¶ Wicked Wanderings
are you guys like from dracula ? You guys are vampires , aren't you ? I mean ? Look at my teeth oh yeah , look at that one oh just on the bottom , though .
No , on the top too . Yeah , on the left . Yeah , so does that answer your question ? Yeah , it does I glitter in the sunlight do you think they would glitter ?
no , do you think they would glitter ?
No or do you think ?
they would just explode , they would burn , they're supposed to burn .
Yeah , I mean , granted , I loved the Twilight series . I got nothing to say , but .
So was that the only series .
Where they glitter . Yeah , okay , yeah , she made that part up . So , why would she change it ? Because it's supposed to be like for a YA series .
YA , what's that ?
young adult ah not gonna tell him , and then he exploded into flame like it's not really kid friendly , you know what's a young adult 30 , 40 and under ?
no , we're like teenagers yeah , oh okay , a very , very young adult like 11 to 25 .
I don't know .
So we're not young adults .
No , no we're adults , supposedly someone told me one day okay , no , no , we're adults supposedly Someone told me one day Debatable . Okay , Hi , I'm Jess and I'm Hannah . Join us as we delve into true crime , paranormal encounters and all things spooky .
So grab your flashlight and get ready to wander into the darkness with us .
This is Wicked Wanderings . All right , Hello Hannah , Hello Jessica and hello Robert , Hello .
How's it going , everybody ? Oh , it's going . My stomach is full of Chipotle and ice cream . Best day ever .
Yes , so are we ready to get going today ?
Yes .
Ready skitty . This case was brought to you by Rob and you have a close connection to this case today .
Yes , I do .
You went to what went to school with Elementary school .
I was in special ed growing up , so I was in a couple different ones . I don't remember exactly . I was in special ed growing up , so I was in a couple different ones . I don't remember exactly where I was in school with him , but I know for a fact I was in the school with him and I took a bus .
With him . With him , yes . So I am titling this episode the Senseless Murder of Kelsey Owens . For a reason and the so Rob knows the defendant or murderer for this case . So let's get going
¶ Mysterious Disappearance of Kelsey Owens
. On the night of August 15 , 2006 , 16-year-old Kelsey Owens was getting ready to hang out with her friends Amanda and Josh . Josh was leaving the following morning for basic training and told the girls that he could get some marijuana . Before walking out the door , kelsey asked her mom , stephanie , mom , do I look pretty ? And then did a little twirl .
Stephanie told her that she did and Kelsey asked Are you going to wait up for me ? They both laughed and then Kelsey said don't answer that . She wrapped her arms around her mom and walked out the door .
What a beautiful memory .
Right . Little did Stephanie know that that would be the last time she would see her daughter alive . At approximately 6.46 that evening , kelsey had called her friend Amanda and made plans to go to Kelsey's friend , 20-year-old Josh Whitaker's home . They arrived at his house around 7.30 and found Josh waiting in the backyard for them .
As I mentioned , he was headed to basic training in the morning and he told them that he could score some pot for them that night . Side note I don't know why he would have thought about this , because you get drug tested in basic training ?
I was just going to ask that .
And not only do you get drug tested . There has to be someone in the stall with you if you were female and right next to you if you were male , watching the stream come out of your body .
Oh .
One of the most , one of the worst things like can you pee when someone's standing no ?
it's very difficult and I was gonna ask him like that just why that night before you left ? Yeah , you know , like I know you're like , yeah , last bash , but that probably should not have been and that stuff stays in you for 30 days yeah , so he would have been kicked out , just saying .
Anywho , when kelsey and amanda met up with Josh , he told them that his mom was still home and he couldn't leave yet . He said that she was going to get him some medication and was going to wait until she had left so he could go in the house and get some money . Sounds a little shady , but OK .
So they waited around for a little bit at the pool and eventually the girls went back to their car to smoke a cigarette , while Josh went into the house to see when his mom was leaving . He then came out to the car and said maybe if they left , then his mom would leave , because she gets sketched out if there are cars there .
Keep in mind this is Wilbraham , massachusetts . I forgot to mention that .
No , relatively safe . He lived in Hamden . Whose house are they ?
at they're at his .
