Suspect #1 /// Part 1 /// 935

Summary

True Crime Garage: Suspect #1 /// Part 1 /// 935

Release Date: June 16, 2026
Hosts: Nic & The Captain

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Nic and The Captain crack open Boneface Killa IPA and dig into a series of brutal, unsolved murders in Osceola County, Florida, circa 1992. Focusing on the cases of Dr. Ruth Howe and Mary Ellen Wise, the hosts unravel a chilling pattern: abduction from a place of safety, forced banking transactions, and violent death—connected by method, location, and circumstantial details. They discuss eyewitness accounts, police reports, suspect profiles, and forensic puzzles, all centering around an elusive—yet organized—Suspect Number One.

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Key Discussion Points

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1. Setting the Scene: Osceola County, 1992

[03:27]

• Osceola County had its deadliest year since 1971 with 10 homicides, including the unsolved murders of Bonnie Goodson, Ruth Howe, Mary Ellen Wise, Antonio Zuko, and later, Helen McPherson in 2006.
• The episode begins with an excerpt from a 1992 Orlando Sentinel article detailing the case of Bonnie Goodson and highlighting the county's struggle with unsolved murders.
• Theme: The tension between Osceola's historically high solve rate and a sudden rise in “cold” homicides.

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2. The Abduction and Murder of Dr. Ruth Howe

Case Timeline

• Victim: Dr. Ruth Howe, 41, chiropractor
• Date: February 26, 1992 (Wednesday evening)
• Location: Sandra Roberts Chiropractic Clinic, Kissimmee, FL
  [07:42] – [16:57]

Events:

• Last seen working late by appointment.
• Her roommate, Jean, notices Ruth’s car is missing, calls the office (only gets voicemail), senses something amiss, and finds the office door ajar and a cut phone line.
• Ruth is officially reported missing at 10:30pm.

“This seemed odd to Jean, as she knew that Ruth would be working late that evening... an intuition that something was incredibly wrong.” — Nic [08:19]

Crime Scene Clues:
[16:57]

• Office appears robbed, but items described publicly as “not valuable.” Later, a petty cash box and several cards are missing.
• “Sometimes it’s been with something someone thought was unimportant, but there’s nothing unimportant in a homicide investigation.” — Detective Myers, quoted [03:27]

Discovery of the Body:

• Next morning, [02/27], fifth grader spots Ruth’s body in an orange grove near St. Cloud (~10 miles away).
• Ruth is found fully clothed, barefoot, with 11 stab wounds and her throat slashed, plus defensive wounds.
• Items recovered: a plastic case for Billy Thorpe’s “Children of the Sun” cassette (but not the tape), black duct tape, latex glove piece, shoe print (Reebok), tire impressions.

“Her blouse was covered in blood. Ruth was stabbed 11 times and her throat was slashed. She did have defensive wounds.” — Nic [16:57]

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3. Lack of Forced Entry and the Staged Appointment

[25:19]

• Appointment was set up by “Michael Greenwell,” a new patient who provided a non-functioning callback number and claimed Blue Cross/Blue Shield insurance.
• Police confirm Michael Greenwell is a false identity (real Greenwell is a Boston Red Sox player, quickly ruled out).
• Hypothesis: Suspect lured Ruth into a vulnerable position using a fabricated appointment.

“According to the police report, Dr. Howe had been scheduled at the last minute to see a new patient... who said that their name was Michael Greenwell.” — Nic [26:55]

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4. Vehicle Sightings and Forensic Evidence

Witness Reports

• Red small pickup truck (Chevy S10 or Ford Ranger, with crescent logo and black toolbox) seen near body dump site. [18:26][21:26]
• White 1979 Monte Carlo (or similar white sedan) spotted at Ruth’s office, seen driving erratically after abduction.

Forensics

• Tire impressions: B.F. Goodrich Comp T/A, size P215-65—most commonly found on S10/GMC S15 trucks.
• Analysis points to possibility of both vehicles being involved, but not confirmed if working together or alternate vehicles used by a lone suspect.

“You don't think about how vulnerable some of these jobs are... especially in situations where you have clients that you're in physical contact with them.” — Captain [10:29]

Sophistication Evidence

• Suspect uses at least two vehicles, organizes a fake appointment, uses latex gloves and duct tape to impede investigation (e.g., strips left at scene).
• Duct tape likely used to blindfold and bind Ruth during transport; sticky residue found on her face matches tape.

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5. The ATM Footage and Banking Activity

[11:59][47:12]

• Ruth’s ATM card used in Vero Beach (3 hours from abduction site) evening of abduction.
• Security footage captures an individual:
  • Conceals face with hooded sweatshirt tightened over head, green short-sleeved shirt with pockets.
  • Suspected latex gloves.
  • Analysis estimates suspect is Caucasian, 5’3”–5’6” (short for a man, but perceived as male by stature).
  • ATM card never recovered; receipts discarded near victim’s body.

“What you can see on the footage is... a hooded person with no face at all.” — Nic [11:59]

Speculation on Motive and Signature:

• Pattern of robbery aspects not matching brutality.
• Forced cash withdrawals at ATMs are a recurring element.

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6. The Murder of Mary Ellen Wise (Second Patterned Case)

[53:02]

• Date: November 2, 1992 (Monday morning)
• Victim: Mary Ellen Wise, age 39
• Location: Vero Beach, in her home garage

Key Points:

• Boyfriend leaves for work at 7:30am; Mary Ellen is alone in garage with two Doberman pinschers inside the house (dogs may have prevented entry to main house).
• No forced entry; abductor likely entered garage.
• Abducted using her own car (1991 red Honda CRX).
• Blood found in garage, bathrobe torn and stuffed in mailbox.

Banking Activity:

• Forced to withdraw cash ($500) from an ATM in Melbourne, FL.
• Later, a drive-thru bank withdrawal, with teller noting Wise’s odd behavior (pulled to far lane, less talkative, possible sign she was accompanied/coerced).
• Boyfriend reports her missing that evening.

Discovery of Body:

• Eight days later, body found decomposed in field near Fort Pierce.
• Cause of death: severe blunt force trauma to head; signs of struggle and beating.
• Her car found abandoned with broken window nearby.

“If I call [Dobermans] aggressive, I'm going to get some nasty email... but as a criminal, [they] would be a high level deterrent.” — Nic [55:05]

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7. Emerging Patterns and Theories

• Both victims were professional women, attacked while alone at work or home.
• Both abductions involved strategic isolation, forced banking activity, and use of the victim’s car.
• Both crime scenes had unusual forensic/physical evidence (duct tape, glove pieces, distinctive tire and shoe prints).
• Suspect(s) exhibited significant preplanning and organizational skill.

Host Reflections:

• Nic notes the possible use of multiple vehicles by a single organized abductor.
• The Captain draws analogies to other professions with risky single-person appointments.
• The cassette case, bathrobe, and other “random” clues are rigorously debated as possible signatures or misdirection.

“You approach these cases as if everything matters until you can prove it doesn’t.” — Nic [24:00]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “I think this is a crucial piece of information in this case.” — Nic on the deterrence of dogs for intruders [55:44]
• “If one vehicle is seen at the abduction site and there’s a different vehicle seen at the disposal site, then is it possible that law enforcement won’t take certain eyewitness accounts as serious?” — Captain [42:13]
• “There are people that say that this name [Michael Greenwell] wasn’t completely pulled out of thin air.” — Nic [52:46]
• “Her body is dumped, but so are other parts of the crime—receipts, possibly clothing—almost like he’s cleaning up on the go.” — Captain (paraphrased) [49:27]

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Critical Timestamps (Content Only)

• [03:27] — Introduction of Osceola County murder wave and Detective Myers’ approach
• [07:42] – [16:57] — Detailed walk-through Ruth Howe’s disappearance, discovery, and first crime scene analysis
• [18:26][21:26] — Witness accounts of vehicles near the crime scenes
• [25:19][26:55] — Revelation of “Michael Greenwell” appointment setup
• [40:14] — Forensic details: tires, shoes, linking to specific vehicle models
• [47:12] – [48:43] — ATM footage analysis: suspect description, behaviors, and evidence
• [53:02] — Start of Mary Ellen Wise’s case
• [59:58] — Teller’s account of strange banking transaction
• [64:32] — End of Mary Ellen’s narrative and episode wrap-up cue for Part 2

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Tone & Delivery

• Conversational, with Nic leading a detailed narrative and Captain offering reflective, sometimes humorous asides (“I keep eating the sensitive and dumb combo platter”), but always returning to facts and deducing logical possibilities with seriousness.
• Occasional banter and “garage-grown” inside jokes (“tickle your earballs”; “garage’s full of weeds”), but always returning to the gravity of cases.
• High level of respect for victims and the investigative process, with a “nothing is unimportant” mantra throughout.

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Takeaways for Armchair Detectives

• Be wary of “small” details: cassette cases, strange withdrawal behaviors, seemingly minor witness accounts often break cases.
• Patterns matter: methodical approaches across two cases suggest a highly organized, possibly serial, offender at large.
• Forensic evidence—even when decades old—can be rich in clues for cold case investigators and amateur sleuths alike.
• Stay tuned for Part 2, where Nic and The Captain will further probe the “Suspect Number One” theory and additional linked homicides.

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Transcript

[Nick]

Picture this. It's the end of a long week. You're unwinding in the tub, listening to your favorite true crime podcast and then chronic hives come back again in the middle of the episode. What a wet blanket looks like another spell of itchy, swollen, red or skin colored hives. If you have chronic spontaneous urticaria or csu, there may be a different treatment option. Worried about your chronic hives interrupting our next episode? Learn [e-mail] Garage Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. I don't know if you knew this, but anyone can get the same premium wireless for 15amonth plan that I've been enjoying.

[Captain]

It's not just for celebrities.

[Nick]

So do like I did and have one of your assistant's assistants switch you to Mint Mobile today. I'm told it's super easy to [e-mail] Switch upfront payment of $45 for 3 month plan equival to $15 per month required intro rate first 3 months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees, extra fee, full [e-mail].

[Captain]

Foreign.

[Nick]

Welcome to True Crime Garage. Wherever you are, whatever you are doing. Thanks for listening. I'm your host Nick and with me as always, is a man who would like to have the sensitive and dumb combo platter removed from the world's menu. And here is the captain.

[Captain]

That's cuz I keep eating it. It's good to be seen and good to see you. Thanks for listening. Thanks for telling a friend.

[Nick]

This week we are excited to be featuring Boneface Killa by longtime friends of the Show Tactical Brewing Company in beautiful Orlando, Florida. Boneface Killa is a hazy IPA loaded with Citra, Cryo, Mosaic and Northeast Chinook hops ABV 7% garage grade 4 and 3 quarter bottle caps out of five. And let's give some thanks and high praise to some of our good friends for helping us fill up the old garage fridge. First up, a cheers. A double cheers to Jerry and Lisa in Arkansas.

[Captain]

Treat yourself and a big relationship goes out to Ashley P. And Woodlands, Texas.

[Nick]

And last but certainly not least, we have a longdistance cheers to Arnica, Nasty Painter and Exitor England. Everyone we just mentioned went to truecrime garage.com and helped us out with this week's beer fund and for that we thank you.

[Captain]

Yeah, Pwrun Beer run for everything True crime. Check out truecrimegarage.com while you're there. Sign up on the mailing list and Colonel that's enough of the bees.

