EP. 150: TEXAS -SERIAL KILLER Daniel Lee Corwin: The Worst Man In Texas (PT. 2)

At the time, the prison system was overcrowded and they believed Daniel was rehabilitated. However, they couldn't have been more wrong because a few years after he was released, Daniel would commit his first murder. Which gave him a sense of euphoria he had never experienced before. And from that moment on, Daniel would chase that feeling, killing women across east Texas every chance he could, until he was caught. So this is part two of the story of Daniel Corwin. I'm Courtney Browen.

Our story starts about 45 miles northwest of Huntsville, Texas, in the small country town of Normandji, where my dad is from. Most of the people in Normandji own land and cattle, which is the case for my family. Our farm has been passed down for generations, so Normandji holds a special place in my heart. But it's also the setting of where a 72-year-old woman was raped, strangled, stabbed and mutilated while simply going on a walk in 1987. Back in the 1980s, the population of Normandji was a little over 600 people. So it's the kind of town where everyone knows each other. People leave their doors unlocked and you look out for your neighbors.

My dad told me that when he was a kid. Normandji's downtown consisted of one bank, the post office, Kyle's convenience store, where you could buy barbecue sandwiches, and one very small grocery store called Percy's. Where you could actually bring your cow and they could butcher it for you, right then and there. That's the kind of small country town Normandji was, but with it being such a small town, its crime rates were well below the national average. You had your occasional DUI, maybe some property theft here and there, but in terms of violent crime, it was almost unheard of.

So in February of 1987, the citizens of Normandji went on with their daily routines like normal, completely unaware that a budding serial killer was about to make his way through town.

On that morning, just like every morning, the two woke up before the sunrise and shared a breakfast together. And as they sat at the table, they discussed their plans for the day. Alice was going to go on her daily walk, come home, make lunch and then spend some time reading her Bible, which is pretty much what she did every day on that particular morning. It was a beautiful day, the weather was clear and there was a slight chill in the air, the perfect weather for walking.

Now, nine years earlier, Alice had undergone a bypass surgery, and now that she was getting older, she prioritized getting her daily exercise. She walked those three miles every single day, and if the weather was bad, she would a stationary bike at her home, so she was very disciplined. On that morning, after she and Alvin finished breakfast, she cleaned up and put on her walking shoes. By the time she walked out of the door and hopped in the car, it was around 7.15am.

From there, she would drive her cadillac along Highway 39 towards her beloved San Prairie Baptist Church, a modest yellow brick building where she and her family went to church. Alice would pull into the parking lot of San Prairie Baptist, Park, her car, and from there. Wearing a baseball cap, slacks and a scarf, she would embark on her three-mile journey and, along her walk, following her doctor's advice, she would wave her arms above her head to improve circulation.

Now, this wasn't the first time Daniel had experienced this. After getting out of prison. He often had those dark fantasies creep up in his mind, but up until this point, he had been able to control them. However, for whatever reason, when he saw Alice alone on this road, with no witnesses around, the thoughts became stronger than ever. And it's here where he decided to give in and pull over his car.

Now, something to note is that Daniel's typical victims were young. And although Alice was 72 years old, she was in great shape from walking three miles every day. And when he drove up behind her, it's likely he didn't even notice she was an elderly woman. Even further, Alice was wearing a baseball cap, so her white hair was covered. But by the time Daniel realized she was older, he had already made up his mind.

Now it's unknown exactly what happened next. Maybe Daniel approached Alice and acted like he had a question, or maybe he just immediately attacked her. But based on Daniel's past, it's likely that he pulled a knife on Alice, forced her into his car and from there he raped her. Much like he did with Brenda Evans. After the sexual assault, Daniel pulled Alice from the car, led her to a nearby pond nestled behind some trees, where he then strangled and stabbed her to death.

But interestingly enough, the demon next door that before leaving the scene, Daniel took out his knife and carved a disturbing smiley face into her back, something he had never done before. Now, in his last attack with Brenda Evans, Daniel left the scene before she died. And because of that, he ended up getting caught and he wasn't going to make that same mistake this time. He made sure Alice was dead.

