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1:13

I'm Kristen Sevi. This is murder

1:15

she told.

1:21

The newspaper Inc. Stained Rita's

1:23

hands as she thumbed through the pages

1:25

of the Burlington Free Press, reaching

1:27

its final Curran. The classifieds.

1:30

Sandwiched between Curran and realtors

1:33

was section forty two furnished

1:35

apartments. Rita was getting

1:37

ready to leave the safety of her parents home

1:40

in Milton, just north of the city,

1:42

and meet new people. Maybe even get

1:44

a couple of dates. She found a listing

1:46

on North Winuski Avenue for forty

1:48

seven a month It read, female

1:51

roommate wanted includes utilities.

1:54

It sounded promising. The location

1:56

was good. Her salary, about

1:58

eight thousand dollars a year as a second grade

2:01

teacher, could easily cover the rent.

2:03

Plus, She had a summer job in

2:05

Burlington as a chambermaid at a

2:07

nearby motel called Colonial

2:09

Motor Inn. She kept reading

2:12

though, and found one that looked

2:14

perfect. Burlington, one

2:16

to two female roommates, Summer,

2:19

share a large apartment on Brooks Avenue.

2:21

Call 8649883

2:24

before five PM. He

2:26

was Friday June fourth nineteen seventy

2:29

1971, and he was already a bit too late

2:31

to call. But she would contact them the

2:33

next day. The apartment worked

2:35

out, and she soon moved in. Her

2:37

year at Milton Elementary School had

2:39

just ended. And she was getting started with

2:41

her summer job in Burlington. She

2:44

was twenty three years old. Her birthday

2:46

was coming up on June twenty first.

2:48

And she had just finished her second

2:51

full year of teaching. Rita

2:54

Curran was the oldest of three,

2:57

Thomas was three years younger and

2:59

Mary was five years younger. Rita

3:01

had gone to college at Trinity College

3:03

in Burlington. And though it bears the

3:05

same name as the big university in Hartford,

3:08

Connecticut, the one that Reeves Johnson

3:10

went to. This Trinity College

3:12

was a small private Catholic school

3:15

that was next door neighbors with an affiliated

3:17

all girls Catholic, secondary school

3:19

called Mount Saint Mary's Academy. They

3:22

were both run by the same group of nuns.

3:24

Rita had attended their high school

3:27

as well from nineteen sixty one

3:29

to nineteen sixty five. And she

3:31

stayed busy during her time there.

3:33

She was in the choir and the Glee club

3:35

for all four years, as well as two

3:37

other community groups called Sidality

3:40

and Living Rosary. In her

3:42

senior year, she was a class officer,

3:45

a member of the student council, and

3:47

part of the yearbook staff. Producing a

3:49

tomb called Mesurcordia. Rita's

3:53

younger sister Mary attended Mount

3:55

Saint Mary's as well. Rito

3:57

was born in Brooklyn, New York in nineteen

3:59

forty seven and had lived there through

4:01

the early fifties when the family Her

4:04

mom, dad, and two younger siblings

4:06

relocated to Milton Vermont fifteen

4:09

miles north of Burlington. Burlington

4:12

is in the northwest part of the state

4:14

situated right on the border with New

4:16

York overlooking Lake Champlain. She

4:19

had always lived with her parents, including

4:21

her four years at Trinity. She had

4:23

continued with school, taking graduate

4:26

classes in reading and language arts,

4:28

at the University of Vermont, which had

4:30

major presence in downtown Burlington. She

4:33

was a member and so was her mother

4:35

of the Milton Women's Club. And she

4:37

continued singing, joining an all women

4:39

barbershop quartet called the Champlain

4:42

Echos. She stayed busy

4:44

teaching religion classes at Saint Anne's

4:47

Catholic church in Milton, and she was

4:49

a big part of the alumni association of

4:51

Trinity College. Rita

4:54

was petite, just a hundred pounds,

4:56

and had shoulder length reddish brown hair.

4:59

She was self conscious and quiet. She

5:01

was well liked by her peers at the motor

5:03

end. She'd worked there for three or four

5:05

years, even while she attended Trinity.

5:08

One of the managers said, Rita

5:10

often referred to herself at the inn as

5:12

the ugly duckling and often expressed

5:14

the hope of being married. She

5:16

told her friends that she'd attended three

5:19

weddings just this year, and it

5:21

moved to Burlington because all of

5:23

the eligible bachelors in Milton were

5:25

taken. She moved into

5:27

the apartment in June of nineteen seventy

5:30

one. He was a typical New England

5:32

apartment house with three units. Once

5:34

you climbed a handful of stairs to the front

5:36

porch, her unit was on the left,

5:39

a two bedroom apartment. She

5:41

shared her bedroom with another woman named

5:43

Beverly It was almost the exact same

5:45

age as her. She was born just one

5:47

day prior to Rita and was also

5:49

twenty three years old. She didn't

5:51

know Beverly. She had just met her

5:53

when she moved in. Rita

5:56

had her own friends though and spent

5:58

little time at the apartment. She

6:00

confided in her mom within just a

6:02

couple of weeks that she was planning to

6:04

move out. Something about a boy

6:06

sleeping on the couch. Rida's

6:08

sister, Mary, would later share

6:10

that Rita didn't know her roommates well

6:13

and felt like she didn't fit in with them.

6:15

She still spent much of her free time with

6:17

her family in Milton. On

6:21

July eleventh nineteen seventy one,

6:23

A woman who lived just a few blocks

6:25

from Rita on Pine Street was startled

6:28

awake by a man in her bedroom.

6:31

She attempted to scream for help, but

6:33

he threatened her forcing her to,

6:35

quote, submit to his advances. He

6:38

assaulted her and fled about ten

6:40

minutes later. This incident

6:42

came only a few months after another

6:45

attack in May of nineteen seventy 1971,

6:47

where a woman was grabbed and thrown on

6:49

the pavement as she was walking home

6:51

in an attempted assault. Her

6:54

screams scared him off. On

6:57

Monday, July nineteenth nineteen

6:59

seventy one, Rita went to work

7:01

a colonial for her regular shift. She'd

7:04

been in her new home for about a month.

7:06

She worked from eight AM to three

7:08

PM that afternoon. That

7:10

evening, She went to practice with her

7:12

Acapella singing group, the Champlain

7:14

Echos, at a community center on

7:16

North Avenue in Burlington. Practice

7:19

went pretty late and she returned to her apartment

7:21

around ten PM. Her roommate

7:24

beverly was home and raided told her

7:26

she was heading to bed. Though

7:28

Rita was fast asleep by that point,

7:30

her other roommate's boyfriend called up

7:32

Beverly and invited her out to the harbor

7:34

hideaway for drinks. Beverly

7:37

joined up with the other roommates, Carrie

7:39

and Paul, leaving Rita peacefully

7:41

slumbering. Between

7:44

eleven twenty PM when Beverly

7:46

left and twelve thirty AM

7:48

when the trio returned. Something

7:51

terrible happened. A

7:53

man, a predator, snuck

7:55

into Rita's apartment, and made

7:58

his way into her bedroom. She

8:00

was laying under the covers when he found

8:02

her. Though she struggled

8:05

against him, she was not very

8:07

strong. He beat her face severely,

8:10

violently raped her, and then strangled

8:12

her to death. In just as

8:14

quietly as he entered, he slipped

8:16

away. Having extinguished a

8:18

vibrant young life. At

8:21

twelve thirty AM, her roommate,

8:23

Carrie, who was nineteen and her boyfriend,

8:25

Paul, who was twenty three, returned

8:28

home. Beverly lingered a

8:30

bit longer at the bar, but returned home

8:32

shortly. They all noticed that

8:34

Rita's bedroom door was about

8:36

twelve inches a jar, but it didn't

8:38

strike them as unusual. They just tried

8:40

to keep their voices down in living room.

