The Arkansas Hitchhike Killer | MFM 507

What this episode is about

The discussion centers on the memoir "A Mother's Reckoning" by Sue Klebold, in which she reflects on her experience as the mother of Dylan Klebold, one of the Columbine shooters. The narrative explores themes of grief, mental illness, and parental responsibility, emphasizing the importance of recognizing warning signs in teenagers and the complexities of understanding their struggles.

Key takeaways

• In a world drowning in information, Sue Klebold's memoir is a beacon for parents navigating teenage darkness.
• Sometimes, the most shameful secrets come from our own families—cue the chilling tale of a family murderer.
• In 1945 Arkansas, a black victim's murder turned into a forgotten cold case, echoing systemic biases that persist today.
• The line between love and grief can be alarmingly thin, especially when parents grapple with hidden truths of their kids.
• Navigating parental responsibility is complex; 'you don’t know what you don’t know' is the heaviest burden of all.

Who speaks in this episode?

• Georgia Hardstark (Host) · 17 min speaking
• Karen Kilgariff (Host) · 12 min speaking
• Sue Klebold (Guest)
• Abby (Guest)
• James Weyburn Hall (Guest)

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 5:00: A Mother's Reckoning, Exactly Right Media, Sue Klebold, Dylan Klebold
2. 5:00 – 10:00: J.D. Newcomb Junior, Doyle Herrin, C.F. Hamilton, S.E. Adams
3. 10:00 – 15:00: James Weyburn Hull, J.D. Newcomb Junior, S.E. Adams, Benny (grandson of Benjamin Franklin)
4. 25:00 – 28:45: Jess Keck, Molly Smith

Notable quotes from "The Arkansas Hitchhike Killer | MFM 507"

• It is the most powerful, intense, beautiful memoir I've ever listened to.

  about A Mother's Reckoning · at 0:59

• So a mother's reckoning by Sue Klebold I highly recommend it.

  about Sue Klebold · at 2:16

• Visit exactly right store.com for all the new items from your favorite shows, and be sure to order by Sunday, December 14th to guarantee holiday delivery.

  about Exactly Right Media · at 3:07

• Okay, so on January 17th, 1945, the body of a man named C.F.

  about C.F. Hamilton · at 4:51

• He follows the footprints and after a short walk, finds the body of a man who has been shot.

  about S.E. Adams · at 6:10

• The two men usually wave when they pass each other in their trucks, but this driver says that on the day Doyle died, he didn't wave at him and seem distracted that he had a passenger with him.

  about Doyle Herrin · at 8:34

• He's the state's chief boiler inspector for the Department of Labor.

  about J.D. Newcomb Junior · at 9:36

• The woman says that the person who borrowed the car is a cab driver named James Weyburn Hall.

