True Crime With Caledonian Kitty

(Samantha Lee Josephson. Photo credit: rollingstone.com) 

The case that I'm covering this week, is a case that I had originally known very little about. If you're in the USA, you may have seen the coverage of the case on the news or read about it in the newspapers. I'm talking about the Samantha Josephson case in South Carolina. I'd read brief details about a young girl who had gotten into a car which she was led to believe was the Uber that she had ordered but was horrendously attacked and murdered. 

As I looked more into the case I realised that this horrible crime had only taken place a few months ago and only certain details were available. I had to really dig deep with the research to find out as much as I could. The perpetrator is in custody but has not been sentenced yet and their last court appearance in May was cancelled with no indication of when their next hearing was going to be. This case is one that I will be keeping my eye on and will update you as soon as I know what's going to be happening next with the perpetrator.

In this post, I'm going to share some details about Samantha, what happened that night (obviously we will know more of the details at some point which I will update you with more details in this post), the man the police believe is responsible for her murder and the overwhelming evidence against him. 

Before we begin, just a reminder that you can now find me on Instagram at @CaledonianKittyx and if you enjoy my weekly true crime cases, please consider buying me a coffee to help with my research & maintaining my blog here

Let's begin...

Samantha Lee Josephson was a beautiful 21 year old girl who had a loving family, a great circle of friends and a happy, supportive relationship with her boyfriend. She was described by those that knew her as kindhearted, very caring, hardworking and she could become best friends with anyone in the space of ten minutes due to her bubbly and friendly personality.

Samantha was known as ''Sami'' to her friends and ''Sweatpea'' to her parents and was a native of the Robbinsville Township in New Jersey. She was a graduate of Robbinsville High School's class of 2015 and had spent last year (2018) studying in Barcelona. Samantha was very close with her sister, Sydney and was a political science major at the University of South Carolina where she was now living. Samantha was just weeks away from graduating when her life was taken; she had plans to become a lawyer and then go onto work for the United Nations. She had plans to study law at the Drexel University in Philadelphia in the fall of this year (2019).

 Samantha and her college roommates were having a night out as they usually would in the Five Points area of Columbia which was popular with college students. At some point during the night, Samantha and her friends had become separated. At around 1:30am on Friday the 29th of March 2019, Samantha decided it was time for her to leave the Bird Dog bar and order an Uber.

Samantha stood outside on the curb, looking through her phone as she waited for the Uber to arrive. Surveillance cameras captured these last known movements. At 2:09am a black Chevrolet Impala drove up alongside the curb and assuming this was her Uber ride, Samantha walked quickly towards one of the back doors of the car and got in.

The horrifying reality of this is that the car that Samantha had gotten into, was not an Uber.

(Pictures from the surveillance cameras. on the right: Samantha waiting for her Uber to arrive. Left: The car that Samantha was last seen getting into. Photo credit: abc15.com) 

In the early hours, her boyfriend and roommates had tried to contact her through text messages and phone calls but there was no answer. When it got to 1:30pm the next day, Samantha's friends and boyfriend were panicking and decided to call the police. The police filed a missing persons report.

Samantha's boyfriend together with her friends, had printed off pictures and handed them out around their local area as well as going to the store ''Natural Vibrations'' which was located next to the bar where Samantha was last seen. They had shown the picture of Samantha to the owner of the store and requested that they check their surveillance camera footage. ''They all seemed very concerned and distraught.'' said the store owner.

Around 4:00pm, the police had received a phone call that some hunters had found a body in a rural area. They went to investigate the scene.

At 8:30pm the police now had the surveillance footage from the store and they could clearly see Samantha, who was wearing a bright orange shirt and black jeans, waiting on the curb and getting into the black car which they now knew the make and model of. They put out to the public the following: a description of Samantha, details of where she was last seen and an appeal for information.

On the 30th March 2019, at 3:00am, a police officer spotted a black Chevy Impala which fitted the exact description of the car that Samantha was last seen getting into. He pulled the car over and a couple appeared to be inside. Suddenly, the male passenger leaped out of the car and the officer chased after him, eventually catching up to him where he was arrested. The female in the car was co-operative and the car was searched.

Inside the car the police found Samantha's blood, her cell phone, some bleach, some antibacterial wipes and window cleaner as if the owner of the car had tried his best to clean up the crime scene.

At 6:05am, Samantha's father confirms in a post on his Facebook page that the body that the hunters had found was in fact, Samantha's. It was the first public confirmation that she had died.

''It is with tremendous sadness and of a broken heart that I post this. I will miss and love my baby girl for the rest of my life. Samantha is no longer with us but she will not be forgotten. It is extremely hard to write this and post it but I love her with all my heart. I could continue to write about her but it kills me. I sit here and cry while I look at the picture and write this. - Seymour Josephson, Samantha's father.

Throughout the morning and afternoon the police worked to gather more evidence and found that their suspect, 24 year old Nathaniel David Rowland had been in trouble with the law just 5 months earlier for selling stolen items that were connected to another woman's kidnapping. The woman had been carjacked and her home ransacked. Nathaniel wasn't charged with the carjacking or for ransacking her home but he was charged with selling stolen goods.

(Left: Nathaniel David Rowland. Right: Samantha Josephson. Photo credit: foxnews.com) 

When word quickly spread that Nathaniel had been arrested, his parents, friends and family refused to believe he could be capable of such an evil thing. They claimed that it was not the Nate that they knew. Nathaniel was said to have been passionate about basketball in high school and had a close family. His parents refused to believe he was guilty and said that they would stand by him 100% and find a suitable lawyer.

Nathaniel continued to plead not guilty and gave a story about how he had been at a party and somebody took his car and then returned it with the keys and blood left inside.

The full details of what happened to Samantha have not been released yet but what we do know is that she had been trapped in the backseat as the child safety locks had been enabled. Her body had been found 66 miles from where she had gotten into the car and she had died from multiple sharp force injuries. As I mentioned before, a lot of the details are sketchy as this case only happened a few months ago.

Right now, Nathaniel David Rowland, who is now 25 years old, is being held at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center in Richland County, South Carolina. His last court hearing in May was cancelled and there's no new information as yet of when his next court appearance will be. I will update when more details become available.

(Some of the hundreds of mourners at Samantha's funeral. Photo credit: abcnews.go.com) 

When Samanthas' fellow students at the University of South Carolina heard of her death they were distraught and placed flowers in tribute to her in front of a memorial at a fountain in Columbia's Five Points bar district where Samantha was last seen. After her death, Samantha was posthumously awarded a degree from the University at what would have been her graduation ceremony.

During the graduating ceremony the students chanted ''what's my name?'' as they were reminded of the importance of asking this question before getting into any Uber car. ''Asking 'what's my name' before entering a ride-share vehicle will save lives and must become as automatic to you as putting on your seat belt when you get behind the wheel'' - University of South Carolina President, Harry Pastide.

Sami's Law was passed in May of 2019 in the US and went into effect in June 2019. The law requires Uber drivers to prominently display lighted signs and a scannable QR code as safety regulations in light of issues tied to the ride-sharing service.

Samantha's funeral was held on the 3rd of April 2019 and attended by hundreds of relatives and friends at the New Jersey synagogue where she had her bat mitzvah. She was later laid to rest in Perrineville Cemetery.


My thoughts...

This was another heartbreaking story for me to cover, someone so young who had the world at their feet and then the next minute they are gone. I don't know if Samantha had been drinking a lot that night as we don't have the full details. She was an intelligent girl and at that moment maybe she was too drunk to give a second thought about getting into the car which she assumed was an Uber. Once she was in the car she maybe realised quickly that all was not well but couldn't escape because of the child locks on the doors.

I've seen some harsh comments online about Samantha making a silly mistake but at the end of the day, all that guy had to do was say that he wasn't an Uber and let her get out of the car. He chose to harm her and he is fully to blame. We all make mistakes and she was a young girl who I think may have been too tipsy and because of the way the car was moving (some cabs move slowly if they are looking for an address or getting ready to pick up a customer) that it was her ride.

I'm not a fan of Uber, I've never used Uber. I live in the UK and heard a lot of stories from friends who've had all sorts of issues with them. I'm not saying that Uber is 100% bad as I'm sure that there's people out there who use them regularly and have no problem. For me personally, I just call a cab and if I was ever out somewhere in the past, I always asked the driver who they were waiting for. I'm a bit paranoid about that sort of thing but in this day and age you have to be.

I remember a case from a place called Wakefield in Yorkshire, England where a girl who had been out with her boyfriend, flagged down what she thought was a taxi. As soon as she got in the backseat the car sped off, leaving her boyfriend stood on the curb in shock.

The doors in the back of the car were open but the driver was driving fast and the girl had been in the car for quite a few miles before she decided to jump out of the car. It was late at night and she jumped out onto oncoming traffic and was hit. She sadly died. The driver who tried to kidnap her ran off to Greece but he was later captured and sentenced. The man who ran over her was later murdered. The case didn't have much nationwide coverage but you can find some articles like this one online.

Whilst doing my research into Samanthas' case I came across the Dail Dinwiddie story. Dail went missing in the same area where Samantha was last seen back in 1992. She had been to a U2 concert and decided to go to a nightclub with some friends in the Five Points area of Columbia. She got separated from her friends and was last seen talking to a bouncer for a little while before walking north on Harden street where she was never seen again. There's various articles and forums that discuss this case and tons of theories about what may have happened to her. 

I wish that Samanthas' story had ended differently and I hope that we do hear more about what is going to happen with Nathaniel David Rowland. I would like to see justice done for Samantha. I will keep her family in my prayers.



Before you get in an Uber, ask ''What's my name?'' and remember hers. #WhatsMyName 

Updates below.....


Further reading & sources

- Samantha Josephson - CNN Article
- Samantha Josephson - USA Today
- Samantha Josephson - Independent Article
- Samantha Josephson - Find A Grave Memorial
- Nathaniel David Rowland - Greenville Article
- Nathaniel David Rowland - The State
- Samantha's parents interview
- How to protect yourself when using Uber

- Nathaniel Rowland Trial | Live 5 News

(The memorial to those who were killed on that devastating afternoon on the 18th of July, 1984. Photo credit: historycollection)

Continued from part three...

At 5:17pm, Charles Foster (who had been watching James' movements closely in the restaurant) was trying to get a clear shot and at that moment, he took his chance. James was in his sights and he fired a single round from a range of around 35 yards (32 metres). The bullet entered James' chest, severed the aorta just under his heart and exited thorough his spine. James fell backwards to the floor in front of the service counter and died almost instantly. 

