The Sinister Valentine’s Day Murders - Unsolved Deep Dive

Over 50 years ago, a beautiful young couple left a Valentine's Day dance and was never seen alive again. I've never had a case quite like this one. The case that continues to elude authorities. A young couple with a promising future abducted, tortured, then murdered. Over two weeks later, their bodies were discovered and what they found was horrific. This is a story that is impossible, impossible not to get drawn into. Why, why, why? And as you uncover one why, you uncover ten more. Not only was this beautiful, young, happy couple with promising lives ahead of them murdered, but they were tortured for hours before they died. Strangled and then let down, strangled and let down over a period of time. It's been over half a century and this case still remains unsolved. There's a lot we have to go over today. There's some pretty bad police work, a couple different theories. And three possible suspects that all look just as guilty as the last. This is the unsolved Valentine's Day murders of Patricia Mann and Jesse McBain. And my name is Brianna and I'm hot on the case. Fall never arrives all at once. First, the air. Then the light. And slowly the things you love begin to find each other. A jacket meets a dress. A hoodie slips beneath a blazer. An old cap finds a new scarf. Because you don't simply step into the season. You create it, layer by layer, until it finally feels like fall. Find fall your way at Ross. At ZocDoc, we know you care about your health. You wouldn't do that early morning cardio if you didn't. So, the fact is. The fact that your annual physical is overdue just shows how hard it can be to get seen by a doctor. Sorry, that doctor's not in network. Press 1 for more options. You've reached us outside normal business hours. The next availability is in three months. But ZocDoc makes finding the right doctor easy. Download the app and search by specialty, insurance, and availability. Read real patient reviews. Then book instantly. ZocDoc. Ready to be seen? Valentine's Day began as a strange collision of ancient rituals and rituals. And forbidden love. Evolving from Roman fertility festivals into a holiday named after the martyr who defied an empire. All in the name of love. Today, Valentine's Day, is a billion dollar industry. Red roses flown across continents. Pre-fixed dinner menus. And the pressure to prove your love and devotion with gifts, of course. But in February of 1970. In the summer of 1971, Valentine's Day brought something a lot different. And it all started with two high school sweethearts planning a date for Valentine's Day. 20-year-old Patricia Mann was a very sweet, caring girl. She was kind of shy, very close to her family. And had a really big heart and never really got in any trouble. She went to church every single Sunday. She was a hard worker. She was a really good student. And she had really big dreams and aspirations. Especially for a young woman who grew up in a church. She grew up in the 1950s and 1960s. 19-year-old Jesse McBain was Patricia's first serious boyfriend. They were actually high school sweethearts. They had been together for three years. And they were definitely, like, the golden couple. They were the couple that was envied by all of their single friends. Jesse was an athlete. A high school football star. He was really tall, really handsome. He was funny. He was described as a really good guy. No one ever really had anything bad to say about Jesse. Jesse was even voted out. He was voted most likely to succeed in high school. And after graduating high school, Jesse and Patricia kept dating, even though they were going to be going to different colleges. There was going to be a bit of distance between them, but they were going to make it work. Jesse even asked Patricia's parents for their blessing to marry their daughter, which they gladly gave him. And Jesse bought Patricia a promise ring, which she wore every single day. And they planned to officially get engaged after they graduated college. Jesse attended North Carolina State University, and Patricia was attending Watts College of Nursing in Nerham, North Carolina, which was actually one of the best nursing schools in the entire state. So, it was actually a really big deal that Patricia got accepted into this nursing school. And Patricia was so excited, she actually dreamed of being a nurse all throughout high school. So, getting into Watts was literally a dream come true. Through her studies, Patricia was also training. At the Watts Hospital, as part of her clinicals, Watts Hospital hosted an annual Valentine's Day dance. And Patricia was so excited to have her boyfriend, Jesse, be her date. Originally, Jesse did not think that he was going to be able to make the dance. Jesse shared a car, a Ford Cortina, with his brother. And his brother actually had plans of his own first, the night of the dance, and was going to be using the car. And this, of course, really disappointed Patricia. I bet she gave Jesse, like, a little bit of an earful for not securing the car first. Because Jesse's brother actually agreed to switch his plans around so Jesse could take his girl to the dance. It was February 12th, 1971, which was a Friday. Valentine's Day was just two days away on Sunday, and after finishing her Friday classes, she decidedly ran back to her dorm room so she could get ready for the dance. And Jesse met Patricia at her dorm, and they got ready together. They both dressed on theme for the holiday. They both dressed in reds and pink. Jesse wore a nice button-down shirt and burgundy plaid pants. Really, really 70s, you know? And Patricia wore a white and pink checkered dress with a bow. The dance was okay. I don't think it actually worked. It actually ended up being as fun as either of them was expecting it to be, because Patricia and Jesse actually left the dance early, around 11:30 p.m. And as they were leaving the dance, Patricia said to some of her friends and her dorm mate that her and Jesse were going to go