Latest / Bless This Mess: A Southern True Crime Podcast / A Little Less Mess: [Texas] Deborah McCormick

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A Little Less Mess: [Texas] Deborah McCormick · Bless This Mess: A Southern True Crime Podcast

• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, welcome to Blessed this Mess, to the True
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Garum Podcast. I'm Kara, Jess Kara. This is a little
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: less mess. It's our regular episodes, but without all the
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: banter and opinions and side stories and all of the
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: nonsense that some people hate and some people love. So
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: we started putting out these that are just the crime
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: story and they are short and sweet and probably perfect
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: for drive to work. So our regular episodes are numbered
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: in our feed and they come out on Thursdays, and
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: then these come out on Sundays, so you can check out.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: If you want a little bit more information on the case,
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: you can check out our regular episodes and then and
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: also we want to support us on Patreon. You can
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: do that. It's in the show notes, follow us on Instagram, Facebook.
• 1:06
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• 1:11
  Speaker 1: help us out a lot. All right, so let's get
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: into our case this week out of Texas. Deborah McCormick
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: was born in nineteen fifty. She would marry and have
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  Speaker 1: two daughters, Brandy and Don. At some point, Deborah would
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  Speaker 1: get divorced. She did go on to open up a
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  Speaker 1: flower shop, which was a dream of hers. Now the
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  Speaker 1: flower shop had a chapel as well for weddings. Deborah
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  Speaker 1: spent most of her time at the flower shop, bringing
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  Speaker 1: her daughters there while she ran the business. It was
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  Speaker 1: a happy place for the family. Her mother also worked
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  Speaker 1: at the shop with Deborah. It was a family affair.
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  Speaker 1: It was a very exciting time in Deborah's life. She
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  Speaker 1: had her flower shop which was doing well, and she
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  Speaker 1: was soon to become a grandmother because her daughter Down
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  Speaker 1: was pregnant. On October tenth, nineteen nine, twenty four, Deborah
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  Speaker 1: and her mother Mary were opening the flower shop for
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  Speaker 1: the day. Deborah did not have time to make an
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  Speaker 1: eat breakfast that morning, and she wanted some orange juice.
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  Speaker 1: Mary offered to go get the orange juice for her
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  Speaker 1: from a local store. Mary locked the door behind her
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  Speaker 1: and headed out. Deborah and Mary had an agreement that
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  Speaker 1: the door was to remain locked when one of them
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  Speaker 1: was there alone at the shop. The door was only
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  Speaker 1: to be unlocked for a known customer. Mary was gone
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  Speaker 1: about thirty minutes. She returned to the flower shop and
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  Speaker 1: did not immediately see her daughter. She called out for her,
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  Speaker 1: but no one answered. She continued searching the store and
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  Speaker 1: came upon Deborah in the reception hall in the back
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  Speaker 1: of the store. She was covered in blood and not moving.
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  Speaker 1: She appeared to have been stabbed. Mary called nine one
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  Speaker 1: one and told the operator that someone killed her daughter
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  Speaker 1: and she looked like she had been cut. Police arrived
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  Speaker 1: on the scene to find forty four year old Deborah
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  Speaker 1: McCormick lying in a pool of blood, lifeless. The murder
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: weapon appeared to be a knife. Upon initial examination, Deborah
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  Speaker 1: was nude from the waist up. Her pink sweater had
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  Speaker 1: been ripped off. Her pants and underwear were intact. However,
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  Speaker 1: there was a wet spot near her crotch. They were
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  Speaker 1: able to obtain biological evidence from the crime scene to
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  Speaker 1: run DNA samples against when they had a suspect. Processing
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  Speaker 1: the crime scene, police did not see any indication of
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  Speaker 1: forced entry. The building was very secure, with burglar bars
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  Speaker 1: and locks on all the windows and doors. All of
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  Speaker 1: those were intact. It appeared that Deborah had unlocked the
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  Speaker 1: door and let the person inside the flower shop. This
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  Speaker 1: indicated that she most likely knew the killer and trusted them.
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  Speaker 1: There were also roses lying on the counter appearing to
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  Speaker 1: have been dropped. Police believed the purchase of the roses
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  Speaker 1: was used to gain entry into the flower shop. The
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  Speaker 1: killer then attacked Deborah, causing her to drop the flowers.
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  Speaker 1: The crime was committed very quickly. Deborah's mom was only
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  Speaker 1: gone thirty minutes. Now. This killer was able to enter,
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  Speaker 1: commit the crime and leave before anyone saw them. The
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  Speaker 1: shop did not seem to be ransacked. Everything was still
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  Speaker 1: in its place. The only things missing were four hundred
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  Speaker 1: dollars in cash from Deborah's mother's makeup bag and Deborah's
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  Speaker 1: keys to the building. The killer had taken the time
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  Speaker 1: to lock the building after they were done. This crime
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  Speaker 1: scene was very confusing to police. Please interview Brandy and Dawn.
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  Speaker 1: Brandy happened to show up at the flower shop to
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  Speaker 1: visit her mom and came upon the crime scene. Her
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  Speaker 1: grandmother had to comfort her out in front of the
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  Speaker 1: building after telling her her mom was dead. Brandy told
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  Speaker 1: police that she had spoken to her mom on the
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  Speaker 1: phone that morning and that Deborah had told her daughter
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  Speaker 1: that she had to go, that someone was at the door.
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  Speaker 1: She hung up the phone and that was the last
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  Speaker 1: time she heard from her. Brandy said she spoke to
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  Speaker 1: her mom at a Deborah's mom had left the store
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  Speaker 1: around eight fifteen. This reduced the time of the murderer
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  Speaker 1: to just fifteen minutes, from eight thirty to eight forty five.
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  Speaker 1: This tells police that Deborah was targeted. This could not
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  Speaker 1: have been done in such a short time without some
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  Speaker 1: sort of planning. They believed that the killer had been
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  Speaker 1: watching the shop, waiting for Deborah to be alone. Police
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  Speaker 1: received a call from a woman stating that her boyfriend
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  Speaker 1: confessed to the killing. He told his girlfriend that he
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  Speaker 1: had been in the Diamond Shamrock gas station across from
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  Speaker 1: the flower Shop at eight thirty am that morning. This
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  Speaker 1: was later confirmed by video footage from the gas station.
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  Speaker 1: The man was an ac repairman that had worked in
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  Speaker 1: a shop near the flower shop. Deborah could have been
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: familiar with the man and let him in. The girlfriend
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  Speaker 1: said that he was very violent and she was afraid
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  Speaker 1: of him. They brought him in and he told police
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  Speaker 1: he had made up the whole entire thing, that it
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  Speaker 1: it was just a bad joke that he had told
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  Speaker 1: his girlfriend to scare her. Police take a DNA sample
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  Speaker 1: and run it against the DNA they collected from the
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  Speaker 1: crime scene, and it was not a match. A lot
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  Speaker 1: of time was wasted on this false lead, so they
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  Speaker 1: got back into the case looking for more evidence to
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  Speaker 1: lead them to their killer, when they had another case
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  Speaker 1: come across their desk that seemed very similar to them.
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  Speaker 1: It was an attack on a nineteen year old who
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  Speaker 1: worked at a tailor shop. A man had entered the
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  Speaker 1: store pretending to be a customer. He pulled out a
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  Speaker 1: butcher's knife and threatened the woman. He made her undress
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  Speaker 1: and then made her perform a sexual act. He then
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  Speaker 1: asked her what her age was, and she lied and
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  Speaker 1: said fourteen years old. He then said you're too young,
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  Speaker 1: and then tied her up and left. Once he was gone,
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  Speaker 1: she called police. She was able to give a very
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  Speaker 1: good discos of her attacker. When detectives working the Deborah
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  Speaker 1: McCormick case heard the description, they said it sounded very
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: similar to the guy that they had received a tip
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  Speaker 1: on at the beginning of the investigation, and this guy's
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  Speaker 1: name was Michael Derwood Griffith. The person who called in
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  Speaker 1: told police that Michael had been abusing and assaulting women
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  Speaker 1: all of his life and had just recently had an
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  Speaker 1: arrest warrant out for him. Police were busy following up
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  Speaker 1: on more promising leads, so Michaels had gone on the
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  Speaker 1: back burner. Please contact the man that called in the tip,
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  Speaker 1: and he told police that he had owned a cleaning
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  Speaker 1: business with Michael, and that he'd cleaned out the business
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  Speaker 1: bank account and took off, and that he had not
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  Speaker 1: seen him in weeks. Please bring in a photo of
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  Speaker 1: Michael for the teenage victim at the tailor shop to
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  Speaker 1: look at, and she immediately confirms it is him. They
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  Speaker 1: then bring in Mary, Deborah's mother, to see if she
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  Speaker 1: recognized the man as well. She told police that he
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: was one of their regular customers and he had been
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  Speaker 1: in the shop numerous times purchasing roses. He had also
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  Speaker 1: requested that Deborah wait on him. With Michael now their
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  Speaker 1: prime suspect, they began looking into his past. To their surprise,
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  Speaker 1: they find out that he was a former sheriff's deputy.
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  Speaker 1: They begin trying to track down Michael, but he was
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  Speaker 1: nowhere to be found. They then receive a call from
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  Speaker 1: Mary and she had received some credit card statements of
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  Speaker 1: her husband's and there were several charges she did not
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  Speaker 1: recognize that started after Deborah's death. Unbeknownst to Mary, Deborah
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  Speaker 1: had actually barred her dad's credit cards and the killer
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  Speaker 1: stole them, but this was not noticed at the initial
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  Speaker 1: crime scene because they were unaware that she had them.
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  Speaker 1: The charges started within hours of Deborah's murder. The killer
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  Speaker 1: had been purchasing jewelry and gifts. Police find out that
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  Speaker 1: he had been spoiling his new girlfriend, a stripper named
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: Linda Smith. They bring Linda in for questioning and she
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  Speaker 1: says that she had met him at a club. Around
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  Speaker 1: the time of Deborah's murder. Michael had started bringing her
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  Speaker 1: jewelry and treating her to dinners. She recalls him trying
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: to throw away a shirt that had some rips on
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  Speaker 1: it and a little bit of a red substance. She
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: had picked it up out of the trash and asked
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  Speaker 1: him about it. He said that it belonged to a
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: crazy ex girlfriend. Linda said she did not know where
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  Speaker 1: Michael was and that soon after the shirt incident he
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  Speaker 1: had stopped talking to her. Police continue to track down
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  Speaker 1: the credit card charges and it leads them to a
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  Speaker 1: hotel room under Bill Ringer, which is Deborah's father's name.
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  Speaker 1: They go to the hotel room and Michael Griffith gives
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  Speaker 1: himself up without a fight. Upon searching the hotel room,
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  Speaker 1: they find a butcher knife under the mattress. The butcher
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  Speaker 1: knife has blood on it. They are certain that this
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  Speaker 1: is the murder weapon. They collect the knife for testing
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  Speaker 1: and send it off. They continue to search the hotel
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  Speaker 1: room and the outer parameters. In just a few miles
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  Speaker 1: away from the hotel, they find Michael's car. Inside the
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  Speaker 1: car is a receipt for a dozen red roses from
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: the Always and Forever Florist, which is Deborah's floral shop.
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  Speaker 1: The receipt has the date of the murder. This proves
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  Speaker 1: to police that he was there the day of the
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  Speaker 1: murder and is just another piece of evidence in a
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: long list that is piling up against Michael. They receive
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  Speaker 1: the testing back from the knife and it is a
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  Speaker 1: positive match for Deborah's blood. They charge Michael with first
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  Speaker 1: degree murder and due to the nature of the crime,
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  Speaker 1: prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. During opening statements, Michael's
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  Speaker 1: attorney said, this isn't about guilt or innocence, This is
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: about saving a man's life. The defense attorney knows that
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  Speaker 1: he is guilty and that there is multiple pieces of
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  Speaker 1: evidence proving that he did this. They are just trying
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: to convince a jury not to sentence him to death.
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  Speaker 1: It did not work. In December nineteen ninety five, he
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  Speaker 1: was sentenced to death, and on June sixth, two thousand
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  Speaker 1: and seven, Michael Griffith was executed by lethal injection in Texas,
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  Speaker 1: with Brandy and Dawn as witnesses, as well as Mary,
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  Speaker 1: Deborah's mother, and Deborah's ex husband. All Right, that's our
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  Speaker 1: case out of Texas this week. Again. If you'd like
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: to hear more of our thoughts or like our dumb
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: stories that we say, check out the number numbered episodes
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: in our feed and really appreciate if you checked out
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: our Patreon, checked out our Instagram, Facebook wrote us review
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: that really help us out. And I think that's it,
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: so we will see you next time. Bye. Everyone, tell't
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: you know.
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: It's bad to be superston shots by mapping els working
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: and my head is pretty and hurting and sick. It's
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: worrying bout I can bet