The Suspect

with her friend Shamika at five thirteen. Africa told her a client had just arrived at her motel room. What number did you call her from? Number? Police worked through the night and use cell phone records and surveillance footage to track down the vehicle the suspect had driven. They learned that the jeep and cell phone were both registered to a woman named Regina Beard. Two officers drove out to her home and Gary, Indiana, and in front of the house was the blue jeep they were looking for.

From my Heart Radio and Tenderfoot TV, this is Algorithm, I'm ben key Brick. The lead detective on the case, Sean Ford, and his supervisor, Captain Zeke Kinajosa, also traveled out to the suspects home. Together, the officers went up to the house and knocked on the door. A young woman answered. They told her that they had a warrant

to search the home, and she let them in. Inside, Kinahosa saw a bald man in his mid forties that resembled the man that they'd seen on the motel's surveillance footage, and they saw a puffy jacket hanging on a chair in the kitchen, similar to the one the suspect had been wearing. Kinajosa instructed the bald man to come into the living room, but the man stood his ground. Again. Hinahosa demanded that the man surrender himself to police, and

again the man didn't comply. Two officers rushed him, threw him to the ground, and handcuffed him. Police then secured the building. Detective Ford brought the young woman who'd answered the door into a side room. He asked her if anyone had been driving the blue jeep. She said yes, the man they had handcuffed had driven it. He was her uncle, Darren Vaughan, and he'd been looking after her

while her mother was on vacation. Detective Ford returned to the kitchen and helped the suspect Darren Von up from the ground. Ford asked Vaughan if he knew why they were there. Vaughn told them that he did know, and said that he'd messed up by leaving Gary. Vaughn said he was surprised by how quickly police had located him. He said that Gary police don't work on weekends. Detective Ford noticed a button was missing from Vaughn's shirt, and he remembered that they'd found a button in the motel

room where Africa had been killed. When they further searched the house, they found Africa Hardias missing cell phone on top of a cabinet in the kitchen. Beside it was an extension cord with its ends cut off. Police informed Vaughan that he was under arrest and they put him in the back of a squad car. According to a police report, Vond told the officers in the car to bring a prosecutor down to the station. He said that the district attorney would want to hear what he had

to say. At the station, he asked the booking officers for toilet paper and started to cry. He said that he was tired and just wanted to get this all over and done with. At eight thirty pm on Saturday oct Detective Forward and Captain Hinojosa brought Vaughan into a small room. It was the exact same room that Shamika had sat in the night before. You want some and what you're about to hear has never before been made public. That's Vawn. They're asking if police had done the two

things that he asked them to do. It's a strange interview. Vaughn is trying to cut himself some kind of a deal and the detectives want him to talk, but they also need to follow procedure and we're not going to pressure you. Everything today is kind of your own free willy right here? All right, that's Detective Sean Ford. Like I said before, if you understand each of these, I want you to put your initials next to him because it shows we went over the phone together. He has

Vaughn read through his Miranda rights. Is there anything that you need to explain? No, And that's Captain Kinejosa. We got me all nervous. I feel like I mean and evaluate today with my bossing around here, I don't like to try to play themerga scientists around trying to play some camp, mouse games or something like that. Can come here kind of tell a something anyway? All right, I knew y'all come about me the fake on purpose? Okay?

What in your own words? What would you say has brought you here today inside of this room with us? Why do you think you were arrested? Especial? I'm like Hamley, I'm gonna say a MURDERKA say murder, A murder of who? I can't really give her night because I don't know her night? Okay, that occurred where I don't really know? Y'all road saying a multa which one see mot y'all sex? All right? Remember the rule number? Just not talking from putney deal a good? Right? Okay, Well here's here's what

are your concerns? What are you looking for it? Because here's our thing. We can't necessarily play take a deal anyone legally? Is you ready? We can't promise you anything, but just why to say? Folk? So well, let me let me just what are you trying to get out of this? How a my and put the death before my next birthday? The deal that Bond wants is to be put to death before his next birthday. I want to put the death before my next birthday. Okay, that

that would almost be five. You got death ros your multiple murders, I give you. I can get death. But listen real quick here. They don't have to say out that quick thought. Wait. Wait, I noticed for faith, because if I wave on my rights, I give you three or four murders. I had a right you put to death, and I'm willing to give you the body and a location. I think they will give him my death row. Let me ask you that are they all locally? And then yeah, I can give you anything. I could give some out

of inn but had then I would have. We don't need a better deal with y'all. You can just talk about it now. I have to go to deal because I have to make sure I get death row. Then Von tells them that he doesn't want to go through a trial in the whole legal process. Instead, he wants to sign a plea bargain guaranteeing him the death penalty in exchange for confessing to other murders. Y'all got one. I'm trying to get y'all areas, But that's what I'm saying.

