FILE 503 / 20 June 2024 / 166 MIN / full

My Dead Mother Told Me To

Ontario, OregonListen

The town

N ↑Public placePublic placePublic placeTown centre (approximate places)
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We are in Ontario, Oregon, very far eastern Oregon, on the Idaho border, in Malheur County, which is spelled MALHEUR. about 0:05:56

History, in brief

1883

Ontario was founded in June 1883 by Bill Morfit, Mary Richardson, Daniel Smith and James Virtue, all developers rather than settlers.

about 0:06:31

1984

In March 1984 Richard "Dick" Welch started a post office for the area, and it was named after Ontario in Canada.

about 0:06:53

Town note

Two months later James Morton applied for a post office of his own about a mile away and wanted it called Morton.

about 0:07:09

Town note

Gold miner and lumberman James Virtue bought a great deal more land, so his post office won the name.

about 0:07:22
All 9 history facts

1883

Ontario was founded in June 1883 by Bill Morfit, Mary Richardson, Daniel Smith and James Virtue, all developers rather than settlers.

about 0:06:31

1984

In March 1984 Richard "Dick" Welch started a post office for the area, and it was named after Ontario in Canada.

about 0:06:53

Town note

Two months later James Morton applied for a post office of his own about a mile away and wanted it called Morton.

about 0:07:09

Town note

Gold miner and lumberman James Virtue bought a great deal more land, so his post office won the name.

about 0:07:22

Town note

Everyone knew the railroad was coming, so people wanted to move there.

about 0:07:40

Town note

By the Second World War Ontario became a place for Japanese Americans moved inland from the west coast.

about 0:07:48

Town note

Mayor Elmo Smith said it would be downright cowardly to take any other stand than to move Japanese aliens and nationals inland.

about 0:08:07

Town note

There were about 134 people in the city then, and recruiting farm workers during the war pushed the number to about a thousand.

about 0:08:42

Town note

The town motto is Where Oregon begins, because it sits right on the border.

about 0:06:21

The figures, as told

Religious

58%

Biggest faith: Catholic, 25.7%

about 0:13:37

Who lives here

White 52.7% · Black 0.4% · Asian 2% · Hispanic 42.8%

Ethnicity can overlap race.

Crime / national average

Property crime
▼ two and a half times the average

about 0:24:25

Violent crime
▲ only slightly above the national average

about 0:24:51

Money

Median home value$278,400
Median household income$42,568 a year
Cost of living80

For sale

$39,000

Two-bedroom, one-bath trailer, 924 square feet

about 0:16:02

For sale

$430,000

Four-bedroom, three-bath house, 2,906 square feet

about 0:18:13
All figures and comparisons, as told in 2024

Property crime

"two and a half times the average"

Comparison: "national average". Direction: below.

As told in 2024 about 0:24:25

Violent crime

"only slightly above the national average"

Comparison: "national average". Direction: above.

As told in 2024 about 0:24:51

Population

"11,465"

No direction stated.

As told in 2024 about 0:12:59

Female share of population

"52.5%"

Comparison: "way out of whack of the normal". No direction stated.

As told in 2024 about 0:12:59

Median age

"about 34"

Comparison: "a little lower than normal". Direction: below.

As told in 2024 about 0:12:59

White residents

"52.7%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2024 about 0:12:59

Black residents

"0.4%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2024 about 0:12:59

Asian residents

"2%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2024 about 0:13:27

Hispanic residents

"42.8%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2024 about 0:13:27

Religious residents

"58%"

Comparison: "way more than normal". Direction: above.

As told in 2024 about 0:13:37

Mormon

"second largest faith"

No direction stated.

As told in 2024 about 0:13:56

Unemployment

"about average"

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

As told in 2024 about 0:14:27

Median household income

"$42,568 a year"

Comparison: "about $70,000 in the rest of the country". No direction stated.

As told in 2024 about 0:14:30

Cost of living

"80"

Comparison: "100 is regular on the scale". Direction: below.

As told in 2024 about 0:14:40

Median home cost

"$278,400"

No direction stated.

As told in 2024 about 0:14:43

Two-bedroom, one-bath trailer, 924 square feet

"$39,000"

No direction stated.

As told in 2024 about 0:16:02

One-bedroom, one-bath 1930s fixer-upper, 848 square feet

"$89,000"

Comparison: "after repair value of $210,000". No direction stated.

As told in 2024 about 0:17:51

Four-bedroom, three-bath house, 2,906 square feet

"$430,000"

No direction stated.

As told in 2024 about 0:18:13

The reviews

3.3 / 5 · average of 3

5 stars

“Grew up there all their life, prefers small rural towns, calls it comfortable and quiet, close to Boise and to camping, hiking and fishing; people keep to themselves but will help.”
about 0:09:03

3 stars

“Would plant more trees and get homeowners and businesses to take more pride in their yards; there is quite a bit of trash and litter, and they found a stranger in their backyard at 1 a.m. and now lock doors, windows and vehicles.”
about 0:09:54

2 stars

“Lived there all their life and has seen the crime rate go up; the prison has made it worse for people to live there and the local swimming pool has been closed for four years.”
about 0:11:34

In Oregon

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The story

His mother, Linny Laverne Hendrix, was 21. In 1974, after about seven years of marriage, Linny decided to leave him. She was at a restaurant in Bend, Oregon, when he turned up in the parking lot and shot her in the chest with a .22 handgun.

