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A Bad Day in Austin ////// 424

November 11, 2022 / 45:29

This episode covers the tragic events of May 18, 1978, in Austin, Texas, including the murder of Officer Ralph Ablanedo and the school shooting by John Christian.

Officer Ralph Ablanedo was shot and killed during a traffic stop involving David Lee Powell and Sheila Maynard. The officer was ambushed, leading to a police standoff and the eventual arrest of Powell.

Meanwhile, 13-year-old John Christian, who had previously threatened to bring a gun to school, shot his teacher, Rod Grayson, in front of classmates. The incident caused chaos and trauma among students.

David Lee Powell was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death, while John Christian received psychiatric treatment and later became a practicing lawyer.

The episode highlights the impact of these events on the community, the police, and the families involved.

TLDR

The episode discusses the 1978 murder of Officer Ablanedo and John Christian's school shooting, exploring their tragic consequences.

Episode

45:29
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foreign [Music] welcome to True Crime garage wherever you are whatever you are doing thanks
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Stitcher premium and that is enough of the business all right everybody gather round grab a chair grab a beer
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let's talk some true crime [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] May 18 1978 Austin Texas
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it's just after midnight when 26 year old patrolman Ralph ablenado stopped a red 1966 Mustang on East Live
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Oak Street near Travis Heights Boulevard the officer called in a code for routine
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traffic violation check the officer approached the vehicle the driver was a young woman
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Sheila Maynard sitting shotgun was a white male in his late 20s the officer obtained their names and
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information and walked back to his patrol car officer ablenado wrote Maynard a ticket
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for driving without a license and ran a radio check on the passenger David Lee Powell the check came back to Pal 27
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years of age was a wanted man wanted for some minor infractions misdemeanor theft and two hot check
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charges ablenado got out of his patrol car and once again he approached the vehicle the
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officer was hit with automatic gunfire coming from the vehicle in front of him the shots knocked out the rear window of
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the Mustang the officer was hit several times in the arm and chest his bulletproof vest that he was wearing
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which was standard procedure for Austin patrolman in 78. was really no match for
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the high-powered gunfire ablenado went down the Mustang drove off somehow ablenado was able to send out a
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distress call Austin PD Officers rushed to the scene officer Joe Villegas spotted the 66
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Mustang about two blocks away in the parking lot of the Travis Park Apartments pushed the pedal to the floor
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approaching the park vehicle at a high rate of speed as he got closer shots were fired coming from the Mustang
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villagas was able to avoid being hit he slammed on the brakes and returned fire then David Lee Powell still in the
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passenger seat pulled the pin from a hand grenade and tossed it at villagas thankfully it
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failed to explode then the woman Sheila Maynard jumped out of the vehicle with her hands raised High screaming at
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the officer she surrendered pow flung open the passenger door and ran for the woods
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by now it's 12 30 A.M officer Ralph ablanedo was rushed to the nearest hospital officer ablenado died shortly after
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arrival about 25 police and at least two armed security officers surrounded the woods
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which was estimated to be a mile long and half a mile wide they stopped dozens of cars and
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pedestrians they waited and waited but David Powell never came out just after 6 a.m it was decided that six
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police and two canine officers would enter the woods and go in there and get pow
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the remaining police were to maintain the perimeter they wanted only a small amount of
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police officers to enter the woods to minimize the risk they decided that no one else was to
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enter they needed a set number of officers only that way if they saw any movement at all
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they would know immediately it was not a fellow officer in other words they were prepared to
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shoot on site the two dogs and six officers entered the woods with flak jackets and loaded
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shotguns armed security guards who shifts ended hours ago but decided to stay and assist
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the police in any way they could now decided it was time to call it a night and let the police do their jobs
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guards Charles Howard Gary Nelson we're now near Travis High when they spotted movement
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the two guards with pistols drawn move slowly towards something they saw moving in the bushes
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it was a man crouched down trying to conceal himself at a distance of about three feet one of
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the guards in a Stern voice instructed the man to come out before standing up the man said loudly
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his voice shaking I'm not going to do anything and he slowly emerged from the bushes
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the guards handcuffed him and called the police police searched the bushes and found a
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light blue coat a knife and a 45 caliber pistol set in the cocked position the man in handcuffs was 27 year old
