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checkout Mac Weldon comm today support for today's show comes from white boy Rick based on the unbelievable
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later however he became a drug dealer himself and he was eventually abandoned by his handlers and sentenced to life in
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[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 the master of ceremonies and all of the reindeer games
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I give you the captain I don't give a shite what Santa Claus says second place will still be called first losers this
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quench your thirst and please your palate all in one glass and today's beer was brought to us by these pleasing
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peeps first up we have Sam and Frasier in London England and a big shout to Lindsay and Fort Wright Kentucky next up
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murder land that was my nickname in high school captain Boykin Hagen all right well big
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salute to you captain Boykin Hagen and a big salute to everybody near and far they contributed to this week's beer
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fund if you want to help out for next week go to true crime garage comm and click on the donate button and we're a
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little behind so hold your horses and that's enough of the business all right everybody gather round grab a chair grab
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a beer let's talk some true crime [Music] [Music] June 1st 1985 3:10 a.m. I love y'all
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last will and testament I love you mommy daddy Robert dawn and Richard and everyone else and all the other friends
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and relatives I'll be with my father now so please please don't worry just remember my witty personality and great
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special times we all share together please don't ever let this ruin your lives just keep living one day at a time
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for Jesus some good will come out of this my thoughts will always be with and in you casket closed I love you all so
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damn much sorry dad I had to cuss for once Jesus forgive me Richard sweetie I really did and always
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will love you and treasure our special moments I ask one thing though accept Jesus as your personal Savior my family
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has been the greatest influence on my life sorry about the cruise money someday please go in my place I am sorry
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if I ever disappointed you in any way I only wanted to make you proud of me because I have always been proud of my
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family mom dad Robert and Dawn there's so much I want to say that I should have said before now I love you I know you
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all love me and will miss me very much but if you all stick together like we always did
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you all can do it please do not become hard or upset everything works out for the good for those that love the Lord
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all of my love always I love you all with all my heart Sharon Shari Smith PS Nana I love you so
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much I kind of always felt like your favorite you were mine I love you a lot [Music]
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Friday May 31st 1985 at 338 p.m. Bob Smith discovered his daughter Sherry's car unattended with the driver's door
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open in the motor running at the end of the long driveway leading to the family's home he called out her name
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several times and got no response he checked the vehicle and found Sherry's purse on the seat but where was his
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daughter Sherry's father started searching for her when his efforts failed mr. Smith
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contacted the police this is just two days before 17 year-old sherry Faye Smith was scheduled to sing the national
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anthem at her high school graduation so while most of her friends and classmates
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were packing for their high school graduation trip sherry was abducted from the driveway of her Lexington County
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South Carolina home what followed was the largest search in South Carolina history the investigation was bleak they
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had no witnesses and no leads sherry is what law enforcement would consider to be an extremely low risk victim
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therefore it was important to clear the family as fast as possible and move on to other possibilities police very
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quickly ruled out any involvement by the immediate family or any of the members of the immediate family they're hoping
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for a ransom demand so police put a trace on the Smith's home phone the next day the Smiths received a phone call on
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the line a strangely distorted voice of a man who claims he has sherry captive he tells Shari's mother hilda who
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answered the phone so you'll know this is not a hoax sherry had on a black and yellow bathing suit beneath
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her shirt and shorts then the caller says you'll get a letter from sherry later state officials intercepted her letter
