EP37: Unholy Halloween Homicide
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All right, welcome back to another episode of the Psychopedia Podcast. I am your co-host, Tank Sinatra, here with my partner in true crime. Investigator Slater. Instigator Slater. Oh, you remember our past conversation. That's for semen demons only. I apologize. Cash me on patreon.com slash psychopedia pod if you want more of this, but just in a different format. You know what I mean?

I think it's better because I run the show over there and I... You're a maniac over there? I do. My brain just goes absolutely buck wild. But we have fun over here. We have fun over there. Here, I don't have to think as much. I just have to wake up every 30 seconds and say something. Come on. No, I mean mentally. How else would you mean? Literally. Oh. Yeah. No, I remember when I was doing drugs past life...

It was a bunch of us hanging out. I forget what drugs we were on, but the girl, one of the girls goes, guys, every 30 seconds I wake up and we were like, yo, you should go to bed. Wake up in eight hours. Yeah. So man, we are just having a blast over here doing this podcast. I love it. I love Patreon. I love Unhinged. I really, really do. I like that I get to like lean back a little bit, let you take the wheel and

But I have to tell you, I like the driver's seat. You love being in control. I love psychopedia. I love the true crime cases. I love this work. Well, you're also living the entire case presentation out before you do it. So the amount of anticipation must just be...

through the roof for you. Showtime. You're a psycho. Yeah. Yeah. Like when you find something that you know is going to be interesting, do you go, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. It's on. I mean, I can't go to sleep. I wake up at four or five in the morning. I'm thinking about it constantly. I'm just, there's like a

magnetism to my laptop. Your alarm clock is... And you wake up to that? Yep. That's just your internal alarm clock. Exactly. I mean, it really has become a part of us so fast. This podcast is only like seven months old and it feels like a whole lifetime has passed. It really does. I'd be interested to see if the listeners feel that way too, because sometimes you get so entrenched in something. We watched The Walking Dead years ago. We started... Here's how I did it.

I usually hate season one, season two of popular shows. Don't know why, it's just the way it is. So we started at season four.

We watched season four, season five, then went back to one, two, three. Nothing mattered. There was people that were there that weren't there in season four, but it was all like, okay. And I'm so glad I didn't watch season one first because season one was pretty bad. I mean, you've heard our first couple episodes, right? Oh yeah. I mean, one of them we pulled back, we released it and then we pulled it back. No, that sucked. Yeah. It sounded so terrible. I couldn't even deal with thinking that people were going to think that was like representative of what we could do. Yeah.

It's still sitting there with like 300 downloads in the server. To those 300 people, I apologize. Yeah, we're so sorry. But with that said, if this is your first time listening to this podcast, welcome. And if this is your 40th time listening to this podcast, welcome home, you little freak. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. You're where you need to be. Absolutely. And so we're building out the studio. We got some new chairs. We got some lights. We're going to get a fog machine maybe. Because we're going to be videoing. We're going to be doing video. Yeah. So go over to YouTube also and subscribe to the Psychopedia YouTube channel.

There's only one video there, but you know, whatever. You gotta crawl before you walk. So you don't miss it. I saw a review come in that I want to read real quick and then shout out a couple of Patreon members. Don't you dare skip this. Okay? You, if you're listening right now,

I may give the meaning of life in between. Who knows? You typically do that. Yeah. But this one, I don't know what the title said. It was from Allie1218, high quality research and deep bell something, belief. I have no idea. She says, first, let me say that I consume a lot of true crime podcasts and psychopedia is by far the most high quality show I have listened to in quite some time. Man, thank you. Owner time.

Investigator Slater's elegant and incandescent storytelling along with Tank's aptly timed quips truly create a unique niche in the true crime podcast realm. Download and listen. You will not be disappointed. Heart emoji. Like I've been saying, we're the only true crime comedy podcast out there. And like I've been saying, we are.

But we're the only ones doing it like we do because that's what individuality means. Yeah, there's plenty of room for lots of people to do the same thing in their own way and to do it well. Yeah. So there's other people doing it, but my favorite way is the way we do it. Yeah, me too. I also want to just read off a couple of insane Patreon names, if you don't mind. Patreon.com slash PsychopediaPod for episodes of Psychopedia Unhinged, different photos, videos.

so he's going to start doing some book recommendations. I might start doing the same. Maybe I'll just live there. You definitely should. Yeah. You love it there. Maybe I'll just move in. But over there we have No Horse Deck Nick, Briony Watson, The Lady of Shabizness, Jezadiah Buchanan, which I'm pretty sure is his real name, but it's so good I wanted to read it out anyway.

Donna Perazzo, she's heavy over there. Donna Perazzo's name pops up a lot. Love it. Love you, Donna. Christy Wood, Charlotte Bell, Cashmia Psycho, Relax Your Genitals, which I know you said last time, but she deserves a special, special shout out. And genitals is spelled J-E-N-I-T-A-L-S.

I'm sure her name is Jen. Yeah. Probably, right? Screaming and creaming. A little dirty. Yeah. Rheanosaurus Rex, Peach of Shit, Lauren Up and Shabizness, Oh My Genitals, and that's where we're going to end it. Excellent. That's a combination of the Relax Your Genitals podcast with Oh My Ma, which is very recent. Very, very recent. Last week. Told you. Won't be last week. People are going to be saying Oh My Ma instead of Oh My God. No, you are.

Oh, yeah. I mean, I'm trying to make fetch happen hard. Yeah. Stop trying to make oh my my happen. It's not going to happen. It's happening. It is. Show us your business and genitals. But without further ado, let's get to this week's case, which again, I have no idea what it's about. I'm going in totally blind and I'm going to be just as shocked as you are. Yeah. While Slater reads me this case. So we're treating this as our Halloween episode. Spooky. Yeah.

So the case itself doesn't have anything to do with Halloween. I just want to put it out there, but it happened on Halloween. Oh, it did? Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's a connection to Halloween, but it's not like a spooky, creepy, eerie, monster, ghoul type of vibe. By the way, one more. Mike and I think Stacey, happy wedding anniversary.

Their wedding anniversary is October 31st. Oh, that's my dating anniversary. Yeah? When I met Dave for the first time, I was dressed up as Lara Croft Tomb Raider. Uh-huh. And he was dressed up as some version of White Trash. Just dressed normal. Shut up. Oh, no, it was Duff from The Simpsons. Oh, yeah. Well, that guy's pretty White Trash. Yeah. Or Cleo, maybe? Cletus? Cletus. Cletus.

I don't know. Whatever. Crusty the Clown? I can't remember. Or Bart. It hooked me. Yeah. You were like, this guy's got a good personality. Yeah, exactly. All right. So, yeah, let's hear what this nightmare Halloween case is all about. Okay.

In a dimly lit, sterile execution chamber in the Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville. Pen-a-what? Yep. Penitentiary. I'm from Huntsville. The anticipation hung heavy in the air like a toxic fog. The room, though eerily silent and still, bore witness to a profound tension that seemed to pulse with every passing second.

At the center of this morbid stage was a gurney bathed in an unsettling clinical light. Strapped tightly to the gurney was the condemned, an individual who met society's ultimate judgment. His blanched face was illuminated by the cold, sterile glow of the room's overhead lights as the governor's pardon phone hung on the wall in deafening silence. Behind a thick, soundproof glass partition, a small gathering of witnesses, including the heartbroken mother of the condemned,

watched in hushed anticipation. Some witnesses wore somber expressions while others fought to conceal triumphant smiles. They were all there to bear witness to a solemn act, the extinguishing of a human life, as the curtain separating them from the chamber remained closed, not yet revealing the unfolding spectacle.

