Episode 603 - Holiday Homicides

In this special edition of Unsolved with Steve Gregory we look back at homicides that happened between the traditional holidays of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s – cases from Southern California and around the country. Many experts say the holiday season is a major stressor for people and some of the motivations behind holiday homicides include money, loneliness, and domestic issues. We look at murders as far back as 1881 and as recent as 2022. The cases come from all walks of life, including a poverty-stricken community in Kentucky and an upscale neighborhood in Chicago. The killers include a tobacco sharecropper, a former engineer with JPL, a desperate roommate, and an 18-year-old who didn’t want to pay rent.

Episode Transcript

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You're listening to KFI AM six fortyon demand, KFI AM six forty live
everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. Thisis Unsolved with Steve Gregory. Welcome to
our special edition Holiday Homicides. Inthe next couple hours, we're going to
review some homicides that happened during thetraditional holiday season, beginning around Thanksgiving and

(00:25):
going through Christmas and ending New Year'sDay. Typically, overall crime tends to
slow down during the holiday season,but when there's a murder during the holidays,
it attracts more attention because it's unusual, especially because it's a time of
celebration, family and self reflection.But if there is a planned connection,
a premeditation between the holidays and amurder, that makes it even more heinous.

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Sociologist and author Richard Gels says thereare three primary reasons for holiday violence.
The first, money, which impactsa struggling family during the holiday season,
spending on Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas dinner, gifts, and it's worse if
the couple or the family have beenstruggling for a long time. Number two,
something Gels calls forced intimacy, withmost stores and restaurants closed and relatives

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who are already stressed out feel anobligation to be together all day and that
stress can compound. And the thirdreason, he says, is the happiness
gap. Gels says that all theTV advertisements, all the TV specials are
about how loving and wonderful families areand how life seems so bliss and wonderful,
which of course is a bit ofa myth. So we're going to

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walk you through some cases that happenedfrom Thanksgiving to New Year's and while some
have apparent motives, others don't,but they all have one thing in common.
They're one of the holiday homicides.And caution, some of this material
is very graphic. Our first casecomes out of Knoxville, Tennessee. Thanksgiving
twenty sixteen, twenty eight year oldJoel Michael Guy Junior traveled from Baton Rouge,

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Louisiana, back home to Knoxville,ten where he reunited with his three
sisters and their parents for Thanksgiving festivities. At the end of the evening,
the three daughters, who all livedin Tennessee, returned to their homes.
Junior was left alone with his parents, Joel Guy Senior, who was sixty
one and Lisa Guy, who wasfifty five. Junior and his three half
sisters attended what was to be thelast event at the Knoxville House Thanksgiving on

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Thursday, November twenty fourth, twentysixteen. Now Here is some background on
all of the principles. Joel MichaelGuy Senior was a pipeline engineering designer.
Now Lisa Guy. The mom wasa human resources account's payable administrator. The
son, Joel Michael Guy Junior,graduated from the Louisiana School from Math,

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Science and the Arts in natchetochis intwenty oh six. He previously attended Hanville
High School. He'd never worked andhad always been supported by his family.
Junior was described by others as distant, an outsider, never bothered to establish
a relationship with anyone in or outsideof his family. His mother doated on
him and bragged about him quite abit. He spent a semester at George

(03:04):
Washington University, then attended Louisiana StateUniversity. As a student. He lived
in Baton Rouge until the murders intwenty sixteen. He wanted to become a
plastic surgeon. The Guys had recentlysold their Knoxville house and planned to retire
and move out of town. Theyalso planned to stop providing money to Junior.
Now, in the event of theparent's death, the son was to

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receive five hundred thousand dollars in lifeinsurance money. Prosecutors say Junior hatched an
elaborate plot to stab both parents,dismember and dissolve their remains clean, and
burn down some of the house,as well as framed the father for the
crime. Again, another warning,some of this is very graphic. So
let's go back to November twenty sixth. Officials say that's when Junior attacked and

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killed his father with a knife ina second floor exercise room while his mother
was out shopping for groceries at Walmart. The scene showed evidence of a struggle,
with torn blinds, blood on thewall and corner, and an overturned
bowflex machine. The mom, LisaGuy, arriving home. She entered through
the front door, dropped the grocerieson the floor of the foyer, proceeded

(04:10):
upstairs. She was attacked then killedwith a knife. Nine of her ribs
were severed. Now, this allstarted because Lisa's boss was suspicious of her
absence from work and called police fora welfare check. At first, Knox
County officers Stephen Ballard and Jeremy McCordfound a seemingly empty house on Golden View
Lane. The property had been forsale, remember they were retired and wanted

