The Twin Cities Weepy Killer /// Part 2 /// 772

Summary

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True Crime Garage: "The Twin Cities Weepy Killer /// Part 2 /// 772"

Date: July 10, 2024
Hosts: Nic & The Captain

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Episode Overview

This episode concludes the two-part dive into Minnesota's infamous "Weepy Voiced Killer," covering the escalation of his crimes, the confounding investigation, the ultimate capture, and the complex psychology behind his remorseful post-crime phone calls. Nic and The Captain break down how police chased leads, including an infamous false confession; how a key survivor, a vigilant bartender, and a brave intended victim contributed to the case crack; and the chilling duality of the killer's persona. The hosts blend forensic detail, dark humor, and human insight throughout, offering context for both armchair detectives and true crime aficionados.

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Key Discussion Points & Investigative Insights

Police Investigation and the Early Calls

• Phone Calls as Key Evidence:
  The killer called police after each attack, including after the first (Karen Potak) and the murder of Kimberly Compton. Police responded quickly—at one point arriving at a payphone just 60 seconds after he hung up ([02:58]).
• Voice Analysis:
  Discussion on whether the killer’s high-pitched, emotional voice was genuine or disguised ([05:17]):
  • “I believed that it was a combination of...he was emotional...and the attempt at the same time to disguise his voice.” – Nic ([05:37])
• Police Tactics:
  The recorded calls were released to news outlets, hoping recognition of the voice would yield leads. Detectives even played the calls to bartenders and liquor store owners, as the killer confessed to drinking heavily ([02:58]).

The False Confession – Alan Lopez

• The Lopez Diversion:
  Alan Lopez, a severely disturbed man, murdered his own family, then confessed in jail to the Compton murder, leading to a lengthy police standoff ([12:31]).
  • His confession and subsequent suicide caused the investigation to stall, as police thought the case solved until another murder linked to the Weepy Voiced Killer occurred ([14:05]).
  • “Alan Lopez confesses to the murder of Kimberly Compton. But then while in jail for killing his parents and sister, Alan Lopez takes his own life.” – Nic ([13:30])

Barbara Simons’ Murder – A Break in the Case

• Connection by Circumstance:
  Barbara Simons met her killer at the Hexagon Bar. A bartender, after Simons commented “he’s cute, I hope he’s nice since he’s giving me a ride home,” was able to give police a solid description—and later picked Stefani from a photo lineup ([22:03-24:40]).
  • “The bartender...made mental note of the dude after being told by Barbara, hey, this guy is going to drive me home.” – Nic ([22:00])

Piecing the Pattern and Victimology

• Escalating Violence:
  The killer changed weapons between attacks (tire iron/crowbar, ice pick, shoelace, screwdriver), likely to ensure lethality after a failed attempt ([06:17-08:48]).
• Matching M.O. and Voice:
  The same high-pitched, emotional voice confessed to both Compton and Simons’ murders, with matching physical injuries at the crime scenes ([17:49-19:46]).
• Survivor Resilience:
  Denise Williams, a streetwise 19yo, anticipated trouble, fought back with a bottle when attacked, and survived multiple stab wounds—vital for the arrest of Stefani ([26:27-38:42]).
  • Douglas Panning, a “Good Samaritan,” intervened, further aiding the case ([34:44-38:30]).

The Arrest and Evidence

• Crucial Mistake by the Killer:
  After being wounded by Williams, Stefani called 911 for medical help, inadvertently aligning his injuries, vehicle, and description with police reports and eyewitnesses ([36:38-38:42]).
• Linking Prior Employment:
  Stefani had previously worked as a janitor at the manufacturing site where Potak (the first known victim) was found, strengthening the circumstantial link ([25:59-26:27]).

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Memorable Moments & Notable Quotes

• On the Odd Fame of the Killer’s Nickname:
  • “At least this serial killer name is not flattering. It’s not like BTK or Son of Sam...The Weepy Pee Pee Voice Killer, it’s a little more degrading.” – Captain ([11:12])
• Describing the Calls:
  Nic reads a transcript from a killer’s call:
  • “I am sorry what I did to Compton. I couldn’t help it. I don’t know why I had to stab her. I’m so upset about it. I keep getting drunk every day and I can’t believe I killed her. I can’t think of being locked up. If I get locked up, I’ll kill myself.” ([11:30])
• On the Reality That Most Killers Don’t Actually Want to Get Caught:
  • “That old myth of that most of these serial killers want to get caught, well that’s just frankly not true...because they continue to kill.” – Nic ([07:29])
• Analyzing Catharsis and Confession:
  • “I think it was really just a selfish move...But what it does help is it confirms everyone’s suspicions that he killed Kimberly Compton. So that case is closed.” – Nic ([42:11])
• Comparing ‘Weepy Voice’ with Zodiac’s Psychology:
  • “With Paul Stefani, he too, in a weird way, appears to be at payphones close enough that he would know that police and emergency services...there is actually a response to his call.” – Nic ([47:46])
• On Denise Williams' Survival Tactics:
  • “If you read like survival books...persons that plan their escape in any situation prior to needing to escape...stand a 30 to 40% better chance of surviving the situation.” — Nic ([28:30])

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Timeline of Key Events (with Timestamps)

