Real Life Halloween Horror - Lynette Ledford

Lynette Ledford was hitchhiking on Halloween in 1979 when she got a ride from two of the most sadistic killers in American history, the Toolbox Killers, Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris. 

Chapters

• 0:00 Podcast Announcement and Halloween Murder Story
• 8:04 The Toolbox Killers
• 20:40 Norris and Bittaker's Murder and Trial

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Tell me a true crime story. Hey there, welcome to Tell Me a True Crime Story. I'm your host, holly. Thank you so much for being here. I hope that you and your family are happy, healthy and together forever. If you don't know the story behind my little slogan happy, healthy and together forever please go listen to episode 15, condemned Rose Stories Women Condemned to Die. In the beginning of that episode I explained why I started using that as my little tag line or catchphrase.

Speaker 1: 0:49

I have a big, exciting announcement to make. My podcast is growing a lot. One of the ways is from TikTok. My handle on there is at tell me a true crime story, so one of my videos blew up on there and has almost 10 million views, so it brought a lot of new listeners to the podcast. So if you're not following me on TikTok, please go do that. I post podcast related content and other true crime stuff too. I also have an Instagram and Facebook and I'm at tell me a true crime story on those as well.

Speaker 1: 1:27

And the other reason the podcast has grown so much is because of you all rating and reviewing it. I've been asking you guys to help me out by rating and reviewing the podcast on Apple and Spotify, and you guys have been showing up big time. I now have 25 ratings on Apple and I would like to thank Jen for the win, janelle ski 05, travel girl 22 and Eddie stoned. Six for the review and five stars. Your guys, kind words touched my heart so much. It really means a ton to me. I thank you guys so much, and I also received nice words from it's either Seuss living or Sus living. He or she said I stumbled upon this podcast and boy am I glad I did, with exclamation points, but she, he or she only gave me one star, so I think the one star was a mistake. So if you're listening, seuss living or Sus living, please edit your rating on Apple and change the stars from one to five. But yeah, I thank you guys so much and big, big hugs to you guys for taking the time out of your day to review my podcast, and for those of you that gave me five stars without writing a review, I thank you guys so much too. I'm sorry that I can't thank you by name because it won't let me see the names of the users that give the stars only without, like, a written review. But thank you so much, whoever you are, and big hugs to you guys too. And I told you all last week that I was still holding steady at seven five star ratings on Spotify. Well, I now have 13 five star ratings on Spotify. That's six more in just one week. So, wow, thank you all so much for rating the podcast. Spotify users and Apple users I am giving you all big hugs right now. So for those of you who haven't done so yet, you guys can help me out a ton by leaving me a five star review on Apple podcast or a five star rating on Spotify. So to leave me a rating and review on Apple, you just go to my show page and you scroll down till you see ratings and reviews. Then you select a star rating and below that you click on writer review. So thank you so much again. I can't say that enough.

Speaker 1: 3:57

Are any of you guys going to Crimecon this weekend in Orlando? I have a really quick, funny story for you. So a while back, I had applied to be on podcast row. Well, I didn't think that there was a chance in hell that you know I'd get accepted because I'm new and you know, I just didn't think I would. So, and I was right. I didn't get accepted. However, I was still determined to go. So I asked my two daughters they're in their 20s if they'd like to go with me and they were like oh yeah.

Speaker 1: 4:26

So about a month ago I went online to buy the tickets. Well, I don't know why, but I didn't think the tickets would be like that much. I thought they'd be like a hundred or maybe a 150 per person. But so I went on there to get the tickets and they were like 300 something per person to like well over 1000 something per person for like some VIP thing or whatever. So I don't know why. I assumed they were cheaper, but I don't. That's just me being dumb. I've never really been to like a convention, so I didn't really know. I guess I just assumed. So well, I couldn't afford to buy those tickets for like all three of us. So we signed up to go as volunteers, me and my daughters.

Speaker 1: 5:12

So I'll be volunteering at CrimeCon on Friday evening, this Friday which will be, let's see, today's the 20th, so it'll be the 22nd in the evening. So if any of you guys like have seen me before on TikTok and you know what I look like and you're going to CrimeCon and you see me there, like volunteering, come say hi to me and say you know, I've heard your podcast and introduce yourself so I can meet some of you guys in person. And so now you know, if you want to go to CrimeCon next time and you don't really have the money or don't want to spend that money on a ticket, you can sign up to go as a volunteer and you can go for free, because they let you hang out on the day that you volunteer Like. So I'm volunteering in the evening, so I'll be able to hang out like during the day, like late morning and early afternoon before my shift. So that's how they do it. So, yeah, if you guys go, come say hi. If you've seen me on social media and you know, like, what I look like, then pop up and please say hi.

Speaker 1: 6:19

Since it's getting closer to Halloween, I wanted to start telling you guys about cases that happened on Halloween. I actually did this episode like last year when I first started doing my podcast, but I've updated it a little and rerecorded it. I'm in the midst of working on a new case, but I couldn't get it ready in time because we had company at our house this week and I didn't want to leave you guys hanging, because you guys have been so faithful to me and I have so many new listeners that I really need to stay consistent and I don't want to let anybody down. So let's get into this episode. This is episode 27. It's called Halloween Horrors Lynette Ledford. This story actually starts well before Halloween in the year 1979, but events leading up to the murder of Shirley Lynette Ledford, who went by Lynette, actually started in early 1979. Her murderers were convicted of raping and killing five young women, but Shirley Lynette was their last victim and she was killed on Halloween. I will probably cover this case of these two murderers in more depth like sometime in the future. This was a really, really tough one to research and write. I mean when I did the initial research and writing it was last year, but it's definitely stuck with me because it's awful. The horrendous, shocking, appalling details surrounding this murder and the other murders committed by these two men made me feel so anxious, sick, disgusted, pissed and heartbroken. Definitely do not listen to this episode in the presence of children. Now let me tell you a true crime story.

Speaker 1: 8:04

Lawrence Sigmund Bittiker was born on September 27, 1940 in Pittsburgh, pennsylvania. His mom was just a teenager when he was born and his father was abusive. His mom placed him in an orphanage and he was adopted by distant relatives. He was very smart and had a well above average IQ of 138, but he was unmotivated as a child. He had no friends and was socially awkward. Bittiker hated his birth mother and would fantasize about finding her and killing her. He liked playing with fire and burnt two sheds. His adoptive parents had pet rabbits and one time he ripped out one of the rabbit's teeth with a pair of pliers.

Speaker 1: 8:45

As a teenager, he'd set his alarm clock for midnight when he'd get up and prowl around his neighborhood. He eventually started to break into homes and move the furniture around. He did this because he enjoyed making people feel unsafe in their own homes. It was part of his sadistic nature. He got arrested at the age of 17 and was sent to the California Youth Authority until the age of 19. He went on to commit many more crimes, such as car theft, burglary and robbery, and was sent to prison. Each time he was released he would get re-arrested for a parole violation. In 1974, while out on parole, bittiker was stealing a pack of meat from Ralph's supermarket in Hollywood, california. When a supermarket clerk stopped Bittiker in the parking lot and asked him if he'd forgotten to pay for something. Bittiker stabbed him in the chest without any warning. He didn't say anything to him before stabbing him. Fortunately, the victim survived the stabbing. Bittiker was sent to the East Facility of the California Men's Colony, known as CMCEAST.

Speaker 1: 9:55

Roy Lewis Norris was born on February 2, 1948 in Greeley, colorado. He dropped out of school and joined the Navy at the age of 17. He was stationed in San Diego but did go to Vietnam for a short time, for about four months. Reportedly, he saw no combat while in Vietnam. He was eventually discharged from the Navy for psychological problems. Norris attacked women in attempted rapes, one in 1969 and another in 1970. He brutally attacked another woman who was a student on the San Diego State University campus. He hit her on the head with a rock, then slammed her head into the concrete. She survived and Norris was charged with assault with a deadly weapon. He spent five years in Atascadero State Hospital in San Luis Obispo County, california. Atascadero State Hospital is a psychiatric hospital with a secure perimeter. Only three months after his release from Atascadero, he raped a woman. He was convicted of rape and was sent to CMCEAST, the same prison as Lawrence Bittiker. Cmceast is located along the Central California coast about halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Speaker 1: 11:07

