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The Devious World of Richard Biegenwald | World’s Most Evil Killers

July 09, 2024 / 44:40

This episode covers the crimes of Richard Beal, a serial killer and mob enforcer, who murdered at least six people in New Jersey during the 1980s. Key discussions include his early life, criminal background, and the investigation into his murders, including the brutal killing of Anna Alowitz.

Richard Beal, born in 1940, had a troubled childhood marked by abuse and mental health issues. By the age of 17, he had committed his first murder and was sentenced to life in prison. After being released in 1975, he became involved in organized crime, committing further murders.

The episode details the discovery of Anna Alowitz's body in 1983 and the subsequent investigation led by Detective Kevin Quinn. Witness Teresa Smith provided crucial information linking Beal to the murder, revealing his violent tendencies and past relationships.

As detectives uncovered more evidence, they linked Beal to multiple unsolved murders, including those of William Ward and John Patron. The episode highlights the chilling nature of Beal's crimes and his lack of remorse.

Richard Beal was ultimately convicted of several murders, receiving a death sentence that was later commuted to life in prison. He died in 2008 without ever revealing the full extent of his crimes.

TLDR

Richard Beal, a serial killer and mob enforcer, committed multiple murders in New Jersey, evading justice until his eventual conviction.

Episode

44:40
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in January 1983 the discovery of a young woman's skeletal remains LED New Jersey
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detectives to the door of Richard Beal a serial killer with a very specific choice of victims dark hair dark eyes
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and and and darker skin these are the attributes which brought big world to withraw killings when investigators
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scratched the surface they found Bean wal not only killed for pleasure he also had a long list of victims he murdered
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for money beon wal was a mob enforcer a killer for higher beegan wall began his murderous career age just 17 years old
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he would go on to kill at least six people though some believe his tally of victims is much higher
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it was like if he said I I'll kill you you had to believe if he got a chance he
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was going to kill you he was a cold blooded killer he had no remorse uh he was a sociopath a man
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happy to kill for any reason or for no reason at all Richard bewal has earned the title of one of the world's most
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evil kills [Music] [Music] [Music] in 1983 when the full extent of Richard Bean Wall's crimes were reported across
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the United States the public was horrified it was like no matter what you did you turned the TV on you turned the
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radio it was Richard because we had never had anything like that before as well as committing a long list of
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murders Bean wal along with an accomplice appeared to be planning to carry out even greater
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atrocities they had a Mac semi-automatic weapon but they were engineering cigarette lighters to be 22 caliber
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handguns they had bombs they had d rape drugs and some sedatives what possibly could have you
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know happened with the bombs what was happening the next week that we didn't
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know about this wasn't the kind of guy who wanted to get caught this was the kind
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of guy who was just going to keep going regardless you catch me when you catch me and if you kill me you kill me that
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that kind of a person what I would describe as a real psychopath [Music] this killer Story begins on Staten
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Island New York Richard Bing world was born in August of 1940 to Albert and Sally banor a couple that to say the
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least was dysfunctional he didn't have a good childhood you know his father had a
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leg amputated he was a drinker and was an abusive both husband and father author Jon o rock has delved deep into
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Bean Wall's trouble back ground his problems started when he was still just a
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baby there's a small infant he was doing unusual body movement if you will stopping and just staring
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momentarily uh just odd behavior patterns that as time went on indicated to them that it was there was definitely
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a problem he was diagnosed with schizophrenia kind of before he was even a teenager and that's really
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unusual another attribute that he had was fascination with death from early on he just didn't fit in he was very
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impulsive he actually set himself on fire as as a kid I believe was eight eight when he set himself on fire the
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young Bean wal also displayed another worrying trait abusing animals his fascination with um hurting
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animals and and death uh ultimately increased to the point where they brought Richard to Belleville Hospital
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in New York the Psychiatric Center trying to seek help Richard spent his childhood in institutions designed to
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help him find a way in the world to keep to the straight and narrow they did exactly the opposite attorney Lou
