The I-65 Serial Killer

Chris discusses a killer who preyed on hotel clerks in the late 1980s and early 1990s along the Interstate 65 corridor in Kentucky and Indiana. The perpetrator was recently and positively identified via genealogy after more than 30 years. 

Transcript

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People just want to know what it's like to be me. How does it feel to see a dead body? Tell a family their loved one has been murdered, talk to a rape victim, catch a killer and get them to confess hold on tight, my friends. Get ready for the journey and welcome to murder with mannina. Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of murder with mannina. I hate to say I'm excited about this case, because it's super, super sad, but I didn't know anything about it and it kind of how it happened here in Indiana, in Ohio and Kentucky. And so he's actually known as a serial killer. His name is Harry Edward Greenwell. And he's what we call the I 65 serial killer. So I 65 is a major interstate. And I don't know how far south it runs. But if you take it to if you take it from Indianapolis north, it'll take you all the way up into Chicago and in Michigan. And then if you take it all the way south, you can go south for a long, long time, I think all the way to Florida. So anyway, major major interstate, but he was an American serial killer robber and rapist who had killed at least three female hotel clerks along Interstate 65 In Indiana, and Kentucky. Now three female killed three female but they really think he's involved in a lot more. But they weren't able to prove it. And this happened between 1987 and 90 in 1989. And I was a junior in high school at the time. But a little bit of background on Harry Edward Greenwell. He was born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1944. In 1963, he was arrests of what he had been 19 He was arrested for the first time for armed robbery. And he did two years. In 1965. He was arrested again on a sodomy charge. So now it's like 22. Now he's went from robbery to sodomy. Four years later, he was paroled from the Kentucky State Penitentiary and then 1978 His wife died in a house fire in Wisconsin. A short time later he met a 39 year old single mom and married her and she had just recently come from an abusive relationship. So he spots these people pretty easily. They had a son together. Yes 1982. He was arrested again for burglary but escaped twice and recaptured. And then he was released in 1983. So you can kind of see this little trend here. He gets arrested, but he's not in for very long. February 21 of 87. He sexually assaulted and shot. Vicki 41 year old Vicki Lucille Heath, who was a night clerk at the Super Eight motel in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. The lobby and the crimes. The lobby was the crime scene when it showed severe signs of a struggle in a fight. The phone had been uprooted from the wall. Her body was found in a trash bin near the motel and this is why I always tell you don't stay. The shitty ass hotels eat like stay up. He knew that was coming but she was found in a trash bin near the motel. She spent my big the victim here spent most of her life in Kentucky. She had both a son and a daughter and they were starting their adult life at the time of her murder. She had been recently engaged and was earning extra money so she took a night shift job at the Super Eight right off the interstate. The 911 call said that the lobby was in total disarray and that no clerk was found so people came in to check in said that the lobby was a mess. She was found with her klore with her clothes tore up. She appeared to have been shot in the head. There was one set of muddy footprints that left that lead away from her body, which ended were tire tracks started. Now we're in the 80s here okay. The autopsy shows she had been robbed, beaten, sodomized and shot twice in the head with a 38 caliber handgun. 38 caliber bullets were recovered in the ground after going through her body. Several footprints were photographed, there was a rape kit rape kit done and you in usable DNA was found. After numerous detectives work the case and waiting and they were waiting for more advancements in DNA. They said that they did send the DNA off in 2010. There was a hit in codice. And codice stands for the Combined DNA Index System and it matched the DNA of an unknown offender known as the i 65. serial killer who was wanted in Indiana for the March 3 1989 sexual assault and murder of a days in clerk and her name was Petey Gill and another woman Jean Gilbert and the rape and stabbing of another woman that survived an attack in 1990. So if we rewind a little bit now we're at March 3 1989. He killed two hotel clerks along i 6524 year old Margaret. Maddy Peggy Gill, who was a non auditor she was sexually assaulted shot twice in the head. Her body had been dumped. In a back hallway, there was $179 taken. She worked at the Days Inn in Merrillville, Indiana, which isn't very far from Chicago, right off of 65. She was a student am I'm at Sawyer business college and had been working at the Days Inn for a year and a half. She was the youngest of four children described a shy, soft spoken and quiet she was still living with her parents. Her boss said she liked working the late shift the 11pm to 7am shift because it was quieter and less hectic. This guy's a piece of shit. So four hours later after that, after her murder and sexual assault, Greenwell shot and sexually assaulted 34 year old Jn Gilbert. She was a part