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Abducted At Auburn · 10 Minute Murder | Bingeable True Crime Stories

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Discretion is advised. This is ten minuted murder. Eighteen year old Lauren Burke
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was in her freshman year at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama. She was
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a multi talented student, a lacrosse playing sorority member who was majoring in graphic
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design and dreamed of one day working and marketing. On the fourth of March
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two thousand and eight, Lawrence spent the afternoon hanging out with her boyfriend at
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his dorm and planned on an evening study session at one of the university's libraries
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with a friend. At around eight pm, Orne walked back to her car,
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a two thousand and one Honda Civic, which she had parked nearby.
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Which she didn't know is that someone was watching her, and when she moved
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to open her car door, he struck. Courtney Lockhart had spent the day
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scoping out the university's campus looking for people to rob. It was an unusual
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behavior for him. Between joining the military in two thousand and three at the
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age of nineteen and his dishonorable discharge in two thousand and six, he'd been
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a nightmare for other soldiers to deal with, doing drugs, picking fights,
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going a wall and even physically assaulting one of his superiors. After he served
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half a year in confinement, he was discharged in December two thousand and six,
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but he never cleaned up his act. Throughout Georgia and Alabama, Courtney
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was the perpetrator of a series of carjackings and robberies. He usually followed the
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same method. First, he selected a female victim, one who didn't look
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like she could fight back. He would watch and wait as she climbed into
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her vehicle. Then he would quickly approach an amos pistol letter while threatening to
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shoot. He would either order her to hand over her wallet or force her
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to stand by while he stole her car. When he selected Loren as his
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next target, Courtney began by following the same mo that he'd always used.
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He pointed his gun at her and demanded that she'd climb into her car.
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Once Loren was in the passenger's seat, Courtney climbed into the driver's seat,
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and at this point Loren had figured out she was being robbed and tried to
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give Courtney two hundred dollars in cash. In his previous robberies, Courtney had
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either taken the money or taken the vehicle while the victim watched helplessly, this
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time still pointing his gun at Loren and the passenger's seat. He began to
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drive with one hand on the steering wheel. He told Loren to take her
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clothes off, which she did. Later, Courtney insisted that he hadn't intended
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on sexually assaulting Lauren. He told her to undress to make her more vulnerable,
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hoping that if she was naked, she'd be less likely to fight back.
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For the next half an hour, Lauren was trapped inside her own vehicle.
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Courtney just kept driving through town, but at some point he began to
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confide in Lauren about the struggles he was going through, telling her how he
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was unemployed and down on his luck. Multiple times, Lauren tried to talk
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him out of kidnapping her, even offering to put him in touch with someone
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who could give him a job. But then Lauren's fear would get the better
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of her, and she asked Courtney if he was going to shoot her.
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While courtney was driving down Alabama Highway one forty seven, Lauren's phone rang.
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It was her boyfriend. He was concerned because she'd already missed the study session
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that they had planned on. Courtney made Lauren answer the phone and tell her
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boyfriend that she'd forgotten that they had plans before suddenly hanging up. At the
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time, Lauren's boyfriend said, I didn't think about it that much. Looking
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back on the phone call, Wow, I could have realized something was up.
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All of Lauren's attempts to calm down her abductor were failing. She had
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no idea what Courtney wanted, and he was just getting more and more agitated.
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Finally, Lauren decided that she had to do something to get herself out
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of the situation. While Courtney was driving, she quickly swung open the door.
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Two things happened at once. Lauren threw herself out of the car,
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and Courtney fired his gun twice. He had kept the weapon trained on his
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captive the entire time, making it easy to aim. One bullet entered Lauren's
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body at close range, passing through her left shoulder and both of her lungs.
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When Lauren managed to stagger uprights and wave her arms at passing cars for
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help, Courtney panicked. He shut the door and kept driving, leaving Lauren
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on the highway. Lauren's body was covered in abrasions from the road, and
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she was bleeding heavily from her bullet wound. The only item of clothing that
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she was wearing were her socks. Several vehicles stopped to help. The adrenaline
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faded and Lauren's injuries began to catch up with her. She lay down on
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the road, struggling to breathe. At about nine pm, one hour after
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Lauren was first abducted, first responders arrived at the scene. Lareen was still
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alive, but she was deteriorating quickly. She clung to life throughout the drive
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to the hospital, but died due to blood loss shortly after she arrived.
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While Lauren was fighting for her life, Courtney had been buying gasoline, hoping
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to hide the evidence of his crime by burning the Honda Civic. After several
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failed attempts, he managed to get the blaze going, but only after he'd
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removed Lawrence's credit card, iPod and cash. He left the campus in his
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own car, throwing Lawrence's credit card out the window after using it to fuel
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up. Later that night, law enforcement received a call about a car fire
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on the Auburn University campus. They were able to recover a bullet, and
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after they found out that Lauren's father owned the car. They placed a call
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to her family. Her father, James Burke, traveled to Auburn to identify
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his daughter's body. Three days later, Courtney Lockhart was pulled over after a
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police officer saw him speeding. The officer, Dale Richards, asked Courtney to
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get out of the car, but Courtney refused. Instead of complying, he
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started a five person police chase, during which he attempted to dispose of his
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gun by throwing it out of the car window. Courtney suddenly screeched his car
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to a halt and opened the door, causing one of the officers, who
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was on a motorbike, to crash into the door. Then Courtney tried to
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flee on foot, but he was quickly apprehended. A search of his vehicle
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revealed Lauren Burke's cell phone and iPod, as well as thirty eight caliber shell
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casings. Courtney Lockhart might have been a hardened criminal, but he wasn't particularly
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smart. Shortly after he was arrested, he confessed to his involvement in Lauren's
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murder, as well as several other robberies. In November twenty ten, Courtney's
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trial began. He was facing charges for murdering during the commission of a kidnapping,
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murdered during the commission of an attempt at rape, and murdered during the
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commission of a robbery, and his defense team were heavily leaning on claims that
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Courtney suffered from mental illness after his time in the military, making him not
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guilty by reason of insanity. The prosecution was barred from mentioning Courtney's other criminal
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history, including his dishonorable discharge. The jury spent two days deliberating and finally
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reached their conclusion. Although they agreed that Courtney was guilty of kidnapping and murdering
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Lauren, they believed he was not guilty of sexually assaulting her. They recommended
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that Courtney be sentenced to life behind bars instead of a death sentence, but
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Judge Walker felt otherwise. The judge overturned the jury's decision and sentenced Courtney Lockhart
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to death. The judge had several reasons for his decision. First, he
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felt as if the jury would have made a different choice if they'd known more
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information about Courtney, particularly the fact that he had a criminal history and the
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way he'd behaved when he was in the military. Judge Walker also argued that
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the way Courtney had kidnapped Lauren meant that a death sentence was appropriate. Lauren
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alone, unarmed, and she was chosen by Courtney Lockhart at random. The
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judge said the kidnapping is even more egregious because she was taken from a college
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campus, a place where students should feel safe, and forced into her own
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car. Lauren's parents were in favor of their daughter's killer being sentenced to death,
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and despite Courtney making multiple appeals, his conviction has been upheld. Lauren's
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family attended every hearing determined to make sure that their family got justice. Quote,
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we maintain our desire for the death penalty, Lauren's father said at one
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of Courtney's hearings. Lauren did get the death penalty without a warning. He
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didn't give Lauren a second chance. Lauren's mother said he shouldn't get a second
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chance either. That is ten minute murder for today, brief and binge able
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True crime. I'm Joe the host, and I really appreciate you listening today,
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especially today, because you could have tuned away any point. My voice
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is I thought a couple of times during that I was going to lose my
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voice completely. I don't know what's happening. Maybe it's allergies, but my
9:56
voice is trying to disappear on me. But thanks for with me on this
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episode. If you're brand new to ten Minute Murder, first of all,
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I don't normally sound like this. Second welcome, I'm glad that you're here
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despite how I sound. Make sure you go back and listen to more of
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the back episodes. They are three hundred and fifty something of them, so
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go and listen to those. Also subscribe now so that you can more easily
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catch up on the back episodes. Connect with me on social media to see
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and graphics stuff though. And if you like this episode, please leave a
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rating and review on Apple, Spotify, Audible, any place that you listen
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that it's possible to leave a rating and review. I really do appreciate that.
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And Hey, Joe, aside from your voice problems, how's your day
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been? Well? Thank you for asking. I'd love to tell you all
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about it. I was having a conversation with someone and I said the word
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pajamas, and then a moment later I said pajamas. After that, I
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tuned out everything they said because I kept trying to decide in my head do
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you say it pajamas or do you say it pajamas? And then on that
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topic of conversation, I just said pj's And now I can't stop questioning myself.
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It's been hours since that conversation and I still don't know is it pajamas
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or pajamas? I don't even know. So I've got that mental situation going
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on, and I know what you're about to do, and I'm telling you,
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don't do it. Don't do it. You're going to try to remotely
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diagnose me with whatever thing. Don't do it. Whatever's wrong with me is
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none of my business. All right, that's your episode for today. I'm
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headed to the kitchen to pour myself something warm with honey in it. I
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think that's what you're supposed to do when you can't talk. I'm going to
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do that while you can catch up on back episodes or go on about your
11:39
day, or go to sleep, whatever is that you are planning to do.
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I hope you do it well. Thank you for listening to ten Minute Murder