Richmond Serial Killers, Surveillance & Shopping (cameras, Bagel the Beagle, Briley Brothers, etc) — Unscripted #048

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In this episode of Vera House Unscripted, we discuss a wide range of Richmond topics including the Briley Brothers, surveillance cameras, local shopping culture, Richmond history, public infrastructure, and some of the city’s strangest stories and traditions.

We start with Richmond being named one of the best cities in America for shopping local and talk about the city’s strong independent business culture, creative scene, markets, and community identity. We also discuss Rest Fest, Dogwood Dell, the Carillon, and the ongoing frustration around unfinished or poorly executed city projects.

Later in the episode, we get into Richmond surveillance systems, red light cameras, automated traffic enforcement, privacy concerns, and broader conversations around data collection and “smart city” infrastructure. We also discuss Bagel the Beagle, Richmond internet nostalgia, and how certain local stories become part of the city’s identity.

The second half of the episode shifts into Richmond true crime history, including a deep conversation around the Briley Brothers, violence, criminal psychology, death row escapes, and some of the darker stories connected to Richmond and Virginia history.

Topics include Richmond shopping culture, local businesses, surveillance cameras, red light tickets, Dogwood Dell, the Carillon, Bagel the Beagle, the Briley Brothers, Richmond true crime, public infrastructure, privacy concerns, and Richmond history.

Quick interjection to invite you to Vera House Studios. If you are a local Richmond business, entrepreneur, brand owner, or service provider—and you know you need to create better content to get your products and services in front of the right people—we can help.

Transcript

Speaker 0:00

Welcome back to the Vera House Podcast. This week we talked about a bunch of fun stuff as we want to do. We talked about the Carillon and the Dogwood Dell area and how it's one of our favorite locations in the city, but we have a love-hate relationship with it. We wish it was further along in its updating and upgrading than it really is. And it's kind of frustrating that that's still the case. We also talked about red light cameras because I got a ticket. Not a ticket from a police officer. I just got a ticket in the mail. It's just Amazon. Here's your ticket. And it's infuriating to say the least. So we get into all of that. We also get into a story that a listener shared with me and that I looked into about one of the most gruesome crime sprees in Richmond's history. It's pretty insane.

Speaker 2 0:56

It's very insane. And it's one, yeah, I'd never even heard of that. Um, we also talk about how Richmond is the number one shop local city in the United States. We also celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the passing of Bagel the Beagle. Little Buddy. Little Buddy. And uh many of you out there will recognize the name or the flyer of the lost dog Bagel the Beagle. And we also talked about Perry's recent tarot card reading and psychic readings and palm readings and all that weird stuff. So dive in, enjoy the episode. Also, don't forget to drop, uh, check out our drop of our first limited edition merchandise collection. And in the meantime, enjoy the episode. Dude, so Richmond, Virginia is the American capital of shopping local. I don't even know what that means.

Speaker 1 1:53

So this company on deck did this study.

Speaker 2 1:57

And when people shop locally, like across the country, they did this study on social media. So to identify the places with the greatest shop local spirit, this company identified the number of social media posts tagged with hashtag with hashtag shop local. And they did this for all the top 500 major cities and then calculated the density of these posts per capita. So per local 100,000 people for every city and every state. So they took the total combined count of Instagram posts tagged with shop local, with the city name or shop small business city name. And in every city nationwide, above 100,000 person population cities. And the biggest state for shopping local is Missouri. But the biggest city for shop local is Richmond, Virginia. That's great. Isn't that cool? Right.

Speaker 1 3:02

Like that is is that's that's great, right? I'm asking. Yeah, I think so. Okay.

Speaker 2 3:07

So like there's over I mean, there's you know, millions and millions of these posts, but America's capital city of shop local is Richmond, which was tagged 159,500 times. So with a population of 233,655 people, that's 68,263 posts per 100,000 people. That's 5% more than second place, which was Raleigh, North Carolina, and third place was Kansas City. And uh pretty cool.

Speaker 3:41

Yeah. Shopping, shopping local is is kind of the culture here. Everybody supports the local vendors and restaurants and businesses, pop-ups. It's I've noticed it, you know, over my my lifetime living here, but it's definitely increased, you know, over the last call it 10 years. Yeah. And it all it also kind of always felt like a good place for someone to start a business in that regard, because of the support that you would have from the community, right? It's not it's it's a nice proving ground, if you will, because the community support is already there. So you can open up your your corner store, your your goods store, your food cart, your restaurant, your bagel shop, you know, your ice cream parlor, and you're gonna have support from your neighbors, which is always pretty cool.

Speaker 2 4:38

Well, and you've said it before, which is that Richmond is a small town masquerading as a big city. So I think that plays into it too. Yeah. And I think we think about when we were kids, and Mongrel seemed like the only like local little shop where you go and buy local stuff, and now you've got stuff everywhere. Uh, you know, there's like I forget the name of the shop, but it's over there next to Kochi Loco. Um, there's like a little kind of like I don't know what it's called.

Speaker 5:03

Yeah.

Speaker 2 5:04

Yeah. It's like a little shop Virginia or shop Richmond store. Yeah, yeah. And there's stuff like that around. And, you know, of course, you have tons of local restaurants and locally owned businesses for sure. But I think more and more we're seeing these like boutique shops and markets and stuff. Even if you think about Scott's Edition, how it never used to have like the markets, like Yellow Umbrella Provisions and even uh Stella's Market on the corner and like the Stella marketplace, right? And so now you've got all these different markets everywhere, and even the farmers markets. Like I'm an avid visitor of the different farmers markets and stuff. And I remember years ago the Carrytown farmers market was like struggling, you know, it just wasn't popping the way that it is now. Yeah. And now, yeah, I would say that the shopping local stuff has definitely exploded in the past several years. So pretty cool to see. It is cool. I wonder if we get a trophy.

Speaker 5:55

I think I was gonna say, you know, we'll take all the accolades we can get, you know, make us look cool on the internet, draw up some, you know, some standards and some correlating calculating numbers to see who's gonna be the best at what, and then give us a trophy for it. Give us a placard, give us a medal, like a medal. I think everybody should get a medal in the mail. Yeah. It's like best shopped local city in the nation. And it's you know, like a shopping cart, but it's like made out of wood or like something like artisanal. Like somebody really cool has to make them. Yep. So it'll take, you know, probably take three years before you get yours because they have to make it, you know, each one by hand.

Speaker 2 6:39

Well, they have to make 233,000 of them.

Speaker 6:44

Yeah. So, you know, it'll be in the mail next week.

