FILE 110 / 14 March 2019 / 141 MIN / full

A Tangled Tree Of Disaster

Bridgeville, DelawareListen

The town

N ↑Public placePublic placeTown centre (approximate places)
Static locations; no street basemap. Places and details. OpenFreeMap © OpenMapTiles Data from OpenStreetMap.

We're going on a trip all the way to Delaware, all the way to Bridgeville, Delaware; this is in Sussex County, Delaware. about 0:05:33

History, in brief

1906

The American Historical Association said in a 1906 report that there is probably no state in the union with less material for writing its history than Delaware.

about 0:09:15

Town note

Bridgeville is the oldest community in the western part of Sussex County.

about 0:09:58

Town note

Land records go back to the early 1700s, and the area was already a farming community by then.

about 0:10:05

Town note

A small group of houses was built along what is now Main Street by the beginning of the 1800s.

about 0:11:26
All 11 history facts

1906

The American Historical Association said in a 1906 report that there is probably no state in the union with less material for writing its history than Delaware.

about 0:09:15

Town note

Bridgeville is the oldest community in the western part of Sussex County.

about 0:09:58

Town note

Land records go back to the early 1700s, and the area was already a farming community by then.

about 0:10:05

Town note

A small group of houses was built along what is now Main Street by the beginning of the 1800s.

about 0:11:26

1730

The settlement was first known as Bridge Branch, after a stream with a bridge over it as early as 1730.

about 0:11:40

1810

The village was formally recognised as Bridgeville in 1810.

about 0:12:18

Town note

In the 1800s the town had a water-powered mill, a charcoal furnace and a fruit-drying business.

about 0:12:28

1856

The Delaware Railroad arrived in 1856 and the town's growth shot up.

about 0:13:59

Town note

The town was laid out by William Cannon and named Bridgeville for the bridge there, rather than Bridge Branch.

about 0:14:16

Town note

Nearby towns were named Murderkill and Horekill, mangled versions of Dutch names.

about 0:14:30

The figures, as told

Religious

about 38%

Biggest faith: Catholic, 15%

about 0:23:35

Who lives here

White 56% · Black 26% · Asian 0.3% · Hispanic about 15%

Ethnicity can overlap race.

Crime / national average

Property crime
▲ about 20% high

about 0:32:24

Violent crime
▲ almost double

about 0:32:31

Money

Median home value$188,000
Two-bedroom rentabout $810
Median household income$51,000
Cost of living103

For sale

$159,990

Three-bedroom, two-bath house, 1,512 square feet

about 0:27:23

For sale

$349,900

Three-bedroom, two-bath house, 2,268 square feet

about 0:27:35
All figures and comparisons, as told in 2019

Property crime

"about 20% high"

Direction: above.

As told in 2019 about 0:32:24

Violent crime

"almost double"

Direction: above.

As told in 2019 about 0:32:31

Population

"2,480"

Comparison: "up 73% since 1990". Direction: above.

As told in 2019 about 0:17:30

Median age

"60.7"

Comparison: "national average 37.8". No direction stated.

As told in 2019 about 0:18:58

Age 65 to 74

"28%"

Comparison: "normally about 8%". No direction stated.

As told in 2019 about 0:21:44

Married population

"about 62%"

Comparison: "normally 50%". No direction stated.

As told in 2019 about 0:21:50

Married with no children

"65%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2019 about 0:22:14

White

"56%"

Comparison: "normally about 62%". No direction stated.

As told in 2019 about 0:22:14

Hispanic

"about 15%"

Comparison: "about average". Direction: about the same.

As told in 2019 about 0:23:27

Unemployment

"about 4%"

Comparison: "about normal with the rest of the country". Direction: about the same.

As told in 2019 about 0:25:07

Median household income

"$51,000"

Comparison: "national about $57,000". No direction stated.

As told in 2019 about 0:25:15

Voted Democrat in the last election

"37%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2019 about 0:24:24

Voted Republican in the last election

"59%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2019 about 0:24:24

Religious

"about 38%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2019 about 0:23:35

Cost of living

"103"

Comparison: "100 is the normal average". Direction: about the same.

As told in 2019 about 0:25:56

Housing

"101"

Comparison: "normal average". No direction stated.

As told in 2019 about 0:25:56

Median home cost

"$188,000"

No direction stated.

As told in 2019 about 0:25:56

Average two-bedroom rental

"about $810"

No direction stated.

As told in 2019 about 0:26:36

Three-bedroom, one-bath foreclosure, 1,400 square feet

"$54,900"

No direction stated.

