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subject to credit approval see store or ashley.com for details [Music] [Music] welcome to True Crime garage Wherever
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You Are whatever you're doing thanks for listening I'm your host Nick and with me
00:01:33
as always is a guy with a reminder that here in the garage we don't ask you where you're going and we don't care
00:01:41
where you've been here is the captain all we care about is that you took a shower and you brush your teeth you
00:01:47
filthy animals it's good to be seen and good to see you thanks for listening thanks for telling a
00:01:53
[Music] friend today in the garage we are drinking Beauty and the Venom by our brilliant friends over tactical Brewing
00:02:03
Company Beauty and the Venom is a New England IPA with HBC 586 experimental hops whatever that is and yika chief
00:02:12
hops it's as the name says hazy and of course it's citrusy as well garage grade four out of five bottle caps and let's
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give some praise and cheers to our good friends for helping us fill up the fridge first up shout out to Susan and
00:02:27
Rio Vista and a big we like goes to Holly in Mckenna Texas and last but certainly not least we have Alison
00:02:34
gannie from Ying New Jersey everyone we mentioned well they went to True Crim garage.com and clicked on the Pint glass
00:02:42
and for that we thank you yeah BW areu in beer run if you'd like to support this show and get a little knowledge for
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the Noggin check out the one and only Nick Edward's new book the deli murders the quest to find the man on on the
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bridge you can order your copy wherever you get your books you can go to amazon.com and search Nick Edwards pop
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right up and it helps support the show and that is enough of the business thank you Captain all right everybody gather
00:03:16
around grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some true [Music] crime [Music] 32-year-old real estate broker Nikki
00:03:46
Cleveland placed the following ad in her local paper hoping the classified ad would lead to some interest and a
00:03:54
property she was listing and hoping to sell the ad ran on a Monday and read North Yarmouth swim canoe read and relax
00:04:06
investigate this unusual 3/4 acre seasonal property with royal River Frontage rustic three- room cabin was
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screened in porch very secluded but only 2 miles from Main Street owner financing
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available call Nikki Cleveland of Acres Associates and then Nikki provided readers with two phone numbers one her
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office number and two her personal line a few days later Nikki agreed to meet with a potential buyer at the secluded
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property around 2 in the afternoon she went alone she vanished her car was found less than a mile from the
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property this was true crime [Music] garage [Music] Nikki Cleveland was a young realtor in
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Cumberland County Maine in early July of 1981 Nikki listed a secluded property for sale that included a rustic Camp She
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advertised the property for sale in the local papers with her phone number one a
00:05:24
phone number at her employer's office Acres Associates and because it's 198 won and she does not want to run the
00:05:32
risk of missing an opportunity to speak with a potential buyer Nikki was courtious enough to list her home phone
00:05:39
number as well during the Fourth of July weekend her phone rang and her husband Robert Cleveland answered it on the line
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was a male caller and the male caller asked to speak with Nikki Robert informed the man that Nikki was not home
00:05:54
at the moment and if the man wished Robert would gladly take the callers in information and Nikki would get back to
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him the man on the other end said he was interested in the secluded Cottage property that Nicki had listed in the
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paper he told Robert that there was no need for a message that he would call back and speak with Nikki the mail
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caller kept his word as he did call back this was 6 days later on July 12th and again Nikki's husband Robert answered
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once again Nikki was not available Robert again offered to take the man's information and have Nikki call him back
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the man on the other end of the call said he was a riter passing through the area and he was interested in buying the
00:06:39
North Yarmouth property but he would of course need to see it first he declined to give his name or information and once
00:06:48
again said he would call back and speak with the listing agent Nikki Cleveland later it was discovered that on that