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David Lee Powell the petty thief and hot check artist was now a cop killer police pushed David Powell into the
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backseat of a police cruiser it was now 6 30 A.M the sun was just starting to rise
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it was already a bad day in Austin [Music] the Sun is up in Austin and it's the start of a new day we go now to a
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different side of the city where parents are waking their children and families are starting their morning routines
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a family of six living in a nice part of the city on Rockledge Cove is preparing
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to leave for the day and venture out to their duties and obligations the second youngest is John Christian
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he is 13 years of age and in the eighth grade at Murchison Junior High School John was even taking a special class or
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two classes for exceptional students deemed to be gifted and talented John's family is full of gifted and
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talented people John's father is George Christian George served as the press secretary for the United States 36th
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president Lyndon Johnson he then became a top advisor to Texas governor Dolph Briscoe
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John's mother Joanne was a respected lawyer now the Christian home was near John's school so he would walk to school
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but not on this day now on this day John did something he has never done before and would never do again
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he hid in a closet and waited in silence as his parents and brothers left the house
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George christerson as he drove off to work heard on the radio that there had been a shootout in the middle of the
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night on the city's South Side resulting in the death of one Austin City's finest
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the cop killer was arrested back at the Christian House John is still in the closet listening carefully
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and after several minutes of silence he exited the day before he told a classmate that he was bringing a gun to
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school now it was time to go and get that gun according to classmates of John the day
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before in Mr Wilbur Grayson's class two things very much out of the norm took place first the teacher Wilbur Grayson
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who went by Rod Grace into friends and of course Mr Grayson to the students was absent
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Rod Grayson was the father of a young boy who was just about one year old both he and his wife Laura Grayson
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worked Laura was a teacher at another school their child was not feeling well and it
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was Rod's turn to stay home and take care of their boy Grayson's gifted and talented classes
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would be conducted by a substitute teacher on this day during the first class conducted by The
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Substitute John Christian and another student were scheduled to give a presentation John had the floor first
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for some bizarre reason the normally quiet young man gave a loud and obnoxious presentation that was not only
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hard to follow but was quite the performance John was making all kinds of commotion jumping up and down waving his
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hands yelling and teasing the small crowd of students in the classroom several times the class erupted with
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screams laughter and general excitement for John's wild man-like performance by the end of the class John had taken up
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all of the time for that day the other student not getting to make his presentation
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and the class was in such an uproar that he likely did not want to The Substitute quickly lost control of
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the class and with John leading the way the classroom turned very chaotic when the bell rang at the end of the
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class a fellow student said to John you know tomorrow when Mr Grayson returns he's going to kick our butts
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John said it's okay because tomorrow I'm going to bring a gun the student thought John was joking John
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was probably still high from his bizarre performance and so the student simply replied yeah I'll bring one too
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now back to the morning of Thursday May 18th John retrieved his Browning 22 caliber rifle that his parents got him
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for Christmas this was Texas and a teenage boy will learn to shoot and hunt later John would tell psychiatrists that
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he spent several minutes contemplating killing himself but he didn't instead he made sure that
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the gun was loaded and he marched off to school like a soldier in some kind of secret battle
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but in many ways it was more like a Hunting Expedition as his enemies were unaware that there was a war Brewing
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inside of John's head they didn't even know that they were targets the following is according to Texas
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monthly who like all of their work did a phenomenal job with their story on this
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case class had already started without John Christian and what transpired next is based on the
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Recollections of eight eyewitnesses in the classroom as well as those of others at school that day
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sitting as he always did not behind his desk but on his stool directly in front of the students Mr Grayson had begun by
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asking his students what the hell had happened the previous day the students acknowledged their own
