Loading summary
Transcript7 lines
- [00:02]
A
Hey everyone. Carter Roy here. If you're loving Murder True Crime Stories, you need to check out Crimes of, the newest show from Crime House. Crimes of is a weekly series that explores a new theme each season from Crimes of the paranormal, unsolved murders, mysterious disappearances, and more. Their first season is Crimes of Infamy, the true stories behind Hollywood's most iconic horror villains. Crimes of is a Crime House original powered by Pave Studios. Listen wherever you get your podcasts or find them on YouTube at Crime House Studios. New episodes out every Tuesday. This his Crime House. Every case needs an angle, a lead, a suspect, a theory. But sometimes, in the hopes of bringing swift justice, detectives can lock in too early and make some critical mistakes along the way. In 1982, three teenagers were found brutally murdered near Lake Waco in Texas. There wasn't much hard evidence leading detectives to a suspect. But then someone started talking and investigator Truman Simons saw a possible answer. He created a narrative built on shaky confessions, jailhouse snitches and shoddy analysis. Ultimately, four men ended up behind bars. Two were sentenced to die. And decades later, serious questions remain. Not just about who committed the Lake Waco murders, but how far investigators were willing to go to close the case. People's lives are like a story. There's a beginning, a middle and an end. But you don't always know which part you're on. Sometimes the final chapter arrives far too soon and we don't always get to know the real ending. I'm Carter Roy and this is True Crime Stories, a Crime House original powered by Pave Studios that comes out every Tuesday and Thursday at Crime House. We want to express our gratitude to you, our community, for making this possible. Please support us by rating or reviewing and following Murder True Crime Stories. Wherever you get your podcasts and to enhance your Murder True Crime Stories listening experience, subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. You'll get ad free listening, early access to every two part series and exciting bonus content. This is the second of two episodes on the Lake Waco murders, a triple homicide that rocked the Lone Star State in the summer of 1982. Last time I introduced you to the victims and told you about their last known movements. I also explained how the case quickly fell apart until an investigator named Truman Simons took over. Today I'll cover Simons relentless pursuit of justice and the lengths he was willing to go to secure a conviction. Eventually, Truman came under fire for his questionable methods. But by then it was too late for the defendants and the victims. All that and more coming up.
- [03:52]
B
You walk in tired and hungry, one bad dinner away from losing it. You don't like to cook. You don't want more takeout. You just want something good. That's why there's Dish by Blue Apron Pre made meals with at least 20 grams of protein and no artificial flavors or colors. From fridge to four in five minutes or less. Keep the flavor. Ditch the subscription. Get 20% off your first two orders with code APRON20. Terms and conditions apply. Visit blueapron.com terms for more.
- [04:25]
A
In July 1982, 17 year old Jill Montgomery, 17 year old Raylan Rice and 18 year old Kenneth Franks were found stabbed to death in a park near Lake Waco in Texas. The murders were brutal and seemed personal. And yet detectives had no idea who could have committed them. None of the teenagers had any clear enemies. Within two months, the Waco PD quietly marked the case as inactive. It probably would have stayed that way if Patrol Sergeant Truman Simons hadn't gotten involved. In September 1982, the 39 year old begged the chief of police to give him the case. He swore he could solve it in a week. The chief liked the sound of that, so he gave Simons the go ahead. Simons first suspect was 23 year old Munir Deeb. He owned a convenience store across the street from the Methodist Home where two of the victims, Jill and Kenneth, had once lived. Deeb also employed one of their friends, a girl named Gail Kelly. She. She and Jill bore a striking resemblance. And Deeb had even taken out an accident insurance policy on Gail for $20,000, listing himself as her common law husband. Which was odd since they weren't even dating. Based on all that, Simons came up with a theory. Deeb had hired some local tough guys to kill Gale. But the hitmen had seen Jill, mistaken her for their target and killed the wrong girl. In that scenario, Raelyn and Kenneth were just collateral damage. Still, no matter how long Simons grilled Deeb, the man insisted he was innocent. He even sat for a three hour polygraph test which showed he wasn't lying. But Simons ignored the results and chose to trust his gut instead. He knew Deeb was involved. He just had to prove it. Simon suspected that one of the hitmen was 24 year old David Spence. Spence hung around Deeb's store a lot and had a criminal record. He'd just been arrested for sexual abuse. Simons didn't have any evidence that Spence was involved in Deeb's alleged plot, but he had a wild idea about how to get it. What if he quit the Waco PD altogether and took a job as a jailer. Then he could get close to Spence and earn his trust. The move didn't make sense to anyone but Simons. It actually meant a pay cut and a demotion. But Simons was willing to do anything to