Margaret Fox // 512

Summary

Margaret Fox // Episode 512 Summary

Podcast Information:

• Title: Going West: True Crime
• Hosts: Daphne Woolsoncroft and Heath Merryman
• Episode: Margaret Fox // 512
• Release Date: June 17, 2025

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1. Introduction and Case Background

In Episode 512 of Going West: True Crime, hosts Daphne Woolsoncroft and Heath Merryman delve into the mysterious disappearance of Margaret Fox, a 14-year-old girl from Burlington, New Jersey. Margaret was an active and responsible teenager, deeply involved in her community and eager to take on a babysitting job to earn extra money for personal expenses.

Daphne (05:09): "Margaret Fox was born on February 4, 1960, growing up in the city of Burlington, New Jersey... she was super responsible. She was just a really good kid."

2. The Babysitting Arrangement and Disappearance

Margaret and her 11-year-old cousin, Lynn, placed an advertisement in the local newspaper seeking babysitting jobs. Shortly after, a man identified as John Marshall contacted them for the position, offering $40 a week—a substantial amount for a teenager at the time.

Initially hesitant due to Lynn's young age and the distance involved, Margaret's father, David, spoke with John Marshall to ensure the legitimacy of the job offer. Satisfied, he allowed Margaret to proceed.

Margaret left her home on June 24, 1974, to meet John Marshall's wife at a designated bus stop in Mount Holly. However, after boarding the bus alone, Margaret never returned home.

Heath (09:00): "I was going to say, yeah, I mean, I love the attitude here. Like, we are experienced, please hire us."

3. Immediate Aftermath and Initial Investigation

Upon failing to return by the expected time, Margaret's parents grew increasingly concerned. Mary Fox attempted to contact John Marshall but discovered the provided phone number led to a public payphone, not a home line. This discrepancy raised immediate red flags.

Daphne (18:07): "I cannot imagine how Mary felt when her daughter has not called her... she called a payphone and she doesn't have the address for where her daughter is."

Search efforts intensified as Margaret's parents, along with local volunteers, scoured Mount Holly and surrounding areas. Police quickly ruled out Margaret being a runaway, given the circumstances of her disappearance.

4. The Ransom Call and Cryptic Letters

Four days after Margaret's disappearance, on June 28, 1974, the Fox family received a disturbing phone call. An anonymous caller demanded a ransom of $10,000 for Margaret's safe return, delivering his threat in a cryptic and poetic manner.

Daphne (33:25): "10,000 might be a lot of bread, but your daughter's life is the buttered topping."

This unusual approach deepened the mystery, as the caller's message hinted at a calculated and possibly psychopathic mindset. The subsequent letters reiterated the ransom demand, adding eerie details about tearing Margaret's blouse and breaking her glasses, suggesting she was being held but not harmed.

Heath (35:29): "This perpetrator is really taunting this family, and it's... clear that they're getting a kick out of this."

5. Investigation Challenges and Suspects

Over the years, several suspects emerged. In 1978, a 66-year-old man with a military background came under suspicion due to his connection with a red Volkswagen—a vehicle reportedly linked to Margaret's last known movements. However, fingerprint analysis did not match, and the FBI eventually cleared him of involvement.

Additionally, a convicted criminal, Charles M. Clowbridge, confessed to Margaret's murder in 1975 but later retracted his statement, leaving authorities with lingering uncertainty.

6. Reopening the Case and Recent Developments

In 2017, Officer Michael D' Alessio, a retired law enforcement officer from Willingborough, New Jersey, took a renewed interest in Margaret Fox's case. Collaborating with the Burlington Police Department, he aimed to uncover overlooked evidence and leverage advancements in forensic technology.

In 2019, marking the 45th anniversary of Margaret's disappearance, the FBI released the infamous six-second ransom call audio. Despite technological improvements to enhance audio clarity, the caller's identity remains unknown.

Heath (59:01): "It's like he's reading from a script... it's very robotic and stoppy."

The FBI also offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to the abductor, hoping public awareness might bring new leads.

7. Current Status and Ongoing Appeals

As of the latest updates, Margaret Fox's disappearance remains unsolved. The case continues to haunt the Burlington community, with efforts ongoing to locate her remains and bring closure to her family. Law enforcement encourages anyone with information to come forward.

Daphne (60:37): "The $25,000 reward is still being offered to anybody who has information leading to the perp."

The hosts conclude the episode by emphasizing the enduring impact of Margaret's case and the hope that new evidence or witness testimony will eventually shed light on her fate.

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Conclusion

Episode 512 of Going West: True Crime masterfully unpacks the chilling and unresolved case of Margaret Fox. Through detailed narration and insightful commentary, Daphne and Heath guide listeners through the intricate web of events, investigation hurdles, and lingering mysteries surrounding her disappearance. The inclusion of notable quotes with timestamps enriches the narrative, providing an engaging and comprehensive overview for both longtime true crime enthusiasts and new listeners alike.

Transcript

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[Daphne]

And I'm your host Daphne and you're.

[Heath]

Listening to Going West.

[Daphne]

Guys, we are going on tour. If you haven't checked out our tour announcement videos on socials, go watch them. But to give you an idea, Heath and I are going on tour this summer or late summer almost fall with our pals Andy and Jesse of Love Murder, our favorite true crime podcast in five cities. So please buy tickets this week so we can do even more shows. We just need to know that you guys want to see us. So let's make this a packed tour.

[Heath]

Yeah, it is going to be super fun. On September 11th we're going to be in Denver, Colorado September 13th in Dallas, Texas. September 16th in Boston, Massachusetts. September 18th in Atlanta, Georgia. And then finally to round out that tour on September 21st, we're going to be in Chicago, Illinois. So for more details go to goingwestpod.com Tour tickets go on sale this Friday, June 20th, but pre sale will it's going to be available tomorrow, Wednesday, June 18th at 10am local time using code LOVEWEST1WORD. Head on over to GoingWestPod.com tour to get your tickets.

[Daphne]

It's gonna be seriously so fun. We know true crime is obviously a very serious, very real topic. But on top of discussing real and wild true crime stories, we're gonna like play games with you guys. It's gonna be fun and interactive. I really think you guys are gonna enjoy what we've got up our sleeves.

[Heath]

So please make sure to go buy those tickets, my friends.

[Daphne]

Yes. And big thank you in advance. We can't wait to see you gu this September. Now to today's case. We have such a cautionary tale for you guys today that includes an incredibly cryptic audio clip from a real phone call received to Margaret's parents back in the 1970s.

[Heath]

Yes. And we are also going to talk about letters and a ransom. This case has it all, but it's such a tragic story that needs all the eyes and ears that it can get.

[Daphne]

Yeah, so don't forget to share. Check out our socials for photos from this case. And without further ado, let's talk about Margaret.

[Heath]

Alright guys, this is episode 512 of Going West. So let's get into it.

[Daphne]

In June of 1974, a 14 year old New Jersey girl disappeared after meeting up with a man regarding a babysitting job. She had placed an ad in the local newspaper and the man in question had a 5 year old son he allegedly needed care for. But when she went missing from their meeting spot, a bus stop, she was never seen again. And then a horrifying ransom call came into her family residence, followed by a disturbingly poetic letter. This is the disappearance of Margaret Fox. Margaret Fox was born on February 4, 1960, growing up in the city of Burlington, New Jersey. Now, Burlington lies directly on the Delaware river and the river actually serves as the border between New Jersey and Pennsylvania. So because of this, Burlington is very often referred to as a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, since it's only 20 miles or 34 kilometers northeast of downtown Philly. Even back in the early 1970s, Burlington, New Jersey was a quaint riverside town with a population of just over 12,000 residents. Known for its rich Colonial heritage and preserved historical architecture. So this is the place that Margaret Fox was living with her parents, David and Mary, as well as her brothers when today's story takes place. Being in the middle of her brothers and everyone being very close with each other, they were kind of a quintessential 1970s American family. Like, they went to church on Sundays, and Margaret's dad, David, was one of the town's local plumbers. Margaret was an active gal who loved outdoor activities like swimming, ice skating and riding horses. And complementing her athletic abilities, Margaret was also musically inclined and played the piano. And even as a young teen, she had a good head on her shoulders. She was super responsible. She was just a really good kid. Like, for example, at only 14 years old, like so many teenage girls have been doing for decades, I did this as well. Margaret decided to look for a babysitting job to earn some extra money of her own. Excited to have some cash in her pocket, Margaret was looking forward to buying new clothes and just having financial freedom to do what she pleased with the money she earned. But what began as a simple chance to earn some money spiraled into a chilling mystery, one that would haunt parents around the country and make many question the safety of their kids for more than half a century. It was June of 1974, and the end of the school year was fast approaching. So, you know, this is sense of freedom was in the air. And students at St. Paul's Grammar School were getting ready to put down their pencils and close their textbooks until fall. Now, growing up in a house full of brothers, you know, Margaret was pretty close with her younger cousin Lynn, you know, kind of in a sisterly way, and Lynn, who lived very closely to her. And together the girls set their minds on finding a babysitting gig. So they put out an ad in the local newspaper, as many people often did back in the day, that simply read, quote, babysitters, experienced teen girls love kids work at your house, call blank. And then they put their phone numbers down, which they did not have experience.

[Heath]

I was going to say, yeah, I mean, I love, I love the attitude here. Like, we are experienced, please hire us. Yeah, get it.

[Daphne]

But one of them, I mean, Lynn was 11 and obviously Margaret is 14, so she's like barely a teenager.

[Heath]

Lynn, Lynn probably was still being babysat at the time.

[Daphne]

Lynn is a kid girl, so. Yeah, but they're trying. They're really trying.

[Heath]

Good for them. Well, and not long after placing this ad, the phone at Lynn's family home rang. The call came from a man who Said that he needed childcare for his young son at their home in Mount Holly, which is only about 15 to 20 minutes away from Burlington, which is where both of the girls lived. Now here's the thing. When Lynn got the call from this man, her parents told her that they didn't want her working that far out of town since again, she was only 11 years old.

[Daphne]

Yeah, again she's a literal kid. I mean it's kind of shocking that they wanted her or they were allowing her to do this anyway. But I do feel like honestly back in that day a lot of kids around this age did work. It's true, it was a little different.

[Heath]

Well, because they felt a little bit uncomfortable with that, Lynn decided to pass it on to her 14 year old cousin Margaret. So then on June 19, Margaret got a call from this same man regarding the job. And on the phone he said that he would pay $40 a week to watch his 5 year old son from 9:30am to 1:30pm on weekdays and said that he could cover the fees for bus travel. Now remember, it's summer, so her days are open and she's able to work these hours. And by the way, weekly pay of $40 a week translates to like $260 a week in today's money. And for a 14 year old working part time, that was some pretty good cash. On top of this, the man also said that his house had a swimming pool, which made the gig even more tempting during those upcoming hot and humid New Jersey summer months. I mean, who doesn't want to go swimming when it's hot out? So Margaret was really excited by this and so she begged her dad to let her accept the job. Her dad was naturally a little bit hesitant at first and wanted to speak to the man himself before allowing his daughter to take this job, especially with it being in a different town. So David talked to the guy on the phone who introduced himself as John Marshall and he seemed normal enough to ease David's concerns. John even gave them his phone number to reach him on and he seemed pretty normal to them. So David agreed. He told Margaret yes and allowed his daughter to meet John Marshall and John's wife for this babysitting opportunity. So during the initial call, John Marshall asked if she could start the job on Friday, June 21, which was only two days later at this point. But her excitement for the job temporarily halted when a call came in from John the next day. On Thursday, June 20, John called her to explain that his mother in law suddenly passed away and that he Wouldn't be needing Margaret to start quite yet after all. So now she's just hoping that the job wasn't going to fall through and just patiently awaited the next call from John, which to her Delight came only three days later on Sunday, June 23rd. On this call, John said that he actually needed her help babysitting the following day, which would be Monday, June 24th. They arranged that Margaret would take the seven mile bus trip from Burlington to Mount Holly and that John Marshall's wife would be the one to greet Margaret that morning. And she would apparently be waiting in a red Volkswagen on High street and Mill street and after meeting John's wife, would then drive Margaret back to their home to meet their five year old son. Now obviously this seemed like a pretty good plan and the idea that Margaret would be meeting his wife was definitely a little bit more comfortable.

[Daphne]

But the problem was like nobody had spoken to this alleged wife. But with her mother apparently having just passed away, maybe they let that go. And I think probably just the idea of the wife was enough to make them put their guards down a little bit.

[Heath]

Yeah, and I think especially in these times before this trick was maybe used too often, like yeah, they could kind of get away with it and they did. Yeah, I mean sadly they, they really didn't think too much about this. So thinking that this was just a great plan, Margaret went to sleep that night full of anticipation for the next day to roll around.

[Daphne]

Yeah, so that next day was a very exciting day to say the least. Monday, June 24th in 1974, like summer break was officially here. Margaret had just finished up the school year at St. Paul's Grammar School. But this wasn't just the end of any school year. She had just graduated from eighth grade, which meant in the fall she'd be moving on to high school at St. Paul's Roman Catholic School. So you know, she's like, I've got a job, I'm going to high school. Like things are moving up.

[Heath]

It's a very, very transitional time going from eighth grade to high school. So yeah, this summer it's going to be massive for Margaret.

[Daphne]

No, it really is. Like you feel, you feel so grown up when you, when you make that jump. So you know, obviously though, school was months away. So in the meantime she had this fun new job to start where she would be spending her days with a little five year old boy and swimming in a pool. Well, that morning Margaret got dressed, put on her eyeglasses and packed her swimsuit. You know, she was ready to use that Pool. She promised her parents that when she arrived at the Marshall's house, she would call them to make sure everything was okay. And I do want to mention I could not find specific movements for her parents that morning. And why neither of them went with her or drove them or drove her themselves. You know what I mean, why she took a bus. I would assume this being a Monday morning, her dad at the very least is going to work. I know he was a of part plumber, maybe he worked odd hours. But it doesn't seem like her mom was out that day. It does seem like she was at home based on everything we're gonna get into. So I just wanted to mention that I don't know their exact movements, but we know at least her mom was home. Well, either way, at around 8.30am, Margaret left her family's red brick home on Penn Street. She was actually joined by her younger brother Joe, and the two kids made their way to the bus stop together. But at 8:40am, 14 year old Margaret hopped on the bus solo and waved goodbye to her little brother who of course stayed behind. And as we know, this was not a long journey to Mount Holly. But remember, it was out of town about seven miles away. So Margaret headed there to meet John Marshall's wife who would be in that red Volkswagen by the bus stop at Mill street and High street. After the short 20ish minute bus ride, Margaret arrived at her stop at about 9am and walked off the bus alone. With witnesses later coming forward claiming that they saw her sitting at the Mount Holly bus stop or walking towards a car. But we are going to get into that later. But back at the Fox home in Burlington, her mother was waiting for this call. When it didn't come through, she actually assumed that Margaret had gotten caught up working. You know, she's supposed to be watching a five year old boy that day. She's got her hands full with a toddler. So instead of calling that number that she had for John early on in that morning, she just kind of waited it out. But as the hours ticked by, a call never came in.

[Heath]

Now even more concerning, as we know, this babysitting job was supposed to last from 9.30am to 1.30pm so she was supposed to arrive safely back home by 2pm but when she didn't, Mary Fox grew more and more concerned. So finally, in an attempt to reach out to Margaret, Mary called the phone number that John Marshall had given them days before. But the phone just rang and rang. Finally a moment of relief washed over Mary when someone picked up the other end of the receiver, especially when it was a woman, making Mary automatically assume that it was John's wife. But the reassurance quickly dissolved when the person on the other end of the phone told Mary that they had dialed the number for a public payphone, meaning that John had given a false phone number and John Marshall never disclosed his home address to them.

[Daphne]

I cannot imagine how Mary felt when her daughter has not called her. She is concerned enough to make this call herself only for it to ring and ring, and then for her to be told by a stranger that she called a pay phone and she doesn't have the address for where her daughter is.

[Heath]

I mean, I feel like that's one of the. Obviously, I'm not trying to blame anybody here, but that would have been a really great detail to know, especially considering that she was going to a home outside of the city. But obviously they didn't have that information, which is just terrible.

[Daphne]

I feel like. I mean, I was not alive in 1974. But it does feel like, just from past cases that we've covered, that the mindset was just different back then. Like we read this now and we're like, this would not happen today. Sure, but obviously it happened back then. This was a little bit more normal. You know, maybe there were the extra cautious parents who would have gotten the address. But in that day and age, this feels unfortunately kind of normal.

[Heath]

And it's kind of like when people talk about, like older cases about how, you know, in small towns, before these murders took place, we used to leave our doors unlocked at night. Now people realize that's probably not a safe thing to do.

[Daphne]

Yeah. With time, we have learned many lessons.

[Heath]

So obviously at this point, the foxes are in absolute panic. Now, thanks to the person who picked up the phone, Mary learned that the payphone was located outside of an A and P grocery store in Lumberton, which is a town about 10 miles from Burlington and two miles away from Mount Holly. By 2:30pm that day, David had called a friend of his and the two men got into the car to roam the streets of Mount Holly looking for 14 year old Margaret. While David went out to look for his daughter Margaret's mom, Mary scoured the local phone book looking for information on anybody named John Marshall in the area.

[Daphne]

Of course, he has his basic ass name.

[Heath]

Yeah, and of course it's probably a fake name. And I mean, there were a ton of Marshalls across this area. But Mary called everybody asking about her daughter and everybody reported back to her that day that they didn't know who.

[Daphne]

She was, which is hard because Mary was probably wondering if she could even trust some of these people anyway. But she just had to keep moving on to the next number because she's desperate for an answer. So if somebody says, yeah, I don't know who Margaret is, it's like, are you the guy that my husband and my daughter talked to on the phone or are you telling me the truth?

[Heath]

Well, yeah, it's not like this perpetrator is going to probably admit something to you over the phone.

[Daphne]

Yeah, he's not going to say, oh, yeah, Margaret, I got it right here.

[Heath]

Yeah. Well. When day turned to night, David and Mary Fox finally reported their daughter missing to the police. And luckily, police took action, immediately realizing that it was very likely that 14 year old Margaret had been abducted. Now, based on the circumstances of the situation, from the beginning, police believed that something nefarious was going on and never considered her to be a runaway because, you know, obviously she went to this babysitting job and she didn't return. Of course, David told police the entire story about the name John Marshall and about how the number was connected to the payphone next to the grocery store. And likely because this is kind of a smallish suburb, One of the officers had a thought. Someone who worked at the AP supermarket, an assistant manager named Jack Marshall, came to mind. He wondered if maybe Jack had simply changed his first name and had been using that payphone to talk to Margaret because of its convenient location next to his job.

[Daphne]

Yeah, but this officer was also kind of confused because he knew Jack Marshall to be this great guy, like, seemingly not the type of guy who would abduct a girl. But luckily, this was not a situation where the police were like, yeah, couldn't be Jack, so we're not even gonna look at him. They did bring Jack in and they questioned him. They even gave him a polygraph test. And Jack passed, explaining that he didn't know Margaret or know anything about the situation or her disappearance or the payphone or anything like that. And in fact, he had been working all day on that Monday, which many could vouch for, so he would not have been able to, like, slip out and abduct her. This, to the police, was an airtight alibi. Now, when the sun rose the next day on June 25, the search for Margaret continued, with police sweeping the Burlington and Mount Holly areas for any trace of this young teenage girl. Word was traveling around town quickly as well, and several members of the community joined the Fox family's quest to see if anybody knew Where Margaret was.

[Heath]

I honestly just real quickly want to say that this is such a. A strange way to go about this whole situation because most of the time when we see people or kids being abducted, it's just like, plucked right off the street. Right. This person came up with and devised a plan to literally lure this girl with the consent of their parents in order to abduct her, which we don't see often.

[Daphne]

No, it's crazy. And that's why it's wild to me that he brought up this wife. And, oh, my wife's gonna pick you up. And, yeah, I'll talk to your dad. Hey, David. Like, yeah, this is a plan. I got this son. Like, he probably was. We are going to talk about what David said he sounded like in a little while. But he probably, you know, charmed the pants off David.

[Heath]

Sure.

[Daphne]

Because a lot of killers, as we know, are very manipulative. So he probably sounded like this totally normal guy and that's how this was able to happen. But, yeah, it was completely calculated. Like the fact that he saw the ad in the newspaper and said, this is my chance, that this is how I'm going to do it. This is how I'm going to lure a teenage girl to me.

[Heath]

Yeah. And then followed through with that plan.

[Daphne]

Yeah, it's crazy. Which also makes you wonder if when he bailed that Friday, if he got cold feet or things weren't working out the way he wanted to, and then he finally made it happen on Monday. Well, with photos in hand, the Fox family and volunteers were knocking on doors and stopping people on the street, desperately trying to get any information on her whereabouts. And this is what the description of Margaret stated on the missing poster. It said 14 and a half, wavy brown hair, blue eyes, 5 foot 2 inches tall, freckles, brown bag, 100 pounds, sandals, maroon jeans, blue checked jackets. Now, while they were, of course, physically looking for her with boots on the ground, police were doing their best to try to retrace Margaret's steps. You know, obviously they knew she got on the bus on the morning of Monday, June 24th. And this is when they heard some witness sightings, including what I said earlier about, you know, some people saying that they saw her sitting at the Mount Holly bus stop. Now, one woman who was on the 8:40am bus on the morning in question said she remembered her young son reaching out in front of him and tugging on a girl's hair. And when the girl on the bus turned around in response to be like, you know, who's tugging on my hair? The woman recalled the girl sweetly talking to her young son. The woman described the girl as having smiley eyes and said she seemed happy. And she was able to confirm that this girl was Margaret. When she saw a picture, she was like, yep, that's the girl I saw. So I know she was on the bus, which we know, of course, that she was on it anyway. But this is what is coming into police now, other than this. Some eyewitnesses from that morning even reported seeing a girl matching Margaret's description get off the bus in Mount Holly and approach a man in a red car near Mill street and High street, which, of course, was the intersection that she was to meet with the marshals, or at least John Marshall's wife. But that account is the last reported sighting of Margaret Fox.

[Heath]

And I'm sure that this piece of shit was like, oh, yeah, sorry, my. My wife couldn't be here to pick you up today, so she just had me come instead.

[Daphne]

Yeah, and he probably charmed the pants off her, too. You know what I mean? And. And kind of made her feel comfortable and said, but no problem. Like, she's there. And even if she felt uncomfortable, she's alone. She's 14. She's not gonna say. Nope, bye. She's excited for this job, and he knows it.

[Heath]

And the other thing that I wanted to point out very quickly is the fact that when she got off the bus, it's not like she was abducted by somebody else that wasn't connected to this John Marshall. Because you would imagine if this whole thing was real, John Marshall would have called Mary and said, hey, your daughter didn't show up to my house today.

[Daphne]

Oh, yeah, of course.

[Heath]

You know what I'm saying? So it had to have been him.

[Daphne]

Yeah, this was the operation.

[Heath]

Well, in the days following Margaret's disappearance, the FBI quickly became involved in the chance that her killer could have transported her over state lines or into a different jurisdiction in general. The assistant special Agent who joined the case at the time said, we are conducting a preliminary investigation to determine if there is any federal violation. If there is any possibility, we'll step into it as quickly as we can. Now, believing that it was an abduction, the FBI decided to record all incoming and outgoing phone calls at the Fox's home in case this John Marshall was gonna call back.

[Daphne]

Love it.

[Heath]

And what came next proved to be a bizarre and shocking twist, because on June 28, 1974, it had been four days since Margaret went missing. The telephone at the Fox family house rang, and Margaret's mom, Mary, answered on the Other line was a man. And a disturbingly cryptic threat was made by this unknown caller. The man clearly was demanding ransom money for the safe return of Margaret. He said 10,000 might be a lot of bread, but your daughter's life is the buttered topping.

[Daphne]

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[Heath]

It's terrifying.

[Daphne]

It's like that's all he said. And then Mary said, who is this? And he hung up. This was a six second phone call. Like, it's just, it's, it's also very poetic. Like, it's like he's asking for $10,000, but the way he's doing it, he's not like, I have your daughter, give me the money. Hangs up like why? Why Are you saying it like that?

[Heath]

Yeah. This guy is literally threatening people in fucking, like, metaphors.

[Daphne]

Yeah, literally. Well, frustratingly, the person behind this twisted and perplexing phone call never called again. But the next day. So day five into her disappearance, Mary and David Fox received a letter. Now, this letter had the very same message, still demanding the $10,000 ransom, talking about the bread and the butter topping. So that tells us this is the same person for sure. And by the way, $10,000 in 1974 is almost $65,000 today. So quite a chunk of cash. And in hopes that they would release their daughter from a presumed hostage situation, they even took that 10k from their bank and awaited further instructions. So they are doing what he's asking. Then, not long after, another letter arrived, and this one was far more unnerving and detailed. It demanded Margaret's parents to, quote, enclose the $10,000 in a box with blue wrapping, the same as Margaret's blouse, which, again, feels weirdly poetic. Like, use blue wrapping just like Margaret's blouse. It's almost like a game.

[Heath]

Yeah, I mean, this perpetrator is really taunting this family, and it's. So there's not a lot of cases that we cover where perpetrators do this specifically where they're playing these little games and stuff like that. But it's very clear that they're getting a kick out of this.

[Daphne]

Well, they did say that Margaret was unharmed, writing, quote, torn her blouse and broke her glasses. So they're saying that, by the way, the letters have not been released, only snippets. So that's the only part of the line that we have. But, yeah, they're saying that they tore her her blouse and they broke her glasses. So she is, in their words, essentially being held, and she's being ruffled up, but she's not hurt, which obviously is just gonna make the parents more anxious and want to give this ransom even more, knowing that they are touching her in some way, at the very least. And I want to talk about the blouse and the glasses really quick. We know. I read you guys what the missing poster described in her appearance. This just makes me think that this probably is not a hoax, because, again, the poster only said that she had a brown bag, maroon jeans, sandals, and a blue checked jacket, but she was, in fact, wearing a blue blouse. And the missing poster did not say that she was wearing glasses, but she was. But also because I knew that obviously she had been written about in the newspapers and not just the missing poster was being put around, but also news And TV and stuff. I did try to find every article that is out there on the Internet about her disappearance between those first four and five days. And I read them all. And some of them mentioned a blue blouse. Only a few of them did. And none of them that I could find, I read all of them that are on the Internet. None of them mentioned glasses. I don't know if potentially the news mentioned them, but I don't know why the news would and the missing poster and newspapers would not. But this is something that makes me think that this guy's the real deal.

[Heath]

Yeah, definitely. And, you know, the witness that was on the bus that day that saw Margaret would probably be able to confirm that she was wearing glasses that day.

[Daphne]

Well, she was.

[Heath]

Right. So I don't really know how they didn't include that detail, but I guess maybe it was a misstep.

[Daphne]

I don't know. It's weird because again, also, a lot of the articles didn't even. It just said, like, some of them said brown sandals, red jeans, not even maroon, but a lot of them said red. And then they said the blue checked jacket. So a lot of them did not, again, say blue blouse, while others did. Some mentioned her jewelry, some did not. So they're kind of picking and choosing certain pieces of her outfit, maybe the most noticeable pieces, which is why the jacket, the pants, and the shoes are the most discussed. But I do think the glasses are a big detail as well, but nobody mentioned it that I could find.

[Heath]

Yeah, it seems like that would be a pretty big detail.

[Daphne]

Well, Mary and David Fox desperately scanned this letter for any direction on, you know, where to send this cash that they had already taken out. But there were no instructions on where to send this money. But then they noticed something disturbing. The wording in the letter was different than the phone call. Remember I said they both talked about the butter and the bread, but as we know, the present tense of the verbiage was in the phone call. But that was changed in the letter. This one said, $10,000 was a lot of bread and your daughter's life was the butter topping. As far as we know, was and was were not emphasized. So it would have just read, 10,000 was a lot of bread and your daughter's life was the butter topping. But they noticed, wait, in the call, he said, is.

[Heath]

Yeah. So obviously that's alarming. And possibly at this point they're thinking, hey, maybe he got fed up. Maybe he just decided he was going to kill her and now the whole thing's over.

[Daphne]

So now they're just. But they're wondering that. They're like, is she alive? Is she dead? Did he change this to play another game? Or did she just word it differently by mistake? Even though it does seem like all of this is extremely calculated. Well, also, at the end of this letter, the sign off was really odd, and it stuck out to both her parents and the police because it read so long again. So, like, so long again, like a sign off. But the letters S, L and A, you know, so long again were emphasized like they were emboldened. So it was then suspected that SLA being highlighted in the letter was possibly referring to the Symbionese Liberation army, which was an American terrorist group back in the 1970s. Now, this organization had recently made major headlines from the publicized kidnapping of an heiress named Patty Hearst, who we have talked about in a different episode of Going West. I cannot remember which one it was, but it was regarding a different case. Actually, we have talked about her. Now, detectives have never confirmed whether these letters came from Margaret's actual kidnapper or if they were really a hoax, despite the potentially unique information about her glasses. Because at this point, police would know if that was a distinct clue. They would know. Wait, we didn't release that, but they haven't told us if they released it or not. I just couldn't find it myself, and I really dug deep. But they do at least suspect that if the letters did originate from the abductor, the SLA references were possibly added in there to throw the investigators off and that SLA likely was not involved. And it's just so weird to me to request $10,000 and not give instructions for a trade off and then just disappear like, they've got the cash. Let's do this transfer like you apparently wanted.

