Margaret Ellen Fox

WEBVTT
1
00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:05.280
You're listening to Killer Communications, brought to you by Abject Entertainment.
2
00:00:05.519 --> 00:00:07.599
Be sure to check out some of the other great
3
00:00:07.679 --> 00:00:11.320
true crime podcasts from this network, including The Murder in
4
00:00:11.400 --> 00:00:16.960
My Family, Missing Persons, dna ID Campus Killings, Scene of
5
00:00:16.960 --> 00:00:21.600
the Crime, Zodiac Speaking, and Beyond Bizarre True Crime. All
6
00:00:21.640 --> 00:00:24.120
of these podcasts are available for you to binge on
7
00:00:24.320 --> 00:00:27.760
right now wherever you listen to podcasts. Subscribe where you're
8
00:00:27.800 --> 00:01:06.879
listening to this podcast so you don't miss an episode.
9
00:01:07.200 --> 00:01:10.359
Three days after fourteen year old Margaret Ellen Fox disappeared
10
00:01:10.359 --> 00:01:13.159
from a bus stop in New Jersey, her parents received
11
00:01:13.159 --> 00:01:16.480
the chilling phone call. Ten thousand dollars might be a
12
00:01:16.560 --> 00:01:19.200
lot of bread, but your daughter's life is the butter
13
00:01:19.280 --> 00:01:22.879
topic They'll investigators spent years trying to id this caller.
14
00:01:23.439 --> 00:01:27.000
Margaret's abductor has never been brought to justice. But why
15
00:01:27.000 --> 00:01:30.560
would anyone want to ransom an innocent teenager? Though perhaps
16
00:01:30.599 --> 00:01:33.840
a more important question to ask is why in particular
17
00:01:34.239 --> 00:01:41.400
was that teenager Margaret Ellen Fox Chapter one, The Babysitting Job.
18
00:01:42.480 --> 00:01:45.599
In December nineteen seventy four, Margaret was a recent eighth
19
00:01:45.640 --> 00:01:49.319
grade graduate a need of some extra allowance money Margaret's
20
00:01:49.319 --> 00:01:52.560
desire to start horseback riding lessons and have some trendy
21
00:01:52.640 --> 00:01:55.200
new clothing to start high school with wasn't something her
22
00:01:55.239 --> 00:01:58.840
parents could afford. While her father made a good living
23
00:01:58.879 --> 00:02:01.439
as a plumber in the small New Jersey town of Burlington,
24
00:02:01.719 --> 00:02:04.959
thirty minutes away from Philadelphia, the family budget was tight.
25
00:02:05.719 --> 00:02:09.479
Even at fourteen. Margaret understood this and asked her parents
26
00:02:09.479 --> 00:02:11.199
if she could place an ad in the paper for
27
00:02:11.240 --> 00:02:16.159
a babysitting position. This way, she wouldn't have to worry
28
00:02:16.159 --> 00:02:18.719
about the family budget. Her money would be her own
29
00:02:18.759 --> 00:02:22.039
to pay for whatever she needed. There were parents weren't
30
00:02:22.120 --> 00:02:25.400
keen on placing a public ad. Margaret was a responsible
31
00:02:25.479 --> 00:02:28.439
child with a lot of experience looking after her younger siblings,
32
00:02:28.800 --> 00:02:30.879
and as she'd be entering high school in the fall,
33
00:02:31.280 --> 00:02:32.919
it wouldn't be a bad thing for her to start
34
00:02:33.000 --> 00:02:35.400
learning how to make her way in the world. So
35
00:02:35.479 --> 00:02:38.240
Margaret and her cousin Lynn pulled their allowance money to
36
00:02:38.280 --> 00:02:40.919
pay for an ad in the local paper, the Burlington
37
00:02:40.919 --> 00:02:45.879
County Times. On June eighteenth, nineteen seventy four. Their ad
38
00:02:45.919 --> 00:02:51.759
went public, simply stating babysitters experienced teenage girls love kids
39
00:02:52.280 --> 00:02:56.319
work at your house call us. Only one day later,
40
00:02:56.719 --> 00:02:59.639
Lynn got a call from the AD. A man named
41
00:02:59.680 --> 00:03:03.680
John Marshall was interested in hiring her. He told her
42
00:03:03.680 --> 00:03:05.960
that he lived in Mount Holly, the next town over
43
00:03:05.960 --> 00:03:08.680
from Burlington, and had a five year old son who
44
00:03:08.719 --> 00:03:11.560
needed care between nine thirty am and one thirty pm,
45
00:03:11.639 --> 00:03:15.400
five days a week. He offered Lynn forty dollars a week,
46
00:03:15.840 --> 00:03:18.000
the equivalent of about two hundred and sixty dollars in
47
00:03:18.039 --> 00:03:20.680
today's money, as well as fair for the bus to
48
00:03:20.719 --> 00:03:23.560
take her from Burlington to Mount Holly, which was about
49
00:03:23.560 --> 00:03:26.759
a fifteen minute ride. He said that he or his
50
00:03:26.759 --> 00:03:28.439
wife would pick her up from the bus stop in
51
00:03:28.520 --> 00:03:30.759
Mount Holly and drive her back there at the end
52
00:03:30.759 --> 00:03:33.199
of her shift. He also told her that he had
53
00:03:33.240 --> 00:03:35.479
a pool and she was welcome to take his son
54
00:03:35.599 --> 00:03:40.560
swimming every day in the opportunity sounded perfect, but Lynn
55
00:03:40.680 --> 00:03:43.639
was only eleven years old and her parents weren't comfortable
56
00:03:43.639 --> 00:03:45.719
with her taking a job that required a bus ride
57
00:03:45.719 --> 00:03:49.039
to another town. So Lynn told her cousin Margaret about
58
00:03:49.039 --> 00:03:52.719
the offer, and she was ecstatic. Forty dollars a week
59
00:03:52.759 --> 00:03:55.080
would go a long way to pay for new school clothes,
60
00:03:56.080 --> 00:03:59.400
but like Lynn's parents, the Foxes had some reservations about
61
00:03:59.400 --> 00:04:02.599
their daughter basitting in the next town over, so mister
62
00:04:02.680 --> 00:04:05.360
Fox called this John Marshall and spoke for over an
63
00:04:05.439 --> 00:04:09.639
hour about the requirements of the babysitting job. Everything seemed
64
00:04:09.680 --> 00:04:12.960
above board, and Margaret was approved to start babysitting for
65
00:04:13.000 --> 00:04:17.800
the Marshals. Just a personal side note here, I grew
66
00:04:17.839 --> 00:04:20.680
up in South Jersey, and I worked and had family
67
00:04:20.680 --> 00:04:23.639
in both Burlington and Mount Holly. And while I was
68
00:04:23.680 --> 00:04:26.000
only three years old in nineteen seventy four when this
69
00:04:26.079 --> 00:04:29.920
case unfolded, later when I got older, this story would
70
00:04:29.920 --> 00:04:32.800
impact me when I realized that something sinister could happen
71
00:04:32.920 --> 00:04:37.600
so close to where I grew up. Chapter two The
72
00:04:37.639 --> 00:04:42.040
bus stop. While she was excited to get started, Margaret
73
00:04:42.040 --> 00:04:44.079
was disappointed to find out that her work with the
74
00:04:44.120 --> 00:04:47.519
Marshals would be delayed. Her father had wanted her to
75
00:04:47.519 --> 00:04:50.560
meet with John in person before taking the position, but
76
00:04:50.720 --> 00:04:53.720
this meeting was canceled as John Marshall cited that his
77
00:04:53.800 --> 00:04:56.879
mother in law had passed away unexpectedly and he wouldn't
78
00:04:56.879 --> 00:04:59.240
be able to meet before Margaret's first scheduled day of
79
00:04:59.240 --> 00:05:02.720
work on June twent fourth. While her father wanted to
80
00:05:02.720 --> 00:05:04.800
push the date back until they could have a meeting.
81
00:05:05.399 --> 00:05:08.240
John Marshall insisted it would be fine, and he told
82
00:05:08.240 --> 00:05:10.519
the Foxes that his wife would pick up Margaret from
83
00:05:10.560 --> 00:05:13.079
the bus station on the morning of the twenty fourth
84
00:05:13.439 --> 00:05:16.759
and drive her back in the afternoon. He said that
85
00:05:16.800 --> 00:05:21.079
Margaret would know her by her red Volkswagon. While the
86
00:05:21.120 --> 00:05:24.160
Foxes weren't happy about not meeting with mister Marshall before
87
00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:28.199
the first day of employment, Margaret couldn't wait. On the
88
00:05:28.199 --> 00:05:30.839
morning of June twenty fourth, she got up early and
89
00:05:30.920 --> 00:05:34.839
dressed to impress with a light blue floral blouse, maroon jeans,
90
00:05:35.199 --> 00:05:38.240
and a fun white and black checker jacket, along with
91
00:05:38.279 --> 00:05:42.240
her usual hexagung glasses. She threw her bathing suit in
92
00:05:42.240 --> 00:05:44.240
a duffel bag and strapped on a pair of brown
93
00:05:44.319 --> 00:05:47.600
leather sandals. Her younger brother walked her to the bus
94
00:05:47.639 --> 00:05:50.199
stop two blocks from the Fox's home at around eight
95
00:05:50.240 --> 00:05:53.759
thirty am, and the bus arrived on time fifteen minutes later.
96
00:05:54.839 --> 00:05:57.639
Margaret shouldered her swim bag, waved goodbye to her brother,
97
00:05:57.959 --> 00:06:00.959
and boarded the bus. It was the last time her
98
00:06:01.000 --> 00:06:09.399
family ever saw her. Chapter three, The Wrong Phone, Missus
99
00:06:09.399 --> 00:06:11.759
Fox sat near the phone at ten am on June
100
00:06:11.800 --> 00:06:14.480
twenty fourth, waiting for Margaret to call and say she'd
101
00:06:14.480 --> 00:06:17.879
safely ride at the Marshall's home, but the phone never rang.
102
00:06:18.759 --> 00:06:22.160
It was unnerving, but Missus Fox also knew how excited
103
00:06:22.199 --> 00:06:24.399
Margaret had been, and tried to tell herself that her
104
00:06:24.439 --> 00:06:26.480
daughter had forgotten to call. On the bustle of taking
105
00:06:26.519 --> 00:06:30.040
care of the Marshall's little boy. In her mind, she
106
00:06:30.120 --> 00:06:33.120
thought they'd probably gone right to the pool. But when
107
00:06:33.160 --> 00:06:36.600
three pm came and went without Margaret's return, Missus Fox
108
00:06:36.680 --> 00:06:40.079
knew something was very wrong. She called the phone number
109
00:06:40.120 --> 00:06:42.079
she had for John Marshall to find out why her
110
00:06:42.160 --> 00:06:45.120
daughter was late, but no one picked up. The phone
111
00:06:45.199 --> 00:06:48.600
just rang and rang and rang. She hung up and
112
00:06:48.639 --> 00:06:51.639
tried the number again, but once again it just rang.
113
00:06:52.680 --> 00:06:55.439
She tried a third time and someone finally picked up,
114
00:06:56.079 --> 00:06:58.680
but it wasn't John Marshall. The voice on the other
115
00:06:58.759 --> 00:07:00.439
end of the line told her that she was calling
116
00:07:00.439 --> 00:07:04.000
a payphone outside the Lumbering grocery store on Route thirty eight,
117
00:07:04.240 --> 00:07:06.399
about two miles away from the Mount Holly bus stop.
118
00:07:07.319 --> 00:07:10.279
The only John Marshall they knew worked at the grocery store,
119
00:07:10.720 --> 00:07:15.560
but he hadn't hired any teenage babysitters. I mentioned earlier
120
00:07:15.560 --> 00:07:17.439
that I had lived and worked in the areas we're
121
00:07:17.480 --> 00:07:21.399
talking about. In fact, I once worked right next door
122
00:07:21.439 --> 00:07:24.399
to that lumbered and grocery store payphone, which makes his
123
00:07:24.519 --> 00:07:32.800
case hit even closer to home for me. Chapter four,
124
00:07:33.439 --> 00:07:37.800
The Search for Margaret. The Foxes immediately reported Margaret missing
125
00:07:37.839 --> 00:07:40.720
to the Berlin to Police department, and while police began
126
00:07:40.800 --> 00:07:43.759
the search process, the Foxes went out on their own
127
00:07:43.800 --> 00:07:46.639
to look for their daughter. But where to even begin
128
00:07:46.720 --> 00:07:50.680
searching was difficult this John Marshall had never given the
129
00:07:50.720 --> 00:07:54.360
Foxes a physical address for his home. Their only avenue
130
00:07:54.399 --> 00:07:56.360
was going to the Mount Holly bus stop and to
131
00:07:56.399 --> 00:07:59.000
hope to find Margaret herself or some of her belongings.
132
00:08:00.120 --> 00:08:02.279
And while they did find a few eye witnesses who
133
00:08:02.360 --> 00:08:04.279
claimed to have seen Margaret get off the bus at
134
00:08:04.319 --> 00:08:06.800
the Mount Holly bus stop, know one that they talked
135
00:08:06.839 --> 00:08:10.959
to ever heard of John Marshall. The Foxes returned home,
136
00:08:11.199 --> 00:08:14.279
sick with worry, but hoping that Margaret had just gotten
137
00:08:14.399 --> 00:08:16.800
laid by something and would be coming home that night,
138
00:08:16.839 --> 00:08:20.240
But she was still missing the following morning. Over the
139
00:08:20.240 --> 00:08:23.319
course of the next twenty four hours, police released hundreds
140
00:08:23.319 --> 00:08:26.959
of missing persons, flowers, Margaret's picture, and a description of
141
00:08:26.959 --> 00:08:30.560
what she'd been wearing. They also dispatched detectives to hunt
142
00:08:30.560 --> 00:08:33.120
down the eye witnesses from the bus stop to gather
143
00:08:33.200 --> 00:08:37.200
more information. Through interviews, they were able to confirm that
144
00:08:37.200 --> 00:08:40.279
Margaret had ridden the bus from the Burlington stop to
145
00:08:40.360 --> 00:08:44.080
Mount Holly. She disembarked around nine thirty am at the
146
00:08:44.120 --> 00:08:48.720
corner of Millin High Street, acting happy and excited. After
147
00:08:48.799 --> 00:08:51.960
exiting the bus, several witnesses saw her talking to a
148
00:08:52.000 --> 00:08:54.919
man in a red Volkswagon, which was the car John
149
00:08:55.000 --> 00:08:57.399
Marshall had told her to look out for her, but
150
00:08:57.480 --> 00:08:59.639
none of the witnesses could recall if she got into
151
00:08:59.679 --> 00:09:03.320
the car and left with him. Investigators scoured the Mount
152
00:09:03.320 --> 00:09:06.919
Hollier for anyone named John Marshall. They started with the
153
00:09:06.919 --> 00:09:09.559
grocery store employee by that name, and he had an
154
00:09:09.600 --> 00:09:13.039
airtight alibi and later passed several polygraph tests, so he
155
00:09:13.120 --> 00:09:17.759
was dismissed as a suspect. As they continued searching, they
156
00:09:17.799 --> 00:09:20.639
found an overabundance of men with the name John Marshall
157
00:09:20.919 --> 00:09:23.960
or a derivative of that name in the area. This
158
00:09:24.120 --> 00:09:26.840
discovery coupled with the fact that the phone number the
159
00:09:26.840 --> 00:09:29.879
Foxes had been using to contact him was a payphone.
160
00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:32.759
Led police to believe that whoever had coursed Margaret into
161
00:09:32.799 --> 00:09:35.919
the babysitting job had created a false identity in the
162
00:09:35.919 --> 00:09:40.120
hopes of framing someone else. With no real name, no
163
00:09:40.159 --> 00:09:43.399
physical address or phone number, and none of Margaret's personal
164
00:09:43.440 --> 00:09:46.960
belongings to be found, detectives had no leads besides the
165
00:09:47.000 --> 00:09:51.600
red Volkswagen. By day three of the investigation, Berlin to
166
00:09:51.639 --> 00:09:54.360
police were out of resources, so they brought in the
167
00:09:54.440 --> 00:09:57.440
FBI and contacted news stations to bring more attention to
168
00:09:57.440 --> 00:10:05.879
Margaret's case. Chapter five, Ransom. The local papers ran a
169
00:10:05.919 --> 00:10:09.639
front page story about Margaret's disappearance while the FBI hooked
170
00:10:09.679 --> 00:10:13.559
up a recording device to the Fox's phone line. Investigators
171
00:10:13.639 --> 00:10:15.919
hoped that if Margaret had been taken for ransom, they
172
00:10:15.919 --> 00:10:18.360
would be able to trace whatever calls came in demanding
173
00:10:18.399 --> 00:10:21.759
money from her family, and only hours after the device
174
00:10:21.840 --> 00:10:25.919
was installed, the Foxes received a chilling phone call. On
175
00:10:25.960 --> 00:10:28.639
the evening of June twenty eighth, A male voice came
176
00:10:28.759 --> 00:10:31.799
over the line stating, ten thousand dollars is a lot
177
00:10:31.840 --> 00:10:34.840
of bread, but your daughter's life is the buttered topping.
