This neighbor had thought nothing of it at the time, since one of her family's friends drove a similar car. In the case of the third victim, Brenda Crockett, the Phantom forced her to call her family twice, likely as a way to both taunt them and throw the Police of the trail, very similar to the way The Gilgo Beach Killer taunted his victim's families with phone calls. Are Green Vega Rapists Freeway Phantom? The FBI had begun assisting in the investigation following the fourth murder - that of Nenomoshia Yates - when it became clear that this was a repeat offender targeting multiple young victims. On September 5th, 1972, Diane cooked dinner for her family, and then set off to visit her boyfriend for the evening - just as she had done several times over the summer. The Phantom after abducting his victims is assumed to have taken them to abandoned houses where he proceeded to rape the victims multiple times before killing them. Ed Sullivan's show, which aired on CBS from 1948 to 1971, was straight out of old vaudeville, featuring brief acts of every description, from slapstick comedy to operatic arias. wheN you cAtch me iF you cAn! Both were ex-cops that were arrested in relation to the 1971 murder of Angela Barnes. Police believed that the culprit of this violent death had fed her in the interim few days. This was beyond the date of the known killer's crime spree, and was ruled out as a possible connection due to a lack of evidence, but remains a real possibility. Danh mc . Thomas E. Sullivan portrayed Nathaniel Malick in the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. I will admit the others when you catch me if you can! After all, Washington D.C. would not establish home rule until 1973, meaning that the local residents had no real representation of their own at the time of the Freeway Phantom murders. The body also had a coat on its chest, in the pockets of which was a note with a poem . When she failed to return home in a timely manner, her family began conducting a search for her throughout the neighborhood, knocking on doors and making calls to anyone that Brenda knew. There was nothing about Carol Spinks that stood out: she seemed relatively normal, and she liked to fill up her time with friends and games - in particular, jumping rope and hula-hooping. [3] On her way home from the store, Spinks was abducted; her body was found six days later at 2:46 pm behind St. Elizabeths Hospital on a grassy embankment next to the northbound lanes of I-295, about 1,500 feet south of Suitland Parkway. As a result, the Freeway Phantom case files are now incomplete - some have been discarded entirely and others are incomplete with pages or articles of evidence having been lost, along with their associated notes, and all the primary or task force investigators have either long retired, or are deceased. You see, not only was he a current employee of St. Elizabeth's Hospital - a psychiatric facility that focused on mental health. They were identified as rookie cops who had resigned from the force during their one-year probationary period. Two days later, police discovered the body of Angela Denise Barnes, 14. Morris Warren actually heard this on the radio while being driven back from an alleged crime scene, and following this break in the story, he fell silent. This was the rhetoric that seemed to follow around the case in the early years of the investigation: that the police weren't doing enough to catch the killer. Like any kid would, she answered it only to hear her sister on the other end of the line. Obituaries can vary in the amount of information they contain, but many of them are genealogical goldmines, including information such as: names, dates, place of birth and death, marriage information, and family relationships. To police, this explained the defensive wounds on her hands, and the stab wounds themselves. Starkville. Barnes's slaying, originally thought to be linked to the Freeway Phantom killings, was later solved when two former police officers, Edward L. Sellman and Tommie B. Simmons, were convicted of her killing. Many theorize that the Maryland State Police have since lost the evidence, but are unwilling to admit it providing an already-aggravating story the most unfortunate ending possible. The most notable thing about the discovery was that the body was dressed except for the missing shoes. ng bi lc Thng Mt 19, 2023. We do know that several investigators were working hard on the case, but simply had very little to work with - this was the 1970's, after all, and barring some kind of explosive eyewitness testimony, there was little for detectives to work with. edward sullivan and tommie simmonsthe hardy family acrobats 26th February 2023 / in was forest whitaker in batteries not included / by / in was forest whitaker in batteries not included / by [24] Barnes, 14, was at one point thought to be a victim of the serial killings. Note: The note left in Woodward's pocket claimed that the Phantom killed additional victims. However, upon receiving the case, Trainum realized how much of an uphill battle it would be. [5] Her body was found within three hours of her abduction, just off the shoulder of Pennsylvania Avenue in Prince George's County, Maryland. The details of this confession were leaked to the press by P.G. Near the access ramp to Route 202, from the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, Officer Norman would discover the body of Brenda Woodard. THOMAS SIMMONS OBITUARY. ", Following this development, it was announced that the FBI would be getting