Erin Rhoads: Welcome back everybody to Murder Not Murdering with Erin and... Autumn is here. She's back bitches with a vengeance.

Autumn: Bye! And I'm ready to roll.

Erin Rhoads: Mm-hmm I'm glad you're back last week I solo episodes are always hard for me to do just because there's no one to bounce anything off of and I feel like a psychopath Sitting there talking to myself in a room, but I will say I really Really liked my last ⁓ episode on the kidnapping of Frank Sinatra jr. So if you haven't listened to it go back it's one episode ago and

Autumn: You Hahaha

Erin Rhoads: I think you'll be surprised by it. So definitely check that out. But so happy to have Autumn back with us.

Autumn: I'm happy to be back with a terrible, terrible case that you're not gonna like.

Erin Rhoads: Yes, you have warned me several times now that this is a terrible one that I'm not going to like and it's horrific. So we're really, really leaning into that right now.

Autumn: You It's pretty famous.

Erin Rhoads: Okay, well that's good. Have you watched any documentaries lately?

Autumn: the lifetime maybe so I was gonna say yes and that's why I'm doing this

Erin Rhoads: I mean, I always assume you've watched Lifetime movies. Autumn is a Lifetime member of Lifetime movies.

Autumn: you The acting in this one was awful, I hate to say though.

Erin Rhoads: Who are the actors?

Autumn: so they weren't very good.

Erin Rhoads: ⁓ great. I'm sure they were very, very upper class famous actors.

Autumn: Actually, I'm pretty sure like one of them looked very familiar. I just can't place her name

Erin Rhoads: Is she also in Christmas movies? Okay, I always think it's funny that it's always the exact same people just in a different order in all of the Lifetime Christmas movies or Hallmark or whatever it is. They're the same actors. I feel like they put their names on dice, roll them and then see who gets picked for that next one. But it's all the same people every time.

Autumn: No. This is very old. that's fair. I feel like you're right.

Erin Rhoads: They're like B actors from like TV shows we watched in the 90s, right? They're the side characters from Full House. They're the side characters from Boy Meets World or whatever, you know what I mean? They're all those people or side characters in movies that we watched, but all from the 90s, but they're like our age now. Yep.

Autumn: Mm-hmm. I would have to agree.

Erin Rhoads: Yeah, but Autumn will watch all of those Christmas movies. All year round or just during the holidays. Unless you need a comfort day.

Autumn: just during the holidays. Unless it's the family stone and that's not a Lifetime movie. I just really like that one.

Erin Rhoads: Yes, that's your favorite one. It's so fucked up though.

Autumn: It is fucked up, it really is.

Erin Rhoads: It's super fucked up. then it was really Diane Keaton had just passed away and you were like, you need to watch this movie. I watched it. I was like, well now I feel terrible and sad. And this is your comfort movie.

Autumn: Hahaha Yeah. It's awful.

Erin Rhoads: Yeah, I mean, it's just, it's just sad and like everybody's like super fucked up in it. I'm not hooking up with my partner's ex who spent Christmas with us with a fudge. Anyway, more on Autumn's Happy Corner. What is a happy fact you have for us this week, Autumn?

Autumn: fresh out.

Erin Rhoads: Autumn has no thoughts or facts.

Autumn: let's see here, something horrible. I know! Yeah, like I don't have any happy facts today.

Erin Rhoads: You need to start planning it, I think. And now this is becoming a thing, you know. Darn. You know, I just had, and I'm not going to say what case it is, but I just brought a case that is from a friend of mine's hometown. And I got rejected on doing the case. Yeah, that's never happened to me before. I knew that this case was happening in their hometown, which is a very small town. And I went to them and I said, hey, I think I'm going to do this case. And they said, please don't. Please. It's it was it's a little too close to home for me. And. I know all the people involved and please don't do it. So I'm not going to do that case, but that's the first time I've ever had that happen.

Autumn: bleep it out and tell me.

Erin Rhoads: I will tell you after we record. ⁓ And then if I remember even, we'll end and I'll be like, OK, love you. Bye. And that'll be it. And no one will ever know.

Autumn: Hashtag will never remember. ⁓

Erin Rhoads: But I also, speaking of which, I also got a recommendation from my cousin Lauren. So I'm going to do that case next week, which is, thank you, Lauren. Shout out to our listener. We love you. Me more than Autumn, because we're family. Yeah. I don't care. Well, ⁓ it's just nice to.

Autumn: whoa. Rude. I mean, it was out of obligation, I feel like. I mean, Lauren, I love you and I'm not related to you, so I feel like that should count more. Yes. We're gonna fight.

Erin Rhoads: No. ⁓ So, well, listen, in Lauren's baby book, her favorite person was listed as her cousin, Aaron. So suck on that, Autumn.

Autumn: so she didn't have that opportunity yet.

Erin Rhoads: You weren't alive then? Rude. JK, Autumn's older than me, guys. Just so you're aware, I am very young and spry.

Autumn: ⁓ my god. Six months is hardly older.

Erin Rhoads: I do pilates now. I'm very spry. Tim and I do Pilates hot, hot off the presses. Tim and I do Pilates now. We're Pilates girls and it's a whole thing.

Autumn: Is this going to become your entire personality?

Erin Rhoads: Yep, I'm only wearing athleisure, athletic wear, whatever. I'm only wearing that from here on out. In fact, I'm wearing it right now. I'm not. I'm wearing jeans. Sorry.

Autumn: So you could just go to Pilates at any moment. ⁓ my God.

