Ep 12 of 14: The Dead Man

Summary

CounterClock Podcast Summary
Episode 12 of 14: "The Dead Man"
Release Date: June 7, 2024
Host: Delia D'Ambra
Sponsor: Amica Insurance

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Introduction and Background

In Episode 12 of CounterClock titled "The Dead Man," investigative journalist Delia D'Ambra delves into the tangled web of corruption, crime, and unexplained deaths in Martin County, North Carolina, during the early 1990s. This episode re-examines a series of unresolved cases, aiming to uncover the sinister forces that may have led to the untimely deaths of several key individuals.

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The Wiggins Settlement and Larry Jones’ Death

The episode begins in early March 1993, two months after Larry Jones died in prison. A grand jury in Martin County concluded that the NCSBI agents responsible for the fatal shooting of Gene Wiggins, Larry’s hostage at the BB&T incident, were not criminally liable. Consequently, the agents were reinstated, and the agency settled with the Wiggins family for $250,000.

Narrator [00:XX]: "The $250,000 was two things. Compensation for the Wiggins loss and payment for them to just go away."

Delia highlights the settlement's potential implications, suggesting it may have been designed to prevent the Wiggins family from pursuing a wrongful death lawsuit, thereby shutting down further investigative avenues.

Larry Howell, Tremaine Howell's father, shares his anguish and enduring hope for answers regarding his son’s death.

Larry Howell [03:41]: "I just couldn't take him no more. I can't blame her and she can't blame me. I just thank God for the year that he let me have him to be a father to us. And pray that one day I would find out what really happened to my son."

The settlement coincided with the closure of multiple investigations, including those into the deaths of Nikki and Joyce Jean Wilson and Tremaine Howell, leading to the separation and eventual divorce of Larry and Denise Howell.

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Spanky’s Mysterious Death

The narrative shifts to the tragic story of Spanky, a young man whose life unraveled amidst the turmoil in Martin County. After enduring police harassment and a wrongful larceny conviction, Spanky managed to regain some stability upon his release in June 1994. However, his peace was short-lived.

On October 22, 1995, Spanky died in a car accident along with a teenage passenger. The Greenville Police Department (PD) reported that Spanky was involved in a car chase after triggering a silent alarm at a local car dealership. The chase ended when Spanky lost control of his vehicle, leading to a fatal crash.

Lynette Brown [06:47]: "He turned the music up in the car and it set out the silent alarm in the building of the car dealership. From what I was told, they followed him and when they fought him, they began to chase him."

Despite surviving the crash, the young passenger perished instantly, and Spanky succumbed to his injuries hours later. His family was not promptly informed, adding to the tragedy.

Brandi Bucote [07:52]: "I feel like he was so terrified. His last hours with no family, nobody, and he was suffering. He suffered. He was scared."

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Suspicions of Police Conspiracy

Spanky’s family, particularly his adoptive mother Lynette Brown and daughter Brandi Bucote, suspected foul play. They questioned the aggressive police pursuit, believing it was a deliberate attempt to silences someone who knew too much.

Brandi Bucote [09:30]: "They ran him off the road. It was a setup. They didn't call his family. He was alone. Like they didn't want nobody to communicate with him."

Delia explores the possibility of a conspiracy involving corrupt officers from Williamston PD moving to Greenville PD, though her investigation hits a dead end due to uncooperative local administrations withholding personnel records.

Brandi Bucote [10:10]: "Yes. That's why he didn't stop. That's why he wouldn't stop. He knew that that was gonna be his last road, his last ride."

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The Drug Underworld and Corruption

Delia connects these events to a broader narrative of drug-related corruption and organized crime in Martin County. Larry Howell provides insight into the powerful drug dealers of the time and their connections with influential, corrupt law enforcement officers.

Larry Howell [12:54]: "Zeke used to be a big time drug dealer. He knew the whites who were here in town, the big people in Williams who were hooked up in the druid. They used to have here, what you call the big team. And the big ten controlled everything."

This systemic corruption allowed drug lords like Ezekiel Brown to operate with impunity, manipulating legal outcomes to remain on the streets despite their criminal activities.

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Insights from Richard Smith

Delia reaches out to Richard Smith, an inmate serving a life sentence for first-degree murder at Nash Correctional Institution. Richard offers a firsthand perspective on the rampant corruption within Martin County’s law enforcement and its ties to the drug trade.

