Latest / Bless This Mess: A Southern True Crime Podcast / 98. [South Carolina] Melvin Roberts

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98. [South Carolina] Melvin Roberts · Bless This Mess: A Southern True Crime Podcast

0:20
Okay, every one, welcome up. Let's Les mess in the True Crumb
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Podcast. I'm Carre here with Stusa hast do okay, all right, so
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we're back. We're going to South Carolina again this week. It's backed back
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doubleheader for South Carolina. And do we have anything going on? Ste now?
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We had a full house today and we still got a podcast. Yes,
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I know, I'm so tired. We had because we're behind. Anyways,
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it's a lot people, it's a lot. But um I cooked another
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one of my brunch with Babs, Celebrate with Babs, the full Meal,
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Anyways, but we had people over and stuff like that. So we are
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ahead and get into this week's episode out of South Carolina. Let's do this
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all right. Melvin Lee Roberts was born July twenty fourth, nineteen thirty,
3:05
in Virginia to William and Cora Roberts. Melvin Roberts would serve in the army
3:09
fighting in the Korean War. He would later go on to law school,
3:14
graduating and eventually becoming a very well known defense attorney. Melvin would settle in
3:19
York, South Carolina, where he would build his reputation in town as a
3:22
defense attorney and a wealthy businessman. Now, while he's building his career,
3:27
he did Mary ann Or fall in love and marry a woman, and they
3:30
would have two sons, Ronnie and David. He fall in love, well,
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I don't know because it did end in later end in divorce. So
3:38
they fell into something some lust. Yeah, but that did not stop Melvin's
3:42
popularity in the small town of York. He would go on to run for
3:45
mayor and win. He served as mayor while still practicing law. Now,
3:49
Melvin was a big family man. As busy as he was, he would
3:52
take the time to have lunch with his sons every single day, even when
3:55
they were adults. Like this is they met for lunch every day. So
4:00
it was a something that he prioritized over everything else. He wanted to keep
4:03
his family bonds close. He had one granddaughter who would take who he would
4:09
take on trips to go fishing. Like said, family was his number one
4:13
priority, and he really doated on his on his granddaughter. Now, after
4:16
being divorced, Melvin did find love again in two thousand, I think it
4:21
was in two thousand Melvin met Julia Phillips. Now Julia had recently been widowed
4:29
and Melvin had recently been divorced, and so they just hit it off immediately.
4:32
They had something somewhat in common. They say divorce is like a death.
4:39
I've heard, Yes, that's what That's what Sonia Morgan said on The
4:44
Real Housewife to New York. And then Dorinda Medley was not having it was
4:48
no because she Dorinda's actually husband actually died and Sonya got divorced, and she
4:54
said it was like a death, and then Dorinda got real upset about that.
4:57
But anyways, because she's like, no, it's not you can't really
5:00
get them back, which is true. It's true. So I think maybe
5:06
some of the emotions you go through, but it's not the same as it.
5:10
It's obviously not the same as a death, unless you eventually kill your
5:14
ex husband. But that's a death for sure. So definitely kind of death.
5:18
Yeah. So Julia, she was blond and fun. She loved to
5:21
travel, love to cook, and had a great personality. She also got
5:25
along with Melvin's family really well. They all liked her right from the start.
5:29
She would like said, she's outgoing, she's she's bringing everybody in,
5:32
she's doing all the things. She's like, hey, I'm at life of
5:35
the party. Sounds like me and Julia just have all this stuff and co
5:40
you're not the life of the party. What you do not light up a
5:43
room. You will not ever end up on date line unless you're the killer.
5:46
Now. Melvin was very supportive of Julia, even helping her open her
5:49
own cosmetics and clothing store in Gaffney, South Carolina named Julia's. They seem
5:56
to be the perfect pairing. They would date for the next decade, never
5:59
getting married, but very much in love. On February fourth, twenty ten,
6:03
at seven thirty pm, a call came into nine one dispatcher from Julia.
6:09
She told police, or she told the dispatcher while she's crying, that
6:15
she had been robbed at her home and that she had been tied up.
