EP. 63 The Murder of Selena, The Execution Of An Uber Driver & A Houston Home Invasion
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He's the most terrifying serial killer you've never heard of. Haddon Clark has confessed to several murders, but investigators say he could have over 100 victims. At the center of the mayhem, a cellmate of Haddon's that was able to get key evidence into Haddon's murder spree across America,

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murder and offenses against children. This podcast is not for everyone. You have been warned. Hey, everybody, and welcome to Murder in America. For this week's episode, it's going to be a bit different, but we're going to talk about some developing true crime stories, touch on the murder of Selena. But we also wanted to chat and kind of catch y'all up on what's been going on in our lives. Yeah, so stick around for that. But in the meantime, I'm Courtney Browen. And I'm Colin Browen. And you're listening to Murder in America.

Hey guys, welcome to Murder in America. We always love doing these types of episodes because we're essentially just getting to talk to you guys.

It's a nice little palate cleanser from the usual brutal stories we tell you every week. But don't worry, we still have a killer episode for you guys this upcoming Tuesday. And in my opinion, it's our best episode yet. Yeah, Courtney has been working her absolute ass off on this next case. And it's a story she has been dying to tell since we started the podcast. Now, here's a little fun fact for you listeners. On our very first date back in 2020, when I asked Courtney to tell me

What she's passionate about, we were sitting at a bar. It was a dark and stormy night, not even, you know, trying to overhype it, but it was like pouring at this outside this little park. And I asked Courtney what her passion was. She said true crime, which was funny to me because I wasn't expecting, obviously, her to say that. That's a pretty bold statement to make when you're on a first date.

Then I asked her what her favorite true crime story was, and she started telling me all about the case that we're covering next week. And she was going into brutal details on her first date. Now, I feel like a normal person would be kind of shocked hearing their potential partner discussing this, like, really graphic murder story. But for me, it was instant love. And it surprised me because Courtney's this...

tiny woman. I love you, babe. Yeah, I always call you a little pipsqueak. She looked so innocent and

dressed up for our date, and she was sitting there talking about this story that involves kidnapping, murder, dismemberment, necrophilia, everything wrong with humanity. And I was just watching Courtney talk about this. And yeah, like I said, instant love. And while most people would probably be freaked out by that, I knew right then and there that, you know, Courtney was the girl for me. And now we're married. It's crazy. It's crazy.

Yeah, we aren't going to tell you guys what it is yet, but you'll find out next week. And it truly is my favorite true crime story of all time. And I can't wait for you guys to hear it. But just an update for everyone on our personal lives. If you didn't already know, Colin and I are moving out of Texas here in a month, which is crazy because we both have lived here for so long. I've lived in Texas for my whole life. Colin's lived here for how many years? Seven years. Wow. But our...

Chapter here closes in about a month, and we are so excited to start our new adventure in Philadelphia. Yeah, when we announced this a few weeks ago, we actually found out that we have a lot of listeners in Philadelphia. So when we're out there, we're definitely going to have to have a meetup or something and say hi to everyone in that area that listens to the show and has helped bring us, you know, this success. You guys rock. Y'all are awesome. Yes, we can't wait. There's also a lot of murder in Philly.

According to the CBS News, it's the top 16th city in America for the highest murder rates, which is interesting because we'll get to see a lot of those places. And the story we have for you today isn't a Philadelphia murder, but it is in Pennsylvania. And I gotta say, it is terrifying. It involves a 38-year-old mother of four named Christy Spicuzza. Now, Christy was an Uber driver before,

in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. And on February 11th of this year, she was driving people around trying to make some extra money. It was late in the night when she got the notification that she was to pick up a woman named Taneya Mullen. So Christy drives to the pickup location, but instead of a woman getting in her car, a man walks up. He's wearing what looks to be a gray hoodie and a black ski mask over his face.

And a ski mask is creepy, but with the Uber face mask policy, we don't know, maybe Christie had just figured he was wearing this face mask as a COVID mask. Either way, I mean, the video footage is shocking when you see this. Yeah, and I don't think she can just turn someone away because of what they're wearing, but she didn't seem to be really freaked out by him at first. I

As you know, a lot of Uber drivers have a dash camera pointed inside of the car. So this entire interaction was caught on camera. The video shows the man step inside of the car and sit behind the passenger seat.

Christy is friendly and asks the man how he's doing, but he ignores her and they sit in silence. The two drive for a few minutes before Christy decides to break the silence by asking, "You having a good day today?" The man mumbles something and Christy responds, "That's good." A few more minutes pass before the man can be seen moving to the middle backseat, closer to Christy. Then suddenly, she feels his hand grip her right shoulder.

"Sorry?" she asks him.

