Kentucky Fried Chicken Murders /// Part 1 /// 857 | Forensic Files

Summer's here and it's time to bring the heat in a new Honda. Check out the Civic, Accord, or HRV during the Honda
summer event. For a limited time, well-qualified buyers can get a 4.99% APR on a 2025 Civic or 2026 HRV or a
3.99% APR on a 2025 Accord. [Music] See dealer for financing details exclusive at SI and Type R.
>> The McDonald's snack wrap is back. You brought it back. Ranch snack wrap. Spicy
snack wrap. You broke the internet for a snack. Snack wrap is back. Bottom of [Music]
heat. [Music] Welcome to True Crime Garage. Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, thanks
for listening. I'm your host, Nick, and with me as always is a man who is a carbon copy of nobody. He's an original,
ladies and gentlemen. Here is the captain. I am the original douche canoe. It's good to be seen and good to see
you. Thanks for listening. Thanks for telling a friend. This week we are drinking No, Colonel
Sanders, You're Wrong by Trail Point Brewing Company. This is a New England style hazy pale ale rounded out quite
nicely with some hints of fruit. ABV 7.4% Garage Grade 4 and a half bottle caps out of five. Let's give some thanks,
some praise, some cheers to our good friends for helping us fill up the old garage fridge for this week's set of
shows. First up, a big shout out to new friend of the show, Ronald E and Kilgore. And a big we like to chip goes
out to Kristen from St. Mary's County, Maryland. Next up, here's a double fisted cheers to Jenny and Trisha from
Independence, Kentucky. >> Yeah, Jenny from the block. And a big tall talk can hands in the air to
Marissa from Long Island, New York. And last, but certainly not least, we have a
shout out to Catherine Elmore in Quincy, Illinois. Everyone we just mentioned went to trimegar.com
clicked on the pint glass and helped us out with this week's beer fund. And for that, we thank you. Yeah. BW
beer run. Make sure you go to true crimegar.com. Sign up on the mailing list and we'll
love you forever. Forever. Forever. Ever. And Colonel, that's enough of the business. All right,
everybody. Gather around. Grab a chair. Grab a beer. Let's talk some true crime.
[Music] [Music] There is a long and disturbing history of homicides occurring at casual dining
and fast food restaurants in the latter half of the 20th century. We can make some pretty good assumptions as to the
reasons why. With the rise and explosive growth of fast food chains in the midentth century, more than blood
pressure and waistlines were expanding. Thanks to the likes of McDonald's, Burger Chef, Taco Bell, and Kentucky
Fried Chicken, fast food became an accessible, appealing option in the 1970s and 80s, especially for busy
working parents who just wanted to feed their hungry families quickly, easily, and on the cheap. As more and more fast
food alternatives began popping up near hightra areas, on highways, near schools
and shopping centers, the likelihood of crime amplified exponentially due to extended hours, cash heavy
operations, and minimal staffing during late shifts. These businesses became attractive targets for robberies.
The danger increased with the advent of 24-hour service and the very nature of fast food jobs, typically performed by
young or even teenage workers, often exposing employees to a greater risk of workplace violence. Typically situated
just off of an interstate, a busy state road, or a highway, these businesses featured a built-in
getaway route for a would-be criminal to take advantage. A fast food restaurant is the very
definition of a crime of opportunity. This is True Crime Garage. [Music] This week we are going back in time to
1983 and to the east Texas town of Kilgore. Kilgore is one of those cities that is divided by two counties. Kilgore
is located in southern Greg County and extends south into Rusk County where over 34s of the city are located in Greg
County. The remainder is in Rusk County. Now, back in 1983, the population is only about 2,000 or so folks, fewer than
it is today. Back then, Kilgore was over 11,000 good, hardworking Texans. And then, of course, like every other city
that's out there, we got a few bad ones. Some other cities in the area that listeners outside of the great state of
Texas may have heard of before or may not have heard of before. Maybe you've visited these places before would be
Tyler and Long View. These will be cities that are mentioned in today's true crime story. In fact, Kilgore is
wedged pretty much right between the two cities of Tyler, Texas and Long View, Texas. Kilgore is just a little over a
hundred miles east of Dallas and is actually closer to Shrivefeport, Louisiana rather than the great big D of
Dallas. Kilgore to Tyler, Texas is 27 to 33 miles depending on the route and Tyler is west of Kilgore. Now Kilgore
captain is primarily known as an oil town. This is a generally wholesome area, familyoriented city where football
reigns supreme as it does in most Texas communities. From September to late November or even into December, should
you be lucky enough to make it to the playoffs, the entire town virtually lives for Friday night. It's the biggest
night of the week with everyone making sure that their schedules are set as so that they do not miss a kickoff. You've
all seen it on TV and it is real, my friends. It's cheering on the whole team. Maybe your kids play for the team.
Maybe it's your alma mater. It's Friday Night Lights. Texas forever. Now, let's hone in on one particular Friday in late
September. It's a mild, pleasant early fall evening. This is September 23rd, 1983
with temperatures a steady mid60s for the bulk of this evening. Perfect football weather in Kilgore. We have a
bunch of restaurants, but the one that we are concerned with for this week's true crime story is located at 800 US
259, US Highway 259. It's the Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant. >> Fingerlicking good.
>> Fingerlicking good. Now, we can assume that it would have been humming with activity on this night and leading up to
this night as residents with little time or patience to cook before the big high
school game would come in in droves. The franchise would have been virtually bursting with patrons grabbing a quick
bite before making their way to the local high school football stadium to show their hometown pride. Restaurant
employees who normally followed standard processes may have been too busy during
the hectic dinner hour to stick to their regular routines. Such was the case on this bustling Friday night when the
afternoon deposit remained neglected. So, cash on hand, still present at the restaurant long after it should have
been dropped off at the bank on that day. At about 900 p.m., we have a young woman, her name is Star Spagano, and her
boyfriend. They enter the Kentucky Fried Chicken Restaurant. She says before entering, as she would later recall,
that she noticed a white van parked near the dumpster at the rear of the building. And she made note of this
because she thought it was a little strange as there were no parking spaces in the back of that lot. Everybody, all
the spots were marked to the side in the front portion of this lot. She quickly dismissed the thought, however, and now
she's inside and her attention diverted to the menu on the wall. What am I going
to order? But while waiting in line to order, Star overheard a conversation which some sources indicate as a