178
00:10:36.519 --> 00:10:38.879
Missus Fox demanded to know the name of the caller,
179
00:10:38.919 --> 00:10:41.679
but he hung up and the interaction was too short
180
00:10:41.720 --> 00:10:45.240
for the FBI to trace. But as terrifying as this
181
00:10:45.320 --> 00:10:48.879
threat was, it meant investigators were right and Margaret was
182
00:10:48.919 --> 00:10:52.720
being held hostage someplace. There was a high likelihood that
183
00:10:52.759 --> 00:10:56.480
the ransomer would call again, allowing the FBI to find them,
184
00:10:56.799 --> 00:11:00.440
but there was no second phone call. Instead, over the
185
00:11:00.440 --> 00:11:03.480
next two days, the Foxes received letters in the maw
186
00:11:03.600 --> 00:11:07.519
with a tight message restating the thread about money and bread.
187
00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:10.159
The Foxes went to the bank and gathered the ten
188
00:11:10.200 --> 00:11:14.039
thousand dollars to get Margaret back. When they returned home,
189
00:11:14.440 --> 00:11:17.759
another letter was waiting for them, but this time the
190
00:11:17.840 --> 00:11:21.240
tenses and the grammar had changed. Instead of ten thousand
191
00:11:21.279 --> 00:11:23.840
dollars is a lot of bread, the letter stated ten
192
00:11:23.879 --> 00:11:26.639
thousand dollars was a lot of bread, and her daughter's
193
00:11:26.639 --> 00:11:31.279
life was the butter topping. This letter was signed so long,
194
00:11:31.399 --> 00:11:36.399
again with each word capitalized. No calls or letters came
195
00:11:36.440 --> 00:11:40.080
after this, leaving the Foxes heartbroken they wouldn't be getting
196
00:11:40.080 --> 00:11:46.799
Margaret back for ransom. Chapter six a quickly cooling case
197
00:11:48.399 --> 00:11:51.480
without the ransom angle. The Brolins And Police Department and
198
00:11:51.559 --> 00:11:54.159
the FBI put in hundreds of hours tracking down every
199
00:11:54.240 --> 00:11:57.399
possible lead in Margaret's case, and only two months after
200
00:11:57.440 --> 00:12:00.240
her disappearance, the FBI put out a sky much of
201
00:12:00.279 --> 00:12:03.600
a man they were seeking for questioning, known to drive
202
00:12:03.639 --> 00:12:07.120
a red Volkswagon. Their person of interest was described as
203
00:12:07.120 --> 00:12:09.720
a white male between the ages of thirty five and forty,
204
00:12:10.120 --> 00:12:12.679
about five foot ten inches tall and two hundred to
205
00:12:12.679 --> 00:12:14.799
two hundred and thirty pounds. He was said to have
206
00:12:14.960 --> 00:12:18.600
very blue eyes, light blonde or reddish hair, worn in
207
00:12:18.600 --> 00:12:22.840
a crew cut, with very noticeable, even white teeth. Only
208
00:12:22.919 --> 00:12:25.919
a month prior to Margaret's disappearance, this same man had
209
00:12:25.919 --> 00:12:27.960
tried to pick up a teenage girl in his car.
210
00:12:28.840 --> 00:12:31.840
Some Mount Holly families also reported that their daughters had
211
00:12:31.840 --> 00:12:35.600
received calls about babysitting jobs from a man named John Marshall.
212
00:12:36.600 --> 00:12:39.440
Despite hundreds of leads coming in about the identity of
213
00:12:39.440 --> 00:12:42.440
this particular man, none were enough for police or the
214
00:12:42.519 --> 00:12:46.879
FBI to ever find him. Without any physical evidence, phone
215
00:12:46.919 --> 00:12:51.919
tracers were a suspect. The trail cooled quickly, but in
216
00:12:52.000 --> 00:12:56.159
nineteen seventy five, a year after Margaret's disappearance, a convict
217
00:12:56.240 --> 00:13:00.440
named Charles Clobridge was arrested in Northtown, Pennsylvania, and in
218
00:13:00.519 --> 00:13:03.720
his interrogation, he claimed that he had murdered Margaret Fox.
219
00:13:05.080 --> 00:13:08.279
He told investigators he deducted her and then strangled her
220
00:13:08.639 --> 00:13:10.840
and thrown her body off a cliff in the Catskill
221
00:13:10.879 --> 00:13:14.840
Mountains in upstate New York. As the only potential break
222
00:13:14.879 --> 00:13:16.480
in a case had had been cold for a year,
223
00:13:17.039 --> 00:13:20.360
law enforcement threw all their effort into investigating this confession.
224
00:13:21.399 --> 00:13:24.759
Unfortunately for the Fox family, no body was recovered in
225
00:13:24.799 --> 00:13:27.840
the seventy two hour search of the area Clobridge had
226
00:13:27.840 --> 00:13:31.600
claimed he disposed of Margaret, and even more unfortunate for
227
00:13:31.639 --> 00:13:35.559
the investigation, police determined that Clobridge had been sequestered in
228
00:13:35.639 --> 00:13:38.480
a hospital on the day of Margaret's disappearance. There was
229
00:13:38.519 --> 00:13:41.639
no way he was the perpetrator, and when confronted with
230
00:13:41.679 --> 00:13:44.519
his evidence, he admitted that he lied to get attention.
231
00:13:46.679 --> 00:13:50.159
The case went cold a second time until nineteen seventy seven,
232
00:13:50.519 --> 00:13:53.120
when police took interest in a known sex offender who
233
00:13:53.240 --> 00:13:55.159
lived in the Mount Holly area around the time of
234
00:13:55.200 --> 00:13:59.360
Margaret's disappearance. He owned a red Volkswagon and seemed like
235
00:13:59.360 --> 00:14:02.159
the perfect sun suspect, but this man had a confirmed
236
00:14:02.200 --> 00:14:07.440
alibium as quickly rolled out. Thirteen years passed without any leads,
237
00:14:07.799 --> 00:14:10.879
but in nineteen eighty eight, investigators got what they hoped
238
00:14:10.919 --> 00:14:15.120
would be a huge break. On December tenth, the skeleton
239
00:14:15.120 --> 00:14:17.879
remains of a teenage female were uncovered in New Jerseys
240
00:14:17.919 --> 00:14:23.080
Atlantic Highlands. With minimal forensic abilities at the time, the
241
00:14:23.120 --> 00:14:26.159
only thing investigators could do was have a composite sketch
242
00:14:26.240 --> 00:14:29.279
and a clavery construction traded from the skull in the
243
00:14:29.320 --> 00:14:33.919
hopes that it would resemble Margaret. It took a decade
244
00:14:33.919 --> 00:14:36.639
before forensic technology was able to test the DNA of
245
00:14:36.679 --> 00:14:40.519
the bones. In nineteen ninety eight, the skeleton was found
246
00:14:40.559 --> 00:14:43.440
not to be a match for Margaret, and today, as
247
00:14:43.480 --> 00:14:48.519
of this recording, the remains are still unidentified. For over
248
00:14:48.600 --> 00:14:51.039
forty years, there wasn't even a tip called in a
249
00:14:51.120 --> 00:14:54.240
Margaret's case. She had simply vanished off the face of
250
00:14:54.240 --> 00:14:58.440
the earth. In twenty nineteen, on the forty fifth anniversary
251
00:14:58.440 --> 00:15:01.679
of Margaret's disappearance, the FBI put out a twenty five
252
00:15:01.759 --> 00:15:05.200
thousand dollars reward for information about Margaret's case, as well
253
00:15:05.240 --> 00:15:08.480
as releasing the ransom phone call to the public with
254
00:15:08.679 --> 00:15:12.399
enhanced audio. The FBI is hoping that someone might recognize
255
00:15:12.440 --> 00:15:15.240
the voice of the ransomer. I'm going to play you
256
00:15:15.279 --> 00:15:18.720
the actual recording from that phone call. If anyone listening
257
00:15:18.799 --> 00:15:21.759
recognizes that voice, please call the authorities.
258
00:15:23.120 --> 00:15:25.759
Ten thousand dollars might be a lot of bread, but
259
00:15:25.799 --> 00:15:27.600
your daughter's life is a butter topic.
260
00:15:27.960 --> 00:15:31.919
Who is it? After releasing the ransom audio, the FBI
261
00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:36.080
did reportedly receive tips, but the case still remains under investigation,
262
00:15:36.679 --> 00:15:38.960
and no news has been announced on whether any of
263
00:15:38.960 --> 00:15:43.159
those tips lead to the identity of Margaret's abductor. In
264
00:15:43.200 --> 00:15:46.120
the meantime, we can only speculate about Margaret's fate and
265
00:15:46.159 --> 00:15:57.039
who might have done her harm. Chapter seven. Theories and Speculations.
266
00:15:57.639 --> 00:16:00.559
The most widely accepted theory and one that police share,
267
00:16:01.240 --> 00:16:04.120
is that Margaret was a targeted victim of stranger abduction,
268
00:16:04.960 --> 00:16:07.320
as several girls from the Mount Holly area had also
269
00:16:07.360 --> 00:16:09.879
received calls from a man looking for someone to babysit.
270
00:16:10.480 --> 00:16:13.919
It's entirely possible that whoever abducted Margaret was looking for
271
00:16:13.919 --> 00:16:16.320
an easy target and when they saw her and her
272
00:16:16.360 --> 00:16:20.559
cousin's newspaper ad, it presented the right opportunity for them.
273
00:16:21.159 --> 00:16:24.399
This theory points to a calculated perpetrator who created an
274
00:16:24.399 --> 00:16:27.240
elaborate cover story that would trick both Margaret and her
275
00:16:27.279 --> 00:16:30.240
parents into thinking that she was taking a legitimate job.
276
00:16:31.320 --> 00:16:34.039
A subset of this theory would also suggest that Margaret
277
00:16:34.039 --> 00:16:36.279
may have been taken by someone who knew the area well.
278
00:16:38.200 --> 00:16:41.080
Police felt that this man knew the name John Marshall
279
00:16:41.159 --> 00:16:44.840
was a popular one in town and wouldn't be easily traced,
280
00:16:45.279 --> 00:16:47.840
and was it just a coincidence that a John Marshall
281
00:16:47.919 --> 00:16:50.320
worked inside the store next to the phone, but that
282
00:16:50.360 --> 00:16:54.759
the ransom caller had used. Police also felt that this
283
00:16:54.879 --> 00:16:57.759
caller knew the bus schedule, as well as other details
284
00:16:57.759 --> 00:16:59.960
of the area that were convincing enough to make more
285
00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:03.320
Margaret's parents think John Marshall is a real person, but
286
00:17:03.399 --> 00:17:07.440
what his real name was was a mystery. So what
287
00:17:07.480 --> 00:17:10.720
about the ransom call in the letters? There's been much
288
00:17:10.720 --> 00:17:13.319
speculation on why the Fox has never received any follow
289
00:17:13.400 --> 00:17:17.599
up communication if Margaret had been abducted for money. The
290
00:17:17.640 --> 00:17:20.680
most prominent theory suggests that the ransom demands were not
291
00:17:20.759 --> 00:17:24.440
from Margaret's subductor at all. The communications to the Fox
292
00:17:24.519 --> 00:17:28.160
family only arrived after the media had picked up Margaret's story,
293
00:17:28.200 --> 00:17:32.559
meaning anyone had access to the details of her disappearance, and, unfortunately,
294
00:17:32.559 --> 00:17:36.680
for many missing persons cases, scammer's wealth and contact families
295
00:17:36.720 --> 00:17:40.599
pretending to have information about their missing loved one. It's
296
00:17:40.640 --> 00:17:42.880
most likely that the calls and letters to the Fox
297
00:17:42.920 --> 00:17:45.720
Home were a hoax, and this is why the FBI
298
00:17:45.799 --> 00:17:48.039
didn't release the call to the public for such a
299
00:17:48.079 --> 00:17:51.000
long time. But it is possible that Margaret's subductor was
300
00:17:51.039 --> 00:17:54.279
trying to ransom her and something went wrong, which could
301
00:17:54.279 --> 00:17:57.680
account for the stop communication. At the end of the day,
302
00:17:57.680 --> 00:18:02.240
we're left asking the same question who took Margaret. Based
303
00:18:02.240 --> 00:18:05.720
on many similar missing persons cases, we can speculate that
304
00:18:05.720 --> 00:18:09.599
Margaret's abductor was a sexual predator or possibly a serial murderer.
305
00:18:10.799 --> 00:18:13.640
Serial killers of the nineteen seventies often used lures like
306
00:18:13.680 --> 00:18:17.480
babysitting jobs to ensnare victims, and there were many missing
307
00:18:17.519 --> 00:18:22.119
women cases around the time of Margaret's disappearance. At one point,
308
00:18:22.440 --> 00:18:25.440
investigators even seriously looked into Margaret being a victim of
309
00:18:25.480 --> 00:18:28.680
Ted Bundy, as he was known for luring young victims
310
00:18:28.680 --> 00:18:32.400
while driving a Volkswagen Beetle, but this theory was dropped
311
00:18:32.400 --> 00:18:35.160
after proving that Bundy was not anywhere close to New
312
00:18:35.240 --> 00:18:38.200
Jersey in the summer of nineteen seventy four, but it's
313
00:18:38.279 --> 00:18:41.200
quite possible Margaret fell victim to a serial offender who
314
00:18:41.200 --> 00:18:44.480
still hasn't been caught, but without any tangible evidence, it's
315
00:18:44.480 --> 00:18:47.680
impossible for investigators to make any connections that might reveal
316
00:18:47.680 --> 00:18:51.319
a pattern. A more likely scenario was that herb doctor
317
00:18:51.559 --> 00:18:55.200
was a local sexual predator who murdered Margaret disposed of her.
318
00:18:56.200 --> 00:18:58.880
Mount hauling. New Jersey is near the Pine Bearns, a
319
00:18:59.000 --> 00:19:02.160
densely wooded era of over a million acres of preserved
320
00:19:02.200 --> 00:19:05.200
forest and has an infamous history of being used as
321
00:19:05.279 --> 00:19:10.200
body dumping around in the nineteen sixties and seventies, an
322
00:19:10.240 --> 00:19:12.799
average of one body year was discovered in the Pine
323
00:19:12.799 --> 00:19:16.119
barrens dense undergrowth, and while most of these bodies have
324
00:19:16.160 --> 00:19:19.640
been attributed to victims of organized crime, it wouldn't be
325
00:19:19.680 --> 00:19:23.000
far fetched to speculate that Margaret's murderer may have buried
326
00:19:23.000 --> 00:19:26.519
her there too, But without having a very specific area
327
00:19:26.559 --> 00:19:28.839
to start looking at, it would be almost impossible for
328
00:19:28.920 --> 00:19:31.599
law enforcement to search for Margaret in the Pine Barrens.
329
00:19:32.880 --> 00:19:35.119
I should point out too, that in the Immi area
330
00:19:35.279 --> 00:19:38.279
where Margaret was missing from, there are several large bodies
331
00:19:38.279 --> 00:19:43.559
of water, creeks, swampy areas, and rivers. The fact that
332
00:19:43.599 --> 00:19:46.359
Margaret's body has never been found fills many with hope
333
00:19:46.359 --> 00:19:49.599
that she might still be alive out there. The National
334
00:19:49.680 --> 00:19:52.759
Center for Missing and Exploited Children recently released an age
335
00:19:52.799 --> 00:19:55.599
progressed photo of Margaret, showing her as what she might
336
00:19:55.640 --> 00:19:58.480
look like today at age sixty five. Though if she
337
00:19:58.559 --> 00:20:02.400
still is alive, there's speculation about why she hadn't returned
338
00:20:02.440 --> 00:20:04.880
to her family at some point. By all accounts, she
339
00:20:04.960 --> 00:20:07.920
was incredibly close with her parents and had never shown
340
00:20:07.960 --> 00:20:11.279
any proclivity for running away or wanting to escape her situation.
341
00:20:15.200 --> 00:20:17.519
A much more likely scenario is that Margaret has been
342
00:20:17.519 --> 00:20:21.000
deceased since her kidnapping in nineteen seventy four, and whoever
343
00:20:21.079 --> 00:20:23.960
is responsible for her death has evaded justice for over
344
00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:28.000
five decades. Margaret's parents both passed away without knowing what
345
00:20:28.039 --> 00:20:30.960
happened to their daughter. There were siblings who still hoping
346
00:20:31.000 --> 00:20:34.319
for answers, along with Burlinton law enforcement and the FBI,
347
00:20:35.440 --> 00:20:38.920
but after so long, his closure even possible in Margaret's case.
348
00:20:41.079 --> 00:20:45.160
In twenty twenty two, Brolin's police Chief John Fine told
349
00:20:45.200 --> 00:20:49.720
patch dot com that Margaret's case poses unique investigative challenges.
350
00:20:50.720 --> 00:20:53.440
With the passage of so much time, many people who
351
00:20:53.519 --> 00:20:56.359
may have been potential suspects or witnesses have long since
352
00:20:56.440 --> 00:21:00.759
passed away, and law enforcement can no longer interview them.
353
00:21:01.079 --> 00:21:03.920
It's even likely that our abductor has died too, and
354
00:21:03.960 --> 00:21:09.160
if he's alive, he'd likely to be very old. Investigator's
355
00:21:09.160 --> 00:21:11.680
best hope is that someone might recognize the voice on
356
00:21:11.720 --> 00:21:14.839
the ransom call that will generate a lead. Even if
357
00:21:14.839 --> 00:21:18.200
Margaret's killer has died, Knowing who he was may help
358
00:21:18.200 --> 00:21:20.440
bring peace to her family and to the town of
359
00:21:20.480 --> 00:21:26.799
Bronton itself. While Chief Fine describes Margaret's disappearance as one
360
00:21:26.839 --> 00:21:30.279
of the biggest unhealed wounds in our community, her case
361
00:21:30.400 --> 00:21:32.799
was part of a larger impact on our national culture
362
00:21:32.839 --> 00:21:41.880
of children's safety Chapter eight, the rise of stranger danger
363
00:21:43.720 --> 00:21:46.279
will Stranger abductions only make up twenty eight percent of
364
00:21:46.319 --> 00:21:50.599
all kidnapping cases, stories like Margaret Allen Fox's caused panic
365
00:21:50.640 --> 00:21:54.319
in the general public. Though Margaret's case only caused panic
366
00:21:54.359 --> 00:21:57.640
in our local area, there were several high profile stranger
367
00:21:57.680 --> 00:22:01.119
reductions throughout the nineteen seventies and eighties that helped fuel
368
00:22:01.160 --> 00:22:05.039
a new culture of stranger danger, defined as a warning
369
00:22:05.079 --> 00:22:07.279
to children that any adult they do not know is
370
00:22:07.279 --> 00:22:11.480
potentially dangerous. Stranger danger took hold of the American public,
371
00:22:11.559 --> 00:22:14.400
most notably after the disappearance of six year old Eaton
372
00:22:14.519 --> 00:22:18.519
Pats in nineteen seventy nine. After his mother watched him
373
00:22:18.559 --> 00:22:21.200
leave their Manhattan apartment to walk to his bus stop
374
00:22:21.640 --> 00:22:24.319
two blocks away, where his friend's mother was waiting for him.
375
00:22:24.880 --> 00:22:28.400
Eaton disappeared and was never seen again. His case was
376
00:22:28.440 --> 00:22:30.880
one of the most nationally covered missing child stories in
377
00:22:30.920 --> 00:22:35.240
American history, prompting the Missing Children Milk Carton campaign of
378
00:22:35.240 --> 00:22:38.599
the early nineteen eighties and the establishment of a Missing
379
00:22:38.640 --> 00:22:42.960
and Exploited Children task Force in nineteen eighty four. By
380
00:22:43.039 --> 00:22:46.160
nineteen eighty two, Eaton's story was still high on mass
381
00:22:46.240 --> 00:22:50.359
news media lists, and CBS's Evening News ran a special
382
00:22:50.480 --> 00:22:53.920
citing that over fifty thousand American children were kidnapped by
383
00:22:53.960 --> 00:22:58.839
strangers annually. While these numbers were incredibly inflated and untrue,
384
00:22:59.240 --> 00:23:02.720
the masses steer of the special created perpetrated child safety
385
00:23:02.759 --> 00:23:07.240
PSAs about stranger danger well into the two thousands and
386
00:23:07.279 --> 00:23:11.519
are often still taught to children to this day. Stranger
387
00:23:11.599 --> 00:23:15.680
danger tenants include not speaking to adults a child doesn't know,
388
00:23:16.519 --> 00:23:20.680
refusing to take anything offered by a stranger, including suites, gifts,
389
00:23:20.759 --> 00:23:25.839
or drinks, never getting into a stranger's vehicle, never believing
390
00:23:25.839 --> 00:23:28.720
a stranger who says a child's parent has been hurt
391
00:23:28.880 --> 00:23:32.880
or in an accident, and never communicating with strangers through text,
392
00:23:33.079 --> 00:23:37.440
email or on the phone. While the stranger danger concept
393
00:23:37.480 --> 00:23:40.119
has come under scrutiny in the past decade, there's been
394
00:23:40.160 --> 00:23:43.440
a decline in childhood stranger reductions since the nineteen eighties.
395
00:23:44.440 --> 00:23:46.640
Some of this decline may be due to the enhanced
396
00:23:46.640 --> 00:23:49.960
surveillance and cell phone tracking being a deterrent to would
397
00:23:49.960 --> 00:23:53.240
be abductor's but the cultural change is caused by the
398
00:23:53.240 --> 00:23:57.279
stranger danger concept may be more at play than people realize.
