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- [00:00]
A
When your team's curious and ready to grow, they do their best work and that changes everything. At CPT Nuggets, we've spent over 25 years making it. Training, engaging, hands on and fun expert led courses, virtual labs, real world skills your team can use right now. From networking to cloud to cybersecurity, we build skills and confidence that drive results. Believe in your team. Give them the tools to thrive. @cbtnuggets.com Solutions.
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B
If you're alignment in charge of keeping the lights on, Grainger understands that you go to great lengths and sometimes heights to ensure the power is always flowing.
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A
Which is why you can count on.
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B
Grainger for professional grade products and next day delivery so you have everything you need to get the job done. Call 1-800-GRAINGER, click granger.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done.
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C
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- [01:30]
A
Hey Crime Sound listeners.
- [01:32]
B
Hey.
- [01:32]
A
Before we get into today's episode, we wanted to take a quick moment here to share something exciting. If you're heading to CrimeCon next week, make sure to stop by our table and say hi. We would love to meet you. There's still some tickets left, I think, and honestly, it's just an event that you don't want to miss. So many incredible true crime speakers and other shows will be there too. And this year it's in Denver, Colorado, which we're just looking forward to going there in the first place and exploring.
- [02:01]
B
Yeah, I mean, I'm really excited too. I mean, Denver is going to be an adventure all in itself. And if you're coming, definitely come and find us. We love meeting listeners face to face. I mean, it makes this whole thing feel less like a podcast and more like a big community.
- [02:19]
A
Yeah, and while we're here, just a little update. We've been working on some changes behind the scenes. Ricky actually updated our whole website and it's running crimesaladpodcast.com, it's chugging along, barely.
- [02:32]
B
Running, but it's running.
- [02:33]
A
It's still it's still there.
- [02:34]
B
I built this thing from scratch and.
- [02:37]
A
Whoever was selling the domain for like $20,000 just like gave up.
- [02:41]
B
Yeah, they gave it back.
- [02:42]
A
We didn't pay that.
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B
Thank you.
- [02:43]
A
Now on there you will find our episodes, some really cool merch and a little more about our show. We also set up a newsletter so if you sign up, we'll occasionally send you updates and little extras.
- [02:55]
B
Yeah, we're not going to spam you, but check it out. It's Crime Salad podcast dot com.
- [03:01]
A
Yeah, we got it back.
- [03:03]
B
Also, we wanted to take the time to give a huge shout out to everyone who's been supporting us. Whether you're a Patreon member or you subscribe on Apple Podcasts, thank you so much. Every donation goes straight back into the show. That's researching, writing, all the tools that make this all possible. And if you're interested in ad free episodes, you can check out patreon.com crimesaladpodcast.
- [03:29]
A
Really, we just wanna say thank you. This show wouldn't exist without your support, your messages, the way you share Crime Salad with friends, it just means so much to us.
- [03:39]
B
Yeah, we seriously can't say it enough. Thank you guys for even being here. You know, listening to the show every week, like that means so much to us.
- [03:48]
A
It does. All right, with that, let's dive into what we promised last week. Today's story is about the Greensburg Six. And we can't just enter into this horrifying story without a warning. So today's episode does include descriptions of torture, assault, disturbing violence. And we know this content can be very difficult. So please take care of yourself and feel free to step away or skip this episode if you need to. I'm Ashley.
- [04:15]
B
And I'm Ricky.
- [04:16]
A
And this is crime salad. On February 11th of 2010, police in Greensburg, Pennsylvania received a frantic call that would lead them into one of the most horrifying cases the small city had ever seen. In the trash can behind a middle school, authorities discovered the lifeless body of 30 year old Jennifer Dougherty, a woman who had been missing for two days. But as investigators quickly uncover, Jennifer hadn't simply fallen victim to chance violence. She had been lured, held captive and brutally tortured for those two days.
- [04:55]
B
And I can't wrap my head around it. Like, who does something like this? Torture someone, strip away every bit of their dignity. And then to find out that this wasn't just one person, it was six.