Before leaving, he waited there, checking for any signs of life, but there were none, and in that moment, Daniel felt invincible. Not only did he experience a high he had never felt before, but he was confident that this time he would get away with it. And with that, he would leave the scene and drive to his parents house in Temple, as if nothing even happened.

So, thinking quick, David notifies his grandpa, Alvin, but learns that he hadn't heard from Alice either. Now, Alvin was good friends with the sheriff in town, so he quickly calls in to report her missing. And I'm sure at first, they may have thought that Alice had a medical emergency on her walk. Never in a million years did they suspect she had been raped and murdered. However, when they searched her walking route, she was nowhere to be found.

If it had been a medical emergency, they would have found her there.

Every day after her walk, she would come home and immediately start frying up some chicken, preparing mashed potatoes, corn and peas. The whole nine yards now. Bruce worked at a nearby ranch in town. And he said that shortly after 11 a.m, his brother David called him to let him know that. Mother Alice didn't come home from her walk, and immediately everyone knew something was wrong. Like we mentioned, Alice had lunch prepared every single day at 11 a.m sharp, but not on this day.

So Bruce quickly made his way over to Alice's house, going as fast as he could. He told me that on the way there, he turned a corner and saw his grandpa and the county sheriff on a bridge looking into the creek. Bruce quickly pulled over the car and his grandpa told him, Go to the house, boy. And that's when it hit him that they were looking for his grandma's body after Bruce made it to the house. He said that the entire community came together to help find her.

The response was truly beautiful and by 2 p.

M That day, Sheriff Ed Fannin had mobilized a whole team to search the Winding county roads surrounding Normandy. The Huntsville Prison even sent some of their guards to help in the search. But as each hour passed, their fears deepened when Alice was still nowhere to be found. And the fact that she wasn't found along her regular walking route was even more concerning because that meant she was likely met with foul play.

As nightfall descended, the search intensified, with the addition of search dogs, helicopters and search teams on horseback. Undeterred by the darkness, the search continued into the night, but still no one could find 72-year-old Alice Martin, and the following morning, the search continued. I even found in the research that locals took airplanes up to the sky to see if they could spot her from up above.

Now, my late grandpa and my dad fly airplanes, and when I called my dad to ask him about this case, it turns out that was them. My dad and grandpa spent hours flying over Normandy to try and help, but they too, were unable to find her.

But if you crossed the Navasota River, you would end up in another county where you could buy alcohol. So these two boys decided to do just that. They had crossed the river, got their beer and they drank those beers in the woods so they wouldn't get caught. But their fun night of drinking in the woods would lead them to a gruesome discovery. Nestled behind a dense cluster of trees off the county road, Alice's nude body was found lying face down beside a pond.

And the smiley face that had been reportedly etched into her back was eerily staring back at them. The boys quickly notified the police and within minutes, law enforcement descended upon the scene.

And as they sat together at the table, they heard the sheriff say on the radio.

It certainly stripped everyone's sense of safety and security, and it had people questioning whether or not a monster lived among them.

They even reached out to neighboring counties to assist in the case. And they would go home to home, interviewing locals, postal workers, bus drivers, anyone that could maybe give them some answers. They even handed out flyers throughout the area, asking for people to come forward if they had any information in the case, and eventually someone would. A local teenager would later tell law enforcement that he had seen a brown pickup truck parked on the road the morning Alice went missing.

The same kind of pickup truck Daniel Corwin owned, but he lived about 45 minutes away from Normandy, so he wasn't on investigators radar. And after a while, all leads in Alice's murder ultimately reached a dead end. Her family called the police department all the time to see if they had any answers, but they were left without a single one. And as spring turned to summer, the case grew even colder, leaving a lingering sense of fear within the tight-knit community.

However, little did everyone know the monster didn't live in town. He had just been passing through, and it wouldn't be long until he would strike again, instilling fear into another East Texas town.

And he even got back together with his girlfriend Becky, and they were on the road towards an engagement. But all of that success was about to come crumbling down. Shortly after his first murder, Daniel's mental state began to slowly decline. He needed to get another taste.

And that obsession trumped all of the success he had worked so hard for. Eventually, he and Becky's relationship would start to unravel. She still lived hours away in Temple, and he barely made any time to go and see her. Then he started skipping classes.