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this was entitled last will and testament from the mail the letter we read during the trailer was that exact
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letter apparently her abductor had sherry drafted shortly before her death this was a two-page handwritten letter and
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while it clearly displayed an amazing amount of strength and courage on Sherry's behalf after reading the letter
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no one was optimistic the papers were sent for fingerprint analysis local law enforcement was all over this one the
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FBI was very quickly sent in and the FBI feared the worst their theory is that the abductor most likely killed sherry
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by the time that they arrived to assist in the case and the killer would now be ready to search for another victim they
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believe the kidnapper saw sherry and her boyfriend Richard kissing at the local shopping mall and from there he followed
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her home she stopped at the mailbox and that's where he snatched her seems like a lot of creeps are hanging out at
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the local malls so that was their working theory and after this first call was received they decided to set up
00:10:00
recording equipment at the Smith home because now they're anticipating another phone call on June 3rd they received a
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call asking if they had received the letter and the caller asked do you believe me now
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- which Hilda this is Sherry's mother replied no I have not heard from sherry and I need to know if she is alive and
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well so basically if I'm following you correctly this dirtbag calls the family and he says I have her mm-hmm and then
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he says you're gonna receive a letter right but the letter is the last will and testament so it's almost implying
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that she's dead and then he calls him back and says do you believe me now right right he wants to know if they've
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received the letter they as said it was intercepted by law enforcement and this is actually a really good move by
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Shari's mother Hilda to not kind of cower to this distorted voice on the other end of the phone
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yeah she's saying look I've not heard from my daughter I need to know if she's alive and well I don't believe anything
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you're saying you say you have her captive we'll let me talk to my daughter right and so in a sense she's kind of
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calling his bluff right or hoping so yeah and he says that when she asked him I need to know if Sheree's alive and
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well he then responds that you will know in two or three days and he hangs up the
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phone now later that same day he did call again this time saying sherry was alive and he would release her soon and
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that he wanted to tell her one thing that sherry is now a part of him physically mentally emotionally and
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spiritually he says our souls are now one Hilda asked again if her daughter was alive and well the man said sherry
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is protected and she is a part of me now and God looks after all of us ok so this
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guy's uh why I could do weird oh well these are not clear and simple answers to very clear and simple questions from
00:12:08
hilda and the other thing - captain using those words Sherry's now a part of me physically mentally emotionally and
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spiritually our souls are now one I can't feel like anybody's got any good feelings in the Smith home hearing that
00:12:25
that sounds very bleak sounds very bad I mean it sounds so bad well on top of that you have you know her car is found
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on so the fact that this individual was able to just pull up behind her grab her
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take her captive and now this has come back it's gonna bring the Lord Jesus Christ and our Savior and to this so
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because of the first call that was received they were anticipating these two phone calls and attempting to trace
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the location of these two phone calls now they did they did have some luck with that they were able to determine
00:13:04
that these two phone calls did from the general area you know they were they were local let's say right but
00:13:11
there are some issues there were some issues with the phone trace according to the FBI in 1985 it took about 15 minutes
00:13:19
to get a pinpoint location of the exact phone from which the calls were placed even with the strength and courage shown
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by Hilda Smith the caller never stayed on the phone for that length of time now the man called again this time it was
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four days after the abduction and this time Sherry's 21 year old sister Dawn answered the phone the man gave her
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details about the kidnapping saying he stopped his car when he saw her at the mailbox he said he took a few photos of
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her then approached her acting friendly and when he got close enough he forced her into his vehicle at gunpoint
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he told dawn he was regretful that the whole thing got way out of hand he then went on to tell her that at 3:10 a.m.
