#599 - Madness Of A Murderous Maniac - Summerville, Georgia

Summary

Podcast Summary: Small Town Murder
Episode #599 - Madness Of A Murderous Maniac - Summerville, Georgia
Release Date: May 29, 2025

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Introduction

In Episode #599 of Small Town Murder, hosts James Pietragallo and Jimmie Whisman delve into the chilling story of Hayward William Bissell, a man whose descent into madness culminated in a horrifying murder spree in Summerville, Georgia. Combining meticulous research with their trademark comedic flair, the hosts explore the complexities of small-town life and the dark events that unfolded.

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Background of Hayward William Bissell

Hayward Bissell, born on March 28, 1962, is introduced as a physically imposing figure standing over six feet tall and weighing around 400 pounds. Raised in a tight-knit family in New London, Ohio, Hayward exhibited behavioral issues from a young age, characterized by constant complaining and resistance to authority.

James Pietragallo [26:03]: "Never wanted to follow the rules. He'd have a 50 in one class and a 97 in another because he didn't like that class."

Despite these challenges, Hayward enlisted in the Army in 1979, where he excelled in his duties as a motor transport operator. His military career provided him with structure, but underlying mental health issues persisted.

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Early Signs of Mental Health Struggles

Hayward's struggles with mental health became increasingly apparent after his honorable discharge in August 1985. Transitioning to civilian life, he faced difficulties maintaining stable relationships and employment, frequently finding himself in conflicts and battling depression.

Jimmy Whisman [41:01]: "He had a lot of depression, too. He's got a lot of mental problems that are really starting to cook up here now."

His interactions with mental health professionals were sporadic, often involving voluntary admissions to clinics where he received inconsistent treatment. This pattern of seeking help without sustained intervention contributed to his deteriorating mental state.

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The Relationship with Patricia

In late 1999, Hayward's life took a fateful turn when he began a tumultuous relationship with Patricia Ann Boer, a 25-year-old woman with her own troubled past. Despite Patricia's efforts to seek healthier relationships post her first marriage, she found herself entangled with Hayward, whose controlling and abusive behavior mirrored his longstanding issues.

James Pietragallo [73:36]: "Patricia was excited about her pregnancy, but also said she didn't intend to marry him."

Their relationship was marked by cycles of reconciliation and separation, with Patricia eventually breaking off the relationship due to Hayward's escalating violence and manipulation. However, Hayward's persistent threats and erratic behavior kept drawing Patricia back, culminating in the tragic events that followed.

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The Rampage and Murder

On January 23, 2000, during an intense winter storm in Summerville, Georgia, Hayward's mental instability reached its peak. Seeking shelter and driven by delusional commands he believed were transmitted via a satellite implant, Hayward committed a gruesome murder.

In a remote service station parking lot, Hayward attacked Patricia Ann Boer, inflicting multiple stab wounds that resulted in her dismemberment. His actions were marked by intense brutality, including the removal of her eyes, heart, liver, and legs.

James Pietragallo [130:08]: "He stabbed James in the abdomen without any warning. He just stood there and did it."

Following the murder, Hayward embarked on a violent rampage, targeting individuals in his path. His spree included the attempted assassination of a local police chief and other residents, leaving a trail of fear and devastation in his wake.

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Law Enforcement Response

Law enforcement officials, including Chief Randall Kilgore of Greenwich and Deputy Chief Dwayne Wooten, responded swiftly to the murders. Recognizing the severity of Hayward's actions, they coordinated efforts to apprehend him amidst the chaotic winter conditions.

The culmination of their pursuit led to a dramatic confrontation where Hayward was finally subdued after a violent chase. Despite his size and aggression, law enforcement managed to apprehend him, though not without casualties and significant trauma to the community.

Jimmy Whisman [157:05]: "He couldn't stop, he kept speeding down the road and disappeared over a hill."

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Aftermath and Trial

Hayward Bissell faced the full extent of the law, ultimately pleading guilty to murder while being declared mentally ill. The court sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole, deeming him a continuing threat to society.

The trial underscored the challenges of dealing with individuals suffering from severe mental health issues, highlighting the gaps in the system that allowed Hayward's instability to go unchecked until it was too late.

James Pietragallo [181:40]: "He pleads guilty, but mentally ill in Georgia. He'll spend the rest of his life in the state penitentiary."

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Conclusions

Episode #599 of Small Town Murder serves as a sobering exploration of how untreated mental health issues and systemic oversights can lead to tragedy. Through the story of Hayward Bissell, James and Jimmie shed light on the complexities of small-town dynamics, the importance of mental health care, and the dire consequences of neglecting individuals in need.

The hosts blend their comedic insights with a deep respect for the victims, ensuring the narrative remains both engaging and respectful. This episode stands as a poignant reminder of the delicate balance between community support and the necessity of addressing mental health proactively.

James Pietragallo [185:03]: "This is one of the craziest goddamn stories we've ever told. He's still there for as far as I know, I haven't seen him die at all."

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Notable Quotes:

• James Pietragallo [26:03]: "Never wanted to follow the rules. He'd have a 50 in one class and a 97 in another because he didn't like that class."

• Jimmy Whisman [41:01]: "He had a lot of depression, too. He's got a lot of mental problems that are really starting to cook up here now."

• James Pietragallo [73:36]: "Patricia was excited about her pregnancy, but also said she didn't intend to marry him."

• Jimmy Whisman [157:05]: "He couldn't stop, he kept speeding down the road and disappeared over a hill."

• James Pietragallo [181:40]: "He pleads guilty, but mentally ill in Georgia. He'll spend the rest of his life in the state penitentiary."

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Small Town Murder continues to unravel dark and complex narratives, offering listeners an in-depth look into the hidden stories that define small communities. Subscribe and follow James and Jimmie every Thursday for more compelling episodes.

Transcript

[James Petragallo]

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[Jimmy Whisman]

It's so fun to watch them actually thrive.

[James Petragallo]

I love it and I'm telling you, we have hired people to do stuff and I've complained about it on the show before, how expensive these people are. They turn you upside down and shake you, these tree people and landscapers. This is a great way to do it and save so much money. So much money. It is awesome.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Absolutely.

[James Petragallo]

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[Jimmy Whisman]

Now back to the show.

[James Petragallo]

Hey everybody, just going to take a quick break from the show and tell you a little bit more about Thrive Market. Jimmy, myself, we both want to be healthy and know how to eat healthy. But the thing is, where do you start with that if you don't know what you're doing, it's very difficult. And that's why we love Thrive Market. It's our go to online grocery store for getting all of the healthy essentials delivered and we don't even have to leave the house. It's the no junk online grocery store that bans over 1000 hard harmful ingredients from anything they have there. I know you have one thing you're.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Particularly pasta sauce drives me bananas and rouse is there and it tells me what's, what's good and what's not.

[James Petragallo]

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[Jimmy Whisman]

Back to the show.

[James Petragallo]

When Luigi Mangione was arrested for allegedly shooting the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, he didn't just spark outrage, he ignited a cultural firestorm. Is the system working or is it.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Time for a reckoning?

[James Petragallo]

I'm Jesse Weber. Listen to Law & Crime's Luigi, exclusively on Wonder. This week in Somerville, Georgia, a maniac goes on a rampage through multiple counties, leaving behind wreckage, carnage and body parts. Welcome to Small Town Murder. Foreign hello everybody. Welcome back to Small Town Murder. Yay. Oh, yay indeed, Jimmy. Yay indeed. My name is James Petragallo. I'm here with my co host.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I am Jimmy Whisman.

[James Petragallo]

Thank you folks so much for joining us today on another absolutely crazy episode. If you can tell by the intro, this is Pocket Robin level insane. This is, there's something else in this guy's pocket and it's, it's crazier than a robin, put it that way. It's, we're going to have a whole new, whole new reference point on this week. It's wild stuff. Before we get to that very quickly here, definitely head over to shut up and give me murder.com first of all, all your merchandise is there. Everything from skateboards to coffee cups. You can't beat it. And then get your tickets for live shows. We're taking the summer off here. But then after the summer, we are pumping them out there. Live shows are coming and a lot of them are selling out and a lot of them are sold out. If you want to go to Seattle, D.C. philly, get your tickets now. They're selling fast. Like Portland sold out. San Diego's sold out, I think. Or they might have a couple left. Irvine's almost sold out. So Madison, all those are, they're selling. So get in there and do that. That's shut up and give me murder.com. then also listen to our other two shows, Crime in Sports, which is crazy and very interesting. Obviously you got to hear that we're doing a multi parter about a crazy Irish boxer who grew up in the IRA and like got shot by the British police. Crazy Stuff. We'll talk about that and then on the show there. And then also your stupid opinions, which is just hilarious. Then get yourself your Patreon.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, yeah.

[James Petragallo]

Treat yourself. Patreon.com CrimeInSports is where you get all the bonus material. Anybody $5 a month or above. You're gonna get not only immediately upon subscription, a giant back catalog. Hundreds and hundreds of episodes to binge on, but then you get new ones every other week. One grime and sports, one small town murder, and you get it all, baby. That's right. This week, what you're gonna get for crime and sports, we're gonna talk about soccer riots. Oh my God. They get crazy over in Europe and in South America and other places. Places where they like soccer. Yeah. Here, no matter what happened, people go, yeah, all right. And they'd leave. That's all.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That was the game.

[James Petragallo]

We have riots in the street when we win. They tear the stadium down when other stuff is happening. So it's wild then for small town murder, we're gonna talk about last week's murderer, his blog, his prison blog where he defends himself and everything he does and gives his manifest. And we're going to make fun of this guy to the moon. It's going to be awesome. I can't wait to have. Because we had to tell the story so we couldn't really make fun of him properly. This is going to be all mockery of this asshole and I can't wait for it. Patreon.com crimeinsports and you get a shout out at the end of the show too. Jimmy will go ahead and mess your name up.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Absolutely.

[James Petragallo]

That's how we roll. So do that. And that said, disclaimer time. This is a comedy. It's a comedy podcast. We're comedians. That does not mean that anything in the story is not 1000% real. Nothing is embellished for comedic effect or any stupid stuff like that. Everything's 100% real and it's meticulously researched. So we think you like that. There will be jokes. That's the thing. But there's a way to do that tastefully that's we don't make fun of the victims. We don't make fun of the victims families.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Why is that, James?

[James Petragallo]

Because we're assholes.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yes, but.

[James Petragallo]

But we're not scumbags.

[Jimmy Whisman]

There you have.

[James Petragallo]

It's pretty easy to deal there. So that said, who. If you want to hear a wild story, you're in the right place if you think true crime and comedy should never ever go Together. Maybe we're not for you. That's possible, but I would give it a shot to make sure.

[Jimmy Whisman]

One time.

[James Petragallo]

No complaining, though. Either way. That said, I think it's time everybody to sit back. What do you say? Let's all clear the lungs and let's all shout, shut up. Forgive me, Murder. Let's do this, everybody. Let's go on a trip, shall we? Let's do it. We are going to Georgia this week. And by the way, I would like to say thank you to everybody in St. Louis and Chicago.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Unbelievable.

[James Petragallo]

Great crowds, terrific people. Just a great time all around. We were almost. We were almost thrown into Oz while we were in St. Louis because we.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Almost didn't have to travel.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah. Because tornado almost took us right to Chicago. It was right by where we were. So that was. That was a little terrifying, but that's okay. That's all right, though. We were all right with it. They handled it well, and it was fine. So let's get right into this. Somerville, Georgia. This is in northwest Georgia, way up in the corner, not to be confused with Somerville, in Augusta. There's a neighborhood in Augusta named Somerville that is apparently a really wealthy area. People know it.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I mean, Augusta is pretty expensive.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah, they have the golf there and all that kind of thing. It's expensive to park there. So I don't know what it would be to live. It's gotta be pricey. So this is about an hour to Chattanooga, Tennessee. That's the closest place to it. And then about an hour and a half to Atlanta, so not that far from it. And then about three and a half hours to Grovetown, Georgia. Our last Georgia episode. It was an express episode, helping mom with murder, which. Yeah, mom was an interesting lady. So that was. That was wild stuff. This is in Chattooga County.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Chattooga.

[James Petragallo]

Chattooga. It's like Chattanooga with some letters missing, essentially. Yeah. It's got an oog.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

This is not a noo. It's a tug. A little bit different. Area code 706 here. They don't have a motto, I would say, but their motto would be not quite Alabama. Come on, give us a break. History of this town, founded in 1838 as the Seat of the newly formed Chattooga County.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Nice place.

[James Petragallo]

I assumed people just couldn't spell Chattanooga.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's fascinating, the choices here.

[James Petragallo]

So it was incorporated as a town in 1939, as a city in 1909. It became. It was named from the fact that it was a popular summer resort. That's why they call it Summerville. People came there in the summer, kind of like in Florida, they have winter haven.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

Pretty obvious why that's named that way. So yeah, that's how that goes. The lot of Civil War action happened around here. Oh, yeah, this is. This is where the march to the sea started with Somerville and then not very far. No, not while it is. Pretty quick walk all the way across Georgia and South Carolina. So. Yeah, that was there. They also, the biggest battle here was the battle of Tryon Factory.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Right.

[James Petragallo]

Tryon is right next door. They're kind of like same place pretty much. This was fought in September of 1863. Where present day First street is. Oh, right downtown near the site of the East Tryon Church of God.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Nice.

[James Petragallo]

That's where they had it. So there wasn't much town at that point. In 2009, the Chattooga County Camp 507 Sons of Confederate Veterans, in conjunction with the Missionary Ridge Camp 63 Sons of Union veterans and several local groups erected a memorial monument to remember the first battle of the Tryon factory and the soldiers who are in unmarked graves from both sides.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Okay.

[James Petragallo]

They're saying, yeah, they got together and had a nice little thing. That's nice. If they did that 160 years ago.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Just have a nice picnic and call.

[James Petragallo]

It a day picnic and say, hey, let those people go. What do you say?

[Jimmy Whisman]

Have a nice picnic and say, do it myself. Fine.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah. All right. I guess I don't mind yard work that much. Farming is. Yeah, I have to pay people. Oh, shit. Yeah, you do. So in a side note here, a Confederate general Helm was brother in law to Mary Lincoln.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, Mary Todd.

[James Petragallo]

Mary Todd, yeah. And was killed five days after the battle of Tryon Factory at Chickamauga. But he fought here as well. Chickamauga was another bad fight.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That's her brother.

[James Petragallo]

That's her. Oh, yeah. Which is super common. People fighting on both sides. It was, you know, very common.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That must be her sister's husband because her brother in law would be Abe's brother.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah, well, if she had a sister and she had a husband, that would be her brother. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that was right. Maybe. Yeah, true. So reviews of this. I don't know why we got in the weeds on that one. Reviews of this town here. Here's four stars. The town of Somerville, Georgia is a very small community. Everyone knows everyone. That's not good. However, there is very limited activities in our town because of how small it is.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Right?

[James Petragallo]

Well, yeah. Many people ride through without so much as pass as a passing glance. But this will always be my beloved hometown. My, quote, stomping grounds, if you will.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah, that's exactly what it is.

[James Petragallo]

Hometown was enough. You don't have to go in anymore into that. And I will always be grateful for the memories and experiences I've had here. Wow. That was exhausting. Three stars. Somerville's an old town that has a population of around 4,000 people. I love Somerville because my mother's family lives here and after my parents divorce, it was home. So this is a trauma. Bonded with this place. That's all this is devolving. Wow. After living here for 12 years, it's a three star. So it's not gonna be perfect. After living here for 12 years, I enjoyed having my family so close. I live in a predominantly black neighborhood. The roads in my neighborhood have potholes in the road. If ran over, could possibly damage your car. Whenever the city of Somerville comes to, quote, fix the potholes, the men only pave the specific spot. In nicer neighborhoods, the roads are paved and smooth. I just don't understand why my neighborhood doesn't have good roads.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's expensive.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah. You just described America there. Not that that's good, but that's what it is.

[Jimmy Whisman]

The car's so fucked up.

[James Petragallo]

Any city we were in, if we're in a shitty neighborhood, it's terrible roads. It's just the way it. Remember fucking Poughkeepsie right by me. Terrible road, bumpy as shit. Go around things you really got. You lost a wheel head on a swivel, man. So one star. Somerville should be graveled over and fenced off like a lot of an old factory. Gravel it, fence it off so the crackheads can't get in there. It is a filter point on the Olazepine Trail.

[Jimmy Whisman]

What is that?

[James Petragallo]

I'll give you a minute. I'll give you an explanation there in a second. Just awful. And the river is incredibly polluted. I've been an unfortunate resident for two years. Unfortunate. This is the great. It is staggering the number of peckerwoods living. Jowl to jowl. It was a nightmare. It was a nightmare. That's funny.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Jowl to jowl is a fascinating one.

[James Petragallo]

Jowl to jowl.

[Jimmy Whisman]

So close.

[James Petragallo]

Peckerwoods. That's. I know. I don't know how. What?

[Jimmy Whisman]

There's only one reference for it, but.

[James Petragallo]

I'm just saying I don't know where that's a popular phrase with. Because, like, with Italian people, that's what they call like red headed people that are like Hicks. They're peckerwoods. Yeah.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Is that right?

[James Petragallo]

Absolutely. My dad would say that all the time. Look at this peckerwood. That's like a real redneck person is a peckerwood. I don't know if that's a. If, like, black people have a different way.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I've only heard it one way, and that is racist. Aryan Nation in the joint.

[James Petragallo]

Oh. Saying that as a point of pride.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Not necessarily pride. It's just what they're called.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah, I know. They call each other woods. Yeah, I understand that. Yeah. So that's. That's interesting. So an explanation, by the way, Olazepine trail, they said, likely refers to a clinical. To clinical trials or research studies involving the antipsychotic medication elazapine. Oh, my God. And they need it here. Here's a summary of information regarding that. Olazepine has been extensively studied for its efficacy and safety treating schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. There we go. Clinical trials have investigated its effectiveness in both acute and maintenance treatment in both of these conditions. People here are crazy, what they're trying to say.

[Jimmy Whisman]

If you have an overwhelming population that's mentally ill, something's wrong, you guys.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah, well, this today, it's a guy not from here, but maybe he's drawn to it. If that's the problem, he's drawn to the mental illness. People in this town, 4389. So not that many people. Very small town. Way more women than men. It's like 54% women, which is well out of whack of anything we usually see in the town over, you know, 500 people or something. Median age here's about 41 couple years over the national average. A lot of babies. A lot of old people. Not a lot in between. So the old people are having babies.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, shit.

[James Petragallo]

You got fertile old people here. Maybe the olazepine makes you fertile.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That also well in your 70s, too. Why you might need olazepine if your parents were 82.

[James Petragallo]

82, why they would need it.

[Jimmy Whisman]

And they.

[James Petragallo]

I'm seeing babies over here. Family are 36% married, which is well under the national average. 15% divorced, 30% single with children. Race of this town, 76.5% white, 21.2% black, 1.3% Hispanic. So it's white and black. It's a small southern town. Religion here is under 50%, which is surprising for rural Georgia. And I'll give you one guess.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Baptist.

[James Petragallo]

It's Baptist, yeah. It's 33% Baptist and really not much. Anything else here? 0.0% Catholic, 0.0% Jewish. Has an unemployment rate slightly below the national average. But that is not reflected in the income here. The median household income here in the US it's almost 70,000. Here it is 23,827, 4,000 people. That are brutal. That's. That's not a lot of money. It's now cost of living here, 100 is average here it's about 72. Home cost is the lowest. Median home cost here $152,300.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah, the American alive and well. You can own it.

[James Petragallo]

You can definitely own that.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I mean you don't have a job but it's tough.

[James Petragallo]

Well you have a job, there's low unemployment. They just don't pay very much.

[Jimmy Whisman]

No money.

[James Petragallo]

Not a lot of money going on here. So if we've convinced you, dammit that this is the only place you can call home, you need to check out some elazapine. We have for you. The Summerville Georgia Real Estate Report. Average two bedroom rental here goes for $760 a month. Very much affordable of steep though for. Well it's like half the national average though. But yeah, you could just buy a house probably for cheaper. Here is a two bedroom, one bath, 672 square foot place. It's a trailer.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's tiny.

[James Petragallo]

It's got. It's on an acre and a half here. There it. I would like to show you the picture of it.

[Jimmy Whisman]

What the.

[James Petragallo]

It looks like the pig farm ladies place or something.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It is deep in there. That looks scary.

[James Petragallo]

It looks terrifying.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah, that's a. This is a real estate list.

[James Petragallo]

It looks like Phillips Oklahoma trailer with a, with a, with a, with a poop bucket on the porch here. This is really scary looking. It is $24,000 for that and an acre or a half of land. Also.

[Jimmy Whisman]

You can't buy a trailer for 24.

[James Petragallo]

Grand or an acre and a half. This is both. That's unmarked. Here's a four bedroom, four bath, 3,559 square foot house. It is on 1.8 acres. Everything's got big lots here. It's not bad. It's. It's a quaint red country looking house. It's really a cute little place. It's not bad at all. It is, you know, almost 3,600 square feet. $525,000 for that though.

[Jimmy Whisman]

What the.

[James Petragallo]

A little steep.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I think I might buy that acre and a half of getting a.

[James Petragallo]

Buy one, get one, knock the trailer off of there.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Getting a bogo.

[James Petragallo]

Yep. And then Here is a four bedroom, five bath T bowl for each and every B hole. One leftover. 2,952 square feet. It is on 56 acres.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Holy shit.

[James Petragallo]

It's a lot of land, but it's. The house is fine. It's okay. But it's not even 3,000 square feet and 56 acres. I don't know what you're using. I don't know, but it's $1.2 million for that.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That's the cheapest 55 acres in the country.

[James Petragallo]

That's man. Yeah, the house doesn't. It's weird. The house just sits in the middle of this field. It's so strange looking.

[Jimmy Whisman]

And the other one's an acre and a half with 6,000 square foot house.

[James Petragallo]

5,000 3,600 square foot house. So not bad things to do here. Okay. Paradise Gardens.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

All right. There's a guy named Howard Finster who, quote, delighted in collecting and displaying his accumulation of odd objects, tools, antiques, and curios.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Okay.

