Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
Death Row Confessions: Inmate Shares Insane Crime Stories
Sun, 23 Feb 2025
Stop data brokers from exposing your information. Go to my sponsor https://aura.com/matt to get a 14-day free trial and see if your personal information has been compromisedDan Thayer was sentenced to prison at age 15 & spent the next two decades involved in violent crimes & drug dealing. On this episode Dan shares the most important lessons learned from being around the worst human beings on earth, and personally experiencing death. Today, Dan has successfully turned his life around, became an owner of multiple businesses, a community leader, and a mentor to people of all backgrounds.Follow me on all socials!Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/insidetruecrime/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mattcoxtruecrimeDo you want to be a guest? Fill out the form https://forms.gle/5H7FnhvMHKtUnq7k7Send me an email here: [email protected] you want a custom "con man" painting to shown up at your doorstep every month? Subscribe to my Patreon: https: //www.patreon.com/insidetruecrimeDo you want a custom painting done by me? Check out my Etsy Store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/coxpopartListen to my True Crime Podcasts anywhere: https://anchor.fm/mattcox Check out my true crime books! Shark in the Housing Pool: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0851KBYCFBent: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BV4GC7TMIt's Insanity: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KFYXKK8Devil Exposed: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TH1WT5GDevil Exposed (The Abridgment): https://www.amazon.com/dp/1070682438The Program: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0858W4G3KBailout: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bailout-matthew-cox/1142275402Dude, Where's My Hand-Grenade?: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BXNFHBDF/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1678623676&sr=1-1Checkout my disturbingly twisted satiric novel!Stranger Danger: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BSWQP3WXIf you would like to support me directly, I accept donations here:Paypal: https://www.paypal.me/MattCox69Cashapp: $coxcon69
Chapter 1: What did Dan Thayer learn from his criminal past?
i've been involved in pretty much every crime out there when i took stuff it was the only time i could pay attention i brought a guy in my trunk one time to a meeting that i was trying to do the right thing and um and you were you wanted a guy to go to what like an a a meeting no no i was going to a meeting but i was in the middle of robbing him and he wouldn't give me the combination so i threw him in my trunk and then i was debating whether to be violent or to go to the meeting and try to do something spiritual
i ended up confessing in front of him but i mortified these people like i used to keep a guy around me that stabbed people all the time because it made me look really good right you know what i mean like but he was my friend but his main job was to look crazier than me so i looked kind of normal you know i'm in a prison inside of two other prisons which house all the you know death row inmates and ones that didn't have any more time right and they were waiting to die
They they said that the difference between their heaven or hell the ones cutting themselves and the ones that had this piece about him was
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You can either let people continue to profit off of you and your private information, or you can go to aura.com backslash Matt to start your two-week free trial, also linked in the description below. So I grew up in Jersey.
I grew up around a lot of people that were...
know pretty laid back on the on laws and stuff like that and my dad was a chemist so we ended up in like newark and bloomfield and camden and um you know growing up there his friend was a cop and i remember when i was a kid sitting in the back of the cop car and they're in there robbing weed from the dealers just taking it from them you know the cop is right the cop is yeah and i'm in the back of the car so i'm
I'm picking up on this stuff. I don't know why I'm in the back of the car down in East orange at night, but he's a East orange cop. And, uh, You know, great guy. My mom called him Dennis the Menace. I think it was Dennis. And I remember sitting in the back of that car thinking, these guys are in there. And somehow I knew they were taking stuff. Right. And Dennis was talking my dad into it.
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Chapter 2: How did Dan's childhood influence his criminal behavior?
I think it was called CRD or something, control release dates. and you have to report and all this stuff so i was like nah i'm not doing that send me back and um and joe my buddy joe he just passed away about a year ago it was real sad but uh he was working with me and then he had a heart attack but uh but he was he was a guy from jersey city that whole family died but They all came down here.
One of them, I don't want to skip around too much. But anyway, he gives me that job. I tell him to send me back behind the wall because I'm not doing any paper. Now, at this time, I had hired 11 guys underneath me. They're like, you're not going anywhere. You're going to finish this. And you got your two. You're getting too many people. You know, I was getting the full 209 a week.
You give them out of your paycheck is like the maximum. I had 11 guys doing that, so they didn't want to lose the income. So I was like, well, I'll be in Treasure Island down at 130 Miami tomorrow at a strip club. I said, you can come get me if you want to. I said, but I'm not doing no paper. And they did. They came and got me. They said, you better not. I was like, all right, I'm telling you.
And I was hard-headed like that. I couldn't – I don't know why I couldn't do paper, but I just felt –
like they got enough out of me right you know and i always felt kind of entitled to some kind of rights and maybe i was maybe i wasn't but i was like over the top with it like if you if you pushed it i'll push it with you and we can go all the way to the bus out so they sent me back to south florida and then to de soto and uh i did the rest of my time and got out how much time
Uh, that time I did about five total with the year of paper I was supposed to do on paper. So I got four, I did four in person. Then I went to work release and then I would have had a year on that paper or whatever.
But you said, I'd rather just be behind them. Yeah.
And then I went back to DeSoto and I ended up, uh, leaving there. That was a medium maximum, maximum security. And, um, yeah, I was in and out of there and Hendry back in the eighties and nineties. What was the kidnap? You said there was... Yeah, well, I would take drug dealers. Like, I got my... Eventually, when I started using drugs, I was using so much because of my size.
My talons went right through the roof. I had got stabbed. Oh, and then I had a gallbladder operation. They gave me these pills. I really liked them. So I called in the doctor, and I was like... Yeah, I spilt them down the sink. He goes, nobody ever spills the antibiotics. He goes, how come they always spill the pain pills? I was like, I don't know, man, but I need more.
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Chapter 3: What was Dan's experience like in prison?
Like, without that woman, ain't nobody going to accept me. When I was wanted for murder, my dad left me. My dad was shot out. I was like, dad, don't tell nobody I'm here. I was only in my house for a minute, but everywhere I went, I was getting, they were all over. So my neighbor calls the cops. My dad's out there with a lawnmower and he's a little off. He's like, oh yeah, he's inside.
My mom goes, he's not here. And I'm hiding behind a shower curtain with a pistol like this. And I'm like, oh God, please don't make me shoot this fucker. I said, I'm not going to jail. I'm not doing this. I'm telling you right now, please make him walk away. I'm a big dude behind a little shower curtain and it's only open. I didn't close it all the way because I didn't want him opening it.
So I just did it enough to cover me. I see his boot and he goes, he's not here. And he walks out. There was 40 cops all around. I would have been shot to death if I would have did something right there. And I didn't know what I was going to do, but I wasn't going. And I had a phone in my hand calling my buddy, come get me. And my mom's like, you know, pretty much lying. She's lying for me.
He's not here. He's not coming here. You know, get out of my house. And so when she was dying, I was like, ain't nobody on the planet going to accept me like that lady. You know, if I was wanted for murder, she was asking, what did you do to make them kill somebody? It was your fault. You know what I mean? And even though it wasn't good acceptance, it was acceptance. Right.
You know, so it was crippling, too. And it's funny because I never...
thought to do good or or really work on myself until she passed you know what i mean i would have loved to do it for her and i tried on my own will but it didn't really happen for me like i didn't put my back against the wall and say there is no choice i gotta do good until i got that concept that whatever i do i pass down to my kid
you know my actions um real quick we yeah i think we skipped uh part of it was when you got you were in and died and arrested for um for what a murder that yeah triple homicide right so what happened with that like what there was a guy john ballard he just got released too he's out um he actually asked me if i was gonna hurt him and uh but uh he uh he i guess he don't look like me i don't think at all he's like a dumpy dude you know
whatever so he gets he gets uh he's in there for a crack pipe or something he's got a year in the county jail okay at this time i'm in jail and i'm uh i think i'm going to prison i can't remember why i'm there i think i'm on my way to prison so there's this guy called heart attack we call him heart attack because he's always faking heart attacks and and my dad's in the block next to him he's drunk you know and still you know making fake alcohol or whatever
And so they're in 4A and 4B, the misdemeanor and then the felony. This guy, John Ballard, is doing a year in the county for a crack charge or whatever. This is a year after the murders.
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