  about James Weyburn Hull · at 11:42

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• James Weyburn Hull — Person · Primary subject (perpetrator) in story segment · 2 mentions · first at 4:40
  Central figure of the episode’s true-crime narrative: a 1940s hitchhiking killer in Arkansas discussed in the solo story.
• Sue Klebold — Person · Referenced author · 2 mentions · first at 0:51
  Author of the memoir recommended at the top of the episode; discussed for her perspective on grief, shame, and mental illness after Columbine.
• J.D. Newcomb Junior — Person · Victim (referenced in story) · 3 mentions · first at 9:32
  Missing person whose burned body and stolen items (watch/coat) are later found in James’s room, strengthening the case.
• C.F. Hamilton — Person · Victim (referenced in story) · 2 mentions · first at 4:51
  First identified victim in the Arkansas case narrative; his murder is described as under-investigated due to racism in 1945 Arkansas.
• S.E. Adams — Person · Victim (referenced in story) · 2 mentions · first at 6:15
  Second victim described; his missing personal items become key evidence when stolen goods are traced back to James via a parcel delivery.
• Dylan Klebold — Person · Referenced person (context for book) · 2 mentions · first at 0:51
  Mentioned as Sue Klebold’s son to contextualize her memoir; referenced in relation to teen mental health and parental awareness.
  So it's a memoir called a mother's reckoning by Sue Klebold.
• Doyle Herrin — Person · Victim (referenced in story) · 2 mentions · first at 7:20
  Truck driver victim; witness observation of a young red-haired passenger helps connect the murders to the suspect.
• Benny (grandson of Benjamin Franklin) — Person · Witness / associate (referenced in story) · 1 mention · first at 12:10
  Her address appears on a parcel receipt; she produces stolen items, linking James to the robbery/murders via mailed evidence.
  Police go to the address from the parcel receipt, which belongs to a woman named Coreen Franklin.
• Molly Smith — Person · Production staff (producer) · 1 mention · first at 27:58
  Credited near the end as leading the production team enabling episodes to publish while hosts are on tour.
  So thank you to the MFM production team led by Molly Smith, the great producer, and make it possible.
• Jess Keck — Person · Production staff (supervising producer) · 1 mention · first at 28:12
  Credited as supervising producer working with Molly Smith on the show’s production during tour.
  Thanks to everybody for making all of these things that we're able to do simultaneously.

Books & papers

• A Mother's Reckoning — Book · Primary recommendation · 3 mentions · first at 0:51
  Highly recommended by the host for its powerful exploration of grief, shame, and mental illness.
• The Arkansas Hitchhike Killer — Book · Referenced work · 1 mention · first at 4:46
  Cited as the main source for the story of James Weyburn Hull, the Arkansas Hitchhike Killer.
  The main source for the story is a book called The Arkansas Hitchhike Killer by Janie Nesbit Jones, and the rest of the sources can be found in the show notes.

Companies & orgs

• Exactly Right Media — Company · Business focus · 2 mentions · first at 2:24
  The podcast network hosting the show, mentioned for its new series and holiday merch.

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 Lives where you love me. You. Hello and welcome to. My favorite murder. That's Georgia Hardstark. That's Karen Kilgariff. And this is a solo episode. It's a solo episode. Just me, because we're still on tour as of this recording. In recording world. We're going to New York this week for our last live show. That's right, the Brooklyn Kings Theater. Wrapping it up, saying goodbye. Yeah, it's going to be crazy. And so sad that last episode. I'm going to cry. Yeah, yeah, I don't know. Okay. Solo, I have a book real quick, can I?

0:42 I've been waiting to. I've just been waiting to tell you about this book cause I'm so obsessed with it. Great. And I listen to it through the tour, and I cried. So it's a memoir called a mother's reckoning by Sue Klebold. Dylan Klebold. Mother. Yes. Wow. It is the most powerful, intense, beautiful memoir I've ever listened to. It is so powerful it her. She talks about grief and shame, loss and a lot about mental illness and how we treat it here in the US and what can be done to change things. And you know what she knew and what she didn't know and what she wishes she had known.

1:24 I was just in awe of this at this book. Wow. Yeah. So a mother's reckoning. I feel like every parent of a teenager needs to read this, because it's also about hiding, being a teenager and hiding stuff from your parents. There's just shit that we hide. And I think knowing those signs and knowing, going to recognize the little tells that they do give is so important for parents. And I think and she really hits on that. Yeah. And takes responsibility for not knowing what to look for because you don't know what you don't know. Yeah.

1:57 And as a parent, that's the the weight that I'm sure is on her. Yeah. Just horrible that idea of having to take responsibility for thing that, you know, you're going to if you're the mother, you're going to get blamed first anyway. Absolutely. And it was like the 90s. So it was just toxic. Toxic. And she talks about all of that and it's just incredible. So a mother's reckoning by Sue Klebold I highly recommend it. Let's go. It's it's solo story time. So we don't we don't go too into it. Shall we do a quick exactly right media check.

