Oct. 1, 2024

William Pierce Jr.: The Serial Killer Who Killed for a Dollar

William Pierce Jr.: The Serial Killer Who Killed for a Dollar

William Pierce Jr.: The Serial Killer Who Killed for a Dollar

A kind gesture to a stranger—just a pack of cigarettes and a dollar—turned into a nightmare for one man when William Pierce Jr. came back to collect his debt. Pierce, a troubled man from a...

William Pierce Jr.: The Serial Killer Who Killed for a Dollar

A kind gesture to a stranger—just a pack of cigarettes and a dollar—turned into a nightmare for one man when William Pierce Jr. came back to collect his debt. Pierce, a troubled man from a broken home, spiraled into a life of crime and murder after a traumatic head injury. From robbing stores to the horrific killing of a babysitter and a young girl, Pierce left behind a trail of blood across Georgia and South Carolina. In this episode, we’ll explore the tragic events, the failed parole system, and how one man’s small act of compassion unleashed a monster.


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Sometimes just a small act of kindness could open the

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door to an unimaginable horror. When a man extended a

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helping hand to a stranger, he never thought it would

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be the same person who'd later destroy his world. In

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this story, we rewind the clock to trace the disturbing

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path of William Pierce Junior, a troubled man whose life

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of crime and brutality wreaked havoc across multiple states. From

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a heartbreaking confession to a string of ruthless murders, the

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story will leave you questioning the terrifying ripple effect of

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a single moment in time. Welcome to ten Minute Murder.

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I told him to stop back when he got out

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if he needed anything. He stopped back. That heart wrenching

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line came from a husband who never imagined that a

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small act of kindness to a stranger would end in devastation.

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Now he's left feeling like that one moment changed everything

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for his family. To really get how this all went

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so wrong, we've got to rewind and start from the beginning.

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His name was William Pierce Junior, or Junior, as he

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liked to go by. He was born October eleventh, nineteen

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thirty one in Midville, Georgia. Those of you that know

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your American history will know that the date that William

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came into the world, it was right in the middle

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of the Great Depression. He, like many other people during

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this challenging period of time, grew up hungry and in deep,

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deep poverty. Times were difficult and many people suffered. Among

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those were William's parents, who often fought with each other.

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The loudest and most digressive of witch being his mother.

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She was a strict, opinionated woman, and after she divorced

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William's father, she took her frustrations out solely on her son.

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His mother ruled the household with an iron fist, and

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whenever she deemed that William was misbehaving, she would beat

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him without mercy. William grew into a severely psychologically damaged child,

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and that also reflected in his school life. He did

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poorly in his classes, and later a test discovered that

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he had an IQ of only seventy. This would categorize

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him as mentally challenged by today's standards. William stayed in

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school until the ninth grade, and he dropped out and

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got a job as a road worker. He didn't last

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very long, however, and quickly quit to join the army.

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That also only lasted a few months before William's mother

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submitted several presumably fraudulent doctor's certificates that claimed he was

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medically unfit for service. William was then discharged and sent

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right back to live with his dominating mother. By then,

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William was a bit older and had seen a tiny

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bit more of the world. He was still afraid of

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his mother and her beatings, but mixed in with that

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fear was also a hatred and disdain. William now believed

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that he was smarter than the woman who was dominating

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his life, although he wasn't quite brave enough to stand

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up to her just yet. To keep himself busy, William

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found work in a local car rental service. His colleagues

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seemed to like him well enough, but they also found

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him stiff and awkward, especially with the customers. Today, you

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might say that William was probably on the spectrum somewhere.

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Despite this social awkwardness, William did, however, find love, if

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only briefly. He got married and moved to Swainsborough, but

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his marriage only lasted three months before he and his

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wife divorced. He may not have been successful in romance,

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but the move did at least separate him from his mother.

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Now with a fresh start, William found work at a

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furniture factory and began building a new life for himself.

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He did relatively well, but but his new success unfortunately

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wasn't to last. Sometime when he was in his late twenties,

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William was involved in an accident at work that left

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him with a concussion, as we often see with severe

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head traumas. The accident changed him, and not for the better.

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William became more arrogant and outwardly aggressive towards others. Later

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in his life. There were people who believed that this

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change in behavior were the early warning signs of him

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developing a personality disorder of sorts. Now, with some sort

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of inflated ego and sense of self worth, William was

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about to take his life in an entirely different direction.

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He began stealing and was caught a short time later.

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He was then sentenced to five years in prison. He

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managed to get out on parole early after serving nearly

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three years of his sentence, but only a few weeks

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after and he was charged again. While out on parole,

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William robbed and then burned down a store. This time

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he was sentenced to twenty years in prison, with a

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possible ability of parole after ten. It was during a

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panel review for his parole that William's future hung in

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the balance. Before him laid a few more years in

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prison and down a different path awaited freedom. Between them

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stood the parole board. He had years of good behavior

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and being a model inmate strengthening his case, but on

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the other hand, he had some pretty hefty opposition. The

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prison psychologist was there, arguing that William should stay in custody.

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He warned the board that William quote may be dangerous

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to himself and others, and that he was showing clear

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signs of mental illness. The board didn't listen, and a

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paroled William only eight years into his twenty year sentence.

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This decision was one that they would soon regret. Later

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that year, in June nineteen seventy, William broke into a

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home in North Augusta, South Carolina. There he came upon

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eighteen year old Anne Goodwin, who was there babysitting her

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neighbor's children. William sexually assaulted Anne and then shot her.

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He raided the home, stealing several valuables before fleeing the

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scene and leaving Anne to her fate. She had survived

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the initial shooting, but would later unfortunately to come to

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the wounds in the hospital. A few months later, thirteen

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year old Peg Coutino left her family home in Sumter,

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South Carolina, to have lunch with her sister. Forty five

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minutes passed. When she didn't return home, her parents knew

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something must be wrong. A statewide search ensued, fueled by

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the fact that PEG's father was a South Carolina state representative.

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Her body was recovered almost two weeks later, and in

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all times he revealed that she had been sexually assaulted, beaten,

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and then suffocated to death. Just two days after PEG's disappearance,

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William appeared in a service station in Vy Delia, Georgia,

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about three and a half hours away from Sumter by car.

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There he shot and killed fifty nine year old station

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attendant Joe Fletcher. William then i tole about seventy nine

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dollars from the cash register before fleeing the scene. He

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did the same thing again only a few weeks later,

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where he shot and killed a store manager, Lacy Tigpin,

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and then he returned to a familiar place while previously

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working on a prison road crew. Only two months before

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his parole, William went into a store in Appling County.

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The store belonged to Helen Wilcox, but her husband was

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there that day, and Homer Wilcox was feeling compassionate. Quote.

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He wanted some cigarettes, and I gave them to him.

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I wouldn't take his money. I said, no, sir, I

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want to give this to you. I gave him a

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dollar out of the cash register and I told him,

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I know it ain't much. I told him to stop

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back when he got out if he needed anything. He

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stopped back. This time he was met by Helen Wilcox,

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and Helen would have a very different experience with William

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than her husband had previously. William kidnapped her and took

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her out to the woods rounding the city. There, he

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sexually assaulted her before shooting and killing the thirty two

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year old woman. He then buried her in a shallow

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grave and fled. Six days later, William was robbing another

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store in Baxley. This time he killed sixty year old

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Vivian Miles and attacked her five year old granddaughter. The

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child managed to survive the incident with a severe head injury,

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but it turned out that she wasn't the only witness

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to Vivian's murder. While fleeing the scene, William was interrupted

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by a truck driver named Joe Overstreet. William shot at Joe,

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but somehow missed, leaving behind a man who would later

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be able to define William Pierce's fate. Finally, two months

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after killing Vivian, William was arrested after robbing another gas

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station in Baxley. In police custody, he confessed to a

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total of nine murders, including the kidnapping of thirteen year

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old Peg Catino. A world wind stream of events would follow.

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Joe Overstreet was brought in and identified William as the

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man he had seen fleeing the scene of Helen Wilcox's murder.

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This corroborated William's earlier confession, and law enforcement had many

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reasons for waiting to prove that William had initially been

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telling them the truth. By then, he had recanted his confession,

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claiming that he'd been drunk during his interview with the

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police and he hadn't been read his miranda rights. Authorities

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had an irate state representative breathing down their necks, and

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he wanted justice for the murder of his daughter. William

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would also retract his confession about killing Peg. He claimed

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that the detectives had coerced him into making it by

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beating and torturing him, the claim that was somewhat substantiated

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by report that mentioned bruises and burns across William's body.

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There also seemed to be a cluster of burnmarks near

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his genitals. Others would believe his claims and question the

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legitimacy of his initial confession, but the courts disagreed. He

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traveled around America, following the path of destruction and the

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life of crime that he had led since his early

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parole in nineteen seventy, only this time he would be

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there to face the music for every judge and jury

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in front of him. William was hit with another life sentence,

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officially sealing his fate. He would remain behind bars for

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the rest of his life. He died in prison and Jackson, Georgia,

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in twenty twenty at the age of eighty eight, after

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serving nearly fifty years in prison. That is ten minute

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murder for today, brief and binge able true crime I'm Joe.

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I'm the host, and thank you for taking the time

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to listen. If you're a brand new listener, subscribe wherever

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you like to listen to podcasts. If you're an OG listener,

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keep doing what you're doing. I love you because I

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know that you should hearing this podcast with your friends

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and family. And I know that because I can see

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the numbers. They continue to grow. The show continues to grow,

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and it has to be because of you listening that

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have been listening for a while are telling people about

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the podcast, and I really do love you for that.

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If you have any questions about the podcast, anything you

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want to know about, you can go to ten minute

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murder dot com. All the answers are there, or there

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you can find my email address, which is Joe at

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ten minute murder dot com. And some of you have

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emailed me asking if I've seen the new Menendez Brothers

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series on Netflix, and if I have, what I think

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about it, and I can tell you at the point

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I am right now that recording this podcast, I haven't

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seen all of it, but I've seen a good chunk

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of it, and I'll tell you that it's okay. It's

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not bad, it's not great, it's not terrible. It's all

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right to me. But there is one part of it

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where I had to pause it and then do some

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research because I was like, there's no way this is true.

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This just seems like it's just made up for dramatic

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reasons for this series. I looked it up and it

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was absolutely true, and I'll tell you what it is.

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During the funeral scene when the brothers are playing the

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Milli Vanilli song, I thought, this is so weird and

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strange and looks like it's made for TV. It wasn't.

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It's real. They weren't making that part up, but it's

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so strange that it feels like they have to be,

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but they're not anyway. I will finish watching the series

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at some point, but I'm not canceling appointments to go

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and watch the series. It's not that good and that's

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

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Thank you for listening to ten Minute Murder.