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Diamond who represented Bean wal as an adult believes the treatment the young child was given made his problems worse
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not better they gave him electric shock therapy to an 8-year-old and then threw cold water on
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him naked and let him sleep on a on the iron table at night and he'd have to
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urinate on himself to stay warm an 8-year-old and we ask where do these people come from we make them and in
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those days it was unknown what it could lead to and what it led to was Richard they took the
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young boy out of him far too early this was a person who had problems from the beginning if we overlay that
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with the abuse in the home as well and overlay that again with some of the treatments the electro convulsive
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therapy treatments that he had this guy was never going to be a functioning adult as time moved on and he got older
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his behavior pattern increased well he was starting to get involved in some criminal activity was breaking into into
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cars uh stealing things smoke sort of smoking in an early age and room has it that he was even drinking at you know
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before he was 10 he was he was consuming alcohol maybe mimicking his father in 1957 16-year-old Bean wal was living
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back with his mother on Staten Island it soon became clear he was far from a reformed
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character he dropped out of school and started stealing things stealing cars and committing crimes he went down to
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Tennessee and he stole a car and brought it into Kentucky or vice versa and he did a almost a year in a reform St when
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he was released once again Bean Wall's offending drastically escalated in December 1958 Bean wal and
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a teenage accomplice entered a grocery store in own New Jersey by the time they walked out the owner was
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dead the first victim was Steven slowski A store owner uh an entrepreneur who was
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a lawyer and a prosecutor in in town well respected individual I think he walked
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in to the store with the intent of actually killing him and that's exactly what he did he walked into the store
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with the sort of shotgun what conversation took place we don't know but what we do know is he shot him with
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with the with the shotgun and then fled to store uh and he decided to flee and he fled South I don't
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know necessarily if he had a destination in mind other than getting uh as far away from Bon and Staten Island as he
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could along with his accomplice who thought he was simply taking part in a grocery store robbery Bean wal went on
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the run from the police went through Delaware had a shoot out in Delaware went to Maryland they had a
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shoot out there and eventually he got shot in the face the story Richard told me was that
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when they came to arrest him tracked him down it was like surreal it was snowing
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a little bit and they had him surrounded with with the shotguns and everything and he had his gun and he's telling
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himself what should I do and he was considering letting him shoot him this is a guy who's not invested in what
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the world has to offer him at all he's just going to do what he wants to do he's got no respect for the world or its
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rules I I would question whether he even had that much respect for his own mortality and it was inevitable really I
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suppose that he was going to start killing people at just 18 years old Richard Bean old had committed his first
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murder he plad guilty and was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole the first few years in prison
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were problematic he had to defend himself let it be known not to mess with him he not only survived he thrived
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there as time went on he realized that he does have a possibility for parole it's time
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to start complying start showing that you are capable of being reintroduced into
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society turns himself into the perfect prisoner a model prisoner he's everybody's friend gets on well with his
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fellow inmates and in 1975 he's released well the world is his [Music] oyster he returned to Staten Island his
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mother was living on shot's Road in Staten Island so he was living with his mother and immediately was able to pick
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up some labor work painting some mechanic jobs Staten Island is known for a community that is rich in organized
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criminal activity and it is believed that he somehow caught the eye of of an organized crime
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Network he was working odd construction jobs and also doing collection work for good
