Oct. 10, 2025

S11, Chapter 3: Murder Mac

S11, Chapter 3: Murder Mac
Tapes from the Darkside
S11, Chapter 3: Murder Mac

No credits this week because I didn't want to delay this episode any longer. For their plan to work, Larry Bittaker knew they couldn’t rely on just any car. They needed something bigger… something that could trap a victim inside. In February of 1979,...

Apple Podcasts podcast player badge
Spotify podcast player badge
iHeartRadio podcast player badge
PocketCasts podcast player badge
Castbox podcast player badge
Overcast podcast player badge
Podcast Addict podcast player badge
Amazon Music podcast player badge
Castro podcast player badge
Podchaser podcast player badge
RSS Feed podcast player badge
Apple Podcasts podcast player iconSpotify podcast player iconiHeartRadio podcast player iconPocketCasts podcast player iconCastbox podcast player iconOvercast podcast player iconPodcast Addict podcast player iconAmazon Music podcast player iconCastro podcast player iconPodchaser podcast player iconRSS Feed podcast player icon

No credits this week because I didn't want to delay this episode any longer.
For their plan to work, Larry Bittaker knew they couldn’t rely on just any car. They needed something bigger… something that could trap a victim inside. In February of 1979, with money from Norris, he bought it—a silver-gray 1977 GMC Vandura.

The van was windowless on one side, with a sliding door large enough to swallow someone whole. Bittaker later admitted that when he first saw that door, he knew. They could pull up close to a girl, slide it open, and drag her inside without anyone noticing.

The pair gave the vehicle a name. To them, it wasn’t just a van. It was their “Murder Mac.”



Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/c/tapesfromthedarkside



Sources:

Partners in True Crime
https://www.partnersintruecrime.com/

Music:

Augusta Treverorum
https://linktr.ee/trvrrm

 

Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/tapesfromthedarkside

Merch
https://merchfromthedarkside.com/

Leave us a Review (...it really helps!)
https://www.tapesfromthedarkside.com/rate/

Paypal / Venmo Donations
https://www.tapesfromthedarkside.com/paypal/

WEBVTT

1
00:00:03.960 --> 00:00:08.919
Tapes from the Dark Side contains descriptions of violence and sexuality.

2
00:00:09.400 --> 00:00:12.279
Listener discretion is advised.

3
00:00:19.640 --> 00:00:24.239
October fifteenth, nineteen seventy eight, Lawrence Bittaker walked out of

4
00:00:24.320 --> 00:00:27.879
the California Men's Colony of Free Man. He drifted back

5
00:00:27.920 --> 00:00:32.159
to Los Angeles, slipping seamlessly into civilian life. With his

6
00:00:32.240 --> 00:00:35.399
skills as a machinist, he was soon earning nearly one

7
00:00:35.399 --> 00:00:38.840
thousand dollars a week, a small fortune for his time.

8
00:00:39.119 --> 00:00:41.719
To neighbors, he didn't look like a threat. He was

9
00:00:41.759 --> 00:00:44.840
a quiet man down the street who kept to himself,

10
00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:48.000
but also the one who would lend a hand when needed.

11
00:00:48.439 --> 00:00:51.560
Some even saw him as generous. He'd donated to the

12
00:00:51.600 --> 00:00:55.479
Salvation Army, buy bags of fast food and bottles of wine,

13
00:00:55.479 --> 00:00:57.840
and then hand him out to the homeless on skid row.

14
00:00:58.159 --> 00:01:02.200
On the surface, Lawrence Bittaker the picture of rehabilitation, But

15
00:01:02.320 --> 00:01:07.120
beneath that carefully crafted facade, something far darker was beginning

16
00:01:07.159 --> 00:01:12.120
to take shape. January fifteenth, nineteen seventy nine, just three

17
00:01:12.200 --> 00:01:15.920
months after Laurence Bittaker's release, Roy Norris walked out of

18
00:01:15.920 --> 00:01:18.959
prison as well. He moved back into his mother's home

19
00:01:19.000 --> 00:01:23.200
in Redondo Beach, but freedom didn't bring reform. Within a month,

20
00:01:23.400 --> 00:01:27.120
Norris had already attacked again, raping a woman, then leaving

21
00:01:27.159 --> 00:01:30.159
her lone and terrified in the desert. By day, he

22
00:01:30.239 --> 00:01:34.079
blended in working as an electrician in Compton, but soon

23
00:01:34.359 --> 00:01:40.439
a letter arrived. It was from Lawrence Bittaker. Weeks later,

24
00:01:40.519 --> 00:01:44.959
the two men met at a hotel. Old prison acquaintances reunited,

25
00:01:45.280 --> 00:01:48.120
and in that meeting they breathed new life into a

26
00:01:48.120 --> 00:01:52.719
plan they had whispered about behind bars, a plan to stalk, kidnap,

27
00:01:52.840 --> 00:01:58.159
and rape young girls in Burbank. Norris's hotel room became

28
00:01:58.280 --> 00:02:02.239
something of a hangout spot, especially for local teenagers. He

29
00:02:02.319 --> 00:02:04.760
always seemed to have a steady supply of beer in

