Latest / Crime and Horror / Two murders solved by the most unlikely witnesses - MrBallen

Transcript

Two murders solved by the most unlikely witnesses - MrBallen · Crime and Horror

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Today, we have two stories about individuals who go above
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: and beyond to try to make sure investigators have everything
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: they need to solve a case.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: However, in both instances, as you'll see.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: The cases take a wild, unexpected turn as a result
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: of what these individuals.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: Provide that does solve the case, but in just an
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: extremely unexpected way.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: But before we get into today's stories, if you're a
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: fan of the strange, dark, and mysterious delivered in story format,
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: then you've come to the right place, because that's all
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: we do, and we upload two, three, even four times
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: every week. So if that's of interest to you, please
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: replace all the water in the like buttons ice.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: Tray with white vinegar.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: Also, please subscribe to our channel and turn on all
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: notifications so you don't miss any of our weekly uploads. Okay,
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: let's get into today's stories. On the morning of October twentieth,
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: nineteen ninety seven, a forty year old man named Kevin
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: Dowling rode a small boat across a reservoir that was
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: near his home in Spring Grove, Pennsylvania.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: And this reservoir was beautiful.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: It was quiet and peaceful out here, and the weather
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: was perfectly cool, and the leaves and all the trees
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: around the water were very colorful and starting to fall,
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: and as Kevin looked around at all this incredible scenery,
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: he knew he had chosen the exact.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: Right spot for what he needed to do.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: So Kevin had rented this boat to go fishing, but
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: in reality, he was out here primarily just to have
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: a place where he could relax and just think. So lately,
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: Kevin's life had been incredibly stressful, and so moments of
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: calm and peace were just very few and far between.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: The stress really began when recently Kevin had lost his
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: full time job. He had been an operations manager at
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: a convenience store and he had been fired after making
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: just one mistake, and now he had to work the
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: night shift at a staple store just to support his family,
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: and they were barely getting by. And Kevin, believe it
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: or not, was generally speaking a very overachieving person and
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: so to have his life playing out the way it
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: was was just very disappointing. And it was also just
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: turning him into a very stressed out, angry person, and
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: he knew that was happening.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: He'd been lashing out at his wife.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Yelling at his kids, and he had even gotten into
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: this horrible altercation with an art gallery owner in town.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: And so finally, after a couple of months of just
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: being this sort of awful person, with these angry outbursts
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: and sleepless nights as a result of all this stress,
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: he knew he had to do something to turn things around,
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: and so he thought this fishing trip was just what
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: he needed. Kevin looked towards the front of the boat,
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: where there was a camera set up on a tripod.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: Anytime Kevin went out on these fishing expeditions, he would
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: film himself, both to capture the moments he would catch.
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: The fish and also because he just.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: Liked after he'd return from these trips to just watch
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: the footage all over again. It sort of brought him
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: back to a time and place, you know, out on
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: the water that was just great.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: You know, he liked fishing.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: It was peaceful, it was calm, and so he was
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: doing that for this trip as well. Even though you know,
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: right now, as he sat there as serene as things were,
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: you know, he was filled with a whole lot of
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: angst and a lot of stress and anxiety.
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: But he figured, you know what, I'm out here.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: I need to put on a good performance for the camera,
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: be that the happiest version of myself I can be,
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: so that when I returned to dry Land and I
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: show this footage to my family and I refer to
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: it myself, I don't want to see that I was
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: so upset while I was out here. This is supposed
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: to be my Catharsis. This is supposed to be a
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: chance for me to decompress. So basically, he looked at
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: the camera and sort of told himself, like, okay, smile
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: and like enjoy this trip. This is good for your
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: mental health. And so Kevin rode a bit further into
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: the reservoir to a spot that he.
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: Thought was good. He pulled in the oars.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: And then he reached over and turned on the camera
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: and sort of waved and said, okay, you know I'm
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: out here about to start, And then he took a
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: deep breath and he cast his line into the water.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: Early the next morning, Kevin was at his kitchen table
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: feeling extremely tired. So the day before, after he had
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: gone fishing on the reservoir, he had a night shift
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: at Staples, and so he did the whole shift.