399
00:23:58.240 --> 00:24:01.720
Since its inception, are less likely to let their children
400
00:24:01.799 --> 00:24:05.200
go anywhere without a trusted guardian, and fewer parents in
401
00:24:05.279 --> 00:24:08.720
previous decades let their children walk to school or even
402
00:24:08.759 --> 00:24:12.400
around their neighborhoods, and in the year twenty twenty five
403
00:24:12.920 --> 00:24:16.400
would at any responsible parent even consider letting their child
404
00:24:16.599 --> 00:24:19.599
go to a babysitting job in another town for someone
405
00:24:19.640 --> 00:24:24.680
they'd never met. It's very unlikely. Please don't mistake this
406
00:24:24.720 --> 00:24:28.240
as me victim blaming or victim shaming. Margaret's parents in
407
00:24:28.279 --> 00:24:31.319
her case, they lived in a different time when people
408
00:24:31.359 --> 00:24:33.839
were more trusting, and things like this didn't happen a
409
00:24:33.839 --> 00:24:36.400
lot in small towns, and I'm sure if they had
410
00:24:36.440 --> 00:24:39.440
any inkling that Margaret was in danger, they never would
411
00:24:39.440 --> 00:24:43.119
have let her go. In the two thousands, children weren't
412
00:24:43.119 --> 00:24:45.839
often seen outside at all without a guardian, even in
413
00:24:45.880 --> 00:24:49.759
their own yards, and instances of stranger abductions have become
414
00:24:49.799 --> 00:24:53.759
exceedingly rare. The US Department of Justice currently notes that
415
00:24:53.880 --> 00:24:57.480
ninety nine percent of all child abductions are performed by
416
00:24:57.519 --> 00:25:02.640
their own family members. If, however successful or unsuccessful stranger
417
00:25:02.720 --> 00:25:06.240
danger may have been to childhood abduction prevention, none of
418
00:25:06.279 --> 00:25:09.759
it would have helped Margaret Fox. Her parents tried to
419
00:25:09.799 --> 00:25:13.039
do their due diligence and vetted John Marshall before allowing
420
00:25:13.079 --> 00:25:17.119
their daughter to babysit at a stranger's home. In essence,
421
00:25:17.519 --> 00:25:21.000
John Marshall was not a stranger to Margaret, but unfortunately
422
00:25:21.000 --> 00:25:25.720
for her, he wasn't real either. Whoever, John Marshall truly
423
00:25:25.839 --> 00:25:27.920
is he abducted a young girl on the brink of
424
00:25:27.960 --> 00:25:30.400
her whole life and left her family to grieve her
425
00:25:30.400 --> 00:25:35.319
disappearance for over five decades. But perhaps someday we'll find
426
00:25:35.359 --> 00:25:38.000
out who he is and why he took Margaret, and
427
00:25:38.039 --> 00:25:43.920
then maybe find out what happened to her. Chapter nine,
428
00:25:44.519 --> 00:25:49.160
The open case. Margaret Fox's case is still open and active.
429
00:25:49.880 --> 00:25:52.279
The FBI is still hoping for a break that will
430
00:25:52.319 --> 00:25:55.440
bring answers to the Fox family and lay Margaret's memory
431
00:25:55.480 --> 00:25:58.920
to rest. If our listeners recognized the voice in the
432
00:25:58.920 --> 00:26:02.039
phone recording we played, or have any information they think
433
00:26:02.079 --> 00:26:04.720
would be useful in this case, we urge to contact
434
00:26:04.759 --> 00:26:08.599
the FBI's newer headquarters at nine seven three seven nine
435
00:26:08.599 --> 00:26:12.160
to two three thousand, or the Burlington, New Jersey Police
436
00:26:12.200 --> 00:26:16.319
Department at six zero O nine three eight six thirty
437
00:26:16.319 --> 00:26:22.160
three hundred. Audience invitation. Is there a case or an
438
00:26:22.200 --> 00:26:25.559
unexplained communication you'd like us to cover. Please take the
439
00:26:25.599 --> 00:26:27.960
time to rate and review the show, and in your
440
00:26:27.960 --> 00:26:30.480
comments tell us what case you'd like us to tackle.
441
00:26:31.000 --> 00:26:33.720
You can also follow us and reach us on social media.
442
00:26:34.200 --> 00:26:39.880
We'ren X dot com at killercpod and on Facebook at
443
00:26:39.920 --> 00:26:44.640
Facebook dot com slash Killer Communications Podcast and be sure
444
00:26:44.640 --> 00:26:48.160
to check out our website Killer Communications podcast dot com
445
00:26:48.839 --> 00:26:52.319
Killer Communications Listeners. If you want to support this show
446
00:26:52.359 --> 00:26:55.359
and get access to things like ad free listening, early
447
00:26:55.400 --> 00:26:59.799
release episodes, and any bonus content, consider supporting us with
448
00:26:59.839 --> 00:27:04.400
an abjact Insider subscription through Apple podcast for four ninety
449
00:27:04.480 --> 00:27:06.599
nine a month or forty nine to ninety nine a year.
450
00:27:07.119 --> 00:27:10.880
Your abjact Insider subscription will not only unlock all these
451
00:27:10.880 --> 00:27:13.839
great benefits for this show, but for every podcast on
452
00:27:13.880 --> 00:27:18.119
the Abject network of any podcast. Get your ABJACT Insider
453
00:27:18.160 --> 00:27:21.119
subscription started with a free trial. Simply head over to
454
00:27:21.160 --> 00:27:24.759
Apple Podcasts and search for Abject Entertainment and you'll find
455
00:27:24.799 --> 00:27:27.359
the option to set up an unlock your subscription and
456
00:27:27.400 --> 00:27:30.279
start enjoying all the benefits of being a subscriber. Will
457
00:27:30.319 --> 00:27:32.960
also include a link in the show notes. Your support
458
00:27:33.039 --> 00:27:36.359
is greatly appreciated. Just a heads up. New episodes of
459
00:27:36.440 --> 00:27:41.240
Killer Communications air every other Saturday. Thanks for listening, and
460
00:27:41.279 --> 00:27:43.160
we hope you'll join us on the next episode of
461
00:27:43.279 --> 00:27:44.920
Killer Communications.
462
00:27:49.200 --> 00:27:52.720
Killer Communications is narrated and produced by Mike Morphord for
463
00:27:52.759 --> 00:27:57.160
Abject Entertainment. It's researched and written by Abigail Belcastro. Be
464
00:27:57.279 --> 00:28:00.960
sure to visit the show's website, Killer Communications podcast dot
465
00:28:00.960 --> 00:28:04.960
com for past episodes, social media links, show news, and more.