30
00:02:04.840 --> 00:02:08.280
marijuana on hand. Later he would admit to the truth

31
00:02:08.560 --> 00:02:12.240
the drugs and alcohol weren't for him, not really, They

32
00:02:12.280 --> 00:02:14.960
were baits, a way to make sure his rooms stayed

33
00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:18.520
popular with teens. One of those young girls who would

34
00:02:18.560 --> 00:02:22.719
hang out in Bittaker's motel room was named Tina, a

35
00:02:22.800 --> 00:02:25.800
woman who was tracked down by Laura Brand, the so

36
00:02:25.919 --> 00:02:29.159
called serial killer whisperer who we've been hearing from this

37
00:02:29.280 --> 00:02:32.960
season now. Tina was always with her boyfriend Steve when

38
00:02:33.000 --> 00:02:35.639
she was at the motel, and this kind of drove

39
00:02:35.759 --> 00:02:40.439
Larry crazy. He wanted her isolated to himself. The interview

40
00:02:40.560 --> 00:02:43.319
you're about to hear was recorded just prior to Tina's

41
00:02:43.360 --> 00:02:46.639
passing in June of twenty twenty three, and again it

42
00:02:46.719 --> 00:02:49.759
was featured on the podcast Partners in True Crime.

43
00:02:50.759 --> 00:02:54.919
He was hanging around the hotel, Like I said, the

44
00:02:54.960 --> 00:02:57.599
group I just told you about was usually who I

45
00:02:57.759 --> 00:02:59.240
was rip going around over there.

46
00:03:00.319 --> 00:03:02.560
Steve. I never left Steve's side, you know.

47
00:03:02.879 --> 00:03:04.879
Yeah, did you guys all go to like the same

48
00:03:04.960 --> 00:03:05.520
high school?

49
00:03:05.960 --> 00:03:09.280
Me and Dina Steve? I know Steve wasn't going to

50
00:03:09.319 --> 00:03:10.479
high school. He dropped out.

51
00:03:10.840 --> 00:03:13.919
Steve's mom kicked him out at sixteen, just before all

52
00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:16.400
this happened, and my mom took him in. So he

53
00:03:16.560 --> 00:03:19.560
was living with us at the time this happened. Wow,

54
00:03:20.800 --> 00:03:22.520
because there was, like I said, a group of us

55
00:03:22.599 --> 00:03:25.039
could be fifteen to twenty of us just in Burbank

56
00:03:25.120 --> 00:03:28.400
that all knew each other, and you know, we party

57
00:03:28.439 --> 00:03:30.840
in the park and you know, in different groups I

58
00:03:30.840 --> 00:03:32.960
guess would go party over there at the hotel.

59
00:03:33.680 --> 00:03:36.360
Michael was the one who told me that story about Steve.

60
00:03:36.400 --> 00:03:38.879
I like one day Bittaker said to him, he goes,

61
00:03:38.919 --> 00:03:40.439
do you want to write home or something? He asked

62
00:03:40.520 --> 00:03:42.639
him for write home, and he said. It scared the

63
00:03:42.680 --> 00:03:44.879
shit out of Steve because he drove him up he

64
00:03:44.879 --> 00:03:47.479
said San Dimas, but I think it was San Gabriel,

65
00:03:47.599 --> 00:03:49.680
and he just didn't say a word to him, got

66
00:03:49.719 --> 00:03:51.400
out of the car, just pointed a gun at him,

67
00:03:51.599 --> 00:03:53.599
and then just got right back in and drove him home.

68
00:03:53.879 --> 00:03:56.439
Yeah, because Steve's mom at that time lived up in

69
00:03:56.520 --> 00:04:01.000
Sunline and Sunlin to Hunga, and so at that time

70
00:04:01.039 --> 00:04:03.159
Steve would go back and forth from now staying at

71
00:04:03.199 --> 00:04:06.360
my house and sometimes going to his mom's. It wasn't

72
00:04:06.400 --> 00:04:13.199
San Gabriel Mountain. It was Sana San Andreas Mountain, Angela's

73
00:04:13.199 --> 00:04:16.759
Crest up in that area. I'm sorry, It's like I'm

74
00:04:16.800 --> 00:04:20.360
shaking inside, you know, but that's the mountains.

75
00:04:20.399 --> 00:04:23.079
He took him up into us. That I was told

76
00:04:23.079 --> 00:04:23.639
by Steve.

77
00:04:23.720 --> 00:04:26.279
Because it was close to Steve's mom's house, he was

78
00:04:26.360 --> 00:04:28.360
able to take him. He took him up there and

79
00:04:28.399 --> 00:04:29.480
spirits shit.

80
00:04:29.319 --> 00:04:29.800
Out of him.

81
00:04:30.160 --> 00:04:30.560
Wow.

82
00:04:30.800 --> 00:04:35.759
Yeah, uh, I'm you know it ruins Steve.

83
00:04:36.600 --> 00:04:40.000
Yeah, I bet I absolutely.

84
00:04:39.680 --> 00:04:42.279
Ruined his life. It ruined my marriage.

85
00:04:43.480 --> 00:04:45.800
Do you think that's what happened? Is like he was

86
00:04:45.839 --> 00:04:48.079
just so scarred from like Bittaker, it just.

87
00:04:48.360 --> 00:04:51.439
Oh yeah, he'd come home after testifying.

88
00:04:52.160 --> 00:04:55.920
You gotta remember he was like sixteen, maybe seventeen by

89
00:04:55.959 --> 00:04:58.160
the time the childs are. I don't remember. He was

90
00:04:58.199 --> 00:04:58.560
a kid.

91
00:04:58.639 --> 00:05:01.480
We were kids, and he used to come home and

92
00:05:01.920 --> 00:05:04.839
I just hold him for hours while he would cry.

93
00:05:06.040 --> 00:05:09.240
Oh my god, you know, I mean I believe in

94
00:05:09.360 --> 00:05:12.680
court they had a play part of that tape again

95
00:05:12.839 --> 00:05:15.839
because they had a verify that's the troops he heard.

96
00:05:16.160 --> 00:05:17.000
Oh my god.

97
00:05:17.639 --> 00:05:21.560
I was pretty horrific what we went through. I mean,

98
00:05:22.279 --> 00:05:24.920
it took me years. I used to run if I

99
00:05:24.959 --> 00:05:26.000
saw a silver van.

100
00:05:26.279 --> 00:05:27.560
Oh, I could just imagine.

101
00:05:27.720 --> 00:05:31.120
Yeah, it was about because he didn't like me, and

102
00:05:31.160 --> 00:05:31.879
I knew it, and.

103
00:05:31.839 --> 00:05:33.480
He let me know he didn't like me.

104
00:05:33.800 --> 00:05:36.040
Really, he like really made it known to you.

105
00:05:36.360 --> 00:05:39.199
Yeah, in his I don't even know how to you

106
00:05:39.279 --> 00:05:40.839
were you've been in a room with him.

107
00:05:41.040 --> 00:05:45.040
Yeah, he has I don't even know how to put it.

108
00:05:45.199 --> 00:05:47.519
He has a way to get in your head. Yeah,

109
00:05:47.720 --> 00:05:50.399
he doesn't have to say something. You could read what

110
00:05:50.439 --> 00:05:51.879
he's telling you in his eyes.

111
00:05:53.160 --> 00:05:56.879
You know, I've actually pushed some buttons and seem like

112
00:05:57.000 --> 00:05:59.120
that anger come out of him.

113
00:05:59.480 --> 00:06:01.360
Yeah, got angry at me.

114
00:06:02.079 --> 00:06:05.560
I uh, well, I'm Italian, so I do have him

115
00:06:05.560 --> 00:06:10.600
about the kid back then, I you know did I

116
00:06:10.639 --> 00:06:13.439
was a smart kid, but I did speak my what

117
00:06:13.600 --> 00:06:16.759
I spoke my mind. And I do remember pissing him

118
00:06:16.800 --> 00:06:20.319
off several times. And I remember he got so mad

119
00:06:20.360 --> 00:06:25.279
one time and he said, you're grounded and you can't

120
00:06:25.279 --> 00:06:28.839
come back to here for a week or whatever, you know,

121
00:06:29.040 --> 00:06:33.360
two weeks whatever it was that he got really red.

122
00:06:33.879 --> 00:06:37.560
You know, Yeah, I was scary, it was. It was scary.

123
00:06:38.399 --> 00:06:41.160
Well you said about when he went up to Dina

124
00:06:41.600 --> 00:06:46.000
and did the modeling roots like he that was like

125
00:06:46.040 --> 00:06:48.560
their number one rooms was the modeling stuff.

126
00:06:48.839 --> 00:06:51.199
And my mom educated me on you know, I mean,

127
00:06:51.240 --> 00:06:54.879
we had so many serial killers running around in that

128
00:06:55.120 --> 00:06:58.240
area of California at that time. You know at that

129
00:06:58.399 --> 00:07:01.160
time that you know, if you were a smart parent,

130
00:07:01.199 --> 00:07:04.680
you better educate your kids, especially your girls, your younger

131
00:07:04.839 --> 00:07:08.600
teen preteen or teen girls. Great, and my mom did

132
00:07:08.879 --> 00:07:11.759
you don't go walk by yourself at night. My mom

133
00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:14.279
taught me that it wasn't just about not getting in

134
00:07:14.319 --> 00:07:16.160
the car with strangers, but look.

135
00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:16.920
In the end I did.

136
00:07:17.000 --> 00:07:20.079
I Actually, my mom almost died from a heart attack

137
00:07:20.160 --> 00:07:23.600
when they found me, Dina and Steven penciling, and they

138
00:07:23.600 --> 00:07:25.720
called our parents, see we were missing.

139
00:07:25.839 --> 00:07:28.360
And that's when Larry got busted and our parents thought

140
00:07:28.399 --> 00:07:31.240
that he killed us because we were gone and missing.

141
00:07:31.839 --> 00:07:32.519
Oh my god.

142
00:07:32.959 --> 00:07:36.519
So actually there was another girl that traveled with us.

143
00:07:36.519 --> 00:07:41.079
Her name was Andrea, Andrea Durgan. But she I don't

144
00:07:41.079 --> 00:07:43.279
think she ever went around Larry. She just happened to

145
00:07:43.360 --> 00:07:45.600
want to trail along with us. And she was only

146
00:07:45.759 --> 00:07:48.120
all of twelve, but she looked like she may have

147
00:07:48.160 --> 00:07:51.360
been fifteen or sixteen body wise. And her poor mom

148
00:07:51.399 --> 00:07:53.879
did drop of a heart attack when they police from

149
00:07:53.879 --> 00:07:56.759
Pittsburgh called her and said we found your daughter. She

150
00:07:56.920 --> 00:07:59.279
died of just because they thought we were dead, that

151
00:07:59.360 --> 00:07:59.920
he got us.

152
00:08:00.120 --> 00:08:00.839
Oh my god.

153
00:08:01.279 --> 00:08:05.000
Yeah. Oh I've kind even begin to tell you. And

154
00:08:05.040 --> 00:08:08.439
I mean ironically, you know, my mom kept me as

155
00:08:08.480 --> 00:08:10.959
protected as she could for media and stuff like that.

156
00:08:11.120 --> 00:08:14.480
And as the years went, well, every time Larry came

157
00:08:14.600 --> 00:08:16.879
up for an appeal, you know, we all went on

158
00:08:17.000 --> 00:08:19.680
with our lives and got married and had children, and

159
00:08:19.879 --> 00:08:22.800
we all moved and they always found us, you know,

160
00:08:23.480 --> 00:08:25.839
whatever it was every I think he had two or

161
00:08:25.839 --> 00:08:30.720
three appealsskus me appeals and they would find us. Next thing,

162
00:08:30.720 --> 00:08:33.159
you know, there's an LA District attorney again at our

163
00:08:33.320 --> 00:08:37.000
doors and having us relive it, you know, because there's appeal.

164
00:08:37.679 --> 00:08:38.960
It was his peal was coming.

165
00:08:39.240 --> 00:08:39.679
Oh, I know.

166
00:08:40.480 --> 00:08:44.440
During this interview that Laura does with Tina, Laura Brand

167
00:08:44.480 --> 00:08:47.399
herself begins to open up a little bit about her

168
00:08:47.440 --> 00:08:51.919
investigation into Larry and Roy and I found this fascinating,

169
00:08:51.960 --> 00:08:54.279
so I decided to leave it in. It gives us

170
00:08:54.320 --> 00:08:57.399
some background about Laura and what she was going through

171
00:08:57.559 --> 00:08:58.919
at this time in her life.

172
00:08:59.159 --> 00:08:59.360
You know.

173
00:08:59.519 --> 00:09:04.039
It's so I started. So it was about so in June,

174
00:09:04.080 --> 00:09:05.879
and this year it'll be two years. And when I

175
00:09:05.919 --> 00:09:09.240
started the investigation, ah, so I went. I had been

176
00:09:09.279 --> 00:09:13.240
interviewing Bittaker Norris for about like five years, and ironically,

177
00:09:13.759 --> 00:09:17.120
which is so kind of weird, I got pregnant and

178
00:09:17.639 --> 00:09:19.879
the boyfriend I was living with I was like madly

179
00:09:19.879 --> 00:09:22.440
in love and he didn't want the baby, and then

180
00:09:22.480 --> 00:09:24.639
he tried to force me to get an abortion. I

181
00:09:24.679 --> 00:09:26.440
wanted to do it, so he kicked me out and

182
00:09:26.960 --> 00:09:29.879
I literally had about like two grand to my name,

183
00:09:30.080 --> 00:09:32.240
and he was trying. When he tried to scare me

184
00:09:32.279 --> 00:09:34.639
into an abortion, he said, you know, you just wasted

185
00:09:34.679 --> 00:09:37.720
your degree. You're never going to become a forensic psychologist.

186
00:09:37.720 --> 00:09:39.639
You'll never write a book, You'll never be able to

187
00:09:39.639 --> 00:09:42.120
go to San Quentin and do your interviews anymore. Like

188
00:09:42.159 --> 00:09:44.799
your career's over. So I took the last of my

189
00:09:44.879 --> 00:09:48.320
money and I flew out to San Francisco for six

190
00:09:48.399 --> 00:09:50.240
weeks and I was like, Okay, I'm going to interview

191
00:09:50.720 --> 00:09:53.399
three different serial killers, and I had picked bitager. It was.

192
00:09:53.519 --> 00:09:55.720
He was one of the first interviews I went in for,

193
00:09:56.159 --> 00:09:58.519
and at the time, I was like seven and a

194
00:09:58.559 --> 00:10:01.039
half months pregnant, and I was like really showing. And

195
00:10:01.120 --> 00:10:03.519
it was just so bizarre too, because like the three

196
00:10:03.600 --> 00:10:06.320
years prior I had gone in and I had interviewed

197
00:10:06.399 --> 00:10:08.559
him before, and I had written to him and I

198
00:10:08.600 --> 00:10:10.000
had tried to get him to call me, and he

199
00:10:10.039 --> 00:10:12.080
was just so vicious towards me. He didn't like me,

200
00:10:12.120 --> 00:10:13.960
he didn't want to talk to me. And but it

201
00:10:14.000 --> 00:10:15.879
was so weird when I got pregnant, all of a sudden,

202
00:10:15.919 --> 00:10:18.679
he started calling my cell phone every single day. Then

203
00:10:18.720 --> 00:10:20.600
when I went in and he saw me pregnant, it

204
00:10:20.720 --> 00:10:22.960
was the weirdest freaking thing. It was like a one

205
00:10:23.120 --> 00:10:26.639
eighty turn from like being vicious and just cruel and mean.

