Pod Insights True Crime All The Time Richard Merritt Part 1 About this episode Richard Merritt was a well-known, successful attorney in Smyrna, Georgia, until he was caught stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from his clients. Richard pleaded guilty to the financial crimes and was given two weeks to get his affairs in order before he had to report to prison. Richard was willing to kill to avoid going to prison
Join Mike and Gibby as they discuss Richard Merritt. His mother, Shirley, supported him throughout his legal troubles and was planning to drive him to prison on the day he was supposed to turn himself in. When Richard’s family received notice that he had cut off his ankle monitor and was nowhere to be found, they worried for Shirley’s safety.
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1:47 Speaker 00 Hello, everyone, and welcome to episode 434 of the True Crime All the Time Podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson, and with me as always is my partner in true crime, Mike Gibson. How are you?
1:57 Speaker 01 Hey, I'm doing good, man. How about you?
1:58 Speaker 00 I'm doing great. You and I just talked about it on our Patreon episode, but, you know, been watching a lot of movies and gave my opinion of this new movie, Baby Girl.
2:10 Speaker 01 Yeah, you did.
2:11 Speaker 00 You know, not going to spoil it for those that haven't watched the or listened to the Patreon episode yet. Also, watched The Lighthouse and The Vanishing. So, you know, I've been catching up on some of the movies you wanted me to watch, but also venturing out, maybe for the good, maybe for the bad.
2:30 Speaker 01 Yeah, I'll let you know when I go out and watch The Baby Girl. When I'll let you know what I
2:37 Speaker 00 I am very interested to hear your opinion.
2:39 Speaker 01 Yeah.
2:40 Speaker 00 Let's go ahead and give our Patreon shout outs. We had KYW.
2:44 Speaker 01 Hey KY.
2:45 Speaker 00 Or Kentucky W. I'm not sure which one.
2:47 Speaker 01 Love some KY.
2:48 Speaker 00 Robert Leonard.
2:49 Speaker 01 Hey, Robert.
2:51 Speaker 00 Kathleen Matthews.
2:52 Speaker 01 What's going on Kathleen?
2:54 Speaker 00 Steven Negley.
2:55 Speaker 01 Hey, Steven.
2:56 Speaker 00 Lona Vandenheer.
2:58 Speaker 01 That's a long name. What's up, Lona?
3:01 Speaker 00 Kazadeen.
3:02 Speaker 01 Ah, Kaz. I feel like it. Remember that song, Shaka?
3:05 Speaker 00 Shaka Khan?
3:06 Speaker 01 Yeah.
3:07 Speaker 00 Let Me Rock You Shaka Khan. It's all I want to do.
3:09 Speaker 01 I feel like Kazza.
3:10 Speaker 00 Okay. I don't know how that's equivalent, but I see.
3:14 Speaker 01 My head.
3:15 Speaker 00 How your mind works.
3:16 Speaker 01 It is, yeah.
3:17 Speaker 00 Jennifer Phillips jumped out at our highest level.
3:19 Speaker 01 Oh, that's awesome. Thanks, Jennifer.
3:20 Speaker 00 And last but not least, Katrina Fox.
3:22 Speaker 01 Hey, there's Katrina.
3:23 Speaker 00 And then if we go back into the vault, this week, we selected Veronica Wolf.
3:28 Speaker 01 What's up, Wolf?
3:29 Speaker 00 So we appreciate the new support, the continued support. We also had a great PayPal donation from Deanne Padilla.
3:36 Speaker 01 Padilla?
3:36 Speaker 00 Yeah.
3:37 Speaker 01 I like that.
3:38 Speaker 00 Yeah. So thanks to everyone. Gibbs, right now, we have a new episode out on True Crime All Time Unsolved, where we're talking about 15 year old Jennifer Pandos, who disappeared from her home in Virginia in February of 1987. And now there's a, you know, a number of people that police have looked at, but there just hasn't been enough evidence to charge anyone.
4:04 Speaker 01 Yeah.
4:05 Speaker 00 So there's persons of interest that we'll be talking about.
4:08 Speaker 01 Always hate those stories with the missing young ones, but it's a good story and it has to be heard and. Always just hope for the best.
4:17 Speaker 00 Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean, you got to get the word out for sure. All right, buddy. Are you ready to get into this episode of True Crime All the Time?
4:24 Speaker 01 I am.
4:25 Speaker 00 We're actually doing a two parter on Richard Merritt. He was a well-known, successful attorney in Smyrna, Georgia, until he was caught stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from his clients. So, you know, he's got this issue, right, that he pleads guilty to. And he's about ready to get his affairs in order. They give him some time to do that. Before he has to go to prison, all of a sudden, his family gets noticed that he's cut off his ankle monitor and he's nowhere to be found.
5:00 Speaker 01 I wonder if he bought my book off of Amazon.
5:02 Speaker 00 On how to successfully get rid of your ankle monitor and all of that.
5:08 Speaker 01 Yeah.
5:09 Speaker 00 I know it sold well.
5:10 Speaker 01 It did pretty good.
5:11 Speaker 00 There's a reason for it because a lot of people are forced to wear these GPS ankle monitors and.
5:17 Speaker 01 Did the whole, you know, pictures and tutorial and, you know, sketches, things like that.
5:23 Speaker 00 You did pictures and tutorials?
5:25 Speaker 01 Yes.
5:25 Speaker 00 Okay.
5:28 Speaker 01 Drew them myself.
5:29 Speaker 00 So in part one of the Richard Merritt episodes, we'll cover his childhood, family dynamics, his career as an attorney, how he was caught stealing from his clients, and then kind of what happened on the day Richard was supposed to turn himself in. Like I said, you know, it's, uh, you know, maybe not the most well-known story, but there was so much to it, you know, as we started researching it, that it just had to be a two parter.
5:56 Speaker 01 Very interesting.
5:56 Speaker 00 Cause there wasn't really, you know, anything that you could leave out. Robert Merritt, senior, met his future wife Shirley in 1955 at their high school in Mississippi. The two fell in love and eventually got married. Their first son, Robert Junior, was born in 1965. Robert served in the air force and Shirley was a real estate agent. The family lived in an expensive area. And because of this, Robert and Shirley were described as frugal people. They were described as a team who divided their roles well.
6:33 Speaker 01 Maybe it's a little bit of the military coming out in him.
6:37 Speaker 00 It could be. It could also be, you know, the generational.
6:42 Speaker 00 You know, I've talked about it before, but my grandparents or that generation that kind of grew up in the Great Depression, most of them were pretty frugal people.
6:53 Speaker 01 Yeah.
6:53 Speaker 00 You know, because they had experienced some rough times. So when they were able to accumulate some money, they squirreled it away. They, they, you know, they didn't spend it on frivolous stuff. Now, my grandparents went out to eat and they did stuff like that, but they bought new cars every now and then.
7:13 Speaker 01 They didn't go crazy.
7:14 Speaker 00 No, they weren't taking cruises or, you know, jet setting off to Monaco or going gambling or, you know, things like that.
7:22 Speaker 01 Hit in the casino late at night, huh?
7:24 Speaker 00 No, they weren't doing any of that. But you talk about a married couple as a team who divided their roles well. Okay. That sounds like it could be a recipe for a good marriage.
7:38 Speaker 01 I think so.
7:39 Speaker 00 I'm hearing teamwork. I'm hearing, you know, sharing of responsibilities.
7:45 Speaker 01 Yeah.
7:45 Speaker 00 All of that seems good. You never want one person to have to take on everything.
7:51 Speaker 01 You know what's not in it in the word team?
7:54 Speaker 00 I?
7:54 Speaker 01 Yeah.
7:57 Speaker 00 Their son, Richard, was born in 1974. Robert and Richard were never close because of the large age gap, but Robert did like him. So, and that's nine years. There's, it's a pretty good gap, right? When it comes to older brother, younger brother, I don't know what the age differences are between your brothers.
8:20 Speaker 01 Two.
8:21 Speaker 00 Yeah, that, that's, we all can kind of do similar things.
8:26 Speaker 01 Right.
8:26 Speaker 00 When there's only a couple of years, when it's nine years, you know, Robert is getting ready to go out on a date and, you know, Richard's playing with Lincoln Logs. They're, they're really far apart.
8:40 Speaker 01 Yeah, I'm thinking, uh, at that point, Richard is probably irritating Robert a little bit.
8:46 Speaker 00 Yeah, yeah, probably. In 1987, after 24 years of service, Robert Senior retired from the Air Force and got a new job working for a defense contractor in Saudi Arabia.
8:58 Speaker 01 Probably making some big money.
9:00 Speaker 00 Could be. I know a lot of people who retire who go into kind of the The defense contractor type work do make some money.
9:09 Speaker 01 I did some oversee offshoring kind of stuff before. Not allowed to talk about it.
9:15 Speaker 00 Oversea offshoring. Yeah, that that sounds like a real thing. But it was said that, you know, the family kind of saw this move as an opportunity for a new adventure after years of hard work. They took Richard with them, but Robert Jr. Stayed behind because he was in graduate school. He said both of his parents worked hard to pay for their son's education.
9:39 Speaker 01 That's good because a lot of parents can't do that.
9:43 Speaker 00 And I think it's getting harder and harder, right? Tuition prices are through the roof. A bag of Doritos is $17.
9:52 Speaker 01 Yeah, today. Yeah.
9:53 Speaker 00 So, you know, again, but is that part of them being frugal? They're spending on what they feel matters to them.
10:03 Speaker 01 Sure. Yeah.
10:04 Speaker 00 And to a lot of people, their kids' education really matters. I would say to most people.
10:08 Speaker 01 Yeah, I mean, everybody has different priorities, but however you want to align those priorities, you're, you know, you're going to be frugal to defeat that.
10:16 Speaker 00 But this move to Saudi Arabia marked a big change for the family. And not just because they were moving to a new country. Robert was making more money than he ever had before. He and Shirley were able to hire a cook, a housekeeper, a driver. And they had a lot more disposable income than they were used to. Shirley made many friends and loved hosting and throwing parties.
10:40 Speaker 01 Yeah, I wouldn't mind having a driver.
10:42 Speaker 00 Now, see, I was thinking I'd rather have a cook.
10:45 Speaker 01 Yeah.
10:46 Speaker 00 I don't mind driving myself. That's, that's not irritating to me.
10:50 Speaker 01 It's the cooking?
10:51 Speaker 00 The cooking. Yeah. And my wife would probably say the same thing.
10:54 Speaker 01 Yeah.
10:55 Speaker 00 She does not like to cook. Can you imagine, though, the change? Moving from the US to Saudi Arabia.
11:03 Speaker 01 Be a huge change, you know, lifestyle difference, culture difference.
11:09 Speaker 00 Well, and then on top of it, you now suddenly have a lot more money than you're used to.
11:16 Speaker 01 Right. A buddy that went over to Dubai and he was retired military, started doing, opened up a limousine business.
11:27 Speaker 01 And he was raking in the money, you know?
11:30 Speaker 00 Good for him.
11:31 Speaker 01 Yeah, but he had the connections because of his military experience over there and did, did pretty well.
11:37 Speaker 00 Robert Jr. Called this an impressionable time for Richard. He enjoyed the luxurious lifestyle they had in Saudi Arabia. Well, who doesn't enjoy a luxurious lifestyle? Now, I'm kind of thinking about Schitt's Creek.
11:52 Speaker 01 Yeah.
11:53 Speaker 00 You know, if they could have gone back to that luxurious lifestyle, I think they would have.
11:58 Speaker 01 In a heartbeat.
11:59 Speaker 00 In a heartbeat. The family traveled back to the States to attend Robert Jr.'s graduation in June 1987. Robert noted that the issues between him and Richard worsened around that time. Richard often tried to get a rise out of his older brother. And Robert called Richard a master manipulator.
12:18 Speaker 01 Yeah, we all know somebody that's a master manipulator.
12:21 Speaker 00 Yeah, yeah, and we talked about a lot of them in, in the cases that we do.
12:26 Speaker 01 Oh, yeah.
12:27 Speaker 00 A lot of criminals are master manipulators. Robert flew to Saudi Arabia for his first and only visit in December 1987. This was the family's first Christmas since Robert Senior got his new job. And the parents were able to buy extra gifts that year. So, you know, it does sound to me like, you know, we talked about how frugal they were. And now all of a sudden they got quite a bit more money. They are a little bit less frugal.
12:55 Speaker 01 Okay, we got you an extra gift, but get out here to get it.
12:59 Speaker 00 Robert then settled in Atlanta after his college graduation. The American school in Saudi Arabia could only accommodate students through the ninth grade. Robert Senior and Shirley decided that they would send Richard to live with his brother in Atlanta. So he could attend a prestigious private school.
13:19 Speaker 01 As they can afford it now.
13:20 Speaker 00 Yeah, I mean, you have to believe this guy was raking in the money.
13:25 Speaker 01 And I think it's tax free. I can't guarantee that, but some reason I.
13:30 Speaker 00 Can you guarantee anything that you say on this podcast?
13:33 Speaker 01 Uh, absolutely. No.
13:36 Speaker 00 Like, would you put your house on anything that you say?
13:41 Speaker 00 Or your life? No, you, you could be right. I have no idea. But it was said that the relationship between the brothers was tense. Robert struggled to get Richard to do any chores around the house and he felt stuck being Richard's cook, driver and housekeeper. Robert did acknowledge that they had some good times as well. But you know, to me, it sounds like, I don't know. Robert was put in, in kind of a, a difficult situation. It's almost like here, you need to take care of your brother.