As a teenager he ran over a neighbour's barking dog with a pickup truck and buried it in a single scoop of a post hole digger.

After high school he joined the Marines and spent three years in Guam as a military policeman, guarding a stockpile of nuclear weapons, earning two ribbons for good conduct. He said his best friend, another Marine called Michael, stepped on a land mine and was killed, a story he told repeatedly for years. He married Norma Jean Gogo in April 1988, left the service in 1989, was divorced, and moved to Oceanside, California.

There he met Rosa Carrasco, who was 23. Rosa found him handsome, charming, hard-working and sober, although he rarely spoke about his mother's murder. Their son Emilio was born in 1993. Eventually he left them and returned to Oregon to work as a truck driver.

She told her family that if she was not back in a couple of hours something was wrong. She got into his Dodge pickup with three-year-old Emilio. On the road he said, "change of plans", and drove 15 hours to his brother Monte's house in Baker City, Oregon. They stayed eight weeks in a rented trailer on the property. Rosa found a collection of newspaper clippings about men who killed their wives and got away with it. He took her and Emilio to a pay phone before sunrise and seemed to believe he was talking to his dead friend Michael. He became abusive, threatened her with a .22 rifle kept in the truck and once choked her.

Rosa planned an escape with her brother Javier for 26 March 1996. He pulled over; Rosa jumped out screaming, and he pointed the rifle at Emilio's head to make her get back in, then bound both their wrists to the seat belt and said that if she left him he was going out in a blaze of glory. At Monte's house Javier was waiting. After a ten-hour standoff his cousin, deputy Jim Hilderbrand, talked him down.

A state psychiatrist said he was merely depressed; a private psychologist said he heard his mother and his dead friend and probably had bipolar disorder.

There he settled in and became the hospital's contraband dealer, running loans and selling porn CD-ROMs. In 1999 he incited a riot. Within a month he was on conditional release again. He dated a fellow patient, Roberta Chandler, whose apartment burned down in a fire he blamed on a halogen lamp. By February 2005 there had been three more property fires, and later that year he served about 90 days for stealing $3,000 of scrap metal from a sawmill. He met Katy Gill at a welding class at Treasure Valley Community College, married her and had two children, then divorced. In spring 2009 his case worker supported a full discharge, but the board refused.

He then met Anita Harmon, a Walmart cashier, and pursued her through MySpace. She was born in 1976, had bipolar disorder and two children, and lived in an apartment her parents had built on their property in Weiser, Idaho. They ran a scrap metal business, Northwest Materials Management Services. In August 2010 the Hypel family hired them to clear metal in Grant County, and the Hypels later said they had been cheated out of about $13,693, with roughly 250 tons removed and less than half accounted for.

The board discharged him.

Anita, meanwhile, had found a medication that worked and was doing well. They argued on the plant floor, where he threatened to release sexual videos of her, and she went to human resources and asked not to be put on his shift. They met at McDonald's on 30 December 2016 and it did not go well. He was living at Monte's house in Emmett, Idaho, and staying with a new girlfriend, Nicole Prill. On 8 January 2017 he changed his Facebook status to "in a relationship" and wrote to a friend, "time to enjoy life and be happy". He had not been sleeping well since Christmas.

At about 4 a.m. on 9 January 2017 he told Nicole he was going to Monte's and drove off. At about 5.30 a.m. a neighbour saw the truck parked on a side street. Anita's Toyota 4Runner was later found in the middle of the road half a mile from her home, headlights on and keys in the ignition. The attendant, 70-year-old Vietnam veteran Michael McIntyre, saw Anita with her wrists bound to the seat belt with zip ties and had the clerk call the police. He got the door shut, drove through a snowbank and headed into Ontario.

A patrol car saw him pass an intersection at a normal speed near Rusty's Pancake and Steak House. He turned onto a two-lane highway and accelerated to 90 miles an hour on icy roads, phoning Nicole to say he had hurt Nita pretty bad. A Ford Excursion coming the other way was driven by David Bates, 38, with his wife Jessica; both worked at St. Alphonsus Medical Center and had decided to drive together because of the snow. David was killed at the scene. Jessica survived with a concussion, three broken ribs, a fractured hand, a collapsed lung and brain damage.

A search of the truck found latex gloves, zip ties, duct tape, rope, binoculars and the bloody knife. On 20 June 2017 he was sent to the state hospital for a fitness assessment. Dr Octavio Choy interviewed him for six hours and found he had exaggerated his impairment. On 11 January 2018 a judge found him unable to aid and assist and sent him to the hospital. On 19 December 2018 the hospital reported him fit, and in January 2019 the judge agreed.

The case

Murder of Anita Harmon and David Bates

Victims

Anita Harmon (40). ex-wife, a Walmart cashier and his partner in a scrap metal business; mother of two
David Bates (38). radiology manager at St. Alphonsus Medical Center, driving his wife to work

Accused and outcomes

As told in the episode, on 20 June 2024.

