Hi, I'm Holly. And I'm Hailey. Welcome to Mountain Mysteries, Tales from Appalachia. Hello, everybody.
Hello. Hello. Hello. I saw, because I got to be locked in some kind of box.
I know, but I was getting a text from my mother because she is, I think, with my grandmother watching my dog currently. That's kind. That's very kind. So I'm just like, I'm a very protective dog parent.
That's really sweet. So I try to be involved. That's very responsible. I try to be.
Yeah. Maybe one day you will give your mother a human grandchild. Don't push it. That's what she's warning.
Oh, it is. She clings to my son. She does it. And I love that because we get to send him back home.
You know, even my parents, like, you know, I think they had him overnight a while back. And they were like, whoa. He is into everything. That's right.
They were very happy to see me show up. And they're not usually that happy, but they were like, here's your mommy. I was like, oh, I have this back. Here you go.
I'm like, here you go. Yeah. And I love, I love your son. And I love my friends, kids.
And I just, there's no, just no. It's a lot. It's a lot. It's a lot.
It's like not sleep. And I am not. Swilling. So I just, you know, maybe something.
I'm not going to say never. Yeah. Never say never. Oh, you've got plenty of time.
But I just, at this point, I'm 11, 24. I mean, no babies coming out of this. Yet. We'll see.
We've got time. You've got time. So we'll just keep borrowing your kid. Okay, but eventually he's going to grow up.
It's gonna be cute. Oh my gosh. Yes. It's that weird age of like four to seven.
Or I don't really know what to do with them. But the other years, I guess, I'm more like, uh, oh, well, top of the years are like one preschool, like four. This is like the post preschool. Like early elementary school age.
Yeah, I don't know what to do with those. Okay. Gotcha. You're not really old enough to like have a conversation, but you're not really enough that I can just like play K.E.
with like giving you a toy. And you're like enthused. Yeah. You like, you need me to like play with you.
It's the before they get to the vote-wise stage. So like with my little one when he starts to melt down because we already are approaching tantrums already. He is very easy to redirect with something shiny or a little truck like look, look what mommy has. He's like, oh, okay.
And then he's, you know, tantrum over. But I know it is going to get worse. And I'm mentally trying to prepare myself for. Yeah.
Oh, God. Yeah. Sounds good. You'll be fine.
I believe in you. I wouldn't believe in me, but I believe in you. I think you're going to be fine. Fingers crossed.
Yeah. All right. So we, last week, uh, talked about our Patreon. Yes.
That's been running. Um, but not up running. It is still editing. It needs to be up and running.
It will be up and running August 1st. Not 100% sure if there will be content available August 1st. We hope so. We hope they'll be at least a little something.
Yes. Yes. And this is episode 45 for you guys keeping track. Yeah.
Um, and so it's so cool to be 45 episodes in and be able to have this announcement of our Patreon and how you guys can help support us. Yes. For sure. But you are here for murder.
And we are here to serve it. We are. Yes. That's what we do here.
On a platter. Next to someone's head. God, I hope not. Of Liz.
Oh my God. It's 11.20. I'm so tired. Come back to me.
Come back. I'm jazzing. You don't have a child so you can sleep in tomorrow. I do.
Mine will be a dog child. No, I don't. I don't know where I was going with that. I don't know.
I was like, I do get to sleep in. Oh, oh, oh, okay. I do get to sleep in. Yes.
Mine will have me up at 6.30. Yes. Yes. Definitely.
Alright. Would you like to hear the story? I would very much. Alright.
So we're heading on back to December of 1984. The number one song was out of touch by Hollin Oates. You're out of touch. I'm out of touch.
Da-da-da-da. Really? Okay, Hollin Oates were like a super big. Oh my God.
That's cool. Good Lord. On December 19th, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher signs a joint declaration to transfer Hong Kong that had been previously British maintained back to China by 1997. So within 13 years, Hong Kong would go back to China, which they did.
Good. So December 18th, 1984 in Hendersonville, North Carolina. So Hendersonville is a city, this is a city that is south of Asheville. It's kind of near the South Carolina line.
Nice area. Yeah. Yeah. So it's really pretty downtown.
Yes. Super duper cute. They have the Apple Festival there. Yeah.
We went several years ago to that. Yeah. Yeah. That was fun.
So in December of 18, Ernestine Wooten was a female who was single. She was living alone. She was in her 30s. No one had heard from her for a couple days and they were like, that's weird.
So police were actually sent to kind of do a welfare check. And they discovered that she was dead in her kitchen of her one bedroom apartment located on Fifth Avenue East. She had a plastic bag over her head, which was kept in place by her own bra that had been wrapped around. Yeah.
She was bound at the wrists and the ankles with electrical cord that had been part of her vacuum cleaner. Yeah. Yeah. It also right.
Back in planer cord. You don't have to worry about that. You don't have to worry about that. You don't have to worry about that.
You don't have to worry about that. Back in my rug. I bought one of those robot vacuums now. So it is cordless.
Well, most of my house is tile. And would. Yes. Of course.
So I don't really have to vacuum. I sleep a lot. Yeah. I sleep so much.
I have so many animals. I sleep all the time. Yes. Believe me.
I know. Well, my child is scared of the robot vacuum. And every time he accidentally will turn it on and then it comes towards him. He's like, what the hell?
And he comes running out and he's terrified. So it scares him. But I like it. Because I'm lazy.
All right. So it also appeared that she had been sexually assaulted. The medical examiner ruled that she had died from asphyxiation due to the back over her head and a rape kit was actually done and stored, which this is before DNA evidence. So the fact that they were really delicate about this and stored DNA evidence, my thought is maybe they were trying to like type blood or something.
You know, in the early 80s, we're not kind of at the DNA point yet. They were never able to find anyone that they felt was connected with a murder. And they searched and they did a lot of interviews, but it ended up going cold. Through the years, various officers, particularly, there was a chief of police who was retiring in 2007.
And he said, you know, this is the case that I just can't let go of. Right. It was the only unsolved murder in Hendersonville. So in 2009, so this is 25 years after the crime, they were able to take that rape kit, which was still in really good shape.
Like, good job, Henderson County Police. That's amazing. And they were able to extract DNA from it, which they put into their CODIS system. And they came up with a name.
Oh, is there really? Yes, they did. A man by the name of David Foxworth. David Foxworth at the time in 1984 had lived in South Carolina, but he was kind of a migrant worker.
And by migrant, I don't mean he worked in the fields. I mean, he would travel to North Carolina to work under the table for various like roofing businesses and that kind of thing. He did that by day by Nadi Seldrugs. You know, all right.
Kind of like a Superman, but not like a Kirkhead by day. I don't have to pay the bills. But you should do it legally. You should.
Yes, that would be great. Yes, pay your taxes. I know the drug case. Yes, I know.
So they didn't really know if he had been in North Carolina at that point when the murder took place because they couldn't actually police him there. However, his DNA did. So they went searching for where his box where it's since his DNA was in CODIS. That means that he had been arrested.
So they checked it out and lo and behold, he was in prison in South Carolina for kidnapping and attempting to kill a woman. That sounds right. Right? But when they attempted to speak with him, he refused to talk with him.
Of course he did. Yes, he was like, oh, thank you. So the Henderson County District Attorney said that there wasn't enough evidence to take the trial. There was reasonable doubt because his point, and it makes a lot of sense, is we don't know if maybe they had a relationship.
Maybe this was consensual sex. There was no proof. There was no sign of any kind of trauma to her body sexually. So maybe this was something that got out of hand.
You know, a lot of particular sex games can get, you know, there's the asphyxiation that goes into that. Maybe it just went too far. That it's always a possibility. Good is.
I don't think plastic bags and vacuum cleaner cords and you're on bras are usually involved. Right. But not really my thing. So I'm not.
Well, too kinky for me. Not really. So thanks. So, but due to that, they just couldn't proceed.
They couldn't move forward. Well, as a defense attorney, that's what I'd use. I mean, you would have to. That's what I'd say.
You would have to. And a jury would probably, it would be a hung jury. That's a reasonable doubt. Yeah.
So they would have to let him go anyway. So, you know, you have to ask yourself, is it worth taxpayer time and money to put into this if we're not sure. No, no, I hate that for the family. And just because they had sex doesn't mean he committed the murder.
It's true. You know? That's what he else came in. Exactly.
So we don't know. Reasonable doubts of bitch. Isn't it though? It is.
When it seems like, oh, okay, with him, close shot, it's not. It's good. And like I said, in 1984, Foxworth had been a drug dealer in South Carolina and possibly he came up to Hendersonville. It's not far away.
No, it's really not. Actually, I believe South Carolina, excuse me, Hendersonville backs up to South Carolina, doesn't it? Patrick County. I know it's a pretty big county, but I believe it backs up to it.
It's like right over the line. So, it's not a far friend. I've been out to weird little towns or conia, which is definitely, I think it's like something like that. It's way, which is like, I mean, three.
You have two more exits and then you're at. It's out there, right? Yeah. I don't think there's another county in those two miles.
Yeah, I know. I don't believe so. So I think it does. Yeah.
Anyway, but yeah, no, it's not unreasonable to think that he came over here. Makes sense. To Henderson County. I mean, he very well could have.
And you know, we don't know a lot of the history behind it. Like, there's just so little to go on for right now. And maybe I'll try and dig to find a little bit more for you guys. But I don't know a lot about Ernestine, which I would like to get a little bit more information about her.
And it's such a like, an odd case too. There's just not a whole lot out there. Yeah, there just wasn't. And when was this like a?
How in 1984? And they did the DNA research in 2009. And then in 2017, they opened the case again. Okay.
This time, they went through their evidence and what they had. And they sent off other items for DNA testing, but nothing was found. And David Foxworth is set to be released from prison for the kidnapping and attempted murder of another lady in South Carolina in December of this year. So he served?
Well, how many years for that? I'm thinking it's about 20 years because I believe that happened in, you know, early 2000s. Yeah. Oh man.
And that's kind of where my story ends. You know, here we have this man who is a potential suspect. They really can't do anything about it because there's reasonable doubt. We don't know the status of their relationship.
I mean, maybe it was a hookup. It could have been. Gosh, I don't know. It's just, it's so challenging.
But at the end of the day, a lady lost her life unnecessarily. So somebody did this. Right. And I was looking up the DNA a lot like when it was first used and it was first used.
And it was first used in 86. Interesting. So the fact that they, I'm sure it was kind of on the cusp. But the fact that like, I mean, Henderson County is, it's a rural county.
I think some of it is. Some of it is, yeah. So it's like, it's strange to me that, you know, 1984 cops thought to, I love it. Like, seal that really well.
I love it. And that they were able. So if Henderson County can do it, then sure to gosh. I mean, we're talking like, LA County can't do it.
They can't even do it. You know, we're talking, you know, major large cities can't do it. So, you know, I feel like this, congratulations Henderson County got. This is an awesome job.
Yeah. This is an awesome job. And I am hopeful that with additional DNA that we have, with different, you know, things that are popping up with science that we can figure out. Yeah.
I hope so. And I mean, thinking about like rape kits, there are so many untested rape kits. Yes. Just sitting there.
Just sitting. We have the technology to test these things. Test them. There was a whole episode of Law and Order SVU about this.
Love, love SVU. Benton, I love Olivia Benton. I'm going to say it's my birthday. It's my lady crush.
Oh my gosh. I love Mary. Oh my gosh. She's such a badass, but she's so funny.
Love her so much. Huh. Tapping a moment here. I'm going to say her and Stabler.
He's back. I know. I know. And it kind of like have a weird face.
So I did this whole thing of like, this is not turned into the Law and Order podcast. I went back and re-watched because I like quit watching it after he left. Yeah. And I went back and I re-watched from, I think he left in like, in the season 12.
Yes. So I re-watched from the next season on and I caught up. Holy cow. Those are like, because I mean, I think they're on like 22 now.
Yes. I spent a lot of time watching a lot of our dress for you. Dun dun. But it's just such a...
In the criminal justice system, sexually based offenses are gonna say it all because that's probably like, oh, it's copyright. Dun dun. Yeah. So I went back and I watched all of them and just like, it just makes you mad.
Yeah. The way that our justice system treats victims of rape, treats women and their families and I mean, men as well. And as well, they've been raped. Other folks, it just...
That's why a lot of people don't come forward. I think it's like one in four women. We'll experience sexual assault at some point in our life. Yep.
So somebody you know has. Exactly. Experience assault. Maybe they don't say it, but I mean, so just...
And I think we're coming a long way. With... Like so too. Rape culture is still such a thing.
Right. But I don't know. I think yeah, there's a voice with like the Me Too movement. Yeah.
That helps, I think. And there's also just, you know, a lot of projects, you know, I think we talked about long order because of the main character, Morschka, Hargate, Hargate, Hargate, Hargate, Hargate. I like to say it with a J. I think it's a spainzy.
But, you know, she has done a lot of work to the backlog. She did. Her joyful heart. Yeah.
Yeah. Foundation has done a lot to end the backlog of rape kits. Help. I mean, there's still a ton out there.
Exactly. But there's like, I mean, there's no telling. Like how many freaking rapists we could find. Exactly.
If you just test the dance kits. So much justice for these women and men who have been assaulted. You know. It's just crazy.
And it's, you know, people don't report men, especially not. Exactly. Because there's a stigma. And there's a stigma for women as well.
You know, our non-binary friends as well. There's a huge stigma. And it just makes me sad. Makes me sad too.
But I'm really proud that Anderson County police kept that intact and tested it. Yeah. You know, they tested it in 2009. 2009.
So, you know, there was a bit of a backlog there. I mean, probably could have been such a winner. But the fact that they did it and, you know, were able to get a hit on it. Mm hmm.
You know, that's... Exactly. I think that's possible. So, and you never know.
I mean, they may have an opportunity to sit down and talk with David Foxworth. You know, maybe post prison. I don't know. I don't know what that looks like.
I mean, it's an important conversation to keep having. I agree. These are not victimless crimes. No.
Her name was Ernestine. Yeah. And she was a victim. You know, rape is such a horrific thing to happen to anybody.
I mean, it's such a violation. And it's not about... It's not even the act. It's not the act.
It's about the power that somebody has of her and other person. And it's just... And you know, the lasting effects. I mean, obviously she was killed in this.
But had she survived, you know, what she would emotionally be dealing with post... Yeah, with trauma that people go through. Post rape, exactly. It's...
Yeah. And then you have the case as where. It is hard to prove because it is the classic, what they say, which is kind of an outdated... He said she said something about that.
Yeah. It's about dated. But, you know, it is that. And it's the, you know, one person's word against the other.
Exactly. And who do you believe more? Exactly. Usually it's going to be the perpetrator.
Unfortunately. Unfortunately. And I think a quote I think about a lot when we talk about cases like this is for rape victims, especially when I brought when I was just, you know, a child, nobody looks at a victim of a carjacking and asks them, did you want to be carjacked? What did you do?
Are you sure you didn't want to be carjacked? What did you do to get to carjacked? What were you wearing when you got carjacked? Who did you talk to?
How many drinks did you have when you got carjacked? Were you flirting with when you got carjacked? Like no, it's... Exactly.
What? It's... No, I can wear whatever the hell I want. Yeah.
Were you driving a sports car? A red sports car with a top down? You were asking for it. You were asking for it.
Yeah. I think there are things you can do to make yourself safe. Right. It sucks when you live in a society where especially women and people who are more feminine are targeted.
Are targeted and it is harder for us to exist and be safe. Yes. So I've gone out several times where I second S what I'm wearing, which sucks because fricking summer it's hot. Yeah.
And I'm like, where am I going to be? Who am I going to be around? Are people going to be drinking? Is this going to be a problem?
Like, and you kind of run through that scenario of like your what ifs in your head of like... Don't worry about me. What are you doing? I got legings and probably a long sleeve t-shirt.
But yeah, I mean, you know, the whole like when we used to work together, we are office building backed up to like a dark parking lot. And I was always there at late because I did the crisis program. So I was there at like 10 o'clock to two in the morning sometimes. Like I was there super late.
And I always would hook out with my keys between my fingers. So you could check somebody with them. I was very aware of my surroundings. Like it just sucks.
And I've done the talk on the phone. Oh, yeah. I was calling you sometimes. Yeah.
Well, not at two in the morning. I was like, I'm eight p.m. I was like, yeah. And that was before I had a child.
So I was like, yeah, feel free to go. I could get scary out there, folks. It's the end of the day. You can't be scared to go out and live your life.
Yeah. And just take your mace and you know, and don't be polite. Yeah. I think that's the big takeaway.
I think especially women have been told from the time we're young that you should be polite. You're dancing with your friends and somebody comes up with their hands on you. No. No, sir.
No, back the blank off, Jack. Did not give you permission to do that. Exactly. Well, we always talk about there's no touching unless there's permission.
Yes. And I've danced with random people before it, but they've always all been people who have come up and be like, hey, would you like to dance or like dance and near you? And they're like, hey, you want to dance together? I'm like, yeah, let's do it.
Exactly. Like how a good time. It's not hard. Just ask.
Exactly. Ask for a chance. Exactly. Exactly.
Exactly. We learned this in kindergarten. Keep your hands on yourself. Keep yourself to yourself.
For the love of Pete. Yes. Well, this episode turned like crazy, but it's very important. And important.
And we wanted to make sure you're here. It was kind of a short story. So we wanted to give you some good life advice. Exactly.
Yeah, I want to learn more about her, Ernestine. And actually I'd like to learn more about the crime that he was convicted of and ended up spending time in jail. Yeah. So I wanted to dig into that as well.
So that would be a future episode when I don't know, but we'll take you back. Yeah, we work a lot. We do. We got to stop that.
We do. We need to quit working. Hey, do you want to do a shout out to one of our faithful listeners? Sure.
I can't. Give me just a moment to do that. All right. So my shout out for the week is broad ripple Indiana.
Oh, I like that. That's fun. That's fun. It's a lot of ripple.
It sounds lovely. It does. We should travel there. We should.
There's so many places we should go. I know. And now that we're like vaccinated. I know.
We should travel now. Exactly. Exactly. Well, this has been a lovely episode.
I'll remember our Patreon. I'll drop pretty soon. Yeah. Kind of went a little bit of a different direction, but I'm glad it did.
Exactly. We got a shout. We don't get to do this enough. We don't.
We should chat more. We should. All right, y'all. We'll chat next time.
See you next week. Bye.