And his grades began to suffer by May of 1987. Daniel had such bad grades he wasn't allowed back the following semester. Slowly but surely, everything in his life began falling apart, something he kept a secret from everyone around him. When family members would ask how college was going, he would lie and tell them that everything was going just fine.

When people asked how Becky was, he would say he was looking at rings when, in reality, she had broken up with him. And believe it or not, when the summer semester started at Texas A&M, Daniel would actually pack up his book bag every Tuesday and Thursday. And pretended he was going to class, even though he wasn't enrolled. Now, like we mentioned earlier, his boss told him that the only way he could keep his job is if he stayed in school.

So he likely did this so he wouldn't get fired, and his position at personal touch cabinetry was actually the only thing he still had going for him.

So after a while, after months of proving himself, Daniel's boss gave him more of a leadership role within their company. Daniel was even given keys to the warehouse, and he was given permission to complete jobs with supervision in his boss's mind. Daniel earned it. But this meant that Daniel would be going into people's homes and places of work all by himself, with no witnesses around to keep him accountable. A dangerous position for someone with such a dark mind.

In the summer of 1987, Personal Touch Cabinetry was hired to install a new office at the Huntsville Vision Center, located along I-45.

Both Daniel and his two bosses were tasked with the construction, painting and installation of all display cases within the establishment. And the sole optician there who was overseeing the company's work was a 27-year-old woman named Deborah Ewing.

And with that, he left to go back to the cabinetry shop, but on the way there, those dark thoughts started to infiltrate his mind once again. Deborah was beautiful and he wanted her the same way he wanted Kathy Choate, Brenda Evans and Alice Martin. Once he got back to the shop, he told his bosses that he was going to Temple for the weekend. And they left for the day, telling Daniel, Go have a good weekend, stay out of trouble, okay?

But Daniel wasn't going back to Temple. He wouldn't be staying out of trouble. And as soon as his bosses left, Daniel would hop back in his truck and make his way back to the Huntsville Vision Center. In the office adjacent to the Huntsville Vision Center was another business called Prudential Financial. A young woman named Gina Schoenfield was working the front desk there, closing up for the day.

When all of a sudden, Deborah barged through the connecting doors between the two offices, she had a terrified look on her face. Deborah was so scared she had even urinated on herself. She quickly told Gina that a man was walking towards the Vision Center holding a gun. At that moment, Gina's eyes glanced towards the window.

And although the top part of the man's body was concealed by the glass, she could see him approaching with a gun. Her instincts quickly kicked in, and she ran towards one of the back offices, locking the door behind her, and from there, she huddled behind a desk and called 911. But sadly, Deborah had nowhere to go. And moments later, Daniel would walk through the front doors, point the gun in Deborah's face and force her into his pickup truck waiting outside.

They did find her purse on the ground, and outside of the building, on the sidewalk, they found her green shoes that had clearly been left behind during a struggle. Gina quickly filled them in on everything that happened. But because she only saw the bottom half of the man's body, they didn't have much to go on. However, she was able to give them a brief description. She said he was wearing a dark brown zip-up hoodie over a t-shirt and corduroy pants. Officers immediately listed Deborah Ewing as a missing person and called on the public to help in the investigation.

They put out a photo of Deborah along with her detailed description, and urged anyone with information to come forward. They would also speak with Deborah's co-workers, and one of them would point them towards their first lead. They told investigators that earlier that day, one of the workers had been wearing that exact outfit, as described by Gina. And it was none other than Daniel Corwin. So from there, the officers reached out to Ben Pruitt, Daniel's boss, and that's when they learned that Daniel was an ex-convict who served time in prison for rape. Upon learning this information, Daniel Corwin was now their main suspect.

It was clear that she had been raped and there were two fatal stab wounds to her chest. Following the discovery, law enforcement conducted an extensive search of the area and during it, they were approached by a group of teenagers who had some interesting information. They claimed that two days earlier they were near the area where the body was discovered when they heard a woman screaming at the top of her lungs. Now, for whatever reason, they didn't think anything of it. But it's clear that the screams were of Deborah as she fought for her life. Based on the information they had, they concluded that someone abducted Deborah from her place of work. Drove all the way out to Conroe until they found a secluded location. And once they did, they raped Deborah, stabbed her twice in the chest and then left her out there to die.

