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Peyton Moreland
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Peyton Moreland
You're listening to an Ono Media podcast. Hey everyone and welcome back to the into the Dark podcast. I'm your host, Peyton Moreland. I'm so glad you are listening or watching. If you're watching on YouTube, can you please follow the show? Leave a comment below. It's just a great way. It kind of pushes the algorithm and if you are listening on podcast and can leave a review, that would be stellar. Jumping into my 10 seconds, I'm actually recording a little bit early. My last 10 seconds. I kind of talked about how Fourth of July is my favorite and Garrett and I are actually going to be going out kind of to the country with daisy for the 4th of July and I'm so excited. I think she's just gonna on walks and, you know, just swimming in the water. I. I really think it's going to be so fun. So I'm kind of prepping for that because we leave tomorrow. But yeah, just something about slowing down, kind of just breathing a little easier. That is what I'm looking forward to the most. I hope everyone who is celebrating has a great day and has so much fun too. And that being said, let's get into today's episode now. I cannot imagine how it must feel when a loved one goes missing. The fear and anxiety as you wonder what happened to them. The hope that they still might come home safe and sound. The second guessing as you wonder if there's anything you could have done differently to stop this from happening. But as terrible as that all is, it must be even worse When a missing person's case gets solved and people learn their friend or family member was brutally tortured and murdered. What would it be like to know for sure that someone you love died afraid or in pain? It might be enough to make people think that sometimes it's just better to not know the truth. And that is helpful to keep in mind as I tell the story of Lois Segala. In 1985, Lois was 17 years old and like a lot of teenagers, she cared a lot about making friends, going to parties, having fun. She also had a rebellious streak and didn't always listen to her parents or even follow the law. She got in trouble a couple of times, but never over anything serious. Lois was just a typical rebellious teen, but she wasn't a hardened criminal or anything. And since she was still a good kid overall, her parents gave her permission to live with some friends over the summer. So her and her friends rented a house near the beach in Santa Cruz, California, which meant Lois and her friends had three full months of freedom with no parental supervision or adults to tell them what to do. It was a dream come true, and Lois used this time to do everything she ever wanted, and that included trying out a new nickname. See, apparently she didn't like her name. In her mind, Lois sounded boring and ordinary, so instead she wanted to go by Janine. She thought that name was a lot more exciting and flashier, so she asked her friends to call her Janine. And. And whenever she met someone new that summer, that's how she was going to introduce herself too. Now, that said, to keep the story easy to follow, I am just going to keep calling her Lois. So anyway, Lois had a fantastic time living at the beach. Even though her roommates seemed to be even more rebellious than she was. Sometimes her friends pushed boundaries in a way that actually made her uncomfortable. She didn't always like to party as hard as them or get into any serious hot water. So there was a little bit of tension under the surface with these teens. And then at one point that summer, Lois got into a huge fight with one of her Housemates. It was a longtime friend of hers, and the argument was over a petty issue involving a guy. Basically, the friend liked someone, and she worried that he was more interested in Lois. So she decided to take Lois down a peg. And she did it by telling everyone that they had met and hung out with what her real name was. So from the outside looking in, the whole situation seemed pretty low stakes and unimportant. The sort of spat that would probably blow over after a few days or weeks. Except almost immediately after this, Lois went missing. Now, it's hard to nail down an exact date, but sometime in August, she stopped showing up to parties or coming home at night. And from what I can tell, Lois's friends weren't too worried about her. Apparently, they thought she was the sort of person who might just run off with a guy and not tell anyone. Or maybe she'd gotten arrested for something minor, for shoplifting or underage drinking. And if that was the case, she would probably sort things out on her own and come back in a day or two. And then, I mean, add in the drama in the house that's going on with the fake name and her fight with her friend, her housemates might have assumed she just moved out, like, went home because she was mad. And it's also worth noting that Lois went missing just a few days before she was supposed to even move back in with her parents. So it wouldn't be that weird to her friends that she went home early. The point is, it didn't even occur to them that she might actually be missing. Except Lois also failed to come home to her parents on the day that she agreed to move back. And unlike her housemates, Lois's mom and dad were very concerned, especially when they called her