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same day July 12th a male caller all also called Nikki's office inquiring about the property for sale later on
00:07:04
that same day captain we're still on the 12th here the caller managed to get Nikki herself on the phone and the two
00:07:12
of them made arrangements to go and see the property on the following day July 13th with an appointment set for between
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1 and 2 in the afternoon Nikki was very excited at the possibility of selling the cottage rather quickly and she told
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her husband Robert that she had an appointment the next day to show the property to the man who had called the
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following day Nikki borrowed her mother's station wagon so she could drive out to show the property to the
00:07:42
man to reach the listed property one must walk or drive along a dirt road across the property of a one Mrs gay Hoy
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Mrs Hoy had erected a gate across the road this is to prevent the road from becoming a public right of way and both
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ho and the owner of the listed property typically kept the gate closed Mrs Hoy was in the habit of actually going out
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and checking people and making sure that only what she called were authorized people went down this road so this road
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Captain it's built and it's there for these two Property Owners to use the purpose of the gate is so that people
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aren't just randomly driving down this road there's no reason for anybody to go down this road unless they are going to
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one of these two properties so if you don't live there or you're not visiting there you shouldn't be there but is
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there anybody living at this property at the time no so we have Mrs Hoy who lives
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at her property and then the property that's listed for sale is unoccupied at the time of July
00:08:56
1981 now around the appointed time Nikki parked the station wagon that she borrowed from her mother near the gate
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and walked down the long dirt driveway the neighbor Mrs Hoy witnessed this from her window Mrs Hoy had several dogs and
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they would alert her when someone would pull up to the gate Mrs hoit did not know Nikki by name but noted the woman
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walking the long drive to the listed property that this woman was wearing a blue rain jacket later Nikki's husband
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Robert Cleveland would tell police that the last time he saw his wife on that same day she was wearing a blue rain
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jacket so we know this is one and the same here Mrs hoit noticed that the woman was gone for a very long time as
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she would later tell police in fact she never saw the woman come back out from the property instead the next time her
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dogs got to barking Mrs Hoy decided she would go outside and request to see the identification she thought it would be
00:09:59
the woman walking back to her car the woman in her blue rain jacket but to Mrs Ho's surprise it was not a woman on foot
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that got the attention of her dogs but a blue green car that was coming up the road rather quickly across Mrs hoy's
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property Mrs Hoy yelled at the car to stop but it didn't it didn't even slow down as the vehicle passed the driver a
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male turned his head smiled and waved hello to Mrs Hoy and then sped off so this male driver he drives off Smiles
00:10:35
waves but Nikki's car that she was borrowing stays at the property by the gate and in fact Nikki's never seen
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alive again she was reported missing by her family and the police were out searching for her and the search was
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made public very quickly now because the vehicle was left at the scene and a male
00:10:57
driver was spotted driving away rather quickly police openly feared the worst they said that we are suspecting Foul
00:11:06
Play In This Woman's disappearance Nikki was described in the papers as Caucasian age 32 with long
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brown hair and she wore glasses Nikki's family agreed with the police's assessment within a day or two Robert
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Cleveland told the newspaper reporters that he too suspected Foul Play because Nikki had never been gone for more than
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a couple of hours so possibly there's Foul Play and if there is Foul Play then obviously our best eyewitness is Mrs Hoy
00:11:39
yeah the best lead that police will have will probably be this eyewitness so Mrs
