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SUMMER ROAD TRIP - Florida & Georgia
142 Plays3 years ago
The summer road trip continues! And this week we have two favorite vacation spots, along with a fun game at the end (remember no cheating)!
Georgia 1.59 - 33.45 Lisa is going to tell us the story of Meredith Emmerson and the National Forest Serial Killer - Gary Michael Hilton
Florida 33.35 - 55.14 Faith is going to take us all the way down to Key West for Derek David's story and how one man ruined multiple people's nights
GAME TIME! Pick the Florida Man 55.24 - 1.20.07 (photos go live 6/10/2022 for the game)
First time stamped, correct answers to any of the following will be contacted.
twistedtalestruecrime@gmail.com
Facebook: TwistedTales True Crime | Facebook
Instagram: TwistedTales - a True Crime Podcast (@twistedtales_pod) • Instagram photos and videos
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Transcript
Introduction and Host Updates
00:00:01
Speaker
And hello again for another episode of Twisted Tales. This is Faith. This is Lisa. And we are continuing our summer road trip. That was my excited girl. I'm a little bit more awake and I'm not pissed off the world this week from cleaning. So we'll see how long that lasts. Lisa hasn't talked that much tonight.
00:00:22
Speaker
Um, sorry. Anyway, are you ready to rock, paper, scissors, which I would
Rock, Paper, Scissors Debate
00:00:26
Speaker
like to say for the record. I sent her several talks that show it is rock, paper, scissors. Shoot. Not one, two, three. Like a child. I'm still going to count.
00:00:33
Speaker
That's what I do. I like to be different, okay? And I don't really give a crap what you or anybody else thinks. Also, shout out super fast to the people that started following us on the Instagram. You guys brought my face off. We've got lots of goodies this week to post. I'm trying to figure out how things work with sharing things on Facebook because faith gave me access.
00:00:57
Speaker
I've posted some stuff there, so go on and follow. I've posted some stuff of Isabella Guzman and all of her snarky little faces. I posted quite a few things on the candy cabins. Yep. So, you know, just go check it out. Leave us some comments, give us some feedback and rock, paper, scissors we go. All right. Ready?
00:01:16
Speaker
One, two, three, shoot. One, two, three, shoot. And Faith wins, so. Why do I suck so bad at that all of a sudden? Because you do this, you always start with scissors. Every time you start with scissors and then you go to paper next. I don't even have to say. Actually, on the way here, I was like, hey, maybe she's intelligent because I've told her the past two times.
00:01:38
Speaker
And she's going to switch it up and start with like. I've slept since then. OK, so I should do it different. But I was like, no, she's not going to do it. She's going to start with scissors again. And he did. So you are first with Jojo.
The Disappearance of Meredith Emerson
00:01:51
Speaker
First with Georgia.
00:01:54
Speaker
Alright guys, so this is more of going to be kind of like a story time kind of thing. Not a whole lot of feedback on past histories of whatever. I'm just going to tell you guys a little story and it's one that I guess I didn't pay attention to because in the early 2000s I was just out living my life. So I was not a true crime. That was before I came into your life. It's hard to soar. True. Very true. 2008 really.
00:02:22
Speaker
That's when I got married to your brother. I met you in 2004. Because next year will be 20 years, bro.
00:02:29
Speaker
I know, right? I have nothing better to do with my life in 20 years than watch SVU and Disney movies with you. Out musicals, don't forget the musicals. Oh, that is a good time. Singing in the rain. Singing in the rain, man. Mmm. Seven brides for seven brothers. All right, anyways. Continue. Yep. All right, so here we go. Meredith Emerson was a 24-year-old University of Georgia graduate. She was trained in martial arts and had this adorable little lab puppy named Ella.
00:02:58
Speaker
On the 1st of January in 2008, she took Ella, she took Ella for a hike out in Blood Mountain. Interesting name, right? Sounds foreboding. Well, no, I had to figure out why they would call something like that Blood Mountain. That was just weird. So apparently it was named after all of the battles that were fought there by Native Americans. So again, foreboding. A little bit, but I mean, everything has a history, right? Not that haunted.
00:03:28
Speaker
I mean, eh, well... So, uh, I guess it's located in Vogel State Park, so if you are from Georgia, and I'm wrong about that, my apologies, correct me. Um, not 100% sure, it doesn't matter, whatever. Anyways, Meredith hiked these trails many, many times before, and it was never an issue for her to go by herself. So, first of all, like, I know she was with her dog,
00:03:58
Speaker
I don't know. I tend to put people in victim categories of what I think would be like a higher victim. You know what I mean? Like people who would be easier taken advantage of, I guess. What kind of dog was it?
00:04:13
Speaker
She was a lab mix. I feel like that put her at a lower rate just because you have a bigger dog. It wasn't even an adult dog, I don't think. It lowers you back down. Anything under two years old is really not even considered an adult dog. If I'm outdoors, just consider me like an infant that's going to be trampled by wildebeest. That's my threshold. Hey guys, I just want you to know that in
00:04:38
Speaker
in Knoxville, Tennessee. We have wildebeests, just a Roman free. I feel mosquitoes coming towards you. Go for
Introduction to Gary Hilton
00:04:48
Speaker
it. Because I'm going to feel a mosquito right in the middle of your throat. All right. So now we're going to move on to Gary Hilton. He was a 61 year old man walking his dog, Dandy. Gary was a telemarketer who is a very good talker. He loved camping, hiking, everything that was outdoorsy.
00:05:07
Speaker
His boss, John Tabor, even said he was very, very good at his job, and it was even a bit shocked that a guy as smart as Gary would be a telemarketer for a living.
00:05:17
Speaker
Eh, make good money at it. Yeah, he was a good talker. I mean, anybody that's good at sales, like, you know, you could have a freaking degree in rocket science, but if you're a smooth talker buddy, you can make some cash, right? Yeah, but if you're in like a typical sales shop, you get all, like Frankie gets calls all the time, has to go on Saturdays because, you know, no one else can do it. Right. And hope his, anyway.
00:05:40
Speaker
So you're really just going to sit here and just eat treats while I'm telling you your story. I am. Lifesaver gummies, guys, because she's two. I haven't eaten all day. Oh, all right. I'll let that one slide then. You want some Dunkaroos? There might be some in Caleb's. Those are delicious. I know. I know. The only thing better than Dunkaroos is the rainbow chip icing. Absolutely. On anything. On anything. And I think my favorite was
00:06:07
Speaker
Nestle Crunch bars. I don't know, you and your fat brother were dipping chocolate bars in icing and me and my bodybuilding brother were judging you even though I'm rotund. I wanna remember that night! That was when you guys, okay, alright, alright, I remember that, yep.
00:06:24
Speaker
Yeah, your brother's just judgmental and mean. Continue on. Anyways, so these two individuals met on a trail. They did the whole awkward small talk thing. I'm sorry, if I meet anybody on a trail, I'm not talking to you if I'm by myself. Right. Like, unless I just got bit by a snake or saw a snake and I'm dying, I'm not talking to some random man by himself because that screams rape and murder. I mean, well, really, for real, like, I don't know. And this is really a question that I'd like to throw out there for like
00:06:53
Speaker
just any female listeners that are out there like if you're no just a female in general like if you're out in public whether you're with your dog or especially if you're with your kid and an older gentleman because it happens to me a lot an older gentleman to stop and say wow your son is adorable blah blah blah or just any kind of you know
00:07:13
Speaker
You could consider it. Some of it is like, OK, he's just a kooky old guy or maybe he's lonely or whatever. No, but any any of our followers that we currently have, which would be like, I don't know, like five or including family because that's a high number. They don't comment on our stuff either. No, they might follow us, but they're worthless. We're going to have to make up random accounts and start liking ourselves. Yeah, it would be about the only two.
00:07:41
Speaker
Quit eating them like that, it's weird. She's like shoving her tongue through the hole first. Sorry guys, I'm sorry. Back on track, back on track. It's gonna be the light thing anyway. Alright. So again, if you have an opinion about that, just... How old are you? Do you like seafood? Nah! Freaking toddler. Alright, I'm sorry.
00:08:10
Speaker
Anyways, just answer the question, how do you feel if you're alone and you get approached by an older gentleman? And I'm talking, you know, anybody in their early 20s, late 30s, things of that nature. Because I feel like teens don't have the same concern for life that people in their 20s do. You know, I was invincible when I was a kid. Oh, heck no. I was scared then. Me and my friend ran and hid in clothes racks in the mall once, Sheena and I.
00:08:38
Speaker
This old guy kept following us when we were walking across to the mall. I did it to scare my mom and it worked. And then she made me. I'm going to keep going. This is going to get lengthy. All right. So they have their small talk. They went their separate ways. As it as Meredith passed two more older gentlemen who gave her dog Ella, a short pat, had a little bit of smart, small talk, just kind of hey, how's it going? Cute dog, whatever. And they left.