However, after driving aimlessly for a while, he was unable to find one, so he just gave up and went to his parents house. Now, Ranger Quinn had Daniel repeat this story multiple times, trying to catch him in a lie, but with each retelling, Daniel stayed consistent. And the investigators couldn't help but notice how calm Daniel was throughout the entire interview, he never once broke a sweat or revealed any signs of nervousness. Now, another problem they ran into was that Daniel's bosses saw him at the shop that day sometime after 4 p..m. And by 4.30 p...m. The gunman was already at the Vision Center abducting Debra. And based on the amount of time it would have taken him to drive back to the Vision Center, he would have had a very narrow time frame to get there and abduct her.

It wouldn't have been impossible, but this did end up working in Daniel's favor and unfortunately, the police let him go now. I wasn't able to find whether or not they searched his truck, maybe they did and didn't find any evidence of Debra in there. But it is surprising that Daniel, who had been convicted of rape, was able to walk free, even though he matched the description of the man holding the gun that day. And the fact that he just drove around for hours allegedly looking for a watermelon stand. His story was definitely fishy, but the police didn't have enough to arrest him. And the truth of the matter was that Daniel had not been driving around looking for fruit. In reality, during that gap of time, he had been driving to Conroe, to rape and murder. Debra Ewing.

So Mary spent the morning preparing breakfast and getting Kristen's costume together. Life wasn't always easy as a single mom. Mary was actually going through a pretty difficult divorce at the time, but she wasn't going to let it affect her. Mary was resilient and she was determined to give her daughter a good life, after all, Kristen was her whole world.

She filled her with joy and she gave her the strength to push forward in difficult times now. Luckily for Mary, she had a great job at Southwestern Bell, where she had worked for the past 17 years. Her co-workers described her as a sweet woman who was very warm to everyone around her. But after a busy work week, Mary was looking forward to spending the weekend with her daughter. However, she had no idea that her life was about to come to a tragic end.

After the beauty pageant that day, Mary and Kristen drove back home and enjoyed an early dinner. That whole day, Kristen had been going on and on about how excited she was for the Halloween carnival at the Walker County Fairgrounds. So after dinner, she got dressed in her white ballerina costume and they made their way out the door to enjoy the night ahead. They ended up getting to the Fairgrounds at around 5 p...m. and spent the next few hours enjoying all of the fun Halloween festivities. Then, shortly before 8 p...m. the two were seen leaving.

Now, on the way back home, Mary decided to make a spontaneous stop at the car wash. The next morning was Kristen's baptism, and she wanted to show up to church with a freshly cleaned car, so she pulled into the fourth bay of the do-it-yourself car wash. Inserted some coins into the machine and then activated the water pressure hose. Over the next few minutes. Mary cleaned the outside of her car, while Kristen played by her side, jumping in and out of the sudsy water puddles. But unbeknownst to them, Daniel Corwin had just driven by and noticed Mary cleaning her car with no one else around.

So he takes the opportunity to pull his brown truck into the bay directly next to hers. It's unclear if Daniel saw three-year-old Kristen standing nearby. But as soon as he got out of the truck, Mary knew he wasn't there to wash his car, and he wasn't. Daniel immediately pulled out a knife and ran towards her, but Mary wasn't going to go down without a fight. She kicked and screamed and did everything she could to get away from him as he dragged her back to his truck, leaving deep bruises and scratches all over her arms and face.

But sadly, despite fighting for her life, she was no match against a man with a knife. After realizing he wouldn't be able to get her in his truck, Daniel slit Mary's throat right thin in there, severing her carotid artery. He then retreated back to his truck and sped away from the scene. But there, on the floor of the car wash, Mary bled out while her three-year-old daughter watched in horror. Throughout the entire struggle, Kristen hid under her mother's car, likely sparing her life.

But sadly, Kristen had to watch her mother die right in front of her eyes, about a quarter mile away from the car wash, deputy Dusty Dalgar was enjoying Halloween trick-or-treating with his wife and two sons. When they were suddenly approached by two frantic women who were gasping for breath and screaming about a lifeless, blood-covered body. Near the car wash. Without hesitation, Deputy Dalgar and his family sprinted to their car, and he called for backup within moments they were at the scene. When Deputy Dalgar parked his car, he could see a woman wearing a white shirt and blue jeans sprawled out near a white cadillac parked in the bay.

The water hose was still running on the ground next to her, and there was blood everywhere. As he neared closer, he saw movement coming from inside the car. Dalgar quickly grabbed his gun, thinking it might be the attacker. But then he suddenly saw a small girl. Kristen was sitting in the car with a look of pure panic on her face.

Dalgar quickly identified himself as a police officer and he assured her that he was there to protect her. And it was then when Kristen opened the door, jumped into his arms and yelled out, Don't let the bad man get me as deputy Dalgar.

The deputy quickly handed her off to his wife, who put a blanket around her and assured her that she was safe. But within minutes, the small car wash was now filled with first responders who descended upon the scene. And with the suspect still at large. Prowling the streets of Huntsville, they had no other choice but to get their clues from the only witness they had that day, three-year-old Kristen, now clearly the toddler, couldn't give them a lot, but she was able to describe the vehicle. He was driving, a brown truck.

But after the description of the man's truck was given to authorities, A be on the lookout was sent for any dark-colored trucks in the area. And a sketch of the truck was sent out to the local newspaper. Now, Daniel Corwin's boss, Ben Pruitt, would end up seeing it in the paper and his stomach dropped. He knew Mary Reisinger well. In fact, he actually dated Mary's sister Sarah at one point. And when he saw that Mary's killer drove a brown pickup truck, a chilling thought crossed his mind.

Could his employee, Daniel Corwin, be responsible? But Ben just couldn't let himself believe it, after all. The drawing of the truck in the newspaper had these distinctive bars on the rear window, and Daniel's truck didn't have those, so it couldn't have been him. These thoughts continued to haunt Ben Pruitt throughout the weekend. And then, on Monday, Daniel showed up to work with a bandage wrapped around his left hand.

When Ben asked him about it, Daniel brushed it off, saying he cut it, opening a can of chocolate. Now, one would think that Ben Pruitt would go to the authorities with this information, but he didn't. Maybe he was still trying to convince himself that Daniel was innocent, or maybe he was in denial because he didn't want to believe that he hired a serial killer to work for him. Whatever the cause may be, Ben Pruitt decided to keep this information to himself. And because of that, another woman would fall victim to Daniel Corwin.

Then, to further complicate things, they also didn't have security cameras to look back on or DNA testing like we do today. So sadly, with Mary's murder, they pretty much had some blood samples, blood spatter evidence, and then the testimony of a three-year-old girl. Now. At first, investigators believed that her murder had to have been personal. After all, what kind of monster just walks up to a stranger at a car wash and slits their throat? That's the kind of thing you see when someone's extremely angry with somebody.

So, in the beginning, there was some suspicion that her estranged husband could have been responsible. However, they quickly learned that he was on a hunting trip in Colorado at the time of her murder, so he physically couldn't have killed her. And with that, investigators were at a kind of standstill, just like they were in the cases of Alice Martin and Deborah Ewing. Now, believe it or not, the police had still not made a connection between the three murders, but the Houston Chronicle did. They published a short article about the similarities in Deborah and Mary's murders. But they noted that there was no concrete evidence connecting the two.

And while investigators continued to hunt down leads, Daniel Corwin remained a free man.

But unlike his other kills, Daniel did not feel a sense of relief afterwards. In fact, killing her did just the opposite he felt less confident. He also knew that the police were actively searching for his vehicle, so he knew he had to hold back for the time being. Throughout that winter and into the spring of 1988, Daniel resisted his homicidal urges, and he tried his best to be like everyone else.

He went to work, he hung out with friends, visited his parents, and he stayed out of trouble for the most part. It was reported that Daniel would get a speeding ticket in Huntsville that year. And, interestingly enough, it was reported in the book The Demon Next Door that the officer that gave him that ticket was none other than Larry Martin, Alice Martin's own grandson. But that was the thing about Daniel Corwin. When you passed him on the street, he looked like your average normal guy. No one would have ever known that he was a cold-blooded rapist and killer.

Now, Daniel continued to try and fit in the best he could. He even continued lying to the people around him that he was still going to classes at Texas A&M. Every single Tuesday and Thursday, Daniel would grab his backpack and drive to the university to attend his fake classes. But it was on one of these trips where Daniel's self-control would reach its limit and his facade would come crumbling down. As soon as he laid eyes on Wendy Gaunt, around noon on October 30th, 1988, Wendy walked out of her last class of the day at Texas A&M University.

Originally from Austin, Texas, Wendy had moved to college station two years earlier to get her degree. And on that day, she was looking forward to going home after a busy morning. But as she made her way through the parking lot of Kyle Field, searching for her suburban, she had no idea that danger was lurking nearby. When she approached her car, she threw her belongings inside, but as she was doing this, Daniel Corwin ran up behind her.

Wendy had just hopped into the driver's seat when he suddenly popped up at her open car door. Frightened, Wendy looked at the stranger, trying to figure out what he wanted. And in that very moment, when she looked into his eyes, she knew she was in danger. So much so she attempted to climb over the seat and escape out the passenger side door, but Daniel was already one step ahead of her.

He quickly jumped into her car and pinned her arms down. He then pulled out a nylon rope, put her arms behind her back and tied her up so she couldn't move. And with that, he revved the engine and pulled out of the parking lot. It all happened so fast, Wendy could barely even catch her breath. She tried her best to keep her composure.

But as they drove out into the country, she knew that if she didn't escape, this man was going to kill her, and that was his plan. The two would end up driving for about 20 minutes, and Daniel eventually pulled into the entrance of Lick Creek Park. The park was actually under construction at the time, so it was empty.

And Wendy quickly learned that there would be no witnesses around to help her before she knew it. Daniel was out of the car, opening her passenger side door and with her hands still tied behind her back. He pulled her out and told her to walk towards the trail. Wendy did, as she was told, slowly walking towards the dense forest, knowing good and well that this might be the very last day of her life. The two would end up walking about a hundred feet or so into the woods when Daniel suddenly pushed her through some bushes into a small clearing.

After Wendy fell to the ground, Daniel started removing her clothes, and it was there where he raped her on the cold ground of the forest. Once he was finished, he used the nylon cord to tie Wendy to a tree. And for a moment, she thought the worst of it was over. Hopefully he would just leave her there.

But that wouldn't be the case. Wendy then watched as her attacker pulled out a knife as he approached her. She begged for her life, but he would show no mercy. Daniel took the knife and in one swift motion, he slit Wendy's throat. She quickly fell to her knees, with blood gushing all over.

Wendy quickly put her hands to her throat trying to stop the blood, and when she looked back at her attacker, she knew that he wasn't going to leave until she was dead. So Wendy closed her eyes, slumped her body against the tree and held her breath. After a few moments, she could hear the sound of twigs snapping under his feet. Finally, he was walking back to the car.

Once the coast was clear, Wendy somehow garnered enough strength to stand up and untie herself. Weak and disoriented, she stumbled back to the trail, holding her neck so she wouldn't bleed out. Right outside of the park was a busy road, so hopefully she would be able to flag someone down. But as Wendy approached the end of the trail, she suddenly saw him Daniel Corwin was still in the parking lot, sitting in her suburban.

She knew that if he saw her, he would come back to finish the job. So Wendy knelt down behind a bush, still clutching her throat. But finally, after what felt like an eternity, Daniel would finally pull out of the parking lot. By the time he did, Wendy was in rough shape, she could barely even stand.

She managed to make it over to the park's entrance, but before she could make it to the road, she collapsed to the ground. As she laid there, she prayed that someone would be able to see her and stop for help, and luckily, her prayers would be answered. Shortly after she collapsed, Wendy was spotted by a construction worker who quickly called for help.

Wendy Gaunt was immediately brought to the.

Alice Martin had been on a walk. She was also about 50 years older than the other victims. Debra was kidnapped and then dumped in a completely different town. Mary had been murdered, but she wasn't kidnapped like the other two. And because of these small differences, the police hadn't connected the cases up until now.

But after the rape and assault against Wendy Gaunt, the investigators were now confident that the same man was responsible. And maybe Wendy, who had been the only survivor out of all four attacks, would hold the answers.

Although she just went through the most horrific deal of her life, her horse still needed care. And once they assured her that someone was on it, Wendy wrote down her next request. Quote Get me a sketch artist. So investigators brought in a renowned forensic artist named Karen Taylor. But this would prove to be her most difficult job yet. After all, how can you create a sketch when the victim can't even speak?

It did take a lot longer than average. But after hours of working together, they finally completed the sketch. And Wendy was confident that the man in the drawing accurately depicted the man who raped her and left her for dead. From there, the sketch was released to the media, and within just one hour, investigators got a call.

The call came from a prison guard at the Huntsville prison. He told the police that the sketch looked eerily similar to an old inmate he knew named Daniel Corwin, and I'm sure when investigators heard his name, their eyes widened. Daniel Corwin had been their main suspect in the case of Deborah Ewing, but they let him go.

Now, just to be sure, detectives put his photo in a photo lineup to see if Wendy could identify him. So she shuffled through the pictures and froze. When she saw Daniel's face. Now, Wendy admitted that she was pretty sure it was him, but she wasn't 100 certain, which only complicated their investigation even further. The investigators were eager to arrest Daniel, but the D.A. said that they wouldn't get a warrant for his arrest until they had concrete evidence linking him to the crime. But luckily for them, that was right around the corner.

Not long after this, Wendy's suburban would be found in town. After the attack, Daniel ditched it, and when the police finally found it, they had it impounded and searched. Forensic technicians looked through the vehicle and in it, they found one single fingerprint that didn't belong to Wendy. And because Daniel had spent some time in prison, his fingerprints were already on record.

Now today, it would take minutes to get the results back. But back in the late 80s, things ran a little slower. They actually had to send the fingerprint through the mail to test it against Daniel Corwin's, but two days later they got the results they had been waiting for. The fingerprint, found in Wendy's suburban, was a match to Daniel Corwin.

And with that, they finally had enough to make an arrest, interestingly, though, when detectives showed up.

Soon enough, Daniel Corwin was right back in the prison where he belonged, however, although he would never be able to hurt anyone else. The murders of Alice Martin, Deborah Ewing and Mary Reisinger are still unsolved. And for the investigators that worked our cases, it weighed heavily on them, it also weighed heavily on their families. And by this point, everyone was confident of who was responsible.

So while Daniel was in prison, a veteran Huntsville detective named A.

P Merillat was sent to speak with him now. Daniel was a little apprehensive to speak with him at first, but after a while the two got acquainted and Daniel started opening up. A.P also worked out a deal with the prison officials to take Daniel back to the crime scenes, which he agreed to.

Later that day, a.

P took Daniel over to the car wash where Mary Reisinger was killed, and when they pulled in, he said that Daniel appeared to be in a trance-like state. He pointed towards the bay he pulled into on the day of the murder, and then he started retelling everything that had happened. He talked about trying to bring Mary into his truck and how she fought back.

He talked about how he decided to just slit her throat right then and there. Detective A..P said that after that they went to the other crime scenes and again, Daniel walked them through everything that happened in those murders.

Or did death by lethal injection sound better than life in prison? We don't know. But by March 27, 1989, Daniel Corwin was charged with the murder of Alice Martin, Deborah Ewing and Mary Reisinger. And now he was facing the death penalty.

The first injury was when they slammed on the brakes in their family's car, causing Daniel to hit his head. And the second was when his cousin accidentally hit him in the head with a mallet. Now we do know that head injuries in childhood can cause aggression later in life, but these didn't sound that severe. And it's clear his parents were grasping at straws, sadly trying to save their son's life. Deborah Ewing's mother, Bessie Black, would later say, I don't blame his mother for testifying. She was probably a good mother, but she was unwilling to admit that her son did these things.

Mary Reisinger's sister, Sarah, would later say he should feel the pain that his victims did, and still do. His surviving victims also had a lot to say. Kathy Choate, Brenda Evans and Wendy Gaunt all spoke at Daniel's trial, recounting the horrors they faced at his hands. And the jury couldn't help but stare at the thick scars that ran across Brenda and Wendy's necks. This was a man that not only killed three women, but he tried to kill two more. And their testimonies left a lasting impression on the jury. In fact, during the penalty phase of the trial. It only took the jury 25 minutes to sentence Daniel to death by lethal injection, and with that, Daniel was sent off to death row.

Many of the victims and their families were very happy with this verdict. Mary Reisinger's mother, Eleonora, would later say It'll never be over. But at least we know he got punished. However, that punishment was not in the near future. As we all know, the death penalty is a long and tiring process for all parties. But Daniel Corwin's justice would finally be served eight years after his trial, on December 7th, 1998..

At the time, he was one of 446 men in Huntsville's death row. On the morning of his execution, guards led Daniel to a holding cell and what they call their death house. And in that room, there's a clock slowly ticking away until it was time for his execution. For his last meal, Daniel had steak, potatoes and peas cake for dessert and a root beer. He also had the choice to choose the outfit he wanted to die in.

He could have picked his white prison pants and a white shirt, or his blue work clothes, he ended up choosing the work clothes. But that day, Daniel spent some time talking to a chaplain. Then, just before the struck 6pm, he was fingerprinted, which is protocol to make sure they have the right inmate. But once it was confirmed, Daniel was escorted to the execution chamber with the warden, the chaplain and the five-member execution team.

At 6.

05pm The team strapped him to the gurney and two guards began preparing his IV. The chemicals that would kill him were in a separate room, but there were two tubes that ran through an opening in the wall. The team hooked up the IVs to the tubes and from there they inserted the needles into his right arm and left hand.

Biggest thing I wanted to say was to you and your family. And I know I haven't had a chance to talk with y'all in any form or fashion, or way or manner. But I regret what happened and I want you to know that. I'm sorry. I just ask and hope that sometime down the line you can forgive me. I think, in a lot of ways, that without that, it becomes very empty and hollow, and the only thing we have is hatred and anger. I guess the only thing I have to say about the death penalty is that a lot of times people think of it as one-sided, but it's not, it's two-sided.

There's pain on both sides. And it's not an issue that people just sit there and voice off and say, well, this is a good thing or this is a bad thing. But it's something that's, you know, needs to be looked at and desired in each heart. I just hope that all of you can understand that and someday, forgive me. I want to thank y'all for affording me the opportunity to talk and meet with y'all. It meant so much. thank you for being with.

And promptly wheeled out to the hearse. When we spoke to Bruce for this episode, he said that watching Daniel's execution didn't necessarily bring him the closure he expected. Which is what we hear a lot with these cases. Of course, everyone is glad that Daniel will never be able to hurt anyone else, but it still doesn't bring your loved one back. Since then, many of his victims families have tried to find forgiveness for the man that caused so much heartache within their lives. Some days it's easy and other days it's not.

Daniel Corwin's actions did not just affect the women he victimized, but also all of the people who loved and cared for those women. Bruce said that his family was deeply affected by the loss of their grandmother, something that is still felt today. I also spoke with a family member of Mary Reisinger, and they said that. Even though Mary's daughter Kristen was only three years old when she watched her mom die, she could recall every single detail of what happened that day. Sadly, Kristen passed away in a car accident back in 2018. Another life cut too soon, but there is comfort in knowing she was finally reunited with her mother, who loved her more than anything in this world.

But the damage that Daniel Corwin inflicted caused a rippling effect of tragedy throughout east Texas, something that can still be felt to this day. But luckily, in December of 1998, his victims finally got the justice they deserved. When he took his very last breath, finally held accountable for the life he chose to live.

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Anyways, let's get back to today's episode.

Hey everybody, thank you for tuning in today to hear this episode of Murder in America. Obviously, this is a personal story that Courtney's family is directly involved in, and wow, what a crazy tale. I mean, I had never heard of Daniel Corwin, I had never heard of this story, and Courtney. And I found this story by researching some of the crimes and dark history of the town that her grandma lives in. And we were absolutely shocked, and Courtney, of course, knew she wanted to tell this story. I want to shout out some of our viewers for watching.

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