• [02:58] – Immediate aftermath of first attacks, police arrive nearly simultaneously with killer’s call.
• [05:17–08:48] – Debate over whether killer’s “weepy voice” is real, remorseful, or a disguise.
• [11:30] – Host reads verbatim from killer’s apologetic, emotional phone call after Compton’s murder.
• [13:30–14:05] – Alan Lopez’s confession, family murders, suicide, and the investigation’s stall.
• [14:05–15:41] – Murder of Barbara Simons; phone confession calls investigation into Lopez into doubt.
• [22:00–24:40] – Bartender provides break in case with a positive ID.
• [26:27–30:22] – Stefani’s surveillance, link to former worksite, and how police build the case.
• [34:44–36:38] – Denise Williams' attack and survival; Good Samaritan assists.
• [38:42–39:46] – Trial of Stefani, phone call voice confirmed by family; Stefani convicted of murder and attempted murder.
• [41:52–44:36] – Stefani’s cancer diagnosis leads to confessions, including a previously unknown murder (Kathleen Greening).
• [47:46–50:28] – Final observations about the psychological implications of Stefani’s calls; comparison to Zodiac.

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Psychological Insights & Case Resolution

• Complex Remorse:
  Stefani’s calls could indicate a disturbed blend of remorse and an urge for attention/self-absolution, possibly rooted in his religious upbringing and fear of eternal punishment ([42:11–42:25]).
• Serial Offender’s Paranoia:
  Killer’s choice of payphone—close to both crime scenes and police response routes—suggests both deep anxiety and twisted satisfaction ([47:46]).
• After Death Confessions:
  Facing his own mortality, Stefani confessed to Compton and Greening's murders (the latter previously unsolved and ruled accidental), closing those cold cases ([41:52–44:36]).

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Case Legacy and Hosts’ Final Thoughts

• Stefani’s Death:
  Died of cancer in prison, June 12, 1988, after finally confessing to his full series of Twin Cities attacks ([48:00–50:28]).
• Reflection on True Crime Psychology:
  The episode closes with a reference to the importance of understanding criminal motives and techniques, and a recommendation for further reading on profiler John Douglas’ When a Killer Calls ([50:39]).

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Additional Reading Recommendation

• Book: When a Killer Calls by John Douglas & Mark Olshaker
  “It falls in line with a lot of what we talked about here this week in the Garage.” – Nick ([50:39])

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This episode is a comprehensive examination of the Weepy Voiced Killer, diving into the dark psychology, twists of the investigation, and community/police efforts that finally ended a haunting series of Twin Cities crimes.

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Transcript

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[Nick (True Crime Garage Host)]

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[Nick (True Crime Garage Host)]

Welcome to True Crime Garage. Wherever you are, whatever you're doing. Thanks for listening. I'm your host, Nick, and with me, as always, is a man with a message. And that message is Yokiro Taco Bell.

[Captain (Co-host of True Crime Garage)]

Here is the cap, True Crime and Taco Tuesday. It's good to be seen and good to see you. Thanks for listening. Thanks for telling a friend.

[Nick (True Crime Garage Host)]

Today we are still sipping on some Founders Mortal Bloom. This is a delicious hazy IPA with 6.2% ABV. The brewers at founders selected four kinds of hops for this delicious beer. Citra, Mosaic, Chinook and Cascade. Add in some wheat malt and oats, plus some citrusy and tropical notes and there you have it. Founders Mortal Bloom Garage grade four and a quarter bottle caps out of five. And let's praise and cheers our friends for helping out with the beer fund. First up, a big shout out to Chindo from Dallas, Texas.

[Captain (Co-host of True Crime Garage)]

And a big we like to give to Allison Pittman from Lincoln, United Kingdom.

[Nick (True Crime Garage Host)]

And here's a cheers to Carrie Hanko from Herbertus, Wisconsin. And last but certainly not least, we have a double fisted cheers to Phil and Rachel in Rochester, New York. Thank you to everyone for contributing to this week's beer fun for the beer run.

[Captain (Co-host of True Crime Garage)]

Yeah, PWWAN Beer run. Go to truecrimegarage.com and make sure you sign up on the mailing list. And. And guess what? That's enough of the business.

[Nick (True Crime Garage Host)]

All right, everybody gather around, grab a chair, grab a beer. Let's talk some true crime. Just like the call that came in after the horrific attack on Karen Potak, who survived, somehow managed to survive that attack from New Year's Eve on the last day of 1980, the attack that took place six months later, roughly six months later, that led to the murder of 18 year old Kimberly Compton. I do know, Captain here that the first call, at least the very first call in that series that was traced to a payphone. In fact, police say that once they were able to compare their patrol and cruiser logs with the payphone booth call log, it's their belief that they arrived approximately 1 minute, 1 minute, 60 seconds after the killer caller hung up the phone. The St. Paul Police Department really worked this case about as thoroughly as anyone could. They released the call for the news channels to play some of the calls. You know, we discussed that there were multiple phone calls from the attacker in Kimberly Compton's case. Some of those calls were recorded, the ones that were recorded, those were released to the news outlets to play. The police were hoping that someone obviously would recognize the voice or even the words that were used in those calls. And if such a person came forward, this would be a major lead, a major break in their investigation. And then this is, this is smart. This is rather smart. In one of the calls, the killer said that he, quote, was getting drunk every day. So the detectives were going around and talking to and playing the calls, the recorded calls for bartenders and liquor store owners, hoping that one of them could identify the man's voice.

[Captain (Co-host of True Crime Garage)]

Question for you. When you first heard these calls, did you believe that this man just had a higher pitched voice or do you believe that this was a way to disguise the voice or because he was emotional? Is this why his voice was higher in pitch?

[Nick (True Crime Garage Host)]

I believed that it was a combination of a couple of the things you said. I think that it was a combination of he was emotional, whether that's selfishness or remorseful, what have you. I, I, I wouldn't, won't attempt to, to know the answer to that, but my guess here, Captain, is that it's a combo of being emotional and the attempt to at the same time to disguise his voice.

[Captain (Co-host of True Crime Garage)]

And we both agree he's a piece

[Nick (True Crime Garage Host)]

of, oh, I mean there, we shouldn't have to say it. If there's a person out there that thinks he's not, let's find you and put you away as well.

[Captain (Co-host of True Crime Garage)]

Yeah, we might not need to say it, but it's fun to say.

[Nick (True Crime Garage Host)]

I mean, he's a piece of, he practically, he attempted to beat a woman to death with a tire iron or crowbar and then followed that up by six months later, so, so nicely attacking a woman with an ice pick that, oh, by the way, he stabbed her 61 times with, with an ice pick and then strangled her with her own shoelace. So. Well, see, to me, piece of doesn't do it justice.

[Captain (Co-host of True Crime Garage)]

Well and we've seen this with other cases, right, where an attacker serial killer changes their weapon. And in this case, because we've seen it, whether it's been a gun used or a knife used, where I think these killers don't like the reaction of the victim. And so to, to stop that reaction, they strangle them.

[Nick (True Crime Garage Host)]

Yeah, I think that maybe this, unfortunately that this is just, there's no nice way to put it. I really think he was just making sure he got the job done because he didn't with Karen.

[Captain (Co-host of True Crime Garage)]

Right.

[Nick (True Crime Garage Host)]

And the he, he got lucky in the Karen case. And you know, I say this all the time in these situations. I've never reviewed one where the, the, the victim gets lucky. I've only reviewed cases where the assailant and the, the killer get lucky. And he got lucky in that case that when she woke up she couldn't recall anything about him. She couldn't describe his vehicle, she couldn't describe much of the attack at all. And I'm sure that that probably scared him as let's, let's go down the road of, of pretending for a moment that he is truly remorseful. And then that old myth of that most of these serial killers want to get caught, well that's just frankly not true. I don't care what, what scientist or psychologist is going to try to sell me that. I ain't buying it. Why? Because they continue to kill. I've, I've reviewed one serial killer case where the guy walked into the police department said I'm a serial killer, lock me up. One out of hundreds of serial killer cases. So.

[Captain (Co-host of True Crime Garage)]

Well, I think it's a double edged sword because I do think some of these killers want to confess. They want, oh yeah, then they want this urge to stop and they want somebody to help them. But the consequence is once you then confess, you're going to prison and nobody wants to go to prison.

[Nick (True Crime Garage Host)]

You can have a slight bit of remorse but still not want to get caught. Those are not the same thing. And so with this guy, I really think that the, the strangulation with the shoelace was he got scared that his previous victim woke up and could have potentially described him in his vehicle and describe their conversations and that probably in his mind would have led him to getting caught. Because what we do know about these, these types from persons that eventually do get caught. Ed Kemper said this BTK said this, that right after the first kill, both of them just expected for helicopters and police sirens to start going off like that. They, that they were caught without any investigation at all. Like there's that, that immediate paranoia. So his victim wakes up the first one, and he definitely was scared at some point he was going to get caught for this. And I think that the shoelace was just not leaving the potential of not leaving the witness making sure that this one doesn't wake up. Now we know that infamously this killer would go on to be known as the Weepy Voiced Killer. But actually early on they were calling him the Whimpering Killer. Again, just both different ways of describing the voice that police and dispatchers are hearing when the calls come in. And all we. I do have a transcript of one of the Kimberly Compton calls. And I'm not, I'm not going to try to impersonate the call. I'll just, I'll just read.

[Captain (Co-host of True Crime Garage)]

Please don't.

[Nick (True Crime Garage Host)]

No, because the way that the voice, to me, the best, the best thing that I can attempt to equate this voice to it. Do you remember the, the sketch comic, Michael McDonald, MAD TV, the Stuart Lin skit where he plays the, the, the child. And to me, the, to me, the Weepy Voice killer or the Whimpering killer, whatever you know you want to call him. To me it sounds like someone attempting a male voice, attempting to do an impersonation of Stuart Larkin's mother, Doreen. That's, that's what my, the way that it hits my.

[Captain (Co-host of True Crime Garage)]

Well, at least this serial killer name is not flattering. It's not like BTK or Son of Sam. But if they would have just took my suggestion, the Weepy Pee Pee Voice Killer, it's a little more degrading.

[Nick (True Crime Garage Host)]

So from the transcript of one of the Kimberly Compton calls, the transcript reads as follows. I am sorry what I did to Compton. I couldn't help it. I don't know why I had to stab her. I'm so upset about it. I keep getting drunk every day and I can't believe I killed her. I can't think of being locked up. If I get locked up, I'll kill myself. So after releasing the calls to the public, the police said that the first few days they were receiving, quote, a call every five minutes. This from people offering information, submitting tips and just trying to help in general. This provided, of course, a lot of leads for the five detectives that were dedicated, that the police department dedicated to this single case. But as quickly as this whole investigation ramped up, gaining Momentum. It all came to an abrupt halt when in late August of this Same year of 1981, a man confronted police with a gun. When they tried to apprehend him, he fled and barricaded himself inside of his home. Actually it was his parents home for which he as an adult still lived with them. This was the start of a 15 hour standoff. The standoff ended when the man at 1:30am on Saturday August 29, he attempted to flee out the back door of the home and he was quickly apprehended by the police. So he fled the house because he had set several fires inside and was running out of options. Once inside the home, Police discovered that 26 year old Alan Lopez. He's the man that fled from the home, that was arrested. He had killed his parents Raymond and Charlotte using an ax and a metal pipe. Now in the basement police found the body of Lopez's sister Linda, her age was 23 at the time, who was burned beyond recognition. This Alan Lopez would to me fit the description of the quote, regular maniac like the one Kimberly's grandfather was talking about. Alan Lopez confesses to the murder of Kimberly Compton. But then while in jail for killing his parents and sister, Alan Lopez takes his own life. Unfortunately he was a very, very disturbed individual and along with his severe mental illness, he was drinking excessively.

[Captain (Co-host of True Crime Garage)]

Probably a way to try to self medicate.

[Nick (True Crime Garage Host)]

So okay, well that wraps things up. But not so fast Mr. Shout out to the great Lee Corso. So now we go to August 5th, 1982. This is after the death of Alan Lopez. 40 year old Barbara Simons is at a place called the Hexagon Bar in Minneapolis. A man approached Barbara asking for a cigarette and she gave him one. And then the pair began talking. Barbara spoke with the man long enough for her to feel comfortable with him. As the night came to a close, he offered her a ride home and she accepted. After spending the night at the bar, Barbara Simons tells the bartender, he's cute. I hope he's nice since he's giving me a ride home now. Simons was found stabbed to death the next day. The weepy voiced killer contacted police after the murder of Barbara saying please don't talk, just listen. I'm sorry. I killed that girl. I stabbed her 40 times. Kimberly Compton was the first one over in St. Paul. So think about this for a second. You have law enforcement that believe that the, the killer of Kimberly Compton killed himself in jail before he could be tried with these, these other crimes that he was accused of. The, the burning the House, the killing of his parents and his sister. So for a couple of months, you don't have really much in the way of an investigation because you think this guy. Well, he confessed to killing Kimberly Compton.

[Captain (Co-host of True Crime Garage)]

And we know he's capable.

[Quince Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Captain (Co-host of True Crime Garage)]

Of such a crime. Most question for you, because they did have a sketch that they release of the suspect, but when did that happen?

[Nick (True Crime Garage Host)]

Well, that's perfect timing for that question, because this is where they get their first description of the man. So there is a part of this case that's a little confusing to the outsider until you really delve and dive deep into this case. There was donkey. There was a sketch that was released shortly after Kimberly Compton was murdered, but that sketch was not of the. So I have to kind of fully describe this or it won't make much sense. Yeah, they. They released this sketch of this individual, and they say that this person is the last person seen talking to Kimberly Compton at the bus depot. Remember, she went from the. The bus depot to across the street to the diner. So they're not saying that the man that she was talking to at the diner is the same guy in the sketch that they're looking for. They're saying this guy. We have at least one witness or two witnesses saying a guy that looks like this was seen talking to her at the bus depot prior to going to the diner. They do go as far to say this man is wanted by police for questioning. Wanted is a weird word. They wouldn't use that today. But wanted for questioning. But they do clarify that police do not believe that the man in the sketch or the sketch of this man was the same as the caller who called after the murder, which they believed was the killer, because he gives that detail of the ice pick. So what they're attempting to do with the release of that sketch. So when. When people take a first glance at this case, they think, oh, they had a description of the killer right after Compton's murder, which would make sense because she was picked up at the diner. It would stand to reason that people saw the two of them sitting together and talking together.

[Captain (Co-host of True Crime Garage)]

Right.

[Nick (True Crime Garage Host)]

But it doesn't appear to be that that was the case or that anybody had any real recollection of the man that she was sitting with. So now they're looking for this other dude. Because, you know, as an investigator, she's not from here. She just stepped off the bed bus and then gets murdered. So what you're hoping is to connect with this guy that she was seen talking to at the bus depot. Because your first question is going. You want to determine who truly was the last person to see her alive because that's your murderer. And so now you want to find this person so you can ask them simple questions. Like when you talk to her, did she say she was meeting anyone? Did she offer up a name? Did she say where she was going? You know, you want to, you want to put together some more events and markers on her timeline that take that, that complete that timeline from bus depot through the diner to where she's found murdered by the, you know, by the river's edge. From my understanding, that person never comes forward now. And now let's fast forward to. We have this murder of Barbara Simons. They had a confession by Alan Lopez, who now doesn't seem to hold much weight at all because Barbara Simons is killed in a very similar, same manner as Kimberly Compton. And this weepy voice guy is back on the phone calling 911 and police and saying, I, I'm sorry, I killed that girl, I stabbed her 40 times. And then finishing up the call saying, Kimberly Compton was the first one over in St. Paul. So now you have this other confession. And oh, by the way, the voice sounds the same as the calls that you're getting from the Kimberly Compton case.

[Captain (Co-host of True Crime Garage)]

Yeah. And I'm guessing because we have recordings of those that law enforcement was able to compare those, but it's also difficult because we have a person that confessed to the crimes, but they're dead. So, yeah, to play Captain Obvious, we can't question that individual.

[Nick (True Crime Garage Host)]

We've all watched and probably enjoyed the crime fiction shows where there's some killer on the loose and somebody confesses to it or they think they found the guy, but he dies abruptly and then all the killing starts again 10 years later and it's this big great TV mystery. But here in real life, it's, it's months later after Alan Lopez dies that police are going, wait a second, we didn't have the guy. Alan Lopez wasn't the guy. And at the very least he wasn't the guy in this Barbara Simons case because he wasn't alive. And by the way, the phone call that comes in confessing to Kimberly Compton with this weepy voice, high pitched voice, is the same voice we got and it's the same M.O. right. She stabbed 40 times with an ice pick. So a lot of this stuff is lining up.

[Captain (Co-host of True Crime Garage)]

What's confusing though is that there's two sketches and the one sketch.

[Nick (True Crime Garage Host)]

Yeah. So what we, what we have here is we get, we're going to get to Police getting a true description of our killer. Okay, So, I mean, if you guys

[Captain (Co-host of True Crime Garage)]

see the sketch, if you guys are Hollow Notes fans, I mean, if he told me that it was a advertisement for a Hollow Note show, I go, hey, not a bad drawing of hall of Notes.

[Nick (True Crime Garage Host)]

Well, and the sketch that you're seeing next to that, if I'm thinking of the same one that you're. You're looking at right now. Yeah, the sketch that's next to it looks very different right then. Right? So you get, you get John Oates on the one side, on the right. And then you get a guy, to me, that vaguely resembles the still unknown Connecticut River Valley Killer. Like that. Isn't that weird? Like, it looks very similar to me. But my guess here, Captain, is I couldn't find explanation for what that other sketch was, where that came from. My guess is that is a rendition of what somebody thought they saw of the man talking to Compton at the diner.

[Captain (Co-host of True Crime Garage)]

Well, and it's also possible because we don't know how long was she at this diner and did multiple people come up to her and talk to her?

[Nick (True Crime Garage Host)]

Yeah, and so. And this would be a busy diner. Like I said, it's been around since 1960. It's a very popular place.

[Captain (Co-host of True Crime Garage)]

Anybody, Some would say world famous.

[Nick (True Crime Garage Host)]

Anybody that frequents a diner knows how the turn and burn style of the tables, right? It's like it's fast food dressed up at most diners. Right. It's, it's, it's quick in and quick out for everybody. And so here is where we're going to get a truly good description. I'll get into the description of that here in a minute and the reason why. But Barbara Simons, her body was discovered by a paper boy walking along the Mississippi River. This is near 29th Street. Now, police know from talking to people that knew Barbara that she was at that Hexagon Bar that night. Okay? And she doesn't come home from her bar visit alive. She's found dead near the Mississippi River. They go to the Hexagon Bar, and remember the bartender there? That bartender is able to provide a very good description of the man that left with Barbara. So remember this bartender, God bless her, she made mental note of the dude after being told by Barbara, hey, this guy is going to drive me home. So she provides a description to police. Ultimately, what they're going to do is they're going to look for anybody that has a record, you know, anybody that they have a mug shot of that resembles this description provided to them by the bartender. And they're using this. They got mug shots because they're looking at persons that have priors, specifically priors for assault. Because what do we know that our killer does? He assaults our victims. Obviously, Kimberly Compton having been stabbed, but. But the previous victim who survived being beaten. So now we have this description of the person believed to last be seen with Barbara. So this is very likely our killer. The detectives come back and they show several mug shots to the bartender, and she picks out a dude from. From this photo lineup, if you will. And I don't know how many of dozens of pictures she. She had to look through, but she picks out this man named Paul Stefani. So she tells police, that's the dude out of all the pictures you've shown me, this is the dude that Barbara left with, that she left with this Paul Stefani the night of her murder. And we have the call after Barbara's murder and during that call, the confession to the Compton murder. So really up until this point, police thinking that the killer of Compton was Alan Lopez. Now, this is not looking good. Not looking so good. And. And we still have a killer out there, and it might be this Paul Stefani guy.

[Captain (Co-host of True Crime Garage)]

And what do we know, or what does law enforcement know about old Paul Stefani?

[Nick (True Crime Garage Host)]

Well, it's. I mean, it's quick. You run, run everything on the background. You have his driver's license information. So they know where he lives, and they're going to very quickly put him under surveillance. And we've seen this done in many cases where we have a repeat offender. It looks to me, you know, there. There are some cases where it's almost comical. You hate, given the. The situation, the overall encompassing situation of what's going on. But it's almost comical when the person being tailed knows and points out to police that they're being tailed. It doesn't. There's no way that Paul Stefani had any clue that he was under police surveillance. There's. There is every indication that he. That he had no idea that he was a suspect in any of these cases.

[Captain (Co-host of True Crime Garage)]

Yeah, but the. The interesting thing here is, and what law enforcement is going to learn really quickly is so we have an individual going, hey, I'm picking out Paul Stefani. That's who she left with. And all, by the way, he. He worked at a company, a manufacturing company. That's going to be really important to this investigation.

[Nick (True Crime Garage Host)]

Yeah, he at one time worked at the manufacturing company for which Karen Potox, even though she survived, she was found near the train tracks behind that business. It was a couple years prior to her attack that he had worked there. But he had worked there for a considerable amount of time as a janitor.

[Captain (Co-host of True Crime Garage)]

Right, but, but I think that's big if you're law enforcement. We can at least connect this idiot to this location.

[Nick (True Crime Garage Host)]

Oh, 100%. You're you when you are provided with this description and then she picks him out of this photo lineup.

[Captain (Co-host of True Crime Garage)]

Yeah.

[Nick (True Crime Garage Host)]

You are looking for other reasons to make him an even better suspect. Right. Because again with these investigations we can sit here in retrospect and condemn and criticize and critique every aspect of any investigation out there.

[Captain (Co-host of True Crime Garage)]

But, and we will do that.

[Nick (True Crime Garage Host)]

But, but the truth of it is what goes on behind closed doors is everybody works for somebody. Shit runs downhill. And, and when you need to get things approved, you have to go to the higher ups to get approval. Surveillance isn't free. Manpower isn't free. These things cost dollars and cents and have to make sense when you're trying to sell them to the boss who's going to sign off on budgeted items like this. So you're not going into, if you go in and, and talk to your boss and say, well this bartender picked out this dude from a dozens of photos, he or she is likely going to look at you cross and say yeah, really? That's all you're bringing me? Why don't you go out there and do your job and bring me something better and I'll sign off on this. So what we do know is that surveillance was signed off on Stefani and they start to track this dude and they're, they're following him around, but for whatever reason, what he's up to next, the police, they're not aware of that. He, he, either he lost them or maybe they ran out of surveillance. Remember when we talked about Robert Pickton? They had only approved a three day surveillance on Robert Pickton. Well, if your target doesn't do anything bad or doesn't look to be up to anything suspicious during the that time frame, then it's kind of all for not. So now we got to go to August 21, 1982 again. Now we're in Minneapolis. This is when Paul Stefani picked up a 19 year old sex worker. Her name is Denise Williams. So a little bit different victimology here. Williams, she would later say that she sensed something was wrong with the whole situation when the driver, the vehicle she gets into, he's, he's not going to where they said they were going to go to. They ended up in a suburban area rather than staying in the city. Or going back to the city like they had originally planned. Then he turns down a dead end road. This woman, this young woman, she's worked the streets long enough that she, she is incredibly street smart. She's got a very good sense about her when things aren't right and, and she's knowing that things aren't right. So she's already kind of planning an escape if she needs to make one. You know, that's a, that's one of those weird things. If you read like survival books and, and things of that nature, they, they say that persons that plan their escape in any situation prior to needing to escape, it's something crazy like they stand a 30 to 40% better chance of surviving the situation. Like even with like a, like a plane crash or, or a situation like this. So she's already planning what do I do if this guy does A, B and C? Now she's stuck with this dude in the car and that's when he is finally going to decide to attack Denise.

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[Nick (True Crime Garage Host)]

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[Captain (Co-host of True Crime Garage)]

All right, we are back. Cheers to the people in the front. Onwards and upwards.

[Nick (True Crime Garage Host)]

Stefani starts to attack this poor woman, Denise Williams. And she, as said, has already made some choices as to what she will how she will respond if this guy starts acting weird or aggressive or violent. She picks up a bottle. So he's attempting to and unfortunately successful several times in stabbing her with a screwdriver. During this attack, she hits this guy Stefani over the head with a glass bottle, causing quite a bit of damage to his head and face. His already ugly head and face just got a little bit uglier. So the two of them, they're kind of rustling around there now. Now it's a fight, right? It's not just one person attacking another. She's defending herself and she's doing a darn good job of it. She's yelling and screaming and there's some quotes that go here. She's yelling things like, he's trying to kill me. Or help, he's trying to kill me. Her screams, remember we said that, that he went into a suburban area with, with the car, with. With her in the car. These screams are. They grab the attention of a man who lives nearby. And now he. He hears it. He's an ear witness. And now being an eyewitness, he turns and looks and he sees this scuffle going on, right? And so he runs over, jumps in this Good Samaritan. His name is Douglas Panning. He runs to the scene and he's attempting to pull the man off of the woman who's being attacked. And now these two are in it together. And eventually he breaks away from the fight. The Good Samaritan, Douglas Panning breaks away from this fight and he runs back to his home. He grabs a gun. But the assailant, Paul Stefani, takes off. But Doug then calls 91 1. He wants first to get an ambulance for this poor woman, right?

[Captain (Co-host of True Crime Garage)]

Because we know she's been stabbed.

[Nick (True Crime Garage Host)]

She's been stabbed. Unfortunately, she was stabbed 16, I believe it was 16 times. 15 times with the screwdriver. The assailant, thankfully, has been. He's been brutalized a little bit himself. He was bleeding profusely from. From the head and face area after receiving a couple hits from this glass bottle from the very tough don't mess with me, Denise Williams. So Stefani, he retreats back to his home, to his apartment, and he's bleeding very badly. He's in need of medical attention. So Captain Dumas here calls 911 for an ambulance saying that I've been beat up and I've been robbed and I need medical attention. There's a whole bunch of things that are kind of going on simultaneously, right? So this call comes in for this dude. They know that the attacker on Denise Williams, they don't know that it's Stefani at this point. Remember, he wasn't under surveillance when this attack occurred. But we have a very street smart woman who's able to provide description of the vehicle of the, of the attacker. We have the good Samaritan that showed up who's able to provide description of the attacker and the vehicle. And now they got this dude that's going to the hospital who, oh, by the way, another phone call made because he's calling in for help for himself. And so with all of these things going on, police are able to quickly put together, oh, we need to go to the hospital and arrest this dude. He's got the same injuries that's described to us by the person he attacked and the person that helped her. And so they go and they arrest him there. And it's the phone, a combination of the phone call, the injuries, the description, and both Denise and Doug later identifying the man Stefani as the attacker. So further investigative work would later connect Paul Stefani to the murder of Barbara Simons.

[Captain (Co-host of True Crime Garage)]

Right.

[Nick (True Crime Garage Host)]

So this is going to lead to a murder charge, attempted murder charge, and a trial that is going to follow. During Paul Stefani's trial in the Barbara Simons murder case, they called to testify Stefani's ex wife, his sister, and a woman who lived with him for a period of time. They all testified that they believed, you know, they're playing these phone calls, the weepy voiced killers phone calls, 911 calls in the courtroom and all three of them are testifying that they all believe that is the person I know as Paul Stefani. And it's super weird too because the sister who would have known him longer than any of the other people who testified, she says that she could recall at times throughout their, their lives that when he would get incredibly angry or upset, he would go into that weird voice.

[Captain (Co-host of True Crime Garage)]

So what you're saying is it's maybe the voice is more out of habit than it was to disguise his voice.

[Nick (True Crime Garage Host)]

Yeah, maybe it's something he couldn't control.

[Captain (Co-host of True Crime Garage)]

Very strange though.

[Nick (True Crime Garage Host)]

It's incredibly strange. And I also believe that maybe there is some level of attempting to disguise his voice. We, we will never know. And what's weird is there's, he's an interesting cat in the sense that there is a lot of people that have tried to come up with the psychology of this because it's not normal. One, it's not normal to murder people, but then add the added layer of calling in these calls to authorities very quickly after committing these horrific acts. But what we do know, Captain, and this is where, this is where things get a little wonky for me in the, in the storytelling portion because we weren't at the trial. So I, I don't know why this was how things played out. But what we do know is that Paul Stefani was in fact convicted of Barbara Simon's murder and the attempted murder of Denise Williams. But not so in Kim Compton's murder. And I don't know, again, I don't know why that panned out the way that it did. He is sentenced to 40 years behind bar. So while he's convicted of these two offenses, he is. It doesn't sound like these observations made by testimony of the three people we just discussed was enough to identify him conclusively as the killer of Kim Compton. But we're not done there because in 1997, Paul Stefani was diagnosed with skin cancer. Part of this diagnosis is that he has less than a year to live. He decided to confess to the murders of Kim Compton. He's already convicted of Barbara Simons, but he, remember, he's convicted because he pled not guilty. That's why there was a trial. So he confesses to her murder as well, and then he confesses to an unknown victim, Kathy Greening. Paul Stefani had never even been a suspect in Kathy Greening's murder.

[Captain (Co-host of True Crime Garage)]

Yeah, but again, I think this goes with the weird calling right after the murder. Is it some sort of remorse? Is it some sort of, you know, maybe I'll get forgiveness. And so it's not, it's not that strange to me that he would confess to other crimes he committed.

[Nick (True Crime Garage Host)]

Well, and, and he's essentially given a death sentence even though it's not the state that's going to kill him, it's the skin cancer that's going to take his life. So he, he grew up in a devout Catholic household.

[Captain (Co-host of True Crime Garage)]

It wasn't he the baby of 10?

[Nick (True Crime Garage Host)]

The information I had I think said the baby of six. But yeah, you're right, it was a large family. Maybe, maybe my numbers are included.

[Captain (Co-host of True Crime Garage)]

That might have included step siblings.

[Nick (True Crime Garage Host)]

That's true because his mother did remarry. The thing here though is, and I don't want to go too far down this road of Catholicism because I grew up Catholic, I feel like when people start talking about religion mixed up with these horrible, nasty people, like they can pretend to be religious as much as they want to, or maybe they even have convinced themselves in their heart of hearts that they are religious and God fearing people, I'm here to tell you that they really aren't because the worst sin you can commit is the one that they are committing and sometimes time and time again. So part of Catholicism is again, not Pretending to be, to know all the in and outs of it. Because every religion is complicated, but part of it is if you repent and you are truly remorseful, then you may be forgiven for your sins. And so I really think that this was not less of a helpful act on his behalf and more of a selfish act on his behalf of confessing to these murders before he knows that he's going to die. And if he believes in. In what he was raised in, then he's going to have to meet his maker and answer for and justify maybe his actions. So I think it was really just a selfish move. But what it does help is it gets the. It confirms everyone's suspicions that he killed Kimberly Compton. So that case is closed. But again, the weird move with this Kathleen Greening, where he's not even a suspect now, he wasn't a suspect in that case because there was no phone call to 911 or to police afterward saying, oh, I killed, you know, sorry, I killed there. I said I wasn't going to impersonate him.

[Captain (Co-host of True Crime Garage)]

But yes, man, finally, that just made my day.

[Nick (True Crime Garage Host)]

Her murder was very, very different from the other ones that we discussed. She. She had been drowned in a bathtub inside of her home.

[Captain (Co-host of True Crime Garage)]

Yeah.

[Nick (True Crime Garage Host)]

July 20, 1982. Her body was discovered in the bathtub by a friend the next day. And it was actually ruled an accident at the time. Now, this guy, completely off the rails. He has no idea. Again, we talked about that paranoia setting in quickly with these types. He likely was very paranoid that they could connect this to him and very unaware that it was ruled an accident. So he never. He never calls in. They don't connect it to him. But what police find after he. So he's still alive when he confesses to these, obviously, but he's still alive for a period of time after the confessions. It wasn't like confessing on his deathbed. In his dying moments, he's confessing in advance and they find. He doesn't offer anything in the way of details, though. It's just simply, this is what I did, and I drowned this woman, Kathleen Greening, in 1982 in her apartment. Well, upon further investigation, they're looking at Kathleen's personal items, and in her address book, they find a phone number for a Paul S. Well, his name is Paul Stefani, and it is his phone number that's listed next to Paul S. So he likely didn't make the phone call in this one, regardless of why he made the phone calls in the previous attacks, because the two knew each other. There was a way she wasn't a stranger to him like the other victims. There was or would have been a way potentially to connect perpetrator to victim in the Greening case. The other thing, too, here, Captain, that we. That we kind of missed and skipped over on accident here. Part of that confession is Stefani did confess to the attempted murder of Karen Potak, who. Who survived the. The first known. She would be the first known victim of the Weepy Voice Killer. So lump that one in with the rest of them. I talked earlier about much has been done in the way of trying to dissect the psychology of an individual that would murder and then very quickly phone it into police and. And notify emergency services. The one thing that I think, if you really want to go down that road and really try to. To figure this guy out, the thing that I would point to that I think has something to do with his actions, the choice of payphone that he used to call and notify emergency services. This is very rare that somebody would do this, right? This horrible act followed by the phone call. Another perpetrator that did exactly the same thing but in a slightly different manner would be the Zodiac Killer. He killed, went to a payphone, notified the police. His calls were much shorter, less detailed. It was a confession. Doesn't sound remorseful. You know, he simply says, I killed those two kids by blah, blah, blah, goodbye.

[Captain (Co-host of True Crime Garage)]

Well, more taunting than remorse.

[Nick (True Crime Garage Host)]

Yeah. But one thing that. When we reviewed the Zodiac case, that. That will. That haunts me to this day amongst a million other parts of that case. But one thing that I didn't know going into researching that case was the proximity of the pay phone in relationship to the murders in at least two of those cases we were able to figure out from information that we found. We're. You know, we didn't. We didn't. We weren't the detectives that found this information, but we found this information through doing enough digging. This isn't stuff that was just sitting there on the surface for anybody to find. And two of those cases for Zodiac, that the payphone was in route, somewhere in route from the police station to where the bodies would be found. And there is some psychology there. The Zodiac Killer in those two cases would have been able. If they turned on their sirens early enough, he would have been able to hear the police rushing off to his murder scene. That is by his design. And with Paul Stefani, there's something very similar there where you're right, Captain, he's not taunting police like Zodiac was. Zodiac at the heart of Zodiac, he is a terrorist and the taunts come with terrorism. But with Paul Stefani, he too, in a weird way, appears to be at payphones. Close enough that he would know that police and emergency services. In fact, he's calling for an ambulance. In the first case. He's close enough to the crime scene that he would be aware that there is actually a response to his call. Remember, we know in the, in the one case, police are telling us, we arrived at the pay phone within one minute of him hanging up the phone. That's because he's so close to the crime scene. I mean, that to me, like, I'm not going to pretend to know what that means. It boggles my, my little garage brain. But I just find it fascinating, intriguing, mysterious and, and haunting. Very, very weird and cruel and haunting. Paul Stefani. Thankfully, the diagnosis was correct. He did die of cancer. This took place on June 12, 1988. He passed away at the maximum security prison in Minnesota, the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Oak Park Heights. And that is the story. That is the story or what is known of the man who is now known as the Weepy Voiced Killer.

[Captain (Co-host of True Crime Garage)]

I want to thank everybody for joining us here in the Garage each and every week. Thank you so much for sharing these stories on social media. Colonel, do we have any recommended reading for the beautiful listeners?

[Nick (True Crime Garage Host)]

We're going to run it back this week, Captain. We're going to recommend one that we have recommended before for good reason because it falls in line with a lot of what we talked about here this week in the Garage. So this week we are recommending When a Killer Calls, a haunting story of murder, criminal profiling and justice in a small town by the great John Douglas and Mark Allshaker, authors of the best selling book Mindhunter. We all wanted season three of Mind Hunter and well, we're not going to get it. So this is going to be the next best thing. When a Killer Calls is a book that we have recommended before. As said, it came out in 2022 and you can check out our coverage on this case as well. We did a three part series with the same title, When a Killer Calls, that's True Crime Garage episodes 553, 554 and 500, 555 on your True Crime Garage listening dial. That was From February of 2022 when we had John Douglas on as a returning guest of the show. We were able to play some of the audio from those phone calls from serial killer Larry Jean Bell. Now, at that time, the full length audio was not available anywhere else yet. So that was some interesting, heartbreaking stuff. But the podcast is just half of the story, so check out our coverage of When a Killer Calls in that three part series and then go and get the book as well. When a Killer Calls by John Douglas, available on Amazon and Audible as well.

[Captain (Co-host of True Crime Garage)]

And until next week, be good, be

[Nick (True Crime Garage Host)]

kind, and don't live.

[Captain (Co-host of True Crime Garage)]

Sam.