00:11:44
Hoy says that she saw a man drive out of the property now she gave a vague a rather vague description of the vehicle
00:11:52
to police basically just saying it it was a blue green vehicle and it was moving rather quickly but she did say
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she was was able to focus in on the man who was driving the vehicle and she said
00:12:04
that the man appeared to be alone she thought she might see the woman in the blue rain jacket with the man but as far
00:12:12
as she could tell there was nobody in the vehicle with this man who waved to her and Mrs hoit described this man as
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someone in his late 20s or early 30s with a full mustache and bright white teeth she said that he smiled and waved
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at her as he drove by he was not wearing glasses and she could not recall the color of his hair so police put together
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a sketch based off of this information from Mrs Hoy and of course they release it to the public hoping that somebody in
00:12:44
the public can lead them to this man so they can talk to him and ask about what happened to Nikki Cleveland so just go
00:12:52
over this timeline again so it's not confusing right so we have Nikki who listed the property in early July her
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husband Robert Cleveland said that when the property was first listed they received several calls this was on or
00:13:07
around July 6th Robert believed that the man who called on the 6th and did not leave his name was the same man that
00:13:15
called again on July 12th once again not leaving his name or information he says to police that he
00:13:24
believes that same caller called back and spoke with Nikki again on the 12th and the two of them arranged for an
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appointment on July 13th the following day so things are happening happening relatively quickly they have Mrs Hoy as
00:13:40
a possible eyewitness and we also have Robert Cleveland the husband as a possible ear witness who says I believe
00:13:47
I spoke to the same man twice and I believe that that man then got Nikki on the phone and made the proper
00:13:54
Arrangements but as things stand on July 13th captain Nikki is missing the car is
00:14:00
left at the scene and the police are kind of stumped as to what could have happened to this woman or where she
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could be now 10 days later it was more bad news because there was really nothing going on with the case as far as
00:14:17
any good leads to find Nikki Cleveland there were reward offers that went out there were photographs of Nikki that
00:14:26
were published in the papers and put on on the news channels but none of this produced any useful leads to police in
00:14:35
fact they even consulted with psychics and hypnotist very early on in this investigation so the psychics and the
00:14:45
hypnotists could come up with nothing as well now as far as the hypnotists go it's my understanding that the reason
00:14:54
they were using a hypnotist was because they were hypnotizing Mrs ho the eyewitness to see if there might be
00:15:02
something else that she could recall about that day or about the driver or his vehicle and none of this provided
00:15:10
any additional information for them to work from I'm just saying I I don't know if I'd trust myself being hypnotized I I
00:15:18
couldn't be responsible for what I was going to say or my actions all the Dirty Secrets Finally Revealed yeah
00:15:28
everybody's asking me when my book is coming out uh my coloring book will be coming out in 3 weeks those sell really
00:15:35
well uhhuh the lead investigating Agency on this missing person's case will be the Cumberland County Sheriff's
00:15:44
department and they were openly talking about how little they had to go on in this investigation and in fact the
00:15:53
sheriff is quoted as saying the FBI can't get involved because we have nothing to give them right now then two
00:16:02
days later after the statement of hey we've reached out to psychics and hypnotist and they're coming up with
00:16:10
nothing as well we're now at July 25th so she's been missing since the 13th police announced that they were in
00:16:20
conversations with the Boxford police in Massachusetts this is because the Boxford police reached out to them
00:16:29
this after reading about Nikki Cleveland's disappearance that's because they had what they belied to be a
00:16:34
similar case seven years prior this is when a real estate broker her name was Marsha Nolan age 22 she was killed July
00:16:45
24th 1974 at one of those model home sites they wanted to compare notes with Cumberland County Sheriff's Department
00:16:55
to see if there were any similarities in the two cases maybe they were connected
00:17:00
maybe the same perpetrator involved in both cases well it doesn't take a genius here in the garage to know if the last
00:17:09
time she's seen is showing a house and her vehicles at that house that's the person you want to be looking for is the
00:17:15
person she showed that house to exactly and in the defense of the Cumberland County Sheriff's Department they were on
00:17:23
