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AWOL and Unhinged · 10 Minute Murder | Bingeable True Crime Stories

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George York and James Latham were born in the early nineteen forties, and from
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the get go they were troublemakers. York grew up in a broken home in
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Ohio, and by the age of fourteen, he was already in trouble with
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the law. Latham, on the other hand, was born in Texas and
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had more of a stable upbringing, but he still had a taste for mischief.
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York met Latham towards the end of nineteen fifty nine. Both of the
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teenagers were serving as privates in the US Army, stationed at Fort Hood in
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Texas. They quickly became close over the following few years until May of nineteen
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sixty one, when they went missing. George and James decided to leave the
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army and drive to Jacksonville, Florida. On the twenty sixth of May nineteen
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sixty one, they committed their very first crime together in mix, Louisiana.
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After encountering a man by the name of Edward J. Guidrows, George and
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James decided to beat him up so that they could steal his truck. Edward
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was severely injured, but he did survive the ordeal. Only three days later,
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George and James met two women, friends, Patricia Hewitts and Althea Ottavio.
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Patricia and Althea were out of towns from Georgia who were just visiting Jacksonville
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for a few days. They had planned to spend their day shopping. Instead,
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they were robbed by George and James, who removed their stockings and used
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them to strangle both women to death. After the murder, the killers disposed
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of the car the women had been driving, leaving it in a ditch on
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the side of the road. By now, there was no going back.
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George and James were on a spree of quickly escalating crime. They'd made the
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leap from assault and robbery to murder. To them, it seemed as if
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they might as well keep going. Armed with a gun, the duo carried
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out a third robbery in South Carolina on June sixth. Their intended victim was
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sitting in a Cadillac nearby, which George and James wanted for themselves. However,
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despite their military background, their aim wasn't as good as it could have
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been. None of the bullets they fired hit the mark, and the unnamed
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man was able to escape to safety. The following day, they made another
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attempt at a murder, this time in Tennessee, and unlike the previous attempts,
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this one was a success. They shot and killed John Whittaker, dumping
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his body and stealing his vehicle. The previous stolen truck that they'd been driving
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was abandoned nearby. George and James drove John's car for the next two days
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until they decided that it was too risky to keep driving it. They left
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that car in Illinois and then posed as hitchhikers so that they could find another
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victim. Albert Reid was driving down the road when he saw the two men
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attempting to hitch a ride. He pulled over and allowed them into his car,
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but he was quickly overpowered and then killed once again. George and James
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dumped the body, leaving it in a shallow creek close to the road.
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Then they continued on their journey behind the wheel of Albert's car, and it
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wasn't just vehicles that the two needed to steal. By now, they were
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sorely in need of both money and gas so that they could continue their cross
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country crime spree. They stopped at a gas station just outside of Edwardsville,
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Illinois, and approached the owner, a man named Martin Drenovac. After attacking
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and killing Martin, they filled up Albert's car with stolen gas and pocketed all
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of the money that they could find behind the counter. The next stop in
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their spree was in Wallace, Kansas. On the ninth of June nineteen sixty
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two, Kansas man Otto Ziegler was shot and killed and his wallet was taken.
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James and George kept driving on into the night until they reached Craig,
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Colorado, where they decided to stop in a motel to get some rest.
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It was in this motel that they came across Rachel Moyer, a teenage girl
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who worked there as a maid. At only eighteen years of age. She
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became their next victim. After they had murdered Rachel together, George and James
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disposed of the body at the bottom of a ravine. Her belongings were left
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with her body. They hadn't even stolen anything from her. They killed Rachel
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just because. It was the tenth of June when George and James's killing spree
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was finally brought to an end. After trying to drive one of their stolen
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vehicles across Utah state lines. The car was recognized and they were arrested.
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When in police custody, the duo took a strange approach to the situation,
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proudly informing investigators, who at this stage only suspected them of car theft,
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that they had murdered nine people together. Despite their bracking, it turned out
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that they were wrong. They'd only killed seven people, as two of their
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intended victims, Edward J. Guidrows and the unnamed man who they had tried
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to shoot in South Carolina, had been able to survive the attack. Regardless
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of the accuracy of their claims, the fact that two men with no criminal
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history that had left the army had killed seven people in one month and that
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was extremely alarming. So what was the motive for two US Army privates to
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go a wall and dive headfirst into a life of violent crime. According to
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George and James, their killing spree had been triggered in part by being put
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into a mixed race army unit. Both men disagreed with serving with soldiers of
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other races, and this is whine they had decided to desert from. Then,
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the sudden dose of freedom and the sense of injustice they felt spiraled into
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violence. According to them, George and James had been on the move,
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constantly crossing from state to state and rarely staying in one place for very long.
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It meant that they'd killed people in multiple states, and although it was
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quickly decided that they deserved to face the death penalty, each of the states
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followed different procedures for executing criminals. The state of Colorado was still gassing prisoners
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to death, while Tennessee, Illinois, and Florida all carried out executions using
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the electric chair. In the end, it was decided that George and James
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would go to trial in Kansas. That meant if they were found guilty at
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their trial, they would both face execution by hanging. With their poorly concealed
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crimes and the fact that they had openly bragged to the police officers about their
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murders showing no signs of remorse, the decision was easy for the jury to
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make. November eighth, nineteen sixty one, George York and James Latham were
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both sentenced to death. George and James spent just under four years on death
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row. While incarcerated, they met two other prisoners Perry Smith and Richard Hiccock,
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who had committed a quadruple murder together in nineteen fifty nine. Later,
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Perry and Richard would become infamous in American society after the author Truman Capode wrote
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a best selling non fiction novel In Cold Blood about their crimes. The success
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of In Cold Blood made many people consider Perry and Richard, who had been
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relatively unknown in the years after they committed the murder, to be two of
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the most famous murderers in history by their association with Perry and Richard. George
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and James ended up being featured in the novel as well, even though both
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men had been executed by the time it was published, and if you've read
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In Cold Blood, you know that it goes into almost a many novel within
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a novel. Talking about George and James, they were described as being completely
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unremorseful, dismissive of the harm that they had caused, and being generally unpleasant
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to others. On the twenty second of June nineteen sixty five, George York
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and James Latham were executed by hanging at Kansas State Penitentiary. Both executions went
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off without a hitch, and the public consensus was that the world would be
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a better place without two unremorseful killers roaming free. Since that day, nobody
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else has been executed in the state of Kansas, even though several criminals have
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received a death sentence. James Latham died first, and even in his final
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moments, when most people would take an opportunity to say that they're sorry or
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profess their innocence, he didn't appear to regret what he had done at all.
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His last words were a quote, I'm not mad at anybody. He
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did, not, however, address how many people might be mad at him
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for his violent, petty crimes. Somehow he viewed himself as a victim.
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George York's last words were also fairly unusual for a murderer. He stepped up
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to the noose and confidently stated, there was nothing to say but that I'm
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going to heaven. That's ten minute murder for today, brief and bingeible True
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Crime. I'm Joe the host, and I really appreciate you listening today,
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and this is one of those very very rare episodes that wasn't requested by anyone.
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As far as I know, I don't think anybody requested this one.
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I requested this one. This is one of those episodes that I usually don't
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do because I found in the past that the ones that I most want to
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talk about, you guys don't really want to hear them. I think my
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ideas are not quite as good as your ideas. But the reason why this
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was added to the list of episodes that I would do a story on,
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it's because I read In cold Blood last summer. If you were an OG
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listener, you remember that I was away on a work trip for was it
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like ten days, two weeks something like that. I was in Florida and
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it was during the summertime. I was in a hotel resort, thing on
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the beach, had a lot of free time on my hands because not to
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go into detail about what I'd do for an actual living, but we were
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waiting on some stuff to happen, and during that time, I was reading
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In Cold Blood. So I was sitting at the pool reading this book.
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I was sitting on the beach reading this book, and it consumed my world
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for the like three or four days. And this story was, like I
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said in the episode a minute ago, it was like a mini novel within
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a novel. They talked a lot about this story, but it was super
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interesting the way Truman Campode wrote it, and I thought, hey, this
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would be something I can talk about. And if, by the way,
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if you have not read In Cold Blood still holds up, it's very interesting.
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It's very good. So that's why this story was done. It was
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one of the rare ones that I decide to do. Ninety nine point nine
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percent of the ones that I talk about are the episodes, are the story
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ideas that you submit, And if you'd like to make a suggestion of a
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story that I could talk about, Joe at ten minute murder dot com.
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That's the quickest and easiest way to get it in front of my eyeballs.
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That's my email address, Joe at ten minute murder dot com. And if
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