- 6/16/2025
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00:00I was bawling because someone that I love lost to someone that she loved.
00:11It was a monthly occurrence that the nude body of a black woman would turn up.
00:19There is going to be another homicide. We felt it in our guts.
00:24We got everybody together, made a task force.
00:27We got a letter from somebody taunting us and giving us the location of another body.
00:34He was providing information, and you're like, whoa.
00:38This person is a serial killer.
00:41In the house, there were chains, ligatures, boards with blood on them. It was a chamber of whores.
00:50He would torture them and enjoy knowing that they were afraid.
00:54He's taunting them, telling them, say goodbye to your children because you're going to die.
01:00What we saw was him murdering a black female and talking to the camera.
01:06First kill was nice.
01:08I'd seen human depravity and horrible things, but I'd never seen anything that horrific.
01:13How can you not get angry?
01:15What happened to him?
01:16What broke in his mind?
01:19I worked in the St. Charles County Sheriff's Department.
01:38Outside of St. Louis, Missouri, is a very rural area, a lot of cornfields.
01:45The crime rate in our county is relatively low compared to St. Louis City or across the river in East St. Louis.
01:54Being the only female in the Detective Bureau, I was assigned to crimes against persons investigating rapes, child abuse, and missing persons.
02:02I very rarely have to work a homicide in our county.
02:08But in May of 2001, we got a call that a grasscutter out in a desolate area was mowing the grass.
02:16And he had found what appeared to be a nude body on the side of the road.
02:21When we did arrive on the scene, we approached the body.
02:26She was a black female, totally nude from head to toe.
02:30There were some ligature marks located on her.
02:33And she was in a bad state of decomp.
02:38This was definitely a secondary sight.
02:41She was murdered somewhere else, and she was dumped.
02:44She had no jewelry on, no identification, no tattoos, nothing to locate the identity of this woman.
02:54But during the autopsy, we found an upper dental plate with the inscription of Wilson on it.
03:00We went to several dentists in the area, and the dental plate came back to a Teresa Wilson.
03:07We found out Teresa Wilson was living off and on with her brother and her brother's wife.
03:17She was also addicted to drugs, and she worked as a sex worker.
03:23But we do not have ladies of the sex trade in St. Charles County.
03:29Typically, the girls were working in St. Louis.
03:31While we were investigating Teresa Wilson and how she was murdered,
03:40approximately a month later, in June, another call came in that another body was found
03:46in the same area, 16 feet from the location where Teresa Wilson was found.
03:52Through missing person flyers and a missing person report from Illinois,
03:57we were able to identify this person as Verona Thompson.
04:01This was horrendous.
04:06These are women.
04:08Regardless of what their trade is, they are mothers, daughters, sisters, aunts.
04:14They don't deserve to die this way.
04:17I had sent a message out throughout the metropolitan area of anybody with similar cases such as ours.
04:25Immediately, I got a call from Illinois State Police.
04:28Agent Jimmy Walker, he discovered a body outside of East St. Louis in Washington Park, Illinois.
04:38That body was Alicia Greenway.
04:41She was found in a very isolated area, completely nude.
04:45There were some ligature marks located on her.
04:49And he was in contact with St. Louis City Homicide.
04:53And they had also found a body that was disposed of, completely nude.
04:58And her name was Betty James.
05:00They were known women of the night in the sex trade.
05:04The crimes we have in St. Louis vary from the most violent homicides down to petty theft.
05:12And at that time, in 2001, I was captain in one of the patrol districts in North St. Louis.
05:17I had 125 people in my command.
05:21When Betty James was discovered, she had an adhesive substance on her hands and face.
05:26Like, they were bound with duct tape, but it was undetermined cause of death.
05:31So that stayed as an act of investigation, but on the shelf.
05:35Because there were no leads.
05:37But by the end of the summer, it was one after another after another.
05:42We were really shocked by the monthly occurrence that a sex worker found nude, sometimes undetermined cause,
05:50or strangulation, would turn up in a multitude of jurisdictions.
05:55The St. Louis metropolitan area is a little bit unique in that on both sides of the river,
06:01in both the Missouri side and the Illinois side, there are a lot of municipalities,
06:04so a lot of local police departments.
06:07And in this case, you had four or five different municipal police departments
06:12that had victims dumped in their area.
06:16Victims were being located in both states.
06:19When a body would be found, it might be in one police department's jurisdiction.
06:24And so at first, people weren't necessarily connecting them all.
06:32All of the victims were black women.
