The “KN” Murder ////// 793 | Forensic Files

n [Music] [Applause] [Music] welcome to True Crime garage wherever you are whatever you are doing thanks
for listening I'm your host Nick and with me as always is a man who knows that refrigerator Perry wasn't even his
real name here is the captain that's right it's good to be seen and good to see you thanks for listening thanks for
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everybody gather around grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some true crime [Music]
what attributes make a victim the right kind of victim one who will elicit public sympathy and be worthy of a
rigorous thorough police investigation into their brutal murder who is deserving of empathy and compassion from
our society shouldn't that be freely granted to to anyone who has suffered such an
atrocity well that may not have been the case in regard to the August 1972 murder
of 25-year-old Vicky Lin harell or at least that was the concern of one particular
columnist a concern that he wrote so passionately about on several occasions a concern that maybe she didn't make a
good victim one worthy of the Public's unwavering compassion his concern was warranted no
matter how real or unreal his assessment of the Public's interest in the case and
the victim he was trying to advance the investigation his attempts to stir the pot are
welcomed especially to us here in the garage as we the captain and I attempt to do the exact same thing each and
every week when we cover a new unsolved and Cold Case homicide the columnist clearly was
disturbed by the lack of tips from the general public tips or information that never made their way to the detectives
working the case could it be that the public simply Shrugged their shoulders and shielded
not just their eyes but their hearts from a ruthless slanging of one of their own Maybe
or maybe for some undefinable reason Bloomington Indiana had already turned a cold heart to real life horror and
mountainous levels of Heartache but if there's no information and if we don't have eyewitnesses and or
ear Witnesses well then the lack of tips does not equal how people feel emotionally about a
victim it is simply a rare occurrence of no news is actually bad news we have reviewed this case deeply
and I think the public cared dearly I know the victim's family certainly did those who knew Vicki still have
never healed not even to this very day decades later on that sad day we lost a good one
a real good one a dearly loved daughter sister and a really good mother this is the True Crime Story of a
loved dearly missed and never forgotten woman 25-year-old Vicky Lyn Harold and this is true crime garage
[Music] [Applause] [Music] Lawrence and Janice Harold gave birth to their first child a daughter that they
named Vicky Lynn this was August of 1946 at the time the young family was living
in crane Indiana this is a town about 30 m west of Bedford but they would soon move to the more rural area of schwick
after Vicky's sister Kathy is born this is just a few years later this is very cool here Captain the intention behind
this move was so that the children could grow up on their maternal grandparents Farm then after the move another Sister
Laura is born completing the heral family of five by all accounts Vicky and her sisters enjoyed a happy childhood
filled with all of the implements that life on a rural Farm entails the children helped around the property with
animals and chores and Vicky quickly gains the reputation of being a true perfectionist family members say she
took way too long to complete task because the task were never up to her own personal satisfaction some of these
tasks she took so long that she was often excused from certain chores but her level of perfectionism did not stop
there she was meticulously precise in all of her Endeavors from arranging her hair her sisters say her hair had to be
perfect all of the time to completing her homework it is said that this caused minor issues at school as she's turning
in these absolutely perfect papers and projects and homework but regularly taking to long to do so at school and
elsewhere Vicki is outgoing and is known for her friendliness especially to those
who were new in town or new to the school she was one of those types that would always extend a welcoming hand or
hello to the new kid at school Vicki attended Bedford High School for several years before transferring to schwick
high school from which she graduated from in 1965 after graduation Vicki was eager to
begin the adult portion of her life she moved moved out of mom and dad's house on the farm around
1967 she lands in the college town of Bloomington Indiana home to the flagship Campus of Indiana University along with
the famed campus btown is some call it this area is quickly becoming known as a premier destination to enjoy Live
musical performances by rock bands and artists at its many bars taverns and clubs VI was drawn to the nightlife of
course along with the live entertainment these establishments feature plenty of drinking socializing and generally
Carefree youth oriented lifestyle no doubt due to its proximity to the university these businesses will Thrive
and a lot of youngsters young adults will attend these various bars taverns and other locations Vicki was known to
be socialable and she enjoyed live music so of course she's going to fit in she's
going to fit right in at this new location she somewhat quickly establishes herself at Several of these
watering holes where she becomes somewhat of a regular she simply loves a lot of the local rock bands that were
performing at these different establishments at this time in the summer of 1968 Vicki became pregnant little is
known about the father of the child and there does not seem to be any confirmation that she and this man ever
married though some articles report that she was a divorce but most articles label her as a single mother or an unwed
Mother by the way I can't stand the term unwed mother it it seems like stupid yeah if you're a mother you have to be
married or or you should be married where what if you always wanted to have a child but the man wasn't the right guy
for you you know there's a lot of dudes that are not the right guy most of the time they're not the right guy yeah so
now we're going to fast forward Captain to March of 1969 this is when Vicky's daughter
Samantha is born Vicky appears to dial back her lifestyle a bit so she's not going out as much she's busy working
which she was always working and had always worked since moving out of her parents' home but she's really starting
to shape and mold her life out nicely at this time she's providing a nice home for her daughter and Vicki enrolls in
evening classes in 1971 in hopes of securing better work opportunities in the future so she can raise her daughter
so we're at 1971 on our timeline here captain at this time Vicky is working at the Eastside Kmart store now for our