- [05:09]
A
Six people. Jennifer was kind, she was trusting. She wanted a connection, she wanted to belong. And she fell into the orbit of People who exploited that vulnerability in the worst way imaginable. This case would soon be known across the country as the Greensburg Six. And today we're going to tell Jennifer's story. What led her into that apartment, what she endured, and how a community has struggled to make sense of a crime that was just so senseless and cruel ever since that day. Jennifer Lee Dougherty was 30 years old, living in Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania. She was described by her family as gentle and loving, someone who always wanted to fit in and be accepted. Her sister Joy said that she always wanted to be part of the group, no matter who that group was, and she saw the best in everyone. If someone was mean, she thought they were just having a bad day and she would be nice to them to try to make them happy. She loved wrestling, horror movies, and college football, and her mother described her as easygoing, and she loved to dance and sing. Jennifer had intellectual and developmental disabilities that made her more vulnerable than most. And according to her stepfather, she had the mental age of about 12 to 14. But it never stopped her from trying to live independently. She regularly took the bus from her home in Mount Pleasant to Greensburg, about 10 miles away, for counseling, doctor, and dental appointments, as well as to visit Westplace, a community center she joined that year. For other people like her, she aspired to be a chef and an auto mechanic and had the long term goal of living on her own one day with plans to move into an apartment in Scottsdale. But unfortunately, that goal would never be realized.
- [07:10]
B
And that says a lot about who Jennifer was. She had these dreams that a lot of people take for granted. Joyce said that Jennifer was excited to pick out curtains and dishes for her apartment. All she wanted was for Jennifer to have the life she deserved. And all of that was taken away from someone who was so full of light and kindness. I mean, how does this even happen?
- [07:33]
A
I know. And everything we'll talk about from here is honestly enraging. It's shocking and horrifying. Every word in the book that describes how awful this was. Jennifer's day went like any other. No one in her family had any indication that Jennifer was going to see such a tragic fate that day. On the morning of February 8th of 2010, Jennifer's family was getting ready to start their day. And according to Jennifer's sister Joy, Jennifer had asked her for a ride to the bus station so she could visit Greensburg for a doctor's appointment and to spend the night at her friend Peggy's house. But Joy said no. And she later said that it wasn't her proudest moment. Explaining it was a rough morning and I was irritated. Jennifer called later and left a voicemail and said that she was sorry and that she wanted to hug the weekend. I deleted that voicemail because she irritated me again. I never heard her voice again. Wow.
- [08:33]
B
And I mean, there's no way she could have known what was going to happen, but I'm just sure that has.
- [08:39]
A
To haunt her right now. Jennifer's stepfather, Bobby Murphy, he was the last family member to see her alive. He gave her $10 for the routine trip to Greensburg and drove her to the bus stop. Jennifer had left a note behind on the back of an envelope for her mother before she left the house that morning, which read, I hope that you will have a good day at work, and I also love you very much. I will talk to you sometime later. And when Bobby dropped her off, she kissed him on the cheek, told him that she loved him, and hopped on the bus. Bobby testified that he and his wife, Jennifer's mother, had expected Jennifer to be home the following day. But that didn't happen. According to Bobby, Jennifer was not present on the bus that she was scheduled to return home on that next Tuesday afternoon, February 9th. Maybe she had simply lost track of time. But as the hours were stretching into the evening, concern started to grow into fear. Over the next two days, Jennifer's family that kept calling her cell phone. But upon one of those calls, instead of Jennifer's usual voicemail, they were met with something deeply unsettling. The outgoing message had been changed. This was jarring. And it led Jennifer's family to believe that someone had stolen her phone and she was stranded in Greensburg with no way to call them.
- [10:04]
B
And what makes this so terrifying is that Joyce said she wasn't even sure if Jennifer knew their numbers in case she had to make a phone call from somebody else's phone.
- [10:15]
A
Right. So they were thinking they had to go into Greensburg and start looking for her.
- [10:18]
B
Yeah, they had to do the legwork themself.
- [10:21]
A
Now, for Jennifer's family, this was the moment that their worst fears started to feel real. Jennifer did leave her friend Peggy's phone number behind, and I can only assume that the family called that number as well, and they didn't get any responses. By the morning of Thursday, February 11, joy she was ready to go to Greensburg to look for Jennifer at her normal places that she would visit with Peggy. They loved to walk around town and go to concerts in the park so Jennifer could be anywhere. Meanwhile, a service worker at greensburg salem middle school Walked out to his truck that morning, and he noticed a garbage can underneath his truck. Since there had been a pretty big snowstorm the night before, the worker figured that the wind had blown it there. So he moved it, Noticing that the garbage can was quite heavy and. And the lid popped off. And what he saw horrified him. He immediately called authorities, and the police arrived at the scene. They opened the garbage can to find exactly what the worker had feared. A woman's lifeless body wrapped in plastic, Bound with christmas lights and garland. It was immediately clear to them that the manner of death was homicide.
- [11:36]
B
So christmas lights and garland, like, what a weird mix. And right away, you know, this isn't your average homicide. And to make it even stranger, because the snowstorm was so bad, the police didn't remove her from the can. They actually hauled the entire trash can, body, and all back to the station for the autopsy.