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: He comes home he barely.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: Sleeps, and now he's back up again, and so he's
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: just totally exhausted eating breakfast with his wife. And so
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: while the two of them are just sitting there in
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: silence eating their food, there's this sudden, sharp knocking on
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: the front door, and the two of them look at
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: each other, like who.
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: Would the speed? They both didn't know, and so Kevin
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: got up. He walked to the front door. He opened
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: it up, and he.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: Was very surprised to see two police officers standing there,
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: and so Kevin asked them, like, how can I help you?
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: And they told him they were here because of a
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: fight that Kevin had gotten into with that art gallery
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: owner a few months ago. They said that the entire
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: situation had now escalated and the police needed to get
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: a statement. Now, Kevin did not try to deny that
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: he had gotten into a fight with this person, so
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: instead he just stepped outside to speak to them alone.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: And pretty much the instant he was out there speaking
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: to the cops, it was like his stomach was just
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: a knots. I mean, it just seemed crazy that the
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: day before he was out on the beautiful reservoir going fishing,
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: having this sort of nice time. I mean, his life
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: was so stressful these days, but it's like just yesterday
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: he had finally found some peace. He was so eager
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: to watch back his video of him fishing, like that
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: was just a nice moment in time.
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: A rare nice moment.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: And now he's got more problems, more stress being piled on.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: Like he couldn't believe it. But Kevin knew like he
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: needed to comply here, Like whatever they needed, he was
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: going to try to give it to them. And so
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: he just asked one of the officers to please explain
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: a little bit more about what was really going on here.
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: This seems pretty serious, and one of the officers he
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: just said, look, I can't give you too many details here.
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: But they took there had been another altercation at the
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: art gallery yesterday morning, and Kevin was being considered a
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: suspect at this point because he had previously gotten into
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: a fight with this owner. Now, for Kevin, obviously this
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: was not good.
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: This was very bad.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: This was shocking. This is like not good news. But
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: on the other hand, when they said this happened yesterday morning,
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: I mean, Kevin's mind immediately went to his fishing trip.
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: He had been fishing it yesterday morning. You know, he
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: was at this reservoir that's at least forty five minutes
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: away from the Art Gallery. He had receipts from taking
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: that boat out, He had receipts from his fish bait.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: He even took a video that was likely timestamped while
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: he was out in the water. And so Kevin tells
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: the officers that, like, I have no idea what happened
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: at the Art Gallery, but I wasn't involved, Like whatever
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: happened yesterday, that was not me. A few seconds later,
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: Kevin had led the officers into his house. He had
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: gone upstairs, grabbed his fishing bag out of his closet.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: He had rifled through it and grabbed all the receipts,
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: and then come back downstairs. And when he did, all
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: the officers were speaking to his wife and asking her
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: about his alibi, and she had said, yes, Kevin had
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: been fishing, and she'd even watched a home video of
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: his trip that he had made, because he always made
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: videos of when he went fishing. And so at this
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: point the officers seemed satisfied, and they took the receipts
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: as well as the videotape that Kevin's wife had mentioned,
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: and they said they'd just be in touch if they
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: had any more questions. Over the next few days, Kevin
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: totally forgot about the police stuff. I mean, whatever happened
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: at the art gallery that had nothing to do with him,
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: that was totally separate. He had given the evidence over,
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: he hadn't heard from the police, so in his mind
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: like that's over and done with. However, on the evening
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: of October twenty ninth, so a little more than a
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: week after the police had first shown up at his home,
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: Kevin had just finished making dinner and was about to
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: sit down and eat it with his family when the
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: doorbell rang, followed by a series of very loud knocks,
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: and so Kevin he got up sort of looked at
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: his wife. They both exchanged a look like who is this,
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: and then he walked over to the front and through
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: the window he could see who it was.
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: It was the police again.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: At this time, when he opened the door, they didn't
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: ask politely for him to just make a statement. Instead,
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: one of them immediately stepped forward and slapped a pair
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: of handcuffs on his wrists and said.
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: He was under arrest.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: So the real reason why Kevin's life had been so
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: stressful that really he couldn't get a night's sleep, that
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: he's just constantly anxious. Really didn't have to do with
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: the fact that he had lost his job, that was
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: part of it, But really it was the thing that
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: caused his firing that was keeping him up at night,
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: and that was actually his altercation with the art gallery
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: owner a few months earlier. That altercation was actually really,
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: really serious. It was not just he and this woman
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: getting into a fight. Now, Kevin robbed this woman and
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: also assaulted her, and then he was subsequently arrested, lost
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: his job because he was arrested, and then while he
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: was out on bail, he's staring down this trial date
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: that's looming for these charges he's been arrested for, and
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: he knows there's footage of him, there's witness testimony, Like
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: he's gonna lose he's got no job, Like he's gonna
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: look like a total pariah in the community. He's embarrassed,
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: he's made this horrible decision, and like his life is
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: already basically wrecked and it's only gonna get worse if
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: this goes to trial.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: And so what does he do?
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: Kevin the perfectionist who always sort of follows through on
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: all the things in his life, you know. To that point,
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: he decides he needs to go back there to the
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: art gallery and finish the job. He needs to get
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: rid of this woman so there won't be a trial,
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: so he won't be found guilty, so his life won't
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: be ruined. And so about a week ago he did
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: go back to the art gallery, he killed the swoman,
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: and then that same day he goes out on the
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: reservoir and pretends to be out there on this fishing trip.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: He films himself fishing because that's what he did always do,
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: but really it was just in order to create an
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: alibi that would show he was out on the water,
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: even though it was actually in the afternoon. He was
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: not there in the morning. He filmed that video in
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: the afternoon. He claimed it was in the morning. And
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: basically Kevin almost got away with it between the receipts
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: for the boat and the bait and this video and
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: his wife saying, oh, yeah, he was fishing the day before.
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: And Kevin was very innocent when he spoke to police.
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: But what got him caught actually was the video.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: In the video, the position of the sun which the
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: officers picked up on, didn't make sense for it being
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: the morning. It was too high in the sky, like
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: if it had been the morning, it just would have
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: looked visibly different. And so they determined that Kevin's video
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: was not shot in the morning. He could have filmed
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: that at any point later in the day, which created
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: a window that morning that he could have gone back
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: to the art gallery and he could have killed that woman,
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: which he did. Also, just to add credibility to this
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: theory that Kevin had forged this video, or at least
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: forged the time he had shot it, an expert was
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: able to determine that the time stamps on the video
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: had been tampered with, further clarifying that this was a fake.
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: Kevin was found guilty not only of the robbery and
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: assault charges that he was initially charged with, but also
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: he was found guilty of first degree murder. He was
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: sentenced to death, and as of April twenty twenty six,
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: he is still on death row awaiting execution. Just before
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: six pm on Sunday, July twelfth, nineteen forty two, a
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: man named Robert stumbled into a bar called the Green
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: Parrot in Harlem, New York, and Robert was already very
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: very drunk. He'd been drinking all afternoon because he'd won
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: a bunch of money in a dice game earlier that day,
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: and he had just been celebrating, and now he was
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: wandering into this bar, the Green Parrot, to keep the party.
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: Going and keep on drinking.
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: So at this point in nineteen forty two, the neighborhood
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: where he was, Harlem, which is a neighborhood within New
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: York City, it really struggled with a very high level
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: of violent crime. And this bar of the Green Parrot,
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: was very popular amongst locals, and so this bar attracted
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: a big crowd, which often became a very rough crowd.
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: And so because of how violent this area was, and
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: because of all this cash that Robert had won earlier
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: in the day which he had on his person, Robert
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: had decided to bring his gun with him out to
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: the bar. Like he was armed as he walked into
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: the Green Parrot, and he was glad he was, because
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: again this is like a dangerous spot. But as Robert
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: actually went inside of the Green Parrot, he found that
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: it actually wasn't that crowded that night. Now it was
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: only about six pm, and it would get much busier,
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: or it usually got much busier later in the night.
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: But at this point, even though he's very drunk, you know,
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: he looked around and he saw there was like maybe
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: twenty people in there. And for Robert, this actually was
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: kind of a good thing because it meant it would
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: be easier for him to get up to the bar
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: and you know, get served, get more drinks. And so
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: Robert staggered his way over to the bar where the owner,
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: Max Geller, was pouring drinks and helping customers. And so
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: Robert he gets up there and he looks around and
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: right away he actually recognized a number of people that
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: were there at the bar.
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: They were regulars.
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: And then he saw actually there was one particular regular,
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: this shorter guy who he knew was really mean and
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: nasty and just super aggressive, and he clocked him as
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: a guy that he wanted to keep his distance from.
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: And so Robert turned his attention to Max, the owner,
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: and he sort of sloppily waved at him, trying to
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: get his attention, and Max was still busy preparing drinks
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: for others. He sort of looked up and stared at
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: Robert and kind of, you know, did sort of like
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: a check.
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: Of him to see how drunk he really was. And
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: then Max.
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: Served the other people, and then he walked over to
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: Robert with sort of a skeptical look on his face,
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: and he's like, what can I do for you, Robert,
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: And Robert he's like closing.
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: One eye, he's so drunk. He's like, I want a drink.
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: And Max looked at him and he's like, no, you're
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: too drunk. I can't serve you. Well at first, Robert was.
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: Just defensive and was basically like, come on, like, I'm
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: in here all the time, and I've certainly been pretty
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: drunk before and you've served me. I don't understand why
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: this is different. But Max stuck to his word and
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: he's like, no, I'm not gonna serve you.
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: You're too you're too intoxicated. And so slowly.
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: Robert became angrier and angrier, and he began saying, like
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: you're serving everybody else. There's guys here that are more
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: drunk than me. Like I don't get it, Like you
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: have to give me a drink. And at this point, Max,
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: you know, sensing just how upset Robert was, he said, look,
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: now you're gonna just have to leave, Like I'm not
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: gonna serve you, and you have to leave. And Robert
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: he went from now just being mad to being humiliated.
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: He's being like humiliated.
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: In front of the whole bar, and it was almost
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: like he couldn't help what he did next.
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: It was like rage coursed through his.
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: Body, and almost without thinking, Robert drew his gun, aimed
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: and fired and he shot Max in the face. Now instantly,
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: soon as this shot rang out, the bar is just
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: thrust into absolute chaos. People are screaming, Like ninety percent
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: of the people in there had no idea this was
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: even happening, let alone that people are shooting each other.
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: It was just chaos. People are screaming, they're running around, and.
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: Robert it was like he couldn't even believe what he
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: had just done, and he just immediately pocketed and hit
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: his weapon, then sort of just backed away from the
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: scene because again people aren't even sure who got shot.
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: People are looking around.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: He sort of began to blend into the crowd and
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: then as soon as he could, he just turned and
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: ran out of the bar. About a half an hour later,
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: around six thirty pm, an investigator with the New York
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: City District Attorney's Office named Lewis Panuco hurried down the
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: sidewalk toward the Green Parrot, which at this point was
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: swarming with police officers.
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: Panyuko, who had just been called the.
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: Scene, really only knew that there had been a shooting
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: at this bar and that the victim had apparently been
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: shot in the face but was alive and he was
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: on his way to the hospital.
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: Outside the bar.
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: Pinyuco could see a bunch bunch of these police officers
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: already interviewing a whole crowd of people who Panuco.
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: Assumed were witnesses of the shooting. And there were a lot.
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: Of them, so Pinuko hoped that at least one of
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: them would have something useful to say. And so Panuko
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: just let these officers handle this initial questioning of the scroup.
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: You know, if he needed to, he would speak to
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: people later, but for now, he just headed inside the
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: bar to see what was going on. And as soon
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: as he stepped inside, another officer.
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: Came up to Panuco to just give him a quick briefing.
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: He said the barz owner Max Geller, was the one
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: who had been shot and he had been shot in
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: the mouth, and that he was alive, but when he
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: was taken off of the hospital he was unconscious, so
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: nobody could ask him what happened. Then, this officer told
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: Panuko that there had been a bunch of customers in
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: the bar during the shooting, and that that was the
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: crowd outside. Those were the people that the officers were
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: getting statements from.
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: However, this officer.
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: Told Panuco that so far almost none of the people
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: they were speaking with were cooperating. Pretty much, everybody was
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: just saying, oh, I don't know what happened, or I
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: didn't see who shot who. It was like they didn't
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: want to tell the police what they actually knew. The
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: only witness so far who had said anything of substance.
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: Was this very short, very loud regular.
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: Who even now a half an hour after the shooting,
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: was acting extremely agitated and just sort of like loud
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: and very aggressive. It was the same one, the same
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: regular that Robert when he had first walked in had
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: noticed and thought, boy, I don't want to be around
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: that person. This regular was just screaming that this whole
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: thing was a robbery.
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: That was like all he kept saying. It was a robbery.
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: It was a robbery, but I mean in.
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: The eyes of the officers who were around this regular,
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: this this short, angry guy, it just sort of seemed
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: like he was traumatized by what he saw, and so
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: he was just repeating the word robber over and over
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: and over again, in part likely because he was drunk,
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: in part maybe because he was traumatized, and it was
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: like a weird response he was having. So it was
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: just sort of heavily discounted what he was saying. They're like, Okay,
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: maybe it was a robbery, but maybe you're.
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: Just kind of out of it.
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: But the officer told Panuco that, you know, they searched
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: the bar, at least they did a cursory search of
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: the bar, and it didn't seem like anything had been taken.
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: So it really didn't seem like this was a robbery.
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: So again, it just seemed like this guy who was
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: yelling about the robbery basically didn't know what he was
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: talking about. And so at this point Panuco, you know,
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: on the one hand, he was frustrated by what he
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: was hearing, but also he really wasn't that surprised.
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: I mean, he's.
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: Thinking that you know, in this area in Harlem at
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: this time, there was.
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: A huge distrust of police.
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: I mean, most residents refused to cooperate with authorities, and
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: so it was very likely that some of these people
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: who were out here, you know, not just the guy
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: yelling about a robbery, but the other witnesses, it was
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: very likely that at least one of them knew something.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: I mean, there wasn't that many of them in the
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: bar at.
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: The time of the shooting.
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: But it was just unclear if he would ever get
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: any of that information. But pinuco knew he would obviously
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: still have to try to get some information from these people.
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: So after getting this brief.
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: From this officer and after sort of walking around the
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: inside of the bar for a second, Panuko headed back
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: outside to try to talk to some of the witnesses himself.
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: But pretty much immediately when he began speaking to these people,
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: he saw that there definitely was like a front being
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: put up, you know. He just had this sinking feeling
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: that this investigation was pretty much dead before it was
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: even going to get started. Fast forward about a month
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: and Pinuko is still hard at work working on this case,
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: except the case took a turn because the victim, Max,
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: he fell into a coma right after the shooting, and
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: for weeks he had been in a coma, and authorities,
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: you know, Penuco included, were hopeful he would wake up
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: and he'd be able to give them additional information about
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: what happened, you know, give them anything, because no one
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: by this point had given them any new information.
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: They had basically no evidence, they had nothing.
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: But unfortunately, Max, without regaining concent siousness, just died.
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: And so now this was.
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: Not just a shooting investigation that Panuco was in charge of.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: He was in charge of a homicide investigation, a homicide
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: investigation with basically no leads because again it's like none
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: of the witnesses had given them anything. All they knew
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: is Max got shot and now he's dead. And then
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: the only other sort of substantive thing that had come
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: out of any of their interviews was from that short,
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: angry guy, the regular from the bar, who had just
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: demanded that this was this was a robbery. And you know,
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: at first pass they had looked around the bar, it
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: didn't seem like anything had been taken, and they had.
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: Sort of ruled out a robbery.
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: But now a month later, they had really looked into
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: that angle and they had confirmed that nothing had been
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: taken from the bar, so this was definitely not a robbery,
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: and so basically Panuco had nothing, and so at this
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: point Panuco decided that his best bet here was actually
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: just to basically start over, just to zoom back out
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: and go back to square one and just see if
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: there was something that they missed. And in fact, Pinuko
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: had brought in a new detective, a guy named John Morrissey,
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: to help him with this new approach. Morrissey was supposed
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: to be this incredibly smart guy who was known for
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: thinking outside the box, something that Pinuco felt like they
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: could really use right now. And so on this particular day,
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: Panuko had sent Morrissey to the Green Parrot to just
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: speak to anybody that was there, just see if he
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: can learn anything about the shooting from people that are
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: at the bar where this happened, Like right now, just
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: go there and talk to people. So off Morrissey goes
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: and Panuco he stayed at the station, and that day
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: he was going to reinterview all of the patrons who
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: had been at the Green Parrot on the night of
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: the shooting just to see, if you know, maybe he
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: could get some additional information out of them.
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: And so far that was not the case.
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: Basically all the interviews were dead ends like they had
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: been the first time. And so you know, he had
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: somebody in the room with him right now and the
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: interview had gone nowhere, and he's like, you know what,
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: you can go like all right on to the next one.
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: And so that person leaves the interview room and Panuco
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: he gets up and he walks out into the hallway
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: where all these patrons are sitting on chairs waiting to
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: be interviewed. And as he's getting ready to just grab
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: the next person to speak to, he sees there are
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: two women who were patrons in the bar who were
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: sitting sort of halfway down the hallway, and they were
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: talking to each other and they were really not being
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: careful about how loud they were speaking, Like their conversation
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: that they must have thought was private, was loud enough
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: that basically everybody in the hallway could hear it. But
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: the reason it really stood out to Pinuco is they
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: weren't speaking English, they were speaking French. Except unbeknownst to
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: these women, who likely believed nobody in this hallway spoke French.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: Panuco did speak French, and he could hear these women
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: were talking about the case. They were saying that, hey,
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: when you go in there to speak to this detective,
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: tell him you don't know anything, Like, don't give him
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: any information because if we do, and we get wrapped
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: up in this case, like we're going to get dragged
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: out into the public for being involved.
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: In the shooting.
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: And what's going to happen is this people are going
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: to know that we were at that bar drinking on
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: that night and we told our husbands we weren't. They're
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: going to be so mad at us, Like we gotta
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: be quiet. Don't tell the detective anything, just say you
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: know nothing. And so immediately Panuko he walks over to
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: these two women and he points at one of them
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: and says, hey, you're next, come into the interview room.
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: And he said this in English, and so the women
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: were kind of surprised that they were being tapped to
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: go next, or this woman was surprised, and so she
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: gets up and sort of waves to her friend and
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: she follows Panuco into the interview room. And so as
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: soon as they sat down, Panuco in English, says to
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: this woman, so are you really worried that your husband
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: is going to find out you were at the Green
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: Parrot if you cooperate with me? And the woman was
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: clearly very surprised by this question, but she just sort
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: of feigned like maybe she didn't fully understand, because you know,
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: she'd been speaking French out there. She doesn't know if
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: Panuco knows that she does or doesn't speak English, and
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: so she just sat there in silence and just looked
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: back at him like she didn't really understand, and Panuka
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: just stared back at her, and then in perfect French,
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: asked the same question, like, are you worried again in
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: French that your husband is going to find out you
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: were at the Green Parrot if you cooperate?
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: And at this point the woman knew like the jig
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: was up.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: Clearly this detective overheard the conversation they had in the hall.
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: That's why he's pulled me in here. I'm caught red handed.
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: And the woman just began to break down and cry.
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: And then after a few moments, without Pinuko even needing
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: to push her to do this, she just started telling
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: the whole story. She explained that her and her friend
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: out in the hallway had been at the Green Parrot
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: on the night of the shooting and they actually did
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: see who shot Max. She said it was this guy
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: who was wearing a black and white checkered suit. He
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: had gone up to the bar and then some sort
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: of altercation happened and he pulled out a gun and
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: he shot Max and then he quickly ran out of
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: the bar. Now, she told Panuko that she didn't know
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: this guy's name, but she definitely recognized him. She said that,
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: you know, she had been to the Green Parrot before
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: the night of the show shooting, and she had seen
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: this guy and she thinks that he's just like a
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: regular at this bar, Like she would definitely recognize him
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: again if she saw him. And so panuco at this point,
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: I mean, he could barely contain his excitement. I mean,
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: this was really like the first meaningful lead in the
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: whole case. You have a suspect who apparently is a
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: regular at the bar where the shooting took place, and
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: he dresses in a really distinct way. He wears, you know,
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: flashy clothing like this is this is a great lead.
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: And so Pinuko like he's thrilled. He thanks this woman.
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: He goes out and he grabs the other woman and
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: he brings her in for questioning, and she would echo
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: the same story as the first woman, that yes, they
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: had been there, they had seen this guy.
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: He was a regular, they thought, and he wore these
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: flashy clothes.
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: And so after this, Panuco is like, I gotta tell
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: Detective Morrissey. I gotta fill him in on what I've
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: just learned. This totally changes the case. And so he
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: ran over to Morrissey's office to see if he was
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: back yet from the Green Parrot. But when he went
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: in there he saw that he wasn't, and so Pinuco
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: he's like, all right, I'll go back to my office
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: and I'll start making a plan for what we're gonna
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: do next until Morrissey gets back, and then I'll brief
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: him up then.
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: And so Pinuco he goes to his office.
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: He starts excitedly making you know, plans of what they're
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: gonna do, and then a moment later, his door bursts
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: open and Morrissey comes flying into the room, and he
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: looks totally out of breath, like he's rushed to be
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: here to tell Panuco something. But Panuko he turns and
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: even though he sees like, clearly morris He's got something
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: to tell me, he doesn't let Morrissey talk because Panuco
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: he's got this big news about the French women and
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: he just starts telling Morrissey all about this crazy revelation
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: and how he caught them speaking French and they were
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: there and we have this suspect. Now he tells him
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: everything he knows, and so Morrissey, even though he had
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: something big to say himself, he's sitting there listening to
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: Pinuco go on and on, and at the end of it,
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: he's like, man, that is amazing, that's awesome, great lead,
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: But I'll do you one better.
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: I know the killer's name.
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: It would turn out when police first arrived at the
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: Green Parrot after the shooting, like on day one of
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: this investigation, what they found was basically nothing. You know,
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: they have a victim, and they have a bunch of witnesses,
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: but none of the witnesses would cooperate, Like there was
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: no leads, no information, no real evidence. All they had
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: was basically this one short, loud, angry guy who kept
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: talking about a robbery. But they had sort of looked
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: around the bar and it didn't appear like this was
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: a robbery, and so he had been discounted and everyone's like, well,
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: he's traumatized. He's sort of like this angry guy who's
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: sort of a mess. We're not going to take him seriously.
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: What he's saying doesn't really add up. So he was
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: kind of discounted. But it would turn out they actually
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: just misunderstood this guy. He wasn't saying robbery, but they
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: didn't know that at the time.
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: They thought he was. They ruled him out.
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: Fast forward a month and mister think outside the box,
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: Detective Morrissey, he goes back to the Green Parrot to
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: see what he could learn.
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: And so Morrissey, he's hearing this.
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: And he was told, this is what this this short
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: guy was saying the first time too, like this is
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: not that surprising. But Morrissey, you know, he thought outside
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: the box and he figured out what this witness actually meant.
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: The key to doing this was really understanding exactly who
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: this witness was and what the witness was actually capable
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: of knowing. Because this witness, this this short angry guy,
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: was actually a literal green parrot that the bar was
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: named after. The parrot was the owner, Max's pet, and
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: he was always there in the bar. He was a
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: regular sitting on his perch, and the bird was a
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: huge tourist draw because he was kind of really aggressive
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: and could be sort of mean, and people thought it
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: was pretty funny and critically. This parrot had been trained
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: to recognize the bar's regulars and refer to them by name.
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: So when Morrissey went back to the bar and listened
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: to the parrot again, he eventually realized the bird was
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: not saying Robert, robber, robbery, robbery, and trying to describe
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: like what had happened. No, instead, the bird was saying Robert, Robert,
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: the name of the person responsible, the regular who he
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: had seen commit this crime. And wouldn't you know it,
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: Between this new information and what Pinucco had learned from
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: the two French women at the police station, you know,
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: they put their information together and they discovered that there
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: really had been a regular at the Green Parrot Bar,
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: a guy named Robert Butler, who was a twenty eight
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: year old cab driver who had fled to Baltimore right
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: after the shooting. The detectives were able to track Robert
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: down and confront him about the murder, and when they
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: explained how they'd figured it all out, Robert just had
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: one thing to say, I never did like that bird.
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: Robert Butler was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to fifteen
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: years in prison. The Green Parrot Bar eventually.
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: Closed, and as for the actual green Parrot, nobody knows
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: what happened to him.
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for watching today's episode. Let me
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: know what you thought of it in the comments below,
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: And remember, we have a whole playlist of places you
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: can't go episodes ready for you to binge right now,
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: So go ahead and click here and give them a watch.
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: All right, until next time see it