telephone conversation. Others indicate that it was from personnel to personnel.
The information we have here, Captain states that the conversation was between KFC employee Kim Miller and her mother
Mary Tyler, the assistant manager. So, within an earshot, Kim told her mother that the afternoon deposit still hadn't
been made, and there was now over $2,000 in the register. a little shocked of course at how freely mother and daughter
were discussing the fact that there was a large sum of money on the premises. Star Spagano also noticed that there
were two young men standing behind her in line and she says that there was indication to her that those two men
appear to have also heard or overheard this conversation. Well, and if this conversation happened once and like you
said so freely, you wonder if this conversation has took place many of times at the restaurant or outside of
the restaurant. In regard to the different reports as they stand today over 40 years later, my thought here is
that there's potential that the assistant manager Mary Tyler may have been on the phone with somebody else and
that this is being communicated to her by her daughter Kim Miller and she's relaying it on the phone. So therefore,
that might explain why we have varying accounts of the conversation. Was it from one employee to another in front of
customers or from one employee to somebody on the phone that was heard by the customers? So, let's talk about who
was at the restaurant that night and specifically who was working there that evening. So, we have co-workers Mary
Tyler, who we've already mentioned. We also have Joey Johnson and we have Opie Hughes. They were busy working their
shifts on this Friday football night. So, three employees working. Later in the evening, we have David Maxwell. So,
he actually works at the Kilgore KFC, but he's technically off that night. >> He's just doing the old drop by.
>> Yeah. So, he goes into the restaurant because he's going to give his friend Joey a lift home on a motorcycle that
he, David, had borrowed from Joey's roommate. The roommate's name is Mike Wolf. A friend of Joey's and Davids, his
name is Monty Landers, was also at the restaurant. Now, all three of these young men were students at the local
university, Kilgore College. David and Joey were active members of a fraternity, and Monty was pledging that
fall. The KFC closed that night, like most nights, at 1000 p.m. Assistant manager Mary Tyler's 16-year-old
daughter, Kim, had gone home earlier that night. So, remember we mentioned Kim as that story of Star Spagano
saying, "I overheard one of the employees telling another employee about a deposit that was not made and that
they had over $2,000 in the register." >> Right? >> Anybody that's worked at restaurants
knows how this typically plays out. Usually, the last hour or two of business is much slower than the earlier
business hours. And so you start to, where I come from, we called it cut. You started to cut people and send them
home. You only need a couple of people typically to close up shop for the night. So while Kim was there earlier
that night, she's not there to close. Well, I thought it was a little surprising since it's 1983
that this KFC was open all the way till 1000 p.m., especially with a a town with
such a small population. But you wonder if they're trying to get some business from people leaving the football game.
>> Yeah, I was actually surprised that they weren't open till later because of what
you just said with the football game. I remember attending a lot of high school football games even as an adult and
typically you wouldn't get out of there till about 10:30 or so, >> right? >> But it's also one of those things like
how much are you going to tax and stress your business to hope to catch some people between the minutes of 10:30 and
11, right? Like 11 would be a reasonable time to close. But yeah, you're right. Today I feel like typically on a Friday
night we have restaurants staying open much later than that. Well, heck, we went through that time period before CO
where McDonald's and so many other fast food chains were open 24/7. >> Yeah, and you're right. With only 11,000
people in the population there, 10 p.m.'s probably a very appropriate time to close, especially on a Friday night.
So, Kim, when her mother failed to return home, she decides she's going to go back to the restaurant and check on
her. This is around 10:30 p.m. So, real quick here, this is a blended family. Mary Tyler is on her second marriage and
it's actually Kim's stepfather that's like, "Hey, where's mom?" And Kim's like, "I don't know. She should she
should probably be home by now." And that's what prompts Kim to decide to go back to the restaurant to check and see
what's going on. Because typically Mary, who's the assistant manager, she would arrive home shortly after closing. It
was past that time that she would typically arrive home. >> Yeah, that's one of my questions in this
case. When you're in banking, we'd close and sometimes it would take us 10 minutes to settle up and and clean
everything up and get ready for the next day and we're out of there. And then other times it'd be 40ome minutes, maybe
an hour after we close. So, I was kind of curious of what the standard procedure was there. I loved working in
restaurants and when I did it in high school and after high school and different capacities and I loved the
hustle and bustle of it. I loved leaving with cash in my pocket at the end of the
night. But the the one part I did not like was when friends or a girlfriend or somebody be like, "Hey, what time you're
getting off?" You're like, "Yeah, I don't know." There's >> What do you mean you don't know? Well,
people that have never worked at a restaurant, they they don't understand that concept because you typically work
from this hour to that hour every other job. No, it's you're there as you are needed. And and let's say like here the
restaurant closes at 10:00. Well, you just like you said with the bank, if they got nobody coming in, you start
doing all your closing duties when there's nobody there, right? If you're worth your salt, if you're busy, you're
taking customers and filling orders up until the very last minute, and you can't start closing until you lock the
front door. You never really know what time you're going to get out of there. And a lot of it's just simply based off
of how busy you are that day or the hour before closing. >> Yeah. Something I shouldn't feel bad
about, but I do feel bad is let's say um a coffee shop is closing at 10:00 and I
show up and it's 9:30 and they're mopping the floors and doing all their their stuff trying to get ready to close
early. I always feel bad for some reason. I know I shouldn't cuz I'm like I'm not I'm not causing any extra work
and you're open till 10:00. I I should feel okay, but I feel bad every time that they're they're mopping and
cleaning up the store. So, now we have Kim back at the scene, and she says that she finds the front door locked, as
would should be expected. I mean, the restaurant closed 30 minutes prior to this. So, we're now at 10:30 p.m.
roughly, >> right? But she says she finds the back door wide open. This threw her off. She
cautiously steps into an empty restaurant. She doesn't know that it's going to be empty, but finds it empty.
And her trepidation increased greatly when she found a puddle of blood approximately 9 in in diameter on the
floor of the kitchen. >> Not good, >> right? And she also noticed that the money was missing from the register.
