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The Disturbing Number Of Serial Killers Who Are Also Long Haul Truckers According To The FBI · Beyond The Horizon

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  Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome back to the program. According
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  Speaker 1: to a new book out by a former FBI agent,
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  Speaker 1: the FBI is hunting for 500 serial killer truckers who
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  Speaker 1: are loose on America's roads. And honestly, it doesn't shock me.
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  Speaker 1: How many times have we discussed here on this podcast
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  Speaker 1: about these truckers, long-haul truckers, and their propensity, some of them,
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  Speaker 1: to be serial killers? But 500? 500? I think I'll
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  Speaker 1: avoid stopping at that truck stop. Today's article is from
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  Speaker 1: the Daily Mail and the headline, FBI Hunting 500 Serial
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  Speaker 1: Killer Truckers Loose on America's Roads, Their Favorite Highway for
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  Speaker 1: Finding Victims Revealed, and Inside Their Mobile Rape and Torture Chambers.
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  Speaker 1: This article was authored by Christopher Stevens. At a truck
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  Speaker 1: stop in Nashville, Tennessee, long-haul driver Bruce D. Mendenhall was
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  Speaker 1: seated in his cab when a homicide detective approached him.
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  Speaker 1: Police were hunting a serial killer. Weeks earlier, the naked
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  Speaker 1: body of a 25-year-old woman, Samantha Winters, had been found
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  Speaker 1: in a dumpster. Winters was wrapped in plastic and duct tape,
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  Speaker 1: then shot in the back of the head with a.
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  Speaker 1: 22 pistol. Now, another victim, Sarah Nicole Hulbert, also 25,
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  Speaker 1: had been found dead. She, too, was shrouded in plastic
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  Speaker 1: and shot in the head. These victims were two of
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  Speaker 1: nearly 1,000 women who cops believed had been murdered by
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  Speaker 1: long-haul truck drivers. And finally, they had a break in
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  Speaker 1: the hunt. And what's so crazy about this is, whenever
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  Speaker 1: we go on road trips, my girlfriend and I, we
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  Speaker 1: play a game. And that game is, is that trucker
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  Speaker 1: a serial killer? So whenever we pass a trucker, we'll
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  Speaker 1: say to ourselves and to each other, is that trucker
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  Speaker 1: a serial killer? And then we'll get a look in
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  Speaker 1: the cab and we'll say yes or no. Obviously, facetiously, right?
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  Speaker 1: Joking around. But it goes to show you that this
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  Speaker 1: is something that's a pretty serious problem and something that's
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  Speaker 1: been discussed by people who are into this topic for
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  Speaker 1: a very long time. And there's been a lot of
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  Speaker 1: discussion about how prolific some of these long haul truckers
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  Speaker 1: are as murderers and how many of them have gotten
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  Speaker 1: away with it for a very, very long time. The
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  Speaker 1: detective from Nashville Metro Police Department asked Mendenhall simply, are
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  Speaker 1: you the person that we've been looking for? Mendenhall shrugged.
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  Speaker 1: If you say so, he replied. What police found inside
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  Speaker 1: the 56-year-old's truck cab defied belief. Investigators called it a
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  Speaker 1: killing chamber. The stash of torture implements included a rifle,
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  Speaker 1: a nightstick, tape, handcuffs, latex gloves, sex toys, and a
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  Speaker 1: bag of bloody clothing, according to the police report. Talk
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  Speaker 1: about nightmare fuel. Imagine being one of these poor women.
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  Speaker 1: You're out here, you're on drugs, whatever it is, you're
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  Speaker 1: working at a truck stop, you're working in your local area,
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  Speaker 1: one of these dudes shows up, you hop into their
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  Speaker 1: cab like you've done hundreds of times before, only to
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  Speaker 1: end up in this dude's torture chamber? That's a fate
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  Speaker 1: that nobody deserves. DNA on the clothing match five murdered
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  Speaker 1: or missing women. One was Karma Purpura, a 31-year-old mother
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  Speaker 1: of two who was last seen at a truck stop
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  Speaker 1: in Indianapolis, Indiana, nearly 300 miles away. Also in the
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  Speaker 1: truck were Purpura's mobile phone and her bank card. Blood
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  Speaker 1: spatter in the cab suggested Mendenhall had killed her there,
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  Speaker 1: yet he refused to say where her body was hidden.
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  Speaker 1: Her remains were not found for another four years. Now look,
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  Speaker 1: there should be some kind of penalty or For people
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  Speaker 1: like this, even when the state doesn't have a death penalty,
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  Speaker 1: there should be something that overrides it, and people that
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  Speaker 1: are proven to be serial murderers, they shouldn't be kept
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  Speaker 1: in prison. They should be put to death. Why are
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  Speaker 1: we keeping these people alive? Why are the taxpayers on
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  Speaker 1: the hook for keeping these sick, degenerate fucks alive? Are
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  Speaker 1: they going to be rehabilitated? Are they going to come
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  Speaker 1: back out into society and cure cancer? We all know
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  Speaker 1: the truth, so let's just get on with it already, okay?
