Latest / Gone Cold - Texas True Crime / Virginia Carpenter Part 1: Into Oblivion

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Virginia Carpenter Part 1: Into Oblivion · Gone Cold - Texas True Crime

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: The Gone Cold podcasts may contain violent or graphics subject matter.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Listener discretion is advised. On a warm Friday evening in Texarcana, Texas,
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: June fourth, nineteen forty eight, Hazel Carpenter sat in her
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  Speaker 1: living room chatting with Luci o' bailey, who rented the
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: spare bedroom in her home. Maybe she's sick, Hazel said,
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: referring to her daughter Virginia. Earlier that week, Hazel had
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: taken Virginia to Union Depot, where she boarded a train
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: heading for Texas State College for Women or TSCW, in Denton.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: Hazel was a little concerned that her daughter hadn't written
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: since her arrival like she was supposed to. Surely, if
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Virginia was sick, the worried mother's border offered, she'd have
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: called to let you know, or had someone at the
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: college call for her. Just as Hazel got out a
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: couple words in reply, the ringing of her telephone interrupted.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: As she made her way to answer, Hazel thought that
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: must be Virginia calling. Good timing. Hazel picked up the
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: phone and on the other line was an operator who
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: said she had a call from Dallas for Virginia Carpenter.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: Virginia wasn't there, she told the operator, but could be
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: reached in Denton at the Texas State College for Women's dormitory,
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: Breckenridge Hall. She hung up the phone, but immediately realized
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: that the only person who'd be calling for her daughter
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: from Dallas was Kenny Branham, a boy who'd been desperately
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: trying to win Virginia's heart as of late. Kenny, it
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: dawned on Hazel knew Virginia had already left for Denton
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  Speaker 1: and could have easily reached her there himself. The foreboding
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: feeling Hazel had at the train station days earlier, which
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: she'd been telling herself was silly returned, was intensified. Fighting
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: it back, she forced herself to concentrate on a more
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: logical explanation. She grasped onto her initial thought that Virginia's
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: just not feeling well and indisposed. She quickly called the
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: superintendent at Brackenridge Hall, who told the near panicked mother
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: that they were holding Virginia's reservation, but that the young
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: woman had never checked in. Billy Robinson, who was supposed
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: to be her daughter's roommate, said Virginia hadn't stepped foot
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: in the room. Hazel requested the superintendent check with the
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: other dormitories to see if she'd registered somewhere else, and
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: ended the call. As soon as she did, the phone
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: rang again. It was Kenny calling again from Dallas. He
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  Speaker 1: told Hazel he'd been trying to reach Virginia at the dorm,
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: but was also told she wasn't there. Fear for her
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: daughter's say rushed over her. In an abnormally calm and
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: low voice, she told Kenny she had no more idea
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: as to Virginia's whereabouts than him. I'm worried, the suitor
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: told Hazel, call me back. As soon as you hear anything,
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: call collect. They hung up, and a few minutes later
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: Hazel's phone rang again. On the line was the Dean
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: of women at the college, and what she had to
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: tell Hazel Carpenter was troubling. The morning before Thursday, June third,
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: Virginia's trunk was taken inside after sitting on the grounds
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  Speaker 1: of the dorm, essentially in Brackenridge Hall's front yard for
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: two days. It was the first time, the Dean said
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: a trunk was ever delivered to the dormitories and left
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  Speaker 1: in such a place. Usually luggage was delivered to the
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: student's room. I advise you to notify the police. The
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: dean continued, t raid something has happened to her. It
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: was then Hazel Carpenter later said that the nightmare began.
