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The Southside Strangler · 10 Minute Murder | Bingeable True Crime Stories

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Discretion is advised. This is ten minuted murder. Something is terribly, terribly
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wrong with Timothy Spencer. Those were the words of a prosecuting attorney in Arlington,
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Virginia to jurors during the summer of nineteen eighty eight. Fast forward to
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April twenty seventh, nineteen ninety four. Jarrett, Virginia is about a twenty
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minute drive from the North Carolina state line. It's one of those small towns
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where if you blink, you might miss it. Outside of Jarrett is the
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Greenville Correctional Center. LSB. Wright Junior, the warden of the Greensville Correctional
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Center, looked over at Timothy Spencer the night of April twenty seventh, nineteen
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ninety four. Spencer was known as the South Side Strangler, and he was
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strapped to the electric chair. He was thirty two years old and was convicted
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of assaulting and murdering four women in Richmond and Arlington, Virginia in nineteen eighty
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seven. Wright Junior asked Spencer if he had any last words. Spencer said
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yeah, I think Spencer then went silent for about twenty seconds. He then
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nodded to the warden. The death mask was placed on Spencer and the execution
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began. Timothy Wilson Spencer was no ordinary criminal. He would be caught and
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convicted based on his DNA. What made Spencer's situation extraordinary was that he was
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the first man in the United States to receive a capital murder conviction based on
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DNA evidence. So how did Timothy Wilson Spencer get to this point in his
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life. Spencer was born in Arlington, Virginia in nineteen sixty two, and
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he lived with his mother and younger brother in the low income neighborhood. Spencer's
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father left the picture following a divorce, so life for his family was pretty
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tough, but Spencer's maternal grandmother was there to help the family. Spencer's younger
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brother remembered their lives were structured and that they would always have a meal on
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the table. They were surviving. They were a family. They stuck together.
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Timothy Spencer was remembered as a quiet child that did poorly in school.
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However, Spencer had other problems which emerged around the age of nine. By
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the time he was twelve years old, Spencer was known to use the school
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yard as his own personal toilet and was involved in petty theft. Another issue
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with Tim Spencer was his cruelty towards animals. Stories of his cruelty are beyond
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sickening, and Spencer's abuse of animals shocked his younger brother. Another issue with
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young Timothy Spencer was Arson. Spencer's brother remembered as a kid that there was
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a group of kids that terrorized the neighborhood. Tim Spencer was one of those.
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He was considered a thief and had run ends with law enforcement pretty often.
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When his younger brother attempted to emulate his brother's stealing skills, he was
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caught by the police. Spencer told his brother not to steal and not to
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try to act like him. It was something of a come to Jesus moment
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for Spencer's little brother. When he reached his twenties, his life changed.
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It was nineteen eighty four when he was caught breaking and entering and arrested.
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He was sent to prison. Spencer was released in nineteen eighty seven. He
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would end up at a halfway house in Richmond, Virginia. It was a
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place where non violent offenders lived and Spencer had his own room. He enjoyed
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his freedom from prison, but at the Halfway House. He enjoyed his privacy
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even more. Spencer was remembered as a man who was a quiet loaner.
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There was one person Spencer wanted to be friends with at the Halfway House.
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It was a woman who was a staff member. Spencer befriended her and was
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kind enough to work on her car for her. The payoff was not the
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friendship, but the potential use of the woman's car. His plan worked.
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Spencer loved to drive, and one of his favorite stops was the clover Field
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Mall in Chesterfield, a community outside of Richmond. Halfway House rules you can
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go out during the day to work, but you have to be home by
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dark. Spencer ignored the rules and cruised the streets of Richmond. He cruised.
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He went to the clover Field Mall Timothy. Spencer would spend hours alone
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at that mall. Spencer would watch the women walk by. It was just
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him and his darkest thoughts and desires. When a woman caught his attention at
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the mall, Spencer would follow her from a distance and watch. What Spencer
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was doing was part of something bigger, something more sinister. The people of
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Richmond would be terrified, something terribly terribly wrong would be happening in their community.
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It began on September nineteenth, nineteen eighty seven. The police were called
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to a home in Richmond. A man reported that a car had been idling
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in front of his home for a very long time. A quick check by
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the police gave them a name. The car belonged to Debbie Dudley Davis.
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She was thirty five years old and an accounts manager for Style Weekly, a
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local publication in Richmond. A police officer went to check on Davis at her
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apartment. When a neighbor heard the police knocking on Davis's door, they offered
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the police a key to her apartment. That's where they found Debbie. She
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had died, and the manner in which it was committed was absolutely gruesome.
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Davis was assaulted and strangled. Police knew how the murderer got into the apartment.
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They took a rocking chair from a neighbor, stood on it, and
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opened a window in Davis's kitchen. But why. Davis was divorced and currently
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single. She had no known enemies. She loved to read, enjoyed the
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music of Bruce Springsteen, and was even an extra in a movie that was
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filmed in Richmond. She also had a part time job at a bookstore at
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the Cloverfield Mall. Her friends and family could not understand why she was targeted.
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Less than a month after Davis was found, police and Richmond were at
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a crime scene that was eerily familiar. They had been called to the home
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of doctor Susan Hellams. She had been found in her bedroom by her husband.
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Doctor Hellams died the same way Davis did. She was assaulted and strangled.
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Police searched for clues and the community was on edge. There was a
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killer on the loose and they had to be captured. A major clue was
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found at the bookstore where Debbie Dudley Davis worked. Police found a check.
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It was written by doctor Susan Hellms and was endorsed by Davis. An investigator
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would later tell reporter for Style Weekly quote, in all my experience, I
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didn't think anything would surprise me in a homicide investigation, but this thing knocked
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me off my feet. The incidents continued. It was late November nineteen eighty
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seven when Diane cho age fifteen, was discovered in her family's apartment. Just
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one month later, Sue Tucker was reported missing in Arlington. She was later
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discovered Both Diane and Sue died in similar manners to Debbie Davis and doctor Hellms.
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Since September, there had been four assaults and murders. The methods were
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all the same. Investigators soon learned that Diane cho would hang out at the
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clover Field Mall and made a comment to a friend that a man had been
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stalking her. One of Diane's friends got a look at the man and noted
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his stare was hollow and terrifying. What baffled investigators was the similar murder in
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Arlington of Sioux Tucker. It eerily reminded them of a murder that happened there
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in nineteen eighty four. The victim was an attorney named Caroline Ham. A
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man named Daniel Vasquez admitted to that crime. He was a man that had
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a low IQ, but he was convicted of the crime. Did he have
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an accomplice? As investigators dug further into the case, they noticed that there
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was a series of assaults from nineteen eighty three until nineteen eighty four in Arlington.
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The crimes were committed by a black male wearing a mask. There were
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similarities to the way the man entered the residences and the way the victims were
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tied. Richmond and Arlington worked together. The FBI was called in a profile
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for the suspect was developed. Investigators in Arlington began putting some pieces of a
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puzzle together. One investigator remembered Timothy Wilson Spencer being arrested for burglary. The
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clothes of the man committing assault in Arlington wore the same clothes as Spencer.
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They traced Spencer at the Halfway House to the assaults of the murders in Richmond.
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Richmond police followed Spencer. They had to build their case with the District
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Attorney's office. There was nothing in the way of fingerprints, but there was
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something else. Forensic materials were collected from the crime scenes and they were going
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to rely on a new tool. It was DNA. It had been used
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to convict other criminals and it was in its infancy of being used as evidence
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in court cases. Police arrested Spencer and obtained his DNA. The tests linked
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Spencer to the four assaults and murders. He was tried for those crimes and
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sentenced to death. Spencer died in the electric chair in nineteen ninety four.
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His crimes committed in Arlington and Virginia were horrific. We really don't know what
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created this monster. We do know that DNA helped catch him, and we
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know that there was something terribly terribly wrong with Timothy Spencer. That's ten Minute
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Murder for today Brief Bingeable True Crime. I'm Joe, I'm the host.
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