00:09:06
Speaker
Um, as the two men passed the guy, the one guy with the dog, which would have been Gary. Um, one of the men noticed that Gary was carrying a police baton. How did he know that? Well, he was a retired police officer. And so his eyes just sort of focused on it and he found it weird. So yeah. Cause usually you would think like a cane or like a walking stick, but not a police baton. That's maybe like, what? I don't even know how long to like fight off a cougar. Right. So.
00:09:36
Speaker
His friend basically was like, man, you've had too many years on the force. You're suspicious of everything. Let's just keep going. That gutted stink, buddy. You know, ignore that gutted stink. So, just a side note, if I'm out hiking,
00:09:50
Speaker
I'm gonna be carrying, I don't know if Blood Mountain is anything like the Smokies, okay? But that's what I'm used to hiking out in the middle of, right? I would want a gun or some kind of knife, machete, anything that's gonna help me get through the wilderness. I'd want an enclosed car with air conditioner, probably an iPad. Yeah, like bear spray. You know what I mean? Something that would actually make you feel safe, not- Yeah, that's the enclosed car.
00:10:18
Speaker
Oh, I don't know man. Have you seen what some of these bears do? I wouldn't be in the mountain. I just wouldn't be in the mountain. No, I know I'm never going to get attacked by bear. That was a comedian because I don't leave my house. Ding, ding, ding. Oh, man. Yeah, so a baton really isn't going to stop anything in the woods except maybe a squirrel, right?
00:10:39
Speaker
And you'd have to be pretty freaking fast to actually whack a squirrel. So 61 years old. I don't I don't think that's I'm sorry. Oh, my stories are not funny, but I'm weird. And so I laugh at things that I probably should not laugh at. So just don't like not like this podcast because of me. She's still taking resumes anyways. We're back.
00:11:05
Speaker
Yeah, so the man passed was Gary, and they noticed that he was behind Meredith, but didn't really think anything of it. But he was like a little ways back, you know what I mean? But we're all kind of hiking the same trail. And when people are hiking the same trail, there's going to be a lot of different people on that trail all passing up at different times, doing it their different ways, right? So on our way back down the mountain, Meredith runs into Gary again, only this time he pulled a knife on her.
Meredith Emerson's Attack and Investigation
00:11:32
Speaker
and demands her wallet and all of her things of value. This is telemarketer Gary telemarketer Gary. I don't know why I wanted to say Dan there, but I don't know. I don't know. Anyways, so. At this point, I think some of its.
00:11:49
Speaker
like speculation, possibly a little bit of Gary's testimony about what happened and maybe a little bit of what the scene spoke to the police officers that responded. Okay. Okay. So there was clearly a struggle. Okay. Now you, I told you this girl was trained in martial arts. I believe it was like jujitsu or something like that. So it's up close contact fighting.
00:12:14
Speaker
So, she somehow manages to get the knife out of his hand, and it fell. Now, when you're in the woods, right? What's surrounding you? Leaves, debris, trees, everything. So, the chances of him finding that knife quickly... Yeah, faith. Freakin' wildebeest. Did you take your gummies?
00:12:38
Speaker
That was messed up. I'm sorry. I'm gonna continue so he then apparently pulls his baton She got that out of his hand also But this man being 200 and something pounds and her being like a hundred and I think they said like 20 He's still overpowered her still got her to the ground and still took control in a nutshell so He kept telling her the whole time. He wasn't gonna hurt her just calm down
00:13:06
Speaker
All he wanted was money. And that's all he kept saying. You can't think a better place to rob people than hiking it on a trail. They're going to have like granola bars and water.
00:13:18
Speaker
Yeah, because I don't remember how often I would actually take my wallet. Because what are you going to buy in a mountain pass? I don't think it's that, Kayfabe. I think it's that he was just going to take her crap and then leave the mountain where there are people and society. But why would she take money on the mountain? Yeah, that's what I'm saying. It's weird.
00:13:36
Speaker
The whole thing is just stupid. Is there like a souvenir shop if you get to the top? It's not Everest, so I don't know. They don't have it on Everest either, I don't think. I mean, I feel like they kind of should at this point. It's like, hey, you lost five of your fingers and a half a leg. Not going either way. Anywho, all right. So on the backside of the trail, the two other men that saw Meredith and Gary that day came across the baton.
00:14:04
Speaker
And the retired officer recognized the baton right away. He took that and then he found the knife and took them immediately to authorities. Okay. Good for him. So Gary took Meredith cause these older gentlemen, if he's retired, I'm saying this guy is in his seventies or eighties. He's not going to be any kind of help of an amount and to try to go search for this girl. Yeah. Okay. So kudos to him for doing what was necessary and thinking, all right, something's wrong here. What year are we in 2008? So there's cell phones.
00:14:33
Speaker
In a mountain? Probably not great ones. I don't know. I don't go mountains. We've discussed this. You know, well, I mean, logically, when you guys lived at the lake, I didn't get service for crap down at the bottom of the lake. True. When we went down to the dock to fish. I mean, it's it just kind of whatever your data plan is, is what the deal is. So true. OK. So yeah, he went straight to the authorities with his two objects. Gary took Meredith to the nearest ATM and demanded her pen. And so she gave him the wrong pen.
00:15:02
Speaker
Do you know I heard if you put your pin in backwards, it seems like an emergency alert. Would have to look into that. I've heard that. I've never heard that. Mine is the same forwards and backwards, so it doesn't help me. The bank assigned mine back when we went to New York when Frankie and I were dating. And I've never changed it, but I've heard if you put it in like exactly backwards, it sends an alert that you're in distress. But I don't know if that's true or not. Yeah, I have no idea. I have to look that up. I'm not sure.
00:15:30
Speaker
Um, so she gave her the wrong one, or she gave him the wrong one, sorry, Gary was a fan. Um, so he went back to the car, starts, you know, yelling at her, whatever. She gave him the wrong pin again. This time you better be right. This time you better be right. Well, after- Why didn't she get out of the car while he's at the ATM? Oh, I was going to get there. So Meredith, chain to the back of Gary's van, because you couldn't wait five seconds.
00:15:57
Speaker
And was gagged with a bandana had successfully stalled Because he had too many attempts and he felt like it was time to run But she's changed so it helped her none That's true. But at the same time his camera faces on the camera. They truly if she believes based solely on No, he actually I forgot to mention this I should have wrote in this written this in my notes But he but I'm sorry. It's not funny
00:16:24
Speaker
All I can think of, you remember that scene in Liar Liar where Jim Carrey taped his face up with the with the pen is. That's what he did to his face. Only he used medical tape. Oh, to make himself. I guess that makes you look different. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know why that popped into my head last night, but all I can think of was
00:16:52
Speaker
Was that movie? All right. Sorry. So Meredith did stall and likely in her mind, she's sitting here thinking, OK, somebody knows I'm missing by now. Right. You would hope. She had left her friend a note on a chalkboard like they do and friends, you know.
00:17:10
Speaker
how they used to have the little whiteboard and they would leave each other messages. You shouldn't go out alone. Yeah. So she wrote a note to her friend saying, Hey, I took Elle on a hike and her and her roommate would take turns kind of watching each other's dogs when they left for work and that whole thing. So they had, they were good friends. Okay. So after the failed attempts at the ATM, he drove 40 miles away from the abduction site. They camped the night and he told her that if he didn't get the pins tomorrow, he would hurt her. So next morning,
00:17:40
Speaker
her best friend started to call Ella, because again, the note on the board, all of that jazz, she's like, she should have been home by now, because normally, when Meredith would leave for work, Ella would sneak into her best friend's bedroom and go sleep with her, right? And so she woke up, Ella's not there. She's our tolerant for Ella. Ella didn't come, right? So her friend notices- She didn't realize overnight her friend never came home from a hike. No, she was supposed to, I don't know, I think maybe she was supposed to meet up with family, I guess, at some point.
00:18:11
Speaker
But she still never came home. Not blaming the friend, but if you've got a friend that's going on a hike, you check on them at some point. Well, either way, that feels a little victim-shamy. That's why I said it's not her fault, but this is why when people leave... No, it's not my fault, but at the same time... But you need to have checks in place. If I don't text you by this point, call me.
00:18:34
Speaker
like I do that like I would say that if that's for hiking absolutely but if it's something like but she did go hiking no I said yeah but I mean I could what I'm saying is I agree with that statement especially on a hike because anything can happen on a hike yeah I'm we're not talking about like
00:18:50
Speaker
Murder. We're talking meat. I'd fall over a tree branch, right? You could break my leg. You could freakin fall off a cliff. Get scared, climb a tree, cry until people can find you. And I know, I mean, I know on the Smokies, we've got giant black bears that are out there. They're rattlesnakes. There are all kinds of things that could cause a lot of injury. For example, ABC, why not stay inside? I feel like maybe in Georgia, too, that there's pumas, but I'm not, I'm not 100% about that, but I could be just pulling that fact out of my butt crack. I don't even know.