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misbehavior but added Mr Grayson John was acting so weird the teacher waved them off he said you
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just don't understand him the way I do then Mr Grayson said where is John anyway
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class had begun John is absent there he is someone exclaimed directing their attention to a figure outside of the
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classroom window who was heading down the grassy Hill beside the football field and someone else said he's got a gun
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what occurred in the next two minutes would be remembered through trauma's kaleidoscope
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John stepped into the doorway seeing him Mr Grayson may have smiled maybe he even laughed
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Grayson said okay John the joke's over John held the gun at his hip pointed at his teacher and a classmate heard him
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say the joke's on you yeah 13 year old John and Christian with his 22 caliber rifle shot his teacher
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and the chest The Head and the arm the description given by the other students there that day say that Grayson was hit
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three times just in the locations that you said and as he was hit he fell from his stool and collided with the
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student's desk that was immediately in front of him they say his tall lean body thudded heavily to the floor blood was
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pouring out of one of his ears his eyes were still wide open and they say that he looked terrified
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now as John turned and walked out without a word the classroom exploded into screams
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the students began to flee several ran to the principal's office and told the administrators at the front desk what
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had just happened but of course there's no way for them to believe them you know there's there's no reaction
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that that can really be warranted right here they're they're in disbelief one of the kids is yelling God damn it
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he killed him God damn it he killed him the gym class was already underway this was going on outside of the school over
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by the football field a few kids saw John toss the rifle against the bicycle rack and then run up
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the slope he's running away from the school an Athletics coach witnessed John fleeing the scene
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he decides he's going to jump in his truck follow the kid he caught up to John and
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he jumped out of his truck and he grabbed the boy he says what did you do and John said I shot Mr Grayson
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so John was taken to the principal's office and of course the police were called and
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paramedics as well the police and really no one else could believe what had happened
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that morning a 13 year old student shot and killed his teacher in front of 21 other eighth
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grade students John was arrested and his classmates were bust off to the police station to
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give statements and to answer any questions the police may have describing the event decades later
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was a man Peyton Smith he was the student that was nearest to Mr Grayson when the shooting began
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he said lives were shattered lives were changed every person in that room was a victim but what a heroic thing the phys
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ed teacher did I mean because we know John is homicidal he did not he he saw the gun but he didn't know if John had
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another gun on him yeah I mean he saw he may have seen the gun being tossed over
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by the the bicycle rack who knows if he heard the shots because this teacher is outside
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and of course by his own recollection he's saying as soon as I caught up to the boy and grabbed him I
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asked him what he did so he may not have fully been aware of what went down although he was like you said heroic
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enough and and smart enough to go apprehend the boy this part of the story is a little weird to me Captain because
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I don't really know where this boy intended to go what what was his intentions after shooting his teacher he
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didn't turn the gun on his fellow classmates he shot the teacher that seemed to be his only target he walks
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out of the building throws the gun down and starts heading up the the hill who knows if he was heading back home or
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where his what his intentions were I don't know because it's no mystery who committed this crime it's not like he's
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fleeing the crime to so nobody knows that it was John that did it yeah I believe if he was suicidal before the
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shooting that he was probably going to go back home and pop possibly decide to be suicidal at home and this case is
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such a weird case in itself but then let's think about the whole situation for the Austin Police Department they
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spent the whole night before in a six hour standoff against a guy that killed a cop in a what should have been a
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routine pullover right they probably thought there's no way that this day can get any worse than
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this we've done our work probably for the next several weeks you know we've had one of the hardest days most tragic
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days that we will have maybe of the whole year we lost one of our own a young officer and then just hours later
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a few hours later they're responding to a school shooting well as officers were going back home you know that there was