6:17
Police head to the scene where they maybe come upon a blue suburban in the
6:28
driveway. They find Julia. She had duct tape around her head as well
6:31
as some on her hands. Now, as they get her out of this
6:35
and they recover her from the vehicle, they search around the area and they
6:41
find a bloodied man lying lifeless on the ground. The officers knew who the
6:46
man was immediately because it was the former mayor of York, mister Melvin Roberts.
6:50
Yeah, this is a small town, so the police immediately recognized him
6:55
from run I said. He was also the prominent defense attorney, so he
6:59
would obviously have interactions with the police. And then he was also wealthy,
7:03
so you know, making all that money off defense and in a small town,
7:09
you would definitely know these people. He's a big fish in that little
7:11
pone. Yep. So Julia had been asking about Melvin and the police had
7:15
to break the news to her that he was dead. Based on what they
7:19
could see at the crime scene, they could tell that Melvin had suffered a
7:23
violent death at the hands of the robber. Now, this seems to be
7:26
pretty violent because it seems that Melvin had been hit multiple times, like he
7:31
had been beat He has gunshot wounds, but none of these appeared to be
7:36
the fatal thing that killed him. So he's suffering being beaten and shot.
7:43
And what eventually did kill him was they find a tie wrap around his neck.
7:46
So somebody just put a zip tie around his neck, tightened it down,
7:50
and cut off his tu Yeah, I mean, you're gonna get the
7:54
blood. You're gonna get the blood choke first, so you will pass out
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depending on how tight they tied it. If they tied it enough to cut
8:01
off his airway, then he's gonna suffocate to death. But it's still terrible
8:07
way. It's terrible enough because I'm sure he was consciousness. I'm sure he
8:11
was conscious for this to happen. If the beating and the gunshots didn't not
8:15
yet. And he was also an elderly like he was an older man too
8:18
at this time that you're imagining all this happening too. So investigators they began
8:24
trying to track where the killer had gone to. It was wet outside,
8:28
and they noticed that there were shoeprints in the mud, so they looked like
8:31
men's shoeprints leaving the scene of the crime. Now, afraid of a cold
8:35
blooded killer being on the loose in the community, they brought in dogs to
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try and trace where the man had gone. Well, they tracked the scent
8:41
into the woods, but then it was suddenly lost at a roadway. They
8:45
believe that the person actually was running through there and then someone met and picked
8:50
them up or something happened they had to get away vehicle, yeah, because
8:52
they were able to get in a car and leave, and then the dogs
8:54
lost the scent from there. Upon further investigation, they realized that this robbery
9:01
actually had nothing that they could find that was taken, Like they couldn't pinpoint
9:03
anything specific. His wallet was still there and things like that, and the
9:09
murderer didn't leave anything behind at the crime scene. So there wasn't the gun.
9:13
They couldn't find the gun. They couldn't find the duct tape, like
9:16
the roll of duct tape that was used on Julia, a bag of zip
9:18
ties. I mean, because I was assuming you'd have a bag. I
9:20
don't think you just bring one. Well, I would think that you would
9:26
think that the gun would have killed him if you brought a gun. Yeah,
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they didn't find the shell case soon as it done in appear. Yeah,
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there was no extra zip ties that they dropped. Yeah, so there's
9:35
nothing. They can't find any of the murder weapons or anything right there at
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the scene, and they also have just no other information to go on.
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So they turned to Julia to help try to find the killer because she's the
9:45
only person that witnessed this. So Julia is brought in and she still has
9:48
duct tape around her right wrist and around her hairline and neck. She looks
9:54
a mess in this. I watched the police interview. She looks like all
9:58
I could think it was like Odd Stewart. She had like the blonde hair
10:03
like like spiky everywhere, she had like makeup like dragged across her face.