At CMCEAST, a deadly duo was formed when Lawrence Bittiker and Roy Norris became associated. They hung out, they made jewelry together. They began to share violent sexual fantasies with one another. They also shared these fantasies with another inmate named Richard Shupman. Shupman would write up their fantasies and they'd sell them to other inmates. Bittiker and Norris wanted to kill one teen girl for every year of the teen years, thirteen through nineteen. For instance, they wanted to kill one thirteen-year-old, one fourteen-year-old, one fifteen-year-old and so on. When they were released from prison they planned to reunite with one another and make their sick fantasies a reality. Bittiker was released from prison in late 1978 and Norris was released in early 1979. They reunited with one another soon after Norris released and began to put the plans they'd made in prison into action. Norris contributed financially.

Speaker 1: 12:08

Bittiker purchased a silver 1977 GMC cargo van with a large passenger-side sliding door. He and Norris nicknamed the van Murder Mac. They outfitted the inside of the van with everything they'd need to carry out their sadistic, murderous ideas. They installed green shag carpet and a makeshift bed. They kept a toolbox and a cooler under the bed. They even soundproofed the van. They kept walkie-talkies, police scanners, a Polaroid camera and a cassette tape recorder in the van.

Speaker 1: 12:43

From February to June 1979, bittaker and Norris made many dry runs prior to their first murder. They used different ruses to get girls who were hitchhiking to accept rides from them. On Sunday, june 24, 1979, they were smoking pot and taking pictures of teens and young women in Redondo Beach, california. They had been driving around doing this for about 15 hours when they spotted a 16-year-old blonde, lucinda Schaefer, walking along the highway. She went by the name Cindy. She'd just left a church meeting and was headed back to her grandparents' home where she was staying. When she turned to walk down a residential street, bittaker and Norris followed her. They pulled up beside her in the van and asked her if she wanted a ride and to smoke some grass with them. She said no and kept walking. Bittaker drove down the street, made a U-turn, came back and parked on the same side of the street she was walking down. Norris got out and pretended to be working on the van. Norris grabbed Cindy off of the sidewalk as she walked by and threw her into the van.

Speaker 1: 13:50

According to Bittaker's own words in Oxygen's 2021 documentary, the Toolbox Killer, cindy, made it quote-unquote easy for them because she wasn't very aware of her surroundings. Cindy had just gotten abducted by two of the most sadistic killers ever in American history, killers who would later become known as the Toolbox Killers. They were given this moniker because they used everyday common tools from the toolbox they kept hidden under the makeshift bed in the van to torture their victims. Bittaker and Norris drove an hour taking Cindy into the San Gabriel Mountains where they took turns raping her. They strangled her with a coat hanger, wrapped her body in a shower curtain and threw her body down a steep ravine.

Speaker 1: 14:39

Two weeks later, on July 8, 1979, searching for another victim, they happened upon 18-year-old Andrea Hall, who was hitchhiking in Manhattan Beach, california. She was trying to go visit her boyfriend in Wilmington, california, about 15 miles away, but before Bittaker and Norris could offer her a ride, another car pulled up and offered her a ride. She accepted the ride from the other driver. However, bittaker and Norris followed that car, thinking that they might not take her as far as she'd wanted to go. They were right. She got out of the car in Redondo Beach and started hitchhiking again. Norris hid under the bed and Bittaker pulled up and offered her a ride. She got in. Then Norris jumped out of hiding to subdue her. She fought him hard, but he eventually got her bound and gagged. She was taken into the same mountains as their first victim, cindy Schaefer, and she met a very similar fate. Her body was then dumped over a steep cliff.