time auditor at the Remington Indiana days in. She was found in the early morning hours near a roadway $247 was taken and both these victims are shot with 22 caliber handgun. This is crazy. I didn't even know about this case. I've never heard I know. So Jan was 34 and she was studying business at St. Joseph College. She was recently divorced and had a 12 year old son and a 17 year old daughter. Now we're into January 2 of 1990. Greenwell attacked a 21 year old hotel clerk at the Columbus Indiana days in. He sexually assaulted her stabbed and robbed her, but she survived. She described him in a composite drawing was produced DNA evidence linked it to the 1989 murders. So in 1991, he sexually assaulted and stabbed another woman in Minnesota living with the Minnesota she survived and one gave and she gave a similar description. This one was officially linked to the others in 2013. So the murders were considered coal until 2008. When DNA from evidence was submitted. In 2010, the Kentucky state police announced the DNA linked the three murders and we're officially dealing you know when we're officially dealing with a serial killer and linked him to at least four cases in several states were female halter. Hotel clerks working along I 65 are sexually assaulted and robbed. He greenwall was identified as a killer through a DNA match with a close family member. Indiana state police announced the identification and April 2022 and believed he was involved in other violent crimes in the Midwest. He was never arrested, however, because he died in 2013 in Iowa, due to cancer. He was 68. Can you believe that? 6868 years old? Wow. And he moved to Iowa. And he moved to Iowa? Can you believe that? I never even knew bind how many people how many murders outside Hi, three murders till at least three murders. But they're now just going back because this just all came out in 2022. going back and looking at old cases along i 65. And they think he was involved in the gazillion of them. But he was never He was never arrested. He was never arrested. So what's interesting, like I 65 You know, like any other major interstate, they've got these hotels right off the exit. You know, so this was going on, but this was in the 80s You know, and so it wasn't, and I don't it from what I could tell it didn't get a lot of press. He wasn't deemed a serial killer for a long time. So it wasn't like one of those things where it got out and you needed to start paying attention if you were a female auditor or clerk working at a hotel. Right, exactly. That's the shame of it that it wasn't made more public so that people could protect themselves, or camera or security systems put exactly. cameras in law. So you wonder especially and when you start thinking about like even when you think about Ted Bondi like that got out why did that get out more than like this? You know, because it's still this Same. There's there wasn't social media there wasn't, you know the news 24 hours a day, and it's like, how does some get out? And some don't? You know, because you would. And in the 80s, in the 80s, there were such things as security cameras, right that the hotels could have done that had they known that that's the date and preying on? Yeah, no, not at the same rate. Sad. Interesting that that that he preyed on the hotel clerks that makes sense. What are the chances somebody else is going to be there? What are the chances they're going to be female and male, all alone? unprotected. Kind of makes sense? Totally makes sense. And they got so you have to know that he has been involved. I mean, for from a predators perspective, I'm talking about makes sense. easy prey? Yep. And he, you know, so but what's actually looked at his background, like it's not like he started his his crime spree or started getting arrested when he was 18 years old. And what's interesting and even got arrested again. A second time he was arrested for sodomy. But he got out like, it's like he kept getting out. So he never spent. I don't think he spent longer than about two or three years for his charges that he started when he was 18. So just an interesting case. I don't know. I just found it and I couldn't believe it. Do we know anything? Do we know anything about his life before he died? Other than he had cancer? Or what kind of cancer was he married? He was married at one point, because he married that well, while he was married twice. So you may want to be interesting to look back and I should do that because it's his first wife was killed in a house fire. Well, there you go. And what about the seven second wife? I couldn't find anything on that. I was just trying to like, that's what I'm wondering when he died at 68. What was the situation? Did he have a relationship? Did he have to go and interview the kids? I'm glad to. Crazy, that would be very interesting. Yeah. Harry Edward Greenwell. So if anyone's listening, it was familiar. With this case, we're going to deep dive into it a little bit more if you guys have any information on it. I knew nothing about it I never heard about and I guess it takes three people, three people to be lit to be considered a serial killer. But it's just crazy how some get really national attention. I mean, obviously, Ted Bundy, but you know, why did that get so popular? I mean, why did it just jump off and get so popular? I mean, we know why Dahmer did because of the gruesome nature of his Ted Bundy also because he was so tremendously unassuming educated. Yes. Some charming, I guess with a new charming, I think just the last