# Solved Cold Cases With Shocking Twists

An episode of [Lazy Chill True Crime](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1815534472), 12 Dec 2025, 39 min.

Audio: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/APO5765893153.mp3

Join me for a discussion of solved cold cases with shockign twists. 👇 Youtube links: Lazy Chill True Crime Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8dVJtzeHcJgd_Z0bHrJTHQ Lazy Chill History Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LazyChillHistory Lazy Chill Zone Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LazyChillZone 👇 Support My Work: 🛍️ Merch: https://lazy-chill-zone-shop.fourthwall.com ❤️ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lazychillzone 👇Social Media Links: https://www.instagram.com/lazychillzone/ 👇 Podcast links: ⚡History Video Podcast on Spotify⚡: https://open.spotify.com/show/7km5pLWpYWEj1mrPpEfRUr?si=0FHYnZf-Qs2FY1GyLevfig ⚡True Crime Podcast on Spotify⚡: https://open.spotify.com/show/0klIz08pAr7wR4we0Ia4sk?si=68qZxCeAQkysXzMZrHE0Iw 🍏 True Crime Podcast on Apple 🍎: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lazy-chill-true-crime/id1815534472 true crime, cold cases, unsolved mysteries, missing persons, murder investigation, forensic evidence, serial killers, crime scene analysis, dark history, criminal psychology, real life horror, police investigations, DNA breakthroughs, forensic genealogy, crime documentaries, criminal profiling, mysterious disappearances, solved cases, justice system, law enforcement stories, cold case files, creepy mysteries, true crime storytelling, crime reconstruction, chilling cases, investigative reporting, modern forensics, victim advocacy, unidentified remains, crime scene forensics, disturbing cases, true crime analysis, hidden clues, infamous crimes, real crime stories

## Transcript

[0:01] Whether you're into unsolved mysteries, solved mysteries, or
[0:04] creating your own mysteries, Amazon Music's got millions of
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[0:12] app and start listening to your favorite podcasts ad free
[0:15] included with Prime. Jeanette Ralston was a 24 year
[0:18] old wife and mother living in the Bay Area of California in
[0:22] the late 1970s. Just before midnight on January
[0:26] 31st, 1977, Jeanette stepped out of San Jose's Lion's Den Bar
[0:32] accompanied by a man her friends didn't recognize.
[0:36] By the next morning, she would be found slain in her car, a
[0:40] crime that would go unsolved for nearly five decades.
[0:44] In the early morning of February 1st, 1977, the Superintendent of
[0:50] an apartment complex on Graham Ave. noticed Jeanette's
[0:53] Volkswagen Beetle in the visitor's parking area.
[0:57] He felt that something looked off about the vehicle and
[1:00] decided to investigate further. Looking inside, the Super found
[1:05] a horrific scene. Jeanette's lifeless body was
[1:08] wedged in the back seat of the car.
[1:11] Investigators also found burn marks inside the car, indicating
[1:15] a failed attempt to light the evidence on fire.
[1:19] San Jose Police immediately opened an intensive
[1:22] investigation. Jeannette's friends provided a
[1:25] description of the unknown man from the bar, and a composite
[1:29] sketch of the suspect was created.
[1:32] Unfortunately, no one recognized the man in the sketch and no
[1:36] solid suspects were identified. In 1977, it appeared Jeannette
[1:41] had fallen victim to a chance encounter with a predator, and
[1:45] there were few clues about his identity.
[1:48] Crucially, police also recovered Jeanette's pack of smokes from
[1:52] the car and noted a fingerprint on it that didn't belong to her.
[1:56] In the 1970s, however, there was no computerized database to
[2:01] search for fingerprint matches, and DNA profiling didn't yet
[2:05] exist. Investigators compared the print
[2:09] against local files, but they couldn't find a match at the
[2:12] time. With scant leads and technology
[2:16] lagging behind the evidence, the case gradually went cold.
[2:21] By the 2010's, significant advances in forensic science
[2:25] offered New Hope for solving the Ralston case.
[2:29] Santa Clara County's Cold Case Unit teamed up with San Jose
[2:32] detectives to re examine the evidence with modern techniques.
[2:37] In 2024, investigators decided to rerun the old fingerprint
[2:42] from Jeanette Smokes through the latest databases.
[2:46] In August 2024, authorities finally identified that
[2:50] fingerprint as belonging to Willie Sims, a 69 year old man
[2:55] living in Ohio. Back in the 1970s, there was no
[3:00] automated national fingerprint database, so Sims's subsequent
[3:05] arrest in 1978 had never been linked to Jeanette's case.
[3:12] The name was unfamiliar to the original case file, but further
[3:16] digging revealed that Sims had been in California at the time
[3:19] of the slaying in 1977. He was a young Army private
[3:24] stationed at Fort Ord, not far from San Jose.
[3:28] Even more striking, Sims had a violent history.
[3:32] In 1978, he was convicted of assault with intent to commit a
[3:37] slaying in Monterey County. After serving a prison term for
[3:42] that offense, he left California, apparently
[3:45] permanently. With Sims now identified as a
[3:49] suspect, the cold case team moved quickly to confirm the DNA
[3:53] evidence. In early 2025, Santa Clara
[3:57] County investigators, working with Ohio police, obtained ADNA
[4:01] sample from Sims while he was in Ohio.
[4:04] The Santa Clara County Crime Lab compared Sims's sample to
[4:08] evidence from 1977. The results were decisive.
[4:12] Sims's DNA matched DNA found under Jeanette's fingernails.
[4:17] This forensic breakthrough provided the proof investigators
[4:20] needed that the same man identified by the fingerprint
[4:23] had indeed been at the crime scene.
[4:28] Based on the new evidence, prosecutors in Santa Clara
[4:31] County charged Willie Eugene Sims with the slaying of
[4:34] Jeanette Ralston in May 2025. Authorities in Ohio arrested the
[4:40] 69 year old at his home in the town of Jefferson.
[4:45] Sims was brought before a judge in Ashutabla County and at his
[4:49] arraignment, he waived his right to fight extradition to
[4:52] California. Arrangements were then made to
[4:55] transport him back to San Jose to face the charges.
[4:59] If convicted of Jeannette's slaying, Sims faces a penalty of
[5:03] 25 years to life in prison. Importantly, investigators have
[5:08] noted that many key witnesses from 1977 are still alive to
[5:12] testify. The friends who last saw
[5:15] Jeanette with the suspect, for example, can now potentially
[5:18] identify him in court. Willie Sims remains innocent
[5:22] until proven guilty in a court of law.
[5:26] On the morning of July 8th, 1972, a passing motorist in
[5:32] rural Allen County, Indiana came upon a heartbreaking scene.
[5:37] In a ditch along a quiet country Rd. lay the body of a young
[5:40] mother, and beside her was her 3 year old daughter, extremely
[5:45] frightened but miraculously unharmed.
[5:49] Just hours earlier, 26 year old Phyllis Baylor had been alive
[5:53] and on a journey. The young mother had set out the
[5:56] previous evening from Indianapolis, driving a borrowed
[6:00] car to visit her parents in Bluffton, about 100 miles away,
[6:05] with her toddler in tow. When she failed to arrive, her
[6:09] worried family reported her missing.
[6:12] Early that next day, police found Phyllis's car abandoned on
[6:16] the shoulder of northbound Interstate 69 in nearby Grant
[6:19] County. The car's hood was propped open
[6:23] as if it had broken down, but Phyllis and her child were
[6:26] nowhere. Insight.
[6:28] Approximately an hour later, the dreadful discovery was made.
[6:33] Phyllis's lifeless body and her little girl were spotted in a
[6:37] roadside ditch miles from the highway.
[6:41] Investigators from the Allen County Sheriff's Department and
[6:44] the Indiana State Police rushed to the scene and launched an
[6:48] investigation. It was immediately clear that
[6:54] Phyllis had met a violent end, which was confirmed with
[6:57] certainty at the autopsy. It was also confirmed that the
[7:01] perpetrator had subjected her to the most disturbing form of
[7:05] assault, leaving behind the biological material that would
[7:09] ultimately crack the case. Her daughter, though physically
[7:13] unharmed, was too young to provide any useful details about
[7:17] what had happened. Detectives were left with a
[7:20] horrifying crime and very few initial clues.
[7:24] Phyllis's purse and belongings had presumably been in the car,
[7:28] but the car was found empty and in working order.
[7:31] Aside from the raised hood. Authorities could only theorize
[7:35] that Phyllis had experienced car trouble and that someone had
[7:38] taken advantage of her vulnerable situation.
[7:42] The remote location where her body was found suggested the
[7:45] perpetrator had driven her and her daughter off the Interstate
[7:49] onto a secluded Rd. to carry out this horrific act in the summer
[7:54] of 1972. However, there were no
[7:57] surveillance cameras on highways, no cell phones to
[8:00] ping, and DNA analysis was decades away from being a useful
[8:04] tool. Investigators had to rely on old
[8:08] fashioned police work, combing the area for witnesses and
[8:12] piercing together Phyllis's last known movements.
[8:18] In the immediate aftermath of Phyllis Baylor's slaying, police
[8:21] pursued every lead they could find.
[8:24] They interviewed other motorists who travelled I-69 that night,
[8:28] hoping someone might have seen Phyllis's green vehicle pulled
[8:31] over or noticed a stranger lurking near a distressed
[8:35] driver. They spoke with Phyllis's family
[8:38] and friends to determine if she had any enemies or troubled
[8:42] relationships that could suggest a suspect.
[8:46] Standard procedure in cases like this is to look first at those
[8:50] closest to the victim, a spouse, an ex partner, or friends.
[8:56] But nothing indicated that someone in Phyllis's circle was
[8:59] responsible. From all accounts, Phyllis was
[9:03] simply a young mother on a routine trip.
[9:06] There was no obvious personal motive, which made the crime
[9:09] even more baffling and terrifying.
[9:12] It appeared to be a random act of violence.
[9:15] Before long, investigators developed at least one potential
[9:19] suspect based on the limited evidence and tips they had.
[9:24] Details about this early suspect were not released to the public,
[9:28] but authorities privately considered him a strong person
[9:31] of interest. Perhaps it was a local man with
[9:36] a history of violence, or a passerby who matched a
[9:39] description from a witness sighting.
[9:42] However, in 1972, they lacked the forensic evidence to make a
[9:47] charge stick, something that would actually turn out to be
[9:51] fortunate given subsequent developments.
[9:54] Despite their efforts, no arrests were made and the case
[9:58] began to go cold. Families in the area were left
[10:02] to wonder if a predator was still among them.
[10:05] And Phyllis's loved ones were left with agonizing questions.
[10:09] Who attacked her? And why did this horrific
[10:12] monster decide to spare her child?
[10:17] The Phyllis Baylor case gradually became one of
[10:20] Indiana's most stubborn cold cases.
[10:23] For decades, Phyllis's family, and in particular her daughter,
[10:28] received no answers. Periodic news stories recalled
[10:32] the tragic tale of the young mother found in the ditch.
[10:35] But as memories faded and investigators retired, the trail
[10:39] to her perpetrator seemed to all but disappear.
[10:43] Thankfully, it wasn't that police didn't have any evidence.
[10:47] They did recover physical evidence, but the perpetrator's
[10:50] identity remained hidden within it, literally at the molecular
[10:54] level. By the early 1990s, as DNA
[10:58] profiling emerged in forensic science, hope was rekindled.
[11:04] A partial DNA profile was eventually developed from
[11:06] biological material found on Phyllis's clothing, presumably
[11:10] from the assailant. When investigators compared this
[11:14] DNA profile against the man they had long suspected, the results
[11:18] were stunning. The partial profile eliminated
[11:22] their main suspect. It was now 2 decades after the
[11:26] crime, and the authorities were back to square 1.
[11:32] Throughout the following decades, the Indiana State
[11:34] Police Cold Case Unit periodically revisited it,
[11:38] especially as DNA technology improved over the years.
[11:42] Each advance in forensic science brought a new opportunity to
[11:45] glean more information from the evidence.
[11:47] But for a long time, the DNA sample was too degraded or
[11:51] incomplete to point clearly to one individual.
[11:54] It yielded no matches. In CODIS, the FB is database of
[11:59] convicted offenders because the perpetrator might never have had
[12:02] his DNA taken in a criminal case, or he simply wasn't in the
[12:07] system. Meanwhile, as the decades went
[12:10] by, Phyllis's daughter grew into adulthood believing that the man
[12:14] who committed this evil act was likely walking free.
[12:19] Little did she know, she would soon find out that the man
[12:22] responsible for her mother's death had suffered a fate that
[12:25] would have caused a medieval inquisitor to furiously take
[12:28] notes. In 2024, the cold case
[12:34] detectives investigating Phyllis Baylor's slaying decided to
[12:38] leverage the latest cutting edge technology.
[12:42] The Indiana State Police Laboratory re examined the
[12:44] genetic material from Phyllis's clothing and managed to develop
[12:48] a much stronger DNA profile of the unknown suspect.
[12:53] This new profile was more complete and thus far more
[12:56] useful for searching in modern DNA databases.
[13:00] Traditional law enforcement databases still didn't have a
[13:03] direct match, and the DNA profile didn't match with any
[13:07] known convicted offender. So investigators turn to an
[13:11] innovative method that has been solving cold cases around the
[13:14] country in recent years, forensic genetic genealogy.
[13:20] This is a painstaking process, building out family trees from
[13:23] distant cousins and obscure records, but it paid off big
[13:28] time. By early 2025, the investigators
[13:32] had zeroed in on a name. After 53 years of mystery, the
[13:36] DNA left on Phyllis's clothing finally had a match in the
[13:40] family tree. Fred Allen, Lineman Lineman was
[13:47] a 25 year old man originally from Anderson IN roughly 40
[13:51] miles from Indianapolis, not far from Phyllis's starting point
[13:55] that night. He later lived in Michigan and
[13:58] had accumulated a significant criminal history by his mid 20s.
[14:03] According to police, he had no known connection to Phyllis
[14:06] Baylor. He was neither a family friend
[14:09] nor an acquaintance. This lack of any prior link
[14:12] explains why he was never on investigators radar.
[14:16] Phyllis almost certainly didn't know him at all, a chilling
[14:19] hallmark of stranger on stranger violence.
[14:24] When detectives dug into the perpetrators background, they
[14:28] uncovered an interesting footnote on his disturbing life.
[14:32] Lineman himself had died violently in the 1980s.
[14:36] In a grim twist of fate, this man who preyed on a stranded
[14:40] young mother later became the prey himself.
[14:44] Investigators learned that Lineman was slain in Detroit in
[14:47] 1985 under absolutely brutal and gruesome circumstances.
[14:53] Now, usually I don't go into too much detail out of respect for
[14:56] the victims of crime, but I'm going to make an exception here.
[15:01] Lineman, who was by then 37 years old, had crossed 2 very
[15:06] bad men. These two men spent some time
[15:10] working him over with a baseball bat, threw him in a dumpster,
[15:14] and then, potentially while he was still alive, lit the
[15:17] dumpster up. I naturally have to wonder if he
[15:20] questioned the life he lived and the acts he committed as the
[15:24] flames rose around him. The Indiana State Police
[15:30] announced the solved case publicly in April 2025, finally
[15:34] bringing a sense of resolution to this mystery 50 years in the
[15:38] making. Indiana authorities noted that
[15:41] if Lineman were alive, he would have been charged with Phyllis
[15:44] Baylor's slaying and prosecuted by the Allen County Prosecutor's
[15:48] Office. Some believe that Phyllis may
[15:51] not have been Lineman's first or last victim, and that he may be
[15:55] connected to other crimes. So far, it's unclear if the
[15:59] authorities are investigating this Ave., but given the random
[16:03] nature of his attack on Phyllis, it's strongly speculated that
[16:07] they are. On April 18th, 1973, a man in
[16:14] rural Anderson County, Kansas stumbled upon the decomposed
[16:18] remains of a young male about 3 miles southeast of the small
[16:22] town of Garnett. The body was found near a
[16:24] shallow stream roughly 180 feet off a Country Rd.
[16:30] Investigators noted the victim's attire and personal items in
[16:33] detail. He was very well dressed,
[16:36] wearing a corduroy jacket, a button up shirt, stylish jeans,
[16:41] a black leather belt, hiking boots and leather gloves.
[16:46] The young man also wore jewelry, 2 gold rings etched with
[16:50] crosses, another ring engraved with the number 78, and a silver
[16:55] chain with a 2 inch cross pendant.
[16:58] These possessions offered a few clues but no immediate identity.
[17:06] An autopsy was performed and revealed signs of severe trauma,
[17:09] including a skull fracture, leading the coroner to rule the
[17:13] death a slaying. The medical examiner estimated
[17:16] the victim to be a white male in his late teens to early 20s with
[17:21] a slender build and medium length brown WAVY hair.
[17:25] It appeared his body had been at the site for only a few weeks.
[17:29] Authorities believed he had likely been slain about two to
[17:32] four weeks before discovery. Given the state of
[17:35] decomposition, whether the ACT took place right there in the
[17:39] woods or the body had been dumped afterwards remained
[17:42] uncertain. Early on, investigators
[17:46] theorized the victim might have been a hitchhiker who met a
[17:49] deadly fate while travelling through the area.
[17:52] Despite these efforts and a thorough search of missing
[17:55] persons reports from the region, the young man could not be
[17:59] identified. With no name to call him,
[18:03] authorities referred to the unknown victim as the Garnett
[18:06] John Doe. When no leads emerged, the
[18:10] community gave the unidentified individual a dignified burial in
[18:15] Garnett Cemetery. The story had moved the local
[18:18] community so much they even raised money for a small
[18:21] headstone, a rarity in cases such as this.
[18:25] And keep this in mind because this isn't just a fact to help
[18:29] restore your faith in humanity. It'll actually end up helping
[18:32] crack the case. The case of the Garnett John Doe
[18:38] turned cold as years passed with no identification.
[18:42] Law enforcement never forgot the nameless teenager, and over
[18:46] time, they revisited the case with new techniques.
[18:48] As technology advanced, his information was eventually
[18:52] entered into national databases for missing and unidentified
[18:56] persons as those grew in size and scope over the years.
[19:01] Still, throughout the 1980s and 1990s, no match was found for
[19:06] the Garnett John Doe. In 2005, more than 30 years
[19:11] after the slaying, investigators took a significant step in a
[19:16] testament to the community efforts to give him a proper
[19:19] burial. They exhumed the John Doe's
[19:22] remains to apply emerging DNA technology.
[19:26] Notably, in many of these cases, the body is buried, but due to
[19:30] poor record keeping, the exact location ends up lost.
[19:34] The community funded headstone solved this issue.
[19:38] Forensic experts carefully recovered the skeletal remains,
[19:41] which had been well preserved in a vinyl body bag inside a wooden
[19:45] coffin. Once again, another testament to
[19:47] the local community. The Kansas Bureau of
[19:53] Investigation attempted to match his DNA to databases, but
[19:57] ultimately nothing came of this. Given the technology at the
[20:00] time, this was a major disappointment to investigators,
[20:05] but all hope wasn't lost. Flash forward to the Twenty 20s
[20:10] and forensic science has been revolutionized by genetic
[20:13] genealogy. The Anderson County Sheriff's
[20:17] Office and the KBI partnered with a private forensic lab,
[20:21] Othrum, who I feel at this point need no introduction.
[20:26] The remains of the Garnett John Doe were sent to Othrum's
[20:29] laboratory in Texas, where their scientists successfully
[20:33] developed a complete DNA profile despite the age of the evidence.
[20:38] This would ultimately result in this 5 decade old case being
[20:42] cracked wide open. But first, there's a parallel
[20:45] tale to tell. While the Garnett John Doe case
[20:51] sat unsolved, another mystery lingered 80 miles away in Kansas
[20:55] City, KS. And for those who aren't that
[20:58] familiar with Midwestern geography, there's also a Kansas
[21:02] City, MO right across the state border.
[21:06] In the fall of 1972, a 16 year old boy named Jimmy Dollison
[21:12] disappeared from his Kansas City home and was never heard from
[21:15] again. Jimmy had been living with his
[21:18] family in Kansas City and by all accounts was an ordinary
[21:22] teenager of the early 1970s. Sometime in October or November
[21:26] 1972, he went out and never came back.
[21:31] His worried parents reported him missing to local authorities,
[21:35] and the family desperately searched for answers.
[21:39] Unfortunately, there's not much out there on the investigative
[21:42] efforts undertaken by the authorities at that time.
[21:46] However, knowing the time period, my educated guess is
[21:49] that the police told Jimmy's parents he's likely a runaway
[21:54] and closed his file as soon as possible.
[21:58] Further, at the time, there were few tools to broadcast a missing
[22:01] persons information beyond the immediate area.
[22:05] Decades before the era of online databases and nationwide missing
[22:09] persons alerts, Jimmy's disappearance remained a local
[22:13] case with little publicity. His relatives never knew if he
[22:17] had run away, fallen victim to foul play, or had an accident.
[22:22] He simply vanished, and no trace of the teenager turned up in the
[22:26] weeks and months that followed. As the 1970s gave way to the
[22:31] 1980s and beyond, Jimmy's family was left with only painful
[22:35] uncertainty. They had no idea that their boys
[22:39] remains had actually been found the very next spring and laid to
[22:43] rest under a nameless tombstone in Garnett, under the careful
[22:46] watch of a caring local community.
[22:49] For over 50 years, the fates of Jimmy Dollison and the Garnett
[22:53] John Doe remained unconnected. Puzzles 2.
[22:57] Unsolved mysteries running in complete parallel.
[23:03] In early 2025, after months of specialized DNA analysis, the
[23:08] breakthrough finally arrived. Othram's genealogical research
[23:13] had generated leads to specific families that shared significant
[23:16] DNA with the unknown Garnett victim.
[23:20] KBI agents and Anderson County investigators followed the
[23:23] genetic leads to locate surviving family members of the
[23:26] victim. They identified siblings of a
[23:29] missing Kansas City boy, and in February 2025, those siblings
[23:35] were approached by law enforcement.
[23:38] Investigators conducted interviews and collected DNA
[23:41] samples from at least one close relative for direct comparison.
[23:45] The laboratory analysis confirmed what the officers had
[23:48] suspected. The DNA from the exhumed remains
[23:52] matched the family's DNA. The Garnet John Doe was
[23:56] positively identified as Jimmy Allen Dollison, the Kansas City
[24:01] teenager who had vanished in 1972.
[24:05] The identification was officially announced in April
[24:07] 2025, bringing an end to the 52 year old mystery of the boy's
[24:12] identity. With Jimmy's identity confirmed,
[24:18] the focus of the cold case has shifted from who the victim was
[24:22] to who perpetrated this act against him.
[24:25] The Kansas Bureau of Investigation and the Anderson
[24:28] County Sheriff's Office have reopened the investigation.
[24:32] Now, armed with the knowledge of the victim's name and origin,
[24:36] detectives are piercing together Jimmy's last known movements in
[24:39] the fall of 1972, hoping to determine how he ended up in
[24:44] Garnett and who might have been involved.
[24:47] Some have speculated that he was hitchhiking westward and may
[24:51] have been picked up by a dangerous stranger.
[24:54] Others have questioned whether someone he believed to be his
[24:57] friend may have turned on him. These questions remain
[25:01] unanswered, but identifying him will give investigators the
[25:05] opportunity to investigate all sorts of new leads.
[25:10] While the case is over 50 years old, most of the people who knew
[25:13] him from school will likely still be alive and potentially
[25:17] be able to give information about what he was up to in his
[25:21] final days. One thing that's unclear to me
[25:27] at present, and that I'd like to know, is whether the police file
[25:31] from 1972 for Jimmy Dollison's disappearance has been preserved
[25:35] in any way. If it has, there may be witness
[25:39] statements which can now be followed up on over 50 years
[25:42] later. That said, it's not even clear
[25:45] to me if the authorities investigated Jimmy's
[25:47] disappearance when his parents reported him gone.
[25:51] It may be that there's no file whatsoever and never was, which
[25:56] would of course significantly hinder any potential complete
[25:59] resolution to this case. This of course seems incredibly
[26:03] odd to me given that he was 16 years old when he went missing,
[26:07] but this seems to have been the general approach to policing at
[26:10] the time. All that said, if they did any
[26:14] investigative work whatsoever, and if it survived, this could
[26:19] be the key to fully solving this case.
[26:22] By combining the evidentiary value of the Garnet John Doe
[26:25] file, the Jimmy Dollison investigative file, and the DNA
[26:30] evidence, perhaps the authorities can finally resolve
[26:33] this mystery fully. Donald Webb was a career
[26:40] criminal who spent decades as a fugitive after a fatal firefight
[26:43] in which he fatally injured a police chief.
[26:46] Born in 1931, he had a long history of crimes ranging from
[26:51] burglary to weapon offenses. Webb operated primarily in the
[26:55] New England area and had ties to organized crime, associating
[27:00] with members of the Patriarcha crime family in Rhode Island.
[27:04] By the late 1970s, he was known to specialize in jewelry store
[27:08] heists and was already a wanted man for a jewelry burglary in
[27:12] New York prior to the events that would make him infamous.
[27:17] At the time, Webb lived in New Bedford, MA with his wife
[27:21] Lillian and her son, and he often travelled under false
[27:25] identities. He generally used the name of
[27:28] Lillian's deceased first husband, Stanley Portis, as an
[27:33] alias when checking into motels. Those close to him later
[27:37] recounted that Webb had vowed never to return to prison, a
[27:41] promise that would foreshadow the violent encounter to come.
[27:47] On December 4th, 1980, Webb was in the quiet town of Saxonburg,
[27:52] Pennsylvania, reportedly to scout a jewelry store for a
[27:55] potential robbery. Around 3:00 PM, Saxonburg Police
[28:00] Chief Gregory Adams, a 31 year old officer and former Marine,
[28:05] pulled over Webb's vehicle for a routine traffic stop.
[28:09] What should have been a mundane stop quickly turned deadly.
[28:13] Webb attacked Chief Adams, brutally beating him and
[28:17] shooting him twice at close range during a violent struggle.
[28:20] Despite being mortally wounded, Chief Adams fought back
[28:24] fiercely. He managed to fire once at Webb
[28:27] and even inflicted serious injuries on the attacker before
[28:31] collapsing. In the melee, Adams tore off
[28:34] part of Webb's lower lip and kicked with enough force to
[28:37] shatter Webb's lower left leg, injuries that would disfigure
[28:41] and incapacitate Webb for life. Sadly, Adams succumbed to his
[28:47] injuries while being rushed to a hospital, leaving behind a wife
[28:52] and two young sons. In a community that had rarely
[28:54] seen such violence, the senseless act of violence
[28:58] against Adams shocked the small town of Saxonburg.
[29:02] It was only the second slaying in the town's century plus
[29:05] history. Investigators arriving at the
[29:08] crime scene quickly found clues that pointed to Donald Webb as
[29:12] the prime suspect. In the aftermath of the
[29:15] struggle, police recovered a New Jersey driver's license under
[29:19] one of Webb's known aliases. They also discovered blood
[29:23] evidence at the scene that matched Webb's blood type.
[29:28] This attack on a police chief triggered an enormous manhunt
[29:32] spanning multiple states. Local Saxonburg authorities
[29:36] immediately contacted the Pennsylvania State Police and
[29:39] the FBI for assistance, knowing that the suspect had likely fled
[29:43] the area within two weeks of the attack.
[29:47] Crucial evidence surfaced to trace Webb's escape route.
[29:51] On December 21st, 1980, investigators located Webb's
[29:55] getaway vehicle, a white Mercury Cougar, abandoned in the parking
[30:00] lot of a Howard Johnson's motel in Warwick, RI Inside the car,
[30:05] they found more blood evidence consistent with Webb's injuries.
[30:09] The discovery of the car in New England strongly suggested that
[30:13] Webb had fled back toward his home turf in Massachusetts and
[30:17] Rhode Island by the end of 1980. Pennsylvania authorities
[30:21] formally charged Webb for the slaying of Chief Adams, and a
[30:25] federal arrest warrant was issued on December 31st, 1980.
[30:30] The case quickly drew national attention, and the FBI added
[30:34] Webb to its 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list on May 4th, 1981,
[30:40] reflecting the severity of the offense.
[30:45] Following the attack, Webb began what would become one of the
[30:49] longest runs from justice in American history.
[30:53] Investigators long believed that Webb fled Pennsylvania
[30:56] immediately and returned to Massachusetts, relying on the
[31:00] criminal network and family support he had in that region.
[31:05] In fact, information decades later confirmed that Webb,
[31:08] severely injured, checked into Toby Hospital in Wareham, MA,
[31:14] under a false name to treat the injuries he sustained in 1980.
[31:19] Hospitals weren't required to report gunshot wounds to police,
[31:23] and Webb's alias identity allowed him to receive care for
[31:27] about four weeks without alerting authorities.
[31:30] Webb recovered from his shattered leg and other wounds
[31:33] just enough to move on from the hospital.
[31:37] He slipped back into daily life in New England, hiding in plain
[31:41] sight with the help of his wife Lillian.
[31:46] For the next 17 years, Web evaded capture through a
[31:50] combination of St. smarts and support from his wife.
[31:55] Investigators later found evidence that this home
[31:57] contained a secret hiding space built to conceal him.
[32:01] While in hiding for almost 2 decades, he rarely ventured
[32:05] outside, both because of his distinctive injuries and the
[32:09] fear of recognition. According to later surveillance
[32:13] reports, the wife lived a life completely dedicated to
[32:16] concealing her husband. Neighbors and agents observed
[32:20] her using wigs and hair dyes to change her look and driving
[32:24] circuitous roots to shake off anyone following her.
[32:28] Investigators strongly suspected Lillian knew far more about
[32:32] Webb's whereabouts than she ever admitted publicly.
[32:36] Complicating matters, under Massachusetts law, a wife
[32:40] couldn't be charged for assisting her husband in such
[32:42] circumstances, which limited authorities leverage against
[32:46] her. Through the 1980s and 1990's,
[32:52] the search for Donald Eugene Webb alternated between flurries
[32:56] of activity and years of frustration.
[32:59] He remained on the FB IS 10 Most Wanted list for over 25 years,
[33:04] from 1981 until March 31st, 2007, setting a record at the
[33:09] time for longevity on the list. Periodically, investigators
[33:14] pursued new tips and conducted surveillance on Webb's
[33:17] relatives. In 1990, the FBI even released
[33:21] an Age Progress sketch to show what Webb might look like as he
[33:25] aged in hiding. Each lead that surfaced,
[33:28] however, ended in disappointment.
[33:31] But finally a real significant breakthrough came in the mid
[33:34] twenty 10s. In late 2016, investigators in
[33:41] Massachusetts made a startling discovery during a search
[33:45] related to a separate matter. They found a secret room in
[33:49] Lillian Webb's new home in Dartmouth, MA.
[33:53] This hidden compartment, about the size of a shower stall, was
[33:57] concealed behind a closet in the basement of the house Lillian
[34:01] had purchased in 1997. Inside the secret room, police
[34:06] found items that raised suspicions, including a cane.
[34:11] When questioned, Lillian claimed the secret room was meant as a
[34:14] hideout during break insurance and denied knowledge of the
[34:18] cane. Despite her denials, this
[34:21] discovery was the most concrete evidence in decades that Webb,
[34:25] if still alive at the time, had been sheltered in her home.
[34:32] By mid 2017, the renewed pressure on Lillian Webb was
[34:36] immense. In June 2017, after news of the
[34:41] secret room became known, Chief Addams Family filed a civil
[34:46] lawsuit against Lillian and her son, aiming to compel their
[34:49] cooperation. Facing the prospect of legal
[34:53] consequences and realizing the authorities were closing in,
[34:56] Lillian finally relented. On July 12th, 2017, her attorney
[35:03] met with investigators and relayed A detailed account of
[35:06] Webb's fate as provided by Lillian in exchange for immunity
[35:11] from any prosecution. Nearly 37 years after the crime,
[35:16] the pieces of the puzzle were about to fall into place.
[35:22] Once Lillian Webb decided to cooperate, the mystery of Donald
[35:26] Webb's disappearance was swiftly resolved.
[35:29] On July 13th, 2017, acting on the information Lillian
[35:35] provided, a multi agency team executed a search warrant at her
[35:39] residence in North Dartmouth, MA.
[35:44] The warrant explicitly authorized investigators to
[35:47] search for Webb's body both inside the house and on the
[35:50] property grounds. Exactly as Lillian had
[35:53] described, authorities found a grave site in her backyard.
[35:58] Buried in a plastic storage container.
[36:00] Just under the earth were human remains that forensic experts
[36:04] quickly identified as those of Donald Eugene Webb.
[36:08] The office of the Massachusetts Chief Medical Examiner confirmed
[36:12] the identification on July 13th, 2017, officially ending the
[36:18] nearly 4 decades search. Webb's remains were found in a
[36:22] shallow grave behind the house, bringing closure to one of the
[36:26] longest manhunts in FBI history. Investigators learned that Webb
[36:32] had likely passed away approximately 17 years prior,
[36:36] around 1999, while still in hiding.
[36:40] With the case closed, the authorities revealed astonishing
[36:44] details about Donald Webb's life on the run.
[36:47] After fleeing Saxonburg in 1980, Webb indeed returned to
[36:51] Massachusetts, as investigators had long suspected.
[36:56] For about 17 years, from late 1980 until the late 1990s, Webb
[37:01] lived quietly between two locations in southeastern
[37:05] Massachusetts. He first lived in Lillian's home
[37:08] in New Bedford and then later in the Dartmouth house she bought
[37:12] in 1997. In these homes, special
[37:15] accommodations were made to hide him.
[37:18] The New Bedford house was believed to have a hidden room
[37:21] or space for web, and the Dartmouth house was even more
[37:25] deliberately designed for concealment.
[37:28] Shortly after moving into the Dartmouth residence, Lillian had
[37:32] a secret compartment constructed behind a basement closet.
[37:38] Webb would retreat into this space whenever visitors came or
[37:41] if there was any risk of discovery.
[37:44] Most of the time, Webb stayed indoors.
[37:47] Lillian later admitted that her husband avoided going outside
[37:50] due to his altered appearance from the injury and because of
[37:54] chronic pain in his leg. As the years went by, Webb's
[37:58] health deteriorated significantly.
[38:01] In 1997, he suffered a severe stroke that left him completely
[38:06] immobile and dependent on Lillian's care.
[38:09] It's believed that he suffered from a second stroke and ended
[38:12] up perishing in or around December 1999, despite spending
[38:19] so many years on the run. In a somewhat ironic twist,
[38:24] Donald Webb would essentially spend the rest of his life under
[38:27] house arrest, living in a state of constant fear.
[38:31] The actions of Police Chief Adams during that final fight
[38:34] ensured that Webb could essentially never even attempt
[38:37] to live a normal life again.

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