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Now, you'd think Sarah would be suspicious she might recognize Stephen, knowing that he'd been hanging around Cheryl before her murder and realized he was potential essentially the killer. But Sarah didn't recognize him. Instead, for the second time in her life, she let Stephen get close to her. Eventually, he began repeatedly asking her out on dates, and each time she declined, he would fly into a rage and threaten to kill her. Sometimes he called her on the phone and Sarah could hear noises in the background. It sounded like while he was talking to her, he was in the process of maybe torturing or killing someone else. And this terrified Sarah. But she still didn't make the connection between Stephen and his current identity and the man who had been a part of Cheryl's life before her disappearance and murder. That's how good he was at hiding in plain sight. Which is why he was able to get away with this when, honestly, he's being pretty sloppy now. Before the police were able to figure out Steven's identity. They actually dubbed him the Chameleon. I mean, he had almost everyone fooled. And on the rare occasion that he'd meet someone who was suspicious of him, Steven knew exactly how to charm them. Take this story from Chris Clark. In 1981, Chris was 21 years old, and he lived with his mother. And then one day, a stranger showed up on their front porch. He said he was new in town, he was looking for a place to live. And during the course of a brief conversation, that man charmed Chris's mother enough for her to agree to go on a date with him. The guy introduced himself as Ray, but of course, it was actually Steven. Think about how scary this is. Stephen is just walking around, changing his identity, luring people in, and then literally killing them. Now, as soon as her son Chris met Steven, he felt skeptical. For one thing, Chris is 21, and Steven was only 30 years old. That made him just nine years older than Chris and way too young to be dating Chris's mother. And on top of that, she had a long history of going out with guys who didn't treat her very well. So Chris just didn't trust his mother's instincts, Especially since she got serious with Steven very quickly without really taking the time to get to know him well. Once Steven realized that Chris didn't like him, he turned up the charm, and he looked for opportunities to win this boy over. Steven helped Chris get a new job and save up money to move out of his mother's house. And then one time, Chris was helping his mother with some home repairs, he was on a ladder that started to slip out beneath him. And just before Chris could take a nasty fall, Steven actually jumped in to help him. He didn't need to save Chris, but he did it anyway. Now, this wasn't enough to make Chris drop all of the suspicions he had about Steven, but it was a step in that direction. Sometime after that, Steven made plans to go on a road trip with Chris's mother. And he also convinced her to pay for the vacation herself, Even though she needed to sell everything she owned to afford it. And this is his M.O. find a woman, charm the pants off of her, steal all her money, and then murder her. So while Steven was preparing for this trip, Chris came over to visit one day, and he saw Steven hanging carpet on the interior of his van. He was attaching it to the walls, the ceiling, the floor. I mean, everywhere. He was carpeting the interior of his van, or at least he was trying to, but the carpet was Heavy. And Steven was struggling to hold it in place while also trying to pin it down. So Chris hopped in to help him out. Now, he still didn't really like or trust Steven, but it just seemed like a friendly thing to do. Now, afterward, the road trip began. And the entire time that they were traveling together, Stephen was acting different. On this road trip with Cheryl, he'd disappear for hours or days at a time. He never told his girlfriend where he was going or when he'd be back. But each time he turned up after one of those vanishing acts, he'd say that it was time to leave for the next stop on their road trip, like he was in a rush to get away. Now, Chris's mother had no idea what her young boyfriend Steven was really up to. That he was actually using this road trip as an opportunity to kill women and then skip town before the bodies could be found. All on the dime of his girlfriend. I mean, she never imagined that she was dating a serial killer, but she did know he was sneaking around and lying. And this trip was not what she had expected it to be. It was enough for her to break up with Steven and drive home alone. She had no idea how close she had been to a mass murderer. Not until four years later, when Steven's crimes finally came to light. And when the news broke, Chris and his mother were both shaken. I mean, as you can imagine, especially when Chris thought back on the day that he had helped Steven attach the carpet to his van's walls and ceiling. That's when he realized he had probably been helping Stephen prepare the van for his later murders. He was basically soundproofing the vehicle. But how did Stephen even get caught? How did all of this come to light? By 1981, the police were finally putting the pieces together. At least some of them. They had linked Stephen to many of the different women who had been murdered. And they were starting to realize the disguises he had used, the ruses he had used, which aliases he had lived under. But they still hadn't found him yet. They knew who their suspect was, but this is a chameleon. So Steven was living as a free man. In fact, at this point, he was staying in San Antonio, Texas, still just killing victims. The police didn't realize that yet, so there was no one stopping him from committing more murders. One day in December, he kidnapped a woman named Pamela Jackson. He tied her up, took her back to his hotel room, intending to torture and kill her later on. But in the meantime, as she was tied up in his hotel, he went out and found another victim. Now, given his history, it sounds like he got some kind of thrill out of drawing his crimes out. Like making it last, getting multiple victims. That's why he would call while he already had one there. So