thing you want backed to have such a satanic streak. Yeah. Serial killers are intriguing. But when you go back and you look at the history, you know, they start out doing small stuff, and then it just escalates, escalates, but I bet you he assaulted and I mean, I bet you are probably looking at 2030, maybe even 40 feet, and I just wonder what kid What kind of father he was to the kids because some of those people, some of those serial killers really seem to have lived a pretty done a pretty good job at living that double life. Like, for instance, do we know anything about Delphi? What's the latest on Delphi? We don't know a lot. I haven't heard anything. So that's crazy to bring this up. So right the the probable cause came out, there's a change of venue. You know, the trial I think is set for sometime next year. And then it just went crickets. It literally went crickets, but the more people I've talked to, it's a really it's an obviously disturbing case from the beginning. But what's even more disturbing and we've mentioned this before was the probable cause or the lack of probable cause right that they have I'm scared for this to go up and say you think there may not be enough evidence to convict him and then he would get away with murder if he's done it. He would get away with trying with Delphi from the very beginning. He's he's still here. He's living in the town. He's He's He's here now in sight. You said it from the very beginning he was really part of the community I mean, he served and you get to see the survivors printing pictures for them and lastly, if withheld some evidence, I just don't see how they're gonna win that I just don't see how they're gonna center based on that probable cause I hope they know I hope they didn't things under wraps, you know, even if it is illegally so that they hope they pull something out of their hat last minute and trial. That's a well this is weird. This is interesting that I I want 6365 60 I'm gonna look that up too. I just love to know what crazy If he lived and up until 68 years old, I mean, that was his life. And you know that if he killed that many people, he had kids, he was in a marriage, but you know that it was always in the back of his mind, it was always this program is running, who am I going to get next? What am I gonna do fantasizing about it? But, you know, and so these poor kids had to live with a father that literally was had that running through his mind. Well, yeah. And then like the victims, I mean, they, the one victim, she had a 12 year old and a 17 year old. And just, I mean, that's just horrible. Oh, it's just, and they've just gone through this whole entire life, gone through this entire life without nobody being held responsible. That's the hardest part, nobody got away with it. And also that it wasn't in the media so that other hotel clerks could be on alert, there could be some layer of protection in place that the cops would No, be, you know, patrol those hotels along the well, kudos to the detectives, you know, with with collecting the evidence and keeping the DNA doing all that because, you know, as we're advancing, it's going to be harder and harder to get away. I'm hoping it's going to be harder and harder to get away with crimes like this, because of the advances in DNA and the family genealogy and all of that stuff that, you know, people are into, and people are doing that, you know, maybe it'll help, which is people won't do it. I don't know, or they'll think of, you know, better ways to get away with it. But how did you find that case? You know, what, sometimes I just I'm kind of into right now, as we've been, you know, talking about my cases, just hitting kind of Indiana cases. So I just Googled, you know, I don't know what I put in there, crazy cases in Indiana, or unsolved cases in Indiana. And I just started to do the research on it. And I really wanted to talk about the victims and kind of what their life was about and give you a little bit of history about them and what they were doing and why they were working. But yeah, I just kind of I'm into talking about Indiana cases that haven't, you know, been solved or that are really intriguing, because we have a lot, we had the I 70 killer, as well. And that's the other major interstate. And I could talk about that on another episode. But he was just picking up hitchhikers and prostitutes killing them and then dumping them off by seven days. So that's another major interstate during what period of time? It was in the early 70s. I think. Yeah. So but a lot of yeah, when people hit check, right, gosh, scary stuff. Anyway, so if you guys have any cases that you want me to talk about, or if you know, especially my Indiana listeners that knew about this guy know anything about him, but it was kind of intriguing and scary and the amount of DNA that was left at the scenes with these rapes and the you know, and the one there was a woman that he assaulted in Columbus, Indiana and she survived so she really fought the shit out of him and came up with a composite and and really helped with that so yeah, crazy case. Anyways, guys, well, thanks. Again. We thank you for listening. Give us a shout out give us a rating. We appreciate it and we will see you next time on murder with Medina. If you have a cold case you'd like Chris to review submitted through our website at murder with mannina.com and follow us on Instagram and Facebook at murder with mannina and Twitter at murder W mannina. We'll be back next week with a brand new episode of murder with mannina.