[James Petragallo]

All right. Now this is. This is what he's into, pretty much. So he really liked visiting roadside museums and seeing the unorthodox things he liked, like off the highway tourist attractions like alligator farms and shit like that. A weird Americana slice of Americana that happens in the middle of nowhere off the highway. Basically.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Rubber band ball, the giant frying pan, things like that.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah. The largest ball of twine. You know, whatever the hell you want to say. So he felt compelled to celebrate the inventions of mankind and the unique attributes of individuals whom he felt deserved recognition. So in the exhibit house on his property in Tryon, Georgia, he assembled tools and curiosities that validated his belief in his creative talents. Here's a porter. He built a Park. In 1961, he moved his family into a new home. He took with him all of his shit. And he began to construct what many thought was pretty cool. It was a plant farm museum known as Paradise Garden. And he said, I built the park because I was commissioned by God. Oh, boy, that's a scary fella. The Blues Brothers are on their way to Chicago and he's put in a park in the middle of Georgia. Both commissioned by God. God's really busy sometimes tell people to do a lot of various shits here. Shit, here's. I started the garden in 1970, about 100ft into the backyard, built a cement wall and put up a hall shed and started to display the inventions of mankind. Crap. Yeah. It looks like a giant, basically. Yeah. He said, I'm trying to collect at least one of every invention in the world.

[Jimmy Whisman]

What?

[James Petragallo]

He's into inventions. He said inventors don't get recognition. Yeah, they do. They get tons of recognition.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's called royalties, man.

[James Petragallo]

Well, not only that. We know who invented pretty much every major thing. We know who invented it. Yeah.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's in the patent office.

[James Petragallo]

150. I mean us now sitting here 150 fucking years later. I can tell you, Philo Farnsworth at the tv, we can name a bunch of shit, like tons of people. They get a lot of credit. Inventors. There's also the Cowboy Western Heritage Festival.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

Which is in Georgia.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Who invented that?

[James Petragallo]

I don't know. I don't think cowboys and I think of Georgia, and I certainly don't think western either.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Really.

[James Petragallo]

It's in the Southeast. Why the hell. What? I think Western, not western. No, definitely not.

[Jimmy Whisman]

But I understand the cowboy thing.

[James Petragallo]

How.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Really, I don't know how. Where are cowboys, ranchers and shit out there? No devil went down there. James.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah. He not. What he had on. Fucking. He had on, like, not cowboy boots. Yeah. Like work boots, though. Different boots. And here it's very Western, though. The traditional celebration of the western traditions and the cowboy lifestyle. Western artisans, vendors, demonstrations of buggies, wagons, square dancing, mock Old west gunfights. This is not. That's what I mean.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Gunfight.

[James Petragallo]

Cowboy music. And also like Appalachian, like bluegrass and stuff like. That's way different from western music. It's not the same.

[Jimmy Whisman]

There's a difference between a hillbilly and a cowboy.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah, for sure. That's it. And the arrival of the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum passenger train and a wagon train. Cowboy parade. Sure, sure. No music, though. No bands to make fun of. Crime rate in this town. What we're here for.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Very quiet parade.

[James Petragallo]

That sounds a very somber parade. No instruments allowed.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's called a funeral procession.

[James Petragallo]

Some fucking elementary school marching band comes in, they get kicked off the route. Get out of here. Crime rate in this. Down here property crime is about half the national average. So not a lot. I don't think people. 23 grand a year for a household income. Doesn't sound like there's a lot to steal.

[Jimmy Whisman]

And you're busy working.

[James Petragallo]

Busy. Yeah. Violent crime, murder, rape, robbery, and of course, assault. But about Rushmore of crime is about one quarter of the national average.

[Jimmy Whisman]

They're doing great.

[James Petragallo]

Very low. It's just very rural. Yeah. Everybody. Even the shitty trailer has an acre and a half.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

So really, there's no reason to be that angry at anybody. Sure. You got. You got room. So that Said, let's talk about. Here we go, some murder. And this is absolutely bonkers. All right, we got to start out talking about a man here. He's an interesting fella. Hayward William Bissell. Double S, double L, like the back. Yes. He's born March 28, 1962. He, by the way, we'll have to say this up front, is going to grow up to be a very large man. Yeah, talking like six four, four hundred pounds. Holy big guy. Real big guy. His height is. Some people say six four, some people say six foot. Either way, he's over six foot and he's £400. It's to up. Very big guy. But I saw more references saying he was 6 4. Okay, we're gonna go with that. So he was. He's the second son. He has an older brother and a younger brother. And his parents names are Howard and Magdalena Bissell. And. Yeah, his younger. Or. Yeah, one of his brothers is from his mother's previous marriage, his older brother Maggie. She's been married before Howard, his dad was in the US army for 19 years before they settled down in Ohio here and went to work at the Sandusky, Ohio Ford plant. And the family lived in New London. Hayward, according to relatives and friends, was a, quote, constant complainer. Really absolute complained and complained. By the way, this is a lot of. This is from a book and I'll give you the name of the author at the end of this, too. Yeah, he complained a lot. Never be satisfied. One of his family members said he was always griping. He griped as a child and he griped as an adult. Just always bitching, never happy. We'll talk about it. He's got a lot of problems. He's never liked authority and that sort of thing. Wouldn't. If his father said, do anything. Father said, eat dinner. He'd say, I'll starve. It's just. He's not going to do anything. His dad said, all right. Wants to go against his dad. Behavioral problems from jump at home, at school. Never. Just didn't want to follow the rules.

[Jimmy Whisman]

What is that?

[James Petragallo]

Never wanted to follow the rules. Didn't want to do things that didn't interest him. I get that in school because I was like that. I'd have a 50 in one class and a 97 in one class. I don't like that class is why. Yeah, I don't care about math, but I really like history. It's one of those things where. But that's not really with him. He doesn't like to work at All.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He doesn't like anything.

[James Petragallo]

No, he just doesn't like to work. He doesn't like to do things. He's pretty damn lazy. And one of his family members said he abhors work and avoids working. Hates it. So he had a couple of minor accidents as a child that had some head injuries.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh.

[James Petragallo]

And they didn't really get him checked out. So it was not like. Yeah, they were like, he's fine. He's still walking around. Oh, boy. You remember your name? Hayward. Okay, good. Yeah. Get out there and go play. So that's a problem. On one occasion, he told family members that he got down on his knees and saw a bright light as a child after a head injury. That's not good at all. The relative later is speculating whether that could have been an early indication of mental problems, either based on head injuries or not, because he's got a lot of mental problems as he gets older. Oh, yeah. This guy makes Pocket Robin look like the picture of sanity. He really does.

[Jimmy Whisman]

What's he do?

[James Petragallo]

Well, he attended New London Elementary School. Some classes, he had A's, some classes, he had Cs. No. Couldn't really pin him down academically here. He told mental health counselors later on that he fought frequently when he was in school, but for some reason never got suspended or expelled. I don't know if that's just the time period. Yeah, that's early 70s.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Or you wait until after school, maybe. Generally nobody bothered with it then.

[James Petragallo]

I think early 70s. If it's two boys and they both wanted to fight, I think you just go, don't do that anymore. It's not like it is now. Where they make it like, well, you do still.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Even if they do want to fight, you still got to explain to somebody's parent why their kid came home bloody.

[James Petragallo]

I think back then, though, you expected your kid to come home. I got in a fight. Okay. Boys fight. Boys will be boys. Like, that's how it used to be, you know? Now boys aren't allowed to fight anymore.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah. And. And the parents want to. The other parents.

[James Petragallo]

That's what I mean. Crazy. Yeah. When I was a kid, if I came home with a black eye, somebody would have said, who'd your mouth off to?

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah, what'd you do?

[James Petragallo]

Yeah, what'd you do? Stupid.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That would have been, what'd you do?

[James Petragallo]

Yeah. It wouldn't have been, what did someone do to you? It'd be like, what'd you do to cause that? It's exactly what they would have said to me.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I'M bullied every day. No, you're not. You're a mouthy fuck.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah. Stop being a fucking mouthy dick. So he drops out of school after the 10th grade and. Yeah. Leaving school partly due to use of drugs and alcohol, which he started in his early teens too.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Sure.

[James Petragallo]

So he just. He doesn't like listening. So I don't think anyone's gonna.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah. And being fucked up is fun.

[James Petragallo]

That's what I mean. It's a good time when you're 15. So in 1979, he enlists in the army.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Good.

[James Petragallo]

He went to Cleveland and enlisted in the Army. He was trained as a motor transport operator and qualified as an Expert on the M16. Spent most of his enlistment station all around. He was in Germany for a while. Here's some accolades, actually, in the Army. He actually listened. He did what he was told.

[Jimmy Whisman]

There was consequences.

[James Petragallo]

Well, yeah, but I mean, he never cared about those at home. Yeah, but he must have been interested in. This is all I can imagine. Because it seems like whether there's consequences or not, he's not going to listen to authority. I mean, in the army you don't listen to authority. They kick you out. That's all. He would have got kicked out. We've heard of a million guys get kicked out of the army on the show. But he liked it, I think. Really. He gets a citation here for meritorious performance. Did well, they said, from 79 to August of 81. During this period while assigned to the 102nd Quartermaster Company. This is from his commanding officer. He excelled in his performance of duties as a heavy vehicle operator and was responsible for the timely delivery of aviation fuels to the 101st Airborne Division.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Wow.

[James Petragallo]

So that's an important job.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He's driving a gas truck.

[James Petragallo]

A gas truck to the 101st Airborne. This is an important job.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Big deal.

[James Petragallo]

It's a big deal. And supported units from there. His devotion to his duty reflects great credit upon himself, the 102nd Quartermaster Company and the United States Army.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Wow.

[James Petragallo]

Nobody ever said that about him before. And maybe that's also a thing. If he doesn't like home, maybe he gets out of. Gets out of home. And maybe. I don't know. Maybe. I don't know what it is, but you know what I'm saying? Like, he might have found a niche here.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

Where he. He liked getting credit for things and, you know.

[Jimmy Whisman]

And you're driving a pretty cool vehicle. Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

That's fun. Maybe he likes it. It's better than, you know, English class, probably. Maybe he wasn't Interested in fucking Catcher in the Ride, but he was interested in this.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I wouldn't mind doing landscaping if I get to drive a bobcat every day. That's so much fun.

[James Petragallo]

That's a good time. Y. Yeah. Or if it wasn't outside, I'd like that.

[Jimmy Whisman]

There's that too. Landscaping inside, that'd be nice.

[James Petragallo]

I'd love to landscape inside if. Like some ferns or something. I'll just drive the bobcat around your living room and trim them up a little bit and then leave.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Boy, do I love a bobcat.

[James Petragallo]

Oh, they're fun as shit. Hey, everybody. Just gonna take a quick break from the show to tell you about our safest sponsor, Simply Safe. We love Simplisafe. Easy to say. We love it. You make decisions all day long. That's all we do. But one of the easiest decisions we've ever had to make make is to secure our homes and offices with Simplisafe. They're so good. When you arm that system, you know that your family's gonna be protected. I do. I know. I'm like, everything's protected. My pets are protected. My. My stuff is protected. It's fantastic. You could. Whether you're stepping out for the day, whether you're gonna go to sleep at night, that is gonna give you peace of mind. Just knowing that you are gonna be secure in there. You can focus on what matters. I rest easier. I can go about my day knowing that if anything happens at all, floods, fires, burglaries, whatever happens, Simplisafe has got my back. They have me covered, and they give me confidence, and I like it. Visit simplisafe.comsmall to claim 50% off a new system with a professional monitoring plan and get your first month free. That's S I M p l I safe.com small there's no safe like Simplisafe. Now back to the show. Hey, everybody. Just gonna take a quick break from the show to tell you about some very fashionable folks at Quint's. We ordered from Quint's, and we got cool stuff. Jimmy has these legendary linen pants that people have been talking about for a long time. And we'd say new items, but the linen pants are just. That's what gets people's attention, and they work well. I got a cool jacket and some sunglasses that I am the jacket. I gotta kind of retire. I'm going into it. Gotta get some new stuff as it's time to switch up. And Quince is the way to do it here. They have exactly what you're Looking for lighter layers, better fabrics and prices that won't make you cringe with horror. Right now. We're not big shoppers. We don't go out and shop that much. We have conversations of we don't know what to dress like. Quint's helps. That's it. Go to Quint's.

[Jimmy Whisman]

So much easier.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah, they got everything you want. I ordered a few things and now I'm gonna order more stuff for the spring coming up and get my outfits working for the road. And no stress, no overthinking it. Elevate your closet with Quince. Go to Quince.com for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. That's Quince. Q-U-I-N C E.com Smalltown Murder to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com Smalltown Murder.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Now back to the show.

[James Petragallo]

So Hayward found a real. Or. Hey. Yeah. He found a real nice niche here. He liked the regimented lifestyle. He liked being have a plan and a time. If you give this guy too much time, he doesn't know what to do with it.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

And he just fucks off. But if you schedule him, it seems to work better. So he does all of that. He has an honorable discharge in August of 1985, which is fine. That sounds good. So he might have straightened his life up. They're thinking, figure it out. Following this, he worked as a security guard in Toledo and in Norwalk. He's gonna live in Norwalk for a long time. No, no. Norwalk, Ohio. Yeah. We've done an episode on it. I think. I'm pretty sure back in the day, he worked at the Fanny Farmer candy factory and at a McDonald's on Milan Avenue as a security guard in both of these. So it's weird, though, that candy factory comes up again.

[Jimmy Whisman]

There's a fanny farmer. Huh.

[James Petragallo]

Think about. Yeah. Fanny farm, though. Fanny Farmers. Yeah, the candy. The, like, box again. Yeah.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I don't think I've ever seen it. Real east coast thing, huh?

[James Petragallo]

Maybe. Yeah. I think. I don't. I think it is. Yeah. I think it's regional. It might be region.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I've never even heard of it.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah. Because I think. Yeah. They have the. Sarah likes the milk mint meltaways. I think. Farmer. I think it's Midwestern too.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Maybe so.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah.

[Jimmy Whisman]

So Cadbury's exotic for Arizona.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah. No, well, it is English.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Is it?

[James Petragallo]

Yeah. Cadbury is an Englishman. That's why the chocolate's different.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's exotic as.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah. How the chocolate's like, not so sweet. Milky.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's nice.

[James Petragallo]

That's English chocolate. It's different. Yeah, we. We hear. Then we have, like, that sharp chocolate. It's got a. I like the English.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I guess that's why I had an English guy on the fucking commercial. Huh? Yeah, yeah.

[James Petragallo]

It's Cadbury.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Makes all the sense.

[James Petragallo]

You didn't know that? No fucking clue, man. It's good. So he basically has a bad back. He says he hurt his back in the army and then reheard it as a security guard at the. Got the candy factory. By the way, keep certain things in mind here. Army, candy factory.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Injuries.

[James Petragallo]

Injuries. Think about things like injuries. No, other things. Pretty soon, by the middle of this episode, there's going to be a lot of parallels to somebody that you've heard of before. Very, very much so. It's one of those things. So candy factory, army. So far, he's 2 for 2 with somebody that we've heard of a lot. Then he. I think. I don't know if he's really hurt his back. He might, because he's £400 by now.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Wow.

[James Petragallo]

But at the same time, he might have just figured out a way to not have to work.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

And say his back hurt. Say he heard it in the army. And so he gets.

[Jimmy Whisman]

And then he gets sympathy.

[James Petragallo]

Well, he gets disability, too. And also he's got a lot of depression, too. He's got a lot of mental problems that are really starting to cook up here now. What do you do when you're not. Things aren't going well in your life and your mental problems are bubbling to the surface. Got to get married. Obviously, that'll fix everything.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I mean, if you got somebody to.

[James Petragallo]

Help, that'll do it. October 11, 1985. Don't get help. Get married. That's right. Drag someone else into this mess.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That's what you do anything to not.

[James Petragallo]

Go to therapy, man. So 10-11-85, he marries Sherry Jane Brown. February of 86, they have a little girl.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Fuck, they are horny.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah. That is. Yeah. I think that's why they got married. She was pregnant. Yeah, right. That's too early. That's why they got married.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That's not enough time.

[James Petragallo]

So things at first were a little bit normal. Then Hayward became more and more threatening toward his wife, and they had a lot of arguments. And that's when he started getting treatment for psychiatric illness during the first year of their marriage. She said, you got a problem, you gotta go fix yourself here. There's a lot more problems, though. By 1980, 9. It's really getting bad. January 29, 1989. They lived on Chestnut street in Norwalk, Ohio. And Sherry said that she was assaulted by Hayward and filed domestic charge violence charges against him. In the affidavit she gave at the police department, she claimed an argument had started in the early afternoon in the kitchen of their home. Hayward had slapped her and knocked her into the refrigerator and then told her to go into the bedroom. He followed at her. He followed her, yelling at her and threatening to, quote, drive her crazy so he could have her put away. Oh, which is pretty pot. Calling the kettle black here, like this is, you know, some psychotic shit. Telling her, that's wild. That's some crazy, manipulative shit. She said he then pressed his fist against her face, which is a giant fist. You see my fist? It's pretty big. We're the same height. Imagine If I was £400.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's just a slow motion punch.

[James Petragallo]

Beefier. He pressed it and he said that he was. Put it through her head. Oh, that's not great. She said. He slapped me and I started to scream. Then he pushed me up against the wall and hit both sides of my head. I got in the shower and told him to leave me alone, and he slapped me again on the side of the head and banged my head against the shower and knocked me down.

[Jimmy Whisman]

What the fuck?

[James Petragallo]

That is not cool. Obviously. He walked away, but then stopped and turned around and asked if she was okay. Yeah. Their daughter Crystal, at that time was four years old, and she thought that he just told her that mom fell in the shower. That's why she's hurt. So Sherry said he threatened to take my daughter away and have me put away. She also said that he told her that if he was put in jail, he'd get out and make her life miserable, which he's kind of already doing.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That's what you do.

[James Petragallo]

That's what I mean. Well, more miserable. I mean, at least she'll be gone.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Vacation.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah. Sherry would said, okay, fine. Then waited until he left the house, and then she called the police to report everything. Officers came, and Sherry asked them to follow her to her mother's home so she could drop her daughter off, and then went to the police station to press charges. Right away, she began divorce proceedings.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, great.

[James Petragallo]

She's too healthy for this. That's what that says. If someone hits you once and you go, oh, yeah, great. Get out of the house. Then you go right to the police station, get your kid out of there and file divorce, you're very healthy. Sure, you're not used to that. You didn't grow up getting the shit beaten out of you, and you're not going to take it from this person. So that's good for Crystal, but, you know, not good for this relationship, obviously. So she did that. On March 20, she was at the police station again after Hayward had an encounter with her brother Leonard. So he just doesn't stop. According to Sherry's statement, Hayward said to Leonard, I can't understand after so many years of loving her, why she wants to divorce me. Gee, I wonder why. I just wanted to beat her a little bit. It's crazy. Why would she want to get out of that and leave all this? He told Leonard, this is a quote from Sherry in the affidavit. He told Leonard that he thinks I'm having relations with my girlfriend. Oh, yeah. And that I. That if I keep fucking with him, quote, paybacks are a bitch. So, yeah, wow, she said. Goes on to say, he said he'd have. He'd have that kid, one way or another, taken away, and if not, he will live on welfare. And I can ram the $20 a month support check up my ass. Up my ass.

[Jimmy Whisman]

$20.

[James Petragallo]

$20. What is that buying him?

[Jimmy Whisman]

Nothing.

[James Petragallo]

Nothing, Nothing.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Ram it.

[James Petragallo]

What is it? Does it say ram it? Ram it. Quote, ram the $20 a month support check up my ass, which is an odd threat to make. I'll give it to you, but it's going to be uncomfortable.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah, Ram.

[James Petragallo]

Ram it up my ass. Now there's that. And wow. Ram it up my ass. So $20. That doesn't buy, like, cereal for the month for a kid. Like breakfast cereal. That's crazy.

[Jimmy Whisman]

And. And what is that, 80, 86.

[James Petragallo]

89.

[Jimmy Whisman]

89.

[James Petragallo]

Can't keep a kid in Lucky Charms for fucking for a month when that.

[Jimmy Whisman]

What were those? $3 a box, then.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah, you can't keep a kid in frosted Flakes. There's no way just gonna go through it. So. She also said that he had not otherwise bothered her in any way since the last court hearing other than that, and had not threatened anyone that she knew of other than her brother. She said, I just want this reported in case something happens. So then Leonard Brown, the brother, came to the police station and said, I don't want Hayward bothering me no more about the divorce. That's his quote. In an affidavit, he recounted the threats that Hayward had made to him regarding his sister and adding that Hayward said he could have the court take custody of the daughter. He said also Hayward is telling people in front of me and to me that Sherry is gay and that she left him for another woman, which I can say she's not. Clearly, not now. So he said, I tried to call him a couple. I tried to tell him a couple weeks ago that I didn't want to hear it anymore and that he shouldn't be running my sister down in front of me. Hayward also told me that the time that if I didn't shut up, he will, quote, beat my brains out, and there will be nothing left in my head. I've never heard that threat before. I've heard, I'll beat your brains out, but never till there's nothing left in your head.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I've heard, beat your brains in.

[James Petragallo]

I never heard, out, in, out. I'll give you that. But I never heard until there's nothing left. This is an empty skull.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Just keep shaking it.

[James Petragallo]

Wow. When officers asked the brother if he thought Hayward would try to do something to Sherry, he said he didn't think he would hurt her, but he believed that he would try to get even in some way. And he also told police that while Hayward was married to his sister, he, quote, threatened to cut her up into little pieces and feed her to. And feed her to her own mother. Oh, he's creative. I'll give him that. That's a creative threat. That's insane and creative.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Feed him to the dog is one thing. Feed him to your family is one. Feed it to your mother. That's very specific.

[James Petragallo]

This is why sometimes great artists are insane, because no one even thinks of that.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Nobody thinks to say that.

[James Petragallo]

Imagine if he was crazy, but not in a violent way. In, like, a weird, artistic. He might come up with some weird shit nobody ever saw before, but instead.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He'S a violence artist.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah, he's a til.

[Jimmy Whisman]

There's nothing left, and feed it to your mother.

[James Petragallo]

That's it till your mother beat his brains out. And then I'll feed those to your mother, also your brother's brains. So the divorce was granted on 3-29-89. Sherry retained custody of the daughter, and Hayward has visitation rights, though. So on April 12, they filed an agreement that allowed him to have visitation on alternate weekends and holidays. So things seem to be fine. Problem is, he's getting weirder and weirder.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah. I'm shocked that they gave him any kind of custody based on.

[James Petragallo]

Based on threats.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah, those. Threats of violence.

[James Petragallo]

The reason for the divorce?

