William and the Forces of Evil

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It was the late nineteen seventies and
the city of Columbus, Georgia, was

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being terrorized by serial murderers who were
targeting female victims. Several black prostitutes had

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been found dead in the area,
and a killer, who the media had

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nicknamed the Stalking Strangler, had been
strangling elderly women. Because all of the

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Stalking Strangler's victims were whites, the
killer was believed to be black. Although

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the two sets of killings were originally
thought to be unrelated because of the completely

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different victim profiles, an anonymous letter
sent to the local police station appeared to

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show that they were in fact connected. The letter was handwritten on a piece

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of stationery from the U. S
Army and claimed to be from seven white

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males calling themselves the Forces of Evil, who had banded together in an attempt

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to stop the Stalking Strangler from taking
any more victims. In the letter,

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the men claimed that they had taken
a hostage, a twenty one year old

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black woman by the name of Gail
Jackson, who they intended to murder unless

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the police succeeded in arresting the Stalking
Strangler. The Forces of Evil demanded that

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the local police chief replied to them
by leaving messages on the TV and radio.

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They continued writing more letters to the
police demanding a total ransom of ten

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thousand dollars in exchange for Gail's life, and eventually they escalated to placing phone

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calls to the police station. However, in April nineteen seventy eight, Gail

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Jackson's body was found. She had
been dead for more than a month.

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Gail had been killed around five weeks
ago before the Forces of Evil sent their

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first letter claiming that she was their
hostage. Shortly after Gail's death was discovered,

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the Forces of Evil called the police
station again, providing instructions to find

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the body of another one of their
victims. Sure Enough, a thirty two

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year old black woman named Irene Thirkield
was found dead at a Fort Benning rifle

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range. Like Gail, Irene also
worked as a prostitute in the area.

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In nineteen seventy eight, behavioral profiling
was a new science and the FBI's Behavioral

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Science Unit had only been formed four
years previous. One of the original behavioral

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profilers for the FBI, Robert K. Wrestler, worked on the case to

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create a profile of who was responsible
for the crimes, but Robert quickly came

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to the conclusion that the forces of
evil were not who they said they were.

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He was certain that the killings had
been committed by only one murderer instead

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of seven men that the forces claimed
to be. Additionally, he believed that

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the culprit was a single black man
in his twenties who was unlikely to have

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received a higher education. Robert also
believed that the killer was in the military

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at Fort Benning and had a low
rank. In one of the letters,

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the author had warned the police that
the fact that they used military stationery was

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not a clue, claiming quote anyone
could get hold of that. However,

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Robert thought that this was the culprit
trying to draw attention away from themselves so

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that the investigators wouldn't realize that they
were in the military. That Georgia Bureau

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of Investigation used Robert Wrestler's profile to
search for suspects, focusing on bars near

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f Fort Binning, where a black
military man might go to pick up a

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prostitute. They zeroed in on one
man in particular, William Henry Hans,

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who fit the profile perfectly. He
started out as a marine and then later

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signed up to the Army. He
lived in Fort Binning, where he was

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ranked as a specialist. As well
as fitting the profile, there was plenty

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of physical evidence that ended up linking
William to the two murders. Shoe Prints

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that matched his boots had been found
at the scene of both crimes. Analysis

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of his handwriting matched the letters that
had been sent to the police station from

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the supposed Forces of Evil, and
recordings of the telephone calls to the station

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also matched his voice. When William
was arrested and accused of the murders,

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he was confronted with the collection of
evidence showing that he was the killer,

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and he appeared to understand that there
was no point in denying his involvement.

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Immediately, William confessed to posing as
the Forces of Evil and murdering Gail and

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Irene, but he also decided to
confess to a third crime. In nineteen

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seventy seven, he killed twenty four
year old Karen Hickman, his only white

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victim. Karen had a reputation for
dating black men who were in the military

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and often spent time in bars that
were frequented by black patrons, making it

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easy for William to get her alone
until he confessed Karen's murder had gone unsolved.

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Later on, William was also found
to have killed a woman in Indiana

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at Fort Benjamin Harrison, but he
was never charged with that crime. Because

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of the letters from the Forces of
Evil implying a connection between William's killings and

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the Stoking strangler, investigators looked into
whether it was possible that William was also

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the strangler. However, he was
found to be innocent. The Stocking strangler

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was later identified as a man named
Carlton Gary. For his confirmed murders,

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William was tried in a combination of
both civilian and US military courts. In

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military courts, William received a life
sentence for Irene's murder, but in civilian

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courts he was sentenced to death for
Gail Jackson's murder. While his life sentence

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ended up being overturned because the jury
didn't believe he had the mental capacity to

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commit premeditated murder, his death sentence
stuck. In the days leading up to

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William's death, his case was surrounded
by controversy because of questions about his mental

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health and intelligence, as well as
the belief that racial prejudice had influenced the

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jury at his trial. He had
an IQ between seventy five and seventy nine,

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meaning that he was classified as only
having borderline intellectual functioning. This brought

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up the issue of whether a death
sentence was an appropriate punishment, as William's

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intellect was severely impaired. In fact, one of the sentencers in William's trial

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later came forward and stated that she
had chosen not to vote for the death

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penalty because of his mental impairments.
A member of the jury who had been

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at william sentencing claimed that several of
the jurors had used racial slurs when talking

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about the case and made racist remarks, including stating that no one would miss

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William if he was executed and that
his execution would be a good thing as

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it would prevent him from having children. Out of all of the members of

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the jury, only one was also
black, twenty six year old Gail Lewis

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Daniels. According to the same juror
who had shared about the racism in the

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trial, Gail was also the victim
of racism. She had been against giving

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William the death penalty and had steadfastly
refused to agree with the other jurors but

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the rest of the jury wouldn't listen
to her, and instead told the judge

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that they had unanimously agreed to vote
for the death penalty. By this point,

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Gail felt afraid to correct them and
to tell the judge that she disagreed

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with the death penalty because some of
the other members of the jury had claimed

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that she would be guilty of perjury. In her Affidavid Gale wrote, I

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believe that the death penalty is right
for people who commit murder when they are

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in their right mind. I did
not vote for the death penalty in mister

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Hans's case because I did not believe
he knew what he was doing at the

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time of his crimes. When talking
about the case, William's lawyer stated that

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if he was executed, it would
be first cousin to a lynching. William

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and his attorney appealed the death sentence, and the appeals continued until they reached

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the Supreme Court. Only a few
hours before William was due to be executed,

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he was granted a stay of execution
by Justice Anthony Kennedy. However,

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that same day, the court voted
against taking action on the case. On

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the thirty first of March nineteen ninety
four, William Henry Hans was executed by

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electric chair, becoming the eighteenth inmate
to be executed in Georgia since the death

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penalty was restored in nineteen seventy six. When these pieces of information about the

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racism in William's trial came to light, the media responded with outrage. Shortly

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afterward, one newspaper published an article
about the case, saying there is compelling

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evidence that the law was not followed, that William Hans's civil rights were violated,

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that he was a victim of racism
and political expediency. The reporter writing

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the article came to the conclusion that
William's execution hadn't been justice at all,

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saying, quote, he might as
well have been lynched. That is ten

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minute murder for today, brief and
bingeable true crime. I'm Joe the host,

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and thank you so much for taking
the time to listen to my podcast.

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If you're a new listener, thanks
for joining. I hope you enjoyed

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it, but not enjoyed it.
That's I always feel weird about saying I

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hope you enjoyed the podcast, because
I don't mean like enjoy is in like

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hahaha, you know what I mean. I hope you found it interesting.

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Is that better? That feels better? I don't know if that is better.

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But that's why many of us are
into this true crime world, why

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we consume all of these documentaries,
while we read all these books, and

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why I do this podcast. I
just there's something about the true crime world,

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the way people's minds function, the
mental health side of it all.

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It's interesting to me, the motivations
of people. I like hearing about that.

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It's interesting it and again I like
hearing about it. I'm interested by

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the subject. Man. That's hard
to explain without sounding like a creep,

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but I think you get me.
I mean, if you're listening to the

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podcast, do you get it right? We are weirdos, but like in

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a good way or a I don't
know. Hey, Joe, change the

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subject, Okay, I will.
If you'd like to get in touch with

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me. My email address Joe at
ten minute Murder dot com and ten minute

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Murder dot com just also happens to
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your episode for today. Thank you
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