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Bodies in the Basement /// Part 1 /// 466

November 08, 2022 / 01:01:57

This episode covers the case of David Edward Moust, a convicted murderer linked to the disappearances of two teenage boys, James Ragani and Michael Dennis, in Hammond, Indiana. The discussion includes the role of canine detective Dale Bach, the investigation process, and the eventual discovery of the boys' bodies.

The episode begins with the introduction of Dale Bach, who was contacted by the Hammond Police Department to search a basement for missing children. Bach's cadaver dog exhibited unusual behavior, leading investigators to suspect something was buried beneath the concrete.

As the investigation unfolded, the police learned that both missing boys had been seen with Moust, a man with a criminal history. Witnesses reported that the boys had been hanging out at Moust's apartment, where he provided them with alcohol and drugs.

After several searches, the police discovered the bodies of the boys buried under concrete in Moust's basement. Moust was arrested and later confessed to the murders, detailing how he lured the boys to his apartment and killed them.

The episode concludes with a discussion of Moust's background, including his troubled childhood and previous convictions, which contributed to the chilling nature of the case.

TLDR

David Moust murdered two teens in Indiana, burying them in concrete after luring them to his home.

Episode

1:01:57
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foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] welcome to True Crime garage wherever you are whatever you are doing thanks
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for listening I'm your host Nick and with me as always is a man that knows that there's a bunch of savages in this
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business all right everybody gather round grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some true crime
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[Music] thank you foreign [Music] [Music] I was working a giant schnauzer by the
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name of ammo and uh he was at cross-trained to be a cadaver dog I was contacted by the
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Hammond Police Department and they took me to a house and they said that they uh
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I had a suspect and they had several missing children in the area messing boys in the area and they wanted to know
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if my dog could go into the basement of this house and conduct a search for him so I put the dog into the basement and
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gave him this command to search and he went to a corner of the house in the back corner of the basement and
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he was trained to do what's called an aggressive response which is to scratch yeah you know like he's digging yeah and
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he didn't he didn't do that he went to the far corner of the house and just stood there and barked so I pulled him
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back out and I redirected him again to do a search and he went back to that corner and did nothing but bark
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[Music] he's not trained trying to give an aggressive response however Prudence would dictate we better
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bust up some concrete here and take a look because there's a reason why the dog won't leave this spot
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well I cleared the area and about a week later I was contacted by the Hamlin police to come back again
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went back to the exact same residence and what they had done is they had taken a drill and started tried to drill
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through the concrete and they discovered that they went down about 10 inches and there was absolutely
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they was still solid concrete so uh they went back to the other side of the basement and did the same thing
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started a bore hole there went down about six eight inches and gave up so they asked me to send the dog again
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so I did and this time the dog went to the hole in the it would have been the southwest corner and he started
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scratching very aggressively so I pulled him off and the detective told me he said man I didn't get that on videotape
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can you do it again I said sure So I got the dog back he got the videotape up I sent the dog and the dog instead of
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going back to that hole went to the other hole which would have been about halfway along the west wall and
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started scratching there so they got that on videotape so after that I told them that uh they
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should break up they have to break up the concrete now you know that we've got an aggressive response so I cleared and
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uh I don't know about three days later four days later they contacted me again and sent me back to the same house
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this time when I got there they had a concrete expert who had determined that this guy had whoever the guy was who put
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this concrete in the basement had used bags and this was David most and he had used he had to use like some
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phenomenal amount like 80 bags of concrete or some phenomenal amount they also brought in a forensic
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entomologist who found evidence of coffin flies in the spider webs in the basement
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coffin flies or species of fly that's indicative of Rotting Flesh but it doesn't have to be humid it could be
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chickens pigs beef anything like that but they did divide they did find evidence of coughs and flies in the
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spider webs in the basement okay the uh they also brought in a pathologist out of Indianapolis
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and what they had done is they determined it all across the back of the basement the concrete was 16 to 18
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inches thick so they moved out to where they could uh get a little bit the concrete was thinner where the older
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concrete was which is only several inches and they broke a hole probably about the a circle about as big as a
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garbage can and uh they had me send the dog well as soon as I sent the dog the dog dove into
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the hole and started throwing dirt like crazy digging very aggressively sweet pulled him out of the hole
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and once I got him out then the pathologist knelt down and started feeling underneath into the dirt and he
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felt he said what feels like a human leg joint knee joint encased in a plastic bag
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so they broke up the concrete on the Southwest end and they discovered two bodies there that were wrapped in
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plastic and buried under 16 to 18 inches of concrete they then went to the west end where the
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North End of the West wall where the dog had made the second alert on the different hole and they broke that one
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up and they just third body the third body was uh this guy had apparently had to fill a bathtub full of
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a blue lead-based paint and he had just had to continually dunk this body in this blue lead-based paint because the
