#566 - Zombie Wife - Springfield, Tennessee

Summary

Small Town Murder - Episode #566: "Zombie Wife - Springfield, Tennessee"

Release Date: February 1, 2025
Hosts: James Pietragallo & Jimmie Whisman
Location: Springfield, Tennessee

---

1. Introduction to the Case

In this gripping episode of Small Town Murder, hosts James Pietragallo and Jimmie Whisman delve deep into a harrowing crime that shook the quiet town of Springfield, Tennessee. Combining meticulous research with their signature comedic flair, the duo unravels the chilling story of Joseph Parker and the tragic demise of his wife, Samantha Parker.

---

2. Background of Joseph and Samantha Parker

James Pietragallo [04:00]: "Joseph Leonard Parker, born December 27, 1968, was a 6-foot-tall, 200-pound salesman known for selling used Toyotas in Springfield. Samantha K. Clouse, born August 16, 1970, hailed from Galeon, Ohio, and was celebrated for her outgoing personality and love for football."

Jimmie Whisman [05:00]: "They married in 2002, and by 2014, they were facing mounting financial pressures after Joseph was laid off from his dealership, pushing their home towards foreclosure."

The Parkers lived in a modest three-bedroom house at 246 Clydesdale Lane, a part of the Saddlebrook subdivision, near Nashville. Their daughter, Mackenzie Parker, described them as loving parents who preferred each other's company over socializing extensively.

---

3. The Murder Event

James Pietragallo [16:00]: "On November 4, 2014, their 12th wedding anniversary, Joseph called 911 from 246 Clydesdale Lane around 2:45 AM, making a bizarre and alarming statement."

Notable Quote [31:08]:
Joseph Parker [38:56]: "We've been married 12 years. I shot my wife in the temple of her head. I thought I'd killed her. I put her in the freezer out in the garage."

Joseph claimed he had accidentally shot Samantha and tried to preserve her alive by placing her in an upright freezer. His 911 call was unnervingly calm, which raised suspicions.

---

4. Investigation and Police Response

Upon receiving the distressing call, police swiftly responded to the scene. The Parkers' home was immaculate, with the front door open and lights on as Joseph had described. In the garage, authorities discovered Samantha Parker frozen solid, with a gunshot wound to her temple and partial dismemberment—a horrifying sight confirming Joseph's confession.

James Pietragallo [44:14]: "Samantha had a big hole in the temple of her head, caused by a .38 caliber handgun. Despite Joseph's claims, forensic evidence clearly indicated she had been dead for days."

Joseph’s subsequent actions included attempting to flee, stating he was heading to Chattanooga to visit friends. However, during a traffic stop on Interstate 65 in Kentucky, Joseph panicked and tragically took his own life by shooting himself in the head, ending the manhunt that had gripped the community.

---

5. Impact on the Family

The aftermath of the murders left Mackenzie Parker devastated. A month later, during the Wings of Love ceremony honoring homicide victims, Mackenzie expressed her profound grief and the enduring lack of closure.

Mackenzie Parker [53:34]: "I'll never have closure and I'll never have answers. I think my dad just snapped."

She highlighted the immense responsibility she felt caring for her young children while grappling with the loss of both parents.

---

6. Community Reactions

The Springfield community was left in shock, grappling with the senselessness of the crime and the sudden loss of a beloved neighbor. Neighbors described the Parkers as quiet yet friendly, making the brutal murders even more perplexing.

Neighbor Chloe Crabtree [22:13]: "Joseph was a very stern man who kept to himself. We rarely saw them leave the house, but they were friendly enough to wave when you drove by."

---

7. Social Media Backlash

An article detailing the massacre sparked a heated debate among locals on social media, devolving into petty arguments over minor details like the exact subdivision of the crime. The hosts criticized the community's inability to focus on the tragedy itself.

James Pietragallo [63:38]: "This story is about a murdered woman who's been dismembered and stuffed in a freezer. And a guy who snapped after a happy marriage and went and blew his brains out. And in a matter of three comments, they've already started fighting."

The hosts lamented the loss of empathy and the tendency for online platforms to amplify trivial disputes over genuine human suffering.

---

8. Reflections and Conclusions

James and Jimmie wrapped up the episode by emphasizing the importance of community support and understanding the underlying issues that can lead to such tragic events. They reflected on how societal pressures and personal failures can culminate in devastating consequences.

James Pietragallo [57:29]: "He's a good guy. This is completely out of character. The only explanation they can even put forth is that he must have just snapped."

The episode serves as a sobering reminder of the fragility of human relationships and the dire need for mental health support within communities.

---

9. Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• James Pietragallo [31:08]: "I've just told you how I've murdered and defucked disposed of my dead wife."
• Joseph Parker [38:56]: "I shot my wife in the temple of her head. I thought I'd killed her. I put her in the freezer out in the garage."
• Mackenzie Parker [53:34]: "I'll never have closure and I'll never have answers."
• Neighbor Alicia [67:42]: "Shame on you. [...] Save your bickering for the sidewalks."

---

10. Final Thoughts

Small Town Murder Episode #566 masterfully balances the gravity of true crime with engaging storytelling, providing listeners with a comprehensive understanding of the Springfield, Tennessee massacre. Through detailed narrative and poignant reflections, James and Jimmie offer both a recounting of events and a critique of societal behaviors that overshadow genuine empathy.

For those interested in more in-depth analysis and similar real-life mysteries, subscribing to Small Town Murder and attending their live shows is highly recommended.

---

Stay Connected:

• Website: shutupandgivememurder.com
• Patreon: Patreon.com/CrimeInSports
• Social Media: Instagram and Facebook @SmalltownMurder

Transcript

[James Petregallo]

Hey, everybody. Just gonna take a quick break from the show to tell you a little bit about Shutterfly. If you're like us, you take a lot of pictures because you have a camera right in your hand all the time. How would you not take a lot of pictures? And we're taking all these pictures more than we've ever taken in the history of the world. But it's, that's the thing. You used to get a solid picture and then you'd look through them and you could enjoy them. Now they're like back on your camera roll. You can't even find them. You don't want that. That's why the cool thing you need to do and what I did, and I think it's pretty cool, is create a shutter photo book. Oh, what I did. And you're gonna enjoy this, Jimmy, because I haven't showed this to you yet, but took all of our pictures from being on tour this year, all live show pictures, us backstage, us on doing all that stuff and like some of the just the venues and things and made a little photo book out of that. Also, they have free 24 hour designer service as well. With their 24 hour designer service, a professional designer is gonna lay out the book for you for free in just a day. Make something that means something with Shutterfly. Enjoy. 40% off orders over $29 with promo code Smalltown C site for promotional details. And now back to the show.

[Grant Ellis]

Your weekly dose of romance and drama has arrived. Season 29 of the Bachelor is here. And Grant Ellis, certified hottie and former day trader, is trading his day job on Wall street for a second chance at everlasting love. New episodes drop every Monday at 8, 7 Central, bringing you fresh twists in Grant's journey to find his soulmate. This self proclaimed mama's boy is all grown up and ready to invest his heart. Will his playful charm win over the house full of hopefuls? Or will the competition prove too intense? From heartfelt moments to adrenaline pumping dates, each week brings new surprises in the mansion. Will Grant find his perfect match or end up with a broken heart? Tune in every Monday at 8, 7 Central on ABC and stream on Hulu for new episodes of the Bachelor.

[Nadine Bailey]

Calling all dog owners, your furry friend deserves top notch nourishment. And Ollie delivers the clean, fresh nutrition your dog needs in five flavors. They'll absolutely flip over. Ollie is made in US Kitchens with ingredients carefully sourced from trusted growers and producers around the world. With absolutely no harmful fillers or preservatives with protein first recipes like Fresh Beef with sweet potatoes, fresh turkey with blueberries or fresh lamb with cranberries. You might start thinking, dang, my do dog eats better than I do. And that's probably true when it comes to Ollie. Give your pup a fresh start this new year by letting them taste test a personalized meal plan with ollie. Head to ollie.com wondery tell them all about your dog and use code wondery to get 60% off your first box of meals when you subscribe today. Plus they offer a clean bowl guarantee on the first box. So if you're not completely satisfied, you'll get your money back. That's O-L L I-e.com wondery and enter code wondery to get 60% off your first box. Start new year off right with Ollie. Start your dog's new year off right with Ollie.

[James Petregallo]

Hello everybody and welcome back to Small Town Murder Express.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yay. Choo choo.

[James Petregallo]

Oh, yay indeed, Jimmy. Yay indeed. My name is James Petregallo. I'm here with my co host.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I'm Jimmy Whisman.

[James Petregallo]

Thank you folks so much for joining us today on another wild edition of Small Town Murder Express. As it always is, this, this is a crazy story from start to finish and it's a, it's a big finish too. It's a wild one. So you're going to like this one. First of all, before we get to that, definitely head to shut upandgivememurder.com Tickets for live shows are available. 2025 is all laid out. Pittsburgh, February 7th, your first show of the year. It's the Oakland. What is it? Carnegie Hall Carnegie. Yeah, and Oakland. Carnegie is a call in Oakland, not in munt hole. Get your tickets. The next night is sold out in Columbus, so you can't get there. We're going to drive from Pittsburgh to Columbus so you can drive from Columbus to Pittsburgh and see us. How about that? We'll cross you the next day. We'll drive back with you the next day. So yeah, do that. Come see us there. Also all the other ones later in the year, a lot of them are close to sold out. Madison, Portland, Seattle, D.C. philly. Get your tickets if you want them because that's they're selling quick. Shut up and give me murder.com. also listen to our other two shows, Crime in sports and your stupid opinions where it's hilarious, where we do reviews from everything all over the Internet. And then also you want patreon. Patreon.com CrimeInSports is where you get all the bonus material. Anybody $5 a month or above, you get a huge catalog of back back bonus material you've never heard before. Hundreds of episodes. Then you get new ones every other week. One crime and sports, one small town murder. And this week is no different for crime and sports, which you're gonna have access to. We're gonna talk about the whole Kobe Bryant debacle in Colorado where he was accused of some serious shit and denied it and it cost him a six million dollar ring in the end. So we'll talk all about that and a bad, oh, bad one. And then for small town murder, it is Internet salad time again. We're gonna go over the Internet and it's gonna be just like we do before we go on the air. Basically, we sit and we joke about everything. Everything except politics. Because we do this at times when all that's out there is political news. And we're like, well, what if people wanna hear dumb stuff? What about you? So we'll take your mind off of anything for a while with an Internet salad. Patreon.com crimeinsports There you go. And you get a shout out at the end of the regular show too. Jimmy will mess your name all up, even though he wants to get it right. That said reader, it's hard. Names are hard. I'm sorry? They're hard. From someone who has to read like town names and stuff, it's hard. There's a lot of pronunciations.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I just bought four books, James. I've just been staring at them.

[James Petregallo]

The covers, you mean?

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petregallo]

I think it's time to sit back, everybody take a deep breath. Here we go. Arms to the sky and let's all shout, Shut up and give me murder. Let's do this, everybody.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Here we go.

[James Petregallo]

Let's go on a trip, shall we?

[Jimmy Whisman]

Let's do it.

[James Petregallo]

All right. We're going to Tennessee today. We're going to Springfield, Tennessee, which is the one of many, many, many, many Springfields in this country. As we know it was a. It's. We. I don't know why that is a very popular name, as we know from, like the Simpson stuff when they did the, you know, which Springfield is it? It's, you know, 75 different Springfields came forward there. So this is just outside Nashville is a suburb. It's about 35 minutes out to Nashville. That's so really, if you think about it in traffic, it's about four and a half hours. If you've ever been to Nashville, it's about four hours to Cosby, Tennessee, which was our last episode. Attack of the Death twins, which was crazy, obviously. The Death twins. You want to listen to that one population here, 18,561. So not too big, not too small. A medium town here. Commuters, definitely. Well, the median household income here though is pretty low, actually for right outside Nashville. It's 50,655, which is almost a lot of bartenders. That's what it seems like. Almost 20,000 people who can't afford to live in Nashville proper, I guess. I don't know.

[Jimmy Whisman]

But it's fucking Broadway every night though.

[James Petregallo]

That's almost 20,000 less than the national average, though. Median home price here, $299,300, which is a lot cheaper than Nashville too. So, yeah, I think that's what it is. And the motto here, there's two of them, actually. One is welcome to real Tennessee. Which anybody.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Did they really say that?

[James Petregallo]

Yes. Which anybody who lives like in the sticks would be like, you're in Nashville. Shut up. What are they talking about? Yeah, you're like 20 minutes from, you know, a famous person's bar. I don't want to hear that shit.

[Jimmy Whisman]

And then also lives down the street from you.

[James Petregallo]

Fucker. And then also world's finest dark fired tobacco.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That's a lot of.

[James Petregallo]

You got that world's finest right here. Not North Carolina. Dark fire, apparently. Toast them in dark fire. History of this town. The courthouse for the county, Robertson county courthouse was completed in 1879. And then they put a big clock tower, which is kind of what this town is known for, is their clock tower in the center of town. Like, you know, Back to the future style. They popped that in 1930 and then they put it on the historic list of national register of historic places in 1978. So that'll be there for a while. In 1923, they hosted a minor league baseball team of Kentucky Illinois Tennessee League called the Springfield Blanket Makers. Nothing strikes fear in the heart of opponents like facing a team full of blanket makers. Now here's some fucking quilters now. They have that old school downtown, it's got the clock tower and all that. This is a very kind of Americana looking small town. So there has been a shitload of things filmed here, mainly country music videos because that's, you know, they're looking to pretend they're from here. So, you know, I'm from this tiny town even though I live in Nashville. Yeah, okay. Even though I live in la. Yeah, I love these guys. Live in fucking Brentwood and they're like doing videos in this town.

[Jimmy Whisman]

40 acres.

[James Petregallo]

No, my God. Luke Bryan did a video here, but I Got a Beer In My Hand is the video. I don't know anything about these. Lainey Wilson did one called she Sounds like a Drunk and it's called Watermelon Moonshine. I was like, lainey Wilson sounds like a girl. I know it's Chick Lainey. She's kind of a drunk, but before she gets really tanked, she's a nice girl. She's a nice lady. And then she turns into a drunken.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Small hint of piss because she doesn't wipe after she.

[James Petregallo]

And by 1am she'll swing on you. So watch out for that. You want to separate by 12, she.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Seems like a tough problem.

[James Petregallo]

Then Tyler Hubbard did. So I don't know who that is. Small town me. Ashley Cook with an E did Running Back at the high school. Run Back, Running back, running on back to high school. Then she did all.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I get it. Because these things like to do double meaning of running back. So she's running back to a guy, but he was probably the running back.

[James Petregallo]

Probably. I'm sure if this. Jesus Christ. She also did dirt on him on Main street there. Dirt on them.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Like her boots.

[James Petregallo]

Like her boots or her ass. Maybe Frito Lay commercial they did here. Dan and Shay. I don't know who that is. Steal My Love. Ingrid Andress. More Hearts than mine. Tim McGraw, Neon Church, of course, Lady Antebellum.

[Jimmy Whisman]

They're awful.

[James Petregallo]

Jesus Christ. Goodbye town lady A.J. oh, I know they are. Yeah, yeah. Kit Moore is Young Love and then a Violent Heart feature film with Mary J. Blige was in it. That's weird. Oh, that's interesting. Nashville. Nashville. The ABC show Still the King, which is a sitcom with Billy Ray Cyrus. Great. Holy shit, he's a mess. The Last Days of Frank and Jesse James from 86 that stars Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson there. That's pretty neat. I've never seen that. Somehow I don't know how the hell we missed that one.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I've never even heard of it.

[James Petregallo]

Quickly reviews of this Town. There's a few that are good, though. Five stars. Okay, stick with me here, because this one is real messed up in the words. It's dangerous. Down nur N U R down nur.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, my God.

[James Petregallo]

I guess that's there in downer down. Nur Sounded it out, James, if you don't know when U is a U, by the way, if you don't know, were you going W U R. Were.

[Jimmy Whisman]

You going, somebody's fucking with us or were.

[James Petregallo]

And that's spelled regularly. W e r e you at? Gotta get. Get at. Get out of there and don't go to 21 if you. Not about that. They're serious. This is not a joke. I don't think. I think that's the best they can do. That's what I really think.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Don't go to 21 if you're not about that.

[James Petregallo]

All right, then I'll stay out of 21, because I don't. I don't think I'm about that. And thet is T H e t. I don't think I'm about thet. I might be about that, but not thet. I don't have that. I don't have thet. I ain't got it. Three stars. I live in Springfield. That's good. At first it was peaceful. Nothing really going wrong. Nothing really wrong going on. But it's like everything changed overnight. There was a car chase on my road, and they literally drove through my yard. Well, the whole town's gotten to shit because there's one car chase.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Maybe Luke Prine was just filming a video.

[James Petregallo]

That's it. Maybe you should have. Should have cheered him on as he drove by, tore up your lawn. Very scary. Now I'm hearing of more and more vehicle thefts. Hearing of by the way, which is just. My friend told me she heard a car got stolen. Yeah, I love Springfield, but we may have to move. You know, I heard of some stuff. It was a car chase one day.

[Jimmy Whisman]

The rumors are making me scared.

[James Petregallo]

Wow. This is how dumb people are. Springfield parks are beautiful, though. Nothing negative about them. I had my gender reveal at J. Travis Park. It was a beautiful day, and the kids got to play and feed the ducks. Not the ducks, the ducks. Yeah, they got to feed them. Here you go. That makes them keep blowing the cool air the way you like it. You gotta feed them once in a while. Three stars. It's a good place to love as long as you have friends. No one has spelled everything correctly.

[Jimmy Whisman]

They're all idiots.

[James Petregallo]

They're all idiots. This is crazy. What the fuck is happening? Okay, then. Finally, two stars. Gotta get through this. You'll either die of heart disease or a meth lab explosion. That's terrific. Those are your two top causes of death. They go, we got a body on the ground. Like heart disease or meth lab. Meth lab. Okay.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Are they charred or is it on the inside?

[James Petregallo]

Where is it? I've lived in Springfield my entire life, and the place could use a few improvements, to say the least. With all of the communities around Nashville have grown and drastically improved. Springfield remains very much the same as it was before Nashville blossomed. This is a telltale sign that things probably aren't going the way they should. The only reason that people should move here is that the housing prices are fairly inexpensive. However, the transplants who move to the Nashville area must be smart because they're moving everywhere except here. They're avoiding this place like the fucking plague is what they just said. That is amazing. And there's. There's one. This person. They says they live in constant fear. A man was shot right in front of my house recently. I don't think things are going well here. Things to do very quickly. The Sunflower Festival. And I say very quickly because there really isn't. Shit. There's hayrides around a farm, 10 acres of sunflowers to view.

[Jimmy Whisman]

God damn.

[James Petregallo]

One of their activities is selfies in the sunflowers. Just shit. You can do yourself. This is not great. $10. That's what you have to pay to get. Oh, third, no helicopter rides, too. You can take a helicopter ride over the sunflowers for 35 bucks. That said, let's talk about some murder, everybody.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Let's do this.

[James Petregallo]

Wow, is this a weird case. Okay, 2014, we're gonna go to. So everything's the same. Pretty much. Your phone looks the same. Everything's the same. You know, Same shit here. Joseph Leonard Parker. Let's talk about. All right. Joe Parker. Joe's born December of 1968. December 27th, to be exact. Here. That Joe's kind of a decent sized guy. Six foot tall, 200 pounds. He ends up meeting his wife Samantha through a mutual friend. So a friend of them said. A friend of theirs said, I think you two would go good together. And kind of set them up on a blind date.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Beautiful.

[James Petregallo]

Next thing you know, they're gonna get married. So that's nice. He meets Samantha K Claus with a C, C, L, O, U, S, E. Clouse.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh.

[James Petregallo]

And she's born on August 16, 1970. She's originally from Ohio. Galeon, Ohio. G, A, L, I, O, N. I don't know. I never heard of that before. But don't know where it is, but it's there. Her parents are David and Peggy Ann. Isn't that very. Yeah.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I've never heard Peggy Ann.

[James Petregallo]

Peggy Ann is like the most middle America thing you could ever get. There's Peggy and there's something Ann. And she's Peggy Ann, Peggy Sue.

[Jimmy Whisman]

But I never heard of Peggy Ann.

[James Petregallo]

Peggy Ann is even more like.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah, that's More small town.

[James Petregallo]

That's a small Peggy sue small town. Yeah. Peggy sue is like, you fucking provincial bitch, what are you doing? This is crazy.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Highfalutin Peggy Sue.

[James Petregallo]

Peggy sue thinking you're hot shit. Looking down her nose at everybody. All the Peggy Ann's of the world.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petregallo]

She's got three brothers. Sam does. Samantha, goes by Sam, by the way. She's got three brothers and she attended Greenbrier High School. That's about the background on her. She's known as kind of a very outgoing, socially person. She'll talk to everybody. She's worked in, like, stores and she's known as like, all the regulars know her. And she's, you know, real kind of socially outgoing.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Gifted.

[James Petregallo]

He seems less than socially outgoing, which is odd because he's a salesman.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah, what the fuck?

[James Petregallo]

Which is very strange. So maybe he's socially outgoing at work, but not at home.

[Jimmy Whisman]

At home he's like, I've done enough of that.

[James Petregallo]

Yeah, that's what I mean. I mean, I can relate to that. I gotta be pretty outgoing here on the road. But then at home I'm like, all right, leave me alone. Let's all relax. So they get married in 2002. Okay. Now, she worked at Baker's Market for several years where she would be the greeter in the morning. And everybody said she was outgoing. She never met a stranger. She's very, very much into football also. Big football fan. Loves it. Loves Alabama college football, Crimson Tide and Tennessee Titans football, which makes sense because that's where they play. So, yeah, that would make perfect sense here. Her daughter, Mackenzie. Mackenzie, by the way, I don't know if Mackenzie is their daughter together, but.

[Jimmy Whisman]

She is definitely her daughter.

[James Petregallo]

It's definitely her daughter. But Mackenzie's last name is Parker. So I don't know if he adopted her or if they had her 10 years before they got married or what. But she's, you know, she's in her early 20s in 2014, so. And they got married in 2002. So like I said, I don't know if they had a long term relationship before that or if she brought her into the relationship and it was just like, you know, he adopted her. And that's dad now, I'm not sure.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, they got the same last name. Got it. Okay.

[James Petregallo]

Yeah, she does. The daughter has the husband's last name. So she said, my mom's an Alabama Roll Tide kind, loving kind of woman. Yeah, that's what she said. She's all into that now. Like I said, MacKenzie, born in 1991 here now. Neighbors describe them and we'll get to their house and all that. We know exactly where they lived and everything. Neighbors described the couple as quiet and introverted, but not rude. Just they'll wave to you if you drive by.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Keep to themselves a little.

[James Petregallo]

They keep to themselves, which is strange because at both of their jobs they both have to super outgoing. So it's very strange at home. They are both considered by all their neighbors and people who like them. As you know, they're nice people if they keep to themselves type of deal.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Switch it on and switch it off.

[James Petregallo]

One friend said they didn't go out very often and they seem to prefer each other's company to others.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That's nice.

[James Petregallo]

Which is great. That's awesome. He sells used Toyotas. Oh, that's his job. Yes.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Apparently that's the best used car to sell. Shit.

[James Petregallo]

Yeah. They last forever and you can make decent money selling used cars. It's not bad. So. But it's obviously not the. Doesn't have the best stigma to it. People don't go, oh, you're a used car salesman. Awesome. High five. Wow. Sexy. I mean, it's literally a cliche, a crisis. Guy's like a used car salesman. So that's tough. But they seem to have a happy marriage. They are both extremely proud of Mackenzie, the daughter. There's never any problems there. The daughter says she's loved by both parents and came up in a loving environment and everything else like that. But there's some stress approaching and we'll talk about that in 2014. Some stress in the marriage. They buy a house in 2006. When they buy this four years after they get married. They bought it for $139,000 in 2006. So top of the market back then. That was at the top. Wow.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That's the top. And that's the most.

[James Petregallo]

That's the top. Wow. Yeah. Because I'll tell you about it later. But that's not too far off of what it was sold for recently. So it's. Wow. Yeah, it's. They bought it at the tippy top. It's a three bedroom, two bath, 1549 square foot house. So the couple with a child. And it's a nice little family house. Here it is at 246 Clydesdale Lane in Springfield here. The current zestimate is $325,100, by the way, in case.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That's fantastic.

[James Petregallo]

In case you're wondering. So their neighbors here. One neighbor, Chloe, Chloe Crabtree is her name. She's 23. She lived with her parents next door to the Parkers for the last few months. And she described Joseph Parker as a very stern man who kept to himself. She didn't know him very well, though, so stern might just be like his resting face. You know what I mean? We don't know. This isn't based on. Yeah, it just looks stern and, you know, goes in. Oh, he's a stern guy. Because that's how you judge your neighbors. You see him for two seconds and you make a whole backstory on him.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Just got off work.

[James Petregallo]

What's wrong with you? Selling used Toyotas, right? No, thanks. No, he's. This young lady said, I didn't really see them go out. He did. He always parked inside the garage, and I would see him leaving in the mornings. I rarely saw her car leave. They were very quiet. The kind of people who never left the blinds open, which is a good way to describe someone. There's either blinds open, look in our house people, or there's leave us a fuck alone people. It's one of those I'm blinds closed guy. Yeah. That's weird, actually, because you're.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Is it? I know, right?

[James Petregallo]

No, for you, it's strange because I know. Yeah, you're.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It doesn't seem like that, but. No, I got shutters for. I don't even have blind.

[James Petregallo]

I don't want shutters.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I shut those motherfuckers.

[James Petregallo]

If I wanted. If I wanted people to watch what I was doing, I'd live in the yard, I swear.

[Jimmy Whisman]

People to watch what I'm doing. I'd leave the. I'd have no treatments on the window.

[James Petregallo]

Yeah, I hate feeling like I'm in a fishbowl being looked at. I don't like that either, so.

[Jimmy Whisman]

And I like dark.

[James Petregallo]

Oh, yeah. I love dark. I'll take dark. I'll take some dark, too. So Rhonda Haley lived across the street from the Parkers for about eight years, and she described the Parkers as a bit reclusive. She said, now we're going full on to reclusive, which is. That's a big step from, you know, not that outgoing to reclusive. Always keeping to themselves. She said they have a grandson that they know of and a grown daughter because MacKenzie has two little kids by 2014, and they've recently thrown a birthday party for the grandson in their front lawn. So they go, that we saw. You know, we know that. So that was nice. Then she said, I never really talked to him, and I never saw him chatting with neighbors or anything. Usually he'd be working in the yard or working on his car. He would wave or nod at you when you drove by. Sounds like a great neighbor. Leaves you the fuck alone. If you drive by, they're friendly enough to wave at you in case you ever had a problem or something, you know. You know them by face and they keep to themselves. Terrific.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He's in the garage with some grease on him. That's a great guy.

[James Petregallo]

And if they were like loud and having parties and social, they'd be complaining about that. You can do no right with people, you know what I mean? You really can't.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Not in your neighborhood.

[James Petregallo]

Fuck no, you can't. Everybody thinks their neighbors are strange.

[Jimmy Whisman]

They're supposed to be.

[James Petregallo]

They're supposed to be. So as for Sam, the wife here, they said this person also said that she rarely left the house. Rarely saw Sam leave the house. She hadn't been working either. Now, Joseph's had some issues in the past. This is why I don't know if they had a relationship previously. Because it sounds like he was kind of a. Kind of a single guy who was out fucking up and then settled down and got married. Yeah, I found several arrests for him in the past and nothing major. Not, you know, he didn't go fucking go crazy and go punch a bank teller, try to steal the money out of the drawer or anything.

[Jimmy Whisman]

But several low crimes is like. That's.

[James Petregallo]

It's a pattern. It's a pattern. He was arrested for a driving under the influence of liquor in April. I'm sorry, in August of 1990. And he ends up doing a plea deal for that. Then again, on January of 1991, he's arrested for driving under the influence of.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Liquor just a few months later.

[James Petregallo]

That's not good. That's not good. Then he was arrested for mun. Misdemeanors. Title 59. I don't know what that means. So I looked it up and it said the Title 59 of the Tennessee code is about mines and mining, including laws that can result in criminal and civil penalties. For example, making false statements and statistical reports is a violation of title 59.

[Jimmy Whisman]

What's he doing?

[James Petregallo]

I don't know. It prohibits making false statements and statistical reports and establishes criminal and civil penalties for violations of the Tennessee mineral surface mining law. I don't know what the fuck he was doing back then.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He's selling Toyota.

[James Petregallo]

I mean, maybe. Maybe that falls under the, like rolling back odometers or something. That's possible. The making false statements and statistical reports, but it's not mining this is about the mining industries. Maybe he was into mining before that. We don't know. There's a reckless driving. Also. He's busted for bad driver. Then in this isn't great. Then in October of 1993, patronizing a prostitute. He's arrested for.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He had a tough few years.

[James Petregallo]

He had a few years where he was drinking and going, looking for comfort in the wrong arms and everything else here. So Mackenzie's born in 91. It doesn't sound like they were, like, together and having a serious relationship during this time. And if they were, then Sam is a very forgiving person.

[Jimmy Whisman]

She's a sweetheart.

[James Petregallo]

Then in 98, he's busted for improper tag, which, whatever. Who gives a shit about that? I don't care about that. So there we go, the little things. See what I mean? Nothing crazy. We go, red flag. Look out for this guy.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He went through some shit there for a minute.

[James Petregallo]

He obviously had a little bit of a. Of a problem. And he was a young man at that point, too. He was in his 20s. I mean, it's. People go through shit. Yeah, he seemed to have his shit together by now anyway, or at least by the 2000s. But by 2014, things are not going swimmingly at all. Joe has been laid off from the Toyota dealership.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, fuck.

[James Petregallo]

That's not good. And the house is inching toward foreclosure. Not good. He figured he would be able to find a problem, a solution. But the months tick by and he's. Nothing's coming up. He's not getting any other jobs. Bills are piling up that they can't afford to pay. And now he didn't know what to do. His house then ends up going into foreclosure. So he's going to lose everything here. These people are going to lose their home and everything else. So this is a lot of pressure on a relationship, obviously, by the way, never any domestic disputes or anything like that. The daughter says they don't fight. Neighbors don't hear them screaming at each other. There's no. This isn't the house where. Oh, God, those two are going to kill each other one of these days. That's not that again. Yeah. So as their anniversary approaches, their 12th wedding anniversary is approaching.

[Jimmy Whisman]

This one doesn't matter. We don't have any money.

[James Petregallo]

We're not going to have a house.

[Jimmy Whisman]

We're going to lose our home.

[James Petregallo]

So that's approaching in 2014, and the financial shit is really starting to get to everybody, really. He said Joe is telling people that he talked to that the inability to meet what he. What his wife expects of him is really kind of bumming him out. Basically. He feels like he's a loser and he feels like he's a failure. And that's how everybody, anybody feels at that point. So on the day of their anniversary, apparently he's just really, really, really on edge and stressed and tight as a fucking drum at this point. November 4th is their big day. November 4th, 2014, is their 12th wedding anniversary. So nobody hears from, for a couple of days from their anniversary. People leave them alone on their anniversary and then they kind of. Both of them kind of drop out of communication for a couple days. But that's not abnormal for them. They can be a little reclusive. So if they don't get back to you in two days, they'll get back to you in three. Don't worry about it. Then on November 7, 2014, early in the a.m. so this is the night of the 6th, really, if we're thinking about it in terms of how humans do things. Joseph at 2:45am Calls 911. Okay. And says some wild shit. And his tone is very much like, hello. Like he sounds like he's politely ordering pizza. That's what he sounds like. Or like trying to be extra polite at the Chinese place so they understand what he's fucking saying and you can get the order right. That's what he sounds like, literally. So they say, nine, one, one, what's the location of your emergency? And he says, yeah, which is a great start to a 911 car.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's a Southern thing, though.

[James Petregallo]

Yeah. Should I be even doing this? He says, 2, 4, 6 Clydesdale Lane. She says, can you spell it for me? He says, C, L, Y, D, E, S, D, A, L, E. And they said, you're in Springfield. And he said, yes, Springfield, Tennessee. It's out by Oakland Farms, by the way. Oh, boy. Is there an argument over what fucking subdivision this is? In with the neighbors later. It is hilarious. What people argue about on the Internet will be our downfall as a world.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's not even in that neighborhood.

[James Petregallo]

It's crazy. So the dispatch says, okay, what's going on? And had no idea what she was about to hear on the other end. He said, quote, all right, this is what's happened. Oh, boy. We've been married 12 years. Oh, boy, oh, boy, here we go. All right, this is what's happened.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I got married 12 years ago.

[James Petregallo]

All right. Is just as bad as. Yeah, by the way, for an opener here, We've been married 12 years on the 4th, which would have been two nights ago at 4am I shot my wife in the temple of her head. I thought I'd killed her. And I put her in the freezer out in the garage. Okay? Now the 911 is just silent, like. Yeah, I'm taking this all in. You don't want to interrupt somebody while they're telling you this shit. So he says, quote, I checked on her tonight and she's not dead. Okay, yeah, let's fucking unpack this. He is saying, I shot my wife in the temple two days ago with a.38, by the way. We find.

[Jimmy Whisman]

God damn.

[James Petregallo]

And then I put her in a fucking freezer for two days. And she's alive. That's what he's saying. Zero degrees in there, Frozen solid, but alive. Okay, she's not dead. She's got a big hole in the temple of her head. And to get her body moved around in there, I think I broke her wrist. Real calm. He says, you know, she was frozen. First of all. They don't know. You know, is the. We have no idea. You are the only one who knows. Yeah. All right. And, you know, all bad starts, very casual. This whole thing is like, yeah, I'll take a large pepperoni. Let me get one of those dinner salads. And what's your specials?

[Jimmy Whisman]

With pizza and.

[James Petregallo]

Yeah, breadsticks you guys got. How are your breadsticks? Yeah, let's get an order of those in there too. Why not?

[Jimmy Whisman]

Extra ranch boy, is he good at small talk.

[James Petregallo]

It's. What, he's a salesman.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petregallo]

So he says, yeah, to get her body moved around in there. I think I broke her wrist. You know, she was frozen from being in the thing. She's been in the thing for 48 hours now. This is no crank call. Which is probably important to say at this point.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I'm not fucking around.

[James Petregallo]

No. And the casualness of his voice. You need to say it's not a crank call. Because he sounds so casual. You're like, get the fuck out of here. This guy is full of shit. Wow. Wow. This is no crank call. I need somebody to get out there and help her out.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Help her out.

[James Petregallo]

Help her out. I've cleared the premises. I got away. You know, I suppose you're telling me I'm not gonna be there. Um. But I promise you, this is a legit call, and I need somebody to get out there and help her. Cause I love. I still love her. And it's hard. Hard to believe that after that, you know? But I need you to get somebody out there to help her. Okay, man, so 911 is on the other line. By the way, he had shot her in the fucking temple with a.38 caliber handgun. They got in an argument. That's what happened. And he, by the way, well, wait till it comes up. We'll talk about it. They said dispatch goes, okay.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petregallo]

All righty. Okay. What happened to Cause you to do that? He says, it's a long story. I don't want to get into it. I don't want to get into it.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's a whole ass book, lady.

[James Petregallo]

I don't want to get into it. You're on the. This is the time to get into it, bro. I don't want to get into it. Just want to get into getting somebody out there to help her. I left the front door open. I left all the lights on in the house, so it would be kind of easy to spot.

[Jimmy Whisman]

You'd be able to see things.

[James Petregallo]

That's nice. It's the last house on the right on Clydesdale Lane, But I left the front door open. And she's in the garage. You go through the kitchen to get into the garage.

[Jimmy Whisman]

See, here's what he did.

[James Petregallo]

He's like. There's Pepsis in the fridge on the way through there. You can grab some if you want.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Don't worry, the garage is full of beer.

[James Petregallo]

Just got a 12 car out. Yeah. Jesus Christ. So you'll see her once you get in the garage and she's a mess. He says she can't talk. No, no, he's saying she's alive, which she's absolutely. When we find out what happened. Wow. His.

[Jimmy Whisman]

She's alive, huh?

[James Petregallo]

No, no, no, no, no. She's a mess. She can't talk. I could get her to blink, but. What? Shaking the freezer around? What are you talking about?

[Jimmy Whisman]

Those things are frozen.

[James Petregallo]

Blink once means yes, blink twice means no. And, you know, we had a whole conversation. You know, we chit. Chatted for a bit. She was chilly, so I said, okay.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Do you need a sweater?

[James Petregallo]

Yeah. What? No. Okay. No. All right. So I told her, I'm going to go down the road 10 to 15 miles, and I'm gonna call 911 and get you some help out here.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He's out of his mind.

[James Petregallo]

I'm gonna take off and. Yeah, there'll be people here. I've.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Where else are you gonna be?

[James Petregallo]

Oh, shit. He said, I've. I thought. She's been dead two days now. And when I checked on her, she was still alive. She's Been frozen for two days.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Wow. There's no way somebody's alive for two days.

[James Petregallo]

No freezer, Frozen solid. And especially with what he did, also.38 in your head and among the other shit. And. And when I checked on her, she was still alive. He's like, how weird is that? His voice is like, strange, right? She's been frozen for two days. She's frozen solid. It's amazing she's still alive. I would say so, yeah, absolutely. He said, I shot her with. Oh, she's got a big. A big hole in the temple of her head.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Right?

[James Petregallo]

You know, he said, I shot her with a.38 caliber handgun. And there's a big hole in the temple of her head. I didn't see an exit wound. Okay, so she's got a.38 caliber just bouncing around, tearing her brain up. And she's frozen solid. But she's surprisingly fucking stout, actually. She's hanging in there.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I got her some Advil, and I'll be down the road a few.

[James Petregallo]

I'll be over here. They say, what is her name? And he says, samantha Parker. They said, is she a white female? And he says, yes. And they go, okay, how old is she? 43. You know, they said, and how long did you leave? How long ago did you leave there? An hour ago. And they said, and that's the last time you saw her? He said, yeah, that's the last time I saw her. And the dispatch says, and she's in the garage? And Joseph said, yes, she's still in the garage. I made her as comfortable as I could make her. She tried to drink a little water. She tried to picture him with a cup, trying to pour water in her mouth. You know, it's been. And then it's inaudible. It says, leave her gone. She's. She's in bad shape. I really need someone out there to help her. And they said, and the address is 246 Clydesdale Lane. And he said, yes, ma'am. And they said, okay, what's your name? And he says, my name is Joe. Which sounds made up, but it's actually his name. It sounds super made up at that point. I'll just leave it at that, you know, I don't want to get arrested and all that, so. Oh, okay.

[Jimmy Whisman]

We know who she is. Her husband's name is Joe.

[James Petregallo]

You're calling from your address of the house that you own. I don't want to give away too much info on myself, though.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I don't want to tell on me.

[James Petregallo]

I've just told you How I've murdered and defucking disposed of my dead wife.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petregallo]

And told you my address, her name, what's going on? It's our wedding anniversary, but I'll give.

[Jimmy Whisman]

You a first name. That's it.

[James Petregallo]

I don't want to get arrested, so my name is Joe. Wow.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petregallo]

He said we don't have a history of domestic disputes. You know, we never had to call the police or nothing. We just had a real bad night. And. Except for the gun around and got myself in trouble. So anyway, I really need somebody out there to go out there and help her.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Okay.

[James Petregallo]

And they said, okay, we'll send someone out there to her.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Sure will. Yeah.

[James Petregallo]

And he says, ma'am, it's, like, urgent, you know.

[Jimmy Whisman]

We know.

[James Petregallo]

We know. The gunshot wound is frozen solid. We get it. Yeah, that's a. That's a.

[Jimmy Whisman]

She's real thirsty.

[James Petregallo]

Immediate medical. We'll bring water. Yeah, we'll have him stop for a Fiji. Don't worry about it. I mean, she's dying, you know, she's got a big hole in the temple where the temple of your head is. You know what I mean? In case she doesn't.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Right behind your eye, you know, the.

[James Petregallo]

Little soft spot there. And dispatch says, right, like, yeah, I know what a fucking temple is. And he says, hopefully, you know, no, I'm a 911 operator who doesn't know where the temple is. That's never heard it before. I love her. I still love her. You know, I've loved her every day since I've been married to her. We just had a rough stretch here and anyway, checked on her and she's still alive, and I want. I want somebody to help her that knows what they're doing. And I gotta say, I. Than inaudible so. So they said, okay, we'll send somebody out there. And he says, all right. What was your first name? This is not. You didn't just call customer service.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Hi. What's your name? You sound nice. I'm single.

[James Petregallo]

Like, they just called the Pottery Barn for some late shit. They ordered from a fucking. Like. What are you talking about?

[Jimmy Whisman]

They say, there's one in stock still. What's your first name?

[James Petregallo]

What's your first thing I want to you. I don't want to call and get somebody else. It doesn't. I want to call and get you.

[Jimmy Whisman]

You've already gone through this. So.

[James Petregallo]

The dispatcher says, I'm not gonna give you my name, sir.

[Jimmy Whisman]

No, no, you fucking.

[James Petregallo]

Literally, you don't need my name. He said, okay, that's Fine. He said, make a note on there that I left the front door open and all the lights are on and to go to the garage. She can't yell for you. She can't yell. But if you go to the garage, that's where you'll see her. Once you get to the garage, we got it, Joe. Yeah. Cause you shot her and then froze her. We got it. And they said, okay, we'll send somebody out there. And he says, she needs, you know, paramedics.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Joe.

[James Petregallo]

Joe.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Fucking verbose son of a bitch.

[James Petregallo]

You have made it. Don't ever tell me this guy's reclusive and not conversational, because he's the most conversational. And if you heard his voice is just fucking wild. It's just so, like, well, you know, here I am. Like, he called and, like, this is a call for nothing. Like, I'm just bored on the road and I had no one to talk to, So I called 911 so I wouldn't fall asleep. Like, this dispatcher probably thinks, this guy, I'm going to get there. There's going to be nothing there. This guy's full of shit. He's just bored.

[Jimmy Whisman]

The road's real icy, and I need to keep somebody on the phone in case something happens.

[James Petregallo]

I'm sleepy, you know, it's late night. Keeps me from having a shit a lot, you know what I mean? So, yeah, he says she needs, you know, paramedics. She needs everything. She needs an ambulance, you know, she needs trauma. She's trauma.

[Jimmy Whisman]

She's.

[James Petregallo]

She's trauma. I've heard she's drama, but I've never heard she's trauma.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That's Johnny trauma.

[James Petregallo]

Johnny Trauma. Wow. She's a trauma queen, this one. Real trauma queen. Whoa. I mean. I mean, she's a trauma patient. She might need a helicopter. No.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Okay, Joe, we'll determine that.

[James Petregallo]

You can put her in the back of a pickup truck. It really doesn't matter at this point. I mean, not to disrespect her, but it's not. Not going to hurt her condition is what I'm getting at. She's going to be just as dead when she gets there, you know, so please get somebody to help her. And dispatch says, okay, Joseph. Okay, thank you. And he thank you. And he says, okay and hangs up.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah, he didn't try to correct her. How'd you know? My name's Joseph.

[James Petregallo]

How'd you know? Joseph's long for Joe. So police arrive and Joe is not at home. He is. Like, he said, he's gone. They get there. The front door was open. All the lights are on, just like he said. Just Joseph is not there, just like he said. So they entered, they followed his instructions. They went through the kitchen, went to the garage. What else are you gonna do at this point? So they describe the officers who first arrived, describe the couple's home as very clean. One says it was immaculate, not a speck of dust. Spotless. It was real estate clean.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Love that.

[James Petregallo]

So he spent the last day and a half cleaning up. Cleaning this place up, man. So there's an upright freezer, by the way. This isn't like a chest freezer. It's one of those upright big ones. And they found. They open it up, there's Samantha Parker, frozen fucking solid. Dead as fuck, by the way. Not even close to alive. Yeah, she has been dead. She's frozen solid in there. And she's been partially dismembered as well.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, no.

[James Petregallo]

Yeah, yeah. And they think that happened.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Wrist.

[James Petregallo]

Yeah, they think that happened. They think that happened in the garage based on, you know, finding some forensic evidence here. So he shot his wife in the. In the temple with a.38.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petregallo]

Put her in a freezer, dismembered her, put her in a freezer for two days and then called and said, she needs paramedics.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I gave her some water. A minute ago.

[James Petregallo]

I gave her some water. And she blinked once for yes and twice for no.

[Jimmy Whisman]

She's missing things, man.

[James Petregallo]

Dude, this is fucking crazy. They said she'd been dead for days. Obviously it was clear she was pronounced dead at the scene. They had the county emergency medical services person there because they thought they didn't know what he was mistaken about what is going on. Maybe he did shoot her, but it wasn't two days ago. It was just now. You know what I mean? And maybe they do need to help or maybe she is alive. Maybe he just put her in this freezer and she's dying in there or something. So they didn't know. But, yeah, they said that basically the Russell Gupton, the Robertson County Emergency Medical Services Assistant director, said that he was either lying or imagining things. It was out of his mind. He said there's no possibility. There was no possibility of her being alive at all. Dead as dead can be for a long time. So, yeah, they said he had definitely attempted to dismember her in the garage. She was partially dismembered and stuffed into a freezer. Yikes. They said, I don't know if we're going to be able to determine when he killed her. Exactly. They Said because she's frozen, that's, you know, that's a tough one. But I would believe him that he probably did it at 4:00 in the morning on their anniversary. Seems right. They said, I'm not sure at this point whether we'll be able to determine how long she's been in the freezer either. So they have no clue. So apparently he contorted his wife into this fucking. In a weird position to fit her in a freezer. The hole in the side of her head was. It's a fucking big hole. It's a.38 to the head. I mean, it's a. She's not surviving that, obviously. It's like the opening when they first get to the Gem Saloon in Deadwood when Trixie shoots the guy. Except not with a Derringer, with a fucking.38.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Right.

[James Petregallo]

So he left her and just carried on with his day after he killed her. He's been doing normal shit the last two days. That's what's crazy. Just. Yep, cleaning, doing his thing, whistling, just trying to figure out how to fix it. But apparently shit started to unravel with him and he just said, I'm going to go check on her for some reason. And he thought she was alive. And I don't know, I don't understand. She's covered in ice, for Christ's sake. But he said she was blinking and that was that. So the neighbors. News spreads quickly in this neighborhood. Like fire gone. So they were like, holy shit. One of the neighbors said the last time she saw Joseph Parker was two days ago when he was leaving the home at about 5.30pm however, she said she noticed something strange at the home at about 1:30 on Friday. She said, I was walking my dog and I saw their back light come on. So someone was definitely in there. And I thought it was unusual because they're never up that early. 1:30am isn't up early, that's up late. That's staying up late, I would think. Yeah. Unless they went to bed at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. That's a very odd time to be up.

[Jimmy Whisman]

They went to bed at 9pm and they're already awake.

[James Petregallo]

Yeah. So it seems like they're not usually up that late is probably what it is. Rhonda Haley, across the street from them said, it's kind of scary. You just don't see that every morning when you get up that your neighbor has killed his wife. So it's a little unnerving. Something had to have happened to him or her Something. So the cops at this point are like, let's give Joe a shout back, shall we? Let's call him back. Let's get him on the line quick. So they call him back. Dispatchers call him back at about 3:45am hey, Joe. And they're like, joe, how's it going, pal? Found your wife super dead, by the way. So you did that, right? Anyway, and they said, you know, where are you? Where are you at, buddy? He said, I'm on the interstate to Chattanooga, headed to Chattanooga to visit friends.

[Jimmy Whisman]

No, you're not.

[James Petregallo]

Okay. I was gonna go hang out with my friends. At 4:00 in the morning in Chattanooga?

[Jimmy Whisman]

I don't think they want you over.

[James Petregallo]

Probably not now. So, yeah, the. The person, the communications director said he told the communications center he was driving to Chattanooga. Sometimes a suspect will lie to the police about his or her whereabouts after a crime. So I'm not sure how valid the information is. They said, great point. Yeah, good point. This guy seems like he at least thinks he's on the road to Chattanooga, I'll put it that way.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He might be in fucking New Mexico.

[James Petregallo]

We have no idea. But he thinks he's going to Chattanooga to see some friends. He then said, by the way, and this is all in his very calm, casual tone, he said, not only am I on the way to see my friends in Chattanooga, but I'm also going to drive through the car dealership that fired me and kill several people there as well. Several on the way to Chattanooga to see my friends. You know, I don't want to get all the way to Chattanooga. Have to come back. You know how it goes. You don't want to backtrack. So the Metro Police get over to. They set up a command center at Rivergate Toyota when they search for him, according to officers, he threatened to kill multiple people. So they have tons of cops in there protecting the people at the car dealership when they get to work, and a helicopter circling above the car dealership and everything else.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's a Toyota Thon around here.

[James Petregallo]

It's a. For Christ's sake. It's a Toyota Thon. And he's driving a white 2007 Toyota Camry, which must piss him off royally. Tennessee plate 682 NHF. So that's what they're looking. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation immediately adds him to the state's top 10 most wanted list.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Fuck, yes.

[James Petregallo]

And yeah, he was considered armed and dangerous. And a $1,000 reward was issued for any information on his location. Can we Dig a little deeper for a guy who's currently armed and seeking more victims.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He shot a woman, partially dismembered her, and said he's going to his old employment to murder several people.

[James Petregallo]

To kill multiple. Kill multiple people was his quote. A grand. A grand. And he's armed and batshit is the problem. Never mind dangerous. He's armed and crazy as fuck right now and has nothing to lose. Thousand dollars. So the Tennessee Bureau of investigation and the U.S. marshal Service as well as the local police launched a manhunt for him. And so that's what's going on. So they end up the next day at 3:45pm they figure out where he is. 12 hours later, 12 hours after they found Samantha.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Jesus.

[James Petregallo]

All right, here. They finally figure out where he is. He is on Highway I65 in Kentucky.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petregallo]

Not near Chattanooga. So it is near mile marker 12 on Interstate 65. They initiate a traffic stop on him.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Okay.

[James Petregallo]

And this is a bunch of cops. I mean, this isn't one cop here. Barney Fife isn't coming up.

[Jimmy Whisman]

License and registration.

[James Petregallo]

No, no, no, no, no. This is out of the car with your hands up and tons of guns drawn and. Yeah.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Spike strips.

[James Petregallo]

And walk backwards toward me and all that. Toward the sound of my voice and all that kind of going on. Yeah. As you're doing it. Yeah. Pull your shirt up, turn around and walk backwards toward me. Interlock your hands on the back of your fucking head. So he's being pursued by all these people. He pulls over.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petregallo]

Police are trying to contact with him. He won't do anything. He's in the car. He's in the car. He's in the car. A little bit of a standoff. Then they say, well, fuck it. We got to approach. What are we supposed to do, just sit here all night with him all day?

[Jimmy Whisman]

Wait. Right.

[James Petregallo]

345 on a fucking highway. We got to get this done and over with.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Wait this fucker out.

[James Petregallo]

So they start to approach the car, blows his fucking brains out. Oh, Joe shoots himself in the fucking head in the car.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yep.

[James Petregallo]

Kaboom. Done.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petregallo]

So, yeah, that's 345. They come up and they find him in the car. They hear the gunshot. They. Yeah, I assume take a step back for a second. And once they saw brain matter on the windows, they probably went forward a little bit more. And he is pronounced dead at the scene for sure. So Joe has had quite the week.

[Jimmy Whisman]

And he took all of that horrible ride with him. We know nothing.

[James Petregallo]

Nothing.

[Jimmy Whisman]

What the fuck?

[James Petregallo]

Oh, no. Shit. He just Went. We don't know where he went. He just went all around. His cell phone was, like, on and off so they could ping him once in a while, but not all the time. He was smart enough to turn his phone off when he didn't want to be found.

[Jimmy Whisman]

So he turns his phone off. On and off.

[James Petregallo]

Yeah.

[Jimmy Whisman]

We know nothing about what this guy did.

[James Petregallo]

No why? And he didn't let. Not like he, like, called his brother and spilled it or he just drove around.

[Jimmy Whisman]

No Chattanooga friends.

[James Petregallo]

No Chattanooga friends. We don't know that he has friends even in Chattanooga. We have no idea.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He don't know if he even has friends.

[James Petregallo]

We don't know what the fuck was going on in this guy's head other than, oh, my God. He was batshit crazy enough to think his wife was still alive after being dead and in a freezer and dismembered.

[Jimmy Whisman]

For two days she was coating with her eyes.