drugs at the time well Nikki's case in my opinion I I think you have all kinds of complications troubling complications
00:17:30
to your investigation simply put it's you have no body you have no crime scene we talk about this often here in the
00:17:38
garage there's typically more than one crime scene and here you're missing one of those crime scenes and in fact you're
00:17:46
looking for this person at this time when you have no proof that she is actually dead and
00:17:53
unfortunately 5 days later July 30th that that's going to change because a man working on a road in a wooded area
00:18:03
this is about 60 mil away 60 miles from the property that Nikki listed for sale this man working discovers a body the
00:18:16
man said he was working in the area when a strange odor led him into the wooded area into the horrific find and of
00:18:26
course he calls the police immed imately and it wouldn't take long before they would identify the body to be that
00:18:34
of the missing 32-year-old woman Nikki Cleveland yeah you know we've covered so many cases hundreds and hundreds and you
00:18:43
hear these stories of you know Joel rifken comes to mind when he's driving his car and there a police officer comes
00:18:53
behind him and starts smelling this odor and that odor if you ever smelled it you'll never forget that but I couldn't
00:19:03
imagine smelling that out in the in a wooded area cuz I'd be I'll just tell you I'd
00:19:11
be a little chicken [ __ ] to to follow that scent I've never smelled that odor so I don't know if it's the same
00:19:19
but where I live especially this time of year captain in the spring I get a lot of dead animals near my property and so
00:19:28
I discard of them and I know that smell and I've followed that smell to get the carcass off of my property so I
00:19:38
understand what this uh this man but but but think about this is this is what law
00:19:43
enforcement knows she was talking to somebody she goes to show up property so of course we want to talk to this
00:19:51
individual and we don't have a lot of information coming from the eyewitness so much so that we're going to try to
00:19:59
hypnotize her to get more information but what information do we have from her the guy pulls out he waves and smiles
00:20:10
blue green car mustache and bright teeth as she said no glasses and she couldn't recall the
00:20:20
color of his hair and up until finding Nikki Cleveland in this wooded area 60 miles away if you're an investigator you
00:20:31
got a couple of things that that are nagging at you one you have this eyewitness who cannot
00:20:39
confirm 100% that it was Nikki Cleveland that she saw walking that day right other than her husband saying last time
00:20:46
I saw her she's wearing a blue raincoat and Mrs Hoy the neighbor saying the woman I saw was wearing a blue raincoat
00:20:53
she walked to the property and I never saw her leave and her vehicle never left left and then your other piece that
00:21:01
you're working from is the husband Robert Cleveland who says yeah I talked to a guy on the phone a couple times who
00:21:07
refused to leave any information with me I believe it's the same guy that talked
00:21:12
to Nikki and that scheduled the appointment to meet her on the 13th I I tell you Captain I think the
00:21:19
investigators on this one if I had to wager a Franklin I would bet that there were some at the sheriff's department
00:21:27
that were concerned about the husband oh absolutely you have to look at the Inner
00:21:32
Circle and and he could be making up this caller for all you know but I do want to just point out that you've been
00:21:41
wagering a lot of Franklin since you wrote a book and I'm winning baby I'm always winning now when they find the
00:21:49
body it wouldn't take them long to identify that to be that of the missing woman Nikki Cleveland but initially all
00:21:56
police were saying is that she had been shot in the head more than once and the body had been there for some time at
00:22:03
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[Music] difference all right we are back cheers mates and a big cheers to First Time
00:25:08
author you know him you love him he's number one in your hearts and number two in your farts the colonel cheers to you
00:25:15
mate let me be the first to wish all of our beautiful listeners a wonderful and Happy Star Wars Day May the 4th be with
00:25:24
you all the police notified Nikki's parents immediately after she was identified they notified her attorney as
00:25:33
well and then her husband and then telling the newspapers quote we had an awfully hard time finding the husband we
00:25:44
learned that the body was positively identified using dental records police also announced that this would be a
00:25:52
joint effort to solve this homicide case investigating the case we would have three officers from the Cumberland
00:26:01
County Sheriff's Department we would have the state police joining in on the investigation they were dedicating two
00:26:09
officers and the Attorney General's office was investigating as well they did say that they had some
00:26:17
leads but obviously they say we can't say what our leads are some additional details were released to the public in
00:26:26
the coming days and they were as follows the body found was in South Berwick she had been bound gagged with
00:26:36
her own panties and 5 Ines of tape wrapped around her mouth she was shot twice in the head and they confirmed
