← Going West: True Crime
Going West: True Crime
Ann Hoover: Her Nightmare Neighbor // 595
00:47:14
In March of 1997, a 44-year-old Pennsylvania woman disappeared after tensions escalated with her next-door neighbor. When investigators searched the neighboring home, they uncovered a secret tunnel connecting the two properties, and a gruesome scene in the basement that would traumatize them for life. This is the murder of Ann Hoover.
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- [00:00]
Daphne
If you thought HBO's euphoria was intense in high school, saddle up. Starring Zendaya Sydney Sweeney and Jacob Elordi, Season three of Euphoria picks up five years later, and life looks very different. Now these characters are on their own with the freedom to make choices that can build them or break them. No matter what they're chasing money, fame, power, love or redemption, no one can escape their fate. Don't miss the third season of Euphoria, premiering April 12th on HBO and HBO Max LifeLock.
- [00:31]
Heath
How can I help?
- [00:32]
Daphne
The IRS said I filed my return, but I haven't.
- [00:35]
LifeLock Advertiser
One in four tax paying Americans has paid the price of identity fraud.
- [00:38]
Daphne
What do I do? My refund, though. I'm freaking out. Don't worry, I can fix this.
- [00:43]
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- [00:48]
Daphne
I'm so relieved. No problem. I'll be with you every step of the way.
- [00:51]
LifeLock Advertiser
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- [01:01]
IXL Advertiser
a parent and want to help set up your child for success, then IXL is right for your family as an effective and affordable online learning program. IXL covers math, language arts, science and social studies using interactive practice problems for kids from Pre K to 12th grade. Listeners can get an exclusive 20% off IXL membership when they sign up today@ixl.com 20. Visit ixl.com 20 to get the most effective learning program out there at the best price. Foreign.
- [01:45]
Heath
What is going on? True crime fans, I'm your host, Teeth.
- [01:49]
Daphne
And I'm your host, Daphne.
- [01:50]
Heath
And you're listening to Going West.
- [01:52]
Daphne
Hello everybody. Oh my God. Big, big shout out to Maya for recommending this freaking case.
- [02:01]
Heath
Yes. Because we have got a doozy for you guys today.
- [02:04]
Daphne
On its surface, looking into this case, originally I was like, okay, there's enough to work with here. But like, as the details unfolded, it turned into like, this is one of the craziest stories I've ever heard in my life.
- [02:17]
Heath
Yeah, it is. It is very disturbing.
- [02:19]
Daphne
And I had a nightmare about it last night.
- [02:21]
Heath
Actually, Daphne did. Literally. She literally wasn't even doing anything revolving around the episode, but literally still had a nightmare about this case.
- [02:31]
Daphne
And that's not to say that you guys will, but I don't know, you might. There's one part of it that just stuck with me enough to make me wake and whimper and like, reach for this arm.
- [02:42]
Heath
Yeah, thankfully I was right there to save you from. Really?
- [02:46]
Daphne
Help me.
- [02:46]
Heath
Yeah, from your nightmare, you five year old. Thank you, Maya.
- [02:51]
Daphne
And oh, by the way, again, guys, we are going to CrimeCon this year. We are so excited. It's in Vegas. It's from May 28 to May 31. So come hang out with Heath and I. We've been designing all this really fun, like, complimentary merch that we're going to be handing out. So we can't wait to see you guys. Use code GOINGWEST10 to get discounts on your tickets and come hang out with us.
- [03:13]
Heath
Yeah, we haven't been there in like four or five years or something like that, but the last time we were there, we were actually in Vegas.
- [03:20]
Daphne
Yeah.
- [03:20]
Heath
And now we're going back to Vegas. So please come hang out with us. Come see us.
- [03:25]
Daphne
Why are we always in Vegas?
- [03:26]
Heath
I don't know. They just. Vegas just calls us, I guess.
- [03:30]
Daphne
I think Vegas does call us.
- [03:32]
Heath
All right, guys, without further ado, this is episode 595 of Going West. So let's get into it.
- [04:15]
Daphne
In March of 1997, a 44 year old Pennsylvania woman disappeared after tensions escalated with her next door neighbor. When investigators searched the neighboring, they uncovered a secret tunnel connecting the two properties and a gruesome scene in the basement that would traumatize them for life. This is the murder of Ann Hoover. Ann Hoover was born on June 1, 1952 to Margaret and Thomas Hoover and grew up alongside a sister named Karen and a brother named John. Ann graduated from North Hills high in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1970 and then went off to Ohio to attend Marietta College, graduating in 1975 with a Bachelor's degree in music. Because Ann was a gifted pianist, so the chairman of her music department actually called her one of the most talented students he had ever taught. Ann remained in Marietta, Ohio for the next decade before moving back to Pennsylvania, but not before spending time in Eastern Pennsylvania, New York and West Virginia. Even after settling back home in Pennsylvania, she traveled around the Eastern seaboard offering lessons and performing recitals. Even the summer before her murder, she had chaperoned a group of 50 people to Europe for an immersive music education trip. So music was such a big part of her life. But I will say, in addition to playing and teaching piano, she also had a thriving corporate career and worked as the training director for a marketing firm in the neighborhood of Squirrel Hill. She also spent a good deal of time volunteering and fundraise for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Ann's dad, Thomas remembered, quote, ann was a hard worker she was as honest as the day is long, and she was a good musician. She was described by her friends as a beautiful soul. And Jay Fairbrother, the president of the marketing firm that she worked for, called her the heart and soul of the company and added that she was, quote, upbeat, intelligent, and dynamic. So Ann settled back in Pittsburgh. She moved to the neighborhood of South Oakland, just east of downtown. And for years, she rented a row house from its owner, a man named Frank Sampson. But when she had finally saved up enough money, she purchased it from him. And this house, located on Lawn street, was very much her passion project. She was extremely devoted to remodeling this house, and, you know, she really wanted to restore it to its former glory. She was very, very passionate about this. This was. This took up a lot of her time, but she loved it.