while Pamela was in Steven's room, he went down to a diner and tried to kidnap a different woman, Carrie Marie Scott. But before he could force Carrie into his car, her friend walked up and interrupted this attempted kidnapping. Now, in his rush to get away, before anyone could call the police, Stephen shot Carrie and her friend. And sadly, Carrie died of her injuries. But the friend survived, and multiple people witnessed this shootout. It was very sloppy work. I mean, a daytime kidnapping when she had a friend with her. So they called the police and described what they'd seen. And once they learned what the shooter looked like, the investigator realized that Stephen Morin, this wanted, kind of notorious serial killer, at this point, was now in San Antonio. And even better, they knew exactly where he was staying, because one of the witnesses got Steven's license plate number. Some officers found his car parked in the lot right outside of his hotel, so they knew he had to be staying there. Now, in no time, the police stormed the hotel and burst into his room. And I know this sounds like an episode of Criminal Minds, A serial killer who's on the run, murdering women, and then gets sloppy because he's escalating, and boom, Police barge in and find Pamela still tied up and alive in this hotel room. But there's no sign of Steven. Apparently, he had spotted the squad cars assembling in the parking lot. So before the officers could make it to his room, he climbed out a hotel window. Now, I can only imagine how discouraging and frustrating this must have felt to be so close to catching Steven just for him to slip through their fingers. Either way, the investigators didn't want to let him get away. So they threw themselves into trying to answer one question. Where was Stephen? They needed to stop him before he moved to an entire different state and got to do this all over again. The answer was that Steven left that hotel and was on his way to a local Kmart. This is just a grocery store. Specifically, he walked to the Kmart's parking lot, and he began looking for a vehicle to steal. So he's here. And his eyes fell on one woman who'd just walked out of Kmart with a cart full of Christmas presents. She was 30 years old, a Texas local with long blonde hair, brown eyes. Her name was Margie Palm. She was a mother of two, and she was shopping for her Family. And she had no idea that she was in danger, in part because she lived a pretty charmed life up until this point. You'll remember that I opened this episode by talking about fate. How some people seem to have bad things happen to them no matter what they do, and others just seem destined for perpetual good luck. Well, if Steven was fated to have a rough childhood and then become a serial killer, Margie was someone who seemed to always have good luck on her side. She had a good life growing up. She'd never wanted for anything. She was your stereotypical Southern beauty queen. She was on the homecoming court at her high school. She was crowned the Sun Queen at a local festival. She got good grades until she graduated. I mean, Margie was smart, pretty, active in church, happily married with a family from the outside looking in. I mean, she has it all. Except on December 11, 1981, when her luck finally stalled out. She just finished loading all of the presents into the back seats and trunk of her car. And that's when Steven approached Margie with his gun drawn. Now, I want to mention here, Steven could just go into hiding, okay? He could just try to get out of this state, but he can't stop himself from finding a new victim, and it's going to be his downfall. So he ordered Margie to let him inside and then drive him around wherever he wanted to go. And if she refused, he would shoot her. So Margie did what she was told. Stephen climbed into the driver's seat and began rifling through her cassette collection looking for a song he'd like to listen to again. This man was just caught in a hot. Almost caught in a hotel room with a woman tied up after he just shot two other women in a parking lot. And instead of running away, he's looking for a song to listen to while keeping someone hostage. He's cursing at her, threatening to kill her, and whining that it was unfair that she could afford a car full of Christmas presents when he had grown up with so little. And if you remember the beginning of the story, that was all from Steven's point of view. He talks about his life in a very victim mindset. So Margie, in this time, decides to pray for Steven's soul. She closes her eyes and asks God to remove the wicked forces that were making Stephen act the way he he was. She even pressed her palm against his forehead in an attempt to cast out evil. And this is just the difference between Margie and Stephen. And shockingly, it worked. Steven told Margie that he still planned to kidnap her because he needed her help getting away. But now, because she had prayed for him, he promised not to hurt her. So for the time being, Margie was safe. And the whole situation ties back into the question I've been asking since this episode began. Did Steven spare Margie simply because she was lucky? Or was some other force, destiny, fate, God protecting her? There's also one other possibility. Margie saved herself by being kind and compassionate. I mean, Steven kind of has a history of sparing women who treat him with kindness and understanding. If you remember his first victim, the 14 year old girl, he spared her after she showed him empathy. And when Margie prayed for Steven, she may have just won him over. It also probably helped that she tried to cast out his evil. In doing so, she basically told him that she didn't see him as a bad person, just someone who had something bad going on inside of him. According to Steven, she's helping him feel seen and loved. Psychology. So now Steven was treating Margie almost like they were friends. So they drove around talking about their lives. And I'm sure this was an extremely weird for Margie and uncomfortable. But Steven begins sharing the harrowing details about his difficult childhood. And Margie talks about her faith and what Jesus meant to her. And the more they chatted, the more Steven almost seemed to let his guard down.