Accused

Outcome

Other people

Nicole Prill. girlfriend in early 2017
Michael McIntyre. fuel attendant at the St. Clair station who saw Anita tied up and told the clerk to call police
Dr. John Bates. David's younger brother, medical director of McNary Place, who had refused to take as a conflict
Susan Harmon. Anita's mother
Bud Harmon. Anita's father
Dave Goldthorpe. prosecutor

The timeline

  1. 2009 meets Anita Harmon, a cashier, at the Walmart checkout line in Ontario (Walmart)about 1:28:13
  2. December 7th, 2016 The review board discharges after he testifies that he faked mental illnessabout 1:53:04
  3. December 2016 gets a job at Dickinson Frozen Foods, the same onion plant as Anita (Dickinson Frozen Foods)about 1:54:35
  4. December 30th, 2016 and Anita meet at McDonald's to discuss the debit card dispute and it goes badlyabout 1:55:48
  5. January 8th, 2017 changes his Facebook status to in a relationship and writes that it is time to enjoy lifeabout 1:56:45
  6. January 9th, 2017, about 4 a.m. tells Nicole Prill he is going to Monte's house and drives off in his Dodge truck (Monte's house in Emmett)about 1:57:12
  7. January 9th, 2017, about 5.30 a.m. A neighbour sees truck parked on a side street near Anita's parents' home (Anita Harmon's apartment)about 1:57:24
  8. January 9th, 2017 Anita's Toyota 4Runner is found abandoned in the middle of the road half a mile from her home, headlights on and keys in the ignitionabout 1:57:41
  9. January 9th, 2017 drives Anita about 20 miles across the state line to the St. Clair gas station in Ontario and buys $40 of diesel and two bottles of water (St. Clair gas station)about 1:58:13
  10. January 9th, 2017 Fuel attendant Michael McIntyre sees Anita bound to the seat belt with zip ties and has the clerk call police (St. Clair gas station)about 1:59:24
  11. January 9th, 2017 stabs Anita in the neck with a fillet knife, then repeatedly in the chest, fights off rescuers and drives through a snowbank (St. Clair gas station)about 2:01:05
  12. January 9th, 2017 A patrol car sees him pass an intersection at a normal speed near Rusty's Pancake and Steak House and gives chase (Rusty's Pancake and Steak House)about 2:02:53
  13. January 9th, 2017 During the chase at 90 miles an hour he phones Nicole to say he has hurt Nita pretty badabout 2:03:31
  14. January 9th, 2017 His truck crosses into the oncoming lane and hits the Bates' Ford Excursion head-on; David Bates is killed and Jessica is badly injured (Crash site on the two-lane highway)about 2:05:28

Kidnapping of Rosa Carrasco and Emilio Montwheeler

Victims

Rosa Carrasco (23). wife, abducted from a parking lot and held for two months
Emilio Montwheeler (3). their son, held at gunpoint and tied into the truck

Accused and outcomes

As told in the episode, on 20 June 2024.

Accused

Outcome

Other people

Monte Montwheeler. brother, whose Baker City house they stayed at
Javier. Rosa's brother, who came to help her escape
Jim Hilderbrand. cousin, a sheriff's deputy who talked him down

The timeline

  1. 1989 leaves the Marines and moves to Oceanside, California, where he meets Rosa Carrascoabout 0:41:40
  2. 1993 Their son Emilio is bornabout 0:46:08
  3. leaves Rosa and Emilio and returns to Oregon to work as a truck driverabout 0:48:31
  4. March 1996 and Rosa agree to meet in a parking lot in Oceanside to talk about a divorce (Oceanside parking lot)about 0:48:52
  5. March 1996 He drives Rosa and Emilio 15 hours to Monte's house in Baker City and they stay eight weeks in a rented trailer (Monte Montwheeler's house)about 0:49:52
  6. March 1996 Rosa finds his collection of clippings about men who killed their wives and got away with it (Monte Montwheeler's house)about 0:50:34

Murder of Linny Laverne Hendrix

Victims

Linny Laverne Hendrix. mother, shot by her husband as she was planning to leave him

Accused and outcomes

As told in the episode, on 20 June 2024.

Accused

Outcome

Other people

Monte Montwheeler. their younger son

The timeline

  1. November 1967 is born to 21-year-old Linny Laverne Hendrix and 59-year-old about 0:25:38
  2. 1974 After about seven years of marriage Linny plans to leave about 0:31:21
  3. 1974 shows up in the parking lot of a restaurant in Bend and shoots her in the chest with a .22 handgun, killing her (Bend restaurant parking lot)about 0:31:36
  4. 1974 He goes back inside the restaurant and comes out every ten minutes to see whether she is dead yet (Bend restaurant parking lot)about 0:31:56
  5. 1983 He dies of a heart attack in the state mental hospitalabout 0:32:47
  6. 1974 Six-year-old loses his mother and never sees his father againabout 0:32:58

Places and phrases

N ↑Public placePublic placePublic placeTown centre (approximate places)
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