The Haunting Tale of Brenda Holland and The Lost Colony

Are you prepared to be captivated? This episode tells the haunting tale of Brenda Holland, a young woman brimming with dreams and aspirations, all while working amidst the enigma of the Lost Colony in North Carolina. Join us, as we journey with Brenda, from her ever-resilient upbringing to her sudden, chilling disappearance that left the community reeling.

Unravel, with us, the web of theories around Brenda's murder.  We'll probe into the dubious characters surrounding Brenda's life, the discovery of her body, and the botched investigation that followed, casting a stark light on law enforcement's negligence.

Finally, we delve deep into the suspects and the circumstantial pieces of evidence that bubbled up during the investigation. From Danny Barber and Rodney Brett's questionable alibis to the depression near the Lost Colony grounds, we'll navigate the murkiness of Brenda's tragic demise. Expect suspense, intrigue, and a whirlwind of emotions as you join us on this thrilling rollercoaster ride, seeking justice for Brenda Holland.

References:
The Lost Colony Murder on the Outter Banks: Seeking Justice for Brenda Holland by John Railey

Transcript

tiffany: 0:13

Welcome to Rogue and Wicked. I feel like Mercury is in lemonade again. Yeah, something's a little off. Yeah, I'm like so stressed out when I'm sitting here with the fucked up eye, my stigmatism is acting up. I can't see nothing. I think it's from stress. I'm not going to talk about my stress on here, but I'm just going to say that I love you guys and that's why I'm on here tonight, because I really didn't feel like being on here.

tiffany: 0:37

But, you know, I do have a cool case that I've been waiting to do and we had a little setback this week so we had to record a couple episodes this week and last week we had I had family visiting and everything, so it was a lot. Things are calm and down now and I'm hoping that everything's starting to run smoothly.

wendy: 0:54

Well, one good thing is, we both got off early today, yeah.

tiffany: 0:58

I'm glad that happened, because I needed a nap and I never got one. But at least I got to sit on TikTok for 20 minutes.

wendy: 1:05

I didn't get my nap either. I got home I thought I was going to take a nap, but then I ended up editing and time went by and then the next thing you know, I was back in Worcester again.

tiffany: 1:16

In Worcester. Back in Worcester again In the Worcester city.

wendy: 1:21

I fucking love Worcester. I do. It's such a sick thing. It's funny because I tell people that from Massachusetts all the time. If I see them in Florida or anywhere, I'm like, oh, you're from Mass, yeah, where are you from Worcester? They're making me that face, so that's always fun.

tiffany: 1:38

Yeah well, I wanted to talk about a case today that's really interesting. There's like a backstory that goes with this case. That's very mysterious. How intriguing it's a story from North Carolina about a missing person that-.

wendy: 1:52

Is it about Pedro?

tiffany: 1:53

No, but it's about Brenda Holland and the Lost Colony. So while I was looking up mysterious disappearances I stumbled upon the Lost Colony, which I'll get into later in the story. But connected to the Lost Colony was a murder mystery of Brenda Holland. The story was chock-full of suspicious characters and the writer of the Lost Colony murder on the Outer Banks seeking justice for Brenda Joyce Holland, by John Raleigh, almost but all solved the murder and if he didn't, it at least was a very good theory, to say the least. But we're going to rewind and start with Brenda's upbringing and work our way forward from there.

tiffany: 2:32

Brenda Holland was born on July 8, 1947 to parents Charles and Geraldine Holland. Charles was a militant, volatile, tempered, working-class guy. When he graduated high school it was straight to the paper mill, like so many others before him. Geraldine didn't make it past the seventh grade because she was forced to drop out of school. She became the caretakers for her younger siblings and did so out of duty. But later on Geraldine did get her GED. She was a smart woman, but it was the 1930s in the Midwest, so a smart woman didn't really matter much in that time period. Charles was also known as an abusive man who was a slap-and-strap kind of guy. He even had the nickname Shotgun because of his explosive temper. He beat his wife in front of the children and he beat his children with his belt.

wendy: 3:22

Is that what slap-and-strap?

tiffany: 3:23

means yeah, like slapping them around and hitting them with a belt, Is this?

wendy: 3:28

an old-time term, one of your amazing Tiffany terms.

tiffany: 3:32

Actually, I've read it in one of the books I read for one of the stories that we did on the podcast.

wendy: 3:38

Well, thank you, I'm going to use it for S&M. Now Proceed Slap-and-strap.

tiffany: 3:43

Alright, hey, use it when you can. I'm trying to think of the author's name, but I can't offhand remember it. It was the Iceman. It was the book I read on. The Iceman is where I read it.

wendy: 3:54

Ah, no shit.

tiffany: 3:55

Yeah, noted. Brenda became the caretaker of her younger siblings and was following in her mother's footsteps. She would often take her little brother out on dates which I thought was fucking adorable and she would take both of her siblings to church every Sunday. The kids were always seen clinging to Brenda as she was their protector and maternal figure in their lives. Brenda did well in school and always had good report cards. Her teachers doted on her because she was such a sweet girl and it probably helped that she had cute little pigtails and big doe eyes, which gave her an adorable girl next door quality. She became a member of the musical group the High Minstrels and absolutely loved it.

tiffany: 4:34

After she graduated from Canton High School, brenda's father was okay with the idea that she wanted to attend college, but Geraldine, she, wasn't so thrilled. Geraldine was a bit old-fashioned. She didn't see the importance of college. She didn't want her daughter to be far away from home, and Geraldine was from another time. She thought that women just didn't do that sort of thing. So she tried to talk Brenda out of it.

tiffany: 4:58

Dr Matthews, a friend of the family and a man who delivered Brenda as a baby, decided to gift her tuition money to get into Campbell College. Brenda loved the drama program and spent most of her time making costumes for plays. But she wasn't making enough money to support herself, so she wrote her parents a letter stating that it was too costly to live at the dorm, that she had found new living arrangements with a widow on the edge of town for $20 a month. The first year was a bit wobbly. Brenda had some health issues and wanted to take better care of herself. When she had gotten better, brenda went to Moorhead City in North Carolina for a literary retreat. Then she traveled back to Campbell for exams. She had written her folks about signing a contract so she could work at the Lost Colony in the Outer Banks.

wendy: 5:48

What is a literary retreat? That sounds amazing.

tiffany: 5:51

I knew you were going to say something about that. I think it's just like a book retreat, where you talk about literature.

wendy: 6:00

Oh my God, that sounds amazing.

tiffany: 6:03

Yeah, I mean at the time period, that's what I would think it would have been, because she was in college and she was in all that. She was in a film and literature. So I think that that would be a cool thing for her to do and I think that's exactly what it was.

wendy: 6:16

She seems so cool making costumes, going to literary retreats. She just seems like somebody we would really vibe with.

tiffany: 6:22

Hell yeah, when I was reading this I was like Brenda seems like a badass. She seems cool as shit. When you hear about her life as she's in college and stuff, she sounds like she was a blast to hang out with too.

wendy: 6:33

Yeah, she sounds just like she's right on our algorithm. We'd chill with her.

tiffany: 6:37

Hell yeah, this was Brenda's dream job. The Lost Colony was a play and she wanted to work on the set of the Lost Colony because it was a pretty big deal. It was in the same neighborhood that Andy Griffith lived, and you know who Andy Griffith is, right.

wendy: 6:52

I know that name. I think he has a show right.

tiffany: 6:55

Yeah, he was on the Andy Griffith show you don't remember the Andy Griffith.

wendy: 7:02

I've heard of the show but I've never watched it Really.

tiffany: 7:05

He was the Andy Griffith, he was the cop, I think, on the show the goofy cop.

wendy: 7:11

Oh my god, wait a minute. Is he that tall, lanky, dopey guy that looks like he has Mick Jagger's mouth? Oh my, god, he's.

tiffany: 7:19

No, he's the dad, not the cop. Was I right about the cop, though? Well, yeah, he is the one with the soggy mouth.

wendy: 7:29

Yeah, he has the Mick Jagger mouth and those big doughy eyes like the one you're talking about the dad.

tiffany: 7:33

Yeah, he was the hot one, yeah.

wendy: 7:35

Yeah, he was the sexy one with the dark hair.

tiffany: 7:38

Yeah, I'm such a moron. I'm sitting here picturing the dopey cop like the whole time reading the story and I was wrong and it was like the wrong guy.

wendy: 7:46

Well, that was good for your lapido, yeah exactly.

tiffany: 7:49

It kept me focused. She was hired and a few weeks after Easter Sunday, brenda told her parents that she wouldn't be able to visit before she started her new job at the Lost Colony. Oddly enough, brenda's little brother had gotten some really bad vibes when Brenda said that she wasn't stopping home before starting her new job. He vocalized his concerns. Couldn't do anything about what he was feeling, and so he just brushed it off but later realized that there was more to that feeling than just nerves. Brenda packed up all her stuff, said goodbye to her dormitory and put her things in the back of Darryl Midget's car. Darryl and Brenda were really good friends and she asked him to drive her to this new boarding house in the Outer Banks. From where Brenda was staying to where the set of the Lost Colony was was like a four-hour drive.

tiffany: 8:40

Now where the Lost Colony was was on Roanoke Island, and Roanoke is like a haven for spirits, paranormal activity and everything, and it's got a history. Roanoke Island is about 10 miles long and three miles wide, so it's not a huge place. It's more like a small fishing town. Originally it was inhabited by the Algonquin Native Americans. It was a harsh life on the island, but the natives fished in the beautiful sound and built thatch huts. They contended with disease and death, but they lived there for generations, so it was a shock when it was ripped away from them in 1584.

wendy: 9:20

I love that tribe and at one point, before I had my ancestry done and my DNA checked, I thought I was part of it, so I did a little bit of research on it. Were you part of it? No, no.

tiffany: 9:31

I was not.

wendy: 9:35

There goes my favorite Indigenous side.

tiffany: 9:38

Aw yeah, I know I don't have a Lick a Native American in me Either. My grandma said that she was like part Native American, but I don't think she was, and so I, my mom, I got her something for Christmas, but I can't, I can't say what it is on here, but I'm hoping that she can find out what she is so that I can find out if there is any like Native American in there. But I don't, I don't think that there is.