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body was in completely encased in paint about a half inch thick and then it was wrapped in plastic also
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I don't know maybe that was something to try to keep this the smell down I have no idea what the what the paint was for
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and and I do remember that they found uh when they did x-rays they found things inserted in the bodies through the
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rectum like bottles or coat hangers or something I don't recall exactly what end up in the room they did discover a
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map with uh x's on it where he had we don't know but assumed that he had gone to
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various places across the country on his way up from Texas and these exes we don't know what they meant
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[Music] foreign the voice you just heard there in today's trailer is that of canine
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detective Dale Bach as you heard he was brought in to help a local law enforcement agency in Hammond Indiana to
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have his canine search a home more specifically the basement of an apartment in this particular situation
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the canine is acting in a cadaver search role brought in because the search for some missing teens led a Hammond Police
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Department detective to that apartment so how exactly did we end up here in the basement of an apartment in Northwest
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Indiana well the investigation started on September 10 2003 when the phone rang at the police department in Hammond
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Indiana a woman named Lynn Smith reported her 16 year old son James ragani was missing
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and I apologize if I did not pronounce that correctly it's regaini or ragani I believe oddly enough another mother
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Holly gilkinson had also called and reported that her son too was missing her son is 13 year
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old Michael Dennis he had not come home the night before okay we have two missing teens here Captain a guy James
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16 another guy Michael he's 13. most of the time what this is going to say to Small Town Police is well we have a
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situation where a teenage boy got fed up at home or maybe he's super rebellious and decided to run off for a little bit
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yeah or he stayed over at a friend's house and forgot to tell his parents the problem with this situation is we have
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runaway notes that were left for the family to find the other problem that we have for law enforcement is look there
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are no dummies they're going wait a second two kids run away on the same day these two kids were friends and from
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what I could find there was no mention of oh I'm running away with James or I'm running away with Michael right but
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there's a possibility that law enforcement has to look at of course they're going to look at that situation
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and they're also going to wonder if in fact these two were runaways as said the boy's parents produced runaway notes
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from their sons which said that they had run off but these notes were very vague
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about where they were going there were a few different places listed in these short notes some people say runaway
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letters I've reviewed some of these these are very short notes the ragani parents also received a voicemail from a
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phone number that was later traced back to a rest area off of I-65 near Roselawn
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I do not have any details about what that voicemail was or who they believe the the voice was I I have
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to believe captain that they the voicemail came from their son or else it would have been highly suspicious from
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the get right now these notes we said they were vague well they were so the notes were simple they
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were as such I'm tired with the way things are at home I'm leaving I'm heading to Chicago
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um one note said I'm moving out to either California or maybe Washington State haven't decided yet I'll come back
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when I turn 18. hmm so when you get your freedom you're going to come back well if you are to
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believe that these kids ran away they're they're leaving the notes to make sure Mom and Dad don't think that they're
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dead and murdered right uh that they're showing enough care for their parents to
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let them know hey I took off here's the reasons why and here's some places that I might go one of the notes said that
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they were going to Texas the weird thing here Captain is I do not know how many notes were in the possession of the
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parents when they made the calls that their sons were missing to begin with but what I do know happened was there
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were multiple notes left by both boys short little notes that they seem to like kind of hide around their homes
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like an Easter egg hunt that you know Mom would find one and then maybe a couple days later find another one
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that's that's very strange very strange and then second of all like let's to forsake a confusion do you know if these
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were like actual like full Pages or again these were very short notes maybe a maybe a paragraph a couple sentences
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at best but what I found incredibly strange and I'm sure this weirded out the parents big time
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is let's say that James left three different notes for his parents to find or that Michael left three different
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notes for his parents to fight so to save everyone the confusion we'll just say runaway notes a b and c right in each
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situation well when Mom would find runaway note a it would say hey I've been fed up I
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can't take it at home I don't like school maybe I'm going to Chicago I'll call you in a couple months
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well then a few days later she finds runaway note B it kind of contradicts everything that
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was said in runaway no a where it's you know the the next note may say hey I've got a job out on the
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west coast all lined up I'm running away out there and I'll reach out to you when
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I turn 18 or I'll come back when I turn 18. so this is going to be weird one for
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the parents they got to be highly alarmed and two for law enforcement because if you are going to try to
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figure out where these boys went especially a situation with the 13 year old Michael Dennis well law enforcement
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knows that these guys know each other so I think once you find multiple notes at
