The Lancaster Devil

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Dispressions. He has the serpent tongue, the cloven tongue. A victim's brother

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addressed a South Carolina courts in twenty
fifteen before turning to his brother's killer,

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You are a devil man, I
rates. Heartbroken and shaken with anger,

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Antoine James then stormed out of the
courtroom, leaving behind the man who'd just

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been found guilty of murdering one of
the closest and most important people in Antoine's

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life. This was the climactic again
to a case that started all the way

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back in November of two thousand thirteen, when a man went missing. A

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group of children playing in the woods
in Lancaster, South Carolina, about a

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month after the man's disappearance made a
disturbing and grotesque discovery. Partially hidden by

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brush and leaves, was the decomposing
remains of a man in his thirties.

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His head had been nearly hacked away
from his body. Scared, the children

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ran home to tell the parents what
they'd found, and the police were called

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to the scene shortly after. The
investigators then discovered what was left of thirty

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three year old Ricky James, the
very same man who'd gone missing about a

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month prior, Rickie had most definitely
been murdered. He'd been bound with rope

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wrapped around him all the way from
his neck to his ankles, his neck

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slashed, and his body then left
exposed to the mercy of the elements.

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His death had been the result of
thirty nine stab wounds that had come from

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a butcher knife. The area of
the woods that he was found in showed

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no signs of a struggle or looked
like Ricky had been taken there against his

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will, but that was the fact
of the case that was maybe the only

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unsurprising part of the story for Ricky's
family and friends. Ricky was known to

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drink, and when he drank,
he became more trusting and open to the

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people around him, no matter who
they were or appeared to be. It

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looked like, unfortunately for everyone involved, that Ricky had put his faith in

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the wrong people. While the investigators
waited on forensic evidence to back up their

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suspicions, they turned their attention to
their main suspect. Usually, in a

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case like this, where Ricky was
known to talk to almost anyone, the

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list of suspects would be quite extensive, But this time around, the investigators

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had only one potential name in mind. Within sight of the body was a

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house, and in that house lived
twenty four years year rolled David Adam Pate.

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Even at twenty four, David had
an extensive rap sheet and a long

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history with the system, but he
also had ties to local gangs and prison

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hate groups. With a black man
now turning up murdered just yards from David's

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home, the investigators couldn't help but
wonder just how much he was involved.

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Talking to David looked like the next
logical step for the investigators to take,

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but they took their time in approaching
him. Ricky's story turned into one of

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those rare cases where the authorities had
eyes and ears on their main suspect right

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from the get go, and everyone
could sleep at night safe in the knowledge

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that David wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. David was already in jail. He'd

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been picked up only two weeks before
the gruesome discovery in the woods for disorderly

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conduct, and jail was where he
was going to remain for the time being.

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All the investigators had to do was
wait for the forensic evidence to pin

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down their culprit, and they would
have their man. And that's exactly what

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they got. DNA evidence collected from
the scene and from the victim's body placed

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David at the murder. But this
open and shutcase when from grotesque to downright

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wretched. Almost as soon as David
was brought in for questioning, without hesitation,

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David confessed to killing Ricky, and
then he dove into the chilling and

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disturbingly calculated details. Beaming full of
pride, David told the investigators that he'd

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used a butcher knife like the one
Michael Myers uses in Halloween to kill his

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victims. It looked like taking a
life had been all a game to David.

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According to David himself, he approached
Ricky that night and sensed an opportunity

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to put the over twenty knives he
kept stashed away at home to the test.

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The plan was to lure Ricky back
to his house with the promise of

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more drinks and kill him there,
But as the two men approached each other,

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David had a change of heart,
fearing that the already drunk Ricky would

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malla trap if David invited him back
to his home when they had just only

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met. David then suggested that they
should head into the woods to drink more

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wine. Instead, Ricky, being
a good time agreed. David would later

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say that everything that happened rested solely
on Ricky's shoulders. Quote, it was

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his fault. Why would anyone go
drinking and go into the woods with someone

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that looks like me? David was
referring to the many facial tattoos he had

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at the time of the murder,
one which reads Satan and his above his

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eyebrow. But he also had a
split tongue that David would later proudly display

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in his mugshot. Out in the
woods, Ricky and David continued to drink

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for a while, but a few
drinks later and David got down to the

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real reason he'd invited Ricky out there. After inflicting thirty nine wounds and killing

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Ricky, David then turned to his
attention to Ricky's neck he slashed and cut,

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wanting to decapitate his victim quote,
I wanted to cut his dad gum

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head off. I just couldn't get
through the bone. Wanting to decapitate Ricky

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was the closest that David ever came
to giving a motive to his killing and

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why he chose Ricky in the first
place, and it was a motive that

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everyone found more than lacking. Once
David realized he wouldn't actually be able to

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follow through with his plans, he
then changed tracks and tried to cover up

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his crime. He bound Ricky in
ropes from neck to ankles to make dragging

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his remains around the forest easier,
but even then he had a hard time

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of it. He first tried to
take Ricky down to a nearby creek to

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dispose of him, but found that
David was too drunk and had smoked too

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much dope to actually get the job
done. The intoxicated David was then left

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trying to piece together some sort of
plan because he wanted to keep that spot

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where they were in the woods available. He liked that patch of the woods,

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especially because he could see it from
his own home, but he had

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a chilling reason to explain to the
investigators why he was so protective of that

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particular spot. It turned out that
David liked that bit of the woods so

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much because he knew that he wanted
to kill there again. But if he

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ever wanted to achieve that gruesome goal, he knew he had to cover his

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tracks and get rid of the evidence
first. He then came up with the

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idea of simply covering Ricky's remains with
brush and leaves, despite claiming to the

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investigators that he'd been too intoxicated to
think straight. Ricky later was recorded talking

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to his mother from prison. In
the call, he claims to remember every

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single detail of the killing because he
never wanted to forget it. Realizing that

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this was his moment to go down
in infamy, David Pate stole an opportunity

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to create a viral sensation during his
new mugshot. With his face already covered

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in gang related and satanic tattoos,
he stuck his snakelike tongue out at the

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moment the picture was taken. Investigators
would later say that it was one of

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the creepiest mugshots they'd ever seen.
David His crimes and his confession shocked the

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world, but not those closest to
him. His brothers described him as the

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devil and claimed that he deserved everything
that was coming to him in court and

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in prison. Two years later,
when David finally had his day in front

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of the judge, he took to
the stand and pled guilty. All that

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was left for the judge to do
was determined David's sentence. To try to

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push the judge toward giving a harsher
sentence, the prosecution played the chilling footage

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of David's confession, footage that the
judge cut off before finishing, saying that

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he and the court had seen enough. Smiling to the judge and the cameras,

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David seemed to enjoy hearing that he
would be spending the rest of his

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life in jail. He even kept
smiling when Ricky's brother Antoine James began yelling

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and berating him in court. David
refused to turn around and face Antoine,

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so Antoine delivered his message to the
back of David's head for leaving the courtroom

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quote, I hope he suffers.
I hate him. He is the definition

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of the devil nobody. That's ten
minute Murder for today Brief and Bingeable True

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Crime. I'm Joe, that's my
name. I'm the host, and thank

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you for taking the time to listen
to ten Minute Murder. And if you're

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wondering, this episode came out on
Friday, Today's Friday. If you're just

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listening to this and binging away,
then that doesn't mean anything. To you.

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But if you're listening to this on
the day that it's out, it's

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Friday. Usually I release on Thursday, and the reason you can probably tell

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why it was delayed allergies have got
me. I'm on the struggle bus.

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Yeah, yesterday and the day before
I was I was just leaking from my

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face and I couldn't see the words
on the screen to read my notes.

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My eyes were so and they kept
where they were watery, and you know

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all the things that come along with
allergies. I have allergies, and I've

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talked about it before, but the
last few days have been like super duper

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worse than normal. I don't know
why, but they were. Anyway,

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I appreciate your patience and this being
released on Friday instead of a Thursday.

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If you'd like to get in touch
with me Joe at ten minute Murder dot

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com, the website ten minute murder
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are the ones. You can see
the bulk of the content links from the

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show notes, or you can go
to ten minute murder dot com. And

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that's it. Thank you for listening
to another episode. I'll see you on

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the next one. Bye.