Speaker 1: 15:40

On Sunday, september 2, 1979, bittaker and Norris picked up two hitchhiking teens in Redondo Beach Jacqueline Gilliam, who went by Jackie, who was 15, and Leah Lamp, who was only 13. When they entered the van, norris hit Leah Lamp over the head with a homemade sap filled with BBs. A sap is a long bag or even a tube sock filled with something that gives it great weight. After knocking 13-year-old Leah Lamp unconscious with the sap, norris tied up Jackie Gilliam. At some point Leah Lamp regained consciousness and tried to escape, but she was caught and dragged back into the van. They were taken into the San Gabriel Mountains. After Bittaker learned that Jackie Gilliam was a virgin, he decided to record her screams on his tape recorder. Neither Bittaker nor Norris was sexually interested in Leah Lamp. Bittaker and Norris kept Leah Lamp and Jackie Gilliam for about 48 hours before killing them. They ended up killing the girls in very horrific ways and then threw their bodies over an embankment.

Speaker 1: 16:45

On September 27, 1979, bittaker and Norris attempted to kidnap a woman, but she went behind the van and escaped. Three days later, on September 30, 1979, they attempted to kidnap a 20-year-old named Jan. Norris was driving and Bittaker got out and sprayed Jan with mace and tried to drag her into the van. Jan began screaming loudly and thankfully people came out of nearby homes to see what was going on. Norris drove away in the van and Bittaker fled the scene on foot.

Speaker 1: 17:16

Shirley Lynette Ledford, who went by Lynette, was born on March 4, 1963, in Los Angeles County, california. She lived in Burbank, california. On Halloween October 31, 1979, 16-year-old Lynette was hitchhiking after leaving a Halloween party where she'd had a great time. Bittaker and Norris pulled up in the van and she got right in. She could not have known that four other girls had come before her, that their tortured screams had filled this van. This time Bittaker and Norris did not drive to the San Gabriel Mountains. Bittaker drove to an isolated gravel dirt path in Burbank, california. Bittaker got in the back with Lynette and Norris got into the driver's seat. Bittaker produced a knife and Lynette grabbed the blade which cut her finger deeply.

Speaker 1: 18:06

The cassette tape recorder was turned on so that these sadistic, twisted murderers could relive Lynette's screams of agony over and over again whenever they wished. The pain and suffering inflicted upon and experienced by a non-consenting person is what stimulates and arouses a sexual sadist. They love to see the fear in someone's eyes. In order to elicit the reactions from Lynette that these merciless, pityless, savage, inhuman killers craved, they used pliers and a sledgehammer to torture her. An audio tape transcript of Lynette's final moments on earth tells the most gruesome and nightmarish tale of the pure living hell that she was put through.

Speaker 1: 18:52

On Oxygen's documentary the Toolbox Killer, mary Ellen O'Toole, retired FBI agent of the Behavioral Analysis Unit, said of the tape recording, quote the tape was one of the worst things I've ever heard in my entire professional career. It should never see the light of day. It is very, very, very upsetting and, frankly, it involves the torture of an innocent young woman and so, at her expense, it should never, ever be played for an audience. End quote. Lynette begged for her life. On the tape she screamed and screamed and screamed Toward the end, right before Norris strangled her to death. The tape was turned off Reportedly. The last words she spoke before her young life was snuffed out were Do it Just kill me? 16-year-old Lynette could take no more of the excruciating pain. She could bear no more of the agony. She wanted the misery and suffering to end. She begged to be killed by her captors. Norris took a wire coat hanger and twisted it with pliers to strangle her to death. The toolbox killers dumped her body on an ivy bed in a residential neighborhood. There's conflicting reports as to whether her body was discovered by a jogger that morning or whether she was found by the woman whose property she was left on. The oxygen documentary said that she was found by the woman who owned the property. When the woman saw Lynette's body she initially thought it was a mannequin because Halloween had been the night before. At Lynette's autopsy, when the wire coat hanger was removed from her neck, it was about as big a round as a silver dollar as how much it had been tightened down on her neck with the pliers.

Speaker 1: 20:40

Roy Norris ended up telling or bragging to an acquaintance, joe Jackson, who was also a rapist, about raping and killing the young teens that summer. Joe Jackson was not okay with what Norris had told him and he went to his attorney with the information. Joe Jackson and his attorney went to the police. This led to police surveilling Norris, who was on parole. When he stopped at a drugstore and went in, police approached his vehicle and looked in the window. In a wide open grocery bag they were able to see a bag of marijuana. They arrested him for violation of his parole. In a subsequent search of his duplex located at 313 Garnett Street in Redondo Beach, the police located about 500 pictures of young women and teens. These pictures were taken of women and girls walking, roller skating and at gyms and parking lots and at the beach. They located pictures of victim Jackie Gilliam naked from the waist up.