The room silence was occasionally punctuated by the distant mechanical hum of medical equipment, an unsettling reminder of the purpose of this gathering. As the appointed hour approached, the tension in the chamber reached its zenith and a palpable sense of foreboding enveloped both the witnesses and the condemned. A palpable sense of foreboding? Yeah. Someone's been reading fucking Edgar Allan Poe.

Then, with a heavy, almost ceremonial creak, the curtain began to inch open, revealing the macabre scene beyond.

The condemned lie still, his gaze fixed on the ceiling, his emotions on display for all to consume. In that suspended moment, the room bore witness to the intersection of justice or injustice, morality or immorality, and the unyielding passage of time. The curtain continued to rise, ushering in the final act in this somber drama as the assembled witnesses grappled with the weight of what they were about to see, the

The irreversible act of an execution by lethal injection. That's how I'd want to go out, though. Okay. I mean, just put me to sleep like a dog. You know? Today, I... Wait, hold on. You don't like what I just said, and I need to know why. You don't like me thinking about dying? I don't like to think of you dying. Is that acceptable? Yeah, but if I'm going to go out, which we all are... You want to go peacefully. I get it. I want to go out hot as hell. Yeah.

I can't, you know, you're making me switch gears. I'm in the room. Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry. Go, go, go. You're in the room. You're condemned right now. Helpful sense of foreboding, irreversible. Go, go, go, go. Today, I am trying to take you on an in-depth exploration of a deeply controversial case characterized by a mix of disputed evidence, allegations of police and attorney misconduct, lingering uncertainties surrounding the perpetrator's alleged confession,

and the possibility of a grave, irreversible miscarriage of justice. These factors, along with numerous other startling elements, have served as the catalyst for ongoing debates and continued investigative efforts over the past four decades. And even now, after all this time,

The events that transpired on that fateful day and in the months and years that followed is jaw-dropping. Wait, so he's been dead, right? Mm-hmm. And people have been trying to prove that he's innocent for the last 40 years? Yep. It's a post-execution reversal, like of the conviction. People are trying. His family is trying. Wow.

But this is the end of today's case, this scene that I just provided. Guaranteed, baby. As always, I'll need to bring you back to the beginning, starting with the tragic event that led to this scene. Because on Halloween in the year 1981, a 76-year-old nun in Amarillo, Texas was brutally slain. Which means, today, we are discussing the unholy Halloween homicide of Sister Tadea Benz.

Unholy Halloween Homicide? Yep. Is the name of the episode, right? Yes, it is. I knew you were going to say that. Just making sure. All right, let's get into it.

I like to start, as we know, highlighting to the extent that it works with the episode, The Victim. But I will say that there's not too much out there about Sister Taddea Benz. But let me tell you what I know. Sister Taddea Benz was born Martina Benz in Switzerland on September 21st, 1905. For most of her life, she lived at the St. Francis Convent in the small Midwestern city of Amarillo, Texas, having made a lifelong commitment to God by professing her perpetual vows of chastity, poverty, and

and obedience. As part of Sister Tadea's daily routine, the 76-year-old Franciscan nun would typically wake up at 5 a.m., relatable, brew herself a cup of coffee, and spend some time with the convent's resident cat, Chloe. At precisely 6.30 a.m., Sister Tadea would then proceed to the convent's chapel to join in morning prayer, a

a ritual that held profound significance for her. And as I said, there's not too much available about Sister Taddea as an individual beyond her tragic victimization. I like to try and paint people in a light that shows us who they were as people and not just who they were on the last day of their life. But if we look into the morning prayer, which is what held very, very deep significance for her, it can provide some insight into her character. So just give me a second, okay?

Aiming to sanctify each day and offer praise to God, the morning prayer is universal in nature as the entire church follows the same basic structure. Sister Taddea believed that despite differences in geography and culture amongst nuns and adherents worldwide, the structured rhythm of the prayer served as a unifying force within the broader faith community.

So it's clear to me that she valued togetherness and human connection woven with a spiritual thread. Yeah. So I just wanted to give a little insight into what a wonderful person she likely was. On the fateful morning of Saturday, October 31st, 1981. Sister Tadaya missed morning prayer, as previously indicated, which sent ripples of concern through the convent.

As the clock neared 7.30 a.m., the conclusion of the prayer session, a group of nuns decided to investigate Sister Tadaya's unexpected absence. Upon entering her bedroom, which had an uncharacteristically closed door that morning, the nuns were met with a haunting scene. Their beloved sister, Tadaya Benz, was lifeless on the floor beneath them. Her body lies stretched out completely naked, with her arms extended at her sides.

Surrounding her uncovered head was a pool of coagulated blood. The nun's initial shock gave way to a crushing sadness as they rushed to tend to their fallen sister, only to discover that her body was cold to the touch and her pulse entirely absent. It appeared to them that Sister Taddea had suffered a tragic accident and likely fell from her bed and sustained a fatal head injury. That's why she was on the floor. That's why there was blood around her head.

And sad as they were, the nuns accepted her passing with unwavering faith, their hearts heavy yet resolute, believing that Sister Taddea had ascended to her rightful place in heaven, nestled beside the Almighty. Five nuns at St. Francis Convent then proceeded to wrap Sister Taddea's body in a sheet after cleaning the bloodstains on the otherwise immaculate bedroom floor. Then they respectfully left their deceased sister and proceeded downstairs to make her funeral arrangements.

It was amidst the flurry of preparations for the funeral when a disconcerting discovery was made in the convent's first floor community room. Wait, so they thought it was a head injury at first? Yes. Okay. There in plain sight in this room was a shattered window surrounded by broken glass and what appeared to be a deliberate hole cut into the window screen. Worried that there may have been a burglary at some point during the night, the nuns contacted the Amarillo Police Department.

At that point, the nuns hadn't thought to connect the occurrence of the broken window with the death of Sister Taddea because they assumed, in spite of the blood, that she had died of a result of a fall. They didn't connect the two. So they thought she fell and hit her head and there was also a robbery on the same night in the same house. Yes. You got to be the most pure-hearted individual to think that. Well, we are talking about nuns. What a coincidence. Yes.

By the way, whoever wound up doing it, I don't know if we find out or not, but you got to be a real piece of shit to kill two things. An old lady who's a nun. Yeah, it doesn't get worse. The innocence and the purity that... That's the same as killing a child. Yeah, I figured you were going to go there. Kids are just a totally different level, but...

Yeah, you got to be a real, real weak man. Depraved piece of shit. Yeah, yeah. Yep. By 9 a.m., deputies from the Amarillo Sheriff's Department arrived at the convent, which was located at 4301 Northeast 18th Avenue.

Now, by the time they arrived, Sister Taddea's body had already been taken off to a local funeral home. Consequently, law enforcement centered their initial investigation exclusively on the broken window and the possibility of a break-in. The cops didn't put it together either? They had no clue at this point that Sister Taddea had died because nobody said anything. Okay, got it. It was only when deputies overheard the nuns discussing the funeral arrangements that they became aware that a death had even occurred.

And once they did, they grasped the possibility of having to handle a potential homicide investigation because their minds immediately connected the two. Cops don't have pure minds. They've been traumatized. They've seen a few things. My dad works in B2B marketing. He came by my school for career day and said he was a big ROAS man. Then he told everyone how much he loved calculating his return on ad spend.

