Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Mayhem in the Morgue: Cold Cases, Lover’s Lane Murder, and the Brown’s Chicken Massacre

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Mayhem in the Morgue: Cold Cases, Lover’s Lane Murder, and the Brown’s Chicken Massacre · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Today's episode includes the information about the death of individuals.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: If this sort of thing upsets you, this is not
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: the episode for you. May I suggest you watch a movie,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: maybe something like Knight of the Living.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: Dead Welcome to Mayhem in the Morning with your host,
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: Doctor Kinder Crowns.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Today's episode cold Cases, Lover's Lane murders, and the Browns
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Chicken massacre. Once again. Recently, I was on the Nancy
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Gray Show and we discussed the Levers Lane murders from Houston, Texas,
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: and there was a question that was brought up that
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: I wanted to discuss a little more in depth. But
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: first let's go into the details of the Lover's Lane murders.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: On August twenty second, nineteen ninety, Cheryl Henry and Andy
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: Atkinson were murdered in a remote wooded area off Enclave
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: Parkway near Briar Forest Drive in West Houston. They were
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: parked in a cul de sac known as Enclave A,
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: which was a wooded secluded area where people would go
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: to be romantic, hence the name Lover's Lane. What happened
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: next is unknown, but the next day, a Cisco food
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: security guard doing a routine patrol noticed Atkins's car sitting
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: for hours abandoned in the cul de sac. He eventually
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: checked the car and he noticed Henry's purse on the
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: passenger's side floorboard and the keys still in ignition. He
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: found her driver's license, called the family and they told
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: him she had been reported missing. Police were alerted and
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: the search began. Search dogs found Henry's naked body hidden
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: under wooden boards in the woods. Her hands were tied
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: behind her back. She had been sexually assaulted and her
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: throat was slashed. They expanded their search and found Akins's
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: body the next day, about one hundred and fifty yards away,
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: propped up in a seated position. His hands were tied
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: behind his back in another rope was wrapped around him
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: in the tree, going up over his neck. He had
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: a slash wound of his neck that extended all the
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: way down to his spinal column. The cause of manner
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: or death of both cases were determined by the Harris
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: County Medical u Xander's Office as sharp force injuries of
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: the neck and homicide. Both of them were described as
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: having their throats slashed or slit. What that means is
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: they had large in sized wounds across their neck. In
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: size wounds are created by sharp implements. The wound has
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: a clean, smooth edge with no abrasions, and there is
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: no evidence of soft tissue bridging, which you will see
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: in blunt forces injuries. The other key thing about an
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: insize wound is it is longer than it is deep.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: The depth of Atkins's injury was described as being all
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: the way to the spinal column. A wound of this
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: nature along the neck will involve skin, subcutaneous tissue, and
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: the strap muscles of the neck. This, of course, would
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: be painful but survivable. The large muscle in the neck
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: is the sternalclidio mastoid muscle, and it lies on the
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: front of the neck, extending to the size and partially
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: overlies the main vascular structures, which are the internal jugular
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: veins and internal carotid arteries. There is both a right
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: and left version of these vessels. They lie next to
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: each other, first starting out more towards the front of
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: the neck, and then proceeding more laterally bookending the atoms apple.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: The internal jugular vein is between zero point two to
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: two millimeters underneath the skin, and the internal crotid artery
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: is approximately seven point three six millimeters under the skin.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: Both vessels are very close to the skin's surface. The
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: croted brings blood from the heart to the brain, and
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: the jugulars bring the blood back from the brain to
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: the heart. Injuries to these vessels are a medical emergency,
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: and injury to just one of them can result in
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: death from bleeding out, also known as exanguination. Blood loss
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: from a singular jugular vein incision can be between four
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: hundred to six hundred millimeters or almost twelve to twenty
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: ounces per minute, with complete bleeding out in under five minutes.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: If both jugulars are cut, bleeding out is even quicker.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: Blood loss from the carotid artery is between five hundred
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: and seven hundred milli liters or seventeen to twenty four
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: ounces per minute, and bleeding out can occur in as
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: little as three minutes, with once again one vessel being cut,
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: and again if both are cut, the time is even shorter.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: Blood loss results in hypolemic or hemorrhagic shock. On average,
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: adult bodies contain four point five to five point seven
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: liters or one point two to one point five gallons
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: of blood, and the heart pumps about two thousand gallons
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: or seven thousand, five hundred liters of blood per day
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: through the body. Hemorrhagic shock occurs in stages. The first stage,
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: or stage one, occurs when there is less than fifteen
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: percent of the blood volume loss, which is around seven
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: hundred to seven hundred and fifty militers of blood generally.
