The Psychic and The Talking Bird (PODCAST EXCLUSIVE EPISODE)
42:36 Share

Hey, Prime members, you can binge eight new episodes of the Mr. Ballin podcast one month early and all episodes ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today.

On May 13th, 2015, a police officer in Michigan named Gary Wilson rushed to the scene of a double suicide. When he got there, he went inside the dark home and made his way to the bedroom where the two bodies were located. Wilson took a look at one of the bodies and then he turned around to check on the other, and when he did, he immediately noticed something about the second body that was so surprising the officer nearly fainted from shock.

However, this absolutely wild discovery was only one small aspect of one of the most bizarre cases this officer would ever investigate.

But before we get into that story, if you're a fan of the Strange, Dark, and Mysterious delivered in story format, then you've come to the right podcast because that's all we do and we upload twice a week, once on Monday and once on Thursday. So if that's of interest to you, the next time you're at the gas station with the Amazon Music Follow button, kindly offer to fill up their car with gas. But instead of filling up their gas tank with gasoline, fill up the actual inside of their car with gasoline.

Okay, let's get into today's story. Imagine a burglary at your own home. Now, if you're picturing some shady character sneaking about under the cloak of night, you may be surprised to learn that according to the FBI, most break-ins happen during broad daylight, and they spike right now, in the summer, when people go on vacation and leave their homes empty and unprotected. And so that's why you need SimpliSafe home security right now. With SimpliSafe, I don't worry about leaving my home for any reason.

Because I know that if something happens, my SimpliSafe security system will alert me and the police. With FastProtect monitoring and LiveGuard protection, SimpliSafe agents can act within five seconds of receiving your alarm. They can even see and speak to intruders to stop them in their tracks. SimpliSafe has been named Best Home Security Systems by U.S. News & World Report for five years running, and they offer the very best customer service in home security, according to Newsweek.

It's easy to install and activate your new SimpliSafe system in less than an hour. Or you can just choose professional installation to have a pro do it for you. Protect your home this summer with 20% off any new SimpliSafe system when you sign up for fast protect monitoring. Just visit simplisafe.com slash ballin. That's simplisafe.com slash ballin. There's no safe like SimpliSafe.

Shopify has already taken the cash register online, helping millions sell billions around the world. But did you know they can do the same thing at your retail store? Give your point of sale system a serious upgrade with Shopify.

With Shopify, you get a powerhouse selling partner that effortlessly unites your in-person and online sales into one source of truth. That way, you can track every sale across your business in one place, and you know exactly what's in stock. Shopify also helps you drive store traffic with plug-and-play tools built for marketing campaigns on TikTok, Instagram, and beyond.

And you get the hardware that fits your business. Take payments with your smartphone, transform your tablet into a point-of-sale system, or use Shopify's POS Go mobile device for a battle-tested solution. Plus, Shopify's award-winning help is there to support your success every step of the way. Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at shopify.com slash mrballin, all lowercase. Go to shopify.com slash mrballin to take your retail business to the next level today. shopify.com slash mrballin

On May 9th, 2015, 46-year-old Marty Durham was sitting on his bed in Sand Lake, Michigan, and he couldn't stop laughing because his pet African gray parrot named Bud was perched in his cage near the bed, and the bird was just swearing and cussing up a storm. And Marty thought it was hysterical.

African grey parrots are considered to be some of the very best mimics. They can imitate specific voices, and they can also have vocabularies of close to a thousand words. And Bud's vocabulary clearly included more than a few swear words.

As his parrot continued to cuss away, Marty began to hear voices coming from the living room. So he told Bud he'd see him later, then Marty placed his hands firmly on the bed, and he slowly pushed himself up to his feet. Immediately, Marty felt a twinge of pain shoot through his legs, but he shook it off.

About 20 years earlier, Marty had been in this terrible car accident, and he'd suffered very serious injuries. Marty had eventually recovered, but he'd had to battle pain in his legs and back ever since. And that pain had actually only gotten worse over time as Marty got older, and so now Marty had to actually wear a brace on one of his legs just to help him walk. Marty made his way from the bedroom down a hallway towards the living room.

Marty was tall with short brown hair and a mustache, and he was wearing a t-shirt and denim shorts. Marty stepped into the living room, and he saw his wife Glenna was speaking with his adult son who had stopped by to visit. Marty had three children from a previous marriage, and all of them were grown up and out of the house. But they still came by fairly often to spend time with their dad and their stepmom. Marty gave his son a hug, and then he sat down on the couch next to Glenna.

The living room was almost like a shrine to Marty's favorite pastime, which was hunting. There were buck heads mounted on the wall as trophies, and the brown leather couch was draped with all these blankets that had images of deer on them. Marty's son asked how Bud the parrot was doing, and Marty just started laughing again, and then he told his son about how Bud was just ranting in the bedroom. Marty and his ex-wife, Christina, had had Bud since the kids were young, so Marty's son had grown up with this bird.

After chatting for a bit, Marty asked his son and his wife if they wanted to go outside, and they said yes. So Glenna stood up, and she helped Marty get to his feet. Glenna, like Marty, was 46 years old, and she had long brown hair, and she wore glasses. Glenna unlocked the back door, and then the three of them stepped out onto the new wooden deck that Marty and Glenna had just put in. It was an absolutely perfect day, about 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Marty breathed in the fresh air, and he felt an utter sense of calm come over him.

Being outside was like freedom to Marty. There was just nothing like it as far as he was concerned. And that was actually a huge reason why he'd bought the house where he and Glenna now lived. Years after Marty's terrible car accident, he had received some insurance money from the crash. And he had used that money to help him buy his blue wooden house in a very secluded area in the small rural town of Sand Lake.

Marty loved the house itself, but it was actually the land that the house sat on that made him happier than almost anything else. From the deck, Marty looked out across the huge backyard at all the surrounding woods, and he couldn't help but think about his next hunting trip. If it were up to him, he'd go hunting or fishing every single day, but he knew he had to take it easy sometimes to give his legs a rest.

Marty, Glenna, and Marty's son spent a good part of the day just sitting outside on the deck and talking. And then at some point, Marty's son said he needed to get home, so Marty stood up and he gave his son another hug and then told him he'd see him soon. Then Marty's son said bye and left the deck and walked around the house towards the front where his car was, and Marty and Glenna just stayed out back on the deck. And hours later, Marty and Glenna were still outside, and they watched the sky turn gold and red as the sun began to set.

Marty knew there was no such thing as a perfect life, and he had been through enough to know that everything could change in an instant. But there were times, like right now, when he just couldn't imagine being in a better place than he was. He had three kids that he loved dearly, and he was a grandfather with another grandchild on the way, he had this amazing house on this great land, and he was married to someone who he genuinely loved, Glenna.

Marty and Glenna had actually first met when they were teenagers, and they had been attracted to each other right away. They began dating, and for a while, they spent as much time together as they could. Both Marty and Glenna had a shared love of nature, so they were always out and about walking around in the forest and going on long walks together, and they also spent a lot of time together hanging out with friends in town.

But then, to the shock of a lot of their friends, Marty and Glenna had broken up and gone their separate ways. And not long after they had broken up, they both got married to other people. Marty married Christina, his first wife, and they had three kids together and their pet parrot Bud, and for years they had a pretty happy life together. And Glenna had gotten married and had kids of her own too. After Marty's car accident, Christina, his first wife, helped him a lot during his recovery.

But their relationship started to become strained over time, and they ended up getting divorced about five years after Marty's wreck. Then Marty had moved out, bought the blue wooden house on the amazing land, and continued to raise his kids. It turned out that Glenna had also gotten a divorce, and Marty and Glenna, who had almost been inseparable as teenagers, ultimately reconnected and rekindled their relationship. Glenna had moved back in with Marty back in 2001, and a few years later, they had gotten married.

Some of their friends thought it seemed like no time had passed at all. Like somehow Marty and Glenna were the exact same together as they had been when they were kids. They could still just sit down and talk for hours at a time and not get bored, and they still loved spending loads of time outdoors together. On the backyard deck, Marty and Glenna watched the last rays of sun disappear and then went inside the house. Glenna went to the kitchen to get dinner ready, and Marty headed to the bedroom. On the way to the bedroom, he checked the front door to make sure it was locked.

Marty had always been someone who was very cautious, and so he liked to keep all the doors locked and deadbolted even when he and Glenna were home during the day.

Some of that precaution was really just because that was Marty's nature, but it was also because Marty knew he kept several hunting weapons and handguns in the house, so if someone did come into the home, he knew things could turn violent very quickly. And even though they did live in a pretty secluded area, there was a road not too far from them, so people did pass by them, and Marty just didn't want to take any chances. Marty walked into his bedroom, and he saw Bud the Parrot bobbing back and forth on his perch.

Then, Marty stepped into the bathroom and he took a prescription pain pill out of a bottle on the counter and he washed the pill down with water from the sink. Marty took a deep breath, went back into the bedroom, and sat down on the bed. Marty didn't usually take as many pain pills as were prescribed to him for a day, but sometimes in the evening his leg pain got a lot worse and the pills really helped.

But even with the big inconvenience of chronic pain and some of the other issues his car accident had caused over the years, Marty still tried hard not to dwell on the past. And as he sat there waiting for his pain meds to kick in, he smiled because he was thankful for what he had. A great family, a house he loved, and a foul-mouthed talking bird who could always make him laugh.

On the evening of May 11, 2015, so two days after Marty's son had come to visit, the smell of Italian food wafted through Marty and Glenna's house. Marty walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table. Then Glenna came over and put down a plate of spaghetti and garlic bread in front of him, and then she also put another plate down for herself, and she sat down across from Marty.