06:35Sex workers who are street-based and seem to have some kind of drug habit and addiction.
06:41There's a way for sex workers to put up healthy barriers to prevent situations that are dangerous
06:52and risky, and that's screening clients beforehand.
06:57And street-based sex workers just don't have that luxury.
07:01This seems to be why they were targeted.
07:04It seems to be the common string.
07:12At the time, I was a mayor of the city of East St. Louis.
07:16We've had problems with drugs and with crime.
07:18And then when our police chief told me we have someone preying upon our people,
07:25killing them, and dumping bodies in areas that I was trying to clean up,
07:31my mind immediately went to my two friends, my two former track teammates,
07:37because they were on the stroll, and they had fallen on hard times,
07:41and they were out there doing what they needed to do to make ends meet.
07:46I said, I have to warn them.
07:49Get as much word out quietly as to not panic the community.
07:57You hear about these things, but you're not going to stop
08:01when you need to support your child or feed an addiction.
08:06So we have to come together as a community,
08:09and workers, we're trying to communicate more and check in with each other.
08:15When you've got bodies popping up everywhere and no answers,
08:21the level of fear and not knowing when it might happen again
08:25is incredibly impactful on a marginalized population that no one really cares about.
08:31We started looking at all these different agencies, both Illinois and Missouri.
08:39We had bodies being dumped in East St. Louis, Illinois,
08:43Washington Park, Illinois, St. Charles County, Missouri,
08:46and then the city of St. Louis, Missouri.
08:50And then we got everybody together, a whole room of people,
08:53said, bring your reports, let's sit down and do something.
08:56Part of this task force, so you could get over that whole state line thing,
09:00and Illinois State Police, one of their key investigators, became part of our team.
09:05We had an FBI agent as a liaison, as part of our team.
09:09My husband, who's also an agent, and I were on the task force.
09:13The reason that you develop a task force like this is so that you can share
09:17the evidence that you've collected from the crime scenes,
09:20any information you have about the various victims.
09:23If you were able to recover DNA off of a victim,
09:27then it could connect that victim to the other victims.
09:33Then later, in August, two more females, Cruz and Beasley, were located in East St. Louis.
09:42The task force worked those two cases through forensics.
09:46DNA was obtained, and those two bodies were linked to one male profile.
09:52Now we have eight bodies.
09:54This person is a serial killer.
09:58There is going to be another homicide.
10:01We felt it in our guts.
10:02They discover 24 videotapes.
10:10One that was titled The Wedding Tape,
10:13and all of a sudden, the beautiful wedding tape stopped.
10:16The hairs on the back of my neck were standing up.
10:19Something didn't seem right.
10:20The quiet in that room,
10:23realizing that this man is pure evil,
10:26that was unbelievable to us.
10:32It was determined that we, collectively as a group,
10:38the task force,
10:39were going to do our best to find out
10:42who is doing this before more bodies turn up.
10:47When I talked with one of my teammates that was on the streets,
10:51one of the bodies that was found in East St. Louis
10:54was her good friend.
10:56And so I had to hold her.
10:59And that was gut-wrenching for me.
11:01I was bawling
11:05because there was nothing I could do.
11:08Someone that I love
11:09lost to someone that she loves.
11:14How do you get over that?
11:17For several months,
11:19the task force hit the streets.
11:22We talked to people.
11:23No results.
11:24We could not find anything further
11:28to help identify the murder of these women.
11:33Crimes that involve sex workers
11:37can be pretty complicated.
11:39Often, they may live with other people.
11:44Nothing is in their name.
11:45They don't have credit cards.
11:47They don't have things that tie them
11:49necessarily to the community
11:51other than the other people
11:52who they work with every day.
11:56They're also doing something that's not legal,
11:59so it's difficult for them
12:00to go and talk to the police.
12:02The majority of sex workers
12:06are afraid of the police.
12:08They can't tell people
12:10that they need help
12:11for fear of being incarcerated.
12:14And oftentimes,
12:16street-based workers
12:17can't return to their family
12:20because of the stigma.
12:21They can't tell their loved ones
12:25what's going on.
12:26And this deep isolation,
12:28it causes more danger
12:30and more risks.
12:31During the time of October, November, December,
12:43everything was cold.
12:45We were getting nowhere with our leads,
12:46which we had very little of.
12:49Then, beginning of 2002,
12:52several of the other jurisdictions
12:53over in Illinois
12:54had discovered three additional bodies.
13:01We contacted the behavioral science section
13:06of the FBI up at Quantico
13:08because they specialize
13:10in profiling serial murders.