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: At this stage, there are minimal symptoms. Heart rate may
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: be slightly elevated, but blood pressure and respiratory rate are normal.
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: At stage two, there is fifteen to thirty percent of
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: the total blood volume loss, which is between seven hundred
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: and fifty and fifteen hundred milli liters of the total
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: blood volume. Heart rate and breathing go up. Blood pressure
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: begins to drop, the person begins to feel cold, the
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: skin starts becoming pale and cool, and clammy feelings of anxiety, restlessness,
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: and mild confusion begin. At stage three, there are significant
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: clinical changes. At this point, there is thirty to forty
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: percent of the total blood volume lost, which is between
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: fifteen hundred and two thousand milli liters. The blood pressure
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: drops significantly, the heart compensates by beating even faster, getting
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: over one hundred and twenty beats per minute, breathing becomes shallow.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: The individual is markedly confused, anxious, and has a feeling
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: of impending doom. Pulses are weak and the extremities are cold.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: The final stage, or stage four, there is greater than
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: forty percent blood loss, which is greater than two thousand
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: mili liters. This is a critical life threatening condition. There
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: is a profound drop in the blood pressure. The heart
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: rate exceeds one hundred and forty beats per minute, The
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: respiratory rate is elevated, skin is cold, the lips are
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: pale and blue. The person experiences severe confusion and agitation,
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: followed by tiredness, eventually coma, organ failure and death. Any
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: injuries to these vessels of the neck are considered a
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: medical emergency. The next structure of importance in this area
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: is the vagus nerve. It lies more towards the atoms
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: ample or larynx and trachea, which will be discussed necks.
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: It's behind the internal jugular vein, an internal crotit artery,
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: and is on top of the spinal cord. It's a
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: major nerve structure and is involved in the control of
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, and also plays a role
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: in immune responses, mucus and sliva production, skin and muscle sensations.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: You're an output as well as speech, taste, and even
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: your mood. When it's transsected, it can cause rapid, irregular heartbeat, hoarseness,
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: difficulties swallowing, digestive issues such as bloating, in constipation or diarrhea,
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: and changes in blood pressure, as well as excessive sweating,
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: anxiety and depression. The center of the neck contains the
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: other structures of importance, and these are the larynx or
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: voice box, and the trachia windpipe, and behind them the esophagus.
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: Deep to the esophagus is the spinal column. Let's start
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: with the larynx. It's above the trachea. It's part of
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: the upper respiratory tract, bringing air to the lungs. It's
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: composed of framework of cartilages, including the thybrid carlage, which
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: is also known as the atoms apple. This overlies the
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: vocal cords, which are the main part of the larynx.
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: There is also the cricoid carlage and the epiglottis, which
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: is a flap that covers the larynx when you swallow food.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: The trachea is immediately below the larynx, and it is
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: a tube shaped structure composed of C shaped carlagenous rings.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: Its purpose is to conduct the air the rest of
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: the way to the main stem bronchi that is attached
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: to the lungs. The larynx is usually one centimeter under
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: the skin surface, and the trachea is one to two
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: centimeters from the skin surface. When in sized wound cuts
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: through the larynx, if it goes through the thyroid carlage,
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: it will actually cut the vocal cords and stop the
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: person from being able to speak or screen. When it
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: goes through the trachea, it will create a new hole
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: in which air passes through, but often because of the
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: hemorrhage associated with the wound, it will instead begin to
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: fill up with blood, and if the person survives for
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: any amount of time, they will begin to inhale blood
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: and potentially could drown from it. On the Nancy Gray Show,
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: she asked me what Atkinson and Henry would have endured
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: when they were murdered. I discussed it on her show,
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: but I will go over it again here. They both
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: would have experienced pain as the insize wound cut through
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: the skin subcueneous tissue, muscle, vasculature, laryncing trachea. They would
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: have felt a sharp, burning pain followed by a rapid
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: loss of blood. They both would have gone through the
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: various stages of hemorrhagic shock, becoming cold, thirsty, confused, feeling
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: their heart rate greatly speed up until they lost consciousness
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: after less than a few minutes. Both were tied up,
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: and Henry was also sexually assaulted before she was killed,
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: and evidently Atkinson had potentially watched this happened. The part
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: of what they experienced that can't truly be measured is
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: the fear that they would have had going through this
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: as each one of them was killed. Henry dying first
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: after being sexually assaulted, would have experienced the fear of
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: pain and suffering of that, but Atkinson would have had
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: this further compounded by having to watch what happened to
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: Henry and then know what his fate would be. The
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: thought of this is unimaginable and it can never be
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: known what they truly went through other than it was
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: extremely horrible. The lover's laying case when unsolved for nearly
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: thirty six years until March of twenty twenty six, when
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: Houston police officers received a tip naming an individual by
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: the last name of Parrot. He had been involved in
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: a previous sexual assault in nineteen ninety six, and his
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: DNA was obtained from the charge, but he was nobilled
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: by a grand jury, meaning they found insufficient evidence to
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: charge him with a crime. One of the things that
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: Parrot would do in perpetrating his crimes was deposed as
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: a police officer, which may have been what he had
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: done during the murders of Atkinson and Henry, which would
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: explain why he was so easily able to subdue them
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: both by tying them up. The DNA sample that was
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: taken in nineteen ninety six was loaded into CODIS, which
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: is short for Combined DNA Index System, which is maintained
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: by the FBI, which is a national DNA database and
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: software that stores matches and links DNA profiles from convicted offenders, arrestees,
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: and crime scenes. It allows local, state, and federal crime
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: labs to compare DNA profiles from suspects and connect them
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: with cold cases. With the tip that the Houston Police
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: received the DNA that was taken from the murder scene
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety three, as well as from the autopsy
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: was then compared with the DNA from this nineteen ninety
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: six sexual assault case and it was found to be
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: a match. So now that they have a potential suspect,
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: the case can go to trial and hopefully this cold
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: case will come to a close. DNA is collected along
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: with trace evidence at the time of autopsy when requested.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: The procedures for doing this have changed little in the
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: twenty six years if I have been a medical examiner. Typically,
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: a body is received in a sealed body bag. The
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: seal is broken and the body bag is opened. The
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: body's photographed as is, and then the process for obtaining
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: DNA and trace evidence begins. Trace evidence can be hair, fibers, papers,
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: anything that's kind of stuck to the body that may
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: be of evidentiary value. Head hair and pubic hair is
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: combed and the combings are saved. Then the head in
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: pubic hair is pulled from multiple sites, making sure to
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: get a root structure. DNA swabs, which aren't long Q
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: tip like swabs that are either used dry or coated
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: with normal saline, are rubbed on suspected areas of trauma,
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: such as in strangulations. The neck. They're also rubbed across
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: the knuckles of the hands, underneath the fingernails of the
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: fingers and other areas of interest are also clipped and retained.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: Swabs are placed in the oral, anal, and vaginal cavities
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: in an attempt to get further DNA evidence, particularly semen
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: with males, the shaft of the penis is also swabbed.
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: Once all the DNA samples and trace evidence is obtained,
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: they are packaged, sealed, and then turned over to law enforcement,
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: who takes them to the crime lab that they work with.
