nancy she was amy's
00:21:48
sister who still lived in toledo she explained how unusual it was for her aunt not to let her
00:21:54
family know when she made it to town and if she even did make it. Laura led the officer to the
00:22:02
garage and peeked through the window. Inside was Nancy's red Ford Escape. She had made it home.
00:22:11
Just then, the officer noticed they were being watched. From the upstairs window,
00:22:17
they could see the figure figure figure figure of a chubby man he had short messy hair and a five
00:22:27
o'clock shadow he stood there staring at the two by the garage laura told the officer that it was
00:22:36
her cousin travis and the officer tried to talk to him through the window travis just stood there
00:22:44
and shook his head no. The officer continued to try to get a response from Travis
00:22:49
until he disappeared into the room behind him. Is that how adults act? It's very strange.
00:22:57
The officer, freaked out by this weirdo, then called for backup. Nancy was missing, or at least incommunicado,
00:23:07
and Travis was refusing to come outside or even speak through a windowpane. They didn't even know what was going on, but they thought they might need a negotiator to talk him out.
00:23:20
He could be heavily armed and detached from reality for all they knew. And it seemed like he was. Like his entire life.
00:23:29
As weakening Hurricane Ian bore down on the Carolinas, a swarm of police officers descended on Travis and Nancy Lewton's Toledo home.
00:23:39
The responding officers secured the house surrounding it as others tried to get Travis to come open the door. One officer at the back door noticed something unusual.
00:23:52
On the back porch there was a pile of clothes in front of a chair. Next to the chair was a pair of
00:24:00
pruning shears. The clothes were in a crumpled pile on top of a rolled-up rug and a clear plastic
00:24:07
sheet. It looked as if someone sat in the chair and removed all their clothing. Their boots were
00:24:14
muddy, and upon closer inspection, the officer noticed the clothes were covered in plant matter.
00:24:22
Dozens of little seed burrs clung to the fabric. Then, next to the porch, in the grass, was a pair of socks and underwear.
00:24:33
Whoever disrobed here seemed to have rinsed off with the garden hose and left all these items strewn about.
00:24:40
But where were they coming from? The officer eyed an open gate in the back of the property.
00:24:46
Beyond that gate was a worn path down into a wooden ravine. From this vantage point, the officer could see what looked like a wheelbarrow and a hand truck for moving furniture at the bottom.
00:25:01
He radioed this info to the lead officer, and he decided to ping Nancy's cell phone.
00:25:07
You never want to stumble upon moving equipment in the woods when looking for an elderly person.
00:25:13
Probably a bad sign. The ping placed her cell phone within 300 feet of the house.
00:25:21
With this information, they forced their way inside to see if they could find Nancy.
00:25:27
Let me see your hands! Yes, see your hands! Get on the ground! On the ground! Several officers made their way inside.
00:25:37
They kicked open the back door and made entry. An officer equipped with a riot shield led the way, clearing the downstairs.
00:25:45
Then they cautiously made their way up the stairs and into the master bedroom, where they found Travis.
00:25:52
He was just lying in bed when they burst through the door with guns trained on him.
00:25:58
Draw hands where we can see him. Keep your hands there. Anybody else in here with you?
00:26:06
Where's mom, Travis? Is anybody else here? Where's mom, Travis? Where's your mom?
00:26:12
Other hand back here. He was as stoic as he had been at the window. The officer's questions fell on deaf ears as they handcuffed him behind his back.
00:26:25
They searched the house for Nancy a while and they didn't find her. They found plenty of signs, though, that she was there.
00:26:33
Her car was in the garage, still loaded with her luggage from the trip. In the basement they found her purse and her wallet.
00:26:40
There just wasn't Nancy herself. They arrested Travis on the spot and took him down to the station for questioning,
00:26:49
to try to get to the bottom of where the hell his mother was. Hey, Travis, I'm Detective Oigley. This is Sergeant Kennedy, okay?
