Pod Insights My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark 507 - Adult Woman About this episode This week, Georgia covers hitchhike killer James Waybern Hall.
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Transcript Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:01 Speaker 00 This is exactly right.
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2:00 Karen Kilgariff? Hello and welcome.
2:01 Georgia Hardstark? To My Favorite Murder.
2:03 Karen Kilgariff? That's Georgia Hardstark.
2:04 Georgia Hardstark? That's Karen Kilgariff.
2:05 Karen Kilgariff? And this is a solo episode.
2:07 Georgia Hardstark? It's a solo episode, just me, because we're still on tour as of this recording.
2:13 Karen Kilgariff? In a recording world.
2:15 Georgia Hardstark? We're going to New York this week for our last live show.
2:18 Karen Kilgariff? That's right. Brooklyn, King's Theater, wrapping it up, saying goodbye.
2:24 Georgia Hardstark? I can't. It's gonna be crazy and so sad, that last episode, I'm gonna cry.
2:28 Karen Kilgariff? Yeah.
2:28 Georgia Hardstark? I have a book, real quick. Can I, I've been waiting to, I've just been waiting to tell you about this book, because I'm so obsessed with it.
2:34 Karen Kilgariff? Great.
2:34 Georgia Hardstark? And I listened to it through the tour, and I cried. So, it's a memoir called A Mother's Reckoning by Sue Klebold.
2:43 Karen Kilgariff? Dylan Klebold's mother.
2:44 Georgia Hardstark? Yes.
2:44 Karen Kilgariff? Wow.
2:45 Georgia Hardstark? It is the most powerful, intense, beautiful memoir I've ever listened to. It is so powerful. She talks about grief and shame, loss, and a lot about mental illness and how we treat it here in the US and what can be done to change things. And, you know, what she knew and what she didn't know and what she wishes she had known. I was just in awe of this, of this book.
3:12 Karen Kilgariff? Wow.
3:12 Georgia Hardstark? Yeah. So, A Mother's Reckoning, I feel like every parent of a teenager needs to read this, because it's also about hiding, being a teenager and hiding stuff from your parents. And I think knowing those, those signs and knowing and being able to recognize the little tells that they do give is so important for parents. And she really hits on that.
3:35 Karen Kilgariff? Yeah.
3:35 Georgia Hardstark? And takes responsibility for not knowing what to look for, because you don't know what you don't know.
3:40 Karen Kilgariff? Yeah. And as a parent, that's the weight that I'm sure is on her.
3:44 Georgia Hardstark? Yeah.
3:44 Karen Kilgariff? It's just horrible, that idea of having to take responsibility for a thing that, you know, if you're the mother, you're gonna get blamed first, anyway.
3:51 Georgia Hardstark? Absolutely. And it was like the 90s, so it was just...
3:55 Karen Kilgariff? Toxic.
3:55 Georgia Hardstark? Toxic. And she talks about all of that. So, A Mother's Reckoning by Sue Klebold, I highly recommend it. Okay. Should we do a quick Exactly Right Media check-in?
4:06 Karen Kilgariff? Let's do it.
4:06 Georgia Hardstark? Hey, we have a podcast network called Exactly Right Media. Here are some highlights.
4:11 Karen Kilgariff? Well, it's very exciting. Our brand new limited series, Hell in Heaven, the finale is now out. This series has been doing incredibly well. It's a Blantherd House production. They're the best in the biz. In today's last episode, Ann contemplates leaving Costa Rica for good. A drug bust changes everything. And those closest to the Bender family reckon with a mystery that refuses to die. It's an unbelievable series if you haven't heard it yet.
4:37 Georgia Hardstark? And if you're making your list and checking it twice, we've got good news. Our holiday merch is now live in the merch store. This is some good shit, you guys. It's exciting every year to pick the stuff. I think this might be the best year. Visit exactlyrightstore.com for all the new items from your favorite shows and be sure to order by Sunday, December 14th, to guarantee holiday delivery.
4:59 Karen Kilgariff? And while you're out there just doing our bidding, why don't you go over to YouTube and hit like and subscribe on all of our channels on YouTube at my underscore favorite underscore murder and also over at at Exactly Right Media. And please go support our newest, always on, legal podcast, At Brief Recession. It is going to be a hit. We talked to Melissa and Michael on this show. It was so much fun. So go support those guys, please.
5:25 Georgia Hardstark? So good.
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7:11 Georgia Hardstark? All right. Solo.
7:12 Karen Kilgariff? All right. Solo.
7:14 Georgia Hardstark? OK, this is a real one. And it was suggested by a murderino who emailed in April of 2023. I'm just going to read you a little bit of it. It says, "Hi, when I was about nine years old, I was being nosey, digging through random stuff at my dad's house, and found a scrapbook full of old newspaper clippings. I asked Dad about it, and he proceeded to blow my tiny little mind by dropping the bomb that his uncle murdered a bunch of people in the 1940s and was executed by electric chair." It goes on and on. "I have photos of the chair where he was executed and his death mask that are kept at a state museum and would be happy to email them in."
