What happens when a double homicide case lands in your lap? What if it is the oldest active cold case in the history of American true crime? What if your father held a family secret for fifty years before he confided in you that one of the victims was your great-great uncle and that your grandfather had been held as a suspect? What if the murders happened during the most corrupt era our nation has ever known? And what if you are a retired detective, like me, with the unique skill set needed to figure out an 87-year-old family mystery? Well, you put everything else on hold and set out to solve it. This is my story.
Shattered Souls: The Car Barn Murders is presented by CrimeOnline and iHeartPodcasts.
Music by Sam Johnson
338 Available Episodes (338 Total)Average duration: 00:58:11
Jul 12, 2022
Episode 17: "Fait Accompli"
00:41:15
Karen wraps up this part of the Car Barn Murders series with her assessment of accomplices Walter Oliver and Robert Janney along with a breakdown of the statement of Francis Gregory. Please go to the Shattered Souls Facebook page for insider details and to render your verdicts on the case. Stay tuned for future episodes and a few surprises! Thank you for listening!
After handing off her findings on William Clarke to you, the public jury, Karen details every factor and Clarke's criminal intent to put the final pieces together. She also uncovers the identity of Captain Vollten's confidential informants.
Karen makes her opening argument against her primary suspect, William Clarke, based on the information provided in the 1935 reports and from Captain Vollten's confidential informants from 1954....but, who were the informants?
Karen's friend, Stephanie White, cracked the identity of DC Metro Police 'ex-Sergeant Greene", named numerous times in Captain Vollten's 1954 Addendum report. Who was this man and how did he play a role in the murders of Emory Smith and James Mitchell?
The 1954 Addendum report written by Captain Vollten provided all of the details needed to crack the case, but there were still unidentified persons involved in the murder that Karen has to identify to come to a conclusion.
As Karen continues putting the pieces together, she finds out about an addendum report that was not included in the original files. She also discovers that there may have been evidence tampering by one of the original detectives. William Clarke's friend and alibi, James Weir, goes on the run.
Prison letters between William Clarke and Mary Branch tell a sordid story of love and hate. Clarke also wrote to several other people from his prison cell, including a U.S. Senator and one woman who proved to be pivotal regarding a solution to the case.
The lid finally blows off of the case when Karen discovers a related crime that was not mentioned anywhere in the case file. Dead men tell no tales. Dead women, too.
Karen delves into the police interviews of William Clarke and Mary Branch and finds marked discrepancies, an unnamed DC cop, as well as a direct link to another person of interest -- the only person left alive after the murders.
As the political machine churned in the background, Detectives Vollten and Rodgers follow up on the information from DC Jail inmate Horace Davis and his claims about Walter Oliver's confession. Another name was dropped by Davis and Karen finds a treasure trove of information and a link that sets her wheels spinning toward a solution.