Richard Speck : The Student Nurse Murders (Part 1)

Summary

Morbid Podcast: Richard Speck – The Student Nurse Murders (Part 1)

Hosts: Ash Kelley & Alaina Urquhart
Date: November 6, 2025
Episode Overview:
This episode dives into the true crime nightmare of Richard Speck and the infamous 1966 "Student Nurse Murders" in Chicago. Ash and Alaina blend comprehensive research with their signature banter and dark humor, walking listeners through the horrific events, the investigation, and the backstory of one of America’s most notorious spree killers. The episode balances chilling detail with sensitivity and genuine empathy for the victims, while unpacking how such unimaginable violence unfolded.

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Episode Breakdown & Key Points

1. Opening Banter and Setting the Scene (00:46–08:30)

• Lighthearted catch-up: Ash and Alaina discuss recent yoga/Pilates classes, health goals (“I need to be 150 years old. Still kicking it...” – Elena, 01:54), Millennial nostalgia, and quirky “grandparent names.”
• Merch plug & local shout-outs: Promotion for new merch designed by Matt and Ryan of Black Veil Studio, peppered with playful banter and inside jokes (“We need to get merch that just says leave it in.” – Elena, 07:17).
• Transition to episode topic: The hosts shift tone, preparing listeners for a “pretty gnarly case”—warning of the disturbing content to follow.

---

2. Introduction to the Case: The Night of the Murders (08:32–16:30)

Main Theme: How could one man control and kill eight women in a single night?

• Who was Richard Speck?

  • Noted as a notorious serial killer/burglar; depicted as unattractive “inside and out.”
  • “He’s ugly inside, he’s ugly outside, he’s ugly all around.” – Elena, 09:18

• Setting: July 13, 1966, Jeffery Manor, Chicago, a townhouse dorm for nine student nurses from South Chicago Community Hospital.

• The break-in:

  • Cora Amaro wakes to a knock; assumes it’s a roommate, instead finds a stranger with a gun (12:03).
  • Cora’s testimony: She describes a man with marks on his face, blondish hair, and a threatening demeanor.

• Immediate chaos:

  • As Speck corrals women, three hide in a closet; others try to persuade them to emerge (“He kept telling them, ‘I’m not going to hurt you, just listen, you’ll be fine.’” – 13:21).
  • Gradually, all six women in the house are rounded up and bound.

• Cultural insight:

  • The three Filipino nurses, including Cora, sense Speck’s lies and strategize to rush him, but are outvoted by others paralyzed by fear (14:53–16:04).

---

3. The Attack and Murders Unfold (19:10–29:50)

Key Segment: A moment-by-moment account, from the first attack to the aftermath.

• Sexual assault & escalating horror:

  • Pamela Wilkening is sexually assaulted and killed (stabbed through the pulmonary artery)—all while other women are forced to listen, bound and helpless (20:51).
  • More roommates arrive home during the attack, are subdued and tied up. Each time, Speck adds new victims.
    • “You think your day is ending and this is in your house doing this. Like that’s so scary.” – Ash, 20:32

• Systematic murder (21:33–24:26):

  • Speck murders each woman one-by-one, alternating between stabbing and strangulation.
  • Notable details:
    • Suzanne Ferris was stabbed at least 18 times before being strangled.
    • Marianne Jordan stabbed multiple times, including once in the eye.
    • Patricia Matusik is strangled, but not before being fatally kicked in the stomach.

• Survival through quick thinking:

  • Cora hides under a bed and Speck fails to notice her absence (24:26).
  • She endures hours of terror, only emerging after 5 a.m. when the alarm signals the nurses’ usual morning routine.

• Aftermath for the survivor:

  • Cora is psychologically transported back to her homeland, yelling for help in a state of trauma (“I am the only one alive on the sampan.” – 29:06), her mind reverting to experiences of violence in the Philippines.

---

4. Discovery and Police Response (29:51–38:27)

• Neighbors respond:

  • Cora is finally found clinging to a ledge, crying for help (29:51).
  • Quick police response; Officer Daniel Kelly enters the house and discovers grisly scenes—including the body of a woman he recognizes personally.

• Crime scene details:

  • The house is a bloodbath—bodies in every room, belongings strewn about, many victims still bound (33:01).
  • Even hardened officers and reporters are shocked; “I wanted to vomit but held back, there was blood everywhere. I just stared.” – Daily Calumet reporter Tom Holland (33:18).

• Initial investigation:

  • Police and press cannot believe one person committed all the murders; “It seemed completely impossible that a single person could control nine adults...long enough to murder each of them.” – Elena, 34:32
  • Physical evidence is scant: mostly the victims’ belongings, a sweat-stained white T-shirt, 30+ fingerprints, and tire tracks (36:05).

---

5. Cora’s Recovery and the Investigation Deepens (38:27–47:09)

• Cora as a witness:

  • Initially, Cora is too traumatized to help investigators, often lapsing into Tagalog or silence (38:27).
  • After sedation and rest, she confirms: one attacker, about 25 years old, 6ft, 170 lbs (“I would recognize him. I would know if I saw him again.” – Cora, paraphrased at 43:31).

• Police sweep the city:

  • Tensions in 1966 Chicago are high; civil rights protests have stretched resources, but also lead to a diverse task force.

• Breakthrough leads:

  • Robbery detectives leverage street informants, leading to a garage mechanic’s tip about a rude customer with a “Born to raise hell” tattoo (45:11).
  • At the National Maritime Union, Speck had left contact info while seeking work headed for New Orleans—the line matches a detail shared with his victims.
  • Paperwork at the union confirms the suspect: Richard Speck.

---

6. Richard Speck’s Background (48:40–59:45)

In-depth profile of Speck’s childhood and descent into crime:

• Family life:

  • Seventh of eight in a poor but religiously devout family; loses his biological father early (50:31).

• Stepparent abuse & instability:

  • Stepdad is physically abusive; by 8th grade, Speck is withdrawn and troubled (“He seems sort of lost. I don’t think I ever saw him smile.” – Elena quoting Speck’s teacher, 51:42).
  • Dropout by 16, Richardson moves into crime, escalating to violence by his early twenties (53:25).

• Predatory relationships and violence:

  • Fathered a child with a 15-year-old; their relationship disintegrates after accompanying domestic abuse.
  • Speck frequently harasses and threatens his ex-wife’s family—in one incident, he’s fought off by his mother-in-law (“I’ll make you eat that knife!” – Elena, quoting Ida Malone, 55:53).

• Criminal progression:

  • In and out of jail; did not adjust to free society, reportedly more comfortable in prison (“In prison, he knew what was expected of him, it felt like it simplified.” – Elena, 57:30).
  • Ultimately returns to live with his sister in Chicago—temporarily promising to “straighten out”—before spiraling back into crime.

---

7. Leading into Part 2 (59:45–End)

• Next steps:
  • Police have identified Richard Speck as a prime suspect and are closing in. The episode ends setting up the investigation, manhunt, and arrest to be detailed in part two.
  • Reflective commentary:
    • “He’s now living with Carolyn, his sister, in Chicago. He’s promising the world. And he’s still being a shitbag.” – Elena, 60:13

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “He’s ugly inside, he’s ugly outside, he’s ugly all around.” – Elena (09:18)
• “What do you do?...You’re frozen with terror.” – Alaina/Ash (16:03–16:04)
• “It was like an animal at this point, that he didn’t notice that one of the six original women was now missing from the room.” – Elena (24:47)
• “I am the only one alive on the sampan.” – Cora, via Elena (29:06)
• “There was blood everywhere. I just stared.” – Tom Holland, Daily Calumet (33:18)
• “I wanted to vomit but held back…” (33:18)
• “It seemed completely impossible that a single person could control nine adults...” – Elena (34:32)
• “I always carry a screwdriver.” – Speck, quoting his own bizarre excuse to police (53:36)
• “I’ll make you eat that knife!” – Ida Malone, Speck’s ex-mother-in-law, standing up to him (55:53)

---

Key Timestamps

• Intro/banter: 00:46–08:30
• Case introduction: 08:32–10:39
• Description of the night: 10:39–19:09
• Murders and survivor’s ordeal: 19:10–29:50
• Aftermath and police discovery: 29:51–38:27
• Investigation, Cora’s witness statement: 38:27–43:31
• Suspect identified, police leads: 43:31–47:09
• Richard Speck’s background: 48:40–59:45
• Set up for Part 2: 59:45–60:29

---

Tone and Takeaways

Ash and Alaina expertly balance the episode’s heavy, disturbing content with moments of levity and empathy for the victims. They take care not to sensationalize, reflect empathy for survivor Cora, and repeatedly highlight the incomprehensible nature of the crime (“I can’t even fathom that…”). Their conversational style makes the narrative gripping, and their dark humor surfaces only at appropriate moments, mainly in reference to Speck’s character and their own reactions.

