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Hey weirdos, I'm Ash. And I'm Elena. And this is Morbid.
🎵 We're here. It's morbid. I'm excited.
This is going to be like jumping right into it today.
We're not going to do a whole lot of like, we're not going to go into true crime news.
We're not going to like go... How was your day?
Because... Do we ever go... How was your day?
Literally all the time. Ask anybody. That's what we do.
Okay. And... you we i am looking at 14 pages of a part two right now which is like a Pretty hefty part two.
Yeah. So I figure why waste a lot of time?
I know people want to know. I left you on a cliffhanger.
I apologize for that. my apologies i just like you know i love to build up that anticipation You did, because on Twitter, people are losing their shit.
Love that. I've seen so many people like, excuse me, don't mean to bother you, but when the fuck is part two coming?
When is it coming? And I felt the same. Well, you know, I wouldn't do it to you if I didn't think I had something to really like deliver boom in part two all right so go boom let's go if i didn't have it i wouldn't do it to you so you know what i appreciate you i love you here we are So when I last left you, we're talking about James Rodney Hicks.
Douchebag extraordinaire. Yes. That is his given name.
So that is the name on his birthday. Not runway coach extraordinaire.
No. Douchebag extraordinaire. So yeah, so James Rodney Hicks, he's terrible.
He's from Maine. What up, New England? Not a feather in our cap by any stretch of the imagination.
But when we left you, we had James being convicted in 1984 after nine hours of deliberation. for the death of his wife, Jenny Cyr.
Now, they convicted him on fourth-degree murder or fourth-degree homicide, which is like current manslaughter charge kind of thing.
And they convicted him for the first time in Maine history without a body. nobody big deal and that's a big deal because now he's been you know he's been convicted he's going to jail But everybody lost their minds. because a lot of people thought it was ridiculous that he was convicted without a body, which To which I say, like, are you kidding me?
Like, it was very clear that he did it. But people were really angry and they were like, how can this happen?
How can he get like that? charge without even having a body to say that she's dead.
Like you guys are determining she's dead and you don't even know that.
Right. Which I understand that it's hard for me to grasp.
It's hard for anybody to grasp. You don't have a body. or a murder weapon, or even a murder scene, technically. but we're declaring her dead right like that's tough because it's like are you going to put out a certificate of death then?
Like, are you really going to, you have to legally declare her dead, it feels.
That is true, of course. But, Of course, his defense felt the exact same way.
They were like, this is ridiculous. We're not going to let this stand.
We are appealing. So they started the appeals process on the day of sentencing.
And one thing they harped on was those damn subjective neighbor accounts of whether Jimmy and Jenny's fights were really all that bad.
We talked about it in part one. That one person's knock-down, drag-out fight is another person's everyday argument with their spouse.
Right. and vice versa. It's like you can't I don't know if you really can rely on those that much, especially I feel like when it's a consensus among neighbors, like if all the neighbors said These fights were crazy.
Yeah. They weren't normal. We all agree that this is one thing.
Yeah. But the varying accounts of like, yeah, I didn't hear I didn't really hear him fight that often.
And when they did, it was just like normal arguing.
And then somebody else saying like, oh, no, it's terrible.
And I thought something horrible was happening every time.
When it's that varied, it's like, I understand why they didn't really want to take that into account.
Mm-hmm. But they also, of course, said no body.
This is an easy way to appeal this. So they were able to appeal on the basis of all that.
And they threw in the idea that they believe the state did not really prove that Jenny Cyr Hicks was even dead.
So, I mean, they did have a little bit of a leg to stand on here.
Now the final thing they took issue with, the defense, which I think is infuriating and makes me want to punch them all in the face.
They said the jury should not have been allowed to hear testimony about Jenny's love for her children or how amazing of a mother she was.
What? They said that. Why? Because they were like, well, you just made it seem like that part, because they were using that, the process. prosecution to be like she wouldn't leave her children she was an amazing mother and she was a that was her main priority.
This is the biggest thing that says she would never have run away, that this has to be foul play.
And they were like, You shouldn't have been allowed to say that.
That's just ridiculous, though, because I feel like the first thing they usually do is like try to attack the person's character.
So it's like, oh, okay, so you can attack it, but you can't lift them up and actually say exactly who they were.
Exactly. No. No. It's like, I'm sorry, no.
That's who she was. That was her character.
If it made the jury... feel sympathy for her and feel like, yes, she would not have left, then so be it.
That's the truth. wouldn't have left right these aren't people's opinions this is literally fact she was an amazing mother right 100 of people said it there was not not even james hicks could say she was not an amazing mother like she was an amazing mother And then what?
She just woke up one day and was like, never mind.
I'm just going to abandon my children. Fuck it.
Sounds fine. No. No. So J. Hilary Billings was for the defense and Charles Ledbetter was for the state in the appeals process.
December 19th, 1984, Hicks was released on bail.
He couldn't speak to any of the witnesses.
He had to check in weekly for parole and he couldn't leave the state while he was awaiting this appeals trial.
But still, I'm like, was he really? Like, we just let him wander off?
He may have murdered someone, but okay. Now he and Linda Marquis, because remember, Linda Marquis is his girlfriend at the time.
Linda's the one that interrupted the police interview with James Ricker, who he said, If she hadn't walked in and kicked us out of the house, I think he would have confessed.
So he and Linda Marquis wanted to get married.
Okay. Okay. Because while your man is on trial for the murder of his previous wife and mother of his first children, that should be a priority for sure.
Yeah, romance. Right? right yeah let's get married sounds good can't go on a honeymoon fucking idiots so Unfortunately for those two dimwits, they couldn't get married until Jimmy admitted that Jenny was dead.
Because you can't get married when you're married to someone else.
Correct. Correct. And you can't, she's not there to divorce him.
And so they were like, okay, Jimmy, you want to get married so bad?
Admit she's dead. Right. i thought she was off with some other dude yeah is that what it was because you know he's That's what he's saying.
That's his story. Now, it's hilarious. Because he's still trying to run around saying Jenny's still alive.
So they're like, you can't go back on this now.
And if you do, you're admitting it. So he had to deal with the fact that he was still married, couldn't marry his new girlfriend, and was now being pressured into saying that Jenny was dead to try to get him to admit it to further these charges.
What a situation at hand. Exactly. So the Boston Globe reported that Linda Marquis, by the way, said that she would marry Jimmy Hicks even if he went to prison for the murder of his wife.
Wow. What a stand up gal. Now, Linda luckily comes around at some point.
But at that time, I'm sure she regrets a lot of these statements.
Was she very young at the time? I think, yeah, she was young, but, like, I think he just... he had a way he said he was a charmer he had a way of there's a lot of women that we're going to come across that stand by him for a little while and then eventually go what the fuck was I doing right well then of course she said like she would still be with him even if he went to jail for the murder that means like she probably still didn't believe it exactly she's like so it's not like she goes to prison i would stay with him because i don't believe he did Yeah, she's not like, I'd still date him if he murdered his wife.
Exactly. She's saying if he went to prison for it.
Now July 9th, 1985, Jimmy's conviction was upheld by the appeals court.
He was immediately transported to Maine State Prison in Thomaston, Maine.
And right when this happened, Jimmy and Linda decided it was another great time to get married.
They were like, you know what, so they can.
This is the time to get married. So, of course, they ran into the same issue.
Right. Because the issue is not gone. They had dropped it a little bit.
They were going through this whole thing.
When this happened, they were like, no, now.
Now is the time to get married. And they were like, okay, well, same issue is still here.
Your wife is still presumably like... I think what they thought was when this whole appeals process was over, he was going to be going to prison for the murder of jenny so they were like oh well you guys think she's dead So that we can get married.
So that issue is gone now. He doesn't have to admit it.
It's just you think he is. But they were like, no, no, no.
We're doing this without a body. We're saying that it is likely that he committed this crime.
Right. So, of course. The deputy attorney general said he wasn't going to issue a death certificate for Jenny.
And he said, that's actually the medical examiner's job.
So talk to him. Mm-hmm. So the medical examiner, Henry F. Ryan, said it was actually the Office of Vital Records who needed to do this.
So everybody's like, not me, I'm not doing it.
Giving the old run around. Because he was like, we don't have a physical body.
I'm a medical examiner. I give death records for physical bodies that I can look at and nobody wants everybody doesn't know what to do because this doesn't happen Well, it's very unprecedented.
So this was completely new territory to everybody.
Eventually, they were granted the death certificate for Jenny Cyr and allowed to get a marriage license because they did have to eventually say, She's dead.
Especially if he's in prison. Exactly. Now, Jimmy was pissed.
What? Here goes Linda, all excited to tell him about this in prison. runs to prison and is like, they granted the death certificate.
Like, we can get married. Like, yippee. And he's like, you idiot.
This ruins my case because it makes me look it makes it look like Jenny really is dead.
You didn't realize that this whole time, sir?
Like what? You just... So when she was like, but we have been... working on this like what and he's like i thought they were just going to issue some kind of waiver of some kind to like override the whole thing Like, just to be like, maybe she's dead, but he doesn't admit it.
You should not think that. Like, you should research that first.
No. And she was like, no, they issued a real death certificate.
Like they're saying she's dead. My bad. And apparently they were in love.
So whatever. Now, after this whole debacle, Linda went on a real spree of speaking to the press.
It seems like Jimmy's anger about the state issuing Jenny's death certificate made Linda try to pivot to please him.
Because he was pissed at her now. And he had a way of making the women in his life feel like they had to please him.
He was a manipulator. Oh, 100%. She started saying to anyone who would listen about how she was sure that Jenny was alive.
She said she felt the members of the court would feel pretty dumb when Jenny just walked back into everybody's lives. she said quote i'm sure they'll feel a little awkward when jenny is found a little embarrassed maybe Yeah, I don't think anybody's going to feel awkward or embarrassed when a missing woman and mother of two children is found alive.
I think it's going to be relief. Yeah, I don't know if they're going to really think about their own egos there.
It's a human being. Thank you for that, Linda.
You might feel a little awkward being married to a woman's husband.
That's gonna be awkward. But she told the Morning Sentinel, quote, deep down inside, I know that he's innocent.
I have no doubts whatsoever. We've been waiting to marry for a long time.
He's my man. Oh gosh. He's my man. I love the deep down part of this.
Like, she's like, you know what? On the surface, I think that motherfucker is guilty.
But deep down somewhere... I feel like...
Like, somewhere in there. That's the way you did the, like, deep, like, motherfuckers go deep.
Like, that wasn't the love flex that you thought it was, Linda.
No. It rarely is. It was not a love flex.
That was literally like somewhere... Somewhere in there.
I feel like he's like really deep in there.
I feel like he's innocent. out here he's not so very guilty but like in there no You know what's even more stressful than a packed calendar?
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Rules and restrictions apply. But in August 1985, they were married in prison and Linda became legal parent of Holly and Rob. who are the names I chose for Jenny's children.
Yes. now which is like it just and I'm not saying it about Linda because I think Linda really was like swept away in this whole thing and I think he had a way of convincing a lot of people of a lot of things so i'm not even gonna say anything about her what like they don't even really know this woman necessarily that's it's like she's been taking care of them so I guess like I hope it was a she was a good I can't say anything about it you don't know They were never taken out of her care in like a negative way.
But I'm not going to say anything about that because only they know how that went.
But what bothers me is that they are now forced to live with the woman that they're person who married their mother is now dating.
Yeah. You know, like it's just like what a weird.
Yeah, it's traumatic. You're still being put in this weird. place where like this guy murdered your mother like we all know it right and now you're forced to live with this woman that is like backing him No matter what.
Yeah. Even if she's doing it out of not like a malicious way.
It's just not a healthy situation. Very unhealthy.
You know, their marriage shockingly did not thrive.
Well, yeah. He's in prison, remember? Yeah.
And eventually it was just a shattered mess while he remained in prison like it was just nothing.
So while married to Linda and while in prison, he started dating another woman.
Because that's also his MO. Of course. He dates multiple women.
He marries multiple women. always has overlap that's just what he thinks because as we'll see he wants everybody to think he's like a real like A real dude.
He's like a real man. Real man's mom. But in reality, he's like a sniveling little coward weasel-faced... poop butt like that's what he is yeah that's exactly what the girls say he's a I love that.
Such an insult. It's such a burn. It's like your poop butt.
Poop butt. Yeah. Yeah. What's a poop butt?
I'm not going to tell you. Sometimes you get poop on a butt.
Yeah, poop on a butt. That's, you know, that's toddlers for you guys.
But that's neither here nor there. So they're Their marriage fell apart.
He starts dating another woman while he's in prison.
Her name is Karen Gomm. They had met because her sister was married to his brother.
Yeah. Keep it all in the family. Yeah. So he divorced Linda and immediately married Karen.
Cause let's go. Let's go. Yeah. Remember, Linda took custody of the children.
Right. Linda's the legal guardian now. He doesn't give a fuck.
He's been raising them. Yeah, he doesn't give a fuck.
No, 1990, after six years in prison. Six years.
That's not the full sentence. Can you remind me what it was?
He was supposed to get at least 10. Okay.
Jimmy Hicks was released early from prison for murdering his wife, Jenny Sear.
For why? Apparently he was a model prisoner.
They usually are. Obviously. And what's crazy about this is a lot of the police officers on this case later talked And they were like, oh, yeah, I'm sure he was a model prisoner.
They usually are when they're around other men.
And he was like, it's women that they're dangerous to.
Right. So they had nobody to hurt in prison.
They had nobody to put their anger on in prison.
They get out of here. They're just gonna do the same damn thing to the women that they did it to before.
Of course. That doesn't prove that they're not a threat to women.
It's called a pattern. Come on, guys. So right out of prison, he got a job at the Brewer... the Brewer twin city motel as a maintenance supervisor.
Okay. There, he starred in an affair in 1990 with a co-worker named Louise Robinson.
Robertson, excuse me. Luis had a daughter during this time that was his.
So he got a woman pregnant during this time.
Okay. He had to be forced to responsibility for that child via a DNA test because he refused to acknowledge that child.
Nice of him. He told Louise what had happened to Jenny Sear was between him and God.
He wouldn't say anything else about it. And maybe her family and everybody that loved her.
Yeah, you know. Because, of course, Louise was like, hey, like...
What happened with that? And he was like, you know what?
It was blown out of proportion. you know, those cops, like that Detective Ricker especially, which he gets.
He hates him. a bug up his butt about james ricker and it is hilarious because james ricker had his fucking number from the Like from the jump.
But so he just told her, you know what? What happened between us is between me and God.
And it's like, okay, well, no. So and again, Louise later came out and said, because at this time he's married to Karen.
So, and he's dating this person from his work now.
And Louise was like, he told me that he was separated from his wife. like i did not and she was like i also didn't know he had kids right and he had several kids at this point Is he still seeing like his original kids like him and Jenny's kids or no? i don't think he's really see i don't think he really gave a about any of his kids I'm not sure how often he was seeing them or what that whole thing was but I don't think he was a very present father for anybody really.
Now they dated Louise and him dated for four years on and off.
Literally. I think that's the entire time me and Drew have been together.
Yeah, and that's... It's a good amount of time.
It's a long time. And it was on and off.
It wasn't completely all the way through.
They'd have long periods of being broken up.
You're like, wait a second. And they broke up when she found out that he was actually already dating another woman.
Ooh. Yeah. And another woman working at the motel as well.
Oh. And she worked at the hotel, too. Yes.
Come on, dude. Exactly. And he's married as well.
And this woman was 39-year-old Lynn Willett.
And this was in 1994. Now, Lynn Ouellette was born to Jane and Vincent Hanks on August 29th, 1955 in Bangor, Maine.
Now, I am telling you this because she is victim number three.
Yes. Whenever we start to talk about somebody's real background, I'm like, okay.
She sounded like a really cool chick. She served in the army, the United States Army for a while.
She had medical experience. She had worked as a paramedic and taken classes for a while.
I almost said Cleuses. Cleuses. I don't know where that would have come from, but she seemed like a really cool like bohemian chick.
Ooh. She had lots of tattoos. She loved how to have adventures and travel.
She had a lot of dogs and she adored her dogs, like treated them like kids. she was way too good for him yeah i mean everybody like it's way too good for him they all were like when you look at these women you're like You're so much better than him.
But this is what happens. It's like these kind of people are able to manipulate their way into anyone's life.
Now, like I said, she was a very kind-hearted, very intelligent person.
In 1995, she was actually... taking classes at the local college to continue that paramedic path. okay uh that she had taken prior years because she wanted to like really further herself in the medical field which like good for her yeah And she was 39 and she was doing that.
Like, get it. Right. Good for her. Now she met Jimmy Hicks when she applied for the position at the motel while she was taking classes.
And they started an affair pretty soon after.
And at this point, he was dating Louise.
He was married to Karen. He's literally dating, like, the payroll of the hotel.
Now, Karen and Jimmy separated at least three times and then finally divorced around this time.
Gee, I wonder why. So at least one of them is being taken out of the picture here.
He was violent, he was aggressive, he was arrogant, according to Karen.
She later said that he would say to her, During their marriage, quote, I'm not going to tell you if I did kill Jenny, but I'm not going to tell you if I didn't either.
Oh. He would say that when he would get mad at her.
Like, I'm not going to tell you I did kill her, but I'm not telling you I didn't.
Like, let me just use that as a threat against you.
And she was like, are you kidding me? Like my first wife did.
Yeah. And Karen had two children by a different person when they started dating.
And those two children were almost immediately taken away from her when this relationship began because of him.
Which like not worth it, girl. Not worth it at all.
Not worth it. Never is. You break up with the man.
You do not. Come on. Now, after Louise and him broke up and he divorced his wife, he moved in with Lynn Willett.
Now during this time, essays and journal entries from Lynn indicate that she was like going through a little bit of like depression.
She would kind of have moments. She was very insecure with herself, which she, when you see her, you're like, man, I wish like somebody would tell.
I was just looking. She was gorge. You were gorgeous.
She just seemed so cool. Yeah. The fact that she was so kind-hearted and, like, had all these dogs that she took care of and, like, adopted, like...
And all these hopes and dreams. Yeah. Her dog, actually, she was really... still grieving the loss of a dog that she had three years prior to this her name was like i think it was kala the dog And she had been hit by a car in front of her.
Oh, God. And she just wasn't able to process it yet.
No. You might not ever. And it's hard. And she and Hicks had got a pit bull together and they named it Felon.
Felon. And he often got out, which is kind of funny.
It was like felonious. He was like, get out. felon is felonious and police in the area i guess would just like became like they like loved felon and would just like pick him up and like let him ride in the car with them and like didn't bring him to the pound or anything they would just drop him and they also liked lynn And they knew that it wasn't her who was letting Fallon out.
Right. Because she took care of her dogs.
Right. So they would just bring Felon back and be like, he got out again.
I guess Lynn was, they all said that Lynn was like super friendly, super sweet, like clearly someone who took care of these animals.
So they appreciated that about her. And even now, all of these new officers that were on the force since Jimmy had been like in his real legal trouble before, All the new ones were even like, Jimmy's like a dick.
Yeah, like, why is she with him? When he would answer the door, he would just be like a dick about it.
And they were like, why? Like, she's so cool.
Why? Like, what is this? Now, meanwhile, through all this, detectives are now focused on moving forward the case of Gerilyn Towers. the missing woman who they were still trying to find and they knew was connected. into jimmy hicks of course uh they knew he was still involved so behind the scenes here he's dating lynn He thinks he's in the clear.
They're still moving forward on this because Detective Ricker was like, I'm not letting this go.
Like, I'm going to get you. I'm getting justice for these women.
Good. 1996, Richard Reichel, a detective from the Maine State Police, wrote that he recommended the file for Gerilyn Towers be closed. at least temporarily.
He said, quote, Although this case appears to be a homicide, The body of Gerilyn towers has not been located.
Um, And he said, and they also wrote that they believed that the investigation quote, would lead one to believe that James Hicks is most certainly responsible for Gerilyn Tower's death.
But he said, we have no evidence, nothing that we can pin on him.
Literally nothing. Like everyone kind of just agrees that he probably did it, but we have nothing that we can say about it.
So we have to close it for now and we have to work on newer cases.