parking, which was code for parking your car in, like, a lover's lane area, and making out in the car, hooking up a little bit, and Patricia told her friends that she would be back at her dorm before curfew. But that was the very last time that Patricia or Jesse were ever seen alive ever again. Dorm curfew was usually 11:00 p.m., but it was extended that night until 1:00 a.m. for the dance. But Patricia did not show up at her dorm before 1:00 a.m., and she didn't show up that night at all. And the next morning, when she still hadn't snuck back into the dorm room with stories for her roommate about, you know, accidental miscarriage or something like that, she told her friends that she was going to be there by curfew, and she was going to be there by curfew. And, you know, she was going to be there by curfew. And she was going to be there by curfew. was found abandoned on wayside place, a short dead end road in a neighborhood that was currently being developed. And since no one yet lived in this neighborhood and the street was secluded from everything else, it was used as a lover's lane, a hookup spot for teenagers and other young couples. And this absolutely lines up with what Patricia told her friends when they were leaving the dance that they were going to go hook up at, you know, some kind of place. They were going to park the car and hook up in the car. It really did look like that Patricia and Jesse parked here where the car was found abandoned and whatever happened, happened from there. Inside the car were both Patricia and Jesse's jackets along with Patricia's pantyhose and also the chocolate that Jesse bought Patricia as a Valentine's Day present. But the car was otherwise completely clean. It was actually too clean, like someone had wiped down the entire interior of the car. In, on, or around the vehicle, there were no signs of a struggle. There was no blood or any signs of foul play. This is very frustrating, but even after finding this car, there were still a lot of officers that believe the theory that Jesse and Patricia ran off, hit the chapel, and eloped, even though it makes absolutely no sense. Considering their car was left abandoned in the same area they said that they were going the last time they were ever seen. And if you're heading to the chapel to get hitched, you probably need a car. Because how else are you going to get there? It just makes zero sense and it's extremely frustrating. Finding a doctor is hard enough. Finding the right doctor, even harder. Someone who takes your insurance, has an available appointment when you need one, and feels like someone you can actually open up to. That's where ZocDoc comes in. Download the ZocDoc app to search and compare doctors by specialty, insurance, and availability. Read real patient reviews, find the right fit for you, and book instantly. Because getting seen by the right doctor is the best way to get to the doctor. ZocDoc. Ready to be seen? Download the ZocDoc app today. Frustrating. Another nine days would go by with no signs of the couple. And then early in the morning on February 25th, a grisly discovery was made. Thirteen days after Jesse and Patricia went missing, a surveyor named Robert Kirby was hired to check out a property that was located in this remote wooden area called Duke Forest, which was only available for a couple of days. About three miles away from where Jesse's car was found abandoned. Like I said, Duke Forest was a very secluded, remote area. It was pretty much just all trees, and the only people nearby were people that lived in this trailer park in the forest. And Robert Kirby was just walking through the area when he thought he saw what looked like a mannequin under a pile of leaves. The closer he got, he realized that this was not a mannequin, and he actually found two, bodies hidden under a pile of leaves. Robert quickly ran to the nearest trailer, asked to use their phone, and called the police. And he said to the police on the phone that he thinks he just found the bodies of the missing couple. Word spread very quickly that Jesse and Patricia's bodies were found. And I mean like very quickly. By the time the police even arrived at the scene, a small but growing crowd had already started to form in the area, which is very unfortunate, because it's very possible that evidence, like maybe, fingerprints or tire marks, were destroyed by all the foot traffic. Jesse and Patricia's bodies were found at the base of an oak tree. They were tied to the tree, and were believed to be originally sat back to back against the trunk of the tree. But after they were killed, their killer slumped their bodies towards the ground so they could be covered up by leaves to conceal their bodies. And they were both tied up the exact same way. Rope was used to bound up their wrists in pretty complex knots. The rope was wrapped four times around their left wrists and three times around the right wrists. And then there were multiple knots made between their hands. The rope tied around their wrists was connected to another length of rope that was tied to the tree. And then there was another length of rope that was also tied to the tree, and this rope was also tied around their necks. There were also two knots in the rope that was tied around their necks. So it's the rope with also these big knots in the rope that was around their neck. The rope around their neck was extremely tight, but just loose enough that it wasn't completely cutting off their oxygen. They were both found still wearing all of their clothes, even their shoes, and all of their belongings were still on them, even their valuables, like Jesse's car keys were still in his pocket, along with a pack of cigarettes were still in Jesse's pocket, and Patricia was still wearing her promise ring, as well as her car keys were still in her pocket. There was some other jewelry, like a necklace she had and a pearl bracelet. So robbery was obviously ruled out as a possible motive for killing Jesse and Patricia. During their autopsies, another