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foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] welcome to True Crime garage wherever you are whatever you're doing thanks for
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listening I'm your host Nick and with me as always is a man who has kibosh before
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and will kibosh again here is the captain it's good to be seen and it's good to see you thanks for listening
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thanks for telling a friend [Music] this week we are very happy to be featuring hop slam 2021 by one of my
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and check out our bonus show called off the Record and that is enough of the business all right everybody gather
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around grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some true crime [Music] thank you foreign
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[Music] the following is from the Edgar Award nominee for best fact crime book dark
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Dreams by legendary FBI profiler Roy Hazelwood the most resourceful destructive and
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Elusive of all deviate offenders is the ritualistic sexual sadist just like the great white shark is the
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renowned predator of the oceans the sexual sadist is the most dangerous and cunning of aberrant criminals he
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also presents the greatest challenge to law enforcement the sexual sadist is a meticulous
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planner spending an inordinate amount of time inside his own head he may devote months or maybe even years
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imagining his intended crime turning it over in his mind playing with it as one might examine a prism and a
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Sunbeam studying all the different ways it reacts to the light he hates surprises and any kind of
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spontaneity if possible he will rehearse every step of his crime repeatedly and do everything imaginable to reduce his
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chances of failure the sexual sadist is also stunningly brutal the fantasies he wishes to enact with a
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victim are horrendous his sexual pleasure is derived from her suffering Hazelwood goes on to include the
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writings of convicted kidnapper rapist counterfeiter and suspected serial killer James Mitchell the Bartle Ben Jr
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better known as Mike de bartlebin or by his law enforcement given moniker the mall passer he wrote what Hazelwood
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refers to as the sexual sadist Credo where the Bartle bin defines the word sadism for us or at least what it means
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to him which can only be described as extremely insightful as Mike was a sexual sadist
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he writes sadism the wish to inflict pain on others is not the essence of sadism
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the central impulse is to have complete Mastery over any other person to make him slash her the helpless
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object of our will to become the absolute ruler over her to become her God to do with her as one pleases are means
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to this end the most radical aim is to make her suffer since there is no greater power over
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another person than that of inflicting pain on her to force her to undergo suffering
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without her being able to defend herself the pleasure and the complete domination
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over another person is the very essence of the sadistic Drive the crime classification manual written by the FBI
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adds there are often multiple crime scenes involved with this type of sexual homicide
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the place of the initial encounter the torture slash death scene and or the body disposal site
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this is true crime garage [Music] Tina Marie Harmon was born in Creston Ohio on June 9 1969 to parents James and
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Irene Harmon Creston is a village here in Ohio too small to have City status today the village of Creston has a
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little more than 2100 people our story will kick off in 1981 and at that time roughly the same population just a bit
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smaller at a little less than 1900 people Creston is just 2.26 square miles but the village is in
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two counties Medina and Wayne Counties located in the northeastern portion of the state of Ohio by 1981 Tina's parents
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were separated and she was living with her father James at a nice little house on onion Street in 1981 Tina Marie
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Harmon was 12 years of age she was a sixth grader at Sterling Elementary she did well in school she loved cats and
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Country Music people say that she was a good singer so much so that several people thought that she could make a
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career of it her Aunt Ruth Hatfield would later say that Tina was a very tough little girl she had some brothers
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and had no trouble standing up to them in fact I think her aunt said she would fight with her brothers all of the time
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Tina was a round face kid with dark eyes and long brown hair in most ways she was
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a typical sixth grade girl she was ready to hit her teenager years and was already a little rebellious pre-teen
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on October 29 1981 this was a Thursday Tina went to school and rode the bus home afterwards Tina got a ride from her
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father's girlfriend now some sources say to the local Lawsons Lawson's is a now defunct convenience store chain
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other sources say to and I think this is more accurate it says that she went to the Lorraine
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market and I think you'll see why the Lawsons is probably not right just yet in our timeline so her father's