solve the case. He'd made a promise to the victims, and he intended to keep it. When he called up the chief and told him his decision, Simons made one request. He asked for permission to keep working on the Lake Waco murders. Once again, the chief agreed. Shortly after, Simons walked into the jail as David Spence's new guard. As the newest jailer, Simons got the graveyard shift, working from midnight to 8am but even with those hours, he found plenty of time to talk to Spence, who was thrilled to have a friend. Spence opened up to Simons right away. He told Simons how he'd dropped out of middle school, gotten married at 16, had two kids back to back, and was divorced at 20. A year later, he served time for robbing a convenience store with a hatchet. After prison, he drifted into the biker scene and started dating a woman named Christine Jewell, who just so happened to work at Deeb's store. That's how Spence ended up hanging around the place so much. Eventually, Simons steered the conversation toward the Lake Waco murders. Spence was eager to discuss the case and told Simons he wanted to help. He said he'd ask his girlfriend to put feelers out. In return, Simons let Spence talk to her on the phone for hours. He didn't find anything worthwhile. But Simons kept chatting with Spence. He figured the more Spence trusted him, the more likely he was to slip up or even confess. Spence guessed Simons had an angle. Plenty of inmates at the jail knew he was an ex cop. In fact, he'd helped put a lot of them behind bars. There was speculation he was working undercover, and Spence was curious. So eventually, he asked Simons if he had any suspects in the Lake Waco murders. Simons decided not to lie. He told Spence that he was one of them. Spence was offended he'd helped Simons, or at least tried. Despite the betrayal, Spence continued his relationship with Simons. He must have thought he could persuade Simons that he was innocent. As for Simons, he had a gut feeling about Spence, and he wasn't going to ignore it. Simons would have loved a confession, but he didn't put all his eggs in one basket. While he kept up with Spencer, he also worked the jail, asking other inmates if they'd heard anything about the murders. At first, he got nothing. But then in early January 1983, six months after the murders, another inmate came to Simons. He claimed Spence had bragged about killing Jill, Raelyn and Kenneth. And he said Spence hadn't acted alone. He named Gilbert Melendez, Spence's co defendant in the sexual abuse case, as an accomplice. Soon, other inmates started coming forward too. They offered their own versions of Spence's alleged confession. And Simons brought those stories back to Spence to see how he'd react. That's when Spence unraveled, but not in the way Simons had expected. At the time, Spence was dealing with some mental health issues. His girlfriend had broken up with him. He was so distraught, he'd been put on antipsychotic medication. He was starting to question everything about his life. And Simons leaned into the uncertainty. They began talking about the idea of a split personality. Simons suggested that Spence had committed the murders and just didn't remember. Spence insisted that wasn't what happened. He hadn't done it. But as time went on, he started to wonder, what if he had? While Truman Simons tried to solve the case from the inside, Waco detectives would try to crack it from the outside. In early March, Waco's new district attorney, 31 year old Vic Faisal, launched a task force to look into the murders. This was one of the county's biggest unsolved cases and he wanted answers. He officially brought Simons onto the task force as an investigator, not just a jailer. It was a little awkward for the other detectives on the force. After all, Simons had recently quit the PD to follow through on his long shot scheme. Now he was back doing both. While Faisal didn't love that most of Simons evidence came from jailhouse snitches, he couldn't deny that Simons was making progress. And so the Waco detectives worked the city for more leads. And Simons stuck to the jail chasing informants. That same month, David Spence was convicted in his aggravated sexual abuse case. He received 90 years. But since he was cooperating with Simons, he was able to stay at the county jail instead of going straight to a federal prison. His co defendant, 28 year old Gilbert Melendez, had pleaded guilty and gotten just seven years. Melendez wasn't new to the system. He'd done time a decade earlier for assault with intent to murder. Simons decided it was time to turn up the heat on him and see what he could get. At first, Melendez denied any involvement in the Lake Waco murders. But Simons made it clear that things were about to get serious. And if Melendez wanted to save himself, he might want to start talking. Simons gave Melendez some time to think it over. When he returned to the jail next, Melendez had changed his mind. Now Melendez said he had been at the lake that night. Simons asked if Melendez would testify against David Spence. If he did, Melendez could probably avoid the death penalty. Melendez said yes. If it meant saving his own life, he'd throw Spence under the bus without a second thought. Limu Emu and Doug Limu and I always tell you to customize your car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. But now we want you to feel it. Cue the Emu music. Limu Save yourself money today. Increase your wealth.
- [14:24]
C
Customize and save.
- [14:26]
A
We say that may have been too much feeling. Only pay for what you need@liberty mutual.com Liberty Liberty Liberty Liberty Savings Very unwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. Affiliates excludes Massachusetts in March 1983, eight months after the Lake Waco murders, investigator Truman Simons got what he believed was his big break. 28 year old Gilbert Melendez had admitted to being at the scene of the crime and he was willing to testify against his supposed co conspirator, 24 year old David Spence. Simons recorded the jailhouse confession. Melendez said the two of them had been driving around in Spence's station wagon drinking and smoking when they headed to Caney Park. That was the local hangout spot where they saw the victims, 17 year old Jill Montgomery, 17 year old Raylan Rice and 18 year old Kenneth Franks. According to Melendez, Spence offered the teenagers some beer and weed, then lured them into their car. Once they were inside, Spence turned violent. He raped and stabbed Jill before doing the same to Raelyn. Then finally he killed Kenneth. After that, Melendez said, they drove the bodies across the lake to Spiegelville park and dumped them. Over the next couple of days, Melendez repeated his story. But each time he told it, a few key details suddenly changed. He couldn't seem to keep the timeline straight. He also seemed confused about Spence's car. According to him, Spence was driving a station wagon. That wasn't possible, though. Spence had bought the car two weeks after the murders. But the biggest red flag was that Melendez insisted Spence committed all the violence while he just watched. To most investigators, that seems suspicious. Still, Simons brushed off the inconsistencies. He said Melendez was a big drinker and drug user. His memory was probably just unreliable. Melendez took two polygraph tests. The results showed he was telling the truth about being involved. But then he recanted. He tried to take back his whole confession. Unfortunately for him, it was too late. Simons had latched onto Melendez's story and he wasn't going to let go. However, Simons knew he needed more evidence to land a conviction, and he thought he found it in the form of bite marks. The technical term is forensic odontology. At the time, it was a relatively new field, but the assistant da, Ned Butler, was a big believer in it. He thought some of the marks on the victims looked like they'd come from human teeth. So he sent autopsy photos, along with a mold of David Spence's teeth to an expert in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The expert agreed with Butler the wounds were bite marks, and he was positive they'd come from David Spence. When Butler shared that news, Simon saw it as the missing puzzle piece. The DA's office agreed with that. Investigators doubled down. Soon they found even more witnesses who said Spence had bragged about the murders. And then they learned about a possible fourth suspect, Gilbert Melendez's younger brother, 24 year old Tony. He was in the same jail as Melendez on rape and robbery charges. And Waco detectives jumped at the opportunity to question him about the Lake Waco murders. Tony insisted he was innocent. He claimed he'd been painting houses in another town the night of the murders. But he failed a polygraph test, and jailhouse informants told Simons they'd heard him talking about being at the lake that night. Simons took all those details and tied them up in a nice little bundle. Then, early that fall, he handed that information off to a grand jury. By November 1983, they came to their decision. The grand jury indicted Deeb, Spence and both Melendez brothers for the murders of Jill, Raelynn and Kenneth. After more than a year of tireless investigating, it felt like everything was coming together. And for Simons and DA Vic Faisal, the case now looked like a slam dunk. A district judge ruled the four men would be tried separately, Spence first, followed by the Melendez brothers, then Deeb. Each man was charged with three counts of capital murder, beginning with the killing of Jill Montgomery. And the death penalty was on the table. Spence's defense team argued that Simon's investigation had been highly unorthodox and that jailhouse testimony wasn't reliable. They also pushed back on the bite mark evidence, calling it pseudoscience with no firm basis in fact. But those arguments didn't get far. And then things got even worse for David Spence. Just six days before his trial began, Tony Melendez took a plea deal in exchange for a life sentence. In a written confession, he said he'd taken part in the rape and murder of the teenagers alongside his brother and David Spence. 