wendy: 10:03

I remember we both thought we were Native American when we first met each other. Yeah, and neither one of us are. You know, not one fucking percent, nope.

tiffany: 10:13

Manteo was the leader of the Native American clan that met with Philip and Arthur. They had never seen a white man before, nor had Philip or Arthur seen a Native man before, but Manteo befriended the two and acted as a guide and interpreter for the English colonizers, and at one point, during their stranger arrangement, manteo even moved to England for a short while to learn of the white man's culture.

wendy: 10:39

Fuck during the 16th century, yeah.

tiffany: 10:42

And so there's like a little like side quest story about why Manteo like went there to learn of the white man's culture, and it wasn't like he just like voluntarily went, it was something to do with his daughter which became an issue at some point. And I didn't read the whole story because it was long. So if you want to research Roanoke Island, you can research it on your own time if you want. It's really interesting the story, but I made it into a very summarized little side story here.

wendy: 11:13

Well, knowing about white colonists, his daughter was probably raped and brought there.

tiffany: 11:19

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it was like that.

wendy: 11:21

But it was probably something like that. Yeah, he must have been demonstrably disappointed out there.

tiffany: 11:27

I heard on a podcast the story of Roanoke and I remember them saying something about that. But because in the book that I read they didn't talk about why he went there, aside from the fact that he went to learn of the white man's culture, quote unquote I didn't put it in the story because I didn't have references for it. So I didn't want to like misspeak and say the wrong thing. So I only put factual stuff that was in the book in here. So it's like a summary. But by 1587, raleigh led an expedition to bring more colonizers to the island to take shit over. They built a village. John White, the governor of the colony, and his daughter Eleanor joined Raleigh on this expedition around Oki Island. Unfortunately, the colonizers and the natives started clashing. John White left to get more supplies and didn't return until 1590. When he returned the entire colony was nowhere to be found. They had vanished. There were carvings in the trees that said Croatoan, which made him think that the colony might have migrated inland and blended with the natives, or maybe something more sinister happened.

wendy: 12:37

Wait a minute. What year was this? Again, this was 15. What?

tiffany: 12:40

90.

wendy: 12:40

1590. So this was preceding John D and Edward Kelly in Great Britain, right.

tiffany: 12:47

Yeah, I believe so.

wendy: 12:48

Okay, well, any of those hypotheses are out the window anyway, because I think he was what? Born in 1555, so he would have been. It's still possible.

tiffany: 12:56

Would have been like 45 or something.

wendy: 12:59

Then it still is possible. I have some theories on that but I don't want to sidetrack you too much on them. But you guys might want to look up, just for the sake of good measure, edward Kelly and John D, because there was some mysterious stuff happening about people disappearing during that time. Huh, interesting as opposed to magic, alchemy, all that wonderful shit that I'm into.

tiffany: 13:21

Yeah, well, this story has a little bit of that. So you know they think that something more sinister could have happened. But these settlers were never found again, not even inland, nor were the Native American clan. It was like the entire colony just vanished in a thin air and from that day forward the Roanoke people were known as the Lost Colony. During the Civil War, the island was inhabited by runaway slaves, who turned the island into a free man's land. But just two years after the Civil War started, the runaway slaves were kicked off the island and the white man did what they do best Find a good thing and take it for themselves.

wendy: 13:58

And this, you guys, is called an apartheid or a cultural cleansing.

tiffany: 14:03

Yeah, that sucks. Poor guys. They're on the island just chilling, having their own life, doing their thing, and then you're just kicked off the island. It's bullshit. But back to the story. During their scenic drive to the Lost Colony, Daryl pointed out the set to Brenda, the one she was going to work on, which was at the Southside Theater. She was beyond ecstatic to be living the dream on this beautiful island, with the crashing waves and the smell of salt water in the air. The pair arrived at the house of Cora and Dick Gray Tweeford. They greeted Brenda and showed her her room. I'm avoiding. Well, you're going to make a dick joke.

wendy: 14:41

I'm fighting the urge.

tiffany: 14:44

I know I hate the name.

wendy: 14:45

Dick, dick and then the name that followed. It was just perfect to make so many fun.

tiffany: 14:55

I know it's a funny name. Brenda's roommate was Molly Black, a student at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, who also happened to be working at the Lost Colony with Brenda. Brenda had gotten along with the theater hands and was quick to make friends. Irene Reigns became Brenda's ride to and from work. Irene was someone that Brenda looked up to. She was a costume designer who had been in the business for over 25 years, so it's safe to say that Brenda was in awe of her wisdom and experience. And, Brenda, she was quick to get into a relationship with Daryl, you know the guy that drove her down to the Lost Colony, her BFF. But as summer progressed, she started dating an actor from the Lost Colony named Danny Barber, who was a chorus singer and attended Carolina. He was described as someone who was casual but had a flair of stylish clothes, and Brenda's relationship with Danny was not exclusive. She was dating multiple men in addition to Danny. That's what I'm saying. You get it, girl. Oh shit, she was ahead of her time. That's what I'm saying. Rob Breeze was one of the other men that Brenda was dating. Sadly, Brenda was quoted as saying that she was afraid that he was going to try to take advantage of her. Irene told Brenda to use caution while dating Rob because he had a reputation of quote-on-quote getting fresh. I hate it when they say that you mean he rapes women, especially when dates went past 11 pm. Brenda told Irene that she could handle herself. But could she?