involved in the investigation. On April 25th, 1971 - a Sunday, which was described as being unusually warm for the springtime - Carol and her siblings were shut up inside their apartment, in Washington D.C.'s Congress Heights. With the fourth murder, the FBI had gotten involved, and investigators were now hunting a single killer a killer that now seemed to accept his nickname. Askins also seemed to match the criteria that investigators had established the Freeway Phantom would have: he was a middle-aged black man that lived in the neighborhood, had a proclivity for targeting similar victims, and harbored a violent grudge against women. I will Admit the others A privilege that the family members of the Freeway Phantom victims have been waiting for for close to half-a-century. This particular inmate was also serving a sentence at Lorton Prison for the Green Vega convictions. He seemed to be an amiable man, who was known for his propensity to use the word "tantamount" - seemingly at random - but a further look at Askins revealed a bit of a sketchy past. Jury Convicts Man Accused in Green Vega Rapes, Talk Murder With Me - The Freeway Phantom Murders, Baltimore Afro American - Is he the Freeway Phantom (October 21st, 1972 issue), Indiana Evening Gazette - Washington, D.C. Police Seek Clues To Freeway Phantom (November 19th, 1971 issue), Santa Ana Register - 5-Man Gang Tied To Rapes, Killings (July 9th, 1975 issue), Two ex-cops from Washington held for Freeway Phantom murder of girl', Kimberly Riley & Jeremy Britt-Bayinthavong, Paul Skiba, Sarah Skiba, and Lorenzo Chivers, June & Jennifer Gibbons (The Silent Twins). This semen sample would remain untested for several decades, but needless to say that would come up much later. Namely, the fact that this was the first case that the victim had been stabbed multiple times, but investigators excused this with the notion that the victim was much older - the killer had almost exclusively targeted children prior to Brenda Woodward. Heavy footsteps were heard in the background and Crockett said "I'll see you" and hung up. During her time as a homicide detective, Jenkins mainly investigated the deaths of children and babies. Support Center. Among those individuals considered suspects were members of a gang known as the Green Vega Rapists. Coroner reports of the Freeway Phantom's victims tell us that the victims were brutally raped with penetration up to 9 inches deep, with both anal and vaginal assaults taking place. Askins, who died at the Federal Correctional Institution in Cumberland, Maryland on April 30, 2010 at the age of 91,[27] remained in prison for two D.C.-area abductions and rapes in the mid-70s, and had been contacted by both Davis and press regarding the Freeway Phantom slayings. Likely, the inmate he was implicated in the Freeway Phantom murders. Join Facebook to connect with Edward Sullivan and others you may know. In addition, Allenteen - a single mother of eight - would organize a neighborhood search for the missing teenager that evening, but the volunteers (primarily friends and family members) would be unable to find any trace of Carol Spinks. Why don't they investigate whites as well?". For close to six months - stretching from April to November - the Freeway Phantom had struck almost regularly. Police had openly speculated that the Freeway Phantom was a black man, and James Groom was white. Romaine Jenkins, the retired homicide detective that I detailed in this episode's introduction, has maintained a lifelong obsession with the case. and Montgomery Counties, the Maryland State Police, and the FBI itself. Span of crimes It is unknown whether or not police investigated Groom as a legitimate suspect, but I have not found any reporting or mention of him in the months and years after this one incident. This was less than two miles away from Diane's home. The body was recovered, and was eventually identified as Darlenia Denise Johnson - a missing 16-year old that had disappeared from the neighborhood earlier that month. We know that Carol made it to the store - a 7-Eleven along Wheeler Road - because a clerk working that evening later told police that they sold the girl some items - TV dinners, bread, and some soda - before watching her leave. Robert Elwood Askins was a middle-aged black man that worked at St. Elizabeth's Hospital as a computer technician through the 1970's. [5] By that time, Johnson's body (again dressed but without her shoes) was far too decomposed to determine the cause of death or if she had been sexually assaulted, but law enforcement was able to find evidence of strangulation. Like the other two victims, she had been strangled. After that announcement, the inmate who provided the information declined any further interviews, and denied that he had ever provided any information. It was surmised that the body had only been decomposing for 2-3 days, despite her body being found close to a week after her abduction. Lets find out. Unlike the rest of the Freeway Phantom victims, she had been shot in the head, but her case was linked to the others in the immediate aftermath. Now-retired, Musgrove was willing to speak to the Washington Post in 2006, in which he decried the way the victims had been treated in the years since: "Those black girls didn't mean anything to anybody - I'm talking about on the police department. Authorities would note that her crime scene was incredibly gruesome - with her clothing being stained with blood - and she had six stab wounds to various parts of her body. Carol, who knew that she was risking punishment if it was discovered she had left the family's apartment, walked briskly along Wheeler Road. Not only was Johnson's body found incredibly close to the area that Spinks had been recovered - their bodies had been found a grand total of fifteen feet apart from one another. She began walking down the street, towards the 7-Eleven. She hopped on the next bus, and that is when her trail went cold. Morbidly, the body of Brenda Woodard had been disposed off of another busy road, near a bus-stop that Brenda's mother used almost every single day. Among those individuals considered suspects were members of a gang known as the Green Vega Rapists. January 26, 2023 by by Like the other victims, Diane Williams had been strangled to death, but an autopsy would find no sign of sexual assault. Investigation revealed that the minor girl was sexually assaulted and strangled to death. Part of me was just killed. [19] All these leads were investigated to their logical conclusion. Police were unable to uncover much evidence other than what I've just described, but noted that the victim had been strangled to death, just like the first two cases. That signature information was correct. edward sullivan and tommie simmons; edward sullivan and tommie simmons. On May 17th, he showed them the alleged locations dealing with Darlenia Johnson, although while showing them where her body was abandoned, he took them to the place where Brenda Crockett's body was found. 13-year-oldCarol Denise Spinks body was discovered by the authorities six days later from the day she was reported missing on April 25, 1971. All the nation's press and media, when reporting upon the story, began referring to the killer as such. The Green Vega Gang members were individually interviewed by MPDC Homicide Detectives Fickling, Irving, and Richardson, at Lorton Prison in Virginia, where the gang members were serving sentences in conjunction with the successful prosecutions of those crimes in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. From this, the detectives hypothesized that she might have known her killer, which led to her not being under compulsion while writing the note. Despite claiming he intended the cyanide for himself, planning suicide, he was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to twenty years to life. The only notable exception wasBrenda Denise Woodard, whose body still had the shoes worn. All suspects are charged with state drug offenses and were cited and released with future dates to appear in the Criminal Division of Vermont Superior Courts across the state. These members included men such as Morris Joseph Warren, Paul Fletcher, John Davis, and Paul Brooks - whose exploits you can find in detailed newspaper archives. [17] A few hours later, her strangled body was discovered dumped alongside I-295, just south of the District line. However, by the time the 1980's had rolled around, the case was still unsolved. The cause, he said, was revenge: for him contracting a venereal disease from another sex worker earlier that year. Angelas body was also wearing her shoes which did not fit the bill of the victims of the concerned serial killer. For the first few years of the investigation into the Freeway Phantom, police had linked Barnes' death to the unknown killer targeting young black girls in the D.C. region. County, Maryland) discovered the body of the missing 10-year old. By that time, FBI agents had been distracted and called off to assist with the ongoing Watergate scandal, and the attention of almost everyone was diverted elsewhere. She had been killed in 1971 - wedged in-between the 2nd and 3rd murders - but unlike the others, she had been murdered via gunshot. The classmate of Brenda's usually drove them whenever they hung out, but with his car in the shop temporarily, they had to take the city's buses home. Edward V. Sullivan Funeral Home. "My family was separated and weakened by that loss," said Crockett, who will attend today's service. A missing persons report was filed, and Darlenia Johnson's case was tentatively labeled an abduction. Carol Denise Spinks body was discovered by the authorities six days later from the day she was reported missing on April 25, 1971. This linked it to the Carol Spinks and Brenda Crockett murders. D.C. Phantom Murder", "Six black girls were brutally murdered in the early '70s. Valerie Moore - the older sister that had sent Carol Spinks to the 7-Eleven down the street to fetch some soda and TV dinners - was wracked with guilt. The Ultimate Weapon: The Race to Develop the Atomic Bomb. Bryant, of Maryland, was the only victim not from the District. But ours have been forgotten.". Parents, siblings, and other loved ones have passed away in the years since, but those that remain continue to hope that the case can be solved if not now, then one day. A 17-year-old Ballou High School senior, Williams cooked dinner for her family and then visited her boyfriend's house. He was also a former patient, that had been sent to the hospital in lieu of a prison. In the middle of July 1971, an employee of the D.C. Department of Highways and Traffic began experiencing car troubles. While most of the family was out-and-about, looking for the missing 10-year old, trouble began brewing at home. James Trainum - the retired homicide detective that resurrected the case more than a decade ago - continues to believe that the killer lived in the neighborhood of the first two victims: Carol Spinks and Darlenia Johnson. Read. 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