Hi, I'm Holly and I'm Hailey. Welcome to Mountain Mysteries Tales from Appalachia. I've been waiting for a girl like you to turn on the computer. Okay, are you a what?
No, we're ready. Okay, we're live. We're live. We're live.
Hi. Hello. We're back. And we're still healthy.
We are. Which doesn't happen. Right. It's a touch and go.
Some days. Hailey, my tire blew. Yeah. Did I warn you, Tyler?
I saw your your social media post. I was devastated. I mean, it was like, it was, I mean, nothing exploded. Actually, I it the way it looked.
It almost looked like somebody. Yeah. Slash my tire. It looked bad.
It did not look good. And so, I questioned. I was like, but where was I? Yeah.
Leading up to all this. Anyway, it was part of my garage. Right. I don't know.
But yeah, we were driving to school, taking my son to school and me to work, obviously. And, uh, tire just went. And as I was trying to, it was like 7.15 in the morning, nothing was open. By the way, my car insurance, I thought, had roadside assistance.
It does not. Oh, that's great. Yeah, it does not. So I was like, fantastic.
What am I going to do? Nothing's open. So I'm like trying to figure out what I should do. And my son, meanwhile, was like, are we going to die?
Is our car going to explode? Are we going to have to walk back home? Do you think I'm going to miss school? And finally, I turned to him and I was like, can you please, please just be quiet for a minute while I figure this out?
And he was like, why do you want me to be quiet? Do you think we're going to die? Is the car like bomb? Is it going to explode?
Is it going to blow up? Will we all go get a little pieces? And I would turn to him and I was like, I need you to hush right now. And he goes, fine.
I won't say a word. And he kind of, you know, moves his arms in front of himself. And so it is not two seconds later that he's like, why don't we just go ahead and walk back home? And like his anxieties coming out, which feels my anxiety.
And I'm like, just be quiet. And so fortunately, a lovely man who was there, I pulled over to gas station offered to help me along with someone that I worked with offered to help me as well. So we got that tire change because I have no skills clearly. And then I took it to the tire place and my other tires were kind of going to I'm kind of at that place.
So but for new tires. So that was expensive. Yeah. And then I went to the dentist who was like, Oh, guess what?
Your insurance, which is new for this January, does not cover the cost of this cleaning up front. Like you have to pay the upfront. And then they build the insurance. And you make it 80 to 100% back.
So I was like, are you kidding me? Yeah. So I dropped, you know, it's $1. So yeah, so the money situation is morning wild.
It is. I work for school system. So I'm a 10 month employee. So I just got my last paycheck until August 31.
Do you need me to bring you some canned goods? I might. Some canned, maybe some spam or some no, it's just been a big, this is my third summer. So I've kind of got a system figured out to where like I can save money through the year and not have a work in the summer because it's difficult to find a job for short term and to be like, Hey, I have two trips plans.
Like I really need a job, but actually I'm gonna be out. Yeah, so like, no, he's gonna hire me. So what would I get? I wouldn't I would not hire me either.
So, yeah, so it's, I mean, anybody that works in public education, you know the struggle. And they have like a thing set up through state employees, credit union, which were, you know, if you work for the state year, the part of them or can be. And so they'll do an account where they like take money out for you every month. So then you can get like a paycheck.
But I don't like that. So I just do it on my own. It was take the lot of self control. Yeah.
So like not touch the money that I set aside for the summer. But we did get recently like a rural school's bonus, which was kind of like another paycheck, which really helps kind of pad that out a little bit. So I'm not, you know, eating ramen all summer. But yeah, it's a it's very stressful.
Top ramen. Just, you know, classy. I do love ramen. Yeah, well, I do like it.
But yeah, it's it's tough. So yeah, I will not see another paycheck until August 31st. I get paid next week. It's cool.
I do have two months off where I don't have to work. Right. So, you know, it's, you know, and for all the people they're like, Oh, she just got to do a month or whatever. We don't get paid for those two months.
Like, yeah, we're off for two months. But we don't get paid. It's a real mixed bag, right? It is like the schedules amazing.
I mean, like, you just don't make any money. Right. Yeah. Like who gets out?
Like I think about for work. I'm like, well, I mean, I have a PTO that if I really wanted, I could take two weeks off, but I mean, like, right, I have to work to like, you know what I mean? Like, but at the same time, like while I'm off, I continue to get paid. Yeah, you know, so, yeah, it's a the schedules very, very good.
Our benefits are very good. The retirement's good. There's a lot of like good to it. It's just right.
Holly's not there. So that's a plus bonus. But no, it is. It's very difficult to make ends meet and when working that kind of job, like most of us are working paycheck to paycheck.
But I mean, think of it this way. I don't know if this gives you respect. You make more money now than you made when we work together and we work like dogs. This is true.
Yeah. My first job out of grad school, I made less than my kids that are working a summer internship through the school are making an hour. They make more than I did coming out of graduate school with a master's degree, which I'm glad like I'm glad they're making that way. They should be right now.
Many for the works that they're doing through their internship, but it's just, you know, us too, because we know how hard of those job that job. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Yeah.
I think a part of our souls might still be over there. I think they're still attached to that first building we worked in. Yeah. And that basement.
That basement. With no windows. I had windows. Oh, I was in the group office with no windows.
I had a desk that faced. That was bougie. There was we have a sort of back there. 72.
I counted. It was me and our two male co-workers at the time. And then there's two females. There was one view.
Who was the other two females? They had their own office. Oh, that's right. They shared an office.
So it was me. There's four of us back in that little shared office. Okay. Yeah.
Four of us. We don't like to say their names. But yeah, there was four of us that worked in that little office. And so we all were like, where are desks where we faced each other?
Like face is so we could like wave at each other. And it didn't actually used to be that. It used to be it was it was like a conference area that he was in as so when I interviewed, I was like they set me in the middle of what was like a U shape. And they were like they were 11 of them.
And they just started firing off questions. Ding ding ding ding ding ding. Yeah. I interviewed via Zoom or Skype or.
I recall. Yeah. Yeah. Because I was living in Manhattan at the time.
I was very hungover. Couldn't tell you that interview. I was like, I don't have a background in this very scary apartment that I'm living in. So I was like on my bed like Chris Cross out of sauce.
Yeah. Like a tapestry behind me. Yeah. I was like, this will work, I guess.
And from the moment she spoke, I was like, this is our girl. This is it. This is the sucker who we're going to go. Yeah.
She's going to think this is amazing. And it's so is not. It's not I was a sucker. I said, yes, a lot of things I should not have.
But it was very like cut my teeth. I was a baby. I was actually telling someone recently, one of my employees, I was saying, you know, you have to learn how to work fast. And especially when with some of the paperwork that we do, if you have to learn how to be really fast at it and like work hard and smart.
Yeah. And so like I was talking to her about that. And I was thinking some of the best training I got was at that job that we worked out where I literally was under the gun to get this paperwork done because changes were happening so quickly. We needed to get this here.
We, you know, all these things. Yeah. And it would be like one of the things that came up at like, you know, four or five o'clock in the second, we need to change this so we can accommodate this. All the things and I literally learned how to work fast because I felt like I had a gun to my head.
Like I mean, I and while that, you know, only fed my anxiety and was like, oh my gosh, like stop doing this to me. It gave me a skill set that I have where I can work very fast. Yeah. Learned a lot was the most unhealthy place I've ever been in my entire life.
But I didn't even I didn't realize it. Right. It was such a cool. We've talked about this before, but that was such a cool.
It was but like some of my, you know, like best friends came out of that. Hello. Hello. I mean, that's all like incredible people, incredible experience, incredible Holly, incredible Holly.
Very, very put myself in some pretty sketch situations. Oh, yeah. Borderline dangerous situations. Yeah.
They're like, go meet this person who just surrendered rights in the middle of a park in the sketchy part of town to get paperwork signed. Oh, okay. And so I rolled up into that by myself after a weekend on call where I had, you know, been all over the world and back. So yeah, that was fun.
Um, but yeah, it's just, you know, went out there, armed with my clipboard. Oh, the day, sir. Can you please side those who were under the influence when we met last time? I think you still are, but I'd love to get your signature on this piece of paper.
Right. Whatever. Just X. Yeah.
Really whatever. So, yeah. Um, it was wild. Yeah.