Now, she's not panicking at this point. She's quite concerned, but she says that for whatever reason,
her gut was telling her to drive to the nearby hospital. This is Lear Memorial Hospital.
Her thought was maybe somebody had gotten injured and that her mom probably went with the injured employee to the
hospital. >> Well, it makes some sense cuz there's no victims. You see blood, but you see no
victims. and and then you go, "Well, the doors were locked, but the back door wasn't locked. What the what the hell is
going on around here, but you don't, like I said, there's no victims, so then you just start assuming, well, an
accident took place and and everybody rushed off and they accidentally left the back door open." Well, the thing
that would be most alarming to me, I mean, blood number one, obviously, but number two, the the vehicles belonging
to these folks were still in the parking lot. >> Yeah, that's not a good sign. But I
guess you could reason it by going, well, maybe people hopped in the ambulance, but why would everybody go to
the hospital? Some people should leave. The money is kind of strange too because
on one hand they're closing so they would create a deposit. Most of the time when you work at a restaurant at the end
of the night you take the money and put it in a deposit bag so you can deposit that into a bank. So Kim arrives at the
hospital. She's talking to the personnel there and quickly learns that none of the KFC staff, none of her co-workers
had been admitted that evening. So now she's going to jump into a different form of action and contact the Kilgore
Police Department to report that, hey, I'm worried that something very wrong has possibly happened at the KFC
restaurant. This is from the Long View News Journal. They reported that Kilgore police patrolman Wayne Reynolds was the
first person on the scene and upon entering the restaurant, he spotted flour spilled near the back door with
what appeared to be footprints tracking through it. >> In the kitchen area, he noticed a that
there were two fast food workers caps, the little caps that they wear. I don't know how this was determined, but
according to the newspaper, it says one was a man's cap and the other was a woman's. Having not seen these, I don't
know what would be how you would figure that out. >> They could have been styled differently.
>> Yeah. And there was also a piece of paper that was found on the floor near the puddle of blood. I'll go ahead and
give a out a spoiler alert for this piece of paper because later law enforcement were they were hoping to
examine this piece of paper and that maybe it might be some kind of evidence or some kind of clue, but it was simply
a just kind of a cute little love note from one of the male employees to one of the male employees from a girlfriend.
So, it appears like this was just a a piece of paper that he probably folded up and had in one of his pockets uh
during his shift that night. Doesn't really give any clue or idea as to what may have happened to the employees. The
patrolman moved to another room where he observed an open desk drawer. This is in
the manager's office. There was a small amount of blood that was found on files,
the little file folders that are inside the drawer. As said, there was money missing from the drawer. So, it sounds
to me, Captain, that not only do we have money missing from the register, and we we can say
missing, but as you pointed out, at some point, you're taking the money out of that register for the night anyway,
right? But there's no money in the register where they would have kept additional money in the manager's
office. There's no money there either. From my understanding, the key to the register was found in the register
drawer as well. So >> good sign. >> Yeah, the cash register was closed and the key is still inside. Time cards.
This was very smart by the patrol officer. time cards indicated that Mary, Joey, and Obie, the three that were
working that night, that were still on the clock at closing time, they had never punched out on those cards.
Additionally, all the employees vehicles were still parked outside of the restaurant. As we had said earlier, the
front door locked, the key still in the lock, but on the inside of the store. Around midnight, the Kilgore Police
Department notified the restaurant's manager of the incident after they've had time to make notation of everything
that they're observing at the scene. A few hours later, this is around 3:15 a.m., Lana Maxwell, this is David's
18-year-old wife, she is notified of the alarming situation coming from her husband's
workplace from a friend who had gone over to look for him. Lana was pregnant. She had gone to bed hours earlier,
assuming David would be home soon. The store was empty, the office drawer empty, the till empty, the back door
left unlocked and open. The employees vehicles in the parking lot still. And all four employees plus a friend were
missing. [Music] Protecting your home is more than having good locks and alarm system with loud
noises. Truly protecting your home is having a system that is proactive, not just reactive. With Simply Safe's new
Active Guard outdoor protection, you get a system that works to prevent that break-in, that violation of your space
from ever happening in the first place. AI powered cameras plus live monitoring agents detect suspicious activity around
your property. If someone's lurking, agents talk to them in real time, turn on spotlights, and they can call the
police, proactively deterring crime before it starts. This is why we love Simply Safe. They're not just waiting
around for something bad to happen. They're proactively deterring crime. We love Simply Safe. We use it to protect
the garage studios. We use it to protect our homes. Protect yourself and protect
your loved ones with Simplysafe. Visit simplysafe.com/g to claim 50% off a new system with a
professional monitoring plan and get your first month free. That's simplysafe.com/g.
There's no safe like Simplysafe. >> This is a true story. It happened right here in my town. One night, 17 kids woke
up, got out of bed, walked into the dark, and they never came back >> from the director of Barbarian.
>> A lot of people died in a lot of weird ways. You're not going to find it in the
news because the police covered everything up >> on August 8 days. >> This is where the story really starts.
>> Weapons rated under 17, not unmitted without parent. >> You know what doesn't belong in your
epic summer plans? getting burned by your old wireless bill. While you're planning beach trips, barbecues, and
three-day weekends, your wireless bill should be the last thing holding you back. Make the switch to Mint Mobile.
With Mint, you can get the coverage and speed you're used to, but for way less money, and for a limited time, Mint
Mobile is offering 3 months of unlimited premium wireless service for 15 bucks a
month. So, while your friends are sweating over data overages and surprise charges, you'll be chilling literally
and financially. Making the switch to Mint Mobile is a nobrainer. You get the same great service that you're used to
at a fraction of the cost. I am saving $25 across two lines by making the switch to Mint Mobile this year. Skip
breaking a sweat and breaking the bank. Get this new customer offer and your threemonth unlimited wireless plan for
just 15 bucks a month at mintmobile.com/tcg. That's mintmobile.com/tcg. Upfront payment of $45 required,