7:52 Karen Kilgariff? That's OK.
7:53 Georgia Hardstark? We're good. "Thanks for getting me through my commute to work every day, Abby." So Abby suggested this, and I'd never heard of it.
8:01 Karen Kilgariff? Wow, family murderer. That's crazy.
8:04 Georgia Hardstark? It's disappointing when you haven't heard of a serial killer because it just means there's so fucking many of them.
8:07 Karen Kilgariff? There's so many.
8:08 Georgia Hardstark? This is a story of highway killer James Waybern Hall. The main source for the story is a book called The Arkansas Hitchhiker Killer by Janie Nesbit Jones. And the rest of the source is going to be found in the show notes. OK, so on January 17th. 1945, the body of a man named C.F. Hamilton is found on a road in Arkansas. Hamilton is a barber and also a bootlegger, though prohibition has long been over and there are plenty of liquor stores, as we know, bootleggers still do good business in the area.
8:37 Karen Kilgariff? Yeah.
8:37 Georgia Hardstark? You know.
8:38 Karen Kilgariff? Got it, driving around real fast in those souped up cars.
8:41 Georgia Hardstark? That's right, that homemade liquor.
8:43 Karen Kilgariff? And homemade NASCAR, that's how NASCAR began.
8:45 Georgia Hardstark? Oh, yeah. So, C.F. Hamilton has been shot with a 45 caliber bullet and the scene looks like a robbery. Hamilton is black, and this is Arkansas in 1945, so the police officers basically don't investigate the crime much. And unfortunately, this also means that we know less about him and his life than we know about some of the other victims who are discovered shortly after.
9:07 Karen Kilgariff? Who are white.
9:08 Georgia Hardstark? Who are white.
9:08 Karen Kilgariff? Yeah.
9:09 Georgia Hardstark? About two weeks later on February 1st, another body is found. A deputy sheriff is driving along a road about 80 miles south of Little Rock when he sees an abandoned car at the turnoff for a dirt road, and it's still there and he makes his return trip. About 90 minutes later, so he pulls over to inspect the car. The glove compartment looks like it's been rifled through and the papers are strewn on the passenger seat. The deputy sheriff then looks at the dirt road and sees two sets of footprints going into the woods and only one set returning.
9:38 Karen Kilgariff? Wow.
9:39 Georgia Hardstark? He follows the footprints and after a short walk, finds the body of a man who has been shot. This man is identified by police as E.C. Adams. He has been shot with a 38 caliber bullet. Adams had been on his way to a new job and a new home at a naval plant where his wife and newborn daughter were supposed to join him later. After speaking to his wife, police believe he was killed by a highwayman or a robber who steals from travelers. She gives him a long list of the items he had with him, including razors, a shaving mug, a watch, and two alarm clocks, because he was moving. And these items are all missing from the car when they inspect it. Captain Earl Scroggen.
10:21 Georgia Hardstark? I am an adult woman. I'm an adult. It spelled like you can't help it.
10:28 Karen Kilgariff? Just say it.
10:29 Georgia Hardstark? No. Captain Earl Scrogan of the newly formed Arkansas State Police believes the same highway man, probably hitchhiking, may have killed both Adams and Hamilton, even though they were shot with different guns. They backtrack Adams' route to Little Rock, where they believe he picked up the hitchhiker, and they alert Little Rock Police. About a week later, on February 9th, a meat truck driver named Doyle Mulhern leaves on his typical route, but doesn't make it to any of his stops, and it's very out of character of him. So people begin searching for him immediately, and a grocer, who's also the mayor of the town of Stuttgart, Arkansas, finds his truck at the edge of town. Were you gonna say something?
11:10 Karen Kilgariff? Just that the grocer would know that the meat guy didn't show up.
11:13 Georgia Hardstark? Totally.
11:13 Karen Kilgariff? And be like, that's very, not like him and what's happening, like the first person.
11:17 Georgia Hardstark? Little Rock's a tiny town now. But back then, in 45, it was probably just like, everyone knew everyone.
11:23 Karen Kilgariff? Right. And this is outside of Little Rock, right?
11:25 Georgia Hardstark? Right.
11:26 Karen Kilgariff? So that was probably the big town.
11:27 Georgia Hardstark? Totally.
11:27 Karen Kilgariff? I mean, yeah. God, that's sad.
11:29 Georgia Hardstark? Yeah. The next day, two fishermen find Doyle's body about 25 feet away from the highway. The state police determine that he has also been shot with a 38 caliber bullet, and the money from all of his collections that day is missing. While retracing his steps, the state police speak to another driver, whose root, route, root, is the reverse of Doyle's. What do you say, route or root?
11:52 Karen Kilgariff? I think, well, it's like Route 66 in the song, but then if I was reading it, I think I'd say route.
11:57 Georgia Hardstark? Yeah, same. The two men usually wave when they pass each other in their trucks, but this driver says that on the day Doyle died, he didn't wave at him and seemed distracted, that he had a passenger with him. The passenger was a young man with wavy red hair. Can you imagine the state you're in, you're driving past, you're trying to signal to the guy that you always wave to, that you know that something is wrong, so you don't wave?
12:23 Karen Kilgariff? Like, it's the absence of the normal thing that's gonna hopefully let that guy know.
12:28 Georgia Hardstark? Totally. And like, make him pay more attention, so he can give information.
12:32 Karen Kilgariff? It's so upsetting, and also just that idea of like, was there a gun in his ribs? I mean, like, how this threat of... Yeah, there's so many of those stories that we've heard over the years of like, a girl in a car with someone trying to get the cops' attention or whatever.
12:48 Georgia Hardstark? Well, that's why I love this, that there's the hand gesture that you can do now that we all know and all should know, where you just kind of hold up four fingers with your thumb on the inside of your palm.
12:56 Karen Kilgariff? I'm in danger.
12:56 Georgia Hardstark? I'm in danger.
12:57 Karen Kilgariff? Yeah.
12:58 Georgia Hardstark? Amazing. In early March, a man named J.D. Newcomb Jr. is reported missing. He's the state's chief boiler inspector for the Department of Labor. I know, I don't, I don't even.
13:09 Karen Kilgariff? I mean, boilers were a big deal back then.
13:11 Georgia Hardstark? They needed to be inspected a lot.
13:12 Karen Kilgariff? And they needed people to be at certain levels of boiler inspection.
13:16 Georgia Hardstark? Sure.
13:17 Karen Kilgariff? Because you had to be able to come and be like, this one is about to blow.
13:19 Georgia Hardstark? I can tell something's wrong with it.
13:21 Karen Kilgariff? So he was the chief?
13:21 Georgia Hardstark? He was the guy, and it was a prominent position.
13:24 Karen Kilgariff? Yeah.
13:25 Georgia Hardstark? So Newcomb had been on his way back to Little Rock when he disappeared, and he was known to offer rides to hitchhikers. So fucking ominous, right? Because like, we always think of like hitchhiking as being so dangerous.
13:35 Karen Kilgariff? Yeah, but this is like the mid 40s.
13:38 Georgia Hardstark? Yeah.
13:38 Karen Kilgariff? So it's like, I bet you it's like after the Depression. People being used to people just, hey, look, I'm just trying to get from one place to the other.
13:46 Georgia Hardstark? Yeah.
13:46 Karen Kilgariff? I mean, like, doing a favor for your fellow man was probably the thinking.
13:50 Georgia Hardstark? Totally, totally. On March 8th, a badly burned body is found in the back of a burned Osmobile, which matches Newcomb's car. The car is found in a clearing, and from the way the blood has sprayed backward, it looks like it was driven quickly before crashing. Dental records determine that the body is Newcomb's, and police find that his wristwatch is missing, as is his blue-gray overcoat. The police ask the public for tips. A bus driver reports picking up a young man near where the car was found, and the driver says that the man was wearing an ill-fitting blue-gray coat. The driver can't remember where the man got off, but that his bus was headed to Little Rock. On March 16th, a woman calls the state police and tells them a man she knows
14:34 Georgia Hardstark? had loaned his car back in February to a friend, who had business with a bootlegger outside of Little Rock. The car's owner kept a .45 caliber pistol in the car, and when the car was returned, two rounds were missing from it. Remember the guy in the beginning of the story was a bootlegger? The man who owned the car had heard about the murder of CJ Hamilton, the black man who was a barber, and fearful that he would be implicated, sold the gun.
15:00 Karen Kilgariff? Oh.
15:00 Georgia Hardstark? Didn't call it in, sold it. So this woman calls it in, thankfully, and is like,
15:05 Karen Kilgariff? Yeah.
15:05 Georgia Hardstark? Hey.
15:06 Karen Kilgariff? Hey, missing piece here.
15:07 Georgia Hardstark? Yeah, I don't want this guy to get away with it. The woman says that the person who borrowed the car is a cab driver named James Waybern Hall. The state police bring this information to Little Rock Police, who take James in for questioning. James has wavy red hair, like the person that was spotted in the truck. When police searched James' wallet, they find a receipt from a parcel service, and the parcel service had delivered a package to Little Rock from Camden, Arkansas, near where Adams, the man with the new Navy job, had been found. Police go to the address from the parcel receipt, which belongs to a woman named Corinne Franklin. Franklin admits that she's a friend of James, and she produces the contents of that parcel that had been sent. Razors, a shaving mug, and an alarm clock.
15:51 Georgia Hardstark? So it looks like James had mailed himself, through this woman, stolen items from Adams' car.
15:56 Karen Kilgariff? So basically making federal witnesses out of the postal service.
16:00 Georgia Hardstark? Right.
16:00 Karen Kilgariff? Basically like-
16:01 Georgia Hardstark? And this woman, whose name and address are on it.
