Sept. 12, 2024

Classroom to Crime Scene: Pamela Smart's Deadly Plot

Show Notes
Transcript

Classroom to Crime Scene: Pamela Smart’s Deadly Plot

Pamela Smart had it all—beauty, popularity, and a bright future. But beneath the surface, something darker was brewing. When a whirlwind romance with Greggory Smart hit the rocks, Pam turned to a teenage student for more than just emotional support. Before long, this high school media coordinator went from being the center of attention to the mastermind behind a shocking murder plot. Was she the victim of a love gone wrong, or a manipulative schemer who knew exactly what she was doing? Dive into the twisted tale of Pamela Smart, the teacher who blurred all the lines.

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Strikingly beautiful, some would say, and outrageously popular. Pamela Smart

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just seemed to have it all, and that's just the

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way things that always been for her. She was born

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on August sixteenth, nineteen sixty seven, in Coral Gables, Florida,

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but she and her family moved to Deary, New Hampshire

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when Pamela was in the eighth grade. There she went

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to high school, where she became a ring leading cheerleader

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with an always sunny disposition. Pamela was always surrounded by

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friends and always seemed to be the center of attention,

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and that's exactly how things were when she went to

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college as well. Now studying communications at the University of Florida,

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Pamela became the host of her very own radio program.

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Pamela had gone from being the sweet and vivacious cheerleader

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to the maiden of Metal. A huge Van Halen fan,

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Pamela played their music all through her show and even

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got a custom license plate for her car that simply

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read Haylen. She was just as popular as ever, and

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she was still very much the center of everyone's attention.

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But for Pamela, it still wasn't enough. She wanted something more.

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She wanted to be more. What Pamela really wanted was

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to be on TV, and it was her big dream

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to become an anchor. Her degree in communications would set

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her on the right track to do just that. But

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when she had one year left to finish her studies,

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she came across a potential hiccup in that plan. Charming,

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long haired and handsome Greg Smart was a metalhead who

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was just two years older than Pamela. Their paths crossed

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in New Hampshire when pam was visiting her parents for

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the Christmas holidays, and that was that. It was one

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of those instant connections, one of those love at first

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sight and the consequences be damned sort of situations. But

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her new relationship with Greg put Pamela at a crossroads.

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She still had to go back to Florida to finish

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up her degree if she ever wanted to fulfill her

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dreams of becoming a news anchor, but Greg was based

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in New Hampshire. Could Pam really give up everything she'd

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been working for just for the possibility that things would

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work out with her new boyfriend. Lucky for Pam she

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never had to find out. Finding himself at the same crossroads,

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Greg picked up and moved to Florida rather than face

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the possibility of losing Pam. The young couple lived together

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while Pam finished up her education, and then they got

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married a year later. With their whole futures ahead of them,

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Pam and Gregg then settled back down in New Hampshire

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to work on building a life together. They bought a house,

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Greg and Pam got a dog. She named it Haylen,

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after her favorite band. Greg then got a job at

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his father's insurance company. He cut off his long hair

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and wore a suit and tie to work every day,

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and Pam found herself in a situation where her husband

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looked nothing like the man she'd married. Remember she still

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the maiden of Metal, and the two started bickering all

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the time. According to Pam, Gregg began cheating on her

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during the first year they were married, but it's difficult

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to say if that's true or not with any degree

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of certainty. But what we do know is by months

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seven of their marriage, Pam and Gregg's whirlwind romance had

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hit the rocks. The two of them were still married,

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but growing further and further apart every day, trying to

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make herself feel better, Pamela threw herself into her new job,

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where she was the media coordinator at Winneconnutt High School.

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I feel like I mispronounced that, but let's keep moving.

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There she found herself the center of attention once again.

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The halls and corridors were filled with excited chatter as

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people pushed and shoved to get to the front of

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the crowds to talk to Pam. She was objectively beautiful.

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She was interesting and intelligent. She was a teacher who

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liked the same kind of music that the students did,

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and the teenagers at the high school couldn't get enough

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of her. Instead of spending her spare time with the

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other teachers at the school, or even people her own age,

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Pam was spending more and more time with her students.

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Classes rolled over into break times and after school activities,

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and then she began volunteering in the evenings and on

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the weekends too. One student in particular stood out amongst

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the rest. Tall, lanky, and boasting a mane of long,

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dark hair, Billy Flynn went up several notches in Pam's

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books just because his favorite band was also Van Halen.

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The next thing anyone knew. Billy and Pam were working

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very closely together through the long winter nights making a

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music video for school project. According to some accounts, one

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day in February nineteen ninety, when Billy was still only

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fifteen years old and Pamela was twenty two, she turned

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around to him and asked, do you think about me?

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Because I think about you all the time. The seal

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was broken, charged whispers turned into stolen moments, and about

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two weeks later, Pam had taken Billy's virginity. She then

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strung him along with more sexual favors and platitudes, But

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shortly after that she began to tighten the reins. On

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the one hand, she was giving Billy pictures of herself

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posing in only her lingerie. On the other, she was

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telling him that they had to end their relationship because

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she was in love with their husband, Greg. Then, in

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stolen moments filled with heated passion, she would tell Billy

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that Greg abused her and that she feared the only

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way they could ever be free of him would be

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if someone killed him. If she tried to divorce Greg,

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he would take the house, the car, and maybe even

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her dog, Halen, And then her life would be ruined.

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The trap was set. The only thing left to do

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was to wait. On May first, nineteen ninety, just a

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few months after Pam began sleeping with one of her students,

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she came home to find greg dead. Her home had

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been ransacked, and lying face down in the foyer was

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her husband. He'd been shot in the back of the head.

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What at first looked like in attempted burglary that had

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ended in disaster quickly morphed into a murder investigation, and

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the heart of it was Pamela herself. Detective found her

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cold and callous, not at all like a grieving widow

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who had just married her husband only about a year ago.

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But what they lacked was proof that Pam had anything

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to do with it. Her alibi was air tight and

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placed her across town at the time of the murder,

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and so the investigation stalled to a halt. That was

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until a tip over the phone named a high school

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student as a witness. Cecilia Pierce was in the inner

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circle and allegedly knew about a murder plot to kill

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Gregory Smart, But before the investigators could interview her, they

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found themselves chasing up another lead. Rumors about the murder

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had been circling around the school like wildfire, and one

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parent was more concerned about them than the others. Vance

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Latimer Junior, who usually just went by Junior, was very

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good friends with Billy, and even though he didn't own

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a gun himself, his father did. With the school absolutely

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buzzing with rumors and speculations that Greg had been shot

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in the back of the head, Jr's father went to

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check his gun just to put his own mind at ease.

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He was shocked to find that his gun had been

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cleaned within an inch of its life. Suspecting that he

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was actually in possession of the murder weapon, Jr's father

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took it down to the police station and handed it in.

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While the gun was in for processing, investigators closed in

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on Cecilia. She was reluctant to speak at first. She

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considered herself special to call herself friends with Pamela Smart,

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But with the threat of being arrested herself looming over

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her head, Cecilia cracked. She confessed to knowing about a

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murder plot to kill Greg Smart, and she was willing

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to wear a wire to record her conversations with the

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mastermind behind it. During these recordings, Pam can be heard

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talking about the plan to kill her husband, and she

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can be heard coaching Cecilia on what to say if

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investigators approach her. You'd be better off just lying, she says.

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A few months later, Pam found herself in the car

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park at the school and she was surrounded by officers.

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What's up, she asked one of them. Well, Pam, I

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have some good news and I have some bad news.

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The good news is we've solved the murder of your husband.

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The bad news is you're under arrest. In court, Pam, Billy,

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and three other teenage boys, including Jr. Faced charges. Pam

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admitted to having an affair with the miner, but claimed

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she had no idea that Billy or anyone else had

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been planning on killing her husband. The trial quickly derailed

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into a case of he said, she said, but the

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prosecution painted a clear picture in everyone's minds. Pam had

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manipulated young and impressionable students, and she'd had them to

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do her dirty work for her. She was found guilty

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of being an accomplice to first degree murder. She was

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given a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the

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possibility of parole. Her appeals process actually ran out in

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March of twenty twenty three, when she lost her final appeal.

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She will now officially spend the rest of her life

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behind bars. Billy Flynn was found guilty of second degree

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murder and was sentenced to life without the possibility of

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parole for forty years, but with the possibility that his

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sentence could be deferred to twelve years if he maintained

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good behavior. He was granted parole in March twenty fifteen,

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just a few days after the twenty fifth anniversary of

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Greg's murder. Another boy named Patrick Randall was found guilty

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of the same charges and received a similar sentence with

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a similar release date. Jr. Was found guilty of being

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an accomplice to second degree murder, and he was released

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from prison in two thousand and five. Raymond Fowler, who

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waited in the car during the murder, was released in

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two thousand and three. That is ten minute murder for

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Today Brief and Bingeable True Crime. I'm Joe, I'm the host,

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Minute Murder any place that you're on social media, and

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that is going to keep you update on the podcast.

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And you know, I post all kinds of things on

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the social media, the stuff that never makes it to

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what you're listening to right now, just current things that

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are happening. I'll put that on the social media. I

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sounded like a boomer just now. I'm going to put

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that on the Facebook. My bad. And if you've got

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a question or a story you'd like me to cover,

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you can email it to me Joe at ten minute

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Murder dot com. And here is an email. They'd like

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to remain anonymous. So here's the question. What is something

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that you do in private that you may be embarrassed

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that anyone knew? And the answer is kind of embarrassing.

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It's not really embarrassing. I guess a lot of us

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do it. But I hyper fixate on different things, the

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strangest things like today. Now, keep in mind, before I

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say this, I'm not a dancer. I know that that

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may surprise you. I seem like a dancer, right, I'm

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not a dancer. But I watched the choreography for the

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dance break, the little dance break of the Janet Jackson video,

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if that's what the song is called. If I watched

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it over and over. I love Janet Jackson, and I

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watched the original and I watch the behind the scenes

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videos of Janet learning it, doing it on tour, and

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then finally, like everyday people doing that same dance, and

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I ended up with a guy that was just absolutely

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killing it in the cold ale at the grocery store.

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And if you don't know what I'm talking about, just

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google dance break in Janet Jackson's If you're gonna spend

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some time watching that, probably you're welcome. But that's kind

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of an answer. I hyperfixate on things, and I don't

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know how to stop doing it. I don't even know

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that I want to stop doing it because it helps

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this podcast quite a bit. I'll hyperfixate on things having

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to do with the podcast, and then I'll just knock

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stuff out. I'll get stuff done really quick when I

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hyperfixate on it. But that's it. Thank you for your email,

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mister or missus anonymous, And that's it. That's your episode

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for today. Thank you for listening to ten minute Murder

Classroom to Crime Scene: Pamela Smart's Deadly Plot

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