equivalent to $15 a month. Limited time new customer offer for first three months only. Speeds may slow above 35
gigabytes on unlimited plan. Taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details. With summer in full swing, you start to
feel that familiar urge to refresh your closet. But why waste money on pieces you only wear once or just one season?
That's where Quint comes in. The clothes are timeless, feel luxurious, look elevated, and the quality is beyond what
you would expect for the price. Think 100% European linen tops starting at $30. Washable silk dresses and skirts
and soft cotton sweaters. Versatile warm weather pieces you'll reach for again and again. This is why I love Quint.
Topshelf quality at affordable prices. I just picked me up some premium shades, some soft stretch crew neck undershirts,
and some bundles. A bundle of dress shirts, a bundle of polo shirts. I am ready for the summer season and for many
summer seasons to come because at Quint is quality and there's so many luxury quality styles for the women. You're
going to absolutely love their dresses and their skirts. Check out everything they have available today at
quint.com/g. You're going to love everything you see. Give your summer closet an upgrade with
Quint. Go to quint.com/g for free shipping on your order and 365day returns. That's qui nce.com/g
to get free shipping on your order and 365day returns. quint.com/g. [Music] All right, we are back. You silly
monkeys. Tall can hands in the air. Cheers to you, Colonel. >> Cheers to you, Captain. Let's go to the
next morning. It's 10:00 a.m. So now we're on Saturday. We're less than 12 hours after the initial reporting of
something wrong at the KFC restaurant. Kilgore PD received a call that an oil worker, his name is Arthur Warlick. He
reported stumbling across four bodies in a remote oil field in Rusk County. This
guy Warlick is a pumper. That's his job title. He goes out often. solo checking on these different oil wells for the
outfit that he works for. So, he's out checking oil wells on a Henderson Clay Products lease property near a remote
road off of State Highway 323 between Henderson and Overton. Unable to believe what he's seeing at So, at first
he thought this was some kind of like prank or joke. Okay. So, he the way he describes this is he shows up to this
field as he typically would. And when he's walking in, he sees feet and legs just kind of lying there
in the in the tall grass. Not good. >> And well, at first he only sees one set. So he he thought, "All right, well,
maybe there were some teenagers out here drinking the night before and one of them decided, you know, I'll just lay
down here and sleep it off." But then he sees another set and he's like, "No, this ain't you wouldn't have multiple
people out here just sleeping." On top of that, at some point he starts to think, "Well, maybe the other guys that
I work with are playing some kind of joke or prank on me. like if I panic here, well then then I'll be the butt of
their joke forever and ever. I'll always be that guy. But after finding four, he's still thinking there's potential
that it's some kind of prank. So he actually kicks the bottom of one of the feet. You know, they're all wearing
shoes, but kicks the bottom of one of them and and telling them like, "Hey, you know, get up. Get out of here." That
sort of thing. And there's zero reaction, no movement, nothing. I don't think I'd have it in me to kick. I'd
rather look like I I can be the butt of the joke, right? >> I'm not kicking anything that
potentially is a dead body. >> Back when I worked security, I responded to a dead body call. That's a for a
whole another story. We We'll save that for an off the record. Now he's starting
to panic a little bit. And God bless his honesty because when he describes this, he goes into full
like panic. I'm terrified, afraid mode. He hops on the radio. He and he's like, "Help, help, help. I need some help out
here. I need some help out here." He He's having a hard time putting together what it is that he found other than he's
pretty certain there's dead people out here. And the details from that, you can find that in uh there's a great
book on the case called The KFC Murders, the deadly saga of the infamous East Texas 1983 KFC massacre. This is by Jack
A. Hillburn Simmons and Kenneth Dean. But upon realizing that this is not a joke, Captain. And now knowing that he's
probably looking at dead people, he radios the supervisor who then summoned the Rusk County Sheriff's Office to the
scene. Authorities immediately knew that this was this has got to be their five missing people from the restaurant.
>> Oh, yeah. They have four bodies. >> Yeah. One of them was eventually found a distance away. And it's unclear to me if
Arthur Warlick, the pumper who arrived, if he found four or five, >> right? because some reports state that
he found the four and then other reports state that he called in five dead bodies. And you'll see why there's a
potential for discrepancy there as we go through the the known facts of the case.
And this is from uh newspaper reports here, Captain from the Kilgore News Herald. The headline,
five slain and Kilgore robbery bodies discovered Saturday on oil lease in Rusk County. And the article reads in part,
"The bodies of five people apparently abducted Friday night during a robbery of the Kentucky Fried Chicken Restaurant
were found Saturday morning on an oil lease north of Pleasant Hill Cemetery in Rusk County. All five had been shot to
death." Officers said that the bodies had not been positively identified as the five
people abducted, but the chances quote are extremely strong. End quote that they are. Doyle Williams, an
investigator for the Russ County Sheriff's Department, said authorities have no leads in the slangs. The five
people abducted were identified as Mary Tyler, age 37, assistant manager of the restaurant, Joey Johnson, age 20, of
Overton. He was a cook. Opie Hughes, 39, of Kilgore, KFC employee. David Maxwell, 20, a Kilgore College
student. And Monty Landers, 20 years old, a visitor to the restaurant. I mean, obviously it's sad because we have
all these victims, but even more sad in some of the situations where you have this guy that just dropped by to see his
buddies or maybe he was just bored and wanted to stop by work just to say, "Hey, what's going on?" or "How was the
night?" or whatever. And then he becomes a victim in this this crime. >> Yeah. When we review these cases that
take place at businesses and sadly if they end up on the garage show, that usually means that one or more of the
employees were killed in the commission of a robbery or whatever took may have taken place at that business. But in
every one of these accounts, we get situations where you have, oh, this person happened to call off that night
and their their life was spared just by pure chance. And then, oh, this other person covered for this person or switch
shift with shifts with this person and they lost their life because they happened to be there that night. And in
this story, it's no different where you have the the one young man was simply there. Yes, he worked there, but he
wasn't scheduled to work that night. And he was there only because he borrowed a
motorcycle from his buddy's roommate who was an employee there. And he's like, "Well, my buddy is probably going to
need a ride home. He doesn't have a vehicle, and I got his roommate's motorcycle. I should be kind enough to
go back and pick him up." In fact, from what I what I understand here, Captain, I believe that's how he was going to
give the motorcycle back, right? To go pick them up, one of them's going to ride on the back, one of them's going to
drive, and they're going to go drop the other one off and then take the motorcycle home.
>> The reverse of that is the people where their lives are spared because they just
so happen not to be at the restaurant. One thing that was good here is that the young man that was riding in
for to return the motorcycle, his young wife, remember we said he she was married and pregnant with their
baby. >> Yeah. >> They were at home together and she actually said, "Hey, let me go with
you." And he's like, "Okay, that sounds great." And then at the last second, he's like, "Wait a second. It's a
motorcycle. We can only fit. We won't be able to take all of us after we pick up
the other guy. You just stay here. I won't be gone very long. And then you have Monty Landers who is a freshman at
the Kilgore University or Kilgore College who knows the other two guys. And he was simply there because he he
went in there because he was going to help his buddy clean up because they were in a rush to get to a college party
that later that night, which of course they they never make it to this party. So, you always have those very weird
scenarios uh that that you sift through in these types of of cases that take place at at businesses. Here's a guy
you're going to like his name. Jy Wolverton >> Jertie Wolver and that's not that's not
>> Walbertton's not bad, but Jy >> I think J is probably some kind of nickname. And I I love the South because
if you get a nickname when you're like three years old, they don't care if you're 50. you still have that nickname.
And so Jody, and this is not me mispronouncing it. It's J E R D Y as reported multiple times in the
newspaper. He's the public information officer for Kilgore Police Department. He said that it probably wouldn't be
until Sunday, so the following day, before positive identification of the slaying victims could be confirmed. And
this was because no identification was found on any of the bodies. All five of these people were adults. None of them
have identification on them. However, he noted that several of the slain persons
wore clothing that matched descriptions of three of the missing people. You can imagine what that is, right? Would be
work uniforms. Wolverton said an unknown number of persons apparently entered the
back door of the restaurant while an employee was carrying out trash after the restaurant closed at 10 p.m. So you
have some indicators at the restaurant to tell you what likely happened. Right? You find the front door locked. That's
an indicator that they successfully closed the restaurant for the night. you find things that they've started their
closing duties for the night. Now, one of those closing duties would be to remove all the trash from the restaurant
and put it in the dumpster outside. This report goes on to say, "The bodies were
found by an oil field pumper on a lease road around 10:00 a.m. Saturday. Quote, "When we got there, we found four bodies
in one location and another body at a location distant from the other four," said Russell Pototts. He's a special
investigator for the Greg County District Attorney's Office. Quote, "These four appeared to be slain
execution style where they were forced to lie on the ground and were shot there." End quote. Police Chief Johnny
Bradley said four of the victims, the three men and one woman, were forced to lie down on the ground and were shot in
the back of the head. One of the women apparently tried to escape and the position of her body, which was 30 to 40
yards from the other four, indicated that she had momentum before she fell. Her body was found face down beside the
lease road with several clumps of dirt and grass clenched in her fist on the corner of Walter King Road and Emory
Lloyd Road located northeast of the Pleasant Hill Cemetery on State Highway 323. Because four of the victims, they
were all facing like the same way, like there was some uniformity to how they were placed.
>> Yes. And I wouldn't say placed, I would say ordered to lay down, just as the the
law officers had stated. You're going to when you're finding the victims this quickly
after the abduction, it's going to be obvious to you that these these four victims laid down. And just like without
giving a great description here, we we're not provided with a great description, but you the words that when
they say she's found in a location distant from the other four and saying that she had some momentum before she
fell, right? You're going to see indicators there on the ground in the grass that's going to tell you like she
didn't lay down here in this space like everybody else did over there. She was hunted down in this location where she's
eventually found. Authorities went on to say that robbers apparently forced the victims to step over the cattle guard at
the location where they were found, go beyond the locked gate that blocked the lease road, and walk along the lease
road for approximately 100 yards. Then they were forced to lie down. Bradley said authorities recovered one large
caliber shell and part of another near the scene. Another officer said all of the victims had been shot in the head.
Deputies said the people did not have any identification, but they confirmed that one of the victims was wearing a
Kentucky Fried Chicken uniform. Officers said that since the victims apparently were slain at the point where their
bodies were found, the Rusk County Sheriff's Department will have jurisdiction in that investigation.
However, since the kidnapping and robbery occurred in Kilgore, the Kilgore police are handling that investigation.
The robbers apparently entered the back door while an employee was carrying trash out after the restaurant closed at
about 10 p.m. Friday. And they're basing this because they're stating that some garbage had been taken to the dumpster
and then several other bags of trash were dropped just outside of the back door. So, this is their indicator of how
the robbers probably entered the premises and they may have even taken someone at gunpoint right there at that
back door, whoever was carrying out the trash, and then moved them back inside. There were obvious signs of struggle
inside the restaurant. We went through some of that information already. Some additional information here, Captain.
There was blood found around the counter area around the desk where the money was
kept in the kitchen. There was additional blood found there. As far as what the public is going to be told,
authorities were simply saying that there was an undetermined amount of cash missing from the restaurant. Now, there
were reports that started to leak out rather quickly that this would have been approximately $2,000 in cash that was
missing. >> Obviously, they probably have either records, receipt records, or they also
have just What do we make on average at that point? You have five victims dead by execution style for $2,000. And I
know like this is 40ome years ago, so maybe that's a little bit more money than it is today, but seems like
overkill. Doesn't seem like that's the purpose for this crime. >> Well, and you're going to have a
register with receipts to tell you how much money is is actually missing. So, you'll be able to get that down to near