25 year old David Spence's trial began on June 18, 1984, just under two years after the murders. The DA, Vic Faisal, laid out Truman Simon's theory that Munir Deeb had hired Spence and the Melendez brothers to kill Gail Kelly for insurance money. But they had mistakenly killed Jill instead. Basil called 39 witnesses to the stand. Seven of them were jailhouse informants. They all denied getting anything in return for their testimony. But many investigators wondered if that was true. Why else would so many inmates speak out? And while their stories were dramatic, they were still hearsay. The real impact came when the bite mark expert testified. He told the jury that a bite mark is like a fingerprint. It's completely unique to the individual. And he believed the bite marks on the victims were an almost perfect match for Spence's teeth. Spence's lawyers brought in their own expert. He argued that the science of bite marks wasn't exact and that the matches were far from conclusive. But even he couldn't completely rule Spence out. The defense also noted that none of the hair or blood found at the crime scene matched Spence. And they pointed out that Spence actually knew Gail Kelly, so how could he have possibly mistaken her and Jill? The defense had two other men they believed were the real suspects and they wanted to introduce evidence to prove it. And. But the judge ruled it irrelevant and didn't let it into the courtroom. So the jury never heard this alternative theory in all, the trial lasted just over two weeks and the jury deliberated for less than two hours before declaring Spence guilty. Three days later, he was sentenced to death. After David Spence's conviction, Gilbert Melendez asked for a plea deal. Like his brother, he didn't want to end up on death row. So in January 1985, he wrote a 16 page confession and pleaded guilty in exchange for two life sentences. He also agreed to testify against Munir Deeb. A month later, Deeb's trial began. It lasted less than two weeks. Many of the same witnesses from David Spence's case took the stand. But this time, Gilbert Melendez was the star. He told the jury that Spence said Deeb had offered them $5,000 to kill Gail Kelly. For the jury, that was all the motive they needed. Like Spence, Deeb was found guilty in under two hours and sentenced to death. But the story Wasn't over. Later that year, in October 1985, Spence was tried again, this time for the murder of Kenneth Franks. He was found guilty once more and received the death penalty. The DA wanted the second conviction, just in case the first one was ever overturned. With Deeb and Spence headed to death row, the DA's office chose not to pursue further charges for Raelyn's murder. For Truman Simons, it felt like closure. This was the justice he'd promised the three teenagers and proof that his gut had been right all along. But not everyone believed he'd gotten it right. David Spence's mother, Juanita White, was one of those people. She was convinced that her son had been set up. And more than a year later, in 1986, she received a letter to prove was from one of the jailhouse informants who testified against Spence. The man wrote that he'd committed perjury and asked for Juanita's forgiveness. Juanita handed the letter over to a lawyer who, hoping it might help her son. But before anything came of it, 54 year old Juanita was murdered. Someone broke into her house, raped her and strangled her in an eerie echo. Her body also showed signs of bite marks. A Waco police detective named Jan Price was assigned to the case. The DA's office also brought in a second investigator, someone who happened to know the Spence family well. Truman Simons. Simons took over the case and dictated every move they made. But Price got the sinking feeling that he was leading them in the wrong direction. And if she was right, more innocent, more men might be sent to the gallows.