2:26 Into. It. Hey, we have a podcast network called Exactly Right Media. Here are some highlights. Our brand new limited series, hell in Heaven. The finale is now out this series has been doing incredibly well. It's a Blanchard House production. They're the best in the biz in today's last episode and contemplates leaving Costa Rica for good. A drug bust changes everything, and those closest to the Bender family reckon with the mystery that refuses to die. It's an unbelievable series if you haven't heard it yet. And if you're making your list and checking it twice, we've got good news.

2:59 Our holiday merch is now live in the merch store. This is some good shit, you guys. It's exciting every year to pick the stuff. I think this might be the best year. Visit exactly right store.com for all the new items from your favorite shows, and be sure to order by Sunday, December 14th to guarantee holiday delivery. And while you're out there just doing our bidding, why don't you go over to YouTube and hit like and subscribe on all of our channels on YouTube at my underscore. Favorite underscore murder. And also over it at Exactly right media.

3:30 And please go support our newest Always on Legal podcast at brief recess. It is going to be a hit. We talked to Melissa and Michael on this show. It was so much fun. So go support those guys please. Oh good. All right. Solo okay, this is a real one. And it was suggested by a murder Reno who emailed in April of 2023. I'm just going to read you a little bit of it. It says hi. When I was about nine years old, I was being nosy, digging through random stuff at my dad's house, and found a scrapbook full of old newspaper clippings.

4:02 I asked dad about it and he proceeded to blow my tiny little mind by dropping the bomb that his uncle murdered a bunch of people in the 1940s and was executed by electric chair. It goes on and on. I have photos of the chair where he was executed, and his death mask that are kept at a state museum and would be happy to email them in. That's okay. We're good. Thanks for getting me through my commute to work every day, Abby. So Abby suggested this, and I never heard of it. Wow, a family murderer. There's just crazy. It's disappointing when you haven't heard of a serial killer, because it just means there's so fucking many. There's so many.

4:40 This is a story of highway killer James Weyburn Hull. The main source for the story is a book called The Arkansas Hitchhike Killer by Janie Nesbit Jones, and the rest of the sources can be found in the show notes. Okay, so on January 17th, 1945, the body of a man named C.F. Hamilton is found on a road in Arkansas. Hamilton is a barber and also a bootlegger, though prohibition has long been over there and there are plenty of liquor stores. As we know, bootleggers still do good business in the area. Yeah, you know that.

5:10 It driving around real fast and there's souped up cars. Right? That homemade liquor. And homemade NASCAR. That's where that's how NASCAR began. Yeah. So Keith Hamilton has been shot with a 45 caliber bullet, and the scene looks like a robbery. Hamilton is black, and this is Arkansas in 1945. So the police officers basically don't investigate the crime much. And unfortunately, this also means that we know less about him and his life than we know about some of the other victims who are discovered shortly after. Who are white. Who are white. Yeah.

5:42 About two weeks later, on death row, first, another body is found. A deputy sheriff is driving along a road about 80 miles south of little Rock when he sees an abandoned car at the turn off for a dirt road, and it's still there, and he makes his return trip about 90 minutes later, so he pulls over to inspect the car. The glove compartment looks like it's been rifled through and the papers are strewn on the passenger seat. The deputy sheriff then looks at the dirt road and sees two sets of footprints going into the woods, and only one set returning. Wow.

6:10 He follows the footprints and after a short walk, finds the body of a man who has been shot. This man is identified by police as S.E. Adams. He has been shot with a 38 caliber bullet. Adams had been on his way to a new job and a new home at a naval plant, where his wife and newborn daughter were supposed to join him. Later, after speaking to his wife, police believe he was killed by a highway man or a robber who steals from travelers. She gives him a long list of the items he had with him, including razors, a shaving mug, a watch, and two alarm clocks.

6:42 Because he was moving and these items are all missing from the car when they inspect it. Captain Earl Scroggins. I don't read through. Then. I'm an adult. It's spelled like it's D. Can't help it. Just say it. No, captain Earl Scroggins of the newly formed Arkansas State Police believes the same highway man, probably hitchhiking, may have killed both Adams and Hamilton, even though they were shot with different guns. They backtrack Adams route to little Rock, where they believe he picked up the hitchhiker and they alert little Rock police.

7:20 About a week later, on February 9th and meet truck driver named Doyle. Herrin leaves on his typical route, but doesn't make it to any of his stops. And it's very out of character of him. So people begin searching for him immediately. And a grocer who's also the mayor of the town of Stuttgart, Arkansas, finds his truck at the edge of town the next day, two fishermen will say something. Just that the grocer would know that the meat guy didn't show up totally and be like, that's very not like him. And what what's happening?

7:50 Like the first. Person that little rock's a tiny town now that back then in 45, it was probably just like everyone knew everyone. Right? And this is outside of Little. Right. So that was probably the big town. Totally. I mean, yeah. That's sad. Yeah. The next day, two fishermen find Doyle's body about 25ft away from the highway. The state police determine that he's also been shot with a 38 caliber bullet. And the money from all of his collections that day is missing. While retracing his steps, the state police speak to another driver whose route route?

8:22 Route is the reverse of Doyle's. What do you say? Route? Or I think, well, it's like route 66 in the song, but then if I was reading it, I think I'd say route. Yeah same. The two men usually wave when they pass each other in their trucks, but this driver says that on the day Doyle died, he didn't wave at him and seem distracted that he had a passenger with him. The passenger was a young man with wavy red hair. Can you imagine the state you're in? You're driving past. You're trying to signal to the guy that you always wave to, that you know that something is wrong, so you don't wave.

8:58 Like it's the absence of the normal thing that's going to hopefully let that guy know. Totally. And like, make him pay more attention so he can give information. It's so upsetting. And that and also just that idea of like there was there a gun in his ribs. I mean, like, absolutely. There's so many of those stories that we've heard over the years of, like a girl in a car with someone trying to get the cops attention or whatever. That's why I love this, that there's the hand gesture that you can do. Now that we all know an offshoot now, where you just kind of hold up four fingers with your thumb on the inside of your palm.

9:29 I'm in danger. I'm in. Danger. Yeah. Amazing. Well. In early March, a man named J.D. Newcomb Junior is reported missing. He's the state's chief boiler inspector for the Department of Labor. I know, I don't I don't even. I mean, boilers are a big deal back then. They need to be inspected a lot. And they needed people to be at certain levels of boiler inspection. Sure. Because you had to be able to come and be like, this one is about to blow. I can tell something's wrong with it. So he was the chief. He was. A guy. And it was a prominent position. Yes.

9:58 So Newcomb had been on his way back to little Rock when he disappeared, and he was known to offer rides to hitchhikers. So fucking ominous, right? Because, like, we always think of, like, hitchhiking as being so dangerous. Yeah, but this is like the mid 40s. So it's like after the depression, people being used to people just. Hey, look, I'm just trying to get from one place to the other. Yeah. I mean, like, doing a favor for your fellow man, right? Probably the thinking. Totally. Totally. On March 8th, a badly burned body is found in the back of a burned Oldsmobile which matches new comes car.

10:31 The car is found in a clearing, and from the way the blood is sprayed backward, it looks like it was driven quickly before crashing. Dental records determined that the body is new combs and police find that his wristwatch is missing, as is his blue gray overcoat. The police ask the public for tips. A bus driver reports, picking up a young man near where the car was found, and the driver says that the man was wearing an ill fitting blue gray coat. The driver can't remember where the man got off, but that his bus was headed to little Rock.

11:01 On March 16th, a woman calls the state police and tells them a man she knows had loaned his car back in February to a friend who had business with a bootlegger outside of little Rock. The car's owner kept a 45 caliber pistol in the car, and when the car was returned, two rounds were missing from it. I remember the guy in the beginning of the story was a bootlegger. The man who owned the car had heard about the murder of C.J. Hamilton, the black man who was a barber and fearful that he would be implicated, sold the gun.

