Hi, producer Ben Kiebert here. So this bonus episode, we're doing something a little different. We're going to start by sharing a side story that got cut from episode 5. So just after Deputy Marcus Giddory found McKay's body in the actual fly swamp, he saw a car exit off the highway and head right towards him, and he nearly got into a shootout. We'll pick up the story from there and then transition into an extended interview with Giddory and a deputy from the nearby Iberville Parish, Jerry Stasi, who also went out to swamp that night.

Before Marcus could even radio in his findings, he saw headlights approaching from the distance. He wondered what anyone was doing out in this remote area in the middle of the night.

I saw it coming off of the ramp, and then it turned this way. Anyone coming down here, I'm cautious about. In my career, we've found some very bad people walking here and I was looking for an opportunity.

Marcus didn't know it, but the headlights were coming from Deputy Jerry Stasi. Stasi was patrolling the area that night, and he was suspicious when he saw Marcus's black Camaro parked in such a desolate area.

I think it was what, 2:00 in the morning, something like that? I mean, this is a place right here that's known for dumping bodies and stuff. I had to find out what was going on.

When it got a little closer, I realized it was a patrol unit.

But the situation was tense.

I mean, at the time, I'm in a plane close, unmarked car, and I'm standing there next to the body. It was a standoff, though.

Did you about draw your gun on him? It was close.

It was close, yeah. Really? It was all a lot of detects drove unmarked Crown Victor. Yeah. That's what had me when he was sitting in a black Camaro. It wasn't dawn on me that he was law enforcement because we weren't that high tech, whatever it would be.

I have situational awareness. You don't know what you're going to pull up on. You don't know who you're pulling up on.

I'm trying to remember, he was in plain clothes with blue jeans. I think he had a gun either on your side or in your hand.

I couldn't remember. I had it on the side, but I was keeping an eye on you. I didn't know who you were.

Then I got off. I see in the car, and we just made contact with each other.

But you had no idea at that time what he was here for and what he was doing? No. Then when you noticed that there was a body, by then, did you already know who he was? Oh, yeah.

No, we We had already exchanged who we was with and everything.

I think I had spotted them right before you pulled up.

They had a possum that was eating on the body at the time when we got there. I think we threw Rock, chewed the possum off, got it away from it, and you didn't want to contaminate the scene. I know we didn't go on it at all. Once you find a body, you get everything rolling. I think we had, what, 30 minutes? We had 50 people out here, whatever you want to say.

Marcus described how, as he looks back on his career, still drives by here remembering that. What about you, Jerry?

This is the one that I think about a lot.

Really? Yeah.

At that time, I had small kids, It is home. It was life-taking for no reason. He tried to get a ransom on the little boy. Is that what it was? It then went bad or something.

That's what they told me about. I didn't know anything about the investigation.

I didn't ask. That's what I remember in the trial itself.

No, you're absolutely right.

I think one of the questions is, did he actually intend to return the kid alive and things went bad?

Kidnapped somebody that knows you, how you're going to return them back.

Yeah, he had to get rid of his only witness, right? Yeah.

I think it was just a bad plan to start with. He did what he thought he had to do, I guess. I think the little boy called him uncle. They were so close. If I remember in the trial, they said that.

You're right. How does that make you feel?

Terrible thing. When you're in law enforcement, you get, I don't want to say cold, but you get used to what other people are not used to. You see a lot of evil stuff that happens.

That would might decide, in fact, to retire. You get calloused after all that because when you work violent crime, nothing good comes across you there. So you tend to become calloused and forget there's a lot of good people in this world. He was unfortunate he was not one of them.

Did you know he actually... He had worked for the police and the sheriff over in Beaumont. I did not know that.

Yeah, he was with the Sheriff's Department at Beaumont. That must put some anger in you that he was a former Sheriff's Deputy.

Well, there's good and there's bad, and there's any line of work you go to, you got to have a bad apple. You hate to see it in law enforcement, especially.

But you guys are talking about how it can make you callous. Hilton Crawford had, I think, worked in Port Arthur in some pretty rough places. Do you think that that in any way could have contributed to him being calloused enough to kill this kid? Do you know what I mean?

I don't think that had nothing to do with it. I think he owed the wrong people some money.

No, that's not a reason. That wouldn't play into a motive.

No. So some people have wondered if he would have known about this place from working violent crime in Beaumont. Would you get bodies dumped here from Texas?

Since I've been dealing with Ibleville, I think we had one body that was dumped from Texas besides that girl that I don't know if you're familiar with. Her husband came from Texas, rolled down here and dropped her off. He had killed her. And that's the only other body I know of. But I mean, like I said, if you ride any way, there's no streetlights all day. At that time, It was… I mean, it's grown up, you want to say, a little bit since then. There was nothing here in the early '90s. I mean, you might not see a vehicle on this road for two days.

If you saw somebody here at night, something's wrong. Something's wrong. You stop and check them out.

Wow. He made frequently made trips out to Baton Rouge, Lake Charles, New Orleans. It was a gambler.

Right.

So he's familiar with the area? So he's familiar with this area. So, yeah, do you think that he perhaps, Okay, this is a remote area as we could ever find. This is the perfect place?

I mean, it's a good place. If you were to check to see how many bodies has been found, just in this little area, they'd probably be in the teens or 20s.

There could be bodies here that we're not aware of.

Yeah. Nowadays, they got such technology with the cameras. They probably took six pictures of our cars coming down the interstate, so they know where we're at. At that time, there was no cameras anywhere around here.

Technology. I mean, right now, we're standing here, they know we're here.

Maybe they're sending someone out being like, What are these three cars doing out in this house?

They don't real-time monitor, but they can pull the data at any time of day.

Yeah, that's true. I was going to say, so anytime you travel, your cell phones, your cell phones.

Do you guys have any memories in particular about testifying or the trial?

I remember in the trial, They wanted me to give a candid description of what was happening with the body, with the animal that was eating on it. I remember that they told, I guess, the family that it was going to be graphic, and they stayed in. Whenever we said what we said, it did erupt it. The courtroom erupt it with the screaming and crying. That's the part I remember.

What did you say?

They was asking me about how the body looked and about what was going on. When I told them that they had an eating on the body at the time, that's when they lost it. They wanted to know exactly what was going on.

That would be the DA prosecuting it? Yeah. He specifically wanted you to share those details.

Tell exactly. That's the question they asked me, and I answered.

Who broke out into crime? Was it Paulette and her?

I'm not sure because I didn't know who was the parents or anything. They didn't point none of that out, but it was the family. That was the family members. Yeah, there was more than one.

Marcus, is that what happened?

I followed his testimony, but what he just described, I had to do the same thing. Out of all of this, that was the hardest thing to do, knowing the family's sitting in there. Right.

And they asked them to leave if they wanted to, but they wouldn't leave. They stayed right there and listened to it.

After the break, Giddory and Stacey on Hilton and Remington.

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Did you look at Hilton Crawford at all while you were there in the courtroom?

Oh, yeah. I made eye contact with him a couple of times. I mean, he looked down a lot.

How would you describe him?

I think he knew that he had messed up, and he knew what the outcome was going to be. I mean, just looking at him. Like I said, I've never spoke to him ever, and that's just my take He claims all the way until his execution that he was innocent, and that he wasn't the one who pulled the trigger and actually killed McKay, but it was this mysterious person, R.

L. Remington, You don't know anything about that.

That's the first I heard?

That's the first I heard about that, too.

Yeah, I guess he described him as this guy he had met out at the racetracks here in Louisiana, up in Trevorport, Louisiana Louisiana Downs, and he's this Cajun guy with elevator skin boots and Ebola tie.

Last name Remington seems pretty appropriate if the kid was shot. I don't know. Is it just something he came up with? I have no idea. I have no idea if the kid was shot or beaten. I never asked.

I think they said, from what I remember, he was shot, but I don't know if he was shot right there or shot in the back of the car. I'm trying to remember.

Beaten in the trunk, and they think shot at that.

I don't remember if he found the lead or the caisson right there or not.

I mean, that's- Found some caissons there.

They were Remington caissons.

Let me tell you, you could walk down this road and probably find a thousand scale cases because this is a hunting reserve. This is Sherbin Wildlife Magnet area. To find something like that.

It's the first time I hear that name Remington. I didn't know that. I just say it would be like, I mean, is it just a coincidence that you tell them you were shot with a Remington? I have no idea. But that's just how my mind thinks.

Well, you've been so helpful, and you've added a lot of context to what we're doing.

You just tend to forget about these things until you have to drive by it or something brings it up. I mean, you all brought it up. I mean, that image flashed back right away.

Yes.

I mean, Every time I pass here, I look here to the left, and I look to the right coming back. I remember it distinctly.

Well, sorry you had to experience all of that. I mean, what an awful image to have in your mind the rest of your lives.

I signed up for it. I knew what I was getting into.

Right. Yeah.

Well, good luck and God bless you, and all you do. Thank you.

As we drove the four hours back to Houston from Whiskey Bay, we discussed what we just learned.

It's hard to imagine that he's just driving along, hoping he comes across a place like this.

Yeah, no. In my view, he knew exactly what he was doing. I don't think he just made an exit. It's in the middle of the night. He would know that this was a no man's land, and that it was right in the middle of a massive bridge and swamp, thinking that nobody's ever going to come here.

Yeah.

I just think he had a clear idea because he was familiar with the road Houston and some of the biggest gambling sites, that he would have known that this is a remote, dark, seedy area where he could quietly dump a body without anyone knowing.

It's far enough away from Texas and Conroe that these sheriffs hadn't even heard of the case, didn't know anything about it. So if someone did stumble upon the body, who knows whether they would connect it to McKay.

You know what was clear to me, perhaps more than anything else from that interview, is that of all their years, combined nearly 40 years of experience in covering homicides and investigating literally hundreds of them, that this is the one that stands out more than any other. This is the one that's embedded in their minds as the worst, the most grotesque, the most horrifying. I mean, one of the deputies, well, I think both of them said, They can't drive this bridge without thinking of McKay Everett, that 12-year-old kid who they found.

It's interesting. I've heard that same thing maybe two or three other times, that specifically this bridge, because it's such a distinct place that every time people drive across it, they think about it.

Yeah, because it's the only exit in the middle of a massive bridge, 8, nearly 20 miles long this bridge over a swamp land, and you have one exit, and that's where he dumped the body. So it's tough on them. It's nearly 30 years later, but yet it was clear to me that this case has affected them more than any other.

It does make you think that this case has had such a profound impact on these people that were just part of it for one night, basically. Then you think about what Paulette went through. I don't know.

For more information, including pictures, find us on social at the Ransom podcast or visit our website, ransompodcast. Com. Ransom is researched and written by Ben Kebrick and hosted by me, Art Rascone. Production and sound design by Ben Kebrick, Erin Mason, and Trent Sell, who also did the mixing. Co-created by Austin Miller. For podcast one, executive producer Eli Dvorakin. For Workhouse Media, executive producer Paul Anderson, and for KSL Podcasts, executive producer Sheryl Worsley. Ransom is produced by KSL Podcasts in association with Podcast One and Workhouse Media.

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