They're at his house , yep . Oh , it was in Hamden , it's in Hamden , right on the East Longmeadow line .
Oh , okay . He came out to the car and said if they left , his mom would leave because she gets sketched out .
But still , hamden's a good . But Hamden is , come on , Hannah . Hannah knows people from Hamden .
Hamden has a lot of drugs , unfortunately . Oh okay , small town with nothing really to do , so there are kids there that get into mischief that they should not , but I've been to some really good bonfires in Hamden so it can be a good time 's .
It's very woodsy , yeah , and so a lot of the people think they're um , I don't know , rednecks , I guess hillbilly kind of neck as redneck as you can get in western massachusetts like yeah , I mean , have you been to like the hill towns ? Yeah , middlefield , yeah , so they think they're a Hilltown , but they're so close to Springfield that they're not .
But it's like the beginning of Hilltowns .
So there want to be Hilltowns ? Okay , anyone in those areas , we love you . We love you .
There's a lot of hunting going on , a lot of dirt , biking , atv and that kind of stuff just like with any city or town .
The demographic is just a certain way compared to , like , if you were in somewhere like springfield or if you were in somewhere like north adams or belgertown .
It's just kind of like yeah , well , they had a pool in a pool house .
So for the town .
No , in his backyard .
In his backyard . Yeah , that house is pretty big . I pass it when I'm going to a customer in Hamden once a week and every time I pass by that house I think of this case . Really , it's always sat with me because I went to school with this kid and my cousin , tony , actually knows him too because he grew up in Hamden .
I think I I don't know why now I'm remembering , but I think I remember people talking about him and the case that went on . So it was a big disruption to a very small community , Definitely .
Oh , I can imagine .
So yeah , there definitely could have been a pool in the backyard . I don't ever remember seeing a pool , but I've never been to the house , I've just driven by it . Is it the one with the big white fence ? No , there's kind of a , if I remember correctly , a wraparound driveway , and it's right where the power lines cross that road .
It's like right next to it . I think , yeah , it's literally right next to it . The power lines go right here and this is the house anyways interesting .
Thanks for all that input , because I have no idea where it's at . So he got into the car with the girls and they drove down the road behind his house . They waited for a short time , then went back to his house and his mom was still there , like as we go forward .
None of this shit makes sense to me , at least , I mean I feel like my mom would do the same thing , like I'm going to have people over my house Like I want to , why would I leave ?
my house . Yeah , good point , good point . So he told the girls that if they left then she would leave . The girls decided to drive around until Josh called them to come back .
So , like I said , I don't know about you guys , but this kind of seems a little shady and to me it seems like his mom was never planning to leave and that she had no clue that the girls were there or anything . Josh was planning , in my opinion . Also , josh was 20 years old and it seemed like he was worried about his mom a little too much .
Or maybe he had something planned all along and was trying to create a diversion to get rid of Amanda and get Kelsey alone . I don't know , this is just me theorizing .
Do we ?
have a picture of Josh . We will on the social medias , but we can Google him real quick . Keep pulling up . I didn't find that information anywhere . That's just me conjecturing . But however , Josh does something next that kind of supports that . At approximately 825 , Josh called Amanda and told her that Kelsey should come back and be a lookout .
They returned around 830 . Josh told Amanda to leave because again his mom gets sketched out over cars parked at their house . Amanda agreed , but Kelsey told her to come back in 45 minutes , which kind of makes you wonder if Kelsey's spidey senses were going off .
If , telling her to come back , Amanda drove and parked somewhere that was only five minutes away , and this makes me think that Josh was purposely trying to separate them to get Kelsey alone . Like , oh go , she needs to come back and be a lookout , but you need to leave . Like it doesn't make sense to me .
I'm sorry .
So how old . He's 20 . And the girls were 16 . I'm sorry . What year did this happen ?
2006 . So the girls were my age .
And he's my age .
So that's probably why I have a feeling I know more about this than I thought I did . So please sorry , continue .
Well , no , that's fine If you have any input , by all means . So at 9.05 , we are only an hour and a half into the evening . The girls didn't show up to Josh's house until 7.30 . And at 9.05 , amanda calls Josh's home and his mom answered Weird , she was supposed to be gone . Josh's mom told Amanda that Josh was swimming . Okay , it doesn't make sense .
He was supposed to be buying weed . Amanda had waited long enough and decided to go back to Josh's house . She parked between the house and the pool and when she got out of the car she noticed the backyard was all dark , so he wasn't swimming .
I can imagine Amanda getting really frustrated trying to figure out what the hell is going on , getting really frustrated trying to figure out what the hell is going on . Josh's mom must have seen her and came out and Amanda told her that she was there to pick up Kelsey .
Josh's mom told her that Kelsey was there a while ago but that she left and Josh was upstairs going to bed . But Amanda was only parked five minutes away . Like why would she have just left away ? Like why would she have just right ? And I I'm getting frustrated just reading this .
Like , okay , you leave , she stays here , my mom's gonna leave , but you're gonna call and she's gonna be here and I'm swimming , but I'm , you know , there's definitely a lot of conundrums to this , but I will say that I guess sorry , mom I guess if I was 16 and driving and my friend wanted to be alone with a guy for a bit , I probably would just park down
the street for a bit and then come back . I mean , but is that not the part you're questioning ?
well , no , just all of the different stories like okay , are you getting some pot , are you not ? Or why are you waiting for your mom to leave ? Why can't we leave , just out of curiosity where did you get the information ? If I wasn't just , it's actually no , it's from his appeal case .
This was from the court papers okay that I've taken most of this from huh that was very interesting was this in palmer court , then right , because it was hamden I have no idea hamden , no hamden springfield well I guess if it's murder , I mean in springfield , right , you can't do that out of well , I know east long meadow .
East long meadow goes to palmer belgium belgium no palmer , okay I don't know , maybe because this was a big case yeah I think I've heard that , yeah .
Yeah , one of that big , big , big Springfield .
Well , I know some of the articles I read . It talked about Springfield and Mayor Serrano oh Sarno .
Mayor Serrano .
Let's cut that out . Dom , dom , mayor Sarno .
Yeah , Mayor Dom Dom .
Mayor Dom Dom , no , not Dom Dom , I said Dom Dom .
Dom .
Dom .
His first name is Dominic and there's a local radio station . If you're , if you live in the greater springfield area , you know the stations rock 102 . In the morning show , steve nagel says mayor , dom , dom .
So we're not making fun of him so the mayor of springfield wrote a letter to her family later on , which I will briefly mention . So I'm thinking it was Springfield Courts , okay . So Josh's mom came out and Amanda told Josh's mom that she was there to pick up Kelsey .
His mom told her that Kelsey was there a while ago , but she left and Josh was upstairs going to bed . And I'm just getting frustrated reading all this back and forth about what's going on . So I don't know what's going on with Josh's mom during all of this .
Either she is trying to cover up for her son and is just doing a shitty job , or she doesn't even know what the hell is going on . Maybe I don't know .
I don't think she knows what's going on .
Josh's mom invites Amanda in and Amanda hears Josh upstairs crying . He then comes downstairs wearing only shorts and is still crying and upset . Amanda asks Josh where Kelsey is and Josh says he doesn't know and continues to cry . I'm sorry , josh , but you're not very convincing . Then Josh says Tom Messier , did it Okay random ? Did you have something to add ?
I was just going to say that name sounds so familiar .
It does sound really familiar .
I thought the same . Thing .
Amanda asks what Messier did . I'm assuming that's how you pronounce your name and I'm sorry if I'm missing it .
No , that's exactly how you pronounce it , because I've definitely heard that name before .
Okay , same . So Amanda asks what Messier did , to which Josh replied that Messier kidnapped and beat Kelsey . When Amanda asked why , josh stated that he owed Messier money for gambling , at that point Mama Whitaker decided to call the police and report Kelsey missing .
¶ Kelsey's Murder Investigation and Trial
At this point don't you think they would call her parents , maybe , and say , hey , did Kelsey make it home ? Parents , maybe , and say , hey , did kelsey make it home ? Or don't you think they would call the police and say , hey , this girl's reported taking by this person .