motive was also ruled out. It was concluded that neither Jesse or Patricia had been sexually assaulted. The autopsy also found that Patricia and Jesse likely both died within hours of the last time they were ever seen. Both Jesse and Patricia had a bruising around their neck and hemorrhaging conclusive with strangulation and two to three stab wounds to their chest that the medical examiner believed happened post-mortem. So their killer strangled them to death and then stabbed them both at least two to three times in the chest after they were already dead. And it's possible their killer made the puncture wounds to make sure that Jesse and Patricia were actually dead. And I'll explain more about that in a minute. The only major difference between Jesse and Patricia's injuries was that Patricia had about a one inch laceration to her liver, which was likely suffered from some kind of blow to her abdomen, like possibly she was punched really hard in the stomach. Both of their causes of death were listed as strangulation by ligature, so it was the ropes around their neck that caused their death. And the evidence actually indicated that the ropes tied around their necks were repeatedly tightened by their killer. And then once they lost consciousness, their attacker would release the ropes and then do the same thing to the other one. So they were like forced to watch this happen to each other multiple times. And then once one of them would regain consciousness, their attacker would immediately just go back to tightening the rope around their neck. And this brought them back to normal. And this whole process repeated itself for at least two hours before they both died. And since they were repeatedly being strangled to the brink of death over and over and over again and being knocked unconscious, and this was happening for hours and hours, I would explain maybe why the killer wanted to double check to make sure they were actually dead by the puncture wounds. And those were why that happened postmortem. And since also they were being pretty much strangled, they were probably being tortured to death. And so they were being tortured to death. And so they were being tortured to the brink of death over and over and over again for hours. This would have been a very slow, painful, torturous death, which would have, like I said, lasted hours, but it probably felt 10 times longer for Patricia and Jesse. It's very, very sad just thinking about it, how slow and how painful that must have been and how scared they probably were. They were literally tortured to death. The medical examiner that performed the autopsies believed that the murders would have had to been committed by at least two people because they believed that the injuries were consistent with two people pulling on the ropes at the same time. But the two offender theory has never been one that investigators have ever actually believed or like properly investigated. What investigators theorized happened to Jesse McBain and Patricia Mann was they parked their car at that known Lovers Lane area. And while they were there in the car, they were approached by someone dressed like a cop, likely impersonating one and or someone that one or both of them knew, because there was no struggle or attempt to drive away. They believed that there had to be some level of trust for Jesse and Patricia to get out of the car and go with this person. But I also think that if someone just approached them, they would have been able to get out of the car and go with this person. But I also think that if someone just approached this young couple with a gun, that that also probably could have done the trick. But investigators really do believe that this was either someone one or both of them knew, or someone that was dressed like a cop. And that's why they got out the car. To me, this killer seems like one of two things, but also could possibly be both. This is either a sadistic killer who gets off on inflicting pain and making people suffer. I do not believe that this killer this was their first or last murder. also could possibly have been a personal attack. It seems rageful. It seems like this could have been a revenge motivated killing to me. There were multiple agencies all independently working this case. There was the Durham County Sheriff's Office, Orange County, North Carolina State Bureau Investigations, and the North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles all investigating this case and they all agreed that they did not believe that this was a random murder, that this was not a crime of opportunity, but instead it was very much a planned attack, which is interesting to me and I haven't actually ever seen this brought up, but since they all agreed that this was a planned attack, the only people that would have actually known that Patricia and Jesse were going to go parking and the most likely place would have been this known Lovers Lane area, that it seems like it's possible that maybe the killer was someone that was at the Watts Hospital dance. Keep that in mind. A criminal psychologist from New York City that worked on a lot of high profile cases named Dr. James Brussel was asked to help create a psychological profile on their killer. His profile stated that they were looking for a lone man between the ages of 25 and 40 years old. This man was likely athletic, likely clean shaven, appeared very put together, but didn't wear anything like too flashy. He's neat, precise, a bit of a loner, has an above average intelligence and an above average education. He has an excellent work record, but a possible criminal record. He's paranoid, possibly motivated by an urge to cleanse the world. He judges people harshly. He believes that he's better than other people. He has a possible vendetta against one or both of the victims and may have suffered childhood rejection at the hands of his own mother. So it sounds like maybe possible mommy issues and a resentment toward fall never arrives all at once. First, the air, then the light, and