The prosecutor doesn't really look into things until we complete our investigation. I'm trying to give them death. Then give y'all the bodies. So for the one we have, imple did that purpose, so y'all't even have to do a DNA out of Well, let's listen, if we can do this, want to get through it and have the conversation and match it up with the evidence we already have, and we we can establish your credibility that you're legit, because say,

you could be crazy. You could be sitting here and talking some man Crady on five eight Motail six, Room one, five eight. That's all there for you. Room was the motel room where Africa's body was found. Information that Vaughan would have no reason to know unless he was involved in the murder. That is right. Now, are do you believe that you're here to be questioned about it or are you saying that you did it? I'm here to be question about the coach. I'm not sure that's why

you dollar agrests the game. Well, of course that's part of all of completing and that's fairly recent, right, this is Friday. So going back to the question, and you know you're saying that you know you're not wanting to contest the issue, but this one makes rigue out. That's what I'm saying. I understand what I'm gonna do what you won't at your room one five mates, I only reason I know that I knew it. I can even

tell you where you found the body? Where do we find the body in a shower with the water running? What happened that part? I'm not really sure about. I know where I put it after but during my act rays, I really don't remember a lot of stuff. So you get enjoy it. Act always always Okay, okay, how how did you get connected with this person in this room? How did you get connected? She had a head? We're

right crazy? Okay, do you remember anything about that? And specifically you've got a picture in it where she has curly hair. That's a long enough, that's a picture I caught mine. Bond said that in the ad Africa went by the name Octavia, which lined up with what Shamika had told police. As a warning, this next section gets very graphic, but I think it's important to acknowledge the reality of Vaughan's crimes. I'm also compete her earlier baby sitting. She called me back, I sure was higg and I

went what was she by herself in the room. Did you have to have any drinks or anything like that in there? Try not to drink makes your worst? Did you pay her the money right away as soon as you walked in? Yeah, I thought I had little bath room. Went to the bathroom. She got undressed from the bottom down. I got undressed. Really be we kinda said, she saunds too rough. Factually I'm really rough. And I didn't really give her a time though. You just right to get adjusted, right,

And then she started like crying. She started crying, right, you let me keep going for man, I guess when I didn't slow down and you get mad and hit me, and she's trying to say, you mean to hit anybody? It was too late. I started choking her. And after that is anybody's ball game? What were you choking her? Was at first with my hand. Is this that anger we're trying to controller, not a thought anger because she struck me? Is your choking or did she continue this trouble? Yes? Okay,

this shooms consciousness. Have your same person choked? Yeah? Where they're they're not unconscious, but they're not I don't know how to say it. They're defenseless. Yeah, they're defenseless. Yeah, do your best words to say defense us, Like I told you, get funnic. I know I hit her and I threw off the bed. I remember that, I remember showing it. I don't know any talents like he. I know I hit her close best. I don't know. I don't know if our karality character because I remember my

hand going up coming down. I remember a knee And now I just know I choked her. I couldn't even say I just choked her. You ever get so made like and then when you realize what you did, and I'm like, I made like a big mistake. I know she was dead when she hit the floor. When she one day, it definitely made me reached for the horde. I was like, I gotta finished this. When I first heard this part of the confession, my heart dropped. Bon said is that when Africa hit him, he went into

a blind rage and started choking her. When he calmed down and gained awareness about what had happened, Von thought that he had killed Africa and panicked, but he hadn't actually killed her. She started stirring, and now outside of his rage, Von made the conscious decision to strangle her to death already almost killed her, like I'm out of whale, finished, And I was like, it's kind of like a pang,

because that wasn't the purpose of me going here. Okay, there wasn't a purpose, but in your mind you had almost killed her pride, And I was like you You're got have stopped, right. I couldn't, yeah, because but you didn't. I did. If you would have stopped and just left. What did you feel when a pet I'm the very prisoner, he said. I had to kill her with all of like instincts I always reached for in the year's weapon was record tell she NiFe? Always weapon? In this particular

resident STI cord centric cork. Where was that a carr An e cure guy anymore? The detectives are confused about this. If he wasn't intending to kill Africa, why did he bring gloves and a weapon with him to the motel. His response was that he always carries these things with him. The weapon, I can imagine maybe for self defense. The gloves though, just in case he needs to dispose of a body. If a snap always carry up her gloves?

