Hi, I'm Holly and I'm Hailey. Welcome to Mountain Mysteries Tales from Appalachia. Welcome back everybody. Welcome back.
This is episode 60. Whoa. The magic's six zero. Just think 40 more.
And we will reach our 100. Wow. I know. That's crazy.
I know. Hailey keeps coming back and more. I don't know why. You know, but this time I came out to her.
You did. You did. We're at our location. Yes.
That's not my house. That's correct. My parents have your child. That's correct.
So you are child three for a few hours. And I was so excited. I was driving here and I was like, yes. I like it here in my head.
I was like, free. That's that Raypok right now. I'm so excited. And I know your parents are really excited and that makes me happy.
But it also makes me want to stay out for a couple hours. Yeah, we're definitely going to like wrap this up. Maybe go find some lunch and then go back and get your kids. Yeah.
It takes some time. Let's not look crazy. No, we've got plenty of time. Before I need to be a responsible parent.
Listen, you can be irresponsible for just a little bit longer. Oh, my being irresponsible is we've had like a cup of coffee and sat in a room and talked about our our side game. Yeah. Yeah.
Well, hey, I'm excited because this week I have an elderly murder. I hate that. I know. I shouldn't say that.
You know, Haley tends to bring the child murders. You guys know is for me like, and she has a really hard time with the elderly. I do. But you know what we're going to power through.
We are. We are. We are. We're going to be all right.
I got like have a cookie over here. So I'm going to do all right. All right. So let's get into this.
We are dropping in in December of 1989. And we are going to Asheville, North Carolina. Mm hmm. That's right.
I'm getting a cookie. I'm sorry. That's okay. I will allow it.
I was eating a bagel earlier. So we're good. So in December of 1989, the number one song is We Didn't Start the Fire by Billy Joel. I love it.
Harry Truman Doris Day, Red China, Johnny Ray, South Pacific Walter, which will do the Magio. I can't do that part. But I can do the chorus. I won't.
But I can't. Just don't need to start the party. I love that song too. And actually in what was it?
High school. I think my teacher made us take sections of it to talk about the history because it actually has a ton of history on the song. It really is. And he gets to even, he stops in 1989 because he did this band from 49 to 89.
And it's great because it has like, you know, Big and Reagan, Palestine, terror on the airline. It's just neat. It's so much history. Anyway, so if you hadn't heard that, We Didn't Start the Fire at that point was the number one song.
The I Love Loopsie Christmas episode was shown on television for the first time in 30 years. It was actually a lost episode. Like they hadn't been able to find it. It aired originally in 19, whatever 50 or something like that, 52, but they hadn't been able to find it.
So they found it again and they were able to re-air that. So that was sort of like a lost little token. Interesting. Yeah.
Well, on December 11th, 1989, it was a Sunday evening for an elderly couple who went to bed at their home that was 1,344 square feet at 37 Rock Hill Place. This is in the southern Biltmore area of Asheville. If you're familiar with the area, it's in and around what they call a shot-low. Okay.
Yeah. Okay. I was like, oh, the South Asheville is such a like vast, vast expanse of what's considered Asheville because you have even like economic status-wise. Like South Asheville has like really, really like million dollar homes.
Yes. And then you have more poor communities, which Shiloh is a pretty... It's a more a lower socioeconomic, I would say. Yeah.
Which is interesting because it is literally across the street from Biltmore Forest, which is multi-million dollar homes. Yes. Celebrity's live there. Yes.
I had some friends who lived in Shiloh and it's really like, I think it's a really neat community. It's a really neat community. It's really tight-knit. It's really like older homes.
A lot of older homes are really pretty like older homes, but you know, there is, you know, you can definitely, there's a difference in, you know, economic earnings in those two. They have a grocery store kind of right there in the middle. And it is the most diverse grocery store you'll ever go to because you have people who will come up in these like big escalades that, you know, clearly they are extremely well off. And then you have folks who are kind of in the middle and then folks who are, you know, really struggling.
And it's just a really interesting view of truly its diverse. You walk into that grocery store, you're like, wow, this is the opinion of diversity. Yeah. And it's, you know, it's kind of sad.
Like, I think it speaks to people who've moved into the area. And, you know, it's really, it's usually not locals who are living in these multi-million dollar homes. So it's, yeah, it's kind of a touchy subject, I'd say. But yeah, there's a, Shiloh is a really neat area and a lot of rich rich history there.
Absolutely. And you know, part of the neat thing about that neighborhood was that in 1989, it was kind of a quiet, safe neighborhood that many elderly individuals lived in. And what are the other benefits for this elderly couple was that their brother lived next door, like 300 feet away. So they had family nearby.
So I mean, that just enhances that sense of feeling safe and warm in your community. You know, so Aline Macknahan was 75 years old and she was so excited because her birthday was coming up that Tuesday. She was going to be turning 76. She had made plans to get together family and celebrate her husband.
His name was Cleve Macknahan. Cleve. I love that. Talk about closeness.
His name was Cleve. He was 79 and his birthday was coming up in just a few weeks on December 31st, he was going to be 80. Oh, wow. So there was a lot of celebration going on, not to mention Christmas is right right corner.
So there was a lot going on for this family and they were super excited about it all. The couple had been semi-retired for over a decade. Nice. Aline had worked previously as a secretary and Cleve had been a painter.
They were currently employed part-time at the tire barn, which it is still open in the Shiloh area. It's a local tire shop that was very close to their home. And again, she worked there, Aline worked there as a secretary and her husband helped with taking on and off the tires and doing that kind of thing. They got along well with their colleagues, even though some people reported that Cleve was a bit of a grump.
I mean, he's 80. You make it that far in life. He probably seemed to write to people. Right, to agree.
But they said he was a really private person. He liked to kind of keep to himself and even off that impression of being very reserved. But his family stated that once you got to know him, there was like no finer man, who had like a heart of gold, really great people. They were active members of their church.
They attended Boiling Springs Baptist. They had been married for over 50 years. Wow. Yeah.
It's impressive. I feel like nowadays being married for five years is a really cool thing. Okay, we've done it. Yeah.
That is relationship goals right there. I mean, at five whole years, good job. Exactly. They had moved to the area that they were living in 20 years earlier.
And like I mentioned, they felt really safe, enjoyed their neighbors. You would often see them interacting with neighbors friends walking around. It just, it felt nice and comfy for them. So the next morning at 9.30 on Monday, December 12th, Cleve's sister, her name was Boi F.O.Y.
Lance. I love that. Like just random names. Boi.
She arrived at the couple's house because she was bringing presents for a Leans birthday. Now, Cleve and Eileen were always off work on Mondays, but would probably be working that like Tuesday. So Boi decided, you know what, I'm going to go ahead and drop off the gifts early and enjoy some time with them since they're off work today. It was reported that when Boi drove up to the house, she noticed that the storm door was broken and the main door to the house was standing wide open.
Oh, it's not good. Right. So Boi instantly felt that something was wrong. You know, Eileen and Cleve never left their door open like that.
And of course, seeing that the screen door was broken, which just caused a little bit more panic. So she walked into the house, she enters the dining room and she starts calling out for them. She receives no response. So she began to get scared.
I went to, I'm sure you would feel your heart rate would be elevated. I think at this point for me would be the point where I just ran out and called 911. I don't know if I would pursue it further. I probably would.
I'd be really panicked. So like, like, I have to find them. What kind of be my mentality? And it's bad that my mind automatically goes to dark places.
But if the screen doors must have and I'm not hearing from them, I don't know, I wouldn't just assume like, Oh, no, I would assume that they were probably dead, but I would have to find them, you know, yeah, for your own piece of idea. I would rather let the police find them and not have that image in my head. I get that. Yeah.
So she slowly with some fear and trebleation walked towards the couple's bedroom. She stopped short when she saw Eileen's foot and slowly moved into the bedroom to find both Eileen and Cleve on the floor of their room with their head facing the exact same direction. It wasn't like it was a ghastly, black scene. She reports only noticing a small amount of blood on Cleve's pajamas.
So she leaned down and she touched Eileen, who was absolutely cold to the top. So she realized at that point that Eileen was dead. Foy just didn't have the heart to touch her brother, Cleve. She just was so fearful that he was dead too.
She just couldn't do it. I could see that. I'm so sad. Because I mean, already the panic that you would feel it would just be too much.
So she quickly ran out of the house to Eileen's brothers. And she said, you know, we need to call the ambulance. So they did. In between that time, Foy returned to the house to wait on the police and she noticed that Cleve was still alive.
Cleve. But barely. Oh, Cleve. She stayed with him.
And it took 15 minutes for responders to come to the scene. And in that time, he messed up. No, Cleve. I know, right?
I was so close to like, Cleve. Upon autopsy, it was discovered that the couple had been beaten to death. No. Investigators at the crime scene concluded that the motive was robbery as several big ticket items were missing from the house.
I'm so upset. While police interviewed multiple suspects, no one was ever identified. And over time, the case were called. So here you have an elderly couple living in seemingly, you know, at this point in time, a really safe neighborhood, loved their neighbors, everybody thought very highly of them.
And I want to say, they weren't rich people. You know, they weren't affluent, you know, they weren't super fluent. You know, I think they were an elderly couple, I mean, on retirement and what they made from the tire barn, you know, so so it wasn't like people knew, Oh, yeah, there's there's a rich family. Yeah.
So years and years and years go by, and just nothing happens on this case, which to me would be so frustrating as the family. I'm frustrated. I just learned about it. Are you?
Yeah. Why the news for you? Do you? Yes, I do.
Great. Yes. Okay. All right.
On May 27th, 2017, so we're talking almost 28 years after this murder. That's great. A felon in Indiana was out on parole. He had served 20 years in prison for a crime that was it was never revealed in the information that I found, but he had served 20 years.
It was a pretty significant crime. So he is out on parole and ends up violating it because he is in possession of a substance. He actually has syringe on him. Yeah, it's okay.
So upon being arrested and taken in for booking, the felon, otherwise known as Eric Robert Begley, H 42, informed jail staff that he needed to speak with an investigator about a crime that occurred years earlier. So wait, how old would he have been in 89? 14. The hell?
Stick with me. Okay. I'm with you. I'm about 18 eggs.
Wow. I'm upset about it. Yeah. So at two o'clock in the morning, a deputy and state trooper come in to interview Begley.
Okay. I wonder if the game must be taken. I saw state trooper and I was like that. I mean, I know they have like an investigative branch, but I think, yeah, but I think like car crimes are, yeah.
Well, they have investigators because there was a incident like the Loma house. Oh, sorry. Yeah, there was an incident like near where I live and they had to wait for investigators from like state highway patrol to get there, to like look at the vehicle. Okay.
To like investigate like what happened. But I understand that because it's related to a vehicle. Yeah. You know what I'm saying?
Like a suspicious car accident or dead body found in a car. Like that makes sense. But somebody who just wants to tell you about a murder isn't specifying like, Hey, this is about a couple dead bodies in a car. It just seems odd.
I don't know. Maybe that's just who they have a handy at 2 a.m. Yeah. Maybe.
Well, that's a trooper, you know, or maybe there's a lot more that they do that we don't know about there could very well be. And if you're a state trooper and you want to tell us know, we'll tell you how to do that. Yeah, that's definitely state troopers. Stay tuned.
Exactly. So the same in the state trooper come in to a and Begley who is also known as his street name, doose. Like poop? Like doose like two, like like two, like deuces, two, okay, not to be confused with those switches, Spanish were to do, two, not to be slang for poop also though.
Could be. I had a dictionary that was played at home, but his name was not douche. Right. That's a whole different thing.
He was deuce. That's what he called himself. That's what he was known as on the street. So he begins to tell them how he killed a couple in North Carolina in 1989 during a robbery.
He gave them a three hour statement declaring that at the time he was only 14 years old. Police state that Begley otherwise known as deuce didn't work alone and that he had the accomplice. But so far no one has been identified. Deuce was charged with two counts of first degree murder and was extradited from Indiana to North Carolina to wait trial.
So this is where my story ends because I couldn't find any details in the trial and chances are it hasn't happened yet. Probably true. Because of COVID. Yeah.
But here's another interesting fact way. When I tried to look him up in the North Carolina department system he should be in jail, he's not in there and it could just be because he hasn't been convicted. So he may be sitting in in North Carolina jail somewhere. But I couldn't find more information about him past 2017, like July of 2017.
Did you find out what deuce meant? I did but I was waiting for a point to where it wasn't inappropriate. Okay let's go back. What does deuce mean?
Deuce? Okay so urban dictionary did. To drop a deuce means to make a number two. So he's going around calling himself poop?
Yes. I mean if he killed two people he has a piece of shit. I mean yeah that literally means like let's see if I can find it in that um and slang terms. Person one dang man where have you been?
Person two sorry I had to drop a deuce. I swear I heard that before and I was like that means poop. I'm so old. That's it.
You're welcome. What is this thing? It's like a toddler or somebody's like weird do-do head and you're like yeah it's gonna be my street name. Like I don't know.
It's you know that's just weird. Deuce. Maybe he I mean yeah because number two poop. Maybe he has some gas road tests.
So I mean it is apropos. Yeah I don't like that. Or maybe he's just a piece of shit and so it's like and he knows that and he's saying he's accepted it. He's accepted it.
I'm deuce. He's accepted that part of himself. Okay so that's yeah that's for you. Yeah so the trial for the piece of shit AKA deuce has not occurred um yet as far as I'm aware but I'll keep you guys posted when and if that occurs and I mean not when but or excuse me not get put in um so I can tell you that deuce was a habitual offender.
He was actually linked to a May of 2017 armed robbery of a gas station in Sullivan County Indiana. And charges for that robbery are actually on hold due to Indiana PD like waiting to see what goes on with the trial in North Carolina. So that's to be precedence because of the murder. Murder of a robbery.
I can also tell you that Clef's sister Foy the one who found them. She lived in 2003. She actually outlived all of her siblings. There were seven siblings which included two girls and five boys.
She was 89 years old and she passed away. So Foy continued to to live on about 14 years past this um into definite old age. And I think about her and I think how you know you always want to have those positive great memories about your family and all that and I think sometimes that gets marred when you walk into something like that. Yeah.
But and I think you would ask yourself why do I have to be the person to have seen that. Yeah I found them. I don't know. That's that would be really tough.
So I really I think about um the Matt Mahan family and the extended family and what they go through um when you're dealing with this kind of thing and how scary that would be. And there was a lot of talking the articles that I read which we will link in the episode description but you know they talked about the neighbors who had said you know I always kept my door unlocked because we were gonna say neighbor who never thought anything about it and now it really scares me. Um we also had to think about juice with 14. I know I thought about that too.
I'm like what the heck did this kid go through to become a murderer at 14. What was his trauma history? I'm like you don't just like your normal happy well developed 14 year old doesn't just start murdering people. No.
I mean normally I'm sure there are some outliers. Well and if you have murdered before. Let's know. No no no no no no no no no no no no I'm saying that if at 14 you commit murder and you have a criminal history that spans all these years.
Who's to say that he has that murders someone else. He may end up being linked to someone else. Something that I will give juice here is that he finally admitted to it. He finally caught it.
They had no evidence. Right I mean he could have taken that to the grave. He totally could have but for a reason or another he decided to admit to it which I'm glad I'm glad for the sake of this family. Now there just needs to be justice.
But that 14 was it drug related and again he was with someone else. Was he just you know was he just there? Exactly. Did he actually pull the trigger?
Um or pull the trigger. It wasn't a gun. They would beat the death. He actually bled on these individuals or was it someone else?
Was he the getaway car? What was happening? Was it some type of like initiation type thing? Uh was it robbery with the intent to sell in and like buy drugs?
Yeah. Or you know young people are stupid. They are. And he may have been he may have they may have had webin on them just to intimidate them into ceiling and maybe somebody may wrong move or so he said something or attempted to call cops and that's when that started.
So I mean you really just don't know how this unfolded and again I don't have any more information than I'm presenting to you right now which tries me knows. Yeah I mean I want to know so much more. Um but I won't yeah I'm hopeful that you're going to be and I would guess because the murder occurred in Buncombe County that this is where the court case will be. Um so hopefully in the next year or so this will come to trial and he will get his justice and a lot more will probably come out specifically about the murders and I'm also hopeful that they will find this person who collaborated with him on this murder.
Yeah I'm hoping that he'd snam some names. I hope so too. And he may do some type of plea deal uh if he names names that that might be offered or even maybe the death penalty take off the table we see that quite often. Yeah and we're kind of going to death penalty state anymore are we?
It changes so quickly. It does change the time. I don't think we are. I think Texas right and what Texas is doing with something down there.
Florida maybe. Yeah. I don't know if there's any more. Some of Western states maybe yeah.
Um anyway. But yeah I don't know. So it could be some type of plea deal where he doesn't get life or maybe he gets like but with the possibility of parole or something like that effect. So who knows.
But nonetheless I will keep you updated if I find out more information. So yeah so that is my Asheville Elderly murder. That's crazy. Yeah but I'm really excited that we actually had a conclusion to this.
Me too. You know even though there's still a lot of questions that come with it. Yeah. Anyway so um if you guys have a anything or if you know what to do.
If you are a state trooper and have any insight into your investigative processes. Yes it's still in because that was a little I was taken aback by that. Yeah that's a little free date. Doos can you pull over.
We have to talk. I don't know. It's a little strange. So anyway but if you do want to let us know a little bit more state troopers about what you do.
We would love to learn. Yes. Let us know about your nicknames. Cool or stupid.
How do they do that. So you can send us an email at Mount Mysteries dot Appalachian at dmail.com. Find us on Facebook at Mount Mysteries Tales from Appalachia and find us on Instagram at Mount Mysteries dot Appalachia. And you can also find us on our patreon at patreon.com slash mountain mysteries.
Patreon's cool. I'm just saying it. If you have a little bit extra and you want to hear a little extra from us that's the opportunity to jump on that patreon. And we we have gotten more patreon subscribers.
You are mighty grateful. I do want to let my mom know. I saw that she has to subscribe. I think initially she had subscribed to something else.
So I asked and she was like oh she was like no mom you didn't. So Hayley did not get the email. You didn't mom. So no she she has.
So thank you mom. I really appreciate it. And I think she's looking forward to. I think the last episode that she listened to in the podcast was an episode that aired in May and she just listened to it recently.
So she is the ones behind. This is episode 60 so definitely. Hayley do you want to do a shout out? Sure we are in shot this week at Myrtle Beach South Carolina.
Love Myrtle Beach. I haven't been in many many years. Yeah. But we used to go when I was good.
I went I think we're still working together. Oh yeah. Yes. Yeah.
Yes. I yeah that was a interesting. Anyway we will always remember that. We will.
So anyway it is really beautiful. We would often stay on the north. North Carolina. Just a lot more residential and a lot more calm because it's a little crazy.
Yeah it's the stuff's kind of like almost like a spring break vibe. Yeah it's like a busy. Do you want to party like it's kind of good like you might see them. I'm too old to party.
I I'm so excited if I had a sleep at night. Yeah. I was in bed last night by 11 and I felt really good about that. Me too.
I had actually just finished my stories and I was like it's 11 p.m. I closed the laptop and turned around and just leave it was phenomenal. Yes. Yes.
So anyway that means that thank you. We love you. Thanks. Yeah.
See you next week. Bye guys. Bye.