Madhur le drav Halov Lektrach Dana Miguel Achersola er Ruddy Mora Kusula Krishnori Miha Snachori Agastelefich Akadfina Kabli Rundira Nona Gohan folk of Rishta Schuyd Kadan nur Esther lat ainwa de wil pluckoid Kinera no koblege a achor soil Saranachke conchoctor list ofhundil Torre Ron fortica Khasul er my waist funkai Kerhur Feudzig riltes neheren I'm Diosa.

And I'm Mala. We are the creators of Locatora Radio, a radiophonic novella, which is a fancy way of saying a podcast. Welcome to Locatora Radio, season nine love at first listen, we're older, we're wiser, and we're podcasting through a new decade of our lives. This season, we're falling in love with podcasting all over again and getting to the heart of our stories. We're going places we've never gone before, and we're bringing you along with us with new segments, correspondence, and a breakthrough. Season nine is kicking off with an intimate interview with Grammy award winning singer songwriter Natalia La Forcale. What's giving you hope right now? Well, when I see what music does to people, it gives me a lot of hope. If you liked locatora before, you're gonna love season nine. Subscribe to our show and you'll see why Locatora is your prima's favorite podcast. Listen to Locatora Radio as part of the Michael Tura podcast network, available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I used to have so many men.

How this beguiling woman in her fifties, she looked like a million bucks. Scams a bunch of famous athletes out of untold fortunes.

Nearly $10 million was all gone.

It's just unbelievable.

Hide your money in your old rich man cause she is on the prowl.

Listen to Queen of the Con, season five, the athlete whisperer, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

My name is Danny Smith. I'm a detective with Miramar Police Department. I am conducting an investigation going back almost 40 years in the murder of Billy Halpern.

Back in the 1980s, I was starting a career in law enforcement in Broward County, Florida, a native New Yorker transplanted to the home of vacation meccas like Fort Lauderdale, Pompano, and Hollywood beach. But the South Florida I remember was a place of stark contrasts. The beaches, palm trees, the frozen drinks, they all seem to mask a darker side of the sunshine state, one of crime, greed, and a creeping sense of desperation. There was just something about Florida that could make good people get themselves into bad situations. After years in law enforcement, I ended up swapping my badge and gun for a journalist's pen and pad and headed back to New York to report on crimes, not solve them. But in 2022, a unique opportunity brought me back to the streets of South Florida to join cold case detective Danny Smith as he began an incredible journey to solve a 40 year old murder. Actually, as many as five of them together. We were looking for new evidence, new suspects, and the truth behind the murder of a 28 year old firefighter named Billy Halperin, all of it documented in real time. I'm Scott Weinberger, investigative journalist and former deputy sheriff.

And this is cold blooded, the Apollo Jim murders. Shortly after 630, on October 21, 1986, police in Miramar, Florida, responded to the 6900 block of 40th Street, a residential neighborhood of condos and townhomes in the center of Miramar and about a 20 minutes drive to the beach. That flood of emergency vehicles prompted by a 911 call by 24 year old Joan socio moments after walking in to a horrifying scene, finding her boyfriend, 28 year old Billy Halpern, half dressed, lying face up in the bedroom in a pool of his own blood. So is this his community right here?

This is it. This is Woodscape. And it's essentially a big circle that kind of meanders back off the main circle. They're like townhomes, but they're really right on top of one another.

In November of 2022, nearly 40 years after the murder, I return to the same location with Miramar police homicide detective Danny Smith.

You look at the limited crime scene photos that I was actually able to get from the file. They always look, you know, photos from the outside always make the place look so much bigger.

Right?

And then I'm always surprised at how small these homes are when I actually get there.

Aside from a few potted plants and a threadbare welcome mat in front of the front door, it looked just like it did from the photographs in the decades old police file Danny had dug out of storage. Was this her house or did he live here?

This was his house. And she had been living here, if I remember correctly, three years with him. And I remember reading that she was screaming when she found his body. And the neighbors came over. And in my mind, I was thinking, they must have just been like, outside already. And they heard it. But now, seeing how close these homes are together, that makes sense.