friends and learned that they actually hadn't seen her in days. So naturally, that made them even more desperate for answers. Her parents actually drove all the way to Santa Cruz and questioned all of the friends, the neighbors, anyone she might have met that summer. But nobody knew anything about where Lois could have gone. Now, two weeks go by, and her parents can't find any information about her. And then one morning, her mother picked up the newspaper and saw a sickening headline. It said that an unidentified woman had been found dead in the mountains outside of Santa Cruz. She'd been murdered, and the police were asking the public to help them identify the victim. This article also included a description of the body, and to her mom, it sounded an awful lot like Lois. And when her parents spoke to the police, the officers mentioned that the deceased had been found with A picture in her pocket, and it was a family photo. Then the detectives showed the image to Lois's parents and they recognized it immediately. It was a picture of them and their family, meaning the dead girl was Lois. And given the state of her body, she had not died in an accident. She had been brutally murdered. So now that the police had identified Lois, their next step was to interview everyone, figure out what happened here. And there were a ton of people for them to sort through. All summer long, she had spent almost every day at the beach. She'd befriended surfers, swimmers, people who worked at nearby businesses, people on vacation. I mean, the list goes on and on. So it was a long, drawn out process. But finally, the police spoke to one 29 year old man who seemed important, and his name was Terry Childs. And before I talk about Terry's connection to Lois, I want to tell you a little bit about his history because it's helpful to understand his background. In a word, Terry's childhood was terrible. He grew up in a big family in California. Terry had a lot of sisters and brothers, and his dad worked as a bell bondsman. So in simple terms, this meant that his job was to make sure that people who had been accused of crimes actually showed up to court. And if someone failed to come to their trial, his dad would track them down, find a way to get them into his car, and then bring them back to face the judge. So Terry's father was part of the criminal justice system. That didn't mean his family was serious about following the law. Instead, many of Terry's relatives used drugs and committed petty crimes like theft or shoplifting. And it made life very unstable for Terry, and he began dabbling in the criminal world, too. By the time he was 11, Terry already had an arrest record. Seriously, at 11 years old, he was already breaking the law and getting into trouble with the police. And his siblings were having similar legal issues, too. Now, tragically, one of Terry's brothers actually died very young. While he was in prison, he got into some kind of conflict with another inmate, and the other person beat him to death with a barbell. So needless to say, things were not going well in Terry's family. And from the sound of it, the more time went on, the darker Terry's life became. By the time he was in his late teens, he was committing much more serious offenses, like assault with a deadly weapon and false imprisonment. He also dealt drugs, and he eventually joined a violent gang. So overall, Terry had become a dangerous person to be around. Now, in 1985, when he was 29 years old. He was living in Santa Cruz, and he was dating one of the people who lived with Lois that summer. And he met her while he was hanging out at the house. So he knew her, but he didn't seem to have a motive to hurt or kill her. Still, the police learn about him, learn about his connection, and they're like, this guy is. Is questionable. He has a history of violence. So it was enough that when they called him in for questioning, they asked if they could look at his hands. Sure enough, they found traces of Lois's DNA underneath his fingernails, like he had recently scratched her. Now, once the detectives secured a warrant to search Terry's car, they also found Lois's blood in it. All of which was enough to definitively link him to the crime. So it was actually open and shut. Terry was charged with first degree murder, and while he was waiting for his day in court, he gave a confession. I'm going to discuss that confession in depth later, but for now, all you need to know is that all of this evidence was enough for him to be found guilty in 1987, and he was sentenced to 41 years in prison, which meant Terry wasn't going to be free until he was 72 years old. Thanks to Terry's confession, we know his motive. And going by his account, Lois's death was heartbreakingly pointless. It all came back to that drama around her nickname. When she met Terry, she obviously introduced herself as Janine. And then later that summer was when her friends started telling people her name was actually Lois and she had lied. Terry heard the gossip, but he couldn't imagine any innocent reason for someone to lie about their name. It just didn't occur to him that Lois was a teenager who was exploring her identity. Now, in his mind, there was only one possible reason for Lois to give a fake name, and he believed it was because she was an undercover cop pretending to be a teenager and using a false identity. After all, like I mentioned