younger listeners Kmart was a fantastic store there was one one near our neighborhood growing up it was so
fantastic they're they're no longer in existence yeah Kmart was the kind of store that you could you could buy
pretty much anything right there were I loved it yeah they had clothing they had
a good kids toy section they sold uh cassettes and CDs when we were kids I think you could even buy tires at some
of the locations and they usually had like a big outdoor gardening Lawn Care Kmart was Walmart before wal walart was
Walmart yes a smaller version I would say of of a Walmart but this was a very popular store in the state of Ohio so I
imagine it was rather po popular in the neighboring state of Indiana so she works at this Eastside Kmart store this
is near the college mall on East thir Street this is a pretty busy side of the city by early July she finds her Niche
she is one of the person in charge of helping to run the men's and the boys clothing Departments of this store she
works with and reports to a manager his name is Charles he goes by Chuck Chuck Holdman Vicky at some point during her
time working there she confides in Chuck that she's having a tough time securing
housing she tells Chuck that most apartment managers were unwilling to rent to an unwed mother
so it's the early 70s this is really just a sign of the times my friend again I'm going to use the words stupid it's
dumb I mean really as a apartment manager or a landlord all you care about is does the person pay the rent or they
are they clean are they tidy do they keep the noise down yeah my first question would be do you have a job yes
the answer is yes and then I go do you have the money yes cool she has a l work history and she's having no trouble
raising her daughter without the presence of a guy but after some time this is a bit of good news Vicki finally
finds an apartment that will rent to a single mother she and another young woman this is Joanne Heigel she is a
work colleague they decide to move in together so they can split the rent they move into apartment number
41e at the Heritage apartments I believe that this is located at 1600 East Hillside drive this sounds like a good
arrangement to me because both of these young ladies each have a child of their own so a good setup she doesn't have to
live alone she's got somebody to split the rent with and maybe we can even help each other babysit from time to time on
August 10th 1972 the rear window of Vicky's 1965 blue Plymouth Valiant four-door vehicle is smashed
so somebody smashed out her rear window this is while the vehicle was parked on the street near a bar called The Still
The Still Tavern is a local night spot located on North College Avenue that Vicki was known to frequent let's Jump
Ahead two days to August 12th which is a Saturday after Vicky's roommate agrees to babysit Vicky's daughter Vicki's
daughter's name is Samantha she's 3 years old at this time so Vicky leaves her apartment her daughter is going to
stay with her roommate and her roommates kid as well the purpose of her leaving that evening is going to be to go to the
Kmart store where she works so she's going to be returning a comforter that she purchased at the Kmart she mentions
to the roommate that she's also going to go and stop and make a payment at a nearby Airway there she has an item on
layaway again for the younger listeners this is something that I wasn't very familiar with growing up but there was
layaway back in the day where you could go and you're simply making payments periodically on an item that you want to
buy usually these are more expensive items and they hold the item for you and you go and make the payments and then
once you've once you've completed the payments you've completed the purchase and you can leave with the item so I I
want to be very clear about this because I think unfortunately Vicki not going to
return home that night from running these two errands but I want to paint a clear picture for the listeners here
regarding this case and her movements that evening so she lived let's say and this is
figuring it conservatively she lived about 10 minutes a quick 10-minute drive from her apartment to the Kmart the
Kmart if you were to look this up on an old map it's next to this Bloomington mallplaza
they practically share a large parking lot if you want to look at it that way like she could drive her car from the
Kmart to this Airway store and never really have to hit any roads if that makes sense I'm trying to
paint the picture as to how close these two businesses were to one another back then and like you were saying her
roommate is watching her daughter but because it's such a quick trip it's not like the roommate was planning on
watching the daughter all night long right I mean it's a quick drive to and from the two businesses her two stops
are very close to one another now sometimes when you're returning an item that can take a little longer than one
might plan for and I don't know I've never made a layaway payment on anything so I don't know how long that typically
would take but this sounds to me Captain like a very quick trip hey could you watch Samantha for a little bit I'll be
back as soon as possible well she also works at the Kmart so it's not like she needs to stroll around and and and
browse and see what see what's in stock because she already knows yeah so unfortunately as said Vicki's not going
to return home that night now we do know that she made it to Kmart with no problems so she made the return so she
returns the comforter we know this because a fellow Kmart employee is on record telling authorities
later that this person I don't know if was a female or male worker but they tell the police I witnessed Vicki in the
store and I saw her leaving the store and the last time I saw her she was walking toward her vehicle well we
should know if she made it to the other store because did she make the layaway payment or not that's tricky that is a
bit of information that is not found when reviewing this case so Vicki is last seen according to all reports out
there she's last seen alive getting into her dark blue 1965 Plymouth Valiant which was a four-door vehicle and she's
getting into her vehicle at the Kmart parking lot on the east side of Bloomington Indiana
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mates talk hands in the air much love to the people in the back and a big shout out and we like your jib and we love you
to everybody in Florida yeah every body out there regardless of where you are stay safe the weather has been crazy and
Mother Nature has been taking few prisoners lately so it's been uh it's been hard times for a lot of people our
thoughts and prayers are with all of you out there when we left off Captain we know that Vicky made it to the Kmart
store and we know that she left there so yes here here's my thoughts on the matter give it to me we can kind of read
between the lines a little bit here right if she's returning a comforter they're going to hand this