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  Speaker 1: The Only child of Hazel and Floyd Carpenter, Mary Virginia
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  Speaker 1: was born in Texarcana, Texas, on January twenty fifth, nineteen
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  Speaker 1: twenty seven. Floyd worked for the railroad, and Hazel eventually
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: had her own insurance business. When Virginia was born, word
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: quickly spread down the Texas Pacific and Missouri Pacific railway
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  Speaker 1: lines as the proud Papa wouldn't let an engineer, conductor,
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: or brakeman go about their business without bragging about his beautiful,
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  Speaker 1: brand new baby girl. Like her maternal grandmother, who she
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: was named after, Virginia's nicknames were Jimmy, which she was
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: called by most friends, and Jimmy Girl, which her mother
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: and father often referred to her. Virginia was a fussy
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  Speaker 1: and somewhat sickly infant for the first few months, allowing
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  Speaker 1: Floyd and Hazel little rest, but her grandfather was the
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  Speaker 1: county physician, and he nursed the baby back to health
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  Speaker 1: in no time. By four months, Virginia was chubby, healthy
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  Speaker 1: and happy, which was evident in a photograph taken of
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  Speaker 1: her at that age, a picture that would later become
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  Speaker 1: her favorite. She began walking early and was known to
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: wander off a little farther than she should. When Virginia
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: was three years old, she had an accident that would
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  Speaker 1: affect her health for years to come. She rolled down
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  Speaker 1: the back step of the family's home, hitting a tree
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: at the bottom. Doctors were unable to find any major
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  Speaker 1: injuries to Virginia via X ray, and everything seemed fine
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  Speaker 1: for a few months. She got better, but again fell
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  Speaker 1: ill and became crippled. Virginia, who had learned to walk
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  Speaker 1: earlier than most, no longer could. Doctors were baffled and
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  Speaker 1: could not explain what had happened. Floyd and Hazel visited
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  Speaker 1: orthopedic surgeons all over, seeking a diagnosis four and a
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: solution to their daughter's condition. Finally, in Memphis, Tennessee, a
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  Speaker 1: doctor found it. He discovered an infection in Virginia's right
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: hip bone. The infection had perforated the bone, leaving what
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  Speaker 1: looked like a tiny pinhole. Recovery would be arduous and painful.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: Virginia was subjected to a series of weight and traction
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  Speaker 1: methods to return her leg to the proper position. Bones
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: and tissue had to be rebuilt. Internal medicines were administered
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: and a strict diet was issued. When Virginia could finally
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: walk again, she could only do so with a physically
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  Speaker 1: and visibly cumbersome steel brace that fit into the heel
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  Speaker 1: of her shoe and ended at the hip, fixed there
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: by a leather roll saddle. When she entered kindergarten, Virginia
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: was still in the brace. Self consciousness began to set in,
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  Speaker 1: likely due to teasing and name calling, and the young
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  Speaker 1: girl stopped eating and began to lose weight. Hazel and
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  Speaker 1: Floyd beat themselves up over the decision to send her
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  Speaker 1: to school in that condition, but rectified the situation by
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: promptly pulling her out. Luckily, though Virginia was eventually able
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  Speaker 1: to lose the brace at age thirteen, a specialist was
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  Speaker 1: amazed to find out the girl, he said, was completely
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  Speaker 1: cured and just in time for her teenage years. Because
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: only one out of four individuals at the time were
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: able to be cured of Virginia's specific condition, her case
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: was documented by the American Medical Association, the final diagnosis
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: might have been somewhat optimistic. Through school, Virginia tired easily.
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  Speaker 1: Her condition left her right leg slightly shorter than the other,
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  Speaker 1: and the effort to walk without limping drained Virginia's energy.
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  Speaker 1: When she became tired, she could no longer disguise the limp.