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one officer after this long night saying all right boys you guys get some sleep and we'll take care of it from here and
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it can't get any worse and then it did right and weirdly enough this is the same city
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that experienced the Charles Whitman Rampage at the University of Texas at the tower just 12 years earlier right
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there's something in the water buy bottled water don't drink that water right but if they weren't able to
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get John alive they might not get as many answers to why this tragic event happened
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speaking of answers there Captain George Christian John's successful father he was asked several questions that evening
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by reporters that were positioning themselves on the front lawn at the Christian house
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on the advice of his attorney he said very little he told the press that the gun used did come from the Christian
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house he said he would say nothing else because he didn't want to run the risk that any of his statements would hurt
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his boy who was still yet to face trial George did ask reporters about the 28 year old teacher that was killed and
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George became very emotional when he was told that Rod Grayson had a wife and a small child
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[Music] [Music] all right we're back cheers mates cheers to you Captain cheers to the
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great state of Texas I do have a couple notes go for it on the first part first of all we we did Cover the Charles
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Whitman case that's episode number 20. 229 that's episode number 229 and I believe that was with me and Justin from
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Generation Y that's my favorite episode best episode of all time and also this case seems very familiar
00:23:51
different set of events but people probably remember the hit song Jeremy by a band Pearl Jam Jeremy
00:24:02
Del Deli it's d-e-l-l-e which that happened uh January 8th 1991 he shot himself in front of his
00:24:14
English class but it seems very familiar and oddly enough that happened in Richardson Texas in an English class
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which shares some similarities to the case that we're discussing Captain I want to jump back and expand
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on the story that we started in today's trailer David Lee Powell was born in Texas in
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1951. David grew up on the Family Farm And he was raised Catholic and the pal family they were well known and
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respected in their small Texas town David excelled in school by High School it was determined that David was an
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exceptionally bright and gifted student he told his parents and teachers that he
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wanted to become a doctor now David graduated high school at the age of 16 as valedictorian wow he
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applied to the University of Texas this was their plan 2 program which was designed for only the best and brightest
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young students one of several requirements for admission was to submit an essay David wrote an essay on how he wanted to
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be a doctor so he could help people now I don't know the particulars of this next bit but several sources reported
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that David I'm guessing maybe in this essay or something else that David did but he was
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on record as correctly predicting the fall of the Soviet Union including the how why and when
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and all of this with great accuracy David was accepted to the university with what is said to be the highest ever
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recorded SAT score submitted to UT's prestigious program Austin Texas and college life was very
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very different from the farm and Country Life that David was accustomed to at school David was swept up with the
00:26:15
changing world he became a True Believer in the Society of youthful thinkers and
00:26:20
activists but David was seduced by something else while away at school The Nightlife the
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wild parties and more specifically for David the drugs Captain this led to the old turn on tune
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in and drop out gold LSD there you go David dropped out of school and spent the next several
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years traveling this Great Big Country Now by 1978 David was addicted to methamphetamine Not only was he using on
00:26:52
The Daily but he was manufacturing and he was a street Pusher as well in the 70s it was widely believed that
00:27:00
methamphetamine was non-addictive but of course we know that that is completely false
00:27:08
it's the old hey try this drug it's recreational you can have fun with it and whenever you want to you can just
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stop well no you can't because you're addicted at one point David was so desperate to stop using now we got to
00:27:22
keep in mind this was the mid to late 70s so rehab was not so readily available like it would be today the
00:27:31
resources were just not there in the way that they are now yeah I mean if you wanted to get help today he could
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check himself into a rehab clinic but since that wasn't available he went to his doctor and said hey I'm taking drugs
00:27:46
and I'd like to stop yeah so the doctor trying to help David out prescribed something called Siler now I've not
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heard of this drug and that makes sense because this drug has since been banned the side effects for this stuff are
00:28:03
terrible some patients taking this drug experience psychosis during all of this mess this is when
00:28:11
David asked a former girlfriend Sheila Maynard to drive him out of town this out of town trip was for the
00:28:19
purpose of David selling about four to five thousand dollars worth of Meth I could not determine if Sheila was
00:28:27
fully aware what the trip was for and we know how that ended that trip with David in a shootout and cuffed and