00:19:16
Speaker
Anyways, so Meredith saw the note on the board, it reminded her that she had gone hiking and she starts calling her, but her phone always just kept going right to voicemail, right? Not soon after she quit trying to call her, her phone rang at the time it was a landline because people still had those, right? And she answered and it was a friend of Meredith's saying that she never showed up for work that morning.
00:19:45
Speaker
9-1-1. Yeah, so now her friend's freaking. They pull up. She grabs a map and starts pulling up like the different sites, any popular hiking site that Meredith could have possibly taken that day. She was not specific on where she went. See, you gotta be specific. People, we gotta be specific. Yeah. I am going to this mountain range from this time to this time.
00:20:09
Speaker
If you don't hear from me within 30 minutes after this time, start calling my phone. And here's the deal, she did call the phone, right? The phone went straight to voicemail, so there's a problem. But this is the next day, at this point, technically Meredith could have been raped and dismembered and eaten by a bear. Yeah. Coyotes, foxes, wolves, who knows? Oh my. Alright, so we're going to jump back into our machine, right? Our way back machine. Not super way back.
00:20:39
Speaker
Gary's boss, John Tabor, had an encounter with Gary one year before. He noticed that he hadn't been working, and that when he went to check on him, his house, according to him, was in complete shambles, and it smelled- I thought this guy was like super great at his job, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I know, but that was what Tabor had originally said when he hired him. That's why Tabor keeps coming back up. So now, later on, after all of this, you know, goes down, Tabor,
00:21:10
Speaker
is like, okay, that makes sense. You know what I mean? So Gary, again, John Tabor, I'm so sorry, said his house was enshambled. It smelled completely awful. John asked Gary, like, what are you doing, man? What's going on? Why are you missing so much work?
00:21:25
Speaker
Gary didn't make any sense to John. Everything that he said just literally just didn't make sense. So he didn't know if he was on drugs or, you know, just he didn't really know what was happening. Wait, stop with the tongue! You freaking weirdo! Enough! So John, when John left, he said he had a really sick feeling.
00:21:48
Speaker
And the only way to describe it is that he was standing in the presence of evil, which I think is easier said than done. Yep. You might've been like, this guy's a whack job, but you didn't know the true depravity of him. Yeah. Well, I will say though, that some people like you kind of look at them and they give you that feeling and they were just like,
00:22:08
Speaker
You know, he's capable of some crap, right? Yep, you sure do. I'm not the one sitting over here shoving my tongue into lifesaver gummies, and I'm the weirdo. That makes me a child, not a psychotic person. I know, I want you to remember something. You leave your kid with me. Yeah, yeah, when crap goes down, who you call?
00:22:31
Speaker
Not the Ghostbusters, my friend. Like when we were at Dollywood Park that day, and you had to tell Bella, after that lady was a mean to her, that Auntie went back to punch her in the face. Which is not true, guys. I never punched the woman. I threatened with Lisa, because I'm pretty non-confrontational. Guys, I'm 5'2". Maybe you're angry. That's true. I'm not angry. I'm a delightful person. I'm a wonderful person. I'm very nice.
00:22:57
Speaker
Let's not lie to the people. Continue. All right, fine. So Meredith's friends were jumping into our way back machine to go forward this time. Meredith's friends found her empty car because they all took off. Guys from work. Good friend. All of her friends went out looking for her. All the guys searched up in the trails of Blood Mountain. Only the guys went. They didn't find anything. Anything. So Meredith's roommate called the news station after calling the cops, obviously.
00:23:27
Speaker
But she said she wanted to call the news people. I guess she was some kind of God, what do they call them? PR people? Yeah. Public relations where she just knows all about how to get attention. Right. Smart. So when she called the media the whole time she was having this interview, she had a picture of not only Meredith, but she was with Ella was the day she adopted Ella. So now the dog and Meredith are all over state news. Great friend to have. No kidding.
00:23:56
Speaker
So, it's true. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. At this point, they thought maybe Meredith had fallen again, like we were talking about. You know, she'd hurt herself. They set up tip lines hoping that maybe somebody had seen something. You know, anybody seen this girl on the trail the whole time. So the second day of Meredith's disappearance, John Cagle of the state of Georgia Bureau of Investigation showed up to lead the case. Nice. Okay.
00:24:26
Speaker
Because, uh, no, I'm sorry. Mr. Cagle had a sixth sense feeling that he was dealing with an abduction when he got there. Just by the things that he was saying, he, uh, he knew about the baton and the knife that the retired officer had given. Yeah. And he, he just knew something's bad. Yeah. And you know, he's obviously not going to share that with family and friends, but, uh,
00:24:54
Speaker
They went to the site where the baton and everything was found, and again, everything was in disarray. The surrounding area was the trees, not the trees, I'm sorry, the leaves, there was brush kicked up everywhere. Clearly something had happened there, and it was a struggle. Multiple people came forward saying that they saw the man that was hiking by Meredith on the trail. They said he was an odd-looking white man missing teeth, stuff like that.
00:25:20
Speaker
I'm super descriptive, people. Well, I mean, older white man, missing teeth is kind of a pretty solid... Did he have two eyes? True, okay. Alright, I see where you're going, right? They gave other descriptions of him. I'm sure there was height in things like that, you know, whatever somebody could recognize, and they also said that he was with his dog. Okay. Okay. So, on the third day of Meredith's disappearance, now I just want to go. She's on three days here.
00:25:50
Speaker
Okay, chained to the back of a mini, of a, not a minivan, but a van. Okay. On the third day of Meredith's disappearance, John Tabor, Gary's former boss, was working out and watching the news. Now we've already, you've already heard me talk about Mr. Tabor. Yes. Right. So he heard the location and the description and he froze.
00:26:16
Speaker
Not only did the description of the man seem like Gary, John also recalled how often John used to speak. I'm sorry. Yeah, Gary used to speak. Well, I'm struggling tonight about hiking and camping and stuff in Blood Mountain. And it's just random conversations that they used to have when he was just working alerts. And it's mine. So he gave the cops every single bit of he called the tip line, gave the cops everything.
00:26:41
Speaker
he could think of. He gave the cops information, his name, his birthday, his license number, the vehicle make and model, even the tag number. Super helpful though. Freakin' A, right. But how many people would actually do that? I don't even know my own tag number. It was almost kind of like he broke the law. Like he went into the dude's files and was like, here it is. Here's everything about him that I know. Yeah. But I don't see anything wrong with that at all. I know. I don't either.
00:27:09
Speaker
Because if I'm innocent, what do I have to lose? Right? Nothing. Unless I'm the guy from your case in which I fry, but whatever. Yeah. So they ran all the information and Mr. Kegel was approached by a man that he didn't recognize. This man was a detective from the state of Tennessee. Yay, Tennessee. He said this abduction could be related to two other recent cases that he knew about in Tennessee and North Carolina.
00:27:40
Speaker
dang yep that involved the abduction and murder of an elderly couple and so i think that either i think because they were found in north carolina so i think the couple was from tennessee and that was kind of the correlation of why he showed up yeah okay um in pisco national forest was where these people were found the tennessee detective they said they found the woman
00:28:05
Speaker
decapitated and her killer was recorded on an ATM camera with tape on his face didn't say I'm assuming probably not okay that because you know now he's committed a murder and he's he's trying to get smarter maybe possibly and the man looked a heck of a lot like the description given by witnesses right the guy that took right right right well you just looked at me funny so Kegel is now convinced that he's dealing with a serial killer
00:28:33
Speaker
Four days after Meredith's disappearance, Gary moved her yet again. He continued to tell her he wouldn't hurt her. He tied her to a tree. And according to him, he told her he was going to tie her up, get her stuff, and Ella, because he had literally been taking care of her dog. I was wondering where the dog went. He was feeding Ella. He was letting Ella go to the bathroom. He was taking better care of the dog than the human. Yeah. OK. So he said that when he got back, he had untied her and set her free.
00:29:02
Speaker
So he went to the van, got a heavy object, and beat her over the head with it. I can only assume, yep, I can only assume it was a tire iron, more than likely, because that's pretty standard heavy object that you're going to find in most cars. But obviously he went into this knowing he was going to abduct someone, so it could have been anything. So he drove back into town where he dropped Ella, the doggy, off at a supermarket. Quickly after a person found the dog wandering the parking lot at a grocery store, they thought that looks a lot like Ella, the dog that's missing in the picture.
00:29:32
Speaker
So Gary, after they called the cops, Gary was spotted by a person who called the cops saying it looked like that there is a dude. He just saw the dude that they've been looking for. The cops arrived arrived to find Gary with bleach in hand. He set the bleach down and put up no fight. He was literally trying to clean out the back of his car to make sure nobody found any trace evidence. And he was just like, oh, you found me in a nutshell. Yeah. Wow. OK. Yeah.
