The Crimes of Margo Freshwater | 1. The Breakout

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Crimes of Margo Freshwater | Episode 1: The Breakout

Podcast: The Binge Crimes: The Crimes of Margo Freshwater
Host: Cooper Moll (Sony Music Entertainment)
Episode Title: 1. The Breakout
Release Date: January 5, 2026

---

Episode Theme and Purpose

This gripping episode launches the story of Margo Freshwater, a woman sentenced to 99 years in prison after a notorious three-week crime spree in 1966. Through immersive storytelling, Cooper Moll retraces Margo's descent from a troubled Ohio teen to an accomplice (and possibly more) in a spree of murders led by the erratic Glenn Nash. The episode is framed around Margo’s daring 1970 prison escape and the beginnings of her decades-long disappearance, questioning not just how she evaded authorities, but who Margo Freshwater really was: victim, villain, or both.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Escape: Night of October 4, 1970 ([01:40] – [06:21])

• Detailed Escape Account:
  The episode opens cinematically, describing Margo and fellow inmate Faye executing a carefully-planned escape from the Tennessee Prison for Women.

  • They exploited a moment of weak supervision to sprint from a church service, scale fences (using a jacket to cover barbed wire), and employ a pepper shaker as a makeshift scent deterrent for bloodhounds.
  • They hid in shrubs while guards and flashlights searched nearby; after narrowly avoiding capture, they changed into street clothes and flagged down a truck driver with a plausible story.

• Quote (Faye, Margo’s accomplice):

  “She started sprinkling pepper around... so when the dogs come after us, we’ll sprinkle the pepper and that’ll throw them off.” ([03:38])

Setting the Historical Context ([06:21] – [08:34])

• The late 1960s societal unrest parallels Margo’s personal upheaval: Vietnam War, civil rights movements, and a generation “imagining different futures.”
• Psychological frame: Margo’s escape is contrasted with larger social desires to break free.

Margo’s Troubled Beginnings ([08:34] – [13:52])

• Background:

  • Margo grew up in Columbus, Ohio with a single mother who expelled her after an out-of-wedlock pregnancy.
  • By 18, she was alone, adrift from home, and dependent on the kindness of friends.
  • Her connection with criminal lawyer Glenn Nash was initiated through a favor for incarcerated friend Al Schlareth, who "traded" Margo’s help as payment to Nash.
  • Nash's shady background is revealed: nearly disbarred, unstable work/life, running a karate school to supplement his failing law practice.

• Quote (Richard Knudsen, retired FBI):

  "She had dropped out of high school... kind of like a wild child, you might say." ([08:34])

• Quote (Steven Ross Johnson, attorney):

  “He goes to Memphis, opens a law firm, he ran a karate dojo at night.” ([11:20])

The Relationship: Obsession and Desperation ([13:52] – [15:27])

• Nash and Margo’s relationship quickly turned romantic and co-dependent, blurring professional and personal boundaries.

• Margo, vulnerable and isolated, became entwined in Nash’s spiraling problems, with little agency or support.

• Quote (Knudsen, FBI):

  “Here’s an 18-year-old girl coming down to Tennessee to try to help her boyfriend and gets hooked up with an attorney who turns out to be a nutcase.” ([12:06])

Crime Spree: Killings Across the South ([17:35] – [27:51])

• First Murder:

  • On December 6, 1966, Nash and Margo rob D Square Liquor in Memphis; the store clerk, Hillman Robbins Sr., is executed in the back room. Margo acts as a decoy at the counter.
  • Ballistics: Two guns used—a .38 and a .22 (“the lady gun”), implicating Margo in the actual shooting.

• Quote (Judge John Campbell):

  “She did not let anybody think there was anything wrong.” ([20:29])

  • Suggests she acted like “she was working there” during the robbery.

• Further Murders:

  • December 18: In Florida, the pair kill another clerk, Esther Bouill.
  • December 27: A Mississippi cab driver, CC Surratt, is executed during a ride.
  • Parallels are drawn to the legend of Bonnie & Clyde, with the press romanticizing (and distorting) their story.

• Capture:

  • The spree ends with their arrest in rural Mississippi, found with the murder weapon concealed in Nash's briefcase.

Legal Fallout: Trials and Insanity ([27:51] – [31:28])

• Nash Declared Insane:

  • Diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic; committed to a mental institution rather than standing trial.

• Margo Faces Multiple Trials:

  • Tried twice in Mississippi for being an accessory to Surratt’s murder—both result in mistrials.
  • In Florida, insufficient evidence to try her for the second murder.
  • Extradited to Tennessee to stand trial for the Memphis murder.

• Quote (Johnson):

  "She was tried twice in Mississippi for the murder of the cab driver... and there was a mistrial both times." ([30:20])

The 1969 Murder Trial in Tennessee ([32:34] – [39:37])

• Media Sensation:

  • The press christens Margo the “blonde Bonnie,” casting her as a femme fatale. The all-male jury is swayed by her appearance and the narrative of seductress/manipulator.

• Legal Strategy and Testimony:

  • Defense rests on duress: Margo claims Nash forced her into the crimes under threat, and she lived in fear for her life.
  • The prosecution counters that her actions indicated active participation, with ample opportunity to escape.