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girlfriend dropped Tina off in front of the store she was meeting up with a group of her friends they all went
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inside the store Tina bought a fudge sickle her friend's last saw her sitting in front of the convenience store eating
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her snack do you know how many friends were with her this would have been three girls
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apparently she told the three girls that she would catch up with them at some point later in the evening however all
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three says that never happened the friends walked on and Tina did not leave with them the sources have Tina seen
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walking along Main Street in downtown Creston at 6 30 PM now many sources do not mention this next item on our
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timeline but it seems to me that it would fit pretty accurately so I would like to include it here James Renner who
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has wrote about this case and we should mention Phil Trexler who wrote extensively on some portions of this as
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well but Renner writes that Tina was able to catch yet another ride and this time it was from her older brother it is
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said that he drove her to another convenience store or a lawsense so that's why I think that the Lawsons got
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mixed up with the Lorraine market right after that somehow she made it near the village of Seville
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now we don't have an exact location for this so if we were to do just a very basic from the center of Main Street
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Creston to this spot in Seville it's roughly just under five miles or seven to nine minutes driving time
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Seville is listed as a village as well and in 1981 would have had a population right around under 2 000 people and we
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say that she made it to this location because according to the Akron Beacon Journal which is probably one of the
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very best sources for this case several credible Witnesses remembered seeing Tina at the Union 76 Truck Stop
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and the truck stop of America at Interstate 76 and Interstate 71 near Seville that evening and that would also
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make a lot of sense because from what I have been reading back in 1981 the only real entertainment for the teens of
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Creston was at the Union 76 Truck Stop a few miles away which had snacks and arcade games Tina was known to frequent
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the place and just like myself Captain she was a fan of the pinball games found there at the Union 76 Truck Stop all
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right so we have Tina she's 12 years old goes to the store from that store we know she was at the store because she
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was with some friends from that store her brother takes her to another store we don't know how she got from that
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store to the truck stop which was a local teen hangout which was about five miles away from the center of town
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correct and we say the center of town because again we don't know where the last location is to be exact as far as a
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street address because it's a it's a business that's no longer in existence but we have eyewitnesses that
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place Tina at the truck stop according to the Akron Beacon Journal they say several witnesses and they specifically
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say several credible Witnesses say that they saw the young girl 12 years old at both of these truck stops yeah I'm
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guessing those credible witnesses will be employees and not children and when we say truck stops you have to keep in
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mind too that these are also you know their gas stations you could pull in there and fill up your vehicle your car
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it's not just limited to truck drivers and semi trucks right and a lot of these for for those that may live in bigger
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cities or or unfamiliar with these type of truck stops they're really like a gas
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station on steroids they're much bigger you can walk in it has they always have an attached convenience store they have
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acne on their body because these people that are traveling great distances they need to pick up food use the restroom
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right some of them have an arcade room may have a sit-down restaurant inside this one the Union 76 the reason why it
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was kind of a teenager hangout back then it was a few miles north of Creston there's not a whole lot to do in the
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small town of Creston the funny thing is Seville where they're going to go hang out is even smaller right it just
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happens to be that it's right off of both interstates so it's going to get a lot of business business the Union 76
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had a little arcade room attached to it and it was said that she would often go up there and play pinball games and
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arcade games just so we don't run into any confusion here Captain wait was it Noah's arcade no I I doubt that it even
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had a as sphincter says what the Union 76 Truck Stop as some may remember is a company out of El Segundo California the
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76 signs are the orange ball with the blue number 76 inside right very popular on like American Pickers so I'm giving
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that detail Captain because this large gas station slash truck stop is reported to be in the area right around where
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Interstate 71 and Interstate 76 overlap right so the truck stop is not called Union 76 because of the 76 interstate