[Nick]

All right everybody gather round. Grab a chair, grab a beer. Let's talk some true crime. The following is an excerpt from the Orlando Sentinel, a Henry Curtis article published in 1992 one day after Christmas, titled Osceola Killers Leave a Bloody Trail of terror in 92 Kissimmee, Florida Detective John Myers knows almost everything about the day Bonnie Goodson died except the final 20 minutes before her killing. Closing that small gap in could help Kissimmee law enforcement protect its 109 year record of solving murders, a record now threatened by two unsolved cases during Osceola County's deadliest year since the Florida Department of Law Enforcement began tracking homicide data in 1971. By late 1992, 10 people had died in violent crimes in the county. Bonnie Goodson, killed in late November of 92 was the 10th. Meyers says many cases have been solved with community help, often from details people dismissed as minor. Sometimes it's been with something someone thought was unimportant, but there's nothing unimportant in a homicide investigation. He is seeking any information about Bonnie Goodson's movements on the afternoon of November 30, 1992, especially at the Truck Accessory Superstore located at 205 South Bermuda Avenue. That day should be memorable. Murder dominated local conversation after two local men were killed in a carjacking outside Kissimmee the day before, Bonnie Goodson, a 34 year old mother of two daughters, went to work as usual, riding a red single speed bicycle. She served a couple of customers until around noon when a co worker brought her soup from Fat Boy's Barbecue Restaurant on Vine Street. The last known customers, a husband and wife, arrived at 2:30pm and bought a latch for their pickup truck cover. About 20 minutes later, Goodson was found bleeding heavily from head wounds. She died after being flown to Orlando Regional Medical center. Less than $500 was missing from the register. Detective Myers describes the attack as brutal and questions the motive. Was it anger? Was it robbery? Or both? The 1992 killings began only three blocks from Goodson's store on the night of February 26, 1992, when Dr. Ruth Howe, a Kissimmee chiropractor, was abducted from her Bermuda Avenue office. This true crime story focuses on Curtis Huff Jr. A suspect in multiple unsolved homicides in osceola county and five still unsolved cases. The 1992 murders of Ruth Howe, Mary Ellen Wise, Antonio Zuko and Bonnie Goodson in the 2006 murder of Helen McPherson. This is true Crime Garage. This is suspect number.

[Captain]

Foreign.

[Nick]

February 26, 1992. This is Kissimmee, Florida. We have Dr. Ruth Howe, age 41. She's going about what should have been an ordinary workday. The good doctor is a chiropractor at the Sandra Roberts Chiropractic Clinic. That day, patients came and went as usual. The clinic's rhythm of appointments, phone calls, all led to the typical routine end of the day steps. But sometime that evening, those rhythms broke. Ruth's partner, Gene Wagner, tried calling the office and reached what sounded like an automated message. So instead of getting a hold of the roommate, they get the automated message instead. Ruth does not pick up the phone there at the office. This seemed odd to Jean, as she knew that Ruth would be working late that evening. It was the kind of small oddity that can nag at a person, especially when paired with another. Because when Jean gets home from work, Ruth's car was not there. Expecting to see Ruth's car, if she was not at the office, her car should have been been at their home. Jean's worry sharpened into something heavier. An intuition that something was incredibly wrong. So Gene drove to Ruth's office that same night to check for herself. What she found looked like a scene absolutely interrupted. The office door to the business was a jar. A telephone line had been cut. So this is the line that runs from the wall to the desk phone. For Ruth, this line had been cut.

[Captain]

Well, that's not bizarre at all.

[Nick]

Not at all. Gene recalled that someone had scheduled a late appointment that evening with Ruth. This was an appointment that now, in hindsight, felt less like a patient visit and more like some kind of lure. Ruth was officially reported missing that night at 10:30pm this is February 26th, 1992. And investigators, obviously, based off of the details we just covered and what they are seeing at the scene, believe that Ruth had been abducted from her place of work and that this likely had occurred hours prior to her being reported missing. In fact, they put the believed time of abduction at 7.30pm this from her Bermuda Avenue office.

[Captain]

Yeah. You don't think about how vulnerable some of these jobs are. We've talked a lot about real estate agents being vulnerable. I would think chiropractors or masseuse, and especially in situations where you have clients that you're in physical contact with them. Some of these men might not understand that this individual is just doing their job. There's no romantic intimacy here.

[Nick]

Well, and anytime you have somebody looking for a victim or looking to victimize someone, they're often looking for an individual. Right. There's Strength in numbers, the old buddy system. And so when you talk about people like a realtor or in this case a chiropractor, if you can arrange an appointment, you very likely will encounter that person, whether they are your specific target or not, on a solo one on one situation.

[Captain]

Well, and all these individuals, they're essentially being paid to also be nice to you. They're selling a service.

[Nick]

Ruth's business partner, chiropractor Sandra Roberts, said that the office appeared to have been robbed, though publicly what was stated is that the stolen items were described as not valuable. So I guess the kind of theft that doesn't seem to quite add up. Unless robbery is only part of the story.

[Captain]

Yeah, or maybe it's items that the killer touched.

[Nick]

I think it's also, we don't want to be too specific when we tell the public what was stolen because you're hoping to find these items on your perpetrator. After being abducted from the office, investigators believe Ruth was then driven three hours away to Vero Beach, Florida. The basis for this belief wasn't rumor or some vague theory. It was a camera and a bank card. An ATM camera at the SunTrust bank at 1716 Highway A1A captured an image of a person using Ruth Hout's bank card. The person on the footage seems to have taken deliberate steps to hide their identity. What you can see on the footage is an individual wearing a green short sleeved shirt with two buttoned pockets on each side over top. So this short sleeve shirt is over top of a hooded sweatshirt and the hood is pulled up and the strings on the hood pulled tight so it's concealing the face. You cannot see the person's face. So it looks like a hooded person with no face at all. And the hood again is completely closed shut. Authorities could not say this was, this was weird in the beginning parts of this case. So to, I think just to cover all bases here when reviewing this photo and then when it was released to the public, they did state like we, we can't say that that's not Ruth in the underneath the hooded sweatshirt because again, you can't see any features of this person. But they'll do further analysis of this security camera footage later that we will have details of. But that was their statement right out the gate that, you know, we can't say if this is Ruth or not, but we do not believe it to be Ruth based off of the stature in the posture of this individual.

[Captain]

Yeah, you'd think they'd be able to figure out the height pretty Quickly. But if I'm law enforcement, I'm just putting out this image and saying, hey, looking for this person.

[Nick]

The other part of this though too is this is a walk up atm. And part of what I believe that they are saying is Ruth could still be present in this moment, just not caught on the camera because the camera is fixed in a way that it's up close and personal to whoever is the one accessing that atm. What they can say, it's absolutely Ruth's ATM card. And what they were also saying, you know, you can kind of just forget everything that they said right out the gate because what they are saying is we believe the person seen here is the person who is responsible for abducting Ruth. It's the only thing that makes sense. Why else, who else would be this person? Ruth wouldn't stage a scene, I don't think, and then disguise herself only to use her her own personal card at a bank three hours away.

[Captain]

Well, we've seen a quite a few women like to stage their own kidnapping.

[Nick]

Now the implication here, while maybe not so clear, should be clear financially. Accessing her personal accounts, you're going to need, you're going to use this marker on your timeline to narrow the window between her disappearance and what would soon be found. So on the following Morning, this is February 27th. This is a Thursday. A child, this is a fifth grader riding the school bus to school looks out the window and saw something that no child should ever have to see. This is around 8:30am that morning when the child spotted a body in an orange grove.

[Captain]

So for my way to start the

[Nick]

day, yeah, from my understanding, this good kid right here, she sits in the very back of the bus. And it's believed that she's the only one that spotted or at least the only one that reported this site based off of her vantage point in the bus. And this poor girl very quietly and respectfully reports to the bus driver what she saw or believed she was seeing. And so what we do learn is this was in fact the body. And this is about 10 miles east of St. Cloud, Florida. And that body was later determined to be that of Ruth House.

[Captain]

Well, the eyewitness almost didn't see the body because she was listening to Outcasts so loud.

[Nick]

Ruth was found sprawled in the orange grove. She was fully clothed and barefoot. There were no signs of sexual assault, but there was unmistakable violence. Her blouse was covered in blood. Ruth was stabbed 11 times and her throat was slashed. She did have defensive wounds. Near her body lay a clue that Seemed oddly specific. It was a plastic case for a Children of the sun cassette tape, an album by Billy Thorpe. There was, however, no cassette tape. So it's the case with the album cover and the liner notes, but without the actual cassette tape itself.

[Captain]

And because it's in a field, there is a possibility that this doesn't belong to the crime scene. But very strange.

[Nick]

That is the complication of any outdoor crime scene. Absolutely. Discussed many times on this show. As investigators tried to reconstruct the final hours of their victim, they, they began collecting sightings from these same places and the times that they suspected that there would be activity. So they wanted information from the public about a red pickup truck that was reportedly seen near the orange grove area around the time that Ruth was considered missing.

[Captain]

Was the red truck seen on surveillance footage like the hooded individual?

[Nick]

No, this is a truck that was seen, reported to have been seen by someone in the area, I believe possibly by more than one person.

[Captain]

Right.

[Nick]

And it's. Here's the problem. They think they know about what time she was abducted. Okay. And this is why I think they, they are honing in on that 7:30 time period. There's no one there at the office when she's abducted. They have some other information that might lead them to believe that it's 7:30. But, but your critical piece of evidence here that you're going to use is that ATM footage because it's going to have a time stamp on it. You know that the distance traveled is roughly three hours from point A, where the abduction took place at her office, to point B, be the atm. Now, you don't know if she's already been, sorry for the poor terminology here, disposed of by this point, but you have that, that marker there, okay? So you're going to use that marker to come up with that 7:30 abduction time. And then you know that obviously she was placed there before 8:30am So A, A red truck in this remote location, reported to have been seen in this remote location, its activity unknown, is going to be important to you, especially, you know, if once it's in that window of time, and I bet you that window, that time frame is much smaller, much more condensed at what they were looking at in this investigation.

[Captain]

Right. So currently we have the abduction site, her office, we have the surveillance on the atm, and then we have this truck, which might be the transport vehicle, and then we have the disposal site, sorry for the crude term, but do we think that site is where the murder took place, or do we think the murder took place somewhere else? Possibly in a vehicle.

[Nick]

Yeah, so we're looking at a minimum four crime scene situation here. No, they, they believe that while the science would tell you that she expired where she was found, the amount of blood found there does not line up with the amount of blood she would have lost. So the attack started, the physical attack of the stabbing started someplace other than where she was eventually found. So back to the truck here, Captain. Witnesses described the truck as possibly a Chevy S10 or A for Ranger. So this would be a smaller sized pickup truck. They have some pretty good detailed information here though.

[Captain]

Right.

[Nick]

They state that there was a crescent shaped logo on the driver's side door and a black side to side toolbox in the bed of the truck.

[Captain]

So maybe a handyman's vehicle.

[Nick]

They also were looking for answers, of course, at Ruth's last known location, or at least closer to her office. This leads police to finding another sighting of a different vehicle. This is a white 1979 Monte Carlo sedan that was spotted parked in front of Ruth's office on the night that she disappeared. Now, there's another witness that reports seeing a white sedan. The part that's missing from this account is the 79 Monte Carlo. But this is a white sedan, similar to a Monte Carlo, driving erratically north on Bermuda Avenue, then speeding east on Vine Street. And the witness thought that there may have been two people inside the vehicle. So this is, this is very difficult here. You see the truck at this location where the body is later discovered. So you have interest in the truck. You would expect that there would be the abductor and the victim here inside a vehicle together. So now you have two vehicles of interest in your investigation.

[Captain]

So if you're law enforcement, are you thinking two vehicles possibly involved in this crime? Are we thinking one perpetrator? Are we thinking possibly two?

[Nick]

That's a great question. I don't think they're closing doors on either of those possibilities at the.

[Captain]

Because with the eyewitness seeing the white sedan with the two V with the two passengers, you go, well, is that the perpetrator and the victim, or is that two perpetrators and the victims somewhere else in the vehicle?

[Nick]

Exactly. And to your point of the cassette tape, does it have anything to do with the case at all?

[Captain]

Yeah, I am going and pushing. Eject, my friend. And all the car stereos. I'm, I'm looking for that tape that there can't be. There wasn't millions of records sold.

[Nick]

Now, to keep in mind, you know, it's very easy to come in and be a contrarian. On these cases and point to this, that, and the other thing, and go, well, it may not have anything to do with the case at all. May not have anything to do. But. But the way that you need to approach these if you want to solve a case the way that you do it is it has everything to do with your case until it doesn't. Until you can prove that it doesn't. So right now, as it stands, if I'm the investigator, the red truck means something. It was there where the body was found. I want to know when and why it was there, who was driving it, and was that truck there before or after the. The body was placed there? The. The white vehicle, the white sedan, I want to know why was it parked in front of her office? I mean, that's a crime scene. Both of these are crime scenes. So a vehicle at either crime scene has everything to do with your crime, with that crime. And same with the plastic cassette tape box or cover, whatever you want to call it. The. The case. Now, our victim, Ruth, how was known to see patients in the evening? Now, most of us know typically doctors are going to do a 9 to 5, Monday through Friday operation. Ruth would see patients in the evening, but this was strictly by appointment only. So we now go back to this appointment. And remember, her roommate Jean said, I knew that she had an appointment that night. And. And that's why it was weird that I got the automated service or the voicemail when I called the office instead of Ruth picking up the phone.

[Captain]

Well, and that's why I was curious when they state that there was things stolen. I'm starting to think, was there a day planner stolen? Was their contact information stolen? That would lead to the identity of who set up that appointment.

[Nick]

Yeah, and they have that information. So the office, very rightfully so, would not identify the appointment or the patient of that appointment to the papers.

[Captain]

That.

[Nick]

That information was, of course, given to the investigating officers.

[Captain]

Right.

[Nick]

Okay, so let's circle back to some things here. Ruth's bank card had been used at this automated teller machine to withdraw funds from her account on the night that she went missing. And again, this is done by someone caught on camera wearing a strange outfit, concealing their identity. And then her body is discovered the following morning laying in an orange grove. And we will have these images that were captured at the automated teller machine on that February night in 1992 on our social for you to view for yourself. So you know me, captain. I live in the weeds, baby. So let's get I know you know here, shall we? Because we have that information, that information that wasn't given to the papers, we have additional information like the identity or fake identity rather of the after hours patient.

[Captain]

Well, unlike our buddy Ken says it's a nice garage, but it's full of weeds.

[Nick]

According to the police report, Dr. Howe had been scheduled at the last minute to see a new patient. So this is somebody that neither doctor would be familiar with. A new patient who said that their name was Michael Greenwell. This so called Michael Greenwell had phoned the office, left a callback number of 870-3847. And I believe the area code there would be four zero seven. So if you're bored this evening, give that number a call a few times to see who picks up.

[Captain]

Yeah, tell them we sent you.

[Nick]

That's right. And the caller stated that they had insurance. You know, this is a medical practice, so that's going to be a common question. And they stated that their insurance carrier was Blue Cross Blue Shield.

[Captain]

I don't know any Green Wells, so I don't know if that makes it a good fake name or not.

[Nick]

So in the weeds here, Captain. On the night of February 26, 1992, the Kissimmee Police Department responded to 22 North Bermuda Avenue in Kissimmee, Florida. This, in reference to what was the call, was a suspicious incident. Okay, so when the officers arrived, they learned that Dr. Ruth Howe had been working late. And they talk to the owner, her partner, Dr. Sandra Roberts, she owns that chiropractic office. They learned that about approximately 10:15 is when Dr. House roommate went to the office and found the front door ajar. Okay, so she's missing. The roommate enters the office, finds her missing, finds her car still parked out front of the building. And this is when she discovers the cut phone line. Okay, and I know I'm kind of rehashing some of this here, but again, the devil is in the details here. And there are a lot of details in this abduction and murder case. And I want to make sure that none of them are lost on any of us here in the garage.

[Captain]

Yeah, you don't need to apologize. Tell the story the way you want to tell the story.

[Nick]

So some of the items that were missing from the two scenes, right, One, the scene where the body was found and to the scene where the likely abduction, the chiropractic office were as follows. So they believe that some additional cards would be missing. So the bank card or additional bank cards and personal and business type cards of Dr. Ruth Houtz, also missing. And I think this goes along with the ATM card and the activity at the atmosphere. The item not described, simply described as not important or not of value to the newspaper was actually a silver cash box. So this would be an item of value that could have cash in it. In fact, it was the business's petty cash box.

[Captain]

Right.

[Nick]

It stated only that this box contained a small amount of cash, but it also contained two Marriott dinner tickets which is something that I don't think exists to this day. But back in the 90s it was a thing. Now, they did find Ruth Hout's car keys on her desk next to that cut telephone line. And then the following morning when the deputies from the Osceola County Sheriff's office responded to an orange grove off of Hickory Tree Road in St. Cloud, Florida. Again, this is the morning of the 27th. When they arrive they find that Ruth Halt's body in the orange grove. Again, this is a rural section of Osceola county. And very quickly they connect the dots from the call the night before to this call that they're getting in the morning that we've located our missing person. We thought it was an abduction and it's not only unfortunately an abduction, but a street extremely violent one that ended in the stabbing death of our victim. 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[Captain]

All right, we are back. Tall cans in the air. Thank you for letting us tickle your earballs. Cheers to you, colonel.

[Nick]

Cheers to you, captain. Raise them high. Items at the crime scene that were discovered and information that would later come out about this brutal murder was. The medical examiner's office later determined that the cause of death was multiple sharp force injuries to the head, neck, trunk and extremities of the victim. The injuries were caused by a cutting instrument not less than 2 inches and not greater than 14 inches in length. The Osceola county sheriff's office and the Kissimmee police department joined together to investigate the death of Dr. Ruth Hout. Again, we have numerous investigative leads right out of the gate here. Again, we already talked about possibility of a small model red pickup truck seen at the orange Grove police in their notes. We have some portions of the police report and the police file here in this story. And they're stating a lot of obvious stuff in the notes, but I find that to be great thorough police work. Okay. They're saying things as simple as the distance between where her body was found and the abduction location is it would be necessary for a vehicle to be used. Okay, so they. They are asking this question to the medical examiner. We found her here. She was abducted way over here. We know that a vehicle had to have been used to transport her. What's your opinion, medical examiner, about what took place between the abduction time and us discovering the body? And that's when the medical examiner explains, look, do the vehicle used would have had a large amount of blood staining in it due to the amount of blood missing from the victim's body. Right. So the doctor explains that while Dr. How? May have been stabbed in a vehicle she expired in the orange grove. At the orange grove. They also recovered tire impressions from the crime scene. These tire castings were examined and found to be that of B.F. goodrich Comp T, a model P215 65. Okay. I say all that just to tell you this. That tire comes from the factory which is most often used on a small model pickup truck. Okay. You can also buy it aftermarket and put it on your pickup truck. But it's most commonly used on. On newer GMC S15s and Chevy S10s and other small GMC pickup trucks. Again, some of these from the factory when you purchase the sports value package.

[Captain]

Yeah. So not impossible that it would be on a Ford Ranger. But we have people saying, well, maybe it's a Ford Ranger, maybe it's a S10. But if you're going to go into direction, you're probably looking for a S10, S10 or GMC.

[Nick]

And what's cool about this information is you can kind of pry, right? You're going to keep a list of all these possible trucks and the models, but you can kind of prioritize them based off of this information.

[Captain]

Well, I want to know how far away this is mile wise. And depending on if we know it's a S10 or roughly an S10, then what's the range of an S10 on a full tank of gas? And where would an individual possibly have to refill? And are there any eyewitnesses around those areas?

[Nick]

Yeah. What I'm finding to be the most interesting here, circling back to one abductor or a team of. Of abductors is either way, this would appear to me to be highly thought out and planned. Whether the abductor or abductors knew the victim or not. That's neither here nor there. That doesn't. It will mean something to your investigation, but it doesn't mean anything to the indicators of this being highly planned. Because what I'm seeing here is this red truck while spotted at the orange grove, never seen at the abduction location.

[Captain]

Right.

[Nick]

The white sedan, white Monte Carlo seen at the abduction location, never seen at the location where the bodies later discovered. And we don't have any vehicle information regarding the ATM situation. But what I'm seeing here is the likelihood of one abductor that managed to use two vehicles in the course of this abduction.

[Captain]

Yeah. There's a sophistication to this. Right. If, if one vehicle is seen at the abduction site and there's a different vehicle seen at the disposal Site, then is it possible that law enforcement won't take certain eyewitness accounts as serious?

[Nick]

I would prioritize the small red pickup truck because what's the difference between the two locations? One's very remote and rural, and the other is a business area, highly populated. So if I've. If I think that my killer is smart enough to think this out and think this through and put some things into place.

[Captain]

Right.

[Nick]

I then would have to believe that he was. Would be smart enough to use someone else's vehicle conveniently for the abduction and use his truck, which would less likely to have been seen for the actual attack, killing and disposal of the victim.

[Captain]

So with the information we have so far is your. We're talking about this at CrimeCon. You used to do your own profiles, and I really enjoyed them, but you have kind of gone away from doing your own profiles.

[Nick]

Well, I don't know that I. Look, obviously I'm not qualified to do them, but it is our show, in my show and our garage. So, yeah, if I'm qualified for whatever I claim here. Once you've stepped into. Once you come back, press past the threshold of the garage door. My friends, you are at our mercy here. The problem is, I would love to tell you what, what I think my profile would be, but I cannot in good faith do so knowing that we are only about a quarter of the way through the information that will point to our. Point to what. What we think happened here. So here's some other things that may indicate that this was well planned and well thought out.

[Captain]

So what you're saying is this killer is organized.

[Nick]

Yeah. So at one of the crime scenes, this would be where the victim was recovered. They also recovered black duct tape. So a small portion of a latex glove and some black duct tape was discovered at the body discovery scene. Okay, so a physical examination of this black duct tape in comparison with the victim's body indicate that this tape was used to bind her and also placed over her eyes during the portion of transporting this victim. So they found a sticky substance on the victim's forehead and eyebrow that was similar to the substance on the backing of the tape that was found at that scene. So while not attached to the body, found near the body, they've confirmed we have everything indicating that this tape has everything to do with our crime. Now, they also find near the body a tennis shoe or sneaker impression. Shoe print impressions were found near the body. They would later determine that this. These impressions came from a Reebok style tennis shoe or sneaker.

[Captain]

So we have tire marks, we have shoe prints.

[Nick]

Yep.

[Captain]

So we're getting some identifiers here.

[Nick]

Duct tape, a piece of a latex glove. If, if our abductor is using duct tape, I would, I would absolutely believe that he's using gloves.

[Captain]

Yeah.

[Nick]

And again, we also have that cassette tape box or case bearing the name Billy Thorpe. Children of the Sun Classic. It's. It's a good song. I don't know the album, but that's a good song. Detectives learned that Dr. Houts Sun bank automatic teller card had been used at the sun bank in Vero Beach, Florida. The unidentified suspect was captured on film by the ATM security camera. And again, that person's identity concealed. And this wasn't by accident. This was somebody that made sure you were not going to see who was accessing that machine. Now, they further examination of this security camera footage. They couldn't confirm this, Captain, but they were saying, we think that the individual using the machine is wearing latex gloves. And they also think that the top shirt, remember the person put a short sleeve shirt over top of a hooded sweatshirt.

[Captain]

Right.

[Nick]

Can be seen in the ATM footage. A shirt similar to this is found next to the doctor's body. This shirt was saturated with a red substance, later determined to be blood. It was never stated whose blood it was. I'm guessing it was the victim's blood. And the shirt had a label attached to it that was labeled Dax or Dax. Further analysis of the camera footage determined that the person in that video was between 5 foot 3 inches tall and 5 foot 6 inches tall. And they openly stated the individual is Caucasian.

[Captain]

Do we have any indication? Because that's a. That'd be a short male. Is there any thought that this could be a female?

[Nick]

Again, based off of the stature and the, the posture of the individual, it looks male to me. Now, I'm basing a lot of that off of the. What I think I can see with the neck and the shoulders. But I've watched American Gladiators and I've. I've seen some pretty cool shoulders on, on those women. So it's, it. I, I think you can't say with a great degree of certainty. And you're right, the height is interesting.

[Captain]

Well, the shoulders, it's, it's. It's an underappreciated thing on women. I like a woman with some nice shoulders.

[Nick]

The suspect, whoever it was, was unable to retrieve any money from the ATM and discarded the receipts from the machine next to the doctor's body. That particular ATM card has never been recovered at this point in our investigation, of course, they are attempting to try to identify the subject who made the appointment under the name of Michael Greenwell. Detectives contacted Blue Cross and Blue Shield, the supposed insurance company, and a representative told investigators that they did not have anyone covered under their insurance by the name of Michael Greenwell.

[Captain]

Well, question for you, because it seems like this disposal site is not just disposing of the body, but it's disposing of other parts of the crime. And so it makes me wonder, and I don't know how well you know or understand this location, but is it the type of location where it's like, I'm disposing of this victim and they may never find heard there?

[Nick]

It looks a little too open. I. I don't know. I think I've been to this Vero beach general area once in my lifetime, so I'm not going to claim to have a good understanding. I certainly don't have a great understanding of this very specific location. But looking at it on a map and from the pictures I've seen, it looks way too open to think that the victim would not be found. And in fact, it looks way too open to think that the victim might not be found relatively quickly. I think that it was a location that was more about not concealing the body and more about just getting rid of something that you needed to get rid of and not being seen in that moment, not being connected to it in that moment. Now, investigators did locate one individual by the name of Michael Greenwell that lived in South Florida. There was. Apparently there was only one of them, and he's a professional baseball player with the Boston Red Sox. And, okay. They also noted that while they didn't give out his specific height, he doesn't match the height requirements of our suspect seen at the ATM machine.

[Captain]

You don't have to be tall to be a good baseball player.

[Nick]

But you don't. But I don't. There's not a whole lot of 5 foot 3, 5 foot 4. Right. Professional baseball players. So just to be clear here, this Michael Greenwell, very quickly ruled out. And I'm sure I would wager a Franklin here, Captain, that his height is not the only reason why he was right.

[Captain]

I mean, obviously, if he's playing for the Red Sox. Right. He probably is not in the Florida area at the time.

[Nick]

Well, it's February. Well, it's February.

[Captain]

Okay, well, we need to check his alibis then.

[Nick]

That's right. Maybe he was on his knees at the ATM machine.

[Captain]

Hey, very talented man.

[Nick]

Unfortunately, Captain Ruth Hout's case did not stand alone. So later that same year, 1992. This year would become a bleak ledger of unsolved violence. Another woman's life was torn apart in a crime that investigators describe as eerily similar in its pattern of both abduction and forced bank activity.

[Captain]

Okay, and I know you're moving on to another crime, but just to throw this out there, because I won't have a chance later, is there any reason to believe that this person would pick this name knowing it was a baseball player?

[Nick]

There are people that would later share that suspicion if that is right, if that is a suspicion of yours. Like it.

[Captain]

I'm suspicious of everything, my friend.

[Nick]

Yeah, there. There are people that say that this name is. Wasn't completely pulled out of thin air

[Captain]

because I was just watching Catch me if you can again. And Frank Abenel would use names from comic books.

[Nick]

So later that same year, Again, this is 1992. We're now in the month of November. This is November 2nd. We're again in Vero Beach, Florida. We have Mary Ellen Wise. She's 39 years old. She's at home doing something as ordinary as laundry. And it's around 7:30am and she is working in the garage of her home. So she owns the home. Her boyfriend lives with her. They've been together about three years from what I could find at this time. And the reason why we're starting this timeline at 7:30am is because that is when he leaves for work. And so now, starting at 7:30am she is alone. It's believed that shortly after the boyfriend left that an unknown assailant entered her home. Now, those are the words that they always use. I would like to push back on that. I think that that's just. I think that's just reporter speak, or that's what the cops told the reporters and they ran with it. Because what's always stated in this crime is that there's no signs of forced entry. I think that that is a critical point in this case and in the investigation. The other part of this, too is Mary Ellen Wise. She was a dog mother. Mother, right. Got the Godfather. She's a dog mother. She has two Doberman pinscher dogs which are. Which can be very. Most dogs can be protective of their owners and their loved ones, but these dogs are reported to be very protective of Mary Ellen number one. And number two, these are typically dogs that are used for security purposes.

[Captain]

Right.

[Nick]

If I call them aggressive, I'm going to get some nasty email by some overly affectionate dog person. No I love dogs as much as the next guy.

[Captain]

I've maybe more.

[Nick]

I've been fortunate enough to have many, have several in my lifetime. So. Well.

[Captain]

And I had a rescue for just a little bit, just helping out to make sure it got a proper home, proper home that I wasn't able to give the dog. But that dog was very protective. Big dog, strong dog, and there's something empowering. But, you know, the UPS driver would knock on the door and I thought the dog was gonna jump through the door and rip the driver's head off just to protect me. So I think this is a crucial piece of information in this case.

[Nick]

Yes. And as someone who worked in security for a long period of time, you are always trained to look at every location, building, access point, backyard, front yard, property. From the potential criminal's perspective, what would the criminal looking at this view as a weakness or a deterrent for the crime that they want to commit? A Doberman, to me as a criminal, would be a high level deterrent because not only are they strong, powerful dogs, they are incredibly fast. They are faster than human beings. I'm not going to dance with that animal. So around this time, an assailant, as they say, it entered her home. Again, no signs of forced entry. What we're going to see here at this crime scene here, Captain, is why I don't think the assailant ever actually entered her home. I think the assailant entered her garage where she was out doing laundry. I think that the assailant got lucky that those dogs were inside where they couldn't get outside to assist Mary Ellen.

[Captain]

And the timeline starts like you said, 7:30. The partner is leaving the house, I'm guessing leaving through the garage. If she's doing laundry, there's a good possibility that she's like, I'll just leave the door open. I'll. I'll shut it later.

[Nick]

Yeah, maybe it's nice outside and leaves it open because of the. The great weather. What we do know that's going to be missing from the scene is, is not just our victim, but also the victim's car. So somebody forcefully abducted Mary Ellen using her own vehicle. This was a Honda CRX. And from there, what we have is what appears to be a controlled transactional phase of this abduction. So Mary Ellen was forced to drive to a bank in Melbourne, Florida to withdraw an undisclosed amount of money from an ATM. It was undisclosed in 92. I'm here to tell you that all the reports I found since 92 indicate that it was about $500 that was removed from an ATM, which could be

[Captain]

the standard limit on an ATM, could

[Nick]

be the, the max amount allowed. Now later that day another withdrawal was made, this time at a drive thru window at the united savings of America bank on U. S Highway 1 in Vero Beach, Florida. So for this Mary would have had to have written a check from my understanding. Now the details of that drive through withdrawal are interesting because the bank teller believes something was off, maybe in just a happenstance type of scenario. But the bank teller would later tell police that it was odd because they had three lanes for the window that you could drive through. And the bank teller was familiar with Mary Ellen and had waited on Mary Ellen many, many times. She's lived in this area forever. And so she, the I said she, but I don't know if it was a male or female bank teller. So forgive me, but the bank teller told police that Mary Ellen would always pull up to the window that was attached to the building, you know, so that she's pulls up in the nearest lane all the time. And they exchange pleasantries and talk for a little bit while they're doing the transaction. But this time for reasons unknown to the teller, Mary Ellen pulls up to the third lane the furthest from the window. And remember she's got this little small Honda CRX car. So this is a two door vehicle with a very small back seat, if it has much of a back seat at all. The teller would tell police that they, they didn't think that they saw anybody inside the vehicle, but that doesn't mean that somebody isn't in there. And the teller, I was going to

[Captain]

say as a bank teller, yeah, most of the time they're friendly. Most of the time we're, we're chatting it up a little bit but okay, but it didn't happen this time. But probably no alarm bells are going off. It's just after the fact, once you know, she was abducted that you go, oh well now these, these things that didn't really matter then make sense now.

[Nick]

Yes. And the teller would tell police that they had said something to Mary Ellen like oh what, you don't like me anymore? And that Mary Ellen laughed but wasn't her normal talkative self. And so they, they cashed the check or made the withdrawal and then Mary Ellen and the CRX Honda moved on and everybody went about their day. Now Mary back at her house. Mary Ellen's live in boyfriend, his name is John, reported her missing. But this would be later that night. So a lot of time has gone by between the time that he leaves for work when she's reported missing. So he is both believed to be the last person to see her. Well, at least the last person to see her at her home and the same person to report her missing. Police seem to think after reviewing the scene that A, she was abducted and B, that it happened shortly after John had left the house. They found blood in the garage area and near where her car would have been parked. And another strange thing here they found a robe like a bathrobe that was like ripped in half or torn and stuffed inside their mailbox.

[Captain]

That's.

[Nick]

I'm guessing it might be some of the laundry that she was doing.

[Captain]

Yeah, but one of the partner be able to identify that.

[Nick]

Well, just because. Just because they didn't tell us where. Where it came from doesn't mean they don't know.

[Captain]

Very true. So I want them to tell me everything. Okay.

[Nick]

Well, I do too. How can I solve these crimes if

[Captain]

you don't tell me everything?

[Nick]

I. I'm guessing it doesn't belong to the perpetrator. It would be be some good evidence there. Two days later, her 1991 red Honda CRX is found in four Fort Pierce, Florida. This is in a parking lot at a boat ramp on Seaway Drive and Indian River Drive. So near that intersection. The car had a broken window and there was glass lying on the ground beside it.

[Captain]

But that could have happened afterwards. Right.

[Nick]

And I. I apologize here I'm reviewing my notes and it states. Oh, no, it doesn't. It does not state who the torn robe belonged to. It just simply says torn robe was found in her mailbox and blood was found in the garage where the car had originally been parked. Authorities declined to say what other evidence might have been found with the vehicle, and they did not discuss details of lab test on the blood. Remember the blood found in the garage? So she's missing for almost a week when on November 8th 8th, her fully clothed body, already very badly decomposed, was found in a field about 200 yards northwest of Peanut Lake, roughly four miles west of Fort Pierce. Discovered by a local Fort Pierce resident. Reports later concluded she died of. She died from blunt force trauma to the head. Investigators believe that she had struggled and that she had suffered massive trauma, a beating severe enough to register as brutal. Even among hardened case investigators. Those who loved Mary Ellen remembered her not as a headline, but as a person who had already survived enormous pain in her life and the early 1980s. She had been in a very, very serious car accident and nearly shattered every bone in her body Recovery took roughly a decade and she fought her way back to life only for someone in 1992 to take it from her.

[Captain]

So much more to get to in this true crime story. Stick around for part two. Until then, be good, be kind and don't. Sam.