But they basically said unless new information comes out, it's got to be shelved.
Okay. But we will open it up. Which is really sad that you can just like... Yeah.
I understand logistically. in like a very cold way like that like certain things need to be placed priority at the for the time frames and stuff like that i understand like in the completely cold logistical way.
But in the human way... Nobody should be shelved, you know, like it doesn't matter.
And I understand it's just sucks. It's I think it's the terminology too.
It's like closing the case for now. or like putting a hold on it.
And it's because it's the case. The case.
And it's like, that's a person. Right. who has a whole assload of people who love them and are just Just want to know what happened to them.
And, like, lived a whole life and would have continued to.
Exactly. Were it not for one person. So it's just, like, it's tough because it's, like, you see both sides of – you understand there's, like, so many –
But there's got to be a better way to put more focus on everybody.
Yeah, absolutely. To be able to put focus on each and every one of these people that are missing.
Of course. But during this whole thing, Karen, the now ex-wife, and Louise, the girlfriend, they just broke up and who has a child by him now.
They were both interviewed a ton during their times with Jimmy and after because the police were keeping really close tabs on all of his relationships.
That must have been so nerve wracking for them to be interviewed while they were still dating him.
Because imagine if he found out he'd be pissed.
Absolutely. And Detective Ricker, who is now the chief of police, also didn't stop.
He was dead set on proving what he knew about Jimmy Hicks.
He searched his property. He searched grave sites given to him by tipsters.
And he followed up on every single lead that came through that tip line himself.
He would drive out to different parts of the state, like, He would dig himself.
He was doing everything, like all the legwork.
That's why he became the chief of police.
That's what I'm saying. See, this is the police work we love to see.
This is the one, because you love to see them.
This is how it should be. Yeah. They should be doing this.
This should be Oh, and before I get too much further with this, there is a podcast. called Murder, She Told, which is a great name for a podcast also.
I've come across that podcast. It's such a well done podcast.
She's great. Her voice is great. She does a great job.
Great, great, great. And she covered this case in a couple of episodes, I want to say, and she spoke to Detective Ricker and it has clips of it in her podcast episode.
And I'm telling you, you gotta go listen to that because he, first of all, you can hear right from his voice. how much he gave a shit about this.
I'm sure. He still cares about this. It still affects him.
You can just hear it. he just talks about it like he doesn't understand how this slipped through the cracks and it just just needs to not ever happen again.
But I highly recommend This, her podcast that she does on this particular case, but I recommend her podcast in general.
She just is, she covers like main topics.
In like New England-y kind of cases, which I know we love one of those.
And like cold cases, missing persons. Yeah, and I had never heard this podcast before, so now I can't wait to listen to them because I love listening to, like, New England cases. and other cold cases.
So like she does a great job. So I just want to shout her out.
Kristen Seavey, I think is how you say the last name.
She's great. I'm telling you. You're awesome.
So go listen to Murder, She Told. But you'll get a lot like once you listen to this episode.
I think it'll give you some more too because she does talk with James Ricker.
Yeah. And I didn't want to like... you know take from their conversation so but it's fascinating to listen to so i really recommend it's a really good like oh you listen to us now go listen to her it's the cherry on top i'm just saying it's the whipped cream so now i'm on a sunday i know i do too actually So yeah, James Ricker was everywhere.
He was not going to stop on this. And Linda Marquis, the girlfriend that turned wife to that be divorced before all this.
There's a lot here to So many women, unfortunately, their lives were touched by this monster.
Yeah. Well, she... finally now had come around to the idea that he was definitely a horrific murderer i'm sure yeah So Gerilyn and Jenny's families were more convinced than ever that he had something to do with their loved one's deaths.
Yeah. Completely convinced. But again, he really didn't get any justice, even for Jenny. sure he went to prison for six years for like a minute like that's not justice no she was what 23 when when she died and he served six years for taking her life.
And he's still not telling anyone what happened.
Right. So they still don't know. There's no closure.
If she's dead? How she died? Where is she?
Where is she? They have nothing. What happened?
Nothing. He was literally released after a spitful of years.
Yeah. And then they had to go through this whole harrowing appeals process which they got to have where it got picked apart that what you know whether they were allowed to say whether she was a good mom or not it's just ridiculous The town of Agde in France is famous for sun, sand, sea and sex.
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Binge all episodes of The Mystic and the Mayor exclusively and ad-free right now on Wondery+. start your free trial in apple podcasts spotify or the wondery app So in 1991, Linda spoke with James Ricker.
And she said, you know what? You know what, Ricker?
I'm ready to tell the whole truth here. What?
And he was like, excuse me? Like what? You weren't?
And she's like, OK. So she said he forced her to lie for him during the original investigation. into Jerilyn and Jenny's cases.
She said he told her to lie and say that he had come home at 1 a.m. on the evening of Gerilyn's disappearance.
But the truth was, she said, He didn't come home until sometime after 4 a.m.
And she said, and I do not know where he was during those hours.
And at the time, I assumed he was just drinking or with another woman.
Because that's just what he does. Like he's just a terrible slimy pig.
Comes home at 4am. she was like i just didn't she's like immediately i did not obviously think that he was out murdering someone that's not the first thing that you think of with the person you're in a relationship with.
And she's like, I should have told the truth.
But she was like, I was terrified of him.
And he told me to lie, so I lied. Which...
One, you're like, wow, that's really sad that like you were in that position.
But the second one is you're like, that is someone's child that's someone's sister that's someone's mother to the police you lied And it's for something terrible, man.
Like this isn't you lying because he like stole a stick of gum at the convenience store.
Or like got a speeding ticket. ticket or like you're lying and somebody's dead here like you you've got to feel bad about that man like that's not cool but she came clean so at least she came clean Now, she also came clean and said, by the way, he completely stripped the car he drove home the night of Geraldine's disappearance.
And she said it was a totally fine car that worked completely well.
What? She said, took it out back, took all the carpets out of it for absolutely no reason at all.
And you thought he was innocent, girlfriend?
Yep. i was like i feel like you knew but you just didn't want to admit it to yourself i think that's exactly what it was Now, she said that stripped car was still on the property.
So she was like... You know what? She was like, if you want to come and you want to take that car, you have complete permission to take that car and do whatever you want to.
It's on my property right now. Yeah. And so Ricker was like, great.
So in 1994 he attempted to do that, but the forensics team was like, it's been years.
Right. Like many years. It's 1994. We don't have a lot.
And it's been sitting out in the elements.
It's like, yeah. yeah and unfortunately he did strip a lot of it it sounds like yeah it sounds like what are we gonna get yeah there was nothing to really attempt to even take at this point like you know good for Linda for being like take it and at least try see what you can get yeah but it really wasn't going to do anything.
So that same year in 1994, Vance Tibbetts, who is Gerilyn's brother, told the Newport Police Department that he had been in the same prison as James Hicks at one point.
And he said he had requested by the like the warden.
He said he wanted to speak to James Hicks about his sister.
When he was in prison, he was like, Oh, he's in here.
Like, I want to talk to him. That's crazy.
So he did so. The warden like set up a meeting because he was like, you have a right to ask.
Absolutely. Love that warden. I know. I was like, good for you.
I was like, that could have been like a big problem.
Could have been a real scary thing, but like, I'm glad it happened.
And it was reported that when Vance asked what happened to his sister, Jimmy said he had seen her leave with a truck driver from the Gateway Lounge. that night.
What does he have against truck drivers?
What is this truck driver thing and don't worry, he's not done with truck drivers.
To all the truck drivers out there, I'm sorry.
Because what did somebody do to you? What the fuck do you have against truck drivers?
What truck driver pissed in your Wheaties?
Like, dude, they're just... Just making a living.
They're just driving trucks. They're just truck driving.
They're not picking up your wife. Honestly, every truck driver I've ever met is a great person.
Yeah. I've had nothing but great experiences meeting Trek.
We have a lot of listeners who are Trek We have a ton of listeners that are truck drivers.
And they're fucking awesome. They're always the sweetest people.
Fuck you, James Hicks. The only bad one I know of is Ben Rhodes.
I was just going to say the only, we covered it.
We even said in that episode we were like, this is not truck drivers.
This does not represent the truck driver community.
No, it does not. So I don't understand what his thing, a truck driver definitely like stole his lady at some point in his life or something like.
Or his lady just like dumped him for a truck driver and then he just had this thing against them forever.
That's actually a country song. Yeah, a truck driver stole my lady.
And I had something against them forever.
Also, my dog died. And my dog died and my truck died.
My truck. I don't know. So, yeah. So again, she left with a truck driver that night.
That's what he's saying about Gerilyn. He had also refused because Vance was like, cool, cool, cool.
You'll take a lie detector test to that, right?
And he was like, no, I won't. And this is all recorded for like the police recorded this?
Sure. So they were like, yeah, he refused it.
He was like, I'm not taking a lie detector.
And that's shady. Even though lie detectors are like hot dogs and trench coats, when you flat out refuse to take one, it doesn't look because what do you have to lose really yeah it's the whole thing is kind of messy because it's like i was gonna say you do have something you have something to lose but when you're james hicks like when you're james hicks like i nothing nothing applies to him that applies to everyone else in my mind i'm like you're dumb i hate you like right everyone else i'd be like don't take that and we know he did all of this right Now, when Vance Tibbetts got out of prison, he and his sister Jean and Jenny's family started talking.
Oh, wow. And they started sharing their stories and information.
That was probably cathartic. going to see these families of these missing women they come together in like the most beautiful way from these tragedies it's just like I love that.
It's like a wonderful thing that came out of it.
Because it's like how many people share that same trauma. it's a club nobody wants to be a part of but and they found themselves a part of it and they did something good with it good So they also connected together with Linda Marquis and other ex-wife Karen. and tried to share as much information as possible.
So now Karen and Linda started sharing their stuff with the families.
So they were working with him. James Hicks must die.
Truly. It's like John Tucker must die. Truly.
Then the whole gang got together with James Ricker and helped to narrow down some facts and like straighten up some facts.
Yeah. Yes. So all the families are now coming together being like, okay, we're going to straighten, we're going to like separate fact from fiction for you.
We're going to narrow down these stories.
We're going to try to get some witnesses together.