00:14:05
Saturday the first of June Cheri wrote the letter you received and then at 4:58 Saturday the first of June we became one
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soul he said don't worry goes with the weird talk again right and he says don't ask me any questions
00:14:21
he told dawn Shari would be returned the following evening and that they should have an ambulance on standby
00:14:28
Anning you'll receive instructions on where to find us well this makes you wonder because you take somebody like
00:14:34
Dahmer for example and he would talk about possessing his victim by eating his victim and that they would become a
00:14:41
part of him by doing so so that's where my head goes with these comments my head
00:14:47
actually goes in two directions one what you just said there talent one right there is is the possessing you know we
00:14:55
even here the Zodiac wrote in his letters that they will become slaves my slaves in the afterlife
00:15:00
yeah but the weird thing that I find here is a bit of the opposite that we've seen with like when we talked about
00:15:07
Kemper we talked about BTK where both of them said you know after I killed somebody I just immediately went into
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pure paranoia where I felt the whole world knew what I just did right and at any second there
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going to come and get me you know they're gonna come and apprehend me and here you know we have the FBI
00:15:27
who's stating well we believed by receiving this letter that she was probably already dead before we arrived
00:15:34
on the scene to help and this dudes probably out looking for another victim he might be but he's also busy spending
00:15:42
his time communicating with the family I wonder what happened to give them that impression that he already killed her
00:15:49
I think the letter you know the letters weird enough that it might steer you in that direction that's the same way that
00:15:55
it steered us to the possession possessing the victim okay they have become one all of that kooky talk right
00:16:02
what could do but here's one thing I do want to point out and I read a lot of books by retired FBI agent on Bob rag
00:16:11
what what what kind of Braga's head didn't did I can read a lot of books now that just means Isis nothing else to do
00:16:20
this is after did you start reading a lot after you studied computer well the thing that I want to point out here that
00:16:27
I see time and time again by these retired FBI agents and don't get me wrong I enjoy them very much that's why
00:16:36
I purchased their books so I can read them however they're always kind of the smartest guy in the room and I wonder a
00:16:43
lot of times like after the fact they're telling these stories twenty thirty years later and they're like yeah we
00:16:49
knew already that this is what was going on and it's you kind of I questioned it
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sometimes you couldn't have been right every single time you know what I mean it just doesn't work out that way maybe
00:17:01
this is why you identify with the books right remember he's now telling them that they will receive instructions on
00:17:08
where to find us that more of the kooky talk and letting them know that hey I'm going to let sherry go she will be
00:17:14
returned the following evening make sure you have an ambulance on standby so to me I go in a different route thinking
00:17:21
why so much communication going on if you haven't kept her alive the paranoia though
00:17:27
at noon the next day the man called again and said follow these instructions listen carefully he said take Highway
00:17:35
378 west to traffic circle take prosperity exit and go one and a half miles turn right at the Moose Lodge sign
00:17:44
go 1/4 mile and then turn left at the white building go to the back yard there we will be waiting God chose us and then
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he hung up the phone yeah this God speak is just creepy well it's South Carolina and it's I I
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think you know it's part of that but no I don't mind God talked I don't mind that at all
00:18:09
you know I'm a spiritual person what I do mind is when you kidnap a person possibly have already murdered or you
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made her write her last will and testament and now you're saying that you have became one and then you keep
00:18:23
bringing God into this so that's uh don't like that much well in given all these instructions pretty detailed
00:18:31
instructions it's good for law enforcement that this call like the others was recorded so the Sheriff's
00:18:37
Department followed the directions and this led them to the body of Sheri Faye Smith the decomposition of the body
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suggested that she had been dead for some time likely since 458 On June 1st like was noted in the letter right they
00:18:55
were pretty sure of this so she was clothed and they could tell she was once bound with duct tape but
00:19:02