Richard Smith [19:32]: "It was a whole lot of cooking stuff going on back then with police and everything. A lot of them was crooked cops. They taking drug dealers money and stuff like that."

Richard details how police officers would accept bribes and manipulate legal processes, preventing drug dealers from facing real consequences.

Richard Smith [16:12]: "Raised me, taught me how to survive... The drugs seemed like that's where the money was at... everybody was making money."

He also recounts the influx of drugs from New York via a tanker ship on the Roanoke River, indicating a larger network of drug distribution.

Richard Smith [20:10]: "They was getting ass from New York... a tanker ship would always come up on the dock down there."

Moreover, Richard speculates on the possible involvement of corrupt officers in the deaths of Tremaine, Nikki, and Joyce Jean, suggesting these youths might have witnessed illicit activities connected to the drug trade.

Richard Smith [21:25]: "I think Jerry beach knew the answer to the question, and that's why Jerry beach was killed. There's something fishy about the whole thing."

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Concluding Thoughts

Delia reflects on the unsettling pattern of unresolved deaths and the possibility of orchestrated efforts to silence witnesses or those who could expose deep-seated corruption. The convergence of drug trafficking, corrupt police officials, and unexplained deaths creates a dark backdrop against which Delia continues her investigation.

Narrator [10:24]: "At this point in my investigation, I'm convinced there's a reason for that. It no longer feels like coincidence."

The episode sets the stage for further exploration into the nexus of organized crime and law enforcement corruption, leaving listeners eager for the next installment of the series.

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Looking Ahead

In the upcoming Episode 13 titled "The Nexus," Delia D'Ambra promises to delve deeper into the interconnected web of crime and corruption, seeking answers from sources embedded within these illicit networks.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Larry Howell [03:41]: "I just thank God for the year that he let me have him to be a father to us. And pray that one day I would find out what really happened to my son."

• Brandi Bucote [07:52]: "I feel like he was so terrified. His last hours with no family, nobody, and he was suffering. He suffered. He was scared."

• Brandi Bucote [09:30]: "They ran him off the road. It was a setup. They didn't call his family. He was alone. Like they didn't want nobody to communicate with him."

• Larry Howell [12:54]: "Zeke used to be a big time drug dealer... And the big ten controlled everything."

• Richard Smith [19:32]: "A lot of them was crooked cops. They taking drug dealers money and stuff like that."

• Richard Smith [21:25]: "I think Jerry beach knew the answer to the question, and that's why Jerry beach was killed. There's something fishy about the whole thing."

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This comprehensive summary encapsulates the critical discussions and revelations of Episode 12, providing listeners with a clear understanding of the complex and dark history Delia D'Ambra uncovers in Martin County.

Transcript

[Narrator]

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[Larry Howell]

All this stuff that I was me and his mother going to what killed me, dear. And after he left, after he was cured, I just. I just. I just couldn't take him no more. I can't blame her and she can't blame me. I just thank God for the year that he let me have him to be a father to us. And pray that one day I would find out what really happened to my son.

[Narrator]

Another person whose life was slowly unraveling was Spanky. He'd seen the news. He knew Sheriff Jerry beach had been murdered. He learned about Larry Jones untimely death while awaiting trial. Spanky's adoptive mother, Lynette Brown and her daughter Brandi Bucote said after both of those things occurred, Spanky was ready to get out of Martin county for good. His fear and anxiety were at an all time high because according to Brandi and Lynette, he felt there were specific office in Williamston who had it out for him.

[Brandi Bucote]

They had been watching him. They tried to stop him in traffic, trying to just get him on anything. He knew his time was borrowed. He knew it because of what he knew. He was a living testimony and they needed him gone to complete with killing everybody involved in that day that knew what they did.

[Narrator]

According to Brandi, Spanky managed for several months despite getting stopped by the cops a few times to avoid getting any charges laid against him. Until one day his luck ran out. He was arrested for larceny of a motor vehicle, a crime he was ultimately convicted for. In September 1993, he spent nine months in a prison in western North Carolina, then got out in June of 1994. Immediately following his release, Brandi and Lynette sent Spanky to live with friends in Greenville, North Carolina, which was about 40 minutes away from Williamston. Everyone agreed that a change of scenery Would be good for him for a while. Things improved, Brandi said. Spanky got a job, started seeing a new girlfriend, and didn't have any problems with the law. Then on Sunday, October 22, 1995, something terrible happened. Spanky unexpectedly died. According to a Greenville PD accident report, he and two of his friends were involved in a car accident that killed both Spanky and one of his passengers. The saga of events that led up to the crash began when Greenville police officers received a call that someone had triggered a silent alarm inside a popular car dealership on one of the city's main roads. Units throughout the city were told to be on the lookout for a dark colored sedan with several black young adults inside it. According to Lynette Brown, Spanky and his friends were responsible for triggering the silent alarm, but not for the reasons you might think.