14:13 Speaker 01 Right.
14:14 Speaker 00 And, oh, by the way, he's not going to pitch in, in the slightest.
14:20 Speaker 01 Yeah, it's all on you.
14:21 Speaker 00 Yeah, it's all on you. So I could see why the relationship would be tense. We just talked about marriage being a partnership, right? Sharing responsibility, sharing duties. Well, this is kind of a relationship where you would expect some of those same things.
14:39 Speaker 01 Right.
14:40 Speaker 00 I mean, Richard is not a little kid anymore. He's fully capable of taking out the trash, maybe cooking a dinner here and there, cleaning the dishes.
14:51 Speaker 01 I think it's going a little far though, if you start sharing duty.
14:53 Speaker 00 Yeah, shouldn't share that. By 1993, Richard was studying law at the University of Georgia. Like his brother, his parents financed his college education. So again, when we're talking about money, right? They were sending him to a private school before college. Those are expensive. Now you're talking about law school and things like that for Richard. They paid for Robert's college. That was a lot of dough.
15:26 Speaker 01 Yeah, they'd laid it out.
15:28 Speaker 00 The brothers received a call from their father's company physician, who informed them Robert senior was in heart failure. Robert and Shirley moved to Stone Mountain, Georgia, and Robert officially retired. And I feel like Stone Mountain is a place that you drive through on 75.
15:46 Speaker 01 For some reason, I'm trying to recall it too.
15:48 Speaker 00 I, I've seen it.
15:50 Speaker 01 Like either we've been there, or I mean, I've been there, or.
15:54 Speaker 00 I don't think you and I have been there together. Cause I would remember that.
15:58 Speaker 01 Yeah, yeah.
16:00 Speaker 00 Although the family was worried about Robert senior's health, it was still an exciting time in their lives. Robert junior's first son was born in 1994 and Robert senior and Shirley were thrilled to be grandparents.
16:12 Speaker 01 Absolutely. Be a granddad or grandpa or papa or.
16:18 Speaker 00 P P.
16:22 Speaker 00 So, you know, you and I are both getting to that age where sometime in the near future, we could potentially.
16:29 Speaker 01 Yeah.
16:30 Speaker 00 Be grandfathers.
16:31 Speaker 01 We could.
16:32 Speaker 00 I myself am looking forward to it.
16:34 Speaker 01 Pretty cool grandpas.
16:36 Speaker 00 We might have to, you know, either change the name of this podcast or come up with a new podcast centered around, you know, grandpa's talking about true crime. I don't know. We'll think about it.
16:48 Speaker 01 The granddad true crime show.
16:50 Speaker 00 After graduation, Richard married his college sweetheart, Janine Menicosi. She was in veterinary school and he was on track to become an attorney. Both of them were career driven and seemed like a good match. And that can work, right? When you have two people who are, you know, A type personalities, career driven. It can also cause some issues.
17:16 Speaker 01 Could.
17:17 Speaker 00 When you have two people who are too much alike. Richard failed his first attempt at the bar exam. He would have to take it two more times before he passed. He was eager to start working. According to Robert junior, Richard believed being a lawyer was his key to a wealthy lifestyle and travel opportunities.
17:37 Speaker 01 Passing the law exam, the bar.
17:41 Speaker 00 Bring back fond memories for you.
17:43 Speaker 01 Well, I mean, I got out in the first round, but I understand how it could take somebody two, three, four.
17:49 Speaker 00 I don't know how in common that is. From my understanding, it's a very hard exam.
17:54 Speaker 01 Yeah. Yeah. It's not easy.
17:56 Speaker 00 I mean, I understand how you could just ace it the first time as smart as you are, but I don't think. I won't say the majority, but I'm sure there are a lot of people who have to take it multiple times.
18:08 Speaker 01 Yeah. I think if I wasn't Mensa, I probably would have taken at least another two, three, 10 times. Yeah.
18:14 Speaker 00 Okay. The family experienced a tragedy in November 2000 when Robert senior died suddenly while on an anniversary trip with Shirley. Shirley was devastated. One friend recalled that she was lost without her husband. She focused on spending as much time as she could with her grandchildren and got a job at the local children's hospital as a PRN. She worked when other staff members were sick or on vacation. She enjoyed her work and was slowly but surely adjusting to life without her husband.
18:48 Speaker 01 That'd be rough, you know, when you spend most of your life with this person that you love.
18:53 Speaker 00 And all of a sudden they're gone?
18:55 Speaker 01 Yeah.
18:55 Speaker 00 Yeah, it would be very tough. But it sounds like she threw herself into other things. You know, a job she enjoyed, doting on her grandchildren, and I think those are all good things. It was said that she was proud of both her sons and her grandchildren. Richard worked for the Georgia Attorney General's office. He then worked for several private firms. He spent time with some of the wealthiest people in the Atlanta area, and he and Janine traveled often. So maybe he, you know, was right when he thought that
19:33 Speaker 00 this was the ticket for him to become wealthy, to have this kind of jet setting lifestyle.
19:41 Speaker 01 Sounds like he's immersed in it.
19:43 Speaker 00 Yeah, and there are some wealthy people in the Atlanta area.
19:46 Speaker 01 Oh, yeah.
19:47 Speaker 00 There are also some wealthy sections of Atlanta.
19:51 Speaker 01 That's true.
19:52 Speaker 00 In 2003, Richard and Janine moved to Smyrna, Georgia to prepare for their growing family. Their son was born in 2004, and their daughter was born in 2006. In 2010, Richard opened his own law firm in Smyrna, the Law Office of Richard V. Merritt. So you know, it seemed like to me, Gibbs, he was doing great. The family was doing great.
20:18 Speaker 01 Upstart. Sounds like he had an established business, connections.
20:23 Speaker 00 You know, wife, two children. But this is what we talk about a lot.
20:29 Speaker 00 Right. When you're looking at a family from the outside, it seems like they have this perfect life. And I think to most people, it did seem like Richard had an ideal life. He's got this beautiful family. He has a thriving business. A friend of Richard's estimated he was making between 150,000 and 200,000 at that time. Okay, that's good money.
20:55 Speaker 01 Yeah, he's doing fine.
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23:09 Speaker 00 Valid for select games only and expire each day after 24 hours. Spends values vary. See terms at casino.draftkings.com/promos. Ends November 22, 2026 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time. In May 2017, Richard received a court summons after returning from a family vacation. The summons concerned his former clients, sisters Claire and Ingrid Hansen. Richard represented them during a lawsuit. The Hansen sisters accused Richard of stealing their settlement check.
23:44 Speaker 01 Well, that's a problem.
23:45 Speaker 00 Yeah, I think it's a big problem. According to Fox 5, Claire and Ingrid Hansen tried to have Richard arrested. In 2015, they filed a complaint and signed an affidavit and submitted a letter describing how Richard illicitly settled our case for $75,000 and kept the money. Illicitly settled our case.
24:09 Speaker 01 That's not good.
24:10 Speaker 00 No, it makes it sound like he didn't even consult them.
24:12 Speaker 01 Right.
24:13 Speaker 00 To settle.
24:14 Speaker 01 Our clients will take that. Thank you.
24:16 Speaker 00 And can you have the check made out to me, please?
24:18 Speaker 01 Yeah.
24:19 Speaker 00 The sisters told Fox 5 that an investigator said he couldn't pursue a criminal case. A sheriff spokesman told the outlet that investigators thought the sisters were involved in a civil dispute and the case would be settled in civil court, but there was no civil case.
24:37 Speaker 01 It's so bizarre because you know, I mean, I think most attorneys are considered officers of the court. So they should have like the highest standard should.
24:47 Speaker 00 Well, you think about doctors, attorneys, professionals, right? Like that as being of the highest character. But here again, it's kind of like the thing that we say about everybody. You have a certain percentage of people who are outstanding at what they do, right? They follow, you know, every letter of the law, whatever they're supposed to do. You got some people in the middle that still do that, but they're not quite as good, right? They're mediocre. They're good, but they're not the best. And then you've got a certain percentage who either are terrible or don't care about the ethics or whatever it might be. And I think that goes with everything.
25:32 Speaker 01 I think you're right. You just don't want to have that bottom tier doing stuff for you.
25:37 Speaker 00 Well, ideally, you know, a company would kind of weed those people out, right? During the evaluation process, but they're probably just going to go somewhere else. And, and is their work ethic or way of thinking going to get any better? Probably not.
25:57 Speaker 01 And when you have somebody that's an independent contractor, you know, working for themselves, there is no HR or somebody monitoring what they do, right?
26:07 Speaker 00 Well, and nobody's getting a review.
26:09 Speaker 01 Yeah.
26:10 Speaker 00 If you own your own attorney's office.
26:13 Speaker 01 I mean, it's like, you know, the podcasts, I give myself a review every year.
26:18 Speaker 00 Mm hmm. And it differs wildly from the one that I do for you.
26:21 Speaker 01 It does.
26:24 Speaker 00 We seem to be, we seem to be at odds over, over that.
26:28 Speaker 01 We agree to disagree.
26:30 Speaker 00 In February 2017, the Hanson sisters went back to court and asked a judge to take out a citizen's warrant against Richard and the judge agreed. So what this did was it sparked a massive fraud investigation that led to Richard's arrest on January 31st, 2008. Like we said upfront, Richard was accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from multiple clients, most of them elderly people. He was forced to surrender his law license and his wife filed for divorce. The divorce was finalized a few months later and Richard lost custody of his kid.
27:11 Speaker 01 Sounds like the castle crumbled.
27:12 Speaker 00 Very quickly, you know, I think they went from being this kind of well-respected power couple, right? In the Atlanta area, you said it, they had all these connections to rich, influential people. But what happens when you get caught up in in this type of scandal? Well, number one, your your name is smeared.
27:37 Speaker 01 It is.
27:37 Speaker 00 Your reputation goes down the toilet and those people abandon you.
27:45 Speaker 01 Yeah, they walk away quickly.
27:46 Speaker 00 Because they don't want to be associated with a person who is willing to do this type of thing. And it sounds like his wife didn't either. I'm assuming she didn't know anything about it. We'll give her that, you know, that benefit of the doubt. And that would make sense, right? Is he really going to tell his wife that he's doing this? Is she that close to the business? He was probably able to do it and she had no idea.
28:12 Speaker 01 That's what I'm thinking.
28:14 Speaker 00 But here's what I don't get in these types of situations. You know, how much time did this guy spend in school? How much effort did he put forth, you know, to get his law degree, to get his law license? Then he worked until he was able to establish his own practice. And we said it, he was making very good money. So you're going to risk all of that, plus your family, over what? A few hundred thousand dollars that you make every year?
28:48 Speaker 01 Greed does a weird thing.
28:49 Speaker 00 It does. But again, it's hard to understand. Fox 5 spoke to a few of Richard's victims. Tina Saylor, Myrna Evans, and Beverly Braswell were injured in car accidents. They hired Richard Merritt to sue for damages and medical care and won settlements. However, Richard never told them about the settlements and stole all their money. Beverly won 50,000, Tina won 75,000, and Myrna won 9,000.
29:21 Speaker 01 Like $134,000 he took.
29:23 Speaker 00 Oh, I like the math. It was quick math.
29:26 Speaker 01 A quick guy.
29:27 Speaker 00 But here's the thing, Gibbs, how's he think he's going to get away with that? Like, these people are never going to come back and say, hey, what's, uh, what's going on with my case?
29:36 Speaker 01 Well, exactly. That's what I'm trying to make sense out of what, what he was trying to do here because eventually your client's going to say, hey, what's going on with my case? And if they don't like the answer, they're going to look into it and it might stumble across, well, wait a minute. The insurance company or the whoever you're suing said, hey, we settled with you. Why are you calling us?
29:56 Speaker 00 Yeah, it probably wouldn't be all that hard to figure out if you did a little digging. I mean, to me, this is not like a Ponzi scheme, right? Where you're covering some people with other people's money and you're just putting it off for until you get caught. This is like, you're going to get caught and there's no way to really delay it. I, I just don't get the thinking behind it.
30:23 Speaker 01 And I'm sure these folks needed that money.
30:26 Speaker 00 Well, you know, you think about being injured in a car accident, right? You're going to rack up most likely, uh, quite a bit of medical bills, which I'm sure a lot of that money was probably going to. Beverly Braswell lived in Richard's neighborhood and saw firsthand his lavish lifestyle. She told Fox Five, "I felt betrayed. I felt violated. The lies, the deceit. I trusted this person."
30:54 Speaker 01 I mean, there's just some professionals that you just have that trust factor with, right? Your doctor, your lawyer, you just expect that they're going to do the right thing and be truthful with you.
31:08 Speaker 00 Yeah. And I could see how all those emotions would come into play. Once, you know, everything came to light. Beverly added that hospitals were pressing her for payment, but she didn't have the settlement money, so she couldn't pay them. All three women were told by lawyers that they couldn't get the settlement overturned.
31:29 Speaker 01 Well, I'm guessing because he was their attorney, he probably had documents that stated that and that allowed him to sign the settlement statements on their behalf. But it's just a really shitty thing to do.
31:41 Speaker 00 Well, and I can only imagine the helpless feeling that these people must have been, you know, having. They know what happened. They tried to get law enforcement to get involved. They, they won't really do anything. They're being told that there, there's not really a legal remedy as far as getting the settlements thrown out and, and, you know, going back through with them. Now, these women didn't know each other, but Tina Saylor began posting negative reviews of Richard's law firm. For example, in September 2017, Tina left a review on Yelp that said, "He is a thief. He settles people's cases without their knowledge, forges signatures
32:25 Speaker 00 and steals their money." All the while, leading them to believe he has filed suit on their behalf. There are currently six outstanding lawsuits against him for malpractice. Run, run, run, far away from him. And there is like 33 exclamation points in this Yelp review.
32:46 Speaker 01 Yeah, run.
32:47 Speaker 00 She is, uh, wanting to make sure that people take notice of this.
32:53 Speaker 01 Well, you know what? Um, they should run.
32:56 Speaker 00 Well, yeah. And, you know, some of these reviews did help others realize they weren't alone. But, you know, as this was going on, Richard's going on deep sea fishing trips and resort vacations. He's living it up, spending their money.
33:14 Speaker 01 Not feeling bad about it, is he?
33:15 Speaker 00 No, no, I don't think this is a guy who felt bad about it at all. In February 2018, Richard pleaded guilty to stealing the $75,000 settlement in the Hanson Sisters case. Now, he probably felt bad about that, but- Only because he had to plead guilty, or only because he got caught. On March 23rd of that year, Richard was indicted for felony elder abuse, theft, exploitation and check fraud. The indictment lists out all 34 counts and the exact amounts Richard stole from his victims between 2014 and 2017. 34 counts.
33:57 Speaker 00 So this wasn't, you know, something he did to three people.
34:01 Speaker 01 No.
34:02 Speaker 00 He was doing this to a number of his clients. Janine attended Richard's bond hearing and asked the judge to keep him in jail. She said, per Fox 5, I'm in financial ruin. He squandered every cent we had.
34:18 Speaker 01 So he even took his own family down.
34:21 Speaker 00 Yeah, he destroyed his family. Not only the, the family unit, the bond, right? The fact that they could no longer stay together, but apparently he left them in financial ruin. I don't know about you, but I'm starting to get the, uh, the feeling here that Richard Merritt is a guy who only cares about Richard Merritt.
34:42 Speaker 01 Oh, absolutely.
34:44 Speaker 00 It's pretty bad when your, your wife, or maybe at this point, your ex-wife specifically asks the judge to keep you in jail.
34:53 Speaker 01 Yeah.
34:54 Speaker 00 She is not happy with you.
34:55 Speaker 01 Keep that.
34:56 Speaker 00 POS.
34:57 Speaker 01 Yeah, yeah. In jail, please.
35:00 Speaker 00 Shirley Merritt supported Richard by paying his bond. And she even used her house as collateral. She pleaded with the judge to let Richard stay with her while awaiting trial. She showed up to every court date and she even started working extra hours at the hospital. Her friends noticed that she seemed tired and physically weaker, most likely due to the stress she was going through. Shirley was embarrassed and devastated by Richard's crimes, but she was reluctant to talk about it with anyone.
35:33 Speaker 01 But she's a mom.
35:34 Speaker 00 She's a mom, she's going to stand by her son. But you know, here's the thing that I don't think is talked about enough. Yes, you have the, the victims of Richard's crimes and, and they suffered financially, emotionally, all of that. But then you have all these people within his family, right? His wife suffered emotionally, financially. It sounds like his mother did as well. I mean, it's a lot of stress, I would think.
36:04 Speaker 01 Oh, of course. And she put her house up for him now? This guy is a selfish prick.
36:09 Speaker 00 And he's wor- she's working extra hours just to, to help him out. But think about the stress that would come from one of your kids being charged with just a nasty crime.
36:22 Speaker 01 Yeah.
36:23 Speaker 00 Now, we're not talking murder.
36:24 Speaker 01 No.
36:25 Speaker 00 But we are talking elder abuse, theft, exploitation. Those are nasty things.
36:31 Speaker 01 It is. Not proud, you can't be proud of them. Shouldn't be.
36:35 Speaker 00 No, you, you would be embarrassed. You'd be upset and embarrassed. On January 18th, 2019, Richard pleaded guilty to the remaining counts against him. The court heard that he defrauded 17 people of almost half a million dollars. And it was said that most of the victims were elderly people or were filing medical malpractice claims.
37:00 Speaker 01 Makes it even worse.
37:02 Speaker 00 It does.
37:03 Speaker 01 Yeah, when you prey on the elderly or the people that need help to pay medical bills.
37:09 Speaker 00 It came out that Richard would tell the victims. He was still pursuing legal action, but he had already closed the cases without informing them and kept the settlement money. He used the stolen funds to purchase a car and pay for vacations. Prosecutors had evidence that Richard forged signatures on court documents and checks as well as fake notary seals between 2014 and 2017. And I think that, you know, does shed some light on how he was able to do this. You know, why did the clients not know that these cases were settled?
37:51 Speaker 00 And it sounds like it's because he was forging their signatures.
37:55 Speaker 01 Yeah. Breaking all type of laws.
37:57 Speaker 00 Prosecutor Jason Marbut said in a news release per the Atlanta Journal Constitution. The victims came to him for help and he helped himself instead. Several victims testified in court, one victim called Richard a scoundrel. It's a word you don't hear used all that much nowadays.
38:19 Speaker 01 A dirty scoundrel.
38:21 Speaker 00 Okay. What is it? What is the word?
38:25 Speaker 00 Say it again. Dirty rotten.
38:28 Speaker 01 You dirty rotten scroundle.
38:30 Speaker 00 Scroundle.
38:32 Speaker 01 I can't say it.
38:33 Speaker 00 You know, there was a movie by that title with Michael Caine.
38:37 Speaker 01 Yeah.
38:37 Speaker 00 Do you remember that?
38:38 Speaker 01 I do remember that.
38:39 Speaker 00 Yeah, but scoundrel, I do not think is a word. Another person said he was a professional comic and you would have to say that he was.
38:49 Speaker 01 Yeah, of course.
38:50 Speaker 00 Richard was sentenced to 15 years in prison and 15 years probation in order to pay the full amount in restitution. So not only are you going to do big boy prison time, but even after you're out, you're going to be on 15 years probation and you gotta pay back the almost half a million dollars anyway.
39:12 Speaker 01 And I'm assuming you lose your law license.
39:15 Speaker 00 Oh, I think that's a given. The judge granted Richard two weeks to get his affairs in order before reporting to prison. He was required to wear an ankle monitor and remain with his mother. He was supposed to turn himself in on February 1st, 2019. So, you know, was that the right call? Is that a normal thing? I mean, obviously we know already what's about to happen or we've hinted at it. I'm sure the judge looked back at it afterwards and said. I wish I hadn't done that.
39:50 Speaker 01 I think there were a little lenient on him by letting him go home and get his affairs in order.
39:55 Speaker 00 Now, it would be different, right? If he had been convicted of murder, but I think a lot of times, especially like on TV shows or movies, we're so accustomed to the defendant being handcuffed and led away right after the sentencing. But obviously, that's not what happened here. The judge said, you know, keep the ankle monitor on, go back with your mom. You got a couple of weeks before you have to turn yourself in, get your affairs in order. Richard's cousin, Mike Jeffco, offered to drive Richard to prison. On February 1st, he received the following text from Shirley. It read, "I really wish you wouldn't come until another weekend.
40:39 Speaker 00 Things are not good here. I can drive him to the jail and get myself home without any problems. Richard has some things he has to take care of this morning, so we don't need to leave here before 2. That's why he originally said for you not to get here before 1:30. He has a lot of things we need to talk about.
41:00 Speaker 01 Okay. I mean, he's been home for two weeks. What are you, what are you waiting until the last day to talk about?
41:08 Speaker 00 Yeah, that does seem a little bit odd, but you know, this text is reportedly coming from his mother to, you know, Richard's cousin. If you're the cousin and you get this text, you're going to be like, okay, well, Shirley's saying this. I'm not going to go.
41:24 Speaker 01 Yeah.
41:24 Speaker 00 At 5:30 PM, Robert Merritt received a call from Cobb County authorities informing him, Richard didn't turn himself in, and they were initiating a search. Robert expressed concern for his mother and asked for a welfare check. So the police went out to Shirley's home, but nothing seemed out of place. From the outside, there were no windows broken or doors open. Richard's car was in the driveway, but Shirley's car was gone. With no evidence of forced entry, officers were unable to enter the home.
41:59 Speaker 01 You think with the police, a little concerned starting to sit in?
42:02 Speaker 00 I think so. I think so. And it's kind of rough, right? When you're going out to do a welfare check on somebody. If you don't have the legal authority to enter the home, which they didn't. Well, what are you gonna do? If the person doesn't answer the door, they could be inside needing help, but you can't bust in.
42:23 Speaker 01 That's true.
42:27 Speaker 00 The police focused on finding Richard by analyzing data from his ankle monitor. The anklet lost signal at a gas station in Cortersville at 4:14pm. Richard was captured on surveillance entering the gas station and purchasing food before driving off in Shirley's missing vehicle. The ankle monitor was later found in a trash can at the gas station. So I don't know if this came straight out of your self-published book on how to subvert the GPS ankle monitoring process or how to get rid of it.
43:04 Speaker 01 There is a paragraph on subverting.
43:06 Speaker 00 Okay, maybe he bought it off Amazon. It's only three pages long, but.
43:13 Speaker 01 Very detailed with pictures.
43:15 Speaker 00 On the morning of February 2nd, 2019, Mike Jeffcoat obtained a spare key and drove to Shirley's house to check on her. He called out to Shirley and received no response. He walked through the first floor, didn't see anything, but he did notice that the linens were on the floor in one of the first floor bedrooms. Mike opened the door leading to the basement. He walked down the steps and was unable to see anything until he turned on the light. He found Shirley's body based on her severe injuries. It was obvious he was looking at a crime scene. He checked to see if Shirley had a pulse and left immediately to call police. Once he confirmed she was dead.
43:58 Speaker 01 Wow.
43:59 Speaker 00 And once investigators got there, they found a horrific crime scene. Shirley had been beaten with a 35-pound dumbo. She'd also been stabbed. The knife blade protruded from her right cheek and the broken handle was found nearby.
44:15 Speaker 01 This guy is a monster. That's your mom.
44:18 Speaker 00 Yeah, it would be monstrous to do that to anyone.
44:21 Speaker 01 Yeah.
44:22 Speaker 00 But think about, yeah, you're right. This is your mother. The person who gave birth to you, the person who took care of you when you were little.
44:31 Speaker 01 The person that put up her house for you.
44:33 Speaker 00 Yeah, yeah. Started working extra hours just to try to help you out. Authorities who searched the house found evidence that Shirley was cooking spaghetti, Richard's favorite meal, before she was killed. And of course, Richard was the main suspect. I mean, who else were they gonna look at or think it was? But here's another thing. A mom going out of her way to cook her son's favorite meal before he has to go off to prison.
45:02 Speaker 01 Yeah, she's just trying to be a good mom.
45:05 Speaker 00 And her payback for that was being beaten with a 35-pound dumbbell and stabbed to the point where the knife is sticking out of her cheek. So even though, you know, they thought that Richard was the main suspect, his DNA and fingerprints were not found at the crime scene, per Fox 5. And that seems strange to me because he'd been living there. You would expect to find his DNA and fingerprints throughout the house. On February 8th, 2019, the US Marshals released an image of Richard at the gas station moments after he cut off his ankle monitor.
45:51 Speaker 00 The Marshals received tips of alleged sightings from all over the country. And you know, I got a real Tommy Lee Jones vibe here.
45:59 Speaker 01 Yeah.
46:00 Speaker 00 US Marshals, as he's searching for Harrison Ford.
46:06 Speaker 00 Now, the difference there was Harrison didn't do it.
46:08 Speaker 01 Right?
46:09 Speaker 00 It's true. But, uh, I'm sure we're gonna find out a little differently here with Richard Merritt.
46:15 Speaker 01 We're gonna set up a five mile radius. That's all I remember.
46:19 Speaker 00 I was gonna say, is that all you remember? Wasn't a bad Tommy Lee Jones, I gotta give you that.
46:24 Speaker 01 I don't remember.
46:24 Speaker 00 Wasn't a great one.
46:25 Speaker 01 Five mile or?
46:26 Speaker 00 I don't know.
46:27 Speaker 01 Yeah. It was a pretty good distance. That's what I remember.
46:31 Speaker 00 Richard's former attorney, David Willingham, issued a statement to local outlet, WSB TV. He said, "For an entire year, my client was out on bail. Not once did he hint or suggest in any way that he would run from justice, much less show any signs that he was capable of such heinous violence towards of all people, his mother. Days before he was to turn himself in and begin serving his sentence, Mr. Merritt sounded upbeat and optimistic about his chances of parole after serving just five years. I simply cannot believe this has happened."
47:10 Speaker 01 Well, I guess he fooled you.
47:12 Speaker 00 You know, which is, I think, something that a lot of people like Richard Merritt are good at.
47:19 Speaker 01 Manipulator.
47:20 Speaker 00 Yeah, so part of that is what? Fooling people, showing them one side when really you've got this other side that is your true side or your true intentions.
47:35 Speaker 01 Master liar.
47:36 Speaker 00 Richard's ex-wife, Janine, told Fox 5, "He's a deceitful, immoral person, but I never thought he would kill someone. The kids and I are scared, and now that we know what he's capable of, we're afraid he's going to turn up."
47:50 Speaker 01 I bet she was.
