We left the hospital and went straight to Thankful's house. It felt strange to go inside without her being there. I grabbed my tape recorder and tapes from the coffee table. Tammy and I decided to go to Miller Park to listen to the tape. We found a secluded spot by the reservoir dam.
I put in the tape with the X on it and Thankful's voice came on.
"Tommy...I hope I'm doing this right...it looks like the little wheels are turning and the red light is on. I don't know how much I will get to tell you after I make this tape...I'm pretty sick...I doubt that I have much time left on this old earth.
If I didn't get to tell you about my husbands and adventures...most of the stories are in my diaries...in the trunk...big black trunk in the attic. I have already called my lawyer...I have left my estate to you my sweet young friend...take care of Mr. Johnson for me.
There is a most important thing I must tell you about the murder of Vera and the murders of Martha, Rosey and Doris.....I have already told Harvey Kremble...I hope he can keep his head and not do something stupid.
The night Vera was murdered....Elroy called me at 4:30 in the morning....he was crying and talking with a drunken slur. I went to their home out on Cedar road.....By the time I got there...Elroy was passed out on the porch swing.
I went in the house and Vera was on the kitchen table....blood was everywhere...Vera was miraculously still alive...as I held her hand she strained to tell me something...all I could understand was,"Those dirty fat bitches."
Vera then raised her dress with her other hand...reached in her panties and handed me a tuft of blond hair...Vera was a natural red head....within a few moments...Vera was dead.
I knew then that Elroy hadn't killed her....she fought whoever was killing her and managed to stuff the hair she pulled out of their head in her undies.
I ran out of the house...got in my car and raced home. I should have called the cops then but something in my gut told me not to..it wasn't long until I heard the sirens and later the news on the radio. Vera was dead and Elroy was arrested. The very next day...that bloody piece of shit Detective Don Croze came to ask me questions. He was just an officer back then.
Elroy had told him that he called me."