13:12First off, they said
13:13most serial killers are white,
13:16but they said
13:17the probability is that he's a black guy
13:19because serial killers traditionally
13:22kill people of their own race.
13:24Also, the profilers came back
13:30that it would probably be somebody
13:32that wanted to be in control.
13:35In this situation,
13:37a lot of the sex workers
13:38were using drugs.
13:40If he was offering them drugs,
13:42that was a way to control
13:43that they would get in a car with him,
13:45that they would go with him.
13:48Additionally,
13:48there are theories
13:49that one motivation
13:51for these type of murders
13:52is that they feel like
13:54they're cleaning up society,
13:56that they actually are empowered
13:58to essentially judge others
14:00and act as jury
14:02and executioner of them
14:04because they're doing it
14:05for the societal good.
14:09Historically,
14:10sex workers have been dismissed
14:12as worthless parts of society
14:14that can be easily discardable.
14:16They go unnoticed
14:18when they go missing.
14:19And sadly,
14:20they get ignored
14:21because they're sex worker victims
14:23so they don't make the news.
14:26That didn't stop
14:27one phenomenal reporter
14:29at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
14:31who said he wanted to humanize
14:34one of these victims,
14:36specifically one of the victims
14:37that had the most known about her,
14:40which is Teresa Wilson.
14:46The article put a human face
14:50and body and life
14:51on Teresa Wilson.
14:55It showed that
14:56even though she was a sex worker,
14:59she did have a life.
15:01She had friends
15:02and she had family
15:03and she fell into a rut
15:05and she couldn't get out.
15:07A few days later,
15:16Bill Smith receives a letter
15:19in the mail addressed to him.
15:23That letter ended up
15:25changing the entire case.
15:27Dear Bill,
15:28nice sob story
15:30about Teresa Wilson.
15:31Write one about Greenwaite.
15:33Write a good one
15:34and I'll tell you
15:35where many others are.
15:36To prove I'm real,
15:37here's directions
15:38to number 17.
15:40Search in a 50-yard radius
15:41from the X.
15:43Put the story
15:43in the Sunday paper
15:44like the last.
15:45And he identifies
15:47on a map
15:48the location
15:49of one of the victims.
15:51And there's nothing
15:52more huge
15:53in terms of breakthroughs
15:54in a case than that,
15:56especially if it's real.
16:00He was providing information
16:02about a body
16:03and you're like,
16:04whoa.
16:06So one of our detectives
16:07ran over there
16:08and got the envelope
16:09and the letter.
16:11Four of us went out
16:12to that location
16:13and in the middle
16:15of a field,
16:16very visible
16:16by a little gravel road,
16:19we did see
16:19that it was
16:20a sun-bleached skull.
16:22And upon looking further
16:24into the area,
16:25there were scattered bones,
16:27remains of a skeleton.
16:29It was within
16:30a short distance
16:31where Greenway
16:32and Wilson
16:33were recovered
16:33earlier in 2001.
16:36So it's like,
16:36hey, this is for real.
16:38This is our guy,
16:39but who is it?
16:49Following the map,
16:50we found the skeletal remains,
16:52but there was nothing else
16:55of evidential value
16:56found at the scene.
16:57In the meantime,
17:00the task force
17:01is looking into
17:02the letter itself.
17:05There's a lot
17:06of really interesting things
17:08in this letter,
17:09one of which is
17:10he wants to command
17:11this reporter
17:12which victim to cover.
17:15And it's trying
17:15to incentivize him,
17:17if you write a good one,
17:18I will then
17:19do something for you.
17:21that shows this element
17:23of wanting
17:23to have control
17:24and domination
17:25over something
17:26that is so far
17:28out of his control.
17:30Additionally,
17:31here's the directions
17:31to number 17,
17:33which means that
17:34he's taking credit
17:35for more killings
17:37than the police
17:37are even aware of.
17:39He's searching for fame
17:40or recognition.
17:42From that moment on,
17:47all gears were shifted
17:48toward the letter.
17:50It had been postmarked
17:52in St. Louis,
17:53but it had a return address.
17:55It said,
17:56I thralled him
17:56and it was not
17:57an actual address.
17:59We discovered
17:59it was a S&M website
18:02that he put there.
18:03We tried to get fingerprints,
18:05DNA licking the envelope,
18:07nothing was coming up.
18:08It's on very interesting
18:11stationery that had
18:12like a floral greenery
18:15motif at the top.
18:16We went to every single
18:18stationery potential store
18:21that we could find
18:22in the St. Louis area
18:23to see if we could figure
18:24out where it came from.
18:27Those things were not
18:28panning out.
18:30But when he sent
18:31that letter with the map,
18:33it was a computer-generated
18:34map with an X on it,
18:36this could be the break
18:37we've been looking for.
18:3820 years ago
18:43was not the way
18:44it is now.
18:45And at that time,
18:46the internet had maybe
18:48two or three
18:49mapping companies.
18:50There weren't 50 of them
18:52like there is now.
18:54So my husband
18:55and I went home
18:57that night
18:58and we were looking
18:59on our own computer
19:00to try to backtrack
19:02where this map came from.
19:04I can vividly remember
19:06being with Melanie
19:07on the computer at home
19:08trying to replicate
19:09the look of the map.
19:12What she was able to get
19:14was a reproduction
19:15of that map
19:17and that location
19:18on Expedia.
19:19It was an incredible moment
19:24and we were able
19:25to get a subpoena.
19:28Microsoft gave us
19:29an IP address
19:31and there had only
19:32been one computer
19:33that had accessed the map
19:35during that time frame.
19:37But the IP address
19:38isn't the name
19:39of the person.
19:40So then we had to subpoena
19:41another company
19:42to get it.
19:43and then finally
19:45we get this feeling
19:47I will never forget
19:48like we got
19:49the information
19:50in an envelope
19:50and I remember
19:52opening it
19:52and I was staring at it
19:54because it had his name.
19:57Maury Travis.
19:59Boom.
20:00Who is Maury Travis?
20:11Maury Travis
20:12was not married.
20:13He was a server
20:14in a restaurant.
20:15He lived by himself
20:17in Ferguson, Missouri.
20:18The house
20:19is in Maury Travis'
20:20mother's name
20:21but she is residing
20:23in Illinois.
20:24He had a criminal background.
20:26He had served time
20:27for five armed robberies
20:28that he committed
20:29in St. Louis County
20:30back in the late 80s
20:31and was out on parole
20:33during those times
20:34that the bodies
20:35were recovered.
20:36We also discovered
20:37that in 2001
20:38late fall
20:40after he had violated
20:41his parole
20:42and sent back to jail
20:43and had just gotten out
20:45in the last couple months
20:47before the letter was sent.
20:49Once we determined
20:50his name
20:52and his address
20:52and his location
20:53we had him
20:54under 24-hour surveillance.
20:56I wanted to watch
21:03this guy
21:03for 48, 72 hours
21:05just to see
21:06what he does
21:06every day.
21:08Does he work
21:09those areas
21:09where the sex workers
21:10hang out
21:11and solicit people
21:12from the street?
21:13What does he do?
21:14What's his daily activity?
21:15When does he sleep?
21:16When does he leave his house?
21:18Myself
21:19and another detective
21:20had the overnight shift.
21:22We didn't observe anything.
21:24However,
21:24the daytime shift
21:25did observe
21:27Maury Travis
21:27bringing the trash out
21:28to the curbside.
21:32Trash pickup
21:32was the next day
21:33so a couple of detectives
21:35went to a hardware store
21:37and got a brand new
21:38trash can.
21:40They stopped the trash man
21:41down a block or so over
21:43and said,
21:43hey,
21:44we want to ride with you
21:45and pick up trash.
21:45We want to get trash
21:46from this one house.
21:47So they picked it up
21:50and inside the back
21:51of the trash truck
21:52was this brand new
21:53empty container
21:54that we dumped
21:54all the trash into.
21:56And that's turned over
21:57to the crime lab
21:58in St. Louis.
22:00And one of the criminalists
22:02got Travis' DNA
22:04off of a plastic spoon.
22:07The DNA,
22:09which was a match
22:09for the male profile,
22:11found on two of the victims
22:14in East St. Louis.
22:16Travis was our guide.
22:19We prepared a federal search warrant
22:21to execute on that house
22:23in Ferguson.
22:25The next morning,
22:26we set up at 6 o'clock
22:27in the morning
22:28the task force all together
22:30as well as the FBI forensics
22:32and different representatives
22:33from all of the agencies.
22:36Melanie had lined up
22:37the St. Louis Division SWAT team
22:40in case that there was
22:42any situation
22:42in which a tactical team
22:43was needed.
22:45We pulled up
22:46to Mari Travis' house.
22:48I knocked on the door
22:50and announced FBI.
22:52Mari Travis answered the door
22:54and exclaimed,
22:55it was 7 o'clock
22:56in the morning.
22:57The investigators say,
22:58yes, it is,
22:59and you know why we're here.
23:04I will never forget
23:05this feeling.
23:05He came to the door
23:07with a black female
23:08standing there with him.
23:09And it was this feeling of,
23:11oh, my God,
23:12this could have been
23:12another victim.
23:13The female companion
23:15with Travis turned out
23:16to be a neighbor
23:17slash girlfriend of his.
23:20Initially,
23:20you walk into this house
23:22to the main level
23:23and he had, like,
23:24white leather furniture
23:25and it was pretty clean looking.
23:28There wasn't a speck of dust.
23:31Everything was in its place.
23:33It's very organized
23:35and it was one second of,
23:37wow, this isn't what I expected.
23:43Then myself and Special Agent Walker
23:45went to clear the basement.
23:47It was very dark.
23:49We proceeded very slowly,
23:51going down the stairs.
23:54We'd turn on a light.
23:56I remember one of the things
23:58that jumped out at me
23:59was he had a TV
24:00and a wall,
24:02like, built-in bookshelves.
24:04And on the built-in bookshelves
24:05were a number of VHS tapes.
24:09And a number of the VHS tapes
24:11were actually animated kids' tapes.
24:14I was trying to compute
24:15why somebody we had thought
24:17could be a serial killer
24:18would have had kids'
24:20animated videos downstairs.
24:24The hairs on the back of my neck
24:25were standing up.
24:27It's just something
24:27didn't seem right.
24:30Also, during this time,
24:32one of the other detectives
24:33had Mr. Travis pulled aside.
24:36The female that he was with
24:37was also interviewed.
24:40As the detective and the profiler
24:42were speaking with Travis,
24:43he tried to distance himself
24:46from the issue.
24:48I don't know what you're talking about.
24:49You got to the wrong place.
24:52They brought up the fact
24:54that there was a map
24:55and a ladder generated
24:56from a computer in that house.
24:59And he was kind of cursing
25:00under his breath
25:00that, damn, that computer.
25:02They showed him some mug shots
25:04of the victims.
25:06About five or six say,
25:08have you ever seen these women?
25:10And he's denying ever seen them.
25:12As a conversation taking place,
25:14this curiosity,
25:15he's got the best of them.
25:15He goes,
25:16let me see the pictures
25:17of those dead women again.
25:19I said, hey,
25:19we didn't tell you
25:20those women were dead.
25:23Downstairs.
25:24We progressed down the hall.
25:26The next room that we encountered
25:28on the left side
25:29was a closed door
25:31that was locked.
25:34We were very concerned
25:35that there could be somebody
25:36in danger in the room
25:38and we had to make a force entry.
25:40And we could not believe
25:42what we found.
25:42When they opened the door,
25:54the overpowering aroma
25:55of the blood and bodily fluids
25:58quickly overcame the investigators.
26:02Travis had tried to use
26:04room deodorant down there
26:06and everything,
26:06but the smell was too strong
26:09for the room deodorant.
26:12The walls were painted
26:14a very unusual blue
26:16and the carpet was a dark color
26:19and there was a mattress
26:21on the floor.
26:23There was a bag,
26:25a stun gun,
26:26a restraints,
26:27duct tape.
26:28It looked like
26:29what you would consider
26:30a kit that a serial killer
26:32would use.
26:33There was a closet in there
26:36and the walls in the closet
26:37had not been painted
26:39the same dark blue
26:40as the walls
26:40and it was there
26:42that you could see
26:43blood spatter on the wall.
26:46It all started to paint
26:48a picture for us
26:49of the horrible things
26:50that probably occurred
26:51in that room.
26:56Also, there were chains,
26:59ligatures,
27:00boards with blood on them.
27:01and you could see
27:03it was a chamber of whores.
27:09We're going to tear
27:10this place apart.
27:10We're going to search it
27:11and see what evidence
27:12we can find.
27:13Then he said,
27:14hey, I don't want to talk
27:15here any longer.
27:16Take me over to Illinois
27:17and I'll give you
27:18what you're looking for.
27:20So we assume he's,
27:21hopefully he's going to show us
27:22where some other bodies are.
27:24But as they cross the river
27:26into East St. Louis,
27:28he goes, hey,
27:28just lock me up.
27:30Just lock me.
27:31I'm toast anyway.
27:32He's getting real agitated.
27:34They say, why?
27:36You know why.
27:36And then he's like,
27:37if you don't lock me up,
27:38I'm going to punch one of you.
27:40So they cuff him,
27:41bring him back
27:41to the police headquarters.
27:42I believe he thought
27:47in that moment,
27:48I have a card I can play.
27:52But I'm going to make them
27:53wait for it.
27:54I'm going to essentially
27:55use the same type of technique
27:57that I did on all my victims.
27:59I'm going to make them suffer
28:00and wait.
28:02And only after I'm satisfied
28:04will I ever play this card.
28:05When you hear that a task force
28:10searched and tracked down
28:13a monster that was amongst us,
28:16the serial killer,
28:17it's like a roller coaster
28:19of emotion.
28:20You're excited,
28:21but then you find out
28:22he grew up right here.
28:23It's mind-boggling.
28:27You think he couldn't be
28:28from this area,
28:29East St. Louis,
28:30because we don't do that
28:31to each other.
28:37While we were waiting
28:38for Maury Travis
28:39to come back
28:39to St. Louis City Homicide,
28:41agents were still combing
28:43and going through the residence.
28:46The crime scene investigators
28:49have turned their attention
28:50to the basement
28:51where they feel
28:52that a number of these victims
28:54had met their fate.
28:57The FBI techs
28:58had peeled off
28:59layers of paint.
29:01There was so much blood
29:02hidden in the walls.
29:05He painted over it.
29:06He killed blood,
29:09paint,
29:10killed,
29:11blood,
29:12paint.
29:13This went on and on
29:15through layers and layers.
29:16looking at Maury Travis' basement
29:24was a reflection
29:26of his personality
29:27and his underlying traits.
29:30This is somebody
29:31who's haphazard,
29:32somebody that is almost
29:33fighting against themselves,
29:35who isn't concerned
29:38about what type of forensics
29:39could be found
29:40like a true organized
29:42offender would have.
29:46One of the things
29:47that struck me
29:47is that he had designed
29:49a torture chamber
29:50that he wanted to build
29:52in his backyard.
29:54At that time,
29:55no construction
29:56had been done.
29:57But here's a guy
29:58who probably all day long
30:00thought about
30:01how he was going
30:02to kidnap,
30:02assault,
30:03and murder women.
30:08And strangely enough,
30:11behind the bookshelf
30:12in the basement,
30:13there was a secret compartment
30:15where they discovered
30:16more videotapes,
30:1824 VHS tapes.
30:21One that was titled
30:22The Wedding Tape.
30:24We put it in
30:26and there's a nice wedding
30:27going on.
30:28And all of a sudden,
30:29the beautiful wedding tape
30:30stopped
30:31and there is
30:33a dark basement.
30:35There is a man
30:36and a nude woman
30:38with handcuffs.
30:40That moment,
30:41the shivers
30:41up and down the spine.
30:43First kill was nice.
30:51When reviewing
30:53the Travis video,
30:54up to that point
30:55in my career,
30:56I'd seen human depravity
30:58and horrible things.
31:00But seeing it on video,
31:01and hearing
31:02the people's voices,
31:04I'd never seen anything
31:05that horrific.
31:07What we saw was
31:09Maury Travis
31:10murdering
31:11a black female
31:13by strangulation
31:14and then talking
31:15to the camera.
31:17First kill is 19 years old.
31:20Lame, I don't get it.
31:23The quiet in that room.
31:29That moment,
31:30realizing that this man
31:32is pure evil.
31:35On that same tape,
31:37there's five or six
31:38other women.
31:39He would be on camera
31:41torturing them
31:41while they're alive.
31:42He had them handcuffed
31:43or duct taped.
31:45He made one keep saying to him,
31:47you're my master.
31:49That was horrible.
31:50And then when you hear
31:52on tape
31:53one lady pleading
31:55for her life,
31:56how can you not hurt?
31:58How can you not get angry?
32:01What happened to him?
32:02What broke in his mind?
32:08I've been in combat
32:09in Vietnam.
32:10I saw some terrible
32:11things there.
32:12But this disgusted me.
32:14When you see
32:14what is done
32:16to these people,
32:16the terror they faced
32:18before they finally
32:19killed them,
32:20that was unacceptable.
32:22It was so disturbing
32:24that one of the chiefs
32:26was offering
32:26psychological counseling
32:28for anybody
32:29who had to watch
32:30the videos.
32:32Maury Travis
32:33had a rather ritualistic way
32:35that he would kill
32:36his victims.
