
This week, in Lake Charles, Louisiana, there seems to be multiple people with motives for murder, when a brutally murdered man is found, on a dirt road, seemingly murdered while changing a tire. His wife & her best friend are suspects, along with...
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James Petregallo
Hey, everybody. Just gonna take a quick break from the show to get you styled up with Stitch Fix. Shopping's hard. It's hard. With Stitch Fix. You get a stylist, though, who understands your style, your size, your budget, and they do all the shopping for you. Wow, this is excellent shopping. I'm telling you. Shopping and figure out your style. It's overwhelming. Let somebody help you. When it comes to getting dressed, we don't know what we're doing. So we let Stitch Fix help us out. A Stitch Fix stylist there, they know it works on us. We get the prices that make us look really good and it feels good. You get some confidence boost walking around knowing that you're looking decent here.
Jimmy Wissman
Oh, yeah, yeah.
James Petregallo
We just give the stylist our sizes, style, budget preferences. I hope we order boxes when we want, how we want. No subscription or any of that required. And they send all just for me pieces as well. Oh, like maybe you'd like this. And it's awesome. Outfit recommendations, styling tips. You keep what you love, you send back the rest. It's super easy. You can do it. And we are doing it because it's excellent personal styling for everyone. Get started today@stitchfix.com STM that's stitchfix.com STM.
Jimmy Wissman
Now back to the show.
James Petregallo
Hey, everybody, just gonna take a quick break from the show and tell you about Noom. Has Noom helped you? I believe it.
Jimmy Wissman
That's got an app you can do tracking. It's terrific.
James Petregallo
It does it. Noom builds personal plans that can meet individual needs. That's the thing. Takes into account any dietary restrictions, medical issues, other personal needs that helps build a plan that works for you. And yes, so you've. I know that you've had your own personalized program here that you've been working on and weight loss, that, that, that.
Jimmy Wissman
This is, this is weight loss results that last. They stick around because you, you get yourself into a lifestyle change and that's what matters.
James Petregallo
That's mainly. You can't just say, I'm going to for a month and then go back. That's not where you don't. So I'm glad it's helping you. That's great. And it really does. I like the psychology and biology based approach here. Noom weight uses psychology. That's why they say losing weight starts with your brain, but it also takes into account your unique biological factors. Jimmy. All of all of your multitude flora and fauna that goes on inside of you there. Stay focused on what's important to you with Noom's psychology and biology based approach. Sign up for your trial today@noom.com noom.com n o o m.com here based on 3.5 year study of actively engaged Noom users with minimum starting BMI of 25. Individual results may vary. Visit our website for more information. Scam Factory, the explosive new true crime podcast from Wondery exposes a multibillion dollar criminal empire. Every suspicious text you ignore masks a huge network of compounds where thousands are held captive and forced to scam others under the threat of death. Follow Scam Factory on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello everybody and welcome back to small Town Murder Express.
Jimmy Wissman
Yay. Choo choo.
James Petregallo
Oh, yay indeed, Jimmy. Yay indeed. My name is James Petregallo. I'm here with my co host.
Jimmy Wissman
I'm Jimmy Wissman.
James Petregallo
Thank you folks so much for joining us because we have a wild story today. This is really 10 pounds of murder in a two pound bag. This probably may could have been a regular episode almost. But we are gonna, we're gonna put it all together and concentrate. We're gonna do murder concentrated today. It's wild stuff.
Jimmy Wissman
You hold the bag, I'll stomp it in.
James Petregallo
Let's go. Let's go. Let's do it, babe. Let's do it. All right, so before we get to that, definitely shut upandgivememurder. Tickets for live shows. First up is the virtual live show. It is April 19th. That's the 4:20 virtual live show. Just like a regular live show, except you can be anywhere on the planet that has Internet. We don't care if you can get the WI Fi. You can sit in the middle of the Serengeti watching lions do things and watch the show if you want. Just like a regular live show, except you are wherever the hell you want to be. We're going to have costumes. I have crazy bongs and shit to make Jimmy smoke out of. And it's available for two weeks after the April 19 air date as well. So you can watch it anytime and buy it anytime in there. Also get your tickets for regular live shows. In May, we'll be in St. Louis and Chicago. St. Louis I think is sold out, but Chicago has tickets left. Get them right now. You don't want to let St. Louis outsell you. That's not okay for Chicago. I don't think so. Get in there. Shut upandgivemerder.com as well as listen to our other two shows, Crime in Sports, which we are doing an Evel Knievel series right now.
Jimmy Wissman
We are? Yeah.
James Petregallo
Smack dab in the middle of a very long Evel Knievel series with a lot of episodes. Very crazy stuff. And then also your stupid opinions. It's just hilarious. And you should listen to us read people's complaints about things from the Internet. Patreon.com CrimeInSports is where you get all the bonus material. All you need to be is $5 a month or above. And you get, first of all, hundreds of bonus episodes you've never heard before immediately upon subscription. Then new ones every other week. One Crime in sports, one Small Town murder, and you get it all. This week is no different for crime and sports. This week we're going to do part two of More sports songs. Can't wait. More athletes singing horribly. We'll hear of Manny Pacquiao breaking glass with his voice and Chris Weber attempting to rap. It's going to be hilarious. I can't wait for that. Then for Small Town Murder, it's a con man from the eighties in New York City. A guy named Louis Carlucci, otherwise known as Con Juan or the Con Man Casanova. He had like. He's not at all. That's the great part. He scammed all these women. It's insanity. And they couldn't find him and they didn't know who he was. And he was like this mystery person for like years. It's somehow he went under the radar. So we'll talk about that. Patreon.com crimeinsports and you get a shout out at the end of the regular show too. Jimmy will mispronounce your name. That said, I think it's time, everybody. What do you say here? Let's all sit back.
Jimmy Wissman
Oh boy.
James Petregallo
Let's clear the lungs and let's all shout. Shut up and give me murder. Let's do this, everybody.
Jimmy Wissman
Okay.
James Petregallo
Let's go on a trip, shall we? Let's do it. We're going down to Louisiana this week. Lake Charles, Louisiana.
Jimmy Wissman
Oh yeah, I've heard of that.
James Petregallo
You heard of it? Yeah. And it's a little bit bigger of a place. But where this whole thing happened was on like a dirt road and the edge of like it's, it's. It was pretty rural. This is definitely some small town stuff here. So Lake Charles, it's in southwestern Louisiana, kind of all the way in the corner down there. It is three hours over to New Orleans. It's two hours to Houston. So it's closer to Houston than New Orleans in distance. And it's about three hours. If you go straight north up to Keithville, Louisiana, which was our last Louisiana episode. It's been a while. That was episode 518. Conspiracy of Fools that one was. And that was everybody conspiring to kill one man and take all his stuff. Like everyone he knew in the world was all in a one big conspiracy against him. So that's a funny episode. Population here is 83,444. So a little bit bigger. It was about 70,000 when the murder happened. But still, you know, in that ballpark, median household income here is about 20,000. Lower than the national average. It's 69. Or national average is 49, 69,000. Here it's 49,009, 13. So yeah.
Jimmy Wissman
So very not great area. I mean, it's swampy, it's. It's not a good place.
James Petregallo
Well, there's a lot of petrochemical places, but there's also a lot of outdoor activities and lake life and shit like that. So. So it's a real weird different mix. Median home cost here, $179,400.
Jimmy Wissman
Very affordable.
James Petregallo
Very affordable. So the nickname here, they have a nickname? Well, actually two nicknames. One is this is not a great nickname, the lake area. Oh, well then that's very unique to this particular location. There's no other lakes in the country.
Jimmy Wissman
Don't go to Minnesota, fuckers. You're going to be blown away.
James Petregallo
And then there's Louisiana's playground, which Bourbon street may disagree with you.
Jimmy Wissman
The whole town of New Orleans feels like it probably has more to do wherever.
James Petregallo
People just take their boobs out indiscriminately. That's the playground. That's Louisiana's playground. It's not at the lake, my friends. It is, yeah.
Jimmy Wissman
If your 8 year old can see nipples. Yeah, that's a much better place.
James Petregallo
That is a playground. Little bit of history of this town here. It's had several different names. Originally. First it was Port du Lafitte, which was Port of John Lafitte. Who was John Lafitte? Was. You'll hear about it. Yeah, he was a big deal down there. There's a whole pirate festival with him in it that we'll talk about here. It was first incorporated in 1857 as Charleston, after an early settler, Charles Salier, or Salier is probably French. March 16, 1867, it was reincorporated as the city of Lake Charles. So they figured it out in the 1860s. Then in 1910, the great fire devastated the whole city.
Jimmy Wissman
This place is on fire too. It's so wet.
James Petregallo
As damp as it is down there. Everything. Figure that out, guys covered in dampness and dew. It doesn't matter. They rebuilt it and expanded it. The town as well. The Charleston Hotel was built in 1929. And during and after World War II, industrial growth was a big deal here with the arrival of the petrochemical refineries, which is where all the jobs are here for the most part here. And then Houston has a lot of that too. This is like the petrochemical belt, right?
Jimmy Wissman
This is a lot of oil. Polling. Yeah.
James Petregallo
In 2005, the city was damaged badly by Hurricane Rita. In 2020, it was battered by two hurricanes. Category 4, Hurricane Laura and Hurricane Delta. Also that year. I didn't hear about either two of those. Lake Charles after the hurricanes that happened. Two of them that hit it was described as, quote, as if 20 tornadoes came in and wiped the city. Just destroyed shit. The southern portion of the city was then also damaged in 2021 by an. By an EF2 tornado as well. So this place is. You are dodging weather like crazy in this place.
