Garage Refill /// 500lb. Serial Killer /// Part 1 | Forensic Files

foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] welcome to True Crime garage wherever you are whatever you are doing thanks
for listening I'm your host Nick and with me as always is a man that once he finally got his ducks in a row they flew
south for the winter he is the captain well having some ducks as pets is not all that it's quacked up to be it's good
to be seen and it's good to see you thanks for listening thanks for telling a friend
today we are drinking duck pin pale ale by Union craft brewing company in Baltimore garage grade 4 out of five
bottle caps this is a generously hopped pale ale brewed with lots of Pacific Northwest and New Zealand Hops and my
favorite part Duckpin has big Citrus and tropical fruit Aroma you have Aroma and
Duckpin was brought to us by first up we have Amira in Santa Monica California another frisky bugger we have Becks over
in Leeds UK next up we have Berto in Waterford Michigan and a big weed like your jib to Jess in Oklahoma and we are
sending a long distance cheers to Katie and Isaac in Albuquerque New Mexico and last but not least we have Kimberly
right here in beautiful gray Columbus Ohio welcome to Ohio and it pains me to say
this but they did win last night so Roll Tide Roll Tide thank you to everybody for helping us with this week's beer run
if you want to help us out with next week's go to truecrime garage.com and click on the Donate button and there you
can find our blog our old episodes and bonus episodes you can also find the old episodes and bonus episodes on iTunes
all right that's enough of the business everybody gather around grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some true crime
foreign [Music] [Music] the following is a letter written and sent from a Maryland prison
you were always asking me about my murders well here is one that no one knows about
that's right pal I have never told anyone about this murder I never had to go far to find a victim
for most all truck stops across the U.S had [ __ ] working in and around them this is a story of a young prostitute I
killed in October of 1995. she was working the 76 Truck Stop in Reno Nevada I was driving a blue long-nosed
Peterbilt I was hooked up to a freezer trailer that's a trailer with a freezer I beat and raped that [ __ ] in the
sleeper of that truck that night until I grew tired of her then I put my hands on her neck and I
began squeezing her screams of pain slowly dwindled down to Mere rasp of agonizing Grunts and
groans the sound she made slowly faded away never to be heard again Sweet Death had finally come down upon
her now her body was just a dead carcass laying and wait for the decomposition to
start the breaking down of cells I laid there with my arms wrapped around her dead body and slept for about three
hours I woke up to my alarm clock going off at 5 30 A.M I climbed over her and I got dressed
I throwed a blanket over her then I started the truck up I got out of the truck locked the door
and headed over to the coffee shop to grab a bite and check the computer for loads heading east
the closest thing I saw available to me that I was looking for was a load of ranch house salad dressing they wanted
taken down to Houston Texas the company was located over in Sharps Nevada which is only about 25 miles north of
the truck stop I decided to accept the job I grabbed a coffee to go and off to the
truck I went I climbed up into the cab and checked everything out and off I go I got to the warehouse in Sharps they
had the load but there was no one there because it was Saturday morning the sign on the door said they were
opened up at 9am but it was only 7 45 AM so I looked around and there wasn't a damn soul in sight
there wasn't nothing around this little business park so I thought this would be a perfect place to ditch
her off I dragged her dead ass out of the truck I grabbed my little army shovel and off I went to the back of that
little Warehouse I found a nice isolated area back there I buried her in about 45 minutes
this Industrial Park wasn't very old so the ground was pretty soft and that's where she is to this day
it was not for another two bodies later that I would realize what a waste of all
that good meat was only ending up being nothing more than bug and worm food I have never Shed a Tear For Those I
have killed nor will I down the road those sweet young drug-addicted prostitutes that I killed back in my
past were pretty much dead to the world long before I killed them they were nothing more than walking
zombies looking for a few moments of pleasure from their sick twisted daily lives of
Shame I feel I've done those poor souls a favor if I feel anything for them I feel only
some jealousy for their pains are over and mine will continue as I sit Behind These Bars until the day
I die I have enclosed my tooth for you we never met but now you will always have a part of me with you
you take care be safe out there my best friend signed with a thumbprint pressed in
blood [Music] foreign December 8 1996 Baltimore Maryland and Captain while I would consider the great
state of Maryland to be a beautiful beautiful state in Baltimore to be a beautiful city as well well I would not
consider the couple of city blocks where our story starts off to be anywhere near
beautiful shout out to Rockville Maryland this is a dingy undesirable couple of city blocks on the city's
Southwest side back in December of 1996 Joe Metheny is 46 years old he's about six foot one inches tall and almost 300
pounds so we're talking about a pretty big guy here big boy on the night of the eighth he met a woman by the name of
Rita Kemper who was 37 years old he met her at the borderline bar now Joe is at this bar nearly every night drinking
beer in Southern Comfort the bar is right by where Joe Matheny Works Joe works for the Joe Stein and
Sun Pallet company for those of you that may not know pallets are those wood skids manufactured primarily for
stacking cargo when loading you know onto semi trucks or trains anyway not only does Joe work there but he is
living there so Alex I'll explain Joe is a forklift operator at the Joe Stein and
Son Pallet company he's a forklift operator by day but by night he is a night Watchman Joe is a well let's say
he's a very persuasive personality he's outgoing he's quite the talker so my guess is Joe had nowhere to live and he
cut a deal with his boss you know you need someone to watch this place at night and I work here during the day you
know me you trust me so they work out this deal I think they only paid him an additional twenty
dollars a week for his night Watchman duties right but he got to stay there and sleep there at night
the Joe Stein and Son Pallet company is located at 3200 James Street which is in
the southwest corner of the city of Baltimore the company is situated on a lot which is adjacent to a wooded area
the company has a locked entrance gate and is surrounded by an eight foot high chain link fence with barbed wire on top
the lot is approximately the size of a city a square city block there's a warehouse and an office
building there that is surrounded by literally thousands of wooden pallets which are stacked at varying Heights
throughout the lot there is no business conducted at this company or surrounding companies during
the evening hours James Street is a dead end Street where there is very little to
no pedestrian traffic Joe lived in a small one-room trailer located on the South fence
the nearest residential development to The Pallet company is approximately two blocks away on this particular night
apparently his Watchmen duties included inviting Rita Kemper back to his trailer
read on the bar yes Rita had joined Joe at the trailer on at least one other occasion now I don't know the
particulars of that visit but I do know the particulars of this one and it goes like this Joe invited Rita back to join