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people I believe he would been a very good collector when you owe money to a bookmaker or somebody like that and you
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don't pay you didn't have to look at his body you looked in his eyes and you knew
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you should pay if the rumors were true Bean Wald was willing even happy to do whatever Dirty Work his criminal bosses
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asked of him one might be said that he was for hire I would think mostly to make sure the problem disappeared
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it was work that suited Bean Wall's ruthless nature and his taste for extreme
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violence he always used 22s because with or without silences because the bullet would rattle around
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in the person's head he would go and pick up hookers or drug deers in newk and test out new guns and and silencers
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on them and back outs they have these trash cans in New York City heavy broad IR with holes in them and
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everything and he loved chopping people up and he would put the body parts in there and wire the tops and then throw
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them off a boat in the Jersey sound and let the crabs eat them he was so devoid of empathy I think
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that made him incredibly dangerous in 1978 Lou Diamond got a call to represent Bean wal who was is in jail accused of
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rape so I went down to the courthouse to meet him in the jail cells for the first
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time and he was a unique looking person um he had blondish red hair and he had these piercing blue eyes you know that
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just right through you right away his attorney realizes this is a man who is highly intelligent so he turns to big
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and wal and he says you have a very interesting hair color oh and by the way we're having a lineup tomorrow and he
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walks out of the jail cell we got to court the next day and everybody was yelling and screaming I went downstairs
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and he was bald ultimately leading to him not getting picked out of the lineup and he
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gets released back into society Bean Wall's female victim was denied Justice
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and for several years he dropped off the radar of law enforcement in 1980 P ofal meets a much younger
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woman Diane whom he marries and they move to asrey park in New Jersey famous for its music culture and
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liberal politics Asbury Park was an unlikely home for a convicted killer for a couple of years Bean wall
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did not attract the attention of the police but that did not mean he wasn't committing crimes in fact his taste for
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brutality seemed to know no bounds in January of 1983 two kids are playing in an
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abandoned lot Jason to a Burger King parking lot during their little Adventure going into this this paral
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land they discover a body Decay by then basically skeletal remains with some clothing interesting no
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shoes I was the detective on duty my captain sent me out there take a charge of the cross I'm seeing Kevin Quinn was
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the first person to examine the female body she had a black shirt on and jeans and the body was faced down with her
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arms kind of outstretched her feet kind of outstretched and the hair had kind of
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fallen down around the skull some and then we moved the hair just a little bit and I remember seeing the first hole and
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it's you can't mistake it it was a bullet hole we actually found when we
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picked up the skull we could hear the spent rounds inside the head comedy the medical examiner concluded
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the young woman had been dead for several months and confirm what detectives already knew she had been
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brutally murdered shot several times in the back of the head at close range there was nothing on the body to
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identify who this murdered woman was but within a day or so investigators had their answer it gets reported in a paper
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a description of the woman with her clothing a local police officer by the name of Mike Dowling sipping his cup of
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coffee reading his newspaper and he noticed the article and the victim had no shoes and that Drew him back to the
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summer before Oran of 82 where he had been summoned to a missing person's case a woman named Anna
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oarts who went missing on the Asbury Park Boardwalk she had come to the boardwalk
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with a friend and they were at the boardwalk together the friend had to go I guess she had to use a bathroom at
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which point she left Anna there at the boardwalk and went to this place to use the bathroom and when she got back an it
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was missing she was gone it was a round Labor Day so the beach was still unutilized it was still
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warm enough and they were walking around and they must have been on the beach and
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stuff maybe that's why she didn't have her shoes on we got dental records and
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sure enough the dental records matched anal lesu the police had identified their 18-year-old victim but that was
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all they had at this stage of the investigation we had no suspects we had nothing really
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other than a a body with skeleton with three holes and three boards we had no motive in this case there was no no sign
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of of sexual assault where do you start what's the motivation for this murder
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most people are murdered by somebody they know but in a case like this it's quite
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possible that it was somebody that they they didn't know so that makes it even
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more difficult if if there's no relationship between the victim and the killer the police are at a huge
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disadvantage for the next 7 Days detectives searched for clues in the hopes of cracking the case then a
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witness came forward with an incredible story to tell a young lady came into the
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police department by the name of Teresa Smith Teresa Smith said she had something to tell us about the uh
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homicide involving an anls Teresa started laying out this story about this guy named Richard bald
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who liked going hunting on the boardwalk and finding victims she knew that Richard had killed a girl and that he
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had actually shown her the body Teresa told detectives that about a year earlier she'd become friends with a
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coworker Diane bewal Diane introduced Teresa to her husband Richard and the two had embarked upon an unconventional
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relationship with Theresa moving into the couple's apartment have this extraordinary
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Menage there's no doubt that Not only was Richard married to Diane but that Teresa had a relationship with Richard
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they were much younger than he was man in his early 40s there in their 20s he represented something exciting out of
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the orary indeed many ways dramatic so you can sort of see how that might have been quite
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intoxicating being a world had been trying to groom Teresa to take part in his killings the night Anna went
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missing beegan W led her off the boardwalk with marijuana he drove Anna the victim who still we believe was
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still alive to the apartment in Asbury Park he goes into the house and he goes up to the bedroom to
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Teresa's bedroom and wakes her up he wants her to help in killing Anna and Teresa
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probably in a sleep induced drug sleep induced uh comr couldn't couldn't get
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herself up out of bed she does remember staring out the window and seeing a a female figure in the
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car the next morning Teresa discovered that bean Wald had done what Teresa refused to he'd murdered Anna oeso witz
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vegan took Teresa to see her body in the shed behind their apartment block and to
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touch it he said you touch the body see what it feels like and the body also had
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a ring black and gold ring which he subsequently took off the body and gave to Theresa Teresa moves out horrified by
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the sight of the body starts relationship with somebody else they go away on holiday and when they come back
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in January 1983 5 months after she's moved out there's the news of the discovery of
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Anna's body behind the Burger King she is physically sick and she knew that that was the victim that she was shown
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in the shed that big wanted her to touch logically concluding that the only witness connecting Richard bald to an
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artz was Teresa Smith she panicked she knew that time wasn't on her side she
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realizes oh shoot he's going to kill me Theresa's story was compelling but
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was any of it true officers needed to investigate we do a background check and find out who this guy is you know we
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find out he's had previously done time for murder Teresa had told detectives of
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seeing Anna alowitz sitting in the passenger seat of bean wald's car just before he murdered her a couple of days
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later Bean wal had abruptly sold the car when Kevin Quinn tracked it down it told
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a story of its own I could see up in the headliner of the car blood splatter and
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actually holes from one of the rounds that probably went up in a headliner at a car there was blood on the seat that
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they had cleaned in detailing the car to for sale not quite perfect enough after confirming the details of
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Theresa's wild story detectives were sure that Richard Bean Wald had murdered
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Anna alowitz Theresa also told them that bean wal may not have been working alone he had an