(04:31):
to move out of town, butthere was no real estate lock on the
front door. They found that thedoorknob of a back door had been removed
and installed on the front door.Through the front door, they could see
groceries on the floor, including perishableitems such as bacon, sausage, and
ice cream, and through the holeleft by the missing back door knob,
they could sense heat and a strangesmell coming from the house. An officer

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used a garage door opener in oneof the cars to gain access to the
house. Now. When they firstwalked, they found a table with the
wallets from the parents and a sledgehammeron top, and then another table with
long guns. Downstairs, the stovewas on and the contents of a pot
were boiling. At the bottom ofthe stairs were the grocery items that were
seen earlier. The officers went upthe stairs and they heard a barking dog.

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They looked down a hallway and theysaw the father's hands on the floor
and discovered the dismembered corpses in solutionin a bathroom. Among other items investigators
found upstairs were sewer line cleaner,a bag of baking soda, drain cleaner,
hydrochloric acid, hydrogen peroxide, bleach, and a bleached sprayer and drain

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opener. Investigators say they also noticeda note in an open suitcase with the
name and address of a Louisiana Acehardware store with a notation about sewer line
cleaner. Investigators soon discovered the father'shands were removed at the wrists and left
nearby on the exercise room floor.The head of Junior's mother was removed.
It was carried downstairs, placed ina pot on the stove, and heated.

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At the trial, the forensic examinertestified the head was not just severed,
but broken off with force. Boththe mom and the dad also had
their arms and legs disarticulated, thatmeans broken apart from the joints. The
father was disjointed at the waist,the mother at the knees. Their limbs
and torsos were placed in a binfull of chemicals to dissolve. Each body

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had a large gash inflicted after deathso that the chemicals would more quickly seep
into the body's main cavities. Nowthrough all of this, Junior had sustained
several cuts to his hands, includinga deep cut to his left thumb.
Later that afternoon, he was seenin Walmart in the first daid section buying
bandages and ointment for the wounds tohis hands. He also purchased alcohol and

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hydrogen peroxide. On that Sunday ofthe Thanksgiving weekend, Junior drove back to
Baton Rouge to have his wounds treatedat the Student Clinic. Now by the
time that the officers had discovered thescene, they put out an all points
bulletin the FBI Knox County Sheriff's Officein the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's office placed
Junior under surveillance for a few days, and they eventually apprehended him on the

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twenty ninth as he was entering hiscar in an apartment complex in the Baton
Rouge area. In fact, surveillancefootage caught him on several cameras buying the
supplies he would later use to murderand try to dissolve his parents. He
used cash for every transaction and selfchecked out most of the time. He
bought the supplies for the murder asearly as November seventh, that's the premeditation.

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He purchased several of those items atACE Hardware, muriatic acid, food
grade hydrogen peroxide, and then onNovember eighteenth, he was seen in a
home depot buying bleach sprayers, extensioncords, and a timer. He was
at a sporting goods store on Novembernineteenth buying a knife, and on the
twenty first, he was seen ata Knoxville Walmart buying a plastic blue tote

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bag large enough for the dismemberment bodiesto dissolve in. They also found a
meat grinder in the trunk of hiscar. During the investigation, detectives also
found what they called a book ofpremeditation. It was a handwritten journal found
in the junior's backpack. It containeddetailed notes outlining his intent to murder and

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destroy the remains of his parents.Now Here are excerpts of one page.
Again, folks, it's it's graphics, but this gives you an idea of
just the heinousness of this crime.One of the pages had the following notes,
get killing knives quiet multiple Get carvingknives to make small pieces. Get
sledgehammer to crush bones. Bring blenderand food grinder to grind meat. Get

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bleach denature proteins. Does not matterwhere they're killed. Just get rid of
bloody spots to prevent evidence of timeof death in parentheses, not the mattress
or couches. Next point, getrid of bodies inside house. There in
my DNA already there. Then hehas written and crossed out. Open up

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doggie door to provide entryway he needsto be not intruder. Flush chunks down
toilet in parentheses. Not garbage disposal. Next point, get plastic sheeting for
disposal process. He writes this downthen crosses it out. Get hollow point
bullets just in case will be seenbuying bullets. Just use computer room gun

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check to make sure there are bullets. Last resort, he's not alive,
to claim her half of the insurancemoney all mine in parentheses five hundred thousand
dollars. Flood the house, coversup forensic evidence, turn heater up as
high as it goes speeds decomposition.Bleach reacts with luminol just like blood doubts
area with Bleach, Big Sprayer,lie Lye, trash compactor, question mark