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  Speaker 1: It embarrassed her, and she remained quiet and tried to
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  Speaker 1: float under the radar. Not long after entering an Arkansas
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  Speaker 1: high school in nineteen forty, at age thirteen, Virginia's father, Floyd,
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  Speaker 1: became seriously ill. Her mother, Hazel, struggled caring for her husband,
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  Speaker 1: raising their daughter, and running her insurance business. When Floyd
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: was taken to a hospital in Marshall, Texas, for care,
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  Speaker 1: Virginia spent every Wednesday evening there with him. They bonded
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: strongly during what they called man to woman talks. As
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: she cared for him. Floyd and Virginia talked about their childhoods,
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  Speaker 1: what was going on in their lives, and philosophized about
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  Speaker 1: life in general. The relationship between he and Virginia strengthened
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  Speaker 1: during Floyd's illness, and his influence showed up later in
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: her life when she began exhibiting selfless qualities and the
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  Speaker 1: desire to help others. Floyd's illness ended tragically when he
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  Speaker 1: died by a self inflicted gunshot wound on October fifth,
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  Speaker 1: nineteen forty two, at nine thirty am. Virginia was only fifteen,
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  Speaker 1: and she and her mother endured years of emotional and
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  Speaker 1: financial turmoil following Floyd's death. The terrible event altered the
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  Speaker 1: course of both of their lives, especially Virginia's. Virginia Carpenter
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  Speaker 1: wasn't an exceptional student in high school, but she worked
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: hard enough to get by and was praised by her
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  Speaker 1: teachers for her common sense and loyalty. After her father's
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  Speaker 1: illness and suicide, she withdrew into herself, her mother, Hazel
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  Speaker 1: later said, often sitting at the piano for hours on end,
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: attempting to release her grief through music. She chose to
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  Speaker 1: participate in activities where she could go unnoticed, like playing
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  Speaker 1: in the high school band, though she showed strength and
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: challenged the condition her rare disease had left her in.
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  Speaker 1: By joining the majorrettes, she began to come out of
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: her shell. The teenager found a new interest in art,
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  Speaker 1: Hazel was amazed by a drawing Virginia maid of her father,
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  Speaker 1: a portrait she sketched from memory. The likeness, her mother
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  Speaker 1: said was uncanny. Virginia also challenged her shy nature by
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  Speaker 1: doing things like starring in school plays. Now well into
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  Speaker 1: her teenage years, she had almost conquered the self consciousness
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  Speaker 1: she'd once had about her sometimes limped walk, but she'd
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  Speaker 1: never completely get over it. When Virginia graduated high school
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: in nineteen forty four, she left home for the University
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  Speaker 1: of Arkansas in Fayetteville to study journalism. She was less
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  Speaker 1: than motivated by her studies and quite motivated by boys.
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  Speaker 1: For Virginia, something was lacking in the former. She wanted
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  Speaker 1: to be of service to people. It was why she
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: originally intended to work in journey, but she was constantly
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: reminded of doctor's inability to cure her father. She returned
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  Speaker 1: home after her first year, telling her mother she changed
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  Speaker 1: her mind about her major. She wanted to take classes
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  Speaker 1: for laboratory technician training instead. Virginia settled for that path
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: after she realized that her first inclination to be a
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  Speaker 1: nurse required long hours of standing and walking, something she
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  Speaker 1: knew her leg could not handle a lab tech she
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  Speaker 1: thought was the next best thing. She enrolled at Texas
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  Speaker 1: State College for Women in Denton, where, to her surprise,
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  Speaker 1: she shared a dorm room with two other young women
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  Speaker 1: named Virginia. Although finances were not great, Hazel brought in
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  Speaker 1: a woman to rent the spare bedroom in the house
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  Speaker 1: to help pay for her daughter's school. The woman, Lucille,
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  Speaker 1: became close with the two Carpenter women. Virginia entered the
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  Speaker 1: school in September of nineteen forty five, but her time
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  Speaker 1: at TSCW would also be cut short. The following February,
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  Speaker 1: her mother became seriously ill. The young woman was looking
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  Speaker 1: for her own life, away from the sometimes smothering love
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  Speaker 1: of Hazel. Her father, Floyd's death had created a rift
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  Speaker 1: in the mother daughter relationship for some time, but the
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  Speaker 1: years had certainly mended it, and this next experience together
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: would render their bond seemingly unbreakable. Against Hazel's wishes, Virginia
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  Speaker 1: once again left her studies, this time to care for
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  Speaker 1: her ailing mother, whose illness had forced her to sell
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  Speaker 1: her insurance business. Just after Hazel underwent surgery, which was
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  Speaker 1: a success, Virginia contracted appendicitis and underwent surgery herself. Her
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  Speaker 1: temporary leave from Universe turned long term. The appendectomy went well. Mack,
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  Speaker 1: a Texas A and M university student, or Aggie, as
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: they're known in these parts, drove Hazel and Virginia home
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  Speaker 1: from the hospital, and a spark ignited. Virginia and Mac
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  Speaker 1: began dating and fell for one another fast. They even
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  Speaker 1: set a wedding date, though Virginia ended up canceling just
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: weeks before the big day. Because the course their lives
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: had taken from Virginia's childhood illness to her father's death,
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  Speaker 1: and then both she and Hazel's illnesses, finances were tough.
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: Virginia refused to go back to school for the time being,
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: opting instead to work and save money to pay for
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: her own education. Eventually, she told her mother she didn't
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  Speaker 1: want to go back to school, a white lie meant
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: to save Hazel the worry of coming up with the
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: money to send her back. Virginia found work at an
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: insurance firm and then a Texarcana clinic, which she loved.
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  Speaker 1: She loved it so much her ambition to become a
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: medical technician returned with even greater intensity. Finally, in September,
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: of nineteen forty seven, Hazel got a big raise at
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: the auto agency she was working for, and she had
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: good news for her daughter. As the result, Virginia could
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: quit work and return to school. Her reaction, flinging her
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: arms around her mother with glee, made Hazel realize Virginia
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: never wanted to quit college in the first place. It
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: was bittersweet. Hazel felt awful she had missed all that time,
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  Speaker 1: but was also proud she had made the selfless sacrifice.
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: Virginia enrolled at Texarkana Junior College and in two semesters
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  Speaker 1: had earned enough credits to graduate to enter medical technician
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  Speaker 1: training at an area hospital. However, she needed two classes
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  Speaker 1: that Texarkana Junior didn't offer. To take those, she'd have
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: to re enroll at Texas State College for Women in Denton,
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  Speaker 1: a beautiful, tree shaded campus lush with green vegetation and wildflowers.
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  Speaker 1: Denton at the time was essentially a college town of
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: about twenty thousand residents. The nineteen forties had ushered in
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: about half of that number as civilian flight programs, military
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: training and culture, visual art, modern music, etc. Brought with
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: them a diverse and open minded population. Added doctoral programs
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: at TSCW also brought in its fair share of new folks.
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  Speaker 1: Virginia enrolled in the summer nineteen forty eight semester there
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: to take the last couple courses she needed. Since her
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: father had worked at T and P Railroad, both Virginia
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: Nania Carpenter and her mother, Hazel traveled by train for
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: next to nothing. After securing a hold on the two
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: classes she needed at TSCW, she booked a train, leaving
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: from home and arriving in Denton the day after she
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: was set to graduate from Texarkana Junior College. As she
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: watched Virginia pack, Hazel was fighting back an oddly paralyzing
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: fear that was gnawing away at her, a feeling she
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: knew was silly. Her daughter was twenty one years old
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  Speaker 1: and had traveled alone by train before. After all. Even so,
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: Hazel had been trying to tuck her out of it,
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: and she tried again one last time. If Virginia would
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: wait until tomorrow, the worried mother said she'd get off
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  Speaker 1: work and drive her the two hundred and fifteen miles
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  Speaker 1: to Denton herself. The plea fell on deaf ears on Tuesday,
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  Speaker 1: June first, nineteen forty eight, Hazel Carpenter drove her daughter
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: Virginia to Texarquanna's Union depot to catch the three pm
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: train to Denton. They were running late. The idea of
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: missing the train was perhaps driven by Hazel's subconscious a
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: last ditch effort to drive Virginia down the next day,
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: but the train was still waiting when they arrived. Their
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: goodbye was hurried, and Hazel's strange, apprehensive feeling still overwhelmed her.
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: As she embraced Virginia, she couldn't help but think it
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: was for the last time, no matter how hard she
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: tried to suppress the thought, I'll write to you as
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: soon as I get settled in my room, the young
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: woman told her mother. Virginia quickly kissed Hazel and boarded.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: As Texas Pacific train thirty one began pulling away, the
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: two waved. Hazel was sad, but proud and noticed more
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: than ever the beauty and womanhood her daughter radiated. During
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: her train ride to Denton, Virginia and another woman, a
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: middle aged school teacher named Marjorie Webster, passed the time
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: with friendly conversation. Marjorie, too, was on her way to
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: attend summer classes at TSCW. When the train arrived at
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: the station in Denton, the night was nearly as hot
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: there as the day had been in Texarkana. Virginia looked
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: at her gold wrist watch and saw that it was
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: five after nine. She stepped off the train in her
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: red leather high heeled platform shoes, wearing a brown, white
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: and green striped chambray dress. The outfit was topped off
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: with a white straw hat feather, and all her hands
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: were full. Virginia carried with her a black pasteboard hat box,
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: her red purse that contained no more than twenty bucks,
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: and a brown cosmetics case that semi matched the large
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: trunk she'd checked in at the depot in Arkansas with.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: Since she and her new found friend, Marjorie were both
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: staying at the college's dorms, they decided to catch a
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: cab to campus together. They arrived at the Fitzgerald dormitory,
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: where Marjorie was assigned a room, at about nine point
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: fifteen pm. When they pulled up, it struck Virginia that
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: she'd forgotten to make the necessary arrangements to have her
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: trunk dropped off at the Breckinridge dorm, where she was
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: to stay. She asked the cab driver how much the
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: trip back would be seventy five cents, he replied, and
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: Marjorie offered to accompany her back. No, I'll go alone,
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: Virginia told her, I'll be all right. After Marjorie's things
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: were unloaded at Fitzgerald Hall, the taxi carrying twenty one
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: year old Virginia Carpenter drove off into the night. Exactly
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: what happened after as matters of fact, is unknown. Oddly inexplicably,
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: Texas ranger Lewis Ragler would later say Virginia Carpenter's trunk
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: had sat in front of the dormitory for two days
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: unclaimed before it was finally taken to the office. Attached
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: was a claim ticket that read Virginia Carpenter, Room two hundred, Brackenridge.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: No One, though, attempted to locate the trunk's owner by
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: phoning her mother, Hazel Carpenter. Four days after Virginia left
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: Texarcana for Denton. Hazel discovered she had never registered at
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: Brackenridge Hall, the dormitory at Texas State College for Women
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: where she was supposed to stay while completing two courses
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: during the summer semester. There were no records of Virginia
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: completing registration for those classes either, and the school's dean
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: told Hazel, for the first time in the history of
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: the school, a student's belongings were dropped off in the
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: yard in front of the dorm rather than being delivered inside.
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: In Virginia's case, it was a large trunk filled with
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: her clothes and other personal belongings. When investigators inspected it
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: in hopes of finding clues, none were found. Virginia's purse,
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: hat box, cosmetic and overnight bags were missing. Hazel's panic,
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: her fear was almost debilitating, but the mother pressed on.
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: She knew it was unlikely that Virginia suddenly decided to
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: visit a friend or family member, but she called all
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: she could think of, regardless nothing no one had seen her.
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: Hazel confirmed with the train depot in Denton that v
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: Virginia had arrived safe and sound. Where was she now?
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: When she called the Texarcana police, not knowing what else
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: to do, they told the mother to get some sleep
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: and some officers would look at it in the morning.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: Hazel then phoned the Denton police just before she in
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: her roommate, who wouldn't let the panicked mother make the
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: journey alone, jumped in the car and headed that way.
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: They pulled up to Denton Police headquarters just as the
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: sun became visible on the eastern horizon at five point
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: fifty am now Saturday, June fifth, nineteen forty eight. Hazel's
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: brother in law, Donald Fulton, was already at the station
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: when she and Lucille arrived. Also, there was forty year
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: old edgar Ray Zachary, who Denton police had already tracked
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: down as the cab driver who had picked up the
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: missing young woman at the train station. Hazel was inconsolable
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: and brimming with nervousness and anxiety as she attempted to
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: tell police all she could. Virginia wouldn't have vanished without
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: a trace of her own free will, She told them
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: it was completely out of character. She couldn't provide much
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: more than that she was in Texarkana, two hundred and
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: fifteen miles away. When Virginia arrived in Denton with Hazel
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: present edgar Ray Zachary, the cab driver, gave his version
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: of events. He told police that he'd driven Virginia and
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: Marjorie Webster to the dorms, and that Virginia, having forgotten
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: about her trunk, asked him for a ride back to
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: the train depot. When they got there, Zachary said, Virginia
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: found out her trunk couldn't be picked up until the
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: following day. He took her back to the dormitories, he
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: told police, and offered to pick up the trunk and
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: deliver it to her the next morning. He said that
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: was around nine thirty pm. Zach told police. Virginia took
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: him up on the offer, wrote Virginia Carpenter, Room two
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: hundred on the luggage receipt, signed the back, and gave
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: it to him, along with a dollar for his help.
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: As Zachary retrieved Virginia's things from the trunk of his cab,
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: he told investigators, she walked up to two young men
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: standing beside a light yellow or cream colored convertible and
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: addressed them as if they were lifelong friends. Well, what
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: are you all doing way up here, Zachary reported Virginia
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: saying to them. One of the boys was short and chubby,
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: the other tall and slender. The cabby didn't hear the
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: boy's responses. According to Zachary, the short young man spoke
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: to Virginia and took her by the hand to help
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: her up the curb. He said he couldn't see much
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: more than that because the street lights were out. A
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: bulldozer at a nearby construction site had knocked out an
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: electrical line. The fact that the moon was hidden behind
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: the trees only further hampered the cab driver's vision. Zachary
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: claimed that Virginia told him to just set her things
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: on the sidewalk and the two boys would help her
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: take them in. According to the cab driver, she said
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: to just leave her trunk in front of the dorm
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: when he picked it up the next day two Everything
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: happened fairly quickly. Brackenridge Hall was at the corner of
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: North Bell Avenue and Hennin Street, and the train depot
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: was about a mile straight down Bell Avenue where the
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: road ended. First thing in the morning, the cab driver
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: said he picked up the trunk and took it to
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: the dormitory. Denton policeman wondered why Zachary hadn't delivered the
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: trunk inside instead of leaving it thirty five feet from
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: Brackenridge Hall in the yard. That's where she told me
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: to drop it, he answered, I didn't ask why. Maybe
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: she was planning on running off, already hired and racked
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: with anxiety. That statement set Hazel off. You're lying, she shouted.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: Her daughter wasn't a moron, Hazel snapped, and it would
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: have been easier for her to pick it up at
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: the train station herself if she were going to run away.
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: It was far from the only statement the cab driver
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: made that both Hazel and the police felt were major
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: holes in the story. After Hazel gathered her bearings, he continued.
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: Zachary drove off while Virginia and the young men remained
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: outside talking, he said, according to his statement to detectives,
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: after he left Virginia, Zachary went home, used the restroom
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: for about five minutes, and called the cab stand to
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: see if it was busy, probably a little before ten pm,
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: since he drove his own private car for the cab company,
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: something that wouldn't be allowed just two years later. He
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: had no cbe Radio City cab dispatch told him it
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: was slow, and Zachary told them he was staying in
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: for the night. He wasn't feeling well. Hazel supplied detectives,
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: specifically identification and Records Officer J. N. Pruitt with a
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: list of ten men her daughter had either seen romantically
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: or were pursuing her with such intentions. Three of those
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: men drove or had access to yellow or cream colored
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: convertible vehicles, and one of those is listed in the
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: police reports as someone Virginia was afraid of that name.
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: All the names are redacted. About forty five minutes after
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: Hazel got to Denton, Kenny Branham, Virginia carpenter's suitor, showed
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: up at the police station, having traveled there from Dallas.
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: Virginia's photograph was sent to multiple state, city and county
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: investigative agencies and transportation hubs. There was a call to
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: action for the public as well. Police asked hunters and
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: farmers to be aware of and report any unusual odors
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: or ground that appeared freshly disturbed. Virginia's uncle, president of
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: Howard Junior College in Big Spring, doctor E. C. Dodd,
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: requested that the Texas Rangers enter the case, and they
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: soon did. As the investigation trudged on, mystery continued to
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: cast a dark shadow, and some downright strange fellows, whether
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: at their own behest or by the strong arm of
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: the law entered the case That's next time on Gone Cold,
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: Texas True Crime. If you like Gone Cold's mission to
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: renew the public's interest in cold cases, you can support
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• 30:02
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• 30:32
  Speaker 1: in the episode's description. Thanks for listening, y'all.