- [25:54]
C
Hi, I'm Karina Bemersterfer, host of Morning cup of Murder, your daily true crime podcast. Yes, you heard me right. Daily True crime. Every day, Morning cup of Murder tells you a straightforward short form story about murder, true crime, cold cases, disappearances, serial killers, cults and more. And I do that all in under 15 minutes. With over three years of stories and over 20 million downloads, the Morning cup of Murder podcast has become a staple of so many people's daily routines. So why not add it to yours? Stream Morning cup of Murder everywhere you listen to podcasts. And remember, stay safe.
- [26:40]
A
In March 1986, Waco detective Jan Price was called to the home of 54 year old Juanita White. After her son David Spence was sentenced to death for the Lake Waco murders. Someone had paid a visit to Juanita. She was found beaten, raped, bitten and suffocated to death. There didn't seem to be a clear motion motive. Nothing was stolen except for her car which was later found abandoned just a few blocks away. But then, just seven hours after authorities had left the scene, someone broke into the house again. This time, the intruder tore through David Spence's old room. To Detective Price, it looked like they were searching for something, but no one knew what. Before long, she got some help figuring it out. Within a week, the DA's office took over and Vic Faisal assigned Truman Simons to the investigation. Price could stay on the case as long as she partnered with Simons. Of course, Simons already had a theory based on his network of jailhouse informants. According to them, two local burglars had been 31 year old Calvin Washington and his 19 year old partner in crime, Joe Sidney Williams. It turned out Washington had just been arrested for car theft. So Simons went to the jail and asked Washington if he could take a mold of his teeth. He wanted to compare them to the bite marks found on Juanita White. Washington apparently agreed, and the mold was sent to Simon's usual expert. That expert confirmed what Simon suspected. The bite marks matched Washington. But Detective Price was skeptical. Not just about the bite mark evidence, but about Simon's methods. She'd heard rumors that some of his jailhouse sources were getting their charges reduced or dismissed entirely. It was a clear conflict of interest. Without those informants, Simon's evidence barely held together. Meanwhile, Price had her own suspect, a young man named Benny Carroll. He'd recently been arrested for beating and raping a woman who lived just a few doors down from Juanita. It was a brutal crime with disturbing similarities. But when Price shared her theory with Simons, he waved her off. He thought Williams and Washington were responsible, and he didn't want to hear any other options. Frustrated, Price took her concerns to the grand jury. She tried to tell them about the contradictory evidence. But when DA Vic Faisal found out, he threatened to indict her for interfering with the investigation. Despite Jan Price's warnings, the case moved forward. In August 1987, 19 year old Joe Sidney Williams went on trial for the murder of Juanita White. Once again, the centerpiece of the prosecution's case was bite mark evidence. They even used the same expert who testified in David Spence's trial. They also relied on jailhouse informants. Although eight testified in total, only two of them even knew Williams. But this time around, the Waco Police Department didn't fall in line. Fifteen Waco officers testified for the defense. Jan Price was one of them. She questioned the credibility of the prosecution's witnesses. In a sworn affidavit, she said she believed the prosecution's case was fabricated and that they knew it, but they went ahead with it anyways because they wanted a quick conviction. And that's exactly what they got. Despite Detective Price's affidavit, Joe Sidney Williams was found guilty. When Calvin Washington went on trial a little while later, the proceedings followed the same script and ended the same way, with another conviction. But there was one notable difference. Neither man was sentenced to death. It seemed to suggest the juries had lingering doubts, just not enough to acquit them. Eventually, both convictions were overturned. Williams was released six years later, in 1993, after key witness testimony was thrown out as inadmissible hearsay. Washington spent another nine years behind bars. In 2001, DNA testing showed he wasn't Juanita's killer. The evidence pointed directly to Benny Carroll, the man Detective Jan Price had suspected all along. He would never face charges, though he died by suicide years earlier. The Juanita White case was technically separate from the Lake Waco murders, but Truman Simons had played a central role in both. So when Calvin Washington and Joe Sidney Williams were exonerated, people started re examining Simon's earlier cases. A retired Waco police lieutenant claimed Simons gave jailhouse snitches special treatment and fed them information. One of Simons informants recanted, admitting the group had fabricated their stories to earn favors like conjugal visits or even dismiss charges. Some say they were outright coerced. Simons and Vic Faisal denied all of it. But it didn't matter. In 1993, the same year Williams was released, Munir Deeb had a retrial and his conviction was reversed. He was freed from prison, but died six years later of cancer. Until his final breath, he swore he was innocent. Meanwhile, David Spence filed several appeals. All of them were denied. Even though Deeb, the man allegedly behind the plot, had been exonerated, the court saw no reason to overturn Spence's conviction. In 1997, David Spence was executed by the state of Texas. Like Deeb, he maintained his innocence until the end. A year later, Gilbert Melendez died in prison while serving his life sentence. He also insisted he'd been coerced into confessing. That left only one man from the original group still alive, Anthony Melendez. Like his fellow co defendants, Anthony said he was innocent. He claimed he'd only given his false confession because his lawyers told him he he'd get the death penalty if he didn't. In 2011, nearly three decades after the murder, Anthony's attorney filed a motion for new DNA testing, the hope was that advances in forensic science could finally prove Anthony wasn't at the crime scene. But the lab holding the DNA samples refused to hand them over. They claimed the samples were part of their work product and couldn't be tested by another facility. So the issue went to court and dragged on for years. Finally, in 2017, the lab relented. But by then, it was too late. Anthony Melendez died in prison in January 2017 at the age of 57. Later that same year, David Spence's sons, Jason and Joel, took up the fight. They filed a lawsuit alleging that Texas officials had coerced confessions, bribed witnesses, and used junk science to convict their father and the three other men in the suit. They pointed to a 2016 report from the Texas Forensic Science Commission that said. But bite mark comparisons are too subjective to be considered reliable or accurate. In fact, the forensic odontologist who testified against Spence has been discredited in recent years. And during the appeals process, five independent experts examined the evidence. They all agreed that Spence's teeth did not match the bite mark. The truth is, we may never know who really killed Jill Montgomery, Raylan Rice, and Kenneth Franks. But some people think they know the true culprit, Benny Carroll. After all, Juanita White was killed in a very similar way to the Lake Waco murders, and DNA evidence did point to him being the killer. Sadly, at this point, the case is too old, the evidence too degraded, and the key players, both the accused and the investigators, are gone. What we're left with is a tangle of confessions, deals, and testimonies that don't quite line up. And at the center of it all, a detective and a DA who seemed more interested in building a case than testing it. It's easy to say they got the wrong men. It's harder to say who the right ones might have been. But after four decades, four convictions, three exonerations, and one execution, we know one the system failed. It failed the victims whose true killers were probably never caught. It failed the defendants, some of whom may have died in prison for crimes they didn't commit. It failed David Spence, who was most likely killed for no reason. And it failed the public who were told justice had been served when really it had just been rushed. Thanks so much for listening. I'm Carter Roy, and this is True Crime Stories. Come back next week for the story of a new murder and all the people it affected. True Crime Stories is a Crime House original. Powered by Pave Studios. Here at Crime House, we want to thank each and every one of you for your support. If you like what you heard today, reach out on social media, Rimehouse on TikTok and Instagram. Don't forget to rate, review and follow Murder True Crime Stories wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback truly makes a difference. And to enhance your Murder True Crime Stories listening experience, subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. You'll get every episode ad free and instead of having to wait for each episode of a two part series, you'll get access to both at once plus exciting bonus content. We'll be back on Tuesday. True Crime Stories is hosted by Me, Carter Roy and is a Crime House original. Powered by Pave Studios, this episode is brought to life by the Murder True Crime Stories team Max Cutler, Ron Shapiro, Alex Benedon, Natalie Pertopski, Lori Marinelli, Stacy Warrenker, Sarah Camp, Alex Burns, Beth Johnson and Russell Nash. Thank you for joining us. Crimes of is a weekly series that explores a new theme each season, starting with the crimes that inspired Hollywood's most iconic horror horror villains. Follow Crimes of wherever you get your podcasts or find them on YouTube at Crime House Studios. New episodes out every Tuesday.