I lived in a complex like this in pember pines. It was very similar to this. And, yeah, you hear the neighbors, you hear it. You can hear through the walls. I had seen the crime scene photos, so I could imagine what the uniformed officers must have observed when they stepped through the door. The blood pooling from around the victim's head, a blood stained towel pressed to his neck, and the black electrical tape still wrapped around each of his wrists. Another thing they would have quickly noticed. The man on the floor was big, six foot two, with a bodybuilder's physique, his enormous muscles on full display even hours after his death. Another thought when I saw the crime scene photos was, that was a lot of blood. My next thought, there is no way one person could have overpowered this guy. He was huge. Now, do you think it's a little unusual when you hear about the fact that he was covered by a blanket? I know in cases that I've covered, sometimes when the victim in a homicide, especially their face, is covered, there's a psychological reason around that. Sometimes the killer, it makes us, as the investigator, think maybe there was some connection between the killer, the suspect, and the victim, and they don't want to see the results of their actions, right?

Yeah, that's common. I would say that if his neck being covered by the actual suspect or suspects, that tells me a lot in terms of psychology, but I believe he was covered by his girlfriend because of.

The tremendous amount of blood that comes in.

Because of the blood. And the injury itself was one of the more gruesome throat injuries that I've ever seen.

To first responders of the scene, the cause of Billy's death appeared to be obvious. The severe wound on Billy's throat that was deep and jagged and ran nearly from ear to ear. It seemed that Billy died from a sudden and dramatic loss of blood caused by an unknown, sharp object.

There were multiple cuts, so it seems like they were maybe trying to cut his head off. They were trying to decapitate him.

Detectives from the Broward County Sheriff's Office crime scene unit were quickly dispatched to the address and began processing the scene. And notes from the original incident report detail what investigators did and did not find at the crime scene. Most importantly, they recovered no murder weapon, no fingerprints, no signs of forced entry, and, according to neighbors, no witnesses. All of which posed serious challenges to figuring out the motive behind the attack. Was it a robbery, a dispute with a neighbor or something?

More sinister, there was mention in the lead detective Bellrose's report about home invasion crews that were hitting people. There's also mention that he had a safe in the house.

According to his girlfriend Joan, Billy made his living buying and selling art and rare coins, which he kept in a safe inside the townhome. But that safe was now empty. So initially, robbery was suspected to be the motive for the break in, a robbery that must have quickly gone south and ended in murder. It was a theory that seemed to be supported by a tip that came into the sheriff's office back in 1986 from a local confidential informant.

And that was the tip that I actually read was someone had called in and said that whoever they mentioned was bragging that they had the safe. They tried to torch it open, and they ended up ruining all the contents.

But there was also evidence that this broad daylight break in may not be the work of total strangers.

The front door was unlocked. When Halpern's living girlfriend showed up and actually discovered his body, she made note that that front door was unlocked, and she said that never happens. He was steadfast in always making sure that front door was locked and secured. So the fact that the front door was unlocked, no signs of a struggle. All of those facts right there tell me more than one person, probably they knew him. The guy let him in, and they brought gloves and they brought tape.

So maybe Billy Halper knew the men robbing him, and maybe his killer's motive was to get their hands on the contents of that safe. But the manner in which Billy was killed, even to investigators back in 1986, seemed too deliberate, too professional for a botched home invasion. For one thing, there was very little evidence of a big struggle. And just looking at Billy, you just know he wouldn't have gone down without a fight.

Even more interesting that I found when I read through the autopsy report was that actually the cause of death was not the massive cut. It was strangulation or some kind of suffocation or something, something along those lines. And they had actually noted in their report that they likened the marks on his neck to be something like a thick nylon strap or a dog collar or something in that regard. So the massive injury that is really shocking to anyone that first sees it, especially his girlfriend, finding him, was all postmortem.

Billys face had showed evidence of a brutal beating, yet his hands and arms showed no defensive wounds. Taken together, it didn't look like a typical botched home invasion. It looked a lot more like torture. In fact, it looked like an execution.

They were trying to decapitate him post mortem. Post mortem, everything was post mortem, which is a whole different psychology, a whole different thing. I don't know if that was a trophy for someone or somebody watched Scarface too many times. He said, bring me his head. I don't know.

Yeah. These days, Billy's sister Lori lives in Fort Lauderdale, but in October of 1986, she lived with her parents in Pembroke Pines, just a couple of blocks away from her big brother. She can still remember the moment she got the news of Billy's murder.

It's been such a long time again. I can still hear that phone ring, you know, like my mom screaming, Billy, Billy. Dad. And I'm like, what? What do you mean? She jumped up and ran out the door. Come on, we gotta go. I was pulling up to that driveway and all the fire trucks, the rescue, and everybody there. It was real. For that one moment, you think, no, it can't be true. And then my whole world crumbled.