00:30:01
Speaker
I mean, that's literally that's the cop report. He put up no fight. So. He was arrested. The cops found Meredith's body closed in a dumpster nearby. Gary said he was never going to. Gary said he was never he had never intended on letting her go. At this point, the cops didn't know if she was alive or dead, but based on what he had just said, they can speculate. You know, people lie. You know what I mean? Whatever they want to do. You still until you find her, you hope for the best, fear for the worst.
00:30:31
Speaker
So as much as the cops searched the mountain, they could not find Meredith. But he was a very promising suspect, Gary, and other states. So they couldn't get Meredith. I'm sorry, they couldn't get Gary on murder without Meredith's body. Right. Yeah. So. He was also being looked at in other states, Florida, North Carolina, the death penalty then. Right. And
00:31:01
Speaker
looked by by Tennessee, right? So the state of Georgia decided that they were going to make a deal with it. If they gave up her location, they would take death penalty off the table. So he took them to her body and what they found was absolutely horrific. Dang it, I was really hoping she made it. He killed her, decapitated her with a serrated knife and then hid her head away from her body to make it harder to identify. Does he not know about fingerprints?
00:31:29
Speaker
I think he's just an idiot. Like, he's a really smart dumbass. That's the way I view this, okay? So personal opinion time, right? Right. Right, because I like to have my moment. Where I like to talk about things is the way I think they should have gone down, right? All right. So how awesome would it have been if they got to the body and they were like, thank you for taking us here. I need to run to the car real fast and call this in and left him.
00:31:57
Speaker
and then beat the crap out of him with a baton. That would have been nice. It would have been nice. So Gary Michael Hilton, AKA the National Forest Serial Killer, charged with murder in North Carolina, Florida, and Georgia. So just because Georgia took the death penalty off, did someone else put it back on? Let's check it out. Oh, good. He was sentenced to life in every single state, but Florida. Florida! Florida, like, Florida mess around. So where is he now?
00:32:26
Speaker
death row in Florida death row in Florida in 2021. They upheld his death sentence over the murder of 46 year old nurse and Sunday school teacher Cheryl Dunlap and that was the woman he murdered in Florida. Other murders have been linked to Gary but not proven.
00:32:42
Speaker
It's suspected that he killed more than just, I think it was like five or six. He had probably been doing this for a minute. Being people who live transient lives that hike on that and they don't have any connection so you'd never know about it. Exactly.
00:33:00
Speaker
So that's my story. I will end with, uh, really, really think we should send him to suffer his death consequences to Delaware. I mean, they hang people. They don't anymore. That was 1996. You don't know. Yeah, huh. As of 2021, your mom looked it up. Oh crap. It was last year. Yeah. But he was in prison then. He could have been hung for his crimes. He's still sitting there.
The Florida Stories Begin
00:33:27
Speaker
I still got through all that information in 33 minutes and 50 seconds. Yep. All right. Let me get my notes ready. All right. All right. And this is Faith. We're going to continue on in Florida. And do I have a dumpster fire for you? So. I'm intrigued. You should be. And I've got a fun little game at the end.
00:33:47
Speaker
A game? A game. Well you've been eating candy like a toddler so I wonder what kind of toddler game this might be. We'll see. Alright, I'm going to tell you a story about Derek David. A man with two first names. Derek David, Judy. Derek David and his wife Jodi lived in Key West, Florida.
00:34:06
Speaker
And they were out on a date night. They'd left the kids at home in Key West. And they went to eat, have a little bit of some eats and drinks at Carolina's Cafe. And I've got pictures. I'll post them showing Lisa the pictures now. That's Carolina's Cafe. All right. So it's got the, like, it looks like it's got a small building, but mainly it's packed full of a bunch of tables outside. Right. And it's got a big bar area. You can kind of see right there and right there.
00:34:35
Speaker
Um, so they went out there, um, and they are sitting on in, in one of the tables along the side of the street, basically. And while sitting there eating, they struck up a conversation with the couple, the table next to them.
00:34:49
Speaker
before them hit it off and decided they were going to go out for just, you know, some fun and some drinks. And after they were all done with their meal, they went across the street to the Hard Rock Cafe, had some drinks there, hung out at the bar. And then they went to the Bull and Whistle bar. And this bar I think is pretty cool, honestly. Number one, it's a beautiful building.
00:35:11
Speaker
I'm gonna say it's pretty cool and then Lisa's gonna get dirty on me, but this is the bull and whistle bar It's really pretty okay, but it's three bars so this bottom levels the bull
00:35:23
Speaker
which is one bar. The second level is the whistle bar. And the third level, where you see all those trees and that tent up there, that's called the Garden of Eden, where clothing is optional. Ew. It's a nudie bar. I'm sure it's a bunch of like- All right, so you're sitting here like, at least this is gonna get dirty, but then I'm gonna say nudie. I just thought it was funny. But they just went to the bottom level, the bull and whistle bar. All right. So at this point, if you're keeping track, they've been to three locations where they're drinking, having a great night.
00:35:52
Speaker
So they're blanched more than likely. Well, a little after midnight, Derek David could tell his wife Jodi had consumed way, way too much alcohol. And it was time to go home. So they walked out of the bar and went down Duval Street, which I'm just giving you locations to so you'll kind of be able to see in the pictures. I've got a lot of pictures. But this is Duval Street, Lisa.
00:36:18
Speaker
And you can see it's just a, I mean, it's Key West. It's a tourist trap town. Love it. Been there. But it's lined with shops and bars all the way down as far as you can see, right? It's pretty typical touristy kind of thing. So they want to stop and shop for garbage. I love, I love Key West. Trinket shopping. I love trinket shopping. So they walk down to Wall Street and they go onto a side street off of it called Charles Street.
00:36:43
Speaker
At this point, Jodi is so drunk she can't walk. Like she is stumbling like stereotypical white girl drunk. Okay. Where she's fallen all over the place. Is there any vomit coming out yet? No. Okay. And Derek is basically having to carry her. And she's not a white girl. She ain't white girl drunk. There's legit video of everything I'm about to tell you. So you can see her stumbling. You can see Derek trying to like carry her and get her down the street.
00:37:12
Speaker
Now, just something to note about Jodi, which she stated about herself later at the trial. When Jodi gets drunk, Jodi gets violent. And most of her violence is towards her husband, Derek. They sure name is an Amber Heard. I know. Sorry. Had to take it there, go. Yeah. So Jodi is a smaller lady. Derek is this big burly guy, right? So while Derek is trying to help Jodi walk and she's stumbling around, apparently she gets pretty mad at him.
00:37:41
Speaker
So in her drunken anger, she literally decides to basically fight her husband. Okay. She is screaming at him, swinging her arms like in a windmill, like just trying to hit him as hard as she can. He's got scratches on his scalp, like in behind his ears. Oh my goodness. And at one point, according to, this is legit testimony in the trial, Jodi grabbed his testicles in an unpleasant manner.
00:38:07
Speaker
Oh my god. Again, you can watch all this on video. I've got a link to the video to see this whole Shabam. All right. So at some point in this attack, I'm assuming it's right around the unpleasant handling of his testicles.
The Case of Derek David
00:38:22
Speaker
Derek gets pissed and just shoves Jodi away from him. Like, I'm done with you. You're crazy. You're hurting me. And because she's so drunk, she just flops to the ground.
00:38:32
Speaker
Now, at this point, we're right by that Duval Street, where there's literally like a bar every other door, people are outside. Can I just say something super fast? Sure. How much does a woman think a man's gonna put up with before he... Like, I know it's like Cardinal Sin number one for a man to put his hands on a woman, but...
00:38:48
Speaker
Not all of them have little sisters that'll be like, dude, I'll go kick her butt real quick. I mean, and he didn't even hit her. He like just shoved her. I'm not I'm not talking about punching, kicking, punching him, scratching him and unpleasantly handling his board. Get off me real quick. OK, I'm just saying you reap what you say. Yes. Well, at this point, there's several people watching this altercation from along all these bars on the street.
00:39:13
Speaker
because they hear yelling, and as they hear all this huge yelling, they look up and see this large burly man shoving a tiny woman to the ground. It's all they see. Yeah, actually. But that's what it looks like, appearances of people's realities. So these guys that are on vacation outside a bar called Irish Kevin's, they're sitting outside this bar, smoking a cigarette, and they hear the yelling over the music in the bar and see him shove this woman to the ground.
00:39:40
Speaker
So, you've heard of bystander effect. What is bystander effect? We can intervene. No, bystander's effect where nobody does. Everyone assumes someone else is going to. Oh, okay. I'm sorry. I thought it meant, okay. That's where nobody, like, everyone assumes someone else is going to help. They decide they're going to take responsibility and they start, they're concerned enough to start walking down the street to check on the situation, ask this woman if she needs help.