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  Speaker 1: Mendenhall from Illinois and married with two daughters was arrested
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  Speaker 1: in 2007 and subsequently convicted of the murders of Winters
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  Speaker 1: and Hulbert. He has also been charged with the killing
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  Speaker 1: of Purpura and is suspected of murdering at least five
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  Speaker 1: more women. Two, including sex worker Robin Bishop and hitchhiker
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  Speaker 1: Belinda Cartwright, were likely run down by his truck. Can
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  Speaker 1: you imagine the fear and terror that these women must
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  Speaker 1: have been in when they figured out what was going on?
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  Speaker 1: It's just horrifying to even think about it. But these
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  Speaker 1: deaths are not isolated, according to former assistant director of
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  Speaker 1: the FBI, Frank Figliuzzi. He has spent years investigating the
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  Speaker 1: phenomenon of serial killers who use trucking as a disguise.
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  Speaker 1: In a new book, Long Haul, Hunting the Highway Serial Killers,
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  Speaker 1: Figliuzzi lays bare in forensic detail how hundreds of truckers
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  Speaker 1: trawl rest stops, motels, and roadside restaurants for victims. They
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  Speaker 1: kill and move on, all but untraceable. Most shocking, the
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  Speaker 1: FBI's Highway Serial Killing Initiative estimates that between 400 and
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  Speaker 1: 500 truckers could be implicated in a huge number of
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  Speaker 1: murders over the past 35 years. As many as 850
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  Speaker 1: women have disappeared or been found dead along the main
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  Speaker 1: interstate routes, and yet only a handful of killers have
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  Speaker 1: been caught. And that's why being a long-haul trucker is
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  Speaker 1: such a good cover for these serial killers. With it
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  Speaker 1: being as transient as it is, They can kill somebody
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  Speaker 1: in one state and be in the next state in
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  Speaker 1: a couple of hours, and nobody's the wiser. So you
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  Speaker 1: can see how it's very difficult for the authorities to
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  Speaker 1: try and stop people who are serial killers who are
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  Speaker 1: also long-haul truckers. It's the perfect job to do this
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  Speaker 1: kind of thing, unfortunately. The HSK, led by Catherine Devane,
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  Speaker 1: she specializes in the behavioral analysis of criminals. Her team
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  Speaker 1: match crimes to killers. Forensic evidence is crucial. So too
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  Speaker 1: is identifying the M.O. in individual killers' hallmark techniques. The
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  Speaker 1: hallmark of Robert Ben Rhodes, one of the first truck
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  Speaker 1: stop killers on record, was a sick fetish. He shaved
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  Speaker 1: the pubic hair of his victims. Sounds like a fantastic guy, huh?
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  Speaker 1: What the hell is wrong with people? That's the question
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  Speaker 1: that I continually ask myself when we're going through stories
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  Speaker 1: like this. Like how the fuck can you be wired
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  Speaker 1: so screwed up? I don't understand how you could be
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  Speaker 1: so defective where you think this is a good idea
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  Speaker 1: and where you get off on causing great pain to
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  Speaker 1: other people. Like, how is that even a thing? And furthermore,
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  Speaker 1: anyone that's capable of doing what Mr. Robert Ben Rhodes did,
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  Speaker 1: that should be a one-way ticket to the hangman's noose.
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  Speaker 1: I don't want to hear any other nonsense. I don't
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  Speaker 1: want to hear about anything but the death penalty for
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  Speaker 1: people like this. Especially if you confess. If you're out
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  Speaker 1: here confessing and you killed 30 people or whatever, yep,
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  Speaker 1: death penalty for you, my friend. Rhodes is thought to
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  Speaker 1: have killed 50 women over 15 years. Like Mendenhall, he
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  Speaker 1: built a mobile torture dungeon in the back of his truck.
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  Speaker 1: Behind its steel door, women were held captive in handcuffs.
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  Speaker 1: Rhodes inflicted agonies by piercing their flesh with fish hooks.
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  Speaker 1: Many were prostitutes. His final victim, Regina Walters, was not,
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  Speaker 1: in fact, she was just 14 years old. She had
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  Speaker 1: ran away from her dysfunctional family in Pasadena, Texas with
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  Speaker 1: her boyfriend Ricky in 1990. Rhodes picked them up near
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  Speaker 1: Houston and swiftly killed Ricky, shooting him in the head.
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  Speaker 1: He kept Regina prisoner, raping her repeatedly for weeks. To
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  Speaker 1: torment her family, he even called her father and told him,
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  Speaker 1: I made some changes. I cut her hair. Regina's corpse
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  Speaker 1: was discovered at a deserted Illinois farmhouse. She had been strangled.
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  Speaker 1: Now let me tell you what, if that was me,
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  Speaker 1: and somebody called me with that kind of bullshit, yep,
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  Speaker 1: I'm getting arrested, and I'm gonna end up in the
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  Speaker 1: same prison as you, and then I'm gonna get my
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  Speaker 1: hands on you. And if that doesn't work, I'm gonna
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  Speaker 1: pay whatever the baddest gang in the prison is, and
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  Speaker 1: I'm gonna make sure they go to work on you.
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  Speaker 1: And when I say go to work on you, I
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  Speaker 1: mean dismantling you piece by piece. Some straight up Sandan
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  Speaker 1: Glockta type shit. Catherine Devane divides trucker homicides into two categories.
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  Speaker 1: Some men want to control life and death, she says.
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  Speaker 1: They need to feel the power of controlling the outcome.
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  Speaker 1: These killers typically rape and sexually torture their victims. They
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  Speaker 1: enjoy inflicting fear as well as pain. Other men kill
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  Speaker 1: out of compulsion. They don't want to have sex, says Devane.
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  Speaker 1: They just want to murder someone. The two categories can overlap,
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  Speaker 1: as in the case of Mendenhall. Some of his killings
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  Speaker 1: were protracted exercises in sadism. Others were literally hit and run.
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  Speaker 1: In the U.S., there are a million truckers. The largest
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  Speaker 1: age group is 45 to 54, but 7% are 65
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  Speaker 1: or older. Over 70% are white, and just 12% are black.
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  Speaker 1: Nearly 10% admit to drinking daily, 20% describe themselves as
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  Speaker 1: binge drinkers, and more than 25% admit to using amphetamines
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  Speaker 1: and cocaine to stay awake on long hauls. Yeah, that's
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  Speaker 1: not terrifying, huh? All those trucks on the street, on
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  Speaker 1: the roads, on the freeways, these dudes are out here
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  Speaker 1: snorting up a bunch of meth? Perfect. Just perfect. The
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  Speaker 1: HSK team has charted truck stop killings along all the
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  Speaker 1: major interstate routes in the U.S., but one stands out.
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  Speaker 1: On a map, it's a long spatter of red dots
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  Speaker 1: like blood droplets from Wilmington, North Carolina, to Barstow, California.
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  Speaker 1: The red dots run through Raleigh, Nashville, Memphis, Little Rock,
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  Speaker 1: Oklahoma City, Amarillo, Albuquerque, and Flagstaff. That's the I-40 interstate.
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  Speaker 1: Across America, just 25 ex-truckers are in prison for murder.
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  Speaker 1: Devane and HSK have been instrumental in the arrest and
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  Speaker 1: prosecution of many of them. One is Delmas Colvin, a
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  Speaker 1: shaven-headed black man now 64 years old. He was dubbed
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  Speaker 1: the interstate strangler. Following his arrest in 2004, Colvin told
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  Speaker 1: detectives he didn't keep a tally of his murders. He
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  Speaker 1: couldn't remember them all, but later he estimated he killed
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  Speaker 1: between 47 and 52 women, almost all sex workers. Like Mendenhall,
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  Speaker 1: he wrapped their corpses in plastic sheeting and duct tape,
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  Speaker 1: but he denied having sexual intercourse with the bodies and
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  Speaker 1: insisted rape was not the chief motive. He just enjoyed killing,
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  Speaker 1: he said. Well, in that case, he should have just
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  Speaker 1: killed himself. Detectives believed him. Frequently, during interviews, he burst
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  Speaker 1: out laughing as he recalled the murders. On one occasion,
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  Speaker 1: he said he took a phone call from his mother
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  Speaker 1: while he was killing a woman. None of that troubled him.
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  Speaker 1: He liked to look into his victims' eyes as they died.
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  Speaker 1: He said, He added, helicopters, volcanoes. You want to sit
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  Speaker 1: around and mock the family members of the people you killed?
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  Speaker 1: There is no punishment too harsh for scumbags like that.
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  Speaker 1: Calvin has been convicted of seven murders and is held
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  Speaker 1: in Lebanon Correctional Institution in Ohio. He told investigators where
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  Speaker 1: many other victims were buried, but refuses to provide information
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  Speaker 1: on killings he committed in states where murder carries the
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  Speaker 1: death penalty. Most of Calvin's victims, and the great majority
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  Speaker 1: of women killed by truckers, are lot lizards. That's what
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  Speaker 1: the drivers call sex workers at truck stops, part of
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  Speaker 1: a coded language that has grown up over the decades. Dr.
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  Speaker 1: Celia Williamson, a social work professor at the University of Toledo,
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  Speaker 1: has spent 30 years studying adult prostitution and the sex
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  Speaker 1: trafficking of minors in America. Truck stop and street-level prostitution
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  Speaker 1: has its own culture, its own language, and its own process,
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  Speaker 1: she told Figly Uzi. Common terms include trick, a trucker
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  Speaker 1: looking for sex, and house, the trailer behind his cab.
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  Speaker 1: A stable is a pimp's coterie of sex workers or shorties.
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  Speaker 1: A girl who is out of pocket is working for herself,
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  Speaker 1: though that's a dangerous tactic. Without anyone to protect or
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  Speaker 1: look out for, she's easy prey. That could be why
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  Speaker 1: out-of-pocket can refer to women who have simply disappeared. To
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  Speaker 1: keep an eye on the younger, more vulnerable women, pimps
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  Speaker 1: use older, experienced sex workers. These women are known as bottoms.
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  Speaker 1: It's usually for a bottom to accompany a young prostitute
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  Speaker 1: on her rounds as she goes from cab to cab
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  Speaker 1: at a truck stop, knocking on windows and offering her services.
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  Speaker 1: It's not uncommon for a pimp to demand each of
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  Speaker 1: his shorties must bring back $ 1, 000 a night and keep
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  Speaker 1: working until dawn if necessary. Dr. Williamson points out that
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  Speaker 1: how the power is on the trucker's side. It's not
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  Speaker 1: pleasant experience, she says, for a girl to put her
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  Speaker 1: face in his lap of a trucker who's been driving
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  Speaker 1: for 10 hours. Yeah, I would say so. Imagine the
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  Speaker 1: stench coming out of there. Talk about from under cheese.
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  Speaker 1: But the shorties are desperate to earn money. If they
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  Speaker 1: don't meet their targets, they'll be beaten. Addicts and most
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  Speaker 1: truck stop prostitutes or users will be denied their drugs,
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  Speaker 1: usually heroin or meth. The drivers have money. They also
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  Speaker 1: control the rendezvous, the cab of their truck. And when
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  Speaker 1: the encounters are over, they can simply drive away. Prostitutes
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  Speaker 1: who report sex abuse are often not taken seriously. Too often,
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  Speaker 1: police officers stop taking notes and stop taking interest when
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  Speaker 1: they learn what the woman does for a living. That's
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  Speaker 1: all too true even when concerned friends report disappearances or
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  Speaker 1: suspected murders. Should a male-dominated police force even be investigating
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  Speaker 1: such things? Dr. Williamson's asked. You know, police participate as well. Well,
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  Speaker 1: I don't know about all that, but the police... could
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  Speaker 1: certainly do a better job with a lot of these
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  Speaker 1: missing women. There is no doubt about that. And if
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  Speaker 1: you don't think that the police shrug their shoulders and say, look,
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  Speaker 1: they chose this life, you're crazy, they do. And a
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  Speaker 1: lot of it's not because the police don't care. They
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  Speaker 1: just don't have the resources, folks. Pimps and Bottoms teach
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  Speaker 1: new girls how to keep themselves safe. This includes staying
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  Speaker 1: away from truckers with a reputation for violence. But it
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  Speaker 1: also means being constantly ready to flee. During oral sex, Dr.
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  Speaker 1: Williamson told... Figliuzzi, while the passenger side of the vehicle,
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  Speaker 1: the prostitute, places her foot near the car door, her
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  Speaker 1: right hand near the door handle, and she keeps her
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  Speaker 1: left hand free to punch him in the face. Precautions
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  Speaker 1: like these were irrelevant to the victims of Adam Leroy Lane.
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  Speaker 1: On a chilly summer night in Nashville in 2007, he
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  Speaker 1: left his truck and went prowling through the streets. Breaking
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  Speaker 1: into the house of Kevin and Jeannie McDonough, Lane found
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  Speaker 1: his way to the bedroom of their 15-year-old daughter, Shea.
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  Speaker 1: Kevin was woken by her cry. He burst into the
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  Speaker 1: room and threw himself on Lane. Jeannie wrenched the 15-inch
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  Speaker 1: hunting knife away from his hand. Miraculously, Shay survived, and
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  Speaker 1: Lane was sentenced to 25 years for the attack. He
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  Speaker 1: later also pleaded guilty to murdering two women and the
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  Speaker 1: attempted murder of a third. In his truck, police found knives,
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  Speaker 1: wire garrots, and a martial arts throwing star. Bro showed
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: up with a Chinese star, huh? A ninja star, really?
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  Speaker 1: What no one knows for sure, not even the FBI's
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  Speaker 1: Highway Serial Killing Initiative, is how many other truckers carry
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  Speaker 1: these weapons of torture, and how many women's bodies have
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  Speaker 1: never been found. Alright folks, well that's going to do
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  Speaker 1: it for this one. All of the information that goes
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  Speaker 1: with this episode can be found in the description box.