The Bearded Man (PODCAST EXCLUSIVE EPISODE)

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[3] On the night of May 31st, 2003, in a bar parking lot in Florida, a short bearded man sat in his car clutching his rifle.

[4] After taking a breath to steady his nerves, the bearded man opened his window, raised his rifle up until it was aimed at the back door of the bar, and then he waited for his target to emerge.

[5] A moment later, the door of the bar swung open and outstepped a young woman, his target.

[6] Immediately, the bearded man fired.

[7] But he missed.

[8] However, instead of firing a second shot at his target, the bearded man panicked and chucked the rifle into the back seat and then hit the gas speeding away as fast as he could.

[9] But this would not be the last time the bearded man tried to kill this woman.

[10] And eventually, when the police finally tracked the bearded man down, his real identity and his motive would be truly astonishing.

[11] The plot twist in this story is unlike any other we have ever covered, so be sure to stick around till the end.

[12] But before we get into that story, if you're a fan of the Strange, Dark, and Mysterious, delivered in story format, then you come to the right podcast because that's all we do and we upload twice a week, once on Monday and once on Thursday.

[13] So, if that's of interest to you, please replace the Amazon Music Follow buttons face soap with a soap -shaped peeled potato.

[14] Okay, let's get into today's story.

[15] I'm Dan Tversky.

[16] In 2011, something strange began to happen at a high school in upstate New York.

[17] A mystery illness, bizarre symptoms, and spreading fast.

[18] What's the answer?

[19] And what do you do if they tell you it's all in your head?

[20] Hysterical.

[21] A new podcast from Wondry and Pineapple Street Studios.

[22] Binge all episodes of Hysterical early and ad -free on Wondery Plus.

[23] On the night of May 31st, 2003, 37 -year -old Sandy Razzo stood behind the bar at the Green Aguana Bar and Grill, not far from the beach in Rocky Point, Florida.

[24] The summer crowds had already started arriving in waves to the area, and so the place that night was totally packed.

[25] Music was blaring, people were dancing and shouting, and the line at the bar just kept getting longer.

[26] Sandy saw a man wave her down, so she walked over to him, she leaned across the bar so she could hear his order over the music, and then she smiled.

[27] And Sandy's smile showed off her perfect teeth, that seemed even whiter than they really were because of her very bronze, tanned skin.

[28] She also had long hair with blonde highlights and the body of someone who worked out all the time.

[29] And when she was younger, Sandy had worked as a fitness model and she still had dreams of becoming a movie star someday.

[30] Because of her looks, men at the bar often made it a point to order their drinks from Sandy instead of one of the other bartenders, and the men almost always told her how pretty she was.

[31] And that night was no different.

[32] Sandy poured the man his drink and slid it across the bar to him, and right away he told her she was totally beautiful, and he left her a great tip.

[33] Sandy smiled again and then moved on to the next customer.

[34] Sandy used to love all the attention she got from men at the bar, but over the last year or so, she had stopped trusting people, especially men, like she used to, so she had started to keep her guard up a little more at work.

[35] For most of her life, Sandy had always thought the best of people, and she believed that when you treated others with kindness, they would do the same to you.

[36] But that had all changed for Sandy about a year earlier after she'd had a horrible experience with a man who she thought was one of her best friends.

[37] That man, Tracy Humphrey, had been a part -time bouncer at the last place Sandy had worked as a bartender.

[38] Tracy was this big, six -foot -two -inch tall, bald guy who looked like a big weightlifter.

[39] He was actually known as Mr. Clean because he looked like the big bulky guy on the labels of Mr. clean cleaning products.

[40] Tracy and Sandy had first bonded over their love of fitness, and when Sandy found out Tracy worked as a trainer at a gym, she had started taking classes from him.

[41] Sandy also loved that Tracy had connections to Hollywood.

[42] He claimed he'd been the stunt double for the action movie star Vin Diesel and that he had worked as Tom Cruise's personal bodyguard.

[43] And when Sandy would tell her friends that she still dreamed of acting in movies someday, Tracy was one of the only ones who told her that her dream really could still come true.

[44] And so Sandy had hoped that she and Tracy would be friends forever, because they got along so well, and he supported her dreams, and she always felt relaxed and safe with him.

[45] But then, one night, when they had been hanging out at Sandy's place, Tracy had tried to pressure Sandy into having sex with him.

[46] Sandy got upset and said that was not what she wanted, and she made that clear to Tracy.

[47] But when Sandy turned him down, Tracy had gotten angry and gone into her.