We're going to tell you who you should talk to, who you shouldn't.
And Ricker was like, cool. He was like, let's do this.
Let's go. And like where we should search. i wish you guys could see ash's face when she does let's go it's like Because I just picture like an older detective just being like, let's go.
It's so perfect. But I love it because they just all got together and were like, fuck this guy.
Let's all get them together. And I was like, hell yeah.
Now, in 1995, Jimmy, who was still dating Lynn Ouellette at this time and living with her, actually filed a complaint with the Brewer Police Department Against Vance Tibbetts.
Jimmy did. Yeah, Jimmy did. Gerilyn's brother.
Yeah, yeah. Saying he was stalking him.
He's allowed to, I feel. It's like, honey, you definitely killed his sister.
Like, you are... That's not stalking. That's just catching you.
Like, that's just being a brother. Yeah, that's just surveillance, actually.
Now people came forward to say that they were scared to talk.
Like all of a sudden people are coming forward and being like, yeah, like he he like intimidates witnesses like we were scared to talk And, you know, he had three people threaten us and shit.
So people are now coming forward being like, well, I know this and I know that.
More and more women started talking to law enforcement and sharing what they could about their relationships with Hicks.
He's a monster. Of course. Multiple women said he sexually abused them during their time together.
A lot of them said he was unnecessarily aggressive during sex and they were like, said before which many people had said before so this is a very clear pattern with him and they were like this isn't like like a kink we have.
Like this wasn't like consensual, like rough sex.
This is like, He was abusive. He was hurting me.
Yeah. And he was abusive to almost every child he came across and killed and abused animals.
Oh. All of them said this. Now, so the Brewer Police Department, Detective Joseph W. Zamboni. of the Maine State Police, he's going to become a big part in this.
It's like Zamboni and Ricker, like the two guys.
Zamboni. So the Brewer police talked to him and they were like, hey, like this is getting kind of crazy.
And when he talked to Vance Tibbetts, he told him that he would advance was like, I'm not going to stop harassing. jimmy hicks like he was just like oh my god that's so nice that you think that i'm ever gonna stop He was like, you're not going to do anything to make me stop.
He killed my sister and I know it. And he was like, not until the day I die or he dies.
Am I going to stop this? Sorry, not sorry.
Like brother shit right there. On some brother shit.
Now, so now Zamboni is into this. They've now got the state police involved.
So February 1996, Zamboni interviewed Jimmy Hicks at his place of work, the motel.
He asked him to take a polygraph. He was like, just take a polygraph and prove your innocence if you're so innocent.
And Hicks was like, no, I don't have to.
Like, I don't, there's nothing to prove.
And he was like, well, if there's nothing to prove, then just take the polygraph and it will prove that there's nothing to prove.
Right. And he was like, no. He refused, and after several more interviews with police about Jerilyn's disappearance, Lynn, his girlfriend, had had enough.
She told her friends this is getting to be too much.
Like, I think some weird shit is going. Like, he's being interviewed by police for, like, killing women.
And she was like, you know what? He's possessive as well.
He's an asshole. Like, he's not nice to the dogs.
I don't like him. Oh. so she dumped him and she moved into with her parents at her parents home and And she was in the process of it.
She was taking her stuff out of the apartment.
The most dangerous time. The most dangerous time.
So May 26, 1996, Jimmy Hicks reported Lynn Willett as a missing person.
No. She had not come to a family barbecue and wasn't able to be contacted, according to him.
The previous day was Saturday the 25th and Jimmy said, you know, we did spend the day together. so now he's being like i am the last person to be seen with her which wow that never happens He said they were together.
He said, yes, we slept together because sometimes in the midst of a breakup that happens.
Yeah. But he said, you know, we ate some food at this place called the Big Apple Store.
We went shopping to several places together and then we went for a drive together and we ended up at the apartment.
When we got up to the apartment, she got in her car to go back to her parents house.
That's the last time I saw her. Doubt it.
And her car was missing with her. They didn't know where the car was.
So shocking three women have gone missing after last being seen with Jimmy Hicks, huh?
Totally normal. He was able to give a very detailed description of her tattoos and distinguishing marks. which like he they were dating so okay but like he was very descriptive about the tattoos um Yeah.
And they were like, I don't know, like seems a little like he's focusing on them a little bit.
And we'll remember that. oh no and apparently she had um she had a few tattoos that were green like the color green yeah one was a heart on her shoulder she had a thistle on her left wrist and like a flower That was green and pink.
I think it was like a green necklace almost thing that went from her shoulder to her chest.
Oh, cool. Yeah. Now, weirdly too, He's giving you a very detailed and very here's my alibi of what I was doing that day, which always should be suspicious when someone's going, Well, we ate here and then we went to several stores and were seen by several people.
And then we went here where several people probably saw us.
Right. Okay. Okay, buddy. It's like Malignato over there.
Exactly. it reeks of i'm trying to set this up because i watch a lot of law and order kind of thing Now unfortunately for Jimmy, he was a really shitty liar and police just checked this overly detailed alibi and the sequence of events and it really didn't add up of course not because again it rarely does he's one of those guys who just thinks he's above it all He got away with it the first time around when the police came to look for Jenny and he said, oh, she ran off with a truck driver.
I saw it and they were like, well, Case closed, I guess.
Like, he got away with it then. So why...
Why wouldn't he think that now he could just give some overly detailed...
Because remember with Jenny, he was like, well, I went to the bar that night and I had this to drink and then I saw her outside in a car.
The car was this. She was in the passenger seat.
There was a man in the passenger seat. He was a truck driver.
I just know it. And then she looked at me and she said, how's the kids?
I'm not coming home. I'm going to Florida with this truck driver.
Here he is. Have you met him? And then they left.
And sometimes she sends Christmas. Like he went on this big detailed thing and no one bothered to look it up.
So he's trying it again. Right. Might as well.
Didn't work this time because there's new police officers that actually give a shit.
And because now at this point, this is the third woman who's gone missing.
And come on. like come on but how overly like the cojones on this man to try this.
The cojones. Like, come on. In general. Just to give this one a shot again, it's like, come on.
But luckily... luckily we have some good police work here and they went and checked on everything and they said no and Nothing is matching for them.
The Big Apple store said no, they never came in and had food.
And they didn't have a receipt to match.
You would also think that, like, you would take into account that most stores have surveillance of some kind.
Mm-hmm. Well, at this point, what is it, like, the 90s?
I think it wasn't like it was now. That's true, actually.
So that's a little different. But you would think, like... people are gonna but again remember he got away with it the first time he does not think they that he thinks this police department is the same police department that in the 70s who didn't look up shit and wasn't worried about it and just took him at his word and was like bro-ing out with him.
Can you imagine thinking that you can just like kill all the women you want for as long as you want.
And that people are just going to let you do it.
It's never going to catch up to you. It almost didn't. with him, to be honest.
So nuts. But so the Big Apple store said, nope, didn't come in, they didn't have a receipt or any kind of like order that matched what he said that they had.
They went to some of the stores he had claimed they went to.
All those stores were like, no. Nope. Never saw them.
Not us. Nope, definitely didn't. Neighbors said they saw Jimmy arrive, but they never saw Lynn. that day and they were like she didn't i didn't see her car i didn't see her no Didn't happen.
When questioned again, Jimmy said he had seen Lynn with another man the day before. before she went missing.
And he said he was pissed about it and had talked about it the next day with her. and also was sure to throw in the fact that Lynn had struggled with depression in the past. oh of course police were not buying it they were like no because now he's trying to throw in well she was cheating on me so she probably just ran off with that guy Yeah, just like Jenny.
We got to set it up. Between his bullshit version of how the day with Lynn went when she went missing.
And his past with Jenny and Gerilyn. They knew he was a fucking serial killer, but they just needed the evidence.
Right. Now, Friday, May 31st, Lynn's car was found.
So not too long after she went missing. It was parked in a parking lot at a truck stop in Hermann.
I wonder why it was at a truck stop. And that's just off of I-95 if you're in New England with us.
So Zamboni and Rickers just decided they were gonna fuck with him, which is really funny.
What they did was, I guess, you also make sure you read that book, Tragedy in the North Woods, that I'm recommended in the first part.
It's just like really good. They just have like a lot of detailed stuff about this, so I really recommend it.
I'll definitely source it in here. But in that book, they talk about how...
Rickers really went for the hard, I don't give a shit, you're an asshole, I know you're an asshole, I know you're a murderer kind of thing.
Good cop, bad cop. Like he didn't put on any airs of like we're friends or anything or I think you're innocent.
It was like, you're a murderer. I'm going to prove it.
Right. And then Zamboni decided to counteract that by doing the buddy thing where he was like, listen, bud.
I'm on your side. I'm just trying to get this, you know, I'm just trying to make it go away.
But like, you're not helping me out, like kind of thing.
Right, right. And they worked really well together that way because it was a perfect... Because then it made... hicks hate ricker yep and like like zamboni so he started giving up a little more to zamboni And he would be angry at Ricker, so he'd be bitching about Ricker and things would slip out.
So it really worked out. Genius. So when they found the car, Zamboni was like, well, we just showed up at his door at 1am, like banging on his door and they were like, Jemmy!
We found the car! Aren't you so happy? And he's like, we knew he had parked the fucking car there.
Of course. We knew he thought we would know. ever find it and we knew that when we told him we found it only days later he was gonna shit that he was gonna shit his pants hands and it was funny water on himself they were like and he was like it was even funnier to act like we're bros like we're friends and we're helping you out what's up bro we found the car now it's in remember Jimmy is only good when he has time to think about stuff before he does it. and what he thinks are backups and alibis to help him out.
When he's caught off guard or when he's bested in a situation like this, just out of the blue, He shits his pants.
It's like when he was on the stand. He was cool, calm, and collected because he knew what was going to happen.
But when he was interviewed out of the blue by Ricker, he shit his pants.
Right. He's lame. Now, his idea... Well, Lynn definitely ran off with a truck driver, just like Geraldine and Jenny.
Isn't it crazy how everybody just always does that to me?
All three women, according to Jimmy Rodney Hicks.
Ran off with truck drivers. Does that happen a lot?
That's all he had. That's how dumb this man is.
He can't even come up with a different...
Excuse. For another woman. Like, for an entirely different human.
You couldn't even say he, like... sure like you're even staying with the she ran off with they don't all run off with they're just gonna break up with your dumb ass and leave you that's not like In fact, Jenny left you.
She was having you move out of the place.
She wasn't running off with anybody. She was kicking you out.
Exactly. And so did Lynn. Lynn was leaving.
Gerilyn didn't even know your ass. And then it's like, and Lynn was dumping you.
So it's like you were being, you were a loser, and the only thing you can come up with is something negative, like these women ran off with some so stupid behind your back like no you're the loser not them Oh, that's just so insane.
It's so irritating. And of course that was bullshit because they just checked on Lynn's bank account and account and all her cards, and none of them had been used.
It's very obvious that she's not... around it's like come on which is so sad and her family knew it which is even sadder It was just another cycle like Jenny and Gerilyn's families.
They knew it. And no one was listening to them.
Luckily, this time they had some cops that were on it.
But her mother, Jane, actually said, and this breaks my heart.
Her mother, Jane, said, quote, she was my baby, you know.
She's gone. I'm her mother. I can feel it.
About Lynn. That's horrible. Yeah. So she was literally like, I know she's gone.
Like, she's not alive. And it's like, mothers know?
Absolutely. Now, this was a whole operation, so Zamboni was working tirelessly to pin this on him.
He had no tangible evidence, but everyone knew this was the guy. worked along with Ricker on the Geraldine case now as well so now they're both working on the Lynn case and they're Zamboni went back and was like, now I'm going to help you with the Gerilyn one too.
Mm-hmm. Because they figured if they could get one, then the other one might just fall into place.
And if they could get him to confess to one or nail him on it...
He might just confess to all of them. Yeah.
So the jackass was already moved on within four months of Lynn going missing.
He was already moving on to another woman.
So fucked up. In September 1996 he moved in with an 18 year old named Brandy Mayo.
He was 45. God, what are you doing, dude?
When cops found this out, they immediately spoke to Brandy's parents and her mother because...
Remember, they're very clear, like they are focused on monitoring his relationships now because they know he's very dangerous to women.
So her mother, Anne, said that Brandy had met Jimmy when she was working as a chambermaid at the motel.
Of course. And they said she's a good kid, but she had a lot of insecurities.
And they said Jimmy seemed to be grooming her and just preying on that.
And they were like, we don't like him. Of course not.
We're not comfortable with her dating a 45-year-old man.
No. who has been involved with a lot of weird shit in the past.
And also the mom was like, she gets, he yells at her on the phone.
Like we can hear her like, him like verbally abusing her um and she's been not allowed to leave the house unless she's going to work all like he's starting his whole possessive thing over again.
So fucked up. of brandy's came forward and told zamboni and ricker that jimmy was physically abusing brandy as well of course And he had also taken her to locations, like certain locations, and told her that this is where he had taken the other missing women, and she was next.
What? Yeah. And the thing was, Brandy... didn't wasn't told any details she wasn't hiding anything yeah he was basically just, she thought he was doing this as like a threat tactic, like just to be like,
Well, you know that in my past, people have accused me of this.
This is where I took them and you're next.
Like she didn't actually like know that that's where bodies were or anything like that because I don't want to put that on her.
No. Like he was an abusive prick and she figured this was just another thing.
She's an 18 year old girl. Exactly. Now, the couple actually had a daughter the following year, and that daughter was immediately taken away by the Maine Department of Human Services.
Oh. and placed in foster care. That's horrible.
So in 1998, they got married. Yep. This is when the files in the case on Hicks were actually brought in front of the FBI.
Oh, shit. So during all of this, they'd been gathering all this.
You know, all the families are involved.
All the ex-girlfriends and the ex-wives are involved.
The people he has dated, the people he's worked with, they've all come together with Ricker, with Zamboni.
Right. We just got this huge file and now they feel like we've got enough.
We got to bring this to the FBI and see what they say.
We do. So after review, the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime which is part of the FBI, determined that they said, quote, James Hicks is likely responsible for the disappearance of both Gerilyn Towers and Lynn Ouellette.
And they said, quote, James Hicks has been involved in at least three incidences in which females who he was associated with at the time of their mysterious disappearances. have never been seen nor heard from since.
They ended the report by saying quote, James Hicks will continue to pose a genuine threat to a variety of female acquaintances until he is stopped by law enforcement or otherwise.
Yep. That's pretty clear. So while this is happening, Jimmy and Brandy decided to move to Texas.
Because he wanted to get the fuck out of Maine.
And they had another baby. Oh, no. A boy.
Who was immediately removed from them as well and placed in foster care.
Now, are these kids being immediately removed because Jimmy's, like, under...
Because, like, Jimmy is very clearly, like, not fit for parenting.
These women are not leaving him. Oh, man.
He began working for a contractor while he was out there named Danny Hines.
And he was doing painting and like other contract work. just on homes and stuff.
And the FBI and CAVC, the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime, They told Maine State Police and Newport Police, who they were working with, that they said, you guys need to put him under surveillance and you need to gather as much intel as possible.
And they said, you know, we're going to aid you guys in working with the Texas authorities in order for you to do that. so that everybody can be connected.
And they literally said... He should be classified as a serial killer who is on the loose, even though we don't have bodies.
Okay. Like, this is wild. This is crazy.
And also, the main authorities... were which this doesn't happen all the time that like the main authorities were very willing to share everything they had with the Texas authorities yeah but like That definitely doesn't happen a lot.
Because sometimes egos come into play here and nobody wants to share shit and that's when stuff happens.
Mm-hmm. And so they were like, we'll give you everything.
Like, and you give us whatever you can. And it worked.
So James Ricker actually wrote a long... letter to the Leveland, Texas police chief where they were staying.
His name is Ted Holder. This was on June 20th, 1999.
And James Ricker wrote, that he was apologizing for sending his worst citizen to them.
Oh my god, I love it. He said, like, I'm very sorry that Maine is sending our worst citizen over to you.
That's hilarious. And then he said, quote, And it was a big long thing where he outlined all three of the disappearances what they had against him, what had happened.
And he wrote, quote, we sincerely feel that Mr. Hicks will kill again in almost any female conversation. could fall victim.
So in April 2000 some real shit happened.
You think real shit has already happened?
I do. Yes, I do. This is when it gets wild.
It's been wild. It's gonna just get wilder.
It's gonna get even more wild. Now, April 2000, a woman who was 68 years old named June Elizabeth Mosk called Danny Hines to do some work for her on her house.
Okay. Jimmy Hicks was one of the workers that was going to be doing this.
And he offered to do some side work for her outside of the contractor job, Jimmy Hickston.
Again, no thank you. He was going to do some indoor painting and tile work for her.
They, like... talked about a price, all that fun stuff.
On April 8th, he went to get paint for the job for her.
Okay. And she had given him a check. And then he brought it back to the house.
And she said when he arrived, he was like, he was drinking beer.
And she told him like, You can drink it outside, but you can't drink it in my house.
Yeah, that's rude. You're on a job. And he, so she went inside and she's like, I just went inside to sit down.
Suddenly he walked into the house. stuck a gun in her face, the 68-year-old woman, and said, this is real, and I'm not fucking working for you anymore.
What? And she was like, what? She said and she was quoted as saying, quote, Jim's whole personality had changed.
He was red in the face and angry. Jim made me give him my glasses.
Jim was talking very loud and usually he is very soft spoken.
I tried to stand up and Jim pushed me back down in the chair.
After this, he went on a whole tirade about the world being against him, And the Department of Social Services was taking his son away.
They had taken his daughter away. He was so angry.
He's like, they're trying to pin me with all this shit.
And like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Like just went on this whole rampage.
Yeah. He then shot the gun at the wall and then ripped the phone out of the wall when she tried to grab it to call for help.
He literally whipped it out of her hand and ripped the wires out of the wall.
And then he ripped every other phone wire out of the wall.
Oh, this is a fucking nightmare. And then locked all the doors.
And she's just sitting there like, what the fuck?
She's literally like, I told you you couldn't drink a beer in my house.
Yeah. He then admitted to her. He said I killed my wife.
And then he told her he didn't want to kill her because he liked her.
He was like, I really don't want to kill you because I actually kind of like you.
I feel like I love you so much. And then he said...
And we're in Texas and they'll put me to death.
So he's literally telling her, like, the only reason I don't want to kill you right now is because they'll give me the death penalty if they catch me.
And I kind of like you. He then grabbed her arm and tried to force her into the bedroom, but she didn't want to go, obviously.
And she said, quote, She finally just like gave in because she was like, I don't know what to do here.
So she said quote we walked to the bedroom and he told me to sit down so I sat down on the side of the bed Jim wanted to know if I had any money, and I told him I didn't have very much money.
Then he asked me about my jewelry and I told him he could have whatever he wanted.
Just please don't kill me. Oh, that's so sad.
So then he made her go back into the living room and he asked her, do you have any guns?
And she figured he would find them anyways.
So she just wanted to comply to live. Yeah.
So she told him she had rifles in the closet.
So he left to get them. He took them out.
Then he made her go back into the living room and demanded she write a check for him. after asking how much money was in her account.
Yeah. She had told him she had $1,500 in her checking and he said for her to write him a check... for Jim Hicks for $1,250.
And he said, I don't want to take everything that's in your account.
Oh yeah, let me just leave you with a couple hundred.
Thanks so much. That's, you know, that's Jimmy.
I'm going to rob you, but I'm going to be like pretty nice about it.
That's Jimmy. Cool. Good old Jimmy. Just so nice.
So yeah, he's like, yeah, so I don't want to take everything, so write me that.
Then he stole $200 in cash from her purse.
Then he told her he wanted the title of her car.
What? So she was nervous but she said she just went with it.
She's like cool take my car and get the fuck out of here.
So she led him to where the title is. And he took the title.
He even led her outside to make sure the mileage was correct.
Yeah. and then brought her back inside.
The title was officially written over to him by her.
And then he told her she had to write a note for her children saying he had turned the title over to Jimmy.
Yeah. She had given him all the money and whatever else he wanted to take, and she had done it out of her own prerogative.
Okay. It was essentially a suicide note, what he had her write.
Yeah, that's so fucking scary. Yeah, and he dictated it to her and then forced her to sign it. but she's smart as a motherfucking whip.
What'd she do? And she was like, well, he's an idiot, so I'm gonna try this.
So she signed it June E. Moss and not Mom.
So it would be obvious that it wasn't her doing it out of her own volition.
She did that to be like, this is, This is me not doing this out of my own volition.
He didn't catch it. Like... Are you that stupid?
Because I'm in a fucking frenzy. She's writing it to her kids.
He also made her write a second identical note so that they could be compared.
Now we will find out later. Jimmy likes crime shows.
And he gets a lot of his things from crime shows.
And this is a perfect example of like something stupid you would see on a fucking crime show.
Yeah. And he also compared her signature with her driver's license, so he really wanted to make sure it looked real.
Damn. He was like anxious, like yelling, like she said he was red and like spitting and just crazy.
And he was scaring the shit out of June.
And he then brought her into the room. this bag that he had shown up with when he arrived earlier.
He pulled out a couple of beers out of there and then a 33-ounce bottle of Coca-Cola and And he gave her the bottle of Coke and said, drink the entire thing.
What? And she kept asking him if it was poison.
And he insisted he said it wasn't. And he took a sip of it and was like, it's not.
She's like, why are you making me do this?
And then he started, he just kept screaming at her to drink the entire thing while she was like, gagging on it and like spitting it out and he he's chugging beers while she's doing this by the way What the fuck?
And he's screaming drink at her every now and then.
He told her and then finally he tells her, which I'm like, what is going on?
So she says, Jim gave me the bottle and said drink.
I asked him again if it was poison. Jim said no.
It's cherry cough syrup, and I put a bottle of regular in it.
I asked him again if it was poison, and he said no.
I got it at the dollar store. So he gave her a bottle of cough syrup and is telling her to drink the entire thing.
Right. So he left her in the room drinking cough syrup and started running the baths.
What? So this is cough syrup mixed with Coca-Cola?
Mm-hmm. Okay. So now what he's doing... is he's running the bath and he's gonna later what he's going to do is drown her and make it look like a suicide What?
Yep. And he keeps coming back and forth into the room, like forcing her to drink, threatening her with a gun. going back to check the water level, like going back in.
And one of the times he went in the bathroom, June just got the fuck up out of there. good she was like you idiot she like he left her alone and she was like bye bitch like she just like ran out the front door and she ran to a neighbor's house for help, and he just saw that she was gone and escaped in his van.
Well, two neighbors saw him leave and seeing June run out of there, they jumped in their car and followed him.
This is just so random. So random. And horrific.
Yeah. And one of them called police and an ambulance for June because she had just been drinking cough syrup.
Yeah. So she was brought to the hospital.
The neighbors chasing him saw him throw shit in a dumpster. on the way.
So they told police. Police later came and found that he had thrown in the dumpster.
They found the car title ripped up. What?
Because he tried to get rid of the evidence now.
A photo of her daughter... June's daughter, and a BB gun.
Okay. So then they go back to June's house and they find that all the doors are locked.
He locked her in there. He had shot a bullet into the wall.
And the bath was filled almost all the way up.
So he was definitely going to drown her.
They immediately went to Jimmy Hicks' house, where he was sitting in his van in front of his house. immediately arrested him in front of his house.
You're arrested for the strangest fucking crime.
The most fucked up weird crime. Yeah. So, he was charged with aggravated assault of an elderly person?
And he was facing life in prison for it because he was already a convicted felon and he had used a gun in this whole thing.
Yeah. So like... Okay. What? And what's weird is this isn't him wanting to be caught because he did not want to go to prison in Texas. as we will see, he did not want to be in prison in Texas.
Right. So like, what are you doing? Um, So he's now facing life in a Texas prison.
He didn't want to do that. So he contacted press outlets in Maine. and basically said if they paid him enough, he'll give them the story, like the whole story.
But all these press outlets are like, yeah we don't pay felons for stories so like you're in prison like you're not gonna get the money They immediately contacted Zamboni and the police department and were like, this is what he's saying.
Hey, what's up? Hello. So Zamboni got in contact with Steve Hicks.
Steve Hicks is Jimmy's brother. How many brothers does Jimmy have?
He has a lot. He's like one of like six or seven kids.
But Steve Hicks was like, all right, we can we can cut a deal here. like i'll talk through jimmy i'll tell i'll try to make this happen for you okay So he said, you know, Jimmy will give you some information As long as he is brought to Maine to serve prison time and does not serve prison time.
I hate how they get to like, like swindle these little fucking deals.
Like I'm like, oh, you want to be comfy in prison for murder? and assault it's their last little slice of power and control that they have but it's so fucking irritating which sucks So he finally, so they were like, all right, we'll do what we can do.
But he began communicating through Steve with Zamboni, and also he started finally contacting Zamboni directly.
So finally, Zamboni and Jimmy are speaking directly again from prison.
Yeah. And Zamboni was dead set on getting everything out of him.
He could. He's like, this is it. This is my time.
This is the leverage we needed. We gotta nail this now.
So Hicks complained to him about James Ricker. and was saying he stalked him, it was his fault that he never talked all these years, I would have told you this story a long time ago. making like james ricker's fault like okay for doing his job exactly Basically, James Ricker had done a bang up job as a cop on this case and it pissed Hicks off because he didn't act like his friend.
Right. So Zamboni was still playing that I'm on your side angle.
And at this point, Brandy had finally come to terms with the idea that her husband was Was very clearly a serial killer.
Yeah. She also found herself pregnant with her third child.
And she knew it was going to be taken away immediately.
Oh, God. Especially if she kept backing this scary motherfucker.
So April 13th. the same day that he was taken in she filed for divorce and she filed for a protection order against him okay Because she was like, this is not going to keep happening.
She did get, and she actually gained custody of the son.
I think the daughter might have gone to a family as well.
But I think she was able to get control a little bit more of that whole situation.
Now, August, that's the thing. He didn't just kill three women and destroy their lives and all the lives of everyone who cared about those women.
He also destroyed countless other lives just from the shit he did.
And all these children... That he destroyed their lives just by being their father.
That's so sad. It sucks. Now August of that year, he wrote a letter to Zamboni telling him again, I will give you everything.
Just bring me to Maine. And Zamboni's like, I'm fucking trying.
Yeah, trust me. Zamboni also wanted to act a little stupid here and he was like he was like yeah I don't know like I don't know if I can even pull this off because like I don't even know what you have to tell me.
Like, what do you even have to tell me that's like really going to get...
Get something like that. Like, that's a big ask.
I just don't feel like you have anything to tell me.
And Hicks answered, you know exactly what I'm going to tell you.
So he was like, okay. So that tells me exactly what I need to know.
Because he was like, if he had answered me like, well you know i don't know i don't think maybe i don't have anything like you know like cool i know that would have sucked and i would have left him there for a while but he's already gonna happen So on September 28th, Zamboni flew to Texas and interviewed Jimmy Hicks.
He confessed. But he only confessed to a little bit.
Because of course he's going to inch in there.
So this is how part of the interview went.
James Hicks said, all I'm going to say is that I'll admit to a crime in Maine.
The missing person case on Lynn Willett. that I do know where she is and stuff like that.
But as for giving physical or any evidence at all or anything at this time, i'm not giving any so now he's just saying i know where she is okay so Zamboni says, okay, so I take it to mean from what you just told me that you are responsible for the death of Lynn Willett.
Yeah. And Jimmy said, do I have to use the word death?
If you're fucking confessing. And Zamboni said, yes.
And so Hicks said, yes. What? Now, Zamboni said, you're not doing this because of the goodness of your heart.
You're doing this because you want to go to Maine to do your time.
And Hicks said, yeah, I want to do my be sentenced in Maine and do my whole do my time in Maine. not come back to Texas at all.
And when I get to Maine, I'll cooperate and show you evidence and everything. to give you closure on the cases that we talked about or you know about.
So he agrees, no, I'm not doing this out of the goodness of my heart.
I don't give a fuck. I just don't want to do my time in this Texas prison.
This is all about me. So right away, he's like, oh, I'm literally the biggest piece of shit you can imagine.
Yeah. Straight up narcissist. Now, Zamboni tried to get more, but he wouldn't give anything else.
But that's... I'd be like, motherfucker, I flew all the way out here.
And when he was like, at least I got that.
Luckily, you got something. So he said, listen. main isn't going to agree to bring you back unless you give me a little more here and he responded quote well why don't i just say that she's dead and he said he would cop now to causing the death so he's like I will say I caused the death.
And he said, I also dumped her car at the truck stop.
I'll admit to all that. Yeah, we know. And he said, you know what?
I'll bring everyone to the remains if I'm brought back to Maine.
And he said, quote, I can show you anything and everything that I know about the cases.
You've investigated some of these cases for over 20 years on no evidence.
I've learned by watching television and reading detective magazines while I was a kid. and talking to people if you're going to do a crime you do it alone That's what he told the detective.
Then Zamboni did an amazing piece of detective work.
He was like, oh, okay, thank you for giving me that information.
I appreciate it. And he was like, but the thing is here, like aside from Lynn Ouellette, We have four other missing women in Maine.
That we need you to give information about.
Four. Four. And Hicks goes, wait, no, there was only three.
I only did three. He literally said, no, I only know there's only three on me.
Boom. Confession. And he was like, three?
You mean Gerilyn and Jenny as well? That's what you're talking about, right? because you just admitted that like totally casual just like well there's four no there's only three that's hilarious because even i was like four you're like four this stuff I was like, there's three.
Yeah. So immediately Zamboni was like, so let's talk about what you have just admitted to me.
Wow. Like, to think on your feet like that.
Also, the fucking noise that my mouth just made.
I just went... Wow. Well, and so he was like, okay, so like, um, That, like, cool.
Why don't we talk about what you just admitted?
Those three murders. And Hicks was like, I don't know what you're talking about.
Like, three murders? like no i don't you just you know what i don't know what numbers are like it's three a town in maine what is three i don't know what three is oh okay excuse me He's like, okay, so let me ask you this.
He said, after you start cooperating, is it likely that the remains of the other two will also be found?