When Danny and I visited Lori in 2022, she showed us pictures of Billy. In a lot of them, Billy is shirtless or in swim trunks at the beach. Sometimes he's holding a surfboard or barbells. There's one of him in his firefighter's uniform and another of him hoisting a bodybuilder's trophy. In nearly every picture, he's got the smile of a guy in on the joke, well aware that he was uncommonly blessed with the body and good looks of a greek God. Lori is petite with long blonde hair, but I could still see the resemblance between brother and sister, the kindness in their eyes and maybe just a bit of mischief.

He was good looking. He was funny. Everyone liked him. Just. It was shame, you know, that they took him from McVernos.

Dave Fasano, who also grew up in Hollywood beach, was one of Billy's old bodybuilding buddies. He was one of the nicest people ever. I mean, he'd give you the shirt off his back, and he was handsome, and he had charisma. He was good looking. He was built. He was just a nice, humble guy. According to Dave, Billy was idolized by the younger guys at the gym. How do you get big arms like that? And he'd tell us what to eat and how to work out. And he had beautiful green eyes with dark hair. Just imagine tan green eyes, dark hair and built, you know, like a greek guy. Billy's popularity just added to the shock of his brutal murder. I mean, who kills a God? But Lori still has an idea of who she thinks killed her brother. In fact, a lot of people do.

I don't think it was one person involved too. Billy was too strong for one person to take him down.

But 38 years after he was killed, no one has ever been charged with his murder. And to this day, no one really knows the whole truth behind why he was killed.

I think at the beginning, with my parents alive, like they can have the closure, but there's really no closure no matter who did it now. I mean, Billy's been dead for so long. How are they going to be punished if they're out on the street? What are they going to, I mean, they're old already. What's going to happen to them? But I would like, you know, I'd like somebody to pay for what they did to him. They really hurt him. He didn't deserve it.

My number one rule when opening up a cold case, you need to get your own opinion.

Detective Danny Smith was only twelve years old when Billy was killed. As for me, I was in the early process of transitioning into law enforcement in the Sunshine State. But in 2022, after 27 years with the city of Miramar police, Danny was assigned to the newly formed cold case squad. Billys case was the first one he pulled off the shelf. Its filled with nearly 40 years of tips, leads, witness statements and dead ends. Which is why Danny is convinced that if he's going to solve this case, he would have to go back to the very beginning.

You need to look at it through your own eyes and not be swayed by previous investigators. I refuse to read the notes from the previous cold case detective that had this. I'm reading the stock basic original incident reports from the detective and the officers, and I think from there I can move on to, okay, now, where would I go from here if I had it?

As you see here today, on day one of your investigation, what are some of your concerns about the complexity of this?

One of the top level concerns that I have are being unable to actually track down some of these people if they've moved, if they've passed on, or if they just don't want to get involved and they don't want to speak to us.

On top of the challenges that forced the case to go cold in the first place, there's also the obstacles that accumulate in any cold case. Lost or degraded evidence, faded memories, missing witnesses, and perhaps the most daunting legacy of pre digital policing paperwork, a cold.

Case especially going back to 86. I want to, first off, see if there's anything to work with. So going back and pulling the files and making sure that there are still reports to look at. And when I pulled this case in particular, it was immaculate. The detectives did a phenomenal job in documenting and cataloging and keeping everything. So that was a plus right there.

Also on Danny's side is science.

My focus from the beginning was absolutely trying to locate as much physical evidence that we had and see what was done with it and see what could be done with it. Now, just like any other cold case, you have, you have a homicide and you have evidence that was collected. And then over the years, sometimes evidence is lost, sometimes it's destroyed, sometimes it's tested and consumed, and you no longer have access to it. So in this case, I wanted to find all the evidence that was collected, get it into my custody, and then figure out how I can go about having that tested.

With the advancements in DNA technology, every unsolved case with even a scintilla of biological forensic evidence can stick a claim for a second look. But Danny also knows that solving a cold case is rarely as easy as getting a match on CODIS. Timelines, witness statements, motives and alibis all have to be checked and rechecked. And Billy Halbrand's case in particular, seems to have a lot of loose ends. Loose ends that suggest that maybe there was a reason that his murder went unsolved for so long.

Someone persuaded Billy to open that door, whether it was a friendly hello or somebody that he knows, Billy would not have opened that door for someone that he doesn't like or doesn't know.

Which begs the question, as it always does, why was Billy Halpern mixed up with anyone capable of this kind of violence? To answer that question, it was a time for a trip back to South Florida, to the mid eighties. A seductive world of sun, sex, money, and, wait for it, weightlifting. Our mission to solve Billy Halpern's murder. To convince a prosecutor to bring charges against his killer or killers, and maybe to bring a bit of peace and closure to his family and friends that have lived with the pain of his murder for decades.