slowly the things you love begin to find each other. You create it layer by layer until it finally feels like fall. Because getting seen by the right doctor matters. ZocDoc. Ready to be seen? And it was because the profile said that they were looking for a killer, and this profile assisted in solving a lot of high-profile cases, and investigators really never floated around the two-killer theory, despite what the medical examiner concluded. Ultimately, there was never really any other major breaks in this case. Despite having persons of interest, there were never any actual prime suspects in this case, and this case went cold for many, many decades. And hearing that always breaks my heart, that there are families that live and die never knowing what happened. To their loved ones. And then in 2011, two detectives that were working for the North Carolina Orange County Sheriff's Office came across an old box of evidence from the Valentine's Day murders, and like all the old case files. The two detectives were Detective Tim Horn and Detective Don Hunter. And the two of them decided to start working the case on their own time. Off duty. Off the clock. They began sifting through the four-decade, old evidence and investigating the case. Four separate agencies investigated the Valentine's Day murders independently back in the 1970s. But unfortunately, they didn't really share their findings amongst each other. So Detective Horn and Detective Hunter got all of this evidence together from all the four agencies that worked the case, and were likely the first two investigators ever to actually see all of the findings and evidence in the murders, of Jesse and Patricia. And after about a year of just working the case in their free time, off the clock, not even getting paid for it, they petitioned to have the case officially reopened, and it was in 2012. People typically think that working a cold case is an uphill battle, but there's actually a few benefits to time. Sometimes people are more willing to talk and tell the truth after a lot of time has passed. And of course, there's new and better technology that makes investigating cold cases easier. When the Valentine's Day murders case was reopened, it re-sparked the public's interest in the case, and there were a lot of new, fresh eyes on the case. And there were also a lot of online sleuths, people just like you and me that are interested in true crime, trying to also solve the case from their own homes. And in 2018, after independently researching and investigating the case for two years, Eric Pruitt and Jew Adamak were given all the case files on the Valentine's Day murders, with the blessing from the victim's families, and also Detective Horn and Detective Hunter. Together, they started an eight-episode podcast called The Long Dance. This podcast is actually a lot of the reason that this case has gotten as much recent coverage that it has. A lot of the publicly available information on this case comes from this podcast, which is why I felt like I really wanted to do this podcast. I really wanted to do this podcast. I really needed to give them a shout out because a lot of the resources for this episode came from them. And we also know that all of their information is credible because they got their hands on all of the case files on the murders of Jesse and Patricia. The podcast was very, very interesting. I had a lot of interviews from people important to the case, people that knew some of the three suspects that we're about to get into. So if that's something you think you're interested in, definitely recommend checking it out. Now, this is the part of the episode, when we're going to go over the three possible suspects in this case. During the original investigation, there were quite a few persons of interest, but there were only three persons of interest that could never be officially cleared. And each of them seem just as guilty as the last. There's things with each of them that make them look guilty and make them look like the killer. I find all three theories to be almost equally as fascinating and plausible So we're going to jump right in to the three suspects. Suspect number one, Dr. James Stephen Walter Wilson. Dr. James Wilson specialized in cardiovascular disease and emergency medicine. His personality type is pretty much a walking red flag. He's been described as intelligent, but arrogant, violent, angry, and vindictive. And just to further explain the character of this guy, he arguably is most well known for co-authoring a medical textbook called The Anatomical Basics of Medical Practice. And you might be asking yourself, Brianna, what does this have to do with anything? This looks like a normal medical textbook. Well, that's where you're very, very wrong. Instead of your normal medical diagrams that you would think to see in a medical textbook, you might be asking yourself, what does this have to do with anything? Instead of your normal medical diagrams that you would think to see in a medical textbook, they hired a pinup and playboy photographer to take photos of beautiful, young, female models to pose in ways that seem less than medical. And if you want to just give him the benefit of the doubt that this was just a strange style choice and it doesn't mean anything, again, you're wrong. Written in this medical textbook, it says how unfortunate it was that he couldn't reveal where these female models lived. The addresses of these young women photographed for his medical textbook. It also says in the medical textbook that men should have sex with women to study female anatomy. And when this medical textbook was published, there was a huge controversy. Professors, students, once they actually got their books and like saw the contents of it, requested refunds. There was a boycott formed by the Association of Women in Science, and eventually the book was taken off the shelves and taken off the market. Today, it's kind of seen as like this weird collector's item because of how big of a controversy there was around