Like it just seems weird to me that she called and reported kelsey missing maybe she knew her son . That's what I'm saying yeah , meanwhile , the conversation between j and Amanda continued . Josh said that he didn't help because he thought Messier would come after him . Okay , how are you going to handle the military if you can't even ?
Stand up for a friend that's being beat .
This guy is not making very smart decisions because he was going to smoke pot .
Free with the basic and he's not making any sense . So Amanda reported that Josh was acting weird . He was incoherent and dazed and still upset and nervous and Amanda probably figured talking with him was less than helpful . So she went outside , started looking for Kelsey and yelling for her , but did not find anything or get a response .
When police arrive , they find Josh curled up on the couch sobbing hysterically . It was reported that Josh kept repeating over and over I'm supposed to go into the army tomorrow , Not now , Not now . Josh told police that he didn't know where Kelsey was , even though he had already told Amanda that Messy had her .
When pressed further by police , he said that he was in the pool house with kelsey and that some guy came in and assaulted him . Still doesn't answer where kelsey was . He eventually told the police that the assailant was messier . Who was tom messier , you ask ?
He was josh's neighbor who lived across the street , which makes me wonder why the hell josh would be telling this story . That wasn't true if police could easily investigate it . Like . Obviously , if he's gonna blame his neighbor , he knows the police are gonna go over and talk to him . But I'm also not a criminal , so maybe I just don't understand .
I don't know . It was at this point that good old Mama Whitaker told police that Josh May had taken a whole bottle of prescription meds , and so the police called for an ambulance . Oh God , While they were waiting for the ambulance , the officers checked out the backyard in the pool house there was no sign of a struggle .
Then one of the officers walked across the street to talk to Tom of a struggle . Then one of the officers walked across the street to talk to Tom . Again , there was no sign of a struggle in Messier's home , and Messier was at home with his girlfriend .
They reported that they had started a movie around 7 pm that had just finished 20 minutes before the officer showed up . The officers questioned Josh again , telling him that they didn't find any sign of a struggle .
Josh told them that Messier had beat him up and said now I've got you alone , I'm going to kill you , and then kidnapped Kelsey because you know that makes a lot of sense . But I'm wondering if he really tried to lie again or if it was the drugs he had taken that were starting to take effect , because this makes like zero sense .
Josh was taken to the hospital in the ambulance and the officers continued to search the property , and that is when they found Kelsey's body in an overgrown area of the Whitaker's backyard . Kelsey was lying on her back , her face bloodied and chest exposed . Her shirt was around her wrists and her bra was above her chest .
Her jean skirt was raised up and she was not wearing any underwear . The officers found a blood trail drag marks that started at the back of the barn and ended where the body was found . Between the barn and where her body was , there was an impression in the ground the size of a human skull that was full of blood .
A few feet away from that impression there was a ball-beam hammer that had a clump of hair and clotted blood stuck to it . Police also found two 10-pound barbell weights , a log , a long-handled hedge trimmers , all with blood on them near the drag marks . Her underwear were found in the brush near the drag marks as well .
Kelsey had suffered numerous severe fractures to her school , receiving five to six blows to the head , which caused her death . Her body had large bruises on her abdomen and there were shoe prints on her right side and on the cloth of her bra . Despite the way her body was left , there was no sign of a sexual trauma , which I'm also wondering .
if her clothing was pushed up from dragging , maybe he like drug her by her feet yeah , I guess I also thought that maybe because they didn't find underwear right , it was just they did , but in the bushes , so they were off of her oh , okay , I mean it could have been .
I guess I also think that , like maybe she thought that they were going to have or maybe he did .
Are you saying they didn't have sex ?
Yeah , there was no sign of sexual trauma .
No semen was found , so unless he used a condom , but there's no forceful I guess that's what I thought Always happened is they had sex and then she said something and he snapped and killed her with the hammer .
Does he say why he did it . I really couldn't find much information , like any of the news articles didn't , and this one was the appeal case .
Not that it makes it any better , but that's just so senseless .
It's so sad it is . The ambulance carrying Josh to the hospital stopped in Springfield before making it to Bay State and two police officers entered the ambulance and handcuffed Josh , telling him that they were going to do it for his own safety and that of the officers .