tiffany: 16:26

When Brenda wasn't out on the town with the local men, she was hanging out at the beach with her friend Molly. They would hang out at the outer banks at night and stop off for a few beers at the local watering hole, which was called the Dafty Tavern and I can never say that the dafty tavern is how you're supposed to say it, but I always say the dafty tavern like I'm from the Midwest, and it was described as a dive bar on the south. You know right by Nag's head, and the seaman would hang out at that place and it was known by the locals that you avoid eye contact with the fishermen because they would get in a brawl on the regular at that place. The casino and the hillhouse were places that you could go after hours to party and hang out at and the police would often break up fights at the casino because it would get rather rowdy there.

wendy: 17:18

Casinos are dangerous, all of them.

tiffany: 17:21

I know everybody's always getting into some shit at the casino and it's one of the most addicting things too. It's the truth Shit. You put in like a hundred dollar bill and you're and I'm out of it in 15 minutes and I'm like where'd all my money go?

wendy: 17:34

You're smart, though, because you're not too far from Atlantic City and you could do that anytime you want, and you really don't. I'm so proud of you for that.

tiffany: 17:41

Yeah, no, I don't. I don't because it's too much you can use everything that way.

wendy: 17:47

We have one too, not too far from us, and I don't go to that one either. In fact, when I go to Vegas, I don't gamble there either. There's so much better shit I want to waste my money on.

tiffany: 17:56

Yeah, it's like taking dollar bills a hundred dollar bills and just throwing them out the window of your car.

wendy: 18:01

It is, it is. That's what it looks like when I watch it. When I watch other people do it, I'm like what the fuck is wrong with you? I?

tiffany: 18:06

know, I know it's fun, I guess, but yeah, it's like it literally is like throwing money out the window. Also, the crowds around the touristy areas are mainly out of towners, getting lit and getting into fights, baby. But Brenda had soon learned why. Irene warned her about Robb Ries. She had a traumatic experience and told Irene that she thought of herself as no good, which I felt really sad for her, like when she said that, because when you call yourself no good after you have a bad experience with a dude, then like he must have done something to like destroy your self-esteem and that in itself is no good. Amen to that. And of course Irene reassured her that that wasn't true. But regardless, whatever happened that night had really affected Brenda. Brenda told Irene that she wasn't going to see Robb anymore because she was ghosting him. He started stalking her. Robb was showing up at the boarding house and even had his friends calling her because she didn't want to talk to him. But no matter what, he just was not backing off.

tiffany: 19:08

The next weekend was Brenda's 20th birthday. She wrote a letter to her folks. She got dressed and left the house in a really cute little outfit. She had on like a cute little skirt, this cool top. She had like this leopard leotard underneath or whatever. It was like a onesie thing and she had this cute little handbag, rope straps and everything.

tiffany: 19:32

And the next night was the play it was happening at the playhouse and everyone's rushing around backstage. So Cora Twyford was upset because Molly checked in the boarding house at 7 pm but Brenda wasn't there. Cora told Irene, irene told John Fox. John Fox was like the manager of the play so he took care of everyone backstage and knew everything that was going on. But John was really nervous when he had gotten the news that Brenda never made it home, because it wasn't like Brenda to miss work. Cora told the pair that the night before Brenda had left with Danny Barber for a date. So during the intermission John grabs Danny because he's an actor in the play and confronts him about the last time that he had seen Brenda. Danny claimed that he saw her at 2 am that morning and that he had let her out at the boarding house on the porch. Then he claimed to have waited until he saw her like walk in. Cora knew that Danny was lying and she called him out right to his fucking face and said she'd never come home that night. Then Danny said that he and Brenda fell asleep on his bed and when he woke up she was already gone. Being that Brenda was also seeing Rob Barreys around that time, john and Irene call him at his business. Rob sounded alarmed when he found out that Brenda was missing and said that he hadn't seen her in at least a week.

tiffany: 20:55

At that point John Fox called the sheriff's office to report Brenda missing and then hung out backstage. He was listening in a people's chatter, hoping that he could find out more information to give to authorities. At 6 am on Sunday morning John called the police to say that he was really worried about Brenda. The dispatcher decided to interrupt the sheriff's church service because John Fox was a big shot. So John tells the sheriff everything that he was told. He mentioned his run-in with Danny to the sheriff so he went to go pay Danny a visit. When he arrived it was approximately 8 30 am. He noticed two cars on the driveway a white 1963 Chevy Corvier Is that how you say that, corvair, corvier?

wendy: 21:42

I have no idea. I know about a Chevy Corvette, but that's about it.

tiffany: 21:45

No, it's not one of those. I'm gonna say Corvair, corvair, Corvair, there you go. Sounds more fancy and a black 1964 Falcon. Danny's roommate, rodney Brett, answered the door and he appeared really nervous when he recognized the sheriff because, remember, it's a small town. Rodney woke Danny up at the sheriff's request and said that he had to go to work. So Rodney took off.

tiffany: 22:11

The sheriff asked Danny about Brenda's whereabouts, but he gave the same account that he gave to John Fox the night before. Danny told the sheriff that he had another roommate named Earl and that he was out of town visiting his girlfriend. When the sheriff asked if Earl would have been hanging around with Brenda, danny was adamant that that was not the case. The sheriff had nothing else to go on, so he let Danny go. John Fox and the sheriff decided to alert Brenda's parents that she hadn't returned to the boarding house and that she was missing. The sheriff organized a search party that went from Danny's house to Brenda's boarding house to see if they can find any clues along the way. The two alerted reporters in hopes that the publicity would drum up some new leads, and the sheriff followed up with Danny's housemates. Rodney Brett was interviewed and he was extremely nervous while talking to the sheriff, like everyone just seems nervous in this situation, I guess because they're all like, oh god, they're gonna pin it on me.

wendy: 23:10

Yeah, he's an accent.

tiffany: 23:12

He mentioned that he heard a woman up in Danny's room having sex with him. At about 7 or 8 am he heard either a cat scratching on his window or maybe someone going out the front door. Then Rodney said he was nervous about staying in the house and he told his boss he was thinking of leaving. That raised a lot of concerns with the police department but ultimately they had to let Rodney go because they had nothing to keep him there. The sheriff had a hard time trying to get a hold of Brenda's parents. He tried calling but nothing. Brenda's sister heard Brenda was missing on this missing person's report on the AM radio. She and her husband drove to the police station to find out what was going on. The dispatcher said that the police had been trying to get a hold of Brenda's parents but had no luck. So Brenda's sister told him that they could find her parents at the trailer in the woods Did they didn't have any means of communication out there. Kent police were dispatched to the Lake Glenville trailer and were confronted by Shotgun who was Brenda's dad, if you remember, and he drove back to Manteo with his wife to help find Brenda.

tiffany: 24:18

75 searchers descended into the thick woods between the two locations of Burnside Road. The team consisted of locals, the police and the Lost Colony members. Robert Midget told the sheriff that early on Monday morning he heard some noises outside of his home. He heard a car that sounded like it was about to cut off approximately 120 yards from his home. The car stopped for like three minutes. When he heard the neighbor's dog run up on the car and start growling, robert got up to look out of the window, but the car was too far down for him to see. What he did remember was the man who was driving the car got out and said this dog is a big dog. It sounds like You're killing me right now.

tiffany: 25:08

Well, it does. It sounds like something somebody would say out in the middle of the night, down in like South Carolina right now, there's a big dog.

wendy: 25:18

I feel so immersed and connected with the characters, though, so you're doing a great job, oh good.

tiffany: 25:24

He didn't hear the dog bark anymore, but he did hear tools clanging. It was a little after 3 am when he looked at the clock. Then everything went silent for like 30 minutes. Later he heard a woman screaming like she was trying to make an O sound, but then again everything went silent for another 30 minutes. Then Robert heard a scraping sound along the side of the road. He likened it to a hoe scraping across the pavement. And after a few more minutes he heard the car start back up and drive off and when he looked at the clock it was 5 am.

tiffany: 26:02

Robert was a supervisor at Dare County Liquor Store. He overheard a conversation between a local black man named George King and the sales manager. George mentioned that he had found a wallet and showed it to the sales manager. She told George that Brenda's ID was in the billfold and that she was the missing girl. That was all over the news. So the sales manager told him to take it to the sheriff's office. But the sheriff said that George King never stopped by to deliver the wallet. George King was a black man during the 1960s in the south, so it wasn't out of scope to think that he just didn't want to get involved and have anything pinned on him.

tiffany: 26:43

He had some courage doing that in the first place. Well, you didn't know that it was Brenda's wallet, though.

wendy: 26:49

Good point, but I mean at that time we're talking about a while. I would have been terrified to even present anybody with any wallet in the south being a black man.

tiffany: 26:59

Yeah because they could have easily said like you stole it.

wendy: 27:04

Yeah, you stole it, even if it didn't consist of anything regarding a murder, just the fact that I found this wallet. Sure, you did.

tiffany: 27:12

You stole that, no poor guy I know Well. The sheriff knew George was a local drunkard and he had a low level education and was completely harmless. Once he interviewed George he knew he was right and that George had nothing to do with it. But he did want to know the exact location where George found the wallet so that maybe he could locate Brenda. So George agreed to take the sheriff to the location and pointed out the spot where he found the wallet. On the other side of the road the police found a blue and white canvas shoulder bag with rope straps and an eyebrow pencil and a comb. These items were identified by Brenda's roommate as being hers.

