Killer Legends Page #7

that she was strangled

with an ironing cord.

I know she suffered a lot

before she finally succumbed.

Joshua:

Janett christman's death

shocked the small town

of Columbia, Missouri,

but despite being one of

the most publicized crimes

in the past 60 years,

her murder

has never been solved.

So right now, we're looking

for ed romack's house

where janett christman

was murdered

while she was babysitting.

1015 should be

somewhere along here.

Rachel:

So then it must be that one.

That house right there?

Right there, right there.

Joshua:

Quick question for you,

is this where ed romack

used to live?

Is that this house?

Joshua:
But you don't know

anything about it.

Joshua:

Uh-hm.

About two years ago,

this car pulled up

and they were out there talking

and pointing here at this house,

and they said

we're trying to figure out

which house where a girl

was babysitting a little baby,

and she got murdered and raped.

And I said, no,

it's not this house,

it's that one.

It was a man talking to me.

He said, "I was the baby. "

Joshua:

No!

And a different woman that

lived across west boulevard,

and she had been

raped and murdered

sometime within close

to that time.

Joshua:
Jenkins is it?

Yes.

Joshua:

Jenkins, right.

We went to...

I went to the trial. Yeah.

Joshua:
Marylou Jenkins

was the other reason

we were in Columbia.

On February 6, 1946,

marylou, age 20,

was home alone

while her mother was out

caring for an elderly neighbor.

The next morning she came home

to find marylou dead.

Much like janett christman's

murder four years later,

marylou had been raped

and strangled

with an electrical cord.

A mentally-challenged man

named Floyd Cochran

who had been arrested

for killing his wife

was charged with the murder

and quickly executed.

Do you think Floyd was innocent?

Mary Beth brown:
I think

he was likely innocent

of killing marylou Jenkins, yes.

He did kill his wife

in likely a domestic dispute,

but just from reading

the trial transcripts,

it just didn't seem like

he had the wherewithal

to kill and rape a young woman.

Joshua:
Mary Beth brown

is a researcher

who helped shed new light

on these old cold cases.

She believes

the eerie similarities

between the Jenkins murder

and the christman murder

four years later only

proves Cochran's innocence.

They were both young woman,

they were home by themselves,

they were both found

with electrical cords

but cords that weren't attached

or torn from the appliance...

The whole location thing

is the one that really gets me.

Joshua:

Like how close was it?

Mary Beth brown:

Within two blocks.

Joshua:
Do you think

that the same person

who killed marylou Jenkins

also killed janett christman?

That's my personal opinion,

but yeah.

Joshua:

And who do you think did it?

I've been told several people,

but more than any other name

was Robert Mueller.

was a high school friend

of ed romack's,

and it was the romack's house

where janett was babysitting

that night.

The romacks told police

that Mueller

had often commented

on janett being a virgin

and had eluded to knowing

intimate details of the crime.

Although Mueller had been

taken in for questioning

and passed a polygraph,

the police still felt

there was enough evidence

to arrest him.

However, a grand jury

refused to indict,

and Mueller was never tried

for janett's murder.

Rachel:
I am working

on a documentary,

and I'm interested

in a cold case

I wanted to see

if there was any information

that you could give me.

did you just like

do something on your system

and you see

there's nothing there?

Joshua:

Despite numerous efforts

to reach out to police,

they were less than responsive.

Christman's case was too old

to warrant attention.

However, we were able to

track down some old case files.

This deputy testified

that romack told him

Mueller had known janett

and admired

her well-developed form.

( Aghast ) Oh my God!

There's her leg.

There's the phone.

That's the cord

around her neck, right there.

It's one of those irons

back then with the thick cords.

that supposedly whoever

did this went in and out of,

if someone were going

through there...

they'd be totally ripped up.

The piano, look.

That's the window...

oh, look.

because look at the area

around it.

So, inside job.

Mueller's wife,

according to the deputy,

had called the girl to baby sit

at the Mueller home that night

and found she had already

been asked by Mrs. romack.

Joshua:

So, Mueller tried to get her

to baby sit that night.

Must have been.

And she was already

babysitting the romacks...

which was how he would know

she would be alone.

I agree that it sounds

like he did it,

but maybe, maybe he didn't.

There's no solid proof,

no hard evidence.

Joshua:
Joan sorrels is another

researcher studying the cases.

happening in Columbia

at the time

might be connected

to these murders.

There were rapes

that had occurred

within that period

between the Jenkins murder

and the christman murder.

Tell me about those.

Yeah. Well, there was a rape

that was within two blocks

of the christman murder.

The girl was raped by a man

that wore a mask...

Really?

the reports

of the christman murder...

when they're talking

about Robert Mueller,

it turns out that he was

interested in the theater

and that he made masks.

There was a black man named

Jake Bradford that they charged,

and he had already been in jail,

and he was charged on the rapes.

You assume he was innocent.

Of that.

They took the wrong man,

they really did.

Would you say that Columbia

has like a history of this?

Well, you remember

that I was graduating

from high school in '51.

You would go

to the mu football games

and you would stand up

for Dixie.

What does that mean?

The song dixies...

Uh-hm, okay.

That's a confederate song.

Columbia was really primarily

a confederate town.

Basically this is the story

of a young girl...

Joshua:

We came here to investigate

but what we found

was truly shocking...

the unsolved murders

of two young girls,

a series of brutal rapes,

and the possibility

that men were being falsely

accused and even executed.

In all honesty, the truth

was more unflinchingly real

than we could ever

have imagined.

So right now, we are headed

to hinkson creek.

Rachel:
This is where

a lot of people went to park

back in the '50s, and '40s,

'50s, '60s and still do now.

Yeah.

We just wanted to see

about all the other rapes

that were happening

other than the two houses.

This is the creek

where they're saying

there were a ton of rapes

happening around here.

That.

This is where

the college students go in,

and there's like a car

right out over there

and they just flashed

their lights

because they didn't want us

to walk in on them.

What's down here?

Uh, where they dragged the girl.

Rachel:
Dragged?

Dragged from the car.

There was a couple making out.

Some guy came out of nowhere

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes