When you're out in nature, you learn to trust your instincts. You pay attention to the trail, your surroundings, and you stay alert to protect yourself from harm. But what if the biggest threat isn't the environment at all? On Park Predators, host Delia Diembra explores true crime cases that happen in national parks and remote wildernesses, the places we usually think of as safe and peaceful. Each episode reveals what happened and how much more there is beneath the surface. Listen to Park Predators now, wherever you get your podcasts.
Happy New Year, crime junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers. And I'm Britt. And the story I have for you today is one that I wanted to tell in January for Stalking Awareness Month. It's about a woman who was stalked for over 20 years. But because stalking is so widely misunderstood, she wasn't even sure if what she was experiencing was even a crime. And by the time it escalated into something even more dangerous, the measures put in place to protect her life were too little, too late. Now, before we dive in, I do want to provide a bit of a disclaimer. The crime that I'm going to be talking about in this week's episode happened between the early 1980s and 2005. However, the perpetrator in this case has more recently come out as a transgender woman.
Now, we always try and tell these stories in real time, like how it happened in the moment for the victim, for their loved ones or for investigators. But we are also really mindful of the struggles of the transgender community that they face every single day, especially in the media. So although we're going to be telling the story as it unfolded, we will be using gender neutral pronouns when referencing this person to avoid using her dead name as much as possible. And if the term dead name is totally new to you or you're suddenly realizing that maybe you don't know as much as you'd like to about the issue facing transgender people, we're actually going to include some links in the show notes for today's episode that will hopefully be pretty helpful. And also, before anyone gets quick with the one star review button because we're being too woke or PC because you don't think a person who committed a violent crime deserves all the care that we put into this episode. Honestly, it's too early in the morning for that. Yeah, like you're taking shots at me like a spectrum and I'm just like, damn.
At 7 a.m. And honestly, guys, it pretty much is. Yeah. But listen, it's not about them. My words, Brit's words, your words hold a lot of power. And there is an entire community of wonderful people who can be harmed if we all aren't careful with our words. So it's about showing love and respect to them. The world would be a whole lot nicer of a place if we all just showed a little more love and respect to one another, don't you think? Oh, totally. With all of that said, this is the story of Mary Lynn Witherspoon.
On November 14, 2003, Jane Welchel is having a pretty ordinary day when she receives a really out-of-the-ordinary phone call. It's her mother's best friend, and she's calling to let Jane know that her mother didn't show up for work that morning. You see, Jane's mother, Mary Lynn Witherspoon, is a French teacher at a school in Charleston, South Carolina. And not only did she not show up to school that morning, but she didn't even call in for a substitute. And that's not like her at all. Like, Mary Lynn loves teaching. She loves her students, and she loves French. She wouldn't just not show up to school, especially without making prior arrangements. So right away, Jane knows something isn't right. So had anyone tried to contact Mary Lynn or, like, gone over to her house to check on her?
Yeah, actually, according to Keith Morrison's reporting for NBC News, the school principal and another person on the staff had gone over to Mary Lynn's house. They knocked on the door, but Mary Lynn never answered. They even took a look around the house and didn't see anything that really worried them, to be honest. Like there's no broken glass anywhere and Mary Lynn's car wasn't there. So at first, I think any normal person would probably be thinking that maybe she'd just gone somewhere on her own. Except it's a school day and that would have been completely unlike her. Right. So her daughter, Jane, is panicked.
And she's feeling really helpless because she lives three hours away from Charleston. So she can't even like go over herself and just like hop over to the house to see if there's anything wrong or look for her mother. So her mind is just jumping to all kinds of conclusions. So Jane and her husband get in the car and start heading to Charleston to get answers for themselves. But along the way, they contact police to report Mary Lynn missing. And luckily, this isn't one of those cases where police tell them to wait 24 hours or something like that. They get to work immediately. And Jane actually gives them permission to enter Mary Lynn's home by force while she makes her way there. And that's what they do.
Now, although Mary Lynn's colleagues didn't notice anything wrong when they checked the outside of the house, as soon as police enter, they come to a totally different conclusion. Because according to an Associated Press report published by the item, when police enter, the house seems off. Like, for example, they notice jewelry on the floor as well as an apple, plus some food in the kitchen that looks like it was kind of just left there mid-meal. As they continue searching the property, they notice a broken spindle on a staircase leading up to the second floor. So that's where they head next, following this trail upstairs into Mary Lynn's bedroom. And when they walk in, that's when they really know something bad happened here.
They see drawers are open. Things have been rifled through and there are clothes all over the floor. So basically the place had been ransacked. Pretty much. I mean, maybe you could look at it as if Mary Lynn had just left in a panic or something. But if that's what police are thinking, that theory is proven wrong as soon as they enter the second floor bathroom. Because that is where they find Mary Lynn dead in her bathtub. Now, obviously, this has immediately become a completely different situation for police. They're looking at a potential homicide now. So they get right to work processing the scene. And Mary Lynn's body is sent off for autopsy, where they find that her cause of death was strangulation.
The results also note that she had been sexually assaulted and that her hands and feet had been bound with tape. Now, as soon as Mary Lynn's family learns what happened, they immediately point police in the direction of someone who they think could be responsible for her murder. And that person is Edmunds Tenet Brown IV, who we'll be referring to as Brown from here on out. Okay, so who is this person? Well, to answer that question, we kind of need to jump back a little bit. And I'm not talking just a few months here. We actually need to go all the way back to 1981.
Back then, Mary Lynn was a single mom of one just coming out of a painful, messy divorce. But she definitely didn't lack for interested men. In Keith Morrison's piece for NBC News, a family friend says that she had to basically like beat off potential suitors with a stick, which maybe is to be expected considering this lady was a catch. Mary Lynn was super smart. She had become a really popular teacher. Parents, students, colleagues, pretty much everyone loved her. And on top of all of that, she had even won beauty pageants in the past. OK, so this lady is the total package. Yeah. But one particular man caught her attention, and that was Edmunds Tenet Brown III.
He was a single parent too. He had two children and he came from a really prominent family in Charleston. And as you might expect, Edmonds and Mary Lynn were absolutely smitten with one another. And Edmonds also adored Mary Lynn's daughter Jane and really doted on her. In an interview with NBC News, Jane says that he would actually come over in the mornings after Mary Lynn had gone to work and would make Jane's breakfast for her and take her to school. Okay, that is A plus boyfriend material. Totally. But their relationship wasn't quite as picture perfect as you might expect.
Because although Edmonds welcomed Jane with open arms, things didn't go quite as smoothly with his two children. A nine-year-old daughter named Molly and his oldest child, a 10-year-old named Brown, who I mentioned before. You mean like Mary Lynn wasn't welcoming to them? No, the source material on this case all indicates that Mary Lynn was very good with Molly and Brown. But there were a couple of issues on the kids' part, really. One of the issues was that Molly and Brown seemed to be quite jealous of the attention Edmonds gave Mary Lynn's daughter, which I can totally see. That kind of a big change is really tough for a kid. Oh, for sure. But despite that, Brown really seemed to like Mary Lynn. And to her credit, she tried really hard to look past all the awkwardness and try to build a relationship with them.
And remember, Mary Lynn was a teacher. She knew how to connect with kids, even challenging ones, and Brown was a little challenging. The source material is a little vague on this, but Brown is mostly described as awkward, someone who wanted to fit in but just didn't. So again, coming from a background of teaching, Mary Lynn had encountered kids like this before, and she wanted so badly to be there for Brown. But there were a few incidents early on in Mary Lynn and Edmund's relationship that definitely made this more difficult. Like what? Well, according to an episode of Obsession, Dark Desires, that covered this case, Brown would occasionally steal some of Mary Lynn's things, particularly her clothes and jewelry.
And actually, Mary Lynn initially thought it was her daughter, Jane, who had been taking them. But Jane actually caught Brown wearing these items at least once. So it definitely created some tension. But the most troubling incident happened one day when Mary Lynn and Edmonds had the kids at the country club pool. Rosetta Stone, who have been the trusted leader in language learning for over 30 years, just launched Rosetta Stone Sapphire, a new app that combines its proven immersion method with the latest innovation technology to help you learn faster, personalize your lessons, and have more fun along the way. The intuitive method helps you truly pick up a new language naturally. No memorizing random vocab, no feeling lost. I love that Sapphire helps you focus on what you actually want to talk about, whether that's football, travel, family, work, or your favorite hobbies. Your time matters, so your learning should too. If you want to take your language skills to the next level, don't wait to try Rosetta Stone Sapphire. Crime Chucky listeners can get 20% off their Rosetta Stone Sapphire subscription when they sign up today.