00:40:05
Speaker
So the Irish Kevin guys name is Brennan Boudreaux and his friend Trent Paul. And they're slowly walking toward the Davids to check out when all of a sudden out of nowhere, this man comes springing past them wearing a fedora. And he is further known at this point as Fedora Man. Fedora Man. Fedora Man. So Fedora Man goes into the fray and immediately punches Derek in the face. Okay. Because he saw him shove this little woman down.
00:40:33
Speaker
Which prompts Derek to put his fisticuffs up. Right. And just start... I'm over here with my fisticuffs up. Lisa's having a hard time with it. So he puts his fisticuffs up. You're so intimidating. And just starts wildly swinging and doesn't connect a single punch. Because, you know... He's also drunk, yeah.
00:40:57
Speaker
And then at this point, which this is Derek's, he missed because he's drunk. And in his words, this is Derek's words. Fedor man, who appears to be a spry little guy, keeps punching me. And then all of a sudden, basketball jersey guy joins and pushes me to the ground. Nice, okay. So Derek's on the ground at this point, struggling to get back up. He can't. While his wife, in the meantime, who all these people are coming to help,
00:41:27
Speaker
goes up to the Irish Kevin guys and is yelling at them and haymaker them. Swingin' her fists around to punch them. We're just gonna call her blackout Betty from this point forward. So at this point, she's swingin' Irish Kevin's guys. They've never even approached Derek yet. They're trying to kind of like back out of the situation. And this is when Derek reaches behind him and pulls out a gun from the back of his pants, clicks that slide back,
00:41:55
Speaker
points the gun down Duval Street and just start shooting. How is this? Derek, Derek, David. The husband. Yeah. So the Irish Kevin guys are like, peace. And they start running. Yeah. Because they're not really involved anyway. Like they were coming to try to help her. She's swinging haymakers at him, screaming, stumbling. I'm over here. I'm thinking like fedora guy.
00:42:18
Speaker
He's gotta be Italian if he's wearing a fedora. In Florida and like the keys, everybody wears fedoras. I know, it's not New York. So, they're not really involved and in their departure, Boudreaux ends up getting shot in the thigh. Another gentleman, new guy, haven't heard of him, Ogden, is shot in the left arm in the abdomen. And finally, a different new guy, McBride, is also shot in the thigh. Because he literally, Derek David, just opens fires down this busy street with all these bars.
00:42:48
Speaker
So after he shoots the gun, he just starts walking away, leaves his wife, just starts walking. And he passes another guy, there's this guy walking out of a bar, random, let's say random bystander one, walks out of a bar and there David points the gun right in random guy's face. So he goes back into the bar real quick, like, nope.
00:43:11
Speaker
So Derek David keeps walking, but a bouncer like a few clubs down saw what had happened, had heard the shots and had already called 911. Then bouncer starts kind of following Derek David's at a distance just to be able to point the cops in the right direction. So the first officer that gets there and the bouncer like points to the gun toting crazy person,
00:43:36
Speaker
And Derek's response, Derek David, in front of said police officer who was standing there is to point his gun at the bouncer's face. So the bouncer runs for cover as the officer yells for Derek to drop the gun and get to the ground.
00:43:51
Speaker
Derek does not do this. He continues to walk around, ends up dropping the gun at some point, won't listen to police, so eventually they have to tase him. Okay. So, side note, when he's tased, Derek is pissed. And he's yelling to the cops that tased him, I've done nothing wrong and you're on camera. I'm suing you.
00:44:11
Speaker
I've done nothing wrong. I've shot multiple innocent people, but I've done nothing. So just to let you know, Boudreaux, the Irish Kevin's guy, he's 20 years old. He's on a vacation. Key West with his friend from Louisiana. Had no involvement at all. Just trying to be a good citizen. He ends up getting shot from behind.
00:44:29
Speaker
So second guy, I'm just going to tell you about these people whose nights turned out really bad. Right. It's Scott McBride. Yep. He got shot in the abdomen. Is that what they were saying? Well, yes. He and his girlfriend Mandy are here on vacation from Daytona Beach, Florida. They're just sitting at a bar called the porch drinking first drinks of the night.
00:44:50
Speaker
and they decide to do like the touristy thing and they're gonna go over in front of Irish Kevin's and take a selfie because Irish Kevin is apparently like this famous bar so they want to take a selfie together and send it to their friends and be like haha look where we were even though we didn't pay for their drinks um and so on the way across the street Scott says he feels something really hard hit the back of his leg and when he looks down he's bleeding
00:45:14
Speaker
And he hears bangs and the moron thinks it's like fireworks and just kind of looking around. Meanwhile, his girlfriend Mandy realizes what's happening and drags him inside Irish Kevin's where the bar staff immediately start like putting bar rags on this guy's leg. Try to staunch the bleeding while they call an ambulance. There's actually an off-duty paramedic there that's turning it around and saves him.
00:45:37
Speaker
Reid Ogden is 28 and he is in the film. He's in the Keys filming a fly fisherman documentary.
00:45:44
Speaker
Earlier that day when they were at a beachside bar eating lunch, he met this lovely lady named Molly Adel, and he got up the nerve to ask her on a date. So Molly and Reed went out on their first date that night for drinks at Run Runners. Worst date ever. Yep. They have a quick little date, quick little appetizers and drinks real quick. He's walking back to his truck when he notices flashing lights and people running, and he feels something really powerful hit his forearm.
00:46:12
Speaker
Again, he thinks there's fireworks going on.
00:46:18
Speaker
So Molly is... So is it like adrenaline at this point that you don't feel the gunshot? Or is it like one of those situations like you know how like you just speak like have a paper cut or something? Yeah it takes a second maybe. Well no somebody's like hey dude you're bleeding and then all of a sudden it hurts like hell. Well like both of these guys like just said they felt something hit them really hard but they didn't their girlfriends are both the ones that are the girl they're with there's like uh hey dumb dumb let's go.
00:46:43
Speaker
So Molly quickly guides them down the street and is trying to find an open, open business because he's bleeding shots are still going everywhere. So the first business they walk into his teasers, which is a strip joint. Nice. And they get away from the gunshots there. The bar staff immediately step in again to help staunch the bleeding on his forearm.
00:47:01
Speaker
And when they do that, they notice his shirt is bleeding and when they lift his shirt, they see that the bullet went straight through his forearm into his abdomen. And he actually had to be airlifted to Miami for surgery. Side note, he and Molly are still together today. Really first meet cute, I guess. Those who get shot together, stay together. So this story is pretty quick. You'll see why, but let's get to the trial.
00:47:26
Speaker
Just continue this dumpster fire. Okay. So Derek David did have a carry permit, but in the state of Florida, you are not allowed to carry a firearm into an establishment that only serves alcohol. Correct. Which he's been at quite a few at this point. Remember,
00:47:41
Speaker
But if it's concealed, it's not like they're fresh skinny at the door. Right, but it's still like that's part of your permit. Right. So he's a moron. Yeah. So on top of being charged for attempted murder, he's also being charged in violation of his carry permit allowance or however you want to say that.
00:47:59
Speaker
So his lawyers are, I mean, I don't know if he paid for them or if they are just really dedicated the cause, but they really like try every stop here. Okay. So the first thing they attempted was to go to the judge and try to get attempted murder charges dismissed because they said he was defending himself. The judge said no.
00:48:19
Speaker
He didn't shoot at anybody that was hitting him. This is like the dumbest thing ever. So next they asked for a stand your ground ruling. That way the case would be dismissed.
00:48:30
Speaker
Right, because if you have all these people coming at you, again, it's almost like, you know, Stand Your Ground is basically self-defense. So Stand Your Ground is a little different. I looked it up because the podcast, I heard the story on it first, talked about it. So I looked up Stand Your Ground. It's a law passed in 2005 in Florida that allows those who feel a reasonable threat of death or bodily injury to meet force with force rather than retreat. It offers them full immunity from prosecution.
00:48:58
Speaker
for the individual whose resort was forced within the perimeters of the statue. Right, but again, he didn't shoot anybody that was coming at him, he was shooting random people. So Stand Your Ground in Florida is like, apparently it's like this, I've never heard of it before, but it's like this really big thing.
00:49:13
Speaker
So they asked the judge to dismiss this whole case on the Stand Your Ground defense. All these guys were coming at him. He stood his ground. Even though Irish Kevin guys weren't in any kind of like confrontation with him, he was standing his ground. But you cannot use the Stand Your Ground ruling if you're drunk. Oh, what a shock. So the judge said, I'm not going to do that. Doesn't count. Well, David Derek denies he was drunk.
00:49:44
Speaker
Even though he can't remember the events of the night, that was because someone punched him in the head, probably fedora guy, and he now has amnesia. He also lied and stated he never shoved his wife. But again, remember, this entire event is on video. You can see the whole shebang.
00:50:05
Speaker
All of it. I'll link it. What year was this real quick? I don't remember. I'm sitting here guys like, come on. You're screwed at this point. 2016. There you go. Everybody's got a phone. Everybody's whipping it out. You don't have an ice chips chance in hell.
