Lee County, Arkansas 1995 A young woman was on her way home in a rural area. A blue flashing light goes on behind her. Assuming it’s an officer, she waits. A masked man a puts gun to her head and blindfolds her. He is also wearing gloves. He takes her to his car and drives her to a field, where he rapes her. He has her lie face down and count to 100. He leaves and she runs for help. What does she remember? He has a deep gruff voice, he’s a smoker and he drives a white Oldsmobile. Lee County, Arkansas 1996 2nd victim. A cheerleader heading home from a basketball games gets pulled over with a blue light. Same scenario—same description. November 9, 1996, 3rd victim 43 miles north of first 2. This time he played Russian Roulette with the victim when done—loading a bullet in the gun, rolling the barrel and pulling the trigger. The chamber was empty. The news gets out and there are over 12 additional incidents of a car with a single blue light attempting to pull over females—who don’t pull over. Woodruff County, Arkansas January 19, 1997. 4th victim. Same scenario, same description. The rapist’s DNA is not in the system. Lonoke, Arkansas July 11, 1997. On a normal summer day, cars pass up and down Highway 38 in Lonoke County. Shannon Woods would often travel down Highway 38 as a 17-year-old girl, until that fateful night. Shannon revealed in an interview, “I was on my way home, actually from Lonoke. I was pulled over by who I thought was a police officer." He had a distinct voice she remembers as raspy and deep. "I was kidnapped and driven a little over 80 miles away.” Shannon was blindfolded and her innocence stolen by a masked man. He took Shannon Woods to a home and raped her numerous times. She finally asked him to kill her. “I was sexually assaulted for several hours until I was let go face down,” she explains. She walked a mile in pitch black night before seeing a light. Fearful it was the same house she just left, she still took the chance and went there. Shaking uncontrollably she knocked on the door. It paid off. They called the police. The sun was up when interviews with investigators ended. Shannon would later take an active role in victim’s rights. A friend came over to comfort her as she tried to sleep. This is an important piece to healing. The availability of someone to talk to is the best predictor of recovering from a trauma. For two years, the man known as the “Blue Light Rapist” terrorized women all over Central Arkansas. “He definitely was a serial rapist,” says Brenda Hale-Tyson, a retired Arkansas State Police official who worked on the investigation. Nearly two months after Shannon was raped, Arkansas State Police made an arrest. Brenda was impressed with all that Shannon remembered—keeping in mind she was blindfolded. “She took me to Brinkley, the correct exit off of the freeway, the path to this house. Two steps up, door opens from the left to the right,” adds Hale-Tyson. “After seeing his picture on the news and hearing his voice,” says Woods. “I knew that that was him and so did the other victims.” Diagnosed with PTSD, Shannon strayed away from the public eye. She eventually formed a close relationship with Investigator Brenda Hale-Tyson. All victims were re-interviewed. Heavy cigarette odor. Hairy back. Some said white Oldsmobile, others suggested other cars, indicating he was switching. Investigators decided to work back. Most serial rapists, or serial killers for that matter, are unsuccessful in their early efforts. This is a phenomenon I characterized in the beginning of my book The I-94 Murders. In Arkansas, they found a home break in in 1996, where a masked man broke into the home and threatened to rape a woman at gunpoint. He wore a mask. Held a gun. Wanted to rape her. She told him, “If you’re going to rape me, you’re going to have to kill me.” They were looking for a single and she gave them a home run. Did she have any clues about the masked man, beyond what they already had? Even though he was masked, she recognized him from the neighborhood. She told investigators it was Todd Burmingham. Todd Burmingham immediately lawyered up. Todd had a ticket for shining deer so investigators found the game warden and were informed Todd was driving a white Oldsmobile. The car was registered in his wife’s name. Investigator Brenda Hale told his wife they were looking for a man with no hair on his back. She responded, “Todd has a very hairy back.” The investigators got a court order for a DNA sample and Todd’s DNA matched DNA in 3 victims. September 15, 1997, at age 31, Todd Burmingham was arrested for multiple counts of Kidnapping, Rape and Aggravated Robbery. He was found guilty of rape, kidnapping and 3 home invasions. Todd was sentenced to 80 years in prison. He was then charged with 6 additional rapes but only convicted of 1, but that 1 got him a life sentence. Todd Burmingham died of Covid-19 in May of 2020 in an Arkansas prison at age 54. Shannon’s Law makes it a Felony for anyone to purchase blue squad car lights or any type of law enforcement gear. Shannon Wood is now a city council member. Great work Shannon! Thanks for listening, Frank I will be speaking at the Deep Valley Cabin Fever virtual conference as an author on March 6 & 7. I will be speaking on the "Making a Living as an Author" panel, and performing a reading from Lying Close. Susan Kimman has created an excellent video which will be advertising Lying Close. In the meantime, I am so anxious to get Burning Bridges out. Thank you for the feedback on Chapter 1 from Burning Bridges. I rewrote it and am much happier with it. Just putting in the finishing touches… Eddie Vedder & Beyonce Redemption Song Preston playing around with the electric cello in our music room last weekend playing “Thunderstruck” ACDC, “Crazy Train” Ozzy Ozborne, and the Bonnie (“pretty”) Banks of Lock Lomon.
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7/24/2022 03:56:29 am
Thanks for sharing this helpful information! It's quite an interesting topic. Waiting for your next excellent update.
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AuthorFrank F. Weber is a forensic psychologist specializing in homicide and sexual and physical assault cases. He uses his unique understanding of how predator’s think, knowledge of victim trauma, actual court cases, and passion for writing true crime thrillers. His Award Winning books include "Murder Book" (2017) "The I-94 Murders" (2018) "Last Call" (2019) and "Lying Close" (September 2020). Archives
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