The Tragic Case of Katie Autry

Hi, I'm Holly. And I'm Hailey. Welcome to Mountain Mysteries Tales from Appalachia. We are back even if you don't want it.

Yeah, we are. But I mean, you're listening, so you want it. You too. You're here.

We are here for you every week, well, mostly. Mostly. Sometimes our lives get wild. Sometimes life gets crazy.

We are rolling into flu season. If you haven't had your flu shot, you know, we'd recommend. I just want to say, I was sick. I was sick with some like, I think it was COVID basically, because I think I did do.

Yeah. I think I tested too early. And anyway, but I was sick and I worked through it the entire week. I didn't go into the office.

Obviously I worked from home, but I was grouchy. He just asked my boss. It was super grouchy. Anyway, well, I was feeling really rough.

I was like, kind of snotty a little bit. I didn't really feel that bad. I was a little snotty. I was tired, but, you know, I attributed all of that to my monthly cycle beginning at that time.

And I was like, you know, that's probably what it is. And my mom just like, nonchalant. I was like, how are you probably going to test just, you know, to say, I'm like, yeah, you're funny. Sure.

We have eight thousand of them laying around. So at my grandmother's house and took a test, immediately positive. I was like, oh my God. So I like get my dog.

I get leave. I'm like, I'm gone. Lysol, everything. Don't breathe.

Don't touch anything. I was out of the house running. And I was like, there's no way. There's no way I have COVID because I had it before.

And I knew how bad I felt then. And I was like, there's no way I have COVID. I'm not coughing. I'm not really snotty.

I don't really feel bad at all. And this was a Saturday night. So I went home. I took two different tests, two more different tests, like three tests total, all three reposives.

And the next day, I got the snotty, the congestion, all the things. Yeah. So I'd say I'd work, you know, a couple days, but I was fine. I'm not clear about that.

I had the really back off that took a little while ago away. I had really weird headache and like tired and all the stuff. So yeah, that was not fun. And then my son had been sick before that with something kind of unexplainable.

They tested him and he didn't have COVID supposedly. But he just kind of like couldn't get better off and on. He missed like a couple days of school and then boom, like I had just gotten well. He gets the stomach closed.

Oh no. Yeah. It's like, oh my gosh. It's pretty much the rock tober.

Like, are we going to catch a break ever? Right. So well, I think we're all well right now. Fingers crossed.

Fingers crossed. We are well. Knock on everything. Yeah.

Yeah. Absolutely. All right. So today we are going to go back to Kentucky.

I know I did a story in Paducah two weeks ago, but we've got another story from Kentucky and this one is crazy. It actually started because I was at the library as one does looking for murder books. And I stumbled upon this one in this story. And I got through some of it that I couldn't read all of it without the book was to and I couldn't renew it because I'm only else was waiting and so I had to get back.

Anyway, that wasn't cool. But whatever. So today we're headed to Western Kentucky University or Western as it was called. Western lies in the scenic mountains of Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Very beautiful. It's May 2003. It's around 4 a.m. When the fire alarm goes off in the Hugh Poland Hall.

This is one of the dormitories on campus, obviously. Students in varying stages of dress and undress obviously came out of their rooms and out the doors to line up in front of the building. At the time, no one saw fire and assumed that it was either a drill or somebody had maybe pulled the alarm by accident. You know, things happen.

We know that in college. It happened a lot. The early morning air that May was slightly chilly and students wondered how long it would be before they could go back in and go to bed. Obviously.

Suddenly though, they noticed that smoke was billowing from the building and they realized there was a fire. It's like this is real. This is not a little burn popcorn in their microwave. Which is what everybody thinks, right?

Yes. Yep. And that's usually why it goes off. There's a way it goes off ours.

We're so sensitive in the dorms. I lived in that the shower scene sometimes was set them off. Oh my gosh. And we're like, how is this keep happening?

I finally stopped evacuating the building. Well, listen, we had to hike up tons and tons of stairs. So if they, at least my freshman year, so when the fire alarm went, if we were like, oh my gosh, again, you know, well, it was one of those like, I'm sure we did it very incorrectly. But none of us were ever accounted for.

Nobody had a list. We didn't check in with anybody. Usually they would just come in and flip the thing off and leave. Half the time the RA wasn't there.

I mean, yeah, all the things. I'd roll in and I'm like, fire department would roll in. I'm still in the building and they're like, hello? Did you not evacuate?

I'm like, is it a real fire? I'm like, no, like okay, see you later. I'm like, is it a real fire? Is it a real?

And I'm like, no, but you should evacuate. I'm like, you know, you're like, it will be like, try me when it's real. I know. I'm like, I'm not going back to bed.

Yeah, getting back in my coffin. When you get out of bed, I just put a pillow over my head and was like, naked, stop. Oh, wow. Yeah.

Okay. So if we see a naked girl with a pillow over her head, no, it's Haley. I was looking close. Don't worry.

I sleep dressed in a suit and I sleep very formal. Formal, formal, formal. No, no, it's not dress. No, I kind of a Donald Duckett.

Oh, okay. Wow, kinky. Listen, um, no, I'm, I'm usually doing, but I'm dressed sloppily. Oh, yeah.

I mean, I'm typically like, you know, old lady. I throw on a pair of slip hands. I wouldn't go out in my undies. Winnie the poo in it.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Wow.

Throw on the throw on a pair of slits or something. Yeah. The cricket rocks. I'm a flip flop or I'll have one flip flops, probably.

So the fire department arrives on scene, goes into the building and within minutes firefighters come out of the dorm carrying a limp body. Oh, okay. The body was out of a female, um, who had been severely burned from the waist down. Oh, she appeared to have little of any clothing on as firefighters placed her on the grass.

She was still alive, but barely. Oh my God. Students hovered around and many recognized her. Her name was Katie Atree, a fellow dorm mate.

Katie was a freshman at Western governor and like many of her classmates, she was finding her footing in college. She was a week away from her 19th birthday and had recently started working and going to school part time. Okay. Katie's family life had not been really stable.

Her mother struggled with mental illness and could be abusive and neglectful. So she and her sister were actually taken into state custody and placed into foster care. Well, yeah. Yeah.

Katie had been born May 10th, 1984 in Kentucky. So she was kind of born and raised there. Her really was Melissa, but she went by Katie. Well, she was pretty.

It is. It is so cute. Um, so she and her sister kind of bounced around a little bit in foster care, but ended up finding, um, stability with a placement of like some older foster parents who are really loving. And by the time she got to high school, she was thriving, doing extremely well.

She was a really good student academically. She was popular. She was on the cheerleading team. Um, and as she prepared to go to college, she searched out as you do all the colleges to see which is the best fit.

And she really felt like Western was the place for her because it would allow her to stay close to her foster family, um, her bio family, all that. That really, um, just like, you know, you're saying she's thriving. She's popular. She reminds me of a student that I have, like, I'm just picturing the student and my brain of like, oh, it's very similar, like upbringing and circumstances and you know, and she's she's lovely and wonderful and doing great things.

And I just adore her. Um, but yeah, just I'm picturing her and my brain is going to make so hard. Katie was like cute and blonde and petite and you know, all those things just adorable. Um, she started her freshman year at Western in the fall of 2002.

I also was a college freshman in the fall of 2002. I was in, oh, God, kindergarten. Am I sort of kindergarten? Not here.

Five. Yeah. Oh, my lord. I was starting kindergarten in Miss Murray's classroom.

Yeah. How special. I would be there in a few weeks to probably like work with the small children. I probably passed you in the whole thing and I looked at you and I said little girl, one day you and I, not only will work together in a whole other field that I'm working in currently, um, but you and I will have a motor podcast.

What do you think of this little kindergartner? And you ran off. I ran away. Oh my gosh.

But then intrigued. You came back. Excuse me, lady. Oh my god.

And, uh, I backed up my van and I said, get in little girl. Three podcasts. Yes, because in 2002, nobody knew what the hell podcast were. Oh my god.

Okay. It's amazing. Well, I know. That's a great story to think about.

Great story. All right. Yeah. It's no, it's not good.

All right. So she was really enjoying the college life, the independence. I hear that. Oh, yeah.

Um, she eventually found a good friend, um, that she decided to roommate with. Okay. So she and her roommate frequently went to parties, live in the good life, drink in all the things that you do, you know, when you're free for the first time. Yeah.

So she also been to, began to explore sexually. Okay. So she earned, uh, you know, an nickname. Um, and when I read it, I actually thought it was pretty funny because I was like, that is so my generation.

Her nickname was the Ho from the second flow. Oh my god. So obviously, kind of, did she embrace it or was she embarrassed? No, she embraced.

Okay. Yeah. Uh, she was involved in a long term romantic relationship with a guy named Maurice. But the problem is Maurice, um, in her while they had an intimate relationship, he had a girlfriend who lived out of town and, uh, he was like, listen, I'm, you know, here to, you know, basically hit it and go.

Have a good time. Have a good time. And you know, hit it and quit it. Like that's, that's what I'm doing.

And so some people that was fine. Yeah. Exactly. Um, but you know, this was not easy for her, because she really did like him.

Okay. So while in college, during this freshman year, Katie decides to emancipate herself from the Kentucky foster care system. Okay. So kind of the rule from my understanding is that foster care is like 18 to 21, or excuse me, zero to 21.

So essentially, they will pay for your college education. Oh, yeah. Um, but she wanted to emancipate herself. So stopping at it 18 rather than 21.

So this means that they're not going to pay. And like, I get it because I mean, we've both worked with kids who have, you know, been in care before and that whole process of aging out. I mean, I remember having conversations when I worked in the field of, with kids of like, you know, you should do this program because it's free money, like, get the money, like, take the money. You had a bad handout to you, get this money.

But, you know, there have been so hurt by the system, you know, that they're just done, 18 done. I don't want anything to do with it. I want out. I want no part of it.

And, you know, I, I have don't have that lived experience. So I'm like, respect. Well, and there's something to be said to be tied to being a foster child and being in this system. And then I'm sure there was until stipulation, like, there is in our state, like you, you have to check in with a case manager once, like, I think it's about three months, or something like that.

And like, you, and you have to prove to someone that you're either in school or working. And, you know, it is a hassle. I think it's a good program. I think, but I wanted to, if she wanted to separate herself in that sense of freedom, separate herself from that, but also kind of create a new path that didn't include that.

I don't know. But because she chose to emancipate herself, the college education was no longer paid for. So she had to end up working to pay her tuition, basically, which she did. She worked off campus in various jobs.

She even had a brief stint as a exotic dancer. Me too. I danced exotically for, you know, I never, never, I mean, no, like, takes a mad skill. Oh my gosh.

So I wanted to tell you, my physical therapist does, what does she do? She started with pole dancing, which I know you said that you didn't, you loved it in the time of that. But she also does silks. Yes.

And I was just talking about like how it is in your back and like how hard, you know, but how like it makes you feel so strong and all those things. That's the thing with pole for me. Like, I felt the most confident and strong and, you know, that I never felt well, you know, doing that. I mean, I looked like a crazy person because I was not good at it.

But it was the craziest workout I ever had in my entire life. Yeah, that's what she said. So anyway, so no judgment on the exotic dance. I don't know.

I mean, if you can make it, make it money. Listen, I mean, at my age, I'm not gonna be raking any money now, but get it. So on Saturday, May 3rd, 2003, Katie and her roommate had plans to attend a frat party that was being held on campus. So before they went, they did something called pre-gaming.

For those of you who don't know what pre-gaming is, that means that you are drinking before you go into the party. A good friend of mine loves, she's a pre-gamer. She's like, oh, let's let's pre-game. Anyway, it is.

And that's actually at our age. That's part of the reason why pre-gaming is important because drinks, you can't afford drinks at a restaurant. But also, I think it's the same time at our age. If we decide to pre-game, we usually don't make it out of the house.

We're like, and it's 9 p.m. Well, that was fun. That was good, though. We had the drinks here together and now it's time for me to sit on our couch.

Exactly. We're in our guest room. Exactly. And then we'll have coffee and then I'll go home.

Yeah. Wild night. So sad. So sad.

So Katie arrived at the party, but the problem was she had pre-gamed a little too much. So she was a little bit intoxicated. She had a habit of getting teary and dramatic when she was drunk. And her roommate would often have to babysit her.

So, Hayley and I were talking about that. I'm a handsie drunk. I may like all over you, handsie drunk. I can be.

I'm more of a flier. Hayley just leaves. He just walks off. But everybody is different.

I mean, we knew someone who was like, teary, just like she was. You know, we've seen people who are just like the good time kids. You know, you've seen the people who get angry when they're drunk. I mean, a backpack leash.

She does. I mean, we'll say it's a problem. Maybe with her name on it so that people can say, Hayley, don't run into traffic. That would be helpful.

Don't, don't, you know, go into the woods. I probably need some kind of muzzle. Something. Maybe a straight jacket.

Well, I say thanks to the most. It's some kind of like silence of the lambs costume or something. Something for me. Yeah.

That's a go leash. Oh, good. So while Katie was at the party, she spotted Maurice, the guy that she was hooking up with. She really kind of wanted to have a relationship.

You know, he was the one who had the girlfriend. So she comes up to him really ballsy and she's like, Hey, you want to dance? I bet you do. And he's like, no, and he told her no.

She's not a shot at her. No. Yeah. She got really upset.

Yeah. And she starts to fight with him. Yeah. No, no, no, no.

Exactly. Well, again, she's strong. So she gets all the time. Violin is not the answer kids.

She got really belligerent. She became pretty disruptive. So the host of the party said, listen, I'm sorry, you're causing a scene. You got to go.

Got to go. One of the fraternity pledges was the DD and you know, he was taking people home and all the things. So he said, listen, Katie, I'll take you home. Her roommate was having a lot of fun and was like, listen, I don't want to leave.

Right. So like, you just because you can't keep it together doesn't matter. Exactly. Because you're trying to start fights with people.

But also, if you go with someone, you leave with them. Yeah, like girl, that's typically the rule. Yep. Well, they didn't know that back when you were in kindergarten.

You can share that information. She did promise that she would call Katie later and check in on her, make sure that she got home, all the things. So she thanked the driver in advance and said, thanks for taking my roommate home. Sorry that you kind of getting stuck with this problem.

Yeah. So around 2 30 in the morning, not long after Katie left the party, the roommate called just to check in and see like, hey, home, okay, everything. Okay. Uh, roommate had plans to stay at another friend's house.

So she just wanted to tell her like, listen, I want you to know, like, hope everything's okay. I'm not going to be home tonight. I'll be back tomorrow morning. Katie answers the phone.

And this is of course a landline. So Katie answers the phone tells her roommate, yeah, everything's cool. I'm just laying here in bed. But there's a man here in this room with me.

And I'm scared. Oh, that just gave me chills. Yeah. She said she didn't know who he was.

And her roommate said, let me talk to this person. I give this person the phone. So male gets on the phone and says that, you know, hey, I'm the frat guy who drove her home. And he said, I wanted to make sure that she got up to her room.

Okay, because she was intoxicated. And he told the roommate, like, not to worry, everything's okay. But before hanging up, Katie's roommate fought for sure. She heard a second male voice in the room.

She wasn't super concerned. She was like, well, maybe, you know, maybe Katie was like, acting crazy. And like it took like two people to like carry her up. And maybe she was still drunk.

So she was kind of nope. That's a big nope for me. Her roommate said, cool. Okay.

Not blaming the roommate, but that's a big old no. Yeah, it's but again, so I and I don't want to know this is not slut shaming, I promise. But because she had the, you know, right, slow on the second, you know, a hole on the second flow, it kind of leads you to like, Oh, well, she's drunk. Maybe she's, you know what I'm saying?

Yeah. So okay. So about an hour and a half later, that's when the fire alarm goes off. Okay.

Again, as we talked about, it's not unusual for this to happen. Popcorn burns. Yeah. People set it off, all the things.

So this is the point where the body is lying on the ground. And first responders are trying to take care of her. Also noticed that on the bed was a badly beaten when they go into the room, firefighters, before they bring her out, they noticed that she was badly beaten and burned. Yeah.

She had a shirt wrapped around her face and another piece of fabric that was wrapped around the sprinkler system. Okay. Yeah. So intentional.

Right. So the firefighter that the sprinkler had already put out the fire, it was just very strange. So it's had to soak through. Yeah.

And then, yeah, what it would because those sprinklers are probably forceful. So obviously, you know, the firefighter was like, Oh, wow, something more than like a fire here. Katie was in fact the source of the fire. Oh my God.

You see, someone had lit her on fire while she was alive. Oh my God. So as they carried her out of the building, firefighters said, she said, quote, take me home. Oh, Katie had severe burns to her chest and genital area.

A hairspray can was found and proved to be the accelerant. There was alcohol gel placed inside of her, presumably to eliminate any evidence of a sexual assault. She was transferred to the Vanderbilt Hospital located in Nashville, Tennessee. She was in critical condition.

Doctors explained that Katie's burns were so severe that they likely destroyed most of her nerve endings. A blessing as this would have significantly reduced the amount of pain she was in. Despite the care that she was given, she was unable to survive her injuries and passed away three days later on May 7th, 2003. Police wanted to know why the roommate, who was kind of always babysitting Katie, wasn't home that night.

Like that was kind of odd behavior. Yeah. Yeah. The roommate, you know, told the police that she was with another friend as well that night.

And that like she told him about the weird phone call and how there was the one guy, but then that other guy, she heard a voice as well. Something just felt weird. So she talked about the individual who was the designated driver, right? So they called him in for an interview and he was like, I don't know what happened after I dropped her off.

Then they questioned Maurice, the guy that she was wanting to have the relationship with that she'd asked to dance with that night and he turned her down. So eventually, after talking to all these people, they circled back to the DD, the designated driver. And they learned that Katie was not the only person in his vehicle that night. According to the DD, a friend of his was with him that night.

His friend's name was Stephen Soles. He was a resident of nearby Scottsville and he was not a student at the college. So just kind of randomly there in the car. He had gone with the friends to the party, but was drunk and passed out in the back of the car.

On the drive back to Katie's dorm, Katie T. Stephen about being sick and called him quote a sick boy. All right. All right.

Apparently when Katie got out of the car, Stephen told his friends that he wanted to holla at her and got out of the car. I don't know what that means. I think it's like a, I wouldn't think it would mean hook up. I mean, I don't think so.

I mean, I'm, I don't know the intention of like, I don't know, I think in, in my generation, like, like, hey, like talk to her, like, you know, like that kind of thing, not like hook up with her. Like talk to them with the intention of setting up something. Right. Yeah.

Okay. That's what I want to make sure that maybe this is okay. So Stephen was brought in for questioning and he was a known liar and apparently a thief within the community that he lived in. Wow.

He was about a year and a half to two years older than Katie and had a history of being lazy, not attending school or working. He would hang out with other under achievers in the area. In Kentucky, he was known as a pothead. Never been in any serious trouble, but like I said, because, you know, he stole into all these things.

A lot of people didn't trust him. Right. And a lot of the people around him felt like he was a mooch that he would just like leech off of them and do all those things. So, but that also doesn't make him a killer.

Right. You know, that that's a leap. So when they brought him in for questioning, they learned that Stephen had a group of friends that attended the fraternity party that night. They had also pre-gamed, you know, prior to attending.

So everybody was really intoxicated by the time they walked into a party with alcohol. He was sick and he went to sleep it off in the back of his friend's car. He said that on the way to Katie's dorm, he and her were messing around and making out. He denied at first going up to her dorm room.

Then he later said, after she exited the vehicle, he followed her and snuck through the dorm door before it closed. So, I will say, at least in our dorms, there was a lot. It was locked. So like once the door closed, if you didn't have the code, you couldn't get in.

Right. So that was probably the scenario here. So he is saying, first part of the story is, hey, no, I'm back at the car. Now he's saying, okay, well, I really like snuck through, which the wording snuck sounds creepy.

Yeah. Yeah. Followed followed her up to the room in hand sex. He says it was consensual, but she's so drunk that she's so drunk.

That's not consensual. Exactly. So then he continuously changes his story, tells authorities, you know, like, no, I didn't hurt her. I wasn't the one, blah, blah, blah, like, yes, we had sex, but that was all that happened.

Then he said that, um, you know, there was some hanging out in her room and that his friend Lucas had called and asked where he was. And he told Lucas, you know, where he was. And then Lucas suddenly showed up in the dorm room and told Katie he wanted to have sex. Right.

It's just not like a horrible, so apparently Stephen said that Katie said no, and that Lucas violently attacked her. He said that Katie fought back, but was not able to get away from Lucas. It was much bigger than her. And then he said he watched as Lucas tortured and lit Katie on fire.

Oh my God. Yeah. Lucas Goodrum was 21 years old in the spring of 2023. He wasn't a student at the university or really anywhere for that matter.

He was also kind of a screw up. He had a hard time holding down any steady job, didn't have any further education. Lucas had actually been married and divorced and was a father of a young son. Oh my God.

He was 21 years old. Wow. His ex-wife alleged that Lucas was abusing her. And the day before Katie was attacked, Lucas was arrested on domestic violence charges against the girlfriend that he had at the time.

Yeah. So Lucas, not a number one guy as far as a good one. Yeah. Yeah.

Lucas's mother had married his stepfather years earlier, who happened to be heir to the dollar general stores. Oh. Yeah. That's weird to say heir to a dollar general.

Yeah. Feel free to say. But I guess yeah, I know. It's not us.

Not us. What would we be the heir to? The cornfield. Oh, the cornfield.

The guard shack. The guard. Oh, yes. We could.

Oh, watch out, Randy. I'm going to make some changes now that I'm the heir. Okay. Anyway, so Lucas's family had a lot of money.

Y'all know. Money talks. Sure does. Okay.

So he didn't have to work. He didn't have to do anything. So he spent most of his time just getting high. Lucas eventually moved to the Scottsville area with his father and stepmother.

Stephen and Lucas had been friends for a long time, but often argued because Stephen was the mooch. Yeah. And Lucas obviously was the rich one. Stephen told Lucas's girlfriend he was cheating on her, causing there to be an argument between Lucas and Stephen.

Anyway, apparently Stephen, who was by racial, you know, Lucas throughout a racial slur. I mean, despite all this, anyway, they were hanging out that night of the party and they went together with other mutual friends. When brought in for questioning, Lucas recalled seeing Katie at the party, but denied ever going to her dorm room. In fact, he stated that the RA at the other dorm said that Lucas was in the lobby of the building around 2 30 that morning, the same time as the phone call between Katie and the roommate.

So Lucas emphatically denied knowing anything about the Raven murder of Katie Autry. His father and his son mother said that he was at home before the fire alarm sounded at 4 AM, you know, saying like, there's no way possible he was here. We saw him. Therefore, that creates an alibi.

authorities believe that Stephen's account of that night citing Lucas's history of violence and Stephen's lack thereof really kind of spoke to him putting the shining the light and saying, oh, no, it's got to be Lucas. Anyway, he says, you know, we had no reason to believe Stephen, because Stephen was a bitch liar. So Stephen and Lucas were both arrested on charge as a first degree capital murder. They were both facing the death penalty.

While awaiting trial, the DNA from inside Katie came back, despite the attempts to use that gel and the temp to burn the semen, it was still recovered. The DNA was a match to Stephen. There was no evidence from the room that contained Lucas's DNA. Stephen admitted that he assaulted Katie, but also said he only did so after Lucas did, because Lucas threatened to kill him if he didn't.

Come on, come on. Given the lack of evidence against Lucas, authorities were unable to secure any kind of conviction against him and they decided to just let him off with a deal. Let's see, Stephen agreed to plead guilty on all charges, which would be murder, rape, sodomy, arson, robbery, complicity to commit robbery and complicity to commit rape. I didn't even realize that there were sodomy involved.

It seems like she was absolutely tortured. In exchange, the death penalty was taken off the table. Stephen ended up testifying against Lucas at his upcoming trial. On the stand, Stephen once again changed his story.

He still said that Lucas was the one who attacked Katie initially, but now he said Lucas forced him to rape her. Stephen was the one who sprayed the hairspray and lit Katie on fire. He said he only did so after Lucas told him to do so and under the threat that, you know, do this or else. And so he said that Lucas, though, was the one that burned Katie alive.

Stephen was the only person whose DNA was found at the crime scene. He now admitted to raping and lighting Katie on fire causing her death. Lucas obviously had parents who had an alibi that night and he was also seen in that dorm room. So his DNA was not found anywhere in the scene and there was no evidence that could directly connect him.

The only connection was that Stephen said, like, yeah, he was here. And there was a jailhouse informant who claimed that Lucas confessed to the crime while awaiting trial. But again, not enough evidence to go to the jury. So Lucas was found not guilty on all charges and released Katie's family and her foster family birth family that were devastated about this because they really thought that Lucas got away with rape and murder.

Stephen was sentenced to life with no possibility of parole and he remains there in the Kentucky Department of Corrections right now. He is 39 years old and Lucas, well, actually he's older than that. Sorry, I got my math off a little bit. He is 42 years old and Lucas was charged a few years later with domestic violence and terroristic threats against his ex-wife.

Wow. Yeah, he ended up moving to Texas, kind of fell off the radar and don't really know what's going on with him right now. But many people believe that Lucas was guilty and he got off. The dorm rooms had been unlocked by a resident car key card.

That's the only way that you can get in and Stephen admitted to following Katie up before the door closed so that he could get in. But then this gives you the question of then how did Lucas get in? Unless he did something similar. And then like his DNA was it found?

I don't know. But I mean, could it be his condom? Could have and you know, maybe his parents being more influential in society were like, huh, we'll give him this alibi. Like it looks bad for us, all these things.

Right. But off? No. Yeah.

I just so know. So it's really weird. But Carl Turner Jr. the heir to the Dollar General made a generous gift to the university following her death.

Some believe that Lucas, you know, based on his white privilege, he was able to hire a better attorney, blah, blah, blah. And essentially he was able to get off. And because Stephen was, you know, of mixed race, a little bit poor, had a little more of a history of line and theft and some of the stuff that you know, they instantly went to charge him. So since then security protocols have been changed at the university in regard to dorm room and that kind of thing.

They always say that Katie was such a bright light. And I know people say that of like, Oh, she split up a whole room, but really Katie did. And I'm going to post for the story of photo of her. And you can just see she's adorable, absolutely adorable and shed her whole life ahead of her.

And this just breaks my heart. So that's the story of Katie Autry. Horrific. Yes.

Awful. I've had some heavy stories lately. That's what I said about my hips. It's getting heavy down here.

Hold up my trunk. I got a lot of junk in this. So if you all have heard of the story, you know, the story, or just want to send Haley an email just don't know her. Yeah, whatever.

Just go ahead and send her an email at mountainmystries.applelatchin at gmail.com. You can find us on Facebook at mountain mysteries, tales from Appalachia. You can find us on Instagram. Please feel free to message us at mountainmystries.applelatchin for a really groovy time.

Come join us on patreon at patreon.com slash mountain mysteries. You got a shout out, Haley? Yeah, I'm trying to find a one. I feel like they all sound that we've done them before.

I'm sure we have. But let's do rye in East Sussex. Oh, I love it. It's so delightfully English because it's in England.

It is in England. And Sussex. I like it. Yes, you know, like Harry and Megan.

Yeah. Well, they're messed up. Yeah, there's a lot going on there. Crazy.

It's a drama. I wonder how that marriage is going to last. I think they're solid. You think so?

I think their family drama's just wild. It is wild. It's pretty interesting. But it's not really my jam.

But I think they're I love jam. I also love jam. I'm a little toast. That sounds nice.

Jam and bread. That sounds good. Sounds great. Biscuits and jam.

Yeah. One night you'll just have to get drunk and stay on my couch. I'll make you jam. Great.

Yeah. Sounds good. I love coffee. Great.

Yeah. I like tea. But I'm a coffee. I like tea.

But I also like tea. But more coffee person. Well, okay. We will see you next week.

Bye.