it. And you can find it being sold online for hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. Not only was this pervert, Dr. Wilson, defending his textbook, he was also saying that he was the victim of a manhunt, of a witch hunt, I meant, and he was also threatening to kill one of the women that assisted in the boycott named Dr. Estelle Ramey. She assisted in the boycott that eventually got the book taken off the shelves. And this, of course, was not Dr. Wilson's first violent encounter with a young lady. A little look into his background showed that he assaulted and threatened to kill a fellow female classmate in the parking lot of Duke University because she didn't want to go on a date with him. And later in life, he did the exact same thing. While he was married with children at home, he also assaulted and threatened to kill the head of the anatomy department at Duke's University because she would not go on a date with him. And after this, he was forcibly admitted to the psychiatric ward at Duke. And he was released a little while later just because he said that he found God in the hospital and he was like, so okay. But of course, that wasn't true. And immediately after being released, he threatened to kill his wife, making that the fourth confirmed woman that he threatened to kill. But this time it was a bit different. It was actually worse. It wasn't just saying, I'm going to kill you, which is already bad. But he was like, fantasizing and planning about the actual murder and like the actual details of it. He told his wife that the only reason he wasn't going to go through with killing her was because he wouldn't know what to do with her teeth afterwards. So he's like thinking of ways he can dispose of his wife's body in a way that she wouldn't be able to be identified through dental records, which is like really, really dark. Like this is real. Like he's actually planning the murder in his head. And a little bit later, he was ordered to return to the psychiatric hospital after beating his wife over the head with a hot kettle in front of their sons. And in the hospital, he sent letters to his sons, pretty much just telling them what a terrible person their mother was. His first wife luckily got away by 1976, five years after the Valentine's Day murders, Dr. Wilson was remarried and he locked himself in their house with his stepson in the home. And I'm not sure the details, but I'm assuming he was threatening to kill his stepson because the police and hostage negotiators actually had to show up. And it took five hours of negotiating to get Dr. Wilson to open the front door and let the stepson free. And he got like no charges for this. Nothing actually happened criminally. Something really interesting about Dr. Wilson is he definitely has a type. All of his wives, all of his victims were pretty young, petite blondes, just like Patricia Mann. In 1971, of course, a nursing student. She was also working at Watts hospital. Dr. Wilson admitted that he was teaching a class at Watts hospital and that's how he met Patricia. He admitted that he was attracted to her and he would come onto her a lot. He wanted to date her, but she rejected him multiple times. He also admitted to authorities that he wanted a revenge against her for rejecting him. And he actually tried to ruin her life by getting her thrown out of school. Dr. Wilson only lived a quarter mile away from where Patricia and Jesse's bodies were found, meaning that he was familiar with the area. He didn't really have an alibi for the time that Patricia and Jesse were kidnapped and killed. He was supposed to go to a dinner party that night, but he showed up hours, hours later than he was supposed to. He was very late to this dinner party. He didn't show up to the dinner party until after midnight, close to 1am. And when he showed up, he was acting really paranoid. He was like, I'm not going to go to the dinner party. I'm according to other people that were at the dinner party. Like he kept like looking out the window to see if someone fought. First the air, then the light. ZocDoc. Ready to be seen? Followed him, see if people were showing up for him, and he was pacing around the entire house. After Jesse and Patricia's bodies were found, Dr. Wilson wanted to go look at the tree where their bodies were found. And he went there with a friend. And that friend said that Dr. Wilson was saying a lot of really odd things when they went out to go look at the tree. And he seemed like he knew too much about the crime. Like he knew details, that he wasn't supposed to know. While speaking with investigators on the Valentine's Day murder case, Dr. Wilson admitted to the police that this wasn't actually the first time he was questioned by the police for a case where a young girl was strangled and murdered. He said a decade earlier in 1961, he was also questioned by the police in a murder of a young college student in Kansas named Betty Gail Brown. Who was strangled and killed in her car by her own bra. She was also not robbed or sexually assaulted, just like the victims in the Valentine's Day murder case. And this murder went unsolved as well. The thing is, a lot of what Dr. Wilson says or claims can't actually be confirmed. He said he taught one of Patricia's classes, but investigators tried to confirm this and there was absolutely zero record that he ever taught one of Patricia's classes. And there was absolutely zero record that he ever taught a class that Patricia was a student in. They also tried to confirm that he was questioned by the police in the 1961 murder of Betty Brown. They called up the police in Kansas and they confirmed that Dr. Wilson was never questioned in that murder investigation. So it kind of seems like Dr. Wilson is a pathological liar. Now this is really interesting to me because obviously the internet was not a thing at the time. So I find it interesting that he would know so much about unsolved murder in a different state if he wasn't involved. But I mean, they said that he wasn't questioned. So I don't know why he would lie about that. I mean, I don't know. But we know there's a lot of weird people that tried to interject themselves in cases that they have no involvement in. And there's a lot of people that confess to things that they didn't do. Henry Lee Lucas and Otis Toole were American serial killers and accomplices who famously confessed to hundreds of murders during the Civil War. And they said that they didn't know why he would lie about that. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, many of which were proven to be false confessions. Infamously, a school teacher named John Mark Carr confessed to the murder of JonBenet Ramsey when he wasn't even in Colorado at the time of the murder. Just to further prove that Dr. Wilson is likely a pathological liar, he claimed that he was one of the heroes on the ground during 9-11 helping to save people and pull them out of the burning building. And he was not. He admitted that he had involvement in several other murders, including some really big cases and publicized crimes. Dr. Wilson's family say that he is a pathological liar who suffers from delusions and was likely living with undiagnosed schizophrenia. Dr. Wilson died in 2009, so he's no longer alive to be questioned in the Valentine's Day murder case. And whereas he fits the profile of a criminal psychologist made on the killer, he didn't really have an alibi and was acting really weird after the murders and lived in the exact same area where the bodies were found. Out of the three suspects, I personally find him to be like the least likely to be the killer. Suspect number two, James Jimmy Brandon Ray. Jimmy Ray has been described as a bit of a ladies man that didn't take no for an answer. Even while having a wife and child at home, Jimmy was constantly out cheating, trying to pick up girls. And allegedly he had six mistresses. Jimmy was an orderly working at Patricia's nursing school and also the hospital that she was working at. And investigators got anonymous tip that Jimmy was obsessed with the Valentine's Day murders and obsessively collecting every single newspaper clipping on the case. People that knew Jimmy claimed that he would say that he knew Patricia from work and that he would say that he knew her from work. And that he would say that he knew her from work. That he was into her, that he would follow her around the hospital. He wanted to go on a date with her and he was kind of harassing her. And he was fired from that position just one month before the Valentine's Day murders. Jimmy had a criminal record that included grand theft auto and he was constantly in and out of jail. So he had a criminal record just like the profile. Also like the profile and the police's theory, Jimmy was known to impersonate police officers. Like I said, this fits the police's theory, but it was where. jimmy would pretend to be an officer of the law that i find extremely interesting it was a known thing that jimmy would dress up as a cop put a flashing red and blue police light on top of his car and go scare the teens parked at the lover's lane hooking up the exact same area that jesse's car was found abandoned jimmy was not home with his wife and son the night of the murders not only was he not able to give the officers an alibi witness testimony placed jimmy in the exact same location where jesse's car was left abandoned at the exact same time that patricia and jesse were likely abducted that night around midnight jimmy showed up at one of his friend's houses saying that his car ran out of gas and asked if his friend would give him a little bit of money and give him a ride to the gas station after the gas station this friend dropped jimmy off right near the lover's lane you So if you're willing to believe this witness who has no reason to lie that puts jimmy ray at the exact same place at the exact same time that jimmy and patricia were kidnapped not only that jimmy's mother lived right near duke's forest so he was also familiar with that area as well so things kind of seem like they're adding up is it possible that jimmy was interested in patricia she always was denying him and this made him mad because he was this ladies man who didn't take no for an answer that night he was doing his typical police officer impersonation prank on the cars at the lover's lane area and it just so happens he goes up to prank the people hooking up in this car and it's patricia and her boyfriend and he decided that he was going to keep up the prank a little bit and maybe things went too far theory makes sense to me two days before the murders jimmy stole rope from his neighbor which was similar to the rope that was used in the valentine's day murder unfortunately this rope that jimmy stole was never officially compared to the rope used in the murder so sadly we don't have confirmation if it is the rope that jimmy stole but we do know that jimmy stole the rope that jimmy stole and that rope was used in the valentine's day murder so sadly we don't have confirmation if it is the rope that jimmy stole and that rope was used in the valentine's day murder so sadly we don't have confirmation if it is the rope that jimmy stole and that rope was used in the valentine's day murder don't have confirmation if it is the exact same rope all we know is it looked very similar shortly after the valentine's day murders jimmy was being questioned for an unrelated stolen car crime they found the stolen rope in his car along with wigs two guns a police badge and keys to two watts hospital lockers from the exact same ward that patricia worked in after being questioned in the valentine's day murder case jimmy abruptly sold his car which is never a good look and during the sale jimmy was making a lot of really odd comments to the person purchasing the car he was talking about the rope used in the murders and also the specific kinds of knots that were used in the valentine's day murders even though jimmy told people that he knew patricia it seemed like every other woman in his life