People Witnessing a Murder Do NOTHING (Kitty Genovese) & The Vicious Murders of Anna Brackett and Annie Le

Anatomy of Murder is a Seriously Strange true crime subseries that examines the different types of murder that don’t qualify for Serial Killer Files. Join Rob Gavagan as he delves into the details of chilling cases from all over the world. From mass murderers to spree killers to unsolved homicide, Anatomy of Murder is not for the faint of heart.

People Witnessing a Murder Do NOTHING - Kitty Genovese | AoM #17
The murder of Kitty Genovese - could it have been stopped? This episode examines this haunting case.

The Vicious Murder of Anna Brackett | AoM #6
The devastating story of Shirley Wolf and Cindy Collier--two teenage girls who murdered 85-year-old Anna Brackett.

The Murder of Annie Le | ANATOMY OF MURDER #2
She worked hard to save so many lives and increase the quality of life for humankind. But someone else had other plans.

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Transcript

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It was a murder case that changed the way society looked at murder. How could a person be victim to violence? Violence that is witnessed by around a dozen people and no one attempted to help them? Catherine Genovese, known by the nickname Kitty, was one such victim, and she paid with her life. Her case led to the coining of the phrase Genovese syndrome, otherwise known as the bystander effect. And it seems perhaps equally as frightening to be killed in public as it is to know that groups of people could watch and there'd be no one willing to help you. Kitty was born in 1935 in New York City to an Italian family and had four siblings, of which she was the eldest. She lived in Park Slope, a predominantly Italian neighborhood in Brooklyn. As the oldest child, she had a lot of responsibility, which she took on gracefully. She was known to be incredibly mature for her age, very self-confident and optimistic. She was the kind of girl destined to go far in life or so her loved ones hoped. Kitty ended up finding love and getting engaged as she graduated high school. But her family was moving away to Connecticut, ironically, because her mother had witnessed a murder and didn't feel safe in the city anymore. To continue to prepare for marriage, Kitty remained behind in the city and was married in 1954. However, the love didn't last and the marriage was soon annulled before the end of that same year. Kitty worked to get her life back toward something more normal. After the separation and moved into an apartment in Brooklyn, she took on a number of clerical jobs, none of which she enjoyed doing. By the end of the 1950s, Kitty had taken a job as a bartender. She did well in this position and moved up to manage EV's 11th hour bar in Queens. She also had an apartment in the Kew Gardens neighborhood of Queens and had met a new love interest. A woman named Mary, who Kitty had met in 1963. Kitty shared her apartment with Mary and things seemed to be looking up. Unfortunately, the relationship wouldn't last. Even a year as a threat was looming around the corner. The same type of violence Kitty's family moved to get away from would find its way into Kitty's life and snuff it out in the form of a heartless predator. Kitty had just gotten out of work.

It was about 2: 2:44

30 a.m. She got into her car, a red fiat, and began heading home. On her way, she stopped at one of the many traffic lights that littered the area. And it was while she was stopped that she was spotted by a man named Winston Moseley. It took Kitty 45 minutes to get home that morning. She parked her car by the railroad parking lot. Kitty's apartment door was located in an alleyway at the rear of the building, which was the perfect place for an attacker to strike. She was parked about 100 feet away from her apartment door when she noticed Winston approaching her with a large hunting knife firmly in hand. Fear and panic overwhelmed her. She began running for the door as Winston chased her, and he quickly caught up and sent the blade of his knife, thrusting into her back two times. The blade shot deep into her body and tore into her organs. Kitty managed to cry out for help, saying, my God, he stabbed me. Help me. A number of witnesses heard the cries and one neighbor shouted at Winston, saying, Let that girl alone. Winston, now knowing he'd been seen, ran off into the night, and Kitty struggled slowly, painfully, to get to her apartment door. While blood flowing freely from her wounds. What happened next is considered incredibly bizarre for a civilized society. Kitty made it to the door in the small hallway at the end of the building, only to find it locked, and she collapsed onto the ground and lie there for 10 minutes without anyone coming to her aid. But eventually, a man did enter the hallway wearing a wide brimmed hat which kept his face hidden in the shadows, much to Kitty's horror. It was Winston again. He had returned to finish what he started. Witnesses watched him enter the alleyway and heard Kitty struggle as she tried to defend herself from his vicious stabbing. He punctured her numerous times with the blade and cut up her hands as she tried desperately to fight him off. Kitty was resilient and clung to life even after the second vicious attack. But the horror wasn't over. Winston tore open Kitty's clothes and raped her there, covered in her blood. He then stole $49 from her and vanished. The attack took around half an hour. And not a single person, not a neighbor, nor an officer came to her rescue. Eventually, a neighbor did come to see what was going on after the attack was over. Without knowing if Winston had fled already, she approached Kitty as she was taking her last breaths. She held her in her arms and tried to comfort her the best she possibly could. A few minutes after the final attack, another witness called police, who arrived within 10 minutes after the call was made. Kitty was picked up by ambulance at 4:15 a.m. and died before she reached the hospital. Her body was buried in a family grave in Connecticut, in the town her family had moved to in order to escape the kind of violence that claimed Kitty's life. While some sources claimed upwards of 38 people had witnessed some part of the attack, police investigation found around a dozen people who had witnessed at least part of the attack and didn't think to help because they believed it was perhaps a lover's quarrel. And it was best not to get involved, among other reasons, like thinking they were possibly both drunk. It had become known that a lot of news sources had reported erroneous early on Kitty's murder and had overexaggerated the incident to make the onlookers look even more unwilling to help than they actually were. Still, the case made headlines for how long it took for any person to actually act in order to help Kitty. Winston Moseley wasn't captured for six days, and it was possibly only because he was caught burglarizing a house. He had no prior criminal record and was married with three children. While in custody, he confessed to Kitty's murder. Police wondered why he would just suddenly throw himself into a life of murder and crime, especially when he had a family. He said he just wanted to kill a woman. They were easier and didn't fight back, he claimed. He quietly got out of bed the night of Kitty's murder. Careful not to wake his sleeping wife by his side, creeping out of the house and getting to his car.

At around 2: 7:03

30 a.m., he went out cruising for a victim. That's when he encountered Kitty. Winston was rather chatty with police, openly admitting that he had murdered and sexually assaulted two other women and had committed 30 to 40 burglaries and an undetermined number of rapes. He was a very disturbed individual, to say the least, and a psychiatric evaluation suggested that Winston was also a necro file. A person who has a sexual attraction to dead bodies. Winston attempted to plead not guilty by reason of insanity, but the jury wasn't buying it. They took 7 hours to deliberate and found Winston guilty. Four days later, at his sentencing, Winston received a death sentence for Kitty's murder alone. Winston was expressionless as the sentencing was read to the courtroom, which erupted partially into applause and cheering. The judge was against capital punishment, but this didn't stop him from agreeing with the sentencing. He told the court that he didn't believe in capital punishment, but when he sees a monster like Winston Moseley, he wouldn't hesitate to pull the switch himself. But Winston wasn't given an opportunity to argue his medical insanity during the sentencing hearing, and he had only been determined to be legally sane in the trial because of this. His death sentence was reduced to life in prison, but Winston wasn't finished living his deplorable lifestyle, and he wasn't going to let prison stop him so quickly. In 1968, Winston injured himself purposely and had to be transported to a hospital in Buffalo, New York, for minor surgery. He used the ride back to prison as his opportunity to escape and did so by striking the officer who was transporting him and taking his weapon before fleeing to a vacant house owned by Matthew Gallagher and his wife. He remained in the house undetected for three days before the couple dropped in to check on the house, only to find Winston. There, he bound and gagged Matthew and raped his wife. He then fled the house, took their car and was gone. He found another home that he quickly broke into, occupied by a mother and daughter. He held them hostage for 2 hours and then released them. Thankfully, this time, for whatever reason, aside from being scared, the two women were entirely unharmed. He turned himself into police on a short time later and was given another two additional 15 year sentences with his life sentence. Winston went on to participate in the Attica prison riot, one of the most noteworthy prison riots in history, where a number of prison officers and other employees, along with inmates, were killed. And in 1984, shockingly enough, Winston was up for parole. During his hearing, he tried to get the parole board to accept a different perspective on criminals. A more warped perspective. He said that prisoners like himself were victims also because the victim only had to deal with the crime being committed for perhaps an hour or even only a minute. But the person who committed the crime had to pay for the rest of their lives. He went on to claim that he never intended to kill Kitty and that sometimes people just die during muggings as if he shouldn't be blamed for something that was so out of his control. The parole board saw through his remorseless absurdity and denied him. In fact, they denied him a total of 18 times. Winston didn't live to try for 19. He died in prison on March 28th, 2016 at 81 years old and is known to be one of the longest serving inmates in the New York state prison system. Since the murder, the bystander effect has been studied at great length, with some researchers determining that the more people witnessing a violent event, the less likelihood the victim is going to get help. As people feel less willing when more eyes are on them. And the more people who aren't helping, the less likely anyone else will want to jump in to help. So what exactly happened that night is unknown. Whether people did ignore Kitty's cries or the news reported falsely, and it wasn't nearly as heartless as it was made out to be. The bystander effect and the case of Kitty Genovese are still often talked about by psychology professors to take a glimpse into a startling floor of the human mind. Kitty's case is one of much debate, as is the bystander effect as a whole. We must only hope that we aren't caught in a situation where we put the bystander effect theory to the test. It's a sad thought that something as simple as giving someone a ride or letting someone into your home could end in your death. Two girls who formed a deadly duo, a conniving plan with a sinister goal and a result that may leave you rather angry. All this and more as we explore the anatomy of murder. Anna Brackett was an 85 year old retired seamstress living in a community called Auburn Greens in Auburn, California. She was not only a loving grandmother, but a loving great grandmother and was known for being tremendously loving, kind and generous. It was June 14th, 1983, a hot, sunny day, and had been making plans to attend a bingo game as she regularly did so she was getting ready for an evening. She was very much looking forward to. Socializing with friends and having a few laughs all while maybe making a few extra dollars. But then there came a sudden knock at the door. Anna made her way over and opened the door where she saw two young girls standing there. Shirley Wolf, 14, and Cindy Collier, 15. And they appeared to be in need. Water is what they asked for on such a warm summer's day. And Anna, being the warm and welcoming woman, she was invited the two in without a second thought, closing the door behind them. If only Anna had known where these two girls had come from. Neither girl had a pleasant life. Surely Wolf had been in and out of foster homes ever since her father got put in jail for raping her. Her father would rape her sometimes three times a day, and once she reached puberty, bought her birth control pills to keep his horrible acts from having any further consequence as she had to testify on the stand against him. And from there, her life continued to be rather messy. At her most recent foster home, she got into a physical altercation with another girl after accusing her of stealing her makeup. For