[James Petregallo]

Yes, it is absolutely bonkers. Batshit crazy. So, anyway, the next month, after all this happens. Poor Mackenzie. That's both her parents.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That's horrid.

[James Petregallo]

This poor fucking young lady is. I don't even know what to think about her. This poor, poor girl. So there is a. The next month, there is an event called the Wings of Love, which is a ceremony honoring homicide victims in Robertson county that they do every year.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petregallo]

So Mackenzie attends this. It's a month after this all happens, so that's real fresh. She says, I'll never have closure and I'll never have answers. No, no, she'll never get it. She'll never get to sit down with her dad and go, what the fuck were you doing? Why'd you do that? So, yeah, there was 25 victims honored during the ceremony. And I guess they've been doing it for 17 years at that point, so, you know, if they're still doing it. It's 28 now, they said. The district attorney said what we're looking for is to make every year that goes by one where you'll have something to look forward to. And you can always come to this program and Mackenzie. Great, thanks.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Come by and remember the worst day.

[James Petregallo]

Of your life every year. Be very sad with some other people. I don't know if that gives you strength or what. I have no idea. I'd rather just not, but that's fine.

[Jimmy Whisman]

The idea is fucked up.

[James Petregallo]

Yeah, I guess it's. I mean, you don't have to go. It's not mandatory. You can show up if it helps. Mackenzie said things are kind of like a blur right now. I don't think the loss of my mom has really actually hit us yet. It's been a month. No, that's not gonna hit you yet. It's. Man. She said that she had devoted herself entirely to her children since her parents have been killed here. Her kids are 4 years and 7 months old. Imagine dealing with a 7 month old while this is all happening. So, yeah, she said about her mom, Mackenzie said she put everybody before she put herself. She did her best to provide for me and gave me everything I wanted as a child. People keep telling me time heals everything and right now it's only courage that can make us believe that. So one year after the whole deal here, they hold a memorial here. It's a one year anniversary of the event. Mackenzie holds a little memorial. And yeah, she's a little. Got her kind of her balance with her now. And she says about her mom, she was a great mother. She taught me right from wrong. She taught me what respect was. She taught me how to be nice, how to love, how to be kind, how to be sweet. You name it. I love her and I miss her. And I will till the end of time. She loved me from the first time I took my first breath until the day she took her last. And I'm forever grateful for those 22 years of life with her. Today I find myself missing both of them equally. Really. Yeah. She said a lot of people ask me why I'm not angry. And she says I never saw that of my father. So she says all I remember about my father is someone. She's my father. And she said they showed me what it was like to have what I would like to have in a marriage someday minus the temple wound. And so that's. That's. I mean, I don't know, man. She's not mad at her dad.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Wow. She's got it together too, mentally. That.

[James Petregallo]

Yeah.

[Jimmy Whisman]

She didn't slip up and say something like what he did was ice cold or some shit.

[James Petregallo]

Yeah. Yeah. For the. For once they didn't say it. Yeah. Cold blooded. Cold blooded. So she's trying. One of her cousins said it's a nightmare. And I still remember the events. And Mackenzie said it was a very bad night and I think he just snapped. I know my dad lost his job and the house was in foreclosure. That was the hardest thing that I ever had to go through. It was the hardest thing I will ever experience in my life. Unless your kid dies. Yes, it's going to be. That's crazy. So. Or spouse or whatever so yeah, this is a lot, man. It's a, it's a lot. And she said, I think he just snapped. And I don't know if your identity is, you know, you know, provider. And that's a lot of. That's a lot of these guys that snap and do this and kill their whole family and like run off in the mountains. That's why they snapped. Because financial.

[Jimmy Whisman]

And you feel like a giant failure.

[James Petregallo]

They feel like a failure and a loser. And rather than like, okay, well, let's figure out how to get through it, they're like, well, they can't do it without me. I'll just kill everybody. Like, which is fucking crazy, obviously. So I don't know, it's. It's interesting.

[Jimmy Whisman]

So this is rather feel the hatred of society.

[James Petregallo]

Yeah.

[Jimmy Whisman]

What he did. Rather than the embarrassment of being the failure.

[James Petregallo]

Yeah, the embarrassment. I think it's the embarrassment. I think they feel like maybe their spouse doesn't respect them anymore or like them or whatever. But I mean that's. I think that's what a good long term relationship supposed to be is. You're supposed to lean on each other through those shit times. And I think that's the point, I think anyway. Fuck do I know. So one lady here knew Samantha for about 30 years. She said she met Samantha when Samantha was in school with her children. So she's her children's age. And she said that Samantha worked for this lady at the Baker's Market store. She said everybody knew Sam. She was so full of life. She was a hard worker and she was so funny. We really miss her for that. She's a really sweet and special person. And yeah, she also says it helps to remember the good times together. And it means a lot for us, those of us that know mackenzie, for us to be able to help her get through it because it was so tough on her. Not only did she lose her mom, but she lost her dad. Joe Parker was a good guy. I think he just snapped.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That's what everybody thinks.

[James Petregallo]

Everybody. This is completely out of character. Apparently. This is just so out of character that the only explanation that they can even put forth is that he must have just snapped.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Otherwise, otherwise than a monster that's held.

[James Petregallo]

This down for so many years and none of us saw it.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Right.

[James Petregallo]

And so nobody likes. Yep. Now we're the jerk offs. Nobody likes to feel like that. So everybody's dead. If you just say he just snapped, that is the easiest way for your brain to get through it.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Sure.

[James Petregallo]

He just snapped. It had to be. It's all it could be. So the cousin said, to have forgiveness in your heart and peace, you know, she was raised by good parents. Meaning about Mackenzie, like, if she feels this way, they must have been decent parents. MacKenzie said, the moments and the memories are what you want to hold on to. And now Sam is buried at Greenbrier Cemetery in Tennessee. And Joseph is buried at the Harpeth Hills Memory Gardens in Nashville.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Not just the ditch on the side.

[James Petregallo]

Of the room shelf. They didn't just throw him in there. And they weren't buried together or anything like that. So the house was sold in 2016. Oh, God, twice. First it was sold for 138 grand, and then two months later it was sold for 170 grand. So it was sold for $1,000 less than they bought it for in 2006.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That's what happens, man.

[James Petregallo]

Yeah. So they had it those 10 years. Your house did not go up in value, really, because it went down so much from 2007. 8. That it took so long to get.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Back up again, it's worth less than a Camry, probably.

[James Petregallo]

Fucking yeah, maybe so. Now here are the comments from this article.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, Jesus.

[James Petregallo]

Okay, there's an article in one of the local. Whatever, it doesn't matter about it now. The comments under it start out fine, and then they really devolve into society and has nothing to do with anything except it's just shitty petty back and forth and it's hilarious. Okay, Sherry posts on November 7, 2014. This is the day this happened, by the way. The day he was.

[Jimmy Whisman]

She didn't even. Wait.

[James Petregallo]

No. I've known Joe for 20 years, but haven't seen him in probably three. Last time I saw him, I was in his house meeting Samantha. Her laughing at herself at what a neat freak she was. My mind can't grasp the picture of this scenario with the mellow Joe that I was around. All the times I spent the night at his home when he was a housemate and a friend of mine. God help us. I'm telling you, even on the phone he just sounds, hey, how's it going? Yeah, all right.

[Jimmy Whisman]

There's no, like, Mellow Joe still.

[James Petregallo]

He was the same guy. He just fucking snapped and then went crazy. I don't know what the hell's going on. Okay, then Alicia chimes in. Alicia is the firestarter here? She says it's always Alicia and this is the same day it happened. Okay, Alicia or Alicia. Actually, there's no IA So. Alicia. L A L I S H A Alicia.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah, that's a Spelling of Alicia. But it could be Alicia.

[James Petregallo]

We don't. Yeah, I've seen it. I, A, Alicia. So like a C, C, I, A. Like Felicia.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Two women named Alicia spelled this way. But really, it could be Alicia.

[James Petregallo]

Who knows?

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's the South.

[James Petregallo]

All bets are off outside of Nashville. So she says, it is in all caps, not a part of Oakland Farms. Now we're parsing neighborhoods. Oakland Farms is part of the HOA that we as residents pay for and has underground utilities. Those phone line trash people with their electricity dangling out under the trees and shit.

[Jimmy Whisman]

All that spaghetti in the sky over there. Fuck that place.

[James Petregallo]

Nope, we go underground with our stuff. The houses in Saddlebrook, which is technically what they're a part of, shit use the entrance through Oakland Farms to get to their house. Which I might add that Oakland Farm residents don't like, considering we pay for the upkeep in our subdivision.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah. These scumbags driving through our neighborhood in.

[James Petregallo]

Their Camrys, fucking in their shitty 10 year old Camrys. So then Jay chimes in. This location is in Saddlebrook subdivision, not Oakland Farms.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Okay, we get it.

[James Petregallo]

So then DeLuca claps back at Alicia. This is all the day of this. Of death. Okay? November 7th, 2014. Alicia, Alicia. Who gives a crap if you like the public using your street, this. Okay, period. Upload everybody. And there's more to this.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, my God.

[James Petregallo]

This is not where it ends. No, this is a story about a murdered woman who's been dismembered and stuffed in a fucking freezer. And a guy who snapped after a happy marriage and went and blew his fucking brains out. And in a matter of 3 comments.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It'S already a fight.

[James Petregallo]

We have devolved to this. I'm telling you, I swear to God. Now I will look on social media and look at something and I'll go, that's super innocuous. And then I will bet to myself how long it takes in the comments for an argument to start. I literally will go, I'm going to say five over under five. You know, I will do it all. It's. And I'm never fucking wrong. I'm always disappointed also. Every time I'm disappointed.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's not a fun game.

[James Petregallo]

I'll say five and it'll be three. And I'm like, you fucking people.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah, you lose every time, man.

[James Petregallo]

Oh, it's so fucking bad. But this is. We, we have got to stop this shit. I don't know how we got to stop social. We have to stop with social media. We have to. We have to.

[Jimmy Whisman]

And it's not just social media. It's just we got to stop the public from being a part of anything.

[James Petregallo]

It is but social media. This has started this.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[James Petregallo]

Nobody would post this on, you know, nobody would write this to a fucking newspaper editor in 19 fucking 72 or something. This is crazy. We need less voices to be heard.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah, less voices.

[James Petregallo]

Most people are stupid in there.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He said it's out by Oakland Farms. He didn't say it's. We're in Oakland Farms.

[James Petregallo]

In the article of this, it said in Oakland Farms.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Okay, well, perhaps the investigator, the fucking guy that wrote the article, drove through Oakland Farms to get there.

[James Petregallo]

They turned into a sign that said Oakland Farms and said, oh, it's in here. Okay, it's back in the back of Oakland Farms. All right, so who gives a crap if you like the public using your street? This story is about a wife, mother, cousin and grandmother that just lost her life for nonsense. No one cares about your damn street. People like you are pathetic excuses for adults. Double exclamation point. My heart goes out to this family and all the people who ever knew her. Truly. We will be missed. Truly spelled wrong, of course. Obviously true. Ly. Yeah. Not how you spell it. Okay, Jim Bob chimes in.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Hell yeah.

[James Petregallo]

I just want everyone to realize that Oakland Farms is not in the legacy subdivision. Who fucking cares, Jim Bob? Somehow you're giving Jim Bob's a bad name, and that takes a lot to do. Then Dennis chimes in. Look, folks, who gives a bright red rat's rump about what street or subdivision this has happened in or about whether or not it's part of the HOA? 6 exclamation points. A life has been taken here. A senseless tragedy. Have a little compassion on the friends and family members who may read this article and your comments. Save your bickering for the sidewalks. My, my. Some folks just have zero tact prayers for the Klaus family. This is wild.

[Jimmy Whisman]

You're the one that just described the color of a rat's ass.

[James Petregallo]

Bright red rat's rump. Never heard that before. It's original, I'll give him that. Valinda then chimes in. I can't believe you people are arguing on the name of the subdivision. All of you know the location where this tragedy occurred. Your concern should be more for the families. Shame on you.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Shame on you.

[James Petregallo]

Okay then. Wow. Chimes in. That's the name. So from what I'm reading, no one wants to be. No one wants it to be in their neighborhood. As if you in these certain neighborhoods Are, quote, better than the others that live in Robertson County. I thought we did away with classes of people, but for. But for some of you, I guess not. Just because you live in a certain neighborhood, in a certain home, other people's lives don't matter to you. Good job to your parents because they reared a real caring person that cares about their fellow man. Wake up, people, please. Look at what you are putting on here. My thoughts and prayers to go out to both families in this matter. Both families are dealing with a great loss. And then finally Alicia circles back and she came back. She's got to answer, man. She's got a lot to answer for. Okay? Yeah, she's got a lot to answer. She has caused much problem.

[Jimmy Whisman]

She has turned this whole thing upside down.

[James Petregallo]

Alicia says, I was only stating where this took place. The comment about the road was directed to the person that thought it was all the same subdivision. Who fucking cares? Alicia explain herself, man. Wow. You are right. The important thing is that we come together for this family. I apologize if I offended anyone or belittled the situation. This is such a tragic situation. And my prayers are with all involved. Dude. That's what we've come to in a world. The day this happens. They're fighting over whether or not the street, who pays for the upkeep to go drive on.

[Jimmy Whisman]

And how annoyed she is that Joe had to drive down it to get there to murder his wife.

[James Petregallo]

How dare he? He had to drive through our subdivision to escape that. That's bullshit. Oh my God. This is fucking crazy. So there you go, everybody. That's Springfield, Tennessee. And one just hell of a weird case. Just horrible. A fucking weird one. The strangest 911 call to ever happen. Do yourselves a favor. Just look up Joseph Parker, Tennessee 911 call and it pops up. It's all over YouTube. Jesus, listen to it. You will be just. I can't even describe to you how just like. Well, anyway, real matter of fact and calm and chill. His guy is on this phone. It's crazy. So definitely do that. And also head over to shut upandgivememurder.com get your tickets for live shows. They are out there. All of 2025 is for sale right now. We added Madison. That was the last one we added and it is almost sold out. It's over 95% sold out. So if you'd like to go to Madison, you better hurry the hell up and do that as well as the end of the year too. If you'd like to go to Portland or Seattle or Philly or D.C. get your damn tickets because they're selling. Chicago selling fast. They're all selling fast except for Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh, February 7th. You're up first. You're up first. Do you want us to spend the whole tour going, man? Thank fuck you're not Pittsburgh. Is that what you want? Do you want us to then go all over the country talking shit about Pittsburgh? I don't think that's what you want. And we don't want to do it because we like Pittsburgh. We actually enjoy it.

[Jimmy Whisman]

You want me to drive to Columbus.

[James Petregallo]

Upset, upset about it for a sold out show? Because the show in Columbus is fucking sold out.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Unbelievable.

[James Petregallo]

Get to Pittsburgh. We can't wait. Can't wait to see you there. Honestly, Pittsburgh is one of our favorite places in cities. So please come and do that and hang out with us. Shut upandgivemerder.com Also, all your merch is there and everything like that. You certainly definitely want to follow on social media. Also, we are Smalltown Murder on Instagram, Smalltown pot on Facebook. And you also definitely want Patreon. That is big. Patreon.com CrimeInSports is where you get all the bonus materials and there is a shitload of it there. As soon as you sign up anybody $5 a month or above, you are going to get hundreds of back episodes of bonus stuff you've never heard before. Literally hundreds. And then you're going to get two new ones every other week. So four a month. Two crime and sports, two small town murders. They're hilarious. And you get it all. So this week, what you're going to get for crime and sports, we're going to talk about Kobe Bryant and his little problem he had in Colorado there. Yeah, a little dust up in Colorado that he had there, which obviously he was accused of some heinous shit. And we will go through the depositions and talk all about it and we can make our own judgments on it here. And then for small town murder, we are going to do an Internet salad episode which is. We want to show you. It's kind of a behind the curtain basically before we start recording. Every week we sit here, we bullshit and we look on, we look at news stories and we fart around and we laugh our asses off at shit. We make fun of people. It's comics in the green room is what it is. And so we are just going to hit record and forget we did and talk just like we would normal about everything that's going on in the world except politics. Yes, we figure You've had an ass load of politics stuffed in your face for a long time and that's really all that's available in the news is politics. So we're gonna try to make that a little easier and talk about some real dumb shit. I got some flat earth idiot to talk about. That's hilarious. That's one of the subjects I know. We're gonna talk about this flat earth guy and how he got Andy McDowell, how he got absolutely fucking cooked on this podcast and then he like tried to get them to take it down and said that he made a video saying they drugged him. It's fucking hilarious. It's hilarious, dude. It's so funny. We'll talk about all that and more. Patreon.com Crime and sports and you get a shout out at the end of the regular show. So keep coming back, keep listening, do yourselves a favor to head over to shut up and give me murder dot com. Everything is there on the drop down menu. If you want to follow us on social media too, you can do that. That's there. Everything is there for the taking. Do that. Keep coming back and hanging out with us. Also listen to crime in sports and your stupid opinions. If you like this, you'll like that. Just do it. Hang out with us. Keep coming back and until next week everybody, it's been our pleasure. By if you like small town murder, you can listen early and ad free now by joining Wondery plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen early and ad free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short [e-mail] SL survey?

[Unknown]

You don't believe in ghosts. I get it. Lots of people don't. I didn't either until I came face to face with them. Ever since that moment, hauntings, spirits and the unexplained have consumed my entire life. I'm Nadine Bailey. I've been a ghost tour guide for the past 20 years. I've taken people along with me into the shadows, uncovering the macabre tales that linger in the darkness and inside some of the most haunted houses, hospitals, prisons and more. Join me every week on my podcast, Haunted Canada as we journey through terrifying and bone chilling stories of the unexplained search for haunted Canada on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.