before, Lois had never been as rebellious as her housemates. She didn't like to get as drunk as them or use hard drugs. And in Terry's mind, that was just one more piece of evidence that she was working with the police. He actually thought that his friendship with Lois had all been a cover, and she had been investigating him for drug dealing. So he decided there was only one way to stop the authorities from getting to him, and that was that Lois needed to die. So according to Terry, he convinced her to get into the car with him one night in August of 1985. She thought they were just going to hang out. And he did nothing to discourage this underage girl from thinking that he might be interested in her romantically. In fact, he took her back to his home and pressured her to use drugs. And then when she was too high to fight back or run away, Terry drove her to a remote mountain road, he let her out of his car and he shot her to death again. All because she had used a nickname. All right, you guys, I want to talk to you about Factor Meals. Factor Meals arrive fresh and ready to eat. Perfect for any active life lifestyle over summer and beyond. Factors Chef crafted dietitian approved meals are ready in just two minutes, taking the hassle out of eating well. And with 45 weekly menu options, you can pick gourmet meals that fit your summer gains angles. Choose from options like Calorie, Smart Protein plus Keto and more. If you guys know Factor has been a long time sponsor of this show and we truly love them, you know that what you're getting is good for you. It's good quality food and it is so fast and easy. 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Peyton Moreland
Now, as horrible as the story was, the case against Terry Childs was actually about to get even more complex. Because in 1995, this is a full decade after Lois's murder is solved and closed. A hiker discovered something strange in the Santa Cruz Mountains. This person was foraging for mushrooms when he Found a human bone hidden underneath some plants and moss. It's actually a human jaw bone. And the mushroom hunter notified the police, and they searched the area and found more bones, including multiple ribs. That's what they found in the initial search. But I will note that as the years went by, people just kept finding more and more bones in this area. However, no one ever came across a complete skeleton. And to this day, this person's body of all these bones still hasn't been fully recovered. Either way, the discovery was important because these remains were really right next to the area where Lois had been killed. They weren't her body. Her remains were intact when she was found. So this was a second corpse in the same region. And given the rate of decomposition, this person had been dead for a while, since around the time of Lois's death. That meant there were two possibilities. Option one is the two separate, unrelated murders happened at the same place but weren't connected. And option two, Terry is a serial killer. Maybe he killed two or more people and he used the same mountain to commit these crimes. Problem was, police were only suspicious, but they couldn't prove anything. All they could do was keep investigating and gathering evidence as they tried to solve this second murder. Now, eventually, they actually identified the deceased as a missing woman named Linda Josevich. She had not been seen in 16 years, since 1979, the time Linda had been 19 years old. And she had been born and raised in Santa Cruz. That's the same town that Lois was living in when she was killed. Linda came from a big family. She had four sisters, and she was the middle child. She loved playing sports. She was very close to her family. In fact, even though Linda was a college student, she still lived at home with her parents and her younger siblings. Plus, when Linda needed a job, her oldest sister, Kathy, helped her. She found her a retail position at a department store called Mervyn's. Kathy had actually worked there for a while, and when she quit for a new job, she recommended her little sister Linda as her replacement. The rest is history. Now, on November 7, 1979, this is before Lois's murder, Linda was working an evening shift at Mervyn's. She wanted to buy a drink from the vending machine, but she didn't have any spare change on her. But she knew she had some coins in her car. So during her break, at about 7pm, Linda walked out into the parking lot. That was kind of dark, and no one ever saw her again. And that same night, her car also went missing. Like she'd either driven away or Someone had stolen it. A few days after her disappearance, it was found. The glove box was open, and it was clear that someone had definitely gone through it, like they were looking for valuables. There was no sign of Linda herself, and the police suspected that she had been kidnapped from that parking lot. However, they didn't have any hard evidence about what had happened to her, not until her body was found 16 years later in 1995, right next to where Lois was murdered. Now, some detectives asked Terry directly if he knew anything about Linda's abduction and murder, and he waffled. He didn't confess to the crime, but he did admit to knowing a little bit about her disappearance. The information he gave was accurate, but just not very specific. It could have been a lucky guess or something he had read in the papers. So the police came out of the interrogation feeling uncertain about whether he was a viable suspect or not. So they waited a while and then questioned him again. And they still didn't get anywhere. Time went on. They kept interrogating Terry and failing to get any useful information. Now, a full 10 years passed without any progress one way or another. But finally, in 2017, Terry finally admitted that he had killed Linda, too. He also described exactly where and how he had dumped her body, including details that only the real killer could have known. For example, he said he had returned to the scene of the crime after a few days, and then he'd buried Linda's remains under a bunch of loose leaves. The only person who could have known about that was the actual murderer. So it was enough to convince the police that Terry had also killed Linda. Now, sadly, once again, the motive was completely senseless. Not that there's ever a good reason to commit murder. But Terry said he killed Linda because that night he was in a bad mood and he wanted to take his anger out on someone. He'd been fighting with his mom. He was angry, and Linda just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. According to Terry, he happened to pass by the Mervyn's parking lot right when Linda was going to her car for that loose change. And on impulse, he approached her. He pushed her into the passenger seat and then beat Linda until she was too hurt to escape or even scream for help. Afterward, he says, he climbed into the driver's seat, used her keys to start the car, and drove off into the mountains with her. And once he got to a remote reservoir with no witnesses around, he opened the passenger side door. Except he had no intention of letting Linda get away. After all, she was pretty hurt at this Point, Terry had to drag her out of the car. He beat her even more. He choked her with his belt, and then he stabbed her to death. And finally, he left her body in the brush, where it remained undiscovered for the next decade and a half. Now, in total, 28 years had passed between the day Linda went missing and. And when her family finally learned what had happened to her. And when they heard the details straight from Terry's mouth, it didn't bring them peace. His story was so violent and disturbing. As Linda's older sister Kathy put it, I don't think we want to know all the gruesome details, but knowing someone is accountable is humongous. I want to pause and talk about the timeline here because I have to backtrack a little, and it might be hard to track when each thing happened. Okay, so Terry confessed to lois's murder in 1996. And then the police suspected he had killed Linda after her body was found in 2007. And then 10 years later, he admitted to killing her in 2017. But in between this, he gave other additional confessions. They all, though, took a long time to investigate. So there were multiple open cases being solved at different times. It can get a little confusing. So let's go back to the very first one from October 1996. Now, for context, this was after the police had found Lois's body, but before Terry had even gone to trial for her murder. Linda was missing and dead at this point, but her body hadn't been found. Now, Terry was living behind bars in jail while he waited to appear in court for Lois's murder. And one day, he approached the guards and said, hey, I have killed a total of 12 people. I didn't name names or admit to anything specific. For the time being. All he was willing to say was, I have murdered 12 people. And he also said where the murders had happened. He said four were in Santa Cruz, one was in Reno, Nevada, two were in Seattle. And honestly, he went on. According to Terry, he got away with it for years because he had so much insider information about the criminal justice system. You'll remember how earlier I mentioned that his father had worked as a bail bondsman. He wasn't a detective or a crime scene investigator, but apparently he still taught Terry just enough about detective work that he knew how to cover up his crimes. And I'll also note that as an adult, Terry also worked as a bail bondsman, just like his dad had. And he claimed that that also made it easier for him to get away with the murders. But on Top of that, Terry claims he had an accomplice. See, at the time of some of those homicides, Harry was dating a woman whose name has not been released to the public. And I don't know who she was. But I do know that Terry told the police that his girlfriend had helped him cover up some of his crimes after he murdered Lois. He said the two of them drove out to the mountains to get rid of loose hair, footprints, or anything else that could be traced back to him. And now, when he confessed, Harry didn't just take credit for his crimes, he also implicated his partner. Now, I do have to say the police were not totally convinced that these confessions were credible. It seemed odd that being a bail bondsman's son would help Terry stay one step ahead of homicide investigators for so many murders, especially because he'd been convicted of countless petty crimes before he was caught for Lois's murder. So it was a bit hard to accept that he had committed a dozen perfect murders while still getting arrested for drugs, theft, assault, and everything else. And on top of that, prosecutors thought he actually had a motive to lie.
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Peyton Moreland
Of $45 for three month plan equivalent to 15 per month required new customer offer for first three months only. Speed slow after 35 gigabytes of networks busy taxes and fees extra c mint mobile.com See, Terry knew that if he was found guilty, he would be sent to one of California's roughest, most violent prisons. His life would be terrible and he might have wanted to negotiate for the right to be sent to a different, nicer facility. Maybe he figured if he could share information about some unsolved cold cases in exchange for a promise that he could pick what prison he would live in. That would work. So Terry definitely seemed like the sort of person who would give a false confession if he thought it would benefit him. So even though he said he'd killed 12 people, even at the time, the investigators don't fully believe him. Except right after this conversation, the police found evidence linking Terry to an unsolved murder from Nevada back in 1987. The victim was Rulin McGill. She was a school teacher. On July 10, she drove to Reno for a dentist's appointment and to run errands. And then she never made it home. Her family actually found her body in a ditch not longer after they reported her missing. She had been both stabbed and choked to death, exactly like Linda. Now, when the police asked Terry about Rulan's murder, he took full credit of it. He confessed to the senseless killing, and shortly afterward, he went to court and got sentenced to life in prison for it. This is obviously on top of the 41 year sentence he was already serving. But the convictions didn't stop there. The police also linked Terry to two other unsolved cold cases. They were for a woman named Joan Mack and a man named Christopher Hall. Now, Joan was found dead on October 11, 1984. Before then, she had been a 28 year old unhoused woman who was trying to raise her five year old daughter alone. Her killer had stabbed her to death, which was consistent with Terry's movie, as was the fact that her body was found in a remote area. It was a hilly spot above a beach. But unlike in Terry's other homicides, Joan was tied up and gagged before her murder. And as for Christopher, his death was just three months later. On February 3, 1985, he was shot to death in a park. And the police knew that Terry had used a gun in some of his crimes. He had shot Lois to death. But on top of that, Christopher and Terry actually had known one another. They were part of the same drug dealing enterprise. So it wasn't really hard to imagine that if one of their deals had gone bad, Terry might have killed Christopher in an act of revenge. Now, to be clear, the investigators didn't have any hard evidence to prove he was involved with either murder. They just suspected it based on what they knew about his habits and patterns and who he was associated with. Now, the police pulled Terry into an interrogation, and he gave a full confession to both of these killings. And afterward, prosecutors charged him with Joan and Christopher's murders in 1997. But the cases Never went anywhere. It was thrown out before it could even go to trial. Apparently, the courts didn't think there was enough evidence against Terry, even with his confession. The judges were worried that he might have given a false statement again as part of a plan to try to renegotiate the terms of his sentence. And if his confession wasn't credible, nothing else was concrete enough to justify taking things to court. So for 20 years, there was no forward progress in either of those cases. They both went cold. But in 2017, the same year that he confessed to Linda's homicide, Terry actually agreed to give a more detailed confession about both Joan and Christopher. He included information that hadn't been released to the public, but it was completely consistent with what investigators had learned in those cases. That was enough for the police to feel, okay, we actually do believe his confession. And you might be wondering, why was he coming forward now? It's been 30 years since all of these murders. Well, according to Terry, the ghosts of his victims had been haunting him in prison. He meant that literally. Terry believed that Linda, Joan, and Christopher's spirits were tormenting him. Incidentally, those were the three murders he hadn't been convicted of yet. He didn't seem to have an issue with Lois or Rulin's ghosts. But Terry said these specters appeared to him in his cell, and they were, quote, eating up his brain. They never left him alone. His hope was that if justice was served and he confessed with detail and was convicted of the murders, the ghost would finally rest in peace. Then they would leave him alone, too. Now it's possible that his guilt was really just getting to him, and he was hallucinating angry phantoms. Or who knows, maybe he actually was haunted by his victim's vengeful spirits. But the investigators thought it was a lot more likely that, once again, Terry was confessing because he had something to gain from it. After all, he negotiated for a plea deal that took the death penalty off the table. Ultimately, though, it didn't matter why he was confessing, just that he was sharing key information. It was enough to actually close those cases and hopefully give the victim's loved ones some closure. So the prosecutors charged Terry with these additional murders. Now, there was no trial because he did, in fact, accept a deal and plead guilty to both homicides. He was sentenced to two consecutive life terms with no chance of parole. Also note that Terry's girlfriend, the one he claims helped him clean the scene of the crime after Lois's murder, was actually eventually arrested. And when they brought her in, the police also Found illegal weapons in her possession. She also accepted a plea deal and only spent five years behind bars for her crimes. And as for Terry, he stayed in prison for the rest of his life as a serial killer. On February 11, 2023, he died behind bars at the age of 67. When Terry passed, that meant the prosecutors would never hear another confession from him again, which meant it was impossible to say how many people he actually did murder in his lifetime. Now, remember, Harry claims he was a serial killer who killed a dozen people, but he was only convicted for five murders. If his confession was honest and if he really did take 12 people's lives, we still don't know who those other seven victims were. We also don't know if their bodies are still waiting to be found or if Terry could have closed any existing cases. All we can say is that if they died at Terry's hands, their deaths were probably horrible. Their families deserve to know what happened to them and to get answers. But sadly, the answers may not be what they want to hear. It's always so, so confusing to me when someone gets arrested for one murder and doesn't just say what happened to everyone. Like, if he's going to come out and be like, I killed 12 people, why not just say what happened? The fact that he takes years in between giving more information and more information, it's torment. It goes to the fact that his brain is still evil. He's tormenting people. He's tormenting families. He's tormenting victims. I also will never understand why killers confess to crimes they didn't commit, even if they feel like they might get something out of it. We have seen serial killers take credit for crimes we know they didn't commit before. It is such a twisted and upside down thing. But I'll never understand. Thank you guys so much for listening to this episode, and I will see you next time as we go further into the dark together. Goodbye.
Morgan Absher
Do you want to sneak past the crime scene tape to explore the key evidence behind some of the most gripping true crime cases? I'm Morgan Absher.
Kaylan Moore
And I'm Kaylan Moore.
Morgan Absher
And we'd love for you to check out our new show, clues.
Kaylan Moore
Each Wednesday, I piece together the timelines and break down the hard facts, digging into forensic details, investigative techniques, and everything that led to justice or didn't.
Morgan Absher
And while Kailyn dives into the facts, I'm pulling out the threads, digging through the Internet theories and looking at the details that may or may not add up.
Kaylan Moore
From serial killers to shocking cold cases. We shine a light on the stories that have been waiting, sometimes for decades, to finally be heard.
Morgan Absher
So join us as we uncover the breakthroughs, the heartbreak and the relentless pursuit of answers behind the world's most unforgettable investigations.
Kaylan Moore
Come open a case file with us every Wednesday and listen to clues wherever you get your podcast.
Release Date: July 9, 2025
Host: Payton Moreland
Description: A deep dive into the tangled web of crimes committed by Terry Childs, exploring his motivations, confessions, and the chilling pattern of his actions.
In Episode 127 of Into The Dark, host Payton Moreland unravels the haunting case of Terry Childs, a man whose relentless confessions revealed a sinister pattern of murders spanning decades. This episode delves into the tragic stories of Lois Segala and Linda Josevich, among others, exploring the dark psyche that drove Childs to commit these heinous crimes.
Timeline: Summer 1985
Background:
Lois Segala, a typical 17-year-old with a rebellious streak, spent her summer renting a beach house in Santa Cruz, California. Seeking to establish a new identity, she adopted the nickname "Janine."
The Conflict:
Tensions arose when Lois's close friend publicly revealed her real name after a petty argument over a romantic interest. This minor dispute set the stage for the unfolding tragedy.