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: After all this is done, then the actual autopsy is performed.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: The DNA once it reaches the crime lab, if properly stored,
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: can last for years, maybe even hundreds or thousands of years,
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: which is helpful with cold cases. The use of DNA
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: to solve cases is relatively of recent development. DNA profiling
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: was first used to solve murders in nineteen eighty seven,
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: when it was used to catch Colin Pitchfork, who had
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: raped and murdered two teenage girls in the United Kingdom.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: It was also used in the United States to convict
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: Tommy Lee Andrews in Florida, who had burglarized and raped
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: a woman at night point. Since that time, DNA techniques
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: have continued to improve. In the nineties, there was the
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: advent of polymerase chain reaction, which is a process consisting
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: of thermal cycling that creates millions and billions of copies
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: of a minuscule amount of DNA, which allows labs to
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: create a clear, readable genetic profile from a sample that
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: before this point would have been too small. Also in
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: the nineties, the use of short tantem repeats was developed
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: as well, and this offers an even higher level of discrimination. Recently,
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: more advances such as massively parallel sequencing, which sequences millions
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: of DNA or RNA fragments simultaneously, have been developed. With
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: these advances, more and more cold cases are being solved
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: all the time. In my career, I've experienced one very
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: famous cold case being solved, and that was the infamous
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: Brown's Chicken massacre that occurred in Cooks County. If you're
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: not already familiar with it, let's go into the details
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: a little bit more. To start with, Brown's Chicken is
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: a fast food chain into the Chicago land areas specializing
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: in fried chicken. It was opened in nineteen forty nine
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: by its namesake John and Velvet Brown And, as their
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: website states, their fried chicken is a little different because
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: it's made with buttermilk batter and fried in cottonseed oil,
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: delivering a delicious golden crunch on the outside with a
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: moist and flavorful inside. They also have other food options
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: as well as a number of tasty sides. I have
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: eaten at one of their restaurants a time or two
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: while I lived in Chicago. The chicken was good, but
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: I really enjoyed the fried okra and mushrooms. The Brown's
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: Chicken massacre occurred on January eighth, nineteen ninety three, in Palatine, Illinois,
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: which is in the northwest suburbs of Chicago within Cook County.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: The day had been like any other day. There were
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: seven employees at the restaurant that day, Lynn and Richard Ellenfeldt,
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: who were the owners of this particular Browns. Guadalupe Maldonado,
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: a recently hired cook, Thomas Meninez, a chicken breader, Marcus
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: Nellis who was a manager in training and part time
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: high school students, Michael Castro and Rico Solis who worked
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: the cash register, it was getting late in the evening.
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: They were beginning to start the process of clothing, taking
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: out the trash, and cleaning up when two individuals walked
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: in and ordered a four piece chicken dinner. The meal
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: consisted of four pieces of their signature Buttermilk better fried
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: chicken with a mix of breast, thighs, legs, and a wing,
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: served with two regular sides, fries and coalslaw, and of course,
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: a fresh buttermilk biscuit. It was purchased at nine oh
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: eight pm in cost six dollars and sixty nine cents.
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: It was the last meal purchased that night through Two
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: individual jewels who bought it were James Degorski and Juan Luna.
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: They sat down and Luna ate some of the chicken.
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: After a short period of time, Luna wiped his greasy
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: hands on one of the napkins. Then both he and
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: de Gorski put on latex gallows underneath the booths they
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: were sitting in. Then they both got up and de
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: Gorsky said to Luna, let's do it. They threw the
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: remainder of the meal into one of the trash cans,
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: walked to the front counter where the cash registers were
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: and de Gorski announced that they were robbing the restaurant
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: and began rounding up employees. They had a hunting knife
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: with them and a thirty eight caliber revolver, and they
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: weren't there just to rob the store. Luna had told
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: Degorski he wanted to see what it felt like to
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: kill someone. Luna first approached Riko Solis, who was mopping
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: the floor, and told him to go to the back
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: of the restaurant. De Gorski then fired a shot and
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: told everyone to get on the floor. Tom and Enaz
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: at that point tried to jump over the counter trying
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: to escape, and de Gorsky shot him in the back
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: and then dragged him into one of the freezers. De
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: Gorski then said to another person to get up, and
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: more shots were fired. At this point, Richard Ellenfeldt had
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: also been killed. De Gorsky dragged his body into the
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: same cooler as Menenez. Luna was on the opposite side
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: of the restaurant on the east end, watching over four
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: of the other workers, including Ellenfeldt's wife Lynn. They were
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: all facing downward on the floor near the walking cooler.
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: At some point, de Gorsky walked over and ordered three
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: of the people into the freezer. Marcus Nielsen, at that moment,
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: ran for the rear door behind Luna, but Luna pushed
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: him back and then hit him in the head. Nielsen,
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: who was at this point drowsy and wobbly, was then
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: put in the freezer. Gorsky evidently handed Luna the knife
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: and told him to take Lynn Ellenfeldt to go open
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: the safe. Luna stated she was very scared, hands trembling
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: as they walked to the room with a safe in it.
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: When they got there, she stuck the key in the
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: safe and opened it, he said to her, turned around,
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: and then he cut her throat. He stated the reason
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: that he did this was he just got caught up
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: in the moment. He stated. She lay there on the
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: floor gargling and then ran out of breath. At that point,
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: de Gorsky came over and dragged her into the east
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: freezer and heard the remaining employees in it. He handed
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: Luna the revolver and told him to fire a warning
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: shot into the freezer, which he did. Luna said that
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: the remaining employees were all yelling, don't shoot us, Please,
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: don't shoot us. They mopped up the blood on the floor,
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: and then de Gorsky returned to the freezer, opened the door,
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: and began firing multiple shots at the individuals still live
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: in it. He even reloaded the gun and continued shooting.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: After it was all done, he went into the freezer
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: and kicked the bodies to make sure they were dead,
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: and possibly stabbed one in the stomach. Degorski and Luna
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: then shut off the circuit breakers, causing the lights to
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: go out, shut the doors, and left. They then met
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: up with Degorski's girlfriend at the time, an Lockett, and
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: told her what they had done. They told her to
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: keep her mouth shut. When the murdered individuals did not
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: come home that evening from their job, families became worried. Eventually,
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: police checked out the Brown's Chicken and made a horrible discovery.
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: They found the bodies of all the individuals who had
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: been shot and stabbed in the Brown's Chicken. Shortly after this,
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: the crime scene processing began. While examining the scene, one
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: of the investigators saw the register receipt on one of
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: the cash registers showed the last meal purchased at nine
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: o eight pm. She also noticed that although the garbage
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: receptacle on the west side of the dining room had
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: a relatively fresh bag in it. It contained a cardboard
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: box with four pieces of chickens, scattered French fries, biscuits,
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: coal slaw, and paper products, including four used napkins. She
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: also noted some of the chicken pieces had been partially consumed.
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: She and her colleagues removed the plastic bag set it
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: on the floor so they could compare the cashier to
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: serve a seat with the general contents the garbage bag
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: to see if it appeared to be consistent. After going
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: through it, they determined that the contents of the trash
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: bag and the receipt were in good alignment. They separated
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: the food items and the paper items and sealed them
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: in paper bags and transported them to the laboratory. They
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: were able to get fingerprints from the forour napkins found
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: in the bag, but none of the fingerprints mashed a
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: known individual. The paper napkins and the chicken bones and
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: the garbage bag were then taken into an evidence room,
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: and that's where they stayed a few times over the years.
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: They attempted to get DNA samples from one of the
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: chicken bones, but the amount of DNA potentially present was
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: too small for the type of testing needed. In nineteen
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: ninety eight, tests were done on the saliva the partially
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: eaten chicken bone, and they were able to get a
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: DNA profile, but there was no successful match, and that's
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: where the case went cold. Four years later, though, on
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: March twenty fifth, two thousand and two, Lockett allegedly revealed
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: to another high school friend the facts that Dekorski, her
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: now ex boyfriend, had told her. Lockett even provided key
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: tetails that no one outside the investigation knew, which one
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: of them being that one of the workers had vomited
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: French fries. Her friend encouraged her to come forward and
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: tell police what she knew, and Lockett did do this.
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: The police arrested to Gorsky and Luna and they obtained
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: DNA samples of their salivo. This was matched to what
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: was recovered from the chicken bone. The perpetrators of this
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: mask her had finally been caught. When the trial started,
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: it had been nine years since the incident occurred, and
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: some of the investigators, police officers, crime scene technicians had
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: been promoted or left the area, and most notably doctor
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: Stein the first Chief Medicals of Cook County who had
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: performed some of the autopsies from the massacre, had not
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: just retired, but he had also died. It's not an
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: uncommon occurrence when a medical examiner dies or moves away,
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: that another medical examiner from the office will be used
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: to testify in their place to the autopsy findings. In fact,
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: that is how I got started in testifying at trials.
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: In my first year of fellowship, I testified in several
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: cases for doctors that had either left the Cook County
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: Medical Examiner's Office or had died. I was the newest
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: member of the staff, so it was always my job
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: to take over the old cases, and I did this
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: a lot. One of the main reasons for this was
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: right after I arrived at the office, the county had
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: offered a buyout to all the employees where individuals could
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: pay a sum of money and retire early, to which
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: a number of doctors opted for this. And because of this,
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: we were short staffed, so I was always testifying. In
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: the entire nine years I worked there, there was only
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: nine months where we actually were full staffed, so I
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: was always very busy, and like I said, since I
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: was the newest attending, I was often assigned one of
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: these cases to get experience testifying. It was, in a sense,
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: a trial by fire. My training consisted of accompanying one
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: of the senior doctors to court, and in about a
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: month later, I started testifying on this case. I started
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: out with simple gunshot wounds at first, progressing to more
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: complicated cases later on. It was an excellent experience and
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: I quickly learned what was important when testifying and what
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: not to say. As an example, I learned terms like mild, moderate, severe,
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: or massive were not good to use. I was testifying
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: on a case in which the doctors stated in the
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: report there was a massive hemo thorax, meaning there was
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: a lot of blood in the chest cavity. At trial,
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: the lawyer said, doctor, how much is massive? When asked this,
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: I had I had no idea. Before I could say anything,
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: the lawyer then said, well, what is it? Is it
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: ten mili liders twenty fifty one hundred? What is it?
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: What is massive? He had me there, I had no
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: idea what massive was, and I stated I did not
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: know what the previous doctor perceived as massive. The defense
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: attorney then said, can you tell the members of the
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: jury what the medical literature defines as massive. I again
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: said I was unaware of a definition of the medical literature.
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: He then said, so you just don't know, do you,
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: to which the defense attorney objected and told the judge
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: asked and answered. The judge agreed and told the defense
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: attorney to move on. After that trial, I made sure
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: on my cases that I always quantified the amount of
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: blood or fluid or whatever that I found in the body,
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: and I never used mild, moderate, severe, or massive, because
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: there is just no definitions of what these terms mean.
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: One of the other memorable vocabulary word moments while testifying
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: was during a murder trial. It was at least my
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: own case. This time it was a woman who was
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: arguing with her boyfriend about her heroin addiction. It started
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: out as a verbal altercation that escalated into a physical
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: fight and eventually ended with her forced onto her knees
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: looking into the barrel of her boyfriend's three point fifty
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: seven magnum. He had the last word in the argument
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: by pulling the trigger of the gun, shooting her in
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: the forehead at a near contact range. At the trial,
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: the defense attorney made an argument that she was an
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: out of controlled drug addict, and her death was not
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: a premeditated murder, but a crime of passion from a
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: partner who was tired of the never ending abuse. He
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: went on to state that even on the day she died,
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: she was probably high, and that is where I came in.
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: After being questioned about her execution style gunshot wound by
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: the prosecution, defense attorney glossed over this and went straight
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: to the toxicology findings. He had made a mistake, thinking
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: her toxicology showed she was high on multiple drugs. What
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: he didn't understand was he had read the reference ranges
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: thinking that she was very high on drugs, but instead
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: her toxicology was completely negative. When I pointed this out,
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: the defense attorney spun around facing the jury and said, well, doctor,
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: how do you know that the toxicology lab didn't make
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: a big mistake and there was actually drugs in her system.
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: I answered this with I have faith that the toxicology
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: lab did their job correctly. The defense attorney jumped on
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: the word faith like a cornered injured animal and reacted violently.
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: He did a ballerina like spin. He spun so fast
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: his light blue suit jacket fluttered off from his back.
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: He faced the jury, raised one fist high in the air,
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: and then said faith. He has faith, No scientific fact,
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: but faith. I ask you, do we convict someone on faith.
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: I saw this as an opening to respond and said,
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry, it's not faith, but instead, I know the
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: toxicology lab did not make a mistake because they're an
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: accredited lab and to my knowledge, had not made a
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: mistake on any of my cases, and even if they had,
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: it wouldn't have changed the fact that this sement had
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: been forced onto her knees and then shot in the
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: forehead as she was facing her boyfriend. The lawyer said
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: to the judge, I was being argumentative. The judge cautioned
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: me and told me to only answer the questions asked.
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: The defense attorney turned faced me and said nothing further,
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: your honor. The district attorney did a quick readirect saying
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: that the toxicology was negative, correct, doctor, to which I
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: responded yes. He then said he had no further questions.
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: The defense was asked if they had any further questions,
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: to which they responded no, and I was told I
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: was allowed to leave. The faith incident took half an
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: hour to resolve on the stand and needless to say,
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: I have never said I have faith again a trial.
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: This practice of supplying a substitute medical examiner has been
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: how it's worked almost by entire career, and it was
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: only until recently that this practice came under fire with
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: a case known as Smith versus Arizona. It is a
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: Supreme Court case about the fairness and criminal trials, focusing
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: on the Sixth Amendments Confrontation Clause. The six Amendments to
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: the US Constitution guarantees essential rights to individuals facing criminal persecution,
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: ensuring a fair, speedy, and public trial by an impartial jury.
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: There are a number of key rights guaranteed by the
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: sixth Amendment, which includes the confrontation Clause. This clause guarantees
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: the accused of right to confront and cross examined the
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: witness testifying against them. Smith versus Arizona decided the confrontational
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: clause is a legal right and when someone is accused
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: of a crime, they should have the chance to see
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: and talk to the witnesses who are against them, which
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: means they can ask questions and make sure the witnesses
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: are honest. The right helps to make sure that evidence
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: against the accused is fair and can be trusted. So
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: what could be done if the original medical examiner was
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: not available, And the answer is a substitute medical examiner
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: can be used, but they have to at minimum independently
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: review the original data and records and form their own
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: independent conclusions and not just regurgitate the information from the
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: original report and the original medical examiner. If the original
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: data and notes that were generated or determined to be
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: non testimonial, meaning they were not created specifically for trial,
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: then a substitute expert can likely rely on them when testifying. Also,
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: the substitute expert cannot testify that the absent medical examer
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: accurately performed the autopsy or that their findings were correct. Instead,
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: they can render an opinion as to if they feel
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: the autopsy was done correctly and was useful in coming
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: to their conclusions. In closing, these cold cases are finally
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: being solved and prosecuted, and currently it doesn't matter if
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: the original medical examiner is available because someone can still
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: testify for them, which finally provides the families of the
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: victims the closure that they rightfully deserve, and that brings
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: us to the end of the episode, I hope you
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: learned something, and I hope you were entertained until the
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: next time, and