The horrific nightmare had lasted 77 minutes, 77 minutes too long. In that time, James Huberty had fired a minimum of 245 rounds of ammunition, coldly murdering 20 innocent people and wounding many more. One of the victims who'd been wounded had died the next day in the hospital bringing the total number of people who were murdered to 21. 17 people were killed in the restaurant and four in the immediate vicinity. 

The victims (whose ages ranged from 8 months old to 74 years old) were predominately, though not exclusively, of Mexican or Mexican-American ancestry, reflecting local demographics.

''It was just like they had just stopped in time. All these bodies were lying around. Heads were slumped on the table.....the old man walking out the door was lying on the floor, donuts beside him. The two kids were dead by their bikes, the infant was dead in the arms of the people....there were two burned hamburgers on the grill.'' - Dr Tom A Neuman. UC San Diego Medical Centre/Life Flight Physician. 

Due to the number of victims, local funeral homes had to use the San Ysidro Civic Centre to hold all of the wakes. The local parish, Mount Carmel church, held back to back funeral masses.

Within two days of the massacre, the restaurant had been refurbished and renovated and there were plans for it to re-open as soon as possible but this decision was scrapped due to public outcry and the restaurant was demolished. McDonald's announced a commitment to donate $1 million to a survivors fund. Joan Kroc who was the widow of McDonald's founder, Roy Kroc, donated $100,000 of her own money to the fund. 

The ground that was left after the restaurant had been demolished had been donated by McDonald's to the city under the stipulation that no other restaurant be built upon the site.

For over 4 years, nobody could decide whether to turn the site into a memorial park or something else. Several makeshift memorials were created but soon torn down. The land was eventually sold in February 1988 to Southwestern College for $136,000 with the agreement that a memorial would be built. 

A memorial was designed by a former student of Southwestern College, Robert Valdes. The memorial consists of 21 hexagonal white marble pillars which range in height from one to six feet, each baring the name of one of the victims.

As a result of the massacre, New measures were brought in and increased training for special units and more powerful firearms were purchased to better equip police to deal with such tragedies. 

Several family members of those murdered along with survivors, tried to sue McDonald's. These lawsuits were dismissed as the court found that McDonald's was in no way to blame for what happened and there was no way for anyone to have known what was going to take place that day. 

In the weeks after the massacre, Etna and her daughters stayed with friends despite the protests from other residents. Shockingly, Etna received the first payout from the survivors fund and in 1986 she unsuccessfully tried to sue McDonald's (claiming their food was partly to blame for her husband committing the massacre) and James' previous employers where he worked as a welder for 13 years. She said that they were to blame too as her husband had inhaled toxic fumes whilst working for them. 

James Huberty's autopsy found that he had no drugs or alcohol in his system at the time of the shootings. His body was cremated on the 23rd of July and his ashes were interred in his home state of Ohio. James was 41 years old at the time of the massacre.

Etna and her daughters moved to another town and changed their names. Etna died of breast cancer in 2003.

One of the survivors, Alberto Leos, later became a police officer.

My thoughts...

As I mentioned earlier, I knew some of the details of the case but not the exact time line. It was really harrowing having to go through the details of what happened to the victims, especially the children. It's hard to believe how incompetent the lady at the Mental Health Clinic was, surely she should have known that you can't judge someones state of mind based on how they sound on a quick phone call. In a lot of cases, many people sound and act calm before they go onto to commit crimes. It seems that James' problems started when he was a child, especially around the time that he was affected with polio.

I think about that horrible afternoon and the fact that James and his family had visited another branch of McDonald's earlier that day. It makes me wonder if he was racist towards Mexican people, he wasn't particularly friendly to his neighbours when he lived in Mexico and the fact that he'd chosen that particular branch of McDonald's in an area of San Diego where a lot of Mexican families had lived. The fact that somebody had married him came as a shock, he wasn't exactly Mr Charming but later when we learnt of the type of person Etna was, you could see that she wasn't exactly right in the head either.

I was disgusted when I read that Etna received the first pay out of the survivors fund. She is not a survivor in my book and she knew James better than anyone. She knew about the guns, his violent behaviour, his suicide attempt and crazy ramblings. When he said he was going ''hunting for humans'', she should have called the police and her actions after the massacre, receiving the money from the survivors' fund and then trying to sue McDonald's and James' previous employer, say to me that she was trying to get as much money out of the situation as she could.

Most of us have gone to McDonald's at one time or another and we know how busy these places can be. To think that you could be sat there, talking to friends and enjoying your meal and then suddenly a crazed gunman bursts in, it doesn't bear thinking about. Those poor people on that day, with no way of ever knowing what was about to happen. The whole thing was so cold and James Huberty was an absolute monster with not an ounce of feeling for anyone.

What are your thoughts on the case? leave them below or come and have a chat with me on social media.

Further reading & sources:

History Collection - 1984 McDonald's Massacre
San Ysidro McDonald's Massacre
Murderpedia: James Huberty
Find A Grave: James Oliver Huberty
ABC 10 News: Remembering The McDonald's Massacre
Morbid Minds: The 1984 McDonald's Massacre
Massacre At McDonald's - James Huberty

RIP to all of those who lives were so cruelly taken that day and prayers for their families and the survivors.

Thank you for reading my latest case and I'll be back next week with another one. Hope to see you elsewhere on social media. As always, thank you for your support and taking the time to read my posts x

(Left: James Huberty, Centre: Investigators at the scene. Right: McDonald's employees. Photo credit: Daily Mail) 

Continued from part one...

Despite the picture of a happy family and lovely home, cracks began to appear. There was trouble in the Huberty household with James flying off the handle at times and assaulting his wife. His fixation with guns had gotten worse and soon he had a huge collection, visitors to the house would later say that he had that many guns up stacked up against the walls that all he had to do was reach out his arm and he could grab one straight away. 

James made his neighbours nervous on various occasions, they would hear gunfire coming from the Hubertys' basement at night where James had built a makeshift shooting range. There was ''No Trespassing'' signs all around the outside of the house and he also had a guard dog. In one incident, one of the neighbours had told James that his dog had damaged his car, the next minute, James took the dog to the back of the house where he shot it dead. The neighbour was upset about this and said that to James that there was no need for him to have done that, James responded ''I believe in paying my debts both good and bad.''

There would be times when the neighbours would see James stood on his front porch, pointing a gun at them and laughing before going back inside the house. They would also see him from time to time, sat on his porch, gazing into space with a gun in his lap. 

Nobody felt comfortable around him, even the pastor who conducted his marriage to Etna said that he seemed like a man who was overshadowed by inner demons. His former co-workers would say the same. 

During James' violent outbursts, Etna would attempt to calm him down by pretending to read his future on tarot cards. She would tell him that she saw a lot of success in his future and that he would come into a lot of money. James spent thousands on guns and non perishable food because he was convinced that the American government was out to get him and that America would soon be at war. The Hubertys' began to suffer financial difficulties which only made James worse. 

In 1982 things took an even more sour turn when James lost his welding job of 13 years. An ex-co worker later said that James was so angry that he spoke of getting revenge and talked of shooting someone. James told the man ''If this is the end of me, I am going to take everyone with me.''

Now that he had lost his job, James became even more paranoid about the government and believed that they were behind him losing his job. He would hear voices in his head telling him to commit suicide and told people that he was German. 

His erratic behaviour settled a little bit when he managed to get another job as a welder in another plant but this was short lived and he was only in the job for a few months before he was let go due the the plant closing down which he also blamed the government for. 

Around this time, James had apparently attempted suicide as the money troubles and bills piled up. The Hubertys' were forced to sell their beloved home for only $69,000 and the family relocated to Tijuana in Mexico. James put all of the families essential items and valuables in storage but he took all of his guns with him. Whilst in Mexico, James was his usual miserable and distant self but his wife and daughters seemed to get along well with the locals. The family were only in Mexico for three months before James decided that he'd had enough and they moved to the San Ysidro area of San Diego in California. 

The family had first rented a two bedroom apartment in the Cottonwood Apartments and James managed to get a job as a security guard. The job did nothing to calm his behaviour and he was still acting erratic. There was an incident where he approached a police officer claiming to be a war criminal and the voices in his head were still troubling him. 

The family relocated to another apartment when James starting working as a security guard. 

After just one month in his new job he was fired due to his odd and unpredictable behaviour. At this point James thought that he had hit rock bottom. 

On the 25th of July 1984, James told Etna that he was really struggling psychologically and needed professional help. Two days later he managed to get hold of a phone number for a mental health clinic and tried to get an appointment as soon as possible. James spoke politely to the receptionist on the phone and she took that to mean that his situation wasn't urgent so she noted down for him to receive a call within 48 hours, she also wrote his name down wrong. The receptionist told him that he would be contacted by someone as soon as someone was available. James sat by the phone patiently waiting and scared to move in case he missed the call. 

As the hours went by, the hope for professional help and support was slowly sinking down the drain and James started to lose hope and became frustrated. He possibly thought that nobody cared. As more time passed by and no call came, James suddenly got up, walked out of the apartment and got on his motorcycle without telling anyone where he was going.

After an hour, James returned and he seemed to be in a much better mood than what he had left in. James and Etna took the girls to the park for a little while and then they came home and watched a movie.

The next morning, the 18th of July 1984, the Huberty family went to the zoo. As his daughters were enjoying looking at the animals and Etna walked alongside him, James told her that he felt his life was over and talked about his disappointment that the mental health clinic did not contact him, saying ''Well, society had their chance,''

After the zoo, the family went to a McDonald's restaurant in the Clairemont neighbourhood of San Diego for something to eat before returning home. 

Once the family were back in their apartment and Etna went to the bedroom to have a lay down due to the heat of the day, James appeared in the room and started to change his clothes. He put on a red t-shirt and green camouflage slacks. He then leaned toward Etna and said ''I want to kiss you goodbye''.

Etna thought this was strange because he wasn't the affectionate or romantic type and never kissed her goodbye whenever he left to go to places before. She asked him where he was going and he said ''Going hunting....hunting for humans.''

He picked up a bundle of something which was wrapped in a checked blanket and as he walked towards the front door he could see his daughter, Zelia watching him. He said ''Goodbye, I won't be back.''

James Huberty drove down the San Ysidro Boulevard and drove towards the Big Bear supermarket and then towards a post office branch, (according to witnesses) before driving into the parking lot of McDonald's which was 200 yards (180m) from his apartment. 

As he stepped out of the vehicle, he had in his possession, a 9mm Uzi Carbine, 9mm Browning HP, 12-gauge Winchester 1200 and a bag filled with hundreds of rounds of ammunition for each weapon.

Continued in part three...

(Police on the scene with distressed McDonald's employees, 18th of July, 1984 outside of the McDonald's restaurant in San Ysidro, San Diego, California. Photo credit: historycollection) 

This past week I've been looking into one of the most horrific cases in American history. In 1984 the massacre that took place at the McDonald's restaurant in the San Ysidro area of California at the hands of a crazed gunman, was said to have been the deadliest mass shooting in the United States up until the Luby's Massacre in 1991.

I'd read about this case previously and was surprised that a lot of people I'd spoken to about it had never heard of the case before so I thought I would do more research about what happened and bring you the story here. 

Before I begin, as with all of the cases that I cover, please be aware that disturbing details are included in my coverage of this case. 

Just another reminder that you can now find me on Instagram at: @KittysOnTheCase where I share a lot of true crime bits and pieces, things I'm interested in, sneak peeks of cases I'm working on and I love connecting with other true crime enthusiasts. I haven't been on there for long but since I've set up this new account I've been posting daily and chatting away with other people who have similar interests. 

Also, if you enjoy my weekly true crime posts, please consider donating a coffee here to help with my research and maintaining my blog. I have been thinking about creating a pod cast in the future but we'll see, watch this space...

Now onto this week's case...

It was just a normal Wednesday afternoon as the clock approached 4pm on Wednesday the 18th of July, 1984. The McDonald's restaurant in the San Ysidro area of San Diego, California was busy as usual. It was a warm day with customers coming back and forth ordering ice cold milkshakes and ice cream and people sitting inside to have some french fries and burgers with their friends and families. It was just a typical day and as the customers ate their meals and the staff continued working their shifts, nobody could have envisioned that an hour later the building would be surrounded by police, some customers would be seriously injured and others shot dead whilst the man who created all of the horror laid on the floor, lifeless from a snipers' bullet. This horrific event would become Americas' worst deadliest shooting from 1984 to 1991. It is now the seventh-deadliest mass shooting in the US. 

James Oliver Huberty was born in Canton, Ohio on the 11th of October 1942, to parents Earl V and Icle. His parents already had a daughter, Ruth who was 4 years old at the time James was born and his parents where firm believers in the Methodist movement and they raised their children according to those beliefs. Earl V was a hardworking man who worked at a steel mill to support his family but he had dreams of owning his own farm one day. 

All seemed to be well with the family until James turned three and was struck down with polio. James suffered for a long time with painful symptoms and had to wear braces on his legs as the illness had caused them to become crooked and he struggled with walking. Having to wear braces on his legs made James very self conscious and he became the target of bullies at school. As a result of the bullies and his complex about his legs, James developed social phobia and became withdrawn, preferring to be on his own, away from other people. 

By the time 1950 came around, there was a lot of disruption in James' life. His father decided that he wanted to move his family to a farm that he had bought in the Pennsylvania Amish Country which didn't go down too well with Icle who refused to move there. The dispute over where the family was going to live, resulted in Icle walking out on her family to become a sidewalk preacher for a Southern Baptist organisation, she claimed that this was ''her calling''. James, who was 7 at the time and his sister Ruth, struggled to come to terms with their mother leaving them. It was something that James never fully accepted and troubled him for years. 

Despite Icle walking out on her family, Earl was determined to make a success of his new farm and new life for himself and his two children. James continued to struggle with his mother not being around and although the braces were no longer on his knees and the symptoms had stopped, he was left with a strange way of walking which further troubled him through elementary and high school. He continued to be teased by his classmates and even more so when they had found out that James was from a broken home. 

James continued more and more to distance himself from people and tried to avoid social situations as much as possible, he had little to no friends. Things at home were financially difficult with his father still having to work nights to make ends meet so he was hardly at home. Years later, the neighbours would describe James as a very lonely boy who seemed to prefer the company of his dog and the farm animals to people. 

As well as being lonely and unsociable, James developed an obsession with guns and would shoot cabbages and other objects as a form of entertainment. 

By the time he graduated in 1960 from Waynedale High, he was so in the background that when former classmates were asked years later what he was like at school, nobody could remember him. It was almost like he'd never attended the school at all. 

After his graduation, James attended Malone college where he studied Sociology. He became interested in Mortuary Science and decided to move to the Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Science in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to study and it was there that he met substitute teacher Etna Markland who would become his girlfriend. Whilst studying, James became an intern at Don Williams Funeral Home, he managed to hold down the job for two years despite occasions where he would act inappropriately towards mourners who were attending services at the home. Sometimes after a service, the grieving friends and relatives of the deceased would take a little while to gather themselves and this would annoy James who wanted everyone out of the building as soon as the service was finished. James had no people skills or empathy and came across as quite heartless towards people. He would pace up and down after the services and chunter to himself ''Get out, Get out'' and if that didn't work, he would switch all of the lights off. 

His mentor at the time, Don Williams said ''He simply wasn't cut out for this profession. He acted like he just wanted to be left alone.'' 

Despite James' behaviour at the funeral home, he completed his internship and obtained his licence for embalming and married Etna Markland. He changed his mind about a career as an embalmer and took a job as a welder at a nearby utility plant. Don Williams later said ''I told him he was in the wrong business. He was a good embalmer but just didn't relate to people. That's why he was better as a welder. He could just pull that mask down and be by himself.''

By 1971 James and Etna had moved into a large redbrick house in a middle class area (107 Sixth St NE) of Massillon, Ohio. It wasn't long till the couple started a family and they had two daughters, Zelia who was born in 1972 and Cassandra in 1974. They seemed like the picture perfect family and financially secure with James painted as the hardworking family man but behind the scenes all was not as it seemed.

Continued in part two...

(Investigators at the scene after the massacre. Photo credit: historycollection)

Continued from part two...

As the clock approached 4pm on that warm Wednesday of July in 1984, James Huberty, carrying his weapons and ammunition, walked into the crowded McDonald's restaurant. There was 45-50 people inside. Once the door closed behind him, he aimed his shotgun at one of the employees, 16 year old John Arnold. The assistant manager who could see what was going on, shouted to John ''Hey John, that guy's going to shoot you.''

Still pointing the gun at John, James pulled the trigger to which nothing happened. With all the commotion, Neva Caine who was the manager of the restaurant, came over to where John was as he started to walk away from James. At that point, John thought the whole thing was just a sick prank. James then pointed his gun at the ceiling and fired before pointing his gun at 22 year old Neva, he shot her once and the bullet entered under her left eye, she fell to the floor and died minutes later. 

It was clear that this was no joke or a prank, the panic and sheer terror that the customers would have felt in that moment is unimaginable. James wasn't finished and pointed his gun again at John and caught him in the chest. Survivors claim that James shouted ''Freeze'', ''Everybody on the ground'' and referred to everyone as ''Dirty swines.'' He also said that he had killed thousands and that he intended to ''Kill a thousand more.''

A 25 year old man named Victor Rivera tried to calm James and tried to persuade him not to shoot anyone else. James turned to Victor and shot him 14 times and shouted ''Shut up'' as Victor screamed in agony. 

Most of the customers did their best to hide underneath the tables and service booths but there was limited places to hide with there being so many people in the restaurant. James spotted 6 women and children huddled together and pointed his gun at 19 year old Maria Colmenero and shot her in the chest. He then began shooting 9 year old Claudia Perez, killing her instantly. She was hit in the stomach, cheek, thigh, hip, leg, chest, back and armpit. He then wounded Claudia's 15 year old sister, Imelda by shooting her in the chest. 

He then shot 11 year old Aurora Pena, wounding her in the leg, she had been shielded by her 18 year old pregnant aunt, Jackie Reyes. James shot Jackie 48 times. Beside his mother's dead body, 8 month old Carlos Reyes sat up and was crying. James shouted and pointed the gun at the baby's back and fired.

James then shot and killed Laurence Versluis, a 62 year old truck driver before moving onto one of the families in the play area who were trying to protect their children underneath the tables. Thirty one year old Blythe Regan Herrera was trying to protect her eleven year old son, Mateo beneath one booth and her husband, Ronald was trying to shield twelve year old Keith Thomas under the booth across from them. 

James began shooting the people who were sat at the tables with nowhere to go and frozen in fear. As he walked towards people who were hiding under the tables, Ronald urged Thomas not to move, shielding the boy with his body. Thomas was shot in the shoulder, arm, wrist and left elbow but was not seriously wounded. Ronald was shot 8 times in the stomach, chest, arm and head but survived. Ronald's wife Blythe and son Mateo were both killed by numerous gunshots to the head.

Nearby, two women were trying to hide beneath a booth, Guadalupe Del Rio, who was 24 years old and her friend, Arisdelsi Vargas who was 31. Guadalupe was shot several times in the back, abdomen, chest and neck but was not seriously wounded. Arisdelsi was shot in the back of the head, she died of her wound the next day in the hospital. She was the only person fatally wounded who lived long enough to reach a hospital.

James shot and killed Hugo Velaszquez who was a 45 year old banker. He died instantly from a gunshot to the chest. 

At 4pm, the first of emergency calls were made but the dispatcher mistakenly sent the police to the wrong location. This meant that the restaurant was not on lock down until several minutes later. The only warnings about the shooter would come from people outside the restaurant. Shortly after 4pm, Lydia Flores drove into the McDonald's parking lot, oblivious to what was going on. As she stopped her car at the food pickup window, she noticed what looked like bullet holes in the windows and heard the sounds of gunshots, then she suddenly saw James in the restaurant shooting people. She reversed her car and accidentally crashed into a fence in panic. She took her two year old daughter out of the car as quick as she could and hid until the shooting was over.

Three boys who were out riding their bikes, decided to get some ice cream as it was so warm. As they approached the restaurant they could hear some people shouting something from across the street. The boys had no idea what they were saying and amongst the confusion, James spotted the boys and fired at them. Joshua Coleman fell to the ground critically wounded in the back, arm and leg. Joshua later recalled looking towards his two friends, Alfonso Hernandez and David Flores Delgado, noting that Alfonso was on the ground with multiple gunshot wounds to his back and he was vomiting. David had received several gunshot wounds to his head. Joshua managed to survive but his two friends had died at the scene. 

An elderly couple, Miguel Victoria Ulloa who was 74 and his wife 69 year old Aida Velasquez Victoria were walking towards the entrance of the restaurant when James spotted them. He fired at the couple and shot Aida in the face and wounded Miguel. An uninjured survivor, Oscar Mondragon, later reported that he saw Miguel holding his wife in his arms, trying to wipe the blood from her face and shouting curses at James before James fatally shot him. 

At approximately 4:10pm, Astolfo and Maricela Felix drove towards one of the service areas of the restaurant where they noticed the damaged windows. Astolfo thought that the restaurant must have been under renovation and when he saw James coming towards them, he assumed that he was a repairman. James shot towards the couple and their four month old baby daughter, Karlita. Maricela was hit in the face, arms and chest, blinding her in one eye and permanently rendering one hand unusable. The baby was critically wounded in the neck, chest and abdomen. Astolfo was wounded in the chest and head. As the couple tried to move away to a safe spot, Maricela gave her daughter to a young woman called Lucia Velasco and told her to take the baby to the hospital. Maricela collapsed against a car and Astolfo helped to move her to a nearby building. All three members of the Felix family survived. 

Approximately 10 minutes after the first 911 call, the police arrived at the scene. they imposed a lock down spanning 6 blocks from the site of the shootings. The police established a command point two blocks from the restaurant  and deployed 175 officers in strategic locations. These officers were joined within the hour by SWAT team members who took positions around the McDonald's restaurant.

Several survivors later reported that they saw James walk towards the service counter where he adjusted a radio as if he was looking for news reports, when he couldn't find any, he switched the dial to a music station and started shooting again. He started to search the kitchen area and found six employees who were hiding. He shot and killed 21 year old Paulina Lopez, 19 year old Elsa Borboa Fierro, and 18 year old Margarita Padilla. Alberto Leos, who was 17, was critically wounded. Immediately before James had started shooting again, Margarita had urged her friend and colleague, 17 year old Wendy Flanagan to run, before being fatally shot. Wendy, four other McDonald's employees and a female customer hid inside a basement utility room. They were later joined by Alberto who had managed to crawl to the utility room after being shot several times.

A fire engine arrived outside the restaurant and James began shooting towards it. The vehicle was struck with bullets but nobody inside the vehicle was harmed. Inside the restaurant, as 19 year old Jose Perez was screaming in agony, James shot him in the head. Jose died alongside his friend and neighbour, 22 year old Gloria Gonzales and a young woman named Michelle Carncross.

Aurora Pena who was trying to play dead whilst lying beside her dead aunt, baby cousin and two friends, thought that James had finished shooting or run out of ammunition. She opened her eyes slightly to see where he was and to her horror, he was stood staring back at her. James swore at Aurora and threw a bag of french fries at her before shooting her in the arm, neck and chest. Although Aurora managed to survive, she would take longer to recover in the hospital than some of the other injured survivors.

By this time, the police established a command post two blocks from the restaurant but it was still unclear to them how many shooters were inside. The windows were all shattered and because James was using three different weapons and shooting so rapidly it gave the police the impression at first that there was more than one shooter.

Charles ''Chuck'' Foster, a police SWAT sniper was positioned on the roof of the post office next door to the McDonald's. He was authorised to kill the shooter if he could get a clear shot of him.

Continued in part four...

(June Richardson with a picture of her son Martin. Photo cred: chroniclelive.co.uk)

Continued from part one and two 

People began to notice how interested Mary and Norma seemed to be in the police's investigations into the deaths of Martin and Brian. Whenever there was a police conference where they would update the locals on what was happening with their investigations, Mary Bell always seemed to be upfront and centre and listening like her life depended on it. People thought this was strange behaviour for a young girl but the people who really knew Mary started to have ideas that she may have been involved with the deaths due to her previous erratic behaviour, penchant for strangling other children at school and her explosive temper.

The police started to receive phone calls about Mary and Norma from concerned locals, they advised the police to look into the pair and told them of Mary's behaviour with the kids at school.

The police wanted to talk to Mary but when they arrived at her house, Billy threatened to set his dog on the officers if they didn't leave. According to some sources (this may or may not be true), Mary was said to have sat on her father's knee in front of the officers and said ''Send for my lawyer''  

The police got a big break when a couple came to the police station with their son who claimed to have seen Mary and Norma murder Brian Howe. The boy, who was nine years old, had learning difficulties and the mental age of a four year old. As he witnessed the murder taking place he didn't realise at the time what was actually happening until it all became clear when he told his parents about it later on. The boy told the police that Mary had said that Brian had a sore throat and she needed to massage it better. As she massaged the boy's throat she tightened her grip till the boy passed away due to lack of oxygen to the brain. The police wasted no time in bringing Mary and Norma in for questioning. The girls were questioned during the day and were taken into care at night so they were kept away from each other as well as family.

School teachers were contacted as the police wanted to check out Mary and Norma's handwriting to compare with the notes found at the nursery. At this same time, the teachers handed over the short story and drawing that Mary had done about Martin Brown's death. The police had noticed straight away that Mary had included the word 'tablet' next to Martin's body in the drawing, a detail which had not been released to the public. The police were confident that they had the right children in custody and both Mary and Norma were arrested in early August 1968 and charged with both murders.

Four months later their trial began and they both pleaded their innocence and blamed each other for the murders. Norma looked like she was in way over her head and appeared to struggle with everything that was happening, Mary on the other hand, appeared confident, no remorse or emotion until she was asked if she had ever strangled a pigeon to death to which she became hysterical. The trial had to be briefly paused as Mary was crying uncontrollably and would not calm down.

During the trial, Mary would show no emotion the majority of the time but if she was upset, she would be very over dramatic. She claimed to have left the notes at the nursery for a bit of a laugh and said that she made up the things that she had written. Mary had been examined by various psychiatrists who all came to the same conclusion that she was a psychopath.

Norma Bell was acquitted on the grounds that she had learning difficulties and therefore the court believed that she had no idea what she was getting herself into and that she was frightened of Mary and controlled by her. Some people speculated later that Norma played the part of the easily led, vulnerable girl as an attempt to escape justice and that she knew exactly what she was doing.

Mary was found guilty but not of murder, she was found guilty of manslaughter. The court deemed her psychologically insane and because of her age (she was 10 when the first murder took place and was now 11 years old) it was decided that she would be better of being rehabilitated rather than punished as she was still a child and too young to be placed in a Psychiatric hospital. She was sent to a boarding school and surprisingly her mother was a regular visitor, their relationship remained very strained with Mary writing a letter to her mother at one point, begging her to go to court and take full responsibility for the deaths of the two boys. Mary felt that if it wasn't for the way her mother treated her, the murders would never have happened and she had a lot of anger over what happened to her as a child. Mary placed the blame of the murders onto her mother and felt that she should take the blame so that she could be released and be free.

Over the years since the murders, Betty became an alcoholic. She was a nervous wreck and would rarely leave the house. There wasn't much sympathy for her and some felt that all she cared about was herself and how she appeared as the mother of Mary Bell. Betty seemed to have no shame either as she would give interviews to newspapers and sell Mary's letters and drawings for cash.

Some years passed and Mary was soon sent to an open prison but escaped when she was 20 years old. She was quickly found and continued her sentence/rehabilitation. In 1980, after serving 12 years she was released under an new identity.

In a chilling twist to the story, Mary gave birth to a baby daughter in 1984 on the 16th anniversary of the day she murdered Martin Brown. Mary had her daughter's identity protected but the order was only for 18 years. When Mary's daughter was 18, a journalist managed to find out where they were living, up until this point Mary had not told her daughter of her past. They both had to leave the house during the night with sheets over their heads and it was around that time that she told her daughter the truth of her past. Mary managed to get her daughter's identity protected for life. In 2001, Mary became a grandmother at the age of 51 and her granddaughter was also granted life long anonymity.

Not much is known about what happened to Norma in the years after the trial but she passed away in 1989.

I couldn't find much information about Brian Howe's family, they have remained private over the years. June Richardson, Martin's mother had also keep herself and her family out of the public eye and only spoke out after it was revealed that Mary had been paid £50,000 for a book that an author by the name of Gitta Sereny had written about the case based on interviews she had with Mary. The book, which has gotten some positive reviews on Amazon, is apparently in Mary's own words about her childhood and the abuse that she suffered through her mother's prostitution and neglect as well as the murders of the two boys..

June was outraged about the book and said that murderers should not be able to profit off of their crimes and called Mary's payment for the book ''blood money''. June sadly died in April 2013 at the age of 68 due to lung cancer. She never got over her son's death and in the late stages of her illness she spoke of being reunited with Martin to ''build sandcastles in the sky''  

June's daughter, Sharon said in a newspaper interview (on her mother hearing that Mary had given birth 16 years to the day her son was murdered) ''That hurt her more than Mary Bell coming out of prison. She said she would always be celebrating while she was mourning the loss of her son.''

As of 2019, due to the lifelong anonymity order, Mary Bell's whereabouts are unknown but has said to have been out of trouble and lived a relatively quiet life since her release.

As I mentioned at the beginning of my coverage of this case, I knew bits and pieces of the story. I didn't know anything about Mary's background or that she had been abused. I did have an idea that something traumatic must have happened to her for her to commit such terrible crimes. I do feel sympathy for what she went through at home, she didn't really have a chance from the start and struck me that she was a very traumatised child who was acting out. I do feel conflicted as she had no remorse and was happy to take £50,000 which showed to me that she still didn't care what sort of impact that would have on her victim's families. If you murdered someone as a child due to a traumatic upbringing but was later rehabilitated you'd think that she would have realised that collaborating on a book and taking money was in poor taste and disrespectful to the victims and their families. Can a child who murders be fully rehabilitated? I'm not sure of the answer to this question. I think about the James Bulger murder at the hands of two 10 year old boys which happened 25 years after this case, that case caused outrage and still does to this day with some people at the time, calling for the boys to be hanged. Years after the case when the murderers were said to be fully rehabilitated, one of them was found with thousands of child abuse pictures on his laptop and sent back to jail.

Mary Bell and Norma didn't receive the anger and outrage from the public that the James Bulger killers did, there wasn't as much publicity or media attention and a lot of people put it down to children being neglected and the poor living conditions that the people of Newcastle were forced to live in at the time.

It's a disturbing case and I still cannot believe that Mary was paid £50,000 to talk about the murders that she committed. What are your thoughts on this case? leave a comment below or come find me on social media and we'll chat about it. Thanks as always for checking out my recent case. I'll be back next week with a another one.

Further reading & sources:

The Mary Bell Case: Documentary
Mary Bell: Murderpedia

Mary Bell: Wikipedia

Mary Bell Case: 50 Years Later. Chronicle Live Article

June Richardson's Article: Sunday Post