him at the trailer with the promise of drinks and cocaine well at some point Joe starts attacking Rita
she manages to get out of the trailer she raced towards the front gate but Joe is chasing after her Rita Kemper reached
the gate but it was locked when she turned around to look for another way out Joe had caught up to her and he
punched her his big fat fist smashing into her jaw rendering her unconscious Joe then dragged her back into the
trailer by her hair once Joe had Rita back in the trailer he pinned her down which is probably pretty
easy for him once he got on top of her to hold her down I mean he's almost 300 pounds at this time I don't know the
size of this poor woman but I'm guessing she's outsized by quite a bit once pinned down Joe starts pulling down
Rita's jeans she starts screaming Joe yells at her um and she's yelling at Joe but Joe's
not terribly worried about the screams because where this is located where the trailer is located this lot it's it's
likely that not anyone would hear her especially at this hour of night I mean like you said there's no pedestrians
walking by correct and there's no business being conducted in this area at this hour Rita begs Joe to stop
attacking her he ignores her she starts praying out loud and Joe's reaction to this well he he finds this to be funny
then Joe tells Rita that he's going to rape her and when he's done he's going to kill her and once she is dead he is
going to bury her in the woods with the other girls Rita Kemper decides that she is not
going to die not that night not by the hands of this loser well she started kicking and she kicked her legs out of
her pants remember he was trying to pull the pants off right and he she rolled underneath of Joe as he was trying to
keep her pin down this rolling allows her to break free now she's on her feet and she's
sprinting out of the trailer and looking for a way out of the fenced-in yard now Joe is up and he's running after her
and he's still got her pants in his hand Rita ran toward one of several large stacks of pallets
now there are hundreds of course of these pallets there are probably you know piles and stacks of these things
all along the fences Rita starts climbing one of these Stacks Joe runs up to the stack she's climbing
and he's trying to grab her as she continues to climb I mean this is like a scene out of a horror movie Rita feels
Joe's hand nearly grab her ankle she gets to the top of the stack and she leaps jumping over the top of the fence
she slams to the ground but thankfully on the other side of the fence from Joe methany
she gets back on her feet and runs down the hill screaming and waving her hands she's trying to flag down a vehicle then
she sees the lights of an approaching car am I wrong I mean that's like the ending of the first Texas Chainsaw
Massacre right waving down a vehicle yeah yeah yeah I mean you have this woman who it seems like if you if you
looked in on this area it would feel like there was nothing around this trailer and nothing around this
fenced-in pallet yard yeah she's basically trapped with inside that fence figuring out this masterful way to get
out leaping over the fence and now she's free but she's still got this Maniac inside the fence
trying to get to her yeah and you just wanted a little bananas and blow and uh now you're jumping over fences well
she's outside the fence she's trying to flag down a car she sees a car this car starts to slow down and to her surprise
it's a police officer she tells the officer what had just happened and how she was attacked and
how Joe had told her that he was going to rape and kill her the officer drives up the hill and around to the front of
the gate Joe is inside the fence near the gate and in his hands he still has a hold of Rita's pants
the officer orders Joe out and into his car Joe spent the night in jail and he was going to be charged with assault
kidnapping and attempted rape but the thing here is though Captain they didn't hold him long he was not
going to have to stay in jail for very long to wait for the trial right and he also knows where his victim you know
goes to hang out he knows probably her friends maybe knows where she lives yeah and I I I'm guessing she won't be
returning to the borderline bar anytime soon right especially with him being out
so they well I'm pointing out that the police are not protecting her right and they end up releasing him it's just a
day or two after this attack so when Joe gets out guess where he is Captain goes
to the bar that's right he's right back at the borderline bar sitting on a stool
drinking Southern Comfort and beer telling jokes now not too long after being released from jail Joe is back at
the bar and on this particular night he's hanging out with a guy named William Ashbrook Jr now William works
with Joe at The Pallet Company they are at the borderline bar most of the night boozing it up Joe invites
William back to the trailer just to be clear there's no crime or shame in that and
boozing it up with with your buddy from The Pallet Company no I mean just being out of the bar and boozing it up right
right so Joe invites William back to the trailer they get to the trailer and they start
snorting cocaine that's a crime okay thanks for the clarification to let you know
and after a few snorts Joe asked William for a favor sir Joe go ahead no I almost choked on my
beer Joe tells William that he needs helps in the line after a few lines not after a few snorts you snorts
we're changing we're changing the lingo after a few snorts continue yeah Joe asked William William for a favor he
wants help moving a body and he thinks maybe William would help him with this huh William thinks Joe is messing around
with him he doesn't believe Joe so Joe then takes William into the woods and Joe starts pushing away debris and trash
and underneath this debris and trash sure enough there is a rotting nude body of a dead woman
William tells Joe that he's going to vomit and that he's not going to help him move the body yeah he does
offer to go get more cocaine yeah I wonder when he's saying hey look I'm going to puke I can't help you I
wonder what Joe's demeanor was at this time was he getting angry at him did he sense uh you know did he feel threatened
like if I don't help him is he gonna attack me yeah yeah it makes you wonder and I almost feel like we have Joe
Metheny at this point that's got probably so much beer and Southern Comfort and cocaine in him he might even
be very casual about this whole thing yeah hey what you want to go help me move this
body well I like this little escape plan that that William has here he's like I'm
not going to help you move the body but I'll go get some more cocaine for the both of us yeah well with this he leaves
and he does not come back that night the next day I'm not sure if this is at work
remember they work together or if this was at the bar after work but William asked Joe about the body that he was
asked to help move Joe plays Dumb and acts like he doesn't know what William is talking about right well William
starts to get scared of his friend Joe he starts getting scared of this stuff that he knows he starts thinking
you know if if I know about this dead body that Joe showed me maybe I'm the only one that knows about it well Joe
could easily take me out and then nobody knows about this body right yeah So eventually just within a couple of days
William reports the story to the police on December 15 1996 at approximately 1 40 a.m members of the Baltimore City
police department and an FBI task force arrest Joe Metheny get this they arrested Joe at the Joe
Stein and Sons company Christmas party and it does not take them long to find a dead body just 10 feet from the trailer
that Joe slept in they find the body of a woman who is wrapped up in a red tarp and that would be the body I'm assuming
the dead body would later be identified as Kimberly Lynn Spicer age 26. so after
he is arrested a Baltimore Police Officer transported him to the homicide unit of the police department during the
course of the investigation of the recovered body of Kim Spicer Joe gave several statements to detectives but he
starts telling them about someone other than Kim Spicer he tells them he met a woman
about two years ago he described the woman as possibly having brown hair her build
according to Joe was she was a little thin and she was a little tall in stature he believes this would have been
one night back in July 1994. Joe is very judgmental yeah he says that this would
have been around eight or nine PM that night he tells the officers that he took this
woman to his trailer located at The Pallet company and while in his trailer he had sex with her while she was
partially clothed she had been in his trailer for approximately one hour when Joe started
to strangle her when the detective asked Joe Metheny how did you strangle her did you strangle
her with your hands Metheny responded Yes with my hands the detective further questioned did you use anything else to
which he answered I used an extension cord I took the end of the chord and strangled her
to clarify he's saying that he choked her with his hands until she passed out once she passed out he put the extension
cord around her neck and killed her then according to Joe he drug her back into the woods then buried her in a
shallow grave he then took her purse and clothing and buried them in a separate location now we said that Joe did not
know the woman's name but he gave identifying information stating that he believed that the victim's first name
was possibly Kathy and that she was approximately five foot six to five foot seven and about 120 to 130 pounds she
was also missing a couple of Upper Front Teeth she had been wearing cut off jeans white
tennis shoes and a white pullover sweater and she had a purse with her and like you said he's basically living on
the property of his work and it's a fenced-in property and so it's a big area but outside that fence is where
he's been burying these individuals yeah there's that wooded area so he's going to draw a diagram of what he can you
know best remember to try to help them locate this victim yes they're go they're going to look for where he
buried the body he says it would have been a shallow grave he said approximately two feet deep
he further stated that when he buried her she was not dressed additionally Joe indicated that after the body had been
buried for about six months he went back to the burial location and dug up and removed the skull afterwards he threw
the skull in a trash box why why did he do that um I mean does it say yeah well he in his
words I mean actually I should I should clarify I don't know if these are his words maybe a reporter cleaned it up
right but from the report that I read he dug up the skull that had been there for
approximately six months cleaned it and then made love to it uh romantic yeah and then he he threw
this skull in a trash box the Box containing the skull was later removed from that location and transported to
according to Joe Oxford Pennsylvania so he must know where this trash is being sent to yeah and basically he's telling
you you're going to find this body roughly in this area on the diagram that I drew
you're gonna find a naked woman headless snake naked woman yeah yeah well also if
you're living in this you know work compound basically and you know when trash is leaving
then this is a great way for you to be able to hide evidence right he should have probably put the whole
thing in the you know in this trash box that would have been transported far away right but for whatever reason he
felt more comfortable burying her in that shallow grave in the woods so the next day the police took Joe in cuffs
and shackles back to the Pallet Company escorted by detective Pennington this is
one of the detectives that was involved in the questioning of Joe they took him there for the purpose of pointing out
where he had buried the female victim [Music] [Music] all right cheers mates so we're talking
about Joe Metheny the Killer um not to be confused with like somebody like Pat Matheny they're they're spelled
the same way but and if you look up some reports they will say Joe Matheny but it's actually Joe Metheny yeah we got
that from local Baltimore reports so him being from Baltimore we're going with that with that pronunciation so where we
left off Captain they had returned Joe to The Pallet company in hopes of finding this buried female victim that
Joe had told the investigators about now on that first day the search team was unsuccessful in locating the body Joe
could not seem to show them the right spot and there had been a good deal of rain around that time so they brought in
cadaver dogs to pick up a scent however possibly due to all this rain they were unable to find the location so finding
nothing they had to call off the search and then later again get permission to remove Joe from the Baltimore City
Detention Center with permission granted detective Pennington again transported Joe back to
the Joe Stein and Sun Pallet company to assist locating the body this time after
some hesitation methany indicated to detectives there's an area approximately just 10 feet from a previous location
that he had pointed out to them okay so bring in the excavation team right the team used techniques to carefully
unearth The Remains and they were exactly exactly in the condition that Joe said that they would be the doctor
at the excavation site noted that the cranium was missing the skeletal remains were recovered from a very shallow grave
and transported to the office of the chief medical examiner where later with dental records the remains were found to
be that of Catherine magazineer and Catherine would have been 45 at the time of her murder yeah and I know it's a bit
confusing Captain because we said that the cranium was missing but remember the body had been buried for approximately
six months so when Joe dug up the body and took the skull the lower jaw by this time had already fallen off
the lower jaw was located with the rest of the body and that's what they used to
get the dental records they're also going to be able to determine that Joe was telling the truth when he said that
her death was by strangulation yes and here's a little thing here Joe was asked why he had killed Kathy he said that it
gave him a sense of power stating I don't know I got a rush out of it I got high out of it yeah adding call it what
you want I had no real excuse other than I like to do it I don't know how to describe it so now Captain we have this
man we have him he's locked up he's been arrested we found two bodies he's attacked another woman that got away
thankfully yeah so who is this guy okay so we but we found the one that wasn't buried that's the one that he tried to
get his co-worker to help him bury yes that would move the body Kim Spicer she was wrapped up in a red tarp yeah and
then we found Catherine she is Buried buried in that wooded area near the Pallet Company both died of same cause
uh believed to be strangulation in both both deaths yes and then we have an attack on this was the Rita Kemper who
was attacked and got away now one thing I do want to point out here Captain regarding the cause of death with these
two women is that Joe unfortunately he he when he attacked these women he beat them quite a bit as well
um so they would have seen injuries on the bodies to indicate that as well so who is this guy that we have locked up
you know what can we figure out about his background well we can tell that he's a real piece of [ __ ] well Joe was
born in Baltimore County but lived in West Virginia from the ages of two to six later according to Joe pay attention
to that according to Joe he was shuffled among foster homes in the Baltimore area
he completed the eighth grade but he earned his high school equivalence equivalency and studied physics for a
year and a half while in the Army where he was a field artillery soldier from 1973 to 1975. he was honorably
discharged after that he worked at various jobs including a shipyard a liquor distributor and he was also a long-haul
truck driver for some time methany spent about 20 years in a world few people ever see he drifted in and out of
Baltimore city's homeless camps composed of filthy tents and sleeping bags under
bridges and over sewer gratings for a while he lived in row houses under the Patapsco River Bridge and a homeless
Community called Tent City then later in 1988 he began working at the Joe Stein and Sons Company where he lived in the
trailer at The Pallet Company now at The Pallet Company Captain according to his co-workers Joe Matheny
he made people laugh they said he would joke about anything and his bosses at work stated he was a pretty smart guy he
would come up with solutions to problems stating that if we had a problem he would be the one that would come up with
a way to figure it out but these same co-workers described a complex personality many of them saying in one
respect he is a gentle giant that they nicknamed tiny standing more than six feet tall weighing almost 300 pounds
stating that he loves to draw large cartoon characters and play video games so he sounds kind of like a big kid yeah
but enough with this uh what's called the big guy tiny let's come up with some better names than that that does happen
a lot but but here's where the complex personality comes into play they state that he also had a temper and at times
had threatened co-workers and also threatened patrons of the bar where he hung out nearly every night playing pool
does it right but does it say what kind of threats because there's a difference between hey man I'm going to kick your
ass and hey man I'm gonna kill you uh I don't have any specifics I don't have any specifics just co-workers stating
that they were aware that he had threatened them at times as well as people at this bar what and I think also
because you're living at your job then you know that you know if you make these threats and then your employer
comes down on you not only do you lose your job you're going to lose your home well he also drank very heavily
according to the people that knew him they believed that he went through a bottle of Southern Comfort whiskey each
and every night whether it be at the bar or back at the rundown trailer that was
furnished simply with two chairs a couch and a television set an electric heater
he Joe had surrounded the trailer with stacks of pallets Metheny told his attorney that he was
one of six children born into a poor family and that he was neglected as a child and shuffled off to foster homes
by his parents and telling his attorney by the time of his arrest both his parents were dead
okay now Captain as you know we are about to get into our first discrepancy in this serial killer profile case Okay
because here we try as we did with Ted Bundy and John Gacy to study their crimes their backgrounds and their words
to try to get a better sense of who these killers are why they did what they did and what made them this way now Joe
I wouldn't consider to be a human in any sense that we can see from the crimes that we have already discussed you can
see he's just an evil waste of life but when we look at Joe's crimes his background and especially his words to
try to figure him out this is where we run into one major problem Joe would later in life tell us a lot about his
crimes and background but at some point we have to start to wonder how much of this that he is telling us is true among
other things he told his lawyer that his mother was dead which came aim as a surprise to his mother right he says
both of his parents are dead well Presto Chango Captain Joe's mom is alive so not
only did he get that wrong or lie but his mother's Recollections contradict some of Joe's statements all right so
what does his mother say his mother was tracked down by a reporter at her home in Markleysburg Pennsylvania her name is
Gene methany and at the time of this she was 78 years Young when the reporter tracked her down uh she you mean old
yeah well both when she was told that her son Joe described her as dead she responded maybe he just wishes I was
right adding that he pushed his family away a long time ago Gene Metheny described her son as growing up to be a
normal boy saying he was smart and he had a good childhood she said this and this next statement should shouldn't
make me laugh but it does Jean said if Joe was neglected it was his own fault she
right that just does that seem weird or what that sounds neglectful yeah hey if uh you were neglected it's your own damn
fault yeah she said that their home was a pretty good one adding that none of her children were ever placed in other
homes but if it wasn't a good home it's your own damn fault Dean Bethany she said her husband was a
laborer the two of them struggled to make ends meet and moved to the North Point Boulevard area of Essex shortly
before Joe methany was born when Joe was six his father was killed in a car accident she said his death was very
very hard on the family right Gene had to work to support the family she said that she did everything she could to
keep the children together and the years after her husband's death Gene says she
worked as a waitress a bar maid and as a canteen truck driver who delivered lunches to workers at Sparrows Point
Shipyard she said she could not be with her family every single minute of the day but it was a normal family
she said we weren't rich but we always had something to eat and we always had a roof over our heads and that becomes a
difficult situation because the father at that time especially in that time period he probably was the breadwinner
and now she's gonna have to take on these jobs and a lot of times you'd see that the mother would stay at home and
raise the the children why the father can focus on his career and so she might not want to build up some of those
skills so she would had to take on jobs like being a waitress or something that wouldn't pay her as much per hour so she
wouldn't be working that normal 40-hour week she'd be working 60 hours a week well not only that Captain I'm guessing
that when she mentions that she has you know at times she worked as a waitress or a bar maid or the truck driver right
I'm also wondering because they have six children and she's a single parent if at
a lot of those times if she was working more than one of those jobs together no that's what I mean I I'm I'm assuming
that she's working anywhere from 60 to 70 hours right and that you know is that a normal childhood for some people yeah
but you know you have six kids then where did they go who's watching them yeah and I mean I don't mean to attack
Gene here not no not at all not at all but I do question where where I hear her say that she's working all these jobs
it seems to me like maybe neglected is not that big of a stretch well no because in her defense she's
doing everything she can to put food on the table keep the lights on so that's not you know it's not to collect right
right maybe that's the wrong word what I'm getting at though is we have one parent gone who passed away I'm just
saying that we have another that's that may not be home hardly ever and yeah and
we all know how tough it can be to live in a a single parent home uh and then especially in this time to have a single
mother home you know so I applaud her for putting the family on her shoulders and trying to do what she can
she did go on to tell us that she and the family never went on welfare and she remembers her son Joe as an avid bike
rider and an above average student and adding that he was always polite well if you're scoring at home trying to