I would love for everyone to know the truth of why Billy died. People have said horrible things, you know, like, why would they hurt him that way? He had it all. He had it all. And he was 28 his whole life to live.

What Danny and I didn't expect was that reopening this cold case would shine a light on a string of unsolved murders involving some of South Florida's most dangerous criminals.

I was really young, but I knew what was going on. Oh, my God, the money was sick. And then the Colombians got involved, and it got dark and dirty and evil, and people were getting murdered left and right.

Was Billy just a random victim of a cold blooded crime spree? Or was his murder part of a larger conspiracy involving the hustlers, dealers, crooked cops, and wise guys that were running wild in south Florida during its most dangerous decade?

I really think there had to be a rat, a dirty rat in the pool. Police department.

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I'm preaching to somebody today who is waiting for God to give you your next step, and you don't know what it is yet. You need God to show you your next step, because, God, I can't stay where I am like I am where it is. This isn't going to work. I have to move on. But I don't know where. A lot of time you'll use it as an excuse. Well, I don't know how. I don't know where. I don't know what. God, if you show me. God, if you tell me. God, if you. No, no, no, no. You know enough right now. And if you needed to know more, he would show you. Hey, this is Stephen Furtick. I want to invite you to listen to my podcast, elevation with Stephen Furtick. I am here to help you for the battles that you face in life, for the times when you feel discouraged, the times that you need guidance from God. I want to give you the truth of what he says about you to help you rise to your full potential. Listen to elevation with Stephen Furtick every Sunday and Friday on the iHeartRadio Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm Tameeka D. Mallory, and it's your.

Boy, my son in general.

And we are your hosts of TMI new year, new name, new energy, but same old. And catch us every Wednesday on the Black effect network, breaking down social and civil rights issues, pop culture and politics in hopes of pushing our culture forward to make the world a better place for generations to come. But that's not all. We will also have special guests to add their thoughts on the topics as well as break down different political issues with local activists in their community. If you like to be informed and to expand your thoughts, listen to TMI on the Black Effect podcast network, iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

That's right.

Lori, let me tell you a little bit about me and how this all came about. I had never heard of the case, but the case was brought over to me. I took a look at it, and I just read it and heard all these names, and I heard some of the other homicides that happened sometime in the area. I went by Billy's old house, took a look around just to kind of get a feel for it, and then started my process of going through this as a cold case. And it's been a long time, but I felt, we felt that it would be important to at least meet with you as the investigation started going out.

I'm grateful. I hope we can find out the truth.

Lori and her brother Billy grew up in Hollywood, Florida, a beach town that lies about halfway between Fort Lauderdale to the north and Miami 20 miles to the south. By the time Billy was born, the Halperns had already been in south Florida for two generations. These were not snowbirds or two year tourists. The Halperns were Florida born and bred. Lori was just two years younger than Billy, and together they enjoyed a sun soaked, carefree youth and cruising the quiet streets of what was then a small town with an off season population of just a few thousand.

We all hung out at Garfield beach in Hollywood. My brother kind of hung out with everybody, you know, he surfed all the time, and it was a dream, you know, make the money, be a surfer, live my life. He was a good guy, and he really loved me. He was a really good brother. He was very protective, very annoying, a typical big brother. But he loved me, and he only wanted the best for me.

And he was popular. The king of the beach, with long, dark hair, a tom Selleck mustache, and a chiseled physique sculpted by hours in the gym. But Billy's friends painted a picture of a gentle giant with a thousand watt smile, someone with charm and charisma who seemed destined for big things.

I mean, like, they all knew that he could do anything. He was good looking. He was funny. Everyone liked him. Quick kills me. Could have been anything.

In 1980, Billy took a job with the Hollandale fire department as a paramedic. His friends were cops and fellow firefighters, hard charging guys that shared Billy's interest in the finer things, like blondes, beer, and pumping iron. As Danny and I learned when Billy wasn't on the job or on the beach, he was in the gym. Along with the deep tans and neon. South Florida was a bodybuilding Mecca back then, and Billy and his friends were committed muscleheads.

He was a workout fiend, so he belonged to three or maybe even four gyms, and he would rotate throughout those gyms. And I think he had a circle of friends through each gym.

Nights were spent in a string of bars that lined the boardwalk along Hollywood beach. There was lots of alcohol, marijuana, and this being the early 1980s, plenty of harder drugs were available, too. But the aphrodisiac of choice youth is boundless optimism and the conviction that nothing could ever hurt you.

But believe me, we partied. I'm definitely no angel. You didn't think of it, you know, every night you had nickel night, dime night, ladies night, drink tea fake night. Like every drinking promotion down here. Everyone drank. And then you do a little bump to wake up, and boom, you're done. Then it got dirty.

But despite the partying, Billy's family and friends never suspected that Billy was into anything criminal or hanging around with the kind of people that could put his life in danger. I always thought Billy was selling art. He showed me art at his house that he bought and stuff, and I honestly believe that's what he was. But the truth might have been a little darker than anyone ever knew. Time can be both a friend and foe to a cold case detective. Memories of a decades old crime are usually spotty and unreliable at best. But sometimes the passing years will encourage a potential witness to come forward with information that, for whatever reason, they weren't willing to share. In the original investigation, Billy's case file had the names of dozens of people that we thought might still possess crucial bits of information about his life, his associations, and the murder itself. Now, finding them 40 years later was another story.

Must be back there.

I do not see a blue shark.

No, I don't either. But we're going to knock anyway because I think it was, like, a 1979 truck.

Which one?

This one. Hello. How you doing? Hi, I'm Danny Smith. I'm with Miramar Police Department. This is Scott Weinberger. So, we are reopening the case of the murder of Billy Halpern. Does that ring a bell?

Not everyone felt comfortable talking about Billy's murder to a reporter or a Miramar detective. Even fewer were willing to go on the record.

So the reason that I'm reaching out to actually a bunch of people, I'll probably give you a bunch of names that are going to kind of come back to you. Back in the eighties, they didn't really take statements from everybody, so I'm kind of having to go back and redo some of their work. So tell me what you remember.

Sometimes it was hard to know what we heard was true, what was rumor, and what some of these people may have learned from a handful of newspaper articles covering the case over the years. But one thing kept coming up. Billy was not unfamiliar with some of the less savory elements of the Hollywood beach party scene. And the one thing we heard repeatedly by several friends of the people listed in the case file as friends or acquaintances of Billy was that along with art, Billy was also rumored to be selling drugs. So there was always rumors around the jammin. I believed that he was an art dealer. And I didn't know until after the fact that one of Billy's biggest concerns was me finding out that he was a coke dealer. He wanted to make sure that I didn't know that, and he made sure from other people that I didn't know anything about this. And it was true. I didn't know anything about it. I thought he was an art dealer. It's important to note here that when Billy Halpern was killed, he had no criminal record. Police recovered no drugs or cash from his town home where he was killed.

In fact, his girlfriend said it was more likely to be short of cash than flush. I mean, the guy drove a ten year old Mercury Montego, so a South Florida kingpin he was not. But if Billy was selling drugs, it could have put him in contact with potentially dangerous people. And of course, just being in possession of drugs or cash used to buy it can make anyone a target for violence. And for the record, when we asked Lori about whether Billy might have been dealing drugs, she admitted it was possible.

He wanted to make money. You know, he was firefighter for a short time, but he didn't want to work. And I didn't really know anything. I knew what Billy was doing, but I'm not kidding. He was a very protective, big older brother, and he would, if anything was going to happen, he'd go, go in your room. Get in your room. Okay. But I knew what was going on. I mean, I wish we were partying back then, and I was just like.

I couldn't believe it, you know, there are drugs involved. We don't care. We are looking to solve the homicide of your brother, and that's the bottom line.

Now, I'll be the first to admit as an investigator and a true crime storyteller. A murder victim's background is sometimes the beneficiary of some degree of dancing around. The truth is that a victim's history of questionable or even criminal behavior is not always relevant to a homicide investigation. But whether we're part of a jury or a listening audience, it can sway our sympathies. So prosecutors and podcasters have a tendency to leave out the unsavory bits. But in reopening this case, it was clear to me and Danny that the level of Billys involvement in the local drug trade was critical to understanding why he was killed, who killed him, and most importantly, why no one was ever arrested for his murder.

Right now, the theories that im reading all focus around his potential drug dealing and the drug underworld. So everything that I've read up to this point kind of works towards that angle. I haven't gotten any name suspects yet in any of these case files.

Obviously, piecing together all the players and whatever plot was in play in 1986 that got Billy killed was going to take some time and some good old gumshoe detective work. But there was even more immediate promise in the physical evidence that was recovered from the original crime scene. Evidence that would not just help us recreate the crime, but potentially help us identify Billy's killer.

That was the second big check mark for us, is that we do have evidence, and it looks like that it's been preserved since, I think, 87. We've got, at least with Broward Sheriff's office, we've got electrical tape from both wrists, hair that was in Halpern's left hand. Right, which presumably would be our killer.

