The Connecticut River Valley Killer /// Part 2 /// 637 | Forensic Files

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everybody gather around grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some true CME at least seven women stabbed and
murdered a series of murders in the Connecticut River Valley you suspect it was the work of a
serial killer all were stabbed multiple times times that's I'm here to look for results to have results to give those
families an answer when we left off yesterday Captain we had gone through all of the
victims the ones that are believed to be connected to this Connecticut River Valley killer and the ones that are
debatable we went into some of the evidence we went into the great debate of if in fact one individual is
responsible for for all of these murders or do we have a situation where we may have a couple people that are involved
in some of these homicides here working unrelated to one another and one thing that's troubling when we start to look
at suspects in any of these types of cases we start to see a weird pattern that there's a lot of bad dudes that
seem to be in one area during the course of just a handful of years and that's always terrifying to learn so we'll go
through the suspects that have been listed or named throughout the years in connection to the Connecticut River
Valley killer one suspect was Christopher Wilder now this is a known serial killer he killed in the area but
not he's not likely in my opinion to have been the river valley killer we know that he abducted and raped at least
12 young women and girls he tortured some of them and killed at least eight of his victims but this took place all
within a short six- week time period when he went off the rails and he went on this cross country crime spree in the
United States in early 1984 so his series of murders began in Florida on February 26 1984 and then
continued across the country through Texas Oklahoma Colorado Nevada and California and he
had attempted abductions in Washington state and New York State before he was eventually tracked down and killed
during a struggle with police in New Hampshire now he's killed by police in New Hampshire on April 13th 1984 so when
you just factor in those dates now there there are people that suspect that he may have killed before he went on this
six weeks the six- week long crime spree that led to many other victims he's not
in the New Hampshire area until he's Tracked Down by police when he's killed there in 1984 that also means that he
would not have even been alive for some of the later attacks yeah this guy's a real douch canoe ship princess but it's
hard to put him in that region during the times of those killings our next suspect is Edwin town he was looked at
Big Time in a couple of these cases this guy was no doubt a killer now I don't know about Edwin being a serial killer
he may have been one in the making in my opinion but he certainly was a serial rapist he is one of these horrible true
stories where you hear that this dude gets out of prison and then he goes out and commits another horrible violent
crime this guy unfortunately he's one of these dudes man that he was locked up he
had been arrested for a sexual assault got in trouble they knew that he did it then he goes out he gets out of prison
goes out and commits another sexual assault they arrest him they throw him back in prison he's supposed to be doing
this lengthy prison sentence because he's a repeat offender he's a violent offender right and they let him out
early and then unfortunately when he's out he abducted a teenage girl and and killed her the victim's father
rightfully so has been upfront and Center for all media pointing out time and time again look if this guy if Edwin
town would have been forced to serve out his time to the sentence that that was granted to him he would have been locked
up at the time that he abducted and killed my daughter and so this one's as much as Edwin town is to blame so is the
parole board and the people that let him back out on the streets yeah this is a huge stain on our justice system and it
makes it look pretty pathetic next on our suspect list Captain we have Delbert tman tman on May 20th
1984 is suspected of having abducted 16-year-old Heidi Martin who went out for a jog in Harland Vermont the next
day her body was found in a swampy area behind Harland Elementary School she had
been raped and stabbed to death Tolman who was 21 years old at the time after he's picked up Captain he confesses to
the rape and murder and then he's brought to trial however he later recants his confession and then gets an
acquittal now nearly 3 years later Barbara anu's body would be found approximately one mile from where Heidi
Martin's body was discovered so in the the general same general area tman was a resident in Bellow's Falls Springfield
and Windsor Vermont as well as Claremont New Hampshire this is the epicenter of most of the Connecticut River Valley
killings he was later convicted in 1996 on two counts of lewd and lascivious conduct with a child and was
incarcerated at Lake County prison in Florida for failure to comply with sex offender registration requirements he
was released from pris in 2010 yeah it makes you wonder how they got that confession I'd like to dive more into
that it definitely does but his later crimes would back up the thought that yes he should be a suspect in that Heidi
Martin case now if you want to look at victimology and say well this killer this River Valley killer likely would
would hone in on a certain type of victim well Heidi Martin doesn't seem to fit that victimology to a te anyway and
if his later crimes are any indication of who he is and what kind of monster he was then his preferred victimology seems
to be younger people children and he's acting on this if he was guilty of the Heidi Martin case he's he's acting at a
at the young age of 21 so he's one of these people just like the other two where you can certainly put him on the
list there's good reason to put him on the list as a suspect in this case but I think where you probably have to lean
with tman is that you can't eliminate him I can see reasons why to eliminate Christopher Wilder he likely wasn't even
in the area he wasn't even alive when some of the killings took place Edwin Town looks better than Wilder tman looks
better than both of them yeah like you said if if if his victimology if the victims that he is
looking for is is of a younger age then it doesn't make sense to me that this individual would be driving around as as
much as they would have to because look I guarantee you and I I don't know what the percentage would be but I guarantee
you they're driving around and going to these spots and looking for opportunities a lot more they're
visiting those locations a lot more than they're actually finding opportunities and finding victims and just how much
driving could this person be doing if we do in fact have one individual that's responsible for the majority of these
killings you take a a serial killer like William suff for example he was driving
around and trolling for victims so much putting so many miles on his vehicle that they said that he had to replace
anywhere between three to six tires a year on his vehicle wow so all of us just think think to our own personal
