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Like a Hot Knife Through Butter

The Greatest True Crime Stories Ever Told

Tue Dec 26 2023

Summary

The Greatest True Crime Stories Ever Told: "Like a Hot Knife Through Butter"

Introduction

In the December 26, 2023 episode titled "Like a Hot Knife Through Butter," hosted by true crime writer Mary Kay McBrayer, listeners are taken on a harrowing journey through the intricate and chilling case of Marjorie Marquis and the murder of her husband, Jay Orban. This episode delves deep into the complexities of Marjorie’s life, her relationships, and the ensuing investigation that unravels a web of deceit and violence.

The Discovery of the Crime Scene

The episode opens with a gripping account of Robert Ames, an everyday man who stumbles upon a gruesome crime scene in the Arizona desert. On a sweltering afternoon in 2004, Ames observes a futon by the roadside and investigates further, leading to the discovery of a "55-gallon Rubbermaid tub" containing parts of a decomposed body. Shocked by the foul odor and the sight of human remains, Ames immediately contacts emergency services.

Robert Ames [00:07]: "I found a dead body, or at least parts of a dead body."

The police quickly rule Ames out as a suspect due to the lack of evidence contradicting his account. The victim remains unidentified, leaving investigators with no leads and no understanding of the motive or perpetrator behind the brutal murder.

Introducing Marjorie Marquis and Jay Orban

Mary Kay McBrayer transitions to the main narrative, introducing Jay Orban, a well-liked individual known for his generosity and involvement in the strip club scene. Jay's wife, Marjorie Marquis, a former showgirl and stripper, emerges as a central figure whose complex past and relationships set the stage for the unfolding tragedy.

Marjorie’s Complex Past

Marjorie’s history is marked by a series of tumultuous relationships and personal struggles. Diagnosed with endometriosis as a teenager, Marjorie faced infertility, which deeply affected her outlook on relationships and family. She married young, experienced multiple divorces, and embarked on various relationships that often ended in financial and emotional turbulence.

Mary Kay McBrayer [06:46]: "One moral of this story is best summed up by the poet Maya Angelou. She said, 'when people show you who they are, believe them the first time.'"

Marjorie’s involvement with Jay Orban begins in the mid-1980s at a Phoenix strip club where Jay, despite his unassuming appearance, is known for helping women in precarious situations. Their relationship progresses quickly, culminating in marriage in 1995 after years of intermittent contact and shared fertility struggles.

The Marriage and Rising Suspicion

Marjorie and Jay build what appears to be a stable life together, complete with the birth of their son, Noah. Jay takes proactive steps to secure their financial and personal well-being, including setting up insurance policies and managing finances to protect them from Marjorie’s ex-husband Ronald’s debts.

However, despite these precautions, Marjorie exhibits increasingly strange behaviors. Her obsession with Noah, excessive workouts, and multiple affairs raise red flags. Notably, her relationship with Larry, a 60-year-old bodybuilder, becomes a focal point of suspicion.

The Disappearance of Jay Orban

On Jay’s 40th birthday, he receives a call about a tropical storm and decides to turn his truck around, planning to return home to celebrate. This decision sets off a chain of events that lead to his disappearance.

Mary Kay McBrayer [41:58]: "Those birthday calls were the last time Jay would talk to his family."

Despite his reassurance to his mother Joanne that he was on his way home, Jay never arrives. Odd phone calls purportedly from Jay continue, but they are filled with background noise and fear, hinting that something sinister has occurred.

The Investigation Unfolds

Detective Jan Butcher steps into the narrative, immediately sensing that Marjorie’s behavior is suspicious. Her inconsistent stories and defensive demeanor prompt a deeper investigation. Meanwhile, Robert Ames’s initial discovery becomes a pivotal clue when Jay’s missing person's case intersects with the dismembered body found in the desert.

Detective Chatter [39:33]: "Mark Twain said it right. The thing about fiction is that it has to be believable. The truth doesn't."

Detective Butcher uncovers critical evidence, including credit card transactions for cleaning supplies and surveillance footage linking Marjorie to the purchase of a plastic tub similar to the one found with Jay’s remains. Forensic evidence from Jay’s business warehouse and cell phone data further implicates Marjorie.

Detective Jan Butcher [46:10]: "I have his will. And I have his..."

The Arrest and Trial

As the evidence mounts, Marjorie is arrested for Jay’s murder. Throughout the investigation, inconsistencies in her stories and her aggressive defense of her actions heighten the suspicion. Larry, Marjorie’s boyfriend, initially appears as a potential suspect but ultimately proves to have no substantial connection to the crime.

Marjorie’s eventual conviction is sealed by a jailhouse confession from her cellmate, Sophia Johnson, who directly implicates Marjorie in the dismemberment of Jay. The emotional toll on Jay’s family, particularly their son Noah, is palpable as Marjorie’s actions come to light.

Mary’s Reflections

Mary Kay McBrayer concludes the episode with a poignant reflection on the nature of true crime and the unpredictability of evil. She emphasizes the difficulty in comprehending how someone who seemed to embody goodness and stability could commit such a heinous act.

Mary Kay McBrayer [68:56]: "This story, I don't really know what Jay could have done differently. To me, that makes it a real nightmare."

Mary underscores that true crime stories often lack clear moral lessons but serve as stark reminders of the pervasive nature of evil and the complexities of human behavior.

Key Takeaways

Complex Characters: Both Marjorie and Jay exhibit multifaceted personalities, highlighting that appearances can be deceiving.
Circumstantial Evidence: The investigation relies heavily on circumstantial evidence, showcasing the intricate process of solving crimes without direct leads.
Impact on Family: The case underscores the profound impact of violent crimes on victims' families, leaving lasting emotional scars.
Nature of Evil: The episode explores the concept that evil can be hidden behind a veneer of normalcy and kindness, challenging our perceptions of good and bad.

Conclusion

"Like a Hot Knife Through Butter" serves as a compelling exploration of one of the most disturbing true crime cases, meticulously detailing the events leading to Jay Orban’s murder and the subsequent unraveling of Marjorie Marquis’s facade. Mary Kay McBrayer masterfully weaves a narrative that not only recounts the facts but also delves into the psychological dimensions of the characters involved, offering listeners a deeply engaging and thought-provoking experience.

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Transcript

Mary Kay McBrayer (0:07)

Diversion Audio A Note this episode contains mature content and descriptions of violence that may be disturbing for some listeners. Please take care in listening it was a hot Arizona afternoon in 2004. A man named Robert Ames walked out of a gas station with a Bud Light and cut across the desert to get back to the construction site where he'd been sleeping. He noticed a futon about 50ft off the road, so he sat down on it to finish his smoke. Then he noticed a piece of carpet wrapped around a 55 gallon Rubbermaid tub. He thought it might have something in it he could pawn, so he stuck his cigarette in the corner of his mouth and he used a piece of broken beer bottle to cut the tape around the container. When he popped the lid, a foul odor seeped out as he pulled away the black trash bags and plastic sheeting. The smell got so strong he gagged. As soon as he realized what he was looking at. He dropped everything, ran back to the gas station and called emergency services. He told them, I found a dead body, or at least parts of a dead body. Robert was still shaken by his find a few hours later when Detective David Barnes questioned him. I saw the belt buckle and the jeans and the belly. It was hairy, ames said, his voice trembling. That's how I realized it was human because there was a belly button. Robert was never a suspect of this crime. Everything at the scene corroborated his story. A piece of broken bottle, a half drunk Bud Light, and the partly smoked cigarette that had fallen from his mouth when he gasped in shock. That meant the police had no suspects, they had no name for their victim, and they had no idea why anyone would or how they even could commit such a brutal murder. Welcome to the Greatest True Crime Stories ever told. Mary I'm Mary Kay McBrayer. I'm a writer of true crime. I'm constantly reading about crime, but I'm not necessarily interested in the headline grabbing elements like the blood and the gore. Despite the hellscape I just told you about, I'm more interested in the people behind these stories and what we can learn about society by looking at their experiences. That's what I explore here. Every week I dig into crimes where women aren't just victims. They might be the detective, the lawyer, the witness, the coroner, the criminal, or a combination of those roles. As you probably already know, women can do anything. Today's episode we're calling Like A Hot Knife Through Butter. It's about the murder of good guy Jay Orban. It's also about his wife, the Vegas showgirl and stripper known by her stage name Marjorie Marquis. More after the break.

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Mary Kay McBrayer (6:46)

Here's the problem with being a good person. You expect other people to be good too. Good people find it especially difficult to accept that someone they care about is bad. It's wild how a good person will equivocate on behalf of a bad one. For example, how many times has one of your friends made an excuse for their partner? Like oh, they just lied to me because they thought they'd lose me if they told me the truth. Are you hearing yourself? They should have been lost you anyway to fine point. Another problem. It doesn't get easier to accept when they tell you that they're bad. And it doesn't always get easier to accept when they show you how bad they are either, because you don't want it to be true. One moral of this story is best summed up by the poet Maya Angelou. She said, when people show you who they are, believe them the first time. I'd like to add to that. If someone shows you they're bad, get out of there. And of course it's never easy to get out and you normally can't even see the situation for yourself. You usually need a very brave friend or mom to frame out their badness for you. But good friends don't want to shit talk someone you love, so it could take a long time for the truth to reveal itself. Meanwhile, you're just hanging out with a bad person thinking this is normal. I think the second moral of this story can be summed up succinctly by Majedo, my grandfather. I think it might be loosely translated from an old Arabic idiom. It goes like this. When you hang around shit, you get shit on you. Jay Orban was a good dude who liked beautiful women. More specifically, he liked to rescue beautiful women. Jay didn't look rich. He wasn't flashy or especially handsome. He looked like a nice guy. He wasn't the one that the dancers at Bourbon Street Circus, Babe's Cabaret and Skin Cabaret would generally flock to. Not at first. Only after he became a regular at these Phoenix strip clubs would they recognize that he was wealthy and he was generous. The bartenders, managers, and even a lot of the patrons knew Jay. He met a lot of his friends at strip joints. He also met a lot of his girlfriends there. Jay's friend Mario put it this way, there were so many girlfriends, I can't remember all their names. Jay heard about the dancer's debts, divorces, and abusive relationships, and he wanted to help them out. So he did. He helped his girlfriends out financially. He let them move in while they got on their feet, and then they'd inevitably break up a few months later. There were definitely some transactional relationships, and Jay seemed mostly all right with that. He didn't seem to hold any hard feelings towards anyone when his relationships went south. Something else his friend Mario shared was this. Jay wasn't so much as a good guy who went and picked up strippers to keep a scorecard. Everyone was just friends. The whole arrangement felt normal to Jay, if we want to go meta with this interpretation. Whether or not he totally understood this, Jay's relationships were as capitalist as his own actual business. Jay had a wholesale Native American jewelry business. He was based in Phoenix, Arizona, but he dealt all across the country, driving the truck himself, staying in La Quinta Inns when he traveled overnight wearing jeans and boots. He was rich, but he really only stunted. In the strip club and at the Bourbon Street Circus, he met Marjorie Marquis, the quote, unquote love of his life. When they met in 1985, Marjorie was quite a smoke show. She always had been. In her Orlando high school, she did all the artistic, athletic things. She was a ballet dancer and then she was a lead majorette. And while she was a full time student and waiting tables, she also danced at a dinner theater on the weekends. Despite her undeniable beauty and fitness, she didn't have many high school boyfriends. She preferred to date older men also, and bear with me here for this transition. Marjorie had a routine gynecological visit in her teenage years where she was given the diagnosis of endometriosis. For listeners who are not familiar with endometriosis, it sucks. Basically, the tissue that normally lines the uterus, the tissue that women shed during menstruation, grows in other areas. It causes painful menstruation, irregular bleeding, and in Marjorie's case, lots of scarring. The doctor told her that she was infertile. For people who want to give birth, that's a hard truth to accept. Marjorie was one of them. She started living as though she was the only person she'd ever be responsible for. That meant if she liked someone, she jumped into that relationship with both feet full weight. Author Shanna Hogan, who wrote the excellent book Dancing with Death on this case, aptly described those relationships this way. They were, quote, always brief and often chaotic. Marjorie was 19 when she married Mitchell Marquis. His big legacy in her life was that she kept using his last name, Marquis, because she liked how it sounded. It is pretty. But they were only together for a year and a half. There was quickly a second husband and then, before the divorce was finalized, a new guy in the picture, Luke Forrest. Luke was a part time singer who sounded like the famous performer Lou Rawls. And I'm going to slow down here a bit because of this. Luke insisted on, quote, managing their finances. That meant that Marjorie had to hand over her entire paycheck to him the moment she got it. Y'all, they weren't even married yet and he was doing this unacceptable. I mean, it's Always wise for women to have some money of their own in case of emergency. Or like the getaway bag that Moira Rose stashed for her children on Schitt's Creek. Even when you are married, it's always a good idea to have something that's all yours in case of emergency. It doesn't have to be a secret, but if your partner thinks they're entitled to everything. Danger. About a year after Luke and Marjorie started dating, her car got towed for non payment. Luke had been using her paycheck to gamble and had apparently neglected the car payments. She was pissed. She left him. He apologized. She took him back. Tale as old as time. They'd been together right around a year when Luke suggested Marjorie pick up some new work to help support them. She'd been a dancer and a choreographer since her days as a high school ballerina. Why not do the grown up version? That's when she started stripping. Marjorie would keep stripping from then on. And to paraphrase the Godfather, it don't make any difference to me what someone does for a living. But your business is a little dangerous. Or at least it could lead to dangerous things. For now, though, there were other more immediate dangers. Luke started pushing to bring another woman into their relationship. It made Marjorie miserable, but she didn't actually leave him. She didn't have the means to strike out on her own. Then she learned that he'd gambled away her $8000 in savings. Staying with him was starting to look more financially risky than literally starting from scratch without a dollar to her name. So Marjorie packed up and left. To which I say yes. On her way back home to Florida, though Marjorie's car broke down in Phoenix, she had no money for the part to fix it and no one to ask for it. While she was hoofing it to a nearby hotel, she passed the Bourbon Street Circus Strip club. Inspiration struck, she got a job there, and she started pulling in 500 to $600 a night. In the 80s, that's where she met Jay Orban for the first time. He slapped a hundred dollar bill on the bar and offered to buy her a drink. Marjorie smiled at the chance to get off her high heels and Jay was immediately smitten. Marjorie was not smitten. With his thinning hair, belly boots, tight jeans and belt buckle, Jay looked, she said, like a used car salesman. But he was nice, funny and charming, and he always paid for her company. After a while she told him about her husband and the chaos she'd been through Shanna Hogan's book Dancing with death notes that Marjorie already knew about Jay from another dancer. He was, as she puts it, known to find girls who were in trouble or had a problem with an abusive guy and offer to help them out financially. They would usually be his girlfriend for a few days. Before long, Marjorie had moved into Jay's spare bedroom. She said he never gave her cash and she never asked for it. Meanwhile, she became pretty fond of him. They went on a date, dinner and dancing. Then they kissed and things escalated to intimacy. That's when they faltered. When she told Jay she was moving back to Florida, he asked her to stay. I love you, he told her. We can build a life together. Marjorie couldn't settle, though. As sweet and secure as Jay was, she wanted something more, like the excitement she felt with her more dangerous lovers. So she went back to Luke for a while. But this time she didn't stay long. Eventually, she did make her way back to Florida and into the classy strip joints of local owner Michael J. Peter, where she started doing more behind the scenes work as well as dancing. She helped develop the Platinum Doll strip show, a troupe that saw some real success. She even started making their costumes to cut costs, and they did well. They booked venues across the country. Marjorie was actually in Motley Crue's Girls, Girls, Girls music video. But she didn't stick to this girl boss approach for very long. While on tour, she met her next husband, Ronald. Ronald owned his own excavating business in New Jersey, and he changed the name to Marco, as in Marjorie's company. He even brought her to his attorney's office to sign the company into her name. She thought it was very sweet at the time because Ronald really swept Marjorie off her feet. He bought her gowns, fur, jewelry, and he'd take her in his Ferrari into Manhattan for Broadway shows. All of this so far is very cool on the surface, but the thing is, in New Jersey, where Ronald's business was, companies were required to fulfill a certain minority quota with Marjorie listed as the head of the company. Marco was now a certified women's business, so it could overbid other contractors and still win jobs. So that's gross. I mean, it would be different if Marjorie was a real owner. That'd be dope. But unfortunately, there's even more to why I think this identity politics underhanded move is gross. In 1989, the new bookkeeper, Gilda, asked Marjorie some important questions. The main one was, did Ronald tell you why he put the company in your name? He hadn't. To sum it up, Ronald wasn't paying any taxes on the business. By the time he and Marjorie divorced in 1989, he owed tens of thousands of dollars to Internal Revenue. Or rather, Marjorie did.

Mary Kay McBrayer (26:56)

A few months later, Marjorie fled Ronald and his debt for Florida and Michael J. Peters clubs. This time she dated the wealthy strip club owner Michael, but the relationship fell apart. Thanks to his playboy ways, Marjorie once again moved on. She was traveling from gig to gig out west again when she got a phone Call. Remember me? Asked the voice on the other end. Jay. Jay Orban, I have been looking for you for 10 years. It was true. He had. All along his route, in and out of many strip joints he frequented, he always scanned the names for Marjorie Marquis. He'd finally found her face on the billboard for Las Vegas club, Paradise Dancers, and when he looked her up in the Vegas phone book, there she was. Marjorie did remember Jay, and by now the qualities of sweet and secure were starting to sound a lot more appealing. She met up with him at the Rio bar, and when Jay returned to Phoenix, they talked on the phone for hours every night. Still, the way he finally really won her over was just as transactional as the way he'd won over his past girlfriends. Because he knew about her endometriosis, he told her he'd pursue fertility treatments with her to have a child together. She counteroffered by saying they'd try the treatments for two years and if that didn't work, she would leave. And Jay said okay. The thing about Jay is it just doesn't seem like he ever did anything dishonest. Business was kind of his language, but he conducted his business, Jayhawk Trader, in an understanding and generous way. He was known for giving his customers extra time to pay up or sometimes waiving their debts completely. Marjorie must have sensed that he was an actually good guy and she'd always wanted a child. It was time to put her thrilling, sometimes dangerous past behind her. She married Jay at the Little White Wedding Chapel on Las Vegas Boulevard just a few months later, on July 22, 1995. As a fun little aside, that place is really cute. Famous couples like Frank Sinatra and Mia Farrow, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez and Judy Garland. And somebody got married there, too. Anyway, fertility treatments are no joke. Even now, they are rough, physically painful, emotionally racking. You have daily injections which cause wild mood swings and physical pain. Not to mention the results can be emotionally devastating. And it's very expensive. In the 1990s, when Marjorie started them, the situation was worse. Marjorie had the daily injections, which caused her ovaries to swell, leaving her nauseated and hot flashing. She also underwent seven different surgeries for egg retrieval. Twice she hyperstimulated and had to be rushed to the ER for doctors to drain the fluid from her abdomen. Jay spent over $60,000 on the treatments. He also attended to her every need. He was great, and he was great when he had to be great, which, as we know from Lizzo, is very uncommon. Marjorie realized what a huge get she had on her hands. After several failures to conceive, Marjorie said, I'm sure we're going to get pregnant, and if we don't, it doesn't matter. I'll stay. But finally, they did conceive. And on August 26, 1996, Marjorie gave birth to a little boy. Boy. Both parents doted on their son, Noah. Life was good. Marjorie, after a long, difficult road, had a financially stable, comfortable home. And the miracle child she had been told was impossible. When she was just a teenager, she'd made it. That's when her bank account was. And Marjorie realized she was $50,000 in debt to the IRS. Yep, her former husband's debtors came back to collect. Marjorie had already told Jay about the issues with Ronald, but she'd also explained that in their divorce, she'd signed the company back into his name. She thought that meant she was out of the whole mess. When they went to Jay's attorney the next day, they learned that was not the case. And even worse, because Jay and Marjorie were married, Jay would also be held responsible for the debt. Marjorie was at a loss loss. So Jay took control of the situation. He got them a divorce and took control of all their family assets. If you're thinking what I was thinking, this looks like we're going right back into the issues Marjorie had with Luke. Jay could totally deprive her of everything and gain control over everything she did. Because money gives you choices. And now she didn't have any. And I do wonder how Marjorie felt about that, if maybe it triggered something in her, some of that survival instinct that got her through the difficult early years. But Jay loved his family. He loved Marjorie. And this was a solution he saw to protecting his family. If they weren't married, the IRS couldn't hold him responsible for Marjorie's debt. And if all their assets were in his name, she simply wouldn't have anything to pay them with. They'd have nothing to collect. Marjorie could no longer even be a signer on Jay's credit cards. But Jay did everything he could to give Marjorie a sense of security. He set up a bank account for her and deposited $500 a week. Like clockwork, he paid all the bills directly, and if she needed more money at any time, he'd give it, no questions asked. He also went on to purchase two insurance policies that added up to nearly a million dollars. Marjorie was the sole beneficiary, and he wrote out his in case of plan. It was a letter that gave Marjorie explicit instructions on what to do if he died. Everything from the house to the car, to his business was detailed. He even backed this plan up by entrusting one of his business associates to help her if she got confused and arranged for him to be paid for his efforts. That certainly sounds like security. Jay was really a solid dude now. Marjorie would never have to worry about stability again, right? Not even if Jay was dead. Jay and Marjorie's son Noah was 8 years old in September of 2003. Because anyone could tell he was carrying valuable cargo, he usually packed a.38 in his beat up Louis Vuitton briefcase. He never revealed his full route either, just in case someone might have a carjacking plan. When Jay was on the road, he'd call his friends and family to catch up, whether it was just checking in on his buddies or discussing politics with his mom, Joanne. He talked to Marjorie and Noah two or three times a day, too. The only reason he didn't answer the phone when he was on the road was bad cell service. He was typically only gone for two weeks at a time. But because he was headed all the way to Florida, this time he'd be gone for nearly a month. At least that was his plan. Then he turned on his radio and he heard about a tropical storm rolling in. Midway through the trip, he had to turn the truck around. He called Marjorie and told her the situation. He was coming home. He said, if you don't mind. She said, actually, Noah and I are sick with strep throat. That might have been true, but what was definitely true is that in recent years, Marjorie started exhibiting some strange behaviors. For starters, she worked out constantly. That is admirable. But four or five hours in the gym every day seems a little excessive. Second, she was obsessive over Noah. One of her friends said Noah was like her little fashion accessory. I mean, that's kind of cute. Up to a point. Matching outfits, fine. Never letting a child out of your sight, even with other family members, is too far. And then there were the affairs. One of them with her close friend's boyfriend. When the boyfriend wouldn't leave Marjorie's friend to be with Marjorie, Marjorie got mean, violent and manipulative. She stalked the woman and harassed the boyfriend, ultimately pitting them against each other. Marjorie also struck things up again long distance with Michael J. Peter, the Miami nightclub owner. And then, or maybe at the same time, knowing Marjorie, she started seeing Larry, a 60 year old bodybuilder, at her gym. In Larry's defense, he had no idea that she was married. Marjorie straight up lied to Larry about being married. She told him that Jay was her ex husband. Even though Jay's things were at the house they shared, Jay didn't live there. He was always on the road, she said. And he just hadn't made the time to buy a house and move out. Larry bought it. In fact, it was Larry whom investigators suspected the most when Jay Orban never returned home.

Mary Kay McBrayer (41:58)

After Jay Orban heard about the storm blowing his way, he turned his truck around. He was scheduled to arrive back In Phoenix on the day he turned 40. He was still on the road when he got a birthday call from his brother Jake at about 8:30am he told his mother Joanne that he was just outside Tucson. She said, you'll be home to celebrate with your son. Jay said he wasn't sure that Marjorie and Noah had strep throat, but at least he was heading back towards them. Those birthday calls were the last time Jay would talk to his family. But they weren't the last calls his family received from his phone. These ones were odd. It seemed like someone was on the line, but all the Orbans heard was background noise. It sounded like Rush Limbaugh blasting on the car radio. Then there were the calls to 8 year old Noah that weekend. Jay's voice played on the but they weren't really conversations Jay kept repeating himself. He'd say, good will you take care. I'll talk to you later. Noah, clearly terrified, told his uncle it was like a tape being played or something. Marjorie, meanwhile, didn't seem concerned. She told Jay's family that Jay did make it home on his birthday just to u turn out on another trip. They were needlessly worrying. Then she spent the weekend on a home improvement project, epoxy coating the garage floor. It wasn't until no one had heard from Jay for a whole week that Marjorie finally reported him missing. This is the point in our story when we get a badass woman on the case, Missing Persons Detective Jan Butcher. Detective Butcher immediately found Marjorie's behavior odd. There was the story about Jay's arrival home and the u turn right back out onto the road for his birthday. She couldn't corroborate that with any of Jay's clients because Jay did often tell them he was going a different direction than he was actually heading. After all, he was carrying valuable cargo. But no one else had seen or heard anything indicating that Jay made it home that Friday, much less that he then hit the road afterwards. Then, only a few days after she reported Jay's disappearance, Marjorie told Detective Butcher, I'm past being emotional about Jay. What kind of wife would be over her husband's disappearance after just a few days? So Detective Butcher started looking into everything Marjorie had claimed since Jay's disappearance. First there was that story about strep throat, which she and Noah had apparently had a week prior. But when Detective Butcher checked school attendance records, she saw that Noah was at school. She called Marjorie to confirm. Marjorie was immediately defensive and rude. Here's a snippet of the police recording of that conversation from the Podcast. This is monsters.

Mary Kay McBrayer (47:36)

Marjorie was making quite a to do about her and Jay's divorce when the divorce had always been an act of love on Jay's part, not separation. She might not have been his wife on paper, but Jay had certainly never planned to date other women. Meanwhile, an apparent unconnected case was unfolding. Robert Ames, the guy I told you about at the beginning of this episode, found that plastic tub while he was taking a smoke break out in the desert. I didn't go into grizzly detail before because that's not really what we're about here, but there are a few facts that are important to tell you. Bear with me through this. It gets pretty gross. So the tub was not that big. Although the tub was full of fluid, only the man's torso was present. He had been sawed through at the chest and above the knees. That meant the head, hands, hands and feet were all missing. There wasn't enough of the body to be able to identify the victim, except the torso still had the upper part of the legs attached above the knees, and it was wearing a pair of jeans. And there was a set of keys in the jeans pocket. After the autopsy in which those keys were discovered, Detective David Barnes, that's the man who questioned Robert Ames at the scene. He took the evidence to the station. Not the remains, but things like the clothes, the plastic sheeting, and those keys. It smelled so bad that in the room next door, police officers were throwing up. Police. The tough guys were vomiting. So Barnes took everything to the basement of the homicide impound lot. While he was hanging up the wet plastic sheeting, Barnes chatted with another detective. When Barnes mentioned the car keys, it reminded the other detective of a Bronco that had recently come into police possession. It belonged to a missing person. Jay Orban. Y'all are not gonna believe this shit, but it's true. Mark Twain said it right. The thing about fiction is that it has to be believable. The truth doesn't. So what happened next is truly unbelievable. On a hunch they had to think was too good to pan out, Barnes wipes the blood off the keys and evidence. He walked a few yards to the Bronco. The key unlocked the car door. And then, miraculously, the car cranked. The other detective literally yelled, unbelievable. That is when Jay Orban was connected to the plastic tub. Jay's missing person case had just become a homicide. Detective Butcher wanted to be the one to solve the case. But because it now had to be investigated as a murder, she relinquished her files to Detective Barnes. He invited her to stay on, but she knew that two lead detectives on this case was a bad idea. Still, she agreed to help out with the research. And she's the one who found a big clue. While she was going through Jay's credit card statements, she saw a charge for almost $500 at the Orban's local target the day after Jay went missing. The purchase included cleaning products, mops, buckets, rags, scrub brushes, and more. When Butcher showed the itemized receipt to Barnes, he said, it sounds like the kind of stuff you need to clean up a murder scene. Butcher did the due diligence. She called the credit card company and made sure there was only one card on the account. There was. So Butcher went to Target. She had the manager gather all the merchandise that had been purchased. It was an astonishing quantity. Evidence technicians photographed it. Then Butcher had the Target staff pull up the secure footage. She needed to know who had made this purchase. And there it was, all on tape, buying the supplies to clean up a murder scene with the credit card of the murdered man. That's Marjorie. Butcher yelled. We got her. As soon and as delicately as possible, Detective Barnes broke the news to Jay's parents. Their son's body had been found. Jake Senior and Joanne understandably wanted to bury his Remains. Detective Barnes had to tell them they couldn't be released yet because he said he was decapitated. Jay's parents were aghast. Who would do that? Who could do that? The autopsy had determined that the body had been frozen before it was dismembered. And the method wasn't some kind of frenzied axe chop. Someone had done this in cold blood with an electric saw and chilling precision. The police at this point, with the target security footage in hand, were sure that Marjorie was involved. But violent deaths like this one were typically committed by men. They suspected Marjorie's boyfriend Larry had done the actual deed. They filed warrants to search both Marjorie and Larry's homes, as well as the warehouse for Jay's company, Jayhawk International. All they found at Larry's home was evidence confirming his relationship with Marjorie in the form of love notes, which neither denied. But Larry's home was clean as far as evidence of murder. He later confirmed through his attorney that he had never even met Jay Orban. Marjorie had told him that Jay was her ex husband, and Jay didn't even live at their home anymore. Even though the jealous boyfriend fit the police's knee jerk suspect profile, Larry was almost off the hook. It was hard to be a jealous boyfriend when you didn't know you had any competition. And as you know, women can do anything. At the Orbin house, there was no trace of blood in the garage, which is where the police expected it. In fact, the garage was cleaner than most people's kitchens. The walls and ceiling had been freshly painted, and the floor had a fresh epoxy coat. When they searched the Jayhawk warehouse, detectives found several incriminating pieces of evidence. One was an open pack of jigsaw blades, and two of the 16 blades were missing. They also gathered duct tape, plastic, and garbage bags to test against the evidence at the scene. Meanwhile, they analyzed Jay's phone logs and called the service provider. They learned that a new phone had been purchased after Jay's death and Jay's number was given to it. They tracked the cell tower data for the phone calls that had come from Jay's number to his friends and family. The weird ones with Rush Limbaugh in the background. The ones that had terrified little Noah. All the cell towers that had pinged were around the Orban home and Larry's house. They might have to try Marjorie on circumstantial evidence alone, but that circumstantial evidence was definitely stacking up. When investigators called Marjorie's friends to attest to her character. The reviews Were mixed. They all said she had nothing really good to say about Jay. In her book Dancing with Death, Shanna Hogan quotes Marjorie as saying things like, quote, jay is so lucky that nothing has ever happened to him like an accident or robbery. Someone has to cut that fucker's break sooner or later. When detectives ask Larry how that made him feel, feel, he answered that it made him very uncomfortable. I would hope so. At this point, Larry and Marjorie didn't know that the police had discovered Jay's body. But to his credit, Larry cut things off with Marjorie immediately when he found out about the murder. Larry is a real one. He was down to help when he thought his girlfriend needed to help. But when he saw the truth, he got out fast. He lawyered up, cooperated with the police, and extricated himself as well as he could. Meanwhile, police came after Marjorie with the charge they could get together fastest. Attempted fraud. Thanks to her financial arrangement with Jay, she didn't have authority to use Jay's cards, but she had been using them while she was in custody. Detective Barnes broke the news that Jay's body had been discovered. He told her that only part of his remains were found. His head was missing. She didn't show any real emotion until he notified her that because of the fraud, all of Jay's accounts were frozen. That is when she went hysterical. Police released Marjorie that night. They weren't really concerned about Frank fraud. They wanted her for murder. But they kept scouring the financial records. They noticed a purchase at a Lowe's hardware store and drove up to get an itemized receipt. They confirmed Marjorie's presence with surveillance footage. And there they saw her buying a Rubbermaid plastic tub. They matched the UPC at the store to the one on the tub Jay was found in. They also found two jigsaws in the Orban garage. Now the evidence was really stacking up. In addition to buying the tub, it turned out the duct tape detectives found in Marjorie's house was the same as the tape found with the body parts. And Detective Barnes had tested the jigsaw blades missing from the warehouse package. He said the blades that were missing from that jigsaw package were the only two blades in that whole package that could cut through bone. It was like a hot knife through butter. To be fully sure, the medical examiner compared the bone pattern on the test to that found on Jay Orban's bone. Under the microscope, the cut pattern was exactly the same. Detectives called Jay's family to inform them they would be arresting Marjorie. The family was at the station when they brought her in mostly to take custody of 8 year old Noah. In the first few weeks of taking care of Noah, the Orbans realized something strange. Noah's hair was growing in brown. They realized that Noah had never been blonde. Marjorie had been bleaching his hair his whole life. There's nothing illegal there. But isn't that a strange thing to do with a little kid? The decision of someone whose thinking is off. The Orbans had plenty of time to stew on that over the three years they waited for Marjorie's trial. In the interim, nothing of Jay's business could be sold or collected on. Not even on Noah's behalf. Not until they had a conviction. His merchandise sat on the warehouse shelves. When forensic testing was complete on Jay's vehicles, though, his brother Jake was able to pick up his white cargo truck, the one Jay took on trips. Then the front tire started squealing. Jake stopped when he looked at the vehicle, the front tire was facing sideways. He called the police. And when detectives re examined the truck, they saw his brakes had been cut. If the person who cut them had done a better job of cutting them, it would have likely caused an awful crash. Meanwhile, a cellmate of Marjorie's came forward. Marjorie had made a jailhouse confession. She told me that she did it, Sophia Johnson said bluntly, she murdered him. She told Sophia that Jay had been shot, frozen, decapitated, dismembered. She said not a single person knows where the rest of his body is. They put Sophia on the witness stand. After nearly a year of trials, Marjorie was convicted. She stood to receive a lethal injection. The Orbans, however, said they'd rather she spent her whole life in prison. That would be a worse punishment. Back when I hosted a podcast with other women of color about horror movies, we had this system of gauging a film's scariness. Basically, if I could never be in that situation, the movie's not scary to me. For example, if the premise was that a bunch of men went on a four day trip hiking off the map and got abducted into a Nordic cult ritual, I mean, I'd watch it. But that scenario doesn't really apply to me because I just don't go off the grid. So it wasn't scary to me. Personally. I think we tend to do the same for true crime. Some people do the thing of, well, she shouldn't have been walking alone at night wearing that outfit, slash, gone to a second location with a stranger, so it's her fault. But I'm not talking to victim blamers here. That's not what this podcast is about. What I mean is, well, one reason why I follow true crime is because I need to know all that shit so I can avoid it. This story, I don't really know what Jay could have done differently. To me, that makes it a real nightmare. It's the kind of case that's really hard to write off as that could never happen to me because we can't even really pinpoint a motive. I mean, for the insurance money, yes, but she already had access to so much money. Marjorie started developing some odd behaviors after she'd settled down with Jay and her son. Sort of like she couldn't take the comfort of that quiet life after so many years of less stable living. But honestly, I wouldn't have looked at any of it and thought, that woman is capable of a heinous, violent crime. So there's no moral here. I mean, there's never a moral in a true crime story. There are things you can learn, sure, but never, never, ever a tidy takeaway. This story, though, this one illustrates just how ubiquitous evil is and that even if you try, even if you are a good guy who looks out for others and keeps all your wits about you, man, it's still out there. Join me next week on the Greatest True Crime Stories Ever Told for a very special case. I'm heading back to the 1890s to introduce you to Jane Toppan, the subject of my book, America's First Female Serial Killer, Jane Toppan and the Making of a Monster Her. I'd also like to shout out some key sources that made it possible for me to tell this story. First off, Shanna Hogan's book Dancing with the True Story of a Glamorous Showgirl, Her Wealthy Husband, and a Horrifying murder. Shanna died in an accident in 2020. If it was possible to interview her about this case, I would have loved to do that. Hopefully this episode does her work justice, even in her absence. I also have to credit the podcast this Is Monsters, which included the interview tapes between Marjorie and detectives. For more information about this case and others we cover on the show, visit diversionaudio.com Sign up for Diversion's newsletter and be among the first to hear about special behind the scenes features with hosts and actors from Diversion's podcasts, more shows you'll love from Diversion and our partners, and other exclusive tidbits you can't get anywhere else. That's diversionaudio.com to sign up for the newsletter. The Greatest True Crime Stories Ever Told is a production of Diversion Audio. I'm Mary Kay McBrayer. I wrote this episode and our Editorial director is Nora Patel. Our show is produced and directed by Mark Francis. Our development team is Emma demuth and Jacob Bronstein. Theme music by Tyler Cash Executive producers Jacob Bronstein, Mark Francis and Scott Waxman.