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accomplice who lived in the same building Darren Fitzgerald was a friend of Richie Richie Bon wals they met in
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prison when Darren got out he looked Richie up they then moved to Asbury Park and there was four or five apartments in
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this address and Darren took another apartment in there so they were living together they were friends down
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Fitzgerald is a very strong figure a very masculine man has violent tendencies if not for big and W I'd say
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he was the leader but big wal was that strong of an imposing figure when the Asbury Park police looked into his
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background Fitzgerald appeared to be a loyal foot soldier with a predel for violence Fitzgerald a lot of his
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reputation although he was involved in in some criminal stuff and he did some serious jail time involving weapons and
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and guns and violent CRI time was a little bit of Bluster where big a world was not to Big a world Fitzgerald was a
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was a reliable coworker if you will someone who could be dependent upon someone that
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would keep his mouth shut these were the men detectiv suspected of murdering 18-year-old Anna
00:23:16
alowitz their intelligence painted a picture of two ruthless Killers who had to be
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stopped on the 22nd of January 1983 detective William Lucia and his team prepared for a high stakes raid on bean
00:23:34
wals and Fitzgerald's home we were told that there was a lot of dangerous items in the house by way
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of firearms and bombs and snakes and so we knew that it was a risky situation once the police know this they
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have to have a plan to make sure that they're not walking into literally Al a
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trap and so they have to find a way of getting beel out of the house unarmed so that they can arrest him they dressed up
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one of the detectives and they put him in the backyard of bean wal's house and
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the Detective knocked on Bon Wall's door and said you know we found this guy as a
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Prowler and myself other detectives we hid by beond the house next door and he's like all confused
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and that was probably just enough to get him to take one or two steps out the door onto the porch and we all just
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pounced on them and we had him up against the wall handcuffed them and then dragged them down the driveway and
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put him in a Asbury Police Court with one of the men suspected of murdering teenager Anna alowitz in custody it was
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time to track down Bean Wall's alleged accomplice Darren Fitzgerald and to find out if Theresa Smith's
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claims about this house of horrors were true we had been tipped off to the fact that fitgerald had built a little room
00:25:12
in his apartment with a two-way mirror that he could hide in so we went in the house basically I went through the door
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and I saw the mirror and we kept pulling on the mirror from the bottom cuz it was like you
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could see it was hinged on on the to when they were pulling you could almost see like somebody was hanging on to the
00:25:34
other end of it for Joel was inside there and he had I know one rifle but maybe more weapons in there they had
00:25:44
actually marijuana plants and stuff and other stuff in there too there was like 25 or 30 of these bombs in there all
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fused up and ready to go and then they had obviously tons of guns and a submachine gun and it had
00:26:03
Teflon bullets that they had coded themselves which would defeat a bulletproof vest Darren Fitzgerald was
00:26:10
quickly disarmed and cuffed when detective Quinn and his team of crime scene officers moved in to scour the
00:26:17
property there were even more Grizzly surprises awaiting them and as we went inside the house
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went through the kitchen into the living room room there's a big gaping hole in
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the living room floor and that's where beg and Wald had his bedroom in the basement we found a lot of guns couple
00:26:38
of explosive devices a poisonous snake we found a ring which we believe to have been ano lesa's ring which we confirmed
00:26:48
later we found a gun that ballistically later on turned out to be the murder weapon on
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Antz they had knock knockout drops chloral hydrate and then of course you turn around and there's a big aquarium
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with this puff add looking at you African puff one of the most poisonous snakes in the world as they continued to
00:27:10
search the bizarre Arsenal detectives began to piece together the deadly plans Bean wal and his associate had been
00:27:18
making and they discover this arsenal of Weaponry plus a notebook and the notebook contains all manner of details
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about individual targets about the plan of the shopping mall they intended to attack a pipe bomb you know
00:27:33
and how they might use it they also had something called DMSO and I know DMSO is dthy
00:27:41
sulfoxide and whatever you mix with that will absorb through the skin but I see the snake I see that they're milking the
00:27:51
Venom cuz I recognized they had a jar with a cellophane or something over the top and and teeth bite marks from the
00:28:01