11:32 Oh, didn't call it him. Sold it. So this woman calls it in, thankfully. And it's like, yeah. Hey. Hey, missing piece here. Yeah. I don't want this guy to get away with it. The woman says that the person who borrowed the car is a cab driver named James Weyburn Hall. The state police bring this information to the little Rock police, who take James in for questioning. James has wavy red hair, like the person that was spotted in the truck. When police searched James wallet, they found a receipt from a parcel service. The parcel service had delivered a package to little Rock from Camden, Arkansas, near where Adams, the man with the new Navy job, had been found.

12:08 Police go to the address from the parcel receipt, which belongs to a woman named Coreen Franklin. Franklin admits that she's a friend of James, and she produces the contents of that parcel that had been sent razors, a shaving mug, and an alarm clock. So it looks like James had mailed himself through this woman and stolen items from Adam's car. So basically, making federal witnesses out of the postal Service, right? Basically, this woman whose name and address are on it. Yeah. Who were just like, here's my things. Yeah.

12:39 And the government's now involved because it's so. Yeah. Oh my God. Surprise surprise. Federal fucking poor man's trademark. You just trademarked your murderer like cash basically. Yeah. It was. It proves that it was yours. Kind of. Put your name. On it. Yeah, I took these. Don't give them to anybody else. Yeah, just one alarm clock, not both. Yeah, I don't know what. I think. He'd like to sell items. Oh, yeah. I thought he was. He kept to because whoever originally had them like needed to, to to wake up. Oh you know, remember before the, before you could snooze your alarm.

13:14 Yeah. You'd have to put one, like, in the hallway because otherwise you would not get up drunk. Remember when those alarm clocks came out that jumped off? They had wheels and they'd jump off your dresser and, like, roll around the house. You'd like, chase it to wake up. And sneeze. Snooze it so you couldn't snooze it and you had to chase it to turn it off. We need the commercial for that. Brilliant. Right. And there was one that was like, a boggle machine, like a puzzle that you had to put back together so it would be.

13:41 Able to snooze it. Yes. Incredible. There was a real oversleeping problem in the 80s. 90s, sounds like. Yes. So police also searched James's room at a boardinghouse where he's been living for the last few months. A man boarding house is just like, give me the creeps. It's, you know, a lot of, back then. We'll tell you. Yeah. Transient, you know? Hey, do you not want anyone to know your name? Because your last name is Smith for some reason. Did you guys get off a boxcar? Yeah. Come here. What's that? Blood on your neck is a small, fine mist of blood on your cheek.

14:13 And at this place, they find JD new comes missing watch and a blue gray overcoat that matches a description of the one he had been missing. They also find a box of 38 caliber bullets and a 38 caliber pistol. It turns out that the little Rock police had just arrested James a few weeks prior for assault, when he badly injured another man in a fight, and they also tell their colleagues at the Arkansas State Police that they had questioned James six months earlier about the disappearance of his own wife. When the police go back to James with the evidence from the package and from his room in the boarding house, he says, quote, okay, I'll tell you all about it.

14:47 I killed them all. Oh my God, straight up shank style. I killed them all. Kill them all. That's what that if you are the cop he was talking to or whoever it was that's feeling in your stomach, right? You mean, what do you mean? Oh yeah. Oh. So, he's 24 years old at the time. Oof! That's like a child. A child with probably, like, kind of evil eyes, I mean. Well, okay, let me tell you about him. He's James Weyburn Hollis, born in 1921, in Happy Valley, Arkansas. He's the fourth of 11 children. The one dies in infancy.

15:22 And from childhood on, James is nicknamed Red because of his red hair. You know, every man in my dad's family is nickname, right? They call it. They all call each other. I always forget your dad has red hair because I've never seen him with red hair. Not since the late 80s. Yeah. So his father, Samuel Hall, is a farmer and also a preacher in the local church. And as I've heard time and time again, James's childhood contains two of the common threads we wind up seeing in the childhood of serial killers, abuse and head trauma.

15:50 From the outside, the halls appear to have a pretty idyllic life. The children are looked after by a caring grandmother. James, his siblings and his cousins roam the outdoors together most days, but behind closed doors. James's father, Samuel, is abusive, and he focuses most of his anger on James. In his early teens, James starts leaving the home for long intervals, finding work on farms. When he's 14 years old, he's hit in the head with a metal fence post, although the story is that he ran into it or it fell on him, we're not sure.

16:21 It knocked him unconscious for about an hour, and some people who know James say that he was never himself again after this, although some people also say the fence post story is completely made up, and that it was actually James's father who gave him the head trauma. Oh my god, I know. So around that same time, James drops out of school and starts riding the rails to Oklahoma and Kansas doing farm work. He was a massive man standing over six foot five. He had wavy red hair, and he also had a limp that made him very recognizable.

16:52 And people called him Big Jim. Just the idea of like, it's one thing to get a head injury, you know, catch by chance to have your father give you a head injury that changes your life forever. Totally. It's like, you know, we love to talk about trauma. That's next level does so horrible. James meets his first wife in 1938, a woman named. While C Mickie James is 17 and while she is 2 to 5 years older, according to different accounts. Okay, 17 they get married. It doesn't last long. He blows in and out of town. She doesn't see him often.

17:28 They have two children, but the first dies shortly after being born. The second is a healthy boy born in 1943. But James and we'll see divorce shortly after he's born. James is then drafted into the army, but after six weeks of basic training, he's given a dishonorable discharge for, quote, indifference. Oh no. He likes. Dead eyes. It's that's very, I think, Full Metal Jacket vibes. I think within six weeks, getting discharged for that means you were like. They were like. We can't. Yeah, we miss this guy in the mental health evaluation.

18:01 Something's going on, right? Yeah. So that same year, James winds up in little Rock where he meets his second wife. Listen to this name, Serene Clemons. Hey, rain. Rain. Alabama. You say. Arkansas? Arkansas. And they say. Hey, they. Retiring. Come on over here. Come here. Let me do your hair. Why do your roots? She goes by Faye and they meet in December of 1943. He's 22 years old. And by March of 1944, they're married. Faye is very different from Wolsey, his first wife. When James gets the urge to travel, she wants to come with him.

18:36 He doesn't want her to. Because it's true love, right? By the summer of 1944, just a few months after their marriage, Faye confides in her family that she doesn't think she can stay married to James, and the family thinks that he's being abusive towards her. On Thursday, September 14th, James is back in little Rock after another period on the road, and he takes stay and a friend of hers dancing at a club called the Rainbow Garden. They leave the club at about midnight, at which point the friend says he and Faye began fighting.

19:05 As James, Faye and the friend walk to the car, Faye tells James that she wants to leave him and move to California. He slaps her across the face and gets and they all get in the car, and when they drop the friend off at her house, Say and James are still fighting. And that is the last time anyone besides James sees Faye alive. Oh. That friend I know. So sad. Now, when your friend is dating someone and or married to someone that you know is fucking terrible. And you're like this, she's about to get beaten up and I'm getting out of the car.

19:35 What do I do? What would you do? Go get a guy that's six foot six. I mean, that's the problem with, like, someone big in abuse. Those kinds of bullies are hard to fight if you don't have anybody around to fight them. Yeah, they don't like they don't listen to reason. Or women. Or women or reason. Meeting women. Three days later, some of these cousins come by to see her. James tells them that she left him three days before. The cousins tell Faye's parents about this, and they come to look for her. Of course, Faye's clothes are all in the closet.