1972 they're going to hand her cash so I imagine she's like I'm going to return this comforter that I decided for
whatever reason I don't want or don't need they're going to hand me cash and since I have cash in hand I'm going to
drive over to the airway which is very close and probably use a portion of that cash or all of it to make a payment on
this other item that I have on layaway you brought up a a great question and one that that needs to be answered
something that that the information is lacking here did she make it to the airway because as you said there would
be a paper trail of that it would be easy to know if she made it in there and if she made it out safely because this
is our window of concern this is our time in question here on our timeline what the hell happened to Vicki that
night because we know she doesn't come home she doesn't return to the apartment with her roommate and the two kids there
that night and when she doesn't return later that evening Joanne the roommate she begins calling around reaching out
to friends to see you know has anyone seen Vicky look when when a mother has a good
friend who's another mother and and the mother doesn't come home Moms come home to their kids right and Vicky yes she
had this period in her life where she liked to go out a lot and she loved rock bands but she doesn't strike me as she's
a responsible mother she doesn't strike me as the kind of person that's going to
be like hey Joanne could you watch my kid I'm going to run a quick errand and and then just decides to stay out all
night yeah most mothers come home to their child my my mother went out for a pack of cigarettes in 1983 and I haven't
seen her since but at first if you're the roommate you're going to be getting a little annoyed right hey I said I'm
going to watch your kid this is supposed to be a quick trip what the heck is going on and then after that frustration
then you start worrying what the heck you know this is not like her something bad could have happened and it's also
the time period that we don't have cell phones so it's not like she could text real quick or call real quick and say oh
I have to run another Aaron or something came up or emergency came up so that very evening remember Vicky's last
spotted in the parking lot of the Kmart her roommate Joanne notifies police and reports her 25 old roommate Vicky Lynn
Harold missing and I hate that we always have to bring this up but when it's in the report we have to according to
several accounts or opinions however you want to shake it the information here is
that it's the opinion that the police didn't seem to take the report very seriously Vicky is a is an adult and as
far as the police are concerned she can come and go as she pleases yeah but on top of that I mean look if you have a
quote unquote unwed mother that is having difficulty finding a place to rent when she has a stable job and she's
a stable individual do you really think law enforcement is going to take this case as serious as other cases so if
look and I'm not trying to put myself the sign of the times my friend I'm not trying to put myself above anyone here
but when I if I show up and and I'm the one taking the report and I see see the little three-year-old kid her daughter
there at the apartment and this other young woman who's responsible in raising her child
as well does Vicky have a job yes how long has she worked there so I I'm learning very quickly that she's
responsible because of the kid I'm I'm going to take that to another level and the other thing you know I say it a
hundred times on this show but I'll continue to say it whether you want to take it seriously or not of course
adults are allowed to come and go as they please but this is Bloomington Indiana
1972 this is not a crime ridden area it's not a there might not be a whole lot going on that night and it doesn't
hurt to drive around and look for Vicki and you're out there anyway man you're out there patrolling anyway just tell
your tell your co-workers hey if anybody sees a a young lady that looks like this
or sees a vehicle that looks like this go up and talk to the person it seems pretty easy to me pretty easy well not
to not to defend law enforcement but there's some cases hey some college kids called on a Saturday morning and their
roommate went out to a party last night and hasn't come home yet maybe that's a situation where you go hey guys if he
doesn't come home in the next few hours give me a call because there's reason to
believe well if you went to a party maybe he went home with somebody maybe he stayed at the party that makes sense
but we have a situation where like you said single mother roommate's going to watch her child for just a little bit
while she runs these quick errands she should have been back within an hour maybe within 2 hours tops so after that
time period of her not showing up maybe take it a little more serious you're patrolling anyway so it doesn't seem
like any extra work at all so he said she's reported missing we know that she's last spotted at the Kmart the
police are notified her car is missing though right car is missing as well because she took her vehicle with her to
run these errands so now we're going to skip ahead to two days after this so the
14th yeah now it's Monday August 14th and it's around 1:30 in the afternoon we have a Owen County highway department
worker who stumbles upon an appalling site while looking for a secluded place so he he's out working in the this area
and he's supposed to be out working in this area early in the afternoon he decides I got to find a secluded place
to relieve myself take a leak take a leak yeah I was just trying to make a joke but he's really going to take a
peek well people who work outside um sometimes they have to do this right um yeah so he go he goes over to this large
pile of rocks and this is where he discovers the nude strangled body of a deceased woman
so the woman he finds is lying face down in a ditch this ditch is filled with water from recent
rainstorms this is on a access road to a place called mccormix Creek State Park so this is 3 miles east of Spencer
Indiana and just off of conquered Road 1 mile North of Indiana 46 horrified terrified the highway
department employee contacts the authorities immediately the Owen County sheriff's deputies soon descend upon the
scene upon reaching the scene we have Sheriff Robert Mason who immediately makes the connection to two days prior
of the missing persons report so almost instantly Sheriff Robert Mason is uneasy
and suspicious as to the identity of the victim believing that it might be it very well could be this missing young
woman who was reported missing just two days prior and if you're law enforcement
and you would have took this serious you would have no regret if you take a missing person report seriously and they
show up the next day no big deal well it exactly if if you find the individual now dead well and again it's it's
alarming too because her her roommate Joanna is no dummy she's going to tell the the officer that that's taking the
report like I called a bunch of her friends nobody's seen her you I did I did some of the the work trying to track
her down myself nobody's seen her something might be up here so the sheriff and his workers are already
under the belief even before the identification process starts that they may know who the victim is now of course
later she is identified as Vicky Lyn Harold and the victim has been strangled with a rope or a similar type of item
according to authorities now one thing that has been a big part of this case is that when the authorities turn the body
over so remember the body's lying face down in this ditch nude when they turn the body
over in preparation to transport for the autopsy they discover that and it's always reported as initials but the
report is they discover the initials k n the letters K and the letter n as in Nick have been crudely carved into the
victim's upper abdomen or lower chest area don't you find that stupid though this is a murder victim not a painting
not something that it's not a paycheck something you're going to sign your name to we we have no clue if this is
initials or if this is a start of a word or or what I I just think it's a stupid
term I yeah I too do not like that it's always reported as initials KNN if you go to the police the Indiana State
Police if you go to their website on cold cases I believe that they have it correctly they're saying simply letters
the letters K and N are were carved into the victim here but you you heard my conversation with Dr Scott Bond no I
never listened to which I missed that episode we talked about Will Graham the Nemesis of Hannibal Lecter and when he's
looking at the crime scenes he's supposed to be like the super detective when he's looking at crime scenes the
first thing he says to himself is he's trying to put himself in the mind of the Killer says this is my design yes it's
it's something that's very dumb here to call it initials it's it's strange that that anybody would take the time to
crudely carve letters into a victim's chest area but this was done for a purpose done for a reason and sometimes
if you can find and figure out why that was that might get you one step closer to finding and identifying the
perpetrator of this horrific murder the reports here Captain are that there appears to have been no sign of a
struggle in this area or nearby signifying that the victim may have been killed elsewhere and the body dumped in
Owen County neither the Rope used to strangle the victim or whatever was used to strangle the victim nor the tool used
to carve the initials or the letters into the victim none of this is found at the scene right the reports too are that
there are no tire tracks near nearby and no sign of the clothing that the victim
had been wearing the as far as we can tell the the clothing had never been found now one thing that I was so all we
have here is is a victim all the other items were either discarded somewhere else or kept by the killer the other
information in the reports are that despite the body being faced down in the water there are twigs and leaves stuck
to the victim's back and her bare feet are caked in mud so this could indicate that she was walking at some point after
her shoes were removed but according to an article this is 1975 newspaper article by Larry
incollingo and I hope that I got his last name right because we'll reference him more than once in the telling of
this true crime story but according to the article by this Larry in Kingo the only footprints that were
found at the crime scene are those of the highway worker who discovered the remains in all I think this is one I
think this will show the level of severity that the police and the authorities have of this case when they
when they catch it when they discover the victim because in all four separate agencies would be assigned or would
assign investigators to this case and those agencies were the Owen County Sheriff's Office the row County
Sheriff's Office the Indiana State Police which included detectives from both the Bloomington Post and the
putnamville post so one thing that they agree on here Captain all four of these agencies is that despite her remains
being discovered where they were on this access road to this state park they firmly believe that VI Vicky met her
tragic fate in some other place this is going to sound strange but I have a body
finding Pro tip for you if you are in the unfortunate circumstance where you happen to find a body yeah when leaving
to notify the authorities walk backwards it's an old it's an old detective trick when they walk out they
Unfortunately they have to approach a crime scene and walk out to the victim where the victim was placed or or left
and that's an old Det detective trick is that they walk backwards stepping on their own
Footprints backing out of the scene as to not further disturb the scene Footprints shoe prints would could have
been a big deal in this case because really what we have here Captain is the victim with some evidence that we can
glean from from the victim herself but the crime scene isn't really telling us much so the pro tip is walk backwards on
your own Footprints yes don't pull a Nick Miller and do the moonwalk that same day shortly after the discovery of
the body in Owen County Vicky's 1965 Plymouth valant is found parked in a lot behind the college mall shopping center
okay this is why you take the missing person's report seriously the vi the vehicle is situated between the airway
department store to the South and Cinemas one and two to the north if you take the report from the roommate and
she says yeah she was going to go to the Kmart and to the airway if you just would have drove by
there unless the killer or Vicky or or somehow the the vehicle was moving around it looks to me and I am of the
firm belief that that that that vehicle she parked it near the airway Department store and something happened
to her in that parking lot I don't know if it was prior to going into the store or after coming out of the store that is
my belief that something happened to her in that parking lot you would find a patrol officer would find her vehicle
right where you think one might think it would be if you had just gone and looked
for her that night it's a 10-minute drive from the apartment it would have taken you all of 10 to 12 minutes to
locate this missing woman's vehicle couple questions because you talked about her
back window being busted out M I'm guessing that she wasn't able to get this fixed before she went on this trip
this aon's trip that is you're exactly right and that's why I pointed out the the short turnaround between the the day
on that Thursday when the window was smashed out and the Saturday when she goes missing the first thing they notice
is that the the window had been smashed out yeah and if you're a perpetrator you're looking for
a victim you see her go into that Kmart store you could probably easily reach your hand in unlock the door maybe even
being in the back seat waiting for her yeah that that's why I that's why I always check the back seat before I get
in my car this smashed out rear window would provide an opportunity for somebody who's out looking for a victim
like you said you could figure out a way to get into the vehicle and Ambush her when she comes back to her vehicle the
other thing is it might if you're not setting up an ambush it could give you an opportunity to approach her with
a conversation oh I noticed your windows smashed out I work for a body Shopper blah blah blah now you're in close
proximity of this person and the reason why and we don't have to go too far down
this road because we don't know for certain that right it sounds like we're giving out a lot of information here
about this case but really they the hold back information on this case I suspect there's a lot so there
are some sources that indicate that there was damage to the driver side door and that the left rear door window was
missing remember it's a four-door vehicle but if that's true it's not clear number one and
number two there's never been any clear information to come out about the vehicle now what we do know is the
following day authorities tow the vehicle to the city's service center lot to dust for fingerprints and and process
the vehicle the results in the information that they get from the vehicle has never been released to the
public but but there's a couple things that that my mind jumps to immediately one I believe that I'm looking for a
person with a vehicle the killer I think had their own vehicle and I think that was the method that they used to
transport Vicki to how many locations we don't know right but I say that because
look nobody wants to get caught you'd have to be a you'd have to be an insane person to be fine with getting arrested
for a horrible crime like this you're not going to drive around with a victim alive or otherwise in a vehicle where
the the rear window's smashed out you're going to give the police an excuse to pull you over that's a you're going to
stick out like a sore thumb but the other the other thing my mind jumps to here too Captain is I want to know like
we know the the clothing was never recovered but what about her purse I have to believe she's carrying a purse
with her she went to return an item she's going to go pay for another item at a different location I would believe
she's carrying a purse and likely a driver's license with her did they recover her driver's license we know and
the reason why I'm going down this road is the the the letters carved into the chest it to me it's
suggestive that this person may be a Serial offender I I'm sure that it has happened
in plenty of cases Standalone cases one-offs but letters words written on the victim left with the victim carved
into the victim that to me screams serial killer and I hate that my brain goes there all the time but the the
other thing I go back to the purse where are the contents of the purse where are
the purse where they found in the vehicle did it look like the person was attempting to take money from the purse
or was the purse simply never found if the purse was located was the driver's license removed we know that some of
these guys like to build up a little collection of driver's license of different victims well again if they
would have took the missing person report seriously and they would have found her car quickly then you have a
better chance at getting good eyewitness statements did somebody see a creepy van
#b the vanan but we only have eyewitnesses claiming that they saw her getting into her car the autopsy reveals
bruises to her mouth and left forehead the pathologist maintains that she had most likely been sexually
assaulted again I think that's part of the hold back information they they don't go into any kind of detail with
that or even confirm the sexual assault if if this was a blitz attack by the perpetrator the the bruises to the left
forehead might be an indicator that our perpetrator is right-handed so I mean if you're if
you're trying to really build this investigation on some pretty simplistic terms here you would think you're
looking for a right-handed man who owns a vehicle that might have the initials K
and N if you really want to start somewhere and based off of the information or the lack of information
that's provided in the sources out there we don't know what else they would have
to go on at the time now of course the letters or the initials whatever you want to label these have become a topic
of much speculation for not only investigators but for the general public over the
years now maybe we should address our own speculation here with these letters I was thinking of you know they keep
saying initials and and most people that's their immediate reaction they're like well look for somebody with the
first name that starts with k and the last name that starts with N right some of the some of the information that's
come out over the years have said that and this sounds like an opinion of an investigator but have said that well
we're not absolutely sure that it's a k and an n look if they're capital letters it would seem pretty easy to
know if it's a k and an N if they're lowercase I think the N might be more difficult but the it's not easy to carve
I don't know this from personal experience but it can't be easy to carve and cut letters into skin I would
imagine it's somewhat similar to I know I know a tree bark is much much more of a solid and hard item compared to to
skin but you know you know when you try to carve letters into anything it never they never turn out the way that you
envision them right so it's always very easy to make straight lines to create your letters so a capital K and a
capital N would seem the most likely here I know that there's that speculation out there that says we're
the one guy's opinion of well we're not exactly sure that it was a k and an N but it sounds like the guys that the
detectives that work this case the most it sounds like they are it's General consensus amongst them that that
it was a k and an N again I guess I guess if if the letters never come out the way that one intended when you're
trying to carve them into something maybe the K could be the straight line to the left of the K could be it was
intended to be an i or an l and the other is is maybe a c or something that happened to just get too close to that
line I don't know but what we do know Captain is these letters mean anything the the K and the N have never led to an
arrest or a conviction in this case so I I think it's fair to speculate and the other thing too is from The Limited
experience I have with reviewing cases where somebody has written on the victim or carve something into the victim
because it's rather rare but we covered a case where it's believed that the person carved the word fat into the
victim and there's a a famous there's famous cases out there there was a serial killer in California a long time
ago that was using lipstick to write BDA on victims and the BDA we would learn later learn what BDA likely stood
for because this killer while never apprehended never identified communicated with either police or media
I can't remember who it was but but what did the BDA stand for Black Dalia Avenger is what the letter
said the the letter sent to police or the media or both that's what the the author of those letters said BDA stood
for Black Dalia Avenger so in both of those scenarios Black Dalia Avenger and the
word fat which is a completely different case a more recent case think about that
for a second the the killer is not necessarily identifying themselves even though the killer May identify as the
Black Dalia Avenger but they're not saying like so KN andn could stand for anything and if you want if you want to
go really into some fictional movie type stuff KN andn could be could have been a previous victim the
initials of a previous victim and the and the killer trying to tell police like yeah I did that one now now I'm
doing this one I don't think there's never any mention of this so I don't think that it happened with BDA and and
BTK and a lot of these other uh Killers When when they do leave these little letters or or
information they often communicate with the police or the media at some point and that doesn't seem to be the case
here if it is they've either NE they've either never connected that communication to this
murder or they've never released it to the public well and if you're law enforcement like you said very very very
rare to have this situation happen but knowing what we know and like you said they they a lot of times communicate
with law enforcement maybe this is some of the reasons why they didn't hold back this
information cuz they go well let's put it out there it could be a K and N we don't
know maybe the killer will reach out to us to tell us what it means well and I couldn't find another podcast that was
dedicated to the case of Vicky ly harell I did see some that were featuring the case of Pamela Millum so September 16th
1972 we're going to go out about 55 miles away from Spencer Indiana where which is nearby where the our victim
Vicki was found so we're going to terao Indiana keep in mind this is a month and
a day or a month and two days after Vicki's killed we have the body of Indiana State University co-ed Pamela
Millum is discovered in the trunk of her vehicle the student had last been spotted at a sorority event the prior
night on campus she failed to appear for a planned visit home her father and instigates a search of the campus and he
he's out searching for his daughter he and another family member spot the vehicle at a campus parking lot and he's
the one that unfortunately goes through the vehicle and checks the trunk opens up the trunk and makes the Grim
discovery of his daughter's body she's found bound gagged and stuffed into the trunk of her own car she was 19 years
old she was a sophomore at the University she had been strangled with a rope so there's some interesting things
here you might have some stuff that's connecting right you have the vehicle situation with both victims it's only
about a month or so apart in time and 55 miles away it's somewhat nearby and but but again the We Believe
or at least it's been reported that Vicki was strangled with an item they believe possibly a rope or something
similar and then they discover this victim Pamela Millum as having been strangled with a rope yeah Pamela's case
is very scary because she's at a she's at a sorority Gathering she takes a box of decorations out to her
car and she's supposed to just take it out to her car and come right back and then they're going to I believe order
food or eat they just kind of sit around waiting wondering why she hasn't returned yeah
she never comes back now her case will take a long time to solved but Pamela's case is solved so in
2019 police identified the killer as Jeffrey Lynn hand and this is this the guy that looks
like a rejected Justin Bieber that might be pretty polite uh but they use DNA testing to they have DNA suspect DNA
that they collected at the time so Good by them to do that back in 1972 you hope they did it in Vicki's
case there's no mention of it but with the sexual assault if they did a rape kit on the
victim and whatever other physical evidence that they have still to this day could lead to the perpetrator of Vicky's
homicide just like it did in Pamela's case I I have a tendency to believe that if they have said physical evidence that
could connect them to a perpetrator then that would mean that Jeffrey lyand is not the killer of
Vicky Lyn Harold if they don't have that physical evidence you can't rule him out well in
the Pam case I think they have some more evidence because they had I believe they
had her her clothes and so in the Vicki case there's no there's no clothes found
there's no items found so what are you going to hold back and because we didn't have the tech technology then but if you
don't have evidence to hold back to let technology catch up what are you going to be testing well and if you're a
detective and you're arriving to a to view a homicide victim or at a murder scene you would much rather find the
victim in the trunk of a car rather than lying face down in a puddle outside in the elements because being in the trunk
of that vehicle is going to preserve physical evidence for your investigation now one thing that I hate that they did
but it's 1972 this was common practice back then they do clear like 30 suspects is the report they cleared some 30
suspects in Vicki's case but this was simply clearing them via polygraph so you pass the polygraph they move on to a
different person so they had some suspects or at least people that they thought they should be looking at I
would imagine this is a lot of the uh Kmart people that she worked with and and other people in her Social Circle at
the time you go back in these old cases and that's how they cleared people pretty regular but we know that a true
psychopath will be able to sit across from you at a table look you directly in the eye and lie lie lie and not have a
beat of sweat not not show any signs of stress no elevated heart rate nothing yeah I would really want to look into to
her co-workers I i' would like to know if there was a a guy there that was trying to court her maybe he was trying
to get her attention and she didn't want anything to do with him well you'd also
want to figure out does does the smashed out window have any is there any linkage
there right did it was somebody like you said following her around did she get into it with somebody or was that just a
random Act of well my other thing though too is this K N I know this might sound
like a leap and I hope you're going to the leap that I was going to say go ahead and say it I hope you're you're
going to make the same leap maybe they're trying to write Kmart that's exactly what I was going to say as well
look some of these perpetrators we know will even give nicknames to their victim
was this just hey watched her coming out of the Kmart followed her over to this other parking lot struck up a
conversation or figured out how to get into her vehicle and ambushed her when she came out of the other place I was
trying to write Kmart it got a little difficult so I just kind of gave up dumped the body or even if they're just
trying to write km yeah that's not that far of a stretch to go well I'm the Killer and that that that equals Kmart
to me km so a little more about the investigation here is one of the detectives that worked the case for a
long time his name is Lieutenant Ralph Shoemaker and he's openly frustrated to the public about this case saying that
you know there was really a lack of leads in this case we didn't have a whole lot of evidence to work off of one
thing and I won't go too far down this road and in too much detail here but there was a gag order that was put in
place and I believe this came from the courts that that they went to the courts and the courts put a gag order on the
department investigating this case saying that they you know they can't they've already released too much
information to the public you can't release any more information so that's M makes me suspicious of what they're
holding back and and look this case is from 1972 I don't think it's going to hurt your case now if you tell us some
more information today about this case from all these years it you've had the case forever you've not been able to
solve it now it might not be the the the fault of the police for not being able a
to solve it because the some of the investigators say that they believe that the the young mother Vicky Harold was
likely killed by a complete stranger one thing that they point to there's a 1973
article where Lieutenant Shoemaker reveals that he believes that the young mother was killed by a transient someone
not familiar with the area further he divulges that detectives are looking into other similar murders that occurred
in 1969 1970 and 7 one and he says that these murders occurred along Interstate 70 in Pennsylvania and the state of
Maryland so of course I went looking and digging to try to find these other cases in these
instances the victims were all young women from college towns who were murdered and this article
says that they had initials or letters carved into their abdomen however I'm pretty good at looking for stuff and
finding it and I could find hide nor hair of these other murder victims that might be
linked to Vicki's case doesn't mean that they don't exist right but there could be cases where law enforcement decided
to hold back the information that there was any letters carved onto the victims exactly
the other thing too is the reporting could be bad right I'm looking in specific areas Pennsylvania Maryland 69
70 71 we've almost done 800 episodes of bad reporting if if those dates are off or
the locations are off of course I'm not going to find them right now one of the multiple agencies investigating this
case said that they had a guy they think that they think they knew who who did this to Vicki who killed Vicki but it's
described in a couple of Articles the situation is described as this authorities had isolated a prime suspect
in Vicki's murder but the man was quote Untouchable due to his being currently housed at a mental institution out of
state okay so the way that this works is if this individual was in a mental institution in another state at that
time the reporting states that this was really like a a true firewall that they couldn't get Beyond they they couldn't
even get into interview or interrogate this man because not just because of the being institutionalized
but I think a large part of it had to do with he was institutionalized in another
state so what ever happened to this guy well I have a little more speculation or
information on who this person could be but I want to continue with some of these newspaper articles
because some of these articles were were quite interesting to review this this one's from 1974 and I won't go through
the whole thing here but this is again this Larry inklingo he's definitely got a bee in his Bonnet about this Vicky
case because he keeps writing about it and bless him for doing so he kept it in the newspaper now I say bless him to do
so that keeps a little pressure on the police and it reminds the public that this case is unsolved so that's good
where it's where it's not so great is the the family her family was grieving and private and they've never of course
they've never gotten over the loss of their daughter or sister but one of their sisters is on record saying every
time one of these articles came out it was like it happened all over again for the family so there's good and bad with
this but in this particular article in 1974 he is talking about in addition to Vicki's killing he's recounting some
similar brutal murders or abductions of women that took place all within roughly
the same area of the state of Indiana and at the time of 1974 all of these cases were
unresolved so there were a lot of victims that he was listing here and I don't think he was necessarily trying to
say that any of the cases were connected he's just saying look there's these cases out there these horrible cases
where young women and girls are getting abducted and murdered and they're not the cases are not being solved he does
acknowledge the multiple agencies involved in this investigation their obvious commitment and passion to
solving or attempting to solve this case but chalks up their inability to solve the murder to several reasons one for
one this is something we've talked about in in a couple of other cases and this was true unfortunately for a lot of
states and counties back in the 50s 60s and 70s and you even see this in some cases in the 80s and a little bit in the
90s but today thankfully much of this has been corrected so one of the reasons why he
points to the inability to solve this case is the lack of a true medical examiner system in Owen County back in
1972 so back then the coroner typically was not a doctor and typically wasn't someone that had any
crime scene or forensics knowledge at all or training yeah there weren't at all yeah they weren't specialized most of
the time they were morticians so they would give their best opinion of to how the person was
killed and then they would start the process of the funeral the memorial Serv hey that's better than uh what FY Malik
did yeah # fill Andy yeah he he he said that um uh let's let's not even go down that road
secondly oldy mik it's mentioned that there may have been even though we had multiple agencies working this so you