snake and I said oh my God what they were going to mix DMSO the snake venom which would make
00:28:09
you die real quick and paint it on the ear pieces of payones and then sit in the boardwalk
00:28:19
and watch people Teel over I guess after they talk there was an address with some
00:28:25
numbers it was the chief judge of to the state of New Jersey's parking spot at
00:28:30
his country club gosh thinking about the danger that vegan wal poses to society huge massive
00:28:40
massive nobody would want to come in this gu eyeline and potentially become the next
00:28:49
Target Richard Bean Wald and Darren Fitzgerald had both been arrested on suspicion of murdering 18-year-old
00:28:57
tourist an or lesowitz but if cops were hoping for a confession from Bean Wald they would be waiting a long
00:29:05
time you know we arrested him and that was it for a while he would not talk not no nobody was you know nobody was giving
00:29:14
us any information I had suspected that Anna LESA wasn't the only person this guy killed I mean you just
00:29:22
don't all of a sudden just kill somebody that you don't know da after his arrest
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Bean Wall's accomplice Darren Fitzgerald decided to talk and what he told James
00:29:35
Fagan Pro the prosecutor right Anna was not Bean Wall's only victim there were
00:29:42
many many more so Darren fitzerald comes forward and says if I give you the locations of
00:29:50
a few bodies that I help big wall to dispose of can we Dr the charges of of murder CU
00:29:58
I had no involvement in in her death other than helping dispose of the body and that
00:30:05
started uh very many days weeks and months of going to different places and digging up and finding other bodies one
00:30:14
of the victims Fitzgerald told the cops about was 34-year-old William Ward who'd
00:30:20
been killed in September 1982 the murder weapon had been found during the search of bean Wall's
00:30:26
basement bedroom Ward was just a a drug dealer who really had no dealings with ban World Ward had
00:30:35
gone to the house in Asbury Park and met up with Darren Fitzgerald and Fitzgerald
00:30:42
and him got into an altercation at which point big and Wald came out of the house with a gun and
00:30:49
shot him in the head five times Fitz Gerald helped B World dispose of William Ward's body I believe in the
00:30:56
cemetery Gerald led us to that body and we were able to locate it and actually recovered the body of Ward as they are
00:31:06
preparing their case and still figuring out how many bodies there are they realize that besides William Ward a
00:31:15
local criminal comes forward and says I know Richard being World killed another person uh at an abandoned
00:31:25
airport in Flemington New Jersey Jersey a man by the name of John Patron Patron was an associate who ban
00:31:37
wal found out he was a state police informant and asked him to go out target shooting one day and shot him in the
00:31:44
head we did dig up part of John Patron in the State game Lance um it was missing his lower
00:31:53
mandible very quickly Fitzgerald had helped asrey Park Police tie Richard Bean wall to three unsolved murders Anna
00:32:02
alowitz William Ward and the 1978 killing of John Patron and as investigators kept digging they were
00:32:11
sure that they were barely scratching the surface they were building a picture of a man who killed when business
00:32:17
matters demanded it but also to feed his own Twisted needs which makes him different than the average serial killer
00:32:30
the profile is different because in addition to his thrill killings he had this criminal connection that was almost
00:32:41
businesslike and the thrill killings were his his relaxation if you will through the spring of 1983 with Bean
00:32:49
Wald in custody detectives were horrified to discover the full extent of his murderous spree I asked them to pull
00:32:57
missing P persons and specifically young girls in either the Ocean County or the
00:33:04
mammoth County area and sure enough there were a couple of girls that were just gone from Ocean and then there was
00:33:12
another girl that was gone from Mammoth cold cases are really really difficult for police don't know who the
00:33:19
Killer is don't know what their motivation was don't even know if they had any relationship at all with the
00:33:26
victim and you've got to go back however many months years that that victim has
00:33:32
been dead and try and recreate their last movements incredibly difficult the first of these missing persons cases
00:33:40
linked to Bean Wald was that of 17-year-old Betsy bacon who disappeared in November
00:33:47
1982 she was from seagar I suspect she was hitchhiking and he picked her up Betsy
00:33:55
Bacon's body was found in tinon fall P Gerald had described that Richie B and
00:34:00
wal had killed this girl asked him to help him get rid of the body so he led us to that area which we went to and
00:34:10
believe it or not we spotted a hands coming out from the dirt detectives also linked another
00:34:19
homicide Cold Case to the man they had in custody 17-year-old Virginia Clayton who'd vanished in the Autumn of 1982
00:34:28
after heading to a beach town just down the coast from Asbury Park she went missing in
00:34:38
September her body was found only 3 days later however there was no connection to
00:34:42
Rich and Big W at that time it wasn't until after he was arrested and and the
00:34:46
bodies coming in that the authorities were able to piece together the profile of these throw killings time frame where
00:34:54
Richard be world was and the likely victims Virginia was one of his victims they
00:35:01
were just terrible just terrible you know and then the deal with the parents you know it's just a heartbreak you know
00:35:07
it really is the roster of bean Wall's victims was getting longer by the day
00:35:14
then Darren Fitzgerald asked to meet prosecutor James Fagen once again and bean Wall's accomplice was armed with
00:35:22
another bombshell so I sat down with Fitzgerald and he says you know two bodies are in his mother's backyard in
00:35:34
Staten Island he said well one I I came home one time and pan wal had chopped this girl up and
00:35:44
put put her in plastic bags and wanted my help in burying her in his mother's
00:35:49
backyard I helped him dig a hole and when I'm digging it there was another body there in plastic bag bags also cut
00:35:59
up we went out to the house and we executed our search warrant and we dug where he alleged that the bodies were
00:36:08
and yes we did find those two bodies I had suspected who they were but we had to get identification took them
00:36:17
to the New York Medical examiner's Office detectives went back to the list of missing teenage girls from the early
00:36:25
1980s after Bean Wald had moved to the Jersey Shore there was a Deborah Osborne and a
00:36:32
Maria Chella U who I won't forget that cuz I used to have a picture of her on my desk
00:36:39
Maria went missing in November of 1981 Deborah uh went missing in April of 82 these women these young women were
00:36:49
not sexually assaulted they were simply shot in the head that it is it's horrifying genuinely
00:36:58
that they were entirely innocent victims of a man who wanted to kill detectives realized there was a strong physical
00:37:06
resemblance between all of bean Wall's teenage victims and his former girlfriend Theresa Smith who' brought
00:37:13
about Bean Wall's downfall when she went to the police months earlier to implicate him in the murder of Anna
00:37:21
Elizabet 18 to 22 somewhere around that that age range dark hair brown eyes nice
00:37:27
very attractive petite that he would Target and somehow some way that was probably connected to Teresa because she
00:37:37
was a living breathing girlfriend of his that looked very familiar to his victims
00:37:45
now linked to seven coldblooded killings Richard Bean Wald wasn't talking to the
00:37:50
cops facing the death penalty if convicted he asked his mother Sally to contact attorney diamond and beg him to
00:37:59
save Bean Wall's life she told me nice nice lady uh that Richard had been arrested put the news
00:38:06
on and Richard had been arrested for a murder so I agreed to go to Trenton State Prison to interview him they were
00:38:15
going for the death penalty which was an existence thing so there was no plea offer a conversation takes place between
00:38:23
big wal and his attorney if I give up a number of IES will they take the death penalty off the
00:38:33
table the number was suggested at anywhere between 25 bodies that he would he would give up to 75 ironically the
00:38:42
man who took all these lives and the man who had this fascination with death now
00:38:47
is looking at the death penalty and he doesn't want the death penalty so he's in fear of death
00:38:57
something that he had been fascinated with his whole life basically Richard's position was he
00:39:02
wasn't lying down for anybody you know he he done enough time in jail to know that nobody respected
00:39:09
you so they come forward with that we're going to give you these bodies take the
00:39:14
death penalty off the table and that offer was turned down the prosecutor's office was Secure in the
00:39:22
fact that they had enough evidence hard evidence to see secure convictions on him that they would put him away for
00:39:31
years without a doubt with the death penalty still on the table Richard Bean wal pleaded not
00:39:39
guilty as his trial began at Monmouth County Superior Court when Bal goes on trial on the 28th
00:39:47
of November 1983 part of the evidence against him is forensics discovered by the police in
00:39:55
his car and the police also had for the prosecution the evidence of Darren Fitzgerald who turned against his quote
00:40:03
sorcerer and Theresa Smith had done the same thing a very powerful case well I first became aware that van
00:40:13
Le not by name but by actually seeing her body hardly surprisingly being invol is found guilty
00:40:23
of the killing of Anna in February 198 before Richard Bean Wald was sentenced to death by lethal
00:40:31
injection for the murder of Anna elth didn't even blink an eye went in the back he says all right
00:40:40
what are we doing now yeah we both knew what was going to happen he showed nothing I mean it was
00:40:47
just it was blank you know it's just I he didn't care Bean Wall's next court
00:40:53
appearance also in February 1984 was for the murder a petty drug dealer William Ward the William Ward trial was in Mount
00:41:02
Holly I traveled there to testify pretty much told the same story talked about the bombs the this the
00:41:11
snake what area is this okay this is the basement bedroom area under of Mr B wall
00:41:19
that trial he was obviously found guilty too and then that was it he pled to the
00:41:25
other ones in September 1984 Bean wal pleaded guilty to the murders of 17-year-old Maria Chella and Deborah
00:41:35
Osborne after a series of legal wrangles his death sentence was commuted to life
00:41:40
in prison without parole with prosecutors lacking concrete evidence Bean Wald was never charged in
00:41:48
connection with the deaths of Virginia Clayton and John Patron and efforts to get him to confess to any further
00:41:55
murders came to nothing Mike ding who was an investigator in prosecutor's office at the time and myself we took a
00:42:03
ride to Trenton State Prison Michael and I were sitting at a table and I I remember Michael looking at me oh got
00:42:10
cold in here turn around and Richard's coming in he says what do you want and I
00:42:15
said I'll tell you what we want and I'll be very right out there and say I want
00:42:20
to know where you put these other bodies you'll never be charged with any of
00:42:25
these crimes I simply want to put to rest these families I mean if you know there's people out there looking looking
00:42:33
for people just left and said you don't think I'm going to do that do you bean wall died in prison in 2008 he
00:42:43
refused to ever explain his actions meaning those who knew him have been left to speculate about why he murdered
00:42:51
his victims sometimes it was for self- protection he felt that they may be about to give him up on something one
00:42:57
case another time it was a release that he needed it was an Impulse that he had to
00:43:06
satisfy something deep within him he showed no remorse he killed people out of wh I would say he was an evil
00:43:20
man unlike many serial killers Richard Bean Wald never sought fame or notoriety for his murders he refused invitations
00:43:30
to tell his story to the press or to investigators his stubborn Silence has denied a sense of closure to the
00:43:38
families of those victims who've been identified and the many who have not Richard bewal enjoyed killing it was a
00:43:47
way of life a Pastime and a solution to his problems he will be remembered in New Jersey and Beyond as one of the
00:43:55
world's most evil killers [Music]

