Latest / Crime and Horror / Florida family terrorized by a masked intruder - MrBallen

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Florida family terrorized by a masked intruder - MrBallen · Crime and Horror

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: On an early morning in December of 1991, a woman
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: living in Largo, Florida, woke up to the sound of
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: pounding on her front door. And as she climbed out
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: of her bed, she realized it was not just pounding
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: on her door she was hearing. Also, whoever was out
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: there was screaming, screaming for help. When the woman realized
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: there was some sort of crisis here, she kind of
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: rushed and ran to the front door. She opened it
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  Speaker 1: up and standing out on the front porch was her neighbor.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: And she was practically covered head to toe in blood.
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  Speaker 1: Her head was covered in gashes. Her throat clearly had
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: been slit. But before this woman could say what was
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: even going on, she just fell to the ground and
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: passed out. But before we get into today's story, if
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: you're a fan of the Strange, Dark, and Mysterious delivered
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: in story format, then you've come to the right place
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: because that's all we do. And we upload two, three,
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: even four times every week. So if that's of interest
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: to you, the next time the like button is taking
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  Speaker 1: a well-deserved nap, make sure you immediately go over and
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: wake them up with a leaf blower. Also, please subscribe
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  Speaker 1: don't miss any of our weekly uploads. Okay, let's get
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: into today's story. On the evening of December 14th, 1991,
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: a 31-year-old man named Keith Young grabbed his car keys
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: from a hook by the front door of his home
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  Speaker 1: in Largo, Florida. Behind him, his wife, Anita, slipped on
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: her favorite pair of heels. The newlywed couple was about
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: to head out on a much-needed date night. They were
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: both actually on their second marriages, and they had six
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  Speaker 1: children between them from their previous relationships, so naturally it
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: was pretty hard to find time for just themselves. But
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  Speaker 1: that particular night, Keith's two kids were staying with their mother,
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: who had shared custody, and Anita's 8-year-old daughter was at
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  Speaker 1: a sleepover, and her 12-year-old son Jason had agreed to
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: stay home and watch his two younger siblings so that
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: the adults could go out for dinner. Before they left,
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  Speaker 1: Keith gave Jason a final rundown of his expectations. Don't
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  Speaker 1: make too much of a mess, make sure nobody gets hurt,
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  Speaker 1: and if there was an emergency, he'd written down the
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: restaurant's phone number on a notepad in the kitchen. But
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  Speaker 1: Keith reminded Jason that if there were like a real emergency,
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: like a true crisis, he should call 911 right away.
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  Speaker 1: And when he heard this, Jason, the 12-year-old, just kind
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  Speaker 1: of rolled his eyes and said, yeah, I got it.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: It's under control. Now, Keith knew he was actually being
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: a little bit uptight here, but there'd been an attempted
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: break-in at their house earlier that year, and he'd been
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: on edge about leaving the kids home alone ever since.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: The intruder had actually cut their phone lines and then
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: also taken off a window screen... and they'd also tried
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: to break down a door as well. But they'd actually
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: left without taking anything, and there hadn't been any more
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: issues in the months since. But, critically, the suspect was
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: never caught, so it felt kind of unresolved and scary
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: for the family. Keith and Anita both hugged Jason goodbye
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  Speaker 1: as they walked out the door. And then once the
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  Speaker 1: door closed behind them, Keith turned around and checked the
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  Speaker 1: handle to double-check that he'd locked it, just to be safe.
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  Speaker 1: Less than a half hour later, Keith and Anita sat
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  Speaker 1: down across from each other at the restaurant and unfolded
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  Speaker 1: their napkins onto their laps. They were excited to have
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: a few hours of peace and quiet where they could just,
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  Speaker 1: you know, focus on each other, something that didn't happen
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  Speaker 1: very often. The couple had gotten married earlier that year
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: after meeting at a support group for single parents, and
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  Speaker 1: they were very grateful to have each other because their
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: previous marriages were really not that great. Anita's ex-husband, Luther Bass,
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: had a violent temper, and even though he now lived
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: all the way across the country in Idaho, he still
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  Speaker 1: found a way to always complicate Anita's life. That summer,
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  Speaker 1: Luther had driven all the way to Keith and Anita's
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  Speaker 1: house to take his kids on a vacation, which Anita
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: had initially agreed to, but when he showed up, he
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  Speaker 1: was unexpectedly driving a camper with his new girlfriend and
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  Speaker 1: her kids. And at that point, Anita had gotten a
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  Speaker 1: really bad feeling about the whole situation. And she actually
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  Speaker 1: started to worry that Luther would take her kids and
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  Speaker 1: then refuse to give them back. And so they had
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  Speaker 1: this big argument and it got so bad that actually
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  Speaker 1: Anita had threatened to call the police before Luther finally
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  Speaker 1: backed off and left. Meanwhile, Keith had been having equally
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  Speaker 1: heated arguments with his ex-spouse, Linda, about whether their kids
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: would spend the upcoming holidays with him or with Linda
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  Speaker 1: and her new husband, Steve. Things had gotten so nasty
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  Speaker 1: that Linda had actually recently begun harassing Anita over the phone.