- [11:56]
A
Right. The snowstorm, it had been so intense, and officers, they wanted to get this figured out as soon as possible, but the first thing they had to do was identify this woman. So while the state police processed the crime scene, the greensburg local police pleaded with the public for help, and they went door to door to try to figure out who the victim was. This is when joy received a phone call from Jennifer's mother, Telling her that a girl had been found in greensburg. Initially thinking that Jennifer was simply stranded at Peggy's apartment With no phone, Joy didn't think that there was any possibility it could be Jennifer. But as her thoughts began to eat at her, she decided to call the state police, who directed her to the greensburg station, who sent her a picture of the woman inside the trash can.
- [12:46]
B
And this is where it gets wild. This is 2010. The lead investigator said that he had a flip phone at the time. So joy's looking at this tiny, grainy photo of a beaten woman, Trying to figure out if this is her sister. In the details that stood out most, the girl didn't have any hair. That's the first real sign that if this was Jennifer, Something really, really awful happened.
- [13:13]
A
Right. And can I just say how wild it is that the police were just sending civilian photos of what obviously is a tortured and murdered woman. Joy said that the face was swollen, black and blue and bloody, and in the photo, there was a cut across her neck. Joy was convinced it wasn't her, but she just couldn't be 100% sure. So she went down to the greensburg station to see the body in person. And at that point, the family Knew that this woman in the trash can was Jennifer Dougherty. As the family went home to process what had just happened, Detectives continued working on the crime scene to collect evidence and find any leads. To. Near the middle school in a residential area, they had found a pile of garbage bags with no snow on them. Now, according to the lead detective, Jerry Vernell, they thought that this spot must be the home of the trash can that was used to conceal Jennifer's body. As these bags had obviously been removed from a trash can, so they decided to take the garbage and examine it in an attempt to find out whose garbage it was.
- [14:21]
B
And when you think about it, that is some really sharp detective work. They noticed a pile of garbage bags without snow and thought maybe this is from the trash can where Jennifer was stuffed. I mean, that's the kind of details that really crack cases wide open.
- [14:37]
A
Yeah, the attention to detail there is just spot on. So Jerry Vernell and his colleagues, they called for a police car to come and collect the garbage bags for examination. And while they were waiting, they saw two individuals walking up to the home where these garbage bags were. And detective Vernell recognized one of these individuals as Ricky Smarns, someone he had dealt with many times before. So Jerry stopped to speak with him. Detective Vernell told Ricky that they were investigating a missing person's case and they were looking for Jennifer Doherty. Ricky, to the detective's surprise, said that he knew Jennifer and that she had stayed at the apartment that they were standing in front of on Monday night, and he hadn't seen her since then. Because of this admission, investigators immediately obtained a search warrant for the apartment.
- [15:29]
B
And at that point, it's like everything clicked by accident. The cops notice the trash bags, and then Ricky just happens to walk up and casually admits that Jennifer was there. And then all of a sudden, you have a search warrant, and everything just kind of unfolds from there.
- [15:46]
A
Yeah, and the things that they recovered in that apartment were absolutely crucial for this case. It gave a glimpse into the horrors that could have happened to Jennifer. They found a bloody crutch, an empty box of garbage bags with blood on it, a plastic bag with strands of hair in it, and numerous sharp objects in the attic. They found a box with most of Jennifer's belongings in it and a bloody knife, bloody clothing. All of it told the same story. Jennifer had been inside this apartment, and something extremely terrible had happened there.
- [16:20]
B
And what makes these findings even scarier is that Joy noticed Jennifer didn't have hair in that photo. And now police are finding strands of her hair stuffed in a bag. It's like each clue confirms this nightmare.
- [16:35]
A
Yeah, that really makes you question, you know, in Joy's perspective, what the hell happened to her sister. Mm. And because of all of these puzzle pieces that were very suspicious, Ricky was immediately brought in for questioning. While this was happening, Jennifer's family continued to call Peggy's phone number that Jennifer had left behind. And on the afternoon of February 11th, she finally answered. Peggy said that Jennifer had left her on Monday and she hadn't seen her over the past couple of days. But Joy was immediately suspicious of this story, saying in later interviews that she knew Peggy knew more than what she was explaining in this phone call. So now we can assume that Peggy is one of these so called Greensburg six, because investigators came to find out from their discussion with Ricky that he shared this apartment with Peggy. So this was the apartment that Jennifer told her family she was going to stay at on February 9th. That means that we already have a contradiction.
- [17:36]
B
Yeah, exactly. I mean, Ricky says Jennifer was there Tuesday night, but Peggy says she left Monday.
- [17:42]
A
Exactly.
- [17:43]
B
Somebody's lying.
- [17:44]
A
And investigators will come to find out that Peggy and Ricky, they did share this apartment, but they weren't the only two that were staying there. Ricky's friend Angela Marinucci, who was with him when they encountered detectives outside the apartment, was staying there as well. And on top of that, Ricky Smirns had invited his two other acquaintances, Melvin Knight and Amber Meidinger, to stay there on February 8, since they had been homeless around that time. Finally, Peggy had met a man online, Robert Masters, and she invited him to come to Greensburg from Michigan and to stay with them as well. So six people were living in this apartment together. The people that would later become known as the Greensburg Six.
- [18:27]
B
Yeah. So six people crammed into one apartment. Jennifer just walks right in, and she thinks she's with these friends. I mean, she never stood a chance. So it makes me wonder, is Peggy the leader of all of this? I mean, Jennifer told her family that she was going to stay at Peggy's house, and then when she got there, she was encountered by much more than just Peggy. So it seems like Peggy was Jennifer's connection to everyone else in this apartment.
- [18:55]
A
Well, not necessarily. So, as we mentioned before, Jennifer had become involved with a community center in Greensburg that year and had met both Peggy and Angela there. Through them, Jennifer had become acquainted with Ricky Smarns and had taken a liking to him. According to Joy, Jennifer had been talking to Ricky romantically in recent weeks and. And had some kind of relationship with him. So it's confirmed that Jennifer was at least good friends with three of the people in this apartment.
- [19:26]
B
Okay, so this wasn't some random abduction. These were people that Jennifer trusted. I mean, people that she thought cared about her. And that, to me, makes it so much worse.
- [19:38]
A
Right. Why turn onto someone who trusted you, who clearly just wanted to belong? It just makes no sense. Jennifer, she wanted to fit into any group, like we said, no matter what it was. Jennifer, she just had this kind heart. You know, she saw the good in everyone. And what happened to her is just so messed up.
- [19:55]
B
Exactly. And this is what Jennifer's family was trying to wrap their heads around. Why would Jennifer's friends do this to her? And to find that out, we have to go back to Ricky's interview following the search warrant.
- [20:08]
A
Right. So detectives, they interviewed him and recorded a 62 minute taped confession in which Smirns admitted to cutting Jennifer's wrists, helping dispose of her body, and cleaning up the crime scene, Though he denied delivering any fatal wounds himself. And one of the key interrogations that followed was Amber Meidinger, where she revealed a positive motive for the horrors that took place starting on February 9th. According to her, the group's dynamic intensified based on a love triangle between Jennifer, Ricky Smarns, and Angela Marinucci. According to her, the group's dynamic intensified based on a love triangle between Jennifer, Ricky Smarns, and Angela Marinucci, who, by the way, was a senior in high school at the time.
- [20:57]
B
What the hell?
- [20:59]
A
According to Detective Vernell, Angela was absolutely smitten with Ricky and Jennifer was getting in the way. And that's how the plan to lure her to the apartment began. Now, from there, there's very limited public information available about the police interviews with these six people who were in this apartment. Aside from what later emerged during court proceedings from the sources we have, most interview content came into the public domain through trial testimony and court reporting. So we'll get into those details a little later. But what lead detective Vernell did say was that according to them, they had called a family meeting and had decided to bring her to the apartment to basically humiliate her. They cut her hair, poured nail polish on her, and began hitting her in the head with a plastic soda bottle. And from there, mob mentality took over. After a day and a half of torturing and sexually assaulting Jennifer, the six gathered for another family meeting and had come to the conclusion that if they let Jennifer go, that she would report it to the police and they would be held responsible. At that moment, they decided that Jennifer couldn't leave the apartment alive.
- [22:17]
B
They were holding family meetings, like this was some type of game show. Right. They were trying to make this, this decision together. Like, of course she's going to go to the police. Like you did something horrible.
- [22:29]
A
Yeah. So screwed up. I mean, these were her so called friends, people that she cared about. And they were just sitting in front of her making decisions about how to torture her and basically kill her so.
- [22:40]
B
A former tenant could collect their things.
- [22:43]
A
Right. Jennifer was actually hidden in the attic during this time.
- [22:48]
B
It's like something out of a movie.
- [22:50]
A
Yeah. This was their chance to come clean and take ownership for what they did. But instead they decided that she needed to die. It's completely disgusting.
- [23:00]
B
Yeah. That's why they need like the worst punishment possible.
- [23:04]
A
And this is also extremely devastating, as you can imagine, to Jennifer's family. Joy recalled in an interview getting a phone call from the district attorney on February 12, the day after Jennifer's body was found. And the attorney informed Joy that arrests had been made in connection to Jennifer's killing. And she asked her to get out a piece of paper and a pen to write down both the names and the dates of birth of those who were arrested. Confused, Joy did so, and she listened in horror as the district attorney read out the six names of the people who were all responsible for Jennifer's death. She couldn't believe that these people had all agreed to do this to her, let alone that Peggy, Angela and Ricky were involved. She said that the idea that six people could find each other and agree to do this just astonishes me. I can't get six people to commit to one place to go out to eat on a Friday night. I can't imagine six people making the decision to kill someone. So from here, detectives learned from the interviews that Ricky and Melvin were the ones who killed Jennifer in the bathroom of the apartment by stabbing her and cutting her neck with a knife. According to Jennifer's autopsy report, numerous injuries were uncovered, both offensive and defensive wounds as Jennifer tried to fight off what was happening to her. The injuries to her entire body made it clear that, according to a forensic detective, it had been a long process before she had died and that she had fought for a long time. Detective Vernell said it was the most horrific thing he had ever seen done to another human. They could have stopped over and over again, but they just didn't.
- [24:51]
B
And that's the crazy part to me, they had so many opportunities for just one of them to step up and say, stop what we're doing is wrong. But no one did in Melvin. He just moved in the day before, and somehow he had been convinced to kill a woman that he didn't even know in a bathroom. So how does that even happen? And we always have one person who pushes things further than everybody else. So who was really driving this? Because I doubt Melvin, Robert and Amber, people that didn't even know Jennifer were the ones that came up with this plan. But somehow they were convinced to do this. And even though we don't know what happened, it still doesn't really seem clear.
- [25:35]
A
You're exactly right. And the surrounding community was outraged at this whole situation. The court proceedings were used as a way to gain clarity and closure about what really happened, even though it wouldn't do anything to truly heal any of the damage that had been done. News outlets covered this extensively over many years as each of the six people involved in Jennifer's killing were dealt with to the fullest extent of the law. The court proceedings began not long after the arrest. In February of 2010, prosecutors announced that they would be seeking the most extreme penalty for three of the defendants, Ricky Smarns, Melvin Knight and Angela Marinutti, because of the sheer brutality of Jennifer's killing. The other three, Amber Meidinger, Peggy Miller and Robert Masters, faced lesser charges. The first trial was for Angela Marinucci, who at just 17 years old, was the only juvenile among the six. Her trial began in May of 2011, and prosecutors they painted Angela as jealous and angry over Jennifer's relationship with Ricky Smarns. Witnesses recalled hearing Angela threaten Jennifer's life, and the jury ultimately convicted her of first degree murder, kidnapping and conspiracy. She was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
- [26:55]
B
And the fact that Angela was still in high school makes everything that much scarier. And from what we heard of Ricky's interview with detectives, he had said that he and Melvin were the ones involved in Jennifer's actual stabbing. So now we're learning that Angela was actually in the bathroom too.
- [27:14]
A
And that's the interesting part. The conviction was rooted less in whether she actually killed Jennifer and more in her role as the instigator. Several witnesses testified that Marinucci had planned to kill Jennifer days before the murder. One neighbor, Anthony Zapone, reported hearing her say, I'm going to kill that bitch. Another testified that Angela expressed disappointment about the type of Christmas garland used to tie Jennifer's body. These testimonies painted Angela as the emotional trigger and planner, holding her legally responsible for first degree murder. Even though Ricky and Melvin carried out the physical act of killing her.
- [27:56]
B
It's just crazy to me that a 17 year old who seemed to be the main instigator of all of this would do something all over some guy, just some infatuation that she had.
- [28:08]
A
Yeah, it almost makes you wonder, like what happens to someone who just holds this much hatred. Well, apparently Angela's family, they had to answer for this. So according to them, Angela had a brain injury when she was a child, which sent her on a downward spiral into the kind of behavior we're seeing now, the behavior that led to such a horrifying event. And we don't know for sure if this explains any of what Angela did. But it's interesting. After Angela's 2011 conviction, the focus shifted on Melvin Knight. So In April of 2012, Knight pleaded guilty to first degree murder along with related counts of kidnapping and conspiracy. The court moved straight into a penalty trial to decide his fate. Over nearly two weeks in August of 2012, jurors heard the state's evidence, which was the autopsy, the crime scene photos, forensic testimony, and a step by step account of what happened inside this Pennsylvania Avenue apartment. Reporters noted that the jury saw graphic images and heard that Jennifer had been stabbed and cut multiple times, including stab wounds to the heart. Now, before we get into this next part, another disclaimer here. It's deeply unsettling what happened to Jennifer. And we're going to talk about what exactly was done to her. So this is going to be tough to listen to. But before we do, let's take a quick break. Feeling stuck in your daily wellness routine? Well, you're not alone. Our friends at Cornbread Hemp, they hear you. Their organic CBD gummies are made to help you feel better, whether it's stress, maybe you're having trouble falling asleep like me. If you're having everyday discomfort or just needing a moment to unwind. What I love about Cornbread Hemp, they only use the best part of the hemp plant, the flower for the purest, most potent cbd. No fillers, no junk, just full spectrum goodness. Right now, crime salad listeners can save 30% on their first order. Just go to cornbreadhemp.com Crimesalad and use code CRIMESALAD at checkout. That's cornbread hemp.com Crimesalad with the code CRIMESALAD to get 30% off your first order. You know those cute blankets that you see in the store? They look nice, but let's be honest, they're basically just tiny throws. They never seem to last. Sharing doesn't happen. It's more of a one person blanket situation. And after a few washes, it becomes literally a throwaway blanket.
- [30:42]
B
Yeah, I mean, one person is cozy and the other one's over there, left curled up, trying to cover up with a tiny corner of the blanket. And that's usually me.
- [30:52]
A
Well, that's why Lola blankets became a thing in our house. And I'm convinced that they thought about these same things too, because they will forever change our snuggle game. Lola is the perfect sharing blanket. Whether it's for the bed or the couch. They have the perfect softness, like the softest, plushiest thing I ever felt. And they have this perfect weight to it. So it's kind of like a weighted blanket, but one you can walk around in the house with. It's the first one I grab when I'm snuggling to watch a true crime documentary or when we have a guest staying over. It's the first one I grab. It just makes people feel cozy.
- [31:25]
B
And it hasn't just stopped all of our blanket fights. It's seriously the softest blanket we've ever owned. It's ultra soft vegan faux fur. A four way stretch that makes it feel like it molds around you. In the best part, it actually lasts. No shedding, no pilling. Even after washes, it still looks brand new.
- [31:45]
A
Exactly. We've had throw blankets in the past that those little fibers, they're just coming off and all over your clothes and everything. Not Lola blankets. I think they figured it all out. No wonder why lola has over 10,000 five star reviews. It really is the world's number one blanket.
- [32:01]
B
Okay, so here's the deal. For a limited time, crime styled listeners get 35% off their entire order at Lola blankets.com which is with code crime salad.
- [32:12]
A
That's Lola blankets.com, code crime salad for 35% off. Trust us, once you try Lola, those old throw blankets don't stand a chance.
- [32:23]
C
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- [32:55]
A
So the Pennsylvania supreme court's opinion laid out the timeline as the penalty jury heard it on February 8th of 2010, Melvin Knight and Amber Meidinger. They were at the Greensburg bus station when they encountered Ricky Smarns. With Jennifer and others heading to the apartment, Amber actually knew Jennifer from West Place, the community center. Jennifer told Amber that she was going to marry Ricky Smarns and Angela overheard this. So that night at the apartment, Jennifer tried to be intimate with Smirns. He rebuffed her, and anger built. This information is all according to Melvin Knight's court documents, so I'd assume this is Melvin's version of what happened. Now, the following day, the group decided to humiliate Jennifer. In retaliation to her advances toward Ricky. They dumped mouthwash on her belongings. They hit her with empty soda bottles, and Melvin grabbed and choked her until she fell, crying. And when Angela arrived, she and Amber slammed Jennifer into a metal towel rack, striking her in the chest, in the head. Melvin and Ricky then dumped spices and oatmeal on her, sent her to shower, and when she emerged, Melvin forced her to undress, threw her clothes out the window, cut off her hair with Ricky's help, and made her clean it up. The court document then stated plainly that Melvin Knight sexually assaulted Jennifer. That night, Angela decided to stay over Melvin, Amber, and Ricky. They walked Angela home to get her medication and ordered Robert Masters and Peggy Miller to keep Jennifer from leaving. When the group returned after a call saying that Jennifer tried to leave, the beating resumed, and Jennifer was given prescription pills. By the next morning, Jennifer kneed Angela, who then falsely claimed that Jennifer had killed her baby, even though she was not pregnant at the time. Ricky then reportedly confronted Jennifer, saying, if you want to kill my kid, why should I let you live?