Disappearance:
In August 1985, shortly before Lois was set to return home, she vanished without a trace. Her friends assumed she might have left town or encountered minor troubles, but her parents grew increasingly worried when Lois failed to return as promised.
Discovery of the Body:
Two weeks after her disappearance, Lois's body was discovered in the mountains near Santa Cruz. The brutality of her murder left her family shattered, leading the authorities to scrutinize everyone connected to her.
Background:
Terry Childs, aged 29 at the time of Lois's murder, had a tumultuous upbringing. Growing up in a large family with many siblings, Terry was exposed to instability, substance abuse, and petty crimes from an early age. By 11, he already had an arrest record, and his behavior escalated over the years, culminating in more severe offenses such as assault and drug dealing.
Connection to Lois:
Terry met Lois while dating one of her housemates. Despite knowing her, he initially lacked a clear motive to harm her. However, his perception shifted dramatically after learning about Lois's use of a fake name.
The Motive:
Convinced that Lois was an undercover police officer investigating his drug dealings, Terry believed eliminating her was the only way to protect his illicit activities.
Key Quote:
Terry explained his motive, saying, “Lois's death was heartbreakingly pointless. It all came back to that drama around her nickname” (07:45).
The Murder:
Terry lured Lois under the guise of hanging out, pressured her into drug use, and then took her to a remote location where he brutally murdered her.
Evidence and Conviction:
DNA evidence linked Terry to the crime, leading to his conviction in 1987 and a 41-year prison sentence.
Timeline: 1995
Background:
Linda Josevich, a 19-year-old college student from Santa Cruz, disappeared on November 7, 1979, after leaving her workplace to get change for a vending machine. Her car was later found with signs of a struggle, but her body remained undiscovered until 1995.
Connection to Terry:
When Terry was questioned about Linda's disappearance, he initially provided vague and non-specific information. However, in 2017, he confessed to her murder, detailing the gruesome events that mirrored his earlier crime with Lois.
Key Quote:
Reflecting on Terry’s confession, Payton remarks, “It’s always so, so confusing to me when someone gets arrested for one murder and doesn't just say what happened to everyone” (25:10).
Further Confessions:
In 1996, while awaiting trial for Lois's murder, Terry claimed to have killed 12 people across various states, implicating an accomplice, his unnamed girlfriend, in some of the crimes.
Challenges in Prosecution:
Early confessions lacked credibility, leading to dismissed cases due to insufficient evidence. It wasn’t until 2017 that Terry's detailed confessions were deemed credible, resulting in additional convictions and sentencing.
Final Confessions:
Terry continued to confess to murders throughout his incarceration, each time providing more detailed accounts. These confessions ultimately led to multiple life sentences, cementing his status as a serial killer.
Death:
Terry Childs died in prison on February 11, 2023, at the age of 67. His death closed the door on any further revelations, leaving seven potential victims still unaccounted for.
Unanswered Questions:
Despite his confessions, many of Terry's alleged victims remain unidentified, and their families continue to seek closure.
Key Quote:
Payton concludes poignantly, “I have to backtrack a little... His brain is still evil. He's tormenting people. He's tormenting families” (30:15).
Episode 127 of Into The Dark paints a chilling portrait of Terry Childs, whose relentless confessions revealed a pattern of senseless violence driven by misplaced perceptions and personal demons. Payton Moreland masterfully navigates the complex timeline and psychological motivations behind Childs' actions, leaving listeners with a profound reflection on the nature of evil and the quest for justice.
Notable Quotes with Timestamps:
Understanding the Impact of Confessions:
“I will never understand why killers confess to crimes they didn't commit...” (29:50)
On the Complexity of Terry’s Confessions:
“It's all so, so confusing to me when someone gets arrested for one murder and doesn't just say what happened to everyone.” (25:10)
On the Closure for Victims' Families:
“Their families deserve to know what happened to them and to get answers.” (31:00)
This comprehensive summary encapsulates the tragic and disturbing journey through Terry Childs' criminal history, highlighting the emotional and psychological toll on the victims' families and the challenges faced by investigators in bringing closure to these dark cases.