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 85
    Most intense
  • 80
    Most shocking
  • 80
    Biggest twist
  • 75
    Most heartbreaking

Episode Highlights

  • The Discovery of a Serial Killer
    In January 1983, the skeletal remains of a young woman led detectives to Richard Beal, a serial killer with a specific choice of victims.
    “Detectives found Richard Beal, a serial killer with a very specific choice of victims.”
    @ 00m 13s
    July 09, 2024
  • The Horrific Crimes of Richard Beal
    Richard Beal's brutal murders shocked the public and law enforcement alike, revealing a deeply disturbed individual.
    “The public was horrified; we had never had anything like that before.”
    @ 02m 01s
    July 09, 2024
  • Richard Beal's Early Life
    Richard Beal's troubled childhood and mental health issues foreshadowed his violent future.
    “This was a person who had problems from the beginning.”
    @ 05m 50s
    July 09, 2024
  • Witness Testimony
    A witness named Teresa Smith came forward with shocking details about Richard Beal's crimes.
    “Teresa Smith said she had something to tell us about the homicide.”
    @ 17m 25s
    July 09, 2024
  • The Arrest of Richard Beal
    Detectives executed a high-stakes raid on Richard Beal's home, leading to his arrest.
    “We knew that it was a risky situation.”
    @ 23m 52s
    July 09, 2024
  • The House of Horrors
    Investigators uncover a hidden room with weapons and a deadly plan.
    “There were even more Grizzly surprises awaiting them.”
    @ 26m 17s
    July 09, 2024
  • Darren Fitzgerald's Confession
    Fitzgerald reveals the locations of multiple bodies, implicating Bean Wald further.
    “If I give you the locations of a few bodies, can we drop the charges?”
    @ 29m 46s
    July 09, 2024
  • The Trial of Richard Bean Wald
    Bean Wald faces trial for multiple murders, maintaining his silence throughout.
    “He pleaded not guilty as his trial began.”
    @ 39m 36s
    July 09, 2024

Episode Quotes

  • What possibly could have happened with the bombs?
    The Devious World of Richard Biegenwald | World’s Most Evil Killers
  • He was never going to be a functioning adult.
    The Devious World of Richard Biegenwald | World’s Most Evil Killers
  • He was so devoid of empathy, I think that made him incredibly dangerous.
    The Devious World of Richard Biegenwald | World’s Most Evil Killers
  • What they were going to mix DMSO with snake venom?
    The Devious World of Richard Biegenwald | World’s Most Evil Killers
  • He showed no remorse; he killed people out of impulse.
    The Devious World of Richard Biegenwald | World’s Most Evil Killers
  • He will be remembered as one of the world's most evil killers.
    The Devious World of Richard Biegenwald | World’s Most Evil Killers

Key Moments

  • Discovery of Remains00:06
  • Witness Comes Forward17:22
  • High-Stakes Raid23:28
  • Hidden Room Discovery25:19
  • Weapons Arsenal Found25:59
  • Fitzgerald's Deal29:50
  • Bodies in Backyard35:34
  • Bean Wald's Silence42:46

Tension Over Time

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown