The Blue Moon Murders

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Discretion is advised. This is ten
minted murder. Far too often investigations are

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pulled into the wrong direction because of
rumors about witchcraft, black magic, and

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human sacrifices. With one mention of
devil worship, paganism or Wiccan beliefs and

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otherwise normal case can cause mass hysteria, and one twenty fifteen triple homicide,

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which occurred in Pensacola, Florida,
allegations of a ritualistic killing almost led investigators

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on a wild goose chase, distracting
them from the killer's much more mundane motive.

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Still, the case has never quite
escaped the nickname it was given in

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those early days, the Blue Moon
Murders. It was the thirty first of

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July twenty fifteen, three days after
the murders, when the bodies of three

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victims were located. The Escambia County
Sheriff's office had sent deputies to forty seven

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year old Richard Smith's house to carry
out a welfare check because he had failed

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to show up for his job at
the Department of Homeland Security. Richard worked

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as an IT specialist, and he
had a reliable reputation, so when there

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was no sign of him at work. One of his colleagues reported him as

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missing. When nobody came to answer
the door, the deputies entered Richard Smith's

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house, where they found him dead. Alongside Richard's body were two other bodies,

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Richard's brother, forty nine year old
John Smith, and their mother,

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seventy seven year old Vonsil Smith.
David Morgan, Escambia County Sheriff gave a

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statement shortly after the bodies were discovered, saying, quote, the elements of

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this case are odd at best.
We have a very reclusive family. Obviously,

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we've canvassed the neighborhood and spoken to
people who have lived there for years

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and years. Neighbors have related to
us that they've never met members of this

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family. All three of the victims
had been killed in the same way.

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They had been severely beaten with a
large clawhammer, and their throats had been

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cut with a sharp blade. However, Richard Smith had some additional injuries.

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Unlike his mother and brother, he
also sustained a bullet wound to the head.

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Investigators believed that the killer shot Richard
before the rest of the murders took

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place, making sure that he was
incapacitated and unable to fight back. Another

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unusual detail was that the victims had
been separated from each other. The bodies

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were found in different rooms, and
all three bodies have been covered with blankets,

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which is usually a sign that the
killer knew the victim or feels some

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sort of remorse about their death,
but it asks the question, why would

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a remorseful killer brutally murder three victims
at once. Shortly after the three bodies

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were found, rumors began to circulate
about the case. It was already unusual

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for three members of the same family
to be found dead, and because the

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Smiths were known for being reclusive and
keeping to themselves, the element of mystery

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that surrounded the case made the local
community even more fascinated. Soon, there

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was one theory that was especially common. Many people believed that witchcraft played a

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role in the deaths, and it
wasn't just the local gossip circles who believed

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this. The sheriff's department did too. At a press conference shortly after the

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murders, one local sheriff told the
astonished reporter, quote, it's witchcraft.

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I'll say that right now. Bizarrely, one of the biggest pieces of witchcraft

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evidence that the Sheriff's department leaned on
was circumstantial. There had been a blue

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moon coming up at the same time
the family was murdered. A blue moon

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is the name of the beer that
I drink when I'm playing top golf most

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of the time, and it's also
a nickname for when there's an extra full

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moon in a lunar cycle. It's
a rare phenomenon and it takes place about

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once every three years. It's how
the phase once in a blue moon came

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about. But the Sheriff's department weren't
only basing the black magic theory off the

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date of the blue moon. They
happened to already have a key suspect in

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the killings, and they knew that
the suspect was the practitioner of an unusual

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religion, so unusual in fact,
that they believed that he might be capable

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of carrying out a ritualistic murder.
But the suspect wasn't some stranger in a

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dark luke who had staked out the
house and sacrificed the family to the devil.

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In fact, he was someone that
all three of the victims knew very

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well, because he was related to
all three of them. His name was

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Donald hard Tongue, and he was
von Ziel's sixty three year old son from

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a previous relationship, making him both
Richard and John's half brother. Even when

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investigators first broke the news to Donald
that three members of his family had been

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brutally killed, they noticed that he
was behaving very oddly. There was no

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sign of grief or anger that usually
accompanies this time of tragedy. Instead,

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he almost seemed too calm and composed, like he was reading from a script

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or reciting something he memorized. One
of the detectives who talked to Donald that

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day, Detective Matt Infinger, described
Donald's first response to finding out the news

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about the murders, saying, quote, he was really nonchalant and non emotional

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when I told him the whole family
was dead. Looking back on it,

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it was like he prepared himself for
questioning. It was like he already knew

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his family was dead, and he
kept his composure and showed no emotion the

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whole time. On the same day
that the bodies were found, local deputies

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rated Donald hard Tongues nearby home.
Inside they found the bloodstained outfit he had

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been wearing at the time of the
murder, a clawhammer and a blade that

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matched the murder weapons, and also
what they called a worship room. It

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was a perfect media storm. The
news had only just broken about the bodies

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being found, and now the news
reported that some kind of pagan altar had

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been found inside the killer's house.
Sheriff Morgan himself later fed into the rumors

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about black magic, saying quote the
crime appears to have been a part of

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a witchcraft practice linked to the thirty
first Blue Moon, a reference to the

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second of two full moons that appear
in a calendar month. When the media

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became aware of the connection of the
July blue moon, they gave Donald a

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nickname, calling him the Blue Moon
Killer. However, all the excitement generated

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by the idea of a ritualistic murder
didn't last. Shortly after the Blue Moon

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Killer received his nickname, investigators stated
that the witchcraft theories had been wrong.

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There was no evidence that the three
victims had been murdered as a part of

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a pagan ritual, and the timing
of the blue moon seemed to be just

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a red herring. In fact,
there was circumstantial evidence that Donald's motive had

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been much more simple, like so
many other murders, it had taken place

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because of money. One of Donald's
co workers came forward, telling investigators that

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she remembered him bragging about when his
mother passed away, he would receive all

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of her inheritance due to being her
oldest living heir. Unfortunately for Donald,

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his mother had done everything in her
power to prevent this. Von Ziel wanted

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to leave all of her money and
assets to her other sons, Richard and

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John, who were less well off
than Donald, and she felt like needed

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the money more. And von Ziel's
will she had written quote, I intentionally

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make no provision herein to the benefit
of my son Donald Hartungue Junior, not

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for lack of love or affection,
but because he has sufficient assets of his

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own. But to Donald, it
didn't matter that he didn't need the money

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as much as as younger half brothers. It also didn't matter that his mother

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was only trying to be fair to
him. It felt like a deliberate slight

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by his entire family and his eyes. He had been wronged and he was

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willing to do whatever it took to
make things right. He had murdered his

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two half brothers and his mother in
one violent attack, trying to ensure that

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there was no way to get in
between him and the money that he felt

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he deserved a total sum of almost
nine hundred thousand dollars. On the twenty

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seventh of October two fifteen, Donald
Hartungue was placed under arrest facing three counts

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of premeditated first degree murder with a
weapon. At his trial, it took

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the jury an hour to reach their
decision. The Blue Moon Killer was found

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guilty of all three murder charges.
He was sentenced to three life sentences to

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be served consecutively, ensuring that he
would never kill again or have an opportunity

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to cash in on his dead mother's
life insurance. That is ten Minute Murder,

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Brief and bingeible true crime. I'm
Joe the host, and thank you

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so much for listening today. And
if this is your first time checking out

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Ten Minute Murder, welcome, I'm
super pumped that you're here. Please make

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sure you subscribe now so that you
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And if you like this episode,
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Spotify, any place that's possible.
You're positive. Feedback is very much

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appreciated, and quickly a couple of
email questions, two of them today because

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they're short. Let's see, you've
mentioned that you live in the South on

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past episodes. What's it like having
romantic partners that are also your cousins?

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That's from Jeremy in Idaho. First
of all, Jeremy rude, but I

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don't live in Mississippi, so I
can't tell you what that's like. So

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sorry about that funny guy. But
in Jeremy's defense, he's probably been out

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in the sun digging up potatoes and
the heat's just cooking his brain, so

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he doesn't know any better. And
the next one, Hey, Joe love

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the show. Do you do commercials
or something besides this podcast? You sound

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like you would be good at it. Mallory in Tennessee, Hey, Malorie,

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thank you for the email. And
the answer is yes. For a

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very long time, I've done commercial
voices, but not voices, but my

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voice on commercials. I can't do
character voices because first of all, to

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make me feel awkward, and second, I just can't do it. For

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years, I was the voice of
a shopping center company that has centers all

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over the country, and specifically a
couple of them in Tennessee, so you've

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probably heard my voice there. And
I already answered Mallory in the email,

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so she knows that answer already,
but I brought it here to the podcast

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because I get that question quite a
bit. People will email and tell me

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they heard my voice in different places
other than the podcasts, and they're like,

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you've got a voice twin out there
somewhere, maybe, but usually it's

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just me, Okay, that's going
to do it for this episode. Thank

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you so much for listening to ten
Minute Murder.