Let me put it to you that way. Yeah. And Jimmy said, what other two?
I don't even know what you're talking about.
What do you mean? What do you mean the other two?
Oh, you son of a bitch. So Zamboni said, when you come to Maine, we expect that you're going to cooperate on everything you do. done and hick said yeah and so zamboni said not just the lynn willett case and hick said yeah I'd be like, girl, send your ass back to Texas.
And Zamboni said, you're going to cooperate on Jenny and Towers.
And he said... Yeah. And then he said, once you get to Maine.
And he said, yeah. I'll cooperate on all three of them.
So like Zamboni just sitting there being like, you're going to cooperate.
He was just like, at first she's like, I don't know.
What do you mean? What are the other two?
And he's like, you're going to come to Maine and cooperate with me.
And he was like, Okay. If you want to go to Maine.
So Zamboni said, the question is, is it likely there would be remains left on the other two cases?
Right. And Hicks said, now see, that's where you're losing me, right there.
What a fucking asshole. Yep. So Zamboni said he talked through a lot of the day with him. and asked at the end of the interview, how did Lynn die?
And Hicks said, suffocation. Oh. Yeah. Now, they were able to get an arrest warrant from Maine for James Hicks for the murder of Lynn Willett.
He was extradited back. And remember, by this time, Lynne Ouellette had been dead for four years.
Gerilyn Towers had been dead for 18 years, and Jenny Sear was dead for 23 years. poor families these four year families have gone through that long of nothing like that's almost my entire life yeah some of those Now, October 10th, he was charged with murder and agreed to share whatever he could and lead detectives to remain. with the condition, again, that he was able to serve all Maine sentences before ever having to serve a Texas sentence. because he assumed he was going to get life in Maine.
They drove him to where he said he discarded Lynn Ouellette's remains.
He had taken her body parts to Haynesville Woods in Halton, Maine.
Right off Route 2 and I-95. Her body parts.
Yep. So while trying to describe to these law enforcement officers where he had dumped the body parts of the woman that he had told people he loved, by the way he said quote where I figured the town or he took her where I figured the town or somebody has took and made a place where they made a dump. for salt and everything, you know, dirt from winter.
It's a place where they dump the stuff and like that.
Nice. That's where he took her. That's where you took the people you were supposed to love.
And he said when you get there, he said, quote, you'll find a five gallon bucket with cement in it.
And it should have her two hands and her head in it.
Oh my god. They asked where the rest of her was, and he said he scattered them other places and would try to take them to find the rest.
The detectives were horrified, rightfully.
And when they asked what the hell he had done to her...
He said that he had indeed cut her into pieces and he said, quote, well, her legs cut at the joint at the torso.
What do you call it? He was basically saying that he cut off her arms and legs at the joints of her hips and her shoulders.
Oh my God. He said this torso and her arms and legs would be near Jenkins Beach on Green Lake.
He told them he actually didn't even bury them there.
He had put her parts in garbage bags. and then dropped them between rocks on the beach.
What the fuck is wrong with him? Yep. And so Zamboni said, you had a confrontation with her and strangled her, correct?
And he said, yeah. And then he said, with your hands?
And he said, no, I used, what did I use?
Huh. You got me on that one. Oh. Thank God.
Just so cavalier. And so Zamboni said, you don't remember, but you did strangle her?
And Hicks said, yeah, yeah. I think it was something in my pocket.
I'm not sure. What? What would be in your pocket?
Something like what? a cord a rope like what are you talking about and he said rope or something like that because i was always playing with ropes and stuff oh oh okay cool after he had murdered her he stuffed her into a closet in the apartment they shared wrapped in a blanket for two days ew he just lived with her in the closet oh my god they obviously had to keep him talking on this car ride and not show how absolutely horrified they were and how cavalierly he was admitting to this shit.
So he went on and said she was dead three to four days before she was dismembered.
And he said something like her blood hadn't even dried up yet.
No. What? What are you talking about, you fucking idiot?
Blood starts coagulating very quickly after death.
In fact, Even rapid autopsies we would get done within like two hours of death.
We sometimes couldn't get a blood sample out of the heart or anywhere else.
Because it would just turn to gelatinous slop, like you couldn't get it out.
Right. He said he kept her dead body in the wall. in the maintenance office of the motel he worked at for a day and then dismembered her in the maintenance office.
What? Yep. Yep. Dismembered her in the maintenance office.
Yes. And like nobody walked in. Apparently no one walked in.
He did it, I don't know if he did it in the middle of the night or what.
What? So now they started asking about Geraldine Towers.
And he admitted that he bought her some drinks the night she went missing and that he offered her a ride at closing time, but she said she was going to walk.
That doesn't sound right because remember her stepfather was waiting up for her to call because he was going to give her a ride home.
Right. So she was not going to walk. So he said he drove away.
Then he realized he needed gas, so he had to turn around and go back again.
And he saw her at the gas station. And that's when she said, sure, I'll take that ride.
Don't believe this for a second. No. Apparently, he drove her to the Newport area and they parked out near a lake or something.
And then he said they just chatted for a bit.
And somehow he said, quote, the next thing I remembered, well, I knew that she was strangled, that she was dead.
I don't remember doing it. classic yeah like i i don't remember the classic i blacked out and somebody just ended up dead next to me it's so weird And he was asked again if it was hands or something else that was used and he said, quote,
I think it was a piece of cloth, a rag or something.
Don't know exactly. It wasn't done with a rope or anything like that.
But then he said, oh, you know what? No, it wasn't.
It wasn't no cloth. Must have been with my hands like that because there wasn't no cloth or nothing.
Sounds like you're a bullshitter, sir. Yeah.
Now, he said, he then said, when I realized what happened, I just like froze for a few minutes and just like that.
And I don't know how long it was. And then I got back in the front seat because he did it from the back seat. which when they asked him why you were in the backseat, he was like, oh, I jumped into the backseat to get something.
Yeah. Yeah. And he said he made sure she was dead and like that.
And I drove, actually drove through Newport. and got on the ridge road.
Well, I stopped there because I thought she was making a noise or something like gurgling or something. thought she might have been alive.
So I checked to see if she was alive and I couldn't find any pulse or nothing like that.
So I put her in the back seat then, laid her down in the back seat, and I just drove from there.
And then all of a sudden he said, no, wait a minute.
I got to back up here. After the night it happened on the road there in Newport, I put her in the back in the trunk and drove her home. and left the next morning and went to work down in Peasants Island or Seabrook.
Can't remember which one I was working at. and I go through the security guard gate and come back again without them checking me.
And she was in there, in the trunk. Then when I got home that night, that's when I took her down to the field and left her.
So what was the... Driving into her, the exhaust and everything?
He never explained that. What? He never explained it.
They don't believe that the way he says most of these happened are how they happened.
I don't really think so either. Because as you will see, he changes the story a lot.
He conflicts stories a lot. He has a lot of information that goes against each other.
Well, it seems like Like he I don't even know.
He removes himself. from it yeah he did it and he says he did it but he says i don't remember doing it and then later he'll say we weren't even fighting None of these women.
We were fighting nothing. I don't remember when it happened.
It's like something took over me and I just, I don't remember any of it.
So it's him bullshitting. So I'm sure there was a lot more to this, but he just wasn't going to tell them.
I'm so bummed that that is not something he remembers.
I was thinking that because I really want to know what happened there, too.
It's just such a strange detail. I don't know what he was planning to do.
I don't know what... Well, and you wonder if she was still alive when that happened and if he was trying to be like, oh, look, I'm driving you home.
Yeah. And then like fucked with her. And then fucked with her.
And he might have. I mean, he's evil, so... You haven't even heard the most of it.
To say the least. Oh, God. Now, when he got home...
That night, that night that he had killed Gerilyn.
Remember, he was dating Linda Marquis at the time.
So when he got home, Linda, his girlfriend, was awake.
And he was like, oops, I got to grab something else outside.
And she was like, what the fuck? Yeah, she's like, it's 4am.
Yeah, she's like, are you kidding me? So he went out and said he took Gerilyn out of the backseat of his car.
And he said, quote, so I laid her body down on the ground beside the woods and laid a bunch of cardboard and wood and stuff like that over her.
He left her there for like a week before dismembering her.
He put the different parts of her body in grain bags, like each in a separate grain bag. and buried her in a field on his property.
And he didn't just bury her in like an open field on his property.
He buried her in an abandoned pig shed. What?
On his property. Now, finally, he admitted about Jenny Sear as well.
But like the other ones, he completely removed himself from being an active participant. and instead he was just a passive entity that happened to be there and happened to cause these women's deaths. but he would never use active forms of speech to this effect.
He just said the night Jenny died, quote, Jenny was standing.
I'm going to say probably three feet away from me. like at the foot of the bed or the side of the bed.
And I was standing on the other side or the foot of it.
And she was standing back to me like that, like with her back to him.
Yeah. And then he said, and then we was talking.
Like I said... We was talking like that, and the next thing I know, she was lying on the bed.
She was strangled. No, I don't believe that you don't remember it.
She was strangled. So you'll never say I strangled her.
Yeah. Just he happened to look down and Jenny found herself strangled.
I don't know. And then I love that it's always the next thing I know.
The famous, that should be chiseled on his fucking tombstone.
The next thing I knew. Right. That's all it is.
You just black out. No. He did say that he believed it was a belt that he had been wearing that he used to strangle Jenny.
And he just took it off and did it. He said he had wrapped Jenny's body in a blanket and drove to work with her in the trunk.
He had worked all day with her body in the trunk of his car, and then, What's wild is he said he stopped on the way home and opened the trunk off the side of the road and just sat and stared at her body and tried to figure out what to do. what and he said he was stumped on what to do so he just left her in the trunk and she was like that all fucking weekend.
While her whole family and he were driving around looking for her, She was in the trunk of his car.
I wouldn't even want to know that. When he was pulling into her family's house.
Saying where's Jenny? She was in the trunk of his fucking car.
That's so disturbing. He's a sick fuck. And this isn't even the worst of it.
When is it going to be? like I want to tell you that we hit the worst of it we have not hit the fucking worst of it It gets worse.
He kept the keys to the car so he wouldn't let anyone drive it that weekend.
