The classmate of Brenda's usually drove them whenever they hung out, but with his car in the shop temporarily, they had to take the city's buses home. Diane would spent the next few hours with her boyfriend, before the time came to head home. We know that this article of clothing was not tested for DNA by either the Maryland State Police or the FBI, but it was last in the possession of the Maryland State Police - who have not confirmed that they actually have the evidence. Immediately, the case showed some prominent similarities to that of Carol Spinks, another teenager that had been murdered a few months prior. A second call would be received at the family's home a short time later, at around 10:00 PM. They dedicated many more man-hours to political scandals and dealing with Vietnam protests - and to the loved ones left without any answers - it seemed like detectives cared very little about six dead black girls. The Freeway Phantom is a self imposed nickname for an unidentified serial killer who was active in Washington, D.C. from April 1971 through September 1972. Warning: set_time_limit() has been disabled for security reasons in /data/web/virtuals/167612/virtual/www/index.php on line 63 [3] On her way home from the store, Spinks was abducted; her body was found six days later at 2:46 pm behind St. Elizabeths Hospital on a grassy embankment next to the northbound lanes of I-295, about 1,500 feet south of Suitland Parkway. An aspiring model, she had just started her senior year at Ballou High School in Washington D.C. A short distance down the road, he was able to flag down a police officer, who reported the scene. The victim, Ruth McDonald, had actually died as a result of the poisoning, and Askins was later convicted for her murder. It is unknown whether or not police investigated Groom as a legitimate suspect, but I have not found any reporting or mention of him in the months and years after this one incident. Nonetheless, doubt continues to linger over the case, and the potential involvement of the Green Vega Rapists. A missing persons report was filed, and Darlenia Johnson's case was tentatively labeled an abduction. Two former police officers, Edward Sullivan and Tommie Simmons, were also questioned, but they were only suspected in the murder of Angela Denise Barnes, a victim not included in the Freeway Phantom series. The Ed Sullivan Show: With Ed Sullivan, Johnny Wayne, Frank Shuster, Ralph Paul. Upon his arrest, Askins declared to police that he was a "woman hater" and was placed under mental observation at Washington, D.C.'s Gallinger Hospital. Police had openly speculated that the Freeway Phantom was a black man, and James Groom was white. Edward Emerson Simmons (October 27, 1852 - November 17, 1931) was an American Impressionist painter, remembered for his mural work. That signature information was correct. In the case of the third victim, Brenda Crockett, the Phantom forced her to call her family twice, likely as a way to both taunt them and throw the Police of the trail, very similar to the way The Gilgo Beach Killer taunted his victim's families with phone calls. One of the few pieces of evidence that police would find, during a thorough examination of Carol Spinks' remains, were small green fibers that were found on her clothing. Her education policy was cashed in to bury her.". Morbidly, the body of Brenda Woodard had been disposed off of another busy road, near a bus-stop that Brenda's mother used almost every single day. It was around 9:20 PM that this call came in, approximately two or so hours after Brenda had left for the store. By that point, investigators admitted that the Barnes case was not connected to the other six murders, and they did not believe that Sellman or Simmons had anything to do with the crime spree. On the evening of November 15th, 1971, Brenda met up with a male classmate of her's, and the two had dinner together at a D.C. staple named Ben's Chili Bowl. Various conspiracy lovers later alleged that some of the sympathetic police officers had covered up the evidence; no proof of it was ever recovered. Police would use that hair over the coming years to test for suspect validity, but were unsuccessful in linking them to anyone. Before her death, it appeared that the victim had been brutalized, having been hit in the face more than once. Police quickly zeroed in on Askins as their suspect, but it wasn't until D.C. detective Lloyd Davis began interviewing Askins, and learned about his past, that he began to connect the man to the unsolved Freeway Phantom murders. A vote in favor is a vote to end debate and move to a vote on the issue itself, while a vote against is a vote to prolong debate or to filibuster. During these interviews, one gang member initially implicated another gang member, who he said told him he was involved and gave information as to one of the beltway homicides. The other, they claimed, belonged to an African American man. This case is open as a cold case in the MPDC Homicide Division as of September 2018. Now, the victim was found just hours after going missing. This time, the call would be answered by Brenda's mother's boyfriend, who had returned to the news of the first call. Are Green Vega Rapists Freeway Phantom? ". Most unusually, investigators would discover that Askins loved to use the word "tantamount." However, following the murder of Brenda Woodard, the so-called "Freeway Phantom" would disappear for close to an entire year. The "Freeway Phantom" was a nickname given by a regional tabloid, but the name seemed to stick. However, authorities would note that her feet seemed to be incredibly clean for someone that had been walking outside, become an odd footnote in the case-file. After that announcement, the inmate who provided the information declined any further interviews, and denied that he had ever provided any information. Most unusually, three of the victims shared the middle name Denise. Post author: Post published: January 28, 2023 Post category: kennings for tree kennings for tree [13], The Freeway Phantom case has seen a myriad of investigators and garnered much interest over the years. She, however, was sent by her mother to a nearby Safeway grocery store to pick up some bread and some food for the family's three dogs: Ringo, Rex, and Romeo. It's the story of six black girls, who were all abducted and brutally murdered over the span of a year-and-a-half. Sellman and Simmons, two ex-cops, were arrested for the murder of Angela Denise Barnes. She ended up managing the child abuse squad for several years, hoping to make life better for children around the D.C. region. However, one of the victims was too decomposed for authorities to rule out it out, and another was found with semen on her clothing - raising the possibility that five had been the victim of sexual assault. Barnes's slaying, originally thought to be linked to the Freeway Phantom killings, was later solved when two former police officers, Edward L. Sellman and Tommie B. Simmons, were convicted of. I will Admit the others She was the one of the few people to speak to Brenda after her abduction, and hear her crying on the other side. He would receive a life sentence, and ended up spending several decades inside a penitentiary. The other, which Detective Romaine Jenkins believes might be related, was the murder of Teara Ann Bryant, who was killed in November of 1972 - two months after the last known Freeway Phantom murder. His information seemed legitimate, albeit somewhat scattered, and investigators took his words seriously. Diane Denise Williams was a 17-year old was known for her impeccable fashion sense. This was also felt by Patricia Williams, the sister of Diane. As they spoke, her bus had come and gone, so the man offered to give her a ride home. If those girls had been white, they would have put more manpower on it, there's no doubt about that.". Like the other murder victims, Neno had been strangled to death. Her father had put aside education money for college. [23] Logical investigation and intimate knowledge of the modus operandi of the Green Vega Gang brought them to the forefront. Facebook gives people the power. Quitman. The inmate who provided the information said he was not involved in the homicide, and provided an alibi which was found to be verifiable. He tried to be more forceful on the phone than Bertha had been, but received most of the same information from Brenda: that a white man had picked her up, and she was going to head home in a cab. In 1971, Carol Denise Spinks was a thirteen-year old that lived in Washington, DC. Join Facebook to connect with Edward Sullivan and others you may know. Brenda got off to catch a transfer, and said goodbye to her classmate. To this day, many believe that police did not give the investigation the necessary resources or manpower. These were the type of cases that her male colleagues tried to avoid. Lets find out. That is the hope of the families of the other girls who were slain from 1971 to 1972 in a string of killings that stunned the city and sparked an unprecedented police homicide investigation. Approximately six hours later, a police officer discovered her body, which had been stabbed multiple times and strangled, in a grassy area near Prince George's County Hospital, along an access ramp to Route 202 from the BaltimoreWashington Parkway. She, like the majority of people in Washington DC, also happens to be black. Some leads were easily proven not to be viable, while others required substantial investigation. In March, 1977, a 58-year-old computer technician, Robert Elwood Askins, was charged with abducting and raping a 24-year-old woman inside his Washington, D.C. home. A couple of beat cops would be sent out to investigate the scene, but made very little attempt to locate the body. He replaced Joel Dabney Courtney, who portrayed Nathaniel Malick in the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. She didn't do anything.". At the time, they assumed it had come from her boyfriend - whom she had visited just before going missing - even though the boyfriend insisted they didn't have any kind of sexual activity that night. Valerie, Carol's 24-year old sister that lived across the hall in the apartment building, asked the kids if any of them would walk down to a nearby store for her. They didn't even get out of the car to look for the remains, before using their radio to call in "10-8" (aka "nothing to see here"). godzilla, mothra twins. Five months after being released in April 1952, Askins strangled 42-year-old Laura Cook to death. This boogeyman would become known as the D.C. region's "first profiled serial killer," and their crimes continue to haunt investigators and loved ones close to half-a-century later This returned him to the scene of the first two crimes, and police would determine that this most recent victim, Diane Williams, had been abducted not too far away from where Carol Spinks and Darlenia Johnson had been kidnapped from. On December 28, 1938, Askinsthen a 19-year-old student and member of the science club at Miner Teachers Collegeserved cyanide-laced whiskey to five prostitutes at a brothel, resulting in the death of 31-year-old Ruth McDonald. Bertha Crockett, the younger sister of Brenda Crockett, had been the one to pick up the phone on the night she was abducted. Still, she believes the greatest hope lies in keeping the memory of the slain girls alive. Thomas E. Sullivan portrayed Nathaniel Malick in the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Alias She had been killed in 1971 - wedged in-between the 2nd and 3rd murders - but unlike the others, she had been murdered via gunshot. From this, the detectives hypothesized that she might have known her killer, which led to her not being under compulsion while writing the note. Brenda then told her younger sister that she was in Virginia, before the call came to an abrupt end. No physical evidence was obtained and Askins was not charged in connection with the Freeway Phantom killings. The most notable thing about the discovery was that the body was dressed except for the missing shoes. They didn't want to let their lives be forever ruined because of the actions of one mad killer, and joined together to combat that. The body was too severely decomposed by the time officials got to it, and medical examiners would be unable to determine if the victim had been sexually assaulted before her death. They said they had arrest warrants for another 26 people. All the cases involving white girls still get publicity. Male Allenteen spotted her defiant 13-year old daughter, and let her know that her punishment would be waiting for her at home. Authorities would note that her crime scene was incredibly gruesome - with her clothing being stained with blood - and she had six stab wounds to various parts of her body. episode Paradise . [21] Barnes, 14, was at one point thought to be a victim of the serial killings. Remember when I told you that police had initially found semen on Diane Williams' clothing, and ruled it out as her boyfriend's? Police had long theorized that the killer had a tie to the Congress Heights neighborhood of Washington D.C. - where half of the victims had been abducted from - and here was Askins, who not only fit the bill, but worked at St. Elizabeth's Hospital where one of the bodies had been disposed of. It was surmised that the body had only been decomposing for 2-3 days, despite her body being found close to a week after her abduction. She was found wearing the clothing she had disappeared in, but her shoes had been removed. wheN you cAtch me iF you cAn! rancho bernardo country club membership cost; About. St. Elizabeths Hospital was less than a mile away from the scene of Carol's disappearance, and was the area's primary mental health facility. [20], Common practice at the time was that case files at MPDC Detective Divisions were retained by the detectives assigned to the case. He retired the next year, 2010, and had received no word in an official capacity from the Maryland Police. They were a small gang that had operated in the region around Washington D.C. - primarily along the Washington Beltway, but extending out into Maryland. After that announcement, the inmate who provided the information declined any further interviews, and denied that he had ever provided the information. The remains of this young victim were brought in for an evaluation and autopsy. Court documents were found in a desk drawer in which a judge had used the word "tantamount," an uncommon word that had appeared in the note dictated by the killer of Brenda Woodward. THOMAS SIMMONS OBITUARY. In the first murder attributed to this spree - that of Carol Spinks - it was discovered that she had been held captive for some time before her death. She remained permanently scarred after the death of her sister, and later became a Washington D.C. police officer as a result. [8] "A white man picked me up, and I'm heading home in a cab," Crockett told her sister, adding that she believed she was in Virginia before abruptly saying, "Bye" and hanging up. Shockingly, this person discovered that the body was still there - roughly a week after they had originally called it in to police. Among those individuals considered suspects were members of a gang known as the Green Vega Rapists. He ended up walking roughly 1500 feet south of Suitland Parkway, towards a grassy embankment along the Anacostia Freeway, where he discovered the body of a murdered young woman. She wasn't found with any shoes, but police didn't find that odd - after all, she had left her house without wearing shoes, as far as anyone knew. REAL CRIMINAL Nothing seemed to link him to the six victims, and a comparison of the green fibers that had been found on 5 of the 6 victims' clothing didn't match anything that Askins owned. Why was this case never solved?, The Washington Post - Would the Freeway Phantom case already be solved if the victims werent black?, The Washington Post - The Freeway Phantom Revisited (Youtube video), Washington Examiner - DNA discovery could solve 1972 Freeway Phantom slaying, The Washington Post - Freeway Phantom Slayings Haunt Police, Families Six Young D.C. They believe that the Freeway Phantom was a young black man in his 20's or 30's, and agree with the FBI profile. 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