Erin Rhoads: You just never know when you got a lot. No, OK, so I am not an athletic person. I'm not naturally flexible. None of those things apply to me. And I have been doing Pilates, which I do. It's been really fun. It's it's like at a really cool gym in Tacoma. I go with my bestie, Tim, and we've been doing it now. It's called people's And the gym is just really approachable. It's small, like classrooms, so it feels not crazy. I'm not, a joiner, B, someone who enjoys class structures. So the fact that I like this is pretty impressive. And we do it on the reformers, which sounds like a torture device, and it kind of is if you're using it right. But it's been really fun. kind of really like it. That's new for me.

Autumn: for you.

Erin Rhoads: Thanks, I've never liked athletic anything in my whole entire life.

Autumn: Remember when we went to yoga and we got kicked out because we were laughing too hard?

Erin Rhoads: Yoga and we got kicked out We were giggling. Yeah. You can't put us in a room and we're not, we're going to giggle.

Autumn: with people's butts in our faces and stuff, of course we were gonna laugh.

Erin Rhoads: We were, to be fair, we were like what 19 or something and our instructor wore just a speedo and he was making a lot of groans and we were 12 year old boys in that class and we couldn't help ourselves. So there you are.

Autumn: Oh, you mean you were 19 and I was 57.

Erin Rhoads: Yeah, you were well, that's that was being kind to you, Autumn. You've been a 60 year old woman since I've known you. What's bedtime? Tell me what is bedtime? There you go.

Autumn: hahahaha This is very true. I'm an old soul. 9 p.m. I can barely stay awake past that. If you catch me up past that time, it's unusual.

Erin Rhoads: Yeah. Well, I mean, you go to bed at that time, but you don't go to sleep at that time, right? You're watching a murder show, I assume.

Autumn: I fall asleep watching a murder show, so probably between 9 and 9.30 that's when I'm actually falling asleep. I do, yes.

Erin Rhoads: Yeah. But Autumn does get up super early, so I'll give her credit for that. I'm not an early riser. I'm a forced early riser because my child has to go to school. I am always been a night owl. As you all know, I am an insomniac as well, so fun.

Autumn: You This has been the case since I've known her.

Erin Rhoads: Yeah, for always. I've never not been that. Although you used to go to the clubs with me late at night.

Autumn: Yeah, I mean I used to have youth, but I don't anymore, so.

Erin Rhoads: Yeah, yeah. When you were in your young 60s.

Autumn: Yes, I mean I've always been an early riser, but I mean I wake up, because Dustin wakes up so early, I'm usually up by five. I know. I'll see a text message from you or like a message on Instagram from like 2.30 or 3.00 and I'm up at five. And I'm like, ⁓ God, is she still awake? Maybe.

Erin Rhoads: Yeah, ugh, gross. I've gone to bed at that time. Yeah. No, not usually. I usually go to sleep by like three or three thirty, something like that. Yeah, sleep is sleep is waning. I don't have much of it, but you know, you only get to live once, so might as well stay awake the whole time. The whole time, sometimes I feel like elf, like I got a whole 30 minutes. It's it's a struggle for me. I wish I slept more. I wish that that was the case, but it's not always in the cards that way.

Autumn: The whole time. And now you've never really been a sleeper.

Erin Rhoads: Thanks, anxiety. No. But anywho, I do want to know about this horrific, terrible, awful, no good.

Autumn: Yep. No good, terrible day.

Erin Rhoads: Yep. And then by the end of this case, Autumn's going to give us a happy fact. It's going to come to you while I read my case.

Autumn: ⁓ well, I actually know a happy fact. It'll happen in, nope, it'll happen in the middle now that I remembered something, so hold on for it.

Erin Rhoads: ⁓ so then where you hold now? ⁓ Okay, waiting on bated breath.

Autumn: good idea. Just don't die during the podcast because you have to edit it for us please.

Erin Rhoads: Why am I dying?

Autumn: You said baited breath and I said, yeah, just don't. Anyway, I'm gonna jump in because it's just gotta happen. And you might know it, you might not. It's pretty famous, but I don't know if, we'll see if you know it.

Erin Rhoads: Okay. It's time. I need to know. I feel like famous is always relative to us because when we spend a lot of time researching or searching for cases, the same ones come up often. So to me, I'm like, ⁓ those are the famous ones, but they're not always the ones that everybody knows just because I see them often. You know what I mean?

Autumn: Yeah, but I'm pretty sure people know this one.

Erin Rhoads: Alright, lay it on us.

Autumn: John Bonanno, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. I would definitely give you way more warning. Never. Anyway, okay. Here we go. Yeah, Ted Bundy. Okay, anyway, here we gizzo. Yeah, apparently.

Erin Rhoads: ⁓ Never heard of it. Never. Ted Bundy. Okay. What are you, Snoop Dogg? What the hell? Now we know.

Autumn: Now I'm gonna get into the serious sad story. While giggling, I have to stop laughing. Okay, here we go. On May 31st, 1985.

Erin Rhoads: while giggling. ⁓ Deep breath. Deep breath. Tell us something bad.

Autumn: In a quiet suburban neighborhood outside of Columbia, South Carolina, a 17 year old girl walked toward her front door after finishing her final exams, carrying with her the ordinary anticipation of summer break. Her name was Sherry Faye Smith, and nothing about that afternoon suggested it would be remembered decades later as the beginning of one of the most psychologically disturbing criminal cases in this state's history. She had driven herself home from school. Her car was parked near the mailbox. Her purse was later found inside the vehicle. There were no visible signs of a struggle. No shattered glass, no overturned belongings. The scene was quiet, deceptively quiet. The kind of stillness that only later reveals itself to have been the calm before devastation. Somewhere between stepping out of her car and reaching the safety of her home, Sherry disappeared. When she did not arrive at her boyfriend's house as planned, concern began to spread. Within hours, her family and law enforcement understood that something was wrong. Though no one yet grasped how prolonged and intimate that wrong would become. because this was not a disappearance that would unfold silently. This was a crime in which the perpetrator insisted on being heard. Shortly after Sherry vanished, her parents received a phone call from a man who spoke with unnerving composure. He told them that he had their daughter. He told them she was alive. He assured them that she was safe for the moment. And then he did something that transformed this from a kidnapping into psychological torture. The kidnapper instructed the family not to contact the police, warning that cooperation was the only path to Sherry's survival. had already been notified. And very quickly, the investigation expanded beyond a local search effort. The Federal Bureau of Investigation joined the case, recognizing both the severity and the complexity of a kidnapping in which the offender was initiating ongoing contact. The involvement of the FBI marked a turning point, not only because of the agency's resources, but because of the evolving science of behavioral analysis and telecommunications tracking that was still developing in the mid 1980s. I do too. I do too. I'm like, ooh, behavioral analysis. Where's JJ and the team?

Erin Rhoads: You know, I just think of criminal minds when you say that. I know, right? Right? will do a, you know what, I'm doing a profile in mine. That's funny. Anyway, go on.

Autumn: This one would have gone good with your kidnapping case last week too.

Erin Rhoads: I know, I was thinking the same thing as you were saying it.

Autumn: Yep. At the time, tracing a live phone call was neither instantaneous nor simple. The caller was using public pay phones, a deliberate choice that suggested forethought. Each call required coordination between local law enforcement, telephone companies, and federal agents who had to manually work through switching stations in an effort to narrow the origin before the caller hung up. and he rarely stayed on long enough. began analyzing patterns instead of relying solely on real-time tracing. They charted the timing of calls. They studied the intervals between them. They mapped payphone locations geographically, looking for overlaps in distance and travel time. The offender was not calling randomly. He was operating within a comfort zone. The FBI's Behavioral Science Unit, which had only recently begun formalizing criminal profiling techniques, was consulted. Agents reviewed transcripts of the calls and noted the offender's tone. Controlled. deliberate, and at times disturbingly conversational. He did not display the frantic urgency typically of financially motivated ransom kidnappers. Instead, he appeared to crave prolonged interaction, which reminds me of the Golden State Killer.

Erin Rhoads: Yeah.

Autumn: The content of the calls suggested someone who derived gratification from emotional dominance rather than monetary gain. This was someone who needed to feel superior intellectually and psychologically. Very scary.

Erin Rhoads: Which I think is scarier than somebody who's just out to get the money, right?

Autumn: As investigators continued examining potential motives, another detail surfaced that unsettled both law enforcement and the Smith family. Sherry Faith Smith had an older sister named Dawn Smith, who was well known locally for competing in beauty pageants. Dawn had appeared in newspaper features and promotional photographs connected to those competitions and in a community the size of Columbia in the mid-1980s. That kind of visibility carried recognition. Her image was public in a way that many young women's were not. Over time, a theory emerged. one that has never been conclusively proven, but has been discussed by those familiar with the case, suggesting that the kidnapper may have initially developed an obsession with Dawn rather than Sherry. The sisters shared similar features. Both were blonde, close in age, and bore a strong familiar resemblance. From a distance, particularly in a brief moment such as someone stepping out of a car and walking quickly toward a house, It is not unreasonable to imagine that they could have been mistaken for one another. Because Sherry was abducted in a matter of seconds from her own driveway, some have questioned whether they may have believed, at least initially, that the target was gone and only realized afterward that he had taken the younger sister.

Erin Rhoads: ⁓ mistaken identity.

Autumn: There is no confession or direct evidence confirming that was the case. However, the kidnapper's prior arrest for voyeurism and his documented pattern of watching women from a distance lend psychological plausibility to the idea that his fixation may have been visually, possibly through photographs, possibly through public appearances, long before the abduction itself. If the obsession began with Dawn, it suggests a motive rooted in fantasy construction. In many organized predatory offenders, fixation can develop around an image or persona rather than a person or a personal relationship. The offender builds an internal narrative, rehearsing proximity, imagining interaction, blurring the boundary between reality and control. What remains clear is this, regardless of where the fixation began, the calculated cruelty that followed was directed at Sherry and her family. The sustained phone calls, the deliberate extension of suffering, those actions were not accidental. They were purposeful and they were personal. For the Smith family, the possibility that one daughter may have been watched while another was taken introduced an additional layer of horror. The realization that surveillance may have preceded violence and that someone could have been observing their home long before anyone understood they were in danger. Whether the theory reflects the full truth or not, it underscores something deeply unsettling about this case. The crime may not have begun in the driveway. It may have begun much earlier, in the mind of the man who was watching. And investigators narrowed their geographic focus. The circle began to tighten. Over the next several days, the man who had abducted Sherry called repeatedly. Sometimes he taunted investigators. Sometimes he implied negotiations. Sometimes he spoke with an eerie casualness, as though he were discussing something trivial rather than holding a human life in his hands. In one of the most devastating developments, He forced Sherry to write a two-page letter that was later described as a last will and testament. In it, she spoke about her family, her possessions, and her love for those she believed she might never see again. It is difficult to overstate the cruelty of that act.

Erin Rhoads: That's sad.