heard a different story he told his wife that he never met patricia he told each of his six girls that they were his girlfriends different stories as well jimmy allegedly told some of his girlfriends that him and patricia actually dated at one point and then he also said to others that patricia wasn't as innocent as everyone thought she was and that she was always cheating on her boyfriend when speaking with investigators jimmy always denied involvement and although there's a lot of red flags there's never been enough evidence to actually officially link him to the crime eventually jimmy moved out of state in his life he was arrested a few more times for different crimes at one point he actually broke out of jail and was on the run for a little bit jimmy also died in 2009 so he is not alive to be questioned in the valentine's day murder case suspect number three dr robert carl ritt this is the suspect that really sticks out to most people that look in this case and also the lead investigator in the original investigation for the valentine's day murder case jimmy was arrested from the 1970s also thought that dr brit was their killer but there was just never enough evidence to make an arrest dr brit came from a very wealthy family he was a star athlete valedictorian eagle and sea scout so he knew a lot about intricate knots he was also the kind of guy who really thought highly of himself he was the kind of guy that thought he was better than the people around him which again fits the profile dr brit went to med school he became a doctor and he was also a husband with a child at home at the time of the valentine's day murders in september of 1961 10 years before the valentine's day murders he was involved in a car accident where he accidentally hit and killed a man that was walking on the shoulder of the road he ultimately paid a little over 3200 in a wrongful death settlement dr brit had a long history of some really serious anger problems also a history of sexually harassing other women while working as a doctor in the hospital dr brit took out his gun that he had on him while he was on the clock he would also allegedly slash the tires of hospital staff that upset him during the work day and he was accused of sexually harassing a bunch of different nurses that he worked with but all of his work related issues were always just swept under the rug because he was a very well-known doctor and he was a very well-known doctor and well-respected doctor fall never arrives all at once first the air then the light and slowly the things you love begin to find each other a jacket meets a dress a hoodie slips beneath a blazer an old cap finds a new scarf because you don't simply step into the season you create it layer by layer until it finally feels like fall find fall your way at ross at zocdoc we know you care about your health you wouldn't do that early morning cardio if you didn't so the fact that your annual physical is overdue just shows how hard it can be to get seen by a doctor sorry that doctor's not a network press one for more options you've reached us outside normal business hours the next availability is in three months but zocdoc makes finding the right doctor easy download the app and search by specialty insurance and availability read real patient reviews then book instantly zocdoc.com zocdoc ready to be seen two years after the valentine's day murder case in 1973 a group of young kids were walking down the road and they were trying to hitchhike but they were not having an easy time and they were not getting picked up by anyone so after a while this group of kids got really frustrated so they started cursing at and flipping off all the cars that would drive by that weren't stopping for them and dr brit was allegedly one of these cars and after being flipped off by this group of children dr brit pulled over onto the shoulder got out of his car took out his gun and pointed it at the kids and he told them and this is important that he was a police officer and he ordered the children to get into his car luckily these kids were smart enough and did not get in his car but it makes you wonder what was he going to do with them if they had one of these kids actually took out a knife that he had on him and was using it to try and protect him and his friends dr brit gave up he got back in his car and he drove away but the kids took down his license plate they walked to the nearest business asked to use their phone called the police and gave them the license plate number of this guy who pulled over and pointed a gun at them and this car was registered to dr brit the children were also able to pick him out of a photo lineup when he was brought in to be questioned about this hitchhiking incident he denied being the one responsible and unprovoked he brought up the valentine's day murders he said that the same guy that was involved in this hitchhiking incident with the kids was probably the same guy that killed quote those kids a few years ago unquote remember no one at this point had even mentioned the valentine's day murders to him so the doctors are like what kids who are you talking about and dr brit says that nursing student and her boyfriend of the three suspects dr brit is the only one with 100 confirmation that he knew patricia man patricia was his student at one point dr brit did not have an alibi for the night of the valentine's day murders he actually had tickets to a basketball game that night and he did not go his father was recently diagnosed with cancer shortly before the murders and his cancer sadly got really bad really really fast and he passed away just two months after the valentine's day murders so some people think that maybe it was his father's illness and his father's impending death that was like a stressor for dr brit that he went and committed this murder dr brit lived right near where jesse's car was found abandoned and his brother actually lived in one of the trailer parks in duke forest so he was familiar with both of these areas in 1995 he was