As they ate dinner, Marty talked about wanting to plan a trip with some friends to go hunting wild boar and ram. Those types of hunting trips were far more complicated to coordinate than deer hunting trips in this area. And the pain in Marty's legs often made it very difficult for him to drive, which might make the trip even more complicated.

Still, Marty was excited to try to put the trip together, and Glenna didn't have any objections. She often drove Marty to his doctor's appointments or other important places he had to go, and so they could figure something out for the hunting trip if they needed to. After dinner, Glenna picked up the plates and left them on the counter in the kitchen. Then, Marty and Glenna went to the living room and watched TV for a couple of hours. Finally, just after midnight, Marty was tired, so he said goodnight to Glenna, he got up, and he went to their bedroom.

Glenna told him she was going to stay up a bit longer and look at her phone. Once he was in the bedroom, Marty undressed and got into bed. He then said goodnight to Bud the parrot, then flipped off the light and went to sleep. But hours later, at about 5 a.m., Marty suddenly woke up feeling really startled.

He heard his closet door open and then he heard shouting. And then Bud the parrot began squawking from his perch and Marty was just so confused he had no idea what was going on. But then Marty's eyes focused in the low light and he saw there was someone standing in his bedroom just a few feet away. And so Marty shouted at this person in the room and the bird squawked even louder.

Over 24 hours later, so on May 13th, Marty and Glenna's neighbor watched smoke rising into the air not far from her house. Then the neighbor heard the screams of sirens and saw a fire truck barreling down her road.

The neighbor was very worried about Marty and Glenna. She had texted both of them several times the day before, but neither of them had responded, and this just was not like them. The neighbor and Marty and Glenna were all very good friends, and they talked and texted all the time, and they were always very quick to get back to each other. The neighbor had also gone by Marty and Glenna's house the day before, but the couple hadn't been home.

And so now that this neighbor is seeing fire trucks come bombing down her road and she's seeing smoke in the air, you know, naturally she worried that the fire might be coming from Marty and Glenna's house.

And so the neighbor just ran outside and began running down the street towards Marty and Glenna's house. And as she ran down the road, she saw the fire trucks up ahead coming to a stop and the firefighters jumping down off the truck to get the hoses ready to put out the fire. But as the neighbor went down the road, she realized that it was actually a small fire that was not on Marty and Glenna's property. Their house was not on fire.

and so the neighbor was totally relieved but since the neighbor was already outside they decided they would just go to marty and glenna's house to see if maybe they were home now but when the neighbor crossed marty and glenna's huge front yard and arrived on their front porch and knocked on the door there was no answer

The neighbor thought about leaving, but she just couldn't shake this feeling that something was wrong with Marty and Glenna. So the neighbor just reached down and grabbed the doorknob and tried to turn it, and shockingly, the doorknob turned because the door was unlocked. And this really frightened the neighbor. She knew how much Marty liked to keep all the doors locked and deadbolted basically all the time. The neighbor cautiously opened up the door and then stepped inside the house and then began calling out to Marty and Glenna. But the house was silent.

So the neighbor turned the corner and walked into the living room and when she did it was like her heart skipped a beat because the place was a total wreck. A lamp had been tipped over and knocked off a table and there were papers and trash scattered all across the floor. Then the neighbor heard the parrot, Bud, begin to squawk in Marty and Glenna's bedroom. So the neighbor walked down the hallway to the bedroom and they stepped inside and Bud who was in the back cage squawked louder and louder

and the neighbor just kind of looked around the bedroom and at first it just looked like a normal bedroom except for the fact that all the blankets from the bed were basically piled on the ground right in front of the door. So the neighbor stepped over those blankets and began walking towards the back of the bedroom to see what was next to the bed and when she saw what was on the ground next to the bed the neighbor just froze because there next to the bed on the ground was Marty in his underwear with his face and chest covered in blood.

The neighbor was totally shocked and they turned to run out of the room, but as soon as she turned, she looked down and realized now from her vantage point, she could see that actually Glenna was inside of those blankets that she had stepped over when she first came in.

And now the neighbor was seeing Glenna's face and Glenna's skin was pale and her hair was matted down with blood. And the neighbor just screamed and jumped over Glenna and ran out of that house and then screamed for all the firefighters who were right nearby putting out that small fire. And one of the firefighters saw the neighbor and rushed over to her. And after she explained what she just found in her friend's house, the firefighter motioned for two of the first responders. And then the three of them ran into Marty and Glenna's house.

And then as soon as they walked into the bedroom and actually saw Marty and Glenna on the ground, the first responders knew they were dealing with a crime scene. And so one of the firefighters called police dispatch and he said they had just found two dead bodies and they needed police on the scene ASAP.

About two hours later, at around 5.30 p.m., Sergeant Gary Wilson of the Michigan State Police arrived in front of Marty and Glenna's house. Sergeant Wilson saw an ambulance and a fire truck nearby, and there were multiple firefighters, paramedics, and state troopers standing outside the house. Sergeant Wilson got out of his car and walked over to one of the firefighters. The firefighter explained that they had to put out a small fire in the area, but then this woman had come running out of Marty and Glenna's house, screaming for help.

The firefighters said, you know, once they had seen what was inside of the house, members of the fire department and other first responders were instructed to stay outside until police arrived. Because it was believed the house was now a crime scene.

Now, Sergeant Wilson had been told all of this already by police dispatch. He also had been told that he was very likely responding to a double suicide. But when Wilson approached the house, one of the state troopers went over to meet him, and that trooper believed there was a strong chance they were actually dealing with a double homicide, not double suicide.

Wilson followed the trooper inside the house to the bedroom. And when Wilson saw Marty on the floor, he was also pretty sure the man had not killed himself. Marty had multiple gunshot wounds, and there was no weapon nearby. Then Wilson stepped over to the pile of blankets on the floor to get a better look at Glenna's body, but when he crouched down on one knee and leaned in closer to her, he heard a loud gasp. Glenna's eyes opened, and then she screamed.

Wilson stood and stumbled back a few steps. He was in shock. But he quickly called for a paramedic and kept shouting over and over again that she's alive, she's alive, guys, get in here. Paramedics rushed into the bedroom and began working to get Glenna oxygen. Then they put her on a stretcher, wheeled her outside, and got her into the ambulance.

As the ambulance sped away to the hospital, Wilson stood in Glenna and Marty's bedroom trying to recover from the shock of what had just happened. And then once he'd caught his breath and calmed down, Sergeant Wilson called in that one of the victims, who everybody thought was dead, was actually alive. And also, Wilson said he believed they were not dealing with a suicide, but a murder, and so he needed a forensics team. Not long after Glenna woke up in the bedroom, a state forensics team arrived at the property and began doing a thorough sweep.

In the bedroom, not far from Marty's body, they found several bullet casings. They also found a key to Marty's gun safe on the floor, and they located the safe in the closet. So, Wilson's first thought was that someone who knew that Marty kept guns in his safe had taken the key, gotten a weapon out of the safe, and then using that weapon, they had killed Marty and attempted to kill Glenna.

And the idea that the killer was someone the couple knew made sense because there was no sign of forced entry in the house. Now, Marty and Glenna's neighbor had found the front door unlocked, so it was possible that maybe Marty or Glenna had unknowingly welcomed the killer into their home.

But the forensics team also found something very strange in the bedroom. Marty had died while clutching a patch of hair in his right hand, so they would need to run DNA tests to see if the hair matched Marty's or if it belonged to someone else, like maybe his killer. Sergeant Wilson heard someone calling to him from the living room, so he stepped out of the bedroom and headed that way.

When he got there, he saw a forensics officer on the ground bagging a piece of evidence. The officer had found a .22 caliber Ruger revolver underneath one of the living room chairs. Sergeant Wilson knew they would have to wait for ballistics testing to see if this revolver really was the murder weapon, but Wilson already had a strong feeling that very likely this was the murder weapon. And he was almost positive that that gun must have come out of Marty's safe.

after several hours in the house wilson felt like he still had a lot of questions to answer so he called the hospital in hopes that glenna was now in stable condition and able to talk to him about who had shot her and her husband but doctors would tell him that glenna unfortunately was still very much recovering from her wound and not really in a good position to talk to him at least not yet so sergeant wilson decided if he couldn't talk to marty's wife then he would just start his investigation with other members of marty's family his kids

On May 14th, so a day after Marty's body had been discovered, Marty's two sons and his daughter climbed under the crime scene tape outside of Marty's house and approached the front door. They all stood at the door still in total shock. How could this place that had made them so happy over the years now be just a violent crime scene? It just didn't make sense to them.

The siblings entered the house. They were there to pick up Bud the parrot so they could bring him back to their mother, Marty's ex-wife Christina. But before they actually made it to the bedroom to grab Bud, they were all stunned by the mess in the living room. Their dad and their stepmother had always kept the house very neat and tidy, so it didn't even look like the same place. Then something caught their attention. A large manila envelope was on the living room floor amongst the mess, and so one of Marty's sons crouched down and opened the envelope and looked inside.

and he showed the contents to his brother and sister, and they all agreed this was something they should hold on to. Then they went to the bedroom to get Bud the parrot. Soon after they had left, the siblings brought Bud to their mother's house. Then they decided to show the police the manila envelope they had found. Later that day, after Marty's children had contacted the police, they were brought into the local station to be interviewed. Sergeant Wilson had already planned to begin his investigation with Marty's kids, but now that they have this manila envelope, he was so eager to speak with them.

