Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
It's the middle of the night in a small town on the Jersey Shore. Someone reports an abandoned car on a bridge. A search gets underway for the missing driver, 19-year-old Sarah Stern. Is it a missing person? Is it a suicide? At this point, nobody knows. Old friendships, buried cash, and a sinister plot that was once pitched as a movie plays out in real life.
I'm Juju Chang from 2020 and ABC Audio. Listen now to Bridge of Lies wherever you get your podcasts. Step into the 2020 true crime vault where each story is unforgettable. The first body came out after midnight, but it was only the first. When the murder started, for the most part, they were just another murder. Shawna Hawk. Eddie Jean Balcom. Deborah Slaughter. Each one seen individually.
Here's another homicide. Two murders in two days. Who is African-American. Caroline Love. Michelle Stinson. Another victim to roll out. A lot of women are in fear. I just talked to her and now she's dead. The patterns of women being killed didn't really add up. Randy Henderson and nine others. These 10 murders. The murder count possibly totaling 13. Why didn't police see it sooner?
All victims of an unknown suspect. Whoever did this was a ghost. Danger disguised as a friend and his victims never saw him coming. One, why did it take so long to see a pattern? We feel bad that we did not know that soon. But it wasn't just police. It was those of us in the media and I think the community. Yeah, it was right there. This young mother was killed in the same manner.
All had been strangled. He looked at me and he said, we think we have a serial killer. You know, if you don't get him off the streets fast, he could do it again. I was not going to stop until I found out who did this. If we'd only had the little pieces. Shut up. Had we only known what we know now. She was one of his victims too. So this was Shauna's first prom. Oh, man.
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Chapter 2: What events led to the discovery of Shawna Hawk's body?
I remember the day she found the dress. Purple was her favorite color. Shawna Hawk was a very beautiful young woman. She went to Central Piedmont Community College. All I can tell you about Shawna is that I'm an incredible human being. raised by her mother, single mom at the time. She was industrious, ambitious, worked. She wanted to make something out of herself.
She was the apple of her mother's eye. Shauna was born on December 2nd, and I was all of 18 years old. I remember when Shauna was crying, and the minute they laid her on my chest, our eyes locked, and she just calmed right down. She was younger than me, but, you know, bossy. That's the right word for the song. She was bossy.
Every time now when I hear You're the Sunshine of My Life by Stevie Wonder, it takes me to her, because I remember one day us talking about how much we love that song. You are the sunshine of my life, yeah. That's why I'll always stay with you. Shawna Hawk is working her way through college. She's serving fried chicken at Bojangles, but she gets a better job at Taco Bell.
The one reason I allowed her to even get the job was because it was the most money she had made, and she always worked fast food. And she said, Mom, I can do it. Still, her mom's a little worried. She's worried about the long hours and whether she's going to be able to keep up with her schoolwork. She actually talks with the Taco Bell manager, a guy named Henry Wallace.
I went and met him once, and he said, nice to meet you, Ms. Sumter. I've hired your daughter, and I think she's going to be great on our team. That year, February 19th, was on a Friday. Dee Sumter refers to that day as Horrible Friday. But it started out as just any other day at their home on Elan Street. She said, well, I'm gone. I love you.
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Chapter 3: How did the police initially respond to the string of murders?
And I said, I love you more. And then she stuck her head back in the door and she said, Mom, I love you. And I said, baby, I love you more. And then she took off. That afternoon, Dee gets a call at work. Her godson's mother called and said, Misty, have you heard from Shauna? And I said, no. She said, Misty, I'm not trying to say anything, but something's wrong.
I don't know what, but something's not right. She noticed some unusual things around the house when she came home. Her daughter's car was not there. That wasn't unusual, but what was unusual is it was a cold day in February. And Shawna's purse was in the house and her winter coat was in the house. She's wondering, well, what's going on? Where is she?
I called her boyfriend and I said, Darryl, get over to my house, please, now. And he's just shaking his head. He said, this is baffling. I said, more than baffling. Something is definitely wrong. And they decided to call the police and report her as missing. As they were waiting for the police to respond, Darrell decided to go looking through the house and just check. I hear his footsteps.
He walks into the bathroom. He pulled back the shower curtain and found Shauna in the bathtub in a small amount of water, fully clothed, and she was dead. The next sound I heard was him blood curdling scream. He runs back down the hall, Miss D, Miss D dial 911, she's in the bathtub. Last thing I remember is seeing them push her out on a gurney doing CPR.
Chapter 4: What connections exist between the victims of Henry Louis Wallace?
It was obviously too late at that point. Subsequently, we find out that she was raped and then strangled inside of her bathtub. And that was kind of unusual for us at the time. We did not have a lot of strangulations during that time with the homicide investigations. Strangulation is rare. It's more commonly seen in domestic cases or cases where people have a relationship. Murder?