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  Speaker 1: and was also gearing up to go to court and
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  Speaker 1: try to get the custody agreement changed if Keith wouldn't
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  Speaker 1: agree to do things her way. But their bad relationships
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  Speaker 1: with their exes only made Keith more happy that he'd
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  Speaker 1: found Anita. He was glad that he could take care
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  Speaker 1: of her and her kids the way he felt like
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  Speaker 1: they deserved. So despite all the tension hanging over them,
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: he tried to keep the mood light, and they enjoyed
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: a very nice dinner. And then when the check came,
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  Speaker 1: Keith glanced at his watch and realized it was getting
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  Speaker 1: pretty late. He knew Anita's son Jason was a responsible
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  Speaker 1: kid and that he could definitely handle getting his younger
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  Speaker 1: siblings into bed, but Keith was still a bit worried
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  Speaker 1: about leaving the kids alone for too long. So he
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  Speaker 1: paid the check right away, and then he and Anita
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  Speaker 1: left the restaurant and drove home. A little while later,
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  Speaker 1: Keith and Anita pulled up outside of their brown single-story home.
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  Speaker 1: When they got inside, Keith was relieved to see that
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  Speaker 1: all the kids were calmly watching TV in the living room,
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  Speaker 1: and the family cat was curled up on the couch
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  Speaker 1: right next to them. Keith told them that it was
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  Speaker 1: time to get ready for bed, and as 12-year-old Jason
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  Speaker 1: got up, Keith pulled him in for a big hug
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  Speaker 1: and told him he was proud of him for his
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  Speaker 1: hard work babysitting. Anita helped the younger kids brush their teeth,
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  Speaker 1: and then afterwards, Keith turned off the lights, and he
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  Speaker 1: went down the hall and said goodnight to all three kids,
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  Speaker 1: who slept in bunk beds in the same room. Then
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  Speaker 1: after that, he continued down the hallway to the main
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: bedroom and climbed into bed with Anita. He kissed his
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  Speaker 1: wife goodnight, and then turned off the light. Several hours later,
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  Speaker 1: around 3 a.m. early the next morning, Anita's 12-year-old son, Jason,
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  Speaker 1: awoke to a very loud noise. And when he heard it,
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  Speaker 1: he sat up in bed. And then he could hear
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  Speaker 1: something thumping around in the room next to him. But
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: before he could figure out what was going on, someone screamed.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: With his vision still blurry from sleep, Jason slid off
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  Speaker 1: the top bunk and walked over to the door and
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  Speaker 1: cracked it open. And in the dark hallway, he could
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  Speaker 1: quickly make out the shadowy shapes of what appeared to
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  Speaker 1: be two men moving around, sort of struggling with each other, fighting.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he realized that
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  Speaker 1: one of these men was his stepdad, Keith. But he
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: couldn't make out anything about the other men. except that
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  Speaker 1: he was really big and wearing what appeared to be
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  Speaker 1: a black ski mask. Jason immediately felt paralyzed by fear
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  Speaker 1: because he knew, you know, this was obviously another intruder,
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  Speaker 1: just like the one who tried to break into their
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  Speaker 1: house that summer. For a second, he was hopeful that
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: maybe his stepdad would fend the man off. But then
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: Jason noticed there was blood sprayed all over the walls.
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  Speaker 1: And then he saw the glint of a knife in
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  Speaker 1: the intruder's hand. At the same moment, Jason saw his mother, Anita,
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  Speaker 1: run out of the master bedroom, also covered in blood,
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  Speaker 1: and she was holding a baseball bat. And she swung
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  Speaker 1: it at the intruder, and she hit him in the
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  Speaker 1: back of the head, but it barely slowed him down.
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  Speaker 1: And that's when Jason heard his stepdad yell out for
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  Speaker 1: Anita to get the gun. And Anita, she ran into
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  Speaker 1: another room, and Jason just stood there looking out the crack,
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  Speaker 1: just paralyzed with shock, watching as this intruder literally picked
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  Speaker 1: Keith up and threw him back into the master bedroom.
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  Speaker 1: Next thing Jason knew, he saw his mother standing in
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  Speaker 1: the hallway holding a gun, and the intruder was running
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  Speaker 1: away out the front door. Suddenly, Jason kind of snapped
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  Speaker 1: out of the shocked trance he had found himself in
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  Speaker 1: and remembered what Keith had told him to do in
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  Speaker 1: case of a real emergency. Call 911. So he ran
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  Speaker 1: to the phone in the kitchen, he picked it up,
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  Speaker 1: and he dialed. But when he put the receiver to
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  Speaker 1: his ear, all he heard was silence. There was no
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  Speaker 1: dial tone. Jason looked over and he saw his mother
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  Speaker 1: kind of hobbling over towards him. She was standing in
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  Speaker 1: the doorway and there was blood visibly dripping down her neck.