[Jimmy Whisman]

Like, crazy violence.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

But he had never. He was never even accused of having any violence or anything toward the child. So there's no way they could. It's hard. And 89, too, wasn't the same very.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Early on that they don't realize that sometimes violence on the kid is directed towards her to make her upset.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah, true. Some people will beat their kids and not their wife. Some people beat their wife and other kids. Who knows what weird. Obviously, if you're beating your wife or your kids, there's some switch that's been flipped that shouldn't be flipped. So you know what I mean? It's obviously a weird quirk. Quirk is a nice way to put it, but quirk of the brain is what I mean. Quirk of your mental illness, not domestic violence.

[Jimmy Whisman]

What a quirk.

[James Petragallo]

What a quirk. Yeah, it's a quirky, real quirky, that is. No, your brain is not the activity of it, but the brain. It's a quirk that'll whatever one thing over another. So there's indications of other problems here. He had a lot of rage, obviously. He's got several weird incidents of assault that we'll talk about here. He's. He'll end up in mental hospitals on and off and clinics, basically nine different institutions throughout this region. He's going to end up in the next 10 years or so.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That's a father.

[James Petragallo]

It's a lot. Yeah. He's got visitation rights. Daddy can't pick you up because he's in the mental hospital. So again, yeah, I'm playing basketball with Chief.

[Jimmy Whisman]

See you around.

[James Petragallo]

See you soon. So very few of the dozens of medical and psychologist psychological professionals who treated him, they never got together and went, wow, this guy's really nuts. He just went to different places. So nobody ever got like a real cumulative mountain of his crazy here. So he usually came to the facilities and checked himself in voluntarily. So then they can't keep him.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Right.

[James Petragallo]

So he can leave whenever he check himself back out in a day or two, and there's nothing they could do about it. So, yeah, one of the doctors told one of his relatives, there's nothing we can do to keep him here since he comes in of his own free will. They were like, why don't you keep him here? And they're like, like, what do you want to do? Yeah, you get him dragged here, then we can hold him, but otherwise we can't do shit. July 5, 1989. A woman comes to the police station to report that her 1985 Ford pickup truck had been damaged while parked downtown. There'd been a fight between Hayward and another man, she said, which was witnessed by a friend of hers who saw the right fender and hood of her truck damaged during the fight. She said that Hayward told her he would be responsible for taking care of the damage and don't worry about it.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

So that's just one of his punched kick driven into. We don't know. No clue. I assume he ran the guy's head into it. Probably.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Or himself.

[James Petragallo]

Or himself. So December 1991, he had some problems with a landlord who reported to police that he received some frightening threats from Hayward.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Brains beat.

[James Petragallo]

Now landlords. We'll find out. Landlord said that he came into his office at the Dreamland Motel.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Nice.

[James Petragallo]

It's not a landlord. That's a clerk. Let's call it a clerk. There's no landlord at a motel. Sorry. And threatened to cut the man's mail into small pieces because Bissell believed his own mail was being returned to the post office. He said, you're stealing my mail and returning it, so I'm gonna take all your mail and cut it into little pieces.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Another crazy threat.

[James Petragallo]

Crazy throw over mail.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Who's ever said, I'll cut your mail into tiny pieces?

[James Petragallo]

Your mail into tiny pieces? Nobody. That's what I mean. So then the man, at that point, the man called his wife into the office in order to have a witness to the threats here. So he couldn't stop, though. He said, I don't like people from foreign countries.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Okay.

[James Petragallo]

All right, I'm going to kill one of them when it gets dark, I'm going to hurt somebody, them or their children. He says, cut your mail up and possibly kill your children. We'll see. That's the evening, though. I gotta see my dinner plans first. But I might kill your kids this evening. We'll find out. We don't know. So obviously this guy freaked out a little bit. So then he says he wasn't going to pay the rent so the landlord could, quote, see how it feels. Don't know what that means. So this guy said, the landlord said, me and my family, we're afraid of him. He's a big fellow.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Sounds like it.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah. Imagine having this gigantic crazy person in the office making all these threats to you. That's got to be terrifying. Holy shit. So in 1991, in June, obviously your life's going terrible.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

You're living in a Dreamland Motel. You're on Social Security. You have no job. Yeah. You're not seeing your. Your kids at all. Probably by now.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

Your ex and all that. Your life's a fucking disaster. So you should get married again.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Again.

[James Petragallo]

And he gets married. Yeah, he marries Teresa Goebbel. They have a daughter as well. Stop impregnating people, you crazy shit. They separate after a few years, but the divorce never really. Never really actually get a divorce. Really just kind of lingers in the background there. They said that there's a history of domestic violence in this marriage too. No documentation, though. She never reported it to the police.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Really?

[James Petragallo]

Yeah, because he found someone that the first wife wasn't taken. First time he beat the shit out of her, she went, police, divorce, take the kid, fuck that. So he knew, I gotta find a.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Woman who can take it.

[James Petragallo]

I gotta find a woman who's had a. Who's had a fucked up past that will take this abuse. That's what I gotta do. And that's what he does. So predators know, prey figure it out. And he figured, he's not a dumb guy either. He figured it out. Yeah. So she, this woman, his second wife, denied that she ever had been afraid of him during their time together. She said they had arguments and he made threats, but she wasn't scared of him. They broke up, she said, because Bissell got to go wherever he. He got to go wherever he wanted to, basically. But he never wanted to go out while they were together. She said he didn't keep guns or knives. He was particular about putting things where they belong. He's very neat, by the way, which is. You wouldn't think that he's a big 400 pound, sloppy, crazy guy. You'd think like his. Think about the inside of his brain. There's shit everywhere, scattered socks are on the floor. It's a mess. That's what you'd imagine his living quarters would be. But he's very much regimented from the army to keep everything very neat around his quarters. It's interesting. So, yeah, she said that he did a lot of house cleaning because he wanted it done his way.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh.

[James Petragallo]

He didn't want her to do it because she wouldn't do it. Right. He wanted to clean it army style.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

So. But there's a lot of service people that are like that.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

I know a guy who's in the Air Force was like that too.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I know guys.

[James Petragallo]

He wanted real mistake. I'll clean everything. I got that.

[Jimmy Whisman]

There's like one leaf in his front yard. He'll walk over through the gravel, pick it up.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah, I got a friend like that, he was in the Air Force and he was a jet mechanic.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

So. And he like led a jet mechanic team. So you have to be extremely Intricate. One little fan blade's. That's screwed up. So that's how he was with everything.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Watched him pick up a leaf. I was like, where are you? Put it in his pocket. I'm like, do you collect those? He goes, no, I'm going to put it in the trash. Why'd you put it in your pocket?

[James Petragallo]

Yeah, you throw it in the street.

[Jimmy Whisman]

What do you do?

[James Petragallo]

So, 1997, Hayward's dad thinks he's fucking nuts. Okay? Hayward's dad said, quote, I called the doctor because they were going to discharge him from a mental hospital. I asked if he was ready to be discharged. The doctor said, he admitted himself, I have to let him go. Yeah, that's. Around this time now. He has a lot. We'll find out later. We're pretty sure he's. He's a paranoid schizophrenic, is the problem here. And things like delusions of grandeur are big for schizophrenics and for him. He would tell people things like, I'm the richest man in the world.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, boy.

[James Petragallo]

I choose to live at the Dreamland Motel and threaten people about mail. But I don't have to. He said, I own all the stores. Oh, that's good. Yeah, that's nice, he said. Then he said, quote, I'm going to be the ruler of the New World. Wow. He is.

[Jimmy Whisman]

What's going on?

[James Petragallo]

A little grandiose here. He also claimed to have had his sperm extracted.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, good.

[James Petragallo]

That sounds like he didn't jerk off. That sounds like they went in with a big plunger and pulled it out. Sperm extracted and implanted in women around the world, just all over. So you can spread a seed here. He said he's fathered thousands of children. Thousands. Thousands. He. We don't know if he thought that was true or it was just schizophrenia or what, but that's crazy shit. That's a wild claim.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

His parents moved to Florida. His dad retires, and they moved to Winter Haven, Florida, which is why I brought that up earlier. Come up here along with the youngest son, who was still young. So his older brother was in the army for several years and settled in Hawaii.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Nice choice.

[James Petragallo]

That's not bad. So Hayward seemed not particularly close to any of his family. Didn't really keep in touch with anybody. He stayed in Ohio and his parents moved to Florida. Here he lived in Greenwich at the time, which is a little south of Norwalk. And during this time, he's in and out of clinics, veterans, hospitals, treated for depression and other psychological problems. His aunt Served as his power of attorney. So he was. You're having problems when you have somebody be your power of attorney. That means you're either 85 and have Alzheimer's or 30 and crazy. One of the two. So yeah, she was the closest relative that was willing near there. She said it was completely unpleasant having to deal with all of his crazy shit.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That's the other part. It's not like he has a giant estate where if something's wrong then she gets compensated.

[James Petragallo]

It's the Dreamland Motel.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah, this is just inconvenient as fuck.

[James Petragallo]

He's threatening some Hungarian guy behind the counter. They were from eastern European. So this 97 during a clinic visit to a mental institution here. He reported to the counselor he believed his apartment was bugged and they had hidden cameras inside.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh God.

[James Petragallo]

He told doctors that he'd been given truth serum in a shot and in candy. Yeah, truth serum in those Twix. Be careful. And claimed that he was hearing voices in his head and said that various people in the community were, quote, out to get him.

[Jimmy Whisman]

And you can't keep that guy.

[James Petragallo]

Can't keep him because he came in himself. Okay, which seems like. Seems like, okay, let him go out and then tackle him when he gets to the parking lot. Drag him back in him. So we'll say now he's crazy. Ask him like two questions out there, we'll bring him back now. He's also leads kind of a dull lifestyle. He doesn't do much. A guy that knew him said he pretty much led a mundane lifestyle. He pretty much kept to himself. He said he received government assistance and didn't work.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah, I'm not going to act all fun and have a great time. There's cameras watching. I'm not giving them free content.

[James Petragallo]

They're put on YouTube in 10 years and then it's going to be a problem. He attended services once in a while at the Jehovah's Witness hall where his mother had been a member before they moved. He also is like his ex brother in law described him as pretty despondent. Said he spent his days at flea markets selling model cars, movies and knives. He's the fat guy behind the table at the flea market that has knockoff DVDs, model cars and weird knives.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Wild knives.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah, we know that guy. That's a Reno 911 character. I've seen that guy. That's crazy. So he did all of that and he would just sit around his apartment. Also in February 1998, during a hospital stay after he reported he was having depression problems and suicidal thoughts. He told doctors that the people in town, quote, spilled blood all over the roads.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

And he claimed that his alarm clock and his mind.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Same two things. Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

We're both being controlled by satellites.

[Jimmy Whisman]

My alarm clock and my mind.

[James Petragallo]

And my mind, they didn't stop at the clock. I think they're gonna go for my fridge next. I'm pretty sure they're gonna go for the refrigerator. And then you never know. The TV could be next. Anything is really on the table here. And he said that certain people in town were, quote, trying to bite off his penis.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh.

[James Petragallo]

Just coming up to him, just snapping away at his.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I would not be worried about the alarm clock.

[James Petragallo]

Are the satellites controlling the penis eaters, too? Penis biters.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That's the only thing I'd be worried about.

[James Petragallo]

Oh, my God. So, like. Oh, biting off your penis, huh? It's like a conspiracy of. People don't even know each other, all want to bite off his penis.

[Jimmy Whisman]

They're people. Well, I mean, not just one.

[James Petragallo]

Maybe they just want his sperm. It's good they hear from all the thousands of women all over the place.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Wow.

[James Petragallo]

November 17, 1998. Greenwich Police Chief Randall Kilgore was in a grocery store near his office when Hayward came into the store and began staring at him, which is not good. Big, giant guy staring at you, a little uncomfortable, and you know he's crazy.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Well, you got a gun.

[James Petragallo]

But the chief had previously dealt with him before, knew he was a nut. He nodded at him. But the guy, Bissell, didn't say shit. He just stared at him, and he said it was kind of like a. Like a mean stare. It wasn't like he was like, oh, what's going on?

[Jimmy Whisman]

Not a gawk, a stare.

[James Petragallo]

And not. Not like a kind of in another world stare. It was a I'm mad at you stare.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Mean mugging.

[James Petragallo]

He's like, what the fuck? So he. The cop just decided that he would, you know, just. He said, no, walk up and talk and just try to be nice, kill him with kindness. So he said, hey, good morning, Hayward. How you doing?

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

But he didn't respond. He just kept staring at him. So the cop just went. Shrugged and went to his office. I guess he doesn't want to fucking talk. Yeah, I'll catch up with him in about 10 minutes when he makes a scene in the grocery store and they call me back. So he didn't respond and kept going. And after 10 minutes, this guy gets back to his office. Hayward comes into his office. He says, what can I do for you, Hayward? And he just sits down, looks at him in the eye, and he says, something evil has a hold of me. Oh, all right, that's nice. We can get you some nice doctors to talk to.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Maybe a pill every day.

[James Petragallo]

So this cop asked, yeah, maybe something you can take. What kind of evil. Yeah, do you have going on? And at that point, Hayward stood up and said, it's confidential, and turned around to leave.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Thanks for telling me.

[James Petragallo]

Appreciate it.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

So at that point, right as he's leaving, the mayor of Greenwich bursts into the room and starts yelling at Hayward. So if I'm the cop, I'm like, oh, Jesus, now I got to protect the mayor from this psychopath. He says, what do you do? What were you doing sitting in my car? To Hayward.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

Now, Hayward, apparently, the mayor just bought a new Lincoln Town Car, and it was parked near the grocery store. When Hayward came out of the car, out of the store, he saw it, walked over, got in it, and sat in the. Pat sat in the driver's seat, sort of dicking with it like that.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Just pressing the buttons.

[James Petragallo]

Like, if you're looking at a car at a dealership, this is the new model. Holy shit. Finally, the AC works. That's nice. Look at that. Electric seats. Cool. That's what he did.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Just adjusting the mirror.

[James Petragallo]

So he likes big cars and he liked it. So the mayor was pissed. Yeah, crazy ass out of my car. So Hayward said, what do you want me to do, apologize? He said, okay, then I apologize. I'm sorry I got in the car. I shouldn't have done that. Now the cop said, sounded like it was sincere enough, and the mayor figured, you know what else? He's crazy. At least he didn't drive it into a wall or something. So, great. There you go. So that was a. He ended up getting out of that. He left the chief's office, and I assume the mayor and the police chief had a fun conversation about that guy and how they're gonna keep an eye on him. So in December of that year, he told psychiatrists, quote, a banshee is beaming thoughts into my head. A banshee? A banshee. Satellites, banshees, penis biters. This is a. Got a wild fucking thing going on in his brain.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Very, very fascinating man.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah. He said that he believed something had a hold of him when he visited the police chief. But one of the cops speculated that Hayward's real reason for going to see the chief was because he knew he was about to get in for getting into the mayor's car. Oh, so they say. Everybody says. A lot of people say he might be a little crazy, but he's also very crafty. He's very calculating. He's not a dumb guy. That's the thing this guy said. He went into Kilgore's office and started talking like he did about something evil possessing him. And he did it before the mayor had time to get there and to complain about him getting into his car. This follows his pattern of using his supposed mental illness problem to get himself out of trouble, is what the other cop said. Christmas Day 98. Yeah, here we go. About 11:30pm, police in the town of Newark, Ohio, received a man with a gun call at Nick Saloon on Second Street. Several officers went to the scene to respond, and a man drove up in a blue Chevy Blazer and asked them for help. The driver of the vehicle behind him, he said, had been following him riding his bumper all the way from Utica, Ohio. When an officer approached the driver and asked why he was following the Blazer. It's Bissell, obviously. And he said, quote, it's confidential. Great. When the officer said, why the fuck are you following the guy? He said, it's top secret. It's top secret. What's your clearance? Let me see, let me see if you have the capacity to be told this information. It's top secret. It's ridiculous. That's a ridiculous thing to say.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Confidential.

[James Petragallo]

Confidential. So they kept asking him, he kept saying, it's top secret. It's top secret. I'm a government agent. I know what I'm doing here. He tells the officer he's on medication for depression, which is you want all your secret agents to be on a lot of medications, a mood altering. That's what you want. He was handcuffed, taken to the police station, where it was decided that he should probably be taken to a hospital for psychological evaluation. They contact. Contacted one of Hayward's relatives who told them that he had a history of mental illness. So they were like, all right. Then they took him to the hospital and then they. He. So that's. They was at the hospital, he's still in treatment the following March, where he told the doctor that he had lice and he knew how to cure it, though. You know how he knew? The voices told him.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, what'd they say?

[James Petragallo]

Well, the voices in his head told him to, quote, urinate in his milk and drink it, and that will get rid of the lice. Never mind a little rid X.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Just drink some piss milk.

[James Petragallo]

Drink some piss milk and you're good.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, Jesus Christ.

[James Petragallo]

He said that he decided later, before he drank any of the milk with the piss in it, that it would not be in his best interest to follow this set of instructions from the voices. He said, I don't want to drink piss milk. And he didn't. So he was asking for help with lice. He didn't even have lice, by the way. He just imagined no lice.

[Jimmy Whisman]

And Gandhi's telling him how to drink piss.

[James Petragallo]

Holy shit. Can you get sick drinking piss? I think you can.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Not if it's your own.

[James Petragallo]

What if it's your own Kingpin? Sorry. Spring of 99, still living in Greenwich, he told a relative that he had a mental breakdown at that point. And he had been using. He'd been smoking weed along with his prescription drugs. This guy doesn't need weed. Or just one. He doesn't. No, no, no, no, he doesn't need weed.

[Jimmy Whisman]

What do you think he needs?

[James Petragallo]

Prescription medication that fucking keeps the voices at bay and keeps them psychotics. Keep him from drinking piss milk. That's. Yeah.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Tranquilizers.

[James Petragallo]

And if anything. Yeah, I don't know. I don't think weed is the right thing for him here. He was cooking a meal in his apartment one evening, he said, and believed he must have fallen asleep and left a pot on the stove. When he woke up, his apartment was on fire. And the next thing he knew, he said he was standing outside in the snow with firemen. There's that. So he was taken to a hospital for treatment of a burn he received on his arm. And after taking a couple looks at him and talking to him for a couple minutes, the emergency room staff said, there's another place I think we should take him, probably. And it's not here.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I've heard of another hospital.

[James Petragallo]

It's interesting. A relative of his said. He told me he tried to escape twice, but he said that he got caught both times before getting off the property. He's 6 4, £400. No, you're not slipping out the bathroom window, chief.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Stuck around even when the wall was down.

[James Petragallo]

Too big, man. Too big? No, but this guy, you see this guy running through the parking lot in a fucking hospital gown? I think that's noticeable, probably. This show, Small Town Murder, is sponsored by BetterHelp. Get yourself some therapy, everybody. We are huge proponents of therapy. You, I need therapy. Jimmy needs therapy. You need therapy. We all need it. And I'm telling you, man, maintaining your mental health and everything else, it takes a lot. It takes work. It really does. You think you know, you don't, you don't know you. And it's also too. It suffers. It does. And this mental health awareness month, let's encourage everyone to take care of their well being and break this stigma that should never be there to begin with. The world is better when people are healthy and happy. And that's the truth. We, we love BetterHelp and we love therapy too. Because Jimmy is alive because of therapy. We are all better with help. Visit betterhelp.comsmalltown murder to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp. H E L p.comsmalltownmurder now back to the show. Hey listeners, it's Leon Nayfak. I'm here to tell you about a brand new series from me and prologue projects an Audible original series called Final Thoughts Jerry Spring. The story of a television show that changed the world and the man who gave it his name. But did you know that before the Jerry Springer show made him notorious all over the world, Springer was something else entirely. A respected midwestern politician. The progressive mayor of a major rust belt city. A man many saw as a future leader in democratic politics. How did this idealistic rising star with his lofty political ambitions take a turn in such a radically different direction? You can find the whole series available now on Audible. Just search for Final Thoughts Jerry Springer on the Audible app or go to audible.com Springer in the early hours of December 4, 2024, CEO Brian Thompson stepped out onto the streets of midtown Manhattan. This assailant starts firing at him and the suspect he has been identified as Luigi Nicholas Mangione became one of the most divisive figures in modern criminal history. I was meant to sow terror.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He's awoken the people to a true issue.

[James Petragallo]

Listen to law and crimes, Luigi. Exclusively on Wondery plus. You can join Wondery plus in the Wondery app, Spotify or Apple podcasts. Anyone could see that at one point here he began to describe some episodes at the institution include he said, quote, this is from a relative. He said that at one point he had a bowel movement. Okay, you know this is going somewhere weird. And was looking into the toilet when a voice told him he needed to rub the feces all over him in order to get better. At least he can self heal with his own excrements. That's nice. A mud mask, a pissed milk. You know he's doing fine. He said the voice told him that if he ate it.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh no.

[James Petragallo]

It would get into his system quicker.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah, it will.

[James Petragallo]

You know, it's like when you. You want to inject it, you don't snort it, you inject it, it's a lot faster. You know what I'm saying? That's crazy. And he would get better quicker. Yeah, but he said that he told the relative he realized, what am I thinking? And flushed the toilet. This is crazy. Don't listen to that voice.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That voice is crazy, too, but not crazy.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah, that's not crazy that he's hearing voices. Just obviously, don't listen to that asshole.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That's the wrong voice.

[James Petragallo]

Another relative said he told. He also told me he woke up to find another patient asleep in the room, and a voice told him the man was going turn into an alligator. An alligator. And eat him if he didn't either pay the man some money or beat him with a shoe. One of the two. That's the only way to get rid of an alligator. Everybody knows that. You pay him off, or you beat him with your shoe, or you give him a mud mask. That's it. Well, that's to heal them. So. Yeah, Hayward said he realized he was wearing a hospital gown and had no money, so his only other choice would be to beat the man with a shoe. Obviously. Clearly, I got nothing do to. So he then said that he asked himself what in the world he was doing and said that he realized the guy was just there for help, like he was, so he didn't do anything to him. He told the doctors during his hospital stay that federal agents had set the fire in his apartment. Yeah, in addition to the satellites and everything. I mean, they got to set a fire once in a while. He said that the government had taken away his special powers. Oh. Also that his sperm was being extracted without his knowledge and frozen.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh.

[James Petragallo]

And was being implanted in women around the world, and voices were telling him to kill himself and that he would die and go to heaven. That's what they're telling him.

[Jimmy Whisman]

So you have. Yeah, he's an interesting.

[James Petragallo]

He's got a lot of problems. In one psychological psychiatric assessment, he was described as vague, guarded, evasive, suspicious, watchful, delusional, with a bizarre thought process. Yeah, that's a lot. But he was repeatedly released to go other places, and it's not. It's not great. But he does seek help and then doesn't take the medication and then leaves earlier than they tell him to.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah, because they're not doing it right.