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the truck stop Union 76 is one of it's just one of many across this great country do you know where the trucks
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fill up with gas is that connected to where also the cars fill up with gas I don't know and I get what you're you're
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getting at sometimes they're you know one might be in front and one might be off to the side of the store is that
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what you mean yeah because normally now you know this is back in 1981 but now normally truck stops of this size to the
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left will be all the gas pumps for semis to the right will be all gas pumps for just regular cars fans or trucks I'm
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guessing that would be the setup because it's very difficult for those those trucks can't maneuver the same way that
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Vehicles can right now Tina did not come home that night and the three friends that were with her for a portion of that
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evening all say the same thing that they did not see her again that night after they left her at the Lorraine Market
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sitting in front of the store right so they never caught up with her right so this is a Thursday this is October 29th
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just two days before Halloween and it it's I find it incredibly fascinating how many cases we have heard of when a
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child goes missing right before Halloween right Jacob wetterling Amy mihalovic in this case of Tina Harmon
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and unfortunately there are there are many more of them well maybe it's because of
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Jason Voorhees or Mike Myers I think in the midwest in particular the reason why
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we have that uh common occurrence or or this reoccurring thing of late October child abductions
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May simply have to do with the weather you know people are out they're still out it's not yet gotten really cold in
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the area so Tina's family and friends they of course are looking for her law enforcement is aware that the girl is
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missing and at her school the principal this is Wilbur Bowers was talking to Tina's friends and classmates trying to
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see if any of them can shed any light on the situation Unfortunately they could not there was a lot of thinking at the
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time that Tina was out running around and she would turn up sooner rather than later but the night that she left that
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she was last seen as a Thursday so maybe you can talk yourself into the idea for
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a night or two especially over the weekend right but then Sunday Night hits and then Monday and she still has not
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come home by then and as a parent or a family member yeah she's 12. you have to be out of your
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mind about the situation by that point yeah I mean look maybe this is behavior of a 16 year old or 17 year old that's
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still living at home especially this would be more likely to happen in the 19 1981 but a 12 year old
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I'm saying the first night she she doesn't come home as is a bad sign well on Tuesday November 3rd at about 9 A.M
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Tina's body was discovered by a man named herb Seifert this is five days later five days after she was last seen
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the girl's body was found on an oil well Access Road off of Goodrich Road in Stark County's Bethlehem Township
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now there is no really good direct route from these two truck stops which are basically right next to each other right
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to this area where she was found but to give an idea of distance depending on the route we are looking at 41 to 53
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miles and a drive time of over of 44 to 55 minutes right even though her body was discovered in Stark County Wayne
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County caught the case when Tina went missing and they kept the case even after she was found based on the belief
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that she was killed there in their County before being dumped in Bethlehem Township the body was taken to Massillon
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Community Hospital Tina's parents went there and after the body was identified Tina's mother Irene collapsed and was
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admitted for treatment for shock we have some autopsy information as well and some further leads this is going to go
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along with physical evidence to help us with our Chase here Captain yes so Stark
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County coroner James Pritchard was in charge of the autopsy from my understanding of the body Discovery site
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she was found in plain sight so anyone traveling this road would have found her now this is a pretty remote area and
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this is an access road with no name so this is a Road Less Traveled situation Tina was fully clothed either redressed
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after she was killed or forced to dress before she was raped and strangled the coroner's office stated that she was
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killed by quote choking by hands and there were marks on the neck which appeared to be made by rope on her
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clothes detectives discovered important Clues this was dog hairs and orange carpet fibers these carpet fibers have
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also been described as nutmeg in color interestingly enough detectives found some items of interest in her pockets
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the first item was a Union 76 truck stop matchbook right okay so this goes well with the witnesses that say they saw her
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there that Thursday night yeah more evidence to back up the witnesses they also found three dollars and 25 cents in
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her it says in her clothing right her Father James said Tina left home with five dollars on her person that evening