lives on how long it is between times when you have to put two or four more tires on your car this dude and likely
whoever's responsible for a lot of these killings in in Connecticut River Valley
they're changing out atire almost every other month right because they're putting so many miles on their vehicle
they're spending so much time so much time of their each day each week trolling around looking for a victim for
every one of these victims this is fortunately and unfortunately all at the same time for every one of these victims
that we've named here today there's likely four or five maybe more that for whatever reason he decided not to take a
chance on right either he attempted to get him into his vehicle or he pulled up and was getting ready to do something
but somebody else pulled up and he was interrupted there's any number of reasons why other victims didn't look
good enough or the time just wasn't right to take them and make them a victim one of the more
popular suspects here Captain is a man by the name of Michael Nicola he is incredibly interesting to
me he's one of these guys that that's a giant pile of [ __ ] that we should light
on fire I'm convinced this guy was a serial killer and crimes that we know that he he did will back a lot of that
thinking up so in 2005 he kills his wife and his stepdaughter and himself in Tampa
Florida a St Petersburg private investigator comes out says that she is certain that there's a connection
between Michael Nicola and to six homicide victims from the Connecticut River Valley case the problem with
Nicola is his residence was in Holio which was about 90 miles from Claremont yeah not so fast now this Pi this
private investigator was able to determine that his wife one of his wives her her name was Michelle had relatives
in this area that might explain some of the G gaps and the killings yeah that's pretty fascinating do we potentially
have a killer that is operating in this area but only when he is in the area and
that he's not there all of the time right this is an interesting thought to ponder because one we got this guy that
we know is capable of homicide he kills his wife he kills his stepdaughter and then kills himself this is all during
the course of a police standoff but it goes a little more psychotic than just a this guy losing his mind and taking his
wife and stepdaughter hostage and then in the course of a standoff he kills them no he traveled to Tampa to do this
to his wife he traveled to Tampa they had been separated he went down there with the purpose of harming and likely
with the purpose of killing her and her daughter he then kills himself we know that this private investigator was able
to create to link ties to the Claremont area where the epicenter of these killings were taking place well we don't
know what she learned about him is it possible that she learned something awful about him and that was the straw
that broke the camels back and he decided that they had to die and that he had to die as well what's weird about
him though his first wife disappeared she's never been seen again well surprise surprise do we have a situation
where these marriages are getting in the way of doing what it is that he wants to
do the thing that's really interesting about him too is that Michael Nicola owned a Jeep wagon ear in the 1980s
which is consistent with the vehicle described by the living the surviving victim Jan barasi yeah which we'll get
into more details on her attack in a little bit one of the thoughts that the profiler put together C Captain was that
is there a potential that this guy travels for work either only kills when he's home because he lives in the area
or only kills when he's out traveling in the area I've reviewed at least one other killer and I'm sure that there are
probably more out there well no duh there's more than one killer out there you genius but there's one killer that I
reviewed and His Name Escapes me at the moment but he is suspected of three homicides convicted of one and confess
to another So within those three he's been convicted of one and he's confessed to one of the others they can't lock him
down for the third one but he didn't live in the area but he traveled to the area
regularly and he chose to make that his hunting ground because the problem for the investigators became that this guy's
not local he doesn't live in the area he's not easily it's not easy to link him to that area for when these victims
disappear or when they're later found right and like you said this guy lived roughly 90 miles away that's not that
far of a drive especially if he has time and he has the means to get out and chooses to hunt outside of an area where
he lives with the purpose of making it much more difficult to detect him as the actual killer so like you said there's a
great debate whether these cases are connected or they're not and in a lot of these cases we just don't have a lot of
details we don't have eyewitnesses but we have a possible case that is connected to the rest of them but we
have a surviving victim and I was able to sit down with Jane barowski to go over the events the terrifying horrible
events of the attack which led to her being named being dubbed the the surviving victim of the Connecticut
River [Music] Valley I was uh 7 months pregnant I was just uh looking forward to being a mom I
decided to go to a fair where I lived is a also a small community um and they have a a County Fair every year in
Swansea New Hampshire so I went to the air it was hot hot and humid that summer it was brutal driving home from the fair
I met up with evil I stopped off at a closed store it was it was right on a main route from uh Keen to Winchester I
was living in Winchester at the time and uh Route 10 I stopped at this closed store because they had a vending machine
outside a soda vending machine so I just wanted to stop and and grab a quick soda
on my way home and then you're met with this horrible experience and this terrible man approaches your vehicle you
know I hate to kind of try to crawl into the mind of this individual but I really
want everybody to fully understand the situation and how everything played out so you pull into this closed door with
the intention of hey I'm going to grab something to drink is it dark out at this time yeah it was fairly late it was
um you know between 11 and 11:30 at night the fair had just closed yeah I pulled in I grabbed my soda out of the
soda vending machine got back in my car I opened the soda took a couple of sips and I was getting ready to pull out to
head home this Jeep Wagoner pulled up beside me on my passenger side and I didn't think anything of it it was you
know there there was the vending machine and there was also a p p phone next to the vending machine so I really didn't
think anything of it I was getting ready to leave and I see him walking around the back of my
car and next thing I know he's at my driver's door and and he says um the pay phone working and right as he said that
he opened the door and tried to grab me and take me out of the car I was so scared I was screaming I was fighting um
I screamed so much and so hard that I broke blood vessels in my eyes somehow I got my foot up to kick him and I was
kicking him and as I was kicking him I kicked my windshield and smashed my windshield next thing I know he takes a
knife out and he said maybe this will persuade you to get out of the car so obviously it did I got out of the car he