involved in a road rage incident where he drove a woman off the road once she got out of his car he got out of his car and he physically assaulted her for this he had his medical license taken from him, they revoked his license only to give it back three years later. A few years later, in 2000, he was accused of another assault. So there is a known history of violence with this man. When the Valentine's Day murder case was reopened in 2012, Dr. Britt was brought in for questioning by the new investigators on the case. Remember, there was Detective Horn and Detective Dawn Hunter, who was female, and he was flirting with her throughout the questioning. And when he wasn't flirting with her, he would actually refuse to speak with her. He would only speak to Detective Horn about the actual investigation, who was the male detective. So he clearly does not have respect for women. During the questioning, Dr. Britt seemed extremely uncomfortable and he had a really hard time actually answering questions. They asked him if he wanted to take a polygraph and also give a sample of his DNA. To clear him of any suspicion. And if you're not guilty, giving your DNA shouldn't be hard to do. But Dr. Britt got really uncomfortable. He actually excused himself and he left the room for quite some time. He came back into the room. He gave the detectives his card and said, call me. I'll do the polygraph. I'll do the DNA test. Call me and we'll set something up. But after he left, shortly later, the detectives got a call from Dr. Britt's lawyer that said he would not be doing the DNA test or the polygraph. He was actually asked a second time to do the polygraph and DNA test. Once again, he agreed. Once again, he had his lawyer called them to say he wasn't going to do it because he's like a coward and he can't actually say face to face with these detectives that he's not going to do the polygraph or DNA. In the mid nineties, Jesse McBain's mother got a strange call and the caller actually claimed to be her son's killer. The caller actually said that they were Dr. Britt and I'm your son's killer. For some reason though, Dr. Britt was not brought in to questioning after this call was made. It would actually be another like 20 years until he was connected to the case and brought in for questioning again, you know, in 2012 when the case was reopening. I mean, who was the person on this phone calling and saying that they were the killer and their name was Dr. Britt? Was this actually Dr. Britt? For some reason that night, did he feel like he had to confess and then, you know, later changed his mind? Was this a prank call? Or was this maybe an accomplice turning on Dr. Britt? We have absolutely no clue. Something really strange about this case is that Dr. Britt and Jimmy Ray, who is suspect number two, actually knew each other. They worked together before and after the Valentine's Day murders. Because if you remember, Jimmy was an orderly that got fired. Well, after the Valentine's Day murders, Dr. Britt got Jimmy a job. So there's a lot of people that believe that if the two accomplice theory that the medical examiner was the killer, then Dr. Britt was the killer. And if that is true, then maybe it was Jimmy and Dr. Britt that worked together. Really interested to hear your thoughts on that. And out of the three suspects in the Valentine's Day murder case, Dr. Britt is actually the only one that is still alive today. From what I could find, Dr. Britt retired from being a doctor in 2017 and then moved to Florida to enjoy his retirement. There has not been any other major updates in this case. If you have any information about Dr. Britt, please let me know in the comments. In this case, if you have any information on this case or believe that you maybe have any information on this case, please call the Orange County Sheriff's Office at 1-844-5-SAY-NOW. You can leave an anonymous tip or I can also leave a link in my bio where you can send an anonymous tip that way if you would prefer to do it that way. Extremely, extremely, extremely interested to hear all your thoughts, theories, and opinions on this case. This is unfortunately a case that doesn't have a lot of information, a lot of evidence to it, and that makes it extremely frustrating and difficult. I truly believe that every single case is solvable and it's talking about the cases that keeps them in the public eye. It also keeps pressure on investigators not to give up and that's why it's so important for me to keep talking about cases like this because every single case deserves to be solved. Every single case deserves answers. In my personal opinion, like I mentioned earlier, I do not believe that this was the killer's first or last time murdering. I think that the murders were too methodical and also too brutal to be a first or last time offender. I also believe that the murder was committed by someone local that knew the area so I would think maybe the best course of action would be to look for people that were local to the area that moved away. Shortly after the murders because I do not think that the person would have stopped or ended with this crime. And also like I said earlier, which I don't see get brought up a lot, is every single person that's ever looked at this case has said that they do not think this was a crime of opportunity or a random attack and it was planned. And if it was planned, the only people that would have known that they were going parking were people at the Valentine's Day dance, which also points to Dr. Britt as well. That's just my thoughts, my theories, my opinions. Extremely interested to see what theory you guys believe most, all your thoughts and opinions. You guys always come up with things and like put pieces together that I would never put together in my head. So, so interested to read the comment section on this episode. I will literally be reading every single one. But until then, that's all I have for this week's investigation. I will see you guys all next Friday when we are hot on the case once again.