[48] a rage.

[49] And so, soon after that incident, Sandy had left that job and started working instead at the Green Aguana, so she wouldn't have to see Tracy anymore at work.

[50] But even after she had quit, Tracy had kept calling her and bothering her.

[51] But by May of 2003, the calls had finally stopped.

[52] Sandy heard a rumor that Tracy had started dating a 20 -year -old woman named Ashley, so she thought maybe that meant he would leave her alone for good.

[53] From behind the bar at the Green Aguana, Sandy could see the crowd was finally starting to thin out.

[54] Her feet were aching from standing up all night, and she was excited her shift was ending, and she could finally go home.

[55] A little while later, she checked in with her manager to say she was leaving, she counted her tips for the night, and then walked through the kitchen towards the back of the building.

[56] While Sandy was getting ready to leave, people outside were making their way from one bar to the next, and music was pumping from dance clubs and from parties all across the beach nearby.

[57] But a The short bearded man wearing baggy jeans, a sweatshirt, and a baseball cap, blocked out all that noise and walked straight down the sidewalk in front of the green iguana.

[58] The bearded man pushed his way through a crowd of people and then headed around the building to the large parking lot in back.

[59] Once the bearded man got to the parking lot, he climbed into his Volkswagen Beetle car and closed the door.

[60] Then he leaned over to the back seat and grabbed a rifle that he'd stashed there.

[61] Then the bearded man picked up a parable jeans on the passenger seat and slid the barrel of the rifle through one of the pant legs to conceal the barrel when he raised the gun.

[62] The bearded man lowered the passenger side window, stretched across the car and propped the now concealed barrel of the rifle on the open window and then watched patiently at the back door of the green iguana.

[63] It was hot in the car and he could feel sweat dripping down his forehead from under his hat, but he just kept on focusing on that back.

[64] door.

[65] Then finally, Sandy, who had just finished her shift, came out the back door.

[66] As soon as the bearded man saw her, he raised his rifle up and aimed it right at her and fired.

[67] The bearded man heard glass break and he saw Sandy look around wildly around the parking lot.

[68] The bearded man was confused for a second, but then he realized he hadn't hit Sandy.

[69] He had missed.

[70] He'd shot the side mirror on his own car.

[71] The bearded man panicked and looked around to see if anyone had seen him, then he tossed the rifle into the back seat, started up his car and sped off.

[72] Back in the parking lot, Sandy got into her black BMW convertible, like nothing had happened.

[73] She'd heard the glass break, and she'd heard the shot most likely, and the car speeding off, but she just kind of figured that maybe some drunk guy had smashed a bottle somewhere and then driven away.

[74] She didn't realize she had been shot at.

[75] So inside of her car, Sandy started the engine, pulled out of the parking lot, and headed home.

[76] And after about a 25 -minute, minute drive, Sandy arrived in her quiet, well -lit neighborhood and pulled up to the two -story townhouse she shared with her friend, Tony Pony Call, then she parked her car in the garage and went inside.

[77] Tony got home not too long after her, and they both stayed up for a bit talking, and then eventually Sandy went up to bed and fell asleep, not realizing that earlier that night someone had tried to kill her.

[78] The following month, Sandy spent most of her time at work or hanging out with her friends, and she was having fun and making good money, and she felt like her life was moving in a really positive direction.

[79] But as good as things were going for her, she'd started to worry a little bit about Tony, the man she lived with.

[80] It had become clear to Sandy that Tony was in love with her, and he wanted to be more than just roommates.

[81] And Sandy admitted to some of her friends that she kind of liked Tony, too.

[82] He was sweet, he worked hard, and he treated Sandy like a queen, and the two of them had even gone on a few dates.

[83] But after what had happened to Sandy with Tracy, she still wasn't ready to fully trust anyone.

[84] And so Sandy had told Tony that she didn't want to have a serious relationship with him and that they were great as friends and roommates, but they should both be able to date whoever else they wanted.

[85] Tony said he understood, but there were still times he acted like they were a couple, and that concerned Sandy.

[86] On July 5th, over a month after the secret failed shooting in the parking lot, Tony and Sandy hung out for a little while at their townhouse before Sandy left for work.

[87] And when she left, Tony told her to have a great day and everything seemed good between them.

[88] And Sandy hoped Tony was finally okay with just being friends and roommates again.

[89] And when Sandy got to work, any thoughts about Tony quickly disappeared because the bar was so crowded that all she could think about was the next drink she had to make.

[90] July 4th weekend at the bar made other summer weekends look tame in comparison.

[91] And Sandy could feel her legs burning and her back aching as she made her way up and down the bar pouring drinks for what seemed like a never -ending line of customers.

[92] But even though she was tired and busy, she was still in a great mood, because everyone was making a lot of money that night, and all of the customers seemed like they were really having a great time.

[93] And then, after working non -stop for hours, Sandy's shift ended at about 10 .30 p .m. So she counted up her tips, she said good night to everybody, walked through the kitchen, out the back door, and into the parking lot.

[94] And when Sandy stepped outside, she immediately heard a loud bang, and right away Sandy was startled, but then she looked up and saw it was just fireworks exploding over the beach.

[95] Sandy smiled, climbed into her car, and headed home.

[96] And a little after 11 p .m. that night, Sandy pulled on to her street that was lined with small homes and townhouses just like hers, and she noticed how quiet everything was.

[97] She figured everybody must still be out, or they must have gone to bed early after partying the day before on July 4th.

[98] Sandy pulled into her driveway, she opened her garage door, and parked her car inside of the garage.

[99] She turned off her car's engine, pulled her keys out of the ignition, and leaned over to grab her purse on the passenger seat.

[100] But while she was leaning over, she heard something slam against the driver's side window.

[101] Sandy turned to see what had made the noise, and a look of fear came across her face.

[102] Then Sandy screamed, raised her feet up, and began kicking the driver's side door over and over and over.

[103] A few minutes after Sandy had gotten home, her roommate Tony flipped on the light in their kitchen.

[104] Tony was tan with short brown hair and he was only wearing boxer shorts.

[105] He'd expected Sandy to stay out late that night, so he'd gone up to bed.

[106] But when he heard something going on in their garage, he headed back downstairs to see if Sandy had gotten home.

[107] So Tony walked across their kitchen and opened the door that led out to the garage and he saw Sandy's black BMW parked right there, but he didn't see Sandy in the car.

[108] Tony shouted her name in case maybe she was outside out front of their property, but she didn't yell back.

[109] So Tony took a few steps into the garage towards Sandy's car, then he leaned forward and looked in through the passenger side window and right away his breath caught in his chest.

[110] In the car, Tony saw Sandy lying slumped over the center console, and her car seats were covered in blood.

[111] Immediately, Tony ran around to the driver's side of the car, and as he did, he felt glass pierced his bare feet, and he saw the driver's side window was shattered.

[112] Tony shook off the pain in his feet.

[113] He opened the door and climbed inside.

[114] He pulled Sandy into his arms and tried to talk to her, but she was unresponsive.

[115] Then Tony reached into Sandy's gene pocket, grabbed her cell phone, and dialed 911.

[116] The emergency operator picked up, and right away a look of complete calm suddenly came across Tony's face.

[117] and when the operator asked him what was wrong, Tony said in a slow, steady voice that his girlfriend was bleeding in her car and he couldn't wake her up.

[118] At about 11 .30 p .m., 15 minutes after Tony had made that 911 call, Detective Scott Golchewski of the Pinellas Park Police Department was sitting on the couch at his house when his cell phone rang.

[119] Ski, as everybody called Detective Golchewski, had spent a relaxing weekend celebrating the 4th of July, but as soon as he heard his phone ring late at night, he knew his relaxing weekend had just come to an end.

[120] Ski answered the phone and had a quick conversation with his boss, and a few minutes later, he was on the road heading to Sandy's townhouse.

[121] As Ski drove through the neighborhood and turned onto Sandy's street, he was a little surprised this was the call he'd gotten.

[122] On a holiday weekend, his first thought had been that maybe something had happened in the part of town where a bunch of people were drinking at the clubs and bars.

[123] but when he parked in front of Sandy's townhouse on her quiet street, he figured he was most likely dealing with a domestic dispute that had turned violent.

[124] Ski stepped out of his car and walked up Sandy's driveway.

[125] He was in his late 30s and he was average height with broad shoulders and short brown hair.

[126] He'd lived in Florida for years, but he'd grown up in New York and had never lost his New York accent.

[127] Ski heard one of the officers who was already on the scene call out his name, so he walked towards them in the garage and saw him.

[128] Sandy's black BMW.

[129] Glass from the shattered driver's side window was all over the ground, and Ski saw a bloody prince from someone's bare feet, and when he looked in the car, he saw the seats and floorboards were spattered with blood.

[130] The officer who had called him over told Ski that a woman in her 30s, Sandy Razo, had been shot in her car.

[131] The victim had been rushed to the hospital, but she had been pronounced dead not long after her arrival.

[132] Ski asked who had called 911, and the officer said Sandy's boyfriend.

[133] And he also said a cop at the hospital told him that the boyfriend had followed the ambulance to the hospital in his own car before police had arrived at the townhouse.

[134] Ski made a mental note of that.

[135] There was nothing strange about a boyfriend rushing off to the hospital where his girlfriend had been shot, but police must have been very close behind the ambulance, and so he wondered if maybe the boyfriend had wanted to get away before having to face the cops.

[136] Then a ballistics expert on the scene walked over to Ski and pointed out where they had found multiple shell casings in the car and in the garage.

[137] And Ski realized that whoever had shot Sandy made little or no effort to cover their tracks.

[138] And Ski thought that could indicate one of two things.

[139] Someone had either seen the shooter in the act, and so the shooter had panicked and ran, or the shooter had very little experience with firearms and didn't understand all the evidence a gun could leave behind.

[140] Ski wanted to test out his first theory and see if anyone had caught the shooter in the act, so he and a few other officers started going door to door in the neighborhood to ask questions.

[141] But Sandy's neighbors had either been out when the attack took place or they had already gone to bed, and so nobody had heard or seen a thing.

[142] So after canvassing the neighborhood, Ski went back to Sandy's townhouse.

[143] He and the other officers had already been in there for hours, But he told himself, he wasn't going to sleep until he was sure they had found every piece of evidence possible at the crime scene.

[144] Hey, all you fans of the Strange, Dark, and Mysterious.

[145] It's me, Mr. Ballin.

[146] And today, I have some big news.

[147] It's something I'm holding in my hands right now, and so obviously you can't see it.

[148] But this is something you're really going to want to see.

[149] It's the first ever official Mr. Ballin publication.

[150] It's a graphic novel, and it's called Mr. Ballin Presents, Strange, Strange, Dark, and Mysterious, the Graphic Stories.

[151] It's an anthology of both classic and brand new, terrifying stories that we've never covered on any of my other platforms, because we created them specifically for this first book.

[152] Each of these stories in the book are feature -length, Mr. Ballin's stories that really needed to be told visually.

[153] And the artwork in this book is, I mean, I'm looking at it, and it's just absolutely stunning.

[154] So the book is not actually coming out until my birthday this year, October 1st, but you can pre -order it right now at book.

[155] Bollin Studios .com.

[156] Again, that's book .bollin Studios .com.

[157] She struck him with her motor vehicle.

[158] She had been under the influence and she left him there.

[159] In January 2022, local woman Karen Reed was implicated in the mysterious death of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O 'Keefe.

[160] It was alleged that after an innocent night out for drinks with friends, Karen and John got into a lover's quarrel en route to the next location.

[161] What happens next?

[162] Depends on who you ask.

[163] Was it a crime of passion?

[164] If you believe the prosecution, it's because the evidence was so compelling.

[165] This was clearly an intentional act.

[166] And his cause of death was blunt force trauma with hypothermia.

[167] Or a corrupt police cover -up.

[168] If you believe the defense theory, however, this was all a cover -up to prevent one of their own from going down.

[169] Everyone had an opinion.

[170] And after the 10 -week trial, the jury could not come to a unanimous decision.

[171] To end in a mistrial, it's just a confirmation of just how complicated this case is.

[172] Law and crime presents the most in -depth analysis to date of the sensational case in Karen.

[173] You can listen to Karen exclusively with Wondery Plus.

[174] Join Wondery Plus in the Wondry app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

[175] By 6 .30 a .m. on July 6th, so about seven hours after Ski had gotten the call from his boss, Ski was still at Sandy's Townhouse.

[176] He was out on the driveway, making sure they hadn't missed any tire tracks or any other evidence out there, and as he did that, he looked up and saw the sun rising, and that was when he realized how tired he was.

[177] But just then, a Toyota four -runner vehicle pulled up in front of the townhouse, and a man stepped out of the car and started walking towards ski, and ski immediately felt a jolt of energy.

[178] The man introduced himself as Tony Pony Call, the victim's boyfriend.

[179] He was now wearing sweatpants and a t -shirt, and he said he'd spoken to officers at the hospital and they had let him go, and so he wanted to come back home to see if he could help the police who were there.

[180] Ski was shocked at how calm Tony seemed.

[181] His girlfriend had just been shot and killed, and he showed up at the scene of the crime like he was there to just help them find a missing dog or something.

[182] But Ski knew shock affected people differently, so he didn't want to jump to conclusions.