What kind of gloves? I know? We could have been a row one he could have been a white ones are Swiss gloves or Swiss clothes? I swish so much stuff have been joined this for years now? What's the purpose of wearing the gloves? May surely your favorite print. I can't decide if I believe him that Africa's murder wasn't premeditated, or if he's just lying for some reason, trying to justify the murder through twisted logic. Obviously he's

not trying to escape a conviction. He willingly admits he's guilty of murdering her, But maybe this is the way that he tries to justify the murder to himself. We're faced with a problem here, one that we're often faced with in cases like this. Only Vaughan knows many of the details of what he did, and only he knows why he did it. But when someone cares so little about others that they're willing to murder a stranger in cold blood, I don't think they're going to lose any

sleep about lying. How did you get her to the bathroom drug not to wear a shower? I'm there, I'll fighting stuff moment. Reasons for doing that. I hadn't always moved victims do you always put the victims in the same place. No, never wait, are you see Jill and I can't bring you over an away and you could that bring another during this Eventually you'll be able to know. No, I don't want to. You don't want you right because I want my dad grow and I can't have more

than one stay fighting. That's only that would prolong the process. All right, Talent can get you out of stuff that's recent. How many people are you responsible for killing? Said this lifetime. I couldn't even too and Indiana, I said, I couldn't even tell you. I could tell you the ones I want to give you, I can't tell you the ones that would incriminating somebody else. Okay, the ones that you want to give us. Are they all males or females?

I'm going to give your female a female the male if I can't give you because I was paid to do them, okay, and that would put somebody else. What's you're concerned about? That? My me going on? But we've always had to code. We don't never put nobody else the females. How are these females skilled? All strang like? Well, trying to think har one knife? Oh my gun? They will kill the female, would have done not in Indiana. Never killed a female with a gun in Indiana. Okay,

I think it's a knife line in Indiana. I'm trying to do between Primes and India. They were all strangled. The one I'm gonna give you all the strangled. That's the best way I could say it. Okay, are there any other big ones in Hammond? In Hammon? Not that I asked here? One was the other victims from Anna. In so many years, I'm done a crime. I'm in heaven in so many years. How can you remember? There was a There was a girl a long time ago

whose body was on the railroad tracks. Most of the victims that Hargrave's algorithm had identified were found in the city of Gary, but one victim, Yvonne Wallace, was actually found in Hammond, strangled near some train tracks in the summer of ninety six, eighteen years earlier. There's one girl had it. There's one girl in him, and I don't know. I have claimed the body, so I wouldn't know where she's at. I said, haven't joined this for years. I'm on trying to get one as close because I remember

what about any that the bodies I never found. That's trying to give you not probably give you two four? Can we can we start with with this real quick like obviously this incident Hanton on Friday. What is freshest in your mind from there? That the one murder just previous to the Motel State Ranky, the one before the

Motio State State. Here, Darren Vaughan says he can't give detectives information about the murderer he committed just before Africa Hardy, because it took place out of state and he doesn't want to involve other jurisdictions. I want to point this out because they'll soon change his story. We can't always know when Vaughn is telling the truth, but we can catch him in lies when he contradicts himself. We can learn something important from these lies about the extent and

the nature of his crimes. Ranky, the one before the Motio State State, the one before him. It's somebody I knew changing well that obviously, that would be an easy one to start with if you know her well. I don't know where nor like I know where from the streets. Her nickname on the streets was cast where she was a prostitute. She's a Caucasian, but the real big here. Yeah, as you said, some people say bev w she's thirty two. I'm not gonna put it not older because she is.