00:50:23
Speaker
Sorry, I had to go back up for the date. So he lied saying they were shoved at her. Again, it's all on video camera, but the judge again denies this stating the danger ground doesn't apply because any reasonable person would not have resulted to have had to result to a gun to avoid this confrontation. When he physically assaulted his wife first, and again, technically his wife started this whole thing, so you know. Right.
00:50:51
Speaker
So prior going to trial, he did bond out until the trial and I just thought this was funny. So he was out on bond before trial and the judge told him he could not enter any establishment that served alcohol or he'd be put back into the trial. The judge literally stated, you can stick to McDonald's, Denny's and the like. I'm serious. Do not go near alcohol. Like he couldn't go anywhere.
00:51:18
Speaker
So at trial, he's actually found guilty of attempted murder and convicted. However, before his sentencing, the second district appeal court in Florida was ruling on a different case, not this one, about Stand Your Ground and basically changed the whole way Stand Your Ground because before it was up to the defense council to prove that Stand Your Ground ruling was applicable.
00:51:48
Speaker
This court jury, this court in Florida in the second district made it to where basically Stand Your Ground was automatic and it was up to the prosecution to prove that they were not standing their ground like they were intending to commit murder or whatever, right? Right. So,
00:52:12
Speaker
Not only did they make that ruling, and it's kind of convoluted, but basically they flipped who had to prove Stand Your Ground wasn't an issue, but they also said that this was a retroactive law change. Okay. Which, again, the podcast I listened to this, they were like, one of them's a lawyer, and he was like, you can't just make sweeping retroactive changes. That's not constitutional. Yeah. Because now all these people are coming out of the woodworks who are in jail saying,
00:52:40
Speaker
Hello. Stand your ground. Yep. So this was passed two days before his sentencing. So the judge was forced to vacay his conviction, basically claiming a missed trial, and they were going to have to restart his whole trial process because they could no longer say, the court could no longer say, this doesn't meet stand your ground ruling. They had to prove it didn't in the court.
00:53:05
Speaker
right? So that happened, but then right around the same time, the third district of Florida came back out stating in a different case that you can't retroactive the retroactive law.
00:53:17
Speaker
And so they ruled on a different case saying, we're fine with the changes you made, but you can't make it the sweeping, like it affects everything before you. Now in the state of Florida, when two district courts disagree on a ruling, it has to go to the Florida Supreme Court to decide which way the law will be interpreted. But until that time comes, you have to follow the ruling of the district court your territory falls into. Because Key West falls into the third district
00:53:49
Speaker
His conviction stood and he got sentenced to 18 years on attempt to murder. Okay. And at this point- And in my personal opinion, I would agree. He's just shocked- Because you're a drunken moron, okay? Yeah. Who never should have been carrying a weapon clearly. No, I can't confirm this. It was just in the podcast I listened to on this story, so they couldn't confirm it either. But apparently he hadn't gotten like, he'd gotten a warning like a slap on the wrist.
00:54:16
Speaker
because he was surprised, surprised, drunk at a bar, pulled his gun out and put it in someone's face and threatened him with it. Even though he didn't pull the trigger, he'd already been warned. So. Right. OK. Here or there, he is in jail for 18 years on attempt to murder. At this point in 2022, the Florida Supreme Court has not made a decision and Derek David is in prison.
00:54:38
Speaker
And, um, but if they decide to rule in favor of the Florida Supreme Court decides to rule in favor of the second district ruling, technically his conviction will be overturned and he'll be let out at any time. Right. But it all, I mean, literally you're just kind of waiting to see what they do.
00:54:59
Speaker
So that is my story on. So to this day, there's still no, no absolute updates on what's going on right now. And that is, that is Derek David. So, all
Florida Man Stories and Game
00:55:11
Speaker
right. I'm gonna pause and get it set up from our game. Oh, all right. Yeah. Do that. Cause, um, yeah. Yep. Hold on. I'm gonna go.
00:55:21
Speaker
All right, guys, we are going to play a little game, continue on with our Florida true crime. I'm scared. And this I'm actually going to post. Do not cheat. We're in the trust tree, a.k.a. the honor system. Trustry is like a thing with us. So just so you know, we believe you have honor and integrity if you're in the trust tree.
00:55:42
Speaker
So the first person to guess right without looking it up, I'm trusting that you're not going to do that. I'm missing a little prize too, but you got to get, you got to get me the first person on Facebook or Instagram who gets it right. Gets whatever, however variation I'm going to do this on those. Who are you going to send them? Frickin' life savers? You could get gummy life savers. Who knows? It's going to be like just a little something, but it's a participation game here. But I'm automatically going to win. What do I get? You get the honor of being in my presence.
00:56:12
Speaker
all right so we are gonna play name that florida man oh lord have you heard of have you know who what a florida man is i don't have a clue you have not done the thing where you like google the year you're born or your birthday plus florida man on google and see what crazy criminal crime florida man oh my gosh it's like a whole thing do you live in a rock
00:56:34
Speaker
I don't do Sushumu, do you? Jeez, learn how to talk. All right. I don't do social media that much. Well, Florida man's like a thing, like, because Florida, I don't know what it is, but they get the craziest crimes out there. So I'm going to tell you about a few Florida crimes. I'm going to post some pictures, and if you guessed all the Florida crime people right, you get the prize. If you guessed first. I am going to suck so hard at this. And it's their picture. So I'm going to give you their name.
00:57:00
Speaker
First is- That doesn't make any sense. I'm gonna tell you, I'm gonna tell these stories and their names, then I'm gonna put a bunch of pictures and you have to match the name to the picture. Okay, that makes more sense, thank you. Okay, so here's the true crimes in Florida I'm gonna tell you about. February 2014 in Marion County. Florida was a typical warm day in Florida. Family spending time at the Ocala, Florida parks along the side of the park is
00:57:28
Speaker
Ah, the sound every child loves and most adults, let's be honest. An ice cream truck. You and I have chased on an ice cream truck.
00:57:39
Speaker
Chase down an ice cream truck in the middle of the day in our pajamas and with slippers on. Yeah. During one of our movie marathons. I'm just trying to figure out why we do a podcast when we can't even talk to each other. I'm gonna edit that out so they can't hear me go blah blah blah. You only edit out when you sound like an idiot and you leave all of the things that I saw, leave it in. We'll leave it. Okay. So anyway. Cause I wanna cry scream. He's gonna cry scream.
00:58:05
Speaker
Lord Elvis. I was teasing that. So this ice cream truck man is sitting on the side playing his beautiful melody that's calling all the people around to him. And up blocks three men, which again, me, you and Frankie chased on that guy in our pajamas with the ropes on it. I got to get my dream up. Right. So they approach an order of pickle sausage.
00:58:34
Speaker
Okay, first thing, since you don't know anything about the Florida man phenomena, when you hear Florida man crime, you want to say why? You'll never know. Or like, what were they thinking? You'll never know. Okay. You just go with it. Sausage pickle. A pickled sausage. Pickled sausage, my bad. And then they attempted to pay with a fake $20 bill.
00:58:59
Speaker
like monopoly money basically they were so bad it was like monopoly money um well the ice cream man noticed this and questioned them and they pulled a gun on him ice cream man was having none of that so he wrestled them for control of the gun one of the men punched ice cream man in the man in the eye the three men ran off to their faded blue Cadillac and drove away
00:59:24
Speaker
Pickle sausage. I don't know who sells that an ice cream truck. It's Florida. It's Florida. You never know why. All right, next next Florida man story I got for you. Oh, I don't get to. Oh, I got to wait. All right. My bad. Actually, I don't have a picture of that one. So I couldn't find a picture. Well, then how am I supposed to match them up? They didn't list. I just thought that was a fun story. Oh, they didn't list any names. OK. January 2019.
00:59:51
Speaker
an environmental ordinance went into effect basically throughout the entire United States and Florida was no exception. Do you remember what the 2019 environmental ordinance was? 2019? I bet you do.
01:00:09
Speaker
No more plastic straws. Oh. Remember that horrible time in our life? Still pisses me off. I will not drink out of a paper straw. I won't do it. It's weird. It dissolves. It's gross. It's disgusting.
01:00:23
Speaker
So in St. Petersburg. Look at this guy right now. He could be a Florida man. He is a Florida. He's driving with his John Deere tractor down the road and he's got his headset, Bluetooth headset on. And he is just rocking and rolling right now. Yep. I'm just going to give him a minute to pass.
01:00:43
Speaker
And then we look back at us. All right. So in St. Petersburg, Florida, a local McDonald's was preparing for this environmental ordinance by removing all the plastic straws, placing them behind the counter. Because I did not know this, and it really pisses me off that I just found out about this. Did you know that when you got one of those nasty, dissolving paper straws, they had the plastic straws behind the counter? All you had to do was ask, and they'd give you a plastic straw? Jerks. I did not know, and I'm so mad all the time. There's a solid reason for that.