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police said to the papers that that information could offer some possible leads or theories as well
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I didn't really follow that it seemed a little confusing to me they seem to think that because she still had money
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on her person that that suggested that she was staying with somebody or somebody was providing for her while she
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was gone that doesn't make any sense because she could have been taken Thursday night the rape could have
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happened Thursday night and our body was left Thursday night and just discovered
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it now well I think this is where this is why I think they're jumping to conclusions because of this next part
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and this next part is one of the most important pieces of evidence in this case the tricky part of this homicide
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investigation is well let's say the first very tricky item in this case the coroner was
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certain and was able to provide a window of time for which Tina was killed so she
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died by asphyxiation by strangling the test indicating that she had been dead for 24 to 36 hours when the body
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was discovered okay so last scene Thursday night right body found at about 9 A.M the following
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Tuesday and the autopsy is telling us she was killed between 9 pm Sunday night and 9 00 a.m Monday morning that's a lot
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of time so now Captain we have roughly 72 hours between the time last seen and the time the coroner says she was killed
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maybe as much as 84 hours that's a lot of time missing from Tina's timeline here roughly four days
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right well yeah it'd be it would be three to three and a half days roughly now Creston police chief they were
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looking to speak with a man and a young woman this is because he says they had individuals stating that they had may
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had seen Tina in the presence of one or both of these people right the brief description was given of both but
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because those description varied at times and even contradicted each other at times we will simply go with
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what similarities were listed a Caucasian male early 20s to mid 30s and a Caucasian female young late teens
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possibly in her 20s the way that this information was presented to the public I get the impression that the Witnesses
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believe Tina to have been hanging out with either one or both of these people right there is no one saying they
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witnessed an abduction or that Tina looked to be threatened or the victim of a kidnapping by either of these people
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right but that doesn't mean that these people weren't in the arcade or at the truck stop and had some rules to get a
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young girl into a vehicle well and we got to keep in mind too these could be these are what detectives would consider
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to be loose leads these are leads that you're 100 going to follow up on because it could take you further down in your
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timeline we've already pointed out what we need to do now is figure out why there's a gap in this timeline why do we
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have 72 to 84 hours missing between the time she was last seen and the time that
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it's believed that she was killed and if you already said so I apologize but how was she planning to get home
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from the gas how is Tina planning on getting home from the truck stop Thursday night
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that's a good question my speculation here Captain is that that her parents may not have known she she was going to
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go to the gas station or his truck stop Tina may not have known she was going to
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go to this truck stop when she left the house that night it sounds to me like the plan was to meet up with friends
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she's going to hang out and tag along with friends as kids do and end up back at home some point that night either by
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you know walking home or catching a ride with somebody yeah maybe she was expecting her friends to be there and
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then she'd just catch a ride with one of their parents or or brothers sisters or
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whoever but if this information is right and if these Witnesses are correct then she's getting further and further
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away from home the night is getting later and as you pointed out we don't know how she intended to get back to her
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house that night do we have any signs of her wanting to run away no but as said we we have some speculation from the get
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that states that they thought that was a possibility that not maybe that she was
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running away so much to say but that she would stay out for the night or stay out
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for a couple of nights that she was out hanging out with people or running around with friends the thing we need to
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keep in mind though regarding these Witnesses saying that we think we saw Tina hanging out with a a man a young
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Caucasian man uh in his 20s or 30s or and or a young Caucasian woman either late teens or in her 20s
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you have to factor in the fact that we don't even know that it was in fact Tina that they saw with either of these
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people right what these Witnesses are saying or claiming is that someone matching the description of Tina or
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someone we think might be Tina these are not people saying that they knew this girl
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these are people saying somebody matching this girl's description the missing girl's description I believe I
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saw them with this man or with this woman or both and the Creston police chief stated that neither of these
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people are suspects at this time these are simply just people that we would like to talk to
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[Music] foreign [Music] [Music] all right we're back cheers mates cheers to you Captain cheers to the
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people in the back later that same week a similar lead was discussed with the media to be clear here we should State
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something that is not the most common thing in a homicide investigation but in this case once Tina's remains are
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discovered and of course this was very quickly ruled a homicide we now at this point in our timeline have at least
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three agencies working the case we have Wayne and Stark counties plus of course the Creston Police Department
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now they are saying we are trying to locate a male truck driver and a woman in connection with the murder of 12 year
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old Tina Harmon this is quite a step up from their earlier request that we would
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we have this young man and this young woman that might have been seen with Tina these are not suspects these are
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people that we would just like to talk to now they're saying we're looking we're actively looking for a male truck
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driver and a woman that are in connection with the murder of twelve-year-old Tina Harmon doesn't mean
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they're the murderers but this is information and people that law enforcement three different agencies
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desperately want to talk to at this point and at this time they're going to be able to offer up a little more detail
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stating Tina was reportedly seen with a man at the truck stop at Interstate 71 and Interstate 76 in Medina County this
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would be on the Thursday that she first went missing but several hours after the
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6 30 p.m last sighting by her friends and or family the statement from detectives goes on to
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say that Tina was also seen in the presence of a woman that same night and possibly possibly
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again on Monday night yes the Monday night before her body was found that Tuesday morning right and that puts it
00:29:34
in the timeline or the time frame that police have for her death for her to possibly still be alive Monday night
00:29:41
Friday Saturday Sunday no eyewitnesses seeing Tina right well I think this is the part to me that just doesn't add up
00:29:48
because they're saying possibly had seen in the presence of this woman on Monday night
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Monday night before her body's found Tuesday morning at 9 00 a.m the coroner is saying that she was killed 24 to 36
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hours before her body was found so right Tina's not unfortunately not alive and well Monday night to be hanging out or
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be seen with anybody so now you have to start to wonder that takes away from The credibility of
00:30:21
the sighting not that the person is lying or making anything up that the witness that says they saw this right
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it's just that they may think that they saw Tina with some woman we know that that cannot be at least for that Monday
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night the Thursday possibilities are still out there well I mean it's possible obviously if the autopsy is
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completely wrong but we have no evidence of this person not knowing what the hell
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they're doing right so I agree with you there but I also think it it makes you question The credibility of the
00:30:53
sightings after her friend saw her you know is it is it like you said before is it just somebody seeing a girl that fits
00:31:00
Tina's description or are they actually seeing Tina correct I think these are likely people that want to help
00:31:08
that are trying to help they just they they didn't see what they thought they saw right but and tons of missing person
00:31:16
cases yeah eyewitnesses that claim they they see individuals all over the country to be more clear
00:31:23
the missing person right we think we saw the missing person on the other side of
00:31:28
the country and unfortunately that missing individual turns up to have been killed and remained in the area the
00:31:36
entire time again it's just people who want to help now this is interesting the detectives
00:31:43
got some help from students over at Kent State University art students using descriptions from waitresses and other
00:31:54
people from the Union 76 Truck Stop put together sketches of both the man and the woman that police say they were
00:32:04
looking to talk with right by this time there is a small reward for information in the case
00:32:11
this was put together from several sources but one in particular some of the money came from Tina's Father James
00:32:19
Harmon's place of employment so very nice not only do they understand or try to help him
00:32:26
through what he's going through but they're also trying to help find Justice for this little girl
00:32:32
then three months later and this is with no notice to the media whatsoever no notice to the media about
00:32:43
detectives closing in on a suspect they were able to finally make an arrest in fact they made two arrests one man was
00:32:53
arrested here in Ohio and a second man was arrested in West Virginia Mountain Mama this is 19 year old Ernest Holbrook
00:33:01
Jr he was the one arrested here in Ohio he was charged in court with the rape and murder of Tina Marie Harmon on
00:33:10
February 12 1982. the public learned of this arrest the following day meanwhile on the same day as hallbrook's
00:33:21
Arrest 26 year old Herman Ray Rucker was arrested in West Virginia almost simultaneously after Rucker was
00:33:30
extradited back to Ohio he too was charged in Tina's rape and murder he was charged on February 16 1982.
00:33:41
okay so this arrest comes about because of a tip and this is when people detectives were
00:33:51
talking with some people that led police to two suspects now some of this information is a little vague so I
00:33:59
apologize but we can only report the information that's out there well I mean we could make up stuff if we wanted to
00:34:06
you want to fill in the blanks okay that that's our other show fictitious crime garage apparently there was a broadcast
00:34:15
on local Northeast Ohio television and during a segment regarding runaways and missing teens Tina's picture was shown
00:34:26
during this segment and some brief information was given about her and about the case so after seeing this on
00:34:35
TV two female Witnesses came forward stating that they had seen the girl the murdered girl this was from something
00:34:45
they said they witnessed around the time that the teen went missing before her body was found the two said that they
00:34:53
saw Tina Marie Harmon jump from a vehicle or a parked car and two men grabbed her and returned her to the
00:35:02
vehicle it was the description of the vehicle according to the Beacon Journal that says LED investigators to the
00:35:12
suspects so let's break this down quickly before we move on here right these two witnesses
00:35:19
again they're just trying to help but it's not until three months later that they see and this is if we're going
00:35:28
off of what the newspapers say roughly three months later they see this segment on TV Tina's picture is shown and now
00:35:36
they're going thought bubble oh the girl that we saw back when she was missing that was Tina Marie who jumped from a
00:35:44
vehicle right and these two guys grabbed her up and put put her back in the vehicle I find this
00:35:51
one I think they're trying to help I think these are probably good people do you feel as weird about this tip as I do
00:35:57
yeah it's very strange um but sometimes you see something you pass off as maybe being innocent and
00:36:05
then later you see something and go oh maybe that's would make sense of what we saw that night yeah I I follow that and
00:36:13
I'm with you there the thing that I think is a little bizarre is Tina's picture when her body was found
00:36:21
three months before was all over the place right it was all I I just it seems weird that they would have connected
00:36:28
these dots this much time later rather than at the time when her body was found yeah I agree and the case is still
00:36:37
for a lack of better words hot and fresh yeah I'm sure you could have found some
00:36:42
better words well what we end up with is the following there was no real physical evidence
00:36:49
linking either of these men to the murder and both Men passed a polygraph test according to
00:36:57
the law enforcement agency's working the case but the detectives decided we're going
00:37:03
to push on anyway this is because they had two witnesses that both implicated both Holbrook and Rucker detectives were
00:37:11
convinced that Holbrook and Rucker were the perpetrators Because holbrook's cousin Curtis Maynard and his
00:37:18
acquaintance Susan Sigler Dirk Diggler claimed that Hermann Ray Rucker confessed to killing
00:37:26
confess The Killing to the two of them okay so let's break this down police are not saying we have two witnesses you
00:37:34
know the two female witnesses that say they saw Tina run from a vehicle two guys grab her up put her back in the
00:37:41
vehicle right we know that those two witnesses are not saying that Rucker and Holbrook did this they're
00:37:49
simply saying we saw a girl jump out of a car two guys grab her put her back in the car this is what the
00:37:57
guys look like this is what their vehicle looked like that's as far as those witnesses can provide to
00:38:02
Detectives and I think why we have detectives push on here even though they had no physical
00:38:08
evidence and these guys passed the poly is because we now have two witnesses that come forward and name these guys by
00:38:16
name preach on this is we should be clear here though too captain detectives are receiving this
00:38:23
information before they make the arrest right they speak with this Susan Sigler before they make the arrest she names
00:38:33
these guys I'm guessing that possibly the tip because the Akron Beacon Journal reported that it was the description of
00:38:40
the vehicle that led detectives to the suspects right but we have law enforcement also looking for a female
00:38:47
suspect right at first it's just a female a male that might have talked to Tina later it's to a male and a female
00:38:57
that we think are connected to her murder that starts making me question is this individual just
00:39:04
passing the buck off onto somebody else that she knows right I'm with you there I'm with you there it's it's a bizarre
00:39:11
lead to start with but then what we have here is Susan Zigler claimed that Herman