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For Next Time

To follow the gripping conclusion—including Speck’s arrest, trial, and the societal fallout—catch part two of the series.

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Content warning: This episode discusses extreme violence and sexual assault in detail, with emphasis on the ordeal of the victims and the lone survivor. Listener discretion is advised.

Transcript

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[Elena]

Hey, weirdos.

[Ash]

I'm Ash. And I'm Elena. And this is morbid.

[Elena]

This is morbid.

[Ash]

It's more of the bed.

[Elena]

It's more of it.

[Ash]

And bitter for more.

[Elena]

Absolutely. It's.

[Ash]

It's our show.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

What's up?

[Elena]

We went to yoga this morning.

[Ash]

We yogaed so hard. Actually, we did. Let me just say for a second, we yogaed with the best of them.

[Elena]

We did.

[Ash]

That was a hard class, a difficult flow. I was not quite flowing, but. But, you know, but I moved.

[Elena]

We got through it.

[Ash]

What was it? Half moon, reverse and. Yeah, moon left and moon right. So much mooning.

[Elena]

It was a lot of mooning. Not that kind of movie.

[Ash]

We were not showing our asses, but I was showing my lack of kind.

[Elena]

Of showing my ass with showing how I don't know how to do all yoga poses. Yeah, for sure. But yeah, I feel we're trying to.

[Ash]

Like, move, you know, we're trying. We tried a Pilates class yesterday.

[Elena]

Yeah. I'm just trying to like.

[Ash]

And then we signed up for a lot of Pilates classes.

[Elena]

Yeah. And I feel, you know what it is? It's like ever since, like, the kids are getting, like, older and I'm sitting there being like, I need to be, like, around and healthy. Yeah. For the rest of your days. Yeah. I need to be 150 years old. Still kicking it with you and my great, great grandchildren. So I'm looking to do that.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

So I think 100 moving days are.

[Ash]

Quite a lofty goal.

[Elena]

You know what? I'm a Capricorn. I mean, I make big goals.

[Ash]

You know what? Actually, I've been shouting out my nail guy so much And I got my nails done the other day and he was like, thank you so much for shouting me out. Here I go again. Heli. I went to the nail salon last week and he had on black mirror, which I've never seen before. It's like, obviously like very like sci fi futuristic, you know, Maybe you will live until 150cuz they might upload you to the cloud and you could just continue living on.

[Elena]

That'd be pretty sick. Yeah, let's go. I don't know if I would want.

[Ash]

To live on the cloud. Do you think you would?

[Elena]

I mean, if. If my kids are still around, I would like to still be around.

[Ash]

That's beautiful.

[Elena]

That's how I feel.

[Ash]

That's the most beautiful thing I've ever heard.

[Elena]

If they're. If they're still kicking it, throw me on the cloud.

[Ash]

Okay, I'll write that down.

[Elena]

Stay around.

[Ash]

I think I'm like, I'm something in your will, so I'll make sure I know that.

[Elena]

So there you go.

[Ash]

I guess you won't even need the will cuz you'll be kicking it.

[Elena]

Just be around.

[Ash]

Everybody's just kicking it.

[Elena]

Yeah. And I want to be like a cool grandma.

[Ash]

What do you want your grandma name to be? Have we talked about that?

[Elena]

I haven't figured out yet.

[Ash]

I know what I want mine to be.

[Elena]

I won't know that until I think it's like, happening.

[Ash]

I want to be Glamma.

[Elena]

That makes sense.

[Ash]

And I refuse. I refuse to be called anything else.

[Elena]

I kind of want to do the thing where I let them decide.

[Ash]

What if they call you, like, Schnoogan?

[Elena]

Then Shnoogen it is.

[Ash]

Schnoogan and Schnoogan.

[Elena]

Yeah. Then Shnoogan it is. Hey, I love a weird grandparent name, so.

[Ash]

I do too. Like, I don't want to say names, but like our.

[Elena]

One of the. Yeah, one of our. Our friends. Their kids call their grandparents Goo and Goopy.

[Ash]

Oh, yeah, that one.

[Elena]

I think that's the funniest thing I've ever heard in my life.

[Ash]

And then in our family, like we have extended family where their grandkids call them Banka.

[Elena]

Yeah. B.

[Ash]

And Gigi.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

Oh, you know what, though? Maybe I do want to be called Gigi. See, this is tough.

[Elena]

You got some time to think about it. Yeah, I don't even have children yet.

[Ash]

You know, you're like, my kids are nine.

[Elena]

We all have time to think about. That's why I'm not worried about it right now.

[Ash]

All right, well, Pilates kids Glamour's uploading to the cloud. What do you got for us today?

[Elena]

What do I have for you today?

[Ash]

What's up, Red?

[Elena]

Oh, I have a T shirt for you today.

[Ash]

You have a T shirt for me.

[Elena]

Mikey, I just looked over.

[Ash]

It's not the universal signature for your T shirt.

[Elena]

I just looked over, I said, what do I have for you today? And I just happened to look at Mikey and he just.

[Ash]

He kind of like flexed, like, placed.

[Elena]

His hands down his body and I said, T shirt.

[Ash]

But you also kind of like. He kind of did it, like, in the chicken dance way and, like, moved his shoulder.

[Elena]

He, like, started under it.

[Ash]

Kind of felt like he was coming at you. Yeah. And I got it.

[Elena]

I was like, T shirt.

[Ash]

That's like.

[Elena]

We mind melded for a minute. I said, T shirt.

[Ash]

I just stood over here like, what?

[Elena]

Yeah, we. I'm not good at this, so maybe Ash will. I got you.

[Ash]

We teamed up with. And it doesn't even feel like we teamed up with them because they're just so talented. I don't even really feel like I did anything.

[Elena]

Yeah, they did all the talented. Part of this. They did it was.

[Ash]

And they are Matt and Ryan from the Black Bale. If you go to the Salem Night Fair, you know who Matt and Ryan are. And if you don't go to the Salem. What the fuck is wrong with you?

[Elena]

Get on it.

[Ash]

Get on it. Next year. But in the meantime, you can support them and us by buying our brand new shirt that they created. And it's really fucking cool. Wait, what the fuck?

[Elena]

What?

[Ash]

It's a piece of lettuce.

[Elena]

Girl, Girl.

[Ash]

What is happening?

[Elena]

Mikey and I are both like.

[Ash]

I was just like hitting myself to clear my throat and this lettuce did not come out of my throat, but I don't know where it came from.

[Elena]

You. Would you just slap your chest and food comes.

[Ash]

Remnant lettuce, chicks.

[Elena]

Remnants of a past lunch, whatever. I laugh.

[Ash]

I'm like. I don't laugh like that. And people are like, yeah, you do.

[Elena]

I just laughed.

[Ash]

Like, so many varieties. But yeah, the merch that we like is awesome. And Matt and Ryan are so talented. It's also really cool because there are tattoo artists. So, yeah, if you have this, it's.

[Elena]

Like having them tattoo you.

[Ash]

Exactly.

[Elena]

You know, it's. They're insanely creative. They're lovely human beings.

[Ash]

The loveliest of you.

[Elena]

Their store is phenomenal and there's nothing like it.