the the tape had been removed so we have the residue left over from the duct tape
00:19:07
and they believe that Sheree's body was likely in this location since shortly after her death unfortunately by the
00:19:14
time Sherry's body was located due to the advanced decomp the pathologist could not ascertain either the cause of
00:19:22
death or whether or not she had been sexually assaulted the pathologist believed however that Sheri either
00:19:29
suffocated or died from dehydration this resulting from a rare form of diabetes from which Sharri suffered evidence
00:19:38
suggested she was killed elsewhere investigators believed her killer placed her there and returned to visit with the
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corpse and it was only until the body was too far decomposed for his liking or decomposed enough to hide / destroy
00:19:54
evidence that he told the family where to find her and strange for me with the FBI involve you'd think that they would
00:20:01
be able to determine the cause of death well using the information that they had
00:20:05
the FBI unit put together a profile of the offender they believed that the offender was in his late 20s to early
00:20:13
30s probably divorced living alone or with his parents white he has yeah that they actually will update this profile
00:20:24
later and they didn't include white as part of the first profile but probably divorced living alone or with his
00:20:33
parents he has some kind of criminal record this would include assaults on women or at least obscene phone calls if
00:20:39
he has previously murdered anyone the victims would be children or young girls they believed when he was on the phone
00:20:48
with Sherry's family he was reading from a script' they believed the killer was rigid orderly and obsessively neat he
00:20:56
would take notes obsessively and keep many lists did this anything about possible military background they did
00:21:03
not but usually they will include that if they believe that he does have some type of military background the reason
00:21:09
why I bring that up is because the neat and orderly possibly wants to create lists yeah good think that would be
00:21:14
somebody that you know had some regiment scheduled at some point in their existence they believed that he owned a
00:21:20
vehicle likely three years old or newer and the vehicle is clean well maintained
00:21:26
and cared for outwardly he is arrogant and displays contempt for the world but on the inside he is insecure in harbor
00:21:33
strong feelings of inadequacy it possibly goes around telling people he reads a lot of books yes and then and
00:21:39
then doesn't speak too highly of the author they said that the man is local having lived in the area for most of his
00:21:48
life he had access to a secluded area where he knew he would have time to spend with sherry
00:21:54
her body they figured that the reason that the callers voice sounded distorted is because he was using some type of
00:22:01
device to achieve this they determined the caller was using something called a variable speed device they were now in
00:22:09
the process of tracking down manufacturers of these types of devices and retailers this suggested that the
00:22:16
suspect had a background in electronics so it's it's always interesting to me captain how they come up with this some
00:22:23
of it more detailed than other profiles that we've reviewed in the past the stuff about the books is fascinating
00:22:30
right know what gets me is when they say we believe that he has a car that's three years old or newer like that's so
00:22:39
random that man and it's like you don't know do they have any eyewitnesses that would make them lean that way or or is
00:22:48
this just kind of a random gas according to the information I could find there was no eyewitnesses right that's that's
00:22:58
why it's so random to me we believe that he has a newer three-year-old car or newer that's so pinpoint I think they
00:23:06
come up with this for a couple of reasons one I think they're working off of the
00:23:12
idea that this guy is driving a lot that he's spending a lot of time driving and
00:23:17
they may also believe him to be careful if they believe him to be careful in driving all the time they're probably
00:23:24
going off of the thought that he would prefer to drive a newer vehicle something that's well maintained and
00:23:30
well cared for because it'd be too risky to spend all that time driving and he wouldn't do that because he's careful or
00:23:37
possibly the idea that this guy was married divorced so he possibly has a career is living with somebody or living
00:23:44
with his parents so therefore he has the money where he would have a nicer vehicle because that would be his only
00:23:50
opportunity to maybe impress a female also it's interesting that you picked up on that because with having a background
00:23:57
in electronics they're almost suggesting that they believe this individual has a job and
00:24:04
like you said if they believe he's living with his parents he has more money than
00:24:08
not living with their parents but the obvious thing here is usually when they base off of the situation is this
00:24:17
individual local or not and that seems to be pretty quick to come to that assumption and I think here really
00:24:24
exemplifies that to perfection you know we have a situation where he gives very detailed directions to find her body and
00:24:33
I have to believe that law enforcement is working off of the thought that that's not just a place that this guy
00:24:39
stumbled upon that this is an area that he knew and knew well and therefore he's
00:24:44
a local guy he didn't just drive in and happen to see her at the mailbox and take her away support for today's show
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code garage make sure you check our show off the record on stitcher premium this
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week it's Q&A part 1 the easiest way to find off the record is to go to our website and click on the off the record
00:29:07
link the day after they found the body of sherry Smith the killer called the home again and this time he called
00:29:15
collect he asked to speak with dawn he told her he would be sending the family the photos of sherry and he asked her
00:29:24
for forgiveness and for their prayers he said he was going to commit suicide because this thing got out of hand and
00:29:32
all he wanted to do in the beginning was to make love to dawn and that is why he
00:29:37
was watching her dawn startled by this interrupted the man and asked the man make love to whom
00:29:44
then he corrected himself and he said the name sherry and he hung up the phone later that same day the killer called a
00:29:52
local TV network and asked for a specific reporter and told that reporter he planned to turn himself in at some
00:29:59
point and he would give the reporter an exclusive interview yeah this guy's changing his stories I'm gonna kill
00:30:05
myself I'm gonna turn myself in it should just kill himself yeah you wonder if it's just does he
00:30:11
need to get forgiveness from the family for some reason or is this attention seeking it seems like a lot of work and
00:30:19
a lot of effort risky behavior for some attention yeah but he's a complete wackadoo hmm and the FBI didn't believe
00:30:31
or they say they didn't believe the man would turn himself in or kill himself at
00:30:35
any point they believe that the calls were in fact seeking forgiveness from Sherry's family but also to manipulate
00:30:43
and control the situation as much as he possibly could and that this guy would eventually kill
00:30:49
again yeah well this guy's a giant piece of [ __ ] whoa what would have been nice
00:30:54
though is if you would have put himself in a brown paper bag and then wring somebody's doorbell and lit himself on
00:31:00
fire okay so I do want to touch on this though because we do know from this last
00:31:05
phone call that he says that in the beginning all he wanted to do is make love to dawn Dawn's 21 years old
00:31:12
sherry Smith is 17 and they actually you can find there's quite a bit of photos and images of both of them on the
00:31:22
internet and you can see that the two of them look very much alike okay so this is when he makes this slip when he says
00:31:32
dawn instead of sherry when he's on the phone with dawn I was really curious why
00:31:37
the FBI didn't update their profile because remember they said at one point that if he had killed before his victims
00:31:45
would have been children or young girls right okay well sherry yes she's 17 and that's
00:31:52
more closer to being an adult but dawn is absolutely an adult so you almost wonder if now at this point if you're
00:31:59
going to say if he is killed before is there a chance that dawn was actually the intended victim you know because he
00:32:06
he's not gonna see her or see a girl that he perceives to be dawn at the mailbox and walk up and ask her if
00:32:12
that's are you dawn you know right but he did take some pictures before so then you wonder throwing it out there
00:32:19
maybe this individuals supposed to wear glasses but doesn't and so is it is it that simple of a mistake and then when
00:32:28
he gets closer it's the wrong girl but it's too late at that point I think it's I think it's very much like that I think
00:32:34
it's he the intended victim was dawn he hoped to abduct her and do whatever he did was sherry with her but I think at
00:32:44
some point he would accept the substitution or like you said I mean I think it's kind of too late look he
00:32:53
probably opened up that door for the person and and at that point it's too late and his mind well the man called
00:33:01
dawn Smith again this time he told dawn that he gave sherry a choice of how she would be
00:33:07
killed and the choices were overdose shooting or suffocation and sherry chose suffocation
00:33:14
he told dawn he killed sherry by placing duct tape over her mouth and nose until
00:33:18
she died two weeks after the abduction of sherry nine year-old Debra may Helmick
00:33:25
was playing with her three-year-old brother at their home in Richland County when she was abducted from the front
00:33:32
yard of the family's home a neighbor saw a vehicle pull up and a man get out of the car the man spoke with Debra then
00:33:40
grabbed her through the screaming girl into his car and drove off now the neighbor immediately alerted
00:33:47
Debra's father who was inside their home they called police and after the two of
00:33:53
them jumped into a vehicle and they went speeding after the abductors car but were unable to track down the vehicle
00:34:00
well this sounds similar so is the FBI immediately thinking this is our guy and Sherry's case yeah yeah they believe the
00:34:09
offender is one in the same and with the addition of the second victim especially
00:34:13
a younger victim the FBI didn't really change their profile but they did add to the profile they added that the killer
00:34:22
and abductor is a white man outwardly shy maybe overweight but it the very least is not attractive to women so
00:34:32
there's no bradley cooper those closely and may notice one or more of the following the offender is experiencing
00:34:38
weight loss drinking heavily not shaving regularly and he would be eager to talk
00:34:45
about the crimes as he is following the investigation coverage on the evening news or in the papers he's also a
00:34:54
collector of pornography that likely focused on bondage and or is of sadomasochistic nature so not good
00:35:02
old-fashioned Christian porn and because of the young age of the second abducted
00:35:07
victim Deborah only being nine years old they believe the offender would be too ashamed to call or correspond with
00:35:14
Deborah's family well this turned out to be true no phone calls and no letters the killer also
00:35:21
stopped calling the Smith house the FBI believed that the phone calls would be the easiest way to trap the killer yeah
00:35:29
I believe it would be as well and since he's not calling or writing it's almost like they would want to put out a taunt
00:35:35
to him like you know he re-contacted news reporters before have that same news reporter do a report on how this
00:35:43
guy has become weak and vulnerable because he hasn't reached out to the FBI so knowing that the unknown subject was
00:35:51
following the case in the news and in the papers the FBI decided to enlist the help of a reporter of a single reporter
00:35:58
say they wanted to force this man out into the open or at the very least get him to call the Smith's home once again
00:36:06
they wanted to use Don Smith as bait for their trap now the Smiths begrudgingly went along with this so they held a
00:36:16
memorial service for Sherri Faye Smith they wanted the Smith family and Dawn present at this memorial service and
00:36:24
during the ceremony they had reporters snapped photos of dawn holding a stuffed animal belonging to Sherri and flowers
00:36:32
for her memorial meanwhile undercover agents wrote down license-plate numbers for all the vehicles that were present
00:36:39
in the area now this didn't seem to flush out the killer out into the open but he did once again call the Smith
00:36:47
home this time calling long distance and collect you have a collect call from a giant piece of shot well that's
00:36:54
interesting that you say that captain because okay so in these collect calls you would if you were calling someone
00:37:00
collect you would be given a brief set a time there where you could announce who
00:37:05
you are so it would say you have a collect call from so-and-so and then the person receiving the call who would be
00:37:11
paying for it can decide if they're going to accept the call except the charges or not so during this portion
00:37:17
where the caller can announce their name and who they are it's a man's voice but
00:37:23
he says that his name is Sherri Faye Smith okay dawn does accept this call this time the man was
00:37:31
using the voice distortion device he told dawn that God wants her to join sherry Fay saying it's just a matter of
00:37:39
time this month next month this year next year you can't be protected forever then he asked Don if she had heard of
00:37:47
Debra may Helmick Don said she had to which he tells her listen carefully go one mile west turn left at Bill's grill
00:37:58
go three and a half miles through Gilbert turn right at the last dirt road before you come to two knotch Road go
00:38:07
through the no trespassing sign go fifty yards Deborah May is waiting God forgive
00:38:14
us all yeah I don't need this turd stain to be confessing for my sins the FBI is
00:38:19
now worried and regretting the ploy of using dawn as bait because of the received threat during all of this law
00:38:27
enforcement was still submitting the letter from Sherry titled the last will and testament to every possible test the
00:38:34
letter was drafted on yellow lined legal paper from a pad so they decided to use
00:38:40
an SD machine this device can detect even the slightest indentations on a piece of paper they wanted to see if
00:38:49
they could pull any possible information from indentations that were made from writing on pieces of paper above the
00:38:57
last will in the legal pad and they found some interesting leads they found a partial grocery list in a sequence of
00:39:05
numbers with further testing they could detect nine numbers of a possible ten digit sequence the numbers are in this
00:39:13
order to 0-5 837 one three blank eighth this was a phone number in Huntsville Alabama so working with the phone
00:39:26
company they checked all ten possible phone numbers for a connection to Lexington County South Carolina where
00:39:34
sherry and the Smith family lived one of the numbers in Huntsville received several calls from a residence just 15
00:39:42
miles from sherry Faye's home the home belonged to Ellis and Sharon Shepard law enforcement went to the home
00:39:50
and interviewed Ellis and Sharon the Shepards told police they had made phone calls to Huntsville where their son was
00:39:57
stationed in the Army but they were out of town when both of the murders were committed they explained a man who
00:40:04
worked for Ellis as an electrician Larry gene Bell was put in charge of house-sitting for the six weeks that
00:40:11
they were away Larry was in his early 30s divorced lived with his parents he was neat and orderly and when he picked
00:40:20
them up from the airport he spoke constantly about the unsolved murders that occurred while they were
00:40:26
away he had noticeably lost weight he was unshaven and he was irritable the sheriff asked mr. Shepherd to show him
00:40:34
the room where Larry stayed while watching the home under the bed they found mr. Shepherds handgun jammed in
00:40:41
pornographic magazines featuring bondage on the cover now regarding the sequence
00:40:46
of numbers the couple wrote down the telephone number for their son and gave it to Larry gene Bell before they left
00:40:53
for their vacation with instructions that if anything were to come up with the house to call their son the police
00:41:00
played a portion of the last call received by the Smiths this is the one where the killer did not use the voice
00:41:06
distortion device right and the Sheppard's confirmed it sounded just like Larry's voice armed with this
00:41:13
information they did some digging and they found that a vehicle registered to Bell was seen at the memorial service
00:41:21
for Sherri Faye the officer wrote down the plate number and noted that the driver did not exit the vehicle he
00:41:28
simply drove by the vehicle was less than three years old early the next morning police surrounded Larry's
00:41:36
parents home and arrested him as he was leaving their home to go off to work a quick background check revealed Bell was
00:41:44
twice arrested for attempted assaults on women on both of these occasions he attempted to force a young woman into
00:41:51
his car at knifepoint unsuccessfully under questioning Bell admitted to nothing inside Belle's parents home in his
00:41:59
bedroom police found hairs on the bed matching hairs from Sherri Faye Smith in Larry's desk
00:42:06
they found a sheet of stamps from which the stamp used to marry Sherry's last will and testament originated from the
00:42:13
neighbor that witnessed the abduction of Deborah may told police after the arrest
00:42:18
it was in fact Belle who he saw pulling the screaming child into his car that day under further questioning Bell still
00:42:27
admitted nothing so they played the tape of his voice from the phone calls for him and still Belle admitted nothing so
00:42:36
they brought in the FBI to further continue the questioning they took a different approach rather than to
00:42:42
continue to question him they explained to him that they had a lot of experience
00:42:47
in dealing with these types of crimes and that the perpetrator of these types of crimes never gets the opportunity to
00:42:53
explain themselves and their side of the story often the offenders too afraid and
00:42:59
ashamed to admit what they have done and once they are in court their attorney will not let them take the stand right
00:43:06
so this individual is then trapped in a nightmare that never goes away and he goes away to a lengthy prison sentence
00:43:14
and no one understands him no one knows what the hell he was going through at that time well I like their tactic here
00:43:22
but we could always employ my scary clowns where we dress up like clowns and we beat the guy to the inch of his life
00:43:29
to get him to start confessing well as they're explaining this to Larry they noticed that Larry Bell is nodding his
00:43:36
head up and down he's he's agreeing with what they have to say uh-huh and seeing
00:43:41
that he's responding they leaned in for the kill and asked him when did you start to feel sorry about the crime
00:43:47
Larry do they whisper this I don't know okay so wait I could be a powerful move you know come on Harry
00:43:55
tell us what you know we gotcha well they asked him when he started to feel sorry about this crime into which he
00:44:03
says it was when he saw a photograph of the Smith family right then they asked him if he could have
00:44:10
possibly done this sort of thing and Larry told them quote all I know is the Larry gene Bell sitting here could not
00:44:19
have done this but the bad Larry gene Bell could have so that is going to be the closest thing to a confession that
00:44:28
Larry gene Bell would ever give regarding both of these murders so we do have a confession or a loose confession
00:44:35
right implied confession we have some of Sherry's hairs found in his room on his
00:44:43