8:42

Where they lingered on the sofa and chairs

8:45

chatting. They had no idea

8:47

that their roommate was dead in the

8:49

other room. Around

8:52

one twenty AM, Beverly went

8:54

to get something in the bedroom and she discovered

8:56

Rita's body laying on her back on

8:58

the floor directly inside the bedroom

9:00

door. Paul heard a scream.

9:03

Beverly called out pleading for

9:05

Paul and Kerry to come quick. They

9:07

couldn't believe their eyes. Paul

9:10

checked for a pulse She was cold

9:12

to the touch. He told Beverly

9:14

to call for help. She asked the

9:16

operator to quickly connect them with the

9:18

medical center emergency room. And

9:20

after explaining the situation, they

9:22

transferred them to the fire department. In

9:25

short order, two people from the

9:27

Burlington Fire Department ambulance crew

9:30

arrived David Bean and

9:32

Steven Oleo. They realized

9:34

right away that they had stepped into

9:36

a crime scene They called

9:38

the Burlington Police Department and told

9:40

them that there had been a murder. An

9:43

officer arrived and roped off the scene,

9:45

asking the roommates to stay on the couches

9:47

in the living room. While they waited

9:50

for the detectives to arrive, the

9:52

officer questioned the three witnesses

9:54

in the living room. The PD was

9:56

first contacted by the fire department

9:59

at one twenty nine AM. By

10:01

two fifteen AM, the chief and

10:03

two other detectives were on-site. Shortly

10:06

after, others arrived. It

10:08

was a gaggle of officials, two

10:10

first responders, one Burlington officer,

10:13

three detectives, to doctors,

10:16

and the prosecutor, nine people

10:18

altogether. Police worked

10:20

through the night. Several detectives had

10:23

to cancel their vacations. The

10:25

district attorney was Patrick Leahy,

10:27

a name you might be familiar with.

10:29

He went on to become the US senator for

10:31

Vermont. And retired in twenty twenty

10:34

three as one of the longest serving

10:36

members of the senate in nation's history

10:38

after being elected for nine consecutive

10:40

terms in forty eight years. The

10:43

police made some observations about

10:45

how Rita was found. She was

10:47

faced up, lying on her back, with

10:50

both arms outstretched. Her

10:52

legs were spread wide apart, and

10:54

her face was tilted off to the left.

10:56

The front of her body was nude. She

10:59

was wearing a red and white polka dot house

11:01

coat that had been ripped down the front,

11:03

popping off several of its buttons, which

11:05

were later retrieved as evidence. Beneath

11:08

the house coat, Rita wore an

11:10

Aqua Blue silke nightgown with

11:12

lace trim, and it too was

11:14

ripped down the front. The lower

11:16

section of the nightgown was found in the

11:18

doorway to the closet. A white

11:20

bedsheet, a tan afghan, and

11:23

a floral bed sheet were entangled around

11:25

her left leg and continued under

11:27

her bottom. A pair of pink silk

11:29

panties were ripped from both legs and

11:32

found underneath her left leg. Her

11:34

hair had been in curlers called

11:36

wire rollers, but they were

11:39

ripped from her head and strewn

11:41

about the room. There was

11:43

blood spatter on the walls and smears

11:45

all around her body on the floor, creating

11:47

an outline of where she lay. Her

11:50

face, especially the forehead

11:52

and upper cheek, was severely beaten.

11:55

The left side of her face was especially

11:57

swollen. Both eyes were

11:59

black and blue. There were slight

12:01

cuts and scratches all over

12:03

her face, and there was dried blood

12:06

on her face, lips, and teeth

12:09

Cruises were visible on her right leg

12:11

just above the knee. Rita's

12:14

left hand had hair in it,

12:16

which was taken as evidence. Possibly

12:18

belonging to the perpetrator. An outline

12:20

of the body was made with a blue marking

12:23

pencil on the floor. Rita's

12:25

purse, which contained twenty dollars

12:27

in cash in personal papers such

12:29

as for driver's license, was on the

12:31

floor directly behind her. There

12:33

was a lace curtain that was ripped down

12:35

on the west side of the room. Her

12:38

car, which was parked in front of the apartment,

12:40

had not been tampered with. The

12:42

medical examiner wanted to roll her body

12:45

to the side to examine her back.

12:47

When they did that, they discovered a

12:49

cigarette butt under her right arm.

12:52

It had not been crushed or smooshed out.

12:54

It had been burned out at the scene.

12:56

Its ashes rested on the floor

12:59

under her arm. The paper on

13:01

the tobacco side of the filter was jagged,

13:03

suggesting it had gone out on its own

13:05

after smoldering for some time. The

13:08

brand of the cigarette, Lark,

13:11

was unusual. It had a unique

13:13

style of filter that contained small

13:16

granules of charcoal. It was

13:18

distinctive. Lark was an extremely

13:21

popular brand of cigarette in Japan,

13:23

but it never had much of a market share

13:25

in the US. The brand started

13:27

in nineteen sixty three, meaning it had

13:29

only been around for eight years. The

13:32

back of Rita's body was checked and there

13:34

was no visible bruising. The

13:36

detectives and medical examiners took

13:38

a bunch of photos documenting everything.

13:41

At approximately four forty five AM,

13:44

Curran undertaker was called to take Rita's

13:46

body to the morgue. Police

13:48

took chips from the door as evidence, part

13:51

of the linoleum flooring on which Rita

13:53

was laying. All of the clothes she was

13:55

wearing, the ripped out Curran and

13:57

buttons, and a sample of dirt from the

13:59

floor. After the body was removed,

14:01

A latent fingerprint expert was called to

14:03

examine the crime scene, but nothing

14:05

usable was found. Several

14:08

Burlington PD members did walk

14:10

through of the property. Trying to determine

14:12

how the culprit may have entered and

14:14

left. There were two entries

14:16

into the unit, the front door,

14:19

in the back door, which opened into the kitchen.

14:21

On the exterior side of the back door,

14:24

there was a small blood stain which suggested

14:26

that the attacker may have left that way.

14:29

All windows and doors to both the first

14:31

floor and the cellar were examined, and

14:33

none of them looked disturbed. The

14:35

only viable entries and exits

14:38

or the front and back doors, neither

14:40

of which showed any signs of forced

14:42

entry. Detectives asked the

14:44

roommates if the doors typically remained

14:47

locked. And they explained that there was

14:49

just one key that the roommates all

14:51

shared and that the policy of the house

14:53

was not to lock the doors. When

14:56

they went to the bar, they left the doors

14:58

unlocked. The attacker likely

15:00

checked one of the doors and just let

15:02

himself in. On

15:04

the side of the building was a driveway that

15:06

was partly sand. There was a rainstorm

15:09

the previous night, and it appeared there

15:11

were no new prints in the sand. Since

15:13

the storm. The backyard had

15:15

long grass, and that was wet as well.

15:18

Detectives couldn't be sure if anyone

15:20

had walked through it. The roommates

15:22

all agreed to go down to the station and provide

15:24

detailed statements of what they remembered.

15:27

Paul had been staying at the girls apartment. He

15:29

was a twenty three year old mechanic fresh

15:31

out of college, but he wasn't a renter

15:33

there. They provided a detailed account

15:36

of the order of events from the evening. Paul

15:39

picked up Carrie from her work around

15:41

seven thirty PM, and they drove around

15:43

for a bit. They returned to the apartment

15:46

and left again around eight fifty

15:48

PM for the restaurant, at which point

15:50

Beverly was home, but not Rita.

15:53

Paul came back to the apartment around eleven

15:55

fifteen and invited Beverly out.

15:57

She took him up on the invite and headed

16:00

out at eleven twenty PM. By

16:02

twelve thirty AM, Paul and Kerry

16:05

got back home and Beverly followed

16:07

shortly after. Paul later

16:09

said, We were gone maybe two

16:11

or three hours. We had asked Rita

16:13

to join us that night, but she said no. This

16:17

excursion to the Harbor Highway had

16:19

not been planned. It occurred spontaneously,

16:22

which meant that it wouldn't have been possible to

16:24

predict that Rita would have been home alone.

16:26

Unless someone was watching

16:28

the cars and people come and go

16:31

from the apartment. One of the questions

16:33

that each of the room meets was asked was

16:35

their smoking habits. Neither Rita

16:37

nor Beverly smoked, but Paul and

16:39

Kerry did. They smoked the brand's Salem,

16:42

Benson and Hedges, and occasionally Winston.

16:45

None of them smoked, lark cigarettes.

16:49

One of the officers kept guard at the house,

16:51

not allowing anyone into the crime scene

16:53

He remained posted until seven AM,

16:56

at which point he was asked to start

16:58

canvassing the area. He

17:00

started by checking the other units in

17:02

the apartment house. He said that

17:04

on the second floor, he couldn't raise anyone.

17:06

And on the third floor, he spoke to the

17:09

tenants who are a husband and wife. Both

17:11

of whom said that they were awake and

17:13

home around the time of the attack, but

17:15

didn't hear anything. At

17:18

five AM that Tuesday morning, Doctor

17:20

Lawrence Harris conducted an autopsy

17:22

of Rita's body. He determined

17:25

that the highoid bone in the neck had been fractured

17:27

and that there was hemorrhaging in the neck muscles.

17:30

There was obvious trauma to the face,

17:32

eyes, temples, and scalp.

17:35

There was blood in both of her lungs. Her

17:38

vaginal wall had been bruised. Pubic

17:40

hair samples, vaginal swabs,

17:42

and nail scrapings were taken as evidence.

17:45

Doctor Harris determined that the cause

17:47

of death was manual strangulation in

17:49

the manner of death, homicide. He

17:52

also confirmed that Rita had been raped.

17:55

In the morning, officers traveled

17:57

to Milton and knocked on the door of Rita's

17:59

family home and broke the news to

18:01

her parents. Their world was

18:03

upended. Mary would later

18:06

recall in an interview that she remembered

18:08

the shock she felt in that moment of

18:10

being told the autopsy he had already

18:12

been completed. At

18:14

eleven AM, within twelve hours

18:17

from the time she was killed, Patrick

18:19

Leahy and other Burlington authorities held

18:21

a press conference. He described the

18:23

crime as one of the most brutal

18:25

he had ever seen. He said that

18:27

though the police were working on a number of leads,

18:30

No immediate arrests were planned.

18:32

He asked the public for help. Any

18:34

tips would be welcome. Friends

18:37

of Rita's were questioned. Including

18:39

a young man who was said to have dated Rita

18:41

on occasion. Her roommates didn't

18:44

know her very well, could only tell police

18:46

that she was a teacher in Milton. They

18:48

didn't have any idea of a motive

18:50

for the killing or any clue as

18:53

to who did it. The roommates were

18:55

still in shock later that day and

18:57

worried about their own safety. When

18:59

a reporter found it Beverly, she

19:01

said, well, if you found

19:03

me and he could too, so you can be

19:05

sure that I'm getting out of here. Two

19:09

Burlington police detectives visited

19:11

Mary and Thomas Curran's home and questioned

19:13

them. Radha's parents gave them

19:15

a picture of a quiet, almost painfully

19:18

shy young woman. One of the detectives

19:20

said, she knew a lot of people, and

19:22

we're talking to as many as we can in

19:25

hopes of coming up with something that will

19:27

help us find who did this. Police

19:29

were checking to see if there was a connection between

19:32

Rita's murder and the assaults that

19:34

were reported at University of Vermont.

19:36

And other women in Burlington during

19:38

the past winter. In particular,

19:41

they were zoning in on the July eleventh

19:43

crime, which was just a week prior

19:45

to Rita's death. Police plan

19:47

to question all known male sex offenders

19:50

in the Burlington area. Three

19:52

days after Rita's body was found,

19:55

On Friday, July twenty third nineteen

19:57

seventy one, Rita's parents held

19:59

a visitation at their residence in the morning.

20:02

Her funeral service was held at ten

20:04

thirty AM at Saint Anne's Church

20:06

in Milton, where Rita attended in

20:08

taught classes. Four hundred

20:11

people came, including plainclothes

20:13

police officers who were dispersed with

20:15

the other attendees. In the Reverend's

20:18

Eulogy, he avoided referencing her

20:20

violent death. The Killam Women's

20:22

Club created the Rita Curran Memorial

20:25

Education Fund in her memory. Describing

20:27

Rita as a person truly

20:29

dedicated to her profession. That

20:32

same day, law enforcement officials

20:34

held a top level meeting at Patrick

20:36

Leahy's family home where they discussed

20:39

all aspects of Rita's case. The

20:41

reason given to the press for this retreat

20:44

was to avoid the flood of phone calls investigators

20:46

had been receiving since they asked for

20:48

information. Patrick Leahy

20:50

felt a particular connection to the crime

20:53

because it happened only a few

20:55

hundred feet from his own residence.

20:57

He felt that the best thing would be

20:59

to keep any new leads and developments

21:02

in the case, close to the vest. And said

21:04

that no information was to be released

21:06

to the press unless it was cleared

21:08

through him or the chief of detectives.

21:12

Rida's family was disappointed to

21:14

see her name slip from the daily headlines.

21:17

A week after the murder, the police

21:19

released Rita's apartment back to the

21:21

residence. Both Curran and

21:23

Beverly didn't return. They only

21:25

made one stop. To gather things

21:28

and leave it behind them.

21:37

The residents of Burlington were nervous.

21:39

People were leaving their lights on at night,

21:42

installing more locks on their doors and

21:44

windows and reporting anonymous

21:46

phone calls in the middle of the night.

21:48

An op ed published in late August

21:51

a month after her murder opened.

21:54

We trust that the murder of miss

21:56

Rita Curran will not be

21:58

added to the list of Ramon's unsolved

22:00

slings. The investigation is

22:02

under wraps, so we don't know how well

22:04

it's going. We do know that time

22:06

is passing and that Burlington is

22:08

a bit restive. The

22:10

late summer and early fall of nineteen

22:12

seventy one was a particularly scary

22:15

time in Burlington, especially for

22:17

women. Already on edge after

22:19

Rita's murder, in September, there

22:21

was a string of seemingly unrelated violent

22:24

attacks. On September seventh,

22:26

a woman was abducted on the street and

22:28

thrown into a car by several

22:30

men. She managed to escape

22:33

by throwing herself out the window at

22:35

a stoplight and running for help.

22:38

Two days later, there were two separate

22:40

attacks on the street 1971 attempted

22:42

abduction and another assault

22:44

that was described as a karate

22:46

attack. On September thirteenth,

22:49

A woman awoke to a man standing over

22:51

her while she was sleeping. He'd broken

22:54

in through a sliding glass door. A

22:56

week later, Another woman who

22:58

lived just a few blocks from Rita

23:01

woke up around three AM to a

23:03

man sitting on top of her. Her

23:05

screams woke her roommates and scared

23:07

him off before he could be identified.

23:10

Over the following months, Several

23:12

more midnight break ins and attempted assaults

23:15

occurred amplifying the fear of

23:17

young women in the city. Police

23:19

had been on the lookout for a nighttime prowler

23:21

who'd been bought it lurking in the backyards

23:23

near Brooks Avenue. Perhaps

23:25

this could lead them to her killer.

23:29

On September first, Patrick Leahy

23:31

in the Burlington Police Department held

23:33

another press conference and announced

23:35

that the news blackout had been lifted. Patrick

23:38

said somewhat mysteriously that

23:41

they planned to present evidence to

23:43

a grand jury later in the fall.