[James Petragallo]

No, he knows that he needs help, but then he goes to get it, and he doesn't want to do the thing that they told him to.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Do or the help just feels wrong, like it's not working.

[James Petragallo]

So obviously he's gonna be a magnet for the ladies right now. Oh, man. Four bills, empty balls. Crazier than a shithouse rat. He's doing great right now.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Drain sack.

[James Petragallo]

Drain sack. Fucking hospital gown. Doing great. So he meets a woman named Cheryl Jones and they date for about three months. Yeah, I don't know what her deal is, but. Wow. She broke up with him in July of 1999 after about three months of dating.

[Jimmy Whisman]

What happened?

[James Petragallo]

Well, she said that he had tried to get her to go to Florida with him while they were d and she didn't want to go to Florida. She said, quote, he would go to Aldi's and buy a bunch of canned food. Why does Aldi's keep coming up?

[Jimmy Whisman]

I didn't know it was so fucking. I thought it was brand new.

[James Petragallo]

I thought it was, like, in Germany to, like, five years ago. But no, it's. Apparently it was in the Midwest 25 years ago, early 90s, over 25 years ago. So he'd take a bunch of canned food, take it to his parents and.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Sell it to his parents.

[James Petragallo]

I don't know. Take it to his. He's gonna sell canned food that he bought at Aldi's for some sort of substantial profit somehow. And then he said he could get enough money to take her to Disney World.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Why don't you just not buy the cans?

[James Petragallo]

Yeah. He told her also to borrow a friend's bicycle, then sell it for $50 so they'll have some spending money at Disney World.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's called stealing.

[James Petragallo]

Wow. This lady was like, I'm not doing that. She said, toward the end of our relationship, he got violent, hateful, and mean. He tried to control my life, telling me I couldn't hang out with my friends. She also claimed that she. He was stealing money from her and all sorts of shit like that. So August of 1999, that Cheryl Jones, she introduced him to a new woman. He's crazy, probably violent, insane. Hey, let me introduce you to my friend.

[Jimmy Whisman]

And she was dating him, and now she's pawning him off on somebody else.

[James Petragallo]

On somebody else. I think social. He won't focus on her. This is Patricia Ann Boer. B O O H E R And yeah, this is interesting. Now, Cheryl accused him, the girlfriend accused him of threatening her in August of 1999, saying that he had called her home twice and threatened her. She claimed he told her to watch her back and that he was going to kill her. She's like, I'll introduce him to my friend.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I got a friend for you.

[James Petragallo]

Great friend. The confrontation came after Hayward discovered that the air had been let out of his tires during the night, so he accused her of doing it. When police asked him to come by the station for a talk, he said he didn't call her, never threatened her, and had no intention of doing so. So the cops just told both parties, stay away from each other.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Okay.

[James Petragallo]

No, more like two little kids that were fighting. You go one way, you go the other. Which is kind of weird when someone says their life has been threatened. So late August 1999 or early September, that's when Patricia Ann comes in. And Patricia is his new lady. She's younger than him. She's born in 1975, so 12 years younger, 13 years younger. Now, there's some different. We don't exactly know how they met. Some sources said they met in a group counseling session, and some sources say. We know they lived in the same apartment complex, but some sources say that the ex girlfriend introduced them. Then some people say they met in the complex. And then some people say they. They met at a counseling session. So I'm not sure, but they started dating and everything like that. She. Patricia was under the care of the Huron County Human Services Agency and was classified as, quote, mildly retarded is how the official classification here. She's very tiny. 410 a buck. Oh, five.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, boy.

[James Petragallo]

Real small fraction.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Fragile.

[James Petragallo]

And he's 6, 4, 400 pounds. That's a.

[Jimmy Whisman]

And she's wild between the ears. Slower.

[James Petragallo]

Absolutely. That's the other thing. So a very sweet woman and everything like that and not actually like. Does a lot. We'll talk about Patricia here. She grew up in a trailer. She had a tough life.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

When you hear about her father, she had. Something bad happened to this poor girl. Yeah. She grew up in a trailer near the town of Olena, Ohio. Her sister Charlene was there with her, and her cousins live next door in the trailer. So, you know, she had some kids around, but their life. Their life wasn't great. She was. Patricia was repeatedly molested as a child. And we'll talk about by who in a minute here. Despite this, she keeps a really upbeat spirit and is not a. She's really upbeat and she keeps going. She'd play with her sister for hours and wouldn't be despondent or anything like that. Patricia was shy and quiet, liked animals and dancing and music and that sort of thing. She wanted to be in sports, but she had asthma and couldn't participate. So she Was sad about that here. People say she's always. She likes to joke around and stuff like that. She's shy and quiet with outsiders, comfortable with her family. And she said that. Everybody says she's a very happy person. She loves country music. Super into Vince Gill. That's her man.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That right.

[James Petragallo]

Loves her some. Vince Gil, baby. He loves it.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He's terrific.

[James Petragallo]

And she had a collection of troll dolls as well.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah, if.

[James Petragallo]

I don't know if kids know what a troll doll is. Oh, do kids know what troll doll?

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yes, they do, because Justin Timberlake was in a movie called the Trolls.

[James Petragallo]

That's true. That's true, that's true, that's true. So the trolls with the hair. So, yeah, they said she's always very polite. Very much. Thank you. You're welcome. That type of person. Very nice. One of her cousins said she was a quiet person, but after you got to know her, she wouldn't shut up. She loved to talk. That's nice. So, yeah, they grow up and they're raised by their father and grandmother. Their mother left when the children were young. But in recent years, when Patricia became an adult, she rekindled a relationship with her mother and often talked to her. There's a reason why her mother left, but I really wish her mother would have taken her fucking daughters with her. As we'll find out here. She never got along with her father for good reason. Her sister Charlene said I was her only close family. She told me if she ever lost me, she'd be alone and she'd have no one.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, Christ.

[James Petragallo]

In school, they said that she. You couldn't tell that she was having trouble at home because she's so happy and cheerful. You just didn't see. And some kids are like that, no matter what's going on.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

They have that weird upbeat.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

Thing. You know what I mean? So I don't know if that's a. They have. They. Their brain does that to compensate. They want it to be like. I don't know.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I've met a lot of friends from.

[James Petragallo]

From high school not to be. Okay.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah. In the. In the past 10 years or whatever, I've talked to a few friends from high school. Several girls were molested. While I was in high school, These. These people were being molested.

[James Petragallo]

Oh, yeah. Yeah. And you didn't know.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Had no clue.

[James Petragallo]

No clue.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I was always jealous of their lives. They all looked so happy and they were a mess.

[James Petragallo]

While in high school, they were being molested.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

That starts way early.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

Because, you know, when no One just starts molesting a 15 year old. That's. You've been molested since you were five.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's been bad for a while.

[James Petragallo]

That's what that is. Yeah. That's horrifying. Horrifying. They said that she was good in school. She went to Western Reserve Middle School near Norwalk. And they said she's a quiet, hard working girl who got good grades. That's what I mean. She's literally medically mildly retarded but still gets good grades because she works hard.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah. And school is like a place.

[James Petragallo]

She likes it, it's safe, it's a refuge. No one's molesting her. It's great.

[Jimmy Whisman]

She keeps her pants on there.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah. So the teacher said she was the nicest kid. She almost always had a smile on her face. She wouldn't say a nasty word to another kid. If you could have an ideal student, Patty would be that kid. They said that she went to high school. They said she was. One person said she was just a very nice girl, very sweet. Everyone seemed to like Patty. They said she put forth a lot of effort in school and she tried to do her best. She was in the ehove general merchandising program. Ehove, I don't know what that is. Which they said gave her a lot of self confidence and made her more outgoing. One of her friends said you could just tell it was for her. We really saw changes in her. We really felt confident that she was going to be successful. She loved to please people. If you gave her any positives, she would just gleam. Everyone really liked Patty because I'm sure she's never got that at home. You know, one person said if you didn't like Patty, you didn't like yourself.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Look in the mirror means you hate yourself.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah. This is about you, not her. After high school, she began having bouts of deep depressions because it caught up to her. I mean, that's just normal. During the course of her treatment, she began attending meetings of an organization called the Friendship Club. Wow. A support group for young adults with mental and emotional problems. She made a number of new friends and gained some self confidence. She joined a church and started volunteering at a local clothing bank and stuff like that. She keeps active too. That's the other thing. She does not want to not do anything. She doesn't have a job and she'll be on disability, but she does a lot of volunteer work. She keeps herself busy now. 1994, Patricia's dad gets what's fucking coming to him. Vernon is his Name this utter and complete pile of fucking human shit. Here. Wow. First of all, her grandmother, whom Patricia and Charlene were both close to, died that year. Then her father, Vernon, was sentenced to 10 to 25 years in prison, hopefully 25, for quote, rape and gross sexual imposition involving two girls, 7 and 9, who lived in his trailer park. This wasn't even his daughters that he was molesting. He was done with them.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He got caught outside.

[James Petragallo]

Yes.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah, he grew up.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah, they grew up. No interest anymore. So he looked for kids in the trailer park.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Vern.

[James Petragallo]

Piece of shit. This guy.

[Jimmy Whisman]

In the trailer park.

[James Petragallo]

In the trailer park. So he's sent to prison. Good. But that's. This monster is who she grew up with, with no mother around. That's horrifying. April 21, 1995. She writes a journal over the years so you can just little things about her like that day she talks about she really met a guy that she likes and, you know, she said that she couldn't stand to be without him and she likes him and said he's really fun and looked good in jeans and was a good kisser. Like a teenager basically would say that, that some 16 year old would write, oh my God, you know this guy, he's so cute. We were at the party and whatever the fuck. So. So she wrote I'm in heaven. And then she would write about stress. She wrote about a really scary dream she had. She dreamed her ex boyfriend walked up to her door nude. And she said she wasn't attracted to him anymore. She said he was a sex maniac and did obscene things in strange places. She wrote he masturbates and other stuff. Yeah, yeah, before they broke up, I guess. He began stealing little things when he came to visit and she eventually stopped answering the door when he came around. And then she would. He would call him all the time. He would call her all the time. She said, I think he pranks me sometimes. So. Yeah. She also wrote she was really scared of him at one point. She wrote about like she met a girl that she liked and wanted to be friends with and the girl didn't want to be friends with her and she was sad, like stuff like that. Yeah, she's. It's like a. It's like it looks like a teenager stuff, you know, which is, you know, she's just writing it down. So 1999 is when she's living in the same complex as Hayward. These are people you don't want to meet.

[Jimmy Whisman]

No.

[James Petragallo]

You want to keep her as far away from this guy. As possible. This is at the Firelands Village apartment complex. So they're both living in the complex. They were introduced by the ex girlfriend. I suppose she brought this girl to him. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. This is who she introduced him to, the ex girlfriend. This is who. I mean, your sacrificial lamb is what you're doing here. This is great. They made an odd couple, obviously, because she's literally a quarter of his size in weight. This is weird. Like, Sarah and I have a big height difference, but I don't weigh 500 pounds. You know what I mean? That would make it even look weirder. But so, yeah, it's interesting. So one of Bissell's former brother in law said, of all people, her, look at him and look at her. It's like an elephant stepping on an ant. So, yeah, she lived alone in her apartment. They both had their own apartment. At this point, she's volunteering for a local support group for people seeking solace or friendship. The one we talked about, volunteering at the Norwalk Salvation army, helping at a soup kitchen and stocking food shelves for a food bank. These are all really nice things to do. Really nice things. An active member of her church and all that kind of shit. So she's doing great. She's receiving disability checks and doing all that. Her aunt said after she met Hayward, she said she didn't talk about him. She was never a very good judge of character when it came to boyfriends. So I think she knew her aunt knows that and doesn't tell her aunt about her relationships. Now, Cheryl Jones, Bissell's ex girlfriend, who introduced them, warned her about him. Why'd you introduce them? Wow. She said, quote, he was nice in the beginning, Then he got mean. This is Jones. I believe he could do something evil. He is evil. I tried to warn Patricia. I tried to tell her he was mean and evil and he wants to control your life. Hayward and Patricia here, they said that he is controlling of her and sometimes borderline stalks her. One neighbor, Joanne Bloodheart, said he controlled her every move, where she went and who she spoke with. He would stand there and watch if she left the apartment, if he, if she came here, he would call.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Weird.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah, real weird. I would say in October. I mean, he did want to give himself a shit facial. So, yeah, you know, this is probably right in line with that kind of behavior.

[Jimmy Whisman]

This is piss milk behavior, let's just.

[James Petragallo]

Say aberrant behavior all around. So October 99, while they're going out, he threatens a clinic In Ohio. He calls a clinic, a mental health clinic and said, quote, if you don't get my meds, I'll make a visit to your office and you'll be sorry you ever heard of me.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Okay.

[James Petragallo]

So he was actually getting a pain medication filled at a drugstore. He was all fucked up and didn't realize it. So he called back and apologized. He's like, I'm sorry. No charges were filed because he apologized. He had occasionally seen doctors at the clinic, but as a result of the threats, they told him he can't come back anymore. You don't want to deal with that guy. They were helping him. He's still mad. So December 1999, he's acting a little bit. Bit fucking weird, let's just say that. A little bit weird. He stopped by his ex wife's brother's house. Remember the one he was threatening Leonard? And Leonard said, quote, he kept saying that night, we need friends. We need to be there for our friends. Like, all right, whatever, bro. So he said they sat. He sat at the kitchen table, sipping water and occasionally talking nonsense about being on a mission.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

Quote, unquote. An hour later, he got into his. By now he's got a Lincoln Town Car.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Nice.

[James Petragallo]

So he wanted that. It's an older model, but it's like the exact one the mayor had. It's like a big 89 Lincoln Town Car. It's hilarious. He's like, I'll get that car someday when it's old enough to afford it.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

An hour later, he got into the Town Car and left, saying he was going to go see his girlfriend Patty, who lived in his apartment complex. So that's weird. More strange behavior here. Very strange. Now, she was happy at first. Patty was. Patricia was happy to be with him and that sort of thing. And he ends up giving her an engagement ring.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh.

[James Petragallo]

Which she shows off. She's excited about it. Patricia. He's not even divorced yet, by the way. Remember, that second marriage is still there. So apparently, though, she started to become fearful of him over December, especially of 1999. One of the neighbors said he would yell at her and hit her for the slightest thing and increasingly talk about being on a mission from God.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, boy.

[James Petragallo]

The neighbor urged her to leave him, but she said she couldn't. She said, he'll hurt me. Her sister Charlene. Patty's sister Charlene said that she had an engagement ring and talked about marriage plans, but she wasn't sure about it. She said about Hayward, he was very controlling and possessive from what she told Me so controlling that he demanded Patricia use all her money to pay off her bills. She had no cash left to buy Christmas presents for her family. So Patricia also talked about how Hayward had precise orders on how to wash dishes and do his laundry. Oh, do it yourself, fat ass. There you go. Really easy. Fucking explanation for that. Yeah, that's all. There's the fucking sink. Knock yourself out. He wouldn't let her go anywhere. She said he would only give her so much time to do something. I guess if she didn't get back on time, she would be very upset. The sister said she would try to prod Patricia to consider maybe ending this relationship. I guess Patricia broke up with him once, but then later told her sister that she was afraid of hurting his feelings. She didn't want to hurt his feelings because he's a nice guy. So Patricia seemed torn about the relationship. Basically, they're going to. For the last two weeks of 1999, they're going to break up and get back together, like, five times. She's going to leave him. She's going to. And then she'll take him back because he talks her into it. And. Yeah, another neighbor here said that Patricia was more than just a good friend and a neighbor. She said, Patty was like a daughter to me. Patty was five weeks pregnant.

[Jimmy Whisman]

What?

[James Petragallo]

We find that out in January coming up. She said that she didn't believe that Patricia was willing, was having a good time here in this relationship. This woman said, I was going to help her raise the child.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Really?

[James Petragallo]

Then she said she didn't like to be too far away from me. This lady seems to have a pretty exalted opinion of herself. So, yeah, she said that all he'd do is scream at her and watch her out the front window. So they broke up before Christmas. Patricia told her sister that after that that she was engaged to him again, though, and that they made up. So she also said that Hayward was upset with her because she didn't have any money left to buy Christmas presents, even though he was the one who told her to spend all the money. Patricia complained earlier that Hayward was too possessive and all that kind of thing. So January 13, 2000, Patricia gives the ring back and breaks up with him.

[Jimmy Whisman]

She's done.

[James Petragallo]

She's done. Began going back to the Friendship Club, and also she does Avon sales. Oh, yeah, that's what she does now. At a meeting on January 13th at Avon. Avon meeting. She told a friend that during the time she was apart from Hay, she had dated a young man she met at the club. And Said that she had fallen in love with him. But despite that, she reconciled with Hayward a week later, even though she was in love. She's very much in love one day and in love with somebody else. Like a. Like a. Like a teenager.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

During the first few days they were apart. A friend persuaded Patricia to stay with her for a while because Hayward had threatened Patricia, saying she was going to die and he was supposed to kill him. Her. You know, the voices and all. January 16, 2000. He Hayward talks to his aunt and tells her that he didn't have any friends. He tells her, quote, an angel is talking to me. Great. He told his aunt about getting engaged and said that he and Patty had broken up on Christmas. But the Patty and giving him back the ring. And then. Then he said she gave him back the ring and then wanted to make love, was his quote. Hayward's aunt didn't put a great deal of stock in any of this because she said he lies all the time and he's crazy.

[Jimmy Whisman]

According to him, his balls are drained.

[James Petragallo]

They're drained? Yeah. On one occasion he took her credit card and ran up over $5,000 of a bill on her aunt. On his aunt's credit card?

[Jimmy Whisman]

What?

[James Petragallo]

Yeah. For years she served as his power of attorney. This is that lady. And kept all of his paperwork and stuff. In summer of 99, he came to her home and took all of his papers with him and carried them away. You're not my fucking person anymore. He had a history of telling his aunt wild stories that were crazy. He said a disc was planted in his head on which he received secret transmissions from unnamed mysterious sources. He also claimed that Paul Newman was his father.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I like that.

[James Petragallo]

You can just take. Yeah, just take a bottle of Caesars. It's my dad's. It's fine. He doesn't mind. Just take it. Take a jar of the Alfredo sauce too. Let's do that. Yeah. Paul Newman, Mr. Slap Shot, pulls that out of his ass. It's Paul Newman. He also said he was an agent for the Secret Service. Yeah, that's fucking funny.

[Jimmy Whisman]

My balls are drained against my will all the time.

[James Petragallo]

Drained. But just empty sack. It's like a raisin. Basically. It's been sun dried, but the way.

[Jimmy Whisman]

To extract it is by getting blowjobs or some sort of sexual release. That would be great.

[James Petragallo]

Government does it by satellite nowadays. Jimmy. That's just how they do it. Easier that way.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He's got floppy disk WI Fi too.

[James Petragallo]

That's all it is.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That's fucking funny.

[James Petragallo]

Three and a half. Got A three and a half inch hard drive. Hard disk up there, one of those plastic ones from the 90s. So they said that the aunt said she never thought that she would get a straight answer out of him. So she asked him as few questions as possible because she didn't want to hear the answers. Basically, she said, I've helped him with food and kept his clothes washed, but I've never let him stay with me. He's big and stout and at times he could bring harm if he wanted to, but he never threatened me. I've tried to keep him with the counseling center at Norwalk, but he got so he wouldn't go anymore. January 20, 2000, he visits the Norwalk Police Department. Hayward does, and talks to Sergeant David Light, who had befriended him. Oh, he's one of those. See, this is smart. This is what I do when I would, like, work at a job and pick out the person most likely to shoot everybody. I'll make friends with you. That's what I do every time. That's what this guy said. He's the craziest town when he's running amok. I'm going to come up and go, Hayward, and he's going to go, buddy, and everything will be fine. He's not going to murder me. That's great.

[Jimmy Whisman]

As long Johnson.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah.

[Jimmy Whisman]

At the police station.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah. Come on, bud. He said that he befriended him on several occasions and said that he had been to a veterans medical facility in Cleveland a few days earlier. This is what Hayward told him and that a doctor there had taken him off some medication he'd been taking. He complained of not feeling well and having pain in one of his legs. And so the cop told Hayward that he would contact the doctor for him and stop by his apartment the following day to see what happened. I'll talk to him for you. Which is full service police force, I would say.

[Jimmy Whisman]

They're getting medical records for you, not.

[James Petragallo]

Records trying to talk to him about his medication. That seems above and beyond the call of duty here. When called, the doctor confirmed that he decided to let Bissell stop taking some of his medication. But he said that if he wasn't feeling well, he should start taking it again. So I've been withdrawing. When the officer went to Bissell's apartment to tell him, he came to the door and said he had company and was busy in the bedroom.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Could you leave right now?

[James Petragallo]

I'm banging abroad in here.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I got company. I'm busy in the bedroom.

[James Petragallo]

Busy in the bedroom.

[Jimmy Whisman]

You know what that means?

[James Petragallo]

Yeah. And he thanked the cop and said, I'll be fine. Have a go. Pussy will cure me. It's fine.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Come back from maple bars later.

[James Petragallo]

But now I'm doing real well. The medications he was told to continue taking included pain prescriptions, an antibiotic, a drug for diabetes, and Xanax to be taken twice daily.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Two Xannies a day.

[James Petragallo]

Chill the fuck out. No shit, big man. The prescriptions the doctor decided to let him discontinue. Now, those are the ones that he should be taking, the ones that he let him discontinue, all of which had to be taken three times a day, were Haldol.

[Jimmy Whisman]

What?

[James Petragallo]

Yeah.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's an antipsychotic.

[James Petragallo]

Yup. Cogentin and Prozac. These are all.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

You're not supposed to stop Prozac immediately. You gotta wean off of that because it's got a half life on it and it'll fuck you all up. So that's not good. Good. Okay. So that's not good now. January 21, 2000, Patty began to suspect she might be pregnant. So she went to a medical clinic and got testing for the results. And she's pregnant.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Indeed.

[James Petragallo]

So she thought she wanted to be pregnant. She wanted a baby. Actually, she was happy and excited to find out that she was having a baby and made plans to come back the following week to begin counseling sessions on parenting and self care. She doesn't know how to do this, this. So she also told several friends and her sister that this is great and that, you know, she's pregnant with Hayward baby and he's thrilled about it. And the sister said Patty was thrilled about it and that she said that Bissell said he was happy about it and all that kind of thing. Now, she said that the sister said, she didn't tell me about any plans to take a trip to Florida that weekend. Okay. And she also said that wasn't like her not to tell me if she had plans. I don't think she. I'm not. No. I don't know if she went with him of her own free will. Okay. Now. January 22, 2003:00am yeah. Okay. Bissell's cousins. Bissell's a cousin of Bissell's ex wife. Okay. Had an interesting visit from Hayward in the middle of the night. She had this person, hadn't seen Hayward in six or seven years, and he showed up at 3 o' clock in the morning, giant crazy guy. Guy. The cousin said that during this visit, which lasted about an hour and a half, Bissell told this guy the government and police had Planted a bug in his head to make him do weird stuff. He said they wanted him to murder someone and he wouldn't do it. And he was hearing voices. Great. So I'm gonna get back to bed now.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Can this wait till 7 at least?

[James Petragallo]

I'll meet you down at the mental hospital. Meet you at the old facility. And you do that.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Bars.

[James Petragallo]

Wow. So in this statement to police, the man said that Hayward also told him, I have a great. I have great demonic powers.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh.

[James Petragallo]

But David Light and Mike Ruggles, those are his cop friends that are nice to him, are trying to take them away from me. Like Ruggles, he said the voices in his head were caused by the pills he was taking. And then he didn't want to do anything to hurt anybody. He next said that a female relative had molested him as a child. Child. And tried to blame that for all of this, but no one ever. We're not. We don't even know if that actually happened. So they went on to say that. That Hayward had mentioned that his girlfriend Patty was pregnant and that they broken up, but they. He also said they were getting married, and he did give her a ring. So he was very intense, they said the whole time, but never mentioned about leaving for Florida, which they're going to do in, like, a few hours.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, boy.

[James Petragallo]

Weird. That's strange. She said he mainly talked about what the cops were doing and hearing voices. I went along with everything he said. I didn't think he was whacked out enough to do anything. I just thought he was talking to be talking.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Okay.

[James Petragallo]

I don't know. Voices. And when I hear voices, that's when it's time to do something.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

Voices are the. That's where you're broken with reality.

[Jimmy Whisman]

No.

[James Petragallo]

How.

[Jimmy Whisman]

At all.

[James Petragallo]

Okay. That's like, even, like, legally. Yeah, that's like a legal standard, really. Like, if you kill somebody and you have, you know, mental. If you're hearing voices, that's. That's delusional. That's the point you're looking for. Of delusion. So people will make that up a lot. So they take off that morning to go to Florida. Hayward and Patty, they're going to Winter Haven, Florida, to visit his parents. I don't know if he wants to show off his new future bride and his future baby or what. Now, he told his parents that he was coming, so they knew he was coming. They had only seen him once in the last five years. Really? Yeah. Now said Patty had told her friends that he was pleased about the presence, the pregnancy, but also Told her friends that she didn't intend to marry him.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh.

[James Petragallo]

And that. That she did not want to go to Florida with him to visit his parents. He'd been pressuring to go, she said, but she intended to break off the relationship and didn't want to do that. But, you know, that's. That doesn't matter because then she went and left anyway. So. Yeah, he talked her into taking a rob and overnight.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

And he later said she didn't know she was going to Florida. No, no. Because she left only with her coat and purse.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, boy.

[James Petragallo]

And he didn't take any luggage either. So these are two people that didn't even bring anything for the goddamn ride, which is really weird here. She took a person coat and no extra clothes or personal items or anything like that. All he had was. Was in his pockets, which are a few bucks and two really long, sharp knives.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Nice.

[James Petragallo]

Hidden in the back seat there. So they left. They got as far south as Chattanooga, which is about an hour and a half from Somerville, as we know, and spent the night in the parking. In the parking lot of a motel. Not in the motel, in the car, in the parking lot. Because they couldn't afford the motel.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It would be nice if we could just go in there.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Get some sleep, honey.

[James Petragallo]

Well, let's just look at it and think longingly. Hey, sign says they got HBO. What do you think's on right now? What is it, 99. New episode of the Sopranos on this weekend. Shit. Let's see what Carmel and Tony are up to. I'll be interested. Now, a frigid, freezing rain is. There's a big winter storm heading into this area that's gonna drop ice on the area. If you have ever lived anywhere with ice, you know, when ice comes down, that's when it's a disaster. That's when power lines and trees come down.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Trees fall so easy.

[James Petragallo]

Snow is light. Ice is heavy. It's one of those things so, you know, get hit in the face of the snowball. Compared to an ice ball, a little different. So it's going to be miserable. And they spent a cold, miserable night in the car because it's freezing and there's freezing rain coming down. They only had a few dollars in cash. He knew he had to get some money here. So the weather's getting nastier and nastier. He heads south on the interstate. They crossed the line from Tennessee into Georgia. And he's needed money for fuel and food. So he started to look for an exit where he said he wanted to Find an ATM or a Western Union. And eventually he left the interstate, heading in the direction of Somerville and Tryon, Georgia. Now, real bad weather. It's a Sunday morning. This is like it's Sunday morning in Georgia. No one's going to church. That's how bad of a fucking weather it is. Everyone's literally hunkering down for days of no electricity. So like people are getting food ready and stuff like that. Yeah, wood, food, everything. He ended up, they end up in Somerville, Georgia where they pull into a Burger King's drive thru at about 7.30am he gets two cups of coffee and breakfast biscuits and pulls up to the window and talks to the woman in the window. They get their coffee and everything like that. He said, I hear y' all have a big trade day around here. Seems to be a sporting goods store from what I can gather here. She said, we have one, but it's not open on Sundays, only Tuesday through Saturday. He said, can you buy weapons, guns and knife. Knives and stuff at the trade day? And she said, I don't think that they sell them up there, but you could probably get some at a pawn shop. And he shook his head and he said, that takes too long. How do you get to the i59 flea market over in Alabama? It is a fucking freezing rainstorm. There's no flea market going on today.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Get your biscuits the fuck out of here.

[James Petragallo]

Take a hike. So she told him, I don't fuck it. I'm the Burger King lady. Hell do I know?

[Jimmy Whisman]

My first guess would be I59.

[James Petragallo]

I make 515 an hour at this point.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Say it's on the interstate, right? Maybe get on the interstate, get over there, get going.

[James Petragallo]

So I guess that he pulled out and followed Highway 48 after that. So she said, when you get to the top of the mountain, someone at the store up there will be able to tell you how to get to the. Just go to a top of a mountain and find a store.

[Jimmy Whisman]

You're on a quest for the top of a mountain?

[James Petragallo]

Ask them. This is like, you know you're going to see a Torino with no wheels on it inside. That Torino is my cousin Jack. I ain't even from around here. I'm from the south side of Chicago. So Patty was sitting there all huddled up and the Burger King lady said, do you need that coffee to wake you up? And she said, I need something to wake me up this morning. The woman said that Patty looked very tired and frail. Yeah, she just slept in a motel parking lot in the car. So they paid for everything. They pull out, they turn left toward Tryon, Georgia instead. And instead of going to the right, which is the way the lady told her Mercury go. So that's interesting. He drove through the town's intersections and went. Saw the Chattooga County Courthouse and all that kind of shit. He drove around aimlessly for a while before seeing a car. He started following a woman driving a green Nissan Maxima as she drove through town into a residential area. Okay. He followed her closely, keeping pace with her as she sped up. To not be bumper to bumper with this guy, guy. When she turned into her driveway, he pulled in directly behind her in her driveway, in her driveway and watched her as she got out of the car and went into the house and stayed in the car. She went in, closed the door, then opened it back up and screamed, can I help you? Yeah, what the fuck? What do you want, weirdo? So he didn't answer. So she asked a second time, do you need help? And he leaned out of the car and said, we're lost. Then got back into the car and closed the door. Which is fucking ridiculous. January 23rd, 2000. This is this day. The 22nd. Next day they slept and did all that. By mid afternoon. It is really getting nasty in DeKalb County, Alabama here. Okay, Fallen trees are everywhere. Power lines are about to pop. Everybody's expecting the worst for the next few days. And yeah, there's a mountain resort town called Mentone or Mentone or M E, N, T O, N E. Mentone is how it looks like. But who knows? Who knows? I'm sorry, down there. It's Mitten.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah, go.

[James Petragallo]

How do you spell that?

[Jimmy Whisman]

I don't know.

[James Petragallo]

Mitten sounded out, yeah, min ton, I don't know, tons of mints. So they said a quaint village situated at the highest point in the county, expected to have some problems with the storm. Yeah, it's a quiet little town, so. So 10:30am, two women who live farther down the road from the lady, he freaked out here, decided to walk up the road and look at storm damage. So they're walking up and they see the Lincoln stopped in the road with its emergency flashers on. Got his hazards on. So the one woman said, let's ask those people if they need some help. And at first they didn't answer. Him and Patty in the car, they just sit there silently while they're asked. Then he rolled the window down and told her he didn't need any help. He was quote, letting his transmission cool.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Down, down, letting it cool down while it's running.

[James Petragallo]

I've never heard of a transmission cooling, have you?

[Jimmy Whisman]

They don't have fans.

[James Petragallo]

It's not a thing I've heard of.

[Jimmy Whisman]

A. I mean if you're going uphill, that thing will get some over.

[James Petragallo]

I've never I radiator or something like that. I'm letting the transmission cool down. Yeah. Unless you had like a. A five ton load behind you and you were coming down a mountain and had to downshift the whole way and all that, then you might need to let it cool.

[Jimmy Whisman]

If you're in an 18 rarely even got a temperature gauge on your transmission.

[James Petragallo]

I think a Lincoln Town Car isn't really.

[Jimmy Whisman]

The tranny usually isn't what gets totally fine.

[James Petragallo]

So they said he was described as being a large man with dark hair. And they could see the woman in the passenger seat. She had dark hair and glasses and was wearing a blue coat. She said her face was red like she'd been crying. She said she was standing by the passenger side window and noticed the woman appeared to have been crying and looked as if she was very upset set as they began to walk back toward their home. This isn't in Mentone yet. This is on the way still in Georgia. As they began to walk back to their home, the Lincoln pulled into a driveway and both women noticed the Ohio license plates. Because we're in northwest Georgia.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Right.

[James Petragallo]

That's weird. So re and Donald perch. Okay. Or Rhea and Donald perch. Ria's 39 and her husband Donald's 52.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

Okay. They were driving slowly to get to their home in Mentone because they had been to Atlanta. Going to the Norman Rockwell exhibit at the High Museum of Art. So they're driving home, it's a rainstorm and they're stopping to visit relatives in central Alabama when the storm began. So they're like, oh shit, this is bad. I guess this is. They've had some tough time. Donald had broken three ribs in an accident just 45 into 45 minutes into his first day of work on. On New Year's Day. And he's still recuperating. So Ria's driving the truck because it hurts him to drive the pickup truck. So they're going very slow on icy, icy roads and making sure to look out for downed power lines and shit. I mean it's dangerous. So they were talking about if there's fallen trees blocking the road, where are they going to go? They're saying that we're not going to be able to find a motel room because people are going to Be looking for those. So they. They. Out of nowhere, they feel, bang, they got hit from behind by something. So they turn around and they assume the big car that was following them had hit an icy patch, couldn't slow down, and bashed into them from the back. So they're like, oh, God damn it. They pull over to the side of the Road, County Road641, and Ria looks into the rear view mirror and sees a light colored Lincoln, older model, following her into the turn and slowing down behind them like you would do if you bumped into someone by accident. Accident. She stops the truck. Don gets out of the passenger side of the pickup. He is, you know, a little bit stiff moving around. He doesn't want to fall into the ditch. So he didn't go around to the rear of the truck to check for damage. Instead, he walked around the front to flag the driver of the Lincoln down. And Ria opened the driver's door and started to get out when Don said. Don stopped her and Donald said, hand me the insurance card and paperwork out of the glove box. Box. I'll exchange information with the guy. Just stay in the car. Don't worry about it. She got back in the truck, got all the shit, gave it to him. You know, everything like that. Just at that moment, she heard a crunch. Oh, she heard Don shout. So she thought, oh, my God, he hit the car again. This fucking guy couldn't stop. This is crazy. And she thought that Don was yelling at the driver to stop. When she looked up, she saw Don't Hanging off the hood of the Lincoln, holding on to the windshield wipers while screaming, stop. While the car is going faster and faster away from it.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, my God.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah. This is fucking crazy. It's nuts. He. And he floors it, too. I mean, this is. Hayward floors it. So the car. It's crazy. Basically, he had. He. He got out, stand next to the car. Hayward just ran him over and knocked him onto the hood. This guy, rather than fall off, held onto the windshield wipers so he wouldn't fall off. So he said he started to fall off the hood and that's when he, you know, he didn't want to be dragged underneath the car, so he kept holding on for dear life here, screaming.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I've got broken ribs.

[James Petragallo]

Stop, stop, stop. No time for that shit. Yeah, I got broken a lot of shit now. So he said that his fingers were, you know, losing their grip. He said, oh, my God, this is fucked. At least it's a big flat hood. Lincoln's a big.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I mean, you Could. It's a king size battle.

[James Petragallo]

That's what I mean. You could have an orgy up on that thing. So he said he. As the guy's going faster, Donald felt his boots strike against the bumper. So he got a foothold and used that leverage to fire himself up farther. So he pulled himself up, and he's like looking at his face. He said he's face to face with him. And he said he's staring directly at him. But he said, all I could see is his eyes. He said he can. This is from Don. He continued to accelerate faster and faster. I was yelling, why are you doing this? He said, I thought this was a road rage at first. Then I saw his face, and all I could see was madness. He had this mad, insane look. I knew I was in trouble, and I prayed he wouldn't put on the brakes and drive over me. Yeah, fair. They dragged. He dragged him for more than 200 yards. He said, I'll never forget that look. He looked me right in the eyes and then flipped me the finger, which is amazing.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Get off my car.

[James Petragallo]

Wow. Fuck you. I'm gonna kill you. So that's wild shit. Here he had. It hit him in the legs, which shot him up on the hood. Luckily, he said, though later on, he said I was two feet from his face yelling, stop, Stop. Why are you doing this? And at first I thought he was just mad, but then I saw he was a madman. Anyway, what ends up going on here is he can't jump off because they're flying, so he doesn't know what to do. He said, I hope at least he'd slow down at one point. Point. Now, meanwhile, the wife is seeing this happen. She gets in the car and starts following. It's like, holy, what's going on here? What the, man, Help me here. So it didn't stop. It kept speeding down the road and disappeared over a hill. So she went after. Not in the car. She's running.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh.

[James Petragallo]

So he was afraid that they might. Then Don was saying he thought maybe this guy's gonna turn around and go run his wife over, too. So what ends up happening? At one point, Hayward just flicks the car, like, to the side and shoots Don off the hood into a ditch. I mean, tumbling. It's bad. It's real bad. So he's in a ditch, and that's what's going on. And so this is fucking crazy.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Saved his life, though.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah, I guess so. He continues to flee as Rhea is now in the ditch trying to get her husband out of the ditch. He's got broken legs, a shattered knee, two broken wrists. He's all fucked up in the ditch and including his broken wrist, ribs. But she's trying to help him out. And this is a great quote from Donald. He said, quote, I told Ria to stop helping me and go to the highway and get some goddamn help. Quit fucking with me and go get a goddamn cop and an ambulance. What the fuck are you doing?

[Jimmy Whisman]

You don't have medicine.

[James Petragallo]

Get out of here. Get out of here. At the turn of the 20th century, rapid industrialization, urbanization, and political corruption were ravaging America. But soon, President Theodore Roosevelt and a diverse group of reformers, known as Progressives, would fight back. Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, the host of Wondery's podcast, American Historytellers. We take you events, times, and people that shaped America and Americans, our values, our struggles, and our dreams. In our latest series, we explore the Progressive Era, which came to be defined by Teddy Roosevelt and others who believed in a strong, active government that worked on behalf of all Americans rather than the privileged few. As the United states entered the 20th century, these progressives hoped to steer the nation in a bold new direction, to launch an era of reform, to restore power to the people. Follow American Historytellers on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. Experience all episodes ad free and be the first to binge the newest season only on Wondery. Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple podcasts, or Spotify. Start your free trial today. It was over 30 years ago that Clifford Olsen first called me. Secret phone calls from Canada's most notorious serial killer. I knew I was killing the children, but I couldn't stop myself. Now it's time to unearth the tapes, because I believe there are still answers to be found. I'm arlene Bynum from CBC's Uncover calls from a Killer, available now. So she returned and ran back toward the highway as fast as she could. So. So Hayward turns onto another road here, Road 641, when he pulls into the driveway of James Pumphrey. Now, Pumphreys. Pumphries, I think, with a plural, plural. No, pumphrey. Single pumphrey. Him and his wife sue live in a mobile home.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Those are plural.

[James Petragallo]

Pumphreys. Yeah, pumphreys. The two of them, they're two single pumphreys together, forming a plural pumphrey. So they live at the end of County Road641 on the outskirts of Mentone. Now, they have, like, all gas. They do this on purpose. They have all gas. Shit. So when the power goes out, they'll be okay because this happens all the time. They always had. They had tons of food they stored in large freezers in case of emergencies. And they would cook for all their neighbors, really, because they were, like, one of the only people who had all this shit. So, yeah, they would cook also for the rescue squad workers and road crews, because they're just out pulling people out of the road constantly. So they would do that. They spent all day cooking meals for neighboring families. That's what they're doing all day. They don't have any kids or anything like that, so they have time. This is what you have time to do when you don't have kids. You can cook for the entire neighborhood or with a smile, one small child, and not with a smile. So, yeah, they have no children or anything like that. There's kids next door, and they want to make sure they have food. He's been cooking all day. James Pumphrey and helping his neighbors and doing nice things here. Earlier in the day, they loaded up their truck with several large plastic tanks and bottles, which they filled with spring water and hauled that so everybod the neighborhood would have water, too. Pretty amazing. After dinner, James is standing at the sink washing dishes, looking out the kitchen window, and he realized there's a car sitting across the road in the gate to his neighbor's pasture.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Is it a Lincoln?

[James Petragallo]

It's a big Lincoln. And the trunk lid was raised and had been left up. And he sees a big man walking up the road toward his house. Okay, so they have chocolate labs, these two. So. So they barked, and the guy just kept walking. He said the dogs have never shown aggression toward anybody in their life. And they immediately started growling and snapping at him. Yeah, they can tell crazy when they see it. So, yeah, hair on the back of their neck, stand up and all that kind of shit. So this guy James figured this guy must have crashed his car in a patch of ice. So, you know, he said, oh, shit, let me go out there. So he steps out onto the porch, and he said, hey, you need any help? And he sees the dogs go towards him, and he watches his female dog jump up and snap at the guy's hand. And he's like, oh, shit. And the guy. The guy looked like he, like, punched back at the dog. So James thought perhaps the dog bit the man. So he said, are you. Did my dogs bite you? What's going on here? So he turned around and looked on the porch behind him, trying to see what happened to his dog. And when he turned around, Hayward's right in front of him, standing on the bottom step. Without any word or warning, he reaches up and stabs James in the abdomen with a large, sharp knife.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, my God.

[James Petragallo]

So, yeah, he's got it now.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Just no warning.

[James Petragallo]

Nope. Just stabbed in the stomach. And he never saw the knife or anything. This guy was standing there. Next thing you know, he was stabbed in the stomach. He wasn't looking. He was looking the guy in the eye and didn't even. He thought he needed help. This guy was helping people all day. So he's like, oh, another person to help. He didn't expect this guy would stab him.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

So this is crazy. He didn't realize anything was going on. So he said he didn't even know he was stabbed in the stomach until he noticed there's blood gushing from his stomach. And he was like, oh, shit. So he staggered back inside the door, and fucking Hayward follows him on the porch trying to stab him.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

And at that point, he also goes after the dogs. And we'll talk about that for a second here. Now, James tells his wife, sue, whatever you do, don't open that door. I've been stabbed.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

So before they could close the door and lock it, Hayward reaches inside and grabs the sue, think about that. Inside the door, his big arm comes in, just grabs her by the collar.

[Jimmy Whisman]

After he's been stabbed.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah. And tries to pull her outside the door. So as he's holding on with one hand, the dogs are still attacking him. Outside, the dogs are biting and biting. He starts stabbing the dogs.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, shit.

[James Petragallo]

So, yeah, so sue screams, don't do that to my dogs. But he kept pulling her through the doorway, and sue was like, oh, shit. So sue said, I'll never forget his face. And I'll never forget his eyes. That's what caught my attention. With everything going on so quickly, his eyes were just unreal. It was like he didn't have a soul. So she's trying to fight her way free, and the dogs are biting him, luckily for her. And he is attacking the dogs and stab. He'll kill both dogs, by the way. Of course he does. Which is fucking horrible.

[Jimmy Whisman]

One stab wound will kill a dog.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah, yeah. He's attacking these dogs. It's horrifying. But I mean, they're doing their jobs. They're protecting their fucking owners, which is a great dog.

[Jimmy Whisman]

And at least running, running.

[James Petragallo]

These are top notch dogs. Yeah, they're really, literally letting her get away. So, yeah, this is all going on. And so sue here tries to get out. She ends up, because of this, is able to get his hand off of her and close and lock the door.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Nice.

[James Petragallo]

So they managed to go into the bedroom, where they have a rifle and a shotgun.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Nice.

[James Petragallo]

So they get the.22 rifle off the gun rack. Gun rack here. At the time they get it off, they accidentally fire around.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh.

[James Petragallo]

Which hits the freezer in the next room by accident. Now that at least you hear a gunshot. Oh, shit. They have a gun in there. Might have been a smart movie. And that was an accident. Through the kitchen window, they saw that he was done with the dogs and was heading around to the back of the trailer.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He's coming. Wow.

[James Petragallo]

He's coming. So he was looking for a way to get inside. So true. Sue's trying to help James stand up and hold the rifle.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

And they both see the stab wound, and he's got. You know, it's bad. It's deep. So they got to get to the back door before he gets in, and they have the rifle. So they get onto the back porch, and he comes around the corner, and they. Sue raises the rifle and points it at him.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

And says. She said, it took him and me both to hold up that gun, Meaning her and Jay, her and a hunter husband. He went down to his knees, and I had to help him. So James said to the intruder, you take another step, and I'll kill you.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

So Hayward just keeps coming.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh.

[James Petragallo]

So he tries to fire another round, but it jammed.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, my God.

[James Petragallo]

He said he's had the gun for years. It's never jammed once.

[Jimmy Whisman]

What a day. First time fired once today, and now it never again.