00:26:45
that she had been dead for 2 weeks but she had been alive when she arrived to the woods with the killer because
00:26:53
they're saying the evidence is telling the investigators that unfortunately our victim was killed where she was
00:26:59
found she was executed in those woods but then we get this bit of news this here is is real bizarre and I'm going to
00:27:10
read I'm going to read the exact article as it were back in 1981 the headline is
00:27:15
two deaths puzzling the deaths of Portland real estate broker Nikki Cleveland and an unidentified woman
00:27:23
whose body was discovered August 9th in unity New Hampshire are baffling investigators in both States remember
00:27:31
Nikki is in Portland Maine we have an unidentified body that was found about 9 days later after Nikki was
00:27:42
discovered and the article goes on to say that the cases are not related they say but in both instances an anonymous
00:27:49
telephone caller claimed to have information about the deaths but neither call provided police with any useful
00:27:57
information the unidentified body was clothed in a white sleeveless blouse with a large rose-colored butterfly
00:28:06
pattern and bulky maroon sweater two copper Rings were found on the body's right hand Mrs Cleveland disappeared
00:28:14
July 13th and her body was found near new the New Hampshire border dead from gunshot wounds this is rather intriguing
00:28:23
but also incredibly infuriating at the same time think right so you have a caller a person an anonymous caller
00:28:31
calls in in both cases not really providing information but says that they have information well we essentially
00:28:38
have two Anonymous or maybe the same Anonymous client show me these houses and then like you said you have
00:28:48
uh eyewitness and if she's correct Mr bright teeth is smiling and waving and could have a body in his car or a live
00:29:00
victim in his car and then this Anonymous person is now anonymously calling the police well
00:29:09
and I believe Captain what we're dealing with here is two separate callers potentially because the way that some of
00:29:15
the other reports read makes it sound like in Nikki Cleveland's case that the caller was saying I have
00:29:23
information about the the murder I can provide you with information that will help your investigation but I'm I want
00:29:31
you to pay me for my information I will give you the information for a price that is not reported in the unidentified
00:29:39
woman's case of the body that was found 9 days later what a salty bag of [ __ ] right and the other thing too is note
00:29:48
that the article clearly states that law enforcement is telling reporters they don't even though we have a similar
00:29:56
situation in both cases we don't have anything and we don't have any reason to believe that the two cases
00:30:01
are related so I'm on your side here Captain I cannot stand when and and for the life
00:30:09
of me never will understand why somebody would want to interfere with an investigation if it wasn't to cover
00:30:17
their own tracks I mean right remember the we've seen it in other cases and in one case
00:30:24
that we've not covered that we saw it in infuriated the hell out of me was the Boston Marathon
00:30:32
bombing police in that case were asking the public for help they needed the public to look at images that they were
00:30:38
putting out and and and send images anybody that was at the marathon that day taking pictures using your
00:30:45
smartphone send us your pictures so we can use these to try to identify the bomber people sent people on the
00:30:51
internet were photoshopping bags to appear to have been abandoned In Crowd of people and sending them to the FBI
00:31:00
and to the police right okay when when your fellow man needs you the most you step in and in and interfere with an
00:31:10
investigation yeah ridiculous I mean take a wild guess if you had to guesstimate how many individuals have
00:31:18
emailed you in the last s years and said I have some information about a case would you like
00:31:26
to know about it or I have a possible suspect or a possible lead one or two a week when we do an unsolved case and
00:31:35
it's like don't don't tell us about it tell law enforcement well don't slam the door
00:31:43
shut because I I'm please tell somebody please tell somebody if you prefer to tell us we are here to to listen but
00:31:50
there but there's been several that won't okay send me the information I'm interested email me the information
00:31:57
no I I'll tell you if it's on the phone and it's like look if you're not willing to email the information then at
00:32:07
least send it to law enforcement later the police would be able to identify the body that was found August
00:32:15
9th and we would learn that that body was that of Mary Elizabeth critchley now some of our listeners are recognizing
00:32:26
that name and that's because she is one of the victims or believed to be one of the victims of the
00:32:34
Connecticut River Valley killer and we covered that case in episodes 636 and 637 on your true crime garage radio
00:32:45
dial one thing that's before we get too far into the weeds here Captain one thing of interest to me that we didn't
00:32:52
cover and did not uncover when looking for information in that case was this Anonymous phone call
00:33:00
in critchley's case could it have been something could it have been from the serial killer
