Latest / Wicked and Grim: A True Crime Podcast / Tragic Tale of Jennifer Daughtery

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Tragic Tale of Jennifer Daughtery · Wicked and Grim: A True Crime Podcast

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: In twenty ten, a group of individuals took advantage of
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: a woman by the name of Jennifer Doughugherty. Unfortunately, it's
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: a case where people prayed on someone who is more
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: vulnerable and weaker than themselves. Their reasoning for the unfolding
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: events are also despicable and are enough to make your
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: stomach turn. Jennifer trusted these people and they simply decided
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: to kill her.
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: My name's Ben and I'm Nicole and you're listening to
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: Wicked Ingram, a true crime podcasting.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: The following podcast and material intended for a mature audience.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Listener discretion is advised to Honey's return home.
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: Cheers to that.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: So we had a bit of a fun event this week.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: Our dog Honey managed to get out of the yard
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: and she just bolted going on and we had to
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: do a great search for her. And three and a
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: half hours later she just came trotting back.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: She just decided, yeah, yeah, why not. We've been yelling,
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: you know, in the neighborhood for over three hours.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: But I put the steps on that day. I can
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: tell you that.
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, I mean it was a good exercise day.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: It was I was literally actually before she was about
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: to do it, or before she left, I was about
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: to go to the gym. I didn't go to the
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: gym because I was exhausted enough that I was like, yeah,
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: I think I'm good.
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: Actually, so well, I had gone to the gym and
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: then I had to come home and do that. Yeah,
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: so that was real fun because it was also a
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: strength class. So my legs were, yeah, tired something.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: Well, Honey's home.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: That's all that matters, definitely. One.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: What else that matters are friends, Yeah, patrons. So we
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: had a few amazing people sign up this week over
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: on Patreon. We had Brendan Watson, Claire Gibbs and Ought.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: I think it's at Ort or out Ott. I'm gonna
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: say Ought, yeah, not Oat. I mean, it depends on
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: the inflection.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: Maybe it is going to imagine if it is, it's
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: not this.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: Actually yes it.
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: Is, honestly, but thank you. That's so cool to have
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: those people sign up. That's awesome.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: So they get all the behind the scenes, the extra
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: content and the exclusive episode at the end of each month.
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: They sure do, which.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: By now I'm not even sure how many we have. Yeah,
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: we've probably got close to thirty exclusive episodes. In a
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: library for them.
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so that's pretty cool to sign up for that.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: Hey, it is so thank you so much for being
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: part of that. Guys, you ready for this episode? Probably not?
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: No, I know I know what teeny tiny bit. The
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: names a little bit familiar, and I know tiny bit
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: about the case, but it's I don't know the details,
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: and it's gonna be it's gonna be bad.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: It's not a fun one by any.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: Means to make me angry. I know that for sure.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: These people certainly took advantage of this person, and it's heartbreaking,
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: to say the least. So, without further ado, let's get
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: into it, shall we.
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: Okay, let's do it.
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: So. Jennifer Doughderty was a thirty year old woman from
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania. She was a kind and trusting person
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: who possessed a childlike innocence due to her mental disability.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: Her trusting nature endeared her too many. Her mother, Denise
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: Murphy even said this about her daughter Jennifer quote, she
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: liked to have fun, she was trusting, she made friends easily,
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: she loved to dance, and she loved to sing. Jennifer
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: was truly a kind, innocent soul. With her disability. She
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: had the equivalent like mind of about a thirteen year old. Okay, okay,
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: So recently, Jennifer had excitingly shared with her family about
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: her new friends that she had made friends that had
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: lived in Greensburg, which was in the neighboring town. Despite
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: Jennifer's limitations, she independently traveled by bust Mount Pleasant from
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: Mount Pleasant Storry to Greenberg. This was a frequent thing
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: that was only approximately ten miles away. She did this
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: for various appointments. It was there that she had found
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: companionship and her new friends at the community center. The
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: friendship grew over a little while, and it will be
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: on February tenth, twenty ten, that she informed her mother
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: and stepfather of her plans for a sleepover at a
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: friend's apartment in Greensburg. So, for a minute, I want
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: to put you guys in this perspective here imagine, because
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: Jennifer is the like mind of a thirteen year old.
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  Speaker 1: So put yourselves in the shoes when you were thirteen
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: and you were having a sleepover the friend, Remember how
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: much excitement you had in those years, how much fun,
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: how innocence you were, the goofy, the weird the stuff
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: you got up to.
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: Well, yeah, you would be doing some like eating some
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: yummy food, watching some movies, having a pillow fight, you know.
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, whatever the case. I mean, in twenty ten,
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: there's a little bit more Internet at the time. I'm
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: sure maybe it's going to be watching YouTube or who
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: knows what, right, But that's what Jennifer is getting ready for.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: She's excited to have a sleepover with her friends, and
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: that in itself is so innocent and adorable to say
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: the least, which, of course, that innocence was stripped away.
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: She was going there with the intention of attending a
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: doctor's appointment in Greensburg and the next or sorry, the
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: next morning, returning home. So she's going there to spend
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: the night with friends. Yeah, go to a doctor's appointment,
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: come home. So it was a bit of time out
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: on her own with friends doing their thing. Now, this
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: is exactly the type of independence that Jennifer's mother sought
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: in her daughter. She had a disability that held her back. However,
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: that didn't mean it would prevent a normal and fruitful
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: life for Jennifer, so she encouraged things like this. Of course,
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: go out, go to your appointment on your own. You
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: can take care of yourself. Just because you have a disability,
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: don't you can't take care of yourself, right? Independence is
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: still important.
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that sounds like an awesome mom.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: One hundred percent.
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: So.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: On the morning that she left to Greensburg, Jennifer left
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: a note with her friend's contact details on it and
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: expressing her loves and her love and well wishes for
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: her mother, and that note said this quote, Mom, I
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: hope that you will have a good day at work,
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: and I also love you very much. I will talk
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: to you sometime later, her stepfather, Bobby Murphy, dropped her
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: off at the bus station, just as he had always
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: did whenever she was traveling by herself. They exchanged a
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: kiss in the cheek as they said they're goodbyes, and
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: this would be the last time he would ever see
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: Jennifer alive.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: Oh my chest is already getting tight. This shit's going
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: to just break.
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: My heart, right, like I said, the innocence in this woman?
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, oh boy, Okay.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: From there it will be. On February eleventh, twenty ten,
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: when Jennifer's lifeless body was discovered concealed in a garbage
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: and in a school parking lot.
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: Holy shit, you just got right into it there.
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: I did. Her remains showed that she had endured prolonged
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: torture before succumbing to a fatal stabbing. Oh my gosh,
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: an investigation into the gruesome is a light way of
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: putting it, but that's what it was. A very gruesome discovery.
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: Quickly uncovered the truth when looking into the last place
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: she was known to be her friends or the people
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: that she called friends.
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, friends in quotation marks.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah. So the Westmoreland County corner Kenneth Baka confirmed the
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: grim discovery as they revealed that the victim's belongings were
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: recovered in the building's attic. So the apartment where the
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: friends lived. Her belongings were recovered in the attic.
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: In the attic, okay, so.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: They're trying to stash them somewhere totally, Yeah, were found. So, like,
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: this went down relatively fast discovering who did this to Jennifer.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: They went to the apartment and it was pretty much
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: instant as far as I can tell. I tried to
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: dive into really how the investigation got started, and it
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: seemed like it was just they just knew. It was like, oh,
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: these are the people and they just found stuff like immediately.
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's almost interesting that they would find her remain
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: so quickly when they were in the attic.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: Really well, her remains weren't in the attic, her belongings.
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: Or her belongings Okay, sorry sorry.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, her belongings were recovered in the attic. Her remains
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: were found in the garbage.
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: Of so then yeah, okay, that makes sense.
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: They also found in the attic along with her belongings
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: some items that were used and clean up. So whether
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: it was rags or bleach or whatever. Now. Jennifer's sister,
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: Joy Burkeholder expressed this quote. She was exploited and her
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: kindness and her handicap made her very vulnerable. She trusted everybody.
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: She believed everyone was good and no one would hurt her. Denise,
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: Jennifer's mother, reflected on the situation with immense regret and
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: to quote her, my biggest regret was forcing Jennifer to
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: act as an adult. Oh no, to which I want
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: to say, she should not. I understand like people are
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: going to have regret, but she should not feel any
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: sort of remorse for encouraging her child into adulthood. I
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: know it's what a parent is supposed to do, supposed
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: to protect them and just get them ready for the world,
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  Speaker 1: prepare them for what's out there. And it's so unfortunate
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: that there's some predators to take advantage and seek and destroy.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: No one can predict a situation like this.
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  Speaker 2: Well, the fact that the mom has regret is just
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: freaking heartbreaking. But it's like, I don't know, you can't
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: live your life preparing someone for something like this happening. No,
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: you can't, because then that just would take literally like
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: all the joy out of everything it wherever it would.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: And she had very good intent in actually putting Jennifer
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: into an adulthood, giving her independence and taking the bus
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  Speaker 1: and going to her own appointments and everything. There is
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: so much good in giving someone their independence, especially when
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: they're in the shoes of Jennifer, who, rather than being
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: shielded from the world, it's like, you can still be
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: a part of the world because just because you're different
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  Speaker 1: doesn't mean that you can't thrive.
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and if only we didn't, like there wasn't people
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: that just were monsters out there.
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: So Jennifer had made her way to Peggy Darlene Miller's
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: house her friend at four to twenty eight North Pennsylvania
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  Speaker 1: Avenue apartment, and this is where several others whom she
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: considered friends were gathered, with the likes of Robert Lauren
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: Masters Junior, Ricky Smearns, Melvin Knight, Amber Meetinger, and Angela Marnouci.
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: Holy shit, there's a lot of them.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: There's six of them, six of them.
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: That just decide to make poor ass decisions.
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: Well, we're going to get into their poor ass decisions.
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: But yes, okay, wow. I thought maybe there'd be like
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: two or three, maybe Max, Yeah, but that actually became
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: more mad.
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: But okay, right now. Angela in particular had known Jennifer
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: for years and the two often conversed on the phone. However,
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: upon Jennifer's arrival at the ap apartment, the situation took
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: a horrific turn. Now, I'm aware we kind of touched
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: on a bit of Jennifer leaving and how this all started,
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: and we quickly went to her body being discovered, and
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: now we're diving into where she's at with the friends.
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: But we're again going to take another turn because I
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: think it's really important to actually tell this in linear fashion.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: And one of the things that I think is very
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: crucial to examine is the individuals that were capable of
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: perpetuating this sort of crime. Perpetrating his word, I was
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: looking for sorry against someone like Jennifer. So before we
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: get into the actual crime, these are those six individuals.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: Here we go. Melvin Knight was one of them and
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: later emerged as the quote ring leader among the group
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: at twenty years old. Melvin had a troubled past and
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: a criminal record. He was born to a drug addicted
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: father who was incarcerated during his formative years, and Melvin's
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: life was rough from a very young age. He endured
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: traumatic incident at the age of five when he fell
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: from a moving vehicle, resulting in lifelong learning and social challenges. Amber,
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: meeting jer also twenty at the time, had her owned
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: tumultuous upbringing. Jennifer had begun to trust Amber at some
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: point in their shared experience at West Place, which was
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: a center for individuals with special needs. The path of
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: Amber and Melvin converged at a homeless shelter in Washington
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: in January of twenty ten, and Amber had become pregnant
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: with Melvin's child. Together, the two cross paths with Ricky
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: Smearnz another key player in this tragedy. Ricky was twenty
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: four at the time, had a history of criminal behavior
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: and deeply troubled background. Born to a substance addicted sex
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: worker from Philadelphia and a Pittsburgh gang member, Ricky's childhood
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: sadle likes of foster care abuse and neglect. As a result,
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: he had a litany of traumas and mental health struggles.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: La Marnoussi was just seventeen at the time in the crime,
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: She too faced her own challenges. She sustained head injury
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: in the truck acts in a truck accident two years prior,
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: at the age of fifteen. The injury significantly altered her behavior,
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: contributing to her involvement in the tragic events. Peggy Miller,
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: aged twenty seven, carried a history of mental health issues
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: and Robert Masters, the six individual implicated in Jennifer's murder,
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: was thirty six at the time and had a criminal
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: record of his own. So these six were the so
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: called friends of Jennifer, and together they murdered her in
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: cold blood. H So I do understand each and every
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: one of these individuals has their own troubles, their own struggles.
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's why it's hard to even kind of comment
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: on there, because it sounds like a lot of them,
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: you know, had kind of tough situations. Right.
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: Well, my perspective is everyone has tough situations, some greater
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: than others, and these are definitely great tough situations. I
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: have not experienced some of the things that these people
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: have gone through. But it doesn't matter what you go through,
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: it's what you do as a result. Just because you
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: were you had wrong done to you, doesn't mean you can.
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: Go do wrong to say, that's no excuse.
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: As soon as you do wrong on your own free will,
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: it's it's on your own accord. Now, there are situations
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: where mental health may not be your own free will,
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: you know what I mean. But in this case, it
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: certainly was their own free will.
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: Well. Yeah, and especially when there's six individuals, you think
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: someone in that group, you know, can step up and
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: decide that this is wrong, like we shouldn't be doing this,
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: this is the wrong decision.
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: I agree, and we'll touch on that at some point. Okay,
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: So what exactly happened went as follows. It began when
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: Jennifer had arrived at the apartment and went to take
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: a shower. Now, when she was in the shower, the friends,
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: if you will, Pilford through Jennifer's purse and stole a
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: gift card and eight dollars worth of money, money that
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: she had intended to use for her bus fare the
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: next day to her appointment and then home.
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: Okay, that's really sad, but also it's very interesting that
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: she just shows up there and like, has a shower.
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: Well, I mean she's staying the night, she having to
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: sleep over, right, maybe she showers before bed?
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, true, true, all right, I was almost thinking maybe
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: they were like, yah, you should go have a shower.
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: They might have. I'm unclear how that exactly started, but yeah,
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: for whatever reason, she went and had a shower.
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: Kap.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: So when where am I here? Sorry? Gotcha? So they
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: Pilford through her purse, took a gift card, took eight dollars,
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: and then they actually went in and spilled a bunch
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: of makeup. Whether it's her makeup or some other makeup
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: they had, but they spilled a bunch of makeup and
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: mouth wash inside her purse as well, making a big
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: mess of it when they were all done. Needless, but
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: that's what they did.
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: Okay, that makes no sense, but I mean, none of
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: this does.
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: But no, none of trust me, none of it does.
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: When Jennifer came out of the shower and found out
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: what happened, she asked them why they would do that
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: to her, to which, as far as I could tell,
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: she never really got a response. Instead, the events just
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: simply began to escalate. Robert, according to his later testimony,
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: assisted Jennifer in retrieving her clothes after Melvin and Ricky
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: stripped her and tossed her clothes out a window. However,
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: before she could dress and leave, the situation again escalated.
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: She was then beginning to get viciously attacked. She was
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: assaulted and endured punches to her head, and over the
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: next thirty six hours, agonizing hours, Jennifer was subjected to
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: relentless beatings, not only with being punched or care but
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: with various objects, including soda cans and a vacuum cleaner.
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: Amber and Angela would later confess to taking turns to
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: violently beating her with a metal towel rack and crutches.
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: Holy shit, they are pulling absolutely no punches. They are
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: reveling in what they're doing. They are taking turns beating
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: her with a metal towel rack and crutches.
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: Well see, and that's the other thing too, the whole
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: thirty six hours that you just said I am sorry about. Like,
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: what fucking point would you decide that that's enough?
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: Right?
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: Like? I like, you know, you make a decision. It's
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: already a terrible decision. There's six of you making this decision,
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: and then it actually goes on for that long. Yeah,
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: and you're continuing to make this bullshit decision, continuing yes
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: and escalating it, taking turns, so you're letting one do
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: the act while you stand back and watch and revel
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: in it.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: I want to emphasize that word that I've already used.
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: I think that's the second time now, reveled in watching
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: this unfold.
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: And you're doing this to someone who literally was so
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: excited to come and hang out with you and is
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: the sweetest kind of soul.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, who just wanted to have a sleep over with
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: their friends.
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, that is that's just enough to make
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: you want to just sob wow.
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: But instead, Jennifer was being put through help and was
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: the subject to more than just blunt force trauma. She
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: was forced to drink and swallow detergent, urine, cooking oil, medications, spices,
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: and nail polish. Who her abusers Sorry, her abusers then
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: bound her with strings of Christmas lights and began to
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: shave her head and paint her face with the nail polish.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: Jennifer was also sexually assaulted by Melvin as well.
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: Oh my goodness, Okay, I was like hoping that that
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: would not also be a piece of it, but okay
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: it was was.
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: Unfortunately. Eventually, at one point they began to tire, if
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: you will, of the torture, and the group got together
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: and voted to kill her. So all six of them decided, Hey,
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: you know, I'm bored, I'm done with this. Let's just
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: kill her now. Let's just deal with this and get
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: it over with because I want to move on to
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: god knows what spend her gift card and eight dollars
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: on something I guess all fucked up?
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: Is that it? That is beyond messed?
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah. So they then, after deciding this, untied Jennifer from
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: the Christmas lights, and they forced her to write a
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: suicide note, which they intended to place in her back
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: pocket to stage her death. The note that she was
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: forced to write reads as follows. I haven't been very
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: happy for a while, and I also feel like that
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: everybody who would be better without me on the earth.
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: I will always love my mom and stepdad no matter what,
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: and I will always love the rest of my family. Also,
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: my nieces and nephew will be lucky to have a
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: better aunt than me. I am done with life. Goodbye, Jennifer.
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, brutal, brutal, brutal.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: Yes, Oh, that's the note they forced her to write.
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: You know that is terrible. I also very much so
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: struggling the fact that they use Christmas lights to tie
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: her up. That is not sitting well.
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: No, I can't stop thinking about them forcing her to
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: write this note, though, because I guarantee you, let's let's
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: take this one line here. My nieces and nephews would
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: be lucky to have a better ant than me. I
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: guarantee you she has nothing but extreme love for her niece.
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: Oh, oh my gosh, her nieces and nephew's probably for going
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: to adore her.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: So them making her write this six people surrounding you,
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: forcing you to write this, I guarantee you. It put
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: doubt in her mind and she probably believed that by
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: the time she was done writing because of these sick fucks.
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, Ben, I know I never even thought
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: of that, but you're absolutely right.
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: I'm sure they probably made her write this and made
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: her fucking believe it too, which makes my stomach fucking turn.
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: Once they had the note written, they once again tied
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: her up using the Christmas lights again. Ricky then handed
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: Melvin a steak knife and he proceeded to brutally stab
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: Jennifer in the chest, hitting her in the heart and
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: the lungs. Despite these grievous injuries, though Jennifer did not die,
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: and Melvin yelled, quote, this bitch still ain't dead.
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: Holy fuck.
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: Ricky then took the knife and slashed Jennifer's wrist. Yet
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: still in her dire state, Jennifer clung to life, and
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: the men then resorted to choking her by pulling two
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: ends of the Christmas lights looped around her neck, ultimately
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: taking her life.
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: Okay, that was like, that was some serious bullshit. Yeah,
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: I cannot believe that they Oh I can't. I can't
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: even speak right now because the torture that that would
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: have been like trying, the pain and the suffering that
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: they by like prolonging the killing is wow.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: Wow, every single thing they did was done with extreme
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: malicious intent. Yeah, every single thing.
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: Like stabbing her freaking heart and her lungs yep, and
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: then her freaking wrists cutting them yep. And then but
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: also just like the will of her of her live,
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: I know.
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: Jennifer's body was then stuffed into a garbage can and
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: discarded in the parking lot of Greensburg Salem Middle School,
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: which is where she would later be found. As for
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: the trial, Amber, Peggy, and Robert each pleaded guilty to
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: the murder, offering detailed testimonies about the events.
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: Oh so at one point they decided, like, let's not
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: be continuing being pieces of shit.
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so they did well, they pleaded guilty, So I'm
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: assuming they probably made some sort of plea deal. We'll
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: get into their They.
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: Decided that they would, you know, take ownership for sense exactly.
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: So they actually even offered a bit of a motive
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: on how it began to and recounted how Angela was
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: harboring some jealousy of Jennifer because of a perceived potential
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: relationship with Ricky. Because apparently Jennifer and Ricky had, in
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: her eyes, flirted a bit.
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: Hm, that's the motive.
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: Yes, and Ricky was Angela's boyfriend, so allegedly it was
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: Angela who enticed Jennifer to the apartment and then Ricky
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: initiated the assault. So this all occurred because Angela thought
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: Jennifer flirted with.
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: Ricky a bit, And honestly, Jennifer was probably just being nice.
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: Jennifer was just talking to a friend.
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, being nice and like showing enthusiasm, probably an excitement
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: for having these new friends and exactly liking life.
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: Yep, I know.
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: So.
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: While police had not directly implicated Peggy and Robert in
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: the physical abuse and murder, evidence presented during the trial
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: suggested their involvement in the group's quote family meeting where
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: the decision to end Jennifer's life was made. So they
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: called that when they convened all six of them to discuss. Okay,
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: I bored, let's kill her now A quote family meeting.
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: That's some family meeting. Yeah, that ain't no family that
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: I would ever want to be part of.
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: Fuck no now. At one point, the two were even
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: left alone with Jennifer, so Peggy and Robert they were
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: left alone with Jennifer while the others were temporarily out
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: of the apartment. In this time, Jennifer was begging and
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: pleading for them to help her and let her go.
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: You said, at some point you think that they would think,
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: maybe let's do let's something stop.
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: Yes, someone you feel like would have that thought.
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: Instead of helping, they chose to notify the rest of
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: the group about Jennifer asking for help and wanting to escape.
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: Wow.
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: So they did the exact opposite.
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: Totally, the exact opposite.
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: Now, their lawyers sought to argue that these two acted
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: out of fear of their own lives, believing they too
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: were would face harm if they resisted the group's actions.
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: So during their sentencing hearings, both Peggy and Robert made
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: tearful please for leniency, expressing remorse for their roles in
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: the tragedy. A quote from Robert in the courtroom goes
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: as such, I was scared for my life. I should
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: have done something, but I didn't because I was scared.
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: Can the family forgive me.
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: That? I just have to say. That is a bit
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: hard to swallow, though, because the gang mentality sort of
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: right it is. Sometimes you see these situations where it
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: is hard to step outside of the group and do
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: something different.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: It's definitely However, the group is no longer there. The
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: group is out of the apartment. Yeah, it's Robert, Peggy
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: and Jennifer in the apartment. So that they did nothing.
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: They could have quite easily had.
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: They could have called the cops. Yeah, but they didn't. Yeah,
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: they could have easily untied her and ran with her,
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: but they didn't.
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: That's true.
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: A quote from Peggy in the courtroom goes as such,
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: I am sorry, and I am guilty. She was my
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: friend and I should not have voted for her to die.
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: You know what this what's her fucking name? Peggy? Yep, Peggy?
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: Like you can't say she was your friend now, like
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: just thatt the fuck up?
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: No, she was not your friend.
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: Like that is making me mad.
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: You may have been her friend, but you were not. No, Like,
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: in Jennifer's eyes, you were her friend, but you were
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: not her phone friend.
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: You were about as far opposite of that as you
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: can get.
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you you did nothing but take advantage and trick
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: Jennifer in every way, shape or form, and then you
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: fucking killed her.
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Like I mean, I get it's good it's good
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: if criminals or whatever have remorse, but it's also just
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: kind of like fucking shut the fuck up, because it
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: is far too late for you too, all of a
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: sudden decide that you have like the tiniest sliver of
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: maybe a heart.
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, she probably wouldn't have felt guilty, and she probably
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: wouldn't have thought I should have not voted for her
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: to die if she wasn't caught.
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: True, very true.
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: It always comes after being caught, because that's when the
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: remorse sets in. I was caught. I'm sorry.
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they feel bad, just gone and lived their life.
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: She would have. Jennifer's family responded with their statements a
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: heartfelt plea to the judge for harsher sentences. One of
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: those statements from her sister comes in and says, this,
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: you had my sister as a friend, she loved Miller
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: and valued her. You didn't value her. You probably value
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: a hair brush more than you value her.
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: Oh, I mean that's real, harsh, but real true.
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Angela was convicted of first degree murder and received
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: a life sentence in prison. Melvin and Ricky faced the
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: harshest penalties. Melvin and Ricky were the ones who actually
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: stabbed and killed her, receiving death sentences for their roles
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: in the crime. Oh wow, Amber, having pleaded guilty, was
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: sentenced to forty to eighty years behind bars. Peggy and Robert,
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: also pleading guilty, received sentences of thirty to seventy years
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: and thirty five to seventy four years.
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: Okay, good, good.
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: Now, I want to end this episode with one of
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: the most honest and true quotes I think I've ever
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: come across in the likes of true crime podcast researching.
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: I understand closure, I understand what it means to a
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: lot of people, but when you are missing a loved
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: one due to the chosen actions of someone else, closure
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: can only go so far. Okay, So outside the courtroom, Bobby,
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: Jennifer's stepfather, said, this closure is Jennifer coming back to us,
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: and Jennifer won't come back to us, so there is
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: no closure.
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: Oh boy, Yeah, I mean that is a statement that
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: is very true. Yeah it's so simple, but like so true.
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah wow, Okay.
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: And that's the story of Jennifer Dougherty.
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: That is a ridiculously awful story.
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: It breaks my fucking heart so much.
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: Well yeah, it's just I mean, most of the stuff
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: we talk on here is beyond unnecessary. But that is
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: just new level.
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: It is.
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: Because she seemed like she just was like this light.
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: She was how you described her.
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: She loved to dance and sing, and she was just
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: gonna go have a sleepover with her friends. And she's
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: she's taking independence upon herself and taking the bus to
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: go to an appointment on her own. Yeah, despite the
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: challenges she has, that's exactly what she was. She was
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: a fucking light, no kidding. And they snuff that light
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: out without a second fucking thought.
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: And like the world we live and just need so much.
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: More like that, they do it does.
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: It's just it's like a bull. It's it's hard. Our
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: like our world is a bit rough sometimes and it's
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: I mean it's there's a lot of good, but there's
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: a lot of bad. And it's interesting just people and
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: and how they can make decisions like that, and for
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: thirty six hours, not at one point they question it,
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: what the fuck am I doing?
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: Right? Thirty six hours is a long time, Yeah, a
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: long time for Jennifer to suffer in a long time
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: for you to sit there watching her and not think
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: for one moment, like you said, what the fuck am
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: I doing?
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that is so long, because I'm just thinking, like
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: this is by nowhere no comparison whatsoever, but like just
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: how long Honey was gone? Like three and a half hours, right,
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: like we mentioned in the beginning, seemed like un eternity,
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: And so I couldn't imagine doing something so heinous for
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: thirty six hours.
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: Right, I mean that's something like this is a really
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: weird analogy. And I'm really sorry saying it in advance.
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: If I'm on the toilet pooping and I'm sitting there
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: for like five minutes longer on my phone, after I'm done,
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: I'm like, what am I doing? I should probably get
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: off the can and put my phone down, you know,
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: Like I've been pooping for a while.
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: My legs are starting to go numb, like maybe I'll
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: stand up.
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: At some point, you think something would kick in that
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: mob mentality. You would think an individualism idea, an individualistic
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: idea would hit your fucking mind at some point. And
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: I guarantee you, I guarantee you it did with each
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: and every one of those people. But they made the
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: conscious fucking decision to ignore it.
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: They did, they absolutely guarantee. Wow. I mean it's good
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: that it was, Like, I feel like the sentencing was good.
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: Yes it was.
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: It was long sentences and it was you know, you
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: did do something wrong here and you're going to face
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: the consequences, which is not always the case. So that
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: is good. Yeah, But I also like, why the fuck
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: do guys always sit on the toilet for so long
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: with their phone?
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: It's it's a moment when you're not going to ever
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: be disturbed by anything.
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: Huh.
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: No one's going to just say, for example, hey Ben,
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: can you feed the dogs for me real quick? I like,
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: there's nothing wrong with that, But if I'm sitting on
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: the can, You're not about to interrupt me. No matter
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: what I'm doing.
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: I do interrupt you more now because we do only
• 34:55
  Speaker 2: have one bathroom too, I do have to say, like,
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: is that a guy thing? Because I'm not sure if
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: that if like a lot of females do that. I'm
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: just curious anyway.
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: I'm just thought, I don't know if it's a guy
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: thing per se, But I don't know. It's not like
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: I do it extreme. It's like I probably spend at
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: times an extra five minutes cool, but it's just five
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: minutes of bliss.
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: Ah No, I don't know that is. I'd way rather
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: than five minutes doing something else.
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: It's just five minutes of solitude, that's all it is.
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: But anyway, thank you for bringing that case to our attention.
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: It's one that I observed attention.
• 35:37
  Speaker 2: It does and it's it's it's like, I don't know
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: how to say this, but it's a damn shame, Like
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: it is a damn shape that that happened.
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: If someone if you guys are listening right now, if
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: someone that you know is just trying to be nice
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: in one way, shape or form, just try and be
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: nice back, because that's all it is. I just see
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: Jennifer as just someone who's just happy and just trying
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: to be nice and just trying to have fun and
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: just trying to live life. And if we could just
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: be nicer to people like that, then maybe we could
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: be a little bit more like Jennifer totally.
• 36:16
  Speaker 2: I mean, what is the like an act of kindness spread? Like,
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: what is there's a saying I'm not going to be
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: able to think of it off the top of my head,
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: but like if you spread kindness.
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: It can go pretty much it's contagious. Yeah, yeah, so yeah,
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: that was the story of Jennifer Dougherty. Like I said,
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: I really thought it deserves some attention. Her story is
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: one that rattled me during research quite a bit.
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: Okay, well, I have just one tiny idea. I feel like,
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: in Jennifer's honor, anyone that listens to this can make
• 36:47
  Speaker 2: one conscious effort to do an act of good kindness
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: after listening to this episode would be amazing.
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: Deal. Let's do that.
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: I think that would be unbelievable.
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, maybe we could make this world just a little
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: bit better, just in Jennifer's name.
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: Totally, let's do it.
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: Well with that, To Jennifer and to you guys out there,
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: stay wicked.