[Ash]

And there's actually one of a kind experience.

[Elena]

Yeah, there's two now. There's One on Essex Street.

[Ash]

Right, Essex Street. And then the other one's on Boston Street.

[Elena]

They're amazing. And we were so excited to just, like, join up with them and for them to do the hard part, which.

[Ash]

Is create the design. And also because we trust them. So you can either go to our Instagram and, like, hit a link there, however that works, or you can go to Blackville Studio. Blackville Studio.com.com. leave yourself in.

[Elena]

Leave yourself in.

[Ash]

I'm like, mikey, what is it?

[Elena]

Leave it in, leave it in.

[Ash]

We need to get merch also.

[Elena]

That just says leave it in.

[Ash]

Also, they created our Re Watcher artwork. So if you're not going over to listen to the Re Watcher, we're now covering True Blood. We're all done with Buffy, which we're so much fun. If you haven't listened to the Buffy one, do that. But now we're on to more different things.

[Elena]

And Andrew McMahon did our theme song.

[Ash]

Can you believe?

[Elena]

So I'll never stop saying that.

[Ash]

We might say that every episode.

[Elena]

And you really will.

[Ash]

And you can't blame us.

[Elena]

No. Who could blame us?

[Ash]

What Millennial can blame us? I don't even the Gen Z's. You can't blame us.

[Elena]

No, you can't.

[Ash]

I'm saying crazy stuff.

[Elena]

You are. She's really offered.

[Ash]

I'm a little bit rogue. I wasn't gonna have a little bit rogue. She's a little bit rogue. I wasn't gonna have a Diet Coke. And then I had a Diet Coke.

[Elena]

Yeah, that'll happen.

[Ash]

Like, four sips. But it's making me rogue.

[Elena]

Well, before we go too rogue, before.

[Ash]

I allow ash, before Rogue loses all me.

[Elena]

Fly off into the. The wild blue.

[Ash]

Yawn into the veggie.

[Elena]

We have a Toupada here.

[Ash]

I didn't even know that.

[Elena]

Yeah, we have a Toupada. Yes, I did. You knew that. But I liked your feigning shock.

[Ash]

The funny thing is, I wasn't even feigning. I just forgot that it was, you.

[Elena]

Know, it's the Diet Coke. It's the aspartame, you know.

[Ash]

But we're going to be talking about.

[Elena]

A pretty gnarly case. It's one that he's a bigger name. Richard Speck. You might have heard of him. Yep. You might remember he was in Mindhunter. Yep, yep, yep. Like, they showed, like, portrayed him in Mindhunter. I believe he's the one that, like, kills the bird, I think, in Mindhunter during their interview, he, like.

[Ash]

Is that the first sec I was gonna say? Is it the first, second, or the second side?

[Elena]

The first second. It's the first one, I believe. Why don't I remember that? It's when they're interviewing a lot of the serial killers, I think he's the one who kills the bird, and it made me upset. Douchebag. It's very him, though. And he's also so ugly. That's. He's very ugly.

[Ash]

I love who you are.

[Elena]

He's. I mean, that's pretty. I think, like, across the board, we can all agree. I. I think I'm not alone on this island. He's ugly inside. He's ugly outside. He's ugly all around.

[Ash]

His aura is ugly.

[Elena]

Yeah, he's disgusting. Disgusting. And this is.

[Ash]

Nicholas would say disgusting.

[Elena]

Nicholas would yell that right now. But this is also known as the student nurse murders. Yup. This. This case is super gruesome. It's brutal. And it's also fucking shocking, really. He contained and murdered so many women at once. It is like, I still. And we'll get into it, but the investigators in this case were like, there had to have been more killers. Like, there's no way one person did all this. And I don't blame them. Sometimes they do, though.

[Ash]

Like, sometimes one person is capable of craziest shit.

[Elena]

But honestly, I haven't. This is one of a kind.

[Ash]

So do you think he possibly wasn't working solo?

[Elena]

Oh, no, He. He was. It's just. This is shocking that he was able to do it. This isn't one of those where it's like, oh, yeah, some people that. That happens before. This does not. Like, when you hear how it happens, you're like, how did that happen, though?

[Ash]

I don't know any of the details of this. I know the name and I know, like, the overview, but not any details.

[Elena]

It's a horrifying case. It really is. So we're going to go to 10:30pm on the night of July 13, 1966, in Chicago is where we are. Cora Amaro had just drifted off to sleep when she heard a knock at the front door of the townhouse that she was sharing with eight other young women. And it was in the Jeffrey Manor neighborhood on Chicago's south side. All nine students were in the nearby South Chicago Community Hospital nursing program. And the house was kind of like a dorm. You know, it almost had, like. It wasn't a sorority, but it had that, like, vibe to it. There was even, like, a house mother in, like, an adjacent townhouse. And many of these students, like Cora, had come from other parts of the country or the world. Yeah. They were from everywhere. Now, thinking it might be one of her roommates who'd forgotten their keys, Cora, of course, gets up to let them in, and she started to open the door, and she said that the person on the other side started pushing it open, like, forcibly, and it didn't feel like one of her friends. Friends, like, who would just, you know, like, help open the door kind of thing. This was, like, with force. So she finally. The door swings open because she's kind of, like, taken off guard by it. And it was not one of her roommates. It was a young man that she'd never seen before. No. Thank you. So Cora told a jury the next year, I saw a man standing in the center of our door holding a gun in his right hand, pointing it towards me. She just woke up from this.

[Ash]

Yeah. And just, like, thought she was getting the door for one of her friends.

[Elena]

Yeah, she said, I noticed marks on his face, the dark clothes, his hair, blondish, combed over in the back. Cora stared at who this was, trying to figure out what the is going on. And she said it felt like several minutes, but then she was just, like, shaken out of her shock by him saying, where are your companions? And he grabbed her by the arm. Ew.

[Ash]

What?

[Elena]

And she's like, what the. And by then, the five other women who were in the house at the time heard all of this commotion and had come out to see what was going on. And as soon as they saw the gun, Cora and two of her roommates, Merlita Gargiulo and Valentina Passion, ran into one of the closets in an attempt to just hide from him because they didn't know what the fuck else to do.

[Ash]

I mean, what do you do?

[Elena]

So for five minutes, they tried to hold the door closed from the inside, all of them holding the doorknob to keep it from turning as he's trying to open the door. Oh, that's chilling. Now, ultimately, what's even scarier is it wasn't the. This man who convinced them to come out, but one of the other girls in the house. One of the other girls said, you come out of the closet and he's not going to harm you. Because they were believing or at least hoping that if you just come out and listen to what he says, he's not going to hurt us. That's what he's saying. And that's what he kept telling them. I'm not going to hurt you. Just listen to what I say and you'll be fine.

[Ash]

It's like, then why the are you here, bro?

[Elena]

So they come out of the closet to find this man pointing his gun in their direction. He's now rounded up all six women. There's six women. Women. And the man instructed him to them all to go into the nearby bedroom and sit on the floor. And in a super calm and even voice, he explained he just needed money to get to New Orleans, and if they would just give him whatever money they had, he would leave and no one would get hurt. Okay, now, if someone says that, you're.

[Ash]

Gonna be like, okay, yeah, take all.

[Elena]

Just listen. Take whatever the you want. I don't even see you. Like, I. Whatever.

[Ash]

Didn't even hear your voice.

[Elena]

So to Cora and two of her roommates who had also come from the Philippines to study in the US that was Merlita and Valentina. The insistence that all he wanted was money seemed disingenuous to them. Yeah, they said they were, like, clocking him a little bit. They had. They said they had all known men like him back home or at least heard about these kind of men. Men who would, like, promise that you'll be fine just to convince you that you're safe, only to turn on you without warning. Oh, man. They all watched in complete terror as he began stripping the bed sheets with a large hunting knife that he pulled from a sheath on his belt. What the. Using the strips, he started binding them at the hands and ankles. So that would immediately be like, no, you don't just. You don't need to bind me if you're just trying to get money. So while the man was occupied doing this, Cora and the others are whispering to each other. Korra and the other two students that were born internationally, they all decided they were like, let's rush this and knock him down.