20:10 It doesn't look like she's gone anywhere, but they give it some time hoping that maybe Faye just. She said she wanted to go to California. Her friend heard that. Maybe she just fucking booked it and they're about to hear from her. But when a week goes by, they go to the little Rock police. James tells the police that he last saw his wife on the night they came back from the Rainbow Garden, and that she left for California. So shortly after that, James moves out of the apartment he and Faye had shared and goes out on the road again.

20:35 We don't know James's exact route between September and December of 1944. We do know of several murders of middle aged men in this time period in Kansas and Oklahoma that some people will later tie to. James similar M.O. was then. The next few months, James stays closer to little Rock and commits the four murders. From the beginning of our story. That will eventually lead to his arrest. And that brings us to where we started in the story and him saying, I guess I killed them all. Yeah. When he finally confesses to those murders, he tells police that the first murder was only supposed to be a robbery.

21:10 He says that he intended on stealing the whiskey from Hamilton, and that James ended up shooting him with that 45 caliber pistol and then using Hamilton's gun, which he stole from the car, to commit the rest of the murders. When the police ask James where Faye's body is, James says he took her to a remote road along a riverbank and beat her to death. Oh my God, I know! James brings the police and several press photographers to the site, but they can't find anything. Then a woodcutter named Cecil Foster, who lives nearby, walks over.

21:43 Cecil tells the police that he found part of a skull a few weeks back, and that he thought it washed down the river and he took it home. He says he also saw what he thought was part of a jawbone on the riverbank. Cecil looks in the spot and it's like, see, it's still there. James himself, who's there to show them where her remains are, says, quote, that's they. All right, and points out the characteristic front tooth in the jawbone. So sinister. It's so gross. And also this idea that they and maybe it wasn't him particularly, but that idea of like, I'm going to get the press to come to right it just as all those ways that I think back then, nobody knew.

22:24 You're feeding right into the psychopath hotline and the ego because. Let's let him let's let him control this. Yeah. It's so awful. James ultimately confesses to killing Faye and the four other men and to multiple other murders. When he was 17, in 1938, he killed a woman in Kansas. He kills a man in San Marcos, Texas, in 1944, and then he admits to killing ten migrant workers from 1938 to 1944, in Arizona. And then he'd offer up some clues and declined to talk about them. So he also says he killed a Bible salesman in Texas because of his itinerant lifestyle.

23:07 He suspected of several more murders. There are at least three similar murders in cities where he was likely to have been, but there isn't enough evidence to charge him. Still, this is so Ottis Toole. Yes, like but. Real. But real. But then also, can they prove it's real? It sounds like he's not making this shit up. Yeah. You know, I mean like, it all. Fits the mill. Ottis tools shit was all like, right. Anywhere they brought him, he was like, yes, he right. But God, it just so I know, it's so evil. It's so scary.

23:37 And he's 24. Yeah. Hey, can you give me a ride? I'm a friendly guy. Can you give me a ride? I have a limp. Fun times. Oh, Bible salesman. I love Bibles. At 24. Which mountains? Like, what if he hadn't been caught? Right? Then that woman hadn't called and said this gun that my friend had. I think it's the murder weapon. If she hadn't called in, what would you have ramped up to when he was like 30 and 35? You know. I mean, maybe he would have gotten in the car and then been like, it'll be faster if I'm picking people.

24:06 Up right. Like that. I mean, who knows? No true crime. James is arraigned in the spring of 1945. He's charged with first degree murder only for the killing of Faye, his wife, because this is thought to be the strongest case against him. And it's a possibility that he'll get the death penalty in this case. So they want to try this one first. James's trial begins on the same day Germany surrenders and World War Two ends in Europe. And because of that, the case didn't get as much national attention. But still, there are murdering us back then.

24:39 The courthouse is packed to the gills for the two day trial. Two days. That's it? Yeah. On the first day of the trial, James takes back his confessions and instead pleads not guilty by reason of insanity. James's first wife, Wolsey, testifies at the trial and brings their two year old son, James, his entire relationship with Faye, her murder, and at least four others, but likely many more, have all taken place within less than two years. Oh my God, it was all two years. James is found guilty and sentenced to death.