01:01:13
Speaker
anyway so they they replaced the plastic shots with these dissolving cardboard pieces of crap 40 year old Daniel entered the McDonald's in st. Petersburg and I don't know but I feel like I'm gonna be with Daniel on this one if he got a paper straw well he was enraged I'm sorry that's not funny yo well you don't know the rest of it
01:01:33
Speaker
So he began to berate little Yasmin behind the counter about this whole straw situation. Right. Completely her fault. This random $7 an hour paying job. Little high school girl. Then he placed hands upon her. OK. And grabbed her across the counter like by the shirt and pulled her over as he's screaming in her face. I'll say it for the record. Faith struck me again. Well, Yasmin was having none of that and started punching him back as hard as she could in the face. Yeah, girl.
01:02:02
Speaker
Later, uh, old Daniel Willis Taylor said, um, well, she as means that she didn't have any control of her body. She was scared. All she knew is the strange man was grabbing her and she did not know his intentions. Solid point.
01:02:17
Speaker
Um, it came out later that surprise, surprise Taylor was drunk. He doesn't remember most of this altercation, but when he talked to the news, he said, he just remember she kept hitting me and I kept thinking that doesn't hurt. That doesn't hurt. That doesn't hurt. And that's what he said on the news. Luckily there was Patriot patrons there that videotape the whole dang thing and you can watch it on YouTube. Yes. What's up.
01:02:40
Speaker
So there's Florida man number one, Daniel Taylor Willis and the McDonald's straw incident. All right. So first story meant nothing. It was just a funny story that she wanted to talk about cause she likes pickled sausage. I saw it's funny. They gave him an awfully money. All right. That is second. Okay. All right. Josh Wayne Holloman. Okay. In 2014,
01:03:04
Speaker
Police in Daytona Beach, Florida received a call around 3 a.m. that there's a possible burglary happening in the neighborhood. This man was sitting outside a surf shop when he heard a weird snorting and rattling noise coming from nearby. And he thought someone was trying to rob the joint. So police came out to look. They had a police dog with them. The dog led the officers to a nearby convenience store, which is a gas station, where they found Holloman walking along the roof of the store.
01:03:35
Speaker
Officers yelled for Josh to come down from the rooftop, which he ignored. He did later state that he actually heard the police officers command him come down, but he wanted the dog to find him. So he just stayed up there. Good idea. That's a great idea. When the police got a good look at Holloman, they noticed that his face was entirely covered in black roofing tar. But Holloman had a very good reason why he was up there and why this stuff was on his face.
01:04:04
Speaker
had nothing to do with him being incognito for burglary. He was really drunk. And number one, he told them he was there to meet with his family.
01:04:17
Speaker
When police didn't believe that he quickly changed and said actually I was walking by and the AC was making this really weird noise and Don't you know? I'm an AC repairman So I was doing the neighborly thing and climbed up here to help this local business owner without his knowledge or payment But I was just doing a good deed. That's why I'm up here
01:04:38
Speaker
The third thing he told the police officers, he was simply sleeping on that roof and rubbed the tar on his body as camouflage. And my personal favorite, he wanted to put tar on himself so he could wash it off in the ocean like a spa day.
01:04:55
Speaker
Tar. Tar. It's like your face. I'm like. I'm thinking like I'm thinking about like like back back when the way back machine day. Right. Where they used to tar and feather people. I think about that kind of tar. This is this is this is Florida men cases. So. Yeah, I'm sorry. But dude was on something. Oh. OK. And it had to have been something good. Are you ready for the next one?
01:05:23
Speaker
This is the story of Gary Van Weissreich, which I might have pronounced for weird, but whatever. We are in August 2019. It's important to stress that fact. Yeah, because it was three years ago. In August 2019, a man who has not been named,
01:05:43
Speaker
was looking on the internet for someone with a specific set of skills and found Gary Van Rice White, a 74 year old man who was an expert in this area. Giving, nevermind. We're not there yet. Gary had a little fetish, you see, with the act of castrations. Oh Lord. However, he was not a medical professional. Why did I kind of feel like it had something to do? So the Sebring,
01:06:13
Speaker
Florida Police Department responded to a 911 hang-up call that was received from Gary's house. So they went to Gary's house and knocked on the door. Gary himself was there to greet the police when they knocked and did inform him that he'd actually just performed a castration on a man there in his home that they were at. So the police
01:06:35
Speaker
go to see the patient, who is located in Gary's guest room, which he transformed into a somewhat makeshift surgical room with some medical equipment inside. This man is holding a bloody towel to his groin, and on the bedside table sitting right next to him is a jar containing his testicles. Yep. And for the pain, there's gotta be pain in this type of procedure, right? Well. I was just in here thinking like, how is the guy not screaming?
01:07:04
Speaker
Don't you worry about paid Gary had some pain meds that he picked up on his trip to England while on vacation. And that's what he gave the guy while he dropped his Nards. Yeah. All right. The patient was quickly flown for immediate surgery to the Tampa hospital for the trauma and correction needed. Gary told the cops he met the patient on the dark web for a website for those who were interested in the unique lifestyle.
01:07:31
Speaker
They wanted to be eunuchs, where you don't have any testicles. Just a side note, and I know what a eunuch is. Just a side note, Gary had no medical training whatsoever. Like he was never a CNA. He was never a nurse. He had never even worked as a janitor in a medical facility. He just had a fascination with castrations and a passion for it. And he even removed his own right testicle with no issue back in 2012.
01:07:58
Speaker
Gary was arrested for participating in medical medicine without license and bodily injury, which is a felony. Oh, on to the next. These are Florida, man. You know, there is no logic. There is no reason. They're just fun, true crime stories. And this was going to be my whole my whole day. But you should have you should have done this all day. Yeah, I am so.
01:08:25
Speaker
I don't really know how to respond. Well, we got a few more stories. No, no, no, no. No, no. We need to talk about the ball decapitation that just happened. All right. Jose Bernardo Rosa Madrigal. In 2017. Can you say his last name for me? Madrigal. Thank you. Not to be confused with the magical madrigals of Nkantu.
01:08:53
Speaker
All right, in 2017, Jose and his girlfriend were a year into their blissful, love fest relationship, on Jose's part. But his girlfriend, Miss Scott, did inform Jose that she just needed some space. She's not breaking up, mind you, she just needs some space. I have my own personal feeling that this guy's a little smothering.
01:09:18
Speaker
But her father, James Scott, he needed a hobby. Her father, James Scott, described him as controlling in an interview with the Daily Bees, which, you know, might be why she needed a break. But neither here nor there. Shortly after this, Miss Scott, the girlfriend, started receiving several Snapchat messages that they were going to burn down her house.
01:09:43
Speaker
Oh, wow. That's that's drastic. Then she started getting death threats coming in from a Snapchat same time from anonymous user that definitely was not Jose. Yeah, definitely not. The day after Thanksgiving, the Scott family, all four or five of them were at the house when it became engulfed in flames.
01:10:02
Speaker
James would let his state into the reporters. We were very lucky as the house avoided most of the damage was done to the yard that
Unusual Crimes in Florida
01:10:11
Speaker
burned. I thank God because God was on our side. We caught it in time before anything could blow up. If it had been five or 10 minutes more before they got the fire in control, the car would have blown up. My house would have been on fire and it would have killed us all. This was a well planned out attack as the perpetrator
01:10:31
Speaker
took the time in the fence across from Ms. Scott's window to draw a heart with lighter fluid. So there's a burning heart. When the investigators questioned Jose, he told them absolutely it was not him, he was at his mother's house.
01:10:53
Speaker
was a quote unquote random black man. Well how you know who what random anybody it was if you weren't there, my friend. Oh man. Um, but Jose was caught on several neighborhoods, um, surveillance systems and ring cameras. And actually the day before he had googled on his home computer how to burn down a house. Oh my God. Okay. So it was everybody was fine. No, it wasn't.
01:11:20
Speaker
Jose would never. I've got two more Florida stories for you. Esteban Diaz Acosta. Esteban. In 2013, Highway Florida Patrol received an alert that a tractor trailer had been hijacked on the interstate. Police were able to quickly locate this truck because, you know, we're in 2013 and it had GPS on it and be able to stop it at the turnpike near Tarmac.
01:11:49
Speaker
Um, what was confusing about this is this truck was a Campbell's soup truck. A Costa. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It was a Campbell's soup truck. That's what they, that's what they hijacked. A Campbell's soup truck.
01:12:08
Speaker
So when the police came up, Acosta stayed in his driver's seat, and he did have a passenger, a black male wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt, leapt out of the truck, jumped over a concrete wall, and was able to escape arrest. According to Acosta, this man's name was Pepe.