[Ash]

Let's go.

[Elena]

Like, what do we. Like, there's more of us than there is of him.

[Ash]

Right, Right.

[Elena]

And it's like, yeah, sure, like, one or two of us might get hurt in the process, but there's no way he can control all five or six of us at once.

[Ash]

Well, and it's like, hurt or God.

[Elena]

Only knows what's gonna happen here. And it was pretty reasonable, and one that probably would have worked, I think, if they could have. But also. So the. What happened was the other girls insisted that they should just do what he said and he'll leave, which you can understand. I can't fathom being in this city. So I'm not going to sit here and say, well, in this situation, I would do this. Oh, go Myself, I'm not going to say that. Like, are you kidding me? Like, go. Shut up. I hate.

[Ash]

Never have I ever heard somebody tell themselves to off myself.

[Elena]

Like, that's.

[Ash]

I. I'm not going to sit here.

[Elena]

And be like, yeah, well, I would have rushed.

[Ash]

Like, no, I don't know what the.

[Elena]

I would have done in this situation. Yeah, this sounds fucking terrible. And it's like, so you can see both sides. Like, what? Like, Cora, I understand her friends, I can understand that they were like, let's rush this motherfucker. Because I want to believe that. I also would have thought that. But at the same time, you might.

[Ash]

Be frozen with terror.

[Elena]

You're fucking terrified. I've never been in this position before. So it's like, if he's telling you, I just want to go to New Orleans, I need money. You guys have money. Just give me the money and I'll leave. I can understand why they were sitting there going, okay, maybe if we just do what he says, he'll just leave. And like. But I'd also be like, why is he tying us up? Like, that would be a question on my mind.

[Ash]

And why did he come with a hunting knife and a gun?

[Elena]

Exactly. That's a little scary, you could say, like intimidation. He's just trying to intimidate us into not rushing.

[Ash]

Well, you're also just not going through all the possibilities, like, necessarily right then and there. This time of the year just gets so cuckoo crazy for me. I'm going to all these holiday parties. I'm eating gosh knows what. Let's be real. Our diets are not always the most balanced this time of year. If you're looking for digestive support, ritual has got your back. Or rather your biome with Symbiotic Plus a three in one powerhouse of clinically studied pre pro and postbiotics to support a balanced gut microbiome with daily use. Designed with a delayed release capsule to help reach the colon, not the stomach, because the colon is a more ideal place for probiotics to survive and grow. I actually take Symbiotic plus and I love it. It makes me feel a little bit better about over indulging on those holiday parties when I know that I'm balancing my microbiome anyways. And she can handle it because she's a strong boss girl. Get your gut going. Support a balanced gut microbiome with Ritual Symbiotic Plus. Our listeners get early access to their Black Friday sale for 40 off your first month at ritual.commorbid. that's ritual.commorbid for 40 off your first month don't miss out on the best sale of the season. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. You know what's scarier than anything that we've ever talked about on this show? Not knowing what goes into the dog food that you're feeding your dog. Your dogs deserve better. Your dogs deserve Ollie. Ollie offers fresh protein packed meals made with real human grade ingredients. And the meals are slow cooked for max nutrition with five tasty recipes that even the pickiest pups will love. Plus, Ollie gives you access to on demand health screenings and expert advice like having a vet in your pocket, minus the waiting room anxiety that is iconic. And I have a piggy dog myself so I think I'm gonna check out Ollie and get her some. Your dog's well being starts with their food and that's why Ollie delivers fresh human grade food that your dog will love. Head to ollie.commorbid and use code morbid to get 60 off your welcome kit when you subscribe today. They even offer a happiness guarantee on the first box. If you're not totally satisfied, you'll get your money back. That's O L L and enter code morbid to get 60% off your first box.

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[Elena]

So once this guy had tied the hands and ankles of all six women, he untied one of the women, Pamela Wilkening, and he led her out of the room into the living room. From their spot on the bedroom floor, the other girls could hear him demand that Pamela remove her clothes.

[Ash]

Oh no.

[Elena]

And they could also hear as he sexually assaulted her.

[Ash]

Oh, that's awful.

[Elena]

Then something very unexpected happened. In the middle of his assault on Pamela, he was interrupted by the arrival of another roommate, Gloria Davy, who he quickly subdued and led into the bedroom with the rest of them where he tied her ankles and wrists just like the others. Okay, so he is just in the middle. He was interrupted and managed to get her into a room as well. Yeah, the scene repeated itself 20 minutes later when two remaining roommates, Suzanne Faris and Marianne Jordan, returned as well. Oh my God. So thinking quickly, he brandished his gun and forced them into the bedroom off the living room as well.

[Ash]

I can't imagine One, experiencing this from the very, like, start. And then two, walking into this scenario.

[Elena]

Yeah. Like. And you just can't even, like, fathom it.

[Ash]

You're like, what?

[Elena]

And how did this happen?

[Ash]

How your life changes in a split second.

[Elena]

Like, split second.

[Ash]

Like, who's. Like. Those two girls are probably coming from class or shopping or running errands.

[Elena]

It's coming home.

[Ash]

You're just coming home for the night and you think your day is ending and this is in your house doing this. Like, that's so scary.

[Elena]

You should all know now that none of the victims in the other room survive, except one. Oh, man. There's one survivor to this one.

[Ash]

That's unreal.

[Elena]

So it's impossible to know exactly how things unfolded in that room. We can rely on Cora, her testimony, because she is the one that survives. Yeah. In the coroner's report to piece together, you know, a little bit of an accurate picture of what happened in there. But from the bedroom, the other woman could only just sit there and listen as he just unsheathed his knife and drove it into Pamela Wilkening's chest, killing her almost immediately because it severed her pulmonary artery. Oh, wow. And they're just tied up listening to this. And once Pamela was dead, there was no turning back. This guy is now a killer, and now he has to get rid of witnesses.

[Ash]

Yup.

[Elena]

So the man returns to the bedroom where he locked all of the roommates, and he took them from the room one by one and killed them just like. First it was Suzanne Ferris, who he stabbed at least 18 times before strangling her to death. Then it was Marianne Jordan, who he stabbed multiple times, including once in the left eye. Oh. According to the coroner, her cause of death was from a stab wound directly to her heart. But the coroner couldn't tell when the fatal wound was administered. So she could have been alive when she was stabbed in the eye.

[Ash]

That's awful to think about.

[Elena]

Yeah. And finally, he killed Nina Shamala, who he stabbed three times in the neck before ultimately strangling her to death.

[Ash]

It's crazy that he's also switching off between stabbing and strangling them, and that he has the, like, not. I don't want to say strength, but, like, the wherewithal to be able to do that, like, that many times.

[Elena]

Over stamina.

[Ash]

The stamina, exactly. Yeah.

[Elena]

And it's also. He's choosing two very intimate ways to kill someone. Yeah.

[Ash]

And he has a gun.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

And it's like, I guess he just brought that to get them, like, to.

[Elena]

Do what he said, and just think about it. From the other room, they're all just listening helplessly as their friends are murdered one by one. And knowing that they're next. Yeah. And just gonna come in and get you.

[Ash]

Not knowing exactly going to be next.

[Elena]

Are you next? Eventually, I'm being led out there to die. Yeah. Because I'm bound and I can't help myself. What are you going to do? Like many months after this, Kora would tell the investigators from the District Attorney's office that despite the absolute horror show that was happening out there, she said there were no screams, no sounds of violence. In fact, Cora recalled that if she didn't know otherwise, she never would have expected her roommates were being systematically and brutally killed just feet from where she was. That's. It was like, eerie silence. How? Because a lot of the times he was stabbing them in, like, the neck. And so that silence, it only sank in when, after killing the first three women, this man, now covered in blood, came back to the bedroom where he'd left the others and started bringing them into the room as well. So now they're seeing this man come back covered in more and more blood each time.

[Ash]

That's a nightmare like that.