206
00:10:26.919 --> 00:10:29.519
And he it was five minutes in the interview. He

207
00:10:29.679 --> 00:10:32.080
grabbed the pen in the paper out of my hand

208
00:10:32.279 --> 00:10:35.399
because I was like asking questions and taking notes, grabs

209
00:10:35.399 --> 00:10:37.360
out of my hand, and he started drawing a map

210
00:10:37.519 --> 00:10:39.960
of the mountains of where Cindy and Andrea, the two

211
00:10:40.039 --> 00:10:42.360
victims that were never found. And I was just like

212
00:10:42.399 --> 00:10:45.879
a holy shit. And then he's drawing me a map

213
00:10:45.919 --> 00:10:48.960
of where the buried evidence was and it was just,

214
00:10:49.279 --> 00:10:50.759
I mean, it was like a movie. Like as I

215
00:10:50.879 --> 00:10:53.080
ran out of the prison afterwards, and I called a

216
00:10:53.080 --> 00:10:54.919
criminologist and was like I don't know what to do,

217
00:10:55.080 --> 00:10:56.840
Like what what the hell do I do? And he's like,

218
00:10:56.840 --> 00:11:00.000
go the FBI. The FBI was closed, So then he came.

219
00:11:00.320 --> 00:11:03.519
He said, call the district attorney, which was Stephen Kay.

220
00:11:03.799 --> 00:11:05.840
So I got a number for him and I started

221
00:11:05.879 --> 00:11:09.159
calling him, and he like didn't even believe me. He's like,

222
00:11:09.240 --> 00:11:11.759
he hasn't spoken in forty years, he's never given up

223
00:11:11.799 --> 00:11:15.120
that information. This is But finally I started calling Stephen.

224
00:11:15.200 --> 00:11:18.240
Talking to Stephen, he realized I wasn't like insane like Bittager.

225
00:11:18.240 --> 00:11:22.120
It actually he is like the nicest person in the

226
00:11:22.200 --> 00:11:25.960
god oh my god, yeah he really, he's so sweet

227
00:11:25.960 --> 00:11:28.799
and he's been helping me, like step by step on all.

228
00:11:30.240 --> 00:11:30.799
Yeah.

229
00:11:30.960 --> 00:11:35.320
Yeah, he's literally been walking me through everything because I'm like,

230
00:11:35.600 --> 00:11:37.519
this is so much to take in and he's like,

231
00:11:37.559 --> 00:11:39.639
I told you, lord, it's a rabbit hole of a case.

232
00:11:39.679 --> 00:11:42.039
That I was like, it really freaking is. And just

233
00:11:42.320 --> 00:11:45.960
by chance, I like Bitteger had mentioned Robin Roebeck, who's

234
00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:49.240
like the sole survivor, and for some reason, I just

235
00:11:49.279 --> 00:11:51.120
went on Facebook and I was like, I'm just going

236
00:11:51.200 --> 00:11:53.080
to type her name in, even though it might be

237
00:11:53.120 --> 00:11:56.320
like a maiden name, and I found her and I

238
00:11:56.360 --> 00:11:58.000
sent her a message and I don't even know what

239
00:11:58.080 --> 00:11:59.399
to say. I was like, I don't know if you're

240
00:11:59.399 --> 00:12:02.279
the right person, but I'm trying to track down somebody

241
00:12:02.320 --> 00:12:05.200
who was a witness and a case from nineteen seventy nine.

242
00:12:05.360 --> 00:12:07.320
And it was like two hours later she texted me

243
00:12:07.399 --> 00:12:09.480
she was Bitaker and Norris, and I was just like,

244
00:12:09.559 --> 00:12:12.440
holy shit, I found her and she was the same

245
00:12:12.440 --> 00:12:14.799
reaction you had, Like it's so funny because every person

246
00:12:14.840 --> 00:12:16.519
I tracked down is the same reaction. It's just like,

247
00:12:16.639 --> 00:12:18.879
you know, because it's like a hurricane hitting you out

248
00:12:18.919 --> 00:12:21.480
of nowhere, because you know it's forty years Yeah.

249
00:12:21.600 --> 00:12:24.519
Oh wow, it's being uh punched in the.

250
00:12:24.480 --> 00:12:26.960
Stomach exactly how she describes it too.

251
00:12:27.279 --> 00:12:29.360
Yeah, it's crazy. Yeah.

252
00:12:29.480 --> 00:12:32.720
And Russia's like, I mean, I'm gonna be fifty six.

253
00:12:32.759 --> 00:12:35.759
And I laughed because my memory it's like sometimes I

254
00:12:35.799 --> 00:12:39.120
can't remember yesterday, but I can remember that like it

255
00:12:39.159 --> 00:12:40.240
happened yesterday.

256
00:12:40.399 --> 00:12:42.679
Oh yeah, oh yeah. And that's what she said too,

257
00:12:42.840 --> 00:12:45.759
and she it was funny, she said, she well, she

258
00:12:45.879 --> 00:12:48.480
called me and she was on the phone. She was hysteric.

259
00:12:49.000 --> 00:12:51.759
One of the details that stuck with Tina after all

260
00:12:51.799 --> 00:12:56.519
these years were the photographs, dozens and dozens of photographs

261
00:12:56.759 --> 00:13:01.600
strewn all about Bittaker's hotel room, all of young, scantily

262
00:13:01.679 --> 00:13:03.360
clad teenage girls.

263
00:13:03.679 --> 00:13:07.360
There's more than you would probably even want to imagine

264
00:13:07.639 --> 00:13:12.159
because the photo, the one stock of polaroids you would have,

265
00:13:12.200 --> 00:13:17.480
were women posing in lingerie right like against a lot

266
00:13:17.519 --> 00:13:20.240
of times, it was like they were against I remember, right,

267
00:13:20.440 --> 00:13:23.879
a white wall, like they they were posing for the camera.

268
00:13:24.080 --> 00:13:26.799
Do you remember It was a lot of times.

269
00:13:26.519 --> 00:13:29.000
I mean, and I'm you know, they look like prostitutes.

270
00:13:29.039 --> 00:13:30.720
I'd say, you know what I mean, but that's what

271
00:13:30.759 --> 00:13:33.279
they look like to me as a fourteen fifteen year

272
00:13:33.279 --> 00:13:33.720
old kid.

273
00:13:33.879 --> 00:13:35.639
And then he'd have pictures of.

274
00:13:36.000 --> 00:13:37.919
Rand you know, he'd be out in front of my

275
00:13:38.399 --> 00:13:41.240
front of Burbank High School in my high school with binoculars.

276
00:13:41.600 --> 00:13:43.759
Always have binoculars in the vanag. Yeah.

277
00:13:43.840 --> 00:13:45.919
Do you remember if he ever were there any of

278
00:13:45.919 --> 00:13:47.840
the polaroids where it looked like a girl was in

279
00:13:47.879 --> 00:13:50.639
a closet or were there hangars in the background.

280
00:13:50.919 --> 00:13:52.879
Yes, there was, I remember that.

281
00:13:53.200 --> 00:13:55.679
Okay, I just got really big chills. What do you

282
00:13:55.720 --> 00:13:57.919
remember from like the hangars of the closet?

283
00:13:58.039 --> 00:14:03.000
Do you what my mind is picturing is? I remember

284
00:14:03.039 --> 00:14:04.759
they had a picture and it was a girl and

285
00:14:04.879 --> 00:14:07.679
she was kind of scrunched down in a closet, you know,

286
00:14:07.799 --> 00:14:10.559
And I would try and look at because my curiosity.

287
00:14:10.799 --> 00:14:12.799
I knew that man was up to no good and

288
00:14:12.840 --> 00:14:15.039
I wanted to snoop, but I had to be careful

289
00:14:15.159 --> 00:14:17.759
because you know how he was. I had to be

290
00:14:17.919 --> 00:14:20.360
very careful. I would try to look at photos that

291
00:14:20.519 --> 00:14:23.039
he had laying around and stuff like that. I heard,

292
00:14:23.080 --> 00:14:25.799
and I don't even know how through this is. I'm

293
00:14:25.840 --> 00:14:28.200
trying to remember even who I heard it from, because really,

294
00:14:28.240 --> 00:14:31.320
the only person that ever interviewed me and kept me

295
00:14:31.559 --> 00:14:33.279
and my family informed.

296
00:14:32.879 --> 00:14:34.279
Was Stephen Kay.

297
00:14:34.679 --> 00:14:36.480
He was the only man that was allowed in my

298
00:14:36.600 --> 00:14:39.759
house to ask questions and tell me stuff. Somebody told

299
00:14:39.799 --> 00:14:42.960
me that when they went into the motel room, he

300
00:14:43.039 --> 00:14:46.200
had stacks of polaroids and then that one stack was

301
00:14:46.279 --> 00:14:50.799
polaroids that were people he was planning on taking out

302
00:14:50.799 --> 00:14:54.039
to kill then, And I said really, and they said yeah,

303
00:14:54.080 --> 00:14:57.159
and your photo was in that. I mean there was,

304
00:14:57.360 --> 00:15:00.799
you know, some of us were popping ALICD was you know,

305
00:15:01.240 --> 00:15:03.759
I'm drinking a lot, smoking a lot of marijuana, that

306
00:15:03.919 --> 00:15:06.919
kind of a thing. And so really it was just

307
00:15:07.000 --> 00:15:09.200
go to his place, get as fucked up as you

308
00:15:09.240 --> 00:15:11.399
can for free, and then you know, either he kicked

309
00:15:11.440 --> 00:15:13.279
you out or he left, you know, one or the other.

310
00:15:13.519 --> 00:15:15.879
Yeah, I just smoke back then, The only thing I

311
00:15:15.919 --> 00:15:18.240
ever did was smoke a little weed. I was on it.

312
00:15:18.360 --> 00:15:20.480
I was on it watching every time I was in

313
00:15:20.519 --> 00:15:21.679
that room.

314
00:15:22.240 --> 00:15:25.519
Steve turned into a violent man after that, Oh my god,

315
00:15:25.840 --> 00:15:28.039
an absolute MONSTERY turned into.

316
00:15:28.360 --> 00:15:30.679
I kid you not, so be careful if you ever

317
00:15:30.759 --> 00:15:32.799
find you and meet him in a good public place.

318
00:15:33.000 --> 00:15:34.840
And I hate to say that I feel so sorry

319
00:15:34.919 --> 00:15:37.440
for him, but I was lucky to escape with my

320
00:15:37.559 --> 00:15:40.080
life Steve did to me.

321
00:15:40.759 --> 00:15:43.759
For their plan to work, Larry knew they couldn't rely

322
00:15:43.919 --> 00:15:47.600
on just any car. They needed something bigger, something that

323
00:15:47.679 --> 00:15:51.200
could trap a victim inside, and in February of nineteen

324
00:15:51.279 --> 00:15:55.399
seventy nine, with money from Roy Norris, Larry bought it

325
00:15:55.480 --> 00:15:59.879
a silver gray nineteen seventy seven gmc Vandora. The van

326
00:16:00.200 --> 00:16:03.159
was windowless on one side, with a sliding door large

327
00:16:03.240 --> 00:16:06.919
enough to swallow someone whole. Larry later admitted that when

328
00:16:06.919 --> 00:16:10.000
he first saw that door, he knew they could pull

329
00:16:10.080 --> 00:16:13.000
up close to a girl, slide it open, and drag

330
00:16:13.039 --> 00:16:16.279
her inside without anyone noticing. The pair gave the vehicle

331
00:16:16.320 --> 00:16:19.840
a name. To them, it wasn't just a van, it

332
00:16:19.919 --> 00:16:26.399
was their murder. Mac and Tina herself actually spent a

333
00:16:26.519 --> 00:16:28.840
night inside that very van.

334
00:16:32.320 --> 00:16:33.080
Once or twice.

335
00:16:33.159 --> 00:16:35.159
You know, I wouldn't go home at not you know,

336
00:16:35.240 --> 00:16:37.360
I want to stay the night with oh my boyfriend,

337
00:16:37.399 --> 00:16:40.600
you know. And there was the twenty four hour laundromat

338
00:16:40.759 --> 00:16:42.720
right next door to the hotel, right next door to

339
00:16:42.759 --> 00:16:45.399
the liquor store, and me and Steve had stayed at

340
00:16:45.440 --> 00:16:48.759
the twenty four hour Laundermount to stay the night together.

341
00:16:48.840 --> 00:16:52.039
And that particular night, you know, we were getting leaving

342
00:16:52.200 --> 00:16:55.519
Larry's to go to the laundermaut and that's when Larry said, well,

343
00:16:55.519 --> 00:16:58.000
you guys don't have to go sleep at the Laundermount.

344
00:16:58.200 --> 00:17:00.519
Y'all can sleep in the van. I looked at Steve

345
00:17:00.679 --> 00:17:04.880
like fuck now, And of course Steve wasn't listening to me,

346
00:17:05.279 --> 00:17:09.039
and you know, he was thinking of enjoying, you know, thinking.

347
00:17:08.759 --> 00:17:09.759
No, we're being a van.

348
00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:13.599
Nobody bother us, you know, because we risked getting arrested

349
00:17:13.680 --> 00:17:16.519
being underage teenagers in a twenty four hour launder maat it,

350
00:17:16.640 --> 00:17:18.880
you know, one two o'clock in the morning or whatever,

351
00:17:19.079 --> 00:17:22.920
because the Bourbon cops are really honest kids, honest teenager

352
00:17:22.960 --> 00:17:23.480
respect that.

353
00:17:23.799 --> 00:17:26.559
But anyway, you know, it was, Steve was like, come on,

354
00:17:26.640 --> 00:17:27.480
it's going to be okay.

355
00:17:27.599 --> 00:17:30.079
And I remember him taking me by the hand, us

356
00:17:30.079 --> 00:17:33.880
going out of the motel room, Larry following us or

357
00:17:33.960 --> 00:17:38.359
us following him, and then him proceeding to tell Steve

358
00:17:38.680 --> 00:17:39.839
he mainly always talk.

359
00:17:39.960 --> 00:17:43.119
Really did he talk directly? I mean he did talk directly.

360
00:17:43.160 --> 00:17:43.400
To me.

361
00:17:43.680 --> 00:17:46.680
But when I'm sure, I couldn't hide on my face fear.

362
00:17:47.000 --> 00:17:49.680
As much as you know you're you think you're you are,

363
00:17:50.279 --> 00:17:53.319
you know there's you're gonna have some. And Larry is

364
00:17:53.359 --> 00:17:57.279
that type of person. He could notice a millisecond of

365
00:17:57.519 --> 00:18:00.680
changing place. I'm telling you, I felt like he could

366
00:18:00.680 --> 00:18:01.559
hear my heart beat.