- [07:25]
Heath
Well, Anne lived a mostly quiet life, and when she was home, she enjoyed playing her piano and spending time with her blind poodle, Nicky. She loved tending to her house, as Daphne just said, and had done a lot of the remodeling and all of the decorating herself. It was the house next door that was causing her problems. The property, adjoined to Ann's, Remember, these are row houses, was vacant, and it had been for years. And by the way, not only did they share an internal wall, but their porches and roofs were also attached. But because the house was vacant and had issues, and she was working so hard on her own house, she just felt like this adjoining house was a total eyesore. And it was really starting to cause her problems because it also lowered her property value significantly. You know, these. These houses are joined together, so if one side is a piece of shit and hers is all nice, it's going to be really hard to sell it eventually. Now, to give you guys a better visual, the paint was chipping, the roof shingles had blown off in multiple places during storms, and the bricks in the foundation were falling loose. The wooden porch had rotted, and there was mold and rotting drywall and insulation throughout the home. But to Ann's delight, or I guess I don't know if we can really say delight, but in the summer of 1996, the home was purchased for less than $10,000. Can you guys even imagine? So she was thrilled when her neighbor, this young and ambitious single man, moved in and vowed to fix up the place to match how stately hers had become. Now, initially, Anne described him as cordial and polite. You know, he made a point of introducing himself and even complimenting her home and the work she had put into it, admiring its brick exterior and telling her that he hoped that his would turn out as beautiful as hers. Now, the man, whose name was Roy Kirk, assured Anne that he had his contractor's license and that he was going to be able to do the work himself, which Ann was both impressed by, but also a little bit skeptical of. Now, Roy explained to her that he had been working as a pizza delivery man, but since getting his contractor's license, he had taken to buying up properties in the city that were nearly condemned and planned to fix them up and flip them for a profit. And he also told her that he owned his own small company that he called Tardigrade Incorporated.
- [09:56]
Daphne
But this was only partially true. He had let his company go delinquent and lost his contractor's license. And this would prevent him from obtaining a building permit, which obviously he would need to tackle one of the more pressing concerns, which was his very patchy leaking roof. So he's telling Ann, oh, yeah, I'm a contractor. I have a small business. No, not anymore.
- [10:21]
Heath
Yeah. And at first she's really excited. She's like, oh, my God, like, finally, this is what I've been wishing for, that somebody would move in and fix that place up and, you know, add some value to my place.
- [10:32]
Daphne
Yeah. So he's like this saving grace at first, and especially, like you said, he's like a nice single young man. She's like, oh, great, like more people hoping to clean up the neighborhood alongside me.
- [10:43]
Heath
Yeah.
- [10:43]
Daphne
And then of course, it probably made him look good as well that he's like, oh, I own multiple properties, I'm flipping them all, I'm going to sell them. You know, he's like talking a big game. So he did just that. He was snatching up more properties despite not really having a contractor's license anymore. And between February of 1992 and June of 1996, remember, this story is taking place in 1996. That's when he bought this house. He purchased eight homes in the area, which altogether totaled just over $42,000, which,
- [11:19]
Heath
like, can you imagine? No, like, it's just insane to even think about that now. Please, please.
- [11:26]
Daphne
With, like Heath said, the intent of fixing them up and selling them for a profit. He would also buy up delinquent properties for a few thousand dollars at police auctions and attempted to remodel them as well simultaneously. The same went for the property that he had purchased on Lawn street, which is where he was living as well. So this crusty ass row house that he bought for ten grand he was also living there while he was doing the repairs, but he's not really doing the repairs, so he's just living in. I mean, really, it's squalor.
- [12:02]
Heath
Well, we're gonna talk about how it's. How squalor it is, how squalor it really do be. Cuz it is disgusting.
- [12:09]
Daphne
Yeah. Cuz it turned out that the house next door to Anne's was so run down that he actually couldn't reside there while he was fixing it up, even though he originally was. But it's like he actually cannot because of how disgusting it is. So obviously, if Heath's description wasn't disturbing enough, everything he said about the roof and the mold and everything like that, black mold was rampant after years of a leaking roof and there was no running water or electricity. Now, Roy was drawn to the potential of the South Oakland neighborhood in Pittsburgh. And he felt like he could make a killing on his renovations, which he probably could have, but he's. He's like, not doing it. So he's like, buy spending all this money into these houses and then he's like, not really fixing them up. So it quickly became clear to Ann that he was very much in over his head. He didn't have very much money, so he would be cutting corners and doing things on the cheap. And there seemed to be plenty of things that he didn't know how to do at all, like rewiring the home's electricity and installing sinks and toilets. Like, it seemed like he. He was like, oh, I have a contractor's license and hell, how hard can it be? And it's like very hard.
- [13:24]
Heath
Yeah, it's pretty tough. And you don't know how to do it.
- [13:26]
Daphne
Even Rose Liptak, the sister of Frank Sampson, who, remember, was the original owner of Ann's house, recalled, he was just dragging her property down. Everyone was upset, but she was the most organized of Everybody. Again, just 27 at the time that he moved to the neighborhood, Roy was described as an oddball.
- [13:49]
Heath
Yeah. Oh man.
- [13:51]
Daphne
To say the least.
- [13:51]
Heath
Yeah. To say the very least. Because we haven't even gotten into anything. But on top of everything else, we're going to talk about. Holy shit.
- [14:00]
Daphne
A native Texan, he had been an honor student, an Eagle Scout, but he didn't leave much of an impression behind on his graduating class. A former high school classmate named Karen Perry recalled. I had him in English. He used to get hundreds on his report cards. All the way down. He acted like he didn't want to be around anybody. I don't Think he had any friends? Roy then attended Vanderbilt University for undergrad, but hadn't graduated and then relocated to Pittsburgh in 1989. And according to one former childhood acquaintance, he had suffered a tumultuous childhood and struggled with his mental health. He'd even spent time at an inpatient psychiatric facility in the years before he met Ann Hoover. As far as Ann or anybody else in Oakland knew, he was merely this entrepreneurial spirit, this kind of, like, wacky guy, you know? And just to recap one more time, he moved into that house in the summer of 1996, when he was 27 and Ann was 44.
- [15:06]
Heath
Well, Ann was a very proud member of the Oak Cliff Housing Club, which is a neighborhood committee for the six block radius of South Oakland, which organized cleanups, garage sales, as well as community events. But Ann had her eye on bigger goals, including holiday parades, barbecues, and potentially building a park and a riverwalk along the nearby Monongahela River.
- [15:30]
Daphne
Like, this is the woman you want as your neighbor?
- [15:32]
Heath
Oh, absolutely. She wants to make the place like a haven for people to live. So it was Ann who actually invited Roy to his first neighborhood committee meeting. And apparently he was a total hit. He pitched his ideas, many of which he shared with Anne, including carving out a park just for the neighborhood. So together and separately, it really seemed like they wanted to do only good things here and that Roy was really getting motivation from basically from Anne. Though he may have been a little bit on the socially awkward side, he was able to charm his neighbors with his fervor for the community's potential. He even elected himself the president of this committee. But his heroic reputation soured very quickly, because when Ann had remodeled, she had done it the right way, doing what she could on her own, but knowing her limits and then hiring knowledgeable professionals when she needed to if there was something she just couldn't do. Roy, on the other hand, as we've described, was either unable or unwilling to spend the money and time on doing this. And yet he somehow amassed these, like, eight houses, trying to remodel all of them at the same time. A few months passed of Roy slowly toiling away in the home, gutting it from the inside out, but making very little progress. Anne began to notice that he would go days without stopping by and that he seemed to be too preoccupied elsewhere. But I gotta say, Ann was not the only person who was fed up. The tight knit community was quickly turning against him as all of his properties fell into even worse disrepair. After continuously failing to show up for meetings, he was finally ousted as president of the neighborhood committee, and he was asked to abstain from even attending these meetings.
- [17:24]
Daphne
Why is Anne not the president? That is my president.
- [17:27]
Heath
Yeah. That's who should be president. Somehow he kind of, like, seems like he sort of elected himself or like he threw his hat in the ring and was like, I should be the president. But it's like, he's now not going to meetings. You know, he's not doing the things he's supposed to do for the neighborhood. And so people are like, we don't want you as our president.
- [17:46]
Daphne
The proof is in the pudding. He's not doing. He's making shit worse. Get out.
- [17:50]
Heath
Yeah. And it's not only the fact that they were like, we don't want you as our president. We also think you're so fucking weird that we don't want you to come to our meetings anymore at all.
- [18:00]
Daphne
Yeah. It's like they're really seeing Roy for who he is. He was able to put on this facade at first and act like he cared and act like he was just a wacky but good guy. And now they're like, who the fuck is this?
- [18:12]
Heath
Yeah. So because of all of this, out of spite, he continued to attend against the wishes of the other members and could always be seen scribbling notes furiously in the back, approaching his neighbors in a surly and threatening fashion.
- [18:26]
Daphne
So he's just, why, like, make it better or sell your place and move? Yeah.
- [18:32]
Heath
It's kind of like he just can't accept, like, the rejection. It's like, even though it's his fault. Yeah. He's. He's got to show up, and he's going to make notes like, I wonder what he was writing down. You know, Fuck you. Yeah, fuck you. Fuck you. I hate you.
- [18:46]
Daphne
Or just his name, Signing his name over and over and over again, acting like he's doing stuff. But sadly, things would only get worse and so much worse. When a particularly stormy week ripped through Pittsburgh, Ann was disheartened to see that Roy had torn the gutters off of his home in an effort to replace them. But he hadn't done so in time. So instead, water was pooling in the small front yard, where he had also left trash, debris, and drywall from his renovation.
- [19:19]
Heath
So all this shit is just getting wet.
- [19:22]
Daphne
Yes. And as she got ready for bed that night, it got worse because she stepped in a large puddle upstairs in her home and realized with horror that Roy's leaky roof was like cascading water through their shared wall and into her home. Despite the fact that her roof was new. So Ann is doing everything right. Ann is going through the proper channels. She's spending the money and he's not. And because he's doing shit wrong, it's affecting her house now.
- [19:53]
Heath
Well, what's crazy is maybe if he didn't buy up eight properties and be so ambitious to think that he could do all of them at once. If he had just bought that one property, he would have had. Probably had the money left over to actually hire a real contractor.
- [20:08]
Daphne
He's one of those people who, like, buys houses to flip them, then just, you know, you. Nobody wants to buy a house from somebody who did a cheap flip. But that's what he's trying to do. And that's so sad as well, because it's like, we need to be making quality homes. And there's so many people like Roy who are like, oh, I'm gonna, like, cut this corner and do this and make a quick buck.
- [20:29]
Heath
And he's that guy that reminds me of one of the houses that you and I lived in where we could just kind of tell that the. The flip was a little cheap. Remember, the roof was fucking leaking? Remember? Oh, yeah, the roof leaked.
- [20:41]
Daphne
That was a cheap flip. Yeah, it was a really. The floors were wobbly.
- [20:44]
Heath
Yes.
- [20:45]
Daphne
There's a lot of problems. Yeah. See, like, do it right or don't do it at all. Well, the following day, Ann confronted Roy about the roof and her concerns that his carelessness was going to cause her major damage to her house and cost her a lot of money to fix. But of course, Roy, who's, like, now being this total curmudgeon, he's, like, hating on everybody in the community and probably just wants to do things wrong now, you know, out of spite at least a little bit. He just seemed unconcerned when she kind of pressured him into calling a roof contractor and instead told her that he would simply hoist himself on the roof to, like, cover the holes with plastic tarps, which is like, sure. Maybe like, while you're waiting for the roof guy to come. Yeah, but that's not going to fix the problem. He's like, oh, I'll just put plastic over it. Like, what?
- [21:37]
Heath
Yeah, he's kind of trying to just, like, kind of like, make the problem go away temporarily because he knows he can't fix it. Yeah. So that he's not bothered by Anne. He's like, okay, I'll put some stuff up. But it's like Roy's probably the type of guy that everywhere he's gone in his life. He probably comes off at first like this wacky, fun guy. That's cool. And then all of a sudden, it sours very quickly. And then he has to move on and recreate another Roy.
- [22:05]
Daphne
Well, he didn't even do the tarp thing. Like, he couldn't even do that. That night, instead of go hoisting himself up and putting the tarp on, he left the house, and then he didn't come back. So begrudgingly, Anne called the roofer who had completed her roof to the house to inspect the damage and ensure that the leak was coming in from his side and not hers. And it was.
- [22:29]
Heath
I mean, of course it was, right?
- [22:31]
Daphne
But this only further irritated Roy. By now, their once cordial relationship was growing very, very bitter, with Roy feeling flustered and literally underwater. The house wound up in an even worse condition than it was when he bought it and officially fell into disrepair. And because he had trouble physically seeing his work due to the fact that the home still wasn't wired for electricity, he began snaking an extension cord across other yards to attach to his home down the street in order to power his light and equipment.
- [23:09]
Heath
Like, oh, my God, he's got to use somebody else's power because he doesn't fucking have any.
- [23:14]
Daphne
Yeah. And then run his cord throughout everybody else's yard. He's doing everything wrong.
- [23:18]
Heath
It's unhinged.
- [23:19]
Daphne
It's very rude as well. So in December, Roy alleged that his house was vandalized in the middle of the night, and he blamed Ann for this, even though he was solely responsible for his bad reputation.
- [23:32]
Heath
How would you even know if it was vandalized? It's already a piece of shit. Literally.
- [23:38]
Daphne
Also, if anything, like, Ann isn't gonna do something that's gonna make your home look worse or be harder to fix
- [23:45]
Heath
up, she wants it to look nicer.