16:03 Karen Kilgariff? Yeah, they were just like, here's my things.
16:06 Georgia Hardstark? Yeah.
16:07 Karen Kilgariff? And the government's now involved because it's the post office.
16:10 Georgia Hardstark? Oh, my God, surprise.
16:12 Karen Kilgariff? Surprise.
16:12 Georgia Hardstark? Federal fucking-
16:14 Karen Kilgariff? Poor man's trademark. You just trademarked your murder cash, basically.
16:18 Georgia Hardstark? Yeah, you just proved that it was yours.
16:21 Karen Kilgariff? Kinda.
16:21 Georgia Hardstark? Put your name on it.
16:22 Karen Kilgariff? Yeah, I took these, don't give them to anybody else. Just one alarm clock, not both?
16:27 Georgia Hardstark? Yeah, I don't know. He liked to sell items, too.
16:30 Karen Kilgariff? Right. I thought he kept two because whoever originally had them, like, needed to, to, to wake up.
16:37 Georgia Hardstark? Oh.
16:37 Karen Kilgariff? You know, remember before the, before you could snooze your alarm?
16:41 Georgia Hardstark? Yeah, you'd have to put one, like, in the hallway, because otherwise you would not get up.
16:45 Karen Kilgariff? Drunks.
16:45 Georgia Hardstark? Remember when those alarm clocks came out that jumped off, they had wheels, and they'd jump off your dresser and, like, roll around the house, you'd, like, chase it to wake up.
16:54 Karen Kilgariff? So you couldn't snooze it?
16:55 Georgia Hardstark? So you couldn't snooze it, and you had to chase it to turn it off.
16:58 Karen Kilgariff? We need the commercial for that.
17:00 Georgia Hardstark? Brilliant, right? And there was one that was like a boggle machine, like a puzzle, that you had to put back together.
17:06 Karen Kilgariff? To be able to snooze it?
17:07 Georgia Hardstark? Yes.
17:08 Karen Kilgariff? Incredible. There was a real oversleeping problem in the 80s, 90s, it sounds like.
17:13 Georgia Hardstark? Yes. So the police also searched James's room at a boarding house where he's been living for the last few months. Oh, man, boarding house is just like, give me the creeps.
17:21 Karen Kilgariff? It's, you know, a lot of, uh, back then, especially.
17:24 Georgia Hardstark? Old time, yeah.
17:24 Karen Kilgariff? Tragic, you know, hey, do you not want anyone to know your name?
17:28 Georgia Hardstark? Yeah.
17:28 Karen Kilgariff? Is your last name Smith for some reason?
17:30 Georgia Hardstark? Did you just get off a boxcar?
17:31 Karen Kilgariff? Yeah.
17:32 Georgia Hardstark? Come here.
17:32 Karen Kilgariff? What's that? Blood on your neck? A small, fine mist of blood on your cheek?
17:38 Georgia Hardstark? And at this place, they find J D Newcomb's missing watch and a blue gray overcoat that matches the description of the one he had been missing. They also find a box of 38 caliber bullets and a 38 caliber pistol. It turns out that the Little Rock police had just arrested James a few weeks prior for assault when he badly injured another man in a fight. And they also tell their colleagues at the Arkansas State Police that they had questioned James six months earlier about the disappearance of his own wife. When the police go back to James with the evidence from the package and from his room in the boarding house, he says, quote, "Okay, I'll tell you all about it. I killed them all."
18:13 Karen Kilgariff? Oh, my God.
18:13 Georgia Hardstark? Straight up jinx style.
18:15 Karen Kilgariff? I killed them all.
18:16 Georgia Hardstark? Killed them all.
18:17 Karen Kilgariff? If you were the cop he was talking to, or whoever it was, that's feeling in your stomach. What do you mean, all?
18:23 Georgia Hardstark? All, yeah. Also, he's 24 years old at this time.
18:26 Karen Kilgariff? Oof.
18:28 Georgia Hardstark? That's like, a child.
18:29 Karen Kilgariff? A child with probably like, kinda evil eyes. I mean.
18:33 Georgia Hardstark? Well, okay, let me tell you about him. James Webern Hall is born in 1921 in Happy Valley, Arkansas. He's the fourth of 11 children, though one dies in infancy. And from childhood on, James is nicknamed Red because of his red hair.
18:46 Karen Kilgariff? You know, every man in my dad's family is nicknamed Red.
18:49 Georgia Hardstark? Right.
18:49 Karen Kilgariff? They all call each other that.
18:51 Georgia Hardstark? I always forget your dad has red hair because I've never seen him with red hair.
18:54 Karen Kilgariff? Not since the late 80s, yeah.
18:57 Georgia Hardstark? So his father, Samuel Hall, is a farmer and also a preacher in the local church. And as we've heard time and time again, James's childhood contains two of the common threads we wind up seeing in the childhood of serial killers, abuse and head trauma. From the outside, the halls appear to have a pretty idyllic life. The children are looked after by a caring grandmother. James, his siblings and his cousins roam the outdoors together most days, but behind closed doors, James's father, Samuel, is abusive and he focuses most of his anger on James. In his early teens, James starts leaving the home for long intervals, finding work on farms. When he's 14 years old, he's hit in the head with a metal fence post. Although the stories that he ran into it or it fell on him, we're not sure.
19:42 Georgia Hardstark? It knocked him unconscious for about an hour. And some people who know James say that he was never himself again after this. Although some people also say the fence post story is completely made up and that it was actually James's father who gave him the head trauma.
19:56 Karen Kilgariff? Oh, my God.
19:57 Georgia Hardstark? I know. So around that same time, James drops out of school and starts riding the rails to Oklahoma and Kansas, doing farm work. He was six foot five, so he was a very large man. He had wavy red hair and he also had a limp that made him very recognizable and people called him Big Jim.
20:15 Karen Kilgariff? Hmm. Just the idea of like, it's one thing to get a head injury, you know, by chance. Have your father give you a head injury that changes your life forever?
20:26 Georgia Hardstark? Totally.
20:27 Karen Kilgariff? Is like, you know, we love to talk about trauma, but that's next level. It's so horrible.
20:33 Georgia Hardstark? James meets his first wife in 1938, a woman named Walcy McKee. James is 17 and Walcy is two to five years older, according to different accounts. 17. They get married, doesn't last long and he blows in and out of town. She doesn't see him often. They have two children, but the first dies shortly after being born. The second is a healthy boy born in 1943, but James and Walcy divorce shortly after he's born. James is then drafted into the army, but after six weeks of basic training, he's given a dishonorable discharge for, quote, indifference.
21:09 Karen Kilgariff? Oh, no.
21:10 Georgia Hardstark? Yikes.
21:11 Karen Kilgariff? Dead eyes. It's, that's very Full Metal Jacket vibes.
21:15 Georgia Hardstark? Yeah. I think within six weeks, getting discharged for that means
21:18 Karen Kilgariff? They were like, we can't. Yeah. We missed this guy in the mental health evaluation. Something's going on.
21:24 Georgia Hardstark? Right. So that same year, James winds up in Little Rock where he meets his second wife. Listen to this name, Fayreen Clemens.
21:32 Karen Kilgariff? Fayreen.
21:33 Georgia Hardstark? Fayreen.
21:34 Karen Kilgariff? Alabama, you say?
21:35 Georgia Hardstark? Arkansas.
21:36 Karen Kilgariff? Arkansas. Hey Fayreen.
21:38 Georgia Hardstark? Hey Fayreen.
21:39 Karen Kilgariff? Fayreen, come on over here.
21:40 Georgia Hardstark? Come here, let me do your hair. Let me do your roots. She goes by Fay and they meet in December of 1943. He's 22 years old and by March of 1944, they're married. And Fay is very different from Walshy, his first wife. When James gets the urge to travel, she wants to come with him. He doesn't want her to.
22:00 Karen Kilgariff? Cause it's true love.
22:01 Georgia Hardstark? Right. So by the summer of 1944, just a few months after their marriage, Fay confides in her family that she doesn't think she can stay married to James. And the family thinks that he's being abusive towards her. On Thursday, September 14th, James is back in Little Rock after another period on the road and he takes Fay and a friend of hers dancing at a club called The Rainbow Garden.
22:24 Georgia Hardstark? They leave the club at about midnight, at which point the friend says he and Fay began fighting. As James Fay and the friend walk to the car, Fay tells James that she wants to leave him and move to California. He slaps her across the face and they all get in the car. And when they drop the friend off at her house, Fay and James are still fighting and that is the last time anyone besides James sees Fay alive.
22:47 Karen Kilgariff? Oh, that friend.
22:49 Georgia Hardstark? I know.
22:50 Karen Kilgariff? So sad.
22:50 Georgia Hardstark? I know. When your friend is dating someone or married to someone that you know is fucking terrible.
22:55 Karen Kilgariff? And you're like, she's about to get beaten up and I'm getting out of the car. What do I do?
22:59 Georgia Hardstark? What would you do?
23:00 Karen Kilgariff? Go get a guy that's six foot six. I mean, that's the problem with like someone big and abusive, those kinds of bullies are hard to fight if you don't have anybody around to fight them.
23:11 Georgia Hardstark? Yeah, they don't like, they don't listen to reason.
23:13 Karen Kilgariff? Or women.
23:14 Georgia Hardstark? Or women, reason, meaning women. Three days later, some of Faye's cousins come by to see her. James tells them that she left him three days before. The cousins tell Faye's parents about this and they come to look for her. Of course, Faye's clothes are all in the closet. It doesn't look like she's gone anywhere, but they give it some time hoping that maybe Faye, she said she wanted to go to California. Her friend heard that. Maybe she just fucking booked it and they're about to hear from her. But when a week goes by, they go to the Little Rock Police. James tells the police that he last saw his wife on the night they came back from the Rainbow Garden, that she left for California, blah, blah, blah. So shortly after that, James moves out of the apartment he and Faye had shared and goes out on the road again.
23:57 Georgia Hardstark? We don't know James's exact route between September and December of 1944. We do know of several murders of middle aged men in this time period in Kansas and Oklahoma that some people will later tie to James, similar MOs. In the next few months, James stays closer to Little Rock and commits the four murders from the beginning of our story that will eventually lead to his arrest. And that brings us to where we started in the story and him saying, yes, I killed them all.
24:24 Karen Kilgariff? Yeah.
24:25 Georgia Hardstark? When he finally confesses to those murders, he tells police that the first murder was only supposed to be a robbery. He says that he intended on stealing the whiskey from Hamilton and that James ended up shooting him with that 45 caliber pistol and then using Hamilton's gun, which he stole from the car, to commit the rest of the murders. When the police ask James where Faye's body is, James says he took her to a remote road along a riverbank and beat her to death.
24:51 Karen Kilgariff? Oh, my God.
24:52 Georgia Hardstark? I know. James brings the police and several press photographers to the site, but they can't find anything. Then a woodcutter named Cecil Foster, who lives nearby, walks over. Cecil tells the police that he found part of a skull a few weeks back and then he thought it washed down the river and he took it home. He says he also saw what he thought was part of a jawbone on the riverbank. Cecil looks in the spot and it's like, see, it's still there. James himself, who's there to show them where her remains are, says, quote, "That's Faye, all right," and points out the characteristic front tooth in the jawbone.
25:30 Georgia Hardstark? So sinister.
25:31 Karen Kilgariff? It's so gross. And also, this idea that they, and maybe it wasn't him particularly, but that idea of like, I'm gonna get the press to come to.
25:40 Georgia Hardstark? Right.
25:41 Karen Kilgariff? It just is all those ways that I think back then, nobody knew you're feeding right into the psychopath plan.
25:46 Georgia Hardstark? Totally.
25:47 Karen Kilgariff? And the ego.
25:48 Georgia Hardstark? Let's let him control this.
25:50 Karen Kilgariff? Yeah. Oh, so awful.
25:53 Georgia Hardstark? James ultimately confesses to killing Faye and the four other men and to multiple other murders. When he was 17 in 1938, he killed a woman in Salinas, Kansas. He kills a man in San Marcos, Texas in 1944. And then he admits to killing 10 migrant workers from 1938 to 1944 in Arizona. And then he'd offer up some clues and declined to talk about them. He also says he killed a Bible salesman in Texas. Because of his itinerant lifestyle, he's suspected of several more murders. There are at least three similar murders in cities where he was likely to have been, but there isn't enough evidence to charge him still.
26:33 Karen Kilgariff? This is so Otis Tool.
26:35 Georgia Hardstark? Yes.
26:35 Karen Kilgariff? Like.
26:36 Georgia Hardstark? But real.
26:37 Karen Kilgariff? But real, but then also, can they prove it's real?
26:40 Georgia Hardstark? It sounds like he's not making this shit up.
26:43 Karen Kilgariff? Yeah.
26:43 Georgia Hardstark? You know?
26:44 Karen Kilgariff? I mean.
26:45 Georgia Hardstark? Like, it all fits the MO. Otis Tool's shit was all like, right?
26:48 Karen Kilgariff? Everywhere they brought him, he was like, yes, here.
26:50 Georgia Hardstark? Right.
26:51 Karen Kilgariff? But, God, it's just so.
26:53 Georgia Hardstark? I know.
26:53 Karen Kilgariff? It's so evil. It's so scary.
26:55 Georgia Hardstark? And he's 24.
26:56 Karen Kilgariff? Yeah.
26:57 Georgia Hardstark? Like.
26:57 Karen Kilgariff? With red hair and is like, hey, can you give me a ride?
27:00 Georgia Hardstark? Hey, I'm a friendly guy. Can you give me a ride? I have a limp.
27:02 Karen Kilgariff? Fun times. Oh, Bible salesman? I love bibles. Ugh.
27:06 Georgia Hardstark? And 24, which man, it's like, what would, if he hadn't been caught right then, if that woman hadn't called and said, this gun that my friend had, I think it's the murder weapon, if she hadn't called in, what would he have like ramped up to when he was like 30 and 35, you know?
27:20 Karen Kilgariff? I mean, maybe he would have gotten the car and then been like, it'd be faster if I'm picking people up.
27:25 Georgia Hardstark? Right.
27:26 Karen Kilgariff? Like, that, I mean. Who knows?
27:28 Georgia Hardstark? I know. True crime. James is arraigned in the spring of 1945. He's charged with first degree murder only for the killing of Fay, his wife, because this is thought to be the strongest case against him, and it's a possibility that he'll get the death penalty in this case. So they want to try this one first. James's trial begins on the same day Germany surrenders and World War II ends in Europe. And because of that, the case didn't get as much national attention. But still, there are murderinos back then. The courthouse is packed to the gills for the two-day trial. Two days, that's it.