[James Petragallo]

So they didn't. He didn't realize it misfired. Apparently he saw the weapon and realized, oh, shitty, they are going to shoot. And he then said, don't shoot me. I'm leaving. So he turned around and ran back down the driveway across the road to his car. So then they heard the car's engine roar away, and they were like, holy shit. James said, if I had the shotgun down off the rack, I would have killed him. But I got the.22 instead. It had never jammed before. Not one time since I've had it that that gun jammed, and I've shot it hundreds of times. Wow. The way I look at it, the Lord didn't to want. Want did. The Lord did it because he didn't want that man's blood on my hands. Wow.

[Jimmy Whisman]

You got your own blood on your hands, though.

[James Petragallo]

This guy almost had both of their blood on his hands. He Was quickly going into shock at this point too. So, yeah, they crossed the yard, they get into the truck to go get help. He didn't realize he was blacking out here and there as well, by the way, because he's losing blood. They start driving down Highway 117. She's trying to keep him awake. And she. They managed to get the truck stopped. They saw a group of people and several vehicles pulled over on the side of the roads. They were like, awesome. She said, somebody help me. James has been stabbed. I need help. She screams out of the truck. She didn't know that this was his. The guy that she just met. This was the Donald and Ria's accident scene that everybody was around. It was Donald and a dad. She had no idea. So this is, this is fucked up. So, yeah, this is wild. So back to the Pritches, by the way, the people who were hit and run over and all that kind of thing here. This is fucking crazy. There's a guy who basically has a tractor and he drives up and down Highway 117 looking for people for help, to help at this point during an ice storm. This whole community, it's a small town, they all know each other, they all help each other. It's real tiny up up there. So, yeah, along he's driving up and down the highways. This is what Rhea Perch saw this guy coming. So she was like, oh my God, thank you. Great. So he was like this guy pulled over with his tractor. He's like, holy shit, you've been intentionally run down. This is crazy. So Walter, the guy with the tractor, ran over to one of the nearby homes where he knew the residents had a rescue squad radio and could summon help even though the phone lines were down. So within a matter of minutes, volunteers from the Lookout Mountain rescue squad had been receiving reports of hit and runs and all that kind of shit. So Walter started back to help Don and Rhea in the. In the ditch. Okay, there's a guy named James McCrary who had driven into Mentone to pick up a drink, a generator, and was returning home when Ria flagged him down. Don still in the ditch over here and all this type of shit. So, yeah, there's also an ambulance on the way. A young couple from Fort Payne had driven up to Mentone to check out a friend and they, they turned and helped here. They noticed as they turned around to leave, they noticed what appeared to be a silver colored car with its trunk lid raised, backed in beside the pond pasture across from their friend's driveway. That was by the, the, the Pumphrey house there. So as they drove their Jeep back toward the main highway, they saw Rhea and James on the side of the road road kneeling over Don in the ditch. So they stopped to see what happened and they gave the guy a blanket they had in the Jeep. So Ria told them about the hit and run and Don said he'd been run down by a big light colored car. So they asked, can you go somewhere and call 91 1, please? So the couple went for help. They realized the car they just saw parked probably was that car there. That makes sense. So they found a phone, they called 911 and they went, went back to tell everybody that they had seen the car. They called 911. So the guy stops and gets out, the James McCrary guy gets out, joins the group of people that are on the side of the road to help Don. And the rescue squad started to bring responders here. So all sorts of people on the side of the road. He parked his tractor on the side of the road to wait for the ambulance. Rhea is wondering how much longer it's going to take. He's a husband's in a ditch, fucking broken in pieces, freezing and shivering with freezing rain and ice falling down on him. It's just at that time that she began to scream because the Lincoln came back. Oh, there it is, there it is. And is heading straight for the crowd of people. Oh my God, he's back again. Trying to kill all of them again. So Ria thought this can't be fucking happened. What is happening right now? What do we do to this guy? The car sped up, approached and the driver, the Lincoln smashed full force into the tractor, bashed into the tractor. Everybody scattered. It's crazy, it's wild shit. So they said the guy popped back up from behind the steering wheel and backed the Lincoln up several yards, then aimed the car toward the group of people now. And so they were all trying to say shield Don crazy shit. So he takes off sweet and drives right at him, but then swerves back onto the road without hitting any of them, just scares the shit out of them. And then races down Highway 117 because he had just stabbed somebody. So wow, hit them, hit them, went after him again, stabbed a guy, then said, let me run these people over one more time. This is fucking crazy. So rescue workers already reported the first hit and run. And now they're talking to the radios. Everyone's like, what is going on right now? What's happening happening? So they said that they looks like the cars heading toward Mentone down an icy mountain road heading into Hammondsville or Hammondville. So he does that. The Mentone Police chief, Jeff Bain, had been notified by this accident here and on Country Road641 when he saw the Lincoln headed toward town. So he reported its travel of direction to the dispatcher and decided to continue on to the roadside where people are waiting for the ambulance here, when they gave. When bystanders gave him the town car's tag number, told him about the driver's intentional attempt to run them down, a small tan Ford Ranger pulls up. That's when sue sees the crowd of people and gets out and goes, you got to help James. This is all coming together here. So sue, you know, knew. So it's got to be the same guy. This is fucking crazy here. So, yeah, the officer here, the main guy reporting everything on the radio. There's been a stabbing, there's been a killing, the dogs have been killed, ran these people over, all this type of shit. So the chief here, this is Chief Busby. It's about 4pm and Chief Busby is out. Just basically, you know, he's the chief of police, but on a night like this, there's not a lot of crime. This is just a rescue night. It's basically he's going to be pulling cars out of ditches and shit all night long, long. So he took off. Didn't even bring his gun? No, didn't even bring his gun with him. He just took. Did that. Don't need that. So the chief's patrol car radio is blaring the, you know, be on the lookout for this car. So according to 911 dispatcher, older model Lincoln Town Car had been involved in all this. So Busby turns his car toward the mountain and heads up to Highway 117. But before he gets to the top of it, here comes the Lincoln coming downhill at him. So he fucking flips a ue.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh boy.

[James Petragallo]

Gets behind him screaming into the radio for backup because he doesn't have his gun. This is not good.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I'm ill prepared.

[James Petragallo]

Not prepared for this shit. So. So now they're chasing him at this point. So Mentone Police Chief Johnny Ferguson and Valley Head Assistant Chief Dwayne Wooten make it to the intersection of U.S. highway 11 and Alabama 117 and throw a roadblock into place just as Lincoln comes barreling through, which he doesn't seem like he's much for stopping at this point, the car reaches the crossroads here and the one police officer Ferguson cut in front of the car and the other car swerved into place behind it. So they basically made a two car barrier that you're not going to get through. You might hit it, but you're not going to get through it. So they do that. They stop the car. The Wooten guy jumps out of the car and approaches the Lincoln with his gun drawn. Okay, that's gonna go. I'll shoot you if you want it. Now, at this point, you got a deadly weapon. If you're gonna run into him, I'm gonna shoot you. So the Hayward starts revving the engine like he's gonna take off, which is not great. So this guy stood firm, held his gun and said, don't fucking do it, dude. I'll fucking shoot you. So at that point, the other cop comes to the driver's side with his weapon drawn. So he's got two guns on him, one from the front, one from the side. He's pretty screwed now.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Where are you gonna go?

[James Petragallo]

So at this point he said, all right, fine. He stopped. Okay. Offers no resistance. The Ferguson guy opens the car door, pulls him out by his shirt, which he'd have to want to come out because he weighs 400 pounds. Yeah. Pulls him out by his fucking quadruple X. Yeah. So from. By his Big Dog gear or whatever the fuck he was wearing. So at that point, point he gets out of the car, but he forgot to put it in park.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, no.

[James Petragallo]

So the car starts rolling, rolls over Hayward's ankle. They said he never even. Never didn't even flinch.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Didn't bother him.

[James Petragallo]

It didn't make a sound. Didn't even say ouch. Didn't go, hey, that ran over my head. Didn't notice it.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, my.

[James Petragallo]

Didn't even notice it. So it began to speed up in its forward roll. So the Wooten guy, the first cop who jumped in front of it, he chases after the car, jumps in it.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

And jumps in the driver's seat, flips the gear shift in the park and shuts off the engine. Okay. He looks over and notices that he basically sat right next to. Almost on top of a large bloody knife.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh.

[James Petragallo]

Like, oh. So he gets away from the knife and then notices that someone else is in the car. Notices the passenger seat. He says, step out of the car, but then stops because he said the stench of blood was overpowering. And he saw that the passenger's left arm, which lay close to him on the front seat, didn't have a hand on it.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, Jesus.

[James Petragallo]

Had a freshly severed hand. It was at the wrist and was Lying on the floorboard, cut a hand off along with what appeared to be several internal organs.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, Jesus.

[James Petragallo]

So he goes, holy shit. Looks at her, at the person in the passenger seat. He said, it's either a young girl or a small woman. Had her seatbelt fast and her clothing rearranged over a gaping hole in her chest where her heart had been cut out.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Good Lord.

[James Petragallo]

He fucking buttoned her blouse back up, put a seatbelt on like Weekend at Bernie's and fucking hand off. She's. Yeah. This whole time he's been doing this, this is what he's had in the car. Her throat was cut from ear to ear. Her heart and liver had been cut out. Her eyes had been taken out.

[Jimmy Whisman]

What the hell?

[James Petragallo]

No eyeballs. And her right leg had been cut off at the knee.

[Jimmy Whisman]

What?

[James Petragallo]

And was on the back seat floorboard.

[Jimmy Whisman]

What is going on?

[James Petragallo]

Yeah, this is a physical manifestation of everything that's in this guy's brain.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah. A mess with a question mark in the passenger seat.

[James Petragallo]

Holy shit. So this cop is just processing this. I don't care how many times you. And it's a small town cop. I don't think he's seen a lot of this, but I don't care how many times you've seen this. This is shocking.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He's had a lot of time with this body too.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah. He's like, what's going on? So then he jumped out and said, there's a body in the car. There's a body in the car, Harley. Like, Jesus Christ. So Busby and Ferguson, the other two cops run over to stand with that with Wooten outside the car. They look inside and just see this. It's horrifying. The Busby cop said, when I saw her, I felt cold chills all over my body. You can be in law enforcement for years and then you run across something very unusual, especially for such a small town. Yeah. Is it normal? They said, I thought it was a manicure at first because the cuts were so precise and such an unreal thing to fucking see.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Right.

[James Petragallo]

He's not used to seeing that. So the one cop asked Wooten, is everything all right? And this guy said, there's a dead girl in the car very fucking far from all right.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Nothing's all right.

[James Petragallo]

Oh, my God. So they see her slumped over, seatbelt fastened and right leg severed at the knee and all that kind of shit. And they were like, oh, my God. So as they're wrestling him to the ground, they noticed his shirt was wet, by the way, while Wootton was doing this in the car. They were wrestling him to the ground. They realized he was soaked with blood.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

So they tried to handcuff him, but the cuffs wouldn't fit on his wrists. He's too big. So they ended up grabbing a pair of leg irons and using them for handcuffs. That's how big this guy is. That's how big. He's like Kuklinski. That's what they had to do. The Iceman. So the two of them, they're doing that, and that's when Wooten jumped and found everything in there. So it is horrifying. The cops are shook over this shit. I mean, they said the one cop, Smith, said he never saw such a. Such a brutality ever. Another officer named Thomas Hubbard. And the other guy, Smith started roping off the area and, you know, they were. Paramedics arrived to check the body for a pulse. I think we're beyond a pulse now. She has no. There is no heart in her body. It's on the floorboard. Unbelievable. So the bloody lock blade, knife was open on the front seat where the guy had been sitting. So they walk over to Bissell, who's on the ground.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

And they're just like, whoa, this fucking guy did some shit. He remained completely silent from the moment he was pulled out at gunpoint.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

But as they attempted to get him up on the pavement, he just said, I can't. My foot's broke. Because he got ran over.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Right.

[James Petragallo]

But he. At the time, he didn't even care. So they told him to get up again, and they told him, they'll help him to his feet. So he cooperates, and they help him up to his feet. They say, have anybody searched him yet? Yeah, please search him. So they pat him down, checking for weapons, and that's when he said, there's a rock in my pocket, as if telling them to look in the pocket. So they searched his pants pockets, didn't find anything. They put him in the patrol car to take him to the sheriff's office. They said his arms were totally covered in blood, as well as his shirt and pants. He kept his hand on his shirt pocket. They must have cuffed him up front. They kept his hand on his shirt pocket. Pocket like he was trying to hide something. One of the officers pulled the pocket open and looked inside and said, I think it's a finger or something.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, boy.

[James Petragallo]

So they said, leave it. Leave it in there and get him to the sheriff's office. We'll figure it out then. Which is a very weird thing to do. So inside the car, they processed the car and took a lot of photographs, obviously. And they said she was in a blue cloth jacket, was buttoned up, her seatbelt fastened. She wore a black shirt, black and white pants and sneakers. A hand and what appeared to be a heart were laying on the passenger side floorboard. And a blood and her liver too. And a bloody knife is there as well. Massive chest wounds. Clothing had been carefully rearranged. Also, a pair of small metal frame glasses were all crumpled on the front seat and blood spattered. She wears glasses, no eyes, like we said. That's fucking wild. So they. They collect her hand and heart from where the floodboard, the floorboard. They get her severed right leg from the back seat. Still wearing a tennis shoe and a Mickey Mouse sock. Wow. Christ. All the parts, are they fine? Except for her eyes, which they figure later that he ate what? He ate them.

[Jimmy Whisman]

What is going on? The whole day. There's none of this makes any sense.

[James Petragallo]

No. By the way, we have a happy dog ending, so there is that. So keep that in mind, everybody.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah, but every. Every thing he does is crazier than the next.

[James Petragallo]

It's all. That's. I mean, it's progressively crazy.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Not a reason for a single behavior.

[James Petragallo]

Somehow it's gonna get crazier too. By the way, this isn't the peak of crazy here. It's not like, oh, then he goes to court and it's over. No, there's more. So they find inside the car a Kissing Crane brand lock blade knife, a smooth Smith and Wesson lock, Smith and Wesson lock blade, SWAT knife, and the box it came in. A man's brown leather jacket, a black leather purse, and a pair of women's glasses. Inside the purse was a checkout slip from Norwalk, Ohio public Library. Patricia had gone to the library on the 20th of January and checked out several books dealing with relationships, depression and babies. Yeah, she's doing self help stuff. That's. Wow. The titles include is your child depressed? Rest when feeling bad is good. And after the baby is Born and Good women get angry.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah, they do.

[James Petragallo]

The books were due to be returned in early February. And at the top of this checkout slip it said Happy new Year. Grocery lists. In the purse, a budget tallying monthly expenses and bills, coupons, grocery cash, club cards, and a reminder for cards for doctor's appointment. Also contained a $20 bill tucked out of stock site. Probably, you know everybody. Emergency 20. Yeah. A receipt for a 1300 Winchester 12 gauge shotgun was also found in the car. Bissell sold the shotgun on January 19th to a store called the Outdoorsman for $150. There's a lot there. Okay? So they bagged everything up. And that's wild shit. Now, one of the cops said, quote, how can a human being do something like that to another human being? Where are her eyes? They couldn't find her eyes, and they assume that she ate them. Now they take him upstairs in the police station, pulled a chair around, and he tries to sit in the cop's chair. And they said, no, stop. Come back around here and sit down where we told you. But he kept ignoring them.

[Jimmy Whisman]

No, that one looks comfy.

[James Petragallo]

So what they do is they use their foot to just scoot the chair away. And so he almost falls down. And then he goes and sits in the right side spot. So, investigator comes in, sits down and asks him a few questions. Doesn't say shit. He just slouches in his chair and ignores him. So they refuse to respond to this guy in any way. Doesn't do shit. So they take photographs of him, of all of his, you know, wounds and everything like that. The first item they pull from his shirt pocket is a bloody five dollar bill.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

Okay. It's the only money found on him, and apparently the only cash he had.

[Jimmy Whisman]

$5.

[James Petragallo]

$5.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It was over.

[James Petragallo]

That's it. In another item, the other item in his pocket, what they thought was a finger earlier, turns out to be a human esophagus.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Whoa.

[James Petragallo]

About six inches long. He cut her throat out, cut her fucking esophagus out. The cop pulled it partially out of the pocket so it could be photographed, then left it in the pocket while they waited for another officer to arrive for some reason. Let's just leave it in there, I guess, to collect it. The one cop said, I noticed Bissell slump to the left, pull his hand up to his shirt pocket, and take out the esophagus. He sat still for a couple of seconds, then slumped to the left once again pulling his hand up to his mouth. And they saw him that he was trying to eat the esophagus.

[Jimmy Whisman]

What the fuck, man?

[James Petragallo]

They yelled, no, don't do that, and pushed it away from his house. They said, hey, he's eating the evidence, the one guy said says, which is crazy.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Pushed away from his mouth.

[James Petragallo]

So they ran down the hall. They're like, you got to come in here. This is crazy. They tried to take the esophagus away from him and back it as evidence. Obviously, it is horrifying. So finally, the one guy held his hand under Hayward's and said, give it to me.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Spit it out.

[James Petragallo]

Give it. Give it. So he hesitated a few seconds, then dropped the esophagus into the cops. And imagine that's your dream job. Hand me that esophagus.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Give me that.

[James Petragallo]

Wow. That is insane. I don't even know what to say about that. That's wild. So they took him downstairs. Group of officers strip search him, take blood samples, and they photograph all of his wounds. He's got cuts and blood stains and all sorts of shit all over him. He's a mess. At 5:10pm tell him about his rights again and, you know, all that kind of thing. Try to talk to him. He just sits there, unresponsive.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

Then after about 45, then he starts talking and starts talking, rambling for 45 minutes. He seems rational one minute, then makes bizarre comments the next. He claimed to understand where he was and why he was being questioned. But he's also a little wacky. He said, I'm a secret, sir, Secret agent with the Secret Service. And he said, you guys aren't cleared to receive these answers to the questions you're asking.

[Jimmy Whisman]

You guys got bitch clearance.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah, he said that he doesn't want an attorney, but he's being questioned under duress because they were asking questions of him without the property security clearance, the proper security clearance. You don't. Above your pay grade, guys. So he told detectives he was a friend of Patricia's and that he was on a top secret mission, the major part of which was terminating her.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, yeah.

[James Petragallo]

He claimed his supervisor at the Secret Service was named David Wilbur Law Light and even gave James and Bell a telephone number for Agent Light. They said, what's your. What's. What else do you got to say? And he said, well, my Secret Service badge number is 666.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh boy.

[James Petragallo]

Perfect. And I work out of an office in Cleveland.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

They asked him if he killed Patricia. And he said, I killed no one else. Unless that one guy stabbed his dad. I don't know, but I killed as the only person. So he then told them he killed her in a parking lot of a service station outside Somerville, Georgia, and that he committed the murder and the mutilation using the knife that was there. He said the quote, she was killed in the prescribed method for killing black witches.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh boy.

[James Petragallo]

Okay. And she's not black, like. Like race black, you know, whatever color. Color of the aura. Yeah, exactly. He said they came south from Ohio because he was bringing the young woman from Ohio to Georgia. It was part of his asylum. And he Continued to complain that he was being questioned and that you're not cleared to hear these answers.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I'm gonna get fired, you guys.

[James Petragallo]

They said, who told you to do this? And he said, a secret source.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I said, too much.

[James Petragallo]

So they treat him for some injuries, dog bites and cuts on his hands and shit. Then they bring him back for more questioning. This time they bring in a couple other people. They bring in a different people. Sheriff's office, county people. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is there, all hands on deck for this crazy motherfucker. So this is wild. They returned there and they went downstairs to. Into the jail to bring him up for the interview. Bissell decided that this guy also was not a high enough rank or status to escort him to the second floor. He said, your clearance is not high enough for you to either talk to me or take me anywhere. What is your name and badge number? My name is Hayward William Bissell. And my badge number 666. So this guy gave him all of his information and. Yeah. And then he noticed that there's Jimmy Harris and James Harris. Are the agents purple? Jimmy Harris, Jimmy's and James here. And he said that he noticed that they had like, identical name tags.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

And he said, what's your name? Asked Agent Harris. He asked Agent Harris and he said, I'm Agent James Harris with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. He said, what's your name? He said, I'm Jimmy Harris with the sheriff's department. We get this all the time, too. It confuses the shit out of people. It really does.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's a lot of fun.

[James Petragallo]

So he looked back and forth between them and said, you're trying to kill me. So the agent Harris here, one of them, went back upstairs and out of sight here as reassurance. We're not here to kill you. So the other lieutenant Harris took him to the second floor with no further arrest incident. Now he's partially dressed because the jail had no full sets of clothing on hand that were anywhere near big enough to fit him.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He's got a bed sheet.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah. He was brought into the interrogation room looking all bloody and all sorts of shit like that. And this time it says a little bit more. Said, I am a secret, secret agent for the Secret Service and I have successfully completed my mission. It was to terminate her. He said that he'd been gay and engaged to her three times. And he cut her throat, gouged her eyes out, cut her heart out, removed her right leg and left hand. He said, I've been sent on missions involving her three Times before, but I never before had been ordered to terminate her. At first I was ordered to put her out on the side of the road. But I didn't want to do that because I cared for her. So I thought I'd cut her heart out instead. Eat her esophagus. Told the officers that he and Patricia had been traveling from Ohio to visit his parents. Parents and all that kind of shit. They also get a surveillance tape because they're trying to figure out when this happened exactly. She was dead at 4, but she was alive when.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

So they find a surveillance tape from 2:24pm that shows them going into a store at 2:32. He went. He goes to the bathroom and comes out and wanders around 2:34. You can see Patricia coming inside the building. Building and all of that. She came in tentatively, looked around 2:36. She stood at the door and looked out toward the Lincoln in the parking lot. And. Yeah. So they returned to the town car and that's when they think this all happened.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Wow.