[Lynette Brown]

He turned the music up in the car and it set out the silent alarm in the building of the car dealership. From what I was told, they followed him and when they fought him, they began to chase him.

[Narrator]

The Greenville police report is very slim on info, but it does explain that the chase escalated quickly and within a matter of minutes, it ended with Spanky crossing over a median, driving into oncoming traffic and swerving out of control into a tree. A teenage girl riding in his backseat was killed on impact. Spanky and the young man in his passenger seat were both severely injured but still alive. After the crash, EMTs transported them to a hospital in Greenville, where Spanky eventually passed away from his injuries. It wasn't until eight hours later that authorities got ahold of Lynette Brown and her daughter Brandi to tell them what had happened.

[Lynette Brown]

He was alive. We wasn't notified. We didn't get a chance to say goodbye. We could have said goodbye.

[Brandi Bucote]

I feel like he was so terrified. His last hours with no family, nobody, and he was suffering. He suffered. He was scared.

[Narrator]

Naturally. Lynette and Brandi wanted to know everything they could about the circumstances surrounding Spanky's death. Their first question was simple. Why had the officers pursued Spanky and his friends so aggressively? Lynette told me she ended up speaking with Greenville PD afterwards and learned that units had no real probable cause to pursue Spankie's car until after the chase began.

[Lynette Brown]

Dispatch called and told them that they could call it off at any time because the car wasn't stolen. They had ran the tags, the car wasn't stolen, and another police, a female police lady, crossed the media and head on to him on Memorial Drive and ran him off the road. And he Hit a tree.

[Narrator]

The only person who survived the crash was Spanky's male passenger, a 20 year old whose name is redacted from the police report. In 1995, Brandi and Lynette asked around to try and find out more about this guy, but all they ever learned was that he'd moved out of state right after the crash. After Spanky's death, Brandi became suspicious. She began to believe that what happened in Greenville was somehow part of a conspiracy orchestrated by police officers from Williamston to silence Spanky for good.

[Brandi Bucote]

They ran him off the road. It was a setup. They didn't call his family. He was alone. Like they didn't want nobody to communicate with him. Most definitely, before he passed on, they was there with him.

[Narrator]

Initially, I had a hard time believing Brandi's theory. It felt kind of far out there. But then she said something else interesting.

[Brandi Bucote]

The police from Martin county was. Summer was moved from Martin county to Pitt County.

[Narrator]

Some of the law enforcement individuals that Spanky would have been fearful of for good reason.

[Brandi Bucote]

Yes.

[Narrator]

Ended up working in the city and county that he went to live in.

[Brandi Bucote]

Yes. That's why he didn't stop. That's why he wouldn't stop. He knew that that was gonna be his last road, his last ride.

[Narrator]

I fact checked Brandi's claim that several of the cops who were involved in Spanky's crash transferred from Williamston PD to Greenville PD sometime before October 1995. But according to employee records for Williamston PD, Martin County Sheriff's Office, and Greenville PD, none of the officers listed in Spanky's crash report overlapped between the different agencies. Which means there's no proof supporting Brandi's claim. However, administrators for the city of Williamston would not give me rosters for all the police officers who were on the force between 1992 and 1995. If I had that, I could look for myself to see who left on what date. The city of Greenville also wouldn't give me its rosters, which would show who they hired between 1992 and 1995. By process of elimination, I could determine pretty quickly if there were any names that overlapped. But since that's not an option, that's where I hit a dead end. To me, Brandi's belief that Spanky's death was orchestrated by the same officers who he claimed to be afraid of in Williamston feels like a stretch. It's not impossible, but I just couldn't find enough proof that backs it up. If there's anyone out there who knows more Please contact me if you're the surviving passenger who walked away from that crash in Greenville in 1995, please reach out. I really want to hear from you. You can email [e-mail]. where I'm left with all this is having to accept an all too familiar reality. Everyone with the critical answers to all the cases I've been looking at, Doug Wag, the teenagers, Jerry Beach, Larry Jones, Spanky, they're all dead. At this point in my investigation, I'm convinced there's a reason for that. It no longer feels like coincidence. The fact is something sinister was happening in Williamston, North Carolina in the early 1990s. Who exactly was involved? I'm not sure. I believe based on the facts I've uncovered, that whatever was going on was rooted in drugs facilitated by corrupt cops and puppeteered by some well connected organized criminals. If you'll remember, Larry Howell, Tremaine Howell's father, talked about this when he was describing how drug dealers like Ezekiel Brown became so powerful in Williamsden in the 90s and they always seemed to skirt consequences for their crimes.