32:38When he got them
32:38back to his home,
32:40he would start
32:41by asking them
32:42questions about
32:43their life,
32:45why they were
32:45in the sex trade,
32:47and then he would
32:48have them knocked out
32:49in some way,
32:50either through drugs
32:51or by hitting them.
32:53Once he got them
32:53downstairs,
32:55he would begin
32:56his torture.
32:57He really enjoyed
32:59knowing that they
33:00were afraid of him
33:02or it meant
33:02that he was
33:03a big man.
33:04He would tell them
33:05that they were
33:05going to die,
33:07make them confess
33:08for their sins,
33:09or make them say
33:10that they were
33:11happy to be
33:12his servants.
33:14All of these things
33:15are very demeaning,
33:16and it was feeding
33:17into his self-esteem.
33:21Travis was under arrest
33:23and transported to the
33:24St. Louis Police
33:25Department headquarters.
33:27He was being held,
33:28and they were trying
33:29to get more information
33:31and find out just
33:32where in hell
33:32the rest of these
33:33bodies were located.
33:35Watching the interview,
33:37Travis was very cocky,
33:39arrogant,
33:39and it really wasn't
33:41getting anywhere.
33:43Eventually, he said,
33:44hey, give me a public
33:46defender, and I'll tell
33:47you what you're looking
33:47for.
33:48So, we stopped
33:50the interrogation.
33:51I had him processed.
33:53I was notified
33:53that the FBI
33:54would come the next day,
33:56take him in custody,
33:57and take him out
33:58to St. Louis County Jail.
34:03The next day,
34:05Travis was booked,
34:06and he was placed
34:07in solitary confinement.
34:10There was definitely
34:11something in Travis' psyche
34:14that caused him
34:16to target sex workers
34:17because even on some
34:19of the videos,
34:19he's criticizing them.
34:21You're here with me.
34:22Who's taking care
34:23of your kids?
34:25Doing a deep dive
34:27into Travis' history,
34:28he had a normal childhood.
34:30He grew up in Ferguson
34:32in West Alton, Missouri.
34:33He volunteered
34:34at his mother's church
34:36in a nursing home.
34:37He was a member
34:38of the Army Reserves
34:39for two years,
34:40and then he was going
34:42to a Morris Brown
34:43Business College
34:44in Atlanta.
34:45He picked up
34:46a cocaine habit,
34:48flunked out
34:48of Business College,
34:50and returned
34:50to St. Louis.
34:52And in order
34:53to support
34:54his cocaine habit,
34:55he held up
34:56a number of shoe stores.
34:57He was tracked down
34:59and charged
35:00with armed robbery,
35:01convicted in 1989,
35:03and sentenced
35:04to 15 years
35:05in prison.
35:06So in early 2000,
35:08Travis was released
35:10from prison.
35:15Something people
35:15don't realize
35:16about serial killers
35:17is they actually,
35:18at the end of the day,
35:19feel very worthless.
35:20And they target
35:21sex workers in part
35:23because they see
35:25the sex worker
35:25as beneath them.
35:27And so they take
35:28all of their fury
35:29out on the sex worker.
35:33Travis had a double life.
35:35He was able
35:35to hold on
35:36to a job
35:37as a server,
35:38and he had family
35:39that he still talked with.
35:41And he had a girlfriend
35:43while he was committing
35:44all of these horrible crimes
35:46in his other world.
35:48Maury Travis
35:49seemed to have
35:49a good relationship
35:50with his mother
35:51and other women
35:52in his life,
35:53so it's exceptionally rare
35:55that you see him
35:56turning on women
35:58and sadistically
36:00killing them
36:00in the way
36:01that he did.
36:01But we do see
36:03Maury Travis
36:04had this early fascination
36:06with killing bugs.
36:07He would torture them.
36:09Later,
36:10he escalated this
36:11to killing animals,
36:12including his neighbor's dog,
36:14which is showing
36:16a more sadistic nature.
36:20When you actually see
36:22the film of the guy
36:23and how he's brutal
36:25and torturing these women,
36:27he's got a sadistic
36:28streak in him.
36:32There's six women
36:33on the tape,
36:34and he's taunting them,
36:35telling them,
36:35say goodbye to your children
36:36because you're going to die,
36:37and then slapping them.
36:39You see a guy like this,
36:41nothing touches this guy.
36:44A lot of those women
36:45may never be recovered.
36:47We account for like 12,
36:49but his letter,
36:50when he sends a map,
36:51saying go over to the X
36:52and you'll find number 17,
36:54and that was a skeleton.