Autumn: to compel a young woman to write out her own last will and testament, this meant ⁓ would not survive this ordeal. During one of his phone calls with Dawn, which was Sherry's sister, he accidentally let it slip that all I wanted to do was make love with Dawn. Instead of, all I wanted to do was make love with Sherry. Don and Sherry had a striking resemblance, and so it was thought he mistook Sherry for Don. His fixation on Don only grew as time passed and made many more phone calls. On June 5th, 1985, The caller informed Sherry's family that she was dead and provided directions to her body. She was found in a wooded area. She had been suffocated. She was 17 years old. Even after her death, the calls did not immediately stop. The man continued to insert himself into the investigation. It's like, yes.

Erin Rhoads: That is awful. Like, you already went through this. This is too much.

Autumn: Like, he's just torturing them. The man continued to insert himself into the investigation, offering statements that alternated between confession, fabrication, and manipulation. He appeared to derive not only control from the abduction itself, but sustained gratification for prolonging the anguish of those left behind. As investigators worked to trace the calls, a name began to surface repeatedly. Larry Gene Bell. Bell was 38 years old at the time. He lived in the Columbia area and worked as an electrician's assistant. On the surface, he appeared unremarkable, a man who blended into the background of everyday life. Yet beneath that exterior were warning signs that, in hindsight, felt deeply unsettling. He had prior arrests related to the voyeurism and had reportedly engaged in behavior that demonstrated an escalating pattern of obsession with women. Telephone records connected him to payphones used to contact the Smith family. Witnesses placed him near locations critical to the timeline. Slowly, methodically, the case against him began to solidify. And then, before the investigation into Sherry's murder had even fully settled, another child vanished. On June 14th, 1985, nine-year-old Deborah Helmick was riding her bicycle near her family's home when she disappeared. Nine years old. In the span of two weeks, one community had lost a child, a teenager, on the brink of adulthood, and now faced the disappearance of a child who had barely begun her life. The kidnapper gave directions to Deborah's body. to the Smith family at the same time that he gave them direction to Sherry's.

Erin Rhoads: Why? This is so awful.

Autumn: she had been strangled. I mean, can you even this man? The collective fear that settled over Columbia was notable. Parents kept their children indoors. Normal routines dissolved into vigilance. The randomness of the crimes suggested that anyone could be vulnerable, that safety was not guaranteed in familiar neighborhoods.

Erin Rhoads: No.

Autumn: He was arrested on June 27th, 1985. And this is my fun fact, people. My much, much, much, much, much, much, much younger co-host was born on June 27th. Anyway.

Erin Rhoads: as facts.

Autumn: was arrested after Forensics was able to find indentations of an incomplete phone number on the stationary of the letter that was sent to the Smiths family. Filling in the missing digits led the Federal Bureau of Investigation to a couple who hired Bell for some work and had him house it for them while they were away. I mean, how crazy is that connection?

Erin Rhoads: It is insane.

Autumn: At the time of his arrest, law enforcement had assembled a compelling web of circumstantial and forensic evidence tying him to Sherry's abduction and murder. The phone records were significant. Witness accounts were persuasive. Additional forensic evidence strengthened the case. The forensic case against Larry Gene Bell was built piece by piece, through details that might have seemed insignificant in isolation, but became powerful when viewed collectively. Fibers recovered during the investigation were consistent with material found in Larry Gene Bell's residence vehicle. Soil comparisons were conducted between areas connected to him and the location where Sherry's body was discovered. adding environmental context to the timeline prosecutors were constructing. Investigators also examined ligature evidence and method of asphyxiation patterns, noting similarities between the murders of Sherry Faye Smith and Deborah Mae Helmick. The physical findings reinforced the theory that the same individual was responsible for both crimes, not only because of geographic proximity, but because behavioral consistency in the way he controlled and the control was exerted. In addition, handwriting analysis was conducted on written communications connected to the case, and while such analysts is rarely definitive on its own, it contributed to the broader evidentiary mosaic presented to the jury. Perhaps most critically, the convergence of telecommunications data, witness findings, and physical The against Larry Jean Bell was built on small, individually explainable details. that, when assembled, formed a cohesive and deeply incriminating picture. Telephone records were among the most critical components. Investigators were able to correlate the timing of Larry Gene Bell's known movements with the timing of the calls made to the Smiths family. Witnesses placed him near specific payphones during key windows and employment records established when he was not at work. The synchronization between call logs and his availability began to erode any possible alibi. Forensic examination of Sherry's remains provided additional clarity. Although the cause of death was determined to be suffocation, investigators also documented fibers and trace materials consistent with the interior of Larry G. Bell's vehicle and residence. Fiber comparison analysis in the mid-1980s relied heavily on microscopic examination, evaluating color, diameter, cross-sectional shape, and dye composition. While not as definitive as DNA testing would later become, the presence of fibers consistent with Larry Gene Bell's environment strengthened the case. Soil samples collected from the location where Sherry's body was discovered were also compared to soil found on Larry Gene Bell's belongings. Forensic geology can be remarkably persuasive. Soil carries unique combinations of minerals and organic matter ⁓ vary by region. The similarities were consistent with contact between Larry Gene Bell's vehicle and the recovery site. In addition, handwriting analysis was conducted on letters sent to the Smith family after the kidnapping. Forensic document examiners evaluated slant, pressure patterns, letter formations, spacing, and rhythm. Though Larry Gene Bell attempted to disguise his writing, experts testified that the characteristics aligned with known samples of his handwriting. None of these elements alone would have guaranteed conviction. Yet. Even in custody, Larry Gene Bell attempted to maintain control of the narrative. He's totally a psychopath. He made statements that implied Sherry had remained alive for longer than she had. Comments widely interrupted as deliberate attempts to deepen her parents' suffering. He shifted between denial and disturbing displays of self-importance, at time appearing to relish the attention that surrounded him.