367
00:18:01.920 --> 00:18:04.720
If you had any second of hesitation, he probably instantly

368
00:18:04.839 --> 00:18:05.599
picked up on it.

369
00:18:06.240 --> 00:18:08.680
Yeah, like you could hear your heart beat. And it

370
00:18:08.720 --> 00:18:11.160
was almost like he thrived off my towards you end,

371
00:18:11.200 --> 00:18:13.519
I was picking up like he is driving off my bear.

372
00:18:13.960 --> 00:18:16.480
He wants to drive me crazy. He knows, you know,

373
00:18:16.880 --> 00:18:19.319
he knows. You know, you know because I told you,

374
00:18:19.359 --> 00:18:21.960
We tried. We called the Burbank police and told him,

375
00:18:22.079 --> 00:18:25.200
and you know we we were too scared teenagers. We

376
00:18:25.200 --> 00:18:27.000
were like, you need to go check on this guy.

377
00:18:27.519 --> 00:18:29.200
I don't I don't know if I had the room

378
00:18:29.279 --> 00:18:30.920
number correct. I think it was.

379
00:18:30.920 --> 00:18:33.559
Room one eleven eleven, Yeah, it was eleven.

380
00:18:33.920 --> 00:18:36.640
And you know it's even weirder. His cell at San

381
00:18:36.720 --> 00:18:39.440
Quentin was one eleven. And what's even weirder is it's

382
00:18:39.440 --> 00:18:40.039
my birthday.

383
00:18:40.359 --> 00:18:44.000
Oh my gosh. Yeah, Well, numerology, you know.

384
00:18:44.720 --> 00:18:48.400
That's what everyone's like. There's some so much like synchronicity

385
00:18:48.400 --> 00:18:50.400
with you. In this case, he had my birthday, was

386
00:18:50.400 --> 00:18:52.640
the cell number we had. We have the same initials,

387
00:18:52.640 --> 00:18:56.400
which is even weird. Like the it's just weird little coincidences.

388
00:18:56.799 --> 00:19:00.000
Yeah, it is kind of weird how there's those little connections.

389
00:19:00.559 --> 00:19:05.160
Yeah, I've always thought like this was like yeah, like no,

390
00:19:05.279 --> 00:19:07.960
I've always believed like I was meant to dig into

391
00:19:07.960 --> 00:19:10.160
this case, like those were like the little signs like

392
00:19:10.480 --> 00:19:15.559
this is what you're meant to do. It's been crazy.

393
00:19:16.640 --> 00:19:18.079
Yeah, it's been wild.

394
00:19:19.559 --> 00:19:22.440
Here's what's even crazier is you saw the ice pick

395
00:19:22.480 --> 00:19:25.200
with the brown stains on it, right, Yeah, so obviously

396
00:19:25.279 --> 00:19:28.000
that had to have been blood. What's weird though, is

397
00:19:28.319 --> 00:19:31.720
he killed Andrea the second victim. That was like the

398
00:19:31.880 --> 00:19:33.799
I think it was like July twelfth. It was like

399
00:19:34.119 --> 00:19:36.359
really the beginning of July. He had killed her. But

400
00:19:36.400 --> 00:19:38.640
when he had killed her, he had stuck the ice

401
00:19:38.680 --> 00:19:40.880
pick in her and it got stuck in a bone

402
00:19:41.000 --> 00:19:43.680
and he just left it in there and just threw

403
00:19:43.720 --> 00:19:47.279
her body here, and then he killed Jackie. That was

404
00:19:47.319 --> 00:19:49.799
the beg. It was like September thirty, killed Jackie Leah,

405
00:19:49.960 --> 00:19:52.359
but he again he put he stuck the ice pick

406
00:19:52.359 --> 00:19:54.839
into her skull and left it there and tossed her.

407
00:19:54.960 --> 00:19:57.359
So I'm thinking, if you and Steve saw that ice

408
00:19:57.400 --> 00:19:59.599
pick with blood on it, like whose blood was it?

409
00:19:59.640 --> 00:20:01.440
Who else did he use that ice pit on?

410
00:20:02.279 --> 00:20:06.359
Between February and June of nineteen seventy nine, Bittaker and

411
00:20:06.440 --> 00:20:10.440
Norris prowled the streets, picking up more than twenty female hitchhikers.

412
00:20:10.720 --> 00:20:14.640
But these weren't their true targets, not yet. These rides

413
00:20:14.640 --> 00:20:18.799
were rehearsals, trial runs designed to perfect the ruses, to

414
00:20:18.920 --> 00:20:21.400
learn exactly how to make young women step into the

415
00:20:21.519 --> 00:20:25.440
van willingly. They were also scouting, searching for the perfect

416
00:20:25.480 --> 00:20:27.960
place to carry out what they had planned, and by

417
00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:31.880
late April they found it, a lonely fire road hidden

418
00:20:31.920 --> 00:20:35.680
deep in the San Gabriel Mountains. Larry smashed the locked

419
00:20:35.680 --> 00:20:38.680
gate with a crowbar, then replaced the lock with one

420
00:20:38.720 --> 00:20:41.680
of his own, and from then on that stretch of

421
00:20:41.680 --> 00:21:13.839
wilderness belonged to them or non