28:02 Karen Kilgariff? Yeah.
28:03 Georgia Hardstark? On the first day of the trial, James takes back his confessions and instead pleads not guilty by reason of insanity. Blah, blah, blah. James's first wife, Walcy, testifies at the trial and brings their two-year-old son. James's entire relationship with Fay, her murder, and at least four others, but likely many more, have all taken place within less than two years.
28:24 Karen Kilgariff? Oh, my God.
28:25 Georgia Hardstark? That was all two years. James is found guilty and sentenced to death. He was executed a few days before his 25th birthday in the electric chair on January 4th, 1946. Fay's father attends the execution and says, quote, "May God have mercy on your soul. I can't."
28:42 Karen Kilgariff? Yeah.
28:42 Georgia Hardstark? End quote. And that is the story of the hitchhike killer, James Waybern Hall.
28:47 Karen Kilgariff? Literally, I've never heard anything about this.
28:49 Georgia Hardstark? I know. Thank you to Abby for sending this in. She says that he was her grandmother's older brother.
28:56 Karen Kilgariff? Hmm.
28:57 Georgia Hardstark? I know.
28:58 Karen Kilgariff? Wow. Oh, yeah, because there's 10 kids or by the time, nine kids.
29:02 Georgia Hardstark? Yep.
29:03 Karen Kilgariff? With him. Wow. Yeah, that's a big one.
29:07 Georgia Hardstark? Yeah.
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29:37 Georgia Hardstark? Things that keep you up at night. Your sleep tracker shouldn't be one of them.
29:41 Karen Kilgariff? You know that feeling, laying in bed, staring at the ceiling, counting all the times you said something weird.
29:46 Georgia Hardstark? And then you wake up and check your sleep score. Now you have to start your day knowing that you failed at sleeping.
29:51 Karen Kilgariff? Hatch Sleep Clock does it differently.
29:54 Georgia Hardstark? It tracks your sleep from your nightstand. No ring, wristband, or judgmental score waiting for you in the morning.
29:59 Karen Kilgariff? Instead, you'll get personalized insights to understand your sleep and recommendations to build a routine you'll love night after night.
30:06 Georgia Hardstark? Fall asleep to the next chapter of an audiobook like The Odyssey, a nervous system reset meditation, or a calming sound bath.
30:12 Karen Kilgariff? Then you can find out which gives you 20 more minutes of deep sleep each night.
30:16 Georgia Hardstark? Hatch Sleep Clock.
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30:22 Georgia Hardstark? Goodbye. Buying furniture is a lot of pressure. It has to look good, feel good, and hold up to everyday life.
30:28 Karen Kilgariff? Take it from me, a bad couch can ruin your life.
30:31 Georgia Hardstark? That's why Article focuses on stylish, high-quality pieces designed to last.
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30:40 Georgia Hardstark? They take great care in curating their collection, focusing on pieces that stand the test of time. There's no filler. Every item is chosen for its craftsmanship, design, and lasting value.
30:50 Karen Kilgariff? And with Article's 30-day satisfaction guarantee, you can shop with confidence, knowing that if you're not completely in love with your new furniture, you can easily return it. Man, there was nothing I loved more than when I was broke and I could still buy furniture that I needed at Article. It wasn't cheap-looking. It's like I was investing in these pieces that were comparatively inexpensive, and I was like finishing rooms. I was like getting the kitchen table that was like bringing the whole thing together. And it was such an incredible thing because I never got to do that before. I love that about Article.
31:22 Georgia Hardstark? Article is offering our listeners $50 off your first purchase of $100 or more.
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31:37 Karen Kilgariff? Goodbye.
31:40 Georgia Hardstark? Should we do a quick hooray?
31:41 Karen Kilgariff? A tour hooray?
31:42 Georgia Hardstark? A tour hooray.
31:43 Karen Kilgariff? Okay. Do you have one in mind?
31:45 Georgia Hardstark? No, go.
31:46 Karen Kilgariff? Well, I mean, the experience of this tour has been so incredible. And the Murderinos have just shown up in every way possible, every way we've asked them to.
31:55 Georgia Hardstark? Yeah.
31:56 Karen Kilgariff? So my hooray, I think, would just be all of our listeners, all the people that have like actually gone to the shows, told their stories. We've had some incredible hometowns. Just incredible like participation.
32:08 Georgia Hardstark? Yeah.
32:08 Karen Kilgariff? It's been so cool to like be able to be out there with people and...
32:13 Georgia Hardstark? How about when you kicked that stuffed animal and back into the audience, though?
32:16 Karen Kilgariff? You guys, we had a gift of a very large, very scary sized stuffed animal thrown at us onto the stage from the dark. And it scared everybody, especially me and Georgia. So I then kicked it back out into the audience and the audience went insane. That was a pretty good one.
32:32 Georgia Hardstark? That was good.
