The Weepy Voiced Killer (Part 2)

October 16, 2023
Episode 68

Not the End…

  • The calls did stop after Alan Lopez died…
  • The part I left out was that the stop wasn’t permanent

 

Kathleen Greening

  • July 1, 1982 Kathleen (33) and her friend Carol were supposed to be heading out of town on vacation
  • When Kathleen didn’t answer the door or calls for her, Carol let herself in and found Kathleen dead in the bathtub
  • It was initially ruled an accidental drowning
  • I couldn’t find why, but the initial investigation received pushback so they took another look and ended up ruling it a homicide
  • The case went cold
  • Obviously this is pretty different than the attacks of Karen Potack and Kimberly Compton but keep it in the back of your mind

 

The Weepy Voiced Killer Strikes Again

  • On August 7, 1982, while on his paper route, a paperboy happened upon a disturbing scene
  • He found a body sprawled out on the banks of the Mississippi River with over 100 stab wounds
  • The body was identified as 40 year-old Barbara Simons
  • The night before, she had been at the Hexagon Bar in Minneapolis where she had met a charming man
  • She had been dancing and talking with this man 
  • She told a waitress that she hoped he was nice because he was going to give her a ride home

 

Yet Another 911 Call

 

 

“Please don’t talk, just listen. I’m sorry I killed that girl. I stabbed her 40 times. Kimberly Compton was the first over in St. Paul. I don’t know what’s the matter with me. I’m sick, I’m going to kill myself. I think I’m just going to. If somebody dies with a red shirt on it’s me. I’ve killed more people… I’ll never make it to heaven”

 

Investigating Barbara Simons’ Homicide

  • Police were able to trace Barbara’s movements from the night of her murder and ended up at Hexagon Bar
  • They talked to the waitress who told them about the man she had met while there and left with
  • Police showed her several mugshots and she identified one of them as the man
  • The one she picked out was of a man named Paul Michael Stephani
  • At this point, they started tailing him because one witness picking out a mugshot isn’t enough to do much else with

August 21, 1982

  • A man approached 19 year old (1) Denise Williams with the offer to “have some fun”
  • She had been a prostitute since she was 13 so she accepted
  • He drove her to his apartment where he paid her $40, promising to cough up another $60 later
  • They then engaged in “a sex act”
  • Denise accepted his offer to give her a ride back, thinking he would drop her off in downtown Minneapolis
  • Instead of taking the freeway, he was taking a bunch of back roads

 

The Ride from Hell

  • During the drive, the man was talking about his sexual fantasies
  • Denise was getting the creeps
  • She asked where they were and he told her a street name
  • 2 blocks later he pulled into a dead end parking lot
  • After stopping, he told her “some ass, grass or gas” and “no one rides for free”
  • At this point, Denise tried to get out but he grabbed her arm and stabbed her in the stomach with a phillips head screwdriver
  • He then continued stabbing her with screwdriver over and over
  • She had fallen back in the seat and felt a “pop bottle” on the floor of the car
  • She grabbed the bottle and hit him on the head and then tried to go for his face but he kept stabbing her
  • After hitting him with the bottle she was doing anything she could – scratching, biting, kicking
  • He screamed at her that she was “just like the rest of some other broads”

 

The Attack Moves Outside the Car

  • The man ended up opening the passenger door and the two of them fell onto the pavement
  • She said “I’m dying, I’m dying” and laid there but he kept stabbing
  • A young man, Douglas Panning, who lived nearby heard the screams and ran over to see what was going on
  • He saw a man on top of Denise stabbing her with a screwdriver while she was still holding the broken bottle
  • He thought fast and grabbed the man’s arm
  • The man jumped up and then came at Douglas with the screwdriver
  • He chased Douglas to the edge of the parking lot and he ended up running home to call police (remember it’s the 80s so no cell phones)
  • The man got back in his car and drove away
  • After calling the police, Douglas went back to the parking lot to help Denise

Where Confusion Comes In

  • This is the story of what really happened and we know that because of court documents but a lot of sources tell a similar but different story
  • This is because Denise initially gave police a fake name and a different version of the story because there was a warrant out for her arrest and she had gotten in trouble with the law before due to her history of prostitution (1)
  • To avoid getting in trouble she said she had been hitchhiking to a party when the man pulled over, made advances, and then started stabbing her when she resisted
  • Denise was taken to the hospital where they counted 15 stab puncture wounds
    • The injuries were in her lower right chest, upper right abdomen, and right side of her head; one wound punctured her lung, another punctured her liver. 

So what now? 

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