was just acting so calm like he wanted me to go with him that was that was obvious he wanted me to go with him and
I was determined I was not going with him he had said that I beat up his girlfriend and said that my car was a
Massachusetts car and and I was like no I didn't beat up no girlfriend and uh my
car is New Hampshire my car has New Hampshire plates and at this time I'm thinking oh
my God this guy's a whack job what what the hell what does he want you know I just couldn't understand he started
walking around the back side of my car at that time I didn't feel threatened anymore I thought maybe he just confused
me with somebody else he looked at the plate and then he started walking back to his vehicle on the other side of my
car and I'm thinking oh wait a minute I have a smashed windshield so of course not feeling
threatened I said to him hey [ __ ] what what about my windshield you know I regret those words for the rest of my
life but I I didn't feel threatened so he came back around and put the knife up against my neck you had
no way of knowing what you were dealing with in that moment you think you're just this is some guy he he mistook me
for somebody that probably got into some kind of situation with his girlfriend he's
angry he approached you either he figured out you're the wrong person or you you know you have no idea who this
guy is in the in that moment and then it sounds like you pissed him off I didn't know what he was capable of
doing I had no idea what why he was even there or why he was approaching me I mean this was a small community uh
Swansea New Hampshire virtually no major crime in 1988 a safe community and don't
forget back then in 1988 there was no cell phones there was no social media I didn't
know about these other cases I didn't know that there was a serial killer hunting New Hampshire in Vermont I had
no idea so when he came back around the car and he put the knife up against my neck I I saw a vehicle start driving was
driving by by the store and I knew the only way I was going to get out of that situation was
to run to the road and scream and try and get their attention so I did I just dashed I I started running to the road I
was screaming and the car just went right by next thing I know he tackled me down on the ground like a football
player like right on the pavement and he got on top of me I was on my back and he just proceeded to stabed me
like just was just stabbing uncontrollably I ultimately was stabbed 27 times and I was doing everything I could
to protect my baby so I have a lot of defensive wounds on my hands all of a sudden he just stopped stabbing and he
got up and he walked away and I could hear him walking away like not running or anything like that just walking away
and I'm to myself oh my God I can't believe this just happened for one and I'm like where is he you know I couldn't
see him I heard the vehicle start and start driving by this time I I knew I needed to get help so I got on I rolled
over onto my hands and knees and I started getting up and I I could just hear the the the blood just gushing out
of me I happened to look up and he just drove right by and looked right at me and I looked right at him but he didn't
rush it was just a slow drive by my head and then he drove off I obviously my body went into shock and I just knew I
needed to get help so uh I had a friend of mine that lived right on that main road Route 10 about 2 miles down the
road so I said okay I'm going to go to his house and he's going to get me help so I got in my car I started driving
down the road and before I knew it I was driving right behind him and I was like
oh my God he's going to know where I'm going to pull off he's going to see where I'm pulling in and I just um fear
all over again I pulled into my friend's house and and he came right to the screen door and uh he said that uh I
told him I said some [ __ ] just stabbed the [ __ ] out of me I need help and I collapsed on his
steps and then a few minutes later well not even even a few minutes later a minute later all of a sudden we hear the
vehicle drive back by the house and like squealed its tires like almost Slamm it
on his brakes and then took off so we we knew we know it was him um he definitely
knew that I would I was at somebody's house getting help your attacker is aware that you survived the attack is he
aware that to your knowledge best to your knowledge anyway is he aware that you survive the attack before he leaves
the parking lot of the closed store well he knows that I was getting up I was trying to get up and and you know get to
my car and I believe he knows I was behind him mhm um otherwise he would have never turned around and came back
when you were in the parking lot did you see when did you become aware of the other vehicle did do you do you see him
pull in or are you only aware once he pulls up next to your car yeah pretty much when he pulled in and parked right
next to me I mean like I said I I didn't really pay much attention to it the soda
machine was there a pay phone was there he just uh pulled in and parked next to my car on my drive on my passenger side
did you see which direction he came from did he pull in from the same direction that you were coming from or or I
didn't I never noticed that describe the vehicle for everybody out there these uh
vehicle and I know we're we're talking about this well after the fact you know we're we're many years later and um but
vehicle description suspect description those things are are very important it was a they believe about a
1985 Jeep wagon ear it had wood grain sides um now according to the lighting in the parking lot because they were
like fluorescent lighting it was either a dark blue or a dark green it was four-wheel drive he was like
uh not too awfully tall maybe 59 58 5'9 slender he his uh he had kind of a brownish hair um slick back um while I
was in the hospital I actually did a composite of yeah there's one that's been out for a long time and I was going
to wonder I was wondering are you responsible for the the one the one that I remember the most when looking into
this case years ago is the one with the the the dark kind of circles around the eyes uh there's there's more than one
composite out there for this case but the one that I remember is kind of the short short hair dark colored hair the
uh you know the wrinkles across the forehead and the dark around the eyes Slender face yeah there's two of
them there's there's one for the Linda Linda Moore case that one he was wearing uh glasses and a hoodie fluorescent
lights they have a tendency at nighttime to make a a a black or blue vehicle appear to be that green color yeah
exactly exactly and so he approaches you and what is I mean it's not mind-blowing
now knowing that this your attack is likely connected to these all these other cases but what's kind of
mind-blowing In the Heat of the Moment is with the way you describe this to me he says something to you that's
smoking mirrors that's the old magician trick right because it's it's human nature when somebody speaks to you to
look toward their face which is going to draw your attention away from what he really wants to do which is get that
latch on your car door open before you have a time time to react to that oh exactly and so so that to me tells me