00:33:07
himself we know that they like to communicate with with law enforcement or with the media at times and so that
00:33:16
that's a real interesting angle in that case that's also a case that has a lot of confusion they're not certain what
00:33:23
victims are connected what victims are tied together but wouldn't you love to hear a recording of that conversation
00:33:30
you know that I would Captain because that is going to tell you which way to Leen is the demeanor of the
00:33:37
caller well and in critchley's case it's believed that she was hitchhiking at the
00:33:42
time because she was last seen July 25th 1981 near the exit of the Massachusetts Turnpike in Farmingham
00:33:52
Massachusetts Mary was dropped off at that location by a friend saying that she was going to hitchhike to Waterbury
00:34:00
Vermont where she lived with a friend Mary was attending classes at the University of Vermont at the time of her
00:34:06
death keep in mind though she's later found in unity New Hampshire the medical examiner unable to determine the cause
00:34:14
of death and they State based off of the condition of the body and the decomposition that took place with the
00:34:21
body they do rule it a homicide but we have our victim Nikki Cleveland who's found not terribly far from the New
00:34:31
Hampshire state line and so at the time I'm sure they were looking into this and
00:34:36
and confirming if they had any reason to believe that the two were connected now
00:34:41
this case Captain like you said you're trying to figure out who was that caller that caller is probably our best lead in
00:34:50
this case and police spent a lot of time trying to figure out who that caller was
00:34:56
now we would get updates on Nikki Cleveland's murder case once or twice a year for the next five
00:35:08
years and in fact at one point the police were asked if the case was closed due to no new information no no new
00:35:17
leads right if the case was cold enough that they would refer to it as a closed case and they in fact said yes this case
00:35:25
is is closed we got nowhere to go with this thing so it was sitting there on the Shelf looking like it wasn't going
00:35:31
to be solved and in fact we have information that came out that police said you know we ain't talking the case
00:35:39
is closed there's nothing to talk about but that my friends is all going to change in June of
00:35:45
1986 June 28th 1986 the Sun Journal newspaper has a headline on page two that says Nikki Cleveland homicide case
00:35:59
reopened and the article states that the 1981 gunshot slang of Portland real estate agent Nikki Cleveland is getting
00:36:07
renewed attention from homicide investigators but they are keeping mum about new developments that placed the
00:36:15
case back on the front burner the Assistant Attorney General this is Thomas Goodwin said to the paper
00:36:24
regarding the case it's very open the case is very open we've just had some developments recently on the case
00:36:34
there're stating now in the years since the slaying officials did disclose that the victim's hands had been
00:36:43
tied and one ranking State prosecutor familiar with the case described The Killing as a cold blooded
00:36:52
execution so our victim her hands were tied and and keep in mind we have this tape this wrapping of 5 in worth of tape
00:37:03
over her mouth and to be clear it's not like somebody ripped off a piece of tape
00:37:09
and put it over her mouth they gagged her with her underwear and then wrap the tape around
00:37:15
her her head to quiet her and if the man in the vehicle is the person respon responsible
00:37:25
here we have Mrs ho who says she never she didn't see anybody in the vehicle with him so he must have kidnapped Nikki
00:37:32
Cleveland from the house I guess placing her in the trunk of his car to transport her because we
00:37:40
do know that she was alive when they entered that wooded area yeah and then the sick son of a [ __ ] just smiles and
00:37:46
waves and on his way 6 what did you say 60 Mi down the road 60 Mi down the road to dump the body but then you wonder if
00:37:57
he's not if there's no gloves is there fingerprints on that tape can you pull DNA from that tape well what they end up
00:38:05
doing this is a weird case because the statement that the case is closed and that they have no information they got
00:38:12
nothing to go on for all of these years what we find out in the end is that they
00:38:18
had traced the phone calls they were they they were able to get the phone number where those calls came from that
00:38:25
went to her office office asking about the property and to her home right but don't you think it's highly
00:38:31
irresponsible to say the case is closed I agree 100% here's where I think the problem
00:38:37
is you're the problem me the problem I think with this case is it's the old and we've heard this more than a dozen times
00:38:47
Captain we know who did it we just don't have enough proof right for an arrest and a
00:38:55
conviction and well you might have enough to arrest them but that doesn't mean that once you go to trial you're
00:39:00
going to have anything the phone records told police that the phone calls came from the home of a one William
00:39:08
mesus William mcus was apprehended and arrested July 26 1982 so just a couple days
00:39:18