So law enforcement took measures to secure the crime scene and began the process of gathering evidence. They recovered bed linens,

Sister Todaya's night clothing, a bent butter knife found beneath her bed, and a crumpled up white t-shirt on the floor. There was also a steak knife found on the driveway of the convent likely used to cut the window screen. Fingerprints and palm prints were collected from the butter knife blade and handle, the steak knife from the driveway, and the headboard from Sister Todaya's bed.

Additionally, investigators also discovered and collected a few strands of black curly hair and blood possibly belonging to the perpetrator. Now, following the initial assessment of the crime scene, a deputy requested permission to conduct a brief examination of Sister Today's body, naturally. It's worth noting, though, that by the time law enforcement retrieved the body from the funeral home, it had already undergone partial cleaning and arterial embalming. Oh, yeah. Nonetheless, unmistakably,

Nonetheless, nice pun. That is good. Pun the less. Stop. I can't. Oh my gosh. Nonetheless, unmistakable signs of foul play were discovered on Sister Taddea's body. I've seen the autopsy photos and they are harrowing.

I'm not sure how the other nuns, bless their pure hearts, did not suspect foul play, given the fact that Sister Taddea was naked and her extensive injuries were in plain sight. They don't read the newspaper, watch TV, watch movies. Let me tell you what her body displayed. Yeah. She exhibited noticeable bruising around her neck, consistent with strangulation, as well as evidence of being beaten, stabbed, and mutilated.

The pathologist performing the post-mortem examination on Sister Tateya's body, a piece of shit named Ralph Erdman... Oh, he sucked? Ugh. Ugh. You will find out why. Also found signs of external bleeding and internal trauma in the vaginal area. Oh, you raped a nun. Meaning... You're going to hell. The 76-year-old nun had been sexually assaulted during her attack. Ugh.

Tests of vaginal contents indeed confirmed the presence of sperm and prostate secretions. 76-year-old virgin, probably. Yeah, probably. Oh, there's just so many levels of tragedy here. Yeah. Beloved sister Taddea also suffered contusions to the head, stab wounds to the chest, and abrasive injuries and trauma to the front and back of her neck.

In the end, the cause of death was determined to be manual strangulation. What did they think? She fell out of an airplane? I mean, this is the thing. They're so pure though, to your earlier point, like maybe these markings didn't,

I mean, I don't know. I can't throw shade their way, but when I saw the autopsy pictures, I was like, come on, ladies. Yeah. You know? You've read the Bible. You know about violence here and there. You know what I mean? Not only was this clearly a homicide, but it bore a striking resemblance to the fatal injuries sustained by another elderly woman in the area. Oh.

A 77-year-old woman named Narnie Box Bryson. Sick name. Narnie resided in the 700 block of North Houston Street, located just three blocks away from the convent. And she met her tragic demise just three months earlier, on July 9th, 1981, in an almost identical way to Sister Tadea. Not only were the women's injuries consistent, but so too was a piece of evidence discovered at both crime scenes. A crumbled up,

white t-shirt located next to each victim's bed. Bloody? According to the pictures I saw, there was blood on it, yes. At least the one recovered from Sister Tadea's bedroom. While the connections between these two cases were undeniable, Sister Tadea's situation was swiftly being linked to something more sinister, distinct from Narnie Bryson's death.

Pop quiz numero uno. Oh God, I'm going to bomb this one. What was Sister Tadea's murder being linked to at this very early stage in the investigation? A, a satanic ritual. B, a religious hate crime. C, a stance against sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. Wow. A satanic ritual. What was B? A religious hate crime. A religious hate crime or a stand against sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

I'm going to go with A. Yes. Nailed it. Say you love Satan. You know what that is? No. It's something we should probably do a case on. Ricky Casso from Northport, very into Satan, wound up murdering a kid in a satanic ritual. Is this with the rocks down the throat? No, no, that's a different case. Okay. This was like a 17 or 18 year old kid named Ricky Casso from Northport.

The name of the book is Say You Love Satan. I got it when I was a kid, but I lived in Comac. I grew up in Comac, which is one town over. I was just too scared to read it. Yeah, no kidding. In the 80s, there was some weird satanic shit going on. Well, I'm going to tell you why that's not surprising to hear. So her case was being linked to the occult, given her status as a religious figure and her murder occurring on Halloween, and it being 1981, which coincided...

like the case you're discussing with the rise of the satanic panic that swept the nation. Yeah. Okay. The satanic panic was a period of widespread fear and moral hysteria in the United States during the eighties and early nineties characterized by unfounded fears and allegations of satanic ritual abuse and occult activities often resulting in false accusations and sensationalized media coverage.

Usually it was centering on people performing ritualistic acts against children in particular. So places like daycare centers were under fire. People were getting arrested left and right. People were getting convicted. Like it was madness.

Important things like critical thinking, skepticism, and due process went out the window in this time of social hysteria, which also seemed to have happened more than once during the investigation and prosecution of the case we are discussing today. So at this point in the case, the satanic whisperings were abound, and a five-member multi-agency task force was established specifically to solve both the Bryson and the Benz murders.

the community was in a state of heightened concern and anxiety regarding the safety of their elderly women, as it appeared that an unhinged individual with a particular penchant for this demographic was still at large. In a documentary I watched about this case called The Last Word, which I recommend, Jeff Blackburn, who's the co-founder of the Innocence Project of Texas, reflected on the community's reaction to these crimes and their enraged demands for justice and, of note, for punishment.

Blackburn stated that there was, quote, hysteria and anger, but not compassionate anger. It was lynch mob anger. Strictly light the torches and go assault the castle. What's compassionate anger? Having compassion because somebody was killed and having compassion for the victim? The way I would interpret that, yes, is compassionate anger is like wanting to get justice, wanting to find the perpetrator.

perpetrators so that there's no more crimes and we want to bring closure to the family of the victims and we just want peace and law and order. They were just out for blood. They were, that's exactly my, in three lines from here, I say exactly that, that they were out for blood. It was a different type of anger. I took a little peek at the script. I know.

No, I didn't. I'm just kidding. I'm just getting to know true crime real good. You are. I'm going to have to shake things up a little bit, I think. People were not just seeking law and order. They were... Out for blood. Yes. Rewards were being offered for the capture of the nun rape slayer, and every media outlet in the area stoked the fire that ripped through the masses and ignited politicians and the broader legal community to take a public stance for retaliatory justice.

This is Texas after all. Yeah. Respectfully. I was going to say.

At this point in time in the city of Amarillo, something else that we need to take note of, the police department was already facing heightened public scrutiny following a series of mishandled capital murder investigations characterized by evidence concealment, police cover-ups, and flawed investigative practices that resulted in acquittals, expensive appeals, and retrials. And people probably being convicted that had nothing to do with anything. Exactly. Exactly.

So when Danny Hill, the recently elected district attorney of Potter County, made a commitment in January of 1981 to eliminate wrongdoers from the God-fearing city of Amarillo by frequently and promptly pursuing the death penalty while also pledging to unite the divergent factions within law enforcement, his popularity soared. Divergent factions? Yeah. You ever seen that movie, Divergent? Yeah. Yeah.

Love it. I love it too. It's about factions as well. I know it is. What faction would you be in? I was going to ask first. Dauntless. You'd be Dauntless? Or Erudite. I think I would want to be Dauntless. But what were the other ones? Erudite, the legal ones, the legal faction. I don't remember that one. Like the lawmakers. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know. Also farmers. Oh, okay.

I don't remember. Yeah. Let's say Dauntless. Yeah, I would definitely be jacked. Well, I'm not, but I would still be Dauntless because I'm insane. You're brave. Within days of being sworn into office, DA Danny Hill made his first under the table move by convincing county commissioners to bring in a full-time medical examiner that they could keep in their pocket who could testify on behalf of the state in homicide cases. And who was handpicked to take on this new role?

the aforementioned pathologist, piece of shit, Dr. Ralph Erdman, whose very first case was the murder of Sister Taddea Benz. That guy's name sucks. Yeah, well, he sucks. Ralph Erdman. Officials were solidly convinced that Sister Taddea Benz and Narnie Bryson were killed by the same person. They had tunnel vision. They would not, could not, did not see any alternative theory.

And all the evidence they looked for was evidence that proved that. Yeah, and we're going to get into that. We'll circle back to that, I'm sure. Listen, you're really good and you're five steps ahead, but to... How many steps ahead?

Oh, my God. If you know, you know. Oh, man. Which is also five initials. Yeah, I should have been a detective. Obviously. I realized that when I was very young, but I was like, I don't want to look at dead bodies. Really? Yeah. That would be probably a reason I would do it. Not because I am happy that somebody is dead, but because I would be like, let me find the fucker who did this. Yeah. You know? Compassionate anger. Yes. Well said. Nice.

The similarities between the two crimes of Narni and Taddea left absolutely no room for any other possibility in their minds. Both victims were elderly. Both victims were religious. Both murders were thought to have occurred in the early morning hours. Both victims were raped. Both were strangled. Both exhibited similar injuries inflicted on their bodies. And both had black curly hairs and white t-shirts discovered at the scene

And both residents were entered by cut window screens. Wouldn't you think it was the same person? Yeah, I would. But here's the thing that it's like rule number one in detective work. You cannot, just because something looks obvious, rule out other possibilities. You cannot get tunnel vision. What if there was three cases, the same exact things you just mentioned? Until you prove it, until shit is tested, until...

until theories are completely worked through. Maybe I wouldn't have been a good detective. Yeah, thinking that you definitely made the right call.

Additionally, though, both cases were also said to have had witnesses claiming that they saw a dark-skinned, possibly Cuban man in the vicinity of each victim's respective residence near the times of their respective murders. You think Texans know the difference between Cubans, Mexicans, El Salvadorans, Hondurans? Well, let me explain to you the global climate of what was going on in the world. Cuban Missile Crisis? No. Okay.

No, I was really cute though. So it's important that we explore the witness accounts of the Cuban suspect, right? And how it aligns, as I said, with the larger global context of that era. So amidst Cuba's economic troubles and increasing dissent, Fidel Castro's decision on April 20th, 1980 to allow Cubans to leave the country, overturning the communist government's immigration restrictions was huge.

During that period, so between April 15th to October 31st, 1980, approximately 125,000 Cubans seeking asylum, as well as around 25,000 Haitians arrived in the United States.

And President Jimmy Carter, in response to this mass exodus into the country, arranged for families and homes to open their doors to Cuban immigrants. Really? Including in Amarillo, Texas. He was able to get people to agree to take in refugees? Yeah, he ultimately looped in the Coast Guard and put a blockade and like, We took in a Sudanese refugee! Into our home! You know how many miles I get to the gallon on that bad boy? Mm-hmm.

I Heart Huckabees for anybody who has no clue what Tank is talking about. And also, by the way, at this point, if you haven't watched I Heart Huckabees and you love us, you're going to love that movie. Yeah. Give it a go. And if you don't, keep it to yourself. So it's important to consider the mindset of some people living during that time period in the context of this case. Because amidst this large-scale migration of Cuban asylum seekers to the U.S.,

Reports emerged suggesting that the Cuban government had deliberately released prisoners and patients from psychiatric facilities with the intention of having them leave Cuba and emigrate into the U.S. They're bringing murderers. They're bringing rapists. Hmm.

Back then, huh? Yeah. I just goes to show you, listen, people have been people since the beginning of time. We may need merch with that. It just applies in every episode. Always. So with that in mind. By the way, I don't think Mexico's sending their murderers and the rapists. That was something very famous that somebody said in the past. Somebody? Yeah. Well, your impersonation was spot on. So I know exactly who you're talking about. I don't remember who it was.

People were on very high alert thinking that in their community could be a convict or a psychiatric patient from Cuba living amongst them. I'm just painting the picture of where people, not everybody, but many people's minds were at given the time and the context of what's going on in the world. So question, you may not know the answer. Is that what happened? Did they release prisoners or was it like civilians that were? My understanding is that it was a mix. It was just like, let them have them.

Well, it was an intentional move on Castro's part. Yeah. Fucked up. So it wasn't particularly surprising when a patrolling officer stationed near the St. Francis convent indicated at 1158 p.m. on October 31st, 1981, so about one year after this mass exodus into the U.S.,

he spotted an individual with black curly hair and a dark complexion, potentially of Cuban descent. Wait, 1158, October 30th, right? The murder was on October 31st. Yes. Okay. Hiding behind a tree on the St. Francis property. Additionally, other witnesses claim to have seen an individual lurking near Narnie Bryson's resident on the night of her murder, matching the same description. Now, this next part of the story is bizarre, followed by bunkers. Ha ha ha ha.

Because at 2.30 a.m. that same night, a phone call came in to the St. Francis convent. Sister Pacifica Mugler, another great name, answered the phone. And according to her police statement, a man with a thick Spanish accent asked to speak with a priest about his sexual desires. And it was a very, very bizarre voice on the other side of the phone.

The voice saying that he wanted to talk about his desires. He wouldn't get off the phone with the nun until he spoke with the priest about sexual desires. This was what the nun recounted as having happened. Following the patrol officer's statement about seeing somebody of Cuban descent hiding behind a tree on the convent property, mixed with this bizarre phone call, I'm going to give you a pop quiz. What did the Amarillo PD do along with DA Danny Hill in response? I'm ready.

Pop quiz. A, deny the possibility of citizenship to all Cuban immigrants in Amarillo. B, round up every Cuban male immigrant to obtain blood and hair samples. Okay. C, deport six Cuban male immigrants each day until someone confessed. Those are all equally fucking stupid. Yeah. So...

Round them up was B. A was deny the possibility of citizenship. Deny the possibility of citizenship. C was deport six people a day. I'm going to go with 1981, Texas, Cubans. They probably deported them. No. I knew that wasn't it. I was saying that wasn't it. Round up all the Cubans?

Yep. But that's what I was going to say. Yeah, well. Yeah. Should have guessed it first because you don't get credit now. Nailed it. With D.A. Hill at the helm of this bonkers operation. Oh, we're in bonkers territory now? Yeah. Okay. The bizarre was the phone call. Okay. Okay, now this is bonkers. The Amarillo PD rounded up

every Cuban male that had emigrated from Miami to Amarillo and forced them to verify their whereabouts on the nights of the murders while providing blood and hair samples as well as fingerprints. And among the Cuban detainees were two men of interest named Fernando Felipe Flores and Liancio Perez Rueda. They had DNA back then? No, not really. You're gonna hear. Okay. Because

Because according to FBI reports, both men had been previously caught spying on old women in their homes through windows. And both had been charged with trespassing between the times of the two murders. So these are some pretty hot suspects. Yeah. The district attorney and police were convinced that Flores in particular was responsible for the murders.

having allegedly found what they thought were blue fibers from Sister Today's nightgown on his clothing. But by November 7th, 1981, Flores was cleared as none of the DNA evidence collected from the scene matched. Once again, law enforcement got shit from the community over making the wrong call on Flores and for still not being any closer to finding the maniacal old lady killer on the prowl.

As such, they resorted to which of the following desperate measures to bolster their investigation? Pop quiz? Yeah, I know. They come in hot. Yeah. Takes a while to get to the first one. Then you just start piling them on. That's it. So I'm going to shake this one up a little bit. Which two answers are correct? Whoa. Yeah. Okay. Do you need a reminder of what the question is? I didn't even know you had said the question yet. So I will give you that reminder. Okay.

So law enforcement was getting shit from the community about fucking up on naming Flores and that they didn't have anything else really. And they were getting desperate. So what desperate measures did they resort to to bolster their investigation? Okay, I'm ready. Which two answers are correct. A, hypnotized an elderly woman who survived a similar attack in her home and had just woken up from a coma. B, enlisted the help of a psychic medium named Bubbles. C, police.

Police planting a used Dr. Pepper can from a well-known Houston gang member near the convent to just place blame. Oh, man. So either hypnosis, psychic, or... Dr. Pepper. Dr. Pepper placement to frame a gang member. Hmm. Which two? I mean, the obvious choice is A and B, but nothing's obvious with these pop quizzes. So I'm just going to go against my better judgment and say A and B. Okay.

Correct. Fucking nailed it. Dr. Pepper, fuck off. Not even a real doctor.

They hypnotized an elderly woman who had been attacked, was in a coma and woke up. Some real crack police work. This is nuts, right? This case is nuts. Yeah. Were any of them cops for like multiple years at this point? I mean, yeah, it was a mixed bag, but yeah, the DA was new, but it wasn't like he was a new lawyer altogether. Yeah. But I'm just telling you, and I'm a big, big, big supporter of our first responders, police. Yeah. You know that.

This case is a very poor reflection of the cops, of cops and attorneys in general. But I won't say in general because that's... In Amarillo, in Texas. That's what a stereotype is. So I definitely will not say in general. I'm not going to generalize, but this case... In 1981, in Amarillo, the people working this case were not ideal. Yeah. All right. So the hypnosis did not work. How did they get that approved? Dude...

I'm saying like, well, DA Hill was very corrupt. Yeah. Maybe he didn't even get it approved. Maybe he walked in with a fucking pocket watch. You know, a hypnotist that I take back. Yeah.

But let's talk about the psychic medium, Bubbles, for a moment here. Shortly after Sister Tadea's murder, a clairvoyant named Inez Patterson, a.k.a. Bubbles, started calling the Amarillo Daily News to indicate that she had a vision regarding the nun killer. Bubbles maintained that the killer was a teenage male...

5 feet 11 inches tall, slender with a muscular frame, had an olive complexion, dark hair, an Abe Lincoln face, and large ears. What's an Abe Lincoln face? A long face? Yeah. Sharp? It's actually, when you see the pictures, you're like, oh, that's an Abe Lincoln face. Sharp as hell. Now, during the attack...

The killer, in her vision, wore a, quote, afro-type wig, and his face was, quote, half black, half white. Like a cookie or like a mixed race person? I'm going to say maybe she meant biracial. I'm not really sure. Definitely, I'm going to say not the cookie. His face was like a Linzer tart. It was white and then red in the middle.

I love black and white cookies. Me too. Lastly, Bubbles purported that the killer in her vision was somehow connected with the name Clyde. Incredibly, she also somehow revealed that the killer's address was Northeast 4018th, which, shock and awe, was located on the same block as the convent. Did a guy named Clyde live there? Well, you're going to find out in two seconds.

I'm ready. In addition to this character Bubbles now being front and center in this massive investigation... The 80s were nuts. Let's talk about who her husband was for a moment. Okay. Michael Eugene Heavy Duty Patterson happened to be a well-known Amarillo drug trafficker. Yeah.

He had quite the reputation for his less than stellar drug smuggling skills, frequently finding himself in cuffs and striking deals with the authorities where he spilled the beans on his fellow drug peddlers in exchange for like shortened sentences. Yeah. In the documentary, it labels his not job title, but summarized what he did as being on snitch duties. And that perfectly summarizes what he did. Heavy duty snitch. So these are the Pattersons. Okay.

Again, they're now firmly positioned in the center of this very high stakes investigation. Bubbles in heavy duty. Right. Remarkably, within days of Bubbles coming forward with her vision, law enforcement was able to identify an individual who perfectly, some might say too perfectly, matched Bubbles' description. This individual, who was now officially a suspect, was 17-year-old Johnny Frank Garrett. He was a

He was lean, muscular, had an Abe Lincoln face, lived at the exact address Bubbles saw in her dream, and get this, had a dog named Mr. Clyde. Oh, okay. Whose doghouse prominently displayed the name Mr. Clyde in bold red letters, E.

easily visible through a chain link fence in the yard to anyone passing by the house. Oh, so she knew all that. Well, I don't think she really saw this in her dream. So I'm going to say, yeah, she passed by his house and went from there. And like something about Clyde. I don't know what, I mean, if you can figure it out, good for you. After comparing Johnny's fingerprints to those recovered from the crime scene,

one of which was lifted from the headboard of Sister Taddea's bed and the other from that bent butter knife that was found on the floor, analysts determined that the prints were a match. Additionally, the steak knife found on the convent driveway was purportedly similar in make, manufacture, and design and had the same degree of use as another steak knife recovered from Johnny's residence. Take all this with a grain of salt, by the way.

Suddenly, law enforcement's previously steadfast determination that a single murderer was responsible for both killings disappeared. Now it was all about nailing Johnny Frank Garrett to the cross, pun intended, for the murder of Sister Tadea. And Narnie's case...

just magically and sadly faded to the background. Narnia's case disappeared? Yep, because they had a hard-on for Johnny Frank Garrett, his connection to Sister Taddea. Okay, but no fingerprints at Narnia? Nope, Narnia.

So let me tell you about Johnny Frank Garrett. His upbringing and life circumstances are undeniably tragic. Here's his backstory. Johnny Frank Garrett was born on Christmas Eve, 1963. He was introduced to alcohol and other drugs by members of his family at the age of 10 and subsequently indulged in serious drug use involving brain damaging substances like paint thinner and amphetamines.

Oh.

who would also allow other men to rape him as well in exchange for money. How old was he? Between 10 and 14. Oh, that's fucking terrible. Johnny used to sleep beneath the football stands at a stadium adjacent to the high school just to escape the horrendous physical and sexual abuse he was constantly forced to endure at home. At the age of 14, Johnny was forced to perform bizarre sexual acts in pornographic homosexual films.

something that truly haunted him for the rest of his life.

Understandably, he started getting into trouble at school around this time and turned to alcohol and drugs to escape this horrific life. Yeah, totally understandable. Absolutely. Johnny also had severe learning difficulties and had been described as extremely mentally impaired. The word used throughout the documentary was slow. Wait, hold on one second. Sorry. Sure. Hold that thought. Two stepfathers back to back, meaning he had one stepfather who allowed people to rape him for money.

And then his mom met another guy who was his stepfather. Who also raped him. Yeah. Holy shit. Yeah, it's tragic. He had an IQ below 70, which made learning very difficult for him. By the end of sixth grade, Johnny was unable to read or write. But it's understandable and maybe not surprising to hear that he struggled with psychological issues. But at this point in the case, all that anyone cared to focus on was the fact that police had identified a perfect suspect for the murder of Sister Tadaya Benz.

As such, Johnny Frank Garrett was arrested on November 9th, 1981. And after just one hour of intense interrogation following his arrest, Johnny allegedly confessed to the murder of Sister Tadaya Benz. In the written confession that a police officer allegedly transcribed during Johnny's interrogation, Johnny allegedly said, and I'm paraphrasing, that,

I am 17 years old and at 1.30 a.m. on Halloween, after getting drunk on whiskey and taking two hits of acid, I broke into the convent because they heard they kept nice stereos inside. I knocked the window out of the bottom floor, walked upstairs into a bedroom, covered the nun's mouth, choked her until she passed out, had sex with her, and left the same way I came in.

Of note, while the recording of the confession included the officer reading Johnny his Miranda rights, it mysteriously cut out during the actual confession. So there's no audio recording. Really? Right. Oh, okay. That's...

Listen, if I was this kid, God bless him. I mean, jail is a better situation than what he's in at home. Well, he's 17 by this point. Still. It's not happening to him actively anymore, although he remained haunted by it, obviously. It's a couple of years later. It's not like it's 40 years later, which wouldn't even matter anyway. Yeah, but I cannot agree respectfully, my wonderful co-host, that prison would have been a better place. Well, I thought he was younger, but... Okay, I figured, I figured.

So according to this oral confession transcribed by the police, which Johnny contested as being inaccurate and refused to sign, he stated in this confession that he exited the convent in the same manner in which he entered, which was through that broken window. But according to the evidence, the perpetrator left through the fire exit door, leaving behind a blood smear on the doorframe. Additionally, there wasn't any broken glass evidence

outside the broken window, further supporting the notion that no one left that way. So now the confession that the police are alleging was made and that they're alleging is true, conflicts with the evidence of what actually happened. Interjection. Yes, sir. Flashback. When I say he'd be better off in jail,

You and I think of jail as very different than some people in the world. Like I've heard stories of people who are living on the streets, committing a petty crime just to go to jail for three months so they get fed and have a place to sleep.

I have heard of, heartbreakingly, that happening as well. Yeah. He had a very loving family, Johnny, that he lived with. I mean, he endured what he endured, which is horrendous. Yeah. But he wasn't homeless. He wasn't starving. He wasn't, you know what I mean? He wasn't on drugs at this point to a point where he wasn't functioning. He had the baggage, of course, from what he went through. But yeah, I don't think that prison would have been the right place or better place for him.

Okay, at this time, an attorney named Bill Collius showed up at the precinct offering his legal services to Johnny. But Johnny never asked for an attorney and he certainly had no clue who Mr. Collius was.

Johnny's mother, Charlotte Cameron, she's in this documentary that I watched, she indicates that Mr. Coley has conveyed to Johnny that given his confession and the existing evidence, there were limited options available at that stage and it would be advisable to just cooperate with the prosecution since basically he was fucked anyway. Yeah, great advice. Not exactly what a suspect wants to hear from his suddenly appearing defense attorney. Yeah. During his arraignment two days later, in front of the judge and a packed courtroom,

Johnny vehemently denied committing the murder and vehemently denied saying what appeared in the written confession, like he denied having ever said it. He also maintained that he'd been inside the St. Francis convent hundreds of times. He grew up on the same block. He even helped the nuns move furniture into a moving truck on one occasion, which would explain his fingerprints on Sister Tadea's headboard. Oh, okay.

Regarding the other evidence collected from the crime scene, which included blood, sperm, and hair, and I'm circling back now to your previous comment, it's 1981. DNA testing was not available other than being able to determine the killer's blood type from a sperm sample and visually comparing hairs, you know, and things of that nature. We just watched the movie Totally Killer. Did you watch that movie? No.

It's a movie about a girl gets in a time machine and goes back to try and stop a killer before the killer kills her mom's three friends and then ultimately her mom. So the mom gets killed like within the first five minutes.

But she's telling the cops, she's like, why don't you just, you know, I have his blood. Why don't you just check his DNA? And they're like, what the fuck are you talking about? I'd like to watch that. So again, they collect sperm for the possibility of being able to determine the killer's blood type from the sperm sample. Yeah. And incredibly, this one piece of evidence that could have pointed to the perpetrator's identity in some way disappeared. Oh, how convenient. The pathologist said,

The one hand selected by the district attorney. Hate it. That piece of shit, Ralph Erdman.

claims that the sample must have been accidentally thrown away. Sure, Ralph. Additionally, according to the FBI, the shoe prints found beneath the window did not match Johnny. None of the knives found in Johnny's home matched the stab wounds on Sister Tadea's body, and none of the black curly hairs found at the scene in Sister Tadea's mouth and on her left breast matched Johnny Garrett.

What did they say? That the knife that they found matched the usage? Yes. The steak knife on the driveway that was used to cut the screen was the same make manufacturer and had the same level of wear and tear that one other knife in his house.

He probably got it from fucking Walmart, just like everybody else in Texas. And the butter knife found in Sister Today's room, the one with Johnny's fingerprint on it, was determined not to be the murder weapon. The butter knife? Yes. Yeah, no shit. No shit. But I'm just saying that was a weapon and that had his fingerprint. He spread her to death. Oh my gosh. Thank you.

At this point, the judge assigned a second defense attorney to Johnny named Phil Jordan. And this is standard to assign a second defense attorney in a capital murder case. Both of Johnny's attorneys, including the first one, Bill Coleus, had no prior experience with murder cases. What makes the situation even more questionable is that prior to being assigned to Johnny Garrett's defense, Phil Jordan used to work as a prosecutor for his very dear friend, District Attorney Danny Hill.

Their defense efforts for Johnny Garrett were not only amateurish, but also riddled with misconduct, making it a very disheartening spectacle.

Additionally, unfettered media manipulation presided over the case before it even started. The district judge who presided over the case, George Dowlin, refused to have this capital murder trial moved to a different, more neutral venue, essentially screwing Johnny over and depriving him of a totally fair legal proceeding. The media in the area was all over this case from day one. The crime was well known in the community, necessitating a venue change, but it just didn't happen.

So the trial began in August of 1982. And according to many, it was a complete shit show. Johnny's pathetic excuse for a legal team behaved like a couple of incompetent schmucks who would sooner wipe their asses with their law degrees than actually put them to use. Nice. They were ill-prepared and provided almost nothing in the way of a defense. Not only that, but they actually seemed to be actively working against their clients.

It's such a violation. It's horrendous. Have you heard about that judge that went to jail for putting kids in jail because he was getting paid to do so by the prison system? Yes. Oh, my God. Yes. I forgot his name, but man, that guy deserves to just be in jail for fucking ever. Oh, my God. That level of corruption is... He was doing it for years. I know. Years. Put like hundreds of kids away. I remember reading about it. Yeah.

So in terms of his legal defense, in air quotes, this is a list of their failures real quick. First, they failed to object to a juror who openly admitted that his close friend worked for the Amarillo PD. Then they allowed a business associate of the potentially slash definitely crooked pathologist, Ralph Erdman, to sit on the jury. Wow.

Then they allowed juror number 12 to be a man named Nathan Dan Shackelford, who was the nephew of a judge named Jerry Shackelford. And Jerry Shackelford was the state's first punishment witness. Meaning if Johnny were to be found guilty in this capital murder case, this judge would testify on behalf of the state in support of the death penalty. And his fucking nephew is sitting on the jury. No good. No good.

The defense failed to incorporate witnesses, expert testimony, and proof that an actual vaginal exam was conducted on Sister Tadea to even confirm that the previously mentioned lost sperm samples ever existed at all. The defense failed to mention that there had been other suspects in this case. If you recall, the names Liancio Rueda and Fernando Flores from earlier in the episode, right? I do.

The defense failed to mention that hair belonging to another person was discovered in Sister Tadea's mouth and on her left breast. The defense failed to mention a witness statement indicating the sight of a dark-skinned male, likely Cuban, hiding behind a tree on the convent's property. How did they forget to mention it? They didn't forget it. They deliberately didn't include it. And when you have a fucking crooked judge and a crooked prosecutor and nobody's calling this out, it goes. Yeah.

It stands. It stays. And you got three people on a jury that are obviously in somebody's pocket. Absolutely. That's enough to swing a jury either way. Completely, completely accurate. And his attorneys were just walking, talking sixth amendment violations in human form. Like this whole thing was crooked.

The state's case against Johnny Frank Garrett lasted five days. And after five hours of jury deliberation, a lot of fives, a verdict was reached guilty. I thought it was going to have five years. And as that verdict was read aloud, Johnny stood up and screamed. I didn't kill her. Yeah. I mean, you gotta be just completely desperate.

Oh, and by the way. The death penalty. One hour after the guilty verdict was delivered. Yeah. Who was called to the stand as the first punishing witness? The Honorable Jerry Shackenfold, the uncle of juror number 12. Shackleford. Shackenfold. What did I say? Shackenfold. Shack and Kobe. But listen, as far as Johnny Garrett goes, that young man,

went through absolute hell in his home. Absolute hell. Over and over and over again. This is just, I'm getting to a point where

It just speaks to the human will to live. Because even with all that, he knew that a life to be fulfilled, to have his potential be fulfilled, was better than dying. You know what I mean? Yeah. You would think, or maybe you wouldn't think, but think somebody who has been through all that is just going to be like, I don't fucking care, dude. People are...

People are resilient. Yeah, yeah. People rise above. People survive the most horrendous circumstances and they're not throwing in the towel necessarily because of what they went through. It doesn't diminish what they went through or suggest in any way that they're fine now, that it's over. I don't mean to say that at all. But still have the will to live. The will to live and to rise above other injustices. Like this is an injustice what's going on. He's not taking it. Yeah, big time. He's not taking it lying down anyway.

So in addition to this judge speaking against him in the sentencing part of this trial, okay, and indicating that he's a danger to society and being a proponent of the death penalty, Johnny's former school teacher also testified against Johnny. Against him? Which makes me want to cry. I'm not going to lie. You were his school teacher when the unthinkable was going on behind closed doors in his home. And you're here at his trial suggesting that he was

poorly behaved when he was a school child. Yeah, obviously he was poorly behaved. It's horrific. I know that not everybody knows what's going on behind closed doors, but then for you to come to his trial and speak against him? As a teacher who are with kids all day long for nine months out of the year, maybe your first year you have a kid who's absolutely out of control and you talk to your other teachers and they're like,

probably something going on at home. Like kids don't normally act like this. You know what I mean? Yes, of course. And you become aware of the problem. I was a teacher, as you know, for a little while and I taught in Harlem for a very small amount of time. And there was a little girl who came in. I was only there for three weeks at this point. She had a huge bruise on her face, huge bruise.

You think I'm going to sit on that? Why does this five-year-old, six-year-old have a massive bruise? She's sitting at her desk. She's not making eye contact with me. She's barely getting out of her seat. You don't sit on that. You can't. You can't. Yeah, but there's a lot of people out there who just don't give a fuck about anybody. I understand. And if you don't give a fuck, you don't give a fuck. But don't come back at this man's trial when he's facing death and bitch about how he was poorly behaved at this part of the trial.

Hope that happened. Wow, hope that didn't happen. Wow.

Wow. So either his sister went totally shabizness, the dickhead Danny Hill was playing with syringes, which would be fucking terrible, or anti-death penalty protesters stormed the courtroom on Gurney's. A. No. Dang.

See? No. No. I mean, you can't make it up. I couldn't have even made this up. What the fuck? Danny Hill and his fucking cronies sat at the table in the courtroom with plastic syringes

And we're playing with them and laughing and taunting Johnny. Johnny's family was in the courtroom. His mother, his sisters. Johnny was there. I would be going to jail too. Yeah. Heartbreaking. Listen. Oh my God. That's fucking terrible. Absolutely terrible. In under an hour of deliberation, the jury returned and officially sentenced Johnny Frank Garrett to death by lethal injection.

Eventually, over time in prison awaiting his execution, Johnny Garrett gave up hope. He became despondent, grew out his hair, grew out his beard, and just completely shut down. Yeah, sure. But people on the outside were still fighting for him, even years later. Namely, one person in particular. I don't know why I do this pop quiz. I was four seconds ago, your last one. A, the 41st President of the United States, George H.W. Bush.

B, Catholic Church leader and sovereign of Vatican City, Pope John Paul II. C, Social Justice Nobel Peace Prize winner, Roberta Menchitum. Okay. Or D, Oprah. Roberta Menchitum. George H.W. Who was the other person? Pope John Paul II. Or Oprah. Man, I want to believe that it was soap poisoning. What?

What is that? It's one of the greatest lines from a Christmas story. When Ralphie comes back after his mom puts soap in his mouth. Oh yeah. I know that movie inside and out. I don't know that line. So after his mom puts soap in his mouth, he has this fantasy about, you know, I'll show her. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then he comes back blind and he's like, it was, it was soap poisoning. Oh,

And then the dad and the mom. Why is your mind there? Because I said it was. Oh, I see. Yeah. Now you understand, right? Clearly. Not really. I believe it was the Pope. Yes! Ah!

I'm the man. Wow, man. Yeah. Pope John Paul II tried to stop the execution from happening in 1992. Even though it was a crime against a nun, I remember Pope John Paul II being beloved as a child. Some of the popes are not well-liked. I remember him being liked. Okay. So then that's all right. Well, good job. Thank you.

As such... Almost said Oprah, by the way. Texas Governor Ann Richards called a meeting the first of its kind in history.

With 18 members of the Board of Pardons and Parole, and this is the sole entity with discretionary authority to grant release to incarcerated individuals, 17 out of 18 people voted to keep Johnny incarcerated facing the death penalty. Why? But really, all Governor Richards had to do if she really wanted to see Johnny Garrett spared the needle was issue a pardon. Yeah. But she didn't. And I'm not saying that she didn't.

And on February 11th, 1992, Johnny Frank Garrett was transferred from Texas death row in Huntsville to say goodbye to his family and

to eat his final meal of ice cream and have his last rites read to him. As Johnny's family walked past the crowd of people cheering and congregating outside the prison, pro-death penalty advocates who believed in Johnny's guilt, they were chanting, kill the freak, remember the nun. Five minutes before 6 p.m., the warden entered the death chamber and read the death sentence to Johnny as he lies strapped to a gurney with an IV line attached to his outstretched arm.

Then Johnny was asked if he had any last words, and he did. And these have absolutely become famous last words. He said, I'd like to thank my family for loving me and taking care of me, and the rest of the world can kiss my ever-loving ass. Then Johnny Frank Garrett was executed.

28 years old. Yes. Yeah, that's god-awful. Of all the prisoners executed in the state of Texas who expressed last words, 98% have admitted to their crimes and asked for forgiveness. Only 2% went out professing their innocence.

In 2002, the United States Supreme Court prohibited the execution of individuals with limited intellectual capacity, meaning those who lacked a rational understanding of the reasons behind their execution. If Johnny's case had occurred a decade later, considering his IQ and his age at the time of the alleged crime, 17, he wouldn't have been eligible for the death penalty.

After 23 years, so fast forward 23 years post all of this, a young detective from the Amarillo PD decided to submit a semen sample from a cold case involving the rape and murder of an elderly woman named Narnie Bryson to the FBI. The sample came back as a match to an incarcerated man in New Mexico who had a prior conviction as a rapist and murderer in Cuba.

His hair and pubic hair also matched the evidence found at both Narnie Bryson's and Sister Today's crime scenes. The man was Liencio Rueda, who eventually confessed to the rape and murder of Narnie Bryson and later confessed to the rape and beating of a nun on Halloween 1981.

Now, you may be wondering why we don't just test Johnny's DNA now that the technology exists to do that, right? Which would potentially officially clear his name for the rape and murder of Sister Today, like scientifically. After all, the DNA from Narnia's case was retested, right, by that young detective who sent it to the FBI. And that guy was correctly brought to justice, right?

Well, Texas law mandates that post-execution DNA tests cannot be conducted. Why? In fact, existing laws encourage the government to destroy it because they don't want to waste resources on the dead. Yeah. Okay. Cool state. Now...

Prior to Johnny's execution, after he had lost all hope and faith in God, in the justice system, in humanity, he wrote a final letter to the government, the prosecuting attorney on his trial, and the media. This is fucking nuts. First, in this letter, he again professed his innocence. He never wavered on that. Then he wrote about something else.

Pop quiz. Oh my God, you're beating me to death with these things. What information did his final letter to the world contain? A, filled with hate and vengeance, Johnny cast a curse on the people who caused his execution. Okay. B, filled with despair, Johnny finally disclosed that he believed the true killer was his stepfather. C, a plea to bury him with his childhood dog, Mr. Clyde.

C. No. Fuck, that's so weird that you made that up. Well, I kind of maybe have said similar things about me and Cash. Bury me with my dogs on. He, A. Yeah, I realize now that B doesn't make any sense. Why? Why?

Because we already know who the killer was. So him confessing that the killer was his stepfather. Yeah. Doesn't make sense. True. Here's what the curse said, which he had written down in a letter. I'm seeing that he was learned how to write when he was in prison. Yeah. This is nuts. You ready? Yeah. Verbatim.

I have been charged, convicted, sentenced, and punished for rape and murder. If given the chance, I could have proven not only beyond a reasonable doubt, but beyond any doubt, my innocence. You, society, did not give me a chance to do so. I'm resigned to death.

All people die. I'm going to die with a clear conscience, a whole spirit, and a man. An honorable warrior's death. But you, society, will live in shame. In your nightmares, I will live. Every death of your families will be me. I will be the one who meets your family's souls, who will pay for what you, society, have done to my family. I will be the fear you experience upon your last breath.

I curse your souls to the deepest depths of your own hell. I curse your parents' souls to the same hell and your grandparents' souls and your ancestors claiming back to the damnable dog that began your line. I curse every person remotely related to your infected blood. And because I know the curses will be fulfilled, I meet death in a better spirit and stronger soul. It's not talking about us, right?

Did you have anything to do with his death? No, but he keeps saying society, like everybody. Well, society, his society was very against him. Johnny, if you're listening, I had nothing to do with it. I was one years old when this happened. Hank is actually praying right now. I just want to make sure he hears me because he hears everything. But I need to just semi wrap up with this.

On the heels of this curse, listen to the death and destruction that followed Donnie's execution. Oh my God. If ever I were spiritual, it would be after reading this. Number one, juror Novella Summer fell down a flight of stairs and died a few days later of complications.

Juror Nathan Shackelford's daughter died from an accidental gunshot wound to the head, which is awful. His sister was run over and killed by a drunk driver. Also terrible. Garrett's trial lawyer, Bill Collius, died of pancreatic cancer. Medical examiner Ralph Erdman was convicted of numerous felonies for falsifying autopsy reports. Fantastic. Had his medical license revoked and was sent to prison. Nice.

Garrett's first appellate lawyer, Bruce Sadler, and post-conviction trial judge Sam Kaiser both contracted the same very rare form of leukemia,

Kaiser was initially cured from the cancer, but had his healthy bone marrow taken in case of a recurrence, but it inexplicably disappeared from the hospital, resulting in his death when the cancer returned, which is very sad. All of this is sad. Task force members, Jimmy Don Boyston and Walt Yeager, both contracted leukemia and died.

NBC reporter Kathy Jones, who accosted Johnny Garrett's mother in the bathroom at the courthouse to take her picture, died in a plane crash. Heavy duty Patterson was found dead in his vehicle. Cause of death was never determined. Watley, who was a jailhouse snitch who testified against Johnny for a reduced sentence, committed suicide. Carol Moore, Garrett's school teacher who testified against him at trial, committed suicide. Oof.

and district attorney Danny Hill became addicted to drugs and alcohol and died of a single self-inflicted gunshot wound to his heart. I mean, yeah. Listen, that's all bad and tragic and sad. You can't live like that. No. You know what I mean? Danny Hill, if you're going to do stuff like that, ultimately you're going to have to pay the price somehow, some way. If not today, then tomorrow, and if not tomorrow, then the next day. Look at how many people had outrageous, shocking ends today.

That's why I just prayed to Johnny. Did you? You didn't mention me at all in that prayer. That's up to you. No, do me a solid. I got my own family. Fine. To take care of. Now, I mentioned earlier in the episode. I did mention Cash in my head, though. Yeah, but like, who are you going to do this podcast with? I mean, listen, if there's a guy out there fucking cursing society...

I'm not worried about the podcast. Regardless of where you fall on the issue of Johnny's guilt or innocence, and I mean, I know where I personally stand, the heartbreaking reality is that this case involved multiple victims. Yeah. First and foremost, Sister Tadaya Benz, by who all accounts was just a pious, gentle soul who dedicated her life to God and community. And Narnie Bryson, who lived a peaceful existence and deserved to live her final days out in comfort and safety.

And if all of the aforementioned botched evidence and legal misconduct did indeed occur, and I believe that it did, and Johnny was indeed intellectually challenged, then a third life was tragically taken before his time. There are no winners in this case, it seems. And my hope is that any and all who were or may have been innocent are resting in peace.

Yeah, the real criminals here were the people in the justice system. Yeah. I believe that Johnny Frank Garrett was executed before anyone really knew who raped and killed Sister Today events. Yeah, they were in a rush to do that for some reason. Well, all the stuff we talked about, just all the community pressure and all the botched trials and cases that happened before this happened. Yeah. They just had a safe face and they...

Did it by fucking over someone else. I mean, killing someone. Yeah. Fucking over. Yeah. Good point. It's like they got him fired from his job. Okay. All right. Yeah. Oh man, this case really sucked.

But it happened on Halloween and it is there for our Halloween episode. Yeah, I mean, couldn't we have done something like Hocus Pocus-y? Maybe next year. Halloween, okay, great. Because now my day is ruined. This is a fascinating, it's a tragic case first and foremost. The victims obviously have all my sympathy.

But it is a truly, truly fascinating case with all the historical context going on with Fidel Castro and then the satanic panic and all the different laws that came into play like on the heels of what happened to Johnny Frank Garrett that would have protected him if his case happened a little bit later. It's just an absolute crazy, crazy case. Yeah. So if you made it this far...

Oh, you're a real one if you're listening to this right now. And if you're listening, rate, review, subscribe. It helps us out so much, more than you could ever know or imagine. And I don't really have anything else to say except for we'll see you at the next case. And thank you for listening. Thank you for listening. Bye.