Hailey reminded me of actually someone we have worked with. She was actually talking about that person today. Um, and the uphill back working with that individual, not because they were bad person, just, um, their life experiences and their life experiences were challenging. Yeah.
And there were a lot of things that were, you know, some roadblocks. But anyway, do you want to hear a cool story? I do. So I know Hailey and I, in the almost four years that we've done this podcast, we have never done the same story.
Never. Except twice. This has happened twice. The first one was, um, oh, she's not too.
It's crazy. She's not too. That was amazing. I was putting my foot rest out, but it's a letter.
Sorry. Sorry. It's just that kind of thought if that came out of my body, that sound. Should we call the, you should probably call 911.
Yeah. Like that would have been, I mean, that would have been impressive. Like, damn, my baby really. Really.
That's going. Oh, wait. All right. I'm ready now.
Sorry. You needed to see the look on her face where she was like, ee. It's crazy. She's just looking at me while she did it.
Yeah. Okay. All right. So, okay.
Now we've never done the same story, except twice once, uh, for a serial killer. Um, and Hailey was like, you know what? I'll give it to you. I'll bet you do it.
I'll look something else. And this time, I texted her and I was like, you'll never guess. I have such a story. And she was like, I just did the same story.
So I love for Hailey to add on. If there's something I'm missing. So all the fun things. Okay.
All right. So we are going back to February of 1997. And yes, you're the year of my birth. You are in the belly.
I was my mother was seven months pregnant. Yes. Yes. Well, actually six months.
I was a motherly. Were you really? I didn't know that. You were doing a?
Yeah. That was pretty neat. Technically. I didn't have thumbnails.
Really? Form of those panels that informed. Yeah. That's so weird.
Yeah. I came to that one now. They came in. That's good.
I do have thumbnails now. But yeah, I was, I don't remember. I wasn't that early, but I was technically classified as a premium. I never had to go to the NICU or anything.
That's good. They were ready for me though, because my apparently like heart rate dropped real bad, but we were U.S.E. section. Okay.
Nope. But once I was, you know, out of the chute there. Everything came back up in the chute. That was fine.
I mean, when you just pop out of the chute without toenails, that's what's gonna happen. Yeah, I didn't have to wait else. We'll head up bright red hair, but no toenails. Oh, they're not the thumbnails.
Oh, oh, oh. Oh my God. Yeah. Anyway, so she was 6 on 3-1.
Okay. Well, that's great. I was 13. The number one song for context was actually two songs that tied for the number one spot.
One of the by the Spice Girls. If you want to be a man, yep. And You Were Mint For Me by Jewel. 6 o'clock, 6 a.m.
You know, You Were Mint For Me. I was Mint For You. No. Dang.
Okay. Well, no, no, no. The top show on television was Seinfeld. Very, very popular.
I think with that diner. Did you really? That's cool. Yeah, it was right beside us where we used to go when the library would close.
Like going to be a Bezite-Pelt diner? Yeah. It was like right across. Was it good?
No, it was terrible. Really? Awful. But it was the only place that was open in the middle of the night because I worked such a weird schedule that I would get off of my, like, off of work at like 9 o'clock at night, come back to campus.
This one was in New York. Come back to campus, go library like write papers and stuff. The library would close from 3 to 4 a.m. for them to come in and clean.
Gotcha. So they kicked everybody out. So we would like this, whoever was in there, it was just a mass exodus and we'd all walk to that diner. Wow.
And then come back and everybody would slip back up. That's crazy. Did you call it the Seinfeld diner? No, it's called the, um, God, cameras call Star or something.
Star line. Star line. It was the one they filmed in. Interesting.
No, it was not good. Huh. Go figure. Yeah.
Good to know. Good to know. Well, making headlines was a mass suicide of the Heaven's Gate cult members who were all found lying on their bunk beds with purple blankets covering their bodies and each were wearing Nike tennis shoes. Good times.
Wonder if they, because they were nude tennis shoes. They were nude. Wonder if they took them off of them. And sold them on eBay.
I mean, like, that's a lot of tennis shoes. I mean, that's a lot of brand new tennis shoes. And I mean, they're not scuffed on the bottom. God, they're bringing them to sell those suckers.
I'm like donating them even. That all is better than I was thinking. But also, like, I don't know if I want the tennis shoes of the Heaven's Gate. Like, I mean, I would take them personally.
But I don't know if I would. It might be so bad to do that or something, you know? Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. That's kind of weird. Well, that's, that's something we'll have to cover in maybe a Patreon. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. All right. Now we are headed to Clarksville, Tennessee.
Because why the heck not? Might as well. It is here where we meet Paul Dennis Reed Jr. Paul was 39 years old and living with his roommate Brian in a boarding house.
I can't remember that I lived in a boarding house. Did she really? Yes. Don't you know what I mean?
It sounds so like old fashioned to me. Like, Mabel's boarding house. You know what I mean? She lived there with her sister and her mom.
Her mom ran the boarding house until she was seven or eight. Crazy. I want to learn more about that. Yeah.
So Paul was born and raised in a suburb of Fort Worth, Texas. His father abandoned the family when Paul was only two years old. His mother got involved in drugs and alcohol and eventually lost custody of her son when he was only eight. So he went into the foster care system.
Paul struggled in school and suffered from learning disabilities. When tested, his IQ was below the average of 100. By the time Paul was a teenager, he was hanging out with the wrong crowd and was charged with theft and simple assault. So kind of starting a life of crime pretty young.
By 1983, Paul was convicted of armed robbery of a Houston steakhouse. I know like who just goes into the Ryan's and like, I don't know if it's Ryan's. I mean, I'm going to go Western Sizzling. Oh, I use a love a Western Sizzling.
Yeah, there's not, there's one in like a county over now from where I live. I mean, I've been there. They used to have really good roles. I guess we'll do holes.
We're really good. Maybe I'll go there. Maybe I'll go there. Maybe next a little bit.
Let's make a date. Yeah. And you can take me out. I'll take you to the Western Sizzling.
I love that. And you're unemployed for two months. Yeah. I think it's a good idea.
Yeah, right. This is very cool. That's my limited to treat you to the Western Sizzling. Make me feel bad.
Yeah. We're all as limited to treating you like a lady. I want to feel pretty. Do you still think I'm pretty?
Okay. No, Bob, you're steak. So he was sentenced to 20 years, but only served seven. When he was from, yeah.
Yeah, I know, right? And 20 is actually kind of a lot for just like, he didn't shoot anybody. I mean, I'm not saying, hold on now. But that's a long time.
There's people Texas, Texas take their steak seriously. I mean, don't mess around in Texas. I think they're still a death penalty state too. So watch out.
Exactly. So when he was released in 1990, he moved to Nashville, give us Haley in order to pursue his country music career. As one does. I mean, there are many a country songs about jail.
So I see the draw. Many of them do go to Nashville. It's true. That's true.
Yeah. So while Paul pursued his country music dreams, he was still on parole. And I don't really know like you're allowed to leave the state. I think so.
I think they've just transfer your process. Like they'll transfer your parole to wherever you're living. Gotcha. And then they pick up with you.
Okay. And do that. But yes, it is possible to do that. But it is a process.
Gotcha. You have to be like reassigned. And the ACM award goes to the parolee. The parolee is here tonight with his parole officer.
Yeah. Like I don't know. It's very interesting. Just got a second monitor removed.
Yeah. He's ready. He's gonna win. Yeah.
It doesn't appear by anything I found online that Paul made waves with his recipe country vocals. That's a bummer. I know. I was waiting for some song about prison.
Yeah. There actually are many a country songs that have to do with like jail. Jail. Dog.
Yeah. Beer. Wife. Yeah.
It's about it. Yeah. Cowboys. Cold beer.
Yeah. Yeah. Pretty ladies. Yeah.
Okay. By 1997, it appeared he had gone back to his old ways of robbery. I mean, what are you gonna do? If you don't make it on Broadway, they're in Nashville.
Just go back to what you know. Robberies. Right. It worked for him for a while.
You know how like parents always say like, you know, okay, this is your dream of being a star. But why don't you have a plan B? You're back up plan. This is his backup plan.
So at this point, Paul had been working at Shoney's a family-style restaurant in town as a short order cook. Love the Shoney's. Shoney's was a big thing. Yeah.
Because you have to have Shoney's in a long time. Yeah. Shoney's your neighborhood family restaurant. I thought I had, um, hot pudge cakes.
But I also have like cherry pie. Probably. Yes. I think so.
Yes. They used to have a breakfast buffet that was really good. I love a breakfast buffet. Me too.
I love breakfast. Same. I could eat breakfast food. It's really good.
Me too. Like some bacon and eggs. I just love them. Amazing.
Amazing. Well, that's where he was working. Nice. On February 15th of 1997, Paul fired after he got mad and threw plates in the kitchen, hitting another employee.
I mean, yeah, calm down. We're at a hot pudge cake. What are we going to do? You know, some sort of heavy plates.
Those were really heavy plates, actually. Yeah. And so sad that we know all about these restaurants. All about the show.
Speak so much to our obesity. As I said, you're doing this like a sweet coffee. Oh God. All right.
So on the morning of February 16th, the next day, 1997, Paul drove up to the Captain D's restaurant on Lebanon Road and Nashville. Captain D's. Captain D's. No, no, no, no, no, it went away years ago when they tore down.
But yes. So Captain D's was a kind of like a fast foodie seafood restaurant. It was, indeed. It's kind of like a long John Silver's.
A little, I feel like a little more variety than the long John Silver's. Yes. A little assault. Yes.
Even in a little more like sit down restaurant. Yeah. I mean, it was like a right. Short order, but still sit down.
Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
So the restaurant was actually closed at this point when he drove up to it and they didn't open until lunchtime because this was a morning. So Paul pushed his way in on the ruse that he was applying for a job. Okay. Again, some contacts for our younger listeners back in the day before everything was online.
You actually had to go to the establishment and apply for a job with a paper application. So like a lot of this kind of made sense. Like, Oh, okay. You know, maybe the manager's waiting to meet you or something.
Yeah. Or like you're coming in the pickup and application. Exactly. Exactly.
So that's where you get the term pounding the pavement, meaning like, you know, going from place to place to apply for jobs. So anyway, he gets in the door of the Captain D's and there he finds 16 year old employee, Sarah Jackson and restaurant manager, Steve Hampton. Paul quickly pulls a gun on the shocked Sarah and Steve holding a pistol on the two. Paul orders Steve to open the safe, which Paul does.
Afterwards, he ushers a terrified Steve and Sarah into the kitchen cooler. This is, of course, a walk in for drater, you know, sorts. Paul orders Sarah and Steve to lie face down on the floor of the cooler. He then shoots them execution style in the back of their heads.
Oh my God. Yeah. He takes Steve's wallet and returns to the restaurant safe where he collects $7,000 in bills and large amounts of change. Yeah.
He then locks the door behind him and leaves the restaurant. A short time later, another employee arrives to find the front door locked, which was very strange. So the employee tried to call the manager but couldn't get ahold of him, tried to call the restaurant nothing. The employee noticed the staff members cars in the parking lot and thought something's not right here.
So the employee called the police. When police arrived on the scene, they discovered the dead bodies of Sarah and Steve, both of whom had been shot multiple times. A forensic team was called in to search for evidence, but very little was found. The only real trace of the killer was some bloody shoe prints.
The next day, Steve Hampton, who was the manager, his wallet was discovered on the side of the road some 11 miles away from the crime scene. Wow. Next to the wallet was a movie rental card belonging to Steve. This is blockbuster card?
Yeah. Basically block post. So back in the day, you had to have your card. Boop.
Okay. You're going to run a movie. What did we flick? We had a flick video.
Yep. We had a blockbuster. They did a 99 cent flick video. And we had flick video and hometown video.
Yeah. We had pick a flick. And actually, our local grocery store got a little movie rental. Yeah.
I remember going into both of those and remember the back where they had the curtain off section for the adult films. I was always back. I was always really scared to go back there. I never did.
That's probably a good thing. Yeah. No. No.
I actually don't remember any of that. I don't remember that. Oh, we see it all the time when I was little. Bet you did.
Yeah. Not to the curtain off area. Sure. No.
So they found Steve's blockbuster card. Yeah. And when investigators wiped it for fingerprints, they discovered Steve's along with a half-laden print of another individual. Please begin interviewing witnesses near the restaurant that morning.
And eyewitness reported seeing a white male talking to Steve Hampton at the door of the restaurant. One witness was able to provide additional details regarding the man's features and worked directly with an artist to create a sketch of the man. The man appeared to have light eyes and a slight beard. He was white and thin with a thin-shaped nose.
He also had close unkempt facial hair. Police had to sketch out to the public in hopes of catching the killer. Two days after the crime, Paul shows up at car dealership and purchases a car. He used the money from the robbery as the down payment.
He purchased a small red sedan. And this is going to be important a little bit later in our story. Sorry. Just keep that in mind.
It's important to note here that while Paul had a history of armed robbery, he had never been convicted, emphasized here the word convicted, of murder. A month after the Captain D's murders on March 23rd, Paul enters a McDonald's. Everybody knows McDonald's? Yeah.
We don't have to describe it. Even across the world. We've got a McDonald's. Exactly.
We've got a McDonald's. You haven't been to an international McDonald's? I have not. Have you.
Yes. Is it delightful? It's delightful. It's different.
Yeah. There are different menu items. I love it. I went to one in Italian airport.
Wow. Yeah. And Rome. Did they have any like, you know, was Zidi on the menu?
No, but it was like everything. They had similar things, but then it all tastes so different too. I bet. They're not allowed to put certain things in food over there.
So I can't remember what was different, but I'm putting different options. Italian prize. Maybe. Yeah.
Yeah. It's great. Nice. All right.
So this McDonald's is actually on the same road as the Captain D's. Oh, it was only about three and a half miles away, trying to sit on Lebanon Road. So it's not like he chose to go far. So he goes into the McDonald's, it's around closing time.
He meets four employees who are headed out the door ready to leave. Paul pulls out a gun and ushers the four young employees back into the restaurant. Like the employees at Captain D's, he orders them onto the dining room floor and he shot 17 year old Andrea Brown, 27 year old Ronald Santiago and Robert Sewell. Paul attempted to shoot the fourth employee, Jose Antonio Ramirez Gonzalez, but his gun ran out of ammunition.
Can you imagine? Can you imagine? Oh my God. Oh, the fear.
Oh, Jose took the opportunity to stand up and start fighting back against Paul. So they were like going at it. Paul then pulled out a knife and started stabbing Jose. Oh my God.
He stabbed him 17 times in the neck and chest before Jose dropped to the floor. Jose still alive. Decided the only way to survive was to play dead. Yeah.
So he did. Jose surrounded by his fellow employees who were lying dead around him, listened as Paul stole money from the cash registers and the safe. Paul stole about $3,000. That also makes me think.
Captain D's must have been doing better business than us. Are they just miss bank day? Exactly. Exactly.
Anyway, he took the $3,000 and quickly exited the store thinking that everyone was dead. Jose listened as the front door shut and slowly got up. He ensured that Paul was gone and quickly got to the phone to call 911. The police showed up and EMS took Jose to the hospital.
He survived the attack and would go on to be a pivotal part of Paul's subsequent court case. Wow. Yeah. That's crazy.
At this point, Paul is on a crime spree that now includes murder. He's killed five people and seriously injured one a month to the day after the McDonald's murder on April 23, 1997. So you're about to pop. I have three news.
Yeah. Paul entered a Baskin Robbins ice cream shop in Clarksville, Tennessee. So this is about 50 miles from where the Captain D's McDonald's are. Paul arrived at the Baskin Robbins.
I love it. I do too. Man, I miss it. I love it.
There's not one around here anymore. No. We did. We had one on Marimena Avenue.
For years. My aunt worked there in the 80s. I used to go there and get ice cream. Anyway, yeah.
She would make like mistakes. You know what I mean? Like, oh, whoopsie. And then she really here we go.
That's funny. Anyway, it's great. So Paul arrived at the Baskin Robbins around closing time. Again, he seems to hit like either in the morning or like when not a lot of people are there.
So I'm curious if he did that because either he didn't want others to try and stop him. Right. Or just, you know, figured less people easier to control. Yeah.
Yeah. That's what I was thinking. Yeah. So Paul encouraged the employees to let him in.
This time he robbed the store, but kidnapped the two employees. Yeah. So instead of killing them, he kidnapped them. That includes 16 year old Michelle nace and 21 year old Angela Holmes.