Kerry and Erika hope you loathe Richard Speck loathe as much as we do after listening to this story.  Our Illinois neighbors grew up knowing about him.  He grew up in Western Illinois and killed in Chicago and Monmouth.  We are calling him "Dick" for obvious reasons. 

The nurses he murdered were all young and beautiful ladies that were devoted to becoming nurses to help people. They were studying for finals, planning graduation, some were planning weddings to the love of their lives.  There was one survivor that is an inspiration. 

This one is brutal and disgusting at the end when we talk about his prison life. Just a warning.  It  is outweighed by the humanity that  still honors these nurses today. 

Most of the information is from the book The Crime of the Century, Life Magazine from July
1966 and a great documentary on Reelz called Murder made Me Famous. 

There is a little treat at the end for my FOTC fellow fans;) 

And pardon the heavy breathing, its allergy season here in central illinois as fall sets in and the harvest goes out. 

June and July have been chaos, but we wanted you to know we are still here.  Go for a little ride in the BTSC time machine to a summers night on Bebe's porch filing in Daisy on all the goings on in Villisca over the summer. At first everyone was convinced that it was an intruder, an maniac from out of town who killed the Moore family, but was it? Bebe and Daisy gossip about the local suspects. 

We added a little blooper at the end. 

Oh ya! We also went out looking for escaped convicts. Don't try that at home. 

This episode is to review some of the symbolism and ponder the reasoning why some of the bizarre elements of the crime scene. The suspect was from England and came to America with his wife, Laura. He became a traveling minister. His picture looks sinister and so was his character. But could this little peeping Tom wield and axe and kill two adults and six children? If not, then how did he discuss the murder with fellow train passengers on the morning train before the bodies were discovered? 

Part One covers the background information and the night of the murder of the Moore family and two young friends in 1912 in Villisca , Iowa. 

On the evening of June 12, 1912  the family and two guests returned home from a church program. After they were tucked in and asleep, someone snuck into the house, or perhaps from the attic closet, and killed Josaih B. Moore, his wife Sarah, and three children, Mary Katherine, Arthur, and Paul. The guest were the Stillinger sisters, Ina and Lena. No robbery, and no clear motive. Listen to this so you can pick your suspect or suspects out of many in Part 2. This is one of the most horrific unsolved murders in Iowa and the midwest. 

True Crime shows and podcasts are flooded with the big murders like Bundy, Gacy, and Speck, but why are  the crimes that happen in our communities  less known? We are telling two stories that are local in McDonough and Fulton County, IL and has primarily relied on word of mouth. Thanks to  a 1960's detective magazine, we are able to sort truth from fiction about these murders. The killer and con man named Barger took the lives of two innocent men in order to avoid payment and steal a pension.  His dapper charm was not enough to escape justice. Two counties worked together to easily solve this case and despite his appeal, he remained in jail until he died. 

On a summer evening on June 11, 2001, EIU student and member of the Zeta Alpha chapter of Alpha Phi ,Shannon McNamara, enjoyed hanging out with friends for a few drinks.  After everyone left and she was sleeping, a stranger entered her apartment and killed her in a brutal manner.  Murder was rare in this community, yet the year prior another woman was murdered. Amy Warner was murdered in her home where her two children were present. 

Shannon fought the murderer and his organized method of approaching violence became disorganized when he was surprised and found himself being attacked in return.  He made mistakes that would uncover this merging serial killer and stop him in his  path . While there was not enough evidence for Amy, yet, Shannon's murder had exposed him and a long history of violent sexual assaults, battery, trespassing, and other traits of a budding serial killer.  There was also pornography of women, children, and even animals on his computer.  He was brazen and hid in plain sight and watched chaos erupt from his apartment while people searched for a malicious killer in the college town. 

The defense attempted to pull on the heartstrings of the public and jury by telling about his childhood of abuse and neglect.  A drug given to the military to prevent malaria, Larium, was also questioned due to a discovery that military personnel who killed others and themselves seemed to be impacted by this drug.  They also tried to use his alcoholism and black outs to explain his actions. At the end of the day he was found to be culpable of these horrific crimes.  He was purely evil. 

These murders brought two inspiring families who supported one another to accomplish putting the killer, Anthony Mertz, away so he could not continue his rampage of assaulting young women. 

Grab a warm drink, light some candles, and wrap in your favorite blanket. Behind the Sugar Cane invites Crystal and Will to tell you a tale so scary that the next time you hear a bell you will scream. They have a wide range of experiences from demons in the closet to a ghost who cleans their house. Enjoy these well told tales.