Pollinations & Decapitations

Cave Junction sits in Josephine County in the far south-west corner of Oregon, one county in from the Pacific and close to the California line. In 1987 it was a small, wet, isolated place, and the story that follows happened on a five-acre plot in the woods just outside it.

the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it He married in his early twenties, in the 1960s, to a woman named Rebecca, and by 1976 a woman using a different surname, possibly the same Rebecca, was suing him in Arkansas for what appeared to be a modification of financial support. He was in West Texas, in the Amarillo area, in the late 1970s, at least until early 1978. Around 1978 he moved to Oregon, which the hosts characterise as running from a posse.

He was a drug dealer, selling uppers, cocaine and later methamphetamine, and he also grew and sold marijuana. Around 1978, at forty, he met Laura Britton, who was nineteen. In 1983 she moved into his house near Cave Junction, on a five-acre plot out in the woods. this part of the story is covered for now

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the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it Nobody did anything that night. this part of the story is covered for now James calls it paint brushing. A week later Bart and Kim left for a trip of several days.

details of the account remain covered until revealed Nobody called anyone for two hours. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it They let him stay the night, and at about nine he telephoned his mother in Arkansas and told her the whole thing.

At some point in the night he climbed out of the guest room window, drove home and was seen burning several plastic bags of rubbish in his burn pit behind the house. He later claimed that at about half past five in the morning a figure came out of the shadows, said 'you're a dead man', and chased him through the woods. He said he got back to his van and it would not start, then ran to a neighbour's house and took their car, which had the keys in it, and drove back to the Lynns'. He told the Lynns none of this at the time.

this part of the story is covered for now They found the rubbish still smouldering and, in it, a partly burned body. The mother scraped ash off the teeth to see whether it was her son, and the sister then recognised Laura Britton. They called the police.

details of the account remain covered until revealed When his sister told him on the telephone that Laura's body had been found, he then told the Lynns about the shadowy figure and the chase. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it He then told the Lynns to lie to the police, to say they had picked him up the night before and that he had been with them all night. this part of the story is covered for now

The autopsy picture was worse than a shooting. Laura had been shot, then decapitated, and her body cut in half at the pelvis. Partly burned bones and internal organs were recovered from the fire, and a bullet was found near what was left of her torso. A pathologist testified that the injuries were consistent with death from a gunshot wound. No murder weapon was found, only a different gun.

details of the account remain covered until revealed The state's case was entirely circumstantial. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it His mother testified about the telephone call, and the prosecution used it to establish motive. this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed

the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now In 1988 Catholine Wickman, who the episode suggests may have been Laura's aunt, sued him for wrongful death; the outcome is not known. details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now

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details of the account remain covered until revealed In 1993 he was a fugitive from justice. In January 2009, wanted on federal drug and firearms warrants, he was at a trailer on the 1,800 block of Lone Mountain Road in O'Brien, Oregon, when the Rogue Area Drug Enforcement team and the Oregon State Police SWAT team arrived at five in the morning. Two women and a child ran out; Bart stayed inside, came out with an assault rifle, went back in and locked the door, fired two rounds through the wall at the officers, and was eventually driven out by tear gas and taken down with a taser as he emerged with a revolver in his back pocket. Inside they found 78,000 dollars in cash, a 9mm semi-automatic rifle with a shortened barrel, a 50-round magazine, ammunition, packing materials and more than a pound of methamphetamine. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it

The episode's last turn is the death of Rosalyn Leva, found dead in Amarillo, Texas, on 4 January 1978. this part of the story is covered for now The police, according to her family, were certain but could never prove it, and the final reports called it a drug-related death and moved on. She is buried in the Jewish cemetery in Houston. James, who stresses that he is not an investigator, asks that someone with authority look into it.