[183] Ski asked Tony if they could go inside and talk through the events of the previous evening.

[184] Tony smiled and said he'd be happy to help.

[185] And as they walked across the yard towards the front door, Ski noticed there were scratches on Tony's hands and arms.

[186] Once they were inside, Tony led Ski through a foyer with peach -colored tile floors and into a living room with a high ceiling.

[187] Tony sat down on the couch and Ski sat in a chair across from him.

[188] Police had found no evidence of forced entry in the house and Tony said nobody other than him had come into the house that night.

[189] Then, with an almost blank look on his face, Tony said he'd been in the upstairs bedroom when he heard something going on in the garage, so he went downstairs to see if maybe Sandy had gotten home, and he told Ski about how he had found Sandy slumped over in her car.

[190] But even when talking about the moment he had found Sandy with blood all over her face and clothes and all over the car, Tony remained completely calm.

[191] So Ski leaned in a bit closer and asked Tony if he and Sandy's relationship was serious or more like casual dating.

[192] And Tony said Sandy was actually his fiancé.

[193] A confused look came across Ski's face and he pointed out that Tony had just introduced himself as Sandy's boyfriend, but Tony quickly said that he just hadn't gotten used to being engaged yet.

[194] Ski nodded, but watched Tony's face closely to see if he looked like he might be lying, but Tony's appearance never changed.

[195] So Ski pointed at Tony's hands and arms and asked him how he'd gotten all those cuts.

[196] Tony said when he climbed into the car to try to revive Sandy, he'd cut his arms and his hands on the shattered glass.

[197] And he also said he had not been wearing shoes or socks at the time and he'd cut his bare feet as well on the glass on the ground.

[198] And when he said this, Ski figured that that probably cleared up who those bloody footprints belonged to.

[199] Then finally, Ski looked Tony in the eye and asked him if he could think of anyone who might want to harm or kill Sandy.

[200] And for the first time, Tony's calm, cool demeanor disappeared.

[201] His face started to turn red, he clenched his jaw, and then he said there was one person, one person who definitely could have killed Sandy.

[202] And that guy was a guy they called Mr. Clean, Tracy Humphrey.

[203] In his time as a detective, Ski had tried to stick to a simple rule, never get tunnel vision when working a case.

[204] Over the years, he'd seen a lot of cops build cases entirely around one suspect, and when that suspect turned out to be innocent, the cases just fell apart.

[205] So, in the days following Sandy's murder, Ski still definitely considered Tony to be a major suspect.

[206] Tony was the one who had found Sandy and called 911 and he had those scratches on his hands and arms, and on the day after the murder, Ski had heard from one of Sandy's co -workers at the Green Aguana that Sandy had never agreed to marry Tony, and she'd actually told him she didn't want a serious relationship with him at all.

[207] So Tony, calling Sandy his fiancé, just seemed totally strange to ski.

[208] But Tony had undergone a gunpowder residue test, determine if he'd recently fired a gun, he had willingly submitted DNA samples, and he had allowed the forensics team to do a thorough investigation of his car.

[209] And so while the investigators waited for all those test results to come back, Ski started looking into other possible suspects.

[210] And someone who worked at the green iguana had seen a bearded man kind of lurking outside the night Sandy was killed, but they had no idea who he was.

[211] So Ski now had Tony and this unknown bearded guy as possible suspects, but for the time, he wanted to turn his attention to Tracy Humphrey, a .k .a. Mr. Clean, the man who Tony was so sure could be Sandy's killer.

[212] So at 3 p .m. on July 8th, less than three days after Sandy's murder, Ski paid a visit to the gym, where Tracy worked as an instructor and personal trainer.

[213] Ski walked into the gym and heard the sound of trainers shouting encouragement and people grunting while they lifted weights.

[214] Then he walked up to the front desk, showed the man behind the counter his badge and asked to speak with Tracy.

[215] The employee said he would go get Tracy and pointed Ski to a small office where he could have some privacy.

[216] Ski thanked the man and then walked into the office, took a seat at a table with nothing on it, and waited.

[217] And a couple of minutes later, Tracy walked in.

[218] He was 36 years old, out of breath, dripping with sweat, and had a towel wrapped around his neck.

[219] Ski was taken aback by how big and intimidating this guy was.

[220] Ski asked Tracy to close the door behind him, and have a seat.

[221] So Tracy closed the door, he wiped the sweat from his face with his towel, and then he sat down.

[222] Then he introduced himself to Ski in a low, soft voice.