Speaker 2 6:47

There you go. But yeah, I thought that was just like a cool little thing. There was a couple locals that even commented on it. So somebody from the RVA Black Farmers Market, his name is Navi Johnson. He said, small businesses are all about connection, supporting something other than the convenience of a bigger organization, being able to get something intentional that is thoughtful, that still looks nice, and that you can appreciate in the long run is always great. Yeah. There's this other woman who runs this online store called Shop Maiden VA, which I think is like a retail location here, but also it's an online retailer. Her name is Stacy Price. And uh, she just mentioned how like Richmond is full of creative people. And um, yeah, that they, you know, that this not only like stocks and promotes local makers and goods, but it also helps run like education programs for like independent entrepreneurs and stuff like that. So it just it helps the entire like small business and entrepreneur community, which is yeah, yeah, pretty cool. And Richmond is a place of that, like full of you know, creators and local makers and stuff.

Speaker 7:46

Yeah, man. Everybody I know at some point in their time living here and growing up here rather, said that they wanted to open up skate at skate shop or to sell cakes, or they wanted to make, you know, bikinis, and they wanted to sell, you know, custom vintage artisanal boots. Yeah. Pick your pick your lane, pick your flavor. Everyone has that had that kind of mentality because it's already so prevalent here. You walk around pretty much any part of town and you'll see a handful of locally owned, single to like maybe multiple owner, but Richmond owned and established businesses. Like they outnumber what we would consider like corporate businesses or you know, larger multi, you know, what's the word? Um franchised organizations, you know, probably three to one, at least in the the fan in the downtown area, Scott's condition and kind of near West End, which is exactly why people like living here.

Speaker 2 8:51

Yeah, yeah. Dude, not the first business I ever started, but the second business I started like in my early 20s is I tried to launch Taco Shop. No, I mean that would be good because I would have been ahead of the ahead of the trend if that were the case. You know, not that you know, tacos are trends, but um the second business that I ever tried to start was an iPhone repair business and tried to do it locally. And uh it was a disaster.

Speaker 9:19

Yeah. You know, I think I don't I can't speak for everybody, but like I definitely had the uh I had the thoughts, man. I was like working a job, was working in a restaurant and uh bartending and and you know, DJing, and I was like, man, I could I think I want to open a open a store. I don't want to do something. I see all these guys that I know that come into the bar, like, oh yeah, on the I own the you know the t-shirt shop down the row. And I actually worked across the street from Fruit Fixed in Perrytown. I worked at uh East Coast Provisions and the owner, Justin, would come in all the time and super nice guy, you'd come in, have dinner. Everybody get a hookup on their phone repair because back then iPhones were breaking like you know, like they were made out of clay. Like everyone's phone was broken all the time. So it was a huge business opportunity. But uh it was a specialty service. You had to get certified, you had to take a clash eat eat specialty tools, you needed a place to do it. But Richmond, again, being a small town masquerining as a big city, it has the things a big city has, which is a community, a population that supports itself, and an infrastructure that can support retail, which is like a big deal. Like you need retail in the city limits for it to be productive and to function like a city. People have to come here willing to spend thousands of dollars over the course of a weekend, over the course of a year for like uh it to be cool. There has to be that uh kind of population support.

Speaker 2 10:44

Yeah, yeah. Well, speaking of community, this past weekend was Rest Fest. Yes, it was pretty cool. You MC'd a big part of it.

Speaker 10:54

I did. I em I MC'd Rest Fest. It was my first time there, I'd never been before. So it was an entire experience. It was this was the first time they'd done it in a public park in Richmond. They did it at Dogwood Dell, and it was huge. Dogwood Dell's a massive venue in general, but they had it packed out. They had a ton of vendors, a bunch of vendors on the lawn in front of the carillon. They had a bunch of vendors in front of like the roundabout, right as the you walk up to the entrance of Dogwood Dell. And then for the better part of the day, the amphitheater was full of people from the beginning of the day, which is I think they started it at around 11. And I got there at around 2 p.m., but it was packed. They had all kinds of practitioners in the different like restful spaces, massage therapy, sound bathing, jewelry, tarot card reading. And then I would go on stage every so often after each performer would go on and kind of talk to the crowd and ask people how they're feeling, if they're feeling rested, if they're enjoying the experience, you know, drive the donations because Restfest is a donation only, not donation only, but a donation preferred uh or requested organization. And I was talking to one of the organizers, talking to Rick, and he told me that they were, they had already done like a large portion of their goal by the time that Rest Fest started, which is super cool. People were more than willing to pitch in and donate, and that's always really cool to see.

Speaker 2 12:29

Yeah, and I think wellness and just health-related stuff, there's you got to find like a nice delicate balance in what you charge for and how you go about charging it. And of course, this is their first time like really doing it within the Richmond city limits. I think they had done it previously in like Mosley, which is out towards like Amelia and out past Chesterfield. Yep. And I think it's super cool, and obviously that's my neighborhood right there. And so to see the amphitheater packed like that, and just to see like a really cool event that I'm personally excited about is very cool. Like I've gone by there when they do the Halloween plays and some different music acts and stuff. And I go and I check it out just because it's cool and it's happening and it's in my neighborhood, and I like that I can just walk up there, ride a bike, or ride a scooter up there and just go see what's going on pretty much any weekend night throughout the summer, especially. So it's cool to show up and not only like be involved. Obviously, we had them on the podcast, but then you know, you're there MCing. And it's also something that's just different than what you would typically see, not just at Dogwood Dell, but just in Richmond in general. I mean, there's all these festivals and events, and it feels like we're getting back to some normalcy after all the COVID stuff. And it's crazy to be saying that like six years later.

Speaker 13:52

Yeah.

Speaker 2 13:52

And uh traumatized, man. Seriously, you know, and who knows about this next like the new pandemic expansion pack that's about to drop. Yeah, the upgrades coming. Yeah, exactly. You know, the the downloadable, the downloadable expansion pack. Yeah. So we'll see what happens with that. But it's cool to see events come back in full swing and for somebody to pull that off and for it to be like a really good experience. They had saunas and cold plunges, like from our friends over there. And yeah, it was definitely cool to see. Um, how was your because you got your tarot cards read, right?

Speaker 14:23

I did. I got my tarot cards read. How'd that go? That was enlightening. It was my first time getting my tarot cards read. And it was uh a lovely woman. I think she said she was from DC, so she hadn't been in Richmond for very long. And I'm like, I'm not really that skeptical. I'm like, I'm not like a diehard believer, but I like I kind of can see the benefits and I can see how they're able to like interpret things. So it wasn't like, oh, I mean, I'm gonna I'm gonna sit here like a skeptic with my arms crossed and see if she can, you know, prove me wrong. I was like, I'm into it. Like, let's, you know, read the universe. What does the universe have to say for me? And uh she gave me some homework. She she the all of the things she said were like bang on accurate, which was it wasn't even that weird. I was like, I kind of expected it, but like not to that degree. It was like, okay, you're pulling out cards from like six different decks, and you're looking at this thing, this like map of this chart, and you're looking at that and you're reading it, and she's like inferring things about me. I'm like, I didn't give you any information. How are you doing this? Yeah. But it was cool. She it's like getting in at the end, she she kind of says, Hey, you know, you might not really like, or in the beginning, she says, You might not like what I'm going to tell you or what the cards have to say, but just know that it's not me, it's the cards. Yeah. So if you're upset about this, don't send me a DM later. Like you, you know, you're upset. I it's it's the cards.

Speaker 2 15:58

That's wild. Yeah, she's just the messenger. She's just the messenger, man. I was like, I don't even know what tarot cards are. I just did a quick search. What are tarot cards? It says tarot cards are a 78-card deck used for divination, self-reflection, and storytelling, featuring symbolic imagery that represents life experiences and archetypes. It was developed in 15th century Italy for games. They evolved into tools for insight, divided into the major arcana and the minor arcana. Um, Tarot is considered a rich repository of esoteric art and symbolism, and it evolved into a tool for occultism and divination with the famous Ryder Waite Smith deck being created in 1909. Very interesting. I mean, all that stuff is super interesting, like hypnotism and palm reading and like psychic tellings and all that stuff. I've actually never really done anything like that. But after seeing you guys do it, I was like, I think it'd be cool to do it.

Speaker 16:56

I think you would dig it. You know, some of the the cliff notes, I'm not going to go into all the details because it was rather personal.

Speaker 2 17:02

Yeah, can't be putting your can't be putting your future out there for everybody to interpret.

Speaker 17:06

But she she was basically there's a lot of luck in my future, a lot of success in business. So that's a good thing for you. Just so you know we're we're we're golden going forward. Headed in a good direction. Headed in a good direction. She's like, the other thing she says, and I I I was referencing how she presented some of this information as advice you would get from your mom that you don't want, but you need. Yeah. And you don't want to hear because you know that it's right. It's kind of like that. It's a good way, good way to explain it. It's like, God damn, how'd you know that? It's like, well, I'm your mom. In this case, the cards know.

Speaker 2 17:46

That's funny, man. Yeah. It looked like everybody had a blast, you know, and of course we knew a bunch of the people there. It's like Pyre sauna 0.5, Rest Fest itself. Yep. Ran into a bunch of, you know, old friends, cool people. And yeah, once again, it's just nice to see that whole place because it wasn't even just the amphitheater, it was the entire like Carolon field, and yeah, just packed with people for like, yeah, betterment.

Speaker 18:08

That's one of my favorite places in town, and I always like seeing it active. I always like seeing people out there. I always I've had this vision of like spaces in Richmond are to me in me, to me, and in my opinion, are oftentimes severely underutilized. With the amount of people here, the amount of creativity, the amount of resources, money available and just kind of out and existing in the city. And I see something like Dogwood Dell, which it's not a it's not a secret that that place drastically needs an update and a makeover. And then I see the Caroline Lawn and I see potential space for like incredible things that the city could do and use it for. I always thought putting on a live event like a concert on the lawn and having the stage right at the base of the Caroline would be such a cool thing for Richmond to do. That would be sweet. Right? And it's it's the 80% problem. Again, it's like we do cool things, but we do it just shy of incredible. Yeah. Like there is more of them happening, and there are more of them happening. So maybe that's the trend that we're getting into, right?

Speaker 2 19:24

Don't even get me started on the Caroline, dude, because it is one of the most beautiful areas of the entire city. Like it really is like a gem. That entire Caroline neighborhood, Shields Lake, Fountain Lake, Bird Park, the Vita Exer Source Exercise Trail, Maymont Park, Pump House Park, like that entire side of the city is just like a gem. And I'm so lucky to live over there and I love it over there. But it's like enough out of the way where they don't prioritize a lot of the stuff that needs to be done. And yes, it's beautiful and like the landscaping is nice and the parks are are pretty good. But the Carillon specifically, they started renovating and fixing the Carillon when COVID started. And they redid the bells and had to like bring this whole construction company over from Europe to like work on it because it's a specialty building. And they started on it, and it's exactly that. It's like they did 80% of the job. And then as you saw when you were there, there's still a fence. Yeah, there's still a fence around the building. And you know, I've I sound like such a Karen, but I've like emailed them and talked to the civic, uh Carolon civic community. And I'm asking them, like, hey, what's going on with the Carillon? Like, is it done? And they're like, we don't know. Like, you have to ask this guy. Then I asked them, I asked them, which is like the general contractor. He's like, I don't know. We need to talk to this person. And I'm like, when do the bell, when are you gonna start ringing the bells again? Yeah. And they're like, Well, the bells were completed over a year ago. I'm like, okay, so what's the issue? And the update is that they're gonna turn the bottom floor of the Carolon into like a museum, a World War I museum. It's now under ownership of the Veterans War Memorial that's on Belvedere overlooking the new amphitheater. So now it's owned by the same people who own that one. So I think they're gonna pump new life into that area, hopefully. They need to pump some cash into that area.

Speaker 21:16

Yes, that's what it really needs.

Speaker 2 21:18

And I mean, there is a lot of money that flows into that area. Even like the pump house recently has like, I don't know the exact numbers, but hundreds of thousands of dollars have gone into the pump house over the past couple years. They put in like the ADA accessible ramp and they're redoing all the windows and opening up the top floors and event space. And like, I'm really excited for that because that's one of my favorite buildings in all of Richmond. I still haven't even been there. I don't even think I know where it is. That's crazy, dude. You gotta go to the pump house. It's pretty cool. And there's like some cool little secret access trails over there, too. Yeah. Uh very, very cool. Well, maybe we'll have to pull some tarot cards on the future of the Dogwood Dell Carillon pump house area and see what's in its see what's in its future.

Speaker 21:56

And you know, I'll I'll try not to get a ticket on the way there. Yeah, please don't do that. Because as we've heard and we've speculated on and we've talked about, if you haven't, if you haven't heard, red light cameras are active in Richmond.

Speaker 2 22:12

I mean, it's crazy, dude. I was drawing, I was pulling onto the highway during the day, and there's already like a bright white LED light, you know, scanning my license plate and, you know, scanning my face and whatever. And it's hard to not just be infuriated driving through all that bullshit, man. It pisses me off.

Speaker 22:29

I was coming back from Chesterfield yesterday on 295 and or Po White, the Po White Parkway. And there's the big toll in Po White as you leave the city or you're coming back right before you cross the bridge, the James Bridge, into what would be the Caroline area, City Field area. They're the toll is there, it's still there. The tolls don't work and no one's in the booths because they're all being monitored by cameras and sensors. Maybe a mile, two miles up right before you cross the bridge if you're going towards the city, or right before you cross, or right as you cross over the bridge onto the other half of Polai, if you're going away from the city. They're building an another row of sensors and cameras that look like and they're adorning the ends of it with like brick structures to make it look cool, but it's just another toll.

Speaker 1 23:25

Yeah.

Speaker 23:26

And I think I told you this before we started recording. They got me. They got me, and they s they got me what they call it, rolling through a stop sign or stop light. They sent me a ticket in the mail. There's a picture of my car, there's a picture of my license plate with the picture zoomed in, and there's a very detailed explanation for the reason that I got a ticket. I it blew my mind because there used to be the times when if there was a they call this a minor traffic infraction, you'd just get stopped by the police. I don't know if you've noticed, but there aren't that many cops on the road. And the ones that are are usually in unmarked vehicles. They're not in the black and whites with the lights on top anymore. It's usually like a Durango with the police sign like embossed in black. Right. And they're sitting in a parking lot doom scrolling Instagram. Exactly. Or they're sitting on the highway catching people speeding, which I mean, I speed on the highway all the time and knock on wood, never been caught. But it's just another reminder, and like I know we've kind of been on a roll talking about traffic and city infrastructure, but that one like really rubbed me the wrong way. Because no due process, no, no explanation as to what was going on and you know what was happening in in the car as I'm driving up to this intersection. No way for me to explain my point of view and for them to explain what actually what I actually did. Like I'm going to have to investigate this further, and I may even contest it because I don't really feel that they are justified in writing me a citation for something and then just sending me a picture. Yeah. Right? That doesn't that doesn't feel right. That just it feels like soliciting, and then you just pay for whatever they tell you to pay for blindly.

Speaker 2 25:15

Yeah.

Speaker 25:15

No questions.

Speaker 2 25:16

Because it is a money grab. Yes.

Speaker 25:18

That's exactly what it feels like.

Speaker 2 25:20

Because it's exactly what it is. And I'll start this by saying like this is a gray area. And that's that's kind of the whole issue about it, right? And I mean, it it goes all the way back to 2001 and everything that happened during 9-11 and the launch of the Patriot Act, right? And again, it's always like the trade of for your safety, for your protection at the expense of your privacy. That's what it's always been. And that's what this is too. Yeah. So here we are, 25 years later, you know, a continuation of the same thing. And we've reached a point because of things like AI and because like the internet and social media is commonplace to where they just do it right in your face now. Yeah. It doesn't have to be as like hidden and sinister. And of course, with all the political changes over the past few years, now it's just right up and center, like up front and center. We're turning the United States into a dystopian smart city surveillance state. Yeah. That's what's happening.

Speaker 26:18

And it is infuriating. It is, man. And I think from the standpoint of someone who's been here forever, right? Been here my whole life. And anyone, especially someone like you who's been here long enough to call this place home. Yeah. And you've been here long enough to see the city change, to see it evolve and see it you know improve in in a lot of ways. This feels like a step backwards. It also feels like it's uh infringing very blazonly, brazenly into one of the things that makes this place great, which is like the sense of uh freedom, uh the sense of protection, but the the not the sense of protection maybe, but like the just the sense that you can kind of just live your life without any uh issues. Yeah, right. You can kind of just do what you need to do without a lot of problems. Think about places, other big cities where things like this are already enacted. The UK has had a huge problem with this for decades. You know, they call it this the surveillance nation because there's traffic cameras and traffic sensors and you know, public cameras all across the country, and it is a huge problem. I it always felt to me that Richmond was like immune to a lot of that stuff because of the nature geographically of how it's set up. Yeah, it's on the smaller side, geographically it's not that big, it's only you know 20, 30 miles across. There aren't that many people here. Yes, it is a city and it has all the things that a city does, but because it is more of the small town, it kind of felt like we were protected from some of that. Yeah, that's not the case anymore.

Speaker 2 27:46

No. And dude, in the UK, you get arrested for what you say. You know, they don't have freedom of speech there. And um, you know, the crazy thing is like here in the United States, they are rolling all of this out. And I looked at the the citation, and the thing that stands out to me is this this is not a moving violation. This is not even like a ticket from, you know, it's reviewed by a single police officer that just sits behind a desk and just reviews online support tickets. Yep. And they just look at it, stamp, good to go. It is a money collection scheme. And it literally says, quote, this citation is not considered a moving violation. Payment of the penalty amount for the violation will not be resulted in points assessed by the DMV and cannot be used to increase your insurance rate. So what it's saying right there is that this has absolutely nothing to do with protecting anybody. Because if it did, it would be a moving violation. It would be assessed by the DMV, and it would affect your insurance. Yep. But it's not about protecting anyone. It's the city saying, hey, we partnered with some private technology companies that have paid us tens of millions of dollars to implement their technology into our city infrastructure. And now we are collecting money. And I bet you they have some sort of revenue share program with these tech companies. You know, so it's like, all right, let's roll this out and let's collect some money. Yeah. And it goes into city funding and all this other stuff. And here's the thing, dude, is why wouldn't Richmond do this? Because over $10 million is missing. They're behind budget on the Sportsbackers City Stadium. And they just pay for it. Yeah, dude. And they dumped $30 million into Browns Island, another like $10 or $11 million into Mayo Island. So yeah, they got millions of dollars in bills. Yeah. So they're like, all right, let's ramp it up and let's start charging people. And this is the thing.

Speaker 29:37

It looks like the light, looks like the light is red when I get to the stop sign or to the stop light, and then I turn the corner. Like a lot of people, it's always right turn on red. And there's not a single car anywhere. Anywhere.

Speaker 2 29:53

Literally one on the other side of the thing, but that's it. There's no car anywhere.

Speaker 29:57

And like for reference, this is the intersection of Brooklyn Park Boulevard and Chamberlain Avenue. I think. It's kind of what it looks like.

Speaker 2 30:05

Well, you know, it reminds me like the city also just rolled out this whole um obstructing the bike lane thing. Yeah. Well, I mean, I don't think I even know about that. Okay, so they rolled out, you know, they're ticketing people for obstructing the bike lane, which I'm on board with, right? Because like as a cyclist, and even if I wasn't a cyclist, the problem is like it's not really parking in the bike, in the obstruction piece between the road and the bike lane. That's the issue. It's the fact that if a cyclist is riding, people open their doors. And that is the problem. And it's like, bro, that can literally be fatal. Yeah. Like you could die from like riding a bicycle at 20 to 30 miles an hour into someone's door. And like it's one thing, you know, you it can kind of seem funny, like, oh, open a door and somebody gets it's literally called getting doored. Yep. Um, but bro, imagine if that door is at the wrong angle and you ride into like, dude, it's not, you know, yeah, it's not a laughing matter. And it happens, and it happens, and it happens because people open their door into the bike lane. Yep. Um, yeah, and stuff like that happens all the time.

Speaker 31:03

And it's like, I know that we're trying, and then you know, I feel like I see these these attempts to improve the city's infrastructure and like make everybody happy, make the roads safer, but the designs are so counterintuitive that you have to question why was this the final verdict on how we should approach bike lanes? Yeah. Why put the parking lane two six feet out from the curb and put the bike lane in between the cars and the curb? Okay, I see the logic there because it protects them from traffic, but to your point now that there's the door situation, because where else are gonna people are gonna get out of their car, but opening the door into the bike lane?

Speaker 2 31:45

Yeah. Well, and you know, this thing with the bike lanes in particular was all over the news because what happened is the city didn't give any warning period for anyone. So they made an announcement and said, like, you know, May 1st, we're ticketing everybody. And then May 1st, they rolled out the parking enforcement and probably fined people tens of thousands of dollars in tickets all within the first week of May. Um, but here's the crazy thing about all this red light camera stuff, okay? Because it's not just you, sadly. Guess how many? If you had to guess, how many warnings and citations the city of Richmond issued just in the month of April, how many do you think it would be?

Speaker 32:20

A couple thousand.

Speaker 2 32:21

Okay. Fifteen thousand nine hundred and three for the month of April. F-b bomb. Yeah. Jesus. And so the press release also noted that three new red light cameras are now being put in on Hall Street and one on uh Coordin Road. Yeah. So it's like, huh.

Speaker 32:42

And these locations. Yeah. These intertarging people, they are 100% targeting. And I think I mentioned, you know, that that intersection looks to be Chamberlain Avenue, but I'm gonna confirm it here. Yeah, Brooklyn Park Boulevard in Chamberlain Avenue. Why not put a traffic red light camera in Scott's edition? Why not put a red light camera on Broad Street at Boulevard? It's one of the most high traffic areas in the entire city.

Speaker 2 33:10

Yeah.

Speaker 33:11

Or how about stop putting cameras everywhere? How about that? That's so much better. But the fact that they're putting them in places where they know that they can easily get people because of driving characteristics and because of the people that typically live in these parts of town, it's less or the I don't want to say it's lower, it's not as policed as other areas, and maybe even have been more policed in the past because Brooklyn Park Boulevard and Chamberlain Avenue is a few blocks down or uh about a few miles down from Chamberlain that turns into like Azalea Avenue. And that part of town historically has been low income. Right? If you go further down Brooklyn Park Boulevard into Northside, yeah, it's nicer than it has been, but for a very long time it was an impoverished neighborhood. Yeah. And most of the people that live there probably couldn't afford a ticket. Yeah. So what happens to people that get tickets that they can't afford? They go they increase in the amount that they are due because they are they're assessed with a late fee or a non-payment fee, and then they are sent to the city's version of collections, which usually results in, even though this isn't a moving violation in the past, if you didn't pay a traffic ticket or you didn't pay a parking ticket, you get a boot on your car, they'll suspend your license, or they'll add points to your license or your insurance goes up so high you can't afford it. Yeah. That is exactly what keeps people in poverty. They get into a situation that they can't afford to get out of, and the only way to get out of it is to use the thing that they are no longer allowed to use, like a car or public or like their transportation. So they can't get to work, they can't earn enough money to pay off the ticket to get their car out of the tow yard. So it stays in the tow yard and is assessed a daily amount. The price that it would take for them to get the car goes up. They got a traffic violation, so now they have points on the license, and the license is suspended. If they don't get their license unsuspended within a certain time period, it gets uh what's the it gets what's the the higher asset or higher restriction you get put on your license? Like your license gets restricted or something like that. Yeah, suspended, yeah. Yeah. It just it's a vicious cycle that stuff like this is designed to put people in.

Speaker 2 35:16

100%. And if we do 15,000 times 50 bucks, which is what yours was, that's almost that's a little under a million dollars a month. I'm not paying it. Yeah, I mean, it's ridiculous. You know, and the thing is like, yeah, they're basically playing chicken with you and they're saying, hey, here's a fake ticket. We just made it up. It's not really regulated by any law enforcement. We partner with a private company, they're gonna take pictures of you, we're gonna send you a citation, you pay it. Thanks. Now, if you want to make this a legal matter, then you just request to have a court date. And then it's an actual legal proceeding.

Speaker 35:48

Every time that I've gone to court requested. Now, if you in the in the past, when you get a citation from a police officer, there's always a court date on it. Right. If you get a moving violation, they will always write you a summons, which includes a court date that the police officer is required to show up to. It also includes a prepayment phone number to the clerk's office at the courthouse. You can pay your ticket nine times out of ten in advance. If you don't want to go to court, you got a moving violation. Maybe you roll through a stop sign. It's $100, $150, whatever. Call the court, clerk, hey, I want to pay my ticket. Bing, bang, boom. Doesn't even go on your record. Yeah. Paid, it's it's done. That's like it never existed. But let's say you got a moving violation that costs you $300, $400, and you feel like you didn't really deserve it, or the cop was having a bad day and he just clocked you that one millisecond that you know he can justify you getting this violation, something similar to this. Yeah. Just kind of like the gray area where they can like slide it in there and no one's gonna contest it. If you choose to go to court, nine times out of ten, they're not even there. Yeah, they'd have no reason to go to traffic court because they assume that everyone's just gonna pay it. Yeah. And if the cop doesn't show up, what happens? Judge drops it. Yeah, drops it like it never happened.

Speaker 2 36:56

Yep. Well, and imagine that this is impacting somebody who's in a lower income area, right? And so let's say that this happens, they get a ticket in the mail, right? So now the area that's being targeted has been implemented. So then let's say that person decides to like ride their bike, right? Because here's where we're headed is somebody now, let's say they're riding their bike. And yes, this would be, you know, breaking the rules, but let's say they decide to ride their bike in the bus lane, right? Well, now the camera biometrically scans their face and sends them a ticket in the mail for riding their bike in the bus lane. It has nothing to do with a car or a license plate, right? And so then there's that. And now, when that person doesn't pay that fine, their EBT benefits are taken from them. Yep. You know, it's like that's where we're going. And that is the surveillance state. That is a police state. Well, you know what?

Speaker 37:45

You know what I think? I think the more that this is rolled out, and the more that people like you and me are directly affected because I think you know, there are levels of people that have, you know, the resources and influence to like make a case or make a stand, or like the gumption to do so. And you know, we have people or friends that are like that. I think the more that it directly impacts people like that, the more this will be an issue that is taken seriously. And if I know Richmond, when people try to take things from us, we don't really take it very lightly. Yeah. So much so that the public revolts, there are riots, there are protests, there are le there are petitions the city will react in a manner that is equal and appropriate to the actions that have been taken.

Speaker 2 38:33

Yeah. Well, I think a big part of it is like a lot of the, you know, a lot of the people who are likely to protest and riot, a lot of them are students that don't drive and maybe aren't really affected to the by this all that much. You know what I mean? So, you know, that's just a potential, right? But I think to put a pin in it, like this is what it comes down to is we live in a first world country and we are very lucky that that is the case, right? Like we weren't born somewhere where this was the norm. This is now being thrust onto this country um the same way that it was in the UK. And the point of like being alive was like to live life. And now it's just becoming very aware that that's actually not the reason we're here. We're here to have bureaucracy, you know, forced upon us. And it's like, hey, go to your job, drive through the toll, follow the rules, obey, obey, obey. And that's it. You know, and it's like, great, increase the price of everything, and we'll replace your jobs with technology. We're gonna launch data centers for AI. Really, that's not what's happening. These data centers are a big part for all the stuff we're talking about. Like hundreds of thousands of hours of surveillance footage. Where do you think that goes? It's going to these data centers, you know, and all the AI that's processing all this, reading license plates, scanning faces, all this other stuff. Like that's what these data centers are for in large part, you know? Um, so it's it's crazy, dude. And it's, yeah, it's very frustrating and annoying and infuriating to see Richmond participating in it. And the last thing I'll say is this you're surveilling the citizens that live in your city that are paying the taxes that fund all of this, right? But if one of those citizens walked into your city hall and put a camera in your face as the politician that supports this and filmed you, you'd be very uncomfortable. And said, Hey, I'm just curious, why did you take money from XYZ group? Why are you being funded and lobbied by this group? Why are you buddy buddy with, you know, insert whatever, Palantir, APAC, whatever. Why are you buddy buddy with these people? They're not going to answer. They're going to be, why are you recording me? Why, why are you this? Yeah. It's like, well, now you see how it feels, right? It's like, yeah, nobody wants to be recorded in their own private life. And the argument is that, oh, well, surveillance is normal in public spaces, right? I may be driving on the highway, which is public, but I'm inside of my car. Yep. Right. And that, you know, that opens up a whole nother doorway into like smart cars and EVs and all this other stuff too. So it's it's concerning, man. And I I hate that it becomes a topic that we like we keep bringing up. Yeah. But it is relevant to this city. And it just, it's hard to not bring it up. You know, so it's like, I apologize to anybody who's kind of fatigued about hearing about this. We we are too. Like, we are too. Like, I'm tired of even thinking about all this stuff. But it is, it's like infuriating. And then, of course, you just happen to get a ticket and it just lights a fire under all this stuff.

Speaker 41:36

We were talking about it last week, and we were saying, you know, maybe we maybe we ease up. Yeah, maybe we stop railing on city infrastructure and then freaking eye in the sky sends me a $50 ticket. Yeah. I'm gonna talk about it.

Speaker 2 41:50

Yeah, and it's you know, I don't know, man. It I don't know where it's all headed, but it can't be good. And um, you know, unless people speak up, then it's not gonna change. And I think that's why we continue to bring it up. And, you know, like we're a small business, we're local, we live here. Like you were born here. I grew up here, you know, from the time I was a little kid. And it's like, yeah, at the end of the day, yes, we're a podcast, and yes, we have a big reach, but it's still a small business, you know, and we're doing what we got to do. And um, everybody is affected by this stuff. Like everyone's trying to just enjoy what they like do what they enjoy doing for the most part, especially people who are in like the entrepreneurship and creative space, they're building a brand, building a product, a service, an idea. Hashtag shop local, right? Like we started off the episode by talking about that.

Speaker 42:34

Hashtag shop local.

Speaker 2 42:36

Yeah. Yeah. It's a great point. For anybody who doesn't know, and uh, if you're not watching on video, we do have some of our merchandise behind us. Um, and so we just dropped our first merchandise collection. It's a small limited run of hoodies and tees. And we even have this really cool special collaboration tank top with sports backers. So we have a couple of those on the shop as well. And um, these are all built around the idea of having something like comfortable that you can wear every day. And for us, that's inside and outside of this very studio. So everything has that kind of like oversized, trendy, cool, comfortable, kind of heavyweight feel. It's all designed to be worn and hold its shape over time. I know you and I like I we wear these constantly. This is all the time. Yeah, it's literally all we wear.

Speaker 43:16

I was wearing the hoodie today. I wore the tank top at the rest fest. She had a tank top on a rest fest. I wear the t-shirt all the time and I get compliments on it every time I'm wearing it.

Speaker 2 43:25

Yeah, yeah. And, you know, we we made these, it's not like it says like VeraHouse or VeraHouse.co. Like our website is not on this. You know, it's really meant to be like for creative people. Um, and so big thanks to everybody who's ordered these. We've seen a bunch of people wearing these out in public. The 10K thing was super fun. Yeah. Um, so if you've been following what we've been doing with Vera House, this is just an extension of that. And so if you want to support the show, you can check out everything out through our Instagram or at VeraHouse.co. So moving on from traffic infractions and moving violations and massive satanic fraud. Um, it is officially the 10-year anniversary of the passing of Bagel the Beagle.

Speaker 1 44:07

Who the who's the bagel?

Speaker 44:11

Who's bagel?

Speaker 2 44:12

Here's the thing. As somebody you're someone who's lived here forever, it's amazing that you say who's bagel the beagle. Okay. I have no idea. And here's the thing is if you saw one of the signs of Bagel the Beagle, you'd be like, wow, I've seen one of those. Maybe. Okay. So in 2016, all right, 10 years ago in June of 2016, and there was this woman. Um, let me pull it up. Her name, I think it was Spencer. Jocelyn Sen. Okay.

Speaker 44:42

Spencer, you got that way off.

Speaker 2 44:44

Yes. Spen uh, yeah, but I guess I yeah, I don't know where I got that from. Bagel the Beagle was a famous lost dog in Richmond, whose 2016 disappearance sparked a massive community search and national attention before their owner concluded he had died shortly after escaping. The search for the nine-year-old rescue beagle, who was terrified of fireworks, led to the creation of a dedicated Facebook page and fundraising effort for the lost pet. Bagel escaped from his home near Monument Avenue in Richmond in June 2016. The owner, Jocelyn Sen, launched a major months-long campaign to find him, involving thousands of flyers, a dedicated van, and a Facebook effort followed by thousands of Richmonders. Finally, in November, after like months and months of searching for this dog, there were flyers everywhere. And they weren't, it wasn't just like a flyer stapled to a pole. Like, dude, these things were like laminated and taped onto poles, and they lasted like years, like to the point where five, six, seven years these flyers were still there. And you could go all over Greater Richmond and see Bagel the Beagle. Like it'd say lost dog Bagel the Beagle with a picture of Bagel. Yeah. And dude, it's legendary. It's like bigger than Francine the Cat. Um, but it was just like pre social media. You know, like we had social media, but it wasn't like it is now. It wasn't like with reels and TikTok and all that other stuff, right? Um and in November of 2016, uh, Jocelyn finally announced that she believed that Bagel died shortly after running away, stating that long and short, Bagel was killed on impact not long after he left my home. So Bagel was never found, and all of the effort only netted like one positive sight. There was like one person who said, I saw Bagel, and it was like a few blocks from the house that he ran away from near Monument Avenue. And it was like that day. You know, it was like the day that he went missing, basically. And then nobody ever saw him after that. Yep. But related to your psychic experience, your tarot card reading, um, what ended up happening was that she came to this conclusion after consulting with a pet psychic who already knew a lot about her and her pets. And that was the conclusion that they came to. Yes, exactly. Um, and dude, there are people who have like original framed bagel posters. You know, like it's a big deal, man. Man, Richmond loves a pet scandal. Yes, 100%. Bagel the Beagle is like legendarily famous. That's too funny.

