The Southside Strangler

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Discretion is advised. This is ten
minuted murder. Something is terribly, terribly

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wrong with Timothy Spencer. Those were
the words of a prosecuting attorney in Arlington,

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Virginia to jurors during the summer of
nineteen eighty eight. Fast forward to

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April twenty seventh, nineteen ninety four. Jarrett, Virginia is about a twenty

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minute drive from the North Carolina state
line. It's one of those small towns

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where if you blink, you might
miss it. Outside of Jarrett is the

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Greenville Correctional Center. LSB. Wright
Junior, the warden of the Greensville Correctional

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Center, looked over at Timothy Spencer
the night of April twenty seventh, nineteen

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ninety four. Spencer was known as
the South Side Strangler, and he was

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strapped to the electric chair. He
was thirty two years old and was convicted

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of assaulting and murdering four women in
Richmond and Arlington, Virginia in nineteen eighty

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seven. Wright Junior asked Spencer if
he had any last words. Spencer said

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yeah, I think Spencer then went
silent for about twenty seconds. He then

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nodded to the warden. The death
mask was placed on Spencer and the execution

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began. Timothy Wilson Spencer was no
ordinary criminal. He would be caught and

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convicted based on his DNA. What
made Spencer's situation extraordinary was that he was

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the first man in the United States
to receive a capital murder conviction based on

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DNA evidence. So how did Timothy
Wilson Spencer get to this point in his

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life. Spencer was born in Arlington, Virginia in nineteen sixty two, and

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he lived with his mother and younger
brother in the low income neighborhood. Spencer's

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father left the picture following a divorce, so life for his family was pretty

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tough, but Spencer's maternal grandmother was
there to help the family. Spencer's younger

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brother remembered their lives were structured and
that they would always have a meal on

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the table. They were surviving.
They were a family. They stuck together.

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Timothy Spencer was remembered as a quiet
child that did poorly in school.

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However, Spencer had other problems which
emerged around the age of nine. By

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the time he was twelve years old, Spencer was known to use the school

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yard as his own personal toilet and
was involved in petty theft. Another issue

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with Tim Spencer was his cruelty towards
animals. Stories of his cruelty are beyond

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sickening, and Spencer's abuse of animals
shocked his younger brother. Another issue with

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young Timothy Spencer was Arson. Spencer's
brother remembered as a kid that there was

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a group of kids that terrorized the
neighborhood. Tim Spencer was one of those.

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He was considered a thief and had
run ends with law enforcement pretty often.

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When his younger brother attempted to emulate
his brother's stealing skills, he was

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caught by the police. Spencer told
his brother not to steal and not to

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try to act like him. It
was something of a come to Jesus moment

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for Spencer's little brother. When he
reached his twenties, his life changed.

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It was nineteen eighty four when he
was caught breaking and entering and arrested.

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He was sent to prison. Spencer
was released in nineteen eighty seven. He

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would end up at a halfway house
in Richmond, Virginia. It was a

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place where non violent offenders lived and
Spencer had his own room. He enjoyed

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his freedom from prison, but at
the Halfway House. He enjoyed his privacy

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even more. Spencer was remembered as
a man who was a quiet loaner.

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There was one person Spencer wanted to
be friends with at the Halfway House.

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It was a woman who was a
staff member. Spencer befriended her and was

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kind enough to work on her car
for her. The payoff was not the

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friendship, but the potential use of
the woman's car. His plan worked.

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Spencer loved to drive, and one
of his favorite stops was the clover Field

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Mall in Chesterfield, a community outside
of Richmond. Halfway House rules you can

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go out during the day to work, but you have to be home by

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dark. Spencer ignored the rules and
cruised the streets of Richmond. He cruised.

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He went to the clover Field Mall
Timothy. Spencer would spend hours alone

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at that mall. Spencer would watch
the women walk by. It was just

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him and his darkest thoughts and desires. When a woman caught his attention at

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the mall, Spencer would follow her
from a distance and watch. What Spencer

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was doing was part of something bigger, something more sinister. The people of

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Richmond would be terrified, something terribly
terribly wrong would be happening in their community.

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It began on September nineteenth, nineteen
eighty seven. The police were called

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to a home in Richmond. A
man reported that a car had been idling

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in front of his home for a
very long time. A quick check by

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the police gave them a name.
The car belonged to Debbie Dudley Davis.

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She was thirty five years old and
an accounts manager for Style Weekly, a

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local publication in Richmond. A police
officer went to check on Davis at her

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apartment. When a neighbor heard the
police knocking on Davis's door, they offered

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the police a key to her apartment. That's where they found Debbie. She

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had died, and the manner in
which it was committed was absolutely gruesome.

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Davis was assaulted and strangled. Police
knew how the murderer got into the apartment.

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They took a rocking chair from a
neighbor, stood on it, and

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opened a window in Davis's kitchen.
But why. Davis was divorced and currently

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single. She had no known enemies. She loved to read, enjoyed the

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music of Bruce Springsteen, and was
even an extra in a movie that was

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filmed in Richmond. She also had
a part time job at a bookstore at

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the Cloverfield Mall. Her friends and
family could not understand why she was targeted.

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Less than a month after Davis was
found, police and Richmond were at

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a crime scene that was eerily familiar. They had been called to the home

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of doctor Susan Hellams. She had
been found in her bedroom by her husband.

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Doctor Hellams died the same way Davis
did. She was assaulted and strangled.

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Police searched for clues and the community
was on edge. There was a

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killer on the loose and they had
to be captured. A major clue was

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found at the bookstore where Debbie Dudley
Davis worked. Police found a check.

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It was written by doctor Susan Hellms
and was endorsed by Davis. An investigator

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would later tell reporter for Style Weekly
quote, in all my experience, I

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didn't think anything would surprise me in
a homicide investigation, but this thing knocked

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me off my feet. The incidents
continued. It was late November nineteen eighty

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seven when Diane cho age fifteen,
was discovered in her family's apartment. Just

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one month later, Sue Tucker was
reported missing in Arlington. She was later

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discovered Both Diane and Sue died in
similar manners to Debbie Davis and doctor Hellms.

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Since September, there had been four
assaults and murders. The methods were

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all the same. Investigators soon learned
that Diane cho would hang out at the

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clover Field Mall and made a comment
to a friend that a man had been

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stalking her. One of Diane's friends
got a look at the man and noted

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his stare was hollow and terrifying.
What baffled investigators was the similar murder in

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Arlington of Sioux Tucker. It eerily
reminded them of a murder that happened there

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in nineteen eighty four. The victim
was an attorney named Caroline Ham. A

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man named Daniel Vasquez admitted to that
crime. He was a man that had

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a low IQ, but he was
convicted of the crime. Did he have

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an accomplice? As investigators dug further
into the case, they noticed that there

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was a series of assaults from nineteen
eighty three until nineteen eighty four in Arlington.

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The crimes were committed by a black
male wearing a mask. There were

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similarities to the way the man entered
the residences and the way the victims were

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tied. Richmond and Arlington worked together. The FBI was called in a profile

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for the suspect was developed. Investigators
in Arlington began putting some pieces of a

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puzzle together. One investigator remembered Timothy
Wilson Spencer being arrested for burglary. The

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clothes of the man committing assault in
Arlington wore the same clothes as Spencer.

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They traced Spencer at the Halfway House
to the assaults of the murders in Richmond.

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Richmond police followed Spencer. They had
to build their case with the District

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Attorney's office. There was nothing in
the way of fingerprints, but there was

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something else. Forensic materials were collected
from the crime scenes and they were going

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to rely on a new tool.
It was DNA. It had been used

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to convict other criminals and it was
in its infancy of being used as evidence

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in court cases. Police arrested Spencer
and obtained his DNA. The tests linked

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Spencer to the four assaults and murders. He was tried for those crimes and

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sentenced to death. Spencer died in
the electric chair in nineteen ninety four.

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His crimes committed in Arlington and Virginia
were horrific. We really don't know what

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created this monster. We do know
that DNA helped catch him, and we

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know that there was something terribly terribly
wrong with Timothy Spencer. That's ten Minute

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Murder for today Brief Bingeable True Crime. I'm Joe, I'm the host.

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Thank you so much for listening to
ten minute murder