Erin Rhoads: Course he did. He's a psychopath.

Autumn: In 1986, he was convicted of kidnapping and murdering Sherry Faismith and sentenced to death. ⁓ He was later convicted and sentenced to death again for the murder of Deborah Mae Helmick. During the trial, observers described Bell's demeanor as detached, occasionally inappropriate, though psychiatric evaluations ultimately determined that he was competent to send trial and understood the nature of his actions. What made this case especially chilling to criminologists and investigators was not only the violence, but the psychological The sustained manipulation, the calculated prolonging of grief, the deliberate intrusion into mourning. This was not impulsive rage. It was structured cruelty. Behavioral analysis later categorized the crimes as power, control motivated, rather than purely sexual or financially driven. While sexual elements are often assumed in cases involving abduction and asphyxiation, what distinguished this offender was the overt emphasis on domination through communication. He did not simply silence his victims. He amplified their voices for his own purposes. Forcing Sherry to write her own last will and testament extended the crime beyond the physical act of murder and into the psychological realm of staged inevitability. It allowed him to choreograph despair. Profilers noted traits consistent with narcissistic and sadistic tendencies. Go figure. Particularly the needs to reinsert himself into the narrative repeatedly. Many offenders seek to avoid detection at all costs.

Erin Rhoads: Yeah.

Autumn: In contrast, Larry Jean Bell maintained contact with law enforcement and the family even when doing so increased his risk of exposure. ⁓ That paradox suggests that the attention itself may have been part of the reward.

Erin Rhoads: It was the high for him.

Autumn: There is also evidence of organized offender characteristics, advanced preparation, selection of a vulnerable victim with a familiar territory, use of pay phones to reduce traceability, and efforts to control timing. Yet alongside that organization was an arrogance. the belief that he could outmaneuver investigators indefinitely. In modern criminology discussions, this case is often cited as an example of how psychological gratification can supersede self-preservation. The need to feel powerful became stronger than the instinct to remain free. And that imbalance ultimately contributed to his capture. Experts also noted performative elements his behavior. He appeared to crave acknowledgement of his intelligence and superiority. frequently inserting himself into the investigative developments. This need for recognition aligns with narcissistic traits often observed in organized offenders. Individuals who plan their crimes, minimize physical evidence and believe themselves capable of outmaneuvering authorities. Yet what complicates a profile is the ordinariness of his external life. He maintained employment, he functioned socially, he did not fit the stereotype of visible chaos. That duality outward normalcy paired with internal deviance is one of the most unsettling aspects of organized predatory behavior. The calls, the letters, the calculated prolonging of contact, these were not afterthoughts. They were extensions of the crime itself. Bell remained on death row for more than a decade as appeals moved to the legal system. His attorneys challenged procedural elements of the trial and raised questions regarding his mental health, but the convictions stood. On October 4th, 1996, he was executed by the electric chair in South Carolina. He was 46 years old.

Erin Rhoads: Good.

Autumn: Sherry would have been in her late 20s. Deborah would have been entering adulthood. Time moved forward for everyone except the two girls whose lives had been permanently interrupted. It is easy in cases like this to allow the perpetrator's behavior to dominate the narrative, particularly when that behavior was so intentionally performative. But at the center of this story are two young people whose futures were expansive and unknowable. Sherry was described by those who loved her as thoughtful, ambitious, and deeply connected to her family. Deborah was a child who rode her bike on the summer afternoon, unaware that danger could exist so close to home. Their absence reshaped their family's lives in ways that cannot be quantified. The Smith family in particular endured a uniquely harrowing ordeal because of the forced communication during the kidnapping. Their experience influenced how law enforcement agencies later approached ransom calls and crisis negotiation strategies, contributing to the refinements and protocol designed to prevent offenders from exploiting families in similar ways. In that sense, something changed because of Sherry. When we revisit this case decades later, what lingers is not simply the brutality of the crimes, but the unsettling ordinariness surrounding them. Larry Jean Bell was not a transient figure drifting anonymously from place to place. He lived within the community he harmed. He navigated the same roads, stood in the same stores, occupied the same public spaces. he appeared by most outward measures ordinary. And perhaps that is what makes this story endure in collective memory. That reminder that evil does not always announce itself. Sometimes it comes from a payphone, inserting itself into a family's living room and refusing to leave. Sherry Faye Smith walked towards her front door on a warm May afternoon, believing she was home. Deborah Mae Helmick rode her bicycle in her own neighborhood, believing she was safe. Those small, ordinary beliefs were shattered. And yet, even now, their names are spoken with care, with tenderness, with remembrance. Not because of the man who harmed them, but because they mattered. Notable, I want to like add this little bit in here Larry Jean Bell was also suspected in disappearance of 21 old Denise Newsome porch who was last seen in Charlotte, North Carolina on July 31st, 1975. Seven years after her disappearance in 1982, her family had her proclaimed legally dead. Bell is a potential suspect in the Porch case since he was a former electrician who in 1975 resided around 300 yards away from the Yorktown apartments where Porch worked as a manager. He was never formally charged in connection with her disappearance. My sources were Victim of Beauty, the Dawn Smith story, ID Channel, Eyewitness, The Smith Sisters, Forensic Files, Last Will, ID Channel, Paul Lazon, One Month of Terror, Wikipedia, The Charlotte Observer, The New York Times, South Carolina Department of Corrections Execution Records.

Erin Rhoads: Well, that was really sad and really awful. And the prolonged harassment is just unfathomable.

Autumn: Unfathomable. was, I mean, Erin, he was calling, asking to speak to her sister and investigators believe that Sherry died within 12 hours of being kidnapped. And he was calling them for weeks.