Speaker 1: 21:40

While the police were searching Norris' place, bittaker called him on the phone. The police answered and said Norris was unable to get to the phone because he was fixing the antenna on the roof. Bittaker didn't buy this and became suspicious. He quickly cleaned everything out of their silver murder van, put it in a bag and buried it. Police searching Norris' home soon found a small card with Scott Motel on it with Bittaker's name. Scott Motel is where Bittaker was living. The Burbank Police Department headed to his room at the motel and busted in the door and window. He was in the shower when he was arrested.

Speaker 1: 22:16

Norris ended up confessing to police and agreed to testify against Bittaker in exchange for a sentence of 45 years to life with a possibility of parole after 30 years. He also agreed to lead investigators to the location of the bodies of Cindy Schaefer, andrea Hall, leah Lamp and Jackie Gilliam. They were able to locate some partial skeletal remains of Leah Lamp and Jackie Gilliam. The skull of Jackie Gilliam still had an ice pick protruding from it. The bodies of Cindy Schaefer and Andrea Hall were not found.

Speaker 1: 22:49

Bittaker went to trial in early 1981. For the first time in California history, cameras were allowed in the courtroom. Bittaker took the stand in his own defense. He claimed that Norris was the real perpetrator. He also claimed that the teen girls were paid to pose for pictures, to perform sexual acts or to deliver quote-unquote pillow talk. He said that some of the girls were drug-crazed.

Speaker 1: 23:13

But one major piece of damning evidence presented by the prosecution against Bittaker told the real, undeniable truth. This piece of evidence was discovered during the search of the murder. Van Bittaker had overlooked one thing when he'd collected and buried everything from the van. He'd left the audio tape of Lynette Ledford's torture and rape in the cassette player. This tape was played in open court at his trial and, per the prosecuting attorney, the members of the jury looked to be in shock at what they'd heard. People sitting in the audience got up and walked out of the courtroom, some of them weeping loudly. The courtroom artist also ran out in tears. The jury of seven women and five men found Bittaker guilty on all 26 counts against him.

Speaker 1: 24:00

The prosecutor sought the death penalty against Bittaker In court. The prosecutor asked quote if the death penalty isn't proper in this case, when would it ever be proper? The jury unanimously agreed that Bittaker be put to death by lethal gas. They made their decision within 60 seconds of deliberating. Because of all of Bittaker's appeals and legal shenanigans throughout the years, he was never executed by the state of California. He resided in San Quentin as California Department of Corrections inmate number C28400 until the end of his days. He died in prison of cancer on Friday December 13, 2019. He was 79 years old.

Speaker 1: 24:47

Norris served time at Richard J Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego County, california, as California Department of Corrections inmate number C30231. He died less than two months after Bittaker of natural causes, on Monday February 24, 2020, at the age of 72. Lynette Ledford is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills, california. On her grave marker it reads quote beloved daughter and sister. End quote. I'm sure this case has sickened and angered you as it did me, and I didn't even detail all of the vile, evil, unbelievably cruel things that these sadistic murderers did to their innocent young victims.

Speaker 1: 25:36

Thank you, guys, so much for being here and for listening to another episode of Tell Me a True Crime Story. Please tell your friends, coworkers and family about the podcast and share a link to the podcast with someone who's interested in true crime. Let them know that they can listen to the podcast on Apple, google, spotify or wherever. So please stop what you're doing and go follow the podcast too on social media. Facebook, instagram and TikTok are at Tell Me a True Crime Story. So I have two ways you can support my podcast. You can buy me a coffee by going to buymeacoffeecom slash truecrimestorypod, and the other way is totally free. You can write a short but sweet review for the podcast on Apple Podcast or give it a five-star rating on Spotify. Thank you again for being here. You know that I truly, truly appreciate each and every one of you, and please join me in episode 28 when I'll tell you another True Crime Story. Big, big hugs to all of you. Bye-bye, yes.