this, Shirley was sent to a juvenile detention center where she met up with Cindy Collier, a girl with her own unfortunate past littered with criminal activity and sexual abuse, which landed her in the same place. The two girls immediately hit it off and hatched a plan to escape, which they did. Very soon after the two girls were back in public and needed a car and a new experience. Shirley and Cindy made their way to Auburn Green's where Anna Brackett resided. Cindy was familiar with this neighborhood as she had lived there with her own grandparents at one point. The two figured that if they were going to get a car from some unsuspecting person, their best shot was an elderly person. So the two went door to door seeking assistance in some way, usually to use a phone. But fortunately for the majority of the neighborhood, the two girls were giving off bad vibes and many of the senior citizens there locked their doors. The two girls were unsuccessful house after house after house until they got to the home of Anna Brackett, who opened the door widely to meet the two girls with a fake thirst for water. The moment Shirley and Cindy saw Anna, they knew that she was their target. The two girls stepped inside and Anna got them refreshments, sat them down on her couch and chatted with them politely for over an hour while Anna laughed and told stories. Shirley and Cindy did their best to play along, pretending to be amused, but really just biding their time before they launched their plan to steal Anna's car. If only that's how far it went. Eventually, and I got a phone call from her son, who was going to provide her with a ride for bingo and would be arriving to pick her up soon. Shirley and Cindy looked at each other knowing that their window of opportunity was closing quickly with the arrival of Anna's son. So Shirley rushed to Anna. Once she had hung up the phone, clutched her throat and slammed her down. Anna screamed in pain and confusion, and as her 85 year old body hit the solid floor, Cindy wasted no time in fetching a knife from Anna's kitchen and handed it over to Shirley, who had a merciless blood loss in her eyes. She took the knife firmly in hand and thrusted it at Anna, piercing through her clothes and flesh and stabbing deeply into her. Anna howled in agony, begging Shirley to stop, exclaiming repeatedly. I'm dying. I'm dying. Shirley replied with one word as she stabbed ruthlessly. Good. Shirley knew that Anna could possibly survive the attack and tell the police about them. So to eliminate that chance, she began striking her viciously in the neck. Once blood began spilling freely out of Anna's mouth, and she went motionless. She knew the job had been done. She looked down at the elderly woman's dead body, the woman who had been so tremendously kind to them just moments before and felt no measure of guilt. In fact, she felt that the deed was immensely fun. The two girls immediately began rummaging through Anna's belongings, looking for anything of value and her keys. They did find a set of car keys, but Anna's car wouldn't start so the two were forced to flee on foot. Having killed Anna for practically no reason whatsoever, as they ran down the side of the highway and the sun passed them in his car, thinking that two girls speeding on the highway like that was a foolish idea. Little did he know that they were the ones responsible. When he came upon his mother, who had been stabbed 28 times. The girl's carelessness was a big part of their undoing. While police didn't believe two young girls could have committed such a heinous crime. The witness reports from others in the community, others who recognized Cindy from when she used to live there led the police to investigate Shirley and Cindy anyway, at questioning, Cindy remained cool, calm and collected, while Shirley almost immediately spilled the truth about what had occurred that day. When police confronted Cindy with Shirley's full blown confession, Cindy just laughed. The two were considerably proud of what they had done and felt not an ounce of remorse for it. Police came across a diary that Shirley had been keeping at the time. They noticed that much of the diary was illegible, but there was one very clear entry dated the exact day that Anna had been brutally murdered. It read Today, Cindy and I ran away and killed an old lady. It was lots of fun. The case was certainly close. The two girls went on to be sentenced for their crimes some time later. Cindy received 12 years in prison for her role in the crime, while Shirley received a mere 11 and years in prison for fulfilling the brutal murder of 85 year old Anna Brackett. Both girls have since been released. Cindy is known to be a law abiding citizen now with a family of her very own. While Shirley continued on a criminal path after her release and has been arrested a number of times, but has reportedly been attempting to turn her life around. Sometimes even the brightest futures can't disperse the darkness in our present. A girl with incredible intelligence, a sudden and shocking disappearance, and a horrifying revelation on what should have been a perfect day. All this and more as we explore the anatomy of murder. It was December 13th, 2009, and it should have been something so much better than what it was. Investigators swarm through ten Amistad Street, a research facility on the campus of the world renowned Yale University. The inside of the facility was littered with security cameras and locked doors, which required Yale University ID cards to get through. It seemed like a terrible place to commit a murder with such heavy security and so many restrictions. But here, the investigators were searching desperately for the whereabouts of Annie Lee, a Yale student who had vanished just five days prior. The disappearance shocked the community, and Yale put up a $10,000 reward for any information leading to the whereabouts of Annie. The only indication of her presence in the research building was security footage of her entering the building, but no footage of her ever coming out. So investigators felt it was a safe bet that Annie was still somewhere inside. Investigators soon came upon the horrific answer they were dreading