[Heath]

Yeah. And to me, again, that says that probably this perpetrator had got impatient or had maybe even accidentally killed her while, like, roughing her up and then couldn't go back, and then the. The ransom was just meaningless at that point.

[Daphne]

Yeah, and to be fair, I'm trying to think back to other cases we have covered where there's been a ransom. And to my knowledge, I do not remember any, like, successful ransom transfer. Like, I don't know of any case where the person got the money and, like, successfully gave up the victim and they were never caught. So maybe he also was like, shit, I don't think this is going to work for me.

[Heath]

I think we did talk about a case that was either in, like, England or Australia where the perpetrator was trying to get ransom money. But he also, too, had killed this, this woman the same day that he abducted her, but just kind of kept playing this ransom game.

[Daphne]

It never works. It just doesn't work. And maybe again, maybe he realized that, or maybe it was a hoax. It is so hard to say. But the fact that the ransom call and the follow up letters appeared almost immediately after the media spotlight turned to Margaret's disappearance, the timing did seem a bit suspicious. You know, they of course have to wonder if this is just a sick man trying to play a joke or trying to have some sick fun. But for anybody wondering, the letters were tested for fingerprints, and they reportedly found at least one, though there were not any matches when they were entered into the local database. But they did have this phone call to go off of and just hoped that the man's voice could lead them to eventual answers.

[Heath]

Early on, investigators received some accounts of a man driving around Mount Holly in a red Volkswagen the month before Margaret vanished. And while that man in the red Volkswagen was unidentified, he allegedly tried to pick up a girl in the area near where Margaret was last seen. So they're thinking that possibly this red Volkswagen piece could be true. But nothing ever came of this either. It was clear that the man who claimed to be John Marshall from the babysitting ad had given a false name. As authorities did everything that they could to track down this person with no luck.

[Daphne]

I know there are John Marshalls out there. There are people with very plain, common names.

[Heath]

There might be a John Marshall listening to this episode right now.

[Daphne]

Hey, John. But it doesn't. It does feel like you used a fake name. Of course he did. Of course he did.

[Heath]

Well, I was kind of wondering, going back to the sla, if that could potentially somebody's like, initials it could be, you know, like, maybe that's something that they. They probably have looked into that, though.

[Daphne]

But, like, why would you. Like, why would they do that? Why would you put your initials in there?

[Heath]

Well, it seems like they're kind of on this kind of zodiac killer type of deal where they're trying to taunt people and play these games. So maybe that's just another piece to the fucked up puzzle.

[Daphne]

This was right after the zodiac killings.

[Heath]

Well, according to the Burlington County Times, when investigators asked Margaret's father, David, to remember his phone conversation with this man claiming to be John Marshall before Margaret vanished, he said there was no accent, but no emotion either. He knew exactly what the devil he was saying. He was very convincing. It just never entered my mind that anything was wrong.

[Daphne]

Yeah, of Course, because he is being manipulative and just being like, oh, yeah, I just got a kid, I needed somebody to watch.

[Heath]

I'm charming John Marshall. Well, David also said that the man spoke calmly and precisely sounded like he was possibly local and like he had possibly been in his 30s. But then in August of 1974, so about two months after Margaret had last been seen, the FBI released a sketch of a man who they wanted to question in connection with Margaret's disappearance. And the sketch was reportedly based on the accounts of eyewitnesses and who believe that they saw Margaret approaching a man in a red car the day that she disappeared. Because some witnesses apparently got a good enough look for a general sketch. The suspect was described as a white male between the ages of 35 and 45. They presumed that he was about 5ft 10 inches tall and weighed roughly 200 to 230 pounds. He was said to have light blonde or reddish hair in a crew cut style, but with some grays. They believe that he had very white teeth and very blue eyes. And we are going to post that sketch on our socials for you guys to see. I kind of think that he. I don't know from this sketch.

[Daphne]

Creepy.

[Heath]

He looks very creepy, but he kind of looks like a lizard. I don't know if you're getting that.

[Daphne]

Vibe or not, but I mean, I get the vibe.

[Heath]

Yeah, he's looking a little lizard y.

[Daphne]

Yeah, I mean, it's a. It's a really good sketch. It's. It's quite detailed. You know, he looks pretty generic though. I will say.

[Heath]

I think he kind of looks a little like Eastern European. Like, you know, do you get that at all? Like, maybe possibly like, of like Russian descent or something.

[Daphne]

I could see that.

[Heath]

You could kind of see that, right?

[Daphne]

Yeah, I could see that. Let us know what you guys see. Well, by the late 1970s, it had been over four years and still no solid leads had stuck. Police and the FBI were beyond, of course, frustrated at the lack of progress in finding the perpetrator or Margaret, especially because it felt like they had so much. At first. They had a fake name, they had the, the phone booth, they had the letter, the letters, the phone call. Like, they had. They had the sketch. They had a lot.

[Heath]

They also had that red Volkswagen car.

[Daphne]

Yeah, like, come on, guys. Like, they actually kind of had a lot not to, like, undermine their work. But as we will see later, it does seem like they didn't necessarily do all they could. But over the years, there of course were several persons of interest, though. None of them panned out. But when 1978 rolled around, a certain someone came onto police and FBI's radar. Now, when officials discovered this man, he was much older than the assumed age of their suspect. As we know, it was originally projected that the perp was between about 45 or, sorry, 35 to 45. But this guy was 66. The man, who was not publicly named, had a military background and was employed at a military academy in the 1940s until the institution discovered his 1946 conviction for sexual contact with a minor.

[Heath]

Oh, yeah. So a couple things are kind of hitting there.

[Daphne]

And he would have been in his 30s when that happened. So, Lynn, now, this man was born and raised right there in New Jersey, but he reportedly spoke with a cultured British accent. So this development is pretty suspicious because although he thread that quote from David where he said the guy did not have an accent and he sounded local to New Jersey, Lynn, Margaret's cousin apparently told police that when she and Margaret had spoken to this John Marshall back in June of 1970, 1974, that he, quote, spoke with a military or almost British precision.