- [23:47]
Daphne
Yeah, she's not gonna vandalize it. But still, Roy described that it was firebombed, and he also claimed to have been shot twice in a drive by incident. So he's like, my house is being vandalized. I've been shot twice. Ann is making me look bad. But again, you're making you look bad. So he left the neighborhood and started staying elsewhere because he couldn't handle the heat. But he would be back. Bring everyone together with meals that are simple and rewarding. On a busy weeknight with hellofresh, you can choose from more than 100 recipes every week, including cuisines from around the world and meals that help you beat the winter blues because when dinner tastes this good, nothing hits like home cooking.
- [24:54]
Heath
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- [25:11]
Daphne
I just love how the options feel endless. Like you said, there's something for everybody and at the end of a busy day, the last thing you want to do is cook something from scratch. But we always want home cooked meals still. And this is how you kind of get the best of both worlds. Go to hellofresh.com goingwest10fm to get 10 free meals plus a free Zwilling knife. A $144.99 value on your third box
- [25:39]
Heath
offer valid while supplies last. Free meals applied as discount on first box. New subscribers only. Varies by plan.
- [25:48]
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- [26:17]
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- [26:50]
Heath
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- [26:52]
Daphne
The IRS said I filed my return, but I haven't.
- [26:55]
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- [26:58]
Daphne
What do I do? My refund though. I'm freaking out. Don't worry, I can fix this.
- [27:02]
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- [27:07]
Daphne
I'm so relieved.
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- [27:09]
Daphne
I'll be with you every step of the way.
- [27:11]
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- [27:20]
Daphne
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- [27:48]
Heath
Nope. I'm making dinner tonight.
- [27:49]
Daphne
You don't have time. Josh has practice.
- [27:52]
Heath
Oh, that's right.
- [27:52]
Daphne
I'll just get a salad and fries.
- [27:54]
Heath
No, just the salad.
- [27:56]
Daphne
But salad cancels. Fries.
- [27:57]
Heath
Salad only.
- [27:58]
Daphne
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- [28:06]
Heath
Hey, can I get the fries? Salad? Sorry.
- [28:09]
Daphne
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- [28:29]
Heath
Although Roy blamed Ann for his fate, she wasn't the only neighbor of one of his houses who was having an issue with him. Of course. I mean, of course.
- [28:37]
Daphne
How can you.
- [28:37]
Heath
Seems like everybody's probably having an issue with Roy. Multiple reports and complaints had come in about how Roy had bitten off more than he could chew and was gambling with the safety and well being of his neighbors. But Anne in particular was growing more and more disturbed by his actions in the weeks leading up to her death. You know, of course she has a lot of pride.
- [28:59]
Daphne
Of course. I mean, she really cares about her home and her neighborhood. She wants it to be great and he's ruining that.
- [29:06]
Heath
Well, Roy had become very erratic and very angry and was more unreliable than ever. By September of 1996, Ann was just fed up at this point. So she began studying up on the statutes and local laws that could protect her. Trash and debris piled up in his front lawn, and it attracted rats. And other passersby began throwing their own trash in the heap in his front yard as well. Because they're like, they see the trash out front and they're like, oh, must
- [29:37]
Daphne
be a trash pile.
- [29:38]
Heath
Yeah, must be a trash. But I'm just gonna throw my shit there too.
- [29:40]
Daphne
And Anne has to look out at this. She has to come and go to this worry about her own home being further damaged because of his disorganization.
- [29:50]
Heath
Yeah, I mean, it's, it's really just an eyesore for her. You know, it's. It's not very cleanly either. We'll get into more about that later. But Anne was just devastated that this carefully curated home that she had worked so hard on was being ruined by Roy's carelessness and, of course, the rest of his properties in the neighborhood remained in disrepair as well, and the neighbors became irate with his mishandling of the situation. Finally, at her wit's end with his antics, Ann filed a complaint with the public works department, which resulted in an inspection of the property. Roy was then ordered to replace the roof and the gutters and to remove the trash in the yard. And also he was fined, per the inspector, and only given a finite amount of time to clean up his mess. In court, he was ordered to pay $50,000 in fines and damages on top of what he was spending to refurbish each of his houses. Feeling a pang of guilt because Ann is a very good person, she actually offered to purchase the house from him, but he refused. So she's like, yeah, I get it. I get that you are full of shit, and you're not actually a contractor. I'll purchase the house and I'll fix it up. But he just said no, which is
- [31:09]
Daphne
really nice of her. And I feel like that's out of spite that he said no, because the whole point is that he wants to flip it and sell it. And maybe he said no because he wants to make more off it, but it's like you're already, you know, underground or underwater with your. All the other houses. You now owe 50k. Just sell the house to her and move on to one of your other properties.
- [31:31]
Heath
Yeah, I think in a way, you know, we talked about how Ann is prideful of her. Her home, because she's done so much to fix it up. But I think he. Roy is just a prideful person where he really can't take this patron, like, what he thinks is patronizing him for not doing what he's supposed to do to fix up the house and probably
- [31:51]
Daphne
doesn't want to back down. Maybe he's like, nope, I'm doing this.