[Elena]

You can't make that up. Yeah. First was Valentina Passion, who was stabbed in the neck. She was followed by Merlita Gargiulo, who was also stabbed in the neck before being strangled. Then he came for Patricia Matusic, who died of strangulation, but not before. And this is terrible. Before. So she died of strangulation, but not before she was kicked in the stomach so hard that her stomach began to hemorrhage.

[Ash]

What?

[Elena]

Yeah. Do you know how hard you have to kick someone in the fucking stomach to do that? I can only imagine it was during one of these times that Cora, thinking quickly, managed to stuff herself as far back under one of the beds as she could, hoping that he wouldn't detect that she was gone. Like maybe he didn't count or something. Right. And in fact, when he returned, he seemed so singularly focused and in, like, a rampage state, like he seemed like a animal at this point, that he didn't notice that one of the six original women was now missing from the room. That's. Yeah.

[Ash]

Wow.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

Imagine how you would feel in that moment, realizing, like, okay, I got away with this, but also exactly what you're about to say. How long did she sit there?

[Elena]

So. Well, first he grabs Gloria Davy by the arm and drags her away. And when the bodies were discovered, Gloria was the only one who hadn't suffered any stab wounds. Her cause of death was listed as strangulation. So maybe I don't. I would say, like, maybe he was exhausted by this. My strangulation takes more strength than stabbing does, I would think.

[Ash]

Yeah, maybe he just. That's what he decided on.

[Elena]

Yeah. Now, from her hiding spot under the bed, Korra just lay there terrified. Every muscle is tensing in her body as she's listening to him now, any total animalistic frenzy. Rummaging around the townhouse looking for valuables and cash, like, just ripping apart. And she's just sitting there being like, is he gonna look under the bed next?

[Ash]

Right. Exactly.

[Elena]

And realize she wouldn't remember precisely when he left the house. Budgie. They think it wasn't very long after midnight. And once he thought everyone in the house was dead. That's when he left, apparently. Like, he. He thought he had gotten everyone. He got everything he could out of there. But still, Cora was so fucking terrified that she still didn't make a sound. And she didn't move from her spot under the bed. So she stayed silently pressed up against the wall under the bed, bound until 5am wow. This was not even midnight, essentially.

[Ash]

So, like, hours, Hours and hours.

[Elena]

And she said she was literally sitting there, just staring straight ahead, dead silent, just in a state of terror for hours.

[Ash]

She had to have been in shock.

[Elena]

And then the alarm clock starts going off at 5am because that's when the nurses have started their day.

[Ash]

Imagine how jarring that sound must have.

[Elena]

Been in that house, in the silence of that house, that alarm going off to start the day. Now she's terrified that the man is still in the house at this point, she doesn't know. She didn't hear him leave. She doesn't know what's going on. So she still lays there, completely still for another hour before crawling out from.

[Ash]

Under the bed and just listening to.

[Elena]

That alarm go off. Over. She said this was the such a scary part because she said it was like eerie silence when usually in the morning when that alarm goes off, she's like, it's laughter. It's us talking about our day. It's us getting ready. It's shower starting, it's makeup being done, it's hair stuff being like. And it was just dead silent. So sad. And she said, but nothing could have prepared her for what she saw when she walked out of that room. And she said she crept slowly down the hall towards her own bedroom at the front of the house. And she said every single place she looked, it was just Horror. It was just blood. It was horror. And she said scattered throughout the entire house were the bodies of her roommates, mutilated, motionless, just everywhere. Oh, my God. And this isn't like, no matter what, you come out of the room and you see one murdered person, that's gonna change you forever. I can't even fathom that seeing this many.

[Ash]

And these are all your friends, like.

[Elena]

Multiple, multiple friends brutally mutilated out there.

[Ash]

And you're the sole survivor.

[Elena]

You can't even fathom that. You can't even write that. You can't.

[Ash]

That's it. I was just gonna say it's something.

[Elena]

That you would see in a movie. Cora did her best to just look straight ahead down the hall. She was just focused on her bedroom door. And finally she gets in there and closes her door behind her. And then she ran to the open window and pushed the screen out into the ground below. And she climbs out the window, crawled onto a two foot ledge about 10ft off the ground. And she said she was cowering there because she was scared to yell. Oh. So she said she finally broke her silence and screamed, help me. Help me. Everyone is dead. I am the only one alive on the sampan. Now, a sampan is a kind of flat bottomed boat that's common in east and Southeast Asia. So in her mind, in her shock and trauma, she was back in the Philippines fleeing one of the violent insurrections that ironically had caused her to seek a better life in the United States in the first place.

[Ash]

Oh, my God.

[Elena]

So she was like fully transported back to, like literal, like war and insurrection.

[Ash]

What your brain and your body does.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

In times of stress and times of just like, I don't even know what. There's no words to describe this situation. It's remarkable what your brain does.

[Elena]

I'm the only one alive on the sampan. Like, she fully was like, that's where I am.

[Ash]

Horrifying.

[Elena]

And just for her to even be scared to yell, like, which everyone's been in like a situation where they don't want to make any noise. And like, you think about it and you're like, oh, my God, I'd be scared to scream right now.

[Ash]

Yeah. You know what I mean?

[Elena]

Like thinking or like watching a movie and being like, I don't think I can yell in that situation because I'd be so scared. This is one of those to actually.

[Ash]

Be faced with it, though.

[Elena]

That's the thing. Now, a few houses away, Betty Windmiller was standing out on her back porch and she heard Cora's cries for help. So Betty ran around the front of her house and ran directly into her neighbor Robert hall, who was out walking the dog. And the two ran down the street in the direction of the screaming and found Cora perched on the ledge outside her second story window. What a sight. And she kept repeating over and over, my friends are all dead, all dead, all dead. And she just kept yelling it. And by then, others had come out of their houses to see what was happening, and they came over to try to help calm Cora while Windmiller and hall called for the police. Now, just by chance, a patrol car was driving through the neighborhood around the time Cora's neighbors placed the call. So there's very quick. I know it happens a lot. Now, searching around the outside of the house, Officer Daniel Kelly found the back door of the house unlocked, with one of the screen panels on the door having been pushed out. Inside, Kelly discovered exactly what had driven Cora to be hanging out on a ledge on her second story. In the living room, Kelly found Gloria Davis's nude body face down on the couch. So also, he had definitely sexually assaulted more of these women. Yeah. He recognized her immediately as the sister of his former girlfriend.

[Ash]

Oh, my God.

[Elena]

Which must have been.

[Ash]

That's next level shit.

[Elena]

Yeah. And still he just had to keep. Yeah, it's a job, man. Now the rest of the horror awaited him. On the second floor, just outside the doorway to Cora's room, Marianne Jordan's body lay on the floor. A vicious knife wound very visible on her chest. Right next to Marianne was the body of Suzanne Faris. Her clothing was torn, like whoever killed her had tried to remove it by cutting it away with a knife. It was like. Like it was like, sheared away. Yeah. There were several slashes and stab injuries visible on her neck, face, and back. In a nearby room, Pamela Wilkening's body lay on the floor. A long strip of fabric was still tied tightly around her neck. In the other bedroom at the front of the house, he found the body of Valentina lying across the body of her friend Mlita. Both had been stabbed repeatedly and where there were dark marks on Merlita's neck, indicating that she had been strangled and she was literally lying across the body of her friend. That's just so. Either, like, she tried to crawl away or he placed her there, which both are horrifying. Yeah. Now, Nina Shamala's body was on the bed, and she also had been stabbed repeatedly and strangled. And Kelly found the body of Patricia Matusik on the floor in the bathroom with large, dark Abrasions on her neck. Think. With the exception of Gloria Davy and Marianne Jordan, all the victims were still bound around the wrists and ankles, which. Take. Take that what you will. Yeah. By the time he'd found the last body, Daniel Kelly had already called for backup in a full forensic team. He told the dispatcher what he discovered there. But none of them, not even the most hardened senior homicide detectives at this point, weren't all ready for what they were going to find. Find there.

[Ash]

I don't know how you would ever begin to prepare yourself to walk into something.

[Elena]

Nobody was walking in here being like, oh, you know, typical day on Homicide. Like, they were like, what the. No. Now, when homicide detectives arrived there a short time later, they were greeted by a big throng of reporters who'd beaten them to the crime scene.

[Ash]

Nice.

[Elena]

And all of them, police and reporters alike, were traumatized by what they had seen. In an article describing his experience, Daily Calumet reporter Tom Holland wrote. I entered the residence of the eight slain student nurses. It was silent. There were other newsmen milling about in the back bedroom. I walked in and saw that the room had been torn up. Women's undergarments, prayer books, and assorted coins were on the floor. I walked into the front bedroom. It was then that I wanted to vomit. But held back, there was blood everywhere. I just stared. Now, the officers on the scene were equally shaken by what they saw that day. Commander Edward Sheehy told a reporter, I've seen bodies before. I don't know why I'm upset. I'm shaking like, I think even he was like, I usually. I can handle this, but, like, I'm fucked up. Like the other officials at the scene, Edward Sheehy had little to tell the press at this time other than say, it was a massacre.

[Ash]

Like, it's a nightmare.

[Elena]

He's like, I don't have anything else to say to you. This is fucking terrible. Now, because of the scale of the carnage here, investigators immediately assume that the murders were definitely done by more than one person. Like, there's just the scale of the carnage, the amount of women that were killed.

[Ash]

Right.

[Elena]

And, like, this small area, no one would think this was one person, not one. That makes no way. It seemed completely impossible that a single person could control nine adults. Yeah. Long enough to murder each of them. Like, that's wild. Yeah. Now, at a glance, it was clear to detectives that. But whether it was one man or ten, the killer or killers had at some point clearly escalated to the point of absolute frenzy.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

The bedroom where the original Six women had been held, was completely trashed. Belongings, clothing, other items just thrown around the room, like ripped up. Just frenzy.

[Ash]

Just picturing somebody lose control like that is so scary.

[Elena]

And Cora was under a bed during this? Yeah.

[Ash]

She heard everything start to finish.

[Elena]

Everything, Everything. Purses were. Pocketbooks were turned upside down. Their contents was everywhere, all over the floor. Any cash or valuables was stolen. Despite the chaotic state of the house, there was also little physical evidence actually to be found anywhere that would help them. That's crazy. As far as investigators could tell, everything that had been tossed around the bedrooms belonged to the eight women who lived there and told them nothing about the killer or killers. There was, however, one item discovered that probably didn't belong there. It was on a desk in the living room. They found a man's white T shirt that was sweat stained.

[Ash]

Gross.

[Elena]

But curiously very free of any blood stains. Oh, yeah. So I don't know.

[Ash]

Yeah, that's weird. But did you just like, leave a shirt there?

[Elena]

She just left a shirt there. Elsewhere in the house, they collected more than 30 fingerprints from the walls, the furniture, personal items, and the bodies themselves. Outside on the front lawn, they discovered tire tracks from a car that appeared to have sped away from the scene. Otherwise, there was really little to be found that could explain what the fuck happened there the previous night and especially not tell them who did it. Now, the best lead detectives had, it seemed, was their only surviving witness, Cora. She had been in the house when the whole thing happened and could presumably describe the killers and hopefully give some, like, crucial details that they needed to try to get any kind of lead.

[Ash]

But also who remember who, who would even remember, like exactly what he looked like after all that.

[Elena]

That's. Well, by that time, Cora had been safely rescued from the second floor ledge and she was taken to South Chicago Community Hospital, the same hospital where she and two of the others worked. Having learned of the murders, the hospital staff sent all the student nurses home because they didn't want to them. They wanted to spare them the emotional chaos of seeing their classmates bodies. Yeah, of course, a few did choose to stay though, because they wanted to be of some help.

[Ash]

That's sweet.

[Elena]

So when investigators were finally able to sit down with Cora that morning, they quickly realized that she was very much in a state of shock and far too traumatized to be of any help. Yeah. For two hours, though, they tried to act this absolutely devastated student nurse. Anything about what had happened that night.

[Ash]

Which, like flowers, which, like, you have.

[Elena]

To try, I guess, but it's like.

[Ash]

You have to Try for two hours.

[Elena]

Well, that's the thing. If you don't.

[Ash]

If you don't get anything, hour one, it's safe to say you're probably not.

[Elena]

Gonna get anything after one. It's like, give her. Give her some time to. You know, it's like, I get it.

[Ash]

You know, like, everybody has a job to do, but.

[Elena]

And that you want to get. You don't want this time and you don't want something. Gosh forbid that she just forgets.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

Any of the crucial information.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

It's a hard situation. But if she responded, which sometimes she didn't respond at all, she was just kind of catching shock. All they got was like a, you know, short strings of sentences, mostly in her native language, which is Tagalog, so they couldn't understand. Anyways, ultimately she had to be sedated and it was several hours before they could even speak to her again, which.

[Ash]

Like, I get that.

[Elena]

Poor girl. Yeah. So while they're waiting to talk to Cora, they started canvassing the neighborhood just hoping that someone saw something. Unfortunately, as Cora would later tell the jury, the murders and the ransacking of the townhouse were surprisingly quiet for such a brutal crime. None of the neighbors heard anything.

[Ash]

What?

[Elena]

Nothing.

[Ash]

But I mean, even, like she later said how quiet it was while he was taking everything.

[Elena]

Oh, yeah. She said it was like, shocking. So one neighbor a few doors down thought she saw a car parked in front of the nurse's house when she arrived home at 3am but she couldn't be sure.

[Ash]

Also, can you imagine looking back and thinking how you spent your night when that was happening? Like, however many doors down, like you're.

[Elena]

Sitting there being like I was watching a movie or like I was taking a shower.

[Ash]

That would be such an out of body experience.

[Elena]

It would. It would me up.

[Ash]

That would absolutely.

[Elena]

Like, I'm just living my life completely oblivious to the absolute horror and to the fact that, like, people needed help. Yeah. And I couldn't help them because I didn't even know they needed help. Like, that would really throw me for a loop.

[Ash]

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[Elena]

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[Elena]

Another neighbor told police that there was a, quote, strange caller at her door the day before, but no one else had any similar experience to. That's weird. Even the house mother, who lived in an adjacent townhouse and was awake at the time, said she didn't recall anything out of the ordinary that night. Wow. Yeah. That's crazy. Yeah. Now, by that afternoon, more than 150 officers were assigned to the case, pulling from officers from the robbery and homicide squads, in addition to a lot of the beat cops that they could get. By early evening, Cora had started to come out of her sedation and was finally able to speak to detectives. To their incredible surprise, the murders were committed by a single man. She was like, nope, there was no one else in that house. Cora described him as being about 25 years old. What the? 6ft tall and weighing about 170 pounds. Now, despite her trauma and Shock. She walked detectives through everything that had happened as best as she could remember, from the moment she woke up to the knock on the. The door, to the following morning when she came out from under the bed after hearing the alarm clock. She said, I thought if the man was still in the house, that would. That would scare him off. But I wasn't sure if he had left. I waited, and when I didn't hear anything, after a while, I crawled out. When she was asked if she could pick him out of a lineup, she said, I would recognize him. I would know if I saw him again, which. He has a very distinct face. He does. He has terrible skin.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

Now, to the press and the public, investigators expressed confidence in their ability to catch who was responsible for these murders. Lead detective Michael Spiato told the reporters during a press conference, I'm optimistic about some of the leads we now have in the case. But the truth was, detectives said very little other than the description provided by Cora, which didn't really help because it kind of described thousands of young men in Chicago at that time. Yeah, they had no idea where to start.

[Ash]

But it's like they can't tell that to the press because you're in pandemonium now.

[Elena]

If there was any place in the United States where social and cultural changes of the 1960s were happening in full display right now, it was Chicago in the summer of 1966. By this summer, it was, the turbulence of the national debate over civil rights had definitely reached Chicago and a typically pretty chill Midwestern city. After police arrested a black man they believed was wanted for armed robbery. That's when things really boiled over. Yeah, people were tired of the oppression, the marginalization, and the abuse that they'd taken from police for decades at this point. And black residents of Chicago's west side took to the streets to protest their poor treatment. For three days between July 12 and July 15, the majority of the Chicago Police Department was deployed to these protests. It turned out, though, that the protests. What was going on, which had stretched the department really thin at this point, also became somewhat of a benefit in the hunt for this killer, really, because they were forced to pull detectives from other departments. So the squad of officers that they got were made up of men and women from. With a variety of resources and skill sets.

[Ash]

Okay, that's really cool, actually, that it worked out like that.

[Elena]

And what's wild is the most valuable of these turned out to be the robbery squad, really, because robberies are hyper, local crimes that typically involve the selling of stolen goods. Yeah. Robbery detectives because of that, develop a network of contacts, both upstanding contacts and criminal contacts. Okay. They can be relied upon as a source of information in situations like this.

[Ash]

That makes sense.

[Elena]

So when the large squad of investigators and officers spread out across the city, the detectives naturally engaged their networks, hitting up their informants, seeing if anyone heard anything about the murders. One of the robbery detectives had a contact who work at. Worked at a south side garage known as a gathering spot for a lot of petty criminals.

[Ash]

Okay.

[Elena]

And people just, like, passing through.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

The mechanic didn't know anything about the murders and hadn't heard anything from the men who usually hang around the garage. But when detectives described the man, based on what they learned from cora, something did sound familiar to him. A few days earlier, a younger guy had been hanging around the station who fit that description. The mechanic remembered the guy because he was like. He was so rude and belligerent. He was an asshole. He's like, I remember him. According to the mechanic, the guy had said something about how he was shipping out or taking a boat somewhere. He said they'd be able to pick him out of a crowd because the tattoo on his left arm read, Born to raise hell.

[Ash]

Oh, God.

[Elena]

Loose. Get a grip. The man had even left two of his bags with the mechanic while he went out to look for work at the National Maritime Unit Union. The NMU around the corner from the station, and he hadn't come back for them.

[Ash]

Oh, so now they have his.

[Elena]

Yeah. So the mention of the boat and the National Maritime Union made the detectives think back to the crime scene and to the unusual knots used to bind the victim's hands and feet. Oh. After hours spent combing the streets and alleys and hitting up every contact they could think of, investigators had finally gotten a break and a potential suspect. That's a solid lead. Yep. Founded in. Because those. Those knots were maritime knots, like they are, you know, Those are Marines.

[Ash]

Easily identifiable.

[Elena]

Founded in 1937, the National Maritime Union functioned as a labor union where sailors and others with experience on a boat or ship could find work through assignments that were arranged by the union.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

Having received this tip from the mechanic, the detectives rushed over to the union building, but found no one there who matched the description given by cora. Damn it. But when they spoke to the administrator on duty and gave the description, the man recalled someone who'd been in a few days earlier who matched that description.

[Ash]

Okay. Everybody is really looking out.

[Elena]

We're working. According to the man at the nmu, a young man matching their suspect had been in a Few days earlier, and he was looking for work on a boat headed to New Orleans.

[Ash]

Huh.

[Elena]

Something the killer had mentioned when he gathered up the six original victims in the bedrooms. Now, as luck would have it, the trash at the NMU still hadn't been taken out from the previous few days. And after digging through the wastepaper basket, the administrator was able to find the crumpled slip of paper containing the information they needed. Stop. The slip had sent the man to a job on a ship called the Sinclair Great Lakes. But when he arrived, there was only one bunk available, and the job had already gone to another man. The suspect returned to the NMU in a highly agitated state. He was pissed off, and the administrator told him if he left his information, they would do their best to find another assignment for him. Fortunately for the detectives, this man wrote his name and a number where he could be reached on the slip. No. Suspect's name was Richard B. Speck, and the number was a direct line to his sister who lived in the city.

[Ash]

Hello.

[Elena]

So let's. Before we get into the next part, let's go back to who Richard fucking Speck is.

[Ash]

Yeah. I'm curious.

[Elena]

Richard. Yeah. Richard Benjamin Speck was born December 6, 1941. And he was born in Kirkwood, Illinois, a SAG. He was the seventh of eight children born to Benjamin and Mary Speck.

[Ash]

That is so many children.

[Elena]

The family struggled financially, but they, you know, they were resourceful. And Ben and Mary Speck managed to support themselves and their eight children even in the hardest of times times through most of his adult life, Ben Speck was a farmer and a logger and would sometimes supplement his income with odd jobs here and there.

[Ash]

Okay.

[Elena]

Mary Speck spent the bulk of her time raising all those children. In fact, Richard's six older brothers and sisters were considerably older than he and his younger sister, Carolyn. So Mary had her hands full far longer than would have other otherwise happened if she had evenly spaced them. Yeah. And when she wasn't wrapped up in family life, wife Mary Speck was a devout Christian who volunteered regularly with the Presbyterian Church. Okay. Unlike most marriages of the day, it was Mary, not Ben, who ruled over the house. With a dominant personality guided by mommy issues, by her very strong religious convictions, she set standards for how everyone, including her husband, would behave. Oh, no.

[Ash]

Mommy issues and religious trauma.

[Elena]

Yeah. She was not above imposing her will on everybody whenever it suited her. This all changed somewhat when Richard was six years old and his father died from a heart attack at the age of 53. Oh, wow, that's so young. Richard had Been close with his father, and this hit him pretty hard. He was only six. Yeah, that's. But given their financial circumstances, there was very little time to grieve this loss. Just three years later, in 1950, Mary Speck met and married Carl Lindbergh, a man she'd met on one of her many train trips back and forth north to Chicago after Ben's death.

[Ash]

Okay.

[Elena]

Mary had been instantly charmed by this insurance salesman. But once they were married, she learned quickly that he was nothing like Ben. While Ben was generally kind and submissive, he just went with the flow.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

Carl was a, quote, hard drinking hellraiser. Oh. With a long criminal record of fraud, forgery and disorderly conduct.

[Ash]

How delightful.

[Elena]

He was quick to anger, and he didn't hesitate to resort to violence if he had been drinking.

[Ash]

Damn. That's like the stepdad way.

[Elena]

Yeah. The stepdad from hell. Yeah. Now, following the marriage, Mary moved to Texas to live with Carl, while Richard and Carolyn were sent to live with his oldest sister, Sarah in Chicago so he could complete the third grade.

[Ash]

The third grade.

[Elena]

Throughout this time, Richard was remembered as being, quote, a very good boy who got along well with his peers and his sister. This all changed, though, when the school year came to an end and Richard and his sister moved to be with their mother in Texas. And once again, Carl Lindbergh proved to be the antithesis of Richard's biological father. Lindbergh was physically and emotionally abusive to Richard, and within a very short period of time, the effects of that abuse were very noticeable to his teachers.

[Ash]

You can a kid up real easy.

[Elena]

Yeah. His eighth grade teacher said he was sort of sulky, but he didn't talk back. Over time, he withdrew himself. He became isolated, failing to make any friends. His teacher later said, he seems sort of lost. I don't think I ever saw him smile. I wasn't able to teach him anything.

[Ash]

Did you try to?

[Elena]

Which is just, like, really sad. In 1957, Speck enrolled in Crozier Technical School and managed to earn no credits in his first semester, even failing. Jim. Bitch.

[Ash]

How do you fail Jim?

[Elena]

Yeah, even I didn't fail Jim. When the next semester started, he didn't bother to return to school. Instead, he just started engaging in criminal behavior and was picked up by the police very frequently for vandalism and petty theft, which. Which he didn't have a. He really didn't have a shot. Like, unfortunately, he just did not have a shot. You feel bad for the kid version. Now, six years later, Carl Lindbergh divorced Mary Speck. But as far as Richard was concerned, the damage had already been done. I mean, yeah. By then he'd begun hanging out with an older group of young men, many of whom had already amassed a very long criminal history. And they all spent their lives drinking, gambling, fighting, doing just like dumb shit. Raise and hail, Raise and hail. He was born to do it. During this time he started supporting himself through petty theft, breaking into homes, stealing whatever valuables he could find lying around and people delinquent. Now, as far as criminals went, Richard Speck was not sophisticated. I would say okay, but he really didn't need to be. All he needed was enough to get by. Like he wasn't looking to do any like big heists or anything. At the same time, his behavior on the street was becoming more and more aggressive. In 1965, Speck and a friend were arrested for beating a 15 year old boy and cutting his face.

[Ash]

What the fuck?

[Elena]

Yeah. A few months later, Richard was arrested after police found him crouched outside the window of a house that he intended to burglarize, carrying a screwdriver in his pocket.

[Ash]

I'm sorry, what?

[Elena]

When they asked him what he needed the screwdriver for, he answered, I always carry a screwdriver. Oh, okay.

[Ash]

Yeah, as one does.

[Elena]

What? I'm sorry.

[Ash]

He looked at them like they were crazy. Like, you don't have your screwdrivers tonight fellas.

[Elena]

No big deal. So how old is he now? He's, he's, he's like 23. Oh, not 24. Yeah. Depending on during this period of criminality, he also made time for, I would say women, but no girls.

[Ash]

No.

[Elena]

Including a 15 year old girl. No. Named Shirley Malone, who he dated briefly, that's not dating. Who he groomed and was a pregnant.

[Ash]

Assaulted.

[Elena]

Probably. Yeah. When Mary Speck discovered that Shirley had become pregnant, she demanded that her son marry this girl. So in 1962, they married at City hall. Married, and with a child on the way, Richard and Shirley moved in with Richard's mother. But that didn't last long.

[Ash]

Married to a child, with a child.

[Elena]

Exactly. Between Richard's hard drinking and his tendency to lose jobs every four minutes, the couple were soon kicked out of his mother's house and spent several months moving around from one apartment to another.

[Ash]

Oh, that poor girl.

[Elena]

In July, Shirley gave birth to their daughter Robbie. But by then the relationship had completely deteriorated and falled apart. And rather than continue following her deadbeat husband around one tenement to another, she chose to return to her parents house. By this time, the relationship had become physically abusive, including one Time where Richard threw a knife at Shirley and hit her in the leg. So she was like, I don't really see a reason to stay with you. I'm out.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

Now, while their relationship may have ended, Shirley's connection to Richard through their daughter meant that she could never sever all ties to him. In the years after that, Richard not only harassed and frequently terrorized Shirley, but also Shirley's parents, Ida and Albert Malone. Dude, what are you doing? In addition to frequently making inappropriate and wildly disrespectful sexual comments to his mother in law.

[Ash]

Ew.

[Elena]

He would often threaten them with guns and other weapons, including an incident in 1965 where he twice attacked Ida Malone with a knife while her husband and daughter were out of the house. It was only after Ida grabbed a knife and shouted, I'll make you eat that knife. That Richard finally retreated.

[Ash]

And that's what we call Queen Chip a bad bitch. Yeah.

[Elena]

She said, I'll make you eat that knife. He retreated and threatened to kill her as he left the house.

[Ash]

Yeah, you're gonna kill me while you retreat because I told you to eat that knife.

[Elena]

Swallow that knife. Finally enchanted.

[Ash]

Like of Southern charm, when Catherine says, I hope you fall on an ass.

[Elena]

Why don't you fall on an ass? The most intense thing to say now. Finally, in January 1966, after years of abuse from Richard, the Malone's brought their daughter to the courthouse and formally filed for divorce and requested sole custody of their child. The divorce was not contested, and it was granted on the spot.

[Ash]

God, I thought you were gonna say not granted.

[Elena]

The next day, Shirley married Tinker Frazier, a man she'd been seeing for several months. And just before the divorce was filed, Richard visited Shirley one final time and begged her to reconsider.

[Ash]

Shirley, baby, no.

[Elena]

When she refused, he pathetically asked if he could borrow her car before exiting. Their lives forever. What a deadbeat. What a deadbeat loser.

[Ash]

That's such ex husband behavior.

[Elena]

Such.

[Ash]

Such a freaking loser. Please get back with me. Please, please, please.

[Elena]

Can I borrow the car?

[Ash]

We're not going to get back together. Can I use your car?

[Elena]

She's like off.

[Ash]

It reminds me of driving in cars with boys.

[Elena]

G. Now, between 1961 and 1966, Richard bounced between jobs, apartments, even penitentiaries. And hey, it was really the latter of the three where he seemed most comfortable and at ease, to be honest.

[Ash]

Isn't that so? Like, I don't feel bad for him, but isn't that such a sad concept?

[Elena]

It is. That you hear about to be locked up in the. And that some people are comfort more.

[Ash]

Comfortable in that scenario.

[Elena]

It's a sad state of being more.

[Ash]

Comfortable in that scenario where all of your creature comforts are taken away from you.

[Elena]

Exactly. Now, in the real world, there were so many variables and social norms to be navigated, but in prison, he knew what was expected of him. It felt like it's simplified.

[Ash]

Okay, yeah.

[Elena]

It doesn't do well with complex thoughts and confidence, ideas and notions. He needs it. Simple as you get up, you eat your food, you go back in your cell, you. You brush your teeth, and you go to sleep. Like that's. That's what he needed. That's so sad. And also, he didn't have to be anything other than what he truly was, which by this point, according to one former employee, was, quote, careless, troublesome, and dishonest. He could be that in prison.

[Ash]

Imagine people, they're like, hey, what are three words that describes this person? And that's what they.

[Elena]

Careless, troublesome, dishonest.

[Ash]

I'd be like, damn, I should probably do some inner work now.

[Elena]

In the fall of 1966, after yet another stretch in prison for forgery, this time, Richard Speck was released from jail and accepted an invitation from his sister Carolyn, who, remember, had taken care of him when he was little. Yeah. To join her and her husband in Chicago. And remember, when he was living with Carolyn, he was good.

[Ash]

He was happy, but he was also.

[Elena]

Like, he was doing well, but still like, he was, I think, like, well.

[Ash]

Obviously she was a good influence.

[Elena]

I think it went really went downhill when he moved to Texas with his mom and his stepfather because he was being abused. Now, at that time, Richard had promised his sister and just about anyone else who still spoke to him that he was ready to give up his hard, hard living life and straighten his out. And all he needed was a place to stay while he got himself a job and got back on his feet. Feet. He didn't want to do this anymore.

[Ash]

And of course, you want to do that for your sibling when they're telling you they're promising you the world.

[Elena]

Yeah. Now, unfortunately, it turned out that Richard's promises to get his life together were just another empty can promise. And within a few weeks of arriving in Chicago, he'd spent most of his time and money getting drunk and hanging around downtown. So Carolyn was just trying to help him out and be a good big sister, just like she had done when he was. I mean, she took like, that's her little brother who's, like, in third grade, and his mom and his stepdad were just like, bye, we're going to Texas. You can live with your sister in Chicago. Yeah. And like, just abandoned. Like, straight up, we're like, you take care of them.

[Ash]

Yeah. She sounds like she was more of a mom.

[Elena]

She probably just tried to step in. And like, at this point, she's like, I. I'm trying my best again, but, like, I did my best. And that's where we are going to end for part one, because then we are going to get into his arrest for the murders of the nurses in Chicago in 1966 in part two. But that is Richard Speck so far. Wow.

[Ash]

That was a whirlwind. And I can only imagine what part two will be.

[Elena]

And we've caught up to where we are now in 1966. We've caught up to. He is now living with Carolyn, his sister, in Chicago. He's promising the world. And he's still being a shitbag.

[Ash]

I have a feeling that he does more shitbag things.

[Elena]

Yes. I mean, he definitely does.

[Ash]

All right, well, with that being said.

[Elena]

We hope you keep listening and we hope you keep it weird.

[Ash]

But not so weird that you're just born to raise hell.

[Elena]

Oh, Luther.

[Ash]

SA.

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