01:12:32
Speaker
And he hired Acosta a week before when they met. Why did you have to say it like that? It's not Pepe, guys. It's Pepe. It's Pepe. So he met Pepe the week before when Pepe hired Acosta to hijack this truck. All right. Acosta was charged with Grand Theft Auto.
01:12:52
Speaker
because the truck itself is like, you know, everything to go together was 350,000. However, 75,000 of that was just cans of soup. OK. A lot of soup. I hope it was chicken noodle. Why do you need that many cans of Campbell's soup?
01:13:07
Speaker
Why did he get $75,000 worth of soup? What are you gonna do with that, sell it on the black market? To the UNIX Society? The UNIX Society? I don't know why you would need that much soup! Why do people with no balls need Campbell's Soup, bae? I don't know!
01:13:22
Speaker
Anyway, that is the super time bedtime. OK, all right. I got one more one. I am almost positive you've heard of this story. All right. All right. This happened in May 26, 2012. This one is not funny. It's funny. Oh, Rudy Eugene is a 40 year old man living in Miami with his girlfriend. That morning, he woke up around 530.
01:13:49
Speaker
Kisses girlfriend goodbye and went to Urban Beach Week, which is like this huge music festival on the beach, right? Yes. When driving back to Miami, his car broke down at some point. We're not sure how long he sat in the car. Unknown amount of time. He didn't call anyone for help. We're in 2012, so cell phones are a thing, right?
01:14:12
Speaker
But instead, he just grabbed his Bible and started walking. I really hate that he had a Bible with him. I'm just going to throw that out there. OK. At some point, he starts walking. So he's he walked total three miles. Down the causeway, which is like a big interstate type of deal, like a Pellissippi Parkway. Yes. OK. At some point in this three mile walk, he started removing his clothes. OK. Well, yeah, it's hot. It's Miami, right, guys? Come on.
01:14:40
Speaker
Well, he kept removing his clothes. Yeah, I figured as much. Until he was butt naked. There you go. But it wasn't a eunuch. Walking down the causeway and nobody had a problem with this. Everyone's just like, cool, naked man. Hi, Slong. No one called the police at this point. OK. He just, you know, walking naked. While walking, Rudy passes a homeless man, a 60-year-old named Ronald.
01:15:09
Speaker
Um, after when they talked to Ronald, they said at first Rudy, like just kind of started talking to him. Ask him if he had any weed. Did he know where to get any weed? Then Rudy got a little agitated and told Ronald he stole his Bible, which Ronald did not. Rudy showed up naked with nothing on him. So, OK, now wait. Hold on. I thought the naked dude had the Bible.
01:15:37
Speaker
He dropped it at some point with his clothes, I'm assuming. Oh, and the homeless guy found it. OK. No, no, no. The naked guy found the homeless man. Right. And at first is at like, do you know, do you have weed? Do you know where to get weed? And then all of a sudden gets agitated and is like accusing him of stealing his Bible. Right. OK, because that was OK. All right. Ronald doesn't know what's going on. Rudy then attacked Ronald, tackling him to the ground, stripping him of his clothes and starts to eat his face.
01:16:07
Speaker
What? What? Yep, the attack started at 155 and a bicyclist passing by heard these guttural screams and looked under this like overpass underneath and said he just sees a naked man with an extra pair of legs sticking out. This guy's like hunched over and like frantic and he's seeing blood pool. So he calls 911.
01:16:34
Speaker
It took 911 15 minutes to get there. Golly, 15 minutes. I mean, it's my I know that I know, dude, but he was eating the guy's face. Yeah, by the time they got there, he's literally chewing off pieces of this guy's face. Officer Ramirez was the first one on the scene and called for Rudy to stop.
01:16:58
Speaker
The bicyclist is still there and when he gave his interview, he said that Rudy turned around with blood all over his face, pieces of flesh hanging out his mouth and growled at them and went right back to eating this guy's face. And Officer Ramirez shot Rudy, which did nothing. He literally continued to eat this guy's face.
01:17:24
Speaker
Three shots later, Rudy finally stops the attack because he's dead. And Ronald, literally, his nose is missing. He's missing an eye. I've got a picture of the aftermath. You don't want to see it. They named this guy the Miami Zombie or the Causeway Cannibal. They thought he was on bath salts. Do you remember that? Yes. Yes.
01:17:53
Speaker
So I remember this case, like I remember the bath salt craze of 2012. Yeah. Them talking about all this stuff. Well, when they did a toxicology report on Ronald. There was only small traces of marijuana in his system. There was no bath salts. I don't remember them ever correcting that it wasn't bath salts. It was this big, huge thing about bath salts. So literally nobody knows why he legitimately ate this guy's face.
01:18:23
Speaker
The theories out there are the bath salt which has been disproved by the toxicology report. Heat stroke because he sat in the car and then walked three miles. A psychotic break. Ding, ding, ding. His girlfriend did offer a fourth theory that someone put a voodoo curse on him.
01:18:45
Speaker
And that's why he did this. OK. The hospital where Ronald was treated, he actually still lives at. They allow him to live there because he was a homeless man. And he is. I mean, he's legitimately missing half his face. Right. He's completely disfigured. And the sad thing is, like, I mean, there's not a lot known about Ronald.
01:19:05
Speaker
Ronald was from New York and the guy was like, apparently a genius. Like he got into like this insanely competitive high school, private prep school, like tested out of everything, got a girl pregnant. She had a baby girl and he just was never like, he pieced out and was never heard of again. His daughter actually hired a PI a few years before this attack. And because of this attack, because it was, I mean, it was national news. Everybody talked about this case.
01:19:36
Speaker
Um, they found him, but at that point his family and his daughter won nothing to do with him. Yeah. And he wants nothing to do with them. Like he's still alive in this hospital. They allow him to live at this rehab. Um, because I mean, he can't go, he can't be homeless. He can. He's missing half his face.
01:19:56
Speaker
Um, so he lives there. He's learned to play the guitar, but that is the probably worst Florida man story ever. Um, but those are my Florida man stories. And I've got a various Florida man mug shots and photos and whoever without cheating correctly identifies the picture.
01:20:16
Speaker
with the Florida man story that I told, I will send a price to you after you.
Listener Engagement and Contest
01:20:22
Speaker
You've got to, you've got to, whoever does it first on Facebook or Instagram sends me a message correctly. I will do that. And that's twisted tells underscore pod on the Instagram. Facebook is twisted tells true crime podcast, twisted tells us all together. Or you can send us an email at twisted tells true prime at gmail.com.
01:20:41
Speaker
And do I have to guess on Facebook? Oh, no, but I can show you the pictures of everybody if you'd like. I'm going to guess them and nobody can see anything. So who do you think that is? Let me go back in your notes real quick. Hold on. We got the Rudy Eugene Esteban Acosta, Jose Bernard Madrigal, Gary Van Wise, right? Joshua and Holloman.
01:21:09
Speaker
Daniel Willis Taylor, and those are all that I have. That's Daniel. You think that one's Daniel? I do. Well, you would be incorrect, my friend. That is Eugene. Eugene. That is the Florida cannibal. Who do you think this is? Hang on. We've got the McDonald's straw guy. We've got the tar guy.
01:21:39
Speaker
We've got the castration king. I feel like that's the castration king. That actually is poor Ronald. For his face was removed. That's you. That's trickery. I just wanted you to see what Ronald looks like. But that's trickery. You little man. Who do you think this is? Esteban. This is. Wait, hold on. Let me find the other guy. Jose. You are correct. That is Jose. Who do you think this gym is?
01:22:08
Speaker
That's Gary. That is Daniel Willis Taylor. Damn it. Mr. McDonald's anger management. I picture. I picture. I pictured him with like this giant beard. Do you think this is? That's got to be the catchphrase. This is the cast. That's the castration did. Do you think that is Acosta?
01:22:33
Speaker
This is Mr. Tarface. That. Oh, with the tar all over it. Damn it. I can't give it a quick glance. It looked like a tattoo. Maybe that is this sad, depressed man. Costa. That's the poor Campbell Soup guy. I suck at this game. Doesn't he just look like depressed and forlorn? I feel like I'm in jail because I saw seventy five thousand. Maybe he maybe he was just having like
01:23:02
Speaker
flashbacks of his youth where he watched the Campbell's commercials, and he's like oh, I just played in the snow. It wasn't his fault. And then pay. Talked him into it. Well, so clearly I lost. I get no prize. Nope. But you can get a prize. So just look on probably this will be aired on Thursday night. I'll probably post everything Friday morning.
01:23:27
Speaker
So whoever comes first, well, no matter how long it takes, we'll be waiting for feedback, because this is my way of forcing you people to correspond with us, so. Look at me being smart. I got a pepay mentality. I'm pepay. I just like saying pepay. Clearly. All right, guys. Hope you have a great summer. Thanks for tuning in, and we will talk to you again in a few days. Yeah, very soon. Y'all have a great night. Peace. Bye.