Right.

And then we've got looks like a towel, which I believe that towel was placed on him when he was found by his living girlfriend at the time. That's all. That's all the evidence.

Electrical tape, a bloody towel, and several strands of human hair recovered from the clutches of the victim's left hand.

And let's not forget that, which I find very interesting. On one of the pieces of tape that were taken from Halpern's wrists, there was like a small piece of latex glove that appeared to have been ripped off on the tape, which tells me that the guy or guys or people that were in there were wearing gloves. And I have very, very high hopes that there's going to be some kind of a DNA profile that comes out of that.

Detectives in 1986 were never able to match any of it to a potential suspect. But by today's forensic standards, it feels promising.

I feel pretty good about the evidence. That we still have, and the fact that, to my knowledge, at least according to the property receipts, nothing has been tested. The idea, I think, is maybe next week, sit down with the DNA supervisor over at Broward Sheriff's and run it by and say, this is what I want to do. Here's your transmittal. Let's get the ball rolling.

If we could recover viable DNA from any of this physical evidence, it would go a long way to identifying the killer.

The thing that's going to take the longest period of time is going to be DNA testing and potential hair fibers, whatever it is that we can pull out of property and evidence. So that's going to be number one on my list to do now. So as I'm doing additional work interviews and trying to track down people, that testing is already going to be in process.

Hopefully, a DNA profile could be matched to one already in CODIS, the national DNA database of known offenders, and unidentified DNA from other crime scenes. Or it could be matched, one to one to a known suspect whose DNA we would have to obtain either with permission or without. But this was technology unavailable to detectives in the 1980s, which is one reason why, six months after Billys murder, the original investigation had started to stall. None of Billy's friends and family could offer police any leads into who might have had a reason to hurt him. There were no witnesses, no recent crimes with similar mo, and no shortage of alibis from just about anyone that had ever been in cuffs in Broward county.

Someone persuaded Billy to open that door, whether it was a friendly hello or somebody that knows Billy would not have opened that door for someone that he doesn't like or doesn't know. The scenario that I have in my mind is that maybe a friend of Billy's was there in front of the door, knocked on the door. Billy allows him in, and then at that point, it's a bum rush into the house, where they're forced in.

Billy's murder went from the front page to the back. And that's until May 6, 1987, when homicide detectives were again called to an apartment in the nearby town of Tamarack, just a 20 minutes drive from where Billy Halpern was killed. It was the home of Billys friend, 26 year old Mitch hall, and Mitchs 23 year old girlfriend, Charlinda drought. The couple had been bound, beaten, and their throats slash in a crack crime scene eerily similar to that of Billy Halperns.

Him and his girlfriend were found in the bedroom, I think so. They were completely caught off guard, just.

Like in Billys murder. There were very few clues and no immediate suspects. But the similarities were obviously too great to be ignored. Investigators were immediately convinced that the three murders were. Were somehow connected. Lori's first thought was that Mitch hall knew something about her brother's murder, and that information might have gotten him killed.

When Mitch died, they thought that he was going to Broward Sheriff to talk to them, that he knew something, and that's why they came and killed him.

It's a sentiment that is shared by Mitch Hall's sister, Kim.

My brother came to visit me, I would say 86, December of 86. He came to me and he said, billy Halpern died, and I'm going to find out who killed him. And I said, mitch, don't get involved with those type of people. And he went to the police station.

But if that was true, it had some shocking implications, because how would the killers know Mitch hall was talking to police?

How would anybody know that? Like, you were going to tell what you knew about Billy and then you get killed. Who in the police department is a bad guy? I really felt that there had to be a dirty cop.

I'm preaching to somebody today who is waiting for God to give you your next step, and you don't know what it is yet. You need God to show you your next step. Because, God, I can't stay where I am like I am where it is. This isn't going to work. I have to move on. But I don't know where. A lot of time you'll use it as an excuse. Well, I don't know how. I don't know where. I don't know what. God. If you show me. God, if you tell me. God. No, no, no, no. You know enough right now. And if you needed to know more, he would show you. Hey, this is so Stephen Furtick. I want to invite you to listen to my podcast, elevation with Stephen Furtick. I am here to help you for the battles that you face in life, for the times when you feel discouraged, for the times that you need guidance from God. I want to give you the truth of what he says about you to help you rise to your full potential. Listen to elevation with Stephen Furtick every Sunday and Friday on the iHeartRadio Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts.

Oh, hi, I'm Rachel Zoe, and I'm back for another season of my podcast, climbing in heels. You might know me from the Rachel Zoe project or perhaps from my work as a celebrity stylist. And guess what? I'm still just as fully obsessed with all things fashion beauty and business. My podcast, climbing in heels, is all about celebrating the stories of extraordinary women, and this season, we're taking things up a notch. I'll be talking to some incredible women across so many industries, from models and beauty industry stars to doctors, entrepreneurs, and tv personalities. Climbing in Heels is here to bring you a weekly dose of glamor, inspiration, and fun. Every week, listeners will be able to ask me any questions. I'm answering it all. My life is absolutely crazy with so much going on, and I'm so beyond excited to bring you along for the ride. Whether we're talking red carpet looks, current trends, or products I'm obsessed with, I'm here to be your fashion fairy godmother. Listen to climbing in heels every Friday on the I Heart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Get emotional with me, Radhi Devlukia, in my new podcast, a really good cry.

We're going to talk about and go through all the things that are sometimes difficult to process alone. We're going to go over how to regulate your emotions, diving deep into holistic personal development, and just building your mindset to have a happier, healthier life. We're gonna be talking with some of my best friends. I didn't know we were gonna go there on this. People that I admire, when we say, listen to your body, really tune into what's going on. Authors are books that have changed my life. Now you're talking about sympathy, which is different than empathy, right? And basically have conversations that can help us get through this crazy thing we call life. I already believe in myself. I already see myself. And so when people give me an opportunity, I'm just like, oh, great, you see me, too. We'll laugh together. We'll cry together, find a way through all of our emotions. Never forget, it's okay to cry as long as you make it a really good one. Listen to a really good cry with Radi da Vlukia on the iHeartRadio app, up Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Mitch hall and Charlinda drought have been sharing a home together in Tamarack, which is just outside of Fort Lauderdale, for a little less than a year. Bob daughtery was a friend of Mitch's working on a job site nearby. On the morning of May 6, 1987, he stopped by Mitch's townhome. I just remember pulling up, went up and knocked on the door. He didn't come to the door. Turned the doorknob. The house was open. Walked in there, and Mitch was in his bedroom outside the bathroom. I mean, there was blood. All his throat had been slit. It was a gruesome sign, it really was. From their injuries and manner of death. There was little doubt that it was somehow connected to the execution style murder of Billy Halpern just six months before. His hands were tied behind his back and something stuffed out of his mouth. And I also saw some marks on his upper body. I don't know if they were just from what they were from a fight, the cuts from something, I don't know. But I remember seeing some, some wounds on the upper part of his body. Not only were the crimes similar, but Mitch hall and Billy had been friends since high school.

According to Mitch's sister, they hung out in the same group of friends on the same beach and at the same gym.

We knew all those people from back long time ago. When we were growing up at Garfield beach. We used to hang out at the beach. And we've known Billy Halpern forever. I know his sister, Lori Halpern. I mean, I know their family. God, I knew Billy for years.

But there was one important difference between the two crime scenes. It appeared that nothing had been stolen from Mitch Hall's home. Here again, Brad daughtery, who discovered the bodies. It didn't look any more out of disarray than it ever did. I mean, I never would have thought when I walked in the front door until I got to the bedroom that I was going to find him in there the way I did. From the way the bodies were positioned, it appeared that both Mitch and Charlinda had been forced to their knees, keys bound with tape, and then killed in cold blood.

And there was no, like, evidence of somebody breaking into his house. So either his roommate gave the people the key because they pulled Charlinda and they cut her throat and they cut my brother's throat and just bullshit.

Again, no signs of forced entry meant that Mitch and Charlinda may have known their killers and invited them inside. In May of 1987, the double murder and its possible connection to Billys murder six months before had caused a stir in the local media. And detectives at the time hoped that the increased attention may stir up some promising leads. But that wasnt the case. In fact, investigators had a hard time convincing friends and coworkers of Billy and Mitch to talk at all. The word on the street was that talking was exactly what might have gotten Mitch killed in the first place.

He was killed the next day after he went to the police station to tell them who killed Billy, and he was killed the next day. So I'm assuming there was a leak in the police station and somebody said, mitch hall knows who killed Billy.

It was a claim that may be true, but one we have so far have not seen any evidence of. No record that Mitch contacted any member of the department. And even if Mitch hall was telling people he was planning on talking to police, that could be dangerous enough.

Is there any evidence that my brother came to the police station and talked to a detective and let them know who killed Billy Hellborn? There's no evidence of that, him coming into the police station, not that I've seen.

And I'm not saying that it's not there, but we're talking years and years ago.