Speaker 47:15

I mean, do you have a picture of the the I'm sure we can fire one? I'm sure. Because I don't recognize or I don't haven't heard anything about Bagel the Beagle, I don't think.

Speaker 1 47:29

That's amazing. Yes. There we go. There's Bagel the Beagle. So there's Bagel. That's basically what the sign looked like. Amber Alert.

Speaker 2 47:41

Bagel. Amber Alert? Alright, that's that's a lot. Boom. So these are kind of like the posts that were always pinned up and framed up on the on the polls all over Richmond. I mean, this was like everywhere, dude. Yeah, kind of looking dog. Yeah, yeah. Bagel the Beagle. Um, yeah, they had a reward posted. Bagel the Beagle had a hey, had his own hashtag. Um, yeah, dude. It was like a whole crazy thing. That is that's wild.

Speaker 48:10

And yeah, Richmond, Richmond will rally around a lost pet like like no other cause. Like the support that comes from people when someone's dog gets out or a cat gets lost is mind-boggling.

Speaker 2 48:27

It's insane. It's a very Richmond thing. It is. Yeah. So this person said, I have a framed original bagel poster. I wonder if it should be donated. Someone said, I think the Valentine the Valentine Museum is more likely to take it. They're the closest the city has curated. They're the closest the city has curating and presenting a zeitgeist of the region, and they do it pretty well. Not that lost pets are worthy of an exhibit, but damn, I don't think anyone who had sight and was in Richmond was able to not see a bagel poster in 2016. And then someone commented and said the Valentine Museum would definitely take it. They would. Um, yeah, dude, bagel the Beagle. And that's a great example of like something that we would have in this studio as like Richmond lore, bagel the Beagle, framed poster of Bagel the Beagle.

Speaker 49:14

Yeah. That's next up with a decoration list. Yeah, yeah. 100%, dude. It's freaking wild. Well, speaking of wild tales, I came across this tale, and I'm pretty sure one of our listeners told me about it. Like, we've mentioned this before. Some of the craziest things that we end up talking about are because someone that we know that listens to the show or watches the show has mentioned it to us. So if you got a crazy story and you see us around, you know, definitely bend our ear a little bit. We're always down to listen for some crazy stuff.

Speaker 2 49:46

Yes, and there's a link in the description where people can actually text us as well. So you can actually text into the show if they have any ideas.

Speaker 49:52

Yeah, for sure. Definitely do that. Have you heard of the Briley brothers? No, I don't think so. I hadn't either until I recently like looked into this. And whoa. So I don't know, like I said, I can't remember who told me this story, but I looked into it and it's pretty insane. In 1979, Richmond, Virginia experienced the most gruesome string of violent crime in the city's history that resulted in the death of at least 11 men, women, children, and elderly people. Whoa. This is the story of the Briley brothers. And man, it's a long story, so I'm gonna condense it a little bit. There's a documentary out as well, if you really want to do a deep dive on it. It's on YouTube, it's about 40 minutes long, it goes all into the details, is uh eyewitness accounts, and there's um testimony from some of the police that were active back then. It blew my mind. That's crazy because you don't think stuff like that happens in Richmond. That's the thing. Nobody had ever experienced that level of like violent crime or a string of violent crimes. And there's there's really no context here, but these are three black young men. At the time, they were teenagers. And they're brothers, and they're all brothers. Wow. It's three of them. And the story goes, and I'll get into some details here, but the story goes out of seemingly nowhere, they started to committing acts of crime, robbery, and it very quickly escalated to violent crime and murder with no motive and no intent to rob or steal or to gain anything. It was purely just to be violent. Wow. Which is kind of like it's unheard of in Richmond.

Speaker 3 51:38

Yeah.

Speaker 51:39

Right. So the Bradley brothers, Linwitt, James, and Anthony grew up in Highland Park of Richmond's north side. From the outside, their house looked like any other neighborhood home, but later reports described a strange, dark environment inside. Exotic pets, a father who reportedly kept them kept his bedroom door padlocked, and sons who could appear polite in public, but were connected with the most brutal crimes in Richmond's history. One of the clearest cases in the police record is the murder of John Harvey Gallagher, a Richmond radio DJ known as Johnny G. On September 14th, 1979, Gallagher was playing music at South Richmond's club, at a South Richmond club. During a break, he stepped outside and was never saw again, was never seen again. After the court records, according to the court records, the group had been riding around looking for someone to rob. They saw Gallagher, and his name is spelled G-A-L-L-A-H-R. So if I'm saying it weird, I'm trying to enunciate it properly. They saw Gallagher, abducted him, forced him into his own Lincoln Continental, and drove him to the Mayo Island Bridge near the James River. There, Linwood Briley shot him in the head. When Linwin was later arrested, Gallagher's ring was found on his hand. Gallagher's watch was found on his wrist. Throughout 1979, the Briley gang was tied to some tied to a string of robberies, beatings, rapes, home invasions, and murders. What made it worse was that the group seemed to pick their victims at random and without motive. The most unsettling part of the attacks was a brutal was attacks were brutal in a way that made people feel like the cruelty was the point. On October 19, 1979, the group entered the home of Harvey Wilkerson, Judy Barton, and Judy's five-year-old son. According to the court record, Judy Barden was raped, the victims were bound. Accomplice, Duncan Meekins, shot Wilkerson. James Briley then shot Judy Barden and her young son. Police had seen members of the gang moving through the area that night, but the bodies were not discovered until two days later. Within a day, Linwood Briley and Duncan Meekins were arrested. Meekins was only a teenager, but once he started talking, the case changed. He gave police statements that placed himself and the Brileys at the Bardin-Wilkerson crime scene. Suddenly, the investigators had an insider. They had names, they had a timeline, they had someone who could start connecting some of the violence. Two of the Bardens were sentenced to the death penalty, and the third was given a life sentence. But just when Richmond may have thought the Briley story was finally locked away, it had an unexpected turn. On May 31, 1984, Linwood and James Briley helped lead an escape from death row at the Mecklenburg Correctional Center. Wow. Six condemned inmates got out. It became known as the largest death row escape in U.S. history. For nearly three weeks, Linwood and James were on the run. The men connected to one of the most terrifying crime sprees in the city's history had already been convicted. They were already on death row, and suddenly they were on the loose again. For nearly three weeks, Linwood and James were on the run. They were eventually captured in Philadelphia on June 19, 1984. Linwood was executed on eight or on October 12, 1984. James Briley was executed on April 18, 1985. And Anthony was not executed. He received a life sentence and is still listed as as incarcerated. The Virginia State Police Offender of Record currently lists Anthony R. Briley, age 68, with status incarcerated. Wow. So when did it say what year that was? When was that? This was 1979.

Speaker 2 55:33

Wow. That is unbelievable. Yeah. That's crazy because that's like some Ted Bundy level stuff, you know? Like, I can't believe I've never heard of that.

Speaker 55:42

Me neither. I when I heard like the tale, someone asked me to look into the Briley brothers, and I looked into it, and it is an unbelievable story. It's like three young black teenagers from Northside to just randomly start murdering people and not for any sort of acclaim, not for any discernible reason. They just liked being violent.

Speaker 2 56:08

Yeah, and I was gonna say, what's your guess of of their motivation? Because I've got my thoughts.

Speaker 56:13

I don't know. The uh the documentary that I watched, some of the the detectives and the people that worked on the case were leaning towards like mental illness, but also upbringing and like their environment. They don't really allude to like their parents being kind of crazy or violent. They actually said that their parents were scared of them. The parents were locking themselves in their bedrooms because they were afraid of the kids. And as far as motivations, it's hard to say. It just seems like there was a significant and quick, like drastic, quick uptick in violence and like the urge to be and uh involved in violent things. You know, they were saying like most people had like pets and things and dogs and cats. They had venomous snakes and tarantulars and scorpions and shit as pets. Yeah. Like these dudes were messed up. Yeah.

Speaker 2 57:08

Well, as somebody who had venomous snakes and spiders and snapping turtles and weird stuff as a kid. You know, I can't relate to being like a young black man growing up in Highland Park, but I've been to Highland Park when I was young, and yeah, not a great area, especially back then. And I mean, I couldn't imagine in the 70s and 80s, like what that was like. Um, so it's like I have no frame of reference to like get inside of the mind of those people and say, like, oh, this is their motivation. But dude, I betcha they're just pissed off, you know, like to a degree that's just insane, you know. And I mean, I think people have this pent-up rage and anger, especially when they feel like the world is against them and that like nothing is going their way and that everybody has it out for them, or that no matter what they do, it's it can't, you know, they they just can't do anything right or whatever. And I think that's the mindset behind a lot of people that decide to like shoot up a school or assassinate somebody or to go on a killing spree. It's like they have this level of anger and hatred that most people, including you and I, couldn't even rationalize or understand, you know. Um, but that's insane because that yeah, there are all these like weird characters that for the most part nobody's ever heard of. Like even learning about the original owner of this building. It's like you know to think that there's like these mobsters murdering people and money laundering and they're on the FBI's most wanted list, and then you got these guys who grew up in Highland Park, you know, just young guys that go out just murdering people, and like that's crazy.

Speaker 58:38

Yeah, man. And I think yeah, I think you're probably right about their their motive. The documentary is skewed from the documentary perspective of the story at large, but it is also skewed because the people telling the story are former police officers and detectives, and they're all they're all white. The most of the victims are white. And if you can draw context clues and based on what you're saying, that lines up, right? Growing up in Southside Richmond or Barton Heights, Richmond, three young black teenagers in the 70s, I can understand them being angry.

Speaker 2 59:11

Yeah. Because the world is against you, you know, or like, you know, at least your entire environment and everything you know feels like it's rooted against you.

Speaker 59:19

Especially here. Like there from what I've read, there isn't note of racial intent or racial crime. They simply paint the pictures as or paint the uh the story as it happened. Yeah. You know, young black teener teenagers murder uh middle-aged white man. And they say that some of their the victims were chosen at random because there's no way to connect. No correlation. No correlation. They're on other sides of the city. They would drive miles to go potentially murder somebody. And one of the and like I don't want to get too graphic with it, but one of the more disturbing scenarios or that was the first one that really put them on the map, and that was the murder of a black family in their home. It was a mother, her boyfriend, and her son, and there's no connection to the family. They didn't rob them, they didn't take anything, they broke in, tied them up, and murdered them all. Brutal. And it's just there was more tales of that until they were captured.

Speaker 2 1:00:25

Yeah. Yeah. Wow, man. I couldn't imagine spending life in jail, right? Imagine being in the in jail since the late 70s. Yeah. And we're sitting here talking about like surveillance cameras scanning biometrics of your face and sending a ticket in the mail. Yeah. And it's like, man, we got we got busted by cops doing it the old-fashioned way, you know. Notebook and binoculars.

Speaker 1:00:49

I mean, and then breaking out only gets caught again. Being on death row and then breaking out. That's actually probably the craziest part of the story. Yeah. That's why, like sentence to the electric chair, because that's how they they sentenced people to death here in Virginia in the 70s, was the electric chair. And I don't remember when they outlawed it, but just I saw that and I was like, wait, what? They did that back then. And I forgot that that's how they did it. So they they sentenced and sentenced these guys to the chair, and then they broke out and they took six people with them.

Speaker 2 1:01:19

That's crazy. And so you watched the YouTube video or the documentary. Did it give any context to how they were able to break out?

Speaker 1:01:28

It it probably does, but to be honest, I didn't get that far. Yeah. It's a it's a long document, 45 minutes, it's an hour long.

Speaker 2 1:01:34

Wow, I'll have to check that out. Yeah, I'll have to give that a watch. Because that's crazy, man. That's insane. Yeah, and who knows how many other like weird stories there are like that around here.

Speaker 1:01:44

If there's any in like indication as to how many weird stories that there are or that we have yet to to really you know stumble upon across stumble across or find out whether it's on our own or if somebody else kind of clued us in, there's no shortage of weird history here, man. Yeah. Like it is doing this podcast and like hearing some of the stories that you come up with and finding out some of the stories that people have heard growing up here that I have never heard. It's just you think you know a place and you think you got a pretty good idea of what's what used to happen here. It's very likely that that you don't until you do some di some real deep dives into the history of what went on.

Speaker 2 1:02:30

It's insane. And I gotta say, it's like one of the most enjoyable parts about doing this podcast is like we get to dig into all this stuff and learn about these things. Yep. And so, you know, I'm continuing to enjoy that process and like looking forward to learning more and like diving into more of these stories. So, like you said, if people have recommendations, definitely text us, text the show, let us know what you think. Richmond is a weird place, you know, and it's like, yes, there's some crazy things in our past, there's some crazy things yet to come, I'm sure. But uh whatever, man. I wouldn't have it any other way, I guess. You know, it's gotta keep keep things exciting, I guess. Give us something to do.

Speaker 1:03:08

Yeah, I got coffee and crumpets to get from Carrytown, man.

Speaker 2 1:03:13

Exactly, exactly, dude.

Speaker 1:03:15

Carrytown booming. Yeah. This podcast was recorded at Vera House Studios in Richmond, Virginia, and produced by Perry Young and Mike Metzger.