- [31:54]
Heath
Exactly. Well, now that their relationship was dripping with contempt, Ann was growing afraid of Roy and even wondered if she should file a restraining order. I mean, that's how, like, dangerous this was getting. But ultimately, she was determined to not let him intimidate her into backing down. Her friend Rebecca Walsh recalled, quote, the business with the house and the neighbor is the first issue since I've known her that supplanted, or at least was equal to her passion for piano. When Ann made a commitment to anything, she saw it through.
- [32:27]
Daphne
So Roy filed an appeal against the fines, which resulted in a county court hearing for which Ann would serve as a key witness. If the Court ruled in her favor, Roy would be forced to pay the fines as well as to make the adjustments being asked of him. The day before the hearing, March 24, 1997, her co workers recall her being rattled in anticipation of the impending legal debacle because, again, she has a conscience. She, she's not even doing anything wrong in the situation, but she feels bad. She's like, if he has to pay stuff, it's because I'm reporting it. Even though she also knows that it's because of his misdeeds.
- [33:10]
Heath
Yeah, she doesn't want this to be the case. You know, she wished this, this never happened in the first place.
- [33:16]
Daphne
She's not like, yeah, take that. She just, she feels stuck. She's cornered. She doesn't know what else to do. So this is, this is very stressful for her. Well, the director of her marketing firm, Jay Fairbrother, recalled, quote, she was totally distracted the night before. She was a wreck. The following morning, March 25, again, 1997, at 8:30am A few of her friends and neighbors stopped by to give her a ride to the courthouse. You know, really just wanting to support her in the case against Roy. But Ann didn't answer her door. Rose, lip tack again, whose brother sold the house to Ann. That was Frank Sampson, was one of the friends who went to pick an up ahead of her court date and later said, quote, I thought something's wrong. She would not miss this. Her initial assumption, though, was that Ann had maybe fallen and hurt herself inside or maybe Rose thought she had gone early without them. So a few of them continued on to the courthouse to look for her, but she never showed. Well, strangely, Roy had also failed to turn up for the court hearing. When Rose headed back to Ann's house, she learned that one of the neighbors had broken into the house to look for her and still couldn't find her. So they were really beginning to fear the worst regarding Roy. Kirk, Rose remembered, I knew him. He's crazy. I was scared of him the last time we went to court. So, under growing concern, the police were summoned at 9:01am Inside, they found Ann's keys and purse, seemingly poised to leave for the morning, like as if she had woken up and had gotten ready. But the house was silent and offered no sign of her. However, upstairs, there was blood found on the floor left behind from an apparent altercation, or at least that's what it looked like. And on a hunch from the neighbors, police gained access to Roy's home as well.
- [35:30]
Heath
So Roy was coming up the basement Steps when police entered the home. When asked why he missed his court date, he said that it was because he was afraid of what would happen when he did. According to officers on the scene, 28 year old Roy seemed dazed and on edge. And even more concerning, he was barefoot and covered in dirt and blood. He was then let outside to be questioned and told the officers as he was being guided out not to go into the basement.
- [36:03]
Daphne
Yeah, they're really gonna be like, okay, yeah.
- [36:05]
Heath
And that's kinda like if you say don't go into the basement, like we're definitely going into the basement then, duh. Well. Ignoring his pleasure, the home was searched fully. And what they found was worse than any of his neighbors could have possibly predicted. With no electricity, it was dark and damp inside. In the upstairs bedroom, the empty frame of a waterbed was being used as a receptacle for animal feces. And more feces was scattered across the floor throughout the home. And this part makes me fucking shiver. A seven foot python was curled up in the bathroom sink.
- [36:48]
Daphne
Your worst nightmare.
- [36:49]
Heath
That is my worst nightmare. Dotting every floor of the house were cages with various animals, some of whom were dead, including cats, birds, rats, gerbils and hamsters. Investigators believe that he was breeding some of these animals to sell and some were food for his snake. Trash and mail littered every surface and there was also a stash of pornographic magazines depicting scenes of sadomasochism. One detective then followed the extension cord that led downstairs and descended to the basement. He later likened the smell to that of a butcher shop, remembering that it stank of raw meat and decayed. While horrifically, in that unfinished basement were more cages and more animals. Then on the ground, he spotted what he believed were human remains and blood. Knowing this was more serious than they had originally anticipated, police formally arrested him, planning to bring him in for further questioning. And as officers cuffed him, Roy could be heard yelling kill me now. Repeatedly.
- [38:09]
Daphne
Then yet another chilling discovery was made. Because instead of making the repairs, Roy had been spending his time and resources on digging a tunnel between the conjoined basements of his and 44 year old aunt's houses. He had used the tunnel to gain access to her home, breaking through her basement for floor. So as she got ready for bed upstairs, he broke into her house wielding a hammer, beating her unconscious and then dragging her back through the filthy tunnel to his basement. So the smears of blood upstairs were left behind from Roy dragging her to his basement. Like this is truly a horror movie. It almost makes me think of barbarian, but maybe that's just because of the basement thing, but obviously different.
- [39:02]
Heath
Yeah, very freaky horror story here.
- [39:04]
Daphne
Like, this is terrifying. I cannot imagine how scared she was.
- [39:10]
Heath
Yeah, I mean, he's kind of like a cross between. What he reminds me of is there's this movie from the 90s called the Vagrant. And he kind of looks like the guy from that movie, but also he looks like Charles Lee Ray from Child's Play. Yeah, same vibe. The guy that Brad Duruff plays, the serial killer who's basically Chucky.
- [39:31]
Daphne
Yeah, he has like almost like a Manson vibe as well. Like imagine this man coming up through your basement floor, coming into your house, wielding a hammer and then dragging you into his basement. Like, we're gonna post photos on Social so you can see this picture of him. But like, that's what I'm saying. I cannot imagine how horrifying this would be.
- [39:55]
Heath
And it's not even like she's being dragged to like a normal house next door. She's being dragged to a place where there's a seven foot python in a sink and there's animal feces everywhere, in cages of animals everywhere.
- [40:10]
Daphne
And it smells like a butcher shop. Like this. He's dragging her to hell.
- [40:14]
Heath
It truly is a horror story.
- [40:15]
Daphne
And also why, like, I can't figure out why you're going to spend all your time digging a tunnel between your basements and then you're going to break through her floor and take her that way. Why don't you go through the front door?
- [40:29]
Heath
Well, this is where I think some of that kind of mental health comes into play here. Because it's like he could have easily just went up and like knocked on her door. And then if she answered, he could have barged his way in. But the fact that he chose to dig a tunnel, that's also so hard.
- [40:43]
Daphne
Like that sounds like that's a hard thing to do. Sounds like a crazy job.
- [40:47]
Heath
This is like fucked up. I mean, Shawshank is fucked up, but this is a more fucked up Shawshank Redemption. You know, when Andy Dufresne has to crawl through like 500 yards of shit through that tunnel to get free.
- [40:58]
Daphne
And at least we were rooting for Andy Dufresne. At least he's a good guy, but this is just messed up. So after successfully getting Ann into his home, he strangled her with an electrical cord to make sure that she was deceased before using a saw to sever her limbs. He then wrapped them in trash bags and divided her torso in half using a power saw and a hand saw. Now, there was speculation as to whether he had done this to feed her to his python, but this couldn't be confirmed. I'm sure you can't imagine anything worse, Heath.
- [41:37]
Heath
It makes me shiver thinking about that.
- [41:40]
Daphne
Heath is very afraid of snakes, which is why we're saying so. This was my nightmare, just in case anybody's wondering. Not that part, no.
- [41:47]
Heath
It was of me beating a turtle to death in a sink.
- [41:50]
Daphne
It was like we were in this creepy house, and Heath was standing at a sink, and there was this turtle, and you were beating it to death with a hammer. And I was, like, looking away, covering my ears, and I was screaming, no, no, no. Why was.
- [42:03]
Heath
But why was I beating the turtle to death?
- [42:05]
Daphne
Like, dreams don't make sense. You would obviously never do that. Yeah, it was very disturbing. I woke up literally whimpering. It was. It was horrible. So, as detectives unraveled this shocking, horrific scene, word spread to the growing crowd outside Ann's home and made its way back to her family. Roy was placed in the back of a police van to await questioning. But fucking get this. Somehow, despite being shackled by his ankles and handcuffed, he pulled his belt off of his waist and hung himself in the back of the police van. They took off to question him at 10:29am that morning, but by the time police arrived at the station In East Liberty, Pennsylvania, just 12 minutes later, Roy was dead. And police later realized their fatal flaw. They had let him sit in the back of the van unattended for about 30 minutes after he was detained at 10am and then he was transported in the van to the police station without being checked on and was dead on arrival. So according to the medical examiner, Roy's death occurred during that 30 minutes while he was waiting in the van outside Ann's house. So he was dead, or very likely dead before they even started driving to the police station. Medical examiner Dr. Cyril Wecht reported, quote, I'm strongly leaning toward the idea that Kirk hanged himself in the 20 minutes to half hour that he was left inside the van. This was an act of great dexterity, balance, and positioning. To do it in a moving van that is not spacious while going over city streets probably would not have been possible.
- [44:00]
Heath
Yeah, so he's saying that, yeah, basically during that 30 minutes that he was sitting there and they weren't moving, he was somehow, which he said of great dexterity and positioning and balance to be able to do this, which, yeah, you could imagine it would be really hard if you're shackled and handcuffed to take your belt off, figure out how you're gonna, like, you know, loop it on something and then hang yourself would be very, very hard.
- [44:27]
Daphne
Which is why they, the police probably hadn't imagined at all that he would be able to do something like that. And they were like, we're going to leave him for a bit. But of course, police were widely criticized for this lack of judgment and the careless maintenance of a crime scene, as this was the second suicide that took place in the back of a Pittsburgh police van in the last two years.