I wouldn't think so, yes, I don't know this blonde or brown? My color blind. So where'd you kill hern? Oh? So you're gonna tell you that the coach in the house I killed her? And Gary all even Gary, I'm giving you so gaspers bodies inside of a an abandoned house. Yeahs her inside of things. And I believe that that you kind of want to put it into this, But would you be willing to to take us and I mean almost, I mean I don't always you call it like a field trip and just show us your word produence.

I don't really call it work. I call even my mistakes because they didn't really they did something that trigger my hanger where I was already angered, but they really like cass or cast for with my friends eyes being to kill her, what are we going to recover her body? I would do a cash for the part because she was my friend, she was a good person. We could take that right. What we're probably gonna do is we'll probably put you in some legs shadows, because this is

not something we do every day. You take this to cash for this Friday, and I'll if I was goin to cash the prosecutors, right, I will give you other fire someone you promised me they're gonna give me there pro al Right, go ahead and stand up where hand cups back on your right. If it isn't already clear at this point, this isn't if you've done it. Where we're trying to figure out who killed Africa Hardy Darren

Vaughan killed Africa instead. This is a story exploring how the police and Gary ignored the signs that there was a killer on the loose targeting women in the area. They ignored hargrooves warnings when he sent them the letter about the algorithm, and they ignored other more obvious clues as well. But I'm getting ahead of myself. On October at eleven PM, Vaughn told police he'd take them to

one of the recent murders he'd committed in Indiana. He told them he couldn't take them to the most recent murder before Africa, whereas he knew her Octavia, because he said that murder took place out of state and he didn't want to involve other jurisdictions. Instead, he offered to take them to the body of a woman that he knew as Casper. But before they were even out the

door of the interrogation room, Vaughan changed his mind. I don't know if they found her, and I I'm not sure if chars we see wish book, I'll take you to her body. Before I was there for this racing. Now, Vaughan was saying that he could take them to the murder directly before Africa, and he was saying that it wasn't out of state. In fact, the murder had occurred in northwest Indiana and the body was in Gary. Investigators

didn't call him out about the discrepancy. I'm not sure why, but I wonder if that's because they weren't sure if any of what he was saying was true. But he promised them a body and they wanted to investigate. With Vaughan in handcuffs that linked to the front of his belt and shackles around his feet, Ford walked him out to a squad car, where they met Officer Kelly Mickey.

What made you decide to get done? I was tired, she wrote in a police report that as she talked to On, she tried to mirror his emotions, a technique cops used to keep suspects talking, but she struggled to mirror him because he was so relaxed and casual while he described horrific events and scenes. How long does it take? Is it always the same? What do you mean to kill a person? Yeah? What you kill them with? Like you? Your thing seems to be strangulation? One thing now with strangleletion,

because I'm not what we would have gone. So do they ever plead for their life? They? Like? Do they beg you? That's not like I'm not going to I'm not going to. Oh they're trying to just get away now when you're actually strangling them? Do they no? But I mean do they like as anything? I don't know. I don't even know what I want to ask you? You want to ask? No, I don't. I don't know how I'm there are I've never killed a human. I mean,

I've never killed a cup. You never shot? No, No, I've been bust I've been busted that way sixteen years. So I almost shot a couple of people, but God's intervened. Did not let the hand the streets. Oh yeah, I just became a detective. Okay, well, yeah, I worked the streets for sixteen years. You've been shot at. I know you've been shot at. Yeah, I didn't shot at somebody fifteen years ago and hand. Yeah, police called the right m In fact, they almost arrested me with the office

shooting me down. When he's shaking me down, he made the gun fall to the ground. So I just kicking the ground while you're searching. Some cops are stupid, ain't they. It's like, we don't pay attention. He couldn't have seen it, yeah, but they just don't pay attention. It was too dark. I made sure it's the dark while I stopped to walk day and I walked off and walk back and

got the gun its folds. Vond told them the body wasn't an abandoned home, but he couldn't give them exact directions to the building because he had always walked there, taking shortcuts through abandoned lots. Eventually they made it out to the four hundred block of East Avenue in Gary. It was a thin suburban road, and like many parts of Gary, it's riddled with abandoned homes. Sections of the

street shift abruptly. A string of houses will be well maintained with manicured blonds, only for the next three houses to be boarded up and so overgrown with weeds that you can't even see the sidewalk. The home where Von guided them was completely dark. It looked as if it had been recently abandoned. It was isolated from nearby houses

by overgrown shrubs at the edges of the yard. Bond told them that the body wasn't inside this home, but in a smaller, more decrepit brick building behind the house. He told them to drive around the corner to a gravel alleyway that ran behind the buildings. Police still weren't sure if Vaughn was telling them the truth or leading them on a wild goose chase. They asked him where exactly they'd find the body. In her police report, Detective