• Quote (Judge Campbell):

  “Whether she shot him or not is not going to be the deciding factor. The deciding factor is if she was an accessory before the fact... if you’re the lookout, if you’re the getaway driver, if you’re holding other people hostage while somebody else does a killing, you’re guilty of the killing." ([34:50]–[35:20])

• Courtroom Excerpt (Terry Lafferty, prosecutor) [37:47]:

  "She made no attempt whatsoever to tell that customer that Mr. Nash was in the back... and she wants you to believe... she's in fear of her life at that time."

• Verdict & Sentence:

  • Jury finds her guilty of first-degree murder. Judge sentences Margo to 99 years in prison ([39:19]).
  • The real triggerman, Nash, is in a private mental institution; Margo, the younger and more sympathetic figure, receives the full punishment.

• Quote (Knudsen, FBI):

  "Got this very attractive young girl having to do 99 years. And the shooter? They put him in a private mental institution. Just the facts of this were extraordinary." ([39:37])

The Aftermath and Next Chapter ([40:57] – [41:21])

• The Vanishing Act:

  • Margo’s escape cements her legendary status. Years pass, authorities hunt her, and the public’s image of her grows more mythic, shaped by legal records and media.
  • Host Cooper Moll teases direct engagement with Margo herself—now living under a new name—as the investigation into her real story continues.

• Quote (Margo Freshwater, as “Tonya”):

  “No one has really confronted me, and if they did, I would just say, well, you need to hear what the real story is before you are so quick to judgment and leave it at that.” ([41:21])

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• Margo’s Escape Partner, recalling in vivid detail:

  “I took my jacket off and threw it over the barbed wire and I was up and over the fence without any problems.” ([02:34])

• Early Motives:

  “She had dropped out of high school, and she had had some problem. Juvenile type situations for a while. Kind of like a wild child, you might say.” – Richard Knudsen, FBI ([08:34])

• Describing the Nash-Freshwater Partnership:

  “He struck a deal with Glenn Nash. I don’t have any money to pay you, but I’ve got an 18-year-old friend, Margot, in Columbus.” – Steven Ross Johnson ([12:29])

• Media Framing of the Case:

  “Margo Freshwater was very much portrayed as this femme fatale ... Bonnie and Clyde, except Clyde was, you know, schizophrenic and crazy, and Bonnie was the one really running the show.” – Johnson ([33:21])

• Prosecutor’s Cross-Examination:

  “She wants you to believe, general jury, that she’s in fear of her life. At that time.” – Terry Lafferty ([37:47])

• Margo’s Voice, Now Living as Tonya:

  "No one has really confronted me, and if they did, I would just say, well, you need to hear what the real story is before you are so quick to judgment and leave it at that." ([41:21])

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Timestamp | |------------------------------------------|-----------------| | Escape from Prison | 01:40 – 06:21 | | Margo’s Background/Early Life | 08:34 – 13:52 | | Relationship with Glenn Nash | 13:52 – 15:27 | | First Murder (Memphis Liquor Store) | 17:35 – 22:42 | | Crime Spree/Further Murders | 22:42 – 27:51 | | Arrest & Nash’s Insanity | 27:51 – 31:28 | | Tennessee Murder Trial & Verdict | 32:34 – 39:37 | | Host Looks for Margo (Now “Tonya”) | 40:57 – 41:21 |

---

Tone and Style

Host Cooper Moll narrates with a noir-tinged, investigative style—balancing chilling detail, historical context, and personal empathy. Legal and forensic experts lend authority while archival audio from court proceedings brings immediacy to the story. The episode walks a careful line between myth-making and interrogation, ever questioning what is legend and what is truth.

---

In Summary

Episode 1, "The Breakout," is an immersive, meticulously researched plunge into the origins of Margo Freshwater’s infamy—from a dramatic prison escape to the tangled, tragic origins of her criminal journey. The narrative interrogates the boundaries between victim and accomplice, setting the stage for future episodes that promise to finally hear Margo’s own voice, and perhaps, finally, the "real story."

Memorable question posed by Margo (as Tonya, [41:21]):

"You need to hear what the real story is before you are so quick to judgment..."

---

For More:
Future episodes will chase Margo “Tonya’s” ghost, peel back decades of rumor and record, and bring you face-to-face with the woman whose name—true or assumed—has haunted generations of true crime lore.

Transcript

[A]

Hi everyone. It's JVN from Getting Better with Jonathan Van Ness. This season we've been talking a lot about hope. Not the fluffy kind, but the grounded, gritty. We're actually doing something kind. One of the places I term for that is Americans United for Separation of Church and State. They're this quiet and mighty force that's been working to keep religion and government separate so all of us can live as ourselves and believe as we choose, as long as we don't harm others. Church, state, separation touches so many of the things we care about. LGBTQI plus rights, marriage equality, reproductive freedom, and abortion access. Americans United is out here being one of the vital voices of reason, fighting in the courts and in Congress and pushing back against Christian nationalist efforts to force everyone to live by one narrow set of beliefs. You can learn so much more about what AU does and how to support their work at AU.org gettingbetter your support, no matter the amount, helps to safeguard our freedoms. Americans United is fighting for freedom without favor and equality without exception. You can start a chapter in your hometown today. You can volunteer money or time. Get involved in your community. Learn [e-mail] better listen to all episodes.

[B]

Of the Crimes of Margot Freshwater ad free right now by subscribing to the Binge. Visit the Binge channel on Apple Podcasts and hit subscribe at the top of the page or visit getthebinge.com to get access. Wherever you listen the Binge feed your true crime obsession.

[C]

The Binge.

[B]

It looked like any other evening at the Tennessee Prison for Women on the northeast outskirts of Nashville.

[C]

It was A fall night, October 4, 1970.

[B]

A line of inmates was heading across the yard under the watch of a single guard. But for weeks two women in that line had been imagining the moment when routine might crack open. Tonight they sensed it.

[C]

We had gone to the church and we were headed back and there was about 20 of us in the group and there was this older guard gentleman.

[B]

They figured in an all out sprint they'd be able to beat this guy. They were young after all, and Faye.

[C]

And I were about in the middle of the group and she said, go, go.

[B]

The two of them peeled away from the line, cutting through the herd like a sudden current.

[C]

I took my jacket off and threw it over the barbed wire and I was up and over the fence without any problems.

[B]

Now.

[C]

She was a lot taller, so I didn't think she would have a problem and she got hung up on it.

[B]

The guard called out, but the echo disappeared almost instantly. Swallowed by adrenaline.

[C]

I was Nervous. I just kept telling her, you know, come on. So she got off the fence, and we started running.

[B]

Floodlights swept across the ground, catching only dust and falling leaves.

[C]

As we're running through the woods, we could hear the dogs. And we come across this creek. And we waded through the creek for quite a while.

[B]

The creek ran shallow and black, cutting a thin silver line through the woods. They were wearing blue prison dresses with jeans underneath. The denim clung, soaked and heavy. The cold settled deep into their bones.

[C]

And then we got back up on the grass, and she started sprinkling pepper around.

[B]

Faye had pocketed a pepper shaker from the cafeteria earlier that day, tucking it into her uniform like contraband.

[C]

I said, what's the pepper for? And she said, so when the dogs come after us, we'll sprinkle the pepper and that'll throw them off. Then we took off running more, and we came to the highway. We ran down the middle of the highway, hoping that would throw off our scent.

[B]

The two women kept moving. Steady rhythm, no words between them, just breath and the sounds of pursuit fading behind.

[C]

And then there was this house, and it had some shrubs beside it. And I said, let's get on the other side of the shrub. Scoot in as close as you can underneath. So we scooted in, and I said, keep your face away from the road and cover up your hands. So nothing showing.

[B]

They pressed their bodies into damp earth. Guards on foot fanned out across the dark. Beams of light swept wildly through the trees as their voices closed in.

[C]

And the whole time I'm praying while their flashlights are going over the top of us and we can hear them talking. That seemed like an eternity. And I prayed so hard. Please, Lord, don't let them find us. And they stopped right there along the road, not more than 50ft from us.

[B]

They waited and waited and waited.

[C]

Finally they said, we don't know where they went, and they left.

[B]

At last there was silence.

[C]

After we know they're gone for sure, we get up and we take off the uniforms and we have on our street clothes.

[B]

Then headlights broke the dark, and Faye.

[C]

Flags down a truck driver.

[B]

He pumped the brakes as dust kicked up around them. Faye didn't hesitate, and she gives him a story.

[C]

She told him that we were sisters and we were out there because my boyfriend was acting up.

[B]

Believable enough. The trucker bought it.

[C]

She says, we're going to go to my relatives in Maryland. The truck driver took us to a truck stop and found another truck driver that was headed that way.

[B]

And just like that, two Women vanished from the Tennessee Prison for women and into the night. One of them, just 22 years old, would stay gone for more than 30 years, outfoxing federal agents, leaving behind any trace of who she used to be. People considered her so dangerous, they wanted her behind bars for 99 years. But she rewrote the script. Her name is Margo Freshwater. Or it used to be, anyway. From Sony Music Entertainment and Glass Podcasts, this is the crimes of Margo Freshwater. I'm Cooper Maul. The breakout. When everything feels stacked against you, have you ever just wanted to disappear? To slip out of your circumstances and find a clean slate? I think we all have at some point, imagined what it would be like to walk away from our lives entirely, to break free. When Margo Freshwater escaped, the war in Vietnam was raging. The battle for civil rights continued on the streets and in the courts. And in Ohio, the National Guard had opened fire on college students, killing four. It was a time when so many people were searching for a way out, imagining different futures. It was an era marked by unrest and defiance. Everyone wanted change, and Margot chose her own version of it. Only her rebellion began with a prison break. I've met a lot of people who've heard of Margot Freshwater in some way. Like me. They'd seen her mugshot, a black and white close up of a teenage girl in a striped crew neck, blonde eyebrows plucked to a faint line, a cold, dead stare. Her mouth clamped like it's locked, and she threw away the key. Richard Knudsen first heard of Margot in 1971. He's retired from the FBI now, but back then he was a newly minted agent.

[D]

She had dropped out of high school, and she had had some problem. Juvenile type situations for a while. Kind of like a wild child, you might say.

[B]

By the time she escaped the Tennessee prison for women, Margot had already learned how to survive by impulse. The only parent she'd ever known was her mother, and she kicked Margot out of their home in Columbus, Ohio, when Margot was 18. By then, she'd gotten pregnant out of wedlock and, well, her mother wasn't having any of it. So she showed Margot the door. Margot was a fallen girl. A Betty Rizzo, you might say. The gal with the short dark hair in grease who had a pregnancy scare. Except Margot had been pregnant, given birth, given up her baby, all of it. When Margot was out of luck, a friend, a guy named Al Schlareth, was one of the only people to stick by her. He took her to appointments, put her up in an apartment, made sure she was Eating well. So when Al got locked up in Memphis on an armed robbery charge In October of 1966, Margot wanted to show up for him in turn. But she had no idea how helping a friend would derail her life forever. So she headed nearly 600 miles south to find someone who could help Al get out of jail.

[D]

In the course of that journey, she got hooked up with Glenn Nash, who was, I'll call him, a jailhouse type lawyer.

[B]

Glenn Nash was 38. He had the air of a man who had made something of himself. But Margot was just 18. She had no idea how precarious this guy's situation really was. Four years before this, the local bar association in Chattanooga started disbarment proceedings against him. They said he was camping out in hospital emergency rooms, hustling accident victims for legal business the moment they came through the door. Jailhouse lawyer seems generous. Sounds a lot more like an ambulance chaser to me. Everyone's met a guy like this. Short in stature, big in bravado, five seven, wiry build, brown hair, blue eyes. Nash was intense, a heavy drinker. Someone who could flip from polite to volatile in a heartbeat. Before he could get disbarred, Nash quietly skipped town.

[E]

So as crazy as this sounds, you could get disciplined in one city and just go set up shop in another city and practice law.

[B]

That's attorney Steven Ross Johnson. If anyone knows Tennessee law, it's him. He's been the president of the Tennessee association of Criminal Defense Attorneys, and he's a professor at the state's College of Law. He knows the lore of Margo Freshwater and Glenn Nash better than most anybody.

[E]

He goes to Memphis, he opens a law firm, he ran a karate dojo at night.

[B]

He opened an office downtown but couldn't keep up with the rent. When the landlord finally locked him out, Nash moved his files into his karate school. His wife Ann, who he'd married, divorced, and then married again, helped him run karate classes at night. By that point, the chaos in his personal life was catching up to the chaos in his work. The FBI and local police were investigating him in connection with a post office burglary, and he was fighting a contempt of court charge handed down by a Tennessee judge. These were the signs of a man sliding toward ruin. And as he fell, Margot would fall with him.

[D]

Here's an 18 year old girl coming down to Tennessee to try to help her boyfriend and gets hooked up with an attorney who turns out to be a nutcase.

[B]

What Margo didn't know when she walked into Nash's makeshift office was that her friend Al had made his own kind of deal behind bars. One that would hand her life over to a stranger.

[E]

He struck a deal with Glenn Nash. I don't have any money to pay you, but I've got an 18 year old friend, Margot, in Columbus.

[B]

Perhaps she could foot the bill. Not sure why Al would think Margot, who bounced around between babysitting and waiting tables, could afford a retainer. But she had one thing Al didn't have. The ability to hold a job. And by the time she got down there, Nash already had one teed up for her.

[E]

Margo comes down from Ohio and Nash already has a place for her to live, set up with another family.

[B]

He introduced her to James and Edna Cuneo, a local couple who needed a babysitter. And the money she earned would go to Al's defense. She told the Cuneo she'd stick around until Al's trial in January. But over those few weeks, her connection with Nash started to evolve. Little did Margot anticipate that this arrangement would come with some unexpected strings. I don't know about you, but if my mom caught wind I was hanging around some older guy hundreds of miles away, in order to help a friend get out of jail, she'd personally come down and drag my ass home. But Margot didn't have a family like that. At this moment in her life, Al had been the only person looking out for her. That is, until Glenn Nash came along.

[D]

And the two of them, incredibly enough, struck up some kind of a relationship.

[B]

Nash was dropping by the Cuneo's place constantly to spend time with Margot. Before long, Margot was spending less time with the kid she was babysitting and more time with Nashville. She was also spending a lot of time at Nash's karate dojo law office. And within a few weeks, they were sleeping together, too. Just weeks after Margot moved in, the Cuneos had had enough. They kicked Margot out of the house, but let her keep babysitting. Margot found a small boarding room on Peabody Avenue, not far from downtown Memphis. And Nash followed her there, too. He paid her rent, telling her landlady he was her uncle. Maybe Margot was just putting up with Glen Nash. Or maybe she'd fallen for him. It was hard to tell. But what was true was she was counting on Nash's help to get Al out of jail. If she caused a rift, she would lose the one roof over her head and Al would lose his lawyer. They'd both be screwed. From the moment Nash became Al's lawyer, boundaries and ethics were out the window. He had taken up with his client's girlfriend. He was becoming obsessed with Margot and she was relying on him to come through for Al. It didn't take long for things to come to a head. Margot was desperate and lonely. Nash was volatile, controlling and often drunk. Only one month after Margot met Glenn Nash, everything in place, and they take.

[D]

Off on a killing spree and kill three people.

[F]

You know how after hearing certain stories, you find yourself double checking the locks before bed? Here's the thing. I don't want a system that just tells me someone's already inside my house. Traditional security basically waits to say, hey, someone got in. But Simplisafe is different. They've built this double layer of protection. Their AI powered cameras can detect a real threat outside your home and alert live monitoring agents. And those agents don't just sit back and watch. They can speak directly to the intruder, tell them they're on camera, that police are on their way, and they can trigger a loud siren or a spotlight if they need to. So it's not all on you to catch a notification in time. And speaking as someone who's tested this stuff out, Simplisafe was ridiculously easy to set up. It gives me real peace of mind when I'm away. The monitoring is reliable and I genuinely trust it to protect my home and my family. Protect your home with SimpleLife and get 50% off any new system. For a limited time, just go to simplisafe.com crimes that's simplisafe.com crimes there's no safe like Simplisafe. A New year, Colder Days if you're craving a winter reset, Quince brings together premium materials, thoughtful design and enduring quality so you stay warm, look sharp and feel your best all winter long. Men's Mongolian cashmere sweaters, wool coats and leather and suede outerwear that actually holds up to daily wear and still looks good. Down jackets, wool coats and Italian leather jackets that keep you warm when the temperatures really start to drop. Every piece is made from premium materials by trusted factories that meet rigorous standards for craftsmanship and ethical production. And by cutting out the middlemen, Quince delivers the same quality as high end brands at a fraction of the price. I've been reaching for my quince coat constantly this winter. It's holding up better than the coats I've spent way more money on. Refresh your winter wardrobe. Go to quince.com crimes for free shipping on your order and and 365 day returns now available in Canada too. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E.com crimes free shipping and 365 day returns quints.com crimes it was a.

[B]

Cool December night in Memphis, 1966. Street lights pooled yellow on the pavement and the city was settling into its quiet rhythm. Around six o', clock, Margot was at the Cuneo's house on Peabody doing her usual babysitting shift. Glenn Nash was there too, that night. He was drinking. Mrs. Cuneo noticed it right away. The smell, the slur, the heaviness in his movements. When she told him to knock it off, Nash didn't put up a fight. When it was time to clock out, Margot gathered her things and left the house. She walked home alone in the dim streetlight glow, probably thinking she'd seen the last of Nash for the night. But just a few minutes later he showed up at her door and the two of them left together in a white Ford Fairlane. They drove off into the Memphis night. No clear destination, just headlights cutting through the dark.

[E]

Nash said he needed alcohol and he goes into the liquor store.

[B]

Square D Liquor, an unremarkable bodega. You can kind of picture this place in your head. Your town definitely has one. Inside, the air smelled of stale beer and linoleum cleaner. A radio murmured behind the counter.

[E]

The proprietor of the liquor store was Hillman Robbins, Senior. Hillman Robbins is waiting on customers as they come in.

[B]

Hillman was 60 years old, a soft spoken Memphian. The liquor store job was just a favor, a temporary side gig helping out his friend who owned the place. Hillman filled in a few nights a week, usually working the 6 to 11 shift. When Ash stumbled in, Robbins nodded hello, polite and unsuspecting. Margot waited a bit in the car, but Nash was taking too long, so she went in to join him.

[E]

And that's when Nash pulls a gun on him.

[B]

In seconds, this sleepy liquor store was the scene of a stick up.

[E]

He tells Hillman Robbins to get into the back of the store. There's a little back room. He shoves Hillman Robbins against the wall.

[B]

The bell over the door jingled. A new customer. Nash leaned close to Margot, his voice low enough only she could hear.

[E]

He tells Margot to go back there and tells Margot, you get out there and you wait on that man behind the counter.

[B]

Margo kept her hand steady, pretending everything was fine. Like this customer hadn't walked into the middle of a robbery.

[G]

She was conducting herself like she was working there, handling customers, handling money. She was giving out liquor.

[B]

That's Judge John Campbell, a former deputy DA in Shelby county, where this crime all went down.

[G]

She did not let anybody think there was anything wrong.

[B]

This was Margot's chance to get out, but she stayed.

[E]

She then comes to the back and Glenn Nash kicks the back door open. As she's going out the back door, pop Pop.

[B]

Nash and Margot beeline toward his white Ford Fairlane, idling in the alley as a pool of blood formed around Hillman's body. They tore off into the night. They had stolen $616.85. Hardly worth a man's life. I got the Memphis PD offense report from that night. It's classified as a criminal homicide, defendant unknown. Here's what went down when they arrived on the scene. A carhop that was working nearby had nipped into D Square Liquor for a bottle of gin. But nobody answered when he pounded on the counter. Then, from somewhere behind a door in the back, a gurgle broke the silence. The strained gagging jolted him. Something was clearly wrong. He picked up the phone and called for help. Minutes later, the first patrol car pulled up outside. The neon sign was still glowing, the door unlocked, lights on inside, but the place was empty. Officers called out to no answer. Then one of them pushed through the narrow hallway to the back room. That's where they found Hillman Robbins Sr. On the floor, his hands bound with seagrass rope, his body still. He'd been shot several times, close range, execution style.

[G]

There were two guns that were used, a.22 and a.38. The.22 was something that a woman would have.

[B]

In other words, it looked like Margot had shot Hillman Robbins, not just her older boyfriend. Over the next 12 days, Margot and Nash never stayed in one place too long.

[G]

They were almost like a Bonnie and Clyde situation.

[B]

Bonnie and Clyde were Depression era outlaws turned legends. A couple of kids from Texas who robbed banks, outran the cops, and went out in a storm of gunfire on a back road in Louisiana. When Bonnie and Clyde hit movie screens in 1967, it turned them into icons. Stylish, fearless and in love. Standing up to a world they couldn't beat. Even now, their names still mean rebellion, passion, and the thrill of running when you know you probably won't make it far. And when the film became a cultural touchstone, observers quickly pointed out the similarities between the story and the case that was unfolding in the South. For a moment, Margot and Nash seemed to fit that same mold. Wild, reckless and on the run, feeding a story that was already starting to sound like legend. They left Memphis the night Hillman Robins Sr. Was killed and headed east first stop, Nashville, where they holed up for the night, laying low, drinking bourbon and plotting their next move. From there, it was a zigzag trail across the South. Atlanta, Georgia. Then Titusville, Florida. They stayed in cheap motels under fake names. Nothing that stuck. On December 18, 12 days after Hillman Robbins Sr. Was gunned down in cold blood, they stopped at a convenience store north of Fort Lauderdale in a small town called Oakland Park. What happened next followed the same rhythm as Memphis. Nash and Margo walked into a convenience store and pulled the trigger again. This time on Esther Bouill, a 45 year old clerk working the night shift. She was shot twice, both bullets through the back. This wasn't self defense. This was cold blooded murder. A murder with no witnesses. This was officially a spree. Two people committing random acts of violence. To what end? Was survival the reason? Did robbery keep gas in the car and food in their mouths? If violence worked once, maybe the fear of doing it again began to fade. Each stop on the map demanded a new way to stay ahead. And the cost kept rising. By late December, the road brought them back to Tennessee. On the 26th, they checked into the Rip Van Winkle Motel in Millington, just outside of Memphis. The two were hungry, restless and out of money. They'd abandoned the car on Highway 51 North. The two introduced themselves as Mr. And Mrs. Glenn Nash from West Memphis. They paid with a bad check and took a room for the night. Little did they know, While the phony Mr. And Mrs. Slept soundly after a rampaging two weeks, the police found their getaway car. It was locked out of gas. A Georgia plate bolted to the back. Inside maps of convenience stores around Fort Lauderdale. Boxes of.22 and.38 caliber ammo, and a dark gray checkered sport coat, the same kind witnesses said the man who killed Hillman Robbins Sr. Had been wearing that night. Police had found the vehicle they were looking for, but the fugitives were nowhere to be found. Come morning, December 27, after a night where they slept more soundly than they should have, they called a taxi in Millington. The driver, cece Surratt, was 54, a family man wrapping up his shift. Margot and Nash were his last customers. Said they were headed to Mississippi. The cab hummed across the state line. The headlights washed over the bare winter trees. The road empty for miles. Then two flashes lit the inside of.

[G]

The car, and they wound up killing the Mississippi cab driver.

[B]

Another execution style killing to the back of the head while Surat was still in the driver's seat. Their body count now three they fled the scene, came up with fake names, John and Sue Williams from Newark. And the two were back in the wind. After the cab driver, CC Surratt's body was discovered by police. Witnesses said they spotted a man and woman running across a field and hopping into a truck on Highway 61. Police tracked down the trucker, a guy named Robert Thornton, who said he'd pick them up and drop them in Clarksdale. From there, it looked like they were heading south. By late afternoon, they. The Mississippi Highway Patrol confirmed sightings of the pair in Clarksdale, and word went out to local police. Officers started checking the trailways in Greyhound stations, figuring the fugitives were traveling by bus. The Greyhound manager told them the next one from Clarksdale was due at 7:25pm.

[E]

Finally, they were apprehended in Desoto County, Mississippi, which is just one county south of Memphis.

[B]

Bonnie and Clyde were officially busted at a Greyhound station. There was no fight and no chase, only the sharp click of handcuffs and the flash of police lights outside as they were led into the cool Mississippi night. At the station, officers opened Nash's briefcase. Inside, wrapped in a pair of underwear, was a.38 caliber Italian revolver. It was loaded with four live rounds and one spent shell. Under the hammer, the pair were booked into the DeSoto County Jail, a narrow hallway of concrete cells and metal doors. The ballistics were clear enough. The.38 caliber rounds pulled from Nash's car matched the ones that tore through Robbins and Surratt's bodies in Florida. The evidence pointed in the same direction. Nash's fingerprints were lifted from a shopping cart inside the Oakland park convenience store. And hand drawn maps of Florida were later found in his abandoned car. But there was a big problem in all these states putting Nash on trial during the process.

[G]

Glenn Nash was found to be insane.

[B]

And was committed within months. Every jurisdiction that wanted to charge him hit the same wall. I got ahold of a psychological evaluation, the consensus? A diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia. In Nash's case, doctors at the state hospital in Whitfield said he was in a deep psychotic state, paranoid and convinced the world was out to get him. They described him as having wild delusions, part fear, part ego, believing he was both being persecuted and somehow important enough to be a target. Remember how Nash had been under investigation in Tennessee for unethical law practice? It turns out Nash believed Hillman Robbins Sr. And Esther Boulliet were spies for the Memphis Bar association and the cab driver. Cece Surratt, Nash was convinced, was a hired gunman attempting to kill him and that he had shot him in self defense. All of that was enough for a judge to find Nash incompetent, to defend himself. And Glenn Nash was sent to the Memphis State Hospital at Whitfield.

[E]

All the while, Margot had to go to trial.

[B]

Glenn Nash would never face a jury for any of the killings. Margot faced more than one.

[E]

She was tried twice in Mississippi for the murder of the cab driver, Mr. Surrett.

[B]

There she was facing one count of accessory after the fact. That so they didn't think Margot shot anyone, but helped Nash get away. The trials took place in hernando. One in 1967, the other in 68, in the same small Mississippi town where she'd been locked up. She told the jury that Nash was the gunman, that she feared he'd kill her too, that she hadn't pulled the trigger in any of the murders.

[E]

And there was a mistrial both times.

[B]

Mississippi decided not to try her again. Then there was Florida.

[G]

Glenn Nash couldn't be tried if he was found to be insane. They decided not to just pursue the case against her.

[B]

Investigators couldn't prove Margot had been inside when the clerk was shot, so she was left off the charge sheet. For Nash, the verdict was madness. For Margot, it was limbo. And after nearly two years sitting in the DeSoto County Jail, Margot was then.

[E]

Extradited to Memphis, just across the state line, and put to trial.

[B]

Somebody had to go down for these senseless murders. And it wasn't going to be the lawyer who'd been declared legally insane. Instead, the young woman. What are the odds that she had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time three times and it.

[E]

Was a death penalty case.

[B]

All eyes were on Margot Freshwater.

[H]

On the night before Halloween in 1975, 15 year old Martha Moxley was murdered. But police failed to make an arrest until in 2000, her one time neighbor, Michael Skakel was arrested. He was also a cousin of the Kennedys. The Kennedy connection is the reason that most people know about this case. But the deeper I dug, the more I came to question everything I thought I knew. Search Dead Certain the Martha Moxley Murder on Apple Podcasts to listen to the latest episodes each week.

[B]

Two years after the killing at D Square Liquor on February 4, 1969, 21 year old Margo Freshwater was brought to trial at the criminal court for Shelby county in Tennessee. She faced a single count of first degree murder in the death of Hillman Robbins Sr. The 60 year old clerk found bound and shot in the back room of the shop. And another charge for murder and perpetration of robbery. I'm not saying this was the trial of the century or anything, but there was some hype. A young woman accused of an execution style killing alongside her mad lover. Even today, the press would eat that up.

[D]

She made an attractive. She got her hair fixed and her makeup on and nice clothes and stuff like that. She was pretty. And so that drew a lot of attention to her from the very first.

[E]

Margo Freshwater was very much portrayed as this femme fatale young, pretty blonde woman who used her sex and her sexuality to manipulate men and manipulate situations. That was the undercurrent of so much of how she was portrayed and how the case was portrayed. Bonnie and Clyde, except Clyde was, you know, schizophrenic and crazy, and Bonnie was the one really running the show.

[B]

The press leaned into that narrative. They thought she was in charge. She called the shots before the jury was even seated. Margot was called the blonde Bonnie. 12 men would decide her fate. Not a single woman made the jury. Margot sat at the defense table beside Jay Frank Hall, a seasoned Memphis defense attorney. Across from them, prosecutor Terry Lafferty, a young, hungry and charismatic attorney eager to make his career. Hall built Margot's defense on one idea. Duress. That she hadn't chosen this life on the run. That Nash, twice her age and legally insane, had forced her into it. But the law in Tennessee wasn't so forgiving. It didn't matter who pulled the trigger. If you were in on it, you were in on it all the way.

[G]

Whether she shot him or not is not going to be the deciding factor. The deciding factor is if she was an accessory before the fact. Even if Glenn Nash did the killing, she was an active participant.

[B]

What Judge Campbell is getting at here is that presence at each crime made her an accomplice under Tennessee law. By Nash's side, she assumed equal responsibility in the eyes of the court. That put her exactly where Nash stood, fully culpable.

[G]

Even if you don't actually do the killing, if you're the lookout, if you're the getaway driver, if you're holding other people hostage while somebody else does a killing, you're guilty of the killing.

[B]

And there was another sticking point. Two guns were used in the murder of hillman, Robin Senior Nash's.38, and a.22, the lady gun.

[G]

The state argued that she used the.22 to shoot the victim, and Glenn Nash used the.38.

[B]

To the state, Margot was more than a passenger.

[G]

She had many opportunities to escape, and she didn't. They basically acted like they were husband and wife.

[B]

For a long time, I've thought about this, too. This crime spree spanned two weeks across state lines, motel lobbies, gas stations, and crowded highways. Plenty of moments where somebody desperate to get away could have run or asked for help. As the testimony unfolded, jurors watched the young woman at the defense table.

[G]

She really struck a lot of people as something out of the ordinary, and she didn't come across as someone who was just this weak, vulnerable, manipulated person.

[B]

Her case rested entirely on convincing the jury that her account of that night was true.

[E]

And she testified that Nash forced her into the store, that Nash made her wait on the customer, that Nash held Hillman Robinson in the back room, told her that if she said anything or tried to escape or do anything at all, he was going to kill Mr. Robbins and kill her, too, and that he forced her out the back door. She heard the pops, and then he is right on her with the gun and forces her to drive away.

[B]

And from that moment on, she claimed she lived in fear, riding shotgun across the south, always under threat.

[E]

And she was cross examined vigorously by the prosecutor at trial, by Terry Lafferty. And one of the precise questions that he was hammering her with was, you don't have anyone else who can say that's what happened. You only have your word for that.

[B]

Terry Lafferty passed away in 2021, but his voice lives on tape. My hopes weren't high that any of it was salvageable. The tapes have been sitting in a dusty Memphis court archive for over half a century now. But astonishingly enough, when I hit play, the courtroom came to life.

[I]

They tied Mr. Hillman's hands behind his back and made him lay down on the floor. And gentlemen of the jury also, and the proof of this record shows that this young girl went out and waited on a cuff and that she made no attempt whatsoever to tell that customer that Mr. Nash was in the back and he had Mr. Robbins on the floor with a gun out there and would threaten to kill him. Or even that a holdup was in process. And she wants you to believe, general jury, that she's in fear of her life. At that time.

[B]

The defense rested without calling another witness. Outside, reporters filed their copy before the presses closed. The word's already taking shape in tomorrow's paper. A frightened teenager or a willing partner. February 7, 1969. The air inside Judge Arthur Fackwin's courtroom was electric. The jury had spent just three days listening to testimony, poring over photos of the Square D liquor store and hearing Margo Freshwater describe a night that had destroyed her life. And the state wasn't just asking for conviction. They were out for blood.

[I]

All right, gentlemen of the jury, have you reached a verdict? In the case of State of Tennessee versus Marlboro Freshwater, we the jury find the defendant guilty of murder in the first degree as charged in the first count.

[B]

Judge Facwin then delivered her fate.

[I]

Margot Freshwater. Please stand. You'll be delivered to the warden of the state penitentiary in Asheville. Let it be confined for a period of 99 years.

[B]

Margot sobbed as the deputies led her away outside. The verdict echoed through Memphis.

[D]

Got this very attractive young girl having to do 99 years. And the shooter? They put him in a private mental institution. Just the facts of this were extraordinary.

[B]

And for Margo Freshwater, unacceptable. She had to do something to change the hand she'd been dealt. And soon she would. She'd escape. What came next was legend. A manhunt that spanned states, decades and generations of law enforcement who all thought they knew who Margo Freshwater really was. And a revelation that proved no one really knew who they were chasing. For decades, everything known about Margot Freshwater came from prosecutors, defense attorneys, police reports, and the news. Over time, she became the kind of criminal that people talk about. The girl who climbed a fence and became infamous, more rumor than person. Other people defined her story, her motives, her fear, her guilt. If this was a woman who vanished for half a lifetime, I needed to understand how. I needed to hear from Margot herself. So I went looking for her.

[C]

My name's Tonya. I was formerly Margot Freshwater. No one has really confronted me, and if they did, I would just say, well, you need to hear what the real story is before you are so quick to judgment and leave it at that.

[B]

Don't want to wait for that next episode. You don't have to unlock all episodes of the Crimes of Margo Freshwater ad free right now by subscribing to the Binge Podcast channel. Search for the binge on Apple podcasts and hit subscribe at the top of the page. Not on apple. Head to getthebinge.com to get access wherever you listen. As a subscriber, you'll get binge access to news stories on the 1st of every month. Check out the Binge channel page on apple podcasts or getthebinge.com to learn more. The Crimes of Margot Freshwater is an original production of Sony Music Entertainment and Glass podcasts. It was hosted and reported by me, Cooper Maul. Maura Walls is our story editor. Our executive producers are Kathryn St. Louis, Jonathan Hirsch, Nancy Glass, Ben Federman, and Andrea Gunning. Sound design and editing by Anna maclean. Mixed and mastered by Matt Del Vecchio. Our theme music was composed by Oliver Baines. We use music from mibe and Epidemic Sound. Our production managers are Sammy Allison and Kristen Melchiori. Our lawyer is Michael Belkin. Special thanks to Steve Ackerman, Emily Rasik and Kerry Hartman. Please rate and review the Crimes of Margot Freshwater. It helps people find our show.