SERIAL KILLER: The Freeway Phantom
When six young girls are found murdered, their similarities link them all to one killer. With no witnesses and no leads, investigators are still asking who is The Freeway Phantom over forty years later.
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If you have any information regarding to the abduction and murders of Carol Spinks, Darlenia Johnson, Brenda Crockett, Nenomoshia Yates, Brenda Woodard or Diane Williams please call Metro Police at 202-727-9099 or send an email to [email protected].
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Episode Source Material
- Progress Bulletin (Pomona, CA): Another Girl Slain By D.C. ‘Phantom’, by UPI
- Spokane Chronicle (Spokane, WA): Similarity Is Catchword in Slaying of 6 Girls, by Don McLeod
- The Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, MD): D.C. teen-ager’s body found in suburbs, by Associated Press
- The Indianapolis Star (Indianapolis, IN): ‘Freeway Phantom’ Feared Back On Grisly Job; Police Find 7th D.C.-Area Schoolgirl Murdered, by Associated Press
- Daily News (New York, New York): Phantom Of the Freeway, by Anne Groer and Kermit Jaediker
- The Sacramento Bee (Sacramento, CA): Gang Responsible For 1,000 rapes?, by Associated Press
- The Daily News (Staunton, VA): ‘Freeway Phantom’ probe is dropped, by Associated Press
- United States v. Warren. 1977. District of Columbia Court of Appeals, decision by Associate Judge J. Walter Yeagley
- The Washington Post: A Common Bond, by Thomas Morgan
- The Washington Post: ‘Freeway Phantom’ Slayings Haunt Police, Families, by Del Quentin Wilber
- Washington Examiner: DNA discovery could solve 1972 Freeway Phantom slaying, by Teddy Kahn
- Washingtonian: “We Want These Cases Closed”, by Brendan L. Smith
- Washington City Paper” Why the Freeway Phantom Still Hasn’t Been Caught, by Rend Smith
- The Washington Post: Six black girls were brutally murdered in the early ’70s. Why was this case never solved?, by Cheryl W. Thompson
- People Magazine: Unsolved Case of ‘Freeway Phantom’ Haunts Families Decades After Slain Girls Were Found in D.C. Area, by Jeff Truesdell
- People Magazine Investigates: The Freeway Phantom (Season 4, Episode 4)
- The Case I Can’t Forget: Romaine Jenkins (Season 1, Episode 2)
- Pardoe, Blaine L. & Hester, Victoria R. (2019) Tantamount: The Pursuit of the Freeway Phantom Serial Killer
- Convicted Serial Killer sketches 1972 Prince George’s murder victim
- The Evening Sun (Baltimore, MD): Two More Indicted In D.C. Freeway’s ‘Phantom’ Killings
Suggested Episodes
WANTED: Justice for Rhys Pocan & MMIW Part 2
In 2021, we set out to cover the case of Rhys Pocan, a 35-year-old Indigenous woman who was murdered in Wisconsin in the ‘80s. In Part 2, we look into cases of two other female dismemberment victims in Wisconsin with striking similarities to Rhys Pocan’s.
WANTED: Justice for Rhys Pocan & MMIW Part 1
In 2021, we set out to cover the case of Rhys Pocan, a 35-year-old Indigenous woman who was murdered in Wisconsin in the ‘80s. But while we were in the field, we uncovered a disturbing pattern of murders with similarities to Rhys’ that were just too blatant to ignore. So, we spent the next three years working with local and federal law enforcement to try and get to the bottom of it.
WANTED: The Keddie Cabin Killer
A family’s brutal murder rocks a tiny California town and leaves behind too many unanswered questions.
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