Latest / Wicked and Grim: A True Crime Podcast / The Pet Cemetery Murder - Dorothy Thompson

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The Pet Cemetery Murder - Dorothy Thompson · Wicked and Grim: A True Crime Podcast

• 0:25
  Speaker 1: My dear friends, here we are again. Five days, can
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: you believe it? Five glorious days of wickedness. Yet somehow,
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: you just keep coming back for more. Oh, how delighted
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: I am you've returned, though, as we've certainly had quite
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: the adventure so far.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: Haven't we?
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: We've explored the darkest corners of the human mind, where
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: murderous intentions have led to unspeakable acts. We've wandered through
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: haunted halls where restless.
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: Spirits linger among the living.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: And we've even explored the wonderfully bizarre world of urban legends.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: But what if I told you, my dear friends, that
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: today's story contains all three, wrapped up in one deliciously
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: grim little package. Oh, yes. A tale of murder, whispers
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: of the supernatural, and a legend created so perfectly to
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: be the proverbial cherry on top. Ladies, gentlemen, theys and thems,
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: my name is Jacko, your illustrious master of ceremonies through
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: the seven days leading up to Halloween. And I welcome
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: you to day five of Wicked and Grim's Halloween week. Now,
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: I won't spoil the surprises that await for you today.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: Oh no, that would be terribly rude of me. So
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: settle in, keep an open mind, and remember, sometimes the
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: most frightening stories... are the ones that refuse to stay buried.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: My dear friends, it is my absolute pleasure to welcome
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: the two wonderfully wicked souls who will guide you through
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: today's tale. Your hosts of Wicked and Grim, the delightfully
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: dreadful Ben and Nicole.
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: Jacko just brings such good vibes.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: He really does, doesn't he?
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: I need to today like absorb some of his energy
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: and just good vibe.
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: Just like osmosis. Just, just suck it in. Just get
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: all the, the Jacko vibes, the energy.
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: He is upbeat. He is. And yeah, to follow him,
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: it's just like.
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: It's daunting, isn't it?
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: Hi, what's up?
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: We're just regular people.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: Oh man.
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: It's so great though.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: I love it.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: He's probably the best master of ceremonies one could honestly
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: ask for. Yeah.
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: Really?
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: Really.
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: We couldn't ask for anything better.
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: No kidding. So thank you, Jacko. You honestly do this
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: show far more justice than we ever could. So thank you.
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: You're absolutely amazing. But he is right. I do have
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: a story today that is a good wrap up of
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: a lot of the things we've already covered.
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: Really?
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: It's got murder. It's got paranormal. And it's got an
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: urban legend all mixed into one. Wow.
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: Okay. That's impressive.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: It is.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: And it's actually a case we've had requested recently prior
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: to Halloween week. And it's actually kind of funny that
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: it's been requested because this was already on the docket
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: for Halloween week, planned out, and I was already beginning
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: my research. So I'm happy to oblige that here it is.
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: That's really cool how things work out. Right?
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: It's kind of funny. But the story is called The
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: Pet Cemetery Murder. Of Dorothy Thompson.
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah. Let's do this one. This is exciting.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah.
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: You mentioned it when it was requested not long ago.
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: I did.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: And I was like, it's happening already.
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: Like, I'm already on it.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: Yep.
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: It's a good one. So you ready to dive in?
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: For day five of our sixth annual Halloween week. Time flies.
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: Time flies when you're having fun.
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: That's true. It also flies when things are getting wicked.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: I don't know if that worked out very well. I
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: just went with it and I hope it worked.
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: I think it worked.
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: It worked?
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: Okay, cool. I liked it.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: Cool.
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: Awesome. I hope I didn't ruin it by like, you know,
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: like when you have to explain a joke and then
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: I was like, oh, did I do good?
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, you did that, but that's okay. We'll
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: forgive you. Okay.
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: Thank you. All right. Well, let's get on with this
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: insane story today. So the history of Louisiana's Azalea Original
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: Pet Cemetery begins in Kansas City, Missouri with a woman
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: named Grace Agnes Matt. whose complicated relationships and involvement in
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: a murder would eventually bring her family south to New Orleans. See,
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: sometime in the mid-1910s, Grace married John Thompson, a.k.a. Jack,
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: he was often called, with both reportedly around 22 years
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: old at the time. The marriage lasted approximately six years
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: before Grace began having an affair with another man named
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: Arthur Wayne, and eventually Grace left John missing. and moved
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: with Arthur to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, where the couple married,
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: in January of 1920. Then on September 1st, 1924, Grace
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: gave birth to a daughter, Dorothy Lou Thompson. Arthur was
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: believed to be Dorothy's biological father, although Dorothy reportedly maintained
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: a connection with John, or Jack, I'm going to be
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: calling him Jack, throughout their childhood, and she affectionately called
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: him Daddy Jack. and eventually adopted Thompson as her surname. Now,
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: Jack had remarried a woman named Mary L. Thompson, but
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: his relationship with Grace continued even after their divorce. He
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: regularly visited her in Oklahoma City and remained financially involved
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: in her life. By this point, Jack was considerably wealthy
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: and politically connected. He was an influential politician, a successful
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: operator of slot machines, and a man of substantial financial means.
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: He also reportedly had connections to Tom Pentergast, the powerful
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: political boss whose organizations dominated Kansas City and Jackson County
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: during the early 20th century. Now, Pentergast's political machine, as
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: you could call it, was associated with election manipulation, corruption,
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: illegal gambling, and the protection of criminal enterprises during Prohibition.
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: Jack was allegedly one of the organization's prominent figures, although
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: the precise extent of his involvement is rather difficult to establish.
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: Then in 1931, Grace divorced Arthur and returned to Kansas
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: City with Dorothy. But rather than moving back in with Jack,
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: she took up a residence at the Pickwick Hotel, where
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: Jack reportedly paid her bills and provided her with money
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: and gifts. But Jack was still married to Mary, and
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: Grace apparently resented that relationship. By September 1934, that resentment
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: actually became dangerous. On September 13th, 1934, Jack and Mary
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: returned to their Kansas City home after a vacation. Grace
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: had positioned herself outside the residence and was waiting for them.
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: And as Mary approached, Grace emerged and opened fire with a.
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: 25 caliber pistol, shooting her five times. And Mary died
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: from the attack.
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: Holy shit, what are we listening to here? I feel
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: like I'm in a soap opera or something.
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: Kind of like that. Now, according to testimony presented during
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: the criminal proceedings, Grace remained remarkably calm immediately afterwards. One
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: witness even recalled her saying, quote, you don't have to
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: hold me. I'm not going to run away. It is
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: all fixed. They won't do anything to me. End quote.
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: Wow.
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: Now, Grace was, of course, taken into custody. But instead
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: of immediately facing a criminal trial... she was declared legally
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: insane and committed to a psychiatric institute in St. Joseph, Missouri.
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: Then approximately six months later, physicians were preparing to declare
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: her competent to stand trial. However, Grace was permitted to
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: leave the institution temporarily to go visit her mother at
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: a hotel in St.
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: Joseph.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: And rather than return, she fled Missouri with her mother
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: and daughter Dorothy, traveling south to New Orleans, Louisiana. On
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: December 3rd, 1935, Jack himself then arrived in New Orleans,
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: reportedly intending to meet Grace. That same evening, though, he
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: died in the Jung Hotel on Carnal Street. His death
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: was officially attributed to a heart attack, although rumors quickly
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: developed about the true circumstances surrounding his death. Grace, however,
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: maintained that she had never met Jack that evening. She
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: also claimed that someone had killed him because of his
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: hidden fortune. reportedly estimated at between $ 400, 000 and $ 500, 000. Now,
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: no such fortune was ever recovered, though, and the allegations
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: surrounding Jack's death remained unproven. The following day, authorities in
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: Kansas City contacted police in New Orleans, asking them to
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: help locate Grace, who was wanted in connection to Mary's murder.
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: But despite now being a fugitive, Gray managed to establish
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: a relatively public life in New Orleans. She opened a
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: cottage flower shop and became an organist at Our Ladies
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: of Lord's Church. She also composed religious music, publishing a
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: book of hymns in 1939. In fact, the publication became
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: sufficiently well-known, and it ultimately even helped authorities track her
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: down and locate her. And on July 27, 1940, approximately
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: six years after Mary's murder, investigators arrested Grace at her
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: flower shop. Now, Louisiana Governor Sam Jones authorized her extradition
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: to Missouri, where prosecutors resumed the long-delayed murder proceedings. In 1942,
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: Grace was then convicted of second-degree murder, and sentenced to
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: 15 years in prison. However, the conviction did not stand.
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: On September 5th, 1944, the Missouri Supreme Court ordered a
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: new trial because of a legal error in the original proceedings.
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: A retrial was scheduled for the following month, and Grace
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: was released on bail. So she returned to New Orleans.
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: In 1945, another extradition dispute reached Louisiana Governor Jimmy H.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: Davis.
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: But Grace and her attorneys argued that the renewed attempts
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: to return her to Missouri were politically motivated. They alleged
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: that enemies of Tom Pentergast were less interested in prosecuting
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: Mary's murderer than in discovering the whereabouts of Jack's supposed
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: hidden fortune. And Governor Davis ultimately denied the extradition request. Consequently,
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: Grace remained in Louisiana, and the murder charge was eventually
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: dropped without another conviction. So by 1946, Grace, Dorothy, and
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: Dorothy's grandmother, Emma Matt, had relocated to the rural community
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: of Toca in Louisiana's St. Bernard Parish, southeast of New Orleans.
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: Their new home was situated on the former Toca Plantation,
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: alongside Bayou Terra Obufs, a waterway connected to the Mississippi
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: River system. The property had once been used for a
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: sugarcane cultivation. But by the time the family arrived, much
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: of the surrounding land had become just abandoned fields. At
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: its center stood a large residence reportedly constructed in 1909
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: by Albert Estopina Jr., a former St. Bernard Parish sheriff.
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: The land also carried a much older history, too. On
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: March 22, 1845, plantation owner Philip Toka reportedly fought a
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: pistol duel with Gilbert Leonard here. The two men stood
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: approximately 50 yards apart, each firing a single shot, and
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: Toka's bullet struck Leonard, killing him. For Grace and Dorothy, however,
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: the former plantation offered something quite different from its agricultural past. See,
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: Grace had actually long been interested in establishing a cemetery,
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: specifically one for animals. Dorothy recalled that the idea originated
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: years earlier, and Grace lost a beloved dog in Kansas
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: City and struggled to find an appropriate burial place for it.
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: But now, with land available around their new home, Grace
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: could finally begin developing that idea. Now, at the time,
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: dedicated animal cemeteries were relatively uncommon, particularly in rural communities.
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: And Grace understood how attached people could become to their animals,
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: and she believed that They deserved a proper burial, rather
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: than being discarded or buried in unmarked corners of someone's yard.
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: So she began converting sections of the plantation into burial grounds,
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: creating plots where owners could purchase a permanent resting place
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: for their beloved pets. The cemetery was initially named E.E.
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: Matt Cemetery, honoring Grace's mother, Emma Matt, but it eventually
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: became known as the Azalea Original Pet Cemetery. named for
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: the enormous azalea bushes growing throughout the grounds. And by 1952,
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: Grace was operating the cemetery as a full-time business, with
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: Dorothy helping maintain the property and serve its customers. Over
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: the following decades, thousands of animals were buried there. The
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: cemetery even contained an estimate of 5,000 graves, primarily belonging
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: to dogs and cats, but there was the collection of
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: considerably more unusual animals, too. There were rabbits, parrots, monkeys, chickens,
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: and even reportedly a cheetah who was laid to rest there.
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: One particular resident was even a boa constrictor named Sertia,
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: which had reportedly appeared on the Tonight Show during the 1960s.
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: Grace also kept a macaw named Jerry for approximately 35 years,
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: and when Jerry died, he was buried on the property
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: alongside all the other animals. Some graves were marked with
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: simple stone slabs bearing names and dates. Others featured elaborate
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: monuments and statues, including an enormous memorial resembling a seated cat.
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: In total, the cemetery occupied approximately 14 acres, and its
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: growing collection of tombstones gradually transformed the former plantation fields.
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: Dorothy spent much of her adult life helping her mother
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: operate this business. However, her personal relationships were considerably more troubled.
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: By 1970, Dorothy was married to a man named Logan Banks,
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: a man whose drinking and behavior had reportedly become increasingly
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: difficult to deal with. See, he was physically abusive and
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: regularly became threatening while intoxicated. And on November 26, 1970,
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: a confrontation occurred at the rear of the cemetery. Dorothy
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: told investigators that Logan had been drinking and was threatening
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: both her and Grace's with a large knife. So during
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: the confrontation, Dorothy obtained a firearm and shot him dead.
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: The St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Office investigated the shooting and
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: ultimately determined that Dorothy had acted in self-defense, so no
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: criminal charges were filed. And so Dorothy continued living and
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: working at the cemetery.
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: Okay, this is a lot of people that have been killed, right?
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: That no one is facing consequences for, hey?
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: At this point.
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: A lot.
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: There is a lot. As you put it, as this
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: is kind of like a soap opera, that is some
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: very good terms for this tale because it involves a
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: lot of, I'm going to just say backstabbing. And I'm
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: going to say that as a very broad term. That
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: doesn't necessarily mean like murderous intent.
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: Okay. Okay?
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: But it does also include murderous intent.
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: Well, I'm just waiting for someone to- be risen from
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: the dead here. And then it will be a true
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: soap opera.