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She was looking and then she's got this like duct tape around her head and
10:11
everything. She was a miss. It sounds more like d. S nine
10:15
er from Twisted Sister. Maybe possibly now he had curly hairs. Well,
10:22
she was a miss. She looked like something from the eighties of like a
10:26
rock band after they've had a rough night. I'll groupie after they had a
10:30
rough night. Yes, Stewart, now too far anyways, So Julia's shaken
10:37
up and still crying, but she's ready to help as much as she can
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to find Melbourne's killer. She tells police that she was unloading groceries from the
10:43
back of her vehicle when a man came up behind her. He grabbed her
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and put his hand over her mouth and shoved her up against the vehicle,
10:52
and he started demanding money. He then took the duct tape and wrapped her
10:56
around her eyes and bound her hands. He starts pushing her and she eventually
11:01
falls and he drags her away from the vehicle and behind a brick wall.
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How does she know it when it's run her eyes? Worried Drugger questions,
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Now, this is when Melvin arrived and she could hear him coming. But
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the man told her if she made a sound he would kill them both.
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She says she heard the man approach Melvin and struggle, and a struggle ensued.
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She thought she heard a pipe at the ground, like Melvin had been
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hit with the pipe. She said she heard a gunshot and then silence.
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She stayed still and heard nothing for a while, and that is when she
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began pulling the duct tape off. Because of the rain, she was able
11:43
to get it off of her eyes, and she also had kept her car
11:46
key in her hand, so she was able to free herself using her keys
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like a little saw to cut through the duct tape, I guess. And
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she ran towards Melvine's but she could tell that he was already gone, and
11:58
that's when she called nine one one. So Julia she tells police that her
12:03
and Melvin were very happy and in love, because obviously they're asking about the
12:05
relationship. They're like, what's going on with you guys, And she said
12:09
they'd been happy for ten, you know, a decade together, weren't married,
12:13
but we're very much in love. It was actually her birthday that night,
12:16
and she decided to get Melvin a present. She also had purchased Mike's
12:20
hard lemonade and some Victoria's secret underwear. Stop the Mike's Hard lemonade gets me,
12:28
like, what that's very oddly specific, But it's not really. They
12:31
weren't big drink I don't feel like it's a drink for for a wealthy businessman
12:37
in his business owning a girlfriend of ten years. It doesn't. That's like
12:41
something you're twenty one and get like. Maybe they weren't big drinkers. I
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don't care if you're not a big drinker or not Mike's Hard lemonade. Come
12:50
on, I'm judging you all right now. She said that despite Melvin's age,
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he was quite physically active, if you know what it means to do
13:01
at that blue pill. Yeah. I don't know if he needed that,
13:03
but he was definitely still vivacious in the boudoir. Now. During the interview,
13:11
they took samples from Julius clothes as well as asked to take pictures of
13:15
her. She joked, these aren't going to be for Playboy, which is
13:18
something odd to joke about at that time. Boyfriend is dead and you've just
13:22
been dragged through the mud and basically abused and thrown it by a brick wall
13:28
with duct tape on you. Now why some of her behavior was odd.
13:31
They just chalked it up to her being in shock. After the attack.
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Now, investigators spoke to Melvin's family and specifically his two sons, asking if
13:41
he had any enemies, and it sounds like Melvin was just he checked every
13:48
Yeah, he checked every box of all the things that people automatically have a
13:52
bad opinion about. Yes. So Melvin being a defense attorney, I'm sure
13:58
there was some clients he could not help album as they thought, the families
14:01
that shouldn't be helped. Maybe families on the other side that might have been
14:05
upset because he did defend somebody and got somebody off that did something terrible.
14:09
He was the mayor, which is a politician and nobody likes them. He
14:13
was a landlord over multiple rental homes. Nobody likes the landlord. They're the
14:18
worst people in the world. And he owned a used car alt basically a
14:24
used car salesman, so pre owned if you will. Politician, car salesman,
14:31
and defense attorney they kind of all three go together. So he had
14:35
quite the list of potential enemies or somebody who would want to see harm come
14:39
to him or make harm come to him and like it. And also because
14:43
his death was seemed kind of vengeful, like, it was very violent.
14:48
It wasn't a quick death. It was it was somebody that might have had
14:52
some anger issues to take out on him. I looked like, it's gonna
14:54
beat you as long as possible. Now, his son's told police that Melvine
14:58
was I'm afraid to speak his mind and would often rub people the wrong way.