[223] And right away, Ski thought that Tracy's voice didn't really match his body.

[224] Ski smiled and said he knew Tracy was working, so he wouldn't take up much of his time.

[225] Then he asked if Tracy had heard about what happened to his friend Sandy.

[226] Tracy said he'd read about it in the newspaper and that he was totally heartbroken.

[227] Ski told Tracy that he was very sorry for his loss, because because Ski believed that it was always a good idea to start a line of questioning by empathizing.

[228] But before Ski could actually ask a follow -up question, Tracy suddenly stood up and said he did not feel comfortable talking to police at work, and that if Ski had a problem with that, he could contact Tracy's lawyer.

[229] Ski was surprised the conversation had taken such a quick turn, and it definitely made him question why Tracy wanted to get out of there so fast.

[230] But he didn't have anything to charge Tracy with, so he just thanked Tracy for his time, stepped out of the office, and walked back through the gym.

[231] And when Ski stepped outside, right away he felt the sun on his face and a warm breeze blowing.

[232] The temperature was about 90 degrees Fahrenheit, and Ski thought that this was the perfect kind of summer day to go to the beach.

[233] And right there, it struck him that Sandy would never get to enjoy these perfect summer days in Florida ever again because someone had robbed her of her future.

[234] And that made Ski very angry.

[235] He wanted to find Sandy's killer as fast as he could, and the conversation he just had inside the gym made him want to dig a lot deeper into Tracy's life.

[236] Over the following week, Ski and the investigative team returned to Sandy's townhouse multiple times to see if any new evidence had emerged, and they also followed up with Sandy's co -workers to see if they remembered something from the night of Sandy's murder that they might have overlooked the first time they were interviewed.

[237] But nothing new surfaced.

[238] So during that time, Ski also did something that some other detectives might not have done.

[239] Ski's father had been a fireman, and so Ski had always admired firefighters and had close relationships with a lot of them in the area.

[240] And so he reached out to friends at different local fire departments, filled them in on the Sandy Rosso case, and asked them to please let him know if they had anything that might help him find Sandy's killer and bring them to justice.

[241] Ski didn't know if anything would come of asking these firemen for help, but it just made sense to him to use all the resources at his disposal.

[242] But as the days passed, no new evidence came in from anywhere, and so Ski started to really get frustrated.

[243] And he wanted to move the investigation forward, but he'd run into a big problem.

[244] Tracy's lawyer had told Tracy not to say another word to police about Sandy's murder.

[245] And that was a major roadblock for Ski, because even if Tracy hadn't killed Sandy, the police couldn't rule him out if they didn't get any information from him.

[246] But Ski refused to let this lawyer, bring his investigation to a stop, so he came up with the plan to work around Tracy.

[247] Ski had learned that Tracy recently married a 20 -year -old woman named Ashley, who worked with him at the gym.

[248] So he figured if he couldn't talk to Tracy, maybe he could talk to Tracy's new wife.

[249] But Ski wanted to make sure Ashley was alone when he met with her, because if Tracy was there, Ashley almost certainly would be told not to talk.

[250] So at around 3 p .m. on July 16th, Eleven days after Sandy's murder, Ski drove to the gym where Tracy and Ashley worked and parked right outside.

[251] Then he stepped out of his car and walked right up to the large windows out front and pressed his face up to the glass to look inside.

[252] But he couldn't see if Tracy or Ashley were in the gym or not.

[253] So Ski went inside, walked up to the employee he'd met there the last time, and asked if Tracy was working.

[254] The man said he was, but that he just started teaching a class.

[255] So Ski asked if Ashley was working.

[256] And the man said, no, she had the day off.

[257] And that was all Ski needed to hear.

[258] He turned around, rushed out of the gym, and ran to his car.

[259] He knew he was in a race now.

[260] As soon as Tracy finished his class and found out a cop had been looking for him and Ashley, Tracy would call his wife to tell her not to talk.

[261] So Ski got in his car, started the engine, peeled out, and sped off down the street.

[262] And about 10 minutes later, after speeding across town, Ski hit the brakes and parked his car in front of the apartment building where Tracy and Ashley lived.

[263] He took a deep breath, calmed himself down, and then got out of the car and walked to their apartment.

[264] After knocking on the door, the door opened, and it was Ashley.

[265] Ashley was pretty with long brown, curly hair and big eyes, and she was wearing shorts and a t -shirt.

[266] Ski showed her his badge and asked if he could come inside and talk for a bit.

[267] Ashley shifted back and forth on her feet, and she had a nervous look on her face, but she said, okay.

[268] Ashley closed the door behind them and then led Ski to their living room, room.

[269] Ashley walked around a wooden coffee table and sat down on the couch, and Ski took a seat in a nearby chair.

[270] Once they were seated, Ski asked her how long she'd been married to Tracy, and Ashley said they'd actually just gotten married on July 4th at the gym where they worked.

[271] Ski smiled and said it must have been nice to have a wedding on a holiday with fireworks going off all night.

[272] Then Ski asked her if she and her new husband had gone on a honeymoon right after their wedding.

[273] But Ashley laughed and said the following night, July 5th, they'd just rented some movies, ordered pizza, and just hung out on the couch.

[274] Ashley shifted her position on the couch and asked what this was all about, but Ski just kept on smiling and asked where they had rented the movies and gotten pizza from.

[275] And Ashley gave him the name of the video store and the pizza place.

[276] Then Ashley's cell phone, which was sitting on the coffee table, started to ring.

[277] She sat up straight and looked at the phone and then asked Ski if she could answer it, and Ski said, of course, it was her phone.

[278] So Ashley grabbed the phone, walked into the kitchen and answered the call.

[279] And when Ski heard her talking from the other room, he knew it was Tracy on the other line and that getting any more information out of Ashley was going to be impossible.

[280] But Ski kept on smiling because he'd gotten what he'd came for.

[281] Ashley had just given Tracy an alibi for the night of the murderer, and now Ski just had to follow up on it.

[282] So after Ashley hung up and came back into the living room, Ski immediately just thanked her for her help and then walked outside to his car.

[283] And not long after that, he drove to the video store that Ashley had mentioned, and an employee there pulled up Tracy's rental history and showed Ski that Tracy had indeed rented movies a few hours before Sandy had been murdered.

[284] After that, Ski drove to the pizza place that Ashley said they'd ordered from, and one of the pizza delivery drivers there pulled up their records on their computer, and the records showed that Tracy had ordered pizza less than an hour before Sandy's murder.

[285] And then the delivery driver told Ski that he remembered delivering that pizza to a tall, big, bald guy a little after 11 p .m. on July 5th, almost the exact time Sandy had been killed.

[286] Ski thanked the pizza delivery guy and then went back outside, got into his car, and headed for the police station.

[287] And as he drove, he felt like even though this was great information, it was like he had hit a big dead end.

[288] Tracy's simple alibi that he was at home eating pizza looked like it was the truth.

[289] And so Ski wondered if maybe he needed to take his focus off of Tracy for a while and turn it back to Sandy's roommate, Tony.

[290] But then, on the following day, Ski got a call from one of the people he'd spoken to at the Tampa Fire Department, and they said they'd found something in an arson case of theirs that they thought might be connected to Sandy's murder.

[291] And what the fire department told Ski would put his investigation right back on track, and it would lead him directly to the bearded man who had tried to shoot Sandy in the Green Aguana parking lot.

[292] Based on the report that Ski received from the fire department, evidence found at the crime scene, and information gathered throughout the investigation, here is a reconstruction of what police believe happened to Sandy on July 5, 2003.

[293] A little after 10 .30 p .m. on July 5th, Sandy's killer had fallen asleep in a compact rental car in the Green Aguana parking lot.

[294] The killer was wearing a baseball cap pulled down low just above their eyes and the thick sweatshirt and pants they were wearing had caused them to get so hot inside of the car that they'd dozed off for a few minutes.

[295] But then the sound of a car door slamming nearby had woken them up.

[296] They looked out the windshield and saw Sandy driving off in her black BMW.

[297] The killer immediately sat up straight and yelled out in frustration and then slammed their hands down on the steering wheel.

[298] The killer had intended to shoot Sandy right there in the parking lot, but now that wasn't an option.

[299] So the killer glanced over and looked at their Ruger 22 -caliber pistol on the passenger seat, and then they started the car and pulled out onto the street behind Sandy's BMW.

[300] The killer still felt a little out of it from having fallen asleep, and their hands were sweaty on the steering wheel, but they managed to weave their way through holiday weekend traffic and keep up with Sandy's car.

[301] Then, after about 25 minutes, the killer followed Sandy as she turned off a main road into her neighborhood.

[302] The killer eased off the gas to make sure they didn't get too close to Sandy's car.

[303] The killer saw Sandy pull into her driveway, open the garage door, and park her BMW inside of the garage.

[304] So the killer pulled the rental car right up to the curb in front of Sandy's townhouse.

[305] Then, with their heart pounding in anticipation, the killer wiped the sweat from their eyes, they grabbed the pistol off the passenger seat, open the car door, and ran up the driveway into the garage.

[306] Once the killer was inside, they saw Sandy leaning over the passenger seat to grab her purse.

[307] So the killer ran up.

[308] the driver's side, raised the pistol, and slammed the butt of it into the window and held their hand up to shield their eyes from the glass.

[309] But they didn't break the window.

[310] Instead, the killer looked down and saw the glass intact, and inside the vehicle, Sandy had heard the sound, whipped herself around, and was looking up at them with a look of fear and confusion on her face.

[311] Then Sandy began screaming and she raised her foot and began kicking the driver's side door over and over again trying to open it to maybe slam into the killer.

[312] But the door didn't open and Sandy just kept on kicking.

[313] Meanwhile, the killer could feel every muscle in their body start to tense up and more sweat dripped down their face and neck and their chest started to feel tight, and in a panic, the killer just raised their gun right up to the window and fired into the car.

[314] The window shattered and glass flew with the killer, but they kept on firing over and over again until they had unloaded all eight rounds into the car.

[315] Inside the BMW, Sandy was bleeding from her torso, her foot, her head, blood covered her face and clothes and was spattered on the car seats and floorboards.

[316] She was choking, her vision was fading, and she was struggling to breathe.

[317] Then everything went black, and Sandy slumped over the center console.

[318] After looking inside the car and making sure Sandy was motionless, the killer turned and ran out of the garage, back down the driveway, got into their rental car, and once inside, they took a deep breath, and put the pistol back on the passenger seat right next to the fake beard they had been wearing earlier that night.

[319] It would turn out the short, bearded man who had failed to kill Sandy in May when they had fired at her coming out of the bar and missed and then had successfully killed Sandy on July 5th was really a woman in disguise.

[320] It was Ashley Humphrey, Tracy's new wife.

[321] And on both occasions, Ashley had disguised herself as a man by wearing baggy jeans, a big sweatshirt, a baseball cap pulled down low, and a cheap fake beard.

[322] And she had made a point to be seen looking like a man by other people outside the green iguana, which is why she was kind of lurking around.

[323] She wanted to be seen.

[324] But on the night of the actual murder, Ashley, who had been wearing the beard, had been sweating so much that she had removed it when she'd actually gone inside the garage to kill Sandy.

[325] And it was the call from the Tampa Fire Department that actually led ski back to Ashley, almost right after he had thought about moving on from her and her husband.

[326] On the night of Ashley's failed murder attempt on Sandy back in May, she had accidentally shot her own car's side mirror, and Ashley had worried that the bullet hole in her mirror would eventually attract police attention.

[327] So, in a total panic, Ashley had driven her Volkswagen Beetle with the shot upside view mirror to a vacant lot and then set it on fire.

[328] And when the fire department investigated what they believed was a case of of arson, they had traced the burned Volkswagen back to Ashley.

[329] And then when they had talked to Ski about this, they realized that Ashley was in a relationship with Tracy Humphrey, who was one of Ski's major suspects.

[330] And so, Ashley was ultimately arrested, and she confessed to killing Sandy, but the case didn't end there.

[331] Leading up to Ashley's trial, she cooperated with police, and she said Tracy had threatened her with violence in order to force her to murder Sandy.

[332] And she said Tracy had even made her marry him the night before the murder because spouses cannot be forced to testify against each other in court.

[333] And it would turn out that Tracy had a clear motive for wanting to kill Sandy.

[334] Because the fight he had had had with Sandy when she refused to have sex with him had actually been far worse than most of Sandy's friends knew.

[335] On that night, after Tracy had flown into a rage, he had beaten Sandy and raped her.

[336] And eventually Sandy had filed charges against Tracy and his trial was set to start in August of 2003.

[337] So he had gotten Ashley to kill Sandy so the state wouldn't have a witness to prove the allegations against him and the trial would just go away.

[338] Despite Tony Pony Call's odd decision to call Sandy his girlfriend and then also his fiancé when talking to police, along with his weirdly calm behavior in the immediate aftermath of Sandy's murder, he was not actually in any way connected to her death.

[339] Ashley was convicted of second -degree murder and sentenced to 25 years in prison and is scheduled for release in 2028.

[340] As for Tracy, in the lead -up to his murder trial, several women stepped forward and shared their own stories about how he had also abused them.

[341] Tracy was ultimately convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.

[342] Thank you for listening to the Mr. Ballin podcast.

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