Erin Rhoads: Yeah. That's just awful.

Autumn: saying she was alive and that she was okay and that he just wanted to talk and the whole time she was dead. And then to put them, the Smith family specifically, through even more torture by providing the location of the young nine-year-old girls. I mean.

Erin Rhoads: Yeah. ⁓ my god. No, that's just too far. mean, all of it is awful, but my God, let these poor people grieve.

Autumn: Yes, it's like, what a piece of shit. I'm so fucking glad that he got electrocuted. Like, bye, see ya never.

Erin Rhoads: for real. It's ⁓ it's interesting, So everybody knows Autumn was when she was going to record with me last week would have been doing this on the same episode as my Frank Sinatra Jr. kidnapping, which we did. We didn't know we were doing both doing kidnappings. But also my case surrounded payphones that they use payphones throughout it.

Autumn: Mm-hmm. No.

Erin Rhoads: We see that a lot in the older cases, in just that that was a way to get away with things. You couldn't trace it as well. interesting that, and there was another connection too because one theory was that the main suspect in the Frank Sinatra Jr. was obsessed with his sister, Nancy. So it's interesting that we had those two connections.

Autumn: it took a lot more effort to trace them. Yep. That would have been really, yeah, that would have been like really ironic, the connections that we would have.

Erin Rhoads: But you're going to be surprised, because we have a lot of connections in my case that I'm doing this week, too. Just crazy. I know. We're just on the same wavelength, crime-wise, currently, I guess. Not committing them, JK. Or am I? I don't know. Anyway, we're going to go on to my case, which ⁓ place

Autumn: That is crazy.

Erin Rhoads: Weirdly, as I've talked about before, one of my favorite movies ever is Auntie Mame. And she lives at number three Beekman Place in New York City. And my case takes place at Beekman Place. Anyway, I'm not giving you a title for this one. I'm just jumping right in. New York City, Friday afternoon, April 10th, 1936. Beekman Place was quiet that day. It's a small street tucked along the East River. elegant townhouses, polished brass nameplates, and the kind of buildings where successful professionals lived. Writers, doctors, radio executives. Inside one of those apartments lived a young woman named Nancy Titterton. She was a writer, 34 years old, talented, ambitious, and by all accounts, living a promising life in Manhattan with her husband, who was an NBC executive. and an Englishman, Lewis Henry Titterton. They met when Nancy worked for the New York Post and they were happily married in 1929. One of her works was honored with the cover of Story Magazine in 1935, to which afterwards she was offered a book deal following the publication of a different short story. So in 1936, she was beginning to write her very first novel. On that Friday afternoon, something had already gone terribly wrong inside her apartment. Around 3 PM, two furniture repairmen arrived at the building. They had come to return a sofa that had been taken away days earlier for repairs. One of them knocked on the door. No answer. They knocked again. Still, nothing. Now, apartments in the 1930s Manhattan. were not always locked during the day. People came and went constantly, delivery men, cleaners, repair workers. So the men pushed the door open. Inside, the apartment was quiet, too quiet. One of them called out, Mrs. Titterton. Nothing. They walked further inside and one of them noticed the bathroom door. It was partially closed. When they pushed it open, they saw her. Nancy Titterton, was laying inside the bathtub. Her body twisted in an unnatural angle. A piece of clothing was wrapped around her neck. Her hands were tied. She was not moving. The men backed away in shock. Within minutes, the police were called. And soon, detectives from the NYPD were standing in the elegant apartment on Beekman Place, staring at a scene that made no immediate sense. There were no signs of forced entry. No obvious struggles in the living room. No missing valuables. Just a murdered woman in a bathtub. And a mystery would consume the entire city. The next morning, newspapers across New York carried the same chilling headline. Woman writer found strangled in bathtub. But investigators had no idea yet that the key to solving this crime would come down to something so small. It could barely be seen. A single strand of hair. To understand why the Nancy Titterton case became so famous, you have to understand something about criminal investigations in the 1930s. Because back then, forensic science was still new. Fingerprinting had only been widely adopted in the US for a couple of decades. DNA testing didn't exist and crime labs were rare. Most investigations relied on witness testimony and confessions. But New York City had something unusual. A laboratory run by a man who believed that chemistry could solve crimes. That man was Alexander Gettler. ⁓ And he was widely regarded as one of the first true forensic scientists in the United States. He studied poisons, fibers, hair, blood, any microscopic trace that might reveal what had happened during a crime. One colleague described Gettler this way. He believed that the laboratory could tell a story when witnesses could not. And he was right. Gettler had already solved several notorious cases using chemical analysis. He had identified poisons that killers thought were undetectable. He had traced residues on clothing. He had analyzed blood patterns and fibers. And he had developed a reputation for patients. He once reportedly said, the smallest clue, if properly examined, can reveal the truth. be ⁓ critical in the Titterton investigation because when detectives brought the evidence from the Beekman Place apartment to Gettler's laboratory, it didn't look like much. A small piece of cord and a single strand of hair. To a forensic chemist, those tiny traces were a starting point. Hair analysis in the 1930s relied on microscopy. Under magnification, hair reveals structural details invisible to the naked eye. Human hair typically has a distinct medulla, a central core running through the strand. Animal hair looks different. The strand found at Nancy Titterton's apartment lacked the characteristics of human hair. Instead, it had a pattern typical of horse hair. At that time, horsehair was commonly used as stuffing inside upholstered furniture, sofas, chairs, mattresses. So the discovery immediately suggested something important. That hair likely came from furniture upholstery. That meant the killer had probably been in contact with furniture stuffing. Detectives began asking a simple question. Had anything in the apartment recently been repaired? As we already know, the answer to that question was yes. The sofa had been taken away for reupholstering. And the shop that handled it that sent those two workers to the apartment only days earlier were the same people found body. Suddenly, that single horsehair became a roadmap pointing investigators to potential suspects. The second piece of evidence was the cord used to tie Nancy's hands. Today, we take fiber analysis for granted. See, another similarity, Autumn. But in the 1930s, tracing rope or cordage to its origin was painstaking work. Investigators examined the cord under magnification. They analyzed the fiber composition. They studied the twist direction of the strands. And they compared the material to samples from rope manufacturers. Eventually, the cord was traced to a supplier that ships materials to

Autumn: Mm-hmm, yep.

Erin Rhoads: upholstery businesses, including the shop where one of the furniture workers worked at. John Fiorenza was employed at that very shop. He was also one of the people who identified the body. Piece by piece, the evidence began to form a picture, and it all started with that single strand of horsehair. Before the arrest, printed wild theories. The New York Daily Mirror speculated about a possible jealous lover. Police refused to rule out the possibility that the slaying of Mrs. Nancy Titterton may have been the result of a romantic intrigue. Another paper hinted at organized crime. Investigators are examining whether the crime bears the hallmarks of a professional killer. But detectives were quietly following a different trail. A trail made of microscopic fibers and cordage and all roads kept leading back to John Fiorenza. An attempt to understanding John Fiorenza requires looking at the circumstances of his life. He was only 21 years old when Nancy Titterton was murdered. Born to working class immigrant parents, Fiorenza had grown up in difficult circumstances in New York. Friends described him as quiet, but also volatile. He had a history of petty crime. Police records showed previous arrests for burglary and assault. And coworkers later said that he was prone to strange obsessions. One acquaintance told reporters Johnny could get fixated on things. If he wanted something, he could not stop thinking about it. When Fiorenza first entered the Titterton apartment to deliver furniture, he encountered a world completely different from his own. Elegant rooms, expansive furnishings, a sophisticated young woman who spoke politely to him. Prosecutors later argued that Fiorenza became obsessed with her after that visit. terms, The crime bears the hallmarks of opportunistic sexual violence mixed with resentment towards wealth and social status. Investigators believed Fiorenza returned to the apartment hoping to encounter Nancy alone. And when she resisted him, the situation escalated into murder. The police questioned him, and in the best outcome possible, he confessed to the crime fairly quickly. I know. By the time the case reached the courtroom, the newspapers were already celebrating the role of science. One editorial declared, the modern age, the criminal may hide his face, but he cannot hide the evidence. The murder of Nancy Titterton had become something more than just a sensational crime. It had become proof that forensic science was changing the way murders were solved. By May of 1936, the courtroom in Manhattan's General Sessions building was Reporters shoulder to in the press benches. Sketch artists sharpened their pencils. Spectators filled every available seat. Because the trial of John Fiorenza had quickly become one of the most talked about criminal cases in New York City. At the center of it all was the brutal killing of Nancy Titterton, a young writer of the wife of a successful radio executive murdered in her own apartment on Beekman Place. And the prosecution believed the evidence against Viarenza was overwhelming, but the defense had a strategy. They would challenge the science. One of the most dramatic moments in the trial was when prosecutors called forensic experts. to explain the microscopic evidence. The courtroom reportedly grew very quiet, as the witness described, the single strand of hair recovered in the apartment. The prosecutor asked, can you tell the jury what you determined that hair to be? The witness answered calmly, yes. Under microscopic examination, specimen was identified as horsehair. A murmur reportedly moved through the courtroom. The prosecutor continued, and where would one normally encounter horsehair of that type? The answer came quickly. Horsehair is commonly used in stuffing of upholstered furniture. The implication was obvious. Someone connected to furniture repair had likely been inside the apartment, and that led directly to the upholstery shop where Fiorenza worked. But the defense attorney stood up. He paced slowly before the jury, and he turned towards the witness. Is it not true that horsehair might be found in many places? The witness admitted that it could, but then the prosecution introduced another piece of evidence, the cord that had been used to bind Nancy's wrists. That same was found at the upholstery shop. The prosecutor held it up before the jury and asked. Is this the same material supplied to the establishment where the defendant was employed? The witness responded, yes. The fibers construction are identical. Gasps were reportedly heard in the courtroom. For the prosecution, the combination of the cord, the hair, and the fact that they had a confession, created a powerful case. Then came the moment. that everyone in the courtroom had been waiting for. The reading of Fiorenza's confession. A detective took the stand and began reading the statement aloud. The room reportedly became so quiet that reporters later said you could hear the scratch of pencils as they took notes. The confession described how Fiorenza had returned to the apartment, how Nancy had opened the door, how the situation escalated. According to the statement, Fiorenza admitted that when Nancy resisted him, he grabbed her by the throat. And then the detective read this line slowly. He stated that he seized Mrs. Titterton by the throat and strangled her to death. Some observers, and she was also raped, but they don't talk about that much in the case. Some observers were later reported that members of the audience were visibly shocked. The brutality of the crime was undeniable. The jury deliberated for hours. Outside the courthouse, crowds gathered waiting for a decision. And finally, the jury returned. A hush fell over the courtroom. The foreman stood. The verdict, guilty. John Fiorenza was sent to Sing Sing Prison. And on January 22, 1937, he was executed by the electric chair. Another connection, Autumn. Newspapers reported that Fiorenza showed little emotion as the decision was read. Within hours, headlines appeared across the city. Horsehair clue convicts killer. Another declared Fiorenza guilty of bathtub slaying. Justice, at least in the eyes of the law, had been delivered. But the story of Nancy Titterton ⁓ than the who killed her. It was about the life. that she had been building before that terrible day. the weeks the trial, many newspaper stories began focus on something different, not the killer, but the victim. Friends described Nancy Titterton as thoughtful and talented, someone who had always loved literature. someone who had always dreamed of becoming a novelist. She had already published short stories. In the year of her death, she had began working on her first full length novel. One friend told reporters Nancy had the kind of imagination that made every conversation interesting. Another remembered her warmth and her humor. She was a person that people liked immediately. Her husband, Louis Henry Titterton, rarely spoke publicly after the trial. Friends say that the loss devastated him. Their apartment on Beekman Place once filled with manuscripts, books, and music became a painful reminder of what happened there. Nancy's novel was never completed, and her name would be forever linked with one of New York's most infamous murders. The murder of Nancy Titterton might have easily have remained unsolved. The killer left very little behind, no fingerprints that could identify him, no witnesses, no obvious motive, just a piece of cord and a single strand of hair. But those traces were enough. Because investigators in New York began to understand something new. Science could reveal what human eyes could not. Microscopes could expose secrets criminals believed were invisible. And in the laboratory of Alexander Gettler, even the smallest clue could become evidence. Today, forensic science has advanced far beyond from what investigators in 1936 could have imagined. We have DNA analysis, digital evidence, complex crime labs. But the basic principle remains the same. A criminal may try to erase their presence. They may believe that they have left nothing behind, but the crime always tells a story. And sometimes, that story begins with something as small as a single strand of hair. My sources were primary newspaper coverage in 1936 by the New York Times, the New York Daily News, and the New York Herald Tribune, historical research from crime magazine Forensic Science Solves Murder of NBC Executive's Wife, historical forensic science involving Alexander Gettler case histories, Archival records of the Nancy Titterton murder case and history.com. We had a lot of similarities. Crazy, obsessive dudes. We both had fiber analysis. There is a lot ⁓ going on there. But I thought that one was really interesting because of the lack of evidence, yet they still managed to solve the case. And I was unaware of how much horsehair was used in upholstery back then.

Autumn: I didn't know that either. That is like very interesting.

Erin Rhoads: I know, because at first I was reading about it and I was like, a single strand of horse hair. I mean, she lived in New York City. Where was she around exposed to horses? And it's not like there wasn't, we're in the era of cars at this point. You know what I mean? It's not like there's carriages that she's exposed to. So I'm like, how in the heck did this happen? And it all traced back to that one chance that he showed up at her apartment to pick up her sofa to repair.

Autumn: Like so many. Right.

Erin Rhoads: and he just became obsessed with her. And that's what happened. And, you know, both of these murderers and a rapist still were both executed by electric chair. So we were like on the same plane in the cases we're choosing. Kind of crazy.

Autumn: Cheers. Horrific, horrific cases. Yeah, like kidnapping and obsession. The pay phones. No. What's that? You had to put a quarter in there.

Erin Rhoads: Yeah, no, I mean, we're just both researching the same things. and the pay phones, things that kids will never know about these days. I know. I still can't get over the fact that Sinatra was buried with ten dimes in his pocket just in case. He carried them with him his whole entire life from that moment, which is kind of crazy. But anyway, ⁓ and he the the Fiorenza in my case, he did try to appeal several times before he was executed, claiming that he was mentally insane, except for.

Autumn: Just in case.

Erin Rhoads: It was proven over and over that he was completely competent. So that is my that's my fun fact. My happy fact. ⁓ Yeah. So those are cases this week. Like I said, I'm going to be doing a case referred to me by my cousin next week. If you do have a case that you think is and you want us to cover it, please do reach out to us, DM us on Instagram at

Autumn: That tracks. Yeah, that tracks.

Erin Rhoads: Murder, not murdering. We'll also post pictures from our cases. So you'll get to see the people that were involved and a little bit more interesting tidbits about the cases that we've covered this week. New episodes are always out on Mondays. Follow us on TikTok at MNM.pod. Autumn, do you have anything else you wanted to add?

Autumn: follow us on Instagram at Murder Not Murdering. ⁓ did. I just wanted to repeat it too. Because she because she last time we were on here she said my name is Autumn. Didn't even let me say anything so I was taking her line.

Erin Rhoads: I already said that part. Jesus Christ. She doesn't even know where she is. Good Lord. Mm-hmm. Yep, that was it. Mm-hmm. So anyway, I'm Autumn. This is our podcast, Murder Not Murdering. Thank you so much for listening to us. We so appreciate you. Do share with your friends if they enjoy true crime, they're gonna like this podcast.

Autumn: Yes, please. ⁓ yeah, and we have a Reddit.

Erin Rhoads: ⁓ we have a Reddit.

Autumn: We have our sub reddit and it's Murder Not Murdering and you should join it and talk about murder.

Erin Rhoads: Yes, and Autumn will be watching all of that.

Autumn: I will. That's me. The... the foyer.

Erin Rhoads: That's autumn. Okay, that's her new nickname, Autumn the Voyeur. You gave it to yourself. Wow.

Autumn: I can't trust her.

Erin Rhoads: You said it. I said none of this. Anyways, on this note, I think it's time to go. So we'll be back next Monday with a new episode for you. If you haven't listened to our past episodes, do go back in the archives, check them out. We have so many cases that we have covered. Slide into that DM and we'll see you next week.

Autumn: can't even. ⁓ my gosh, I'm delusional. Yeah, I agree. Let's get on.

Erin Rhoads: Bye!

Autumn: Bye.