Homicidal Bloodthirsty Energizer Bunny - Cape Girardeau, Missouri

Summary

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Small Town Murder Podcast Summary

Episode Title: Homicidal Bloodthirsty Energizer Bunny – Cape Girardeau, Missouri

Podcast/Hosts: Small Town Murder / James Pietragallo & Jimmie Whisman
Release Date: July 2, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode plunges into the mayhem surrounding a horrifying 1996 murder and kidnapping in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, led by the astonishingly persistent and dangerous Russell "Rusty" Bucklew. The hosts, as always, blend deeply researched true crime with irreverent, incisive comedy, painting a picture of a small town rocked by insanity well beyond its size. They discuss the town, its reputation, the bloody spree, and the outsized villain at its center, culminating in a detailed chronicle of a death penalty case and an additional tragedy that seemingly proves some people can never catch a break.

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Key Episode Sections

1. Getting to Know Cape Girardeau, MO

• [07:27–16:54]
• Location/Background: On the Mississippi River, two hours from St. Louis and Memphis.
• History & Culture: Once famed for its rose-lined roads (now gone), tornado devastation, and a unique mix of college town vibrancy with backwater quirks.
• Town Reviews: Locals rate the city everywhere from idyllic to hellhole: "'Narcissists, druggies, drug dealers, killers, thieves... And don't come here. No peace, no love, no empathy. Ruthless. You won't be able to leave if you come here. You will have babysitters.'" – James [13:27]
• Demographics & Economy: Heavily religious (78% with a 15% Pentecostal population), majority white, heavy student population, low cost of living, and affordable real estate.

2. Property, Crime, and Local Color

• [16:54–23:36]
• Real Estate: Range from $45K fixer-uppers to $895K mansions.
• Annual Events: Barrel and Bruise, a fancifully described “luxury bourbon and music” festival.
• Crime Rates: Property crime nearly double national average (college town effect); violent crime slightly above average.

3. Introducing Rusty Bucklew & Stephanie Ray

• [24:06–35:53]
• Stephanie Ray: Born 1974, single mom by her early 20s, "kind, angel-collecting, gardening type."
• Russell "Rusty" Bucklew: Born 1968, suffers from extremely rare "cavernous hemangioma" – clusters of blood-filled tumors, mainly covering his face and throat.
• Personality: Instead of humility, Rusty is narcissistic, violent, and addicted to opiates. Over 21 prior convictions, including two assaults on former girlfriends.
• Memorable quote: “You would think with your whole head full of tumors, spongy, blood filled tumors, that you'd be like, I'm gonna be nice to people because I'm gross…No, he's one of the narcissists.” – James [34:41]

4. A Relationship Spirals: Control, Threats, and Violence

• [35:53–43:03]
• Details the escalating cycle of abuse: Rusty's possessiveness, Stephanie's attempts to leave, and an incident where he chains her to a bed and threatens her with a knife after a breakup attempt.

5. A New Relationship, and the Jealousy Erupts

• [43:03–47:00]
• Stephanie finds sanctuary and romance with co-worker Michael Sanders, a devoted single father.
• Rusty’s jealousy boils over: On March 6, 1996, after being kicked out, he assaults both Michael (at knifepoint) and Stephanie (cuts her jaw, punches her in the face).

6. Murder and Abduction—The Crime

• [53:07–61:48]

• Rusty, armed with two stolen pistols, two sets of stolen handcuffs, duct tape, knives, and a stolen car, stalks Stephanie.

• Home invasion: He bursts into Michael Sanders’ trailer guns blazing, shooting Sanders (who tried to defend with a shotgun), wounds him fatally, attempts (and misses) to shoot Sanders’ 6-year-old son, pistol-whips Stephanie, and kidnaps her while the children hide.

  • Notable quote: “He crossed the threshold, guns blazing, Doc Holliday style…Kicks in, with a pistol in each hand.” – James [54:12]

• [61:08–69:10]

  • While fleeing with handcuffed Stephanie, Bucklew rapes her in the woods, then drives north toward St. Louis, threatening to kill police in a standoff and playing Bon Jovi’s “Blaze of Glory” on repeat.
    • Notable quote: “He said he's, quote, not going back to jail, and he will take as many police officers with him as he can. …Then he reaches down and over and over and over again plays the same song. Bon Jovi's Blaze of Glory. Over and over and over again.” – James [69:39–70:42]

7. Police Chase and Shootout

• [75:25–78:31]
  • Multicounty police chase ends in a shootout on I-55 near Festus, Missouri.
  • Bucklew is shot in the chest and head but survives; Stephanie is accidentally shot in the leg but survives. Bucklew confesses in detail on camera days later.

8. Bucklew’s Audacious Jail Escape

• [102:00–106:02]
  • Bucklew intentionally loses weight to 90 lbs and escapes jail inside a trash bag taken outside by an inmate trustee, sparking a frenzied manhunt.
  • He hides in the victim’s mother's house (inside a pantry), attacking her and her boyfriend before stealing a car and being quickly recaptured by a prepared deputy.
    • Quote: “He slid into a trash bag, had it tied over his head ... carried the bag outside and tossed it into a 50 gallon trash can... then he just took off.” — James [104:08]

9. Trial and Death Penalty

• [125:34–141:21]
• Bucklew’s trial is transferred for fairness.
• Case against him is overwhelming: confession, eyewitnesses, and blood-spattered child’s drawing as evidence. Defense argues opioids and tumors impaired his control, but cannot dispute guilt.
• Verdict: Guilty of first-degree murder, kidnapping, rape. Jury sentences him to death.
  • Prosecutor: “He’s a homicidal and bloodthirsty Energizer Bunny. He just keeps on coming.” [138:16]
• Stephanie and the victims’ families express a sense of closure at the verdict.

10. Appeals and Execution Drama

• [143:37–177:42]

  • Decades of appeals focus on:

    • His rare disease (face and throat tumors could cause him to literally drown in blood if executed lying on a gurney)
    • The argument that his original lawyers failed to present mitigating mental health evidence

  • Multiple stays are issued as courts debate whether lethal injection would constitute cruel or unusual punishment in his unique case

  • Tumorous bleeding, repeated hospitalizations, and near-death experiences behind bars, all exhaust the appeals process.

    • Notable quote: “Just keep him alive. If you want him to suffer, this is way worse. Make him do this till he’s 90. That would be awesome. Fuck him.” – James [171:13]

  • In 2019, after the Supreme Court says constitutional standards are met if the head of the gurney is elevated, the execution proceeds. Accommodations are made to keep his head up and sedate him with Valium.

11. Last Meal and Execution

• [182:19–185:09]
  • His last meal: gyro sandwich, smoked brisket sandwich, two orders of fries, a Coke, and a banana split.
  • The process is carefully monitored for humane standards; he dies quietly at 6:23 PM.
  • Host commentary: Debate the ethics and costs of the death penalty, last meal traditions, and dignity in process.
    • “If you can’t give a guy a last meal, then you shouldn’t be shooting them, or you shouldn’t be shooting them up—then shoot him in the face. Or just let him rot in a room. It sucks in there and it’s cheaper.” – James [186:45]

12. Aftermath – Tragedy Upon Tragedy

• [159:55–164:59]
• Stephanie survives the 1996 crime, remarries in 2005, but is murdered by her second husband in 2009 in another domestic violence incident.
  • "This is very sad. She had already lived through a terrible situation and now this happens. I feel for her and especially for the children." – Local resident [164:37]
• Her killer also dies by suicide. Her surviving children live through two devastating crimes.
• Host reaction: Sober reflection. “Here’s a tragedy, sir. That piece of shit with all the flowers in his mouth got to outlive her. That’s a tragedy.” – Jimmy [165:13]

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On the criminal: “He’s a homicidal and bloodthirsty Energizer Bunny. He just keeps on coming.” — [138:16]
• On the town: "Narcissists, druggies, drug dealers, killers, thieves...And don't come here. No peace, no love, no empathy. Ruthless." — [13:27]
• On the spongy blood-filled tumors: “Four words we’ve ever put together…spongy blood filled tumors.” — [26:50]
• On law enforcement: “We’ll keep looking. We got a murder charge—that’s good forever. We’ll look for him until he’s found. Which sounds like: ‘If he turns up, he turns up. Anyway, back to paperwork.’” — [110:48]
• On Stephanie’s fate: “Here’s a tragedy, sir. That piece of shit with all the flowers in his mouth got to outlive her. That’s a tragedy.” — [165:13]
• On the execution: “He lay under a white sheet, looked around the room, twitched his feet, took a deep breath, and then that was that.” — [185:09]

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Timeline of Important Segments

| Timestamp | Topic / Segment |
|-----------|-----------------|
| 07:27–16:54 | Cape Girardeau deep dive (town, crime, demographics)
| 24:06–35:53 | Bucklew’s backstory; medical condition and criminal past
| 35:53–43:03 | Stephanie & Rusty’s relationship—a pattern of abuse
| 53:07–61:48 | The crime: Murder, kidnapping, rape
| 69:39–71:17 | Blaze of Glory motif / psychological unraveling
| 75:25–78:31 | Police shootout and arrest
| 102:00–106:02 | Jail escape via trash bag
| 125:34–141:21 | Trial, evidence, death penalty verdict
| 182:19–185:09 | Last meal and execution scene
| 159:55–164:59 | Stephanie’s later murder—double tragedy

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Tone & Style

• Hosts' Tone: Equal parts irreverent and empathetic; alternately lampooning small-town oddities, local law enforcement, and 1990s culture, then veering sharply into compassionate commentary on victimhood, abuse, and justice.
• Memorable Running Gags:
  • Bon Jovi’s “Blaze of Glory” as Rusty’s personal soundtrack
  • Russy's tumors referred to as “flowers” and “roses,” darkly riffing on Cape Girardeau’s defunct “City of Roses” nickname
  • Counties and towns in Missouri with endless trailers—"not one foundation," everything is a trailer home
  • Mock “real estate report” and “festival bands” nostalgia

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Takeaways

• This is an episode as much about the persistence of violence as it is about the persistence of misguided justice systems.
• The crime is both tragic and bizarre: A rare medical condition, a deeply broken man, the system’s flaws, and an almost mythic escape effort conspire to create a story as darkly fascinating as it is appalling.
• The hosts strike a balance between keeping the listener laughing, horrified, and ultimately sobered by the grim fate of a woman who truly never got a break.

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For Further Interest

• Crime & Sports and Your Stupid Opinions: The hosts’ other shows, running similar themes of comedic true crime and cultural foible analysis.
• This episode exists as a cautionary tale about the intersection of trauma, flawed individuals, and the holes in rural American law enforcement—and how sometimes, jaw-dropping horror doesn’t stop, even after the “bad guy” is gone.

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Transcript

[James Pietragallo]

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[Jimmy Whisman]

Murder now back to the show at Amica Insurance.

[James Pietragallo]

We know it's not just about where you're going, but who you go with. That's why we work even harder to protect what matters most.

[Jimmy Whisman]

And as a mutual insurance company, we're

[James Pietragallo]

built for our customers and prioritize your needs. Amica empathy is our best policy. Visit amica.com and get a quote today. This week in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, a wild and scary scene unfolds when a jealous boyfriend shows up at his ex's new boyfriend's trailer with a gun in each hand. This leads to cold blooded murder and a race to find the kidnapped ex, hopefully still alive. And that's somehow just the Tip of this horrific iceberg. Welcome to Small Town Murder. Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Small Town Murder. Yay. Yay indeed, Jimmy. Yay indeed. My name is James Petrigallo. I'm here with my co host.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I'm Jimmy Whisman.

[James Pietragallo]

Thank you, folks for joining us today on another this is a wild episode of Small Town Murder. Let me tell you. Not like they all aren't, but this seems extra crazy to me just with all the stuff going on here. Before we get to that, definitely head over to shutupandgivemerder.com what you need there. First of all, all your merchandise and everything like that, but your tickets for live shows starting out at the end of the summer, September 18th at the Pabst in Milwaukee. Get your tickets now. There's not a lot of those left, so if you want to get in there, get them right now. Also the next night, September 19th at the State Theater in Minneapolis. Get those tickets right now. Minneapolis is actually losing to Milwaukee in the ticket race at this moment. And I know Minneapolis doesn't want to lose to anything in Wisconsin. So get in there and get your tickets. Everybody do that. And then also October, we have Dallas, San Jose, Sacramento, and November Tarrytown in Boston. So there you go. Everybody get your tickets right now. Shut upandgivemerder.com as well as listen to our other shows. We just finished up, just finished up the Yahweh Ben Yahweh cult series on crime and sports with all their murders and everything like that. So feel like you'd enjoy that. And then also your stupid opinions. If you like to laugh, that's the show you want. So get in there then. Get yourself patreon. That's important. Patreon.com crimeinsports Just like the name of our other show. And that is where you get all the bonus material. Anybody $5 a month or above, you get every damn thing that we put out, every stitch of it. As soon as you subscribe, you are going to get hundreds, almost 400 back bonus episodes that you've never heard before. That's a whole separate feed to binge there. That's a lot. And then you get two and then you get two every other week. So one Crime in Sports, one Small Town Murder and you get it all this week. For crime and sports, it's part two of Hostages because we found those fascinating, those hostage situations. So we'll get into more of that. And then for Small Town Murder, it's Prisoner Dating game time, everybody.

[Jimmy Whisman]

There we go.

[James Pietragallo]

It is back Again by popular demand. And line up four bachelors and four bachelorettes in front of Jimmy. And the only thing they have in common is they are all convicted violent felons. And Jimmy gets to pick one of each based solely on what they say about themselves and their profile. And. And then the fun begins when we start to find out what they did to end up there and how bad of a decision Jimmy's made. So that's a lot of fun. Patreon.com CrimeInSports is where you get all that. And on top of that you get everything we put out. I mean everything. All you have to be is $5 a month or above. Everything we put out all ad free as well. Ad free. You can't beat that. And then you get. I'm talking crime and sports, your stupid opinions and small town murder. Then on top of that, you get a shout out at the end of the show too, where Jimmy will mispronounce your.

[Jimmy Whisman]

What are we the best there is?

[James Pietragallo]

I think we're trying. Yeah, we're giving it our best efforts. So patreon.com crimeinsports is where you get all of that Disclaimer time.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Now we're talking.

[James Pietragallo]

It's a comedy show, everybody.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Sure is.

[James Pietragallo]

This is a comedy show. We're comedians and we're gonna make nice to meet you and we're gonna make jokes and people are gonna die because the show's called Small Town Murder. And you go, well, how do you do that? And we say tastefully is how you do it. That's right. Real tastefully, like it's real simple. You basically what we never do is we don't make fun of the victims or the victims families.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Why, James?

[James Pietragallo]

Because we're assholes.

[Jimmy Whisman]

What?

[James Pietragallo]

But we're not scumbags.

[Jimmy Whisman]

There you have it.

[James Pietragallo]

Real simple. That's the way you do it. There's plenty of other stuff to make fun of a small town because who cares? We're all from somewhere that deserves to be made fun of. Don't get all crazy and uppity about your own place. You'll make fun of somebody else. We'll make fun of a small town police force that lets a murderer go free because they're not doing their jobs. We'll make fun of murderers because fuck them. That's all there is to it. So that said, if you think true crime and comedy should never go together, maybe we're not for you, but we might be. Either way, no complaining later. But you should check it out because we think you would like it and will like it. So that said, I think it's time, everybody. There we go. To sit back. What do you say? Here, Clear the lungs. Here, Arms to the sky, and let's all shout. Shut up and give me murder. Let's do this, everybody.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Okay.

[James Pietragallo]

Let's go on a trip, shall we? Yeah, let's do it. All right, we're moving along. We're going to Cape Gerardo. How did I say that?

[Jimmy Whisman]

Gerardo. Yes.

[James Pietragallo]

Cape Girardeau. He's Rico Suave, is where we are.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Pietragallo]

Rico Suave, M.O. jared, do I believe is how you say. Yeah. Cape Girardeau, Missouri, which is G, I, R, A, R, D, E, A, U. So why are you confused about the pronunciation? Because it's French, that's why. It's in southeastern Missouri. Way down there, it's about an hour and 50 minutes up to St. Louis. If you go all the way, kind of up the border there, and then it's two and a half hours to Memphis in the other direction, and it's six hours and 50 minutes to Maryville, Missouri. Our last Missouri episode. It's a long time. Takes forever. That was episode 666, the killer, the Kitty and the Combine. That was a wild episode. This is in Cape. Damn it. Gerardeau County. Gerard Depardieu, Cape Depardieu County. Also in Scott county as well. This town, area code 573. And it's got several nicknames, most of which have been taken by many other cities. Oh, see, first of all, Cape. Which Cape? Cape. You go to the Cape, that's Cape Cod. That's, you know, lots of capes. River City, which is. There's a million cities that call themselves River City.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Everything that's on a river, there's a

[James Pietragallo]

lot of rivers, and then one that's taken by many other cities, including a big one, the City of Roses. Oh, yeah, Portland, right. Yeah. You want to call yourself the Queen City, too? Take Charlotte's ship and somebody else might as well.

[Jimmy Whisman]

What about the one that doesn't sleep?

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah, why not? The city is named. A little bit of history here. Named after Jean Baptiste D. Jirardeau. Spelled completely different, by the way.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Is that different Jean Baptiste, too, right?

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah. I'm sure he established a temporary trading post around 1733. So, yeah, this is later. He was a French soldier stationed at Kaskaskia. Wow. Kaskaskia. Between 1704 and 1720 in the Louisiana Colony of French. Whatever the hell. So the cape in this name is referring to a rock promontory that overlooks the Mississippi River. So there's this beautiful spot, this scenic spot that was later completely destroyed by railroad construction. So that's nice.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Turned right back into mud like the rest of the fucking river.

[James Pietragallo]

That's it. Here you go, everybody. In Missouri, the great Mud river flows here. On May 21, 1949, a large tornado ripped through the city.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Sure.

[James Pietragallo]

Killing 22 people. That's a lot. 22 people. Hospitalizing 72 and injuring hundreds. It became known as the City of Roses because they had a nine mile stretch of highway that was once lined with dozens of rose bushes. Not anymore. We can drop that name now I think since they don't exist anymore.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Because there was a place that had some rosebuds. Not even they didn't sell them.

[James Pietragallo]

No, they just as you drove that was there. And there used to be a lot of prominent rose gardens around the community. That was like the thing to do was to have rose gardens. But hardly any of them exist anymore too. So it's pretty sad.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's an interesting bush that everybody's proud of when most of them look like dog shit.

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah. For a little while to keep going it is. My grandfather had rose bushes.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Pietragallo]

That would come back every year no matter what. All the time in the winter she tried so hard.

[Jimmy Whisman]

She put eggshells in coffee grounds, all kinds of shit in there. She'd just have more or less a garbage disposal full of shit in her yard. And they looked nice from time to time, but for the most part they looked like a tangled fucking mess.

[James Pietragallo]

Interesting. Maybe it's too much care because my grandfather, I think used scotch and Pall Mall ashes I believe was how he. That was his fertilizer. He spilled a little scotch in there while he was drinking and ash just filterless cigarette on it, I think. And they grew. Beautiful reviews to this town. Yeah, here's five stars. I like the all around atmosphere of the city. Growing up here I have fondly come to like the place. From the people I've met to the restaurants I've been. Oh yeah. In other words, I just don't want to go anywhere. I'm happy, I eat and then I

[Jimmy Whisman]

stay home and everything's great.

[James Pietragallo]

And it's great. Here's three stars. Cape has both its good and its bad. It depends on the area really. Let me write that down. Hold on. So you're saying in different parts of different cities things are different?

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Pietragallo]

Wow, that's weird.

[Jimmy Whisman]

There could be a nice part, James, but then there could be a bad part.

[James Pietragallo]

Well, let me write that. I'm going to Write bad parts. I'm going to put BP for bad parts.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That's a really good idea. And then GP for good parts.

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah, I'm going to put that down. That way we. Yeah, There, That's. Don't forget now. I'll know that for later. In case I'm confused. That's helpful. Areas around Legends, Cape Town, Girard do bring lots of crime and trouble, but other areas can be nicer. Yes, you've mentioned that. You've mentioned some areas are bad, some areas are nice. The bars aren't that exciting, and there's only one club to dance at. But it could be worse.

[Jimmy Whisman]

You can shake your ass, but

[James Pietragallo]

I love when someone complains and they go, but it could be worse.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Seeing worse things. It could be worse. Specifically in those other areas.

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah, it was very bad in those areas. To me, it could be worse. As the non Italian way of saying, you know me, I can't complain. I can't complain. That's the non Italian way of doing it. Here's one star. Don't come here.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Okay?

[James Pietragallo]

Okay. It's not like it was. Narcissists, druggies, drug dealers, killers, thiefs and thieves. Not thieves, by the way, thieves, Apostrophe s also, so. I don't know. You can make of that what you will. Killers, thieves. And don't come here. And don't come here. No peace.

[Jimmy Whisman]

All of those really awful things. And narcissists.

[James Pietragallo]

And narcissists. That's the really bad part. Killers and thieves and druggies. Okay, but. Oh, my. But. Narcissists. Now we're pushing it. No peace, no love, no empathy. Empty eyes, no souls, no respect, no care. Ruthless. You won't be able to leave if you come here. Why? Why can't you leave? I don't get why.

[Jimmy Whisman]

They'll steal your car.

[James Pietragallo]

You can't get out, and you will have babysitters. I don't know what that means.

[Jimmy Whisman]

They're gonna watch you to make sure you don't go.

[James Pietragallo]

I suppose so. It's like Widow's Bay. You can't leave if you're born here. One star. Not as good as it once was. Crime, drugs, killings, shootings, harassment, fighting. No good jobs. How about the narcissists? Are they.

[Jimmy Whisman]

What about them? He hasn't experienced them yet.

[James Pietragallo]

City won't fund enough law enforcement to combat overgrowing criminal activity. We'll be the judge of that. We have crime rate, it has a college, and they try to sweep all the negative news under the rug. City needs to be put. Needs to put casino funds into things that will help the city, not in things that are a waste of money. Meaning the money they get from the casinos.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Right.

[James Pietragallo]

Okay. People in this town, 39,415. It's grown quite a bit, this place. More women than men, which is kind of typical in college towns. Southeastern Missouri, I believe, is here. So there's 52.2% women. Median age is much lower, too, because of the college. 33.9 is the median age, which is lower than the national average by about four or five years. The less married people. It's still almost 40% married here, though.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Wow.

[James Pietragallo]

Which is still pretty high considering that many kids. 18% are single with children. Which college town that's like that race in this town, 79.44% white, 14.3% black, 2.3% Asian, 1.9% Hispanic. And religion. This is. I don't know if that's a Christian school or what, but it must be because the religion here is as high as, like, Utah. It's wild. 78.3% of the people here are religious. That's a lot. And the top one, it's 15.5% Pentecostal.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I don't even know what that one does.

[James Pietragallo]

That's the snake handlers. Well, that's the hardcore version of that, the nutty one. But everybody with a snake is a Pentecostal for the most part.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Tongue speaking and shit.

[James Pietragallo]

Oh, yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. That's. You'll get all that shit there running into water, whatever the hell's going on there. Yep, it's close. Baptist is a close second here. Unemployment is low here. Median household income is also low. And that's typical of a college town as well. 69,000 is the average for the country here. It's $48,055 median household cost of living, which is. Can say a lot. Here, 100 is average, regular. Here it is 84. And the house, little bit high. Yeah. For what it is, where it is. The housing is the lowest thing there is here. Median home cost here, $180,400. Very affordable for a meeting.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's not in the middle of nowhere.

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah, this is. There's not. Unless you, like, are a professor at the college. I don't know what you're doing here working here. So if we've convinced you, Here we go. Narcissists and druggies and killers and thieves and everything else doesn't drive you away. We have for you the cape. Cape Gerardou. I think I said it right. Missouri Real Estate report. Your average two bedroom rental here goes for $880 a month, which is well below the national average. About a third below it. Here is the first house. It is a smoking deal. Needs a lot of work on the inside. It's a three bedroom, one bath, 1500 square foot house. It's got a grass hill going up it with the concrete steps. It looks like it's in Pittsburgh or something. This house, it's brick house. It needs a lot of work. Inside there are rooms that are just stripped to nothing. But it's $45,000,

[Jimmy Whisman]

so that's amazing.

[James Pietragallo]

Put some work into it and you got yourself. I don't know if it's in a shit neighborhood, one of the bad areas, or. I'm sorry, bp. Bad parts, I believe is what we call them. Next up is a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 3543 square foot house.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Good size house.

[James Pietragallo]

It's good size from the outside. It's not a lot to look at. It's yellow vinyl siding, two story with like a porch that looks like it's gonna fall down on the upper, upper deck there. It's not a big lot or anything like that, but that's a lot of house. If you have a few kids, it's a place you can store them. 164,900 bucks. And that is after a $10,000 price cut as well on that one. And then finally you're. I don't know, you're the dean of some horseshit at a college. I don't know. What, I don't know. I don't know what jobs there are at colleges. I didn't go to college.

[Jimmy Whisman]

The coach at cmu.

[James Pietragallo]

You are doing it. Here's a four bedroom, four bath, T bowl for each and every B hole. Over here, 5724 square foot house. It's a big, nice brick, really nice house. It's on three acres as well. A lot of trees, some privacy to your neighbors. Real nice. 895,000 bucks for that.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Holy.

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah. In Phoenix, that would be $17 million.

[Jimmy Whisman]

How many acres?

[James Pietragallo]

Three.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah, that's pretty good.

[James Pietragallo]

That's not bad. That'd be $17 million in Phoenix or Westchester. One of the two. Pick them. Either part of the country that we live in here, things to do in this town. Oh, baby. It's the barrel and bruise. Barrel in Bruise, you know, and Bourbon and live music festival. Oh, let's get drunk and watch local bands.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Pietragallo]

Hey. Okay, now it says join us in the heartland experience. Two unforgettable days of luxury spirit tastings. When I think of the heartland, that's what I think about. Luxury spirit tastings. That's America.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That's your luxury.

[James Pietragallo]

That's real America right there. That's the real blue collar America. Luxury spirit tastings. That's what it's about. Live music and delicious local food. Okay, they said they're excited to host a premiere event celebrating fine spirits, supporting local vendors and enjoying live music outdoors. Now the music we got DJ Noon, Nun Nunny Nune N u N E. Could be anything. Call if this is the description, call it funky, jazzy, or whatever you want, but DJ Nunez, Seamless blend of horns, electric sounds and vocals forms an explosive combination.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, boy.

[James Pietragallo]

Then there's Ed Callison and company. I'd like to like you to concentrate on picking up trends here, by the way, over the next couple. Music isn't just something Ed does. It's who he is.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, he is.

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah. With a voice that can slide from rock to R B to country in a single set, he brings heart and energy to every performance. Black rock. Yeah. Ed draws inspiration from a wide variety of legends, including Rod Stewart, the Beatles, Don Henley, Paul Rogers, and then Bad Company. That's their singer. Travis Tritt, Alan Jackson, John Mellencamp, hall and Oates, Steve Perry, Leonard Skynyrd, Aerosmith, Foreigner, and many more. He just listed every band he went through, like his collection of. He was like, well, I got these guys going through his phone. Well, I got a bunch of their songs. I should put him in there, probably.

[Jimmy Whisman]

This is all the shit he listened to in high school.

[James Pietragallo]

That's it. So he took inspiration. Next is my posse in effect?

[Jimmy Whisman]

Hell yeah.

[James Pietragallo]

Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. There's a bunch of middle aged white people in jogging suits. It looks bad.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, that's not. You can't do sir mix a lot and Rex and effects.

[James Pietragallo]

Oh, you can if you're these idiots. Taking you through the decades of their unforgettable hits, this seven piece live band replicates the authentic Beastie boys experience with three MCs, a world class DJ, and visuals from their iconic video collection. What the crowds get to relive carefree times and always sing along word for word in a party atmosphere. You're doing karaoke?

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah. I don't get it.

[James Pietragallo]

Beats me. Next up, Andrew Lee, an American country singer, music artist from Kentucky. Musical influences like John Prine, Hank Williams Jr. Alan Jackson, George Strait, Tyler Childers, and Morgan Wallen.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Okay, you had me for a minute.

[James Pietragallo]

No. And then you lost me. Ethan Carl is also there. He's a singer songwriter, born and raised outside of St. Louis with influences such as Parker McCollum, John Mayer and Travis Tritt.

[Jimmy Whisman]

How do you have those

[James Pietragallo]

for this incredible event? $45 a day.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Stop it.

[James Pietragallo]

$80 for two days. Or you can get the two day VIP package, which is $195. Wow. She gets eight drink tickets per day. You're gonna get tanked. Jesus.

[Jimmy Whisman]

$195 to listen to that shit, but

[James Pietragallo]

you get a branded glass to take home. I mean, that seems worth it anyway. Crime rate, what we are interested in here and what people are so freaking out about in this town, property crime. There's a reason it's almost double the national average. So I don't know, they got crackheads and people, but that's also college towns. It's always higher.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah, the property crime is definitely higher.

[James Pietragallo]

You get people doing dumb shit.

[Jimmy Whisman]

You bring a fucking event like Bourbon and Bones, what was it?

[James Pietragallo]

And you give people eight drink tickets per day. You're gonna get some property crime. It's gonna be a problem. Violent crime, murder, rape, robbery, and of course, assault. The Mount Rushmore of crime is only slightly above average. It's pretty close. So not bad. It was probably at average. And then you add in all of the like frat party, non consensual fucking weird shit that goes on there and it goes way up.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Stray dick comes out and it's all over.

[James Pietragallo]

That's right. That said, let's talk about some murder here, okay? Now that we're done talking about the impact of date rape on the crime rate, we'll move on to this here, okay? Let's talk about a murder. Let's talk about a woman first. Man, what a journey she has here. Stephanie Lynn. Now, I believe she's born Pruitt, but then later on she goes by Stephanie Ray and then she's back to Pruitt. So for the majority of the story is when she's going by Stephanie Ray. So we'll call her Stephanie Ray for now. She's born June 29, 1974, and by the mid-90s, she is a single mother of three.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Dang.

[James Pietragallo]

By 21, 22 years old, she's got three kids, she's single.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Same thing my mom did.

[James Pietragallo]

It's tough. That's a tough thing to do. And everybody. She's very nice. She's very into gardening, by the way. Really, really into gardening.

[Jimmy Whisman]

You know what it is out there, James?

[James Pietragallo]

Real quiet. Yeah. Maybe she puts angels all over her house too. Real into angels. And Gardening. She sounds like she's a 73 year old lady is what she sounds like. But she's looking for solace in her early 20s here. But she's very nice and kind. Everybody says about her. By the mid-90s she's in another relationship. Not with the father of her children, but with somebody else. A guy named Russell Bucklew. B U C K L E W Now Russell goes by Rusty of course. Fuck yeah, he's Russell Earl Bucklew. Born May 16th, 1968. So about six years older than her old Rusty Buckle. Okay. Now Rusty is born with a strange illness that does not affect a lot of people. It's called cavernous Hemangioma. Hemangyama. Cavernous. Cavernous. Wow. Hemingyama. Okay. Sounds like it's gross.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It sounds like something that attacks the Oompa Loompas.

[James Pietragallo]

I believe it does actually. If you mess with the Vicious Knid, if you mess with the Chocolate river, it'll happen. So now this is clusters of malformed weak walled blood vessels that grow into. And this might be the grossest four words we've ever put together. And this is a murder show that grow into spongy blood filled tumors.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yikes.

[James Pietragallo]

Jesus Christ. God damn it, I was hungry. Oh, that's the thing in him in different places for different people. For him it's mainly his face, head, neck and the inside of his throat. The uvula, which is a little dangly thing there in the back of your throat.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Everywhere visible. And the dangly thing and the dangly thing.

[James Pietragallo]

Oh yeah. It's pretty rare. It occurs in about 2/10 of 1% of the general population.

[Jimmy Whisman]

And then the ones that manifest everywhere your driver's license shows is slimmer.

[James Pietragallo]

The oral cavity version, meaning the lips, tongue, palate and uvula is even more rare with 2000ths of 1% of people are affected by this.

[Jimmy Whisman]

This is. Poor guy.

[James Pietragallo]

So fucking exceedingly rare like this is. You really got dealt a shit genetic hand if you got this.

[Jimmy Whisman]

This is bad.

[James Pietragallo]

It's all fucked out.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Spongy blood filled tumors.

[James Pietragallo]

Think about spongy blood filled tumors.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Unbelievable.

[James Pietragallo]

Now we have contradictory kind of accounts of his young life. Now we know that he came from a stable home, meaning they weren't moving all the time, weren't getting foreclosed on or evicted. Decent parents, meaning they worked and the kids were like had clean clothes on and shit like that. So they have that. But there's also a lot of talk about his dad Robert Bucklewaving a big temper and alcoholism and abuse and trauma allegations and all that kind of thing.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Did his spongy, blood filled tumors manifest at a young age or was this something that he got later on?

[James Pietragallo]

No, no, he's born with this.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh my God.

[James Pietragallo]

This is something you're born with and it develops all the time. There's also a claim later that his house was filled with lead paint as a kid because he was born in 68 and that he had a lot of lead. I don't know if he was eating it or what, but he had a lot of lead paint exposure that left him developmentally delayed. Sure, that's a lot of lead paint. Hey everybody. Just gonna take a quick break from the show to tell you a fun way to shop with whatnot.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah, Whatnot in the app store.

[James Pietragallo]

It is great stuff. I'm telling you. Finding a deal is exciting. You get a rush. It's adrenaline and it's cool and it's fun and that's most of the fun for me. I like trying to find the stuff and whatnot is really cool, especially if you're a bargain hunter. If you're one of these people, you like garage sales. You hear a clearance sale, you're on top of that. You never know what you're going to find. You see a bin somewhere, you got to search through it. You know what I mean? That's the type of personality we need here. It's fun stuff and with whatnot, you're going to find such great deals on these things. It's so cool. I'm telling you, you can find amazing stuff. I was looking at sports cards mainly and watches too, which I like here. Whatnot here. It's great. Basically, Whatnot is the number one live shopping app in the US Shopping happens in real time with real people, real conversations and incredible deals. People are up there with their stuff and you're saying, oh, take that. It's really, really cool what you can do here on whatnot, you're connecting with sellers and other shoppers. It's like hanging out with a group that gets you. It's a fun way to shop, really. As you're going to get great deals, you almost never pay full price. You shop name brands across makeup, perfume, clothes, handbags, jewelry and more, all without the retail sticker shock. And this is the best place to find great deals on products you love. It's a great way to find new brands. Also, you're going to like that because sellers don't gatekeep. You're going to like it. And there's amazing sellers with great taste going live 24, 7. You can comment in real time and they'll show you a close up of the clothes, explain the sizing so you can actually ask questions and. Oh, let me see that closer. Oh, okay. It's very cool. Let me see that hem. Let me see that stitch. That's really cool. It's excellent. I've been on this a lot looking around because I just find it really fun. It's great. I found a cool watch that I like and I got it like less than half the price it is in the store, which is amazing because I love a good deal. So get it. You have no excuses. Get yourself whatnot. Download whatnot today and get $20 off and free shipping on your first purchase. Search whatnot W h a t N o t in the app store. Sign up and start finding the best deals on the products you love with $20 off and free shipping on your your first purchase.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Now back to the show.

[James Pietragallo]

Hey everybody. Just gonna take a quick break from the show and tell you a better way to feed your dog with Ollie.

[Jimmy Whisman]

O L L I E dot com.

[James Pietragallo]

You know it, Ollie. This is great food. And if you consider your dog a member of your family like we do, I have three dogs, Jimmy has two dogs. And I mean that's. They're a member of your family. Something's wrong with them. You're worried if something's right with them, you're happy. It's just like that. You know, we love our dogs and my dogs too. They're getting older, two of them, and you gotta feed them the right food. There's the right food that's gonna keep them healthy and keep them going for as long as possible. And if anyone gets being dog obsessed like we are, it's Ollie. They deliver fresh human grade food in five drool worthy flavors. So my pups and your pups and Jimmy's pups can live their best life too. You could say Ollie feeds the obsession. It's really good. Let's just say that the food, Ollie's fresh recipes are developed with real chefs with gut friendly ingredients that support better digestion, energy, skin health. And I'm telling you, picking up that poop is a lot easier with Ollie. It is all nice with flavors like fresh beef with sweet potatoes or fresh turkey with blueberries. You look at the food and you're jealous.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yes.

[James Pietragallo]

Sometimes I'm like, that's way nicer than my dinner. That's. This is crazy. From the moment you start your subscription, everything's tailored to your pup. The meals are perfectly portioned you get a puptainer and a scoop for easy storing and serving. And the cool part too, they offer Ollie offers health tracking in their app so you can keep up with your pup's health and see the difference the food is making in their life. They have on demand vet expert support for everyday questions like your pup's new food, transition, digestion, skin and weight. There's also vet feeding guides. They calculate the exact amount of daily calories your pup needs, customized based on their age, weight, breed, activity level. Like you know, like it's a real dog that they care about because you care too. Ollie calculates a custom well being score to help track your dog's overall health over time. You can't beat it. My dogs love it. They love it. They're healthy, they're running around, the poops are much easier. I'm telling you. If you like your dog, show them. Show them how much you like them. Give them Ollie. Get ready for both you and your pup to be obsessed. Head to ollie.com stm and tell them about your dog. And use the code STM to get 70% off your welcome kit when you subscribe today. Plus, it's risk free with their obsession guarantee. That's O l l I e.com STM Enter code STM for 70% off your first box. Ollie, feed the obsession.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Now back to the show.

[James Pietragallo]

He also, by the time he's an adult and hooking up with Stephanie, he has a son already that I don't think he sees ever at all with a woman named Cindy Boyer. Now, he's not a good guy. You would think with your whole head full of tumors, spongy, blood filled tumors, that you'd be like, I'm going to be nice to people because I'm gross.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah. Humility might be purchased with that, right?

[James Pietragallo]

No, no, no, no, no.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He's one of these narcissists.

[James Pietragallo]

He's one of the narcissists, killers and thieves. By 1996, he's got 21 prior convictions and charges. Not good.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah, it goes either way. You either deal with it and you feel humble or you fucking lash out big time.

[James Pietragallo]

And this tells me that maybe his childhood wasn't such a great time because someone with a medical problem like that, and if they had good, loving parents, I can't imagine they'd be doing things like burglary, theft, grand theft, felony stealing. Oh, also attacks on previous girlfriends, physical beatings that he put on two different girlfriends in 1992 and 1994.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Two years apart.

[James Pietragallo]

Didn't even Learn someone is willing to suck his spongy tumor filled cock and this guy is fucking beating them up. Is he out of his mind? He should be so thankful and just so can you imagine happy about that? Can you imagine? So he's got a lot of problems. And on top of that, if there's anything that could make him more irresistible, it's that he's also completely hooked on opiates for years as well. Because these spongy blood filled tumors are painful.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, they're not comfortable.

[James Pietragallo]

They're a little uncomfortable, oddly enough, which I could see if all of his things were grumpy things like he punched a guy at the 711 or something, that I would understand. But all these other things doesn't make sense. I guess he would be grumpy with this type of shit. So he is dependent on these opioids for a long time before March of 96 and this whole time when all this is going to go down? Oh yeah, he had her for a long time. He was in it now. And this is before like oxycontin even came out. Yeah, it came out in the past.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Way before the Florida hillbillies ruined the whole thing.

[James Pietragallo]

Absolutely. This is probably giving him morphine for Christ's sake, back then or something like that.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Something ugly.

[James Pietragallo]

So Stephanie and Rusty. Let's talk about old Steph and old Rusty here now. They lived together for a while in a mobile home in the county. It was not a healthy relationship. Shocking. He's beat two now. He's really figured it out, you know, that's what it is. No, he's beat up his ex girlfriends and it's not good. He's real possessive, real jealous. You going out with a guy who's not filled with spongy blood soaked tumors, is that what's going on? Are you seeing something? Who are you talking to? Yeah, is his face not filled with disgusting blood filled tumors?

[Jimmy Whisman]

Is that why you found another guy exactly like like me? I swear to Christ.

[James Pietragallo]

Oh God, what are the odds? They're so small. This is bad. So Stephanie tried to leave him and there's an early breakup attempt where she tried to end things and it did not go well.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He didn't allow it?

[James Pietragallo]

You could say that. That's one way of putting it. He tied her to a bed with dog chains.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh boy.

[James Pietragallo]

And put a knife to her throat and told her he was going to kill her.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Uh huh.

[James Pietragallo]

That's an option. Or flowers, one of the two. Wow. That's insane. She talked him out of killing her and talked him into letting her go. And the moment she got let go, she went right to the police, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. Okay, now, during one of these tumultuous times, because, remember, she has three kids with her, too, in tow. So during one of these tumultuous times, she needed a place to stay during one of these breakups, and a co worker offered her, you guys can stay at my house. At his house, I should say.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, boy. That's gonna go real well.

[James Pietragallo]

That's gonna go over real well with spongy tumor face. So this is Michael Houston Sanders is his name, which is a pretty cool name. Michael Houston Sanders. It sounds pretty badass.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Sounds like he can cook some meat.

[James Pietragallo]

Cook some meat or. Yeah, something. I don't know. Born December 1, 1968. He's from Granite City, Illinois, and he's the son of Jerry and Dorothy Joe Sanders. And he is also a single parent as well. He has two small boys, John, Michael and Zachary, who at this time are like four and six. And he's been raising them completely by himself in a trailer, you know, just working and doing that. His wife left and is just left him completely. Left the whole kids.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That's rare, right?

[James Pietragallo]

High and dry. It's not normal. Yeah, there's something wrong there. When the woman leaves kids behind and doesn't give a second thought, you can say that's as sexist as you want. That's just nature. They literally have chemicals inside of them telling them not to do that. We don't. It's a miracle that any.

[Jimmy Whisman]

All the time.

[James Pietragallo]

It's a miracle that any guy stays around, because biologically, that's not how we're set up. Biologically, we're set to go. Great. We put one in you. Who's next? That's biology.

[Jimmy Whisman]

You got this one taken care of. Hang on to that one for 18.

[James Pietragallo]

For us to stick around. It actually takes some thoughts. Control for women, I think it's. Obviously, they have the stress and everything like that too, but there's biology telling them, don't let anything happen to this baby.

[Jimmy Whisman]

There's nothing attached to me with that thing.

[James Pietragallo]

Nothing at all. No. You look at it, you go, whoa, what is that? Jesus. I did that. Oh, shit. Okay. I mean, if you say so. Sure.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah. You had to cut that thing off of you, for Christ's sake, man.

[James Pietragallo]

Even when it came out, it was still attached. Now, he waited two years after she left to file for divorce because he wanted her to come back, essentially. But he's very much a good Father said he sewed homemade Halloween costumes for the kids.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Atta boy.

[James Pietragallo]

That's all he could afford. And enrolled them in a daycare where the workers would marvel at the single father dropping them off and picking them up after work. Look at him marveling. That's the other thing. The standard for us is so low. He dropped a child off, then went to a place, worked, and then came back and picked him up.

[Jimmy Whisman]

But you know what was more impressive?

[James Pietragallo]

Amazing.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Before he did it, he filled out some paperwork and paid a bill.

[James Pietragallo]

He paid a bill. They show up with, like, lunch boxes every day and their shirts are on the right way, shoes on the right feet. It's incredible. One of the workers said they came before everything. No matter where he was, he had them with him. So they're a little.

[Jimmy Whisman]

The way it goes.

[James Pietragallo]

Well, you have to be at that point now. Are they together? Stephanie and Michael? That's the question. Yes, that's the thing. Yeah, they are. They're co workers. They work together. But people. Basically, some people from work go, oh, no, they're just work friends. But then other people who know them better at work are like, no, they're hooking up. Also, they're work friends who became more, you know. So somehow she ends up on Valentine's Day, 1996, she is back at the trailer that she has with Rusty. So she was just there for a couple days, and then she's going back and forth. And you know how these relationships work. When I tell you the rest of Stephanie's story and everything, I don't know what kind of background she came from as far as who her father is. Her mother seems pretty solid. I don't know who her father is, but he must have been a giant, gaping asshole, because no one who had even a fucking remotely decent father, even one you saw once a year who sent you a birthday card, would put up with the shit that she puts up with for the most part, but it's a lot. So on Valentine's Day 96, she ends it with Rusty.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Done. On Valentine's Day.

[James Pietragallo]

On Valentine's Day. Romantic. So he moved out of the trailer that they shared and went to live with his parents.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Left her with all the kids.

[James Pietragallo]

He's gonna be thrilled, as you can imagine. Yeah, well, she. They're not his kids. So he.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, he has kids from another relationship.

[James Pietragallo]

He has a kid from another relationship. Who knows where that kid is, or I assume with its mom, but not with him. Probably for the best, honestly. So kids, you know, they're weird. They don't want to look at some sponge filled tumors, no blood sponges, flowers

[Jimmy Whisman]

on his neck, what's going on?

[James Pietragallo]

It's sticking out of him.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Pietragallo]

So he moves back in with his parents and there's that. Okay, so few weeks go by, nothing happens. Nothing. About three weeks go by where he left nobody. He's not banging on the door, he's not tying her to beds with dog chains. Nothing's happening. Then on March 6, 1996, here he comes. Okay, here comes Rusty. He goes back to the trailer and he finds Michael Sanders there. This is the trailer that he shared with her. So he considers this his house even though it's not. But for him, everything's his.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I used to live here.

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah. So he sees what's going on and he's like, oh, she's fucking this guy and I'm pissed off about it. Okay. So then this is what happens. He gets there, sizes all this up and then quickly, I'll read from later. Court documents. Buck Lew returned to the trailer he had shared with Ray. Meaning Stephanie found Michael Sanders there and concluded that Sanders and Ray were romantically involved, put a knife to Sanders throat and threatened to kill Sanders if he ever came back to the trailer.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, kicked him out of her trailer, somebody else's house.

[James Pietragallo]

I don't know if she hired him as a temporary bouncer or what, but yeah, kicks him out at knifepoint, mind you. So that's how that went later on in the same evening. And then Rusty left after that. He with the knife, got him out of there, he's like, you keep him the fuck away from here. And then he left. But later on that evening, he comes back again, Rusty does and finds Stephanie alone. Now so Michael Sanders didn't come back. I mean, that's what he wanted. And I'll read again. Bucklew returned to the trailer, found Ray alone, threatened her with a knife, cut her jaw and punched her in the face before leaving. He sliced her. He sliced her with the knife, like put it to her throat and sliced her a little bit and also punched her in the face. She called the cops.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Good. Yeah.

[James Pietragallo]

So by the way, she's gonna have a scar on her jaw after that. There's a picture of the cut and the scar afterwards and I'll post it on social media as well. Okay, so she calls the cops now Rusty. The next day, March 7, 1996, Rusty calls Stephanie at work, which is a place called Ceramo. I don't know what they do. I tried to figure it out and I can't. So and he made the threat here. He makes a threat and says, well, this is a quote at the time from Stephanie. Quote, he said that he knew I'd been cheating on him and that he would, if he ever seen Michael around me again. He said he'd kill him and me and all the kids and all the kids. He said he'd kill us all, is what he said. Yeah, I'll kill you two and all the kids. Your three and his two. We'll make this a seven pack here. Lucky seven. After that call, Stephanie stopped going back to the trailer. She basically. She never went back again because she was terrified. So she moved in with Michael Sanders full time because she couldn't.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I mean, that's one way to force him somewhere else. That's what you can do.

[James Pietragallo]

You're pushing her right in, right at this guy. Like I said. Well, I mean, if he hadn't at one point tied her up with dog chains and wasn't an abusive monster to begin with, maybe he could have won her back with some niceties.

[Jimmy Whisman]

But it is fascinating how a tumultuous, toxic relationship like that with a jealous person, that behavior literally forces them to do exactly what it is that you're terrified they're gonna do.

[James Pietragallo]

It's the same thing if you tell, you know, if you have a teenage daughter and you tell her you can't ever see that boy again, she's gonna run to that guy. You're just forcing it. Unless you can.

[Jimmy Whisman]

You may as well be holding his hips.

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah, while he thrusts.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He doesn't have to thrust.

[James Pietragallo]

Let me roll that down for you. Let me, let me roll that down your shaft for you there, big guy.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I want to make sure sunroof and help you out.

[James Pietragallo]

Jesus Christ, man. You're doing that, though. You're pushing people into shit. Unless it's like a kid that you can physically say, you can't leave this area if it's an adult. You cannot force an adult into shit. You can't. It's impossible. And you shouldn't try.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's about what, 8 to 10 is about the threshold there. Because after that, depending on the child and how willing they are to fucking rebel, you could really start a problem.

[James Pietragallo]

Unless you have an insane kid. It's up to pretty much through the time they get a car is pretty much, you can tell them where to go and what to be. Unless you're one of these kids that's like, fuck you, and runs out the door and runs away, but then you probably abuse them. That's why they do that.

[Jimmy Whisman]

There's 13 year olds that go get pregnant though.

[James Pietragallo]

Oh, absolutely. Yeah. They don't have good home lifes for the most part. That's not something, you know, for the most part. I'm sure there's a 3%, but for the most part that's an escape from something that's fucked up.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Calm the down, be nice.

[James Pietragallo]

I would say. So. She's living at her parents house, her mom's house, her mom's boyfriend, and Russell is living at his parents house. So they've both gone way backwards and shit from his bullshit. Now the charges from the attack here that he came to the house and did all this, he's going to be charged with burglary, assault, stealing, false imprisonment and unlawful use of a weapon. So that's a lot. Those are a lot of charges. He's looking at some. And especially with his priors, 10 to 15.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Right.

[James Pietragallo]

He's looking at some time here. Then March 21, 1996 comes along.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Pietragallo]

Okay. Now Russell here, Rusty.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Pietragallo]

Senor Rustoleum here, he steals a car, his nephew's car. Yeah. So you know, sort of stealing. Borrows his nephew's car without permission, we'll say.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Makes his nephew let him take it.

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah. Then his brother, by the way, and I feel bad for this guy's brother. After all, this is a Jefferson City police officer. He's like, yeah, my jerk off brother. Yeah, that's great. Which is a lot of times this is what happens if you have an abusive background. You have one kid who's a complete criminal fuck up and the other kid's a cop. Like that's kind of how it goes.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That cop ain't so exactly cop.

[James Pietragallo]

So he also, in addition to stealing his nephew's car, he steals two of his brother's pistols. Oh, and his two sets of his brother's handcuffs. Now I don't know where he keeps all this shit, but he stole it all. And he also takes a roll of duct tape and two knives.

[Jimmy Whisman]

You've already got handcuffs.

[James Pietragallo]

He's got two pistols, two sets of handcuffs, a roll of duct tape, two knives and a stolen car from his nephew.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Wow.

[James Pietragallo]

That's his inventory right now. Now before leaving the house, his parents house or his family's house, whatever with all this shit, he sits down and writes a note to his own family. And he asks them, among other things in the note, asks them, please don't report the car stolen to police. I took it, I'll bring, you know, it's fine.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's not stolen. I'M borrowing it. I'll bring it back. It's not stolen.

[James Pietragallo]

I'll bring it back. Yeah, Chill out. So in the afternoon, he drives from the Troy area down to Cape Girardeau county. And he finds Stephanie because, you know, that's where he's going and what he's up to. Yeah.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Where's she at?

[James Pietragallo]

Well, he finds Stephanie, but he does not approach her. He stalks her for the day.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Nice.

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah. He began. This is from Court Doc series Bucklew began surreptitiously following Ray as she left work and ran. Ran errands, following her, watching her. Ultimately discovering where she lived. By then following her back to Michael Sanders trailer. So that's what she did. He knew where she worked, so he went there. And then she didn't recognize that car. Cause it's his nephew's. And he followed her and stalked her all day. So he follows her back to the trailer. She's inside. And obviously so is Michael. Michael and Stephanie are inside, plus four kids are in the trailer. Michael's two sons and two of Stephanie's children are in there. Don't know where the third one is, but two of Stephanie's kids are there. I think the third one was possibly at a friend's, a nearby neighbor's house or something. Playing. So at the trailer, Rusty arrives. But he doesn't follow her up to the door or follow right in. No. He lays back and waits for a while, a period of time. Sits, stews, watches. Just sits. Builds. Exactly. Builds. Now, this could also be taken. You could also cool down in a time like this. Or you can build up. And he's building up. And then he gets up and finally gets up the balls to go up and knock on the door.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, Jesus.

[James Pietragallo]

Why?

[Jimmy Whisman]

What is it? Nothing good's coming from that.

[James Pietragallo]

Nothing's good. Nothing good could come of this. So one of Michael Sanders little boys, the older one, opens the door.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, shit.

[James Pietragallo]

And he. Now, Michael Sanders saw Rusty coming through a window. And it was too late to tell his son not to open the door. Already opened the door. So he knows what's going on. He sees this guy's coming over. Last time he saw this guy, the only time he's met him, he put a knife to his throat. So threaten to kill him. So what he does is he grabs the kids, yells for his son, moves the kids into another room, all four small kids, toward a back bedroom. And he also throws them in a back bedroom, goes in another back bedroom and grabs a shotgun. So now Michael's got a shotgun. Now Rusty, when he came through the door, he already had a pistol in each hand. That's how he crossed the threshold. Fucking guns blazing, Doc Holliday style. Okay. He kicks in, he kicks the cowboy

[Jimmy Whisman]

right out of the gate.

[James Pietragallo]

Right out of the gate, kicking. I see him. I know a little kid opened it. Not as cool, but kicking open the door and just.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Wow.

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah. So it's wild. He's got a pistol in each hand. Michael Sanders steps into the hallway holding a shotgun.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Here we go.

[James Pietragallo]

So now we have at this hallway, we have the kids in a back bedroom. And this is a trailer hallway. So small. This is a big narrow hallway. Yeah, this isn't a big giant hallway. Very narrow hallway with walls that, you know, echo and shit.

[Jimmy Whisman]

And if you do a chicken dance, you're whacking funny bones.

[James Pietragallo]

Absolutely. So one at the end of the hallway with a shotgun, and then at the front of the hallway, you got two guns pointing here. This is a standoff. Now apparently Rusty yelled, get down. And then without any other warning, just started firing his guns. So Michael Sanders is hit with two bullets, one of which enters his chest and rips through his lung.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Shit.

[James Pietragallo]

And he drops the shotgun. Drops the shotgun on the ground. It goes off and blasts a big hole in the trailer wall. Okay, now he. Sanders is hit twice, once in the lung and I believe once in the leg.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Shit.

[James Pietragallo]

Not good. So he's down. Now, one of the kids, John Michael Sanders, the six year old who was a first grade student at the time, he described it as, you know, he was playing Nintendo and someone knocked on the front door. I hope it was Sega for at least his sake by then. Hope he wasn't playing original NES in 96. That's rough. It's almost worse than this situation. It's bad. He's the one who unlocked the door and saw Rusty come in with a gun in each hand. And he said that he just saw the guy come in and he shot his father. Basically, that's it. So Michael Sanders is on the floor slumped down, holding his chest and bleeding to death. And then Rusty aims the gun at his head to finish him off. Gonna final shot here. But he sees the six year old. So you would think opposite I was gonna say. No, you would think. I mean, I've seen movies where killers can't kill people because what the hell's the. Oh, what is the movie where the guy says, oh, it's fucking Al Swearengen in Deadwood, the biggest vill. He's gonna stab Seth. And he looks up and sees his Kid. And he goes, the fucking kid unmanned me. He unnerved me. I couldn't do it. He goes, he just took it all. Unmanned me. He said this. Instead he sees the kid, pulls the gun away from Michael Sanders and swings it at the six year old and starts firing at him.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh boy.

[James Pietragallo]

The six year old he's gonna kill.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Is the kid running? What's happening?

[James Pietragallo]

No, he's in shock, standing there and it's a trailer, so I mean it's all pretty small. He fires a shot at his head and misses. Wow. Luckily he's not a great shot.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Terrible shot.

[James Pietragallo]

Or he's on a lot of pills. One of the two. Now the kids run in and hide in a toy box in the closet. All four kids are in this by then. It's at this point where he turned back to Sanders when the kid ran away. He didn't chase him. He turns back to Michael Sanders. And now Stephanie gets in the middle the of of it.

[Jimmy Whisman]

She's here too.

[James Pietragallo]

She's been here the whole time. She's in the middle of it. She steps between Rusty and Michael as Michael is dying on the floor. Rusty orders her, get down on your knees, he says. She says no. Okay, well, don't want to. So Eve pistol whips her in the face real hard, Breaks her jaw or her cheekbone. There's a little, little discrepancy on which one, but either way fucks you up.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Broke her face.

[James Pietragallo]

Broke her face. And basically she drops to the kitchen floor half conscious after this. He then whips out a pair of handcuffs, handcuffs her behind her back and drags her out of the trailer as the children scream Sweet Jesus. Drags her out in handcuffs, throws her in his nephew's car and drives away.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Wow.

[James Pietragallo]

Well, imagine you're one of these kids. Could you imagine a more traumatic. They were playing video games four minutes ago, everything was fine.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Being so innocent and children like Snack

[James Pietragallo]

Pack fucking kicking it, doing whatever. And then knock on the door, put your Teddy Grahams down, you go fucking, you know. Hey, lots of people. Maybe it's one of their friends coming by. And here comes a guy with two pistols. There's gunplay this is going on. Your mom's smashed in the face, this guy shot in the head and she's out in the car. And now you're alone with a dead guy or a dying man.

[Jimmy Whisman]

What a horrible 96.

[James Pietragallo]

96.

[Jimmy Whisman]

A new flavor of bonkers out too.

[James Pietragallo]

Dude, you're going to get all sorts of shit here. Yeah, you got the new flavor of bonkers, which Is much better. They've already added the purple horseshoe to the Lucky Charms. Things are going well.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's a good time.

[James Pietragallo]

It's a good time to be alive. Unfortunately for Michael Sanders, he's not going to find out exactly what a good time it is to be alive because he's bleeding to death on the floor of his trailer. Now, witnesses outside called the police because they said they heard shots from the trailer because, oh man, is that loud.

[Jimmy Whisman]

And then the wall opened up.

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah. Inside a normal house, gunfire is muffled Inside of a trailer. It's like a speaker. It's like a megaphone for gunfire inside the house.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It might be loud inside a house, but from the outside, a trailer, it is a speaker box. It is.

[James Pietragallo]

It makes it even louder on the outside, right? Crazy loud. Sounds like a megaphone.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah, Sounds like a 96 Accord just

[James Pietragallo]

drove by, Trunk full of speakers, trunk full of 15s. So they said we heard shots and then we saw a man forcing a handcuffed woman into his car. So we figured that.

[Jimmy Whisman]

We figured we should call probably where they came from.

[James Pietragallo]

I would imagine they figured we should probably call.

[Jimmy Whisman]

So the chances of it being two different places right now are crazy.

[James Pietragallo]

Probably off. Yeah. So he drives, starts driving. This is going to be a hundred mile drive they're going to take.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Where are they going?

[James Pietragallo]

Around.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Just not, not straight hundred, hundred.

[James Pietragallo]

He doesn't have a plan at all.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, no.

[James Pietragallo]

During the drive, Rusty demands sex. He says, you're gonna have sex with me? She said, apparently she didn't comply with everything he wanted from her. So with her hand still cuffed, he drives to a wooded area in the middle of fucking nowhere, pulls the car off, puts her in the backseat and rapes her while she's still handcuffed. Okay. If that's not bad enough, then he gets back behind the wheel of the car and turns north onto Interstate 55 towards St. Louis. Hey everybody. Just gonna take a quick break from the show to tell you about Policygenius.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Policygenius.com Absolutely.

[James Pietragallo]

See, this summer, we're not on the road this summer. So we have like nice plans. We're gonna hang out with our families, we're gonna do stuff. We're gonna, you know, try to have a nice relaxing summer and things like that. What we won't be doing is figuring out the best life insurance plan for us because policygenius has that taken care of of they're letting us relax and do all this. It's great you're relaxing. Next thing you know, boom. Something you've needed to do or this, this chore has turned into an easy thing that's not a big deal at all. And Policy Genius makes finding the best life insurance for your family much easier. So you can chill out and relax. And I'm telling you, you got a responsibility out there. You have a family, you have kids, you have, you know, house, you have things like that. You got to protect our everybody. You have to. What if you disappear tomorrow? Then what happens? You're going to be in trouble. That's what happens there. So that's why Policy Genius is really something that you need. Their licensed team will prioritize your needs and they just do a great job finding you what you need in something, let's be honest, isn't the most exciting thing to look for or fun thing to look for. They kind of take care of that for you and you can lock in your life insurance insurance today. Get that going on here. And policygenius is an online insurance marketplace that allows you to compare quotes from some of America's top insurers side by side for free. Their licensed team helps you get what you need fast so you can get on with your life easily. Find what you need, coverages, amounts, prices, terms. No guesswork, just clarity. And policygenius helps you find the most affordable policy that meets your needs. They answer questions, handle paperwork, and advocate for you throughout the process. Policygenius has thousands of five star reviews on Google and Trustpilot from customers who found the best policy to fit their needs. And we think you will do the same. We think you're gonna find you're gonna like it. With Policygenius, you can see if you can find 20 year life insurance policies starting at just $276 a year with $1 million in coverage. Head to Policygenius.com to compare life insurance quotes from top companies and see how much you could save. That's policygenius.com now back to the show. This podcast, small Town Murder, is sponsored by BetterHelp.

[Jimmy Whisman]

BetterHelp.com Absolutely.

[James Pietragallo]

This is. How's everybody doing out there? Everybody doing okay? Here's the thing. We're trying. That's what it is. Why is there still a stigma attached to getting help and support? That makes no sense. And it's the dumbest thing ever.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It is.

[James Pietragallo]

I don't get it at all. I mean, if someone had a, you know, a medical problem, they went to the doctor, you wouldn't be like, are you weak? Why would this.

[Jimmy Whisman]

If you had a cavity, you'd want the dentist to fix it.

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah, Better Help's 2026 State of Stigma report surveyed 2,000Americans and revealed that 85% of Americans think getting support is wise, yet 74% say society discourage people from doing so. Wow. So I mean that's, that's. Think about that. Everyone thinks it's fine, but yet everyone's discouraging others from doing it. It's silly. It's really silly. And there is a big, there's a chasm in between, you know, people needing mental health support and believing in mental health support and actually, actually seeking it. It's very silly. And there's plenty we can do as a society and that would be support people who get help, number one and realize that it's great and everybody needs therapy. It's good for everybody. And BetterHelp is a great way to start. First of all, they have over 30,000 therapists. BetterHelp is the world's largest online therapy platform having served over 6 million people globally. And it really works with an average of 4.9 out 10 of of 5 for live sessions based on over 1.7 million client reviews. BetterHelp's therapists work according to a strict code of conduct and are fully licensed in the US and BetterHelp does the initial matching work for you so you can focus on your therapy goals. You fill out a short questionnaire, it helps you identify your needs and preferences. And they'll use their 12 plus years of experience and industry leading match fulfillment rate. And that means they typically get it right right the first time. But if you're not happy, they're going to make sure to get it right. Get you another therapist at no cost. It's phenomenal stuff. Get yourself some therapy. There is no stigma. It is silly. It's just silly. Don't let stigma stand in the way of support. Start therapy with better help. Sign up and get 10% [e-mail] Smalltown Murder that's better. H E L P.com Small Town Murder

[Jimmy Whisman]

now back to the show.

[James Pietragallo]

Hey everybody, Just going to take a quick break from the show and tell you a better way to shop with Thrive Market.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Thrive Market.com Absolutely.

[James Pietragallo]

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[Jimmy Whisman]

Tremendous.

[James Pietragallo]

Right up my alley. Really, really love their sea salt chips too. The Thrive Market. Oh my God, they're so good and crunchy and delicious. Just love Thrive Market. It's fantastic stuff and you're gonna love it too. Put it that way.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's hard to decide because all this food has so much stuff in it that's that you don't need. And Thrive makes sure they curate what's good for you.

[James Pietragallo]

Absolutely. Doesn't have to be expensive to be healthy. Just has to be good stuff. They have a lot of pre vetted things here. Thrive market restricts 1000 plus ingredients. No stressing over labels or googling every additive. Every product is curated organic and non GMO brands vetted before they ever hit the site. 90 plus dietary filters means that the label readings already done for you. High protein, low sugar, GLP1 friendly, gluten free, dye free and more. The gluten free is a big deal in my house with Clara, so it helps a lot. The in app barcode scanner finds a healthier swap for almost anything in your pantry. That's cool too. I like this. What can I get that's not poison. Okay, good. And you find it. It's awesome. You can scan something from your pantry. It shows you a cleaner version right there. I was like, this is the coolest thing ever. I'm into this. This is great. And member pricing up to 30% off, which is amazing. 30% off plus weekly sales, free gifts, price matching, free delivery on qualifying orders. It's all right there in the membership. At $5 a month, the membership pays for itself. Most members make a it back in their first two orders. No per order delivery fees, service charges or tip math to do one annual cost summer sales equals stocking a better cart for less. Think snacks, pantry staples and brands you already love. It's excellent stuff. Now is a great time to join Thrive Market with their biggest sale of the summer. Get 25% off select items plus go to thrivemarket.com/small town murder for an extra $20 off your first three orders. But hurry, the sale ends July 19th.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Now back to the show with a

[James Pietragallo]

bleeding woman with a broken face who's just been raped with her hands cuffed behind her back while she's worried about her fucking kids back at the trailer and her dying boyfriend. This is horrific. Okay, so obviously so they do this now it gets. This is the craziest part of all.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I've said the now it's crazy.

[James Pietragallo]

He's crazier now. Now he starts saying that he is not going to go down for this.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Surrendering.

[James Pietragallo]

He's, quote, not going back to jail, quote, unquote. And he says, he starts telling her that he found it funny that he killed Michael Sanders and that he knew he's dead and he's gonna die even though he was still alive when he left because he used hollow point bullets and it's so far out in the country that they'd rip through him and it would kill him before anybody will have a chance to help him. So he's not worried about that. Then he says he's not going back to prison and he will take as many police officers with him as he can. Imagine your, Stephanie, how terrifying this has to be already for this whole thing. Then he makes it worse. Then he reaches down and over and over and over again plays the same song.

[Jimmy Whisman]

What is it?

[James Pietragallo]

Bon Jovi's Blaze of Glory. Over and over and over again in a blaze of glory over and over again.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Not even Dead or alive in a blaze of glory.

[James Pietragallo]

No, he wants this because this is. He's going out in a blaze of glory is how he puts it. He's gonna have a gunfight with the cops at the. Over and over. It would end. Fucking Repeat back to 1.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Imagine dead or Alive plays of Glory those are different songs, right?

[James Pietragallo]

Very different songs. Yeah, it's more acoustic.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Different. Different genres of Bon Jovi.

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah, yeah, it's the one A Dead or Alive is more acoustic. Yeah, that's from.

[Jimmy Whisman]

From Young Guns.

[James Pietragallo]

Gun Guns.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Blaze of Glory is on that. Horrible.

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah, that's. That's like better Roses and. Yeah, like hair metal Bon Jovi as opposed to like kind of pop rock Bon Jovi before. That's. That's when you get into his wannabe, like, I'm getting real 80s, man.

[Jimmy Whisman]

So hard. Because there, There. There's a couple of good songs that he does sing.

[James Pietragallo]

I don't know. I don't even know anymore. It's fine.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I mean, you can listen to it and go, yeah, this was a time that I can hearken back to another time. But Bon Jovi sucks, right?

[James Pietragallo]

It's pretty much. When we were kids, Bon Jovi was a wuss band. Let's be realistic. It was a wuss band. Oh, yeah, yeah. Remember, like Beavis and Butthead? They gave the kid a Winger shirt. They could have just as easily given him a Bon Jovi shirt. Nobody was cool at, like, Bon Jovi, you know what I mean? That was like a chick music and

[Jimmy Whisman]

like, they really had just the song from Young Guns. And it was only cool because in the. In the movie, outside of the movie, it sucks.

[James Pietragallo]

It's stupid. He had that. He had that crappy Bad Medicine song. That was terrible. He had so many bad songs. There's so many more, too. Like, there's so many you'll hear and go, that is Bon Jovi, too. That's right. They had a lot of hits. Now I can't hate him just because he's a Guinea from New Jersey. So there's something about that that I gotta. I like hearing stories about his family. He travels. He doesn't have an entourage. He has his brothers and dad and his uncles, and they rough people up for him and shit. I'm like, that's awesome. Kind of. He brings his little goon Italian family with him. I like that.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's fascinating that we collectively, as a country and a world, passed that as good.

[James Pietragallo]

That was good.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Great. His guitarist fucked the hottest woman on the planet.

[James Pietragallo]

Married her for a while. Yeah, for a while. Until she found other scumbags to be with.

[Jimmy Whisman]

So she was like, oh, this is trash. I'm gonna go fuck somebody.

[James Pietragallo]

Trash here. Bon Jovi's dad and brothers beat up Sebastian Bach, which is hilarious.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He's huge.

[James Pietragallo]

He's like 6 foot 5, but he weighs like, 86 pounds.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, does he?

[James Pietragallo]

He weighs. Back then especially. This was in. You know, this was when Skid Row was opening for Bon Jovi, because they're both from New Jersey. Bon Jovi found Skid Row.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Pietragallo]

Right, right, right, right.

[Jimmy Whisman]

They were east coast and that's. Everything was happening out in la, and they weren't exactly. They couldn't afford to go out there.

[James Pietragallo]

No. So he. He. I guess he said something opening on stage that he didn't intend to be insulting, but that the Bon Jovi clan took as insulting. And he said he got backstage and all of a sudden, here's every male relative Bon Jovi has fucking picking him up and throwing him in a room and beating the shit out of him. Tell him to fucking watch his mouth. That's hilarious.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Felt zero fear around him because he. Sebastian's dick is probably bigger than Bon Jovi is taller.

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah, yeah. No. He said he was like, what the fuck? He was terrified. Thought they were going to kill me and throw me in a fucking garbage compactor. He goes, this is crazy. I'm just in a room with a bunch of angry Italian guys. He goes, I don't know what the hell to do. They look serious.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Did his family Muscle his career end up being.

[James Pietragallo]

I don't think that's. It's bad, it's bad, but it came up. Think about the 80s, though. There was way worse shit than that. Way worse shit than that. I mean that was great compared to other. But anyway, they're flying down the road while this poor woman is bleeding and he's saying, I'm taking as many cops as I can with me in a blaze of glory. Just fucking singing along over and over again. Too much. Jesus, not even it's my life, I'll do all that shit. He could have done that one. I don't know. Who knows? Trying to think of Bon Jovi's. He said, wow, now there's cops everywhere looking for this car. Yeah, everywhere. There's a description had gone out over the radio from the neighbors. And so they're looking and it's a hundred mile deal here. And finally at 10:30 or 11:00pm, somewhere in there.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Pietragallo]

The highway patrol spots the car on Interstate 55 south of St. Louis. And several patrol cars pursue the vehicle north on I270. The chase ends near the U.S. highway 40 going across when Rusty's vehicle hits a patrol. He rear ends a patrol car nice. They're trying to box him in and he bashes into a patrol car. So down, I guess near the Festus and Crystal City stretch here, as Rusty approached the St. Louis metro, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, that's when they were all following them, by the way, when the car was stopped. When it's hemmed in by patrol cars after he rear ends somebody. They said they saw Rusty pointing a gun at Stephanie's head and gesturing for the police to go away.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh boy.

[James Pietragallo]

So now he's got a hostage in a car, which is fucking insane. Then somehow through all of this, we're not sure exactly how it began, but gunfire starts to erupt.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh boy.

[James Pietragallo]

Now it's a shootout and they're shooting at him and he's trying to duck down and shooting shots out the window at them. And they're firing at the car, which is crazy because there's a fucking hostage in there. Yeah, but he's firing at them. We think that he fired at them first is why they would fire into a fucking occupied car with a hostage. That's crazy. You don't do that.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Aren't they trained not to do that?

[James Pietragallo]

I would fucking hope so. But if someone's firing at them, I guess then they're like, well, I'm justified no matter what, even if I kill this lady. I suppose which also you're getting shot at. So I don't know what the procedure is for that.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Firing while taking cover is another thing too.

[James Pietragallo]

I don't know, just something. Take cover? Yeah, I guess.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Is she.

[James Pietragallo]

Well, they hit him twice.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Wow.

[James Pietragallo]

They hit Rusty. Once in the chest and once in the head. But don't kill him. He's alert when he is shot. At some point, he accidentally shoots his gun and shoots Stephanie in the leg.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Okay.

[James Pietragallo]

He got shot and the gun and it was like bang, bang, one of those. And he shoots Stephanie in the leg by accident. Fuck, that one wasn't even on purpose. But this is all happening from less than 10ft away, by the way. There's like. They got him hemmed in. There's a police car next to him. And then they're outside the police car firing over here and he's firing back at them.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, Jesus.

[James Pietragallo]

It's insane. Chaos. Fucking chaos. So Stephanie survives being shot in the leg, pistol whipped, raped, dragged around. It's insane. He. Rusty took a bullet to the head, but survived, which is crazy. And he began. I guess that's when he slumped over, passing out. That's when he fired the bullet is what Stephanie said. He was falling down, basically. He got hit in the head and was kind of in and out of it there.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Body movement. Yeah.

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah. Her leg injury resulted in a pretty brief hospital stay. Not too. Too bad for her. And he'll only be in the hospital for five days. He got shot in the head.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Shot in the head. Shot in the chest and the head.

[James Pietragallo]

Wild. So the next day, police visit Rusty in the hospital. They'd like to talk to him. A police officer. This is a Missouri highway patrol officer named Al Rael. He comes to the bedside and reads him his Miranda rights and asks him whether he'd like to make a statement. And Rusty said no. And then the cop stopped, got up and left. That's it. He did his job. That's all he could do. But then on March 26, 1996, he's released from the hospital and transported to the sheriff's office, where the same police officer, Real, approaches him again and rereads the Miranda warnings and asks if he'd like to give a statement. And Rusty said, what charge do you guys have on me, sir? You want the fucking full list or do you want. Do you want me to just go over the big ones or you want me to really run down the list driving?

[Jimmy Whisman]

You don't.

[James Pietragallo]

I mean, you blew like three red lights at least back there.

[Jimmy Whisman]

You rear ended a Cobb Car.

[James Pietragallo]

That's a few. Yeah, you know, gunfire, child negligence, safety issues, murder, you know, without insurance. Yeah, you stole a car. This isn't your car. Yeah, so they said, I'm sure they've got you charged with capital murder, first degree murder. The cop said, I mean, I don't see any other way around it. So they asked, they hand him his medication and some water to take because he's all fucking shot up. He's in a wheelchair in the interrogation office too. And he continues to ask about the case against him. He says, what does that bring? The death penalty? And the investigator said, it could. Yeah, it could.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Penalties at this point.

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah, we're talking. Yeah. Well, he knows he's fucked. I mean, they saw him doing everything. How long am I fucked for? So he. But Rusty then said, yeah, but it would take a long time. Like they wouldn't execute me tomorrow, like, so take a while. So I got some time. Then he signs the written waiver of his rights. And they said, I read you your rights downstairs and you signed the release, is that correct? And he said, yes, sir. That's all on camera. And he sits there in front of the video camera for about two hours and spills it. Says, everything that fucking happened. Really, Everything that happened. Videotape statement. Sitting there in the two hour tape, he refers to painful and inoperable tumors in his head that caused him to take a bunch of pain medication. He says he's frequently in pain. He's speaking clearly and without confusion for two hours, providing a lot of detail, including the fights with Stephanie, the beatings he had inflicted on her in the past, the threats he made against her on the 21st, that day, on the 6th of March, when he came over there and attacked her twice. Basically, they say what happened. And he doesn't start with today. He starts with weeks ago. Starts with like Valentine's Day. Basically, we got kicked out.

[Jimmy Whisman]

She broke up with me.

[James Pietragallo]

Wait, she broke up? Yeah, yeah. He talks about his medical condition. He talks about the falling out with her. He talks about his first meeting with Michael Sanders when he returned to the trailer. And he said, quote, I guess this was this Mike guy, I don't know his name. So I grabbed a knife and I put it to his throat and I said, you better get the hell out of my house or I'm gonna kill you. If you ever come back, I'm going to to kill you.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's not your house.

[James Pietragallo]

Not your house. Now, he also admitted getting violent with Stephanie, punching her in the face during one fight, tying her up during another. This isn't even the dog chain incident. This is another instance where he tied her up. They said, what did you tie her up with? And he said, oh, they were like little plastic ties. So I don't know if they mean, like zip ties, like for riot police or what. And the cops said, oh, okay. They said, and it's crazy. You can see this. A lot of this interrogation. There's a video of it. And he's real, matter of fact, just very little demeanor change. No, like, oh, this part's hard, or none of that shit. Just, here's what happened. Had some sex today, simple as can be. At one point, when they offered him to rest, he said. They said, well, I think we'll just let you rest now, Rusty, unless you want to talk some more. I mean, I'd be glad to sit here and listen to you. And Rusty said, quote, I'd like to talk some more.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I'm not sleepy.

[James Pietragallo]

They gave him the out of, we'll not talk about. He said, it feels good to get this shit off my chest, if you don't mind.

[Jimmy Whisman]

This shit.

[James Pietragallo]

Feels good to get all this shit off my chest. This bad shit I've done for a long time. So that's when he just keeps going on about the relationship and all that. The terrible things he's done and just the shit, get this shit off my chest. Well, shit away.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's called murder and rape, man.

[James Pietragallo]

I like to call it shit. It makes it a little easier for me to process. You know what I mean?

[Jimmy Whisman]

That's funny.

[James Pietragallo]

He says that he killed Michael. He says that he shot him again and again and again. She only shot him twice.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Twice.

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah, so. But he said again and again and again. He fired a lot in his mind, too. People, when they fire guns like that, in that situation, they don't remember how many shots they fired. They take cops that have lots of experience, and they go, I fired two shots. And they look at their gun and they fired six. They didn't even notice they fired them. It was just a matter of fact in his head.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Especially because if you've never shot someone or shot at someone, you likely just assume that everything that comes out of that gun hit that guy.

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah, well, I think he only took two shots at him.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, really?

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah. I think that was all he took, if I'm not mistaken, was the two shots. And then he fell and the shotgun went off. And that was like. Oh, that kind of ended the whole thing.

[Jimmy Whisman]

And then fired one at the kid. So he's only out Three rounds.

[James Pietragallo]

I think that's when he came up and put the gun up to his head after that. And that's when he saw the kid, fired at the kid. And then it all escalated from there. Okay, so there's a stretch of tape where. And he talks about maybe I should have an attorney. He says, well, do you think I should have an attorney present?

[Jimmy Whisman]

Hello, police officer.

[James Pietragallo]

It's like asking the fox do you think I should keep the henhouse door open or no, should I close it?

[Jimmy Whisman]

Should we keep these eggs in the yard?

[James Pietragallo]

What do you think? So the cop says, I can't tell you that, Rusty. Yeah, that ain't my thing. He said, how fast could you get an attorney here? I mean, a public defender is all I can handle. I can't afford nothing here. The cop said, if that's what you want to do, you just have to tell me that. And he's trailing off. And Rusty said, I don't know, man. I don't know. He says, I don't know, and then pauses for a second and then goes right back into the telling of the story. Just dismiss that completely. So he said, I went there, I confronted him. He said, stephanie took the kids into a back bedroom. He said that Sanders had a shotgun when I opened fire. So, you know, he was pointing it at me. Basically self defense. He said, quote. And he moved and I shot. And then his gun. He turned and his gun went off into the wall. And I shot him again and again and again, I guess, which. No, you didn't. And he fell back in the room. And I'm like, holy shit. Understatement of the year.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I'm like, holy, you just murdered a man.

[James Pietragallo]

So what were your. What were your thoughts here? Well, holy was my main.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Well, I'm like, holy. I'm like, I hate. I hate that. Yeah, I'm like in a. In a.

[James Pietragallo]

Serious shit. Yeah, that's if you're talking. Yeah, you're something silly. I was down at the, you know, at the store, and then this guy. And then this other guy came over and he slipped. And I was like, holy shit. That guy just slipped on the floor. Like, that's. That's a. Holy shit. Whoa.

[Jimmy Whisman]

The guy didn't run a red light and t bone a station wagon. You shot a man in the chest. That's not. I'm like, holy shit.

[James Pietragallo]

I'm like, holy shit. So he said, then he tried. Then he said Stephanie wanted to leave with him. Oh, you know what? I'm going to leave my kids here with a bleeding out, corpse, and let's just go out for a talk. Let's me and you go out for a nice dinner.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I'm actively bleeding.

[James Pietragallo]

I got a broken face and all. But I'm feeling a kinship to you right now. It's very close.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Leave the house without the good handcuffs.

[James Pietragallo]

That's right. And he admitted to handcuffing her, even.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Right.

[James Pietragallo]

And worse, he said. And she wouldn't get down. Remember, he said, get down on your knees. And I had adrenaline pumping, and I smacked her in the head with the pistol. Not real hard, but I smacked her. I love tap. I love pistol whipping, you know?

[Jimmy Whisman]

Doesn't take much.

[James Pietragallo]

Jesus, those are real hard. Yeah, they're made of metal. Most of the time. She went down on the ground and I cuffed her. I got her up and ran to the car, got into the car and took off. Okay? So he said. And at that point, before he took off, he said. And the guy, meaning Sanders, the guy said something. And I said, fuck you, motherfucker. I said, fuck you, motherfucker. I'll kill you. And he goes, I think you already did. And I said, well, I hope not.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Gotta go.

[James Pietragallo]

Gotta go now. Bye. So medically, they don't think that's possible or true, that the guy was still talking. The bullet went through his lung, right?

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's filling up with blood. He's literally drowning, gargling. Yeah.

[James Pietragallo]

There's no way he's talking. So they said he was still talking to you then? And he said, yes. So then he continued to tell this version. Somehow, this is crazy. He has a bleeding, terrified, handcuffed woman in his car, and he spun this shit like they had a picnic basket, and we're going for a romantic country drive. That's how he spun it, literally. He was like, oh, we had this long drive and we had an intimate moment together. That's how he was describing this shit. It was romantic. And. Oh, finally reunited. And it feels so good. It's beautiful, isn't it?

[Jimmy Whisman]

Brought a nice Jarlsberg and an apple.

[James Pietragallo]

Oh, boy. I'll tell you what. She picked out the perfect Pinot Noir for the situation. I was amazed, honestly.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Dried apricots, not too sweet, but also dried almonds.

[James Pietragallo]

Very nice. Yeah. Very, very nice. Okie. Okie. So then he gets into his shootout in St. Louis county, where he downplays that too, which is pretty funny. He said. And that's when the shooting started. And I just laid down in the seat and shot out. And then they shot me, I think, right here. And then I started Shooting out the window. You know how you do. I can't count the number of times I've done that with the guy. I'm just like, I don't want to talk to these guys. And just. You lay down in the seat, you start emptying your clip. That's how you do it.

[Jimmy Whisman]

License and registration, my ass.

[James Pietragallo]

I don't think so. Yeah, not today, pal.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I don't think I'm gonna let you arrest me today.

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah, speaking of Doc Holliday and everybody else. So now Rusty showed some emotion when he talked about the fact that he's still alive. Then he got emotional.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He cried.

[James Pietragallo]

Not really. He said, why didn't they just kill me, man? I told them I didn't want to be put on life support, and they did it anyway. He thought he was getting. He thought he was going out. How, Jimmy?

[Jimmy Whisman]

Blaze of glory, baby.

[James Pietragallo]

In a blaze of glory, baby. He's like, well, this is not how that song ends. With me in a wheelchair.

[Jimmy Whisman]

So disappointed.

[James Pietragallo]

They're gonna be so mad at me. Wasn't supposed to end with me in a wheelchair. Pathetically sipping from a plastic cup of water. You guys have provided for me. That's not how the song ends.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I don't think they were the soundtrack to the Little Sheen being a terrible actor.

[James Pietragallo]

There's a soundtrack to everybody. Making Lou Diamond Phillips the face of all Native Americans for the rest of time.

[Jimmy Whisman]

And that hot redhead sidesaddle riding out of there. That was amazing.

[James Pietragallo]

Oh, yeah, There you go. So he also kept asking about the punishment. He kept saying, you think I'll get the max? And the cop goes, I don't know.

[Jimmy Whisman]

You shot at police officers, you dummy.

[James Pietragallo]

Probably. I mean, you killed a guy, raped a woman, and then shot at cops. Like in front of kids. You did all the. Like. There's an aggravator that's real nasty to everything you did. Like it's a lot.

[Jimmy Whisman]

And asked for a tax funded lawyer. My man, you're in so much trouble.

[James Pietragallo]

Crazy. Then toward the end of it, he said, I thought Steph was it, man. Meaning the one.

[Jimmy Whisman]

The one for him.

[James Pietragallo]

Yep, I thought Steph was it, man. And she broke my heart. And I killed her boyfriend. Wow, this is just real heavy, man. That's what he said. This is just real heavy, man. I'm just.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I mean, you know, it's only heavy because of you. Like you. Nothing is heavy except for what you've done.

[James Pietragallo]

That's what I mean.

[Jimmy Whisman]

People break up every day.

[James Pietragallo]

And then he also emphasized that he didn't understand why she didn't want to be with him. It's like, I don't know why she did this and made me do all this. He said, he said I was good to her, you know, besides the dog chains and little plastic zip ties and things. Beatings. He said, quote, I keep the house clean, I love to cook. And then there's a long pause and he goes, I didn't beat on the kids. Oh, well, gee, yeah, I don't know why she didn't marry you. That seems like your marriage material. I mean, sure, there's a. He didn't even beat on the kids. I didn't beat on the kids.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Hell of a soft pitch for a dating website.

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah. I keep the house clean, I love to cook, and I didn't beat on the kids. Please message me, I'd love to chat. I thought, wow, that's remarkable. That is a remarkable statement. That that's what he said and that's what he thinks. I mean, think about where he came from that he thinks. That's like, I don't care.

[Jimmy Whisman]

All of that, James, and. And squishy blood filled tumors and a

[James Pietragallo]

head full of spongy blood filled tumors. I gotta make up for it by not even beating on the kids. Who by the way, weren't even his right. I didn't beat another person's children.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I didn't beat on her kids.

[James Pietragallo]

Don't say that. That's his brag.

[Jimmy Whisman]

And to top it all off, a healthy dose of opioid addiction.

[James Pietragallo]

You're a hell of a man. I'm just saying the guy is really.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He's a. I can't believe nobody would want to date me.

[James Pietragallo]

He's practically Valentino off the boat. This fucking guy. Like he's eligible bachelor happening right now.

[Jimmy Whisman]

How could she leave?

[James Pietragallo]

How could she leave this fucking Sir Walter Raleigh over here? This guy is a fucking. He's a classy, kind hearted individual.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I grow roses on my neck, for Christ's sake.

[James Pietragallo]

That's why I moved to Rose City, because I fit right in. So. Wow. About a week after the murder, he makes his first court appearance. Being pushed in a wheelchair. He didn't enter pleasure. But the circuit court judge declared him indigent and was appointed a public defender. That's what this was for, to see if he was poor. And they're like, you look pretty poor to me.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Piss.

[James Pietragallo]

Well, in the story I've heard, there's three trailers involved. So I'm gonna go with public defender is you're gonna be needing. Right. Everyone you know has a Trailer. Not just you, it's every fucking person in your life.

[Jimmy Whisman]

There's never been a location referenced where it's at somebody's home. Never.

[James Pietragallo]

There's not been one foundation in this entire story. Not one concrete slab. I've had nothing. A basement? God, no. So another court appearance was scheduled for April 8. And on April 8, he appeared with his new attorney and pleaded not guilty.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Unbelievable.

[James Pietragallo]

Now, while all this was going on, poor Stephanie was also in the hospital here. Now, Barbara is Stephanie's mother and her ex husband is Stephanie's father, George Pruitt. They had driven to St. Louis the day after the murder to pick her up from the hospital. She was at the hospital being treated for her injuries. Rape, pistol whipping, and shot in the leg. The mom, Barbara, entered the hospital room and looked at Stephanie's injury. She saw the large gunshot wound in her daughter's leg. Stephanie pulled back the dressing and showed her. Barbara saw the bruises on her daughter's arms and her eye and her cheek. And obviously she's been raped too, which isn't great. She also heard that Rusty had been shot and he was in the same hospital. She was like, I'd love to pay him a fucking visit here. Now when Stephanie's released in a couple days from the hospital, Barbara takes her to her home on East Cape Rock Drive in Cape Juradu where she and her boyfriend live. Barbara and her boyfriend and basically saying, stephanie's gonna stay here and heal for a while.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah, it takes a while. Gunshots are so gross.

[James Pietragallo]

Oh yeah, dude, that's brutal. So she's gotta have recovery time and just basically a. To feel safe and to feel, you know, recover and have her kids be around and all that kind of thing. Now while this is all happening, they bring her home and the phone rings. Uh oh, okay. Barb picks it up and it's fucking Rusty on the phone.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Why? What is he doing?

[James Pietragallo]

And they said, will you accept it? It's a fucking collect call from jail.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Get out of here.

[James Pietragallo]

He said, well, you accept the charges. And this bitch is, you know, she's like, Barbara is like, what the fuck? This bitch is calling me right now.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Did she say yes?

[James Pietragallo]

This bitch is calling me on the phone after this motherfucker tried to kill people. He's like, hell no. She's in disbelief. She was about to say no. And then she said, for some reason she said, yes. Let's hear what this asshole has to say.

[Jimmy Whisman]

These are recorded. We'll take it.

[James Pietragallo]

Why not? So he said, is Stephanie there? Is she all right? And she's like, what? He called me collect. This is from the hospital, not the jail. But he can't make phone calls because it's a prisoner room deal. So she said his voice seemed really cold. She said there was no feeling in it. She said that? She just said, why did you do it? Why'd you do it? And his answer was, she shouldn't have cheated on me.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, boy.

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah, that's the answer. That's the answer. Yeah. Hurt my feelings. That's why. So Barbara says, you don't kill people for any reason. And then he says an amazing thing. He says, quote, I do. I did and I will.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Wow. It's my life.

[James Pietragallo]

It's my life. Now or never. And then he busted into a seven minute Bon Jovi medley.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He could do it all day,

[James Pietragallo]

all day long, all day.

[Jimmy Whisman]

There's so many.

[James Pietragallo]

He knows them all.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Pietragallo]

Oh, my God. So can you imagine that? You can't kill people for any reason. I do. I did and I will.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Wow.

[James Pietragallo]

Okay. So then she says that she said she never thought she would ever say this to anybody, but he made her so enraged, which I don't fucking blame her at this point. She said, I wanna watch you fry. And he said, I wanna watch you fry too. Which is just a shit comeback. And he's not really all that planned.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He said, no, you are. But what am I?

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah, I will. I do. I did and I will. If it was in any other situation, it's kind of cool. If you were like, right. If you were in the right, that would be cool. In his situation, not cool at all.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's pretty ugly.

[James Pietragallo]

But I wanna watch you fry. Back as just lame. And then Barbara hung up on him, slammed down the phone. Okay, so then June 17, 1996. So he was shot up on the 21st of March. Now he's sitting in jail on June 17, 1996. He's been in jail since he's been transported there after the police interrogation. Now, what he's been up to in jail. The data log sheets from March 21 to June 17 says that he spent most of his time here in prison. And they have the prisoner checks. Nine o', clock, subject appears asleep. Eleven o', clock, subject is reading a book. He appears calm and secure. 1500 hours, subject is given his meds. So there's a few entries that show that he's been refusing meals, but he has tumors in his mouth, so they don't really think. He just says, my mouth hurts and I can't eat right now. Tumors in his Mouth spongy, blood soaked tumors in his mouth.

[Jimmy Whisman]

What is that?

[James Pietragallo]

So he refuses a lot of meals. Now the county sheriff, John Jordan is just about to. He just filed for reelection. He finished out the term of the last sheriff of two years. So he's gotta run for election this time. And this Jordan, obviously, he knows about who's in the jail, especially the biggest murderer in there and all that kind of thing and everything like that. He said, you know, this is Jordan. You know, you deal with whatever this job gives you. Some days are diamonds and some days are stone. That's what he said. Okay, now this is a Stone day for the wanting to be reelected sheriff. Here, Lieutenant Michael Morgan, the jail administrator, did a prisoner count at the end of the shift. He did one earlier at the beginning of the shift, as they always do. Beginning and end of shift and the earlier count. Every prisoner is accounted for. The second count. We're missing somebody. Oh, no, we're missing somebody. They immediately called the sheriff and said, sheriff, we're short a man. And then they did a second check on everybody and they said, it's Rusty Bucklew, he escaped. Oh my God, he fucking escaped.

[Jimmy Whisman]

We're short a man. That better be staff. And he called in sick.

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah. Oh, we're short of man. Oh, that's all right. Call in one of the temps. No.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah. No, no, no. We're short the worst one.

[James Pietragallo]

We're short the worst guy we have in here. Oh, my God. The log shows 0900. Subject is in court until 0844, 11 o'. Clock. Bucklew is talking to Lawson in his cell. 1200, eating lunch at a table at noon. At 3pm the log notes that he talked to Kenneth Stone. Buckle did. Stone was an inmate who had made headlines the month before for holding a pillow over a man's head and shooting him while he slept. So these are like the two worst murderers they have in the jail and they've hooked up and decided to talk. The log doesn't note what they talk about, unfortunately. I'd love to know the fucking. It's just about. What TV shows do you like?

[Jimmy Whisman]

Bon Jovi's Greatest hits?

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah, the whole Jovi catalog. And how they feel like he's just an extension of Fog Hat Man. Some horseshit. So in a few hours later, leading up to the escape here, the log seems to be interesting. 1600 hours. So 4 o', clock in bed, appears calm. 17 o', clock, 5 o' clock PM, given meds. 18 o', clock, 6 o' clock PM subject is at Cafeteria table, eating. The next log entry is scribbled and harder to read. And it says, subject missing, not found for medication.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, that's scribbled because the fucking panicking.

[James Pietragallo]

An hour later, the writing's even worse and it says, subject's still missing. He's running, searching for him as he's writing that an hour later, subject's still missing. Oh, my God. How the fuck did he get out of here? Let's find out. Yeah, well, he had a buddy in there who's a prison trustee named William Douglas Roth, and this guy helped him. He's not going to be a trustee very fucking long after this.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Sure.

[James Pietragallo]

Rusty slid into a trash bag and had it tied over his head. Oh, Rusty. It's not so much. The tumors are the reasons he hasn't been eating. He's been losing weight on purpose, trying to slim down. He was down to 5 foot 7, 90 pounds by the time he escaped.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That's so sick.

[James Pietragallo]

That is skinny. He weighed 110 pounds when he showed up at jail. That's his like walking around weight.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That's his heaviness.

[James Pietragallo]

A buck ten. Yeah, but 90 is what he did to be lighter.

[Jimmy Whisman]

5, 7, 1, 10. You're fitting in teenage boys clothes.

[James Pietragallo]

You're fitting in teenage girl's clothes for sure. That's crazy. Yeah. You're shopping in the little misses section. Like, that's wild.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, my God.

[James Pietragallo]

So he slid into a trash bag, had it tied over his head. But then Roth, William Douglas Roth, carried the bag outside and tossed it into a 50 gallon trash bag because it's his job to throw the garbage out. So he's light enough for this guy to toss into the trash can. Now, a jail worker later said that he noticed the trustee was struggling with the bag a little bit. Like it was heavy, but he didn't think anything of it because sometimes there's heavy shit in there. And not like he's gonna help him. He's like, well, that's your job, stupid.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's trash.

[James Pietragallo]

That's trash. So the officer said he watched the trustee toss the bag in there and that was that. He just said, that's fine. So Rusty waited in the dumpster for a time. We don't know how long he's in the dumpster for, but at some point when he figured it was safe, he opened the lid, crawled out and fled. And that was that. That's how easy he got out.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That's how the trash can is literally outside the secure area.

[James Pietragallo]

Yep. They took him outside, threw him in the Dumpster. And they were like, all right, there we go. Trash in the dumpster. No problem there. And then he just took off.

[Jimmy Whisman]

What year?

[James Pietragallo]

Just ran away through the park? 96. This sounds like 1956 or 46, but this is.

[Jimmy Whisman]

The trash can is outside the secure area. Literally, somebody could throw a man away and everybody turns their back on it.

[James Pietragallo]

You would just think nobody's small enough to be thrown away. That's literally all it is.

[Jimmy Whisman]

96. Wow.

[James Pietragallo]

None of these guys are small enough. So he was free. He had planned it for weeks. He had dropped 15 to 20 pounds. A lot of log entries saying he refused to eat. They figured it was because of his mouth, but it's because he didn't want to burst the trash bag. He found out how much weight the trash bags hold and he said about 100 pounds. So he said, okay, I got to get to 90. So that's what he did, which is fucking insane. So now they're searching for him, as you can imagine, frantically. Hey, everybody, Just gonna take a quick break from the show to tell you a better way to dress with quince.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Quince.com.

[James Pietragallo]

oh, I love quints. We get all of our stuff from quints. Me and Sarah and Jimmy, all of us get all of our stuff from quints now because you don't need to go anywhere else. It's great. Great. One thing you're going to love and I love about the summer is how things feel easy. The days are a little more relaxed. You might, you know, you find yourself reaching for the same kind of comfortable clothes that fit with what you're doing. And that's why we keep coming back to quints, is they focus on well made essentials that naturally become those everyday staples that you're going to live in all season long. And that's what's, that's what's up with Quince. Quince's 100% European linen. Linen pants and shirts are breathable, easy to throw on, and the summer upgrade that your rotation needs, starting at just $34. Jimmy loves his linen pants, by the way. Their tees are soft enough to live in all day. The lightweight cotton sweaters are exactly what you want. When those summer nights cool down, you go out for a dinner or something. You look sharp. Everything at Quint's is priced 50 to 80% less than similar brands. They work directly with ethical factories and cut out that middleman. So you're paying for exceptional quality, not brand markup. And that's what it's all about. That's what it is clothes would be so much less expensive if it wasn't for all that garbage in the middle. Those middlemen. And that's what Quince cuts right out. So you're just getting the best stuff right from the factory to you. It's phenomenal. Great quality, great prices. And it's not just clothing too. Quints has become a trusted favorite for everything from home travel to everyday essentials. You really don't need anywhere else but Quince. And you should check them out because we do it all the time. Make your summer wardrobe easier. Go to quince.com smalltown murder for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's Q-U-N-C-E.com smalltown murder for free Shipping and 365 day returns. Quints.com smalltown murder now back to the show. He broke out on Monday night. On Tuesday morning they launch a massive manhunt. No hurry or anything. We'll take in the morning. In the morning.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He'll set it free in the morning.

[James Pietragallo]

A lot of us have plans tonight and things like that. We'll get him in the morning. So they launch a massive manhunt. They have the Missouri State Highway Patrol, different personnel from like eight different counties. They have an emergency operations center. The area hospital lent its helicopter to the police to search from the sky. They have four bloodhounds tracking his scent along Hubble Creek after a 19 year old veterinary assistant found his jail jumpsuit alongside the creek. So they set the bloodhounds off there. The officers combed the area but couldn't find shit. So the helicopter pilot just saw nothing. And the dogs lost the trail about three miles up the creek. Okay, so that's that. Jordan here, the guy in charge of this said we were doing everything we knew to do but we were coming up with nothing. So. So, okay, he escapes on Monday. On Tuesday they have a massive, I mean all hands on deck. And then by Wednesday there's no extensive manhunt anymore.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Search called off. He got away.

[James Pietragallo]

They said officers were still looking and calls were coming in but they didn't have the helicopters and the bloodhounds and all that out anymore. It's fine.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He could be in fucking California by now.

[James Pietragallo]

Jordan said it's not over till it's over. That's what he's given a fucking Yogi Berra. Fucking cliche.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Is that lady singing jokes? You got any?

[James Pietragallo]

Wow. Not over till it's over. A murder charge is good forever. We will look for him until he's found. Which sounds like if he turns up, he turns up. Anyway, back to paperwork. That's what that sounds like to me.

[Jimmy Whisman]

We've still got a charge on him, so if they find him, he gives his name.

[James Pietragallo]

Murder stay murder. But, you know, we got other shit to do. You find that motherfucker. What are you doing?

[Jimmy Whisman]

He's 90 pounds of danger, I would say.

[James Pietragallo]

June 19, 1996. He's still missing.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Get out of here.

[James Pietragallo]

Still missing. This is a great headline, by the way, from the Daily American Republic, which has a lot of newspaper articles. We got stuff from here from 6-19-96, big letters. Garbage Can Escapee is still at large. I don't know why. Garbage Can Escapee is a great title for a man to have.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah, it makes it sound like he was trapped in the garbage can.

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah, like he escaped from the garbage, is what it sounds like. That's exactly what I thought, too. Okay, good. It's not just me this day. Jordan, the guy who's supposed to be in charge of finding him, said he would not give up the search, even though some suspect that he's made his getaway pretty far away. He goes. I'm still looking. He says officers are still in the area. Calls are coming in, and we're responding to those. We'll keep looking. He also said that he considers Rusty to be very dangerous. And they said if he, you know, he might resist arrest and endanger lives. And he wouldn't hesitate. He said, I wouldn't hesitate to give my guys the order to shoot to kill on this guy because he's dangerous and he'll take you down with him, is what he's trying to do.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He said that river runs to the Gulf of Mexico, right? He could. I mean, you could. I mean, it goes that way, right?

[James Pietragallo]

If you're Huck Finn, you can get out there on the river and just float on down, but

[Jimmy Whisman]

a string and a stick, you can eat all the way.

[James Pietragallo]

I think you'd be. I picture him barefoot in overalls,

[Jimmy Whisman]

doesn't even have a reel. It's just.

[James Pietragallo]

No, he's pulling it back.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Gotta get a bunch of string and pull.

[James Pietragallo]

Hanging out with a black guy with a troublesome name. Just chilling. Fucking. So he said, this is a very bad scenario for a man like this to be out. I sure as hell hope to God he doesn't kill another person before we capture him.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Sure as hell hope not.

[James Pietragallo]

Sure as hell hope not. Speaking of, where the fuck is he and is he dangerous? Let's go over to Barbara Pruitt and her boyfriend's house for a second here.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, no.

[James Pietragallo]

Barbara Pruitt and her boyfriend Ed Frenzel here, they needed to go home to get something. They weren't staying at their home while he was escaped for fear that he would come there and try to kill their daughter. So they had been staying at a motel that.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He wants to watch her fry.

[James Pietragallo]

And I do. I did, and I will.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I will.

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah. Well, they were staying at a motel, but they needed to go home and get some shit. So what they did is they called to have an officer do a quick sweep of the house first. So a cop goes in, looks around, doesn't see anything, comes out, says, all clear, and drives away and lets them go get their shit, basically. So they go in to get their shit, you know. There's been a quick search of the house by an armed police officer, making sure Rusty didn't sneak in. So, okay. For two days, Barb and Ed have been staying at a hotel, and Stephanie's been taken into protective custody, actually, by the police. They took her in, and I don't know where the fuck. They're standing outside her motel room door. But they're separate. So these two. Mom and Ed. Barb and Ed. And they come back to the house on Monday. Barbara had been at her job at Procter and Gamble when a security worker pulled her aside and said, you're supposed to go home. Ed's coming to get you. The police department just called. Russell Bucklew has escaped. And she was like, what the fuck? Seriously?

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah. The guy you just mouthed off to is out.

[James Pietragallo]

Fuck. I just had a bad conversation with him. Ed had picked her up, and they driven directly to the police station to see what was going on. And they were told that Rusty had escaped and Stephanie and the girls were safe in protective custody. The cops said, though, it probably wouldn't be a good idea for you guys to go home unless you get an officer to search your house first. If you want to go in the house, get a cop to search it first. Don't just walk in willy nilly. So they were in a motel room and hadn't got home. But they said they wanted to pick up a few things. They were only going to be there for a minute. So officer comes out, all clear. Enjoy. So for about an hour, they're in the house. They put food out for the dogs or, like, outdoor dogs there. They put food out for them. They water a few of the trees in the backyard. If you left your house for three days, all the shit you'd have to do. I got to water that. Took that, put that away. Things that happen. Then they take a break from their. They've been doing housework, basically. They take a break and sit in the living room. Barb has to be to work in a few hours, so she says, I'm going to take a nap. Take a quick nap here. I mean, everything's fine, so let's just take a nap. But she walks back to the back door just to lock it. You never know. She's safe. She wants to be safe. She locks it there. Now, as she locks it, there's a large walk in pantry with the door closed to her right. Pantry, cereal and canned goods and shit. She turns her head back to the living room, and out of nowhere, the pantry door swings open and hits her in the side.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Ouch.

[James Pietragallo]

She says, what the fuck? And at the same time, she feels something hard and metallic strike her in the head.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, God.

[James Pietragallo]

She gets a hit from someone in the closet. It's fucking Rusty. He was hiding in the pantry with

[Jimmy Whisman]

a gun and the cop didn't look in the pantry.

[James Pietragallo]

Or a can of French cut green beans. We're not sure at the moment.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's a metal. He was crawled into the dog food.

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah. Here's some Alpo.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Pietragallo]

So she slams her body against the utility closet door, trying to force it closed to trap him inside. He's pushing on the other side. Luckily, he doesn't wave that much, so it's actually a struggle. She screams, ed.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Ed.

[James Pietragallo]

Ed. She can't stop him. The door swings open and Ed, who was in the living room, comes in here. And Ed. Ed sees Rusty's arm holding something, going up and down, and he's hitting Ed. Buckle's hitting Ed. Now he's hitting him with something. And in the other hand he's holding a knife. Rusty is. So Barb sees blood on Ed's head by his ear. Ed and Rusty are pushing each other around. They're trying to scuff. They're grabbing each other's wrists and trying to struggle. Ed backs up and Rusty screams, get down. Get down. You're gonna die. Get down. You're gonna die. Okay. The back door's right there, but it's locked. So Ed manages to get his way in the struggle to the back door and unlocks the door and says, get out of there, Barb. Go and tell Barb. Get the fuck out of here. While we struggle. So Barb tries, but she can't because she is on the wrong side of that open door. That they're struggling against. She's, like, pinned against the wall by the door. So Rusty angles his way in front of her. He's got a knife and a hammer. That's what he's got. He's got a hammer, a hammer and a knife. Barb is too afraid to move. Rusty and Ed are yelling at each other and all this type of shit. Something distracts Rusty, and he looks away for a second, just for a second. Don't know if it's a noise outside. Might have thought the cops were there. But it's just enough time for Barb to squeeze her way out and around the door and get outside.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Okay.

[James Pietragallo]

She then slams the door, trapping the two men inside the house.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, Jesus.

[James Pietragallo]

She takes a look back through the window and sees that Rusty is laying the knife and the hammer down. And then he disappears from view. So she runs to a neighbor's house. Ed was already there. Ed snuck out when he went out the door and said, come on, Barb, let's go, and ran out the fucking door. But she didn't make it. She was trapped behind the door. All right, so that's all this happened. That's how this happened. Then he's got a knife and a hammer. He looks away for a second. She's able to sneak out the door.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Got it.

[James Pietragallo]

She sees him laying down the knife and hammer, and she runs to the neighbor's house. Ed is already there banging on the door. But it's a weekday afternoon and no one's fucking home. People are working, so Barb doesn't know what to do. So she basically staggers to the front yard and screams at the top of her lungs until somebody fucking notices her. It's a residential neighborhood. If you go to the front yard and scream as loud as you can, people will eventually look.

[Jimmy Whisman]

And that's what she did.

[James Pietragallo]

That's exactly what she did. People looked. Somebody called the cops,

[Jimmy Whisman]

so he called Rayon. Huh?

[James Pietragallo]

We'll talk about. Ed took off. Yeah, Rusty was in the house at the time. Leave her in there, for Christ's sake.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Get out, lady. I'm going.

[James Pietragallo]

Let's go. Run, bitch. And then you just run out the door and you're like, oh, she's not behind me.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Where's my lady?

[James Pietragallo]

So some residents along East Cape Rock Drive had called in and reported some screaming at the home of Barb Pruitt. Now, the police later learned that Rusty had attacked Barb and attacked Ed, and before that, had apparently stolen a blue Chevy pickup from a home on County Road 616 while the owners were out of town, so he has wheels now. He thought Stephanie was gonna be at that house. He went right to go kill her.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That's what he was trying to do.

[James Pietragallo]

That's what he was trying to do. So apparently he had made his way to the back door, which was. That's how he got in, but that's how he got out, too. He went out the back door just like they did and made his way to. He had hit his pickup truck in the next block, got in it and took off. Okay, this guy's fucking crazy, right?

[Jimmy Whisman]

We're in trouble.

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah, in a blaze of glory. He's a problem.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He's living on a prayer, James.

[James Pietragallo]

Living on a prayer. He is. So he got in the pickup and drove his car, his pickup here to Highway 177. Interesting. So he wants to be shot. Basically, he's looking for the cops to do it. He's looking for suicide by cop. And one of these cops here, Lieutenant Michael Morgan, said, in my opinion, he has nothing to lose. Mr. Bucklew doesn't want to come back to jail. I've talked with Russell. He claims he wants to die. I really believe he's going to force us to shoot him.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Him.

[James Pietragallo]

So we're gonna talk about Deputy Richie Walker. 06-19-96. Deputy Richie Walker's on patrol driving around State Highway 177 south of Egypt Mills. Which is a small community in the same county. Everyone's looking for Rusty. Basically, that's what everyone's doing. As his vehicle approaches County Road 263. He sees a blue Chevy pickup truck with a camper, which is exactly what he's looking for, heading his way. They pass each other and basically they both like. He said the guy in the truck was like, oh, shit. And he was like, oh, shit. At the same time, they both were like, what the fuck? As they passed, looked at each other

[Jimmy Whisman]

and were like, he's looking for me. And he's like, I'm looking for him.

[James Pietragallo]

It was when Lieutenant Daniels passed by fucking Avon Barksdale in the first season of the Wire. And they both looked at each other and he gave him one of these. That's what basically happened. Yeah, he said, immediately knew it's him. He's driving the pickup. So this guy wastes no time. Basically, Rusty tries to jam on the gas and get away. The cop does the same thing. He hits his lights, does a U turn and sees the pickup cresting a slight hill for a moment, disappearing. But then he gets to the top of the hill and he Sees it again. He notices the pickup truck's brake lights are on and the truck has stopped. Now when he gets to the top of the hill, he can see it. The pickup truck had swerved onto a county road and pulled down a few feet onto the road's right hand side. And it's just sitting there idling on the side of the road like just waiting for a confrontation. So this guy speeds up his cruiser to the truck and stops just short of it it, leaving a slight gap between the two vehicles because he says if it comes to it, he wants to be able to use his car for cover. As the cop here walker pushes his door open, he sees Rusty fly out of the pickup door. Here he comes. He said he lunged. That's the word he uses here. Rusty's momentum propels him toward the cock and the wind. And the wind. Anything could really get him.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Well, tailwind and some momentum, that's it.

[James Pietragallo]

So he doesn't know what's going, what this guy is planning on. So he grabs his shotgun out of the car, racks it and says, get your hands up now. I will fucking shoot you. He said if he didn't put his hands up right away, he was done. He was shooting him and all he did. Threw his hands up and turned himself in, put his hands up, did what he was told through all of this.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That's the crescendo.

[James Pietragallo]

He decided, I guess I don't want to go out in a blaze of glory.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah, a blaze of glory. Sounds painful.

[James Pietragallo]

I guess not so much. Yeah, I think it's cooler if you're Bon Jovi than if you're me, I think he said, you know, so this is the best reaction to this whole thing. Stephanie Ray's father, George Pruitt, called Rusty Bucklew cunning. He said, you wouldn't know it to look at him, but he's cunning. He looks like a moron, but he's smarter than he looks. Cunning is what you call an animal. That's smart too, by the way. Like crafty or, you know, cunning, I

[Jimmy Whisman]

would say like a murderer that wears disguises and shit.

[James Pietragallo]

That's cunning.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That's convincing. You know what I mean? Like that baseline rapist in Arizona was cunning.

[James Pietragallo]

Horrible burglar who like, you know, steals a bunch of art from all sorts of fate and never gets caught. That's cunning.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Has suction cups with glass cutters. That's a cunning guy.

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah, he gets right from the ceiling. He drops down on a grappling thing and yeah, he's done. So the charges against him are obviously first degree murder, kidnapping, rape, burglary, you name it. I mean there's so many charges, it's not even funny. It's insane. Now the trial is gonna come up. Pretrial publicity causes the case to be transferred to Columbia on a change of venue. Here, obviously this is. I just told you all that happened. Imagine a lot of facts in a small area. You've heard this crazy fucking story like, wow. So it attracted a lot of attention. But it's got a small, kind of a small persistent following this case that people will drive anywhere to go to the trial. Yeah. Including Michael Sanders parents, his two aunts and his sister. They all come. And also Rusty Bucklew's parents is also there. Yeah. So now, so the jury in a death, they're going for the death penalty here and the jury has to be chosen. It's a death qualified jury. That's a big thing. That's one of the reasons why I don't think whether you want to kill somebody or not, fine, whatever. But I don't think it's very, it's not a fair process because you have to have 12 people who are willing to give the death penalty, which is not a jury of your peers because half the country, half the country doesn't believe in the death penalty. So you can't say a jury of your peers is. Every single person is enthusiastically willing to give the death penalty. That would be somebody. You'd have a bunch of people on there that go, I don't believe in it at all.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Would you say? Yeah, if you believe in it at all, then you're definitely enthusiastically willing. You've got it.

[James Pietragallo]

That's what I'm thinking. Yeah. I don't mean they're not like, yeah, let's fry him. But they're like, I'd give the death penalty in a situation or whatever. Whereas some people wouldn't.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah, I get.

[James Pietragallo]

So, yeah. So the death qualified jury is one of the reasons why I believe if you had everybody on there from all walks of life, you had people that don't believe in the death penalty for any circumstance and the case was so fucking heinous you got all of those people to vote for death, then I would say that's truly. You have gotten sent to the death row by a jury of your peers. We have all decided, fuck you. But if it's only a certain number of people who are predetermined to want to send people to death row anyway, I feel like that can't be fair.

[Jimmy Whisman]

You got a guy that doesn't under any circumstances believe in the death penalty. To believe in the death penalty. You've jubilee debated this motherfucker into wanting to murder you.

[James Pietragallo]

I am not a death penalty guy. But there's some people where you go, let's kill that guy. It's rare, but it's the fucking real extreme ones are like, why? Yeah, we don't need this guy.

[Jimmy Whisman]

This guy's willing to slip out of the bars to go murder somebody.

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah. Slip through the bars.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Did he think that he was gonna go kill the witness and that was gonna stop?

[James Pietragallo]

I mean, I don't think he cared about that. I think he wanted to kill Stephanie, period.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That's all it is.

[James Pietragallo]

And he had a score to settle with Barb too. Yeah, they had a little exchange on the phone.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah, she said she wanted to see him fry.

[James Pietragallo]

Well, yeah, anyway, so the defense here, they can't contest that he has done these murders and kidnappings and shit. He's admitted to it. It's obvious, everybody saw him.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He broke out witnesses.

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah, he never disputed. He broke into the trailer, shot him, handcuffed, kidnapped, raped. Did any of that shit Never really about guilt. This is about is he gonna get the death penalty or not? He's gonna be guilty. We know that. So the defense is that basically his rap sheet from the past and all this rage traces back to a man medicating a painful disfiguring disease since boyhood with opiates that by his lawyer's account, scramble his impulse control and make his temper run wild.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He's drugged so hard he doesn't know what he's doing.

[James Pietragallo]

Drugs. So hard. Yeah, absolutely. That's it. He's just a guy who steals. He's got an addiction problem and all of that. So that's their defense is this is just a guy who is a fucking physical mess and doesn't know the wrongfulness of his actions and just put him in jail, basically. Now one piece of evidence they bring in that is particularly the defense really fights to try to keep out, unsuccessfully, is one of the kids blood stained drawings. Some blood from the dad spattered on this drawing that was on the wall. So they have a children's crayon drawing with his dead father's blood sprayed all over it, which is Exhibit 57, I think it is. And it's a big deal. The judge said, quote, gruesome crimes produce gruesome evidence. It's in the dragon.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Stays.

[James Pietragallo]

Sorry. Yeah, Stephanie is the star witness. Yeah, yeah, she saw everything. Testifies to everything. The two pistols walking down the hall shooting, the absence of any fight or argument before the guy opened fire, being pistol whipped, having her jaw broken, being handcuffed, the children crying as she's being dragged out to forcibly take a drive and then be raped and then be in a police chase where people are fucking shooting at her. Pretty bad. This is a bad, harrowing day, you know, day of testimony. Now, the prosecutor asked Stephanie about a phone call she received from Rusty while she was at work. The defense account. The defense counsel objected. And then they approached the bench and we have this from there. This is the sidebar. The defense said, I just want to specifically object to the contents of this phone call as evidence of other crimes and irrelevant to the charges that we're trying to. And the prosecution said, I expect the answer to be that he told her he was going to kill her and her children and cut her children up in front of her. And the objection was overruled. So the question to Stephanie is, Stephanie, would you go ahead and describe for the jury what Russell Bucklew told you in that phone call on March 7, 1996? He said that he knew I'd been cheating on him and that but he would if he ever seen Michael around me again. He said he'd kill him and me and the kids. So he said he'd kill us all. That's what he said. So at the bench, again, another thing, the defense says, I'm sorry, but I believed that statement that she just made included a threat toward Mike. And I believe that's contrary to what the expected testimony was. I don't think she said the phone call previously claimed that this phone call included a threat toward Mike. And the prosecution said, well, that's something you could try to impeach her about, but I don't know, basically do that. Yeah. So they said also, they go on, basically, it's overruled. Anyway, the defense asks for a mistrial, and the court says, no, the defense objects to something. It's overruled. Then they ask for a mistrial. You didn't even get your objection sustained. You're definitely not getting a mistrial, but you gotta have it on the record. So, yeah, she testified that also about Michael. She said that the mother of Michael's two children had abandoned Michael and the children for at least four years and that Michael had taken care of them by themselves and all of that kind of shit. So the court also later wrote that from Stephanie's testimony alone, a reasonable jury could find every element of first degree murder, including, including deliberation. Everything I Mean she does everything with guns.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That's not good.

[James Pietragallo]

Then they do a videotape confession and play the entire two hour tape of him confessing and being pretty flip about the whole thing and everything like that. Basically, it all corroborated exactly what happened. It's exactly how it went down. The defense objected to the drawing, again, as gruesome, and the kid drawing. And the judge said the issue is not whether the evidence is gruesome, but whether it is both legally and logically relevant. Sure. Now, during closings. Okay. Now during closings, the prosecution says Russell Earl Bucklew armed himself to the teeth with two guns, duct tape, handcuffs and two knives and he went hunting for human beings. He said he was hunting Stephanie Ray, his ex girlfriend and her new boyfriend. They were his prey. The defense said that he. They're blowing this out of proportion. Basically the defense is like, look, look, look, look, look. They're acting like he sat around, he thought about it, he drew it up and you know, all that he said, he did not act with cool reflection. He said this was just rage. That's all it was. He said, no matter how angry you may be at Russell, this is clearly not a case of first degree murder. Clearly, he took all that stuff, that's all murder stuff that he took and he used it.

[Jimmy Whisman]

You rarely need that to have a conversation.

[James Pietragallo]

And if you take all that stuff and use it, if he didn't use it, I would say, yeah, it has something to do with premeditation. But he used the pistols, he used the handcuffs, he used all this shit that he planned on using. It makes, makes perfect sense. So anyway, the jury needs less than two hours to find him guilty of first degree murder or murder. Myrtle. First degree murder. They said the penalty phase will start the next day and that is to choose between execution and life in prison without parole. So those are his options.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Pietragallo]

During sentencing here. Okay. Now the, the aggravator. Here they say the aggravator is neither time specific nor cause specific. It asks only whether the defendant was in the middle of a contemporaneous multi crime event. That's one of the aggravators. This was a multi crime event. He's in the middle of a spree. The state also argued future dangerousness and victim impact. He said it's not even hypothetical. He has 21 prior convictions and charges, including a fucking jailbreak where he, rather than get away from the police, he immediately went to the victim's house to seek retribution. Like, this guy's dangerous.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It wasn't like the Door was open and he was like, I'm gonna get out of here. He stopped eating to get out of here.

[James Pietragallo]

That's what I'm saying. Like Ted Bundy. Yeah, same thing. That's what Ted Bundy did. To get out of the ceiling to

[Jimmy Whisman]

go through the roof. Yeah, yeah.

[James Pietragallo]

The state leaned on the idea that basically Rusty had an antisocial personality disorder. There's a psychologist saying that he has antisocial personality disorder and that that means he would be a poor candidate for life without parole because he would cause trouble throughout the prison because of that. You gotta kill him, basically. I mean, that's what they said. Now, in mitigation, his mom testifies.

[Jimmy Whisman]

What's she have to say?

[James Pietragallo]

Oh, Frances here, she told the jury that she loved her son and couldn't judge him for his actions. She said, I can't judge. God has to judge. But he has all my love. He'll always have all my love.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Okay.

[James Pietragallo]

The judge said, luckily, one of us actually asked a judge. That's the point. That's me.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Good thing two guys not here. I'll take care of it.

[James Pietragallo]

I got this. It's all good. Yeah. So his son's mother also testifies in the penalty phase, saying, basically, don't kill my ex son's father, even though he's a terrible father and he's never around, don't kill him. During the closings in the sentencing phase, the prosecution here reiterated the nature of the crimes, emphasized his status as a repeat defender, cited his attacks on previous girlfriends in 92 and 94, and then says the best line ever, quote, he's a homicidal and bloodthirsty Energizer Bunny. He just keeps on coming.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Very common reference.

[James Pietragallo]

Then wasn't, it's not a bad one for 96. That's pretty good.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Pietragallo]

He's a homicidal, bloodthirsty Energizer Bunny. That is good shit.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Wasn't that thing in something where it was, like, all blood soaked and, like, it beat somebody to death or something and it.

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah. Was it in parody?

[Jimmy Whisman]

Was it in Stay Tuned?

[James Pietragallo]

Might have been. Stay Tuned. The John Ritter movie? Might have been. Stay tuned. That seems about right. Yeah, that seems right, because it's all hell. Things of the Energizer Bunny would be, yeah, that makes sense. So he tells the jury that by imposing the death penalty, they'd be sending a message to other potential stalkers and aggressors. That's a load of shit. But that's fine. He says, quote, someday. Ladies and gentlemen, John Michael Sanders and Zachary Sanders will be adults now. They're seven and five. But someday they'll be adults. And I submit to you that they will want to look back. Was justice reached? This man took their father. And I'm asking you to make the punishment fit the crime and give him the death penalty. Then he says he took two knives, at least 34 bullets, two guns, handcuffs, duct tape. He stalked this woman. He killed Michael Sanders. He raped her, terrorized her. Ladies and gentlemen, if this crime does not deserve the death penalty, then what would? Who deserves the death penalty if not this sociopathic killer? Which is a weird argument because that assumes that anybody deserves the death penalty. That takes that as a concrete, like in a philosophical argument. You took that as a concrete. Yes, not just statutory. That's a definite in stone thing, that some people need the death penalty.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Obviously needs it. Maybe that guy that trims hedges too.

[James Pietragallo]

That's what I mean. That's a very funny. Who fucked up the roses? Where's he? Let's find his ass.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Why don't they still grow around here?

[James Pietragallo]

Jesus Christ. So now the defense argued that there's nothing to be gained by imposing the death sentence. He said, the saddest thing about this whole case is you can't bring Mike Sanders back. You can take a life, but you can't bring one back. So the jurors deliberated for a little more than three hours on this one, which is longer than it took for the penalty or for the guilt phase. And they said that they also, by the way, the prosecution said that a man who escapes jail while awaiting trial would not suffer confinement. Well, probably. Oh, yeah, he's gonna keep trying. So it comes in. You, sir, may fuck off. Death penalty for Rusty.

[Jimmy Whisman]

They agree.

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah, they all agree on that one. Some of the jury actually left the courtroom crying because it's not normal for regular, decent people to say, let's kill a guy. That's not a normal. That's not a normal thing to impose upon citizens to tell them that they're now responsible for that.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I'm a law abiding citizen, citizen. And I would appreciate the ability to

[James Pietragallo]

murder today so much that causes some people to have emotional reactions that they didn't count on.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Let's all perform the Purge. One person, though.

[James Pietragallo]

One guy, though. That's it. It's a one man purge. So the prosecutor's reaction, he said, I called him a homicidal Energizer Bunny. You could shoot him, you could put him in jail, and nothing's gonna stop him from coming and trying to kill the people he was mad at. That really is a good point. The guy got shot in the head. Two months later, he's escaping in a garbage bag, coming to these people. This guy just keeps coming and coming and coming. He's exhausting.

[Jimmy Whisman]

And he'll do it at a rate of, like. He doesn't need the easy route. He'll do it with a fucking hammer and a knife.

[James Pietragallo]

He'll hide in your pantry with a fucking hammer and wait. Just eating your Chex Mix in there, just fucking waiting for you.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Pretty hungry. So that was pretty good hiding place.

[James Pietragallo]

Oh, yeah. Hide me in my pantry. I don't have a pantry, but hide me near my pantry door thing and I'll.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I'm gonna starve me enough to lose 20 pounds and then put me in the one room in my house that has all the full of food. All those dry goods are gone.

[James Pietragallo]

My mouth is gonna be destroyed. I'll eat all that cereal dry right from the box. I don't give a fuck. Tear my gums up.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I'm gonna surgically take these tumors out with all this basic four in here

[James Pietragallo]

with two boxes of Captain Crunch will do it. Two boxes of Captain Crunch will take everything out of your mouth.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Those fucking Apple Jacks have little pieces of razors attached to them that'll cut all that shit right off.

[James Pietragallo]

Right out. Right out. So here are the reactions. Stephanie, who's obviously been through it here, said that she would not have been satisfied with any other sentence but death. She said, he can no longer hurt anybody else. After the verdict, Dorothy Sanders, who's Michael's mom, said she was pleased with the decision and said, I feel that justice was served. My heart goes out to his family, but I have no feeling whatsoever for him.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Nothing.

[James Pietragallo]

Nothing. Now, there's appeals. He's gonna get some new lawyers for these appeals here.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Pietragallo]

Now, these lawyers are the ones that reinvestigate his background. Find tons of unpresented mitigation. They're gonna fight the method of execution thing and everything like that. Basically, their story is, this is a man who had a ruined childhood and a terrible disease who was condemned by a jury that never got the full picture. That's what it is. So that's all it is. Their attorneys are Cheryl Pilate and Jeremy Weiss. And they said that also in their statement. They said, rusty's very remorseful for his crimes. Don't you worry about that. He's real sorry. So they're arguing that. Well, let's start with their arguments. Let's find Out. First of all, mitigation. At trial, Rusty's family presented something basically an idyllic childhood narrative. His later attorneys said that this was the opposite of the truth. And the real childhood was chaos with a father with a volcanic temper. Abuse and trauma and lead paint exposure caused developmental delays.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Lead paint, Oxy defense.

[James Pietragallo]

That's right. Now, none of that reached the jury in the court. None of those mitigating factors were told to the jury during the death penalty case. So that's a lot. The U.S. supreme Court, in a line of cases starting in about 2000, held that a Capitol defense lawyer must thoroughly investigate a client's history precisely so a jury can weigh in on things like trauma, addiction, and impairment. And the original lawyers that Buck Lew had, their new lawyers said they just didn't do that work, period. They just didn't investigate anything to know. Also the addiction, the discovery at the time of the murder that Bucklew had reportedly been addicted for years to the opiates prescribed for his tumors, and that those medications drove him into rages. And that's the exact kind of mitigation that the jury would have been likely. Would have been good to tell the jury, basically. See, the problem is, no matter what you told them, a woman got up there with a scar on her face and told the worst fucking story that anyone's ever heard. Doesn't matter. You heard it coming out of that. Not killing her probably is what sealed the death penalty for him. Because the jury got to hear it. The jury got to hear, in her own words, through her tears, what the fuck happened to her.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah, I think he really knew what he was doing in that regard is that I think he was going to get her because he thought that that would.

[James Pietragallo]

He get everybody, that that would fix

[Jimmy Whisman]

a lot of his problems.

[James Pietragallo]

If she can't talk and he didn't know where she was, that she was in protective custody, any of that kind of shit, then also the state is gonna lean on the idea that he had antisocial personality disorder, which is actually. They used to say that he's a bad candidate for prison. But the psychologist who originally made that diagnosis, according to the clemency materials, later admitted he'd been wrong. That's what he said. The scientific keystone of the state's case of this man is irredeemable argument wasn't really there anymore because that diagnosis is off the table. Then there's this other scumbag. Later, these lawyers found out that one of Rusty's own clemency attorneys had taken thousands of dollars in loans from Rusty's elderly parents and not repaid them.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Them what?

[James Pietragallo]

Not fees, loans.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Okay?

[James Pietragallo]

These people loaned this man money and he didn't pay them back.

[Jimmy Whisman]

All right?

[James Pietragallo]

Now, I don't know what that has to do with him and the death penalty or whatever, but that's a pretty shitty thing for an attorney to do.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Absolutely fucked up.

[James Pietragallo]

I'll save your son, but I gotta be able to pay my rent, you know, that's wild.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He took out. But is that the. That's the lawyer from the. That guy's taking money from the defendant.

[James Pietragallo]

The defendant's parents. One of his clemency lawyers. One of his post conviction lawyers was taking money from the parents. Not like I said, not above the fees. They said the man whose job it was to plead for Buck Lew's life on that account was borrowing money from the family he's supposed to be serving. So yeah, that's. Can't do that. They said these are claims made by a defense team with an obvious interest in the outcome litigated late and the courts ultimately did not find them sufficient to overturn anything. That's a decision later. So those didn't matter. The Missouri Supreme Court's post conviction opinion went through the uncalled witnesses as we'll talk about a corrections expert named James Aiken who would have testified that Buckley wasn't an escape risk, which I don't know how you testify to that when he had already escaped. Escaped a psychologist also that said that basically the lawyers are saying that it was indefensible to not call them. And the first courts say it was actually fine that they didn't call them. They said basically fair enough, you're Good. Fuck off. May 98 is the direct appeal. The Missouri Supreme Court in a unanimous decision here affirmed the conviction and death sentence in full. It conducted the statutorily required proportionality review. Comparing Bucklew's case to other Missouri death cases where a victim was killed in his home in front of his children with multiple shots and found the sentence neither excessive nor the product of passion or prejudice. It's the summary of the man they said this quote, Bucklew was a violent prior and persistent offender with an abusive past. The nature of this crime, the history of the defendant and the strength of the evidence support the sentence of death. That's the 1998 decision. The Post conviction appeal was. And again now they're going to talk about ineffective assistance of counsel and things like that. It all gets affirmed across the board. Okay. They set an execution day of December 4th, 1998.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Wow. That's quick.

[James Pietragallo]

November 20th, 5th though 1998, his execution was stayed while he sought relief in various state and federal courts. So 2000, 2001, we got some more court stuff. On February 8, 2000, Bucklew's notice of appeal from the judgment overruling his post conviction relief motion was filed. And on January 31, 2001, they affirmed the overruling of his post conviction motion. In March of 2001, the court overruled his motion for a rehearing of that decision, according to court documents. Okay, so there's a lot going on. Now. Here's what they're looking at and all the other ones. First of all, the confession. The two hour videotape confession where he

[Jimmy Whisman]

didn't ask for a lawyer.

[James Pietragallo]

Where he didn't ask for a lawyer. His lawyers attack it on two fronts. First, that the police had not honored his right to remain silent because if you remember, they went to his hospital bed on March 22, read him his rights and asked if he wanted to talk and he said no. So they said from that point they should not have tried to talk to him again without an attorney.

[Jimmy Whisman]

But he just said he didn't want to talk. He didn't say without a lawyer.

[James Pietragallo]

That's the thing. He didn't say, I want a lawyer now.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He just said, I want to talk to you. I say that to people all the time.

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah, constantly, all day. And then the cop came back on March 26th and asked again. They said second that the confession wasn't knowing and intelligent because of his injuries, his pain and all the medication he was on. That's a better argument to me that one. On the first front, the court applied a test from the 1975 U.S. supreme Court case Michigan vs. Mosley, where they do an analysis of whether the suspect's invocation of silence was on honored. Did the police stop immediately? Yes, he walked out the moment that Buckle said no, out of the hospital room. Did they wait a significant amount of time and rewarn before trying again? Yes, five days. And they gave him fresh Miranda warnings. And also the other thing is, were they trying to wear down his resistance, which is another one of these hurdles you have to go over. And they said no. They weren't, they weren't like they were coming at him 50 times till he finally said, okay, fine, I'll talk to you. So they said they only tried once and it was about the same crime. So that's all fits into the court's deal, they said. The court weighed it all and held that asking A suspect. Whether he's changed his mind days later, after fresh warnings isn't the type of badgering that the Constitution forbids. That's not what we were talking about. On the second front, his medical states made the waiver invalid, the defense said. The court reviewed the tape and found a man who was articulate and alert. And throughout nearly two hours, speaking clearly, giving details, offering his own reasons for talking. Didn't seem like a dude who was fucked up to me is what they said. Looked like he was plenty lucid and knew what he was doing. Also, they said. A deficient medical condition or mental condition, the court noted, doesn't by itself make a statement unintelligent. There's no constitutional right to confess only when you're perfectly rational. Which is interesting, because a lot of cops, if they see a guy's fucked up, they won't interrogate him then. Cause they're like, this ain't gonna fucking fly in court.

[Jimmy Whisman]

And even if it does, he's gonna on appeal, fight it, so whatever.

[James Pietragallo]

And that goes back to the 80s reading in the homicide book. They wanted to talk to some guy about a murder, and he came in all coked up, and they were like, come back tomorrow. Holler tomorrow before you start partying. Because they were like, we can't fucking talk to this guy. Under the Supreme Court's rule from Edwards v. Arizona, you have to make an actual unambiguous, unequivocal request for counsel to shut down questioning. I don't know, man. Is not that.

[Jimmy Whisman]

No.

[James Pietragallo]

And that's what he said. Also, the threat that wasn't disclosed here. They said, here's the strange thing here. At the trial, Stephanie testified in the March 7 phone call that Buckle threatened to kill her, her children, and Michael Sanders. The defense objected. The state, they said, had violated its discovery obligation by not disclosing that the threat included Sanders. Remember that argument at the sidebar? The prosecutor's response at the bench was. He said that essentially, it's the first I've heard of it, too. And you can impeach iron on it if you want. Try that. The court's ruling was logical. Here they said the discovery rule requires the state to disclose what it has, not what it doesn't know. This is what we have. They can't disclose to you. We don't know this, this or this. That's not part of it. The prosecutor couldn't disclose a detail he hadn't been told. And anyway, the court found that Buck Lew suffered no prejudice. He was on the call. He knew what Was said. And getting phone records wouldn't reveal the content of the conversation. But this defense is really trying to figure it out. They're doing a Good job. Exhibit 57.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh yeah, the dragon picture with all the blood on it.

[James Pietragallo]

All the blood on it here. The defense fought to keep it out, saying it's gruesome. And they said that not really. There was already an admitted close up photograph of the same drawing in the surrounding bloodstained carpet. So yeah, now the verdict form, the jury's paperwork is even involved in this, the penalty phase. Jury was supposed to find that the murder was committed while the defendant was engaged in kidnapping and burglary. What they actually wrote was that he committed the crime of kidnapping during the murder and committed the crime of burglary during the murder. They didn't say engaged in. Oh, very ticky tacky shit. The defense argued the wording was backwards. So the jury never actually found the statutory aggravator. And without it there's no death penalty. Okay, okay, yeah. While the defendant was engaged in is not interesting. Okay. Now, the court compared it to an older case where the jury's verdict form had been genuinely, they said, nonsensical. They said. By contrast here the court found the jury had clearly addressed the right question. Whether Buckley was in the middle of a contemporaneous multi crime event when killed. And the aggravator doesn't care which crime came first or which he intended most.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Sure.

[James Pietragallo]

So they tried to get it on grammar, which is pretty impressive as far as the lawyers go.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I mean, if both crimes are committed at the same time, we're gonna parse which one came first.

[James Pietragallo]

I mean, I'm just impressed with the intellectualness. To find that and call that out, that's pretty impressive. You know what I mean? To me, that's smart.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I'm shocked that that matters.

[James Pietragallo]

It doesn't. The court said it doesn't. But that was a good. It was a valiant effort, you know what I mean? So then there's the witnesses nobody called. This is interesting, the argument that Buckle's trial lawyers fucked up in the penalty phase by failing to call witnesses that might have saved his life. Here's James Aiken is the corrections expert that would have testified Buckley posed no significant risk of escape or harm. The problem they said was when he got, if he was to be cross examined. His own report listed numerous disciplinary infractions and negative comments about Buckle. And he couldn't testify with certainty that Buckle wouldn't escape because he already did.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Sure.

[James Pietragallo]

Okay. Dr. Michael Gelbort a clinical psychologist who would have testified based on the day of neuropsychological testing that Buckle couldn't form the intent to deliberate. But his findings were summarized almost verbatim by another expert who did testify. And they said that doctor would have also confirmed that Buckley had traits of antisocial personality disorder, the exact thing the defense did not want emphasized. So that strategy, they deem that not a fuck up on the defense attorney's part. And also the family and friends, they said Deanna Bucklew, Ron Bucklew, Mike Walton, John Rhode, Kimberly Nichols. Relatives and friends who would have testified that Buckle treated Stephanie and her kids well, that he was non violent, a good friend and kind. Okay. The court said, quote, this is amazing. Every one of them would have disintegrated on cross examination about Buckle's actual record of violence. And Rhodes claim that Bucklew was honest would have collided with his convictions for burglary, stealing and theft. Calling them might have hurt more than helped. The defense even put on the killer's mother, the killer's son's mother, Cindy Boyer, to testify he was a good father. Failing to pile on cumulative or self defeating witnesses, the court held is not ineffective assistance. So that was fine. So this is what they're trying to put through the court for now and then they'll have another one to pop up with later. That's kind of a better argument. By 2006 here he's out of ordinary appeals. So they're going to set an execution date and then he's got to try to do federal shit and all that. Okay then. Jesus Christ. June 8, 2009. Stephanie. We remember Stephanie. Poor Stephanie here, Stephanie Ray Pruitt. She got remarried in December of 2005.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Good for her.

[James Pietragallo]

Yep. She married a guy named John Shuffett. Sounds like Shuvit. S H U F F I T. Um, he'd been married previously. They lived in St. Mary from, from, let's see, for about a year in 2007. Some of her children were active in the St. Mary's youth baseball league that year. And according to friends, Stephanie expressed interest in becoming involved in city politics while living there.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Look at her.

[James Pietragallo]

She's really maturing here. She's 35 now, you know, so now the problem is her and John's marriage doesn't go too great.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Shuffle and a great guy, huh?

[James Pietragallo]

No, records indicate that he filed for a legal separation or annulment of the marriage in January of 2008. The case was dismissed though, because they're not going to give him an annulment so neighbors and friends that know Stephanie said that Stephanie was planning to divorce if they couldn't get the. They were trying to get an annulment, but if not, they do the divorce. She was managing a restaurant at this time and very much into gardening. Still really working on her garden outside of her trailer. They all still live in trailers though. Now about 7:15pm this evening in June of 2009, this is according to the sheriff, Stephanie is outside of her home trying to fix a lawnmower and one of the neighbors was trying to help her fix a lawnmower. Something was wrong, she had it tipped over, doing everything. According to them. Out of nowhere, her 53 year old husband John pulled up to the home. The neighbor was helping the repair like we said. He drives up to the mobile home, gets out of the vehicle carrying a rifle. The husband, the neighbor left the yard and ran behind the trailer and then reported hearing a brief verbal exchange and then a gunshot and then a car driving off. He returned and found Stephanie on the ground shot in the chest with a.30 30 rifle. Good Lord, dude, her picker is off. This poor woman. Yeah, that's why I said her father, whatever. It seems like he's okay. Had to have been not great when she was growing up.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Two men that are willing to kill you over this.

[James Pietragallo]

Jesus. So the county sheriff's department deputies were called to the mobile home at 7:15. The call was placed by one of Stephanie's children who said her mother had been shot by his mother had been shot by his father is the way he put it. When deputies arrived, they found Stephanie lying on the ground outside the home. She suffered a gunshot wound and she dies at the scene. That's it. It killed her. Now neighbors tell police which direction John drove off in. And he's later finally located by a deputy about 10 miles away near Silver Lake, where they find out when they approach that he had already shot and killed himself.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Of course he did. What a ticket?

[James Pietragallo]

Blew his fucking brains out in the trail.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Wow.

[James Pietragallo]

Yep. The children at home at the time of the shooting were 11 through 16 years old. And they weren't threatened or harmed because they were inside the whole time. None of the children were injured. Two of Stephanie's children and one of the children's friends were present at the home during the mobile, during this whole thing. And they said they believed the children did not see the shooting. The woman's third child was at a neighbor's house. So she leaves behind two daughters and a son, which is horrifying. Those poor kids have Been through so fucking much and she's just trying to make a life for herself. And that sucks, man, because you're such dicks to her. It's fucking ridiculous. One local resident who knew Stephanie said, quote, this is very sad. She had already lived through a terrible situation and now this happens. I feel for her and especially for the children. Which is exactly the right thing to say. Then the prosecutor from the Bucklew case chimes in and it's so silly. I don't think this is her main concern. It always made me sad. Because she wanted to be there at the execution. Because she wanted to be the last thing he saw before he died. She was proud of the fact that she testified against him. That's not her main concern. Probably that's what makes you sad. Not that she's got three fucking children without a mother who have had two horrible traumatic things happen in front of them. That's not the sad part.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Not that you don't get to prosecute a man for doing something terrible to

[James Pietragallo]

not even that three children's mom. The sad part is nobody gets to watch a guy die by spite.

[Jimmy Whisman]

She doesn't.

[James Pietragallo]

That's the real tragedy here is spite won't get to be thrown onto a condemned man. That's the tragedy. Think the tragedy is she's dead and her kids don't have a mom. That's the real tragedy.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I think there's a lot of tragedies here in the. And what he just said isn't one of them.

[James Pietragallo]

Not one of them at fucking all.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I don't see that as tragic.

[James Pietragallo]

Who knows if by then she would even want to be a part of that at all. Maybe she'd want to put it behind her. You don't fucking know.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Here's a tragedy, sir. That piece of shit with all the flowers in his mouth got to outlive her. That's a tragedy.

[James Pietragallo]

That's a tragedy right there.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He gets to dance in his jail cell that she's dead.

[James Pietragallo]

Yep. And John, his relatives and friends described him as non violent and active in church.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I disagree.

[James Pietragallo]

It seems like he's pretty violent.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah. Just based on a very violent man.

[James Pietragallo]

Seems like a bad guy. 2011, Michael Sanders son Zach said he's moving on with his life. He took the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery there. The ASFAB test that all of us kids who didn't have good grades were given.

[Jimmy Whisman]

How'd you do on it?

[James Pietragallo]

None of the kids. You know what's funny about that? I got it back at the end of the day. Put it in my fucking backpack. Said, I'll look at that shit later. Went out, was doing shit with my friends, fucking around, walking around. Left it behind a Sears service center where we were smoking weed on their loading dock. And never found my backpack again. So I have no idea how I did on whole backpack. I left, it was gone. I have no idea how I did on the asfaca. None.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I went to a recruiting station and evidently did pretty well enough to make a recruiter come to my house day after day until I broke my lease and never sold.

[James Pietragallo]

They came to my house day after day too. Just because you existed and you were doing shitty in school. Yeah, but the test has nothing to do with that shit. I don't know what it said. We took it in school. I remember. And it was.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Did you. I went to school.

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah. It was school at the library. It was like a. You could get out of a class for it. So I was like, sure, I'll fucking dick around with a fucking test. Why not?

[Jimmy Whisman]

Wow, they're recruiting hard up there.

[James Pietragallo]

Oh, they're recruiting everywhere. Yeah. This is in the 90s. Nobody wanted to join the fucking military in the mid-90s. The fuck wants to join that shit?

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah, I had to go down to the place.

[James Pietragallo]

Oh, I wouldn't have done that. I had no interest in that shit. This was just 2000.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I did it.

[James Pietragallo]

Fuck, man. But yeah, this, that, that test. He said he's enlisted in the army. He said he's just waiting for the call to go to basic training. He plans to make a life in the military. He says that he doesn't mind if he has to go fight overseas. He says he just doesn't want to be defined by what happened 15 years ago to his dad.

[Jimmy Whisman]

What year did he take that? He's doing this in 2010.

[James Pietragallo]

2010.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Wow.

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah. He said, it's life. You can't change nothing. What's done is done. He said if he could tell his dad something, he'd just say, I hope you're proud of me. So that's nice. 2013, 14, the Supreme Court of the United States denies his petition, Rusty's petition for a writ with respect to his federal claims. So 2014, his execution is nearing the governor. Jay Nixon told the AP that while he was considering Bucklew's clemency request, he hadn't seen a reason to intervene. He said this guy committed very, very heinous crimes. And while it's difficult and challenging this part of the job, we'll continue to move forward unless a court says Otherwise, I ain't gonna be the guy to pull the plug on this one. He said. Basically, in addition to the stay request, a federal court is considering a request to allow Bucklew's lawyers to record the execution on video.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Say, say again.

[James Pietragallo]

They want to record it on video. They want to go, hey, you do it behind closed doors. Let's show people how gross it is, basically.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, boy.

[James Pietragallo]

Now, they said the Department of Corrections works very hard to make sure this challenging responsibility is handled as humanely as possible. That's what the governor said. The AP and four other news organizations filed a lawsuit against the Missouri Department of Corrections, claiming the state's reform refusal to provide information on the execution drug violates the public's constitutional right to have access to information about punishment which, yeah, we bought those drugs no matter what they are.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Tell me what you are. Tell me what you're.

[James Pietragallo]

If your tax dollar paid for that shit needs to be public. Absolutely public.

[Jimmy Whisman]

If you're putting Drano in them, we

[James Pietragallo]

have to know that's it. So, yeah, the. There's the Missouri Supreme Court. They go before, which consists of a man with a corn cob pipe nelly, a man with a corn cob pipe nelly, and one of those wavy armed car dealership things. But of Patrick Mahomes, those are the three members of the Missouri Supreme Court.

[Jimmy Whisman]

And they all have lots of sweet baby rays on their fingers.

[James Pietragallo]

Tons of it. Tons of it. So they set a new execution date of May 21, 2014. On that day, the Supreme Court issues a stay of execution, which later expires. Now the big thing the lawyers are fighting over is his medical condition. His treating physician at the Department of Corrections considered the bleeding risk serious enough that Buck Lew was. While he's on death row, he's issued his own biohazard bags and gauze to keep in his cell so he can, quote, mop up his own hemorrhages.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He's just bleeding.

[James Pietragallo]

His face is just exploding. And body. He's got problems.

[Jimmy Whisman]

And they're tired of cleaning up after him.

[James Pietragallo]

They can't keep going in there. He just gets his own medical shit. He has to sleep on his right side, propped up at a 45 degree angle on pillows because lying flat lets gravity drag his swollen uvula across his windpipe like a curtain.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He's gonna suffocate.

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah, he's gonna suffocate. And he starts most mornings by cleaning all the blood off his face that's collected over the night.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That is terrible.

[James Pietragallo]

This is almost better just to keep him alive. If you Hate him, isn't it? If you want the like, if you want him to suffer, this is way worse. Make him do this till he's 90. That would be awesome. Fuck him.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Good morning, bloodface. Here's your.

[James Pietragallo]

What's up? Hemorrhage. Fucking chin. Nice to see you. Oh God. So the Missouri's standard method of killing people, this is one of the appeals here, is to lay them flat on a gurney and run a needle into a vein. Russell Bucklew could not safely lie flat, could not reliably offer up a vein and carried a tumor in his throat that the act of dying might rupture. The execution chamber and the disease were on collision course with this. Basically. So heading to the Supreme Court.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Pietragallo]

But he gets sick while that's going on. He contracts bacterial meningitis.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Fuck.

[James Pietragallo]

Which is a nasty fast moving infection and he's hospitalized for close to two weeks. The infection collapsed his airway. Yeah, that'll fucking be intubated. He was put on a ventilator to breathe for him. And before he was discharged, surgeons performed a tracheotomy, cutting open his windpipe and putting a breathing tube right in his neck.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Well, good news, now your uvula doesn't.

[James Pietragallo]

There you go. The tube was still in place at the time of the Supreme Court argument, which was handled here. Now they said if he breathed through a tube in his throat, did the choking risk still exist? It's a crazy question. That's the legal question.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Pietragallo]

His lawyer said the tube could come out at any time and the. And the disease underneath had only worsened. The body kept finding new ways to almost kill him. So just let him die. There's also doctors Joel Zivit and Dr. Antagnini. These are anesthesiologists. Zivit is for Bucklew and the other guy is for the state of Missouri. They had competing affidavits here about suffocation windows, whether a vein could be accessed without a cut down technique. They do this thing where they have a backup technique with the lethal injection. If they can't find a vein, then they will cut into your leg and find a vein in your leg that they cut open and stick it down there. That's the cut down technique. And that's a backup plan. Basically, if they can't find your arm fucking veins. So they said. His medical Expert, the anesthesiologist Dr. Joel Zivitt described the airway. If you, if you touch it, it bleeds.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Gross.

[James Pietragallo]

That's what he said. So by 2017, he believed the tumors posed an Imminent risk of catastrophic life threatening hemorrhage. During the years his execution was being scheduled and rescheduled, he survived the bacterial meningitis and all that kind of shit. Basically it's lay this guy down, jab repeatedly at his shitty, hard to find veins, and basically the rising blood pressure will likely rupture the tumor in his throat. They said even if everything went according to plan, the pinobarbital would shut down his ability to manage his own airway while he was still conscious, and he would feel himself choking and suffocating, possibly drowning in his own blood for a window. His Expert estimated at 52 to 240 seconds anywhere in there. And that's the legal argument is, and even the Supreme Court says that if he's drowning, that wouldn't be an approved method of execution, drowning or that sort of thing. So the State's expert said 20 to 30 seconds, it's not that bad. 20 to 30. So the fight wasn't even about whether he would be hurt. It was about how long would he be awake while he suffocated. That's what they're arguing over. Okay, then there is a one page summary and that's by the sworn testimony of the Department of Corrections official, not Buck Lew's treating physician or anyone that's ever actually examined him, just the official from the Department of Corrections. Then they even say in it that it is not a complete medical record, it's a summary. And the form said it noted that Bucklew had the disease on his face and lips. Lip. They got that right. But they did not mention the tumor in his throat. And that's the whole point of the case. So nothing in the record suggested that anyone would check it out. The medical team would not be giving him MRIs or anything like that, you know, anything. So Buckle's lawyer said when the team starts the process, they're not going to be aware of his breathing issues because it's not in the form, because that's exactly what happened the time before a one page summary that listed a facial condition failing to mention the throat and indicating no breathing difficulty. Okay. Now on April Fool's Day 2019, the court ruled against him. Five to four. We know exactly which five and which four those are, by the way, the dissents here. Justice Breyer, who is still around, wrote the principal dissent event, joined by Ginsburg, Sotomayor and Kagan, and argued that Buckle had produced enough evidence of tumors in the airway and expert testimony that his execution by lethal injection could be excruciating and that he could choke and suffocate on his own blood while conscious, and that at the very least, the case deserved a full outing of the facts rather than a summary dismissal. They're not even saying we shouldn't execute him. They're just saying we should go over it before we execute him to make sure that doesn't happen, rather than just say, we don't think it'll happen. Fuck it. Hit the gavel. So Buckley had twice been within hours of execution. This is in 2019, only to have the US Supreme Court grant last minute reprieves over the concerns he might suffer. Now they have a clemency request to Governor Mike Parsons that the tumor could choke him to death. And Russell Bucklew wrote in this quote, the law doesn't take into consideration that with age comes wisdom. I'm absolutely a different person. I feel terrible about what happened to Stephanie Ray and Michael Sanders. I don't think that's really the issue here. That's not really the issue anybody gives

[Jimmy Whisman]

a shit about tumors or not. I'm rehabilitating.

[James Pietragallo]

Good wine, guys.

[Jimmy Whisman]

You did it.

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah, you know, it's good. You should patch me up and let me out. Put a couple of band aids on me now. According to the concern with Missouri's execution drug, the state uses a single dose of pinobarbital but refuses to say where it gets it. They're getting like on the street, like there's no legitimate company will sell it to them anymore. So they don't. They literally could be in a parking lot going, hey, you got any penobarbital? And the guy goes, I got a little bit. Wow. The source is believed to be a compound pharmacy. Since large pharmaceutical companies prohibit the use of their drugs for executions.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Compound pharmacies are doing this.

[James Pietragallo]

Oh, man. So the Supreme Court stepped in to halt buckley's execution in 2014 and 18. But then in April of 2019, they gave the go ahead for the execution. Now, there's been other things. In 2017, the execution of a twice convicted killer named Alva Campbell, who suffered from smoking related breathing problems, had to be halted in Ohio when a usable vein couldn't be found to administer execution drugs. He ended up dying the next year anyway at 69. In 2018, Alabama halted the lethal injection of Doyle Lee Hamm when the execution team had trouble getting the intravenous line connected. Ham had damaged veins because of lymphoma, hepatitis, and drug use. Good Lord, just let that guy die in a room. Who cares?

[Jimmy Whisman]

He's got three things we're gonna kiss him already.

[James Pietragallo]

Who cares? Let him fucking suffer. A doctor hired by Ham's lawyer wrote in a report that Ham had at least 11 puncture sites and bled heavily from his groin during the attempts to connect the line.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Holy.

[James Pietragallo]

All those diseases bleeding from the groin. I think we exacted our pound of flesh here. Let's let him die in a row room. Who cares? Three years later then in 2017, the court set a third date for Bucklew's execution. And then they issued a stay again in 2018. Finally, 2019 is when they issued the opinion and the stay of execution expired. Documents said around one month later, May 3, the state filed a motion to set an execution date, to which he filed another thing back and forth. And the Supreme Court of Missouri again, Corncob, pipe Nelly and giant wavy arm Patrick Mahomes guy all issued a warrant for the execution of buck Lew on June 25, 2019. There's a huge protest, by the way.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Really?

[James Pietragallo]

And a big petition on this one. The advocates delivered more than 57,000 petition signatures asking the governor to stop the execution. That's a lot of people. 57,000. I get you can do online petitions back then. It's a lot less impressive than if you went door to door, but still,

[Jimmy Whisman]

it's based on the fact that this man is super sick. And this is crazy, right?

[James Pietragallo]

Super sick. There's a big. At the St. Louis Post Dispatch, there's a big editorial. Death is not justice. Missouri should spare Russell Bucklau.

[Jimmy Whisman]

If you stab him, he might bleed to death.

[James Pietragallo]

If you stab him, they said if you touch him, he bleeds. They said that. This basically they go on to say he was convicted. We do not ask that he be exempt from accountability of his crimes. We only ask that Missouri avoid its own horrific display of how the state can use its power to take life so inhumanely. Governor Mike Parson can choose to commute Bucklew's sentence to life without parole or move forward and carry out what would be a gruesome and torturous execution. On Thursday, legal leaders and volunteers from the aclu, Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, will be on the ground delivering almost 60,000 signatures. That's what they say. So they say that the death penalty is rife with errors and inconsistencies, fails to deter crime. That's mathematical fact. And has a steep cost, not only financial, but in human terms. Fuck human terms. It's expensive. It's the most. All this shit we just described. Do you know how much that costs the fucking state?

[Jimmy Whisman]

Outrageous.

[James Pietragallo]

When you could just literally let this guy bleed out in his cell, and he would die. I mean, I'm sure you guys would like that, going to your schools or your roads, maybe anything else, but that

[Jimmy Whisman]

let him blossom tumors for the rest of his life. In his room.

[James Pietragallo]

Who gives a fuck? Yeah, he's a piece of shit.

[Jimmy Whisman]

You're not even sopping him up. You're just throwing gauze at him and

[James Pietragallo]

saying, put it in a bag, and we'll collect it at the end of the day.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Pass the red bag under the.

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah. So October 1, 2019. Execution day is here.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Really?

[James Pietragallo]

And he is not too sick, for one thing. Jimmy, you know what that is?

[Jimmy Whisman]

Last meal.

[James Pietragallo]

Last meal, everybody.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yogurt.

[James Pietragallo]

It is not.

[Jimmy Whisman]

What is it?

[James Pietragallo]

Any guesses? Besides yogurt?

[Jimmy Whisman]

Fried chicken. They always love fried chicken.

[James Pietragallo]

It's not. Actually, no.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Did he get a steak?

[James Pietragallo]

He got a gyro sandwich. Really in the mood for some tzatziki. That's what he was interested in. You know what I want?

[Jimmy Whisman]

Cucumbers, tomatoes.

[James Pietragallo]

That's one of those. Also a smoked brisket sandwich, which is a good choice.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah, in Missouri. It sure is.

[James Pietragallo]

Brisket's great. Two orders of French fries.

[Jimmy Whisman]

This guy is not. Did he have a date?

[James Pietragallo]

So now this is all for him.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Wow. A Coke.

[James Pietragallo]

And to round it out, a banana split.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Banana split.

[James Pietragallo]

Not a bad last meal. Pretty good.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Doubled up on the sandwiches, though.

[James Pietragallo]

Brisket, fries, Coke, a banana split, a gyro. That's pretty good shit, man.

[Jimmy Whisman]

How'd you get all that down past

[James Pietragallo]

that tumor, sir, is past your fucking uvula there.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Pietragallo]

So by the way, in the last meal study that we saw here, one of the authors said that basically it analyzes 247 last meals, all of them ordered by condemned prisoners in the United States from 2002 to 2006. We've done the steak stats before because a lot of guys get steak. The average meal came in at 2,756 calories. But four requests from Texas and Oklahoma before they stopped doing last meals were estimated to have gone beyond 7,000. 70% of the prisoners ask for fried food, and many requested specific brands. 16% ordered Coca Cola, and three inmates wanted diet Coke because they're morons.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Diet.

[James Pietragallo]

Diet.

[Jimmy Whisman]

There are people that just love the flavor.

[James Pietragallo]

They like the taste. Yeah. They've gotten used to it.

[Jimmy Whisman]

They're three people.

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah. So the one thing they said is the execution team here was extremely careful, way more careful than they would have been at any other time. To basically make everybody wrong as far as let's not fucking hurt him. Basically. They sedated him with Valium beforehand also, so he wouldn't freak out. They elevated the head of the gurney, the accommodation that the defense had begged for. So if the tumor ruptured, it wouldn't go down there. And his lawyer acknowledged afterward that the steps taken to make the execution less horrific appeared to have worse. So he didn't do anything. He lay under a white sheet, looked around the room, twitched his feet, took a deep breath, and then that was that. So. Died at 6. 23.

[Jimmy Whisman]

What if this might be spitballing and a little.

[James Pietragallo]

Hey, what are we doing here, Jimmy? Sure.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Optimistic. What if we just did that every time. Well, every time that there was.

[James Pietragallo]

Prop him up.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Pietragallo]

It wouldn't matter to someone who isn't

[Jimmy Whisman]

bad enough, guy that deserves to be killed. Perhaps we put them in a sleep number, a little tempurpedic, little adjustable Craftmatic. Get their feet up, make them comfortable.

[James Pietragallo]

For most people, it wouldn't matter, though.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah. Put up a little Netflix in the corner.

[James Pietragallo]

Let them watch a nice TV show. Or they don't even give them last meals anymore. No, that's what I mean. We've gotten to the point where, like, we won't even do that for people. We're like, no, we're gonna execute them. We're gonna treat them like shit the whole way.

[Jimmy Whisman]

And then we.

[James Pietragallo]

You don't have any. Even back in the day, hundreds of years ago, when they're gonna shoot somebody, they have a last meal and a cigarette, treat them like a human being for five fucking seconds. Mainly for you. So you're not a piece of shit for doing what you're doing, not to do with them.

[Jimmy Whisman]

And the poor fuck that, whoever passing laws for this stuff, the poor fuck that has to pull the switch or put the needle, they don't have any say in which way we do this. It's some fucking dick bag in a suit that's at home tonight with his wife cooking him dinner.

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Has nothing to do. It's not even gonna be here for this.

[James Pietragallo]

No, it's complete bullshit. And the fact that the last meal thing is ridiculous. You can at least give a guy a fucking last meal. And if you can't give a guy a last fucking meal and you shouldn't be shooting them, or you shouldn't be shooting them up, then shoot him in the face. Yeah. Or don't even do that. Or just let him rot in a fucking room. It sucks in there and it's cheaper. Sorry.

[Jimmy Whisman]

The only time I've Heard of them Taking it away is just because. Cause some dick ordered a bunch of food and then gave him the finger and walked away.

[James Pietragallo]

That rather than saying, you can't, you're not getting all of that. You ordered ten things. We'll give you the first five you asked for. Fuck yourself. And everybody else gets it. Fine. Why can't we?

[Jimmy Whisman]

Because they ordered everything on the menu and threw it all in the trash. You can still order food at Stand Up, Live in the Green Room.

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah, yeah. No, but this is. That's a very inside story. This is.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's a great story.

[James Pietragallo]

This is a fucking excuse. Cause. Because when you treat people bad enough and bad enough and have the death penalty and do all this, what more can you run on? What more can your ads be of how you fuck with people now? You can even say, I don't even let them have a last meal no more. That's right. They can have what everyone else is having. I'm tough on crime. Jerk offs. Okay, now the reactions. The Sheriff Jordan who shrugged his shoulders when he was missing for days out of the jail. That guy who was like, I don't know. We'll find him. When we find him, we'll get him.

[Jimmy Whisman]

We'll get up bright and early, make up some coffee, and we'll get on the foot and go find him.

[James Pietragallo]

For one day, though, after that, I mean, we all got shit we got to do.

[Jimmy Whisman]

We'll all have cruellers. Don't worry.

[James Pietragallo]

He said, in my opinion, he should have died a long time ago. In my opinion, the world would have been a safer place when he is. No, the world will be a safer place when he's no longer with us. And Captain David James with the sheriff's department said, quote, he had no regard for anyone's safety as well as his own. We'll all be safer when he's gone. Probably true. So there you go, everybody that is Cape Girardou or whatever the fuck it is, Missouri, and a goddamn crazy fucking case. This guy was nuts all over. Crazy.

[Jimmy Whisman]

So this lady's luck, the poor thing.

[James Pietragallo]

Stephanie had it back. Stephanie bad luck. Well, she wrong guy every time. That's the case.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Every time.

[James Pietragallo]

She would have. I mean, if she just said. After this whole thing, she said, I'm gonna try ladies.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I'm gonna swear off dating. I'm gonna do it on my own.

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah, swear off guys, dude, if I was a woman, I could make myself like women. If these were all. These are my options. All these guys. I don't care. Tits are great. Whatever.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's so figure it out.

[James Pietragallo]

I'll figure it out. Maybe it's not my first choice, but it's better than getting murdered, fucking beaten and raped.

[Jimmy Whisman]

And certainly not my worst choice.

[James Pietragallo]

Stalked. No. So anyway, if you like that show, get on whatever app you're on and give us five stars. If you're on Netflix, thumbs up. Help a fucking lot. So do that. All that shit helps a lot. So anytime you do it, somebody. Thank you.

[Jimmy Whisman]

We're very highly rated on Netflix.

[James Pietragallo]

Oh, well, thank you, people, for doing that. I don't know. I've never watched us on Netflix.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Somebody texted me the other day and said, hundreds of thousands of likes and 4 and a half stars. It's fantastic. It's going very well.

[James Pietragallo]

I've never, literally never watched this on Netflix.

[Jimmy Whisman]

You think I want to look at my fucking face?

[James Pietragallo]

I can't. I'm not going to watch myself.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I want to look at it when I'm shaving the stupid head.

[James Pietragallo]

That's like being a band and wearing your own shirt on stage. Like, that's just weird.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's beating off in the mirror. Why would you do that?

[James Pietragallo]

Watching myself. Yeah, that's strange shit. So definitely do all that. Head over to shut up and give me murder. Get your tickets for live shows. They're all coming out. And September 18th we're going to be at the Pabst in Milwaukee. That's a beautiful venue and there's only a few seats left, so if you want to go to that one, get in there right now. The next day we will be in Minneapolis on September 19th at the State Theater. Big city, also beautiful place and it's great. And get your tickets now because Milwaukee's beating you. Get in there. Minneapolis. What are you doing, guys? Come on, show us how nice you are. Show us that damn Minnesota. Nice. We're ready for your hot dish. I'll October 3rd in Dallas. October 16th in San Jose. October 17th in Sacramento. And then November 13th in Tarrytown, New York, at that beautiful Tarrytown Music Hall.

[Jimmy Whisman]

So fun.

[James Pietragallo]

And then, love that place. And then the next night, love that place, too. The Chevalier in Boston there. Outside of Boston in Medford. You don't even have to drive into the city. It's fucking great. On the 14th, get your tickets now. That is shutupandgivemerder.com is where those all are. Follow us on social media. Very easy to do that. We're Smalltown Murder on Instagram, Smalltown Pot on Facebook. And you can do all that. Then you gotta get yourself patreon I'm sorry. We'll also listen to our other two shows, Crime in Sports and you'd stupid opinions. I'm gonna make this appeal to the camera here. Crime in Sports. You will like it. You don't have to like sports. Trust us. Jimmy, look at the camera. Tell them.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Do you think I haven't been sporting this whole time?

[James Pietragallo]

Your camera's over next to me, over here. So yeah, you stare over here and I'll stare at the one next to your house head.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yes, please do. It's. It's great. We appreciate you all for being a part of it. It's the most fun you're going to have.

[James Pietragallo]

It is the most fun. Check it out. And we just finished a series on the Yahweh Ben Yahweh cult because one of their main hitmen happened to play football for like two weeks. I mean, that's literally what it is. You're going to find crazy stories of insanity and also your stupid opinions is just the funniest show on, on the Internet. It's hilarious. Get in there. It's so much fun. So do that. Check those out. Get yourself patreon. Patreon.com crimeinsports is where you get all the bonus material. Anybody $5 a month or above. You get everything we put out, every little thing we put out, including as soon as you subscribe, you're going to get hundreds of back bonus episodes. Hundreds. Almost 400 immediately upon subscription to binge. Then you get new ones every other week. One Crime in Sports, One Small Town murder. How much do they get?

[Jimmy Whisman]

Hundreds. All of it.

[James Pietragallo]

Every damn drop. Not the question. We tried to be smooth on that one. It didn't work out. Okay. This week, what you're going to get for crime and sports, Hostage Situations Part 2. Because the first one was so nice, we had to do it twice there. We got done with Patty Hearst and everything. We were having too much fun then for small town Murder Prisoner. Dating game is back, everybody. Four bachelors, four bachelorettes, line them up in front of Jimmy and the only thing they have in common is they're all incarcerated violent felons. And Jimmy's gonna pick one of each based solely on their own profiles and what they say about themselves. And then we get to find out how bad of a choice he made by finding out exactly what these people did to get in there and there's nobody good. It's basically avoid the pedophile is what he's doing there. Try to move it like a shell game. So do that. That Is patreon. Sometimes there's two. Sometimes there's two. Patreon.com CrimeInSports is where you get all of that and you get everything. We put out all three shows all ad free with your Patreon. Ad free. Ad free. Then on top of that, you get a shout out, which is right now. Jimmy, hit me with the best fucking people that are going right now. The people who support us each and every week. Jimmy, hit me with the names right now.

[Jimmy Whisman]

This week's executive producer, Jason Fuller. Hey, pal, how are you?

[James Pietragallo]

Hey, Jay.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Miss you too much. Todd Scott, Penny Boyce. Happy hours in Fairfield, Utah. I didn't even know they had one. Sharon Jones, Christy Pack. Christy Pack. I want to say that correctly. Spooky Rhodes and croaking toads, whatever the fuck that means. And then Vladonna Kochic, I imagine, is how you pronounce that name. And I think Vladana includes or insinuates female. I don't know. I don't want to go too far, but thank you all so much. It's a great name. That's a very Eastern European, right? Is that what that is? Vladonna Kocik.

[James Pietragallo]

I know. Kochik is a Eastern European name. Yeah. Ladonna.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Very tough. She sounds badass. Sounds good.

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Jimmy Whisman]

She knows how to load it down. Other producers this week. Liz Vasquez, Peyton Meadows, Deanna Snyder.

[James Pietragallo]

Pickle something.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Either one can handle her booze. Scott Richard in Maricopa, perhaps Richard, but I like to call it Richard.

[James Pietragallo]

Makes him sound fancier.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Ryan Bender. I don't want to call him a bender, but he put that in there, so.

[James Pietragallo]

Oi, Bender.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah. Frank the Scott. African. South African Bird washer. Remember that one?

[James Pietragallo]

Yeah, I do. I remember that very much.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Janice Hill and Robert M. Mike. Also Brooke Jacobson, Audrey McCraney, Heather Annis. All right,

[James Pietragallo]

sure. Why not?

[Jimmy Whisman]

Erin with no last name. I'm sure she didn't get made fun of ever. Taylor Diamond. Tim Bush. Also never got made fun of. Taylor Simpson. Indiana. Jim Jones. Devin with no last name. Devon, perhaps. Kristid. Sherman. Kristid. Really? With a D. It's not a typo? Maybe it's a typo on their part, but not mine. Justin with no last name. Sarah White. Tam with no last name. Area Peterson. Jesse with no last name. Junior Ayuso. Chicken pecker party. Gross. What does that mean?

[James Pietragallo]

Wow, the weirdest thing ever.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Teresa Gonzalez. I guess. I mean, we eat their breasts. We don't eat their pecker.

[James Pietragallo]

They do peck, too.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Do they have a. Was there a Chicken dick. There's got to be a chicken dick. Kathy Evans. Jeff H. Kai with no last name. Megan Afonsev. Afensive. Aaron Bayard. Brian H. A. Schwaller. Pimpichu. Like Pikachu. James, but he's okay. Veronica with no last name. Or she's a pimp. And Pokemon. That's not male. Sure. Yeah. Cynthia Doherty. Jenny McNeil. Amanda. Oh, boy. Negrete. Amanda. That's who it is. Joyful Johns. Noah with no last name. JC Or Jace. Coute. Coot. Dale with no last name. Andy Serle. Cyril Xavier with no last name. Jennifer Bainey. C.J. with no last name. Jennifer Briscoe. Ray. Beach hiker. Faith. The cocaine king of Albuquerque. James. His name's Vinny Vishnicki. He's also a junior iii.

[James Pietragallo]

Happy to have him on board.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Stanfield, Savannah. Stephanie. Candice Lewis. Mags with no last name. Bobby o'. Brien. Crunch with no last name. Emily Corkill. Sandy with no last name. Therese Colby. Laura Milanor. Maligner Jean or Gian Gribbin. It's probably Jean. Gene. I don't know. It looks like GN Alejandro. Alejandro Cesaris. Daniel Pope. Nicole Henneman. Henneman. Allison Dorsey. Jason Baldinger. Nope. Badinger. Badinger. Badinger. Maybe it's not Baldinger. There's no L. Raver. Sweet cheeks. John. Joshua. Joshua Anderson. Michelle McComb. Andrew Heard. Darth Bubbles. Becky with no last name. Lindsey Ehrlichman. Ehrlichman. Jen Barrows. Kylie Brown. Crystal Ravenscraft. April with no last name. Dublin. No. Yep. Dublin. D. Joanne Kvalsand. Grundahl. Grodall.

[James Pietragallo]

Grundle. Grundle.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Hannah Key. Jessica Roberts. Michael with no last name. Katie. Chris. Jessica. Jonek. Gina with no last name. Barry McCockiner. That's definitely a real person. Leslie with no last name. Jake Loves Maddie. Also probably not a real person. Dylan Reeves. Nope. That's Dylan with no last name. And also Nolan Reeves. Bear with no last name. Jonathan Yoder. Cleve Pritchard. Jana. Jona Lee. Jeff with no last name. Alan.

[James Pietragallo]

Elaine

[Jimmy Whisman]

Allen. That is not Elaine. That is Alan Logan. Kayla Collier. Yep. Emily Robinson. Glenna Suter. Luther Wade. Lizzie would know last name. Nicholas Gomez. Bubba Abernathy. Tiffany Brinkmohler. Ara. Ara with no last name. Kenneth Lutz. Jason laforge. Bobby G. Ashley Grill. John Proctor. Rachel with no last name. Ocean Sullivan. Lowy. Or Lowy, perhaps. Charlotte with no last name. Natasha Henderson. The letter M. Frankie Rasmussen. Courtney Watson.

[James Pietragallo]

No letters. Get your shit together.

[Jimmy Whisman]

M Not O. O will be next week or two. E. Courtney Watson, Phil Paquette, Katie C. Megumi. Megumi Hack. Fascinating Peter S. Christine with no last name Paul with no last name Heather Radford, Kathy with no last Name Loud Swimming 420 Babe. Amanda Gonzalez, Kelly Davis, Amy Ward, Tyler Bennett, Melissa Baird, Teresa Martin, Trish Grant, Fig Jam, Krista Skaggs, Trish Hamill, David Hampton, Jenna H. Blaine B. Neona with no last name Lisa Kelly, Kim Malone, Joshua Plummer and every person, the patrons a show. You're the best.

[James Pietragallo]

Thank you so much, everybody. You beautiful, fantastic bastards. We cannot thank you enough for all that you do for us. We hope that you had a blast in this episode. This was one of those crazy narrative episodes. You're just like, holy shit, what's going to happen next? So crazy stuff. Glad you enjoyed it. The homicidal energizer Bunny is here. Thank you so much. And if you want to follow us on social media, head over to shutupandgivemerder.com it'll take you anywhere you need to go. There's menus to take you all those places and live. Oh, no, we're not going. That's live. That's crime and sports. We're not going to do it like that. We're going to do. Until next week, everybody. It's been our pleasure.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Bye.