Josh then told the officer I'm a murderer and they read him his Miranda rights and he agreed to talk to them . He told the officers he had gotten in a fight with Messier in the side lot near his yard , still going with that story .
And then ran into his house and took some sleeping pills , because , again , that makes sense , like what does this have to do with Kelsey ?
Yeah .
When the officers asked if he had killed anyone , like a girlfriend or a sister , all he said was he didn't have a sister and he didn't want to be tied down . Well , you should have thought about that before you killed someone . Police found substantial physical evidence that linked Josh to Kelsey's death .
There was a pair of blue jeans and shoes that were discovered in the barn with blood on them that matched Kelsey's , and there was a DNA swab from inside the jeans that matched Josh . The shoe prints on Kelsey's abdomen and bra matched Josh's left shoe prints on Kelsey's abdomen and bra matched Josh's left shoe .
There was also blood found on the latch of the barn door , the exterior screen door , the knob on the inside kitchen door and on the door handle of the second floor bathroom in the house . The trial began on October 16 , 2007 . Josh pleaded not guilty , but he was eventually found guilty and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole .
You would think that would be the end , but unfortunately it was not . In 2009 , Kelsey's parents filed a wrongful death suit against Linda Whitaker , Josh's mom . The family claims that Linda had negligently and carelessly failed to properly monitor , supervise and observe Josh , who she knew had a history of violent , delinquent behavior , which also he was 20 years old .
So yeah , if he's going into the military , she's like all right , like this is my son he's 20 . He's going to the military .
Which , also , if he was that dependent on medication to act not aggressive , I don't see how he'd be going into the military anyway .
Right , that's also a question . So um Rob , was this for LPVAC kids Like was he ?
part of the . What did you just say ?
We call it LPVAC where I work , so was he part of the lower partner Valley collaborative .
Lower partner Valley educational collaborative where I work . So was he part of the lower partner valley collaborative . Lower pioneer valley educational collaborative . I'm trying to remember where and when and how old I was when I was in school with him .
I want to say it was when I was in eighth grade at glenbrook , but it could have been when I was at the children's study home before that do you remember him being violent ?
oh yeah , I mean , there was an incident on uh the bus one day where he kicked the shit out of the kid in front of us , like I was sitting next to him , and he reaches over the seat and he just starts beating the shit out of this kid .
I don't remember why , but we were in one of those little sped buses , not the yellow ones , but like a van , so there was just the driver and no monitor and us as passengers . Yeah , no monitor . I want to say we were between the ages I know this is pretty broad , but between the ages of 8 and 12 .
So it had to have been at children's study home in springfield , but it also could have been in eighth grade , which was LPVEC , a classroom for special need kids in Glenbrook , which is in Longmeadow .
Interesting . So you were a witness to some of his violent behavior .
Oh , yeah , yeah , definitely yeah . Rode the bus with the kid and that incident has always sat with me and that's how I knew where he lived .
I mean , I guess that would make sense .
Yeah .
¶ The Senseless Murder of Kelsey Owens
The lawsuit alleges that Linda was home at the time of the murder , which sounds like she was from all the back and forth telling the girls to leave . And Linda should have known that her son wasn't complying with his treatment and medication regimen for some time , and I looked for if there was a decision made in this case , and I couldn't find one either .
But if this kid has had these kinds of behaviors for that long and he is competent enough , I feel like by 18 , he should know how to take his medications in one time ?
Yeah he's an adult .
I don't know how that falls on the mom , yeah so I don't know .
I don't know what happened . However , there was a more recent development which opened the wound again for the Owens family In an article from Western Mass News dated March 21st 2024 .
Really .
So this year , and I quote Western Mass News in a four to three ruling in the Commonwealth versus Mattis , the state Supreme Judicial Court raised the age for first degree murder without the eligibility for parole from 18 to 21 .
As a result of this ruling , those from 14 to 20 can be considered what they call emerging adults and will be eligible for parole if convicted of first-degree murder , and so this new ruling is retroactive , so emerging adults that were between the ages of 14 and 20 when they committed the crime that have been sentenced to life without parole will now be eligible .
Josh Whitaker was 20 years old at the time of Kelsey's death and automatically qualifies . Kelsey's parents , along with hundreds of other families , will be backing in the courtroom . Stephanie , in the article , stated this is devastating and it's like going through her murder trial again .