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thrown in a Cell both David and Sheila were initially charged with capital murder
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Sheila turned witness for the state's case against David Powell she testified for the prosecution against David
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the charges against Sheila were then reduced she was sentenced to 15 years but got out on good behavior this was
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after four officer ablenado was a good cop and a decorated officer he was married with two small children
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he was only 26 years old when he was shot and killed David was convicted of capital murder in
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September of 1978 and he got a death sentence he went off to Texas's death row and
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then off to Rusk state hospital for the criminally insane after several months there he was
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returned to death row now most of his years in prison he had a good amount of privileges he worked
00:29:38
frequented the library he taught many of his fellow prisoners how to read he became an advocate for the mentally
00:29:46
and physically disabled David was even featured in a film documentary about the Texas death row
00:29:54
because of how bright David was he could better articulate life on death row than
00:30:00
the others that were interviewed he became the main interview for the documentary because of his compelling
00:30:06
descriptions of Life on death row over the years David went through several trials and of course the appeals
00:30:13
process there was the argument that information was not presented at David Powell's trial that could have affected
00:30:21
his sentencing this was the argument that David was not the only shooter the thought here Captain was both of
00:30:31
these individuals David and Sheila were in the vehicle so David's defense is trying to make the argument that Sheila
00:30:38
was shooting as well and there were some statements that said that Sheila could have possibly been the
00:30:44
one that threw the grenade officer villagas people argue this and say you know what if this had come out and if it
00:30:53
in fact it is true because we have for every one person that said Sheila was involved in the shooting and may have
00:30:59
thrown the hand grenade there's a person that says no that Powell was the only one to be shooting at the cops and
00:31:07
trying to take people out that day so the people against the death penalty have always argued if this information
00:31:13
would have been presented at David's first trial then maybe once found guilty he would not have been sentenced to
00:31:21
death where I wonder something else captain and first off I actually don't believe
00:31:27
that it's true that Sheila was shooting at police or throwing hand grenades or any of that I believe it was all David
00:31:33
that night but I wonder the opposite had this information been presented at his first trial maybe it doesn't spare
00:31:42
David's life but maybe both end up receiving a death sentence because we have a cop that was killed on duty as
00:31:50
well as several other attempts on lives of officers that came to help that officer that night right I think that's
00:31:58
a pretty good point there were plenty of attempts to commute David's death sentence there was the ongoing argument
00:32:06
about what kind of prisoner David was so again the people that are against the death penalty come running to the front
00:32:13
line and they say David was a model prisoner once he got off the drugs once he was
00:32:19
behind bars he never heard anybody he was the perfect prisoner and he even helped people he taught people how to
00:32:25
read and he was an advocate for people that had disabilities do we know if he was medicated and or not once he was in
00:32:33
prison I don't know that he was medicated I do believe he would have been medicated when he was at the
00:32:40
hospital for the criminally insane right and the way he ended up their Captain was once he was in prison he refused to
00:32:47
eat for several days so it it looked like he was trying to end his own life they transfer him there he kind of gets
00:32:56
right after several months and then they send him back to death row I commend David for helping all of these
00:33:05
other prisoners for teaching them to read and for being an advocate and standing up for people with disabilities
00:33:11
I think that is phenomenal stuff that he was attempting to do after he was a complete horrible person right [ __ ] well
00:33:20
and see David's David's whole thing is a very difficult situation for me it's something something that I struggle with
00:33:27
because when we talk about the death sentence it's it's a crazy thing I mean here's this guy where without the drugs
00:33:35
and without this possible psychosis brought on by the prescribed medication right maybe he isn't a killer maybe he
00:33:45
isn't a violent man but I did a little digging he was not a perfect prisoner he didn't spend all of those years in
00:33:52
prison without any infractions at all he had several minor infractions but he was
00:33:57
not the perfect prisoner that the people against the death penalty would would scream and yell to the presses right we
00:34:04
always find no matter if you're for the person or against the person nobody really likes the truth right but it's
00:34:10
like again if this psychosis State plus the drugs this is why mental health is so important to be
00:34:20
talked about and to be open about and to again you can't just prescribe pills and
00:34:28
just go let's see what happens because then this happens now who's responsible well is this guy responsible or it's the
00:34:36
doctor responsible in in the defense of the doctor David's also still doing methamphetamine daily right at that time
00:34:44
and one thing that I recently learned about meth that I that I was unaware of because I'm like man these these meth
00:34:51
heads are always killing people and of course you think hey they're going to do anything to get this drug some may even
00:34:59
steal or become violent but one thing I learned is that meth also will create paranoia
00:35:07
in in the addicted yeah and they start thinking things that are not real this person's after me this family's trying
00:35:15
to kill me so in some of these instances when they when they go out and they kill
00:35:19
somebody they actually think that they're defending themselves well see I I kind of wonder if you even take a
00:35:25
couple steps back here's an individual that graduates high school at 16 valedictorian it maybe this whole Tune
00:35:36
In Tune on whatever it is this LSD experiments that he was going on maybe this was some kind of self-medication
00:35:46
for maybe our early onset schizophrenia it's a possibility and that's why I wondered you know is he doing fine is he
00:35:56
um a good member of the the prison population because he's medicated and and then if so is is all these cause
00:36:08