- [44:49]
Heath
Yeah, so apparently they kind of didn't learn their lesson from, like, leaving people in the police van unattended. But in some ways, Anne's family, who had only just been notified of her death, were kind of relieved by Roy's quick passing, which would, you know, spare them of a lengthy legal battle or just a dispute over his mental health.
- [45:10]
Daphne
I'm sure they were just kind of glad that he was off the earth, even though they also wanted him to pay for what he did. It must have been a very confusing feeling.
- [45:19]
Heath
Oh, absolutely. You know, it's like you want to see justice take place, but also the guy's gone, so he can't hurt anybody else. Well, in the immediate aftermath, police commander Ronald Freeman announced that Roy had a lengthy history of mental illness, but did not elaborate further. Later, as more testimonials from his acquaintances came out, it was revealed that Roy struggled with depression as well as obsessive compulsive disorder. When Anne's brother John was informed of the news, he said candidly, now I don't have to kill him. My mother said, God have mercy on his soul. But I said, God damn his soul, may he burn in hell forever. And then Ann's dad, of course Thomas, echoed this, saying, it's been one fine by the city after another until it adds up to what we have today. Two lives gone, one that was worthwhile in my mind, the other I'm not sure. Animal control was brought in to wade through the debris and save the lives of the innocent animals that they could, which included that seven foot python.
- [46:32]
Daphne
But it is a sweet python. Okay, go ahead, tell us about him. Tell all about him.
- [46:39]
Heath
So the python who came to be known as Pretty Boy, Very Cute, was sent to live with a family of reptile loving zoologists who loved caring for him. His foster mom, Dolly Eller Brock recalled, quote, he's sensitive and likes to be petted. Sorry. He's been through a lot. From what I can tell, it seems he was left by himself. Now he's being Cared for and enjoying all the attention, the holding by telling him that he's gonna be alright. He has no ears, but he can feel the vibrations of my voice.
- [47:16]
Daphne
Poor pretty boy. I mean, seriously, all these poor animals living in those horrific, horrific conditions. Like, it's very sad.
- [47:25]
Heath
It is very Sad. Well, on April 5th of 1997, a packed church came together to mourn and memorialize Anne, whom her pastor called immensely talented, telling the congregation she loved her family. She loved her music, her neighbors. She loved stray dogs, stray cats, and even stray people. She loved her home as she loved beautiful things. Ann was special. The Oakland Planning and development corporation spent seven months and $84,000 renovating Roy's dilapidated house. And surprisingly, it sold faster than Ann's did. Well, regarding Ann's murder, detectives considered this case closed, given that there was just no indication that Roy had acted with anybody else.
- [48:14]
Daphne
On Ann's 50th birthday, the park that was originally supposed to be Roy's passion project was finally opened in Ann's memory and name. The Ann Allison Hoover Memorial park is located on Pittsburgh's north side near the Westview neighborhood. At the time, her mom, Margaret, who actually passed away before the park opened, said, it will be a bittersweet day. There will be a lot of sadness, yet a lot of joy, because of course, she knew that they were opening it in Ann's honor. Marianne Anderson, for whom Ann actually used to babysit, is the one who donated the five acres in order to host the park. Maryanne shared, she was just one of those people that sparkled. She wanted the best for everyone. She knew we wanted something to dedicate to her memory, and we felt that a park would be more of a celebration of her life than a memorial to her death. Even before it had officially opened, it became a very popular gathering place for the community that it served and even fulfilled Ann's original vision of hosting events for every holiday. Ann's mother, Margaret, reflected gratefully. It's nice to see it already being used, even in the state that it's in. I just feel privileged to have had a daughter that could inspire such love and generosity as the Andersons in the community have demonstrated. Thank you so much, everybody for listening to this episode of Going West.
- [49:56]
Heath
Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this doozy of an episode. I mean, what an insane story. Just the fact that he dug that tunnel, the fact that that house was hosting animals in cages and was dilapidated and just so messed up. Like, just honestly, a horror story, like I said before.
- [50:15]
Daphne
I know. Thank you so Much to Maya for recommending this. It's just, it takes some truly shocking turns, especially just knowing how violent the crime itself was. The state that he had left the house. And again like why? Why did you build that tunnel? Why did you have all these animals in there if you weren't able to live there? Why was there like a bed of shit upstairs? Like literally why, why, why, why? Why?
- [50:39]
Heath
Yeah. Just absolutely insane. Well, thank you guys so much for listening. Remember that we are going to be at Crimecon in Vegas and if you want to go and hang out with us in Vegas, use our code going West 10 at checkout and we would love to see you guys there.
- [50:56]
Daphne
We are designing some fun stuff. We're gonna have a super fun custom crime concert that we're gonna be passing out that we just designed and we can't wait to get a made. But if you can't make it and you still want some Going west merch, remember we have merch now and it is beautiful and comfortable. Head on over to shop.imonwell.com and then click on our show Going West.
- [51:20]
Heath
Alright guys, so we'll see you on Friday. So for everybody out there in the
- [51:24]
Daphne
world, don't be a stranger.
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Heath
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Daphne
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Heath
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Heath
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