Jimmy Wissman
How do you call yourself Louisiana's playground when the actual one got obliterated 20 years ago? I still talk about it.
James Petregallo
It just keeps happening.
Jimmy Wissman
I haven't heard of yours yet.
James Petregallo
Keeps happening. Well, I guess those are ones that I remember. Hurricane Rita. That was a big one. Yeah, that was a big one. But I don't remember Laura and Delta, even though they just happened. But that was 2020. There was a lot of shit going on in 2020.
Jimmy Wissman
It was a busy year.
James Petregallo
It was a busy year.
Jimmy Wissman
There was an adult.
James Petregallo
We were watching Tiger King and stuff. It was a. We had shit to do.
Jimmy Wissman
You can't have a hurricane named after a strain of disease and expect us to hear it.
James Petregallo
Not at all. Reviews of this town. We'll just do a couple here because we're running late on time. Here's five stars. Lake Charles is the sportsman's paradise. There's great food and great people. There's something here for everyone. Every sentence has an exclamation point after it. By the way, the only thing I would change is I would like for Lake Charles to have something like a Dave and Busters or for a skating rink to be brought back to town just missing a Dave and Buster's. And this place would be perfect.
Jimmy Wissman
B Dubs. Anything.
James Petregallo
Anything. Here's a one star. And I'm reading this because a 10 year old wrote it. And I think that's hilarious as a 10 year old living in Lake Charles. I can happily say this city sucks. This kid's got potential. Right? First, the crime rate here is so horrible. I don't even know why one would let their family grow up here. And don't get me started on the entertainment. All you have to do here is go to a crappy casino and hope you win some money. And then all caps with a period after each word. I hate this city. And I'm gonna read the first couple of lines of one just because it's hilarious. One star. A city of scumbags, lowlives and thieves. What the fuck? This city really sucks. I don't like Lake Charlesians. They're all scumbags.
Jimmy Wissman
1820S Porsche.
James Petregallo
It's so funny. And then they go on to describe it from there of why they're scumbags. But it's really fucking funny. They even say the kids in the schools are some of the meanest in the country. I've been to all of them.
Jimmy Wissman
They've been everywhere.
James Petregallo
I've been bullied by the best. And these kids, I'll tell you what things to do here. The Louisiana Pirate Festival. That's right. They talk about Jean Lafitte and his band of buccaneers who are fleeing enemy ships and heading west to Galveston and all this type of shit. So now they have a pirate. A pirate theme festival. I don't. I don't know. They just call him Jean Lafitte. No clue. So they're just gonna. They're gonna have a festival over this. And it's pirate themed. Entertainment begins and ends the festivities and promotes the festival year round. They have. They've been doing it for 66 years now. And you can find out your pirate name very easily here. The first letter of your last name. So that would be for you, a W. So that would be Prickly.
Jimmy Wissman
Oh, so they've got words attached to that.
James Petregallo
Okay, yeah. So you'd be Prickly and I would be. Is the first letter of your last name. So I would be Squinty. Oh, Squinty and Prickly.
Jimmy Wissman
I think those are backwards.
James Petregallo
And then your birth month, so you'd be February. So you'd be the cruel prickly.
Jimmy Wissman
Is it prickly cruel or cruel Prickly?
James Petregallo
I have no idea. Oh, I guess Prickly the cruelty.
Jimmy Wissman
Oh.
James Petregallo
Or I would be Squinty the Landlubber. Okay.
Jimmy Wissman
That's the most bitch ass nickname I've ever heard.
James Petregallo
The dumbest thing ever.
Jimmy Wissman
They ruined it.
James Petregallo
They ruined it. So that's how that goes. Anyway, let's talk about some murder. What do you say? Here? All Right. Let's talk about a man first. This is William Davis, goes by Brian. Don't ask. Why not? Brian. Brian Davis. He's born July 9, 1969. He's born in New Orleans and raised just outside of New Orleans in a small town called Independence, Louisiana. It's a nice little small town outside New Orleans. He's got parents named Bill and Katherine. It looks like he has a brother and a sister from what I could gather here. He graduated from Independence High School and he has three kids. So at some point there's a divorce because he has child support payments and all this going on, too.
Jimmy Wissman
Poor bastard.
James Petregallo
Three kids. From what I can gather, Douglas, Danielle and Darla, they went with all D's on that one. He's big into fishing and outdoor shit, as you would be in the Lake Charles area. Also enjoyed. He's a big into shooting. He likes like target shooting a lot.
Jimmy Wissman
So he does like Cabela's punch card.
James Petregallo
Oh, dude, this guy? Yeah, you know it. This guy has like a bass pro.
Jimmy Wissman
He owns shit.
James Petregallo
He has several of those jackets with lots of polka pockets in them. A lot of those. So he does competition shooting. Also plays golf and sings karaoke.
Jimmy Wissman
What a guy.
James Petregallo
Well, we'll also talk about. He also loves video poker, as we'll get into. Oh, boy, does he love video poker. Maybe more than anything. So from 2000, the year 2000 on, he worked as a sales manager for Union National Life Insurance Company. So he's going to be for the remainder here. That's where he works now. He's got a wife here that he gets married in 2008, but they're together for years before that. And her name is Robin Little. Robin with a Y, by the way. Robin Little. And she'll be Robin Little Davis after that. Robin Little Davis.
Jimmy Wissman
If your last name is Little, you can't hyphenate it.
James Petregallo
It just sounds funny, whatever it is. You're just making it small now. It doesn't matter. You could be Little Godzilla and it would sound funny. That sounds awesome. Little Godzilla. I want to watch Little Godzilla. That's the movie I want to watch.
Jimmy Wissman
Damn near rhymes, for Christ's sake.
James Petregallo
He's like 4 foot 6 and he just fucks shit up, though. Really. Don't get in his way.
Jimmy Wissman
Destroys your Hot Wheels.
James Petregallo
Absolutely. Fucks up like Barbie dollhouses and shit. Just crushes them. He can still shoot fire, though. So anyway, he met Robin Little at work and they end up getting married, like I said, in 2008. This is a third marriage for Brian and The second for Robin. And Brian has a history. All of his marriages end because he cheats on his wife. That's how this works.
Jimmy Wissman
Makes a lot of mistakes.
James Petregallo
Brian makes a couple mistakes here and there from what everybody said. Outside of the infidelity, he's a very good guy and a nice guy that everybody likes, but, boy, he can't keep his dick in his pants. And he's a. I'll show you the guy. He's like. He's not an attractive, conventionally attractive man. He's a heavyset guy, bald, got like a Michael Strahan gap in his teeth. Shit like that. Yeah. Like he's, you know, you wouldn't look at him and go, oh, baby. Fucking, I am sitting in a puddle. You don't hear that very often. So he must be a really nice guy, is all I have to say. Or funny or something.
Jimmy Wissman
He used to be, yeah.
James Petregallo
So with Robin, little comes Carol Nolan Saltzman, who goes by Sissy. That's the daughter, Sissy Saltzman. No, no, no. That is her best friend who's always with her.
Jimmy Wissman
Okay.
James Petregallo
She lives with the couple. She lives with them. I'm going to show you the house. And there is a shitload of people living in this fucking house. And I don't know how. Where they're all fitting, because it's not a house, it's a trailer. And I don't know where they're all fitting. We'll put it that way. So Saltzman, born in 1967, Robin's best friend. Them for pretty much from the year before they get married and onward, just lives with them. Now, Justin here, this is Robin's son Justin, and he's an adult. He must be an adult because he works with everybody at the insurance place.
Jimmy Wissman
Really?
James Petregallo
He works there, too. So, yeah, now they have this son. And she also has a daughter named Kelsey, who seems to be older as well. And she also seems to live there, kind of do. So I don't know what's going on now. Apparently Robin had gotten separated from her ex husband at this point in 2000, but stayed legally married to him, according to the sun, so that she could keep him on her medical insurance.
Jimmy Wissman
Keep who on her medical insurance?
James Petregallo
The old. The ex husband.
Jimmy Wissman
Who gives a fuck about his house.
James Petregallo
Well, apparently he couldn't work because he had a bad back and it would have been hard for him to get medical insurance. So she kept him on her medical insurance, which is pretty insane behavior for an ex. That's crazy. The thing is, this guy died in 2008 andrew died. That's Andrew's. Her ex husband died in a car accident in 2008. So Kelsey said that they were asked. She was asked later on, was there any problem with the life insurance money with that? And Kelsey replied, the problem. The problem was that she was the beneficiary and she got all the money. She said that the mother told her. Robin told her that her dad only had a $25,000 life insurance. But then when they were at the father's house cleaning it, she found a $100,000 policy that's a. To her mother.
Jimmy Wissman
Yeah. Best choice you ever make to clean up his house.
James Petregallo
No shit. So she said that this whole situation was shady. This is the daughter. Because Robin bought a Trailblazer, a Chevy Trailblazer truck with cash. Bought. Bought our guy here, bought Davis a new boat. Oh, and with cash. And remodeled the house with new hardwood floors, new kitchen appliances, and hired a professional painter to paint the entire house and a professional, professional landscaper to landscape it.
Jimmy Wissman
That's how I grieve, too.
James Petregallo
That's the best way to do it. Well, it is her ex husband, but.
Jimmy Wissman
Still, that's how I would definitely grieve my ex wife.
James Petregallo
That's what I mean. Spend it. But the kids are upset that they didn't get any part of this. They got nothing. She used the money and basically spent it on a new house to be with her new boyfriend at the time or her new husband, because as soon as he died, they got married. That's why they didn't get married before. That is because she was keeping this guy on his health insurance, which is a great. Will you marry me? Well, I'd like to, but you see.
Jimmy Wissman
I'd sure love to.
James Petregallo
Here's why I can't. That would be a tough. That'd be a tough proposal rejection for a guy.
Jimmy Wissman
Can we add my ex to your health insurance?
James Petregallo
Is that possible? Can we do that? So Kelsey also described Robin as being unfair to other people. She said that's just kind of how she was. Kelsey described Sissy as like her second mom because she's always there. She said that Sissy lived with them for four years, never paying any rent or even buying groceries. She said that Sissy didn't have any money and did not have. And did not have to have any money if as long as she hung around with my mom, basically my mom just took care of her. So I don't know what's going on here between these two, but it doesn't sound like a typical friendship.
Jimmy Wissman
It's Very bizarre.
James Petregallo
This sounds like that Ruby Frankie situation. Almost like. You know what I mean, he's going to be sleeping on the couch soon.
Jimmy Wissman
Well, she's getting hot oil massages in the other room.
James Petregallo
Yeah. With candles lit in the other room. So here's the house. It's at 1314 Wedgwood Drive. And right now, currently, it is worth $40,300 in this market. Okay, look, there it is.
Jimmy Wissman
That's a free. Oh, wow. That's 40 grand.
James Petregallo
40 grand for a trailer? Yeah, it's just a trailer. It's a long. It's a lawn trailer with a. With a shed out back there.
Jimmy Wissman
But if you're an old person, that. With a driveway, that's great.
James Petregallo
And in this house, we know the couple lives. We know Cissy lives. There's another woman named Stephanie that lives here at this time as well. And Kelsey seems to come and go and have keys and work and live here, too. So I don't know how many adults live in house. There's too many adults for one house. Now the ladies, Sissy and Robin, get into some trouble. They are both. They both worked at the insurance company and they're both fired after Sissy was caught stealing money. And Robin, the way they put it, quote, failed to speak up about her knowledge of the crime. In other words, they stole money together is what that means, probably. And even getting fired, they weren't, you know, at odds with each other or anything, so everything was fine. Later on, somebody said, everywhere Robin went, Sissy was there. Period. Now, March 2009, Robin learns that her husband here, Brian of a year, basically was having an affair at work. I don't know if this is as soon as she got fired or whatever, but this affair has been going on for like a year and a half. So he was. He was planning a wedding while having an affair. I mean, that's remarkable to me. Remarkable. Remarkable. Why? Why get married? You want to have affairs, have affairs, don't get married. Hell is wrong with you?
Jimmy Wissman
Don't even be in a relationship, man.
James Petregallo
That's what I mean. What the fuck? So anyway, she found out about the affair, Robin does, and confronted this Fanny Dietz, that's the lady's name who's having an affair. Fanny Dietz having an affair with Fanny. I don't know a Fanny that's not smoking hot. We all know that. Now, Brian has a video poker habit, let's call it. That became such an issue that he became, and this is not normally he pays his bills on time and he's very Good at shit like that. He became behind in his child support payments. And the mortgage. There's a mortgage on that trailer.
Jimmy Wissman
And he's behind on it.
James Petregallo
And he's behind on it. I can't. What the fuck is the payment? I mean, what are we talking about here?
Jimmy Wissman
And back then it was probably 300.
James Petregallo
Bucks a month maybe. Yeah.
Jimmy Wissman
Oh, God, I can't. If it's $600, his homeowner's insurance is outrageous.
James Petregallo
He'll have it paid off in no time. Wow. Yeah. That's ridiculous. There should be no homeowners insurance on that shit. So Robin also likes to gamble.
Jimmy Wissman
Really?
James Petregallo
Oh, yeah. The two of them gamble. If there's one thing he's gambling every day. The only thing worse than one person in a relationship gambling as both people in relationship gambling. Like excessively more than you can afford. Not for fun. So Justin, who is Robin's son, knew of the affair as well because he worked with them. So he knew what was going on, apparently. Also, according to Justin, Brian would stop to play video poker on the way to work in the mornings.
Jimmy Wissman
Dude, I gotta pop by and grab my coffee.
James Petregallo
Wow. Anything you do on the way to work is a couple quick hands of poker. You are addicted. If you stop for a drink on the way to work, you have a problem. You gotta. That's called a problem. Anything you have to do before you even get to work is a problem.
Jimmy Wissman
So it costs you money.
James Petregallo
Oh, that might. An unspecified amount. Could be anything. And then sometimes on the way home, he'd stop and play more poker.
Jimmy Wissman
Wow.
James Petregallo
Wow. His. I guess it escalated in 2009 is when his poker really shot up and he got started getting behind on things and everything like that. And Robin gambles as well here. And she also goes out to eat At a diner, KD's Diner in Lake Charles, all the time. And there is poker machines at the diner. So she is always at the diner having a bite to eat, playing some poker. She's a regular. So. June 29, 2009. Okay. Now Brian is out with Robin looking at boats. Because that's what you do when you're behind on your child support and your mortgage. You go boat shopping, obviously.
Jimmy Wissman
See what the trade in value.
James Petregallo
What are we doing here, dude? No, he's just shopping for new boats. Apparently they looked for boats around the Lake Charles area. And then he apparently went on his own to Beaumont, Texas, which is about an hour and a half away, to boat shop there.
Jimmy Wissman
He's crossing state lines.
James Petregallo
And is behind on his trailer payments.
Jimmy Wissman
Fannie Mac is looking for him.
James Petregallo
He is behind on his double wide payment and he's doing this. Which doesn't sound Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae.
Jimmy Wissman
Is that what it is?
James Petregallo
That's what it is. Yeah. I figured we'd just let it go, but yeah, I wasn't going to correct you on it. Fuck it. That was one of those. I was like, close enough, whatever. Yeah, that's exactly what I was like. We don't need to get caught up on that. So he ended up not coming home that night, which I guess there was some really bad violent thunderstorms that happened that night. So that's what they were attributing it to is. Oh, he must have got stuck in the weather up there. You know what I mean? It's so bad because they have like roads that flood and shit when that happens. But then he didn't come home at all. So Robin calls the police the next day to see about reporting him missing and was told that she must wait 24 hours from the time that she expected him home.
Jimmy Wissman
Not from the last time.
James Petregallo
Not from the last. No, no, no. From the last time you expected him home. So that's when he would be missing as you expected him here. And he didn't show up. So that's about 9:00, we're talking that night type of thing here. So the next morning she calls his job, calls Brian's job, and learned that no one there had heard from him. See, maybe he showed up at work, maybe he drove right to work. So they. Then she called a friend of his and say, hey, have you seen him? Have you heard from him? And he said, no, I haven't. So then she called the police that night, which is 24 hours, and a policeman came to the house. Mark Chapman, an officer here with the Lake Charles Police Department, showed up and he went over there at about 4:30pm and was given a statement by Robin that he was supposed to be heading to Belmont, Texas to go boat shopping in his Honda. Last time I saw him, yeah, yeah. No, not a big pickup truck or any. He's not gonna tow it home. He's just shopping.
Jimmy Wissman
It's staying there.
James Petregallo
Stay in there. Unless they could drop it in the Gulf for him and stay in there for a while.
Jimmy Wissman
That's one way to keep yourself from buying a boat.
James Petregallo
Just drive a Civic, drive your accord up there and see what happens. So July 1st, 2009. Okay, because that was the 28th, 29th. Now we're off to July 1st here. This is off of Big Lake Road in this area, it's the end of Wagon Wheel Lane. Now let me show you this road.
Jimmy Wissman
Oh, that's a road?
James Petregallo
Yeah, it's dirt. It's dirt. Not even like a foot. Like the middle of it has a lot of like a lot of green in it. Yeah, a lot of big chunks of grass. This is not a populated area. This is.
Jimmy Wissman
No, that is two ruts in a field.
James Petregallo
It's the middle of nowhere. Yeah. And you can see the lake in the background too. It's out there. Now they are called by a guy who was riding an atv. A guy who had been riding an ATV saw a car out there and normally there aren't cars out there and called the police about it, you know, Cause it's not a road and all.
Jimmy Wissman
Somebody on ATV is panicked about a car being weirdly on this road. Quote unquote road. That is not a road.
James Petregallo
It's not a road. No. This is a four wheeler path is what it is. This is not a road that you would take a Honda Civic on either. This is not a Honda road at all. I wouldn't take my car on that fucking road. No, absolutely not. So I'd take your truck but not your car. You know what I mean?
Jimmy Wissman
Yeah, yeah, my car's kind of a truck and I still wouldn't take it out.
James Petregallo
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Jimmy Wissman
And now back to the show.
James Petregallo
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Jimmy Wissman
Yeah.
James Petregallo
The trunk and doors are open and the car looked like it had been jacked up to change a tire. Okay, so it looks like it's mid tire change. The car was up on the jack. The lug nuts were removed from a tire while a spare tire, the donut, was on the ground nearby. So this is mid tire change.
Jimmy Wissman
Yeah, it's happening.
James Petregallo
So this vehicle that's out here is registered to Robin. This is Robin's vehicle. And they call that in and they realize that she had reported her husband missing. So this is all making sense. A couple other things here. Brian is also nearby the vehicle, really some distance away, though. And he is clearly dead and has been dead for a couple days in the Louisiana heat. Oh, no, because it's summer in Louisiana. It's hot, man. He's been out here a couple days. His driver's license was found in the vehicle. Now, according to the autopsy here, it's pretty fucking crazy here. They identify him by dental records in the presence of tattoos on his body. Because even after a couple days, the decomp is setting in pretty serious. So the coroner estimated the time of death between to be sometime after 12pm on June 29th. He's dead of four gunshot wounds.
Jimmy Wissman
Oh, boy.
James Petregallo
Three to the torso and one to the head. And they think. Yeah, they think he was hit once, started running, hit two more times, fell, and then somebody did the last shot in the head to make sure here, which is very odd here. His shoes were off and his belt was loosened, so that makes no sense. Like he was chilling out in front of the fire, getting ready to watch some TV or some shit.
Jimmy Wissman
You're rarely dressed like that.
James Petregallo
Changing a tire in a field especially, it's just weird. So it's not like it was in your garage and you're changing a tire. So that was odd. They said it appeared that either he was having some kind of encounter with somebody. Like sexual. Sure. Or somebody or someone was looking for something on him. Now, the thing is, though, he had a big, known to be valuable ring on his hand that was still on his hand.
Jimmy Wissman
Still there.
James Petregallo
Still there. But the firearm that he carries everywhere was not at the. In the car or at the scene. His GPS and his laptop are also gone, and we know those are going to be in the car. So that's interesting. And the problem is this happened on a night of very inclement weather and there's been storms since then. So a lot of forensic evidence, especially ones from the nug, the lug nuts and the jack are probably gone if there was DNA on there. So that's a problem. Now they are gonna pull a couple of samples, though, which is interesting.
Jimmy Wissman
Okay.
James Petregallo
Now, they tell Robin, your husband's dead. Second husband in fucking a year and a half is dead.
Jimmy Wissman
So fast. Yeah.
James Petregallo
So fast. You are, like, very rare.
Jimmy Wissman
That happens.
James Petregallo
Yeah. You don't see that that often, so with young people, you know, this guy's 40, for Christ's sake. He's not 80. He's not gene Hackman, for fuck's sake. Sorry. Too soon for Gene Ackman. Yeah. That was wild.
Jimmy Wissman
Fucking upset.
James Petregallo
We found out we expected this to be like juicy crazy. Yeah. Or carbon monoxide. And it turns out it's just weird. And it's sad because he was like. Just had Alzheimer's and didn't even know it was happening. And like, ah.
Jimmy Wissman
Wandered around the house and how about that too. That he was so precarious that he could have dropped at any second.
James Petregallo
Yeah.
Jimmy Wissman
He needed that poor woman so bad.
James Petregallo
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. He didn't know what he was doing. He was in bad shape.
Jimmy Wissman
Yeah.
James Petregallo
So the cops tell Robin about this and they said at the time she was dry heaving and or vomiting. When she heard about it. She was cooperative with the detectives and told them that on the day he disappeared he was supposed to be going boat shopping in Beaumont. She also said that he had been quote, rat holing. Which sounds sexual, but it's not rat holing. About $700 for a new boat. He's been rat holeing it. Pay your mortgage.
Jimmy Wissman
Rat hole that on over to U.S. bank and pay your fucking mortgage.
James Petregallo
Or your child support. But whatever. They asked if he kept his money in his sock and she said he did from time to time because of the nature of his job. Collecting insurance premiums in cash, door to door. How is he collecting insurance? What are you talking about?
Jimmy Wissman
He's got a known dangerous job.
James Petregallo
I would think. That's all electronic and checks and you mail them. I don't think a guy comes to your house and he's like, hey, where's your fucking health insurance, baby? Nah, cash, asshole, cash.
Jimmy Wissman
I haven't seen my fucking insurance agent ever.
James Petregallo
I've never seen them. Called them and they send me emails and that's it. That's what I know.
Jimmy Wissman
I showed up to his office, dropped him a check and he was like, oh, you could have just mailed this. I was like, all right, well then that's what I'll do next.
James Petregallo
I have an app on my phone. It's all electronic. Done. Don't even fuck with it. July 2, 2009. Now the next day they sit Robin down and get a timeline from her. They try to pin down a timeline of who did what and when. The subject of the extramarital affairs came up, of course. They said she appeared stone faced during this interview and didn't shed any tears as people were offering her consolation and saying they were sorry about it. So this detective spoke with her in order to gather background information and establish a timeline of maybe the whereabouts of the Brian on his on the day he died here. So Robin told this detective that the victim, Brian took off for work early that morning. She said that he drove her trailblazer to work because his Honda Accord was having wheel trouble. So he wanted to go boat shopping. So he came home early from work. This guy has financial problems, he's coming home early from work to go boat shopping.
Jimmy Wissman
He's leaving the place that makes him money.
James Petregallo
Yeah. So 11am Here he leaves work and the two of them, Robin and Brian went boat shopping in Lake Charles and then went to Jerry's Marine in Sulphur. A town called Sulphur Gross. A town of the worst smell that's ever existed. Great. They arrived back at home at about 2:30 or 3 that afternoon. She said at that time he took his Honda Accord and headed to Beaumont to continue his boat shopping. Now if his car was fucked up, too fucked up to go to work, who's taking it on an hour and a half trip out of state?
Jimmy Wissman
Great question.
James Petregallo
It makes no sense whatsoever.
Jimmy Wissman
Does a road trip at all with a car that's not reliable to go 10 minutes away?
James Petregallo
Yeah, it doesn't make sense. I guess the Amy Davis who is, I think it's his sister in law, Brian's sister in law spoke with a boat dealership in Beaumont that remembered Brian calling to say he was headed that way to look at a specific model. But he never made it there. So we don't, we're pretty sure he never made it to Beaumont to begin with here. So Robin said though when he headed to Beaumont in his accord, she took her trailblazer to go run errands, go to the cleaners, the grocery store and get an oil change. They said that they talk about the life insurance policies. She said well he had two life insurance policies, one for 90,000 and one for 40,000. The she also told the detective that she learned in March 2009 that he had been having an affair with Fanny Dietz, a co worker. When she found out about it, she confronted deets here. She said it was, you know, just put to put that out there. I did confront a woman, there was some, some drama there. She said she had an alibi though. She said that on the day her husband went missing, she's running errands with Sissy. That's all she then she talked about Fanny Dietz and all that. So Kelsey comes in, Robin's daughter. She said she arrived at the house here again, she lives here, looks like at around 7:30 in the morning. The day he was killed, Kelsey was with her boyfriend. And they went to sleep until approximately 2pm she's worked the night shift. I hope so. I hope so. Yeah. Or that. Or they just had a fuck afternoon. Now, Kelsey left with her boyfriend and didn't arrive back home until 9pm that night. According to Kelsey, Robin told her that Brian never came home from work and no one could get in touch with him. So they said that. And she also said that when the police called her and told her about that he died, that she was crying and throwing up. July 4th. Now 4th of July here in Louisiana's playground. I would think the outdoor shit, they'd be going crazy on this day.
Jimmy Wissman
Yeah, a place called Independence close by.
James Petregallo
Oh, it's happening instead though. There's a funeral that day. Now, Robin went to the funeral, but there's a post funeral memorial service where they're all going to talk to. She skipped that and went and played video poker.
Jimmy Wissman
They really do love it.
James Petregallo
They love this video poker dude on the way to work at my husband's funeral. Doesn't matter.
Jimmy Wissman
I mean, there's no better way to honor a man that has that video poker addiction than just running a few hands.
James Petregallo
So a few days go by, July 9th comes and the detectives receive permission from Robin to search her residence and the trailblazer. And they also, with the help of Justin, her. Her son, they collect a box of ammunition that belonged to Brian. It contained 9 millimeter hydro shock rounds.
Jimmy Wissman
Wow.
James Petregallo
Okay. Now, Robin gave a formal statement on the 9th. In this statement, she repeated much of what she already told them. She told them that. Also told them that she spoke to Brian once after she and her. She and he went their separate ways on the day of the murder.
Jimmy Wissman
Okay.
James Petregallo
Okay. Then when she attempted to call again, the call went straight to voicemail. She also said she told detectives that before she and Brian left to go boat shopping, that Brian had went to Kroger to get his sick daughter Bailey some soup. She lives here too. How many people fucking live in this house? Dude, it's a trailer.
Jimmy Wissman
There's just bodies everywhere, man.
James Petregallo
I'm counting at least six people so far that live in the adults.
Jimmy Wissman
Yeah, that's a loud sleepy time. If people. If anybody snores. This is a nightmare.
James Petregallo
There can't be more than three small bedrooms in this joint. There can't be. It's a fucking trailer. So this is wild. Catherine Davis, Brian's sister, said that Robin told her that Brian never returned from Kroger. In her statement to detectives, though, Robin said that she and he went boat shopping after he returned from Kroger and later split ways. So we don't know if maybe Brian's sister is confused and in her. You know, somebody is in her. Just sadness. She didn't really get the timeline right or whatever, but that's. That could be that. So we'll. We'll give her that. After they split, though, Robin says she picked up to go run errands. And she also told the detective that the. That the. Fanny Dietz's husband, Shane, threatened to beat Brian's ass and get him fired as well.
