Latest / Bless This Mess: A Southern True Crime Podcast / A Little Less Mess: [Kentucky] Marlene Major

Transcript

A Little Less Mess: [Kentucky] Marlene Major · Bless This Mess: A Southern True Crime Podcast

• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, welcome to Blessed This Mess and the True
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Garum Podcast. I'm Kara, just Kara. This is a little
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: less mess. It's our regular episodes minus all the banter
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: and opinions and nonsense stories about our lives. We do these.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: I try to put these out once a week on
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: Sundays after the regular episodes come out in the feed,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: which the regular episodes are the numbered ones, and they
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: are with my husband Stewart and I and we we
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: say inappropriate things and tell the story in more of
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: a lighthearted way as opposed to these are just straight
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: just the story. So if you want to check out
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: our Instagram and Facebook, I post us, I post like recipes,
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: and we have a book club and everything. And then
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: we have Patreon if you would like to support the
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: podcast and then rate, review, subscribe on iTunes and you
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: can check all that out in the show notes. So
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: this week we are going to Kentucky, and if you
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: listen to this one you'd like a little bit more
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: anything more stuff going on, you can check out those
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  Speaker 1: regular episodes. So let's go ahead and get into it.
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  Speaker 1: Helen Marlene Major nay Oaks was born December seventh, nineteen
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  Speaker 1: fifty four in Kentucky to Willie and Mildred Oaks. She
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: would go by her middle name Marlene. Now Marlene met
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  Speaker 1: William Bill Major, who went by Bill, and they married
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy one, when Marlene was just a teenager.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: They settled in Verona, Kentucky, which is in northern Kentucky.
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  Speaker 1: It was a thriving small town that was incorporated, but
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: that since has dissolved is now just a small community
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  Speaker 1: of about fifteen hundred people as of twenty twenty. They
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: would have their first child, a boy named Donald. Soon
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: after marrying, they had a second child, a daughter named
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: Lallana after her mother, about four years later. The marriage
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: on the surface seemed to be fine, however, there were problems.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: At some point, they met a man by the name
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: of Glenn Saint Hilaire. His truck had broken down while
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: he was driving from Texas to Ohio, and the Majors
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: stopped to help him. Glenn moved onto the property of
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: the Majors in a trailer and was working for Bill
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: in some capacity. Marlene and Glenn became close and eventually
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: start started having an affair, but this did not seem
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: to bother Bill. He actually encouraged the affair. It was
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: an odd relationship. Bill in the meantime, was also rumored
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: to be sleeping with another woman. While they were both
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: having affairs, they remained married. There was substance abuse within
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: the family as well. Marlene and Bill would separate on occasion,
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: but still always come back together. On the night of
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: October eleventh, nineteen eighty, Glenn became concerned about Marlene. He
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: had not seen her around the house. Around three a m.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: That morning, he saw Bill and asked about Marlene and
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: the children. Bill told Glenn that he did not know
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: where Marlene was. She had left, taking the children with her.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: On October fourteenth, Bill finally called the police and told
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: them that Marlene was missing. The children were not missing, though,
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: despite what Bill told Glenn, he had actually dropped the
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: children at a neighbor's home the night of October tenth,
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: telling the neighbors that Marlene had left. Bill told police
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: that Marlene had just up and left three nights before.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: He admitted to police that they had argued and that
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: she had gotten upset and left. Police speak to the children,
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: now eight and four, neither recalls hearing anything or seeing
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: their mom leave. They look around the house and find
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: that Marlene's car is missing, but everything else she owned
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: was still there, her per purse, jewelry, medications, everything. This
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: seemed very odd to police, so they looked into what
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: might have happened to Marlene. Bill denied any involvement with
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  Speaker 1: the disappearance, and he seemed forthcoming with information. He even
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: told police about the affair that Marlene was having with Glenn,
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: although he denied having an affair himself. Police searched the
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: major's home and there are no signs of a struggle,
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: nothing that appeared out of sorts. They then to speak
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: to Glenn. He denies any involvement and allows police to
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: search his trailer. Again, no signs of a struggle or
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: anything abnormal. Police are wondering if Marlene decided to just
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: up and leave her life to start over. She was married,
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: young and not in the best marriage. Bill continued to
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: say that Marlene just left on her own accord, abandoning
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  Speaker 1: her family, telling their children she was a drug addict
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: and prostitute and did not care about them. Police, however,
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: continued to look for Marlene. They did searches in the area,
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: and when nothing was found, they sent her image in
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  Speaker 1: dental records nationwide in case she turned up in another state,
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  Speaker 1: but nothing was found and the case quickly went cold.
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  Speaker 1: If Marlene was out there, she did not want to
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  Speaker 1: be found. Police learned that Bill began selling his stuff
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  Speaker 1: in the days after Marlene's disappearance in preparation for a
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: move up north. This included two guns and a tractor
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: to one of his neighbors. Bill and the children moved
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  Speaker 1: to Rhode Island with his parents shortly after Marlene's death,
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: and within just one year he was remarried. Now during
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: that time, Glenn told police that he was concerned something
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: had happened to Marlene. Police learned that prior to her disappearance,
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  Speaker 1: she had given Glenn her diaries for safe keeping. Now
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: they collected those diaries and put them into evidence. Glenn
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: yi And also told police that Bill would talk about
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  Speaker 1: killing Marlene whenever they were separated, at times going as
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  Speaker 1: far as to say that he would shoot her, then
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: chop off her head and remove the teeth so that
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  Speaker 1: no one would be able to identify the body. Police
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  Speaker 1: also learned that he made these types of statements to
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  Speaker 1: other people in their circle of friends. When reviewing the diaries,
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  Speaker 1: they found an entry dated just a few days before
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  Speaker 1: Marlene disappeared, saying that she had walked in and caught
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  Speaker 1: Bill sexually molesting Donald, and that she was leaving and
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  Speaker 1: that she would kill him if he touched her or
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: her children ever again. Now with this information, the Kentucky
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: authorities visited Bill and the children up in Rhode Island
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  Speaker 1: to interview them about the sexual abuse charges. They were
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  Speaker 1: unsuccessful in getting in for any information due to being afraid,
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  Speaker 1: Donald didn't tell the police the truth. Now, despite not
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: telling authorities, Bill still beat Donald severely afterwards to keep
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: him afraid so he would never speak up. However, soon
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: after Bill remarried, Lallana and Donald confided in their new stepmom,
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: telling them their dad had been sexually assaulting them for years.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: The stepmom immediately believed the children, as Bill had been
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: extremely violent. She reported Bill to the police and he
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: was arrested. He was convicted of child abuse and sentenced
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: to fifteen years in prison, but would only serve about
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  Speaker 1: ten years now. During the time of the arrest of Bill,
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  Speaker 1: back in Kentucky, on November twenty ninth, nineteen eighty one,
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  Speaker 1: a skull of a female was found on a nearby
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  Speaker 1: farm belonging to the Waller family. Due to the skull
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  Speaker 1: missing teeth and the lack of DNA testing technology, they
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: were unable to positively identify the skull. It was known
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: that Bill would work on the Waller farm family farm
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: on occasion. All signs pointed to the skull belonging to
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  Speaker 1: Marlene and Bill being the killer. However, they had no
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  Speaker 1: way of proving any of this. Years would go by
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: with no real movement in the case and Bill behind bars.
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  Speaker 1: In nineteen ninety six, he was transported back to Kentucky,
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  Speaker 1: where he was held while they investigated the sexual abuse
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  Speaker 1: allegations that occurred in Kentucky years prior. However, due to
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: the statue of limitations, he was not charged. He then
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: relocated to Massachusetts. In two thousand and one, they finally
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: had a break in the case. Police learn that in
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  Speaker 1: nineteen ninety six, Bill had made a phone call to
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  Speaker 1: his father, James. Now During this conversation, Bill confessed to
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: killing Marlene. James did not go to the police with
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: this information, so it was about five years before they
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: could follow up on anything. Once they learned this, they
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: contacted James and he agreed to try and get his
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  Speaker 1: son to confess over the phone now. During the conversation,
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  Speaker 1: Bill said the following, why do I get the feeling
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  Speaker 1: that somebody is trying to set me up? When asked
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  Speaker 1: if he could say what happened, Bill replied, even if
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  Speaker 1: I could, I probably wouldn't. When his father said that
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: his daughter just wanted to know what happened to her mother,
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: he said, to tell her to quote, ask Marlene's boyfriend
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: in Indiana. I think if they had a talk with him,
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: they might be surprised. When his father reminded, Bill, you
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  Speaker 1: told me you killed her, he replied, at the time,
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  Speaker 1: I was in jail and I was pretty well upset.
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  Speaker 1: Although this was not true, he was in between incarcerations
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  Speaker 1: at the time of the phone call. With this information,
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: they were able to charge James with the murder of Marlene,
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: and in July of two thousand and one, he was
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: extradited back to Kentucky. Once in custody, Bill began asking
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: questions about the investigation. He continued to speak and incriminated
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  Speaker 1: himself in Marlene's murder. Finally, on another occasion, he told
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  Speaker 1: detectives what had happened to Marlene on the night of
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  Speaker 1: her disappearance. They got into an argument while sitting in
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  Speaker 1: her ford pinto. She then pulled a gun on him
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: and he took it from her. She began screaming and
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  Speaker 1: he quote lost it and fired the gun until it
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  Speaker 1: was empty. When he realized he had killed her, he
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: left her body in the ford Pinto and took the
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: children to the neighbors for the night. He then took
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  Speaker 1: Marlene's Ford Pinto to the Waller farm, where he dumped
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: her body in a sinkhole, covered it with dirt and
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: a piece of rolled up fencing, and then tossed the
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  Speaker 1: murder weapon in a nearby pond. He then disposed of
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: the car in the Ohio River near a ferry port.
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  Speaker 1: At this point he even drew police a map to
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: help them search for her body. A search was performed
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: for Marlene's remains, the car, and the gun, but only
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: the skull was recovered. When preparing for trial, Bill had
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: the options of possibly getting the death penalty or life
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: in prison. They spoke to James about testifying against his
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: son and the death penalty being an option, and he said,
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  Speaker 1: that's all right. I'll pull the effing switch if they
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: need me to. He's no good. He's no asset to anyone. However,
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  Speaker 1: on July twenty eight, two thousand and three, Bill was
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  Speaker 1: convicted of the murder of Marlene and was sentenced to
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: life in prison. All right, well that's a little less
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  Speaker 1: mess for the week. I hope you enjoyed it. If
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: you'd like to check out more of our our episodes,
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: go check out the numbered ones in the feed. So
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: it'll be this episode, but with our opinions and some
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  Speaker 1: funny stuff thrown into Since we're dealing with such a
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: dark subject, we like to have a little fun anyways.
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: All right, well, we won't have these episodes for the
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  Speaker 1: next couple of Sundays, so we will see you in
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: a few weeks. Bye. Everyone. Don't you know it's bad
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: line to be superst shots by mapping el since working
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: say this word and I like that, I can test
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: way