00:26:56
We want to talk to you about why the officers were out of your house, okay? He sat like a statue, his hands laid flat on his thighs.
00:27:07
By American standards, he was average height and weight, but when compared to a frail elderly woman
00:27:14
he was a beast at 5 foot 8 inches tall and 210 pounds he far outweighed his mother
00:27:24
they were eager to see what he had to say but first they had to Mirandize him something he said he'd never done before
00:27:34
he's been arrested before and convicted but those were open and shut cases where they didn't even need to question him.
00:27:42
So, do you know why the officers came to your house today? Yes. Why? What's the story with that?
00:27:53
What? They were looking for my parents. Your mom? Yes. Do you know where she's at?
00:28:02
No. He talked like a teenager in trouble. He fidgeted with his hands and avoided eye contact.
00:28:10
But he seemed to know exactly what was going on. He knew they were looking for his mother.
00:28:17
Do you know, I guess she would be your cousin, Laura? Yes. Okay, where? And so it's my understanding that your mom was down in,
00:28:28
well, she was supposed to be in Florida, right? Yes. But because of the hurricane she was in Georgia, was that your understanding?
00:28:34
Yes. Okay. Did you go down there with her? You stayed up here? No. Yes. Okay. So when she's, she goes back and forth, right?
00:28:43
Between, okay. And so when she's up here, you guys live together, right? Okay. When was the last time you talked to your mom?
00:28:54
September 30th. When? September 30th. Okay. Yesterday. You know what time? A day?
00:29:02
It was late. It was late. 2 o'clock. They probed him with questions they already knew the answers to.
00:29:12
They were looking for either information that led to Nancy or evidence that he was hiding something, evidence he was lying.
00:29:20
He said he'd last talked with his mother on September 30th, that 2 o'clock. 2 a.m. on September 30th would have been 10 hours after Nancy left Georgia.
00:29:31
Was she still down in Georgia at that time, or did she say where she was? No, she sends me emails, but she needs to contact me.
00:29:41
She was driving home from Georgia. She sent you an email? Yes. Saying what? She was coming home from...
00:29:49
She was on her way? Yeah. Okay. She doesn't text or call you? We all know the answer to that question He had a phone It just wasn connected to a network Travis completely relied on his mother to live
00:30:07
Without her, he wouldn't have a house to live in or a car to drive. The very same car, I might add, that he was arrested for stealing years previous.
00:30:18
He backpedaled the comment about speaking with his mother and instead said he received an email from her.
00:30:25
saying she was on her way home. While Travis was answering their questions, the cadence of his speech made the conversation confusing for detectives.
00:30:35
Okay, so when was the last time you actually talked to her and heard her voice? When she was in Toledo, that would be May or June of this year.
00:30:49
Okay, so she's been gone since then? Yes. He said the last time he heard his mother's voice was months before she left for Florida.
00:30:58
That was a long time ago to go without hearing your mother's voice. Then he said this.
00:31:05
So do you know, did she make it back to Toledo and make it back to the house? Yes.
00:31:11
She did make it back to the house? Yes. Okay, and what day was that? September 30th.
00:31:17
Okay, it was late. It was 2 a.m. What's that? She got back to the house at 2 a.m.
00:31:28
2 a.m.? Yes. On the 30th? Yes. Okay. I guess I maybe misunderstood. I thought you said she was leaving Georgia on the 30th.
00:31:38
No. Okay, but you're saying she came back on the 30th? Yes. At 2 a.m.? Yes. Okay, and were you at the house at that time?
00:31:47
Yes, I was. Were you sleeping, or did you... You must have heard her come in or something, or did you talk to her at all?
00:31:53
I heard her come in through the door. Okay. So did you talk to her at all then when she came in?
00:32:00
No. I guess you could call it being cooperative, but he wasn't being forthcoming.
00:32:06
He kept his answers short, mostly yes or no. But when he did give more details, you could tell he's holding something back.
00:32:16
Detectives don't think he's lying, just not giving the whole truth. He said he heard his mother come home at 2 a.m. on the 30th.
00:32:25
He heard her walk through the kitchen door. He heard this, but he didn't speak with her.
00:32:31
Okay. So that was on the 30th, and then when you woke up the next morning, was she still there then?
00:32:39
No. Do you know where she went? No. By the time he woke up the next morning, she was already gone.
00:32:51
But when asked if he knew where she went, he hesitated for a long time before answering.
00:32:57
These types of responses made detectives sure he wasn't being completely forthcoming.
00:33:03
Okay, what car, she owns two cars, right? Yes. The Escape, and what kind is the other car?
00:33:11
Civic. A Civic? Yeah. Which one did she drive to Georgia? The escape. The escape, okay.
00:33:18
Yes. Do you know because her car is still in the garage, right, from what we saw?
00:33:26
Yes. Okay. So you don't have any idea where she's at? No. The detectives pointed out that Nancy's car was still there,
00:33:35
hoping he would realize the point they were trying to make. If she left, her car wouldn't be there, so since it was there, she clearly didn't leave.
00:33:48
Yet Travis continued denying, knowing anything about where his mother was. Did you guys have any kind of arguments or anything?
00:33:57
There were arguments about money. About money? Yes. What's with the money? I wanted to be for food and just my household, I guess.
00:34:13
So you were arguing that you didn't have enough money for food or? Yes. Okay. And then when did this argument take place?
00:34:22
After she got back? No, that's been kind of a continuous thing. It's when she leaves and comes back from Florida.
00:34:31
If I have, you know, food or money to take care of myself, I guess. Okay, so the problem you have is that you're not having enough food and money while she's in Florida?
00:34:42
Yes. Okay. Yes. So when she came back at 2 a.m. on the third half, did you guys argue about that then?
00:34:49
No. He admitted he and his mom had an ongoing argument about his, let's just call it his allowance.
00:34:58
But he was consistent with his previous statement saying they did not argue when she returned early on the 30th.
00:35:07
Remember, he said he never spoke with her. So you don't have any idea where she's at right now?
00:35:14
No. Do you ever go down into the ravine there? No. You don't go down there because there's some stuff down there we were wondering.
00:35:25
did you put some stuff down there? Because we were wondering why there was like a wheelbarrow.
00:35:30
Yes. What were you, and there's like a dolly. I call it a dolly, one of those things with it.
00:35:38
A wheelbarrow. Right, a wheelbarrow and a dolly. Like what were you doing with those?
00:35:47
I don't, I'm not going to answer that. You don't want to answer that? No. Okay. well because I think you probably know what we getting at right yes this was the first time the detectives mentioned the items in the ravine Denying knowing where his mother was had worked up to this point
00:36:10
Now, he knew what they were getting at. You could hear him sigh when he realized there's no way to wiggle out of this.
00:36:18
From what your aunt says, do you have some, do you have disabilities or anything you've been diagnosed with?
00:36:26
No. You've never been diagnosed with any kind of mental illness or anything like that?
00:36:31
No. Okay. Well, your aunt and your uncle, or I'm sorry, your cousin, Laura and her husband are kind of upset they would like to know where your mom is at.
00:36:46
I mean, what should we tell them? After a long pause, Travis muttered the following.
00:36:58
He admitted the whole truth. He had killed his mother. Of course, they already knew something happened to Nancy.
00:37:08
They just didn't know exactly what. You see, after they arrested Travis, they took him in and they searched the house.
00:37:15
like the outside the inside of the house showed signs of being well taken care of
00:37:19
until recently another section of the wall was removed from an upstairs bedroom the pieces
00:37:28
from this project were stacked messily nearby the basement was empty prepped for a new floor but
00:37:37
only a few boards had ever been laid down. This is where they found her purse and wallet,
00:37:45
in an empty basement. That was the first clue that something bad happened to Nancy.
00:37:52
Just like the basement, her purse and wallet were also empty. Calling her phone led officers to one of the kitchen cabinets.
00:38:02
Inside they found Nancy's vibrating cell phone, her driver's license, her debit and credit cards, and her car keys.
00:38:10
Further searching discovered even more disturbing things. In the garage, in a trash can, was a rolled-up area rug.
00:38:20
When officers unrolled the rug, they found a pink sweatshirt inside. On the shirt was a single bloodstain.
00:38:28
the rug itself had a much larger stain of what appeared to be blood in the center of it
00:38:36
next to the driver's side door of nancy's ford escape was a single sandal i we appreciate you
00:38:44
being honest okay i know there's some things probably but we just want to understand okay
00:38:50
because there's two sides to every story we know that so okay now is the time for you to give us
00:38:56
your side of the story. Right. So when she got, did she really get home at 2 a.m. then? Yes. Okay, and then what happened when she got home? We had a fight. You had a fight? Yes. Like an argument with words or a physical fight? No, a physical fight. Okay, and you got to speak up a little for me too so I make sure I can understand you. Yes. So you had a physical fight. What was that over?
00:39:26
Or was it about the money and the food? Yes. Okay. To say they got into a fight seems wrong.
00:39:34
Is it a fight when it's between a 31-year-old man and a 71-year-old woman? Not much of one.
00:39:41
No. Sounds more like an attack or an assault. I doubt anything Nancy did could be considered fighting.
00:39:50
Just in your words, what happened? This is your story. I attacked my mother when she came home from Florida.
00:39:59
That's more like it. Travis attacked his mother as soon as she walked through the door.
00:40:06
And where again did you first attack her? Was it inside or outside the kitchen? Okay.
00:40:12
So had she started unloading her car at that point? Or was she getting stuff out of her car?
00:40:17
She walked in and turned her one of the kitchen lights on and she only brought her purse in.
00:40:25
She just turned the light on and you were there. Yes. Okay. What do you mean attacked her?
00:40:31
Like with your fist or did you have something else in your hand? I don't know. I don't remember
00:40:40
if I had weapons or not. There might be weapons in my house but not nothing like that was used.
00:40:51
used against her. They didn't get into a fight. He blindsided her as soon as she got home from a
00:40:59
10-hour trip. The mother that took care of him, he attacked her the moment she got there.
00:41:07
I guess he was telling the truth about not talking to her. When you say you attacked her,
00:41:13
what exactly happened? What did you do? I attacked her when she came home from when she returned from Georgia.
00:41:26
How did you attack her? What happened? Stopped. It was her breathing, I guess. Her breathing stopped?
00:41:38
Yes, yes. How did you do that? Physically, my body. when I attacked her. What do you mean?
00:41:52
Just let me understand how it happened. I used my weight and power to kill my mother What was she
00:42:06
That was my plan. Anyway, it did last for some time, I guess, if you wanted my confession on that.
00:42:22
I attacked her when she came home. 2 a.m. She said she would be home sometime after 12. And I made the decision to attack
00:42:40
her and stop her breathing. He described it almost clinically, like a sociopath. He stopped her breathing.
00:42:55
But what he actually did was wrap both meaty hands around his mother's neck and squeeze as hard as he could for as long as he could.
00:43:04
When his hands got tired or he couldn't bear to look her in the eyes any longer,
00:43:09
he pushed his elbow into her throat and used his entire body weight to finish the job.
00:43:16
Okay, now so do you mean then you, like, did you choke her? Did you put something over her face?
00:43:22
Or how did you stop her breathing? I was choking her. With your hands around your...
00:43:28
How were you choking her exactly? Did you use something? My hands and my elbow, I guess.
00:43:35
Your elbow? Yes. Did she say anything to you when she got home? I didn't really see the letters.
00:43:42
You didn't even give her an opportunity? No. You didn't even allow her to speak before he attacked.
00:43:49
He didn't even allow her to beg for her life. She just walked through the door, and her son, whom she'd always rushed to help,
00:43:58
stared into her eyes and strangled the life out of her. Does that make you mad? Because it sure as fuck makes me mad.
00:44:07
The once little boy she brought into this world removed her from it. As the police continued at the house, the neighbors were shocked, but not caught off guard completely.
00:44:21
We knew him since he was in high school. And he had trouble back then, like a lot of kids, but maybe a little bit more.
00:44:31
And it just followed him as he grew up. It's very unexpected. Yeah, the big drama on the Facebook neighborhood page usually is,
00:44:39
oh, I think somebody broke into my car last night. You know, this is just not something we're used to experiencing.
00:44:47
But it's very real in our community. But it is shocking because it's a quiet neighborhood. It's a very quiet neighborhood.
00:44:53
And for something like this to happen is quite a shock to everybody. Her friend back in Florida, who had known her since the third grade, chose to remember her as she was, rather than how she horrifically died.
00:45:08
She knew Travis was verbally abusive to his mother and that he struggled with his mental health.
00:45:14
But never did she think he would have homicidal thoughts. they never think these things, no matter how many times it happens.
00:45:22
It hasn't really come to reality because it's so out there. It's so unbelievable.
00:45:30
She was like a sister to me, an aunt to my children. She set aside like a couple hours every day to send out encouraging messages
00:45:40
to people that she didn't even know because that was her nature. Nancy Luton, known for her kindness to strangers
00:45:48
and her devotion to her son, died on the kitchen floor of their family home. Her son failed to appreciate all that she did for him
00:45:59
through the three decades of his miserable life. He murdered the woman who wrote prayers in the margins of her Bible,
00:46:09
asking for divine assistance with her son, the idiot. she wanted the best for him even though he was difficult to put it mildly now all that was left
00:46:22
for detectives to understand was why and what happened in that ravine what happened when you
00:46:30
out or down there? I tried to remove myself from anything that would connect me to this
00:46:44
see what happens. Well how did you do that? Um, uh, a fire. The welfare check for Nancy Luton led to a bizarre interaction with our son Travis.
00:47:29
He stared at officers from the upstairs bedroom window. He refused to talk or even come to the door.
00:47:36
Officers noticed odd things in the ravine behind his house. A wheelbarrow and a hand truck.
00:47:43
this combined with his cousin Laura pointing out that Nancy's car was in the garage
00:47:48
and she should be home raised further suspicions Nancy always came to the door if she was home
00:47:56
officers suited up and breached the back They found Travis lying in bed watching TV and took him into custody.
00:48:05
He denied everything until he realized the officers had seen what was in the ravine.
00:48:12
Then he finally told the truth. He attacked his mother as soon as she walked through the door and then strangled her.
00:48:22
When he got tired, he used his elbow and his weight, all 210 pounds. He confessed to killing his mother, but what he did after is just as heinous.
00:48:36
Okay, so after she stopped breathing, then what happened? Well, you said I was in the ravines of the woods behind my house there.
00:48:49
She was unconscious. and I guess I tried to make it look like there was any altercation or fight
00:49:06
to kind of get rid of any evidence here. Okay, so did you take your mom down to the ravine then?
00:49:16
Yes, yes, I did. How did you get her down there? I had to kind of carry it on there.
00:49:27
You carried her? Yes. Okay, like you didn't have to use anything else? You just carried her like this or fireman's carry?
00:49:40
Like how did you get her down there? Because that's pretty steep. The reason I ask, I mean, we went down there,
00:49:45
it's pretty steep when I was out there. Okay, yeah. I guess I did have some difficulty with trying to get rid of the evidence, I guess, moving her.
00:49:59
As his mother's body lay lifeless on the rug in the kitchen, Travis came up with a plan.
00:50:06
He cleaned up to get rid of any evidence of a struggle. He rolled up the rug and stashed it in the garage.
00:50:12
He took his mother's purse and wallet, emptied them of any money, and hid them in the basement.
00:50:19
Then he grabbed a flashlight and his mother's body and carried her to the ravine.
00:50:26
Behind the garage at the back of the property was a gate and a path into the ravine.
00:50:31
It was a steep hill going down to somewhat of a landing before another trail went deeper.
00:50:37
The woods were dense with lots of bushy undergrowth. Travis cleared the path, cutting low branches and snapping high weeds.
00:50:48
The trail was long and winding, heading ever lower and deeper into the woods. Eventually, it ended at an access point to the storm drain system.
00:51:00
A manhole jutted out of the ground a couple of feet high. Travis removed the cover and placed the small body of his mother in the pipe.
00:51:10
Then he just went back to his garage and grabbed the hand truck. He loaded it with scraps of wood from all the incomplete renovations
00:51:19
and went back to the ravine where he packed the scraps around her body in the pipe.
00:51:24
Then he went back to the garage for the wheelbarrow and a gas can. What happened with the fire?
00:51:34
I tried to, I guess, get rid of the evidence of her. Okay, you've got to be a little more specific.
00:51:44
So what happened to your mom's body then? I put her into a sewer, an open sewer.
00:51:52
and then I lit the fire and started to, I guess, destroy the evidence. He doused the wood and his mother with gasoline and litter on fire.
00:52:15
Now, whether or not Travis knew this was a good plan, it was. The drainpipe was constructed in such a way that at the bottom were two smaller pipes.
00:52:26
These pipes usually carried rainwater to the creek, but when Travis lit the fire, they became an inlet for fresh air.
00:52:34
The size of the pipe and the fact that it was made of metal and concrete made it an ideal incinerator.
00:52:42
The fire was so hot that it burnt the tree limbs above it. Travis had to go back to the garage and grab a pump sprayer to douse the surrounding foliage with water
00:52:53
to prevent catching the whole woods on fire. So what time did you do all that? Was that all right at like 2 in the morning?
00:53:01
It was over an 18-hour period of time, yes. It was weird to think that no one noticed a blazing fire at the bottom of a ravine but it is a clue to how thick these woods really were Travis manned the fire for hours feeding it wood and stoking the flames
00:53:26
When officers finally pulled Nancy's remains from the pipe, she wasn't even recognizable as human.
00:53:32
What was left of her only weighed 36 pounds. Her arms and legs were reduced to little more than bone and ash.
00:53:42
Her torso was charred and burned, revealing the sooty black organs inside. The front upper part of her skull was fragmented from the extreme heat exposing brain matter.
00:53:57
They couldn't tell if she was alive when she was set on fire due to the airways being charred,
00:54:03
but the examination of her lungs revealed a low carboxyhemoglobin saturation, if I said that right.
00:54:10
in other words she was dead before she was set aflame thank god at least for that
00:54:18
Travis strangled his mother to death and then burned her body in a makeshift incinerator to try to get rid of the evidence
00:54:26
that part now made sense but the question remained why why would Travis kill the only person in his life who
00:54:34
ever cared about him I mean she was certainly the person taking care of him, he couldn't take care of himself.
00:54:43
And I'll say one more thing. It's weird that a person that can't really take care of himself and, you know, get a job at Taco Bell
00:54:51
to pay their bills, has all this ingenuity to put together this entire plan and kill someone.
00:54:59
Weird. Right? So you said that you had made a plan to do this. You just decided that when she came home
00:55:06
that was what we were going to do. Yes. How come, what I guess made you get to that point?
00:55:12
What drove you there? It was... How were you feeling, I guess? I was feeling, I guess, it was the decision from, like I said,
00:55:27
my household right now and what I'm going through when I don't have support or help from, I guess, others.
00:55:36
So you were angry with her before she got home? Yes. Travis had been harboring anger towards his mother for some time.
00:55:45
He complained that he couldn't take care of himself because she never left him with enough money for his household.
00:55:54
Think about that for a second. Think about it real good. It was over money and, I guess, what I have in my house.
00:56:08
What do you mean by what you have in your house? She's not there, I smoke. So it was kind of about how I either take care of myself or feed myself.
00:56:23
I need food if I can get it out. Now that he was finally saying it out loud, Travis didn't seem to know why he decided to kill his mother.
00:56:33
It all sounded so dumb. His explanation was little more than ramblings and incomplete thoughts.
00:56:42
It seemed he was worried about his mother finding out about his marijuana use, but more about him not being provided the means to take care of himself.
00:56:51
You see, when you do everything for someone, when you give them everything they need, take away any independence or sense of self by just providing everything, what ends up happening more often than not is that that person getting everything starts to take it for granted.
00:57:13
I mean, it's there no matter what they do. And once they've taken it for granted enough, they then start to resent you for not giving them more.
00:57:24
It happens to entire societies, in fact. I mean, just take a look around. I know there's more reasons that I did this, but...
00:57:37
Well, we're willing to listen to you, and why, if there's other reasons, how's your time to tell us?
00:57:44
Right. Do you want to tell us what else was going on? Were you mad about her for something else?
00:57:55
I think it was my problems with... I've had problems dealing with my life and family's lives.
00:58:07
He was trying to give a reason for what he did, but it just wasn't very good. Who kills their mother because he's mad about his allowance and not having enough money?
00:58:20
I wouldn't want to give him any money if I were Nancy. And if I learned he was spending it on pot, you know, get the fuck out of my house.
00:58:28
That how you raise kids At least ones that aren a complete piece of shit I haven been diagnosed with anything but I do have I had problems before and I
00:58:43
guess it kind of all accumulated into me making that decision. All of the little bullshit excuses he had for being mad at his mother culminated in him deciding to murder her.
00:59:04
He said he didn't have enough money for food, and he blamed his mother for this.
00:59:09
He said she was upset about him smoking pot, and he resented her for it. He said he had trouble coping with life, and all that combined led to his decision.
00:59:22
These reasons are poor ones individually, but put together, Travis found himself at a breaking point.
00:59:30
And sounds like Travis had a low bar for breaking. But this wasn't a spur-of-the-moment decision.
00:59:37
He planned it. Was this planned for a while? So at what question, do you remember what day it was
00:59:45
where you decided in your head that's what you were going to do? like was it just as she came home or was it days before that that you had made up your mind once
00:59:56
she was home i think about a week before she she came home before you had thoughts of killing her
01:00:02
yes well before hurricane ian was anywhere close to landfall travis had decided to kill his mother
01:00:12
He was mad at her. He blamed her for everything. Rather than take any responsibility for his life,
01:00:19
he put everything on his mother unjustly. Nancy always ran to his side when he needed help,
01:00:25
just like she did this time. She funded his lifestyle, or lack thereof. But it wasn't enough for Travis.
01:00:35
Never is. I'm sure there's a Travis in your life. There's been a Travis in mine.
01:00:40
that's for sure. Every perceived slight in his life was all because of Nancy. He had no aspirations,
01:00:49
no real future. I mean, what was his plan if he got away with it? Which he could have, really,
01:00:55
if he weren't so fucking lazy. He could have burnt the purse and everything in it. He could
01:01:01
have stoked the fire longer completely to destroy his mother's body. He could have ditched the car
01:01:08
somewhere rather than leave it in the garage. Then Nancy would have just been missing under mysterious circumstances.
01:01:17
But then what? Was Travis just going to go back to watching TV and smoking pot in bed?
01:01:23
What happened the next time he needed to buy some more? What then? Who was going to give him money for his household?
01:01:31
He had a plan to kill his mother, but it sort of lacked all semblance of logic. Travis killed the only person left who truly cared and loved him for no good reason.
01:01:46
Travis was indicted for tampering with evidence, felonious assault, aggravated robbery, abuse of a corpse, murder, and aggravated murder.
01:01:58
He pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Apparently, Travis had a difficult birth, including not breathing for at least half a minute,
01:02:08
and subsequently spending time in isolated intensive care afterwards. They surmised that this led to the mental health issues he had since childhood.
01:02:20
But then again, he could have just been a piece of shit. You know, you ever consider that science?
01:02:26
You ever consider that some people are just a piece of shit? But the judge, you know, being a judge, granted the defense a complete evaluation.
01:02:35
And after that, everything changed. Travis entered an Alford plea, which is a guilty plea without admitting to the crimes themselves.
01:02:47
I don't know what legal scholar came up with this, but it's like admitting to a crime without admitting to a crime.
01:02:53
Way to go, legal system. Sounds super good for society. It was an attempt to lessen his sentence because he knew that if he went to trial, he would go to prison for much longer.
01:03:09
Travis has struggled since he was a young man. And I think the fact that, as Ray said, it's a quiet neighborhood, it just highlights that mental health issues are universal.
01:03:24
We need more community resources. We need help. It doesn't matter. Nobody is immune.
01:03:28
and a mother's love just doesn't end, no matter what your son's mental illness is.
01:03:33
And I'm sorry it ended this way. She did all she could to encourage him, and she wasn't able to do it.
01:03:45
At the sentencing hearing his family gave statements Despite what he had done they begged for mercy on him Laura Malick asked the judge to give him a chance at release if he underwent mental health treatment in prison
01:04:01
She said, it's never too late and no one is ever too far gone to receive God's gift of forgiveness
01:04:08
if they only ask. Have mercy on her son in spite of his crimes because that's who Nancy Luton was.
01:04:16
without hope, there is nothing. Just before handing down a sentence, the judge spoke to Travis directly, saying,
01:04:26
I don't know how quickly she died. I don't know if she looked into her son's eyes,
01:04:32
or what it might have been like to know that the person you loved more than life is taking yours.
01:04:39
I suspect her last thoughts were about you. not in fear or anger but in worry about who would take care of you afterward.
01:04:50
He then sentenced him to life in prison. Big Daddy State can take care of you now that Mommy's gone.
01:04:59
Travis Sleuton laid around all day in his mother's house watching TV. His mother's TV, I might add.
01:05:06
Running off the electricity and the cable that his mother paid for. he slept in a comfy bed with clean sheets in the master bedroom
01:05:13
his mother's master bedroom even the food he ate was thanks to his mother his life was on easy mode
01:05:23
but he acted like he had it tough oh woe is me oh look at all my ailments Nancy provided everything for this fucking loser
01:05:34
and all she asked in return was for him to give it the old college try you know try just try to do something something anything with your life turn off the computer
01:05:46
turn off the television go outside go find out who you are go find out how to build a life
01:05:55
for yourself you'll fail you'll fall you'll stumble you'll get up you'll do it again
01:06:01
that's what it takes to be on this spinning rock and if you don't want to be on it
01:06:09
be my guest and get the fuck off. But don't burden everyone around you with your bullshit.
01:06:18
Don't burden your own mother for the rest of your life because you're too fucking lazy
01:06:26
to get out and go get a job. Nancy, God bless her, she loved her son. She didn't want to see his life wasted.
01:06:35
She tried everything she could to try to help him. She tried everything she could think of, but it was all for nothing.
01:06:44
She poured her love into Travis and helped him at every opportunity so much that she stunted him.
01:06:52
Travis wasn't capable of taking care of himself because he never had to. It wasn't her fault.
01:06:59
She only wanted her son, whom she loved to be happy and successful. But all her helping only did was harm him.
01:07:09
And in the end, harm herself. Sometimes all you can do is try. Unless trying is the problem.
01:07:23
And it's up to someone else to try instead. Thank you. That does it for another one.
01:08:23
Thank you once again for joining us. If you haven't already, consider joining Plus.
01:08:27
It's just $10 a month and it really helps us out. Sorenscale.com. Stay safe. Thank you.