36:55If there's really 17,
36:57how many were done
36:57after that skeleton?
36:59Obviously,
37:00we were hoping
37:01that we could get
37:02more information
37:03from Maury Travis
37:04and find more of the victims
37:06so that we could get closure
37:07for other families.
37:08We've been working
37:12in this case 24 hours a day
37:14for the last year.
37:16Now Maury Travis
37:17is in custody,
37:18so I'm sitting at home
37:19taking a break,
37:20and the phone rings
37:21and goes,
37:22you won't believe this.
37:28The road was pulled off
37:29from under us.
37:30Serial killer,
37:37Maury Travis,
37:38he's in St. Louis County Jail.
37:41He won't spend
37:42the rest of his life
37:42in prison
37:43or die from a needle.
37:45The heightened fear
37:53was gone,
37:55and you're about
37:56to cross over,
37:58and the celebration
38:00will begin
38:01with his being tried
38:03and convicted.
38:09But I get the call,
38:12and he goes,
38:12you won't believe this.
38:13Travis hung himself
38:17in a cell.
38:20I said,
38:20he's not dead,
38:21is he?
38:21And he goes,
38:21yeah, he's dead.
38:23I'm like, damn.
38:31I think Travis realizes
38:33they got all the evidence.
38:34There's no way
38:35to talk my way out of this.
38:39So he took a sheet,
38:41cut it in strips,
38:42and then he had
38:43a noose tied
38:43to the vent
38:44above the toilet.
38:46He just stepped
38:47off the toilet
38:47and hung himself.
38:51They found a suicide note
38:53that he had addressed
38:54to his mom.
38:57Dear Mom,
38:58I'm sorry for the pain
38:59this caused you
38:59and the family.
39:01My death seems
39:01to be the only way out.
39:03I've been sick
39:04for a long time,
39:05sick in the head,
39:06since I was about 14.
39:07I don't know why.
39:09I was just sick.
39:12There is no admission
39:13of guilt
39:14from somebody
39:16that was so
39:17hellbent
39:19on getting confessions
39:21out of the women
39:22that he tortured.
39:24Additionally,
39:25he's explaining
39:26his suicide
39:27as a way
39:29of getting out
39:30of trouble.
39:31If he was so concerned
39:33about doing
39:34the right thing,
39:35he would have said,
39:37here are the locations
39:37of all of the bodies
39:39and have it
39:40where there's
39:41some ending
39:42that the victim's
39:42families can know.
39:43It was a devastating blow
39:51to us
39:52because we still
39:53did not have
39:54the names
39:55or find
39:55all these other victims.
39:58There's estimates
39:59that he killed
40:00from 12 to 20 women,
40:02but he was active
40:04every two or three weeks
40:05when he would get
40:07the urge to kill.
40:09So if he was active
40:10after number 17
40:12and that body
40:13had been there
40:13for almost a year,
40:15do the math,
40:16that's 10 or 12 more
40:17right there.
40:19Damn sure more than 20.
40:25I think that
40:27the Maury Travis story
40:30wasn't as widely
40:33publicized
40:34as other serial killers
40:35because people
40:39just saw the nightlife
40:40that the victims
40:42were living
40:43that my friends
40:44were living
40:45was something
40:47that you could just
40:48turn a blind eye to.
40:49They didn't really matter.
40:53This guy was unknown
40:54for a long time.
40:56That is unconscionable.
40:57Just because they were
40:58sex workers
40:59didn't mean
41:00that their deaths
41:00were in vain,
41:02that they didn't
41:03deserve attention.
41:03Teresa Wilson really is
41:09an unsung hero.
41:12She is the reason
41:15why Maury Travis
41:16was apprehended.
41:19She should be remembered
41:20as a daughter,
41:24as a mother,
41:25and really as the person
41:30who brought justice
41:31to all of Maury Travis' victims.
41:36There are few people
41:40who are still thinking
41:41about the victims' families
41:43or people that are still missing.
41:46And if someone knows something,
41:48it would be wonderful
41:49for them to come forward
41:50because the families
41:51are still hurting
41:52and everyone needs closure.
41:58When I think about the victims,
42:01if they were here,
42:03I would just say,
42:03I'm sorry this happened to you
42:05because I know they came from
42:06a very difficult life.
42:08And then to leave the world
42:09with that level of violence
42:11and then society discarding you.
42:17I'd want to hug these women.
42:20We're all the same.
42:21Any of us could have been you.
42:25And I hope they know
42:27that they're seen and loved
42:28just like anyone else.
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