As told in 2019 about 0:27:00

Three-bedroom, two-bath house, 1,512 square feet

"$159,990"

No direction stated.

As told in 2019 about 0:27:23

Three-bedroom, two-bath house, 2,268 square feet

"$349,900"

No direction stated.

As told in 2019 about 0:27:35

The reviews

No rated reviews

No reviews recorded.

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The story

In 1973 her first husband was killed in a car accident, leaving her in her mid-twenties with two children and a tenth-grade education. Within a year she met John Charbonneau, a divorced man about ten years older than her with no children. John had a heart condition and drew a disability cheque, which kept the family afloat while he drifted through temporary work.

After about a year and a half she left him and moved back in with John; Billy was still her husband and John was his uncle.

About a week and a half later she packed her belongings and moved back in with Billy Sprouts, and while he was helping her carry boxes into the attic he found blood soaking the bottom of one of them. The police treated him as a crank.

On 17 October 2001 Billy went hunting with his brother and vanished. His relatives did not report him missing until November, partly because they wondered whether he had been involved in John's disappearance. Around the same time John's Bridgeville house was stripped to the frame: cabinets, sinks, carpets, linoleum, wiring and sewage pipes were all removed.

On 30 November 2001 police finally visited John's house. About a hundred yards from it they found a patch of disturbed ground under a neatly piled stack of tyres. Three inches down they found carpet, and beneath it the body of Billy Sprouts. He had been stabbed repeatedly, beaten and buried alive.

A search of a Dodge van and a Chevrolet Lumina at the Magnolia address found John Charbonneau's blood in the van and ATM receipts from his PNC account in the car. John's driving licence and Social Security card were in a nappy bag in the kitchen.

John Charbonneau is buried at Holy Family Cemetery in Essex Junction, Vermont; Billy Sprouts at Galena Cemetery in Galena, Maryland.

The case

Murders of John Charbonneau and William 'Billy' Sprouts

Victims

John Charbonneau (60 or 61). ex-husband, disabled with a heart condition and living on a disability cheque
William 'Billy' Sprouts III (in his forties). husband, John's nephew, a general labourer

Accused and outcomes

As told in the episode, on 14 March 2019.

Accused

Accused

Accused

Outcome

Other people

Willard. son, who asked her about the bloodstained box Billy found
Roger Layton. Billy's friend and a police officer, who saw the bloodstained boxes
David Sprouts. Billy's younger brother, who said his brother died for nothing

The timeline

  1. 1948 is bornabout 0:35:38
  2. 1964 Pregnant at sixteen, drops out of high schoolabout 0:36:17
  3. 1964 Her son Willard is bornabout 0:39:01
  4. Her daughter is bornabout 0:39:03
  5. 1973 Her first husband is killed in a car accidentabout 0:39:53
  6. 1973 She meets John Charbonneau and moves in with himabout 0:44:31
  7. 1973 Daughter is bornabout 0:46:12
  8. 1989 leaves home at sixteenabout 0:50:48
  9. the late 1990s and John Charbonneau break upabout 0:51:41
  10. 1998 marries Billy Sprouts, John's nephewabout 0:53:48
  11. about a year and a half later leaves Billy and moves back in with Johnabout 0:57:16
  12. 2000 , 24 and divorced, moves back into the house with her three childrenabout 0:58:20
  13. January 2000 divorce from John is finalabout 1:23:24
  14. the autumn of 2000 and ask ex-husband to help get rid of Johnabout 1:23:41
  15. June 2001 meets onlineabout 1:00:21
  16. 2001 John bans from the house and threatens to shoot himabout 1:01:30
  17. September 2001 moves out of John's houseabout 1:02:17
  18. September 23rd, 2001 withdraws money from John's account at a Wawa ATM (Wawa convenience store)about 1:20:29
  19. a week and a half after John disappears packs up and moves back in with Billy (Sprouts house)about 1:05:57
  20. September 2001 John's mail is forwarded to a post office box in Felton, with completing the paperwork (Felton post office)about 1:14:25
  21. early October 2001 Billy finds a bloodstained box while carrying things into the attic (Sprouts house)about 1:07:49
  22. October 2001 Billy tells Willard, then the Delaware State Police, that he fears , and (Delaware State Police)about 1:08:32
  23. October 17th, 2001 Billy Sprouts disappears while going hunting with his brotherabout 1:10:07

Places and phrases

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Static locations; no street basemap. Places and details. OpenFreeMap © OpenMapTiles Data from OpenStreetMap.

Places in the story

Public places are marked on the map.

Heard in this episode