I couldn't hardly even spell the word murder before Shawna was murdered. We didn't have any damage to the doors. We didn't have any damage to the windows. So we believe that she allowed the assailant to come inside the residence. The killer was also meticulous in terms of going through the house, making sure he wiped down anything that he may have touched.
So they had no DNA, they had no fingerprints. In effect, whoever did this was a ghost. Who would want to kill this beautiful, innocent, sweet, kind, loving person? My best friend, my daughter. We didn't find anything significant that would draw us to point to any particular suspect at the time. She couldn't have had an enemy. She wasn't that kind of person.
So after she was found murdered at her home, the police tried to locate her car. It was not discovered for weeks. And when it was discovered, it was found in a parking lot at Central Piedmont Community College.
Chapter 5: How did Henry Wallace's background contribute to his actions?
The front seat was pushed back and Shauna was short. So I think the only thing they took away from that is that it had to be somebody that was taller than Shauna. In the course of their investigation, police actually are missing something rather important. Eight months earlier, a young woman by the name of Caroline Love disappeared. And it turns out that Caroline and Shauna were friends.
Something ain't right. They need to go back and look at what happened to Caroline because Caroline's missing and now Hirshhorn is dead. What's coming is a incredibly rude awakening. There's some decomposition on the body. For the Charlotte Police Department. What soon followed was a wave of death and grief unlike anything this town has ever seen.
The best way to describe Charlotte in the early 90s would be is that it was growing extremely fast. Charlotte was at the beginning of its banking boom. Johnson from 20. After the Charlotte Hornets got here, I think that's when everyone started using the term world-class city. The skyline seemed like it changed every three to four months. Charlotte was booming.
A lot of steel and glass and a lot of looking upward. Maybe not enough looking down. Police are pointing out the drug dealers. What was happening on the ground? Drugs are a problem in every large city in America. In the neighborhoods and in communities. Police say that this is what they call a crack house. We were headed towards one of our highest murder rates in the city's history.
On the legitimate side, banking was the growth industry. On the criminal side, drugs was the growth industry.
gun was found behind the dresser along with the uh cracked bag it was a very very violent period of time drugs and their debris were in fact i would say it was the most violent period in charlotte's history members of the violent mustang gang were arrested in the 90s we were not equipped to handle the murder rate we had maybe eight homicide detectives, but only six were actively working.
It was almost like they were having to work homicides like car accidents. It's the 90s in Charlotte, North Carolina. Skyscrapers are going up, but at the same time, a series of crimes are unfolding. 20-year-old Shawna Hawk is found strangled in her bathtub, and her friend and coworker, Caroline Love, has vanished. Caroline Love went missing in June of 1992. Caroline lived in East Charlotte.
I lived in West Charlotte. And we all worked together at Bojangles. The Love Sisters, Kathy and Caroline, worked at Bojangles with Henry Wallace, who was Shawna Hawk's boss at Taco Bell. She was a really fun person. She always had, like, a really cute boyfriend. She didn't show up for work. This don't sound like her. You know, something's definitely wrong.
I know my mom, I remember her calling, like, everybody. She called everybody in our family, like, have you seen her? Is she over here? It was like she just disappeared off the face of the earth. She was living with this young lady by the name of Sadie McKnight. Sadie McKnight and her boyfriend, Henry Wallace, helped file the report for the missing person of Carolina Love.
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Chapter 6: What were the challenges faced by law enforcement during the investigation?
Before Shawna was murdered, a friend of hers, Caroline Love, had vanished. Even so, the detectives have no clue that these cases are connected. I just don't feel like they knew. Maybe she was random, maybe not. These cases never came together because there were other detectives working it and not just one.
And so we had very little information to go on at the time to try to link it with any of the other homicides. We just knew that we had another young black woman who was found murdered. We have a possible serial killer working in the shadows. But do we know that? We have no idea. In the months ahead, more Charlotte women will fall victim to strangulation and murder.
But the killer will make a mistake, giving police a glimpse as to who he is. 1993 is the year of living dangerously in Charlotte. Caroline Love, Shawna Hawk, Audrey Spain, Peak murder rates and somebody is killing young black women. It was earlier this afternoon when a family friend found the body of the woman. It was September of 93.
We were called out to a home where a woman's body had been found. When police got to this apartment off of Marvin Road, they found two very frightened children. Michelle, yeah, I was there. Vividly remember Michelle Stinson. Here's a young woman who had been murdered inside of her own home with her children present. Michelle Stinson was killed in front of her two children.
A friend drops by to visit Michelle. He looked in the windows and saw one of her little boys playing and was banging on the window. Where's your mommy? Where is she? And they tell him, well, mommy's asleep on the floor. And he was getting ready to leave when the little boy opened the door and he went in. He finds her dead on the kitchen floor.
There were signs of strangulation, but her cause of death was four stab wounds. As Michelle Stinson's bloodied body was taken away, those who knew her said goodbye with tears and tried to make sense of it all. My goodness, what person, what monster could take the life of a mother in front of their children?
Police say that there is no sign of forced entry, and that indicates that perhaps Michelle knew her killer and invited him in. Despite that, they failed to find any viable leads or suspects. Michelle Stinson's case, like Shawna Hawk and Audrey Spain, and the still-missing Caroline Love, goes unsolved. You can't even stay at home and be safe anymore.
For some unknown reason, they just couldn't connect the dots. Dee Sumter is a remarkable woman. Yes, her heart broke, but her will didn't. Dee Sumter went on a public campaign to call attention to her daughter's death. It's better knowing.
And she turned what was the worst possible situation into something extremely positive for this community when she, along with Shawna's godmother, Judy Williams, started an organization called Mothers of Murdered Offspring, which is still here. I just knew I had a daughter who was murdered and it wasn't being investigated properly.
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Chapter 7: How did Henry Wallace evade capture for so long?
So during this time, you know, we have an APB out for Betty Baucom's car, and we're looking citywide for the car. Police found the car in this parking lot. Actually, it's right across the street from the apartment complex where the women were found murdered. On the floor of Betty's car is a Pringles can stolen from Brandi Henderson. So that connects the two murders at the Lake Apartments.
Whoever killed Betty and stole her car must have also killed Brandi and stolen her coins. Tonight, police aren't taking any chances at all. They're setting up perimeters all around the lake apartments. Investigators say they need more information quickly. You know if you don't get him off the streets fast, he could do it again. Use caution, be careful, and think before you open the door.
The killer is out there somewhere, and they feel certain if given the chance, he could strike again.
word tonight of a serial killer in charlotte north carolina it's the shock of recognition that comes when a community realizes there's been a killer in its midst so now we have a major problem now we have two young ladies in the same apartment complex have been found murdered the media has now been involved Be careful letting them into your house.
If there's some doubt at all, you feel nervous with the person that may be coming to your door, don't hesitate to call 911. Everybody's in uproar, everybody in a panic. The city was on edge, you know, just fear all over the whole city. It was scary. It was scary.
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Chapter 8: What was the community's reaction to the murders?
I can remember calling some friends that I know on that side of town and say, hey, be careful. Investigators say they need more information quickly. Young women were murdered in the same apartment complex, and their killer is still out there somewhere. Minutes before Brandi Henderson was murdered at the Lake apartment, she had been on the phone with her cousin George Burrell.
She said, hold on, hold on. Somebody's at the door. And I heard her in the background saying, just make sure you lock the door behind you. The day after the murder, George says he stops over at a neighbor's apartment. As I walked in, to my left sat Henry Wallace watching the TV. I had seen Henry Wallace at Brandy and her boyfriend's house. I had met him one time.
By daylight, detectives were back at the Lake Apartments with another murder on their hands. The news came on. So we started watching the news, and it was about Brandy's murder. Investigators say whoever killed these women was cold-bloodedly calm, spending a lot of time in each of their apartments. I felt this on my shoulder. I felt a pat, like, you know, I'm so sorry.
And he was looking at the TV, watching Gurney go across the sidewalk with her body. And his eyes just glow. He was just glowing, like just, you know, like amazed, like he was excited. And I could just see that in his eyes, like he was just fixed on the TV. Brandy Henderson's 10-month-old baby was also attacked and left for dead. And he's like, I'm so sorry. What happened to your cousin?
And Henry said, she was. She was always there with her baby by herself. When somebody come in, she would say, lock the door behind them. I had that flashback to when I was speaking to her, and she said, just make sure you lock the door behind you. And I knew at that moment that it was him. I said, oh my word, he killed her.
George says he immediately told a police officer about his suspicion, but he says the officer blew him off. By then, they knew that they had a serial killer on their hands. and they needed to find them quickly, but they didn't find them quickly enough.
As they're processing all of this with Betty Jean and Brandy Henderson being murdered at the Lakes Apartments, one more person is found murdered about a mile away, and her name is Deborah Ann Slaughter. She loved to laugh. She had a very contagious laugh. She also had a beautiful voice. She and I both grew up singing in church together.
I remember Boyz II Men came on the radio singing The End of the Road. I just remember us going, you know, to the end of the road and I can't let go. That was the last time we sung together. Deborah Slaughter lived in the Glen Hollow apartments, which were the same apartments that Audrey Spain lived in.
Henry Wallace had also lived at Glen Hollow at one time, and Deborah worked at the Bojangles, same place where Henry Wallace worked. and my mother did give us warnings. Her exact words is, you know, there's a serial killer in Charlotte and I need y'all to be careful. And I would say to Debra all the time, you know, be careful. I always told her to be careful.
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