as they approached one particular wall. Deep inside the research center. Brilliant valedictorian, the next Einstein. These were only a few of the many positive terms used to describe Annie Lee. The 24 year old doctoral student at the Yale School of Medicine, Department of Pharmacology. Born to a loving Vietnamese American family, they had every reason to be proud of her. She was so disciplined and intelligent that she earned a $160,000 in scholarship money for her schooling while she attended the University of Rochester. While there, she majored in cell developmental biology and minored in medical anthropology before being accepted into Yale's graduate program, where her research went on to explore the treatment of diabetes, muscular dystrophy and certain cancers. Her positive contributions to the world were practically guaranteed. September 8th, 2009, began like any other day, but these days were happier as Annie and her fiance Jonathan. What else were to be married soon? In terms of work, it seemed that it was just another day Annie would spend committed to her potentially life changing work in the research lab among her peers. Inside the lab was Raymond J. Clark. Raymond had worked alongside Annie for quite some time, and he seemed like an ordinary guy. By looking at Raymond's photos, we see what appears to be a rather typical young man, a man who enjoyed having fun and had a love for his dog. Being a part of the same research lab that Annie was showed that he was a man with a powerful mind and a special level of discipline. It appeared as though he had a special interest in the betterment of humankind, which was very likely true. But according to Raymond's coworkers, he possessed a darker side that would sometimes come to the surface when he was working in the lab. He was described as a control freak who would become explosively angry when his peers made even small mistakes, such as forgetting to wear shoe covers in the lab. An ex-girlfriend of Raymond's would go on later to discuss how fearful she was of Raymond while she was in a relationship with him. She spoke on Good Morning America about how physically violent he would become. He attempted to control her as well, dictating who she could and couldn't be friends with. He would even control the volume of her voice or how much she spoke. The overpowering and controlling behaviors mixed with his inability to control his rage was a recipe for disaster. It's not entirely clear what occurred that day in September. Annie walked into the building and assuming Lee got straight to work when night came. Annie's housemates were concerned, so one of them made contact with police, and Annie Lee was officially considered a missing person. The search began as the window to find Annie safe and sound would be closing fast if it was still open at all. After the police had discovered that the security cameras never captured Annie leaving the building, they shot the entire building down. They searched the building and the Hartford dump where Yale's garbage is incinerated, hoping to find any clue to Annie's whereabouts. The FBI, New Haven Police Department and the Connecticut State Police all team together to locate her. And five days after she was reported missing, investigators approached a small utility entrance to a wall in the lab. Fearing the worst, they access the small, cramped space inside the wall and made the discovery that would bring a dreadful closure over all those who knew Annie. Annie's lifeless corpse had been stuffed into a small space in an attempt to hide what had been so clearly done to her. It was September 13th, 2009, the day Annie Leigh's murdered body was discovered. The day she wasn't supposed to be in the lab at all. Because that day was the day she was supposed to marry her fiancé, Jonathan. A Connecticut medical examiner promptly conducted an autopsy to determine how Annie had died. It was determined that Annie's death was due to traumatic asphyxia, due to neck compression. Police had been able to find who was working with Annie in the lab that day. One of her peers present. That day was none other than Raymond Clark. Police had taken Raymond into custody to take DNA samples from him as part of their investigation and released him shortly after he willingly provided the samples. Evidence quickly piled up against Raymond. One of the more damning pieces being a bloody sock that contained Raymond and Annie's DNA that had been hidden in the ceiling of the lab. Further investigation also discovered the possibility that Raymond had been writing notes to coworkers to attempt to formulate an alibi. And an air freshener cover was found in the lab that was believed to have been used to cover up the scent of Annie's decomposing body in the wall. Even with all of the evidence placed against him, Raymond pled not guilty. After a number of delays in the trial, eventually, March of 2011 came, and after over a year of lying to the courts into Annie's loved ones, Raymond came clean and pled guilty to the murder. Raymond was also charged with attempted sexual assault on Annie, to which he entered an Alford plea, which is essentially a plea that asserts innocence, but concedes to the overwhelming evidence against the accused. On June 3rd, Raymond was sentenced to 44 years in prison for his crimes. At his sentencing, Raymond cried, explaining how sorry he was for lying to everyone, how remorseful he was for taking Annie Lee away from the world and her loved ones, how Annie would always be a better person than he could ever be in his life. Raymond's family tearfully expressed their sadness for Annie's family over Raymond's senseless murder, though he apologized profusely and took the blame for his actions, he never offered a real reason for killing Annie that day. Even if Annie and Raymond had gotten into disputes, Annie was never the type of person to bad talk to her peers. Raymond currently serves his sentence in Cheshire Correctional Institution in Connecticut. He is scheduled to be released on September 16th, 2053. Thank you for listening. Be sure to follow these seriously strange podcasts so you don't miss what we've got in store for you. Watch the shadows and stay alive out there.