shy of one year from finding Nikki Cleveland's body right but William mesus was arrested in North
00:39:27
Carolina now he was arrested on outstanding charges of rape kidnapping robbery and
00:39:33
burglary all for incidents that took place in New Hampshire and earlier and prior to July
00:39:43
1982 police caught up with him at the home of one of his friends in North Carolina shameful that this guy has any
00:39:50
friends at all yeah I wish I had one friend the details of those charges Captain the reports states that William
00:39:57
mcus knocked on a door and a woman answered and then he pulls a knife on her and orders her to remove her
00:40:07
clothes so he goes in with the the attempt to rape this woman in her home at knife
00:40:15
Point well mcus it's going to be a bad day for William mcus okay because the woman was
00:40:25
hosting a party and while she's alone when he enters the home people that are attending the party
00:40:35
start to show up thankfully and they and they catch this man in the act and later
00:40:42
mcus would tell a cellmate quote people started coming from everywhere men women
00:40:47
and children it was like a damn Mark brother movie yeah well thank God people didn't show up fashionably late that's
00:40:54
so he's arrested and he was also wanted in the great state of Massachusetts for rape and robbery charges as well based
00:41:03
off of this information and the phone calls it's looking like he's going to be wanted in the state of Maine as well but
00:41:10
you know that some Karen is all upset cuz she made a very nice and brosia salad that's not that nobody ate because
00:41:21
there was an attack happening New Hampshire authorities figured out that William
00:41:27
mhm was actually a one Joel Bill caulk wanted in seven different towns and counties in California for a long string
00:41:38
of rapes and robberies but New Hampshire wasn't going to just hand this man over
00:41:43
to California law enforcement because they were the ones that caught him and keep in mind he's facing charges in
00:41:49
their state well I've said it once on the show I'll say it again I I I do not like it's a it's a red flag they're
00:41:58
normally horrible people that use fake names but guess what Joel bill coock you are a piece of [ __ ] so just to
00:42:08
keep this neat and tidy here Captain police traced phone calls from Nikki and Robert Cleveland's home and calls to the
00:42:18
Acres reality office on the dates when Mr Robert Cleveland said the man had called and asked to speak with Nikki
00:42:26
about the property that she was listed and and selling they find her vehicle there at that
00:42:33
property they traced the calls to a home in Booth Bay Harbor the man who lived there was this William John mesus AKA
00:42:41
Joel Bill caul but investigators in Maine in 1981 didn't know that that was a fake name they didn't know who this
00:42:51
William John mesus really was right so Joel Bill cooch had been living in the state of Maine since May of 1981 think
00:43:01
about that he's May of 1981 and then this murder takes place in July and we know that he's wanted for
00:43:10
prior rapes in kidnapping whatever is driving this guy he can't keep it at Bay because he's only in May he's already
00:43:19
he's already on the on the run and he's only in Maine for a couple months before
00:43:24
he abducts and kills this poor woman right so he's living in Maine since May of 1981 as William mcus
00:43:33
he once he's there he establishes himself in in the community rather quickly uh he had a wife and son in
00:43:43
California and he sends for them to come and join him in Maine he's working as electrician
00:43:52
at Luke's boat yard in East Booth Bay Harbor and as a Mater D at a local restaurant he also worked for a period
00:44:00
of time as a tennis pro at the booth Bay Harbor YMCA he coached Little League the people
00:44:07
who knew him in Maine said he was a very outgoing and very friendly guy he seemed
00:44:12
to be very smart one woman a Barbara Schuler said he was quote friendly and easy to get
00:44:20
along with now little did they know that he was living under this fake name of William John mesus right a name that he
00:44:28
stole from a headstone of a child that had passed away in 1956 well we've seen this to be a common practice
00:44:37
whether and they don't have to be a criminal somebody could want to go missing and they assume a identity of a
00:44:46
child that has already passed away I've heard more than one person tell me Nick your show gives more tips of the trade
00:44:56
to criminals than any show out there shame on you and you know what they might be right but we're just telling it
00:45:01
like it is and back in the day in the ' 80s and the 70s it was so common that when people would steal an identity or
00:45:08
create an identity for themselves they would just go to a graveyard they would go to a cemetery and pick a name off of
00:45:17
off of a headstone and that's what this Joel Bill caul did when he needed to become somebody else because he's on the
00:45:25
run from California authorities because he's out committing a bunch of rapes in California yeah but we also give I think
00:45:34
pretty good tips on how to survive or things that you can do to make sure that your killer is caught and how to catch
00:45:41
the bastards yeah and here's a tip for all your criminals that are listening turn yourself in if you do I'll send you
00:45:49
a free shirt a free shirt from the garage store Curtis I'll even sign it turn yourself in the more you know so
00:45:59
one thing we do know here Captain is that it clearly took police in Maine several years to put together their case
00:46:06
against this man now there was probably not a big rush here because he's already
00:46:16
incarcerated at the time so they knew where to find him if they ever built that case against him remember he was
00:46:23
picked up the following year in North Carolina so he was only free of this murder and other charges for less than a
00:46:35
year police said that he was a suspect for a long time before the formal charges were brought against him and
00:46:43
here is the evidence that they said that they had against this individual the bullets removed from Nikki skull were
00:46:51
traced back to a gun that Joel caul had admitted to a detective that he had stolen from a resident that he burgled
00:47:02
in California mhm and that he told the detective in a conversation that he had used the gun
00:47:10
thereafter in the course of quote criminal activity later when this thing goes to
00:47:17
trial all the years later a man named Roy Denny testified that his 22 caliber Smith and Wesson had been stolen from
00:47:24
his Union home back in 1980 main state police detective Richard Arnold testified that the bullets that
00:47:34
killed Nikki were compared to bullets that were fired at a shooting range before the gun was
00:47:42
stolen and both sets of bullets were quote fired from one particular firearm and no other according to the state
00:47:51
detective what happened here is somehow they piece together this information that the
00:48:01
caller is this other guy who's arrested a year later once they figure out who this other guy is and all the charges
00:48:09
he's he was wanted for in California he clearly skipped out on California went from one corner of the
00:48:17
country all the way to the furthest Corner away in Maine to hide out but doesn't do a damn good job of it
00:48:25
because he he sends for his wife and kid which is a little weird you would think that the California authorities
00:48:33
would have picked up on that but he's on the run and they they finally start piecing this stuff
00:48:40
together this guy that gets picked up in North Carolina he's this he he's going by an assumed name a name that he stole
00:48:48
and by the way he's wanted for all of these robberies uh thefts and rapes in California well it's through this
00:48:59
interviewing process he's he's admitting to his crimes in New Hampshire right so he
00:49:08
admits to all of these crimes in New Hampshire well California detectives are like well if he's talking now and they
00:49:16
have him in custody we need to get there and talk to them because what they were
00:49:21
doing they were sending questions to the detectives in New in New Hampshire mhm and Joel caulk is not admitting to
00:49:30
anything that he was charged with in California to the New Hampshire detectives so detectives in California
00:49:37
are like we need to get out to New Hampshire to talk to this guy yeah very strange behavior and but maybe it's as
00:49:44
simple as he felt more connected to them because they're in person so like you said law enforcement needs to get out
00:49:50
there and see if they can make a connection with him and maybe he will admit to these other crimes
00:49:56
because somebody that's this sick and then we know moved and like you said the small time period of when he moved to
00:50:05
when Crimes start happening again this guy definitely has a history well and it's not just this phone call or the
00:50:13
phone calls that connect him to the murder it's more so the gun and here's what ends up happening
00:50:22
California law enforcement they're like yeah we're not not going to go to the expense of sending a detective out to
00:50:31
New Hampshire to question this guy that's going to be locked up in New Hampshire even though he's admitting to
00:50:37
New Hampshire crimes we're not going to we're not not going to go to the trouble
00:50:42
so the lead detective in those rape cases decides you know what I'm going to take a vacation take a couple days off
00:50:51
from the job I'm gonna fly out to the great state of New Hampshire and arrange with authorities there to sit in and
00:50:58
talk to Mr Joel and while he's there he gets this Joel caulk to admit that he stole this
00:51:09
gun from a resident in California and he used it for other criminal activity that
00:51:16
is the connecting piece to the murder and so the detectives from Maine armed with this information they keep
00:51:25
going to this shooting range that the gun owner used to go to they need to find bullets to try to match them to the
00:51:35
bullets found in the victim because they have the crime scene now they have the body they have no
00:51:42
murder weapon and it's through the ballistic test and finding those old spent shells and I'm sorry the it's
00:51:51
through the ballistics of those bullets that were fired at the gun range that they were
00:51:57
able to determine yes that gun that this guy admitted to stealing and using in other criminal activity is our murder
00:52:05
[Music] weapon join us here back in the garage same bat Time same bat Channel love you
00:52:20
thanks for the support thanks for Tona friend until tomorrow be good be kind and don't
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