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: Well, in 1976, Dorothy married another man, Donald Robinson, who
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: worked as a caretaker on the property. However, less than
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: two years into their marriage, Donald was found dead. In 1978,
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: Dorothy contacted authorities after reportedly discovering Donald's body at the
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: cemetery near the rear porch of the residence. It seemed
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: he had suffered two gunshot wounds to the back. But
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: despite the unusual circumstances, his death was officially classified as
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: a suicide and no criminal charges were brought forward. The
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: two shootings became a very big source of considerable gossip
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: around the St. Bernard Parish. People questioned how both of
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: Dorothy's husbands could have died from gunshot wounds on the
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: same property, particularly when one death had been ruled a self-defense,
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: and the other had been self-inflicted. The cemetery itself also
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: managed to develop a reputation for being haunted around this time.
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: Local residents told stories about strange figures appearing near the graves,
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: and teenagers sometimes visited the grounds at night, hoping to
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: encounter something supernatural. Now, throughout these years, Grace remained the
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: central figure in Dorothy's life. Then in August of 1979,
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: Grace died of natural causes at the age of 88,
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: and her death affected Dorothy severely. Already dealing with years
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: of difficult relationships, Dorothy fell into a prolonged depression. She
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: is even said to have received hospital treatment and was
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: prescribed several medications to manage her condition as a result,
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: and so she struggled with substance dependency. Now, by this point,
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: Dorothy was becoming increasingly dependent on other people for assistance.
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: She experienced health problems that limited her mobility, and her
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: medication sometimes left her weak or even disoriented. She could
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: not drive and regularly relied on neighbors, friends, and hired
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: workers for help with errands and even maintaining the property.
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: And one of those workers was Brandon Nodier. Brandon had
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: grown up in Louisiana and experienced violence early on in
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: his life. In 1961, he was just seven years old
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: when he reportedly witnessed a former psychiatric patient shoot his
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: sleeping father three times in the head. And Brandon himself
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: also had a criminal record. In 1972, at 18 years old,
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: he was convicted of burglary in New Orleans and sentenced
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: to five years of probation. Then by the late 1970s,
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: Brandon had developed a reputation among some people in the
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: Toca area as a swindler who attempted to take advantage
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: of individuals in vulnerable circumstances. and a few months after
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: Grace's death, around 1979 or 1980, Dorothy hired Brandon to
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: perform some repairs around the cemetery residence. He was approximately
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: 26 years old at the time, and initially his responsibilities
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: involved ordinary maintenance, including repairs to the home, cutting grass,
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: maintaining burial plots and constructing tombstones. But eventually, Brandon also
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: became a live-in caretaker. His wife, Bonnie Nodier, and their
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: children also spent time living at the property. Bonnie helped
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: Dorothy with errands and transportation too, while Brandon continued maintaining
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: the grounds. And as Dorothy continued struggling with her health,
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: the demands of maintaining the business, and everything else she had,
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: Brandon became increasingly involved in its operations. So on December 1st, 1981,
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: Dorothy signed an agreement, granting Brandon's company, Brandon renovations, Inc.
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: A 99 year lease over the pet cemetery. The agreed
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: rent was just $ 20 per month. The agreement gave Brandon
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: an extraordinary long-term interest in the property, allowing him to
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: remain involved with the cemetery for decades. For Dorothy, it
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: marked a significant change in the management of the business
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: that her mother had established. The 14-acre cemetery was still
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: her family's property, though, but Brandon now held a lease
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: extending far beyond Dorothy's expected lifetime. But within a few years,
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: he and Bonnie were pursuing something more permanent. And on
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: April 20, 1984, Dorothy accompanied the couple to an attorney's
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: office in New Orleans, where she signed an act of
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: sale transferring ownership of the 14-acre cemetery to Brandon and Bonnie.
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: The agreement listed the purchase price of $ 20, 000, although there
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: were additional conditions attached to the transaction too, and according
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: to the account investigators later examined, the Nodears were also
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: supposed to pay off an existing loan secured against the
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: property and allow Dorothy to continue living in the residence
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: for the remainder of her life. But the arrangement quickly
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: became contentious. When Dorothy began questioning what she had signed
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: and whether the agreed-upon conditions had actually been fulfilled, she
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: maintained that Brandon and Bonnie had taken advantage of her
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: depression and medication, claiming she had not mentally been capable
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: of understanding the transaction. There was also the concerns about
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: the promised payment, as the $ 20, 000 check associated with the
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: sale was reportedly never cashed or even recovered. Dorothy maintained
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: that the money had never reached her bank account. and
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: the outstanding property loan had not been paid, and she
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: was now facing pressure to leave the home where she
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: lived for nearly 40 years. Now, during this period, Dorothy
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: was receiving considerable assistance from a woman named Patricia Newman.
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: She was a younger woman who had befriended Dorothy and
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: gradually became one of the closest companions that she had.
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: Patricia was involved in volunteer work around the community, particularly
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: assisting elderly people at hospitals, And her relationship with Dorothy
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: had developed into something resembling that of a mother-daughter situation.
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: She helped manage Dorothy's medications, arranged transportation, and regularly checked
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: in on her well-being. So when Patricia learned about the
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: property transfer, she encouraged Dorothy to obtain an attorney and
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: challenge the agreement. Then in November of 1984, Dorothy filed
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: a civil lawsuit against Brandon and Bonnie, alleging that they
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: had obtained the cemetery through fraud and coercion. She wanted
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: the sale overturned, and the ownership of the property returned
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: to her, arguing that she had been manipulated into signing
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: away something that had belonged to her family for decades.
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: Brandon disputed those accusations, though, maintaining that Dorothy had willingly
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: agreed to the arrangement and that the transaction reflected the
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: close relationship they developed while he worked there for her.
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: The disagreement continued into 1985, with Dorothy refusing to abandon
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: her efforts to reclaim the cemetery. According to Patricia, Brandon
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: repeatedly attempted to persuade Dorothy to drop the lawsuit, though.
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: He had openly expressed his desire to own the land
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: and wanted it. Now, despite this whole situation, there was
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: an important part of this stage that was approaching. With
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: a pre-trial conference scheduled for April 26th, 1985, when the
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: opposing parties were expected to appear in connection with Dorothy's
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: legal challenge. Meanwhile, Dorothy was continuing to hire workers to
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: help maintain the property herself, as she was still living there.
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: One of her previous caretakers, Elton Childress, had spent approximately
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: two months living and working at the cemetery during 1984.
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: Elton had a criminal history that reportedly included armed robbery
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: and alcohol-related offenses, but he was also interested in something
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: considerably more unusual. And that was the long-standing rumor that
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: Dorothy's mother, had hidden a fortune somewhere in the property.
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: According to the local stories of John Thompson, a.k.a. Jack Thompson,
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: Grace's former husband had accumulated hundreds of thousands of dollars
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: through gambling and political connections before his death in New
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: Orleans in 1935, and some residents believe that as much
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: as $ 500, 000 disappeared and that Grace secretly buried that money
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: on the cemetery grounds. Elton reportedly became fascinated by the
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: possibility of finding it, spending considerable time exploring the property
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: and digging around old animal graves instead of actually completing
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: his maintenance work. But by Friday, April 2, 1985, Dorothy
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: had hired another handyman, Kenneth Pommier, or Kenny, who had
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: answered an advertisement seeking assistance with cutting grass and performing repairs.
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: The following day, April 13, Dorothy accompanied Kenneth on several
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: errands around St. Bernard Parish, relying on him for transportation
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: because she didn't drive herself. During that afternoon, they visited
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: a bank where Dorothy obtained money to pay Kenneth for
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: his work, with the payment of being around $ 100. They
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: also reportedly stopped at a grocery store before Kenneth drove
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: her back to the cemetery at approximately 4 p.m. The
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: house stood at the end of a long, secluded driveway
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: surrounded by woodlands and animal burial plots. and Kenneth later
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: explained that he left Dorothy at her home after the
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: errands were completed. Then that evening, at approximately 9pm, Dorothy
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: received a phone call from Patricia, who was checking in
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: to see whether she still needed transportation for the following morning.
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: Dorothy confirmed that she wanted to go out, possibly to
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: the pharmacy, and the two women made arrangements before ending
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: their conversation. But when Patricia tried to phone Dorothy at
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: approximately 9am on Sunday, April 14th, nobody answered. She tried
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: contacting her again, but after receiving no response, she became
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: concerned that Dorothy might have fallen ill or maybe suffered
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: an accident of sorts. So Patricia eventually drove to the
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: cemetery herself to check in on her friend, only to
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: find the residence quiet and apparently unoccupied. Now, after Dorothy
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: failed to respond to the repeated knocking, Patricia contacted St.
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: Bernard Parish Sheriff's Office and requested assistance. When responding officers arrived,
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: they found the front entrance locked, while the rear door
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: was unlocked but jammed. They managed to force their way
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: into the rear door and search the residence. Where they
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: were discovered, the rooms in relatively orderly fashion. There was
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: no immediate signs of any sort of struggle or robbery
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: or nothing. The TV was reportedly still running in Dorothy's bedroom,
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: while a partially consumed glass of wine remained in the kitchen. Dorothy, however,
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: was nowhere to be found. And there was no indication
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: that she had arranged any sort of travel anywhere. Given
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: her limited mobility, lack of transportation, and plans with Patricia
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: that morning, her unexplained absence was certainly a large red flag.
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: Okay, so Dorothy is just nowhere to be found at
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: this moment.
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: Correct.
• 27:58
  Speaker 3: Okay, I feel like I've had to pay very close
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: attention because there's just so much going on and it's
• 28:04
  Speaker 3: all like a little bit bizarre that I'm just like,
• 28:08
  Speaker 3: really having to hone into you because it's like, what
• 28:11
  Speaker 3: is happening here?
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: As I said, you put it really well by saying
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: this is almost like a soap opera.
• 28:16
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: There is a lot of information, a lot of people,
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: a lot of back and forth going on in this story.
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: And there's, so, and that money, sorry, that the one
• 28:26
  Speaker 3: like caretaker was trying to look for.
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: Correct.
• 28:29
  Speaker 3: Was what people thought Jack had. Yes.
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: Jack's missing fortune.
• 28:34
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: So they believe that Jack had this money But Grace
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: got a hold of it when he died.
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: And then when they bought this plantation, she would have
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: buried it for safekeeping somewhere on the property.
• 28:45
  Speaker 3: Huh. But do people just go around hiding all this
• 28:48
  Speaker 3: fortune all over the place? You know, you kind of
• 28:50
  Speaker 3: have to like spend your money at times. But anyway.
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: Well, you also have to think the time that this was, right?
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: Like when they bought this property, it was about the 40s?
• 28:58
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: So how many people trusted banks or how much more
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: people kept cash? Or what if it is money- Obtained
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: in through nefarious ways. And she can't go to the
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: bank because it'll be seized. Right.
• 29:09
  Speaker 3: You can't just be like, I need to deposit this
• 29:12
  Speaker 3: money and don't ask me where I got it from.
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: Exactly. That's not going to fly. So what do you do?
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: You hide it.
• 29:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Touche.
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: So that's kind of the urban legend part of the
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: story is this money allegedly buried within this 14 acre cemetery.
• 29:28
  Speaker 3: Which honestly, you could conceal quite easily.
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: You definitely could.
• 29:32
  Speaker 3: Just put like a pet marker on there and call
• 29:35
  Speaker 3: her a day.
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah now patricia continued trying to determine where dorothy had
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: gone and she began contacting people who knew dorothy to
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: search for anything or anyone who might have seen her
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: then four days after dorothy was last heard from patricia
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: reportedly contacted the saint bernard parish sheriff's office once again
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: insisting that something was seriously wrong and asked investigators to
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: conduct a more thorough search According to one account of
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: the original investigation, Detective Brian Villago and Sergeant Terrace Strada
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: were assigned to examine Dorothy's disappearance, and they searched the
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: cemetery grounds, and they even considered the condition of her residence,
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: paying particular attention to the TV left being running and
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: the partially consumed glass of wine. Now, there was no
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: obvious signs of forced entry, there was no overturned furniture
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: or a violent struggle, any sort of evidence that showed that,
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: and with no vehicle on her own, In limited mobility,
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: she would have had to have needed someone to transport
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: her away from the secluded property. Investigators also began interviewing
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: people who recently interacted with Dorothy. They spoke with neighbors, acquaintances,
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: they questioned employees at the bank, the one that she
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: had visited, and attempted to establish her movements on April 13th. Now,
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: one identification detail Patricia reportedly provided to authorities was a
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: small cross tattoo on Dorothy's left index finger. which detectives
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: included in their efforts to locate her through hospitals and
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: other agencies. You know, if you have someone who comes
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: into a hospital, amnesia, dazed, coma, who knows, this could
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: be an indication marker to help identify this person. Now,
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: as the days passed without any sort of confirmed sightings,
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: the possibility that Dorothy had been harmed, well, it became
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: increasingly concerning. Then on May 2nd, 1985, fishermen working along
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: the Mississippi River near Myrtle Grove, in Plaquemines Parish, discovered
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: a woman's body caught in their fishing lines. The remains
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: were in an advanced state of decomposition, having apparently spent
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: a considerable period submerged in the river. The woman was
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: reportedly wearing only a nightshirt, and about 200 pounds of
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: heavy chains had been wrapped around her body, clearly in
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: an apparent attempt to prevent it from resurfacing. A plastic
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: bag had also been placed over the woman's head, and
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: secured with a twine or a wire, while a cord
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: was reportedly found around her neck too. The body's decomposition
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: made identification extremely difficult. Patricia initially struggled to recognize the
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: woman when she was asked to examine the remains and
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: try and identify it as Dorothy, but investigators reportedly located
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: that small cross tattoo on her left index finger. And
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: with that, along with medical records and personal jewelry, it
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: helped establish her identity. The woman they recovered from the
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: Mississippi River, was in fact Dorothy Thompson. She had been
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: missing for a total of 19 days. An autopsy was
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: conducted to determine how Dorothy had died. Her prolonged exposure
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: to the river had caused substantial deterioration, limiting the medical
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: examiner's ability to identify any sort of injuries and establish
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: a precise sequence of events. But nevertheless, the surviving autopsy
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: findings identified probable asphyxia meaning Dorothy had likely died because
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: she was unable to obtain sufficient oxygen. Investigators considered whether
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: she had been strangled, suffocated by a plastic bag, or
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: subject to a combination of both, because according to the autopsy,
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: the medical examiner apparently found no water in Dorothy's lungs,
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: leading investigators to believe that she had already died before
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: the body was dumped into the river. So the coroner
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: determined that her likely cause of death was asphyxia meaning
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: she'd been deprived of oxygen, possibly through strangulation or suffocation. However,
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: the condition of the body made it difficult to determine
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: exactly how she'd been killed. Although investigators knew someone had
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: deliberately concealed her remains beneath the river, they still had
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: no physical evidence identifying the killer. So with Dorothy's disappearance,
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: now a homicide investigation, detectives returned to the people who
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: had been around during her final days. One of the
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: first was Kenneth Pommier. Kenny, as he's called, the handyman
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: who had accompanied her to the bank and grocery store
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: on April 13th. Kenneth acknowledged receiving approximately $ 100 for his
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: work and maintained that he returned Dorothy home at around
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: 4pm before leaving. And since Patricia had spoken to Dorothy
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: on the phone at around 9pm, that meant if Kenneth
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: was involved, he would have had to have returned later
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: that evening to have been involved in her death. Detectives
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: found no indication that Dorothy's residence had been robbed. Personal
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: belongings remained inside, and investigators could not establish that any
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: substantial amount of money or jewelry was missing. Another person
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: examined was Elton Childress, a former caretaker with a criminal
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: record that included violent offenses. Elton acknowledged that he had
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: an interest in the rumored fortune, supposedly buried in the
• 34:40
  Speaker 2: cemetery property somewhere. He even admitted to spending time searching
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: for it. Investigators considered whether a confrontation over this Hidden
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: treasure might have provided a motive for him, but Elton
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: denied being near Dorothy's residence when she disappeared, and his
• 34:54
  Speaker 2: account was examined with outproducing any sort of evidence sufficient
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: enough to charge him. Detectives also scrutinized Patricia's relationship with Dorothy, too.
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: Patricia reportedly held power of attorney and had been included
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: in Dorothy's will, creating a possibility that there was a
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: financial interest in her estate. Elton had even accused Patricia
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: of befriending Dorothy to obtain her property, although Patricia denied
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: having such intentions. Investigators examined her circumstances. They even examined
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: her repeated requests for police assistance and whether she could
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: have transported Dorothy's body to the river with these heavy chains.
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: But ultimately, their inquiries did not establish her involvement either.
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: Attention also turned towards Brandon and Bonnie Naudier, whose disputed
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: purchase of the cemetery property remained unresolved. Brandon maintained that
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: the sale had been legitimate and suggested Patricia was manipulating Dorothy,
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: while Patricia continued accusing the Nodears of exploiting their friend's condition.
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: The timing of the lawsuit gave investigators, though, reason to
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: question the couple, but they lacked physical evidence connecting either
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: of them to a murder. Now, the property dispute continued
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: after Dorothy's death, and by October 1985, Bonnie was reportedly
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: occupying the cemetery's residence. while Patricia was attempting to obtain
• 36:15
  Speaker 2: belongings from Dorothy's estate. And during one visit, investigators reportedly
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: discovered numerous damaged or smashed animal tombstones across the grounds.
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: But still, despite extensive interviews, competing accusations, and the disturbing
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: circumstances surrounding Dorothy's remains, investigators had not established enough evidence
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: to prosecute anyone. And as the investigation into Dorothy Thompson's
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: murder continued into 1986, Detectives were left with several possible suspects,
• 36:44
  Speaker 2: but very little physical evidence connecting anything. And what they
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: couldn't establish, though, was exactly how the killing had unfolded.
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: Who had transported the body to the river? Or whether
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: anyone had witnessed anything? The property disputes surrounding the pet
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: cemetery continued to be unresolved, too. Brandon and Bonnie continued
• 37:03
  Speaker 2: claiming ownership under the April 1984 sale agreement, while Dorothy's
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: estate maintained that the transaction was a fraud transaction. Dorothy's
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: friend Patricia remained involved in the estate proceedings too, having
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: been named in Dorothy's will and subsequent serving as an
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: executor of the estate. And in November of 1988, a
• 37:22
  Speaker 2: judge ruled that the cemetery actually should be returned to
• 37:25
  Speaker 2: Dorothy's heirs, effectively reversing the property transfer. But by then, however,
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: the business had deteriorated considerably. Animal graves had been damaged,
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: portions of the grounds were becoming overgrown, And the large
• 37:41
  Speaker 2: residence was falling into disrepair. Local stories about the cemetery's
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: troubled history continued circulating, along with rumors that hundreds of
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: thousands of dollars were buried somewhere on that property. And
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: Dorothy's murder investigation passed between different officers over the following years.
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: But no prosecution resulted. Then in August of 2005, Hurricane
• 38:03
  Speaker 2: Katrina devastated St. Bernard Parish. flooding homes, destroying buildings, and
• 38:09
  Speaker 2: causing extensive damage to law enforcement facilities. Among the materials
• 38:13
  Speaker 2: lost were important pieces of evidence collected during the original investigation,
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: including the heavy chains recovered with Dorothy's body and the
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: cord reportedly wrapped around her neck. Much of the original
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: case documentation was also destroyed or rendered unusable. One of
• 38:30
  Speaker 2: the few important documents that survived was Dorothy's autopsy report,
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: which recorded probable asphyxia, as her cause of death. But
• 38:38
  Speaker 2: without much of the physical evidence and any renewed investigation, well,
• 38:41
  Speaker 2: it would depend heavily on surviving records and witnesses who
• 38:45
  Speaker 2: could still remember events in 1985. Now, by 2009, Colonel
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: John Doran and Lieutenant Mark Jackson of the St. Bernard
• 38:54
  Speaker 2: Parish Sheriff's Office were examining the case once again. Colonel
• 38:58
  Speaker 2: Doran was familiar with the cemetery, having actually worked there
• 39:02
  Speaker 2: cutting grass with friends years ago when he was approximately
• 39:05
  Speaker 2: only 15 years old. He remembered Dorothy as an eccentric
• 39:09
  Speaker 2: but generous woman. With the circumstances surrounding her death, well,
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: it stayed with him. So the investigators began constructing Dorothy's
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: final known movements, reviewing the disputed property sale and considering
• 39:24
  Speaker 2: the people who had been around her during her final weeks.
• 39:27
  Speaker 2: And during 2009, an unexpected telephone call provided another lead.
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: The caller identified himself as Juan Garcia, a man who
• 39:36
  Speaker 2: claimed to have been friends with Brandon Naudier. Now Juan
• 39:41
  Speaker 2: initially seemed reluctant to speak with detectives. When they arranged
• 39:44
  Speaker 2: to meet him, Officers described him as visibly frightened, despite
• 39:48
  Speaker 2: his tough and imposing appearance. Juan told investigators that Brandon
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: had admitted to killing Dorothy years earlier. According to Juan,
• 39:57
  Speaker 2: Brandon had spoke about the murder without expressing any sort
• 40:00
  Speaker 2: of remorse, saying that Dorothy deserved what had happened to her.
• 40:04
  Speaker 2: Juan claimed that he had kept the confession secret because
• 40:07
  Speaker 2: he feared Brandon and the consequences of speaking against him.
• 40:12
  Speaker 2: When detectives asked why he finally decided to come forward,
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: Juan offered a unusual explanation. You see, he claimed Dorothy
• 40:21
  Speaker 2: had appeared beside his bed at night while sleeping, with
• 40:25
  Speaker 2: chains hanging from her body, and she urged him to
• 40:29
  Speaker 2: help obtain justice for her murder.
• 40:31
  Speaker 3: Holy shit, that would do it.
• 40:33
  Speaker 2: That would do it.
• 40:34
  Speaker 3: That would do it.
• 40:36
  Speaker 2: Now, Juan reportedly knew certain details about Dorothy's death that
• 40:39
  Speaker 2: detectives believed had not appeared in contemporary newspaper coverages. But nevertheless,
• 40:43
  Speaker 2: his testimony alone was not considered sufficient enough to obtain
• 40:47
  Speaker 2: a conviction. Investigators subsequently approached Bonnie while Brandon was away,
• 40:52
  Speaker 2: informing her that a witness had provided information about Dorothy's murder,
• 40:56
  Speaker 2: but Bonnie declined to discuss the matter and directed them
• 40:58
  Speaker 2: to her attorney. But the detectives, well, they hoped that
• 41:02
  Speaker 2: the news of their investigation would reach Brandon and prompt
• 41:06
  Speaker 2: him to make some sort of mistake, to slip up
• 41:09
  Speaker 2: in some way. Meanwhile, another development involved James J. Tregler,
• 41:13
  Speaker 2: a former cemetery worker and associate of Brandon's who was
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: incarcerated at St. Taminé Parish. See, James claimed that Brandon
• 41:21
  Speaker 2: had visited him in jail and warned him that investigators
• 41:25
  Speaker 2: were asking questions about Dorothy's death. And according to James,
• 41:28
  Speaker 2: Brandon reminded him that whatever he had happened to know
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: between what happened to them years ago, well, it needed
• 41:36
  Speaker 2: to remain secret. James also alleged that Brandon threatened his family,
• 41:41
  Speaker 2: mentioned that he knew where James' wife lived, and what
• 41:43
  Speaker 2: kind of vehicle she drove to. And when detectives subsequently
• 41:47
  Speaker 2: questioned James, he described an incident from April 1985. According
• 41:54
  Speaker 2: to his account, Brandon had phoned him one night and
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: asked him to accompany him to the cemetery because he
• 42:00
  Speaker 2: needed assistance. James agreed, and the two drove to Dorothy's
• 42:04
  Speaker 2: residence in Brandon's pickup truck. Once they arrived, Brandon reportedly
• 42:08
  Speaker 2: instructed James to remain inside the vehicle while he entered
• 42:11
  Speaker 2: the house. He'd be right back sort of thing. Several
• 42:15
  Speaker 2: minutes later, James claimed he then heard screaming. He got
• 42:20
  Speaker 2: out of the truck, approached the residence, and looked through
• 42:23
  Speaker 2: the doorway. And that's when he saw Brandon on top
• 42:26
  Speaker 2: of Dorothy, choking her while her legs flailed. James said
• 42:31
  Speaker 2: he shouted for Brandon to stop, causing him to release
• 42:33
  Speaker 2: Dorothy and ordered James back to the truck. Dorothy was
• 42:37
  Speaker 2: reportedly still alive and began screaming once again, at which
• 42:41
  Speaker 2: point Brandon turned back and resumed choking her. Afterwards, when
• 42:45
  Speaker 2: the screaming stopped, Brandon allegedly emerged from the residence and
• 42:49
  Speaker 2: instructed James to help move Dorothy's body. James maintained he
• 42:54
  Speaker 2: had not known Brandon intended to kill her, and that
• 42:57
  Speaker 2: he cooperated afterwards only because he was frightened for his
• 43:00
  Speaker 2: own life. Detectives scrutinized James' account carefully. because of his
• 43:05
  Speaker 2: criminal background and his admitted involvement in moving the body. Now,
• 43:10
  Speaker 2: investigators believe James was telling the truth, because he knew
• 43:13
  Speaker 2: specific details about the plastic bag and the chains used
• 43:16
  Speaker 2: to conceal Dorothy's remains, and some of those details had
• 43:19
  Speaker 2: never been released to the public, suggesting he knew more
• 43:21
  Speaker 2: about the murder than an ordinary person could. With James'
• 43:26
  Speaker 2: eyewitness testimony, Juan's account of Brandon's confession, and the long-standing
• 43:30
  Speaker 2: property dispute, investigators finally had enough evidence to bring the
• 43:34
  Speaker 2: case before a grand jury. And after reviewing the evidence,
• 43:38
  Speaker 2: the grand jury indicted Brandon Nodier on second-degree murder, and
• 43:42
  Speaker 2: authorities obtained a warrant for his arrest. And on April 25, 2012,
• 43:48
  Speaker 2: nearly 27 years after Dorothy's murder, Brandon surrendered to the St.
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: Bernard Parish Sheriff's Office, where he was taken into custody
• 43:56
  Speaker 2: and booked into jail. He was 58 years old, when
• 44:00
  Speaker 2: he was indicted for second-degree murder, and faced a charge
• 44:03
  Speaker 2: that carried a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment if convicted.
• 44:09
  Speaker 2: The case against Brandon centered on the testimony from the
• 44:11
  Speaker 2: two men who had come forward. However, the prosecution faced
• 44:14
  Speaker 2: significant difficulties, because much of the original physical evidence, including
• 44:18
  Speaker 2: the chains and cord recovered from Dorothy's remains, had been
• 44:21
  Speaker 2: destroyed during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The surviving autopsy report
• 44:26
  Speaker 2: documented probable asphyxia, but there was no preserved forensic evidence
• 44:30
  Speaker 2: that directly connected Brandon to this murder. Now, following his arrest,
• 44:34
  Speaker 2: Brandon's bond was set for $ 300, 000 and he was eventually
• 44:37
  Speaker 2: released while his case proceeded through the courts. His attorney,
• 44:41
  Speaker 2: Pat Fanning, maintained that the prosecution's case was not strong
• 44:45
  Speaker 2: enough to justify accepting a lengthy prison sentence. And Brandon
• 44:49
  Speaker 2: was also reportedly experiencing some serious health problems too, which
• 44:53
  Speaker 2: became an important consideration during those negotiations. But eventually... By
• 44:58
  Speaker 2: March 2014, prosecutors had reportedly offered Brandon a plea agreement
• 45:03
  Speaker 2: carrying a 20-year prison sentence. His attorneys rejected that proposal, though,
• 45:09
  Speaker 2: explaining that his client was 60 years old and in
• 45:12
  Speaker 2: poor health, meaning a 20-year term would basically be indistinguishable
• 45:17
  Speaker 2: from a life sentence at that point. He could die
• 45:19
  Speaker 2: behind bars, and what's the difference? Negotiations continued over whether
• 45:23
  Speaker 2: Brandon might plead guilty to a lesser offense rather than
• 45:26
  Speaker 2: stand trial for second-degree murder. One possibility was manslaughter, which
• 45:30
  Speaker 2: carried substantially different sentencing provisions under Louisiana's law applicable when
• 45:35
  Speaker 2: Dorothy was killed in 1985. And at the time, the
• 45:39
  Speaker 2: manslaughter statute allowed a sentence ranging from five to 21
• 45:44
  Speaker 2: years in prison. And in July 2014, Brandon appeared in
• 45:47
  Speaker 2: court guilty. and he entered a guilty plea to manslaughter
• 45:52
  Speaker 2: in connection to Dorothy's death. According to the accounts, the
• 45:57
  Speaker 2: judge specifically questioned Brandon on whether he was pleading guilty
• 46:01
  Speaker 2: because he was, in fact, responsible for Dorothy's death. Brandon
• 46:06
  Speaker 2: answered affirmatively and acknowledged his guilt before the court. The
• 46:12
  Speaker 2: agreement identified Brandon as the person responsible for killing and
• 46:17
  Speaker 2: disposing of her remains. and he was sentenced to 10
• 46:20
  Speaker 2: years in prison. The outcome also resolved James Tregler's legal position.
• 46:27
  Speaker 2: Although James admitted to helping moving Dorothy's body, he maintained
• 46:30
  Speaker 2: that he had not known Brandon's intent to murder her,
• 46:32
  Speaker 2: and according to investigators, James received immunity from prosecution in
• 46:37
  Speaker 2: exchange for his cooperation and testimony, and he was never
• 46:40
  Speaker 2: criminally charged in connection to Dorothy's death. Now as for Bonnie,
• 46:45
  Speaker 2: while there was no evidence establishing that Bonnie Nodier participated
• 46:48
  Speaker 2: in Dorothy's killing, and she was not prosecuted for the murder.
• 46:52
  Speaker 2: Her involvement remained confined to the dispute of the property
• 46:56
  Speaker 2: transactions and her dealings with the investigators. For Colonel John
• 47:00
  Speaker 2: Dorian and Lieutenant Mark Jackson, the guilty plea brought mixed feelings.
• 47:05
  Speaker 2: They'd finally obtained an admission of responsibility for a killing
• 47:09
  Speaker 2: that had remained unresolved for almost three decades at that point,
• 47:13
  Speaker 2: but the sentence was considerably shorter than they had originally hoped.
• 47:18
  Speaker 2: One investigator even recalled watching Brandon during the court proceedings
• 47:21
  Speaker 2: and being struck by his apparent lack of emotion. He
• 47:25
  Speaker 2: described Brandon as cold and showing no visible remorse. Meanwhile,
• 47:31
  Speaker 2: the fate of Azalea Original Pet Cemetery had been unfolding
• 47:35
  Speaker 2: separately from the criminal proceedings. Following the November 1988 ruling
• 47:39
  Speaker 2: that returned the property to Dorothy's heirs, the cemetery never
• 47:42
  Speaker 2: fully recovered its former operations. The grounds became increasingly overgrown
• 47:48
  Speaker 2: Grave markers deteriorated, and portions of the property suffered repeated
• 47:52
  Speaker 2: damages from vandalism and trespassing. Hurricane Katrina also caused further
• 47:57
  Speaker 2: destruction in 2005, damaging the house and disturbing animal burial
• 48:02
  Speaker 2: sites that had been maintained for decades. The enormous residence
• 48:06
  Speaker 2: eventually fell into serious disrepair, and the surrounding cemetery, which
• 48:10
  Speaker 2: once contained approximately 5,000 animal graves, became an abandoned property
• 48:16
  Speaker 2: attracting visitors interested. its unusual history. Some came because of
• 48:21
  Speaker 2: the cemetery's reputation for the supernatural activity, while others were
• 48:25
  Speaker 2: interested in a long-standing story about Jack Thompson's missing fortune.
• 48:30
  Speaker 2: And according to that legend, hundreds of thousands of dollars
• 48:34
  Speaker 2: had disappeared following Jack's death at the June Hotel in
• 48:37
  Speaker 2: New Orleans in December of 1935. And some believe Grace
• 48:41
  Speaker 2: brought that money to St. Bernard Parish and buried it
• 48:44
  Speaker 2: somewhere on the former plantation, perhaps beneath one of the
• 48:48
  Speaker 2: animal graves. Now, over the years, treasure hunters reportedly searched
• 48:52
  Speaker 2: that property using metal detectors and other methods, while some
• 48:56
  Speaker 2: even just dug around burial plots hoping to uncover something valuable,
• 49:00
  Speaker 2: but no reliable evidence has ever emerged establishing that the
• 49:03
  Speaker 2: fortune has ever been hidden there, and no documented discovery
• 49:08
  Speaker 2: has ever resolved the mystery. The cemetery remained a reminder
• 49:12
  Speaker 2: of the unusual family history surrounding the property. The thousands
• 49:17
  Speaker 2: of animals buried there and the woman who had spent
• 49:19
  Speaker 2: much of her life helping her mother care for them.
• 49:22
  Speaker 2: But in the end, there's a woman who was named
• 49:25
  Speaker 2: Dorothy who was murdered and had finally reached a legal
• 49:29
  Speaker 2: conclusion to her story. Brandon's guilty plea established his criminal
• 49:33
  Speaker 2: responsibility for her death almost 29 years after fishermen discovered
• 49:37
  Speaker 2: her chained remains in in the Mississippi River. But ultimately,
• 49:42
  Speaker 2: we don't know how she died. We have a secondhand account,
• 49:46
  Speaker 2: but no admission. And that's all we know in the
• 49:49
  Speaker 2: story of the murder of Dorothy Thompson and the Pet
• 49:53
  Speaker 2: Sematary murder.
• 49:54
  Speaker 3: What a frigging wild-ass story.
• 49:57
  Speaker 2: What a wild ride indeed.
• 49:59
  Speaker 3: My goodness gracious. Okay, well, that is who... It kind
• 50:03
  Speaker 3: of seemed like it was obvious who committed Dorothy's murder.
• 50:07
  Speaker 2: I agree.
• 50:07
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 50:08
  Speaker 2: But proving it is another thing.
• 50:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Because, well, who else would have done it, really?
• 50:12
  Speaker 3: It just made sense. But I guess they couldn't prove
• 50:15
  Speaker 3: it for that long.
• 50:17
  Speaker 2: Well, that's the thing. They needed a witness. They needed
• 50:19
  Speaker 2: some evidence. And eventually, they got it.
• 50:24
  Speaker 3: And it's pretty damn sad, though, that how many people
• 50:27
  Speaker 3: paid their hard-earned money to have their loved pets buried
• 50:32
  Speaker 3: at the cemetery, and then it's just now in complete disarray.
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 50:37
  Speaker 3: That seems kind of sad to me. It is. Like
• 50:40
  Speaker 3: really sad.
• 50:41
  Speaker 2: It is.
• 50:41
  Speaker 3: Like I can't think about it too hard. I know.
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: Huh.
• 50:45
  Speaker 2: But at least they are in a good final resting
• 50:48
  Speaker 2: place still. I mean, many cemeteries, animal, human alike, they
• 50:52
  Speaker 2: fall to disrepair. They get abandoned and they're just a
• 50:55
  Speaker 2: plot out there somewhere.
• 50:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah. And so Dorothy had killed two people as well. Yes.
• 51:03
  Speaker 2: Theoretically. She shot her one husband in self-defense and her
• 51:07
  Speaker 2: other husband shot himself in the back as he committed suicide, allegedly.
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: Huh.
• 51:15
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 51:16
  Speaker 2: Which is very suspicious to say the least.
• 51:18
  Speaker 3: Because then Grace was all, like her mother was involved
• 51:21
  Speaker 3: in some shit. It was just like.
• 51:23
  Speaker 2: Her mother also is the one who allegedly, we don't
• 51:28
  Speaker 2: know for sure, killed Jack, which could have been to
• 51:31
  Speaker 2: obtain all that money. And she also killed Mary, Jack's
• 51:36
  Speaker 2: wife at the time.
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 51:38
  Speaker 2: Who she basically got away with it without serving any time.
• 51:43
  Speaker 3: Jeez.
• 51:44
  Speaker 2: So in total, there is three confirmed murders and two
• 51:50
  Speaker 2: mysterious deaths in this story.
• 51:56
  Speaker 3: Which is just bizarre to me.
• 51:58
  Speaker 2: And then you also have hauntings and an urban legend.
• 52:02
  Speaker 3: And it also is fucking confusing to me that Jack
• 52:08
  Speaker 3: was still involved with Dorothy. Because like Jack was with
• 52:14
  Speaker 3: freaking Grace, but then they're not together anymore. And then
• 52:18
  Speaker 3: Grace went and married someone else and had a kid.
• 52:22
  Speaker 3: But then Jack was still fucking involved. I don't know.
• 52:25
  Speaker 3: It's just like a mess. So maybe Jack was actually
• 52:28
  Speaker 3: Dorothy's dad or I don't even know.
• 52:31
  Speaker 2: People make relationships way too complicated.
• 52:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Like this almost gives me a headache. All the
• 52:37
  Speaker 3: shit that just went down in this.
• 52:39
  Speaker 2: It should have been simple. It should have been this
• 52:41
  Speaker 2: person and this person are together. This person and this
• 52:44
  Speaker 2: person are together.
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: The end.
• 52:48
  Speaker 2: Like that should have been.
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: It, you know?
• 52:50
  Speaker 3: But then I guess we would not have a job.
• 52:53
  Speaker 2: Apparently.
• 52:53
  Speaker 3: Apparently.
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 52:55
  Speaker 3: What a wild ride. Yeah.
• 52:57
  Speaker 2: Anyways, hopefully you guys like that story. As Jacko said
• 53:00
  Speaker 2: at the beginning, it had a little bit of everything. Murder, paranormal,
• 53:05
  Speaker 2: and an urban legend all wrapped into one story.
• 53:10
  Speaker 3: Just a sprinkled dust of a whole bunch of shit
• 53:12
  Speaker 3: right there.
• 53:13
  Speaker 2: A whole bunch of shit right there, as Nicole says.
• 53:17
  Speaker 3: Okay, and guess what I didn't forget?
• 53:19
  Speaker 2: You didn't forget.
• 53:20
  Speaker 3: I didn't forget that I have a number to announce today.
• 53:22
  Speaker 2: I was about to do a little intro, and then
• 53:24
  Speaker 2: I was going to see if you remembered, and then
• 53:25
  Speaker 2: I was going to Bring you back to it. Anyways,
• 53:28
  Speaker 2: what's the number?
• 53:29
  Speaker 3: Well, anyway, today's number is number two.
• 53:32
  Speaker 2: Two.
• 53:33
  Speaker 3: Two.
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: Two.
• 53:34
  Speaker 3: Two, two, two.
• 53:35
  Speaker 2: I feel like this is like Sesame Street. Today's number.
• 53:38
  Speaker 2: Today's show is brought to you by the number two.
• 53:40
  Speaker 3: We're going to describe what that number is to you.
• 53:43
  Speaker 2: One, two. That's what it is.
• 53:47
  Speaker 1: Oh, my gosh.
• 53:48
  Speaker 2: Anyways, thanks for being here. So far, this has been
• 53:51
  Speaker 2: an amazing sixth annual Halloween week, and we've got a
• 53:54
  Speaker 2: couple more days to go with Halloween news. right around
• 53:58
  Speaker 2: the corner. If you want to check out our social medias,
• 54:00
  Speaker 2: everything is in the description of this podcast. You can
• 54:02
  Speaker 2: find our website or Instagram or Facebook. You can find
• 54:05
  Speaker 2: our merch. You can find Patreon where you can sign up,
• 54:08
  Speaker 2: get exclusive content and support the show. But still, even
• 54:11
  Speaker 2: just being here right now, you're supporting the show and
• 54:13
  Speaker 2: it means a lot to us. So thank you very much.
• 54:17
  Speaker 2: And until tomorrow's sixth episode on Halloween week, stay wicked.
• 54:39
  Speaker 3: So so
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: Thank you.