have a lot of resources but it's 1972 how great were they communicating with one another was there anything
getting lost in communication or Lost in Translation regarding the details and the evidence about this case well also
the lack of evidence that left at the scene all we have is a murdered victim and nothing else now
this article Captain is much more recent so 12 years ago the times mail News interviewed 86-year-old retired
detective Harold Jackson who was one of the investigators that worked this case and I think this guy retired with
only two unsolved cases that he had worked over the years and unfortunately Vicky Harold's case is one of them
and I'll just read a portion of this article because this guy gives us a lot more information and this was somebody
extremely close to the case as said he worked it and it was one of only two unsolved cases that that he had during
his career the article says murders were uncommon back then Jackson said Vicky's
case added a sour tone to the tale of his long distinguished career Jackson remembers Vicky Harold and the
investigation into her murder for weeks he worked 15-hour shifts Gathering leads
on the case time ran out but Jackson felt he had the case solved before his retirement detectives had tracked down a
prescription drug salesman a man in his mid-40s who had circled Southern Illinois and Missouri around the dates
of nearly a dozen murders all young women this is what's interesting to me all those other sources were always
referencing if it were connected to other murders the states Maryland and Pennsylvania this detective is saying
Illinois and Missouri this detective Harold Jackson says he can put this man in Bloomington
Indiana on the night that Harold disappear Vicky disappeared so he says the piece is fit
for him but the end result was they don't come up with an arrest now that you're going to hear
something very similar here to something we've discussed already he says their time ran out when the Man's
family stepped in moving him to a Kentucky mental hospital Jackson's investigation came to the end of its
Road it's haunted him for years the file remains open and they fill that file with new leads on
suspects over the years so further detail here Captain it sounds like this man who may
have been responsible for multiple murders yeah he's kind of swept under the rug and kept in a safe house
essentially which is this mental hospital in Kentucky his family placed him there and it's said in some of the
sources that his family a lot of them may have been attorneys or lawyers and that
further shielded and guarded him from investigators for the gag order if you're his family I guess you could
understand why that makes sense to them if they know if they knew he was a killer or
possibly a serial killer and they also thought he was mentally unstable and he was in a facility that he wasn't going
to get out of maybe they thought well that's enough and so they're protecting Society because he won't be
out on the street but they're also protecting their family name and reputation at the same time yeah and
protecting him from the punishment that he so strongly deserves that so if this detective's hunch is right here knowing
who this man is and interrogating him and and building a case on him could clear and close several other cases at
the same time I do want to point out before we close here today captain that the the daughter Vicki's daughter
Samantha she grew up in her aunt and uncle's home Vicki's sister raised her today she is successful and living a
happy and normal life but her mother's murder has never been solved anyone with information concerning this case please
contact the Indiana State Police District investigative Commander at the Bloomington Indiana post the best phone
number is 1 1800 423 [Music] 1286 want to thank everybody for joining us here in the garage each and every
week the flying garage ship thanks for telling your mother thanks for telling your brother Colonel do we have any
recommended reading for the beautiful listeners this week Captain we have some recommended listening for everybody out
there it's a fantastic True Crime podcast called Empire on blood Empire on blood goes deep inside a case like few
other podcasts the reporter spent seven years getting to the bottom of this true
crime story and it has it all a guy in prison for two murders that he says he didn't commit a prosecutor that people
call Turtleman a detective who gets an amazing amount of confessions and a drug dealer who is supposedly practicing
black magic Empire on blood was number one when it was released and now it's back with new bonus episodes so if you
have checked out Empire on blood go back and listen to the new bonus episodes Empire on blood is available on Apple
and wherever you are listening to this podcast you don't have to write that recommendation down now because Empire
on blood is listed along with many other great recommendations at truecrime garage.com
go and check out the recommended page and while you are on our website make sure you sign up on our mailing list yes
for everything True Crime Check out True Crime garage.com until next week be good be
kind and don't litter [Music]

The “KN” Murder ////// 793

Part 1 of 1

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In August of 1972 a young mother is reported missing to police by her roommate. Vicki Lynn Harrell was a smart and hard working woman, making her way in the world. She went out one night to run a few errands but never returned. Later her body was discovered. The killer had crudely carved KN on the dead woman’s chest. Four law enforcement agencies worked this case. This week True Crime Garage examines this case while taking a look at one or two others that may be connected. Anyone with information concerning this case should contact the Indiana State Police, Bloomington post at 1-800-423-1286

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Brief Summary

The episode discusses the unsolved murder of Vicky Lyn Harold and the investigation's shortcomings.

Key points

The Life of Vicky Lyn Harold. Vicky was a perfectionist and a friendly soul, known for her kindness.
Vicky's Disappearance. On August 12, 1972, Vicky left home for errands and never returned.
Discovery of Vicky's Body. A highway worker discovers the nude, strangled body of a woman, later identified as Vicky.
Initials Carved into Victim. Authorities find initials crudely carved into Vicky's body, raising questions about the killer's identity.
Vicky's Car Found. Shortly after the body is discovered, Vicky's car is found parked behind a shopping center.
Black Dalia Avenger. A killer known as the Black Dalia Avenger left letters with cryptic initials.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

A real good one, a dearly loved daughter, sister, and mother.

Describing Vicky Lyn Harold's impact on her family.

5:54WatchOct 16, 2024

Tension

65/ 100Some tension

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