15:03
So he was a mouth he'saw bitch, Oh yeah, money, I
15:05
mean, what do you expect now? In the end, police had a
15:11
list of about seventy five names of people that might have a grudge against Melvin.
15:16
Police did this is what I like to hear. You know what,
15:18
because this is an honest family and an honest man. You don't go you
15:22
know, if you're if you don't go through life and you don't have anybody
15:26
that might want to kill you, you're too much people pleasing going on.
15:28
Okay, I appreciate Melvin melvin story. Did he lived his life the way
15:33
he wanted to and that's why he has seventy five people that might want to
15:37
kill him? You know what? This story did not start out with that
15:39
he lit a movie. Melvin did not light up a room. Evidently,
15:45
now, obviously police had their work cut out for them, and Julia also
15:50
continued to talk to police, offering any assistance she could, and when she
15:54
did finally leave the police station, she told them if they needed any more
15:58
help or in for nation, to let her know. Police were thankful to
16:03
her. She had gone through a terrible ordeal and lost her partner, but
16:07
she was willing to help as much as possible. Please take what information they
16:12
were able to get from the crime scene as well as what Julia told them,
16:15
but they were quickly getting nowhere. They decided to take Julia up on
16:19
her offer, and a few days after the murder, they asked her to
16:22
go back to the crime scene and walk them through it, just again make
16:26
sure anything jogs are memory. She happily obliges and heads back to the crime
16:30
scene where with investigators and they're hoping that she mentions like anything that she might
16:36
have missed her in the interview, because like people of like some listeners have
16:41
heard my story about whenever I witnessed a crime, and I had to tell
16:44
the story twice, and then the second time I mentioned a specific detail drink
16:51
that really put somebody in prison, that she had popped the trunk. She
16:57
still looking for us, maybe you specifically, Yeah, me and I just
17:03
keep bringing it up on this podcast anyway. So Julia did her best to
17:07
help police, lying back down where she was when the killer attacked, like
17:10
she reenacted the whole thing, lied back down by the brick wall. She
17:14
goes back through when the attacker said what he said to her, how he
17:18
sounded. She told police that he did not speak very good English and he
17:22
had more of like an Indian type accent. But it was difficult for Julia's
17:26
she would stop and cry while going through the crime scene, like this whole
17:30
reenactment. She'd stop, she'd think about everything, break down in tears,
17:33
and she's like, Okay, I can do this and go on. But
17:36
that's kind of the little bit more information that she was able to give them
17:40
by doing this. So, with this new information about the man having an
17:44
accent, police went through the list of people who might have a problem with
17:48
Melvin. They found that he did have a tenant who was an Indian with
17:52
an accent, and he had recently gotten into a bad argument with Melvin.
17:57
They complained to Melvine that the floor buy the kitchen sink was starting to crack.
18:03
Well, the wife was somewhat of a larger woman, so Melvin told
18:08
her that if she wasn't such a fat ass, it would not be cracking.
18:12
So maybe he was a slum lord steward. We don't know. I
18:15
don't know, but he certainly had no problem with pointing out the woman's weight.
18:26
No he was, and saying that she might be the one damaging his
18:30
property. Now, as you can might imagine, he did not light up
18:36
a room. He did not. Now, as you can imagine, this
18:38
angered the husband and they got into an argument. Now, they interviewed this
18:44
tenant. He has an alibi that he was at work at the time of
18:47
the murder. Yeah, and they have him like multiple people saw him everything
18:49
like that, So his alibi checks out. Yea. They investigate a groundskeeper
18:55
that had some issues with old Melvine as well. And his name was Gene
18:59
Mark, which is ironic because he was a groundskeeper and his last name was
19:03
Moss. Well it's a tree, uh thing. They had an argument just
19:08
before the murder, but Moss was cleared when his alibi also checked out.
19:15
While police are investigating the people on the list of enemies, they get a
19:18
break in the case when they were able to recover a DNA profile from the
19:22
zip tie that was found around Melvin's neck. That was probably that Indian guy's
19:26
wife's DNA. Oh yeah, she was probably the one killed him. Yes.
19:30
Now, at this point in the investigation, they had been collecting DNA
19:33
from potential suspects and had about eighty samples they could run against the DNA profile.
19:38
As those tests were being run, they look more into Julia's live to
19:41
see if she had any enemies herst like maybe she was the target or something
19:47
like that, and it wasn't Melvin. Now, they quickly find out that
19:51
Julia was not as put together as she seemed. I don't know how they
19:53
thought she was put together. She was a mess in that interview. Mess
19:57
and I'm not just talking about because she had been a like, you know,
20:00
dragged through the mud or whatever has happened. Like, she is a
20:03
mess, like a hot mess. They find one of the reasons she's not
20:07
as put together as she seems is because she's been battling a pill addiction.
20:11
She had become addicted to oxycotton a few years before and it was slowly destroying
20:15
her life. Now, the story that Melvin had purchased her for her,
20:19
you know, over in Gaffney or whatever, her own business, because he
20:23
outright bought that for her, had been run down due to her stealing money
20:27
from it, and bought to buy pills off the street. Now they found
20:30
out that Melvin was aware of the pill addiction and had paid for Julia to
20:33
go to rehab a couple of years before, but she had since relapsed.
20:37
They began wondering if Julia was not as innocent as she seems, so they
20:41
went back to the crime photos to confirm her story. Now, the first
20:45
thing they noticed while looking closer at the duct tape around her wrist was that
20:48
it seemed to be placed really loosely around her wrist, like it's it's not
20:53
like tight like you would expect someone. And you could see it in the
20:56
interview. She's just got it like flopping around. It's just yah, it's
21:00
real loose. They also noticed a large amount of mud around her ankles and
21:04
on her shoes. Well, Julia had told police that she was dragged about
21:08
sixty feet in the mud. I mean you're dragged. This should have been
21:14
up all on her body everywhere, not just on her shoes and her The
21:19
ankles of her pants. I just I had to stop because I said ankles
21:23
of her pants, like her pants had ankles or an ankle? The what
21:32
is that? That's the hymn, the hem of the pants. There is
21:34
a hem down there near the ankle. Yes, so the ankle area of
21:38
the pant only had mud and the shoes, so then it looked like she
21:44
wasn't dragged. She actually walked to wherever. Well, if they dragged her
21:48
up under her arms, her heels would have dragged in the mud, not
21:52
anything else. M I don't think that would have happened. I dismiss your
22:02
theory. Well, did she say how she was drug? She described it.
22:07
She said she was dragged by one arm. I believe she said.
22:11
Yes, the dragging story that she gave did not match the evidence of the
22:15
crime scene photos. With the mud on the ankles of her pants. What
22:21
about her real ankles, because that's have mine, I don't know, Stuart,
22:26
just just the pant ankles. So what you're saying is it appeared that
22:30
she was walking in the mud, and then that's already said that, Stuart,
22:36
did you Yes, I'm just summoned it up. Okay, since you've
22:38
gone off on a tangent. Sometimes you just say something and you realize how
22:44
stupid itunds, and then you get caught up on it. You ever say
22:48
a word and all of a sudden it's like, that's just such a weird
22:49
word, and then you have to say it over and over again your head.
22:52
You're like, man, why do we say that word? That's such
22:56
a strange word that never happens to you? Moist? Oh, Stuart,
23:02
what's wrong with you? I just said, stop saying that moistcake. No,
23:07
I don't want anything to do with your your words over there. You're
23:12
disgusting. Now that the police have new suspicions about Julia, they start receiving
23:19
results from the samples they had taken from her clothes right after the attack.
23:26
Julia had told police that she had heard a gunshot, but that she was
23:30
nowhere near Melvin when it happened, That she was sixty feet away yeall that
23:37
she couldn't see because her eyes were taped shut. Yeah. Now the evidence
23:41
mud around the ankles of her pans, clog in her ears or something.
23:47
I don't know. Now, the evidence found on her contradicts what she told
23:51
police the night of the murder because they found gunshot residue on the sleeves of
23:57
her shirt, so they start working on a theory that Julia had an accomplice.
24:03
They knew that they had a footprint in the fresh mud from that day
24:08
because it had rained, and there was a good shoeprint that they took out
24:12
of the mud and it was of a man. Yeah, and somebody would
24:17
have had to wrap Julia up in duct tape. So with this new theory,
24:21
they were able to get an arrestaurant for Julia three months after Melvine's murder.
24:26
Once in custody, they started trying to get Julia admit who had helped
24:29
her, but she she oh, yeah, we mentioned that they thought she
24:33
had an accomplice. I just said that. I just said that, where
24:38
are you? Okay, I don't know. You're just trying to get to
24:41
bed, aren't you. Now. Police continue to investigate who her might have
24:47
been, her accomplice, but they're coming up with no luck, nothing,
24:51
So they would have to go to trial with Julia without knowing who the hit
24:56
man was at the time that they went to trial. This is sketchy evidence.
25:00
Again, Frankly, it's all sketchy all the time. We're going to
25:04
find a case that slam dunk for you guys next time, so that we
25:08
don't have any questions, Okay. Now, in August of twenty thirteen,
25:14
over three years since the murder, Julia finally went on trial. Now,
25:17
during the trial, they played the entire interview on the night of the murder
25:21
that Julia gave. Now, one of those key moments was when Julia asked
25:23
if the pictures would end up in Playboy, which was weird because they were
25:26
pictures of her after she'd been supposedly attacked. They presented all of the evidence,
25:33
the placement of the duct tape, the mud on her shoes, and
25:36
the gunshot residue. I mean, the gunshot residue is pretty like, yes,
25:40
that's some hard evidence, right, How did that end? You didn't
25:44
mention you went to the gun range earlier that day or anything like that.
25:47
So they also found a witness who said that Julia had tried to hire him
25:51
a few years earlier to kill Melvin. Now, when the prosecution was giving
25:55
a reason as to why Julie would want Melvin dead, because like, why
25:57
does she want to kill her boyfriend ten years Well, apparently in his will
26:03
he left her that building that her store was in, like because he bought
26:06
that building out right, so if he died, she got to keep the
26:08
building, and that building was worth about one hundred fifty thousand dollars. She
26:12
also got to pick any car of his that she wanted, because he had
26:15
lots of different cars. I don't know if he had like antique cars or
26:18
what, but he could she could pick any car that she wanted. Well,
26:22
in the small town of York, money like that, like one hundred
26:26
and fifty thousand dollars in a car, she'd be set up for quite some
26:29
time. Plus she has that pill addiction. Well. They also brought four
26:32
friends in Melvin that testified that he had stopped helping her with her bills and
26:36
was about to end the relationship for good. So she's looking at this money
26:38
going away, possibly getting moved out of the wheel if they break up.
26:42
Everything like that. Now, the biggest gap in the prosecution prosecution's case was
26:48
that they did not know who the actual murderer was, and this was the
26:52
defense's biggest argument. They also argued that she had a quirky personality and was
26:56
just downright weird. This is the defense arguing this on their behalf. They're
27:00
like, she's just an odd duck. Okay, I'm I going to be
27:06
in Playboy. Yeah, she just an odd person, says weird things life
27:11
of the party though, you know, because you know most of the ones
27:15
are. But she just says odd, weird comments. And that's why,
27:19
like stud said, she said the Playboy comment that they argued now, they
27:23
also argued against the circumstantial evidence. They claim that she did have mud all
27:27
over her and the amount of gunshot residue was not enough to be conclusive.
27:32
Now. In the end, Julia was found guilty incentence to life in prison.
27:36
However, her time in jail would be short. Just three years after
27:40
the trial, in July of twenty sixteen, Julia Phillips died of natural causes
27:44
at the age of seventy two. In prison. Melvin's family has vowed to
27:51
find the killer, and they're still actively looking for the person that actually did
27:56
the killing. They're offering a reward for any information and leading to an arrest
28:00
of that individual that beat him, shot him and put the tie wrapper on,
28:04
isn't it. Yeah, I'm guessing that maybe sounds like Julia could have
28:10
been the shooter. Yeah, However, whoever did the she was just near.
28:15
I don't know if you could just be that close, how close she
28:18
would have to be to get gunshot residue under But anyways, she m,
28:23
yeah, they have a big reward. They floated a theory that they thought
28:26
maybe it was Julia's son that helped her committed. But I don't think they
28:30
had enough. I don't have enough DNA and they took a DNA DNA profile
28:36
off the tie rap. Yeah, I mean would think that they could do
28:37
the family genealogy if they got enough. This is another one stake killer.
28:42
Yes, this is another one of these sketchy verdicts to me that I'm like,
28:48
I don't know about this one. If they would have picked her as
28:52
the jury form and you'd like, yeah, I mean maybe there's things that
28:55
we don't know, but it is it does seem a lot of circumstantial stuff.
28:59
I guess this gun shot residue on the sleeve of the shirt is is
29:03
pretty damning. But anyways, do you have a m that's our case for
29:08
It's an idea of a y'all need Jesus to do. I got to have
29:12
one every week just to make up for these terrible cases. Of circumstantial evidence
29:17
that you're putting for Shut up, Stu. This is real life, Steward.
29:19
This is really what's happening in America. This is the real nitty gritty.
29:22
This is the real criminal justice system, all right. What happened back
29:27
questionable yes, of questionable verdicts, and some people that might not need to
29:33
be in prison, or they might need to be, or they might need
29:36
to be. We don't know. Free, free step and avery. I
29:40
think yes. Anyways, Okay, let's get to your y'all need Jesus.
29:44
Well, let's do that. Okay. This comes to us from a twenty
29:49
twenty one July seventeenth, So a couple of years ago, a man,
29:56
a couple, just a couple. So, a man tries to throw an
30:00
alligator onto a roof to teach it a lesson. According to police Florida or
30:07
not Florida, Florida for sure, a Florida man is in custody for allegedly
30:12
trying to throw a live alligator onto the roof of a building. According to
30:18
mister Charles Helou from The Washington Examiner, Well this is just animal abuse,
30:23
Stewart. Well, it sounds like a little bit, I mean it's an
30:26
alley. You ever been attacked by an alligator? No, but may neither.
30:30
But Jesus, okay, that doesn't mean you can throw one on the
30:33
roof. That's the nuts animal abuse. Now I don't know what roof.
30:37
Well, he didn't accomplish it anyways. You can't pick an alligator up and
30:40
throw it on a roof, so it depends on how big the alligator is.
30:42
Okay, we'll finish the story. William Hodge, thirty two, was
30:47
arrested around three am Thursday. Three am. This is nothing good happens after
30:52
two kids. One thing it's open is a gel's legs and hospitals now Thursday.
31:00
He was arrested on a Thursday and charged with barton possessing and I don't
31:06
think Walmarts are opened at three am anymore. Too risky for Walmart's Probably.
31:11
He was charged with possessing and entering an alligator, burglary of an unoccupied dwelling,
31:18
criminal mischief, and petty thiff. Well, it sounds like someone should
31:22
have thrown him on top of a building teaching a lesson. Well maybe,
31:25
so I asked mister Hodge what he was doing when he was throwing the alligator
31:32
up in the air. William Hodge advised he was teaching it a lesson,
31:37
said Daytona Beach police officer Molly Billy, Well, was he catching it whenever
31:41
he was throwing it up? Was he catching again? Because then the alligator's
31:45
just going on a little like whoo who like playing with your kid or something.
31:48
Yeah. Now, now I think mister Hodge was a little too drunk
31:52
to be catching it. What he did was he allegedly hopped the fence of
31:57
the Congo Rubber Golf, which is a miniature golf course in the area.
32:01
It's not even like a country club. Okay. Now, he stole a
32:05
live alligator from an enclosure on the course. He then took the teaching the
32:08
alligator. Listen, he was minding his own he was in the encounter.
32:13
Maybe he wouldn't talk. I don't know, like he was supposed to like
32:15
a ventriloquist. I don't know what he was trying to do with this alligator.
32:19
Okay, I mean, mister Hodge was probably not in his run.
32:23
I'm just saying I thought that the alligator went onto his property and that's why
32:27
he was teaching the lesson. Now he stole the alligator. He took the
32:30
alligator from his home, and then he took the alligator to the Mets Lounges,
32:36
a bar and liquor store, grabbed it by the tail, tried to
32:39
throw it onto the roof. After only hitting the awning of the bar,
32:44
he took it by the tail again, put it over his shoulder, threw
32:46
it to the ground, and stomped on it twice. Stewart, why are
32:50
you doing this when this is terrible? Don't read everything that happened to the
32:53
alligator. It's not a puppy, Stewart, What is wrong with alligators?
33:00
Are tough? No, we cannot read what happened to the alligator. Well
33:04
that's all they said. That's the end of that. Oh my god.
33:06
I'm sorry everybody. This is completely inappropriate, inappropriate way that you're reading what
33:14
happened to the alligator. That's okay, I guess we talked about it.
33:19
We just talked about a man getting with a zip tie. Yes, and
33:22
you're worried about the alligator like it's a puppy. Now. When officers made
33:27
contact with mister Hodge, he put the creature down, raised his hands and
33:30
surrendered to police. They transported Hodge to the city's Division of Public Safety.
33:37
While in the holding cell, Hodge allegedly bawled up toilet paper and clogged the
33:42
cells toilet and drain an attempt to flood the station. He was taken to
33:47
Volucia County Jail after his processing, where he remained and police contacted George King,
33:54
the owner of Congo River Golf, who came to collect his alligator from
33:58
the station. Where do you keep an alligator at the police station? I
34:01
don't know, it's just alligator. I don't know, like he's domesticator.
34:07
I guess I'm just I don't think it was domesticating anyway. The alligator is
34:12
worth three hundred dollars, according to King. So, okay, the alligator
34:15
is alive, but we're not clear if he sustained any injuries during the attack.
34:22
So we're just gonna say he's okay and he's living in great life.
34:25
I'm sure he is okay, of course, dodging like minute, like golf
34:29
balls flying at his head. You ever seen them animals on the Animal channel,
34:32
the alligators out there fighting. I know how the ads and other alligators.
34:37
I understand that they're missing digits and got scars all over him. Yes,
34:42
I'm sure this alligator is just fine, just a little upsetting. I'm
34:45
sure it wasn't like fifteen foot alligator or nothing. I'm probably sure it was
34:49
like a four or five footer. Okay, anyways, well, this guy
34:52
sucks and he went to jail. I mean you could follow up and see
34:57
what happened to miss No, I don't want to know what happened this dumbass.
35:00
Hopefully an alligator ate him, aid him. Yes, that would be
35:04
poetic justice. It might be all right. Well, Stewart, thank you
35:07
for I don't even know if I want to thank you for that one circumstantial
35:13
evidence. Really, again, I don't do a quality check on these before
35:19
he does it. I'm hearing him the first time, just like you guys.
35:22
Okay, so here we are, but thank you for listening, and
35:27
don't judge us on that. Y'all need Jesus or this third or fourth or
35:30
fifth circumstantial evidence than we don't. I mean, why don't you just start
35:37
doing the ones where they're unsolved, Stewart, there's already podcast dedicated to that
35:44
unsolved cases. Yes, I hate when I'm listening to a podcast and yet
35:49
you don't know what's unsolved. But you listen to a whole season and it
35:52
is an unsolved one, and you're like, oh my god, I thought
35:53
you guys were going to solve this was the up and vantage set me up
35:58
for high expectations on those, and then when that nobody ever solves them from
36:01
there, it's like, okay, never find anyways. All right, So
36:06
Patreon dot com, check us out. All the links are in the show
36:08
notes. Buy me a coffee, rate review, subscribe Instagram, Facebook,
36:14
and I guess we will see you next time. By every one say by
36:16
stud, by stud, don't you know it's bye to be supersticious? By
36:27
every else is working, hurting,