47:51 Speaker 00 Yeah, I mean, I think there has to be a lot of fear. And think about her standing up in front of the judge and saying, you know, "Don't let this guy out. You know, we don't even want him out on bond." She divorced him. I'm sure they were not on great terms. She had to be fearful that maybe he was going to come after her or her and the kids or a combination of both.
48:16 Speaker 01 Sure, she was also thinking, "Who the hell is this guy? This guy I fell in love with these years back, who is he today?"
48:24 Speaker 00 That I spent all these years with, I had two kids with. It's like, I didn't know this guy at all.
48:30 Speaker 01 Right.
48:30 Speaker 00 Or did he change at some point? And that's kind of a question that I always have about some of these individuals. You know, were they doing some of these things and exuding some of the signs all the way along?
48:47 Speaker 01 True.
48:48 Speaker 00 Or were they hiding it for many, many years? And then eventually.
48:53 Speaker 01 Came out.
48:54 Speaker 00 It came out. Well, we said earlier, right? Money can make people do some strange things and sometimes some really bad things. You know what else can? The fear of going to prison.
49:07 Speaker 01 For sure. Nobody likes to go to prison besides that one guy. There's always that one guy. Can't wait to go.
49:14 Speaker 00 Who takes the rap for other people just so he can, you know, make sure he gets three hot meals or three hots and a cot. Janine shared what she believed happened on February 1st, saying, I think he had decided he wasn't going clearly. And he told her he wasn't going. I think he snapped. He was probably drunk. I know he was drinking heavily the last couple of days. I think he just snapped.
49:38 Speaker 01 Feel like he did more than just snap.
49:40 Speaker 00 Well, if he was drinking heavily, you know, could that contribute to, you know, not making the best decisions? Well, absolutely.
49:48 Speaker 01 Yeah.
49:49 Speaker 00 If you're super, super drunk and, but yeah, I don't want to make any excuses for this guy at all.
49:55 Speaker 01 Killing your mom? Come on.
49:57 Speaker 00 Yeah, I don't, I don't know why you'd be drinking heavily the last couple of days. Maybe he just thought, well, I'm not going to get any alcohol for quite a long time. It seemed like you'd want to be sober and soak in your last remaining days of freedom.
50:12 Speaker 01 I'd be sitting there watching all the prison movies, taking notes.
50:14 Speaker 00 Well, but maybe he knew he was never going anyway.
50:17 Speaker 01 Yeah.
50:18 Speaker 00 So drink up, I guess, is what he thought. Janine said that after he ran away, she and the kids moved to an undisclosed location. The night he was supposed to begin his sentence, he called and threatened her. Janine was asked if he threatened to kill her. She responded, not in those words. He said that he refused to ever let anyone else have me.
50:43 Speaker 01 Oh, there it is. I can't have you. Nobody's going to have you.
50:48 Speaker 00 So many times.
50:49 Speaker 01 Yeah.
50:50 Speaker 00 And you can word it differently, but it's all the same thing. Right. But now you can understand why she, she would be very fearful. It wasn't just the thought that he might show up. He actually threatened to kill her.
51:06 Speaker 01 Sure.
51:06 Speaker 00 Robert Merritt told Fox Fox that their family roots are in Mississippi, but that Richard liked New Orleans and the Florida Panhandle area. Janine agreed with Robert, but added New York is a possibility for where Richard might flee. They thought that he might go somewhere close to a body of water because he enjoyed fishing. They noted that strangers would likely think he was funny, smart and engaging. Since Richard could strike up a conversation with anyone. They both believed he would not be able to stay in hiding long. So there's a couple of things that are interesting there for me. I get it. There's a couple of places he likes. Well, could you choose one of those places?
51:50 Speaker 00 Yeah. You know, I think New York is always a possibility just for the sheer number of people.
51:56 Speaker 01 That's true. Just blend right on in.
51:58 Speaker 00 A little bit easier to blend in possibly. But this idea that, you know, he was funny, smart and engaging. Well, that's kind of the deadly cocktail, right? For a good con man.
52:12 Speaker 01 Yeah, sure. Helps to be all those things.
52:14 Speaker 00 But this idea that they thought he wouldn't be able to stay in hiding long. Janine said, I think he's such a narcissist and he has to have an audience. I don't think he can keep to himself forever. I think he's going to start going out public and chit chatting with people and getting cocky. And why would that be? My thought is people like Richard Merritt think that they're smarter than everyone else. And that they can do and get away with just about anything they want to.
52:47 Speaker 01 Yeah. And they truly believe it until one day they'll get caught.
52:51 Speaker 00 Well, he was already caught.
52:52 Speaker 01 That's true.
52:53 Speaker 00 And now he's on the run.
52:54 Speaker 01 Yeah.
52:55 Speaker 00 So, you know, if anything, this is just gonna kind of embolden him because he's already done it once. In April 2019, Inspector Frank Limka with the US Marshals told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "There's been absolutely no credible sightings of him since the night he disappeared." Limka said, "Richard could have fled as far as Oxford, England, or the Caribbean, where he had vacationed before."
53:22 Speaker 01 President in Tulsa and Saudi Arabia.
53:24 Speaker 00 Well, that's a good call. He lived there, but basically he's saying, "We have no idea where this guy is. He could be anywhere." Richard was indicted for murder in June 2019 while he was still on the run. So we just talked about, you know, this guy being described as funny, smart, engaging, which does make for a good con man. Those are good traits to have if you're a con man. I think it's also good to have all of that when you're, you're on the run, right? You're trying to lay low. You don't want to give off the vibe that you're some creepy guy. You want to be disarming. And, and I think he was probably pretty good at that.
54:09 Speaker 01 Think he probably perfected that craft over years.
54:12 Speaker 00 While Richard was on the run, his brother, Robert, searched Shirley's house and discovered that Richard had been taking advantage of her for years.
54:22 Speaker 01 Shocker.
54:23 Speaker 00 Her records indicated she loaned and gifted him large sums of money. But then Richard had also stolen from her, forged checks, and pawned some of her belongings. At the time of her murder, Richard owed her over half a million dollars.
54:38 Speaker 01 Wow.
54:39 Speaker 00 So it's like, he'd already stolen almost half a million.
54:43 Speaker 01 Yeah.
54:43 Speaker 00 From these poor people, right, who were supposed to get these settlements? And now we find out that he fleeced his mom out of half a million before brutally killing her.
54:57 Speaker 01 He's the son of the decade.
54:59 Speaker 00 Robert believes Richard manipulated and bullied Shirley into giving him money. And he said in one interview, he did to my mother exactly what he had done to his clients. Robert theorized that Shirley might have threatened to call the police if Richard was refusing to turn himself in, which caused him to snap and attack her. So, I mean, I think the one thing you have to think about is what's Robert going through? I mean, you know, his brother is this monster who stole money from his clients. But then, right before going to prison, he ends up killing their mother.