and effect not because he was a druggie but because he was self-medicating because he had schizophrenia it's
00:36:16
impossible to tell really and that's the thing if we could look at somebody and dissect them 100 and fully understand
00:36:24
what was going on with them then it would make the sentencing process a lot easier for the jury and all involved I'm
00:36:33
gonna ask a weird question but do we know if he got any scholarships that is a good question he may because of his
00:36:40
SAT score was so high let's open up the doors and let this guy in but you also talked about this weird
00:36:49
thing about him predicting the future yeah see this is why I wonder maybe he got like the merit scholarship which
00:36:58
like the merit scholarship was known um it's connected to a bunch of different people but in Harvard uh Henry
00:37:06
Murray would do tests a lot of people that got them the merit scholarship he would do tests on famously uh one of his
00:37:16
people that he did a lot of tests on was uh Ted Kaczynski so that's just why I wondered if there was some kind of
00:37:23
connection normally when you have these very young bright students that go to universities
00:37:30
early that sometimes they're offered these kind of alternative testing but especially during the late 60s early 70s
00:37:40
I don't know what the Tim Larry quote I just threw that in there it's something that popped in my head when I thought of
00:37:46
this young man who gets all caught up in the the subculture of that lifestyle once he
00:37:54
went off to college the war activist is going on or anti-war movement he's going heavily
00:38:02
into drugs yeah but Timothy Larry was doing these tours where he was going from different universities and doing
00:38:09
these yeah I'm not saying then tune out whatever I'm not saying that it's not possible I'm just saying that that was
00:38:16
just a slogan that popped into my mind that I just kind of randomly threw out there I I was there's never been
00:38:23
presented to me or that I could find any connection between the two David Lee Powell was executed by the
00:38:31
state of Texas on Tuesday June 15 2010 he spent 32 years on death row for the 1978 murder of Austin Police Officer
00:38:42
Ralph ablanedo his attorneys had argued that he did not pose a future threat to society as
00:38:50
determined by the juries that had sentenced him to death three decades earlier at the time he was the longest
00:38:57
serving inmate executed in Texas since the state resumed carrying out executions in 1982. according to murder
00:39:06
pedia his last meal was four eggs four chicken drumsticks salsa four jalapeno peppers lettuce tortillas hash browns
00:39:16
garlic bread two pork chops white and yellow grated cheese sliced onions and tomatoes a pitcher of milk and a vanilla
00:39:24
shake Jesus well how many calories this is that 10 000 calories it doesn't really matter at that point now does it
00:39:33
yeah and according to everywhere he had no final last words he simply stared at the witnesses as he died
00:39:41
before their eyes well that's because he's probably already dead from that meal now we don't know for sure we don't know
00:39:48
if he was medicated in prison or not so we don't know if he had some kind of form of schizophrenia but they believed
00:39:55
that John Christian possibly had some sort of schizophrenia yeah in the other story of the 13 year
00:40:04
old who shot his teacher during court proceedings it was two psychiatrists that testified that John was acutely
00:40:13
depressed and suffered from latent schizophrenia and it was decided that psychiatric
00:40:18
treatment for John was much needed John was sent to Timberlawn Psychiatric Hospital a private facility in Dallas
00:40:27
until his 18th birthday or until he recovered John's family would be paying the bills
00:40:36
for this treatment not the taxpayers per the judge's ruling after 20 months at Timberlawn John was
00:40:46
upgraded to outpatient care this was kind of a weird scenario here Captain because what they did was he was
00:40:55
sent home but not to his home he was sent to the home of a doctor who would then be John's guardian and John would
00:41:04
continue to receive some form of Outpatient Care from this psychiatric facility and we mentioned that his
00:41:11
family was required to pay the bills for this treatment I did the math on this and figured it up
00:41:20
kind of conservatively but for 20 months in this treatment facility his family spent near one
00:41:30
hundred thousand dollars to treat this young man John Christian did go on to college and
00:41:37
law school to this day he is currently practicing law in the Greater Austin area wow Wilbur Rod Grayson was the
00:41:48
English teacher at an independent Austin School District in Austin Texas Grayson was a graduate
00:41:56
of the University of Texas at Arlington and was in his first year of teaching when he was killed on the job
00:42:04
and Grayson's free time he was an amateur actor news reports revealed that American
00:42:10
Educators have been losing their lives and school tragedies since 1764. members of the national teachers Hall of
00:42:19
Fame believe that it is time to recognize and honor these Brave Educators for their dedication to their
00:42:27
jobs and to their students Emporia State University in Kansas in partnership with the national teachers
00:42:34
Hall of Fame created a monument and Memorial area that will be a permanent tribute to Educators who
00:42:43
literally gave their all for their profession this site is called the memorial to
00:42:49
Fallen Educators which was designated as a National Memorial in 2018. the names engraved on two granite slabs
00:42:59
include teachers from Sandy Hook Marjorie Stoneman Douglas Santa Fe and yes Wilbur Rod Grayson from Murchison
00:43:08
Junior High yeah and one of the things I think 2020 has taught a lot of us is how
00:43:15
appreciative we should be towards a lot of our teachers I know personally friends of mine that are
00:43:21
having to homeschool some of their kids and just the difficulty of one trying to
00:43:26
get them excited to learn it but also to understand the information themselves and to give it back so so big shout out
00:43:33
to all the teachers out there and I think a shout out to all of the police officers on the Austin city
00:43:41
PD as well as all the Educators and students that were at mercheson junior high on that very tragic day Thursday
00:43:50
May 18 1978 a day that started with tragedy and ended with tragedy [Music] for everything True Crime Check out true
00:44:15
crime garage.com and there you'll find our recommended reading page do we have any recommended reading for this week
00:44:23
yes sir Captain this week we are recommending one of my favorites check out Texas monthly magazine Texas monthly
00:44:31
does several absolutely brilliant long-form true crime stories each year Robert Draper did one on the Grayson
00:44:39
case that we covered today back in April that's Texas monthly find that and many
00:44:45
more great recommendations at truecrime garage.com and until next week be good be kind and don't let her
00:45:01
[Music] thank you

