Sept. 26, 2024

The Dark Secrets of Lovers’ Lane: Colonial Parkway Killings

The Dark Secrets of Lovers’ Lane: Colonial Parkway Killings

Imagine taking a scenic drive on Virginia’s Colonial Parkway, just looking for a peaceful spot to hang out. For some young couples in the late '80s, it became the last place they'd ever...

Show Notes
Transcript

The Dark Secrets of Lovers’ Lane: Colonial Parkway Killings

Imagine taking a scenic drive on Virginia’s Colonial Parkway, just looking for a peaceful spot to hang out. For some young couples in the late '80s, it became the last place they'd ever visit. In this episode, we're diving into the chilling murders that haunted this stretch of road, from the tragic deaths of Cathy and Becky to the shocking discovery that a local fisherman, Alan Wilmer Sr., was responsible for more than anyone realized. We’ll explore how these cases went cold, the mistakes made, and how justice came way too late for some. It’s a mystery that might be solved, but there are still lingering questions.

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A lover's lane is the perfect place for a young

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couple to enjoy a moment of privacy, but it's also

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the perfect place for a serial killer to find his

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next pair of victims. During the late nineteen eighties, a

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series of murders began along the length of Virginia's twenty

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two mile Colonial Parkway. The parkway provides a connection between Yorktown, Jamestown,

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and Williamsburg and runs directly through the Colonial National Historic Park.

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While it's a scenic drive in many places, many sections

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of the road didn't have any lighting, and as soon

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as the sun set, these isolated dark corners became a

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popular place for young couples to park their cars and

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hook up. None of those couples suspected that there was

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another person out there in the dark, waiting for the

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right moment to attack. The first victims were a lesbian couple,

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twenty one year old college senior Rebecca Dawski, who was

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known as Becky, and twenty seven year old Kathleen Thomas,

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who was known as Kathy. Becky and Kathy were last

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seen at a college computer lab the evening of October ninth,

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nineteen eighty six, and for three days there was no

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sign of them. Finally, in the early morning of October twelfth,

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a jogger saw a white Honda that had been left

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in an embankment off the side of the Colonial Parkway.

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That vehicle belonged to Kathy Thomas. The jogger reported the vehicle,

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and when the highway patrol arrived, they found Becky and

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Kathy's bodies inside the park car. Becky's body was in

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the back seat, but Kathy had been placed inside the

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Honda's hatchback. It was immediately clear that foul play was involved.

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Both victims had been strangled and their attacker had used

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a sharp weapon to then cut their throats. The neck

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wounds were so deep that they had both been almost

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completely decapitated. There were signs of rope burn marks around

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their wrists as well as their necks, showing that at

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some point they had been restrained. Kathy had clearly tried

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to fight off for a killer and had ripped out

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some of their hair, which the autopsy found clinched between

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her fingers. While the cause of death was clear, the

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motive was another story. No valuables had been taken, so

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it definitely wasn't a robbery. In fact both victims wallets

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were easily accessible and had been left inside the Honda.

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Sexual assault also didn't appear to be the motive. There

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was no sign that either victim had been raped, and

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all of their clothes had been left on. Only a

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few weeks after the bodies were discovered, the media announced

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that the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit at Quantico were working

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to create a behavioral profile of the perpetrator. It was

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clear that investigators didn't believe the murder was an isolated case.

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They were dealing with a killer who may have killed

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before and was likely to kill again unless they were apprehended.

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Despite the construction of a behavioral profile and the FBI

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looking into the case, it went cold until nineteen eighty eight,

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when an abandoned truck was found. The truck was a

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Ford Ranger pick up that belonged to twenty year old

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salesman David Nobling. David had gone missing on the nineteenth

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of September nineteen eighty eight, along with fourteen year old

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Robin Edwards, who had been his passenger. Robin had gone

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on a date that evening with David's younger cousin, and

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David had driven them to the arcade. However, at some

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point during the evening, she and David had arranged to

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meet up alone, despite Robin being in the eighth grade

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and David being in his twenties. At midnight, David drove

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the pick up to Robin's house. It was the last

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time that either of them were seen alive. David's truck

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was discovered two days later, left in a parking area

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with the radio still playing, the doors and one window open,

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and the truck engine turned on. David and Robin's bodies

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weren't found near the pickup truck. Instead, they were found

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lying on the banks of the James River after the

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current had washed them ashore. Unlike the previous victims, David

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and Robin had not been strangled or had their throats cut.

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They had both been fatally shot. Robin's jeans were unbuttoned

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and her bra had been removed. This made investigators wonder

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whether the killer had assaulted Robin, but they knew it

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was possible that David and Robin had a sexual relationship,

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so he might have been the one to partially remove

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her clothing. Because David's truck had been left with the

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driver's window rolled down, investigators wondered whether the killer was

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a law enforcement officer, or at least pretending to be one.

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He could have asked for David's license and registration, resulting

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in David winding the window down to pass them over,

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and then ordered both David and Robin to get out

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of the vehicle, explaining why the doors were left open.

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Even though the Colonial Parkway was not directly involved in

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David and Robin's murder, there was only about a half

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an hour drive between the sites of the second murders

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and the site where Becky and Cathy had been killed

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two years before. Along with the other similarities in the case,

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this made investigators suspect that the same killer had struck again.

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The next victim, twenty five year old Brian Pettinger, went

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missing in December nineteen eighty seven after visiting a ball

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room dance studio in Hampton, Virginia, where he was studying

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to eventually become an instructor. Two days later, Brian's wife

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saw his car abandoned in a mall parking lot, but

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there was no sign of Brian until early nineteen eighty eight,

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when his hog tide body was found in the James River.

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He had been hid in the head while he was

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tied up and then tossed into the river, where he drowned.

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Once again, the cause of death was different, but there

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were connections to the other murders. Brian had known Robin

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Edward's mother, and his body had been found in the

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same river as Robin and David. In April that year,

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another young couple went missing. Eighteen year old Cassandra Hayley

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and twenty year old Richard Call were last seen attending

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a party, and then Richard's abandoned car was found with

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the keys still inside and several items of Richard and

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Cassandra's clothing in the back seat. Tracking dogs followed the

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scent of the missing people down to the water, but

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it was doubtful that Cassandra and Richard had stripped off

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to go swimming. The embankment was incredibly steep and the

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water was freezing. During the investigation, one suspect appeared, a

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local fisherman who had been seen approaching a different couple

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on the Colonial Parkway. His name was Alan Wilmer, and

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although the FBI found a gun and a pair of

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handcuffs when they searched his house, he was cleared after

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passing a polygraph. Despite a financial reward for any information

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about Cassandra and Richard, that case went cold. In September

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nineteen eighty nine, eighteen year old Anna Maria Phelps and

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twenty one year old Daniel Lower were driving to Virginia

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Beach in Daniel's gold Chevrolet when they disappeared. The vehicle

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was later found at a rest stop with no sign

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of the occupants. Once again, the keys were left inside

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the car, the doors were unlocked, and no valuables had

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been taken. The next month, Anna Maria and Daniel were

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found hunters stumbled across two sets of skeletal remains only

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about a mile away from where the Chevrolet had been left.

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The decomposition was so severe that an autopsy could not

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establish the cause of death for either victim. For more

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than two decades, there were no more leads until a

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handwritten note in Anna Maria phelps handwriting was found in

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a box of evidence from her apartment. The note outlined

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Ana Maria's plans to meet someone at a rest stop,

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stating the person's name and that they would be driving

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a blue van. Somehow, this piece of evidence had been overlooked.

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In January twenty twenty four, a statement was released two

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of the Colonial Parkway murders had been linked to a

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deceased suspect. The suspect's name was Alan Wilmer, the same

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fisherman who had passed a polygraph test after initially being

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viewed as a suspect in the killings. Unfortunately, Alan and

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couldn't be questioned or arrested for murder. He had died

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in twenty seventeen. Allan was confirmed to have killed David

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Nobling and Robin Edwards, but his DNA had also connected

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him to a different murder which had never been linked

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to the Colonial Parkway murders, twenty nine year old Teresa

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Lynn Spaul Howell, who had been fatally strangled in July

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nineteen eighty nine. Technically, the Colonial Parkway murder cases have

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been solved, but Alan Wilmer has not yet been linked

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to all of the killings, and several possible additional victims

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have not been formally connected to the string of Colonial

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Parkway murders. At the very least, Alan killed three people

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and lived out the rest of his life without being

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viewed as a suspect. He got to have a wife,

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a family, then grow old and pass away peacefully of

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natural causes, a chance that none of his victims ever

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got to have. That is ten Minute Murder for today,

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brief and bingeable true crime. I'm Joe. That's my name.

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I am the host of this podcast, and thank you

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for taking the time to listen. If you are a

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can do that Joe at ten minute Murder dot com.

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Here is one of those emails. Hi, Joe love ten

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minute Murder. My favorite part of the episodes is when

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you talk about random things or answer questions that people

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ask you. I laughed so hard last week when I

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heard an episode where someone asked what was currently bothering you?

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And I don't want to be a copycat, but I

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know there has to be something else that's bothering you too.

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Teresa and Oklahoma and Teresa, thank you for your email.

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And I don't know whether to be happy or sad

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that your favorite part about my episodes is where I'm

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not talking about the true crime cases. I'm going to

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choose positivity in that one, and yeah, I can talk

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about something else that's bothering me. I'd love to What

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are we collectively doing about sweet potato fries. Nobody wants

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these things, they continue to make them. I don't know

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why they continue to make. Just make regular French fries.

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We love regular French fries with regular potatoes. Leave the

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sweet potatoes for. I don't even know what you use

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sweet potatoes for. I don't like them. I'm sure people

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out there like them and love them, and they're supposedly healthy.

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They taste healthy, I guess I don't they take there's

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something wrong with them. The sweet potatoes are tainted in

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some way. They're not delicious. Stop making French fries. That

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going to stop tricking me. The reason I'm bringing this

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up is because I was tricked with a sweet potato fry.

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I thought I was a regular fry, turned out to

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be a sweet potato fry. Didn't like it, thought the

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fries were off, and I was like, oh wait a minute,

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these damn things are sweet potatoes. That was it. We

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don't want those. Stop doing that please, whoever's doing the

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sweet potato fries the end, I hope that. I hope

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that's what you wanted to reason all right, and that's

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going to do it. That is your episode for today.

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Thank you so much for listening to ten minute Murder

The Dark Secrets of Lovers’ Lane: Colonial Parkway Killings

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