32:33 Karen Kilgariff? What about, I think there's also the very first night of Denver, night one, night show one.
32:39 Georgia Hardstark? Yeah.
32:40 Karen Kilgariff? I don't think I expected the volume and the reception.
32:43 Georgia Hardstark? No.
32:43 Karen Kilgariff? Getting a reception like that was such a lovely gift from that Denver audience.
32:48 Georgia Hardstark? Totally. Nothing, like I had completely forgot like what that felt like, what it sounded like, how incredible and overwhelming it was. And I'm going to miss that after New York.
32:59 Karen Kilgariff? Yeah, it's very, it's very magical to be able to get something like that from a room full of people.
33:05 Georgia Hardstark? Yeah, it's life affirming. You forget that like people are listening when you're recording in a studio and then to walk out there and be like, there you are.
33:12 Karen Kilgariff? These are all the people that are not emailing in complaints in some way, shape or form. They like it.
33:17 Georgia Hardstark? They like it. They want you to have stuffed animals.
33:21 Karen Kilgariff? And we say no.
33:21 Georgia Hardstark? No, thank you.
33:22 Karen Kilgariff? No, thank you.
33:23 Georgia Hardstark? Yeah, thank you for everyone who's come. Thank you for all the incredible gifts you've given us. I think we're gonna go through them in a video for the fan cult soon.
33:29 Karen Kilgariff? Oh, yeah, we're gonna go through, we're gonna unbox our boxes of gifts that we basically get to go through like raccoons real fast and then have to box up and ship home.
33:39 Georgia Hardstark? I can't wait.
33:39 Karen Kilgariff? Yeah, it's gonna be really good. That was a great story. This is a great solo. Thank you for your patience as we are on wrapping this tour up, which has been an incredible amount of work. Work for our team on the podcast team. So thank you to the MFM production team led by C. Molly Smith, the great producer and everybody else.
33:59 Georgia Hardstark? You've made it possible for us to like leave and not worry about what's going up. She was on it.
34:04 Karen Kilgariff? And our supervising producer, Jess Keck, who worked with Molly and they basically made the grids that made it all possible.
34:12 Georgia Hardstark? That's right.
34:13 Karen Kilgariff? Thanks to everybody for making all of these things that we're able to do simultaneously. It's only because we have this incredible staff.
34:19 Georgia Hardstark? Totally. Yeah. Thanks, guys.
34:21 Karen Kilgariff? Thanks, guys. Well, stay sexy.
34:23 Georgia Hardstark? And don't get murdered. Goodbye.
34:26 Speaker 01 Elvis, do you want a cookie?
34:35 Karen Kilgariff? This has been an Exactly Right Production.
34:37 Georgia Hardstark? Our senior producer is Molly Smith and our associate producer is Tessa Hughes.
34:40 Karen Kilgariff? Our editor is Aristotle Lasevedo.
34:42 Georgia Hardstark? This episode was mixed by Leona Scolacci.
34:45 Karen Kilgariff? Our researchers are Mary McGlashan and Ali Okun.
34:48 Georgia Hardstark? Email your hometowns to [email protected] .
34:51 Karen Kilgariff? And follow the show on Instagram at MyFavoriteMurder.
34:53 Georgia Hardstark? Listen to My Favorite Murder on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
34:58 Karen Kilgariff? Or you can watch us on YouTube. Search for My Favorite Murder, then like and subscribe. Goodbye.
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35:40 Karen Kilgariff? You know a favorite M-word? Magnesium. Like the kind that's in Dr. Teal's magnesium spray.
35:45 Georgia Hardstark? Made from a proprietary blend of topical minerals, it's designed to relax and prepare you for a night of rest.
35:51 Karen Kilgariff? If you need a reset after your day, make Dr. Teal's magnesium spray part of your nighttime routine.
35:56 Georgia Hardstark? Generously spritz each foot before bed and you'll Be all set. I've actually started doing this and I'm obsessed with magnesium. It does everything.
36:03 Karen Kilgariff? Something like this is just like, it's simple, it's easy, and it actually works.
36:06 Georgia Hardstark? Totally. For wellness, you can feel fine. Dr. Teal's magnesium spray online or in your local bath aisle.
36:12 Karen Kilgariff? Goodbye.
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36:18 Karen Kilgariff? These are the kind of shoes you'll keep reaching for because they're genuinely comfortable, but still feel cute and current.
36:24 Georgia Hardstark? A cute like flowy dress and a pair of clogs is so timeless.
36:28 Karen Kilgariff? And we got to get some of these clogs. I couldn't believe how cute and comfortable these Reef clogs were. They have the arch support. They have the height. They give you a little bit of height, but they're kind of simple. Check out the clogs on reef.com and redeem 15% off your first purchase.
36:43 Georgia Hardstark? Goodbye.
Previous Rewind with Karen & Georgia - 71: Put It In A Door Next MFM Minisode 463 Page updated October 31, 2026 · transcript and summary are machine-generated