But then, to her terror, the man presses the cold end of a gun to the back of her neck and he tells her, "Drive." Christy is clearly frightened and she even puts her hand on the gun to feel what it is. "You've gotta be joking," she says. The man replies, "This is a gun. Keep driving." Christy then says, "No it's not. Stop. Come on, man. I've got a family." To which he says, "I got a family too. Keep driving."

Here is a clip of that interaction. Hi, Fortunaia. How are you today? What are you doing? This is a gun. Keep driving. No, it's not. Stop. Come on, man. I got a family. What are you doing? I got a family too. Now drive. What are you doing? Please stop. Drive the car, miss. I have four kids. What are you doing? Drive the car.

Yeah, I know, it's horrifying. And after he tells her to keep driving, the passenger grabs the car's dash cam and shuts it off.

So we don't really know exactly what happens after this. But we do know that Christy continued to drive him for over an hour to Monroeville, Pennsylvania. During the drive, the man took her phone and stole her money using Cash App.

Which is honestly such a dumb decision on his part because here this criminal is, he's using two different apps that are obviously going to be used to be traced back to him, Uber and Cash App. I mean, your bank account is linked to both accounts or a card. Like, I have no idea how this man thought he was going to get away with this. Exactly. I don't know what was going through his mind either. And once the passenger arrived at his destination near Turtle Creek...

He forces Christy out of the car and into a wooden area, where he then shoots her execution style in the head. Her family reported her missing the next day after she didn't come home, and she would ultimately be found dead in the woods. Now, like we mentioned, it wasn't hard for police to track him down because he was using the Uber app.

But the account he was using was under a girl named Taneya Mullen. Once law enforcement tracked her down, they soon found their perpetrator. It was Taneya's 22-year-old boyfriend, a man named Calvin Crew. After he killed Christy that night, Calvin discarded the car's dashcam against a fence in the area, which the police would eventually find. Then he walked back to a busway in Wilkinsburg.

The next day, the cops obviously caught up to him and placed him under arrest for criminal homicide, where he still sits today awaiting trial. That is...

Truly a horrible, horrible story. And I want to give a shout out to the YouTube channel that we learned this from. It's called Fact Universe. The guy puts together clips of recent crimes that have happened and tells the story. It's almost like a visual podcast. So shout out to Fact Universe for reporting on some of these stories that don't really get that much attention. It's a great YouTube.

Yeah, we've literally sat for hours watching his stuff and if you like true crime, you will definitely like his channel. But something about this case was just so sad because Christy was a mother of four just trying to make some extra money. And Uber drivers usually assume that they'll be safe when they're making their rides. Normally, people aren't stupid enough to do anything because all of your information's right there on the app.

So that's my story for today, but before you tell yours, I want to show everyone that home invasion clip we found. Yeah, it is another. Both of these stories have clips that go along with them. So if you want to look these up online, you can see the actual events unfolding. They're both just terrifying. Yeah, so there's this clip going around right now of a ring system capturing a home invasion in Pasadena, Texas.

which is nearby where I grew up. In the video, you can see two armed men enter the home and force three teenagers down on the ground.

there's two girls and one guy. One of the girls lives in the home and was staying there while her parents were away, but they made sure to keep an eye on their daughter using the ring system that was inside the family's living room. And to the parents' horror, on April 20th at around 8:40 p.m., when they checked the cameras, they saw two men holding their daughter and her friends at gunpoint

That is...

Once again, just frightening because home invasions are one of Courtney and I's biggest fears and the fact that these victims were teenagers, they were probably so scared and had no idea what was going on. I know, I can't even imagine. And to make matters even worse, one of the intruders even grabs one of the girls by her hair and forces her into a back bedroom.

There's no telling what he planned to do with her. But luckily, moments later, the parents who are watching this all unfold start yelling at the intruders through the ring system. Here is a clip of that. - -

Hey, who's in my house? I got you on camera. The cops are on their way. My neighbors are there. They're calling the cops right now. Y'all better get out of my house. Y'all better get out of my house now. Y'all better get out of my house now.

*whispers*

The cops are on their way now. Luckily, because of the parents' warning, the intruders quickly ran out of the home. They stole a bunch of valuables, but they left before any more damage could be done. The Pasadena Police Department are still looking for the perpetrators involved. But again, like we have mentioned time and time again, home invasions are some of our worst fears. Your home is supposed to be your safe place. And when people come in and violate you, it no longer feels like that.

In fact, a lot of people after a home invasion have a lot of PTSD while being inside of their home after the crime. And not everyone is able to just pick up and move somewhere else. Victims are told to rearrange things in your home to help with the PTSD.

Overall, it's just horrifying, but I'm glad this case ended better than most. That's just an insane story. It's funny because Courtney and I are actually moving out of Austin in just a few days. And until we get to Philadelphia, we're going to be staying in Houston. So it's comforting knowing that we're going to that area when these guys still aren't caught.

Yeah, seriously, this is a PSA to everyone to always keep your doors and windows locked because as we've learned throughout this podcast, there are horrible people out there. And now it's time to talk about another horrible person who took the life of an icon here in Texas back in 1995. Colin, want to tell everyone where you've been the last week? Yes, but first we're going to have a brief commercial break.

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Yeah, so if you guys don't know online, I have a paranormal investigation YouTube channel where either Courtney, Courtney's brother, my dad, some of my friends and I, we all go out and investigate places that are notoriously haunted. And in my opinion, the thing that's the most interesting about making these videos is the history and being able to actually visit places where this history lives and where it happened. And I think that's a really good way to start.

And just the other day, I actually got back yesterday from Corpus Christi. We got to visit the motel where famous Tejano singer Selena was murdered back in 1995. And let me tell you, it was very emotional. And I'll get into that in a second. But first, I'm going to give you the rundown on exactly what happened to Selena. So Selena is huge in Texas and especially in the Corpus Christi area.

Selena Quintanilla Perez was an American icon born in the year 1971 in the small town of Lake Jackson, Texas. Selena was oftentimes referred to as the Queen of Tejano music, and she had a huge fan base. Random fact, the obstetrician slash gynecologist who was present at Selena's birth was actually going to be famous in the future as well. His name was Ron Paul, and he would eventually go on to become a House of Representatives member for Texas.

Small world, huh? Just a weird fact that I found while researching that I thought would be interesting to add in here. So Selena was raised as a Jehovah's Witness. Her father, when she was younger, opened up a Mexican restaurant in Lake Jackson, Texas, where Selena and her siblings would often sing, play guitar, and drums to entertain patrons. But eventually, the restaurant went bankrupt during a recession, and the family was forced to pack up their lives and move to Corpus Christi, Texas.

Now, during her formative years, all Selena wanted to do was sing, and her whole family supported her. Selena and her other family members formed the band Selena y los Dinos, and the children's father, Abraham, managed them. The group played music on street corners, at quinceañeras, fairs, weddings, anywhere they could play because they desperately needed money.

and after some time they began to gain traction as a group. Abraham, Selena's father, encouraged her to write songs that honored her heritage. And so, Selena began writing and recording Tejano music, a popular genre of music that combines Spanish lyrics with German influence and even country music. But time and time again, when Abraham would tell concert promoters and people in the music industry about his daughter and the family's band, they would always tell him the same thing. They'll never make it.

This was a male-dominated industry and a female singer wouldn't last a day. But this would all change. Eventually, Selena and her family were noticed by record executives and before long, she was recording music in studios for the big weeks. And within just a few short years, Selena had gone from a struggling artist to a superstar.

She was the spokesperson for Coca-Cola in Texas. Her music was charting. She was nominated for Billboard Music Awards. And it was around at this time when a man named Chris Perez joined the band to play guitar for the group. Even though he had a girlfriend in San Antonio, Chris would fall deeply in love with Selena, a love that Selena's father, Abraham, greatly disapproved of. But that's also when Selena met Yolanda.

Yolanda Saldivar was a registered nurse and a mega fan of Selena's. At one point, she approached Abraham, Selena's father, and asked him if he would be interested in having her start a Selena fan club. And he was indeed interested, and so Yolanda became the head of the Selena fan club and, over the next few years, became a very close family friend to the Perez family.

Around this time, Selena and Chris Perez, the guitar player for the group, had fallen so madly in love that they wanted to marry. Abraham found this out, however, and fired Chris from the band, and he still vehemently disapproved of the marriage. And so, Selena and Chris eloped and distanced themselves from the media and Selena's family. The media reported on this and it was a firestorm. Eventually, Abraham apologized to the two and allowed Chris to rejoin the band.

This was when Selena would attain her superstar status. In the next few years, in the early 90s, Selena would release many albums including her breakthrough album "Entre Ami Mundo". The album was certified as having gone 10 times platinum and was a smash hit. Selena's fan base was also growing rapidly in Mexico and America and globally as well. It was around at this time when Selena began to design, market and sell clothing as well and opened up two boutiques in Texas.

In 1994, Yolanda Saldivar, the leader of Selena's fan club and a family friend, was appointed to manage Selena's boutiques. But she did a poor job. Employees were regularly let go on a whim, and employees also noticed that Yolanda would treat Selena abusively when they were together. Reporters who interviewed Yolanda in 1995 stated that Yolanda's devotion to Selena was borderlining on complete obsession. In 1995, Selena was on top of the world.

Her latest album, Amor Prohibido, was breaking records in various countries, and she played a record-smashing show at the sold-out Houston Livestock and Rodeo Festival that February. But 1995 would also be the year that Selena would lose her life.

In January of 1995, Abraham began receiving reports that fan club members had paid to become members of the club but had not received the materials they were supposed to receive upon gaining entry. When he investigated these claims, he found that Yolanda had seemingly embezzled around $30,000 from the fan club, and he confronted her, demanding that she have no further contact with Selena, and he asked her to turn over all of the bank statements and financial papers essential to the business that she had in her possession.

But Yolanda wouldn't turn over these documents. She claimed that she needed a few days, as she had been recently assaulted and needed to see a doctor to figure some things out. So, on March 31st, 1995, Selena accompanied Yolanda to a clinic to give her support based on her alleged assault. You see, even though Abraham told Selena to not have any contact with Yolanda, Selena valued her as a friend and a business asset and was trying her best to be there for her in a time of need.

And also, they really needed those financial papers. After the examination, Selena and Yolanda returned to the Days Inn Motel in Corpus Christi to talk, and in Yolanda's motel room, Selena demanded that Yolanda hand over the financial documents. After refusing, Yolanda pulled out a pistol from her purse and shot Selena in her right shoulder.

This gunshot wound severed Selena's subclavian artery, which caused a massive loss of blood. As Selena fled the motel room, she rushed towards the main office of the motel, screaming out for help, and in the process left a 392-foot-long trail of blood on the ground outside of the motel. Once she reached the office of the Days Inn, Selena collapsed. Yolanda attempted to flee the scene in her pickup truck, but since Selena had given the description of her murderer to the desk clerk,

She was quickly pulled over by a police cruiser in the area. This led to an over nine-hour-long standoff between Yolanda and police officers, but eventually she surrendered. Selena was pronounced dead on arrival once she arrived at the hospital, and her murder was global news. The New York Times featured Selena's death on the front page for two days in a row. Celebrities expressed their condolences. People compared her murder to the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and John Lennon.

Selena was eventually buried in Corpus Christi, Texas after a public viewing of her body in an open casket the day before, which drew 30,000 to 40,000 fans. And the line to get into this public viewing was over a mile long outside of the stadium. After her burial on April 3rd, 1995, Selena's life story came to an end. Or did it?

Actually, it didn't. Her posthumous album, Dreaming of You, was released in the summer of 1995 and smashed a number of records, becoming one of the fastest-selling albums of all time for a female musician. It charted on the charts, and the single, Dreaming of You, became Selena's highest-ranked song to ever chart on the Billboard Top 100, ranking at 22.

Eventually, Yolanda Salvador was convicted of first-degree murder in October of 1995 and was sentenced to 30 years in prison before the possibility of parole, the maximum sentence. This means that Yolanda could potentially get out of prison within the next few years in 2025. After the trial was over, the judge in the case issued an order to have the gun that killed Selena destroyed and that the pieces of the weapon were to be thrown out into the sea of the Corpus Christi Bay.

Now, this brings me back to just this week. I actually visited the motel room where Selena was shot. I walked the same path that Selena stumbled down when she was bleeding out. It is a very, very long walk, and it's a sombering, sombering experience. After I visited the room and took some videos, I posted a picture of the room on our Instagram at Murder in America. I had paid a visit to Selena's grave in Corpus Christi.

And that was also sombering. It was shocking that almost 30 years after her murder, she still had fans coming out to see her at her grave. When I was there, a group of people came up. They were crying. And I just asked them, what does Selena mean to you?

And it was an older woman, she responded by saying that Selena meant everything to her generation. So it just goes to show how deep these wounds are that were caused by this horrific crime. When I was there in honor of Selena, I left her one of my favorite cowboy hats. I placed it right there on the grave. And that was my little tribute to her, if you didn't know.

Selena used to wear cowboy hats. There are a number of pictures of her with cowboy hats on. It was one of the looks that she embraced because being from Texas, that's kind of the norm in some places around here. Now, I didn't do a paranormal investigation about Selena. I didn't do anything like that. I just wanted to go leave my tribute because I love her music. She's an important artist and Courtney, she's very important in Texas, isn't she?

Yeah, Selena is a huge icon here in Texas and growing up I have always met people that have admired her and the whole state is just really proud to have her from here and everyone really loved her. Even today when you mention her name people are just infatuated with her. They love her, they love her music, the person she was, her style and she just really was a great person overall.

All right, that does it for today's episode. Sorry it was so short. Colin and I had different schedules there for a while, but we'll be back next week with a brand new episode of our favorite case ever. See you next week, everyone.