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body, gives times of death,alibi, don't have to get rid of
body if there's no forensic evidence onthe body, and then in cap in
all caps his fingerprints and DNA.Junior was a atually apprehended, as I
mentioned, after a bunch of surveillancefrom multiple agencies. He ended up leading
not guilty, but he filed amotion that he be given the death penalty

(10:09):
if he's ever convicted. Junior's defensecouncil presented no evidence on his behalf.
The trial took four days. Juniorwas found guilty and sentenced to life in
prison. He was also convicted ofabuse of a corpse. Currently he's imprisoned
at last Anyone Knows at the NorthwestCorrectional Complex in Tiptonville, Tennessee. Coming
up another holiday homicide, but first, this is Unsolved with Steve Gregory on

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KFI AM six forty. You're listeningto KFI AM six forty on demand,
KFI AM six forty live and ondemand everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. I'm
Steve Gregory and this is a specialedition of Unsolved. We're highlighting some of

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the holiday homicides from southern California andaround the country. Murders that have happened
between Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's. As always, if you have a
comment, story, idea, ora tip from any case we've ever highlighted
on the show, simply press poundtwo fifty on your cell phone and say
the keyword unsolved. Or if you'relistening live on the app or on the
live stream, just press the redmicrophone on the iHeartRadio app and record your

(11:16):
message. The next case comes fromChicago, Illinois. It's called the Valdez's
Early Christmas Present. It's Christmas Evetwenty thirteen. Here is an excerpt from
an Associated Press article published December twentyfifth, twenty thirteen. At six fifty

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two in the morning, an eighteenyear old man was taken into custody after
police found a decapitated man early Christmasmorning in the northwest side Hermosa neighborhood.
Officers responding to a homicide call foundthe decapitated forty one year old man at
about two five am inside a basementapartment in the twenty five hundred block of

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North Kildare Avenue, police said.Police said they also found a knife on
the scene. An eighteen year oldman was standing outside the building and was
taken into custody, but his relationshipwith the dead male was not immediately known.
Police said the Cook County Medical Examiner'sOffice confirmed the death, but were
withholding the man's identity as of onepm, pending notification of his family.

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Charges were pending against the eighteen yearold. Police said that was the original
story that went out over the AssociatedPress wires on December twenty fifth, twenty
thirteen. We know now that theeighteen year old was Alexis Valdez, a
young man who just six months priorhad moved in with his aunt and his
aunt's boyfriend, Sylvestri Diaz. Valdezwas allowed to move into the apartment in

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the twenty five hundred block of NorthKildare on the condition that he go to
school, work and contribute to householdexpenses, but eventually Valdez stopped working,
which prompted Valdez and Diaz to getinto an argument, one of many.
Valdez was told he would have tomove out if it continued this way.
On Christmas Eve, while his auntwas at a Christmas party, Valdez and

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Diaz began drinking, even going tothe store to buy more beer. Prosecutors
say Valdez hit a hammer by adoor, and when the two men got
back from the liquor store, Valdezsmashed Dias in the head several times.
Valdez then shut the windows, closedthe blinds, and put on some loud
music, maybe to mask the soundsthat Silvestri might have made while being stabbed

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repeatedly. It was also reported thatValdez was celebrating, even jamming out to
the music. He used a butcherknife to cut off Silvestri's ears, nose,
and mouth. He also cut offthe man's arms and used his bare
hands to pull his eyeballs out.He then decapitated Diaz. Valdez then left
the head, ears, and noseon the very bed where Diaz and his

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aunt slept, because he said hewanted to leave his aunt an early Christmas
present. Valdez eventually came exhausted fromcutting up the body and called nine to
one one to report a dead body. When the nine to one to one
operator asked Valdez if he had triedCPR, Valdez laughed and told the nine
one one operator that Diaz had beendecapitated. When officers finally arrived on scene,

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they said they found Valdez standing outsideof the apartment complex, saturated in
blood. He confessed to the murderand said if his aunt had come home,
she too would have been killed.Valdez had no known criminal history.
He was sentenced to thirty three yearsin prison. Before we get on with

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more holiday homicides, I want togive you an opportunity to submit your name
to a list of very exclusive peoplethat'll be invited to an in person taping
of Unsolved with Steve Gregory. Wedo this only a few times a year,
and it's a very exclusive event.We only invite a handful of listeners
because of the nature of the hate