Wilson knew there was a good chance that he was simply dealing with three grief-stricken young people who had just lost their father. But he still could not eliminate any of Marty's kids as potential suspects, at least not yet. So, Wilson first led Marty's oldest son, Justin, into a small office at the station. Wilson wanted to meet with each of Marty's kids separately. He believed that if one of the kids had information about the case, they were more likely to share it if each of them was on their own.

In the office, Wilson told Justin they were not accusing him of anything. They just wanted to talk to him to see if he had any information that could help with their investigation. And Justin was very calm and seemed eager to cooperate. Wilson asked Justin if he knew about any enemies his father might have, or if his dad had recently had a falling out with any of his friends. Justin said he couldn't think of anyone. He said his dad was really close with his neighbors and his hunting buddies, and they all seemed to get along really well.

But then, Justin got a look on his face like he just remembered something. He looked up at Wilson and told him that there were a bunch of people who knew his father had a big supply of prescription pain medication inside of his house. When Wilson heard this, he immediately sat back in his chair and just thought for a second. At the time, the opioid epidemic in the United States was near its height. Prescription painkillers, like the ones Marty took,

were in very high demand and addicts had been known to commit terrible crimes to get a hold of these drugs so sergeant wilson started to wonder if someone who knew marty had killed him and attempted to kill his wife simply to get a hold of marty's pills after they talked a bit longer wilson thanked justin for his cooperation and told him police would be in touch if they needed anything else

Later that day, Wilson and other investigators met with Marty's two other kids, and their version of events surrounding their visit to their dad and stepmother's house and the manila envelope they found in the living room were all basically the same.

So in the following days, investigators met with other people who were close to Marty to see if they had any information they might be able to add. And one of the people investigators spoke to said she knew that Marty's guns were not the only things that he and Glenna kept locked up in their safe. They also kept a couple of thousand dollars in cash locked up.

But, as Sergeant Wilson knew, no cash had been found inside of that safe. And so suddenly, the information about this missing money and the information Marty's son had given about Marty's pills started to paint a picture of what happened for investigators. And so now their theory was that someone Marty and Glenna knew had possibly come to their house with the intention of robbing them of their cash and their prescription drugs.

So, Wilson wanted to meet with anyone who had known about the safe in the couple's house to see if he could track down the missing money and Marty and Glenna's attacker. Mr. Balling Collection is sponsored by BetterHelp.

When your schedule is packed with kids' activities, big work projects, and more, it can be easy to let your priorities slip, even if you know doing so will make you miserable. But when you feel yourself losing control over your time and your sanity, that's when you need to remind yourself that certain priorities are non-negotiable. Things like taking care of your mental health.

That said, I always make sure to step back and spend time away from work with my family or friends. This is because my therapist always stresses how important it is to recharge whenever I can. That way I don't burn out. This is why I think therapy can be so helpful for people whose lives feel very hectic, which is basically all of us. If you're thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try.

It's entirely online, designed to be convenient, flexible, and suited to your schedule. Just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist and switch therapists anytime for no additional charge. Never skip therapy day with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash mrballandpod today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash mrballandpod.

Listening on Audible helps your imagination soar. Whether you listen to stories, motivation, any genre you love, you can be inspired to imagine new worlds, new possibilities, new ways of thinking. Maybe you'll find inspiration in the incredible true story of black female mathematicians at NASA in Hidden Figures, or the fantasy world of Throne of Glass. There's more to imagine when you listen. As an Audible member, you get to choose one title a month to keep from their entire catalog,

It had only been about a week since the attack, but Sergeant Wilson and the rest of his team were already getting frustrated.

They felt like they had all these puzzle pieces right in front of them, but none of the pieces seemed to connect. There was the missing money from the safe, there was that manila envelope that Marty's kids had found in the living room, and there was the potential that somebody had wanted to steal Marty's prescription pain pills. But as investigators spoke to just about anybody who had any connection to Marty and Glenna, they couldn't find any evidence that sort of pointed to a particular person, a primary suspect, and they still had no leads on the missing money.

Wilson had desperately hoped that Glenna would be able to provide the missing pieces that would make the puzzle kind of come together, but she was still recovering in the hospital, and so for now, an interview was still not possible. But when the investigation began to look like it was genuinely running into a dead end and might go cold, Michigan State Trooper Barry Wolf took a phone call at his desk. Wolf, like other members of the investigative team, had been worried about the lack of progress they were making.

But as he listened to this caller on the other line, he wasn't sure if he was getting the tip police had been hoping for or if he was about to be sent on an insane wild goose chase. The caller was a woman who was named Fran Fallon. She was the wife of one of Marty's cousins and she was a self-proclaimed psychic.

On the phone, Fran told Officer Wolfe that she had received important information about Marty's murder during a psychic reading and she'd like to share this information with the police. And so Wolfe told Fran he'd be right over to see her.

Then, Officer Wolfe told Sergeant Wilson about this call, and neither of the men really believed in psychic phenomena, but a person saying they had potentially important information about this case, especially someone who had a family connection to the victim, couldn't be ignored. So, after speaking to Wilson, Wolfe left the building, got into his cruiser, and went to meet Fran at her house to see what her supposed visions had shown her. When Wolfe arrived, he found Fran sitting on her back porch, and she motioned for him to join her.

Wolf introduced himself, thanked Fran for contacting him, and then took a seat next to her. Fran spoke in a low but very confident voice. She knew some people thought she was crazy or just making things up, but she trusted her psychic gifts and she felt like the police should trust them too. Fran reached down beside her and took a small notebook out of a folder. She told Wolf that she had written down information she'd received during a recent psychic vision. Then she flipped open the notebook and began reading.

Fran told Wolf that it was important for police to look under the couch or the love seat in Marty and Glenna's living room. Then Fran looked up and stared directly into Wolf's eyes and told him that Marty's right hand was also going to be very important to the investigation.

When she said this, Wolf sat back in his chair and just stared at Fran in disbelief. Investigators had found that ruger underneath the chair in the living room. Sure, that wasn't the same as a couch or a love seat, but that was pretty close. Also, Wolf was shocked to hear Fran mention Marty's right hand because Marty had been found clutching that patch of hair in his right hand. But Wolf's first thought was not that this woman was actually psychic. It was

It was instead that she clearly had information about a crime scene that only somebody who had been there would know about. And so Wolf did not want to alarm Fran in any way that he could be on to her. And so instead, he just smiled and told her that this was very interesting. And then he asked her where she had been at the time Marty was murdered. And Fran would tell him that she had been with her daughter.

After that, Wolf thanked Fran again for getting in touch with him, and then he walked off her porch and went back to his car. Once he was inside and turned it back on, he gunned the engine and sped back to the station to tell the rest of the investigative team about this weird meeting. And once he did tell them about this weird meeting, the Michigan State Police had to either accept that Fran really got this information from a psychic reading she'd done, or they would have to add a local psychic to their list of suspects.

Sergeant Wilson told investigators to follow up on Fran's alibi, and he could barely believe the turn this investigation was taking. But it wouldn't be long before Wilson realized having a psychic involved was not remotely the weirdest thing about this case. In October of 2015, so almost five months after the attack that left Marty dead, Sergeant Wilson finally got the call he'd been waiting for.

Glenna had been released from the hospital and she was now able to speak with police. Investigators had spent the last few months searching for that lost money and looking into the psychic's background and they had come up empty. They had potential suspects, but none of them seemed all that viable. But now, Wilson would be able to talk to someone who was literally there when the attack happened, Glenna, and he hoped she'd be able to clear up a lot of the questions that he and his team still had.

Glenna met with Wilson at the police station, and after they made it into the interview room, Wilson asked her, you know, what do you remember about the day that you and your husband were attacked? And immediately when Glenna began to talk, Wilson knew he was not going to get the clear-cut evidence he had been hoping for. Glenna told him she'd been struggling with her memory ever since she arrived at the hospital. She said she could barely remember anything about the day of the shooting or even the days leading up to it.

Wilson knew Glenna was dealing with a serious head injury, so her memory loss did not come as much of a surprise. But he still believed Glenna was going to be the key to figuring out who killed Marty. So Wilson began talking to Glenna about pieces of evidence that had been found at the scene, hoping maybe something would spark her memory. But by the end of the interview, Glenna had not remembered anything that could point the investigation in any one direction. And so Wilson began to feel lost again.

So, as the weeks and months passed, investigators continued to pursue all of their potential leads, but they still had no clear killer, and Marty's family was now also starting to become very frustrated. They wanted answers, and they wanted some kind of closure. But even as the one-year anniversary of Marty's murder approached, the case was still open, and people close to Marty had no idea if it would ever be closed.

In May of 2016, so a year after Marty was killed, a news reporter for a Grand Rapids, Michigan TV station stared at a video playing on his computer screen. His eyes were wide and his mouth was hanging open. This guy couldn't believe what he was watching.

On the video, Marty's pet parrot, Bud, was clinging to the side of his cage and he was shouting in Marty's voice. Then the parrot's voice would completely change and he would speak in somebody else's voice who was not shouting and then the parrot would shift back into Marty's voice and he would keep on shouting.

The reporter was watching Bud mimic an argument the bird clearly had heard between Marty and somebody else. And the reporter was almost certain the other voice that Bud was mimicking belonged to Marty's killer and that this argument must have taken place right before the murder. Because at one point in the video, Bud mimicked Marty's voice by yelling, Don't fucking shoot!

The reporter watched the entire video, and then when it was done, he watched it again. And afterwards, he knew it had to be aired.

The news station contacted Marty's first wife, Christina, who had gotten Bud back after Marty was killed. Christina told producers at the station that she was the one who had shot that video about a month after Marty's murder, but she had only told people who were close to her about it. She had never intended for it to make the news. But around the year anniversary of Marty's death, Marty's parents had done a follow-up interview with a local TV station, and during that interview, the video of Bud the Parrot screaming, don't fucking shoot, had

had come up and eventually that video of Bud was shown to the local news crew. And then somehow the video made its way to the much larger TV station in Grand Rapids. And not long after that, the Grand Rapids TV station played Bud's video on the news and soon the story got picked up all over the world. Suddenly, Bud the Parrot seemed like a hero. He was like a key witness to an unsolved murder and everyone believed he was going to be the key to solving the case.

The worldwide attention Bud's video brought to Marty's murder might have put added pressure on the investigative team, but police insisted that the parrot video did not change the way they were pursuing the case. Then in June, a month after Bud's video appeared on TV, investigators announced they had actually made an arrest in Marty's murder case. Police maintained that Bud the parrot's supposed eyewitness account of the murder had nothing to do with the arrest.

It just so happened that at this time, they had finally figured out who took the money from Marty's safe, and soon after that, they had discovered a piece of evidence that broke the case wide open and led them to Marty's killer. Based on evidence found at the crime scene and interviews conducted throughout the investigation, here is a reconstruction of what police believe happened in the early morning hours of May 12, 2015, when someone killed Marty Durham in his bedroom.

At 5:00 a.m. on May 12, 2015, the glow from the killer's phone lit their face as they walked down the hallway inside of Marty and Glenna's house. The killer was breathing heavily, and they were scared and nervous. But they managed to walk quietly towards the bedroom. Once they got there, the killer opened the bedroom door and stepped inside.

The low light from the killer's phone provided enough illumination that the killer could see the African gray parrot in its cage. The killer quickly walked across the room to the closet, then they opened it up and used their phone light to locate the key to the large gun safe that was inside. Once they had the key, the killer held their breath and unlocked the safe. Tucked away amongst several hunting rifles, they found a loaded .22 caliber Ruger revolver.

The killer grabbed the gun and stared at it in their hand for a second. Then they turned, stepped out of the closet, approached the bed, and just started yelling. And immediately, Marty, who was in bed, he sat up, totally startled, and the noise caused Bud the parrot to start squawking, which only added to the confusion. Marty kind of shook himself awake and he saw the killer just standing there, and still not sure what was happening, Marty just began screaming too. So Marty, the parrot, and the killer are all yelling.

But then, in the light from the killer's phone and the glow from the moon that was coming in through the window, Marty noticed the killer had a gun by their side. And so Marty pulled himself up and out of bed, and right away he very likely felt that pain shooting through his legs and back. And at the same time, Bud keeps squawking from his cage, and the killer kept shouting at Marty. I mean, it was absolutely chaos, but Marty was still hopeful he could maybe get out of there.

and so Marty raised up his hands in a defensive position and tried to walk past the killer. The killer raised the gun and aimed it right at Marty's chest and Marty screamed "Don't fucking shoot!" But the killer fired. They fired three shots in rapid succession hitting Marty in the chest again and again and again. Then the killer fired two more times and those bullets struck Marty's forearm and his back as he fell. Marty collapsed on the floor, dead.

and the killer just stood there staring down at marty's body then the killer took a deep breath calmly walked out of the bedroom and made their way towards the front door and they unlocked it then the killer made their way to the living room and they tipped a lamp off an end table onto the floor then they emptied a desk drawer and some shelves and made a total mess of the place then the killer just kind of stood there scanning around their house looking at what they had just done so far their plan had gone exactly the way they hoped but the hardest part was yet to come

Finally, the killer took several deep breaths, doing their best to stay calm and steady. Then they raised their gun and placed the barrel behind their right ear and they pulled the trigger. Immediately blood began pouring out of the wound and the room began to spin, but the killer kept their balance long enough to toss the gun under a nearby living room chair. Then the killer stumbled back into the bedroom and fell down onto the ground. And before they passed out, they grabbed a huge pile of blankets nearby and pulled them up and over their head.

It would turn out Glenna had murdered Marty, and then obviously shot herself in the head. It turned out that Marty and Glenna's marriage had not been as perfect as some of their friends believed. Over the years, Glenna had racked up a huge amount of debt. She had lost about $75,000 gambling at nearby casinos, and as a result, she had stopped making mortgage payments on their house. But Marty never knew any of that.

Not long before the murder, Glenna had learned that the house that Marty loved so much was now going into foreclosure. And so soon he would learn the truth and they would both be forced out.

Early on in the investigation, police had actually learned about the pending foreclosure and they'd discovered Glenna's gambling habit. So they started to think that Glenna had killed Marty and then tried to kill herself, seeing a murder-suicide as her only way out. And this murder-suicide theory was only bolstered when police looked inside of that manila envelope that Marty's kids had found when they went to Marty's house to get Bud. The manila envelope contained several letters that Glenna had written to her kids and to her ex-husband.

In the letters, Glenna expressed how sorry she was and asked them to please take care of each other. Police believed those letters sounded like suicide notes.

But in a case involving a psychic and a talking bird, nothing was ever as simple as it seemed. Because if it was a murder-suicide, why had thousands of dollars been taken from the safe? Why was the house completely wrecked? And why had the gun been hidden in the living room when Marty and Glenna were found in their bedroom? Those were questions investigators had to answer if they were ever going to determine what had really happened.

Finally, investigators discovered who had taken the money from the safe because Marty's kids had come forward and admitted they took the cash when they went to collect Bud the Parrot. Even though Marty's kids had taken the money, police still didn't consider them primary suspects. Instead, they thought Marty's kids were just young and foolish and had made a very bad decision.

So with the money from the safe now accounted for, investigators were able to rule it out as a motive for the murder. And the psychic's alibi eventually checked out, so the investigators crossed her off of their suspect list, but they would be left wondering how she seemed to know undisclosed details about the crime scene.

DNA tests conducted on the hair found inside of Marty's hand also did not end up helping investigators. So all of this brought Sergeant Wilson and his team back to the possibility of a murder and failed suicide attempt committed by Glenna.

But, of course, there were still unanswered questions. It wasn't like they had found the gun in Glenna's hand. Then, in early summer of 2016, the media and the public latched onto that viral video of Bud the Parrot saying, don't fucking shoot, and many claimed the other voice that Bud was speaking in sounded an awful lot like Glenna. But police continued to rely on more common investigative techniques to determine if Glenna was, in fact, the killer.

They dug deep into Glenna's phone records and internet history, and when they had a clear picture of Glenna's online activity, they got the break in the case they had been looking for.

It turned out that hours before Marty's murder, Glenna had been online researching various aspects of the .22 caliber Ruger revolver, the type of gun used to kill Marty. And some investigators believed Glenna had learned a lot more than just how to fire or reload the weapon. They thought she had found a way to shoot herself that would allow her to live and enable her to keep functioning even after she had pulled the trigger.

In fact, a neurosurgeon would testify in court that the wounds found behind Glenna's ear were non-lethal and that those wounds would not necessarily result in a loss of consciousness. This meant that Glenna could have shot herself in the head in the living room and then still managed to hide the gun, get back to the bedroom, and get into position under the blankets all before she was found.

So, as bizarre as this case had seemed at times, investigators believed they had solved the most important part of the puzzle: that Glenna had murdered Marty. Some people close to the case would continue to believe that the crime was still the result of Glenna's failed murder-suicide plan, meaning Glenna really did intend to end her life, but just didn't, because where she shot herself was non-lethal, even though Glenna denied the letters she had written to her family were suicide notes.

Others believed there were even darker motives at play and that Glenna murdered Marty, then tried to make it look like a robbery, and then also tried to make herself look like a victim too. So they didn't believe suicide was ever part of Glenna's plan, that she definitely did try to intentionally shoot the part of her head that wouldn't kill her. You know, this was all a big con. But it's not clear what Glenna's motives were for doing this. Like, what did she stand to gain by killing her husband and framing this whole thing? It just didn't make any sense.

But regardless of what the actual reason was for why Glenna did what she did, by the summer of 2016, police had enough evidence to arrest her. Glenna was ultimately convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. As of 2019, Bud the parrot was living with Marty's first wife, Christina, and a fellow African gray parrot named Ozzie. Christina said the two birds have become best friends.

Thank you for listening to the Mr. Ballin podcast. If you enjoyed today's story and you're looking for more bone-chilling content, be sure to check out all of our studios' podcasts. Those are Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries, Bedtime Stories, and Run Full. Just search for Ballin Studios wherever you get your podcasts and you will find all of them. Also, there are hundreds more stories like the one you listened to today, but in video format on our YouTube channel. And our YouTube channel is just called Mr. Ballin. Go check it out.

So that's going to do it. I really appreciate your support. Until next time, see ya.

I'm Dan Taberski. In 2011, something strange began to happen at the high school in Leroy, New York. I was like at my locker and she came up to me and she was like stuttering super bad. I'm like, stop f***ing around. She's like...

I can't. A mystery illness, bizarre symptoms, and spreading fast. It's like doubling and tripling, and it's all these girls. With a diagnosis the state tried to keep on the down low. Everybody thought I was holding something back. Well, you were holding something back intentionally. Yeah, well, yeah.

No, it's hysteria. It's all in your head. It's not physical. Oh my gosh, you're exaggerating. Is this the largest mass hysteria since The Witches of Salem? Or is it something else entirely? Something's wrong here. Something's not right. Leroy was the new dateline and everyone was trying to solve the murder. A new limited series from Wondery and Pineapple Street Studios. Hysterical.

Follow Hysterical on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge all episodes of Hysterical early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery+.