keep track of Joe's lies or truths um so Dad dead yes check Mom not dead no check for Joe but maybe dead in his mind
yeah she did agree that uh that Joe did serve you know that Joe spent time serving this great country uh in our
nation's military and give some detail stating that when he turned 18 in 1973 Joe entered the Army and was stationed
in Germany where he met a woman that he seemed to be very close to we don't have
any more information on this woman but she brings him her up for some reason Joe Metheny told his attorney that he
served in Vietnam and became addicted to heroin during his Tour of Duty in the artillery unit right but his mother said
that she does not recall him having served in Vietnam the Articles where I found this
information stated that the military records for Joseph Matheny were not available when they wrote this I was
unable to confirm if he had actually served in the war or if he was just stationed in Germany like his mother had
said well tough thing here though too is I mean if if the death of the father was really
tough on the family and then you again you have six kids and then I mean is there any truth to
the whole foster care thing that seems to be an item that they cannot agree on she stating that she did
everything she could to keep the children together that they did that's true that's that's why I find her
statement strange right because she doesn't she doesn't definitively say the kids were always at my house and in my
care right she says that she did the best that she could to keep the children together right and so he goes off into
the army maybe he served maybe he didn't maybe she doesn't know because they weren't that close afterwards I do think
um she did at some point definitively say that they did not live at any other homes
but it seems like a now mind you she's 78 when she's giving this interview uh so some of these answers seem a little
bit uh of a roundabout way of getting to them now once he had left her home this
is according to his mother Joseph seldom called or wrote to his mother um the relationship she said eventually
disintegrated and the two didn't speak for about 10 years stating that he just kept drifting
further and further away and she does agree that Joe at some point developed a drug problem
um here's one thing I wonder about Captain if they hadn't spoken so long and I really wonder about Joe's drug
issues I think I think he was a severe alcoholic and probably very addicted to drugs
um right and I'm I'm betting that this had gone on for quite some time leading up to the point of his arrest with his
mother being 78 and them not having spoke for so long do you think where the public would
later call Joe a liar for stating that his mother is dead do you think there's any chance that he may have just thought
she was dead that he didn't keep track with her I mean you're talking about a guy that he
went he woke up in the morning probably hung over as hell and went and worked as
a forklift operator and then went straight to the bar every night after work where he got wasted drunk right and
would do drugs if he could get his hands on them and then wake up and repeat the
same thing the next day we're not talking about somebody that's keeping tabs on family members or or living any
kind of normal life well no contact for 10 years so maybe at some point he's either just assuming or like I said I
think more of that is psychologically that she's dead to me let's yeah yeah I agree with that and and I I obviously he
has some issues with women well let's get to the trials regarding the charges that Joe is facing he was first charged
with the attack on Rita Kemper we'll call her The One That Got Away this won't be a very tough trial though it
shouldn't be at all I mean we have a live giving witness slash victim and she ran directly from the attack and fled
into the arms of a police officer yeah so we have her testimony and we have the police officers testimony as well
regarding the victim the arrest and any evidence found in both so that's an easy
case Joe gets 50 years and that seems good that feels good right Captain he gets 50 years for the attack for the
attack on Rita Kemper on the on the the woman that thankfully got away from him yeah the thing here is when I was when I
was writing down this sentence that he got sentenced to 50 years something immediately popped in my head and I have
to bring this up with you because I know you're you're a fan I recently read one
of Robert Kessler's I'm sorry Robert wrestler's books uh I was inspired to do so because
of the the show mind Hunter on Netflix you and I both loved the Mind Hunter yeah I didn't love it at first I I think
it was like the first episode I thought the main character was I was like yeah I'm not really into this guy by the
second episode I'm not a huge car guy even though I own a garage um the cars in the show from the time
period and then it was his partner the old school cop the old school detective bill yeah Bill he grew on me
um much like the captain would grow on you because no but then by like the third episode I was in love with
everybody uh and I just think it's a amazing show the first I'm getting a little off track here but the first uh
episode opens up with that hostage scene where the the hostage taker ends up blowing his own head off and that hey I
was hooked right there hey spoiler it's it's a season-long thing that's like the
first 10 minutes of the hey spoiler okay so here's an hate mail here's the deal I
was reading from garage.com I was reading a book by Robert Ressler okay and the reason why I did this is I'm not
certain I'm not 100 certain but you had mentioned the older agent bill right who
eventually recruits Holden to the BSU right I believe Bill's character is based off of the real life person Robert
wrestler so having watched this it inspired me to go back and read one of wrestler's books
and in one of them this is not a direct quote but trust me this is very close he's talking about punishing criminals
and of course throughout his career he has faced and been involved in conviction in the conviction process of
probably the absolute worst people you can imagine yeah he says in his book unfortunately we live in a time where
the sentence of death doesn't always mean death life doesn't always mean life and 25 years can mean 12 or even six
yeah so just keeping that in mind I think is important here because I I'm quick too to go well we're taking a man
that's in his 40s and we're giving him 50 years in prison and that's the same as locking him up and throwing away the
key when in reality it's absolutely not so it's very important that we have these other two trials for Joseph the
thinking to face Justice for the murders of these other two women the second and the third trial
will be different because in those trials Joe is charged with murder and facing the death penalty in each of the
cases the first murder trial is for the murder of 23 year old Kimberly Spicer Joe was possibly facing the death
penalty because the prosecutor was charging him with not only murder but with robbery and sexual assault it was
necessary for the prosecution to prove robbery or sexual assault in addition to the murder in order to get that death
penalty under Maryland law defense lawyers called a surprise witness in an effort to help Joe avoid
the death sentence yeah this was Baltimore homicide detective Homer Pennington that we had mentioned earlier
the lead homicide detective who investigated the gruesome killing he was asked did Mr methany discuss his
necrophilia acts with you to which Pennington said yes the lawyers this is this is one of the
strangest things I've ever come across in in in Trials here but the lawyers are trying to show that Joe does not deserve
the death penalty because he did not commit an aggravating crime such as sexual assault and then murder the woman
right they called the detective to make a bizarre but important point that Joe preferred to have sex with dead women
and necrophilia is not considered a crime in the state of Maryland that's ridiculous just kind of just kind
of sit and soak that in for a minute yeah well it should be so listen to this they should just say
pause the trial hey by the way that's now a new law hey can can we get voters to come out and just put this into into
the process of meeting necrophilia should be a crime yes everywhere yes that ain't right anyway
so his defense lawyers they did not contest the claim that Joe performed a sex act with Spicer's body but this
was after her death right in fact they added that that methane violated Spicer with a bottle after she was dead
but they denied that he had sex with her while she was alive all right well another strange part to this trial
the defense attorneys considered calling Spicer's mother to the stand as a witness we don't need to call her well
this is what for what this is what's strange about it okay Joe then persuaded them not to call her he reportedly told
the attorneys please do not do this Spicer's mother this is uh Kathy's Kathy Price was not called to the stand it's
just so crazy to me all these serial killers that have issues with their mothers
well just over and over right yeah and but you're talking about he did some horrible things to this Kimberly Spicer
right and then he he's it's almost like he okay to do what he did you you basically I don't think
you can have remorse if you do what he did and then you did it again to somebody else I don't see any any form
of remorse there however him crying at the trial when she when she's to be called and saying hey don't do this then
you start to question is he remorseful is he you know sad about what he did is he sad for this victim for the mother's
victim well I think the victim of his mother I'm not saying that right at all it's a mother of a mother I'm trying to
say the the victim's mother that maybe he felt bad for the victim's mother go ahead right but I possibly but uh also
with the whole situation with his mother you know he seems like somebody that's stuck in his past and maybe by that
braining being brought up to that Forefront that maybe he this is gonna sound weird but maybe on some way
psychologically he's reverted back to a time where he wasn't this crazy piece of
[ __ ] you know what I mean back in the time where maybe he was a Sweet Child you know I mean
um yeah and that kind of goes you know a lot there's a lot of arguments are killers born
you know or they are are they made and it's probably just more selfish than wanting to spare uh Kimberly Spicer's
mother the agony of going on the stand it's probably more selfish and just that it bothered him that it made him upset
and he's saying hey don't do this right right now I I did make a I misspoke earlier Captain Kimberly Spicer was
stabbed 26 times that was the cause of her death Joe was found guilty of first degree murder in her horrific murder
right but he was spared the death penalty by the judge who ruled that Joe did not Rob or sexually assault the
woman before he killed her now a day after escaping the death penalty Joseph was sentenced to spend the rest of his
life in prison without the possibility of parole after the trial Kim Spicer's mother said to reporters I'd like to ask
him why he killed Kim right but stating that we will never really know he's just
a killer and some people there is just evil yeah but did she ever ask him I don't think she ever had a
conversation with with Joe uh outside of the courtroom Juan he also liked to write people so I don't you know but
that would be a sign of remorse to write a letter to the victim's mother I just don't think he has that in him the
second murder trial took place about five months later and again Joe is facing the death penalty this time he's
accused of killing uh Kathy magazineer who was decapitated her decapitated body was found on the grounds of Joe Stein
and Son Pallet Company no she was she was also a decapitated post-mortem yes and I should stop myself
here and add that Joe was actually facing three murder charges in three separate cases originally charged with
two but once those trials were set law enforcement they then then identified a third body in connected it to this case
this was Tony Lynn and Gracia she was only 28 years old at the time of her death her Father John described Tony
simply telling reporters that she was a good girl she had some problems with drugs but she was trying to get help
and I hate to report this here but there's very little out there on this case all that I could find is that
um she she okay so her body was found basically dumped on the side of a road right and
when he was arrested they connected this case to him I don't know what evidence they used to connect him to this case
my guess sometimes I don't use any evidence they just go this guy's behind bar maybe he did this one well and I'm
kind of throwing this in as a side note that he was charged with this third murder because eventually it's thrown
out they they drop the charges due to insufficient evidence yeah they couldn't take it to trial right and my guess here
is that is he connected to it we may never know but I know that her case is still
unsolved as far as I could see if anybody can find any information on that make sure you post it on our blog at
truecrimegarage.com but I'm guessing captain that it's a simple thing that she was probably running
around in in circles that Joe may have been running around in possibly and she may have had connections to that area
that he was known to frequent right but it's also look you're going to the bar you're drinking you're doing drugs you
know something like cocaine that's a very social drug so then your circle becomes wider and
wider yeah but what I'm getting at is I think it's just a simple thing that she fits
the victimology of Joe yeah and he's he's locked up he's certainly capable of it let's go ahead and charge him with it
meanwhile we can't find any evidence to support our Theory well and also maybe their thought was hey let's charge uh
Joe with it because he's also a guy that starts speaking that's true and it could
be as simple as hey we believe that you are responsible for this murder of this young lady and he just goes yeah and
this is what happened yeah and then it's an open and you know open and shut case
um you know I don't know it's clever I didn't think of that I didn't I mean because what does it hurt they yeah you
can always charge somebody else with it exactly so in Joe's second murder trial the murder of Catherine magazineer uh
this should be a pretty open and shut case as well because remember just after Joe was arrested for Kim Spicer's murder
three days later he led police to a shallow grave on the property which held the decapitated remains of Kathy
now one thing that I I want to point out here Captain is why they have the person
take them to the body and we we know on it obviously is this on the surface that we need to locate
this body right so we can charge this individual with the actual murder but it's essentially a confession
right I mean well in what they buried her over there right and but what they do the reason why they bring a person
like Joe to the actual body is that later if he decides he wants to recant his confession they can still say in
court well yeah we can't use your confession against you but you were the one that physically led us to this body
right right like I said it's almost like a second confession um one that they can't take away exactly
so some highlights from this trial the uh final prosecution witness was an FBI agent this is James Fitzsimmons sounds
sounds like a FBI agent yeah oh James Fitzsimmons works for the FBI he told the bureau he told how the bureau had
been investigating a range of alleged criminal activities coming from the Joe Stein and Sons Company when they
received a tip that methany had been harboring a corpse these are his words now the defense attorney in my opinion
Joe had very good counsel at his trials which I was a little surprised yeah forgive me out there if this is rubbing
anybody the wrong way for me being surprised but we're talking about a drug addict that has no money I mean he was
working making seven or eight dollars an hour as a forklift operator getting paid
an extra 20 a week and blowing all of his money on drugs and alcohol on these crimes are horrendous and he is
confessing to them in multiple ways so what great defense attorney is going to step up and say hey maybe I'll help this
guy and if and these are cases that you're going to lose you know you're going to lose them yes and but from his
attorney's actions I I'm just saying I'm giving it a grade A I think that he had
good representation yeah that a representation than like Adnan Syed and well and like you said these are losing
cases so your whole your whole Battleground here is to make sure he doesn't get killed he doesn't get the
death penalty so that's probably why they jumped on board it was probably somebody that is against the death
penalty that's true and should not be in our legal system and they said hey you know what I'm going to step up and I'm
going to defend that principle not defend this monster but I'm just going to try to get it you
know where he doesn't get the death penalty his attorney's name was Margaret Mead
um you know if I'm giving her a grade A I should at least mention her name uh one thing she did during the course of
the trial was she question the FBI agent about payments that the FBI made to the
owner's son of The Pallet Company huh uh yeah and they also made payments to this
William Ashbrook remember he was the guy that had called and told police this guy
asked me to help move a body for right okay so it goes like this um they she brought up a report
that showed the FBI had spent approximately 25 000 on ashbrook's behalf this was they paid him to go to a
drug rehabilitation program they paid for well they didn't pay him to go there they paid for the program itself and
they covered his rent uh for some time while he went into hiding as a cooperating witness the FBI also
reimbursed the owner of a house where Ashbrook had once stayed and the owner accused him of stealing tools valued at
five thousand dollars I I don't fault them for doing that I mean because at the end of the day they're getting
evidence but they're also not just handing this guy money they're trying to straighten up this guy's life and they
probably said hey look you have a drug problem yeah I got a drug crop problem hey
for for you helping and cooperating with us we're going to try to get you clean right and we're going to do so by
sending you to rehab but we're also going to pay your rent for a while so you have nothing to worry about while
you're in hiding from this 300 and some pound you know Monster of a dude yeah the FBI also spent about ninety four
thousand dollars to relocate Joe Stein Jr and his family after he began cooperating with the investigation well
that's a little excessive I think that um yeah so they're kind of they're kind of protecting these people from a guy
that's locked up um I'm not saying that's wrong I'm just pointing out something that I found
interesting in the trial I guess the the attorney was possibly trying to imply that they paid these two in some form to
testify against her client yeah I think it's I think it's a reasonable argument whether or not you can prove that is
another thing I think it's fair to bring it up at the course of the trial Council
also was asking the jury to spare the death penalty because Joe was addicted to drugs and that the slangs occurred
while he was under the influence of heroin cocaine or alcohol and pointing out that Joe has a good deal of remorse
for what he has done his attorney stated that Joe said he wanted the killings to
stop she added that he's very polite respectful and intelligent he understands far more than most people
it's very indicative that when he is under the info influence of various narcotics that that is when there seems
to be a personality change Joe himself described this as a rage that comes forward through drugs he described this
as being very frustrated with his life being very frustrated too about how he grew up and all of the life experiences
he had had yeah Joe Metheny seems like a guy that's just stuck in a prison of his
past yeah and the thing Captain is this you know I went through a couple of the quote-unquote highlights of the trial
but the strangest thing that happened in the trial was after Joe was found guilty
this is where Joe decides to address the jury and I mean this cannot be a smart move
at all but you you can't make this guy stop right he addresses the jury and I'm not going to give any direct quotes
but he starts telling them that they should kill him they should sentence him to death because he is not sorry for
what he has done he will never be sorry for what he has done he then goes on to describe digging up the skull of one of
his victims saying that he made love to it yeah then he's telling the jury that he
is happy to go to hell for his crimes and he talked about when he when the medical examiners had performed the
autopsy on another one of his victims that they had found that she had and this is his terrible words here
that she had given birth to a bouncing baby beer bottle that was his way of describing the
bottle that the medical examiner had found so he was facing the death penalty and I'm happy to report that he got the
death penalty yeah kind of a weird thing though because you know he comes out he confesses then he
cries at trial maybe shows some sign of remorse and maybe he was smart enough to
know if I a jerk if I had addressed the juries and maybe it was as simple as this person's trying to defend me but
they're only trying to defend me because they don't want the death penalty and they don't believe in the death penalty
but they don't give a [ __ ] about me and you know well I hate women so [ __ ] her too you know
what I mean and I'm I'm gonna throw this whole trial right well possible or he's
saying I have to live with myself and I'm such a gigantic pile of dog manure that I don't want to live anymore so I'm
going to say these horrible things whether or not you know that's just for somebody to decide you know does he
believe in what he's saying or does he not it's possibly a suicide wish from him I could see that with the depressing
statements that he's made over the years um one thing though I question is everyone that describes Joe they
describe him as a smart and and intelligent man right here's what I wonder Captain haven't already received
50 years for kidnapping and then a life without the possibility of parole sentence in the first murder trial so
and then they add that now he's facing the death penalty again and he's been convicted but but not sentenced he goes
to the jury and puts on this whole crazy role I'm wondering if that was some plan
inside of his head that he's like well maybe I can convince these people that I'm crazy that during the course of this
trial I'm going to show that I'm remorseful I'm going to have my attorney point out that I'm remorseful that I was
addicted to drugs and the drugs caused me to kill people and when it's all said and done if I have my last card to play
is the crazy card yeah and I mean nobody in their right mind would get up and say
the things that he said to the jury so well like you said he's I mean he is not human
yes and but but I have so many questions about Joe though because he's also one of these guys that comes off as defiant
to the end for me maybe this is just a oh well you got me there's nothing I can do about it so I'm gonna rub your faces
in it for a while while I can thank you [Music] until tomorrow be good be kind and don't
litter [Music] thank you

500lb. Serial Killer /// Part 1 /// 173

Part 1 of 2

www.TrueCrimeGarage.com

December 8th, 1996 - An overweight man picks up a woman from a local bar in southwest Baltimore. He invites her back to his trailer with the promise of drugs and alcohol. She decides to join him. They are only there a short time when he starts making sexual advances toward her. She turns him down. They do some drugs and then his advances became more aggressive. She continues to brush him off and then he attacks her. Somehow she manages to escape and have the man arrested. Just days later this man is arrested again this time for the murder of a young woman. After, he starts talking to investigators about other murders. Tonight we discuss Joe Metheny, his crimes and confessions. Beer of the Week - Duckpin Pale Ale by Union Brewing Garage Grade - 4 out of 5 bottle caps

Beer Fund: https://truecrimegarage.com/home

Brief Summary

Joe Metheny's brutal murders and chilling confessions reveal a complex, defiant killer with no remorse.

Key points

A Confession from Behind Bars. A letter reveals a murder that has never been told before.
The Escape from Death. Rita Kemper fights for her life against Joe Metheny.
The Discovery of a Body. Joe Metheny's chilling secret is uncovered by a friend.
The Arrest at the Christmas Party. Joe Metheny is arrested at his workplace Christmas party.
The Skull and the Trash Box. Joe's bizarre act after burying a victim's skull.
Discovery of Catherine's Remains. Police locate the remains of Catherine Magazineer, confirming Joe's confession.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I have never shed a tear for those I have killed.

The killer's cold indifference.

6:42WatchMay 31, 2023

Tension

75/ 100High tension

More from True Crime Garage TV

Solve the Crime

Read a real case one clue at a time, then see how your call held up against the investigators.