[Larry Howell]

Zeke used to be a big time drug dealer. He knew the whites who were here in town, the big people in Williams who were hooked up in the druid. They used to have here, what you call the big team. And the big ten controlled everything. And the big ten had a lot of big shot whites. And those boys knew them. They know they go to court, they knew what time they were going to get, they knew how much time they were going to get, they knew how much money they were going to have to pay out and they be back on the streets.

[Narrator]

Do you think Ezekiel Brown was one of those?

[Larry Howell]

Yeah, he was one of them.

[Narrator]

To learn more about the inner workings of the drug underworld in Martin County, I needed to find a source who had been on the inside. Someone who had nothing but time on his hands.

[Richard Smith]

This call is from Richard Smith, an.

[Lynette Brown]

Inmate at Nash Correctional Institution.

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[Narrator]

Last summer, I wrote a letter to a man named Richard Smith. He's currently serving a life sentence for first degree murder at Nash correctional institution in North Carolina, a facility about an hour west of Williamston. In 1996, Richard and three of his friends were convicted of murdering a well known general store owner in williamstown during a smash and grab robbery. Richard was the getaway driver, and to this day, he deeply regrets the crime.

[Richard Smith]

If I could change things and put that man back in his store, I would and make things right. But I realized, you know, I was always told a long time ago, never take something that you can't give back. If I took your car, I could give you a call back to you. But when you take somebody's life, you can't get that back.

[Narrator]

Before he got locked up in 1996, Richard sold drugs, committed robberies, and assaulted people in Martin county. His rap sheet is long, and by his own admission, he was not a good person. In the early 1990s, basically, the streets.

[Richard Smith]

Raised me, taught me how to survive, you know what I'm saying? The drugs seemed like that's where the money was at, you know, So I got caught up in the drug game and, you know, other things that I was doing in my life. That was the thing back then, selling drugs. I mean, everybody was making money.

[Narrator]

Coincidentally, he knew Spanky, but not super well.

[Richard Smith]

I used to go with one of his aunts. They're good people.

[Narrator]

Did you know if spanky was involved in the game at all, like if he was dealing drugs or buying drugs, anything like that?

[Richard Smith]

No, no, he was more like a. He was more like a kid. I mean, you know, I'm saying, you know, I'm pretty sure he was doing his thing, going around stealing cars and stuff like that. But I. I was going with his aunt, and I used to go over to his grandmama house and his aunts and them, his mama and stuff like that, you know, so I wouldn't even basically really affiliated myself around him because of how young he was.

[Narrator]

I'd wanted to write to Richard because during my investigation, his name had come up a few times. Folks like Andy holloman and Mike wells had listed him off along with other notable Figures in the drug dealing business in Martin county during the 90s. But what had really pushed me to put pen to paper and write Richard was an old arrest report I'd found from 1991 that listed him and a man named Guy Spruill as co defendants in an armed robbery. To refresh your memory, Guy Sproul was a convicted drug dealer from Williamston who was also co defendants in a cocaine distribution case with Ezekiel Brown. It's possible Guy might have been one of the two alleged drug dealers last seen with Doug Wag on the Friday night before he died in July 1991. Even though the identity of the men allegedly seen with Doug has never been confirmed by law enforcement or anyone else, I figured Richard might be able to tell me if Doug ever associated with Guy or Ezekiel or really anyone in the drug dealing business. Back in 1991, in my letter to Richard, I included one of the flyers Melissa, Doug's sister, had made with Doug's picture on it.