the penny when you're when you're looking into the case. Now, you're not always going to you don't that is
obvious hold back information, right? You you can say, "Hey, about $2,000 was missing." We've seen plenty of other
cases where 2500 was missing, 3,000 was missing, 1,000 was missing. They they regularly don't tell you to the dollar
amount because if they're trying to pull a confession out of somebody or if they
get false confessions because we do know that when there's these high-profile cases, which this will very much turn
into one, you will have some crazy that will come forward and say that they did this or they know the person that did do
it. So, you have to have your hold back information. Okay. So based off of all the information we've already gone
through, here is what we know or at least we believe to be the case, the simplest facts or indicators of what may
have happened in the case is that sometime between closing and approximately 10:30 p.m. a half an hour
after closing, the four co-workers and their friend were abducted from the restaurant by an unknown asalent. So we
know this for a few reasons. One, we know they closed the store, and we two, we know that when Kim returned to find
her mother at approximately 10:30, she finds the restaurant empty. So, we have a very short little window of time when
this all went down between the robbers entering the restaurant and then removing all the employees and getting
the hell out of the restaurant and parking lot because Kim saw nobody there when she arrives looking for her mother.
We later learned that at least two guns were used when executing those folks out
there in the oil field. One thing that I find odd here, Captain, is that we never
really truly get a definitive number of guns that were used because all of the reports out there are stating that at
least two guns were used, possibly three, >> right? >> I think that they're basing that, well,
I shouldn't say I think I know that they're basing that off of they found more than two kinds of ammunition.
Now, that doesn't 100% mean that there had to be a third gun. But it's an indicator of a possibility
of a third gun. >> Yeah. Because this crime is it's very complex because we have multiple scenes.
We have the restaurant, the KFC. Then we have this murder site. This is where we
believe and I believe everybody believes all the murders actually took place there. So, we have a kidnapping, but
then we have these different shells and these different calibers of guns cuz there's some speculation that there's
two people involved and then some people speculate that there's three people involved. It it becomes pretty complex.
So, let's add the complexities here because when I review this, >> let's do it. >> I think that there's all kinds of
complexities. So, obviously, somebody forced their way in the back door. What it appears to me, we have every person
that's in law enforcement that walked in that restaurant saying the same thing. Obvious signs of a struggle here and
probably multiple struggles in the restaurant. And to me, what that says is these guys went in to rob the place and
even though they had guns, they were met with some resistance most of the time. And you have to play the percentages
just like some Texas, hold them, baby. You got to play the percentages. That's all you have to go off of. And the
percentages are telling you that most of these incidents end in the perpetrator leaving, fleeing the restaurant with
cash. And every person that worked there that was in the restaurant shaken and probably terrified
considering quitting their job but otherwise unharmed alive to tell the authorities what
happened here vanished. So I think they were met with some resistance that they didn't expect.
And when that happened, the only reasonable explanation for them to abduct and murder all five people is
either a somebody in that restaurant could identify one or all of the asalants or they were met with some kind
of resistance and the the robbers thought, you know what, you you want to fight? Oh, we're going to get a fight.
We're going to get a fight here and and we're going to take you out and we're going to and we're going to take you out
into this oil field. Now, of course, nobody knows exactly what happened, the details of what happened because we
don't have any witnesses. We don't have any, unfortunately, we don't have any survivors of this incident,
>> right? And we have blood found at the restaurant. And don't we have like a fingernail or something found at the
restaurant? >> No, we we have a finger nail that's found on one of the victims. So, let's
go back to that white van. Remember the witness, Spagano, said, "Not only did these dudes behind me in line seem to
perk up and pay specific attention to the employees talking about all the money in the restaurant, but when prior
to me going in, I noticed this white van that was parked at the rear of the restaurant, which now police are saying
they think the robbers and asalants came in through the back door. Plus, they're
going to have to they're going to If you have at least two bad guys and five people that are dead,
that's transporting seven people from the restaurant location to the murder scene,
>> right? So, either you have to have multiple vehicles, which they didn't take any of the employees vehicles,
they're all found in the lot, or you have to have a big vehicle. So, this van is looking more and more interesting. I
would say this though, it would seem to me that when Spagano, the witness, and her boyfriend entered the restaurant,
she says that this is just a touch after 900 p.m. The restaurant closes at 10:00,
everything went down, and everybody's out of there by 10:30ish. I don't know that overhearing the employees talking
about how much money was the genesis of the idea to rob this particular store. Because if in fact that white van
belonged to the killers, well, that van was already parked in that weird position prior to them going into the
store. If in fact those guys in line were the perpetrators. Yeah, I think I've seen some internet rumors or
speculation that it's possible that maybe these individuals heard 15,000 as opposed to like $1,500.
And some people go, "Well, they'd have to be stupid to think that the KFC made $15,000 that day." Well, most criminals
are stupid. >> That is true. So, let's go through some background information here real quick
on some of our on on our five victims and what we know about these five victims. Four of the five victims of the
KFC massacre were co-workers. They all worked together at this Kilgore Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant. Three of them,
Mary Tyler, Opie Hughes, and Joey Johnson were actually working their evening shifts on that Friday, September
23rd, 1983. David Maxwell was also a Kilgore KFC employee, was there, but he was not
scheduled to work. And as we said earlier, Captain Monty Landers did not work there at all, but was a friend of
and fellow college student with the two staff members, David and Joey. All these people, from what we could
find, they were good, kind people. None of them should have met this tragic fate. Obviously, it was the following
day, Sunday, September 23rd, that a Dallas Forensics lab performed the autopsies on
the five, this is the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Sciences, thus confirming the suspected identities
of the murdered victims. The autopsies also revealed that two guns had apparently been used in execution of the