- [35:01]
B
So Angela was falsely claiming that she was pregnant, and apparently Ricky believed it was his kid, which fueled all of this rage towards Jennifer. Yeah, and let's remember that Ricky was 23 at this time, and Angela was a senior in high school.
- [35:18]
A
And even though Angela is painted as the main aggressor in the beginning, we'll see that Ricky is much more involved than initially believed. Apparently, Ricky called a family meeting to discuss what to do with Jennifer next. Then came a sequence that the court described as forced ingestion and continued torture. And this part is really hard to hear. They hit her with a towel rack and forced her to drink urine. And then a second concoction was made with feces and urine, then a third mixture of detergent, water, and medication, and each time striking her with the towel rack until she obeyed or vomited. At some point, they bound Jennifer's ankles and Wrists with Christmas lights, wrapped garland around her ankles and smeared nail polish on her face. Then Ricky convened another family meeting where they decided to kill her. Ricky then forced Jennifer to write a suicide note and told her that they would stage her death as a suicide.
- [36:19]
B
So they decided to stage her death as a suicide. I mean, she's been tortured for days beyond recognition, sexually assaulted and drugged. So these people aren't just demonic, they're also cowards. I mean, they literally had a family meeting to decide if she should live or not. It's just insane.
- [36:41]
A
Yeah, it's demonic. The Supreme Court recounted that Ricky handed Melvin a knife and told him, you. You know what to do. They both took Jennifer to the bathroom, forced her on her knees, turned off the light, and Melvin stabbed her in the chest multiple times, slicing her neck. And when Melvin came out saying she hadn't died yet, Angela said to finish it. That's when Ricky went in, cut Jennifer's wrist, and then he and Melvin strangled her with Christmas lights.
- [37:08]
B
I don't know, this whole case reminds me of some, like, weird, cringy, like mid 2000s horror movie.
- [37:16]
A
Yeah. The family meetings alone to decide what to do, and it's just like, like, what are these people doing all day long?
- [37:24]
B
I don't know.
- [37:25]
A
So after all of this, another family meeting was held to decide what to do with the body. Ricky and Melvin had this bright idea to put Jennifer in a plastic bag inside a garbage can head first and left it under a truck at Greensburg Salem Middle School and returned to the apartment. When the jury weighed all these different factors in this case, on August 30th of 2012, Melvin Knight was sentenced to death. And in the end, when the jury weighed all these different factors within this case, they made the decision on August 30th of 2012, and Melvin was sentenced to death. Now, when you look at the family side of things, Jennifer's family, hearing all of these things that happened to Jennifer, it's so extremely heartbreaking that they had to sit in court going through these different things, listening to these just torturous things that happened to Jennifer. I mean, this was a person who they described as a light in their life, as someone who never would be mean or speak badly about anyone. This is what she got in exchange for all of that kindness all over a love triangle. And now we learn that Angela wasn't the only one who was rageful in Jennifer's innocent crush on Ricky. Ricky Smarns went to trial in 2012. Unlike some of the others, Ricky pleaded not guilty. And the case proceeded before a jury, Prosecutors argued that Ricky orchestrated much of the torture and humiliation Jennifer endured, encouraging the others to participate. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania made it clear that even though Melvin and Ricky physically carried out the killing, Ricky was the one pushing and directing the group dynamic, ordering these family meetings that escalated the violence. During the trial, jurors heard the chilling taped confession Ricky had given the detectives, and in it, he admitted to cutting Jennifer's wrist, helping to clean the crime scene, and participating in disposing of her body, though he denied being the one who actually kill her. Prosecutors also called on other defendants, like Amber Meidinger, who testified that Ricky insisted Jennifer had to die to prevent her from going to the police.
- [39:44]
B
So Ricky's just over here letting his high school girlfriend take all of the blame for instigating this, but really, he's the one calling all the shots. I mean, don't get me wrong. Angela is still just as guilty as hell. But the fact that Ricky couldn't even admit to what he did, I mean, that just makes him more of a piece of crap. I mean, what type of defense does he even have?
- [40:07]
A
Well, Ricky's defense tried to argue diminished capacity, citing Ricky's mental health, struggles and intellectual functioning. His attorneys painted him as the follower, not the mastermind. But the weight of the testimony, including how the others deferred to him, told another story that he couldn't talk his way out of. The jury ultimately convicted Ricky Smarns of first degree murder, kidnapping, and conspiracy. And in May of 2013, Ricky Smarns was also sentenced to death. Judge Rita Hathaway told him directly that Jennifer's last hours were a torture session and that his manipulation was central to her death.