23:45

They reiterated that no arrests

23:47

were imminent. By this point,

23:50

about hundred people were interviewed, and

23:52

most of the suspects initially considered

23:55

had been eliminated. Little

23:58

news on Rita's case came in through

24:00

the fall. On December fifteenth, The

24:03

organization, Secret Witness, announced

24:05

a three thousand dollar reward, hoping

24:08

to shake loose some information. That

24:10

key lead detectives were hoping for

24:13

would not come and the case went

24:15

cold. On the two year

24:17

anniversary of Rita's death, Patrick

24:19

Lehi was interviewed and he insisted

24:21

that the case was still open. He

24:23

estimated that two hundred thousand dollars

24:25

had been spent on the case by various

24:28

law enforcement agencies, and that was

24:30

a conservative estimate. By

24:32

this point, the reward had increased

24:35

to thirteen thousand dollars. Which

24:37

included money from the Burlington Free

24:39

Press, the Chittenden County District

24:41

Attorney's Office, and Secret Witness.

24:44

Between nineteen seventy three and nineteen

24:46

eighty, the Burlington Free Press

24:48

published only two articles about the

24:50

read Curran case. One was on

24:52

the eight year anniversary in nineteen

24:55

seventy nine, which released some

24:57

new details. It said the police

24:59

had zeroed in on four suspects, and

25:01

gave an update on their current whereabouts. One

25:04

had died of an overdose. Another

25:06

had been killed in a highway accident. And

25:09

two had been convicted on other murder

25:11

charges in cases unrelated to

25:13

Rita's and were in prison. By

25:15

this point, Patrick Lee, he was one of

25:17

the youngest US senators in the country.

25:20

He was interviewed for the article and

25:22

said, I don't know anything that

25:24

police put more time into. The

25:27

chief of detective said that no other

25:29

crime of this magnitude in Burlington

25:31

has gone unsolved. It's

25:33

one case that has stumped us.

25:36

Reeda's mother believed that there had been some

25:38

kind of cover up, saying, we

25:41

felt like a lot more could have been done,

25:43

but wasn't for political reasons.

25:45

I haven't forgotten it. Nothing

25:47

will ever bring her back, but we'd

25:49

like to see justice done. In

25:53

nineteen eighty four, Rita's family

25:55

learned of an alarming coincidence connecting

25:58

Rita's death to one of America's most

26:01

infamous serial killers. If

26:03

for some reason you aren't familiar with the name

26:06

Ted Bundy, here's a very brief

26:08

overview. Ted Bundy

26:10

was a serial killer and sexual predator

26:12

in the nineteen seventies who targeted

26:15

young women in multiple states including

26:17

Washington, Utah, Oregon,

26:20

Colorado, and more. Despite

26:23

being linked to additional murders across the

26:25

country, He was only convicted

26:27

on three counts of murder and given

26:29

the death penalty in Florida where he was

26:31

executed in nineteen eighty nine.

26:34

He confessed to killing thirty women,

26:37

but it's unknown how many victims he

26:39

actually has. He is most

26:41

known for taking advantage of the kindness

26:43

of unsuspecting women in order

26:45

to abduct them and ultimately kill

26:48

them by pretending to need help loading

26:50

something into his Volkswagen Beetle. His

26:53

former friend Anne Ruehl described

26:55

Bundy as a sadistic sociopath

26:58

who took pleasure from another human's

27:00

pain and the control he had over

27:02

his victims. Anne wrote

27:04

about him in her nineteen eighty book,

27:06

The Stranger Besides Me, and detailed

27:08

Bundy's connection to Vermont. Ted

27:11

Bundy was born in Burlington in nineteen

27:13

forty six at the Elizabeth Lundholm

27:16

for wed mothers. At the

27:18

time of Rita's death, he would have been twenty

27:20

four years old. The Elizabeth

27:22

Lundholm was in South Burlington a

27:25

half mile away from Colonial

27:27

Motor Inn where Rita was working at the

27:29

time of her murder. Ted

27:31

didn't know who his father was, and

27:33

grew up with an older sister that he

27:35

later discovered was actually his

27:37

mother. Anne Ruehl wrote that

27:39

learning about his birth history gave him

27:42

deep emotional trauma. She

27:44

speculated that it was possible he may have

27:46

taken out that anger on an innocent

27:48

victim. Inrita did bear

27:50

a striking resemblance to his later victims.

27:53

Municipal records even mentioned a person

27:55

named Bundy that was bitten by a

27:57

dog the weak of Rita's murder. And

28:00

there were long stretches of time, including

28:02

the summer of nineteen seventy 1971,

28:04

Ted was unaccounted for. Still,

28:07

no evidence placed Ted in

28:09

Burlington in July of nineteen

28:12

seventy one. His first

28:14

recorded murder occurred in nineteen seventy

28:16

four. But he confessed to crimes as

28:18

early as nineteen sixty nine. Detective

28:21

Robert Keppel, one of the key investigators

28:24

in his case, told the press that Bondi

28:26

had admitted to him that he had murdered a

28:28

woman in Burlington in nineteen seventy

28:30

one when he went back to learn more about

28:32

his birth. Setting off alarm bells

28:34

of possible connections to Rita.

28:37

Rita's family learned about the stranger

28:40

beside me from a tired FBI

28:42

agent, John Bassett. He had been

28:44

on vacation in Burlington where he grew

28:46

up at the time of Rita's murder. And

28:48

after reading the book on Bundy, he

28:50

said something clicked. He

28:53

later said, I have no doubt

28:55

that he committed the murder. I'm certain

28:57

of it. Rida's sister, Mary,

28:59

would later recall when this book

29:02

first came to our family in nineteen eighty

29:04

four, Rita's case was resolved

29:06

in our minds. But she acknowledged

29:08

that the book offered little more than speculation.

29:12

Mary sent a telegram with the basic

29:14

details from Rita's case to Bundy

29:16

in the Florida prison asking if

29:18

he was involved. She later told the

29:20

press, I don't really expect to

29:22

hear anything, but I guess I needed

29:25

to do it. He never responded. Forty

29:28

five minutes before his execution on

29:30

the morning of January twenty fourth

29:32

nineteen eighty nine at six fifteen

29:35

AM The Florida state prison

29:37

warden asked Bundy if he was involved

29:39

in a couple of other unsolved cases

29:41

before asking about Rita Curran. He

29:44

said, how about Burlington Vermont?

29:47

No. It's a bundy. Nothing

29:49

there? He asked, no.

29:53

Bundy repeated. The

29:56

Valley News reported that despite

29:58

this deathbed denial, Burlington

30:00

Police kept him on their official suspect

30:02

list. Detective Thomas Trampoli

30:04

said, we're still investigating. I

30:07

certainly don't feel comfortable eliminating him.

30:11

In nineteen ninety one, Rita's

30:13

father, Thomas Curran, died

30:15

at the age of sixty eight after a long

30:17

battle with cancer. He fought in

30:19

World War two and had a twenty one year

30:22

career at IBM. He

30:24

was buried in the family plot with Rita.

30:26

And eleven years later, in two thousand

30:28

two, Rita's mother, Mary,

30:31

a Curran, and a devoted community member

30:33

in Milton, succumb to Lou Garrick's

30:35

disease at the age of eighty three. She

30:38

had worked for many years as a leader

30:40

and a servant in the community of Milton.

30:42

She volunteered at the libraries and was

30:44

a longtime member of Saint Anne's Church,

30:47

the same barbershop that Rita sang in,

30:49

the Champlain echoes, attended her

30:51

funeral forty one years after

30:53

Rita's death. She too

30:56

was buried in the family plot joining

30:58

her late husband and her daughter. In

31:01

twenty fourteen, there was a major

31:04

break in the case. Burlington police

31:06

detective, Jeff Beartworth, was working

31:08

the case and he sent some of the physical

31:10

evidence from their archives to the

31:12

New York City office of the chief medical

31:14

examiner for DNA testing. The

31:17

large cigarette butt, fingernail scrapings,

31:20

and eight vaginal slides. A

31:22

little over a month later, on October

31:24

twenty ninth, The lab sent some

31:26

results to the Burlington PD. A

31:28

male DNA profile was isolated

31:31

on the cigarette butt. It was entered

31:33

into code s, which is a national DNA

31:35

database used by law enforcement, but

31:38

there were no matches. Over

31:40

the following eight years, they ran this

31:42

DNA profile against all of their potential

31:44

suspects, including Ted Bundy,

31:47

by either direct comparison or

31:49

through a familial comparison. All

31:51

thirteen men on their list were ruled

31:53

out. On July nineteen

31:56

twenty sixteen, the anniversary of

31:58

Rita's death. Her brother and sister

32:00

published a memoriam in the Burlington Free

32:03

Press. It read, We will

32:05

never give up hope that we will someday

32:07

know why you were taken from us on this

32:09

day forty five years ago. And

32:11

he was signed, your sister, brother,

32:13

and families. Five

32:16

years went by with no matches from

32:18

code s. It had been fifty

32:21

years since Rita was murdered. Her

32:23

case, at that point, was the

32:25

oldest case still under investigation

32:28

by the Burlington PD. Her

32:30

sister said, We've lived this

32:32

day in and day out for fifty

32:34

years. I can't say that I'm gonna

32:36

give up, but I have to surrender to

32:38

the powers that be The fifty

32:40

year mark confirms that a resolution

32:42

in our lifetimes to Rita's murder

32:45

is not going to happen. The Burlington

32:47

PD has worked every lead they've ever

32:49

received and they've been very compassionate

32:52

to our family. Somebody somewhere

32:54

knows what happened that night. And they will

32:57

take that information to their grave.

33:00

Little did they know? They only

33:02

had a bit longer to wait. On

33:06

Tuesday, February twenty first

33:08

twenty twenty three, just one

33:10

week ago, Police broke the

33:12

news that they had solved Rita's

33:14

case. They released a detailed investigative

33:17

report that walked the public through the

33:19

steps that led to their conclusion. In

33:23

early twenty twenty two, Burlington

33:25

PD went through all of the physical evidence

33:27

in the case and divided it into two

33:29

categories. Group one

33:31

included items more likely to

33:33

have suspect DNA, and group

33:36

two was less likely. They

33:38

knew that the testing gonna be costly

33:40

and they wanted to choose wisely. Around

33:43

the same time, the Burlington PD

33:45

won a grant from the nonprofit organization,

33:48

season of justice. To help with the cost of

33:50

testing. Group one included

33:52

these items. The house code that

33:54

Rita was wearing, the portion of her nightgown,

33:57

a bloody piece of the linoleum bedroom

33:59

flooring, her panties, two

34:02

blue cloth draw strings from the house coat,

34:04

in the bloody chips of wood taken from the

34:06

door. Group two, the

34:08

less likely, included hair curlers,

34:11

bedding, and other items The

34:13

group items were delivered to

34:15

DNA Labs International in South

34:17

Florida on March twenty fourth

34:19

twenty twenty two. And they gave two

34:22

reference profiles to test the samples

34:24

against, a profile for Curran,

34:27

and the profile obtained from the Lark

34:29

cigarette butt. The bloody

34:31

piece of linoleum flooring matched Rita's

34:33

DNA, so did the bloody wooden chips

34:35

from the door. These were no

34:38

help to advancing the suspect theory.

34:40

A small piece of the torn panties

34:42

was selected for analysis. A

34:45

mixture of three different DNA

34:47

contributors was identified One

34:49

of them matched Rita and another

34:52

matched the DNA profile from the

34:54

Lark cigarette butt, which I'll refer

34:56

to as the suspect. The

34:58

odds that it came from the suspect was

35:01

sixty one times more likely

35:03

than someone selected at random. The

35:05

lab translated this to mean that it

35:07

provided limited support to

35:09

the theory that the DNA on the panties

35:11

matched the DNA from the cigarette butt.

35:14

The same testing was undertaken on

35:16

the house coat, and a mixture of

35:18

four different DNA contributors was

35:21

identified, one of which was Rita.

35:23

1971 of the others matched the suspect,

35:26

and the odds that it came from the suspect

35:28

was sixty five thousand times

35:31

more likely than someone selected

35:33

at random. The lab said this

35:35

provided strong support to the theory

35:37

that the DNA on the panties matched the

35:39

DNA on the cigarette bud. The

35:42

big question remained. Whose

35:44

DNA was on the cigarette Curran

35:47

that's where CC Moore comes in.

35:50

In the summer of twenty twenty two, they

35:52

sent the cigarette butt to Paribas nano

35:54

labs in Ruston, Virginia, where Cece

35:57

works. They again extracted

35:59

a full DNA profile from the Curran

36:01

enter the information into JED Match

36:03

and FamilyTree DNA. Two

36:06

ancestry sites where the participants have

36:08

given permission to law enforcement to

36:10

use their DNA to help solve crime.

36:13

On August eleventh, Paribas asked

36:15

for a list of any suspects that have not

36:17

been previously eliminated. Within

36:20

a week or two, CC Moore got on

36:22

a video call with Burlington PD

36:24

to share the news. They had a

36:26

match, a high confidence match.

36:29

To one of the names on BPD's list

36:31

of suspects. The five nearest

36:33

relatives in the database had narrowed

36:35

it down to a single person. And

36:38

his name was William DeRous.

36:42

Ceasey and her team had constructed family

36:44

trees for William that went back five

36:46

generations before him to relatives

36:49

born in the late seventeen hundreds and

36:51

built it right back down to find

36:54

second Third, and fourth

36:56

cousins of Williams who had submitted

36:58

their DNA to the database. CC

37:01

identified a living half brother of William

37:03

named Douglas, Burlington PD

37:05

contacted him asking him for a DNA

37:08

sample. He was cooperative and

37:10

provided it to police. Again,

37:12

it was a match to William DeRouse. The

37:15

evidence was overwhelming. The

37:18

DNA on the panties matched

37:20

the DNA on the house coat matched

37:23

the DNA on the cigarette butt, and

37:25

it all belonged to William. But

37:28

who was he? William

37:30

DeRous was born December fourteenth

37:33

nineteen thirty nine in Chicago, Illinois.

37:35

His mother, Lois, died two

37:37

months later at twenty seven years old.

37:40

He was her only child. His

37:42

father, William senior, remarried

37:45

five years Curran they had a child

37:47

together in nineteen forty seven, William's

37:49

half brother. His parents

37:52

divorced shortly after his brother was

37:54

born. His father married

37:56

again in nineteen forty eight when William

37:58

was nine years old to a young

38:00

Japanese woman named Tabuko. William

38:03

senior was thirty five years old

38:05

and Abuco was twenty one. They

38:07

had at least one child together. Fast

38:10

forward to nineteen seventy. William

38:13

junior was thirty one years old at

38:15

the time, living in San Francisco. He

38:17

went by Bill. He was practicing

38:19

Buddhism at the Zen Center, which was

38:21

an American outpost of Japanese Buddhism

38:24

called Sodo Zen, a very popular

38:27

religion in Japan. Even

38:29

today, there are fourteen thousand temples

38:31

worldwide. The Zen Center

38:33

was founded in nineteen sixty two

38:35

and grew rapidly in the sixties. Many

38:38

of the students that attracted were hippies

38:40

or beaten necks. William

38:43

met Michelle, who was twenty three years

38:45

old, She was also into the Buddhist

38:47

scene. She described him as

38:49

a great storyteller with greenish

38:51

colored eyes. She said he was tall,

38:54

and recalled that he was missing a portion of his

38:56

left pinky finger. She said that he

38:58

didn't drink alcohol or used drugs

39:00

as he was, quote, a serious

39:03

Buddhist. But he confessed to her

39:05

that he had been to prison twice in

39:07

California, which included a two to

39:09

three year stint for armed robbery. They

39:12

dated a while, but Michelle broke

39:14

up with William and moved back

39:16

in with her family in Burlington Vermont

39:18

in the spring of nineteen seventy one.

39:21

Michelle said that her father was the plant

39:24

manager at IBM, the same

39:26

place where Rita's father worked.

39:29

William followed her moving to Burlington

39:31

unexpectedly. Michelle's

39:33

parents met him and were not

39:36

thrilled about her dating him. Nonetheless,

39:39

they got back together. In

39:41

June of nineteen seventy one, Michelle's

39:43

parents moved to a small town in Canada

39:46

so she and William moved in together to

39:48

an apartment in Burlington, the

39:50

same apartment house that Rita

39:52

would later occupy. William

39:54

and Michelle's address was fifteen Brooks

39:56

Avenue, while Rita's was seventeen

39:59

Brooks Avenue. Though they were different

40:01

addresses, They were different units

40:03

in the same building. Brito

40:05

was on the first floor and Michelle and

40:07

William were on the third. William

40:10

told her of his dream of opening a

40:13

barber shop in Burlington, having

40:15

children together, and raising a family.

40:17

Michelle bought into his dream and

40:19

they got married on July fifth in a

40:22

small sudden ceremony. Their

40:24

apartment was essentially a studio

40:27

It had a slanted ceiling, a bed

40:29

by the dormer window, a kitchen, and

40:32

no dividing walls. William

40:34

had a daytime job as a dishwasher the

40:37

time, and he didn't want her to work at

40:39

all. He was also reported that he

40:41

worked at a farm as a laborer in Hinesburg

40:44

fifteen miles south of Burlington. He

40:47

wanted Michelle to be pregnant. To

40:49

illustrate this, he nailed a

40:51

diaphragm, a female contraceptive

40:53

device. Above the front door.

40:56

Michel's brother still lived in Burlington,

40:59

and she would spend time with him and his friends.

41:01

But William kept to himself. They

41:04

didn't get to know their neighbors, and they spent

41:06

a lot of time with one another, which

41:08

brings us to Rita's murder. On

41:18

the night that Rita was killed, Michelle

41:20

and William had a fight. He

41:22

told his wife that he was going for a walk

41:24

to cool down. It was during

41:26

this walk that he beat,

41:29

raved. And strangled his downstairs

41:31

neighbor to death. He likely was

41:33

familiar with the vehicles that belonged to

41:35

Rita and her roommates and noticed

41:37

that there was only one in the driveway. He

41:40

probably checked the back door, found

41:42

it unlocked, and let himself in.

41:45

He quietly made his way into

41:48

Rita's bedroom, found her sleeping

41:50

and attacked her. After

41:53

finishing his heinous deed,

41:55

he took a moment to pull out a large

41:57

cigarette smoke half of it in

41:59

her bedroom, and then flick it

42:01

at her lifeless body where it quietly

42:04

smoldered until it extinguished itself

42:06

under her

42:06

arm. He then made his way out

42:09

the back door, leaving a couple spots

42:11

of Rita's blood on his way out.

42:14

As part of the initial police canvas, at

42:16

seven AM, the morning of Rita's

42:19

murder. Burlington police officer

42:21

Richard Garreau went upstairs to

42:23

talk to the third floor neighbors. He

42:26

spoke to both of them and they vouch

42:28

for one another, saying that they had been home

42:30

all night. Michelle even

42:32

said that she had been awake around the time

42:34

of the murder. But it heard no unusual

42:36

noises. Detective Winterbottom

42:39

two went to the third floor, making

42:41

contact with Michelle only. She

42:44

reiterated that she didn't hear or

42:46

see a thing. Vermont state

42:48

police trooper, Bruce Lihue, also

42:51

spoke to them. And again, he

42:53

only spoke to Michelle who said that she

42:55

heard and saw nothing and neither

42:57

did her husband. In

42:59

a recent twenty twenty three interview with

43:01

police, Michelle admitted that

43:03

she lied. She said William had

43:05

asked her to lie because he convinced her

43:07

that he had nothing to do with it, and that he would

43:09

likely become the cop scapegoat for

43:11

the murder because of his prior criminal

43:13

history. She believed him,

43:16

and the cops believed her. She

43:19

said that she remembered sleeping in the same

43:21

bed as him that night but couldn't recall

43:23

if they had sex or not. She

43:26

didn't remember any wounds or scrapes on

43:28

his body or anything out of the ordinary

43:30

in his demeanor. She said that William

43:33

smoked cigarettes, but she did not.

43:36

She couldn't recall what brand he smoked,

43:38

and Lark cigarettes didn't mean anything

43:40

to her. The thought crossed

43:42

her mind that he could have committed the murder,

43:44

but she said it was inconceivable because

43:46

he would have no reason to do so. Having

43:49

never met Rita or even set foot in

43:51

their apartment. But she admitted

43:53

that she had never asked him directly

43:55

if he had committed the murder. She

43:58

said that if she had seen anything indicating

44:01

that he was involved, she would have quietly

44:03

gone to police. On

44:06

Tuesday, February twenty first twenty

44:09

twenty three, just a week prior

44:11

to this recording, Burlington PD

44:13

announced the news to the world in

44:15

a humble conference room in their headquarters

44:17

building. Rita's siblings,

44:20

Mary, and Tom were both there.

44:22

So was recently retired Patrick Leahy

44:25

who said, I must admit, after

44:27

twenty, thirty, forty years,

44:30

I figured it would never be solved. CC

44:33

Moore joined the press conference by video

44:35

and said, this is a fantastic illustration

44:38

of the power of genetic genealogy. This

44:41

case was over fifty years old,

44:43

and it only took a few hours to

44:45

narrow it down to William DeRuse. The

44:48

Burlington Police chief said, when

44:50

people doing an ancestry or genealogy

44:52

test, check the box saying it's

44:54

okay for law enforcement to use the results.

44:57

They are helping solve murders. They're

45:00

bringing evildoers to justice, and

45:02

they are delivering closure to families.

45:05

The current Chittenden County state's attorney

45:07

was present, and she said that she believed,

45:10

if William were alive, she could have

45:12

charged him and gotten a conviction. Both

45:15

of Rita sibling spoke. Mary

45:17

said, we now have two generations

45:19

in our family who never knew her.

45:22

This is our case, and this is

45:24

our sister. And she is always

45:26

with us. A

45:28

short time after the murder In the fall

45:30

of nineteen seventy one, William moved

45:33

to Thailand without his wife,

45:35

suddenly changing his dreams of having a

45:37

family and a barber shop in Burlington.

45:40

They had an understanding that she would

45:42

follow him shortly. When

45:44

asked why they didn't go together, especially

45:47

as newlyweds, she hesitated.

45:49

Thought carefully, seemed

45:52

confused, and then said she didn't

45:54

know. She repeated, why

45:57

didn't we go together? Then

46:00

guessed that perhaps it was because they only

46:02

had enough money for one of them to travel.

46:05

Shortly after he left, She moved

46:07

into another apartment in Burlington and

46:09

started working as a nurse out of necessity.

46:12

Six months later, in March of nineteen

46:14

seventy two, She joined William

46:16

in Thailand and learned that he had become

46:19

a monk, but that he had been disroped,

46:21

which stripped him of his status. They

46:23

traveled Thailand for couple of weeks,

46:26

and then he found a new monastery where

46:28

he again became a monk and she became

46:30

a nun. She said that they never

46:32

had much of a relationship after that

46:34

point because it was against the rules.

46:37

She stayed with him for about a year and

46:39

a half in Thailand, but things

46:41

came to an abrupt end. William

46:44

wanted to travel to another country without

46:46

her, but asked her to

46:48

finance the trip. She

46:50

was done. She never saw him or

46:53

spoke to him again for the rest of her

46:55

life and returned to the United States.

46:57

She even had to hire an attorney to help

46:59

her get legally divorced from him without

47:02

his signature. By

47:05

nineteen seventy four, William

47:07

had returned to the Zen Center in San

47:09

Francisco again, and it was there

47:11

that he met Sarah. Who had just

47:13

arrived around the same time. She

47:16

was living at a zen flat, which was

47:18

just two blocks from the center. She

47:20

met him at the flat and knew him by his

47:22

nickname, Dutch. William

47:24

lived on the same floor as her and asked

47:26

to spend time with her one on one.

47:29

She described him as tall and slender

47:31

with short brown hair that he frequently

47:33

covered with hat. They bonded

47:35

over meditation and cycling. He

47:38

was mild mannered. He mentioned

47:40

that he had been previously married and

47:42

had lived in Thailand, but failed to

47:44

mention that he had never legally divorced

47:46

his wife. Sarah described

47:48

William as a guru in an

47:50

influential speaker. She said

47:53

he had a power over people, mental

47:55

hypnosis, almost. Sarah

47:57

thought of herself as a lost hippie who

48:00

was under his spell. She

48:02

remembered William used cocaine occasionally

48:04

and possibly intravenous drugs. Pasette

48:07

that they didn't really have any money for hard

48:09

drugs. Do you remember he drank heavily

48:11

and took an antipsychotic prescription medication

48:14

called Thorazine? It is often used

48:16

to treat schizophrenia. William's

48:19

father was an actual hypnotist

48:21

with an office in Vero Beach, Florida

48:24

There are numerous ads in the Palm Beach

48:26

post advertising his services. Sarah

48:30

fell in love with William. And

48:32

they married that same year on November

48:34

ninth within four months of meeting each

48:36

other. Strangely, Sarah

48:38

said that they never established their relationship.

48:41

And wasn't sure if they were exclusive.

48:44

She repeatedly described herself as

48:47

very insecure. William

48:49

and Sarah were married for four years

48:52

from nineteen seventy four to nineteen

48:54

seventy eight, and Sarah remembered

48:56

a few violent incidents that stood

48:59

out from their rocky marriage. One

49:01

time, a mutual friend Ophelia,

49:04

was visiting them. While they were all

49:06

seated and talking amongst each other, William

49:08

pulled out a large pocket knife

49:10

that he normally carried on him and

49:13

without provocation stabbed

49:15

Ophelia in the side. They

49:18

had not been arguing, and she was completely

49:20

dumb struck as to why he did it.

49:22

Ophelia went to the hospital and was admitted

49:24

into the Police

49:27

later came to their apartment and arrested

49:29

William. He spent the night in jail

49:31

and returned to the apartment the next day,

49:33

acting as if nothing had happened.

49:36

William asked Sarah if he had stabbed

49:38

Ophelia. She said that he had,

49:40

and he seemed to understand her,

49:42

but then just went about his business.

49:45

They never discussed it again, and he

49:47

showed no remorse for what had happened.

49:50

She didn't recall him ever facing an

49:52

assault with a deadly weapon charge. In

49:55

another incident, William strangled

49:57

Sarah with his hands to the point that

50:00

she nearly lost consciousness. They

50:02

were drinking, and William went on

50:04

a rant. She didn't engage

50:06

with him, and that seemed to enrage

50:08

him. Again, William

50:11

faced no legal consequences, and

50:13

they went on without ever addressing it

50:15

again. Another time,

50:18

William bought an AR fifteen assault

50:20

rifle during a camping trip in Sacramento.

50:23

She said that William was gone for

50:25

five to seven days after having been

50:27

arrested by, quote,

50:29

the feds, during which

50:32

she believed he was in jail. After

50:34

returning, they again didn't discuss

50:36

the incident. During

50:38

their four year marriage, they traveled

50:40

throughout California living in different apartments

50:43

together. Or out of their beige colored Plymouth

50:45

Duster. Neither of them were working

50:47

at the time, and they were living off welfare

50:50

and social security income. Sarah

50:52

remembered them living at the Triangle Motel

50:55

for six months. In the summer of nineteen

50:57

seventy eight, she went out for a bike ride,

50:59

and when she returned home, She found

51:01

him in bed with another woman. She

51:04

left him that day. Within

51:07

a couple of months, She found a new

51:09

man and was living with him around

51:11

September of nineteen seventy eight.

51:13

One day, William showed up at their

51:15

place without any notice. She

51:18

had no idea how he figured out

51:20

where she was living. Although

51:22

he wasn't confrontational, she

51:24

thought he was acting weird.

51:27

He stayed for a good part of the day and

51:29

then left. After which,

51:31

she never saw him again. This

51:33

same year, William's Japanese stepmother

51:36

Nebuho and his father divorced

51:38

after thirty years of marriage. Nebuho

51:41

had been his primary mother figure from the

51:43

time he was nine years old until thirty

51:45

nine. It's unclear

51:47

what became of William after this point.

51:50

But eight years later, in nineteen eighty

51:52

six, William was discovered in a

51:54

hotel room dead from a morphine

51:56

overdose. He was forty

51:58

six years old. His body was

52:00

cremated. He died thirty

52:03

seven years before Rita's

52:05

crime would be solved. William

52:09

was totally off the police radar.

52:12

In the years that followed the murder, the

52:14

list of suspects maintained by the police

52:16

grew to fifteen names, but

52:18

his name did not appear. It

52:21

wasn't until the case was revisited in

52:23

the late two thousand ten's that his name

52:25

was added to the list by Burlington police

52:28

detectives. What if

52:30

police in nineteen seventy one had

52:32

insisted on taking a closer look at his

52:34

knuckles, took pictures of them,

52:37

He had just badly beaten Rita's face,

52:39

leaving blood all over her floor.

52:42

Surely, he did have some nicks and

52:44

scratches. What if they asked him what

52:46

brand of cigarettes he smoked? What

52:48

if they had asked to search his apartment looking

52:51

for any bloody clothing? Or

52:53

separated him from his wife and

52:55

questioned them individually. The

52:58

narrow window in which the crime was

53:00

committed, just seventy minutes,

53:02

And the fact that the roommates outing

53:04

that evening was a spontaneous choice

53:07

suggested that it was a crime of opportunity

53:10

by somebody nearby. Who was knowledgeable

53:12

about who the tenants were and what

53:14

vehicles they each drove. In

53:17

hindsight, William seems like

53:20

the perfect candidate. Other

53:22

than a few brief discussions that happened during

53:24

the police canvassing, William DeRous'

53:27

name came up one other time in

53:29

police records. A confidential informant

53:32

came forward one week

53:34

after Rita's murder and met with the two

53:36

primary detectives. And he said

53:38

that William was capable of

53:40

committing a violent crime. In

53:42

the police notes, William's alibi

53:44

was immediately referenced casting

53:47

doubt on the possibility he was the killer.

53:50

In terms of the physical evidence, it

53:52

has only been in past few years that

53:54

genetic genealogy has been utilized

53:57

by law enforcement. So

53:59

from that standpoint, the investigation

54:01

has been moving quickly. It's

54:03

a blessing that Mary and Tom who are

54:05

in their early seventies are both

54:08

alive to get the news that their

54:10

sister's killer has finally been

54:12

identified. A

54:14

question that arose during the press conference

54:17

was, would Michelle be charged

54:19

with a crime? The police spokesperson

54:22

said that she would not and said, lying

54:24

to the police is not a crime.

54:27

This, however, isn't a white lie.