55:39 Speaker 01 Yeah.
55:40 Speaker 00 And then Robert finds out that he stole a bunch of money from her. He's gotta be devastated.
55:47 Speaker 01 And the house was put up as bond.
55:49 Speaker 00 Yeah, so somebody's probably going to take the house.
55:51 Speaker 01 Yeah.
55:52 Speaker 00 Now, I don't know that Robert cared about all of that as much as he did losing his mother, probably.
55:59 Speaker 01 Yeah.
55:59 Speaker 00 But he still, you know, had to be just so angry with his brother over it all. Right? You're stealing from our mom when she's done everything for you.
56:13 Speaker 01 Right.
56:14 Speaker 00 And then what? You kill her because she doesn't agree with whatever plan you're about ready to, to implement?
56:24 Speaker 01 You're, you ruined mom's life, you ruined my life, you ruined your ex-wife's life, your kid's lives.
56:30 Speaker 00 But, and you're also the brother of this murderer.
56:34 Speaker 01 Yeah.
56:35 Speaker 00 And I think that has to be really tough for people.
56:37 Speaker 01 Sure. If where you go, everybody's talking about you.
56:40 Speaker 00 Yeah, whether you're the brother, the sister, the mom, the dad, the, the son, the daughter, that's a lot to put on somebody. You have this connection with this horrible person and that's something you have to deal with. It's something you have to live with. Now in part two of the Richard Merritt episodes will cover how he was finally arrested and all the evidence prosecutors presented at his murder trial. But as we wrap this one up, Gibbs, man, I just don't think there's any doubt about it. Richard Merritt, you know, he was a narcissist. He just didn't care about anybody but himself.
57:22 Speaker 00 He didn't care about anything other than what he wanted.
57:27 Speaker 01 Yeah.
57:28 Speaker 00 And sadly, that's a trait shared by so many people that we profile on this show.
57:35 Speaker 01 True.
57:35 Speaker 00 Because I think it leads people to do really bad things. Right? When you don't care about anybody else or anything else other than yourself or what you want, then in your mind, is it easier to justify, you know, doing these bad things? Because you're going to get what you want, which is all you care about.
58:00 Speaker 01 Yeah.
58:01 Speaker 00 What I can't understand is living my life that way. And I get it, you know, we don't know what that's like because we're not those type of individuals. We don't have those kind of traits within us. But I can't imagine what that would feel like to not care about other people, what you do to them, what you put them through.
58:26 Speaker 01 Piece of shit.
58:27 Speaker 00 Yeah, I think that's pretty safe to say.
58:29 Speaker 01 Yeah.
58:30 Speaker 00 And we'll find more out next week in episode two. But that's our part one on Richard Merritt. We got some voicemails, Gibbs, you want to check those out?
58:40 Speaker 01 Yeah, it's here.
58:41 Speaker 02 Hi, Mike. Hi, Gibby. My name is Brandy and I called last week and left a voicemail. Hopefully you didn't play that one because I was super nervous and super anxious. But I just wanted to call and say that I love the podcast. Um, I'm a Patreon member. Maybe about a month ago, I signed up for Patreon on episode 384. Um, I've been listening for about Five or six weeks now and I absolutely love it. When I'm done with True Time all the time, true crime all the time, I'm going to go listen to Unsolved and then the Patreon episodes. I'm not Team Mike or Team Gibby. I think y'all both complement each other and I love the banter between the two of y'all.
59:26 Speaker 02 So keep up the good work and uh keep your own time ticking. Thanks.
59:32 Speaker 00 All right. Thank you so much for the voicemail. Thanks for being a Patreon member.
59:36 Speaker 01 Yeah, that's awesome.
59:37 Speaker 00 Yeah, it really helps us out. Now, I don't remember. We may have played her voicemail last week. I really don't remember.
59:42 Speaker 01 I don't think we did though.
59:43 Speaker 00 Okay.
59:44 Speaker 01 I don't think so.
59:45 Speaker 00 I don't trust your memory at all.
59:46 Speaker 01 It's pretty stellar.
59:48 Speaker 00 Stellar memory?
59:49 Speaker 01 Yeah.
59:50 Speaker 00 Maybe interstellar.
59:53 Speaker 00 But what I will say is for listening for five or six weeks, she has gotten through a boatload of episodes.
59:59 Speaker 01 Oh yeah, she's, she's killing it.
1:00:01 Speaker 00 Yeah, it's really binging.
1:00:02 Speaker 03 Hey Mike and Gibby, this is Brittany from Louisville, Kentucky again. Um, I've been listening for a few months. I'm a second time caller. Um, I do have to say that I cheated and skipped ahead to listen to my first voicemail. And I just have to say Gibby, you saying that I might be called Brittany bitch is completely true. Um, that's what everyone at work calls me and I even have it written down on my work stuff. But anyways, I just have to say that you guys are doing amazing. Um, I am finishing up the part three of John Wayne Gacy right now. Um, I have to say I actually like it because I've never heard the full case. Most of the true crime shows I listen to
1:00:45 Speaker 03 don't talk about the most famous cases, I guess because they're so popular and everyone else does them. But anyways, you guys are doing amazing. Um, also Gibby, here we say Louisville, not Louisville or Louisville. But anyways, you guys are doing great. Again, stay safe and keep your own time ticking. Bye.
1:01:05 Speaker 00 Hmm. Sounds like somebody else has told you that on multiple occasions.
1:01:09 Speaker 01 What are you talking about? What are you saying?
1:01:12 Speaker 01 Louisville, Louisville, Louisville, Elville?
1:01:16 Speaker 00 Louisville.
1:01:17 Speaker 01 Louisville.
1:01:18 Speaker 00 Louisville.
1:01:19 Speaker 01 Louisville.
1:01:20 Speaker 00 No.
1:01:23 Speaker 00 But I'm sure I'm gonna get an email, you know, Gibby's right, Gibby's right in the way he says it.
1:01:27 Speaker 01 I am right.
1:01:28 Speaker 00 But you were right about her and you are right about a lot of stuff.
1:01:33 Speaker 01 Can you say that one more time?
1:01:34 Speaker 00 You are right about a lot of stuff. Now, a lot of it is guesswork that just happens to be right. Things you couldn't possibly know for sure.
1:01:44 Speaker 01 Oh, I know. Can we get that on a shirt or something?
1:01:49 Speaker 00 Might be a long, it'd be a busy shirt with all of that.
1:01:53 Speaker 01 It would be, wouldn't it?
1:01:53 Speaker 00 But, uh, yeah, I'll look into it. All right, buddy. That is it for another episode of True Crime All The Time. So for Mike.
1:02:01 Speaker 01 And Gibby.
1:02:01 Speaker 00 Stay safe and keep your own time ticking.
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