- [40:49]
B
And it must have been so agonizing for Jennifer's family to relive all of this, knowing that Jennifer liked Ricky, that she described him as her friend, and to hear him admit pieces of what he did, but still trying to downplay it all, and then to hear others testify that he was calling the shots. I don't think I'd be able to handle all of that.
- [41:11]
A
Yeah, I can't even imagine. Joy even said that she had to sleep with the lights on through everything because she was so scared of the dark. Throughout these events, the remaining three, Amber Meidinger, Peggy Miller, and Robert Masters, accepted plea deals. Amber Meidinger pled guilty to third degree murder, kidnapping, and conspiracy. In exchange for her cooperation and testimony against Smarns, she was sentenced to 40 to 80 years in prison. Peggy Miller also pled guilty to third degree murder and kidnapping. She was sentenced to 35 to 74 years. And Robert Masters, who played more of a supporting role by keeping Jennifer captive while the others were away, received a sentence of 30 to 70 years after his guilty plea. Each of them admitted their part in the torture and confinement, and in the end, all six were held accountable in some way.
- [42:05]
B
I mean, in a way, I'm glad that the family was saved from what could have been years of sitting through this stuff. I mean, we've had cases in the past where, you know, court can go on for decades.
- [42:17]
A
Yeah, I mean, that could have been six long, grueling trials. After Ricky Smarns and Melvin Knight were sentenced to death, both men went through years of appeals for Ricky Smarns. His attorney appealed in 2015 to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and they argued that his mental health issues and intellectual disabilities should have prevented a death sentence. They also claimed jury bias and infective assistance of counsel. The court, however, upheld his conviction and sentence. In its opinion, the justices noted the overwhelming evidence of Ricky's leadership role in Jennifer's death, describing him as the dominant voice in the group. Later in 2018, Ricky's post conviction relief appeal was also denied, leaving his death sentence in place. Now for Melvin Knight. His sentence was initially upheld in 2014, but in 2019, the US Supreme Court ordered a new sentencing hearing hearing because of issues with how jury instructions had been given. That led to a second penalty trial in 2020, where a new jury again heard the evidence and again sentenced him to death. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed that outcome in 2020, meaning Melvin Knight remains on death row today.
- [43:37]
B
So 2020, a decade after this case, and it's still ongoing in a sense.
- [43:42]
A
Yep.
- [43:43]
B
Years of reliving what happened to Jennifer all of those years ago. And this on top of the fact that Angela also appealed her life sentence because she was only 17 at the time of this crime.
- [43:54]
A
Exactly. Her case was affected by US Supreme Court rulings on juvenile life sentences. In 2022, her sentence was reduced to 60 years to life, which means she will be eligible for parole in 2070. And you're right about Jennifer's family. Through every trial and appeal, they were there. They sat in the courtroom listening to the details of what had been done to Jennifer, and they spoke out during sentencing and hearings. Jennifer's mother, Denise, told the court that Jennifer was gentle and trusting and that her killers had taken away her biggest dreams in life. Denise reminded the jurors that Jennifer's disability made her vulnerable, and these people took advantage of that. At Melvin Knight's sentencing, Denise said directly to him. You murdered my daughter, but you cannot take away her soul. She is with God and you will never see heaven. Joy was the most outspoken throughout court proceedings at Angela Marinucci's trial. Joy said that she couldn't comprehend how six people could get together and do this and reminded the court of Jennifer's excitement to pick out curtains and dishes for her apartment during Ricky's trial. During the guilty pleas of Amber Meidinger, Peggy Miller and Robert Masters, Jennifer's family again took the opportunity to speak. They described how each hearing forced them to sit through graphic details of Jennifer's torture, reopening wounds that never really healed. Denise said in court, every time I close my eyes, I see my daughter's face. I can't get it out of my head what they did to her. And this continued with the appeals. I mean, a decade of sitting through this stuff. You just have to be fed up. But they were still at all of these appeals hearings and the family gave statements about how traumatizing the process was. Joy told the press that Melvin Knight's new penalty trial was like ripping the scab off a wound that never heals. We've lived this nightmare for eight years and we're forced to live it again. And when Angela Marinucci was re sentenced in 2022, they were there again. And Joy said, my sister trusted people. She always wanted friends. And it was that trust that led her to her death. We live with that every day. The family has said that they will never know closure in this case. They will only know the burden of carrying Jennifer's story, making sure that the world never forgets the who she was and what was taken from her. Thank you all so much for listening to this week's episode. Please share Jennifer's story. The more people that know her name, the less likely it is that she'll ever be forgotten. We'll be back with another episode next week. Until then, stay safe and we'll see you next time.