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The Lake Waco Murders Day 3: 12 Nightmares Before Christmas

·34 min·2 clips

Three teenagers were found bound, gagged, and stabbed 48 times near Lake Waco.

1. Our True Crime Podcast covers the Lake Waco murders in Texas, centering on three teenagers found near Lake Waco in 1982. 2. Jen and Cam host the episode, with Cam researching and writing the case while Jen reacts to the timeline and trial details. 3. The episode asks how a triple homicide with 48 stab wounds turned into a murder-for-hire prosecution built on rumors, jailhouse informants, and bite marks. 4. On July 14, 1982, two teenage boys fishing near Speedway Eagle Bill Park found one victim with bound hands, a gag, and sunglasses still on his face. 5. Officers then found Raelynn Rice and Jill Montgomery, both 17, also bound, gagged, and stabbed, with shoelaces used as restraints. 6. The three victims were identified as Jill Montgomery, Raelynn Rice, and Kenneth Franks, and the hosts note that Jill was described as bright and polite, Raelynn as outgoing, and Kenneth as quiet and steady. 7. Investigators learned the teens had borrowed Jill’s stepfather’s car and gone to Spiegelville Park by Lake Waco on the night of August 13, 1982. 8. Patrol Sergeant Truman Simons arrived early, and the episode says he remained attached to the case long after retiring. 9. Early suspects James Russell Bishop and Terry Harper drew attention, but both had alibis that kept them from being charged. 10. By September, the case had gone cold, even as Simons kept returning to the scene with a flashlight in search of missed details. 11. David Wayne Spence entered the case later in 1982 as a rough-around-the-edges local with petty crimes and a reputation known to law enforcement. 12. The episode says Spence became a suspect through rumor, including claims from inmates and street informants that he had boasted about hurting people. 13. Investigators also focused on Munir Mike Deeb, called Mike, a Lebanese immigrant who owned a convenience store and had friction with Kenneth Franks. 14. Police tied Deeb to an insurance policy on an employee named Gail Kelly and speculated that he had hired Spence for $5,000 to kill Kelly. 15. Prosecutors later argued that Spence and the Melendez brothers killed the teenagers after mistakenly identifying Jill Montgomery as their intended target. 16. The hosts emphasize that the case against Spence, Deeb, Anthony Melendez, and Gilbert Melendez was largely circumstantial, with no fingerprints or physical evidence linking them to the scene. 17. The episode highlights jailhouse informants who claimed Spence confessed, then later recanted or admitted they had been coached, threatened, or promised benefits. 18. Cam also points to bite-mark analysis, which was treated as reliable in 1982 and later discredited in this case. 19. The tone is conversational and explanatory, with Cam frequently interrupting to qualify claims and Jen reacting to details in real time. 20. Listeners who follow wrongful-conviction cases and forensic failures will get the most from this episode, while listeners wanting a short, light recap may skip it.

As heard by us

A guilty plea and contested forensic testimony tilt an infamous Waco murder trial.

The Lake Waco Murders episode tracks a prosecution shaped by pressure from every side: graphic crime-scene photographs, emotional family testimony, bite-mark evidence then widely trusted, and prison informants whose detailed accounts did not always line up.

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Why you'd press play

Press play when one guilty plea suddenly changes the shape of a Waco murder trial.

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