54:29

This is an obstruction of justice. Though

54:32

the statute of limitations for that crime

54:34

has expired, it is a

54:36

crime. Rita's roommate, Paul,

54:39

told the Daily Beast in twenty twenty one

54:41

that he remembered the walls being

54:43

extremely thin. And said that

54:45

the idea that nobody heard anything

54:47

is almost impossible. If

54:49

Rita were screaming on the first floor,

54:52

Would that sound have traveled to the

54:54

third? Would Michelle have

54:56

heard her screams? Assuming

54:59

that William's clothes were bloodied in the

55:01

struggle, What would he have done with them?

55:03

He was in the middle of the night, and he

55:05

was on a cool down walk. He

55:08

presumably didn't have a change

55:10

of clothes with him. And if he ditched them

55:12

somewhere, what would he have worn walking

55:14

back to the house? If he

55:16

were going on a walk, he might have

55:18

worn a light jacket. Or sweatshirt

55:20

and pants. According to the historical

55:23

weather records, it would have been about fifty

55:25

eight degrees at the time he left. After

55:28

killing Rita, it seems possible

55:30

he could have ditched a jacket in a nearby

55:32

dumpster. But what about

55:34

the bloody pants? Shortly, he

55:36

didn't discard them in the neighborhood. Walking

55:39

around in his underwear would have attracted

55:42

some unwanted attention and drawn

55:44

extra notice from his wife. When

55:46

he returned to his and Michelle's apartment, what

55:49

did he do with the bloody pants? Michelle

55:51

said there was no washer and dryer in the

55:53

unit. Did he stuff them away

55:55

somewhere? And how would he have

55:57

concealed this activity in their

55:59

one room studio apartment from

56:02

Michelle? And

56:04

then there are Michelle's numerous memory

56:07

lapses. No recollection of any

56:09

cuts or scrapes on his body or

56:11

any change in demeanor. No explanation

56:14

as to why they moved to Thailand, abandoning

56:16

their dreams in Burlington. No

56:19

recollection of why he went first,

56:21

leaving her in Burlington for six months

56:23

on her own. If she was holding

56:25

back because she was scared, why not

56:27

come forward in the thirty seven years

56:30

after William's death. The

56:32

only thing she admitted to police in twenty

56:34

twenty three was that William left

56:36

their unit during that period of time when

56:39

Rita was murdered. Beyond that,

56:41

she was clueless. William

56:44

returned in nineteen seventy four to

56:46

the Buddhist community in San Francisco

56:49

to find another wife. It

56:51

seems that he chose that place for a reason.

56:54

Many religious organizations, especially

56:56

rapidly growing less established ones,

56:59

tend to be inclusive and welcoming

57:01

looking to grow their ranks. Plus,

57:04

the counterculture of the nineteen sixties

57:06

and seventies embody the values of

57:08

community, love, and acceptance.

57:11

But there's a dark underbelly to

57:13

that story. Criminals, like

57:16

William, who couldn't find acceptance in

57:18

other circles might gravitate towards

57:21

these hippies who graded him with open arms.

57:24

William was a convicted felon when he met

57:26

Michelle. Having served a few years

57:28

in prison for armed robbery, but

57:30

she regarded him as a guru and

57:33

a serious Buddhist. He

57:35

hid his past and was given the benefit

57:37

of the doubt. Rita's death

57:40

seemed to be completely random. It

57:42

was chance that brought William

57:44

and Rita to Brooks Avenue in the summer

57:46

of nineteen seventy one. Rita

57:49

was there to be close to her summer job in Burlington.

57:51

To try living on her own and

57:54

to meet some new people. William

57:56

was there with his new wife to be near

57:58

her family and to have children together.

58:01

Rita just happened to be the

58:03

roommate who was home that evening when

58:05

William was looking for a punching bag

58:07

to hit. If Michelle's story

58:10

is to be believed. Something

58:13

that has come up in some of the reporting is

58:15

the use of a piano wire as a garat.

58:18

It showed up in a blog post from twenty nineteen

58:20

from a woman who, quote, wanted

58:23

to remain anonymous. It has

58:25

been often repeated since then,

58:27

but This is untrue. The medical

58:29

examiner's report indicates manual

58:31

strangulation. Another

58:33

detail that came up in that blog was

58:35

the use of a pro bar in either beating

58:38

or raping Rita. It references

58:40

a nineteen eighty nine news article. In

58:42

the seventy five historical articles

58:45

or used in the production of this episode. This

58:47

detail is referenced in two articles

58:50

and is often repeated in modern blogs

58:52

and podcasts. It isn't

58:54

referenced in the modern police report, the

58:57

one that was released last

58:58

week, which includes information about

59:00

the autopsy. And it's unclear

59:03

whether this is true or not.

59:07

Paul Robinson, Rita's roommate,

59:09

In an interview with Pallar Melendez with

59:12

a daily beast in July of twenty twenty

59:14

one said, I have always

59:16

had a question about whether Rita was

59:18

still alive when we got back to the apartment

59:20

that night. They were sitting on a

59:22

living room couches socializing while

59:25

their roommates life was slipping away.

59:27

Unbeknownst to them. Paul

59:29

performed CPR immediately upon

59:32

discovering her body, but it was

59:34

too late. This

59:36

case was solved with new technology,

59:39

genetic genealogy. In the organization,

59:42

season of justice helped make that possible

59:44

for the Burlington PD. To

59:46

give back to the nonprofit, Rita's

59:49

family organized a fundraiser on

59:51

GoFundMe to raise seven thousand dollars.

59:53

Repaying them for their donation. As

59:56

of February twenty eighth, twenty twenty

59:58

three, after being live for only

1:00:00

nine days, It's raised seven

1:00:02

thousand three hundred dollars, surpassing

1:00:05

their goal. This money will go

1:00:07

to helping other families get their

1:00:09

day. Get their closure. If

1:00:12

you feel compelled to donate to season

1:00:14

of justice and directly help other families

1:00:16

like Rita's, I'll include a link in the show

1:00:18

notes. Rita

1:00:21

Curran died in nineteen seventy

1:00:23

one over fifty years

1:00:25

ago. In the time since her death,

1:00:27

Even her siblings believed they would

1:00:29

never get justice. But this

1:00:32

case gives me hope. The solve

1:00:34

in twenty twenty three was an extraordinary

1:00:36

triumph. And it also gives hope

1:00:39

to other families like Rita's

1:00:41

who are still waiting for their justice.

1:00:44

Thank

1:00:48

you so much for listening. If

1:00:51

you're enjoying murder she told, I would

1:00:53

love it if you shared it with a friend. Word-of-mouth

1:00:55

or sharing on social media or recommending

1:00:58

it is one of the best ways to help

1:01:00

reach new listeners. And if you wanna

1:01:02

port the show in other ways, there's a link in

1:01:04

the show notes with options. Follow Mercy

1:01:06

told on social media at Mercy told

1:01:08

podcast on Instagram at Mercy

1:01:11

told on TikTok and murder she told on

1:01:13

Facebook. A detailed list of

1:01:15

sources and photos from this episode

1:01:17

and more can be found at murder she told

1:01:19

dot com. Thank you to Byron Willis

1:01:21

for his writing research and to Samantha

1:01:23

Colthart, Bridget Rollie, and Sarah

1:01:25

Fortune for their research support. If

1:01:28

you have a suggestion or a correction, I

1:01:30

would love to hear from you. You can email me

1:01:32

at hello at emergency toll dot com. I'm

1:01:35

Kristen Seabee, and this is murder

1:01:37

she told. Thank you for listening.

1:01:43

Hi, guys. I'm Jesse Prey, and

1:01:46

I'm Andy Cassatt, for the host of the podcast,

1:01:48

Love Murder, a weekly True Crime podcast

1:01:50

about Love Gone fatally wrong.

1:01:52

This show is all about seemingly normal

1:01:55

people driven to terrible madness by

1:01:57

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twisted twists, sordid swings,

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