Aug. 15, 2024

The Killer Next Door: Unmasking Thomas Whisenhant

Show Notes
Transcript

Dive into the twisted tale of Thomas Warren Whisenhant, a man whose life was marked by violence and tragedy from the start. Growing up in a tumultuous household, Thomas's early life foreshadowed the horrors he would later commit. From his troubled childhood in Prichard, Alabama, to his shocking crimes spanning decades, we uncover the dark path that led Thomas to become one of the most notorious criminals in Alabama's history. Join us as we unravel the story of a man who evaded justice time and again, only to finally meet his fate on death row.

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Thomas Warren Wistnat came into the world on January twenty ninth,

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nineteen forty seven, in Pritchard, Alabama. He was the last

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and final child born to Willie and Emma Wisnat, but

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Thomas's childhood wasn't anything like the one of his three

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older siblings. When Thomas was born, Emma Wisnatt mother made

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an announcement and told her husband Willie that she would

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no longer be sleeping with him. Willie more than likely

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didn't take this statement seriously or at the very least

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believed that he could change Emma's mind about it. But

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the truth is that Willie wasn't very good at convincing

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anyone to do anything. He was described as a timid

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and physically weak man. Where Emma was strong willed and opinionated,

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Willie was kind of a pushover. He usually ended up

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being bullied into doing all the chores at home, but

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that was only when he wasn't drinking. The truth was

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that Willie was also an alcoholic who rarely worked, and

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when he did, he usually ended up spending most of

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his earnings on alcohol. The children spoke of the times

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that Emma would go through Willy's wallet as soon as

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he got home from work and compare what was left

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to his pay slip. Whenever there was money missing, the

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house would burst into a furious argument. Quote. She would

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fuss on him, saying, you stole it. Thomas's older sister, Evelyn,

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later recounted one of these fights between her parents, and

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he would tell her that he had to pay so

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and so like union dues. My daddy really had to

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steal his own money to get anything. Willie also found

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an extra bit of courage when he drank, and that

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was when he believed that he could turn things around

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with his wife, Emma. Quote Willie go back to bed.

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Emma would begin shouting, waking everyone up in the house

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in the middle of the night. Leave me alone, I

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told you to leave me alone. She would then begin

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beating her husband with anything she could find on hand

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and encourage the children to join in and do the same,

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until Willy had given up and left the room. Quote.

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I can remember a lot of times when my daddy

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was all bruised up. I can remember many times I

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would tell her. I would say, Mama, please just leave

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him alone, come on back and leave him alone. But

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you know she always told us, your daddy keeps you

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having anything because he drinks all the time. And I

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was convinced that that was the case, and I always

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defended her. Essentially, Willie wasn't allowed anywhere near his wife,

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but there was one person in the household who wasn't

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allowed out of Emma's sight, her youngest child, Thomas. Thomas

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was the apple of Emma's eye. She forced him to

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share a bed with her until he was seven years old,

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but even then, when he finally did get a bed

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of his own, it was still in his mother's bedroom.

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He grew up getting anything he wanted despite the poor

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circumstances and lack of income that the family had, and

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this made Thomas quite a happy child at first. But

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it all changed when he became a teenager Overnight. His

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siblings remember Thomas going from a care free, if not

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somewhat spoiled child to a moody and physically violent teenager.

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If Emma noticed the change herself, it didn't encourage her

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to take a step back and give her son some

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space to grow. Quite the contrary, Emma began watching Thomas

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like a hawk. She just wouldn't let him out of

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her sight. Even if he needed to go run an

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errand like go get some gas, she went too. Never

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a moment left alone, and never a moment to himself.

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But there was a reason behind the escalation in Emma's

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cautious and overprotective behavior. On May sixth, nineteen sixty three,

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when Thomas was sixteen years old, their neighbor was murdered.

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The seventy two year old neighbor had been found shot

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to death with a gun that was later found in

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the empty lot right next to the Weisnat household. That

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was suspicious, but it was certainly not enough evidence to

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tie the weapon to anyone in the Wistnot household. The

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investigators dug a little deeper, but their sites were firmly

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fixed on one family member in particular, Thomas. You see,

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Thomas was already known to local law enforcement. He had

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just recently gotten in trouble for robbing a blind woman,

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and that incident had been the last in a very

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long line of suspected robberies and minor assaults on young girls.

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Thomas had so far managed to escape justice through legal

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technicalities or lack of a witness, But after talking to

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some of his friends, the investigators believed that they had him.

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This time, rumors were going around that Thomas and some

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of his friends had been playing with a stolen revolver.

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A witness later came forward to say that Thomas had

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taken one of the bullets out of that gun, held

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it up in the air, and then proclaimed that it

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would be used to kill someone in the near future.

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Upon hearing this, another person allegedly approached the boys and

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confronted Thomas about his behavior. That person had been none

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other than Lexi Haynes, his now dead neighbor. After the

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discovery of Lexi's body and the recovery of a stolen

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weapon near the Wistnout household, the investigators paid the family

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a visit. They knocked on the door, and who should

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open it but the notoriously weak willed and feeble Willie wisnat.

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They came to the door and ask how long had

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Tommy been there? Evelyn recalled, and my daddy said that

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he'd been there all night. I went along with Mama

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and Daddy and said that he was there. For whatever reason,

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Willie found it in himself to lie to law enforcement

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that day, maybe because he'd been too deep in his

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alcohol to realize that his son could actually be capable

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of taking a life, maybe because he was more frightened

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of Emma than he had been of the law enforcement.

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The alibi that Thomas's family provided for him kept him

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out of the courts and out of jail, but it

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did have Emma watching him even more closely. In order

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to escape his mother and any suspicions that would follow

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him after the murder of his neighbor, Thomas then joined

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the US Air Force. He was stationed at a base

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near Colorado Springs until he committed another crime that would

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finally catch up with him. On October twenty fifth, nineteen

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sixty five, Thomas was alone with twenty two year old

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Rose Covington in the finance office of the base when

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out of nowhere, Thomas attacked. He grabbed a metal ash

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tray from the table and began beating Rose around the

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face and head until she lost consciousness. The attack came

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as a total and complete shock to everyone on the base,

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including Rose herself, who later claimed that she didn't even

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know who Thomas was at the time. The beating left

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Rose with severe injuries, and she was hospitalized for a

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full two months before she recovered enough to be released.

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The beating also wiped any memory Rose had of her attacker,

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and she was unable to tell the investigators who had

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done this to her. They did, however, find a shoeprint

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at the scene, one that was traced back to Thomas Wissnat.

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Of course, Thomas denied attacking Rose, but he was convicted

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of assault with the intent to commit murder and sentenced

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to twenty years in prison with ten years of hard labor.

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Within four years, his sentence had been reduced to ten years,

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and he was out within seven. From the outside looking in,

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it seemed that Thomas's time behind bars had reformed him.

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He came out of prison, got a job, a wife,

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and had children, but the real Thomas was just hiding

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beneath the surface. About a year after he'd been released,

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a twenty eight year old mother of two named Patricia

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Hitt was attacked at the convenience store where she worked

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in Mobile County, Alabama. She was approached by a man

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who first beat her and then shot her in the head.

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She died at the scene of the crime. About half

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a year after that, forty four year old Venora Hyatt,

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another convenience store worker in Mobile County, was also attacked.

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She was kidnapped and taken to an abandoned house, where

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she was murdered. Her killer hid the body in a shack,

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only to return the following day and mutilate her remains.

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Her watch was later found around another woman's wrist, who

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claimed that her husband had given it to her as

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a present. About another six months or so after that,

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Thomas was driving his mother home after his daughter's birthday party.

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It's unclear what it was, but something about this interaction

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with his mother had Thomas out on the streets. Within

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hours of dropping Emma off at home, he approached the

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twenty three year old Cheryl Lynn Payton at the convenience

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store in Mobile County where she worked and kidnapped her.

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He drove her out in his pick up to a

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secluded forested area where they would not be disturbed. There,

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he raped her in the front seat of his truck

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before shooting her in the head and killing her. Thomas

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then dumped her body in the woods near by and

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fled the scene, But just like what had happened with

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Verona Hyatt, he was back the very next day. Thomas

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then mutilated Cheryl's body. He sliced off a piece of

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her breast and slashed her stomach open, But this time

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Thomas was caught red handed. Police who'd been out patrolling

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the area found Thomas near the scene of the crime

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and gave chase. When Thomas was finally caught, he confessed

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to everything, including the very first murder of Lexi Haines

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that had started all this decades ago. Despite initially confessing,

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Thomas then tried to escape punishment by pleading not guilty

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by reason of insanity, but the jury believed that he

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was sane. He was sentenced to death for the murder

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of Sheryl Payne. This ruling was later overturned by the

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Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals and he went to court again.

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A snide remark from the prosecution then led to Thomas's

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original sentence being reduced from death to life in prison,

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but when Thomas went to court again, his death sentence

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was reinstated. Three decades of trials and appeals kept Thomas

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alive on death row until the spring of twenty ten,

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when he was finally led to the execution chamber. He

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died of lethal injection after refusing his right to make

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a final statement. That is ten minute murder for today,

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on that, working towards that. So if you've got topics

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something like that, just to let me know that that's

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what your aim for the email is, Joe at ten

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do special themed episodes that are kind of more on

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the spooky side. So if one comes to mind right now,

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send it to me in an email. Cool. Thank you,

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all right, that's going to do it. That's your episode

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for today. Thank you again so much for listening and

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The Killer Next Door: Unmasking Thomas Whisenhant

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