[James Petragallo]

That's when he started accusing her of becoming. Of being a black witch and a secret agent and all this type of shit. He said he tried to tell her, tried to get her to tell him which of the two she was a witch or a spy. Oh, you're obviously one of the two. Yeah, for about an hour. But she was scared to say anything.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

So he claimed that all the while he was trying to force her to get out of the car, he was hearing voices in his head telling him to kill her. He said that he believed he was either Double oh seven or the devil. Not sure. Yeah, I'm either James Bond or Satan. I can't decide yet. You pick. He told an inmate. Later on, I told Patty she was a double agent and a black witch. Then I asked her, do you know where you are, Patty? And she said, georgia. And that was the last word she said. I reached into my backseat, got the knife and cut her throat. I was just following orders. I was her supervisor. She was lying, so I terminated her. They were in Georgia, by the way, so she's not lying. So they said, where did you kill her? He said, I don't remember the name of the town, but it had a Dollar General store. Every small town there. And another store that started with the letters ab. We parked at that store a few minutes and then drove 15 or 20 minutes until we came to a service station. He said that had a yellow sign with red letters outside and a milk advertisement. And the gas pumps were red and blue. Remembers A lot. He said, I went in to use the bathroom. They said, well, when you were in the store. And then he said, when you went into the store, the counter was on the left side and the restroom was in the back of the store on the left. So he's describing the store. When he left the store. He said he got in the Lincoln and got in. He said, at that time, I received orders to terminate her from the satellites, I assume. And I did so in a manner which. With. In which I'd been directed. He said that the orders were coming from inside of his head. They said where to come from. He was inside my head.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Floppy WI fi.

[James Petragallo]

I got floppy. Why floppy wi fi here. He told the officers he terminated her with two knives that could be found inside the Lincoln. And they were inside the Lincoln. So they asked him if he had, you know, if it had. They asked him, basically, did it hurt to carry out the orders because you love this woman? And he said, no, it didn't hurt me at all. He said he killed her. He seat belted her back into the car and continued on. And he kept receiving orders to make lefts and rights from inside of his head. Which way to turn. Oh, we're okay this way. It's like his own little GPS he's got going on there. That's nice. He claimed he didn't know his destination, but in route the voices in his head told him to. The route the voices told him to take was bringing him to Interstate 59, which was only a couple miles west of Menton Tone. Now, he said he tells investigators that the murder and dismemberment took about 10 to 15 minutes. That was before. I'm sorry, that. That was only 10 to 15 minutes before he attempted to run down Don Perch in Mentone. He claimed he'd been directed to ram into Perch truck and run over the driver. He said, I shot the driver, a bird giving him the finger while he was hanging on the hood of my car. Then he said he received additional orders. He said, after that, I was directed to drive down a road and terminate another man. I attempted to terminate this man by stabbing him with my Smith and Wesson knife that I used to kill the two dogs. He said the man he stabbed ran into the home and got a.22 and said, I'll kill you. So he left. And then he said he was directed by the voices to ram into a bucket tractor and then was ordered to drive into a crowd of people standing on the side of the road. He told the officers the esophagus in his shirt pocket here was one from one of the dogs, which it wasn't, though. It was a human esophagus. But he lied about that for some reason. So they claimed. He claimed he was aware of why he was being questioned and all that kind of thing. They said he appeared to be more paranoid than before and would not agreed for the interview to be tape recorded. He just kept saying over and over again, this was an approved mission. It was an approved mission. You don't have proper clearance to question me about it.

[Jimmy Whisman]

You don't have a claim on me.

[James Petragallo]

So blood evidence showed they're gonna connect this all and figure out that he killed her at a convenience store outside Tryon, a short distance from Somerville. That's what happened here. And then he drove into Alabama because she was still warm when they got to her. It's freezing outside. So. Wow. He. They explained to him that, well, if you killed her in Georgia, you might have to go to Georgia to talk to their investigators. And he said, I don't understand what's happening here. I'm an agent of the Secret Service. This is all a mistake.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Send me home.

[James Petragallo]

Send me home. So he said, I'm not making any further statements. I want an attorney. He said, I'm not authorized to travel to Georgia. He's authorized to murder people but not travel. So they. He did in there. He requested an attorney, so they had to stop. Now he gets in his cell, refusing to talk anymore. And then he gets even more out of control. By that night, he demolished his entire cell. He ripped the pipes and plumbing out of the. The wall. That's how strong he is. He ripped fucking pipes from the wall. Try doing that, everybody. It's not easy, especially in a jail. They're meant to not be able to be ripped out of the wall.

[Jimmy Whisman]

They're screwed in.

[James Petragallo]

That's wild. So he did all of that. He's ripping it out of the wall. He took all of his clothes off, by the way. Puddles of water on the floors all over the jail. He's ranting, screaming. All the other fucking. All the other inmates are freaking out. They're like this. He's a giant naked cannibal, and he's fucking.

[Jimmy Whisman]

And was ripping pipes out of the walls.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah. And he also, one of the inmates saw him face down in the toilet, eating his own feces.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, Jesus. Bobbing for poo's.

[James Petragallo]

Bobbing for poop. So the God dang. The jailer chief jailer Bill Lands, arrives Tuesday morning and sees this. And he said, get this crazy motherfucker. Oh, an inmate said to him, get that crazy motherfucker out of here, man. He's creeping everybody out with all that carrying on. And the toilets are all shot down.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Hell, he's eating the brown apples, man.

[James Petragallo]

Doing it all, man. He said, I can't stand much more of his hollering and banging around. He's making everyone sick to their stomachs thinking about all that mess he's over there up to in his cell.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

Wow.

[Jimmy Whisman]

What do you do with him?

[James Petragallo]

He's fucking, like, put him out on the lawn. He's bobbing for Snickers bars over here.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Do you. Do you chain him up outside? What do you do with him?

[James Petragallo]

It's fucking crazy. So at that point, they have to take. He has to see a judge.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

They have to put a bomb down or something. So the one jailer. There's no way we can bring him up to the courtroom like this.

[Jimmy Whisman]

No.

[James Petragallo]

He's naked. He's out of control. He's covered in shit. This isn't good. He said he's entirely too dangerous to be taken out of his cell at this time. We can't take that kind of security risk because he's. You can't control a guy that big. He's too strong. You gotta fucking tase him the whole time.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He's a juggernaut.

[James Petragallo]

So. Wow. They decide their best option would be to have the hearing downstairs in the jail cell. Bring the judge and the clerk downstairs there so he doesn't have to move it. So they bring a judge down there. As they round the corner and approach the cell, Howard Bissell, sitting on the cell, was back toward them. Completely naked.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

Discarded clothing, feces.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

Fucking plumbing parts. It's a scene. When he realized people were there, he slowly turned around and the reporter. The court reporter said, quote, it was the scariest thing I ever saw. It was just like Marlon Brando in that scene in a pilot. Apocalypse Now. That's not a good comparison. His eyes. I just can't describe the look in them. The judge stood in front of the cell in his robes and began to read the charges. At that point, Bissell turns around naked and starts shouting obscenities at them and jerking off and rubbing his dick. Not rubbing it. Stroking it.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

Stroking his cock and screaming at them. Okay. They kind of get back a little bit. But the judge just kept fucking reading.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

He's seen crazy shit before and he doesn't care, but he's gonna do it anyway. Now, the reporter had ducked out of Sight here said, you know, once I saw he was naked, I said, I don't need to see this.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Well, he's beaten off.

[James Petragallo]

I don't need to do that. So he just keeps doing it.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That's so aggressive.

[James Petragallo]

This woman said I didn't want to see anymore. If I never see another naked 400 pound man, it'll be too soon for me. So they issue a court order for a mental evaluation. You think the sheriff said this? This is Cecil Reed, DeKalb County Sheriff. He's completely out of control and I want him out of here. For his safety and the safety of others, we could not take him into the court. Even so at the same time everybody else is at the hospital. Pumphrey is saved at the hospital. Wow. He has an almost 5 inch cut extending from his navel downward to the left. Left.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, fuck.

[James Petragallo]

His intestines are coming out. He's lost tons of blood. Meanwhile, perch, the other guy, Donald, he's a mess. He's broken and everything like that. And they said Don's clothes had been cut out for evidence and he wasn't able to walk without assistance. A nurse gave him a scrub suit about two sizes too big. And he was left without socks or shoes. He didn't even have crutches. And they discharged him. They discharged him like that. Not even crutches on this fucking guy. So he is going to be charged with at this very moment later on murder, but two attempted murders and attempted burglary, because that's in Alabama. Now what they're going to do is basically, Alabama's like, it happened in Georgia. You take him and Georgia's like, shit happened in Alabama. He's all yours. They don't. Nobody wants this fucking guy. Nobody.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Amazing.

[James Petragallo]

So he talks to an inmate again. He says, I heard voices in my head and they told me that I owned all the stores.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

And then he said, we've done this before, talking about killing people. He told the inmate that there was a lot of trees and wooded areas and great many streets in the neighborhood around the gas station where he killed Patricia. So he's given more details. The inmate tries to cooperate with the cops to help out here because this guy's fucking nuts. So, yeah, he said that, you know, he said that he cut her throat and then went on a rampage is what he. The way he put it. He said he cut Patricia's hand and leg so she couldn't come back at me. That's why she cut her leg and hand off. Can't come back from the dead. And attack me without that stuff. Wow, that is fucking insane. So went on with the double agent, black witch, all that kind of shit here. So a prisoner's expert medical opinion. Let's give you here. Yeah, this is, this is from the book. I'll read it verbatim. Perhaps the most intelligent comment came from an inmate in a nearby cell. A man who was waiting to be transferred to the state prison for murder of his wife and mother in law for insurance money. That's interesting. She said that he spent much of his time listening to what Bissell had to say, starting with his first night of screaming and cursing and then after his return following evaluation and treatment. After analyzing and observing Bissell at close range for several months, the inmate stated, this guy's smart, not crazy. Oh yeah, he said. He continued to. This guy would pull up a metal folding chair to the bars outside the cell and talk to him. Yeah, he said. But he said I didn't want it. He said when he would come closer to him, he would scoot back though. Oh, he said I didn't want to take any chances of him trying to grab me through the bars while it was dark. You never know what somebody like that must might do. Yeah, because he's fucking crazy. Crazy. He said. He was yelling, get out of the halls, get out. He said it was enough to make your hair stand up the way he was hollering. But he did that sometimes at night. He'd be talking to the Lord one minute and the devil the next. Okay, Patricia's autopsy. Multiple sharp force injuries that caused the cause of death. Her lower right leg was amputated at the knee, left hand removed at the wrist. Portions of her left lung, heart, liver and stomach were removed, removed and extensive stab wounds were noted. A group of approximately 30 stab wounds were inflicted to both of Patricia's eyes and the bridge of her nose.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Good Christ.

[James Petragallo]

Another four stab wounds found on the left side of her neck below the ear. Sharp force injury that was the first to be inflicted and was most likely the cause of death. Meaning the throat cutting as 15 centimeter incision across the right side of her neck that completely severed her right carotid artery and jugular. Jesus. The wound also transected her epiglottis and completely severed the top of her esophagus, which is the six inches that he had. Another sharp force injury was centered around the chest area. A large incision from which the left lung and most of her heart were removed along with sections of her liver and stomach. He's just reaching and grabbing Just reaching in, grabbing.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Opened her enough to get a hand.

[James Petragallo]

Inside like it's a bag of Halloween candy. And you're like, I don't care if it's Milk Duds or Milky Ways. I'm fucking grabbing something. It's good. So then they're like, let's search their apartments. Yeah, they're expecting a Jeffrey Dahmer situation. Because think about it. Candy, this, that. All these things that we mentioned earlier. Well, that was Wisconsin. But he's from Ohio.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Ohio.

[James Petragallo]

Anyway, that's what they're. That's what they're expecting. So they go inside. Patricia's first. It was neat and clean. No signs of a struggle. Nothing to indicate she was forcibly taken. Taken. They got phone bills, so they have numbers for a family that they could contact them on. Just calling every number on the phone bill. They checked the apartment. They said nothing was wrong. And then they go to Bissell's apartment here. His door is slightly ajar.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Really? Front door?

[James Petragallo]

Front door slightly ajar.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He's in fucking on his way to Florida.

[James Petragallo]

They said they could hear loud music and the sound of running water. Water, really? So they decided to wait and get a search warrant and all that. So they get the Norwalk Police Chief, Mike Ruggles, who's Hayward's friend there, told a reporter later that his officers were a little apprehensive about venturing in here after hearing what he did down there. They said images of Jeffrey Dahmer were flooding their head. He said when we entered, we were afraid we'd find that we'd find the murder happen there. Then we'd have to fucking deal with it.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Right now, it's ours.

[James Petragallo]

Okay, good. Now, not here. Don't have to deal with that guy anymore. So they said even though the door was open here, they still waited for the sewer. They waited. They went in. They said a steady stream of water was running from the kitchen faucet, but it wasn't, like, stopped up and flooded. It was just running down the sewer. Left it on. He just left it on.

[Jimmy Whisman]

What?

[James Petragallo]

Just left the faucet on. I mean, Christ.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Just flooding the sewer system, that's all.

[James Petragallo]

And a radio had been left playing loudly in the living room. Otherwise, nothing else is unusual. Everything in the apartment is extremely clean and well organized. The items on the shelves and in the dresser and cabinet drawers are lined up, stacked precisely by color, size and category. Nothing's out of place. And they found nothing that gave any indication that a murder happened here, except for the fact that they just took that. He took off. Very little was found in the apartment that provided them Any clues to anything he does? Basically, they found a copy of U.S. cavalry magazine, a Smoky Mountain knife works catalog, few prescription receipts, insurance papers, copies of his birth certificate, court, some child support records, marriage license and all that kind of shit. He also had a sizable collection of model cars and Hot Wheels, but few other personal items. All he had was Hot Wheels. A bunch of Lincoln Town Cars.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

So they're looking for the murder scene. They tell the cops the descriptions and they say just see if any of this makes sense to you. See if any of the places he told you about. Sound familiar?

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

So they said, if anything he said to us rings a bell with you. So they began to read from his account, passing by a dollar general, seeing all there, all that kind of shit. And they figured out that he accurately described the buildings on a section of highway leading from Somerville into Tryon and continuing in the direction of Menlo Cloudland, Georgia and then into Mentone, Alabama. So they're like, oh, okay now. Because he keeps saying he's a secret service agent. They call the Secret Service. Yeah, who knows? May as well they bring. Maybe they'll fucking take him off our hands. So they bring him in, two secret service agents come and the jailer says he probably won't talk to you. He's not cooperating today. And he's had a. He's had himself a time this morning showing off for the judge. He could still be masturbating, we're not sure.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Remember when Chikatilo did that shit in prison in that is so he kept waving it around.

[James Petragallo]

He couldn't even get hard.

[Jimmy Whisman]

No, he's just flipping around a little limp dick.

[James Petragallo]

That's not even aggressive. That's hilarious. You look at him and laugh at him. Look at your little limp dick over there. Can't even get it. Hard to threaten me.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Still frightening. Yeah, just a man's dick being waved.

[James Petragallo]

I don't like something about a limp dick. I'm not. It's just like you can someone who can't even get your dick card. I'm not that afraid of you. Yeah, I'm just not afraid of you. At that point they put him in like a weird glass bubble too, jerking him himself. He was like Hannibal Lecter over there. So anyway, they said to his, he's got a court appointed lawyer now. And they said, do you mind if we talk to him privately? He might talk to us as you know, fellow agents and all.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

So the lawyer said Knock yourself the fuck. I don't care anymore. So I don't care anymore. They said he's lying motionless on the bed with his eyes closed. Still naked, asleep, eyes closed. So they two agents spoke to him and identified themselves as Secret Service personnel. He said, I don't have anything to say until I. Until after I speak to my power of attorney from Ohio. Power of attorney said I won't speak to anyone else. Then they said we're agents from the Secret Service and we have received information that you're an agent also. They said he opened his eyes, got real attentive and said, get me some clothes. Now he's going to get his shit together because now he's never real colleague to colleague. He got dressed and became more talkative. He remained doubtful though of the status of their security clearance though he says the agents explained that he could talk to them without jeopardizing his own security. He's like, look, we're on the same team, pal. He said, it's okay to talk to your fellow agents. One of them said, so he said all three of us have the same top secret clearance, so tell us what you got. He said my clearance is higher than top secret and I shouldn't talk to you about my secret mission. They said, tell me about your secret classification. Are you a class Q or L? And he said I have a top secret clearance of Q idiots. So he at that point was satisfied they had the same level of security.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

So they asked him, have you ever been in the military? And he gives a somewhat accurate, somewhat vague, no, no somewhat grandiose version of his military service. One of the agents who had a 12 year career in the military before this joining the Secret Service questioned him about his army career in an attempt to judge his thought patterns, truthfulness and everything else. Just kind of getting a psychological workup on him here. He was surprised when he was able to answer the questions in detail, giving answers that he could only, that he could have known only if it had indeed been in the army and been stationed in the locomotive locations described. They said his answers during concerning military matters were accurate and articulate. And they said at times he seemed very smart and well above average intelligence. After leaving the army he gave the whole deal. He said that he has been serving as the eyes and ears for the local police department. Oh, then he said that he moved to Greenwich, Ohio where he was the eyes and ears for their police. Well, he said, tell us how you got involved in the Secret service service. He said it started back in the 80s when I was in the military and has continued since that time. It has to do with a special secret program I designed.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, you designed it?

[James Petragallo]

Wow. He's a high ranker here. So the program, according to him, sent messages through a satellite to an implant in his head.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

Which was located behind where? His left ear.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, his left ear.

[James Petragallo]

It's over here. I gotta run over here in case you guys wanna take a look.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I've got a port like floppy.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah, yeah. So. Holy shit. So the messages he said, gave him instructions on what his missions were to be and when he was to have them completed. He said, the program's classified. I can't release any of the details of my secret missions. Oh, my God. He then claimed he received some orders during the 1980s and had been. Had been completing his assignments lately. Obviously, he'd been forced to go on his latest mission because he put off finishing his earlier orders. And he said that he was being disciplined. When they asked what were his orders, he said it had to do with the assassination of a double agent.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Right.

[James Petragallo]

They said, what's been your toughest assignment? He said, this last mission was pretty tough, but I've been on worse assignments. This one was hard because of the personal. Personal and feelings involved. I have a heart of steel, but tender insides.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Why did he say that?

[James Petragallo]

That makes. No, that. Why?

[Jimmy Whisman]

Why did he say that?

[James Petragallo]

Why does. Every time. Time. It's every time.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Why did he say both?

[James Petragallo]

And the cops will say they can't help it. They make public statements. It's like. I don't know if it's just a weird. You know, it's in your head. Then it's like a weird form of Tourette's. It's like when we go on a radio show and they say, don't curse. And we're like, fuck. We gotta bite our tongue and not say fuck. I just want to say it all. Wow. He said that he would not say. Well, would have brought him to jail in the past. He said that he was ordered the assassination of a double agent. So he talked about his girlfriend and the trip down there and Patricia. And they said, what would you do with the ring if I gave it back to you? Patricia had told him, and she had said, you'd probably buy a gun, wouldn't you? And he said, yeah, maybe I will, is what he told her. He said that he had suspicions about her being a double agent. But it wasn't until they set out from all Ohio on the way to Florida that he received two signals through his secret satellite. And implant about the assassination of the double agent. He finally realized who it was. He had no choice. Job, he said. I confirmed the identity of the double agent based on a single question I asked her. After I received the final signal, I didn't know which direction to take. I drove about a mile away from a gas station in Georgia and stopped in the middle of the road. At that point, I made. I had to make a decision about which block to choose, meaning left or right. He said. I asked my girlfriend which block she thought, and she picked the wrong block.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Really?

[James Petragallo]

What does that even mean? Yeah, he said. I knew from that point she was indeed a double agent and my mission was to assassinate her. She's a 4 foot 10 girl with fucking mental cognitive problems. What are we talking about here? I knew it had to be done immediately because I had put off a mission from a long time time ago and this mission was my disciplinary punishment for failure to complete an earlier one.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Right.

[James Petragallo]

Holy shit. They asked him if he had owned or used a computer ever.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

He said, no, I don't have access to one. He said, how about movies? Have you seen anything that interested you lately? And he said, not really. He said, do you do much reading? Are there any books you're interested in? He said, no, I don't read very much. And then he shifted position and looked around and then looked at him and said, I guess I probably need to start reading, huh?

[Jimmy Whisman]

Okay.

[James Petragallo]

Like I'm in a cell.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I don't care if you read or not.

[James Petragallo]

They're like, you are crazy. They process the car.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

They find blood stains on the outside of the car in the hood, the driver's rear view mirror, driver's window and post, and driver side, rear door. In the trunk. Inside the car, they found, you know, the floor mat and carpet. The passenger. Everything's covered in blood.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Right.

[James Petragallo]

Steering wheel, gear shift n. Blood spatters were found on the front passenger window. Window total of 12 cuts were noted to the upholstery of the front seat area where he was swinging the knife wildly. Four were on the seat near the driver's seat, four were on the attached seat cushion, and four were underneath the cushion. This is fucked up.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

So Patricia's sister, remember her? Charlene? Yeah. She said that she had talked to her a few days earlier, but she made no mention of going south. She said she was a good person. She was really trusting. I hope other people can learn from this. Be careful. And not so trusting. She said that her sister was really fond of Hayward, but no one knew what a Psycho he was and had problems. Unfortunately, she found out a little late. Donald Perch, they said, who will have tendon and ligament damage. Said he was thankful to be alive, especially after learning that he drove a short distance where he stabbed his. He knew James Pomfrey stabbed the shit out of him and also killed his dogs. And wow. He said that he had a corpse in the car. The deputies told me her body was still warm. All I saw was his eyes. I never saw the cut up girl next to him. So yeah, he said that while he's.

[Jimmy Whisman]

On the hood, he didn't even see.

[James Petragallo]

A carved up woman straight looking at this guy. It was so focused. That's micro focus. So he said that now he's been declared 100% disabled because of his injuries. He said, I've been trying to understand why. Why my right leg will never be the same. I danced the steel, as they say. He was a steel worker. That's a fucking wild job.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

He said, now I can't even dance on the floor. Those guys are the steel. Dance guys are badass. They do a lot of crazy shit. So.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Wow.

[James Petragallo]

He used to load the steel beams on trucks. Yes, It's a hard job. Yeah, I've seen that. That is. You get fucking mangled quickly with that shit. So sue said, if it weren't for our dogs, we wouldn't be here. Yeah, they were just like our babies. We never had any kids and we loved them dearly and they saved our lives. They were our angels. A lot of people might not understand that, but they did what they did to give us enough time to get back in the house. They saved us. They knew what they were doing. They did. The dogs were top notch dogs. They're ballsy and they're great dogs. That's terrible. But like I said, there's a happy dog ending. So the Norwalk sergeant, Dave Light, who had talked to Bissell before, said he had talked to him as late as the Thursday before. A few days earlier. Earlier he said that he knew he was off at times. Like I knew he was off at times, but nothing violent like this.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He used that guy's name as his supervisor at the Secret Service.

[James Petragallo]

Exactly.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That's wild.

[James Petragallo]

Exactly. I was gonna say, now I'm a fucking. He's referencing me, but that's what he used. Agent Light and Sergeant Light is his buddy there. I don't think he thought they would put two and two together. So he said, but nothing violent like this. We were all skeptical until we talked to detectives in Fort Payne, Alabama and they're like, oh. The Norwalk Police Chief Ruggles, that he was also friends with said it's almost beyond belief. Once in a while they fall through the cracks. But how on earth could you predict something like that? I mean, he's crazy, but there's a lot of crazy people.

[Jimmy Whisman]

But everything he does is, like, crazy. Yeah. So you can probably predict he'd do something fucking crazy.

[James Petragallo]

This guy eats probably, like, eats a bowl of cereal crazy.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

He pours the milk in the box and just fucking dumps it on his face. Probably like he.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He just puts handfuls and takes swigs out of the jug.

[James Petragallo]

That. I've seen people do that. What, all in the family. That was Rob Reiner's thing.

[Jimmy Whisman]

What.

[James Petragallo]

I like to take the milk. I take a. He goes that way. It doesn't get soggy. I've heard a lot of people do that.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Really?

[James Petragallo]

Yes. Because it doesn't get. They get a glass of milk and they eat. That's a common thing. So it doesn't get soggy. I just eat the cereal faster. That's what I do.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's an unhinged person.

[James Petragallo]

Depending on what it is.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

Frosted Flakes. Fast, fast, fast. Captain Crunchy. A couple more minutes. Kind of take a break a little bit there.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Handfuls with a swig of milk, my man.

[James Petragallo]

So that's. He's just nuts. So his ex wife's sister said if somebody was actually listening to Hayward and paying attention, this could have been prevented. Because she said that this is. Shit was going on for 10 years with this guy being fucking crazy. And nobody paid any attention to it. They just put him on medication and sent him home.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

So a nosy neighbor here, that nosy neighbor from before said she. This woman tried to. This is. Listen to what she's trying to do. It's totally wrong and she doesn't even know it, which is funny. She really, like. This is the same woman who said we were best friends. I was going to help her raise the baby. Like she's one of these people that wants to feel important. It feels like. She said she looked out the window and saw Bissell buckling Patricia into the passenger side of the car. And she thought that was strange, but her view was obstructed. And she said she saw nothing indicating anything was wrong. Wrong. She's trying to say that I saw him putting her body in the car. She wasn't dead for two fucking days. We know when she was killed. But she wants to be important and say, I saw the thing that makes Me important, which is fucking ridiculous. She said. Two days later, the apartment manager came to tell her that Patricia was dead. She said, I don't think he's insane. He planned that. That was his mission. His court appointed lawyer will disagree, though. His court appointed lawyer here. What is his name? Baugh is his name. He says he is definitely Hoyt Baugh. That's an H O I G H O H O Y T. Hoyt. Oh, Hoyt Baugh. B A U G H. Yeah. Said he's definitely paranoid and definitely hearing voices. He's obviously got some serious mental problems. That's what he said to the reporters. Then he turned and he was talking to somebody else. He said he's absolutely, certifiably crazy as hell. Which is a less correct way to put that. That's great. Motherfucker's out of his mind.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Less sensitive.

[James Petragallo]

Certifiably crazy as hell. He said that he'd worked a number of capital cases but none of them had been remotely near this. Batshit. This guy is nuts. He also said that he. He said, I've handled a lot of cases, including murder, but nothing as deranged and incompetent as he is. He's got serious mental problems. Problems. Then he said he talked to a local newspaper and said this will be an easy case to prove somebody dropped the ball. Not to keep him locked up. He's been in mental hospitals before and the doctors knew he was mentally ill in talking to family members. He's had these problems for some time. He's absolutely crazy. And his activity in jail is so bizarre. The lawyer would normally say mentally ill or he's crazy. He's fucking crazy.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He's eating his own shit out of the toilet.

[James Petragallo]

And a soft.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

Esophagy eater.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Esophagus. Snacking bird.

[James Petragallo]

This is crazy.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, God. It's so.

[James Petragallo]

As I said, pocket robin is nothing.

[Jimmy Whisman]

This is nothing.

[James Petragallo]

Taking a bird out of your pocket. It's fine.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Pocket throat.

[James Petragallo]

He's got a pocket esophagus, which is wild. At least he didn't have like a pen in there. Like he didn't use it as like a pocket protector or something. That would have been weirder.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Make sure you don't get pen ink on your.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah, a little protector. They said he was very reluctant to speak with me. This is the lawyer.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

Until he got clearance from those who said he could do so. He couldn't talk to the officers because they didn't have a high enough clearance for them to talk to him. You know, crazy is what I'M getting at the next day. He's a little calmer still naked, though.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, is that right?

[James Petragallo]

Yeah, yeah. He still doesn't like clothes very much. They said that he. You know, they said that because of his unruly behavior, visitation for the all the inmates was canceled.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, they are furious.

[James Petragallo]

Yes, Furious. This guy, nobody wants to. Not like anyone's gonna go beat him up. No, no. He's a scary giant monster who wants to. Who tried to eat an esophagus.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Right. He ate poop. He'll eat you.

[James Petragallo]

And that's what the cops are telling he's gonna. Don't with that guy. Leave him the alone. Like he bad. You don't know what he did. He will tear your head off and. And eat whatever's in there. So watch out. Like it's a pudding cup. Like, calm down, dispenser. Yeah. Jesus Christ. Christ. So his car. They put the car inside a locked storage lot at the county road department headquarters because nobody wanted to look at it in the parking lot. The one guy here, a road department worker, said that thing gave us the heebie jeebies, which if he knew better, he'd know. It's the Hee Gee. Bee Gees is actually how you say that. As we found out from our Oregon episode a couple months ago there. That's how you really say it. He said it gave us the. I'll correct it for him. The Hee Gee, Bee Gees sitting out there in the parking lot. Every time I drove past it and looked at it, I thought about what they say happened in it. Now a witness comes forward too, saying that Bissell's car was seen stopped on a county road near Somerville, Georgia on Sunday morning. And a witness who came forward after seeing press coverage claims she saw both Bissell and Patricia inside the car was stopped in the street in front of her home. She noticed the road was blocked with fallen trees, then noticed the car had Ohio tax tags. She said she saw the woman moving and the woman in the car was alive at that time. Okay, couple more witnesses. A. This is fucking crazy. Some people are out in a parking lot. Three guys talking about a work they were going to do. And they saw this car drive by. And they said that they saw that a woman's head, like, slouched down. And they said that the guy driving grabbed her by the hair and held her head up as they drove by.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, my God.

[James Petragallo]

To show them.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

When he let go of her, they said she just melted down into the seat, you know, like a corpse. No expression on her face and her eyes were closed and sagging down.

[Jimmy Whisman]

They were not.

[James Petragallo]

The two men were shocked. And then one of them said, she's deader than hell. And they didn't call the cops or anything, just saw a guy with a woman's corner back to work, back around our business here. I'm gonna go inside and get one of those fucking quarter pound hot dogs and I'll be out here in a minute. So mental evaluation takes place. Her funeral goes on in Ohio. Very sad. Obviously a lot of people show up and they say very nice things about her and this poor woman. So it's horrifying. They end up finding the discount food mart adjoining a parking lot. And that's the war. They have all the. The surveillance video of them inside only moments after the convenience store cameras captured the final images of Patricia. That's when she was killed. And that's when they saw her. Him pulling out of the parking lot with a dead woman. So a report by an Alabama forensic psychiatrist said that Bissell was, quote, very psychotic and suffering from delusions and auditory hallucinations. Okay. By the way, this has been Little Levity Break. Right under one of these newspaper articles is a article entitled Whiskey Served to a Girl instead of Apple Juice.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Whoops.

[James Petragallo]

A four year old at TGI Fridays was given a cup of whiskey instead of apple juice.

[Jimmy Whisman]

And she chugged it.

[James Petragallo]

She took a sip and told her dad it was yucky and then kept drinking it because her dad was like, that's orange, it's apple juice, it's fine. So she kept drinking it. Then they said she began acting sick, silly. A drunk four year old. The funniest. See, all this is so horrible. Dead dogs, dead women, all. A drunk 4 year old will put a smile on your face in the worst of times, telling her dad all.

[Jimmy Whisman]

The things she wishes she could say.

[James Petragallo]

Let me tell you something about you, dad. Let me tell you something about you. You're no good. You're no good. You could be good, but you're not. And now I'm upset about it.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Mommy, Daddy touches my tt.

[James Petragallo]

So. Well, she said it began acting silly and then complained of a headache.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Wait till you puke.

[James Petragallo]

The waitress said she mistakenly picked up a cup of what she thought was apple juice. The restaurant chain is reviewing its policies to ensure it never happens again. The manager said. Or the manager for the place said it was a very unfortunate mistake. They said they blamed it on the waitress. But what was whiskey doing in a plastic cup with a straw anyway?

[Jimmy Whisman]

Well, the bartender was having a nice day.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah, somebody asked for that, and that's what happened. So October 2001 will be a trial. October 1, 2001, the Alabama trial is delayed. They said, why is it taking so long? Well, they don't know how crazy he is. And Alabama and Georgia are fighting, trying to give him to each other, even though fighting to not have to have him. Yeah, they don't. We don't want him. And Alabama has pretty much proved it happened in Georgia now. So they're like, you can have him. So November 2001. This is a. Almost two years. He's still in the same place.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Wow.

[James Petragallo]

He's just sitting there naked. We're not sure if he's still naked, but I'm sure he is. The sheriff said, I just wish they'd do something with him.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

They said he's not causing discipline problems, but he's a legal mess, and we don't want him here. They said that he's out of his fucking mind. He said, if he ends up in the care of mental health officials, he might be able to return to freedom someday, too.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, boy.

[James Petragallo]

The. The prosecutor said, this is funny. The Chattooga county prosecutor said he's waiting for Alabama officials to take action before deciding whether there's sufficient evidence to go forward with a murder trial. I don't know. Corpse in your car is pretty sufficient. He said, they have him, and they have most of the facts and circumstances. It would be a lot easier for them to just pursue it than us. It didn't happen there, though.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's easier for them.

[James Petragallo]

It's just easier if they just take care of it. And they said also, he's content to stay in his bunk and sit there. So let's just let him do it. February 5, 2002. Busy day in court. He appears in court weighing less than £200.

[Jimmy Whisman]

How'd he do that?

[James Petragallo]

Lost almost £250.

[Jimmy Whisman]

What?

[James Petragallo]

Don't know. Lost half his body weight. More than half his body. Shows up looking like a different human being. Wouldn't even recognize him, which is crazy. He is super pale because he's refused all offers to leave his cell. Hasn't seen sunlight since his arrest. Will not go outside. So he's indicted, transferred to Somerville from Fort Payne. He agreed to the plea, and so he agrees to a plea in consultation with his lawyers. He pleads guilty to murder, but mentally ill.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Okay.

[James Petragallo]

Okay. The superior court judge said, I accept your plea and sentences him to. You son may fuck off. Natural life in prison.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Okay.

[James Petragallo]

No parole.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petragallo]

Prison till you die. So he Pleaded guilty, but mentally ill in Georgia. He'll spend the rest of his life in the state penitentiary or, quote, such institutions as the commissioner of the Department of Corrections may direct. They send him to prison, though he's in prison. I don't know if he's been transferred back and forth or what, but he went to prison. They didn't even put him in a mental hospital here or was there. It was there. So the Alabama charges, they don't want anything to do with him so much. They decided to just dispose of all the attempted murder times. Fucking three. Dog killing animals. Never mind, we don't want him here.

[Jimmy Whisman]

They'll have to come to the state.

[James Petragallo]

Yep, we don't want him here. So they said that at that time, the. The prosecutor said that we're disposing everything and that Bissell will, quote, not have to return to Alabama ever again.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He doesn't have to.

[James Petragallo]

Doesn't want to.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Like we're doing him a favor.

[James Petragallo]

Oh, my God. So after the plea proceedings, he was returned to the DeKalb county for the disposition of the Alabama charges. But then they sent him back. So anyway, they said that there was relief in sentencing. The district attorney said, I've spent more time on this case than any other case since I've been in the district attorney's office. This is a culmination of two years of work by a lot of people in three states. I'm very pleased with the outcome. And he also said, the sheriff said, in Alabama, we've housed and fed him long enough. Now he's George's responsibility. He said, from the start, I knew we could prove that Bissell killed that girl in Georgia. I was thrilled to be sitting in the front row and hear him say with his own voice that he was guilty and I don't have to deal with him anymore.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He's had enough of our grits.

[James Petragallo]

Oh, 2003, one of the fucking deputies buys his car at the county auction.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Why?

[James Petragallo]

Because he said, I don't know. The money went back to the county. Seems like a good thing.

[Jimmy Whisman]

What?

[James Petragallo]

So I want this murder scene.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Why would you want that car?

[James Petragallo]

I don't know. And it didn't say, like, he's gonna take it and then they're gonna blow it up or something. Nothing. He's just going to take the car. He just bought this guy's Lincoln.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I'm going to restore it.

[James Petragallo]

I mean, people buy John Wayne Gacy's paintings, I guess, but this is like the ultimate true crime shit. There's a murder happening there. It's like buying Gacy's house and saying, I'm just going to live in the basement with all the bodies.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I'm going to buy the house just for the crawl space.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah, it's great down there. So James Pumphrey's friends, after all of this, once he recovered a little bit from his wounds, they gave him a brand new chocolate lab puppy to help him with the loss of his dogs. And he said it helped a lot and he's doing a lot better and he loves the dog. And he said he's sad about his dogs. He said, but damn it, that's how they would have wanted to go out, was protecting their owners. And he's just, you know, thrilled to have a new dog.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Those dogs are goddamn adorable when they're babies. Big blue eyes, sweet as shit.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah. So the book, by the way, is called Blood highway by Sheila Johnson. If you want to get that book. It's very repetitive. It's 303 pages and it's about 150 pages of actual information. Other than that, it's all repetitive. Yeah. Not, not a good. They keep described. They'll describe the same thing 10 times. What I'm like, did I miss something? Oh, no, they're just redescribing this to talk about something else.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I can't do it. I read books over and over and over again. First time that would drive me nuts.

[James Petragallo]

It was irritating. So there you go. Go there. Is Somerville, Georgia, one of the craziest goddamn stories we've ever told.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He stayed in forever and he's dead or he's still there.

[James Petragallo]

He's still there for as far as I know, I haven't seen him die at all. So he's still there. So anyway, there you go. If you like that story, you're a sick bastard. And you're right along our lines as well. But terrible for Patricia and the dogs and everybody. It's awful. But definitely, if you like the story, give us five stars. You like the way we tell it? I should say give us five stars on whatever app you're listening on. Also definitely tell all your friends. Follow on social media at Small town Murder on Instagram, at Smalltown Pod on Facebook. You definitely want to go to shutupandgivemerder.com and all of your merchandise, number one, and get your tickets to live shows. A lot of them are sold out in this in the fall and winter. So if you want to go to Philly, dc, Seattle, Portland, sold out the night before. So get your asses in there. And I think Grand Rapids and Madison are gone. Yeah, San Diego should be just about gone. And I think there's maybe like 10 tickets left in Irvine. So get your asses in there and come see us, everybody. We can't wait. Shut up and give me murder dot com. That is going to be fun stuff. Also get Patreon. Oh yeah, more stuff here. Patreon.com CrimeInSports. That's P A T R E O N is Patreon. That is where you get all the bonus material. Anybody $5 a month or above, you're going to get just so much shit you don't even know. £400 worth of shit. Like a £400 naked man in a jail cell. That's what our Patreon is. That's what we're gonna call it from now on. A 400 pound naked man in a jail cell sitting amongst his own feces, just tugging. That's just tugging away. That's the real stuff you get immediately upon subscription. Anybody $5 or above. Hundreds of back episodes you've never heard to binge on of bonus episodes. There's tons of them. And then new ones every other week. One crime in sports, one small town murderer. And you, God damn it, get them all. And this week is no exception. This week what you're gonna get for crime and sports. We're gonna talk about some of the worst soccer riots in history and kind of the history of soccer riots. When did it start? Why did it get like this?

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's been doing it a while.

[James Petragallo]

Then for small town murder, we're gonna talk about the crazy shit guy from last week who was a serial killer. We're gonna talk about his murderer's blog that he has in prison that somebody's been keeping up for him. And he sends it all out and he defends himself and we are gonna mock this crazy unmercifully. I can't wait to make fun of him. So check that out. Patreon.com crime and sports. And you get a shout out right now. Jimmy. Hit me with the names of the people who would never do anything that happened this week in the story at all. Hit me with him right now.

[Jimmy Whisman]

This week's executive producer, Sarah Groupe, I believe, Ian Mastro. Happy birthday, Ian.

[James Petragallo]

Happy birthday.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Ashley Williams. Happy birthday. Look at this. There's so many birthdays. Simon Shed. Happy birthday. He moved back to you.

[James Petragallo]

English son of a bitch.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Jolly old England that you don't call it. Happy birthday you guys. Also Tim and Betsy in Chicago, they came to the Chicago show Thank you, Tim and Betty, so great to meet both you and smoke a joint with you on the street. You're such wonderful people. Also, Barb the nurse, she got super hammered and was drunk dancing. It was crazy. Amy Ellis. Also, she goes by Penny Hunt. She donated both ways. She's giving it to you both ways. Gary Howard and Cody and Delaney Leversy are having a little girl.

[James Petragallo]

Congratulations, you guys. Yeah.

[Jimmy Whisman]

They get married, they meet each other.

[James Petragallo]

We've been with them the whole time.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Following their love life, and now they. Now we've made a baby girl together. Congratulations to all of us. Other producers are Jojo loves Dee Dee. Liz Vasquez. Good to see you too, Liz. Peyton Meadows. Happy hour, checking in. In Sweetwater, Texas, Janice Hill. Jules Mitchell's son, Jacob graduated from Purdue. Oh, Jules was supposed to be in Chicago this week, too, but she did not make it. She will make another show. Emily with no Last name. Alicia McLaren. Reginald Stokes. Carrie Frazier. Joshua with no last name. William Cosby iii.

[James Petragallo]

James oh, the Third. Bill Cosby.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Jesus Christ. Tara Cameron, Missing String Morgan, Alexandra Alexander, Nikki with no last name. Faith Johnston. Brandy Zamboni, Keith Schnell, Lauren Luderman, Jody Mason. Zane Burton, Sarah Mason, Casey Egan, Catherine Taylor, Lou Dolph, Cheyenne York. Beef offering. I don't know what that means, Paul. I'll offer the beef. Kelly with no last name. Kristen would. No last name. Caleb Keller, Stephanie Knodle, Karen Kareen, Kareem Gang. Is it Karine was. Well, check that email. Tell me what that was.

[James Petragallo]

That was me. Yeah, well, you're right. Yeah, let's check on that.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Tammy with no last name. Skyler Weitzel, Rebecca Burgess.

[James Petragallo]

Olafur.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Our doll, Cigarson. That's all wrong. Sea Otter got two patrons. Thank you, Sea Otter.

[James Petragallo]

Thank you.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Donna Pond. Cassandra Logsdon, Karen Kodat Kadoti Cole with no last name. Cindy Lord, Lloyd Patrick Dawn, The Irvins. Rachel with no last name. Kelly Mills McDermott. Isaac Johnson. A Near. Oh, Nessarin. It stumbled me. Lacey H. Jieber Gieber. Melissa Bazamore, Jason Lauke. Caitlin Dominique Lewis. Krista. Krista Gibson. I mean, Emmy Jacobs. I'm not sure. Siomen Ross. What? How do you pronounce that? C O, A, I, M, H, I, N. Best of luck.

[James Petragallo]

Semen.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Mr. Mr. Or Mrs. Ross. That's Mason Fox, Floyd Jay Dawson, Fiona Kellington Murphy. Amanda Brennan. Olive with no last name. Logan Gregory, Wendy S. Christine Bonoff, Jill Leach. Amanda Davis, Trey Parison. L rank. Becky with no last name. Amber Houseman. Caitlin Baddies. I think that is yes, it is. Sybil o' Brien. Tanya Oban, Bach, Britt B. Sam Bull. George with no last name Alyssa Wagner. Matt seneca. Seneca. Jeffrey C.L. caudkluff. Jennifer with no last name Isabella. Stat out. Stiawat. Heather Doolin, Tom Bonama. Bone Bonama Bona Mole Bonham Less Chad. Marion. Andrew Baker. Victoria Beach. Stacy Kunts. Oh, that's probably cool. Koontz, Josh Skinner, ryan Burdett, Sean McDowell. The Arch Baron Lint Liquor. Shara Curly, Hunter Reed, Julie Kohler, Amy Neurad, Chad Daniels. Probably not that one, but I hope it is. I love all Chad Daniels. They're good people. Amanda with no last name Derek Huber, Laurie Larry. Larry Demas. Demas Kim Roberts, Lauren Peck. Melissa Griffith. Alex B. Zone. Chelsea. Chelsea be a throw. Jody with no last name Monica Delo. Tan Tan Chick. Sammy Schwartz. Tyler Forester. MBL is a real sport. Evidently.

[James Petragallo]

James.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That's what I'm told. The nbl. What was that? The National Basketball League.

[James Petragallo]

And Kendall Pender. And yeah, that's not a good.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's real, but it's not good. Nikki Parisi. There's a lot of sports that are real.

[James Petragallo]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Matthew or Mateo. Alexander. Jesse. Jessa. Jessica. Caller Daisy with no last name A. Chase Mitchell. Kosuke Cusack. Cusack. Kurt. Kurt Morton. Robert Russell. You mix those two guys together, you get Kurt Russell, David Ishmael, Todd, Joe Foley, Joey foley. Foley, Doug McIntosh, Daniel Martinez, Brittany Merriman. Anonymous. Oh, and all of our patrons that are not anonymous. We love you all. Thank you.

[James Petragallo]

Thank you so much everybody. Honestly, from the bottom of our hearts, we cannot thank you enough for all that you do for us. For sure you want to follow us on social media, shut up and giveemurder.com is a drop down menu. Take you anywhere you want to go in the world. Except for Dekalb County, Alabama maybe. So do that. Keep coming back and hanging out with us. And until next week, it's been our pleas. 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 short [e-mail] survey. How did the Internet go from this? You could actually find what you were looking for right away.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Bang to this.

[James Petragallo]

I feel like I'm in hell. Spoiler alert. It was not an accident. I'm Cory Doctorow, host of who broke the Internet? From CBC's Understood. In this four part series I'm going to tell you why the Internet sucks. Now who's faulted it is, and my plan to fix it. Find who broke the Internet on whatever terrible app you get your podcasts.