pillow in his bedroom okay and then we have eyewitness that saw him taking the nine-year-old girl way and that and and
00:44:51
then the car registered that yeah so him driving by the memorial is not really any evidence let's see you know it's
00:44:59
stacking pieces on the case right yeah but but there is a lot of evidence like you said you not only do you have the
00:45:06
hairs that match sherry face Smith's hair in his bedroom I mean how the hell is that going to get there - you have
00:45:13
the sheet from which the stamp came from that last will and testament was mailed
00:45:18
you also have all these little connecting factors to the letter itself you know the indentations that they
00:45:25
found using that SD machine and then you have the Sheppard's for which he is home
00:45:32
you know he's house-sitting for and they say yeah that's his voice all right right on that recording and this is the
00:45:39
killer that's calling and taunting the Smith family and that's not as good as picking them out of a lineup or anything
00:45:45
but that's that's something right and and to which I guess for the lineup purposes you have a bit of less evidence
00:45:53
regarding the abduction and murder of the little girl of Debra may Helmick yeah but you do have that eyewitness who
00:46:02
says okay you know I see this picture of Larry gene Bell on the news and he calls
00:46:08
up police and says that's the same guy that I saw take that little girl so we have all this evidence mounting up and
00:46:15
like you said this real loosey-goosey somewhat of a confession you know he doesn't say I didn't kill these
00:46:22
girls he says the bad Larry gene Bell could have done this would have been capable I guess of doing with the good
00:46:31
Larry you know he's serving his community and he's serving God sherry Faye Smith's older sister dawn she was
00:46:38
super brave and strong during the investigation into her sister's abduction and murder she went on to be
00:46:45
crowned Miss South Carolina in the following year she was the runner-up in the Miss America contest in February of
00:46:53
1986 Larry gene Bell was convicted of murdering and kidnapping Sherri Faye Smith the jury recommended the death
00:47:02
sentence and the trial judge imposed the sentence in accordance with the jury's findings in 1987 in a separate trial
00:47:10
Bell was convicted of murdering and kidnapping Debra may Helmick and again he was given a sentence of death for
00:47:19
nine years Larry gene Bell filed and played the appeals game trying to work the courts but on October 4th 1996 the
00:47:28
state of South Carolina in accordance with his sentences Larry gene Bell was strapped into the electric chair and
00:47:35
killed a large crowd cheered as the hearse carrying Belle's body left the Broad River Correctional Institution one
00:47:44
of his defense lawyers said quote we have executed a sick delusional psychotic man
00:47:54
[Music] it's beyond fascinating how correct their profile was in this case now mister I read a lot of books do we have
00:48:10
any recommended reading for this week we do and I'm happy to announce that it's not a book by a retired FBI agent so you
00:48:18
be good written on higher than a third grade level you know what though captain I
00:48:23
feel like I want to punch myself in the face for saying that the episode because
00:48:28
that's like my favorite reading you know you know how I how I feel right constantly just fighting the urge to
00:48:35
attack your co-host so this week recommending a book called handsome Johnny the life and death of Johnny
00:48:42
Roselli gentleman gangster Hollywood producer and CIA assassin so take a deep dive into the American underworld Johnny
00:48:52
Roselli and handsome Johnny this book I've been looking forward to this one you don't have to write down the title
00:48:58
right now though captain or anybody out there because you can go to our website true crime garage com click on the
00:49:04
recommended page we have books and recommendations there for you yeah and head out to the website click on the
00:49:11
store page because there's tons of shirts left we're running out of some of the shirts but they should if you order
00:49:17
now they'll be shipped in time for Christmas and real quick before we close out today captain
00:49:23
last week I got an email from Carly she said she was listening to my favorite murder and there's an episode I guess
00:49:31
where Georgia mentions true crime garage did a four part series on the boys on the tracks case so Carly excited you
00:49:40
know she listens to our show she went and she tried to find the boys on the tracks and she emailed me and said I
00:49:46
cannot find these episodes on your feed so I responded to her get the stitcher app because all of our old episodes are
00:49:53
on there and it's free you can listen to all of our huge giant catalogue that the
00:49:59
Georgia recommends so much on the stitcher app and join us tomorrow in the garage as we cover a
00:50:06
another case instead of just doing one part this week we decided to do two one partners that's right we will be right
00:50:14
back here in the garage tomorrow we expect to see you here until then be good be kind and don't litter
00:50:20
[Music] [Applause] [Music]