one of two things or both that this guy one has done this type of thing before or he's practiced to do this type of
thing um and but for whatever reason and we we will never know until he's caught but for whatever reason you
survive this attack because he leaves uh you you know and and as you said we believe he doesn't think that he's
killed you at this point when he when he decides to leave or do you I believe I survived because I didn't go with him he
really wanted me to go with him and like the other victims of the Connecticut River Valley murders they all went with
him whether it was willingly or he they he forced them to go with him but they except for Linda Moore they all with
went with him so I believe if I if I had gone with with him I would not be alive
I I wholeheartedly believe that yeah the the thing here to describe him again I know you gave a good description but I
really want to hone in on on what this guy look like uh back in August of 1988 it's hard for me to describe because I
mean it was 34 years ago you know I I can I can remember his manner how he carried himself which was very cool and
very calm and not nervous I I believe he's done this before for before me not his first rodeo that's and obviously
you're I mean you're fighting for your life you're your the adrenaline kicks in you're not so much paying attention to
him and taking notes on what he he looks like but was there anything in particular that was uh that that stood
out to you about him in his his appearance or his clothing or anything that you was very
distinctive well I remember way back when the detectives were questioning me and when I was hypnotized he had no
smell to him so he wasn't a dirty man he didn't have any body odor smell or anything like that which was unusual
especially being um such a hot humid summer so they felt like he was um obviously a clean
person I don't remember him I I remember him wearing dark clothing but exactly what kind of dark clothing I really
don't remember see I wish I had paid attention to these details at the time but again hiding
realize what he was going to do there's a lot of little details I wish I remembered uh but I
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stone.com now and save 50% [Music] terrifying stuff there Captain thank you to Jane barosi for sitting down with us
and and educating us and giving her insights and and what actually happened to her that that terrifying evening now
barosi mentioned returning to her car and then driving on New Hampshire Route 32 she's now fleeing to a friend house
for help after this attack as she gets close to the house now we have this it's like straight out of a horror flick oh
my God I I'm right behind the vehicle of the person that just attacked me that just tried to kill me she then gets to
her friend's house the friend comes running out to to Aid her she's barely able to walk at this point and this is
she says her attacker apparently made a u-turn and then drives slowly past her and her friend staring them down before
speeding off into the dark of night yes so when you hear this part of the story and when I heard this part of the
story it makes it seem like maybe the attacker knew that this could be his victim and
maybe that she was still alive I don't think that at all if we connect all these cases and I think
there's a strong argument that you can because it's crimes of opportunity it's a killer in his vehicle
driving around hunting looking at stores looking for people broke down on the side of the road looking for
hitchhikers looking for anybody that's vulnerable he's driving away from this attack he is miles away from the attack
a car drives is driving behind him this is also these areas that these huntings that the hunting is taking
place in they're remote there's not a bunch of cars all the time the time of day there's not a ton of vehicles out so
he sees a vehicle turn off into a drive and I think this was just another thing that he did another way of
hunting okay I'm going to make a uturn because this car just turned off into their driveway I'm going to drive
back and drive back slowly to see if there's a opportunity and then once I look he
might not even known it was the same vehicle he might not have known that it was a a female driver but once he sees
more than one person he drives away and I think that just proves that all these cases the victimology in these cases
don't really matter too much to me because I think the more important thing is when he's out there hunting and
having these urges that when there was an opportunity that seemed there's no other cars coming in like you said how
many other victims would there be if a car didn't pull up another car didn't pull up or maybe that when they saw
somebody at the pay phone when they pulled up to to put themselves into a better opportunity to commit this crime
that they saw multiple people in the car waiting on the person that's making the
phone call I think it's more about that they they didn't see the killer come back because he thought it was the
victim I think he was looking for another victim yeah you could certainly make a a strong argument for both sides
sides of the fence here right we we know that with other killers that when they set out to do something a lot of them
have to do that they have to achieve that before they are done hunting for the day we know that to be the case in
several other serial killers so we have the experts here who say all right well if jamee brasi's Case is in fact
connected to these other ones well it's only different the result is only different and circumstances are only
different from some of the other attacks and the other victims because the killer
must have been interrupted so you're exactly right Captain if these experts are correct and he was in fact
interrupted and was aware that he had not killed this victim that he found in the parking
lot was his Dark Passenger his factor x not ass satiated was he was he not able to get that thrill that he was seeking
that night and was he trolling for another victim and happens to see this vehicle and thinks oh they turned in
there I'll see where they turned into and how vulnerable they look as they're getting out of their vehicle and then
realizes oh no that's the the woman that I attacked and she did survive and then
drives off the other thing though too the other argument for that for against it would be Jane's description of that
night where she says oh the first car she comes in contact with she is very aware that it's the it's the vehicle of
the man who just attacked her so we know that she's close enough to identify his
vehicle and even though they were only together for a brief period of time in that parking lot together she was well
aware of what kind of vehicle he was driving he very likely as well she was close enough for him to identify her
vehicle and he he has his oh [ __ ] moment I've got to turn around she pulled in
I'm going to finish the job and now as he slowing down to get a look at what's going on he realizes there's somebody
else there this is a safe place for Jane and I can't go into further risk by by attempting to attack both of these
people now I'm better off to just drive off one thing that I thought was amazing
in her case and and terrifying this is one of the things that stuck with me from being a little boy watching that
Unsolved Mysteries when they show that reenactment of her hypnosis session where she's saying she's trying to
see the license plate the rear license plate of her attacker and this as portrayed on Unsolved Mysteries would
have been from when she pulled up from behind he's already fleeing this the scene where he attempted to kill her she
survives she's fleeing trying to get help for herself and then she sees the the attack 's vehicle sees his license
plate he's try she's trying to make it out but in that hypnosis reenactment she says the the license plate is dirty okay
well a Wagoner is a vehicle that you could have taken Offroad you could see given the terrain off of some parts of
Interstate 91 that yeah you could have muddy tires or or dirty vehicles or vehicles that appear to have been
off-roading but I remember as a kid thinking how scary is that it's very likely that this dude simply
at some point stuck his hand in mud or a puddle and rubbed it on the back of his
license plate because he knew he was going out trolling he knew he was going to be out doing some very suspicious
committing some very suspicious behavior and any deterrent from people being able
to identify him as that person is in his favor right or is this guy a sick son of
a [ __ ] and wipes his own ass with his own hand then uses his little [ __ ] hand
to cover up his license plate I mean it's possible thankfully Jane survived as we all are well aware from the
interview there but and I and I say that chuckling not uh just because it's silly
for for me to lead in that way but I do want to get into some of the some of the
details here because it's it's important the devil is in the details her life was
saved that night by herself and by her friend and by Personnel at the hospital where she was later treated right this
was a horrific attack she suffered a severed jugular vein two collapsed lungs a kidney laceration and severed tendons
in her knees and in her thumb she's pregnant at the time and fortunately God bless her baby survived although with
not without complications what we do get though is Jane is able to provide authorities with
the composite sketch and then later the first three characters of the attacker's license
plate there are many that believe given the manner of her attack the weapon being a knife and the location in which
it took place that Jane's case is absolutely connected to some of these other cases I personally believe that
it's connected to some of these other cases too and I say that simply because of the nature of the attack the vending
machine and the and I know that sounds silly butnot discredit the fact that in two of the
other cases there is a payone now we know that Jane didn't use the pay phone but to me it it is almost
mesmerizing and in some forms possibly even brilliant if that was purposely done in the reenactment on Unsolved
Mysteries and again it's just a reenactment that we we don't know how much truth is in that it we can't say
that it 100% went down that way but when the attacker ask her about the phone is
that pay phone working that's and then immediately opens up her car door that's almost like a magician's trick a little
slide of hand right I'll start talking so your eyes your eyes move up to my face up to
my mouth where the words are coming out and in the meantime I'm using I'm I'm moving my hand toward that car door
which you do not want me opening up that car door I've taken attention off of the
corridor and now away from my hands the other thing that's almost brilliant too is was that just a very simple way of
figuring out very quickly had she called anybody right because if and again I think in some of these cases there's
evidence to suggest that maybe the victim's vehicle was moved if he intended to abduct her from there before
she puts up a struggle he may have intended to go back and move her vehicle yeah that makes a lot of
sense but you don't really yeah you don't really want to do that or you don't need to do that I guess if
somebody is already aware that you were in this location hey does that pay phone work
she says I don't know she doesn't know because she didn't use it that might be good Intel for the attacker originally
shortly after her attack we have a big shift in the investigation now we have with this with this composite sketch and
with her statements and police believing that she would be able to identify her attacker should we place him in a lineup
they're now very optimistic that they're finally going to be able to bring closure to potentially some of these
other cases well the vehicle that she describes is a Jeep Wagoner and she doesn't describe it as a
beat up vehicle and so again you're in this area you're hunting for victims you see people that are that are hitchhiking
if you have a nicer vehicle they're more likely to get in the car and also that type of
vehicle not hard if you attack somebody at one location that you're able then to
move them pretty quickly it's it's not like it's a twodo sports car and it' be difficult to get a
victim in and out this is this is a vehicle that has a has a big hatchback if you commit a crime
somewhere else you can take that body and put it in the hatchback drive down the road and then
quickly get them out of the vehicle as well she described the attacker is driving a Jeep Wagoner with fauxwood
paneling and that that is more concrete than this portion because we have the hypnosis
session which leads to her stating that the three of the numbers on the license plate were likely 6 six and
two and she also states that it's possible that the license plate was from New Hampshire again I think you put the
the heavy weighted material in evidence here is the Jeep Wagoner with the faux wood paneling she seems certain on that
the 662 on the plate and potential New Hampshire plate a lot less credible although all she's trying to do is help
now she goes on to describe the attacker as being blonde with thinning hair and had a narrow face and was between
5'7 maybe 5'8 150 to 160 pounds one thing that was interesting to me here Captain was I always thought of
this type of vehicle as rather unique um you know not certainly not one of a kind
but more rare than than more commonly driven Vehicles yeah but we have information here that police armed with
this information from barasi from her attack they tracked down 1,600 wagoners that were in the larger area
here and they were unable to connect one of them to Jane's attack and it would appear that the
killings stopped following Jan Broski's attack and then as we pointed out earlier in our coverage a lot of these
cases if not all of them have become very cold since that's a good difficult thing too
because with some of these killers we see that they wrestle with this demon themselves and is it possible that this
serial killer was wrestling with these demons and then by realizing that one of his victims got
away and that she was was able to identify him now there's a sketch out there now the identity of my
car is out there is that enough for this person to try to put that part of their
life behind them and not only put that part of their life behind them but if they weren't even local to the area
right and chose this as their hunting and their killing ground maybe they then say you know what it's gotten too risk
it's gotten a little hot here for me I I need to move on and pick another area start operations up in another location
well and what I would like to know too is out of those vehicles that you were able to identify as law enforcement
which of those Vehicles were sold because I could see somebody going well I was identified my vehicle was
identified I am going to sell this vehicle you'd also like to know the details of the tracking down 1600
wagoners right what does that in fact mean does that just simply mean oh we we we got a pulled up records on 1600
wagoners and none of them had a 662 license plate so we we moved on or does that mean boots on the ground actually
going out and talking to the owners and looking at the vehicles yeah the other difficult thing in this case and it was
talked I think a little bit I mean I watched so many different things on this case and like we said it was on Unsolved
Mysteries but I believe at some point Jane claims that she believe that she she knew the identity of her killer Yes
and she cleared that up when I spoke with her because what had happened over the course of some years was Michael
Nicola the man that killed his wife his stepdaughter and then himself in December of 2005 and keep in mind his
first wife wife had disappeared he suspected for being responsible for her disappearance and many believed that
that he killed her and is able to tuck her away somewhere that nobody's been able to locate her remains at one point
Jane does identify Michael Nicola as the man that attacked her that night and for
a lot of people that was the final solution okay case closed this guy that killed himself is respons ible for a lot
of these if not all of these homicides that went unsolved and responsible for the Jane barosi attack there are several
people that think Michael Nicola is good for all of these I think there's a good chance that
he he could be responsible for some of them but Jane says look she changed her mind later that Michael Nicola was not
the man that she saw that night and she says that she simply felt pressured by other people to name him as her attacker
and she did name him and she faults herself but she says look I was vulnerable and I felt a little bullied
and I felt pressured to name him as my attacker and she said that for maybe a portion of her life she even believed it
herself or convinced herself that Michael Nicola was her attacker she now says all of these years later no it was
not Michael Nicola that attacked her that night when you can't fault her for anything because
the amount of trauma that she went through with the attack and then after the attack and again lucky to be able to
deliver her child but then her child has repercussions of the tack and then and what your life must be after something I
mean could you imagine she stopped to get something to drink on her way home no big deal and with within that small
time frame she is confronted with a monster the fact that she can even get up and get out of her house ever her is
is a is a huge win because I I don't know how somebody could go through that and find the
strength to to trust Society again well and that's what's so terrifying when you
review these number of cases as that we just did in this coverage of this Connecticut River Valley killer whether
or not these attacks are connected it's terrifying to review it because you can go all right well three
of the victims were hitchhiking and not the victim blame here but every one of us does this when you review these
things you go well it's not very safe that's a dangerous thing to be getting into a stranger's car especially if
you're a woman out walking on a road by yourself or you're in an area that you're not familiar with but in Jane's
case it's likely a a pregnant craving that nudged her to stop and pick up a soda on the way home she's just minding
her own business she's just a young woman living her her normal life and then out of nowhere she's attacked in a
parking lot and damn near killed there is a lot of work and and one thing that is good in this case Captain it has
received a good amount of coverage there are a lot of websites out there that are
dedicated or devoted space to the investigation and into some of the information in this case and it's
been covered fairly well on TV as well and in the media there is a profile out there and again depending on where you
go you're going to get various forms of this profile but I'll give you the simple version which states
that the Killer is a loner now to really kind of dissect that statement you look at somebody like
Dennis Raider he would have been considered a loner as well even though he had a wife children he was active in
his community at his church he was involved with the Boy Scouts you look at that and you go well this guy's not
really much of a loner this Dennis Raider but when you really start to peel back the layers of the onion and you get
to the core of Dennis Raider you realize that while he's out doing these other activities
it's a facade he's only he's only pretending to be the guy that you know the friendly neighbor the active Boy
Scout Troop leader the person that's involved in their Church he's that he knows that he needs to pretend to do
that all of his true self is experienced through Lan activities through solitary
individual activities he's trolling around for hours by himself in his car he's fantasizing about killing and
torturing people for hours by himself this dude Dennis Raider even would go to a hotel and check in and spend the night
by himself just to have a night to himself that's how much of a loner he was with putting on the act of being
normal well I think Dennis Dennis's case is not unique in the fact that see some
people close to him knew a little bit about these demons and because of that I think is is
another reason why he was involved in his church so Heavenly because then it the facade is maybe not just to society
but the facade is to the people closest to him the profile goes on to state that
these are calculated attacks that the killer has attention to detail and and routine
and is likely a collector that's interesting because where we have these cases and many of them there's no signs
of sexual assault what we've been told for years by the expert is that by the experts is that a knife is certainly
representative of a psychological sexual assault and that a lot of times when there's no sexual assault present by
these serial offenders that they are collectors they take something of the victim and it is a sexual component
they're always is a sexual component to the killings I think with some of these cases it gets incredibly difficult to
deduce exactly what happened because of the decomposition because the amount of time between the victim was abducted and
then the remains later found well yeah and again I know I keep harping on this point but these are all crimes of
opportunity mhm so therefore in one case there could be an opportunity the crime the crime
starts it evolves and maybe then there's an opportunity for sexual assault or rape
and in some of the other cases there there wasn't and so I think that's what makes
it so difficult to figure out if these cases are connected because like we said you can
make an argument well the the ages are different their backgrounds are different but to me that all goes out in
the wash and it's the hunting ground are they within that hunting ground and if they are then they it's a possibility