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  Speaker 1: Jason's voice cracked when he told his mother that the
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  Speaker 1: phone line was dead. Anita told her son to go
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  Speaker 1: back with his stepdad and just wait that she was
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  Speaker 1: going to go find help. And so Jason began to
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  Speaker 1: walk towards the bedroom where he knew his stepdad was.
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  Speaker 1: And as he did, he watched his mom run out
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  Speaker 1: the front door into the night. And then Jason, he
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  Speaker 1: went down the hallway and went into the bedroom where
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  Speaker 1: he saw his stepdad sprawled out on the bed. And
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  Speaker 1: he was still alive, but he was clearly struggling to breathe.
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  Speaker 1: And Jason, you know, this 12-year-old kid, not having any
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  Speaker 1: idea how to handle this, just walked over to the bed,
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  Speaker 1: kneeled down, and he took Keith's hand and just held
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  Speaker 1: it while he waited for his mom. And as he
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  Speaker 1: held Keith's hand, he could hear the sound of his
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  Speaker 1: stepfather take his last few raspy breaths before he went
• 9:04
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• 10:06
  Speaker 1: grocery store. Several hours later, before dawn on the morning
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: of December 15th, 1991, Detective Mike Short from the Largo
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: Police Department pulled up to the curb outside of a
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: brown single-story house surrounded by crime scene tape. He'd gotten
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: a call from his supervisor, who really didn't know much,
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: just that an intruder had broken in into this house
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  Speaker 1: and attacked a husband and wife while they slept. But now,
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: as Short got out of his car and looked around
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: at the quiet block of modest, well-kept houses, he found
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: that kind of odd. This really wasn't a neighborhood where
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: they saw violent home invasions. As Short walked up to
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  Speaker 1: the house, a uniformed officer caught up with him and
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: gave him a few more details about what they knew
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: so far. He said that the wife, Anita Young, had
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: run to a neighbor's house screaming for help before passing
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: out from blood loss in their front yard, and the husband,
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: Keith Young, was deceased in the bedroom. The officer also
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: said that the couple's 12-year-old son had woken up at
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: some point and witnessed the attack, and for now, he
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: was over at the neighbor's house until they could track
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: down another guardian. The officer said that Anita had been
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: taken to a hospital, but it would be a miracle
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  Speaker 1: if she survived. Her injuries were some of the worst
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: they'd ever seen. As Short went up the walkway that
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: led to the front door, he saw that blood had
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: dripped all over the cement. The front door was open,
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: and right inside he saw a baseball bat lying on
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: the floor with blood on the handle. Short stepped inside,
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: and he saw more blood. Blood that was spattered and
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: smeared basically all over the living room. walls, the doors,
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: the furniture, as if the suspect and the victims had
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: been fighting all throughout the house. In fact, it was
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: so chaotic and messy that Short thought maybe the suspect
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: was not expecting to fight off two grown adults. Otherwise,
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: they might have come up with a better plan of attack.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: So Short's first assumption was that this likely was a
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: robbery that had gone terribly wrong. As he continued down
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: the The hallway was somewhat unbelievably even bloodier than the
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: living room, with red smears all over the walls and floors,
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: so Short figured most of the attack must have occurred here.
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: Short reached the main bedroom and looked inside, and he
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: saw Keith's body lying on the bed, covered head to
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: toe in blood. Keith's shirt was shredded, and Short could
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: see there were multiple stab wounds to his chest and
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: also a very deep gash down his side. Short decided
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: not to actually go into the bedroom anymore, until crime
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: scene techs had gone through it for forensic evidence. So instead,
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: he just walked down the rest of the hallway and
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: pushed open the door to another bedroom, where he was
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: surprised to see two small children, soundly asleep in their
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: bunk beds. Somehow, these kids had slept through the entire attack.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: Short went back outside and immediately flagged down a uniformed officer,
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: and he told him to go in there and wake
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: up those kids and bring them somewhere safe. Then once
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: the officer went inside, Short pulled out his flashlight and
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: began searching the yard for evidence. Based on Keith's wounds,
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: at least what he saw, Short thought he was probably
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: attacked with a knife, or maybe even an axe or
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: a machete. But apart from that bloody baseball bat that
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: was found in the doorway, there was no sign of
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: a weapon anywhere inside or outside of the house. But
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: as Short went around the side of the house, he
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: found something else that was interesting. The home's phone lines
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: had clearly been cut. The killer must have planned ahead
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: to make sure nobody in this house could call out
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: for help. And this was interesting because nothing else about
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: the scene suggested that this crime was carefully planned. In fact,
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: in some ways, you could say it looked like it
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: was very unplanned. But now, Short had to consider that
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: maybe this was not just a random robbery gone wrong. Maybe,
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: you know, especially given the cut phone lines, this was
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: like a premeditated attack, a premeditated murder. And if that
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: was the case, he had to figure out who the
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: intended target was. Keith or Anita or both. A little
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: while later, Detective Short walked up the street to the
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: neighbor's house to speak with his best eyewitness, Anita's 12-year-old son, Jason.
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: After Short knocked on the door, the neighbors let him
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: inside and showed him into their living room, where he
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: saw Jason was wrapped in a blanket and still wearing
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: his pajamas. Short sat down across from him and told
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: him that he knew it must be extremely difficult to
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: talk about this but he really needed to know exactly
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: what he had seen and what he had heard during
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: this attack. Tears began to roll down Jason's face as
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: he began to describe watching his mother and stepfather fight
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: off this intruder. Jason said he couldn't really describe what
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: this person looked like because they were wearing a ski mask,
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: but he was pretty sure it was a man. He
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: also said there had been a little bit of skin
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: exposed on the killer's neck, and from the looks of it,
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: it appeared like their skin was maybe fairly dark. So
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: Short wrote down that the suspect likely had dark skin.
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: But because it was dark and Jason clearly had not
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: gotten a very good look at the killer, he knew
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: the boy could be wrong too. So he was just
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: putting it down as a maybe. Short asked Jason if
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: the intruder had said anything during the attack. And Jason
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: just shook his head and said no. He said the
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: intruder didn't say a single word the entire time. And
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: Short made note of that too, because it made him
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: wonder if maybe the killer was someone close to the family.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: and they knew that if they spoke, someone might recognize
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: their voice, like Jason. Later that same morning, once the
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: sun had come up, Short went back to Keith and
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: Anita's house and searched the outside of the property again,
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: in case he missed anything when it was dark. And
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: while he was searching the front yard, another police cruiser
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: pulled up to the curb. An officer got out and
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: walked over to Short. She asked if he was the
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: lead investigator on this case. And when he said he was,
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: the officer told him that she'd been waiting at the
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: hospital all morning and Anita had finally woken up enough
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: to say a few words. She said Anita was only
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: awake for just a few minutes before she had to
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: be rushed back into surgery, but it was long enough
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: to answer a couple of questions. Anita had described waking
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: up to see a man standing over her with an
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: axe in one hand and a knife in the other.
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: She said it was a man that she had never
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: seen before. She didn't recognize anything about him. The officer
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: said right before Anita was taken off to surgery, there
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: was one more thing she mentioned. There had been an
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: attempted break-in at their house earlier that year, and the
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: intruder during that break-in had also cut their phone lines.
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: Short instinctively turned and literally looked at the side of
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: the house where those lines had been cut, and he
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: thought to himself, this is too strange of a coincidence
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: to be ignored. Later that day, back at the station,
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: Short read through reports on the interviews his team had
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: done with Keith and Anita's kids and their neighbors. A
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: team of five detectives had been assigned to this case,
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: and they'd made quick progress on collecting background information on
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: the victims. Everybody in the neighborhood had described the victims
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: as being a very normal, happy couple. Keith was an
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: air conditioning technician who'd been working at the same company
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: for a very long time, and Anita was mostly a
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: stay-at-home mom who did some accounting work on the side. However,
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: what also came out in these interviews was that both
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: Keith and Anita had ex-spouses who could potentially want to
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: hurt them. Anita's ex-husband, Luther, lived thousands of miles away
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: in Boise, Idaho, but Short knew that despite the distance,
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: it was not impossible that he might have traveled to
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: Florida to commit this crime. So Short called the Boise
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: police and told them about this attack and asked them
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: to track down Luther and question him. As for Keith's ex-wife, Linda...
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: Short had learned that she actually lived right there in town,
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: and Keith's two kids were still at her house, unaware
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: that their father was dead. And since Linda and her
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: new husband Steve were potential suspects, Short wanted to be
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: the one to break the news to them, to see
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: how they all reacted. So he looked up Linda's address
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: in the database, and then grabbed his keys and headed out.
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: Less than an hour later, Short parked his car in
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: Linda's driveway and walked up to the front door. He knocked,
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: and a woman opened the door, and Short asked her
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: if she was Linda, and she said yes. And then
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: he flashed his badge and said he'd like to come in.
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: And Linda, she seemed a bit confused, but she opened
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: the door and let him inside. Short walked into what
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: seemed like a perfectly normal Sunday morning routine inside of
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: the house. The air smelled like eggs and bacon, and
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: the two kids were in the living room watching cartoons
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: with the man who Short figured must be Linda's new husband, Steve.
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: And so Short, he asked Steve to leave the kids
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: and come into the kitchen with he and Linda. because
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: he wanted to speak to both of them. And then
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: once all three of them had sat down at the
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: kitchen table, Short broke the news that Keith had been murdered.
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: And then Short watched as Linda literally collapsed into Steve's arms.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: Short gave them a minute, but then he cut right
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: to the chase, and he asked where Linda and Steve
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: had been at about 3 a.m. that morning. Linda seemed
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: shocked to realize that clearly the detective was considering both
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: her and her husband as suspects, but she choked out
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: that they'd both been at home with the kids, sleeping.
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: and Steve just nodded in agreement. He said they'd all
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: been home together all night, that was it. Nothing about
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: their demeanor or their reactions was suspicious to Short, but
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: when he pressed Linda about what her relationship with her
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: ex-husband was like, she admitted that it was contentious, and
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: that actually just a couple of days earlier, she'd spoken
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: to a lawyer about potentially changing their custody agreement. Short
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: found the timing of this a little convenient, and he wondered,
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: you know, Maybe Linda or Steve had decided they would
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: just settle the custody battle by simply taking Keith out
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: of the picture for good. And he also found it
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: convenient that Linda and Keith's two kids weren't at Keith's
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: house when the attack happened. It was only Anita's kids
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: who were there at the time. But Short thanked the
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: couple for their time and told them he would be
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: in touch if he had any more questions. And then
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: he left their house. And as he got into his
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: car and drove back to the station, he kept going
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: over the conversation he had just had in his mind.
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: Linda and Steve's alibis were pretty weak. They seemed to
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: be the only two people who could vouch for their
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: whereabouts for the night of the murder, and so what
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: that meant was Short had every reason to keep both
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: of them at the very top of his suspect list.
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: Late that night, Short was sitting at his desk in
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: his office when his phone rang. He picked it up,
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: and it was the police in Boise, Idaho. They'd managed
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: to track down Anita's ex-husband, Luther. Short immediately sat up
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: straight and grabbed a pencil to take notes. The officer
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: on the line told him that when they'd gotten to
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: Luther's house, he wasn't there. But his fiancée, Connie, was.
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: And she told them that he'd been out on a
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: weekend hunting trip. So the officers had gone out and
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: searched for Luther in the area where he said he'd
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: been hunting, but they didn't find him. until that evening,
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: when Luther actually arrived back at his house. The officer said,
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: you know, at that point, they took him in for questioning,
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: and he had told them the same thing that Connie had,
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: that he'd been out elk hunting about an hour away
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: from Boise all weekend. Luther had been able to describe
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: basically every step of his hunting trip in great detail,
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: but since he had been hunting alone, there was nobody
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: to corroborate his alibi. Now, Short knew that the drive
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: from Boise to Largo, Florida, where the attack took place,
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: took at least three or four days. So the fact
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: that Luther was in Boise less than 24 hours after
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: the murders meant that he could not have driven there.
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: But there was still a possibility that if he was involved,
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: maybe he could have flown. Now, short and new, it
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: would be difficult, but not impossible, for Luther to catch
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: a plane to Florida and back during the time that
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: he was supposedly out hunting. So he told the Boise
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: officer to look into whether Luther had recently purchased an
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: airline ticket and to also take saliva, blood, and hair
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: samples from Luther. After Short hung up the phone, he
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: just sat back in his chair and thought for a second.
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: It was less than 24 hours into this investigation, and
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: Short already had three suspects in his crosshairs. Keith's ex-wife Linda,
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: and Linda's new husband Steve, and also Anita's ex-husband Luther.
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: And then also, to some degree, Luther's fiancée Connie could
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: have been involved, but based on Logistics and the fact
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: that she was at the house had seemed unlikely. But
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: there was one big problem. Based on Anita and Jason's
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: eyewitness testimony, the suspect they were looking for was a
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: dark-skinned man who Anita had never met before, and that
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: description would not apply to any of their suspects. Short
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: knew that the suspect description might not be reliable. After all,
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: it had been dark in the house, so Jason could
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: have been wrong about the killer's skin color, and Anita
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: was barely conscious during her interview. so her recollections might
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: not be accurate at all. But if it was accurate,
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: it could mean any number of things for Short's investigation.
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: It could mean it was a random robbery after all,
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: you know, just some random person who went in the
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: house and did this horrible thing. It could also mean that,
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: you know, one of his current suspects had maybe hired
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: somebody to commit the crime, or it could mean that
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: all Short's theories about the case were just completely wrong,
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: and he had no idea what happened. Short rubbed his
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: eyes and looked at the clock and realized it was
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: almost midnight. so he decided it was time to go
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: home and get some sleep. Maybe, he hoped, by morning,
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: a new piece of evidence might turn up that would
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: help point him in the right direction. Around 7 a.m.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: the next morning, so about 28 hours after Keith's murder,
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: Short pulled into the parking lot of Pinecrest Golf Course,
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: which was less than a mile away from Keith and
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: Anita's house. And at this very moment, Short was feeling
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: really optimistic about the case, because the groundskeeper at this
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: golf course had called the police that morning and said
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: they'd found a ski mask and a glove lying in
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: the grass. So now Short got out of his car,
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: and he went into the clubhouse, and the groundskeeper was
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: there waiting for him. And he said he had left
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: the ski mask and the glove right outside, right where
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: he had found them. So Short followed the groundskeeper out
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: onto the course, and as they walked, Short made note
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: of all the ponds scattered around, and also the lake
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: at the park right across the street. He wondered if
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: maybe the killer might have tossed their weapon or weapons
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: into the water. A minute later, the groundskeeper stopped walking
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: and pointed down at the ground, at a black ski
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: mask and a dark-colored cotton glove lying in the grass,
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: exactly as promised. And so Short put on a pair
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: of latex gloves and he knelt down and he carefully
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: lifted up the mask. And as he did, he felt
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: that clearly it was crusted with something reddish-brown, very likely
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: dried blood. As soon as Short got back to the station,
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: he sent the mask and the glove off to the
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: crime lab for testing, hoping that they might find a
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: trace of the killer's DNA. Then Short spoke to his
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: supervisor about sending a team of divers out to search
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: the water at the golf course and also that park,
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: in case the murder weapons had been disposed of in
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: any of those water bodies. It seemed like a long
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: shot that they would actually find something, but it was
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: the best lead they had so far, and finding the
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: weapon or weapons could really help them narrow down their
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: suspect list. And by the time Short got back to
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: his desk, he saw that his answering machine was blinking.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: There was a new message. So he hit play, and
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: the message... was from a man who said he had
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: information on the Keith Young case, so Short called him
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: back right away. And when the man answered, he said
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: he was a college student who lived a block away
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: from Keith and Anita Young's house, and he said on
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: the night of the murder, he and his friends had
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: been hanging out in his driveway, and they'd seen a
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: man jogging east down Coronet Avenue. And Short immediately turned
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: and looked at the map on the wall, and he
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: got really excited, because he saw Coronet Avenue was actually
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: the exact path the killer would have had to take
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: to get from Keith and Anita's house to that golf course.
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: Short asked the young man to describe this jogger, and
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: the college student said that it appeared to be a
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: white man with short, dark hair. Short asked him if
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: he was pretty sure about that, and the student said, yeah.
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: In fact, the jogger had passed under a streetlight at
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: one point, so they all got a pretty good look.
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: This was a huge development, since 12-year-old Jason, one of
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: the eyewitnesses, had said the killer had dark skin. It
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: was very possible now that maybe Jason was wrong. But
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: it was also possible that there were now two men
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: involved in the attack. Maybe one had dark skin and
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: one had light skin. The following week, Short opened up
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: a folder that had just been sent over from the
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: police in Northport, Florida, a town 85 miles away. On
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: December 19th, so just four days after Keith Young was murdered,
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: a man and three kids in Northport, Florida, were shot
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: to death in the middle of the night inside of
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: their home. The suspects in that attack were two men
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: wearing ski masks, and they had cut the house's phone lines.
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: So the similarities between these two killings were easy to see.
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: But as far as Short could tell, the victims in
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: the second attack didn't have any connections to the Youngs. Plus,
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: the victims in the second attack had been shot instead
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: of stabbed. And so as Short really did try to
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: look for all the similarities he could between the two
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: crime scenes, he just couldn't get over how sort of
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: blatantly personal the very violent and bloody attack felt at
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: the Young's house. So even though there was this other,
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: you know, on the surface similar killing in Florida, and
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: even though Jason and Anita both swore they did not
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: recognize the intruder, Short was not ready to rule out
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: that Keith Young had been killed by someone who knew him.
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: His strongest suspect was still Anita's ex-husband, Luther, who claimed
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: to have been out hunting alone at the time of
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: the attack. As for Anita, her condition had actually finally stabilized,
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: and when Short had gone to speak to her at
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: the hospital, she had said that Luther was really the
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: only person she could think of who might want to
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: hurt her, because they'd been arguing a lot about custody
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: and also child support. But the Boise police had checked
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: with every airline in the country, and none of them
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: had a record of Luther flying into Florida that weekend.
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: So Short couldn't even prove that Luther was in the
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: state at the time of the attack. And then also,
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: Anita had mentioned that she'd been having problems with Keith's ex-wife, Linda.
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: She said that Linda had been harassing her all summer long,
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: calling her so many times that she couldn't even use
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: her own phone. Short definitely still had his eye on Linda,
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: but He still hadn't found anything directly linking Linda or
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: her new husband Steve to the crime. But Short was
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: still very hopeful that this case would get solved, because
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: a preliminary report from the forensics lab had just come
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: in that said a Caucasian hair had been discovered inside
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: the black ski mask that was found on the golf course,
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: which could point to any one of Short's main suspects.
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: And Short knew it was only a matter of time
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: before the forensics lab finished its full analysis of that
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: hair sample. and then they would know for sure if
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: it was an exact match. One day in early January
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: of 1992, so a few weeks after Keith's murder, Detective
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: Short got into the office and checked his answering machine,
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: and he found that he'd gotten a message from the
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: forensics lab telling him to call back right away. And
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: so right away, he picked up the phone and dialed
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: the number, and he could feel his heart pounding as
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: the line rang. This could finally be the break in
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: the case he'd been waiting for. And when the technician
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: picked up, he told Short that You know, they had
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: analyzed that hair in the mask and they'd analyzed the DNA.
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: But it was not a match for Short's top suspect,
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: Anita's ex-husband, Luther. Not a match. Short thanked the technician
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: and hung up, feeling very disappointed. Now, this still didn't
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: fully rule Luther out, especially because Short still thought there
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: might have been maybe two suspects involved. But he decided
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: that at this point, it was time for investigators to
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: really focus on other possibilities. Several weeks later, so in
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: early 1992, roughly a couple of months after Keith Young's murder,
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: Detective Short knocked on the front door of Linda's house.
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: Linda is Keith's ex-wife. And when Linda opened the door
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: and saw the detective once again standing outside her house,
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: she quickly let him inside. The house was quiet and
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: Linda told Short that she was the only one home.
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: They sat down in the living room and then they
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: ran through all the subjects that Short had grilled her
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: on the first time around. Her alibi, her custody disputes,
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: her tense relationship with Keith, And none of her answers changed.
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: And she really didn't say anything that could be viewed
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: as incriminating. But as their conversation began to wrap up,
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: Linda looked anxious, like there was something more she wanted
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: to say. Short asked her what was going on, and
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: she said that there was something she hadn't mentioned when
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: they had spoken the first time. It was about her
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: new husband, Steve. She said that a while back, after
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: she and Steve had gotten married, that briefly she had
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: rekindled her relationship with Keith. Steve had found out that
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: she was cheating on him, and he was naturally very upset.
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: Linda said that a few months ago, Steve had even
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: made a few jokes about hurting Keith. At the time,
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: she didn't think he was serious, but after Keith was killed,
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: she started worrying that Steve might have somehow been involved.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: She said that she had even gone so far as
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: to check Steve's knife collection to make sure none of
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: them were missing. Short was careful not to let his
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: shock come across his face, but inside, his mind was
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: absolutely spinning He'd always thought it was possible that Linda
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: and Steve were both in on the murder, but now
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: it sounded like maybe Steve might have acted alone. He
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: also wondered, though, if Linda was ratting out her husband
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: to draw suspicion away from herself. So, to help get
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: to the bottom of it, he asked Linda to come
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: with him back to the station for a polygraph test.
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: He also planned to order another polygraph for Steve, who
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: was suddenly at the very top of his suspect list.
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: But almost two months later, in March of 1992, Short
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: was back in his office, staring down at a pile
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: of documents he'd already read over a million times, and
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: the evidence still didn't point him toward anybody in particular.
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: Linda and Steve had both taken their polygraph tests, but
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: the results did not indicate they were guilty, and there
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: was still no hard evidence that tied either of them
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: to the crime. Also, after searching all the ponds and
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: that lake in the area, police still had not found
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: a murder weapon. and they'd still not been able to
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: match that strand of hair from the presumed killer's ski
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: mask to any of the suspects on their radar. Short
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: still had really three main suspects who could have been
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: responsible for the murder. There was Keith's ex-wife, Linda, who
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: had been fighting with him about custody. Her alibi was
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: weak and only supported by her new husband, Steve, who
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: she had been suspicious of when Short interviewed her for
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: a second time. And so Steve was also one of
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: his primary suspects, because he had this, you know, terrible
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: history with Keith and had even openly joked about, you know,
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: hurting Keith. And then there was Luther, Anita's hotheaded ex-husband
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: who lived on the other side of the country. Now,
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: it would have been possible for him to fly from
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: Idaho to Florida and commit this crime, but there was
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: no proof that he did. And of course, there was
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: still the possibility that this was just a random attack
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: or a robbery gone wrong. And investigators still couldn't even
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: be sure if they were looking for one or two
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: or more suspects. They had no idea. So Short had
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: plenty of theories, but still no evidence to back any
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: of them up. The investigation had gone so cold that
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: the task force assigned to the case had been reduced
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: from five detectives to just two. Short was starting to
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: fear that Keith's murder might never be solved. But just then,
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: Short's phone rang. And when he picked up the receiver,
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: a voice said that they knew something about that previous
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: break-in attempt at Keith and Anita's house a few months
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: before Keith's murder. And as Detective Short listened to what
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: this caller had to say, he suddenly knew exactly who
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: had broken into that house and killed Keith and tried
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: to kill Anita. Based on all the collected evidence, as
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: well as the killer's eventual partial confession, this is what
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: investigators believe happened to Keith and Anita Young on the
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: morning of December 15th, 1991. At 3 a.m., the killer
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: saw that all the windows in Keith and Anita's house
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: were dark, so they carefully snuck around the side of
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: the home and cut the phone lines, just like they'd
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: done a few months before. The first time, they'd second-guessed
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: themselves and didn't go through with what they had planned.
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: But this time was going to be different. The killer
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: broke into the house very easily, feeling very calm and
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: in control. They had an axe in their right hand
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: and a knife in their left. As they made their
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: way through the living room... They heard growling and hissing,
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: and they looked down to see the family's cat standing
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: in their path. They thought about strangling the cat to
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: shut it up, but decided not to. They wanted to
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: do this with as little collateral damage as possible. So
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: they bent down and tried to soothe the cat, and
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: when it worked and the cat became quiet, the killer
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: stepped past the cat and began walking down the hall.
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: They made it to the master bedroom. They opened up
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: the door and stepped inside. Anita and Keith were fast
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: asleep in their beds. And so the killer quietly walked
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: over to the side of the bed that Anita was on.
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: And they stood there looking down at her, you know,
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: getting ready to do what they felt like they had
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: to do. But as the killer was looking down at Anita,
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: Anita stirred awake. And for a brief second, she looked
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: up and locked eyes with the killer. And so they
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: struggled and shoved each other and their fight kind of
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: spilled out of the bedroom. into the main portion of
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: the house. I mean, this was not how the killer
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: had hoped this would go. They'd wanted to get this
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: done quickly and leave without anybody waking up, but they'd
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: clearly underestimated Keith. He didn't stop fighting. And then as
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: the killer and Keith continued sort of fumbling around and
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: making their way back down the hallway, the killer suddenly
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: felt something hard smash into the back of their skull.
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: And they turned to see Anita standing there behind them
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: with blood running down her face and and a baseball
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: bat in her hands. The killer heard Keith shout out
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: for Anita to go get the gun, and he saw
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: Anita run toward a nearby closet. The killer also noticed
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: a young boy looking out from a doorway nearby, and
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: so the killer made a split-second decision. They just grabbed
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: Keith and chucked him into the master bedroom, and then
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: the killer sprinted back down the hallway and out the
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: front door. And then when they got to the sidewalk,
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: they removed their ski mask and kind of casually jogged
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: down the street, hoping that to anybody looking outside, they
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: would think the killer was just, you know, an unassuming
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: health nut out for a very early morning run. When
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: they got to a nearby golf course, they stopped on
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: the grass to change their clothes. And then after that,
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: they stole a bike and rode away. Things had not
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: gone the way the killer had hoped. But as they
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: reflected on what they had just done, they thought to
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: themselves that in reality, this actually could have gone worse.
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: I mean, they didn't kill the cat. And critically, no
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: kids have been hurt either. And in some ways, that's
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: what this was all about. To avoid hurting the kids.
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: Because the killer was Anita's ex-husband, Luther Bass. He'd wanted
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: to get Anita out of the way so he could
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: have custody of their four kids and treat them the
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: way he believed they needed to be treated. And he'd
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: wanted to get Anita out of the way so that
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: he could have custody of his four kids. He felt
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: like she was screwing up their lives. That he was
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: the kid's solution. They needed him, and so he had
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: to do this. But Luther's own fiancée, Connie, had ultimately
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: told the Boise police that Luther was the one who
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: had cut Keith and Anita's phone lines a few months
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: back before the murder. And she said she knew Luther
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: had actually flown to Florida on the weekend of the murder,
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: using an alias and fake social security number that he
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: had gotten from his co-worker. And once the Boise police
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: finished speaking with Connie, they immediately called Detective Short in
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: Florida to tell him what they'd just learned. It turned
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: out there was no second suspect. It was just Luther.
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: So 12-year-old Jason had just been wrong about the killer's appearance,
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: and Anita had been wrong about not knowing who they were.
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: As for that hair that had been found inside the
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: black ski mask that Luther had been wearing, it's unclear
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: how that was there. It wasn't Luther's hair, but it's
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: possible that maybe somebody else had put the mask on
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: at some point, and that's how it got there. Luther
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: Bass was arrested in Boise, Idaho on March 6, 1992,
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: and he confessed to the crime on the same day.
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: A year later, he was convicted of first-degree murder, attempted
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: first-degree murder, and burglary with an assault. He was sentenced
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: to life plus 30 years in prison. As for Anita,
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: she would recover from her injuries. Thank you so much
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: for watching. Let me know what you thought of today's
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: episode in the comments. And remember, we have a whole
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: playlist of true crime episodes ready for you to binge
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: right now. So click here and give them a watch.
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: All right, until next time, see ya.