Mickey remembered Vaughan's voice taking on a creepy tone. Vaughn told them to enter the back of the building. He said that there was a door that went down into a seller like basement. He told them to be careful because the basement was pitch black and they need to watch out for large rats or wild dogs, and he told them that somewhere deep back in the basement, they'd find a room where the victim would be buried under a pile of dolls. Mickey remembers telling him, could you

make this sound any scarier? George Geleapolis was working that night at the coroner's office. He was also called out to the scene. Got to the area. Most of the homes are abandoned. I see a scrub car out there. The house was taped, and of course it was abandoned. It was dark. Is that scary? I mean, I guess the idea of like going into an abandoned building with a flashlight to like look for a dead body, you know, I think most people would be terrified. I don't know

if you just get used to that. No, it was scary. No, I'm not gonna lie. It was scary because we would only be maybe floor of us in the house, and we don't know who's in the house or who's in the area, and if they, like police officers, were not you know, we first take pictures of the home, and then we take pictures of where we're going. I obtained these fitters from the Hammond Police Department through my Fayre request. The first few photos show the home from the outside.

It's a nondescript brick building with white siding. Then comes a shot of a wood floored entrance way, a sort of walden porch with stairs going down into a basement. There's a detail on this photograph that I miss until I go onto the next picture, which is a close up shot of the corner of the staircase. There's a dark stain there a liquid trail that's dripping down the stairs. The next picture shows that at the bottom of the stairwell there was a mound of garbage, bottles, boxes, trash bags,

and the photos continue past that pile of junk. The basement was still a mess, but at least you could see the floor. Geleopolis and his team continued through what looked like it was once a den into a concrete floored room that was also strewn with trash. Diliopolis says that the whole building smelled bad, but as they entered this room, he started to smell a familiar odor. That's one thing that you will never forget, that's for sure, and I'll tell you I can't explain. It's something rotten,

rotten fruit, maybe really bad. Garbage stays on your clothes. If you breathe a little heavy and it goes into your throat, it stays in your throat. If you move your hair with your hand, you'll smell it. From there, they turned the corner to a third, smaller room. This room was much cleaner, but the smell grew more intense. There were some wooden boards and a garden hose on the floor, and in one corner there was a pile of objects that looked as if it had been deliberately placed.

A big, large truckt or trailer tire and a couple of stuffed animals, big plush stuffed animals, like the ones that you might win at a carnival. As they approached this pile in the corner, the smell became overwhelming, and through the center of one of the tires they saw what appeared to be socked feet. Sticking out of the other end of the pile was the dark fuzz of

human hair. It was the corpse of a woman. She looked as if she had been killed recently, and you could tell that she'd been strangled because of a groove running across her neck, a damp wound on her dark skin covered by a line of white maggots. Darren Vaughan wasn't taking them in a wild goose chase. He'd led them straight to a body, the body of a thirty five year old woman named Anne Jones, and the night was still young. What later became known as the death

Mark had just begun. Next time on algorithm. Has there been any indication all how many victims may be out there? At this point we are unsure of the number. As of last night, he was continuing to lead police to the bodies of victims. Something I think about sometimes is was there something I could have done better? Because they weren't even looking. I at least knew that there was

a serial killer active in Gary. The adults would leave at five o'clock and at night they would be left with the counselors who were and they would go down in his hell whole, the basement, and they would have gladiator games where they would have the kids square off and have to fight each other. If you're own book, you're not really a liver. You're just did you kill somebody specific to get left in? I'm who they told

me to kill. This episode was written and produced by me ben Keebrick Algorithm is executive produced by Alex Williams, Matt Frederick, and Donald Albright. Production assistance by Eric Quintana. Thanks to Christina Dana, Trevor Young, Miranda Hawkins, Josh Thane, and Jamie Albright for their notes on this series. Music is by Makeup and Vanity Set and Blue Dot Sessions. If you like where you're hearing, please follow and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts