[17] A few hours later, her strangled body was discovered dumped alongside I-295, just south of the District line. Former Washington police officers, Edward Sullivan and Tommie Simmons, were convicted of murdering Angela Denise Barnes, age 14. Following this casual dinner, they each began heading home. [9] As with the other cases, her shoes were missing and unidentified green fibers would also be found on her clothing. Investigators had created a timeline of events, which they forced themselves to adhere to. No physical evidence was obtained and Askins was not charged in connection with the Freeway Phantom killings. Name During these interviews, one gang member initially implicated another gang member, who he said told him he was involved and gave information as to one of the beltway homicides. A police department spokesman said the cases have been assigned to the cold case squad, which will review the files periodically and investigate any new leads actively. Listen to "The Freeway Phantom" on Spreaker. That was when she learned of her 18-year old daughter's brutal murder. In December of 1938 - when Askins was a much younger man - he had poisoned a sex worker in Washington D.C with potassium cyanide. There was nothing about Carol Spinks that stood out: she seemed relatively normal, and she liked to fill up her time with friends and games - in particular, jumping rope and hula-hooping. Carol obliged, and accepted the five dollars from her older sister. Their apathy would be noted on at least one more occasion. During this search, they began looking for those that knew the victim, and were able to quickly link this case to the missing 13-year old that had disappeared less than a week beforehand. The investigation into the Freeway Phantom has long been considered a "cold case." chicken of the woods ottawa; how tall was prophet idris; how much money did hercules in new york make The Green Vega Gang members were individually interviewed by MPDC Homicide Detectives Fickling, Irving, and Richardson, atLorton Prisonin Virginia, where the gang members were serving sentences in conjunction with the successful prosecutions of those crimes in theSuperior Court of the District of Columbia. He might have received some kind of psychiatric treatment to help deal with negative emotions, like depression and anger towards women. Occasionally, she flipped through a thick manila folder containing smiling portraits of eight black girls forever frozen in time. The search for Brenda Crockett was - thankfully - not a long way. Patricia Williams sat at a table near a window in a restaurant in Northwest Washington this week, her hands clasped. By that time, FBI agents had been distracted and called off to assist with the ongoing Watergate scandal, and the attention of almost everyone was diverted elsewhere. This is the story of Washington D.C.'s first known serial killer, the Freeway Phantom. The only notable exception wasBrenda Denise Woodard, whose body still had the shoes worn. Valerie, Carol's 24-year old sister that lived across the hall in the apartment building, asked the kids if any of them would walk down to a nearby store for her. Brenda got off to catch a transfer, and said goodbye to her classmate. Right? [14][15] They also speculated that, given the absence of indications of duress in the writing, apart from evidence of dysgraphia, she may have known her kidnapper. In the most unusual development in the case thus far, investigators discovered what seemed to be a taunt from the culprit - which was found at the scene. During these interviews, one gang member initially implicated another gang member, who he said told him he was involved and gave information as to one of the beltway homicides. She reluctantly agreed, only to discover that the the man had no intentions of taking her to her destination. In the early morning of November 16th, 1971 - just hours after Brenda Woodard was last seen by her classmate - Cheverly city police officer David Norman happened to be driving in the region near Prince George's County Hospital. The Freeway Phantom case has seen a myriad of investigators and garnered much interest over the years. how many inches of rain did lincoln nebraska get; jojo script in japanese; 21 day weather forecast lanzarote puerto del carmen; Despite their differences in beliefs regarding this case, Trainum and Jenkins agree on a number of things regarding the Freeway Phantom. Well, I'm him.". However, with her body being found not too far away, just eight hours after her abduction, we can reasonably surmise that wasn't the case. As he later recalled: "I shined my flashlights into her eyes to see if there was life. All of this created a lot of animosity towards the local police department - the MPDC - who hired almost exclusively white officers. With the temperature rising, on July 19th, 1971, one of the original callers that had found the body decided to return to the scene, to see if the matter had been dealt with. It wasn't until 2001 that the case was officially re-opened, when Detective James Trainum took it on as a personal challenge. [5], On July 8, 1971, Johnson, 16, from Congress Heights was abducted while on route to her summer job at Oxon Hill Recreation Center. Many of the original detectives had been long-retired, or were even deceased, when Trainum took on the case. At least, this is what the victim had claimed, and was reported in the Afro American at the time. Currently Reading. The girls' bodies were dumped near or along freeways in the District and Prince George's County, more than two decades ago. They were charged with Angelas murder and were held by Washington, D.C. police in Charles County jail in Maryland. The conversation carried on like this for a moment, with Brenda not seeming to have any real information to give. I will admit the others when you catch me if you can! The Phantom also strangled her with a scarf. However, upon receiving the case, Trainum realized how much of an uphill battle it would be. They made appearances at public events, and tried to keep up with the investigation, hoping to bolster one another and present a brave face. The other, which Detective Romaine Jenkins believes might be related, was the murder of Teara Ann Bryant, who was killed in November of 1972 - two months after the last known Freeway Phantom murder. "You never forget. After all, Brenda had asked specifically "Did my mother see me?" Askins remains one of the most popular suspects in the media, and many of the original detectives heavily favored him as the Freeway Phantom. Two years after Diane Williams's slaying, her aunt, Wilma Harper, started the Freeway Phantom Organization, a support group for the slain girls' families and other homicide survivors. As you can imagine, both of this leads led nowhere. The investigators agreed. In fact, Maryland police claimed there were no similarities between Angelas death and the murder of six other girls in D.C. They didn't believe him to have any real insider information, and remain doubtful that this gang of perverts was responsible for a serial murder spree. On December 28, 1938, Askinsthen a 19-year-old student and member of the science club at Miner Teachers Collegeserved cyanide-laced whiskey to five prostitutes at a brothel, resulting in the death of 31-year-old Ruth McDonald. Danh mc . It was believed that these had come from a vehicle or a carpet/rug of some kind, but would provide police a very minuscule lead as the investigation began to stretch out over several weeks. The killer may have military experience due to the skill displayed during the abductions and the lack of evidence at the crime scenes. She, however, was sent by her mother to a nearby Safeway grocery store to pick up some bread and some food for the family's three dogs: Ringo, Rex, and Romeo. A 1975 memorandum order by D.C. Superior Court Judge Fred B. Ugast read: "On May 16th, Mr. Warren began to direct the government agents to the locations he had described to them regarding two Freeway deaths. It had housed everyone from psychotic killers to returning Vietnam veterans suffering from undiagnosed PTSD. Facebook gives people the power. Nenomoshia Yates had been sent by her family to a Safeway grocery store, which was just down the street from their apartment - literally less than a block away. Her body was found just off the shoulder of Pennsylvania Avenue, in P.G. Police would eventually rule her out entirely, when they solved the case and arrested two ex-police officers for the crime - who were both later convicted. Even though most of the evidence had been poorly-preserved - if it was preserved at all, and wasn't just missing - Trainum hoped that advancements in DNA technology would allow for a closer look at the Freeway Phantom killer. According to investigators at the time, Warren had begun providing details beyond what was reported in the media. All the cases involving white girls still get publicity. Ph: (781) 272-0050 Here was a lead, that was as promising as any thus far, which had now evaporated into nothing. The police later recovered one of the .38 caliber pistols reported stolen by the two police officers. Trainum was able to recover many of the documents from the Maryland State Police - who had carefully stored the files - but had no idea what had been lost in the preceding decades. They would be called back later on, but by that time, the case had grown stagnant. Angela Denise Barnes was a 14-year old that disappeared on July 12th, 1971, just days after Darlenia Johnson had gone missing. Despite more than 25 D.C. police officer being handed over to the investigative effort at one point, this sentiment is shared by at least one high-ranking police officer - who worked for the department at the time of the murders. He graduated from Harvard College in 1874, and was a pupil of Lefebvre and Boulanger in Paris, where he took a gold medal. She took it on in the mid-1980's, hoping to spark some kind of revival, but lacked the necessary resources and hours to do so. Common practice at the time was that case files at MPDC Detective Divisions were retained in files maintained by the detectives assigned to the case. The Phantom would then rape, strangle them (usually manually), and dump their bodies in grassy areas near freeways, hence the name. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. She, however, had been 18 years old, and likely much more aware of what was happening to her. Serial KillerSerial RapistAbductorPedophileEphebophile In another coincidence, five out of the six victims were shown to be related via green fibers found on their clothing. [24] Barnes, 14, was at one point thought to be a victim of the serial killings. They started a task force, which included more than 100 detectives and federal agents and had involvement from the following law enforcement agencies: the MPDC Homicide Division and Sex Squads, detectives from Maryland's P.G. You see, not only was he a current employee of St. Elizabeth's Hospital - a psychiatric facility that focused on mental health. The classmate of Brenda's usually drove them whenever they hung out, but with his car in the shop temporarily, they had to take the city's buses home. Brenda then told her younger sister that she was in Virginia, before the call came to an abrupt end. For the first few years of the investigation into the Freeway Phantom, police had linked Barnes' death to the unknown killer targeting young black girls in the D.C. region. The victim, a 17-year old waitress, had been waiting at a bus stop when a young white man pulled up in his vehicle and asked for directions. The inmate being interviewed stipulated that he would provide the information only if he could remain unidentified, which was agreed upon. Want to Read. This boogeyman would become known as the D.C. region's "first profiled serial killer," and their crimes continue to haunt investigators and loved ones close to half-a-century later Like the other two victims, she had been strangled. In 1971, a town hall was arranged in Congress Heights by a local antipoverty agency. Winona. Romaine Jenkins, the homicide detective I introduced in this episode's introduction, wouldn't be directly involved in this case. An examination of Brenda's clothing would find two different hair samples: one of which, authorities stated, belonged to a Caucasian man. Now-retired, Musgrove was willing to speak to the Washington Post in 2006, in which he decried the way the victims had been treated in the years since: "Those black girls didn't mean anything to anybody - I'm talking about on the police department. After all, Washington D.C. would not establish home rule until 1973, meaning that the local residents had no real representation of their own at the time of the Freeway Phantom murders. While the Freeway Phantom was never directly mentioned or referenced, he appears to have been an inspiration for the following unsubs: Criminal Minds Wiki is a FANDOM TV Community. ". The FBI profile of the Phantom Killer stated that the killer would likely: - Have at least a high school education, with either "average or above-average intelligence", - Be a charming young man, who often struggled to maintain healthy relationships, - Likely lived alone or with an older woman (creating some kind of resentment towards females), - Having known the neighborhood that he committed his crimes in. It alleged that the Green Vega's - all of whom had been locked up for crimes of sexual violence - were responsible for more than 100 rapes in the region. In the middle of July 1971, an employee of the D.C. Department of Highways and Traffic began experiencing car troubles. [13], The Freeway Phantom case has seen a myriad of investigators and garnered much interest over the years. However, he traces the killer's origins to the neighborhood of Congress Heights, where, as Trainum states: "He felt safe there, he felt he could do his dirt and get away with it.". In addition to the stab wounds, investigators considered it bizarre that the victim was found with her shoes. Some leads were easily proven not to be viable, while others required substantial investigation. This was less than two miles away from Diane's home. However, it's end was just as tragic as the first two abductions. Four victims had their bodies left in Prince George's County, Maryland, while another two were disposed of inside Washington D.C. Investigators believed that this might have been done intentionally, with the killer trying to muddy the waters of the investigation by overlapping jurisdictions. Signature The children knew that failure to comply would result in a severe punishment - such as being hit with a switch or a belt - but that did not deter young Carol Spinks. Status A privilege that the family members of the Freeway Phantom victims have been waiting for for close to half-a-century. During their correspondence, Askins continued to deny having any part in the Freeway Phantom murders, stating that he did not have: " the depravity of mind required to commit any of the crimes.". [21] Barnes, 14, was at one point thought to be a victim of the serial killings. Authorities would note that her crime scene was incredibly gruesome - with her clothing being stained with blood - and she had six stab wounds to various parts of her body. This statement seems to imply that the investigators had either not properly expressed their investigation to the loved ones of the victims, or had simply failed to take their feelings into account. Hairs of two unknown males were found on the clothing of Brenda Woodward, hairs whose origin is unknown. The serial killer dubbed the "Freeway Phantom" had strangled and stabbed five young black girls over the span of six months, before disappearing for the better part of a year. The body was recovered, and was eventually identified as Darlenia Denise Johnson - a missing 16-year old that had disappeared from the neighborhood earlier that month. Occupation In the first murder attributed to this spree - that of Carol Spinks - it was discovered that she had been held captive for some time before her death. Jim Henson's Muppets made 25 appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show between 1966 and 1971. That year, a 24-year old woman was abducted at gunpoint by Robert Askins, and taken back to his home. edward sullivan and tommie simmons. ", Following this development, it was announced that the FBI would be getting involved in the investigation. The Phantom after abducting his victims is assumed to have taken them to abandoned houses where he proceeded to rape the victims multiple times before killing them. This conviction was overturned in 1958. wheN you cAtch me iF you cAn! It was discovered that the victim had been found in the same clothing that she had disappeared in - a red sweater, blue shorts, and brown socks - but most unusually, her shoes were missing. If the killer fit this profile, and was in his 20's or 30's, it is possible that he is still alive. [11] Unlike the other victims, she was still wearing her shoes, and a coat had been placed over her chest. [20], Common practice at the time was that case files at MPDC Detective Divisions were retained by the detectives assigned to the case. A 14-year old that disappeared on July 12th, 1971, a town hall was arranged in Heights. The first two abductions, was at one point thought to be viable while. 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