Latest / Least of These / 232. “Murder on Mahned Bridge” - The Case of William Hatcher, Robbie Bond & Michael Lee - [Part 2]

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232. “Murder on Mahned Bridge” - The Case of William Hatcher, Robbie Bond & Michael Lee - [Part 2] · Least of These

0:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to least of these where I cover the cases that need it most because every life matters and everyone deserves justice.
0:07
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm your host Leah Dee and today I'll be bringing you part one of the case of William Hatcher, Robbie Bond and Michael Lee and Petal, Mississippi.
0:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Just a warning.
0:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Today's case is extremely graphic in nature and involves details of a sexual assault.
0:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Listener discretion is definitely advised and with that said, let's get right to it.
1:04
[SPEAKER_00]: On May 14, 1995, Dana Moore showed up at the McAllister's Dellian Hattiesburg, Mississippi, ready for her shift at work.
1:13
[SPEAKER_00]: She was expecting her co-worker William Hatcher to walk through the door at any moment.
1:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Customers began showing up and she started taking orders, but William never made it in.
1:24
[SPEAKER_00]: And that was odd.
1:25
[SPEAKER_00]: 27-year-old William Hatcher was reliable almost to a fault.
1:31
[SPEAKER_00]: He'd never just miss work like that without calling and letting someone know what was going on.
1:35
[SPEAKER_00]: Dana was worried but she pushed through her shift.
1:39
[SPEAKER_00]: As soon as that shift was over, though, she and several other co-workers went out looking for William.
1:45
[SPEAKER_00]: They went to the apartment he shared with his brother Eric, but William wasn't there.
1:50
[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, he hadn't been there all night.
1:53
[SPEAKER_00]: At that point, Eric was obviously concerned too.
1:57
[SPEAKER_00]: Dana and the other employees from McAllisters knew that after they had all worked their ship the night before, William and another coworker, Toyuan-Year-old Robbie Bond, had gone to the Monnid Bridge to Stargaze.
2:09
[SPEAKER_00]: They had left at around 9.30 pm.
2:12
[SPEAKER_00]: As we talked about before, after the bridge closed, it became a popular spot for teens and young adults in the area to hang out.
2:20
[SPEAKER_00]: At night, the open sky over the leaf river was perfect
2:26
[SPEAKER_00]: William had invited Dana and the others to come along the night before, but they all decided to go their separate ways.
2:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Everyone that was except for Robbie.
2:36
[SPEAKER_00]: Since William was last with Robbie, Dana and the crew went to her apartment to see if William and Robbie had ended up there, but they hadn't.
2:44
[SPEAKER_00]: So they went to the last place that they knew William and Robbie had been, that of course being the monad bridge.
2:51
[SPEAKER_00]: By this time it was well into the afternoon.
2:54
[SPEAKER_00]: As soon as Dana got to the bridge, she immediately located William Hatcher's truck.
2:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Almost instantly, she sensed something was very wrong.
3:03
[SPEAKER_00]: The truck was just parked there.
3:05
[SPEAKER_00]: William Hatcher and Robbie Bond were nowhere to be found.
3:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Dana walked down onto the bridge and saw Rabi's keychain and then a little further down, Rabi's necklace.
3:16
[SPEAKER_00]: They were just lying there on the ground.
3:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Dana left the bridge and went looking for help.
3:21
[SPEAKER_00]: She went to her general manager at McAllister's John Grafton.
3:25
[SPEAKER_00]: and at some point Williams' brother Eric Hatcher joined the group.
3:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Dana, John and Eric all went back to the bridge.
3:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Eric would later testify that when he arrived he found what appeared to be a broken knife blade on the bridge along with Robbie's keychain and necklace.
3:41
[SPEAKER_00]: He found the broken knife blade beside a pool of what he thought at the time was grape juice.
3:46
[SPEAKER_00]: The puddle was dark in color and appeared to be sticky.
3:51
[SPEAKER_00]: As the group were on the bridge, looking for answers, a man and a white truck drove across.
3:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Remember, the bridge had been closed off from vehicles for some time now, so that was odd.
4:01
[SPEAKER_00]: And the man's behavior was even more odd.
4:04
[SPEAKER_00]: According to Dana's later testimony, he had no expression on his face when he asked whose truck had been left on the bridge.
4:12
[SPEAKER_00]: When they answered and told him two people were missing, a little smirk spread across the man's face.
4:18
[SPEAKER_00]: He didn't ask if there was anything he could do, or offered to help the group look.
4:23
[SPEAKER_00]: According to Dana, he showed no real concern and appeared cold.
4:28
[SPEAKER_00]: The abandoned vehicle, the keychain injury on the ground, the broken knife blade, and the man in the white truck.
4:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Something was clearly wrong.
4:37
[SPEAKER_00]: The group went to a nearby house and called police.
4:41
[SPEAKER_00]: Perry County deputies were on the scene within 20 minutes and the Mississippi Highway Patrol weren't far behind.
4:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Investigators took a good look around the scene and it didn't take long before they came to the same conclusion.
4:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Something really bad had happened.
4:57
[SPEAKER_00]: MHP Criminal Investigations Bureau Lieutenant Dan Summerall found a knife blade and knife handle missing the blade on the bridge.
5:05
[SPEAKER_00]: They were both stained with blood.
5:07
[SPEAKER_00]: He also collected a leaf and hairs he believed were bloodstained as well, and he found a bloody footprint and bloodstains on the wooden board road part of the bridge.
5:18
[SPEAKER_00]: That puddle Eric initially thought was grape juice, of course, was also blood.
5:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Lieutenant Summerall took photographs and collected the evidence from the scene, that evidence was later sent to the Mississippi State Crime Lab for testing.
5:31
[SPEAKER_00]: The immediate area was searched, but Robbie Bond and William Hatcher were missing.
5:37
[SPEAKER_00]: For investigators, the scene was all too familiar.
5:40
[SPEAKER_00]: If you remember from the last episode, two years earlier, 17-year-old Angela Freeman had also vanished from Petal, Mississippi.
5:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Angela's silver 1984 Honda Accord Hatchback had been found abandoned right there near the monad bridge, the scene that appeared before them now was eerily similar.
6:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Blood had also been found in Angela's case, which was later confirmed to be that of the missing 17-year-old.
6:08
[SPEAKER_00]: As we know, Angela's case remained unsolved, and now investigators had two other young adults go missing from that exact spot.
6:16
[SPEAKER_00]: As the search of the leaf river was launched, police along with the community had to be wondering if they had a serial killer on their hands.
6:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Things like this just didn't happen in petal Mississippi, and now it had happened not once but twice.
6:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Those that knew Robbie and William were in shock, they couldn't think of anyone who would have wanted to harm either of them.
6:38
[SPEAKER_00]: They were both loved by basically everyone they came into contact with.
6:42
[SPEAKER_00]: 21-year-old Robbie had moved to Hattiesburg a few years prior.
6:47
[SPEAKER_00]: She was working at the McAllisters and lived in an apartment nearby.
6:51
[SPEAKER_00]: She had graduated from Perry Central High School where she played the flute in the band.
6:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Her parents divorced when she was young and she lived with her maternal grandmother up until she moved to Hattiesburg.
7:02
[SPEAKER_00]: She was very close with her grandmother.
7:04
[SPEAKER_00]: She didn't have a single known enemy or a problem with anyone.
7:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course, 27-year-old William Hatcher also worked at the
7:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Like Robbie, he had moved to Hattiesburg a little more than a year prior to his disappearance.
7:21
[SPEAKER_00]: He had moved to Mississippi after serving in the Marine Corps.
7:24
[SPEAKER_00]: He lived with his brother nearby, and according to the Hattiesburg American, was planning to pursue a liberal arts degree at the University of Southern Mississippi.
7:32
[SPEAKER_00]: William was well-liked and had plenty of friends.
7:36
[SPEAKER_00]: Even so, we all know how small towns can be, and when we're got out that Robbie and William were missing, the rumor mill was set ablaze.
7:45
[SPEAKER_00]: It was all anyone could talk about.
7:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Some people theorized, of course, that there was a serial killer.
7:52
[SPEAKER_00]: There was some other talk about a satanic cult being involved.
7:55
[SPEAKER_00]: and then there were those who cast suspicion on William.
7:59
[SPEAKER_00]: People were talking and some theorized that maybe William Hatcher had murdered his coworker Robbie and was on the run.
8:06
[SPEAKER_00]: That maybe that night out there on the bridge Robbie turned down a sexual advance and William had attacked her got rid of her body and then fled the scene.
8:16
[SPEAKER_00]: That theory was certainly floating around out there
8:24
[SPEAKER_00]: To them, that theory was nothing more than a small town rumor perpetrated by people who had no clue what they were talking about.
8:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Days passed and the search for William and Robbie intensified.
8:36
[SPEAKER_00]: Dogs and boats were brought in and the search was centered again around the Monad Bridge and the Leaf River.
9:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Four days after William Hatcher and Robbie Bond vanished on May 18, Forest County Sheriff Bill McGee was in the parking lot of the police department when a woman and a tall, lengthy boy began walking towards him.
9:18
[SPEAKER_00]: According to later court testimony, the woman was screaming at the boy.
9:22
[SPEAKER_00]: You don't have to tell him a damn thing.
9:25
[SPEAKER_00]: You don't have to talk to him.
9:27
[SPEAKER_00]: The boy approached the sheriff and told him that he knew something about that incident on the bridge.
9:33
[SPEAKER_00]: The sheriff actually didn't know about William and Robby's disappearance, but as you can imagine, he was very interested in what this young man had to say.
9:41
[SPEAKER_00]: That young boy was 14-year-old David Moody.
9:45
[SPEAKER_00]: The woman screaming at him was his aunt.
9:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Her name was Bobby Jean Lee.
9:50
[SPEAKER_00]: David had already confessed what he knew about that incident on the bridge to his Aunt Bobby Jean, and now he was ready to confess it to law enforcement.
10:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Nothing could have prepared sheriff McGee for what David Moody said next.
10:04
[SPEAKER_00]: The 14-year-old was trembling and crying as he spoke.
10:08
[SPEAKER_00]: David explained to the sheriff that he had been to a family function with his older cousin, Kenneth Moody.
10:14
[SPEAKER_00]: The two had left together writing around and drinking beer and Kenneth's old beat up 1980 dots in pickup truck.
10:21
[SPEAKER_00]: The truck had no windshield or door windows.
10:24
[SPEAKER_00]: It was about 10pm that night when they drove across the Monad Bridge and saw a couple outwalking on foot.
10:31
[SPEAKER_00]: According to David, Kenneth stopped and offered them beer.
10:33
[SPEAKER_00]: They declined the offer and Kenneth drove to the end of the
10:39
[SPEAKER_00]: Speaking of 21-year-old Robbie Bond, Kenneth said to David, I want some, I'm going to get some of that.
10:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Kenneth turned the truck around and headed back towards a couple, and when they got close, he bailed out of the truck and started beating and stabbing William Hatcher.
10:56
[SPEAKER_00]: William tried to fight back but he was caught by surprise.
11:01
[SPEAKER_00]: Robbie Bond tried to run but she fell and Kenneth caught up to her and began to beat her as well.
11:07
[SPEAKER_00]: David claimed he stayed in the truck until Kenneth ordered him to get out and sit with Robbie.
11:12
[SPEAKER_00]: William was thrown in the back of the truck and Robbie in the floor board.
11:16
[SPEAKER_00]: They drove to Kenneth's trailer.
11:25
[SPEAKER_00]: By the time they got to the trailer William Hatcher was dead, Robbie Bond was injured but still alive.
11:33
[SPEAKER_00]: David told the sheriff that when they got back Kenneth raped Robbie, telling her if you make it good to me, I'll take you to the doctor.
11:42
[SPEAKER_00]: After Kenneth sexually assaulted her, he told David, you've got to rape her.
11:47
[SPEAKER_00]: According again to David, he pretended to assault Robbie because he was afraid Kenneth would kill him if he didn't.
11:56
[SPEAKER_00]: David told the sheriff that he had come forward because he hadn't slept since it all occurred.