I can't even imagine I can't either and like I said before , it was , it's a senseless murder , no matter what but not to even know , like , what the motive possibly could have been , which is like , oh , like , I felt like it like yeah it's awful .
I mean , you and I are both in the mental health field and we know about triggers and behaviors , and to me it seems for him to explode like that . She must have done something .
I'm not like blaming her by any means , I'm just explaining that she must have done something to set him off and he just lost it it literally could have been something so small like a statement , or him having like a flashback or a smell , anything type of rejection .
It just it triggered him .
Well , the story that I remember is they had sex . It wasn't consensual sex and she said she was going to leave and go call the police and say he raped her , but he , as he always does does , went crazy , grabbed the hammer and smashed her head in , and then he freaked out and dragged her into the woods behind the house .
That's the story that I remember hearing from all those years ago so who knows ? It's got to be some truth to some of those .
Yeah , I know I have mentioned in my previous episodes that I get so frustrated when I can barely find any information about the victims and it's all about the perpetrators . And it was similar with kelsey , and I know that before 2006 and before facebook and social media weren't that big .
And when you look up the case , more comes up about Josh and he even has a profile at the jail like looking to meet people . I mean it hasn't been written like I didn't see any activity for a while , but it's to meet people while he's in prison .
Is this the blog ?
Mm-hmm , but I wanted this episode to be more about Kelsey and how her murder was completely senseless . I want to end the episode about talking about her , and I found her obituary online , and I want to share some things that her parents mentioned about her . At the time of her murder , kelsey had just started working at KFC in Palmer .
She enjoyed singing and was told by many people she had a beautiful voice , she loved to cook southern food and kelsey loved all her family members and friends and will truly be missed by all those who knew her .
and that , my dear wanderers , is the story of the senseless murder of kelsey owens that's heavy yeah I just felt like there should have been kind of like a moment of silence after that . I'm sorry , yeah , just a little quiet work for a life , not lived .
She was also buried in the same cemetery as Danny Croteau . Really I think Parker Street . How many cemeteries are on there ?
That's it .
Also her older . Her brother died in 2020 . So the family buried two kids .
Wow , covid .
It didn't say . I saw his obituary too . That poor family . Thank you , jess .
Yes , thank you Jess .
Thanks guys , and thanks Wanderers .
Yeah , so we are going to start something new . We have a deck of cards , 52 cards . They're playing cards from the Massachusetts Unsolved Cases , Homicide and Missing Persons .
We thought it would be cool if we just mentioned one card per episode . Because they're from the state that we're in yes absolutely All right , closing my eyes and picking a card . This is the Queen of Clubs Unsolved Homicide Nancy . Okay , all right , closing my eyes and picking a card , this is the queen of clubs , unsolved homicide Nancy Osborne .
On April 29 , 1991 , the victim was found in the woods off of Great Hay Road in Mashpee with blunt force injuries to the head and neck . The victim was last seen on April 7 and lived at the River Bend Motel 1.5 miles from where she was found . If you have any information about this case , please call 1-855-MA-SOLVE .
Well , thank you very much , Jess . And hey , wanderers , if you want to text us , just go down into the show notes . It says send us a text message and you can text us . We've only received one text . Please do , Heather can text us . We've only received one text , please do .
Heather text us again , and don't hate on me this time .
And it's not like we'll have your phone number . We literally just get the last four digits of your number and it comes up on our app on Buzzsprout , who is our host for the podcast , and we're not selling your information . Yeah , we're not going to sell your information , yada , yada , yada us , and we're not selling your information .
We're not , yeah , we're not going to sell your information and we can't text you back , so uh the only way to respond is on an upcoming episode .
So yeah , send us a text right now , because we're a little lonely here , talk to me please . I need friends , am I not ?
enough for you .
You're more than enough well , thank you all for uh sticking around and uh around , and we'll see you on the next one .
Night Wanderers , or good day , good day . Thanks for listening today . Wicked Wanderings is hosted by Hannah Fitzpatrick and me , jess Goonan .
And it's produced by Rob Fitzpatrick .
Music by Sasha End .
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