[Heath]

Huh. Those are two interesting things to combine. Like, you know, military doesn't necessarily sound British and vice versa. But I don't really know how they came to that.

[Daphne]

Yeah, this is truly such a weird part of the case that's really confusing. I found this information in two different news articles that came out in 2017 as we're going to talk about. The case was reopened and relooked, you know, re researched essentially starting in 2017. And this is all it said. It said that apparently the man spoke with a military or almost British precision. I tried to figure out what that meant. If at the time, I don't even know. I don't even know where to go with that because I couldn't figure it out. Obviously with the military precision, it could mean. Or the military accident could mean more.

[Heath]

Formal, more stern, possibly even.

[Daphne]

I don't know where Britain comes in, though.

[Heath]

Yeah, kind of one of the thoughts that I had on this is maybe with Lyn, he was using kind of a specific accent. But then with David on the phone, he used, you know, just a regular kind of calm New Jersey accent or just really, David said he didn't even have an accent, so.

[Daphne]

Or the other way around.

[Heath]

You know, obviously this could be a ploy to kind of throw people off yet again.

[Daphne]

But it is really weird that this man as well is from New Jersey. But they literally. This is literally a quote from this newspaper. This is from the Times it says, quote, he was said to speak with a British accent, although he was born and raised in New Jersey. And then it mentions that he worked at a military academy, but it doesn't say where it was. So it's also possible that it's a military accent and a British accent and they were working in the military in Britain. I don't know.

[Heath]

I really don't know. I mean, the first thing that came to my mind was like a transatlantic kind of accent, which a lot of actors used to use in the 1950s and stuff like that. So I'm wondering if maybe it was that, because I could kind of see. No, no, that. That British kind of like formal accent.

[Daphne]

It's really weird. I. I tried really hard to figure out where that came from, but I couldn't. If you happen to know out there, if you were like in the military at that time and you can explain this, please comment on our post. Because I couldn't figure it out.

[Heath]

Obviously we're not trying to harp on this too much because. But. But also it does. It's very relevant. It is the details of this case.

[Daphne]

Because if this guy did it or if somebody else did it and they changed their accents, that's really important to know which accents they used and how that could give us a peek into their personal life. Well, a little bit more on this 66 year old man. I just mentioned that he was convicted for abusing a minor in the 40s, but by 1975, so the year after Margaret disappeared, he faced another disturbing and similar charge. Lewdness and assault on a minor. And at the time, again in 1975, he was known to drive a distinctive red Volkswagen.

[Heath]

Oh my God. I mean, it just. Wow.

[Daphne]

Also, he lived only about a half a mile from the Amp supermarket, which as we know, is where the payphone was. And also he apparently went to high school with a guy named John Marshall. So somehow this guy had slipped under their radar for a few years, but finally when they, when they found him, they tried to question him, but by then he had moved out of the area.

[Heath]

Well, that's really convenient.

[Daphne]

Yeah, exactly. Well, since he had been in the military, his fingerprints were in the FBI database and they were reportedly compared with the ransom notes that were sent to the foxes back in 1974 and were apparently not a match. Now, to me, this doesn't mean that much because what if he wore gloves and the actual fingerprints are from the freaking mailman or something?

[Heath]

Yeah, very. That's. You know, I was gonna say that too. Like it's so. But, I mean, was the fingerprint on the outside of the envelope or was it on the actual letter? Because that would make a huge difference.

[Daphne]

I wish we knew. That's another thing we don't have, because again, the letters have not been released, and the fingerprint analysis of them has not been released either. Because this case is unsolved. There is a lot that has not been released to the public. But that would be good to know, because if they were on the letter and it wasn't a match, that would matter. But police did eventually question this guy, and apparently the FBI cleared him. So I don't know. I think he seems like a pretty good suspect, but I'd say so. That's what they said.

[Heath]

Well, as with a lot of cases, Margaret's case was plagued with issues and potentially even a false confession. Because in late 1975, a convicted criminal named Charles M. Clowbridge confessed that he was responsible for murdering Margaret, saying that he killed her and threw her body from a cliff in the Catskill Mountains of New York. So a long search was conducted in that area, but nothing was ever found. And then he recanted his confession and admitted that he lied about his involvement. Classic dumbass. Well, a glimmer of hope appeared again in 1988 when the remains of a Jane Doe were discovered about 70 miles away from Burlington in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey. Because the remains were found with a pair of brown sandals that were similar to the ones that Margaret was wearing when she went missing, the remains also gave investigators an understanding that they had belonged to a female teen, a little taller than five foot tall, which again, matched Margaret's height at the time she vanished because she was five. 2. Now, of course, back in the 1980s, DNA testing was not available, as it is today, but the human remains were reconstructed in the form of a clay bust, which we are gonna post a photo of for you guys.

[Daphne]

It's really creepy. I mean, do what you can do, you know?

[Heath]

I mean, definitely. I mean, if this is all they got. But this really was all that they had into the 1990s until they could finally test the DNA. But it was not a match to Margaret.

[Daphne]

By 2017, it had been over four decades since Margaret Fox was seen alive by her loved ones. A retired officer from the nearby town of Willingborough, New Jersey, named Officer Michael d' Alessio launched a new investigation into Margaret's disappearance, and he did it pro bono. Now, even though he was retired, something about this case struck a chord with him. So in 2017, Michael D' Alessio stepped into a partnership with the Burlington Police Department because he wanted to help solve this thing. But he feared that some aspects of the initial investigation were overlooked. And spoke to two officers that had been on the case back when Margaret went missing. Those retired officers actually expressed their own frustration on the difficulties of having the FBI on the case back then because frustratingly, multiple incredibly important pieces of evidence were lost by the time that Michael d' Alessio came into the picture, including the fingerprint evidence from the letters, which is huge. And they had never even been entered into a national database. So it's not like, oh, they were at least entered into the database and then the fingerprints were lost like they had nothing.

[Heath]

Now that is a massive fuck up.

[Daphne]

Yeah. And also they lost Margaret's dental records, which would be crucial for identification purposes against any Jane does that they would find. So Michael d' Alessio seriously had his work cut out for him. But he was willing. In 2019, the 45 year anniversary of Margaret's disappearance came and finally the FBI were ready to release the snippet of that infamous phoned in threat to the foxes from that anonymous man. It took years of technological advancements to get the audio as clear as possible. And the FBI waited to release the recording to the public to ensure that it was perfect. But I don't know, I don't really buy that. I don't think it took until 2019 to clean up the audio enough, you know, because this sucks. Like if they had released it back then, somebody could have identified it. Like that has happened multiple times in cases where somebody hears it on the news and they're like, hey, that's my ex husband.

[Heath]

Yeah. I can't even tell you guys how many cases we've covered where that was the case. Somebody heard somebody's voice or saw somebody's photo and then it solved a case.

[Daphne]

And this was the hope, you know, these 45 years later that somebody would hear it. But, but it's kind of insane because almost 50 years later, somebody who could have identified it back in the 70s might be dead or they might not remember it now. So I think releasing it at the time would have been major.

[Heath]

What a mess.

[Daphne]

Truly. Well, here is that call. It is only six seconds long. So we're going to play it a few times for you guys. $10,000 might be a lot of bread, but your daughter's life is the butter topping. Who is it? $10,000 might be a lot of bread, but your daughter's life is the butter topic. Who is it? $10,000 might be a lot of bread, but your daughter's life is the butter topic. Who is it? Such a northeast accent, which is why it's weird that he allegedly had a British accent or inflection according to Lynn, but not according to David.

[Heath]

Yeah, I mean, to me it sounds like an Italian American accent.

[Daphne]

Yep.

[Heath]

You can tell that the voice is deeper, which leads me to believe that the man is a little bit huskier, possibly.

[Daphne]

I agree. It's very New Jersey.

[Heath]

It's very New Jersey. Absolutely.

[Daphne]

And it almost to me sounds like he's reading from a script. Like. But your daughter's life is the butter topping. Like, it's very, like it's very. Like this.

[Heath]

Yeah.

[Daphne]

It's kind of robotic and stoppy.

[Heath]

Yeah. Like he wrote it down beforehand and was reading it while, you know, being on the phone.

[Daphne]

Yeah. Listen, with that in mind, let's play it again.

[Heath]

$10,000 might be a lot of bread.

[Daphne]

But your daughter's life is the butter topic. Who is it?

[Heath]

$10,000 might be a lot of bread.

[Daphne]

But your daughter's life is the butter topic. Who is it?

[Heath]

Yeah, again, it sounds like a New Jersey accent. It sounds kind of robotic and it sounds like a hefty guy. That's really all I can take away from it.

[Daphne]

And I think, again, that's what's frustrating is that it is a specific accent. It sounds. Sounds real. It sounds natural to me as a non local. But yeah, if they had only released that at the time.

[Heath]

Well, still to this day, the caller's identity is unknown, but it's believed that the caller could possibly be the person who abducted Margaret, but also could have been someone terrorizing the family for an easy payday by requesting some cash. The $10,000 ransom was of course, never sent because after the phone call and letters, the person just stopped communicating with the Fox family altogether. When the audio tape was publicly released at Burlington City hall in 2019, the FBI announced a $25,000 reward for information that could lead to the abductor, hoping at the very least that they could get the caller's identity to investigate them further. They also presented an updated missing persons posterior that featured age progressed photos to show what Margaret would potentially look like as a woman in her 50s, if she is still alive.

[Daphne]

The Burlington City Police Chief, John Fine, said her disappearance has, quote, haunted this community for decades and said that he hopes to bring answers and closure to Margaret Fox's family. From the beginning of this nightmare, Margaret's parents and siblings put all their efforts into finding her. But sadly, both of Margaret's parents have since passed away, never knowing their daughter's fate. The $25,000 reward is still being offered to anybody who has information leading to the perp. So if you have any information about the disappearance and believed murder of Margaret Fox, Please call the FBI Newark Field Office at 973-792-3000 or the Burlington City Police Department at 609-386-0262, extension 2,11. Thank you so much, everybody for listening to this episode of Going West.

[Heath]

Yes. Oh, my God. That just this whole story was so terrifying and so twisty with the letter, the phone call.

[Daphne]

Like we said, it had it all.

[Heath]

It really had it all. Hopefully someday Margaret's family, you know, her remaining family will get the answers that they so desperately need.

[Daphne]

Yeah. This is truly a devastating story of just a girl who wanted to work, she wanted to make money, she wanted to go into her teens and go to high school and some sick freak took that away from her. So thank you guys for tuning in. And don't forget, we're going on tour.

[Heath]

Yes, we are going on tour. Please go pick up your tickets. Go to goingwestpod.com to learn more. We're so excited to see you guys. Can't wait to be in your city. Hope to see you there.

[Daphne]

Yeah. Remember, this is in September. September. We're going to be in Denver, Dallas, Boston, Atlanta and Chicago. We wanted to kind of start small, start with a few shows, see how they do and then hopefully do more. So if you're not one of those cities, fret not. We hope to come to you soon. As long as the people in those cities buy tickets and you guys prove to us that you do want us to come on tour and you do want to come see us.

[Heath]

I'm going to tell you guys right now it is going to be an unbelievable night. We're going to have so much fun. As Daphne mentioned, we're going to be playing some games and talking about some true crime.

[Daphne]

Yeah. It's not going to be too sad or too sullen. You know, we like to keep it as light hearted as possible, especially since you guys are buying tickets and you're going to come out and have a fun night with us. So we're going to make it fun.

[Heath]

Yeah. We don't want you guys getting a babysitter for the night to come see a show and not have fun. It's going to be a blast.

[Daphne]

So check it out. Going westpod.com tour and we will see you on Friday all right, guys, so.

[Heath]

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