But even in 1987, there was a strong suspicion that not only were the murders connected, they were likely committed by the same person. That suspicion would only grow when just eight days later, two more bodies were discovered in a house in Pembroke Pines, a 20 minutes drive inland from Hollywood beach. The victims were identified as 31 year old Jimmy Hynote and 28 year old Harry Collier. Both men had been bound and then shot at close range in the back of the head. So it's a slightly different mo, but with the same deadly result.

When the names high note and Collier came up, high note rang a bell. Because we know that Jimmy Hynote and Billy went to school together. They knew each other. They grew up with each other. The fact that they were then killed, that's not a coincidence. We have to look into that.

That's right. Both men were known acquaintances of both Billy Halpern and Mitch Hall.

I mean, we all grew up together. We'd go to big Daddy's together, hanging out together. Mitch, he knew Jimmy. High note. We used to go to his Halloween parties. Billy was always there. We all used to hang out together when we were teenagers. It's crazy. I mean, when all this happened, it was just crazy.

So what was going on here? Was someone targeting one particular group of lifelong friends? Or were they all involved in a conspiracy that ultimately got them all killed?

I don't like to speculate, but, I mean, a normal, prudent person would look at all the facts and say, that's gotta be connected, no matter what. Forget about the mo, forget about locations or the way that the murders happen. You have to think it was connected, and especially that it was in such close time proximity to the Halpern murder.

So what was the connection? The further we dug, the more we kept coming back to one place. The Apollo gym. It wasn't just a gym. It was a criminal enterprise. The Apollo was a no frills, prison yard style facility dedicated to pain and gain, owned by a hulking ex cop. His name is Gil Fernandez, and his partner, a former mister Florida named Burt Christie. That guy is a fucking gangster. When those two were together, they were like John Gotti and Sammy the bull. Four of the five murder victims, Billy Halpern, Mitch Hall, Harry Collier, and Jimmy Highnote, were all members of the Apollo gym. That was the connection.

I think there was a steroid thing going on in Apollo gym, and Billy came to my bedroom door. He's like, hey, laurba, I love you. If I don't come home, just want you to know that I love you. And then, boom, forget the phone call.

The more Danny and I learned about the place, the more I was convinced that whatever conspiracy existed that led to the murders, it was hatched right here. I just never expected what we would find along the way. They were doing shakedowns. It was well known. You're gonna pay us, or we're gonna kill you. And I thought they were gonna kill me.

Yeah.

So I kept my mouth shut and I didn't say anything. All these years, I didn't say anything, but I knew that they killed Billy or how deep the corruption would go. People were afraid to go to the law because they knew that he was a former cop and still had lots of friends on the force. A lot of unsolved murders that I think are all tied to the same people.

And it's almost incestuous that everyone knew each other. Everyone worked together, and then ultimately, almost everyone was killed.

Coming up in the next episode of Cold Blooded the Apollo Jim murders, how roids, ripoffs, and revenge left a trail of murder on the streets and swamps of south Florida. And how one killer might still be walking free. I was always taught if you start poking your nose around, you're going to get yourself killed. Cold blooded the Apollo Jim murders is a production of I Heart podcasts and authentic wave media. Scott Weinberger, Kevin Bennett, and Walker Lamond are executive producers. Sabrina Sauray is our line producer, scoring, sound design and mixing by Mark Lamorgesi for our I Heart podcasts. Christina Everett is executive producer, and David Wasseman is brand marketing manager. And with special thanks to the Miramar police Department, Chief Delrich Moss Pio, Tanya Ardaz, and Detective Suzy Smith.

I used to have so many men.

How this beguiling woman in her fifties, she looked like a million bucks. Scams. A bunch of fake famous athletes out of untold fortunes.

Nearly $10 million was all gone.

It's just unbelievable.

Hide your money in your old rich man cause she is on the prowl.

Listen to Queen of the Con season five, the athlete whisperer on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

It's been almost 3000 years and greek mythology has proved that it is not going anywhere. But it can be difficult to find entertaining and engaging retellings of these myths that arent fictionalized. Lucky for you im here lets talk about myths Baby is the greek mythology and ancient history podcast of your dreams. I dive into the convoluted and confusing ancient sources so you dont have to listen to lets talk about myths baby on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your your podcasts. I'm Diosa. And I'm Mala. We are the creators of Locatora Radio, a radiophonic novella which is a fancy way of saying a podcast. Welcome to Locatora radio season nine. Love at first listen. This season we're falling in love with podcasting all over again, with new segments, correspondence, and a new sound. Listen to Locatora Radio as part of the Michael Tura podcast network, available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.