five victims. A piece of a broken fingernail, this is what you were talking about just a sec ago.
A piece of a broken fingernail is found on one of the victim's belt loops. It's also reported that it was found in the
waistband of the victim's pants. So, this is a piece of broken finger. Now, it's found and it's determined to have
come from someone with typeo blood. So, this is crucial physical evidence, right? Because you're going to examine
the fingers of each one of your five victims and find out very quickly that none of them have a torn fingernail.
This is telling you it came from one of the perpetrators. And just like the blood that's found at the scene, crucial
physical evidence, the blood that was found at the robbery abduction scene at the KFC. So remember though, this is
1983. Had this been July of 2025, this case would have been solved in 2 to 3 weeks time. Mary Tyler was 37 years old.
She was a mother of five who was working as an assistant manager at the KFC on the night of the abduction.
She was a Kilgore resident for nine years. She had been with the restaurant chain for three years. And in fact, she
had actually met her husband, Billy Tyler, when she was working at the franchise in Long View, Texas. She was
the mother of three bi biological children. Their names Tony, Kim, and Bubba, and stepmom to two bonus
children, Lisa and Denise. and people regularly commented that she regarded her two stepchildren as her own and the
feeling was reciprocal. Mary was known as a good worker, a loving wife, and a mother with a sweet voice and a cute
little laugh. Her co-workers said she was she was more like a regular worker rather than the boss, right? She rather
than the manager. She never bossed anybody around. Then we have David Maxwell. David Wayne Maxwell, 20 years
old. told he had been working at the Kilgore KFC for only a week. Only a week. But he had already made a big
impression on his co-workers. He was the one, although he was not scheduled to work on that night, he was abducted and
slain because he's returning that motorcycle. >> Yeah. >> To his friend. And we already talked
about how his wife, his young wife, Lana Maxwell, she thankfully she ended up not
traveling with him to the restaurant that night. It's also noted that David was taking karate classes at college,
but they also note that he was very much at the beginner stages of this. And so,
while he might have been one of the persons that offered up some resistance on these robbers, clearly he wasn't able
to look a guy with hands and feet and you know karate, the robbers are armed with guns and minus any heart or soul,
you're at a disadvantage. Yeah, but that doesn't stop people. Sometimes sometimes
people see an opportunity and it's very difficult because you go, well, would these would these criminals come
in just to rob from the place and then a confrontation happens and then that causes them to execute everybody? I
don't think so. I think that might have just been the plan all along. I mean, that's they had a van.
They wouldn't need a van if if they weren't going to transport all these people. I think it's really tough
because the longer we do this, the more I feel like people should put up some kind of fight because if you don't, the
outcome could still be execution or murder or rape or whatever the this the sick individual is trying to accomplish.
>> Yeah. I mean, if we want to question everything, we can also say, well, maybe
the van, if it was in fact belong to the asalants, is their only means of transportation. So, it wasn't planned to
bring a van. It's just that's that's their set of wheels. >> Joseph Jerome Johnson, also known as
Joey, was 20 years old. He was a fraternity brother of David Maxwell, and these two were best friends. Joey had
been a senior class president at his high school. He earned the nickname Mr. Overton High School before graduating.
He was listed in the Who's Who in High School athletes for his participation in football, basketball, tennis, and track.
And he also received this prestigious Billy Jack Robersonson Award for outstanding football player at uh
Overton High School in 1982. He was the second oldest of eight children. He was very close with his
mother after his father passed away while Joey was still in high school. He was a cook at the KFC restaurant and was
working his way through school contributing. What a what a young man this guy contributing to the support of
his family. Remember his father died while he was in high school and he was financially helping to support his
mother and siblings. His mother recalled him stopping by every single morning on
his way to work just to check on her and the younger kids. We also mentioned Opie
Hughes. She was aged 39. She was a working mother raising her three children. She was married to Jack Hughes
and she was a Kilgore resident for 11 years prior to her murder. She was quiet and unassuming. And it was her like
nature that her husband, her family, her friends, they were all baffled and devastated as to why anybody would want
to harm somebody as gentle and quiet as Opie was known to be. And then last, we have Monty Landers. His full name
Montgomery Lewis Landers. He was only 19 years old. He was not an employee of the
restaurant but had the terrible misfortune of being there on the night. He was just a freshman in college and he
was as said he was pledging to join the fraternity that the other two boys were a part of. He majored in forestry and
was interested in mechanics but he ultimately wanted to travel the world just like his father working for an oil
company. And when he was when it was announced that he was killed, local authorities had to contact Monty's
father to inform him of his son's murder. And at the time, Monty's father was in Cairo, Egypt, where he had been
stationed. The bodies were discovered in Rusk County in a Rusk County oil field about 14 miles south of Kilgore. So that
gives you some general idea of the amount. Th this is going to add to a lot of the speculation that investigators
are going to have at the time of of why this particular spot and why so far away from the restaurant,
right? It's also weird to me too because you'd think it's this oil field. So it is it just was the idea that it's just
in the middle of nowhere so it'll take some time for people to find the bodies. You would think they would try try to
place the bodies in a place that nobody would find them. >> I think that that is why that's why I
speculate that this was retaliation that this was punishment for being met with resistance
because you could have done exactly what you had just said. If you didn't want them to be
fined, you could have found either you could have gone to greater efforts to do so. I think that to me what I'm seeing
here where they are found and then we know that they are found very quickly. I think to me that is suggestive that well
we just need them to not be found long enough for us to get away. [Music] So much more to get to in this true
crime tale. Stick around for part two. Until then, be good, be kind, and don't linger.
[Music] [Music] Summer's here and it's time to bring the heat in a new Honda. Check out the
Civic, Accord, or HRV during the Honda summer event. For a limited time, well-qualified buyers can get a 4.99%
APR on a 2025 Civic or 2026 HR-V or a 3.99% APR on a 2025 Accord. [Music] See dealer for financing details
exclusive at SI and Type

Kentucky Fried Chicken Murders /// Part 1 /// 857

Part 1 of 2

www.TrueCrimeGarage.com (http://www.truecrimegarage.com/)

The “Kentucky Fried Chicken Murders, Kentucky Fried Chicken Massacre, the KFC murders, the Texas KFC murders” all typically refer to the 1983 Kilgore, Texas, Kentucky Fried Chicken massacre, a brutal armed robbery and mass murder that occurred at a KFC restaurant on a football Friday night. It’s a case with many names, that lives in infamy in the great state of Texas. Five people were killed during the incident. The case remained unsolved for over two decades.

Beer of the Week - No, Colonel Sanders, You’re Wrong by Trail Point Brewing Company

Garage Grade - 4 and a half bottle caps out of 5

More True Crime Garage can be found on Patreon and Apple subscriptions with our show - Off The Record. Catch dozens of episodes of Off The Record plus a couple of Bonus episodes and our first 50 when you sign up today.

Follow the show on X and Insta @TrueCrimeGarage / Follow Nic on X @TCGNIC / Follow The Captain on X @TCGCaptain

Thanks for listening and thanks for telling a friend. Be good, be kind, and don’t litter!

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com (https://pcm.adswizz.com) for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Brief Summary

The episode details the 1983 KFC murders in Kilgore, Texas, focusing on the victims and investigation surrounding the crime.

Key points

The Snack Wrap Returns. McDonald's brings back the beloved snack wrap, breaking the internet in the process.
True Crime Introduction. Hosts Nick and the Captain welcome listeners to another episode of True Crime Garage.
Crime at Fast Food Restaurants. Exploring the disturbing history of homicides at fast food locations in the late 20th century.
Kilgore's Friday Night Lights. A glimpse into the football culture of Kilgore, Texas, where the whole town comes alive on game night.
A Disturbing Discovery. Star Spagano finds blood and missing money at the KFC, raising alarm.
The Alarming Discovery. An oil worker stumbles upon four bodies in a remote field, leading to a police investigation.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

A fast food restaurant is the very definition of a crime of opportunity.

Discussion on crime at fast food restaurants

5:02WatchJul 22, 2025

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.