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Peyton Moreland (29:44)

Edu later on, he also stopped at a convenience store. Steven let Margie go inside and pick up some beer, cigarettes and the newspaper. He literally just waited in the car while Margie handled the shopping. Well, while Margie was grabbing the paper, she couldn't help but skim the front page headline and it said the police were on the hunt. For a mass murderer who was on the loose in San Antonio. Under the story was a picture of Steven. And Margie is like, oh, my gosh, the guy in my car is actually a serial killer. Of course, she already knew Steven wasn't a safe person to be around. That was obvious enough from the fact that he had kidnapped her at gunpoint. But she'd had no idea that he was a wanted murderer. Now she realized just how much danger she was in and had been in this entire time. Except she doesn't say anything to the cashier. She knew Steven was sitting right outside, and if he began to suspect that she was turning him in, he could come in with guns blazing or just take the car and run. So it seemed safer to her to say nothing and to walk back out to his car, which actually ended up being the right move, because as it turned out, while she was in there reading the paper, seeing his picture, Stephen was in the car feeling paranoid. In particular, he remembered that Margie had a family. And he realized they're probably worried that she's not home by now. So before they drove away, he actually marched her to a nearby phone booth with his gun drawn and said, call your husband Bart, and tell him you're running late. So Margie had another shot at escape. She called Bart and tried to communicate with a secret message. She said, hey, I still haven't finished the Christmas shopping. She tells him she wasn't going to be home by the kids bedtime, so Bart should put their son and daughter to sleep without her. Now, in their entire marriage, Margie had never missed putting her kids to bed. And she was positive that her husband Bart would hear her request for him to handle it and hopefully read between the lines and realize that something was definitely wrong. But her husband did not pick up on the subtext. He just thought that Margie was super excited for the holidays and had actually lost track of time. Basically, he took her request to put the kids to sleep at face value and didn't give it another thought. So Margie was on her own, which meant she had no choice but to get back into the car with Steven and continue their drive. She went right back to reassuring him that God loved him and that he could be forgiven if he promised to never kill again. And at one point, Steven actually shocked Margie. He told her that he was going to let her go. And just like she'd suggested, he was never going to kill anyone again. So Margie told Steven to turn off the road they were on and drive in a different direction. She didn't know the area and wasn't headed anywhere in particular. She kind of was just saying whatever popped into her head, trying to act cooperative and hoping Steven wouldn't change his mind. They kept wandering around for a while until they eventually found themselves at a bus stop. And it was almost enough to make you believe in fate. There was no way that Margie should have known that there was a bus station there. But somehow she and Steven drove right to it. So they get to this bus stop and she helps Steven buy his ticket and set out on his path to a new life is his escape. And then she drove home. As a reminder, these were the days before cell phones. She didn't have any way of calling her husband right then to let him know what she had been through or why she was late. So imagine her surprise when she pulled up in front of her house and found it surrounded by police cars. So the police drive Margie back to the station to take her statement. It took some coaxing for her to open up because she was still afraid of Steven and what he might do to her family if he learned that she went to the police. But eventually she told the police about Steven's apparent change of heart. She explained he promised to live a better life and that she had put him on a bus since she was with him when he bought the ticket. She also knew exactly what city he was headed toward and when he was scheduled to arrive there. And thanks to Margie's tip, the police found Stephen right away and he surrendered peacefully. So they finally captured this notorious serial killer and he pleads guilty. When he went to trial In April of 1982, that was the first of several trials he attended for his many murders. But during his sentencing hearing the first time around, Stephen argued that he should be given a lighter punishment because he had converted to Christianity. According to him, he was a changed man and he would never hurt anyone again. Which was a very self serving