Into the Shadows: The Intriguing Mystery of Brenda Holland's Murder and The Enigma of Dr. Linus Edwards

Who can forget the chilling case of Brenda Holland's murder in the 1960s? As we delve into the eerie details of the investigation, we'll shine a light on the Sheriff's team's bungled crime scene management and the mysterious loss of vital evidence. We'll also introduce you to David Whaley, a more recent suspect, and explore the fascinating theories surrounding this bewildering case. We aim to penetrate the shroud of secrecy that continues to surround Brenda's murder, and just for a change of pace, we'll also share our plans to cover shorter cases on our TikTok account.

Experience a whirlwind of suspicion and intrigue as we dissect the involvement of prime suspects, including David, a local waiter with a checkered past, John Daniels, and the perplexing Dr. Linus Edwards. We'll navigate the strange circumstances around Dr. Edwards' death and its possible connection to Brenda's murder. We'll also map out the tragic tale of Dottie, Dr. Edwards' wife, her mysterious disappearance, and the locals' unshakeable belief in her husband's guilt despite no exhaustive investigation.

Prepare for an emotional rollercoaster. This episode is a labyrinth of crime, mystery, and heartbreak that will leave you questioning everything you thought you knew about the chilling case of Brenda Holland's murder. So brace yourself, sit tight, and get ready for an episode that will certainly leave you on the edge of your seat.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

If it had been in a city, I would have had a mask for her in 2015. I would have killed her until they got me down. I wouldn't have been able to waste my way out of it. They are a product of the times that these are bloodthirsty times.

Speaker 2: 0:13

Welcome to Rogue and Wicked. I got my tea ready. It's um Tazo Mmm, orange, uh something, but it's good. Tangerine Dream or some shit, I don't remember what it's called.

Speaker 1: 0:27

I have the best tea collection ever and I spilled water in the bowl and I keep all my tea in and I just hadn't had tea in a while, got back to it and all my tea bags were moldy. And I had an exquisite collection too, from all over the fucking place. Yeah, mine's like a small collection.

Speaker 2: 0:44

I have like Tazo and that's pretty much it. And I have like one other brand and I can't remember the name of it off hand, but it's also good. Oh, I think it's called Stash. I think that was the name of it, Stash. I don't know. We're not being sponsored by these tea companies, I just like them.

Speaker 1: 1:00

I have a whole damn alchemy kit for my tea man and I'm really upset about this. The honey is still there. The THC to put in the honey is there. Everything except the tea bags.

Speaker 2: 1:11

Oh well, you have to get one of them tea balls.

Speaker 1: 1:12

Oh great, I'm not going to take that out of context.

Speaker 2: 1:14

No, but you can. They're great, I love them. You put the loose tea in them and then you just dip them in the water and it's like having a tea bag, but you don't have to have the bag. But before we spilled the tea, I wanted to make an announcement.

Speaker 2: 1:28

We can't cover every single case that everybody requests because there isn't enough for us to research for some of these. I mean, there'll be like one article sometimes and then I try to pull from it, and then people are like I want to know about it but like I only can get as much information as, like, say, you could do in research. So you know, I decided to try something new, which was to make a video of me talking about a true crime story on our TikTok that I can cover in less than 10 minutes. It seemed to generate a positive response from our listeners, so I'm going to keep the momentum going. So if you made a listener request and don't hear it on the podcast, it's because I decided it was too short of a new story to cover on here and geared more towards our TikTok.

Speaker 1: 2:11

Yes, and likewise I'm going to be doing exactly the same thing because there have been some requests from like Worcester and I want to cover a lot in my local town, but unfortunately these are unsolved mysteries and I can only dig up so much information for these things.

Speaker 2: 2:25

So our TikTok name is Rogan Wicked Podcast. You can just search us on there and add us to your TikTok feed to get more current news.

Speaker 1: 2:33

I am so excited to hear about the rest of this case.

Speaker 2: 2:36

Yes, so back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Speaker 1: 2:39

Oh, I can't wait. There were so many variables, I just want to hear how they all play out.

Speaker 2: 2:45

Yeah, I mean it's going to get wild. Like we got more suspects. We left off with Danny Barber, who managed to become the prime suspect in Brenda's disappearance thus far. The Sheriff's team, as you remember, in the last episode royally fucked up the crime scene and gave evidence away. They also washed Brenda's clothing, stripped it of any evidence that could prove who the killer was, and all of the photographs of the crime scene came out blank, except for the ones that the coroner took of the body, which was then transported to Virginia's pathologist unsupervised. So with that whole mess behind us, the police focused on another suspect.

Speaker 2: 3:22

Another suspect, oh yes, so this one is David Whaley. David had a list of juvenile minor crimes. He was reported because he was seen riding down Brenda's road the night she went missing Around 3 am on July 1. Strangely enough, he hadn't been seen in that area since the night that she went missing. He worked at the Carolinian as a waiter late at night, so it was normal for him to ride around the area after his work shift. David was an alcoholic and his father was a local reverend. Dennis Midgett was friends with David and the two of them drank together. Dennis was mentally handicapped and was close with David. He told police that the night that Brenda went missing they were cruising looking for a woman to take home after they were out drinking all night. David was driving a blue valiant but it broke down on July 6 on Hatteras Island and it was towed to Manteo and then traded in.

Speaker 1: 4:20

Hmm.

Speaker 2: 4:21

Police went to the garage the car was being kept at and searched the vehicle. Inside the car police found blonde hairs on the floorboard. They preserved in plastic bags. They were keeping a close eye on David, but officers also had another suspect to investigate. At one point the murderer was being pinned on, john Daniels, who was a local black man who had found Brenda's purse. Investigators were told that he was in the area the night she went missing and that he had blood stains in his underpants that weren't there earlier that night.

Speaker 2: 4:53

Burnett Scarborough was the one who was with John Daniels in the early morning hours. Burnett claimed that he and a friend were at a bar all night in town and after having whiskey, shots and beer all night, burnett blacked out and didn't remember anything that happened after they left the bar. Because of lack of evidence, he was released from police custody, but his station wagon was impounded for testing. Burnett was pissed because he felt like he was being racially targeted and then walked out of the police station proudly when they let him go. Lola May Barnett was the informant who ratted on Scarborough and Daniels. The police found so many holes in her story that she was deemed unreliable. Plus, she changed the race of the people that she supposedly witnessed in the car. So it was obvious that she was relying tall tales to the officers.

Speaker 1: 5:47

Have a question how did he get home? Did they take his car from him? Because I would also be pissed off about that.

Speaker 2: 5:55

They did take his car from him. It didn't say how he got home, but I'm assuming somebody picked him up, Hopefully.

Speaker 1: 6:01

I'd be pissed off if somebody took my vehicle.

Speaker 2: 6:05

Yeah, no. Well, they probably would make you walk home because you're like a suspect at that point.

Speaker 1: 6:10

But I mean, what can you do?

Speaker 2: 6:11

You know, Wild fucking jerks. I know Lola made wild claims that Daniels had bloody clothes that were in a cutout on his floor that was in the shape of a coffin. So what that is? It sounds kind of confusing. It's like a hole that he had cut into the floor that was in the shape of a coffin. That was like a trap door where you could hide things. That's pretty fucking awesome actually. Yeah, it does sound pretty cool.

Speaker 1: 6:37

Wouldn't we do something like that?

Speaker 2: 6:39

Yeah, probably, but when police searched the home, they found a very drunken Lola inside the hole in the floor, nude, and she didn't even remember being found that way. So this bitch is like drunk in the floor and she's the one that ratted and said that he had the shit in the floor. Imagine waking up like that. Well, yeah, I mean, you're waking up to a bunch of cops in your face and you're like in this hole.

Speaker 1: 7:03

I have no idea how I got into this whole officer.

Speaker 2: 7:06

Yeah, it's weird, with another dead end, the investigators start looking into another local man, dr Linus Matthew Edwards. Edwards was a dentist who knew David Whaley, but only in passing. Edwards also had a drinking problem in which he would become violent and out of control, especially if he drank too much. He was boastful about his intelligence and being in the top 2% of the menza. Edwards was in his mid-40s. He was a large man, over six feet tall and rather muscular. When he was small, edwards was in military school. He was the son of a dentist and had a mother who was a bit demanding. He served in the military during World War II doing reconstructive jaw surgeries and even after the war Edwards stayed in the military.

Speaker 2: 7:53

In 1962, he moved to Manteo with his wife and had been promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. He married a woman named Ida who was tall, thin and blonde. The two divorced but then remarried. A few years later Edwards opened a practice off of US-64 and divorced his wife a second time. By 1964, he started dating Dottie Fry, who worked on the Lost Colony set as an American Indian. She was a complete knockout and people described her as a carefree spirit, so carefree, in fact, that she took out an ad in the paper to announce an engagement that never happened. She did all this just to get her sweetheart to marry her and after seven years of marriage her husband died of a heart attack and Dottie was left pregnant and widowed until she met Linus Edwards.

Speaker 2: 8:41

Linus and Dottie married in 1964. Dottie's prior husband was nice, even-tempered man, but Linus was the opposite. Her daughter, claudia, was the flower girl in the wedding and after the ceremony. This is the type of guy Linus was. Linus made Dottie's daughter go back and pick up every single petal that she dropped on the floor. That's the kind of man he was. The family moved to Mother Vineyard where Linus had purchased a house from his neighbors to start his new family. Their children played with Andy Griffith's children as they lived in the same neighborhood. It seemed from all accounts that they were living the American dream. One night Claudia heard noises coming from the kitchen. She peeked out to see what was going on and saw that her mother was being tied to a table. She was frightened and ran back to her room. I have no idea if it was sinister or kinky or whatever happened, but whatever it was scared the shit out of Claudia that night.

Speaker 1: 9:39

It says a lot that he doesn't treat her daughter right. I wonder why she would even stay with him.

Speaker 2: 9:44

Right after the wedding.

Speaker 1: 9:45

That type of treatment is kind of like let me just see how far I can push it, but walking around nude. If somebody walked nude around my daughters I would lose my ever living shit.

Speaker 2: 9:58

Oh, I know, yeah, me too. I wouldn't fucking allow that shit.

Speaker 2: 10:01

Yeah, I don't know Linus was having affairs behind Dottie's back and eventually came home early and caught him in the act. In return, she wasn't allowed to have any male friends or female friends. Because, you know, because he was cheating, linus took to insulting her best friend whenever he had the chance and hopes to isolate her. Whenever he drank vodka which was pretty often he would become violent and took to physically abusing Dottie. One night she escaped an attack and ran through the woods trying to escape her husband in fear that he would kill her. It had gotten so bad that at one point she was hospitalized after an attack. She never reported the abuse because she feared what her husband would do to her if she did. He was insanely jealous of Dottie and her friendship with her co-worker Earl, who lived with Danny Barber. Dottie cut her hair and dyed it blonde exactly like Brenda's, except that Dottie was 35 years old but was said to have passed for 25.

Speaker 1: 11:00

I know I do all the time. It actually creeps me out because I used to go for older men, as you know, and now that I have kids, my kids age, flirting with me and thinking I'm younger, I feel maternal towards them and almost creeped out.

Speaker 2: 11:14

Yeah, I mean I don't have young men hit normally or nothing, but like I have been told that I look younger than my age.

Speaker 1: 11:21

Oh, you do, you do.

Speaker 2: 11:25

So by July of 1967, people were implicating Dr Edwards as Brenda's killer. The SBI was notified about the implications and they wrote a statement that said that Dr Edwards was searching for his wife the night that Brenda was murdered, during the same time that she went missing. On August 5th 1967, brenda's father remember good old shotgun yeah, I do. He called the dispatch in Montaio and told him that he was coming there to kill Brenda's murderer. He was reportedly so drunk that he was like pickled but was serious as a heart attack.

Speaker 1: 12:01

I've never even heard anyone fucking say that before.

Speaker 2: 12:04

That's because I'm shot out, but no one suspect was charged with the crime. But shotgun, he didn't care. He wanted to avenge his little girl's death and only one name stuck out in his mind, the same guy that the local sheriff was gunning for since the beginning Danny Barber. Also, the sheriff made a huge mistake telling the victim's father that Danny was the prime suspect. Investigators circled back to the suspect list and interviewed more people in hopes to drum up a solid lead.

Speaker 2: 12:34

An eye doctor came forward to give up some information he had about Dr Edwards. He said around 2.15 am on Saturday night he heard a man and a woman screaming. He heard someone come out of the house and then out of the driveway. He presumed that the person was Mrs Edwards and about 15 minutes later Dr Edwards left to go find her. That morning around 8 am the eye doctor had to leave for work. You notice that the mistress's car was at Dr Edwards' home and around noon the mistress's car was gone. But then the next day the mistress's car was back at the house again and at mid-afternoon the mistress went to the eye doctor's house. The eye doctor and his wife said that she looked like she was disturbed about something. So the mistress tells the neighbors that Dr Edwards was very nervous and upset and that he was going to close his office and leave Montaio. And then the mistress said I believe I've talked too much.

Speaker 2: 13:37

The eye doctor ended his statement to police by telling them how violent Dr Edwards was. And he wasn't the only one. The son-in-law of Dr Edwards told the cops that Dr Edwards was a violent man, especially when he was drunk. The police gave a series of polygraph tests to potential suspects in room 38 of the ocean house. Danny Barber, rodney Brett, earl Myris and John Scarborough were all tested. All were found to be telling the truth, except Danny Barber. His test came back showing deception. But again, polygraph tests are unreliable, so I personally think that they prove nothing.

Speaker 1: 14:18

I think that mistress has some damn balls parking in front of his house.

Speaker 2: 14:22

Oh yeah, I know right, like she's just like rolling up in their driveway, like like ain't nothing happening.

Speaker 1: 14:28

I can't. That's the one thing that stood out. All of all of everything stands out. Don't get me wrong, but that I'm just picturing a mistress just pulling up in front of his house Like it's no thing.

Speaker 2: 14:38

Yeah, and like his wife's, like alive. You know what I mean. It's not like that's what I'm saying that's fucking insane.

Speaker 1: 14:44

I can't even believe that. Yeah, she wouldn't be if that was my house. Yeah, that's so ballsy.

Speaker 2: 14:52

Yeah, that's wild. Like I was like, wow, okay, but what she said was really interesting when she told the neighbor that like he was going to close up his business and just like leave town right after the murder. That was weird and he was already like being looked into, which I thought was a little bit scandalous. So it seems like she was destroyed about something what I don't know exactly. I mean, did he say something to her? I don't know. But I guess we're going to have to, you're going to have to listen and find out. But again, there are no real, real good endings here, because everything that I go over is never going to be proven. Probably.

Speaker 1: 15:27

So oh no, does that mean there's a whole bunch left to speculation and even more variables? Because so far you've added more to what we were inquiring about last week.

Speaker 2: 15:39

Oh no.

Speaker 1: 15:40

I'm never going to sleep tonight.

Speaker 2: 15:42

No, probably not Friday, august 18th. Dr Edwards just like walks into the courthouse drunk as fuck and he's babbling to the dispatcher about Brenda Holland. He demanded to speak to the sheriff and then started screaming I didn't kill Brenda Holland and the rumors that I did are ruining my marriage and my business. And he's in there screaming, just like talking all this shit. Strangely enough, the sheriff sent Edwards home instead of interrogating him when he was all primed up on alcohol, which seemed like an opportunity missed. And then later a bunch of bogus supernatural leads came in that led nowhere.

Speaker 2: 16:21

A letter was written to Brenda's family to consult a psychic named Jeanne Dixon in hopes of drumming up some leads. Molly Black, brenda's roommate, came forward claiming that she saw a seance that was hosted by a man named Jay Fieldman. They led a candle and then placed it in the circle. The man who was leading the circle broke out into a sweat and a woman muttered ROOP WATER, and they asked if that's what Brenda was killed by. And shortly after the seance was broken up. But everything said during the seance was information that was already known to the papers, so it was a bogus dead lead. Do you remember doing seances when we were kids?

Speaker 2: 17:00

No, because I never did a seance.

Speaker 1: 17:02

Oh, never mind. I well, I did seances in Ouija boards quite often when I was younger and I still I have the Ouija board that I used to use when I was a kid. It's my grandma's. So I was really, I was really into that shit and I bet something like that would creep the hell out of the people involved in it, especially as it pertains to like a recent missing murder. Well, this is from the sixties.

Speaker 2: 17:28

Right, but it was happening at that time. Yes, at the sixties, in the sixties, yeah, it was very popular at the time to get into all that like supernatural stuff.

Speaker 1: 17:37

Oh yeah, it was. It was until like 1973 when the exorcism came out.

Speaker 2: 17:42

Yeah, and then it was like yeah, then it was all of a sudden satanic panic shit. Yes, wild times, man, wild times. So as far as Robert Breeze went, he was the guy who may have sexually assaulted Brenda in the weeks leading up to her murder, if you remember. Yes, indeed, police said he had an airtight alibi With no new leads and Danny Barber, back at school. The police looked into Dr Edwards again Hard. The morning in question Doddy's kids were with their father's family.

Speaker 2: 18:12

About five hours away, a man named Watson came forward to tell police that he and Edwards clashed in the weeks after Brenda's murder. He knew all about Edwards and lived in the same neighborhood. Watson described Edwards as a paranoid schizophrenic and incessantly talked about how much he hated his parents. Edwards had heard his back recently and had been prescribed demoral after his surgery. So the pharmacist said that Edwards came in with a body cast and a prescription that the pharmacist built for 100 milligrams of demoral. He didn't know what happened at Edwards but to his understanding it was that Edwards had hurt his neck, not his back. But he told somebody else he hurt his back. So something seemed a little fishy. But of course the investigators were pondering the same question I had, which was could he have sustained injuries from throwing dead weight onto a boat and then into a harbor? Could it be his neck?

Speaker 1: 19:09

his back.

Speaker 2: 19:12

I don't know, but I think that it would be very explainable if he had thrown dead weight onto a boat and then into a harbor to have hurt his back.

Speaker 1: 19:21

Oh yeah, moving dead weight is hella hard.

Speaker 2: 19:24

Yeah, and I would think it's somebody at his age, because he wasn't like young, he was like in his 40s Right, so I could see Shut up. No, but I mean a man in his 40s means you got some issues. Everybody does back problems, whatever, but you're picking up a young girl and throwing her, then yeah, you would hurt something. I would think you'd at least pull something out. You know, I can't pick up the same amount of weight as I used to when I was in my 20s.

Speaker 1: 19:50

Yeah, my back hurts thinking about it. Yeah, I can't move dead bodies like I used to. No.

Speaker 2: 19:58

But a man gave Watson a note that Dottie gave to him and in return he turned it over to the police. It was addressed to Rodney, Danny's housemate, and it said I won't be gone late, Still at Hill House, Be back around 2am. Relax. Sleep tight, Earl. Thanks for the beer. Rodney signed Dottie.

Speaker 2: 20:18

There was a party at the Hill House where the actors of the Lost Colony hung out the night. Brenda vanished Later. Dottie's best friend said that the two hung out at a party, then drove around a bit before landing at Danny Barber's house. Dottie went in alone as her best friend waited outside. Rodney wasn't home, Earl was asleep and Danny was out. So Dottie took a beer and then left the note.

Speaker 2: 20:40

Police think that Edwards called wind that Dottie was at Danny Barber's house and drove through the neighborhood searching for his wife but instead stumbled upon Brenda because remember Brenda was at Danny Barber's house that same night. And now you got Dottie, who's going to Danny Barber's house to see Earl because she's friends with Earl, because they work at the same place. The Lost Colony set Dottie and Brenda work at the Lost Colony, so these two girls have a connection and now you have a jealous husband who doesn't want her to have any friends. Brenda and Dottie may not have crossed paths, but that Brenda may have crossed paths with Linus.

Speaker 2: 21:18

Jean Stroutenberg gave a statement to police that she called Dottie up to have her notarize something. Edwards answered the phone and said that she wasn't there and then slammed the phone on the hook. Jean heard Edwards screaming at Dottie about taking notary work. She was also under the impression that Edwards waited for Dottie to return to Danny Barber's house and killed Brenda, thinking that it was his wife. Jean even went to have dental work done by Dr Edwards after the murder. She said she was afraid to even sit in the chair. She told Dr Edwards not to hurt her and you know what his reply was.

Speaker 1: 21:51

What.

Speaker 2: 21:51

I can't do anything but kill you. That's not suspect at all. No, that wouldn't make you think that he was a murderer or anything. Oh yes, when looking into Edwards' background, they found out that he would get drunk and prowl around people's yards, which is fucking terrifying. Also, that he had almost beaten a man to death after he confronted Edwards about banging his sister and other tales of malevolence. On September 11th, the police interviewed Ida Edwards, who was Dr Edwards' ex-wife. They were married for like 20 years, divorced for six, then remarried again. Ida said that he was falling in love with other girls, which is why she divorced him.

Speaker 1: 22:31

Girls plural.

Speaker 2: 22:33

Yeah, meaning he was a repeated cheater. Love is such a strong word, though, don't you think? Yeah, infatuated is probably more like it.

Speaker 1: 22:41

At best yeah.

Speaker 2: 22:42

Yeah, she told police that Dr Edwards attempted suicide when he was in the military, that he slashed his wrists and that Ida took him to the hospital. She said he was lashing out and having mental issues no shit, that he would black out when he drank and didn't remember anything, which was later confirmed. Edwards was eventually honorably discharged after receiving psychiatric care for suicide on March 31st 1961. He left three years before the end of his military term. Yeah, that's it All. That's all he had was three years left and got honorably discharged. Dottie's family hated Dr Edwards. Dottie's children told her family about how Dr Edwards had tied Dottie to a chair and listen to this shit. He trained his German shepherd to sit next to her Cold as ice, like a statue, and if the children tried to untie Dottie, the dog would attack them viciously and try to kill them.

Speaker 1: 23:40

Two things I love in this world children and dogs because of their innocence. This sick fuck yeah, what a piece of shit being German. Shepherds are so intelligent and so loyal and it saddens me to no end when I hear that they're used at Nazi camps and they're used as police dogs and they're used for sick shit like this. It burns me, those poor babies having to see their mother like that.

Speaker 2: 24:05

I know that makes it even worse because, like, not only did he traumatize his wife, but he also traumatized her children and the dog, all of them. I don't know if the dog was traumatized, he was just doing his job, but he abused him, though Probably that's an abusive thing to do to an animal. It could be. I don't know how he trained him, but it's possible. I wouldn't put it past him. She never denied these claims that were made from her children when confronted with them, but instead laughed it off like it was a game. She escaped Dr Edwards from September 12th until September 16th and even sent her children away for a while while she stayed with her parents, but eventually she ended up moving back in with him.

Speaker 2: 24:45

Police interviewed Dr Edwards at his dental office and he gave a statement to police that he had fought his wife and that he left to go to the dafty tavern. Afterwards he came home about 11.45pm and then he and Doddy had another argument and this time she stormed out. He claimed to have gone to bed, woke up around 1.30am and noticed that she wasn't even home. Edwards saw her car in the driveway so he assumed that she left on foot. He reported her missing to the dispatcher at the sheriff's office Told them to call her mother and see if she was there. The dispatcher told him that she would put out an alert and if Doddy wasn't with her parents she would let him know.

Speaker 2: 25:24

Dr Edwards claimed to have went home, waited 20 minutes and then went to bed, which is bizarre in itself, because if your wife's missing, you're not just going to wait 20 minutes and go to bed after going to the sheriff's office. You're probably going to be up sick all night like worried about her. Yeah, exactly. Then he stated that he had never met Brenda Holland or had even seen her. He didn't know Danny or Earl or Rodney and had never been to their house, but he did admit to being on their street to go to the dump on occasion, during the daytime only. He took a polygraph in which the examiner said that he wasn't responsible for the wrongful death of Brenda Holland, but police didn't question him about anything else that countered his account. They didn't even push back with any questions, not even with the witness testimonies, because you know, you got all these witness testimonies saying all the stuff about the stuff that was going on at Dr Edwards' house and the police didn't even ask him about it.

Speaker 1: 26:17

This whole damn case is odd. I love and hate it it's awful. It's so bittersweet because there's so many things that are suspect in this, like so many sketchy people involved.

Speaker 2: 26:28

I know it's hard to pinpoint just one.

Speaker 1: 26:30

It really is. I've got it. It feels like murder. She wrote. Only there's way too many people that you want to pin it on Exactly. I'm afraid to say anything at this point because some of the preconceived notions I had in the first episode discussing this aren't the same people anymore.

Speaker 2: 26:46

No, not at all. The next day, dr Edwards called and told investigators that he had too many patients that morning and that it was impossible that he could have made it to work after being up all night. And in the report they said that Dr Edwards was eliminated as a suspect. So after after he takes his polygraph, doesn't get questioned about anything, really, he calls the sheriff's office the next day to tell the investigators that he had too many patients. So it was impossible that he would have made it to work after being up all night. Which is really strange to me, because why would you call the cops after they eliminate kind of eliminated you anyway, unless you had like something like that? Yeah, exactly yeah, he could have easily written in his work records because remember he was the owner of the practice. Also, he had seen his mistress that day, according to the neighbor. So that was a lie. He was home, remember. His mistress was in and out of the driveway all day.

Speaker 2: 27:45

I wonder what the neighbors were thinking. I don't know what that. Well, I think the neighbor thought like he did something messed up because the mistress was like all disheveled Agents, never asked about his injuries after the murder, about his ability to use rope or his violent temper towards his wife. Yes, he passed the polygraph. But drugs like demoral can falsify a polygraph because it alters your physiological responses, which is also why they aren't admissible in court, as they are not very reliable.

Speaker 2: 28:16

Danny Barber was re-interviewed at the Chapel Hill Motel in November of 1967. He gave all of the same details except said that he had removed Brenda's blouse that night while she was lying on his bed. Which is strange because, remember, he said that he didn't know what happened to the blouse, that she must have left with it still on. So why he lied before, no one knew. But investigators pressed him hard. He clammed up and Danny decided he didn't want to talk about it anymore and then he was released.

Speaker 2: 28:45

In July of 1968, the papers were criticizing the police about not finding Brenda's killer. The papers were asking if this would be another mystery added to the island of the lost colony. The public was just as upset, but the police were fixated on Danny Barber and Whaley as prime suspects and had tunnel vision. That's all they saw. Were these two men?

Speaker 2: 29:06

On July 22, chief Whittington was able to procure a confession from Dennis Midget. He stated that he and David Whaley were driving around looking for a girl and spotted a woman walking on Burnside Road. Whaley offered the girl a ride, but she refused. He claimed that Whaley got out of the car, grabbed the girl and told her to get in or he'd kill her. She screamed and then he got into the back seat with her. Whaley sexually assaulted the girl and then tied her hands and feet behind her. He said he was going to dump her overboard and Dennis said that he told Whaley to stop but he wouldn't stop.

Speaker 2: 29:43

Dennis claimed that he had tried to get out of the car to go for help, but Whaley threatened to shoot him with a gun, but Dennis didn't see a gun. He said that while they were driving, whaley threw her pocketbook out of the window. Then they jumped onto the highway and then drove to Fort Whaley. They drove through the lost colony theater parking lot and then Whaley threw her book out of the window. Whaley then stopped the car, got out and decently exposed himself. Quote-unquote. Dennis tried to untie the girl while Whaley was out of the car, but he quickly stopped him. Whaley threw something out of the car at the bridge but then stopped at the highest point. Dennis and Whaley had some kind of physical altercation where the two boys fist fought At the main gate of the bridge. Whaley threw the girl into the water and then drove away. He dropped Dennis off at the Sheriff's Station and threatened to kill him if he ever talked. Dennis claimed that every time he saw Whaley that he was threatened. Dennis also claimed that the two boys had been in many violent altercations since the murder.

Speaker 2: 30:44

The problem with his confession was that it was written, it wasn't recorded and that the use of the phrasing was off-putting. Indecently exposed was the phrase a mentally handicapped man would not use. He has quite a vernacular. Yeah, that's why the author was alluding that it might have been a coerced confession. It sounds like it, yeah. Plus, the Sheriff knew Whittington was gutting for his job and trying to impress the public by getting a confession. When Dennis was asked about his confession, he told the Sheriff that he had been picked up so many times by Whittington that he had pretty much said whatever he wanted him to say to get him off his back. So the cop was literally picking this dude up repeatedly and telling him like what to say? I got nothing for that one. The Sheriff knew that Dennis was handicapped and he didn't know the seriousness of what he had just done.

Speaker 1: 31:37

You're right. Not only would that less likely be his vernacular, but I don't think he would have a full grasp of the veracity of the situation either. Neither one of those things add up. I feel like they're just using him as a pun in this, and that's really sad.

Speaker 2: 31:53

Yeah, he said he was gunning for the dude's job, so I assume that he was just trying to get a case that was solved under his belt so that he could win.

Speaker 1: 32:02

Yeah, that's what it seems like.

Speaker 2: 32:04

Yeah. So on February 16, 1971, dr Edwards succumbed to his injuries after putting a pistol in his mouth and pulling the trigger. Not many people showed up to Dr Edwards' funeral, for obvious reasons. His ex-mistress went to mourn his loss, but his ex-wife, dotty, did not. People wonder if he really tried to kill himself or if there was foul play involved. When Dr Edwards slid his wrist in the military, it suggested that he was right-handed. He was shot in the left temple, suggesting that he was now left-handed. Also, he used a.22-caliber pistol, which would not get the job done quickly and with his military background, it would suggest that he already knew that. Yes, yes, yeah. So I think it's very possible that somebody may have.

Speaker 1: 32:55

Tapered just a little tiny bit with the evidence.

Speaker 2: 32:58

No, shot him in the head.

Speaker 1: 33:00

Well, I mean, this is just not adding up at all though.

Speaker 2: 33:05

Yeah, and it took Dr Edwards two days to die because of that.22.

Speaker 1: 33:08

I digress.

Speaker 2: 33:10

Yeah, it was also reported that no suicide note was left at the scene, but there were rumors that there were two notes addressed to two separate people, but none were ever recovered. So there was no evidence to corroborate that Dr Edwards was murdered. But many people believe that he was and I'm telling you right now I'm one of them, because that's strange.

Speaker 1: 33:30

Yeah, I'm with you on that. This doesn't feel like a suicide.

Speaker 2: 33:34

No, in 1986, dotty Frye talked for the first time about the case. She said that Dr Edwards repeatedly confessed to her about killing Brenda. Dotty was able to give details that weren't known to the public that would suggest that she was not looking for attention. The SBI did nothing about Dotty's claims that Dr Edwards killed Brenda Holland. This was crushing to Dotty because she really tried to get the word out that she knew who had murdered the Lost Colony crew member John Raleigh. The author of the book I read was also a journalist. Like I said earlier, he reached out to Dotty when she was 85 years old. The conversation that led to an interview with Dotty's daughter, claudia, and a source handed over a copy of a classified file on Brenda's case. Police Chief Ken Whittington Sr believed that Dr Edwards was most likely responsible for Dotty's murder and had a PDF that had documented his thoughts on Sheriff Cohoon's tunnel vision on Danny Barber. Dotty told Whittington that the night that Brenda died she and her husband, dr Edwards, had gotten into a fight. He was under the impression that Dotty was cheating on him with Earl Myris. Linus threatened to kill Dotty and Dr Stoutenberg heard Dr Edwards threaten her. So now you have a witness too. On top of it, to corroborate Dotty Dotty the audacity of this guy. Yeah, dotty said that she fled the scene while Edwards was driving around looking for her. He stopped at a friend of hers and barged in the woman's house looking for Dotty. He went room to room and the woman's house that he had broken into told him to get out. Dotty believed that. Edwards then drove around looking for her. Brenda had just left Danny's house to walk home.

Speaker 2: 35:25

The evidence suggested that Edwards drove up behind Brenda, saw her walking alone with the same haircut, same figure and same hair color as his wife, that he gripped her up from behind, put the rope straps of her purse around her throat and strangled her. Remember the crisscross pattern that was across her throat, as if she had been strangled with three-quarter inch ropes, still not seeing her face. And even if he did, he was so excessively drunk that he wouldn't have even been able to see her face. It would have been so blurry he would have just been seeing like a blurred face. It wouldn't even have looked like Dotty or Brenda. When he slammed her down onto the ground she was unconscious on her left side, threw her into the trunk and passed out in the driver's seat when the neighbor's dog started barking. He turned the car on and it sputtered, drove to the highest point on Man's Harbor Bridge and threw Brenda's body over the side. It would have been dark out as there were no street lights on that bridge and it would have been extremely hard to see what or who he was tossing over the side if you were a witness. He spotted Brenda's belongings in the car, drove back to Manteo and started throwing them out of his car window one by one. He drove back to the house and passed out in his bed. When he woke up he drove to Manteo and Dottie spotted him from her friend's car, but he didn't see her. Once he was home he invited his mistress over.

Speaker 2: 36:56

On Sunday at 1 am he reported Dottie missing, which was the next night Well, not really the next night, it was like the morning because it was 1 am. Dottie was sunbathing in a lawn chair. When Dr Edwards pulled into the driveway, dottie said when he saw her he turned as white as a sheet of paper. He leaned back against his car, worried and said I thought you were dead. She believed, he thought he saw a ghost, but when Brenda's body was found he knew it was real. That's when he started wearing a body cast and had gotten a prescription for demoral. It was believed that he knew a polygraph test was coming and wanted to numb himself so that he could pass.

Speaker 2: 37:40

Dottie claimed she was threatened to keep her loyalty to Dr Edwards and felt like the police would be of no help because Dr Edwards was very good friends with Sheriff Cahoon, the one that was investigating the case. Because of their friendship, the investigation wasn't thorough. When Dr Edwards would drink, dottie claimed he would confess over and over to killing Brenda. A patrol officer claims that he was responding to a call at Harry Nizer Seniors' House. This man told the patrol officer that Edwards had confessed the murder to him. When the patrol officer left the department, he said that his investigation told him that Edwards was the killer, but no one else on the force showed any interest in the case. The locals in Manteo believed Dottie. They also thought Edwards was the killer. The Islanders never spoke out. Neither did Dottie until Edwards died, mainly because of the loyalty that Islanders had for one another and the fear of the corruption of the police force, and she'd probably be terrified of him. So, yeah, and remember, sheriff Cahoon still worked in the town after her husband's death.

Speaker 1: 38:51

yeah, I mean, as if her husband wasn't already terrifying. His connections were all so intimidating. Yeah, Poor Dottie.

Speaker 2: 39:00

Yeah, poor Dottie Ugh.

Speaker 1: 39:02

She had to keep that secret. Yeah, forever, yeah, yeah, and you know what it feels right too.

Speaker 2: 39:08

Yeah, it does, I think it does.

Speaker 1: 39:10

Well, because he is the. He's a sick man, he doesn't have any remorse for his actions, and it explains why she was afraid to leave him. Because this entire time I'm like I know that we've had some women that have been abused, ones that have had their fingers broken off, one at a time, by their husbands. But I'm sitting here wondering why the hell Dottie's not leaving. Clearly he's not being inconspicuous about his mistress or anything, but all of that makes sense. She's terrified of him and if she tried to run, if he's got a man in the police department as one of his absolute best friends, they could track her down, even if she did run Exactly and she had already ran away from him running through the woods as he was trying to catch her and kill her.

Speaker 1: 39:54

And then Exactly, yeah, and if she left then she'd probably be a liability because she had too much information.

Speaker 2: 40:01

Plus, she looked just like Brenda.

Speaker 1: 40:04

Yes, yes, and if he was that drunk and she was turned around as you described, then it makes sense that he would think it was another person, think it was the wrong woman.

Speaker 2: 40:14

Yeah, and remember he went through that woman's house her friend and went room to room searching, just like, robusted through her front door and was like Yo where's my wife and he's just like banging doors down trying to find her. So, like a guy like that, you think that if he saw a woman that he thought was his wife on the side of the road, that he wouldn't just grip her up and beat her up and kill her.

Speaker 1: 40:35

Of course, he sounds like someone who would.

Speaker 2: 40:38

Yeah, I'm not going to say he did, because you know this is all legend and he's dead and there's no proof. And I'm not saying he definitely did it, but like it does seem right.

Speaker 1: 40:48

Yes, well, neither one of us is saying he definitely did it, but, as I said and you said, it seems like he would. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 40:55

It seems like he's the type yes, exactly right. And in the 1990s Shotgun had a stroke you know Brenda's dad and developed dementia. Unfortunately he didn't remember, he lost a daughter and was free of the pain of grief. Could you imagine that, like your whole life, you're just in grief and then one day you just get hit with dementia and then you just forget about your daughter completely? I don't know if that's a blessing or not, but I feel like in this case it kind of was, because I don't think you ever get over that kind of grief or shock. Yeah, but what would you rather have? Would you rather have dementia and forget, so that you don't feel that pain anymore, or would you rather remember and feel the pain? I'm just curious.

Speaker 1: 41:41

Oh, I've thought about these types of things and these scenarios quite often actually, and I think I'd rather be cognizant, and not because of those memories per se, but because of being able to function day to day. It's unfortunate, but when even alcohol is a really good example when you numb yourself, great, you don't feel the pain anymore and the memories aren't bothering you anymore, but you're not making the right decisions in that moment either, because you're not cognitive enough to focus and to prioritize and to be methodical. So, in order to have dementia, you don't just forget about those memories and all those horrible, shocking details, but you also have to worry about did I change my underwear? Did I take a shower? It just includes too many other things that I wouldn't want to have to deal with.

Speaker 2: 42:32

Yeah, it's true Like confusion.

Speaker 1: 42:34

Yes, yes.

Speaker 2: 42:36

You get scared because you don't know what's going on. You just like walk into a room and you don't know who the fuck you are.

Speaker 1: 42:42

Right, you know. In one case you know what you're afraid of and you know what's triggering you, but in the other case you don't. And I work with a lot of elder people and most of them are very comprehensive and very alert, but they're terrified of that happening to themselves and it makes me afraid of it too. Physical, emotional and mental pain. Great, numb it with a bottle, but then what happens? You walk into a wall. You wake up the next day. You don't know how the fuck you fell down a stairwell. You know Exactly, so I'd have to pick the other one. I'm sorry.

Speaker 2: 43:15

Don't apologize, it's okay, it was a question, I was curious. But I how about you? I don't know. I think that I might want to be free of the pain of grief If I had a family member that was taking care of me and made me feel safe, right, but if I didn't, I would rather just feel the pain so I could be cognitive. You know what I mean.

Speaker 1: 43:36

Yeah, I do. Even so, I wouldn't want a family member to take care of me, not me either really, but like if they're already living there, I don't know, it's it's.

Speaker 2: 43:43

That's a tough question, it's a really hard one.

Speaker 1: 43:46

That, in fact, you brought up a really good point. That would be. Another thing, too, is I wouldn't want to be a burden on a family member?

Speaker 2: 43:53

I wouldn't either, but I know that when I get older I don't have any family members. So like to me, that sounds like a blessing to have to be a burden to a family member. But when I get older they're all going to be dead, except for me, so I'm not going to have a family member to take care of me.

Speaker 1: 44:10

So maybe that's where mine stems from, I think. Yeah, maybe you and I can be like Grace and Frankie, if you like, yeah well, that's probably how it's going to be.

Speaker 2: 44:19

Marshall could take care of us.

Speaker 1: 44:24

He'll still. He'll want to retire real fast when we start slinging shit at each other. Oh, I bet.

Speaker 2: 44:29

Unfortunately, shotgun passed away on September 1st in 2003. Jerry Holland, brenda's mother, came around to the idea that Edwards was the killer, even though for years she and her husband believed that Danny Barber was the killer of their daughter. Jerry blamed the sheriff for letting him get away with it and eventually Jerry passed on June 14th in 2013. She and Shotgun were both buried alongside their daughter in their family plot outside of Canton. The SBI lost physical evidence that would have been able to prove who her killer was. If it was in our time.

Speaker 2: 45:10

I read that it was normal for evidence rooms to rid themselves of evidence to free up space for other cases, but strangely enough, the sheriff botched the investigation and destroyed all of the evidence from the beginning. Also, the police never searched Dr Edwards' car. Whether or not Dr Lioness Edwards was just a case of circumstances or if he was the man who got away with murder, it will never be proven without a shadow of a doubt. But the investigative journalist, the patrol officer Claudia Dottie and a ton of other residents in Manteo believe that Dr Edwards was Brenda's killer. I feel confident that the case is solved after reading all the angles of the suspect involved, but I always keep space for skepticism, because there are cases of people being wrongfully accused and I want to know what do you think, listeners? Do you think Dr Edwards is the killer? I'm going to post a poll on our Facebook page and you tell me what you think.

Speaker 1: 46:16

Well, thank you, tiff. That was a very thoroughly researched and well-presented case, as per usual. I believe, like you do, that the doctor might be guilty, but because you and I think very scientifically suffice it to say there's too many unsolved variables involved, so we have to leave it to speculation. It's just not concrete enough to prove in a court of law?

Speaker 2: 46:42

No, it's not. It really isn't. I mean, there's no evidence. But is it possible that, like you know, he was hanging out with the sheriff and that they fucked up the investigation on purpose? Very possible. Oh yes, definitely. So it wouldn't surprise me if you know their body was cover-informed, especially in a southern state.

Speaker 1: 47:01

Yeah, or even partaking in some of those things with him. Yeah, birds of a feather.

Speaker 2: 47:07

Who knows? I mean, I can't say anything. It's all alleged so. So that's the case of Brenda Holland and the Lost Colony murder Podcasts. The more reviews that we get, the more pod episodes that we can bring to you. You dig. Thanks for listening and until next time.