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one location and then you find multiple notes at the other location then you go hey these are connected somehow right
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and so then you now have to determine one did either of these boys go where they said they were going which there
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was communication sent from the Hammond PD out to these other jurisdictions but again it's very vague you can't just
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it's not easy to reach out to every jurisdiction in California or Washington State and say hey do you got anybody
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that matches this description running around there right but we also don't know if the locations match up with each
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other what will be easier for the Hammond Police Department to determine is are these boys still in the area for any
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reason at all when kids are not getting along with parents they say that they're
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running away the first people you want to talk to in your investigation are these kids friends because kids tell
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their friends more than they tell Mom and Dad so police start asking around trying to determine whether these two
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boys were in fact runaways or if something maybe happened to them or if they were still in the area they came
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across some kids who were buddies with the two missing boys they told them that Michael and James spent some time
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hanging around with an older guy in the neighborhood that summer this was a guy known as Crazy Dave
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locally in the neighborhood he's known as Crazy Dave so not someone you want to hear your kids are hanging out with if
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your parents of Dennis or Michael yeah and is he like really crazy and spells it with a K what they are able to
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determine is these kids are hanging out with this dude named Crazy Dave of course detectives want to figure out who
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the hell is Crazy Dave they start asking around and they learn that crazy Dave's
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real name was David Edward moust Michael Dennis had met Mouse at a community pool that summer oh my God no
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kid should ever meet a doll had a pool well yes weird weird weird weird but the other thing that we need to teach our
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kids even and remind our teenagers is there's no reason for adults and children to be friends
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there's no reason for adults and children to for adults to give gifts to Children there's no reason for adults to
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ask help from a child there's no reason for adults to ask a child to keep a secret these are all huge red flags now
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if we're talking about somebody that's friends with Mom and Dad you know there are some some ways to get around that
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but in this specific situation around that it makes seem like the person's trying to do something bad now there's
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plenty of people that are become mentors to you know younger but that's all stuff
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that you should share with Mom and Dad right this isn't things that you should keep from your parents if if an adult is
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is a friend with a child or asking a child for help asking a child to keep a secret or
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giving them gifts that needs to be shared with Mom and Dad because that's not something that should happen it's
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not something that's normal right so what we have here is now detectives are going to return to the families of these
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missing boys and say hey look this is what we've come up with so far some of the other kids have said that they may
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have been hanging out with this older guy that we know is Crazy Dave and we've now figured out his real name is David
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Edward Mouse and he spells crazy with a K and Dennis's mom Michael Dennis's mom Holly confirmed
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that her son did spend a lot of time with mouse she was aware of this saying that her son spent time with him and on
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one occasion he came home with a pair of new shoes that he said Dave gave to him
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and another time he came home with some stereo equipment maybe she was hopeful that it was like a Daniel's son Mr
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Miyagi type relationship like they're just sitting around learning karate so these detectives
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learned that the boys like to hang out at Mouse apartment this was on the second floor of a house located at
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4933 Ash Street in Hammond Indiana the people they spoke to said that they had been there six or seven times that
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the boys had been there about six or seven times these other teenagers are telling police that Mouse would give
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them beer cigarettes and money you know other teenagers had gone to this guy's apartment Detectives
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ran David moust name through the system and discovered that he had a record surprise surprise so
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they decided to pay a little visit to Mr Crazy Dave moust and stopped by his apartment
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so detective Ron Johnson of the Hammond PD visited this David Mouse at his place
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on September 18th he found Mr moust in the backyard smoking a cigarette and enjoying a beer
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Mouse did not seem nervous at all at the appearance or the arrival of the officer
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well to be fair he was buzzed and he didn't feel nervous at all answering any questions in fact detective Ron Johnson
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said the mouse was extremely friendly and very courteous to the detective so much so that he permitted the
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detective to look through his apartment you know a guy shows up with no warrant he says sure I got nothing to hide I can
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answer all your questions go ahead and look through my apartment so the detective is in there he's asking Mouse
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questions opening closets and checking under beds and such but there was no sign of either of the missing boys at
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the apartment well if you take a look at David he looks like if you take Nick Nolte Nick Nolte and the Ultimate
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Warrior had a baby that came out a little disheveled maybe drinks too much smokes too much how could that baby not
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come out disheveled right that's that's what he looks like though so nevertheless flat neck he has a big fat
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neck too police remain suspicious of David Mouse who had just finished parole for a previous crime and detective
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Johnson says he was even though this guy was nice answered all of his questions and such he said I was suspicious of him
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right away and this is a judge a book by its cover situation because the detective says
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straight out mouse was quote different and that ball is different when asked later well what do you mean by different
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he says if you would have seen him you would have said he's different he almost looks like he's stuck in the
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80s well police staked out his place hoping to see some sign of these missing boys right that maybe they're coming
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back and returning to his apartment maybe they're just running around having a good time and this is somebody that
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they could either crash with on occasion or go back to his apartment to party yeah that makes sense they contacted the
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other jurisdictions that had been mentioned in the runaway notes we already discussed the complications with
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that asking if anybody had seen these missing boys now you have a situation where you probably are believing that
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the two boys left together so that helps you a little bit when you reach out you're not just looking for one teenage
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boy you're looking for two teenage boys at this point which may be a little easier meanwhile local prosecutors
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that I love when people do good work I love when people say you know what we're going to do our jobs we have a a service
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a community to take care of and to protect this guy even if he doesn't know anything about these runaway boys
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he's a problem so the prosecutor local prosecutors filed a misdemeanor charge of contributing to the delinquency of a
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minor against David moust this was on October 2nd this was because of what the other kids told the police about the
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underage beer drinking pot smoking and things that were going on at Mouse place you know he's providing underage kids
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with beer and marijuana and they're hanging out at his place so Mouse posted the 300 Bond and he was released
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he continued to talk casually with the detectives about the missing boys but not really admitting anything at the
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time the police contacted the landlord and the owner of the house where mouse was a tenant right they found out from
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this owner his name was Bill Hinton that mouse was employed he was an employee at
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a trophy shop that the homeowner owned as well he also told them because David looks exactly like a guy
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that works at a trophy shop like what's his job he works at a trophy shop he also told them that Mouse had
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done some work in the basement of the home that he had repaired some seepage on the floor
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so detective Johnson went back to the home to inspect this work that maust had done on the basement floor
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when he went to the basement he discovered a new concrete pad in the southwestern corner of the basement this
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is interesting and I know a lot of people are probably saying well why wouldn't the detective have searched the
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basement to begin with I think the situation here is the way that it was explained to me is that there were
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multiple tenants living in this house in these different apartments that were broken up through this house when the
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detective was first questioned Mouse in it in the backyard of this property and Mal said yeah sure go ahead look through
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my apartment I'll be happy to take you inside and show you everything come on in it's a nice place he's simply showing
00:26:08
him his apartment there are spaces throughout this home that are common spaces that are shared amongst the
00:26:17
tenants yeah shared by the other pedos and so the detective probably didn't check the basement because either a he
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wasn't suspicious of the basement because it was a common place or B he didn't feel that he had permission to
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do so because there were multiple tenants and maust was not the owner of the home itself it's not like when the
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police officer comes up and starts talking to David and and they go hey do you mind if we search her apartment and
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he goes come on in it's a nice place it's not like you can just spend days in there
00:26:48
well not only that I was having this discussion with somebody a week or so ago and had to point out that a really
00:26:55
good detective in a really good officer especially if they're in a situation where they're suspicious of the
00:27:01
individual that they're talking with or suspicious of a crime scene or potential
00:27:07
crime scene right a good detective and a good police officer is always working with the knowledge of knowing that the
00:27:15
most important thing here is that I secure a conviction that whatever my actions are will later hold up in a
00:27:24
court of law and so if I step over the line at any point and this guy is my guy like I
00:27:31
believe him to be well I might run the risk of losing that conviction in the court of law so what
00:27:38
good have I done none with the permission from the homeowner now detective Johnson is in the basement and
00:27:45
he he's checking out this new concrete pad that was poured in the southwestern corner of the basement I found a source
00:27:54
that said that the the pad was determined to be approximately eight foot by five foot and 12 inches thick or
00:28:03
12 inches deep and the homeowner did consent to not just a quick look-see at the basement but he also consented to a
00:28:13
detailed search of the basement as well and this comes about because detective Johnson says look I was down there in
00:28:20
this area it would be very common in this area of the state of India it would be very common for people to repair
00:28:27
their basements in this way to pour additional concrete and that is so that you have of if you have a washer and
00:28:34
dryer in the basement that you are placing it on an elevated platform on a platform so that if you
00:28:41
were to have your basement floods then these items are not getting wet because they're elevated yeah that makes
00:28:49
sense so at first he says he wasn't suspicious of the concrete pad but then knowing what he knows from living in the
00:28:56
area he applied that to oh wait a second the water hookup is way over here so if that was the purpose of this
00:29:05
concrete pad it made no sense at all because you would want to create that platform as close as you could to the
00:29:14
water hookup he's super suspicious of this so the police decide that on November 20th this is detective Johnson
00:29:21
and Commander Dale Bach of the Lake County Sheriff's Department again he's the one that you heard in today's
00:29:28
trailer they come back on the 20th of November to search the basement again at 4933 Ash Street more like Ash Street
00:29:37
this is with the trained cadaver dog now the dog showed considerable interest in
00:29:43
the one end of the basement and this is the corner with the concrete pad the dog
00:29:51
is telling you you've trained me to find cadavers yeah I'm telling you I believe
00:29:57
that there's a dead body underneath this concrete in this corner of this basement
00:30:02
well like you said with this K-9 unit like he's trained to be diver dog but he's also trained to search for people's
00:30:09
scents so it I wonder if they thought maybe he was confused well every canine unit is different it all goes to
00:30:17
training some have the ability to be trained in different areas some don't I I don't know the specifics of this
00:30:23
particular dog but in this situation we do know he's being used to find a cadaver he's not he's not being brought
00:30:32
in there to find a missing person [Music] foreign [Music] we're back cheers everybody cheers to
00:31:10
you Colonel he's back I'm back everybody's back everyone's in the face all right uh the
00:31:18
dog again the canine Officer showing considerable amounts of signs that hey he's detecting something underneath the
00:31:26
concrete in the corner of this basement yeah but he's not acting as normal right right he's supposed to
00:31:34
he's trained to give a very aggressive response to when he finds when he's hitting on something and that's not the
00:31:42
response he's giving here you have to wonder if in fact if the K-9 unit if the officer is correct
00:31:51
and people are getting confused because some people are like you know I'm referring to the dog as the officer
00:31:56
because he is an officer so we'll pay him his respects um if he is one we want to be respectful
00:32:03
and just in case he's listening that's right um just in case he's listening um but if in fact the the canine Officer
00:32:12
is correct that he that there is something underneath that concrete I don't again I don't know this
00:32:19
particular dog I do not know the training is he giving a different response because it's a faint right you
00:32:27
know is is the detection faint I I think we we can just move past that because whatever the dog was doing to indicate
00:32:35
that there was something there and that they should do further searching of this area it was enough for
00:32:42
them to bring in technicians and they're going to drill some sample holes in the
00:32:48
pad you don't want to go in there and Jackhammer the whole thing up if you don't have to you can just drill some
00:32:54
holes and see if there's anything down there this portion of the search was conducted on December 5th
00:33:01
when they drilled holes into this concrete pad Captain coffin flies flew out of these holes
00:33:09
coffin flies coffin flies are indicative of there being a decaying body now it doesn't have to be human it
00:33:18
can be animal or or something else but they would not be there if there was nothing for them to
00:33:25
be this is pretty gross living off of so on December 9th after one second let me finish my lunch now the police have
00:33:37
probable cause to to tear up the place right so on December 9th just four days later police brought in equipment to
00:33:45
take up the concrete pad or concrete slab very quickly into this search they found
00:33:54
two bodies which is two more bodies than are supposed to be there they were able
00:34:00
to determine almost immediately that the the bodies were that of teenagers or young men right these two bodies that
00:34:10
were found were wrapped in plastic and tied with cord and tape oh one second I mean we have to applaud the officer both
00:34:18
officers I guess the dog is officer but you have to applaud where your dog is trained to make a certain reaction he
00:34:27
doesn't react like he's supposed to gives you an odd reading but you go hey better safe than sorry right might as
00:34:37
well dig this up and and yes yeah nobody wants to find anything but at the end of
00:34:43
the day when you have these missing kids you're trying to find answers so right away you're looking for two missing
00:34:50
teens and you find the bodies of what you can determine to be either teenage boys or young men
00:34:59
right so when you think about it Captain these other teens the the ones that told
00:35:04
police and Detectives that these kids were hanging out with some guy named Crazy Dave these other
00:35:12
kids were in fact quite lucky that they did not end up killed yeah you know these were teens that hung out with this
00:35:19
crazy Dave as well or at least one had been to his apartment these kids knew about Crazy Dave knew about the
00:35:26
activities going on at Dave's apartment with him providing alcohol and such to the teens
00:35:32
one of the teens in particular says that he was with James and Michael on what is believed to be the last night
00:35:42
that the two were alive he told the detective that he went with James and Michael to Dave Mouse apartment
00:35:49
and he left at some point in the night and he he said that when he left James and Michael stayed there and they were
00:35:58
alive of course when he left the apartment so immediately we have Dave moust who we
00:36:05
we need to arrest this man so he was in fact arrested on that same day this is again December 9 2003. they pick him up
00:36:13
while he's riding his bicycle home from work but here's the troubling part I think finding the two bodies in the
00:36:20
basement is the troubling part but riding a bike to work is kind of Rich Man Poor Man rich man uses it for
00:36:26
exercise poor man uses it as a vehicle look nothing against this Hinton character but I can't imagine that the
00:36:33
job at the trophy shop pays very well and he's living in a rundown apartment this is not a guy that's riding a
00:36:40
bicycle for exercise yeah but you could always like use the line when women came
00:36:44
in like why do you work at the trophy store I'm looking for my trophy wife but here's the troubling thing captain
00:36:52
uh you mean the two dead teenage bodies buried in concrete is not troubling enough
00:36:59
it is not well the troubling part here is the two that were found in the basement were identified via dental
00:37:07
records one was the missing Michael Dennis that we were looking for you know as anyone would expect but the other was
00:37:14
identified as 19 year old Nick James well so not the other kid that they were looking for Nick had been missing since
00:37:22
May of 2003. this is December of 2003 when they find the bodies the more you study True Crime the more you just see
00:37:31
similarities and so many things uh look at the type of victim is teenage boys Gacy would put them in the crawl
00:37:41
space this guy seems to just be putting them into concrete Nick had been missing
00:37:46
since May of 2003 he in fact worked at the trophies R Us shop with David moust and Nick was reported missing by his
00:37:56
girlfriend but he said Nick was 19. correct because you'd think okay look law enforcement has two missing kids
00:38:04
that you'd think that they would go oh yeah there's also another missing kid from the trophy shop oh they hang out
00:38:11
with Crazy Dave where does Crazy Dave work the trophy shop you'd think they'd be putting this all
00:38:17
together but maybe what I'm saying is maybe they didn't put it together in that manner because he was 19. right
00:38:25
that that's where my head went immediately but the other thing too is maybe they did put it together it's just
00:38:31
now you're looking for a 19 year old as well I don't know that you're announcing
00:38:36
that to anyone uh when you're surveilling David moust so Paul Goddard was Nick James's best friend the 19 year old that
00:38:45
was found in the basement he said that the two of them spent a lot of time with David moust
00:38:52
and he said that David was generous giving them cash and beer and said quote he never asked for anything I just
00:38:59
thought that he being you know David was being a nice guy this is what Paul told
00:39:05
the Munster Indiana Times newspaper yeah he only asked for hand jobs so then police excavated a third body
00:39:15
it was proved to be James ragani the other missing teen now the cause of death for the three
00:39:22
victims this is per the the times again quote Lake County coroner David pasterick said
00:39:30
he had not ruled out Suffocation and strangulation as a cause of death for bagani and for Dennis the two that
00:39:39
police initially started off looking for right they said that Nick James died of
00:39:44
blunt force trauma to the skull David mouse was charged with three counts of murder they also charged him for having
00:39:52
a fat neck the Hammond neighborhood went into an uproar over this crazy Dave guy
00:40:01
right because David moust is living in their small town and unbeknownst to them he's he's living there
00:40:12
but the reason why they're in an uproar is it turned out that David Mouse had a very serious criminal record
00:40:20
right in fact he was a twice convicted murderer living in their neighborhood he's been convicted twice of murder
00:40:31
correct and he has he lives in an apartment with other people and has the Stellar job at the trophy shop yeah this
00:40:39
this highly desirable job I'm just saying that he's he's living better than some people living better than the
00:40:46
colonel I wonder if he gets unlimited trophies like unlimited free Trophies the idea that this dude was out free
00:40:54
living in this small town and hanging out with kids terrified the residents many of whom
00:41:02
said that they planned to move away from the area even though David moust was now
00:41:07
behind bars in all fairness eventually the state of Indiana would pass a law requiring that convicted murderers must
00:41:15
register with local officials when they moved to a new location so David mouse was not from this area well thank God
00:41:23
they corrected that if sexual offenders have to register on a sexual offender's website or whatever murderers should
00:41:30
have to do the same so Mouse now in handcuffs well he was in for a six-hour interview
00:41:38
session with detectives Mouse confessed to The Killing saying that others had helped him commit the murders even
00:41:46
naming his landlord is one of the accomplices again again I I the comparisons with
00:41:55
this individual and and Gacy are very similar I mean Daisy once he was arrested was saying
00:42:03
hey it wasn't just me there's multiple people involved moust also implicated his old cellmate from time served in the
00:42:12
state of Illinois and he implicated another neighborhood teen saying he helped as well
00:42:20
I don't think that he's sitting there saying the four of us killed these three guys
00:42:26
I think what he's saying is is a situation where he's telling a story and it's changing as we go along here yeah
00:42:34
I'll give him a trophy for being a douche but in the end Captain he admitted to all three of the murders and
00:42:40
he said that he did all three of them on his own now for some reason we have a written
00:42:47
statement pertaining to James ragani's murder but not the other two so the details are a little tricky on
00:42:56
some of these murders here yeah David Mouse signed a confession stating that on September 9th 2003 at his apartment
00:43:06
James ragani had been drinking beer and doing shots and got sick and at 11 45 PM David Mouse took a rope
00:43:16
and put it around James's neck and strangled him until he was dead he then wrapped his body in plastic and took it
00:43:24
to the basement and later put cement over his body but he was has said I mean he he's telling these
00:43:34
stories but it's very obvious to detectives that this dude's responsible for all three of the murders
00:43:41
a Lake County prosecutor Bernard Carter said quote basically he drugged them with alcohol and the date rape drug and
00:43:48
then strangled them the first one the first victim he means Nicholas James he hit in the head with a baseball bat and
00:43:55
then strangled him he said meaning David moust that the first one was too bloody of an attack so
00:44:04
he decided to strangle the others so he he's saying that he killed all three of them the same day
00:44:11
no okay so at different times Nicholas James was a separate situation altogether right that when he went
00:44:19
missing back in May that's when Nicholas James was killed right the other two boys were killed September 9th of that
00:44:27
same year but what mouse is explaining to detectives in his confession that look I I hit the one over the head with
00:44:36
a baseball bat and realize later that's not a good method of killing because now I got all this blood
00:44:44
everywhere that I have to deal with yeah everybody listened to that statement we
00:44:48
have a murderer telling you that if you hit somebody in the head when their heart is still beating there's blood
00:44:54
everywhere it's too bloody of a scene again can connect the dots in other cases like Sean Benet Ramsey if she was
00:45:04
hit on the head first there would have been blood everywhere David moust admitted to detectives that he would on
00:45:09
occasion visit the basement to continue to talk to his victims after they were buried in the floor
00:45:18
what you heard me right so he's drinking yeah I'm gonna go down to the basement and
00:45:25
I'm gonna go talk to the concrete because he's missing one of his buddies that he killed I'm
00:45:32
reading between the lines here Captain but what I think actually went down is I believe that they found all three
00:45:38
victims at the same time when they were digging up that slab because as said it's determined or reported that it was
00:45:45
eight foot by five foot by 12 inches deep that's not that big of a concrete slab and we have three victims in that
00:45:54
concrete slab where I think that we have the speed bump in the investigation is that two of the bodies were wrapped in
00:46:04
plastic that was tied with rope or some type of cord right the third body for reasons only David Mouse could
00:46:14
explain was completely dipped or you know I guess it wouldn't be dipped but uh covered in
00:46:23
lead-based paint Blue lead based paint and mouse said basically that he took the body
00:46:32
of this victim placed it in the bathtub covered it in this paint and we're talking about
00:46:39
an inch thick covering the body at all points he states that uh he did this so that it
00:46:47
would conceal the odor of the body that nobody would be able to smell or detect the dead body I guess uh
00:46:55
the smell of paint is better than dead body as for the runaway notes detectives believe that Mouse lured the
00:47:03
uh Lord the boys to his apartment of course with Promises of some kind of trip okay remember we talked about them
00:47:12
leaving notes for their parents this misdirecting the investigation or hoping that the parents don't go looking for
00:47:19
the kids they figured out that moust was the he spearheaded them leaving these notes for their parents
00:47:26
this was all his idea so to me this is looking more and more like a premeditated murder situation right what
00:47:35
he said to these these boys is that look I I have access to a lot of money I have access to a lot of drugs I need you
00:47:46
to run some errands for me and you can make a lot of money in the process and hold on a second if any any young
00:47:54
teenage boys listening and you hear this from somebody remind yourself that he he rides a bicycle to
00:48:02
work he works in a trophy shop and he lives in an apartment with multiple people and his only friends are the
00:48:09
friends that he's giving booze to and those individuals can't buy booze I wouldn't really believe that he has
00:48:15
connections to a bunch of money somewhere because if he did he probably would have called in those favors by now
00:48:21
well if you go off of what I said earlier you're already in the clear adults and children do not need to be
00:48:27
friends for any reason at all yeah my motto is no friends okay um so what they were able to determine
00:48:35
is that Mouse told them that hey I'm going to give you a vehicle and I've set up this vehicle so that we
00:48:45
can conceal drugs in this vehicle and then you're going to drive it out to the West Coast basically you're going to
00:48:52
make a delivery for me and the people there are going to pay for all these drugs that you deliver you're going to
00:48:58
bring the money back to me and then you're going to get a big Hefty cut of everything right and this is how he
00:49:05
enticed them and talk them into leaving these notes for their parents so this was all very much planned out on
00:49:15
his end and even planned out by the kids themselves because they go over there thinking all right well we're friends
00:49:22
with this guy we're going to go on this trip yeah it's kind of sophisticated for
00:49:28
such a disheveled individual the other interesting thing too is that he told investigators that he took the two boys
00:49:37
with him to breakfast at the Roseland I'm sorry Roselawn truck stop on September 9th classy and this was they
00:49:48
were talking more about the trip at this breakfast so you can piece this together this is
00:49:55
where that voicemail came from right this is the same location that they traced it back to so while they're there
00:50:01
he had him so convinced that he had one of the kids call home and leave a voicemail at that time so so we have
00:50:08
three bodies and we know that David was in prison before two other killings so we have a total of
00:50:18
five victims correct I still don't understand how he got out of prison well that's a great
00:50:24
segue because that's what I'm going getting to right here so the Indiana prosecutors knew that mouse was a
00:50:32
suspected serial killer right he's eligible for capital punishment so the prosecutor prosecutor Carter requested
00:50:40