way of framing this situation. And unfortunately, there were signs that Stephen hadn't really changed. I mean, remember he was nicknamed the Chameleon. He knew how to act trustworthy just long enough to get people to let their guards down, how to manipulate people. The truth was, at one point, some prison guards searched his cell and found fake IDs and razor blade. I mean, it kind of seems like he was gonna break out and go on the run again. And despite the fact that he pled guilty to murders, Stephen refused to confess really any details or confess to additional murders. When the police asked him where the bodies were buried, and begged for help so families could receive closure. Stephen just wouldn't do it. Doesn't really seem like the behavior from someone who's actually reformed. Plus, even if Steven had changed, the judge still had to be fair to the victims, People who had been hurt and who deserved justice. The judge sentenced him to death in his first trial, and then the same thing happened at his second trial. Steven says he's changed, said he was different, and he was still sentenced to be executed. In total, Steven went to court to face murder charges three times. But there were a lot of murders he was never charged with, even though he was the top suspect. Eventually, the state realized it was pointless to keep trying him over and over because he was going to receive the death penalty every single time afterward. He never filed any appeals, which is very strange. He just seemed to accept his fate. But get this. While waiting for his death, Stephen stayed in touch with Margie. He would call her regularly to talk about God and his faith. And this is wild, because Margie came to think of Stephen as a friend. He had kidnapped her. He had killed all of these people and caused so much pain. And while Margie still didn't think he should be free, she also didn't think that he should die. She hoped that somehow his execution would be overturned. But remember, Steven's a manipulator. Margie visited Steven in prison repeatedly. She lost count of how many trips she made to see him, but she estimated that it happened probably 15 times, which is a lot, given that Steven was only in prison for about three years. He was scheduled to die by lethal injection on March 13, 1985, when he was 34 years old. He asked Margie to be there for emotional support, but she decided not to come. The day was going to be very emotional for her, too, and she thought it was important to prioritize her own health. And even though she wasn't there to watch Steven die, she did visit him on the 12th, just one day before his execution. And the next day, when it was Steven's time to die, he cheerfully walked into the chamber and let the prison guard strap him down to a gurney. But the doctors had a hard time finding a place to inject the deadly drugs. After years of substance abuse, Steven's veins were collapsed. It took the medics 41 minutes to figure out how to give him a shot. And then another 11 minutes passed before the drugs kicked in and killed him. The entire procedure took nearly an hour, and he passed away just after midnight the next day on the 14th. Now, the whole time, he was in the chamber waiting to die. Steven had a huge smile. So even to the very end, it's impossible to say if Steven had reformed or if this was just a scam or a coping mechanism. Margie was never sure. But that didn't stop other people from trying to project meaning onto the situation. For years, Hollywood producers and publishing companies approached her. They wanted to make books and movies about what had happened to her, but an oversimplified version of it. One where Steven was an evil manipulator, or one where she saved herself through the power of prayer. But Margie didn't agree with either of those interpretations, so she refused to sell the rights to her story. Instead, in 2023, she gave an interview with Vanity Fair so she could set the record straight. Decades had passed since her abduction. She was now 72 years old. And in this interview, she said that she did not believe she had experienced a miracle. She didn't think God chose to save her that day. And her reasoning was that it would be disrespectful to Steven's other victims to frame her story as some divine intervention. Margie didn't think God would let those other women die horribly only to step in and save her. She didn't deserve to live any more than the others did. Margie couldn't really explain why Steven had spared her. It was luck, fate, a trick of psychology. But at the end of the day, some things in life kind of defy explanation. And that is the story of the serial killer, Stephen Morin. All right, you guys, thank you for listening to this week's episode and I will see you next time as we go further into the dark together. Goodbye.

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