that it's the same killer the killer in their normal life will experience Outburst of
Rage will have strange relationships with women or the inability to have real true relationships with
women his father was either abusive or absent his violence shows he could be recreating an early experience
or reacting to an early life experience a lot of times with these serial killers
you see that they have multiple wives well that's one a sign that they can't keep a long-term relationship and I
think some sometimes these people get married again like you said it's a facade you start to see the real person
once you live with them and spend that amount of time with them and they can only keep up the act for so long and
you're right he may have the ability to get himself into a relationship with an adult woman he just does not have the
ability to maintain that relationship the killer will have a history of voyerism this is is one that
you any type of Serial offender especially if there's a sexual component you're going to see some kind of
vois behavior before The Killing start it's all I mean you can almost slap this on every single one of them because you
see it time and time again that either this would be a peeping Tom situation or exposing themselves to someone we've
seen it time and time again where there are these types of behaviors that lead up to eventually murder or a series of
murder this suspect is reliant on his car or vehicle and spends a lot of time a lot of hours on the road that is just
echoing what we've been saying all along when we look at this victimology here the suspect spends so much time driving
that driving is a form of therapy or self hypnosis for him again just backing up what we were saying earlier in the
book shadow of death the hunt for the the Connecticut River Valley Killer by Philip Ginsburg he creates this book he
wrote this book with a lot of help from psychologist John philpin who is the one
that is featured on Unsolved Mysteries now John in the book shadow of death gives a very a much more extensive and
thorough suspect profile in chapter 23 the profile takes up the entirety of the chapter I recommend checking out that
book especially that chapter as it's very interesting if you are if you find yourself eyeballs deep in this case and
want to learn more one thing that I thought was intriguing here Captain was an editorial in the Claremont paper that
I think while it's quite Elementary it sums up this killer very well and in fact sums up many serial killers out
there and it reads as follows he's a man who took the innocent at random and killed without reason and then went
hunting for the opportunity to do it again these cases are always going to be debated whether they're connected or not
until we solve one and that might then lead us to be able to connect the other cases together or eliminate them from
being connected together also in these cases Captain the cases not just that we talked about here today in the garage
but cases that are serial killer cases we usually throw out the possibility of a deathbed confession and rarely do we
ever get one sometimes you have confessions of evil men once they are caught they come clean with
investigators Dennis Raider comes to mind Ted Bundy even though he lied a lot and even one of Texas's most evil of all
time Kenneth McDuff they come out they tell you about additional victims they tell you how to find victims they tell
you what they did and how they did it one such deathbed confession a lesser known one was a case that we covered the
still missing person case of Judy Martins we discussed a deathbed confession there not in Judy's case but
connected to her case when William posie finally admitted to abducting and killing Iris Brown in
1981 he admitted this in a deathbed confession the Judy Martins case is very intriguing and anyone that wants to give
that a good garage listen check out our two episodes numbers 522 and 523 titled missing on campus so those are just a
few examples of how such confessions in cases that we've covered come about and with the William posie confession very
much a deathbed confession he was terminal and wanted to try to fully confess his sins in an attempt to get
right with God before dying so while it's rare deathbed confessions do actually happen and and we have one in
this case believe it or not now Ben Montgomery wrote a beautiful piece for the St Petersburg Times now owned by
Tampa Bay times but his story was so masterfully told and in a very story-like manner so I didn't want to
change it up too much here so let's review and explore Ben's story and it starts off with I'm Going to Hell Cindy
I'm going to hell Gary Westover was pale and sweating maybe he was on drugs maybe
the nightmares that robbed him of sleep that caused him to wake up screaming and
soaking wet were now robbing mind West over was full of hell and fire he had been paralyzed in a driving
accident leaving him with partial use of one arm he lived his adult life in a wheelchair collecting disability checks
and pedaling drugs on the side the leaves outside were changing that fall of 1997 and West over felt as if he wasn't
going to make it to Winter the 46-year-old was dying he called his uncle the person he trusted most he
needed to confess his cousin and uncle sat down his cousin took his hand I'm going to hell West over said
don't say that Gary said his cousin Cindy I've got something to tell you Uncle Howard he said Uncle Howard was
Howard minen a retired sheriff's deputy in Grafton County New Hampshire before Westover could continue
his uncle Howard told Cindy to leave the room the two men spoke while the women of the family waited in the kitchen when
Uncle Howard emerged his face was cold and stiff in the following days he shared the details of the conversation
with his wife and daughter Westover told his uncle that three of his buddies picked him up for a
night of partying they loaded his wheelchair into a van that they insisted that he go with them so that he was
culpable recalled his aunt his Aunt Louise goes on to say quote he had no choice but they took him over in the van
with his wheelchair they made him be there end quote West told his uncle that he and three men abducted a woman
butchered her and dumped her body off a back road his uncle wrote the names of the three men on a scrap of paper then
called the authorities his family goes on to back him up Howard Westover eventually passed away but his
family goes on to back him up saying that he was he was hurt more than anything the the uncle that that
informed the authorities because he reaches out to police and he says look I have this information from my nephew who
passed away making a confession that three of his buddies picked them up and they abducted and killed a woman and
dumped her body and he says that the police didn't seem interested in his information that they didn't believe
this deathbed confession which truly hurt the uncle because he's like I'm former law
enforcement I heard this confession and I believed it to be true and that's the only reason why I'm bringing it to you
guys Gary Westover died in 1998 and the details of this confession are murky we have the family that says
you know he told us he gave this detailed confession it was passed along to law enforcement and as far as the