Jimmy Wissman
Oh, my God. She's married, too?
James Petregallo
Oh, yeah. They're both married. Yeah, absolutely. So the district manager for the insurance company said that Brian told him that his mistress's husband Shane might try to have him fired. Hey, just in case this comes up, I'm plowing Fanny, so that could be a problem later for everybody. So they said, how was your finances? They ask her. Robin, she said her account was overdrawn by almost $800.
Jimmy Wissman
Oh, my God.
James Petregallo
I don't even know how you overdraw $800. I don't know how they keep letting you take it.
Jimmy Wissman
That's probably not just one overdraft. That's several. And that's how it compounds and compiles.
James Petregallo
And that her house, the fucking mortgage hasn't been paid since March.
Jimmy Wissman
We are in July.
James Petregallo
We're in July. And they currently own zero car insurance for anything they own.
Jimmy Wissman
Nothing is insured. You're insurance people.
James Petregallo
You go to and you're just going to play video poker. I don't know what to say here about this. I don't mean to judge people, but that seems irresponsible. You know what I mean?
Jimmy Wissman
At some point you probably just give up and say, fuck it, but I'm.
James Petregallo
Going down with the ship. I got nothing anyway.
Jimmy Wissman
I guess, I don't know, you're only four months behind on your mortgage. Maybe start scraping, sell some shit. Get it together.
James Petregallo
That's what I mean. Be. I don't know what's going on.
Jimmy Wissman
So fiscally responsible.
James Petregallo
It's a lot, dude. So she said that besides despite their financial situation, that Darryl Pettifer of Jerry's Marine said that on the day Brian was murdered, he was looking at a $30,000 boat. Thirty grand, which at the time is worth more than his house. Literally. He told that. He told this guy he planned to pay for the boat with a settlement or a lump sum of cash that he was getting in the near future. From where? What are we talking about?
Jimmy Wissman
How much he's coming into they.
James Petregallo
I don't know anything. He's got. I don't know any. Any money he's got coming up to him. There's no. There's nothing like in the pipeline that he's waiting for a thing or like, you know, somebody died, he's getting an inheritance. None of that. So the district attorney asked the detective to look at withdrawals and expenditures beginning in February 2009. The record showed overdraft charges, frequent withdrawals, and withdrawals at gaming establishments in particular. On July 10th, Robin Davis was. Her card was used to purchase $102.75 at Casino Gaming, which is probably the atmosphere on July 11th here. She wrote four checks at KD's Diner. $202.75, $102.75, $102.75 and $62.75.
Jimmy Wissman
We got to start some ATM business. They are.
James Petregallo
They're crushing it. And that's the place that has the video poker at the diner. Then they look at her cell records here, and they became concerned, the detective said, with information they learned from her cell phone records. A call made by Robin at 3:50pm Pinged off a tower on Elliot Road in Lake Charles. According to the detective, the tower is just south of the area or is south of the area where she had been claiming to run errands. There's other towers that would have pinged her if she was in that area.
Jimmy Wissman
Oh, so she's too far from it.
James Petregallo
Yeah. They bring in Franny Dietz for questioning, which I would consider her.
Jimmy Wissman
You mean?
James Petregallo
Definitely. Yeah. Or did I say Franny? Fanny. Yes, Fanny Dietz here. They bring her in for questioning. She's obviously considered a person of interest because her husband had threatened to beat his ass. So, you know. Yeah, she knew about that. And also, I guess she said that Robin's son Justin didn't get along with Brian either. So Fannie said they had an affair for about a year and a half. It ended in March 2009 when Robin confronted her about it. According to her, her husband Shane also confronted Brian about the affair. Shane confirmed that he confronted Brian about the affair, but denied ever threatening him. So Fannie was questioned and took officers to a spot at which she had previously used to meet him, I guess, to fuck in a car. They described it as being a spot off of Henry Pugh Boulevard, which runs off of Big Lake Road near Calcasu Point Landing. So that's in this area. The body was found less than a mile from here, away from his fuck Spot away from his fuck spot. Yeah.
Jimmy Wissman
Uh oh.
James Petregallo
So the detective also says that her phone record showed that she was. I guess she was far away from here on June 29th. She was in Crowley that day. So the detective also says that Shane. Her husband's phone records show that he was not in lake Charles on June 29th either. So that neither of them are around that day. They're clear? Pretty much. They said there was a gap of several hours between phone calls for both Mr. And Mrs. Dietz. And Shane's records showed that he made a phone call at 2:50pm Then received no other calls or texts until he received a text at 10:54pm which complete radio silence from anybody in the world for fucking hours like that.
Jimmy Wissman
Congratulations.
James Petregallo
And the phone records for Fanny showed no activity between 9:28am and 4:56pm so maybe these hours. Shit. Five. That's fucking seven and a half from. From 9:28am to 4:56pm it's like I.
Jimmy Wissman
Was going the other way. I do that.
James Petregallo
I don't know. So. And then according to the detectives also they spoke with Shane's boss who verified that he was at work on the day of the disappearance. And digging more into the cell records, they clear the deetses. They didn't do it. Now the insurance, when they spoke with Davis, she said 90,000 and 40,000. Remember that was the insurance money that she was getting from Brian. Later on, however, they learned from the State Farm insurance agent that there were two additional policies, one in the amount of 100,000 and another in the amount of 250,000 that she didn't tell him about.
Jimmy Wissman
Talking about 400 grand that she's going to get out of this.
James Petregallo
Yep. And there's a couple other ones here and there that have an additional 150,000 for accidental deaths.
Jimmy Wissman
Oh my God.
James Petregallo
Four policies totaling $645,000, which is a lot more than 130.
Jimmy Wissman
That's life changing.
James Petregallo
That's. Yeah. Especially if you live in a trailer that's five months behind your fucking mortgage. You could buy the whole neighborhood for that.
Jimmy Wissman
Yeah. That only cost 40 grand today.
James Petregallo
Oh my God. So they also dug into it and figured out that Robin collected an insurance payout after her first husband died in a car accident.
Jimmy Wissman
Oh yeah.
James Petregallo
So they're like, who gets two insurance payouts in a year and a half?
Jimmy Wissman
Right. Of this much money that literally doesn't need anywhere near this much money.
James Petregallo
Yeah. They're thinking maybe she realized dead husband means insurance money.
Jimmy Wissman
Yeah. This is very lucrative business.
James Petregallo
So physical Evidence. Now, one of the deputies that responded to the murder scene said that Brian's vehicle appeared to be having tire trouble. The lug nuts were taken off in one of the tires and the spare tire was on the ground. In order to protect the tire from further damage during the towing process, they replaced the seemingly. The detective, the deputy replaced the seemingly damaged tire with the spare. Why would you do that? Don't do that. The tire was taken to Southern Tire Mart to be examined for defects. The store manager testified later that he found no defects in the tire. So it wasn't. There was nothing wrong with the tire. Why it would have been changed, which is strange. They also said that it does not happen often, but new tires sometimes will leak if they're not sealed well around the rim. They said there are. And they said there's also situations which a tire can go flat even if there's no damage to the outer part of the tire. There's lots of ways a tire can go flat. You have. Your valve is a little fucked up. Oh yeah.
Jimmy Wissman
I didn't think about that. I was thinking about.
James Petregallo
Air can just come through the coming out. So the southwest Louisiana crime lab person, Lynn Miller was asked to examine fingerprints lifted from the crime scene in the case. The fingerprints were lifted from the car jack, the windows of the Honda Accord and an ipod found in the car. Remember ipods, the spare tire rim and the mirror on the sun visor of the Accord. The only fingerprint that they were able to identify was Robin's fingerprint on the mirror of the sun visor.
Jimmy Wissman
Oh yeah.
James Petregallo
Another person that works with the lab performed DNA analysis on several items recovered from the crime scene. Because this is 2009, so we got a lot of DNA shit going on. The victim's body was too decomposed to yield a blood sample. Two days that took for that. That to happen three days.
Jimmy Wissman
He had no more blood in him.
James Petregallo
Gone. Wow, that is wild. He bled out and then dried up. Yeah. She said that this medical examiner explained that the only way to obtain a known DNA profile from someone is to obtain a sample directly from the person's fluid or cellular material. She concluded that DNA found on the victim's belt fingernails, a bottle cap found at the scene, and his driver's license belonged to an unidentified male. We're going to assume that's Brian, basically. So they said it was most likely the victim. She reached this opinion by examining a bunch of shit and figuring it out. Basically. So they. They compared DNA found on the belt buckle and beer bottle and all that Stuff here. They discovered no female DNA on any of the items recovered from the scene. Now, the gun. His stepson, I guess, Justin, Robin's son, said that he always kept a Springfield XD 9 millimeter handgun either on his person or in his car. Always with him. Yeah, common, you know, easy. Lots of 15 in the chamber on that one. Right? That's a. Or 15 in the clip on that one.
Jimmy Wissman
That's a very common pistol too.
James Petregallo
Yeah. Yeah.
Jimmy Wissman
Mass produced. Jesus.
James Petregallo
Totally. Yeah. I have a BB version of that exact gun. Yeah, exact for my targets here. So they stay. They took. They looked at tool mark identifications and ballistics and examined the projectiles of the body here. This show, Small Town Murder is sponsored by BetterHelp. We're huge proponents of therapy because everybody needs it too. And independence is very glorified. It's easy to forget. And we're all better when we have a little support system behind us. And therapy can be a great source of support for any area of your life. When it's time to shift the focus here from doing it all on your own to maybe, maybe it's a little better if we ask for some help here or there. It doesn't hurt and there's nothing wrong with it. And we've benefited greatly from therapy. Just talking to Jimmy about something he wanted to talk to his therapist about this week. So, I mean, if you can't beat it. Makes therapy affordable and convenient, actually, which is a big barrier to a lot of people. Serves over 5 million people world. You access a diverse network of more than 30,000 credentialed therapists with a wide range of specialties. And you can easily switch therapists at any time for no extra cost. Build your support system with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com smalltownmurder today to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp. H-E-L-P.com Smalltown Murder.
Jimmy Wissman
Now back to the show.
James Petregallo
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It's always fun to watch them actually thrive.
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Jimmy Wissman
Now back to the show.
James Petregallo
Hey everybody, just gonna take a quick break from the show to tell you a little bit about life360. It's a new year. Things are going on. You're juggling your family. You got school, things to do and I know you're on social support.
Jimmy Wissman
You got a new driver in the house.
James Petregallo
You have a new driver in the house like Jimmy does here. You're juggling all this stuff you need to get Life360. It's a location sharing app that works whether you're on iPhone, Android, doesn't matter. Life360 makes coordinating your family's daily routines and activities so much smoother. You open up the app, you can see real time locations for everyone in your family. That takes away all the stress of wondering where are they? Are they going to be here in 10 minutes? When are they coming?
Jimmy Wissman
How fast are they going?
James Petregallo
How like you do with your son. You can monitor. That's great. Jimmy's been monitoring his son because he's a new driver. That's what's awesome. It really does. You can coordinate things, you know, and you. Because I mean, obviously you could text somebody but you don't want them texting and driving. So this way you can just look at it. It's really awesome. It's amazing how much more coordinated your family can be. Family proof your family with Life360. Visit life360.com or download the app today and use code Small town murder to get 15% off. That's life360.com code small town murder. Now back to the show, according to this guy here, Douglas Lancome is a the expert in firearms and tool mark identification. The two projectiles were fired from the same gun and were characteristic of Federal's hydro shock design. Hydro, yeah. So on cross examination. Yeah, later, yeah. He'll acknowledge that there are at least 11 manufacturers that could have made the gun that fired the bullets, one of which was Springfield. Now Robin's mom said that she deposited $4,000 into Robin's account around the time of the disappearance. She said Robin told her mom that she was instructed by police not to use the account since Brian was missing, so because they wanted to track in case he used it at all. So Robin's mom said she did not know that he was dead when Robin asked her for the money. When asked if she ever told the police that Robin told her the account was frozen because of the death investigation, the mom said if she did it was because he was already dead at the time she was being interviewed. She said, I deposited $4,000 into a new account for my daughter, Robin Davis around the time of the funeral. I don't know exactly when, but I know it was after he had died. Now later on though, they figure out that the deposit was made on July 1, the day he was found, which is not. Doesn't missing. The deposit was made before they found the body. So that's odd. You know what I mean? Now there's Stephanie Wells. She's another one who was living at the house at the time.
Jimmy Wissman
I don't know how.
James Petregallo
Wow. She's a good friend and lives with them. She said she had eye surgery the day he disappeared. She said that she remembered seeing Sissy's car parked in the grass when they left for surgery. She said she returned home from surgery about 10:30am she did not recall seeing Sissy's car at the residence at that point. She said that Robin was home when this woman returned home and Brian arrived a few minutes later. Brian asked this woman if she would watch his daughter Bailey while they went boat shopping. Hey person who just had surgery, will you babysit for me so I can go boat shopping for money? With money I don't have watch my kid.
Jimmy Wissman
I had surgery on my eyes.
James Petregallo
Yeah.
Jimmy Wissman
I can't watch anything.
James Petregallo
I watch shit at this point. Yeah. So she said she never saw Brian again. But Robin returned home around 5pm she said she this Wells said she called Brian between 3 and 3:30, but the phone call went to voicemail. At 3:42. She sent him a text message stating that Bailey was not feeling well, they said that the cell phone records indicate that she tried to call him at 3:42. The call went straight to voicemail. The voicemail was followed by a text message stating that Bailey was ill. She didn't get a call back, but she did get from him. But she did get a call back from Robin. According to this, she, Robin called Ms. Wells at 3:50pm and this woman assumed that Brian and Robin were still together. And she says she thinks Robin told her she was going to run errors errands at that point. So there's a lot of this. She also acknowledged that Robin made this call to her around 3:50pm and she said that Robin and Sissy arrived home from running errands at 5 or 5:30pm and then she also said that when she found out about the death that Robin was very distraught and crying. So there's that. Now she did not believe that, that, that his Honda was there when she left, but when she returned she believed that the, that Sissy's Jetta was gone and the Honda was there. So it's very confusing. July 13, they talked to Robin again. Let's figure this out, okay? She repeated much of the same shit here. She explained that the Honda was not at the house in the morning of the murder because he had drove it home the night before when her car would not start because she left her lights on. Sissy lives there most of the time. But here's what I don't get. I thought the wheel was fucked up and that's why he didn't take it.
Jimmy Wissman
Well now, now it's got a bad battery too.
James Petregallo
Well now, no, no, no. That's Sissy's car had a bad battery. So Sissy was using the Honda. Earlier she said he didn't take the Honda because the wheel was fucked up. Now she's saying she he didn't take the Honda because he had it. Okay, so that's what's different. Yeah, they. She said that Cissy told her the Jetta, her car was good and that she could come pick it up. According to Robin picked up the Jetta and left the Accord at their house while Brian, while Robin and Brian were boat shopping. She said that we split ways, me and my husband split ways between 2:30 and 3 in the afternoon. Robin talked to Brian about 3:00 while driving to Sissy's house because apparently she had just moved out. So Robin had to wait for Sissy to get ready. The two then went to the cleaners, Albert Albertsons grocery store and back to the residence. When told by the detectives that her cell phone was being used in the area of the murder, she said she wasn't there. She said she'd never been in the area where the murder occurred until after the body had been found. She had no explanation for her cell phone being used in that area during the murder.
Jimmy Wissman
That's not good.
James Petregallo
Let's talk to Sissy. Let's see what Sissy's got to say here. Let's do that, because she's the mystery here. So she said she was at the Davis home all afternoon the day before the murder, which was a Sunday. She said when she started to leave around midnight, her car wouldn't start. So Robin told her to take the Honda since he would be driving the Trailblazer to work the next morning. The next morning, Davis called Sissy to tell her that Brian would be needing the Honda, put five to $10 worth of gas in the car and drove it to the residence. She's like, that's about how much I used.
Jimmy Wissman
1994. That's nothing.
James Petregallo
That's nothing. So according to the detective, a video from Shoprite showed Sissy at the store shortly after 11pm According to Sissy, she drove the Accord to Davis residence and then Robin drove Sissy back home. So Cissy claimed she stayed home until Robin picked her up to run errands later that afternoon. Remember after they had split ways during boat shopping? Sissy was not ready when Robin arrived, so they did not leave to run errands until an hour later. Took you an hour to get ready to fucking run errands, brush your teeth and get out there. What are you doing?
Jimmy Wissman
Put some fucking underwear on.
James Petregallo
That's all. So when they left the house, they went straight to the dry cleaners, then to Albertsons. At first, Sissy stated that Robin drove while running errands, but later remembered that she drove. They completed the errands and arrived at the residence around 5 or 5:30. When the victim here, Brian, was still missing. On Tuesday, Sissy drove around looking for him because he had previously taken them fishing at that one point, the Calcasu Point. I'm sure I'm saying that wrong. Thank you, L.A. people. Sissy drove to that point to look for him. When asked what she thought about the fact that this point was so close to the murder scene, she replied she never thought about that. No, no, no. They said, well, it was found less than a mile away. What the fuck? Anyway, she also told them that she had no knowledge of the death at all. Then at one point, they explained the Difference to Sissy between first and second degree murder. And she asked if he thought she killed. Do you think I did it? And he said he thought she had some direct or indirect knowledge of the murder. And she stated that she did not know what happened and said, I'm leaving now and fucking took off.
Jimmy Wissman
Smart move.
James Petregallo
Yeah, I'm done with this interview. So that was done. Now there's a video from Walgreens. Based on the fact that Robin stated she went to the drugstore on the morning of the disappearance, the detective obtained a video from Walgreens. The video is introduced into evidence. The video shows that at 8:52 on the morning of June 29, both Sissy and Robin are together entering the store, which they absolutely said they were not together. Remember that? According to the detective, Sissy never mentioned going to the drugstore with her because they weren't supposed to be together yet till afterwards. They also noticed in their separate interrogations between Robin and Sissy that they were caught in lies, numerous lies about their whereabouts that day. However, neither woman tried to throw the other one under the bus. Neither one tried to be like, well, maybe she did this or maybe she did that. The one investigator said they were joined at the hip the whole time. So after creating this detailed map of all the movements on the day of the murder, including times of events and vehicles that were being driven, they theorized that Cissy staged the flat tire because she had the accord. She staged the flat tire and Brian was called to go to the scene to help, is what they think. As he knelt to fix the flat, they think he was shot in the back, tried to run for his life, but was shot three more times and died. Oh, my God. The detectives theorized that each woman fired the weapon, which makes no sense. I'll shoot it twice, then hand it to you and you shoot it a couple times. What are we doing? Some kind of. What are we, 12, doing a gang initiation? No.