Yeah. And he said he finally just figured that he had to cut her into pieces and dump her to get rid of the evidence.
The mother of his children. unreal so he said quote she was the first one and i done the same thing anyway cut off her legs and her arms off and her hands and her head After that, her hands and head was in a cement container.
It's like a chest, like a cooler. Now, when asked where he cut her up, because it definitely wasn't in the trailer they determined, he said he brought her to a gravel pit. and cut her up outside.
And then he said, And now backing up, like the gravel pit thing, when the police interviewed all of Hicks' former girlfriends and like, you know, flings and all that.
Many of them talked about how aggressive, abusive he was and the whole rough sex thing. several of them, not one or two, but several of them said they found it really weird but he liked to have sex at gravel pits.
What? He had dismembered the mother of his children. at a gravel pit and then later like to bring his new girlfriends and wives to have sex at the gravel pits.
That's like, that's beyond. He is... Next level.
Tell me that's the worst of it. Nope. What?
Nope. So he buried every piece of Jenny in different areas.
Her arm... another arm, a leg, another like every single one.
He said about the head, So Zamboni said, now the head, what'd you do with the head and hands?
And he said, put it in a kind of ice box with cement in it.
And he said, what do you mean icebox? And he said, icebox, like a cooler you lug around.
Uh-huh. And Zamboni said, Coleman cooler?
And he said, yeah, big one, chess cooler.
So, he put her head in a cooler. The mother of his children and his high school sweetheart, he put her fucking head in a cooler.
Now you think this is bad, but it gets fucking worse.
He told the police he definitely could take them to where the head was buried.
Because you buried it under rocks. And he said, I can definitely take you to where it is because I only did it recently.
And they were like, what? And he's like, I only buried it recently.
She died 23 years before this, he kept her head in the fucking cooler, In his possession and in his houses for years, he kept her head in a cooler where her children would brush against it. to get ice cream out of the freezer.
He would move it into places where her family was near it. and be around it.
His new girlfriends, his new wives, all of his children were around this cooler at one time or another. he placed it on the ground as a seat where his children would sit on it to eat their dinner.
His children would sit on the head of their murdered mother to eat their fucking dinner.
That's how bad this gets. I don't even... Like...
What? For decades. He kept Jenny Sears' head in a fucking cooler in his possession around his children.
And, like, did anybody take note of the... Like, were they like, yeah, like, that cooler was always there?
I think it's just, like, that's a cooler.
Like, some people just... You know, you have that cooler, you use it as a seat, you use it as this, like, whatever.
I just think no one could have ever even questioned it because why would you ever think something...
And did they say like, why did you keep it so long?
Obviously he was getting like shits and giggles out of it because he's a sick, twisted individual.
He had no answer for it. No answer for it.
And when Detective Ricker was talked to on that Murder, She Told podcast, which again, go listen to it.
I'm telling you. He said, can you imagine how traumatic that is to these now adult children who know that?
Oh, no. And then he said, when I think about what he did to these women and these children, hell isn't deep enough for this guy.
No. And I got to agree. Yeah. Something deeper, please.
When I got to that part, I was like, what?
He placed it as a seat for them to eat their dinner on.
Like, it's... My brain like literally doesn't even.
No. Unreal. Compute. Absolutely unreal. This guy's a fucking monster.
And he showed them where the cooler was buried under an apple tree on his property in Etna.
And he also showed them where Jerilyn's remains were buried in the old pig shed on his property.
Her complete skeleton was found there just in pieces in different green bags.
So sad. But they did find her complete. body there she was able to be like yes completely now jenny's head was found in the cement block where he said it was So they had parts of Jenny and all of Gerilyn, but still no Lynn.
They used excavators in the area where he said he thought she was.
And they were looking for buckets because he described that her parts were in buckets.
And according to the book, The Tragedy in the North Woods, they said, quote, the police were there for a couple of days. and I believe it was the Attorney General that said this, and they said there was a neighbor there, a local, just watching.
He never said anything. After everyone left, he wandered over, found two buckets and called the police and said, I think I found what you were looking for.
So he like stumbled upon them and was like, I think they're right here.
Dr. Edward David from the medical examiner's office found...
In those buckets, in cement, according to the book, a head, two hands, two feet, and a tattoo on an excised piece of skin.
That's so rude. so when i said he was very familiar with those tattoos he had cut the tattoos off of her that's so sad After he was brought in for a formal interview and to really get his confession recorded,
He was smiling and laughing, showing absolutely no remorse for what he had done and admitted to do to three innocent women.
He also admitted he had strangled all three women with different things, a cord, a rope, a belt, his hands. and had done all three of these strangulations when their backs were turned to him.
Of course, because he's a coward. Exactly, a coward.
And he said he had no real motive. He said there really wasn't really a massive fight that preceded any of the murders.
And he said he really just... You know, whatever.
And he said, and actually at one point he was quoted as saying, it's like I did it for no reason.
Yeah, usually a murderer doesn't have a reason.
Which I think he did that just to further fuck up. with the family.
I don't even think there was a reason in my mind.
I think I just did it for no reason. Such a dick.
He then admitted to Detective Zamboni that when he came to the motel, so when Detective Zamboni had interviewed him at the motel, in the beginning of this whole thing uh-huh he said you came into the maintenance area to speak to me during the investigation and he said I had placed Lin's remains in one of the buckets that was there in front of you.
And he said it was lined up with other buckets with them and he was like, You were right there with them.
So you literally told him like you were standing there with Lynn's remains right behind me in a bucket and you didn't know.
And he's just like, ha ha. Yeah. I'm just.
And then when they tried to see because they were like, we're going to talk to you about some more missing women in the area because.
Who the fuck knows what you've done? He answered them with, quote, I've done three.
I've made my quota. I'm not going to do any more.
I've made my quota. Nobody gave you a quota, sir.
Like a quota? For murder, for like taking the lives of these women. and see Zamboni like I said like they don't believe that he was telling the truth about really any of the way that any of these occurred no he thinks like he he gave definitely gave a little bit of truth but he intertwined it with a lot of embellishment and embellishment and also a lot of like underplaying what probably happen i'm sure and zamboni said and he said it from the beginning That he, when he got into that maintenance room, he goes, I know that he killed her here.
Lin. He was like, I just have a feeling.
And he said he felt the second he was there.
That happened. He still believes he did it there.
They just really couldn't prove it. Wow. but each of the three women's families were able to provide victim impact statements.
Even Jenny's, who initially were really not going to be able to because he had already been convicted of that.
But December 4th, Superior Court Chief Justice Andrew Meade decided not to allow impact statements from the Cyr family in court.
Aww. They were able to release them to the press, but that's still bullshit in my opinion.
Absolutely. But also. Gerilyn's daughter, Tammy, who still had the penny from Gerilyn's shoe that she used to keep in it, She brought Jenny's sister to stand next to her in court when she read hers.
Wow. so that the seer family could be seen in court good and like and he would have to I love that they like I hate that they were all had to all be brought together that way.
But I love that they support each other so intensely.
I love that. And Denise said, I wanted to look him in the eye and say that finally. finally, everyone will know the truth.
And these family, seriously, like separated by years of tragedy, like 23 years, 18 years, four years.
Like unanswered questions, just decades of trauma.
And still unanswered questions. But it's like amazing testaments to them as people that they were able to support each other and come together that way.
It really is. It really is. They spoke that day about how he had deprived them of their daughters, children's mother's their sisters, their friends.
Jenny's family released a statement talking about he had even taken their grandchildren away from them.
He had taken everything. He was sentenced to two life sentences for the murders of Lynn Willett. and Gerilyn Towers in Maine.
Good. He also had to pay restitution to Gerilyn's and Lynn's families for the funeral expenses.
Good. January 5th, 2001, he went back to Texas for sentencing in the June Moss case.
And in court, she said, quote, for over 20 years, you murdered, molested and terrorized innocent people and their families.
You committed your crimes without shame and now face the consequences without remorse.
And she said, people will no longer hide from you in fear.
But for you, there is no hiding place. And then she said, God will judge your soul.
I love it. I love that June was like, bitch.
Literally signed it off with a fuck you.
Good for you. He got 55 years in a Texas prison for the aggravated assault on an elderly person.
But unfortunately, he won't serve that. He won't serve there.
He's going to serve it after he serves his two life sentences in Maine.
Yeah. But all three families were finally able to lay their loved ones to rest with private ceremonies.
Good. James Hicks is still serving time at Maine State Prison in Thomaston, Maine.
Good. Rot. And he will remain there. No parole.
Nothing. He's gonna die there. Rot. Rot.
And I can't wait We'll throw a party on that day.
For real. But that is the horrific... An almost unbelievable story of James Rodney Hicks.
That's just, I mean, the fact that he had her head in a cooler for all those years. jenny's head is just no that really rocked me because you kept saying it's gonna get worse and i was like How?
How does it get worse? And I was like, oh, that's how.
I could not just... I was like, I don't even know how to like...
How to say that? Like, I just I can't. I don't even know how to prepare you. no you can't you could never prepare anybody for receiving that information and for jenny sears family to have to wait from 1977 all the way to 2001 to really see it happen.
I mean, these people waited forever. Geraldine's family, Lynn's family.
They waited so long for justice. Yeah. Thank goodness these new police officers, like, really did the damn thing.
Like... James Ricker, Joseph Jamboni were like, hell yeah.
Yeah, they stayed committed. They did it.
They really did. They did the damn thing.
Wow, that was unbelievable. I would love to talk to James Ricker.
I really want to talk to him. Just manifest it.
Maybe we should just try to talk to James Ricker and do a little update episode because He was fascinating to me.
I would love that. I just like seeing when detectives really care, do something. everything they can yeah you know but yeah that there's part two guys there it is wow wow wow wow and i hope that all three of these women's families are thriving Their children.
I hope they're thriving. I hope. everybody i know closure is not never a thing that can really happen but But I hope his kids are like all doing okay.
They're doing fucking awesome. Yeah. Yeah.
And we hope you keep listening. And we hope you... Keep it...
I feel like I don't have to tell you not to keep it that weird at all, so definitely don't keep it this weird ever.
Don't. Bye. Thank you. If you like Morbid, you can listen early and ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
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