media goes that's where the confession sits but what's interesting is within that confession Michael Nicola is one of
the individuals that is hinted at being one of the three men that picked up Gary
West over that night and made him be a part of this attack and in fact the family believes that this confession
was in regard to the Barbara agnu case the still unsolved Barbara agnu case yeah makes sense so they communicated
all of this information not only to the authorities but to Barber agnu family as
well they stated that because of Gary westover's Health you know he's quadriplegic and that he was involved in
this that of course he's not innocent of anything but they believe that he was simply
afraid for his life and that's why he didn't tell anybody until he was at death's doorstep because one he didn't
have the ability to defend himself against these three other men or the ability to defend his family against
these three other men I think his family lays out a good point of the reason why
we should believe this story and I wish law enforcement would have taken this story way more serious I would like to
know the details of this case because it seems very odd seems very strange that three men would pick up their their
friend their wheelchair bound friend and bring him along for something that it on the surface from what we do
know it appears that he might not have fully been on board with right or didn't know what he's going to be involved in
part of me wanders Captain was he used in in more ways than one but maybe as some kind of
ruse or lore to to to obtain a victim which is pretty sick remember when you go back and you you look at some of the
details of the barber agnu case we know that her vehicle was found at that rest area no one's really certain in fact
they're baffled as to why she would stop so close to her home why would we find her vehicle stop so close to her home we
know that it was snowing out that night I mean if you're out there looking to procure a victim or get somebody to
stop stop to be a potential victim a guy in a wheelchair on the side of the road
on a snowy night might just get somebody to stop Barbara agnu was a nurse a person that cared cared about help
helping other people well she took an oath it might be her love and her care for her fellow man that that led to her
being tricked into to stopping that night well and if the confession is true which I believe it is I have no reason
not to believe him or believe his family then you have three individuals that are capable of committing any of
these crimes all in the same area are these crimes connected and was there one killer on one of the crimes two killers
on a different crime three killers on some of the other crimes and is that why it's even harder to piece
this puzzle together because sometimes you have one killer and sometimes you have multiple
killers and do not let the West over deathbed confession deter you or anyone else from bringing information to the
authorities because while all of these cases sit very cold at the moment we are reminded by both the New Hampshire and
the Vermont State Police that these are considered active homicide investigations that if there is a lead
if there's du information they're going to follow up on it in the west over case
we simply do not know the details of that confession did in fact when the information was provided from the West
over family and made its way to law enforcement were they able to check very quickly that one of those names or some
of those names that were of those men that were named by West over that it was proven quickly that they could not have
been in the area or that Gary Westover was simply mistaken there he he did have a history of drugs and drug
abuse and so again we we don't know the details of that case so I wouldn't go so
quickly out of the way to discredit law enforcement here again if you have any information at all in one or any of
these homicide cases that we've discussed here today or any case that you think may be connected in any way to
one of the homicides that we discussed here today the Vermont State Police police and the New Hampshire State
Police are still actively seeking leads in all of these cases please reach out to
them at least seven women stabbed and murdered a series of murders in the Connecticut River
Valley you suspect it was the work of a serial killer all were stabbed multiple times
times and that's why I'm here to look for results to have results to give those families an answer
I want to thank everybody for another awesome year such an awesome year of support and love from you guys Colonel
do we have any recommended reading this week we are asking that you check out Jane's podcast the invisible tears
podcast from trauma to Healing that's the invisible tears podcast available everywhere you get Podcast if you don't
have time to write that title down right now don't worry because you can find that great title and many many more on
our website's recommended page at truecar.com and we hope you have a great holiday season with your family and
friends we will be doing so and we'll be off next week but we'll we'll see you here in the garage next year and until
then be good be kind and don't [Music] litter [Music] is it possible to predict the
unpredictable can 3D printed life-size organ models help to map out complex surgeries ahead of time is it possible
it already is right here Mayo Clinic you know where to go

The Connecticut River Valley Killer /// Part 2 /// 637

Part 2 of 2

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For about ten years between 1978 and 1988, eight women were murdered and the bodies scattered in wooded areas in the Connecticut River Valley region near Interstate 91 along the Vermont and New Hampshire border. Many of the victims were stabbed to death. Some stabbed in a specific pattern across the upper body. With some of the victims a cause of death could not be determined due to decomposition. Was this the work of a serial killer? Many think so. Join us in the Garage as we take a look at this strange case and review some of the suspects. A very special thank you to Jane Boroski for joining us and talking about her experience as the only known survivor of this vicious killer. Check out Jane’s podcast - Invisible Tears.

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Brief Summary

The episode discusses the Connecticut River Valley murders, suspects, and survivor Jane Barowski's harrowing experience.

Key points

The Connecticut River Valley Murders. A series of murders in the Connecticut River Valley raises questions about a potential serial killer.
Surviving Victim's Terrifying Encounter. Jane Barowski recounts her harrowing experience with a potential serial killer.
Survivor's Harrowing Experience. A survivor recounts the brutal stabbing and her desperate fight for survival.
The Attacker's Return. After the attack, the assailant drives by slowly, confirming the survivor's fears.
The Composite Sketch. The survivor provides a detailed description of her attacker, aiding the investigation.
The Connection to Other Cases. Experts discuss the possibility of the attack being linked to other similar cases.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

This guy's a real douch canoe ship princess.

6:16WatchNov 16, 2023

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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