tiffany: 27:52

The police sent a dive team to the pond that was nearby to see if they could find Brenda's body. Unfortunately, hours of searching the pond proved to be anticlimactic. Police canvassed the area, asking residents who were close to where the screams were heard if they themselves heard anything. Other neighbors heard the scream also, but because this neighborhood was near the lower income neighborhood, the neighbors didn't pay much attention. The one neighbor said that the blacks screamed all hours of the night, so he didn't pay attention. When he heard someone scream outside he thought it was a black person, except he didn't use the word black, insert explicit language of your imagination here. With no new leads, the sheriff organized an investigational team of five veteran state bureau of investigation agents called the SBI, not the FBI. The SBI Also, brenda's father, shotgun, went out onto the streets strapped with a handgun, asking locals around town if they heard anything about his second oldest daughter. Shotgun was stunned when he saw Brenda's appearance in the newspaper. See, he and his wife had no idea that Brenda cut all her hair off and dyed a blonde, a secret that she kept to the grave because she knew her parents wouldn't approve. But soon after a few more items of Brenda's were discovered. Lipstick, mascara, a copy of Zorba the Greek, a prescription and a Valentine's Day card were found along the road leading to the last colony's theater. Brenda's sandals were found along US 64 West right before the bridge to Mans Harbor.

tiffany: 29:31

On July 6th at 10.15 am, major John King of the North Carolina Civil Air Patrol noticed what he thought was someone floating in the water, an albormoral sound. Floating face up was the body of a woman near the shoreline. The sheriff raced to Brenda's body, which was down a desolate dirt road to the Michouz. The Michouz was the end of the road where all the fishing shacks were at. Also, there was a vacation home of a dentist named Jim Henson. The sheriff asked Henson if they could use his boat to get the body in the sound. Henson manned the boat and off they went. He and the dentist used the tarp to pull the body into the boat.

tiffany: 30:09

She was bloated and badly decomposed. There were lacerations on her neck and face, along with multiple burzes. There were markings across her back and she only had a few strands of hair left in her head. She was wearing a maroon skirt, a leopard print top and that was it, nothing else. Just by the clothes alone the sheriff knew that it was Brenda and when they got back to the machoos they pulled up to the dock in the sheriff radio dispatch.

tiffany: 30:35

At this point he had one prime suspect Danny Barber. The sheriff had Danny brought to the scene to identify the body, which is not typical protocol, but he was hoping he could trip Danny up. Dr Henson looked at her teeth and said that they were loose, as if someone had hit her in the mouth. Dr Harvey said the body had been in the water for several days, but that's all he could say without the pathologist examination. Dr Harvey was the coroner. Once Danny Barber arrived, the sheriff wanted him to incriminate himself. When Danny looked at her, he said he knew it was Brenda because of the necklace she was wearing. The sheriff thought he had his man, but he let Danny go home after identifying Brenda's body and then royally fucked up the crime scene by letting inexperienced people just have their way with it. Ugh, I know A Cock Brown.

tiffany: 31:25

The medical examiner removed Brenda's necklace while he was photographing the body. As he was taking it from her neck the skin tore off, which compromised the state of the body. Then he took the necklace to the water to wash it off, destroying any evidence on the jewelry. Then he handed the necklace to the sheriff with his fingerprints all the fuck over it. The sheriff had the body transported to the Virginia State Medical Examiner, which was like hours away, and he left the driver alone with the body, which was extremely negligent. She was considered evidence, so someone else in law enforcement should have driven with her in the hearse. The death was reported to Brenda's parents, who were devastated. That was really sloppily handled on their part. I know like isn't that wild, like just it's like they, it's like they didn't care. No, they didn't, they were just like taking things off the body, like without even bagging them or checking them or nothing, just with their like bare-ass hands. Shit blows my mind the whole 1960s of it all.

wendy: 32:26

I understand it was in the 1960s, but we've done cases during that time period where they had a much better protocol than this. That is just eerily sloppy.

tiffany: 32:36

Well, you'll find out why they mishandled the evidence later on. So the death was reported to Brenda's parents, who were devastated. The sheriff asked Brenda's roommate, molly, to give them more information on the blouse that she was wearing, because she was found without it. It was a three-quarter sleeve multicolored button-up blouse with a small collar. The sheriff gave the necklace to Brenda's father Again. Evidence in her murder now has three people's fingerprints on it and he got to keep it Brenda's father. So they didn't even bag it and keep it for evidence. It's just gone. Now her dad has it and he also collected the clothes that she was wearing that Friday night, along with a few strands of hair from a curling iron. News of Brenda's body being found rocked the entire island. The locals were talking nonstop about it. The bars were filled with chatter. Stuff like that didn't happen in Manteo. Some people were scared that it might happen to someone else. Others thought that Brenda had committed suicide. Brenda was examined and norfolk what weighs out the suicide?

wendy: 33:38

prospect is the fact that it seemed like her teeth were knocked out, or they were loose. What did she do? Punch yourself in the fucking face.

tiffany: 33:46

Well, if she would have jumped off the bridge because she was found in the water, then she probably could have knocked her teeth out, but there's like lacerations on her, yeah it doesn't sound like she jumped off a bridge.

wendy: 33:57

It sounds like she was cut and beat up. Yeah, I know.

tiffany: 34:00

It was locals, just like talking shit. Yeah, Brenda was examined and norfolk and the pathologist said that her cause of death was ligature strangulation. The ligature was a three-quarter inch crisscross pattern which appeared to be some sort of rope. Her vagina had some lacerations on it and her hymen was torn, suggesting rape. She had contusions on the scalp, face, left arm, chest, left thigh and left ankle. What confused pathologists was that her teddy and skirt were completely intact, as if she hadn't been raped. So if she had been raped, it wouldn't make sense that all of her clothes were put back on and that she was dumped. So it's possible that she had been raped days before her murder. The pathologist thought that there would be no way the killer could have been the one to rape her. So in his report he wrote she may have been raped, but it was obvious that she had been raped. She just hadn't been raped that day, which gives you a lot to ponder about that dude that she was seeing weeks before, the one that liked to have his way with women.

tiffany: 35:03

Yeah that scumbag. We'll talk about him in a little bit. The funeral was held on July 9th in Canton and it was a closed casket because of the decomposition of Brenda's body. Her family and friends attended to say their goodbyes and in front was her shiny casket draped in beautiful flowers, and on a pedestal stood a large photo of Brenda for everyone to see, smiling and happy. Brenda was buried on a vacant hill that she used to play on as a child. On her tombstone it said always thinking of others, she walked in beauty and grace. Most of Brenda's Manteo friends took the drive to attend her funeral, but Danny Barber never went.

tiffany: 35:42

Danny was picked up by SBI agents and taken into the station to get a confession. There were four officers and Dan. They went hard on him. Danny was terrified that they were going to pin it on him and send him to the gas chamber. In his official statement he said Friday night they were all at the Lost Colony, that they left together at 1130, that they had a beer at the Dafty Tavern Say, I keep saying it, at last call the Dafty Tavern.

tiffany: 36:08

Charlie and Danny shot pool while Charlie's girl and Brenda talked. They left at approximately 12.45 am and then they went to Jeanette's Pier to watch people shark fish, which is an awesome time, by the way, I love doing that. They ran into Houston Waters and talked to him for a while. They stayed until about 1.30 am and then headed up to Jockey Ridge. They arrived back at Danny's house around like 2 to 2.15 am.

tiffany: 36:35

Danny's roommates' cars were both there. They had been downstairs but decided to go upstairs because they didn't want to wake Rodney. So, of course, brenda and Danny, they sat on Danny's bed and they were flipping through some Playboy magazine. They made out a little bit, according to Danny, but they didn't have sex. They passed the book back and forth and Danny claimed to have fallen asleep. When he woke up, she was gone. He stated that he had been out three times in total and that this was their first time that she had been in his room. Also, she mentioned that she had been out with Rob Breeze and that he had been extremely rough with her, so much so that she was repulsed and her entire outlook on life had changed, which makes you think that Rob Breeze may have been the one who raped her.

wendy: 37:20

That's possible. I mean, for some reason I'm not getting a guilty vibe from him, but I feel like I'm making this based on hardly any evidence.

tiffany: 37:27

Yeah well, you'll say, I have a theory of my own about Danny Barber also.

wendy: 37:33

Also I kind of find it hard to believe that they weren't making out and looking at a Playboy magazine and he just fell asleep.

tiffany: 37:39

Yeah, it's weird what on a set of blue balls. Yeah, it's a little strange. The police had to let him go because they had nothing on him, but they theorized that he got her up in his room so that he could fool around with her, raped her and then strangled her, that he lost control of himself when she thwarted his advances and dumped her body in the water. They also suspected Rodney Brett because his car was backfiring and the witness said that when he heard the scream he also heard someone having car trouble. Rodney was nervous, living in the home. As he told the police earlier, he had traded cars because his was acting up. And they also heard that Rodney was struggling with being gay. So of course they assumed that he this is what they, this is what they assumed that he hated women because he didn't want to sleep with them and killed Brenda because of his impulses to have sex with men.

tiffany: 38:26

Oh, the 1960s of it all, I thought that was a little reaching for straws, there it's also a little backwards.

wendy: 38:34

Yeah, because he's not resent. They don't usually kill women when they fail that way. Based on our studies, it's usually the men they kill, because Because of the shame and guilt.

tiffany: 38:44

Yeah yeah, rodney was interrogated next and his official statement was that he went to bed, was half asleep when he heard someone come in the front door. He didn't hear anything that would indicate a second person walking up the stairs, to his recollection. After a few minutes he heard a girl whispering twice. The bed began to squeak with regularity as if someone was having intercourse. Rodney fell asleep and woke up to the neighborhood cat clawing up the screen. He heard someone trying to sneak down the stairway as quiet as they could. Rodney heard the screen door cautiously open and that was it. No cars started, no outside noises. He fell back asleep and went to work around 7.45 am the next night. At 9.30, danny told Rodney that he had a girl over and that she went missing. Then he asked Rodney if he had seen her in the living room before he went to work, but Rodney responded that he did not. Then, weirdly enough, at 1 am the next night, danny tells Rodney that he didn't have sex with Brenda. But Rodney told him that he didn't believe him because he heard them having sex Like he heard the bed squeaking with regularity.

tiffany: 39:53

Police asked Rodney why he left town on Tuesday and Wednesday, when he knew that Brenda was missing, he told police that his car was acting up so he decided to trade it in at the dealership the same day that he was visiting with his mother. He called when that the police were looking for him and the rumor was that the police believed that he had dug a hole and put Brenda in it, or at least that's what he heard. He was told that the police searched his old Falcon at the dealership parking lot because he was a suspect. Even his boss was threatened and called the sheriff because he left town. The police took a few key notes from this interview. One was that Rodney's car was skipping like crazy, which could put him at the scene of Brenda's murder. Because the witness heard a backfiring car, the police thought back to a depression that they saw. It looked like a fresh grave was dug and it was near the lost colony grounds where Brenda worked. It was a depression that was four inches deep, five feet long and 30 inches wide. The depression was found near a set of tire tracks in the pines, and near the suspected grave was a gas receipt signed by Rodney Brett. But police were forced to let him go because of lack of evidence. The police are going to focus on more suspects and more circumstantial evidence in the next episode.

tiffany: 41:08

So I'm going to have to end it here so that we can pick up next week with a plethora of people who just happened to be out during the time that Brenda went missing. And if you're interested in checking out this book, I'll post it in the show notes because it was an affordable short read with a ton of awful twists and turns and I literally was at the edge of my seat the whole time and I left a lot of information out of the podcast because you need to buy the book. So there's so much that I haven't gone over. So check it out. But with Rodney, I feel like it's possible that he was telling the truth about Danny having sex with Brenda because of the fact that her hymen was torn and stuff. But I feel like if he had raped her she would have probably made noise, unless he had his hand over her face.

wendy: 41:52

There are so many potentialities in this one because she was social, she was an extrovert, she was a free spirit and it sounded like she surrounded herself by some shit bags.

tiffany: 42:03

Yeah, she did. I mean, there was a bunch of guys. I mean Danny Barber was actually kind of respected, but you know, because of this case people started questioning. They always thought that he was the one that killed Brenda. But I don't know if I believe that or not because there's more better suspects later on in the story. But I don't put it past anybody.

wendy: 42:23

Well, we've learned so often that a lot of the unassuming respected ones are the serial killers.

tiffany: 42:28

Yeah, but what I'm saying is is I'm not saying he's a killer, I'm saying I believe that it's possible that he may have raped her.

wendy: 42:35

Right, well, I mean, you know a lot more information at this point, so I can't wait to know what happens next. Yeah, and.

tiffany: 42:41

I also think it's possible that the other guy could have raped her too. The one that gets fresh, if you have.

wendy: 42:46

she felt ashamed she might not say anything. Well, yeah.

tiffany: 42:49

I mean in either circumstance. But like I don't know, I don't know. I just think it's weird that he's lying about the bed squeaking.

wendy: 42:56

Right. Well, I don't know. I think that the receipt, as well as the gas receipt and the hole that was dug was pretty suspect.

tiffany: 43:05

Yeah, that's weird too, but then remember she was found in the water. Yeah, I do, I do, but I mean, so it's like, what was that hole about?

wendy: 43:14

Well, was he planning on doing that? And then, just you know, like on Death Becomes Her, where they plot out this scene, where they're going to kill her and they're going to make it seem like she got into a car accident, but instead he ends up. Well, well shit, I'm just going to push her down the stairs Like we don't know what could have happened.

tiffany: 43:31

No, but it would be like nonsensical to dig a giant hole and then like fill it back in with dirt and there's no body in it. You know what I mean. Like it's just really strange.

wendy: 43:42

He's like I want to kill her like this, but I'm going to kill her like that. Oh shit, they're going to suspect I'm the one who killed her like this, if they noticed the hole.

tiffany: 43:50

Maybe, but like I think I'd be more careful about my receipts if I was digging holes. You know what I mean that are like human sized you know was here signed, yeah, signed. Rodney Brett.

wendy: 44:05

Well, I can't wait to get the rest of this one, because now I'm swimming with ideas and I have nothing to pin any of them on they're just swimming randomly and abstractly right now.

tiffany: 44:17

Yeah, well, we'll see that there's. There's it breaks it down and the author all but solved the case.

wendy: 44:22

Oh you do so good with these books, because I know that you get so inundated with details. It's hard to choose which ones to latch on to when you write these things.

tiffany: 44:30

I like the who donuts, but there are a lot to read.

wendy: 44:35

All right, well, thanks. Awesome job, Tiff. I can't wait till next week.

tiffany: 44:38

Yeah, I'm excited too. So, all right, if you'd like to check us out on Facebook, instagram, twitter, youtube or TikTok, then you can find us under rogue and wicked podcast. If you'd like to join our Patreon and become a subscriber, then you can find us at wwwpatreoncom. Slash rogue and wicked. Our tier one listeners get pictures, polls and exclusive content. Our tier two listeners get all that plus a bonus episode monthly. Our tier three listeners get two bonus episodes monthly and all tiers get a shout out on the pod. Grab a copy of Wendy's book Sage. It's available at roguepoetnet. Any cool stories, questions or case suggestions should be sent to our email at rogueandwicked, at yahoocom. And don't forget to give us a five star review on Spotify, apple podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts. The more reviews that we get, the more pod episodes that we can bring to you. Thanks for listening and until next time.