You'll get unlimited access to all 25 Rosetta Stone languages, plus all the new Sapphire learning tools. Visit rosettastone.com slash crimejunkie to redeem your 20% off. That's rosettastone.com slash crimejunkie and start learning a language for real. One day last year, detectives knocked on the door of a multi-million dollar mansion in Los Angeles County. Inside, they found a strange scene. A dining area converted into classrooms, with children and toddlers seated at rows of desks. The couple that lived there had 21 kids. It's a house that looks like a castle, but it's under investigation for being a possible factory. A baby factory. Where had these children come from?
Almost all of them were born through surrogates. But those surrogates had been deceived. Me and my co-worker, we named her the surrogate pin. That's the one time that we called the cops because she was screaming. And then he pulled out a gun. I started crying. I was like, what the heck did I just get myself into? I'm Ava Kaufman. The Journey is a new series from In the Dark and The New Yorker. Find it now in the In the Dark feed, wherever you get your podcasts.
At one point, Marilyn and Edmonds were sitting by the pool watching their kids play. And Brown was like, hey, Jane, let's see who can hold their breath the longest. So Jane takes a deep breath and ducks under the surface. But Brown didn't join her. Instead, they placed their hands on Jane's head and like calmly held her below the water.
Luckily, Mary Lynn noticed this happening, was able to rescue Jane before anything truly terrible happened. And the thing about this is, it wasn't even really the act itself that disturbed Mary Lynn. Like, she knew better than anyone that sometimes kids do stupid and dangerous things. Right, right. What really struck Mary Lynn was how Brown reacted afterward. How completely calm they were. Like, they had no remorse whatsoever for what they'd done. Uh, yeah, that would be chilling. Right? But they all moved on from that, and Mary Lynn and Edmund stayed together for a few more years.
And there aren't a ton of details about what Brown's behavior was like during this time. It's definitely implied that things were still awkward, but just nothing as serious as the swimming pool incident. But either way, Mary Lynn just was never really comfortable with how their two families were blending. And so in 1988, despite Edmonds having proposed to her multiple times, Mary Lynn decided that it would be best for her and Jane if she ended her relationship with Edmonds. And look, breakups are hard, especially with long-term relationships. Well, and also with long-term relationships with kids. Kids, right, yeah. So I'm sure this was a difficult time for everybody. But the person who seemed to have the most trouble letting go wasn't Mary Lynn or Edmonds. It actually was Brown.
It was after Mary Lynn and Edmonds broke up that Brown started just showing up at Mary Lynn's house, basically just kind of standing on her porch or they might ride their bicycle to her house. And like you said, breakups can be really tough on kids for sure. And so the first few times it happened, Mary Lynn would kind of engage with Brown like, hey, how you doing? You know, do you want to talk? That kind of thing. But it kept happening to the point where Mary Lynn was noticing Brown watching her about every day.
And how old would Brown have been at this point? Like early teens-ish? No, by this point, Brown would have been 18 years old. Oh, so like pretty much a full-grown adult. Yeah, and look, it's not like them showing up could have been something that was explained away. Like, oh, maybe Brown is just riding through the neighborhood a lot or something like that. I mean, first of all, it's the frequency of it. This was happening pretty much every day. But also there was a period where Mary Lynn and Jane had actually moved away from Charleston temporarily.
Now, I don't know what led to the move. In this case, I don't believe it was like their attempt to get away from Brown's creepy behavior. But they relocated to a place called Mount Pleasant, which isn't far from Charleston, maybe like 15, 20 minutes away, but not like on Brown's route, right, to and from school. But still, Brown was showing up there, too. And did Marilyn ever report it to the police? At this point, at least, I feel like it's straight up stalking. She didn't know, which is not uncommon, to be honest. And I think one of the big issues is that stalking is not like other crimes against people, like assault, for example. That is really clear cut. Everyone knows exactly what it is. Everyone knows it's a crime. Stalking is different.
What stalking is, the actual definition, just isn't as well known or understood. Yeah, I'm sitting here thinking, is there an actual definition for stalking? Because I certainly don't know it. Well, that's the thing. Legally, it actually varies from place to place. But while we were putting together this episode, we spoke with SPARC, which is the Stalking Prevention Awareness and Resource Center. And they say that a good definition of stalking is, quote, a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear, end quote. Okay, so that definitely feels like it would apply in this situation. Absolutely. But I still get where Mary Lynn is coming from in this situation, too, with not calling the cops.
Here's the thing, too. It's not like it's a stranger that she's dealing with. This was someone who was basically a part of her family for years. And her daughter Jane told Keith Morrison with NBC News that at the time, she and Mary Lynn didn't even really think there was a crime being committed. I also can't help but think that maybe Mary Lynn saw Brown as, right, this sort of misfit. We said before they were awkward. And so she probably was like empathizing with them. Right. I mean, she knew Brown as a kid and essentially watched them grow up. It would be really hard to see them as anything else than like just a kid. Not to mention as a kid. I'm sure she felt like Brown was harmless and even that kind of idea like, yeah, they're creepy and I hate it.
They're harmless. That would be really hard to kind of get your mind passed. Right, because she knew them. But honestly, knowing your stalker is also really common. In fact, the majority of victims are stalked by someone they know, whether that be an acquaintance or a former partner. So what Mary Lynn was experiencing with Brown, while she maybe couldn't see it herself, was pretty much a textbook case of stalking. But it didn't stop at just creepy visits. About a year after breaking things off with Edmonds, Mary Lynn had taken a trip to visit her mother, who lived a few hours away from Charleston.
The two went for a walk, and when they returned to Mary Lynn's mother's house, it was clear that someone had broken in. Now, there was nothing missing, or at least it didn't seem like that at the time, but when Mary Lynn returned home to Charleston and started to unpack her suitcase, that's when she saw it. Someone had gone through her suitcase and stolen her underwear and her makeup, and Mary Lynn knew immediately that it was brown. So she called up her mother to tell her what had happened. Wait, why is her mind jumping there? They're like two hours away. Wouldn't it be more likely that it could have been some random stranger, or even that maybe she just forgot them?
Sure, but we know that Brown had followed Mary Lynn to other locations before, like when she moved to Mount Pleasant. Right. But what about the makeup, though? So from what I can tell, it seems like Brown was struggling with their gender identity and expression. They were assigned male at birth, but they had this interest in Mary Lynn's clothing and makeup going all the way back to childhood. And I have to warn you, if you decide to look into some of the sources for today's episode, this part of the story I don't think is handled really well by other outlets covering the case. It's treated as kind of this dark and disturbing fact about Brown, when that's probably the least disturbing thing about any of this. Yeah, the issue isn't that...
they were interested in women's underwear or makeup or that they were exploring their gender identity. The issue is they were stalking Mary Lynn and stealing from her and violating her privacy. Exactly. So when Mary Lynn's mother learns this, she actually tries to get in touch with Brown over the phone and was basically like, look, I know it was you who broke into my house and who stole Mary Lynn's things. This is not cool, so you need to return those things to Mary Lynn. Brown didn't deny it, but they also didn't apologize or anything like that either. Apparently, they just put all the items in a bag and left it in Mary Lynn's carport. And did Mary Lynn report it at that point? Like, this very clearly has escalated now and it's clear a crime has been committed.
Yes, so you're right. But no, Mary Lynn decided not to get the police involved. Again, I don't think she saw this so much as an escalation of the stalking behavior necessarily. More like it's more the same stuff Brown had been doing for years since they were a kid. And the other thing is that Mary Lynn had always been a very private person. And the items involved in the theft were pretty personal to her. So that kind of factored into the decision, too. So did getting caught in this confrontation with Mary Lynn's mom scare Brown off at all?
You know, I don't actually know. So the theft happened in 1989 and the period right after this isn't super well covered in my source material because most of them just jumped straight from there to 1991. And what happened in 1991? Well, that's when Brown just disappeared. What? Yeah, according to that NBC News report I mentioned, at some point in 1991, Mary Lynn just stopped seeing Brown around anywhere. First, it was a few days that went by where this person wasn't invading her life. But then those days turned into weeks. Weeks turned into months and months to years.
And at a certain point, Mary Lynn finally let herself feel at peace. She was no longer constantly looking over her shoulder, wondering if Brown would be there. She wasn't worried that she'd come home to find her personal belongings missing. She was just enjoying her life, enjoying Charleston, a city that she loved so much, enjoying teaching French to her students. And at one point, she even accompanied them on a trip to France. So she's just like living her best life. Totally. Mary Lynn lived a pretty normal life, the nightmare finally over for 10 years. Until one day in 2001, Mary Lynn was at home when something caught her eye in her backyard. Not something, it was someone.
And as soon as she realized who it was, she was pulled right back into that nightmare once again. One day last year, detectives knocked on the door of a multi-million dollar mansion in Los Angeles County. Inside, they found a strange scene. A dining area converted into classrooms with children and toddlers seated at rows of desks. The couple that lived there had 21 kids. It's a house that looks like a castle, but it's under investigation for being a possible factory, a baby factory. Where had these children come from? Almost all of them were born through surrogates.
But those surrogates had been deceived. Me and my coworker, we named her the surrogate. That's the one time that we called the cops because she was screaming. And then he pulled out a gun. I started crying. I was like, what the heck did I just get myself into? I'm Ava Kaufman. The Journey is a new series from In the Dark and The New Yorker. Find it now in the In the Dark feed, wherever you get your podcasts.
There, in Mary Lynn's backyard, was Brown. It had been a decade since Mary Lynn had seen them, and now Brown wasn't a 10-year-old kid or even a confused 18-year-old anymore. They were a 30-year-old adult calmly standing on Mary Lynn's property, almost inviting her to catch them. And even though she was terrified, Mary Lynn somehow found the courage to walk outside, ready to talk to Brown and hopefully find a way to end things once and for all. But as soon as she stepped outside, Brown turned around and fled. That wasn't the end, though, because soon they were back to their old ways, showing up on Mary Lynn's property.
And they also would harass her with phone calls. They'd create all these different female personas that were obviously fake. And even though they weren't necessarily threatening Mary Lynn with these calls, she was still just feeling worn down from the whole experience. I feel like at this point, it was probably getting more and more difficult for Mary Lynn to kind of excuse all of this behavior. Yeah, and even Mary Lynn's friends were seeing the red flag. So actually, they decided to contact Brown's father. I mean, honestly, I was kind of wondering...
where he was in all of this too. Like, not only is this your child, but they're stalking a woman that you claimed to love for years, who you proposed to multiple times. Right? It stood out to me too. But actually, it seems like Edmonds kind of like washed his hands of Brown at some point during the last decade. Mary Lynn's sister Jackie told Keith Morrison with NBC News that Edmonds really didn't have much to do with Brown at that point. And when Mary Lynn's friends called him, he did nothing. And did anyone contact the authorities then? No. Mary Lynn still preferred to keep all of this private.
She would tell her friends and family that there wasn't anything criminal about standing in front of her house. Like, Brown wasn't hurting anybody, really. But it's not Brown's individual actions or behaviors that makes this a crime. It is the pattern of behavior that makes it a crime. Right. So, like, if this was happening today and Brown was sending Mary Lynn, like, hundreds of text messages every day, there's nothing illegal about sending a text message or even multiple. But the amount of text messages and the frequency is what would, you know, elevate it or could elevate it to Stockholm. Yeah. Yeah, that's exactly it. And, you know, I think Mary Lynn probably saw this behavior as disturbing, but ultimately harmless.
But that doesn't mean it can't cross a line, which is what happened in April of 2003. Mary Lynn was doing her laundry when she noticed that something was missing. It was her underwear. And obviously this wasn't the first or even the second time Mary Lynn had dealt with this. But back then, Brown had been younger. This time it really seemed to get under Mary Lynn's skin. And so this is when she decided it was time to protect herself. She installed a new security system in her home then. She got mace and pepper spray, plus a panic button on her keychain.
And she actually did get in touch with some police officers, but not like filing an official report. Mary Lynn was actually friends with some local officers, so she basically just like asked them to keep an eye out for her. And she had a bunch of their phone numbers like at the ready so she could call if anything with Brown escalated and she needed like immediate help. And that day when she needed help actually came sooner than Mary Lynn expected. Just three months later in July of 2003, Mary Lynn once again spotted Brown in her backyard. But something was different this time because Brown wasn't just standing there and watching. They were holding something.
It was a pillowcase filled with Mary Lynn's clothes. And this really terrified Mary Lynn because this was the first time she had caught Brown in the act and she wasn't really certain how they would react. And in the moment, it seemed like Brown was almost taunting Mary Lynn, like just standing there, holding her things, looking her right in the eyes as if they were wanting to get caught or maybe even wanting to frighten her, which definitely worked. I mean, Mary Lynn was too scared to even move. But thankfully, Brown eventually just walked away. Now, as soon as this incident happened, her whole family started saying, you need to report this and you need to do it now.
And it's not that Mary Lynn disagreed, but naturally she was scared. Like, what would Brown do when they found out that Mary Lynn had called the police on them? But ultimately, she decided it was worth the risk to report the burglary. And after that, Brown was arrested and charged. And it turned out that in the years since all of this started happening with Mary Lynn, Brown had a number of run-ins with police. For stalking other people? No, not that I'm aware of. Keith Morrison reported that it was things like break-and-enters and car thefts. And when Brown was arrested for burglary because of the incident at Mary Lynn's house, they actually pled guilty and then just sat in jail awaiting sentencing.
But Mary Lynn knew that Brown wasn't going to be in jail forever, and she didn't want to risk being caught off guard by their presence ever again. And so she registered for a victim notification system called VINE, which stands for Victim Information and Notification Every Day, which would automatically call her and send her a letter if Brown was released or transferred. Oh, yeah, I've heard of that. So in the meantime, this let Mary Lynn like stand down a little bit, at least until she got that call about Brown's release. Except that call never came. Instead, there was that other call, the one that Jane got on November 14th, 2003, telling her that her mother hadn't shown up at work.
And that brings us back to the investigation that's happening. So Brown was in jail when Mary Lynn was killed? Well, when Jane and the rest of Mary Lynn's family find out about her murder, their minds automatically jump to Brown, like I said, because of course they would. But they're also conflicted like you. Like, they're like, Mary Lynn would have known if Brown had been released because she would have gotten one of those calls or letters through Vine. And they feel like, you know, if she would have gotten a notification, she would have at least mentioned it to someone. Oh, for sure. So police look into it, again, thinking like Brown should be sitting in jail. But Brown wasn't in jail at all. What? And it's not so much where Brown wasn't that was concerning. It's where they were.
Because when the investigators at the scene are given photos of Brown, they're stunned. Because the person they're looking at in these photos had been at the scene of the crime all day long, walking up and down the street, watching the investigation unfold. You're kidding me. No. Of course, Brown isn't there any longer. But at least now police know it's only a matter of time before they come back for another look. All investigators need to do is set a trap.
Now, police know that their prime suspect has been making a habit of returning to the scene of the crime. So they decide to send home the investigative unit basically to make it look like the work at Mary Lynn's house has been like all wrapped up. And I think they did this because they're curious. Like, what will Brown do if it looks like the house has just been totally abandoned? But of course, the truth is that authorities have a stakeout team monitoring the property. And I'm not exaggerating here. Within 20 minutes of this whole trap being set up, Brown comes walking down the street, walks right up to Mary Lynn's door.
and pulls out a set of keys to unlock the front door, which is all police need to see before they pop out and start asking questions. It's clear right away that Brown understands exactly what's going on and why investigators are at Mary Lynn's house, because they refuse to answer any questions and they request an attorney. But I mean, Brown has the keys to both Mary Lynn's house and car, which is enough for an arrest. Yeah, I agree. But I feel like we skipped over a pretty big chunk of the story here. Why wasn't Brown still in jail? And why did Mary Lynn not know about this? Yeah. So remember how I said that Brown was awaiting sentencing? Right.
Well, the courts ultimately decided that the best course of action for Brown was mental health treatment. A Y report in The Times and Democrat noted that Brown took medication for bipolar disorder and also had Asperger's syndrome. So I suspect that those were some of the reasons that this option was even on the table. But all this means that on November 10th, four days before Mary Lynn's murder, Brown was released under the condition that they receive outpatient counseling, medication and supervision, which is the moment Mary Lynn should have received a notification from Vine. According to Glenn Smith's reporting for The Post and Courier.
Brown was taken to see a counselor at a mental health clinic who evaluated them, then told them that they were basically free to go. But they just had to return in two days for additional counseling. But the thing is, Brown never did come back to that clinic. And if nothing else, that should have been enough for this clinic to basically sound all of the alarm bells and have Brown picked up. But that also just didn't happen. And during all of this, Mary Lynn just legit never got the notification that Brown was released? Well, she actually did. But you are not going to believe this. One day last year, detectives knocked on the door of a multi-million dollar mansion in Los Angeles County.
Inside, they found a strange scene. A dining area converted into classrooms, with children and toddlers seated at rows of desks. The couple that lived there had 21 kids. It's a house that looks like a castle, but it's under investigation for being a possible factory. A baby factory. Where had these children come from? Almost all of them were born through surrogates. But those surrogates had been deceived. Me and my co-worker, we named her the surrogate pin. That's the one time that we called the cops, because she was screaming. And then he pulled out a gun. I started crying. I was like, what the heck did I just get myself into?
I'm Ava Kaufman. The Journey is a new series from In the Dark and The New Yorker. Find it now in the In the Dark feed, wherever you get your podcasts. Apparently, there was a backlog or some kind of administrative error. Basically, the notification from Vine arrived in her mailbox one day after she had been murdered. But here's the thing, even if it had arrived on time, the letter is factually incorrect anyway. It says that Brown was being transferred to another facility, not released into the community.
Now, apparently Vine also attempted to contact Mary Lynn on her home phone, like with a robocall kind of situation. But she was never home when the calls came in and they just ended up on her answering machine. And so she never got them. Though, again, even the automated message was also incorrect. So it's not even clear how helpful that would have been anyway. So basically, this is just a failure on every single level. Absolutely. Which left Mary Lynn completely vulnerable and not even knowing it. And on top of that, the more police dig into Brown as a suspect, the more they discover evidence that this wasn't some spur of the moment escalation. It was something that Brown had been planning.
They find a handwritten manifesto that Brown had put together in prison, in which they explicitly write out their plans to, quote, take care of MLW and, quote, ice MLW. So, like, nothing ambiguous about that. Right. Police also find pages among Brown's things where they seem to be practicing how to forge Mary Lynn's signature. So, Brown's not, like, obsessed with Mary Lynn in, like, I'm in love with her kind of way. It's more like trying to assume her identity? That's kind of the theory that police land on. And some of the other evidence police discovered during the investigation actually supports that theory.
For one, it turns out that when Brown was arrested, they were wearing some of Mary Lynn's clothing. Police also discovered that after Mary Lynn's murder, Brown had gone and had their driver's license updated to Mary Lynn's address. And what's more, as investigators were continuing to process the scene, a package arrived containing wigs in Mary Lynn's hair color and other items that to them could be used to help Brown impersonate Mary Lynn. All of this is a really solid circumstantial case, but police find even more than just circumstantial evidence. They find DNA at the crime scene that is a match for Brown. So do they know anything about what happened the day of the murder? Like, I know there was no sign of forced entry.
How did Brown get into the house? So they haven't at least an idea of how they think things played out that day. Basically, they think that Brown likely surprised Mary Lynn at her front door, either by knocking or just being there when she opened it to leave. And from there, Brown forced their way inside the house and attacked Mary Lynn. There was definitely a struggle. That's why her things were scattered around on the floor. But Brown eventually got her up to the second floor where they sexually assaulted her, strangled her, and placed her in the bathtub.
Now, luckily, Mary Lynn's loved ones were spared the additional trauma of going through a trial, because on July 12, 2004, Brown pleads guilty to Mary Lynn's murder and is sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. But Mary Lynn's family knows that this should have never happened in the first place, and they are determined to make sure that it never happens again. Mary Lynn's sister Jackie and her daughter Jane work with state legislators to create Mary Lynn's law, which is designed to close all of those gaps in the system that had left Mary Lynn vulnerable. For one, Mary Lynn's law would require authorities to notify a victim in person if an offender is released from prison and the automated system hasn't been able to make contact within three attempts. Mary Lynn's law also proposed changes to South Carolina's mental health court system. For example, according to a letter written by Mary Lynn's sister Jackie and published in the item, if anyone who is arrested for stalking needs to undergo mental health treatment, they would need to complete that treatment while still incarcerated. And on May 26, 2005, less than two years after Mary Lynn's murder, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford signed the bill into law. That's so amazing. And it must be such a relief for Mary Lynn's family to know that.
Her legacy can protect other people in similar situations. Absolutely. And as tragic and senseless as Mary Lynn's murder was, I think it is super important that we not treat this case as only a murder because Mary Lynn was also stalked, again, for over 20 years. And that in and of itself is a horrific and traumatizing crime, a crime that is happening all the time to people all around us. In fact, according to Spark, over the course of a year, there are up to seven and a half million people in the United States alone who experienced stalking.
And nearly one in six women and one in 17 men will experience some form of stalking in their lifetime. Oh, wow. I mean, I kind of guessed that stalking would disproportionately affect women, but that's actually a lot of men as well. Totally. And what I really want crime junkies to know and to get out of this episode is how to identify stalking in the first place. Because it can start out seeming kind of, I don't know, annoying or weird maybe, but not outright dangerous. Like when a person is just walking by too often or showing up once or twice unannounced or just calling a little more than normal, you might be inclined to brush it off. Like, oh, I've known this person forever. They're harmless. Right. Like I immediately would be freaked out by, you know, some stranger in a trench coat walking by or showing up on my doorstep. But I think human nature would make it pretty easy to brush off that kind of thing or convince yourself you're overreacting if it's someone that you know or like a friend of a friend.
kind of person. Totally. And no one wants to be weird or rude, right? The other thing I couldn't stop thinking about as I was researching this story is, you know that thing that they say about boiled frogs? You mean that thing where, like, if you put a frog into a pot of boiling water, it'll die. But if you put it into just like a pot of regular water and slowly bring it to a boil, it won't? Yeah, yeah, that's not true, by the way. But the concept is so spot on, I think, because, you know, think about if a person out of nowhere broke into your house and stole your underwear. You would be immediately like, OK, red flags. This is this is a crime. This is wrong. But what if they were someone you knew? And at first they started calling too often. And you're like, well, at least they aren't showing up in person. But then they start showing up in person. And you're like, well, you know, they're not trying to get in my house, whatever. And then they start getting in your house. And you're like
so on. So my worry is if we don't spot this stuff early and trust our guts and call it for what it is, stalking, then how can we really protect ourselves or each other? I sent you some stuff that we got from Spark and I'm hoping that you can give us a little bit of a rundown on what people should be looking for and what they should do if they see it. Like, yes, be weird, be rude, but like what kind of weird and what kind of weird? So this story happened in the 90s and early 2000s and obviously a ton has changed in technology since then. But the core behavior of stalking is...
really still the same. It's someone making themselves an unwanted presence in their victim's life. And that can still mean showing up at your house or at work or whatever. But it can also mean, like you said, unwanted phone calls, the text messages we referenced earlier or social media interaction. And another big component of stalking is monitoring. So these days that could include things like GPS monitoring or cameras or listening devices, like all sorts of things. Right, right. So if me or like someone listening is experiencing that or even seeing that happen to someone else, like what's the next step? What do you do? Well, you already said it. The most important thing you can do is trust your gut.
According to Spark, stalking victims will often downplay the seriousness of what they're experiencing. I mean, we saw that all over in this case. And I think that this is one of the clearest instances where people should be weird and rude. If you think you're experiencing stalking, contact the authorities, especially if you think you're in immediate danger. But the other thing Spark recommends is that victims log behavior. And it feels a little bit like asking the victims to do the heavy lifting by themselves, but it serves multiple purposes. Because not only are you keeping a record of whenever a potential stalker contacts you, you'll also be better able to convince yourself that you aren't just...
overreacting. Like, there will be a written log. Yeah. You can see it with your own eyes. I would say there's something about seeing it in black and white. Like, okay, it's not just a feeling. Like, this is a lot. And if I compare this to, like, any other interaction I have in my life, like, this isn't normal or okay. Exactly. Exactly. And you can hold on to every piece of evidence you can, like text messages or voicemails, and log those, too. You can reach out to domestic violence or victim services programs in your community, and they can help you build a safety plan, which might include things like varying your daily routine or seeking a protective order or even providing a photo or description of your stalker to your neighbors, your colleagues, security guards at your office, like, that kind of thing.
Yeah, listen, you guys, Spark, which again is the Stalking Prevention Awareness and Resource Center, has so many incredible resources and a lot of great information on their website, which is stalkingawareness.org. We're going to link to that in our show notes on the blog post like we always do. We've also chosen to sponsor the organization to help them continue their amazing work. So please, please take some time to get familiar with this and use them as a resource. Again, even if you don't feel like you've ever been stalked or, you know, this is so far away from you, it'll never be in your realm. It might not be you. It might be someone you know who needs help.
Mary Lynn Witherspoon lost her life on November 14, 2003. But for more than 20 years before that, she also lost her right to live a happy and peaceful life without the constant fear that she was being watched or followed or violated. So there's one thing I want our listeners to take away from this case. It's that stalking is a truly serious crime and one that can destroy lives in so many different ways. But there are ways to protect yourself. There are resources out there. You just need to take the time to educate yourself.
Again, you guys, you can find all the links to the resources we mentioned for this episode in the show notes and on our blog post. All of our source material will also be on our blog post. You can find that at CrimeJunkiePodcast.com. And be sure to follow us on Instagram at CrimeJunkiePodcast. And we'll be back next week with a brand new episode. Crime Junkie is an audio Chuck production. So what do you think, Chuck? Do you approve?
When the nights grow longer, the shadows start to stir. And that can only mean one thing. Full Body Chills is back. This season, step inside original tales where every doorway leads somewhere darker, every stranger carries a secret, and nothing is ever quite what it seems. Each story takes you somewhere new, but be careful. You never know what might follow you home. So gather around, listen close, and stream Full Body Chills wherever you get your podcasts.
Growing up in a small town, I know how deeply a crime can shake a local community. And I know that what makes the headlines is rarely the full story. That's what Kylie Lowe explores on her show, Dark Down East. She digs into cases from Maine and New England using original reporting, archival records, and conversations with the people who knew them best. Each episode takes you inside the communities these stories shaped and the families who never stop searching for answers. Listen to Dark Down East wherever you get your podcasts.