[Richard Smith]

He look familiar, but I can't picture him. I'm looking at his picture right now. He just looked familiar.

[Narrator]

It wasn't a solid no, but it also wasn't a promising yes. But since we were already on the phone, I figured I'd keep Richard talking just to see what else I could glean from him. As we talked, he told me some interesting things, none of which were about Doug, but a lot was about everything else in this story.

[Richard Smith]

You remember the time when them two girls and the boy got drowned in a run Oak River?

[Narrator]

Yep. Just like many people in Martin county in 1992, Richard had heard about the suspicious deaths of Tremaine Howell, Nikki Wilson and Joyce Jean Wilson. He'd also watched the BBT incident play out on the news. And he'd seen Jerry Beach's funeral parade through town. He also remembered reading about Larry Jones suicide. Even Richard couldn't help but wonder if people in his illegal line of work were colluding with corrupt members of law enforcement related to those deaths. He'd personally been arrested multiple times in Martin county for dealing drugs. And the more times he got locked up, the more he says he became aware that corruption was rampant in the small rural county.

[Richard Smith]

I mean, it was a whole lot of cooking stuff going on back then with police and everything. A lot of them was crooked cops. They taking drug dealers money and stuff like that. They weren't turning it in. They were taking drugs. One turning in.

[Narrator]

How did you know that?

[Richard Smith]

Because. Because when you go to court, you got money, you got dope, and you know what they took off of you, but you can't. You. You can't tell the judge, y'all, well, okay, they took off this amount of dope off of me or this amount of money off of me. If you try to beat the charge, if you try to say the dope don't belong to you or the money don't belong to you, so they get to keep the money. They ain't gonna turn all that money.

[Narrator]

In as a drug dealer. Richard says his cocaine supply came from a supplier just north of Williamston in Bertie county who got his stash from far out of state.

[Richard Smith]

They was getting ass from New York, you know what I'm saying? And I know that for a fact. I'm just gonna put it that way because I didn't took rides with him, you know what I'm saying?

[Narrator]

Yeah. So you had personal knowledge that significant amounts of drugs were coming from New York.

[Richard Smith]

Yeah.

[Narrator]

And that was during the early and mid-1990s.

[Richard Smith]

In the 90s, yeah.

[Narrator]

Once a year, Richard says, a large boat would appear on the Roanoke river at night. It carried the cocaine that would end up in the hands of his suppliers in nearby Bertie county, which he would later sell in Martin County. Remember, the distance between these two counties is just a thin, invisible line separated by the Roanoke River.

[Richard Smith]

I remember back in the days, right, a tanker ship would always come up on the dock down there. This old big red looking tanker ship.

[Narrator]

He personally believes Tremaine, Nikki and Joyce Jean might have witnessed something at the Walmart or the Roanoke river that got them killed.

[Richard Smith]

That's what I always believed when them kids was down on that river, they saw something that they wasn't supposed to see, and it cost them their life.

[Narrator]

Do you think that anyone in law enforcement was involved in what happened to those teenagers?

[Richard Smith]

I think Jerry beach knew the answer to the question, and that's why Jerry beach was killed. There's something fishy about the whole thing. Jerry beach knew that the police forces are crooked, and it was right, basically after them kids wound up getting killed. And I believe Jerry beach is about to expose them.

[Lynette Brown]

You have 30 seconds remaining.

[Richard Smith]

You had a gang out there in Williamston back then also.

[Narrator]

What gang?

[Richard Smith]

They picked the two who they did something to put it that way.

[Narrator]

Sorry, could you say that again for me?

[Richard Smith]

I said they pick and choose who they was messing with. You know what I'm saying? They ain't gonna just come at anybody. They were just. Just normal gang dudes. I mean, they dibbling and dabbling in drugs and stuff like that.

[Narrator]

This sounded like a group. I needed to find out more about.

[Richard Smith]

Certain people at that time. They wouldn't, they wouldn't even touching them. A lot of assault, a lot of theft, a lot of forgery. You could count on a certain number of homicides every year.

[Narrator]

But the only person who had the information I needed, Gospel, Gospel guy, he.

[Richard Smith]

Had, he had people everywhere that was selling for him.

[Narrator]

Wasn't going to be easy to find.

[Richard Smith]

I think the police down here somewhere. He was informing.

[Narrator]

That's coming up. Coming up on the next episode of Counterclock. Episode 13, the Nexus.

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