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 85
    Most heartbreaking
  • 80
    Most shocking
  • 75
    Most dramatic
  • 75
    Most intense

Episode Highlights

  • A Tragic Morning in Austin
    On May 18, 1978, a routine traffic stop turned deadly when Officer Ralph Ablenado was shot.
    “Officer Ablenado died shortly after arrival.”
    @ 06m 25s
    November 11, 2022
  • John Christian's Disturbing Decision
    John Christian, a gifted student, hid in a closet before bringing a gun to school.
    “He hid in a closet and waited in silence.”
    @ 10m 44s
    November 11, 2022
  • The Classroom Shooting
    In a shocking turn, 13-year-old John Christian shot his teacher, Mr. Grayson, in class.
    “John held the gun at his hip pointed at his teacher.”
    @ 16m 00s
    November 11, 2022
  • David's Descent into Addiction
    By 1978, David was addicted to methamphetamine, using and manufacturing it on the streets.
    “Not only was he using on The Daily but he was manufacturing and he was a street Pusher as well”
    @ 26m 52s
    November 11, 2022
  • The Shootout and Arrest
    David's trip with Sheila ended in a shootout, leading to their arrest and capital murder charges.
    “We know how that ended that trip with David in a shootout and cuffed and thrown in a Cell”
    @ 28m 34s
    November 11, 2022
  • Life on Death Row
    David became an advocate for fellow inmates, teaching them to read and helping those with disabilities.
    “He became an advocate for the mentally and physically disabled”
    @ 29m 46s
    November 11, 2022
  • Execution and Last Meal
    David was executed in 2010 after 32 years on death row, with a lavish last meal.
    “According to murderpedia his last meal was four eggs four chicken drumsticks...”
    @ 39m 06s
    November 11, 2022

Episode Quotes

  • I'm not going to do anything.
    A Bad Day in Austin ////// 424
  • Lives were shattered, lives were changed.
    A Bad Day in Austin ////// 424
  • At one point David was so desperate to stop using.
    A Bad Day in Austin ////// 424
  • David was even featured in a film documentary about the Texas death row.
    A Bad Day in Austin ////// 424
  • Without the drugs and without this possible psychosis, maybe he isn't a killer.
    A Bad Day in Austin ////// 424
  • This is why I wonder maybe he got like the merit scholarship.
    A Bad Day in Austin ////// 424

Key Moments

  • Routine Traffic Stop00:40
  • Officer Shot04:43
  • Shooting Incident16:14
  • Lives Changed18:48
  • Addiction Struggles26:44
  • Desperate Measures27:16
  • Shootout Incident28:34
  • Death Row Advocate29:46

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown