This week, the sisters cover unsolved murder cases from the 1970’s. Cassie covers the Freeway Phantom Murders and the Murder of Pauline “Robbin” Burgette, while Gina covers the murder of “Hogan’s Heroes” star Bob Crane and the Assassination of Georgi Markov.
Freeway Phantom Murders
The Freeway Phantom is the name given to unidentified murderer of six young black girls, who were taken from the streets of Washington DC and strangled and then discarded near heavily traveled roads. Three of the girls were found raped, one was found sodomized, and one was so badly decomposed it was impossible to determine the cause of death.
On April 25, 1971, 13-year-old Carol Denise Spinks was sent to go buy groceries at a 7-Eleven located half a mile from her home. On her way home, she was abducted; her body was found six days later, she had been physically and sexually assaulted, she died from strangulation.
On July 8, 1971, 16-year-old Darlenia Denise Johnson, was on her way to her summer job when abducted. Eleven days after Darlenia had gone missing, she was located just 15 feet from where Carol Spinks body was found. By the time police found Darlenia’s body, she was too decomposed to determine the cause of death or if she had been sexuallt assaulted, but officials were able to determine that she had been strangled.
On July 27, 1971, 10-year-old Brenda Faye Crockett was sent to the store by her mother, but never returned. Two hours after Brenda failed to return home, the family phone rang. On the other line was Brenda, crying hysterically, she said “a white man picked me up, and I'm heading home in a cab.” She said she was in Virginia and then abruptly said “bye” and hung up. Police theorized that Brenda likely called home because her captor told her to, feeding her inaccurate information, which would help hamper the investigation. Around 6:00 the next morning, a hitchhiker discovered Brenda’s body on US Route 50 in Prince George’s County, Maryland. She had been raped, strangled and scarf was tied around her neck.
On October 1, 1971, 12- year- old Nenomoshia Yates was walking home when she was kidnapped, raped and strangled. Her body was found just three hours after her abduction, just off the shoulder of Pennsylvania Ave in Prince George’s County, Maryland. She was found clothed, without shoes, but green fibers were found on her clothing.
On November 15, 1971, 18-year-old, Brenda Denis Woodard, heading home after having dinner with a high school classmate. She boarded a city bus around 11:30 pm to return home. Just six hours later her body was discovered. She had been strangled and stabbed multiple times. Along with her body a note from the killer read, " this is tAntAmount to my insensitivity to people especiAlly women.I will Admit the others wheN you cAtch me iF you cAn!
FRee-wAy PhanTom."
On September 5, 1972, 17-year-old high school senior, Diane Denis Williams, cooked dinner for her family and then visited her boyfriend’s house. She was last seen boarding a bus near her boyfriend’s house around 11:20 pm. Just a few hours later, her body was discovered dumped alongside I-295. Her shoes were missing, there were no signs of sexual assault, but traces of semen were found, that law enforcement associated with her boyfriend. She had been strangled.
Suspects
Members of the Green Vega gang were responsible for numerous Washington DC and Maryland rapes and abductions near the Washington Beltway. Gang members were individually interviewed by MPDC Homicide Detectives. Initially one of the gang members implicated a colleague for the crimes, but no definitive proof could be uncovered and the gang was removed from the suspect list.
Edward Sullivan and Tommie Simmons, were two ex-cops arrested for the murder of Angela Denise Barnes. Barnes, who was just 14, was thought to be a victim of the Phantom Killer murders initially. Authorities later determined her case to be separate and removed Sullivan and Simmons as suspects for the six killings.
In March 1977, a 58-year-old computer technician, Robert Askins, was charged with abducting and raping a 24-year-old woman inside her Washington DC home. Homicide Detective Lloyd Davis proceeded to question Askins and learned that the had been charged with murder on several occasions. A search warrant was eventually obtained and investigators dug through Askins’ backyard. They did not find any physical evidence and could not charge Askins with a connection to the Freeway Phantom killings.
48 years after the last Phantom Killer murder, the case still remains cold. The MPDC Homicide Division currently classifies this case as an open but cold case; there still is a reward of $150,000 as the case remains open. And that is the story of the Phantom Killer murders.
Murder of Bob Crane
Robert Edward Crane, better known as Bob Crane was born on July 13th, 1928, in Waterbury, Connecticut to Alfred Thomas and Rosemary Crane. From an early age it was clear that Crane had ambitions to be a performer.Bob graduated from Stamford High School in 1946, he worked for a few years before he enlisted in the National Guard in 1948, where he served until being honorably discharged in 1950. Around this time he began to send out audition tapes to various radio stations all over the East Coast, eventually he was offered a place at WLEA Radio in Hornell, New York. In 1949, Bob married his highschool sweetheart Anne Terzian. The couple would welcome three children together, a son Robert, and two daughters Deborah and Karen.
In 1956, Bob moved to Los Angeles where he launched his own show called the Bob Crane show on KNX-CBS Radio. The program premiered on September 13th, 1946, and Bob quickly became one of the “who’s who” of celebrity interviewers. Bob Crane was known for his interviewing abilities and his quick wit, as well as his talent and ear for music and sound effects.His show on KNX-CBS Radio went to become the top rated morning show and advertisers paid top dollar for airtime. As his radio show saw more and more success, Bob was really sought after for television programs. In 1962 he began to get more notable roles, such as a guest role on The Dick Van Dyke Show, which led to a two year stint as a series regular on The Donna Reed Show, which lasted from 1963 to 1965. KNX-CBS Radio air The Bob Crane Show for the final time on August 16th, 1965.
In 1964, Bob was approached about a new series that was set during World War II, while he was initially skeptical about the show's premise, after reading a script he was eager to audition. After a few call backs and chemistry readings, Bob Crane was offered the role of Colonel Hogan on the Television Program Hogan’s Heroes. Hogan’s Heroes was picked up by CBS, and the show premiered on September 17th, 1965. The show was quickly an enormous success, Bob was praised for his role and would go on to receive two Emmy award nominations.
During the run of Hogan’s Heroes, Crane was introduced to John Henry Carpenter, a sales manager for Sony Electronics. Carpenter had a few high profile clients who he had assisted in selling equipment to in order for them to film their own sexual acts, and Bob was known to do the same thing. So he would photograph and film himself having sex, or was known to photograph women in risque situations or stages of undress. Bob Crane and John Carpenter struck up a friendship and they often went out to bars together. The two men were able to pull a lot of women and Bob would introduce Carpenter as his manager. The two would eventually film their joint sexual encounters. Over the years it's thought that Bob Crane had hundreds of hours of video footage as well as photographs.
Flashforward to the summer of 1978, when Bob Crane was on the road in Scottsdale, Arizona performing the play Beginner’s luck at the Windmill Dinner Theatre. When Bob was on the road, Carpenter would come in to visit and the men would go out to the clubs at night. After Bob’s marriage to his second wife Patricia broke down, he was really determined to make changes in his life and kind of have this fresh new start, and he was getting to the point where he felt the friendship with John Carpenter had ran its course.
On June 29th, 1978, 49-year- old Bob Crane was found dead in his bedroom.He was found in his bed with an electrical cord wrapped around his neck and he had been bludgeoned to death with an unidentified weapon, though investigators believed that the murder weapon could have likely been a camera tripod that was found on the scene. Investigators found no signs of forced entry, and it did not appear that robbery was a motive as nothing of value was taken from the scene. What investigators did find was Bob Crane’s extensive video collection which eventually led them to John Carpenter. They impounded and searched his rental car, where they found several blood smears which matched Bob Crane’s blood type, further DNA testing was not available at that time. Because they had no other substantial evidence, the Maricopa County Attorney decided against filing any charges. The case fell cold and was closed.
In 1990, Detective Barry Vassall, Investigator Jim Raines, and a former homicide investigator re-examined the evidence and got the county attorney to officially reopen the case. Investigator Jim Raines came across an evidence photo showing the interior of the car and what appeared to be pieces of brain tissue. While the tissue samples themselves had been lost, a judge ruled the photo was admissible evidence. So, in June of 1992, police arrested Carpenter and charged him with the murder of Bob Crane.
The trial began in 1994, however, John Carpenter was acquitted, and continued to deny any involvement in Bob’s murder up until his death in 1998.
A funeral for Bob was held on July 5th, 1978 at the St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church in Los Angeles. After his second wife Patricia Olson passed away from lung cancer in 2007, Bob’s remains were moved to Westwood Village Memorial Park, so that the couple could be buried together.
Unsolved Murder of Pauline “Robbin” Burgette
On March 12, 1978, 16-year-old Robbin, was home alone in her family’s duplex apartment in Phoenix, AZ as her mother and brother were away on a trip for the weekend. Around 5 pm, Robbin’s 11-year-old brother, Chad returned home. When he walked into Robbin’s bedroom, he found his sister dead. An autopsy determined that she had been sexually assaulted and stabbed repeatedly. When authorities conducted their investigation of the crime scene, they discovered very few clues. Despite a lengthy and thorough investigation, Robbin’s murder case quickly went cold.
There are a few theories as to what could have happened to Robbin:
It is unlikely that Robbin was killed in a burglary gone wrong; there were no reports of forced entry and there are no known items missing from the home. Cold Case Detective Clark Schwartzkopf told the media that Robbin’s murder was notably brutal and stressed that “whoever committed the crime, this was a crime of anger, and rage and Robbin knew her perpetrator.” Law enforcement thought that Robbin knew who killed her and had maybe even opened the door and let them in her home.
Police also investigated the possibility that Robbin could have been murdered by an ex-boyfriend or a friend. Detective Schwartzkopf informed the media that Robbin was a “ high school drop out that had plenty of time to date.” He also noted that “being out of school, she had a lot of boyfriends, a lot of ex-boyfriends, what we’re hoping is that somewhere along the line someone said something to someone and admitted to something.” However, a lot of people thought the detective was being judgy; judging Robbin for dropping out of high school and painting her in a light of dating around so much that there were so many possibilities of an ex-boyfriend murdering her.
Another theory suggests an acquaintance murdered her. Robbin had been babysitting at an apartment complex for a period of time leading up to her death. Detective Schwartzkopf said “[Robbin] had been brought back home early. And we know there were problems at the other complex with a gentleman making advances on her while she was babysitting there for three weeks before her murder.” There isn’t a ton of evidence as to what happened between this man and Robbin, but the man was investigated by police, with no arrest coming from the questioning.
Perhaps the most convincing lead in Robbin’s case comes from a DNA profile the police generated from evidence at the murder scene.Investigators were able to determine that at least two people were present during Robbin’s murder. Although this was undoubtedly a great discovery, Detective Schwartzkopf explained that “it is good to have DNa evidence, but it is not much use unless they can match it to suspects.”
42 years after the brutal murder of Robbin, her case still remains unsolved to this day. Her family still has no answers and whoever did that has been walking free for far too long. There is a $1,000 reward for this case, so if you have any information, you can contact that police department of Phoenix, AZ.
Georgi Markov
Georgi Ivanov Markov was born to Bulgarian Army Officer Ivan and Raika Markov, on March 1st 1929.After completing university he worked as a chemical engineer and as a professor at a technical school. In 1957 he published his set of science fiction short stories called The Night of Caesium and would continue to publish additional works in the years to come. He received critical acclaim for his 1962 full length novel title Muzhe (or men), which told the story of three young army officers as their various paths lead them to manhood. It was praised by the top literary establishment, The Union of Bulgarian Writers, who offered him membership after the book's release. The novel was quickly adapted into films, plays, and radio programs, and as his popularity grew across the country, he began to brush shoulders with high ranking communist officials.
The communists saw writers as great tools for keeping people in check with their rules and beliefs. So they would often approach writers such as Markov and cut deals with them, where in exchange for essentially writing propaganda, the authors would get a bunch of privileges, like money, cars, vacation homes, travel opportunities, etc. Markov saw that the government’s attempts to get him to write what they wanted, would essentially lead to people being stripped of their abilities to be free thinking and lead them to no longer write, talk about things, etc. and Markov refused to allow his creative abilities to be used to spew propaganda. So slowly over time he became more and more of a “problem” for the BCP.
Eventually he grew too frustrated with the censorship that was being placed on his works and authorities were kind of indicating that they were going to take legal action against him, so in 1969 he fled to Bologna, Italy. He originally had only planned to stay for a short period until tensions in Bulgaria had eased, but overtime he found life outside of Bulgaria more and more appealing. In 1972 he moved to London where he was hired by BBC News to work as a broadcast journalist, It was during this time he really became more and more critical of the Bulgarian regime and its figures and he was very outspoken about it. He began to write more and more about Bulgaria and its communist government. He caused such an uproar with the BCP that the Bulgarian Government and other Soviet governments were monitoring him, and they also declared him an enemy of the people. Across Bulgaria his books were taken out of libraries and bookshops, and his name was banned from any mentions in official Bulgarian media and documentation.
On September 7th, 1978, Markov walked across the Waterloo Bridge over the River Thames and waited to board a bus to head into work at BBC. While waiting for the bus, he suddenly felt a sharp stinging pain in the back of his right thigh. When he turned around he saw a man grabbing an umbrella off of the ground. The man looked at him, in a thick accent said “I’m sorry,” then he walked to the other side of the street where he got into a taxi and drove off. Markov thought the whole thing was strange but brushed it off and headed into work business as usual. Once he arrived at his office and examined his thigh, he noticed a red bump formed where he felt the stinging, and he still felt the stinging sensation even after arriving at work. He shared the ordeal with a co-worker but again went on about his day as usual. After arriving home after work, Markov developed a high fever and was brought to St. James Hospital in Balham, London. While in the hospital, Markov began to tell doctors that he believed he had been poisoned, after the doctor's failed time and time again to identify the cause of Markov’s sudden illness. Four days after being admitted, on September 11th, 1978, Georgi Markov was pronounced dead at 49 years old.
On September 12th, an extensive autopsy was performed by forensic pathologist, Dr. Bernard RIley. at Wandsworth Public Mortuary. He found that Markov’s lungs were full of fluid, his liver was damaged, there were small hemorrhages throughout his intestines, lymph nodes, and heart, and his white blood cell count was through the roof. It appeared Markov had died from heart failure. A tissue sample which included a 2 mm diameter puncture was cut from Markov’s right thigh, which was then sent to the U.K.’s Ministry of Defence’s Science and Technology Laboratory for further analysis.
Inside the sample, scientists found a 1.52mm wide pin sided metal pellet. The pellet was made of 90% platinum and 10% iridium. Two .34 mm holes had been drilled on each side, which caused it to produce a X-shaped crater inside the pellet. Investigators believed that the holes size and precision they had to have been drilled in with some kind of high-tech laser. In the well that had been formed inside the pellet, they found it had a capacity to store about one fifth of a milligram of liquid. The pellet was coated in a sugary wax like substance that helped to trap the ricin inside the pellet. The coating was designed to melt at 99 degrees fahrenheit, the average temperature of a human body, though no traces of the coating had been found on Markov’s body.
Testing showed that inside the well and in Markov’s showed no clear trace of any kind of toxic substances, so scientists relied on the process of elimination to determine what kind of toxic element was used inside the pellet. Among the toxins they considered, one naturally derived toxin stood out; Ricin, which is derived from castor oil beans. So when Ricin is made up of two toxic elements and when it enters the body essentially what happens is one of the toxins sort of creates a path for the second toxin to then attack a cell’s ability to create protein, which eventually kills the cell. Once the toxins enter the blood spread it spreads throughout the body, but its effects have a slow onset, so it causes a slow death. Typical symptoms of ricin poisoning can include: high white blood cell count, damages to lymph nodes, hemorrhaging in internal organs, and a sore at the site of infection.
They also considered where the pellet had entered his body. If the pellet had been administered with a hand-held device like when a vaccine is administered, the entry point would have most likely been in the lower back or shoulder. They considered the fact that Markov’s clothing had not been damaged, where if the pellet had been administered with a gun there would have been some kind of burn hole in his clothing and damage to the pellet. Considering all of this information, investigators came to the conclusion that an umbrella had been modified with a cylinder of compressed air, the tip of the umbrella as a barrel, and the handle as the trigger, to create a sort of umbrella gun, and was thus used to administer the pellet.
After Markov’s death, Scotland Yard learned of an assassination attempt that had occurred in Paris just ten days before Markov’s. Vladimir Kostov, the former head of the Paris Bureau of the Bulgarian State Radio and TV Network, and like Markov a Bulgarian defector, was attacked with an umbrella in a train station in Paris, where he felt a sharp sting in his back. Later, he fell ill and was hospitalized, suffering from a high fever and muscle stiffness, however after a few days he recovered. Doctors found a small pellet had been lodged into a muscle in his upper back, miraculously away from major blood vessels, and scientists would find that the pellet had traces of Ricin and was covered in wax. When the British Anti-Terror Squad learned of this incident they were sent the pellet and scientists compared it to the pellet collected from Kostov’s body, the two pellets were identical.
Throughout the years, former Soviet KGB members publicly stated that they provided assistance in the assassination. After this there were some conspiracies touted by Soviet Officials that Markov actually worked as a spy for the BCP but government documents and historians have been able to successfully dispute this, and basically these theories were made to get attention and suspicion away from the Soviets. Unfortunately there has been no clear documentation or evidence to suggest a person or persons are responsible for the attack because as its communist state fell in Bulgaria in the 1990’s, BPD officials illegally destroyed files relating to Markov, in attempts of hiding the crimes of the past regime. The democratic Bulgarian government vowed to thoroughly investigate Markov’s assination. Unfortunately with no suspects or actions able to be taken in the investigation the statute of limitations expired in 2013 so Bulgaria’s investigation into his death officially closed. Britain does not have a statute of limitations so as of 2020 their investigation is still open but no new revelations have come up.
In November of 2014, Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev unveiled a statue of Georgi Markov in the capital of Sofia. The President said, “The words of Georgi Markov spiritually liberated the Bulgarians even before the toppling of the communist regime.” Markov’s widow Annabel Dilke, who never remarried attended the ceremony and spoke about how Markov had really loved his country and wanted to return one, she said with the statue his wish came true and he is now a permanent part of the country's landscape. If Georgi Markov were still alive today he would be 91 years old. He is buried in the small graveyard at the Church of St. Candida and Holy Cross, in Whitchurch, Canonicorum, Dorset, England.
Sources
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“Bob Crane.” Wikipedia, 15 Jan. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Crane.
Rice, Lynette. “The Tragic, Unsolved Murder of ‘Hogan’s Heroes’ Star Bob Crane.” EW.com, 29 Aug. 2019, ew.com/tv/2019/08/26/bob-crane-hogans-heroes-unsolved-murder/.
“Georgi Markov.” Wikipedia, 11 Dec. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgi_Markov.
Lennon, Troy. “Bulgarian Dissident Georgi Markov ‘Shot’ by Killer Poison Pellet from an Umbrella.” Dailytelegraph, 10 Sept. 2018,www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/bulgarian-dissident-georgi-markov-shot-by-killer-poison-pellet-from-an-umbrella/news-story/1263538e609b4927ebd103bc8f3ac3c2.
Mackie, Lindsay, and John Andrews. “Defector’s Mystery Death.” The Guardian, 12 Sept. 1978, www.theguardian.com/world/from-the-archive-blog/2020/sep/09/georgi-markov-killed-poisoned-umbrella-london-1978.
“Markov (Georgi) Murder Investigation | Encyclopedia.com.” Www.Encyclopedia.com, 2 Dec. 2020, www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/markov-georgi-murder-investigation.
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