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A Little Less Mess: [Virginia] Tara Munsey · Bless This Mess: A Southern True Crime Podcast

• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, welcome to Bless This Mess, Southern True Crump podcast.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: I'm Kara, Jess Kara. This is a little less Mess.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: It's our regular episodes minus all the banter and chit
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: chat and all the other things that we have on
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: our regular episodes. After listening to this, if you'd like
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: to hear more of our opinions and stuff, you can
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  Speaker 1: check out the numbered episodes in the feed. That's me
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: and my husband Stewart, and that goes into a lot more.
• 0:45
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• 0:47
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  Speaker 1: general support and we really appreciated everybody who's been supporting
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  Speaker 1: us for a while. And then we have Instagram and
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• 1:18
  Speaker 1: This week our episode is out of Virginia, so we'll
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  Speaker 1: go ahead and get into it. Tara Rose Munsey was
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: born February two, nineteen eighty three, in Radford, Virginia, to
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: Catherine Irwin and Bill Munsey. She had one brother. Tara
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: attended Radford High School in Radford, Virginia. She was said
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: to be musically gifted, and she enjoyed attending church with
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  Speaker 1: her grandmother and dad. She had a humorous personality and
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: was an uplifting person. Tara had a boyfriend whom she
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: was deeply in love with, named Nick Zoroba. Nick was
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: a few years older than Tara, so when Nick graduated,
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: he joined the Navy and moved to Illinois, she vowed
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  Speaker 1: to move near him as soon as she graduate and
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: planned on mary Nick. Meanwhile, Tara worked at a local
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: fast food restaurant, the Taco Bell on Fair Lawn, and
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  Speaker 1: this she did this while finishing out her last few
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  Speaker 1: years of high school. On January twenty fifth, two thousand,
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  Speaker 1: Tara was supposed to meet her father at a basketball
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: game at eight pm. When he was on his way
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  Speaker 1: to the game, he passed by the Taco Bell and
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  Speaker 1: saw her car in the parking lot, wondering why she
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: was not on her way yet to meet him. He
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  Speaker 1: stopped by. Her co workers said she had clocked out
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: about thirty minutes earlier. In the front seat of the
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: car is a bag of takeout food, a drink, and
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: the hat she wears to work. They call the police,
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  Speaker 1: but it isn't taken too seriously, since it is not
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  Speaker 1: uncommon for teenagers to disappear for a few hours and
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: not tell their parents where they are going. Tara's dad
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  Speaker 1: was insistent that his daughter would not just leave without
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  Speaker 1: checking in. It was also very odd that her car
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: and the food she brought with her remained at the
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: restaurant while her purse and keys were gone. Police questioned
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: whether she would have dropped her items in the car
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  Speaker 1: and then left with someone or left on foot. Maybe
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: it was someone she did not want her parents to
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  Speaker 1: know she was spending time with. This theory just did
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: not seem to make sense. Though it was very cold
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  Speaker 1: that time of the year, so leaving on foot was
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  Speaker 1: not an option. She could have left in a car
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  Speaker 1: with someone, but why would she not take the hot
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: food she just took from the restaurant. Her parents waited,
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  Speaker 1: but still no call from Tara. The next morning, January
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  Speaker 1: twenty sixth, there was still no sign of Tara. They
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  Speaker 1: contacted her boyfriend, Nick up in Illinois to see if
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: he had heard from her, and he had not. Tara's
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: parents knew something was wrong and pushed for officers to
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: take her disappearance seriously. Finally, they begin investigating further. They
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: start by speaking to her co workers at the taco bell.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: They tell police that she had a verbal altercation with
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  Speaker 1: two male customers that had come through the drive through
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  Speaker 1: a few days before. This was a major concern for police.
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  Speaker 1: Tara was a petite, see sixteen year old girl. If
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: they were angry, they could have harmed her. Police request
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  Speaker 1: video footage, but unfortunately the restaurant had no cameras. Her
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: coworkers did not notice anything suspicious that evening, and no
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  Speaker 1: one watched her walk to her car. Two weeks passed
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  Speaker 1: by with no sign of terror. The community was very
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  Speaker 1: concerned about her disappearance. They were worried about the safety
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  Speaker 1: of their own children. Volunteers searched the area, and the
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  Speaker 1: community got her picture out to the public, but they
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  Speaker 1: could not find her. On February tenth, two thousand, a
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  Speaker 1: hiker came upon a body in the snow. The body
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  Speaker 1: was near a railroad track in an isolated area. It
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  Speaker 1: was at the bottom of a seventy foot ravine at
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  Speaker 1: the New River near Parrot. It was very difficult to
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  Speaker 1: get to the man just happened to be hiking in
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  Speaker 1: that area. Police come to the scene expecting the worst.
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  Speaker 1: This was confirmed when they pulled an id from the
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  Speaker 1: pocket of the victim. It was sixteen year old Tara Muncie.
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  Speaker 1: She was naked from the waist up and she had
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  Speaker 1: injuries consistent with being rolled down the ravine to where
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  Speaker 1: she was found. Because of the snow, the body was
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  Speaker 1: well preserved. An autopsy would later reveal that she was
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  Speaker 1: shot four times, once in the chest and three times
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  Speaker 1: in the head. She also had bruising on her left side, jaw,
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  Speaker 1: left arm, right leg, and upper left thigh. She had
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: fought her attacker and blood and other deposits were found
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: under her finger nails. She had not been raped, but
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  Speaker 1: they did find seminal fluid on her body. Police searched
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  Speaker 1: the surrounding area, but it was at the bottom of
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  Speaker 1: this ravine near the tracks, so there was a lot
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  Speaker 1: of trash all over the ground. It was pretty much
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  Speaker 1: a dumping ground for people. There were tires, appliances, large
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: pieces of bags of trash. It was all around. They
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  Speaker 1: were able to recover some helpful forensic evidence. This included
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: terrace keys to her car, a cigarette bud and the
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  Speaker 1: filter detached Terra shirt lying balled up near her with
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  Speaker 1: a shoeprint on the shop, and a twenty two caliber
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: bullet casing. They run the ballistics and find that the
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: gun that was used to shoot Tara was very unique.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: Only three types of guns would make those markings on
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  Speaker 1: the bullet casing. This was a big break for police
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  Speaker 1: on narrowing down the killer. When processing Tara's shirt, they
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: were able to run the tennis shoe sole designed in
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: the database they had. They found it would belong to
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: a Nike running shoe with the herringbone pattern on the sole. However,
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: they were not able to determine shoe size. They ran
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  Speaker 1: the DNA through the databases and there was no match.
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  Speaker 1: But with all the evidence, they now at least had
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: some sort of framework of who the killer was. They
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: spoke to Tara's friends, who admitted that they had been
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: smoking weed prior to her disappearance. They said an older
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: man came around to the house and offered them some marijuana.
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  Speaker 1: They found this odd that a grown man would be
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: hanging around high school kids. His name was Jeff Thomas.
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  Speaker 1: He knew Tara because she would baby his six year
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: old daughter sometimes. They found he was unemployed frequently and
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: would crash at his girlfriend's houses or stay in his
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: parents' basement. He did have a criminal history. He had
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: attacked someone with a bat and actually spent two years
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  Speaker 1: in prison. They bring Jeff in for questioning and he
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: denies any involvement. They asked Jeff if he has a gun,
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  Speaker 1: and he tells them no, but he says that his
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: friend Kevin Williams does have a twenty two caliber gun
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  Speaker 1: and that he had had it in his possession for
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: a little while, but that he no longer had Kevin's gun.
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  Speaker 1: He had given it to another friend, Leonard Dalton, to
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  Speaker 1: give back to Kevin. Jeff gives them his alibi and
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: is let go. Jeff told police that he had stayed
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  Speaker 1: at his friend Kevin's home that night. Please bring in
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  Speaker 1: Kevin for questioning. They asked him about the twenty two
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  Speaker 1: caliber rifle and he says he does own a twenty
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  Speaker 1: two caliber rifle. However, Jeff was taking care of it
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  Speaker 1: for him. He said he did not like to carry
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  Speaker 1: it up his own icy driveway, so when Jeff dropped
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: him off one day, he offered to keep it for
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  Speaker 1: him and take care of it. Jeff told police that
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  Speaker 1: he sometimes used the gun for target practice in his backyard.
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  Speaker 1: He also told them that Jeff did not stay at
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  Speaker 1: his home the night of Terror's murder. Police head to
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  Speaker 1: Kevin's home and search the backyard to see if they
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  Speaker 1: can recover some shell casings so that they can compare
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  Speaker 1: it to the one at the crime scene. With luck,
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: they do find two bullet casings. They send those off
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  Speaker 1: to the lab and it comes back as a match
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  Speaker 1: for the bullet that killed Tara. So they now know
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  Speaker 1: that they have the gun. They just need to find
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: out who was responsible and who is telling the truth.
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  Speaker 1: While they were looking into these two men, they had
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  Speaker 1: an unexpected break in the case. A woman was stopped
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  Speaker 1: by police for a moving violation and she told police
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  Speaker 1: officers that she knew something about the Tara Munkie case.
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  Speaker 1: She told him that she knew Jeff Thomas. He had
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: been staying with her during the time of Tara's killing.
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  Speaker 1: She was brought in for questioning where she told police
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  Speaker 1: that the night of the murder. She remembered Jeff coming
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  Speaker 1: home early the next morning, around six thirty am, muddy
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  Speaker 1: and acting frantic and had a scratch on his face.
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  Speaker 1: Jeff told her that he quote had just fucked up
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  Speaker 1: and that he quote wished he had done it in
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  Speaker 1: a different way, that he didn't mean to do it.
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  Speaker 1: Continuing on, Jeff told her that he had met Tara
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  Speaker 1: quote at her job, and they went down the road
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  Speaker 1: to party a little bit, and he assumed she wanted sex.
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  Speaker 1: Jeff told the woman that they got into an argument
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  Speaker 1: near a deserted spot that had a ditch. During the argument,
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: he said that Tara pushed him, and he pushed her
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  Speaker 1: and she fell down. According to the woman, Thomas said
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: that Tara was on her hands and knees when he
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  Speaker 1: grabbed the gun from his side and shot her three
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  Speaker 1: times in the head. Jeff said that he threw the
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: gun in some water. The fact that Tara had been
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: shot three times in the head was information only known
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  Speaker 1: by police and the killer. They had not released this
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: information to the public. Jeff tells the woman not to
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: tell anyone what he had told her, and not to
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: tell anyone that he had been at her house. She
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: said she was scared for her life. With this information,
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  Speaker 1: they were able to obtain a search warrant. When processing
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: Jeff's car, they found shoes that matched the prints of
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: the shoes from the crime scene. They also recovered ten
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: strains of hair with the roots attached. Three of these
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: matched Terra's DNA. They also collected his DNA and compared
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: it to the biological evidence found on Tara. It was
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: a match. His DNA also matched the DNA found on
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: the cigarette at the crime scene. On February seventeen, two thousand,
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: Jeff was arrested in charge with capital murder and using
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: a firearm while committing capital murder. Police believe he adopted
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: the taco bell around the time Tara was getting off work.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: He offered her some marijuana and that is how he
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: got her to go with him. He then propositioned her
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: for sex, and when she refused, he attacked. She was
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: able to scratch his face while fending him off, but
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: he overpowered her and at some point sexually assaulted her.
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: He then shot her multiple times and then kicked her
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  Speaker 1: body down the ravine and then smoked cigarette. In an
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: interview after his arrest, he said that on the day
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: of the murder, Tara had gone to the bank to
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: get money to buy weed from him. This was confirmed
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: with bank statements of terrors. He then stopped talking and
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  Speaker 1: asked for counsel. In March of two thousand one, Jeff
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  Speaker 1: Thomas was tried and convicted of capital murder. He was
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: sentenced to death, but Tara's mom opposed the sentence. He
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: was resentenced in two thousand and two to life without parole.
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: And that's our case out of Virginia this week. I
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: hope he enjoyed a little less mess. And again, if
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: you'd like some more banter or so, we do sometimes
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: inappropriate jokes and everything. You can check out our regular episodes.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: Those are in our feed. They're numbered and they come
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: out every Thursday. And I think that's everything. So check
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: out our Instagram, Facebook, Patreon. All the stuff's in the
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: show notes and we'll see you next time. Bye, everyone.
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: Don't you know it's bad to be superstinihot bind nothing
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: else is working. It's pretty learning sack this word. Cam