Immediately, the case showed some prominent similarities to that of Carol Spinks, another teenager that had been murdered a few months prior. I can only guess if police investigated him for any involvement in the Freeway Phantom crimes, but it was theorized in the same article that he wasn't the real killer - just perhaps taking the credit to scare his victim. The inmate being interviewed stipulated that he would provide the information only if he could remain unidentified, which was agreed upon. He ended up walking roughly 1500 feet south of Suitland Parkway, towards a grassy embankment along the Anacostia Freeway, where he discovered the body of a murdered young woman. It was a short walk that she had made dozens of times before. They dedicated many more man-hours to political scandals and dealing with Vietnam protests - and to the loved ones left without any answers - it seemed like detectives cared very little about six dead black girls. The same coroner would state that she had been sexually assaulted before her death. In addition, he owned many photos of unknown girls and young women, and police even found a knife that had been used in another crime. We know that this article of clothing was not tested for DNA by either the Maryland State Police or the FBI, but it was last in the possession of the Maryland State Police - who have not confirmed that they actually have the evidence. They both believe that the killer was a young black man, who was able to fit into the neighborhood he committed his abductions. The next morning police found the 17-year-old's lifeless body in blue jeans and a gold sweater. Speaking to the Post, Williams stated: "If it was a white girl, the police would have found the person. She was found wearing the clothing she had disappeared in, but her shoes had been removed. Angelas body was also wearing her shoes which did not fit the bill of the victims of the concerned serial killer. He died in April of 2010, at the ripe old age of 91, outliving his 1938 murder victim by close to a century. Brenda Denise Woodard was an 18-year old, that lived with her family in Baltimore, Maryland, along Maryland Avenue. The following day - September 6th, 1972 - the body of Diane Williams was discovered by a trucker along Interstate 295. Status All of the known members of this gang had been locked up on charges relating to sexual violence at around the time that the Freeway Phantom crime spree came to an end, and had been incarcerated inside Virginia's Lorton Prison. Diane Denise Williams was a 17-year old was known for her impeccable fashion sense. "These were probably the first serial cases in the District of Columbia that one can recall," said Romaine Jenkins, a retired D.C. police homicide detective who helped investigate the killings. D.C. Phantom Murder", "Six black girls were brutally murdered in the early '70s. In the coming years, detectives would theorize that this implies some connection to the neighborhood Brenda Crockett lived in. Former Washington police officers, Edward Sullivan and Tommie Simmons, were convicted of murdering Angela Denise Barnes, age 14. 7 The Alphabet Killer Photo Credit: calafellvalo / Flickr Like the case of Dr. [4], 12-year-old Yates was walking home around 7:00 pm from a Safeway store in Northeast on October 1, 1971 when she was kidnapped, raped, and strangled. [5], Authorities quickly concluded that Crockett likely called her home at the behest of the killer, who fed her inaccurate information in order to buy the necessary time to perpetrate the crime, and to hamper the investigation. Still, she believes the greatest hope lies in keeping the memory of the slain girls alive. Approximately eight hours after Brenda's disappearance - the early morning hours of July 28th, 1971 - a hitchhiker that was traveling on U.S. Route 50 (near the Baltimore-Washington Parkway in P.G. Brenda said, "Well, I'll see you," and the call came to a sudden end. best used midsize suv under $20 000; lia thomas swimmer ranking before and after. chicken of the woods ottawa; how tall was prophet idris; how much money did hercules in new york make In the aftermath of this most recent discovery, police struggled to come to terms with the idea that Brenda Woodard had been killed by the same person that murdered Carol Sprinks, Darlenia Johnson, Brenda Crockett, and Nenomoshia Yates. It's not too late to say something. Her body was found November 26, 1972, under a bridge in the 4000 block of Bladensburg Road NE. This inmate - Morris Warren - began feeding investigators information about the Freeway Phantom crimes, which he alleged were perpetrated by a member of the Green Vega's. This was also supported by the contents of her stomach, which included some kind of citrus fruit. especiAlly women. edward sullivan and tommie simmons. Written, hosted, and produced by Micheal Whelan, Borrtex - "Black Out"Blue Dot Sessions - "Arbic Tallow"Graham Bole - "Lurking"Percival Pembroke - "Pembroke-Schaffer Manifold (Parts 1 & 2)"Vitus Von Degen - "Pieta"Rest You Sleeping Giant - "Dead Waters"ROZKOL - "If These"Sann Gusmao - "Reescrever Fotografias Sobre Dias Que Me Rasgam"Organoid - "Cassini"Krackatoa - "Under An Ending Sun", Other original music created and composed by Ailsa Traves, Unsolved Child Murders: Eighteen American Cases 1956 - 1998 by Emily G. Thompson, The Washington Post - Six black girls were brutally murdered in the early 70s. In 1974, two more names were entered into the suspect fray: Edward Sellman - sometimes referred to as Edward Sullivan in reporting of the case - and Tommie Simmons. As you can imagine, she never made it home. Both were ex-cops that were arrested in relation to the 1971 murder of Angela Barnes. This was the rhetoric that seemed to follow around the case in the early years of the investigation: that the police weren't doing enough to catch the killer. Warning: set_time_limit() has been disabled for security reasons in /data/web/virtuals/167612/virtual/www/index.php on line 63 edward sullivan and tommie simmonsmark anthony ontario. As you can guess, this early nickname would stick and soon, the killer himself seemed to embrace it. Carol obliged, and accepted the five dollars from her older sister. While she remains hopeful the killings eventually will be solved, Jenkins believes the passage of time already has diminished the chances of closing the case. In addition to the stab wounds, investigators considered it bizarre that the victim was found with her shoes. They rode together on a bus for a few blocks, but eventually had to split up. It had housed everyone from psychotic killers to returning Vietnam veterans suffering from undiagnosed PTSD. Considr comme le premier tueur en srie de Washington, D.C., ce meurtrier qui n'a pas encore t identifi tait responsable du meurtre d'au moins 6 filles mineures Washington, D.C. d'avril 1971 septembre 1972. This was beyond the date of the known killer's crime spree, and was ruled out as a possible connection due to a lack of evidence, but remains a real possibility. Heavy footsteps were heard in the background and Crockett said "I'll see you" and hung up. There, she was sexually assaulted and beaten, before being freed by her kidnapper. Both Trainum and Jenkins stick with this analysis, which provides a small insight into most serial killers - again, most serial killers, not all of them. Members of this gang were collectively responsible for numerous Washington D.C. and surrounding Maryland vicinity rapes and abductions that occurred near theWashington Beltway. During their correspondence, Askins continued to deny having any part in the Freeway Phantom murders, stating that he did not have: " the depravity of mind required to commit any of the crimes.". In 1971, Carol Denise Spinks was a thirteen-year old that lived in Washington, DC. An examination of Brenda's clothing would find two different hair samples: one of which, authorities stated, belonged to a Caucasian man. A search warrant was eventually obtained, and investigators dug through Askins' backyard. He claimed at least one specific gang member in the murders, and began giving details of specific dates, times, and locations. Investigators had now followed up several leads at this point - including Robert Askins and the Green Vega's - but had little to show for it. She reluctantly agreed, only to discover that the the man had no intentions of taking her to her destination. [25][26] Authorities later determined that Barnes was not a victim of the Freeway Phantom and resumed their investigation on the murders.[12]. Askins, who died at the Federal Correctional Institution in Cumberland, Maryland on April 30, 2010 at the age of 91,[27] remained in prison for two D.C.-area abductions and rapes in the mid-70s, and had been contacted by both Davis and press regarding the Freeway Phantom slayings. It wasn't even a case she investigated at the time, but watched unfold from afar. [8] "A white man picked me up, and I'm heading home in a cab," Crockett told her sister, adding that she believed she was in Virginia before abruptly saying, "Bye" and hanging up. When he returned nearly a year later - in September of 1972 - he had lashed out at another victim in the neighborhood of Congress Heights. Unfortunately, their questions regarding her fate would be answered less than a week later. Like the first victim, Carol Spinks, experts were able to find small green fibers on the clothing, which hinted at some link between the two cases. During these interviews, one gang member initially implicated another gang member, who he said told him he was involved and gave information as to one of the beltway homicides. It was just about half-a-mile away from home across the state border, in Maryland's Prince George's County (also known as "PG County" to locals). Most unusually, investigators would discover that Askins loved to use the word "tantamount." and indicating she was alone in a house with a white male. Carol, who knew that she was risking punishment if it was discovered she had left the family's apartment, walked briskly along Wheeler Road. On Saturday, May 1st, 1971 - six days after the disappearance of Carol Spinks - a group of kids were playing in a grassy area behind St. Elizabeths Hospital. [22] Members of this gang were collectively responsible for numerous Washington D.C. and surrounding Maryland vicinity rapes and abductions that occurred near the Washington Beltway. The most notable thing about the discovery was that the body was dressed except for the missing shoes. [13], The Freeway Phantom case has seen a myriad of investigators and garnered much interest over the years. In another striking similarity to the other crimes, green fibers would be found on her clothing. Jim Henson's Muppets made 25 appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show between 1966 and 1971. This angry sentiment was also shared by the sister of Carol Spinks, Evander Spinks, who stated: "You better bet that if these had been white girls, the police would have solved the cases. At 5:50 am the next day, a hitchhiker discovered Crockett's shoeless body in a conspicuous location on U.S. Route 50, near the Baltimore-Washington Parkway in Prince George's County, Maryland. Her education policy was cashed in to bury her.". So he began scouring for anything that fit the bill and, surprisingly, found something. Facebook gives people the power. In 1980, the Washington Post wrote an article about the case, which included statements from two of the victims' family members. Powered by WordPress.com VIP. It is unknown where this piece of evidence now stands. edward sullivan and tommie simmons. Due to the brutality of the crimes the police suspected the offender to be a psychopath. As you can imagine, this was as frustrating to the victims' loved ones as it was to the investigators. Were Edward Sullivan and Tommie Simmons Freeway Phantom? According to at least one person familiar with the family, this unknown caller even made the claim: In the days after the disappearance of Darlenia Johnson, it became apparent that police didn't seem very interested in the case. However, one of the victims was too decomposed for authorities to rule out it out, and another was found with semen on her clothing - raising the possibility that five had been the victim of sexual assault. It appeared to be in her own handwriting, written in pencil, and seemed to be written on a piece of paper that had been torn out from her notebook. The Phantom would then rape, strangle them (usually manually), and dump their bodies in grassy areas near freeways, hence the name. I have not read anything that indicates she made it to the store, so I can just assume that on her way to Safeway, Brenda was abducted. REAL CRIMINAL In the early 1970's, a mysterious killer targeted young black girls along the Washington Beltway. She was sent to buy groceries at a 7-Eleven located a half-mile away from her home by her older sister, but she never returned. Organized Patricia Williams sat at a table near a window in a restaurant in Northwest Washington this week, her hands clasped. Sullivan and Simmons, two ex-cops, were arrested for the murder of Angela Denise Barnes. Coroner reports of the Freeway Phantom's victims tell us that the victims were brutally raped with penetration up to 9 inches deep, with both anal and vaginal assaults taking place. In fact, Maryland police claimed there were no similarities between Angelas death and the murder of six other girls in D.C. Despite their differences in beliefs regarding this case, Trainum and Jenkins agree on a number of things regarding the Freeway Phantom. This time, the call would be answered by Brenda's mother's boyfriend, who had returned to the news of the first call. One of the issues I haven't really touched on so far is the topic of race. Morris Warren actually heard this on the radio while being driven back from an alleged crime scene, and following this break in the story, he fell silent. 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