Jimmy Wissman
Or maybe when. When he was hit those two times and he fell down, maybe the other grabbed the gun and said, I'm a better shot.
James Petregallo
Yeah, I don't know. So the phone pings are a big thing. There's a lot of shit with the phone pings. And I'm trying to get to the ones that matter the most. One is a Robin Davis call at 3:50pm during this call, Davis, his phone originated at Sprint Tower 40 of 4045 and ended up 2 minutes and 23 seconds later on Sprint Tower 3045. According to the agents here, neither Tower 4045 nor Tower 3045 can be utilized at the murder scene. However, the towers can be used a half a mile up the road from the murder scene. That's where they, that's where they start pinging.
Jimmy Wissman
Okay.
James Petregallo
They're talking about how this is a more rural area out here so there are less cell towers. So a cell tower pinging might have an 8 square mile radius of where it could be. Whereas if you're in the city you can get block to block type of shit. So they said that using mapping software and a drive test to find the most direct route from Jerry's Marine to the areas covered by these towers. The towers used by this, by robin during a 350 call, the mapping program and drive testing showed a distance of 21 miles and approximate travel time of 28 minutes. They opined that it was possible for Robin and the victim to arrive at the murder scene by 3:36pm Robin's phone calls then or after 3:50pm would show that she moved a little to the east and then to the southeast and then back into the vicinity of her residence. So they're saying she could have killed him and been on that cell tower by 3:50.
Jimmy Wissman
Wow.
James Petregallo
At 439 she made a phone call that used sprint tower 2280. Both AAA cleaners and Albertsons are in the coverage area for that tower. Then at 9:36 she's pinged at a tower that serves her residence. So yeah, that's interesting. Very, very interesting. They said that the phone, the victim's phone, the phone use cell tower 3045, the same tower used by Robin's phone in her 350 call. His phone made a call at 3:44pm Lasting two seconds from there. Two seconds. So that's very, very fucking interesting. They also said that his, that Robin's cell phone use cell tower 3045 at 7:31 the day before the murder and 350 the day of the murder. So I think they might have been looking, scoping out the spot to do it. So the theory is obviously they review everything and they, they opine that because the Accord was not muddy, the vehicle also had to have arrived at the scene before it rained on the day of the murder. The meteorology reports from Lake Charles Airport indicate that the rain began around 3:45pm on the day of the murder and lasted till 7:00pm okay, so that's out of her. She's fucking that all up. They also noted there was a live round located near the victim's vehicle. They said that they may indicate the person firing the weapon is not particularly familiar with this firearm. Maybe they had one in the chamber and they cocked it and shot it out anyway. Yeah, that's what they're thinking. They said that the shooter may have been standing and the victim bending over when he was shot in the back. They also think that they don't know if he was shot with his own gun. They're looking at the information concerning the brand of the live round found at the scene and all of that. And they said the evidence at the scene supports the probability that he may have been shot with his own gun, given there's a particular type of ammunition called hydro shocks. And, you know, shootings that I've investigated, you rarely ever see Hydra shocks with the existing exception of law enforcement personnel and shooting enthusiasts. And he was one of those. So he said that the fact that the bullets recovered from the body were hydra shocks and the cartridge casings found at the scene were federal just lends more support that he may have been shot with his own gun. So. But he said he did not, wasn't able to ever get his firearm to make a determine, you know, definitive determination. November 2009. Robin and Sissy are both indicted for murder. Yeah, they got them both, but they said it's a tough one. There's no murder weapon, no DNA, no witnesses, no nothing.
Jimmy Wissman
Cell towers, and it's.
James Petregallo
And it's shaky on those.
Jimmy Wissman
Right.
James Petregallo
And just logic.
Jimmy Wissman
So we got cell towers and assumptions that they're lying.
James Petregallo
That's it. Yeah. So 2011 is. Jury is picked, but when they're supposed to be sworn in, the prosecutor has a health problem and it's delayed. So there's a delay and the original jurors later on are recalled, but they're eventually dismissed and a new jury is chosen because of an illness by the prosecutor that's gonna come up later. So in 2012, the trial comes up here. Prosecutor displays the fully inflated tire that Brian drove out to change. A fine tire. So they said the tire was a lie. He wasn't changing a tire. The prosecutor said working in concert with the women. Working in concert, the women lured Davis to the secluded area to kill him for, you know, who knows why. Now Cissy argues that the state's case against her is especially weak and circumstantial, devoid of any evidence that she was present during the commission of the murder, and she doesn't even get any fucking insurance money. She says that the evidence, when viewed in a light most favorable to the state, merely Shows that her cell phone may have been within a geographical area constituting numerous square miles. At times, she says she was not. And she says that not surprising that her stories would be wrong, given that few people can recall hour by hour, what they did weeks before and under extreme grief and stress. So the crime scene guy says he believed the whole incident was staged because of all the documentation and that I examined and showed that the attire was fairly recently purchased and there's no defects in it. He said, as far as I know, it held its charge of air once it was charged. So someone just let the air out of it. No defects on it, they said also, he had a compressor in the trunk of his car. And I don't know whether or not his compressor was functioning or not, but if his tire was flat, instead of changing the tire, perhaps he could have tried the compressor first. So medical death examiner comes up and, you know, says the same thing about the car and about, you know, the mud and everything like that. And they talk about that he was found in a secluded area and that his. His belt was unbuckled in, his shoes and a sock were off. And they said that? Yes, because the defense says, couldn't he have been getting undressed when he was killed? And they said that I, you know, yeah, I guess, but anything's possible. So the defense brings in their own communications effort expert as well, to try to thwart the ping theories here. Prosecution in closing says, quote, he had an affair. She caught him in the affair. She confronted him about the affair. Number two, she had no money, and yet it was. She was out gambling, video poker. We showed her bank records. Overdrafts, overdraws, all the insurance proceeds. He had over $700,000 in insurance proceeds. And her and her friend were joined at the hip, she said. So she, Sissy drove the condo accord to Wagon Wheel Road, feigned a flat tire rather than going home and switching cars, as Robin claimed. They said that she and Sissy drove, or that she and Brian drove the trailblazers straight from Jerry's Marine to Wagon Wheel Road. And they said, either way, whoever did the shooting, it doesn't matter. They were both in on it, and they're both there. So the defense says the state has to put on sufficient evidence, and they didn't do it in this case, so they're innocent because of that. Didn't prove the case. Attorney said it's hard to find any evidence that Cissy Saltzman or Robin Davis said anything more than have inconsistent statements to the police, which is not enough to Prove beyond a reasonable doubt that someone committed a crime they said was Brian. Then they also said maybe Brian Davis was. Was going to engage in some monetary transaction that was illegal on the day of his demise. Maybe that's why he was boat shopping. Was he killed in a drug deal gone bad? Was he engaged in sexual conduct when he was caught by a jealous husband or boyfriend and killed? Did he drive his car to Wagon Wheel, leave it parked there, and leave in another vehicle belonging to someone else? Why would he do that?
Jimmy Wissman
Who knows?
James Petregallo
That makes no sense. Then they also, when they go to the jury, it's going to be the second degree murder or manslaughter and all that. The defense gets the lesser charges taken off. Only murder, your only choice is murder. Because they figure they won't convict them of that, but they might do a compromise and convict them on manslaughter.
Jimmy Wissman
That's ballsy.
James Petregallo
It's real ball. It's an all or nothing effective thing here. So the verdict comes in. By the way, this is an 11 to 1 verdict. Oh, LA did not have to have unanimous verdicts until 2019. So.
Jimmy Wissman
Wow, disparage that great state.
James Petregallo
Yeah, let's disparage it. Come on, everybody. Let's disparage Louisiana. Yeah. Think about how many people Harry Connick Senior sentenced to death on juries that weren't even unanimous. That's. That's remarkable.
Jimmy Wissman
He's a monster.
James Petregallo
So following an 11 to 1 verdict, they are both found guilty of second degree murder.
Jimmy Wissman
Really?
James Petregallo
Yeah. That's a tough one, man. I mean, like, I think they did it, but I don't know if there's enough to convict them in a court. So during sentencing, during the victim impact, Brian's mother said that he loans his car to Cissy. He allows her to use it because her car supposedly broken down, you know, all this type of shit. And he says that it's complete bullshit. She says, and we all know it was no more flat than it was full. And it stayed inflated the entire time. They left the tire full of air sitting in the court the whole time so you could watch it day after day, not losing any air.
Jimmy Wissman
That's a burner.
James Petregallo
Yeah, that's a good one there. They both maintain their innocence during sentencing.
Jimmy Wissman
I guess you have to. I don't. I don't know.
James Petregallo
Robin said she'd continue to fight for her freedom, and Cissy claimed she would know no peace until the real killer was. Wow. The judge will not rest. I will not rest. That's what O.J. said. The judge told them it was a senseless act of selfishness for their own gain. And there was sufficient evidence to support the guilty verdict. You ma'ams may fuck off. Life without parole for both of them.
Jimmy Wissman
Without.
James Petregallo
Without.
Jimmy Wissman
Louisiana.
James Petregallo
Wow. And now they can't have the insurance money either, which goes to his mother. Now Brian's mother. 2014, the Louisiana Supreme Court voted 6 to 1 not to hear their appeals. They said the central issue of double jeopardy could be appealed to the US Supreme Court, but he didn't say whether they'd appeal. 2014, the US Supreme Court says, no, thanks. We don't want to hear it.
Jimmy Wissman
We don't even care.
James Petregallo
2018, voters in Louisiana finally vote to abolish non unanimous juries. Then two years later, the Supreme Court declares them unconstitutional anyway, which also brings that to end in Oregon, where they also did that.
Jimmy Wissman
What do they do about this?
James Petregallo
This stays on. It's not retroactive. Yeah, that would be a nightmare. That would let millions of people out of jail. So then 2019, they're reappealing again and it's not going well for them. They're denied a new trial. So they said, basically, you're arguing sufficiency of evidence, which is up to the jury. And they made their decision. There was an Indiegogo campaign called Bring Brian Home. She buried Brian in Lake Charles, which is hours away from his family and Independence. So they said in this, adding insult to injury, Robin had Brian buried on the 4th of July with numerous overtures and innuendos. She also had Brian buried in a mausoleum, far out of sight, far out of reach, tucked away as if he were a pair of old socks. His family and loved ones live three hours away, and most have no idea how to even find his burial site. His children seldom are able to visit his burial site due to the great distance his mother, with health conditions, seldom gets to visit, blah, blah, blah. They want to bring him to Independence and bury him.
Jimmy Wissman
It's a mausoleum. So that's in a drawer, right?
James Petregallo
It's in a drawer. So yeah, they want to pull him out, take him over there. The campaign was for $8,500 and they raised 3% of it. They raised $330 of this, which is sad.
Jimmy Wissman
When was that?
James Petregallo
That was 2009. It's been over for years. And it still says on find a grave. His burial is in Lake Charles, so they never moved him. It sounds like there is a Facebook page also free Carol Sissy Saltzman and Robin Davis, which has 785 likes and 824 followers.
Jimmy Wissman
That's way too many.
James Petregallo
That's a lot. So there you go everybody. There's Lake Charles, Louisiana. Very quickly through the end, head over to shutupandgivememurder.com, check that out. Also, give us a review on whatever site you're or whatever app you're listening on. Shutupandgivememurder.com Tickets to live show Chicago in May. Virtual live show April 19th available for two weeks after that. Patreon.com CrimeInSports all the bonus material you could possibly want. $5 and above this week we talk about more sports songs for crime in sports. And we talk about a crazy con man named Kot Louis Carlucci, the nickname Khan Juan back in the 80s. Really funny stuff that is. Patreon.com crimeandsports and a shout out at the end of the regular show that said, thank you so much everybody and until next week, it's been our pleasure. 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 survey@wondery.com survey.
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Are you captivated by the dark and mysterious world of true crime? Wondery plus offers you the ultimate true crime experience with early access to new episodes, exclusive content and a seamless ad free listening journey. With one replus, you'll get access to hundreds of podcasts, including more than 50 true crime series like Dr. Death, the shocking true story of a trusted surgeon who brought unimaginable pain and suffering to his patients.
Jimmy Wissman
This was not an operation that was performed.
James Petregallo
This was attempted murder.
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This case is one of those rollercoaster rides where it's like, no, he did it for sure. No, for sure he did it.
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Small Town Murder – Episode #578: Video Poker Playboy Murder - Lake Charles, Louisiana
Release Date: March 14, 2025
In Episode #578 of Small Town Murder, hosts James Pietragallo and Jimmie Whisman delve into the mysterious and tragic case of Brian Davis from Lake Charles, Louisiana. Combining their signature comedic flair with in-depth research, the duo explores the intricate details surrounding Davis's untimely death, the ensuing investigation, and the courtroom drama that followed.
James Pietragallo (00:26) begins by painting a vivid picture of Lake Charles, emphasizing its geographical location and socioeconomic backdrop:
“Lake Charles, it's in southwestern Louisiana, about three hours from New Orleans and two hours from Houston. Population around 83,444, with a median household income significantly below the national average.”
The town’s dual identity as a hub for petrochemical industries and a spot for outdoor activities creates a unique but challenging environment for its residents.
Population & Economy:
Nicknames:
Historical Context: James provides a brief history, noting Lake Charles's resilience in rebuilding after various natural disasters, including significant hurricanes and tornadoes, which have repeatedly tested the community's strength.
James Petregallo (14:00) introduces Brian Davis, detailing his personal life and interests:
Brian’s passion for video poker is a significant element in understanding his financial struggles, particularly his mounting debt from gambling.
Robin Little Davis (16:00) is portrayed as Brian’s third wife, formerly married to another man whom she kept on her medical insurance post-divorce. This decision becomes a focal point in unraveling the motives behind Brian’s murder.
Key Details:
Robin's financial irresponsibility and secret life become crucial leads in the investigation.
Sissy Saltzman (17:50) is depicted as Robin’s best friend who cohabits with the couple without contributing financially. Her presence raises suspicions, especially given her prior relationship with Robin and questionable behavior:
Sissy’s involvement becomes a pivotal point as inconsistencies in her statements emerge during the investigation.
On June 29, 2009, Brian Davis disappeared under suspicious circumstances:
Afternoon Plans: Brian and Robin went boat shopping, ostensibly to alleviate their financial woes.
Truck Trouble: Brian drove his Honda Accord to Beaumont, Texas, despite claims of wheel trouble, which seemed illogical given the car’s previous issues.
Discovery: Brian's body was found less than a mile from a secluded ATV trail on a dirt road. He had sustained four gunshot wounds — three to the torso and one to the head.
Murder Scene Insights:
James Pietragallo (33:31) narrates the discovery:
“The trunk and doors were open, looking like a mid-tire change. But this being a secluded area, it's clear something much darker had occurred.”
James and Jimmy navigate through the investigation's complexities, highlighting key evidence and theories:
Financial Motives:
Insurance Policies: Initially reported only two policies worth $130,000, later discovered to total $645,000. Robin received substantial life insurance payouts both from Brian and her previous husband’s accidental death.
Bank Records: Multiple overdrafts and large cash withdrawals at gaming establishments point to Robin and Sissy’s possible financial desperation.
Cell Phone Records:
Robin’s Movements: Inconsistent cell tower pings place Robin near the murder scene during the time of the shooting, despite her claims of being elsewhere.
Fanny Dietz's Alibi: Robin's mistress, Fanny, and her husband, Shane Dietz, have alibis placing them away from the scene. However, the cell records show unusual gaps, raising suspicions about their involvement or potential alliances.
Forensic Evidence:
Fingerprints: Only Robin’s fingerprints were found on the car’s sun visor mirror. No female DNA was recovered from the scene.
Ammunition and Firearm: A box of ammunition linked to Brian was found at home. Ballistics suggested the gun used was Brian’s own, aligning with his history as a shooting enthusiast.
Theoretical Framework: James explains the prosecution’s theory that Robin and Sissy conspired to murder Brian to secure financial gains from the insurance payouts. The staged flat tire was intended to lure Brian to a secluded location where they could execute the plan.
“They spiked the tire to make Brian seek help, and when he was alone, they took him down,” (James, 68:12).
Trial Proceedings:
Prosecution’s Argument: Presented compelling circumstantial evidence — financial motives, inconsistent statements, and the cell tower data — to establish Robin and Sissy’s involvement.
Defense’s Counter: Emphasized the lack of direct evidence, aiming to create reasonable doubt. They proposed alternative theories, such as Brian’s potential involvement in illegal activities or accidental death, to undermine the prosecution's case.
Verdict: In 2011, despite the defense’s arguments, both Robin Davis and Sissy Saltzman were found guilty of second-degree murder by a non-unanimous jury (11 to 1), as Louisiana did not require unanimous verdicts until 2019.
“Life without parole for both of them,” (James, 78:40).
Post-Trial Developments:
Appeals: Attempts to appeal the verdict were dismissed by the Louisiana Supreme Court and later by the US Supreme Court.
Public and Family Reaction: Brian’s mother criticized the jury for not thoroughly examining the staged evidence, particularly the flat tire that remained inflated throughout the trial.
Despite the conviction, lingering doubts remain about the sufficiency of evidence tying Robin and Sissy directly to Brian’s murder. The reliance on circumstantial evidence, coupled with the complexities of cell tower data and financial transactions, leaves room for speculation and debate.
James reflects on the case’s unresolved aspects, questioning the robustness of the prosecution’s evidence and the rapidity with which the couple benefited from insurance payouts.
“They both maintain their innocence, and the evidence was heavily circumstantial. It’s a tough case where logic and emotion collide,” (James, 77:32).
The episode wraps up by highlighting the ongoing public intrigue surrounding the case, inviting listeners to ponder the true motives and the justice served.
James Pietragallo (03:33): “We have a wild story today. This is really 10 pounds of murder in a two-pound bag.”
Jimmy Wissman (07:39): “So very not great area. I mean, it's swampy, it's. It's not a good place.”
Robin Davis (from the trial): “I'd like to continue fighting for my freedom.”
James Pietragallo (78:40): “Life without parole for both of them.”
Small Town Murder offers a gripping exploration of the Brian Davis case, blending investigative storytelling with the hosts' relatable humor. While the episode concludes with a conviction, it leaves listeners questioning the complexities of justice and the thin lines between evidence and assumption in small-town mysteries.
For more episodes and detailed analyses of other intriguing cases, tune in every Thursday to Small Town Murder.