25:08 He was executed a few days before his 25th birthday and the electric chair on January 4th, 1946. Faye's father attends the execution and says, quote, May God have mercy on your soul. I can't. Yeah, end quote. And that is the story of the hitchhike Killer. James Waber and Hall. Literally have never heard anything about. This. No. Thank you to Abby for sending this in. She says that he was, her grandmother's older brother. I know. Wow. Oh, yeah. Because there's ten kids. Or by the time. Yeah, nine kids. Yep. With him.

25:44 Wow. Oh, yeah. That's a big one. Yeah. Should we do a quick Cary tour? Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah. Okay. I mean, the experience of this tour has been so incredible, and the murdering us have just shown up in every way possible. Every way we've asked them to. Yeah. So my hooray, I think would just be all of our listeners, all the people that have like, actually gone to the shows, told their stories. We've had some incredible hometowns, just incredible, like participation. Yeah. It's been so cool to, like, be able to be out there with, with people and.

26:18 Have it when you kick that stuffed animal back into the audience. Though, you guys, we had a gift of a very large, very scary sized stuffed animal thrown at us onto the stage from the dark, and it scared everybody. But especially me in Georgia. So I then kicked it back out into the audience, and the audience went insane. That was a pretty good one. That was good. I think there's also the very first night of Denver night, one night show, one. Yeah. I don't think I expected the volume and the reception. No, getting a reception like that was such a lovely gift from that Denver audience.

26:53 Totally nothing like I had completely forgot that that like what that felt like, what it sounded like, how incredible and overwhelming it was. And I'm going to miss that after. New. York. Because very magical to be able to get something like that from a room full of people. Yeah, it's life affirming. You forget that, like people are listening when you're recording in the studio, and then to walk out there and be like. There you are. These are all the people that are not emailing and complaints in some way, shape or form.

27:22 They like it. They like it. They want you to have stuffed animals. And we say, no. No, thank you. Oh no, thank you. Yeah. Thank you for everyone who's come. Thank you for all the incredible gifts you've given us. I think we're gonna go through them in a video for the fan call soon. Oh, yeah, we're going to go through. We're going to unbox our boxes of gifts that we basically get to go through like raccoons real fast, and then have to box up and ship home. I can't wait. Yeah, it's going to be really good. That was a great story. This is a great solo.

27:49 Thank you for your patience as we are on wrapping this tour up, which has been, an incredible amount of work for our team on the podcast team. So thank you to the MFM production team led by Molly Smith, the great producer, and make it possible. For us to like, leave and not worry about what's going up. She she was on. It and our supervising producer Jess Keck, who worked with Molly. Thanks to everybody for making all of these things that we're able to do simultaneously. It's only because we have this incredible staff. Totally.

28:23 Yeah. Thanks, guys. Thanks guys. Well, stay sexy and. Don't get murdered. Goodbye. To.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "The Arkansas Hitchhike Killer | MFM 507"?

Georgia Hardstark (Host), Karen Kilgariff (Host), Sue Klebold (Guest), Abby (Guest), James Weyburn Hall (Guest).

What is "The Arkansas Hitchhike Killer | MFM 507" about?

The discussion centers on the memoir "A Mother's Reckoning" by Sue Klebold, in which she reflects on her experience as the mother of Dylan Klebold, one of the Columbine shooters. The narrative explores themes of grief, mental illness, and parental responsibility, emphasizing the importance of recognizing warning signs in teenagers and the complexities of understanding their struggles.

What is mentioned in this My Favorite Murder episode?

13 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including James Weyburn Hull, A Mother's Reckoning, Sue Klebold, Exactly Right Media, J.D. Newcomb Junior, C.F. Hamilton. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "The Arkansas Hitchhike Killer | MFM 507"?

The episode runs 29 min; the transcript is about 5,461 words in 53 timestamped sections.

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