00:39:17
Ray Rucker confessed The Killing to both her in this Curtis Maynard yeah I almost feel like it's there's some
00:39:26
possibility of all four of them being connected so we have eyewitnesses that place Tina or a girl that looks like
00:39:34
Tina at the truck stop with a male and female individuals those are the ones that ruse her into the car because it's
00:39:41
easier to lose her because we have a female present they take her to a location and now there's four
00:39:47
individuals three three men and one woman eventually they they move the girl maybe that's when she jumps out that's
00:39:55
when the these eyewitnesses see see her with two men they grab her take her back
00:40:00
in the truck and then eventually dispose of the body right and what we're going to learn about as we continue on here
00:40:07
Captain is we will get some better detailed information regarding these claims by Susan Sigler and Curtis
00:40:15
Maynard once we get to trial right so the trial was set to start May 28 1982 and Wooster Ohio rooster Holbrook and
00:40:27
Rucker are facing similar charges and were to be tried jointly now you know Captain I'm not a big fan of the joint
00:40:36
trial I actually don't even understand why they do it but they're facing similar charges it saves
00:40:42
money on prosecution all related to the same crimes so let's move forward there to be tried jointly this was until
00:40:51
holbrook's attorney was forced to have emergency surgery so they decide Rucker's trial would continue and Hall
00:41:00
Brooks would be rescheduled for a later date what was the surgery um I I don't I don't know hopefully they
00:41:08
were chopping off his testicles why why would we hope for that I'm just saying that one can hope one can have dreams
00:41:15
don't crush my dreams so you you would like for holbrook's attorney to have his testicles removed oh [ __ ] I thought you
00:41:24
meant Holbrook not his attorney right and let's keep in mind both these guys are innocent until proven guilty as well
00:41:31
well I'm sorry so Rutgers trial will continue and holbrooks will have to be scheduled for later again it's his
00:41:37
attorney who's having emergency surgery Rucker pled not guilty to all of the charges the charges were two counts of
00:41:45
aggravated murder with death penalty specifications and one count each of kidnapping and rape in the opening
00:41:53
statements the prosecutor told the jury of nine men and three women that the state has evidence showing that Tina was
00:42:01
12 years old who was just 12 years old she was kidnapped and raped that Witnesses saw Rucker subdue Tina when
00:42:09
she tried to flee from them while in the vehicle right he said that the prosecution has a witness who will
00:42:16
testify that Rucker and Holbrook visited a friend to get money because they were
00:42:22
in trouble they quote were in trouble the prosecutor told the jury that Herman Rucker was the primary offender and we
00:42:30
will show that Rucker did this purposely this was a prior calculated act do we know how much money they got from this
00:42:39
friend no that's that is something that I question if that was reported I couldn't find the actual court documents
00:42:49
right so most of what I have to go off of is from the reporters that are reporting what they're witnessing in
00:42:59
court back to the the media and in the papers right this is prosecutor Altier continued on saying quote that is the
00:43:07
the evidence that we will present you will hear a tragedy you have Rucker in the courtroom you have seen Mr Holbrook
00:43:16
in the courtroom the person you will not see is Tina Marie Harmon she is dead all
00:43:23
right well captain that is one side of the story the side is that they threw me off the jury because he would have said
00:43:31
that I would have said no duh and then they would have thrown me off to the church the other side is that neither
00:43:36
Rucker or Holbrook had anything to do with the abduction or murder of Tina Harmon as said both Men passed a
00:43:45
polygraph examination and both had an alibi for their whereabouts for the window of time when the murder is
00:43:52
believed to have been committed Rucker was 26 at the time of this trial one of the key Witnesses for the State against
00:44:00
Rucker was 24 year old Susan Sigler Sigler and Rucker had some kind of relationship three years before this
00:44:11
trial Sigler lived in West Salem in Wayne County Ohio at the time of the trial and at the time when she said that
00:44:19
Rucker confessed to her that he beat a little girl and left her alongside of the road because she refused to have sex
00:44:27
with them she testified that this confession took place on the evening of October 30th this is one day after Tina
00:44:35
was last seen at 6 30 pm on the 29th right Sigler said Not only did he say he beat a little girl and left her on the
00:44:46
side of the road she claimed that he showed her a picture of the girl and also showed her a
00:44:52
heart-shaped pendant with necklace that he had taken from the victim what will look really bad for Rucker and Holbrook
00:45:00
is a second witness this is Curtis Maynard backed up Susan sigler's testimony this is a guy that's dating
00:45:09
her they are listed as acquaintances okay so he's going to back up Susan's testimony adding not only did all of
00:45:18
what Susan say take place right but Rucker and Holbrook asked him for some money because they
00:45:26
were in trouble and needed to get out of town he goes on to say that the two guys
00:45:31
took him to see Tina's body and they told him if he told anyone they were going to kill him oh that seems
00:45:39
pretty damning right yes took this guy to see the body so not not only did they show a picture and tell a story to the
00:45:48
female they took the male to see the body and then of course we have the two witnesses that say they saw a vehicle
00:45:54
with two men and a young girl and the girl appeared to be struggling for Freedom yeah both of the witnesses
00:46:00
picked Rucker and Holbrook out of a police photo lineup four separate Witnesses four very damning testimonies all
00:46:11
implicating these two men for this murder no physical evidence no physical evidence was presented at either trial
00:46:19
in fact later the prosecution went on record stating that they had zero physical evidence against either
00:46:27
individual not only it's not like we forgot to present it we we didn't have it to present yeah so they never found
00:46:35
the rope that should have been strangled with no and and as far as the autopsy goes we
00:46:41
believe that she was only sexually assaulted once that's that's difficult to determine again that would be
00:46:48
considered physical evidence against these guys none of that they didn't present that at either trial so
00:46:55
so if they do have that type of evidence which I don't believe that they did that
00:47:01
would tell me that it goes against their case against their Theory you don't present evidence at the trial that that
00:47:07
makes it look like somebody other than you're trying to prosecute did this so what we have here Captain is two
00:47:13
separate trials one a jury trial and Hall Brook's trial was in front of a three-judge panel both men
00:47:22
were tried separately both men were found to be guilty for the crimes they were charged Rucker was the primary
00:47:29
offender according to the state of Ohio and Holbrook aided an abetted Rucker in the brutal murder of a child now neither
00:47:38
man received the death penalty both were to be sentenced to life in prison right
00:47:44
and usually there's some underlining details in the sentencing when one especially when someone gets life in
00:47:52
prison I couldn't find out the details for Holbrook because keep in mind he's being charged with a lesser crime but
00:48:00
Rucker got life in prison with the possibility of parole after 20 years so Holbrook either received the same
00:48:07
sentence or a lesser sentence I mean these guys look like goat turds right but on top of that the crime is so
00:48:15
heinous that's why I think you get convictions like this there's no physical evidence really you should have
00:48:21
to go okay well we think these are the guys and we have some eyewitnesses that maybe place them at the scene I think
00:48:28
that most damning piece of evidence is when you have eyewitness saying that these two men took me to see the dead
00:48:35
body correct I think that's the most damning piece of evidence you throw everything else out the window with that
00:48:42
you still get a conviction on top of that because they look like goat turds and because it's such a heinous crime
00:48:49
that's how you get the conviction well and I'm guessing that you're saying looks like goat turds based off of the
00:48:56
the witnesses coming forward with these stories presented against them no I'm saying that their appearance looks a
00:49:03
little goat turdish and I just think they look a little disheveled and if you see their pictures in the courtroom or
00:49:11
their mug shots they they kind of look like go turds well I get what you're saying it's just I mean
00:49:19
they they just look like two guys from small town America to me and the witnesses to be honest with you
00:49:26
they look like people from the same neighborhoods so they look like goat turds as well well
00:49:32
you said it you said it Captain's words in 1982 in two separate trials we have Herman Rucker and Ernest Holbrook both
00:49:44
young men found guilty of homicide abduction and rape of a little girl both sentenced to life in prison
00:49:54
[Music] [Music] so much more to get to join us here again in the garage tomorrow and until
00:50:13
then be good be kind and don't let it [Music] thank you