12:01
[SPEAKER_00]: He didn't want any part of the murders but had been forced by his cousin Kenneth and was afraid if he didn't do as he was told Kenneth would kill him too.
12:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Every time I close my eyes, I see that lady and I can't stand it.
12:15
[SPEAKER_00]: After the murders he knew he was going to jail and had his aunt Bobby Lee bring him to Forest County because he didn't want to be housed in Perry County, where the crime had been committed.
12:25
[SPEAKER_00]: He didn't want to be housed there with his cousin Kenneth, who he knew would also be going to the slamer.
12:32
[SPEAKER_00]: The Sheriff later testified that he promised David he would do everything in his power to have him jailed in Boris County.
12:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Sheriff McGee got into contact with Hattiesburg police who were investigating William and Robby's disappearances.
12:46
[SPEAKER_00]: David Moody sat down to tell his story again.
12:48
[SPEAKER_00]: This time with Hattiesburg Police Detective Danny Riegel,
12:53
[SPEAKER_00]: He recounted much of the same story he had told Sheriff McGee, just with slightly more detail added, and another admission.
13:00
[SPEAKER_00]: David told Detective Riegel that after they saw the couple on the bridge, Kenneth said, I'm going to kill the dude and get his bitch.
13:08
[SPEAKER_00]: He then jumped out of the truck when they got close to William and Robbie, and Kenneth said, what's up, bitch, before he started stabbing William?
13:17
[SPEAKER_00]: When they got back to the trailer, Kenneth tied Robbie up with jumper cables and chains.
13:21
[SPEAKER_00]: They both raped her, and this time when David told the story, he didn't claim he had pretended to rape Robbie.
13:28
[SPEAKER_00]: He said that he actually did a
13:31
[SPEAKER_00]: After the initial assault, Kenneth and David went back to the bridge to pick up Kenneth's hat, Robbie Sandals, and other evidence that had been left behind at the scene when they got back to the trailer, Robbie was sexually assaulted again.
13:45
[SPEAKER_00]: At some point during all of this, a large pit was dug to dispose of the bodies.
13:50
[SPEAKER_00]: William Hatcher was thrown into the pit first.
13:54
[SPEAKER_00]: David said that Kenneth went and got a garden hose, forced it down Robbie's throat and turned it on in an attempt to drown her, but it didn't work.
14:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Robbie was tortured for between five and ten minutes, but she was still clean to life.
14:10
[SPEAKER_00]: Kenneth then hit her in the head with an object and her body was also thrown into the pit.
14:16
[SPEAKER_00]: After the interview, 14-year-old David Moody drew a diagram of Kenneth's trailer and showed where the grave on the property was, and when he was taken to the scene, he took investigators to the grave, pointed with his foot, and said, they're right there.
14:31
[SPEAKER_00]: According to court documents, after David's interview on May 18, 1995, Kenneth Moody was picked up for questioning.
14:38
[SPEAKER_00]: A search warrant was obtained for Kenneth's residence in property.
14:42
[SPEAKER_00]: According to court documents, 20-year-old Kenneth Moody also confessed to the murders.
14:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Kenneth stated, I killed both of them.
14:50
[SPEAKER_00]: I was drunker.
14:51
[SPEAKER_00]: I wouldn't have never did that to them.
14:54
[SPEAKER_00]: He told investigators that he stabbed William Hatcher on the bridge, and raped and killed Robbie Bond by hitting her on the head with a steel pipe outside of his trailer.
15:02
[SPEAKER_00]: David and Kenneth Moody were arrested and charged with murder.
15:06
[SPEAKER_00]: They were given no bond and
15:11
[SPEAKER_00]: And remember that mysterious man in the white truck who spoke to Dana and asked who's truck had been left at the bridge.
15:18
[SPEAKER_00]: The one who smirked when Dana told him she was looking for her co-workers and friends.
15:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you guessed it.
15:24
[SPEAKER_00]: That man was later identified as 20-year-old Kenneth Moody.
15:29
[SPEAKER_00]: According to court documents that approximately 11 PM on May 18 investigators along with forensic scientists located the nude body of a female, her hands bound by jumper cables.
15:41
[SPEAKER_00]: A clothed male was found underneath the body of the female.
15:44
[SPEAKER_00]: They were found just where David Modi said they would be on Kenneth's property about a hundred yards from his trailer.
15:52
[SPEAKER_00]: The victims were later positively identified as Robbie Bond and William Hatcher.
15:57
[SPEAKER_00]: Forensic pathologist Dr. Stephen Hane conducted the autopsy's.
16:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Dr. Hane determined that William Hatcher had stab wounds to the head in neck below the right ear.
16:09
[SPEAKER_00]: He had a slashed wound under his chin and injuries to the soft tissue of his scalp, as well as blunt force trauma to the right side of his head.
16:17
[SPEAKER_00]: There was a large fracture at the base of his skull.
16:21
[SPEAKER_00]: William had also suffered two stab wounds to his back and had been stabbed in the back of his right hand, likely as he tried to fight back.
16:29
[SPEAKER_00]: There were so many severe wounds it couldn't be determined which wound had proven fatal.
16:34
[SPEAKER_00]: And when it came to Robbie, she also had defensive wounds on her forearms, back of her hands, and she was missing her right thumb.
16:43
[SPEAKER_00]: She had extensive bruising on both arms, as well as her right leg.
16:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Robbie had also suffered blunt force trauma to her head, which had shattered the bones above and below her eyes.
16:54
[SPEAKER_00]: bleeding and bruising to her larynx and airway had also contributed to her death.
16:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Dr. Hayne believed that the injuries to her throat resulted from something being forced down into her larynx.
17:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Robbie and William had suffered brutal and excruciating deaths for absolutely no reason.
17:12
[SPEAKER_00]: They had zero connection to either of the moody cousins.
17:16
[SPEAKER_00]: They just
17:20
[SPEAKER_00]: and the senseless killing didn't stop there.
17:22
[SPEAKER_00]: The very same night that William and Robbie's bodies were found, a 911 call came from another moody residence.
17:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Paramedics were called to the home of Kenneth and David's grandmother, 70-year-old Anna's Granny Crow moody, who was suffering a medical emergency.
17:40
[SPEAKER_00]: When first responders arrived, they found the elderly woman with bruises and scratches on her arm.
17:46
[SPEAKER_00]: She told paramedics that she had been beaten by one of her daughter-in-law's before losing consciousness.
17:53
[SPEAKER_00]: She was taken to forest general hospital where she was pronounced deceased hours later.
17:58
[SPEAKER_00]: her official cause of death was cardiac arrest.
18:01
[SPEAKER_00]: But due to the scratches, bruises and the statement she made before she died, investigators believed there was some altercation that took place before first responders arrived.
18:12
[SPEAKER_00]: The coroner for Forest County Mike West said that a fight between Granny Crow and her daughter-in-law could have caused her to go into cardiac arrest.
18:21
[SPEAKER_00]: District Attorney Glenn White later spoke to the media and said that Moody told paramedics that she had been beaten but died before she could name a suspect.
18:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Sheriff of Perry County at the time Carlos Hering confirmed that his department was investigating the 70-year-old woman's death and that they suspected there was foul play.
18:41
[SPEAKER_00]: While Granny Crowe didn't give the name of a suspect, investigators learned that the daughter-in-law that was with her that night was 36-year-old Vicky Moody.
18:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Vicki was married to Granny Crow's son, Richard Moody Sr.
18:53
[SPEAKER_00]: The Hattiesburg American reported that when questioned by authorities after Granny Crow's death, Vicki had a visible bruise on her left cheek.
19:02
[SPEAKER_00]: This bruise apparently wasn't from an altercation with the elderly woman though, or at least that's what Vicki said.
19:10
[SPEAKER_00]: Vicki told authorities that she had gotten the bruise when her husband registered senior back handed her in an attempt to calm her down.
19:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Calm her down from what I couldn't tell you.
19:21
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sure you have a few guesses, but that was her story.
19:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Vicky did admit that she had been with her mother-in-law earlier in the night, but she denied assaulting her.
19:31
[SPEAKER_00]: When word of Granny Crow's death got out, many in the community believed she was killed to cover up any knowledge she may have had of the crimes.
19:40
[SPEAKER_00]: And I say crimes here because the following day, another body was found on Kenneth Moody's property, and another Moody cousin would
20:18
[SPEAKER_00]: The day after the bodies of 27-year-old William Hatcher and 21-year-old Robbie Bond were found on Kenneth Moody's property on May 19, 1995, investigators made another grizzly discovery, a few yards away from where Robbie and William had been found, police located the body of a male.
20:37
[SPEAKER_00]: That male was later identified as 31-year-old Michael James Lee, and as it turned
20:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Michael Lee was actually related to the moody's.
20:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Remember that aunt, Bobby Jean Lee, the one who had taken David to Forest County to speak to the sheriff.
20:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, she was the victim Michael Lee's sister-in-law.
21:01
[SPEAKER_00]: She was still married to Michael's brother, Roger Lee, though they were separated at the time.
21:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Regardless, Michael Lee had known the moody's all their lives.
21:12
[SPEAKER_00]: The Hattiesburg American reported that Michael had come to Mississippi from Mobile, Alabama, where he had been living with one of his sisters and working as a carpenter.
21:22
[SPEAKER_00]: He'd only been in Mississippi for a matter of weeks.
21:26
[SPEAKER_00]: According to Michael Lee's family, on the night he was murdered, there was a small family party at Mary Moody's house.
21:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Mary Moody was another one of David and Kenneth's aunts.
21:36
[SPEAKER_00]: That family party took place on May 10th, four days prior to the murders of Robbie and William.
21:42
[SPEAKER_00]: At this party, apparently Kenneth Gap Michael, Valium and Licker, and at some point Michael made a pass at one of their other ants.
21:51
[SPEAKER_00]: There is a whole lot of ants involved in this.
21:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Anyway, a fight broke out in Kenneth's moody along with another one of his cousins, 17-year-old Richard Moody.
22:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Beat and stabbed Michael to death.
22:03
[SPEAKER_00]: At least one other family member is rumored to have witness the attack.
22:07
[SPEAKER_00]: And as far as Aunt Mary goes, it seems she certainly knew about the fight.
22:12
[SPEAKER_00]: It was alleged that at some point during the altercation, Mary looked out the door and told Kenneth and Richard to throw Michael in the truck and leave.
22:20
[SPEAKER_00]: At that point she closed and locked the door, but could still hear them outside, beating on Michael before they did just what she told them to do.
22:28
[SPEAKER_00]: And put Michael in the truck and took him to Kenneth Moody's house where he was buried on the property.
22:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Mary Moody would later speak to the Clarion Ledger and tell the outlet that Kenneth Moody had spoken to her from behind bars over the phone, and he had confessed to killing Michael Lee, William Hatcher and Robbie Bond.
22:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Mary Moody claimed Kenneth stated, Aunt Mary, I killed all three people myself.
22:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Kenneth's defense attorney at the time, Bob Helfrick spoke to the Hattiesburg American and said that he doubted that conversation between Mary and Kenneth ever to place.
23:04
[SPEAKER_00]: He said, I don't believe he told her anything.
23:07
[SPEAKER_00]: I gave him instructions not to say a word to anybody unless I was present.
23:11
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think he talked to Aunt Mary.
23:13
[SPEAKER_00]: And we know he didn't because defendants always listen to their attorneys, right?
23:20
[SPEAKER_00]: What Kenneth did or didn't say to his Aunt Mary wouldn't matter much in the grand scheme of things.
23:25
[SPEAKER_00]: He had already confessed to killing Robbie and William, and he'd also confessed to killing Michael Lee as well.
23:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Kenneth told police that he had killed Michael after a fight in front of Mary's trailer.
23:37
[SPEAKER_00]: He said, he jumped all over Richard my cousin, he tried to do it to me.
23:41
[SPEAKER_00]: He was in too bad a shape to be trying to fight anybody.
23:46
[SPEAKER_00]: Kenneth Moody was charged with yet another murder, and his cousin, 17-year-old Richard Moody, was arrested and charged in Michael's death.
23:55
[SPEAKER_00]: They were both denied bond and would remain in jail, pending their trials.
23:58
[SPEAKER_00]: 17-year-old Richard Moody Jr. was the son of 36-year-old Vicky Moody.
24:04
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, the daughter-in-law suspected of assaulting Granny Crow.
24:09
[SPEAKER_00]: And while we're on the topic of Vicki, about a month after the bodies were found and Granny Crow died, Vicki was arrested and charged with aggravated assault.
24:19
[SPEAKER_00]: She pled not guilty and was released from jail pending trial on a $20,000 bond.
24:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Just so we have this straight, 20-year-old Kenneth Moody and 14-year-old David Moody were charged with capital murder in the deaths of William Hatcher and Robbie Bond.
24:35
[SPEAKER_00]: Kenneth and 17-year-old Richard Moody were charged with murder and Michael Lee's death.
24:40
[SPEAKER_00]: And Richard's mother Vicky Moody was charged with aggravated assault and Granny Crow's death.
24:46
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course, Granny Crow was grandmother of all three.
24:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Kenneth, David, and Richard.
24:52
[SPEAKER_00]: That's a whole lot of moody's down at the Perry County jail, but the Perry County jail wasn't a place the moody's were unfamiliar with.
25:01
[SPEAKER_00]: As it turned out, at the time of the murders, Kenneth was on probation after pleading guilty to Grand Larceny in August of 1994.
25:10
[SPEAKER_00]: Kenneth had stolen spikes, railingers, tie plates, and a spike puller from Illinois Central Railroad, and Kenneth had all the time in the world to be out there committing crimes.
25:20
[SPEAKER_00]: He had dropped out of high school and had never been able to hold down a real job.
25:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Oddly enough, Kenna's father, W.C. Moody, who Kenna shared that trailer with at the time of the murders, anyhow, W.C. Moody, along with an accomplice, had been charged with arson in connection to a July 1985 attempt to burn down the monad bridge.
25:42
[SPEAKER_00]: He and his accomplice were accused of pouring gasoline all over it and striking a match.
25:47
[SPEAKER_00]: The trial ended with a hung jury and prosecutors decided not to retry the case.
25:53
[SPEAKER_00]: Why had he tried to burn down the bridge?
25:56
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think anyone knows for sure.
25:58
[SPEAKER_00]: But I, for one, would like to know what it is with the Moody family, and that damn bridge.
26:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Anyhow, Richard and David Moody were a little too young to have racked up criminal records.
26:09
[SPEAKER_00]: But there were signs that they were going nowhere fast.
26:12
[SPEAKER_00]: 17-year-old Richard Moody had dropped out of Perry Central High School, and apparently, according to those that knew him,
26:23
[SPEAKER_00]: And 14-year-old David didn't even make it to high school.
26:27
[SPEAKER_00]: It looks like he dropped out in about the 7th grade, and it was reported that he frequently got into fights.
26:33
[SPEAKER_00]: And now they were all behind bars.
26:36
[SPEAKER_00]: Everyone that is except for Vicki, who of course had been released on that $20,000 bond.
26:42
[SPEAKER_00]: Investigators, as well as prosecutors, tried to build their case against Vicki.
26:47
[SPEAKER_00]: They believed she had assaulted 70-year-old Granny Crow just prior to her going into cardiac arrest, and that that assault had caused her heart attack.
26:56
[SPEAKER_00]: But all they had in the way of evidence was a statement from the elderly woman in the midst of a medical episode, and several scratches and bruises.
27:05
[SPEAKER_00]: It surely looks suspicious, but ultimately the charges against Vicky were dropped due to a lack of evidence.
27:12
[SPEAKER_00]: While they strongly believed there was something to it, they just didn't think there was enough for a conviction.
27:17
[SPEAKER_00]: But when it came to the moody cousins, lack of evidence certainly wasn't a problem.
27:23
[SPEAKER_00]: There was physical evidence and confession after confession.
27:28
[SPEAKER_00]: However, justice wouldn't come quickly.
27:31
[SPEAKER_00]: There would be more than a five-year delay before any of the moody cousins would answer for what they had done.
27:38
[SPEAKER_00]: As the cases headed for trial, there were legal battles, cousins turning on cousins, jailhouse informants, and escape from jail, and the state of Mississippi watched the drama unfold through newspaper headlines.
27:51
[SPEAKER_00]: But that will have to wait until next week because, unfortunately, we're running out of time and there is so much more to this story.
27:59
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll be bringing you the conclusion of this case next Thursday and believe me, you don't want to miss it.
28:06
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28:13
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28:17
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28:22
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28:29
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28:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for listening.
28:36
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for caring.
28:37
[SPEAKER_00]: If you know something, say something.
28:39
[SPEAKER_00]: And until next time, be good to each other.
29:25
[SPEAKER_00]: y'all know I can't get too far into this hot take since this is a two part episode.
29:30
[SPEAKER_00]: I guess it's technically three parts since we covered Angela's case, but I feel like that's a standalone episode.
29:36
[SPEAKER_00]: Anyway, let's talk about Granny Crow.
29:39
[SPEAKER_00]: What was it that Granny Crow knew?
29:41
[SPEAKER_00]: The Vicki didn't want getting out.
29:43
[SPEAKER_00]: What happened?
29:44
[SPEAKER_00]: Because I feel like there's a real good story there, but unfortunately, Granny ain't around to tell us.
29:50
[SPEAKER_00]: It's wild to me that she died literally the day William and Robbie's bodies were found.
29:55
[SPEAKER_00]: That's crazy.
29:57
[SPEAKER_00]: And if Vicki did have something to do with it, that's bold.
30:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Because she knew the police were already looking at her family.
30:03
[SPEAKER_00]: And you're out here allegedly assaulting your elderly mother-in-law, bold I tell ya.
30:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Is it possible that Granny Crow knew something about Richard being involved in Michael Lee's murder and Vicki didn't want her precious son going to jail?
30:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, they had only found Robbie and William.
30:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Michael's body hadn't been recovered yet.
30:23
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I'm just saying, and Kenneth, why is it so hard for me to say, Kenneth?
30:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Y'all, I seriously don't know, didn't know I struggled with that name until this case.
30:33
[SPEAKER_00]: And Kenneth's dad allegedly trying to burn down the bridge.
30:37
[SPEAKER_00]: The bridge where his son would later go on to commit a double homicide.
30:42
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, that's really some dark foreshadowing if I've ever seen
30:46
[SPEAKER_00]: what is the deal with the Moody family and that bridge?
30:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Is it possible WC had done something there that he and his accomplice needed to cover up?
30:56
[SPEAKER_00]: I have so many questions.
30:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Questions we may never be able to get answers to, but it doesn't hurt to try.
31:03
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's about all I got to say about that.
31:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Before we hop off today, I do want to say that I'm sorry there was a delay in releasing this episode.
31:12
[SPEAKER_00]: I really don't know how to put this in words.
31:15
[SPEAKER_00]: If you've been around for a while, then you probably know that my granny is one of my favorite people on planet Earth.
31:23
[SPEAKER_00]: over the past few weeks her health has taken a turn.
31:26
[SPEAKER_00]: I was blessed with the opportunity to spend more time taking care of her and getting to spend extra time so I took it and I'll take it every single time.
31:35
[SPEAKER_00]: And so here for the next foreseeable future I'll be taking care of her a little more than usual.
31:41
[SPEAKER_00]: I think I've caught up enough to keep us on schedule, but I'm a one-woman show.
31:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Researcher, writer, editor, producer.
31:48
[SPEAKER_00]: I may end up having to take a week here or there.
31:51
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to try my best not to, but things happen.
31:55
[SPEAKER_00]: And I just wanted to give you fair warning.
31:57
[SPEAKER_00]: I know I kind of just dropped off the map over these past few weeks, and I probably should have said something sooner.
32:03
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm sorry I didn't, especially for those who were genuinely concerned.
32:10
[SPEAKER_00]: This will probably shock you or maybe not at all, but despite my chosen career path, I'm a total introvert and I'm known for dropping off the map.
32:20
[SPEAKER_00]: But it's not because I don't love you.
32:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Y'all know I love you more in my luggage and if you could send some extra prayers in my granny's way.
32:27
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't wait to talk at you next week, but until then, BAMBELFANG!