that the death penalty be on the table for the three murders so on October 31st 2005 Mouse took a
00:50:52
plea deal and admitted guilt for all three murders So Crazy Dave mouse was sentenced in
00:50:58
December of 2005 to three consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole and in his guilty plea Mouse
00:51:09
requested that he be held in isolation away from the general population of the prison now as the captain just mentioned
00:51:17
this monster had killed twice before so who was David moust and why was a twice convicted murderer out living in a nice
00:51:28
Community David moust was the second of four children born to Ava and George moust on April 5th 1954 in the state of
00:51:40
Pennsylvania PA in 1961 the family relocated to Chicago that next year Mouse father left the
00:51:49
family David was only eight years old at this time right there's a lot of uncertainty about Mouse early life and
00:51:57
exactly how screwed up it was so how screwed up he was right so he was eight when his father leaves but do we
00:52:05
have any indication that there was physical abuse or sexual abuse or or verbal abuse that we don't know of as
00:52:14
far as the ages from ages zero to eight but again it's very difficult in this situation to figure out how screwed up
00:52:22
his family life was or how screwed up he was and if who was responsible for that
00:52:29
his his parents were both I feel very fine and confident with saying that both of his parents were dysfunctional
00:52:38
according to the times George moust was orphaned at age 12 and spent the rest of
00:52:44
his life the rest of his juvenile years I should say in foster homes some that were described as sexually abusive Ava
00:52:52
moused his mother spent a month in a mental hospital in Pennsylvania this right after David Mouse birth
00:53:00
hospital records to describe her as quote psychotic her upbringing took place on a Georgia Farm
00:53:08
and has been reported as miserable and depraved according to her sons later defense team in court writings
00:53:18
his mother was beaten by a stepfather with boards and chains and treated as a slave by her mother that sounds
00:53:27
awful with his father gone and a mother that there's no more simple way to put it a mother that either did not want him
00:53:37
or could not handle him his mother David's mother requested that he be institutionalized at the age of
00:53:45
eight I'm sorry at the age of nine yeah so per the times quote Chicago State Hospital
00:53:52
records show that David Mouse earned year yearned for a relationship with his mother but she showed little interest in
00:54:00
him when the staff at the state hospital pressured her to take David Mouse swimming
00:54:06
with a sibling and a later stepfather she told the hospital I'm not taking him I wish he would drown
00:54:15
um so whether Ava loved David and did the best that she could for him or whether she was the reason that he
00:54:24
was screwed up depends on who you're talking to or where you're getting your information because Ava his mother gave
00:54:32
a lot of interviews over the the years and in some she says that David moust was a pretty good kid in that she loved
00:54:39
him she told the Chicago Tribune that she loved her kid and says that when David's father left the family
00:54:47
David started acting out things got bad pretty quickly his little brother Jeffrey recalls David Mouse beating a
00:54:56
squirrel to death with a bat in front of his younger siblings there's also a report that that David
00:55:03
Mouse is a little kid set his three-year-old brother's crib on fire and tried to drown him in the park maybe
00:55:10
when your kid does that you just lock him in the cage and forget about it it's a very difficult situation Captain
00:55:18
because as said was he the actual problem or was his childhood that was not carved out by him
00:55:27
the actual problem yeah it's the chicken of the egg because well but it goes back to who you
00:55:36
talk to and where you get your information from and even with Ava who gave multiple interviews over the years
00:55:43
she gives a different story in different interviews he was a good kid he was a normal kid and it wasn't until he was
00:55:50
nine that he started acting up and I had to get rid of him in other stories he was born bad and he
00:55:56
was trying to kill his little baby brother and and drown his baby brother from a very very early age
00:56:04
it's not both it's it's one or the other yeah I don't think she's gonna award anytime soon for mother of the year
00:56:12
it can't be both these are her words these are words she chose to to give to these people that he was fine he was
00:56:19
completely fine until his dad left then he went off the rails and I had to get rid of him in other interviews she says
00:56:25
that he was born bad that he was evil from day one and that he was trying to kill his little brother at a very early
00:56:35
age that's not the same story so when I say it can't be both we don't know the true story maybe maybe
00:56:43
it was both I'm saying these are her words she pick a story Lady it's one or the
00:56:50
other because they're two very different stories the other thing that you have to
00:56:53
keep in mind too is back then yeah if you just didn't want a child for any number of reasons
00:57:02
you could institutionalize him I'm glad that wasn't around this was I wouldn't say it was a common thing but it was not
00:57:10
it wasn't that unheard of yeah and the reason why I question some of this is that we have the look he's at
00:57:21
nine years old David Mouse is sent to the Cook County mental institution and he describes this location as he
00:57:31
called it the the snake pit and the situation was this that he's he's in this state institution or
00:57:43
the County mental institution there was another child that was there at the same time as David that would be
00:57:51
dropped off in the summer months and then picked up by Mom and Dad at the end of summer
00:57:57
yeah and what's believed is that they simply dropped him off said the kid's crazy and dangerous and we can't handle
00:58:04
him so that they could vacation or not have to deal with this kid when he's not in school people do this I know it's I
00:58:12
know it's sad but uh and it's something you know that nobody wants to talk about
00:58:16
but what kind of people do this pieces of [ __ ] but it's very possible that his mother was a piece of [ __ ] and
00:58:24
decided for whatever reason willy-nilly or or something very serious that she didn't want her her son if we have the I
00:58:33
look look you look we have the the statement from the hospital that when they were trying to encourage mom to
00:58:43
spend time with her son that was institutionalized on one occasion she's taking her current family
00:58:52
on a swimming trip and when asked by the hospital well why wouldn't you take check David out and
00:59:00
take him with you she says I don't want to be around him I wish he would drown that's not the response of a loving
00:59:10
caring parent the other thing that's weird and we do know that some of these types Captain
00:59:16
behave a different way in a very structured environment where there's set rules and and we can imagine that that's
00:59:24
probably what was going on when young David was institutionalized by his mother but we also have the his time
00:59:33
spent there is well documented so these reports say that David moust had no incidence of serious misbehavior during
00:59:42
his years at the hospital he has no documented incidents of lying stealing or out of control behavior all stuff
00:59:53
that that her his mother reported to the hospital as the basis for committing her son the hospital described David as
01:00:04
generally generally described David in their reports as an appealing sensitive and reliable child but he was deeply
01:00:11
disturbed by his parents rejection yeah you think and preoccupied with the threat of abandonment
01:00:17
his father left the family when he was just eight and then his mother [ __ ] drops him off and has him
01:00:25
institutionalized at the age of nine when his mother was asked to be specific about the trouble she claimed David
01:00:33
Mouse caused during his occasional home visits she became evasive and stated that quote she just doesn't want him at
01:00:42
home [Music] thank you [Music] all right so much more to get to tomorrow for everything true crime check
01:01:07
us out at truecrime garage.com click on that store Page and check out our be good be kind and don't Litter shirt and
01:01:15
make sure you join us back here in the garage tomorrow until then be good be kind and don't listen
01:01:24
foreign [Music]

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  • 85
    Most intense
  • 80
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  • 80
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  • 75
    Most heartbreaking

Episode Highlights

  • Welcome to True Crime Garage
    Nick and the Captain introduce the show and thank listeners for tuning in.
    “It's good to be seen and it's good to see you.”
    @ 00m 54s
    November 08, 2022
  • Zombie Dust Beer Review
    The hosts review Zombie Dust, a pale ale from Three Floyds Brewing Company.
    “This intensely hopped and gushing Undead pale ale will be one's only respite after the zombie apocalypse.”
    @ 01m 15s
    November 08, 2022
  • Canine Detective's Discovery
    A cadaver dog alerts to a spot in the basement, leading to a shocking discovery.
    “He said what feels like a human leg joint encased in a plastic bag.”
    @ 07m 31s
    November 08, 2022
  • Bodies Found Under Concrete
    Investigators uncover two bodies buried under thick concrete in a basement.
    “They discovered two bodies there that were wrapped in plastic and buried under concrete.”
    @ 07m 48s
    November 08, 2022
  • Warning Signs of Danger
    Discussion on the red flags of adult-child relationships and their implications.
    “There's no reason for adults and children to be friends.”
    @ 17m 54s
    November 08, 2022
  • The Discovery of Bodies
    Police uncover two bodies buried in concrete, shocking the community.
    “Two bodies found, wrapped in plastic and tied with cord.”
    @ 33m 54s
    November 08, 2022
  • David Mouse's Arrest
    David Mouse is arrested after the discovery of the bodies, raising alarms in the neighborhood.
    “The idea that this dude was out free terrified the residents.”
    @ 40m 54s
    November 08, 2022
  • Confession and Implications
    David Mouse confesses to the murders, implicating others in the process.
    “He admitted to all three of the murders and said he did them on his own.”
    @ 42m 38s
    November 08, 2022
  • The Plea Deal
    In 2005, David Mouse took a plea deal admitting guilt for three murders, receiving life sentences.
    “Mouse was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.”
    @ 50m 58s
    November 08, 2022
  • David Mouse's Troubled Childhood
    David Mouse's early life was marked by abandonment and institutionalization, leading to a troubled future.
    “His mother requested that he be institutionalized at the age of nine.”
    @ 53m 42s
    November 08, 2022

Episode Quotes

  • The dog went to a corner of the house and just stood there and barked.
    Bodies in the Basement /// Part 1 /// 466
  • There's no reason for adults and children to be friends.
    Bodies in the Basement /// Part 1 /// 466
  • He's providing underage kids with beer and marijuana.
    Bodies in the Basement /// Part 1 /// 466
  • He never asked for anything, I just thought he was being a nice guy.
    Bodies in the Basement /// Part 1 /// 466
  • He admitted to detectives that he would visit the basement to talk to his victims.
    Bodies in the Basement /// Part 1 /// 466
  • It can't be both.
    Bodies in the Basement /// Part 1 /// 466

Key Moments

  • Welcome00:40
  • Beer Review01:07
  • Dog Alert04:00
  • Body Discovery07:48
  • Red Flags17:54
  • Community Concern23:37
  • Neighborhood Uproar40:01
  • Mouse's Confession41:41

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown